The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-08-27 00:00:00

atisuilancons

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

Miss-TAKEN.—" Lovely!" exclaimed Smith, of a
poetical temperament, to his friend Brown.—" En-
chanting ! " responded Brown.—" They must have
meant me, the bold, bad things!" wrote Miss Pecker
in a subsequent letter to a friend. "I was the only
female on the pier. Such good-looking fellows, too,
were only admiring the
sunset.
I—FBuunt,. after all, the

SCOTCH FARMERS AND LAND REFORM.—A meeting
of 400 Aberdeenshire farmers was held on Monday at
Insch, near Aberdeen, to consider the depression in
agriculture and devise a remedy. Resolutions were
unanimously passed, first, that the depressed state of
agriculture, arising from a lengthened period of
adverse seasons, increased foreign competion in the
markets, and increased price of labour, exhaustion of
the soil. and other causes, Should claim the serious
attention of all concerned, with a view to devise imme-
diate remedy; second, that the chief remedy is to be
found in a re-adjustment of the present rent paid for
land. A large committee was appointed to carry out
these resolutions.

THE SALMON FISHING SEASON.—The salmon net-
fishing season has closed, and for once the proverb,
"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning
thereof," can be applied in a sense neither cynical nor
disheartening (remarks the Daily News). From the
Tay, the chief perhaps of all salmon rivers in Great
Britain, it is reported that, thanks to recent improve-
ments, the season has been a better one than has been
known for some years. The fisheries of some other
rivers have not been quite so prosperous; but on the
whole it may be said that the pains taken now for so
many years to bring this important source of food
under reasonable control have been fairly if not fully
successful. For the last month or two salmon and sea
trout, the most delicately-flavoured and perhaps the
most nutritious of all fish, have been weight for weight
actually cheaper than most of the finny produce sold
at Billingsgate.
THE QUEEN OF THE BELGIANS. Queen Marie
Henrietta, the wife of Leopold 11., King of the Bel-
gians, was born on Aug. 23, 1836, and her Majesty
accordingly attained her 45th year on Tuesday. The
Belgian Queen is the daughter of the Archduke
Joseph of Austria, and her marriage with Leopold 11.
was solemnised on Aug. 22, 1853, just twenty-eight
years ago. The offspring of this union are three
daughters, the second of whom, the Princess Stephanie,
has been recently united to the Archduke Rodolph,
Crown Prince of Austria. Her eldest daughter, the
Princess Louise, is the wife of Prince Philip of Saxe-
Coburg-Gotha, who is a grandson of the late Louis
Philippe, King of the French, and her youngest
i daughter, the Princess Clementine, s in her tenth
year, having been born on July 30, 1872. Her husband
ascended the Belgian throne on Dec. 10, 1865, suc-
ceeding his father, Leopold 1., uncle of Queen
Victoria.

THE ADVANTAGES OF EARLY RISING. - Lord
Egtemont once invited Turner to stay a week at
PetwOrth, and paint two pictures for him of some
favourite bits ot scenery on the estate. On the first
morning of his visit Lord Egremont asked Turner
what he should like to do, and the great painter
replied he would go fishing. The next morning at
breakfast Lord E. enquired again what it would please
Mr. Turner to do, and he replied, that having enjoyed
himself so much yesterday, he would again go fishing.
On the third morning Lord Egremont thought he
would wait for Turner to announce his own plans, and
was greatly amused when he quietly said he was again
going fishing. On the fourth morning Lord E., unable
to conceal his anxiety, said : "Well, Mr. Turner, I
am only too glad for you to enjoy yourself, but you
are talking of going away to-morrow, and I feel
anxious about the pictures." "Come upstairs to my
room," said Turner, "and set your mind at rest."
Nothing could exceed the surprise and delight of Lord
Egremont, when Turner introduced him to two
exquisite pictures painted as he had desired. The
great man had risen each morning with the sun, and
before breakfast had, by a good day's work, earned his
pleasure in fishing.

v•-•


IRISH LOGIC. (A FACT.)—(Trish groom, in charge
of trap, asleep; rug and whip stolen).—Master :
"Halloo, Mick ! you are asleep."—Groom: "No, sur,
I am not."—Master "You have been; both rug and
whip are gone. The fact of the matter is; you and I
part to-morrow."—Groom "All right, sur ; will oi
give you a month's notice, or ye me ?"—Judy.

THE UNITED STATES EXPORTS.—According to a
return drawn up by the American Bureau of Statis-
tics, the value of the exports of breadstuffs durinv
July amounted to 19,981,792 dollars, against 31,229,677
dollars for the corresponding month of 1880. For the
seven months, ending July 31, the exports amounted
to 131,962,709 dollars, as compared with 153,586,362
for the corresponding period of 1880.

