The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-02-26 00:00:00

Visaltantrivis 4utelligente,

HOME FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

BADINAGE.—Butoher : "Why didn't yer put on a
clean collar afore yer left 'ome this mornin' ?"
Sweep : "Cause yer mother haven't sent back my
dress shirts from the wash this week ! "—Punch.

TEE SOLWAY FIRTH VIADUCT.—Major Marindin,
Board of Trade inspector, opened an inquiry at Annan
on Monday afternoon into the Solway-viaduct disas-
ter, Mr. Brown, resident engineer for the Solway
Junction Railway, said that in the winter of 1875
over 30 piles were cracked by the frost, Init these were
still standing. On the 29th of last month the bridge
was damaged by floes of ice, which dashed against the
piers with a noise that could be heard a mile off.
Three "rakers" were broken on that day, and a
passenger train due at the time was stopped for two
hours. Eventually that train and three others were
allowed to proceed slowly across the bridge. Next
day the destruction of the piers continued, and by the
2nd of February 340 pillars had been broken. Evi-
dence was given as to the exceptional quantity of ice
that had been floating in the Solway this year, and the
inquiry was adjourned.

THE FOREIGN COAL TRADE.—The extraction of
coal last year in the French basins of the Pas-de-
Calais and the Nord was asifollows :—Pas-de-Calais,
4,846,700 tons; Nord, 3,647,144 tons; total, 8,493,904
tons. In 1879 the corresponding production stood
thus :—Pas-de-Calais, 4,175,573 tons; Nord, 3,273,513
tons; total, 7,449,086 tons. The production thus in-
creased last year 1,044,818 tons, or nearly 12i- per
cent. As regards the German coal trade, it may be
observed that colliery proprietors continue to main-
tain their rates. The demand for coke in Germany is
also fairly active. The extraction of coal in Germany
in 1880 amounted to 42,161,000 tons, as compared
with 37,670,000 tons in 18 showing an increase of
4,491,000 tons last year. re is scarcely any change
o report in the gener one of the Belgian coal
rade.

A WEAKNESS FOR MAKING PASTRY.—A Canadian
authority says that the Princess Louise has a weak-
ness for making pastry, and in connection with this
assertion gives the following story. At one of the
dinners given at Ottawa last summer a distinguished
guest had a fondness for apricot tarts. His delight
was indescribable when the servant placed an apricot
tart before him, to which he did full justice. He even
complimented the hostess upon the excellence of her
pastrycook. "I am so glad you like them," said the
Princess, "because I made them myself." And in
order that her guests should in future be able to know
how apricot tarts should be made, the royal lady wrote
out the recipe, with the words underlined, "If you
desire to have an apricot tart properly cooked, always
make it with an upper crust I"
POPULAR SAYINGS PLAYFULLY PUT.—" Christmas is
coming" is a well-known popular saying. What on
earth, then, do people mean when they talk about
"Christmas waits ' " ?—" Take care of the pens, and
the pounce'll take care of itself," as the thrifty clerk
was heard to say.—" Let us be collected," as the four.
penny bits remarked during the Offertory.—" I take
a mean advantage of you," as the well "got-up"
swell said to the poor little snob.—" This is something
like a tight fit,' "ms the gentleman with D. T. was
overheard to observe.—" One swallow does not make
a summer." Exactly ; yet will a gun let off close to
one's ear make one spring.—" Early pride will have
a fall," as the babe observed the first time it tried to
walk alone.—" Never say dye I" as the beau exclaimed
to the hairdresser.—Judy.
THE DECORATION OF CARPETS.—A carpet should
convey the thought of flowers, for it is pleasant to
associate flowers with the floor on which we tread;
barrenness and fertility strangely contrast, and the
verdant or flowery path is that which we like to tread.
But a floor is a flat surface, and, while the thought of
flowers is pleasant, no one with a rightly-constituted
mind would like to walk through flower beds or over
the well-arranged parterre. Hence, while the decora-
tion cf a carpet should awaken the thought of flowers
in the beholder, it should not imitate a plant or any
combination of plants, but should be a consistent floor
decoration, so skilfully arranged as to be truly and
simply what it pretends to be, and yet such as will call
up the greatest number of pleasant memories.—
Builder.
SUICIDE OF A MAN UNKNOWN—In London, on
Monday, at the University College Hospital. Dr.
Hardwicke held an inquest on the body of a man un-
known, who committed suicide by shooting himself
with a revolver in Seymour-street, near the London
and North-Western Railway terminus in London, on
Thursday evening in last week. The man was about
30 years of age, with dark hair, whiskers,
.and mous-
tache. Between five and six o'clock on Thursday
evening he was seen by Mr. Sadd standing on the
pavement by the railway wall. A report of firearms
was heard, and then the man fell on the pavement.
John Baily, a clearing-house clerk, was also near the
spot, and he and Sadd ran across to where the de-
ceased lay on the pavement, and found near him a five-
chambered revolver. His waistcoat and shirt front
were open, and there was a wound in his breast. Mr.
Collingwood, the house surgeon, said when brought to
the hospital the man was dead. The cause of death
was internal hmorrhage. There had been no one to
identify the body, but on being searched there was
found in the pockets £2 in gold and other moneys, a
watch and other articles, but nothing leading to 'iden-
tity. The jury returned a verdict, "That the de-
ceased committed suicide," but as to the state of his
mind there was no evidence to show."

