The independent., 1905-06-08

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of the standard west African gauge-3 feet 3
inches 1t is anticipated that the cost OF the line
would be about $40 100000 but, with the precedent
OF the Uganda railway in memory it would be
surprising to find the line actually built for any,
thing like this sum. 1t is probable that grant
naid for the construction Of this line will shortly
be asked for in the house Of commons. 1t is
understood that the colonial office at the moment
it engaged in negotiations with the British en-
pire Cotton Growers association, with the OBJ
ject of getting them to guarantee to spend at
least $3O0O,00O cultivating cotton in the neigh
borhood of this line as soon as it is built
William Lovel Finley, the new naturalist
photographer, writes follows in The Country
Calendar for June, the new outdoor magazine
published by the Review of Reviews Book COM
pany: when I first crawled in among the
bushes close to the nest the little mother darted
at me and poised foot from my nose, as IT to
stare me out of countenance. She looked me all
over from head to foot twice. then she seemed
convinced that was harmless. She Whirled and
sat on the nest-edge The bantlings opened wide
their hungry mouths. She spread her tail like a..
flicker, cnd braced herself against the nest-side
She craned her neck, and drew her dagger-llke
bill straight up above the nest. She plunged II
down the baby's throat to the hilt, and started
series of gestures that seemed fashioned to pune
ture him to the toes Then she stabbed the otner
baby until it made me shudder. It looked ike
the murder of the infants. But they were not
mangled and bloody; the.- were getting square
meal after the usual humming-bird method OF
regurgitation They ran out their slender tongues
to lick the honey from their lips How they liked
it! Then she settled down and ruffed up ner
breast feathers to let her babies cuddle close TO
her naked BOSOM Occasionally, she reached un-
der to caress them with whisperings OF mother
love-"
The United States is by far the largest OF
all the civilized nations except Russia, which has
about 13OOOO00O inhabitants The German en-
pire has 56,O00OO0, Austria-Hungary 47OOO,ooO
Japan Al 900 900, the United Kingdom 42OO0,oOO
France 3S, 100000, Italy 3200O,00O, and Spain 49,,
600 oO0 China has 35O,0OO,O00, but she does not
count in a calculation of this sort. Owing to the
rapid growth of the United States the English
language is now spoken by more persons than
use any other civilized tongue. Charles " SAID
he spoke German to his horse French to men,
Italian to his lady friend and Spanish to God In
his DAYS three and half centuries ago. Spain
was land on which the sun never set, England
was only small spot on the map and the Eng
lsh language held only minor place IN the CIV
il:zed tongues Today 13o,OO0,0O0 of people speak
English, 1OO,OOOO0O speak Russian (for not all
the people of the empire talk the national tongue)
75.oOOOOO use German, 70000,O0O employ Spanish
in cludng the inhabitants of the Latin-Amer1car
countries and 49, 600, 900 speak French. Moreover
the lead for English is rapidly lengthening Near
" twothrds of all the people who speak the
English tongue are in the United States.-Leslie
Weekly
Perhaps the most sensational proposition i
that the insurance companies be limited to carry
mo ;nsurance in force to ST. 10O00000O0 Th