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

I PASSIVE RESISTERS. I Sixteen Passive Resisters, including Professor G. Sims Woodhead, the ex-Mayor, and a Coun- cillor of Cambridge, were on Tuesday summoned to the local police-court by the overseers for having refused to pay the Education rate. In each case the defendant pleaded a conscientious objection to paying for Sectarian teaching. Distress warrants were issued. Proceedings against Passive Resisters were also taken at Birmingham and at places in Cheshire and Somersetshire. ———————

I WELL-KNOWN FOOTBALLER I CURED OF CONSUMPTION BY DR. WILLIAMS* PINK PILLS. Mr. Chas. W. Wilson, secretary of the Breas- ton Football Club, now residing at 68, Manvers- street, Netherfield, told the "Derby Express" that he had been in a Consumption, his weight falling as low as 8st. lOlb., and that Dr. Wil- liams' Pink Pills for Pale People had saved him. They raised his weight in a very short time to 9st. 71b., and no doubt, as his strength returned, he put on further flesh. 2Mr. C. W. Wilson, A Derbyshire Football Secretary who was cured of Consumption by Dr. Williams' Pink Pills. (From a photo by D. Storer, Long Eaton.) Mr. Wilson's account of his escape from threatened death by Consumption is intelligent and interesting. He said "About sixteen weeks ago I became ill. I did not think the matter of great gravity at first, but gradually I grew worse, and had to seek medical advice. But although skilfully treated I gradually grew worse. I felt very low had scarcely strength to move about and was quite unable to eat or sleep. I lost weight, was feverish and short of breath, and subject to profuse per- spirations, especially at night. I was troubled, too, by a constant cough and pains in my chest. The doctor told my wife the truth: I was Con- sumptive. "I was quite unable to follow my trade as a wheelwright, and after I had been under the doctor a few weeks he ordered me away. I went to a convalescent home, but all to no good. I came ba home, and the doctor told me I should not be able to work again. I asked him what my complaint was, and he would not tell me. However, he told my wife. "My illness continued for about thirteen weeks. As a last resource, I determined to try Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. You would hardly believe the benefit I. felt after the first five or six doses. In less than a week I was at work again!" "In what way did you feel the benefit?" "The cough stopped, the pains in my chest left me, and I could eat and sleep better, and in a day or two I walked to Long Eaton and back (two and a-half miles each way) without feeling a bit tired." "How many boxes of Dr. Williams' Pink Pills have you taken?" Six boxes altogether, and I feel quite well now. Would you believe that before I took the pills I only weighed 8st. 101b., but now I am 9st. 71b. I feel as well as ever I did, only not quite so strong, but I shall soon pull my strength up." "Do you attribute your cure solely to Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People?" "Certainly I do. All the neighbours know of my case, and are surprised to see me at work again." The great difficulty in cases of Consumption is to stop the wasting, due to loss of blood. Dr. Wil- liams' Pink Pills go straight to the root of the matter by making new blood. In the same sim- ple but not less wonderful way they have cured Anaemia, Kidney Disease, Paralysis, Rheu- matism, and the secret miseries of womankind. There is no danger of being deceived by useless substitutes, if the purchaser takes pains to ask for Dr. Williams' pills and to see the full name on the package—Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People. Dr. Williams' Medicine Company, Holborn-viaduct, London, will send a box post free for 2s. 9d., or for 13s. 9d. six boxes—which effected a complete cure in the case of Mr. Wil- son as above described.

A PRINCE OF CHARITY. I Dr. Barnardo has been giving a most enlighten- ing account of the big charities which he runs Though he is about the busiest man in Londor, he works quietly, systematically, and unostenta- tiously. So implicit is the confidence which he has won tha.t about 80,000 kind-hearted people subscribe annually to his funds. He has under his direction 103 institutions, and to run these he is compelled to find the colossal sum of E180,000 a year. Close upon 7,000 orphans who ha.ve been rescued from the streets are depen- dent on him for food, shelter, clothing, and a start in life. Sitting at a. table in Stepney Cause- way he works incessantly, starting at half-past ten, going home at 11 o'clock at night, only to take a great bundle of papers with him, at which he toils till half-past two, his regular retiring time. Of his homes for children,, 14 are open day and night, exclusive of those in London. Every night the slums are searched for little derelicts, and waif children are brought from all parts of the country by the police, by magis- trates, and by ministers of all denominations. 1

