the article referred to it was said that the American contention was more in accord than the Canadian with the policy of the British empire, and that the imperial government had sometimes thwarted Canadian attempts to restrict the privileges claimed by the United States. The natural inference from these facts is that, whether on account of pressure from London or otherwise, the American view of the commercial situation must ultimately prevail again. In that event the trading rights which the Canadians now withhold from United States fishermen will be freely restored.-Bradstreet, May 8. THE CAUSE OF Tthe DevelopmeNT OF MANUFACTURES IN THE SOUTH.-It is worth while to observe that one great cause of rapid development of manufactures at the South is the comparative steadiness of labor in that section and the infrequency of strikes and wrangles. Labor at the South is not so efficient, it is true, and therefore is paid less than labor at the North. Probably the entire difference in the efficiency of labor is balanced by the difference in wages. But the difference in steadiness and in freedom from interruption is an enormous advantage to Southern industry. This year the strikes of bituminous coal miners and coke workers have greatly interrupted the trade of Pennsylvania, while Virginia and West Virginia have been steadily at work, building many new coke ovens, and grasping a larger share of the trade. And now- the producers of coke in Pennsylvania raise the price again in order to compensate for the losses incurred in a long struggle with the workers about wages. Meanwhile in West Virginia the old rates are maintained, and the work goes on with the building of many new ovens.-New York Tribune, FARMING IN MASSACHUSETTS.-The lot of the New England farmer is in some respects not a happy one. Secretary John E. Russell, of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, reports that sheep husbandry continues to decline, partly on account of the slaughter of great numbers of western sheep glutting the local markets with mutton. What with threatening dogs and low prices for wool and mutton, the business is without encouragement. The price of hay in Massachusetts is regulated by the baled stuff imported from Canada, which, notwithstanding the duty of $2 a ton, or 10 to 15 per cent. of the current price in the local markets, comes in in sufficient quantities to depress values. The farmers who produce milk for Boston realize almost no profit, even if the value of their farms does not diminish. Butter making, however, where it is carried on carefully, has been fairly remunerative, the competition of spurious butter not having been felt by the best dairies. The present tendency is to establish creameries, where skillful dairymen are employed and a uniform quality of product is secured.-Bradstreet's. AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS.-It is pleasant to turn from the turmoils of man to the bright aspect which Dame Nature invites us. The reports from the agricultural interests are encouraging; the winter wheat is in good condition, and the seeding of spring wheat is nearly finished, with indications that there is not much reduction in the acreage. In the South corn is up and growing well, and cotton planting is making rapid progress. The fruit trees give promise of good crops in the Ohio Valley and in the South. We have had no severe frost since they bloomed, and the season is so far advanced that there is little danger to be apprehended from that source. The rapid development of spring is urging farm work, so that there is apparently no thought given to hours of labor, which at this season of the year are limited only by darkness in that industry. It is well that such is the case, for if we have good crops it will go far toward making the country prosperous, whatever else may happen.-Cincinnati Commercial. cording to a census taken in September, 1881, the number of hands employed by NOTES. Twelve cents a word is now the price of cablegrams between this INCREASE IN THE Cost of War.-The frightful increase in the cost of war during the past thirty years was very ably shown in the House of Commons recently. The Duke of Wellington was the most powerful ship in the navy of 1855. The total cost of its cannon ready for action was only $43,000, while the cost of cannon and all warlike stores carried on board did not exceed $85,000. The Benbow, just added to the British fleet, is armed with cannon costing $705,000, and the cannon and other warlike stores now on this vessel cost $1,035,000. To fire a charge from the largest cannon on the Duke of Wellington cost under $5, while a charge for the Benbow's 110-ton gun costs $765. This charge consists of 900 pounds of powder, costing $350, and a steel shell valued at $400. The silk cloth in which the powder is held costs more than the entire charge of one of the Duke of Wellington's heaviest cannon.