The Cardiff Times

The Household. -0- The Necessity of Exercise. Next to the necessity of rest, there is nothing we neglect so much as the necessity of exercise. The man who is compelled to sit all day at a desk in a stuffy office or warehouse cannot afford to go through life in this way without taking regular and systematic exercise. He may be pleased to think that he keeps his skin dry, and that his limbs do not ache but the man who exercises his muscles until a gentle moisture shall come over him will feel a freshness and vigour, and enjoy a healthful rest otherwise unattainable. Such exercise will aid his digestive powers it will enable him better to throw off disease whenever n may come, and it will save him from dyspepsia, and from the horrors of a torpid liver, with all the mental ailments which come in its train. Natnre has an awful power of revenging herself on the man who hves a sedentary life. Hints. FoCE CAUTIONS.—Never go to bed with cold or damp feet. Never lean with the back upon anything that is cold. Never begin a journey until the breakfast has been eaten. Never take warm drinks and then immediately go out into the cold. GETTING Rm OF BLACK-BEETLES. —Try setting a few deep glass jam-jars (with a little jam still adhering to the sides, about your kitchen at night, resting strips of cardboard against the top for the beetles to walk up. You will pro- bably find the jars tolerably full in the morning, and the process steadily persevered with will soon decrease the numbers of the enemy. The best way of using Keating's powder is to strew it thickly on the floor at night, and if, after the kitchen has been left in darkness for an hour or two, a stealthy descent is made, the beetles can often be swept up in quantities, whereas if left until the morning they will have all disappeared, apparently not "one penny the worse." Great care should be taken to leave no crumbs or scraps of any kind about, and all suspicious cracks, especially in cupboards near the lire-place, should be stopped up with cement. CHKRRY JAM.—To each lb. of fruit stalked and stoned (Kentish cherries are best) allow 1 lb. of preserving sugar. Boil the sugar and the kernels of the cherries together for twelve or fourteen minutes, stirring it occasionally then add the cherries, and boil quickly, skimming it constantly for thirty to thirty-five minutes. Pour it into clean, dry jars, and, when cool, cover it with rounds of paper steeped in brandy, and then with tightly tied down papers or bladder. It is a great improvement if about a quarter of a pint of currant-juice is boiled with the sugar and the kernels in the first instance. MOCK HARE.—Mince beef very fine, and add an equal quantity of minced pork. and half an onion. Season with salt, pepper, and sage, bind with an egg, and form into a long roll, covered with beaten egg and fine bread crumbs. Lay a couple of slices of salt pork on top, and roast in a hot oven, basting occasionally with the fat. Good hot or cold. EGGS USED IN COOKING.—Eggs boiled three minutes will be very soft, five minutes will cook hard all but the yolk, and eight minutes will 3ook them hard all through. In breaking eggs, break them separately over a cup to be sure they are perfect. CHERRY FRITTERS.—Stalk and stone the cher- ries, crack the stones, and replace the kernels in the fruit. Have ready some good frying batter, dip the cherries in this, and fry in plenty of fritnre till of a golden brown, drain them well, and serve sprinkled with castor sugar. It is an addition if the cherries are lightly sprinkled with lemon juice and a few drops ot brandy before putting them into the batter. CHERRY TARTLETS.—Stalk and stone l%lb of cherries, and boil them up two or three times in 4oz of powdered sugar without any water, and with this fill up some tartlets, made by covering pretty fancy tartlet tins with short crust, prick them all over with a fork, brush them over with tJllg. and bake in a quick oven these look best if the cherries are drained, piled in the tartlets, and the juice, reduced, poured round tne fruit. These can be served plain, or with a dab of cream in the centre ol each.

A THACKERAY LOVE-STORY, Thackeray and the late Dr Norman McLeod studied at Weimar together as young men, and they both fell in love with the same lady. Mrs Richmond Ritchie, Thackeray's eldest daughter, relates some anecdotes concerning this passion in the new number of MaemiUan's Magazine. The lady's name was Amalia. The novelist visited Weimar with his daughters later on in life. He discovered that Amalia was married.; and was a woman with a family. He did not see her then, but he encountered her at Venice a year later. She was then stout, silent; she was dressed in light green, and she was eating an egg. Thackeray asked the waiter for Madame von Z., says Mrs Ritchie. 'I believe that is Madame von Z. said the waiter, pointing to the fat lady. The lady looked up, then went on with her egg, and my poor father turned away saying ïn a low, overwhelmad voice, ThaI, Amalia! that cannot be Amalia!' I could not understand his silence, his deoomposure. 'Aren't you going to speak to her ? Oh, please do go and speak to her we both cried. 1 Do make sure if it is Amalia.' But he shook his head. 'Can't,' ho said; I'd rather not.' Amalia, meanwhile, having finished her egg, rose deliberately, put down her napkin, and walked away, followed by her little boy." Norman M'Leod afterwards related to Mrs Ritchie how, when Thackeray was on one of his lecturing tours in Scotland, he and the rest of the nobilities wera all assembled to receive the lecturer on the platform, and as Thackeray came by carrying his papers, and advancing to take his place at the reading-desk, he recognised Dr McLeod as he passed, and in the face of all the audience he bent forward and said gravely, in German, without stopping one moment on his way, I love Amalia. still and so went on to deliver his lecture.

How A KING KEEPS COOL.—According to an Indian newspaper, the King of Siam endeavours to keep cool by living under water. He has built a house of glass in the middle of a sluice way. The walls, floors, and ceiling are formed of different thicknesses of glass. A single door closes hermetically. When the weather is very sultry the king enters his glass bouse, closes the door, opens a reservoir, and submerges his house with the exception of a ventilating pipe..The result I is said to be a particularly cool and pleae&nt "•tmosnhere.

