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j daughter of the late M r . f, an Australian gentleman.

T H E T E E S D A L E M E R C U R Y — W E D N E S D A Y . OCTOBER 16, 1907.

W H A T I T H I N K .

(BY J O H N S T R A N G E W I N T E R . )

T H E S I M P L E L I F E .

The big gooseberry -this season is certainly the simple l i fe . Even the question of the supremacy of beauty does not come i n front of this all-important question. When I was young —and after a l l I am not so very o ld , i t is not 10 long ago—we had neier heard of the simple life. People ate and drank the things they liked, or such as they could afford, they re­mained th in or got fat as Nature intended, and more anxiety was expressed about flannel pett i­coats than all the eating of the year round.

1 knew a gloriously fat woman when I was a child. She had been very pret ty, and she was to huge tha t ahe bi l lowed everywhere. She shook l ike a j e l ly when she laughed; she filled the biggest chair in any room into which she walked, or rather waddled. She slept in the biggest bed I had ever beheld, and she looked like a mountain when she was in i t . She W H S quite young, much younger than I am now, but the made no pretence of having anything in the least degree approaching to a figure. The simple life would not have appealed to her at all. She ate- l iberal ly , and she died when she was quite old, after an excellent dinner of pork, fluffed wi th sage and onions. I feel quite sure, if she could come back again, that she would tell us tha t the simple life was a l l fudge, that she had had a very good time and had enjoyed herself thoroughly to the end. Her last meal was certainly one of her best, and she would probably say that i t was worth i t , even though, as a matter of fact, i t k i l led her.

I am beginning to wonder whether the simple life is wor th i t . I t is a vast amount of trouble to follow. The ordinary cook would be no good; you must be trained for i t . Your cook must be trained, or else you must t r a in your­self to cook your own food. You can never goout to an ordinary dinner wi thout s i t t ing l ike the skeleton at the feast and probably longing to eat half the things that are on the table. I t is very expensive, and, after s'J, are the results commensurate w i th what they costT

We have the car*; of M r . "and Mrs . Eustace Miles, a couple who certainly started well in their bones and who are in the very bloom and pride of l ife, and on the simple life they flourish exceedingly well by a l l accounts. B u t would not they flourish just as well on the ordinary eatables?

I have never been to the restaurant where Mr. and Mrs . Eustace Miles hold sway, but I have been to a vegetarian restaurant, and I must confess that I came home feeling empty— very empty. The gentleman who sat on my left hand to ld me that this was not an ordinary everyday fare of vegetarians; l i e said i t was a banquet. I t might be to those who were used, to i t . T o me i t was a Barmecide feast, and I came home and filled in the blank spaces wi th cold boiled mutton which my own family had had for dinner hot.

1 have never yet been able to discover what the everyday habits of simple life are. My friend of the banquet to ld me that in ordinary life vegetarianism saved a great deal of trouble and expense. " F o r instance," he said, "we don't have set meals at our house." " O h , don't you?" said 1. " H o w do you manage?" " W e l l , " he said, "when any of us are hungry we get out so many pine kernels and gr ind tbem, and we sit down and eat t hem." " A n d what do you d r ink to them?" I asked. " W a t e r , " said he. " A n d do you do that a l l day?" "Yes." " D o n ' t ' y o u find i t rather uninterest­ing?" " O h , n o , " he replied, "one gets used to i t . "

I have also known people who for years have lived on one hot meal a day and who filled in all the rest of the spaces wi th handfuls of some much-advertised cereal. I have t r ied i t , but I can only say frankly that i f I had to exist from now to the end of my life on a diet of brown bread and bananas, or to take my meals regularly off three apples and some pine ker-rcTs. eschewing al l white bread—though why I should do so is beyond me—and having two unions and carrots and parsley butter as the greatest t reat of the week, I would rather die •• once. I ' l ike onions in their place, along

other things, and I l ike small carrots •r-ved wi th parsley butter as an occasional dish. Bu t fancy l iv ing on them altogether; fancy l iv ing for a week on brown bread and bananas. Can you conceive anything so mono­tonous or so mawkish? I can choke a banana down when I want to be polite, but of a l l the fruit that grows the year round I do honestly think the banana is the most tasteless and the must uninteresting

I was very much struck wi th an account of one of the bi l ls of fare of the test week of the Eustace Miles ' simple l ife, (me of the items was "pro te id shape." I t struck me as being about as attractive as "pot ted microbe." B u t 1 am open to conviction, and so far I have not the least idea whether proteid is nice or nasty. I can only say that , to a Phi l is t ine, as 1 am, i t does not sound encouraging. W h y , I wonder, d i d M r . Eustace Miles give his inven­tion such a hor r id name. A t best i t is analo­gous to tabloid in the mind of a mere Phil is­tine. A t worst, i t somehow makes one th ink of Professor Virchow, or our own Sir W i t liam Crookes. You know what I mean—those ltarned and wonderful men who are continually experimenting w i th l i t t l e wiggly things on sheets of gelatine. Far be i t f rom me—as a distinctly progressive woman—to bel i t t le the efforts of learned and scientific men i n the dis­covery of the details and cure of deadly dis cases, but the very word " p r o t e i d " instantly suggests such to my mind .

