County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

I GARDEJNIMx GOSSIP. I NAMED CROCUSES. Mixed Crocuses present a very pretty appear, ance in the garden no doubt, but named varieties, representative of different colourings, are (remarks M. Hawthorne) far better. Gardeners who have only grown the common sorts do not really under- stand the merits of the Crocus as a bedding or pot plant. For window-box use the pure white Mont Blanc is excellent; if rather closely planted it gives what may be described as a blaze of white. With the blue Meyerbeer or Prince Albert and some scarlet Van Thol Tulips, they offer the favourite patriotic blend of tints. A darker blue and very fine flowers are given by Baron von Brunow. I have been told, by-the-by, that Caroline Chisholm, is a much finer white than Mont Blanc, but I have not tested the truth of this re- port. David Rizzio seems to be still the best large deep purple, but the slightly less dark Othello is also good. Among the striped sorts Ida Pfeiffer used to be accounted queen, but my preference goes to Albion, Lady Stanhope coming in a good third. Two noticeable kinds are Non Plus ultra, a blue, edged with white, and Madame Mina. a white ground, striped with a particularly bright violet. As to yellows, I think Golden Yellow is far more effective than the brown striped Cloth of Gold. THE PLANTING SEASON. Seldom does a more favourable autumn occur (writes Mr. Richard Parker, of Goodwood, in the Agricultural Gazette) for the transplanting of all hardy trees, shrubs, and plants than the present one. The weather remains fine, the ground in good condition, while the roots will never be in a better state for removal. There is often one stumbling-block with intending planters, viz., not knowing what really to select to plant in different positions, soils, and situations. We refer to plant- ing generally, and not merely to fruit, or plants alone. Many readers may be about renovating old gardens, or furnishing new ones with trees and shrubs, and to them, probably, only the most common ones are familiar, and when these alone are used, the garden in the future will lack much beauty and interest by not containing a more choice and varied assortment. How frequently we find the common laurel, privet, lime, horse-chesnut, and a few other things forming the chief occupants of the garden or pleasure grounds surrounding a dwelling,? Why not select many of our beautiful hardy flowering trees and shrubs, so that the surroundings are not only enclosed by foliage, but pleasing flowers as well, during many months of the year ? We will take first the boundary of a garden. It is generally in hedge form of some kind, and in planting one the chief desire would appear to be to select something that would grow up quickly, although in a few years' time the plants used for the purpose would become monotonous, if not unsightly. The broad-leaf privet, common laurel, quick, holly, beech, and hornbeam are the shrubs gene- rally selected, and in their way form fairly good boundaries when properly looked after and man- aged. Still, there is a sameness about them, and certainly little beauty. Other plants could be made to answer the same purpose and prove more interesting, those which not only produce an abundance of bloom during spring or summer, but which also are furnished with berries later in the season. One of these occurs to us as we write-viz., Berberis Darwinii. This shrub is not met with so frequently in gardens as its merits and beauty deserve. Whether planted in the mixed border, or as beds on the lawn, it is also a striking feature, while the most beautiful hedge we have ever seen was formed by this shrub. At the present time, its graceful branches are wreathed with dense-coloured berries, and in early summer, when in full flower, few shrubs can equal it for beauty. Its true character, however, in common with many other plants in our gardens, i's entirely destroyed by the two free use of the garden shears to keep it in a formal and unnatural outline. If it is necessary to restrict growth, do so with a knife and leave the plants with a natural and pleasing appearance. In addition to shrubs which flower and bear fruit or berries, others with ornamental foliage might be employed with advantage, and in these we have the pretty variegated maples—especially negundo, the white and green leaf variety, and, in striking contrast, the purple-leaved Prunis Pis- sardii. or the golden alder. The following are a few trees and shrubs which should be included, and planted either on lawn or in mixed borders: Arbutus, arundo, aucuba, bamboo, bay (sweet), berberis (in variety), buddleia, choisya, cytisus, daphne, escallonia, euonymus, carrya elliptica, genista, jasminum (in variety), kalmia, laurestinus, myrtle, magnolia, and many others. SALADING FOR WINTER AND SPRING. Endive and Lettuce are ("C." says) the principal subjects that should be relied upon to furnish salading for the winter. With regard to securing the plants for furnishing a supply during Novem- ber, a sowing of Bath Cos Lettuce and green curled Endive is generally made about the third week in July. The plants are large enough to be planted out about the beginning of August, and any open spot will suit them where the soil is rich. To blanch them let them be tied up when quite dry, about 10 days before they are wanted for use. Another sowing of the same kinds may be made in the first week in August, and at the same time a sowing of the Batavian Endive may be made. This sort is not generally so well liked as the curly kind, but as it is more hardy it is valu- able. When this lot of plants is large enough to be planted out, half of the required number should be planted on a south border and the other half close to a warm south wall. If they are put 1ft. apart they will have room enough, and then on the approach of frost they may be covered up with old mats or dry litter. I have often lifted a lot of well-grown plants at the end of November, and replanted them again pretty close together on a sheltered border, and erected over them a temporary frame, which was covered with mats in severe weather. By this simple plan the supply can be extended for three weeks or a month, but it is of very little use to attempt to keep Lettuce after Christmas, ex- cept in frames, and medium-sized Endive will keep better than very large plants. The white Batavian Endive should be freely planted early in October, on an open spot, where the ground is well drained; for when the plants are not too large they often stand through a hard winter, and come in admirably for use during open weather in February and March. All who can spare a cold pit or frame should utilise it for the protection of salading. as it is a more reliable plan than any make-shift system. The frame must be filled with soil to within nine inches of the glass, and about the middle of November the plants may be filled carefully and planted in the frame but they must not be crowded, or else damp will prove as great an enemy as frost. In mild weather the frame must have plenty of air and rain, and severe frost must be kept from them. The most reliable Lettuce to stand through the winter is the white seeded Bath Cos, but if a green Lettuce is pre- ferred the hardy Hammersmith is a useful kind. —1

