Florida oranges are being shipped to Europe, where hitherto the Italian fruit has reigned supreme. The Supreme Court of Missouri has j decided that the law which provides : for the selling of vagrants' labor at I auction is unconstitutional. The only instrument used purely for punishment in English jails now- j ad ays is a crank handle weighted heavily with lead and working heavily inside a box. The Commissioner of Indian affairs advocates the instruction of Indian women in household duties. Bucks r eceive education in the trades, but the women receive little attention. The macadamizing of a piece of road in Ohio increased the value of the adjoinining farms $4.50 an acre, I while the cost was less than $1 an acre. The American Cultivator thinks that some one ought to go all through the country preaching the gospel of good roads. The so-called Russian thistle, which has become such a pest in the North- i western States, is not properly a this tle at all, but an annual, nearly allied to the saltworts. It has done more than $2,000,000 damage to tho crops last year. It was accidentally intro. duced seventeen years ago, in some flaxseed imported from Russia by a I man in Scotland, South Dakota. It is estimated that it will cost fully $2,- 000,000 to eradicate it, and the New , York Tribune, learns that the Depart ment of Agriculture has been ap- j pealed to to take the matter in hand. A weather prophet, named A. J. Pevoe, of Zingsem, N. J., predicted last spring an extremely drv summer. | His own faith in his prediction in duced him to plant potatoes on the j edge of a swamp, where at planting time the water was all around them. In ten weeks after he was eating new potatoes of good Hize, while all his j neighbors' potatoes were burned up by drought. But that prognostication of the future, observes the American Cultivator, is not valuable to a man who did not happen to have a swamp to plant potatoes in. The practical I knowledge that does most good is to know how to deepen soil and cultivate j it so that good crops can be grown independent of tho churactcr of tho season. The New York Financial Chronicle, a leading paper of its class, thinks that better times are ahead. It says: "Slow hut evident progress appears to bo making towards the revival of our industries. Fivcry indication con tinues as favorable as could Vie ex pected. The close of the year is al ways the quiet season. Work, too, in many and prominent departments can not start up again before spring opens. Notable instances are the building ( traroved u nuisance in the cotton country, for as soon as the pods open they pick out the cotton an 1 carry it off, and some planters have lost, as they claim, hun dreds of pounds in this way. There is one mnn, however, on the Mississippi that has not lost much, relates the Chicago Herald. When he found the sparrows were committing depreda tions ho procured a quantity of wheat, soaked it in sweetened whisky, and strewed it along the rows. The spar rows found it and thought they had a picnic. Ho they had, but io fifteen or twenty minutes thero was the tipsiest lot of English sparrows ever seen on the face of this earth. They rolled about on the ground, fallingon their sides and backs, kicking their heels into the air like a parcel of drunkards, all the. while uttering the most comical aqueaks. They did not have long to squeak, however, for the l>oys gathered them up and threw them into bags. The first day they gathered two bushels of drunken sparrows. Three or four dayH later the experiment was repent ed with almost equal success, and from time to time since. They made excel lent potpie, but the survivors have evidently come to regard the planta tion as hoodooed, for now very few come about it. I j WINTER SONO. 1 I Bincr me a song of tho dead world, Of the great frost deep and still, I Of the sword ot lire the wind hurled j On the iron hill. Bin# me a song of the driving snow, j Of tho reeling cloud and tho smoky drift, Wboro the sheotod wraiths like ghosts go [ Through the gloomy rift. fling mo a song of the ringing blade, Of tho snarl und shatter the light Ice makes, Of the whoop and the swing of the snow shoe raid Through the cedar brakes, fling me a song of the apple-loft, Of the corn and the nuts and the mounds of meal, Of the sweeping whir of the spindlo soft, And tho spinning-wheel. fling me a song of the open page, Wtaorsthe ruddy gleams of tho firelight dance, Where bends my love Armitage, Reading an ol 1 romance. fling me n song of tho still nights. Of the large stars steady and high. The aurora darting its phosphor lights In the purple sky. —Duncan Campbell fl " Ho put the note into his pocket, gnve a verbal message to the boy and turned to his guest, without betraying the least astonishment or emotion. "I beg your pardon. The note wan from Bellamy, ray next neighbor. Well? You were saying—" "Only that I have