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Colonist, Volume XX, Issue 2343, 31 January 1878, Page 3

An American :exchange narrates the following incident, which it avers occurred in connection with the loss of the Avalanche: A lad, who waa a great friend of one of the apprentices who was lost, made arrangements to accompany him down the channel and come ashore with the pilot, but at the last moment before sailing he was seized with such an indefinable and ungovernable misgiving that .he declined to go, and thus escaped almost certain death. The apprentice who was lost had a retriever dog who was very fond of him, and which answered to a shrill dogTwhistle that he carried. On the night of the shipwreck his mother and aunt were in the sitting-room, and the dog in the kitchen. Between nine and ten o'clock the ladies were startled by hearing a shrill iwhistle used by.the young man. The dog heard it also, gave the usual recognising bark, and bounded up stairs where he supposed his master was. The whistle was' heard just about the time the Avalanche west down, and it was heard by two credible witnesses whose [testimony was confirmed by the response made to it by the dog of the lost Bailor.

A painful scene occured in the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, says the Kvmara Times, when ajouiig- man named Arthur Winter was charged with embezztement. He pleaded hard for leniency,' and as his young wife was in Court at the time the scene was a most harrowing one, when the Court sentenced him to" nine mouth*' hard labor, \ ■: "* ' • "f '

How to do it.—One of the moit remarkable events in the history of the American Board of Foreign Missions was the rapidity with which its debt of 48,000 dols. was the other day met by subscriptions at Providence, 8.1. One pentleman started tbe subscriptions with 5000 dols., another added 5000 dols., and the whole amount was raised in an hour.

