The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-03-28
FOREIGN GOSSIP,

The Society for the Prevention of
trneiSy to Children has done a noble
work in London within the past five
years. having rescued over lO9. 900 lit
tie ones from neglect, starvation or
Impending death. OF men and women
who have dealt out cruelty to children,
the organization has prosecuted and
secured the conviction of 5,46O cases.
-Lasr year was a period of normal
activity among English ghosts and an
partitions. According to the latest re-
port OF the English Society for
Psychlcal Research, no less than .6s4
disembodied spirits were seen by it's
correspondents during the last twelve
months England is certainly becom-
ing much livelier country than al any
time IN its past history.
Jules Lamaitre's new play, 'L'age
Dificile," has just been brought out
with great success at the Gymnase,
with NJ. Antoine, former director of
the Theater Libre, in the principal
part, and Nine. Judic, for the first time
In pure comedy character, as an old
lady. The difficult age is the period in
bachelors life when he misses the
comforts of a family and is too old to
acquire them by marrying. NJ La
maitre has made an amusing comedy
out of the situation. 1t is sign of the
times that most of the characters, male
and female, come on the stage in the
first act on bicycles.
Whether real kissing should be al
lowed on the stage is the question that
is now agitating Vienna. In a play
given lately at the Raimund theater a
good deal of kissing was required in
the most important scene; the actress
subjected to it held out for ten per-
fnrmances, when her husband inter
fered and insisted that the kissing
should be make believe. The manager
refused to yield, and dismissed the
actress, who is pretty and popular.
Thereupon the Freudenblatt collected
the opinions of all well-known Ger
man. French and hungarian actresses
and found that nine-tenths of them
were in favor of the real kiss. The
men were not asked.
Japan has a banking house that
has beer in business without a break
for over three hundred years. 1t be-
gan with Yechigo No Kami, an i'm
poverished feudal noble of the province
of lse, who broke away from the tradi-
tions of his caste and went into the
liquor trade, manufacturing sake from
rice. One of his sons eSta bliShed a
bank, which two centuries ago was re-
rr1nun1 70 Tnlyin ha ;+n1
and from the name of the principal at
the time took the name, by which it is
now known, of the Mitsui bank. Like
the Rothschilds, the whole family is
engaged in the business, marked
feature of which is that the apital be-
longs to all in common, while no one
member can claim separate share.
The most competent individual is
chosen president. The bank has now
over thirty branches, and is the largest
private bank in Japan.
AT St. Bartholomew hospital,
London. an ingenious hot-air bath is
now in use for the treatment of sprains,
inilamed joints due to govt or rheuma-
tism, and similar affections. 1t con-
sists of a copper cylinder about three
feet long and eighteen inches in diam
eter, which will hold an arm up to the
shoulder, or a leg up TO the middle of
the thigh; it stands on an iron frame,
and is heated by gas burner placed un-
derneath, SO that the temperature can
be raised to 800 or 400 degrees Fahren-
heit. The patient is placed in an arm
chair at one end of the cylinder, the
limb is introduced, and the joint made
air-tight by a rubber band No dis
comfort is felt up to $50 degrees until
perspiration sets in, when the moisture
has a scalding effect, which is relieved
by opening the further end of the
cylinder and letting the moisture evap-
crate. A sitting usually lasts forty
minutes. The immediate effect is
greatly increased circulation in the
part treated, profuse loca! perspiration
and relief from pain.