THE WHEAT SUPPLY.—The shipment of wheat from
the United
_States to Europe last week amounted to
203,500 quarters, of flour to 75,000 sacks, and of
maize to 89,500 quarters. Only 60,000 quarters of the
wheat was shipped to the Continent, and 30,000
quarters of the maize. The visible supply of wheat
is now 27,200,000 bushels, and of maize 15,700,000
bushels, as against 28,750,000 bushels of wheat and
14,750,000 of maize at the same date last year.

EAR! EAR !—Servant.—"And please 'm, when I
am out may I call and tell the piano-tuner to come to-
morrow? for I notice when you plays as the instru-
ment seems to want tuning very badly."—Fun.

A MILK TEST.—An ingenious method of testing
milk by optical means has been devised by a gentle-
man at Magdeburg. The apparatus employed con-
sists of a vessel with a glass bottom. The lid of this
vessel is furnished with an orifice, in which slides a
tube having a graduated scale. This tube is also
closed at its lower end by glass. In use the vessel
if; filled with the milk to be tested; while the eye is
applied to the tube which is drawn out until the
liquid appears quite opaque. The figure on the
scale is then read off; and a very accurate analysis
of the quantity of fat in the milk can be arrived
at.

RABBITS IN AUSTRALIA.-Mr. Bruce, Chief In-
spector of Stock for the Colony of New South Wales
says :—" These pests are far spreading on the Lower
Murray. They are also reported as having obtained
a footing on the Murrumbidgee as far up as the
Yankee Creek, and they are reported to have been
seen in the neighbourhood of Albury. It is very
necessary, therefore, that effective measures should be
at once taken for their eradication, for their inroads
are most destructive, and it is with the greatest diffi-
culty as well as a very heavy cost that they can be
eradicated.'

WANTED, TO KNOW.—Whether, when a person
wishes you "the top of the morning" it can be called
the height of civility ?—Whether a clumsy method of
telling crackers may be said to be "Limited Lie-
ability? "—Whether tailors are more subject to " fits "
than other people ?—Whether, if your dentist were to
use bad language, he would swear "by Gum ?"
Whether the weather will ever leave off being
"seasonable," and become endurable ?—.Tudy.
ROYAL GRANT TO MRS. MECHI. The following
letter has been received by Mr. Morley, M.P., in
reply to an application addressed by him to Mr. Glad-
stone in the interest of the Mechi Fund :—" 10,
Downing-street, Whitehall, Feb. 17, 1881. My dear
Mr. Morley,—l shall be prepared to recommend a
grant of £2OO from the Royal Bounty Fund for the
benefit of Mrs. Mechi. I have learned with satisfac-
tion that the subscription which you mention has
been undertaken on her behalf; and I wish it success,
as an acknowledgment of Mr. Mechi's great and long.
continued services to British Agriculture.-1 remain,
most faithfully yours, W. E. GLADSTONE."
AN AMERICAN TRIBUTE TO THOMAS CARLYLE.—
The .New York Tribune says "Long ago, when
hopes were strong and youthful blood ran riot in our
veins; when we still trusted that we might be some-
thing or do something worthy of the wondrous
chances of life, how near and dear to us was the strong
and militant nature of Thomas Carlyle. We may
have lost something of the reverence with which we
regarded it as we have grown older. It has gone with
many a bright dream and earnest impulse; but may-
be our successors in the shining fields of youth will
still cherish the old affection, and still call Thomas
Carlyle their guide, philosopher, and friend. He was
not always just toward us, but we can afford to for-
give such a man and to forget his errors."
- -

