Weekly Mail

Footlight Flashes. By "ORITiCUS." The play's the thing,-HAMLET, It is said that Mr, IIarry Nicholls does not in- tend appearing in his pantomime" Humpty Duinpty" at Drury Lane this season. Mrs. Langtry, who delivered the inaugural address not long ngo at the opening of the neW theatre at Richmond, has engaged to op?n the ne^ theatre at Cheltenham on October 1. Mr £ Langtry is contemplating another Sliakspeareall production. Miss Cissie Grahame contemplates touring with Mr. Jerome K. Jerome's play Wood harrow Farm,. which will now be known under the title which It enjoyed in America, "The Maisttr of Wood" barrow." It will be first played at the Court Theatre, Liverpool, on the 21st of September. "Pamela's Prodigy," which is to be the next production at the Court Theatre, will once moro introduce to us the quaint English costumes of the first 25 years of the present century, specimens of which were set before us in "Beau Austin" a1: the Haymarkot, When "L'Enfant Prodigue" shall have ceased to a'tract at the Princo of Wales's Theatre, Mr. Horace Sedger contemplates producing an adapta- tion by Mr. William Yardiev of "La Plantation Thoma,siu," which is to ba entitled The Plan- ter." In con?fqnenc3 of Mr. Alfred Cellier's bad slatfl of health he has been compelled to relinquish his task of writing the music for" lJIuo-Eyed SusnD," the new burlesque to be seen at the yhaltesbur? i' .ter on, and Mr. Osmond Carr, whose music in Joan of Arc" is so bright and pleasing, has bo€B called in to complete the work. Mr. W. Lestocq, put author of Jane and th9 writer of several C'eVel' plays, has, in conjunction with Mr. ll, L. Fai-joon, just completed a dram* founded on the liters tovy, Grif," which is also to be the name of the new pliy It is to be pro- duced at the Surrey Theatre by Mr, George Con- quest about the second week iu October, and will deal withAus'r lian life. Produced last at Prury Lane, and rec ived with marked success, "A Sailor's Knot" teems with stirring incident nnd exciting situa- tions. It is true to life and full of the passion and romance that lie dormant in every strong irans breast. P, ttit, never dotie L)ettcr or SO well; and "A Sailor's Knot" will cause Drury Lane to resound with cheers and laughter right up to Christmas, when it must perforce make room for pantomime. It is needless to say that tlie drama is mounted in a superb manner. The improvement effected at the Lyceum has not been simply intrtial. Within the auditorium itself, in addition to much general renovatioDf such important work as raising the roof, enlarging the gallery to twice its old siz?, perfecting the ventilation a'id the sighting, and installing electric light, ha3 been undertaken and success- fully accomplished. But without, the work" men have been equally busy. New ape p.oiches have been made, as, f(,r example', the spacious way to the stalls on the south side, or the wide entrance to the uppeC circle and tho nmphitluatre. The latter p irts oj the house have be°n piovidcd with new saloons and cloak-rooms. Finallr, an important additional exit has been constructed, affording a pit entrance io WeHinoton-stree^. The theatre now in course of erection for George E lward< s in Cranbourne-streef, Leicester- equari', will f; riii an ornament to tho neighbour- hood in which it will be situate. The front and return elevation aro entirely of Ham Hill stone, and boldly and very handsomely trra'ed in tbO Renaissance style. The capacity of the house i3 as follows:—Pi', 500 seats; stalls, 150; dress* circl 150; upper ciret". 150; gallerr, 508; the eight private b< xe?, 32—in all, 1,500. JSaCjj tier is amply provided wi h salcon refreshment Lars and other convenience* Tilo style of tho internal decoration will be tho Renaissance, and no expen.-e spared on the furnislvng and upholstering, w!nC« will be tasteful and artistic. Ne:otia.tie,nq are )ø progress for the leading of the theatr.; (which [nay he c;.Ued ti e Salisbury), for a term of 21 yem% bY Mr. Augustin D.ily, the well-known American manager. Situations in abundance nra d,vel)l,ed in "A Royal Divorce," by Mr. Wlil, produced last week at the Olympic Theatre. Unfortunately (says I a ciitic), the greatest art, "the art to blot, '1"s b,eii and the action is ddiyed by speeches which arc superfluous in themselves and which theac'ors are unable to deliver. In the cafO of a play of this cla.js, it is imperative to have at the helm someone able to control actors who love to hear themselves talk. This is not S"ppl;ed, the story JaDguishe, and the phy is too long. The management is apparently so ig-norant of this fact that time is found for a comic song, delivered urder-ilicredibl,2 conditions, and for ao al fresco bttljt. which fol- lows. When these things arc exe's- d, when th8 !enath of the?pe:ches i.