The North Cumberland Reformer. — 1895-06-29 (Carlisle, Cumbria, England)

THE SITN' S HEAT BOILS WATER. —JOUTHeyie g towards the Great Desert, John Davidson was murdered by the natives,and. his privately printed journal is a rare and most interesting record of African adventure. One day he remarked the sun literary scorched ; all were gasping, and the Arabs told him twenty draughts of water would not quench the thirst on such a day in Sahara. Another time he drank tea for over an hour and was still thirsty. When the thermometer in the sun marked a temperature of one hundred and forty-one degrees he had to wrap pieces of white wool about his stirrups, Moorish daggers, and all metallic articles, because they grow too hot to be handled. He exposed some water in a tea-kettle to the sun, and was soon able to use it for hot water. He wrote this account of the simoon, while it was passing :—"To describe the. awful scourge of the desert defies all the powers of language. The pencil, assisted by the pen, might perhaps afford. a faint idea of it. Winged. with the whirlwind and charioted in thunder, it urged its fiery course. It was accompanied by a line of vivid light, that looked like a train of fire, whose murky smoke filled the whole wide expanse, and made its horrors only the more vivid. The eye of man and voice of beast were both raised to heaven, and both then fell upon the earth. Against• this sand tempest all the fortitude .of man fails,and all his efforts are vain. To Providence alone must we look."  Two GREAT MusicrANs.-.--A charming little incident which connects the two wonderful and greatly beloved musicians, Mendelssolin and Jenny Lind, is told by Elise Polko in her " Erimierungen an Mendelssohn." It was after a grand concert in Leipsic, at which both artists had taken the audience by storm, that Mendelssohn made his first appearance as an orator. The directors of the Gewandhaus gave a torch-light serenade in honour of the famous singer, and so many people thronged into the garden of the Brockhaus, where Jemmy Lind was at the time, that is was crowded to overflowing. The ovation was so wildly enthusiastic that it bewildered the " Swedish nightingale," who turned to Mendelssohn and asked what she should do to satisfy the crowd of people who had thronged to serenade and do her homage. "You must go down and say a few words to make them happy," prompted Meudelssohn. "Good," she replied, after a minute's hesitation--" I will go to them ; but you must lead me, and speak in my place." 3lendelssohn presented his arm, and they went down and out into the crowd of artists and admirers in the garden. The appearance of these two together raised a perfect tempest of applause. When Mendelssohn could at last make himself heard, he spoke, "My dear friends," said he, " you must not think for a moment that I am now Mendelsshon. ; I am Miss Jenny Lind, and I thank you heartily for this delightful surprise. After, however, taking to myself the honour of this splendid personality, I will now return to my former self, the Leipsie music-director, and cry with you all, 'Long live Jenny Lind 1' " A thousand-voiced echo followed the cry. Even though the ad rprotested against the manner in which ho lied the task she had intrusted. to him, she singer protested was moved by the beauty and grace of his little speech and, accompanied by the strains of Mende's, sohn's "Wood Song," the pair left the place together.  THE Boatmen's Association, at Stepney, have not been able quite to remove the grievance of the Custom's men. But all in good time; they've got a Step-neyrer (step nearer). Some stars are so distant that travelling 200,000 miles a second, the light requires 14,000 years to reach the earth.  Foort