THE LONDON RHINOCEROS. I No small attention ha,8 been given to the re- I mains, recently unearthed from below the foun- dations of the "Daily Chronicle" buildings in London of a great "Siberian" rhinocerosi. It will now be learned with interest that, having regard to their value in a natural history sense, they are to pass into the national custody of the British Museum. Professor Ray Lankester, the director of the Natural History Museum, has asked that. the relics should go to South Kensing- ton, and his request has been granted. "Al- though remains of this extinct species a.re fairly common," said Dr. Lankester, it is seldom that we get them in such good state of preservation." D'\ Ray Lankester calculates that probably 150,000 years have passed since the Fleet-street rhinoceros was alive. That would have been after the last glacial epoch, when Fleet-street was the home,, not of newspapers, but of mam moths seeking to devour each other.

"Did you tell a friend of mine," the small man exclaimed, indignantly, "that I could not tell the truth if I tried?" "No, sir," replied the large man. "I wouldn't think of saying such a thing." I am glad to hear it." "I wouldn't think of saying you couldn't tell the truth if you tried, because-" "Well?" "So far as I am informed you never tried." I

WOMAN'S WORLD. ATTRACTIVE WOMEN. A pretty face only constitutes one of the characteristics whuh go towards making a woman at- tractive, and it is absurd (says a writer in the Evening News ") to suppose that her charms decrease as time adds a wrinkle to her face. As a matter of fact, many women are far more attractive between the ages of thirty and thirty-five than those who are ten years younger. The latter, perhaps, appear more charming and fascinating to the average young man, on account of their personal beauty, vivacity, youth. &e. But although the attractiveness of a woman between thirty and thirty-ffve years of age may not be so apparent at first sight, it is really far greater than that of a younger woman. FURS OF THE FUTURE. The winter is not with uryet, but we are already talking of furs and what are to be the favourites. Sable and sealskin are foregone conclusions, but what of the rest of the crowd, chinchilla and ermine and caracul and fox ? White fox one seems confident of, because the white feather stole has been so popular the last few month s. and dark fox perhaps also will have some innings, for those who paid long sums for their foxskins last winter will not want to set them aside yet. The speckled browny foxskins are most certain to he favoured, because the very beavery brown of their colouring will be so modish in costume, and tne costume and the stole seem as bent on good fellow- ship as formerly were the hat and the costume. And for the same reason their beaver brown colouring nutria and beaver skins are certain to be favoured by the fashionable. Nutria is the cheaper of these two, so very like each other, and, says a writer in the Gentlewoman," I can foresee ex- ceedingly presentable long and handsome coats of n u f.t.j St. CUTTING DOWN THE TROUSSEAU. In the trousseau of a very smart and well-to-do young lady who was married recently there were not more than eight frocks, all told. They were handsome frocks, but no more so than if the girl hadn't in- tended to be married at all, but was just getting ready for the summer. Naturally, some of her relatives were horrified, but the bride herself was content, and she looked so blooming and so different from what she might have looked if she had spent months being fitted, and worrying about embroid- eries, that some of her women friends declared they would follow her example, for what does it profit a girl if she gain a husband but lose her good looks in sewing ? It used to be said that a bride looked less well at her own wedding than at any other time, but that is no longer so. Nowadays the girl who is married is as carefree as is her maid of honour, and sometimes the baggage which she takes to her new home is as modest in size as though she had no in-laws to impress. RINGS AND BETROTHALS. When young Russian girls are anxious to knew if they will be married (and what young girl i not anxious to kuow that?) several of them assemble, each wearing a ring. A large basket of corn is brought in, and each girl drops her ring carefully, stirring up the corn the while. Then a hungry hen is introduced, and whichever maiden's ring is first discovered will be the first one married. In the marshes of the North sea coast it was formerly customary in Germany for the bridegroom to give the bride on the day of the