The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser

s: MISCELLANEOUS. 1 ASHES TO ASHES. Pending a law readering the practice of burn- ing or burying the dead optional, which hap aiiioe been panged, the Paris Municipal Council voted a grant of money fur the erection of a crematorium, which is now in part built on ground at tho Pere-Lachaise Cemetery. The monument, as you enter the gateway, is to be spam- at thA mmosite extremity of the cemetery, near the Jewish burying ground, and facing the Mussulman section, which is rendered con- spicuous by the tomb of the Queen of Oude. It looks something like a mosque, with two high chimneys, which answer the purpose of beacons. There are three domes, correspondiug with the three balls inside, where as many furnaces are t< be established. There is a separate room in which the bodies are placed while awaiting incineration. When tested for the first time the apparatus used did not meet the expectations of the authorities as to its capacity fflr disposing quickly and cheaply of human remains. The heat from beechwpod logs was found inadequate, and the llamas charred the body to an ugly brown compound. The cost of the operation was too high, amounting in each case to £6. The present arrangement is perfect. As only one furnace is now in use, the bodies awaiting cremation are brought up in rotation from a separate room in the building. 1 was present the other day while two dead bodies were con- sumed, aud followed the process throaghout. The first of these was the corpse of a paupei patient who had died of smallpox in one of the Paris ho^pitds. The body was placed, in its r dead-wood fdiell. upon two flat iron bars, each about three inches wide and six feet lon, fixed to a kind of truck. When the retort door was opened and the corpse run ill, a glow of h^at so candent burst forth from the oven that it was almost impossible to look inside. The wooden shell split up, and the dead body fell between the two iron bars on to the incandescent flour where gas and coke combine to keep up a bright red, roaring heat ranging between 1,200 and 1,500 degrees centigrade. The hair and beard caught fire immediately, and the body itself began to blister. On the door being closed theie was a slight emission of sinoke and a smell of charred flesh, which was due, the stoker said, to the fact that the coke furnace in the flue had been excessively charged before it had time to burn up properly it therefore acted as inter- centre in the flue. The oven is fed with coke in the undergrouud portion of the building, and the fire is kept up day and night. I was allowed to ascertain the state of the body every half hour, through the retort doer. When the door nrat opened the sight was one I shall never forget. A strong, red fire blazed around the corpse, whose limbs were already shrunken There was nothing of the hideous spectacle I had expected. No flame, no smoke wan to be seen. Only a bright intense, liquid bath of fire, in which the poor dead pauper patient lay quietly stretched out, as if asleep. A kind of nimbus surrounded the head. The knee-caps appeared almost white, the bones of the lower part appeared calcined, the abdominal cavity half consumed. At the end of the first hour the head appeared incinerated; the hips stood out, and the ribs stuck up, though still attached to the spinal column the viscera were whitening the bones of the legs were detached andappearedconsumed, a little halo still played round the head and shoulders. At the end of an hour and a half all the bones had crumbled the skull was gone, and the outline of the form was lost. Nothing remained on the floor of the oven but two small knobs from the hips of the skeleton, ready to dissolve into a white ash. The second corpse to be incinerated was that of a man who had expressed in his will the desire to be burnt after death, and whose relatives had paid the £2 10s. fee charged by the city authorities in every such case. The process for the rich is much the same as that for the poor, except that on the two parallel bars a metallic plate and an asbestos cloth are spread under the corpse of the former to receive the ashes. The body, there- fore, burns on the plate instead of falling to the floor of the oven. As on the first occasion, I was allowed to ascertain the results of the process every thirty minutes. The effects of the heat, when the body was run in, were rather startling, for the legs of the rich man at once spread out to the extent of touching the sides of the red-hot chamber. These, however, resumed their natural position on the plate, but bent up before they were con- sumed, together with the ribs, in an hour's time. In less Than 90 minutes the whole body had fallen in, and began to