To act thus implied no small amount of moral pluck, for his young companions laughed at his gallantry and called him "larrie and "missie," but he never heeded. With the gentlest of dispositions the boy possessed a high innate sense of honour, supposed by some people to be the special attribute of "blue blood," and so long as conscience told him he was doing right, sneers and jesting were of no avail, but slid past their supposed victim like water off the back of a wild duck.

The strong mutual attachment of the two children sometimes set their seniors wondering whether in due season it would or would not lead to matrimony, but the chief parties themselves entertained no manner of doubt on the subject.

"By-and-by, Nancy," said her boy-lover, one glorious June evening, when the little garden where they were was aglow with cabbage-roses, and peonies, and marigolds, and even the bleak moor looked glorified in the amber radiance of "by-and-by, when we are bigger, I'll marry you, and work' awfu' hard for siller to buy you fine things. You would like that, wouldn't you?"

sunset

"Yes! how grand it would be! but if I was away what would grannie do, for want of somebody to sweep the fireside, and set on the kettle, and give her her breakfast in bed?"

"Oh, that's easily settled. She could stay in our house, and when mother and father, and Bab and Tommie, and the rest of them come to see us what fine butter-scones you'll bake, and such strong tea, and honey we'll have! It'll be splendid!"

How clever and bonnie you are, Jamie. soon will we be married; next month?”

How

"No, no, we are not big enough yet, but mother says I am growing so fast that in another 'twelvemonth' I'll be nearly as fit as father to take a day at the plough and get a man's wages."

But although man proposes, God disposes. Long ere the period to which the boy looked forward so hopefully, his father died suddenly, leaving a widow in weak health, with nothing but her own exertions to depend upon for bringing up eight little ones, the youngest of whom was a baby in

arms.

Mere child as he was, Jamie, being the eldest of the family, rose to the emergency, and tried to take his father's place with the orphans, in a manner which, all things considered, was simply astonishing.

"Dinna greet, mither, and lose heart," he would say, when, in spite of his efforts and his arm, it became increasingly difficult to keep the wolf from the door. "This is our sorest pinch; in a while, when the bairns grow bigger, and are able to earn a little, we'll do famously. Never again hint about the poorhouse; before I'd see you there I would work till my arms dropped off."

II.

WHEN ten years had come and gone, although the two cottages were still tenanted by their former

occupants, the locality was so altered as hardly to be recognisable. A branch railway was being made across the moor, and where solitude used to reign there was now a busy scene.

By common consent Nancy Rose was voted the bonniest lass in the district, and as good as she was handsome. 'Her grandmother, now turned fourscore, was mainly supported by the industry of the orphan she had reared, and who, it was reported, "kept her as comfortable as the highest lady in the land."

Jamie Gilmore was a fine manly fellow, with all the cardinal virtues legibly written upon his sunburnt countenance. His family adored him, and no wonder, for with exemplary unselfishness he toiled late and early for behoof of his mother and her children, the three eldest of whom, however, were now in service, although five still remained dependent upon "Our Jamie," as they fondly. designated him.

In his grade, and in that particular part of Scotland, persons usually marry very early, and there is no doubt that but for the worthy responsibilities he had voluntarily undertaken Nancy would long ago have been his wife. The pair continued as devoted as of yore; and who so proudly glad as the pretty little fiancée, when hanging on her faithful lover's arm, she walked to the kirk on Sunday, or he sat by her side of an evening on the gardenbench, admiring her nimble fingers as she knitted various articles, the proceeds of which chiefly. served to maintain her aged relative and self.

As the copy line has it, "To be good is to be happy;" and even had circumstances necessitated the delay of their union till silver threads appeared among the crisp black curls of the one and the golden tresses of the other, the faithful "promessi sposi" might still have been far from matched.

