Pontypool Free Press and Herald of the Hills

ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE. Minnie Frauees Belcher, aged 30, dressed in deep mourning, was brought from St. Mary's Hospital to West London Police-court, and charged with attempting to murder her two children by cutting their throats. She was farther charged with attempting to commit suicide by cutting her own throat. The prisoner, who was still unwell, was allowed to have a seat in the dock. Detective- se rgeant Atkinson said it bad gone forth that the cause was jealousy through the husband going oil with another woman. He had made inquiries, and found that it was not so. Sergeant Atkinson informed the magistrate that the children were not in danger. Mr. Curtis Bem,ett remanded the prisoner, and certified for legal aid.

A WELL-BEHAVED GORILLA. At tbe Aquarium in Berlin there is a big gorilla whose habits are about as correct as those of moat of his distant relatives. He gets up at eight o'clock in the morning, takes li bath, and uses soap without hesitation. When his toilet is completed he takes a cup of milk, after which he eats two loaves of bread, with Frankfort sausages and smoked Ham- burg beef, all of which he moistens with a glass of weiss beer. At 1 p.m. he takes a bowl of soup, with ripe and potatoes, and a wing of a chicken. He uses his knife and fork and his napkin like a born aristocrat but when be thi nks that his keepers are not observing him, he discards the impediments of civilisation, and plunges his muzzle into the bowl, as if to give evidence of the melancholy fact that oven a gorilla can be a hog.

FIVE FIREMEN KILLED. Telegraphic dispatches from America record several really serious disasters with very serious loss of life. At Omaha a large furniture establish. ment was struck by lightning during a violent. storm, and immediately fire broke out at several points. A large force of firemen were soon operat- ing at the scene, but rapidly, did the flambo spread that the building practically collapsed with, out any apparent warriiug, and five of the unfortn. nate firemen were killed. In the colliery district near Eagle Pass, in Mexico, fire has broken out in a lange mine, and it is feared that 26 men whom the explorers have been unable to reach have perished. Some sensational details have appeared of what was described as a terribly devastating cyclone in the discrict around El Dorado. The whole story is authoritatively stated to be a pure fabrication.

ANOTHER PUGILIST SENT TO GAOL. Henry Spnrden, aged twenty-fonr, known as the champion light-weight boxer of England, living at Wandsworth, was charged, a few days since, at the South-Western Police Court, London, with vio- lently assaulting Jerome Moon, earetaker of the Battersea Free Public Library. Prosecutor said he was with his wife in Falcon Road, Battersea, when the prisoner insulted his wife. Witness asked him what he meant, and then a female who was with the prisoner attempted to strike his wife. He put his arm out to ward off the blow, when the prisoner struck him in the face. Two of his teeth were knocked out. He got up, the prisoner again struck him a severe blow in the eye. Prisoner, in defence, said he was only taking the part of his" yonllg lady." Prosecutor first struck tbe lady, and he (prisoner) took tho lady's part. The magistrates sentenced him to fourteen day's hard labour.

OUTBAGE ON AN ENGLISH TRAINER. A telegram from Vienna says an extraordinary outrage has been committed by Count Zaenho Kinsky. After a vehement altercation with his trainer, a man named Spider, about his mare Machrchen having failed to get a place in the Vienna Derby, the count deliberately rode at Spider, Who was knocked down and badly injured in the chest by tbe horses hoofs. Spider, who is an Englishman, has been in Count Kinsky's service since he was a boy, and has trained for him for the past ten years. His son, who has been acting as Count Kiusky's jockey, and upon whose conduct in riding a mare in the Austrian Derby the dispute seems to have turned was trained at Newmarket, by Mr. Jarvis. The altercation which resulted in Count Kinsky's riding down his trainer is said to have arisen oat of a threat on the part of the count to horsewhip the latter's son. It is reported that Spider is not seriously hurt, and that tbe matter will probably be settled without coming before a court ot B

An hotel-keeper from Buda Pesth, a Prussian engineei, and two other men have been arrested a: Presbui-g, Hungary, on a charge of extortion agaiuBt the Princess Arenberg, an aunt of Kine Milan. in the district of Emilia, Italy, a band of unem. ployed agricultural labourers >have invaded the bakehouses aud assumed a. threatening attitude. Prince Alfred of Edinbarg is suffering from an attack of scarlet fever at Potsdam. He is making satisfactory progress. M Zola has bought a bicycle, and is taking lessons in the art of riding it.1 He hopes to be able soon to spin from Paris to Medan and back in the same day. The King of Wurtemberg has conferred the title of Knight of the Order of Frederick upon Mr. Stuart Cumberland, who now has close upon a dozen decor- ations. Canon Henry Rees, M.A., has resigned the living of Conway, aud also the precentorship of Bangor Cathedral, having been ordered abroad through ill- health. Nineteen mines were in operation in Algeria during the past year—namely, seven vine mines, five iron mines, lour leap mines and three copper mines. James Charles Gurney is undergoing seven days' hard labour for being found in the garden of the Rev. Dr. Spurgeon shortly before midnight for a supposed unlawful purpose. It is stated that the Rev. Dr. Talmage has intim. ated his intention to resign if the liabilities on the Tabernacle, amounting to about £24,000 are not cleared off within the next few days. The production of pig-iron in Germany during the past four month s of the present year amounted to 1,528,247 tons, as compared with 1,527,540 tons in the corresponding period of last year. The death is announced of Major W. T. Johnson, of The Dann, Seaford, Sussex, one of the few sur- vivors of the first Relief of Lucknow. He also took part in the battles of the Alma and Inkerman. At Oldham the managers of several clubs were proceeded against for selling drink to nou-mem- bers. In one case the barman was fined JB5 and costs. Alderman F. M. Coldwells, M.P. for Lambeth, hos inst resigned his seat on he aldermanic bench at Croydon, which he has occupied since the town was incorporated. Sound health rule3: Use good, simple food. Take plenty of sleep. Do your work in the sun- shine that) God gives, and nob in artificial light. Use relaxation. It is a trite but true saying that strangers to home are strangers to happiness. Never forget that an open fire and judiciously selected pictures will make any room look çbee fuL y