I SHE Do you remember our first quarrel, dearest?" He: "Yes, love." "I said you were just as mean as you could be." I bglieve you did.' 'O William, how mistaken I was

WHY FISH ARE SCARCE. I The increasing scarcity of fish in the North Sea is attributed by Mr. H. Donnison, the Eastern Sea Fisheries' Inspector, to the sufference of the natural enemies of fishing. In the Wash, which is a great fish nursery, there are, he says in his half- yearly report, hundreds of seals, tens if not hundreds of thousands of gulls, besides cormo- rants, all living on fish, of which a cormorant alone can eat seven pounds daily. As these destroyers prey chiefly on small fish, enormous havoc is caused among fish which otherwise would find their way into the fishermen's nets. Of shellfish, for example, Mr. Donnison states that the gulls consume far more in an infant state than are taken by fishermen in an adult state. He concludes that valuable and wholesome fish would do much more good in the stomachs of human beings than if allowed to go down the throats of useless birds and animals.

TRIVIAL ADULTERATION. Dealing with the more subtle and scientific modes of adulteration in vogue to-day as com- pared with the clumsy processes of former years, the British Food Journal says it should be re- membered that a considerable profit can be made by the addition of 10 per cent. of foreign fat to butter; and the addition of "only" five per cent. of water to milk would mean the paymeut by the purchaser of £3 6s. 8d. for water for every 1000 gallons of the mixture sold, on an estimate of 4d. per quart.

MUNICIPAL TUBE RAILWAYS. j There is one passage in the report of the joint Parliamentary Committee on London Underground Railways which has not yet received the attention it deserves. This is its recommendation that the County Council and the City Corporation should be given power either to construct or to aid in the construction of the lines," and to this end a model clause should be inserted by the Board of Trade in each new bill for a tube railway which may be brought before Parliament. This definite expression of opinion on the part of representa- tives of Lordft and Commons has been much dis- cussed in the tea-room at Spring-gardens, and when the proper time comes strong action will doubt- less be taken by the Council in its support Its importance in respect to the housing question is very considerable. As the Parliamentary Com- mittee point out, ownership or part-ownership would enable the Council to bring about the prolongation of railways into districts thinly populated and therefore suitable for the relief of congested districts, whereas, in many cases at any rate, a public company would not feel justified in extending their line till the population became greater." If the Council does not care to exercise the proposed powers at the outset it should have in every Act authorising a new tube the right to purchase the undertaking on equitable terms at the expiration of a definite period.

