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MY CHILD AND HIS; ^ OK, tSTHAT…
MY CHILD AND HIS; OK, tSTHAT CHRISTMAS BROUGHT TO GLADYS CURZON. By CLEMENTINE MONTAGU. Author oj Atherstone Grange cfc, [ALL RIGHTS RBSBRVND.1 CHAPTER VI. (continued.) "Nó'\V, Lady Longhurst," said Lord Longhurst, I Mn ready for your explanation." You shall have it," she said, everything that I GlIb tell. Ah, Frank, do not look at me like that. have done no wrong indeed, I have not." "No wrong! "he repeated bitterly. "My wife has done no wrong when I find her in secret at a house «ke that, weeping over A—bah it sickens me to think Off it!" It need not," she said in the same quiet tone in Which she had begun to speak. "I have done no arm, except in concealing the existence of that poor little nameless baby." "No harm!" Lord Longhurst's lip curled into a Oberashespoke. No harm, when 1, your hus- band, who loved you, and believed in you, was kept in ignorance of this shameful secret; this-" "Not shameful, Frank As heaven hears me, as I am your true and loving wife, there was no shame in the secret of that baby's existence." Yet it is your child, Gladys no one but a BROTHER could have done what I saw and heard you do." ee It is my child," Gladys returned quickly. "My Child and his-Alan Mowbray's." "And you, my wife, the purest being that the earth I believed, can sit there and tell me this Oh, Gladys, I could sooner have believed that an angel Muld fall, from heaven than that you should so "orget yourself, or smirch your purity and inno- «»nce!" He bent his head on the arm that rested on the wble by which he sat, and burst into the bitter tears WAT agony and shame will force now and then from the eyes of the bravest man. He had so loved his Wife- so believed in her innocent freedom from even the slightest taint of girlish coquetry—that this revelation came upon him like a thunder-clap. Gladys looked at him for a moment, and then went and stood beside him. #| Prank," she said, laying her hand on his shoulder, will you listen to me? I have been very wrong in keeping this thing from you. I was wrong through- OUT all the miserable business from beginning to end; but you know how one deceit brings about another. I am not the thing you think me, dear; I was Alan's Wife." His wife!" Yes, dear; married to him at a church in Worcester. When you first asked me to marry you I was not free and I loved Alan dearly. When you aid the same thing to me in London I told you truly When I said that there was no man on earth for whom cared more than I did for you. He was gone, and Was the most miserable creature on the face of the widow when no one knew that I was a wife, lOOn to be a mother, with no father for my child. You know now why I said I would be your wife at Christmas, if I was alive. I hoped I should die. I Should have died but for Honor." Mrs. Trent was your confidant, then?" Not then -she found it all out when we came back to Ashton Royal. She kept my secret for me •&A helped me. The baby you saw is a foundling; ■HE will never trouble you. But she is my child for that." She stopped, and he looked up at her with hard, cotd eyes. The shock of the discovery seemed to have £ E(J HIS very nature. He seemed a gay, careless fellow; but his feelings were deep, and he had so toroughly believed in her. Don't you believe me, Prank ? It is true, every Word of it." Where is your marriage certificate ? Where were you married P' You don't doubt me, do you ?" It is a curious story you see, he said, in the ¡'. 1116 hard, cold tone. I should like to see the docu- ment." I will fetch it; it is in the little cabinet in my room." RIFJ!.16 went away hurriedly, and he sat staring at the V/Ur 8u0 ftffeer box II.ITA • oiau la a Ui^uui* *t seemed a long time to him, and then he heard her Voice calling him, Frank Frank! come." She was in her own room—A tiny sanctum that he bad taken much pains to fit up for her for cold She was in her own room-a tiny sanctum that he had taken much pains to fit up for her for cold weather-her winter nest she called it. One of its ehoicest pieces of furniture was an old Indian cabinet, that had belonged to his mother. He had Itever thought much about it, but it had appealed to *HE artistic tastes of his wife, and he had given it to Gladys was standing beside it, with all the urawera open, and their contents turned out. Oh, it is gone, it IS gone!" she wailed, as Entered the room. It was here, and it is gone!" Whatisgone?" His face was hard and stern now; he thought she Was acting. I ^HE paper, the certificate. I put it in here with his TRUTH5" ^6E' ^OUCAN REA<^ THEM, they will tell you the I do not want them," Lord Longhurst said, and Jus wife heard the tone of disgust and incredulity in «IS voice with a shiver. They can hardly be of interest to me; I should prefer seeing the certifi- Qate." J It is not here. It was here—I swear it." C IT can be verified, of course." Of course," Gladys said, brightening. You can get It at the church." If you will kindly tell me the name of the church 4nd the date of the ceremony, I will make the Decessaryenquires." He took out his pocket-book, and Gladys spoke in a voice that, do what she would, trembled. "St. Lawrence the Martyr," she said; "and the Clergyman was Mr. Rhys. I remember his name because—Oh, Frank what have I said, what have I done, to make you look like that ?" Her words were almost frozen on her lips by the Expression on his face. If it had been hard and cold erore, it blazed with fury now, and she cowered etore him almost as if he had given her a blow. w tone was harder than ever when he spoka again. r ^OU have chosen the place well," he said. Mr. OYS has been dead these six months. His name as rather prominent a little while back over some alters of church reform, and I remember his death %WELL—it made a little sensation." GL K-8 W0L,W N°t make any difference," LADYS said in a frightened voice that she could not EFP FR°M quivering. The registers J. E may as well end the farce," he said, and the disoussion too for to-night. To morrow I may have INF36thing more to say to you. You profess no erest in newspapers, but you seem to have made J>RY good use of the recent catastrophe at Worcester, J 011 do not need to be told that the church of St. ■WRENCE THE Martyr was burned down a week ago, EVERY document connected with it that was in the utterly destroyed! J FRANK—for Heaven's sake hear me! Every word HAVE told you is true. Ask Honor! She saw that knew what-—it was helped me to keep it!" J- Honor has been very useful, I have no doubt, IJ0Nghur8t—women of her class very often !