-? riminished, and whentho acicrs decide upon making themselves heard, a I poptihr success may result. The mounting IS good, and tho pictures of the Napoleonic troop9 and their commandyis are very striking. No paing have, in fact, been spared, and be specta- cular aep ets of the play or,) ail that can be desired. Mr. Murray Carson makes up very Napoli-on in his earlier day?, and walks and takes snuff in tho fashion conventionaUy Napoleonic* Miss Grace Hawthorne presents Josephine as all interesting blonde, and declaims with her custo- mary earnestness. Miss G. Esmond is in the sympathetic role of Stephanie de the cousin of the Empress. General Augeneau, Is turned into a not iiuffieient low comedy part. 'Talleyrand is not recognisib'e in the aspcCO assigned him by Mr. Percyvat, and Murut and ile-4 ore little more than supernumerary figures.

The Vanishing Lady Trick. The secret of the Viiiisliing lacty trick hils ben divulged in a French scientific journal. Mos6 people believed that the figure (Ii,,A,,tpp?ar,)dbys tmp in tho stage, but the "blind ot iprcading newspaper on the floor was not, so explained* It turns out that tho newspaper is really of india-rubber printed over, and has a sIt in It by which the subject escapes. As for the silig shawl which, in the more recent exhibition of the trick, appears to vanish with the lady, it is simply whisked off the stage by an invisible wire too quickly to be seen, —mmmm.i——ii É

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED,^ OUR BOYS AND GIRLS: WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. 13.Surveyors of Taxes and Second Division Clerks. By GEORGE MURPHY. (1) SECOND DIVISION CLKUKS. It is now twenty-one years since the system ef open competition was established, and fifteen years since a Lower Division of the Civil Service was constituted. Even in the shorter period, it would be thought that a fair knowledge of Service matters would be in the possession of the public, that such thin^sas the nature of the competitive ordeal and the pay and prospects of successful candidates would be commonplace matters of knowledge. To judge from the questions asked in Civil Ser- vice newspapers and in the papers issued by the coaches," this is very far from being the case, and my own experience confirms the opinion that there does prevail on the subject a good deal of ignorance. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to point out, as re- gards Second Division appointments, the difficulties of the competition, and show how best to overcome them, and give such other information as will be of service to intending competitors and their friends. It may be' within the reader's recollection that a Commission, presided over by Sir Matthew White Kidley, made certain recom- mendations to improve the organisation of the Civil Service. Last year most of these recom- lations were embodied in an Order in Council, *1 they have given general satisfaction 'he name "Lower Division'' was changed, for sentimental reasons, to "Second" Division, and the other principal changes consisted in the abolition of triennial increments, duty- pay, and the six-hours' day. The improve- ment effected was in the substitution of a superior scale of salaries with annual incre- ments, coupled with the promise of promo- tion to the Upper Division as the reward of meritorious services. The length of the working day was provisionally fixed at seven hours by a Treasury Minute of 1889, and the Order in Council made that, length of day compulsory on future entrants. There are no situations in the Civil Service for which com- petition is more severe than for those of the Second Division. The cause is that not only is success worth contending for, but that the scope of the examination is within the capacity of young men of average intelli- gence and slender means. The limits of age are seventeen years and twenty years, but, in order to succeed, it is not essential that a lad should be kept at school until he is of the required age. As a rule, the majority of those who pass are in some regu- lar employment previous to the examination, but they study hard under competent direc- tion during their leisure time. Of course, if parents can afford to train a lad solely with a view to pass the examination the chance of success is enhanced; but I think it would be wise to have congenial employment to fall back upon in the event of failure. It should not be forgotten that the cleverest cannot count upon success in an open compe- tition. In faot, one of the mysteries of the open competitive system is that at every exa- mination numbers of clever, well-prepared youths fail to pass, while