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tTTTE SECRET OF THE LAMAS:
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. J tTTTE SECRET OF THE LAMAS: A TALE OF THIBET. CHAPTER XX. THE INQUEST. (From the Daily Papers of June 7th, 1886.) AN inquest was held before the Middlesex coroner to inquire into the death in Half Moon- street of Mr. Pearson, the great financier of Threadneedle-street. The first witness called was Dr. Creswick. He stated that he was in attendance on a patient, who was in a rather dangerouscondition, in a house opposite on the night of June 1st, and that while actually ministering to this gentle- man he noticed some commotion, as far as he could gather, in a room in No. which was situated exactly opposite to that in which he then was. He then heard a cry or scream, and suddenly saw a dark form precipitated from the window and fall on the railings below. Being questioned by the coroner, he stated that he had previously, and was at that time, in actual attendance on Mrs. Pearson, that she was in a very precarious state of health, and that at any moment all hope of saving her life might have to be abandoned. The shock had been terrific, and he was by no means sanguine as to her surviving it. He stated that the room from which Mr. Pearson had fallen was Mrs. Pearson's bedroom. The Coroner: When you arrived at the door of No. did you see anything ?" No." How did you obtain an entrance ?" I rang the bell violently." Who opened the door ?" The French maid, Celeste Dufour." Immediately ?" "Yes." • (l Was she dressed ?" « Yes." What did you do ?" I asked her one or two questions as rapidly as possible, and receiving no intelligible answer, I ran upstairs and entered Mrs. Pearson's bed- room." What was Mrs. Pearson doing ?" She was lying on her bed in a syncope." What did you do ?" I applied at once a stimulant of great power, and in a short time she recovered." Did you see anything in the room that was singular or remarkable 2" n Nothing, except that one of the chairs had fallen down near the window, and that the window was wide open." What is the position and shape of the window ?" It is a large, wide-opening casement, with a low ledge, and it looks straight on to the street. It had been widened and enlarged some time before, as Mrs. Pearson complained of the close- ness of her bedroom during the summer months." "Will it be possible for Mrs. Pearson to attend ?" Quite out of the question. She is in the utmost danger, and will not be able to leave her room for several weeks, if ever." Dr. Creswick then left the witness-box, and constable B 25 was called. He stated that on the night of June 1 he had been on his beat in Piccadilly, and that about 1.15, as nearly as he could judge, he heard a shriek, or cry proceed from Half Moon-street. He had sprung his rattle and proceeded at once in that direction. As he reached the corner of Half Moon-street and Piccadilly he had met the patrol coming up, and calling to them to follow him he had run up the street. While standing in the street, waiting for the sergeant who had gone into the house, he discovered by the light of his lantern some black mass hanging on the area railings to the extreme right of the hall-door. He found it was the body of a man nearly dead, but still struggling a little in his agony. Almost simul- taneously the sergeant called to him from a window above to see what the mass was. He told the sergeant, who immediately came down- stairs with Dr. Creswick, who was in the house. With the utmost difficulty the body was lifted off and placed on the pavement, and the doctor said the gentleman was just dying-and, in fact, he expired without speaking in two or three minutes. Examined by the coroner u Did you hear any shouting or cries before you distinguished this shriek as emanating from' Half Moon-street F" No; if I had, I should have gone to see what was the matter." "How do you fix the time at which you had heard this shriek ?" Because I had heard Big Ben strike one, and a few minutes after we found the body I looked at my watch and found it was 1.20." What sort of a night was it ?" Very dark, and very still and oppressive." Did you see or hear anything else during the night which was likely to have any bearing on this inquest ?" "No, I do not remember anything out of the way, except something like a thunder- bolt ?" « What do you mean by a thunderbolt p" Well, a sort of lightning and thunder in the sky." Oh you mean a thunderstorm." No, it was not that; it was too short for a thunderstorm." When did it occur p., "Just before I heard the cry." Describe to the jury what it was like." Well, I was looking about me just after Big Ben had struck, as the patrol was soon due on my beat, and all of a sudden the whole sky was lit up just above where I was standing, and every house, and everything about me, was as clear as day, and clearer for a minute; and then I heard a roll of thunder, and it was quite pitch-dark again in a second." Question by a juror: "Have you ever seen so curious an atmospheric display before ?" Never." Sergeant Jenkins was then called. His state- ment was much the same as that of Constable B 25 as regarded the events in the street, the finding of the body, &c. He, however, further informed the jury that, on arriving in the bed- room, he found Dr. Creswick already adminis- tering, apparently, restoratives to Mrs. Pearson. He searched the room for any weapon, or any- thing likely to elucidate the mystery, but found nothing. The maid Celeste Dufour was standing at the door when he entered, fully dressed, and in a very incoherent state. He asked her if she could give any