The diocese of the Bishop of Mash onlaud in South Africa is sir times as large as the whole of Great Britain and Ireland. Within a year or two there will be some half a dozen Arctic explorers in the field—Peary, Jackson, Nansen, Wellman, Sverdrup and perhaps An dree, if he be yet alive. The pole may as well come in and surrender and save all this trouble. It has been found by careful obser vation that in the New York tenement district the American family lives the poorest and at the greatest cost. On the contrary, the Italian lives in the most wholesome manner at the least expense, while the French follow closely upon the Italian. The Ger man is economical, but the cooking is not as dainty and palatable. What compensations France may ask of Germany in China the latter will have to pay. Before the trouble is over China will heartily wish that she had let Japan have the Liaotong peninsula rather than run into debt to Russia, Germany and France for tbe means of turning her out. The diplomatic triumph over which Li Hung Chang prided himself seems merely to have armed China's western enemies with the means of dismem bering her empire. London has discovered an evil at tached to the motor cab. In case of the ordinary horse and hansom, an in toxicated cabman is unpleasant to his fare, but he can be deposed from his seat and the horse, which is never drunk, will go just as well with another driver. But with the motor cab it may bo more difficult to deal when the engine driver is discovered to be incapable. The other night in Gray's Inn road the man at the wheel was noticed by the police to be guid ing his cab in a very erratic fashion, and he was stopped and taken off the box. A constable volunteered to carry out the contract; but he collided with the curb and gave up the job, leaving the motor-cab standing in the road. In the future we may be exporting masut instead of exporting coal, says the Chicago Inter-Ocean. Masut is a by-product in the distillation of raw petroleum. It is also manufactured from a cheap brown coal found in Saxony. There has been, until re cently, great trouble in finding a fur nace suitable for burning it. It is now blown by steam into a special furnace, on the principle of the Luci gen light, and used without difficulty. It is forty or fifty per cent, cheaper than coal,and is twenty per cent, bet ter than coal as a heat raiser. Steam can he got up quicker and kept at a higher pressure, and more work can be done by the machinery. From a naval point of view these are vitally important facts. No sign of a ship under full sail will be shown in the 3ky, for masut is a smokeless fuel. The Atlanta Constitution says:— "Although nothing may ever come of the Nicaragua canal project, there is still ground for hope that tlio two oceans may yet be connected by means of the Panama canal. Some time ago it was announced that a wealthy Brit ish syndicate had purchased the canal franchise, and that work thereon would be commenced without delay; but since the announcement lacks con firmation, there is probably nothing in it. Our consular agent writing from Panama states that the canal can easily be completed within the next ten years if sufficient men are em ployed. Up to the present time this monstrous undertaking lias cost in round numbers not less than $275,- 300,000. Everyone is familiar with the long story of fraud and disaster which underlies this enormous ex penditure. Suffice it to say that the French government, though eagerly embracing the project at the start, would be ready to part with the fran chise on a moment's notice. In order to finish the canal it is estimated that some $200,000,000 must yet be e.- pended, and Prance is not able to shoulder the burden. Up to the pres ent time the canal extends only four teen miles. When completed it will measure a distance of fifty-four miles, from Colon on the Atlantic ocean to Panama on the Pacific ocean. The width of the canal will be 160 feet at the top and 72 feet at the bottom. In certain quarters it is urged that the United States should step in at this point and undertake to finish this caual; but without discussing the feasibitity of this proposition it may be observed that the completion of the Panama canal either by national or individual agencies is one of the probabilities of the near future." England exultingly declares that she holds "the key to tbe East," but whether she will use it to lock herself in or Germany out remains to be seen. Juggernaut's car cannot pass through the streets of Colombo owing to the interference of overhead telegraph wires. Petitions have been sent to the governor by the Ceylonese, as twenty-live people wish to throw them selves under the idol's