The Cardiff Times

SMALL CAPITALISTS hoUd write for Pamphlets (copyright entered tafcioners' Hall) explaining H. B. SMITH'S SYSTEM OF MAKING PROFITS IN STOCKS AND SHARES. x upwards without further risk repeatedly doubled, average duration of transactions three • The best evidence of popularity and success the crowds of clients which throng his offices, tocks selected and acconnts managed, if desired, cekly investment list showing lists of profits tn e during previous week. The Court Journal s The throngof operators dealing with Smith is quite astounding." Particulars, estamonials, press opinions, post free. 14-764 H. B. SMITH, STOCKBROKER, 3» Size-lane, Queen Victoria-street, London, E.C.

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iw_ WORKMEN'S TOPICS. BY MABON, M.P. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT. In addition to those unfavourable condi- i°ns referred to in my last article I must also enumerate the ever-recurring depres- 0f trade, and these changes and uncer- jfUitiea have an exceedingly bad effect on e condition of our trade and in conse- on our working population. Mr W. in his book called Economic ~n(i Financial Science," points out that there 8 what he denominates a cycle of seasons in fade, which bring round periodical revolu- j°ns kuown as financial crises. Professor »evons speaks of the very same thing £ his primer on Political Economy. of these demonstrates that each decade parallel years presents commercial Phases almost alike, if not identical. Mr Albert shows by undeniable facts that this "'as the case from 1826 to 1886. He gives he years and states the principal causes. In *•"26 the culminating point or cause lay in .Orel loans and minirg speculation 1837 -nd 1838, the great American panic 1847, great railway panic and Irish potato riot 1857, financial panic, including Western Scottish Bank failure 1866, Overend and journey's failure was one fact in the general .faster. In these five periods, these sixty years, there were six years of financial Cl'1ses and financial depression fifteen Years of great depression and general stag- afcion; six years of prosperous and re- munerative commercial enterprise; and even years of over-trading and commercial faction. Something similar can be said of -6 decade that ended in 1878 and 1879. ndoubtedly its chief causes were to be °Und in over-production and mining Peculation following the coal famine. (lver- P^oduction also had something to do \VIh the crisis in 1888. But these were either so prolonged nor so critical some of the former ones. Fortunately J*ese great panic depressions are becoming ore infrequent and less severe. If the remarks of Mr Halbert are kept in Ind, it will be seen that over thirty of these years there was a strongly depressed, a declining and a recovering trade. In ftese three conditions the working men of Jje country are very unfavourably situated, employers' chief resource to curtail the *penses of production at such times J?8 in a curtailment of the wages labour. At best he has little or 0 influence over the price of the raw f^terial. Expenses of manufacture must e provided for if the organisation of his establishment is to be kept up. Whilst fcges form so large a proportion of the cost of manufactured article, they become rally a great temptation, and iuimedi- a direct object of attack. We do not that such attacks are at all times the I result of premeditation or pre-arrangement, nor that the whole body of employers always Pproves of such a course. Among the em- cl °* Great Britain there are two S, that posseas this special weakness. isidiat.class of small employers who, ,lth insufficient capital, are eager to avoid -c at and to fight their way onward in the e^Petitive battle on which they have tered. As a rule it is these who com- e^Ce the attack upon wages. It may be that their position at the bankers compels L to realise, and they sell at reduced Ces for this purpose, and having made Pessary sacrifice in the market they recouP themselves by reductions of Se8. There is also another class that a similar course. These are rj, e of the very largest firms of the present who are owners of very large and cf tlherous factories and collieries, &c. Some j *n or<^er t° give and secure employ- th the enormous bodies of workmen anf- -they employ, to a very great extent Pate difficulties, and they go undersell their neighbours so ,0 they can command business thlg,n.aiiy belonging to other people. And first hitch in the market is used hi, a Pretence and excuse for reducing wages, ac M^.ro°^ reduction in prices they have to >. r command, for they will be found tra e mac*e one or two> not more, con- tat justifying reductions in the current eg 0f wageg an(i jf others follow, as is th era^y the rule, they will soon recoup Selves with reductions that will ensue. digWeVer ^ew these may be, the better j and better situated must follow in H. PurPose °f meeting their competitors he markets, and hence a war between to n 1 anc^ labour, not of any great service J .he interests of employers, but most c*dedly adverse to the interests of the rkers. Were a combination of employers .Prevent the giving away of positions and Prices before the actual state of the market aJ?ants it would be of some service. ,ttowever, when the periodical decline sets Vlr ?evere pressure on wages commences, to 1 continues, and will go on from step S)- till the worst part of the depres- rh01x has passed. During this time fade8 Unions are fighting to prevent o ° rapid descent. But in consequence of the.too imperfect sources of information at. 0 f11 command they very often interfere A ^hen the case against them is hopeless. Pla^111' w^eu a tnm for the better takes » the Trades Unionist fights to regain g Sr°und lost, and this being an uphill |j~, t is also a severe one. Here, again, even leal test regulated trades, the absence of r.^od timely information tells, and mean- their employers will have reaped the ev • the advanced price. Now old11 the men ultimately get back to their Position, as a yule the t ime lost in the Ifleiltioned prevents their ever reaching receiving an equivalent. But even if ultimately do regain the lost ground, money that has been lost in the retreat oth a^vaace is gone for ever and, on the haud, there is no means of recovering C08t'of a strike or a lock-out whichever it may terminate. ib. It has been pointed out many times that .e. forking men of this country might Id this loss by a policy of non 0v stance. True—but as this, all the world means a policy of ruin to those who Pt it, no body of workmen, so long as have in them the power of resistance, t^a688 they are already regulating their ^ges by some very superior mode of ^cfainery, are likely to adopt it. No men 0vr better than the Trade Unionist of the untry how much loss there is attending 6S° Leaders of experience, as a rule, ert themselves to prevent them, and to u vei7 to see an end to them, uld any effective alternative be found that on the whole, answer their purpose ^toally as well.

COULD HE ?—A man had called upon one Jw116 homeliest women in the city, who not long had had her portrait painted. The artist '•one his work well, from a friendly and social of view, and the lady was correspondingly She was not so blind as not to seo, ««.^ver, but she was, as one might say, a little raised." As she showed it to her caller she vJ »There, what do you think of it 1 Don't Renti ^"r rather flattered me ?" The looked at the picture, looked at the and, with an eloquent sigh, answered, Ah, dear Mrs how could a painter sit in your Inpa.ny and not flatter you 1" Fontaine preferred the fables of the ancients .own, which led Fontenelle to say, La m nta'ne is so stupid as to think the ancients ^v<*er than himself." bootmaker has this extraordinary announce- | window—" Ladies will be eold as at tyro-aod-sixpence a p»ir,"

