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JOHANNESBm PRISON. A PEEP INTO THIS NOTED HOUSE OF DETENTION. A Tramp'a Experlenci^ of Sonth Anrl«aa PrUonn-Tlie Dally Bill of Fare-Tbe Kafflr'a Love af Tobarco-How rrlRoaen Arc Trcaied hj the Brulal Warden. When knocking about South Africa lately, in a wild mood, heart three- quarters broken, I had occasion to uae a couple of times PauIKruger's prison- Jiouses of detention as hotels, and this is what I saw and thought. Anyhow, come, please, with me kindly to* Jo- hannesburg goal, tlie largest and most important in Africa. It is an enormous â- olid mass of buildings of huge blocks pf stone with iron roofing, and looks down on its own pet city from the most communding of the hills around â€"namely, Hospital Hill. Rome's glory was reflected by her similarly situated oapitol ; and now, by a fin de sieclo chance replica, the innate genius of Johannesburg is embodied in her pal- sce-gaol. For J ohannesburgers, it is â- lily hinted by those who have met them in business or otherwise, are composed of three classes â€" namely, (1) those who have been in gaol ; (2) those who are now in ; (3) those who still have to go there, but have been up to now fortunate enough to escape. On entering the gaol you are â€" or are not. according to Boer caprice â€" supplied with its home necessaries authorized by law. Anyhow you are entitled to a plate, mug, and spoon, all of tin, a towel, a bit of soap once a fortnight, tnd, if lucky, a tin bucket, which you can keep clean for drinking water; also three rugs for l)ed-cloU]ea, and if yo«ir Mil happens to have a abooa^floor, A STRAW MATTRESS, If you cu get one. Half a pomnd of mealie-meal, boiled to a "pap," served at breakfast, and ditto at night, and at midday one pound loaf of bread sjid one pound of. rough meat, which can lie exchanged for Transvaal tobacco with the Kaffir prisoners. Now yoa have a regular and simple life which will put that of any ordinary hydrow pathic to the blush, if only the patient can stand it. ... A call Is usually occupied l^ four whites or twenty blacks, the latter reposing much like sardines. Flogging, one can see. Is necessary to kee[) Kaffirs in order, but poor souls, such lashings as they at times get at the hands of the Dutch are simply hideous. Some Kaffirs, long- time men, told us through the bars B<>parating "white"' from "black" yards, that 1 wo had lately died after such f logging, and one recently operated on was belipved to be dying whilst they were talking to r^. The blacks are placed against a sort uf leaning ladder, their arms strelcbed up, uud their wrists and ankles firmly strapped. It is wonderful bow callous one Kaffir is to another Kaffir's suffering. The Kaffir yard is similar to, but separateil trom. the white man's yard. The Kaffirs pt» fed alternately on mealie pap or the Indian corn bulled whole, and one pound of meat twice a Wfek. For meat they would barter their souls, and you can for a bit of alKjminable meat always get from them a bic uf Transvaal tobacco of the same size, and good too. 'I'he ordinary Dutch warder i'l too brutal and stupid to re- quire description ; he only says No ! to any request, and when he is not eating his dinner out^ of an old bosiu, spends his time half dozing, and, Kaffir guards loving rest alao, escapes are frequent. Here is a Scotchman uuder who,se special tutelage 1 lust whatever valuable personal property I took in. A clean-shaved, clean, .<)uiart little grey man of sixty, after years of tramping in absolute want, promoted from ariv- ing a baker's cart, he has just married and commenced life vat a teetotaler and warder, having at last found an open- ing in life fur the first lime. He is already high in command, knowing how to get on. SPEAK OR WHISTLE and you are in the stocks, and no ap- peal; resist, and you will get thre« months more, poesibly in Iron-s, and twenty-five lashes; so your Ultlander does his thinking to himself. As re- fards taking prisoners' property, I ive no hesitation In saying that the ihitch |)olice are amongst the biggest thieves in