others known to be their inferiors succeed. COURSE OF STUDY. The best course a candidate can adopt is to fead and work under the direction of a couch" who knows his business. To attend Ili class and have the benefit of oral teach- ing is better than to be guided by correspon- ience, but competent guidance of any kind is certainly to be preferred to the desultory and useless reading and working which itrp the inevitable accompaniments of tin- usals'ed private study. The next best thing to trained assistance is the possession of good text books. Taking the subjects in the Drthodox order, the candidate will find the following works to be of immense service to him for examination purposes there are none better :-(I) Handwriting, Vere Foster's Civil Service Copy Books (2) orthography, Sullivan's Spelling-book Superseded (3) arithmetic, Harcourt's Tots, L. J. Hyan's Sets, Brook-Smith's Arithmetic, and Ilaugh's Higher Arithmetic; (4) copying manuscript, Johnston's specimens or Ciark's (5) Eng- lish composition, Currie's English Com- position and Abbott's "How to write clearly (6), geography, Meiklejohn's Modern Geography, Johnston's Unrivalled Atlas, and Sullivan's Geography Generalised; (7) indexing or docketing, II unter's; (8) digesting returns into summaries, Tiddesley and Co.'s or Skerry's Practioal Papers: (9) English history, Hoss's Manual and Green's Short History of the English People, with Tait's Analysis; (10) book-keeping, Hunter's, with Hamilton a!d Ball's. EXAMINATIONS, There is a preliminary examination in handwriting, orthography, arithmetic, and English composition. At this examination the qualifying standard is very high, as may be inferred from the failures, which range from 50 to over 60 per cent. The successful candidates compete at the final examination for a certain number of places. The number varies according to the estimated needs of the several departments. This final competition is severe, even when the places competed for are numerous, and, of course, it is still more severe when the vacancies are few. For instance, during the year 1886 1,929 candidates competed for 202 places; while at the examination held in April this year the places numbered 104 and the candidates 626. There is a competition announced for the 29th of Sep- tember for 130 places. This is an exceptional number, and no doubt from seven to eight hundred candidates will be attracted to com- pete. At the last examination, held in April, the first candidate in the open competition soored 1,910 marks out of a possible 2,600, and the lowest successful candidate scored 1,778 marks. It will be seen from this that it is just possible to squeeze in with an all- round score of about 70 per cent. It should be borne in mind, however, that 70 per cent, in one examination may be equivalent to 80 per cent. in another, as the scoring is seriously affected by the difficulty of the questions and the attainments of the competitors. APPOINTMENTS AND DUTIES. I Successful candidates are allowed to name the departments in which they would prefer to serve, and these preferences are given effect I to, as far as is compatible with the exigencies of the public service. Second Division Clerks are employed in about sixty offices or departments in their numerous sub-divisions. The appointments made during June this year will aptly illus- trate this diversity of employment. There were made, in that month, 25 appointments, distributed as follows:—Admiralty, Civil Service Commission, 1; Dublin Metropolitan Police Courts, 1; Inland Revenue, 1; National Education Office, Ireland, 1; Post- office, 12; Public Works Loan Board, 1; Science and Art Department, 4; Board of Trade, 2; and War Office, 1, The work doue by tfca eQoJld Pivwjtfn Clerk is simply the routine clerical work of the office he is engaged in. That work is of almost infinite variety, but its distinctive character is that of the department. In the War Office it is different from that in the Admiralty, while that of the Post-offioe differs from both. His duties are generally well defined, and there is plenty for him to do. The Head of the Department, in his zeal for economy,which is the Treasury test of adminis- trative ability, takes care that the offices are not overmanned. I am aware that the popu- lar conception of the Civil Service clerk is that of a young man who smokes his cigar and reads his newspaper in the office, and who draw:; his salary for killing time, effectually and lazily. The truth is that a Second Division clerk is made to do quite as much work iri the day as a clerk in any commercial firm in England. SALARIES. The scale of salaries, with daily attendance seven hours, is now as follows :— L-70 rising by annual increments of 65 to £100. Then £100 by k7 10s. to £190. Then £100 by tlO to £ 250. There is, also, a higher grade with salaries of k250 by £10 to £350, The receipt of the annual increment is made dependent upon the good conduct of the clerk. This is a disciplinary provision, but the necessary annual certificate is seldom withheld. There are it will be seen, three barriers to be passed before the clerk can enter the higher grade. In the first place, he cannot pass beyond £100 unless his superiors report in a satisfactory manner as to his competence, character, and diligence. In the second place, he must remain at fWO, unless, in their opinion, he is compe- tent to perform work of a superior and more advanced character. Thus, as far as £2;30, promotion is, as a rule, by seniority, the clerk possessing the necessary qualification. Beyond 62-50, however, merit only is the passport, seniority being completely ignored. There- fore it is only a. thoroughly competent and well-conducted clerk who can pass into the higher grade. After a service of eight years a clerk may be promoted to the upper divi- sion. Ile wil, be seleoted on account of excep- tional ability or of special fitness for some particular post. This is only reasonable, and this recommendation, as much as anything else, distinguishes the Ridley from the Play- fair Commission. Under the previous (or Play- fair) system the anomalous state of things obtained that of two clerks engaged in the same room on similar work, one (the higher division clerk) with probably less experience obtained tw ice the salary of the other. Cer- tainly the one passed an examination of a higher educational standarJ, but the recent promotions of men who entered under the lower division scheme serve to prove that there is in their ranks a sufficiently large number of men who possess the ability to fill with credit any position in their department. The annual leave for the first five years is fourteen days, and subsequently 21 days. There is a half-holiday on alternate Saturdays and there are the usual Public Holidays. The superannuation allowance is a minimum of one sixth and a maximum of two-thirds of the average salary received during the three years preceding superannuation. It is calculated at the rate of one-sixtieth for every year of service between ten and forty. Thus, a Second Division clerk of forty years'service, who had reached, in the ordinary course, the salary of k350, would receive a retiring allowance of £:233 6s. 8d. a year. (2) SURVEYORS OF TAXES. It is not certain that the method at present in vogue of filling the position of Surveyor of Taxes is final. Many people are of opinion that it is only experimental,as have been pre- vious methods. There is no branch of the Civil Service which has been so much experi- mented on in the matter of filling vacan- cies. The present Senior Surveyors entered as members of the Higher Division. In 1881 tbo position was thrown open to assistants of Excise who succeeded in passing a stiff examination in Euclid, Algebra, Latin, French, or German, Book- keeping and the Political Economy of Taxa- tion. In 1888 the present system was adopted, Vacancies are now filled by Second Division clerks in the Inland Revenue Department who have completed ten years' service. When a clerk has had nine years' service he may peti- tion the board to be promoted to be Assistant Surveyor of Taxes. He must have served at least a year in a surveyor's office, and the ex- tent of his experience in taxes business has to be mentioned in bis petition. His superior officer makes a report on his 11 health, general conduct and official qualifications," The claims of all those who are qualified in accordance with these regulations are carefully considered, and those whoso claims are recognised compete amongst themselues in an elementary examination in taxes law. If a clerk passes satisfactorily he will be specially recommended by the board, and the Treasury will appoint him to the coveted position, j Therefore, the outsider who wishes to become a Surveyor of Taxes,under present conditions,! must first of all pass the examination of Second Division clerk, and contrive to be ap- pointed to some of the offices of the Inland Revenue Department. After that his course will be in conformity with the regulations outlined above. REWAHDS AND WOPK. The classification and salaries are as fol- low45 assistant surveyors (2nd seciion) L 100 by C 10 to £180; 84 assistant surveyors (2nd section) 1;200 by £12 to 6250 65 third j class surveyors (1st section) L260 by E12 to £375, 55 second class surveyors 642.5 by £15 to £475; 29 first class (2nd section) C500 by f:20 to £550; 11 first class (lst section) £500 by £ 20 to £600, Before an assistant surveyor