BEEN AWAY.—" Hello! Is that you ? "—" Yes."—
"Been away?"—" Yes."—" Been off on a vacation ?"
—" Yes."— " Feel better ?" " No."— " Gain any
flesh ?"—" No."—" Tent out?"—" No."—" Go fish-
ing ?"—"No."—" Did you sail or row?"—" No."—
"Nice at the hotel?"--" No."—"Go in swimming?"
" No.'' " What did you do ?" " Nothing. '
" What did you go for ?"—" I dunno."—Detroit Free
Press.

FALL Or A RAILWAY BRIDGE.—On Monday after-
noon a passenger train had a narrow escape near Burn
Hill, on the Benfieldside and Saltburn branch of the
North-Eastern Railway. The train which left Burn
Hill at 1.50 was nearing a bridge which is only one
span across the line, when the bridge suddenly snapped
and fell with a crash, completely blocking the rails
upon which the passenger train was travelling. The
engineman, seeing the bridge fall, immediately applied
his Westinghouse brake, and brought the train to a
stand within a few yards of the fallen rubbish, thus
averting what would otherwise have been a serious
accident. The foundation of the bridge is supprsed to
have been undermined by the recent heavy rains.
MUSICAL INFORMATION.—The Bav-pipe is no rela-
tion of the ancient Sackbutt.—P unch.
THE MOORS IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.—Excel-
lent bags were made on some of the moors of the north
of England last week. In Yorkshire, on the grounds
of the Duke of Devonshire, near Bolton Abbey, four
suns shot 400 brace in three days. On the Marquis
of Ripon's moors, in the North Riding, Earl De Grey
and party of six guns shot 552 brace in two days; and
in Wensleydale, on Lord Wharncliffe's grounds, 273
brace were killed by six guns in one day. In We it-
moreland, Lord Bective's party shot 460 brace in three
days. On the other hand, on the famous Derbyshire
moors of the Duke of Rutland three guns shot 129
brace in two days. Birds are generally reported to
be in good condition, but they are terribly wild every-
where.

ATTENTION TO SANITARY PRINCIPLES.—At East-
bourne, on Tuesday evening, the Right Hon. James
Stansfeld presided at a lecture given by Professor
Kerr, in the Sanitary and Arts Exhibition, Devon-
shire Park. Speaking on the subject of sanitation,
the right hon. gentleman remarked that when he
passed the Local. Government Act a large number of
sanitary clauses were struck out in order to get the
measure through. One of these clauses was suggested
to him by Miss Florence Nightingale, and he
understood that the Local Board of Eastbourne had
got a clause to the same effect in their bill, whereby
they were enabled not only to regulate the junction of
house drains with the sewer, but to go inside the house
and see that it was constructed on sanitary principles,
without which permission would not be given for occu-
pation. He congratulated the town upon possessing
such powers.

"No RETURNS."—When you have lost time, it is no
use offering a reward for its return ; r.o one can
"bring it back."—Fun.

SUFFOCATION IN A WELL—Mr. John Walker, a
plumber, and a young man employed by him, named
Frederick Moore, were suffocated at Chelmsford on
Monday, in a well which was dug only a few weeks
ago in Lower-road, Primrose-hill, Chelmsford. Moore
attempted to descend the well without first ascertain-
ing by means of a light, whether there was any foul
air in it, and fell to the bottom. Walker, who went
to his assistance, was unable to return, being, like
Moore, overcome by the foul air. Mr. Beckett was
nearly suffocated in attempting to rescue the men,
and the two were not brought to the surface until
three-quarters of an hour afterwards, when their
bodies were brought up with drags. They were
quite dead. The men were attempting to fix the
piping for the pump.
THE LAST FASHION IN POCKET HANDKERCHIEFS.
—Pocket-Handkerchiefs should no longer be em-
broidered with the name or initials of their owners,
for Parisian fashionables have adopted a flower and
motto to ornament the corner of their dainty
mouchoirs. Thus one beauty chooses a rose with the
device "I am all heart "—another a poppy with the
inscription "Beauty dwells in the heart and not in
the face ; " above a sprig of mignonette is the modest
remark, "Mr qualities surpass my charms; " "I
cling or I die surmounts an ivy leaf; "Purity and
nobility" is written over a lily ; while some senti-
mental damsel inscribes above a primrose "I am
misunderstood."