I am keenly sorry t o be at the present moment t ied to my bed w i t h a broken collar-V.ne. 1 wanted so badly to go and hear the new apostle of the simple l i fe , Herr Ka r l Kurz rock, the new diet evangelist, who is at pre sent on a vis i t to London. T r u l y his seems to be the least complex form of the simple life of any I have yet come across, w i th the exception of my friend of the banquet, for he seems to live chiefly upon brown bread and bananas. I do not know that we needed such an apostle to come to us from Germany. There is a similar example at present in Br ighton , a gentleman who wears Biblical-looking garments, and has not taken a d r ink for several years, getting a l l the moisture that he finds necessary for his system from the fruits which form the staple part of his diet .

How I wish that somebody who really knows 'he subject would wri te a book—a l i t t l e hand­book, say, to be sold at a shi l l ing, or even less —and give an epitome of not one phase, but of every phase of the simple l i fe . I t would sell >n mill ions. Bu t i t must give not only the course to be followed, but the results obtained from each course, and instruct i ts readers in every detai l appertaining thereto.

For instance, I would l ike to know why Her r Kar l Kurzrock wears his hair long. W h y , instead of a hat, he wears a band of straw round his head; and I would l ike to know whether i n the case of a mondaine, she might wear her hair confined by a flexible fillet of gold set w i t h . diamonds or other precious stones. Is the fillet necessary? Is the long hair necessary? A r e the flowing garments essential to 'health? Must each regime be car­ried out in its entirety or may we go, l ike the bee, from flower to flower, taking a b i t here and a sip there? A n d when we have done i t

and esch soul of the whole world is l iv ing the simple l ife, w i l l i t be for the benefit of the entire race? I wonder.

I have immense faith mvself in statistics and •n the old saying, "The proof of the pudding is 'n the ea t ing . " When we have a l l simple hfed ourselves there w i l l be many employments knocked on the head. I f we are to l ive on brown bread and bananas what w i l l become of the grocers, the butchers, the fishmongers, confectioners ^ i d poultrymen? W e shall re­quire no shoemakers, no tailors or dressmakers, because we shall run up our own ungainly gar­ments wi th our own sewing machines, or f a i l -i n R them, our fingers. W e shall require no milliners and no doctors, by a l l accounts. Think

i t ! Probably no dentists! Ther. w i l l our bouses be in accord/ w i th our habits and our ferments? Why, we should knock off half the t'ades that at present flourish exceedingly.

A T L A N T I C B L U E R I B A N D .

L U S I T A N I A ' S R E C O R D .

On her second t r i p across the At lan t ic the Lusitania broke a l l records. She arrived at Sandy Hook at 1.17 on Fr iday morning, after a record passage, which occupied four days nineteen hours and fifty-two minutes, accord­ing to the official t iming , which means that she averaged 24 knots an hour for the t r i p .

The giant Cunarder anchored near the l ight­ship, and i t was not un t i l dayl ight that she steamed in to the Ambrose Channel. Her last last day's run was over a smooth sea and w i t h l i t t l e wind to trouble her, and for hours before she approached land her passengers were eagerly crowding the decks, anxious to see whether on this occasion she would really suc­ceed i n regaining for England the blue r iband of the At lan t ic .

The Lusitania now holds a t r ip le record— she has made the fastest t r i p across the A t ­lantic, she has made the longest day's run , and she has attained the highest average speed an hour.

The log of the Lusitania gives the runs per dav as fol lows:—41, 590, 608, 617, 600, 324. To ta l distance, 2,730.

I t appears that on the Tuesday night, when the Lusitania's turbines were working at top speed, the heat in the stokehold was so intense tha t one of the firemen temporarily went out of his mind . On that evening, to mark their appreciation of the day's run (608 miles), the officers gave each of the firemen a bottle of ale, and next day the Lusi tania broke a l l records, making 617 miles.

Captain W a t t calls the ship a "da isy ," and says tha t wi th more favourable weather condi­tions she can do better s t i l l .

The following table compares the present performance w i t h previous records : — Lusi tania 24.002 miles an hour Ueutschland (westward)... 23.36 miles an hour Kronpr inz Wi lhe lm (east­

ward) 23.09 miles an hour The Lusi tania twice beat the record for a

day's steaming, covering 608 miles from Monday to Tuesday, and 617 miles from Tuesday to Wednesday, as compared wi th 601 miles, Uio best figures set up by the Deutschland.