SAMPLES. A Church of England clergyman, who. was travelling on the Continent, was exceedingly partial to a peculiarly hot kind of pickle, a botlle of which he ill variably carried aboub with him wherever lie went. Au American, who was seated nexb to him one day at table d'hote, thinking those pickles were for general use, began to hdp himself. I be your pardon, sir," interrupted tho clergyman, ••those pickles are mine; bub help yourself by all means; you're quite welcome ta try them. The American thanked him, and tasted them. Strailier I guess you're a parson." "I am,' .espojided the clergyman A slight pause. I "tranger do you believe in eternal punish- ment, everlasting fire, and all thab sorb of thing?'" Certainly J da Bub whab makes yon ask ?" I kinder thought so. Well, I calculate you're the fust parson I've meb who carried samples aboub with him." A mother gave Iier H; hoy two bright new pennies, a"1' a»Wi him vliat he was going to do with them. After a moment's thought tho child replied I am going to give 0;18 to the missionaries-, and with Lhe other I am going to buy a stick of candy." After a while ho returned from his play and told his mother that he had losb one of the pennies. Which did yon lose?" she a-ked. "I lost the missionary penny," ho promptly replied. Thab is probably^ the oldest piece of farni- ture in England," said a collector of antique curiosities to a friend, and pointing to a vener- able-looking table as he spoke. "How old is i L'! asked the friend. "Nearly four hundred years old." "Pshaw! that is nothing. I have a table moro than two thousand years old." Indeed." Yes; the Multiplication Table." Wife (reading the paper): Well, I declare if thab isn't the queerest thing I ever heard of." Husband: "Whatsth&b?" Wife Why, here in the paper is an an. nouncemenb of a wedding, and among the wed- dirg presents was a bull-terrier, given to the bride by her father." Husband I don'b see anything odd aboub.1 thab; she was the old man's youngest daughter, wasn' b Bile? Wife: "Yes but what's thab to do with ib?" Husband: "Why, "of course, if she and all the rest were uoatried he had no further use foe the dog." ¡ A fellow named Teddy Magee. Rolling homeward one niglit from a BprMt Meb the parson, who said Ab ? drunk again, Ted—" v I •* Obo!m I, parson" gurgled Ma&W

