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LORD ABERDEEN'S ANCESTORS, IIU Family History r nil of R<> mantle Incident- A Direct Ue Krendant of the Warrior Who Slew Kinar Kirhard Whatever grudge the New World may bear the Old, for its heritage, of ill, says W. T. Stead in the .Unuary " Review of Reviews," " it cannot complain that it is stintod in the counterbalancing' dower of reminiscences of its romantic past. In the midst of ths metallic clink of the com on the counter and the eager babel of operators in the markets, echoed and magnified by the journalistic sounding boards of the press until the atmosphere seems vocal with dol- lars and cents, can be heard now and then stray notes of melody from out, " the purple past, the dosk of centuries and of song." these wandering echoes of the clarions of the bygone time come and go like the breath of the rephyr on the .Kolian harp. Some- times it is a name, a place, a date or a per- son which unloosens the latent music of the world, but whenever it is heard it carries us us hack in imagination to Till VANLHIIID rnsTi'Riks which poet, novelist and historian have irradiated with their genius, until they glow with the splendor with which the dawn illumines the Eastern sky. The name of the present Governor- General of Canada is one of the keys which unloose these chords of ths fairy music of old romance. When I was in Chicago the boarding! blazed with the ornate posters announcing that a popular actor would shortly appear in one of the theatres ol the city in this famous impersonation of Richard the Lion Heart. To-day there lives in the Government House at Ottawa, ths direct lineal descendant nf the warrior whose ar- row slew King Richard before the castle of Charles in Perigord. A ohasm of seven centuries yawns between the fatal shot of Bertrand de Goardon and our own day, but it is bridged by the history of a single tamily ; and the soughing of the Canadian wind amid the pines seems to bring with it far-away echoes of Rlondel's song and the fierce clash ot Christian sword on Moslem helm in the Crusaders' war. The legendary origin of the Gordons of Haddo, of whom Lord Aberdeen is thn living representative, does not lose its value f.um our present point of view because its authenticity is a subject of antiquarian dispute, or because there are authorities who trace the Gordon genealogy much farther back than the DAYS or Till LION-HEARTED Plantagenet. Antiquaries question every- thing, and if the Gordons were in Aberdeen before the Norman William conquered England, that in no way detracts from the romantic interest that associates their name with the tragic fate of one of the few English monarchs whose story has become an heirloom of the world of old romance. If the family history of Lord Aberdeen recalls ths ancient glories of the Wantage- nets, that of Lady Aberdeen revives mem- ories not less glorious, in the opinion at leusl of one great branch of the English speaking world. The Governor (General is a Gordon of Scotland, but his wife claims descent not only from the ancient kings of Scotland, but also from those of Ireland through the O'Neills of Tyrone. To the Anglo Saxon. Irish history is very much of a sealed book. To an Irish patriot it is like those illuminated manuscripts which still attest, in European mnseums, the glory of Celtic art amlTne ancient splendor of the Irish race., Ami AMO.NO til* HEROES whose exploits furnish the illuminations to the gilded page, the-O'Neillsocc.ipy a lead- ing place, ihey were, it must be admitt- ed, no friends of the English. Nor, indeed- was it possible for them to regard the in, vader a* other than the common nemv of their family and of their race. Had there been a few more O'Neills in Ireland, the course of the history of that distressful isls might have been very different. But the axe and sword and musk jt thinned their ranks, and although the story of the O'Neill* is as fuel for the brooding im- agination of the patriot, it resembles all other Irish histories in its record of un- availing valor and of the pathos of despair. In these latter days, however, the cause of Irish liberty and Irish nationality has found a representative in Lady Aberdeen, who from her position in the inner arcanum of British rule may be able to do more for her country in the council chamber than any of her stalwart ancestors were able to achieve for Erin in the tented field. Apirt from the associations of legend and of romance that cluster round the family