THE STREETS OF BERLIN.—Owing to the execution
of the new system of sewers in the German capital,
the length of the pricipal streets of the city has re-
cently been exactly measured (says the Builder).
The celebrated avenue Unter den Linden has a length
of 1,350 metres, or less than seven furlongs; Wilhelm-
street, the head-quarters of the Ministries, is 2,000
metres long; while the well-known Friedrich strasse
has a length of 3,060 metres, or not far short of two
miles. Of the streets which extend beyond the limits
of the city proper, Mfiller-stra,se has a length of 3,600
metres, Kurfurstendamm 3,925 See-strasse 4,085,
Kaiser-strasse 4,215 me,tres. The longest series of
streets running in one continuous line with unbroken
rows of houses is that of the Friedrich-strasse, with
its continuations, the Chausee and Muller streets, the
aggregate length of which is 8,440 metres, or upwards
of five English miles.

FAVOURITE QUOTATION FOR THE "FAIR-TRADE
LEAGUE."—" He that is taxed, not seeing how you tax
him, let him not know it, and he's not taxed at all,"—
Another for their Opponents.—" Customs more
honoured in the breach than the observance."—
Punch.

DISCOVERY OP ANCIENT ROMAN COINS. - An im-
portant discovery of ancient silver coins is reported
from Tarlasco, province of Lomellino, Piedmont. A
countryman found a vessel containing 600 silver coins,
mostly belonging to the first Roman epoch, as shown
by the effigies of Brutus and Collatinus designated
as primi Commies. Others of more recent period
dating from the time of Cmsar, Pompey, Antony,
and Antoninus Pius are still of great archeological
interest.

THE FRENCH HARVEST.—Reports from the agricul-
tural districts of France indicate that a good harvest
is being gathered in this year. The recent drought
has somewhat retarded the growth of maize and pota-
toes, while oats have not yielded largely, but, on the
other hand, wheat, rye, barley, and beetroot promise
an abundant supply. Grapes, except in certain
regions where severe frosts prevailed last spring, or
where the phylloxera has been particularly active, are
also plentiful.
WORDS or Wisnom.—Old lady (to grandson).
" Ah, Johnnie, there's three things I would like ye to
remember. lstl7—Never climb up trees after apples,
because if ye wait long enough they will come down to
ye. 2.ndly—Never run after young women, because if
ye wait long enough they will run after ye. 3rdly—
ICever—ah, well, Johnnie, I'll tell ye that to-morrow."
—Judy.
THE NINE HOURS MOVEMENT.—The Central Com-
mittee of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Ser-
vants for the promotion of the Nine Hours Movement
have just resolved—" That the memorial asking for the
concession of nine hours as a working day should be
sent to the various Boards of Directors at the earliest
opportunity." The Central Committee have received
information that the Manchester Railway men have
by a Resolution passed at a meeting attended by men
of all grades in the service, thrown in their lot with the
Nine Hours Movement; and, as Manchester is the
second largest railway centre in the kingdom, the Cen-
tral Committee are stated to look upon the determina-
tion of the men as likely to have considerable influence
in advancing the Nine Hours Movement.

THE RICHMOND FREE LIBRARY. The Richmond
Free Library, which was opened by the Countess
Russell on June 18th last, has proved to be a great
success. During the first week it was open, the total
issue from the lending department was 474 volumes to
459 borrowers, but dui ing the week ending Saturday
the 13th inst., it was 1,299 volumes to 1,250 borrowers,
the issue on the Saturday alone almost equalling the
complete total of the first week. More than 1,500
borrowers' tickets have been issued, and the reference
library and news-room, which are free to all visitors,
are also very largely attended.
PRINCE Or WALES'S FEATHERS.—In noticing an
article by Mr. W. Simpson in Fraser's Magazine on
the above subject the St. James's Gazette remarks :
But, in spite of all that has been said about the Eastern
origin of the Prince of Wales's feathers, it is possible
enough that the plumes are capable of a more simple
explanation. When Nadir Shah returned to his
capital after the invasion of India, he wore four
plumes, to represent Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan,
and Hindostan ; thus ignoring all esoteric meanings
which might be associated with the emblem. In like
manner the Prince of Wales may have originally
worn two feathers to represent England and Wales,
and subsequently three feathers to represent Great
Britain, France, and Ireland. In the present day the
feather which once represented France may perhaps
be taken to represent India, as it did in the days of
Nadir Shah.