Johannesburg; and this, after making full allowance for much e.xaggeratiun and falsehood which may be expected from prisoners' own ac- counts. Quite recenlly, after a large fire at certain grocery stores, a huge amount of groceries of all sorts were stolen and traced to the stations and houses ot the tire-brigade and police, the latter being in charge of the Durn- ing buildings, Keeping the crowd out, and helping themselves lavishly. Again, the he^id warder of I he gaol, a huge Dutchman, was sentenced the other day to some small inadequate punLxh- ment for stealing many hunilred pounds' worth of money and property from prisoners in the course of a year or two. It is easy encfcgh to take the money of a prisoner wlio is inside, â- afe for a long term of yearsâ€" ^me are arrested with very large sud].<i on their (wrsons â€" and also in oases where the prisoner la too drunk to rememlier what he ought to have bad with blm when arrested. Jovial tramps â€" "on the wallaby" is the classical term in South Africaâ€" these there always are, mostly Irish, who put in their winters in gaol, and in summer beg and steal their way for hundreds of miles, working a litt le her* and there at the farms tbey pass, but, npor fellows, know'ng no trade, and liiippv with a Hlaui.et, some mealie- meal, and a "billy" for cooking or <lrinklug wattr. They are worse off than Kaffirs, who knov roots and fruits good to eat on the veldt as they pass. Reckless, broken-down geullemcn, too, are not infrequent, and may be met scores of miles from any house. Strid- ing on IN A FEW RAGS, two-thirds of a pair of boots, and • "Hallo, comrade, whither away t" to »ny one they meet in similar case. iDesperat* and â- uccesaful criminals th«8« make when they get into congenial society, or capital fighters in aiiy small native war, should occasion arise. The Kaffirs are daily arrested by scores for being In town without a proper pass, or written authority, good for a month, value one shilling. Now the blacks cannot read, and the Zarpe themselves (Zarp, on their tunic, stands for South African Republic Police) in many cases can make only a very poor attempt at it; so as the revenue accruing from the fines Is very great, and the black prison labor frami thtose who cannot pay is very valuable, It can be imagin- ed that the poor Kaffir has a l>ad time, Complainti are frequent of the sapient Zarps trying to read passes upside down, tearing and throwing away valid passes and swearing the bearer had none (for a Kaffir's word is taken as nothing against a policeman's), etc. Your Dutch policeman is simply a raw illiterate Boer taken from a backward farm, scarcely able to read and write his mother tongue, and speaking usu- ally just a smattering of Englbh. He Is drilled a little in a backyard, and placed on beat duty, but bis knowledge of police duties is 'nil," and miserably paid ; and he Ls constantly striking to get pay which has been long since due ) him from bis lethargic superiors, a curious anomaly altogether in an up- tx)-date English speaking city like Jo- hannesburg. A few Englishmen, how- ever, have been taken mto the detec- tive department, by whom all the Im- portant duty in the repression ot crime ia don*. ECCENTRIC WOIVIBN. The countries of the old world lay claim to women whose wealth is vast and whose peculiarities axe suob that their relatives would be willing to see them tenderly cored for In Insane asy- lums while the money was in the hands of prospective heirs. Princess Isabeau -de-Beauveau-Caron ia one of these people with consider- ate relatives, and just now there Is a suit to deprive her of her property and consign her to a mad-house. The Princess never married, although wooers came in numbers, among them two Americans â€" Home, the Spiritualist and Dr. Harris, the prqphet, Laurence Ollphant's friend. Men's motives she suspected and she did not love them. Dogs she trusted and she has devoted her life to them. The result is thai, her dogs are veri- table canine wonders. She had, by the way, a lUeory that husbands might be taken on trial fair a year and, if at the