Flintshire Observer Mining Journal and General Advertiser for the Counties of Flint Denbigh

QUARANTINE IN ITALY. The quarantine system seems definitely to be given up in Italy. The Director-General of Hygiene has lately visited the different cities of South Italy, stopping for some time at Brindiei and Taranta, in which latter place he has decided to make drains along the banks of the Mareplccolo, finding it to be the source of miasma. At Brindisi, Genoa, Palermo, einice, and Naplep, there will be instituted, instead of lazzaretti, so many dioinfecting officep, and the utmost care will be taken in inspecting the ships which arrive in these ports.

LABOUR IN VAIN. An Italian named Dominico Torello has just tried to escape from a Paris prison, and bis attempt (the Daily Telegraph's correspondent remarks) although unsuccessful, deserves record owing to the Monte- Cristo-like manner in which it was planned. While walking in a kind of chain-gang in the exercise-ground of the gaol, Torello trod on a metal plate which gave way under his foot. He immediately arrived at the conclnoion that the plate covered the mouth of a drain communicating with one of the pregt sewers of the city. Hope of freedom sprang up in the breast of the Italian, and on returning to his cell he set to work energetically in order to bore a passage through the wall which would allow him to reach the mouth of the drain. He broke a piece of iron off the lower part of his table, fixed a bit of wood on it as a handle, and began to work on the wall under the window- ledge. This occupied him from ten at night until four o'clock in the morning, when he collected the rubbish, put it under his mattress, and filled the hole he had made with bread and plaster. Thanks to his vigilance, none of the turnkeys perceived the excavations, and on the following night he recommenced his toil. Before daybreak he had succeeded in removing one of the large stones forming the window-ledge, and in making an opening through which he could squeeze his body. He next made a ladder with his sheets, and then started on the road to fresh air and freedom. He got through the aperture with difficulty, emerged into the courtyard, and reached the metal plate cover- ing, as he thought, the drain. Down through this he dropped, and found himself in a large cellar at one end of which he saw a light. He was in the region of subterranean heat, where the men employed in warming the prison had their furnaces. This was not exactly what he wanted; so ToreLo, abandoning hope, went and gave himself up to the head stoker, who, on awakening from his slumbers, was surprised to see a man crouching like a dog before him, weak, exhausted, and covered with mud and plaster. The Italian was taken back to his cell, and will have to undergo an additional term of imprisonment for his untimely visit to the Caves of Kor, which lie under the Prison de la SBnté.

WHEN was Charles II. most like a racehorse?— When he ran for the Oaks. What is always in debt and no real necessity for it? —The letter B. WHAT vegetable is anything but agreeable on board ship ?-A leek. WHY are your nose and chin always at variance? —Because words are continually passing between them. WnY is life the greatest riddle ofall ?—Because we Inuat all give it up.