Tories or THE WEEK. ♦ LORD DS'.ISV'S il^nru't'iro f;-o*n Canada wi! IT is Stated, be do1, orred the return of sir Janii'3 Thompson, the Premier, who is at present: engaged in connection with the Coining Sea Coast of Arbitration. Immediately on the Premier's return Lord Derby will leave. and Lord Aberdeen will set. out to take up the Viccroyalty. THE waters of the Khme are at present so low that the progress o ships is very much retarded. Everywhere the rocks to he seen projecting out of the water, and sandbanks are visible. Small veseeisjeau only in many places move but slowly along, and larger vessels proceed only as far as Cologne. The navigable water of the Rhine water breaking through a chain of mountains, which at low water makes it a dangerous rapid-Is now scarcely more tlian Hft. deep. In other rivers the water is very low, and the inconvenience is great. UP to the present time the Society of Friends in England has not gone beyond advising its members against frequenting hotels, taverns, or other public houses, excessive drinking and other intemperance, and against the unnecessary use of intoxicating liquor. The yearly meeting now in session in London has adopted an address urging all members of the Society to abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors a-, beverage and against investing any money in the liquor tradn, or taking shares in brewing companies. A petition to Parlia- ment in favour of the Liquor Traffic (Local Control Bill was also adopted, officially signed, and handed to one of the several M.P.s who were present for presentation to Parliament. A TELEGRAM from Nemburg, Bohemia, reports that the first five competitors in the long-distance walk from Berlin to Vienna are scattered over a Btretch of more than thirty-one miles. The Magde- burg vegetarian, who is in tolerably good condition, leads. He is followed by a Vienna engineer, and after him comes a printer, of Flocha, a music master of Petersdorf, and a person known as the natural man." Nearly all the competitors are suffering, from sore feet. The distance acoomplished by the leading pedestrian is 198 miles 1,094 yards. Curing their passage through Bohemian territory the pedes- trians met with anything but, a eoi-dial reception, while at some places they were pelted with stones IT will be remembered, says a Vienna corres- pondent, that when the Archduke Francis Ferdinand Started for his voyage round the world in Decem her last, one of his cousins, the Archduke Leopold Sal- Tator, eldest sou of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, was appointed first Lieutenant on board the ram cruiser Empress Elisabeth. The Archduke had previously made a voyage round the world in the Fasana, and returned hale and hearty. Now it is announced that sea air does not agree with him, that his nerves are irritated, and that he is return- ing home fiom Sydney on board an English Steamer. There is an impression that the two Archdukes did not quite agree, and that for this reason the younger was recalled home. Archduke Leopold is twenty-five, and will be back in Vieoua in a month's time. The Archduke Francis Ferdin- and continued his voyage on board the Elisabeth to the Fiji Islands. FKESH counts in the indictment against the Sparrows continue to be raised in the Uuited States Oliver Thorne Miller is an enthusiastic naturalist. yet no friend to that feathered denizen or cockuey-, land. The first thing, as she says, that one naturally looks for as birds begin to waken is a morning chorus of song. But every year the chorus is withdrawing more and more to the woods, every year it is harder to find a pliico where English sparrows are not in possession, and it is one of the most grievous sins of that bird that he spoils the song, even when he does not succeed in driving out the singer. A running accompaniment of harsh and interminable" squawks overpowers, it is complained, the music of meadow lark and robin, and the glorious song of the thrush is fairly murdered by it. One could, this lady thinks, almost forgive the sparrpw his other crimes, if he would only lie abed in the morning; if he would occasionally listen, and not for ever roeak the peace of the opening day with his vulgar howling." IN view of the p. eparations for the cel ebration of her sixtieth birthdny rext year, the Empress of China has issued an address directed agaiust wastefulness and extravagance. The Ministers are enjoined to pr actise the strictest economy, which, it is observed, will be in accordance both with her Majesty's tastes and with the interest of the people at large. Her Jlajesty also commands that there shall be no offering of tiie customary presents of silks and other things by the Ministers, Provincial Governors, Commander-in-chief, and Generals. Daring the past year special sums were given from the privy purse for the relief of the poor in the metropolitan Prefecture of Siiunteen Fa, and her Majesty commands that an animal donation of twenty thousand taels be made to them in future from the s&me source. For the year of the cele- bration she bestows a similar sum upon the poor of each province throughout the Empire, and desires that the high authorities shall take charge of its distribution. A CELEBRITY in the French industrial world, M. j Gervais, the owner of one of the greatest cheese factories in Europe, has just passed away at an advanced age. M, Gervais was entirely a self made man, and in the early years his education was very much neglected. For all this, it was his great ambition to shine as a politician, and more than once he put up for the Chamber of Deputies. His speeches at election meetings were always great fun. At the last general election he put up for the constituency of Gournay, in Normandy. This time be hoped to make a great impression at his first meeting. He therefore engaged a member of the staff of the Nouvelltstc de Ronen" to dictate to him a discourse suitable to the circumstances, and i this he learnt by heart. One may imagine the amusement of his hearers when he began thiis As a candidate for the Chamber comma knowing your needs comma I beg to solictt your suffrages fill stop." This did indeed bring him to a full stop, amidst a roar of laughter. Despite his little eccen. tricities, M. Gervais was highly estsemed. MB. JAMES PAIN'S alarm at the suggestion that parasitic plants which creep along balconies and verandahs have the gift of sight will not be jsater aily allayed by the observations on the flowers in the Gu'.aira forest which appear in Natural Science." This gentleman, it is trne, does not countenance the notion that plants in the South American forests can see or hear, but that eince it is now generally conceded that animals are reasonable beings, he thinks that it is almost necessary to go a step further and allow the same tl' plants. As he )I)so -ves. it d';esnot follow that because a dnmb man cannot explain his thoughts, be lia. therefore none. When the strong man bears paia without flincMnir, is it oeoause he teels ie." than the baby who cries out at the p of his voice 1 It is, we are reminded, a mutter of common observa- tion that plants s'ow their iikcn and dislikes, Suifer and languish when brighten up and look robust in congsuial positions, alld have, t" a certain extent, most of tha faculties common to man and the lower animals. THE highest recorded rainfall is the subject of a letter in N'ltzre by Mf. E. Douglas Archibald, who says The highest record extant belongs to Chira. puuji, in the Khasia H;;Js, whei-e oil June 14, 1876, 40 8 inches were recorded in the twentv.four hours Not only so buton the 12th 30 inches fell, and in the four days, from the 12th to the 15th, inclusive, as much as 102 inches. Of course the effects were not so disastrous in this-ease, as, indeed, such a •state of things is little removed from the normal at Chira in the early part of June; but I have a very clear recollection of it, as I was at Chirnpunji on the 12tband 13th, ond not far from it on the memorable 14th. Tlio conditions which hive oc- curred in Queens!;> H<! and the North Island of New Zealand during the last sis months have been a re- markable example of pewistent abnormal, and though the total unmber or rational causcs may Stiil be wanting to e::p'ain everything, one or two wete evidently in oper;*U"n when I was there from October to Jannary, and I aru confident that from the empirical law of t>ei s sre::ey. coupled with a few rational inferences. p forecast, of impending floods could have been made, id can be made, tor the future, much in th" smne way Is the gcnpl character of the monsoon can be fwoiold in India.

Selina Blackinore. the wife of a Chelmsford machinist, and a member of the temperance branch of the Salvation Army, was at the Central Criminal Court, sentenced to two year's hard labour for, gross cruelty to a voung siri who was in her service as a domestic. The body of a m.rt,, child, apparently about three months old, wrapped in a line linen sbirt, has been found in thp Leeds and Liverpool Canal, near Gorsey Bridge, Ford. Thi skull was badly fractured, and tbe-e appeared to be a punctured wound on the right side of the neck. Air James E. Murdoch, the well-known actor, who has just died at Cincinnati in his eighty-third year, was the first American citizen who was elected a member of the Garrick Club. Thackeray proposed him. He married, in 1842, Miss Eliza Middlecott, the daughter of a London silversmith. Great distress is prevalent among the mining population of the Chesterfield district. Action was taken by Mr. J. Haslam at the meeting of the Chesterfield Board of Guardians, with a view to sanctioning greater latitude to relieving officers in granting poor law relief. Notice of motion, however had to be given. The Lord Chief Justice, whohas felt very deeply the death of his brother, Father Coleridge, of the Order of the Jesnits, is at present, it is believed, engaged upon a memoir dealing mainly with Father on r- Coleridge's career in his Anglican dayB.