GAS EXPLOSION AT LIVERPOOL.—On Sunday morn-
ing, at a house in Walton-road, Kirkdale, the servant
girl, noticing a strong smell of gas in the parlour,
struck a match, and went into the room. Instantly
there was a tremendous explosion; the windows and
sashes were blown into the street, pictures and other
articles in the room were severely scorched and burnt,
and the table covers and window blinds were set on
tire. The staircase was moved from its position by
the force of the explosion, and in the upper rooms
also the window panes were blown out. The servant
girl was severely burnt about the face, neck, and
arms, and was removed to the infirmary. Her in-
juries, though very serious, are not considered dan-
gerous. Some of the curtains and other drapery fell
blazing into the street, where they continued to burn
until they were put out by several people who were
attracted to the spot by the loud report of the explo-
sion.
THE EXPENSES OF LITIGATION.—The Daily Telegraph
says it is notorious that the working of the Judicature
Acts has disappointed everybody as far as any dimi-
nution of the expense of trials is concerned. Why
should there be the great disinclination to go to law
which no doubt exists if it were not that nobody
knows whether the bottom of his purse will not be
reached before he receives justice from the twelve
bulwarks of the British Constitution assembled in the
jury-box? There are some enthusiastic visionaries who
believe that the day may come when a British citizen
will be able to get both his law and his railway travel-
ling free, gratefully supplied to him out,of the general
taxation of the country. But as things are now, any-
body who wishes to get justice must pay handsomely
for it; and the consequence is that the advice is some-
times given, "Submit to almost any injustice rather
than go to law ; " because the result is always doubt-
ful, whereas the incidental expense is absolutely
certain.

MONUMENT TO GARIBALDI—The monument to be
erected to Garibaldi in his native city is described as
follows :—The base, five metres square and one reetre
high, represents the prows of four ships s!trrounded by
wat:-.1-. Upon it rises a pedestal ornamented with has-
reliefs, and pontaining
,on its four sides the following
inscriptions "La I rancio Garibaldi," "Ai
Mille," " Armata dei Vosgi," and " Arrnata della
eke d'Or. On the pedestal is a broken column, and
five metres from the bottom is a plinth ornamented
with garlands of flowers, and on it the principal
object of the monument—the cradle of Garibaldi,
lying on the altar of his country,

RAILWAY BILLS IN PARLIAMENT.—In the railway
Bills now before Parliament there is a very con-
siderable increase not only in number, but in the length
of new lines and amount of new capital to whioh they
relate, as compared with those of last session. The
number of Bills promoted by existing companies is
85, as against 59 in 1880; and of Bills for the creation
of new companies 34, or seven fewer than in the pre-
vious session. Altogether there are 119 railway Bills,
being an increase of 19 over the number promoted in
1880. The aggregate length of new lines to he sanc-
tioned by these Bills is 814 miles and the amount of
capital to be raised £33,641,892. 'Compared with the
Bills of last session there is an increase of 178 miles
in the length of the railways, and of over 17 millions
in the amount of capital. Of the total capital to be
ntised under the new Bills it is proposed to obtain
£24,868,700 by shares and £8,773,192 by loan.

_
AN INTERESTING RELIC.—A quaint relic of early
steam navigation is now owned by the Chicago His-
torical Society—the original working plan from which
was constructed the first vessel which crossed the
Atlantic entirely propelled by steam. This was the
Royal William, built at Quebec in 1831, which made
the passage in twenty-five days, arid was subse-
quently bought by the Spanish Government, who con-
verted it into the first steam man-of-war.