The Elections in Wales. 10 A SURVEY AND A RETROSPECT. The Doom of the Alien Church. [BY SILURIAN. "J As a result of the recent elections the Welsh people have made Mr Gladstone the magnificent gift of an undivided Principality. From Holy- head to Pembroke Dock, from Cardiff to Aberyst- wyth, Liberalism has swept onward like a resistless tide. The triumph of Liberalism in Wales is the more remarkable when one considers the nature and the character of the forces arrayed in opposition to it. Chiefest among these was the appeal to religions emotions over the Irish question. The Welsh are a pro- foundly religious people, glorying in their common Nonconformity, but retaining still an almost Puritanical horror of Roman Catholicism. Recognising this aspect of their character, the enemies of progress appealed to them on what they considered their weakest side. ".Home Rule means Rome Rule," shouted the Reactionaries nightly on a score of platforms. Then harrowing pictures were drawn of the dire consequences which would follow from the satis- faction of the legitimate and honourable aspira- tions of the Irish people. Lord Salisbury's civil war bogey was made even more dreadful to the sight than when it sprang from the fertile brain of its own author. Wales, North and South, was overrun by paid Ulster propagandists, who out- shone the leader of the Conservative party in their discreditable attempt to rekindle the fires of religious strife and sectarian animosity. But it was all in vain. These wild appeals to the worst passions of human nature were listened to unheeded in Wales. The Welsh people have thoroughly mastered the principles of civil liberty and no bogeys, how- ever terrible to the sight, will cause them to deviate by a hair's breadth from the path of justice and political righteousness. The infamous artifices of the Welsh Tories have recoiled upon themselves. In North Wales they have only two representatives, while in South Wales they are practically wiped out. The Principality is entitled to return 30 members to the Imperial Parliament. Of this number no fewer than 28 in thenewParliamentwill be supporters of Mr Gladstone. Taking in Monmouthshire, which by reason of its ethnic and geographical affinity ought to be considered as forming an integral part of the Principality, we find that 31 Liberals have been elected as against three Conservatives. A more signal triumph for the principles of progress than is indicated by these figures it is impossible to find in the record of Parliamentary elections. A glance at the character of the various contests, instead of minimising, really magnifies the achievement of Welsh Liberals. Mr Chamberlain, with characteristic modesty, boasted of the Birmingham majorities. What does the quondam Radical think of Mr D. A. Thomas's majority of 9,644 in Mertbyr ? This is not a singular instance. Almost without excep- tion the Welsh Liberal majorities have run into four figures. In West Monmouthshire Mr C. M. Warmington had a majority over his opponent of 5 319 Sir Hussey Vivian in Swansea District of 5'026 Mr Samuel Evans in Mid-Glamorgan, 4,216 Mr Thomas Ellis in Merioneth, 3,238 Mr Abel Thomas in East Carmarthenshire, 3,216; Mr Alfred Thomas in East Glamorgan, 2,967; Mr Bryn Roberts in the Eifion Division of Carnarvon, 2,594; and Mr Herbert Roberts in West Denbigh, 2,3331 That the Conservatives strained every nerve in the contests just determined is obvious from the character of the men whom they induced to take the field in their behalf. Sir Watkin Wynn's great influence did not avail to save him from defeat at the hands of Mr Osborne Morgan, and Sir John Puleston, the Tory Goliath of Wales, fell prostrate before the youthful Mr Lloyd Georgo. In Swansea Sir John Llewelyn's wealth and prestige went for nought as against the earnest and manful Liberalism of Mr Burnie. Similarly, at Llanellv, the influence which Sir John Jenkins enjoyed as a large employer of labour failed to save him from defeat at the hands of Major Jones, formerly the capable United States Consul at Cardiff. Wales has pronounced decisively for Mr Gladstone's policy of justice to Ireland. No less decisively has it pronounced for Disestablishment within its own borders. No one not resident in Wales can have an adequate conception of the bitterness of feeling aroused by the existence of the Established Church in Wales. Welsh Liberals are opposed to an Establishment as being inconsistent with the principles of justice on which the Common- wealth should be based. A State Church is an evil in itself. In Wales the evil is aggravated by the special conditions of the country. Not only is the Establishment in Wales theOhurch of asmall, almost insignificant minority of the people, but it has for generations been the relentless and uncom- promising foe of Welsh nationality. The spirit of nationality in Wales has revived in a phenomenal manner in these latter days. The old and haughty nation, proud in arms," once more shakes its invincible locks. Welshmen to- day are animated by bright hopes of the future as they are inspired by glorious memories of the past. Face to face with this rejuvenescence of national feeling the alien Church has become less and less hostile to national manifestations. But a tardy repentance, born of the imminence of a just retribution, will not avail it. The elections just concluded have sealed its doom. With one voice the Welsh people have pronounced sentence of death upon the Establishment. It must now be the duty of the Liberal party to give effect, and that right speedily, to this sentence. Let the Liberals of the United Kingdom remember that the Church in Wales is "like an exotic brought from a far country, tended with infinite pains and useless trouble. It is kept alive with the greatest difficulty, and at a great expense in an ungenial climate and an ungrateful soil. The curse of barrenness is upon it. It has no leaves, puts forth no blossom, and yields no fruit. Cut it down. Why cumbereth it the ground ?"

PATIENT AND SILENT. One of the best illustratious of the maxim that Speech is silvern, but silence is golden was afforded by Sir William Grant, Master of the Rolls. Before he became a judge he had sat in the House of Commons as member for Banffshire of which county he was a native, and was alwayis remarkable for preserving silence, although, all a matter of fact, he could speak well and fluently when necessary. He was famed, too, for his patience as a judge. On one occa- sion he listened for two days to a long argument about the meaning of an Act of Parliament. When the counsel were done, Sir William merely observed, Gentlemen, the Act on which the pleading has been founded is repealed." He was riding in the country one day with a few friends, and, when passing a field of peas, said, Very fine peas," which was the only remark he made. Next day be took the same outing, and was just as silent, except that when he reached this field he was heard to mutter, And very finely podded."

THE SECRET. NRWLY-GBADTJATED PHYSICIAN Doctor, as the field of. my labours will be far removed from yours, would you mind telling me the secret of your success ? OLD PHYSICIAN: The whole secret of a doctor's success is to know just how long he can keep his patient from getting well without the patient oooming disgusted with his mode of treatment,