But it is a long lane that has no turning, and one fine morning, to his surprise, Jamie was offered the post of master at a small station on the main line of the railway where he had been employed off and on for the last eighteen months. One can imagine the worthy fellow's delight. Not only was he in a position to marry without delay, but could afford his mother a sufficient income, besides gratifying his bride by giving a home under his roof to her aged relative.

As for Nancy, her every breath was an aspiration of gratitude to the Giver of all good, while the fulness of her joy, instead of rendering her self-absorbed, seemed to make her, if possible, kinder to others and bonnier than she had ever looked before. Such at least was Jamie's opinion, and he probably was right.

III.

JULY arrived-green and golden July—with its skies of blue, and balmy weather.

The wedding was fixed for the first of August, and willing hands were busy fitting up the future home of the young couple. Nancy was such a general favourite that she received numerous presents, which, if of no great intrinsic value, were bestowed with sincere good wishes, and as heartily

appreciated as if they were worth hundreds of gold and silver.

One afternoon her former Sabbath - school teacher invited her to take a cup of tea at the farm where she herself now presided as mistress. So, dressed in her best gown and hat, she lightheartedly repaired to Broom Brae, looking in for a moment at the station-house as she passed.

At the unexpected sight of her a curious sensation of dread came over Jamie, as if his happiness was too intense to last long. The feeling passed off directly, but almost to his own surprise.

The usual embrace with which he greeted her partook more of rapture than had ever been the case before, while after she was gone his heart filled as he stood looking after her till the tears stood in his eyes.

"I

"I'll, maybe, call on my road back, dear," she had said, smiling lovingly up in his face. ken you canna gang hame wi' me on account o' the Glasgow train coming, but, if possible, I'll try to be here afore seven o'clock."

After a most enjoyable visit, the bonnie lass quitted Broom Brae, gaily expressing her thanks to the farmer's wife for the marriage present she had given her.

"I'm sure, my dear lassie," said Mrs. Oldstream, "I wish both of you health to use it for many a long day; but won't you find it rather heavy for you to carry so far? If you like, one of the men shall take it over in his cart to-morrow."

"Thank ye kindly, ma'am, but I'm no' a bit feared for the weight, and I ken Jamie would like to see it. He'll be real proud."

The gift was a plain but good small timepiece, and carrying it in her arms, with her heart dancing cheerily in her breast, away hied Nancy Rose, looking as fair and sweet as the choicest of her floral namesakes.

Picturing to herself how gratified the stationmaster would be with the clock, she tripped rapidly alongside of the railway till it struck her that by stepping down the embankment, and crossing the rails to the opposite side of the line, she would considerably shorten her walk. She had more than once done the same thing, and began to feel the timepiece heavier to carry than she expected.

*

Shrieks! groans! horror! dismay! Masses of broken timber and shivered glass; all the hideous débris of a railway smash, upheaped in ghastly confusion! Rounding a curve an unsignalled overdue goods train had been run into by the express.

The number of injured persons was not so great as might be expected, but Nancy Rose was unfortunately one of them.

Day-dreaming of the bright future, she had not heard the approach of the train, and was thrown down, seriously hurt about the chest, while one of her legs was terribly crushed.

"We must take her to the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh," said the surgeon, after examining poor Nancy's injuries. It was to Jamie he spoke. The

young man's heart felt broken at the sight of her sufferings, but for her sake he compelled himself to appear calm.

"Will she live, do you think, sir?" he asked. "That is as Heaven pleases. We can but use the means. Poor thing, she will never, in any case, I fear, be of much more use in this world!" "But it is possible she may survive ?" "Well, yes."

"Thank you, sir," faltered the big, strong man, with unshed tears in his dark eyes.

"You'll do the best you can for us, sir?"

The journey to Edinburgh was satisfactorily accomplished. Jamie, having procured an official substitute, accompanied the invalid, gazing at her as if he could not leave off while she lay before him deathly pale and half unconscious.