A CRITERION INDEED !—Brown. "Hampstead
salubrious? I believe you, my boy! Why, I came
here three months ago a perfect wreck from dyspepsia,
and now, I'm blessed if I can't eat the whole of a
three-and-sixpenny lobster for supper, and wake up
next day without thinking unkind things of anyone,
not even my wife's relations ! ! ! "—Punch.
"CUTTING A SWATH" IN JOURNALISM. -Young
Fitzalamode has just entered journalistic life, aid is
going to "cut a swath." He believes in putting in a
good deal of " colour " in his items, and prides himself
on the mellifluousness of his work. He sharpened up
a couple of pencils at both ends this morning and
began We regret to inform our readers that the
estimable Miss Jones, of Jonesboro, daughter of Con-
gressman Jones, and granddaughter of the well-known
founder of the village of Jonesboro, has met with a
serious accident. As she was driving along the
boulevard, at the speed of the wind, the horse, a half-
brother of Maud S. and full sister of St. Julien,
became suddenly startled by the uprising of a covy of
partridges, which are unusually numerous in that sec-
tion this season, and promise a great deal of fun for
the sportsmen when the law is off, and as they
circled the frightened steed tore down the avenue like
mad until stopped by the gallant hand of Officer 73 of
the Ninth Ward. Her injuries were a contusion of
the ankle, which did not amount to a fracture, and the
unfortunate girl was carried home to her grief-stricken
parents and sypatliiing friends." The city editor at
this point was anxious for. "Copy," and glancing it
over rapidly crumpled it in his hand, remarking,
" Fitzy, you have struck the realm of fancy solid.
This department is the domain of fact." He then
scribbled, "The daughter of Congressman Jones was
run away with by a spirited horse on the avenue yester-
day afternoon. Injuries nominal.—Ncia Haven
Register.

KANGAROOS GARDENING.—" I stood it well for a
considerable time," said an old Australian bushman,
when he was asked why he had abandoned his selec-
tion. "I stood it well; but the place was overrun by
kangaroos. They chopped off the wheat the moment
it was above ground ; they walked off with the maize-
sticks like an army of volunteer rifles; used up all my
pumpkins at football. But when an old man kangaroo
came to the house one day, and asked for a spade to
dig up the potatoes, I thought it was about time to
clear out."

Ar TJNIvELCOMF REMINDER.—An order was issued
by the municipal authorities of Pam, subsequeni to
the siege that everybody finding a shell should bring
it immediately to the Prefecture. A mason living in
the Rue des Deux Fonts recently discovered one of
the intruders in a garret, and, not wishing to be at
the trouble of carrying it to the police, he buried it
under the oven of his house and covered it over with
mortar. A few days ago his wife, unaware of what
had been done, lighted a fire, and very shortly after-
wards a frightful explosion took place, inflicting
serious injuries on the unfortunate woman. A further
search in the garret resulted in the discovery of a
number of cartridges which had evidently lain there
since the siege.
UNDERGROUND RAILWAY FOR LIVERPOOL. A
scheme for the extension of railway communication in
and about Liverpool is said to have been devised by
one of the leading Railway Companies having con-
nections with that city. Its main feature is the con-
struction of a network of underground lines, for both
passengers and goods, by means of which residents iR
the suburbs can reach the business part of the city,
while travellers arriving in Liverpool by any of the
existing lines can, by availing themselves of the
underground railway, proceed to any part of the city
or suburbs, or under the Mersey to the Cheshire side.
The scheme will doubtless be submitted to all the
Railway Companies having termini in Lives pool, with
a view to securing their co-operation.

PRECISELY. —Why is the conductor of an orchestra
likely to live ever so much longer than other people?
—Why, because, you know, he can beat Time. Aha!
—Judy.

THE VINTAGE IN FRANCE.-A correspondent writes
from the Nibvre (east central France), on the 20th
inst. :—"At last the long-looked-for rains have come,
and not only here but in the neighbouring depart-
ments. In the Cdte-d'Or, where a week ago all was
depression and despondency, the wine growers are full
of hope, and all hearts are cheered. The first showers
worked wonders for the vegetable gardeners, and
salads and vegetables are reappearing on modest
tables. At the Dijon market a week ago the cost of a
cabbage, which is usually a sou, had risen to twelve
sous, and all other green things were at famine prices.
But it is the vintage that is the all-absorbing topic of
interest in the Cote-d'Or ; and I am assured by com-
petent authorities that these rains have just come in
time to save the vines."

AUSTRALIA'S NUISANCE.— Australia suffers from
bath animal and vegetable plagues. It has groaned
under a rabbit peat, and a kind of watercress, which
somebody thought would be "such a good thing," but
which has served admirable to choke up streams and
now it is in mortal dread of the lantana, a shrub re-
sembling a gigantic raspberry bush, which was im-
ported as a garden ornament from France. Birds
like the seed and scatter it in all directions, and the
shrub threatens to grow densely and become an in-
sufferable nuisance.