WELSH GLEANINGS. By Lloffwr. An Earldom for Lord Windsor. The earldom of Plymouth (the title to be shortly revived in Lord Windsor) was last held by the brother of the beautiful Lady Downshire (mother of the athlete Marquis and great- grandmother of the present Lord) and Lady Harriet Clive, Maid of Honour to Queen Ade- laide. On the death of Lady Downshire the dormant barony of Windsor was called out in favour of Lady Harriet, whose husband, Mr Clive, was a brother of Lord Powis and a grand- son of the Lord Clive. The present Lord Windsor is a grandson of Lady Harriet Clive, afterwards Lady Windsor, and his wife, once known as the beautiful Miss Paget," is the only daughter of Sir Augustus and Lady Paget. The revival of the old title is very appropriate, for Lord Wind- sor, who owns Penarth Dock and enormous mineral wealth in South Wales, has always done good service to his party. -The World. The Beauty of Mrs Coinwallis West. Mr Herbert, of Muckross, is his article on English Society in the August number of The Cosmopolitan," says of Lady Musgrave and Mrs Cornwallis West that "Both undeniably are ex- ceedingly fair, and it is proper to add that they deserve distinction from the professional beauties of their time." He relates that at a bazaar which was held in the grounds of Muckross House, to raisa funds for the Killarney Church, Mrs Cornwallis West, after exerting herself all day at her stall, held up her hat and offered it to the highest bidder. "The fair auctioneer," he con- tinues, "was at once surrounded by an enthu- siastic group of men, who bid hotly against each other for the prize, which was finally knocked down for five and twenty pounds, and immedi- ately returned to the owner as a gift." Lord Bute and the Garter. If the Marquis of Bute cares for the Garter ho may be tempted to regret that 14 years ago his High Church proclivities led him for a time to sympathise with Mr Gladstone, for the reason commonly assigned at the clubs for his being once mora passed over, and this time in favour of the Duk., of Abercorn, is (so the London correspon- dent of the Birmingham Post says) that hot has nevor been forgiven at Court for having opposed Lord Beaconsfield on the Eastern question. Dr Joseph Parry, One of the new works to be produced at the Cardiff Festival in September next is Saul of Tarsus, composed by a well-known Welsh pro- fessor, Dr Joseph Parry. The book, the author- ship of which is not stated, deals mainly with four scenes in the career of the Apostle of the Gentiles, viz., "The Conversion," "The In- cidents at Philippi," "The Persecution at Jerusalem," "The Martyrdom at Rome," In the final scene are the priests of Apollo, Vestal Vir- gins, Praetorian Guards, a daughter ofCaractacus, Angels, Nero, and scoffing women and demons. The composer, in the matter of leitmotiven and general polyphony, writes quite up to date, and two of his principal themes are severally named "Paul's Persecution Theme" and "The Sun Theme." The work will be issued by Messrs Paley and WilUs.—Birmingham#-Mail. The Pretender Prince of Wales. Mary IIL of England and Scotland "—as a handful of English Jacobins persist in calling the wife of Prince Louis of Bavaria-is as fair-fat- and-forty a Royal personage as ever cast longing eyes on the preserves of the House of Guelph. She was the Archduchess Marie Theresa of- Modena twenty years ago, and if she lives will bo the Queen of Bavaria when Prince Louis shall have succeeded the Regont Luitpold, his father. If the Stuarts come back again she will know what to do, as she ia the nearest direct living descendant of James II., and thus the" Queen over the water." Her eldest son, Prince Rupprecht, is the Pretender Prince of Wales, a heavy and not well-bred young prig who cut a Dido at Paris recently in order to show his Stuart blood. He is 22 years of age. Mary III." has nine other children, so that the family of Pretenders is not likely to perish from thu earth. A Welsh Island for Sale. Caldy Island is to be sold at auction next month. The purchaser, whoever he may be, will (says the Morning Leader) practically find himself the proprietor of a small kingdom, as the island contains within its 500 odd acres a mansion house and pleasure grounds, church and school- house, 13 cottages, a farm-house, a corn-mill, and blacksmith's and carpenter's shops. He will be lord of the manor, and his sway will only be dis- puted by death and the Queen's taxes. And so far from being out of humanity's reach," lie will be but a mile and a half from Tenby, the prettiest watering-place in South Wales. It is said that Messrs Crosse and Blackwell offered Mr Hawkesley, the late owner, something like 930,000 for the property, which they meant to convert into a fruit farm. A former lord of the island-Mr Cabot Kynaston-used to farm the land and draw a handsome revenue from the limestone quarries, which are still in working order. At the back of the residence are the remains of a Priory, founded by Robert de Tours in the reign of Henry I. Since 1829 there has been a lighthouse on the island. Et Caetera. Mr Harry John Rees, manager of the Pocahon- tas Collieries, Virginia, and son of Mr John Rees, chandler, Merthyr Tydfil, intends sending a solid block of coal to the World's Fair, weighing from fifteen to twenty tons. A marriage has been arranged, and will shortly take place, between Captain T. P. Lewes, J.P. (the popular Master of the Tivyside Foxhounds), and Miss Ponsonby, only child of Mr T. Ponsonby, of Wilmslow, Cheshire. A marriage has been arranged, and will take place on the 1st of September, between Mr Ed"ar Moorsom, eldest son of theRov Robert Maude Moorsom, of Westdean, Winehoster, and Miss Alice Mildred Grsen Price, youngest daughter of tho late Sir Richard Green Prico, Bart., of Norton Manor, Radnorshire. Mr L. J. Roberts, B.A., a candidate for ths professorship of Welsh at Aberystwyth College, is ono of the most brilliant of tha younger school of Welshmen. With few, if any, adventitious aiás to help him up th-c steep he has already reached an honourable position. A man of versa- tile gifts he has distinguished himself in music as well as in literature. Mr Roberts is only 26, and ought to accomplish great things. In its allusions to the death of the Rev David John Thomas, of Liverpool, the Welsh Weekly quotes Tennyson's Ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington: — O good gray head which all men O voice from which their omens all men drew, O iron nerve to true occasion true, O fall'n at length that to"er2 l0,ft^rwiSd3 that blew Which stood four-square to all the wmas wuw oiew, Such was he whom we deplore.

FAITHFUL AMONG THE FAITHLESS. There once was a professor in the University of Munich whose lectures were so dull that hardly any students could be 8° ° a n them. One session his class numbered five, but, one by one four of these five played. truant and the learned professor was left with an audience entirely composed of a solitary individual. This person, however, was a model student-punctual and diligent in attendance, and seemingly an earnest follower of all the lectures. At the end of the session the professor could not forbear expessing his appreciation of the student's behaviour, and asked what his name was. To this no reply was vouchsafed nor to a further question was any answer given. Then the dismayed professor 16arned that his pupil was a deaf mute, who had found grateful shelter from tbA 9914 iu tho wam clus-MM