ECHOES FROM THE CALENDAR. AUGUST. 14. SUNDAY.—9th Sunday a.fter Trinity. 15. MONDAY.—Sir Walter Scott born 1771. 16. TUESDAY.—Earl of Zetland bom 1844. St. Roch confessor, 11th Century. 17. WEDNESDAY.—Frederick the Great died 1786 18. THURSDAY.—Battle of Gravelotte, 1870. 19. FRIDAY.— James Watt died 1819. Robert Bloom field died 1823. 20. SATURDAY.—Abergele Railway Accident, 1868. Sir Walter Scott. Sir Walter, the renowned author of the Waverley Novels, was in his earliest years afflicted with more than the ordinary ailments of childhood. When scarcely more than two years of age his right leg was found to have become suddenly powerless, and the previously healthy boy was pronounced as lama for life. In his eighth year he appeared to have gained an accession of strength, and was sent to the High School of Edinburgh, but in a few months he was once more prostrated upon a sick couch. His naturally strong constitution triumphed over this, almost the last attack made upon it by disease, and in 1786 he was sufficiently recovered to be appren- ticed to his father, a writer to the Signet. This was in his 15th year; but the youthful invalid had meanwhile been accumulating knowledge, and arranging ideas, had been feeding an imagination stimulated by sickness, with stores which, though not likely ever to be utilised in his practice as a lawyer, were to prove of the most essential service to him in his career as an author. Circumstances combined to give to his awakening intellect that bent which was to conduct the Scotch lawyer's son to greatness. His grand- father, at Sandy Knowe, on the Tweed, and a maiden aunt, who, for a time, bad charge of bim, were able to narrate to him those legendary tales upon which his mind longed to dwell. In his second illness, too, he was permitted to devour the contents of a circulating library, rich "in the romance of chivalry and the ponderous folios of Cyrus and Cassandra, down to the most approved work of modern timee and he afterwards said, I believe I read almost all the romances, old plays, and epic poetry, in that formidable collection." Sir Walter Scott was born at Edinburgh on the 15th August, 1771, and died at Abbotsford, 1832. Joe Miller. The man whose name is now the representative of joking, Joe Miller, is said never to have uttered a joke. This reputed hero of all jokes, in reality an eminent comic actor of the earlier part of the last century, was born in the year 1684. He was no doubt of obscure origin, for even the place of his birth appears to be unknown. In the year 1715 his name occurs for the first time on the bills of Drury-lane Theatre, as performing on the last day of April, the part of Young Clincher in Farquhar's comedy The Constant Couple. What- ever may have been his previous career, it ap- pears certain that his debut was a successful one for from this time he became regularly engaged on the boards of Drury-lane. It was the custom at that time, during the season when the regular theatres were closed, for the actors to perform in temporary theatres or in booths erected at the several fairs in and near the Metropolis, as in Bartholomew's Fair, Smithfield May Fair, Greenwich Fair, and, in this particular year, at the Frost Fair on the frozen Thames, for it was an extraordinarily severe season. We find Joe Miller performing with one of the most celebrated of these novel companies. At Drury Lane Miller rose constantly in public esteem. At his benefit on the 25th April, 1717, when he played the part of Sir Joseph Whittol in Gongrove's Old Bachelor, the tickets were adorned with a, design from the pencil of Hogarth, which represented the scene in which Whittol's bully, Noll, is kicked by Sharper. The original engraving is now extremely rare. St. Roch. St. Roch, or Rogue, was a French gentleman, possessing estates near Montpelier, which, how- ever, he abandoned in order to devote himself to a religious life. The date of his death is stated with some uncertainty as 1327. In consequence of working miraculous cures of the plague, while himself stricken with the disease at Placentia, in Italy, Roch was held as a saint specially to be invoked by persons so afflicted. There were many churches dedicated to him in Germany and other countries, and it seems to have been a custom that persons dying of plague should be buried there. St. Roch's Day was celebrated in England as a general harvest home. The First British Steam Passage Boat. On the 15th August, 1812, there appeared in the Grcenoek Advertiser an announcement signed by Henry Bell, and dated from the Helensburgh Baths, making the public aware that a steam passage-boat, the "Comet," would ply on the Clyde, between Glasgow and Greenock, leaving the fonner city on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and the latter on the other lawful days of the week; the terms, 4s for the best cabin, and 3s for the second. This vessel, one of only 25 tons burden, had been prepared in the building-yard of John and Charles Wood, Port Glasgow, during the previous winter, at the instance of the above- mentioned Henry Bell, who was a simple, un- educated man of an inventive and speculative turn of mind, who amused himself with this project, while his more practical wife kept an hotel and suite of baths at a Clyde watering-place. The application of steam to navigation had been experimentally proved 24 years before, by Mr Patrick Miller, a Dumfries-shiregentleman, under the suggestions of Mr James Taylor and with the engineering assist- ance of Mr Alexander Symington. More recently a steamer bad been put into regulir use by Mr Robert Fulton, on the Hudson River in America. But the little" Comet" of Henry Bell was the first example of a steamboat brought into service- able use in European waters. Robert Bloomfield. Robert Bloomfield, the shoemaker poet, was born at Bury St. Edmunds in 1766. He was the son of a tailor, and, while following his employ- ment as a shoemaker, composed "The Farmer's Boy," a beautiful didactic poem, in which the scenes of rustic labour are truthfully described. He was patronised by Mr Capel Loft, who brought out his poem in 1800. The admiration which it excited is attested by the fact that 26,000 copies were sold in three years. He wrote several other effusions, but his first was the best. Poor Bloomfield's ambition led him astray. When the great smiled upon him, he thought himself famous; but when they forgot him, he sickened and despaired.

SOMEWHAT PLAIN. SQUIRKS You're naturally a kind-hearted, agreeable fellow, John. Why is it that you never smile? OLD BONNYFACT I tried it once, and it took me so long to get my face back I've been afraid to repeat it.

A LRVEL HEAD.—Wife My clezti,, the very next time we have a. season of opera I want to go. Husband Very well. I'll become an opera manager, if you wish. No doubt I can get up a company if I try. Wife But why should you become a manager simply to take me to the opera? Husband It will be cheaper than buy- ing seats, my dear. A MICROSCOPIC };XCU8x.Jobnny, here you are at breakfast with your face unwashed I know it, mamma; I saw the little things that live in water through papa's microscope last evening, and I'm not goin' to have them crawlin' over my face with their funny little legs STRETCHED TRUTH.-Angry Customer (of a day or two before): I thought you told me this watch would" keep time! Mr Feldstein; Vdl, it don'd doaa -ift freratv

ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE. 00 Saturday the trustees of Shakespeare's birthplace obtained possession of Anne Hatha- way's cottage, Shottery, Stratford-on-Avon, the legal formalities having been completed. Hence- forth the same regulations that apply to the birthplace and to the site of the poet's last resi- dence (New-place) will be enforced, the cottage becoming National property, to be preserved and maintained for all time under the legally consti- tuted trust. A little over 50 years ago Anne Hathaway's cottage was sold by the father of the present occupier, Mrs Baker (who claims to be a lineal descendant of the Hathaway family), for JS345. On the 31st March last the Shakespeare trustees avreed to give j a snm of £ 3,000 for the same property. The trustees have also acquired what is left of the Hathaway furniture, together with the visitors' books. Arrangements have been made by the trustees whereby Mrs Baker, who has lived in the cottage over seventy years, and who will celebrate her eightieth birthday next November, will continue, with the help of her son, to show the cottage to visitors. The trustees contemplate putting the cottage in some- thing like the same condition it presented in the poet's day. Between fifty and sixty years ago the end portion was divided off, and let as a separate tenement. It is now to be opened up as part of the cottage proper- which it originally was—the partitions are to be removed, and the Elizabethan bedstead is to be put back into its original position—an apart- ment on the ground floor, known as the sleeping chamber.

I THE PLEASURES OF SORROW. The Spectator, moved thereto by the recurrence of bank holiday, has an article devoted to an analysis of happiness, in which it says:—When we talk of a dark background as if that were simply an artistic expedient for throwing out the brighter colours, we do great injustice to the part which the darker threads of human destiny play in widening, deepening, and exalting the whole sphere of human life. The great Greek critic spoke of tragedy as puri- fying men by pity and by fear and if he had spoken not merely of purifying, but of enlarging and exalting the whole scope of human nature by these agencies, he would have been even nearer to the truth. The real wearisomeness of the noisier enjoyments arises from their power to stupefy and stun the finer nature of men, from the tumultuousness of their gaiety, from the narrowness and exclu- siveness and almost suffocating character of their mirth. Of two kinds of happiness, one which morally intoxicates tvnd takes full possession of the senses, while the other heightens them, in- tensifies the sympathies, stimulates the vision, and lends energy to the imagination, the latter is productive of far greater happiness, even though it makes use of elements of pain to enlarge the sense of power. Virgil was right when he made his hero console his com- panions for their sufferings by suggesting that a time might come when it would delight them to remember their sufferings, instead of merely re- newing the auguish. And he was right, because that memory would be sure to bring with it much more of the impression of a new wealth of life than of the old dread of death. Human nature is half-unconscious, half-unfolded, half-latent, in all of us in our earlier life. And that which makes the unconscious power con- scious, which evolves that which is in germ, which turns latent into visible and measurable strength, is perhaps more often painful than wholly pleasurable. Noisy mirth, at all events, never effects this awakening. The shrill jollity of a crowd, the common loss of individuality in an ardour of convivial fellowship, gives no new sense of strength or capacity much rather it benumbs whatever sense of strength and capacity there was in us before. It obliterates anxieties and troubles, but it obliterates also the self-conscious life of every acquired faculty, and benumbs afresh the half-born insight of awaken- ing power.