AN INGENIOUS KIND CF BIRD.—One of the most
interesting and common birds in the Adirondacks is
a large wood-pecker, that bores holes in the bark of
spruce and then plugs them up with acorns and nuts
of any kind. One piece of wood taken from a tree,
of about eight square inches, contains ten of these
plugs, so closely and tightly wedged in that a knife
had to be used to force them out. The piece of bark
looks as if wooden bullets had been fired at it and just
covered themselves. The general impression seems to
be that the birds put them there and eat them in the
winter or later, but squirrels, it would seem would
have the best of it.

A NAPPY DISPATCH. —The Postmaster-General com-
plains that living animals are persistently sent through
the post, in defiance of the regulations. Very well;
his department's duty is plain. It has merely to put
all the live stock in a bag by itself, and, in due course,
treat it as it treats all the other mails; that is to say,
"dispatch it! "—Pun.

A FISH CHOKED BY A RAT.—The secretary to the
Birmingham and Midland Piscatorial Association has
received from the society's river keeper at Alrewas a
splendid chub, which had unintentionally proved its
own destroyer, having been choked by a rat. The
keeper came upon the fish struggling violently in the
throes of death; he pulled it out, and found a rat,
with only its hind feet visible, which the fish had tried
to swallow, but in vain. The chub scaled 31b. 10oz.,
and the rat half a pound.

NEWS FROM THE CAPE.—Advices from Cape Town
says that a severe gale has raged for three days on the
eastern coast of the colony. Three vessels, the
Brighton, Clymping, and Hcimath, were driven ashore
at East London, and all of their crews, with the ex-
ception of three men, were lost. The captains of the
Clymping and Heimath were on shore at the time.—
Heavy rains and snow have fallen generally in the
colony, and the prospects of the next harvest are very
favourable.—The Rev. Mr. Cycil Wyche has been
drowned while crossing the Chalumna River.

SPORT IN ALL SEASONS.—Amongst the Amend-
ments to the Wild Birds Protection Act lately passed
by Parliament, there is not one that can be expected
to have the slightest effect in preventing a Wild
Goose Chase.—Punch.
A REMARKABLE BOUQUET.—A lady in Taunton,
Mass., is the happy possessor of a bouquet of historical
memory and value. It contains a clover from George
Eliot's grave, a violet from Melrose Abbey, a butter-
cup from De Quincey's grave, a sprig of ivy from
Walter Scott's old home at Abbotsford, and a bluebell
from the grave of Helen Macgregor, near Loch
Lomond.

THE IRISH LANGUAGE.—The Society for the Pre-
servation of the Irish Language state in their report
recently issued that the Irish language flows holds a
prominent place on the curricula of the three great
systems of national education in Ireland. Ih America
theigstudy is being pursued with great enthusiasm.
Irish-American newspapers devote their columns to
the publishing of Irish literature in the Irish character;
and a sister society in New York has recently brought
out a handsome cheap edition Gf Dr. Mac Hale's Irish
version of Moore's Melodies.

A WEAK LINK !—As a train was approaching Cleve-
land, 0., it parted in the middle, and the signal rope
snapped off like a thread, the end of it striking an old
lady on her bonnet. "What is the matter ? " she
exclaimed. "Oh the train is broke in two," replied a
gentleman who sat in the next seat. "I should say
so," the old lady said, looking at the broken cord.
"Did they s'pose a little bit of string like that would
hold the cars together."

A PRAYER ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP.—A classmate
of President Garfield said at a Williamstown prayer
meeting recently: "Twenty-six years ago to-night,
and at this very hour, our class were on the top of
Greylock to spend the night of the fourth of July.
As we were about to lie down for sleep, Garfield took
oat his pocket Testament and said: I am in the
habit of reading a chapter every night at this time
with my mother. Shall I read aloud?' All assented,
and when he had read he asked the oldest member of
the class to pray. And there in the night, on the
mountain-top, we prayed with him for whom we have
now assembled to pray."

MAKING ALLOWANCES.—Party having his boots
cleaned: You clean boots better than your mate:
Shoeblack : Well, you see, he's only been at it two
year.—Judy.

UNITED STATEB LIQUOR LAWS.-A New York
paper says that attempts made to force temperance
on the people of smile Western States are very funny,
worthy almost of the attention of Artemus 'Ward.
In Kansas no one can obtain a glass of alcoholic
liquor unless on a physician's prescription, and the
druggist who supplies the desired refreshments is only
able to fill the order after lodging bonds to the nice
little figure of 50,000 dollars. .No fermented liquor
is even allowed in this State to be used in religious
ceremonial. In Wisconsin it is contemplated to have
a law passed against treating, so that every one should
have to pay for his own tipple. In an adjoining
State it has been seriously proposed to have a liquor.
drinking license costing 10 dollars, and that the wearer
should be obliged to carry the badge on a conspicuous
part of his person, as a military man carries his
medals.