STENOGRAPHY FOR THE BLIND. At a meeting of the Incorporated Phonographic Societe the other evening, a specimen of shorthand taken down by a blind man, together with an ex- cellent transcript made on a typewriter, were ex- hibited. The shorthand consisted of a series of marks made by working a newly-invented machine. The shorthand is, as it were, embossed on a con- tinuous strip of paper, and the amanuensis feels the stenographic characters with one hand while he works the typewriter with the other. The cha- racters are unlike those of any written shorthand, and remind one of the Morse telegraphic code.

NURSES IN SOUTH AFRICA. With reference to the Nursing Establishment of the South African Constabulary, General Baden- Powell writes to the Hospital as follows We take the nurses on a three years' engagement at £120 a year, with rations, quarters, laundry, &c., found, as well as hat, cape, belt, and great coat. The dress consists of brown holland dress, white apron, dark green cape, cape of Army Nursing pattern, and cowboy hat and khaki ulster great coat. We have at present six hospitals of 100 beds, and several detention hospitals of 10 beds in different parts of the country."

ONE of the results of the passing of the London Local Government Act has been a striking increase in the number of Bortough Town Halls in the various parts of the metropolis. Some of them are really handsome buildings, and a great acquisi- tion to the boroughs which possess them. The latest undertaking of the kind is that at Shore- ditch. The foundation-stone was laid in September, and already material progress has been made with the work. H LET me seize this opportunity (says a London correspondent) to point out that King Edward VII.'s coronation year is likely to give us the busiest season ever known in London. Some of the hotels have already had the greater part of their accommodation bespoken, and private apart- ments will be very difficult to obtain. It may be expected that increased prices will have to be pretty generally paid, particularly by late comers. NEW offices for the King's Norton School Board are in the free Renaissance style, and are built of best bricks, with a liberal use of red terra-cotta dressings, the roofs being tiled. The accommoda- tion consists of a roomy entrance hall and corridor, from which is entered the boardroom, an apart- ment 28ft. long, 17ft. 6in. wide, and 18ft. high. It is handsomely fitted, and has a pitch-pine panelled dado, open roof, with cut and carved principals, and stone corbels. The clerk's office adjoins the boardroom, and is provided with a fireproof strongroom. There are also a waiting-room, cloak- room, and lavatory; and there is communication with the caretaker's house. The buildings are heated on the low-pressure system, in addition to open fireplaces. A CERTAIN noble duke, too much occupied at present with affairs of State to go in seriously for sport, was seen the other day in company with a man of letters indulging in a novel form of shoot- ing. The pair, while being driven through the ducal domains, stopped the carriage when a phea- sant was sighted. If the bird condescended to be flushed, it was duly shot and retrieved by the footman. If it declined to rise, the armoured train was again started until a more complacen t bird was found. Will the new form of driving become popular ? THE theory that Welsh was the language in the Garden of Eden is by no means new. An ingenious advocate of this view—a Welsh divine of the Middle Ages-strengthened his arguments in the following curious manner. The two great books of the world," he contended, "were the Bible and Homer's Iliad. The first word in the Bible was the Hebrew word I bara,' and the first word in the Iliad was the Greek word I menyn.' These two languages—Hebrew and Greek—had their Origin in the confasion of tongues at the Tower of Babel. The one original, pure, and undefiled tongue, he held, was the Welsh, and for witness there was— 'bara menm'—Welsh for bread and butter."

VALUABLE HISTORIC FIND. I Am I thus laid asyde, and must I not speak'for my selfe ? No, I will speak, and that to all my people." So runs a sentence from a proclamation made by Charles I. at Carisbrooke Castle on January 18, 1647. The original of the document, written in King Charles's own hand, has been found by the Historical Manuscripts Commission among the Harley papers at Welbeck Abbey. It was enclosed in a letter of Francis Peek, the well- known antiquary, and bore the appearance of having lain almost undisturbed between the leaves of that letter since the day of its receipt by Lord Oxford. ■ —— -——'

MUSOLINOS REGRET. 1 According to the Gaulois, the Italian brigand Musolino, when captured, lamented that his fellow- Calabrians might have saved him from his ignomi- nious fate if they had wished. How so ?" asked the Sans-Préfet of Urbino. Parbleu By nomi- nating me as Deputy, when the King would have been obliged to pardon me, as he did Felice." M. de Felice, it may be explained, is an Ultra-Socialist Deputy, who was released from prison on his nomi- nation by the electors as Deputy.