whiten the operation is then deemed finished. When the metal plate was drawn out, the body appeared more thoroughly consumed than the first; the ashes were quite white, and weighed a little over 41b. They were carefully collected with a bruith into a silver shovel, and placed in an urn provided for that purpose. GHASTLY GAIETY. In Paris the Shrove Tuesday gaieties of a pipular character had the boulevards for their theatre. Influenza, wearing a death's head armed with a scythe and attended by doctors robed as professors of the faculty of medicinei, and undertakers with hats made of cardboard, and shaped like coffins, was paraded in eftigy through the main thoroughfares. This dismal cortége; had, as the Parsisan says, a success d I Children in all kinds of fancy costumes, were innumerable. Beer was represented by-adver- tisement cars, on which those unfortunate waitresses, known as "vaches des brasseries," danced in a lively manner. Tlie brmseric, or beer saloon, is killing the cafe, -motl the waitress is obliged to drink beer with* she costumers f<«r the good of the house wUJ1. she, is able to drink no more. Boys of ¡)JJl ages wore military cjass- tumes, and youths getting on for twenty had! aA preference, foJj- t&fe get-up of the conscriyfci. IJhey sang,cowc songs about the Due d'Orlwvuss (q.¡ajillk The advertisement car of a gaar windiftill restaurant was surmounted by a windU jpill, on the top of which ballet dancing went om Qf a Bausic-hall kind. One of the day's, sights, t was the Culinary Exhibition in the PUviTion. ae la Ville de Paris. Behind the Palais de* l'lndustrie speeches were made by Berenger,. the senior member of the Association of French Cooks, and M. Delevoy, the delegate of the' Antwerp cooks. A buffet stood in the centre of the hall, on which were laid two hundred- artistic dishes to be exalDinec1 by the jury. WE ARE CLAMORING FOR POTTED RABBIT. The withdrawal of the munificent offer by ;Ile New South Wales Government of the £ 25, 000 Srire for a trustworthy cure for the rabbit pi.- 4gUe oes Hot speak eloquently for our much-vau nted scientific progress. Monsieur Pasteur's mic robe- soup scheme has failed, with upwards of 1,300 other suggestions, to commend itself tfw the Rabbit Commission. As, counting bonu ¡;e." to fkrmers and others, it costs about as much J kill a rabbit in Australia as it does to buy* .on(. in England, it seems a pity, remarks a contemn orary, that nothing can be done towards organi sine, a trade in Antipodean bunnies for the home market. An energetic capitalist, ma" kirn' a business of the thing, and freed from th> neces- sity for paying fancy rewards, ought to have no difficulty in putting rabbits "free on be ard at a colonial port at a very small figure p er head Allowing for all charges, the subsequen t sale of the rabbits, at say la. each in London. does not look unreasonable. A 35-MILE LIGHT. The most, powerful electric light: in existence has recently been put into operatio n in a light- house at Houstholni, on the dangex -ous coast of Jutland. It is of 2,000,000 can die power, mounted on a tower about 200 feet hi gh, and can be seen at a distance of 35 miles e ven in rainy weather. MR GLADSTONE AND METHODISM. I The republication of Mr Gladstone's review of a novel entitled Ellen Middleion," written by the late Lady Georgiana Fullerton and published in 1844, has produced a. profound impression. How far it may affect one party or the other within the ample borders of the Church of England remains to he seen. But the part which affects the great body of Christians outside its pale and which cannot be classed with Noncon- formists (the Methodists) could not be allowed to pass without a protest and a comment. Putting I their parts and numbers together (for sooner or later they are bound to form one homogeneous whole), they yield an aggregate which gives them the foremost position anions the Protestant denominations of the world, though their membership is guarded by limitations which do not exist in any other church. The matter stood thus :-The editor of a Roman Catholic magazine Merrie England, stated that he had obtained Mr Gladstone's permission to reprint the review which he did last month. Mr Gladstone has ever been a vigorous striker, and the antithetical observations of the article on conversion and the parallel and contrast drawn between John Wesley and John Henry Newman as contained in the following extract would touch the ^sensibilities of any Methodist, however pachydermatous he might be :— Then came that impatient reaction of minds which felt themselves defrauded of the great living powers enshrined in the Gospel Covenant, and they determined to recover tho..e powers, and they sought, as it were, to ensure the