VALUABLE ASSISTANCE.—Kissam (to his father- m-law, after the elopement and forgiveness) I must thank you, Mr Scadds, for facilitating my suit with your daughter.—Scadds .Facilitating it ? Why, sir, I opposed it with all my might.— Kissam: Yes; that's what made Blanche deter- mine to marry me, ONLY DISCRET;ON.—Lena Lotos: Are you afraid of thunderstorms ? Jim Hickey Not so much as I am afraid of snowstorms. Lena Lotos And why are you afraid of snowstorms ? Jim Hickey: Because I bave to K(1UP and shovel off Abe rqnf

GOSSIPS' CORNER. Bosnia is becoming a favourite holiday reseat for jaded legislators. In the Tyne 105 vessels are laid up, represent- ing a total register of 100;666 tons. Chrysanthemums, served as salad. are a favourite article of diet amongst the Japanese. The improvement in Captain O'Shea's condi- tion slowly, but steadily, conti nues. A number of Japanese actresses are preparing to start on a tour in Europe, to illustrate the native style of acting. Lord and Lady Rookwood have presented a fine specimen of the Vinegar Bible, dated 1717, to Hatfield Broad Oak Church. Essex. Dr. Bradford thinks the weak point in Ameri- can religious life is a conceit of intellectuality." The right of private judgment, he says, is carried to an extreme. The sky now shows, besides Mars, both Jupiter and Venus. Jupiter rises just now about 10 p.m., and at the end of the month about 8 p.m. Ventw is a mcrning star. The council of University College, Liverpool, acting on the recommendation of the Liverpool Board of Legal Studies, have appointed Mr Edwards JenklS M A, to the Professorship of Law at that College. Be careful not to play or sing past, or close to, any place where worship is going on. Beware. after stopping, of beginning again too soon." This is an instruction just issued by the chief of the Salvation Army. It is officially announced in Sir Reavers Buller's Army Order" that Volunteer officers who re- ceive the new decoration instituted by her Majesty will have their names in the Army List preceded by the letters V.D." It happens sometimes that the Pope, having been troubled with sleeplessness, gets up with a piece of Latin or Italian poetry composed during the wakeful hours. The verses are generally die- j tated to one of the secretaries before the mass, No fewer than six directors of the North-East- ern Railway Company have been elected to the present Parliament. They are Sir J. W. Pease vice-chairman, Mr J. L. Wharton, Mr Joicey, Sir M. W. Ridley, Sir H. M. Thompson, and Sir James Kitson. It is the intention of Mr Furness, MP., at the earliest opportunity, to call attention to the action of the brewers in reference to the late General Election, and to move for a Royal Commission te inquire into the use made at the election of the funds raised by the brewing interest. Professor Lcmbroso.of Turin, the deep-thinking psychologist, has rather offended the fair sex by his recent assertion that womsn learned by their own experience the power which they possessed through tears, and hence they wept from policy, wept much, and wept at the right time.' The living of Dunton, Essex, of the annual value of £ 425, has become vacant through the resignation of the Rev W. H. Tucker, who bat held it since 1845. The rev gentleman, though in his 93rd year, is in the enjoyment cf fairly good health. The living is in the gift of King's Col- lege, Cambridge. Lady Euan Smith, wife of the English minis- ter of Morocco, and his companions daring the recent unpleasantness at Fez, is a most capable musician. She was a composer at the early age 12, and composed a march for the 12tb Lancers^ which became very popular and regularly played by the regimental band. Miss Green, one of the prettiest of the American beauties in London, will be married shortly to Sir James Home, tenth baronet, formerly of the Black Watch. Sir James will have an ample fortune at the death of his mother, and he will receive a comfortable dowry with his bride, whose father was a wealthy citizen of San Fran- cisco. Mr Robert Gla^sby, the sculptor, who assisted bir Edgar Boehm for many years, died oa ednesday, at Chelsea. Before his illness he was engaged upon a marble bust of the late Grand Duke of Hesse, which the Queen had commis- sioned him to execute, and which was to have been placed in the Royal Mausoleum at Frog- more. John Burns bears meekly his due burden of abuse. "Have you sworn yet, John?" asked a friend on Friday afternoon as he was coming out of the House. "No, but a good many people have sworn at me, was his reply. We need not infer from this any deterioration in the manners of the House of Commons. It is purely metaphorical. The Zend-Avesta, which Mr Naoroji pulled from his pocket to take the oath upon in the House of Commons, but which the Clerk would not permit him to use, is the Parsee's Bible and Prayer-book. The Parsees call it simply A vesta. It is the original document or the religion of Zoroaster. Like our own Bible, there is no MS, which gives it in its entirety. Mr James Monro, the late Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, is making a profound im- pression in India by his assiduous endeavours in evangelistic work. He is working with his daughter upon independent lines, but his counsel and help are eagerly sought after by the more settled organisations. The North German Gazette states that it has been determined to recognise the Centigrade thermometer as the official instrument in the place of the Reaumur thermometer, which is still iu use here and there. Consequently all the official statements of the temperature will for the future be reckoned exclusively by the Centigrade method. Mr J. Nyland, of Plymouth, has issued a cir- cular to the nation, in which he says "that, for the welfare of all men—and for the further development of commerce and industry, it in absolutely necessary that the religious leaden should give proper examples to the people. And to counteract vanity and pride it would prove beneficial if the religious leaders lived in cottages rather than in palaces and mansions, M demonstrated to the world by the example of The Just and Humble Carpenter of Nazareth." Mr F. A. Channing, the newly-elected mem* ber for East Northampton, is an Americstn by birth. He is a son of the Rev W. H. Chan- ning, and a nephew of the famous U nitariaa preacher, William Ellery Cbanning. A sister of the young M.P. became the wife of Mr Edwin Arnold. Mr Channing took high honours Ù Cambridge. Most of his life has been spent ia England. "The largest coin I found in the collection plate this morning," observed a reverend clergy. man to a Scotch congregation, was a sixpence. If the members of this congregation are expecting to pay their way into a better land on the instal- ment plan, it seems to me that they are calculat- ing on a much longer mundane life than has been allotted to man since the days of Methuselah."