A SUNDAY SCHOOL MUSEUM. The Manchester Sunday School Union has made a new departure in the establishment of a loan museum of models and objects likely to be useful to Sunday school teachers. The museum contains many illustrations of plants and animals mentioned in the Bible. The gods and sacred animals of the Egyptians are largely represented. There are copies of the Rosetta stone, the Lachish tablet, the Moabite stone, and the clay tablet of Babylonia and Assyria. The Shofar horn, the waxed writing tablets, the ancient lamps and hand mirrors are among the varied objects copies of which are to be found in the Sunday school museum.

THE THRONE. Amid all the Coronation talk, one singular fact has escaped notice. Throne "—as a word signi- fying the actual seat upon which the King sits when he meets his Parliament—seems to be of compara- tively modern usage. The outward emblem of the Royal presence in the House of Lords appears always to have been described in ancient times as the Cloth of Estate." An old Standing Order of the House of Lords, now repealed, decreed, too, that no Lord should sit down in his place unless he hath made obeisance to the Cloth of Estate." And in another Standing Order, of a date so com- paratively recent as 1733, the throne is sometimes ¡ spoken of as the Throne," and sometimes as the Chair of State." S

I CENTENARIANS AND CLIMATE. It is not surprising (says Health) that more people live to be over 100 years old in warm climates than in the higher latitudes. The German Empire, with 55,000,000 inhabitants, has 778 centenarians; France, with 40,000,000, has 213; England has only 146, and Scotland, 46; Sweden has 10; Norway, 23; Belgium, 5; Denmark, 2; Spain, 401; and Switzerland none. Servia, with a population of 2,250,000, '575 people over 100 years old.

I AN IMPORTANT NOSE. The simple-hearted little Breton maids of that wild corner of Brittany which looks across the English Channel to Plymouth are in the blackest despair; they have lost (says the Traveller) the head of their patron saint-Saint Quirec. On th sands of a little bay, around whose shores clus tee the picturesque cottages of the fishermen of Plour manac'h, stands, and has stood for seven cen turies, the tiny, quaint shrine of St. Quirec. At high water the shrine is washed by the sea waves, but when the tide is out it is left high and dry, and the fishermen's bairns play around the heap of rocks which forms its pedestal. The whimsical tradition attaches to this saint that if any young girl who wishes to be married will only stick a pin in his nose at midnight her wish will be gratified within a year. About a month ago the good people woke up to find that the head of their saint had disappeared. Great consternation and indigna- tion prevails, and a subscription has already been opened to purchase another image of St. Quirec- with a head.

THE BABES IN THE WOOD. A curious story of a dream being the means of saving the lives of two girls comes from Creetown, Dunfries. Two children, daughters of Mr. Dodds, blacksmith, disappeared at nightfall, and search parties scoured the neighbouring country through- out the night, but without success. One of the searchers, Mr. W. Scott. Cassencary, who went to bed early in the morning, dreamt that he saw the lost children in a hole at a certain part of Larg Wood. Such was the impression which the dream made upon him that he at once again started on his search, discovering both children sound asleep.

PAPER buildings are being substituted for can- vas in the Army. The price of a building of this kind, accommodating ten men, is £210. It can be put up in three hours, and taken down in one and a half hours. AMONG the party which has been invited by Mr. Graham Vivian, Lord Swansea's uncle, to Clyne Castle for the second week in December are the Duke and Duchess of Teek, the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke and Duchess of Atholl, Lord Rosebery, Lord and Lady Bradford, and Lord and Lady Bathurst. HUNDREDS of pounds of honey have been dis- covered in the great equestrian statue of General Robert E. Lee, at Richmond, Virginia. Both the horse and rider are hollow, and it appears that ever since last summer bees have been going in and out at the parted lips and nostrils of General Lee and his steed. The bees are almost numberless, and they have been making honey constantly. There is no way of getting inside the statue without damaging it, and the bees will be left alone in their iron home. THE Mozabites of Oued M'zab, about 80 miles from the oasis of Ouargla, in Algeria, are a re- formed sect of Islamites, believed to descend from the ancient Moabites of Palestine. They have fled to their present site from the persecution of the orthodox. They have seven towns, and trade with the northern cities of Algeria, and through them with France in dates. They are white skinned, middle-sized, and bearded, wearing a blue sleeve- less dress. THE Wall family of Mickleover, Derbyshire, have kept the same office for fifty-five years. First the grandmother of the present holder was the Mickleover postmistress, and then, in succession, mother and daughter. In the old lady's days there used to be no more than three letters in a morn- ing, but now three letter-carriers are required to deliver the correspondence, so great has been the progress of the parish.