A soLDiBa in Cromwell's army, pasßi'ng with his comrades over Derby's St. Mary's Bridge, observed a young girl lading water from the river. In the spirit of frolic (and mischief, he threw a large stone, intending it should Btartle her by making a sudden splash. But it struck her on the head, and made a hideous wound. She fell into the river. The soldier did not wait to see that she was rescued. He galloped on, feeling that he had been guilty of a wanton murder. Tbe unknown consequences of bis folly preyed upon his mind. His conscience was always upbraiding him. Tears after, when discharged from the army, he settled down in Derby. He took a public house in Bridge Gate, and after a short acquaintance with a woman of suitable age got married. Very soon after the wedding he saw his wife combing her hair, and inquired how she got that great Bear which disfigured one side of her head. She replied, "Some wretch of a soldier had once nearly killed her with a stone, but if ever she caught that man she would pay him off for it." It is not recorded how Bhe punished her husband when he confessed being her assailant, or how great was his relief when the haunting thought of a wanton murder was removed from his mind. He was one of the five troopers who rode under the oak where Charles was hidden at BoscobeL A Monster Devil Fish.—Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Oct. 27, contains a striking picture of the capture of a monster devil fish, stranded on the beach at Catalina, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. It appears that on Sept 22, there was a heavy gale of wind, and that this fish was driven ashore. The tail getting fast on the rock as it was swimming backwards. The two fishermen who had the good fortune to find it dead (it would have been impossible to approach it when it was lashing the water with two of its 30ft tentacles), loaded their little craft with it and made a golden harvest by exhibiting it at St. John's. The body is 10ft in length, and nearly 7ft in circumference. Posterior to the head were a pair of huge staring eyes, the sockets being eight inches in diameter. This fish is now in the New York Aquarium, and is without doubt the largest ever seen. It is to be exhibited in a glass tank 25ft long, sft wide and 3-|ft deep. Interesting Fact ts Biology.—Prof. Strutners, Aberdeen, has received from a former pupil, Dr Justin M'Carthy, of Oakengates, Shropshire, an interesting account of a kitten being suckled by a bitch. The bitch, a cross between a King Charles aud a fox terrier, and a cat, belonging to the Bame owner, had lived together happily for some time. Three weeks ago the cat had three kittens, but for some reason refused to have anything to do with them. The owner drowned two of the kittens, but the cat still refused to have anything to do with the third. The bitch then took to it, drove the cat away, and has not allowed it to come near her ever since. The bitch will not allow strangers to come near the kitten, nor allow the cat to be even in sight. Mukhtae was brave even to desperation during tbe battle of Deve-Boyun, on the plain of Erzerum. When the Russian battalions were hurled against a long hill which was held by the left centre of his army, and the Turks wavered and fell back, he sprang forward with two battalions and dashed at once to the critical point. It was too late, i The officers fell dead and their men were driven back. The centre was carried. But Mukhtar remained at the post of danger. 111 wished to die," he Baid aiterwards. • But his men gathered about him and fairly dragged him from the field. A iieutenankcolonel, I who had been sent to his camp 'with'-orders from Constantinople, .arrived'afterthebattle'! had begun, and th;6dgti^''ii'_! i3lrud(#ifl»,toI;awaflv! Mukhtar's Tetnvn[\n%w'/ieiii^\ l i' l '!Jt^el'Tett^t, : of the Turks was so sudden .that; their ,camp fell into the enemy's hands. General -Hey-^ mann, the Bussian commander, coming up after the battle had been won, and, looking for a spot where he could write a dispatch, espied the Turkish general's tent, and sought j shelter from the storm, for drizzling rain had been followed by snow-flakes. The Turkish lieutenant-colonel, who had not heard the evil tidings of defeat, undertook to show the intruder out, but very soon discovered his mistake, and apologizing for his want of civility, surrendered his sword. It was a little hard on the boy, for he meant well and had a sincere admiration for the girl. They were sitting at the tea table with a company of others, and as he passed her the sugar he murmured in an undertone " Here it is, sweet, just like you." The compliment was a little awkward, to be Bure, but he meant it, and she seemed more than cruel, when, a moment later, she had occasion to pass the butter to him, and drawled, " Here it is, soft, just like you." ■ The Prince of Wales is a lawyer, or rather, a barrister. He was called to the bar a few years ago at his own desire aud with the usual formalities, and took the oath prescribed on admission. He was at the same time made a Master of the Bench, the Benchers being the governing body of the Society of tbe Middle Temple. His portrait has recently been painted in the Bencher's silken robe, and is to be placed in the noble old hall of the Middle Temple as a record of bo noteworthy a circumstance as a Koyal Prince's entrance upon the legal profession. Yankee Word.coinage. — " Paragrammakleptis" is the title by which literary " borrowers" are in future to be termed by the San Francisco Newt Letter. Another coined word, invented by a Kansas editor, is 11 Czarsparilla," which forms the heading to tl • war news in the paper.

Apeopos of Sims Reeves and his wellgrounded objection to encores, lam reminded of what a sensible old gentleman from tbe Horth once said to me on the subject:— " Depend upon it, there are few fchinge: in this world that will ' fiY twice."— World.

Some: interesting letters, giving a description of that comparatively unknown land, , King's Island, have recently appeared in the ( columns of the Batldrat Star. In his last,the correspondent mentions a curious fact which some colonial Darwin itfay perhaps be able to explain:—" We were," he say a, " told that the tame dogs kept b/» the hunters would always kill a wild dog in preference to a wallaby or kangaroo, and that! they would hunt down their wild brothers and Bisters with the greatest ferocity and determination. Yet one would think that it would be better for a dog to be wild than tame. The wild dogs can at least get plenty of kangaroo for the trouble of catching, whilst the tame dogs are decidedly skinny,, and evidently are treated on the old principle of'sic vos non vobis.' However, the fact is as stated, and wild dogs get no mercy from man or their own race. There is one dangerous animal on the Island, w^i.ch is ,a native'and a marsupial. It is called a wild cat, is exceedingly fierce, and, as I was told, afraid of nothing. I saw a skin some four feet long, of a tawny-brown color, with white spots, a long tail, and bristly whiakers, and I should say that the owner of these things in life was a dangerous customer to face, unless one had arms to deal with the brute. It appears to keep to the scrub, and very little is heard about it."