A SATURDAY SERMON. The worst kind of religion is no religion at all, and these men, living in ease and luxu.y, in. dulging themselves in the amusement of going without a religion, may be thankful that they live in lands where the Gospel they neglect has tamed the beastliness and ferocity of the met who, but for Christianity, mitrht long ago have eaten their carcasses Like the South Sea Islander*, or cut off their heads, and tanned their hides, like the monsters of the French Revolution. When the microscopic search of scepticism, which has hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove the existence of a Creator, has turned its attention to human society, and hae found a place on this planet ten miles square where a decent man may live in decency, com- fort, and security, supporting and educating hie children unspoiled and unpolluted-a place where age is reverenced, infancy respected, manhood respected, womanhood honoured, and human life beld in due regard—when sceptics can find snob a place ten miles square on this globe, where the Gospel has not gone, and cleared the way aa4 laid the foundations and made decency and security possible, it will then be in order for the sceptic literati to move thither aDd VfHtilitf tbsir views.-Vows Eu*t(U Lgwtfk

Tne Shelley Centenary. Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at Field-place, near Horsham, on August 4th, 1792, and his cen- tenary was celebrated at Horsham on Thursday week. The poet was drowned on July 8th, 1823, in a. sudden squall, near Leghorn. His remains were cremated, and the ashes interred in the Protestant cemetery at Rome, near the body of Keats. An imposing monument to his memory is now in Christchurch Minster, erected by Sir Percy and Lady Shelley. The impassioned figure of Mary Shelley dominates the chief subject, the naked recumbent corpse of the drowned poet. Mr Onslow Furd'.s monument to the poet stands in University College, Oxford. It renders a mourning Muse over the effigy of Shelley—a work of powerful imagination and refined delicacy. Among the many memorials proposed to mark this eventful centenary, the idea. of Sussex to establish m his native town of Horsha.m a Shelley Library and Museum seems the most applicable and permanent. The bibliography of Shelley would fill a fair-sized catalogue. Writing on Shelley in the Fortnightly Revietv, Mr Francis Adams says What claim can we made for Shelley ? What shall we give as the lasting result of his life and labours ? Firstly and chiefly—the purity of his personality, No other man of his time was so disinterested, none dtber so ingenious. He loved the light and con- tinually sought for it, fearing nothing, with one heart and with one face for alL His courage was peerless. His curiosity was unbounded. He had no respect for anything or for anyone except such as he conceived they were able tojnstify. Superstition had no place in him. Selfishness, meanness, ignobility were unknown to him. His generosity was of the sort which instantaneously forgives everything to the vanquished. The woe be would have dealt out was for the conquerors alone. Finally, his capacity for happiness, for child-like trustfulness and love, was immense. Left to himself be was as one of the kingdom of heaven. The picture of him alone in his Italian haunts is a joy of refreshment and repose to every weary toiler after better things. Ah, truly we do well to blame him for his faults, excellently well, we commonplace people of the hour, we children of this world, wiser in our day and generation, seeing that the shapes of folly or sin which these faults took upon themselves were due tonone but us. Child that he was, and child of light, we wrinkled denizens of the darkness vexed and tortured him withunendurableegotisms, our hateful exigencies. But now we know him better. Life is life, and in the terrible struggle of our kind benefactors and malefactors must be judged—can alone be judged-by the strict rules of the game. We cannot call him great but is it nothing to say of his spirit that it was lovely ? We cannot take his larger labours seriously; they are not lasting contributions to our exiguous store of deathless achievement. But is it nothing to say that a handful of his lyrics gives us a delicate music, a subtle perfume, that are too rare and too exquisite for either us or those who come after us ever to forget ? Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory Odours, when sweet violetr, sicken, Live with the sense they quicken Rose-leaves, when the rose is dead, Are heaped for the beloved's bed Aud so thy thoughts when thou art gone, Love itself shall slumber on. =====^=

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WORKMEN'S TOPICS. I BY MABON, M.P. FOR AND AGAINST OVERTIME. "e all know that one great cause of the of continuity of employment is that ere are fluctuations in trade. Pericds of grosperity oftentimes bring with them sud- en large demands, and in many trades these are met by working overtime. Every man "o works a day and a quarter instead of a w y *our days a week, takes away a day's from another man. If 20 men work ij ay a>nd a quarter instead of a day, they the work of five men. If 20,000 L do the same thing, they take r ay the work of 5,000 men. This j.ry Naturally involves a considerable sp^acement of labour, and, although it ay be unavoidable in some cases, yet, by ght shifts and by employing relays of &len, it is possible to produce the required quantities of goods, and such arrangements "tese would provide better employment lor the whole body of men. We are afraid &at we are going in too much for the pro- action of quantity we are always talking oout quantities, and comparing our quan- ties with the quantities of other nations, hile, in fact, we have better manufactories nd Workmen, and we ought to go in more 0r quality as a policy, that would be better ,°r workmen, for employers, and for humanity at large, and it might retain ?r us a share of the prosperity which, with prevailing competition, seems to be "Pping away from us if not that, which Oftentimes fails to keep our teeming popula- ijon In work and comfort. Surplus labour has certainly a most preju- dIcIal influence both upon the regularity of employment and the rates of pay. This existg to some extent when trade is moder- ately good, but when depressed, as it too often is, the cry of the unemployed in this Country for food and work is pitiable. This, Igail), leads to great poverty, and con- tequent overcrowding and depression, Especially in large town. Ground rents and, lerefore, house rents, are so high that ?oor]y-paid workers cannot afford decent iodgings. Hence comes that poverty from *hich for the real poor there is no escape. •Ihis kind of poverty is a terrible evil. Once gets a full grip on a working-man, it flatters little of what grade the man rmerly was it ultimately lowers his self- aspect, if cripples his energies, and in the long run degrades him beyond measure in 411 respects. Forced interruption to labour in any shape is a terrible evil, and oftentimes to other evils. Those whose liveli- o°d ig secure,' doubtless gain physical and Rental health from happy and well-spent °lidays. But want of work, with long- anxiety consumes a man's best trength without any return. His wife gets "in, his children get, as it were, a nasty ,Illltch in their lives, which is perhaps never quite overgrown. We there ought to regard Viitll satisfaction any successful effort to do Away with overtime—to diminish surplus labour and to reduce the hours of labour, lyhich in all probability is the more effective wa.y to bring about this desirable and con- *<jhunate state of things. And although, .JJ'hile humannatureiswhatitis,itwillbe more lati we can hope to realise not to see some ti'ades under advantageous circumstances '60 unselfish as not to curtail production, lvlien they can benefit members by doing though at great cost to the rest of the Immunity yet it is to be hoped that the c°untry will be spared the repetition of the fjusery and suffering imposed upon so many thousands of poor and innocent people, as the case with the late cessation of labour in the coal trade. People ought to be very loth indeed to impose injuries on other people; especially when those are inore than the benefits that accrue to themselves from such actions. ^o serious improvement, it is to be feared, will take in the continuity of deployment, or the rate of wages, or the ^ellbeing of the working classes until public opinion treats the wealth of the Capitalist as a fund entrusted to him by Society, to be administered for the benefit society, and more especially for that par- ticular group of workers for which he is re- sponsible. We say wealth, not his capital. introduction of the latter word does but obscure the truth that the whole of his "Wealth is entrusted to him for the social Purpose above mentioned, and not merely tha.t particular portion which, according to Adam Smith, he expects to afford him a Revenue," or, according to Ricardo, "is ?fiiployed in production or, according to piU, is destined to supply productive labour, with shelter, tools, and other mate- rials which the work requires, and to *eed and otherwise maintain the labourer during the process." Looked at from the special point of view, this wealth is entrusted to him not simply for production, but for production securing adequate com- fort and dignity to the producers, including himself, he being, as it were, the managing Partner of the rest. There need be no great Jear that public opinion will ever grudge "im such reasonable superiority in comfort, j*nd even luxury, as befits his position, as *ong as the industrial co-operation which he superintends is carried on wisely and suc- cessfully, especially if he himself is not of the masses, and has grown from and inde- pendent of commerce. But it must be thoroughly understood that the support of the co-operation in as much comfort and dignity as the state of the trust fund will permit must always be the first charge upon lfc and that they must not be pinched as Jong as the trustee has carriages, horses, handsome furniture, a cellar of wine, and a staff of domestic servants the larger profits ttiade during good years, instead of being Used for a reckless expansion of the busi- ness, or an increased state of personal expenditure, are to be considered and treated as a reserve fund far providing continuous employment and a steady rate of wages in bad times. We may be asked as a consequence in what respect will such an ideal capitalist of the future differ from the manager of a co-operative store of the present day ? Our answer is chiefly in this. He will not be an ,electipg officer subject to removal, and more or less fettered by his election. He, in all probability, will be the same hereditary capitalist as he is now, administering his Wealth according to his free discretion, as he does now, only he will have this differeijce about him. He will be judged and will judge himself by a very different standard. To the Socialist., who will accept no solution that fails to satisfy the demand for equality, this seems a very insufficient concession. He doubtless would rather all were poor together than to submit to any hierarchical organisation of society. A different objec- tion, again, will be made by others besides Socialists. The pressing question with them will be, How do you expect to in- duce the hereditary capitalists to take this new view you have expounded of their duties? And, indeed, here is a problem, and a problem that will not solve itself by merely being left alone. However, we hope that we shall not be listened to with im- patience when we say that in our opinion We must trust mainly to the oldest, the strongest, the most universal, the most beneficent of civilising agencies, the in. fluence of religion. It is, indeed, no light undertaking to attempt to educate public opinion to a higher level. and it can oolv be done gradually. For this reason, then, if for no other, it does not commend itself to the advocates of heroic remedies. But the history of civilisation, we think, shows that public opinion is capable of such improve- ment, and therefore there is nothing visionary or impractical in the expectation that improvement may be carried further. The outward practical standard of conduct expected by public opinion has been rising from primoeval times to the present day. Looking at history broadly, we may consider the rise to have been steady and continuous, and in every case the agreement of the most enlightened people as to the improvement necessary has, without exception, preceded itsjgeneral acceptance by the public and we are further of opinion that history will still repeat itself with respect to the matter under discussion.