explanation, and she volun- teered the statement that, having often to wait on her mistress at night, she had lain down on her bed, dressed, and hearing voices in her mistress's room at a late hour (her own room was just overhead) she had come downstairs, and while at the door, uncertain whether to enter or not, eha had heard a scream, had rushed into the bedroom, seen Mrs. Pearson lying apparently dead on the bed, the window wide open, and the overturned chair. At the moment the bell rang violently, and she had run downstairs and admitted Dr. Creswick. The sergeant then continued, and stated that on the arrival of the district surgeon and inspector the body had been examined. The jury already knew no wounds except such as would have been caused by the fall were found upon it. He had, how- ever, discovered clenched in the hands of the deceased two deeds or documents signed by Mrs. Pearson, but not witnessed. The eoroner here stated that the purp_rt of these deeds would be explained by a legal gaoatJeman representing Mrs. Pearson. to> t The sergeant continued he also found in the breast-pocket of the deceased's coat a letter in French, signed" Celeste." (At this statement there was a murmur in the court, and the coroner immediately gave orders to suppress all exhibitions of feeling.) The next witness was Celeste Dufour, the French maid. She gave her evidence very clearly and without hesitation. She had evidently made up her mind that it was wisest to tell the whole truth. Her statement in the first in- stance tallied with that of the sergeant, but with this difference, that she announced now that Mr. Pearson had proposed to her to leave London with him that night or the next day; that she had assented that he had told her to be outside her mistress's door at half-past twelve or one o'clock, and to appear at once if he called her; and he had further explained that she might be required to witness some documents. She acknowledged the letter found in his breast-pocket as her own to him, agreeing to certain arrangements, and stating her readiness to elope. She was sharply examined by the coroner, and many questions were asked also by the jury. Nothing, however, was elicited to shake her story in any way; after a severe cross-examination she was per- mitted to stand down. Her evidence, given with so much callousness, and the flippancy of her manner in speaking of the death of the man who was preparing to elope with her, and also her evident animus against her invalid mistress, evoked a strong murmur of anger in the court, which the coroner was quite unable to suppress. The next witness was Mrs. Pearson's lawyer, Mr. Crisp, of Crisp and Crust. He stated that one of the documents found in Mr. Pearson's hands had been prepared by him, much against his will, but at the express wish of Mrs. Pearson, who desired to benefit her husband by handing over to him, without any power of repudiation or any safeguard, the bulk of her funded property, s which was very large. The other deed, he said, was also of the same nature, bub had evidently been prepared by a lay, not a legal, hand, and was intended to effect the placing at Mr. Pearson's disposal of a very large accumulated fund which belonged to Mrs. Pearson's nearest relation, a gentleman who it was supposed was dead, but who Mrs. Pearson always persisted in thinking might be alive. She (Mrs. Pearson) was his heiress, but she had never touched any of his money, but had allowed it to accumulate. Examined by the coroner Did he know Mr. Pearson ? Oh, yes, very well." "Was he in pecuniary difficulties?" "Could give no answer, but thought it was possible, as he was a great speculator." THE NEXT WITNESS WAS CELESTE DUFOUR. I Had he known him to lose money lately ?" "No, but he had undoubtedly had heavy reverses in speculation." Who had paid his losses for him ?" Mr. Stafford, Mrs. Pearson's uncle and guardian." Was Mr. Stafford alive ?" No, he was dead." When did he die ?" About a year ago." Were Mr. and Mrs. Pearson on friendly terms ? Yes; Mrs. Pearson was always ready to assist her husband." Was he kind to her ? He should not like to answer, though he had never heard her complain." What would be the effect of the documents not being witnessed ? They would be invalid. But he wished to state that Mrs. Pearson intended, in any case, to pay all her late husband's creditors." This ended the evidence. The coroner put the case clearly before the jury, and drew atten- tion to the fact that the question really was, whether Mr. Pearson had committed suicide, or had fallen accidentally from the window. The jury retired, and after a short space of time returned the following verdict: That Mr. Pearson's death was accidental, and that they thought immediate steps should be taken to place some bar across the windows of No. —, Half Moon-street, so as to obviate the possi- bility of any accidents of a like nature. They commended the conduct of constable B 25 for his promptitude, and would have liked to have read a sermon to Mile. Celeste, but that was not permitted. So ended this remarkable case—one which has excited a great deal of attention, and is even now, in the opinion of many people, still wrapped in mystery. CHAPTER XXI. THE EPILOGUE BY THE AUTHOR—" BEST." I HAVE just been down to Tirham Manor. I have spent a most delightful week. Mr. and Mrs. Aylward are charming in their own house, and a more perfect host and hostess I have never seen. Aylward has revised my notes, and has consented to my publishing this story- dates and names being so altered as to guard him and his from public curiosity, He is very well now, and seems to have entirely