Welsh Gazette and West Wales Advertiser

LOCAL WILLS. MR. E. H. JAMES, CRUGIAU. Mr. Evan! Hugh James, of Crugiau, near Aberystwyth, Cardigan, tanner and currier, formerly of Chalybeate-terrace, Aberyst- wyth, who died on the 14th January last, left estate at the gross value of £ 4,668 16s. lid., including personalty of the net value of t3,122 14s. 6d., and probate of his will, dated the 5th August, 1890, has been grant- ed to his widow. Mrs. Jane James, the sole executrix. The testator left his estate in trust for his wife for life, and subject to her interest he left the ultimate residue of his estate to his children. MR. RICHARDS, CAERYNWCH. Mr. Richard Edward Lloyd, Richards, of Caerynwch, Dolgelley, Merioneth, and of Cerrig Llwydion, Denbigh, D.L. and J.P., for Merionethshire, and sheriff in 1899, who died on the 10th January last aged 39 years, son of the late Mr. R. N. Richards, of Caer- ynwch, left estate valued at R94,515 Os. 9d. gross, and at C73.990 16s. net, and probate of his will, dated 20th October, 1904, has been granted to his brother, Captain Henry Meredith Richards, of Caerynwch, and of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and the Rev. Francis Parry Watkin Davies, of the Rectory, Llan- fairfechan. He bequeathed £ 300 to his brother Charles Herbert, £ 200 to his sister Georgia na, Harriet Davies, jE200 to his sister Emily Louisa, wife of Mr. Ellis Wilkin, £100 to his godson Edmund Charles Richards, £ 50 to his coachman Abraham Correll, £.500 stock to his wife. Mrs. Nesta Mary Richards, and the ultimate residue to the tenant for life of Caerynwch.

BOW STREET. THE DEATH OF MR. ARTHUR LL. MORGAN. On Saturday morning, March the 18th inst. Mr. Arthur Morgan, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Morgan, Garn House, Penygam, died at the age of thirty-one. He had been in weak health for several years. It seemed at times as if he were getting the better of his dis- ease and he and others were allowed to en- tertain hopes of his recovery. For several months past, however, it had become only too clean that he was gradually losing ground and that the end could not be far distant. Mr. Arthur Morgan was for some time en- gaged in business in London. He subse- quently relinquished this position in order to qualify for the medical profession. With this object in view he became a student of the College at Aberystwyth, where he was very popular. After having passed the nec- cessary examinations he entered Guy's Hos- pital as a medical student. After a short time his health broke down. and he was com- pelled to return home. And though on more than one occasion he seemed to be rallying, his restoration was never complete and last- ing. The end came peacefully on Saturday. He was well-known, and well liked, and he will be greatly missed i nhis home, in his neighbourhood, and not least in the Calvin- istic Methodist Church at Penygarn, of which he was a diligent and faithful adherent. He will be long remembered for his cheerfulness, kindness, and his heroic struggle with weak- ness an dillness. He was a man of much pluck and spirit. When ordinary men in his condition of health would be confined to their beds, he could be seen going about hopefully and ioyfully. Even during the last few jmonths he was engaged in studying for the connexion al examination in Scripture know- ledge. His remains will be buried in the Penygarn Cemetery this afternoon (Thurs- day). The deepest sympathy is felt with the bereaved parents and ret latives.

LLANFIHANGEL GENEU'R GLYN. Death of Mrs. Kate Evans.-On Thursdav March 16th inst., Mrs. Kate Evans. Dole, wife of Mr. 0. Evans, formerly clerk to the Cyfc^th-y-Brenin School Board,, died after a long illness. The deceased was of a quiet and amiable disposition and held in great respect by all who kne wher. She was fiftv-four years old and is survived by her husband, and one son, as well as by a son and daughter by a previous marriage. She was a faithful member of the Calvinistic Methodist Church at Penygarn. Her re- mains were buried in the Cemetery on Tues- day afternoon, the 21st inst. amidst indica- tions of deep respect and regret. There was fa. large attendance. The Revs. WJniam Morgan. Pwllglas, and Thomas J. Morgan, Bow Street, officiated on the occasion.

NEWCASTLE EMLY.'i County Council.—The statutory meeting of the Carmarthenshire County Council was held on Thursday, when Mr. D. C. Parry, Llanelly, the retiring vice-chairman, was elected chairman for the ensuing year. Mr. J. Lewis, Meiros Hall, was accorded a vote of thanks for his services as chairman during the past 12 months, Mr. H. J. Thomas. Llanfynydd, was appointed vice-chairman, I A vote of congratulation. was accorded Earl Cawdor on his appointment as one of his Majesty's Cabinet Ministers.