A HALTING PARAGRAPH.—A pup-pup-pup-person
wculd ha-ha-hardly think that there w-w-would be a
paper published for st- st-st-st-st-st stut-tut-tut-er-er-
ers, b-b-b-but there is. It is k-k-k-k-called the
V- V- V- Voice, and it hails from Albany, N-N-N-N-New
Y-Y-Y-York. It ape-ape-appears every month and is
d-d-devoted to voice culture, and gives special atten-
attention to stam-stut-stam-stut-stut-st-st-st-stam-am-
ham-mer-amer-am-am-am-ering. —Detroit Free Press.
WOMEN DOING MEN'S WORK.—A correspondent of
Notes and Queries writes: There are scores of women
in recent years who have taken to men's work and
men's clothing, as bricklayers, grooms, navvies and
what not, in order to obtain that fair wage and that
freedom of labour to which they know themselves en-
titled, though the "women's rights " folk do not seem
to know as much. And as to soldiers and sailors, let
us remember what De Quincey says, in his paper on
Joan of Arc: "We have such ardent females amongst
us, and in a long series; some detected in naval hos-
pitals, when too sick to remember their disguise; some
on fields of battle • multitudes never detected at all;
some only suspected, and others discharged without
noise by War Offices and other absurd people."
COME, COME 1---Why ought the views taken by the
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster upon the Irish
Question to be remarkably felicitous?—Because, you
know, they must—ha, ha !—be Bright ideas. —J udy.
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.—SeveraI electric railways
will be included in the coming Paris Electrical
Exhibition. One line will connect the Place
de la Concorde with the Palais de l'lndustrie,
crossing the Champs Elysdes on a viaduct,
and running in one place through an artificial tunnel
lighted by electric lamps. The large machinery, says
Engineering, will occupy the basement of the _Valais,
and in the galleries will be displayed the numerous
applications of electricity recently made to daily life,
apartments being fitted up with call bells, fire alarms,
telephones, &c., and illuminated by the different kinds
of electric lamps. Probably the amount of horse-
power supplied will enable 600 lamps to be lighted
simultaneously. The United States are now proposing
to hold a similar display in 1882.
THE LANGUAGE OF GLOVES.—The language of gloves
may now be added to those secret tongues which find
speech in flowers or fans. "Yes "is said by dropping
one glove, the Parisian tells us, "No" by rolling the
gloves in the right hand. If you wish to express in-
difference partly unglove the left hand, if encourage-
ment strike your left shoulder. "I should wish to
be beside you " is implied by gently smoothing the
gloves, the warning " you are observed" is signified
by turning them round the fingers. To ask if you are
loved glove the left hand except the thumb, and to
declare "I love you! "let both gloN es fall. "I love
you no longer" is pronounced by striking the gloves
several times against the chin, "I hate you!" by
turning them inside out. As a sign of displeasure
strike the back of your hand against the gloves, and
if you are "furious" take them away altogether.

THE EXTENSION or FRENCH RAILWAYS. The
lllilitär Wochenblatt, the organ of the Prussian mili-
tary staff, publishes an article on the measures France
has taken to extend her railway system since the war.
In the year 1878 the French Government expended
70,000,000 f. on the construction, &c. of railways; in
1879, 130,000,000 f.; in 1880, 366,000,000 f. ; whilst it
is intended to devote 400,000,000 f. this year, and
500,000,000 f. next year to the same purpose. The
French railways touch the frontiers of Belgium,
Luxemburg, Switzerland, and Germany, in more than
twenty different points in the east and north.

THE LONDON MANSION HOUSE.—Up till the year
1738 no particular mansion had been provided for the
Lord Mayor, who during his year of office dispensed
his hospitalities at the hall of one of the guilds, for
the most part that of his own company (says the
City Press). But this being thought unbecoming the
dignity of the Chief Magistrate of the first Corpora-
tion in the realm, it was determined, in 1737, to erect
an edifice for the use of the Lord Mayors. Out of
several proposed situations one was selected which
was at that time about the most confined that could
have been hit upon. The Stock Market, which had
occupied the site chosen, being removed to Farringdon-
street, the Common Conncil resolved to erect the new
tenement on the spot thus vacated. In February,
1738, it began to be cleared and prepared for building.
In the year following Lord Mayor Perry laid the
foundation stone, and Sir Crispin Gascoigne, his suc-
cessor, an ancestor of the present Marquis of Sails-
bnry, was the first mayor who resided in the Mansion
House.