car. A from Portland, Oregon, states that -within the next few monthE a raft containing 5,000,000 feet ol lumber will be constructed and towed to San Francisco by the firm of Inman & Poulson, owners of a large timber interest. The raft will be 396 feet long and 53 feet wide. Several rafts of piling have been towed from the Columbia river to Sau Francisco, but the rafting of sawed lumber is a new undertaking. The German emperor ascribes his good health and vigor to the excellent advice given to him by 'his favorite doctor, and he has learned by heart the latter's "rule of life," which is as follows: Eat fruit for breakfast. Eat fruit for lunch. Avoid pastry and hot cakes. Take potatoes only once a day. Do not take tea or coffee. Walk four miles every day, wet or fine. Take a bath every day. Wash the face every night in warm water. Sleep eight hours every night. - The year 1897 was more than usu ally free from great calamities. The most notable single disaster was the burning of a great charity bazar in Paris May 5, in which 150 persons,in cluding the Duchess D'Alencon, lost their lives. November 19 a fire in the central part of London destroyed property valued at $10,000,000. It was rumored that this great conflagra tion was of incendiary origin. The bubonic plague again broke out in southern India, and, according to some reports, caused the death of thousands of the unfortunate natives. While the past year presents to retrospection no single event of over shadowing importance, it is in ti.o sum of its events so full of signifi cance that historians, reviewing it hereafter, may conclude that since the Franco-Prussian war and the fed eration of Ciermany no other year has been more remarkable or more worthy of attentive study, observes Harper's Weekly. A year of movements and economic climaxes rather than of startling events, it thursts on the world's attention, as the two greatest facts of the time, the growiug politi cal importance of Germany and the already transcendent commercial im portance of the Uniteil States. There is grave reason to doubt whether the internal dissent and dis satisfaction in the German empire is entirely or chiefly political. It is rather to be found in the increasing poverty of large numbers of the peo ple. Statistics taken from the tax re turns of Prussia reveal an appalling condition of poverty in many sections. Although the limit of taxation is drawn at the low income of $225, but 8.40 per cent, of the population of the kingdom pay an income tax. That is more thau ninety-one out of every hundred must make ends meet in some way on less than $225 a year. There is only one person out of every 550 of population who has an income of $2400 a year. A pair of Irish wolf-hounds, im ported recently, will receive syste matic training on a treadmill and in other ways in Louisville, and in the spring will be furnished an oppor tunity to show their ability in killing the American wolf. The outcome of the experiment is said to be eagerly awaited by the cattlemen in the far West, who suffer much loss through depredations of wolves. Russian wolf hounds and American deer-hounds have been tried in vain. One of the groat difficulties in the way of killing the American wolf is the peculiar thickness of the animal's neck and the large qua •t.ty of matted hair thereon. This renders it almost impossible for « dog to choke a wolf, and in a battle with dogs the wolf's pheuominally sharp teeth uoiially cut the dog to pieces. Then, they have such a phe nomenal spring that they can fre quently jump a distance of ten oi fifteen feet and land on the dog's back, tearing their opponent's head and face with their fangs. Owing to these facts, Kentucky dog-fanciers do not generally believe that there is a breed of dogs in existence capable of extermi nating the American wolf, or to even interrupthiin in his marauding expedi tious on the great cattle plains of the West THE HUSKER. He breaks tlie leav»_ To th« crow with an eye intent Of the tall corn sheave# On kernels of eight-rowed-yellow, Deled crisp in the autumn rime On ears of crlmpled dent, While he answers the hail The mournful corn stook bows its head ' Of the piping (juail With murmuring sighs of woe; And the blackbird's resounding chime; ~ O'er heaps of yellow and gleams of rod, And singing, the careless fellow. The whispering south winds blow. Till the morning hours aro spent, He jingles the eight-rowed-yellow The red sun dies In heaps with creamy dent, In the western skies, The faded corn stook bows its head Wide rises the hunter's moon. And leans from its zigzag row ; Through the lucid light From brown husk glimmers the smutnosered Of the silent night And dent with its golden glow. Rings