Abergavenny Chronicle

HOW WAGS THE WOBt.D? I FORTY-THREE YEARS IN THE POST. I A letter ported at Viterbo on Noveaibet 23, 1870, has just been delivered in Rome, aitcr being forty-three years in the post. CROCODILE'S FALSE JAW. I A crocodile at the Frankfort Zoo has just been fitted with an aluminium jaw. The crocodile, which originally came irom the Ganges, fractured its jaw on the rocks in its basin, and every effort to get the bones to reset proved Ineffectual. Accordingly Surgeon-Major Marx decided to operate, and succeeded in replacing' the fractured mandible by one of aluminium. A GIANTS BOOT. I A boot six feet long and three feet highj made in correct proportions and of genuine leather, stands in front of a Lea Angeles repair shop. It contains a set of pigeon- holes and d.'awcM for nails, tools, etc., and is furnished with a half-horse-power electric motor operating' a stitching machine. Stand- ing in this boot, the workman goes on with his task. to the amusement of the crowda that pass along, and the novel advertise- ment is said to be a trade-bringer. ELECTROPLATING CORPSES. I A German professor has invented a pro- cess of silver-plating dead bodies, so as to convert them into metallic images of the individuals as they were when in life. Gold- plate can be used if the relative can afford it. But as the expense of silver-plating' a body is E2,300, there arc probably few rela, tivea who would deem themselves juetined. in squandering the deceased's eBta-te on such a memorial. THE THINKING MACHINE. I An "interest-computing machine" haa j been invented by a Hungarian. The in.t-? 1 ment is said to be comnarativelv simp!e and I inexpensive. It is about the eize of a watch. On setting the hands at the proper positions on the dial, the amount of interest tn each case is indicated on the face of the instrument. HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD LEGAL CASE. TIM Anglo-American Claims Arbitration Tribunal, which has been sitting at Well- ington, has at last adjourned, having de- cided, among other eases, one concerning the illegal seizure of the British ship Lord Nelson by the American navy as long ago as June 5, 1812, two weeka prior to the de- claration of war between the United States and Great Britain. The tribunal assessed damagea at 5,000 dollars against the United States, with ninety-three years' in- terest. DOG'S HOUR OF GREATNESS. Reports of the escape of a bear created a wild panic in the town of Agen, France, and a company of mounted gendarmes started in pursuit. The "bear proved to be stray dog. SWALLOWED PAY KILLS. I Two malitia lieutenants died at CIntra, I Portugal, from the effects of swallowing. their monthly pay. Their object was to lend colour to their story that the paymaster had overlooked them. MURDERS FOR HIRE. I According to the "Bourse Gazette," a gang of professional murderers have been discovered in Sevastopo l (says a Ru&sian correspondent of the "Daily Mail"), Their terms for a murder without fear of dis- covery ranged, according to the means of the client, from .81 to £10 for each murder. Recently a ship's boatswain was charged with the murder of his wife and was sen. tenced to penal servitude for life. He con- fessed to having hired an ex-sailor named Petkevitch to get the crime committed. Petkeviteh, for a fee of about Y,5, intro- duced the boatswain to one of the gacg named Bogine—also an ex-eaiior—who for another fee of £5 carried out the murder. ? JAPANESE GENERAL'S ADVICE, } The late General Nogi, on the night of the funeral of the late Japanese Emperor, issued a note of disciplinary instruction)! for the pupils of the grammar grade of tb« Peerti' School. They are as follows:— Keep your mouth closed. He who has always his mouth open shows that his mind is blank. Mind what you are looking at. One whose eye is always wandering tells that hia mind is also wandering. When paying' your respects, look at the person whom you are saluting. Do not forget your coat-oi-arme, family standing, and ancestors. Due respect to your ancestors is important. A boy should act lik., a boy. Avoid be- coming eff-eminate. Never indulge in luxury. There is noth- ing that makes a fool of a man like luxury. Ride in a rikisha as little as possible. Even if a rikÍEha is sent for you, try to walk home. How many of you wash your face with cold water in the winter? You should not use warm water. When it is cold, think it is hot; and when it is hot, think it is cold. THE WHISTLJNG CHOIR, t After considerable training, a chorus of fifty beys have whistled the hymn-tunes at the Calvary Reformed Church, Philadelphia. The innovation proved so successful that it will be continued weekly. Another novelty at the same church was an "all girl" ser- vice in the morning and an "all boy" ser- -cice in the afternoon. Each service was crowded, and the pastor, Mr. Fieher, ex- pressed hi.s conviction that the novelties in. trodueed were justified by their success. HARBOURED BY MUMMIES. ) Viscount Eitchener'6 report on Egypt for 1913 states that the tiny eggs of the bil- harzia, a parasite which lives in the veins an:! sorely troubles modern Egyptians, have been discovered in the tissues of mummies cf the twentieth dynasty (about 3,000 years ago) HEROIC STEEPLEJACK. I Two workmen were engaged fixing a lightning conductor on the summit of the steeple at Vill6r<sur-0urthe, in Belgium. To accomplish thLa difficult and delicate task it was necessary that one of the workmen should stand on the shoulders of his com- panion. While in this position a violent gTist of wind made him spill some molten lead which fell on the hand a.nd forearm of his friend. Notwithstanding the sudden intensity of the pain thus inflicted, the vic- tim of *the nccident had the courage to re- m&in motionless while the lead burnt its way into his nesh. He knew that the slightest movement might suffice to precipi- tate his companion from a height of seventy feet into the street below. THE TANGOMETER. A "tang'ometer" attached to the ankle of Mr.c. Amelia Reeves, of Brooklyn, showed that s he covered 2.').000 miles in tango danc< in ,Z at various society gathering's. MARVEL OP CALCULATION. The police force of the Ninth Paria Arrondissement boasts a policeman named Costy whose powers of calculation are attracting' the attention of the scK;ctino world. The moment lM* hears a spoken phrase he is able to tell the number of lettera it contains. lie takes no time for refaction, and pavs he dees not even need to think, the calcnbtinn being automatic.

