Flintshire Observer Mining Journal and General Advertiser for the Counties of Flint Denbigh

CHILDISH HUMOUR. During a school tea the other day a kindly old doctor was regarding one of the young guests with evident alarm. Undismayed by the doctor's glances, the young scholar rapidly demolished plate after plate of bread and butter and cake. At last the doctor could stand it no longer. Going up to the young rascal, he said, My boy, have you never read any book which would tell you what to eat, what to drink, and what to avoid?" "Lor' bless yer, sir," replied the young gentleman, with his mouth half full of plum cake, I don't want no book. Why, I eats all I can, I drinks all I can, and I avoids burstin' Pages might be filled with the answers given by the Board School scholars. Here are a few specimens of the humour, conscious or otherwise, of these young folk Faith is belief in what can't happen; Hope is belief in what won't happen and Charity is belief in what does happen." Does not this sound like an example of the new humour? It is in reality a genuine School Board answer culled from an examiner's note book. The Act of Uniformity," said a littls girl, was to make everybody go to bed at the same time. "The Kings of Israel," said a budding theologian to a rev examiner, must have been poor because it is stated that they slept with their fathers. If they had been rich they would have had beds of their own." Why is it wicked to cut off dogs' tail?" asked the teacher.' Because what God hath joined let not man pull asunder," came the quick reply. Jerusalem was surrounded by walls to keep the milk and honey out." The Cities of Refuge were intended for those who had unintentionally committed suicide." Titus was an apostle who wrote epistles. He was the Emperor of Rome, and his surname was "The hydra,' said a little maid of five once, was wedded co Henry VIII. 11 When he cut off her head another one sprung up." The United States is governed by machinery" (who can deny it?). ot. Peter was crucified head downwards, because he mentions it." Esau," remarked a sturdy youth of ten, robbed his father and sold the copyright to a publisher for a bottle of potash." Mixed ideas here, surely. What is the meaning of carte blanche ? Please sir, its putting the horse before the cart." "Where was Magna Charta signed. asked a teacher in a South of London Board School. "Please, ,ir at the bottom." It is not stated what the ex- aminer replied to this unlooked-for reply, but this answer reminds irs of an examiner of a somewhat stern aspect and with an abrupt manner, who asked a little bov Who signed Magna Charta ?" Please, ir t, sir, it wasn't me," replied trembling Tommy. "What were the Jewish feasts?" "Beanfeasts," was the prompt reply. Mention an instance of charity in the Bible." They brought Him a penny, and He said,'Whose subscription ii this ?' "—West- minster Gazette.

NATIONALISATION OF RAILWAYS- Writing on the nationalisation of our railways, the Railway News says there is no use blinking the fact; nationalisation by inches is an accurate and moderate phase for describing the relations subsisting between the British State and the British railways. It is certain there has been no slackening in the collectivist policy from the date of the Royal Commission Report of 1867, which was dead against it, to the present; rather, the impetus gained from previous efforts has increased the speed. It is time, therefore, that railway shareholders should seriously consider the result to themselves of further developments along the same line in the future. It may be said that we are exaggerating; that no scheme for the State acquisi- tion of railways is within the range of practical politics. The writer then refers to the gradually in- creasing interference by the State with the construc- tion and working of ou'r railways, and concludes: Obviously, however, this form of progress has its limits. Public interference cannot extend in- definitely, for the simple reason that it will exhaust its material. A certain amount more of railway legislation," and there will be no railway of a privately owned and managed kind to legislate upon. The independent company will be metamorphosed into a department of the Board of Trade. No revolutionary change is necessary to effect this purpose, a steady continuance along the present lines is sufficient. Without our realising it. our railway industry is slowly but surely being nationalised. And not a penny-piece of compensa- tion is being paid for property injured and privileges curtailed. If we continue to drift along the path which we have hitherto followed it will be a question of time for the most magnificent heritage of modern industrial society to slip completely from the grasp of its owners into that of a democratic state. And its present holders will not be paid with even thanks. ————

IRS. OSCAR WILDE AT HOME. There is an interesting sketch of Mrs. Oscar Wilde in the current number of To-Bay. "Like her hus- band, poet, playwright, and wit," says the writer, Mrs. Oscar Wilde may be truly called an apostle of the beautiful. She has a quiet and unobtrusive manner made everything that concerns the beautify- ing of the home a special study, and her exquisite embroidery and needlework is appreciated by a large circle of friends and acquaintances, although she has never yet been persuaded to exhibit anything in one of the many yearly shows which make a speciality of the blending of the arts and crafts. Mr. and Mrs. Wilde have set. up their household gods in one of the prettiest corners of old Chelsea, within t stone's throw of the walk once paced by the Yage oT ("elsea and Jeannie Welsh Carlyle, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and George Eliot. I "There is an utter lack of so-called aesthetic colouring in the house of which Mrs. Oscar Wilde is mistress; the scheme, consisting, as it does, of faded and delicate brocades, against a background of white or cream painting, is French rather than English. Rare engravings and etchings form a deep frieze along two sides of the drawing-room, and stand out on a dull gold background, and the only touches of bright colour in the apartment are lent by two splendid Japanese feathers let into the ceiling, while, above the white, carved mantelpiece, a gilt-copper bas-relief, by Donaghue, makes living Mr. Oscar Wilde's fine verses, Requiescat.' "To most of Mrs. Oscar Wilde's visitors not the linst interesting work of art in this characteristic sitting-room is a quaidi-harmony in greys and browns, purporting to be a portrait of the master of the house as a youth; this painting was a wedding present from Mr. Harper Pennington, the American artist, and is much prized by the wife of the original. Even apart from this picture, Mrs. Wilde can boast of an exceptionally choice gallery of contem- porary art. Close to a number of studies of Venice, presented by Mr. Whistler himself, hangs an exquisite pen-and-ink illustration by Walter Crane. An etching of Bastien Le Page's portrait of Sarah Bernhardt contains in the margin a few kindly words written in English by the great tragedienne."