history of the Governor-General and bis wife in t k e dim twilight at the remote past, it is interesting to note that the associations between the Gordons and the American continent date back for two centuries, to a period antecedent to the great schism by which George the Third rent the English sneaking world in twain. John Gordon, ot Haddo, was created a baronet of N ova Sootia by Charles Stuart, King of England, and the baronetcy u one among the many titles borne by the Earl of Aberdeen. Sir John Gordon was * Cavalier of the school of Montrose. When the Scottish people were singing the Solemn League and Covenant with their heart's blood Sir John wai fortifying his castle and SHARPENS" HI* SWORD, and mustering his fighting men to help the King to govern by divine right. The fates and the Scottish people were, however, ton much for Sir John ana hi royal master When the Marquis of Argyle besieged him in his castle of Kellie his Scottish artillery. men, having no stomach for the cause de- serted to the army of the Covenant and Sir John Win compelled inglonously to surrend- er. There was short shrift in those days for the vanquished. Sir John Gordon was carried as a prisoner to Kdinbro, and in thesame month of J uly that Oliver Cromwell on the moor of Long Maruton gave the royal army the foretaste of the quality of his Ironsides Sir. I ohn Gordon was judicially condemned to death and publicly executed. The lesson was a severe one, but the effect seems to have been most salutary. From that time to this, although his descendants may have described themtclyes as Royalists, Jaoobisies or Tories,"they have always been true to the cause of liberty, of justice and of progress. Of this a more conspicuous example wai afforded in the person of the first Karl of Aberdeen. Five years after the first Noval Scotitn baronet went to the headstnan'i block the axe of the executioner was em- ployed on the neck of Charles Stuart, but after a time the whirligig of time brought about it! revenge, and the son of the be- headed king, having come to the throne, made the son of the beheaded baronet first Karl of Aberdeen and Lord High Chancell- or of Scotland. Argyle WEST TO TUB SCAFFOLD, and the Cavaliers, once more in the saddle, pursued their old enemies without rutn. They found, however, that their Lord High Chancellor brought too much con* science to bis wcrk to serve as the tool of mere proscription. The Privy i '-unoil, finding some difficulty in striking at the heads of some of the Whigs, issued orders that husbands and fathers should be held responsible by fine and imprisonment for the opinions of their wives and daughters Lord Aberdeen, to his credit be i spoken, declared from the judgment sea that the orders of the Privy Connci could not be carried oat under any existing law. Then speaking as Minister be declined to propose any alteration in the law to enable this monstrous iniquity to be legalized. The Stuarts were s> stubborn race, aud instead of reoogni/.ing the justice and integrity of Lord Aberdeen, the King drily observed that he would be served in his own manner and according to his own measures. Lord Aberdeen at once reiigned. He was too loyal to the dynasty to consent to serve the Iking William when James was sent paeking across the seas, and he spent the rest of his lite in retirement. He was, however, sufficiently free from Jacobitism to take the oath of allegiance when Queen Anne came to the throne. He was said to havs been the sohdost statesman in Scot- land, the first of a line of which the present Governor-General is no uuworthy represent- ative. It would be a mistake, however, to im- agine that the Aberdeens descend solely fr >m the conservatives or aristocrats nf the world. Lady Aberdeen owes her family name of Marjoribatiks to th- grant of cer- tain lands made by King Robert the Bruce to his daughter, Marjoru, who married the High Steward .lohnstone, whose family in time substituted the name Marjoribanks for their own most prosaic one. But not only is Lady Aberdeen associated by her ances- tors with Till PATRIOT MIKO of Scottish history, ^ieie is in her family story one of the most romantic incidents which occur seldom far from that mystic borderland of old romance which divided England from Scotland. Among her an- cestors she counts the famous Grizel Cojh- rane, whose reckless daring saved her father's life. It was in ths last years of King .lames' reign and Gri/.ol's fcther, Sir John Cochrane, of Ochiltree, was lying in