The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-02 00:00:00

LITERAT !JAE.

Mistletoe Grange; A Royal Road to Wrinkles.
• Charlton Tucker.

" There is no royal road to Learning," says the
adage, but another adage, equally correct, reminds us
" that there is no rule without exception ;" and here
we take it, is the exception to the time-honoured dis-
claimer of the Roy,d Road. A sprightly damsel, of
the name of Cissy (we do not think her surname is
ever mentione I, by the way), and her very learned
brother George, and her governess Miss Starch, and
a very good-natured paterfamilias are the inha-
bitants of Mistletoe Grange ; and very happy
times they pass there; and very happy and profitable
hours the young readers of their history may pass
in their merry companionship. At one time, when
Cissy and George are out in the paddock with their
pet pony, Dandy Dumpling, George instructs his
sister in all the mysteries of the horse, giving, among
other things, the following prescription in favour
of a black-legged steed—
,' 4 white legs—touch him not at all.
3 white legs—take care he does not fall.
2 white legs—spare him to a friend.
1 white leg—he'll serve you to the end."
On another occasion, Cissy in saying her geography
to Miss Starch, and like a mischievous madcap, as
she is, the cunning pupil finds a ridiculous answer
for almost every serious question. Thus, she affirms
that the chief town in Switzerland is called
Berne to warm the people among the
snowy mountains. Her wits are wool-gathering
when the capital of Prussia is asked for, and War-
saw she considers to be rightly named, because the
people there saw so much war, and so on all over
the Continent ! Many of the jokes are necessarily
somewhat overstrained and far-fetched, but, on the
whole, Cissy and her lessons will afford considerable
amusement, and may fix many morsels of
knowledge in subtle comers of the memory.
We are next introduced :to certa'n " Dairy Doings,*
in which George, as an amateur farmer, evinces con-
siderable skill ; the mysteries of butter making
are triumphantly exhibited, and a delicious pat
of actual butter is the result ! After "fur-
ther farming " and the " four-horse cistern,"
we take part in a merry children's party, and listen
to Ghost Story and Fairy Tale. A balloon, very
fortunately, selects as its place of descent the big
meadow of Mistletoe Grange, and initiates the
children in aeronautic mysteries. Later on Cissy
gives a ridiculous travestie of the history of England,
and in the final chapter, £ s. d., aspires to understand
the mysteries of the currency. The happiest result
of an investigation into the adulteration of metals,
is the startlingdiscovery that" unalloyed happiness"
means " happiness that has nothing to do with tin I"
And so we take leave of Miss Cissy, commending her
and her lively badinage to the consideration of our
youthful friends, who may in her companionship ac-
quire " wrinkles" before they are entitled to them
in the order of naturo. Ti.e little volume of " Mis-
tletoe Grange," it is only fair to the publisher that
we should add, is very charmingly " got up," a-id
very daintily adori.ed.

READING AT MEALS.--The Journal des Commis-
sances Medicales says that there are still certain convents
and similar communities where reading aloud during meals
is a daily practice. This is objectionable on• the ground of
health. No one can both eat and pay serious attention
to what may be read to him. If he chews his food well,
his mind wanders from the subject expounded, in order to
concentrate itself especially on this first act of digestion ;
If, on the contrary, he listens attentively to the reading,
he bolts his food, and it goes down to the stomach insuffi-
ciently impregnated with saliva, and this is a frequent
::ause of dyspepsia, a - -

