County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

"Papa," said the sweet girl graduate, "wasn't my commencement gown a whooperino? I had the other girls skinned alive "And this is the girl," said papa, sadly, "whose graduation essay was "An Appeal for Higher Standards of was "An Appeal for Higher Standards of Thought and Expression."

OUR SHORT STORY. 1 THE MYSTERIOUS "MRS. LLOYD." Mrs. Lloyd, the dumb and melancholy little lady lodger at the old Surrey hostel, was sitting out the glorious summer afternoon under the willows as usual, while from the diamonded panes of the bar parlour window Noah Arkwright and his dame watched her, as they had done on the first day when she came to them, just two months before. Markham, a devoted maid, and a cartful of luggage had accompanied the interesting guest. The best rooms of tho ancient inn, which the rural wags had christened "Noah's Ark," had been bespoken by letter, terms and references leaving nothing to be desired by the worthy landlord. Of money there was evidently no lack, but Louise Lloyd's affliction appeared to weigh heavily on her mild soul, and mistress and maid lived entirely to themselves. The solitary occasion on which Markham had been at all communicative was when she told the old people one morning that "her dear mistress had been struck speechless through a terrible fright, but that her doctor had great hopes of her getting the better of her trouble in time." Weeks slipped past, and nothing stirred the sweet sloth of that summer season till one morn- ing Markham had a letfer from Cornwall, acquaint- ing her of the sudden illness of her mother, and asking if the daughter could be spared for a few days. An hour later, at the bidding of her unselfish mistress, the maid departed. A lovely evening followed on the torrid heel of the summer day, and it was striking eleven when Mrs. Lloyd betook herself to her quaint balconied bedchamber looking out upon the straggling inn garden. She did not seek her rest at once, however, but sat writing until the clock chimed one. With a sigh the gentle Louise then rose from her late task, and unbound her cloud of long brown hair. She was on the point of throwing off her delicate muslins when she camo to a dead stop in her disrobing, for in stooping to regain a rosebud which had fallen from her girdle, she looked straight-as she suddenly turned the corner of the bedstead-into the keen eyes of a man, whose darkly-bearded face was sharply out- lined in an opening of the rose-strewn valance that curtained the huge fourposter. Louise made a brave effort to conquer her terror, but at the first step she took toward the door the intruder sprang out upon her. Do not betray me," was his breathless en- treaty; "I mean you no harm, and my presence here is entirely an accident. I beseech you," he implored. to believe that I would have faced the worst rather than be where I am. I am in desperate trouble; 1 fought with a man—a bitter enemy-he struck the first blow, and-and-well, he may be dead for all I know. I had reason to think the police were on my track, and I took refuge in this garden. Only a few moments before you entered this room I climbed up the balcony and hid under the bed. I am quite at your mercy, but do not, I beg you not to betray me." Louise had never taken her eyes from the Bfcranger's dark face:; it fascinated her. She took up her tablets and wrote: 41 itemain here for the present. I cannot speak to you; I am dumb. I seem to know you. What is your name ?" The intruder smiled mysteriously, and Louise was about to repeat her query when there was a loud knocking at the wooden doors of the hostel, while men's gruff voices were heard calling upon Noah to I- look sharp and come down to them." The police," cried the stranger. He darted toward the window, but Louise stopped him. Wait here, and I will go and see what has happened," advised she. -'No one will come to my room, but if you should hear anything hide as before," and with that Mrs. Lloyd hastened to the stairhead. On the outer step of the Ark" stood two policemen bearing the motionless body of a man between them. Mercy on us, what ha' you got there ?" gasped the old landlord. He's not a dead 'un, surely ?" Looks uncommon like it," said the elder of the two men. Sorry to knock you up, Noah, but we only just found him stowed away in a ditch, and your place was the nearest. Dead or no, we must get the doctor in to him. I'm on duty, but Dick will see to that. Where shall we put the chap ?" Lay him on the sofy in the bar-parlour," said Noah. What's happened to him, Sam ?" Badly hurt, I should say. Tom Birton told Dick there that he'd seen a man running for dear life down one of the back lanes this afternoon, and you may swear that that same man is at the bottom o' this 'ere business." Louise, watching from above, saw the three men enter the parlour, then there was the chink of glasses, and she knew that they had gone into the bar. She slipped instantly down the stairs; she must see the face of that man, whose lineaments- as the candle flared across them-had seemed to wear the cruel likeness of her oppressor. The light in the bar fell in a ghostly streak upon the rigid body on the couch. One glance Louise gave thereto, then dropped heavily to the ground. Helter-skelter the whisky drinkers rushed into the parlour. Save us, if it