can become a surveyor he has to pass an intricate exami- nation in the law and practice relating to taxes. Promotion to the second and first olass is solely by selection on the ground of "proved capacity ard efliciency." The public is pretty familiar with the duties of a Surveyor of Taxes, so that no detailed description is necessary here. In general terms be is responsible in his district for the proper assessment and collection of income tax, land tax, and inhabited house duty. A surveyor, to succeed, must possess tact and business shrewdness, and be courteous in his dealings with the public. He bears an enor- mous responsibility which the nature of his work does not tend to lighten, as it is both arduous and worry- ing. Assistance is sometimes necessary, and where it is, private clerks are em- ployed. To obtain the assistance of a trained and really useful clerk the surveyor, out of his own pocket, has to add to t&e Govern- ment allowance to the extent of 10s, or 20s. a week. IThis is a great grievance, and it is undoubtedly a blot upon the administration of the taxes branch. of the taxes branch. Superannuation allowances are upon the same scale as those of Second Division clerks. Thus a first-class surveyor of 40 years' service would retire upon k400 a year.

GENERAL COMPLAINT is made of the indigesti- bility of the ordinary cocoas of commerce, it having been lately shown bv the medical profession that the alkalies too often used by the foreign manufacturers, alkalies too often used by the foreign manufacturers, combined with the fatty matters, form a soapy result which is most deleterious to health. In the case of cocoas made with care, such a3 Messrs. Cadbury's, these objections do not exist.- Whitehall Review. Lc5 LITER COMPLAINTS-Dr. King's Dandelion and Quinine Liver Fills, without Mercury, are a potent vemedy; remove all Liver and Btomach Complaints, Biliousness, Headache, Sickness, ShoulderPains, Heart- I LO255

THE STORY OF A WELSH TRAGEDY. HOW GEORGE WARDEN MURDERED HIS SWEETHEART. A Barrister's Reminiscences, In the St. James's Gazette of Saturday there is a thrilling story, the locale of which is laid in Carmarthenshire, and is told by a barrister in reference to his first brief. It is as follows:— I was a young barrister at the time, and the case bad created an immense sensation. I don't mean a mere local excitement, but a real general interest. When it occurred the papers had been full of it, for George Warden had a great many friends in the artistic world and among Bohemian coteries in London. Geo.Warden was universally liked, not because he was clever, mind you, though he was clever, but because he was a good fellow. The only enemy he had was himself: his faults were the faults of good nature, and be was very popular. Of course he was popular; excessively good looking, never con- ceited or aggressive, full of sympathy for other men's successes; a man who was well read in his profession, too, and a man who worked hard and steadilf- everybody said that George Warden was bound to get on. Personally, I know nothing whatever about art; but when I say that Warden was only two-and-thirty, and asked, and-what is very much more to the point- got, three figures for his three-by-two can- vases, and that he earned between £ 600 and f:700 a year, there cannot bo a doubt that he was bound to get on. Now, it was my first circuit in South Wales 1 had not the slightest expectation of holding a brief for anybody—a man on his first circuit seldom does; but circumstances caused me to be retained for the defence of George Warden, who was lying in Carmarthen Gaol awaiting his trial upon a charge of murder. If 1 could h:tve succeeded in saving George Warden's life, there was no doubt that it would have been a feather in my cap; that I did not succeed in saving George Warden's life was no fault of mine as will be seen by the sequel. The history of the murder itself was very simple. George Warden had taken rooms at the little village of Bryn, near Lampeter, whither he had gone for painting, fishing, and 6 io quiet. He had lodged with a lady and her daughter who lived in the village. The in- come of these ladies was not large, but in j £ an out of the way place like Bryn village it was a comfortable competence. The two ladies lived in a fair- sized house, surrounded by a charming old- fashioned garden. George Warden could not have found better quarters than at Mrs. Tre- dethlin's house in Bryn village. You see, the fishing was close at hand, and very capital I fishing, too, in its way, The little River Bryn was always muddy nobody ever fished with a fly in it-if they had, they would have had their labour for their pains; but you could take any amount of small trout