National Eisteddfod of Wales. — t BY MAELGWYN. The prospects of the National Eisteddfod to be held next month at Rhyl are unusually bright. The number of entries is very good, and, so far as the competitive element is concerned, the success of the eisteddfod is already assured. It is, how- ever, a mistake to say that the list of entries received at Rbyl is the greatest ever known, be- cause, as a matter of fact, it cannot compare for a moment with the Swansea list. It is altogether misleading to say that about 4,500 entries have been received. This gigantic number is only obtained by multiplying the number of competing choirs by the number of members in each. Thus two large choirs make up about 350 entries, according to this method of reckoning. But passing over the peculiar manipulation of figures, the broad fact remains that the list of 81tries is a very creditable one, and that some magnificent competitions are certain to take place. Judging alone by the number of competitors, it must be admitted that the Rbyl Eisteddfod will altogether overtop that held at Bangor, and will even compare favourably with the historic gatheringinLiverpool. lam bound to say, however, that I think the Committee of Management blundered when they decreed that the list of entries in the musical section should close on the 1st of July. The passing of such a resolution was altogether unnecessary. Musical competi- tions will be decided at the eisteddfod and the adjudicators will have to decide them there and then. Therefore it is arrant folly to close the entries nine weeks before the eisteddfod takes place. It is but right that the literary works should be in the hands of the secretary in good time, but the musical entries should not have been closed until the middle of August. Having said so much about what ought to have been, and ought not to have been done, let me say a word or two about what has been done. In the chief choral competition, which will be decided on Wednesday, September 7th, four entries have been received, namely, the Chester Harmonic Society, the Carnarvon Choral Union, the Birkenhead Cambrian Choral Society, and the Dowlais Harmonic Society. Ten entries have been received in the male voice choral com- petition and amongst them are the names of our redoubtable Pontycyinmer and Treorky boys. It is, therefore, evident that we mean to secure the prize for Glamorganshire. In tlis competition confined to Welsh choirs, five entries have been received, and a similar number of juvenile choirs have signified their intention to compete. The competition for choirs of ladies' voices has been generally looked upon as likely to be among the most interesting features of the Rhyl Eisteddfod. The committee deserve every credit for having included such a competition in their programme, and it is gratifying to know that their venture has met with considerable success. Five choirs have entered, and if they all appear a splendid competition is certain. Six brass bands have sent in their names, and the number of soloists is about 300. It will thus be seen that that there is every indication that the competitions will prove worthy of the National Eisteddfod of Wales. There need no longer be the slightest doubt of the intention of the Dowlais Harmonic Society to compete for the chief choral prize at Rhyl. The choir will unquestionably take part in the great contest. A few days after their latest triumph at Bridgend the singers set about the task of rehearsing the Rhyl test pieces, and since then something like a dozen singing practices have been held in one week alone. The energy of the choristers is unbounded, and the enthusiasm with which they have set about their tremendous task is simply marvellous. As a con- sequence their progress has been most marked, and they are confident that on the day of battle South Wales will have no reason to be ashamed of its represantatives. The contest at Rbyl will for the first time for many a long year partake of the character of an invasion of the north by the singers of the south, and it remains to be seen whether the invaders or the defenders will prove victorious. The contest is evoking considerable attention in North Wales, and the desire to hear the famous Dowlais choir seems to be widespread. It is rumoured that the ehoir will give a concert at Chester on their way to Rhyl. Unless the "best laid plans" of our Glamorgan- shire singers share the fate which Bobby Burns tells us waits upon those of mice and men, we shall be very strongly represented at the Chicago International Eisteddfod. Everybody knowa by this time that the Dowlais Harmonic Society have decided to cross the water in search of the £1,000 prize, and the chances are all in favour of their carrying out their intention. The Pontycymmer and Rhondda Glea Societies have likewise decided to compete for the male voice choral prize, and it is more than probable that the Treorky choir will do the same. The Rhondda Glee Society, having made a tour in the States some few years ago, are likely to find the experience then gained of great value, and in this, at all events, they will have a great advantage over the other Welsh choirs.

A COUSIN OF THACKERAY'S. The Rev Frederick Thackeray, vicar of Shop- land, Essex, whose death is announced. was a cousin of the author of Pendennis and "Vanity Fair." In his younger days he was well known in thecricket field, playingon more than one occasion for All England, and being reserve man at Cambridge University. He played for Eton, and in one of the annual matches against Rugby he is described in "Tom Brown's Schooldays," as long- armed, bare-headed, slashing-looking player," who "steals more runs than any man in England.' His hitting is said by the author of Tom Brown to have been tremendous, and his run- ning like a flash of lightning. The deceased clergyman was one of the praepostors atEton when all the lower boys refused to answer at eight o'clock absence.. (It being summer), and when Dr Keate took the bull by the horns and flogged in sixes at a time about 80boys on the same night.