SANTA CLAUS. For several years people have been familiar with Santa Claus, under which queer designation the St. Nicholas of other days is intended. Having lost sight of the good old Bishop of Myra, and of the mediteval Boy Bishop and his train, the majority seem to regard Santa Claus as only another name for the venerable Father Christmas. That Clans is familiar German for Nicholas is very well understood, but it is to America more than to Germany that we owe the modern popularity of the name and the customs associated with it. That some of the customs are ancient and were once widespread will be seen by the interesting article which follows. We are unable to ascertain who was the author of the article, but it has been very carefully copied from a scrapbook of the early portion of the reign of George the Fourth. It will be seen that the St. Nicholas observances, though comrosncing on Dec. G, were in certain details continued by the young celebrators to the very clot e of the month. The festival of St. Nicholas, which fails on Dec. 6, though now scarcely noticed, was in former times dis- tinguished by a number of curious observances. No saint in the calendar appears to have possessed a more extensive influence. On account of his early abstinence, according to legendary story, he was chosen the patron of schoolboys and, from the cir- cumstance of scholars being anciently denominated clerks, the fraternity of Parish Clerks adopted St. Nicholas as their patron. In Shakspeare's First Part of "Henry IV." (Act ii., scene 1). Robbers are called St. Nicholas's Clerks they were also called St. Nicholas's Knights. St. Nicholas being the patron saint oF seticl-irs, and Nicholas-Old Nick—a cant name for the devil, this equivocal passage may possibly, be solved, or, perhaps, it may be much better accounted for the story of St. Nicholas and some thieves (one of the many tales I told about him), whom he compelled to restore certain stolen goods, and brought to the way of truth," fur which the curious reader is referred to the" Golden Legend." There is no end of St. Nicholas's patronship. He was also the mariners' saint. In his "Life," we read that St. Nicholas pre- served from a storm the ship in which he sailed to the Holy Land and also certain mariners, who in a storm invoked his aid, to whom, though at a distance, and still living, be appeared in person and saved them. Armstrong, in his History of the Island of Minorca," speaking of Cinderella, says: "Near the entrance of the harbour stands a chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, to which the sailors resort that have suffered ship- wreck, to return thanks for their preservation, and to haneup votive pictures (representing the danger they have escaped) in gratitude to the saint for the pro- tection he vouchsafed them, and in accomplishment of the vows they made in the height of the storm. This custom, which is in use at present throughout the Roman Catholic world, ia taken from the old Romans, who bad it, with a great number of other superstitions, from the Greeks; for we are told that Bion, the philosopher, was shown several of these votive pictures hung up in a temple of Neptune near tbe seaside. St. Nicholas is the present patron of those who lead a sea-faring life (as Neptune was of old), and his churches generally stand within sight of the sea, and are plentifully stocked with pious movables." Hospinian tells us that in many places it was the custom of parents, on the vigil of St. Nicholas, to convey secretly presents of various kinds to their little sons and daughters, who were taught to believe that they owed them to the kindness of St. Nicholas and his train, who going up and down among the towns and villages came in at the windows, though they were shut, and distributed them. This custom, he says, originated from the legendary account of that saint having given portions to three daughters of a poor citizen, and this he effected by throwing a purse filled with money privately at night in at the father's bed-chamber window, to enable him to portion them out honestly. So an old poet, writing against the Catholic supor- stitions: "Saint Nicholas money ude to give maydens secretlie, Who, that he still may use his wonted liberalitie, The mothers all their children on the Eeve do cause to fast, And when they every one at night in senseless sleep are cast, Both apples, nuttes, and peares they bring and other things besides, As cap, and shoes, and petticoats, which secretly they hide. And in the morning found, they Bay, that this St. Nicholas brought, Thus tender minds to worship saints and wicked things are taught." St. Nicholas (says Brady, in his 11 Clavis Calen- daria") was likewise venerated as the protector of virgins, and there are, or were until lately, numerous fantastical customs observed in Italy and various parts of France, in reference to that peculiar titulary patronage. In several convents it was customary, on the eve of St. Nicholas, for the boarders to place each a Bilk stocking at the door of the apartment of the abbess, with a piece of paper inclosed, recommending themselves to Great St. Nicholas of her chamber and on the next day they were called together to witness the saint's attention, who never failed to fill the stocking with sweetmeats and other trifles of that kind, with which these credulous virgin3 made a general feast." The celebrated ceremony of the Boy Bishop in the Catholic times, mentioned by so many writers, and from which the Eton 11 Montew," is thought to be derived, took its rise from St. Nicholas. In Bishop Hall's "Triumphs of Rome "is the following curious passage on this subject: What merry work it was here in the days of our holy fathers (and I know not whether in some places it may not be so still), that upon St. Nicholas, St. Katherine, St. Clement, and Holy Innocents' Day children were wont to be arrayed in chimers, rockets, surplices, to counterfeit bishops and priests, and to be led, with songs and dances, from house to house, blessing the people, who stood grinning in the way to expect that redicilous benediction. Yea, that boys in that holy sport were wont to sing masses, and to climb into the pulpit to preach, no doubt learned and edifying, to the simple auditory. And this was so really done, that in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury (unless it be lately defaced) there is a perfect monument of one of these Boy Bishops (who died in the time of his youug pontiCcality), accoutred in his episcopal robes, still to be seen, a fashion that lasted until the latter time of Henry YIII., who in the thirty-third year of his reign, Anno Domini, 1541, bý his solemn proclamation, printed by Thomas Bertlet, the King's printer, strictly forbade the practice. Tha references to this religious mockery of the Boy Bishop are frequent in authors who treat of English antiquities and the modern reader will be surprised that so great an absurdity could have ever constituted part of the religious observances of his ancestors. In the year 1299 we find Edward I., on his way to Scot- land, permitted one of these Boy Bishops to say vespers before him in his chapel at Heton, near New- castle-upon-Tyne, and made a considerable present to the said Bishop and certain other boys that came and sang with him on the occasion on Dec. 7, the day after St. Nicholas's Day. In the statutes of Salisbury Cathedral (1319) it is ordered that the Boy Bishop shall not make a feast; and in the Register of the Capitulary Acts of York Cathedral it is directed that ho shall be handsome and elegantly shaped." Nor was the custom of electing Boy Bishops on this day restricted to collegiate churches for later discoveries adduce evidence of its having prevailed, it should seem, in almost every parish. Though the election was on St. Nicholas's Day, yet the authority appears to have lasted from that time to Innocents ,Day-i.e., from the 6th to the 28th of December. In cathedrals this Boy Bishop seems to have been eleoted from among the children of the choir. After his election, being completely apparelled in the epis- copal vestments, with a mitre and crozier, he bore the title and' state of a Bishop, and ex- acted ceremonial obedience from his fellows, who were dressed like priests. Strange as it may appear, they took possession of the church, and, except mass, performed all the ceremonies and offices. The splendour of his dress and ornaments is to be judged of from various extracts an inventory of » uhe ornaments of the Boy or Bairn Bishop," printed in the notes to the Northumberland House- hold Book, specifies, among other things, a mytre, well garnished with perle and precious stones, with nowchea of silver and gilt before and behind." Rynges of silver gilt, with red precious stones a cross, with a staff of copper gilt, with the image of St. Nicholas rich copes, vestments, and other costly paraphernalia. Of the several sports or entertainments that mixed in the solemnisation of this most singular festival, few particulars seem to have been transmitted. Warton thinks he can trace in them some rude vestige of dramatic exhibitions. We have evidence that the Boy Bishop and his companions walked about in pro- cession, and find even a statute to restrain one of them I within the limits of his own parish. The show of the Boy Bishop, rather on account of its levity aud absurdity than of its supersition, was abolished by proclamation of Henry YIII, as mentioned. With the Catholic l iturgy all tho pageantries of Popery were restored by Queen Mary. Among these the process-" » of the Boy Bishop was too popular a mummery to be overlooked. Warton informs us that one of the Child Bishop's songs, as it wag sung before the Queen's Majesty in her privy chamber, at her manor of St. Jaaies-in-the-Fields, on St. Nicholas's Day and Innocents' Day, 1555, by the Child Bishop of St. Paul's with his company, was printed that year in London, containing a fulsome panegyric on the Queen's devotions, comparing her to Edith, Esther, the Queen of Sheba, and the Yirgiu Mary. Ihe pasreantry of the Boy Bishop was put down again when Elizabeth came to the Crown, but was noo totally extinct in the country villages until the latter end of her reign.- The Queen.