WILLS AND BEQUESTS. The will has been proved of Major-General the Right Hon. Sir John Clayton Cowell, K.C.B., Master of the Queen's Household, who served during the Russian War in the Baltic and in the Crimea, and was afterwards governor to the Duke of Edinburgh and to the Duke of Albany. Sir John Cowell died at Devonshire Villa, East Cowes, on Aug. 29 last, aged 62 years. The net value of his personal estate has been sworn under £ 6000, upon which estate duty on the higher scale, at the rate of 4 per cent., has been charged. Sir John Cowell's will bears date Aug. 28, 1889, and the executors are his wife, Dame Georgina Elizabeth Cowell (daughter of Mr. James Pulleine, of Clifton Castle and Crake Hall, Yorks.), and his son, Albert Victor John Cowell, Lieutenant Rifle Brigade. The testator devises his share and in- terest in the Rocking Chair Ranche, in Texas, in trust for sale, and to hold C5000 in trust to pay the income to Lady Cowell for her life, and after her death to hold the trust fund upon like trusts with those upon which the Clifton Castle estate has been settled by her. If the testator's share in the rancho should realise more than P.5000 the surplus is to be distributed in equal shares amongst all his children, and he leaves the residue of his property in trust to pay the income to Lady Cowell for her life and sub- ject to her life interest tor his son Henry Pulleine John Cowell and his ismie, or in the event of his death without issue for all the testator's children ex- cepting his son Albert Victor. Estate duty on the new Male at the higher rate has been paid on £ 3250 16s. 9d. as the value of the per- sonal estate of Admiral Arthur Mellersh, C.B., of 43, Ventnor-villas, Hove, who died on Sept. 23 last, aged 82 years, having formerly served in the East Indies, in South and North America, in the West Indies, in China, and in the Mediterranean, and at the capture of Rangoon. The executors of the admiral's will are Arthur Mollersh, of 3, Farnham-road, Streatham, civil servant, and George MsLbrsh, of 32, Guildford-street, civil servant. The will, dated June 27, 1894, of General Sir David Edward Wood, G.C.B., of Park Lodge, Sun- ningdale, who died on Oct. 16 last, aged 82 years, having served on the Cape Frontier in 1842-43, in the Crimea at Balaclava, lnkerman, and Sebastopol, I and in India in 1857-59, has been proved, with personalty valued at E5257 Is. 4d., by the sole executor, his nephew, Mr. Thomas Wood, of Gwernyfed-park, Brecon, and Littleton, Middle- sex. The testator appoints E2500 from a trust fund settled by his father, the late Thomas Wood, of Littleton, to his nieces and nephews Caroline, Mary, Laura, William Henry, Ruth, and Charles. He bequeaths the Bible and Prayer-book presented to his late wife, Lady Maria Wood, at Eslington, to the Earl of Ravensworth, to be kept at Eslington-park and he bequeaths a bust of his latf wife to Captain the Hon. Atholl Charles John Liddell. All the residue of his property the testator leaves to his said nephew Thomas Wood. Personal estate valued at £17,612 18s. has been left by Vice-Admiral Charles Fenton Fletcher Boughey, of Benavie, Ennerdale-road, Richmond, who died on Sept. 18 last, aged 71 years, son of Sir J. Fenton Boughey, second baronet. The executors of the late Admiral Boughey's will, which bears date April 11, 1892, are his brother the Rev. Robert Fenton Fletcher Boughey, of The Park, Aquelate, Salop, and his nephew Francis Boughey, of The Derwen, Gobowen, Oswestry, to the latter of whom the testator bequeaths £ 400; to eight nieces and nephews, E100 each to the Rev. Architel Harry Boughey, £100, and the testator's gold watch; to Walter Gifford, 4:100; to the testator's sister, Anastatia Mostyn, £ 1000; to his sister-in-law, Caroline Boughey, £ 750; to his brother, the Rev. Robert Boughey, £ 2000; to the Earlswood Asylum for Idiots, tIOO the Old Kent-road Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, EIOO; the School for Indigent Blind, £100; the Bromp- ton Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, E100 the Free Cancer Hospital, EIOO; and the Home for Female Orphans, St. John's-wood, £ 100. In ac- cordance with the desire of his late sister, the Hon. Mrs. A. H. Fielding, that he should apply certain funds left by her in which he had a life interest to charitable purposes connected with the navy, the testator bequeaths q600 to the Royal Mariners' Orphan (School. He confirms the settlements made by him in favour of Sarah Saunders, of Benavie, Rich- mond, to whom he bequeaths £ 250, and he leaves to her all his residuary estate. I

A MOTHERLY EMPRESS. In an illustrated character sketch of the Empress Frederick in the Young Woman for December, the writer says When Dr. Koch and his consump- tion cure kept Berlin in a ferment, and uncounted victims of that mysterious disease rushed to the German capital, I met the Empress again and again in the hospitals, among the poor dying folks who had come too late for any human skill to draw I them from the brink of the grave. The children's hospitals above all others appeal to her true woman's heart. An eye-witness told me, only the I other day, of a lovely little scene in a hospital at Potsdam. A patient-I think he had had am accident—was at death's door, and his wife had been hurriedly summoned to his side. With her baby in her arms, she was walking up and down a waiting- room close to the ward in which her husband lay. The Empress happened to pay one of her frequent visits to the hospital, and seeing the poor woman in her bitter sorrow, she approached to ask some sympa- thetic questions. Yes, he is dying,' the wife sobbed, and he wants to say so much to me about how I am to manage when he is gone, and how the children are to be brought up; but baby is not well, and cries, and he is so weak he cannot bear it, and he may die at any moment.' In an instant the Empress had taken the infant into her arms, and while, for a whole j hour, the mother sat by the side of her dying hus- I band, her Majesty nursed the child, walking up and down the room with it, and soothing it with motherly tenderness."