FAST PASSAGE FROM THE CAPE.—The Union Com-
pany's Royal Mail steamer Arab, Captain S. R. F.
Carnes, which left Capetown on the Ist inst. arrived
at Plymouth on the morning of the 20th, after a pas-
sage of 18 days 13 hours 10 minutes, including 13
hours 10 minutes' detention at Madeira, &c. The
actual steaming time is even shorter than the famous
passages of the same company's steamers Durban and
Pretoria; the largest run in one day was 357 knots,
and the average speed throughout the voyage was
13'46.

WHAT IT COSTS TO MAKE BEEF.—The Live Stock
Journal publishes this week an interesting article
from Dr. J. B. Lawes on " What it Costs to Make
Beef," in continuation of one which appeared in the
Journal the previous week. Some years ago that
gentleman stated that the increase upon a fattening
animal was of less value than the cost of the food con-
sumed to produce it. He now goes further, and shows
by quotations from experiments in cattle4eeding made
at the Ontario' experimental farm, a report of which
was published in the above journal recently, that
farmers pay more in this country for beef in a lean
animal than they can make of it when fat. "It will
be a happy day," Dr. Lawes concludes, "for
British farmers when they are able to purchase cheap
store stock from foreign countries without risk of
disease ; but until that day arrives, I must still
adhere to the opinion I have expressed, that a profit
in feeding can only be obtained by charging a certain
sum to the manure."—Land.

A FATAL FIRE.—In London, on Tuesday morning,
shortly before six o'clock, a fire occurred at. 27, Warren-
street, Fitzroy-square, upon premises the ground floor
of which was occupied by J. Anderson, newsagent,
and the upper portion by about a dozen lodgers. The
alarm was given by a workman, and the adjoining fire.
escape was on the spot within a few minutes. The
two firemen in charge of it, named Tennuca and
Tiplady, rescued five persons who were in extreme
danger, three of them being insensible; but before
they could again enter the house an old woman named
Lucy Grief, who occupied the front room on the second
floor, was suffocated. Several engines were soon on
the spot, but the flames spread rapidly, completely
burning out the front shop, the back parlour, and the
back room on the first floor, and doing other damage.
The cause of the fire is unknown.

A LARGE TOY FACTORY.—The largest toy factory
in the world is in New York, where playthings in tin
are manufactured literally by the million. It stands
five stories high, and turns out 1,607 distinct varieties
of tin toys. No. 1, of course, is a tin horse; No.
1,607 a tin menagerie. The output of circular tin
whistles is 12,000,000 per annum. Everything is made
on the establishment excepting wheels, which are
ordered in lots of thirty tons at a time from a foundry
in the East. Two hundred men, women, and boys
are constantly employed in toy-making. To make a
tin horse 12 inches long dies have to be be cast costing-
D6OO. Toys areexported from New York to all parts
of the world. The children of different countries have
different tastes. The passion of the young Brazilian
is for a toy water-cart, while in the States the rage of
the American boy is for tin horns and "putt'
blowers." Tin swords are wanted all over the world,
the military instinct being as universal in the
nurseries as in the Oourts and Cabinets of the world.