SAD SKATING ACCIDENT. FIVE PERSONS DROWNED. Two married men and three youths were drowned at Burnley on Monday in endeavouring to eave a boy named Thomas Hewitson. He and a companion named Hartley went to skate on a pond off Ighton- hill. Hewitson jumped on the ice to see whether it would hold, and immediately went in. Hartley raised an alarm, and several men ran to the spot. Then followed a series of melancholy accidents. One man ventured on to the ice in the hope of rescuing Hewitson, and he at once sank. Two other men then went forward to rescue these, and they also disappeared. Eventually five men and Hartley, in addition to Hewitson, were immersed. A man named Lonsdale succeeded in getting the two boys on to the bank, but the others were drowned. Their names are Joseph Tattersall, aged 17, a weaver; Ezra Tattertall, his brother, aged 19; Arthur Barrett, aged 19, also a weaver; Joseph Barrett, aged 44, his father; and Job Earrett, aged 43, an engine tenter, brother of the last-named. The last body was recovered about half-past ten. The calamity has caused a great commotion in the dis- trict. The water, which is an unused quarry, was very deep, and the aporoach was from a very steep bank.

GREAT RAILWAY DISPUTE IN AMERICA. SIXTY-FIYE THOUSAND MEN ORDERED ON STRIKE. A strike of 65,000 men in the employ of the Read ing Railway Company has been ordered, the cause of which is the discharge of 150 employes who refused to handle some boycotted coal. The employes con- tended that the carrying of this coal is a breach of the agreement of the Reading Company not to take any step against the colliers on strike in the Lehigh region. The still more troublesome question of wages is in the background. The agreement between the Reading Company and its employes expires at the end of December. The men would be satisfied with its renewal, but the railway company desires a reduc- tion of the wages. The employes say the Reading Company will be unable to get any coal from the mines, or to transport-au.y-v except passengers if the strike takes place. The manage B the railway, on the other hand, say they will be embarrassed only slightly and briefly.

MR. GL&DSTONE'S TRIP TO THE CONTINENT. Mr. Gladstone left Hawarden on Monday on his journey to Italy. At Chester a large number of persons assembled, and, in acknowledging their cheers, he spoke from the carriage window, advising the Chester electors to return a Liberal at the next elec- tion. At Crewe a crowd also assembled, and Mr. Gladstone, in another speech from the carriage win- dow, said that if the electors did not like what was going on in Ireland, it was their business to exert themselves to put an end to it. Yery few people were at Rugby Station, and at Easton there was nothing like a demonstration. Mr. Gladstone's reception at Cbaring-cross Station was of a mixed character, there being much groaning and hooting as well as cheering before the special train left for Sandwich, whence the right hon. gentleman drove to Betteshanger-park, there to spend a short time before crossing the Channel.

DARINU ESCAPE OF PRISONERS. The discovery was made late on Sunday evening that a daring escape had been effected from the newly-constructed block of guard-room buildinga at the Cavalry Depot, Canterbury. It would appear that six prisoners belonging to the Hussars, Dra- goons, and Dragoon Guards, who had been tried by court-martial and sentencei to terms of incarceration varying from six months to two years, were confined in the guard-room in question, outside of which a sentry with loaded rifle was posted. When, however, the time came round for the periodical visit the prisoners had disappeared, and a hole in the wall at the back of the building explained their means of exit. An alarm was at once spread, and provosts dispatched in all directions. Information was received some time later that the men were at a public-house in the suburbs of the city, and a picquet quickly put in an appearance upon the scene, only to find that their quarry had escaped. Descriptions of the men, who were attired in fatigue dress, were circulated, with the result that they were on Monday apprehended. Their arrest was effected in the neighbourhood of Sittingbourne by three members of the Kent County Constabulary, after a desperate resistance, in which the soldiers used with vigour a number of hedge stakes. The prisoners were in the evening brought back to Canterbury, and again handed over to the custody of the military authorities, by whom they have been placed in irons. It is supposed that the men effected the breach in the wall of the guard-room by picking away the mortar between the bricks with the knives supplied them with which to oat their rations.

AN EXTRAORDINARY PLEA, The Assize Court of Indre has just been the scene of an acquittal which shows a great lack of moral sense upon the part of the jury. A man named Pierre Cheramy was convicted of having murdered his little child during her sleep by pouring vitriol down its throat. The prisoner declared that as he was unable to meet the expenses of an increase of family he had resolved to do away with his youngest born. This plea satisfied the jury, and the inhuman Cheramy is at large.