THE announcement that the Benchers of Lincoln's- inn have determined to reduce the rents of their chambers 15 per cent. has given great satisfaction to barristers on the Equity side, who have long com- plained of being over-rented. It has at the same time given rise to a movement among members of the Common Law Bar to secure a similar concession from the Benchers of the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple. The two Temples are believed to be quite as well able to reduce their rents as Lincoln's-inn.

I A NOVELTY IN EXHIBITIONS. There is a project on foot (according to an article in the Board of Trade Journal) in Hungary to organise in connection with the National Exhibition of 1896 a special section with the object of initiating the general public into the material and intellectual methods adopted in commerce, to show, as simply and clearly as possible, the progress made in the system and the extent of commercial transactions, and to convey an idea of the benefits derived by the nation from the progress made. The scheme was first started by M. de Lukacs, Hungarian Minister of Commerce, who has invited the co-operation of the principal Hungarian merchants and manufacturers. The" Revue d'Orient" says that the scheme is rather an ambitious one, for no previous exhibition has attempted to represent in any palpable form the operations of commerce, all that has hitherto been done is to show the results in columns of figures which, although no doubt highly instructive, may perhaps be considered a little too dry for the taste of the majority of the public. The Revue goes on to say that the initiative of the Ilun- garian Minister will be warmly welcomed by the com- mercial community, and there can be little doubt as to the ultimate success of the exhibition. Hundreds of the representatives of the first business and finan- cial houses have promised their co-operation, and before being actually made aequainted with the manner in which the various technical problems will be solved they have subscribed more than E5000 toward the necessary expenses. CURIOSITIES OF COINAGE. 'se The section is to comprise a retrospective exhibi- tion as well as a modern group. The first will represent the various phases through which com- merce has passed before it acquired its present posi- tion. There will be on view a table of a provincial money changer of the 19th century, with its primi- tive accessories, various coins of the period and the first gold coins struck in Hungary, by the side of this exhibit will be placed the Roval decree regulating the functions of a money changer, and this functionary and the probator auri et argenti" will be represented by persons wearing the costume of the period. There will also be on view the tools and machinery used in printing, which are now kept at the National Museum. Visitors will also find the authentic copy of contemporary documents relating to the payment of the first Hungarian bill of exchange, of which a record is lept. The next group will comprise a representation of a Budapest banking- house of the 16th century. There will be found the banker, a judge of the commercial court, and a func- tionary authorised to coin money and issue the notes of the period; official contemporary documents relating to trade; the code which contains various regulations affecting commerce, and finally, a deed of gift dated 1572, for the sum of 200 florins. TIIE GROWTH OF COMMERCE. A third group will comprise the representation of a Greek financier of the 18th century at the moment he is consenting to 1;'J'ant a loan to a merchant, who hands to him, in the presence of a representative of the law, his bond for the same the group will include a complete collection of documents and coins relating to the golden age of Transylvania. Next in order after these groups will be found the reproduc- tion of the offices of an assurance company, founded at Komarom in 1807, with its account books, and a complete series of documents relating to the financial history of the period, notably the decree authorising the establishment of the national bank the papers in connection with the assurance offices of the towns of Upper Hungary, and the portraits of various financml authorities of the period. Side by side with these exhibits will be ranged various groups representing the trade and in- dustry of the present day, such as the following: The installation of offices the plant of warehouses and depots the methods of packing goods the means of local transport; the arrangement of fairs the stock- in-trade of commercial travellers, and the organisa tion of exchanges, and institutions established with a view of encouraging and developing trade. In each of these groups it is intended to give a graphic repre- sentation of the primitive systems adopted in past ages, and the complicated and perfected systems in vogue at the present day, a juxtaposition which it is hoped will render this particular section both instruc- tive and picturesque.

STORIES OF RUBINSTEIN. One of Rubinstein's little jokes was to keep hia birthday on the wrong date, the origin of which, he used to explain, was a lapse of memory on the part of his mother. He was born on November 16,1829, but fell into the way of celebrating the anniversary on November 18. He first came to London in 1842, being, as he says, "graciously received by the young and handsome Queen Victoria, and although but a boy of 12, I felt no shyness or timidity in the presence of those great lords and ladies." Indeed, bashfulness in the presence of Royalty was never "a fault of his, and it is told of him that on one of his later visits to London, when he was presented to the Princess of Wales, he shocked the bystanders and considerably amused her Royal Highness by remarking that he was delighted to see her, because she was looking lovely. On his first visit to London, Moscheles spoke of him as a Russian boy whose fingers are as light as feathers and yet as strong as a man's." On his second visit in 1857 he was again presented to the Queen, and by a ludicrous error was mistaken for an expected Russian envoy (it was just after the Crimean War), the Royal Family and chief Ministers of the Crown wearing full decorations and orders, and standing in a semi-circle to receive him. Rubinstein bowed, the Court returned a stately salute, and the silence became disagreeable, until the new comer, spying a pianoforte, sat down to play, to the immense delight of Prince Albert and the blank astonishment of Ministers. In society (says a writer in the Daily News) Rubin- stein was a listener rather than a talker, and one of the best stories told of him was when one night on tour in Glasgow, Mr. Vert went to bed, and Rubin- stein, smoking cigarettes (he rarely had one out of his mouth), remained up with the late T. L. Stillie. The Scotchman tried to lead the talk, and inquired: "M. Rubinstein, do you like Beethoven?" "Beet- hoven's goot," was the terse reply. Stillie waited for a quarter of an hour, and again ventured: Do you like Wagner ?" At once came the reply, Wagner no goot." After yet another quarter of an hour Stillie rose and said he thought he ought to go to bed. No," said Rubinstein earnestly, no; don't go. I like your gonversation."