Life is a daily worship, tremulous with reverence, beautiful with prayer and song, and fragrant with the incense-perfume of holy thoughts and good deeds. So do Nature and Providence lean down lovingly into the good man's life, mingling earth with heaven linking it all with God, moving it all to the orderly music of His great purpose. From a real feeling of being face to face with that Presence, what prayers could flow but prayers for the hallowing of His name.— the name being Father in Heaven, and the hallowing of it being absolute truthfulness in taking it on our lips and holy appropria- tion of all that it involves—for the coming of the reign of His spirit in His children's hearts, for the doing of His will by servants whose will is His, for a sense of the divine

GIPSY SMITH AT A BETtY ST W Y TH. A Remarkable Mission CROWDED MEETINGS. Gipsy Smith's long-looked-for visit has come and gone. It lasted only three days instead of ten, as originally arranged. The shortness of the stay was unfortunate, in- asmuch as it led to great crowding at the moetingp, and, consequently, much incon- venience and no small amount of danger. The Rev. John McNeill, who came as Gipsy Smith's substitute, and who opened the Mission on Sunday week. continued it until Friday evening, when the Pier Pav- ilion was packed with a congregation which listened to a powerful and searching address by the rev. gentleman. Mr. McNeill will long be remembered by Aberystwyth people for his bluntness of speech. Church-goers and non-church goers came under the rod of his caustic criticism, and conventionalties were thrown to the four winds in his zeal to drive home the demands and the blessings of the Christian life. He left Aberystwyth by the 8.10 a.m. train on Saturday for Southampton, where he is this week con- ducting another mission. A large number came to the Station, and gave him a hearty send off. GIPSY SMITH. Gipsy Smith arrived from Cambridge by the 5.30 pim. train on Saturday. He was met at the Station by a crowd numbering several thousands. The Mayor (Councillor Wm. Thomas), who was returning from Lon- don, travelled with the Missioner, and ac- companied him to a carriage which was in readiness. Outside the Station cheers were raised for Gipsy Smith, and the vast gather- ing also sang one or two hymns. A proces- sion was then formed, and accompanied the Missioner to his lodgings. The evening meeting had been announced to commence at 7.30 at Shiloh Chapel, but the crowds began to gather before six o'clock. The Vale of Rheidol train arriv- ing at 5.45, brought in several hundreds of people, most of whdm proceeded straight to the chapel. By seven o'clock the spacious chapel was packed almost to suffocation, the pulpit stairs, the aisles, the lobbies, and every inch of standing room being occupied. A few minutes later, Gipsy Smith entered, and commenced the service. The well- known hymn, "Pen Calfaria" and the refrain "Ar Ei ben bo'r goron" were sung by the congregation with intense nerve and spirit. Then the Rev. T. Williams offered prayer. This was followed by the reading of a por- tion of the 3rd chapter of St. Mathew's gos- pel by Gipsy Smith. Coming to the verse, "For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham," the Missioner said he could do it even from a gipsy tent. They were not to boast of their pedigree. People, he went on, did not realise sufficiently how much they ought to thank God for the momentujm of a Godly ancestry. But that was no guar- antee of a seat at the Throne. They must not think they were going to Heaven because they were brought up in a decent home, under decent conditions, because they had been fairly honourable and respectable. They must not think they would go there because their father was an office-bearer in some church, or a preacher. When people, talked like that to Jesus Christ he said "Ye are of your father, the Devil." The work a man did settled the side he belonged to. They might be working the work of the Devil while sitting in one of those pews or stand- ing in the pulpit. He had an apple tree in his garden, which did not bear fruit for many years, and that until last year, while he was in South Africa. It produced beauti- ful apples, and they were kept until he re- turned. When cut, however, they were found to be bad at the heart. There were lots of people like that-bad at the heart. They were nothing better than white-washed sepulchres, painted graves, decorated coffins. But in words of the Gospel "the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." Coming to the words "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire," the Missioner said if there was anything the professedly Christian people of to-day were afraid of it was God's fire. They did not want it. He had heard of some churches where the lead- ers had met and had said "The Revival is not to come to this town." They did not want God's fire. Some of them, however, were willing that it should come to the next pew to theirs. But He would baptise "you" with the Holy Ghost and, with the fire. They were known by the fire, not by their fussi- ness. What a difference there was when the fire of God came to a church, or a man, or a (multitude. It was something indefinable. They could not put it into words. Mr. Smith condemned the lack of enthusiasm shown in church work. If they conducted their business in the same way as they conducted their churches they would soon be bankrupt. If they went to church simply to see and be seen and to hear. and then went away and nothing happened it was blasphemy and mockery. If they had God's fire something would always happen, and they would not want evangelists. Gipsy Smith was in a happy vein. when it came to taking up the collection. He re- marked how sorry he was that he had been unable to come to Aberystwyth as origin- ally arranged. It was, however, only the second time he had failed to keep his en- gfigenuenfc in 28 years. "Are you all glad to see me at Aberystwyth?" he then asked the congregation. "Hands up all who are?" Immediately, there was a forest of hands uplifted, and then the Missioner coolly re- quested them, amid much laughter, to "please put silver in the collection, then." The subject of Mr. Smith's address, which followed, was "Repentance." He took as his text Mark 14-15, —"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the king- dom to God. and saying, The time is ful- filled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repeat ye, and believe the gospel." "If you want to be a Christian," said the Missioner, "it is essentjal that you should know what the Bible means when it talks about re- pentance, for there is no such thing as being a Christian without repenting." There was no real, scriptural, spiritual experience of righteousness and holiness, and the King- dom of God within the heart and, the life without a honest intelligent, whole-hearted repentance. He knew this would not be popular for those who loved wrong-doing, doubtful doing, double-doing. They might not enjoy what he was going to say, but then they never knew anyone enjoy a surgical operation. His message was not a pleasant one to hear, or a pleasant one to deliver, but he had to deliver it, and God helping him he would deliver it. up to the light he possessed. They might get angry with him, and so angry that they would go out before he was through. If they did he would know who he had hit. (Laughter). It was far easier to congratulate, than to expostulate; but the preacher was not in the pulpit to say what they wished him to say; he was not there to address them in the words that they thought would please them. If he was there for anything at all it was to save them. A spurious repentance would mean a spurious religious life; a shallow repentance a shallow religious life. A superficial idea of I what God meant when he said "Repent" could only produce a sentimental body of so- called believers, who dare not say their soul was their own; and their churches were crowded with such. And they could test what he was saying by the week-night prayer meeting. Where were their communicants at their week-night prayer meetings? They could get them to a social or a fancy fair, wearing dresses too short at the top and too short at the bottom. They could mus- ter up a bit of excitement over an enter- tainment or a semi-dramatic concert. But where were they when it was prayer meet- ing night? That was the test of their re- ligious life. Not what they were on show day but what they were when it was busi- ness for God. He was afraid they had made coming to Christ too easy. And he did not say that without knowing what he was talk- ing about. They thundered out "Nothing to do." The Bible did not say it. Jesus never said it, the Apostles never said it. They had taken a passage from its context, had made it a classic, and had hurled it at everybody and said "Only believe. ,j was a mongrel gospel, and if the Devil could manage it he would get them to preach a Gospel that was not pure. When he came to Christ being a Christian was a pilgrimage, it was a warfare, it was a battle. It was climbing, clwnbing; it was cutting off your right arm, plucking out your right eye. It was going out from amongst the ungodly, and being separated, it meant being mis- understood and misrepresented, and slander- ed, and abused, and hated for Christ's sake. There were thousands of people who were Church members who knew no more about the new birth than the Devil; not as much, for he knew a lot. about it theoretically. Jesus never made it easy; they had com- promised and lost. They had lowered the standard to suit people; they had tried to widen the doors in order to get them in; but that was the way never to get them in. Their business was to lift them to the ideal. God's last (message was "Saul, Saul. go to the Gentiles and 'make' them do works meet to repentance." There was no such thing as being a Christian until they had repented, and if they had called themselves Christian without repenting they were a walking fraud. If they were Church members. or office bearers, or preachers, or Sunday School teachers, or choir members. without repent- ing, they were a fraud. The House of God was made up of those who were regenerated by the Holy Ghost. It was not quantity; it was quality. He dealt with thousands of people every year of his life; he dealt through the post with 4.000 people every year, and the majority of them were church members who knew nothing about the new birth. He wanted them to stop playing at religion and to begin to live. They would ask "What is repentance?" It was not conviction for sin. Conviction was an element of repentance, but they could not be convinced without re- penting. Repentance was not sorrow, al- though sorrow was an element of it. It was not enough to shed tears. They must not think they were all right because they could shed tears, when at the same time their heart was in rebellion. Repentance was not promising to be better, because some of them had been promising to do that until their hair was grey. In an eloquent peroration the Missioner answered the great question of "What is repentance?" "In one word." he said. "it is turning from darkness to light, from Satan to God." They thought it was going to church. No, they could go to church and be as black as the Devil. They thought it was taking communion. No. They thought it was emotion. No. they could regent without a tear; although it would do some of them good to shed a few. True repentance was putting the hand, so to speak, into the heart, and, getting hold of the cursed thing that had enslaved them.