CHRISTMAS GAME. Those whose incomplete acquaintance with the British fauna lead them to suppose our indigenous birds are reduced to sparrows and crows for town and country respectively, with a few canaries for the nur- sery windows, and a sprinkling of gulls at the seaside, might take a lesson in a pleasant science from the Christmas shows in the poulterers' shops. These have been very ornithological caves of the Cyclops, and the feathered companions of Ulysses waved in forlorn abundance upon the books above, in a way which could not fail to touch the hearts of the sympa- thetic, and bring grateful remembrances of bread sauce, and stuffing, sage and onions, to the minds of the more practical. That healthy appetite which is a national peculiarity has called strange things from maroh and moorland for our present feasting. Every engine of human ingenuity, from big guns to the springle of the Irish coast fowler, has been at work, and sent in its tribute to the central market, where herons and bitterns, strange godwits, little sandpipers who hafe spent the summer on the edge of the Arctic ice, have all been represented with much olse curious and new. But he who cares not an iota for all the rare birds that ever paraded a naturalist's shelves will have found a keener pro- spective pleasure in tho abundance of wfterfowl. There have been great Brent geese, banging head downwards in the poulterer's museum, that bad fallen, a score at a time, when the lonely estuaries of Irish loughs echoed at midmight to the roar of heavy pant guns; canvas back ducks, fresh from the water-celery beds of Chesapeake Bay; widgeon and teal from the rough seas outside the Swale and Harwich, that had been sailed down upon and broadsided as they rose from the surf by the professional gunners; mallard from Midland de- coys or water meadows plovers of sorts and fen birds in a bewildering array that puzzled the housewife, delighted the amateur naturalist, and perplexed an average citizen with doubts as to which of all this various game be would take home as a contribution to the domestic festival. He knows at Christmas he can count upon popularity in the culinary portion of his establishment for the wild ducks. They are near in kinship to their cousins of the farmyard, and amenable to the same treatment as the best bird of their kind that ever came into season with green In popular supposition, however, all other species, with this exception, are "foreign." British ornithology is richer in its re- sources than this; and great as is the debt we, no doubt, owe to other countries across the seas, our own salt water arms and inland lagoons yet send in a steady and varied supply of the wildfowl so conspicuous at present. There are that great authority on fen and open water shoot- ing, Sir Ralph Payne Galiwey tells us— some twenty or more decoy ponds working in the eastern shines. In these ingenious devices for the capture of seafowl the birds are tempted off the secludfd ponds where they lie all day into a netted pipe by the example of some domesticated ducKs, or the antics of an especially trained dog. This invaluable assistant of a decoy man capers before the astonished eves of the multitude of waders, and gradually draws teern-v,ll agog with curiosity-after him down the treacherous tunnel, narrowing a it goes back from the lake, till on the fowler's appearance in their rear there is a terrified rush forward, and in a minute a score or two of wild duck are struggling in helpless confusion in the narrow purse of netting at the far end. A well-managed decoy of such a kind will send in its thousands of duck and widgeon to London reaularly every season when there is a good "flight" from the northward. Almost as productive are the Lin- colnshire fen-men's nets. His walls of twine, invisible in the shine of a wintery moon or white fog hanging about the endless levels of the saltings, extend for miles between low water and marches. All is game that comes to such indiscriminate meshes. They lie throughout thenight, silent but active across the path of immigrating birds or those moving from place to place in search of food, and when the fen-man comes in the dawning — before hungry gulls have found the toils and taken a share, he reaps a profitable harvest, for the nets are tas&elled with the wild game of the foreahoref, everything, from a swan to a diminutive oxbird is occasionally met with strung up by neck, legp, or wings, and alive or dead. Duck", geese, cormorants, curlews, gulls of many kinde, coots and moorhenF, red shanks, godwits and much else thus reward this reckless sportsmar, passing from his paniers into the dealers' hands, who makes regular rounds to take them up. In Heligoland these nets are hung in darkness from tree to tree or even house to house; on the French coast they are pegged out horizontally just under water, and diving birds that thrust tbeir heads into them never come to the surface alive again. Many other euch devices add to the heavy toll which orthodox sportsmen take of the feathered kind visiting our shores in winter. As for the other tenants of the poulterers' Christ- mas hooks, there have been over and beyond the ordinary denizens of poultry-yards, interminable lines of ptarmigan all white as the summits of Norwegian hills from which they came, a few grousd, the last of the year, and some black game. Pheasants and partridges helped to swell the tale, and lend a variety to the sad sequence of the hooks, while their price, for the most part higher than it was, hinted tnat the big shoots of the season have t» ken place. Partridges, moreover, have obtained a well-earned repose, and are scarcely molested after this date, except, perhaps, by a few enthusiasts wholove such crisp, frosty btubbles as are still left uuploughed, or by the returning school- boys' guns* Amongst the other game which festooned our stalls ,%st wetk, rows of rabbits from every warren in the shirks were noticeable, brown hares from the wilds of Hampshire whom the lover of coursing; look upon sadly as rAL)rF-,ntatives of a doomed race, white hares from Scot'tiv.- Cu,doubt, a large contingent of their kind to swell the nmuuer "Baltic and Russian'uplands. Capercailzies were tUv.„vp in everything but wattles, if the housewife does rifou yet understand or appreciate them. She would not buy the occasional herons flanking them, possible be- cause they have long legs and a most uncompromising beak, forgetting theslate-blue fowl was cnce a princely bird, the chief ingredient of lordly pasties; and she misdoubts her skill to do culinary justice to the wimbrels, though cooks commend them-leaving too often ruff and reeve, stint and dunlin—those ortolans of the beach-to the epicures who know their deliciousness. Our English markets owe much to foreign aid at Christmas. We may get turkeys from Canada and ruffed goose from the willow swamps of Hudson's Bay prairie chicke-a from the Pampas, white grouse from Central Europe, ryper from Lapland, and whole crates of lesser game from the arbutus covered hills of the Mediterranean. Nevertheless there was an abundant supply of wild game from English und Irish foreshores and meres, and the naturalist, a3 well as the most casual admirer of bird-life, could hardly fail to notice it or mark its extent and variety without feelings of curiosity and pleBsure.Daily Telegraph.