British Dairy Farming. BY PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. Milk versus Beef-(Continued). Good roomy Shorthorns, well bred, well raised, well trained, will yield fifteen or sixteen quarts at a meal, in not a few instances, though, of course, this cannot be sustained through very many weeks. Cows of this breed are reputed to have yielded upwards of one thousand gallons of milk, and there exists a record of one that gave 12,870 pounds, or about 1,250 gallons, in one year. It is probable, however, that the average yield of Shorthorn cows is less than 500 gallons per annum, especially if we reckon in the pedigree cows of some of the aristocratic herds. The old Longhorns, which are now kept in a few places only, for antiquarian reasons chiefly, were general in the Midland counties up to about the begin- ing of the second quarter of the current century, but they have been most thoroughly "rooted out" by the Shorthorns, which now prevail in all the old Longhorn haunts. And yet these Longhorns had great merits in some cases; notably for beef, in the hands of that king of breeders, Robert Bakewell, of Leicestershire. This great displacement of one celebrated breed by another was chiefly brought about by Short- horn bulls, whose prepotency was such, when mated with Longhorn cows, that the old Longhorn characteristics have been wholly eliminated in little more than half a century. The same sort of thing is in progress elsewhere, and at least two of the three Welsh breeds are vanishing before the invading cosmopolitan Shorthorns, just as the Indians of America are vanishing before the white man. In reference alike to the Longhorns, the Pembrokes, the Glamorgans, and the Indians too, we see at work Darwin's survival of the fittest" the great natural law which regulates families, tribes, nations, and species and which has pro- duced the well-defined forms of. animal and vege- table life as we see them to-day. Ayrshires. It may well be doubted if, as purely dairy cattle, suitable for cheesemakmg or the milk trade, there is a breed in the British Islands that will surpass the Ayrshires. For producing a maximum quantity of milk from a minimum quantity of an inferior quality of food, and for thriving in an uncongenial climate, on land that is only of moderate fertility, there are no cattle superior to the Ayrshires while for vigour and hardihood of constitution, for energy and strength of will, and for industry and activity in search of food where food is not too plentiful, the Ayrshire cow has probably no equal. Many judges consider that the build and outline of a first-rate specimen of the Ayrshire cattle is as nearly as possible the ideal of what a dairy cow should be: that is, she is light and narrow in her forequarters, but wide and spacious behind. But the Ayrshire cow has certain faults in the first place, she is decidedly inferior to any other of the Scotch breeds, or to any of the English breeds save the Jerseys and Guernaeys, as a beef-producing animal; in the second, she has short and stumpy teats, which add to the difficulty of milking her and lastly, she has an untiring pugnacity of disposition which is a frequent cause of injury to her fellows, so that it is a wise precaution to tip her horns with a knob of wood or iron. But she is an excellent milker, yielding for her size more of the lacteal fluid, probably, than any other breed the world has yet produced. It is said that the milk of Ayrshire cows is peculiarly well adapted for cheese-making purposes, owing to the butter-fat being more minutely diffuse, than, for instance, in the milk of Jersey cattle. Be this as it may, finer Cheddar cheese cannot be made, even in SOI;1ersetshire-good judges admit—than that whieh comes from the best dairies in Galloway and I am able to speak as to the admirable butter- yielding capacity of an Ayrshire cow I once pos- sessed. This cow produced, during a good many weeks in summer, an average of 21b of butter per day, although a portion of both milk and cream was consumed and not credited to the churn. The Ayrshire cows do well in milk on land which would -almost starve the Shorthorns, but at the same time they quickly respond to more generous feeding and to batter land. The breed is com- paratively modern. Polled Cattle. This breed is believed to be essentially and originally a native of Norfolk and Suffolk, but is now to be found in many counties and countries. The origin of the breed is involved in some obscurity, but there is no doubt of its ancient character. If the Ayrshires are pugnacious, the Red Polls provide us with a contrast, for they are among the most docile of cattle. How far this docility may be owing to the absence of horns it is not easy to say but at all events cattle that have horns have something to fight with, and know it. The Red Polls, unlike the Black Polls of Scotland, are certainly good milkers, and entitled to a position among the half dozen of our best dairy breeds. They are also good graziers, though not equal in this respect to the Shorthorns, Herefords, or the two breeds of Scotch Polled, cattle. The popularity of the Red Polls has greatly increased, or rather extended, in recent years. In their native counties they have been thought much of during a long period of time, and it must be admitted that as a breed they are amongst the most desirable of our bovine posses- sions* Jerseys and Guernseys. These natives of the two Channel Islands whose names they bear, are dairy cattle to all intents and purposes, and are celebrated for yielding milk uncommonly rich in butter fat. They are wholly distinct breeds, qnIie as much so as any other two breeds in the country, and the purity of their blood has for a long time been carefully guarded by the local authorities. The peculiarly rich milk they yield is a quality made hereditary partly by the genial climate of the Islands, and partly by the kindly way in which they have been treated for many generations. In point of fact, there are no breeds elsewhere whose breeding and manage- ment for centuries have been more carefully attended to. They are, of course, by nature and habit, unsuited to rigorous climates, but for all that they are held in high esteem in the United States and Canada. The Jerseys are particularly elegant and pleasing in form and colour, the latter being most commonly a silver grey, and they are consequently much sought after as ornaments to the grounds of country gentlemen. The Guernseys are larger, coarser, less shapely, and their colour is a dull yellow patched with white; yet they are perhaps the most profitable of the two. Kerrys. Last and least of all, we come to the one indigenous breed of Ireland, the quaint, and gentle, and Hseful little Kerry, whose native home is in the South of the Emerald Isle. Two years ago the Kerrys were hardly known outside the genial island to which they belong, but now they are thought deal of in various parts. of England. Their colour is black, and their size but little greater than a donkey's. A sub- variety, known as Dexter Kerrys, is not always black. The milk yielded by these little cows is next to that of the Jerseys and Guernseys in rich- ness of butter fat, and they are consequently excel- lent butter cows. They are hardy, wiry, vigorous in their way, capable of making a good living among the heather-clad mountain sides of their native country, or in the lanes, or on poor land any- where, though, of course, they will do better on better land. They are the poor man's cows par excellence, though many rich men have taken to them of late, and it is very likely that their popularity will go on increasing. Here we have half a dozen of the best breeds of dairy cattle, and the list might be extended by including the Devons yet, after all, the Devons are considered more as beef than as milk- producers, though some of them have pretty high claims in reference to milk. But, in any case, half a dozen excellent breeds provide us with choice enough for all practical purposes, and we may reasonably congratulate ourselves that we possess them in all reasonable abundance. The Shorthorns, all things considered, stand, and must stand, at the head of the list, but they are most worthily supplemented by the others of which I have spoken. Let us guard thsm well, and improve them as much as we can, for they are a goodly inheritance

