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

DAMAGE BY THE STORM. The Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Lord St. John of Bletsoe, has started a fund to assist farmers, small holders, and allottees in the loss they suffered from the effects of the disastrous hailstorm on August 2nd. He has asked the Bed- fordshire Chamber of Agriculture to arrange the practical details, and the business committee of- the Chamber at once met and accepted an offer from four firms of valuers to inspect and value the crops on the damaged area. A general meeting will be held on the 25th inst., under the presidency of the Lord Lieutenant, when arrangements will be made as to the distribution of the money. The total damage in Bedfordshire alone is estimated at between £ 20,000 and £ 25,000. The decision was announced in the Bedford Corn Exchange by Mr. Harry Green, of Felmersham, who afterwards promised E500 towards the fund. A meeting of the Huntingdonshire Chamber of Agriculture was held at St. Ives on Monday to consider the enormous damage done to the crops in the county by the hailstorm of August 2, when many stones five inches in circumference fell. Competent valuers had been over the dis- trict devastated, and they reported that the damage was very great. Manv crops have been utterly destroyed, and unles -they are helped numbers of agriculturists must be ruined. Over the district inspected the loss'is at least £ 15,000. and it is thought that another £ 5,000 may well be aded to this. Promises of subscriptions were made towards what is hoped will be a national fund, and a committee was appointed to take steps in the matter.