possession and enjoyment of them by compressing their whole agency in a short and single crisis a life of loathsome sin. the sharp pangs of a moment, hour, or day, and then a fixed, almost a dogged, assurance of sanctity and of felicity imagined to be founded on the principle of faith. Tuiswas the history of the Christian soul in a peculiar phase of the world's religious life. But this device, so short, so cheap, so simple, has long ago become full of cracks and fisiure-, a strong man, as we readily grant, And an earnest one, made it, and it lias served it day and done its work a stronger man is destroying it, aii(I 1, deeper truths rapidly resume their sway, and promise the revived consciousness and use on behalf of the people of Christ of all the means of discipline which He graciously bequeathed to them. This appeared so manifestly out of date—if not altogether out of joint with the present time-— that I addressed a letter to Mr Gladstone asking if he still accepted the responsibility of these views, or whether in allowing the repuhlication of the article any qualifying note or comment at this late period was unnecessary. To this the right honourable gentleman replied asking me to call upon him. At this interview Mr Gladstone at once said that, without imputing any want of good faith to Mr Meynell, he had no recollection of any request to reprint this review. The request was to reprint something, but what that something was he could not recollect. The letter was missing, and the permission accorded was not believed to extend to an entire article. The review was written by a young man forty six years ago, and in that form was not to be judged by the lights of a later day." Mr Gladstone further reminded me that some time ao he had published a collection of his earlier writings from which this particular article was omitted. "Certainly," he said, "I should not have allowed the article to have been repuhlished without some considerable note on several matters to which the article refers, and among them those to which you demur. If I could find i time to go over the ground the article covers, I would myselt republish it with very full notes on the po-iiils at issue." Traversing the quotations, I suggested that the strong and vigorous reference to the process of conversion as held by the Methodists suggested that the writer had forgotton the real definition of a tru e Christian, as exemplified in the case of John W.esley and every real Methodist through- out the -world. "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect but I follow after, if by any means I might attain." These words wer 3 not spoken by one who had a "dogged assurance' or "imagined felicity." Mr Gladstone earnestly responded, I accept those words by all means." Then," I replied, was not St. Paul a remarkable instance of instantaneous conver- sion ? "Und ouibtedly," said Mr Gladstone, and I do not question that condition in any. Dr Paley was asked if he believed in it, and he replied, As well ask a man who has been saved from ship- wreck if he knows he is saved.' But there are the two. great classes those such as our Lord addressed in His day, who receive the Gospel as little children, and the cultured classes, if 1 may so tei mi them, the Scribes and Pharisees. The book dealt with the latter, and it was to such as these my observations applied. I agree with you tha t all must come down to the same level and receive the Gospel as a little child, but how few of the cultured classes do this You hear of n Jen who profess a change, but where is the evidence, where are the fruits ? The great want of the age is sermons which denl with the exceed- ing sinfulness of sin, and not allow it to be passed i -over as of secondary consequence." [ Questioned as to the comparison drawn between John Wesley and Cardinal Newman, Mr Gladstone .replied There could he no comparison they were utterly dissimilar. John Wesley's work was written across the history of the world, and would probably increase in power as time passed. My remarks on Cardinal Newman had relati m to that large and important work he was doing at tho time his 'Parochial Sermons were issued of his later works 1 say nothing. His work was a work of disintegration, which is still felt as much at Oxford as elsewhere, but will doubtless become fainter as the years go by. I expressed as much at the in- auguration of Keble College, a movement in which I did not sympathise." I gave Mr Gladstone some facta and figures with regard to the progress of Methodism, and was asked to what the Evangelical movement in the Church of England was due. I replied I thought it might be placed to the influence exercised by the Wesleys over such men as Toplady, R omaine, Simeon, Newton, and