AJbicyclist has just obtained a ver
dict of $24,500 against a railroad com
pany for the loss of his legs. If he
hail not been a wheelman what would
the sum have been?
A. sharp line of distinction shonlil be
drawn between the c'.asses that are in
the "submerged tenth" because they
are hopelessly degenerate aud those
coming to us from Canada aud Eu
rope, who begin at the bottom, but
quickly rise to self-support and self
respect.
Kovama is a member of the Japa
nese Diet. That body had been con
sidering a laud tax bill which the gov
ernment was determined should be
come a law. When the roll was
called Kovama annouuced that certain
agents of the government had paid liiiu
S4OOO to vote for the tax bill,and then
sedately proceeded to vote against the
measure. In his artless Japanese
fashion, Koyaina further rebuked his
would-be corrupters by pocketing the
money. While this is exceedingly in
teresting evidence going to show that
the dawn of civilization in Japan lius
become a sunburst,it is disappointing.
Koyama is evidently young. He
must learn that the first requisite of a
successful politician is to stay bought
aud say nothing about it.
It is a little over a year since Phila
delphia transferred to the United Gas
Improvement company, under a 150
years' lease, the franchise of the gai
company, and reports recently made
mark sharply the difference between
political control and business manage
ment. The city now has a revenue of
10 per cent, on an increased quantity
of gas sold at §1 per thousand, where
as it was formerly unable to make
both end* meet at a higher rate. Con
sumers are supplied with better gas,
aud the worn-out gas mains have been
replaced with new ones, to the com
fort of citizens wliosa noses had
been assailed with the odor of escap
ing ga3. Iu this work of betterment
53,11:2,82!) has been expended within
the year, although the lease only re
quires the expenditure of $5,000,003
in this way during the first three years,
and of $10,000,00 thereafter. All these
improvements, it should be noted,
will ultimately revert to the benelit of
the city, as at the end of the 30 yjars
the gas-works must be returned to the
city without the expenditure of a dol
lar of public money on the improve
ments made or to be made.
More evidence of the use of boracic
tcid as a meat preservative comes from
Philadelphia. A soap-maker in that
city, who purchases the excess fat
from the market stalls, says that about
five years ago he noticed that some
thing in connection with the tallow
was preventing its union with the lye
in the soap-making process. He con
cluded that there was an acid of some
kind in tho tallow, and on making
that statement to the firm that sup
plied the tallow it was admitted that
the meat men were using a wash for ,
the meat, and that it was boracic acid, i
He asked if the fluid was injected in :
the meat, and was told that it was
used only on the surface before the |
meat was put into the ice-chest. The
soap-manufuicturer adds that he has
often since that time noticed in butch
er shops that meat that had been un
deniably washed with a preserving
liquid or powder was avoided by the
flies, while they would swarm on un
treated meat. He had observed also
that he had less trouble with the acid
in cold weather, when it was presuma
ble that less of the preservative was
used.
Apropos of the phenomenon of
sleep, a printer in a newspaper office
in Bangor, Me., thought that he had
solved it. He might have succeeded
had not nature called him to accouut
for his trifling. His scheme was sim
ple aud plausible. He did not be
lieve that slumber had auy effect on the
muscles; they need simply rest or
change in the character of exercise. As
to the brain, that could be rested in
the same way. He dropped off a few
minutes from his sleep every day. Iu
the course of a month he had re
duced his ordinary time of slumber of
eight hours to five. At length he
reached the supreme mament whe.i lie
was to pass his first sleepless cousecu
tivo twenty-four hours. As has been
said, he was a printer, a compositor.
He needed a certain font of type that
was kept in a dark corner of the
room. He climbed up on the stool.
Threo hours later they missed him. A
search revealed him sitting on the
stool fast asleep. He was taken home
and he slept for long periods through
out a week. So far he has not found
bis experiment profitable. This is a
good illustration of all the attributes
ef nature. Poor humanity cannot ig
nore her laws without a stern adinon
ulmati
It appears that Admiral Dewey is a
good haud at an epigram as well as at
fighting. But then one is never sur
prised at finding a new virtue or ac
complishment in Dewey.
The statement that Missouri never
punishes train robbers is a cruel slan
der, facetiously remarks the Kansas
City Journal. It often happens that
outlaws of this class ai e sent to the pen
itentiary even before they have been
operating in the state tweuty years,
and sometimes they are compelled to
remain there weeks and weeks before
the governor padons them out.