I EPITOME OF NEWS. The gunboat Sleipney, belonging to the Nor- wegian Navy, visited Portsmouth. A m- n asked to be remanded at West Lon- don because he got tea and coffee while in prison, ind preferred it to the workhouse diet." The training ship General Baquedano, of the Chilian Navy, arrived at Spithead for a short stay, and exchanged salutes with the Victory. Capt. Cockram, master of the Wilson liner Vigo, died suddenly in the Mediterranean, and was buried at sea. A sentence of twelve months' hard labour was passed on a man at Hull for obtaining half a crown by false pretences. In Belgium four schools have just been opened for the instruction of fishermen in their call- ing. At Bradford two burglars unwittingly entered the house of Mr. Thompson, a police superin- tendent, and both were caught by the ready officer. In all £3,200 was awarded in the Admiralty Court in respect of salvage services to the steamer Torrington during a fog in the Bristol Channel in June. I:> £ 15,650, saved for holidays by 4,000 members of the Blackburn Chapel-street P.S.A., was dis- tributed. In addition, 400 members paid in £1,500 for a trip to Paris. The vicar of Christ Church, Lowestoft, is pro- testing in the current magazine of the parish against the sailing and employment of the fish- ing fleet on Sundays. While lunching with the King of Roumania Dr. Buzzi, the Italian physician in attendance, had a sudden attack of general paralysis. Orders prohibiting the entrance to the United States of Mormon converts from other countries have been issued by the American Government. In attempting to enter a train in motion at Clapham-junction, an elderly gentleman fell heavily to the platform, and fractured his skull. A labourer named Autigen was remanded at Stockport charged with the murder of his wife, whom, it is alleged, he attacked with a hammer whilst she was in bed. Rear-Admiral J. E. Clljford Goodrich, M.V.O., has been selected to succeed Rear- Admiral Sir Edward Chichester, Bart., C.B., C.M.G., as Admiral Superintendent at Gibral- tar. The executors of the late Mrs. Hannah Finnie have allocated £1,000 to the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital, Margate, for the endowment of the Hannah Finnie Memorial Bed." George Thomas Millership and James Miller- ship, father and son, were at West Ham com- mitted for trial on charges of obtaining by fraud drugs and medicinal material from diffe- rent firms. For breach of promise, after a courtship of eleven years, Miss Edith Portman, of Sheffield, was awarded £ 50 damages against Percy Cullen at Leeds. z, Over 1,000 carcases of cats and dogs have been taken from the River Lea, says the Con- servancy, between Hackney Marshes and the Thames, in the course of twelve months. "What a splendid temper you must have," said the judge at the Marylebone County-court 9 1 to a defendant who stated that he himself had hung 371 pictures in his house. Queen Margherita of Italy has expressed her intention of making a motor tour round the cathedral cities of England next autumn. Mrs. McBride (nee Maud Gonne) obtained from the Paris courts a separation order, with custody of the child, from her husband, Major McBride, who fought in the Boer ranks in the South African war. The exportation of fruit to England by the cross-Channel cargo boats is abnormally heavy. One day's export fridin Boulogne reached the enormous quantity of two million pounds, in ninety-one thousand baskets. Berwick herring fishermen have decided to adhere to the old-established custom of selling by private treaty on arrival in port in opposi- tion to the curers, who wish to introduce auc- tion sales on Berwick Quay. According to an American Consular report just issued, regular weekly services of motor- barges have been established in France, reduc- ing the journey by water, between Paris and Dunkirk, from three months to nine days. Wishing to persuade the Acton magistrates of his quiet conduct, a prisoner said "I walked with these two gentlemen (the constables) re- spectable, just like a gentleman ought to do." A Russian steamship company is organising a steamer service between Odessa and New York. The first sailing will take place at the beginning of October. The voyage will last 22 days. After attending a wedding, Margaret Macauly, 22, of Beaufoy-road, Battersea, was taken ill and died from heart failure, the result of too hearty a meal. A verdict to this effect was re- turned at the inquest. A lady who was pinned beneath a capsized boat near Ilfracombe was rescued by an atten- dant, who dived from the steamer Westonia. The rest of the boat's party—a gentleman and a boatman-were also saved. A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned at the Warrington inquest on Elizabeth Brad- bury, of Hanley, who fell from an excursion train to Blackpool on Bank Holiday and re- ceived fatal injuries. "You could have got a glass of beer every day for a month or two, and enjoyed it, for what it will cost you to-day," said the Chairman of the East Riding Bench at Hull, in fining a youth who had been intoxicated. Captain Llewellyn Priee-Davies, 60th Rifles, who won both the Victoria Cross and the D.S.O. during the Boer war, was married at Clonbrony, County Longford, to Miss Eileen Wilson, daugh- ter of Mr. James Wilson, of Edgeworthstown. A verdict of "Manslaughter" was returned at the inquest on Herbert Harris, 27, who, it is alleged, during a quarrel, was knocked into the water from a Liverpool landing stage by a man named Gibbons, and was drowned. "You had better watch me to-night," said William Beachman to two Bristol constables. They did so, and saw him scale the wall of the Midland Railway yard. He was remanded for inquiry into the state of his mind. Katherine Peerless Dennis, aged seven, the daughter of an Eastbourne contractor, was rid- ing on the frame-work of a roller at Hellingby, a village about ten miles from her home, when the horse bolted, and she was thrown to the ground and killed. H.M. despatch vessel Surprise, with Lady Charles Beresford on board, arrived at Venice in advance of the British squadron, and an- .chored off St. Mark's. Three Egyptian natives have each been sen- tenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour for attacking a British inspector of irri- gation during the execution of his duties. The necessary viewing of a body by a coro- ner's jury, said Mr. Troutbeck at a Lambeth inquest, might be much less painfully done than at present if proper precautions were taken to keep the bodies in a low temperature. The four 12in. guns which still remain on board the Montagu are worth about X12,000 each. Apart from them there is nothing of any value left, as the armour-plates are useless, and the 12in. projectiles in the magazines cannot be got out. While riding his motor-bicvcle in Oxford- street, London, on Mav 13, Mr. Albert Tun- bridge was knocked down bv a hansom-cab and severely injured, and at the Marylebone County Court he was awarded £ 30 damages, and costs. An embargo placed by the Customs authori- ties at Douglas on the ketch Catherine, which is to proceed to the Caribbearf Sea in eearch of treasure, has been removed. To raise funds Captain Small proposed to exhibit his craft ia Douglas Bay.