TliE MONEY MARKET

AND
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

CITY, Two O'CLOCK.
°tithe Stock Exchange business was very restricted
t
fic;.(l4y, but we have no alteration to note in the price
Consols. In the Foreign Market there has been
a slight decline in most of the Continental securities,
;janish being the most depressed. America Bonds
i;ere also harder, and for Telegraph shares there was
at little demand.
The
Per
demand for discount is but moderate, and'
Or cent. is still charged for first class paper.
Consols are now at 931 to 93/ for money; ditto,
N;count, —; Three per Cent. Reduced, 911;
7Y 'vcr Three per Cents., 911 2 ; ditto 21 per cent.,
Bank of England Stock, 41 per cent., shut.
'-'xchequer Bills £l,OOO, 21 per cent., March, 5
'te.rrn• ; ditto £lOO, £3OO, and £5OO, June, prem.
"Ildia Stock, 101 per cent., April, 1874, ;
It t° 5 per cent., July, 1880, 113 ; ditto 4 per
„
'lit, Oct-) 1888, 1001 ; ditto Enfaced Paper,
6Per Cent,
(114 the Foreign Market Italians are 55 ; Spanish
6867), 281 ; ditto (1869), 271; Turkish Five per
461 to 47 ; ditto (1869), 601 to 601 ex div. ;
t assian Scrip, 31 to 41 prem. ; Egyptian (1868), 801
I°B°i ; Argentine, 90 to 901 ; Brazilian, 88 to 881 ;
I.exican, 14 to 141 ; New Granada, 25 to 251; ditto
eferred, 11 to 111 ; and Guatemala, 69 to 71.
In the Railway Market Great Northern A shares
are better, and are marked 1191 to 12.0 ; South Wes-
',tern, 88 to 89 ; Midland, 1251 to 1251 ; London and
Vighton, 44i to 45 ; Caledonian, 781 to 788; South
astern, 75 to 751 ; Great Eastern, 381 to 391 ;
Metropolitan, 77 to 778; Great Northern, 115 to
116; London and North Western, 1241 to 1241;
414 Great Western, 681 to 69.
Great Luxembourg arc 13 to 131 ; and Lombardo-
enetian, 191 to 191.
American Five-Twenty Bonds are 911 to 911 ;
Eves at 21 to 211, being 1 lower ; and Illinois, 114
1° 114 i.
pr4oglo-American Telegraph Shares are 171 to 181 ;
001 Cable, 16 to 161; Falmouth, 9f to 91;
Maintenance,
Indian, 9/ to 91 ex new ; Construction and
".(aintenance, 37 to 371.
The
Banking and Miscellaneous Shares business
has
been almost at a standstill, consequently we
have no alteration to notice in our last quotations.
/iv be Bank of England have given notice that on
aa't after Wednesday, the 6th of April, the start,
totd, 'weight of gold will be computed on assays
thi
„,-1-3,00th part, expressed in thousandths and
of thousandths.
tio`lo tigcording to advices from erlin, the applica-
to for shares of the German Bank amounted
(t 1,471,788 shares, or 294,387,600 thalers
11)173,140). The amount offered to the public
,4
20,000 shares, or 2,000,000 thalers (£300,000).
lilll3scriptions have been invited by Messrs. J. S.
pi'rgan and Co., for £BOO,OOO Seven per Cent.
held Mortgage Bonds of the Illinois and St. Louis
th'dge Company. The bonds are of 200 each at
the Price of 180, and are redeemable at par by
tti operation of a sinking fund in thirty years,
th and interest being payable in gold ; so
et the return to investors will be- upwards of
!riper cent., without reckoning the benefit resulting
11°111 annual drawings, or the deferred payments
°poll redemption price. The undertaking is
the
somewhat novel character, the object
„'e company being the connection by means of
,It'elnaanent bridge of the railway system of the
stilth-West of the United States, which centres in
wittL"ii) on the west side of the Mississippi,
Ar;4 the lines on the east side. The bonds are a
that charge on the entire property, and it is stated
h
rive the estimated revenue from tolls d
from lines which have already contract_d
15,C40 the bridge would yield more than double
That requisite for the service of the lean.
ha'e most difficult part of the construction
bes already been accomplished, and the bridge is to
Per,e,sadY for traffic on the Ist of December next year.
aet'or securities are offered to bondholders in the
2,gpof an uncalled capital to the amount of
pia 4,000, and of a special Act of Congress, which
j4t.N the affairs of the company directly under the
krelscliction of the Supreme Court. The subscriptions
payable by instalments, extending to the 11th
ttly
The 2"'
seri advices from Frankfort state that the sub-
brePt
I°. for $5,000,000 mortgage bonds of the
ceafpn-Californii Railway, at 721, has been suc-
-40;11) and that $2,000,000 of the Port Royal are
corn advertised at 731 per cent., the latter being a
to sPetition line running between two others leading
The nnah and Charleston.
Concession for the extension of the Moscow-
give:ll,Blc Railway to Brczc-Litewski having been
tape '0 the former company, the Government has
bon(rit from it on their own account the mortgage
1111, at 75 .per cent., " thus indicating that the
hboi,g-,-4, Government, to prevent their being hawked
the different uifferent firms at various prices, prefer to take
.at a fixed price, and to issue in their stead one
rin sterlings marketable at all the Exchanges, as.
lommo,centlY been done in the shape of the Rothschild
Th. .ai trail; rectors of the China Submarine Tele-
isport.Cernpany (Limited) have issued their first
alto t• They state that all the shares have been
_
Aai
and the whole of the allotment money
A(