ain't my lady lodger!" cried Noah. "Now, who'd ha' dreamt of her coming down on us like this! Lend a hand, mates, to get her upstairs, and I'll call the missus to see to her." As the flame of the chamber taper touched the blanched features of Louise, the officer called Dick turned excitedly to Noah and his wife, the latter having just entered the room. "80 that's your lady lodger, is it ?" cried he. Well, I'm blest. Why, she's no more Mrs. Lloyd than I am. She's Lady Cullerton, that's who she is, poor soul!" Lady Cullerton!" was the gasping echo. What her," added Norah," as is in the Divorce Court ?" That's the party," declared Dick. My brother's night patrol over at their place in Kent, and he sent me a photograph of her. That's Lord Cullerton's lady right enough, and if ever I was out and out sorry for any woman I'm sorry for your lodger, Noah, for the toad under the har rer ain't in it as compared with the life that poor thing's led along o' that scamp of a husband of hers." What did she marry him for if he was such a bad Jot ?" growled old Noah. Ah, that was her otuck-up father as did that. Know him? Ben Watts, the big brewer. Dead set, he was, on having a title for his gal, and a precious fine thing the title landed her into. There was a spanking young officer mad for her, but Ben soon choked him off. Old man died a year after the wedding, or his conscious would give him a prick or two now, I fancy. Lost her speech, ain't she? No wonder. How do you think that happened ? Her vagabond of a husband clapped a loaded pistol to her ear, and threatened to blow her brains out if she didn't put her name to a ripping big cheque he wanted to pay his gambling debts with. My! but there'll be some hard swearing when the case comes on agin end o' this week, for Lord Cullerton's moving Heaven and earth to prove that his wife is no better than she ought to be. Well, I must got off for the doctor. 'Night all!" cried Dick, hurrying down- stairs, with the two other men following at his heels. Louise, having rallied under the treatment of Mrs. Arkwright, sat obediently sipping the weak brandy and water the dame had mixed for her. As the old lady rose suddenly from the bedside a box of matches slipped from her hand, and fell in a heap at her feet. In gathering them up she lifted the valance to make sure that none were astray, and delivered herself at the same time of a screech that made Burly Sam come pelting back from the lane, and brought her old husband up the stairs at a jump. u A burglar," yelled Mrs. Arkwright. Hang (ia to him, Noah, hang on!" With one leap the burglar had cleared the floor, and was at the open window when the landlord gripped him by the collar. Finally, Noah found himself standing alone at the window sill, his horny hands crammed full of black wig and beard, shed by the burglar under the old man's rough uiiage. As the trespasser bounded out upon theba'co iy, Louise caught the gleam of a sleek fair head, of a ,lark eye flashing defiance at blustering Noah, and such was the effect of the truth upon her, that the seal of terror-stricken silence was riven aaunder then and there. She sprang with a wild scream to her feet. "Dugald, oh, Dugald, you have destroyed me!" was her heart-broken cry. Christian Woodman, counsel for the petitioner in the Cullerton divorce suit, wore his best smile as he delivered his brilliant but vituperative address at the final hearing of the notable case. The news of Lord Cullerton's injury, and thei sub- sequent discovery of Captain Dugald Noxton at the inn where the young wife had hidden herself, had spread like wildfire, and fallen with crushing effect upon the defending counsel and his client. Help came to her, however, in a most unexpected way, for at the last moment, just as poor Louise gave herself up for lost, Sir George Volty, the family physician, entered the Court, and announced to judge and jury that Lord Cullerton was dead. "My patient received severe internal injury in nis collision with Captain Noxton," the witness gravely stated, and when haemorrhage again set in this morning, I was constrained to tell him that he had not an hour's life in him. He died in my arms, and with his last words absolved Captain Noxton from all blame in the accident to his lordship, and declared his wife to be entirely innocent of such charges as he had raised against her." A dead hush fell upon the court after the physician's announcement. The only sound heard at that moment came from the ill-fated wife, who sobbed like a child on the breast of the faithful Markham. In the third summer subsequently Lady Culler- ton went with her maid to spend a few days at Noah's Ark." On the evening of their arrival her ladyship was standing in the flower-wreathed porch of the hostel when a martial figure stepped slowly from the shadows. Dugald!" whispered Louise in a tremulous voice. Forgive me if I am too bold," he entreated, but I was riding hereabouts last week, and Noah told me that you were expected, so I—T—Loo," he cried, remembering only the days when he had been her preferred, if ousted, lover, once more I am cast wholly on your mercy. It is for you to save or shipwreck me." There was a deep pause-a pause wherein hearts beat high and hopes hung trembling in the balance. Then she gave him a smile, and with it the fluttering little hand which was to be his salvation.