Kdinbro under sentence of death. All ef- forts to secure his par-Ion failed. The death warrant signed in London, was for- warded by mail to Kdinbro ; on its arrival Sir John was to die. Despair gives oonrage to the most timid, and Grizel Coohrane, seeing that there was only me chance left, seized it with intrepidity. Disguising her- self as a highwayman she waylaid the Roynl mail, and clasping a pistol to the driver s head compelled him to give up the death warrant. As soon as she possessed herself of the fatal document she rode off and soon had the pleasure of thrusting it into the fire. Whether out of consideration for the hero- ism of the exploit ur Uuou or the IV*.. lution is not stated, but Sir John was ul- timately pardoned. Lord Aberdeen also boasts aGrisell among tun ancestors, who, by the way, makes him a direct descendant of John Knox. Among all men bom on Scottish soil there is none greater or more universally esteemed than the great Reformer. Lady Grisell Baillie married the son ol Robert Baillie, the mar- tyr, who was John Knox's great grandson. Lord Aberdeen's grandmother was Lady Grise'l's great-granddaughter. Robert Bail- lie was ONE or mi: MARTYRS for Christ's Crown and Covenant, whose sufferings have done so much to glorify the history of Scotland and to dignify the Scotch character. It is a very pretty story, that of Lady Grisell aad of her visit* to the martyr us he lay in the Tolbooth waiting for death. It has features wh'ch suggest that Grisell was the original of Robert Louis Steveason'a latest horoine. Grisell played her pirt faithfully and nobly. She conld not save Robert Baillie, but her heroism and beauty won the heart of his son George, whom she married after the Revolution of liiHS had made it safe for honest folks to marry and bs given in marriage. Lady Grisell was a poet as well as a heroine, and fragments nf her minstrelsy to this day enliven the hours ot the Scottish peasant. A Ur lit a r or Straw. This sounds like a rope of sand, but it ap: ear* to be something better, as describ- ed in the Texas newspapers. It is said to be built across the Red River, seventeen miles from Quanah, Hardeman County, Texas. The bed of this river ii very wide, and ii a very fine, rad, treacherous sand, making heavy hauling impossible. The bridge is really a causeway, three miles long, about five feet high, and wide enough for two teams. It was constructed hv a near-by settler, who charges a small tol f or its use. It is built of alternating layers ot long grass and sand, and is rebuilt every seasou, as the high water washes it away. An attempt has been made to bnild an iron bridge, but it was washed away almost immediately, and the straw bridge is said to have proved itself cheaper and better. A \' ttrldft-e *>vr the TNnmr v London's groat bridge across the Thames is almost finished, and it will take a place in the front rank of such structures. The mam bridge is 135 fest above high -water mark, so as to allow the passage of vessels under it, but a lowor roadway is furnished thirty feet above the water for ordinary travel. Thii roadway is provided with two movable leans between the piers, each weighing nearly 1,000 tons. Ihese leans are raised by powerful hydraulic machinery to make a passage for ships, and so perfect are ths arrangements that a delay of only five minutes for the passage of vessels is necessary. Stairways and elevators are provided for foot passengers who desire to asoend to the upper bridge when the lower one is open. At this point the river is 940 feet wide, and the structure ii supported by two gigantic oien of masonry in the channel, 400 feet apart. AFLOAT l A BIG BERG. A Sailor's Plight on the Atlantic. Plrk.d Dp h, a l'n.,lu- \r,,rl t -li-r lla>- !( tallru Huron rlou un the *tiiu lln of Irr SIX Bars In A gentleman related to a reporter the other day the following thrilling experi- ence : " As you know lam an English- mao by birth, and until my twenty-fifth year was in the English merchantman Mr- vice. I liked the life, and from a boy wai bent on following the sea a* a Immness, ao that my father, who wai an oldtailor himself, and owned several sharet in one or two vessels, besides bavinir friendi among a good many oaptaini and mates afloat, got me in in my sixteenth year. Of course I had mishaps. The life U one of the hardest, in the world, and I often wondered since at free men adopting it deliberately as a calling, but I was young ami there was that amount of novelty about it at first tbat