h;":lvices from Melbourne report the difficulties of
Nicholls, in the book trade, with liabilities
10,°11,11.ting to £6,000 ; and of Mr. William Benson,
trics toale d
£7,ooo.ruggist, with liabilities estimated at from
'°oo

BRITISH FUNDS—CLOSING PRICES.
a p, GOVERNMENT FUNDS.
iP., Cent. Consols
1er4,., 'lto for Account -
OPCont. Reduced .............................
3 per Cent
'l,lt 21 per Cent. Jan. 1894
Co. 5 per Cen Jan. 1873
Do. for 30 yrs, expire sth April 188 i,
1-)o (Red Sea Telebraph). Aug., 1908
(Illoquer Bills, £l,OOO, 23 p. Ct. ............ 5 pm
Do. 2t do. June — b
Il„.),_ £lOO, £2OO & £5OO
pm
-.• of England Stock, 95 per Cent
Oh ;opening
14ler-uColoni per
al Omnßi Cent.
=onds —
1 INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
4tli Stock, 101 per Lent., April 1874...
Dr:
1)0
°Polling, for Account —
N.O per Cent. July, If800
100-1
I); i„.l Per Cent. Oct. 1888
.
b- rAlfaced Papei 4 per Cent.....: _
b. 5 per °cut., Jan. 1872
_
4,3' 5i per Cent. May 1879 _
5 per C t Rup. Dad. 1872
Cent., ~ up. Da
D t'o do 18"....
. do. 1882
c•
bbeb., 5 per Cent., Aug. 1873 -
-
ij„' .onde; 4 per Cent., £l,OOO
in
". 'ander £lO3OO _
41.44„tOREIGN FUNDS—CLOSING PRICES..
891 90#
Olio A"rle Republic, 6 per Cent
411tri—;,eo.ebunt — .
t -11.0-nonds 5 per cent
___
ilia
tkt '3. 1859 •.• • _eqi 5 Per Cent
IV -3" Per Cent. 1852
, .
*) do
1858.....
00: ui,
1869
bO. t do.,
1863
114(`, "AP,er Cent., 1865
,Q,O ceouta ..
) s Ayre 6 ... •
'I 'l2 ,-, 8 per Cc
Ig4t4 rt Cent.
Do,
4, Per Cent
'Jo.
.42 Per Cent..„
.....
Do. 7. Per. Cent .. ....
', (),1),0. ~I) Cent., 1866
Dk °4ll3l:er eet'L 1867
D44,siali. a',,, 6 P3r Cent.
.1)Do"GI' t'6i, Ce t 182'
.4 p . n., 0....,..., ...... —
4c teipalities, 7 ler Cent —
a e°ut
875
per r,
`dent 1867
.1