lic,rl),-rt P-in-ett, a Lowestoft fisherman, whos hand -,N-ai scratched by the fins of a dog- £,h, died a lew da,a afterwards from bleed "Bound from Wellington for London, the 'British liner Waimnte has put into Stanley, .t alkland Islands, with her cargo on nre. Lord Gorcll has introduced a Bill into the House of Lords based on the recommendations common to the majority and minority reporta of the Royal Commission on Divorce.

TWO GERMANS WHO "LOST THEIR HEADS. I Strong' allegations against two Germans (vere made at an inquest at Twickenham on Tuesday on Winifred Elsie Clinford, aged seventeen, of Lebanon Park-mansions, Twic- kenham, who was drowned in the river Thames, off Eel Pie L-Iand, on Saturday. Miss Elsie Cooper, of High-street, Mort- lake, said she. Miss CliS'crd, and two Ger- mans, Edgar Brunzell and Max Woolf, were in a punt when another boat approached. At that moment a scull was raised which struck Brunzell on the forehead, rendering him somewhat dazed. The scull then knocked her into the river, and it must also have struck AIi.s Clinord, as she, too, fell over- board. Witness was rescued by Mr. John Hard.s. who was parsing in another boat, but, she add<Ml, the Germans did not make any attempt to help her. Bruuzcll and Woolf gave the explanation that they could swim slightly, and had but a little knowledge of punting. 1:hey lost their heads, they said, on seeing the ladies fall into the water. The coroner (Mr. Reginald Kemp) said it appeared to him that the German gentlemen W('re afraid of wetting their clothes. Addressing them. the coroner said, "You behaved like n couple of cowards All you j seem to h?"c done waf! to go to the police j after the accident had happened." The police had done their best to find out who was the occupant of the boat which came in contact with the skiff, but ho had not had the man- hnpsa to comp forward. The Germans, he added, were very poor specimens of what plucky men .should be. Mr. Hards, how- ever, wat; deserving of every commendation, and he would bring hir! action to the noticf of the Royal Humane Society. In returning a verdict of accidental drowning the Judy added: "We think it is a pity that these gentlemen should have taken out these girls well knowing that they were not in the position to save them if an aoci- not in the i)c,l dent happened, and regret they did not I attempt some i-c-cue." —————- —————

Sir Wilfrid Laurier has been presented wif a gold watch and chain by Canadian LiberaL to mark the completion by him of forty years' service in the Canadian House of Commons. Princess Louise of Battenberg has left Lon- don for Corfu on a visit to Prince and Princess Andrew of Greece. An anonymous donor has g-iven ,E1,500 to the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital for the en- dowment of a bed and a cot. His Highne&s, the Rajah of Pudukota, stay- ing at the Berkeley Hotel, Piccadilly, was fined .E5 and l?s. costa for driving a motor-car at an excessive speed at Eitham, and .61 and 3s. costs for failing to produce his licence. It is proposed by the London County Coun- cil Education Committee to lease four tene- ment nats for use in instructing working men's wives in housewifery.