A dispatch from Pine Bluff, Ark., to
the Little Rock Gazette, states that as
a result of the recent successful experi
ments in Mississippi with monkeys as
cotton pickers, several Jefferson coun
ty planters will make similar experi
ments. One of the most successful
planters in the state, we are told, will j
soon have monkeys in his field. This I
looks like the revival of a hoax that \
convulsed Birmingham, Ala., some I
years ago. ,
If a German scientist is to be be- I
lievad, everything needed tj make a j
man weigh 150 pounds can be found i
in the whites and yolks of 1200 lion's !
eggs. "Reduced to a fluid," declares |
the savant, "the average man would j
yield 08 cubic metres of illuminating
gas and hydrogen, enough to lill a ;
balloon capable of lifting 155 pounds, j
The normal human b idy has in it the
iron needed to make seven large nails,
the fat for fourteen pounds of candles,
the carbon for 65 gross of crayons and
phosphorus enough for eight hundred
and twenty thousand matches. Out of
it can be obtained besides twenty cof
fee-spoonfuls of salt, fifty lumps of
sugar, and forty-two litres of water."
The death of Caprivi removes from
the public life of Europe a man whose
chief distinction was that he succeeded
Bismarck as chancellor when Willielm
ascended the throne of empire. Yet
Caprivi deserves honor for a long life
of hard work and high achievement in
both military and naval lines, as well
as in statesmanship. A brilliant gen
eral iu war and a methodical worker in
the barracks of peace, lie proved
himself as equal to the task of reor.
gauizing the German navy as to the
command of an army corps. Had he
not been overshadowed by the tower
ing ligure of his predecessor as chan
cellor, and had he not failed to main
tain the harmony of relations essen
tial to his continuance in office, the
name of Caprivi would command a
more eminent place iu the diplomatic
history of the century.
In this country the majority rules
but does not tyrannize. It is the char
tered license of the smallost minority
to admonish solemnly, assail bitterly, j
ridicule, impugn and defy the sover- j
einn, before yielding him that loyal j
obedience that no oue dares refuse iu .
the end, philosophises the New Vork
Commercial Advertiser. Some of us call
this government by discussion. It i?
edifying enough when it does not lead
ignorant foreigners into acts which
compel us to painful severity. lie
can se the tolerauce of criticism implies
neither abatement of swiftness aud
force of national action when national
authority is outraged, nor embarrass
ment of government by faction in the
moment of action. The nation dis
cusses with the noisy divergence of o
debating society, but ac s with the
unity aud force of an army. Domestic
turbulence has learned this; external
turbulence will learn it, if needful.
Our consul at Liverpool has rent
to Washington a suggestive report on
the results of a trial at that city of au
toinotor freight wagons. The joint re
port of the British experts who wit
nessed the trial points out several de
fects that are alleged to make doubtful
the much more extended use of the ve
hicles in Great Britgin iu the near fu
ture, and emphasizes some of theii
limitations. The trial at Liverpool
included only automotor freight wag
ons, aud the aim there has been to at
tain the maximum of speed and dura
bility iu competition with the railways
for cheaper freights. Thus far it has
been shown that these wagons may
work iu commercial competition with
railway rates with loads up to four tons
and over distances of thirty to forty
miles. This is where British effort
has been stopped temporarily, awaiting
the manufacture of an improved ma
chine. With such proof of what Brit
ish and continental European manu
facturers have been able to accom
plish, it will be strange if the plans
and models of our own manufacturers
do not take into account the defects,
aud forthwith adapt their plants aud
appliances to the needs of tlie foreign
demand. They have the capital and
can secure the primacy in tho world's
markets in this line.
TMt AMERICAN NOMAD.
Turning from the quiet fields Ever striving to outstrip
Where the lazy cuttle graze; Those that labor at his side;
Leaving her in tears who bent Bpuraing love and spurning rest,
O'er him in his helpless days; Till the Inst unsatisfied;
Faring down the dusty road, Here today—tomorrow where?
Leaving all be loves behind, "Home" a hollow, empty name;
Bushing in where striving men Happinass to give in trade
Push him down and never mind. For a little pelf or fame.