CITY CORRESPOAIDEiNCE.1 THE river Congo is at present infesfcW with crocodiles. A woman washing clothes or. the bank was seized by one of th monsters, and instantly disappeared. The next day a trader shot an obiect floating on the water which he suspected to be a crocodile, but it turned out to be the mangled body oi the missing woman, minus lege and arms. A BILL securing equal legal rights for parents with regard to the guardianship of the children has become law in New York. In all the States of the Union save these five-Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, and Washington—a dying father can will away his children—born or posthumous, to a guardian, who may take them to any corner of the globe, the mother having no authority to interpose. It was through the influence of the Buffalo Women's Educational and Industrial Union that the Guardian- ship Law has now been passed, securing equal rights to the mother with the father. WHE the Shah visited London the extra labour imposed upon the Metropolitan Police was recog- nised by giving them three days' extra leave. A similiar course was taken in connection with the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee and after the last vi>it of the German Emperor. The men think the boon might well be renewed in view of the opening of the Imperial Institute and the forth- coming JSoyal Marriage. Mr. James Stuart has undertaken to bring the matter antler the notice oi the Home Secretary. 'I' Two new pavilions just added to the Cochin Hospital in Paris have been'named after M. Pasteur a:id Sir Joseph Lister. They supersede wooden barracks, which were found to be highly objection- able, and are built on the latest antiseptic princi- ples. The walls are constructed of bricks made from the refuse of blast furnaces. In the operat- ing rooms everything is done to avoid dust; the comers are rounded the heating is effected by warm air, which is filtered through asbestos the lighting is by electric lamps having double glasses the tabl es are of glass and the whole room can be washed down from ceiling to floor after each opera- tion. PROF. DANIEL OLIVER, who has just received the gold medals of the Linnean Society, is a very capahle botanist, who preceded Mr. J. G. Baker in the Keepership of the Kew Herbarium. It must be confessed that his manner to inquirers was some- what abrupt. Famous botanists who travelled from the ends of the earth to visit Kew were politely shown what they asked to see and then politely bowed out. His son, Mr. Frank Oliver, is an assist- aut iu the botanical section of the British Museum, and it is an interesting coincidence that, his genial and learned successor has a son, Mr. Edmund Dakel', who is also an assistant in the same depart- ment of the public service. ACCORDING to a telegram from Littlerock, Arkansas, a cyclone has swept over the town of El Dorado in New York State, unroofing or destroying nearly every house in the place. The roof of the Baptist Church was also carried away, and the sexton, who was preparing for the conim neement of school, was killed. A despatch received at Littlerock, while the storm was still raging, stated that fifteen persons had been killed and twenty-five injured at El Dorado, and that there had also been great loss of life and property in the vicinity. The storm struck the town from a south-westerly direction, and was heard appoaching for fifteen minutes before it arrived. Since the despatch of this telegram to Littlerock the wins have been blown down. AT the Coventry Police Court a few days ago, the charge against Emma Lee&, agedfiftcen, of absconding from the industrial school before her period of detention had expired was again considered, the girl having been remauded for a week to allow of enquiry into certain allegations as to the corporal punishment inflicted upon her, and the methods adopted in its infliction by the matron, li-s. Camp. The solicitor who appeared for the Ladies' Com. mittee and for the matron admitted that the girl had been punished, and in a manner that was wholly illegal, that the punishment was inflicted in a way of which the committee wholly disapproved and that it erred on the side of severity. The matron, however, erred with the best of motives, and he asked that the girl might be sent back. It was stated that a Home Office enquiry was pend- iug, and the Bench further remanded the girl to the workhoDse. As old Parisian costermonger, one Guillaume Chassard has just learned by sad experience the truth of the proverb that a rtill tonga.1 shows a wise head. He was recently admitted to the hospital called the Hotel Dieu suffering from some complaint, and while there was extremely loquacious. He was fond of boasting in particular that he had a niece liviug in the ilouth of France, Madame So- and-so, of such-and-such-a-place, who was iu the habit of making him an annual allowance of six hundred francs, or twenty-four pounds, iu half- yearly instalments on the 20th of May and the 20th of November. Chassard left the Hdtel Dieu, and soon afterwards the 20th of May came round, but with it came no remittance. He waited a few day, and men he wrote to his niece. AB answer came to the effect that the money had been seut, at his supposed request, to the Beaujon Hospital. It ap- pears that on the 10th of May someone wrote in his name as stated, and the person, whoever he was, having receified the motley at the addroes indicated, had decamped. The police art on the look-out for this astute thief. THE development of the shrapnel shell is, in the opinion of Mr. Spenser Wilkinson, who accompanied Lord Roberts in his recent inspections in the Pun- jab the mostjremarkable change in the mechanism of war that has been made in our time. The shrapnel is described as a hollow steel eylinder filled with bullets, and having in its head or in its base a charge of powder just sufficient to break the case. The charge is fired by a fuse, which in the latest patterns is made either to light its elf from the flash in the gun and to fire the charge after a fixed number of seconds (time fuze), or to explode the charge whenever the shell strikes the ground (percussion fuze). The shrapnel with the time fuze adds Mr. Wilkinson in his article in The United Service Magazine," is the gunner's most deadly weapon. Show him his target 3,000 yards awar he wilt try and fire his shrapnel so that it shall explode abont a hundred yards short of the target and fifteen feet from the ground. The hundred or hundred and fifty bullets will rush on, spreading as they go, carrying destruction to as many points over an area twenty yards wide and three hundred yards long, of which the target will be at the centre. One such crash of bullets would produce a terrible effect upon any body of troops within its area fifty or a hundred such showers, faitinfz wiUiin a few minutes in the same area, would utterly destroy all living things up m the ground the S'vept. The modern gunner's abject is aocovd- ingiy to cover with a quick succession of shrapnel- bn lIet huilicanes the region where his enemy is to be attacked.