A L L ONE P R I C E .

F i r s t Old L a d y : "Sha l l I give the porter six­pence?"

. Second Old L a d y : "Dear me, Jemima, n o ! 7 always give at the rate of a far thing a pack­age. That's plenty, and they're always satisfied ! "

T H E AMERICAN MRS. HUMBERT.

Mrs . Cassie Chadwick, whose sensational financial transactions i n 1904 culminated i n the wrecking of the Oberl in Bank, has died in a penitentiary hospital.

Mrs . Chadwick was arrested in December, 1904, on the charge of conspiring w i t h the president and the cashier to misapply 12,500 dollars of the funds deposited i n the Citizens' Bank of Oberl in , Ohio. The bank had charge of a package belonging to Mrs . Chadwick, which was alleged to contain five mi l l ion dollars ' wor th of collateral securities. When the package was taken out and examined i t was found that, while the papers bore a face value of five mi l l ion dollars, and purported to bear M r . Andrew Carnegie's signature, they were in reali ty not worth a cent. M r . Carnegie declared tha t he never signed these notes.

Mrs . Chadwick obtained immense loans by a wr i t ten undertaking from the bank to act as trustee for the mythical five mi l l ion dollars estate, in consideration of i ts receiving some forty thousand dollars bonus when the loans were paid.

COUNCILLOR SHOT.

A remarkable shooting incident, followed by the arrest of a Warwickshire County Coun­ci l lor on a charge of unlawful wounding, oc­curred at the Stork Hote l , Birmingham.

Councillor Keegan, of the Ci ty Council, was s i t t ing at a table ta lking to Councillor Lewis, of the Warwickshire County Council, and several other friends, when M r . Lewis, i t was alleged, drew a revolver f rom his pocket, and, pointing i t under the table, pulled the tr igger. A report followed, and M r . Keegan was found to be shot i n the leg.

M r . Lewie, who states that he pulled the revolver out for a joke, without any idea that i : was loaded, was arrested.

N O T " D U M B " B E L L S .

Extract f rom Brown s letter to a f r i e n d : — " I haven't been using my dumb-bells much of late. I find 1 get a l l the exercise I want wi th­out them."

F o r the t h i r d time this year strawberries are growing in the garden of M r . Alf red Chivers, of Dar l ington.

A resident at Bourne, Lincolnshire, has just received his first letter in six years. I t proved to be a lottery circular.

Because he had been left at home as a punishment, the seven-year-old son of M r . C. W . Camp, of Cleveland Ohio, drowned himself in a waterbut.

L I T E R A R Y C H A T .

M r . Thomas Hardy, who is sixty-seven years of age, cycles a good deal, and s t i l l re­tains his keen interest i n architecture, gained when he was a lad and was studying for that profession.

M r . Morley Roberts earned his l i v i n g as a navvy, stockman, sailor, clerk, and tramped thousands of miles i n search of work, from New South Wales to California, ere he dis­covered the power of his pen.

M r . H . Rider Haggard's fine African etory, " B e n i t a , " which achieved such a big suc­cess, has now been issued in a shil l ing edi­t ion by Messrs. Cassell and Co. There are four i l lustrations by Gordon Browne, R . I .

The second volume of "Robinson Crusoe," published on August 20, 1719, was the fin;t story published in this country w i th illur-tr;-.-tions. The il lustrations consisted of a miip of the wor ld , in which the different voyages of the hero of the tale were delineated.

K i n g Vic to r of I t a ly is the latest monarch to become an author. He has wr i t ten a treatise on numismatics. I t consists of an enumeration and description of his collection of coins, which is considered the most com­plete in the wor ld .

When Rider Haggard was a chi ld , an old do l l of battered wood, hideously ugly, was one of his favourite playthings. A n old nurse used to call this do l l "She ," and in after years the novelist borrowed the name for the heroine of his most famous book.

A new volume by Elie Metehnikoff, author of " T h e Nature of M a n , " is announced for publication this autumn by M r . Heincmann, under the t i t le of " T h e Prolongation of Human L i f e : Optimistic Essays." I t is edited, and has an introduct ion, as in the case of the former volume, by D r . Chalmers Mi tche l l .

The Stationers' Sheet Almanac for 1908 (Cassell and Co., 2s.), has now been issued w i t h a beautifully executed photogravure from a picture by W . L . W y l l i e , R .A . The ar t is t has chosen as his subject the r iver

Thames, w i t h St. Paul's i n the background. The calendar also gives much information of interest and u t i l i t y to al l classes.

There is a gap of some hundreds of years between the Old and New Testaments. A book which tells the story of those centuries, making clear many hi ther to puzzling Jewish allusions found in the New Testament, w i l l shortly be issued by Messrs. Skeffington under the t i t le of "Between Malachi and Saint Mat thew." The author is Miss G. M . Forde. and Canon Benham has contributed a preface.