AN EXCITING ELK HUNT IN OREGON.—Two youth-
ful Niturods, Charles and Clyde McKnight, aged re-
spectively fifteen and thirteen, lately engaged in an
elk hunt near Lower Soda Springs, Oregon, which
was as exciting in its nature as any indulged in of
yore by the immortal "founder of the chase." The
two lads had killed each a fine elk, and soon after
the baying of the hound in a thicket close at hand
attracted their attention. Drawing near, what was
their delight upon beholding an elk calf about two
weeks old. Grasping the prise, both endeavoured
to urge it from the spot, but the piteous bleating of
the young elk was heard by the mother, and her
rush to the rescue was made with a fury which
might have appalled many a veteran hunter. So
sudden and unexpected was the attack of the elk
that only fifteen feet intervened when the eldest
boy fired, killing the infuriated animal dead. An
instant's hesitation or a trembling hand would have
been fatal to the young hunter, whose cool courage
merits the highest meed of admiration. An infu-
riated elk, guarding her young, is scarcely less dan-
gerous than a grizzly, and the adventure of the
McKnight boys entitles them the appellation of
"mighty hunter 3."

THE REVISED VERSION.—Bishop Ellicott has just
had presented to him an address from 570 of the clergy
in his two archdeaconriest congratulating him on the
conclusion of his labours in the revision of the New
Testament. In reply, his lordship says :—"Sincerely
do I join with you in the prayer that a fuller under-
standing of God's Holy Word may through this revi-
sion be vouchsafed to all who use our mother tongue,
and that thus true religion may be more widely'
spread, both in our own country and through all the
cfistant lands in which that tongue is spoken by our
fellow men."

Two REMARKABLE HlLL.—captain Heavyside, in
his report on survey operations in Khandeish and the
Bombay Native States, describes two remarkable
hills in the Mangya Tungya range, which separates
Khandeish from Nassick (says the Bombay Gazette).
These hills, which are about three-quarters of a mile
apart, rise 2,500 feet above the valley. Their summits
are huge basaltic columns, each 200 feet high, and
Captain Hea vyside says "it is difficult to
i imagine anything n nature more typical of the mono-
lith rising from a pyramidal base, with which artists
have made us familiar: but here the scale is colossal,
and so much the more magnificently grand." Round
the base of the western summit a terrace runs, partly
the work of nature, and partly artificial. On the
north side the terrace is some ten or twelve feet wide,
and here there are five temples "built in the shadow
of the rock," and also three cave temples were pro-
bably begun by Buddhists, but have been finished and
taken over by the Mahrattas. The face of the rock
above the terrace is studded with figures of gods and
godesses,

AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The follow.
ing are the average prices of British corn for the week
ending Aug. 20, as received from the inspectors and
officers of Excise: Wheat, 48s. 10d. ; barley, 28s. 5d.;
oats, 225. 11d, per imperial qr. Corresponding week
last year :—Wheat, 435. 9d. ; barley, 28s. Bd. ; oats,
245. sd.

MUCH MORE PLEASURABLE.—Granny (to precocious
child, who has just told "a whacker ") : "You enjoy
telling fibs, Mary, I do believe !"—Precocious Child :
"Yes, Granny, I think I do; but I enjoy seeing you
swallow them a great big bit more l"—Fun.
THE HUNGARIAN "OLD PARR."—A controversy
has been going on in the Austrian and Hungarian
papers concerning the age of the very oldest of the
subjects of the Emperor Francis Joseph. The man's
name is Martin Bacsi, he is a Slovack by birth, and
lives at present in the commune of Wysoka, near
Trentschin, in Hungary. According to one version,
he is 130 years old ; according to another, he is merely
120. In spite of his exceptional weight of years he is
still strong in body and clear in mind. He lives at
present in the house of a Jewish master, for whom he
chops the wood, carries water, and tends the domestic
animals.