COUNTESS SPENCER has undertaken to perform the ceremony of naming the new barbette first-class battleship Magnificent, which is to be launched at Chatham Dockyard in the middle of December. The first keel plate was laid less than 12 months since, so that the building may be regarded as a remarkable feat in naval construction. TUB death is announced of M. Francois de Caus- made, who was librarian of the Louvre till the fall of the Empire. He used to supply the Presse, the Bien Public, and the Journal des D6bats with the official reports of the lectures at the Institute, an office of considerable importance. He is probably best known for his very careful, and to French students very valuable, synopsis of the official course of studies in I what would be called in Oxford the Greats School," which he published under the title, The Bachelor I of Arts." DEAN HOLE, who is now in America, lecturing on behalf of the Restoration Fund of Rochester Cathedral, has displayed considerable interest in the rose-growing industry there. He has noticed, how- ever, that the American climate is not favourable for the perfect development of the flower, although under glass some excellent results have been obtained. The aean has visited all the principal nurseries in the neighbourhood of New York, and has been enter- tained at a banquet by the Rosarian Society at Everitt House. Speaking there, he claimed to have started the first rose show in London. At Boston, where he lectured, a great display of roses was made in his honour. FRENCH statistics are always interesting. Accord- ing to the Gaidois, the foreign country in which most Frenchmen are to: be found is the Argentine Republic, the Gallic colony there totalling 92000. On the other hand there are only 1600 Frenchmen in Germany, 30 in Denmark, and not one Frenchman of any personal account in Sweden." THE Maux Diamond King is amongst us. This gentleman is, when he is at home, Mr. Joseph Mylchreest. Until Mr. Cecil Rhodes carried out his scheme of amalgamation Mr. Mylchreest was the largest individual diamond mine owner in South Africa. However, though deprived of this reputation, he is still the possessor of the largest pair of diamonds —by the way, they were cleaved from the same stone —in the world. He is not unduly puffed up because of this fact. Mr. Mylchreest is an excellent, genial, j good-natured gentleman. I

THE GENERAL POST OFFICE IN 1838. The following description of the General Post Office shortly before the introduction of the penny post is given in the Post, the organ of the postal service: The General Post Office was in Lombard-street, in a very confined and inconvenient situation. The pre- mises there being found much too small for the amount of business transacted, and it being desirable that a more central situation should be fixed on, the present site was chosen nearly IX) years before for a new build- ing, though that building was not begun for some time afterwards, and was not finished till 1829. The building is of the Grecian Ionic order of architecture. Its length is 400ft., and its breadth 80ft. The base- ment is of granite, but the body of the edifice is of brick, faced with Portland stone. The largest room in the establishment is that in which the sorting of letters takes place, and is hence called the sorters' apartment; it measures 46ft. in length by 24ft. in breadth. As any accident to the post-office by fire might be attended with most unfortunate and irre- mediable results to the country, the building has been made fire-proof. INLAND POST. The business of the Post Office is divided into two branches the inland, for letters going to or coming from any parts of England, Ireland, or Scot- land; and the foreign branch, for letters going to or z, coming from abroad. In the inland office the busi- ness begins at six o'clock in the morning, for the dis- tribution of letters that come up from the country, and by the excellent system in which the business is managed, they are all delivered from the office by nine o'clock, except when the roads are bad. The letters are despatched by the same excellent system in the evening. The business usually begins at five and is completed by eight o'clock. The letters are first taken out of the receiving department, where they are put into the Post Office, and they are then lotted out by the respective sorters for the different mails. This is done by persons well acquainted with the situation and distance of every post town. The postage, or charge for carrying, is then marked on each letter by persons accustomed to this part of the business, and the letters are placed in boxes labelled with the names of the towns. At seven o'clock the office for receiving letters closes, but letters may be sent 20 minutes after seven by paying six- pence with each letter; and if the postage be paid as well as the sixpence, they will be taken in till a quarter to eight o'clock. To witness the opera- tion of examining, taxing, and sorting all the letters which come in about seven o'clock, in conjunction with the sorting of the newspapers, is a most interest- ing sight. Some are examining franks, others are checking the accounts of the deputies a third class are placing the letters between their eves and a light to detect the double letters a' fourth class are taxing, that is, putting the postage on the letters while a fifth are engaged in stamping them. The remainder are employed in sorting the letters agreeably to their respective addresses and yet the greatest regularity pervades the whole of their niovements-t ie one never clashes or comes into collision with the other. Never, perhaps, did the world furnish so striking an illustration of what may be accomplished by a skilful division of labour. Only imagine what must be the perfection of the system and the despatch used, for out of 45,000 letters, which, speaking in round numbers, is the average number which is sent off every evening, 35,000 are received after six o'clock, and despatched by eight, and yet not a single error occurs in the way of send- ing letters to their wrong places, and it is said that the price is written on 60 letters in one minute by each individual. RECEIVING HOUSES. For the convenience of persons living at a distance from the chief office, receiving houses are appointed in different parts of the town, which are open every day except Sunday till five o'clock after which hour postmen ringing bells collect the letters for another hour, and receive one penny with each letter. The letters are sent by mail coaches (the word mail meaning a leather bag, or portmanteau, into which the letters are put). The coachman and the guard behind are both provided with fire-arms, to defend the mails in case they should be attacked by robbers. The mail bags were formerly sent throughout the country by carts but this was a very unsafe way, and attended with much delay. The mail coaches travel with very great regularity, and go about eight miles per hour, including stoppages on the road for changing horses, snd other hindrances. There is, besides what is called the General Post Office, one called the twopenny post office, for carrying letters to a certain distance all round London, for twopence each letter. THE MAILS. When the time for dispatching the mails arrive the mail coaches and the mail curricles comes rattling alone, one after the other, in order to be in readiness to start the- instant the mails are ready to be dis- patched. About five minutes before eight the whole of these vehicles, from 20 to 30 in number, had arrived; and the appearance which the yards on the north side presented was truly striking. The guards were all moving about, anxious to receive their bags; the horses, impatient to start, stood pattering their feet on the stones, while out- side there were some hundreds of people all anxious to witness the interesting spectacle. Eigh!; o'clock struck; the bags were all ready, and the work of dispatching the mails began. The guard blew his born, off started one coach, and dashed out at the gate; it was followed by another, and another, and another, all at the distance of only a few paces from each other, until the whole were fairly on their way to their respective destinations. One mail turned to the right, another to the left; one to the north, another to the south; and the sound of the horns died away in the distance, while the coaches them- selves disappeared amid a crowd of ether vehicles, ""a and the crowd of spectators dispersed.