recovered from the prostration which attended his illness. He was in a hypnotic state for over forty-eight hours after that terrible night, and was very ill for many months. As for Mrs. Aylward (or Pearson, as she waa twelve months ago), her recovery was won- derful. She was worse than Aylward for some time, and Dr. Creswick never thought he would be able to save her life; but, oddly enough, as soon as Aylward began to mend, so did she, and the doctor informed me he never saw so curious an instance of sympathetic and cognate nursing. Each patient seemed necessary to the other; the same climate or change of scene suited either equally well; and, in point of fact, once Aylward entered on the road to good health, Mrs. Pearson followed suit, and began to improve as well. After a little more than a year's mourning, Mrs. Pearson became Mrs. Aylward. It was found to be quite true that the deeds which were clutched in Pearson's hands, being un- witnessed, were invalid; so that, although a very large portion of Mrs. Pearson's property went to her husband's creditors at her express desire, much of her large property remained intact. No two people oould be happier than my friend and his wife, and though I think he now and then longs for the erudite instruction and mystic discussion of the Lamas, and though I have seen him at times gaze wistfully at the curious and indelible circlet on the finger of his left hand, one glance at the radiant face of his wife, and a sly look at her wedding-ring, reminds him of their cognate existence and the mystic bond between them, and satisfies him that though he has preferred the joys and pleasures of this world to the life in those higher spheres that might have been his, he has (as far as in his power lay) obeyed truthfully and honour- ably the behests of his great teacher Tali- Lama. For he has indeed passed, as was fore- ordained, through great trouble and sorrow to that phase of existence which is nearest akin to Perfect Rest "—a happy peaceful home shared with the one being whose love and life was and is bound up with his for ever. It may interest some roaders of this story (says the author) to know that the curious machine which Aylward used on that awful night has become of great value to humanity. It is now employed at coastguard and light- house stations, and flashes signals of warning and hope to many a hapless mariner, while the thunder-like reports which can be produced simultaneously with the flash-lights, help even in the thickest weather to indicate to seamen who have lost their reckoning the whereabouts of rocks and shoals. The maritime world owes a deep debt of gratitude to the learning of the Lamas, and the intelligence of their English pupil Teschanin." THE END.
THE GOOD MATCH:
THE GOOD MATCH: A GIRL'S IDEAL. I think the young men are mistaken about us young women." What do you mean ?" I replied to the above remark of my pretty cousin. You surely do not mean to deny that the average young woman of our time is charmed with what money can buy ?" Of course not. But we are no more enamoured of wealth than young men are. I think we care less for it than young men do. Few of us thirst enough for riches to make any serious attempt to win them by efforts of our own. There are not a few young women in this country to-day who have had an education in every way equal to that of their young brothers. Yet these women, brilliant and capable, as I claim, are content if they earn a good living, or if they marry and never utilise their special studies for a special success in life, as you men call it. The idea that the girls are crazy after money! How many young men would be willing to begin a married life with some good girl they loved, on the same revenue with which the true- hearted girl herself would be content ?" Well, go on. This is in the right vein, if you are sure you know girls." I ought to know them. I am with them—one of them, indeed. And if you will not laugh at me, cousin mine, I'll confess frankly that if I loved the boy, I'd like nothing better than to begin the struggle of life with him, and help him to make and save his fortune. Thereafter, if I wanted a shilling of pocket-money, I should not feel like a beggar when I reached out my gloved hand for it, and bashfully swung my parasol in the other hand. I have often laughed at mother over the hesitating way in which she stands before father, the best of men, and stammers, and frames two or three preconceived sentences of request while the carriage waits to take us shopping." We rambled on, talking next of our mutual friend, as noble a girl as ever wed, who was astonished, the third week from her marriage, by the sheriff's officer at the door, and was compelled to listen to the read- ing of a writ of attachment for all the pictures on the wall, the house and grounds, before her husband re- turned from business to explain that he had failed. We remembered how brave and happy she was, like a heroine in fiction how she laughed at our condolence, not offensively nor falsely, but with right good cheer how she pro- tested that she was glad she was wife instead of affianced in such a dark day, for now she was privi- leged to be ever at her good man's side. Indeed, she stoutly said it, that a good Providence had hurried on their wedding. For," said she, if George and I had not been married when we were, you see we should not have been for many a long day. George would never have had the trust in my couiage and hardihood to have asked me to share a bankrupt's home. Father would have decided it imprudent—no, no, the world would have pronounced it out of the question-and so my George