ENGLISH AND IRISH ACRES.—It is worth remem-
bering that in Ireland, although properties are sold by
law, and also by private contract, according to the
Engilsh or statute acre, lands are generally, let, and
rents quoted, by the Irish acre. As five Irish acres
equal eight English acres, it follows that when an Irish
farmer says he pays £1 an acre, he means that he
really pays 12s. 6d. per English acre. In the midland
counties of Ireland a very common rent for fair average
arable land is 325. 6d. per Irish acre—equal to £1 per
English acre. This should be considered, when the
" high " prices paid by the Irish farmers are under
discussion.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—A sad accident happened on
Tuesday night, at an evening party, in the house of
Miss Curtis, Upper Fitswilliam-street, Dublin. Cap
tam Morris, one of the guests, sat dowr. on the sill of
an open window in the back parlour after a dance,
and, overbalancing, fell into the area below, a depth
of 20 feet. He died immediately. He was removed
to Beggar's Bush Barracks to await an inquest.
WOODEN WATER PlPES.—Wooden pipes are now
being used in Switzerland to convey the waters of a
thermal mineral spring between Pfeifer and Ragaz
(says Chambers's Journal). They are constructed of
fir-wood made into staves, and bound together by
means of iron hoops. After being carefully tarred
both inside and out they are perfectly water-tight,
and possess many advantages over metal piping.
They are of course 'mach lighter, and are insensible to
changes of temperature whilst their cost is only about
eight shillings per mAre. It is interesting to note
that the New River water was first brought to London
by means of wooden pipes formed by boring out tree.
trunks and joining them length by length. Such
pipes have been extensively used in America, and they
are under the best conditions, estimated to last
thirty years.
THE USE OF FLOWERS IN AMERICA._Tie lavish
use of real flowers in Transatlantic hou.3es in ;reases 89
rapidly that the florist's bill forms one of • the largest
items in the domestic budget. Rare plants and
blossoms crowd every available corner and vase, till
the rooms iesemble a ,:reenhouse ; and hostesses vid
with each other in producing novel floral decorations;
Cornucopias ad horseshoes have grown common and
the success of the winter is a miniature sleigh 'tilled
with roses ; while at a recent dinner to Gener:al Grant
every plate was encircled by a wreath of smilax, and
a basket of blossoms three feet in diameter occupied
the centre of the table. Ladies suspend rustic baskets
full of rare flowers from their waistbelts ; and a
favourite bodice bouquet consists of a snow-white dove
holding in its bill a bunch of violets, lilies of the
valley, or forget-me-nets,

AN ANTIDOTE.—" Who 's that fellow talking to
Aunt Julia, and giving himself such awful airs ?"
" Oh, Jack! Why it 's Mr. Postlethwaite ! He '0
the greatest poet that ever lived! "—"Who told you
so?" "A gentleman called Maudle."—" Well, even
if he is, that 's no reason he should give himself airs?
Look at Rundle, now he don't give himself airs, and
he's the Captain of our fifeeen I "—Punch.
THE LEGION or HONOLIE.--A French provincial
paper mentions that one of the recent recipients of the
Legion of Honour, M. Dubus, is the gentleman who,
in 1870, saved M. Gambetta from falling into the
hands of the Prussians, after his famous escape from
Paris in a balloon. The German cavalry had pursued
the balloon containing MM. Gambetta and Spuller
for nine miles, and it fell at Epineuse, in the midst of
the enemy's lines. Fortunately for the Republican
statesmen, a friend was at hand in the person of M.
Dubus, who drove them in his own carriage by cir-
cuitous routes to a place of safety, beyond the neigh-
bourhood occupied by the Prussians, and before the
cavalry detachment could come up.

CAPE EMIGRATION.--IN Itil regard to Immigrant
lands and settlers at the Cape (says Land), it appears
that the agricultural settlers during 1880 consisted of
88 families and 73 single men, all possessed of a little
means,
.amounting in the aggregate to £10,743.
Assuming that the settlers have limited themselves in
every case to the minimum allotment of arable land
and commonage provided under the Immigrant
Lands Act, they will have taken up a total area of
32,000 acres, for which they will, within a fixed period
pay 10s. per acre, or £16,000, and afterwards a per-
petual (redeemable) annual quit rental of one per cent.
on that amount.

SUSPICIOUS OCIURRENCE AT WINDSOR.—The Times
of Monday said :—" A suspicious occurrence is reported
from Windsor. It seems that early on the morning
of Friday last Mrs. Grove, an elderly lady, living in
St. Alban's-street, which skirts the south-western
wall of the Castle, and the rear of the Royal Mews,
was awakened by noises in an unoccupied cottage ad-
joining her own. On the premises being searched
traces of gunpowder were found on the floor of a room
in the empty house. Portions of windows of the
same apartment had been removed."