A man named Poole has died in Sedgley work- house from small-pox. ,1. Caudiii, the Socialist Deputy, will have to pay 200L for alleged labour disturbances. During pratice by the French 19th Artillery Regiment a new gun burst. Two officers were kiiied. Sir Hnssey Vivian has chosen Swanse a as his title. Henceforth he will be known as Lord Swansea. Homestead legal disputes are practically over, the murder charges against Pinkerton men as well as against strikers having been withdrawn. A dynamite cartridge, which exploded in a cafe at Alais, in the Department of Gard, injured two persons. The author of the outr&go has been arrested. A cyclone has swept over the town of El Dorado, in Arkansas, unroofing or destroying nearly every house iu the place. Orcr 5 persons have been killed. William HutnbereKm, a stevedore, living at Nightingale-lane, Smithfielfl, lies dead at the London r. ospitnl. He fractured his skull by falling down a ship's hold. In the Queen's Bench Division Mi-. Rance ob- tained a verdict ngaiust the London General Omnibus Company for 4001 as compensation for in uries he sustained in being thrown from an omnibus at the corner of Chcapside. The experts who have inquired into the defalca- tions at the Santa Clara Bank in San Jose, Californ ia, report that the vie 3-president and cashier absconded with 260,000 dollars, of the bank's funds. The bank has been reopened. The Admiralty have conferred a good-service peneion of 150L per annum upon Captain Henry j Harvey Boys, flag-captain to Viee-Admiral Sir Algernon C. F. Heneage, K.C.B., Commander-in- Chief at Nore. Preaching at Westminster Abbey, Archdeacon Farrar chose for his theme the word Amen," and denounced in eloquent terms trumpery human ordinances 11 which had been imported into the charoh. Madame Patey has acceded to a generally ex. pressed wish, and wi 11 not retire from public lite; without a formal farewell. This will probably take j place at a specif! concert to be given in London in the early part or the winter season. Madame Pattihas commissioned Sfgnor Pizzi, nn It.alan musician resident, in America, in compose t'ot- her a one-act opera, upmra strong dramatic subject, ii> which ghe will appeal- dur ing her coining tour in the United States. The bonk of Ava, in Illinois, has been ribbed of tl sum of 300,000 dollars. Ai if on, while the bank officials were at dinner, the robbers efreeLOú I an entrance by forciagopea inflow anll ahstrnctcd the money from the safe, which was unlocked.