-London Cor. N. Y. Telegram. CONTRACTS WITH EUROPEAN MANUFACTURERS.-It is estimated that between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 worth of manufactured articles have been ordered from Europe since the labor troubles began, all of which were heretofore manufactured in this country. Contracts of ten times this amount with European manufacturers are threatened by jobbers who are becoming importers. They insist that there is a demand and they must meet it; the American manufacturer insists that he is helpless; that he can not supply them because of labor complications, and that he can not comply with the demands of labor and meet European prices. There is every reason why capital and labor should come to a speedy understanding. The jobber who is anxious to patronize home industries should be encouraged. He can be encouraged by a settlement of labor difficultles.-Cincinnati Inquirer. THE STAMPED ENVELOPE DEMAND.-It appears that since the Government in 1851 began to sell stamped envelopes there has been a steady increase in the amount required each year, until now the Government has for several years been selling more envelopes than all other producers combined. Last year 279,000,000 stamped envelopes, worth $5,723,000, were sold. With every letting of the contract for furnishing these envelopes its size increases and the price of the envelopes is reduced. Envelopes which in 1869 cost $4.80 per 1,000 can now be had for $1.80 per 1,000, and the extra letter size that then cost $6 are now sold for $2.40.— Bradstreet's. THE LARGEST BUSINESS IN THE WORLD.-Alfred Krupp owns probably the largest business in the world dependent on one individual. The works within the town of Essen occupy more than 500 acres, half of which are under cover. Ac LITERARY. TRIUMPHANT DEMOCRACY. HERE is a book for the patriotic American, for the American who thinks there . The Dial for May. WHAT the Fourth of July orators have long been telling us in glittering generalities Mr. Carnegie has set forth in a bill of particulars; and he shows conclusively that the much-ridiculed orators have been telling the truth. He confines the field of his observations mainly to the past fifty years-the era of railroad building, on which the rapid development of the country has so largely depended; and gives incidentally a great deal of significant information regarding other coun tries besides our own. He sets out with an array of facts that hardly cease to be startling even when familiar; as, that the United States contain more Englishspeaking people than all the rest of the world; that the wealth of the republic exceeds that of Great Britain; and that it also surpasses the mother country not only in agriculture, but in manufactures. Many of the other items in the array of statistics follow as corollaries from these, but not all. It is shown that for every pauper in the United States there are twenty-one in Holland and Belgium and six in Great Britain and Ireland; that seven eighths of our people are native born; that twenty-two per cent. of them now live in towns of 8,000 or more inhabitants; that if the hive-stock in our country were marshaled in procession five abreast, in close order, the line would reach round the world and overlap; that Chicago alone makes half as many steel rails in a year as Great Britain, and Minneapolis turns out so much flour that the barrels would form a bridge from New York to Ireland; that we produce sixteen pounds of butter annually for every man, woman, and child in the country, and if our crop of cereals were loaded in carts, it would require all the horses in Europe and a million more to move it; that more yards of carpeting are manufactured in Philadelphia than in all Great Britain; that a single factory in Massachusetts turns out as many pairs of boots as 32,000 boot-makers in Paris; that our Government has given us more land for the support of schools and colleges than the entire area of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The Pilot May 1. MR. ANDREW CARNEGIE, the millionaire manufacturer of Pittsburgh, Pa., is a pronounced democrat and almost a socialist in his views. He has just written a book called "Triumphant Democracy; or, Fifty Years' March of the Republic,' in which he extols the success of republican institutions and exposes the wickededness and folly of the Old World systems. Americans discouraged by revelations of political corruption are invited to examine the greater evils attendant on a monarchical form of government, in which corruption is the normal condition of public affairs. "Whenever an American," he says, "is met abroad with the assertion that government in the republic is corrupt, he can safely say that for one ounce of corruption here there is a full pound avoirdupois in Great Britain; for every job' here, twenty