THE WANDERINGS OF LITTLE NELL. Contrary to his usual custom Dickens does not name a single place in the immortal Old Curiosity Shop." And yet with inimitable art he contrives to impart such an air of familiarity to every mile traversed by "Little Nell," that the superficial reader is scarcely conscious of the absence of familiar names. Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, in the Gentle- man's Magazine, carefully goes over what he believes, after the most careful research, to be the ground covered by Little Nell." The first question to be settled is the locality of the Old Curiosity Shop itself. We most of us know the old tumble-down house near Clare Market, which has for years pro- claimed itself to be "The Old Curiosity Shop—im- mortalised by Charles Dickens." But Mr. Fitzgerald brings forward some persuasive arguments in favour of a site behind the National Gallery, on the ground where the baths now stand. Starting from this point he traces their journey as far as Bushey. After leaving Bushey they met the Punch and Judy folk, and hurried on to the town where the races were to take Elace. The town, from Dickens's description, could ave been none other but Warwick; whilst the town where the famous Jarley Waxworks were on show Mr. Fitzgerald believes to have been Coventry, which is about 12 miles from Warwick. We all know what occurred here-and how Nell rescued the old man from the dangers into which his craze for gambling was leading .him. After their escape they walked as far as the bank of a canal, where they lay down to sleep. This Was the Warwickshire and Birmingham Canal. Then, being taken on board by a friendly man in a canal boat, they approach a large manufacturing town, which the writer believes to have been Birmingham. Through the black country they walked to a busy town, which was Wolverhampton. It was here that they met their old friend, the schoolmaster. Past Bridgenorth, Mr. Fitzgerald traces their journey to the village of Tong—the end of Little Nell's pilgrimage. Dickens was completely permeated with the flavour of this old place; and indeed it is one of the most complete and picturesque of his many happy descriptions. We seem to see every stone. Above all, he caught the sad tone of solitude and desertion which he felt was in such exact keeping with the impending fate of his little heroine.

■ SIR GEORGE BUCHANAN, M.D., F.R.S,, who will pre- side over the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, was for many years inspector in the Medical Department of the Privy Council, and a medical officer of the Local Government Board. He is a member of the Senate of the London University, and a Censor of the Royal College of Physicians; and is the author of numerous works on lung disearee and sanitarv subjects. THE French Army has just claimed 244,613 fresh recruits-,conscripts for one year and three years' service. The first-class include numerous sons of Parisian celebrities-young Hyacinthe Loyson, the son of Fere Hyacinthe; M. Sardou's son Pierre; and the only boy of the well-known society writer Qyv."

CABINET SECRETS. Cabinet secrets never leak out-at least, not nowa- days—and Sir Wemyss Reid, in the December number of CasselFs Magazine, gives one interesting instance of how fortune seems to follow the attempt to guard the inner proceedings of t'sat body from the public gaze: When the Home Rule Bill of 1893 was being prepared by the Cabinet, and when the most, intense curiosity prevailed everywhere as to its character, a member of a certain famous club went up to a table in the club library to write a letter. He noticed that some printed documents had been left on the table by the gentleman who last sat there, and he was about to push them carelessly on one side when his eye caught certain words. Among the documents was the secret draft copy of the Home Rule Bill as printed for the use of the Cabinet only! One can imagine the sensation that would have been created if that draft copy had fallen into unscrupulous or even into merely hostile hands. But the gentleman who made the discovery was himself the private secre- tary of a Cabinet Minister. Ha knew his duty, and and instantly enclosing the awful document in an envelope, he sealed it up and carried it to Downing- street." Of a recent memorable scene within the Cabinet, Sir Wemyss says he has had a private account. On March 2 last, Mr. Gladstone was present at a meet- ing of the Cabinet for the last time. He knew it, and his colleagues knew it, and there was a pathetic scene at that particular meeting One who was present has so far violated the secrecy of his office as to tell me that nearly all were in tears j as for the last time they gathered round their veteran leaclt rand silently shook hands wi h him." Such a meeting, as Sir Wremyss says, was an event of historic interest, and it has furnished a subject which the painter will probably some day make his own."