THE BALD TKUTH.— Patient: Doctor, let me know the worst. Doctor (absent-mindedly): Your bill will be two hundred dollars. WHEBK IT THUNDERS MOST.—Java is said to be the region of the globe where it thunders oftenest, having thunderstorms on ninety-seven days in the year. After it are Sumatra, with eightv-six days; Hindostan, with fifty-six; Borneo, with fifty-four; the Gold Coast, with fifty-two and itio de Janeiro, with fifty-one. In Europe, Italy occupies the first place, with thirty-eight days of thunder, while France and Southern Russia have sixteen days. Great Britain and Switzerland seven days, and Norway only four davs. Thunder is rare at Cairo, being heard only" three days in the year and is ex- tremely rare in Northern Turkistan and the polar regions. The northern limit of thunderstorms passes by Cape Ogl^ Iceland, Nora Zeafbla, and the ooast) of the Siberian v99r

THE PRESIDENT OF THE WESLEYAN CONFERENCE. Dr Rigg, the President of this year's Wesleyan Conference, is one of the most eminent figures in modern Methodism. His mind is of a. conserva- tive bent, and his temperament is little in harmony with the assertive character of the Forward Movement in Methodism. Yet Methodism would be the poorer without him-infinitely poorer. He is a septuagenarian, but this Conference has amply shown that the rapidity of his perception has not been dimmed by age. Advancing years (says the Morn- ing Leader) have tem- pered his sympathies, and, perhaps, chilled his enthusiasms — that, too, the Con- ference has revealed but intellectually be carries the weight of hose seven decades veil and vigorously. Dr. Rigg's present eminence in Method- ism is befitting. He is the son of a wesleyan number, and his mother (Miss McMullen) was not only the daughter of the first Wesleyan minister of Gibraltar, but she was a ward of Dr Coke, and subsequently of Dr Adam Clarke, in whose family she was brought up. It is, of course, not our purpose to add another to the many biographies of Dr. Rigg. Methodism is certainly proud of his career. His literary eminence, of which his articles in the Quarterly Review have given some evidence, and Modern Anglican Theology" emphatically confirmed, is assured; his prominence as a theologian is illustrated by the fact that he has held for 24 years the post of Principal of the Westminster Training College. We are not in harmony with his educational views—perhaps it is as an educational statesman he is best known. We regret that his judgment should be governed by his Conservative instincts, but we must all admit the great earnestness and great zeal he has brought to the educational dis- cussion. That earnestness and that zeal have been often reflected during the Conference's dis- cussions. Not a man in Methodism regrets the singular honour that has been paid him by the Connexion. There is, in fact, no other minister living who has enjoyed the honour of a second election to the chair. There is no other man whose presidential wisdom and impartiality so distinctly deservejt.

THE POPE AT HOME. Pope Leo XIII. and Alphonse XIII., King of Spain, share between them the honour of contri- buting more gossip to the daily and periodical papers than any other sovereign in Europe. Mdme. Severine, the Frenchwoman who for several years edited the Cri du Pcuplo, has just been received in a special audience by the Holy Father. She gives the following graphic de- scription of the personal appearance of Leo XIII. Very pale, very upright, very thin—indeed, hardly accessible to the eye, so little remains of what is material in that robe of white cioth—the Holy Father is seated in a large armchair. The light falling full upon the fine face of the Latin prelate shows features full of life and animation, galvanised, as it were, by a soul so youthful, so vibrating, so full of zeal for what is good, of comprehension for moral misery, of pity for physical defects, that one feels as if a miraculous In day-dawn were breaking over a dying day. About the mouth you notice the traits of tender, timid goodness but the long, strong nose reveals an inflexible will-which knows how to wait. The Pope's voice seems at first to come from afar-off; as if it had been exiled by prayer, and was more accustomed to mount to heaven than to descend to earth. Still, while he goes on talking the voice comes back, with ever and again a note as of intonation. The Ilontiff expresses himself very correctly and elegantly iu French, but every moment the Italian exclamation, "Ecco!" escapes him. Then the docile words take to a gallop, are bifur- cated, and take the Holy Father just where he wants to go. The head of the Roman Catholic Church is also the subject of long and chatty article in the new number of the North American Review (Brentano's), by Signor Giovanni Amadi, from which we take the following extracts:— During the political disturbances which accompanied and followed the establishment of United Italy, Francesco Crispi, then member of Parliament from Palermo, had several interviews on business with Cardinal Joachim Pecci, then Archbishop of Perugia. On one of these occasions the Cardinal said to Crispi, You are a very able man, and a splendid career is open to you. The day is near when you will be a Minister, perhaps Prime Minister, to the King." "I accept the omen," Crispi replied, but when I shall be Premier you will be Pope," The prediction was fulfilled on both sides m February, 1878. In summer, as in winter, Leo XIII. is awakened at six by his private servant, Francesco Centra, from Carpeneto. Centra knocks at the door, opens the blinds, addresses a customary salute to his master, and at onoe retires. The Pope gets up from bed unaided, and also performs his toilet unaided, except as re- gards shaving. This operation is per- formed by the faithful Centra. The bedroom is not the one used as such by his pre- decessors it is a small and rather low cell in the mezzanino or entresol, to which he repaired many years ago in the course of some restorations to the old room, and where be has remained ever since. At seven o'clock he says his mass, attended by two cappcllani segreti, and hears a second mass celebrated by one of the same attendants, who act also as private secretaries. It happens sometimes that the Pope, having been troubled with sleeplessness, gets up with a piece of Latin or Italian poetry composed during the wakeful hours. The verses are generally dictated to one of the secretaries before the mass. The breakfast of the Pope consists of coffee, milk, and bread without butter. Soon after, the official reception begins. Many strangers are obliged to leave Rome without having been able to see the Holy Father. In winter if the sun shines the recep- tions are interrupted for a while for a walk or a drive of half an hour m the Vatican gardens, Leo XIII. dines at one o'clock in the old Roman style. The dinner is composed of a soup, generally pate d'Italie, a roast, a vegetable, very often fried potatoes, and fruit. Piux IX. was very fond of boiled meat, which was served to him daily in a triple form — boiled chicken, boiled bbef, and boiled mutton. This plate is banished from Leo's table, as well as bacon and cheese. The only wine served is old Bordeaux. The Pope is very apt to glance over the journals at meal times. He dines alone generally, waited upon, in addition to the valet, by his scalco segreto, or carver, Commeudatore Giulo Sterbini. This official is a gentleman of refined tastes and artistic culture, owning a good collec- tion of pre-Raphaelite pictures. An invitation to take coffee and milk after the Pope's mass is considered a great honour, and it is only extended to those who have heard the mass and received the holy communion from the Pope's hands. It has lately been granted to the ex-Grand Duchess of Tuscany and to the Princes Borghese, Aldobrandini, Altieri, and Ludovisi. The same favour is shown sometimes to the nephews of the Pope. In all cases the visitors sit at a small table next to the Pope's. After dinner Leo XIII. takes a short rest on a chaise tongue, the siesta never lasting beyond the hour. Then follows a drive in the Belvedere Gardens, through which an avenue more than a mile long has lately been opened, affording many lovely points of view over the city and its suburbs. The Holy Father attended by a camerUre segreto and an officer of the Gfwrdia Nobile, stops veJy often in the enclosure of a vine- yard planted six years ago under his supervision. This vineyard is cultivated by the pupils of an agricultural school formed by Pius IX., and accordingly named Vigna Pia. If he finds among the workers an intelligent lad he enters into a friendly talk with him. At six o'clock, after granting other audiences, he takes a cup of bouillon and a glass of Bordeaux. Even- ings are generally devoted to study and writing.