would have had his struggle all alone. But we are married Thank God that can never be prevented now, though all the banks in England fail! She was of heroic spirit. The event has proved that it was a providence. The quick wit of that bright girl, her sunny fortitude, her hearty greetings after every day's up-hill toil, her hope in hours of gloom, her graceful and becoming economy- she promptly laid aside the diamonds of the prosperous wedding-day—and her ability to make new friends and keep the old; these were a sumless wealth to George. The fellow is long since on his feet again, and never tires of praising the true wife that helped him to all the listening ears of their little world. To be sure, no manly man will invite a. woman to share beggary. To be out of employ, with no reason- able prospect of a revenue that will well feed one, is to be ordered to wait; for marriage will keep sweeter in store than in use in such a case. It may be that studying for one's profession will yet with propriety take all of one's time and mear s for several years. The married man in college is handicapped from his freshman year; he feels himself a man amid boys, compelled to be a boyish man. The young civil engineer is yet to measure mountains and throw bridges across wilderness streams; he had best wait till he returns from his survey of the new Pacific Railroad before he asks her to share his lot. But these prudential dictates of average good senpe complied with, we have no hesitation in saying that wedded life is happier till death do them part," if hand in hand the two have toiled up through the various ascending stages of good fortune. Love grows by what it feeds upon. Days of mutual self-denial; days of planning when both ?ee eye to eye, and must perforce contrive to make the ends meet; and so the habit of perfect unison is acquired, a habit which nothing can break; days of generous solicitude for each other's strength and endurance under the burdens which each knows the other is bearing, with such prayers and hovering thoughts, now pity, now admiration, and all the tenderness which grows with mutual thinking in each other's behalf days of courage, when one is ready to sink, but that tho other is so hopeful that it would be a downright shame to desert him (her) in his splendid courage; days of sadness, when two hands alone of all the world clasped each other in the gloom, and, speechless, held each other hard and long, walking, by faith and not by sight—these are the food of love. When an old man and his mate have so come up from nothing," keeping step to the dull music of poverty till it broke into the symphony of opulence, then it is that they know each other's very souls, then it is that they twain have become as one." It dses one's heart good to watch them as they walk the earth together. It may be, to be sure, that the mutual heirs of riches, ever since their wedding-bells, can love as fondly yes, it may be; but it is not so in arms, where comrades of the bivouac and the battle love as holiday soldiers never can. And these comrades of life's longer battle seem to keep a closer step, from the drill of many a toilsome march and faithfulness of many a fronting of a selfish world. Perhaps it ougbt not to be written still, for all that, we cannot help saying it in our thoughts, that it is indescribably sad to see one of these faithful twain sink into her grave, with her frosty hair not quite snow-white on her brow, and a younger head come to take the place and station which her true hands wrought out of poverty into plenty. We only say it is gad: not that it is bad and the sadness no one feels more keenly than he who never openly speaks of it now and the voice of memory only whispering unutterable reveries to his soul. Suppose the-youth and maid agree to wait. For what ? Why, for certain oarpets, chairs, lace curtains, a comely-looking house, and chair* and tables. Pjle up this rubbish in a hoap and look at the gilded, costly mass. For these he loads himself withuncom- panioned years, temptations which beset the home- le8- long waitings that make the heart eiek. For these she puts him off and compels him to slave it a, if he were a corsair, and she a sea-king's bargain to go with a hewp of barter. It isn't worth the while young people-theve earpets, ehaira, lace curtains] &e. Life isnt long enough. The world is too un- friendly. If you can earn an honest living, and are reasonably sure of it fbr three years to come, do as your fathers and mothers did, for they began poor and have done fairly well. It is the curse of our times that men will not marry for a true heart's sake, but mainly decide to marry or not to, by the price of a bronze timepiece with klide ornaments. It is a slander on the girls. If they, in fact, are of such temper—and you can find out by the asking—then they are not worth marrying at all. But it is not the girls; it is the foolish boys, who neither trust themselves nor their fair companions. No true woman is selfish she would scorn to ask for self a life of velvet ease wrought out at the expense of another, if it were possible for her to do her part for the same. Everywhere the cry is, A good match!" It sometimes seems to-day as if it were the universal desire. Well, look around you a little, and make an honest study of such as you can discover them. Are they the happiest ? The question seems heartless, because it uncovers so much of well-known infelicity. Meanwhile the country boy and girl, the English mechanic and the emigrant, are planting happy homes of equal toil and equal joy, as bright at least as one can hope for in this life, all over the land.