attached me to it, and even now I run off once a year to go on a short voyage. I was shipwrecked twice, and once had a row with seven others in an open boat for ffve day* and nights until we got to New- foundland. Our vessel had collided with an outgoing one, and the captain never even looked back to aee what damage he had done. Of a crew of twenty -eight and three officer*, the seven I spoke of and myself were the only survivors. One of the men went raving mad on the third day and cot another's throat before leaping into the sea himself. On the morning of the sixth day we righted land, and had then been with- out food' for nearly thirty-six hours and water for twenty-four. \Ve were picked up by an outgoing schooner and carried back over oar old course, and ran across that very night the ship that had sunk oun and which was now wrecked by some such ac- cident as we bad suffered by. The captain was hanging from one of the mast yards and the ship was actually sinking when we arrived to take him off. CBASIIKO1NTO Till l< K_ " But about my voyage on the iceberg. Well, I was s*r\ ing then on (he Beacons- field and a good ship she was, too and we were bound for Newfoundland that turn. We had had a fair voyage and we were con- gratulating ourselves on the idea of getting there on the next day but one, when one night about I - the otticor on th bridge called out all at once that there was a ship or something just ahead. The man at the wheel tried to luff, but it wai too late and the cry arose of " Ice, ice, " just ai we truck, and Uiero wai a terrific sound of ripping and teariug_and a yell of despair from the man on deck, answered by another obsonre them, except for an occasional one that appeared to fly auros* my vision. I bad some notion of climbing one of the groat towers of ioe rising about me, bat it was lo smooth and so polished that I knew no mortal form could uling there. Indeed, it wai almost a miracle that I was ever able to crawl up on the berg at all. At last, after I was completely worn out with walk- ing and dancing about that singular ball- room floor, there wai a faint streak over in the direction 1 had guessed wai south, and in half sn hour I was able to look out over the (treat deep. " How eagerly I scanned the horizon for a ship, and I actually cried out with joy and then wept ai I saw, low down on t lie line, the masta of a vessel. On it came, and after awhile I saw that she was a good- sized bark, well loaded down with cargo. My heart beat high and 1 forgot how ooM I wai in my excitement in watching her. She wai within eight or nine mile* when I saw that she was altering her course slightly and that she would pan too far off for any- one on her deck to perceive me. Doubt- lessly she had sighted the ioe aud bad gone asidt. a point or two to avoid this dangerous Iihmaeltte of the sea, XOVID TO THE PIIBN7V OF DESPAIR. " I screamed aloud in my agony, I im- plored the vessel in words and sobs not u> leave me ; then a reaction came. I dropped my jacket that I had taken off to signal her with, and fell to cui sing her, for I could not .understand how the people on board her uould have avoided seeing me, so frantic bad been my demonstrations. And at last an she vanished I calmly walked to tho edge of the berg with the desperate determina- tion to at least cut my misery short. I raised my face for one last look at the world about me, and as I did so beheld a large ship bearing down upon me from a quarter that had been hidden from me as I watched the other vessel disappear. I re- garded the newcomer somewhat stolidly, thinking, ' Yes, you, too, will abandon me,' and when I saw her all at once falter in nor sailing, as if she tacked, I understood that she, too, had seen the mousur in her path and wai for getting out of its way, and then, overcome by a sense of the hopeless- ness of my situation and my grievous tint disappointment, I sank down unconscious, thinking, as I felt my strength going from me that perhaps this was death come in a merciful guise. " When I opened my eyes it was on the kind, motherly face of a lady, who made me think of my mother aud who wai wet- ting my lipi with brandy. By me aat an elderly man, holding my pulss, and whom I recognized as a physician that had served on a ship with me three years beforo. ' (Veil, young man, you'll do nicely now. Howilidyoucomehere? If I toll you will you promise not to talk any more, but go to sleep irom those below, who. roused from ileep ' ike * K 00 * boy ? said tlie