AUTHORESS'S SUDDEN DEATH. Mrs. jCraigie, the authoress who won fame under the name of "John Oliver Hobbes," died on Monday morning at 56, Lancaster-gate, W. She passed away in her sleep, the cause of death apparently being heart failure. Pearl Mary Teresa Richards was born in Boston, U.S.A., thirty-nine years ago, was edu- cated in Boston and at Paris, and was married when nineteen to Mr. Reginald Walpole Craigie, o young Englishman of good birth with a post Sn the Bank of England. She subsequently ob- tained a divorce. She leaped into popularity with her first book, Some Emotions and a iMoral," when she was only twenty-four. From 1891 Mrs. Craigie's career was a record of success, but none of her subsequent novels The Sinner's Comedy," The Gode, Some Mortals, and Lord Wickenham," The Herb IMoon," "Robert Orange," or "The Flute of Pan," ever equalled Some Emotions." Her plays, of which two, The Ambassadors and "The Wisdom of the Wise" were produced atj the St. James's, never gained more than mode-| rate applause. | She was a slow worker, and could not write | more than an hour and a half at a stretch.1] Every now and then she would retire to the Convent of the Assumption, in Kensington-] isquare for she had joined the Roman Catholic Church for some years before her death. II

CHICKEN IN ASPIC. Before the Brighton Borough-bench F. W. Gold- smith, of Sutherland-road, was fined 40s. and costs for exposing for sale 38 tins of chicken in aspic. which were unfit for human food. The tins, which were marked 10id. a tin, were 2 seized by an inspector, and, the contents being unsound, they were ordered by the magistrates to be destroyed. The defence was that neither the defendant nor his manager had a guilty knowledge of the contents, and that they could not be ex- pected to open every tin. Notice of appeal was given.

KING ALFONSO IN SCOTLAND. 1 King Alfonso and Queen Victoria of Spain arrived at Fyvie Castle, the home of Lord and Lady Leith, on Monday afternoon from the Isle of Wight. Their journey northward by special train was without incident, until a half-hour's halt was made at Perth for breakfast. The Lord Provost :and magistrates met the train at Aberdeen, where there was a brief delay, and there was a great crowd at Fyvie Station. The Royal party went by, motor-cars and carriages to the castle. King Alfonso will shoot grouse at Fyvie Lodge, and will pay a brief visit to the Earl and Countess of Ancaster at Drummond Castle before his return to the Isle of Wight. A very pleasant incident marked the last hours of King Alf onso's stay at Cowes. Coastguardsman Helson found a diamond ring on Sunday which the King had lost while bathing ten days before. 'The coastguardsman went to the yacht Thistle, where the Spanish King was visiting the Empress Eugenie, on Sunday, and restored the ring. King Alfonso gave him a handsome reward.

"OUTRAGE No. 6." j Ernest Girauld, a Swiss, who some months age was found by the police sleeping with his grown- up son and daughter on Streatham Common, where it was stated he had made his home for five or six years, was charged at the Lambeth Police-court With begging. Girauld, who describes himself as a teachpr, handed to the magistrate, a lengthy dcw-ument setting forth what .he alleged was a claim against the British Government. Part of it was in verse, which he said had been certified as graceful and pleasing by a musical expert. He was sentenced to ffourteen days' hard labour, and as he left', the dock he said; This is outrage No. 6 on me this pear."

I KILLED IN HIS OWN TRAP. I -0 Mr. Tertius Hargreaves, of Bolton, whose death the Chester coroner inquired into on Monday, was found on Saturday morning lying dead in a field near Lache Hall, Chester, the home of his father-in-law, Mr. Frank Hermon. Half his head was blown away, and near him on the ground was a double-barrelled gun which had been discharged. The dead man was lying in a corner of the field. Attached to the trigger of the gun was a long string, which went over the hedge and was then stretched across a gate- way on the other side. The string was so ar- ranged that any one entering by the gate would strike it and release the trigger of the gun. Mr. Hargreaves, it was known, was nervous of the poachers and tramps who infest the neighbourhood, which borders the uuke of Westminster's estate. They had never threat- ened him, but were continually begging from him, and a certain band of them he had named the" High Rip Gang." The theory of the chief constable, Dr. Lees, the coroner, and Mr. Hermon was that Mr. Hargreaves was in the act of setting the trap for poachers when the string became entangled in the hedge and fired the gun. The jury returned an open verdict. Mr. Hargreaves, who was a man of means, had been buying horses at Lancaster for the next hunting season. He was only twenty-nine years old.