ARCHAEOLOGY IN KENT: Scientific explorations round the remains of the old Roman fortress of Richborough, near Sandwich, Kent, have proceeded the last few weeks under the auspices of the Kentish Archaeological Society. Trenches were cut along the old gateway or entrance to the camp, and also at the southern corner of the western wall, but as the excavations went no deeper than two feet, nothing more important was turned up than masses of broken pottery and oyster-sliells, with a few coins. The society hoped to find the remains of a villa, but their local finances are not equal to carry- ing the outtings further down, where a better result might be expected. Richborough, Rutupiza: in Roman parlance, ranks among the most important and best- preserved of the Roman fortified camps in Britain, and at the time when the conquering hosts con- structed the fortress it was on the sea-coast, though now quite two miles inland, owing to the receding of the water. It was one of the four fortresses forming the strong Roman quadrilateral in Kent, the other points being Dover, Port Limanup, near Hythe, and either Canterbury or the Reculvers. <

A SHIRT OF SILVER. A policeman named Cogan saw two men on Black- Btone-street, Boston, the other day, whose unwieldly actions attracted his attention. He questioned one of the men and arrested him on suspicion. At the station-house several hundred dollars' worth of silver were found between his shirt and vest. The silver was hammered out so that the fellow was clad in complete armour. The heavy load was supported by a strong belt When Cogan saw that he had cap- tured a burglar he ran out and captured the other man after a short chase. He, too, Wis encased in hammered silver armour.

A MAN OF BLOOD. A cobbier died recently &t Scneetb, in Kent—we read in a local paper-who differed from the majority of cobblers, in one retpect. He had a pedigree, and was, as the local paper observes, a man of blood." His name was William Kingsmill, and for upwards of a hundred years he and his ancestors had carried on the same business: but his fami'y was a very old one in Kent. The deceased, in fact, it is stated on good authority, was a lineal descendant, of John KingamilJ, who, in the fourteenth century, was one of the judges of Common Pleas, and who married Joan, daughter of Sir John Gifford. Sir George KingsmilJ, a later ancestor, was another judge of Common Pleas, who lived his life in the Tudor timer, and took for a wife a Lady Eastings. A grandson of this udge-and a progenitor of the defunct cobbler- was Sir Richard Kingsmill, Surveyor of the Court of Warde in the year 1(500. To hiui succeeded a son named Sir William, and the son of the latter, named Sir Henry, his successor being another Sir William, who married Anne, a daughter of Sir A. Hazlewood. The eldest daughter of t.Lis couple married Heneage, Earlof Wmcbilsea. and a later descendant of the family was Admiral Kingsmill, who eat in Parliament and was Commander-in-Chief of the King's ships on the coast of Ireland. He was created Aomiral of the Whits and a baronet, and was succeeded by Sir Robert Kingsmill, whoze son became Colonel and Captain Commandant of the Battle Axe Guards. So the recently deceased cobbler Kingsmill had good blood in his veins.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. SANTA Claus FESTIVAL was kept with much cere. mony in the nursery of the little Princess Elizabeth of Austria, the four-year old daughter of the Crown Prince and Princess, and heiress to the Throne. The patron saint of children arrived in gown and long white beard, end solemnly put the little Princess through a cateohism on her conduct during the past year, whether she. said her prayers properly, whether she was learing Hungarian as a future Empress should do, aDd so forth. As the tiny lady had been very good, Santa Olaus proved amiable, and uncovered a basket full of Christmas presents before taking his leave. The child fully believed in the reality of her visitor, but if she had peeped outside she would have seen her nurse taking off her disguise as St. Nicholas. A Seasonable Gift.—Messrs. Spiers and Pond, who were the refreshment contractors for the Liverpool Exhibition, have presented the crockery which they used there, numbering some 10,009 pieces, to various local hospitals and charitable institutions Now, let the Livtrpudlians fill the 10,000 pieces of crockery with food and drink, and the result will be a seasonable piece of colossal charity. Outrage on AN Infant.—A very young and per. fectly helpless babe in Duquesne, Pa., was recently, in spite of all it could do, named by its father Thomas Benton Schnat erly Boyle Cleveland Genius oi Liberty Flamming. NEw Fbench COIVAGF--The first issue of nickel silver coinage in France may be expected thort y. Every method hss been adopted to prevent the new piece: being mistaken by the unwary for silver. Even the Belgian s i stera has not been thoroughly imitated. The first jasue will include 20-centime pieces to the lummn 10 centime pieces representing £ 1,400,000 and sons to tbe value of £ ,00 .000. The iasue will, Of course, be made gradually RaTm.—The pied piper of Hamelin and hia mfcg'lC pipe are much wanted in the American town of Hujjo, j Colorado, which is completely ovarrun with rats' Owing to the cold weather the rats have swarmed into j the town from the neighbouring prside,and are destroy, j ing merchandise and damaging houses till the In- habitants are at their wit's ends. C&ts are being col. lected from all sides to fight the invaders, a thousand pussies being wanted for the first attack. Several Captive Balloons for military reconnais- sances are being sent out to the Italian army at Mas- eowah. The gas is taken from Naples in steel tubes, as there are no neans of otberwibe filling the balloons I on the spot. One of the balloons is merely intended for night-signalling, being fitted with a strong electric lamp; the other can contain an aeronaut, who will keep up telephonic communication with his assistant below. President Cieyeland's Pe REATIO. President Cleveland is to take lessons in horseback riding this winter. When he learned that the Washington Riding Academy wai to be started, he was one of the first to become a subscriber. The President's 'essons will take place in the early morniog. A large, strong horse for his especial use is to be secured. It has not yet been decided whether bin. Cleveland will take lessons, but the chances are that she will. All the Cabinet ladies will patronise the academy. London Churches.—According to a return just j published, the four Billingsgate churches, St. Dunstan's in-the-East, St. George (Botolph lane), St. Margaret Pattens, and St. Mary-at-HilJ, con'ain 1750 sittings, th" total population in 1881 being 1097, against 1830 ten years before. The other morning 194 persons alto gether were present at divine service at these places of worship, of whom 95 were officials, distributed thus: St. Dunstan's. total attendance 26. officials 17: St. lreorge,47, of whom 23 were office-bearers; St. Mar- garet, 82, 31 being oificers and St. Mary, 39, of whom J 21 were officials. The aggregate annual value of the four livings is stated by the Clergy Directory to be £ 2160, and by the '"Clergy List" i'1537, and the combined incomes of their parochial charities in 1880 was £954111s. 8d. MORE LIGHT !-What Poro we thinking of? In Russia the carriages and engines of the express trains on several of the Russian trunk lines are now lighted up by electricity. In Great Britain most of the trunk lines are lit by oil lamps, and these not very good. In Berlin all the principal streets and squares will shortly be illuminated by electricity BOYCOTTING THE Blacks.—Gilbert Ball is a promi- nent coloured politician of Philadelphia. He recently entered a restaurant at Atlantic City, kept by a man nmch blacker than Mr. Ball. Ball ordered a sirloin steak. You can't get it here," said the dusky pro- prietor; we serve only white people." Mr. Ball left the place in a rage, sought a liwyer, and will bring suit against the proprietor. KNOWING INSECT-S.-Sir John Lubbock's experiments with bees have shown him that they can distinguish between different colours, and that blue and pink are thb.. favourite colours. Thus the favourite flowers of the bee art "erv apt to be or become blue or pink. Ants and other insects lhu «>e the rays of light beyond the red and white violet ends oi solar spectrum, which are invisible to human eyes. A SINGULAR OOINCIDENCB.-It is noted as a stI.¡; coincidence that the Rev. "Father" Lowder (the colleague of Mr. Mackonochie at St. George's in-the- East, and the founder and head of the celebrated St. George's Mission) passed away,far from all his friends,in a village in the Austrian Tyrol, just as his old associate and lifelong friend has died in the Scotch Highlands while taking a rest from his parochial labours. A PARSON ON Pugilism.—The Rev. R. S. Stoney, vicar of Wrea Green, speaking at a church tea meeting. referred to the pugilistic encounter between Smith and Kilrain, and said he felt proud to see men in these degenerate days standing up and fighting for the reputation of their country, and pitching into one another in such a way that at the end of the day's remarkable fistic encounter, embracing 106 rounds, no one could tell which was the better man. He hoped that if any foreign nation came into contact with England we should be content with nothing less than a draw, but he would much prefer that England should be the conqueror. THE CANADIAN FISHERIEs.-Sir Charles Tupper, who is at Ottawa, says that there is no foundation for the statement recently published in a New York journal, stating that he was of opinion that but slight hopes existed of the conclusion of an agreement regarding the Fisheries question. A SAD STORY.-The Guion Line steamer Alassa, which has arrived at Queenstcwn from New York, brought intelligence of a shocking disaster to an Eng- lish family of the name of Harris, residing near Blessington, Dakota territory, and who had but recently arrived therefrom England, and were engaged farming a tract of land. On the night of the I I th inst. the farmhouse was destroyed by fire, and Mrs. Harris and six children, ranging from three to 16 years of age, were burned to death. Mr. Michael Harris and one daughter escaped, though badly burnt. DEEP SEA Harbour AT Dover.—At a meeting of the Dover Corporation a petition to Lord Salisbury has been unanimously adopted, urging on national grounds as well as for a refuge and for a coaling station for the Navy. that the proposed deep sea har- bour at Dover should be proceeded with at once. It was also pointed out that accommodation had now been provided in the convict prison for 600 convicts, and that: it was advisable that a site should be definitely decided upon for the eastern breakwater of the har- bour, recommended by the Government, so that these men might be employed on the work for which they had been sent to the town. Mi'NiricBNT BFQUF-STS. The treasurer of the Liverpool Workshops' Fund for Outdoor Blind has received from the eëecutors of the late Mrs. 0. W. Newman, of Al!erton, a legacy of £2000. The treasurer of the Liverpool Church of England Scripture Readers' Society has also received a legacy of £1000, both lega- cies being free of duty. HEB Majesty's Christmas Aems. — The Minor Bounty and the Royal Gate Arms were, in accordance with ancient usage, distributed at the Royal Almonry, to over 1000 aged, disabled, and meritorious persons who had been previously recommended by the clergy of the various parishes in and around London. The re- cipients were selected by the Lord High Almoner, assisted by the Sub-Almoner. The payments were made and the arrangements conducted by Mr. Hayard John Bidwell, Secretary other Majesty's Almoory.