—drink, pride; slander, love for money, pleasure, double dealing, lust, a forbidden friendship, a secret alliance. Repentance was getting hold of these things by the hair of the head and dragging them out by the roots, and saying "That's it Lord Jesus; and I will die before I do it again." To talk of church membership or communion until they had done this was an insult to God. Gipsy Smith then prayed, and the prayer was followed by the most impressive scene of all. Having requested the large congre- gation to bow their heads in silent prayer, he appealed to those who had felt the true repentance to testify by standing on their feet. The appeal was responded to by many scores of men and women, young and old, and these were then requested to come for- ward to the enquiry rooms, where they were advised and directed by the local ministers. This concluded a remarkable meeting. A meeting had been announced for three o'clock on Sunday afternoon at the Pier Pavilion, but before two o'clock the crowds began to gather outside. Becoming im- patient at the delay in opening the gates, several people began to climb over, and their example was followed by a large number of others. Having regard to the height of the railings and gates which separate the pier from the road it is remarkable that some serious accidents did not occur. When the gates were opened, there was a wild rush to get into the building, which was filled with a densely-packed congregation long before 2.30. Gipsy Smith arrived at about time, and immediately commenced the service. It should be stated that a large number of people from Machynlleth and the country district for miles around Aberyst- wyth poured into the town. The Missioner delivered an impressive address, and there were a large number of conversions at the close. In the course of the service. Mr. Smith said the evening meeting would be held at Shiloh Chapel. The Pavilion was not suited to his work and if they expected a man to do good work they should give him a good workroom. Although not timed to start until seven o'clock, the people began to flock to Shiloh Chapel fully two hours before that time. During the holding of the usual communion service in connection with the church, which commenced at 5.30, the outside gates were closed. As the hour advanced, the crowd grew greater, and it required every effort on the part of a number of constables to control it. It should be stated that at the close of the communion service the pastor, the Rev. T. E. Roberts, M.A., requested his own congregation to leave the building so as to afford room to others. Those already in the building, however, found their egress barred by those outside, who had now com- menced to flow in. Within an incredibly short space of time there was not an inch of standing room in the edifice, and it may be safely stated that the number outside was as great as that inside. It was then decided to hold an overflow meeting in the Schoolroom, and this was again crammed to its utmost cap- acity. It is estimated that in the two build- ings there was a congregation of over 2,000. Gipsy Smith first addressed the people in the schoolroom, and then proceeded to the chapel. There were a large number of con- verts at both places. The Missioner addreseed another vast as- sembly of people at Shiloh Chapel on Mon- day afternoon. A REMARKABLE LECTURE. GIPSY SMITH TELLS THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. The greatest feature of Gipsy Smith's visit, and the one which will live longest in the memory of those who attended the Mis- sion, was the lecture delivered on Monday evening at the Pier Pavilion, in which the world-renowned Missioner told the story of his life. The Pier Pavilion has been the scene of some memorable gatherings. It was there that his Majesty the King (then Prince of Wales) paid the noblest of his public tri- butes to the Grand Old Man, and it was there that Mr. Gladstone made one of his last trenchant protests against the mater- ialism of the age. The late Dr. Lorimer the famous American divine, Mr. Lloyd- George, M.P., and Kubelik have swayed mighty audiences in that building, and great as those men were yet none of them won their hearers or kindled, that flame of responsive enthusiasm, so completely. as Gipsy Smith. He travelled the whole gamut of human feeling, and at every point his touch was natural and true. He began by giving a short resume of the Gipsy tribe. Every tramp was not a gipsy, but every gipsy was a tramp. They had no country of their own, but were spread over four con- tinents. They had a beautiful language, and as distinct as any and even more so than the English. The language was the same on the four Continents, varying slightly in accent only. In England there were from 30,000 to 35,000 gipsies. The lecturer gave some specimens of ordinary gipsy phrases, whereupon to his evident delight he received a response from an elderly dame sitting not far from the platform. Mr. Smith ex- claimed "Ah, I have made a discovery," and the curiosity to know the interjector became intense amongst the audience. The old lady, who was well-known to many present as of Gipsy origin, seemed not in the least embarrassed by the attention bestowed upon her, and after bestowing a friendly nod the lecturer proceeded. Mr. Smith made a spirited defence of his people against the general calumny bestowed upon them, and was vigorous in his deprecation of Christian people for having so long ignored them and looked upon them with contempt. Who had heard of a gipsy murder, or a gipsy divorce ? They had never heard of a gipsy becoming bankrupt for several thousands, and then walking proudly in the streets as if he owned the whole town. They never heard of a gipsy breaking into a bank, nor forming a company-nor re-constructing one. (Laughter). Their children gave no back answers to their parents, and one su- preme virtue in their character was that they reverenced old age, while it was a rare occurence to find a fallen woman among them. And the gipsies possessed all these noble traits despite the fact, strongly em- phasized by Mr. Smith, that they had no church and no Bible. He freely confessed that his people were not free from the charge of pilfering, but many things were laid to their doors for which they were not respon- sible. His own father was sentenced to three months' hard labour on a charge of which he was innocent, but, he added, with a merry twinkle in his eye, he went unpun- ished for many things of which he was guilty. The only English writer who had ever done justice to the Gipsy people was Theodore Watts-Dunton in his beautiful novel, "Aylwin." This assumption we think is hardly a fair one, for a more generous ap- preciation of the Gipsy character could not have been written than that of George Bor- row in his "Lavengro." Moreover, Borrow learnt their language, adopted their cus- toms, habits, and mode of living, and the fact that he was given a pet name by them was sufficient proof that he won a warm place in their hearts. Mr. Smith paid a glowing tribute to his father, who is still alive, 73 years of age, hale and hearty, > straight as a lathe, standing over six feet, and without a white hair in his head; in fact, the handsomest man in. the world. Mr. Smith had many interesting stories to tell of the days of his youth, when he was a child of nature. But the anecdote of the plum tree was the best of all, and was told in a manner which tickled the audience im- mensely how he had filled his pockets with fine, ripe, Victoria plums, how the farmer appeared at the foot of the tree and gave him a pressing invitation to come down, how, when he eventually came down, the farmer threw a boot at him-but had forgotten to take his foot out of it beforehand. The story of the poor Gipsy family being struck down with small-pox, of the father's tender nursing and care in a lane which now skirts the Garden City, and of the subsequent death of the mother and babe was told with a pathos which touched every heart. Then the lecturer turned from the autobiograph- ical. and touched upon some of the burning questions connected with the church. On the temperance question he was particularly out spoken in his utterances. He consider- ed the man who drank one glass as culpable as he who got drunk on ten, for regarded as a logical fact if it took ten glasses to make a man drunk, the man who took one was tenth part of the way to being drunk. He also said that no man should be allowed' to preach the Gospel or enter a pulpit unless he was a total abstainer, a remark which was greeted with tremendous and prolonged applause. Mr. Smith used equally strong language in condemnation of the theatre, the dance, and of smoking. Returning to the personal nar- rative, the lecturer's account of his father's conversion, which was followed by that of many other gipsies, and that of his own, was one of absorbing interest. He was asked to become an evangelist by Mr. William Booth, now General Booth, of the Salvation Army, and for the last 28 years he had carried on his work on four continents. All his educa- tion was summed up in a period of four weeks at Cambridge, and so he could fairly claim to be a Cambridge man." Since commencing his evangelist work. he had been received by Royalty and. two Presidents of the United States, he had been entertained r by the highest in many lands, had sat with lords, with millionaires, with merchant princes. He mentioned this not in a spirit of boastf ulnees, but to say that it all came to him through the Cross of Calvary, and to illustrate the truth of the Scripture which says: "Exalt her. and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her." At the close the Rev. T. E. Roberts, M.A. proposed a vote of thanks to Gipsy Smith, for coming to Aberystwyth to conduct the mission, and also for his lecture. In doing so he said it was quite probable that Mr. Smith wou)d pay a return visit at no distant date. The proposition, on being put to the meet- ing, was carried with acclamation. GUpsy Smith, having acknowledged, pro- posed a vote of thanks to the Mayor (Coun- cillor Wm. Thomas) for presiding that even- ing. The Mayor had identified himself ac- tively with the mission, and his services had been much appreciated. The Rev. A. Wynne Thomas seconded, and the resolution was unanimously carried. The number of persons who paid for ad- mission to the Pavilion on Monday evening is officially stated to be 1,684. Much praise is due to the Rev. T. E. Ro- berts, M.A.. the Rev. A. Wynne Thomas, and a large band of stewards for their untir- ing efforts in carrying out the arrangements of the mission. GIPSY SMITH'S FAREWELL. A crowd of many hundreds went to see Gipsy Smith off at the Railway Station on Tuesday morning. He left by the 8.10 a.m. train for Bradford. The Mayor was amongst those who had come to bid him farewell, and jocularly informed him that inasmuch as he had pleaded guilty the. previous evening to stealing the plums they now simply bound him over in his own recognizances to appear again whenever called upon. The joke was greeted with loud applause, and Mr. Smith, beaming with smiles, had to admit that his Worship the Mayor had fairly cornered him this time. The crowd sang "We shall meet by and bye," and as the train steamed out of the station hearty cheers were raised, which were smilingly acknowledged by the Missioner.