AN UNFORTUNATE M.P. Mr. T. Arnold Herbert, the Liberal M.P. for the Wycombe division of Buckinghamshire, appears to be very unfortunate in the matter of Occidents. Early in the spring he had a bad shaking through his horse falling when taking an awkward fence. Not long ago he met with a more serious accident while riding, sustaining a broken arm, and just recently, as he was driving with his wife and a lady friend from Wycombe station the horses ran away, and the carriage MR. ARNOLD HERBERT, M.P. was overturned. Mrs. Herbert was badly shaken, her friend's arm was lacerated, and Mr. Herbert, who had his arm in a sling, was picked up partly unconscious. The unfortunate member, who won his seat for the Liberals at the last election, is a barrister and a Congregationalist. He is a son of the late Professor Herbert, and received his education at Mill Hill, Owen's College, and Cambridge, where he won a double first in the Classical and Law Tripos.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S RACE. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Longworth arrived 1 at Oyster Bay in a Government despatch-boat. at the conclusion of their European tour. The entire Roosevelt family hurried to the Presi- dent's private landing-stage, but found that, owing to an error, Mr. and Mrs. Longworth were landing a quarter of a mile away at a pier belonging to Mr. Emlin Roosevelt, a cousin. The President shouted a war whoop and ran to this pier, followed by his family, including cousins, uncles, and aunts. Mr. Roosevelt led the way until the last fifty yards, when Teddy Roosevelt jun. overtook and passed his father, and, climbing across the gangway, snatched his sister up in his arms, shouting to the Presi- dent "I got her first

IN THE WRONG BOAT. One of 20,000 holiday-makers who arrived at Douglas, Isle of Man, on Saturday, had no de- sire to visit, Manxland. He was a foreigner who could not speak English, but it was ascer- tained that he had booked a passage on the liner Etruria for New York, and had mistaken the Isle of Man steamer Empress Queen for the Atlantic liner. He was sent back by the first boat to Liverpool, but the Etruria had left. 1

EARL'S COMING OF AGE. Rejoicings have taken place, both in Hertford- shire and in County Tyrone where is seated Castle Caledon, the ancestral home of the family, on the coming of age of Erik James Desmond Alexander, Baron Caledon, Viscount Caledon, and fifth Earl of Caledon, who was born in 1885, and who succeeded his father, who had married Lady Elizabeth Graham Toler, daughter of the THE EARL OF CALEDON. third Earl of Norbury, in 1898, when a bov of thirteen, thereby coming into various estates ex- tending to some 30,000 acres. His lordship has not yet, of course, had much opportunity of shoeing what he can do, but that he has pluck in him became apparent by his conduct and the useful assistance he gave at the terrible fire at one of the master's houses at Eton College, when two*'of his schoolfellows perished.

After a fair trial the Glasgow magistrates have decided that the closing of all public- j houses in the city on holidays is a mistaken: policy. At an adjourned inquest, at ,thQ London Hos-1 pital the coroner estreated the < £ 10 recognisance of a juryman who failed to attend. During a street quarrel in East-street, Dart- forcl., Patsy White was stabbed in the eye. An Italian ice-cream seller is under arrest. It is stated from Paris that after October 1 the Customs duty on certain goods entering j Japan will be increased to a considerable ex-i tent. The Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria has, i given birth to a daughter.