Bjornstjerne Bjornsen, the famous Scan­dinavian author, writes so badly that every line of His manuscripts has to be copied out before i t is seat to t h e printers. I n fact, three or four copies are made of each MS. , the reason being that Bjornsen is never t i red of improving his work. His favourite recrea­t ion is digging. " I am much prouder of having my name on a spade," he once re­marked, " than I am of having i t in a book."

STRANGE & W O N D E R F U I

B L A C K T B B T H P R E F E R R E D .

The trade of tooth-stainer is peculiar tc eastern Asia. The natives prefer black teeth to white, and the tooth-stainer, wi th a l i t t le box of brushes and colouring matter, calls O D his customers and stains the i r teeth.

S M A L L E S T I N H A B I T E D I S L A N D . The smallest inhabited island in the world

is that on which the Eddystone Lighthouse stands. A t low water i t is 30ft. in diameter, at high water the base o f the lighthouse, the diameter of which is 28Jft., is completely covered by the waves.

A W O N D E R F U L K I V E K .

The Congo River is the most wonderful waterway in the World. I t is twenty-five miles across in parts, so that vessels may pass one another and yet be out of sight. I t has twice the extent of the navigable waters of the Mississippi and its t r ibutar ies .

C H I L D R E N S C H U R C H .

A church for children under twelve has been established by the Rev. George Denyer, vicar of Christ Church, Blackburn . I t w i l l be officered entirely by boys, and there w i l l be a choir of g i r ls . Two services w i l l be held every Sunday.

The London County Council have placed a memorial tablet on 64, Duncan-terrace, Is l ington, N . , where Charles Lamb resided at one t ime. The tablet, winch was put into position yesterday, is of encaustic ware and is chocolate in colour. I t was here that " the gentle E l i a " l ived from 1823, the date of his removal from Covent Garden, un t i l 1827, the year in which he wen* to reside at Enfield.

" T h e Reader" has discovered M r . Rud-yard Kipl ing ' s first l i terary effort. I t is a poem entitled " T h e Jampot ," and was wr i t ­ten when K i p l i n g was at school at Westward H o ! This is the first verse:

The Jampot—tender thought, I grabbed i t ; so do you—

" W h a t wonder, while we fought Together, that i t flew

I n shivers," you retort . The poem breathes the true " Stalky and

Co." spir i t .

" T h e Land of Enchantment" contains- a collection of fairy and fanciful tales by vari­ous authors, which M r . Rackham has illust­rated wi th i characteristic drawings. Messrs. Cassells are the publishers of this book, as wel l as of Har ry Rountree's Annual . This volume contains stories, sketches, and poems by a number of clever authors, which M r . Rountree has il lustrated i n colour and line to the number of 58 f u l l page drawings, as well as numerous smaller ones. Young and old equally w i l l feel the appeal of the volume.

I t is not to be expected that " T h e Adven­tures of a Respectable Bohemian " would be very t h r i l l i ng , but, as told by Elizabeth P. Ram6ay -Laye , they make very pleasant read­ing. The authoress, who has been, as she says, a wanderer for some years, writes in a fresh and interesting fashion of her experi­ences of life and travel at home and abroad. The sketch, "Answering an Advertisement," is part icularly divert ing. Besides the travel sketches, there are incorporated in the book several excellent 6tories, the episodes and characters in which are, the authoress ex­plains, closely connected wi th her personal experiences. She came in to touch wi th most of the people, and knows the places. The book is published by F . V . Whi t e and Co., and the price is six shillings.

M r . Max Baring's new book is called "The Shattered I d o l , " and is published by Simp-k i n , Marshall . Hami l ton , Kent and Co., at six shillings. T t tells of a clergyman, at first earnest and high-souled, who became the vicar of a poor parish where the church had fallen almost to ru in . i n his intense desire to restore and beautify the bui lding he yielded to the temptation to employ dishonest means of obtaining the money for the pur­pose, and, of course, discovery and disaster followed. The clergyman takes charge of a slum church in London, and throws himself energetically into work amongst the poor in order to expiate the offence. M r . Max Bar ing always writes a readable story, and this one is no exception. The author states that the leading incidents have a foundation of fact.