yonder. Just look at the jobs': The Prince of Wales is colonel of this or that regiment, and draws salaries for duties he does not pretend to perform. He has many modes of drawing money from the public. He is made a field marshal; one brother gets a high command in India; the Duke of Edinburgh gets command of the Channel fleet; the Duke of Cambridge, although commander-in-chief, does not scorn to draw a salary as Ranger of Richmond Park, and royal favorites by the score monopolize sinecure positions. One nobleman gets $20,000 per year for walking backward before her majesty upon certain occasions, and so on through a chapter of jobs,' so long and irritating that no Amencan could patiently read through it." The Montreal Gazette, May 6. Now that the rule of the many has, like truth, become great and seems destined to prevail, sooner or later, within the limits of Aryan civilization, it is comforting to meet with one whose faith in its beneficence is darkened by no shade of doubt. For it is beyond question that even among those who have been wont to sound its praises there has been in recent years an uneasy prescience of lurking peril in the sway of their cherished Demos. Some disciples, timid or prudent, have been tempted to withdraw their allegiance together, and to say in their hearts that the sovereign people is a tyrant and a sham. Wise men, neither enthusiastic nor desponding, prepare to accept the inevitable and take counsel as to how the monster may be outwitted and managed while he seems to dominate. It is refreshing to turn from those doubters, dissemblers and plotters, and to find one's self face to face with a man of honorable career and good repute, of wide experience of men and affairs, born under a monarchy, but republican from choice, who has the fullest confidence in popular government, is proud of its victories in his adopted home, believes in it as the best remedy for the ills of his motherland and laughs to scorn those English statesmen who humble themselves before a crowned head. National Republican, May 7. ANDREW CARNEGIE, in "Triumphant Democracy," proves that America leads the world in agriculture, and in a few years must lead in manufactures. The people of New Zealand agree with Mr. Carnegie, and have sent one of their prominent journalists to this country on behalf of his government to inquire into and report upon the working of our agricultural schools, the cultivation of the vine, wine-making, and fruit-raising generally. The gentleman is specially instructed to report upon agricultural implements, and, doubtless, will have a great variety of agricultural fun at the Patent Office. MACAULAY AT THE TAVERN-"When I was in London, in the fifties," writes a Brooklyn friend, "I used to have a fancy for running around by-lanes and corners, and hunting up places of historical or literary interest that guide-books barely mention and few travelers go to see. Among my haunts was an old, low-ceiled tavern, with a sanded floor two feet below the level of the sidewalk. I used to go there and drink "'alf and 'alf,' and try to bring up images of the wits of the last century, who used to sit in that same room and drink "'alf and 'alf,' too. One day an image materialized; for while I was sitting beside a table, with my pewter pot half emptied, I observed that a large man in a cloak had entered. His face was round, pale and heavy, but the eyes were bright and his bushy eyebrows slid up and down with quick changes of expression. He sat down at the table next to mine, and directly a waiter came in with a big plate of bread and cheese and a glass of ale, and set it before him. He ate and drank heartily, and after finishing his lunch sat upright and rested his hands on a heavy cane. I could see only his back; but from occasional movements of his head, such as a man makes when he is arguing in earnest, I surmised that he was doing some pretty hard thinking. Suddenly he reached for his empty glass and hurled it on the floor with all his strength, smashing it into shivers. He sat for a minute longer, then got up slowly, 'tipped' the waiter, paid his reckoning at the bar, and passed out. He had not uttered a word. The waiter got a broom, swept up the pieces of glass and cleared the table. I asked him if the gentleman's intellect was a little in need of repair. Oh, no, sir,' said he. 'That's nothink unusual with 'im, sir. W'y, he's broke maybe a 'undred glahsses since he's been a-comin' to this 'ouse. 'E don't know it when 'e does it. 'E's a-thinkin', and it seems like as he got mad at somethink 'e was thinkin' about.' Who is he?' Lord Macaulay, sir.""The Critic. AN ENGLISH VIEW OF LONGFELLOW.