FAIR WAGES FOR RESERVISTS. I EMPLOYEES WHO OFFER WOltIC AT IMPOSSIBLE PAY. On the approach of winter, with all its attendant hardships and the increasing difficulty of obtaining employment, the Soldiers' and Sailors'Help Society, of which the King is patron and Princess Christian president, again makes an urgent appeal on behalf of workless Reservists and time-expired soldiers. "We have on our books," says the secretary, "nearly 4000 men, many of them of exemplary conduct, and we find it very difficult indeed to cope with the ever-increasing tide of men who come to us begging for work. What makes the whole thing so difficult is that many employers think that by taking a soldier when he is in straitened circumstances they can offer him less wages than civilians would ever dream of taking. It is not the slightest use offering men 15s. a week to go and work in distant parts of the country when they have wives and families in London. There are on our books scores of men who could be placed in positions of the very greatest trust-sergeants and sergeant-majors with exemplary characters and the highest pos- sible references. We have any number of men suitable for grooms and coachmen, some before enlisting having been in private service, who are now clamouring for work, and in fact men for all I kinds of work, if only the public will assist us, first of all by understanding that a soldier will not work for less than a civilian, and by remembering that nearly every married soldier has children, and also that there are quite as good men in the army as there are in civilian life. lltThe following is one of the extraordinary offers made to us. A lady who occupied a flat wrote wanting a man and his wife to take charge of it. The man was to earn his living outside, and could come home to supper and, of course, sleep in the flat; but he would be required to wait at table at dinner. The wife was to do all the house- hold work, and naturally would have her meals, and in return for this and other mercies vouch- safed unto them they were to pay half-a-erown a week for their board and lodging."

I FOREIGNERS AT HENLEY. I I CORNELL'S DECISION TO COMPETE NEXT SUMMEB, I The decision of Cornell University, U.S.A., to send a crew to compete at Henley next year is likely to reawaken the controversy regarding the policy of admitting foreigners to the classic regatta. Many of the leading rowing authorities are strongly in favour of limiting the entries to British crews. Dr. Warre dislikes international competi- tions because he thinks they take athletics from off their proper plane and invest them with an im- portance which they do not deserve. He believes that the stewards of Henley, in permitting the row- ing trophies entrusted to them to be contended for by all the world, are endangering the best interests of international rowing. Mr. R. C. Lehmann, the well-known coach, agrees with this view, and regards with dismay the development of Henley into an international championship meeting. Our rowing, he thinks, will tend to become professionalised, and Henley will lose all its charms in the atmosphere of over- strain and unhealthy excitement. Mr. Lehmann has admitted that it may be that a challenge from American oarsmen will have to be accepted in spite of national reluctance, but he trusts the meeting place will not be Henley. The exclusion of foreigners is also favoured by Mr. W. H. Grenfell, M.P., and well-known 'Vtirsity oarsmen like Mr. J. E. Payne; but, on the other hand, there are several leading sports- men who ask why Henley should be reduced to the level of an up-river pic-nic, and believe that nothing is gained, but a great deal is lost, by ex- cluding foreigners. According to Americans in London, Cornell University are certain to send over a strong crew, carefully trained and systematically coached. When Pennsylvania University just lost to Leander in the final of the Challenge Cup last year, it was generally thought that the American crew had done very well, and it was confidently believed that victory must sooner or later be achieved. American college crews, however, have always displayed an inability to keep the English stroke when once acquired. Yankee coaches come to England, take back the proper stroke, teach it to their college) and then, after a year or so, their pupils lose the body swing and fail to row the stroke through. But it is admitted that if the American style is likely to win anywhere, it ought to win over the short Henley course.