I NATIONAL PHOVIDENT INSTITUTION FOR MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE. Founded ISoo. Funds. £4:.280.000. Claims Taid, £ 7,000,000. Profits Declared, £ 3.400,000. Exi;o\vj!f..nt Assurances vn very favoinVnie terms. Economical 3Taia?PBit?nt. L:1. Conditions. Large n(nuse6. 4B, GRACECKURCII STREET, E.G., LONDON. At-iHXTS W'AETKD WHEltE NOT Jhfit 'tÙl,R".fP(l. Eartholorsew's Illustrated Guido to HiE TurLiisJl and BntiiSj CT Eartholoraew's MocSicril Lecturc on the Action cf tfeoTuriiisi and ciier Br.ths. IV, J.be. lo-" tlsr 1.' .Suck-li' WmiRirster ilau. !,ou<io». Price SJ. ;h h r,e frun, iiis in B.-is-ol. Bail!, B(P> r.i)i.u!i:i';i, MaiKMcgUt, W-cceMrr, nnd I.< Square, London. X#/ ]'!■■■■rr^r-.ry. 1 BILLIARDS or BAGATELLES. All thse requiring or Seeonc1-IJand Tables, or Billiard worl, (,one, should, before poing elsewhere, send for I,y" Pric. List, Cloth an¿ Cn.shion Samples. to HENNIG BROS., 29, High Street, W.C. Kstai.lis-hed 1802. MEMORY BY DR- PICK. The Ijate SEV. E. XHi<IN&, of I i.p r.-i.am School, a preat Authority oa education, wmte on Oer. 1-ifli. — The whole of my working life, aB a )oarr.cr of new thing's. has beerl turre-lron-dand doubled in eillciencgr since I liesr i Dr. PICK. I work h:¡. Dr. l? C'h i!Ástrct..i0ns 111.Vøalt; and I only wiib everyone 11d tie inestimab e a Ivan: ajrc of (doing the Eiiae. Thp system is shori, simple. a'jJ effec Da). Fur Sjlia'xw. Sc.. Artfircss, J..•AKUrTHKItS, pa, Xc-.v i .udon. w.q TuMwmjuTmm "t1 W ¿ U & & I'll the jPrlce of TEA. BZE^ET^^OHFAHY Are Now Enabled to Offer to the Pallic A COOD, PURE, PUNGENT LEAF CONGO. NAMED I lb. fr-lPACKOOIimV*^ Superseding everything hitherto offered at the Price. 2} lbs. sample sent free per Parcels Post for 3s. 10& 4J lbs. 6s. 9d.; 6$lbs. 9s. 8d.; 8ilbs. 123. 6d.; lOHbs. 15s. 6d., to aaj post town in the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Cheques to be troseed "London and Westminster Bank." Postal Orders from It. Ckl. to 106. Gd. may now be had for One Penny frotg alI Post Offices BARBER & COMPANY/ X74, Jteffent Circus, Oxford Street, London, W. 61, Bi&hopsgate Street, London, E.G. The Borough, London Bridge, Hastings—Pvobertson Street K'.ngr's Crosi, London, N. Hnvelock Road. 102, We*tbourne Grore, London, Birmingham—Quadrant. W. Brighton—147, Is orth Street. 42, Great Titchfleld Street, Lod- Briitol-39. Corn Street. r don, W. Preston—Fishergate. Kancnester—93, Market Street. Liverpool—1. Church Street; T' HE I10L«0K\ WiLli M A k £ T. THO Largest Kills Mart. in tbe City c; Lonuca, tri« CHKAPEST f.>r *!i kir.d* of BTZjfs, SATINS, VELVETS, FLUsK £ S, Ac., in EV30PE, fnimrut iir.ttni f* r f.it ci".aiwie- R. SAMUEL LEWIS <?r. CO., Proprietor*, .1. r, ». s. Hoi'norn bars, inc Jg 3. Furnivnl St.. E.OL 7f-7- D AItTI/(s. l.}1e!9 B'lt *t;C.\£ APPLIANCES. Lt, ana Gent TV Itsfv: Kheu^a-isnifl 7 r.niVaco WffikBfn, sr><* Nervousness po«r £ r*6« DAKLOW & CO., **3, I Strand, London. KgtakLshed 21 yt:sTA* mHAMES NAUTICAL TRAINING COLLEGE JL H.MJS. •"Worcester," Greenhithe, Kent. Under the direct Patronage of H»a Majestt th* Qttmw. Tot Training Young Pentlcrcen to b»eome Officers in MercsntlM Karine. The Queen gives anuusliy a Gold atjd C&detehlp fa R.N.; the Admiralty eiTe Commie«?3r» in R.N.R. Appointment# the Hoogbly Pilot Service, l'ritss are gWon by the GftO^ Hr'^Vc^i^?cie £ Jr' laeteorolopricai Bip&rtment, Elde: Brethren OS TpVrn^E £ ?*u,Jr Oriental, and other largo Ev,:p;>ing' Comv.ii.ei; which include* School Book* £ « RrTT*?