-Though we think the plan of Mr. Longfellow's book a mistaken one, yet we may own to have read it with great interest and pleasure. It has been inexpressibly refreshing in these bustling, angry, manysided times to read the story of this simple tranquil life, devoted to one aim. one business, one desire; of this good, sincere, gentle soul, who, as he was unstirred by any high imagining, so was unvexed by any dark distractions, doubts, or fears. And as we have compared him for his personal popularity to Sir Walter Scott, so in another way did he resemble him; he resembled him in his utter freedom from all the little jealousies and meannesses, the ignoble cares and humors which are so sadly apt to taint and hinder the literary life. He envied no man; he disparaged no man; if others spoke ill of him he never answered them. If he was destined to no great mastery in his art, at least none who ever practised it loved it with a more sincere, simple, disinterested love. Once more we may go back to his own verse to find a fit tribute to this fine side of his character. We may go back, as we have gone before, to his "Tales of a Wayside Inn," where the poet is thus praised: A Poet, too, was there, whose verse Was tender, musical, and terse; The inspiration, the delight, The gleam, the glory, the swift flight All these were his; but with them came He did not find his sleep less sweet Honor and blessings on his head Accepts, but does not clutch the crown! If all the gifts of song this Poet owned were not Longfellow's, the moral gifts were pre-eminently his among all Poets. And as they brought him honor and blessings while he lived, so shall they bring him good report now that he is dead.Macmillan's Magazine. Revising a DICTIONARY.—A complete revision of Webster's Dictionary is in progress at New Haven. President Noah Porter, of Yale College, is the editorin-chief, and has entire charge of the enterprise. The work is being carried on in an immense building at the corner of Orange and Elm streets. President Porter is assisted by a large corps of eminent literary authorities, who are mainly Yale professors, though some of the associate editors are from other colleges. In addi tion to this board of associate editors, there are several assistants or clerks, a majority of whom are recent Vale graduates. Nearly 100 persons in all are employed on this work. When asked about the revision, President Porter manifested extreme reticence upon the subject, but he finally said: "The same general plan will be observed in the revision now in progress as in the last revision of which I was the editor. The generally accepted forms of spelling will be preserved as far as possible, though advocates of the advanced methods of spelling, such as Prof. Marsh, of Lafayette College, and Prof. Whitney, of Yale, desire the adoption of new forms in many words. In general, words will be Anglicised as far as possible, though some words of Greek and Latin derivation may retain their foreign plurals. As regards the disputed plural of the word 'caucus,' I know of but one possible plural, namely, 'caucuses,' and this form will be used in this word and other words of the same class. All words of recent origin, which convey distinct ideas and are recognized and used by reputable authors, will be incorporated in the revision. The word 'dude' I believe to convey a specific idea expressed by no other word, and though it may be hard to give a definite description of the meaning which the word conveys, I think it will be incorporated in the revision. The word 'boycott' is also a word of definite meaning and of recent origin, and will probably be incorporated."-Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, May 8. SUBSIDIZED NEWSPAPERS.-A tendency in this direction has shown itself of late years in the management and control of many prominent journals, particularly in New York, and the results have not been in the main satisfactory. Take the Times for example. Originally it was owned by a partnership, one of the firm being its editor and manager, and it was in these days that it reached its zenith as a great newspaper, for the man who made it was a journalist, and his work made the paper a real journal. The same was true of the Tribune, in the days when Horace Greeley was its editor, and of the Herald when old James G. Bennett owned and edited that paper. But of late years events have so transpired that in these great journals it is no longer the journalist but the moneyed capitalist who controls and dictates the management of affairs; and, as a natural consequence, the papers are not what they were and cannot hope to be. All thoughtful men are aware that under the commands of Mr. Jones the Times has become the organ of the capitalist Jones, rather than of the American people, and in the case of the Tribune it has often been feared that the finger of certain moneyed monopolists might, at any moment, be seen pulling the wires which are to guide the policy of that journal in its treatment of public affairs. In short, it may be safely said that no newspaper can ever be deemed thoroughly trustworthy and safe to be relied upon if its absolute control be in the hands of men none of whom are journalists, and all of whom have great private interests to advance outside of the newspaper which they own.