Dreams of sweet old peaceful scene Still the lazy cattle graze
Bome;imes, in the rush and roar Out upon the sloping hill,
Memories of cradle songs And the smoke is curling up
That aro sung to him no more; From the old red chimney still;
Newer friends and newer hopes, Btill the rusty hinges creak
Gaining step by step, and then When they swing upart the gates,
For a little chinking coin. And a little vacant lot
Leaving all behind again. For the restless toiler waits.
—Cleveland Leader.
PTHEOLD UNIFORM. E
J t>
A Story of the Zouaves.
One of my desk-mates in the office
at the ministry of war was an ex-non
commissioned officer, Henri Yidal. He
had lost a left arm in the Italian cam
paign, but with his remaining hand lie
executed marvels of caligraphy—down
to drawing with one pen-stroke a bird
in the flourish of his signature.
A good fellow, Vidal; the type of
the upright old soldier, hardly 40, with
a sprinkling of gray in his blonde im
perial—he had been in the Zouaves.
We all called him Pere Vidal, more
respectfully than familiarly, for we all
knew his honor and devotion. He lived
in a cheap little lodging at Greuelle,
where—on the money of his cross, his
pension and his salary—he managed
to support his widowed sister and
her three children.
As at that time I, too, was living in
the southern suburb of Paris, I often
walked home with Pere Vidal, and I
used to mnke him tell of his campaigns
as we passed near the military school,
meeting at every step —it was at the
close of the empire—the splendid uni
forms of the Imperial Guard, green
chasseurs, white lancers and the dark
and magnificent artillery officers,black
and gold, a costume worth while get
ting killed in.
As we walked along the hideous
Boulevard de Grenelle he stopped sud
denly before a military old-clothes
shop—there are many like it in that
quarter—a dirty,sinister den, showing
in its window rusted pistols, bowls
full of buttons and tarnished epaulets;
in front were bung, amid sordid rags,
a few o d officers' uniforms,rain-rotted
aud sunburned; with the slope-in at
the waist and the padded shoulders
they had an almost human aspect.
Vidal, seizing my arm with his right
hand and turning his gaze on me,
raised his stump to point out one of the
uniforms, an African officer's tunic,
with the kilted skirt aud the three
gold braids making a figure eight on
tho sleeve.
"Look!" he said; "thnt's the uni
form of my old corps, a captain's
tunic."
Drawing nearer, he made out tho
number engraved on the buttons and
went on with enthusiasm:
"My regiment! The First Zouaves!"
Suddenly his hand shook, his fare
darkened; dropping his eyes, he mur
mured, in a horror-stricken voice:
"What if it were his!"
Then brusquely turning the coat,
about he showed me in the middle of
the back a little round hole, bordered
by a black rim—blood, of course—it
made one shudder, like the sight of a
wound.
"A nasty scar," I said to Fere
Vidal, who had dropped the garment
and was hastening away. And fore
seeing a tale, I added to spur him on:
"It's not usually in the back that bul
lets strike captaius of the Zouaves."
He apparently did not hear ine: he
mumbled to himself: "How could it
get there? It's a long way from the
battlefield of Melegnano to the Boule
vard of Grenelle! Oh, yes, 1 know—
the carrion crows that follow the army;
the strippers of the dead! But why
just there, two steps from the military
school where the other fellow's regi
ment is stationed? He must have
passed; he must have recognize 1 it.
What a ghost!"
"See here, Pere Vidal," said I, vio
iently interested, "stop your mutter
ing, and tell me what the riddled tunic
recalls to you."
He looked at me timidly,almost sus
piciously. Suddenly, with a great ef
fort, he began:
"Well, then, here goes for the story;
I can trust you; you will tell me frank
ly, on your honor, if you think my
conduct excusable. Where shall I
begin? Ah, 1 cau't give you the other
man's surname, for he is still living,
but I will call him by the name he
went under in the regiment—Dry-Jean
and he deserved it, with his 12
drinks at the strok<s of noon.
"He was sergeant in the Fourth of
the Second, my regiment, a good
fighter, but fond of quarrel and drink
—all the bad habits of the African
soldier; brave as a bayonet, with cold,
steel-blue eyes and a rough red beard
on his tanned cheeks. When I en
tered the regiment Dry-Jean had just
re-enlisted. He drew his pay and
went on a three days' spree. He and
two companions of the same kidney
rolled through the low quarters of Al
giers in a cab, flying a tri-color bear
ing the words, "it won't last forever."
