The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-06
THINGS LOOK BLACK IN CHINESE COLONY French Government Is Getting
 Very Uneasy EXPERIMENT QUESTIONED Pope Plus X lncurs the III VIII of Att tendants at the Vatican--A Man
 Chasing a Rat on Streets of
 Paris Causes Excitement.
EXPERIMENT QUESTIONED
By PAUL VlLLlERS.

Paris September 5.-"We have lost Mo- rocco and we are in fair way Of losing Tonkin," says old Henri Roohefort in his latest vituperative article against the French government His outburst is in- spired by the news from Indo-China, ac- cording to which it must be confessed thai the situation in Frances great Chinese colony looks decidedly black. Revolu- tionary principles seem to be making tre- mendous headway among the inhabitants, who are represented as being in certain districts on the verge of open rebellion. What is more serious still Is that by all accounts dsaffection is spreading among the native troops. Organized raids by natives armed with modern rifles are of daily occurrence and whole villages, whose population Is supposed to be loyal to the French, are often plundered. The French authorities are at last awakening to the gravity of the situation, and strong body of white troops has started on an expedition into the district believed to be the center of the disaffection. These sol diers, however, have enormous dinlculties to contend with. The climate is very un- healthy, there are no proper roads ana food is exceedingly scarce. The rebels never show themselves in the open, but have a nasty habit of shooting down of- ficers from safe ambush.
 It has been discovered that thousanos of native soldiers wear inside the lining of their uniforms badges bearing Chinese signs indicating their membership or secret society. The revolutionarles are said to number at least 5000, most or them armed with Mauser rifles. Against them there can be mustered in the entire colonly only TOGO white troops. The French government Is rushing 5000 soldiers to Tonkin at once, preliminary to the dis l match of further endorsements, 1T nec- essary.
 Mime. Curie. who shares with the late | Pierre Curie, her husband, the honor or | having discovered radiun1, has a bone 10 pick with Sir Williams Ramsay the ram ous English scientist, and in recent | connunication to the Academy of Science questions the results of one or his l hest known experiments Sir William | found that under radioactive influence | conner yields lithum. Mime. Curle ols- | p,ites this discovery and suggests tha.
 the lthium came from the glass Vessei l in which the experiment was maoe. ohe | tried the sanie experiment first in glass |
 bases found lithium, but when she eiil- l nioved A platinum vessel the copper salts, nnder the influence of radiun, yielded no 1 li+bi,,rn at all. Hence her doubts as to
 Sir Williams discovery. She is contln-
 ming her experiments, however, ana VIII
 not assert for certain that he is wrong
 until she is quite sure.
 uis holiness, Pope Plus K, has incurred
 inc i'll will of his fiunkeys at the vatican | saws a Rome dispatch. The other oay
 tba Pope felt sorhewhat faint from the heat and was given glass or Ioksy' 4n | inc afternoon he again felt unWeii auu ne the morning draught had fixed him up in no time, he asked for the same Mlne and another bottle was opened. Wny | oon not have what remains in the poe.ie t,'n+ .yas onened this morning?" his holi- naes asked. Then they had to explain 10 hino that a bottle, once opened, was al n,avz emptied downstairs. Plus lmmeoi- atelv gave orders that in the future any
 hottIe of wine opened for his beneht was l to remain in his room until emptieo.
 promenaders on the boulevards the s,ybt of a poorly dressed man dasning s,ildlv about and occasionally rolling over and were not long In discovering | that he was chasing rat. lie caushe 1 +ba rat and announced that ne was nun qrv and was going to eat 1t. lie Wruhs | its neck skinned and cleaned IL. ihen he produced some crusts and haii ah onion and a piece or paper con sai.iis .s | salt from his pocket and proceeded to make A meal, to the amazement of the l crowd which had gathered to watch the gastronomic feat and was as much dis | eusted as amused. "The rat Is raw. snectator exclaimed. Raw, but juicy,
 the diner retorted, and went on eating. | "Evidently he is commonwaro, salo an elderly gentleman, possibly with rem | iniscences of the events of 1S7O It IS more tender than pork" the diner re- marked Then a policeman appeared | and the man hastily gathered up the | remains of his feast and walked away to finish it elsewhere at leisure. Would | any gentleman care to contribute" he asked, but none volunteered.
 When is a dressmaker an artist and | when a mere workman? Mime. Azenor in | court claimed to be an artist and the courts have decided that she Is. She was
 "premiere" at ladies' tailor's, and was | discharged without notice as mere work
 ingwoman She was hurt, not only in her pocket but in her feelings, as she Is l an artist and consequently an employe entitled to one months notice, according | to French law. The court went into the | matter and found that Mme Azenor was | employed to create models" In the dis l charge of her duties she was required to
 "frequent horse races, meetings. theatres and concerts and to consult engravings
 and prints" Truly, In the workshop she | made up her models, or, rather. as the
 court put 1t in grander language, real
 ized her conceptions" with her own hands.
 But in so doing she did not discharge
 the duties of a mere workingwoman. She
 "did the works of an inventor, and, one
 may say, to a certain extent that of a
 creative artist" Once her models were
 built up by her own hands and brains,
 the mere manual labor was left to seam-
 stresses. Therefore Mime. Azenor, who
 realizes her conceptions, is entitled to a full months salary to wit. $S0. The le-
 gal precedent now laid down, that pre-
 miere is an artist, has duly impressed the
 world of Rue de la Paix.
 After 14 years of silence the mystery
 surrounding the disappearance of a
 Paris school teacher, M. D'Hardiville
 seems on the point of being cleared up
 at least partially. M. D'Hardiville van
 ished suddenly on February IA. 1894. on
 the very eve of his marriage. The af- | ts<,v, ot