^iSf4.F £ r Prospectus, with foil DttW nttM Vith an Mt^xreiremeT-.ts nf z rv'ioga. b CONSUMPTION/111^ tTGTLNTLY^ F^T7rRB«. tir-CBTTAT ~hi6Tity nnenc.o'S'?;i- ui&S. ilUOri-liill, «a«.ooC ■ Fined BROMPTON. > HaM-m-EaM file & Life OSes, 26, XEW BIUDGE STHl.KT, LO> 7>f»T. 1:.C. The Oldest Insurance Office—Instituted A.D. 1696. MINIMUM EONU3 EETUHN3: LIFE 45 f per Cc-at- X'er Accumulated Funds, ^2,215,4ul. APPI-ICATIOXS FOIt i\ 1.2 HsPV ITED. OUR, BOYrf AND GIRLS.—Family seokinEj SCHOOLS. Tutors,and t.Iovvs u -s -5 areinvit.-d t.> «ti <• fully to J. p. Mo..n, il.c.i' X-wmu.. Str-vt, W„ who w ii i„rward pr,sp C:I¡'(. &r.. fTl' (,f d::¡: SAVE YOUR PFEf:!SES FHOiJ F!RE Dy the only Effective Pi r<TYEOD'nE." The Professor of Chemistry at Victoria riv.vr; *y envs "If firc mil in anv prirt K-iili'mr :? cm: 'ha w to n-i :•* I •!?:rriT CoANv. d 1: nhr. 1.¡,d, ¡:.C. TOSBFECT F.TT-PINO COSTLrMJSS by M.rD.1-i niiJASDS, & 36. Su^Ki i LiCl, WHITFIELD'S" SAFES. FILE A]) THIEF RES¡STlG. avy I TTNI0N LINfj^ior SuUiH AFRICAN GOLD FIELDS. T1EE TnriON S.S. Co.S MAIL PA 'K^TS fall for South Afrxr.n Ports Iron, Sm'Tii All .-kin e»cry a tenw.r rimrs-iay, Iphv1- yinouih III,' wxt t'.i? A;v;yi'J' <■ ■■ iy'f ;)-.cei, rOW BOTLDTNGg tsd ROOFMG, Now and Second-ban& Churchea, Cliapelt, Mission, and A £ £ *■ Bchoo! T..orris, Lawn Tennis, ft mp. ^jp-rr^—Cr:ri;#t I'aviMon*, Cottag-et, Stables, Farm Building*, ic. ^S@.YjSSL kWl hereon » >. • A i■ ■■ tons of Iron Rooflng h> A- J. stock. <y. I? A Ki;i!tiW-S ViUkKS. nrintoTt Kintior, kor,on. J["3T FVBLlZlIED, FOR TWO STAMFS. rro TIIE NERVOUS AND DEBILITATED— A Read tbe Sow Wort, entitlid "HOW To h.NSURH BKAI.TII," most va't.aMe Iiook on the Triatnu'Et and Cure of K.-rv.'us De'iil:;j', _Lo» uf Memory, Dimness of Si-ait, L.suude, '■. s-ii.n of .Vr. Froc' or. rcct ip; of lwo A'l'i t, I)I.1. ,T. A. 1a K v ks. 4^, Lmt)if SqL; \"f u>! nI,-incioil. Mellin's Hi Food For Infants and Invalid% Ik- cMained from Chemists and Grocer* 1/6 and 2/S. g || lyf g Ei C h i»j e operatfS^ Pafo rol:aV'Ie. Full d''ta:l? ;r. cx; I;iTiatory hook, f, Ad, L"N, lo-or?. Gro.^iiUii Honw, W. Hull King & Son'* celebrated g All WiiaJebone Corsets. Ti t- Wary 5 Anderson, ia Eno White or Ecru IV.iul, 5 Vi/, i!i i<"t K rrico :a>. std.: and the Irene, in line Blade £ !» Laetiap, price 13s. as eUfertiwa in tba ►5 f.'l \Y?av? I c Queen. Sent toany Address on rooeipt of 1'ostU g dSir'irtA/ < Order to No. 3.%1'ercy Street, fiatkbotK- Place, tt w London, W~. The«e high-class Corsets are tlU' ]vrf< ciion of fit. OPiR'S PLASTERS, a safe and sure cure f<>r Conerlis, Asthma, and BroufliU.s. Of all Cheinisto and Patent M«-diCgUP Ix-alcrs. /FILLING-HAM'S Artificial LEGS, Aems, and TysTHFMKXTS- Illustrations CrTAlti), SoMKRsitT. 4 FOLD 8CREES8, ■ W RUPTURES! W White's Moc-Main Lever Truss, Manufactured only by J. "White & Co., at 228, Piccadilly, Is the most comfortable effective Truss made. It has not any Steel Spring in the Band, and therefore does not gall and rub off the Skin, as a Spriag Trass often does. It often succeeds when other Trasses have failed to afford any support. J. White & Co. send the Truss free by post. Send for Descriptive Circular, with Testimonials and Prices, to J."White & Co.. 22S. Piccadilly, London, W. BRAIN WOBKEKS VK'ToKI'irv or the' Facts, Fontaad H:sto-y of the great "ONE SLOPE Reform ition of Knt-lish Shorthand. Post refJ¡j Hd. — S( RI I'T iJHQSOGluH'llY Co., 413, St. iDCent St., fal.iPgf'w. nRUSH YOUR OATSCOBS. U The "BEAUFORT HUNT MILL, price 423., esrriaee paid, sent on Month's trial. Crus.u-8 0:as Beans, Corn, Barley, <tc. Bend for lists of those aiso, CliiL Cuuers, Cako Breaker^, Arc., CO.. Porsley. Engla.nct. Liverpool Private Commerclal Hotel, L:v; ri<x>| street. Kins' rros#. >1- « for cotmtr* visitors. Penny tra:s to oil l'Hrts. Bed andJ^reskfMtt^JHv HOUSEHOLD NECESSITIES TI JL I' J?/. J" '80 fa? 1 1 fa? fa* 1