Run Down BILE BEANS A TIMELY MEDICINE. Now is the time when. the effects of win- ter's weather on the human system are most noticeable. Scores of people are run-down and ailing, and thus fall easy victims to in- fluenza, colds, chills, rheumatism, etc. For persons who find themselves run-down at this season, there is nothing to equal Bile Beans. Read the case of Mr. J. Atherton, a miner, of Ormskirk Road, Pemberton, near Wigan, in proof of their power. He says:— I had got run down and caught a very bad cold. Before I recovered from that, in- fluenza started, and when that left me, I found myself in a truly wretched condition. I had no appetite, was weak, dizzy when I walked, and so troubled with indigestion that I was afraid to touch food. For days together my head ached dreadfully, and I would be absolutely without appetite. My sight continued to get more and more dim, and the dizziness to be more troublesome. My whole nervous system seemed to get. out of order, and at any sudden sound I would 'jump.' My liver became disordered, too, caus- ing me acute pain beneath the shoulders; and constipation was a scource of still more ills. I always felt dull, miserable, and weak as a child. Then I began to suffer from heart weakness, and palpitation. This be- came so bad that at night I could only sleep on one side. I consulted a doctor, but de- rived no benefit from his medicine, and it was not until I tried Bile Beans that I began, to think I would ever again be well. As I persevered with the Beans my sight became better, and the feelings of weakness left me. Once again I became able to eat and enjoy my food, and to digest what I ate. I am new completely cured, and this I owe to Bile Beans. Such a wonderful medicine should be known everywhere, and I shall always re- commend it." Bile Beans are the finest known remedy for liver and kidney ailments, indigestion, debility, colds, chill, rheumatism, .influenza j consitpation, piles. loss of appteite, nausea, headache, and oil female ailments. Obtain- able from all chemists at Vli or 2/9 per box.