betrothal, instead of a ring, a valu- able coin, called "echle," or genuine, as a pledge that the compact between them was binding. This is also a remnant of the time when wives were ac- quired by right of purchase, and the custom is still prevalent is some isolated places. Among un- Christian nations betrothal rings are unknown. For example, a Mohammedan, instead of giving his bride a ring, bestows on her a Maschkass," or square amulet of pure gold, which the girl hangs around her neck. In India a small amulet is worn by a woman as a badge of marriage. It generally consists of many coloured beads, and is about as large around as a bracelet, but there must be some gold in it, however little. ARRANGING FLOWERS. An excellent business is earried on by many clever American J women living at home, which has ] in one or two instances been eopied over here. This is nothing more or less than arranging flowers in other people's houses, more especially for table decorations. The art of floral decoration is becoming so universally patronised in this country, where for too long it was but little understood, that many ladies are in considerable perplexity as to how they are to make their entertainments as attractive as their neighbour's, from a floral point of view. Of course, at very gorgeous entertainments this is now an affair that requires the help of the one or more assistants in grouping plants, piling up blossoms, &c., but the servants of the house can generally be told off for this work, and will do it well enough under experienced direction. But it is in little dinners that the lady flower-artist chiefly shows her genius, and for this not only talent is needed, but careful thought and tact. She must devise something original, graceful, and charming in the table arrangement—something to set that special dinner or luncheon apart from others and make it remembered. She groups her colours, and even studies the menu, that no tint may clash with any special dish she blends, and artfully accentuates, till the whole is almost a pic- ture. A lady who can carry out work of this kind successfully can obtain plenty of work during the busy London season, and, in many cases, all the year round. u RULE YOUR YOUNGSTERS. The mother's task of conquerin the child should begin at an early age, or in the end the child will rule the parent. A striking I Z" Alustration of this was once noticed on one of the busy streets of a certain city. Two ladies, who had evidently been shopping, were pushing in front of them a carriage in which sat a bright- eyed, laughing child of perhaps, three years. It soon discovered, however, that the carriage was headed toward home, and the child at once began to express the desire to go back. Its mother not complying, its face, a moment before all sunshine, assumed a look of passion, and its cries could bo heard far down the street. After some trifling attempts to still its cries the mother laughingly remarked to her companion that, perhaps, they had better go where baby wanted to, which was done, and smiles once more covered the little one's face. They were soon lost from sight in the moving throng, but already the child had learned her power and will continue to use it. One lady was heard to remark: If that mother can't manage her child at three, how can she expect to have any influence over her at 16." WOMAN AND THE VOTE. In Munich women owners of taxable property have a right to vote at municipal elections, but they have never gone in I person to the polls, sending instead male proxies. At a recent election, however, one courageous woman, who, by the way, is president of a large philanthropic association of women, appeared in person to cast her vote. She pleaded that it was not any more difficult to cast a ballot than to iBstruct some men how to do it, while the only way to be sure that the right ballot was used WHS to cast it herself. Her action caused something of a sensation, but she was not denied the privilege she asked for. When it is remembered that until very recently women in Germany were not allowed to attend political meetings or ally themselves with political parties, and that these lawB are still in effect in many parts of the empire, this action of a woman voter, which passed without protest from the men, indicates a growing sentiment in favour of improved conditions for women. The Liberal Party and the Social Democrats all over Germany, wherever the laws are not unfavourable, are inviting women to join them. In Hamburg about 1100 women belong to the Social Demo- cratic clubs, and are even represented on their boards of directors.