the chirr of the sly raccoon. A whistle calls clear and mellow, The long day through, And the tall hound finds the scent. From a mist of blue Unheeded the eight-rowed-yellow, Faint smiles of the sky flash down ; The red smutnose and dent. From the sun unrolled The lonely corn stook bows its head, Snarly a thread of gold While shadows its tassels throw In those tangles of curling brown. On silver dent and the smutnose red He's calling a noisy "Hello !" Go wavering to and fro. —Elsie R. Egan. \Woman's Little Game. 1 BY CHAnLFR B. LEWIS. I wish you to understand from the very outset of this story that I am an old bachelor. I can say without egotism that I could have placed the yoke of matrimony over my neck a score of times between the ages of 20 and 40, but I did not elect to do so. It seemed a great deal better to keep my liberty and to fall iu love with a new face about once a month. A bachelor can do this, you know, while a married man is bound by certain t'e-i not easily broken. Up to the time I was appointed warden of the Keswick prison I had been in love yist 42 times. This was an averaga of twice a year, which I think is doing very well for a modest, retiring man, who was baldheaded at the age of 22 and yet not too much for a man with a natural leaning tow ard the fair sex. I was appointed warden, uot because of any peculiar fitness, but as a political reward for assisting to elect a certain candidate for governor. I think best to admit this, lest you find it out from other sources. I held the place for a year and a half, and the files of the news papers prove that I was a "soft mark." The Keswick prison was for both sexes, and when I took charge it con tained 380 male and 90 female con victs. I felt sorry for the females even before the keys had been turned over to me, and they soon discovered that I was ready to listen to their sto ries and to do my best to ameliorate their condition. In the course of a month I was pretty well satisfied that at. least 80 out of 90 were entirely in nocent of the crimes charged and that the other ten ought to have new trials at least. Fifteen of the women were in for murder—cold-blooded murder the courts said—but when they had told me nil about it I could see where witnesses had perjured themselves an I jurors had shown their thirst for re venge. I tried to make things very ea-iy for the female contingent, ac tuated solely by a natural courtesy toward the sex, and I think the news papers that criticised me so severely should have been sued for slander. In eight mouths the governor, more to oblige me than for any other reason, pardoned 20 of the females and among them were five under sentence for murder. I should have recommended him to pardon at least 20 more before the year was out if the opposition hadn't got after us and made things hot. There was an investigation, a great deal of talk, aud as a result I had to repress my natural gallantry aud wait for things to cool down. It was during this period of waiting that the vaults of the state treasury were robbed of $320,000 in cold cash. The trick was done by one man and in the neatest manner. He drove up to the building at high noon iu a carriage and entered the treasurer's office. The money had just been bundled up togo to the bank, and these packages were lying on a table with two clerks to guard thorn. The robber gave one clerk a clip over the head, bound and gagged the other, aud the | ackages were carried out and dumped into the carriage in the nerviest sort of a way. He had 20 minutes start of pur suit, and though overhauled after a hot chase of an hour, every dollar of the money had disappeared. As he had not thrown it away during his flight, the idea was that he had either stopped at some house in town for a moment or met another carriage, ac cording to arrangement. The problem seemed easy of solution, but though it was worked upon for weeks by many detectives nothing was discovered. The captured robber was a young ] and good looking man who gave his name as Charles Day. He refused any information as to his home or ] eo ple and insisted on pleading guilty when arraigned for the robbery. There was a great sensation over the loss of the money, as the state was heavily in debt with a big n erfßt to pay, and the party in power, from gov ernor down to janitor, got a daily rak ing for many long weeks. It was even charged that a certain.clique of us put up the robbery aud and were to whack up with the robber. This was a bold faced scandal, of course, but it mate rially dimmed our prestige and almost caused me to doubt the inuo;'ei cj of a fresh lot of female convicts seut in for various crimes against the law. They made quick work of sending