FACTS AND FANCIES. THE water buffalo is the Philippines beast of burden. THERE are said to be no fewer than 800 million- aires in New York. THE most costly tomb in existence is that which I was erected to the memory of Mohammed. COCOANUT shells make excellent fuel, especially as fire lighters, the enormous amount of oil they contain causing them to take fire at once. I THERE is no part of the world which has such a sinister record for wrecks as the Black Sea. In some years they have averaged more than one a day; in one year being 425, and the smallest 134. About 50 per cent. of these vessels became total wrecks, all the crews being lost. ABYSSINIAN LEGENDS. There is in "The Open Court" an interesting paper on a volume concerning the languages, literature, and history of Abyssinia. The volume contains the legend of the Queen of Sheba, or "The Queen of the South," which literally agrees with the Abyssinian term, "Etiye Azeb." "The Queen of tlw South" was a Tigre girl who was destined to be sacrificed to the dragon that in the age of fable infested the country. She°was tied to a tree, but while she awaited her fate seven saints rescued her. The seven saints fought the dragon, and one of them smote him with the cross so that he died. The girl returned to the village, and the villagers made her queen, and she chose a girl like herself as prime minister. But it happened that some blood of the dragon had trickled on her foot, and her foot had turned into an ass's heel. Having heard much of the wisdom of Solomon, she decided to visit him to be cured of her infirmity.