THE PHOTOGRAPHER. I From a clever description of An American Watering Place" in the Cornhill Magazine we give the following impression of a seaside photographer: As for me I go and get photographed. A couple of baihers in blue jerseys and short drawers come out as I go in, for Harry Smith an- nounces he makes a speciality of bathers. He has two attitudes for them, one shading the eyes aud looking off right, in the stn,e-searn= fashion the other sitting in a section of a boat, a life-belt round the neck, an oar in the hand. For me, a walking gentleman, he brings forward a ricketty piece of balustrade, an imitation india- rubber plant, and a background of a light- house and a seargull.. Fix the heyes yere, please.' Oh, yes, he's English, is Harry Smith used to work opposite Bennett's in Cheapside. Once he photographed the Prince of Wales and his litt'e boy ('im that died, pore young chap) in a Scotch suit. Nice feller, the Prince laugh- I ing and 'anding round 'is cigar case. TLe mixture of the honest arrant cockney with the occasional I guess is extremely piquant. Times are simply hawful, Harry says; nothing doing, nobody got any money. He was the pioneer of the tin-type (eight for twenty-five cents) in Atlantic, city; has been here eighteen years and generally gets washed out by the sea every winter. Pays five hundred dol- lars a year for his little bit of a place; eighteen years ago could have bought it out and out for two. Mr. Pew paid five thousand for all his land, now worth two hundred and fifty thousand. Nice feller, Mr. Few 'im and me are very good friends. Harry Smith wishes he were going 'ome too; fond of the hold country he is always glad to tin-type an Englishman. Not so bad, eh?" he says affably, handing me eight visions of myself alternately very black and very white, like underdone badly-burnt toast. Then he offers me a large collodion-stained fist to shake, and turns briskly to two lank lady bathers who are arranging their long thin locks coquettishly before the studio glass."

ONE MAN ONE JOB. Householder" writes I have had a notable in- stance within the last few days of the one man one job" system by which we are now being bullied. The usual crop of small repairs which always springs up on one's return from the autumn vacation necessi- tated sending to the builder. Man No. 1 arrived to mend a broken bell-pull, turned the house upside down for several hours, uprooting the floors of half a dozen rooms in an ignorant search after the wires but he was not allowed to take an order for a brass plate to be put outside the door-bell; he was not allowed tl ease a screw in the bath-room (tbae;was plumber's work), nor to undo an outside blind (that was the blind department), nor to mend a broken window- cord (that was the carpenter's business). The conse- quence is that my time has been taken up in giving five different sets of instructions; my house has been five times occupied by men at inconvenient hours I have had to pay the time and fares of five men covering a distance .of four miles in going and re- turning and I presume the country is the poorer by the loss of production which would have ensued from five hours (at least) wasted on the road. A few year; ago all these jebs would have been done in half a ddf by one individual.

MR. S. R. CROCKETT ON SCOTTISH HUMOUR, Mr. S. R. Crockett has been lecturing to the members of the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution on Our National Humour in Fiction." Mr. Crockett said the great body of popular humour in Scotland firet found its way into the channels of Scottish his- toric literature mainly in the form of ballads and songs. In time these rose to a higher strata in the poems of Lindsay, in some of Xnox's prose, and in Dunbar and Henrysoun, but Burns alone caught and held the full force of Scottish national humour, for he was born of the soil, and grew up near to it. So that all time he must remain the finest expression of almost all kinds of Scottish feel- ing. Then Walter Scott came to give Scot- tish humour world-wide tame in the noble series of imaginative writings by which he set his native land beside the England of William Shake- speare. Of Scottish historical humour, they could distinguish several kinds. There was the humour that he would call by analogy polter humour which was a primitive kind, of savage origin. Of that "polter humour," the finest instances perhaps were to be found in the chap-books of the latter half of last century and the first 10 years of this. The second species" of humour he could call the humour of irony, which was akin to the polter humour, in that it had chiefly reference to actions, but it was of a quieter variety. This, with an additional spice of kindliness, was Sir Walter Scott's favourite mode of humour. It was, for instance, the basis of Caleb Balderston, especially in the famous scene in the house of Gibhie Girder. Of course, Scott was too great and many- sided a man to neglect any kind of humour; but, on the whole, perhaps that national humour of allowing circumstances to take their course, and the persons engaged to realise the rough underside of things, WitS his favourite. At the same time nothing told them more surely of the essential greatness of the master than the way in which, by a few toucu s. he com so ennoble a htiriiorotis for example,^ Caub BalJcrston in the last scene of Bride r.f Lainnierinool- -,Iiat, that figure pns^eJ from tiis humorous to the pathetic, and touched the spring of the readers' tears the more readily that up to thut point he had chiefly moved their laughter. Next came the humour of about-the-doors, as he called it. It was hard to say when this began, but it was pro- bably with the first of the race, for the Scot had ever been noted for making the best of his man- servant and his maid-servant, his ox and his ass, and the stranger within his gates. No great novel was ever written with a purpose. The purpose must emerge, not to be thrust before the reader's nose, else he would know that he had strayed into a druggist's shop, and all the beauty of the burnished glass, and all the brilliancy of the drawer labels would not persuade him that medicine was a good steady diet. Scott did not write with any purpose, save with the primitive iustinct to tell an entrancing story, and in spite of Gervinus and cartloads of commentators, chiefly Teutonic, he did not believe Shakespeare did either. For the "novel of purpose" developed round some set thesis was not of the essence of sf ry-telling, but of preaching and pamphleteering. The romancer had best be a little more modest than he had been of late. If he told his story with his heart and soul, all that was good in him and in his message would emerge in the course of the narrative without being obtruded. He declined to believe that the great problems of religion could be adequately discussed and settled in the conversations of the novel of purpose." He wanted to take his novel ntain and ) his newspaper plain.