expiration of that time a couple did not get along tbey were to go their ways without more ado. This was one of the points emphasiz- ed to j>rove her insane. She inherited her wealth from her grandmother, the Countess de Cayla, whoso influence with Louis XVIII. was great, but acquired in such a way as to make the people of France regard the legacy she left as accursed. Among these inherited possessions is I the l)eautlful chateau of St. Oven, in which Louis signed the Constitution in 1814 on his way beck from exile in I England. , i 'rhe Princess belongs to one of the I must ancient and illustrious houses of I France. The family traces an unbrok- i en line back to the eleventh century I and enjoys the princely rank in France, I anl Geimany, aud ia Spain that of gran- dessa. The Austrian Princess Montleat, who wa« so shockingly miudere*! ii short while ago near Cracow, is another for- eign celebrity whose whims equal or even surpass her money. { Shu was masculine in ap^^arance, wore top boots, short black .skirt and a mau's overcoat and sluuoh hat. She completed the manlike resemblance by ! smoking stioiig cigars all day long as I she rode astride over her estates. Uorses were her passion and she never lived in her magnificent castle near I Cracow, but shunning her neighbom she [ occupied a den In the stables ot her stud farm, { In tills room she was found with her ' throat out. Uer desk h;id been broken t open and ransacked. There were evi- dences of a terrible struggle.but noth- ing gave any clue to the murderer Who I has never been discovered. I The Princess's fortune was divided be- tween Archduke Raiuer of Austria and King Humbert of Italy as heirs of her I father. Russia's money-(|ueen with oddities was the Late Princess Icharuitsky. Her will is now giving rsei to one of the ' most scn.'sational suits ever tried in that ' country. I In her youth she was mald-of-honor ' to the late Czarina. She then inherited her brother's fortune in addition to her â-  own, which rivals that of the Demi- I doffs, and at that time she developed ' incredible avarice. ' She took but one meal a da.v, which ! cost no more thaji 16 cents. Her gar- I meuts were so cheap as to make her ap- pearance in any society an impossibii- ' ity, and rather than purchase the daily I paper she regula.rly borrowed it of a I neighlH>r. i She had a Moujik for a servant, who confessed that he had strangled his mistress with a towel Ixicause she had accu-sed him of stealing some worn-out garments that had Ixtlonged to her rother. ' On the morning of her death she was ! also to have api^eared as defendant In I a libel suit brought for accusing one of her former friends of stealing a pocket handkerchief. I 'Che arch-millionnlress was buried as ; a p,>uper, the undertaker being unwill- ] ing to take the risk of being recompens- : ed by the heirs, who were absent from St. Petersiburg TOO MUCH REFtNING. I Proud Motherâ€" Don't vou think my i little son looks very refined? ' Blunt Doctorâ€" Yes, indeed ; looks as if be could be knocked over wijth u fea- I ther. j LOGICAL. ' Hc'-And so you wish to break off I our eng?i44emenit, long as it is ? I Sheâ€" I'he longer a thing is the easier It is to break off. I NOT THE ONLY ONE. I ghe â€" It 1 don't accept you this time, you won't get discouraged, will you? 1 Heâ€" O'j, no. There are others. ' Thomas told the mass meeting that he was a self-made man. Very noMe of him to take the whole l>lauie on hisu- self, wasn't it. THE HOME. THE CHILD SMILE. There is nothing more pure in heaven. And nothin,; on earth more mild. More full of the light that is divine Than the smile of a little child. The sinless lips, half parted With breath as sweet as the air. And the light that seems so glad to shine In the gold of the sunn; hair. » O. little one, smile and bless met For somehow â€" I know not why â€" I feel in my soul, when children smile, That angels are passing by. I feel that the gates of heaven Are nejixer than I knew, That the li^bt of the hope of that sweet- er world. Like the dawn is breakini through. THE DAY OF PICNICS. From the