BUILDING TRADE WAR. I STRIKERS "LOCK-OUT" CONTRACTOR. I The dispute in the building trade has taken a new and dramatic turn, the execu- tive of the London Building Industries Fede- ration having signed a contract with Mrs. Anni<* Besant to construct the Tbeosophical Society's new headquarters in Tavistock- squarc. The men have thus carried the building strike battle into the master's cam}'. This move aims at eliminating the contractor and instituting direct relation- ship between the men's representatives and the pubM". The contract with Mrs. Besant is for .8100.000. and some 200 to 300 men will be drafted to the work. The Building Industries' Federation, which is responsible for the contract, consists of eleven of the largest trade unions associated with the building industry. Meanwhile there are no signs of a settle- ment. The two points which the men say they desire to be unequivocally conceded to them before the dispute can end are:— Recognition of the Building Industries* Federation. The total exclusion of all non-unionists from building operations. They also threaten that if those terms are not granted they will instruct their execu- tives to ent-er into contracts for the supply of labour at trade union rates and condi- tions for the construction of any building now standing idle. It is estimated that about 2o,000 men are idle owing to the di.spute. The sufferings of the wil,es and children have reached an acute stage. J

I FAMILY BURNT TO DEATH. I SIX VICTIMS IN VILLAGE FIRE. A terrible fire occurred at Woolwich Green, t a small village between Dover and Canterbury, t early on Sunday, six out of a family of eight 1 being bumed to death. The victims were:— Albert Dcverson, aged thirty-nine, colliery banksman; Mrs. Deverson, aged thirty-six; Reginald, aged sixteen; Alfred, aged seven; John, aged four; ajd Doris, aged fourteea months. Percival Deverson, .aged thirteen, saved his life by jumping from a bedroom window, and Herbert Fox, a lodger, who slept on the ground noor, also made his escape. Another son, who is a miner, was on duty when the fire occurred. There is no explanation of how the fire began. Fox states that he went to bed soon after nine o'clock. He was awakened by the crackling of names, and found the room fuli of smoke. The boy Percivsl was slightly burned. Firemen from Dover who searched the ruins of the house discovered the charred body of Mrs. Deverson, with her baby clasped to her breast. The husband's body was found a little distance away, as though he had attempted to reach the window. The four boys had been sleeping in the next room, and the charred bodies of the three who were burnt to death were found together.

A LUCKY LEGATEE. I A millionaire's estate was the subject of an action in the Edinburgh Court of Session on Tuesday, when the trustees of the late Mr. Archibald Coats, a member of the famous thread-making- nrm, who left over .61,000.000, sought the determination of a- knotty problem which had arisen under the 'will. Mr. Coats, who died in May, 1912, left five children. Four of them, it was said, were content to accept the terms of their father's will, but the fifth-Miss Evelyn Dudley Coats, of Battles Grange, Brcnchley, Kent—claimed her "just rights" in the estate. Under the will Miss Coats was given a life interest in a sum of .E 10.000. On two other daughters Mr. Coats settled .6100,000, and cer- tain other -,uiyis were bequeathed to sons. The Court decided that Mias Coats'a share of the estate was Y.100,000.

DEATH OF AN EARL. "I The death of the Earl of Caithness is re- ported from Los Angeles, California. John Sutherland Sinclair, the seventeenth earl, was born in September, 1857. He suc- ceeded his father in 1891. In 1911 he ngured in &n interesting case in the Court of Session, Edinburgh. It was a suit in which the earl and his brother. Mr. Norman Macleod Buchan, asked for a decision as to which was entitled to the estate of Auchmacoy, in Aberdeenshire. The court decided that the earl was excluded, on the construction of a will, and awarded the estate to his brother, who had been a. solicitor in London.