ITEMS OF INTEREST. I Miss Ada Rehan, the well-known actress, is on her way from the United States to England. lIIr. Humphry Ward is writing a companion novel to David Grieve and Robert Elsmere." Alderman Jackson, of Carlisle, aged 80, died suddenly while attending Divine service. The spire of the parish church at Bainton near Stamford, has been struck by lightning. Con. Biderable damage was done. Mr. T. P. Price, who has represented North Mon. mouth in the Liberal inteiest since 1886, has intimated that be will not seek re-election. The Dublin Corporation have rejected resolutions of congratulati on on the marriage of the Duke of York. A demand for a concession for a period of ten years has been made for the electric lighting of But-ivia, Java. Her Majesty's S ta te Balls will take place at Buckingham Palace on Friday 23rd, and Friday the 30th inst. A sum of £ 46 has been subscribed towards the, £ 10Q which it was intended to present to Mr. Keir Hardie M.P. A new park has been opened at Brinksway, Stock- port. It is thirteen acres in extent, and has cost £ 12,000. Mr. Thomas Leinster Goodlake, a well-known Berkshire magistrate, died at his residenoe, Wadley Ilottso, Faringdon, a few days ago. There are 18,000 typewriters at work in New York, two-thirds of the number being women. Mr. Ben Tillett, the well-known labour leader, is reported to be seriously ill. Mr. Gladstone has taken a house at Furze Hill, Brighton, for three ,months, Viscount Folk stone, M.P., for South Wilts, has returned from Egypt greatly improved in health. Mr. Havelock Wilson has recovered from his recent severe illness and resumed his Parliamentary duties. Seventy-four per cent, of those charged with crime in Denmark commit it under the influence of drink. Influenza having disappeared, the Paris mortality is now 10 per cent, below the average of previous years. Much sickness, not of a serious nature, prevails in Cairo, and 400 men of the British garrison are in the citadel hospital. Mr. Sidney H. Wells, of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, has been appointed principal of the Batter- sea Polytechnic Institute. The Rev. Keith Walden, of Halifax, has accepted the pastorate of Queen Square Congregational Church, Brighton. The Lancashire Asylums Board have passed a resolution empowerin g a committee to purchase a site for another asylum. The 192nd anniversary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts will be held on the 14: h just., at St Paul's Cathedral. The French railway companies, at the instance of the Government, have reduced by 25 per cent. the rates for bay and other cattle food. Captain Maurice Fitz-Gerald, late of the 16rb Lancers, has been installed a Military Knight of Windsor Castle, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The Duke of Westminster, laid the foundation- stoiie of a coroner's court and public mortnary to be erected in Horseferry Road, Westminster, on a free- hold site given by his grace, a few days since. It appears from General Dodds's technical report on the Dahomey campaign that the Lebel rifle gave entire satisfaction. The troops which used the smokeless powder suffered much less than the others. Prince Francis of Teck, 1st Royal Dragoons, is one of a large number of officers who have arrived at the School of Musketry, Hythe, to undergo a course of instruction. The Rev. J. Kirk M aconachie, assistant to the Rev. Dr. Mackennal, of Bowdon, has accepted a call to succeed the late Rev. Dr. Finlayson, at Rusbolme, Manchester. Henry Montague Martin, described as a civil engineer has been sent by Mr. Commissioner Kerr to five years' penal servitude for bigamy under circumstances of a heartless character. General Lord Roberts will inspect the Corps of Commissionaires on Su ndny, June 18. The parade will take place, by per mission of Field-Marshal Sir Patrick Grant, G.C.B., in the gardens of Chelsea Hospital. The Irish Times announces that it has handed over to the Irish Unionist Alliance subscriptions amounting to £ 5,150. and still has a balance in hand for the purpose of carrying on the agitatioti against Home Rule. The Queen has been pleased to accept a copy or The Deeds of Montrose," a new translation, with iiineb fresh matter, of Wishart's famous memoirs, De Rebus liontisrosarnni," which were hung round Moutrose's neck at his execution. At a meeting of the Executive Committee- Signor Baccelli presiding—it was decided that the eleventh International Medical Congress should be held in Rome from September 24 to October 1 next. The London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Com- pany have given notice that the early morning trains which have hitherto left St. Paul's Station at a quarter past three and qunrter past four will in fnture start from Ludgate Hill Station. The latest of many contacting statements is that the Lord Justice will not go on circuit; it is impos. sible to eay till the lists appear. Till Sir Charles Bowen went last term no Lord Justice had gone since Sir Richard Baggallay. At the annual meeting of the Paddington Green Children's Hospital, it was stated that the old building had been pnlled down because of ite in- sanitary condition, and because it was impregnated with infection. At Westminster Police Court, Joseph Wilson, publican, Chelsea, was fined 40s. and costs for al- lowing a ferocious dog to go unmuzzled, and was also ordered to pay compensation to two persons whom the animal had bitten. Their Royal Highnesses the Duke of York, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck were present at a coaching parade and driving competition at Hurlingbam Club a few days ago. The Rev. Robert F. Horton, of Hampsfead, has accepted the chairmanship of the directors of the London Missionary Society, in atiecession to the Rev. William Roberts, of Notting Hill. Mr. Alexander Hubbard has been appointed vice-chair- man. At a meeting of Liverpool and district teachers it was urged, and a resolution to the effect adopted, that it would be to the advantage of higher education in the district if attendance at the even- ing classes of its colleges constituted a residential qualification for the degrees of Victoria University, A Capetown telegram stateR that Mr. Logan, the railway refreshment contractor, has obtained £ií.{\! I() damages in consideration of the cancellation of Irs contract. The Solicitor-General d'd not attempt to argue in support of the Government's plea that the contract was cancelled in the public interest. By special permission of the Queen, the mem hers of the German Horticultural Society who are now staying in England visited the Royal farms And gardens at Windsor. They were snbseqnentlv shown through the State and private apartments <>t the Castle. Again we are reminded by a telegram from Berlin of one of the horrors of the iron' discipline of the German army, the Vorwarts announcing that during the month of March ihero were seventeen suicides and eighty-two attempts at suicides on the part or German soldiers. A London correspondent understands that Madame Patey has promised to sing at the Patti Concert at the Albert Hallon July 1. This may be her last appearance in public, as so far the distinguished contralto has remained firm in her decision not to take a formal farewell. In a Convocation holden at Oj<ford, on Wednesday, the Rev. D. H. Newman, B.A. (non-collegiate), was declared, du ly elected to the rectory of SouthStoke, in the country of Sussex, the patronage on this occasion having lapsed to the Unirersity under the provisions of the Act 3, James I, c. 5. Dom Sauton, a Bened ictine, who took a medical degree before entering the Order, is about, with the approval of the Pope and with credentials from the French Government, to visit all the lept-osy hospi. tals of the world, in order to seenre the adoption of the most efficacious treatment. Two youths were sentenced by the Common Serjeant, at the Central Criminal Court, to ten months' and eighteen month's hard labour re- spectively for stealing a gold watch from Mr. S. Cha rrington, 31. P., as he was returning from the] House of Commons. An Order in Council is about to be published under which vessels calling at British ports r bunker coal and also taking in stores or provisions required for the voyage will be freed from the pay. ment. of light dues, thus removing a grievance of which shippers have long complaiued. A telegiam from Athens states that, the excavators at Delphi have dug np a colossal marble statue of Apollo. The scripture is of the best antique scho-. and the statue itself is excellently preserved, \v> b the exception that the in se is broken. It resembles the Apolio o! Tenea in the Museum at Munich. The London Fund Committee of the Miss:ons to seamen have completed the purchase of a site for a seamen's church and institute immediately oppo- site the shipping offices in Poplar. The buildings to be erected will consist of all institute to accommo- sailors for Micinl recreation and a church to seat 400 person?. j The denominational statistics of the Society of Friends now :a!mbi:ed how that in the Lancashire and Cheshire disn-it-i there are 1,S(.12 members of the body, in addition io some hundreds of attenders wot in membership, in the district there appear to be forty-ono meetings of the Society regularly held.