out of it with a bullet and a worm, though they never ran over three-quarters of a pound in weight), and you also got an occasional grilse. Now, Mrs. Tredethlin's cook knew how to accommodate small trout to perfection; she just cut their heads, fins, and tails off, and split them and fried them in batter. And, what with his fishing and his sketching, and his life in the open air, and the wholesome plain diet and the early hours, George Warden's stay at Bryn was beginning to do him all the good in the world. Warden had not come to Bryn entirely in search of the picturesque; he came in search of rest and quiet too. I don't know whether it was overwork or excite- ment about his pictures, all three of which had been hung- on the line at Burlington House that year, but George Warden bad become ill. My dear boy," he would say to me, I can't work, because very frequently I see double. If I were a drinking man I should think I had got D.T. coming on, for I'm! always shaking and trembling and twitching and I've become nerrous and irritable, and 1 can't get any natural sleep, and if 1 hear a sudden noise I very nearly jump out of my skin. I've tried opium, and chloral, and hot grog, and I've knocked otl my smoking; and lately I have taken to inhaling chloroform from a handker- chief-a dodge I learned once when I was suffering from toothache; but 1 have to keep on increasing the dose, and it's playing th very deuce with me: and one fine day 1 shall be found dead in my bed-and the sooner the better," said George. Warden, with a weary sigh. You ought to have advice, George f" I said. I've bad advice," replied Warden. 'Stop the chloroform and go into the country live a great deal in the open air, and go to bed dog-tired,'is the sum and substance of it. I shall go down to Lampeter to-morrow, and look for a lodging." It's the best thing thing that you can do, Warden," I said; you'll soon get round. You're out of sorts and nervous, and you want a holiday. But I don't understand your affectation of a desire for death. Between you and rne, Warden, it's bosh. If you were as careless of life as you pretended to be to me just now, you wouldn't be taking advice about your health, my boy, and you wouldn't be following it with such praiseworthy promptitude. Warden laughed uneasily. "You think I am posing," he said. Ord," he added rather solemnly, "I'm not posing a bit; there are times when I almost tanoy that I am going mad. I can't write a coherent letter," be said, with a sigh and I have dreadful and uncontrollable impulses that I can hardly restrain at times. Sometimes when I'm alone with people I long to spring upon and throttle them. If I read some dreadful tale of blood I gloat and glory in it, and I read it over and over again with a horrible satisfaction. I long to throw a paving-stone through a plate-glass window -that's the sort of feeling I'm possessed with." He didn't seem to be joking the least little bit; in fact it wasn't the sort of subject to joke upon. I How would you like it, Ord," said Warden very sadly," if you saw things double, and felt as if you were possessed by the devil P" And then he had gone to Bryn. Warden and I were in the habit of corre- sponding; he wrote very amusing letters, with little thumb-nail sketohes inserted; they were so amusing and so clever, and the little sketches were so very good, that I preserved them. Even in the first letter that I got from Wales I noticed strange pecu- liarities; there were letters left out, par- ticularly final letters; words, too, were occasionally omitted, and not infrequently I words were repeated in error. II I don't know anyone down here, and I haven't a soul to talk to; I'm told not to read, so 1 make my letters to you unusually long I you are the link that binds me to the outer world. There's no noise, no hurry, no ex- ment, in this quiet place; the scenery is, of I' course, magnificent. There's a wonderful spot here, an ancient lionlaii gold mine. I You step off the road through a little belt of old oaks, and when you're through the trees you come upon a great semi-circolar quarry, where our conquerors conducted their mining operations. The traces of their works are very apparent; there are heaps of the auriferous stone piled up outside the mouth of a great tunnel which they cut in the rock; and when you go into the tunnel you see the rough marks of the blows of their pickaxes, which look as if they had been struck but yesterday, though nmeteen centuries have elapsed. They talk of beginning to work the old yold-mine once more which would be a pity, for, as it stands, the place is a very para- dise, covered with vegetation, thick under- wood, ferns, gorse, bracken, and heath while the briar rose, the foxglove