earliest green buds of spring, when Nature finds her first in- vitations, until all Is brown and sear, do the woods ting with the merry laughter of boys and girls, both old and young, for who does noi feel young again when in the company of glad- some youth and nature. A picnic is a delightful form of amusement, provid- ing the weather does not frown, and the company also. First, and important, too, is the dress. To the men no advice need be given, for as a rule, they are usually suitably at- tired on all occasions, but women know it is their duty to look pretty and pic- turesque and so are seldom provided In case of rain or oold. Thin, dainty dresses look charming In the woods,but the most serviceable and neatest cos- tume in a (lark wool skirt with a light, becoming waist, or an entire dress ot outing flannel. Large hats look pictur- esque, but If there Is to be a trip on the water, the sun and wind will play havoc with the cumplexiou tor, as every- one knows, the reflection of the sun on the water is worse than the sun lu>elf. Extra wraps should always be provided and a niuuUsr may be sLiap[>ed togeth- er iu a ni at bundle, so as lu be couveul^ ently carried. A hauuuuck or two should always be carried along, together with some inter- esting games for those who do not care to raml>le and explore. Cards have been found very amusing aud. the gen- tlemen al\«ays have the liberty to smoke iu the woods. Now for a most enjoyable part of the program â€" ihe lunch on the green sward beneath the trees. First, and most es- sential, ar>! the sandwiches, of which I here are many kinds. We do not re- lish great thick slices of bread with some cold beef between, bin must have something thit looks as we.l as it ia-;tes. For these, then, have fresh, round.fiaky biscuits, or ihinly-.sliced bread. They can be cut and buttered the evening before if the excursion goes off very early in the morning, and closely wrap- ped in paraffin paper .and placed in the refrigerator. It is best, however, to de- fer filling them until the picnio ground is reached. Chicken, ham an<l sardines make delicious t«andwiches, but they must be finely chopped or minced and wall seasoned. Crlap lettuce leaves dip- ped in niayonuat.<ie and placed (between bread makes appetizing sandwiches, and thinly-sliced cucumUirs also. Cheese and hard-boiled eggb, thinly sliced or mashed, with or wiiliuut mustard, are a nice change. Few things are so well appreciated on these uccisiuns as broiled or fried chicken, which should lie carefully wrap- ped in paraffin paper or put Into a dish where it cannot a1>sorb the flavors uf other viands. Saratoga potatoes are al- so relished. If couvenient, a brush fire can lie made an<l coffee boiled. It will lie a â- lelightful change from the Inevitable lemonade. Cream cun be (jarried in tightly-corked bottles after It has been scalded, and will keep sweet. If a horse aud wagon is oljtalnable it will be convenient >u have the provisions, chairs and other traps conveyed to the picnic ground in that manner, and then a Huiall oil stove will save the troulde of I'UiIdiug fires and cUaniug smoked coffee pots. If it bi pas.slblo to have It, Ice will 1)6 found most enjoyable, for then water, fruit, wine and melons can be kept coul and refreshing. Of course everyone must expect spiders and ants and a .scarcity of cups and plates, and renicmljer also that fingers wire made an I used tiefore forks. For all thai, e^'er.vthing should l)e made as dainty and appetizing as possible. SOME PICNIC GOODIES. Wine Cake.â€" Beat ten ounces of but> ter to a cream; add one pound of sugar gradually and beat uniil light. Add eight egg.s unbeaten, one at a time, l-eatiug each one until the egg is thor- oughly mixed in before adding another. Then add one aud ime-half oupluls of milk, one pound and ten ounces of flour and beat until light. When ready to put in the pans mix in lightly and quickly two tea.spiionfuls of baking pow- der. Dust the cake molds wit h sugar, IMiur in the batter and bake an hour in a moderate oven. Orange Short Cake.