"Once upon a t i m e " the book begins, and then the reader has only to tu rn to the t i t le page and note the name of M r . Andrew Lang to be quite sure that not only is there here something to rejoice the. heart of boys and gir ls , but—despite the editor's protest—some­th ing also that readily appeals to the imagi­nation even of "ch i ld ren of a larger g r o w t h . " "The Olive Fai ry Book" (Long­mans, Green and Co. 6s.) is a worthy addi­t ion to this firm's Fa i ry Book series. I t pre­sents in the most fascinating form many quite unfamil iar stoiics that the editor has

fathered from many sources—Turkish, rench, Danish. Indian, and others. The

Turk i sh story, " L i t t l e K i n g L o c , " is quite a gem. I t revels in the realm of gnomes, and every child who reads i t w i l l be able to bui ld around the story quite a new l i t t l e wor ld of strange things and peoples. B u t why par t i ­cularise? The twenty-nine stories are a l l alike choice, and the letterpress is br ight ly i l lumined by some half a hundred beautiful coloured plates and illustrations.

T H E O N L Y W O M A N J A I L E R .

Switzerland possesses the only woman ja i ler in the wor ld . She is Mme. Porchet, " g o v e r n o r " of the j a i l at Aig le , in the Rhone Valley, for seventeen years. The j a i l has accommodation for twenty offenders, whose sentences range f rom a month to two years' imprisonment.

J E W E L S T H A T A R E I L L .

A well-known jeweller makes a speciality of curing sick and sulky gems. A l l jewels, except diamonds, he says, are liable t o mala­dies. Rubies, sapphires, and pearls have their part icular ailments, but diamonds are immune through their great hardness. The general cure is the application of acids, but i t requires an expert to carry i t out.

C I T Y FOR BOYS. A ci ty for boys only has been started at

Lake Winona, Indiana (U.S .A. ) . The popu­lation is to consist of 5,000, and there are to be several shops owned and operated by stock companies of boys each under the charge of an adult. The lads w i l l live in tents holding from four to eight occupants, but there w i l l be five permanent buildings, including a large storehouse, an assembly ha l l , gymnasium, band-stand, and electrical and photographic shops.

S U B M A R I N E E A R T H Q U A K E S .

A submarine earthquake was witnessed by three French sardine trawlers who were fish­ing about sixty miles from Belleisle. A t a distanco of five miles f rom the boats the crews saw a dense smoke rising from the water. Th ink ing that a ship was on fire, they bore in that direct ion. No ship could be seen, but from the water arose both flame and smoke. I n fear for their own safety, they drew back to their former position, whence at night they continued to see the smoke and flame.

V A L U A B L E " T I C K E T S . "

A l l the principal railway companies issue railway tickets, made entirely of gold^ which entit le the holder to travel free by any class of car and t r a in , on any line, and by any system i n the B r i t i s h Isles. They are the size of a florin, but oval in shape, and en­graved wi th the part icular railway company's coat of arms, w i th the holder's name be­neath, and are intended to be worn on watch-chains. These tickets cannot be bought, but are presented by the directors to persons who have earned the railway companies' grat i ­tude.

STRANGE USE FOR P H O N O G R A P H . The cure of Lamartre , in France, has i n ­

sti tuted a novel method of saying mass. Hav­ing neither precentor nor choristers i n his church, he has installed a phonograph, which not only makes the customary responses i n due order and at the proper t ime, but also sings the canticles! When one " r e c o r d " is completed the cure leaves the altar, changes the cylinder, winds up the machinery and then proceeds w i th the service.

A H U G E B U I L D I N G .

The Singer bui lding now in course of con­struction in Broadway, New York, has al­ready exceeded the height of the Washington Monument, which rises 555ft. above the ground. When complete, this bui lding w i l l consist of forty-seven 6toreys, and w i l l reach a height "of 612ft., thus overtopping every other occupied structure in the world . The foundation is in solid rock, 90ft. below the level of the street. There w i l l be eigh­teen l i f t s , which w i l l run from the floor to the highest storey in one minute. On the p in­nacle w i l l be an immense copper lantern w i th a powerful searchlight, visible sixty miles out at sea.

F O U N T A I N O F 8 0 D A W A T E R .

One of the most interesting and novel gushing wells in the world is a geyser of soda water that recently came up at Wendl ing, Sonoma, Cal. This well produces soda water of a quality that would warrant bot t l ing for the general trade, in such quantities as were never struck before. A n artesian well borer was recently employed to secure a water supply for a large sawmill in that region. He dr i l led to a depth of 200ft., the lower 100ft. being through solid granite. Then a slight trace of water was found. The man then placed fifty-four sticks of dynamite at the bottom of the well , and exploded them. I n ­stantly water gushed up, r is ing 20ft. above the surface of the ground, pouring for th in enormous volume.

I X T H E P U B L I C E Y E .

M R . B R A M W E L L B O O T H .