On the forenoon after she was received into the infirmary, the shattered limb was amputated skilfully and tenderly, under the influence of chloroform.

The surgeon, who was a kind-hearted Christian man, took a special interest in the case. He was comparatively a young man, and appreciated the feelings of the two rustic lovers. To his practised eye it soon became evident that those who had so fondly trusted to go through life hand in hand must speedily part, till they met again beyond death's river in the changeless home above.

Even had it been possible for the patient to survive the loss of her limb, the injuries to her chest must ultimately have proved fatal. On his way to the infirmary next morning, Mr. A. determined to tenderly inform Jamie that hope had better now be relinquished, as without a miracle she could not recover; for the poor fellow clung wildly to the idea that even yet his darling might be spared

to him.

He was waiting at the door of the ward. "She's been greetin, sir," he sobbed; "she says she'll be of nae use to me now without her leg, and that it maun a' be ower between us. Wad ye object, sir, to my marrying her at once? It wad, maybe, gie her a glint o' comfort. I canna thole to see my wee Nancy greetin."

"No, my man, in the circumstances you will do quite right, in my opinion."

"Maybe she'll come round yet; wha kens ?" exclaimed the station-master, his face bright with a sudden conviction that if the surgeon "had na' thought there was still the ghost, at least, of a chance for his patient he would not so easily have acceded to his own request."

That she would be lame and sickly, a burden instead of a helpmate, did not weigh a straw with the noble young man. She would be his Nancy, and that was enough.

But if the strange wedding was ever to take place there was no time to lose. The deeply-interested surgeon went at once to fetch the chaplain of the institution, and with the assistance of the nurse the ceremony was performed.

"Eh, Jamie, dear, but it's a glad woman ye hae made me this day," whispered the bride, as she lay back exhausted on the pillow that was scarcely whiter than her still comely face. "I can die

IN

DR. BRIGGS'S GHOST STORY.

66

N the recently-published memoir of Professor De Morgan, a ghost story is given, which is said to be one of the best authenticated incidents of the kind." It was told to Mr. De Morgan by General Briggs, of the Madras army, well known at the Statistical and other learned societies after his retirement. He had it when a young man from Sir John Malcolm. It happened. to his own father, Dr. Briggs, a surgeon in the H.E.I. Company's service. Here is the story as narrated by Mr. De Morgan :

Dr. Briggs's ghost story, well known in the Madras Presidency ninety years ago, was one of the best authenticated incidents of the kind I ever heard. I give it here as it was told me, first by Mr. De Morgan, who heard it from his mother; afterwards by General Briggs, who had it when a young man from Sir John Malcolm. His father could not be induced to speak of it.

When my informant was a very young infant, Dr. Briggs, who was quartered with his regiment somewhere (I forget the place) in the hill country, used to hunt once or twice a week with the officers and others, whose custom it was to breakfast at each other's houses after the sport was over. On a day on which it was Dr. Briggs's turn to receive his friends, he awoke at dawn, and saw a figure standing beside his bed. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was awake, got up, crossed the room, and washed his face well with cold water. He then turned, and, seeing the same figure, approached it, and recognised a sister whom he had left in England. He uttered some exclamation, and fell down in a swoon, in which state he was found by the servant who came to call him for the hunt. He was, of course, unable to join his friends, who, when at breakfast on their return, rallied him on the cause of his absence. While they were talking, he suddenly looked up aghast, and said, trembling, "Is it possible that none of you see the woman who stands there?" declared there was no one. "I tell you there is !" he said. "She is my sister. I beg you all to make a note of this, for we shall hear of her death." All present, sixteen in number, of whom Sir John Malcolm was one, made an entry of the occurrence and the date in their note-books, and by the first mail which could bring the news from England the sister's death at the time was announced. She had before leaving this world expressed a wish that she could see her brother and leave her two young sons to his care. Dr. Briggs was a man of great nerve and courage, and one to whom the idea of a spirit's appearance would, until that time, have been utterly ridiculous. The death of General Briggs some years since, at the age of ninety, makes it allowable to publish the story, which, however, he gave me for the purpose forty years ago.