\£twij ;;ffir'tý:raÍ1d forty ,,pigs have been slaughtered in \Vest Surrey during the last ????? swine fever. .l\à3.èOb9Ldalp'age" wasdonepy a fire which broke out at the Clyde Shipbuilding Yard at Port Glasgow.

I WOMEN BURN A CHURCH. I Early on Monday morning Wargrave Church, near Henley-on-Thames, was de- stroyed by (ire. The outbreak was dis- covere by Mrs. Deacon, who lives near. Fire brigades from Henley, Wokingham, and Wargrave were eoon available. Despite their united efforts, however, the building was totally destroyed, all that was left being the main door and a portion of the tower. Just within the north doorway were found a hammer and some Suffragette literature. On Sunday night two women who were strangers to the locality were seen in the vicinity of the church. The only property saved was the ancient register and a few ornaments. These were rescued by the vicar, the Rev. Staunton Batty, who rushed through the church at considerable personal riak. The vicar did good work as fireman. The church, built between 1515-30, contained many valuable j treasures, including bells four centuries old, which were melted in the fierce heat.

A cumber of girls amd about seventy mea were in the room over a store-room which caught fire on the premises of the Buttcrick Publishing Co., in Long-acre, London, but all escaped without injury. Mr. Richard Owen, of WaIIington, died of athletes' heart, at the age of seventy-six. lie took up cycling when sixty years of age. and frequently rode to Brighton and back in a day. The Rev. S. W. Daukes. vicar of St. Saviours Denmark-park, S.E., since 1905. has been appointed vicar of St. Peter's, Brockley, which was rendered vacant bv the recent tragic death of the Rev. C. H. Grundy. Howden Rural Council n'ave accepted tenders amounting to £3,500 for the erection of a new isolation hospital. Dr. J. Hendry of Bnxton, has been ap- pointed medical omcer for the Hartingtou dis- trict of the Eakewell Board's area.

TORQUAY FIRE TRAGEDY. I I MOTHER AND TWO BABIES LOSE I THEIR LIVES. Three persons lost their lives in a nre early on Tuesday morning !n a house at Union-street, Torquay. The victims were:- Mrs. Edith Short, aged twenty-seven, wife of a. pictur-trame maker, Reginald Short, aged four years, her son, and Edith Emily Short, aged sixteen months, daughter. I Mr. Short was the only member of the house- hold to escape, and he owes his life to the bravery of firemen, who, entering the building in face of terrific heat and dense smoke, found him in a. state of collapse in a front room up- stairs. In this room Mrs. Short and the children lay rlead, huddled in a corner. Mother and infants had been overcome by the smoke, and the bodies were only slightly burned. It is believed that the family on finding that the house was on fire tried to escape by the stairs. This was impossible, and going into the front room all were speedily overcome by the smoke. Had Mr. Short been able to open the window it is probable the family would have been saved, as the fire did not reach the room until half an hour later.

I. GENERAL DIES IN HIS BATH. I Major-General Sir Savage Lloyd-Mostyn, of I Maesynant, Wrexham. uncle of Lord Mostyn, died on Tuesday morning in his bath at Coleorton Ha! Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where he had been the guest of Mrs. Abel Smith. Sir Savage, who was in his 80th year, had & distinguished career in the Army, and waa several times mentioned in dispatches. He served with the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers in the Crimea, taking part in the siege of Sebastopol. On the outbreak of the mutiny he went to India, and was present at the fighting at Lucknow. He also served in the Ashanti war, being in command of headquarters on the Gold Coast. Mrs. Abel Smith, of Coleorton Hall, said it was noticed that the general was a long time in the bath room, and as the tap was heard running, the witness rushed in and found the bath nearly full. the hot-water tap still run- ning and the general under the water. She pulled him up and supported him in her arms till assistance came. He looked as if he had fainted, but he could not have been there long. Dr. Williams said he thought the general had turned on the hot-water tap, and, faint- ing in the water, was sunbeated. The jury found that the general was acci- dentally suffocated in his bath.