Judge Duffy (to tramp): "You met this lady on the highway, and demanded alms of her, and she refused you." Criminal: Yes, your Honour." "And then you threatened her life ?" "O, no. I didn't do that." "You seized your bludgeon with both hands, and said, Madame you must die.' You did that, didn't you' "Yes, but I didn't threaten her life. I said she must die. And so she must. We all must die some time. I didn't say when she must die I think a great deal of death. and all that." "Ninety days on the island." Small Boy: Dickie Dart is the luckiest boy I know. He is always havin' som&hin' nice v6nt the theatre 1^' night. Little Sister You often go, too. Small Boy \es, but there was a fire in this theatre, a/ a awful panic, and lots of people got crushed, an' he was there an saw th' whole business. Little Sister Where is he now ? Small Boy In a hospital. SUBSTANTIAL CREDIT.—Hobbs I think young .1 Smith deserves a lot of credit for keeping up so fine an establishment on so small a.n income. Dobbs Well, he gets it. He 0W« pretty neatly overypody around towm.

FARM AND GARDEN. Ensilage. There is no occasion whatever to invest in an expensive apparatus -or, indeed, any apparatus whatever-for weighting the silage, as earth, sand, bricks, stones, iron, or any weighty material will answer very well. Your adding small quan- tities of silage to the stack occasionally will com- plicate matters a little. You had better proceed as follows: Fix a sheet, or some good covering, over the stack to keep out rain, and then make the weighting material into convenient bodies for moving on and off the rick at will, for you will need to put on the weights after each lot of herbage is added. If sand or earth is used, put it into sacks and place it on planks on the stack. There are generally plenty of artificial manure sacks to be had. Again, material like stones, or bricks, can be placed on planks and be easily removed. If you make th« stack on a sound spot, where the earth around it can be dug out readily, the soil can be used for pressure, and the trench from whence it comes will keep the bottom of the stack dry. I have known large stacks of green clover set up in fields without any weighting whatever, and have been surprised at the little waste from moulding. Still, you must not adopt this plan if you intend adding at intervals to the rick, lest you get many rows of mould ensilage. p In years gone by there has been much unneces- sary expense in ensilage-making, and, indeed, there is at the present day.—J. W. R. in Farm and Home. Live Stock Diseases. At the last meeting of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, Professor Brown presented a report stating that since June 1st there have been only four outbreaks of pleuro- pneumonia in Great Britain, in the counties of Lancaster, London, and York (W.R.), and Forfar. In the corresponding period of last year there were 43 outbreaks, distributed over 22 counties. No cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been discovered in Great Britain since the week ended June 10th, and now the whole of the restrictions placed on the movement of animals by the Board of Agriculture on account of foot-and mouth disease have been removed. During the past seven weeks there have been 549 outbreaks of swine fever in Great Britain 2,757 pigs were attacked, 1,434 diseased swine were killed, 986 died, 232 recovered, and 222 remained alive when the last published return was made up. During the past few weeks there have been two rather serious outbreaks of anthrax in Sussex—one at Chalvington and the other at Ringmer. In one of these outbreaks some twenty animals, includ- ing two horses, died aud one of the men em- ployed on the farm, who killed a diseased cow before the nature of the disease was known, got inoculated, and died. The Lord Mayor on the Dairy Industry. Last week the Lord Mayor, accompanied by the Lady Mayoress and a distinguished party, paid a visit to Mr Walter Gilbey, of Elsenham Hall, Essex. On the same day, the Lady Mayoress opened the New Blythwood Dairy be- longing to Mr J. Blyth, of Wood House, Stan- stead. In returning thanks for some congratula tory remarks, the Lord Mayor said that, although in this country great advances had been made in dairying of late years, there was still room for vast extensionand improvement. Other nations, notably Denmark, bad made wonderful strides in their diary industry by improving the quality of their products, and putting the trade upon a sound business footing, and it could hardly be doubted that a similar success would be secured in this country if the farmers could be awakened to the importance of making really first-class butter, and to the necessity of securing uniformity of excellence. It was on account of our failure in these respects that the large factors preferred the Normandy, Brittany, and Danish butters because they could depend upon a regular supply, and knew it would always be of the same quality.-Farm and Home. Vegetable Garden. Sow winter onions and winter spinach the prickly-seeded is the kind most generally used, but there are other varieties equally good. In like manner the tripoli onion is the kind generally sown now, but the white Spanish and any other variety may be sown on land liable to the attacks of the onion-flv. Both crops should be sown on land that has been well manured for the previous crop. I always find these crops do well after early potatoes, giving a sprinkling of soot just previous to sowing. forking it in lightly. Leeks may be planted for spring use. Earth up early-planted leeks. The earthing up is best done by degrees. Enough soil can be drawn round the plants with the hoe for the present. Earth up early celery, and draw up some earth round the stems of Brussels sprouts that were planted early. If there happens to be a. pit to spare plant it with French beans. This is a good time to get a house ready for winter cucumbers. Have it thoroughly cleaned with soap and water inside, and all wall surfaces dressed over with lime-wash. A handful of sulphur in the wash will be useful. The house should be painted outside if necessary, as cucumbers in winter will not do well in a house subject to drip. Sow plenty of brown cos lettuces and green curled endives. These will prove the mainstay of the salad bowl in winter. Tomatoes outside after the rains are growing freely, necessitating a good deal of pinching. It will soon be time to stop the leaders, as fruit set after August will not ripen. Sow corn salad and chervil. Sow red cabbage for pickling. Lift the earliest potatoes if the ground is required for late turnips. As soon as the skins are set the earliest potatoes may be lifted. Give liquid- manure to cucumbers in houses and frames. Window Gardening. The Scarborough lilies which have been well exposed to ripen the bulbs will soon be throwing up their flowers. They are among the most beautiful of all autumn-flowering bulbs for rooms or windows. Tuberous Begonias where carefully managed, especially as regards watering, are still in good condition. Gloxinias also are very effective now, but for window and room culture they should be allowed to start naturally in spring, and not be exposed to hot sunshine, and they will do best in comparatively small pots. Callas or arum lilies will be in the open air now if planted out they will need regular supplies of water. The plants in pots may shortly be shaken out, the offsets re- moved, and the larger roots be kept in single pots. This division is not absolutely necessary every year, especially where large plants that will pro- duce several blooms are required. I generally obtain two blooms from plants in 9-inch pots.- Gardening Illustrated.

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS. Harvest is now well in progress, and the opinion seems gradually to be crystallising into a belief that wheat and barley will be the nearest ap- proach to good crops. Oats give a remarkably irregular yield, but are better in the north than in the south, and that beans and peas are the crops on whieh the heaviest losses will be s ustained. The resumption of business in London after Bank Holiday found an average of 30s 3d for English wheat, but the week closed with only 29s 7d quoted, so that line of trade is not encouraging in the Metropolis. Country opinion is more uncer- tain, but, on the whole, a trifle firmer. There is, however, not much to say of local trade since the second business having been but slowly resumed. Foreign wheat has not sold well at Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, or Gloucester, four important trade centres, whereat an increase in stock has been felt heavily. Flour is in better sale, but oats are weak. Other staples were firm in price, but towards the close of to-day's market business fell off, and the last hour of trade was not encouraging. -Mark-lane Express. TT!!Ttl--

JOHNNY'S MISTAKE.—" 1 say, ma," shouted Johnny Fizzletop. "You are a. socialist, ain't you V' A socialist, my son ? Why, no, indeed; what makes you think so 1 Well, old Mrs Jones says you are altogether too sociable so I thought you must be a socialist. That's all." Mrs Harlem Heights: "You must not laugh and make fun of everybody, Mamie." Mamie: "I don't, mamma. The other day a little girl fell off a board fence, and all the other children laughed, but I didn t. "That was right." Yes, I was the little girl that fell off the fence. I cried." Professor You seem to be very dull When Alexander the Great was your age he had already conquered the world. Student: Well, you see he had Aristotle for a teacher. If he had had vou would bave beeavary different y

A GOOD INVESTMENT, MORRIS ROSENBERG Vhat do you think, uncle ? I'm goin' ter get married. She's a. beauty. Hair like jet, lips like rubies, teeth like pearls, und eyes like diamonds. UNCM Mein gracious, Moms! you've vun a brize.