It did wind up with a knock-down
fight. Dry-Jean got a cut cn the
head from a tringlo that nearly fin
ished him, a fortnight in the guard
room and the loss of his stripes—the
second time he had lost them.
"Of well-to-do parents and with
some education, he would have risen
to be an officer long before if it had
not been for his conduct. Eighteen
months later he got his stripes back
again, thanks to the indulgence of the
vld African captain who had seen him
ander fire in Kabyiie. Hereupon our
I old captain is promoted chief of bat
tulion, ami they send us out a captain
of 2H, a Corsican named Oentili, just
out of school, a cold, ambitious,clever
fellow, very exact iug, hard on his men,
giving yon eight days for a speck of
rust on your gun or a button off your
gaiters; moreover,never having served
in Algeria, not tolerating fantasia or
tlio slightest want of discipline. The
two took a hatred to each other from
the first; result, the guardroom for
Pry-Jean after every drinking bout.
When the captain, a little fellow, as
stiff as a bristle, with the mustaches
of an angry cat, flung his punishment
at Dry-Jean's head, adding curtly, 'I
know yon, my man, and I'll bring
you to order!' Drv-Jean answered
never a word and walked away quietly
to do pack-drill. But all the same the
captain might have come off his high
lion 3 a bit had he seen the rage that
reddened the sergeant's face as soon
as lie turned his head and the hatred
that flashed through his terrible blue
eyes.
"Hereupon tho emperor declares
war against the Austrians, and we are
shipped off to Italy. Hut let me come
at once to the day before the battle of
Melegnano, where I left my arm, you
know. Our batta'ion was camped in
a little village, and before breaking
the ranks the captain had made us a
speech—rightly enough —to remind us
that we were in a friendly country and
that, the slightest injury done to the
inhabitants would be punished in an
exemplary way. During the speech
Dry-Jean—a little shaky 011 his pins
that morning, and for the best of rea
sons—shrugged his shoulders slightly.
Luckily the captain didn't see it."
"At midnight Dry-Jean was en
gaged in a brawl with some peasants
and was being prevented from molest
ing a young girl when Captain Geu
tili arrived. With one look—the lit
tle Corsicau had a paralyzing way—he
cowed tho terrified sergeant; then he
said to him:
" 'Dogs like you deserve to have
their bruins blown out; as soon as I
can sea the colonel you lose your
stripes again, this time for good.
There's to be fighting tomorrow; try
to get killed.'
"At dawn the cannonade awoke us.
The column formed, aud Dry-Jean—
never had his blue eyes glittered more
ominously—placed himself beside me.
The battalion moved forward; we were
to dislodge the white coats, who with
their cannon, occupied Melegnano.
Forward, inarch! At the second kilo
meter the Austrians' grape shot cut
down 15 of our company's men. Then
our officers, waiting for the order to
charge, made us lie down in the grain
field,slmrp-shooterwise; they remained
staudiug naturally, and our captain
wasn't the le.ist straight of the lot.
Kneeling in the rye, we kept on firing
at the battery,which lay within range.
Suddenly some one jogged my elbow.
I turned and saw Dry-Jeau, who was
looking at me, the corner of his lips
raised leeringly, lifting his gun.
" 'Do you see the captain?' l>e said,
nodding in that direction.
" 'i'es, what of it?' said I, glancing
at the officer, 20 paces off.
" 'Ho was foolish to speak to me as
he did.'
"With a swift, precise gesture he
shouldered his arm aud fired. I saw
the captain—his body bent backward,
his head thrown up his bauds beating
the air for an instant - drop his sword
and fall heavily ou his back.
" 'Murderer!' I cried, seizing the
sergeant's arm. But he struck me
with the butt of his rifle, rolling me
over and exclaiming:
" 'Fool! prove that I did it!'
"I rose in a rage, just as all the
sharp-shooters rose likewise. Our
colonel, bareheaded, on his sniokiug
horse,pointed his sabre at the Austrian
battery and shouted:
" 'Forward, Zouaves! Out with
your bayonets!'
"Could I do otherwise than charge
with the others? What a famous
charge it was, too! Have yon ever
seen a high sea dash on a rock? Each
company rushed up like a breaker on
a reef. Thrice the battery was cov
ered with blue coats and red trousers,
and thrice we saw the earthwork re
appear with its cannon iaws, im
passable.
"But our company, the Fourth, was
to snatch the prize. In 20 leaps I
reached the redoubt; helping myself
with my rifle-butt I crossed the talus.