MARKET -NE\S. MARK-LANE.—A quieter tone has prevailed, and business has not been active. Moderate suppl es have been available. The sales of home-grown wheat in the leading markets of England and Wales during the first 13 weeks of the season were 551,698qr., against GS5,53Sqr. Inst season, the average being 19s 2d, against 27s Od per qr. barley, l,294,643qr., against 1,575,087qr., at an average of 23s 7d, against 2;;¡s 7d per qr. and oats 189,0S7qr., against 196,547qr., the average being 14s 6d, against 18s Od per qr. English wheat was in slow request at 6d dearer. Foreign wheat was inactive, and 6d easier. The flour market was dull at a decline of Gd. Barley was quiet but steady at late rates. Oats weie in fair request at previous prices. Maize was Gd dearer, with a fair demand. Beans and peas were quiet, and hardly so firm. METROPOLITAN CATTLE.—With the country buyers shut out from the market the cattle trade has been quiet, and the business transacted has been at about. the prices current last week. The supply of beasts was short but was sufficient. There was a fair pro- portion of choice stock available. The demand was deficient in vitality, but prime breeds were steady. The best Scots made 4s 8d, Norfolks 4s Gel, and heavy Shorthorns 4s to 4s 4d per 81b. The sheep pens were only moderately well filled. Business progressed quietly, and prices remained about the same rates. The best 9-stone Downs made 5s lOd to 6s; IC-stone, 5s lOd 10-stone half-breds, 5s 8d 12-stone Lincolns, 5s 2d; and 10-stone Down ewes, 4s 4d to 4s 8d per SIb. Choice calves were scarce and dear. Othei kinds were dull. Prices: Coarse and inferior beasts, 2s 6d to 3s 6d second quality ditto, 3s 8d to 4s; prime large oxen, 4s 2d to 4s 4d; ditto Scots, &c., 4s 6d to 4s 8d coarse and inferior sheep, 3s 6d to 4s 6d; second quality ditto, 5s to 5s 6d; prime coarse-woolled ditto, 5s 8d to 5s lOd; prime South- down ditto, 5s lOd to 6s large coarse calves, 35 4d to 4s 4d prime small ditto, 4s Sd to 5s 4d per 81lj. to sink the offal. METROPOLITAN MEAT.—There was a large supply of middling and inferior descriptions, for which the trade was very bad. For top quality of beef and mutton the trade was slow, but quotations were gene- rally maintained. A large quantity of middling and inferior quality was left unsold. Scotch beef excep- tionallv realised 4s; and American, Liverpool-killed; 3s 4d, Quotations: Inferior beef, 2s Od to 2s 4d middling ditto, 2s 8d to 3s Od prime ditto, 3s 4d to 3s 8d Scotch ditto, 3s 6d to 3s lOd; Scotch short sides ditto, 4s Od to 4s 4d American, Liverpool killed, 3s 2d to 3s 3d ditto, killed; hindquarters, best, 3s 8d to4s Od; ditto, inferior. 2s 6d to 3s Od forequarters, Is lOd to 2s English veal; 3s 4d to 5sOd; Dutch ditto, 2s 8d to 4s 8d in- ferior mutton, 2s 4d to 3s Od: middling ditto, 3s 4d to 4s Od prime ditto, 4s 4d to 4s 8d Scotch ditto, 4s 8d to 5s 2d; New Zealand ditto, 2s Od to 2s 6d; Dutch ditto, 3s 2d to 3s 8d English lamb,' 4s 4d to 5s Od large pork, 2s 8d to 3s Od small ditto, 3s 4d to 4s per 81b. bv the carcase. GAME AND POULTRY.-Plovers, 5s to 6s larks) Is 3d to Is 9d pigeons. Gs to 7s; fresh Bordeaut ditto, 10s to lis 6d; snipes, 8s to 10s; ancl ptarmigans, 9s to 10s per dozen pheasants, 3s to 6s partridges, 2s to 4s grouse, 3s 6d to 6s 6d: and black game, 3s 4d to 4s 4d per brace; woodcocks 2s 6d to 3s; large English hares, 3s Gd to 4s Gd; medium ditto, 2s 9d to 3s 3d small mountain ditto; Is 9d to 2s 4d; large tame rabbits, Is 6d to 2s wild ditto, lOd to Is 3d; wild dueks, 2s to 2s 4d: large English turkeys, Gs 6d to 10s Gd; ditto geese, 5s 9d to 7s 6d; large fowls, 3s to 4s and small ditto, 2s to 2s 4d each. BILLINGSGATE Fisii.-Cood supply fair demand. Prices: Wholesale: Turhot, 7s to 8s; brill, 6s; halibut. 6s; lemon soles, 4s per stone soles, 9d to IOd: red mullets, 9d; John Dorys, 3d per lb.; mackerel, 30s per 120: cod, 8s to 10s; plaice, 14s to 20s Od; hake, 15s; skate. 10s: gurnet, 8s; whiting, 5s to 6s smelts, Is Gd fresh herrings, 6s per box; fresh haddocks, 8s to 9s per trunk ditto, 20s per turn: live eels, 18s dead eels, 12s per draft; conger eel, 18s sprats. 14s per barrel; whitebait, Is per quart lobsters, 20s to 50s per score: crabs, 18s per hamper; oysters, 8s to 12s; natives, 22s per 100; escalops, 14s mussels, 16s per bag shrimps, 10s; winkles, 8s whelks, 4s to 58 per bushel; bloaters, 2s to 3s kippers, 2? 6d per box: dried haddocks, 3s 6d to 7s per dozen. Retail: Soles. Is to Is 3d slips, lOd lemon soles, Gd to Sd; turbot, 9d brill, Sd; hali- but, 8d; red mullets, Is plaice, 4d to 5d cod, 4d to 6d; gurnet, 4d; skate, 4d to 6d hake, 4d; sprats. 2d; fresh haddocks, 4d; live eels, Is to Is 2d: dead eels, 8d to lOd: conger eel, 4d per lb.; grey mullets, Is; mackerel, 4d to 6d; whiting, 2d to 4d lobsters, Is Gd to 3s crabs, 6d to 3s; dried had- docks, 4d to Is each; oysters, Gd to 4s per dozen. BOROCGII AND STITALFIELI'S POTATO.