To be Chief of Staff of tha t great organisa­t i on , the Salvation Army, is not to be a "feather-bed soldier," and M r . Bramwel! Booth, who fills that important office, is a splendid organiser and business man, who " l ives labori­

ous days." " The A r m y " "is i n touch w i t h a l l the affairs of n-en, and the office of the Chief at the Inter­national Headquarters is a centre of act ivi ty from which a l l the i n ­fluences of this wonder­f u l social and religious organisation radiate. M r . Booth, who i6 just celebrating his silver wedding, was born at Hal i fax in 1856, and, when a lad in the teens, joined the " A r m y " as a humble

private. By sheer hard work he went up the ladder u n t i l he became " the General ' s" most valued assistant. After General Booth himself, there are no officers of the Salvation Army who are more generally respected and adn.ired than the Chief of S t a f i and his wife.

S I R C O M P T O N D O M V I L E .

After more than half a century of service, the senior Admi ra l i n the Fleet, Sir Compton Edward Domvile, has ret ired under the" sge regulations. He entered the Navy at the age of 13. and though he has seen no actual war service, he has had a b r i l l i an t career. He-was a highly efficient officer, and as a sub-lieu­tenant obtained three first-class certificates. He served i n the Royal yacht, and some t ime later was promoted to the rank of commander for the sk i l l and gal lantry which he had shown dur ing two years exciting and strenuous ser­vice i n suppressing piracy i n the China Seas while he was lieutenant commanding the gun­boat Algerine. He was made captain i n 1876, and was on the Cape station dur ing the Zu lu , Basnto, and Transvaal campaigns.

S I R E D W A R D H A M I L T O N . On account of i l l-health Sir Edward Hami l ­

ton is r e t i r i n g from the Treasury, where he has been one of the Joint Permanent Secretaries since 1902. Sir Edward is sixty years of age, and he is a most experienced public servant. He has given nearly fo r ty yeans' service t o the Treasury, having gone there almost i m ­mediately after he left Oxford—in 1870, to bs precise. Sir Eaward is one of few surviv­ing private secre­taries of M r . Glad­stone, of whom the oldest is probably Sir W i l l i a m B r a m p t o n Gurdon, who was one of the great states­man's lientenants as long ago as 1865. Seve ra l others of M r . Glad­stone's pr ivate secretaries made their mark in official l i fe . There are Sir Algernon West. Sir George Murray, Sir Henry Primrose, and M r . Herbert Gladstone. Sir Edward Hamil ton is unmarried. His father was Bishop of Salis­bury.

:o: 'j L O R D S A Y E A N D S E L E .

Hither to known as the Hon . Geoffrey Fiennes, the new L o r d Save and Sele has succeeded to an ancient baronetcy. He is the 22nd in des­cent from Geoffrey de Saye, who was a thorn in the side of K i n g John, and was one of the twenty-five barons entrusted to the enforcement of Magna Charta. The baronetcy of Saye and Sele dates from 1447. The new peer, who was born forty-nine years ago, chose the A r m y as a profession, entering i n 1879. He became cap­ta in i n 1887, but had previously won distinc­t ion in- the Zulu War , for which he holds the medal and clasp. U n t i l recently he was colonel of the 3rd Bat ta l ion of the Royal Scots Fusi­liers. He married while a lieutenant, and his eldest sen came of age last year.

I N T E R E S T I N G I T E M S .

The normal life of a mouse is three y*ars. Insane paupers increase at the rate of abodt

2,000 a year. The first cargo of foreign meat was landed i n

this country in 1847. Peat soil changes the red of the hydrangea

blossom to blue. Spain is the greatest k-ad producing country,

and Germany second. A revolution has broken oat in the province

of Corrientes, Argentina. D r . Ethel Bentham is seeking election to

Newcastle-on-Tyne Town Council . I n a garden at Terriers (Bucks) crocuses are

in bloom for the second time this year. The Churchmen of I l f c r d are about to rear a

memorial bui lding to the late L o r d Salisbury. Her r Alfred Reisinauer. the pianist, died of

heart disease at L i b a u at the age of forty-four.

Donations to the Cambridge University Bene­faction Fund were stated to amount to £101,028.

Objection to the vote of a man who was hanged some months ago has been taken i t Pontefract.

M r . D . P. Wi l l i ams . C.B. . Collector of Cu--tome at Liverpool , is re t i r ing after forty-six years' service.

Statistics published show that there are cow 25.134 fewer acres of potatoes in I re land than there were last year.

A t the harvest festival at Puncknowle, in West Dorset, a string of fine mackerel was sus­pended across the chancel.

L o r d Winterstoke was presented by the Bris­tol citizens wi th his por t ra i t in oils from tb« brush of M r . Hugh Riviere.

A t the G r i n Limestone Works , near Buxton , a charge of powder exploded prematurely, k i l l -a mau'nsmed James Wood.

A "pauper" lunatic, lately under the charge of the Ci ty of London Guardians, has left estate sworn at £582 4s. lOd.

For stealing a pisno from a Newcastle-cn-Tyne house a man named Robinson has been sent to prison for six months.

The boilermakers have decided to sta^d by the Edinburgh agreement, and the employer* have withdrawn the lock-out notices.