â€" Make a rich baking powder "short cake." While this is baking prepare the orange fill- ing as follows: Pare the oranges, be- ing very careful to remove every seed; chop fine and sweeten generously. Di- vide the cuk<', put a layer of orange fill- ing in the middle, and cover the top of the cake. When serving, pour a large spoonful ot whipped cream over each slice. Four or five oranges will be need- ed. Cinnamon Rolls. â€" Roll out some pie paste in long, narrow strips, and lavL-ih- ly spread with a mixture composted of brown sugar and butter creamed to- gether and highly flavored with cinna- mon. Uidl Ih-.in up, moisten and pinch the edges and ends well together and bake in a hoi oven. When partly done brush the top over with a little of the mixture reserved for that purpose. Polish Tarts.â€" Roll out some pie i)ast« and cut it into three-inch squares. Brush each square with the white of an egg, then fold all the corners into â-  the center; brush again with egg, sift with sugar and hake to a pale golden brown. When done, remove a small piece from the renter and fill with iiright -colored jelly or jam. Hickory Nut Macaroons.â€" Pound fine a tea'upful of hickory nut meats. Beat three eggs and mix with them. Flavor with a teaspoonful of vanilla and stir in a pound of su^iar. Mix well ami add the beaten whiles uf two eggs to mike a thick ]iaste of the mixture. Drop In small spoonfuls on grea-seil paper and bake fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. TO WASH WIN<DOWS. Try saving the tea that Is left over and use It for cleaning windows, mir- rors or other glass. It will give a fine polish and is good whether used hot or cold. After woAhing with a cloth dip- ped in the tea wipe the glass dry, then polish with a flannel cloth. A PRETTY EFFECT. A charming scheme of decoration for WHAT IS aOINO ON IN THE FOU COR.NERS OP THE QLOBB. Old and N*w World Bvcnta ot InUraat Cbroa> Icled Brieflyâ€" Inurastlng Happanlngi ol Recent DaU. In Shanghai there is an organ mad* from bamiioo. The Prince of Wales is said to hav* lost much of his interest in horse rao- ing. Tokyo, the meiropolis of Japan baa a registered {x>pulatlon of 1,141,455, in>- habiting 341,(i08 houcea. Presideint Faure ol France, at on* time woA president at Havre of th* Toung Men's Christian AsBociatlon. Australia has extreme heat in â- um^ ' mer. Ascieniiet says that matches aoci> a small dinner table, lighted by a 1 <*«i°l''y_4!-eVP*** °'^ ^^ ground thera hanging lamp, nuy be carried out follows: A green and white wicker ba^iket wreathed with trails of aspara- gus fern and smilujc, and filled with white flowers and ferns, and sprays of Ivy and herlierls, hangs from the lamp, the han<lle lielng tied with bright yel- Itnv satin ribbons. The table center Is of yellow Virocade, out in star shape and bordered with narrow sijver galon. Trails of smllax and fern tied with bows of yellow ribbon are arranged round the de.>iscrt dishes, and silver dishes containing salted almonds and bonbons axe placed at the point of star-shaped center. were ignited. I If pure milk only wtas sold in London I It is esilmaied that from 20,000 to !I0,< ; QUO more cows would be wanted to keep up the supply, i Dr. Jameeon'a goods have been sold at auction at Johannesburg, very higM prices being paid by the Uoer farmenf I for the horses and mules. 1 Durham University has granted th* i honorarv degree of Doctor of Divinity- to 'he Rev. .Sukius Reroniun, Arct I priest of * he Armenians in England. I Manchester la about to moke beraalt the â-  ridiculous by erecting an equeatriaa to Sir Charles Halle, the muaioai i«n- l.ductor, who never mounted a hors« in I bis life. I Queen Victoria has a omrked pre- ference for grey horses, and through^ HOW TO CLEAN KETTLES. Sometimes the most careful washing will not wholly remove the flavor or out her holiday on the Riviera a ma^- have baea nificent pair of this color in aimuet daily use. < Amsterdam ha^ now municipaliied the water and telephone service of tb« odor from the utensil in which food has been cooked. I'his la frequently the case with fish, onions, cabbage, etc. rhere is a remedy which may be a 't"^ "»•â- <.