I had only time to see a blonde mus
tache, a blue cap and a carbine barrel
almost touching me. Then I thought
my arm flew off". I dropped my gun,
fell dizzily on my side near a (spin-car
riage wheel aud lost consciousness.
"When I opened my eyes nothing
wrs to be heard but distant musketry.
The Zouaves, forming a disordered
half-circle, were shouting 'Vive l'Em
pereurP and brandishing their rifles.
"An old general followed by his
staff galloped np. He pulled up his
horse, waved his gilded helmet gayly
and cried:
•• 'Bravo, Zouaves! Ton are tB j
first Rolcliera in the world!'
"I founil myself sittiug nriar th
wheel, supporting my poor brokei
J)aw, when suddenly I reinembeiel
Dry-Jean's awful crime. At th'nt verj
instant he stepped out of the ranks
toward the general. He had lost his
fez, and from a big gash in his close
shavja head ran a trickle of blood.
Leaning on his gun with one hand,
with the other he held out an Austrian
flag, tattered and dyed red—a flag he
had taken. The general gazed at Uim
admiringly.
" 'Hey theu, Briconrt!' turning ta
one of his staff; 'look at that, if you
please. What men!'
"Whereupon Dry-Jean spoke up:
" 'Quite so, my general. But you
know—the First Zouaves--there are
only enough left for once more!'
" 'I would like to hug yon for that!'
cried the general; 'you'll get the cross,
you know,' and still repeating, 'what
men!' he said to his aid-de-camp some
thing I didn't understand—l'm 110
scholar, you know. But I remember it
perfectly; 'Worthy of Plutarch, wasn't
it, Briconrt?'
"At that very moment the pain was
too much for me, and I fainted. You
know the rest. I've often told yon
how they sawed off my arm and how I
dragged along in delirium for two
months in the hospital. In mv sleep
less hours I used to ask myself if it
was my duty to accuse Dry-Jean pub
licly. But could I prove it? And
then I said, 'He's a scoundrel, but
he's brave; he killed Captain G-entili,
but he took a flag from the enemy.'
Finally, in my convalescence,l learned
that as a reward lor his coinage Dry-
Jean had stepped up into the Zouaves
of the Guard and had been decorated.
Ah! at first it. gave me a disgust at my
own cross which the colonel had
pinned 011 me in the hospital. Yet
Dry-Jean deserved his, too; only his
Legion of Honor ought to have served
as the bull's-eye for the squad detailed
to put him out of existence.
"It's all far away now. I never
saw him again; he remained in the
service, and I became a good civilian.
But just now, when I saw that uni
form with its bullet-hole—God knows
how it got there—hanging a stone's
throw from the barracks where the
murderer is, it seemed to me that the
captain, the crime still unpunished,
was clamoring for justice."
I did my utmost to quiet Pere
Vidal, assuring him he had acted for
the best. Five days later,on reaching
the office, Vidal handing me a paper
folded at a certain paragraph, mur
mured gravely; "What did I tell
you?" I read:
"Another victim of intemperance.— Yester
day afternoon, on tho Boulevard do Gre
nolle, a certain Joan Mallet, known us Dry
•lwari. sergeant in tho Zouaves of tho Impe
rial Guard, who with two companions had
been drinking freely, was seized with delir
ium tremens while looking at some old uni
forms hanging in a second-hand shop. H"
drew his bajouet and dashed down ti e
street to tho terror of all passers-by. T o
two privates with him had the utaiost d lll
culty in securing the madman, who shouted
ceaselessly: 'I am not a murderer; I took
an Austrian Hag at Melegnanol' It seems
that the latter statement is true. Mallet
was decorated for this feat; his addiction to
drink has alone prevented him from rising
tftlho ranks. Mallet was conducted to the
iHfTltary hospital of Gros-Caillou,whence ho
will soon be transferred to Chareucon, for it
is doubtful if he can recover his reason."
As I returned the paper to Yidal, he
looked at me meaningly and con
cluded:
"Captain Gentili was a Coraican—
lie lias avenged lihrsslfl"—Translated
for the Argonaut from the French of
Francois Coppee.
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.
Of the houses in Paris, France,
there are still 10,000 (with 200,000 in
habitants) that use well water.
Under Henry V an act of Parlia
ment ordered nil the geese in Eng
land to be counted, aud the sheriffs of
the counties were required to furnish
six arrow feathers from each goose.