DRESS OF THE DAY.
DRESS OF THE DAY. Mantles of velvet, plush or matalasse, are worn (says a writer in the Graphic) by matrons. Many of these garments are trimmed with fur, which will con- tinue to be popular throughout the month. Those prepared for weddings and other festive occasions are more or less richly trimmed with jet and silk passementerie. The newest jackets of the season are three-quarters long, made with a single or double box-pleat at the back, braided or embroidered in gold thread with either a band of fur round the hem, or a wide trimming of the gold embroidery. The sleeves are made with large puffs to the elbow, whence they are quite tight to the wrist-a very uncomfortable form when worn over a bodice, as they not only crush the under-sleeves, but also stop the circulation of the blood and make the hands red. A NBW COAT. I Loose jackets of the square, coaching type are much affected for morning wear, also as travelling and driving wraps, aud although they completely disguise a small, graceful figure, yet are undoubtedly ehie and characteristic. Some of these coats are made with whole backs, which fit across the shoulders, but fall in a species of wide box-pleat below. These coats naturally demand the skill of an experienced tailor, but a fashionable sacque-coat of the square type is shown in the sketch accompanying, and has a very uncommon and stylish appearance, while it is not beyond the powers of the amateur dressmaker. We are indebted to the Lady for the design given. Our contemporary has working diagrams and direc- tions for making also. As the shop windows will, perhaps, have told you, Empire bows, sashes, rosetted belts, and, in fact, ribbon decorations of every description for the light- ing up of morning as well as evening gowns have had the effect of again bringing into favour the so- called seamless bodice with a round waist; that is, a bodice with the back and front each in one piece, the only seams being at the sides, under the arms, and on the shoulders. The bodice fastens invisibly up the left side with small hooks and eyes, the front and back parts of it are fitted to the figure by small pleats at the waist, gathered into a round band. Over this band is worn either a ribbon belt with a large rosette at the left side, or else a soft silk or broad ribbon sash folded round the waist, and tied in a large bow with long ends, eitherin front or sometimes slightly to the side. Sarah Bernhardt has been wearing a very unique dress in La Dame de Challant" in New York. It is of yellow brocade, bordered on both train and bodice with sable cut into squares. Each square is outlined with gold embroidery, and finished at every corner with a topaz. These topaz are used on the edge of the train in three rows, above a band of sable. The skirt is of silk, also edged with squares of gold embroidery and topaz. Round the waist is a handsome girdle of gold also studded with these stones, and the brocade Henri IV. bat has a brim cut into squares, which are edged with them. FANCY BALL COSTUMB. I We take the above striking fancy dress ball costume from the iMtly. Its wearer went as Mary Queen of Scote, represented by a splendid blaek robe with a white satin-quilted panel, and sleeves slashed with white satin. The veil was of white tulle, the bodice and hea-d-dreee being trimmed witfh pearls, two fine diamond stars and diamond brooch, and fan of black feathers. Cowslip yellow is a favourite shade for evening gowns. Tea gowns are almost exclusively made with W at- bean backs. Pompeiian red and Uhlan blue are among the new colours. Long sleeves with decollete corsages are quite the newest fancy on evening gowns. The fashionable young woman now calls a gown a "frock." Sleeve buttons representing ears of corn are seen in profusion. Flounces are becoming more and more popular. Ice blue is cthe latest colour, and has merely the faintest tinge of blue in it. Chiffon is used for vests, ties, jabot effects, fronts of tea gowns and evening dresses, tops of sleeves, and panels. Corselets of gold embroidery are still worn, while the Swiss peasant bodice has come to stay. The riding-habit waist, cut extremely short on the hips, is a favourite style for tailor-made frocks. Open-work slippers of jetted passementerie, worn over gold-coloured silk stockings, are the latest fancy to wear with a black and gold costume. Metal epaulettes, Hungarian frogs, and swinging cords is the latest vagary in the line of garniture for out-of-door gowns and garments. Satin r bbon strings are aboiit to replace those of velvet on capotes and round hats, and the tendency is to return to the old fashion of tying the bow under the chin, and having long ends fall low on the dress waist. Pointed corsages give a slender effect, and are therefore worn by those inclined to embonpoint, while sleeves puffed to the elbow accompany such waists, as they best disguise arms that are considered too large. Six or seven yards of double-width wool goods will make a dress in the simple way now fashionable, with a bell skirt and belted waist. Some fancy material may be added for a yoke, belt, collar, and cuffs, such as ribbed velvet or striped moire, with gav colours on a black ground, or else dotted on brocaded satin. Flower fringes are very popular, and they come in all dainty blossoms, such as forget-me-nots, violets, valley lilies, and small blossoms generally. With them come pretty and effectively arranged garlands for the corsage, and sometimes a little coronet for the hair, with a few nodding blossoms standing up in aigrette fashion.