I Harvest Prospects. :1 For many years past Mr Gilbert Murray, of Elvaston, Derby-a land agent having the control of estatos in many of the Midland Counties-has prepared a forecast of the probable harvest at this date for The Times. His report on the crops this year is as foHows Owing to unfavourable conditions over which the farmer had no control, autumn wheat seeding was generally late and the area devoted to the crop was considerably curtailed, the young plant not having became sufficiently established in the soil to enable it to withstand the changeable and severs weather which subsequently set in, hence the alternating changes of frosts and thaws threw out and destroyed many of the plants. Many fields were ploughed up and were resown with other cereals, some were allowed to remain with the vain hope that they would eventually fill up, but in many cases the hope was not realised. In some districts spring wheat was sown, but the results were not satisfactory. The cold, late spring retarded agricultural operations and checked vegetation, hence the cereal crops generally were in a backward state until the last ten days of May, during which period the high temperature and genial showers produced a sudden and magical effect on vegetation. The season throughout had been remarkable for sudden changesNjmd an abnormally low range of tempera- ture the rainfall has been erratic. South of Leicester, and extending throughout the coun- ties of Hants, Wilts, and Dorset to the sonth, both pastures and cereals have more or less suffered from drought, whilst the North, Mid- land, the Border, and Lowland counties of Scot- land have bad copious rains. In the Midlands down to date on all clear, dry nights we have seldom escaped a frost of more or less intensity. At a meteorological station a few miles north of Derby in about 12 hours on the night of the 28th of June a rainfall of 3%in. was registered. Pastures.—The late spring made a heavy inroad on the supply of fodder, and on most farms there was a considerable reserve of old hay on band, the whole of which bad in many cases disappeared before the generality of pastures were sufficiently advanced to afford a bite for the stock. To the dairy farmer and stockowner generally the winter was a trying and costly one. Store stock, though considered low at Michaelmas, paid nothing for wintering, and their value at May day had not increased. Those who had milk contracts running were pretty much in the same plight. The Hay Crop.—Owing to the late spring and general scarcity of fodder, many of the mowing grounds were pastured until May, and the subsequent low temperature and frosty nights retardedthe growth of the grasses, hence the hay harvest is late, and, as is generally the case at this season, the weather has been catching. Grasses grown under a sunless sky are never of a high nutritive quality, and the crop of the present season is no exception to the rule. The area under hay is slightly below the average, and the produce per acre we estimate at 25 per cent. under an average crop. Wheat.—The showery weather during the greater part of July has tended to lengthen the siraw of the late wheat the crop is generally thinly planted the straw weak and varied in length. The shorter straws carry a short head containing only a few ill-fed kernels, presumably due to two causes, one the inferior quality of the seed and the other the cold, ungenial spring and early summer. The ears, where fully matured, are narrow-chested and the rhizomes wide set, and the present appearance favours the as- sumption of a large percentage of trail corn. Under the most favourable conditions as to weather the yield cannot be 1-^ than 12 per cent. under an average. So far the crop shows no symptoms of attacks either of insect enemies or disease. We have not known so large a quantity of old wheat in the hands of farmers for many years. Barley.—The peculiarities of the season were on most soils ungenial and adverse to early sow- ing, an essential attribute to fine quality, and the dull, sunless summer is not conducive to the pro- duction of a bright, thin-skinned sample. The crop has much improved since the recent rains, and with favourable weather may probably reach within 6 per cent. of an average crop. Oats.—The crop is varied on deep rich loams the yield will be an average, while on thin soils in low condition the crop is very deficient. Generally, we estimate the crop at 8 per cent. under an average. Beans.—The winter varieties suffered from the severe winter, whilst both winter and spring varieties were much injured by the summer frosts. We estimate the yield at 15 per cent, below the average. Peas.—This crop has escaped the many insect enemies to which it is liable, though it has suf- fered severely from the continuous low tem- perature and sharp frosts. The yield will be 16 per cent. under the average. Potatoes.—On the potato belt on Car- riak shore, in South Ayrshire, the first earlies have been a magnificent crop, and have all been raised and marketed and the land resown with a forage crop. At Dunbar, another early potato district on the east coast of Scotland, the crop is light and several weeks late. Throughout the potato-growing dis- trict of Lincoln, York, Lancashire, and Cheshire the main crop presents a luxuriant and healthy appearance, giving promise of an over-average yield. Ma.ngolds.-The season so far has been un- favourable for the rapid developments of the young plants, the want of sunshine and an attack of the mangold leaf grub (anthomea beata) during the early stages of its growth having retarded the progress of the crop. The present appearance, however, gives promise of an average yield. Swedes.—The early sown crops in general look remarkably well, the liberal use of artificial manure having carried the crop satisfactorily through the early stages of growth. The later sown varieties have suffered from the low tem- perature, but the recent rains have much im- proved their appearance, which now generally indicates 10 per cent. over an average crop. Cattle.—The late spring, combined with a meagre supply of hay of an inferior quality, entailed a large expenditure by the stock farmer on purchased foods. The cattle were turned on the pastures before the grass had made a sufficient start to afford a bite, which occasioned until a late period the use of supplemental foods, of which for fattening and store stock decor- ticated cotton cake is the most suitable. A large percentage of the store cattle are of an inferior class, for which there is little demand,and prices ruled low. In a few pastures only was there a full bite until the middle of June. Owing to the cold nights and sunle s days the usual quantity of meat has not been made. For young ripe animals of moderate weights there is a fair demand at slightly improved prices, and they will always command top prices. Sheep and Wool.—Store sheep have been diffi- cult to dispose of, and prices are considerably down from last year. The fall of lambs has been barely an average. The present appearance of the root and forage crops will tend to enhance prices as the season advances. The wool trade is firtn at extremely low prices. The labour difficulties have a tendency to disorganise manufacturers and drive them to other countries, but nowhere can they find such suitable raw material as this country ean produce. As many of the foreign manufacturers prefer the purchase in the grease, this state of things and the intro- duction of the clipping machine may lead to a different system of harvesting the wool crop. Dairying.—The scanty supply of keep during the early summer affected the milk supply. Both cheese and butter have well maintained their prices, but every day makes it more apparent that if English dairying is to be successfully conducted it must b. on co-overative lines. Creameries and associated dairies are rapidly gaining ground. The new milk trade is depressed, and prices are extremely low. It is not in the large towns but .amongst toilers in our great mining and manu- facturing cantres that the milk trade requires cultivating. Horses.—Th<s various stud books have given a vast impetus to the breeding and improvement of all kinds of horses, and there is a healthy demand for good sound animala at remunerative prices. Labour.-In the case of the dairy farmer this, more particularly, is a difficulty that cannot easily be overcome, although in other depart- ments of agriculture machinery lends its efficient aid. The labourer has left to land from social rather than from financial caused. In this locality the wages of agricultural labourers are higher and their rents lower than are those of the same class who are employed in towns. The future occupiers of small holdings will not be the agricultural labourers but the village mechanics and small traders. Some of the early sown fields of oats have already begun to change colour. Th. date of the general harvest depends much on tIre weather of the next three or four weeks. It is a far ory, tint judging by present appearance* harvest win not be geMCu U» August, ,D i

The Household. .0 The Book of Nature. Boys and girls who live in the country are too apt to think that children who live in towns enjoy greater advantages than themselves, but the country has so many wonders that the city must do without, and you, boys and girls, are blind to them. You have before you the largest and richest book of the world, filled with pictures, stories, and music, and many of you do not know anything about it. It is the book of nature, and in it wise men have studied for a life-time, and when they have bad to lay it down, have said with a sigh, Had I another life to live added to this, I might hope to know some- thing about it!" Do you know that if you really knew all that could be told of a spot 6 in. square in the woods, you would have a wonderful education? "What would you find in that little space ? Try it once and see. On the top there will be grasses, ferns, or flowering plants. When you go below the surface of your 6 in., you find animal life, and in startling numbers and variety. How much can you tell of what you see ? Do you know how these creatures feed and live ? If you learn about these things by using your eyes, not some one's else, you will have formed a habit which will help you to conquer the insect foes of the farmer. But if you do not study nature so minutely, you should study her enough to be able to tell fully of the common things you see. Hints. Bacon Chips in Batter,-Tal-e a bit of bacon and two new-laid eggs. Even sweet, home-cured salt pork will answer, or a little cold boiled ham. Cut the meat in shavings with a sharp knife, and cut these crosswise into mere bits. Make a batter with the two eggs, a cupful of milk, and half a cupful of flour. Freshen the bacon or pork sufficiently, if very salt, then dip a spoonful at a time in the batter and drop into deep fat. Dram on coarse paper for a minute and serve very hot. Grilled Cooked Beef.—Cut the cooked beef in slices, and, if necessary, beat them to make them tender moisten them well with melted butter or oil season them with salt and grated nutmeg, parsley, mace, and thyme shred as fine as possible. Cover them with breadcrumbs and scraped Gruyere cheese grill them on a brisk fire till they are well browned on each side. Serve them either dry or with a piquant sauce. Scotch mutton broth. Time, three hours. Nine or ten pints of water, IALB of barley, peck of green peas, 1 small turnip, 2 carrots, a little parsley, 1 onion, 41bs of mutton, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1 of pepper. Cut into small pieces the turnip, carrot, and onion (after well washing- them), and put the meat in first. Skim the pot till no more skum rises, then add the vegetables. Any one of the vegetables may be omitted, except the green peas. Biscuits.—Nice crisp little biscuits are made as follows :—Beat up one egg, add to it 2% oz. of pounded sugar, and mix well together. Beat to a cream 2 oz. of butter, then add V/2 oz. of ground rice. Add as much flour as will make a nice thick dough, roll out thinly, and cut with a small biscuit-cutter (ironmongers sell these for 6d). Put into a buttered tin and bake in a moderately brisk oven for half an hour. Panned Shortcake.—Put lb of butter into 1 pint of flour; add 1 teaspoonful of baking powder. Mix and moisten with half a cupful of milk. Knead lightly, roll out, cut into large biscuits and bake on the griddle. Split, butter, and serve very hot. Scrambled eggs.—For three eggs. take four tablespoonfuls of cream or milk, a little chopped parsley, pepper and salt, a tablespoonful of butter and dust of nutmeg. Stir it well over the fire in a pan till it thickens, then put it on little squares of toast; serve quickly. Cheese savoury. -Weigh three eggs in the shell. allow a third of their weight in cheese, and a piece of butter about one-sixth the weight of the cheese. Break the eggs into a basin, beat them well; add the cheese, which should be grated, and the butter which should be broken into small pieces. Put the mixture into a lined saucepan, place it over the fire, stir with a wooden spoon until the substance is thick and soft. Serve in a very hot silver dish. Use pepper and salt to taste. MEAT ScALwpx -When there is considerable cold meat on hand, chop fine, and make a scallop. Bntter a pudding-dish, and line the bottom with a layer of bread crumbs, add a little salt and a few bits of butter, then a layer of meat and another of bread crumbs, and so on until the dish is full. Pour over the whole a bowl of gravy if you have it, and, if not, moisten well with cold water; cover, and bake three-quarters of an hour, then uncover, and let it brown. SPICED VEAX.—Chop fine %lb of veal, season with salt, pepper, clove3, and cinnamon, add fine bread crumbs, one egg, and a piece of butter the size of an egg. Mix thoroughly, pour in a baking tin, and bake two hours and a half. When cold slice thin. BKOILING r, isif.-It is rather difficult to broil a large fish so that the middle will be done and the surface not burned. It is well to wrap it in oiled or buttered paper, and to have a large baking pan turned over it to hold the heat. When nearly done gomgve the paper, and allow the surface to brows.

Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, in a letter te the Marquis of Montrose, wrote I know a very wise man that believed that if a. man were permitted to make all the ballads he need not care whe should make the laws of the nation."

Would you be Young Again P Would you be young again ? So would not I, One tear to memory given, Onward I'd hie. Life's.dark flood forded o'er, All but the rest on shore, Say, would you plunge once more With home so nigh ? Where are the dear ones now ? My joy and delight. Dear and more dear, though now Hidden from sight Where they rejoice to be, That is the land for me Fiy time, fly speedily, Come life and light.—Baroness Nairne.

What Might be Done. What might be done if men were wise— What glorious deeds, my suffering brother, Would they unite In Love and Right, And cease their scorn for one another Oppression's heart might be imbued With kindling drops of loving-kindness, And Knowledge pou:, From shore to shore, Light on the eyes of mental blindness. All Slavery, Warfare, LieI-, and Wrongs, All Vice and Crime might die together And wine and corn, To each man born, Be free as warmth in summer weather. Tho meanest wretch that ever trod, The deepest sunk in guilt and sorrow, Might stand erect, In self-respect And share the teeming world to-morrow. What might be done ? This might be done, And more than this, my suffering brother, More than the tongue E'er said or sung, If men were wise and loved each other. —Mac mi).

MISSIONARY EXPLORTRS. As Europe got ashamed of the wrong it had wrought Africa by encouraging the traffic in human beings, it endeavoured to make amends by sending teachers to the black people. These missionaries were for a long time the most active agents in adding to our knowledge of the country, one of them being the first Briton—if not the first European—to cross the continent, while his stimulus soon brought swarms of more pro- fessional explorers into the interior. The centres of civilisation they established attracted the better class of traders and woke up Europe to the horrors of the slave raids. The expe- dition of Stanley in search of" Livingstone —who was not lost "—drew attention to Tan- ganyika, and directly to the mission fields lying ripe around that lake, while the next journey of the same explorer resulted in the missionaries going to Uganda, and to a great deal which will be best considered under succeeding sections. But while the missionaries have been important agents in opening up Africa, they have been innocent instruments in creating many of the disturbances between the whites and the natives, the Abys- sinian war, among others, being traceable to the complications which their presence in the interior caused.

An editor in Sheboygan, Michigan, was shot at I four times in one month, and now his" reptile contemporary refers to the matter under the bMd of" Araosements.

ECHOES FROM THE CALENDAR. I AUGUST. 7. SUNDAY.—?UI Sunday after Trinity. Ð. MONDAY.—Tnuisvani Republic proclaimed, 1881. 9. TUESDAY.—Dr. Moffat died 18S3. 10. WEDNESDAY.—George Stephenson died 1848. 11. TFFURSD-4,Y.-Half-44imrter Dav. Cardinal Newman died 1890. 12. FRIDP-Y.-Grouse shooting begins. 13. SATURDAY.—First bock printed, 1457. Robert Moffat. Robert Moffat, the Scottish missionary travel- ler, was born in 1795, and died 1883. He began missionary work in South Africa in 1813, and five years later made a long explanatory tour in the Damara country. In 1819 he married Mary Smith at Cape Town, who henceforth was the constant companion of his labours. During a visit to Britain in 1842, he published an account of his travels, and a translation of the New Testa- ment and Psalms in the Bechuana language. He finally returned to England in 1870, and his wife died the following year. He received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh University, and in 1883 he was presented with a public testimonial (26,800). One of his daughters became the wife I of Dr Livingstone. George Stephenson. I George Stephenson, the famous engineer, w.-s born at Wylain, near Newcastle, in 1781, and died in 1848. In his 14th year he became assiant to his father, who was fireman at a colliery, and in 1812 he was appointed to manage the Killing- worth Colliery. Meanwhile, he had been educating himself, chiefly in the science of mechanics, with the result that he obtained permission from Lord Rrvensworth to construct a travelling engine for the colliery tramway. This he accomplished in 1814, and next year he introduced a great improvement in the shape of the steam blast. In 1822 he succeeded in inducing the proprietors of the Stockton and Darlington Railway to adopt an improved locomotive. He was then employed to construct the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the directors of which accepted his locomotive, called the Rocket, which, at the trial trip in 1830, ran 29 miles in an hour. He was afterwards identified with numerous railway undertakings, and he was also the inventor of a miner's safety lamp. Cardinal Newman. John Henry Newman, born in 1801, the son of a London banker, was ordained in the English Church in 1824. At Oxford he led the Tractarian movement with Dr Pusey, Keble, and others. A sensation was created by his tract "Ninety,' publicly condemned by the University authorities. In 1845 he was received into the Romish Church, and there made a Cardinal in 1879, and for the latter portion of his life bad been head of the Oratory of St. Philip, near Birmingham, where he died August 11th, 1890. The Welshman's inventory. In one of the miscellaneous collections of the British Museum Library there is a quaint old broadside, adorned with a coarse wood-cut, de- signed to burlesque the goods and chattels of a Welsh gentleman or yeoman, at the same time raising mirth at his style of language and pro- nunciation. It is remarkable, says Chambers's Book of Days," how strong a resemblance the whole bears to the jeu d/esprit indulged in by the Lowland Scots at the expense of the simple mountaineers of the North, who are a people kindred to the Welsh. The following are extracts from the Infentorp Han Infentory of the Ceuds of William Morgan, ap Renald, ap Richard, ap Thomas, ap Evan, ap Rice, in the County of Glamorgan, Shentleman. IinnriiHVS. in the Pantry of Poultry (fcr bm. own eating).—One creat pig, four week old, one coose, two black-pudding, three cow-foot. Item in the Pantry of Plate.-One cridiron, one fripan, one tripan, three wooden ladle, three cann. Item, in the Tary. —One toasting shees, three oaten-cake, three pint cow-milk, one pound cow- putter. Item in the Cellar.-One firkin of wiggan, two gallon sower sider, one pint of perry, one little pottle of Garmarden sack, alias Metheglin. Item in the Armory of Weapon to kill hur enemy.—One pock-sword, two-edge, two Welsh book. three long club, one cun, one mouse-trap, &c., &c.