taken a fancy perhaps a foolish fancy—to this place of yours, and I'll give you, if yon like, all that you have spent upon it." "Well," he replied, reflectively, but with a little twinkle in his eye, "that teems handsome. But the place isn't really worth the half that I have spent upon it. Anybody would tell you that. Come, let us be honest, what ever we are. I'll tell you a better way. We will put the matter into the hands of Bellamy. He knows what a coffee plantation is worth. He shall name a price, and if we can agree upon that we will make a deal of it." The other man changed color. He wanted to settle the thing at once as between gentlemen. What need of | third parties? But Reginald stood I firm, and he presently rode away, quite sure thut in u day or two this planter, too, would have heard the news. A month later the young coffee planter stood on he deck of a steamer homeward bound. In his pocketbook was a plan of his auriferous estate ; in a bag hanging around hiR neck was a small collection of yellow nuggets; in his boxes was a chosen assortment of quartz. "Well, sir," said the financier; "you have brought this thing to me; you want my advice. Well, my ad vice is, don't fool away the only good thing that will tver happen to you. Luck such as this doesn't come more than once in a lifetime." "I have been offered £IO,OOO for my est ate." "Oh! have you? Ten thousand? That was very liberal—very liberal, indeed. Ten thousand for a gold reef!" "But I thought as an old friend of my father you would, perhaps—" "Young man, don't fool it away. He's waiting for you, I suppose, round the corner, with an iuvitution to din ner, ready to close." "He iH." "Well, go and eat his dinner. Al ways get whatever you can, and then I tell him that you HCC him—" "I certainly will, sir, if you advise it. And then?" "And then—leave it to me. And, young man, I think I heard a year or two ago something about you und my girl ltosie." "There was something, sir; not enough to trouble you about it." "She told me—Rosio tells me all her love affairs." "Is she —is she unmarried?" "Oh, yes, and for tho moment I be lieve she is free. She has had one or two engagements, but somehow they have come to nothing. There was the French Count, but that was knocked on tho head very early in consequence of things discovered. And there was the Boom in Guano, but he fortunately smashed much to ltosie's joy, because she never liked him. The last was Lord Evergreen. He was a nice old chap when you could understand what he said, and Rosie would have liked the title very much, though his grandchil dren opposed the thing. Well, sir, I suppose you couldn't understand the trouble we took to keep that old man alive for his own wedding. Science I did all it could, but 'twas of no use." | The financier sighed. "The ways of Providence are, inscrutiblc. He died, ' sir, the day before." "That was very sad." "A dashing of the cup from the lip, sir. My daughter would have been a Countess. Well, young gentleman, about this estate of yours. I think I | seo away I think, I am not yet suro —that Ido see away. Go now. Seo this liberal gentleman and come here in a week. Then, if I still see my way, yon shall understand what it means to hold the position in the city which j is mine." "And—and—may I call upon Rosie?" "Not till this day week, not till I have made my way plain. 1 ' "And so it means this. Oh, Rosie, you look lovelier than ever, and I'm as happy as a king. It means this. Your father is the greatest genius in the world. He buys my property for £60,000 —sixty thousand. That's over £2OOO a year for me, and ho makes a company out of it with £150,000 capi tal. He says that, takiug £IO,OOO out of it for expenses, there will l>ea profit of £SO,OOO. And all that he givos to you—£Bo,ooo, that's £.'looo a year for you and £90,000, that's two more, ray dearest Rosie. You remember what you said, that when you married you would step out of oue room like this into another just as good?" "Oh, Reggie"—she sank upon his bosom—"you know I uever could love anybody but you. It's true I was en gaged to old Lord Evergreen, but that was only because he had one foot, you know, and when the other foot went in too, just a day too soon, I actually laughed. Ho the pater is going to make a company of it, is he? Well, I I hope ho won't put any of his own I money iuto it, I'm sure, because of | late all the companies have turned out so badly." "Rut, my child, the place is full of gold." 