« o».v wv ,,..,«.« .^. "" i"! little trouble, and yet it is well worth 1"'^^ ^*''' ''*^ ^^ "j"^ *-^^^ pas«e«.io«| trying. After any of theee articles ?\ '*»« «!^ "°""'"- ""^^ «" '^°° " l"""" have been cooked, wash the utensil care- ^'*' "* *°* street car service, fully with soap and water. Now nearly Young King Alexandria, of Servia, fill it with cold water, and for each has got he mitten again. Princes^ quart of water add a teaspoonful of , ^Isr.e of (ireece, whom he hoped ta washing soda. Place on the stove and ' marry having become engaged to Grand let the water get txiiling hot. Empty j Duke George Michaelovitch of Rutisia. ; the water, rinse the utensil with clean water, and on wiping dry it will ba found perfectly sweet. BOLD REQUEST. An amtising little incident is told of the way in which Madame Malibran, the celebrated singer, once displayed her tact and ingenuoiuneas at the same time. ^lalibran was to make her first ap- I peorance in Naples on the following <lay, and iu compliance with the estab- liiihed rule of etiquette, which ordoin- ' ed that a singer should wait uiK>n the king and solicit the honor of his pres- Trivoli'H famous waterfalls are now, utilized o provide electric power for light ing Home. The power is convey- ed eighte<-n miles over the wires, and in the daytime is used to drive th0 street cars. It is said that at an inquest held in I,ondon recently twelve of the fourtc<>n .jurymen who enquired into the death of a man named Hol<imiou ware uuoiedl .Smith; he remaining two vrcrv named Jones ami Brown. A Fren h profasBor has demonstrated that a raliuii can liear intense oold. He indeed one In ice. and the next murn- ing the rabbit, when released, was aa lively and ubeerful na if It had passed the nigh' l^eaide a fire. I The children of the biackeat Afri- ence on her first appearance, the great i '""ns are lorn whitish. In a month sinzer went to th« kina r^*"? become pale yellow, in a yc«| "^ V l , J^ ,*• . , ....,A brown, at four, dirty black, and al Sire, she said. hesiUitingly, "if itisij or aevejj glossy black. Thechanga be agreeable to your majesty, I have ', is in the mUi>couH membrane below tM come to request that joux ma.jeaty i cuticle. will be giKiciouflly pleuseii not to ap- i When a grave is to be made in St. peaj; at the opera-house to-morrow even- j Paui's bed of solid concrete six feet in depth, on which the cathedral resta, has first to be bore<l through. Ueneaih this is a lied of London clay, or "pot- <^rth." below which again is a sub-soil of yellow gravel. Lieutenant General George Digbiy Barker, the new Governor of the ber- mutias is 64 years of age. H« served 1b the Persian campaign m 1857. was at the relief of Lucknow iluring the Indian and has («mman<led the Brit- ish troops in China. The cost of Timber in China is so great that wooden trestles are out of the quest .on. Ihc railway station bouses are all built of light, burned brick. '4 , The king, not a little astonishe<l, de- manded the reason for this request. " ilay is please your majesty," said the singer, " I have heard that it is the . etiquette in Naples not to applaud In presehoe of rojalty ; that is to say, ua- , less you graciously set the example." .She paused, and the king, M-eing that she was embarrassed, desired her to go on an'l speak out. "Sire," said ^MaiibroD, with a blush mu"nj' and extending her luuida appeallngly toward the king, " as you are good en- ough to command me to speak, 1 will. The fact ia, 1 am so muoh in the habit uf being ajiplauded the instant I tv|i[jjuuiieii bue instant i ap- are an uuut oi iiguL, uiuueu ,jii^^ the stage, that I am truly | plat,tered im the outside. The broad pear on afraid, foolish as~it is, that if I were received in silence 1 couldn't sing b note â€" not .-i note I" she reiteated, with a shake of her ^.iceful head. " Very well," said the king', with a smile, " I will set the example. Do not hfi afraid ; you shall be abundantly ap- , „,„.