I THINGS THOUGHTFUL. I BY DAVID WILLIAMSON. I What a change comes over our point of view as the years roll on At the age of fifteen the lad thinks the result of a county cricket match of infinitely greater importance than a change in the Government of his country. At forty years of age the careworn man of business cannot believe that once he stood for hours to catch a glimpse of some celebrity. At sixty the same man will forget the heavy weight of care which used to take away his sleep. Each year we are moving away from what interests us, and few people have the same absorbing thoughts which possessed them in younger days. This progress affects, too, what you believe. "Truth," it has been said, "lives because it moves." Although, at its foundations, it re- mains unchanged, the reck is certain to be affected by the waves which have passed over it and the gales which have swept around it. Some of the jagged edges of the rock are now smooth. Perhaps a great rift has taken place within it. So with your belief. Some of the harsh judg- ments you passed on other people's creeds-how much smoother they have become as time has shown you the wisdom of tolerance. Possibly you have had a rift, and a gap now shows itself m what was once solid faith. It is well Jfcr you if, with the passage of time, you have learned the secret of a happy life, to trust where you cannot always trace, and to strive to make this world a better place for man's brief earthly dwelling. This growth and progress in our thought ought to teach us to be charitable. I remember how varied were the aspects of the Trummelbach Falls according to the position from which you viewed them. You might think them very grey and ordinary, but if you waited until a ray of sunshine fell upon them you would see how exquisite they were. So with our glance at various beliefs. To us what seems grey and severe and monotonous may be radiated with beauty to other people. In South America very lofty trees have fallen suddenly to the ground. The cause has been discovered to be the decay of the trunks by reason of the persistent eating away by small insects. At last the trunk of the tree is hollow, and the first high wind levels it to the ground. This is an analogy of what often happens in life. A man who is considered an upright and honest citizen suddenly collapses. What was the reason? It was that he had allowed the decaying influence of little temptations to destroy his strength, and some unexpected attack on it has overcome him. We must watch against the inroads of these insects. Small and hardly noticeable as they may be, they can accomplish by continual attack the downfall of a strong character. Many of us are too proud to accomplish all we might. There is a monastery on the Conti- nent which has a low gate, so that you must bend your body in order to pass within it. Cer- tain positions of influence are only attained by humility. The haughty person is never loved. He may have wealth and luxury, but his pride will keep him from gaining what a humbler man can have-the affec- ¡ tion of those who know hira. Oh, but one must look after one's dignity," it is said The dignity that requires such care in order to preserve it is not worth the preservation. Dignity comes from worth, as the old Latin word from which it is derived indicates. If you are worthy of attention and honour, you will receive attention and honour at the hands of your fellow-men. If you are not worthy, no amount of pride and looking after your dignity will avail. It is pride which prevents many a man from making headway in his business. He will not ask enough questions in, order to master the difficulties. Or, having made a blunder, he will not acknowledge his mistake. There is a story told of a German prince who visited the arsenal of Toulon, where a large number of men, condemned for different crimes, were I working as galley slaves. The prince was told that, in compliment to his visit, he was allowed to free one of them. He inquired of first one, then another, the cause of his punishment. Each declared that he had been unjustly ac- cused, or wrongfully arrested, till he came to a fine big man with a sorrowful face. He con- fessed what he had done, and said, I acknow- ledge it, it grieves me, and I deplore it. I de- serve to be broken on the wheel." Turning to the officers, the prince exclaimed, This is the man for whose release I make request. He is the first I have found who feels he has done wrong and has anything to be forgiven." What an influence has been wrought on the world by short lives! One of the most striking instances of this comes from the Scriptures. The martyr Stephen's life story is told in a very few verses, and the chief work of his public life was a speech which possibly took half an hour to deliver. It will surprise some people to study history and discover what potential forces have been young men who died before they were forty years old. Among the preachers who, many years after their death, wield a wide in- fluence on men to-day is F. W. Robertson, who passed away in early manhood. Too old at forty" cannot be said of such men as these, who did their work before they were forty. The striking words of Marcus Aurelius Life is short. Live as on a mountain," have inspired a poet, C. C. Liddell, to the following verses: What though man's feet must tread life's dusty paths, Where sin and shame lie ambushed every- where, His soul may climb far sun-steeped heights, and breathe Pure mountain air. Of such full stature hath God made His child That, though tired steps move heavy in earth's clay, And dark and devious are the winding paths That lead to day, The upturned face may yet see sapphire sky, The spirit bathe in faith's supernal air, And through the veil that hides the Presence see Heaven's golden stair. That is the brave spirit in which we do well to fac life, with its "dusty paths." And the higher the level to which we attain, the easier our life will become. Every traveller in moun- tain districts knows that the air grows rarefied as you ascend, and what was toil in the valleys becomes joy on the heights. Literally, you run, and are not weary; you walk, and faint not. Exertion which would make you groan if you underwent it on level ground is a sheer pleasure thousands of feet above sea level. There are many cases where recovery from a vicious life has been followed by a marvellous development of a man's best gifts. I am think- ing of a case as I wrAte where a man of ability had sunk into crime. He came to his senseG. after a terrible bout of drinking, and faced thi- situation once and for all. Nature' is on the side of the man who tries to reform, and this man set his whole mind on reform. In a few years he was transformed. He was a true gentleman, with a sym-pathy for others which was born of his own experience of the far country from which he had returned. Ie Life is short. Live as on a mountain." Disdain to be annoyed by the thousand trifles of the day. Believe the best of your fellow-, men. Restrain your temper. "As much as in you lies, live peaceably with all men." Ascend to the heights of your education, and commun" ( with the choicest spirits of literature. Let the brevity of life remind you of its serious- ness. Hold your place courageously in thei battle till the twilight comes and your rest if reached.

