Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1886-07-23 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

KANSIT GLORTA.—In a French Library we came upon the following question : "What is now left of Napoleon 1. and the thrones which he established with so large an expenditure of blood?" and the ingenious author himself supplies the following answer :  apoleon, imperator Galforum. oaquin, rex Napolitanus. 1:g ieronimus, rex Westphalia. meta; rex Hispania:. t.udovicus, rex 'lolanda,. Nihil is the Latin for nothing, the five names of which its letter form the initials are those of Nopoleon and his brothers, whom he tried to make the masters of Europe.—El Natiosal. Tnoulat women out-uumber men in almost every country, there are more boys born in the world than girls. The preponderance of the weaker sex is due to the fact that the morality among boy infants is far heavier than it is with their little sisters. Out of a given number it has been found that there died Our—  Ist day of life , lot week 3rd week 4th week lot half-year 2nd half-year 2nd year 3rd year  Boy& .. 78 .. 56 29 .. .. 136 .. 113  63 .. 39 20 .. 420 .. 144 . 1,  THE most expensive head-dress in use in the British Army is the bear-skin, which lends such an imposing air to the members of the Foot Guards. Each bear-skin helmet costs £.4 9s, and lasts six years. Every man, therefore, in the Foot Guards is provided with head-gear at an annual cost of 14s 104. Next in expense comes the "feather bonnet" of the Highlanders, which costs £2 9s Scl, and lasts eight years, at an expense of 9s 31,1 for each year. The brass helmet which is worn by the Household Cavalry, and which must be the most uncomfortable head-dress in existence when the sun shines so fiercely as it is shining whilst we write this, costs El Os 2d, and lasts for eight years, so that 2s fild a year is the outlay on the head-dress of each member of this corps. TIIE prince of all song-birds is the American mocking-bird; his powers of song are unrivalled, for besides the melody and fulness of his own notes, he has the faculty of imitating and even improving upon the song of every bird that Hies, from the eagle to the humming.bird. As a rule, the mockingbird exercises his imitative powers by day, now taking up the song of one bird, now of another; while by night his song is for the most part natural. Few things are more interesting than to note the rapid changes this bird makes from one style to another. He will run over the notes to the woodthrush with exquisite precision, here and there interrupting his imitation with loud cock-crows, then be will perhaps puss on to the mellow sarblings af the blue bird mingling with its clear notes the harsh scream of the bald eagle or a cackling like a whole barnyard of frightened hens. This mocking-bird will readily whistle any tune it hears, but there are no well-authenticated instances of its imitating the human voice. A love for practical joking seems to be a marked feature of its character. The woods will often ring with the scream of a hawk and the terrified cry of a small bird in disti, ss, greatly to the terror of all the little songsters in hearing ; their fright is soon aasuaged, however, by hearing the dreadfnl sound mingled with the notes of some more peaceful denizen of the forest than their hated foe, the bask. A DOUBLE SUICIDE Of a somewhat extraordinary character is reported from New York. Mr Adrian Cruey, a member of the Produce, Maritime, and Metal Exchanges, was formerly the agent of Messrs Caylus, Bechet, & Co., who traded in England, France, Germany, and the United States. Since the failure of the firm he has been engaged in business on his own account. He lived with a maiden sister, named Lucy. for thirty years in the same house in a good part of the city. They were by race and religion French Catholics, the survivors of a family of eight. Both brother and sister were in good health, of fine appearance, and aged between fifty and sixty years. On Monday, the correspondent of the Standard says, the servants reported to the police that they feared something was wrong. The police broke into Adrian's room, where gas escaped in suffocating quantities. The brother and sister were lying dead in adjoining beds. Each had fired an enormous bullet into the head apparently at the same moment ; and it is supposed that the gas had been turned on to make sure of death, if the shot should miss fire. They left a written paper, dated July 8, in which they declared that their suicide was voluntary. Other writings were found which contained minute memoranda regarding the disposition of their cash and property, the manner of their burial, and so forth. These papers also contained some touching personal souvenirs, There was no hint among them of any scandal or any financial trouble. Apparently they were simply weary of life. On July 4 they visited the graves of their relatives', which may possibly suggest the motive of these strange self-murders.