The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-16 00:00:00

MORTALITY OF TAILORS.

Dr, Lankester has directed attention to the intem-
perate habits of tailors. On the occasion of an inquest
being held on the body of a tailor who died suddenly
p,t the age' of 79, Dr. Lankester pointed out that the
deceased had no doubt lived to his great age
on account of his abstinence from intoxicating drinks.
As a rule few tailors live long; and it was well
known that for the most part they were in.the habit
of drinking to excess. The evil effects of this habit were
enhanced.by the impossibility of their taking sufficient
exercise. He illustrated his remarks by saying that in
98 per cent of the inquests he. held upon tailors he
found that death had resulted from their drinking

habits, and the inquests were all held upon the bodies
of comparatively young men. In connection with
the subject of drinking, Dr. Lankester said he
thought nearly every person (himself included) had
more spirituous liquors than was good for them, and
_ _

le thought it might be much better if they were not
;alien at all. -

THE ORDER OF LADYHOOD.

Miss Emily Faithfull in a lecture at the Glasgow
Athenaeum on Wednesday evening, after shewing
that the conditions of female life had
sustained much alteration by the progress of
civilization, that home avocations had been
removed into Manufactories, and that emigration
had carried off more men than .women, described a
" new order of ladyhood " that has sprung up. The
first essential of this class, Miss Faithfull pointed out
was to have nothing whatever to do. While hun-
dreds of young women, tenderly nurtured, were
crying out for work, there was a section of modern
young ladies who had at the root of their

feelings a contempt for honest labour or
toil. The fault was in the bringing up
of English girls, who ought in every grade of the
social system to be taught that they were not to be

" sideboard ornaments " alone. For women who were
rich, but especially for women who were not very
poor, there were sacred and important duties. The
intelligence, conscience, and character of every girl
who hoped to be a wife and a mother or a helpmate
at all in the business of life, wanted development,
and a. knowledge of physiology, of chemistry, of
the processes of cooking, of nursing and tending the
sick, and' other labours, would never cause the de-
gradation of the sex, but would certainly elevate it.

THE BRINDISI ROUTE.

Not the least of the widespread evils which the

Franco-Prussian war has entailed on the world at
large has been its interference with the mails. In
the case of the Indian mail, happily, the difficulties

which were at first apprehended have been in a
great measure averted. When the war rendered it
impossible to continue sending it via Marseilles, a
convention was effected between England, Belgium,
Germany, and Italy to send the overland mail by
Brussels, Cologne, Munich, the Brenner Pass,
Verona, and Brindisi. Some improvements have

been made, and the Brenner line proves
to be rapid and safe beyond expectation.
By this route the last Indian mail was brought from
Brindisi to London—a journey of 1,800 miles—in

seventy-two hours, and this was the second time that
the journey had been accomplished in that interval.
The now route is cheap and offers the attraction of
passing through most beautiful and varied scenery,from
the towering rocks and rushing torrents of the Aus-
trian dominions to the vines and orange trees of Italy.
The service between Brindisi and Alexandria will be
henceforward performed weekly. At first the rate
of postage between England and India was raised,
but the postage of letters to India and Ceylon is now
to be reduced to one shilling per half-ounce, the rate
for China and Japan being ls. 3d., and for Australia
ninepence.