I AN UNWILLING "MESSIAH." I Father John of Cronstadt, the famous priest who is credited with the power of miracle working, has just returned from a journey to Kostroma, about 200 miles from Moscow, undertaken for the purpose of checking the spread of the new sect who worship him as the Messiah. He held ser- vices in the local churches, to which the leaders of the sect were commanded to attend, and he especially addressed them, telling them that he was the same flesh and blood as themselves. Next he went to the church they have built and caused his portrait to be removed as well as the cross from the roof. As the members of the new sect will incur severe punishment if they do not return to the services of the Orthodox Church, it is not likely that the craze will spread.

EPITOME OF NEWS. I The "burning mountain" of Montet, in Southern France, which is often mistaken for an active volcano, because a pillar of cloud risea from it by day and a pillar of the. by night, is in reality a coal mine which has been burning for several years. The average temperature of all the United Kingdom has risen over one degree in the past century. The record rise is in the temperature for January, which is three degrees higher than it was at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Earl Roberts has promised to be present, and the Mackintosh of Mackintosh will preside, at a banquet to be given to Lord Lovat and the officers of Lovat's Scouts by the London Inver- nesa-shire Association on November 29. There is not one qualified dentist doing duty in the whole Navy and only one surgeon borne for dental duties, states a naval correspondent of the "Western Morning News." Unable to preacii owing to a cold, a Hull Wesleyan minister played the organ at a recent service in his church, the organist taking his place in the pulpit and delivering the sermon. Mile. Marie Anne Pattey, of Paris, has entered the Ministry of Public Ij?.*iruction as secretary in one of the offices. This is the first time that such a post has been filled by a lady. A new sanatorium for Delamere, Cheshire, of which the foundation stone has just been laid, will be a branch hospital of the Manchester Hos- pital for Consumption and Diseases of the Throat and Chest. It is being built by Mr. W. J. Cross- ley at a cost of £ 70,000. A record year for building in San Francisco is reported so far as the present year has yet gone and it is anticipated that at its close 1902 will prove to have been the busiest year that builders in California's chief city have ever experienced. The magnitude of the Escurial, the great Spanish palace, may be inferred from the fact that it would take four days to go through ail tne rooms and apartments, the length of the way being reckoned at 120 English miles. Lord Kitchener's first important piece of work in Egypt was at Debbeh, where, as Quarter- master-General and Deputy Assistant Adjutant, he did his utmost to keep open communication with Gordon at Khartoum for the expedition which vainly tried to rescue him in the autumn of 1884. Count Posadowsky, Prussian Minister of the Interior, proposes to hold an inquiry for the pur- pose of showing what laws are necessary to pro- tect the consumers against arbitrary prices made by the formation of trusts. A baby, just able to walk, the son of John McAlonan, of Los Angeles, California, fell into an open standpipe on his father's farm. Though sucked through 425ft. of irrigating pipe by w-ater rushing down from mountain reservoirs, the infant was rescued alive. The Rev. Charles Spurgeon (son of the late Mr. C. H. Spurgeon) who has been pastor of South-street Baptist Church, Greenwich, since 1879, has intimated that he will close his ministry there at the expiration of six months. It is calculated by an engineer that 630,000,000 tons of coal are used annually throughout the world. Of this amount, 148,000,000 are burnt in the United States; Great Britain comes in second with an annual consumption of 140,000,000. Several of the Scotch fleet fishing out of Yar- mouth made extraordinary deliveries at the wharf on a recent Saturday as the result of only one night's work. One boat's catch realised £ 154 10s., the boat having earned a total of L300 in the week, and another £ 145. The letting of the market tolls at Chard was marked this year by the revival of a custom which was discontinued in 1889. The bidding lasted while sand ran through an ordinary egg-boiler, the bid which was made as the last grains fell being successful. Miss Lulu Davies, of Chicago, bought a plot of land twelve years ago in Plainfield, Colorado, for £ 20. An attorney in Cripple Creek has written to her stating that gold has been discovered on the plot, and she is now worth £ 200,000. The Austrian Emperor is known to be a man of the simplest tastes, and^yet he is said to spend L50,000 a year on the palace tables. The daily cost of furnishing the Imperial table is from z240 to S:50 while a State dinner, with from fifty to a hundred guests, costs from £ 400 to £6UO. A marriage will take place early in December between William Hampden Chawner, Captain, of the Essex Regiment (Pompadours), of Newton Manor, Alton, Hampshire, and Miss Edith Cunningham Frere (Oakleigh, Eastbourne), younger daughter of the late Rev. John Alexander Frere, formerly Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Vicar of Shillington, Bedfordshire. The output of coal in the United Kingdom in 1901 dropped more than 6,000,000 tons, compared with the output of 1900. There was a decrease