-Major Z. K. Pangborn in Jersey City Evening Journal, THE NEWSPAPER IN THE POST OFFICE.-It is the duty and it ought to be the pleasure of the postal authorities to give the same close attention to newspaper as to letter mail, but it is unfortunately the fact that the failure to do so is conspicuous and annoying. A feeling appears to have grown up among postal employes that newspaper mail is of very little consequence, and the result is that in the same proportion as they are careful of letters they are careless of newspapers. Yet the newspaper is often a handy substitute for a letter, and its contents are apt to be quite as important. The delinquency in this regard is not new. Habitual neglect of second-class matter, excused, perhaps, on the ground of the assumed prior importance of first-class matter, has been the rule. The situation calls for the serious consideration of the Postmaster-General, who ought to secure complete reform in this important particular.--Chicago Herald. He hunts for manuscripts and early editions of American authors, and finds it most ART. was depicted with some stray pieces of furniture of the Louis XVI period in con- ARTISTIC ABSURDITIES.-Artistic anachronisms are plentiful; so much so that it is almost like imposing upon good nature to mention the fact. But while passNEWSPAPERS AND CRIMES. The usefulness of newspapers as aids to the detec-ing down Broadway recently I saw a fine oil painting, in which a Roman interior tion of criminals receives an interesting illustration in the recent developments in the Hackettstown murder mystery. The investigation there, once dropped by the authorities, was continued for weeks by the New York reporters, and solely through their agency clues were discovered and followed out that have led to the arrest of a man to whom all circumstances point as guilty of the crime. It is worthy of note that the two other most recent murder mysteries in the same State the Ella Watson case at Salem and the Wainwright one at Tom's River— were unraveled largely, if not entirely, through the efforts of newspaper reporters. LONGFELLOW'S PERSONAL GET UP. He was a consummate artist, but he had the personal weakness of all literary people about Boston. I recollect once sitting with Lowell at the old College Hotel at Cambridge, when he said: " Just look at this coming across the street!" There came Longfellow across, walking on his heels so as to keep his boots from being muddied. He had on a red necktie, a silk vest of some fancy color, a coat of brown or olive tint with a velvet collar, and fancy gloves upon his hands. Dressed like a swell, it did look too funny for a man of his intellect.-Ex-Commissioner Loring. NOTES.-Literary names are largely used for designating streets in Liverpool. Among the names thus chosen are'Shakespeare, Falstaff, Rosalind, Macbeth, Wordsworth, Longfellow, Tennyson, Dickens. Pickwick, Dombey, Micawber, and Sam Weller.- Three shares of New York Tribune stock were sold at auction last week, par value $1,000 per share, for $6,600 per share. At the same time and place was sold one share of the Journal of Commerce, par vilue $1,000, for $10,000. A rather novel journalistic enterprise is announced by Mr. F. A. Quinn, a Canadian lawyer, who under the name of the "American and Dublin Freeman's Journal," proposes to issue a sixteen page weekly, one-half to consist of matter from the Dublin Freeman, the other of Canadian news of interest to Irish readers. He will probably prepare a similar edition for the United States.Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Rowland are preparing a work on comparing and solving chess problems.Alexander C. McClurg, the well-known Chicago publisher, has an article on "Justice to Authors" in the current number of The Dial- -Palgrave's "Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics" will soon be issued in a fiftycent edition by Macmillan & Co "The Autobiography of the Pope" will appear in the summer of 1887. It will be first written in Latin and then translated into various tongues. The publishers expect to print two million copies.-The admirers of the late Chas. Reade propose to erect a memorial to him in St. Paul's Cathedral. Edwin Arnold, author of "The Light of Asia" has ready for the press a new work entitled "India Revisited.- -The next volume to appear in the popular series of "Stories of the Nations," published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, will be "The Story of Germany," by Rev. S. Barry-Gould; "The Story of Norway," by H. H. Boyesen, and "The Story of Spain," by E. E. and Susan E. Hale. ANCIENT BRONZES.