THE LATE BAKER PASHA. A distinguished general officer, an old friend and comrade of the late Valentine Baker Pasha, has written a letter, asking the Army and Navy Gazette to announce the intention of a number of officers in her Majesty's service, who admired the great military qualities and sincerely commiserated tbe misfortunes and the fate of one of the most gallant and devoted soldiers who ever drew a sword, to organise a move- ment for the purpose of enabling those who share their feelings of recording in some permanent form the sense they entertain of the services rendered to his country in the army of the Queen, as well as in the employment of the Sultan and of the Khedive of Egypt, her Majesty's allies, by the deceased as Colonel of the 10th Hussars. In a few days the names of the committee will be announced, and the Gazette hopes that the feeling which was expressed in the order of the Commander-in-Chief to pay full military: honours to the dead body of Valentine Baker as bis remains were borne to the grave at Cairo, will find utterance in another form when it becomes a question of erect- ing to his memory some seemly monument.

MR. GLADSTONE AND THE NONCON- FORMISTS. Writing to acknowledge the protest againt coercive policy of the Government lately adopted by ministers at Bristol, Mr. Gladstone recalls with satis- faction the support given to him by Nonconformists 10 years ago, says that the opponents of the Liberal i arty admit in private that there mast be eome form of Home Rule for Ireland, condemns the ex- amples of illegality which the Government have stt in Ireland, and alserts that tho hopes of peace and order in Ireland now principally depend upon the determination of the Liberal party to maintain the civil rights of Irishmen, and do justice to their per- fectly constitutional aspirations. Sir M. Hicks- Beach, in also acknowledging the protest, admits that the present and previous Governments have made mistakes, but he is unable to agree with the views contained in the protect.