On the staff of the Newquay (Cornwall) Posvt Office i« an elderly woman who regularly under­takes the delivery of letters and parcels.

A n American rifie team wi l l visi t I r e l a r d next vcar to compete for the Seagrit Cup won by the Ulster Rifle Association in 1901.

" E . S." was marked on the clothing of a well-dressed woman whose body was washer! up by the sea at Withernsea. East Yorkshire.

According to-an official report sixty members of crews of Br i t i sh vessels lost their lives dur i r .g September, forty-six snips being wrecked.

W i t h a load of f ru i t equal to that carried by seven pair-horse vans, a monster steam-engine arrived at Covent-garden Market ,

Cargoes of 99,000,01X1 herrings in a l l have been discharged fr( m 500 fishing vessels at Grimsby, the uum :x?r establishing a record.

A very fine specimen of the 27 paras, black on rose, stamp of Keumania. issued in June, 1858. was sold for £18 at Messrs. Ol tndin ing ' s rooms.

I t was officially announced at a meeting of the Belfast Corporation thai 3.V3 tons of stoccs were removed from the s : r e v l > dur ing the recent riots.

- Skidding in Holbom a royal mail motor-van. collided wi th the kerb, a hind wheel be'ng smashed. The mails were transferred to another van.

" Rattenvertilgungszwrckvervand " is the t i t l e of a society which has been formed in three suburbs of Ber l in to combat a plague of rats.

M r . B . C. Pankhurst. cf Montreal . Can.-.<!a, has just died in his 107:h year. He leaves I7S* descendants l iving in different parts of the wor ld .

I t was reported to the Teudring (Essex)

" I N T H E SECRET S E R V I C E . "

BLOOD R E D L A K E .

One of the natural curiosities of Switzer­land is Lake Morat , which turns blood red every tenth year. For centuries this freak was regarded by the Swiss w i t h superstitious dread, and not u n t i l scientists proved the cause was the belief in the supernatural par t ly removed. The reddish colour is given the water by a minute plant closely related to the red snow. Every tenth year "this plant begins to propagate, and so quickly does i t grow that in a short t ime the whole lake is a crimson tide. The plant is 60 minute as not to be perceptible without the aid of a micro­scope.

A R E M A R K A B L E P H O T O G R A P H .

" M y most unique photograph is that of a large rattlesnake in the very act of s t r ik ing at me," relates a naturalist photographer. " I had previously captured the reptile, and was anxious to il lustrate the feat. I t was placed on the top of a mass of rock, while I posed as i f I had just caught sight of i t , and was motioning to the snake-charmer who was climbing up the face of the rock. I failed to notice tha t the rattlesnake had worked its way to the edge of the rock, and as I put my left hand over the edge to steady myself, the reptile struck savagely at my fingers. I t s teeth grazed the ball of my thumb, cut. the skin, but d id not draw blood. I was so startled that I convulsively squeezed the bulb connected wi th my camera, and so secured a photograph for which I nearly paid a heavy price—that of my l i f e . " i

A remarkable career of crime was revealed at Clerkenwell Sessions during the hearing of the charge against " D r . " Fel ix Markfeldt , in­dicted for having stolen jewellery, the property of Miss Florence Crow, confectioner, of Ham­mersmith.

When the case first came before the court Markfeldt declared that he was under oath to the Admira l ty not to divulge certain things, and unless he had the K i n g s permission to do 60 he could not defend himself.

Miss Crow said that last year she made tke acquaintance of " D r . " Markfeldt as a cus­tomer. He became much more friendly. He looked over her jewel case, and under the pre­tence that be would repair or alter certain articles he was allowed to take them away. A t the time he was posing as a wireless telegra­phist in the secret service of the W a r Office, and after obtaining the jewellery he dis­appeared.

A detective-sergeant stated that prisoner had masqueraded as a colonel on the W a r Office-staff. After a term of imprisonment he told the manager of an hotel at Southsea that he had a patent periscope for attaching to sub­marines. When he had secured every penny the man possessed Markfeldt left him and his wife and family in the direst poverty. Prisoner hatl received an excellent education, and pr ior to his last conviction he toured the provinces seeking the acquaintance of young women wi th the object of obtaining their savings.

M r . Lovelaud, K . C . , said he was a very-dangerous man, and after undergoing five years' penal servitude he would be deported.

ESCAPE FROM PRISON VAN.

Guardians that the werkhor.se pigs had been ie- K^i-diar.s of £1 l i s . 6d.

each. sold at a profit to the

Four prisoners made their escape from a pr i ­son van in Glasgow under sensational circum­stances. The van, which was proceeding from the County Buildings in Ingram-street to Duke-street prison—quite a short distance—contained a number of prisoners who had received sen­tence at the Sheriff Court. I n the rear portion of "Black M a r i a " was placed four young men who had been sentenced for assault aud rob­bery. As the van was proceeding along Ingram-street, the four men burst open the door, knocked down the two constables who were on guard on the steps, and made their escape.