'Then why did he turn it iuto a company, my dear boy? And why didn't he make you Hticktoit? But you know nothing of the city. Now, let us sit down, and talk about what we shall do; don't, you ridiculous boy!" Another house just like the first. The bride stepped out of one palace into another. With their five or six thousand a year, the young couple could just manage to make both ends meet. The husband was devoted ; the wife had everything she could wish. Who could be happier than this pair in a nest so luxurious, their lifo so padded, their days so full of sunshine? It was a year after marriage. The wife, contrary to her usual custom, was the first at breakfast. A few let ters were waiting for her—chiefly in vitations. Hhe opened and read them. Among them lay one addressed to her husband. Not looking at the address, she opened and read that as well: ! DEAR UP.OINAUD—I venture to ad | dress you as an old friend of you/ own | and schoolfellow of your mother's. I am a widow with four children. My : husband was the Vicar of your old parish—you remember him and me. I | was left with a little income of about two hundred a year. Twelve months ago I was persuaded, in order to double my income—a thing which seemed certain from the prospectus— to invest everything in a new and rich gold mine. Everything. And the mine has never paid anything. The company—it is called the Rynard Gold Reef Company—is in liquidation be cause, though there is really the gold there, it costs too much to get it. I have no relatives anywhere to help me. Unless I can get assistance my chil dren and I must go at once —to-mor- row— into the workhouse. Yes, wo are paupers. I am ruined by the cruel lies of that prospectus, and the wicked ness which deluded me, and I know not how many others, out of my money. I have been foolish, and am punished. But those people, who will punish them? Help me, if you can, my dear Reginald. Oh, for God's sako help my children and me. Help your mother's friend, your own old friend." "This," said Rosie, meditatively, "is exactly the kind of thing to mako Reggie uncomfortable. Why, it might make him unhappy all day. Better burn it." She dropped the letter into the firo. "He's an impulsive, emo tional nature, and ho doesn't under stand the city. If people are so fool ish. What a lot of fibs the poor old pater does tell, to bo sure. He's a regular novelist—Oh! hero you are, you lazy boy !" "Kiss me, Rosie." He looked as handsome as Apollo and as cheerful. "I wish all the world were as happy as you and mo. Hoigho! Some poor , wretches, I'm afraid—" "Tea or coffee, Reg?"—Londor Strand. A Double Fish. A double fish, or rather two fishes joined together by a growth similar to the connection between the Siamese twins, was caught at Crevo Coeur Lake recently under peculiar circumstances. William Schaefer, of the Grand Bill iard Hall, and his friend Billie Ben nett, before going on a fishing trip to Crevo Cceur, made a friendly wager, by the terms of which the one who had the least success should, on their re turn, entertain the other at a dinner. The score stood fifty-one to fifty in Billie's favor, when Schaefer's line tautened and he landed a jack salmon. On examining the fish he was astound ed to learn that his catch was a freak. There were two fishes, perfect in every way, between >hom there was u growth which bound them together. The growth was just below the gills. "That ties us," said Bennett. "I guess not," Schaefer replied. "I have two fishes here. This makes me fifty-two to your fifty-one." "But you only caught one," argued Bennett. "How's that? I caught them both," urged Schaefer. "Hod" Stevens, the superintendent of tlio lake, wus asked to decide whether the piscatorial dual should be counted as a unit or more. Stevens listened to the arguments of both and acknowledged his inability to satisfy them on the point, uiul suggested that the matter be left to old John Morgan, who had been a fhliermau at Crevo Cmiir Lnko since '49. Morgan, after hearing both sides, decided in Schae fer's favor. "But," said Bennett, "we wero only to count fish caught with a hook. Now, only one of these fish bit at the bait. The hook was only in one fish's mouth." •'Makes no difference. T'other one's hooked on to the one Schaefer hooked und he won."—St. Louis Republic. Checkers In Hie Street. Checkers seem to have as great a fascination for the longshoreman as they have for the country storekeeper, only the longshoreman plays without checker-board or checkers. That is, he hasn't a regular outfit. Of courso he has to have some sort Hort of outfit, but this he makes himself. You can see him any day along West street, or Front, or Washington, at tho noon hour, absorbed in the game. He takes a platform against which wagons back, and chalks out on its floor a checker-board, making each alternate square very white with chalk and leaving the others blank. For checkers one side uses grains of com and the other beans or white pebbles —it depends on where the game is played. And they go on at the game with all the energy and absorbing in terest their big bodies can command. Sometimes you see twenty couples in one block eager over tho contest. They play well, too, for long practice has mado them perfect, and a small stake adds to tho excitement of the play. The loser usually has to pay for the glass of mixed ale that every long shoreman wants with his midday lunch. They have champions among them, too, and when these big players ore pitted thoro is always a crowd to look on and opplaud. Hut, of course, every reader has seen all this for himself.