INTELLIGENCE IN PARROTS.—Apropos of parrots and
intelligence in birds, I send you the following :—A
jackdaw and a parrot one fine day witnessed a hay-
making party in the fields. On the bell being rang for
afternoon tea Polly was not to be found anywhpre.
However, after a long search Jack perched himself on
the master's paper basket and made a "caw," where-
upon from among the pieces of waste paper appeared
the head of Polly, from the mouth of which issued the
words, "We have enjoyed ourselves " "We hare
made a day of it !" Polly evidently having witnessed
tossing and smothering in the hay-field, while the
children were "making a day of it"
A TRIBUTE TO LORD BEACONSFIELD.—A handsome
double wreath has just been placed by a lady on the late
Earl's grave, with a card attached, bearing the follow-
ing inscription :—" Peace with honour.' In fond
remembrance and admiration of England's loved and
honoured Premier, the Earl bf Beaconsfield, K.G-.,
who died April 19, 1881. From E. R. Belilios, Hong
Kong, China. 'God's will be done.' " The wreath
consisted of white everlasting flowers and corn on one
side, with choice white flower, aux naturelles, on the
other. Mr. Belilios is the gentleman who gave £l,OOO
for a statue to be erected at Hong Kong in honour of
his lordship after the Berlin Treaty.
A TRYING MOMENT.—When your wife's new bonnet
comes home.—Judy.
ENCKE'S COMET.—Our old friend, the comet of short
period known as Encke's, is approaching us (says the
Athenceum), and is now favourably situated for obser-
vation in this hemisphere, being in the constellation
Taurus, so that we may expect shortly to hear of its
having been seen by those astronomers who are pos-
sessed of powerful instrumental means. An ephemeris
has been published by Dr. 0. Backlund. of Pulkowa
(after taking into account all the effects of planetary
perturbation up to the present time), by which it
appears that the comet will be nearest the earth on
October 11, at the distance 0543 in terms of the
earth's mean disWice from the sun.
A YOUNG WOMAN BURNT TO DEATH.—A distress-
ing accident occurred at Birstall, Leicestershire, on
Saturday, to a young woman named Lizzie Broughton,
daughter of a publican. In attempting to light the
fire, she poured some petroleum on the damp sticks,
whereupon half a gallon in a can exploded. The
inflammable liquid being thrown all over her, the poor
girl was enveloped in flames, which her father and
mother were powerless to extinguish. She was
literally roasted, and dropped down dead. A quantity
of furniture in the house was also burnt. The deceased
was 19 years old.
INDIA AS A CORN-PRODUCING COUNTRY.—Mr. J. A.
Blake, M.P., intends to sail by the Peshawur for
India, with the view of examining the agrarian ques-
tion in that portion of her Majesty's dominions, with
especial reference to the possibility of growing corn,
so as to make the United Kingdom less dependent
upon supplies drawn from Russia and the States of
North America.
SHOO. FLY !—Customer: "Confound 'em! Why
do you have so many flies about the place, Mary?"
—Mary. "Well, I like that. We ain't got no flies.
They don't belong to us I "—Funny Folks.
AN INGENIOUS INVENTION.—It appears that German
railway conductors are made happy by the addition
to their equipment of a paper mill and printing office.
the invention of a Berlin engineer, to be hung around
the neck, which, according to an exchange, is to com-
pletely manufacture passenger tickets before the eyes
of the wondering public. The apparatus is said to be
somewhat complicate 3 in construction, but its mani-
pulation is as simple as its working is correct, for
should the operator not proceed in the way required
by the mechanism, it will not print all the figures and
words wanted, but the word "Faisch. " (false) in the
place where the fault was committed. At the same
time this portable printer checks the number of tickets
issued, so that at any given moment the money in the
hands of the conductor can be compared with the
value of the tickets printed and taken.

A SMALL FORTUNE FOR A LIEUTENANT.—A young
gentleman in this city (says a Boston paper) recently
received information that a letter bearing his name,
with the prefix "Lieutenant," was in the post office,
and he was requested to call and see if it was intended
for him. He went to the office accordingly, and stated
that he had no right to a military or naval title al-
though he had been lieutenant at a military school
some years before, and the letter might have been
written by a classmate. The letter was accordingly
handed to him, and he opened it and read as follows:
"Dear Sir—Do not think that your gallant conduct in
rescuing two ladies from drowning at—in 1873 has
been forgotten. By the will of a near relative of one
of them, just deceased, you are set down for a bequest
of 27,000 dols." The young man had never performed
the gallant feat thus recounted, and was reluctantly
compelled to admit that, although the name was his,
he had no claim to the letter or fortune. Whether the
right man has yet been found is not known.
Goon SPORT.—A shikari at Alapili, Chanda dis-
trict, Central Provinces, a letter from whom has
reached the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette, lately
made a bag of a splendid bull buffalo with enormous
horns, and four tigers. One of the tigers measured
Oft. 6in., another Oft. 10iin., and two tigresses 91t. 2in.
and Oft. 10in. respectively. He also disposed of four
four-horned antelopes. He adds, "I also shot the fol-
lowing but did not bag them, though I traced the
blood marks for a long distance—one bear, two bison,
one buffalo, two blue bulls, and two sambar. I saw
five tigers, but unfortunately missed one. Of the four
tigers, three I shot off an elephant, and one on foot,
firing when the tigers were on the bound. The place
I went to is only about sixteen miles from here, and
evidently swarms with tigers. They actually, at
night, come within fifty or sixty yards of my camp.
It is the lot of very few persons, indeed, to bag with
one gun four tigers, and other game in five days. The
rifle I use is a 500 express, double barrel.