A large tom-cat for thirteen years
made voyages on a mail steamer be
tween Bvdney and San Francisco. The
animal died, and was buried at sea,
having almost completed 1,000,000
miles of travel.
There are some curious supersti
tions concerning waves. The Arab
sailors beiieve that the high seas off
the coast of Abyssinia are enchanted,
aud whenever they find themselves
among them they recite verses which
they suppose have a tendency to sub
due them.
The oldest inhabited house in Eng
land stands close to the River Ver, and
about 250 yards from St. Alban's ab
bey. It was built in the time of King
Offa of Mercia about the year 7'J5, and
is thus over 1100 years old. It is of
octagonal shape, the upper portion
being of oak, and the lower has walls
of great thickness.
During the last decade excavations
in Egypt have added to the treasures
of ancient Greek literature buried iu
the sand for two thousand years—
manuscripts of works by Aristotle,
Herondas. Bakchylides, Menander,
besides the Ninus romance, Greufell's
erotic fragment, and the hymns to
Ap .to, with music.
CliiVJren or Taxe*.
if you live in Madagascar you must
have children, or else pay a tax to the
authorities. This is the latest decree
issued by the government of Madagas
car. For some time the population
of that island has been decreasing.
The government authorities sat in
council a short time ago and decided
upon a tax to be levied, upon every
man who, at the age of twenty-live, is
unmarried, and upon every married
man who, at that age, has no children.
The tax is k\.75 a year. Every girl
must pay uf tax of SI.BO a year as long
as she re'.iiVlus single after she passes
her twentAfourth year, and every
married woman does the same until
she has chil<a-eu as the result of her
marriage. i
\ *
A TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
THE DRINK EVIL MADE MANIFEST
IN MANY WAYS.
loin the Bauil—No Matter Tlow Mlicit
(ilainour it Thrown Around Wine It. It
the Same Deadly Irritant l'olson-
Wlne Bibbing Leads to Disaster*
Drink reigns almost supreme,
How Potent fs its sway,
It prostrates high anil low
It wrecks botti grave anil gav.
Then shun the treach'rou.s drink
Anil bolillv take your stand.
Amongst. the brave and fr«'o—
growing Temperance band.
All Use or Wine Condemned.
To the Editor: Mir- A writer who styles
nerself "A temperance woman. but not a
teetotaler," recently tilled two-thirds of a
?olutnn 011 the Woman's Pace :.n the New
i'ork Tribune with suggestion:; as to the
kinds of wine and the manner of serving
the same.
Growing enthusiastic with her subject,
4lie arabesqued it with the sparkle of gilt
»nd cut glass. Bohemian and Roman, and
!ast about it a spell of aroma and bouquet,
intil the reader is reminded of descriptions
>f bacchanalian feasts In the history of the
lead nations.
Her advice is decidedly belated; it does
»ot (It the intelligence of our times. Chem
istry shows that the "one wine, red or
white," which this writer says should be
lsed "straight through" a home dinner
iontnins a varying percentage of alcohol.
Whether there be in this wine much or Ut
ile alcohol, the character of that alcohol is
:he same. It is an irritant, narcotic pot
ion. Its best friends cannot deny that it
las the power, when taken even in small
juantities, to create a progressive, uncon
:rotlable and destraetive appetite for more.
This appetite grows stealthily upon the
Irinker. The ability to resist it varies with
he individual, and is dependent unon
jhysical conditions, in which hereidity is a
powerful factor. John B. Gough said,
'My father could be a moderate drinker,
lutloanbe only a total abstainer or a
juttor drunkard."
The gratification of this appetite ends in
Irunkenness. crime, poverty, misery and
Badness. Therefore, the family or indi
vidual who is drinking the red or white
.vine which this so-called temperance
1 Toman recommends for the daily home
linner Is trying a very dangerous exueri
nent. Eighty-four per cent, of our crlm
nals, seventy-live per cent, of our paupers.
| Ifty per cent, of the inmates of our insane
i isylums began their careers with so-called
noderate drinking. No human being can
j 'oresee when he begins where such tippling
I will laad him. He Is dealing in futures,
! with no knowledge of his chances beyond
! he fact that the drink he is imbibing has
! in enticing power for destruction; but this
'act he generally ignores.