others. In this view Mr Gladstone ultimately concurred, and in further t conversation agreed that the impending struggle in this country would be one of religious belief. I He spoke very strongly of some of the phases of I faith which are offered in these days to soothe the 1 perturbed minds of men. I In leaving, I casually observed that the first 1 time I heard him speak was at the unveiling of the 1 statue of Sir Robert Peel at Manchester. He replied, Why that was in 1853. Ah, that is a long while ago." DISCOVERY OF A COALFIELD IN KENT For the past two or three years Sir Edward Watkin, the chairman of the South-Eastern Rail- -ay and Channel Tunnel Companies, has been directitig his attention to a search for coal at a ifBoint on the South-Eastern Railway adjoining the experimental heading for the tunnel, and the dill. cffleery of a bed of coal lias now been announced by Mr Francis Brady, the engineer-in-chief of the th-Easterll and Tunnel Companies, under w -hose directions the operations have been con- di xeted. Mr Brady says that coal was reached at 1 1'jBOft. below the surface, and that a small qua utity of clean, bright coal found in the clay was tested by burning, and proved to be of good bitu, m-titous character. The se.,tin was struck after passing through 2Cft. of clay grits and blackish shales belonging to the coal measures, which at this point .be close under the lias. there being only a. few intervening be In of sand, limestones, and black cl. \V separ ating th m. The corres- pondence of t he deposits with those found in the Somersetshi coalfields is thus pretty close, the difference co twisting in the absence of new red marl in the Sh ikspeare boring. The lines of bedding in the shale ar distinctly horizontal, and this is an indication' that the coal measures will probably he found a t a reasonable depth along the South-Eastern Riil wity to the westward. A NEW REMBRANDT. Who would have thought it possible at this time of day to light upon an unknown Rembrandt 1 And yet for the last few days nothing has been talked about in Paris but the strange adventures of an innocent expert, of which the following is in brief the story. A sale was advertised at Pecq, a little town near St. Germain-en-Laye, of the furniture of an old lady who had died leaving as sole heir a daughter who was insane, and there- fore legally a minor. Among the property to be sold there was a picture of unknown origin which had long been in the family, and which the export entrusted with the management of the sale catalogued as School of Rembrandt: Jesus and the disciples at Emnuus." Now the wife of a picture dealer who owned some property at Pecq, pas-ing by the house shortly before the sale, saw the picture, and was so struck by it that she telegraphed to her husband, who was just, then abroad, to come back at once. He had no sooner examined the so-called "Supper at Emmaus than lie was convinced, first that the expert htd wrongly christened it, the chief person I go in I he picture possessing the flowing white betrd of a pa riarch secondly, that the painting had every appearance of being a genuine R'mbrandt. However, this wide-awake individual concealed his joy. He scented not only a master- piece but a good stroke of business into the bargain, and took good care to keep his own counsel. He sent for a little local cabinet maker, and told him to bid for the picture, the value of which he did not reveal. An amateur, labouring under the timidity proper to one who is neither a millionaire nor a dealer, having noticed the picture, also attended the sale meaning to bid for it. At 4,050f. (£162), however, he fell off, and left the game in the hands of the worthy cabinet maker, whose combined obstinacy and prodigality excited no small astonishment among the peaceful citizens of Pecq. Their astonishment, however, was nothing to that of the miraculous expert who had valued the picture at 200 francs When the sale was over and the picture taken to Paris to the house of its new owner (M. Stephan Bourgeois) the news soon spread. The subject was seen to be "Abraham Eating with the Angels," and at the top of the picture, to the left, was discovered the signature Rembrandt p., 1656," the date of the admirable "Jacob," of Cassel and of the Denial of St. Peter at the Hermitage. It was the period of that broad and ardent manner, weighted with learning and yet magnificently free, full of self-abandonment and yet on occasion of self-restraint, which the Syndics" of 1661 was destined to express in its most truruphant form. I do not feel disposed as yet to express a positive opinion on this new Rembrandt, which has so noisily and unex- pectedly made its appearance in the world. All I can say, having only seen it by