in the output of England of 3.68 per cent., and of Scotland 0.95 per cent., but Wales showed an increase of 0.21 per cent. The Cardiff Town Council provides us with yet another example of the advantage of co- ordination between different municipal depart- ments. As its tramcars get too old to stand the heavy demands made on them for traffic it pro- poses to use them, with a little suitable decora- tion and fitting-up, as park shelters. Seaweed or seagrass paving blocks, newly invented, are being tried in Baltimore, U.S.A. They are made by compressing the seaweed until it becomes hard and solid, when it is bound tightly with wire. The loose ends of the grass are cut off, and the block is finished by being immersed in boiling pitch or tar. The distinction of being the oldest footballer now playing in League gamers belongs to John Goodall, of International and Derby County fame. Although in his fortieth year, Goodall still plays a good game at left-half for Glossop, in addition to which he renders invaluable service in coaching inexperienced players. According to insurance statistics teetotalers may expect seventeen years more life than those who indulge in alcoholic drinks. Holland's trade is the heaviest per head of any European nation. It amounts to £45 for each person. Appointment as surveyor at St. Annes has been obtained by Mr. Henry Gregson, at a salary of jS170 per annum. There were 148 applicants for the position. Since 1801 the population of France has in- creased by only 44 per cent., and in the rest of Europe by 129 per cent. The Norwegian Parliament is called Stor- thing, that of Sweden the Rigsdag, of Servia the Skupshtina, of Greece the Boule, of Bulgaria the Sobranje. The King of the Belgians has accepted the in- vitation of the executive committee to visit the St. Louis International Exhibition in the spring of 1904. While 3,500 coal cutting machines are used in the United States mines there are less than 400 such machines in British collieries. On the ground that his wife was subject to epileptic fits, a petitioner has been granted a divorce by the Supreme Court of Hungary. Colonel Macaulay, a nephew of the famous historian and essayist, has just retired from the governorship of the Duke-street Prison, Glasgow. Two hundred sympathisers have dug and stored two acres of potatoes belonging to Mr. Reddy, the Irish M.P. now in prison under the Crimes Act. Of forty-six homeless men and youths charged with sleeping out at Manchester thirty-seven were sentenced to three days' imprisonmttit each and nine remanded. Diamonds to the value of £ 1,440 were con- tained in a pocket-book which has been stolen from its owner as he lay asleep in a carriage at Antwerp. ..J.— ■■ —^ Madame Nordica, the opera singer, was very anxious to learn boxing. Her medical adviser, however, pointed out that an accidental blow on the neck or chest, even with soft gloves, might wreck her vocal career. As a compromise she took to the ungentle art of punching a bag, and spends an hour or two at this healthy exercise every morning. She says "bag-punching" as a means of banishing adipose tissue is the finest thing in the world. 0 The American woman's latest "fad," says "Madame," in connection with balls is hardly one that will find acceptance over here. An ex- clusive organisation in Baltimore is reported to have arranged a "tramp" ball, at which all the guests are required to appear in "correct" tramp costume, literally in patches and tatters. The men will wear shabby hats, ragged coats and trousers, and conspicuously ventilated boots. They will also carry the tramp's recognised drinking-cup—an empty tomato tin. The ladies will make an equally disreputable appearance, and even the decorations and invitations will be carried out on the same lines. The restoration of Wherstead church tower presents one or two rather curious features. Since 1839. a copper ball, 5ft. in diameter, supported by a 20-ft. staff, and intended as a sailing mark for vessels on the river Orwell, had surmounted the tower, but had become invisible from the river owing to the growth of intervening trees. The ball has been removed, and two of the ancient pinnacles of the tower that had been stowed away inside the belfry have been restored to their original positions, while two new ones of exactly similar pattern have been added, so that the tower now presents the same appearance that it did in the early part of the fifteenth century. A new bascule bridge at Hull is constructed in three spans. The central opening through which ships will pass has a span of 51ft., and two side spans being 18ft. each. The width of the carriage way is 23ft., and of each footway 5ft. The bridge is constructed mainly of steel. For the purpose of carrying water mains and electric cables under the river, a cast-iron subway, 8ft. in diameter, has been constructed under the river closely ad- joining the bridge. The subway is 115ft. long, and is approached by shafts 50ft. deep. The bot- tom of the subway is 25ft. below the bed of the river. The cost of the bridge and subway has been about £ 33,000. The novel invention of Professor Artemieff gives security to workers in laboratories using high-tension electric currents. It is a safety dress of fine but closely-woven wire gauze, weigh- ing 3.31b., and completely enclosing the wearer, including hands, feet, and head. The cooling surface is so great that a powerful current passed for several seconds from one hand to the other without perceptible heating. Clad in this armour