— Now York World. A New Kind of fashion. "Confidence cushions" are tho pil lows that stand in u corner near the I fireplace when they are not in use, and that afford a resting-place when in use, for the lowly individual who likes to sit at his friend's feet. They are big, square and frill-less, covered with denim or mohair plush. —New York World. An Aged Doctor. Dr. Frederick And roe, of Mitchell, South Dakota, claim i to be the first authorized practitioner of medicine in the immense region west of tho Miss issippi and north of the Missouri. He is a native of Massachusetts, is now nearly niuety-ono years old, and set i tled Dubuque in 1831. THE MERRY SIDE OF^LIFEy ■WOnrES THAT ARB TOT,D BT\THE, FUNN7 MEN OF THE PRESS. Sticky, Hut Not Stuck—Wonted Ito Know —Very Belf-com|W nceat— Most Decidedly, Ktc.. KU;. ' She loved him very tenderly, >j He loved her not a bit, / Yet fete decreed thnt on this niirht ■I bey side by side should sit. "Say something sweet, deer," sid the maid '] And through her colored KIRHHDS . She eyed him fondly as he breathed } lho single wori—''Molasses !'• J -—Boston Budget. 1 WANTED TO KNOW. / "Which would you rutl-r be, n knave or a fool?" asked Idiotfcus. t know," replied 'Cynicus., "What has been your experience?" J udgc. J THE MAIDEN'S PRAYER. I "All flesh is grass!" shouted f the minister. "Keep off the grass," prayed J the girl who had a perfect horror of {get ting fat.—Puck. TIME WILL TELL. * "Yon have faith that your husband will become a great artist?" Wife "I can't tell yet, you see ;he has only been dead ton years."—Chi- Migo Inter-Ocean. PETTY CASH. Spacer—"lt pays to send stamps with a manuscript." Liner—"Doesn't that tempt the editor to return it?" Spacer—"No; to use it."—Truth. VERY HELP-COMFI ACENT. Flora Fairchild (of Philistia) "Beauty's not everything, Mr. Daffo dil ; it generally makes people vain." Narcissus Daffodil (poet)-—"I don't think I'm vain, Miss Fairchild."— Boston Budgtt. TFIE REIGN OF THE SHORT STORY. "Are you fond of short stories?" asked Binx. "No," replied Banx. "I hear too many of tliom. Nearly everybody I meet wants to borrow money of me," —Washington Star. MOST DECIDEDLY, Jinks—"l don't believe thnt acritio reads half of tho author's books he criticises." Binks—"The author is more con siderate. He reads every word of tho critic's criticism."—Puck. HIS POCKETS NEVER TOUCHED. Scrini]on —"No, sir, I respond only to the appeals of tho deserving poor." Paughper—"Who arc tho deserving poor?" Scrimpin—"Those who never ask for assistance."—Elmira Gazette. WHAT THE WORLD AWAITS. Inventor —"Well, I think my for tune's made if I succeed in what I'm at now." Friend—"What are you trying to invent?" Inventor—"A non-explosive, un loaded pistol."—Puck. WELL-EARNED REST. Lady (to polite laborer who has of fered her his seat)—"Oh, no! Keep your seat, my good man; you have been working hard all day." Polite Laborer (sympathetically) "Take it. Ma'am. Thrue, Oi'vo bin carry in' th* hod all th' day; but you've bin slioppin*.Puck. THE OREATEBT PHYSICIAN— LOVE. Mr. Fainte—"Miss Rosalie, I un derstand that you have l>een attending the lectures on How to Treat Ordinary Illnesses?" She-"Yes." He (drawing nearer) —"Can -can you tell 1110 what you would do for a broken heart?"— Vogue. TIIE PROMONTORIES. "The promontories of the ladies this full are quite striking." "Promontories? What mean you?" "Why, simply the high capes they are wearing. Isn't a high cape a pro montory?" And then they "rounded the horn." —Brooklyn Standard Union. NOT AN UNUSUAL HEAD. Young Officer (to veteruu) "lsn't it peculiar that when I first graduated I wore a number seven-and-u-half for age cap, the next one was n seveu-and a-quarter, and now I wear a seven?" Veteran —"Not at all; I have often seen young graduates of the military academy uiketed in that way."— Tudge. OVERHEARD IN THE OFFICE. "I'm not fond of scrapping," said the desk sponge, during a midday silence, "but I'm compelled to do a good deal ol licking nowadays for the boss." "Yes," returned the mucilage bottle, "and he calls on me every now and then to paste something in the back." —Truth. TTIF. DIFFERENCE. Mistress "iVhat km 1 of pies are these, cook?" Cook —"Some av 'en is appul an' I some is mince." Mistress—".Rut I told you to mark j them so they could he told apart; and they are all marked 4 T. M."' Cook "So they be, mum— 4 'Tis mince'-an' 4 'fuiu't mince.'"—Judge. HER CONCLUSION. Mrs. Bings "Mrs. Nextdoor told nie you ooce wanted to marry that Miss Upton. She wouldn't have you, 1 nreaume." I Mr. Bings—"Did Mrs. Nextdoor say Miss Upton refused meV" Mrs. Bings—"No, she merely re ' 'marked that Miss Upton had always been a very sensible girl."