They all

At first sight there is an air of substantial detail in this account, but let us examine it more closely.

In the first place, it is clear that there was no. visible appearance, or apparition, which is what is. commonly understood in speaking of a ghost. There were sixteen persons present, and none of them could see anything; the doctor alone declared that he saw the figure. It was therefore a mental vision, not different in kind from the ideal figures or persons which we can conjure up in any exercise of imagination or of memory, or which come to us in dreams. It is not necessary for this sort of mental vision that any impression should be made on the retina, or conveyed to the mind by ordinary processes of perception. People who are utterly blind are continually seeing ghosts. of this kind-in fact, they live in a world peopled by apparitions, the products of their own. minds.

The only remarkable part of the statement is the alleged coincidence between the vision and the date of the sister's death. Similar coincidences. are very frequently mentioned, but without the authentication that would be desirable. There is nothing in this case beyond the general assertion. that "the sister's death at the time was announced by the first mail that could bring the news from England." The arrivals of mails were few and far between a hundred years ago, and we should like to have had more exactness as to the dates. If the sister was known to be ill, which is not stated, it is not unlikely that she would often be present to the mind of a brother, and might be so on his awaking from sleep. Dreams are most vivid at the moment of waking, and a vision of the sister may have given intensity to his thoughts and anxieties about her.

It is said that the whole company, sixteen in number, "made an entry of the occurrence in their note-books." In a case so remarkable, it is strange that not one of these sixteen records has. been preserved or made public as a contribution to the science of psychology. An educated physician would surely have been glad to preserve some attestation of an incident so remarkable.

The sister is said to have expressed a wish to see her brother before she died in order to commit her sons to his care. It is not said that "the ghost" made any audible request to that effect, which the doctor probably learned "by the first mail from England," when he heard also of her death.

We do not understand how "the death of General Briggs, at the age of ninety, makes it allowable to publish the story," which he gave for the purpose forty years before. One would have thought that, the general having given the statement, it would have been better to publish it while there was yet a chance of confirmation, at least, of the alleged coincidence of the vision and the death. As the story now stands, it is only one of many legendary reports, at second or third hand, by which superstition is encouraged. The appearance of a spirit or "ghost" is disproved on the testimony of all present, but the reality of a mental vision is probable enough, and in so vivid a way that not only on awaking, but after conversing with his friends, the doctor affirmed its existence.

Lablache's Two Hats.-Lablache, the great bass singer, was at times a very absent man. Once at Naples he was sent for to go to the palace. And on entering the waitingroom to be summoned to his majesty, having a bad cold in his head, he requested permission to keep his hat on. Entering into conversation with the gentlemen in attendance, he was suddenly called to attend upon his majesty. In his eagerness to obey the royal summons he forgot that he had his head covered, and, snatching up another hat, he entered the king's cabinet carrying it in his hand. Being received with a most hearty laugh by his majesty, Lablache was confounded, but, recovering himself, he respectfully asked his majesty what had so excited his risible faculties. 'My dear Lablache," replied the king, "pray tell me which of the two hats you have got with you is your own-that in your hand, or that on your head? Or perhaps you have brought both as a measure of precaution in case you should leave one behind you?" "Ah! maledetta," cried Lablache, with an air of ludicrous distress on discovering his étourderie, “two hats are indeed too many for a man who has no head !"

66

A Butt and a Stave. George Coleman the younger having pressed a young gentleman at a party to sing them a song, even after he assured them solemnly that he could not sing, and observed testily that they were wanting to make a butt of him, "No, my good sir," said Coleman, 66 we only want to get a stave out of you."