_• will you rot believe me, Prank ? I am not V7,GTO you; IT IS true." FIND I HAVE proof I will believe; not till then. CE /?_ME someone who saw you married; put that FCHEN I >>AK6 "1*;O MY hand, and I will believe—not till CHAPTER VII. A SHATTERED IDOL. HURL*1? QUITE KNEW WHY Lord and Lady Long- Whv FK LONDON before the end of the season, nor REAFD UPON letting their town house and cultie TU THE ?OUNTRY- IFC WAS NOT money diffi- UNR, HAT 'HEIR obliging and inquisitive acquain- JHII.L MANAGED to find out—or think they did—it not N,??VE B.EE.N TBAT HER LADyShip's health was HONJR* satisfactory, and the wellbeing of the pieties lr must nofc be risked &nY further Jfeer8el? admifcfced that she did not feel well: «XDrn«i hardly enough to account for the curious T L ad come infco h'Jr bright young face, anvcno ^u8at. •Was,' Perhaps, more surprised than Ashf.™ tT hw, daughter suddenly appeared at to sJa ^al, and announced that she had ooore home nothiL TIT W,OULD have her* She would explain s«e had not quarrelled with her husband; but he was going away—he thought he should like to travel for a little wbile-and she had a great longing for home. I am not fit for fashionable life, papa," she said, wearily. I have found it out at last. Let me stay here with you—it is all lam good for." She was so exhausted and overcome that her father did not question her then, but resolved to wait the appearance of her husband, who she said would follow her in a day or two. Honor Trent, who had accompanied her from town, either could not, or would not, offer any explanation. "It is for my lady to tell TOU herself, my lord," she said. "Lord Longhurst things he has acted for the beat; but he is hard—he will know if, some day." Then there has been some misunderstanding?" Yes, my lord. At leat-t I can only guess so; S nothing has been said to me." And indeed there had not. Honor had only bern told that Lady Longhurst was going home, and she was to attend her. Lord Lanreath was terribly anxious, but he could get nothing from Gladys. "Give me houseroom, papa, and don't question me," she said wearily. It is better for you to fancy what you will than to know what my husband thinks. Perhaps I shall die when the baby comes, and then it will end it all for ever." Lord Lanreath turned to his old fiiend the doctor in his dilemma. Dr. Saintoa looked very grave. I think I understand," he said it has come to light." What has come to light 1" The good doctor hesitated a minute, and then be told Lord Lanreatb, what he had long known to be a fact, that there existed a little child of whom Gladys was the mother. He know nothing but the bare fact, but was sure that there must have been a marriage, though when or with whom he had no idea. "I think I would not say anything about it to her at present," he said to Lord Lanreath, who was almost broken down with agitation and dismay at the tidings, "She is hardly fit for any shock I can sea she has gone through much. She will never speak of it; but she has passed through some terrible ordeal." She had indeed. She could not understand how her husband could disbelieve her; she could Dot grasp the unreasoning jealousy and rage that bad taken possession of him. He loved her very dearly, and was so proud of her, and he was bitterly stung by what he considered her treachery and duplicity, Gladys knew full well that when ebe left him to go back to her father's house, she left all her bright, happy life behind her; and she had been happy, in spite of her secret, since her marriage. Her home was broken up now, her private belongings were to be sent to Ashton Royal, and she would see her husband no more when he bad taken leave of her till she could give him proof of the tale she had told him. You do not quite know Gladys," was Lord Lanreath's reply to Dr. Sainton. She will not keep anything from me that I ask her to tell me she will know that I believe her. She never told me a lie in her life; she may have been careless and wilful— deceitful or untruthful never." It was with her father's arms around her and her head on his loving breast, that Gladys told the story of her girlish folly and all that bad come of it, and of the loss of her marriage certificate and her husband's disbelief in the whole tale. Don't reproach me, papa," she said. I have suffered bitterly for it, and it is all over now—there is nothing left me but to die." You will not die, my darling. Please Heaven, you shall live it all down," Lord Lanreath said, kiss- ing her upturned face. You must tell me more about it. I must know everything from beginning to end." It was not a long story, and Gladys confessed it all with bitter tears. How she and Alan Mowbray had loved each other, and how they had let romance and dread of being parted lead them into the irrevocable step of a secret marriage. The dull life she had led, Miss Dalrymple's strictness, and the knowledge of her almost penniless condition, had all combined with a girl's romance and a young man's selfish love to lead them on. Then had come Alan's sudden de- parture, and subsequently his death. Mrs. Trent had found it out, and had helped Gladys with all her might to keep the secret. How she had managed to arrange the matter of the Foundling Hospital, and make it appear that the child received that day was the infant of Ruth Stokes, she knew best herself— she had not taken her foster child into her con- fidence. -■ Xiicu tiio BSW itjfCT iwoii ucrcmcateXiOlfCI XJSH- reath said, when Gladys had finished her tale. I Yes, papa." And knew where you put it ?" I All sorts of