Charles Day to prison for 20 years, and, owing to the personal attacks of the opposition,l was rathir prejudiced against him, as he came under my charge. His daily demeanor and daily conduct were, however, beyond any fault-finding. Reports from my deputy proved bim a model prisoner. The hunt for the money did not cease when the prison door shut him in. At least ten detectives were constantly at work to discover where and how it had been transliippei . nd the state was ready to pay sso,u .j to the lucky man. Every day or two sor.'e of these detectives wanted an interview with the prisoner, and,while their requests were generally granted, the deputy warden was always present. Nothing of moment was gained from Day, and I had about become tired of the busi ness when a new face appeared. One day as I sat in my office read ing an abusive article in an opposition paper and half inclined to tender my resignation before sundown, a lady was admitted. I was not over 15 sec onds in making up my mind that she was the handsomest woman I ever saw. She was abaut 23 years of age, a natural blonde, and her eyes were melting and her cheeks like peaches. I will honestly admit that I was "gone" on her even before she handed me the card which gave her name as Jeanne Lancaster. She was from Chi cago and had called to inquire about (Charles Day. She had scarcely men tioned his name when she began to weep. If you have ever been an old bachelor you will understand how quick the heart of such a man melts under the tears of a good looking young woman. I begau to speak soothing words, of course, and pres ently she grew confidential and made a confession. She was an heiress,while Day was but a poor youug man. They met—they loved—they became en gaged. She would have wedded him iu his poverty, but he wouldn't have it that way. He went out to make his fortunebefnro claiming her,and the first good thing he struck was the state treasury. Miss Lancaster had read all about it and had been almost brok en-hearted. While she had put Day out of her heart as being unworthy of her, she yet felt like having a few last farewell words with him. By the time the pretty little woman was through talking and smiling and ciying, I was ready to put a brotherly arm around her and speak words of cousolation. Indeed, when I discov ered that her engagement was "off," 1 came very near offering her my heart and hand as a substitute. Noth ing restrained me but the fear that I had not known her long enough to in spire the proper trust and confidence which a good girl should have. lat once granted her the privilege of a private interview with Day. That is, she was aIU wad to enter his cell, the door of which was left open, and con verse with him while a guard waited within call. The interview lasted half an hour, and there was much weeping and promising and protesting. The young man didn't want to be thrown down just because he had stolen &520,- 000 and been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The girl was obdurate, how ever, though it broke her heart over again to tell him that he need no longer hope. When she came out,her handkerchief to her eyes and a sob in her throat, she sat down in the office to collect herself and then said: "I want Charles to restore that money and have been pleading with him to do so. If I can have one or two more interviews with him I think 1 can accomplish my object." I jumped a foot high and told her she could interview him every day for a month. He knew where the money was, of course, and if it was restored through any effort of mine the tax payers of the state would carry me around on their shoulders as a reward. Not only that, but the oftener Miss Lancaster came the oftener I should see her and the deeper I should be in love. She came next day at the same hour, held another tearful interview, and when it was over she said to me: "Charles has almost made up his mind to confess, but still hesitates. He has a sister of whom he is very fond, and if you don't mind her I will briug her into help mo plead with him." I didn't mind, of course. If ho had four or five favorite sisters I should have been glad to have them all into coax the secret out of the rascal. Day appeared to be very much broken down, aud after Miss Lancaster had left the prison he sent for me to ask if the governor would pardon him on his giving up the money. I had to reply that it might be four or five years before he could look for his lib erty, but it would surely come before he had served out more than a third of his sentence. He seemed quite elated over this, and when I pressed him to tell me where the boodle was hidden he opened his mouth as if to do so. On second thought he shook