—New York Weekly. SURE. "A green Christmas makes a fat graveyard, they say. I hope this one will be white." A green Christmas mav make a fat graveyard, but I'll tell you something that both a green and a white Christ mas make lean." "What's that?" Your pocketbook." Brownina'e Monthly. A CLUE. "Have you heard of Jack the Slasher?" said the Washington man. "No," replied the visitor, who was gently pressing his handkerchief against a scratch in his face. "What did you say the name is?" "Jack the Slasher." "H'm'm? I don't know him, but I guess I've met him. That must be the barber who tried to shave me this morning."—Washington Star. HARD TO PLEASE. Wife—"Tell me honestly, John. If I should die would you inarry again ?" John (desiring to please) "xMarry again? Of course I wouldn't. Such an idea would never enter my mind." Wife (angrily)—"Oh, you wouldn't? You don't find marriage pleasant, I suppose. No doubt you are sorry you married me. Oh, you wretch !" John (still desiring to please)—" You don't understand, my dear. I was joking, of course. I meant that I would marry again " Wife (more augrily)—"You would, eh? You are in an awful big hurry to get married again. Perhaps you wish I was out of the way. I know you would be glad if 1 died, you wretch I"—Judge. A LOVER'S MIHCALOITJATION. "I'll take this seveuty-five-cent bot tle of perfume if you will take off this cost mark and put on one wilh 51. 60 ou it," said a young man to the clerk in a drug store. "All right." It was done. "Great head," soliloquized tho young man. "Minnie will notice that cost mark and love me for spending my substance so liberally for her. Jt never hurts a young man's chances for the object of his admiration to think he regards her worth getting the very best far." Tho bottle of perfume was sent, and an evening or two later the donor called in person and casually prox>osed marriage. "James," said the girl. "What is it, Minnie, dear?" "You sent me a bottle of perfumo?" "Yes. Did you like it?" "It was good perfume, James, but it wasn't worth any dollar and a half. Seventy-five rents is the regular price for that perfume, aud I can't say that I have much use for a young man who is so careless of his money as to pay for an article twice what it is worth." "But, Minnie—" James was going to explain, but on second thought ho refrained. It oc curred to him that a girl might liko him less for deceiving her than for ex travagance. So he put on his hat and departed, resolving to try different tactics when he found another girl.— Harper's Bazar. WISE WORDS. Tho breath of prayer comes from the life of faith. I It is laziness of mind which takes away the taste for good books. The blue heaven is larger all the clouds m it, and much more last ing. Liberality consists less in giving much than in giving at the right mo ment. One seldom repents of having said too little, often of having said too much. A man is born for great things when he has tho strength to conquer himself. Nothing else is so pleasant as a good an l beautiful soul; it shows itself in j every action. Modesty is to merit what shading is Ito the figures in a picture; it gives it [ force autl expression. What is more glorious than to be conquered, or rather to be willing to be conquered by the truth. Perhaps to suffer is nothing else than to live more deeply. Love and sor row are the two conditions of a pro found life. Modern Science Applied. A London city magnate who daily diives to his place of business has a phonograph in his carriage into which he pours messages, short letters, in structions and other matters of im portance. When ho alights the ma chine is handed to the head clerk and ho takes his instructions from it. Both the telegraph and tho telephone are about to encounter a new rival in tho telautograph —an instrument for transmitting messages in haudwritiug by means of electricity.—New York Herald. A Curious ( optic Sleeping Custom. The Coptic patriarch of Alexandria is never allowed to sleep more than fifteen minutes at any one time, and if the attendant should allow the holy one's nap to extend beyond the allotted time the peualty is decapitation. Upon being aroused at the end of each quar ter hour the Patriarch arises an 1 spreads his rug upon the floor, kneels upon it, bows his head three times to the east and then again retires. —St. Louis Reuublic. BEAR VERSUS ALLIGATOR. 