angry feelings against the trusted old servant arose in his mind as he put the question. He felt stunned and bewildered by what he had heard, and was ready to throw the blame on everyone and everything. No I told no one where I kept it. It was in the secret drawer of that Indian cabinet you admired so much. No one ever went to it but myself, and no key but the one belonging to it would open it." It shall be found somehow," Lord Lanreath said decisively. "Surely, child, someone saw you married. Were there no witnesses ?" "1 only remember an old man and an old woman," Gladys said. I was flurried, and it was a cold, dark morning. I think they belonged to the church." I Very likely. I will go to Worcester myself and make enquiries. It must be carefully done. We must not let the world know that your name is impli- cated, child." The inquiries were made in every possible direc- The inquiries were made in every possible direc- tion, but, alas! with no result. The church was gone, I the clergyman dead; one of the two people who must have been present at the wedding was the clerk, and he bad gone to Australia; the other, an old woman, found after some trouble in the workhouse, could give no reliable information. She was almost blind now, and her memory played her strange tricks. The burning of the church had been a sad blow to her, and seemed to have dulled what little intellect she had ever possessed. Questioned skilfully by Dr. Sainton, she could not tell much. She remembered she had ever possessed. Questioned skilfully by Dr. Sainton, she could not tell much. She remembered a many weddings," she had seen plenty of pretty young brides; but she could not describe or identify I any man or woman who had figured in any of the ceremonies she had assisted at. It was with a heavy heart that Lord Lanreath was obliged to confess they were as far as ever from establishing the truth of what Gladys had said. "I will not curse Alan Mowbray's memory," he said, bitterly, to the doctor. He was a fine lad, and died a brave man's death but I could do it, I could do it." Have patience," Dr. Sainton said, quietly; patience and faith it will all come right some day." I wish I could think so." Force yourself to think so. Say to yourself It shall,"and it will. Heaven will not suffer that poor child to lie under such an imputation long. Her husband must be a hard man." I think not. He is her husband; remember that. and think how you would feel on making such a dis- covery. He thinks he is acting rightly, no doubt, but he will be here soon, and I will talk to him." The talking was of no avail. Lord Losghurst came, cold, hard, and bitter, his wrath and sorrow only aug- mented by the time he had lad for thought. Whenabso- lute proof was placed in his hands he would believe and forgive—not till then. In the meantime be should go abroad, making every arrangement that he could for the comfort and well being of his wife. She could reside where she chose, do what she pleased there should be no stint of means, and he would do nothing in any way to call attention to the fact that anything had happened to part them. Pleading with him was in vain; he would hear nothing. Find the proof," was all he said, and there will be an end of it all. I could not live with my wife with this doubt daily coming between us." Gladys did not try to persuade him. You will be sorry, Frank, when you do know, as you will some day," she said when he bade her adieu. I shall be thankful to have cause to be sorry," he replied. My regret will be sincere if ever that time comes, believe me." He could not believe her—it was not wonderful- so many circumstances combined to make it appear that she was not speaking the truth. Lord Long- hurst would not listen to a word Honor Trent had to say on the subject. He considered that she had mded and abetted Gladys in her deception, and would have turned her out of the house forthwith had he been going to remain in England. The sug- gestion of their separating came from Gladys-she could not live with him and preserve an outward semblance of happiness, poor child, and she begged to be allowed to go home. Perhaps under all the cir- cumstances it was the best step to take. Gossip might say what it liked, but under her father's roof she was at least safe from slander. No word of the baby had ever got about. The servaat who had attended his master that evening had not gone further than the end of the little row of houses, and only imagined that Lady Longhurst bad gone there to visit some poor person of whom he disapproved, and the people about the insignificant neighbourhood had not the faintest idea who the young lady was who had been there now and then, always very limply dressed, and with nothing about her to indi- cate her rank. It was a nine-days wonder, of course, when the house in town was shut up and all Lady Longhurst's things were sent to her father's, but the lawyers laughed at the idea of any disagreement when they were questioned by any curious parties, and the tervantsone and all declared that they had never seen or heard the tiniest difference of opinion between their master and mistress. It was a mystery, the world declared and a mystery it remained except to the persons interested. The year waned, and Gladys, though she was very pale and wan, was fairly well and cheerful. The November skies were dull and leaden when they laid a baby-boy in her arms, and bade her be of good cheer, for the expected heir bad come. "Don't make a fuss over him," she said to her father, who bent over her with his eyes wet with tears of relief, for they had feared for her life for many hours. He will not live, and it is best so; there is no welcome for him, poor little fellow." Lord Lanreath was amazed at her words, and would have spoken encouragingly in reply, but Dr. Sainton touched him on the shoulder and drew him away. She is right," he said; she must have heard me say so. It cannot live long; the trouble and worry have spared her and fastened on the child. Perhaps it is for the beet, as she says." It was true. Before another day