A Musical Ostrich.-The 77th Regiment was presented many years ago by Colonel Warmington, British Consul at Tripoli, with a fine young ostrich. This remarkable bird walked at the head of the regiment in a most orderly manner, and kept perfect time with the music of the band while marching; and should the band be playing in the squares or the gardens, he would walk round the musicians, keeping all the little boys away. But as it is well known that these animals are excessively voracious, he was obliged to be muzzled, as he took a fancy, not only to listen attentively to the music itself, but to eat the music books whenever he could get at them.

Rossini on how to Compose an Overture.-An exceedingly curious letter, written by Rossini in reply to a young artist who consulted him as to the best manner of composing an overture, has recently been published. We quote the first three recipes. "Ist Recipe.-Wait till the evening before the first performance. Nothing excites inspiration like necessity; the presence of a copyist waiting for your work, and the view of a manager in despair tearing out his hair by handfuls. In Italy all the managers, in my time, were bald at thirty. 2nd. I composed the overture to Othello' in a small room in the Barbaja Palace, where the baldest and most ferocious of managers had shut me up by force with nothing but a dish of macaroni, and the threat that I should not leave the place alive till I had written the last note. 3rd.-I wrote the overture to 'Gazza Ladra' on the day of the first performance, in the upper loft of La Scala, where I had been confined by the manager under the guard of four scene-shifters, who had orders to throw my text out of the window bit by bit to copyists who were waiting below to transcribe it. In default of music I was to be thrown out myself."

A Professional Invitation.-Some thirty or more years ago there was a favourite English prima donna, Miss Paton, who was courted by, and eventually married to, a Lord William L but in consequence of his peculiar treatment, she obtained a divorce from him, and afterwards married a tenor singer named Wood. They quitted England for America, where they obtained some considerable celebrity. Having lived some time in Philadelphia, the lady was invited

to a party given by an American citizen who had become suddenly rich, and whose wife used to give gay parties. They were very vulgar people, consequently Mrs. Wood politely declined the invitation; but nothing would satisfy the citizen's lady but that Mrs. Wood must appear, as the lady had intimated that she had expected her in order to give éclat to her party. So Mr. and Mrs. Wood reluctantly went. When the entertainments of the evening were fairly commenced, and several of the company had sung, the hostess pressed Mrs. Wood to go to the piano and sing; which she declined on the ground of being fatigued. The astonishment created by Mrs. Wood's refusal to oblige her friends was evinced by the hostess with a fixed stare; at length she broke out with-"What, not sing, Mrs. Wood? why it was for this I invited you to my party. Why, I should not have thought of inviting you but for this; and I told my guests you were coming, and that they should hear you sing!" "Oh!" replied Mrs. Wood, "I was not aware that you invited me professionally, but since such was your intention, I shall of course sing at once. So Mrs. Wood seated herself at the piano, sang most delightfully everything her hostess and friends asked for, to the entire gratification of all the party. On the following day, however, when the host and hostess were counting up the cost of their entertainment (for rich as they were, they had not lost their former regard for economy), to their astonishment and consternation there came in a demand from Mr. Wood for 100 dollars for "Mrs. Wood's professional services" at their party the preceding evening, accompanied by a note couched in terms that made it quite certain that the demand would be insisted on. And however much they were mortified by this unexpected demand, they deemed it most prudent to pay it, and hold their tongues.

Musical Cows.-Madame de Genlis says: "I paid a visit to the chateau of the Count de Voss, where I heard, for the first time, a curious concert. If the scheme were universally adopted, it would give the country inexpressible charms. The plan was to form cows into flocks, and hang about their necks harmonic bells. These formed in the most beautiful manner perfect concords, in several octaves, both high and low. No one can have the least idea of the delicious harmony they produce as the cows move about. When at a small distance, they make music, of which the irregularity and sweetness acts so powerfully on the imagination, that it is impossible to listen to it without the liveliest emotion.'

