Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-10-27

nose and made him sneeze; wherenpon
a cat appeared, and cleaned oil the
mice. In the East as in Europe a
black cat is regarded as "uncanny,
and various parts of it are useful for
magical and medicinal purposes. ils
claws, for instance, is said to be charm
against the nightmare.
Scarcely any modern structures merit
the epithet of ire-proof." 1t has been
said on good authority that in the city
of London only one building-the New
Record Ofiice-really deserves to be
called SO. This is built Of iron and
stone, and has no room larger than sew
enteen by twenty-five, and seventeen
feet high. None of the rooms open into
others, but into vaulted passage, by
means of iron doors, and if the docu-
ments in one apartment were to take
fire, they would burn out with as little
effect on the rest of the edifiee as II
they were Goals in CRATE. of course
buildings intended for trade cannot often
be constructed in this way, but the sys-
TEN might be more generally used than
il is. The French practice in building
is good one. Instead of using iilmsy
laths for thin partitions, they employ
stout pieces of oak, as thick as garden
palings. These they nail firmly on each
side of the framing of the partition, and
fill the space between with rubber and
plaster of Paris. They coat the whole
with the plaster. The floors are man
aged in the same way, as well as the
underside of the stairs. Houses are
thus rendered almost as near lire
proof" as if built of stone throughout.
In Nottingham, England, where they
have gypsum in the neighborhood, as in
Paris, they form their floors and parti-
tons in the same sold manneri conse-
ouently a building is rarely burned down
in that populous manufacturing town.
A correspondent of the New York
Evening Post has picked up the follow
ing in his wanderings along the Rhine;
More than nine hundred years, ago
young knight, seeking adventure along
the Rhine, fell in love with, and became
betrothed to the fair Hildegunde, most
beautiful of Rhineland damsels, daugh-
ter of Heartbeat, Lord of the Seven
Mountains. A day was appointed for
the nuptials, and the bridemaidens Sc
lected, but Charlemagne suddenly sum
moned Roland to attend him during the
great crusade, and the marriage was
postponed till the Countsreturn. Mean
while news came of his death, and Hill
degunde, too credulous, took the veil
and became nun at the convent on the
island of Homework But Roland
was not dead; in time he came back,
SCARED and famous, eager 10 claim his
bride. She was, of course, inaccessible;
so he built Rolandseck, the castle on the
rock which oyerlooks the convent, and
paid his devotions to watching Hide
gunde when she walked about the gar
dens. Whatever their motives for secln-
sion, thepatience of the lover must have
persuaded the nuns that the hckleness
Of man was no sufficient ground for
the world The sex was not
30 bad after all. What has made this
of Homework famous but
hat love it was built to neutralize2
When the bell tolled for Hildegunde's fu-
neral, Roland sunk into silence, and was
Found dead, his glazed eyes still turned
.oward the convent The romance of
he story has lasted longer than the
"a sfle