and innumerable other simple flowers flourish in wild profusion. It's the prettiest place I've ever seen in my life, and being out of the beaten track it has not yet been vulgarised by the peripatetio producer of pot-boilers or the unspeakable pho- tographer. But I saw the Roman gold-mine at Dollacothy lit up, as it were, by the limelight of romance; for my guide to this earthly para- dise was Miss Blanche Tredethlin, my hostess's daughter. The little sketch I enclose utterly fails to convey the least idea of her exceeding beauty." The sketch was the speaking like- ness of an exceedingly beautiful girl. Then followed three pages of rhapsody, and the letter concluded. Then it was that I noticed the strange peculiarities in it that I have already alluded to. George Warden stayed two months at Bryn. His leters to me grew longer and more en- thusiastic but they also grew fuller of omis- sions and redundances they were often almost incohorent, while portions of them were at times well-nigh illegible. Warden complained that what he called his "nervous depression" had in- creased. Suddenly I got quite a hopeful letter from him, in which he announced his engagement to Miss Tredethlin, and the fact that he was the happiest man in all the world. A few days after I was horified at reading the details of what the newspapers called "Tho Welsh Tragedy," which was the murder of Blanche Tredethlin, as was supposed by her newly- affianced husband, George Warden. To put it shortly, the wretched man flung the poor girl from the top of the lofty cliff of the gre-it Roman gold mine. Death was, of course, instantaneous. The murderer walked home to his lodgings apparently perfectly unconcerned and in the beat possible spirits. The next day Miss Tredethlin's body was discovered a great posy of wild flowers had been placed by the dead girl's side. There was an in- quest, and George Warden was fully com- mitted to stand his trial for the murder of his sweetheart. His poor mother insisted on retaining my services, and that I should hold a brief for her son. There couldn't he the slightest doubt about it George Warden was mad. The strange part of the matter was that they said there wasn't the smallest appearance of insanity about him. lie would talk upon indifferent subjects with the utmost freedom, he ate well, he slept well and Dr. Deadwig, the greatest alienist, and another specialist, who had been sent down by the Home Office, were prepared to go into the box and swear to his sanity. But they hadn't seen his letters to me, which had been submitted to three other medical experts by his solicitor. There could be no doubt about the result of the case; we were prepared to prove that George Warden was suffering from homicidal mania and both his solicitor and myself, and Griffith Griffiths, Q.C., my learned leader, had no doubt of the result-Not Guilty on the ground of insanity. It had been judged expedient that I should not go down to Wales until the assizes took place. I stopped at the Holly Bush Inn, where I arrived the day before the trial; and George Warden lay a prisoner in Carmarthen Castle. It was my first experience of a Bar mess and while we were sitting over our wine a note was brought to me from poor George Warden, which ran as follows Dear Ord,—T wish you'd come round for haH nn hour, as I should like to see you,- Yours, G. W. You may as well go," said Griffith Griffiths, Q.U.; I see no objection." The gaol is but a stone's throw from the inn. Warden, who, to my astonishment, looked as fresh as paint, was delighted to see me. He talked at first upon in- different subjects, and jnstas though nothing particular had happened; suddenly he laid his hand upon my shoulder, and said hurriedly, Ord, it was a dreadful thing to do; but I had to do it. 1 lo\ed her so, you see," he added, with a sort of moan. They'll hang me for it, I suppose, eh ? You ought to know." You weren't master of yourself at the time, my poor friend," I replied. Pooh," he answered almost angrily. I was as sane as you are. But," he went on, in a dreadful tone, I want to go to her, Ord, I want to go to her." And then he cut the interview short. Good-bye, old man," he said. I thought it best. to humour him. I shook hands with my unfortunate friend, and I left the gaol. At midnight George Warden hung himself in his cell and Griffith Griffiths, QC., observed to me rather heartlessly, when he heard of it, "I think it was about the best thing he could have done." He ought to have been placed in restraint from the very first," said the chief of the eminent alienists we had retained; and if it hadn't been for that fool Deadwig he would have been." And that's the history of my first brief, of which, as you see, nothing came.