—There was a good supply of potatoes on sale; the trade was quiet, at the following prices: Magnum Bonums, 60s to 80s; Main Crops, 80s to 100s; Hebrons, 70s to 90s: Snowdrops, 70s to 90s; Imperators, GOs to 90s kidneys, GOs to 70s and blacklands, 55s to 659 per ton. SEED TRADE.—American red 2s dearer; white easier. Alsyke and trefoil lifeless. Ryegrasses neglected. Rapeseed strong, the bottom prices having evidently been touched. Mustard unchanged. Canaryseed slow in demand, but steady in value. Hempseed offers reasonably. Scarlet runners in brisk request. Giant haricots scarce. Peas are featureless long pods are now extremely low. New Spanish lentils come good and cheap. COVENT GARDEN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES.—Large supplies of fruit and vegetables on offer, but trade generallv quiet. Potatoes firm at the prices quoted. Apples, English, 4s to Gs per bushel; ditto, Ameri- can, 12s to 18s per barrel; pears, English, 3s to 5s per bushel; ditto, French, 3s to Gs per case grapes, English, 2s 6d to 4s per lb. ditto, Almeria, 10s to 15s per barrel; ditto, Jersey, Gd to Is 3d per ib. pineapples, St. Michael's, 2s to 6s per pine bananas, Canary, 4s 6d to 10s per bunch; oranges, Lisbon, 8s to 9s per case ditto, Spanish, 6s to 8s per case ditto, Florida, 7s 6d to 10s per box; ditto, Man- darins, Is to Is 3d per box tomatoes, Canary, 8s to 10s per case ditto, English, 8d to 9d per lb.; cob- nuts, 22s to 25s per 1001b. walnuts, Grenoble, 4s to 7s per bag chestnuts, Italian, 16s to 18s per bag ditto, Redon, 6s to 8s per bag onions, English, 3s per bag; ditto (Valencia), 5s per case; horseradish, 12s per dozen bundles; celery, Gs to 12s per dozen rolls: lettuce (French), 6d to 7d per dozen; endive, Is to Is 4d per dozen artichokes, 2s to 2s 6d per dozen: cucumbers, 3s to 5s per dozen: cauli- flowers, Is 6d to 3s per dozen savoys, 2s to 3s per tally: sprouts, Is 3d to Is Gd per half sieve; spinach, 2s to 3s per bushel; carrots, Is Gd to 2s Gd per dozen bunches; turnips, Is to 2s 6d per dozen bunches; potatoes, 60s to 100s per ton. WJIITECHAPEL HAY AND STRAW.—Superior picked hay, 110s to 115s; best new do., 85s to 92s; good hay, 75s to 80s; inferior do., 40s to 54s best clover, 120s to 125s; good do., 100s to 110s; inferior do., 75s to 85s straw, 26s to 36s. ENGLISH WOCL.-Tlie English wool market is decidedly quieter, and business is only transacted on terms more favourable to buyers. The recent quiet tone has become more pronounced, and a good deal of disappointment is felt at the course of markets. Sellers still keep firm in the prices they ask, but for actual business the figure is below rates recently ruling. During the past week the sales of Colonial wool have I commenced, and opened with a very dull tone, prices showing a decline of 5 per cent, to 7?, per cent, below the last series, and with considerable quantities with- drawn from sale. The effect of this has naturally been felt in all branches of the trade, which have re- sponded sympathetically. Spinners, though fairly employed, find it very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain new business unless on easier terms, as demand gives no signs of improving. Downs, 9d to 10d Kents, 81,d to 9d half-breds, Sd to 8id. READING CATTLE.—The market was well sup- plied with beef. Trade ruled slow, and the sales effected were at prices ranging from 4s to 4s 2d per stone for prime animals, and 3s to 3s 8d per stone for coarser sorts. The sheep pens were fairly well filled, and trade proved brisk. Prime forts fetched 5s 8d to Gs, and seconoary qualities 4s 8d to 5s 4d per stone. Calves sold at 4s to 5s 4d per stone. coizii BUTTER.—Ordinary Firsts, 92s; seconds, 72s: thirds, 625; fourths, 51s. Mild-cured firkins: Saperfine, 110s; fine, 85s: mild, 67s. GRIMSBY Fisu. Large supply. Good demand. Prices as follows: Brills, 8d per lb. live cod, 3s to 6s Od; dead, salt, 12s per cwt.; coal- fish, 15s to 35s per score; codlings, 10s to 13s; gurnets, 3s to 6s per box live halibut, 6s to 7s; dead, 5s per stone; haddocks, 46s to 52s per kit; round, 12s to 19s per box; finnan, 4s 3d per stone; hake, 2s to 4s 6d each kippers, Is 9d per box; live ling, 3s to 5s; dead, 2s to 4s each; plaice, 2s to 3s per stone roker, 13s to 17s per score soles, lOd per lb.; lemon, 4s 6d per stone; English smelts, 2s 6d to 3s per box live skate, 4s to 7s 6d each; turbots, 8d net lb. tusks. 10s to 208 per score.

THE Board of Trade have awarded their bronze medal for gallantry in saving life at sea to Thomas William Yale, commissioned boatman at Buckie, for bis gallant and praiseworthy service at the wrecks of the loggers Endeavour and Evening Train, at Cluny j last month. <