A bomb with a fuse has been discovered near a house in the Calle San Pedro, Barcelona. The authorities believe that an Anarchist outrage is in question.

I ART AND LITERATURE. Will the newly announced volume of Mr. Kipling's poems, asks a literary writer, contain the verses celebrating Lord Roberts? These, which appeared some ten years ago in the "Pall Mall Magazine," have never been reprinted. Yet. they haunt the memory and. come trippingly off the tongue. Why have they not appeared in bock form,( "There's a little red-faced man, Name o' Bobs," who is "little but a terror for his size." Mr. Joseph Hocking's new novel "A Flame of Fire," being the history and adventures of three Englishmen iij Spain at the time of the Great Armada, will De issued by Messrs. Cassell and Company on September 1, and will be published mimultaneously in America.. Novelists are frequently heard to protest (observes the "Morning Post") against reviewers who persist in regarding innocent works of fiction as romans a clef, and the characters sprung from the brains of the authors as portraits of living statesmen, artists, beauties, or what not, in fact holding tha-t, save for the alteration of names of persons and places, and some slight artistic improvements, the novels are really memoirs of the very immediate past. Now, for a. change, we have an author advertising his sworn declaration that a book which has been reviewed as a novel is truly an autobiography and a literal statement of facts, save that certain names and dates have been left out for motives of charity. The last instance we remember of any such. declaration was in the case of a well-known writer of books of travel whose extraordinary and terrible experiences at the hands of a mediaeval people had been regarded by some agnostic reviewers with sceptism. The library of the late Mr. William Ernest Henley will shortly be dispersed, and the sale should attract all who are interested in modern literature. It includes many books which are beautiful in form or possess the quality of rarity, together with intrinsic merit. Also one remembers that when one took a volume from his shelves it generally had a written inscription from the author or the editor, while it had often a printed dedication. The catalogue, when it is issued, will probably enable one to arrive at cer- tainty as to a point with regard to which nobody has ever achieved definite knowledge: the number of books which were made up in the whole or in part of matter contributed to the "Scots" and "National Observer." An important art book is announced, the sub- ject being Mr. James Orrock, the well-known artist, collector, and connoisseur. The choicest of his art treasures will be shown in nearly eighty photogravure plates, and many other illustrations. This gallery will include pictures by great English masters like Constable, which have never been engraved before. Mr. Orrock has also been a collector of Chippendale and Sheraton furniture and of Nankin china. Thus the book, which is to be in two volumes and limited to 500 sets, will touch art on many sides. In it Mr. Byron Webber is Boswell to Mr. Orrock's memories. Mr. Lydekker, whose writings on natural history are so well known, has finished a book entitled "Mostly Mammals." It consists of essays, dealing in an exact yet popular way with all the latest phases of zoology. Thus one chapter discusses the colouration of large animals, and another explains why Arctic animals turn white. Monkey hand-prints and the pedigree of the cat are other subjects in which the general reader can take an interest. The book is to have illustrations from drawings and photographs by, among others, the Duchess of Bedford, Lord Delamere, and the Hon. Walter Rothschild. "Dual Personalities" is the appropriate title of the leading article in the "Literary World." For two personalities lurk behind it. As we read it certain memories- were stirred in the brain, and a brief research disclosed the fact that it was transferred in all its three columns and a half from the leading article in the "Academy" of February 14, 1903. The title was changed from "Novelist Poets," a word or two on the first line was dropped and this constitutes the sole claim of the signatory—A. N.—to the authorship. And we have good reason for stating that those initials do not occur in the name of the writer of the original article. We have chaffed the proposed faculty of journalism at the Columbia University. But its course in the ethics of journalism seems to be needed in England. An interesting memorial portrait in bronze of Sir Thomas Lovell, who was Speaker of the House of Commons, and held many other impor- tant appointments during the reign of Henry VIII., has been added to the collection of monu- ments in Westminster Abbey. It is supposed to be by Tcrrigiano, of whose work there are already many notable examples in the Abbey; and it is as admirable in its artistic qualities as it is historically valuable. It has been pre- sented to the Dean and Chapter by Sir J. C. Robinson ,and has been placed on the back of the stalls i nthe south aisle of Henry VII.'s Chapel. The bronze was formerly in the Na- tional Portrait Gallery, to which it was lent for some while by Sir J. C. Robinson. Mr. H. de T. Glazebrook is sending to the Walker Art Gallery, at Liverpool, for the autumn exhibition, a portrait of Mr. Anthony Hope which deserves a prominent place among the many other portraits of contemporary cele- brities which he has painted during the last few years. He has caught very happily the characteristic expression of the famous novelist, and has arranged the portrait with welcome un- conventionality. Mr. Glazebrook's sitters lately have included many people who have made their mark in the history of this country. His ad- mirable renderings of Lord Milner and Lord Goschen last year will be long remembered as two of the beit portraits that have appeared in recent times; and he has since painted Mr. Frankfort Moore, Sir Harry Poland, Sir John Furley, Lord Savile, and several other men of note. Mr. John Morley, whose book on Mr. Glad- stone will soon be out, is regarded by the average man in the street as a somewhat solemn and sombre personage, a character, which, to tell the truth, is to a certain extent not un- deserved. Mr. Morley has never golfed, rowed, cricketed, or played tennis, and is probably happiest in the library. At the same time, he is not without some recreations, for it is not many years ago since he and Mr. Chamberlain were not infrequently seen together in the stalls of some London theatre, and of music he is a de- voted lover. According to one biographer, Mr. Morley is also an admirer of cats, and he was once known to keep a horse, which, however, he never drove except on the flat, for his 'hu- manity prevented him allowing the animal to drag the burden of his weight up hill > Mr. Morley is very fond of walking, and in his younger days spent several holidays in Surrey with George Meredith, with whom he tramped many miles over the hills and commons. To these walks, and to his consequent close com- panionship with Meredith, Mr. Morley ascribes much of his subsequent success in life. A romantic story attaches to two valuable pic- tures which have just been placed on view in the Tedclington Science and Art School. One of the pictures is a Van Dyck, and the other a portrait of the Earl of Derby, painted by Win- stanley in 1733. When Mr. Andrew Carnegie offered to present a large sum of money towards the building of a new free library at Teddington, it was decided to include an art gallery, and a small committee was appointed to purchase suit- able pictures. Purely by accident Mr. Bell and Mr. Percy Smith heard that a dilapidated pic- ture, which had been bought by a Chiswick furniture dealer, was to be sold by auction at Kingston. They accordingly attended the sale, bought the picture for £ 1, and found it to be a Van Dyck dealing with Tasso's poem "Rin- aldo." It was carefully restored and placed in the art school. Mr. Bell saw the other picture— Winstanley's portrait of the Earl of Derby—in a barber's shop in Colne-road, Twickenham, where it had reposed dirty and frameless for four years. Ten shillings was offered for the picture and accepted, and HOW after being cleaned, it reveals the figure of tne nobleman bewigged and in a pink velvet coat. The na- ture of the Van Dyck bargain may be gauged from the fact that a small portrait by the same master recently fetched 130 guineas. His fa- mous equestrian portrait of Charlesl. in ti » Nationr", Gallery cost E17,500 to acquire.