A Fox's SENTIMENT.—" No Followers."—Punch.
FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE.—The London Gazette
of Friday, 19th, contains an Order in Council under
the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1878, pro-
hibiting the movement of any animal, by land or
water, from any place or port in England and Wales
to any place or port in Scotland, between to-day and
the 31st prox. Another Order regulates the move-
ment of animals into or through the New Forest
during the same period. The duration of the Markets
and Fairs Temporary Order of 1881 and the Metro-
polis (Foot-and-Mouth Disease) Order of 1881 is ex-
tended to the 31st prox., by another Order in Council.
A NEW SENSATION.—An esteemed friend, writing
from New Orleans, under date of the twenty-fifth of
January, tells me that the Crescent City had been
thrown into a frenzy of delight in consequence of a
heavy snowstorm. Such an event as snow "lying"
had not been known in the pleasant capital of Loui-
siana for five-and-twenty years. The male population,
high and low, of the city improved the opportunity by
turning out into the streets and organising snow-ball-
ing tournaments; the children of the public schools
mustered in their hundreds—it might almost be said in
their thousands, since the vast majority of American
boys and girls attend the common schools—in Lafa-
yette-square; and the balconies were thronged with
ladies who, with their own dainty hands, flung icy
pellets at their male acquaintances on the side-walk
below. It was the Carnival of Rome transplanted (a
little before its time) to the shores of the Mississippi,
with snow-balls instead of confetti for pelting purposes.
—"Echoes of the Week," in Illustrated London New:.

WHERE THERE'S A "WILL."—On the Treasury
Bench.—Funny Folks.
THE TRADE OF CAPE COLONY.—The total imports
for 1880 amounted to £2,282,036, against £1,870,508
for 1879, showing an increase of £411,528. The chief
items of increase were in butter, coffee, barley, flour,
oats, maize, rice, soap, and sugar. The total amount
of customs duties collected at the several ports of the
colony was £312,515, as against £260,877 in 1879,
showing an increase of £51,638, or about £l,OOO per
week. The total value of exports for 1880, excluding
diamonds, was £930,828, There was a considerable
increase on some items of produce, such wrifttrich
feathers, goat and sheep skins, and fleect. washed
wool. On others such as copper ore, Angora hair,
and scoured woof, there was a decrease. Including
diamonds, the total exports for the year may be
stated at 24,615,828.
THE KING OF THE NETHERLANDS.—WiIIiam 111.,
the present Ruler of the Netherlands, completed his
64th year last Saturday, having been born on Feb.
19, 1817. His Majesty is the eldest son of King
William 11., his mother being the Princess Anna
Paulowna, daughter of Paul 1., Czar of Russia.
King William was twice married, having espoused
his present Queen (Emma), daughter of the Prince of
Waldeck-Pyrmout, on Jan. 7, 1879. The heir to the
throne is the King's only surviving son by his first
marriage' Alexander, Prince of Orange, and as he is
unmarried, there is a prospect of the male line of
the House of Orange becoming extinct at no distant
period. King William has reigned over the Nether-
lands for nearly 32 years, having succeeded to the
throne on March 17, 1848. He is the third monarch
of the present dynasty, which was established by the
Congress of Vienna, in 1815, on the expulsion of
the French from all their foreign conquests by the
united action of the Allied Powers of Europe.
AN IMPROVEMENT IN Romx.—lt has at length been
resolved by the Municipality of Rome that the vener-
able Ghetto shall be levelled with the ground, in order
that a number of stately houses may be erected upon
its site (says the Daily Telegraph). The huge group of
sordid buildings thus sentenced to destruction is the
most ancient of its kind in Southern Europe. It
existed long before the reign of Julius Cresar, and dur-
ing that of the Emperor Augustus was occupied by
nearly eight thousand inmates. The originator of the
Ghetto is stated to have been King Herod, who caused
a palace to be built near the Pons Janiculensis, for the
accommodation of his sons and diplomatic envoys when
visiting Rome. When the Apostles Peter and Paul
came to the Eternal City, there to preach the Gospel,
they abode in the Ghetto. Ten centuries later it was
the residence of the celebrated Israelitish jeweller
Elkanan Diodato, who became a Christian, and whose
grandson, under the name of Anaclete 11., occupied
the Papal throne from 1130 to 1138. The Ghetto has
long been a physical as well as historical reproach to
the Italian capital, and its demolition is one of the
many modern reforms and improvements in that mag-
nificent city upon which its municipal rulers may un-
reservedly be congratulated.