bad dawned the little eyes that had opened on life so sadly closed again, to see no light save that within the veil. There was a hurried baptismal name bestpwed-Francis Julian—and then the Reaper caught up his burden, and there was nothing left to Gladys but the waxen form and the remembrance of all her bright hopes. Gladys recovered rapidly, and was soon her own bright self again; not so gay as she had been in her girlhood, but everybody's good angel, as her father deolared. I am going to do what good I can this Christmas, papa," she said, when she had wept her fill over the baby that had only seen the light and left it." I must think of Frank's people as well as ours." But that opportunity was not given her. Lord Longhurst had given orders to his factotum, and his poor were to be cared for without troubling Lady Longhurst. She would probably not be able to think of business, he had said. He was in Africa letters came from him duly. He did not fail in any one thing that an absent husband could do but he was absent. That miserable fact remained, and nothing could alter it. There was a surprise in store for Gladys when she came downstairs after her illness. The one thing she would have asked of her father if she had dared, but she did not like to approach the subject. When they had taken her down and established her in a comfortable corner, Lord Lanreath turned to someone who had entered the room, and without a word put her little child into her arms. Not a little foundling with a charity dress and a number on it like a tiny bale of goods, but a dainty infant, all soft robes and pretty lace, and with a look in its eyes of the dead young husband with whom she had once thought to be happy. She is my Christmas present to you, my darling," her father said, and then he left her with Honor and d the little one, whom he had obtained from the authorities at the hospital through Mrs. Trent, who was responsible for her adoption. But Frank, papa," Gladys said, after she had caressed and cried over her child to her heart's con- tent; what will he say ? He will come back, you know, and It Frank has nothing to do with it," his lordship replied. Anyone may adopt a child if they can show that they are able to keep and educate it in a proper manner, and we have adopted this one. I am perfectly able to maintain and provide for my grand- daughter, though I do not know that I shall proclaim the relationship to all the world just at present. I am afraid that she will proclaim it herself some time. She is a Curzon see here." He touched the soft little arm, where a white mark almost like a scar showed itself. There was a similar mark on his daughter's arm and on his own: if. j^as the badge of the Cursor; mm nlii > any way, it was common to nearly all the family. That mark betrayed the secret to Dr. Sainton." Lord Lanreath said. But there is no secret, now, my darling. Little Natalie shall be our charge from this hour." Christmas was coming round again. Christmas, with all its ring of goodness and gladness, all the Peace on earth and goodwill towards men," that the festive season is supposed to bring with it. Gladys had worked all day to keep down the thoughts that would arise of the last year, when she had stood on the threshold of her new life, full of hope, and brim- ming over with resolutions to let her future, as Frank's wife, blot out all the wilful, sorrowful past. She would keep her secret, and Frank should never be made miserable by the knowledge of what it was that had stood between them before their marriage. And it had all come out, and her word was not be- lieved, and Frank and she were apart for ever, as she believed, with the blackest shadow between them that ever rose to cloud a happy hone. She would never be able to clear herself; there was no help for it. Well, it was a fitting punishment for her folly and deceit. She must make the best of her life now, and bear her chastisement as best she might. And then the Christmas bells began to ring, ushering in the day that the Christian Churchloves best to honour, and her thoughts flew back to two years ago, when she scampered out to meet her lover in secret and declared that she was the happiest girl in all the wide world. It was snowing to-night, faliing, falling softly in great flakes that were fast obliterating the landscape and covering the world with a mantle of purity befitting the holy day that was to dawn so soon. She was in the same room from the window of which she had run out, and she began to dream of that night, with its lovely moonlight and its bright hopes. Suddenly a noise outside attracted her attention, and she remembered with a start that she had not fastened the window since she opened it a little while ago to look out at the falling snow. She was not much afraid of burglars they were almost unknown in that region-but it was eerie. Honor was upstairs with little Natalie, who was restless with some infantine trouble, and Lord Lanreath had gone to his study for something, and apparently found employment that kept him there. She started up, and in another moment would have sent a ringing peal of the bell through the silent house, when the window opened, and a man, white-haired, wan, and spectral-looking, opened the window and stood before her. For a moment she stared at him in speechless amazement and horror, and then, in a gasping, hoarse voice, he spoke her name, Gladys She knew him now, and recoiled from his out- stretched hands. Alan!" It was all her quivering lips could frame, and the voice came choked and gasping. j Yes, Gladys, darling; it is I come back. Have you no word for me ?" You have come back!" she repeated and he saw the white horror in her face, and a spasm of pain ( crossed his haggard features. Yes, I have come back," he said, but it is only to die. Gladys-only to die, my dear." And then he seemed to quiver and sway before her, and fell in a huddled heap at her feet. Then she shrieked aloud, and there were hurrying footsteps and eager voices, and someone rushed into the room, and she knew no more, (To be continued.)