doctor, by the noise, guessed in a moment what ' nodded, and he went on to tell me had occurred and came running up the fortj- ln J"* * sn 'P h *d altered her course castle ladder, while the ollicers from the , n k "* mkd me out throngh his wardroom ran up in their nightclothei. , S'". *** *> insisted that there was a The ship was rapidly settling and we ; m * b the icelwrg. The captain came knew there was no time to be lost over himself, and looking confirmed the idea. ascertaining what the danger was. The men who had been in the watch with me at the first realisation of what had happened made for the boats and succeeded in lowering the life boat and one other smaller. I rushed for this, but a big Swede a very brutal domineering fellow, raised his srm and brushed me aside as if I had been a fly. But life was as sweet to me as to him and I resolved to get in that boat and the vessel was carried as near as wai safe, and when it was ascertained foi .;ertam that there was some one on the ioe a boat if there lap .ppesred ly seen was still life in* to be dead, but was sent to * the castaway. I had been 10 lately seen alive that they took me in the boat anyhow, and thence to the ship, where under the ministrations of the doctor and the captain's wife I recov- ered. Well, that cured me of my love of MHwBAUBKD TBB < S>BJr AM. ttleel Cersete MB I a o> ! uurd Be* skarksble Hevlatlesu. The story that a deviation of her compass resulting from the presence of steel in a uork leg worn by the man at the wheel caused the steamer Susan K. 1'eck to strand near Bar Point, Lake Erie, in September last, with a loss to the underwriters of up- ward of $20,000, has brought out another quite funny one. According to the narrator, on one of the trips of the fine tteel steamer Caslalia down Lake Huron the past season the second mate reported to Capt. Allen that the compass had suddenly gone wrong; that the needle would swing three or four points to the right or left at intervals, and that because of these erratic movements it had become utterly impossible to steer a course in fact, he had lost track of the course of the steamer altogether. Capt. Allen accompanied the mate to the pilot- house and found matters just as they had been reported. Besides the man at the wheel two lady passengers were in the pilot-house when Captain Alien entered. Turning to them, after meditating for a moment, he asked if they wore steel corsets. A reply in the affirmative led to a further question as to where they had been, and this elicited the information that the ladies had paid a visit to the engine-room and that while there the engineer had afforded them an opportunity to inspect the dynamo which supplied the electric lights of the steamer. " That settles it ; you most get out of here !" next greeted the ears of the ladies as Capt. Allen opened the pilot-house door for their exit. And while they were walking back to the cabin in a maze of sur- prise and astonishment at Ctpt. Allen's exhibition of bluff, sailor-like authority, that oompus got right down to staid busi- ness again and showed the mn at the wheel the way with its usual precision. It is hardly necessary to explain that the dynamo had magnetized the steel corsets worn by the ladies, and that thus the corsets became responsible for tho crazy race the needle of the compass ran as the wearers moved to and fro in the pilot-house. ( Evening Wis- consin. in >ir*iiu.i: IV -rt t kiM. To speak in chest tones. To pronounce vowel sounds correctly. To ay, "It was I" and "He went with me.'' To speak distinctly, but softly and slowly T? give each syllable it* propsr value or lesgth. For an inferior to say "air" or " madam" in speaking to a superior. To say " memorandum" in the singular an I " memoranda" in the plural. To pronounce the letter " r " in words where it occurs, in" arm" "girl " "rubber." To avoid coarseness and rudeness of speech and language and harsh laughter. To lower the voice and speak slowly when one wishes to enforce one's authority. To train children carefully to read aloud both for the saks of the voice and the pr> uiinciation. To avoid the over-delicacy of language and atTecUlion of precision which belong >ns of narrow culture. to person To pr< the crowd of sailors about it. Seeing me near him, the Swede with an oath caught me by the collar anddehbeiately swung me owr the side of the vessel. 