ONE OF THE PROBLEMS OF AFRICA. » jb. indeed, must be left to the depth of thai i.ijior consciousness out of which so many theories have been evolved. For once outside the lands of ancient civilisation—and Northern Africa, physically and historically, has far more intimate relations with Europe than with the continent behind it-there is nothing on which to base any conclusions regarding its peopling and its unwritten chronicles. Nowhere in the interior is there an inscription or a house of stone, or a monument more permanent than a hut of reeds or of mud. Yet fowls and cattle are among tbewlealth of nearlyevery tribe, and their traditions afford no clue as to the period when animals not natives of the country, or, in the case of fowls, even of the continent, first reached it, or by what agency. Not less extraordinary is the fact that all through Central Africa we find the rudest of the tribesmen cultivating maize, and making from it a muddy beer, with which they fuddle themselves all day long; and in this case also no legend exists re- garding the beneficent race or the god-like stranger who brought to them a plant which is assuredly not a native of the regions enjoying its use. Maize, indeed, is by many botanists— among ushers by De Candolle-reirarded as originally an American plant. It is the Indian's corn, so that assuming this to be true, it must of course have reached Africa, like the rest of the Old World, after the discovery of its native continent. Bnt even admitting, as there are good grounds for believ- I ing, that this grain was cultivated in Asia and in Africa before Columbus made it generally known in Europe-though the Arabs are said to have brought it to Spain-it is not argued that the plant was grown out of Egypt. Yet in Central Africa the plant was quite common before the first white men or Arabs were seen. Hence we are justified in concluding that, like fowls and cattle, it passed from coast tribe to coast tribe until it spread over the interior, or that the early civilisa- tion of Northern Africa must have re-acted on the barbarous "hinterland." It would be difficult to believe that it did not.

A GOOD SIGN. MRS TOPNICH Mvs Enveigh admires my new bonnet. MR TOPNICH How do you know MRs TopNicH I overheard her ridiculing it to Mrs Bonbon.

WHAT HE WANTED.—" Miss Quillcut," s&id the young man earnestly, 1 have been calling on you steadily for the last three months and it is perhaps fitting that now I should approach you on a subject that has been engrossing n.y attention for some time. I may say," he continued, as the fair young creature drew closer to him, prepared to nestle in the strong arms that were all his, I may say that I believe the time has come for me to speak. Do you remember, Miss Clara, one evening two months ago, as we were sitting side by side, the door was suddenly thrown open and your elder brother entered Mid whispered some- thing in my ear ?" I do," she replied; but thing in my ear ?" I do," she replied; but George, dear, what has that to do with the sub- ject in hand ?" Only this," he hissed through his set teeth, that I wast to tb&t dress gbirt be borrowed."

-1.- "1.J A SATURDAY SERMON. The fields Follow but forth for a little tine the thoughts of all that we ought to recognise in those words. All spnng and summer is in them —the walks by silent, scented paths—the rests in noonday heat-the joy of herds and flocks-the power of all shepherd life and rneditation-thg life of sunlight upon the world, falling in emerafat streaks, and failing in soft blue shadows, where else it would have struck upon the dark mould Of scorching dust-pastures beside the pacing brooks —soft banks and knolls of lowly hills- thymy slopes of down overlooked by the blue lines of lifted sea-crisp lawns all dim witb early dew, or smooth with even warmth of barred sunshine dinted by happy feet, and softening in their fall the sound of loving, I voices; all these are summed in these simple words, and these are not all. We may not measure to the full the depth of this heavenly gift in our own land though still, as we think of it longer, the infinite of that meadow sweetness, Shakespeare's peculiar joy would open on to more and more; yet we have it but in part. 9& out in the spring time among the meadows that slope from the shores of the Swiss lakes to the roots of their lower mountains. There, mingled with the taller gentians and the white narcissus, the grass grows deep and free and as you follow the winding mountain paths, beneath arching boughs all veiled and dim with blosrom-patht. that for ever droop and ris"! over the green bankt and mounds, sweeping down in scented undula- tion, steep to the blue water, studded here and there with new-mown heaps, filling all the ait with fainter sweetness—look up towards the higher hills, where the waves of everlasting green roll silently into their long inlets among the ghyfowft of the

--w LEARNED TO CrpHEa.—Aunty So this W3.3 your first term at school ? What did you learn ? Little Girl I learned how to cipher. Aunty You learned arithmetic ? Little Girl: No'm, I learned how to write cipher notes to little boys wot nobody else ceuid read, Aiittle girl taught