artificial light and amongsta chorusof uncompromising admirers, is that while the head of the Patriach seems extremely fine and worthy of the master, the angels strike me as of a somewhat inferior quality, and the execution, generally speaking, has not quite the unquestionable sovereignty of the master at his best. Nevertheless it remains a splendid find. Most connoisseurs do not hesitate to give it the great name of Rembrandt, and truly the dealer who unearthed it did not lose his day. On the morrow of his purchase he refused an offer of 75,000f. ( £ 3,000). But if a sana person had been the heir, he would have something to say to his expert. HEARTLESSNESS IN THE HUNTING FIELD. Some remarkable evidence was given before Dr. Churton, coroner, at Little Budworth, Cheshire, during the inquiry into the circum- stances attending the death in the hunting field ot Major Morris, <th ilussara. James Noden, farmer, said that as the hounds were passing his house in full cry a hunter, unknown, rode up, and said, There is a gentleman seriously hurt down there," ana galloped away after the hounds. Witness found the deceased dead. Some one had tied Major Morris's horse. The coroner re- marked that it was curious that the gentleman should have tied up the horse and not have seen the deceased. A juryman: "But he had seen the deceased, for the body had been turned over and the gentleman requested Mr Noden to see to Major Morris." The coroner said he dared say the gentleman was led away by the excitement of the chase, or he might have supposed Major Morris was only stunned and left him to call at the ;arm. A verdict of accidental death was returned. REFORMING THE WORLDLY. The following strange epistle, addressed to the Chairman, caused great amusement at a meeting of the Richmond Guardians lately: The Hermitage, Barnes. Dear Sir, The small number of inmates attending the Sunday services at the Richmond Union Workhouse Chapel is a deplorable fact, and the guardians have acted wisely in discussing the subject and suggesting means for an improvement. I have no desire to interfere in any way with your chaplain, though I would be glad to help him in making his congre- gation more numerous. With that view I beg to make application for the post of assistant chaplain which I am willing to fill without any fixed salary. I havehadconsiderableexperiellce in reforming the worldly, and I believe I could solve thegreat problem which is now troubling the guardians. I only ask for payment by results. If there are 300 inmates, I think in the course of a few months I could get 250 of these at the Sunday services. I would only stipulate that the Guardians should pay me 4d. per head for every addition to the present number regularly attending the chapel, with an extra ld. per head for each case in which I bring a Roman Catholic to the Established faith. I would also undertake to make the musical services attractive, if the guardians would allow me to put the best singing inmates in surplices, which the lady visitors might make for theru. I would with your permission introduce full choral services with an occasional orchestral accompaniment. This I could make easy, as one of my sons plays the oboe, and tho other the fife, while my daughters are proficient on the 'cello, the cornet, and the double bass. I can also do a little on the trombone, and I would willingly undertake the conductorship. I do not doubt that in a very little time with bright and cheerful services I could bring the whole of the inmates to the chapel regularly. As a minister of the Establish- ment, I am very anxious to commence duty forth- with, and shall be glad if you will lay my letter before the guardians at their next meeting, feeling sure that my inexpensive, offer will be gladly accepted.—Believe me, yours very truly, PJETKR THOMAS MCCCLLUM CURE FOR DIPHTHERIA. A Russian physician announces that he has dis- covered a cure for diphtheria. He says the disease is easily curable by inoculation of erysipelas. HOW TO PLACE A PIANO. At present," says Mr Broadwood, the most popular pianos are the small drawing-room grands,' but the choice should be made according to the size of the room where it is to stand." "Is there any special part of a room where a piano ought to stand ? "—" That can only be determined by the shape and size of the room, and by the position of the doors and windows. The instrument should never be placed where the sound is caught in curtains and hangings but experience has to teach, to a great extent, where the be3t place is. It may sound twice as well in one position as it does in another. Any place where the sound can freely disperse is good, but the instrument should not stand too near the fire, or in a draught. The ornamental covers for the back and the key-board which are now the fashion are a slight protection but the most important point to be considered with regard to a piano is the atmosphere in the room. It should be the same as the atmosphere in a sitting-room —neither hot nor cold, and as equal as possible. Warm, dry, summer air is most favourable to a piano, and on warm, dry days as much of the out- door air as possible should be admitted." SOME CURIOUS CUSTOMERS. "You muat have some strange customers among those who come to choose instruments ?"