I Modern chemistrv shows that the four
' tinds of wine this writer would have
| ;erved with a more formal course dlnnaa
ire the same sort of liquors, differing only
n ll'ivor and th:} amount of alcohol they
| contain. Providing for guests four differ
j snt kinds o F poisonous drinks which have
' :he power for harm that alcohol has is. to
' iay the least, a barbarian sort of hospltat
: ity, a relic of the days that had not the
light of modern science.
Through its action on the nerves and
; jruin, alcohol, of all agents, is the most
] r.owerful for the destruction of those quali
! ties of mind and character that make a
1 people capable of self-government. It is,
j :herefore, the mo9t dangerous of all foes
! :o our free institutions, which rest upon
I :h« capacity of our people, for self-govern
ment.
To follow this wine-bibbing advice is an
! nvltatton to disaster to that which we hold
most dear—liberty under law. The ca
| paclty for government of the American
people will stand the strain of the colonial
?xpansion has thrust upon us, if alcohol is
! ibolished from our habits. Commenting
I >ll this probability, Adolph Fick. professor
}f physiology in Wurtzburg University,
; jermauy, in a public lecture said:
I "There is good reason for asserting that
: :he Anglo-Saxon race at no very distant
lav will free itself from the yoke of alco
| iioi. Whether it will then be possible for
those races still submitting to its use tc
jompete with the Anglo-Saxon in their
: jconomical pursuits is a question to be
ihoughtfully considered."
Miny H. H"NT.
Tolstoy on the Drink Question,
i The physiological aud mental effects 01
ilcchol are now fully and clearly provec
!>y physicians and men of science, Alcoho
j #s a recognized poison which Impairs di
1 Restlon, disintegrates ".he blood and lowers
' the strength. These are a few of tilt
1 physlolsgical effects. Alcohol also pro
luces a weakening and obscuring of the
mind. It has been proved by repeated
I tctentiflc experiments that It reduces the
working capacity of the mind and body
! The mental and physical stimulation
which follows the absorption of alcohol i?
very brief aud worthless.
The idea that the moderate use of alcohol
j s harmless is now absurd. It injures «
' person exactly in proportion to the quan
; ttty taken, however small that quactltj
may be.
] To-day one can not and dare not say that
She use or alcohol is a personal concern
I >n!y; that the moderate use is uninjurious.
;hat every one knows what he is doing ana
needs nn lessons from others. No, it is nc
longer a private affair. It is an affair o f
the greatest importance to the community
i Whether they wish it or not, all men are
to-day divided Into two camps—those who
i light by word aud example against tilt
purposeless use of a poison, and those who
lefond that poison by word and example.
Aud we see this tight going on in every
land. In Russia it has beeu carried o
with especial energy for the last twent.
years.—Lao Tolstoy.
The Great Destroyer or Anglo-Saxons.
[ Mr. T. W. Russell, member of the liug
' ish Parliament, in an address at Belfast
I Ireland, referred to the history of the mem
I bers belonging to a young men's society ii
County Tyrone thirty-five years ago, an'
ieclarod that everyone whose life ha
:urned out a failure hail beeu ruined b;
Iriuk. He described the appearance of th
most brilliant of the youthful band labor
Ing on a wharf at New York, brought lo
bv the mocker. Drink had the country 1
the throat. When A. M. Sullivan lay c
his death-bed he sent for the speakei
pointed out to him that the Irish par l
was £oin£ to bo captured by the urin
power, and charged him never lo give u
the battle. The public house had becom
a more potent force in politics than churc
I or chapel. The apathy of Christian me
and ministers was astounding. The scot
and vengeance of a trade grown rich t
widows' tears ami children's cries were a
most enough to make one quail. Drii
was the great destroyer of the Anglo-Sax'
race; Satan's prime agency iu the uaraal
ng of men. The lecturer had .-hang.
»ome of his views, but ttiose on the drli
question lie had never modified lu t
■lightest legree.
Notes of the Crusade.
The Imperialism In the saloon power
be imperialism to be dreaded. This coi.
try can take care of Aguiualdo easier th
we can of the saloonkeeper aal his vi
army.
It i= significant of the progress that te
jerauce agitation is making in Germi
;bat 200 students of the University of B
lin have organised themselves into a tot
abstinence club, the first !a the empire.
The brewers who were so patriotic at
jutbreak of the war are now kicking v
irously against the additional war tax
beer. Their patriotism was only on
foam after all-