the inventor received discharges from currents of 75,000 to 150,000 volts, and handled live wires at pleasure, all without any sensation of electric shock. The biggest British salmon come from the Tay, One has been caught weighing 701b., and 4ft. 5in. long. There is a cave on the Jorend Fjord, Norway, from which at every change of weather flashes of lightning issue. Penny subscriptions have provided Huddera- fiold Infirmary with an X-ray apparatus. The administration of the Congo Free State is about to enter upon an interesting series of ex- periments for solving the draught animals ques- tion by native means. The idea has been mooted of domesticating the zebra, and the "Independ- ance Beige" states that measures are being or- ganised for doing this on a large scale. It is confidently believed that with a supply of draught zebras, many of the worst difficulties in the solu- tion of the transport question will have been overcome. Mr. John Burns tells a good story about one of his visits paid recently to a London County Council lunatic asylum. He was taking a short cut across the kitchen garden to the railway sta- tion, when a patient working there suddenly flung up his hands in astonishment. "Well, I never," he said, "and you, too—the very last person I ever expected to see in here The island of Thassos, which some years ago yielded rich archaeological results to Mr. Theo- dore Bent, has within the past few weeks been the scene of discoveries, one of which, at least, may appeal to every educated school-boy. These include a number of sarcophagi, among which the "Berliner Tageblatt" says is included the tomb of Cassius, who slew himself after the dis- astrous defeat of Philippi, and was buried by Brutus at Thassos, where the army of the patriots had established its base of supplies. An artificial gutta-percha now being tested by the German Post Office has so far given excel- lent results. It softens at a somewhat higher temperature than the natural product, and has also a. somewhat greater electrical resistance, whilst its di-electric constant is rather smaller. A submarine cable insulated with this material has now been in use more than a year. Experiments on the value of salt in the food of sheep have been made in France. Of three lots of sheep one had no salt, a second had half an ounce daily, and a third had three-fourths of an ounce. The sheep taking salt gained more flesh and had better wool than those without it, and the sheep getting half an ounce did better than those getting more. Scientists have been making experiments in regard to the effect of certain perfumes upon the voice. Many of the most successful masters in singing have cautioned their pupils stringently against the use of perfumes or the proximity of odorous flowers. One goes so far as to forbid pupils the use of any perfume at all, and if one of them is detected wearing a bunch of violets, the lesson is postponed. The perfume of the violet, it is alleged, has been found to be par- ticularly injurious to the vocal chords. Captain Jacques, of the Belgian Congo, is a veteran among pioneers. He was one of the first engaged in the operations against slavers on Lake Tanganyika, and now, the "Independance Beige" says, he has once more embarked for Africa. This time, the East Coast is his destina- tion. He is charged with an important mission for the surveying of a new line of railway from Lake Kisale, in the Katanga region, to the Rho- desian frontier. The line will be about 480 miles long, and is to be linked to the Cape Railway. Netteswell House, Bishop's Stortford, the birth- place of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, can now be identified by travellers on the Leigh-road, between Lon- don and Newmarket, by a stone medallion in- serted in the front wall near the window of a room on the first floor, upon which is the follow- ing inscription: "The Right Honourable Cecil John Rhodes, the Founder of Rhodesia, was born in the room within, July 5th, 1853." This step has been taken because many visitors to Bishop's Stortford have imagined that, as the Empire-founder was the son of a vicar of Bishop's Stortford he must have necessarily been born at the vicarage. It is rather remarkable that every baronet of the House of Knightley has either been a clergy- man or the son of a clergyman. The first baronet (created in 1798) was a parson, and was succeeded by the son of a clerical brother. The third baronet was a vicar, while the fourth was for sixty-two years rector of Preston Capes. The present baronet is the son of a clergyman, and the heir is the Rev. H. F. Knightley. The new cattle market at Braintree, Essex, has been constructed at an estimated cost of £ 2,200. Pen accommodation is provided for 820 sheep, 205 pigs, 40 calves, and 24 bullocks, with an open space of 4,600 super, ft. for cattle. There is standing room for horses, and a horse run, with two stables and a large open shed. Ornamental offices adorn the main entrance, and the entire market is well paved. It is proposed to plant young lime trees along the fence of the cattle area, and also by the roadway at the main entrance. A person named Marius, well known in the Paris Press world as having for many years acied as a messenger and in other capacities in various newspaper offices, was found dead in bed one morning recently. The doctors state that death was due to natural causes, and that Marius was not a man but a woman. Marius was sixty-two years old, and had from childhood adopted mas- culine attire.