.I A MA LAY PRINCE'S" ROMANCE. A romantic inci dent in connection with the visit of the Sultan of Johore has given rise to much comment at Carlsbad. The Sultan's nephew, who accompanies him on his visit to Europe, fell in love daring his previous visi t to Carlsbad two years ago, after the death of his wife, with the daughter of a local locksmith, wh o was famed in the district for her beaaty. The nephew introduced the lock- smith's daughter to the Sultan, who consented to their betrothal. After the marriage the young couple will return to India.

A NEW LINCOLNSHIRE LINE. The new line of railway from Bourne, in Lincoln. shire, to Saxby, in Leicestershire, was opened a few days ago for goods and mineral traffic. The original powers of construction were obtained by the Eastern an d Midland Railway in 1888, and subse- quently were transferred to the Midland, by which company the line has been made. It will now be- come the joint property of the Midland and Great Northern Companies. The undertaking has cost a quarter of a million, it is 18 miles long, and will be opened for passenger traffic in July.

A CHILD ATTACKED BY RATS. As a child belonging toa labourer named Grev was lying in a perambulator at Oak Lane, situated between Acton and Wormwood Scrubs, a few davs ago, it was suddenly attacked by a number of rats from a neighbouring sewer. A girl in charge of the perambulator was gathering flowers at the time, and the screams of the child attracted her attention and that of a navvy, who, fortunately, was near at hand. On their approach the rats made a hasty departure, but it was found that the child had been bitten about the ears and nose, which were bleoG^ The injuries however, were not serious. The rec. m drought has brought an itmnenso number of r* s to the locality, and their balf-starved conditf-—, appears to have made them pecnliarly vicious.

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HE WAS IRREPRESSIBLE. Mrs. Shamm gave a small bub eleganb tea the Other evening, and, as a reward for being good for two hours, she allowed her son Bertie, aged ten, to sib at the table with the guests. As an example of cold-blooded villainy we give a few of the remarksmade by Master Bertie during the progress of the meal "Ma," he asked firsb, whose spoons are these ? Rush, dear," said Mrs. Sliamm. He hushed for a second. Then Ma, whose big glass dish is thab ? "Little boys should be seen and nob heard," said Mrs. Shamm with a sickly smile that did nob conceal from the guests the fact thab there was a fearful reckoning in storo for Bertie on them de. parture. S;>y« ma," lie pub in, interrupting old Mrs. Money weights, who was the special guesb of the occasion, "Lhab aiu'b our silver cake-basket, is it?" Bertie, didnV you hear Mrs. Moneyweighb speaking ?" chides his distressed parenb. Well, I'll be quieb if you'll tell mo whoso pretty glasses these are. They're Mrs. Baxter's ail) b they ? "Bertie Oli, lJJa, j forgot to tell you thab Mrs. Hooker wants yon be sure and send back her teaspoons to-ni^ht, and—oh, ma, did you know thab Sally broke one of Mrs. Walker's nice teacups, and—oh, what a pretty plate this is Who does ili belong to?" The doors had hardly closed on the lasb gncsb when tho neighbours were apprised by a sound whose import could nob be mistaken thab Bertie's time of reckoning had come.

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC! J. G. NICHOLS, BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURER AND LEATHER SELLER, Jubilee Buildings, Crane Street, Pontypool (FOR 24 YEARS WITH MR. W. PARKHOUSE), I Begs to return his sincere thanks to the Public for the gratifying amount of patronage which has been accorded him since he commenced Business at the above Address. J. G. N. has just Purchased a LARGE STOCK of BOOTS and SHOES, of Best Quality, for Summer wear, which he will dispose of at the LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICES. AN INSPECTION OF GOODS & TRIAL ORDER SOLICITED. NOTE THE ADDRESS :— Jubilee Buildings, Crane Street, Pontypool.