REGISTERS PROTEST. A new phase of passive resistance to the edu. cation rate came before the magistrates at the Hampstead Police-court, when about 1000 sum. monses against rate defaulters were dealt with, Among them were some 20 passive resisters. Dr. John Brown, former pastor of Bunyan Chapel at Bedford, declared that the demand for the rate was illegal in the light of the recent decision of the Court of Appeal. "The decision did not say it was illegal," Dr. Weaver, the chairman of the magistrates, re- plied. "It said that the County Council was not obliged or compelled to demand payment. We shall have to give an ocder for payment within seven days, and then you can take what action you like." "With all due respect, I wish to say that if any one distrains on me after this decision by the Court of Appeal he will lay himself open to legal proceedings for illegal distraint," said Dr. Brown. "The Court of Appeal is a higher court than yours, and it has decided that it is an illegal demand." The Rev. Landell Jones also made •i similar protest, but an order to pay in seven rlays was made against him. A batch of ten passive resisters were sum- moned to appear before the magistrates at Ham- mersmith on Monday, but only three of them put in an appearance. A Mr. Neighbour, who was the spokesman of the party, said that in view of the recent decisions of the Master of the Rolls they asked their worships to adjourn the cases for six months, in which time their position as resisters of the rate would ptobably be cleared up. The presiding magistrate (Dr. Sheldon) My col- league (Admiral Hand) and mvself have heard of the decision of the Master of the Rolls, and in consequence of that decision we have come to the conclusion to grant the adjournment asked for The other portion of the rate will have to be paid however. The case was adjourned sine die an this understanding. Mr. J. H. Levy, who retired two or three years ago, after a long term of service as a responsible official of the Education Department, savs he has all along, since the 1902 Act was passed, felt convinced that that measure did not really place denominational teaching on the rates. Before the recent appeal Mr. Levy pub- licly announced his entire concurrence in the view set forth more than a year ago by Mr. Hakluyt Egerton. in his book on "The Mainte- nance of Denominational Teaching," that the Act of 1902 "neither compels nor permits a local education authority to spend one penny on religious instruction in non-provided public ele- mentary schools." Should this interpretation of the law be maintained by the judicial members of the House of Lords-in the event of the case going there—further developments may be ex- pected in the form of demands for compensation or restitution from passive resisters who were imprisoned or distrained upon, in respect of what the Appeal Court has apparently held to be a mistaken construction of the Act of 1902.

ACTOR'S SAD STORY. Brand Kaye Brand, an Australian actor, who was charged at Southampton with being a stow- away on the liner Briton, told an extraordinary story. He lost all he possessed, he said, in the San Francisco earthquake. He worked his way to England, and hoped to find employment in London, but failed. Penniless and friendless, he walked to Southamp- ton, and after vainly trying to get a passage to South Africa, where he had friends, stowed away on the Briton. When the liner was a day out, he reported himself to the purser, and was landed at Madeira to be sent back by the next boat. It was stated that it was impossible to take Brand to South Africa, owing to the immigration laws there. He was fined 210 and costs, or a months' imprison- ment.

BARONET FOUND SHOT. Sir Francis David Sibbald Scott was found shot dead at his residence, Wilton Lodge, Waterloo- ville, near Portsmouth. He had been in failing health for some time, but on Saturday was well enough to walk to the village accompanied by a nurse. On his return he went to the smoking- room, and a few minutes later the report of a gun was heard. He was found lying in the smoking- room with a wound in his head and a sporting rifle beside him. Sir Francis was the fourth baronet. He was 55 years old, and had served 25 years in the Navy, retiring in 1889 with the rank of lieutenant. He is succeeded by his son, Lieutenant Francis Montagu Sibbald Scott, of the 3rd Royal Scots Regiment. At the inquest a verdict of "Suicide while tem- porarily insane" was returned. Evidence was given that Sir Francis had been of intemperate habits, and was placed in charge of male and female nurses. After taking a walk, he asked to be left alone, and soon afterwards shot him- self. It was stated that he must have concealed a cartridge in his despatch box, as, in conse- quence of his condition and a previous threat to commit suicide, his room had been carefully searched.