—" We have indeed. Quite recently we have despatched a grand to a wealthy African native, in the interior of Africa another instrument has recently gone to a part of the Wild West, the chief inhabitants of which are Red Indians. And our trade with India is very large. One of the most extraordinary scenes witnessed in this house was when the celebrated Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of Nepal, General S. Jung Bahadur, &c., &c., came to choose an instrument. He had with him his whole suite, in their gorgeous costumes, blazing with jewels. The Court musician, who represented the entire musical department of the Court, tried the pianos with one finger and made the choice. I believe the only man in the General's household who could play any European instrument was his brother, whose capacity extended to playing the first part of Rousseau's Dream' on the ilute. When a grand concert' had been secured it was paid for at once in gold, and while the money was counted on the desk the whole suite stood round with drawn swords." Several others of the innumerable interesting stories relating to the experience of the firm whose pianos have gone to all parts of the globe were related to me, which Jack of space prevents me from reproducing, but some of which will appear in a most instructive and interesting pamphlet on pianofortes which Messrs Broadwood have in the press. A CHANCE FOR OUR GIRLS. There is only oil) lady landscape gardener in London. A lady representative, who saw her the other day, writes as follows Mis-i F. R. Wilkinson is a young lady of about thirty, with the contemplative eyes and sunburnt face of those who are accustomed to deal with nature. She has a nice, pleasant flat in Bloomsbury, which is furnished in a manner that makes it look exactly as though it were imported from a room in a country house that overlooked the garden. There are old Chippendale chairs, bowls of flowers, and homely-looking curtains made of cretonne to match the paper on the walls. The sitting-room is a keen contrast to the office. This looks like the office of a busy surveyor. Curves and squares decorate the walls. There are mechanical instru- ments, important-looking bureaus, and all the signs of serious business. Miss Wilkinson (who 11 wore a short dress to enable her to get about the better) told me she got her training at the Crystal Palace, where she went through the botanical course. She has now been a landscape gardener for five years. I asked her if it paid her. "Yes," said Miss Wilkinson, it pays me. I make an income quite sufficient for my wants." Well," I asked, can you handle tools and that sort of thin,? The landscape gardener laughed. { That is what my customers ask me. Some ask me if I can dig. But landscape gardeners in the strict sense of the word don't do any of that sort of work. They only design effects and superin- tend the work of carrying them out. I have done a good deal of work in laying out public gardens, and I am at present engaged on the Lawn at Lambeth. I prefer private work, however." Of course your work lies among the wealthy?" Well, I haven't got among any millionaires yet. 1!1 el I get many letters asking me for advice and my terms. I fancy the terms astonish some people who are accustomed to women working cheaply. There is only one unsatisfactory thing about the occupation of a landscape gardener—the results are such a long time appearing." "How do you get about your work ? "Well, I take the measurements of the ground, draw up plans, and send in an estimate. If it is accepted I go down and set the men to work My pupil usually goes about with me. I have only one pupil two or three other girls wanted to come to me, but I fancy the fees were too much. I can't take anybody for less than a hundred a year. My pupil makes tracings of my plans, goes out with me, and at the end of two years she may be able to do something on her own account." Do you employ your own gardeners ?"— Sometimes. In other instances the people employ local men. If there is a regular gardener at the house, there is apt to be a little jealousy. But I make the men do what I tell them. Every- thing always goes smoothly if I get a good fore- man."