A Stray Straduarius.—My father one day was talking to a gentleman about violins and the value often set upon them. when this gentleman mentioned the following circumstance which happened to himself. He said, "I was at a sale by auction of a deceased gentleman's library in Sussex, and on clearing out the room there was the body of an old fiddle, without neck or strings, and I took it up and asked the auctioneer whether I might have it; he replied, 'Certainly, if you desire it, we should only have consigned it to the flames.' Having heard that old fiddles sometimes fetched large prices, I thought I would send it to London and get it repaired. I accordingly inquired who was the celebrated fiddle doctor, and finding his name was Betts, of the Royal Exchange, I packed it up and sent it off to him, requesting him to repair it, and return it to me as soon as done. Shortly after I had sent it I received a note from Mr. Betts, asking if I would sell it. I replied that I did not send the old fiddle for sale, but to be repaired; but if he was desirous of purchasing it, the least price I would take for it would be £40. A few days afterwards I received a letter containing the £40 from Mr. Betts, who, I was informed some months afterwards, had actually sold the violin for a much larger sum; although I never knew the price. I understood it was a Straduarius.

-C. H. PURDAY.

The Royal Princes at Fiji.-Fiji was reached on the 3rd of September, 1881, the ships anchoring at Levuka, Ovalau. The visitors had been expected for days, and as soon as the squadron hove in sight festoons of flags and ensigns of all nations were hoisted. When the ships had anchored, the pleasure craft which had been manoeuvring around them hauled on the wind and passed down the line of men-of-war in parade order. The spectacle was most picturesque, the native Fijian boats contrasting strongly with the other craft, which were built more in accord with English notions. In the afternoon the Governor proceeded on board the Incon stant, and was saluted with seventeen guns, the reverberation of which appeared a new sensation for Fijian ears. On the following Sunday afternoon their Royal Highnesses attended a native service at Nasova, and, considering that the sailor Princes were not only the first members of the Royal Family, but also the first scions of any European reigning house, who had ever visited Fiji, the warm enthusiasm with which their presence was greeted can better be imagined than described. Next day, the 5th of September, a meeting was arranged at Nasova to permit the native chiefs to make the acquaintance of the Princes. The gathering took place on the parade ground. On the slopes of the upper end mats were spread, upon which the Princes sat to receive their visitors. Dense masses of the natives in all sorts of quaint holiday attire had gathered to witness the proceedings. Huge piles of gifts, or 'magiti," having been presented to the Royal visitors by the king, the Vuni Valu rose, and, in the names of the assembled chiefs and people, welcomed them to Fiji, at the same time presenting a magnificent tabua, which was received and acknowledged by Prince Edward. Native dances were afterwards indulged in. In the evening the Governor entertained the officers at a dinner-party, while natives and Europeans alike were gratified and astonished by an exhibition of the electric light from the flagship (the Inconstant, the Earl of Clanwilliam). This latest scientific novelty was as great a novelty to Europeans as to the natives, and all alike were surprised at the brilliancy of the light.

Jamaica Peasant Life.-The material prosperity of the great body of the people is most marked. Man, woman, and child all are well dressed; rags are a phenomenon, and even patches a remarkable rarity. On the weekly market days and on Sundays anywhere over the island will be found met together a body of peasantry certainly and absolutely better clothed than similar groups in almost any other coun try. On these occasions the bright handkerchiefs and stylish "costumes" of the women, the boots, suits, and watchchains of the men, and, above all, the open-work pelisses, the brilliantly-coloured shoes, the marvellous head-gear of the babies and children, show that there has grown up in Jamaica a great market for clothing, most of which comes ready-made from England. Nor is this superiority of dress less marked when one watches the peasantry-negro, for the most part at work in their homes or in the scrub. A vast preponderance of the people are thoroughly well clothed, even for their everyday work, in sound materials with few or no patches. And when we find that in Jamaica there is but one pauper to every 125 of the population (a proportion which in Ireland reaches the unsatisfactory figure of one in seventeen, and in England itself can boast no better results than one in forty), we see that in Jamaica we are landed in the midst of a flourishing community.