HINTS TO HOUSEWIVES.
HINTS TO HOUSEWIVES. -+- GINGER BISCUITS.—Rub four ounces of fresh butter into half a pound of flour, and add three tablespoon- fuls of sugar, half an ounce of ground ginger, and one egg beaten up with a little milk to a smooth paste. Make up into small round biscuits, and bake on buttered paper for eight or 10 minutes leave a little distance between each cake. Probable cost, 8d. for this quality. Sufficient for about two dozen biscuits.- Cassell's Cookery. Asric JELLY.—Pack into a stew-pan a couple of calves' feet chopped in small pieces, a few slices of ham, and the carcase of an old fowl, with a couple of onions and two carrots cut in slices, a head of celery, one shalot, some parsley, sweet herbs, and spices whole, pepper and salt to taste fill up with com- mon stock, and set the whole to simmer gently for three or four hours strain off the liquor into a basin, and when cold carefully remove all fat. Put the jelly into a saucepan on the fire, and when the jelly is melted add to it as much sue colorant or caramel as may be required to give it a proper colour then whisk into it the whites of two eggs and a wineglass- ful of tarragon vinegar let it come to boiling point, and strain it through a jelly-bag; if not quite clear, warm it again and strain a second time. EVERTON TOFFEE.-llb. of sugar and 5oz. of butter boiled together for 15 minutes. Dried alwonds may be added. BREAD.—Put into a bowl 161b. flour and a good handful of salt; mix thoroughly with the hand; take 3d. German yeast, dissolve in a little warm water, crush the yeast with a fork to assist in dissolving; when dissolved add one quart of warm milk; then pour this mixture into the flour, having first made a hole in the middle; mix to a thick batter, no lumps, and not to the bottom cover lightly with flour, and leave it to sponge, say 40 minutes, until the yeast rises well and bubbles through the flour; knead well 40 minutes, adding warm milk and water as required knead until the dough leaves the hand quite clean leave it to rise two hours away from the fire, make into loaves, again kneading well; let them rise about quarter hour; bake in an oven say about an hour, turning them round four times. VICTORIA PUDDING.—Take the weight of two eggs in butter, flour, and sugar. Add three tablespoonfuls of marmalade and a pinch of carbonate of soda. Beat all together, pour into a well-greased basin, or mould, and steam for two hours. DEODORISERS AND DISINFECTANTS.—A deodoriser, it should be remembered, simply neutralises the un- pleasant odours of a room. and is in no sense a disin- fectant. Where a disinfectant is needed, as in case of sickness, it is always better to obtain one from a physician. Coffee is one of the best deodorisers which we have. It should be simply ground and passed around the room on a hot shovel, on which two or three live coals have been placed. Burned cotton or cotton rags are also valuable for this purpose. Aromatic vinegar and camphor are both excellent deodorisers, and may be sprinkled freely in the sick-room. The practice of some nurses who use Cologne water, sprinkling it freely through the room by means of an atomiser, is very commend- able, as it proves grateful and refreshing to a patient. A pail of clean cold water set in newly- painted rooms is said to have a neutralising effect on the poisonous odour given out by new lead paint. Is is safer, however, not to occupy such a room until it has become thoroughly dis- infected and deodorised by pure fresh air. One of the simplest and safest deodorisers to use about the house is chloride of lime. Care should be taken to buy only the best quality and to purchase it only of a thoroughly trustworthy chemist or druggist. Even fresh whitewash a powerful pnritler: and disin- fectant of the atmosphere, and for that reason the cellar and the outbuildings, where there is a danger of poison from decaying animal or vegetable matter, should be frequently whitewashed. Hence the systematic use of some disinfectant like whitewash here is obvious, as the atmosphere of the cellar penetrates more or lebs into all parts of the house above it.