BURGLARS SUICIDE. Rather than suffer inl{Jri50nment, & burglar I captured at Norbury committed suicide. The occupants of a house in Norbury-crescent, who only took possession of their new home four days ago, were aroused by the sound of footsteps. They proceeded to investigate the matter, and disturbed a man, who promptly made ofF. He was, however, captured by a policeman, who, taking him back to the house, shut him in the kitchen while he made inquiries into the case. Suddenly the man drew a razor and cut his throat, the wound being so deep that his head was nearly severed. He has been identified as Albert Rowles, otherwise Sinclair, of Duncan- terrace, Islington.

——— Mr. James ClinM-d Walmsley, J.P-, who should have appeared at the Manchester City Police-court on a charge of being drunk and incapable, was found hanging dead in his kitchen. Great floods following the recent rains are reported from the northern provinces of Italy. Cimano, Degano, and other villages are under water, and the postal service at Veronn has been interrupted. A boy named Dewdney. who ran suddenly from behind a cart, was killed by a motor-car belonging to Captain Brown, eon of Sir Alex- ander Brown, at Holmwood, near Dorking. A six-year-old girl, Myra Macrea, was killed by a motor-car at Carmarthen.

BALLOONISTS IM PERIL. I BaIIoonists who were passing over Greenwich on Monday afternoon had a narrow escape from injury. A rent was noticed in the envelope, and the balloon descended on a piece of waste land near Blackwall Tunnel. There were three passen- gers. including the aeronaut, Mr. D. W. Barton. A cumber of people who hurried to the spot went too near the balloon and were overcome by the escaping gas, but they were afterwards able to return home.

I LAD'S FATAL JUMP. Instead of walking around a spiked iron fence at a park at Charlton, an omce boy named Francis Harry Charles, of WaJworth- road, S.E., attempted to jump over it. He was unsuccessful, and an iron spike pene- trated his boot, causing an injury which re- sulted in his death from lockjaw a week Later. At the inquest at Southwark a doctor stated that the bacillus which caused the Lockjaw moat probably came from the road dust on the lad's boot rather than from the iron spike. The puncture was only an eighth of an inch deep, but the chances of recovery in cases of lockjaw were very re- mote.

A new pier which the L.C.C. has constructed at Greenwich was opened by the mayor of Greenwich. It has cost X3,000, and replaces the old pontoon pier. There is berthing accommodation for two of the largest coasting passenger steamers at one time. Judge Woodfall. at Westminster County. court, awarded .E30 damages and costs to Lucy Downes, a schoolgirl, against the Middlesex C.C. for injuries caused by a window falling on her head outside the Kilburn Polytechnic The window was blown out of its setting ae the girl walked past the buildinsr. "I always feel very sorry for poor peopit who have dogs," said Mr. Mutton, the Wool- wich magistrate. "I think people, ought to hava to pay for their dogs according' to the rents of their houses. The man .who. pays 5s. rent ought to pay very little—not th,e same sum as the man who pays .S300 ri:üt."t A census is to be taken of all the birds of the United States by the American Board of Agriculture. The Belgians were the winne:œ :in,he, con,,1 test between EngUsh and Belgian- fencing"! teams in Paris by twenty-one touches to six- teen