EPITOME OF NEWS. 1 THE new police-court at Warrington, which has just been opened, cost £ 25,000 to build. THE Chilian Parliament has ratified the general arbitration treaty concluded with Brazil. A NEW church at Sandylands, Morecambe. which has just been consecrated, was built at a cost of about £ 7000. "AN infectious diseases hospital for Preston is to be built at a cost of £ 20,000. IN 1790 one-fifth of the population of the United States was coloured, in 1900 the percentage of blacks was 11-58. THE expediency of establishing a municipal tele- phone for the West Riding of Yorkshire is being discussed. THE Kaiser of Germany has many hobbies; the Kaiserin only one, says the New York Times. As, however, she is constantly indulging her taste for ecclesiastical construction, the matter is, financially at least, of some importance to those who pay for her piety. There is, therefore, a certain good- natured dissatisfaction with her extravagance in this line. Taxpayers comfort themselves with the thought that she might spend their money in less praiseworthy objects. A PERMANENT Temple of Beauty" is projected in Paris. It will be a building where the hand- somest women applicants from all countries will be paid salaries and kept on constant exhibition, dressed in appropriate costumes under the direction of the most famous artists. It is pre- sumed that the ranks will have to be constantly recruited, as good marriages undoubtedly will tempt exhibits to leave in rapid succession. COMMENT has often been made on the unwashed condition of London statues, and the remedy of an occasional application of the hose pipe suggested, without, however, much result. Winchester, it appears, purposes going to the other extreme, for although it is little more than a month since the magnificent bronze effigy of King Alfred was set up near the Town Hall, the Saxon monarch has already had his first wash. It is said that the cleansing is to take place once a month at the hands of the local fire brigade, and that these constant ablutions are to be given on the advice of the sculptor, Mr. Hame Thornycroft. ONE who served both in the Crimea and during the Indian Mutiny, gaining distinction in both historic campaigns, has passed away in the person of Major-General James Tyler. The veteran officer spent nearly 40 years in the Royal Artil- lery, which he joined in 1851. He served with his corps in the siege and fall of Sebastopol, and was wounded during the operations. During the Sepoy rebellion he was acting staff officer to Lieutenant- Colonel Walker during the defeat of the rebel fort which occupied the fort and jungle of Bun- gaon. In 1880 he participated in the Afghan campaign, and seven yearsdater he was placed on the retired list with the rank of Major-General. A SOMERSETSHIRE cure for consumption was to lead or carry the sufferer through a flock of sheep in the early morning when they were first let out of the fold. Some mothers used to place consumptive people in cots in the centre of a sheep-fold, and there leave them from 11.30 till one o'clock in the morning, believing that the malady would pass away before the rising of that morn's sun. West of England folk say that an invalid, when going out for the first walk during convalescence, must take care to go with the sun, from east to west, or west to east, if after sun- down, otherwise a serious relapse cannot be avoided. In South Wales, as late as 1818, a woman who had been bitten by a mad donkey, was persuaded by her neighbours to go and eat grass in the nearest churchyard. THE famous pass of St. Bernard is now provided with shelters at short intervals, and the good old dog that used to search for lost wayfarers has been superseded by a telephone line connected with the "hospice" in such a way that when a traveller calls up the" pious monks," they know the shelter he is at. However, the dog, which the world would not willingly let die, may still be useful if the monks can train him to proceed to any shelter to which he is directed. Even now the pass is crossed by many persons. Every year the hospital" receives 4000 to 5000 tourists, 5000 to 6000 pilgrims, and about 15,000 Piedmontese work-people going to Switzerland to seek work. Even in the worst weather six to eight travellers visit the hospital. THE decline of the German bicycle industry is intensified, if one may judge from the number of firms which have declared themselves insolvent, In Berlin, especially, many firms are bankrupt, and others have diverted their industry into other channels. The last two years have seen a decrease of 50 per cent. in the bicycle trade. The trade in bicycle saddles and apparatus has also propor- tionately decreased, and over-production and in- creased competition have considerably reduced prices. To this has come the large import of foreign bicycles, Germany being the favourite land for the export trade as the duty on foreign bicycles is only 2 marks 50 pf. per machine in all other countries the duty is higher. MRS. BIGELOW, who has written a novel, While Charlie was Away," is the wife of clever and witty Mr. Poultney Bigelow. She has many stories to tell of her husband, but none quite so good as those about her husband and herself, when the former was on the lower rungs of the journa- listic ladder in New York. She confesses she used to go with him to the newspaper offices, and has on occasion talked with the tobacco-chewing night editor to use her influence on that gentleman on her husband's behalf. WHAT are the profits of a great ocean liner in the day of prosperity is a question that has often been asked. Here are some interesting facts in connection with the last journey of the Oceanic from Liverpool. The vessel carried 357 first-class passengers, 38 maids and valets, and 259 second- class passengers, and 1300 third class. The first- class passengers paid, estimating them