A four-year-old child, running suddenly from the pavement, was knocked down by an electric tramway-car in Teddington and decapitated in front of his mother. No blame is attached to the drher of the vehicle. Amelia Gibbons, 55, mistaking a bottle containing spirits of salts for a bottle con- taining whisky, drank from it, and after- wards died. A Bristol coroner's jury re- turned a verdict of "Accidental death." In a London street the other day a fruit hawker and a carman left their vehicles to argue as to right of way, when the carman's horse took advantage of hia absence and made a meal off the hawker's baaaBM,

COUNTRY NOTES. POISONOUS STINGS. The "sting" of the bee is really a poison, and one which is now being used by doctors as a remedy for various disorders. Many people have seen what is known as the "sting" of the bee, but' this is not the a £ to al "sting," but merely the sheath. The rojfl "sting" is too small to be seen except through a good micro- scope. It is in two parts, each provided with sharp points and barbs, which prevent it being drawn out of the wound. The blades of knives or razors-even the points of fine needles- under the microscope appear full of notches, flaws, and irregularities, but the sting-sheath of a bee magnified appears to be without fiaw or blemish, while the stings themselves are finer and more perfect still. As for their points, they are so fine as to be invisible. CUCKOO SPIT. Most people have observed at one time or another the patches of frothy matter or spit which so often disfigures garden plants. It is the work of a small insect, named "Apho- phora." It is also variously known as frog spit or frog hopper. The insects are small, and are closely related to the aphides, or green fly. The froth or spittle is produced by the larvse sucking the juices of the plant through its proboscis, from thence passing through its digestive organs, and finally ejected, as seen in our sketch, in minute frothy bubbles, which com- pletely hide from view the bright green aphide- DISFIGURES GARDEN PLANTS. like larvse. After the "picture" of his habita- tion was taken by gently pressing the mass, the Aphophora was repeatedly induced to show it- self to the outside world, but as often it scam- pered back into the frothy mass, which serves both to protect it from heat and from its enemies until it is full grown, when it changes to its pupa condition, and from this emerges the perfect insects. To some it is very annoy- ing to see garden flowers thus disfigured, so we give a useful wash that may be applied in the form of tobacco liquid. To a ga on of hot water add one and a half ounces of soft soap, thoroughly stir until dissolved, then add and well mix about a tablespoonful of one of the preparations of nicotine, with this syringe the plants while the water is still slightly warm, and after about one and a half hours well wash off with clean water. As an alternative make a solution of about two ounces of quassia chips to two gallons of boiling water, when cold make up to four gallons, with this thoroughly syringe the plants and do not wash off. THE LITTLE AUK. The little auk, or, as it is more familiarly called, the common rotche, is a winter visitor only, and is seldom seen farther south than the islands of Orkney and Shetland. Occasionally, during very severe and protracted gales, these birds, are compelled to forsake the open sea and take refuge on those parts of the coast where shelter and protection may be found. The little auk is of truly aceanic habits; in its food and general methods of life it closely resembles the guillemots, passing its time (ex- cept at the breeding seasons) upon the sea, searching for its food, which is supposed to con- sist almost entirely of the smaller crustacea. This bird breeds in the most northern of the Faroe Islands, and, according to some natu- ralists, in Iceland. The eggs are of a uniform pale blue colour, not dissimilar to those of the starling; the length is about one inch and seven lines, and the breadth one inch and one line. Naturalists are divided in opinion as to the number of eggs laid by the little auk, some say- ing that two are laid, and others affirming that the number never exceeds one. From the most recent observations the latter is most probably correct. In the adult bird the beak is black; THE LITTLE A UK. I shorter than the head, and thick and broad at the base; the nostrils are partly covered with small feathers the irides hazel, with a small white spot over the eye the head, hind part of neck, back, wings, and tail black, but the ends of the secondaries and the sides of the tertials are margined with white; the colour of the chin, throat, and neck in front depend on the season, being black in summer and white in winter, but mottled with black and white in the spring and autumn; the under surface of the body white; legs and toes yellowish-brown, the membranes between the toes darker brown. The wings and tail are short, and the legs have a very backward position. The little auk is a very small bird, being scarcely half the weight of the puffin. There is no difference in the appearance of the sexes. The young birds of the year, ac- cording to Temminck, may be distinguished by having the cheeks shaded with grey. When in down they are uniform sooty brownish black. The entire length is about eight inches and a half. INSECTS AND HONEY. Where do insects find the honey- which they are generally on the look-out for? for however gay a flower may be, they usually want some- thing more substantial in the way of attraction —pollen or honey. If you look carefully we shall find the honey not always in the same place. In the ranunculus the honey glands are, on the calyx—that is, the outer whorl of the: flower; on the petals in buttercups and hsslte-, bore. Miiller tells us that they are to be found, in the stamens of the pulsatilla, and in Lartha on the ovary. Insects like the pollen, and it is very useful to them, but it is essential to the growth of the flower. The perfume and the honey are chiefly of value as attracting the in-. jeets.