CHURCH DRmts. The bell in the steeple has not always been the means of summoning the worshipper to church. In America drums used to be employed for the pur- pose; and at Flamborough, in Yorkshire, prior to 1860, a woman went round the village with a hand- bell, giving vocal announcement of the services.

0 THE NORWEGIAN DRINK CURE. There are few places in the world where the war against alcohol has been carried on so persistently as in Norway, not only by private associations, but by the established authorities as well. In that country drunkards are treated as invalids, and every kind of drink cure has been tried. It is interesting to learn that the most successful treat- ment has been found to be the cure of drink by drink. The patient is placed upon a diet of wine- soaked food; at first he likes it, but after a day or two disgust sets in, and he begins to detest the taste and smell of drink. It is stated that the most obdurate dipsomaniac can be cured by this treat- ment in less than a week. The plan is an old one, but, as already stated, it has been found the most effective of all, as far as Scandinavia is concerned. It is held to be better than the gold cure, though perhaps a strict trial would shew that the apple cure (in which the patients are fed on apples) is just as effective, and infinitely pleasanter.

BOOKWORMS. Mr. William Blades, in his interesting volume, "The Enemies of Books," has shewn that several very real bookworms are undesirable tenants of old 'libraries, and he has studied closely several specimens sent him and described their ravages. Two grubs in particular richly deserve this name, the anobium pertinax or eruditus, and the oecophora. The anobium, a small, light-coloured, brown-headed grub, with a body like thin ivory or transparent wax, bears a close resemblance to the white maggots of a Stilton cheese. Working with a pair of strong jaws, like a steel bit, the grub begins at the wooden boards, and if allowed will perforate the whole volume. The oecophora, similar to the anobium, except for the possession of six legs, is not unlike the so called deathwatch. M. Peignot asserts that he found twenty-seven volumes in one row pierced from end to end by a single worm tunnel. Mr. Blades doubts this, but has himself seen two volumes so treated, with no fewer than 212 distinct holes on one cover.

WARSAW'S "SOCIAL GLASS." The town of Warsaw may be called the milk- producers' Eden, although the milk consumers' Eden it certainly is not. There is probably nowhere such a "milk town" as this. Restaurants are but little frequented. On the other hand, the public frequent the various dairies in great numbers in order to chat with friends or read the newspapers, to the accompaniment of a black or white coffee or a glass of cold or warm milk. To close a bargain or to talk business the milk saloon is resorted to; chess and billiards are likewise to be played in these recognised places of public resort. But, in spite of this enormous consumption of milk, the supply is of the most wretched in fact, it is indescribably bad.

BEACHY HEAD. Our loftiest South Coast cliff line is, of course, Beachy Head. i'eachy Head, which forms the east end"of the South Downs, consists of perpendicular chalk cliffs that are no less than 575ft. high. There were frequent and fearful shipwrecks here in the old days, before the erection, in 1831, of the Belle Tjute. Lighthouse, which is two-and-a-half miles to the west, and, from an elevation of 285ft.. flings out a light across the sea by night that can be seen over twenty miles away. The Iront and sea skirts 0; the precipitous cliff are pierced with caverns, which are the resort of multitudes of sea fowl. It WM, off this famous headland, on June 30th, 1690, fiat the French fleet of eighty-two sail, under the Count de Tourville, defeated the combined British and Dutch fleets of fifty-six sail under Lord Tor- rington. In clear weather the view from Beachy Head extends to Hastings, the Isle of Wight, and France. »

AN USFOBTUNATE INSECT. Bees and ants are the most altruistic of insects, and their subordination of themselves to the common weal almost puts man to shame. In the ant and bee colonies, said Mr. Benjamin Kidd at the London Institution, natural selection does not operate directly on the individual. Bees and ants preserved their class characteristics, and the nests of the wild humble bees of Great Britain contained from fifty to 150 individuals. Among the ants, whose societies often numbered 500,000 or more, the social efficiency was marvellous. In the com- munities of the termites, the mother foundress now led a life entirely devoted to egg production. She laid eggs at the rate of 80,000 a day. She was phy- sically incapable of movement, and, with the male with which she mated, was imprisoned for life in a clay cell by the workers, who fed her continually and carried off the eggs as they were protruded.