at £40 a head, £ 14.280; the maids and valets average JE12 a head, and thus realised E456. The second-class passengers average EIOT hetd, and in this instance realised E2590. The third-class passengers pay £6 a head, and thus brought in E7800. The total amount received was E25,126, independent, of course, of the profit on wines, spirits, cigars, and the like, and the amount for cargo. The imme- diate expense to the proprietors of the Oceanic in making the trip is just £ 7000. A PARIS dentist recently turned the tables neatly on a nimble-footed thief who had robbed the dentist's wife of her purse in the street. The husband remarked at the time (says the Temps) that he should know the rascal again, and when a few days afterwards the thief called to have some teeth attended to, the dentist was ready for him. Telling his visitor that it would be necessary to take a cast of his mouth, the dentist resorted to the now obsolete method of a plaster impression, and having allowed it to remain in long enough to set hard, calmly ordered his patient to follow him to a lawyer's office with the view of signing a con- fession and making restitution. The terrified thief had perforce to comply, after which the dentist, with the aid of a hammer and cold chisel, delivered him from his awkward predicament. THE Art Gallery Committee of the Corporation of Leeds announces that pictures will be received for the fourteenth annual exhibition at the City Art Gallery on January 23 and 24. These are the dates for London artists, but local painters must send in their work a little earlier, on January 21 and 22. The Art Gallery Committee states that it has a fund available for the purchase of works for the permanent collection, and that any profit that may result from the forthcoming exhibition will be added to the fund. The announcement is followed by a paragraph referring to acquisitions to the permanent collection which should draw pictures from all parts of the Kingdom. It runs thus "When suitable works are available the committee greatly prefer making purchases from their own exhibitions, and they earnestly invite exhibits of the kind." But what kind ? The committee will probably have plenty of works to choose from, for the painter with pictures to sell-and most are in this case-can hardly be blamed for thinking and hoping that his particular canvases will be of the kind most fitted for the education and edification of the citizens of Leeds. FRANClI holds the record for the greatest amount of coin in circulation— £ 8 a. head. We have only half that amount, whilst Russia has silly 8s. a head. THE Trans-Siberian Railway gives the cheapest rates in the world. It is possible to buy an emigrant's ticket, covering tiOOO miles, nearly three weeks' iourney, for 13s. 61. ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED Jews have- fought for Great Britain in the Boer War. DR. TURNOYSKY, a Viennese expert, asserts that, epilepsy disappears in the case of such of its victims as have contracted other complaints. THERE is a school for waiters at Vienna, where budding gargons d'hotel and gareons de cafd are. thoroughly instructed in the ways wherein they should walk. During the three years' course pupils are taught the three R's just as if they were in ordinary elementary schools but French, the lan- guage of cooks and diplomatists all the world over, is added to the programme and then, of course, there is the technical training, which includes cookery in all its branches, the composition of a correctly spelt menu, the laying of tables, the fold- ing of serviettes, and last, but not least, the art of deportment. THE personality of the Sultan of Turkey is much misrepresented. He possesses a sensitive nature and his domestic affections are strong. His powers of work are exceptionally great, and he never takes stimulants, except an occasional cup of coffee and a cigarette. His dress is simple—a black frock-coat cut in Turkish fashion and a white waistcoat, with a gold watch-chain. No great display yet when he gives you audience on a Friday, after the ceremony of the Selamlik, he impresses you with his picturesque dignity and placid face. He used to be one of the best pistol- shots in Europe. THE latest things in the way of clubs is an orga- nisation which has been started in Washington. Its name, if it does not disclose the object of the society, at least gives some indication of who may belong to it. It is called the Red-Headed Club. Only Government employes are eligible. The other qualification is the possession of red hair, carrot or flame colour preferred. About half the members are women. The Most Lurid Luminary is the title of the chief of the club, while Satellito and Lesser Light are the names of two subordinates. The pro- tection of red hair from the old, and foolish jests so often directed against it is the avowed object of this pecular organisation. MR. ROOSEVELT, the new President of the United States, himself a successor to Washington, can boast of having saved the life of a descendant of Lord North, whose obstinacy lost England the- American colonies. In 1885 the Hon. William and the Hon. Roger North, sons of the present Lord North, were in America, and visited Mr. Roosevelt on his ranch in North Dakota. Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Roger North started one evening to ride to Medora. In crossing a deep gully which was in flood-the water running over a bridge made of faggots laid on poles so that it was hidden from view-Mr. Roger North, who was riding, went through, horse and all. Mr. Roosevelt threw his lariat or lasso and hauled him out, or he must have been drowned. MR. F. CARRUTHERS GOULD, the cartoonist of the Westminster Gazette, has been giving some particulars regarding his system of work. As a rule," he says, when Parliament is sitting, I get to the House of Commons at half-past three or four in the afternoon, and take up a position either in the gallery or the lobby-according to what is going on. I would go to the lobby if I wanted special details of an incident or portrait from a particular member. At about seven o'clock I make my way out of the House with notes and rough outlines, and proceed to the National Liberal Club, when I prepare my drawings. An ordinary sketch takes me about 20 minutes." IN typewriting 500 letters you waste one hour in writing "Dear Sir" and "Yours very truly." Now, the total annual number of letters sent through the post all over the world is 8,000,000,000. Of course this is not all commercial correspondence, nor is it all typewritten, but for the purpose of having some statistical starting-point it will be assumed that it is. To write Dear Sir and Yours very truly" for this number of letters would take one typist 16,000,000 hours, allowing 300 working days to the year, about 6700 years. To translate this into an approximation of its money value, allowing E2 as the salary of the typist and eight hours as the average day's work, the cost would be £ 670,000. QUITE a number of Royal ladies are adepts with the rifle. One of these is Portugal's plucky Queen, who recently received the German medal for saving life. Her Majesty is a keen sports- woman, and can handle her gun with a precision which is positively deadly. Queen Helena of Italy is another clever shot. She spends much of her time in her pretty little hunting lodge in the island of Monte Cristo, and is as clever with the revolver as with the rifle. The Duchess Carl Theodore of Bavaria and her sister the Archduchess Carl- Ludwig, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and' the Grand Duchess of Hesse are others who can hold their own with the gun. Our own Queen and her daughters prefer the rod to the gun, and may be regarded as expert fisherwomen. THE Talbots are said to owe their inheritance of Lacock to a very romantic incident. The young daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Sherrington being in love with John Talbot, contrary to her father's wishes, and discoursing one night with him from the battlements of the Abbey Church, said she: I will leap down to you." Her sweet- heart replied that he would catch her then, but he did not believe she would do it. However, she leapt down, and Mr. Talbot caught her in his arms, but was struck with so much force that he fell as if dead. She cried for help, and he was with great difficulty brought to life again. Her father thereon told her that since she had made such a leap she should e'en marry him. IT has been definitely settled that the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall are to attend the National Eisteddfod at Bangor next year, and they are to be the guests of Lord and Lady Penrhyn at Penrhyn Castle. The King is the President of the Eisted- fod, and, according to Trnth, it is said that his Majesty has decided to have the Duke of York then proclaimed Prince of Wales at Carnarvon Castle. It is hoped in Wales that the Duke will visit St. David's in order that he may be formally installed in the Cathedral in the Sovereign's stall as the representative of the King, who is an hereditary Prebendary of St. David's. THE American system of selling, as briefly men- tioned by the Engineer, is peculiar. In the words of that journal, production, fostered by an astound- ing tariff, has apparently overtaken home demand. The system of two prices is being adopted. Roughly speaking, the duty on imported machine- tools is 40 per cent. ad valorem. The American maker sells a lathe to an American customer for £280. He (the manufacturer) sells the same lathe in this country for £:200. The lathe costs the maker, says, £ 200. He is well content to clear £80 on the two. The English trade represents a species of equaliser or flywheel to steady his production. When the home trade falls off a little, he sella elsewhere at cost price or a little under, and whilst there is sound reason to believe that at the present moment the American [manufacturer is making little, if any, profit on his export trade, the enormous profits on the home trade suffice to re- coup him. DR. J. A. RENTOUL, K.C., who now leaves Mr. Russell alone in Ulster, while he goes to sit with Judge Lumley Smith in the City of London Court, is an Irishman of remarkable attainments, which are hid under no bushel. He has taken whole alphabets of degrees in law and letters in Ireland, Brussels, aud in Berlin, to say nothing of scholarships and prizes at the Inns of Court. He is as fluent as ever was Orange- man, and the House of Commons knows what that means; and the Unionists in the smoking-room, who knew that he wa,s good for an hour, were always happy to think that other people were listening to him. At one time he was a Presby- terian minister, a calling which he abandoned for the Bar. He sat on the first London County Council, and has sat for East Down continuously since 1890. He was married in 1882. GENERAL CASTRO, who has been acting as pro- visional President of the Republic of Venezuela for a year past, and has now been confirmed in the office, was a warm sympathiser with the Colombian revolutionists. He holds his office by an uncertain tenure, for Venezuela is equally subject to political and physical upheavals, and the President not long ago broke his leg at Caracas in jumping from the upper floor of the palace, which an earthquake was shaking to ruins. The Republic ot Venezuela was formed in 1830 by secession from the other members of the Free State founded by Simon Bolivar within the limits of the Spanish colony of New Granada. It was with Venezuela that Great Britain had a protracted and dangerous dispute about the boundary between that republic and British Guiana, which was settled in 1899 by an award which in the main v pheld the British claim-