He You are the first woman I ever loved. She: How about the two women you have already been married to and divorced from. I married them for their money." "Did you get it?" "Yes. A clear hundred tllU-" "I am yours." IT TOOK HER LONGER THAN THAT.—Rowne de Bout: Wdat did your wife say when you got home last night, Cross ? Chris. Cross First tell me how much time you have to spare. About ten minutes.1* Then I can't teU yon," "4.

WELSH GLEANINGS. I By Lloffwr. j Llanelly Volunteer Corps. Last year Major Bythway, the popular captain of the Llanelly Volunteer Corps, interested him- self in the formation of a battalion for the county, bnt when the application was forwarded to the War Office the battalion was not sanctioned, premise being made that it would be considered this year. Volunteers in the county will, how- ever, be glad to know that it has been included in this year's estimate, and its formation is looked forward to with interest. Musical Culture. The district of Penygarn, near Aberystwyth, has within the last few years made astonishing progress in musical culture, vocal and instrument. This is to a very great extent to be attributed to the presence in the district of Mr J. T. Rees, Mus, Bac., a leading Welsh musician. This week the Penygarn choir took premier honours in two Eisteddfodau, held at Aberystwyth, the adjudi- cator on Tuesday being Mr L. J. Roberts, B.A., Exeter College, Oxford and in the other (on Wednesday) Mr D. Jenkins, Mus. Bac., Aber- ystwytb. Rev John Morlais Jones. The Rev John Morlais Jones, of Lewisham, who officiated at the wedding of Mr Brynmor Jones, M.P., is a native of Llangennech. His own name recalls the river Morlais, whose pel- lucid waters give freshness and sweetness to the picturesque little Carmarthenshire village. He was in his earlier years a pupil teacher at Llanelly. In his career as a Congregational minister he has been supremely successful. Mr Morlais Jones is a man of brilliant parts and great natural endowments. He is somewhat diffident and retiring, but has a charm of manner which is very attractive. He is first cousin toMr Brynmor Jones. Mrs Brynmor Jones is a lovely and accom- phshed lady. She is a descendant of that noble and philanthropic man, Sir Moses Montefiore, and is related to the late Countess of Rosebery. In addition to great beauty it is whispered that she brings also to her distinguished husband great wealth. Miss Rose Mary Crawshay. Mrs Rose Mary Crawsbay, instead of offering prizes for essays this year, gave awards for paintings on Byron, Shelley and Keats. The prizes were taken by the Baroness Helga von Cramm. Miss Beal, the Baroness de Tuyll, and the Misses Harris, Clarkson, and Challice. One or two of the pictures on Shelley, it is stated, Mrs Crawshay has offered to present to the museum shortly to be founded in that poet's honour Mrs D. A. Thomas. The Morning Leader of Tuesday gave an admirable portrait of Mrs D. A. Thomas, wife of the senior member for Merthyr. We have more than once (says our contemporary) adverted to the prominent women orators of the Liberal party. The personalities of Mrs Ormiston Chant, Miss Orme, Countess Kearney, and Mrs Wynford Philipps have each in their turn engaged atten- tion. But still another fair oratress-if we may use the word—has to be added to the list. Mrs David Thomas, whose counterfeit presentment graces these lines, is a speaker "whose eloquence is of the gentle captivating sort which almost wins you to her cause whether you will or no. Her recent speech in London on the Women's Suffrage question was one which made a marked impres- sion. She is an earnest worker in the Liberal cause, but does not by any means confine herself solely to the political platform. Her social work is marked by the same enthusiasm that she brings to the cause of Liberalism. Et Ceetera. Mr Montagu Williams is again incapacitated on account of ill-health. The Very Rev Charles John Vaughan, D.D., Dean of Llandaff and Master of the Temple, was 75 on Saturday. There are two battalions of volunteers whose physique is exceptionally fine-the Post-office Rifles and the Brecon Mounted Infantry Madame Adelina. Patti is engaged on her auto- biography, which will appear at the same time in London, Paris, and Milan. The great vocalist's husband, Signor Nicolini, will assist, and the work will be something after the style of Mr and Mrs Bancroft's reminiscences of theatrical life.

THE OPPOSITION OF MARS. Mr Edward W. Maunder, the superintendent of the Solar Photographic Department at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in an interview with 53 regard to the opposition of Mars, said that on the previous night observations had been taken, but the atmospheric conditions were bad. For the next few months, the planet would be under close observation but for some little time it would be useless to expect any good results. At present Mars was so low down in the horizon that in this country little could be seen, but towards the end of October, although the planet would be at a much greater distance from the earth, it would be more favourably situated for astronomical observations. There were several interesting points which it was hoped would be partially cleared up during the present opposition. For instance, the canals of Scbiaparelli would be closely ob- served. On the surface of the planet three distinct features were apparent, namely, white, orange, and dark blue marks. The white patches found round the north pole were gene- rally considered to be masses of ice and snow the orange marks were thought to indicate land while the dark blue marks probably in- dicated water. With regard ta the white patch, it was noteworthy that, as summer approached, it gradually decreased in size, and was smallest in the first months of autumn, while, with the approach of winter, the patch grew larger, and attained its greater dimensions shortly after midwinter. If, then, the patch represented ice and snow, that ice and snow on melting, would form a body of water, and thus foundation was given for the theory that the surface of the planet was diversi- fied by continents and seas. Attention would also be given to the bright circular space called by the name of Fontanaland," the centre of which was quite white, as though covered with snow. Dr Schiaparelli, m his maps, encircled the space with two dark narrow lines, whereas English astrono- mers shaded it round with dark blue, to indi- cate water. Dr Schlapaeilli's canals should not be confounded with sublunary canals, as, suppos- ing them to represent water at all, the smallest would be at least as large as the Red Sea. Ex- tended observations went to show that the surface marks of Mars changed but little, A map of the planet, drawn 260 years ago, when compared with a modern one, showed that the prominent features were very stable, though the details had become modified. A phenomenon which possessed great interest, and which would be closely watched, was the temporary disappearance of some of the "canals" and "seas." Two large round spots of dark colour, but of unequal size, which were surrounded by an orange mass, presumably land and connected with it by two canals, occasion- ally underwent a noticeable change. Sometimes the canals" entirely disappeared from view, as did also the smaller of the two dark spots or seas." That disappearance, Mr Maunder thought, could hardly be due to atmospheric con- ditions, as the larger sea was always to be seen. The whole surface of the planet was mapped out into continents, seas, and bays, named for the most part after the past and present astronomers. Thus one sea has been named by his friend, Mr Green, Maunder Sea. Mr Maunder, in conclu- sion said that he would be willing to dispose of the fishing rights in his sea for a very moderate sum.