1 fell only a a few feet, owing to the lurching of the ship, and immediately struck out for her bat the boats dropped from their dav its at that moment and, loaded down as they were, they could not turn back to tako mo on board, and there wero still others on deck crying to them for Cod's sake not to leave thorn to perish. The ship was now sinking so fast that 1 saw to ling'. near her was to be sucked down with ne- in the vortex, so I struck out anywhere to t away. Fortunately, the night waa mild and calm aud there was but little wind, so swimming for a fsw minutes was not hard. But all at once I saw bearing down on me in the starlight a huge irregular shape and I knew it for the iceberg that had sunk us, ami conceived the idea of climbing aboard it, if possible, and riding on until rescued sit I told you of to the sea. In all 1 was notover rive hours on board that berg, but judging from what I felt while there, I was her passenger for several weeks if not a wh"ie year." K M. moo BALLOT* II noil Use n-l mi i *i i mi \<>t ihclUme in AI runs ef Ik* l-lanil. The Australian system of voting at elec- tions vrries in different parts of Australia' In Tasmania the ballets contain the names of all the candidates in nomination for the particular office. Oil the back they are stamped by the clerk of the peace, who dis tributes them to the returning officers and they in turn stamp or countersign them before distributing them to the voters. The niter expresses his vote by striking out all names but that he intends to vote for. I'm- vision is made for assistance in making the ballot, but only to those who are blind. In by some ship. 80 I did not try to avoid the New Zealand the returning officer writes moving mass, but only got enough out of upon the back of the ballot his initials, and the way not to be run down by it. \s it upon the lower left band corner of tho bal- passed I threw out one arm and caught at a lot on the back the registered number of small spur nf Ice that jutted from tho side ' the voter. and after securing the said corner and so drew myself up. I found a plateau. ' by gam stamps upon it the official mark, if one may use the word, a few feet up the j If the voter desires it the returning officer necessary, are to re- the voter and II O1IO Illtty UVU VIIU .vtslu, l H..T tcl-t. " JJ MIU II 1'IIU 1 >H'7I UDOIIO* II. I I1TT ' thing, and there I sat down, locking up at and au interpreter, if necei the pinn.i.-Vs and minarets rising above me ' tire to a compartment with taller tlmi the masts of a sh;p,dwindlingto a small blue point, on which the starlight struck aud glistened like fairy lance heads. But 1 soon found that I had a very icy seat. AFLOAT 0> TIIK lirflg BKRU. " The wind had risen, it seemed to me, and sweeping over a huge bulk of frozen water caused it to refrigerate rapiilly. I suppose it did get colder in reality, but it was soon almost unendurable on the berg. I got up and walked about as far as the confines of my plateau would allow, and then as I grew colder and colder until my very breath seemed freezing, 1 actually attempted a wild sort of dance, leaping up and twirling about as wH as my stiffening limbs would permit. Then sullen despair would seize me, and I ai down once or twice and resigned myself to being fror.en to death. I had always heard that dying of cold was not a disagreeable death, and 1 thought I would as soon die that way as another, but I did iiot keep that delusion long then. Oh ! the ache of the flesh, the ! cast for more candidates thai) burning of the skin, for it was soon no longer cold, but on fire, it loomed to me. And at this pass I got up with what I meant for alacrity, only 1 was scarcely able to move at all. Then I went to the edge of the ice and watched the water for a while, trying mark the ballot as he instructs. In Victorfa the period between the days of nomination and voting is to be from three to fourteen days. The vote is expressed in the same way, and the ollioers are forbidden in counting to examine the back of theballot. In New South Wales nominations must be handed in at least seven days before elec- tion ; the ballot must ha signed by the poll cbrk, and the vote is expressed as before. In West Australia the act applies only to elections for tho legislature. The ballot ii to have a counterfoil attached, and a mini lr is written or printed on the face of the counterfoil. The vole is expressed by an \ in the square oppo*ite the name voted for. The returning officer's initials are to be placed on the back of tho ballot before delivery to the voter, and the voter's name is to be written on