One of the constables was attacked by, i t is supposed, some of the crowd who had followed the van, and stabbed. Fortunately i t was found the wound was not serious.

There were 12 prisoners in the van—eight men and four women. Only the four young men got free.

Some time ago a prisoner who was being con­veyed from the court to another Glasgow prison tore up the bottom of the prison van aud crawled out, making his escape.

Under the auspices of the Public Library and Museum Committee of the Southwark Borough Council, the Southwark Borough Prize Band wi l l give free weekly concerts at the Manor-place and Lavington-court Public Baths tlurfng the winter season. The expenses of the concerts w i l l he met by the revenue from advertisements on the free concert programmes.

I t is many yeare since H . M . Stanley made his memorable journey across Africa in search of D r . Livingstone, but there is s t i l l l i v ing is the person of M r . Swann, of Terriers (Bucks) the man who bui l t the carriage upon which the explorer's boats were drawn from lake to lake and r iver to river. The boats (of i ron make' were made by Thornoxcroft's at Chiswick, and the carriages were built from Stanley's speeifi- ' cation.

W i t h much ceremony the o ld colours of the 1st Battal ion Cheshire Regiment were pre­sented to the Chester Cathedral for safe pre­servation.

Lord Duncannon, L .C.C. member for Mary-lebone. and son of the Ear! t f B-'fsbcroi'(ih, was adopted as Conservative candidate for Cheltenham.

The K i n g has approved the annointment cf M r . Frederick John Jr.ck«on, C.B. . G . M . G . , to be Lieutenant-Governor of the East Afr ica Protectorate.

M r . Ronald Frederick Wi l l i ams wast fined £20 and £10 costs :.: W. ' tminster for d r iv ing his racing motor-oar a*, a reckless speed i n Brompton-road.

As an engine was p reced ing to the sheds a t Nuneaton, i t dashed into a stop-block, and, mounting a passengers' plaiform, embedded i t ­self in the earth.

Major-General Daniievsky has been dismissed from the Russian a-my for having used insult­ing language in reference to members cf the Imperial Fst . i i ly.

Since the Bishop's ^ t ' . r i f e rd miniature r if le range was opened three weeks ago no fewer than 25.000 rounds ef i_artr;dg'.s have been firc.l from four rifles.

A Salvation Army g i r l who damaged a pic­ture by Ingres in the Louvre recently was sen­tenced to six months' improce.nment and Eoasl £4 in the Paris courts.

Thirteen French officers have been prevented from landing at Tangier fre.m the s u a n H - r E m i r because she came from Oraa, Alger ia , where plague has broken out.

Tipperary County D " i c i l have refused to grant an increase in salary to their s t tne} :r, M r . Hackett, who g t re evidence for Lund Ash-town in the recent lawsuit.

West Ham Guardians Jof; rreel for fur ther consideration a proposal that the names on the foundation-6toue' of the iiiM-tnary be rcm;ve<l, owing to the recent scandals.

The Lord Mayor of London announce J at Leicester that he had now practically obtained, the £60,000 needed for the cripples' heme which i t is propuseil to bui ld .

By the endowment of a eo; or other memorial , to be named after him. the Ce.urt of Common Council resolved to assejeiate itself wi th the L o r d Mayor's Cripples Fund.

Rayner, the murderer r.f M r . W i l l i a m Wniteley. is much improved in h-a l th . Mo has been discharged from the hospital at Park-hurst, and put on l ight labour.

Postage on parcels from the Unite-d Kingdom tc the Uni ted States by the semiofficial service carrie-d on by the Amerioar. Express Company has. been reduced by a shil l ing.

The Agent-General for Natal has sent a cheque for £10.000 to the Lord Mayor, i l . i t . being the sum v<ite-el by his Celery towards iho Queen Vic tor ia Memorial Fn::d.

The Archbishop of Canterbury re-opened the extended and Ef novated premises of Arch­bishop Tenison's Gi r l s ' School, which v.a* fe.itnded in Leindon in the year 1706.

I^icester charities benefit by bequests amounting to £19.650. including £15.000 to the local Infirmary, tine'er the wi l l of M r . Samuel Oelames, of Leicester, who left £107.174.

After M r . Sanders Bttnhwie, J .P. , C.C.. had declared the Axmouth 'Devon) t o l l bridge, which was opened in IftW, freed from to i l , the gates and posts were burnt on a large bonfire.

Standing in a farmyard at Aisby. near A n -ra«ter. is a wheat -tack over t h i r t r yea rs eld. The owner has vowed that he' w i l f not thresh the etack unt i l wh-at make • :13 per quart"*.