How TO WIN A WOMAN'S AFFEOTIONS.—One who
professes to understand how to win a woman's affec-
tions says :—" Don't talk about 'going to work 'to win
the affections of a woman; it can't be done in thateway.
The more you go to work the more she won't like
you. Push her into a duck-pond, and pull her out by
the hair. If you are afraid to do this, jump in your-
self, and let her pull you out. Lend her money;
borrow some from her. Make her believe she ham
deeply wrongei you, and then forgive her. Deeply
wrong her, and don't ask to be forgiven. In short,
contrive to lay under a lasting obligation to you, or to
lay yourself under a lasting obligation to her. It
does not matter a headless pin which, BO far as the
result is concerned."

INSULAR PREJUDICE.—" And in France, you know,
Parker, they speak French. Instead of saying' Yes,'
for instance, they say Wee.'" " Lor, Alias, how
paltry.—Puneh.
RARA Avis.—The Rev. F. Tearle, Gazeley Vicar-
age, Newmarket, informs us (The Times) that a very
rare spccies of gull (Larus Atricilla) has been shot in
that neighbourhood. The severe weather round our
coast seems to have driven it inland, but had not
prevented it from obtaining a supply of food, as when
shot it was very plump and in beautiful plumage.
The chief feature of the latter is a delicate rose Ant
suffusing all the under parts from throat to tail. The
bird has been carefully preserved by Mr. Howett, of
Newmarket.

UNIFORM PRIDE.—A strong agitation is on foot
against the proposal of the War Office authorities to
abolish the regimental tartans in Highland regiments.
This goes far to prove that the old clannish spirit
of the Scotch soldiery is not yet entirely " piaid out."
—Fun.

OPENING OF A MUSEUM ON SUNDAY.—During the
hours from two o'clock till dusk, 6r until six o'clock
in summer, on Sunday the "National Gallery of
Dublin is open to the public. The number of visitors
on that day amount on an average to nearly half the
whole free admittances of the week, ranging from
600 to 1,000, while the weekly average is something
over 2,000. The visitors consist almost exclusively of
the working classes, and are very well behaved, two
policemen being quite sufficient to keep order,

HIGHER EDUCATION IN AHERIC I.—The annual re-
port of the President of Harvard College, as analysed
in the Nation, conveys a good deal of interesting in-
formation concerning the position of higher education
in America. We learn that the total number of
colleges and universities now in existence is 360, of
which nearly 200 are not more than 30 years old, and
only 20 are older than the century. This prodigious
increase has, of course, been principally exhibited in
the Western States, where it has been marked by a
tendency towards gratuitous instruction. Out of the
total number of colleges more than a third charge
either no tuition fee or only a nominal one, not exceed-
ing 30 dollars (£6) a year. At Harvard itself the
most important step recently taken is the foundation
of a pension for retiring professors, towards which
a single graduate has contributed 20,000 dollars (£400).
It is also pointed out that the university examinations
for women have been assimilated to those for men.—
Academy.

AN ALGERIAN POMPEII.—French newspapers report
the discovery in Algiers, by the arclueologist M.
Tarry, of a city which had been entombed in the sand.
M. Tarry's attention had been awakened by the
nlound-like appearance of the sandy soil, and some
digging brought to light the minarets and upper
Portion of a mosque. Further excavations laid bare a
terrace, a tower, and about a dozen houses, all in
excellent preservation. He reported his discovery to
the Government of Algiers, which has undertaken to
have the site thoroughly explored. The place is in
the southern part of the province, not far from the
town of Ouargla, and exposed to the full blast of the
sandy wind's from the desert. Probably a succession
of siroccos bearing clouds of sand completely filled up
the streets and houses, snaking the town uninhabit-
able, and so drove out the population. At present
there is no ground foil conjecture as to the date of the
accurence.

THE AGE or LUXURY.—A writer in an American
paper says: 'The thing which, perhaps, more than
any other strikes me, after a five years' residence in
Europe, as an indication of the great increase of
wealth in New .V.ork, is the great number of private
carriages which are everywhere to be seen. The
fashionable dry-goods stores are surrounded by serried
ranks of carriages, from within whose padded in-
teriors descend women dressed with a degree of splen-
dour such as those of no European capital ever employ
for street wear, even in carriages. Servants in livery
are at ladies' commands, and not only every store of
any consequence, but every theatre, has its own man
in livery stationed on the pavement to open the close
doors of coaches for ladies,