The Stowe Garden Farty.-On the 14th June last year a notable festival was held at Newtonville, Mass., U.S., in honour of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, on the occasion of her seventy-first birthday. It was at Old Elms, the residence of ex-Governor Claflin, and was given by Messrs. Houghton, Miffin, and Co., the publishers of most of the great American literary works which are of international fame.

Be

They have by purchase obtained many copyrights from Ticknor and Field, Osgood and Co., and other houses. sides the works of Mrs. Stowe, this publishing house has on its list the names of Longfellow, Hawthorne, Whittier, Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. The gathering on that occasion was a remarkable one, including Henry Ward Beecher, Whittier, Holmes, Mrs. Bayard Taylor, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, and others whose works are as popular in England as in America. The meeting recalled old times of literary fame in Boston, and shows that it still remains the centre of intellectual and social prestige in the States. Mrs. Claflin, wife of the host, is one of the trustees of Wellesley College, -more than the Girton of America-and also one of the trustees of Boston University, the foremost institution, founded on the principle of the co-education of the sexes.

Hermann Blumenau, the Brazilian Colonist, born at Brunswick in 1819, after scientific and medical training, went to Rio de Janeiro in 1844. He established a colony of German immigrants at a station on the River Itajahy, in the province of Santa Catharina in Southern Brazil in 1850. The settlement of Blumenau possessed in 1877 7,500 cattle, 18,000 pigs, 1,000 horses and mules, 73,000 fowls. In 1867, at the Paris Exhibition, this colony obtained one of twelve prizes awarded to colonising institutions by private enterprise. The colonists cultivate their own freehold land, work in their own houses, and enjoy independence, with healthy families and peaceful homes. They are naturalised Brazilian subjects, flourishing under the constitutional laws of the empire. The president of the municipal chamber of the district of Itajahy is a German. "In a word," says the founder of the colony, "we live here as free men, contented and happy, and thankful for the good fortune that led our footsteps to this spot." Good roads, schools, and a Protestant church are among the advantages of the settlement. Why do not more Englishmen, either in Brazil or other countries, follow the example of Dr. Hermann Blumenau ?

Price Current of Wild Beasts.-The circular of a dealer in wild animals for menageries and private collections, at Marseilles, gives the following prices: For an Indian elephant, 12,500 francs; for a Bengal royal tiger, 7,000 francs; a fullgrown rhinoceros 10,000 to 12,000 francs. The price of monkeys varies from 30 francs for the small Havanah species to 300 for the mandril. A fine specimen of the latter has been known to fetch 3,000 francs, a full-sized and good. tempered animal. Zebras and antelopes fetch the highest price of the deer tribe.

Newspapers of the World.-A French journal says that the whole number of newspapers in the world is 34,274, producing 160,000,000 of copies, and reaching an issue of 10, 592,000,000 copies each year. This is nearly six and a quarter copies for every inhabitant of the globe! These numerous journals are distributed as follows: 19,557 appear in Europe; 12,400 in North America; 775 in Asia; 699 in South America; 661 in Australia; 132 in Africa. The English language is employed in 16,500 periodical publications; 7,800 are printed in German; 3,850 in French; 1,800 in Spanish. There are 4,020 daily journals; 18,274 weekly, and 8,508 appearing at longer intervals.

Perseverance Rewarded.—We arrived at Honolulu early on Sunday morning, and Governor Dominis brought me to this pleasant house, which is alike the home of his mother and of Princess Liliuo-kalani, his wife. The latter occupies her own suite of apartments. Mr. Dominis has commended me to the especial care of his mother, a dear old lady, stiff with rheumatism, and her hands shaking with pain, but bright and clever, and full of keen interest in life. As we sat in her verandah, looking at the lovely masses of blossom and the