CHINESE PAPER SUPERSTITIONS. Paper figures largely in the many curious super- stition.s of the Chinese, that having charters upon it being solemnly kept and burnt. An old man is employed for this purpose by the benevolent societies; and, armed with a pair of big chop- sticks, he sets out every day to pick up scraps of paper from the roadsides and out of the crevices, afterwards burning them. By his fellow-country- men his calling is considered a most honourable one. Again, when the Chinaman takes a voyage he throws overboard quantities of imitation gilt paper money to propitiate the god of the sea. At the ceremonies connected with the Chinese New Year, about February 1st, elaborate long robes and magnificent suits, made of paper, are offered up in smoke before the various josses. At the feast of the joss of the seven sisters, which takes place on July 7th, many valuable robes, &c., are burnt by the women, among other things being a paper trunk, in which is a complete paper costume, a paper cap or headdress, and slippers of paper.

EVOLUTION OF THE CRADLE. Baby nowadays has things so much his own way that he would doubtless feel very indignant if he were put to sleep like the baby of the Middle Ages. were put to sleep like the baby of the Middle Ages. In the ninth and tenth centuries cradles were made of a section of the trunk of a tree scooped out. Small holes were bored at the sides, and through these straps were passed to fasten the baby in. Later on rockers were used. Sometimes the cradle was hung by cords or slung between two wooden supports. In the sixteenth century cradles were often very elaborate and beautiful. Sometimes they were made of silver, and again they were of wood, richly carved, and ornamented with gilt mosaic work.

250,000 DIALECTS IN THE WORLD. Mr. J. Collier is authority for the statement that there are no less than 5,000 distinct languages spoken by mankind. The number of separate dialects is enormous, there being more than sixty distinct vocabularies in Brazil, and in Mexico the Nahua language being broken up into 700 dialects. There are hundreds of dialects in Borneo. The complexities are beyond classification in Australia, but generally the number of dialects decreases with the intellectual culture of the population. If there is an average of fifty dialects to every language we still have the enormous total of 250,000.

THE INVENTION OF THE MONOCLB. We learn from an American paper that it is to the prohibition o: spectacles in the British Army that we owe the invention of the monocle! "About a century ago an Army order was issued forbidding officers to wear eye-glasses or spectacles. But a short-sighted officer belonging to a crack cavalry regiment had no mind to resign his commission or stumble blindly, and he invented the single eye- glass. When called to account by the authorities he claimed that the monocle, being of the singular number, did not contravene the order against spectacles and glasses in the plural. Red tape accepted this literal rendering of the law."