FIGHT WITH A WILD CAT. Dr. S. A. Colling. a physician practising in the vicinity of Hamburg', Connecticut, lias had (the American-papers say) a terrible encounter with a wild cat or lynx, in a lonely place kuown as the Devil's Hopyard, about three mi'es from tho town. The doctor was driving through the canyon when two wild cats sprang from the boughs of a hemlock tree under which the carriage was passing. One of the animals landed on the haunches of the liorse; the other dropped into the bottom of the cavriaje and fastened its teeth in the flssli of the doctor's leg. The terrified horse ran away and soon freed itself from the carriage. The animal that attacked the doctor strove to set its claws and ti.-eih into his face and throat. This the doctor prevented, but his arms and chest were terribly lacerated, and he soon grew very weak from pain. In an inside pocket of his coat ho carried a small medicins-case. In the struggle this fell out, and attracted tho attention of the wild cat, which began to claw and tear it with its teeth. The doctor attempted to draw his revolver; but, before he could do so, he fainted. He was discovered, still unconscious, by a farmer returning from Salem Corner. In the bottom of the carriage, among a quantity of broken ho: tle, lay the wild cat in a deep stupor. In tearing the medicine-case it had broken a bottle of chloroform, and the contents had stupefied it. It weighed 521b., and was the largest of its kind ever killed in those parts.

Drink their Ruin, Out of 10,361 inmates of the chief prisons in England, Scotland, and Wales, 6,572 have been in Sunday Schools, and in nearly every case drink wai the cause of downfall.

A Bishop's Advice on Reading. The Bit-hop of Peterborough, spf-alung at PeteJ." borough on Friday in support of the Homo Read- ing Union, expressed hi* regret that was not more largely carried on in the d .y, and that more trouble was not taktn to develop the mental powers and faculties. Ne1o.. pspers, he said, it was necessary to read, as the1 related to current events, but a limit oil.,It to be put on the time devoted to them. Mijazioe?, to?. in which six brand new theories of 1 he univerSe were iet loose annually, was another class of eplle" ineral literaturein which we lost outsclves. fle warned his hearers against the danger of being swallowed up by the twaddle of the vi lir)W-baclced novel or of frittering away their time by turninS over a few leaves, nrst of one book and another. If be used his spare time -yaLemat-lcl%lly and methodically to some definite purpose hardest worked man would be surprised whatgoo" he would get out of his reading. Everybody b,a by being taught ttiit which was plausible, but the pursuit of somedelinite study guvc the power to distinguish between that which Was p'ausibl; and that which was true.

Beer and Heart Disease. It is said (the Lancet states) that disease of tbØ heart is very prevalent in Munich, whtra the con" sumption of beer amounts, on the average, to 526 litres per head annually and in the sanoa place the duration of life among the brewing tradS is shorter than that of the general population.

THE FINE OLD WELSH DRINK.—Special Notice. —Mr. Morgan W. James, manufacturing chemisN Llanelly, desires all customers for the "Fine Old Welsh Drink" to send in their orders early, so that the drink may be delivered in good time, rn(I thus prevent delay during the busy season whicu is now fast approaching. 5334 GROCER'S SCALES, Canisters. Mills, Machinery Counters, Fixtures, Sundries, and Shop Fittings ofevery description.-Parnall and Sous, 21 and 22, Narrow Winar strp.st Bristol. 9781o LADDERS.—Ladders for Builders, Painters, P!as« terers, Farmers, Private Use, &e., all sizes at CottrellS old-established Manufactory, Barr's-street Bristol,