the counterfoil. The returning officer is to reject at the counting a ballot " on which is written any matter or thing whii .1 is not justified by this act to be written thereon," or in which votes are are to be voted for. It is also provided that "any mark by which the voter may be afterwvd identified" will invalidate the ballot. No provision is made for assisting any class of voters. The system has been n use in South Australia since Is.'iS, in pronounce in English fashion the names of foreign places and persons which have become Anglicized, as Paris, Vienna, Napoleon. To say "sir" or "madam" if one have occasion to address a stranger, using the word " madam'' for a single as well as for * < To rl pronoaaoe correctly, stuciying no* only the dictionary but the language off living speakers who are 'entitled to speak with authority. To teach children to say " Yes, mother" (or father), and " No mother," and lo say "Yes, sir" (or madam), to old people or to those who adhere IG the old way of speech. To remember that slang is unmeaning as well as inelegant, and that words like " jolly," " beastly," ef\, used in season and out of season, soon lose all their mean- ing. To use words nf Saxon rather than of La- tin origin whenever it is posssiblo to Jo so, thus gaining terseness and vigor rather than a large number ot syllables with diminished force. To use the words " man 1 ' and " woman" in many instances where formerly one would have said " lady" and " gentlemen," the latter words hiving lost their significance from excessive me or abused. The phrase " Mrs. Ames is a charming woman" would be preferred to " Mrs. Ames is a uharminp lady." Mr. Cameron in his talk with a reportei Sunday told of the dogs that are used for sledging during the winter in the northwest territories of Canada. Six er eight dogs are used on eash sledge. They are fed only once in twenty-four hours, and that is in '.he morning be/nro the start is made and after the dogs are in harness. At that time about four pounds of frozen fiih are given to them. Kverything must be in readiness for t'. start, and the men must look to it that they are at hand to jump on the sledges, for at the very instant the last morsel of fish disappears the dogi are off at a break-neck speed. Strange ai it may seem the drivers do not dare to faed the dogs unless they are in harness. Other- wise they would scatter and nothing more would be seen nf them. They are driven with one long ruin attached to the leader. A whip with a very short handle and a very long lash is used to argo them on, nougli in most cases they need no urging, 'or they seem to feel that the faster they go the quicker they will coma to the post, where food and wirmth and a lazy life await them. They travel often as far as ninety miles a day. [ Buffalo Courier. to maks up my mind to giving the plunge Victoria since IS.V'i,in Tasmania sincn IS'iS, that would soon en.l my misery, but 1 could not yet give up all hope, and the waves, roughened by the wind that was now blow- ing stoutly, looked like ravening wolves as they leaped up at me, and 1 instinctively drew bick out of the reach of their pitiless, hungry taws. " Oh, how I longed for daylight, though I no longer know in whioh direction to look for its first appearance, for the stars were all gone now, covered over l>y clouds that flew along in broken m.'usos, but enough to in New Zealand since 1ST'), in Western Australia since 1877 aud in Vuoenslaiid since 1874. Tie advantages derived from the system in Australia were universal Miiti- deuce in its secrecy and in its simplicity. It has been popular from the first. The mole works harder for a living than any other creature. Among recent inventions is a "short- hand typewriter," designed especially for rapid work. The question as to which is " ths most fashionable language' 'has apparently been definitely settled by I'rof. Yamberry, who recently lectured on the subject of "Fash- ionable Language!" before tbu members of the HiuK Peath English Club. "English," ho says, "may now be callml the most fiuthionahle language in all parts nf the world." The Russian authorities have interven- ed in behalf of the nightingale. The police of Kiew feund some bird catcher* who were on their way to Moscow with UUO nightin- gales in cages. The bird catchers were oap- mrril and fined and their lit tin victims were taken to the botanic gardens and released. It is said they rose in the air in song, winch was responded to by the other bud* around.