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THE young womaii in the Halifax works, says a London correspondent, are certainly not pretty, but they seem to have a fine flow of spirits. I am told that they have a remarkable fine taste in dress. A lady in Halifax having occasion to enter a milliner's shop had her attention attracted by a beautiful and very expensive French bonnet, and inquired the price; she was told it was sold. "Oh, I had no idea of buying such an expensive bonnet," said the lady. Upon which the milliner said, It is a joint- stock bonnet-that is, it belongs to three factory girls, who wear it by turns on Sunday." A GOODLY parson complained to an elderly lady of his congregation that her daughter appeared to be wholly taken up with trifles and worldly finery, instead of fixing her mind on things above. You are cer- tainly mistaken, sir," said she, "I know that the girl appears to an observer to be taken up with worldly things, but you cannot judge correctly of the direction of her mind really takes, as she is a little cross-wed. q
j SCIENCE NOTES. -
SCIENCE NOTES. IT is oomparatively well known that when a copper wire is heated it can more easily be broken than if left at the ordinary temperature. But when Pro- fessor Dewar's intensely cold temperatures are applied to them it is found that all metals are rendered much more cohesive. Iron and German silver (brass) have their tensile strength nearly doubled when cooled to 180 degrees.— Work. THE preliminary arrangements for the British Association meeting at Oxford, next August, have already been made. The President for the year is Lord Salisbury. The presidents of the sectioiif will be as follows: Section A (Mathematics and Physics), Professor A. W. Riicker; Section B (Chemistry), Professor H. B. Dixon Section C (Geology), Mr. L. Fletcher; Section D (Biology), Professor Baylcy Balfour; Section E (Geography), Captain Whan on Section F (Economic Science and Statistics), Professor Bastable; Section G (Mechanical Science), Professor I Alexander B. W. Kennedy; Section H (Anthro- pology), Sir W. H. Flower and in the newly-created Section 1 (Physiology), Professor Schafer. Evening discourses will be delivered by Professor J. Shield Nicholson and Mr. W. H. White. AN interesting experiment, that of the cultivation of tea, is shortly to be tried in Russia (says the Board of Trade Journal). The Czar, under the guidance of experts, has given his consent to a proposal for the cultivation of this plant in the western limits of the Caucasus, where the temperature is much the same as that under which the plant grows in China. Somis interesting statistics with regard to "plu- viosity have been compiled by Messrs. Plumandon and Lancaster, at the observatories respectively of piJy-de-Dôme and Brussels. From these it appears that the rainiest wind at both these altitudes is the west wind, and the least rainy the east wind; the | difference in the pluviosity of the two winds is, how- ever, as 7 to 1 at Puy-de-Dome, and only as 4 to 1 at Brussels. The other coefficients for the two places, taking the pluviosity of the cast wind as 1, are-north wind, 3-9 and 2*3; north-east wind, 2'4 and 1-8; south-east wind, 1*1 and 1'7; south wind, 1*2 and 2*8 south-west wind, 2'6 and 3'4 north-west wind, 5'4 and 3'4. Nature reports that some time ago, in the GuVrwal district in India, a slip from a mountain completely blocked the valley of the Behai-Ganga river, and stopped its flow. The dam thus created is 900ft. high, and is already consolidated in its lower portions. The confined water has risen to a height of 450ft., and when the winter rains come it is feared that the pressure will become so great as to burst the reservoir, and bring destruction on the villages lying below in the valley. Nothing can be done to avert the disaster but Lieutenant Crookshank, R.E., has been stationed oh the spot to watch the progress of events and give timely warning. This gentleman, if he has time to divert his mind from the wonderful natural pheno- menon before him, must feel rather in the classical position of the husbandman waiting for the river to run down. ALUMINIUM is certainly one of the metals of the future. The Admiralty are experimenting with a view to using it as a substitute for brass in the con- struction of torpedo tubes and fittings, as mounted in our first-class torpedo-boats. Foreign Governments are also beginning to use it, and the Germans are ex- ceedingly well pleased with the new water-bottles made of this metal recently introduced into the German army. These water-bottles are covered with felt, and weigh less than half as much as the old pattern, while experiments have proved that any of the fluids ordinarily used can be carried in the new bottles with perfect safety. PROFESSOR J. MARK BALDWIN, of America, has (observes, the Pall Mall Gazette) been carrying out some most interesting experiments on the pheno- menon of right-handedness—or dextrality, as it is called. Very many theories have been invented to account for the fact that such a vast majority of human children grow up right-handed, whereas no similar fact exists in regard to animals. It has been suggested that it is due to the manner in which chil- dren are laid in their cradles or held in their nurses' arms, to heredity, to a difference in the balance of •*he two sides of the body, and to various other -1. -r ."0 u numerous babies, including his own little girl, comes to the conclusion that these causes have nothing to do with the matter, unless possibly heredity may produce a tendency. He 'has arranged that children should be held and cradled in opposition to all established customs of the nursery, and still they have grown up with a marked leaning towards dextrality. The ex- planation he finds is extremely curious. Taking his own child as an instance, he discovered that in extxeme infancy both hands were used impartially. The tendency was, in fact, to use both together. But after about the seventh or eighth month the child began to use the right hand most. At the same time it began to try to speak. The connection is between these two facts. The motor speech function is actuated by means of the left. hemisphere of the brain, which also controls the right side of the body, as is well known. The first right-handed motions are expressive notions, tending to help out speech. As speech grows, so does the right-handedness. The fact of animals having no power of speech is a sufficient reason for their not being right or left- handed MR. FREDERIC HOUSSAY, in a work quoted by the Popular &ience Monthly, illustrates a number of curious instances of animals which employ devices. Many of these are not well known. There is the toxotes jaculator, an Indian river fish which brings down insects off the branches over its head by darting a jet of water from its mouth. The Japanese chdinous does the same. The methods of the shrike and the butcher-bird, which impale their victims, find parallels also. A snake that has swallowed an egg, the shell of which it cannot digest, will beat itself against a rock, or coil its body round a post, till the egg is cracked. Parseval-Deschenes once watched two ants confabulating how to get a heavy load over a heap in the road. Eventually they procured a small twig, placed one end under the load, and levered it over in perfect, mechanical fashion. Such an act implied invention Of the highest kind, and is com- parable with that which one marvels at in the Egyptians and other primitive races who carried out gigantic works of engineering with modest im- plements at the best. Mr. IIoussay gives the following graphic account of the methods of the secretary bird when attacking a venemous snake whose bite would be fatal to it. When the reptile sees its enemy it generally flees at once, but when brought to bay will rise up and strike fiercely. The secretary meanwhile turns one wing in to protect the lower part of its body. The virus of the snake is intercepted each time by the long wing feathers which meet the fangs, while the other wing is employed in beating the reptile till it falls stunned to the ground. The conqueror then rapidly thrusts his beak into the enemy's skull, tosses him in the air, and swallows him. THE curious elasticity of our brain as regards sleep was recently remarked on by Sir James Crichton Browne. He cited the case of people who rarely slept well or much, and who nevertheless are able to carry on intellectual work with ease and ability. Dr. Andrew Wilson supposes there is a "habit" of brain in the matter of sleep as in other respects, and while, ordinarily, we demand a fair quantum of absolute rest, some of us contrive, as a habit, to get along with a minimum of somnolent re- pose. This subject was lately recalled to Dr. Wilson's mind when he happened to be dining alone with a well-known surgeon in busy practice. His friend was a man who, like himself, journeys over the length and breadth of the land. He had just returned from a long and tedious journey, tired and fagged. They sat down to dinner. Between the 119 courses the surgeon fell sound asleep, let us say, for three minutes-not more, certainly. After each nap he woke up, ate his quantum, and went off again into slumber. Dr. Wilson said nothing, but watched him closely. He observed that after each awakening the surgeon grew brighter, the tired look disappeared, and by the dinner time was at an end Richard was himself again. Dr. Wilson joked him on his instalments of sleep. His reply was characteristic. Don't you know," said he, that it isn't a long sleep which is needed to refresh an active brain. Nerve-tissue is repaired easily with very little sleep, if you also take food." Of our own experienco the remark holds good and it reveals a very curious, and in some respects anomalous, condition of the brain and its ways.