] bOUTH AFRICAN WAR. I I COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. I The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the South African War have issued their Report, which deals chiefly with the questions of the pre- parations for the war and the supplies of men and materials. As to the conduct of the mili- tary operations the Commissioners decline to pronounce judgment on questions of strategy or tactics, on which the evidence of the military witnesses they examined was frequently conflict- ing. In regard to the preparations the report in- dicates that the Intelligence Department ob- tained fairly accurate information as to the armed strength the Boers could command, their armament. d their disposition; but it also shows tun* an inadequate conception of the ex- tent of the reinforcv-JHents required in South Africa to resist a Boer attack on our Colonies in the event of a war had been formed both by the Government and by its military advisers and the Commissioners comment on the alarming deficiencies in reserve stores and material at the beginning of the war. Among the topics treated in the report are the supply of men, the qualities shown by officers, the behaviour and value of the Auxiliary Forces and the Colonial contingents, questions of ammunition, equipment, and trans- port, remounts, the Medical department, the work of the Engineers and Army Service Corps, and the subject of War Office organisation, in regard to which some important suggestions are made both by the Commission as a whole and by individual members in separate memoranda. (

A correspondent of the "Field" mentions a curiousi superstition respecting bees dying on the death of their owner. "I have been," he writes, "to the sale of the effects of a gentleman who died about a fortnight since. In the catalogue three stocks of bees were entered for sale, but when the man went to move them out they were all dead. This is the third time I have person- ally known such an occurrence." An Indian recently sold in Chicago three sets of antlers inexplicably interlaced. It is supposed that two bucks were fighting in the forest and became locked, and that while they were still struggling a third buck charged them, when his own horns became fastened.

THE SIMPLON TUNNEL. i From a recently published official. report on the work of driving the great twelve-mile Simp- Ion tunnel in Switzerland, it appears that at the beginning of this year one of the two parallel tunnels which really constitute the work had been completed over a distance of 46,996ft., and the other over a distance of 46,281ft., or in both cases close on to nine miles. The expenditure on the two drivings, including the lines of access, amounted in round numbers to 9,800,000f. from October 1, 1901, to September 30, 1902, the fourth year of construction, a.nd for the total of the four years, to 37,800,000f. The extremely rapid in- crease of the rock temperature at one time alarmed the officials, going up as high as 129deg. F., considerably more than had been anticipated but the bottom of the northern gal- lery being below the culminating point of the mountain, it wa.s almost certain that the tempera- ture would not increase any further. With its 12-miles length the Simplon tunnel will be the longest in the world. It will establish direct communication between Paris and Milan, but without the drawback of the heavy grades which characterise the St. Gothard line. The contract made with the Jura-SimpIon Railway Company by the contractors guaranteed the completion of one of the two tunnels within five and one-half years. No fixed time wa.s stipulated for the com- pletion of the second tunnel.