The herald., 1896-10-14
PEOPLE AND THINGS

ter OF mails ana transportation, has SET
out from ST. Petersburg for tour of
Siberia with the object of inspecting the
construction of the great trans Siberian
railway. He will sail from Vladivostock
for this country, where he Will visit all
the principal Industrial centers. and
will make a special study of our means
of land and water transportation. Ills
visit may also have an important bear
ing upon the establishment of steam-
ship line on the Pacific between the
United States and Asiatic Russia. He
will return to Russia by way of England,
Belgium and Germany.
The attitude OF the Carlists in Spain
has been for some time openly menac-
ing The senators, deputies and jour
nails of their party in Madrid have as
stunned cynical and INCIDENT tone. Even
in the corridors of the cortes members
of that body have declared that the
time for moderation was past; that II
was now for their military chiefs, rath-
er than their political leaders, to speak;
that they would not return again to the
parliament, and that the Carlist masses
Of Catalonia. Navarro and the Basque
country might very likely overwhelm
their leaders and take the road to the
mountains again, very soon. with arms
in their hands" These distinct threats
seem in fair way to be borne out by
revolutionary acts.
Some months Henry Norman, as
the representative of an English jour-
nal in this country got himself extern
svely interviewed on the subject of war
between Great Britain and the United
States over the Venezuelan question.
If he had been a messenger OF eternal
amity from the English government he
could not have spoken with greater
air of self-confide,c that he did, ex-
pressly conveying the idea that what
ever he said or wrote OH the subject in
hand must necessarily have great efiecl
in determining TIE outcome. Yet he has
not been called in conaultation with her
maJesty's government. On the contrary,
paragraphers in England are amusing
themselves by turning their keen point
ed lances against him. He has given
them new cause of ridicule. The Sat
urday Review calls him a ''JaclS-in- the
box" and says that after merely forty
eight hours experience in Servia, he
presumes to pose as the sole English
authority on that country. The matter
in question is the condition of the
Servian army. A very high military
authority has reported that by the end
of this year "Servia will possess very
compact little force This statement
Mr.. Norman modestly denounces as
rubbish" and the paragrapher says
of him: This dogmatism on the part
u a S1oUC-liOtlliS JOuTHdllSt, WHO no.
tor1ously does 1T know one end of a
soldier from another, is distinctly anus
ing"
The proposal to erect memorial of
Robert Louis Stevenson in Edinburgh
is met by the reminder that he wrote
these lines about the winter aspect of
the Scottish capital:
1.-THE bleaching wind, the miserable rain,
The rare and welcome silence of the SHOWS,
The laggard morn, the haggard day, the
night, t's
The grimy spell of the nocturnal town,
Do you remember? All! could one forget!
But Edinburgh can probably forgive,
though 1t cannot forget, such poetic
photography as this especially as the
offenders fame is in measure reflected
back upon the academic home Of which
he certainly was proud.
Germany is increasing the produc-
tion of coal more than any other Euro
pean country. Some of Its coal is sold
in the California and Oregon markets,
together with that from British Colum .
bia, Australia. Japan and Great Brit
ain. Indian and Japanese coal is eaid
to be driving other supplies out of the
far east. They are both inferior as
steam producers, but are very cheap.
The steamships using them make a
saving of 40 per cent over the cost of
British coal. Russia is trying to supply
her Black Sea fleet with coal from her
own mines. She has a duty of 40 per
cent on imported coal, but, even at that
rate, Is unable to keep it out Of the
country.
Anatole France, whose French prose
is the most charming of this age, is the
successor-elect of Ferdinand de Les
seps in the circle of the Forty Immor-
tails. He has gone to the isthmus of
Suez to study De Lesseps' greatest work,
In order to fit himself to pronounce the
customary eulogy upon his predeces-
sor.
Pope Leo XIII, 1t is. known, has very
nervous temperament, and this, added
to his incessant work and exertions, rem
ders him liable to frequent insomnia
He has not slept much more than two
hours night. When sleep does not come
to him he composes Latin verses, or calls
one of his secretaries and dictates to
him, in his bedroom, sentences sketches
for documents or for encyclical letters,
and thus keeps constantly at work. The
principal physical trouble with the pope
is that he catches colds easily, which
render him voiceless for few days, but
which do not affect his general health.
James Gordon Bennett of the New
York Herald has strange and erratic
| memory. One day, having bought q
AiuIlUCI VI ucW Bill uC OIQCICQ lACu
sent Immediately to the Office. The par
| eel duly arrived and remained there fo1
| over year, Mr.. Bennett meantime
| never putting in an appearance. Sud-
| denly, without any notice he rushed In
one morning evidently in state of great
| perturbation. The STAFF concluded they
were all to be discharged on the spot
Mr.. Bennett excitedly asked: Have
| those confounded fellows sent my shirts
along?" He never even alluded to the
| lapse of time which had occurred since
his last visit.
Very Rev. w. H. Fremantle, D. D..
dean of Ripon, England, has become ar
ardent wheelman. In reply to a ques.
! ton the other day what he thought o.
| cycling for the clergy, he replied: "Al
the diversion to the thoughts of busy
man it has great advantages, and nee(
not take up SO long time as most forms
! Of exercise. To the clergy 1t is specially
useful. If the weather and the profic
iency of the rider are such as to enabl,
him to ride without getting too mucf
heated, the cycle should be useful boti
in parochial visiting and in going to {
distance on clerical duty" "And OF
Sundays?' There seems to be no rea
son why it should not be used by tn,
clergy on Sundays, except that 1t is a.
yet unusual" was his answer.
The autographs of prominent mei
vary according to circumstances.
| presidential year brings out many nev