NATURE NOTES. One of the first new books of the New Year is a. delightful one by Mr. Edmund Selous, entitled "The Romance of the Animal World," and, needless to sav, a work by tli- author of "Bird-Watching" is sure to attract the attention of all lovers of wild-life. Mr. Selous bear3 a name which is in itself almost a guarantee that its possessor is filled to the finger-tiiir with the romance of animal life, and it is a well-known fact that he is a keen and careful observer of the ways of the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. In his latest work he has allowed himself a wide range, extending, in fact, from his own garden and the scar-bore of the- British Isles to the uttermost parts of the earth. Wherever there is romance in wild life—and where ie there not?—he takes us and reveals it to us, providing us, indeed, with such an abundance of "Tood things" that we finish reading the book with a fueling that we have seen all the kingdoms of the animal world and the glory thereof. Smarting with the infusoria, which display what appears to be conscious action in their battles with each other, and ending with such highly-developed i-reatures as th:' gorillas, he succeeds in compressing within the limits of some 330 pages more romantic facts tfvin are to be iound, iu all probability, in any similar work that has been written. THE ICHNKUMONS. To couvey some idea. of the way in which Mr. Selous deals with his subject, let me quote a passage treating of the deadly parasitism of the ichneumons. Nearly all caterpillars, perhaps all, he writes, are "victimised by some species of icii-ietiinoyi-li- -i wasp-like creature, that seeks it out, pierces its soit body with a long ovipositor, with which it is provided for the purpose, and lays a number of eggs inside it. Haviug done this it go", w i v, and the caterpillar goes on feeding. It is, however, doomed, and destined never to entei into the moth or butterfly state of existence. In d' v.me the are hatched by the warmth of its own body, and on this body, to which they are so highly indebted, the young ichneumons, now in their caterpillar state, begin with unconscious in- gratitude to prey. They feast upon it- day and night, but the creature, ordained by the iron laws of Nature to suffer in this way, is long-lived, and, though sickcning from day to day. has often sufficient strength to become full-fed, and make its cocoon, and pass into the chrysalis, or pupal, state. How long it lives after that it is difficult to say. Probably some vitality remains as long, or almost as long, as any part of itself does. All that we know is that, after a longer or shorter interval, a score or so of ugly, evil-looking ich leumon-flies issue from the dry shell of the chrysalis, instead of the innocent and radiant creature that would otherwise have done so." MEAVS OF DEFENCE. In moat instances the caterpillars have no means of repelling the attacks of the ichneumon, but the puss-motll caterpillar seem, to be provided with means of seli'-detence. "The end of its body is forked, and each fork is prolonged into a sort of tail, from which a red filament can be extended and waved about at the will of the creature. In this way, and by its violent contortions, it may sometimes succeed in whipping off, as it were, the ichneumon that is attacking it." But it does not rely on this means alone. Behind the head, there is an aperture in the skin which communicates with a gland containing a clearN fluid, 40 per cent. of which is formic acid. This fluid the caterpillar can eject with great force, and it is of so pungent a nature that a few drops falling on an ichneumon- By will incapacitate, if not actually kill it. Other caterpillars are protected hy their hairiness, and yet others by their coloration or resemblance to twigs; but, "in spite of all defences, whether con- sciously or unconsciously brought into play, a large. proportion of most caterpillars yield to destiny, and are slowly eaten alive by the special parasite which Nature has provided for them." A WORLD OF WONDERS. The deadly work of the ichneumons most of u, xan see for ourselves, if we choose, in our gardens; but with the wonders of animal life in the tropics and in polar regions the majority of us can only have a second-hand acquaintance, so we are grateful when a writer like Mr. Selous describes for us, with a graphic pen, scenes and marvels we are never likely to see. In his nineteenth chapter he gives us what he calls a "forest drama," relating how, ia South America, a pack of those fierce iittle animals, the peccaries, succeeded in defeating and destroy- ing a powerful jaguar. As a wild-life battle-scene the account of this struggle would be hard to beat, and I regret that it is too long for quotation. The reader, however, will find no cause to complain of its length. And there are some of my readers who, judging from the letters I have received from them, will find much to their taste in the chapter which deals with enormous cuttle-fish, in the existence of which Mr. Selous, at any rate, is a firm believer. Some of my recent correspondents will find more than one of their questions answered in the chapter I refer to, or' in the work to which the author acknowledges his indebtedness for most of his facts, that is, "The Cruise of the Caclialofc," by Mr. F. Bullen. MATEBNAL AFFECTION IN A WALRUS. Walruses, Mr. Selous says, are not naturally of a combative disposition, and when tamed they have shewn themselves as affectionate towards human beings as any dog could be. In them parental affection, too, is highly developed, as is evidenced by an account of how one of them defended her young one. "A female in this case, being wounded, placed her right fore fin or flipper about the body of her young calf, and endeavoured to shield it from the harpoon, against which its years were no protection, by the constant inter- position of her own body. The terror of the calf, with the look of anxiety upon the mother's face, accompanied with a reckless disregard of her own danger, were, we are told, most affecting, but did not, unfortunately, affect the result, both the poor annuals being slaughtered. Walrus-hunters do not often let their feelings get the better of them; they prefer to get the better of the walruses through their feelings, which are tenderer. Thus, having caught a young one, they induce it to grunt, when the herd come to its assistance, and are shot or harpooned. LOVE OF KILLING. That many animals enjoy killing Mr. Selous is convinced. He believes that every creature ex- periences "a natural pleasure in doing that which it excels in doing, and when this excellence con- sists in any form of destruction we have the very type of the sportsman among ourselves." In proof off this the author instances the tigers, which "evidently find a pleasure in killing their pr(iy the fox, which, when it visits a hen-roost, nearly always kills more hens than it can carry away; and the thresher-shark and sword-fish; in the camws of the two last-mentioned creatures Mr. Selous has little doubt that they "go whale-hunting just as people go elephant-shooting, and find the same sort of excitement in it." There is hardly a aide of animal life untouched upon in Mr. Selous' book, which is well illustrated by Messrs. Lancelot Speed and S. T. Dadd, and published by Messrs. Seeley and Co. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. JACKDAWS ("G. N. M.").-Yes; a great number of Continental jackdaws often arrive on the east coast from the Continent in the late autumn and winter, and among our resident birds there is a marked southward movement in the late autumn. Still, it is no unusual thing, if the winter is mild, for a pair of jackdaws, which have nested on house-roofs, to remain in the neighbourhood of their summer haunts all through the winter, and in such cases they will often pay a visit to their old nests, even in December and January. PLANTS AND FROST ("W. J. H.").—Plants WHICL)^ contain a large amount of water are less able tqr resist very low temperatures than those which ha. comparatively little wateF"3» them. Every plani, however, has a minimum of temperature below which its death occurs. There is very little wafcf in the leaves of evergreens during the winter. SACRED BIRDS. One of the most widely spread of all our birds is the robin, while the wren is also a very common and increasing species. Except the Irish, who baar it a political grudge, no one ever kills a wron and no man ever kills a robin on this side of the Irish Channel or the other. The latter bird has one very curious habit—it positively rejoices in the sight of man. Even in the remotest woods, cliffs, or marshes where the robin is found, and man, as a rule, is not, the robin will instantly fly out and shew itself as soon as its natural friend and protector appears on the scene. The "luncheon robin is a visitor at every shootingr 1"1,. Printed and Published by the Proprietor UEOfr: RBES, at the "WELSH GAZETTE" Printe- jeA Bridge-street, Aberystwyth, in the Count) o Cardian, Thursday. March 23rd,1905