his head and replied: "If I tell anybody it will be Miss Lancaster and my sister. I had deter mined to die first, but I am beginning to see things a little differently." I left him with the impression that the two girls would soon have the se cret. When Miss Lancaster appeared next day Miss Day was with her. Miss Day was very coy aud retiring. She neither shook hands with me not replied to my salutation and turned her back as soon as possible. At the same time,as I remembered later, Miss Lancaster not only dallied with mv band, but pressed it and was very ef fusive in her speech. Sbe said she would have something special to tell me when she returned from the inter view, and she looked at me so archly that I jumped at the conclusion she was going to confess a first sight love for me. The interview did not last over 15 minutes, and it took place just as dusk ■was drawing on. When the two ladies returned to the dot>r Miss Lancaster came over to me and whispered: "He has promised to confess all to morrow, and every dollar will be re stored. lam glad, not only on bis account and mine, but for your dear sake. I know you to be a noble mail, you would not think it unmaid enly in me I—I—" I took her hand in fhine and gave it several squeezes and assured her that nothing she could possibly an nounce or confess in the English lan guage would be considered by me un worthy of her. She pressed my hand in return and was going to confess her love, but the telephone bell rang and put her out. She just whispered in my ear that I was an old darling and then laughed and joined Miss Day at the door, and I myself pulled the lever which swung back the hinges I that let them out. Need I tell you that I walked around on air for the next quarter of an hour? I had won that little girl's love at first sight, and when she came on the morrow I should ask her to name the day and the date. She had said she was an heiress. I was loving her for herself alone. I was still loving when the deputy war den came rushing in and called out: "Those girls—havo they gone?" . "Certainly—long ago." "Then we are in for it. Come out here, will you?" He led the way to the west -wing and upstairs to the second tier of cells. When we reached the one oc cupied by Charles Day we found a woman in his bed and his convict suit lying on the floor. It didn't take five minutes to grasp the situation. Miss Day had given up her apparel to the convict, and he had walked out with Miss Lancaster. Miss Day was a Miss Somebody elsa, who had been paid §IOOO to do the trick, and Miss Lancaster was the pal of one of the boldest robl>ers in America. We raised an alarm and made pur suit, of course, but the fugitives got away as slick as grease and are prob ably yet living on the boodle stolen from the state. As for the girl left behind she was sent to prison for a couple of years, but after six months was pardoned out. As for me, my resignation was demanded in no gentle tones, and I tendered it and got away into the woods and kicked myself around a section of government land for a week without stopping to rest. —Atlanta Constitution. QUAINT AND CURIOUS. Red hats were first worn by cardi nals iu the year 1245. In Ptolemy's time any one who killed a cat was put to death. The magnetic clock was invented by Dr. Locke of Cincinnati in 1817-48. Tobacco is said to have been first brought into England from Virginia in 1583. The poet Bnrns spelled his name Burness (his family name) until the publication of his poems iu 1780. A naturalist of eminence finds that land birds make their journeys in the daytime and water birds at night. The largest printing office in the world is in Washington, 1). C. ; it is for printing government documents. The fastest railroad engine in the world is "the Flying Welshman its fa ne has extended round the globe. Lake Erie is the lake of the "wild cat," the name given to a fierce tribe of Indians exterminated by the Iro quois. A woman in Hope, Knox county, Maine, still wears a common wire liair ]in which she has worn for forty years. The largest telegraph office in the world is in the general postoffice build ing, London, over 3000 operators being employed. It costs $5.74 per million gallons to pump water to Chestnut Hill reservoir, Boston. The engines pump 8938 on ono pound of coal. The largest hotel in the world is the Waldorf-Astoria, in New York city, a $10,000,000 establishment,built by millionaires for millionaires. The Sudbury river aqueduct in 350 days has delivered 14,857,300,000 gal lons to Chestnut Hill reservoir, and 35,500,000 to Lake Cocliituate. If an Egyptian dies before noon the funeral must take place the same day. If death occurs after noon, the funeral may not be delayed