WIT AND HUMOUR. A Roving Blade.-A razor. The Balance of Trade.-Scales. Hail Fellows.—'Bus conductors. Whab policeman is never behind ?—B 4. Alwaye behind, hasten as be may: The driver Of a hansom. A thorn in the bash is worth two in the hand. Why is a palm-tree like a chroi)ologer ?- Because ib furnishes dates. # Women are the hardesb conundrums ever given to man, and yet man never seems to bo willing to give them up. "My notion of a wife ab forty," said Jei-rold, is, that a man should be able to change her, like a bank note, for two twenties." Care will kill a cab. The care must he exer- cised in taking aim. It is extremely diiKculb however to liit one in the dark with a buttle Happy the man who can count on IlaVlJlé, every day in the year, a meaiy potato, loose silver, and a gooil laugh. "I wish I had a gentleman opp'wil.e to m" It said an irritable old fellow at a dinner "You cannot be more opposite to a gentiotiiaii than you are at present," was the retort? Love, whether newly-born, or arou-ed from a death-like slumber, must always crento a -Ilil- shine, filling the heart so full of radiance tiiub ib overflows upon the outward world. "I'm ruined eiitoii-ely exclaimed an Irish. man when liis hut was binning, but, faix, as it's a cuwld night, I might ad well warm me- self." A lady meeting a girl who had lately left, her service, inquired, •' Well, Mary, wii«re do you live now? "Please, ma'ain," au.-wored tho girl, "I don'b live now—I'm married." A lady having remarked in company that she thought) theie should be a tax on the smglg state." Yes, madam," rejoined all obstinaba bachelor, as on all other luxuries." "Dear George," sail a young woman, "I J am willing to marry you if we have to live on bread and water." Well," gaid tho enthu- siastic George, you furnish the bread, aud I'll skirmish around and rind the water." Papa How is it, Alice, that you never geb a prize at school?" Mamma "And that your friend, Louisa Sharp, geli04 so many?" Alice (innocently ): Ah Louisa Sharp has gob such clever parents "I suppose yon geb up early to seb a good example to the rising generation?" ob no not ab all The rising gelleration doesn't need any example. It's the generation that doesu b rise that we want to influence." Little Jessie who has been much interested in collecting butterflies, .asked her pa one day "If butterflies couldn't fly, and couldfl,b do anything but walk, we'd have to call them bub- terwalkers, wouldn't we ? Marcy was naughty one day—very naughty. She struck her mamina. Whab would you do if you didn't have any mamma!" asked auntie Nell, eoberly. -I'd get gramma to make me a rag one," was the quick answer. Freddy had been repeatedly told be must nob ask people for money. One day he met a" 01,1 gentleman who could never resist an appod from the small boy. "Mr. X. said Freddy, "do you ever give threepenny bibs to little boy« tbab don't ask for 'em ? He gob the money- Lady (who is canvassing tor a choir at t.h, village church): "I hope, Mrs. GUes, you will persuade your husband to join a a. I "Tn told he has a very sonorous voice."—Mrs. "A snorous voice, iiiartit. Ali you should hour it a comin' out of hi* nose when he's asleep." "Did you ever," lie said once, h«j»r mv definition of marriage? It is thab it r^«ei>ibio< t pair of shears so joined that they car mot. bo separated often moving in opposite direction* Ket always punishing any one who conies between fl-f,,n." Whab do yon do for cold feet at nights* 3<>otor?" The doctor, in thoughtful surprise: Why, I'd go out into the snow barefoot, or "leep with my feet out of the window, 1 suppose^ Why do you ask Whab do you wanb coid for ? Here, you bogtrotter," said a balf dandy •nap lock bo au Irish labourer, coi»«> n>8 the biggest lie you ever told in ,y»,,r,, a,,d I'll breab you to whisky pimeh. An' by my Bowl, your bonour'a » gentleman, retorted Jn-peebor (w''0 •n°,e9 backwardness fa History) Who signed Magna Cliarta?" answer. Inspectoi (more urgently): Who signed Magna ( harta?" Scapfgrace (thinking to,ook eeriou8,: "p,ea9* 111', IL was flOt. 11113, ..il' h«.Ia38a\ Sai;* a darky bo his master, "dab noas caino berry near being mine." "How so, ^ambo? ]>ia boss came near being mine in dis wide I axed de owner to gib him me. Ho said No.' If he had ontyaaid 'Yes,' he Would be mine—{;o]la Counsellor It-ud 1, of the Irish bar, was equally remarkable for his love of wliist and the ding* I colour of his linen. "My dear Dick," saidl! Curran to him one day, "you can't think how$ puzzled we are bo know where you buy all your dirty shirts." An advertiser in a western paper, who re- joices in the various occupations of doctor# lawyer, justice of the poace, and dry good. merchant, adds the following to his list of pursuits and qualities: N.B.- Auctioneering of the loudest kind, iuterwoven wit(i ventrilo- quism. r A waggish curabe overbeard f a schoolmaster glvlug lessons in grammar. You cannot place *'i f 8,llR»lar article," said the pedagogue, before plural nouns. No one can e»y a pigg^ a women, a-" U Noneonse," cried t", curate, the Prayer-book knows better tilan, you, I should think, or ib would 11011 teach m* '< to eay a-men." A gentleman travelling in California en- COl1ntered a panther, of w"ich I!e 8ubeqlleUIJ" wrote as follows:—"I lo..lie'/ at hun long enougn to note his brown and gi "it, his biw giur- ing eyes, his broad wuj I i,1,; "ped mn.vJc, a.,d his capacious jaws, w1' 11 Of u,. lofb tn.. spot, and lam pleased l" «:dd, in opposite d;«oo» tions." y YOU say," said a b that yon haIT this transaction ? 4 ■ saw it I)YP(.If. U You would "ltrdly u it if you |uuja»| seell it, would 1" — I should nob. -i Humph it."—The individiftjjT V seemed 1;0 thlllk toere W/I." It double Intatif in the remaik of H,e gentleman who pok., last." —r- photographer (to sitter): I saw you at churA i* lant Misa Smith. Sitter: Oh. yoMpNfc pin'fr'giapher Yes, and also your friend i'-hifitejfe-. jjrown—if you could raise your chin a trifle, than a,j HI1 atrocious looking' lint had on. (Alter a pau-<e.) There, Miss Smith..ifc 1* over, alld I think we. have caught a l''easanb expression.. jjB Magistrate: tnis is tne sorentlr time you have appeared before me." Prisoner r I know it, your honour. Your honour e-l ways 7 Was a favourite of mine, you are so just." JF Magistrate (mollified): Well, I'll let you this time,, but don't come before me again." Prisoner Thank'ee, sir I knew you me, a just man." i ff; A Bristol merchant, on being accused in Lciir > don of walking about with a hole in his ^8^ exclaimed, "Oh, no one knows roe liers Th*j?"- observer, being in Bristol and meeting himw with the same boot, drew his attention to fact. Ah, my dear friend," said the easy Jg| it matters not a straw; everyone knows here. PONTYPOOL.—Painted by the Proprietor. HENKY HUGHES, of Osborne Road, in the Puiøh of Tr»-