'• M CYCLING MISHAPS. Lieutenant J. R. Harford, of the Scots Guards, was terribly injured late on Sunday nighty near Bagshot. He was returning from Windsor to Aldershot on a motor-cycle, and as he was turning into the London, main road a motor-car ran into him. His cycle was wrecked, and he was pinned under the ear. It was more than an hour before he could be extricated, and it was finally found necessary to lift the car off his body. He was carried to an hotel near by, where he lies in an exceedingly critical condition. Part of his scalp is torn off, one leg is broken, and it is feared that he has serious internal ia- juries. Edward Parrott, aged 16, was killed on Sunday in a cycling accident near Stafford. He was riding home, and as he turned a corner on the wrong side of the road he came in collision with another cyclist. Both were thrown, and the other cyclist, whose name is Cockran, was severely injured. A verdict of "Accidental death was returned at the inquest. William Mounteney, of Birmingham, met with a serious accident when cycling down Weston- hill, near Market Harborough, on Sunday even- ing. He lost control of his machine and dashed into a house at the bottom of the hill. His skull was fractured, and one of his knee caps was broken. Little hope is entertained of his re- • co very.

KING AND INDIAN CHIEFS. The King received in audience on Monday at Buckingham Palace the three Indian chiefs who have travelled from far West Canada to see the wonderful motherland," and to render homage to the Great White King. For several days Chief" Joe," of the Squamish Tribe, Chief Charlie," of the Cowishan Tribe, and Chief Napoleon Basil, of the Bonaparte Tribe, have been in London, looking forward to the time when they might convey to their Sovereign the message entrusted to them by the fifty tribes they represent. When the summons arrived, Chief Joe and Chief Charlie arrayed themselves in all the pic- turesque emblems of their position, and, in their heavy woollen mantles and their buck- skin-lined fox-fur plumes, they looked fitting representatives of a majestic and splendid race. Chief Basil had to be content with European clothing, but despite this he had all the im- pressive appearance of the North American Indian, and bore himself with marked stateli- iiess and pride. They first went to the offices of the High Commissioner for Canada, and proceeded to the Palace in a cab, accompanied by an interpreter and one of Lord Strathcona's clerks. They were delighted when, soon after half- past two, as they drove through the great gates of the King's London home, the sentries saluted them. They had not long to wait on arrival at the Palace. They were soon ushered into a beaul-ful apartment, and there was the Great White King, and, to the increased delight of the visitors, the Queen was by his side. After the chiefs had made a graceful obeisance they were introduced to their Majesties, and as the King heartily shook hands with Chief Joe, Chief Charlie, and Chief Basil he expressed the hope that they were enjoying their visit to England. Then came the presentation to his Majesty of an address, in which the chiefs, on behalf of the distant tribes they represent, recalled ,the great love the North American Indians bore towards Queen Victoria and testified to the warm loyalty and affection which they enter- tained towards his Majesty and his consort, j For the Queen, Chief Joe had brought a charming gift. It comprised four rush baskets, beautifully coloured, which his daughter Emma 'had worked, and desired her Majesty to accept. The Queen expressed her pleasure at the gift, and asked the chief to convey her thanks to his -daughter.