QUEEN ELEANOR'S CROSSES. There is an extremely interesting reference in the recently-published report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission on the documents at Welbeck Abbey to the crosses known as Queen Eleanor's, of which only four—those at Waltham, Geddington, Tottenham, and Northampton-are still in existence. In a letter addressed to the Earl of Oxford in the year 1728 Dr. William Stukeley, in an account of these crosses, remarks that Waltham is pretty perfect, but this last summer Mrs. Robinson has rebuilt part of her house, and encroached upon the road and cross too, and broke down a good deal of the cross to make way for her roof." The form of this cross is hexagonal, and it is without doubt the finest of the existing memorials. Its ornamental details are said to owe a great deal of their sharpness to the hardness of the rtone in which they were executed. Prominently dis- played within the panelled tracery of the lo over story are the shields of England, Castile with Leon, and Ponthieu, suspended by straps from knots of foliages. The cross was carefully re- stored in the years 1832 and 1887, but for all that it has marvellously withstood the weather of the last 600 years or so, and as it appears to-day is one of the best examples of the sculpture of the period.

THE CITY OF DREADFUL NIGHT. I Speaking at Glasgow a few days ago, Canon Scott Holland tried to make his audience realise the present condition of London. In the Empire City there are 900,000 people living in ine-roomed tenements. There are 216,000 living fc-ur and five in one room, and 30,000 or 40,000 living six and seven in one room. The rooms are on an average not more than 10ft. square, and besides the little relics of furniture, which constitute what is called home," it is no uncommon thing to see as many as ten persons huddled together in such a confined area. We welcome this attempt to let the light in," for the ignorance in many parts of the country to London's needs has hitherto been most depressing.

AN INTERESTING CASTLE. I The visitor to the neighbourhood of San Remo I (remarks the Traveller) should net fail to notice the old castle of Pietralunga, with its interesting historical associations and curiosities, notable among which is the throne, or state chair, of the Earl of Chester. The castle itself was built on the site of an ancient monastery, and takes its name from the rock on which it stands. It was here that, about 1725, the Genoese commissioner, Pinelli, landed his Corsicans to quell the rebellious natives of San Remo, storming the town from the back.