TWO NOTEWORTHY WILLS.
TWO NOTEWORTHY WILLS. THE BARL OF WARWICK. Probate duty has been paid on £ 155,288 19s. 4d., as the value of the personal estate of the Right Hon. George Grey, fourth Earl Brooke and fourth Earl of Warwick, who died on the 2nd of December last, aged 75, and of whose will, which bears date July 2, 1885, with codicils -made the 11th of January, 1892, and the 15th of July, 1893, the executors are Georgo William John Repton, of Odell, Bedford the Hon. William St. John Fremantle Brodrick, of 29, Sey- mour-st-reet; and John Stratford Dugdale, of 29, Eaton-square, Recorder of Birmingham. Lord War- wick bequeaths to his sons Alwyn Louis and Sidney Robert and to his daughter Lady Eva Sarah Gre- ville £ 2000 each, and their portions of £ 20,000 each are to be primarily charged on his personal estate. The jointure life rent-charge of £ 2000 a year in the Wedgenock and Tachbroke Estates for the testator's wife, Anne, Countess Brooke, and Countess of Warwick (daughter of the eighth Earl of Wemyss and Mnrch), is also to be pn'marilv charged on Lord Warwick's personal estate, and Lady Warwick is to have the option of the house in Stable-yard, St. James's (for the renewal of the lease of which negotiations were in progress), or of his new town house, 15, Berkeley-square, as a residence during her life, or of an allowance of £ 600 a year in lieu thereof. The testator bequeaths the pictures, statuary, plate, and furniture at Warwick Castle and in his town house, and all the deer in the park of Warwick Castle, to devolve as heirlooms, and he entails the Wedgenock and Tachbroke Estates and all other his real estate upon his eldest son, Francis Richard Guy, now fifth Earl Brooke and fifth Earl of Warwick, his first and other sons successively. The testator bequeaths his residuary personal estate to be held upon trust as if it were derived from the sale of real estate under the Settled Lands Act, 1882. The trustees are authorised to invest on the security of land in England and Wales only. LORD LOVELACE. I The will, with one codicil, of William King Noel, Earl of Lovelace, late Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey, who died at East Horsley Towers on the 29th of December, 1893, has been proved at the Principal Registry. The testator, who for his first wife married Ada Byron, sole daughter of my house and heart." has left his second wife, Jane Crawford, Countess of Lovelace, and his son, the Hon. Lionel Fortescue King Noel, captain 9th Lancers, and Mr. E. B. Jenkins, barrister, as executrix and executors of his will. The value of the deceased's personal estate and effects amounts to £ 192,444. He makes no provision for the children of his first marriage because they are otherwise well provided for. He bequeaths to Lady Lovelace £ 500, the use and enjoy- ment during her life of his house in St. George's- place and its furniture, of his jewellery and such gold and silver plate as she may select, and a life annuity of £ 2500. Lord Lovelace devises his real estate and bequeaths the residue of his personal estate to his son Captain the Hon. Lionel Fortescue King Noel; but in the event of his death in the lifetime of the tes- tator a legacy of £ 50,000 was to be paid to his nephew, Sir Charles William Craufurd, Bart., a sum of £10000 was to be in trust for the children of Lady Lovelace's first marriage, a sum of £ 10,000 for the children of Lord Lovelace's sister Charlotte, and the ultimate residue was then to be in trust for Mr. Hugh Locke King.
A MORE BUOYANT OUTLOOK.