after the next day. In 1774 Philadelphia was the largest town in the American colonies. Esti mates of the population, which are all we have, differ widely, but it was probably not far from 30,000. A resolution appropriating §5 to purchase a copy of the Bible was le cently introduced in the Georgia leg islature, it having been discovered that there was no copy of the b«ok in the state library. Five is the sacred number of the Chinese, who have five p'anets (Mars, Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter) ; five cardinal points (north, south,east, west and centre;) five virtues, five tastes, five musical tones, hve ranks of nobility and five oolow (white,black, red, greeu and yellow.) A few months ago a picture was dis covered at Copenhagen which experts believed to be a Murillo. The direc tor of the Paris Louvre, after examin ing the picture thoroughly, pronounced it to be genuine. The owner wants SIOO,OOO for it. It represents Loyola kneelinar before the Vircrin and Child A TEMPERANCE COLUMN, THE DRINK EVIL MADE MANIFEST IN MANY WAYS. Yon Can Rise—What America's Create*! Kducalor Salil—l)r. Horace Mann on the ltnvages of Drink In Our College! —TrueJWords Spoken Forty Years Ago. You oan rise with God's assistance, You can leave the past behind; Every time you make resistance Stronger grow your heart and mind. Firmly stand against temptation, i)o not leave your soul to sink; ion can rl9e from degradation, You can free yourself from drink. —Sacred Heart Review. Horace Mnnn on Drink's Ravages. "Intemperance carries ruin everywhere. It reduces the fertile farm to barrenness. It suspends industry in the shop of the mechanic. It banishes skill from the cun ning hand of the artisan and artist. II dashes to pieces the locomotive of the en gineer. It sinks the ship of tho mariner.' It spreads sudden night over the solar splendors of genius at its full-orbed, meridian glory. Bat nowhere is It so ruin ous, so direful, so eliminating and expul sive of good, so expletive and redundant of all evil, as in the school and the college, as upon the person and character of the student himself. Creator of evil, destroyer of good! amongyouth.lt Investsits votaries with the fulness of both prerogatives, and sends them out on the career of life to suf fer whore they should have rejoiced to curse where they should have blest." "We are in a sick world, for whose maladies the knowledge of truth and obedi ence to it are the only healing. Oh! if the literary institutions of our land would sanctify their ambition, and instead of an earthly rivalry to send forth groat men, would provoke each other to tho holy work of rearing good men, then would thoy be doubly rewarded, both by great ness and goodness such as they have never yet imagined. Referring to the compara tive worth of scholarship aud morals,' Montaigne says, 'Wo know how to deelino virtue,but we know not how to love it.'" "Surely, it is the most appalling fact In all our annals, and it ought to make every parental heart palpitate with alarm, that the college, where the youth of our coun try must bo sent for tho higher culture of tho mind, should ever expose them to a depravation of the heart. And yet it is on opinion not uncommon, nor—would to God I could say—wholly unfounded, that as young criminals learn now lessons In crime when sent to our public prisons, so young men lose purity of character and contract habits of vice when sent to college." "Some of the mo3t awful and heaven-de fying vices that destroy the poace of so ciety and turn all the sweets of life into bitterness are only college vices full-grown —tho public manhood of the academic childhood of guilt. "On its colleges, far moro than on its Legislatures, does the well-being of a coun try depend—on its education moro than on Its legislation."—Works of Horace Mann. TTse of Alcohol by TCmployes. At the international congress of railroad and marine hygiene, held in Brussels last September, there was a discussion on the question whether the use of alcoholic drinks should be permitted to railroad em ployes and sailors. I)r. Van Collie, of Brussels, inado an address in which ho answered the question negatively; ilrst, becuuso euch drinks cro useless; second, because they aro dangerous to the health and lives of the men. as well as to safety la operation. Ho would have their use limited l and so far as possible suppressed. To this end he would have the men instructed asi to the dangers, and have severe rules against the misuse of liquor. Delegates from Buda-Pesth. London and Berlin doubted whether it would be possible to carry out a prohibitory regulation. Tho congress agreed in a resolution recomr mending the managements to limit the us