4. FIEBOE FIGHT IN A LOUISIANA BATOU. While Drinking Bruin Is Attacked by a Huge Saurian—A Duel to the Death. WALTER D. KLAPP givei in the New York Post a vivid description of a fierce encounter between a bear and an alligator which he wit nessed while hunting with a friend in Louisiana. Kays Mr. Klapp: While lazily enjoying our siesta we were suddenly startled by a loud crashing in the bushes on the other side of the bayou. Snatching up our rifles, we rushed to the water's edgo just in time to see a large black bear come out of the cane brake and walk leisurely to the opposite bank. He was evidently thirsty, and had sought the cool waters of the bayou instead of the easier obtained but hot and stagnant lake water. As he had not yet caught sight of us wo concluded to wait developments before attempting to secure so enviable a prize. Tho bear climbed into a low tree that grew out of tho side of the bank, and proceeded to crawl out on a stout limb overhanging the bayou. Hia weight bent the thick limb till it dipped into the wnter, and the bear squatted himself 011 the interlacing branches and began lapping vigorous ly. 80 eagerly did he drink, and so intently were we watching him, that neither noticed a fierce swirling of the water just below, until a long black snout shot suddenly from beneath tho surface and two gleaming rows of teeth closed on the outstretched muz zle of the bear. The shock of this unexpected onslaught was so sudden that tho bear had no time to clinch his hold on the tree, and so ho tum bled headforemost into the water, and turning a complete somersault, fell ou his back at some distance from tho alligator. In falling ho had jerked himself freo from the alligator's teeth, and now he began to make frantic efforts to swim to shore. But the alligator, with one flirt of his tail, was npon him again, this time seizing him by a forepnw and crushing it like an eggshell. We could hear the bones crock. The bear uttered a terrific howl of pain and rage, and with his other paw gave the alligator a blow which sent his long body dying through the air for a con siderable distance. This short respite the bear utilized in paddling violently for the shore, for ho was at a deadly disadvantage in the water against the lightning speed of the alligator in hi* native element. If he could only gain the shore, it would soon be "his pic nic," for tho alligator cannot turn around, his little stumpy legs being too far apart. Like a flash the alligator caught the bear by his hind leg. They were now in a place where the water was shallow over a hidden sand-bar, so the fight wai a little more even. With a vicioui snarl tho bear turned on his back, and, bending double, caught tho alligatoi by the soft white flesh of his throat. It was now the bear's turn to bite, an J bite he did with such good will that the blood spurted in streams and tlie alligator, letting go tho foot he had been chewing, emitted a series of liowlt that made the woods ring. Then the light grow fiercer. The alligator heal a loud tattoo with his tail on the bear'i tough hide ; but they were at such close quarters that he could not give it swing enough to break any bones. He was gradually working around to a better position, however. and suddenly planted a vicious blow square on the breast that sent the bear flying head over heels into deep water. He was up in a second and both rushed to gether. The bear again sought the alligator's soft throat, and with his sharp teeth tore great mouthfuls of bleeding flesh. Now, wo thought, the victory will surely be with the bear. He certainly did seem to have the beet of it. The alligator used what breath had not been squeezed out of him bellowing like a bull. The sounds he uttered were BO full of rage that the water-fowl and small animals near the bayou fled in affright. The two struggled back and forth. The water was lashed into foam by the furious beating of the alligator's tail. Btraining and strug gling, this way and that, suddonly the writhing mass of ferooity slipped off of the narrow strip of sand and was in deep water again. Now the conditions are reversed and the advantage on the side of tho alligator again. With a snake-like twist of his litho body ho slipped from tho boar's clutches and, wheeling around, tho long, powerful tail flashed for an in stant in tho air and descended with crushing force Mil on the back of tho bear. Tho thick backbone snapped like a rood. With the cry of a human being in distress the bear rolled over, limp and lifeless, ami sank to tho bot tom liko a stone, and tho flght was over. The victor, apparently lifolcss, floated motionless on the surfuco of the water—an alligator always floats when dead—so we wero preparing to leave, when a low moan rccallod us and wo found him in great pain anj slowly bleeding to death from his la aerated throat. The water for many* yards around was dyod orimsou witiii his blood and his moaning was pitiful! to hear. We deemed it an act otf mercy to kill him, and a well-directed bullet in tho eye soon put an end to his sufferings. Upon drawing hira out of the watet' and measuring him, ho was found to stretch a full sixteen feet from tip to tip, one of the largest known. Since the reduction of cnl> farea in London the rotio of patronage to population has risen from 14.G to •eventy-aevca.