^ pl.iiided I Madam ^laiibran returned home in great spirits. In the evening, just I>e- fore she mode her appearance on the sto^o, she took a position where she might lx> .seen from the ro.val box. and having caught the eye of the king, she reminded him of his promise by softly cla^jping her hands. His majesty, gt^ally pleased with her freedom and ori^lnolity, did not fail to lie as good as his word, and the I whole house burst into applause in re- sponse to the ru>al signal. IN ABYSSINIA. I In the land of Menelik, Italy's enemy, I there exists of a feminine coquetry that I beats the vanity of the twentieth cen- ' tury girl all to pieces. It applies to married women only, and consists in 'fading" â€" that ia, ii> changing tho chocolate hue of the natural cumplext- ion Into one of the loveliest tans. But in Abyseiiiia how one must suffer to l)e bwiutifull For three entire months the young matron who aspires to the light tan hue has to be secluded In a remote apartment set aside for that purpose. She is then enveloped in a woolen cloth in which a single opening lias l>een left to lot her Bead through. Under this thick covering a niuni»r of green branches of some iragraait wood are liglited. Tho fumes act on the dark cuticle, performing their mysterious work oi light in the dark, and at the expiration of the 12 weeks the yoiuig 1 woman issues forth from her smoky prison with a new skin, whiter and softer than the forini'r. This opera- tion exhausts the patient's f<tn;es, therefore the mother and inisters of a woiniin thus engaged have no oihcr oo- oupatiou than that of preparing little pills of the most nutritious ingiedir-nts and stuffing them down the victim's throat, just as If she >vere a turkey getting ready for â- 'Christjnas. FAILED TO ^COGNIZE HIM. Barber- You say you have been here beforet 1 don't seem to remember your face. Victimâ€" Probably not. It is all healed up now, platforms are of stone or concrete, fill- ed with earth and cinders. Ernest T. Hargrove.l he newly eleot> ed p;csi<leni of the I'hi'osoiihical Society, Iwlougs to an old h'ngliiih family. On« of his an-e-stors was G«ii. Hargrove, Governor of Gibraltar, anil hi* ! mother was a descendant of Sir Mar^ I tin Froliisher, the fominis navigator. The total length of teU-graph lined in the world is 1.0(U,7l)0 miles, of! whii h .\mcrioa hu« 545,0011 miles; Europo 38!I,7U0: Asia. (>7,400; Africa. 21.500, and Australia, 47,."i00. rhe United Staiea has a grejiter length thau any other coiuiiry, 403,900 miles, and Hutssia oomea next. Sir Itaac Pitman, in an interview, mentioned the curious fact that lu tha early days of his shorthand crusade th« system was assailed ou religiouji giDund.sâ€" one cleric declaring in print tha: "raesmcri«.m, phononniphy, chart- Ism and s<K'iulitim are the stalking horses ljeh,ud » hidi the most satauio lies and the mosi blasphemies are senO forth." The ordinarv expi-iidiMiros of the city of Paris, France, amoiiiiia to 290,000.000 francs, of which 111,000,000 are on ac- count of indebiednetis. rhe extraonli- naiy expcmses amount to 50,000.000 francs more, and the city debt is 2,UII0,- (lOOtiOl) frnm 8, pra^^tically all of which hu^ been incurred during tho last fortyi years. Nearly ;;0.000 families In ParUl have their houise rent paid by the mun- icipality. O.xford, 1)v a cloiie vole, hna refused to allow the E-irl of Berkeley to qualify, for a degree, unless he sleeps within the mile and halt limit required bv the sljiluies. The Earl's healtli is delicate and tiough he is able to stud> i^. Or- tord during the day, he is obliged lo go out ot town to a high- siKit to sleep Residence is described in the statuloa as "pernoetation," and the university refttses to make an exception for an' earl. STEERING THROUGH LIFE Servantâ€" Two gentlemen at the door want to see you, sir. They didn't coiiie toKcthe.r; just happened along at tha same time. Hou.seholder â€" How do Ihoy act? One on 'em is awful iiolite, sir, and begs the honor of a few minutes' con- versatiim. I don't want to .see him ; he is doubt- less got something to sell. 'I'he other, sir, is stiff as a ramrod, sir, and don't waste no words. He naist hav«' a bill. Tell "em botil I'm not at home t