A MORE BUOYANT OUTLOOK. In more than one quarter there is evidence (says Herapath's Hailvxiy Journal) not exactly of recovery, but of a symptomatic feeling of hopefulness that way. Get people to believe things are better, and they will get better," is the orthodox business man's creed, and it fairly hits off the mood and peculiarity of the hour. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Board of Trade returns are encouraging; all the more because of the fall in prices and the intensity of foreign competition. The steady gain in home railway traffics points the same way, and as regards American lines, while the results for 1893 and down to the present time are anything but encouraging, it is felt that there is not room for any further shrinkage. Some importance is attached to the elec- tion of two Vanderbilt nominees to the board of the Lakawanna Western, as they will act in harmony with the three representatives of the Central of New Jersey. The Lakawanna has been a disturber among the trunk lines, and the new element will probably will pave the way for the removal of the receiver"; and in a similar way a good deal of railway wreckage will soon be stowed away out of sight. The Tariff Bill is still in a maze of doubt, but it will pos- j sibly pass in some shape or other. An amusing report on the Denver and Rio Grande has been issued by the general manager, who has made a flying visit over the system. He thinks the fixed charges of the year will be met, but it is based on the recovery which he hopes will set in, especially in the way of gold mining. On the whole the undertone in the American market is better, and it would not be at all difficult to engineer a little boom. The telegraphic news from Argentina is better, and Uruguay is largely benefiting by the disturbance of Brazilian trade. In Continental markets the interest of the hour is centred ip Italian bonds. Paris has for a long time supported Italian issues, but lately an immense bear account in them has been opened there, and a keen struggle is going on between the opposing factions. The weak spot is still silver; it haunts people like a dream. There will be a tremendous outcry in India over the exclusion of Lancashire goods from the tariff, and in Parliament, too, the controversy will rage keenly. For railways at home and in India the question is of importance. Indian railways lost haulage by the supremacy of the Bombay mills, and English railwavs gain by the ability of the Lancashire manufacturers to compete abroad. There are many sides to the question. In abstract equity the Government will not have a leg to stand upon; but neither can the Bombay millowners plead complete disinterestedness. Silver for the moment is a little harder, but not much faith can be placed in the recovery. In the long run We shall have to ignore it altogether as a monetary factor, and until that is done there will be no peace.
A MEMORY OF THE MUTINY.
A MEMORY OF THE MUTINY. There is a house at Cawnpore, well known to the residents and visitors, called the Savada Koti. Within the compound of that house, in the evil days of the Mutiny, a terrible massacre of English officers and of women and children took place, under the savage orders of Nina Sahib. The ladies were first torn apart from husbands, fathers, and brothers, and then the males were butchered by musketry and sword-blades, their bodies being left on the spot to be devoured by jackals and vultures. Hitherto the site has remained vacant, sufficiently consecrated and commemorated by its own awful memories. But there is now a danger that it may be devoted to vulgar uses, and the lesson that it teaches quite forgotten. A Mahomedan lady is the legal possessor of the house and garden, and she desires-no doubt within her just rights—to build some native tenements upon the ground, A movement has been originated at Cawn- pore to save from this indignity the soil made sacred by so much gallant blood. Colonel Prinsep, commanding at that station, is at its head, II and many ladies and gentlemen in India and at home have shown an interest in the endeavour to secure the site by generous contributions. The sum needed to buy out the claims of the proprietress is £ 300, of which only a moiety has at present been obtained; but to enclose it and erect a suitable memorial stone would call for about R.800 in all.
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THE Times says it is understood that the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer will not be in a position to introduce his Budget until the middle of April. THE great South Dakota cave in the Black Hills region is said to be 52 miles ,loug, and contains nearly 1500 rooms, some 200ft high. There are streams, waterfalls, and 37 lakes, one of which is an acre in extent. The cave is 60,000ft. above sea level. THE demand for Scotch landed property still con- tinues in the same satisfactory condition that it has maintained ever since the commencement of the year, and during a period when the English market was seldom quieter, and the Irish almost at a standstill. The other day the residential estate of Balthayock, in the county of Perth, extending to 1465 acres, was exposed for public sale, and was sold at the upset price of £ 35,000. Balthayock mansion is a magni- ficent structure, and surrounded by 100 acres of picturesque grounds, and is in close proximity to one of the most historic of the numerous Knights Templars' keeps north of the Tweed. The car- riage road, from the south lodge, three-quarters of a mile from the house, winds up and crosses a deep ravine—the Devil's Den-by a bridge 90ft. above the stream.
AN EXECUTION HORROR.
AN EXECUTION HORROR. The Pretoria Press, the English morning paper published in the Boer capital, reports an execution scene in which no fewer than six culprits (coloured men) were hanged together. The men had been convicted of being implicated" in an atro- sious murder which recently horrified the Trans- vaal. In prison they were very lew-spirited, and the Prets says that even the spiritual consolation administered by the Rev. Kenyana, a coloured clergyman of the town, failod to have any effect in resigning the doomed men to their fate. None of the prisoners had much rest during the night preced- ing the execution, and when at six o'clock on the Saturday morning they marched, in two batches of three each, to the scaffold, their evident exhaustion :■ anc^ weariness was ample evidence of the fact. Scheepers was the hangman. Just before the ap- pointed hour he entered the condemned cell with a view to pinioning the prisoners. One of the con- demned, a man named Charlie, who has all along vigorously protested his innocence, assailed the execu- tioner with appeals, You are going to kill me to fill your pocket with money," he said; but God sees you." And this latter exclamation he repeated over and orer again. Scheepers, with a promptitude born of experience, secured three of the men, one of whom was Charlie, with st.raps, and the melancholy orocession to the scaffold started. In the prison yard meanwhile a large muster had assembled. Fifty native constables lined the path to the enclosure in which the scaffold is built. About 150 morbidly-inclined persons, as well as Pressmen, officials, and police, were waiting, and when the prisoners appeared with their escort the whole proceeded to the scaffold. The culprits ascended the steps of the grim structure without apparent emotion but once there, and placed on the drop," they seemed to realise their awful position, and their aspect of calm despair was pitiable. The hangman having secured his prisoners in the usual manner, was about to adjust the white cap upon Charlie, when that individual, turning round, exclaimed in Dutch: Oh, thanks, thanks!" Then, in English: "God can see you doing this. He will send you to hell for this!" The hangman adjusted the caps and was about to turn the lever when the man Charlie seemed to stagger and fell off the drop. Scheepers, evidently much perturbed, lifted the recumbent culprit on to the drop, but the man refused to, or was unable to stand, and finally the hangman left him in a kneeling position. Then he suddenly turned the lever, and the unfortunate trio sank out of sight. The rope attached to the neck of the man Charlie continued to vibrate for three minutes the steadiness of the others seemed to indicate that death had been instantaneous. After the lajDse of about 15 minutee the district medical officer examined the bodies and pronounced life extinct. The three corpses were then cut down, and provision made for the other three. These were marched to the scaffold and executed in the same manner, the only difference being that there was no untoward incident. Six executions at once is an unprecedented incident in the history of Pretoria. The nearest approach to that number was the execution, some three years ago, of four men who were hanged at the same time. A feature of the present execution was the eagerness with which tickets were sought. Opinions were widely expressed that at least three of the pri- soners should have been reprieved, and that Charlie, who died protesting his innocence of actual compli- city in the murder, should have been shown mercy.