FIELD AND FARM. I WHEAT. I Although it may be true (remarks Prof. John Wrightson in the "Agricultural Gazette") that wheat-growing has ceased to be profitable in this country, the continued popularity of the crop traverses the idea. Like many other things, thte advisability of growing wheat depends upon cir- cumstances, and is certainly bound up with the larger question of corn-growing. Corn-growing, again, affects the whole conduct of arable farm- ing, and hence, as long as that important branch is maintained in its present vigour, corn-grow- ing and wheat-cultivation are bound to continue. Wheat straw increases in value in direct ratio to the abancionment of wheat as a crop, being al- ways in demand for high-class stables, where moss-litter or the motor-car have not rendered it unnecessary. Wheat straw will still be wanted on farms for thatching ricks, and as long as it is worth £ 3 or L4 per ton it will be grown. Wheat cultivation dies hard, because no other cereal can take its place. Oats are the best substitute at present, but cannot be relied upon in the future. The oat market is liable to be glutted if too large a breadth is sown; as was the case some f&w years ago when oats sank to 1135. a quarter. As to barley, it has disappointed its greatest admirers. Here is a season in which bright, :well-grown samples are particularly scarce, and jet few samples command more than 30s. a quar- ter, while large quantities are selling at a lower price than oats. Wheat as a marketable commodity is fairly steady, and the amount realised per acre does not compare unfavourably with the other cereals. WHEAT-SOWING. I We are experiencing a good wheat-sowing sea- son. The seed is better for being planted in a damn-bed, and the temperature of the air and soil is at present suitable for genni!$,tion. No crop can be sown under a greater variety of cir- cumstances than wheat. It may be taken after clover, roots, fallow, beans, potatoes, mustard, rape, or oats and it may be sown from August to February, or later. October is a good time, and November is scarcely inferior for the pur- pose. We, in fact, are in the height of the wheat-sowing season, and a few remarks upon the subject cannot be out of place. Bare-fallows are, no doubt, old-fashioned, but on really stiff land districts they are still to be seen. There is not much choice in such situations, foT roots are out of the question, and if grown, they cause a serious diminution in the next crop. The only alternative would be to lay the land down to grass but as long as such land remains in tillage the bare-fallow will continue. On such situa- tions the young wheat ought to be now, or very shortly, peeping through the soil. A much larger breadth of wheat is being sown upon the back of clover lairs. A difficulty has been experienced this year in the luxuriant growth of grass. It is of importance that the seed-bed should be firm, and in order to secure this condition the grass should be closely fed down before ploughing; but this has been im- 9 11 possible this season. The evidently best course was to plough early, and bury the grass with the help of skim-coulter and drag-chain, followed by a heavy roller. Where these means were taken six weeks ago, and the ground has since been well harrowed, the requisite firmness has been ob- tained. To plough in long grass just before sow- ing is evidently wrong, as the ground must lie hollow, and the fresh grass cannot rot in time to r serve as nutriment for the wheat plant. The abundance of keep in the country is so great that there is no object in stinting sheep. The quicker they pass over the ground the more land will be ready for wheat-sowing. This season the best policy is to give the sheep plenty of hurdle room and save the cake bills. A great deal of root land has been already folded and ploughed, and now lies ready for the drill. DRIED MILK. I The dried milk, as shown at the Glasgow Ex- hibition, if capable of lending itself to domestia .v use, ill (observes Mr. Gilbert Murray) be of great value. Milk, in its pure state, contains all the elements of nutrition in suitable combina- tion for the support and maintenance of animal life, and though open to adulteration from the addition of other fluids, nevertheless its quality is liable to great variations through other causes than that of direct adulteration after the milk has been abstracted from the cow. The chief dis- turbing causes are attributable to the cow, her breed and condition, but more particularly to the quality of the food, which may be compounded of various materials, with this essential condition, that the feeding ration shall contain one of albu- mmiods, or flesh formers, to six of carbolicarates, or heat and fat