TEACHING THE GRANDMOTHER TO SUCK EGGS.—The
kind old lady said, " Ah, my dear, I am pleased you
have shown me how to do it. I used to know when I
was as young as you. Some one perhaps will be kind
enough to teach you when you are as old as I. By
that time you may have forgotten. At my age people
forget a great deal that they knew in their youth; but
it is 'never too late to learn.'"—Fun.

A LARGE ELEPHANT.—Boston is very much excited
by the arrival at that port of the biggest elephant
that has ever set foot in America. He is sixty years
old, over ten feet high, and weighs four tons and a
half. His trunk is so big that the Custom House
officers couldn't handle it to see whether it contained
any dutiable articles or not. But he is to go to New
York, and the freight cars not being big enough, nor
the bridges high enough, he will probably have to
walk. With him are two others nearly as big, and all
three are valued at about 50,000 dols.

ORCHARD AND GARDEN CROPS.—The crop reports
of the Gardeners' Magazine for the current week relate
to orchard and garden crops. It appears the apple
crop is by no means so generally good as was antici-
pated, and the apple districts are in some degree worse
off this year than many places that usually produce
but few apples. However, the apple crop is by no
means a bad one, and in the ensuing year the importa-
tion of this fruit from America will probably reach
but a small figure. The pear crop is more partial than
the apple crop, and may be described as not much
better than half an average, and the same may be said
of the plum crop. Of wall fruits there is in most
places a fair sprinkling; but from many gardens there
are reports of peach, nectarine, and plum trees ruined
past recovery by the severe frosts of three successive
winters. It appears there is an abundance of all kinds
of nuts and vegetables, and potatoea are quite satia.
factory.

DEAN STANLEY IN AMERICA. Dean Stanley en-
joyed his trip in the United States two years ago like
a schoolboy; but he was more or less of a shock to
good Churchmen on three accounts; he wore the most
shocking hat ever seen on the head of a prominent
clergyman, let alone a dean of the Established Church;
his handwriting often made it hopeless to tell when
he wrote in answer to an invitation whether he no-
cepted or declined, one agonized dignitary in New
York, calling what was very like a counoil over a dis-
puted text, to determine the true reading; and the
dean was perpetually asking for the graves of men no
one else knew of. In New York, for instance, he
insisted on finding the grave of Dr. Robinson,
" Wady " Robinson, of Robinson and Smith's Biblical
Researches, and as every one has not the memory for
graves, natural to the late Dean of Westminster, his
demands for information were often embarassing.
PRECIOUS METALS IN A SEWER.—The Philadelphia
Record says :—On the Juniper-street side of the Mint
is a small three-feet sewer which carries off the drain-
age from the roof and boilers of the coin-making
establishment and empties into a main sewer on
Market-street. A heavy flag-stone, securely edged in
with brickwork, forms a trap at the entrance, the trap
being intended to prevent thieves from making their
way through the Market-street sewer. There is a
certain percentage of waste in the coinage of gold and
silver metals, for which the government allows the
coiners and smelters a margin, and there is a general
desire on the part of the officials to keen this margin
as low as possible. A few days ago it occurred to Chief
Engineer John L. McGinnis that in the sewer, which
had not been cleaned for 19 years, something of value
might he found. Accordingly a force of men were
detailed for this job At the Juniper-street
opening the sewer was so hot that the masons could
stay down but a few moments at a time. When the
heat had abated men were sent down at the Juniper
and Market-street entrances, furnished with small
boxes, which were drawn up as fast as filled with dirt.
Two days and a night were occupied in this task.
Then the precious metals were extracted by a process
which consisted in drying the dirt and thoroughly pub.
verizing it by placing it under a pair of cheeses with
pressure of 2,700 tons, then putting it through wash-
ing machines, and finally securing the precious metals
by means of mercury. The result showed that the
find footed up six ounces and thirty four one-hun-
dredths of standard gold, and twenty-one ounces and
twenty-one one-hundredths of standard silver, or a
total equal to 143 dols. 85c. The last cleaning out
7ielded 21,000 dole, worth of gold and silver waste. It
is now proposed to catch the deposits by digging four
wells, one at each corner of the building, and to run
a pipe from the roof half way into the wells and catch
the overflow,