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His coloured domestic was scrubbing away at a map of the United States, when he asked her Look here, Dinah, what makes you scour all the while on that one spot there ? Golly, Massa Smith," ex- plained Dinah, dar's a fly-spec dar, dat won' come out nohow this chile can fix him." "Bless your heart, Dinah, that is the little State of Rhode Island that you are trying to wipe out with your mop." Golly, massa," exclaimed Dinah, "and dat am de state of Rhode Island, and dis chile was borned dere, and now you couldn't git one of dese feet in the whole State ? A WOMAN'S heart is just like a lithographer's stone -what is once written on it cannot be rubbed out. IN the year 1776, when the American Congress ap- pointed a committee to draw up the celebrated Decla- ration of Independence, and Jefferson, as their chair- man, had drafted the document, his colleagues struck out about one-third of his draft, and very materially altered the remainder. Jefferson was greatly dis- gusted, when Franklin, to soothe the irritated vanity of the outraged author, told him the following anec- dote: When be was a young man, he said, a friend of his, who was about to set up in business for him- self as a hatter, consulted his acquaintances on the important subject of his sign. The one he had pro- posed to himself was this, John Thomson, hatter, makes and'sells hats for ready money," with the sign of a hat. The first friend whose advice he asked suggested that the word hatter was entirely 19 superfluous to which he readily agreed, and it was struck out. The next remarked that it was un- necessary to mention that he required "ready money" for his hats-few persons wishing credit for an article of no more cost than a hat, or, if they did, he would sometimes find it advisable to give it. These words were accordingly struck out, and the sign then stood, that "John Thomson makes and sells hats." A third friend who was con- sulted said that, when a man looked to buy a hat, he did not oare who lnade it; on which two more words wera struck out. On showing to another the sign thus abridged to "John Thomson sells hats," he ex- claimed, Why, who will expect you to give them away?" on which cogent criticism two mare words were expunged, and nothing of the original sign was left bat John Thomson," with the sign of the hat.
BITS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
BITS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. THE PERFECT GIRL. The perfect woman, like the perfect peach or the perfect rose, should not be judged so much by what she is as what she hopes or aims to be. She loves the beautiful, the refined, and the artistic, and her wishes and endeavours are ever reaching out to get them and yet her environment and fate have placed her within certain walls beyond which she cannot pass, and so her passion for beauty, that might have glowed in painting and lived in sculptured forms, takes on another form and appeals to the world in bloom of house plants and in the adornments of her tidy home. Music that might have charmed listening thousands from the mimic stage lulls infancy to sleep; castles that filled her girlhood dreams live in needlework on tidies and aprons, and the noble prince that waited in the court yard for her coming now reigns her king and lord in the husband of her choice. In fact, the perfect girl is she who can make the best of what she has, and ennoble the low and common, making them sacred and laudable. So for to-day and in the coming days the perfect girl must be one who can do all things well, who can turn the churn or play the piano, who can make bread or model from clay, and who can play the piano or stand over the steaming washtub and crown her head with the soapy rainbows of the Monday's wash. This is the girl that the world wants to-day. It will want her still more to-morrow, and more and more in the years ahead. DEEPEST LAKE IN THE WORLD. By far the deepest lake known in the world is Lake Baikal, in Siberia. It is in every way comparable with some of the great lakes of America, for, while its area is only 9000 square miles, making it much smaller than the three largest of our five great lakes, and about the exact equal to Lake Erie in superficial extent, its enormous depth, 4000 to 5000 feet, makes the total volume of its waters almost equal to those of Lake Superior. Its level is 1350 feet above that of the Pacific Ocean, but, notwithstanding, its bottom is more than 3000 feet below it. There are many other deep lakes in the world, but so far Baikal takes the palm. Lake Maggiore is 3000 feet deep, Lake Como 2000, and Lego-di-Garda—another Italian lake-nearly 1900 feet in depth. Lake Constance averages about 1000 feet, and Lakes Superior and Michigan about 800 feet. BE RESOLUTE. Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. DOES THIS DOG REASON ? Colonel F. N. Barksdale, of the passenger depart- ment of the Pennsylvania Railroad, has a dog that can tell the time of day. Colonel Barksdale has a very'fine clock that strikes only on the hour, and then very slowly. The colonel got into the way of making the dog tap with his foot at each stroke of the clock. Finally he got so he would do so without being told. Just before th.) clock strikes it gives a little click, and whenever the dog heard this he would prick up his ears, raise his paw and gently tap his paw at each stroke without being told. After awhile he got so that when any one clucked like the clock he would get into position and wait for the strokes. He was for a long time confused at not hearing the clock, but after awhile began tapping his paw anyway. The remarkable point is that after awhile he remembered how many strokes were due at each succeeding hour, so that now, whenever the colonel clucks, he gets into position and taps the number of strokes the clock should make next time. Thus, at any time after ten o'clock, he taps eleven times; after four o'clock, five times, &c. Some learned scientists are going to investigate the matter to see whether the dog actually possesses reasoning faculties. Col. Barksdale will not part with the dog under any conditions. NOT FOR GIRLS ONLY. Asa girl is bound to do what she honestly feels she can do best, she should never question how her work may seem to another, provided it does not absolutely injure another. In many cases much more good might be done by girls and women, if, instead of talking so much about the privileges they lack, they should confidently take the place they ought to fill. I should not ask, is this man's work or woman's work, but rather, is it my work ? But, in whatever I attempted I should repeatedly say to myself, Am I keeping my womanhood strong and real, as God intended it ? Am I working womanly ? Sister Dora never questioned whether she ought to bind up the wounds of her crushed workmen she laid them on beds of her hospital, and calmly healed them. Caroline Herschel did not stop to ask whether her telescope was privileged to find her new stars, but swept it across the heavens, and was the first dis- coverer of at least five comets. NEVER FORGET A KINDNESS. A gentleman complained once that of all the children to whom he bad sent presents, only one boy wrote to say Thank you." If boys and girls do not cultivate good manners in the morning of life, they cannot expect to grow up courteous and agreeable. Why, even pussy purrs a Thank you" when you stroke her, and the little daisies seem to look up to Heaven with faces full of praise and thankfulness for the sun and the dew. We know a little canary that does not dream of receiving fresh seed and water without a cheerful twitter of thanksgiving, and yet children will often let people do things for them, and give them presents, without the least sign of gratitude or appreciation. These are for you," we once said to a boy, hand- ing him some sweetmeats his grandmother bad sent him. Yes," was his answer, taking the present quite as a matter of course. These bad manners often come from want of thought, so let all our little readers beware, lest they become as unthankful in manner as that disagreeable little lad. Forget all about unkindnesses or injuries if you like, but never forget a kindness or let it pass un' noticed. Even the poorest children may, in theii behaviour, be little gentlewomen and gentlemen; and be sure there is something very wrong in the breeding or the character of boys and girls who coolly receive all favours and benefits and never look up with th. bright smile so pleasant to see, saying "Thank you: for the favour, whether small or great. THE TRADE RATS OF ARIZONA. A miner near the Senator recently had a rathe singular experience with trade rats, known also a 11 mountain rats. As the nights were cold the mine: took his ore-sack to replenish his rather bard bee Having neglected to come to town for several week his supply of beans had given eut, and he had com down to a diet of straight bacon. Considerably out c humour, he started in to pull his bed to pieces on morning, and in removing the sacks was agreeabl surprised to find three pounds of beans, with a littl coffee mixed, which the trade rats had brougl from the Senator and stored in his be< The rats are native Americans and ver different from their imported Norway cousin They are called trade rats because they generalJ leave some article in exchange for what they tak away. The miner states that he never killed a trac rat; that these rodents habitually steal from or cabin and carry their plunder into an adjoining onf that on one occasion he spilled a couple of quarts < corn on the floor of his cabin, and the next mornir found the rats had stored away every grain of it: a pair of saddle-bags hanging upon the wall. E also states that the rats have thick caudal appen( ages about three inches in length, which they kat constantly throwing up and down, striking the flo with each downward movement with the reguls measured stroke of a musicil professor marking tirn They carry off plugs of tobacco, tooth-brushf combs, and brushes-in fact, anything which they Cé manage to move.
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A NEW YORK paper gravely obeerves that t suicide of a farmer, which it notices, is singulat strange, inasmuch as he has not been in the habit doing such things." IT was a refreshing variation from the gene) run of speeches at temperance meetings when a m got up in Pittsburgh the other day and remarkf Ladies and gentlemen, to bring my nose to this stÆ of blooming perfection has cost me at the least 10,C dols." THE headgear of the Washington policemen called a helmet to distinguish it from a tin basin, language is of some use other than to conceal thoughts.