producers. It is highly essen- tial, not only to the health of the animal, but the quantity and quality of the produce, when fed in the stables on a mixture of food, that the temperature should be raised to 70 deg. Fahr. Cows in low condition when they drop their calves, and subsequently are sparingly fed on nutritive food, unskilfully compounded, will not, as a rule, produce milk of a normal quality. Many producers have not the means of testing their milk, and though imbued with the most honest intentions, have frequently been finan- cially punished for sins they never committed. When the whole of the milk has been drawn from the cow, and allowed to stand even for a short time, and emptied into a second pail, as is usu- ally the case, there is a great difficulty in draw- ing a fair sample, and the difficulty increases with the time the milk is exposed before the sample is drawn. No system of stirring or mix- ing will have much effect in restoring a uniform sample. The fat is contained in globules of dif- ferent sizes, the larger of which, containing the least specific gravity, rise first to the surface, and by no means with which we are acquainted can this be thoroughly amalgamated with the small globules. This causes a discrepancy be- tween different analyses, though equally skilfully performed. FOWLS DYING SUDDENLY. Farmers and other poultry-keepers are often (W. M. Freeman writes) very much mystified by the suddenness with which a bird, apparently well and hearty, is dead in a few hours, or it may be in a few minutes, and it will, perhaps, be use- ful if I point out the commonest causes of sud- den death, and make a few suggestions as to the best means of guarding against unfortunate cala- mities like this. There are two main causes of sudden death-one is heart failure (technically known as syncope); the other, effusion of blood on the brain (technically termed apoplexy). It is not by any means a difficult matter to dis- tinguish which of these two causes is operating or has operated in a given case, for their symp- toms are widely different. A bird which has heart failure dies almost instantaneously. I havo eeen a bird literally drop down dead and pass away without a struggle. It is the fatal faintnesa of syncope which thus seizes upon the feathered race as it does the human race, and the victim "passes to the other side" instantaneously and painlessly. On opening a bird which has died in this way the heart will be found to be greatly distended with blood on one side, and to be practically empty on the other and there can then be no doubt whatever as to the cause. On the other hand, a case of apoplexy is ushered in by premonitory symptoms, which may be more or less pronounced. A bird may appear at first unable to see properly, a little dazed, and it may pass off and nothing further be noticed. This means that a very slight rupture has occurred, dimming, as it were, the brain for a short period, and then the blood, having been reabsorbed into the system, has left no ill-effect beyond the fact that the rupture has occurred, and at that point, when it has once occurred, it will be more liable to occur again. Next time it will be more serious, and the bird will be paralysed, twisting its neck round and being obviously no good, albiet looking bright in the eye as if it could see everything but upside down. here is only one thing that can be done in such a case as this, and that is to let a little blood out from the vein underneath the wing. It must be done < cautiously, and the pressure having been relieved in this way there is just a possibility that the bird may recover. I need hardly say that no- thing can be done in a case of syncope, for death being so sudden it is impossible to know that anything is going to happen. Undoubtedly many fowls suffer with weak hearts, just as human beings do. In a case of apoplexy, however- & bird will lie in a helpless condition of delirium for days, sometimes for weeks; if nourishment be poured down its throat, and although a vast maioritv of cases terminate fatally, still now and again there is a chance of saving a bird. —————

I THE KING AND MILLBANK. I The forthcoming visit of his Majesty to the model dwellings at Millbank is being looked forward to with great interest. The event recalls the fact that these new buildings occupy the site of Mill- bank Prison, first opened in the year 1821. The gloomy building which overlooked the river had as one of its last occupants before it was finally de- molished the notorious Arthur Orton, the claimant to the Tichborne title and estates. The disap- pearance of the prison leads one to think of the charges that have happened to many similar build- ings in various part3 of the Metropolis.