MASCULINE MUSIC.
MASCULINE MUSIC. In the paper, Is the Musical Idea Masculine? by Miss Edith Brower, in the Atlantic Monthly the writer sturdily argues that, as in the past, so in the future, the great composers will be men. She says But there is yet another, and, I think, a more con- clusive reason why the themes and harmonies of Tristan and of the Ninth Symphony will probably never be matched in the compositions of any woman. The possession of the musical idea (which term, it will by this time be well understood, here means not the mere ability to make a tune, nor even to write good harmony, but the capacity for conceiving and expressing the greatest of musical thoughts—such thoughts as we name im- mortal) presupposes more than the most tremendous active emotional force and high qualities of the ima- gination, which force and which qualities some women are found to have to a considerable degree. In order to awaken those unheard melodies" that play through the soul in wondrous answer to the heard melodies of the masters, something else is essential. 11 r- of abstract emotion, for there has music its higfiesl dwelling place; and not alone to soar thither, like a strayed bird that can but flutter and perish in the lofty, thin atmosphere, but to rise confidently, and to rest there unterrified, as in an assured abode, where lungs and wings have fuller, freer play, and where songs are more spontaneous and sweet. Now woman is not at home in the abstract. The region has undoubted attractions for her—from a distance—and sometimes she is led to visit it; but its vast, vague loneliness and chilly uncertainty drive her back. She is like a cat in a strange garret, or a child in the dark; or rather, to change the figure, she is I ike an unaccustomed swimmer, who, stepping farther and farther out through the breakers, is suddenly horror struck to find nothing but water beneath him, and stretches out wildly for the comfortable ocean bed. So woman ventures timidly, ofttimes boldly, into the shoreless deeps of the abstract. For a while she may disport herself prettily there—in the shallows, so to speak; but she is never quite happy nor at ease unless the terra firma of the concrete be at least within reach. This makes her the unquestion- ing devotee in religicwi that she has alwavs been it causes her to hold on to the material por- tions of the creeds more than men does she cling to the actual resurrection of the body; it is difficult for her to divest heaven of its gates, streets, and harps. In discussions upon abstruse matters, she asks always for definite and familiar illustrations in argument—if she can argue at all-she tends to bring everything home to her own personal experience, or to the experience of those whom she knows. This aptitude of hers for dealing with the concrete makes her a good housekeeper and manager of a family it helps her admirably for working in organisations for benevolence or for mutual improvement by it she may, even without great ideality, paint famous if not great pictures, as Rosa Bonheur has done especially does it fit her for producing works of fiction, which first of all must deal with the concrete life of every-day beings. Nor does it keep her from beinga poet, in which department of art she has done some charming and noble work, her best being of the lyric order: short poems of her own feelings sometimes narrative or descriptive poems-the dramatic and epic in their highest forms being seemingly beyond her. And so, while her strong tendency towards the concrete has made it easy for her successfully to set to music niinple words, such as express definite incidents or individual experiences, her instinctive shrinking from the abstract has kept her from interpreting, as in the composition of great operas, life and passion in their broad, universal aspects; and from producing great symphonies, in which, in the transcendental realm of harmony, life and passion have their very essence. Such an art does not suit woman's spiritual conformation. It is too vague and formless for her; she cannot picture the hole after the pile of sand has been taken away. Moreover—I say it at the risk of abuse-I do verily believe that she is at all times more interested in the pile of sand than she is in the hole. At its best a hole is but an empty place, the mere contemplation of which makes one feel friendless and homeless; while without the sand it is nothing less than the spectre of infinity!
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THE bottom of the Pacific between Hawaii and California is said to be so level that a railroad could be laid for 500 miles without altering the grade any- where. This fact was discovered by the United States surveying vessel engaged in making soundings with the view of laying a cable. THE new marble reredos which has been erected in Danbury Church, near Chelmsford, to the memory of the late Bishop of St. Albans, was completed last week, and will be dedicated during Easter week. The memorial is an elaborate representation of the Annunciation. The old reredos is to be presented to Great Sampford Church, North Essex. As extra expenditure of £ 1200 has been incurred in the offices of the House of Commons by the pro- longation of last session. This sum is asked for in the Civil Service supplementary estimates. IT is persistently rumoured in India that either the Ameer or his son will visit England at an early date, should Sir T. S. Pyne succeed in making satisfactory arrangements to that end. In some quarters, how- ever, there appears to be a disposition tc discourage the undertaking, on the ground that the Ameer's absence from the country might give rise to compli- cations which it would be difficult to control* St.-