"AS OTHERS SEE US." What Americans Think of Wales. The Columbia reproduces an article on Wales that had appeared in the New York Evening Post. We give the following extracts :— Her self-assertion and resurgence, as it were, are to outsiders an unexpected phenomenon. A century ago the Principality was but little visited, and was regarded as a remote, uncivilised district, whose inhabitants had been rescued by Wesley and Whitefield from the materialism in which they had been left by the unfaithfulness of the Church of England. It was believed that English civilisa- tion, advancing over the Welsh borders, would before long as completely eliminate all traces of the old language and peculiarities as those of Cornwall had been eliminated. Wales is, how- ever, to-day as dissenting as Ireland is Catholic. She has clung to her language with a desperate tenacity while in Ireland the people have dis- carded the older from the Celtic, which one hundred years ago was spoken in every corner of their land. Wales comprises the eleven western counties of England, south of the estuary of the Dee, north of the estuary of the Severn. covers 5,000,000 of the 37,000,000 acres commonly known as England," and has 1,500,000 out of-the 29,000,000 inhabitants. Her population has increased just in the proportion that Ireland's has diminished within the decade, She returns thirty members to Parliament, twenty- eight of whom are enthusiastic Gladstonians. The leaders of Welsh thought are determined to make and preserve their country bilingual. The great English proprietors, with estates in the Prin- cipality, who see the necessity of maintaining their influence among their tenants and neigh- bours, now engage Welsh-speaking governesses for their children. Forty-four years ago it was possible for a. writer in Black- wood to declare that there is no Welsh literature worthy of the name," and that there were only 405 books circulating in the lan- guage—309 religious and poetic, 50 scientific, 46 general There were few newspapers, and they had only a small circulation. At present there are printed in Welsh no fewer than seventeen week- lies with circulations ranging from 1,500 to 23,000. There are besidesseveralmontuliesand quarterly, one of which prints 37,000 copies. There is an ever-increasiuglibraryof Welsh bookscoverin all departments of literature and representing every science and turn of thought. A Welsh-English dictionary is now being published, the first volume of which, running to 400 quarto pages and comprising only the first letter of the alphabet, sells at half a gtlinea; £18,000 has, with profit, been spent upon the production of one Welsh book. The sales of one firm alone in the vernacular trade reach :£36,000 per annum. The total annual value of such literature is said to amount to £50,000, The establish- ment of a lively Welsh Review (in English, it is true) in London is not the least striking sign of Cambrian vitality. The Welsh members of Parliament sit for the most part below the gangway. There is among many of them a certain family type. They are a lighter, brighter, more boyish, alert-looking set of men than the ordinary British and Irish by their side. Their pronunciation is somewhat labial— it has somewhat the distinction of our acquired language. Some of these members made a distin- guished stand over the Tithe Bill of last year. A measure for the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales was brought forward by them this session. London and Birmingham (the one 170, the other 70 miles distant) are vying for the possession of certain Welsh watersheds, whence to draw their water supplies. The Welsh members are fiercely watchful to guard the interests, present and pro- spective, of some of their own rapidly increasing centres of population, and of the present owners and inhabitants of the districts proposed to be pre- empted. In the inquiry about to be held in the financial relations of England, Scotland, and Ire- land, the Welsh desire to have their interests con- sidered apart from the rest of England." They havethis session brought in a National Institutions Bill for the Principality. It proposes the appoint- ment of a Secretary of State for Wales, the con- stitution of a Welsh Education Department, of a Welsh University and a National Museum, and the creation of a National Council to control waste lands, foreshores, woods and forests, railway and private Bills, charities, the appointment of county court judges, and the application of provisional orders to Wales. Inquiries seem to show that there is a large body of opinion in the district desirous of even greater powers—such as the ap- pointment of magistrates. Wales is, after all, more populous than any one of twenty-eight of the United States, and than any one of the self-governing British colonies, except Ontario. The steady current of national feeling in Wales must lead to important developments, and the solution of a Welsh question will, doubtless, before long engage the attention of the Imperial Parliament.

GOSSIPS' CORNER. Mr Charles Santley is writing his experiences and reminiscences. The yield of wheat in Bulgaria is 50 per cent. above that of last year. How will the Tories accept the proposal! Prof. Dicey advises that the Unionists should frankly accept the eight hours proposal. Mr Herbert Gladstone has told the London correspondent of the Western Daily Mercury that he will have no place in his father's new Ministry. Colonel Davies-Evans, of HIghmead, the Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire, twiled from Hull last week for a cruise round the coast of Norway r.nd the North of Europe. Miss Ruth Burnett, a niece of the late poet and American Minister to London—James Rus- sell Lowell-will shortly take the blaek veil in a convent of exceptional severity near Baltimore. Several Amazons of the King of Dahomey will probably be seen in the Dahomey village, which will be established at the World's Fair. Sixty ot seventy natives and their manner of living will be shown. The young Earl of Kerry, eldest son and heir of ,:lE Marquis of Lansdowne, who gave his sister away on Saturday at St Margaret's, Westminster, has not attained his majority, having been born in 1872. Mr G. F. Watts, R. A, not long ago painted an excellent portrait of Lord Sherbrooke, which he intends to leave to the nation, together with several other portraits of leading men of the Queen's reign. Jules Lebaudy, the great Paris sugar refiner and speculator, leaves a fortune which is estimated at 360, 000, 000 francs. This is probably the largest individual fortune in France, the land of moderate fortunes. Dr Baumann has just discovered a lake in Africa, which, he says, is 90 miles long. The lake—Eiassi of the natives-lie-, on the plateau south-east of Victoria Nyanza. Though about from 18 to 20 miles in breadth, no outlet is yet reported. Mr W. O'Brien, M.P., has received an interesting present from Canada, It is an oaken casket bound with gold and containing the dying declaration and some of the hair of the famous United Irishman, William Orr. It is intended that the relic be deposited in the Irish House of CommoHS or other national repository. The authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin has just attained her eighty-first year. Mrs Beeoher Stowe is now said to be in rather feeble mental condition, and she passed a part of her birthday on the lawn of her home in Hartford, sitting in a camp chair, with only a nurse and her daughter beside her. She rarely sees strangers, and fre- quently fails to recognise friends. The Mausoleum of the Emperor Frederick at Potsdam draws great crowds of the admirers of that never-to-be-forgotten Prince. No fewer than 72,000 persons have visited it during the short time since its completion. Professor Berge- mann has had built in Potsdam an exact imita- tion of the Villa Zirio at San Remo, where the deceased Emperor spent some of the last days of his life. Baroness Gustave de Rothschild's collar of pearls, worn by her at the opera, is valued at £ 40.000. A story is told of a famous French actress, who wore pearls of such enormous size in a play that she was criticised by one of her friends. It is tine," she said, the character I represent probably wore smaller pearls in real life. But what can I do! I have no small pearls." Hesitating politicians may set their minds definitely at rest about the position of Home Rule in the Liberal programme. The differentmem- bers of the party who. have lately been calling on Sir W. Harcourt have—we are informed—been distinctly given to understand that the precedence of Home Rule would not be even discussed. The only question left open is what item in the programme should come second. Mr George de Reuter, one of the directors of the Palace Theatre Company, is a son of Baron Julius de Reuter, the founder of Reuter's Tele- gram Company, and one of the most famous of England's naturalised German citizens. Barost de Reuter's eldest son, Mr Herbert de Reuter, is the managing director, tsince his father retired from active service, in the great News Agency. Both he and his younger brother are two of the most scholarly young men of the day, and as hard. working as any space reporter on Fleet-street. Before leaving London, Madame Sarah Bern*, hardt paid an unexpected visit to the Frenekr Hospital one afternoon. She was shown over the building by Dr Vintras, the chief physician, whom a French journalist, sacrificing truth to his little joke, recently described as Le Medecia Itriaginalre;" and on taking her leave, the dis- tinguished actress unostentatiously handed to the head nurse the contents of her purse for distribu- tion among the poor. The sum was found to be JB32. At present Sarah is resting in Paris, pre- vious to undertaking a Continental tour which will extend as far as Russia. Mrs Mona Caird is the daughter of Mr Joha Alison, lately deceased, who was a wealthy Colonial. His property in Victoria has beea sworn at £ 53,780 real and £ 68,750 personal. This, added to the £ 35,054 invested in England, brings the whole up to the comfortable sum of £ 157,5541., Mrs Mona Caird comes in for an annuity of £2,000, and her husband, who is appointed executor, is to receive another annuity of 21,000 on the death of Mr Alison's widow. Mr Caird also gets a legacy of £ 5,000. Under these circum- stances he at least cannot be said to have found marriage a failure. It was in 1871 that Mr Robert Lowe made himself ridiculous for the first and only time in hie life. He proposed, as everyone remembers, a halfpenny tax on lucifer match boxes containing wooden matches, and a penny a box if they con- tained wax matches, the latter, as be said, being "more aristocratic." The motto on the stamp was to be "Ex luce ltdlwm," and many people thought that Mr Lowe had proposed the stamp entirely for the sake of the motto, with which he exhibited an almost childish delight. The impost motto and all disappeared in a storm of ridioals and indignation.