l IN THE POULTRY YAM. By COCKCROW.. THE OVERCROWDING PROBLEM. tt is now time to see about getting rid of surplus. birds and scattering the chickens. It is most important there should be the' maximum of breathing space and run ac- commodation for the chicks that have to be reared to adult stage, and the way to arrive at this is to get rid of the old hens. The poultry-keeper is often tempted at this time to dispose of his two-year-olds when they are laying bonnily, because he nnda the demand for accommodation growing. The trouble here is that by getting rid of the birds in question just now he will cut down the egg-yield. Well, the way out is the s&mi-inten&ive system. Some sort of covered shed is rigged up—or some old barn called into use-dry scratching litter is flung in profusely, and the old hens are thus accommodated. They must be fed well, and it will be found that after the liberty they have been used to the new con- ditions will foster the production of eggs up to the time of moulting. An advantage of this method is that the ground is freed from impurity, and for the chicks, substantial gain in the housing room results. The young birds wiÚ profit also by the absence of the old ones. It is not always possible in winter to keep the old and vounsr stock separate, a'l- DISPOSING Of THE OLD BIRDS. though it is always desir- able. At this time of the, Year, when less shelter is re- quired, every effort should be irnLde to effect the separation. Now, with regard to the dia- pusal of the old birds. It is not to be re- commended that they should be kept right up to moulting time. That would mea,o that when they got into the moulting stage —or even just before it—they would be of little value. Ain therefore at a reasonable middle course. Neither delay sale till the- 'I 'I nens are unsaieauie, nor sen oeiore juu: have had your fadr share of eggs from them. Roughly speaking, the birds should be dis- posed of five or silt weeks before the moult- ing. They will then realise better tha.n' they would at any other time. bringing a. fair price and having done their duty in the- ma.tter of eggs. ) LACING. Lacing—gold or silver-is a point commor' to a variety of breeds, such as Sebrights, Polands, or Wyandottes. Fig. No. 1 showe the medium marking, good all over. In Fig. 2 the defect of marking which is toe dark or dense is shown. There is, in thie M'3-e, a tendency to form into blackish patches. The worst of faults is shown ic Fig. 3, where the .shoulders are bald and the secondaries coarse, the bars eithel thickening or thinning all over. N.B.—I have to acknowledge my indebted- ness to an interesting article in "Poultry" for my recent series of illustrations of ven- tilating apparatus. Some very sensible and timely 6b,-irva-- tions appear in "Feath ered Life," from the t BBOODINBSS. pen 01 -L. u. i/avies. jtroo<u- ness is a. very common pro- blem at this season of the year, "nd where the hens have been laying- really well all through the winter and spring it is no bad plan to let them have &. few china eggs and allow them to indulge their n&tural instincts for a while (says the writer). This is particularly wise in the- case or* pullets which have done a good aeason's work, for they will be wanted in the breeding-pens next season and there ia: no point in overdoing them. As a rule, where hatching is carried on for the most part by broody hens, eggs will have been given to the older birds in preference to the pullets, who will, in aH probability, havet been kept hard at work. If, however, some of the pullets are noticed to be in a per- siateutly broody condition, even after they have been broker) off once or twice, it will be well to let Nature have her way and to give them a month's rest on dummy eggs. Not only will the rest be benencial, but the process of moulting will be earned on much more speedily and with less strain upon the system of the bird. Birds in this condition generally get through the moult best, and as the broodies will not have been having a. big allowance of food while they are on eggs, they ought to cast. their feathers very well by the end of July. Any belated breeding-pens should now b& broken up without delay. There is no point. BREAK UP THE PENS. in letting either the hen& or the male bird get "bred out; and the season for sittings, even of the light breeds is practicably ovef.- The male birds that will be required far stock next year should be put away in, bachelor quarters and the hena put back with the laying Rocks, so that the land in the breeding-pent) can have a good rest. The best ptan, where it can be adopted, is, of course, to take a crop of hay from the breeding-pens, and it is wLse, by the way, when planning poultry-pens, to make gates, and paths wide enough to allow of the pas- sage of a barrow (if a small pen) and of a. horse and cart if a- quarter-acre pen is in. the question, for otherwise there will be, great dimculty and much more labour in- volved in carting the hay. It is surprising what narrow gates are in usage on many up-to-dat,e poultry farms. Grass is growing splendidly this year, and there is every promise of a good crop of hay. No animal or fowl can be kept in perfect health or vitality by giving it all it can or I ERRORS IN FEEDING. will eat (says "Farm Life"). This mistake will be easily made by the con- stant apparent hunger shown by fowls, and by our desire :n<t to underfeed them. This error is most com- mon a.mong beginners, from either ignor- ance or laziness. Fowls will eat until. gorged, and then remain quiet from neces- sity—and indigestion must be the result, from a lack of blood supply produced by a want of exercise. Indigestion is a common ailment among fowls, and no chicken suner- ing from it can ce called healthy. If a, male, its procreative powers become weak- ened and if a female, its egg-producing power is badly interfered with. Overfeed- ing produces a degenerate condition of aIL the organs, and the vitality is reduced far below the standard. Underf ceding, the opposite of the above, may constitute another serious cause of ill-health. The body requires animal heat to sustain it, to keep the various organs in a proper work- ing condition, and if not supplied with the fuel in the form of food to produce this heat, every part will suffer and deteriorate in its functions, and a consequent loss of vitality must. be the result. As. a. proof of this, notice the poorly-fed, badly-housed chicks of some ? f our farmers, and you will see that they do not get enough food to maintain their bodies at the natural heat all winter, much less enough to keep them in a healthy condition.