-Brass was first hammered out by the Greeks into such articles as lamps; next they beat plates of the metal on models, and also cast in molds, finishing with graving tools. A host of noble works in bronze were made by Greek artists in the time of the Romans, and were melted and coined into money for their wars. The productions included statues, statuettes, animal forms, lamps, tripods, armlets, boxes, cornices, etc. One of the choicest tripods found at Pompeii has goats' legs, connected by wreaths of flowers, and head of a female in each wreath; also handles of heads and necks of swans. The inside of the pattern has for a center the head of a Medusa, with leaves and other objects, beautifully executed.--The Decorator. ANCIENT ART CARICATURES.-A good deal of pedantry has been employed to explain the decorative caricatures of ancient art, much of which is lost. A laughable scene on an Etruscan vase represents a lover climbing to his mistress' casement. The capital travesty of Aneus and Anchises as monkeys is said to satirize the imitative style of Virgil. A well-known and amusing scene in a painter's studio is an evident allusion to the decadence of art. What a vast transition from the comparatively graceful character of ancient art to the grossness in this department shown in the middle ages in western Europe.--The Decorator. -The following communication from a London publisher to the Athenæum describes substantially the overdone condition of cheap-novel publishing in this country also: "Shilling story-books are appearing at the rate of something like three or four a day. When a good story does happen to make a stir, it is now promptly choked out of existence by another treading too closely on its heels, and that in turn dies before well born. Because a story is startling in situation, is told in a certain number of pages, and is sold for a shilling, the belief is widespread that a gigantic fortune follows. MSS. from untrained hands keep pouring in, but probably not one shilling story in every dozen that see the light pays its expenses. The bookstalls will not hold them, the reputation of the publishers is being ruined by them, and the public is sick of them.". -A physician calls a novelist to account for admiring "the delicate pink edge" of a young woman's eyelid. He declares that this is symptomatic of scrofula, and therefore absolutely devoid of beauty to every intelligent soul.- -A New York citizen recently called at a Broadway bookstore to buy a novel for his wife. He was shown a new edition of the Waverly Novels. "Waverly Novels, Waverly Novels!" he mused dreamily. "Oh, yes; they are the same as the Waverly magazine, ain't they?"Harrison is of opinion that Oliver Wendell Holmes is the "light of New England as Longfellow was the love and Emerson the intellect." "I saw," says he, "a wonderful cactus in Mexico, all prickles and blossoms-Dr. Holmes all over, but the blossoms hid the prickles."- -The Queen is said to be greatly pleased with Tennyson's latest ode.- -A portrait of Brander Matthews adorns the May number of The Book Buyer.- -Some relics of Schiller and Goethe were sold at auction in Berlin a few weeks ago. A splendid chased silver cup, representing a boar hunt, with the initials C. A. and W. G., a dedication from the Grand Duke Carl August to Wolfgang von Goethe, brought only 435., and a gold locket, containing locks of the hair of Schiller and "Lotte," only 18s. Goethe's signet ring was sold for 50s. Prof. -A new book for children entitled "Alice's Adventures Underground," is announced by Macmillan & Co.- -Henry Clews, the banker, will publish in July a volume of "Reminiscences of Wall Street." It will contain a number of portraits. -Mr. Forte, of the banking firm of Hatch & Forte, is a great lover of books. PAINTING SPIDERS.-A young lady recently said, as her eyes beamed with love: "Now, pa, dear, you must not forget to bring me those colors and brushes." "Oh, no, my dear. What are you going to paint now? Another chrysanthemum on a brass plate?" Why, pa, how ridiculous! I'm like Dame Nature-I never repeat myself. I'm going to paint the beautifulest, loveliest, sweetest, ugliest great big spider-ugh!-web and all, on a plush tidy." "There'll be no flies about you, my girl," sighed the loving parent, as he wiped away a tear. The Dec orator. NOTES. The pencil has seldom been used with more telling effect than by the artist who made the picture entitled "The New Wife," which appears in last week's issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.——The Society of American Artists are now holding their eighth annual exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.- -The sale of the private collection of pictures, bric-a-brac, etc., of Mr. Fletcher Harper took place on April 27th, 28th, and 29th. The Oriental porcelains, jades, and other objects of art were all interesting, and some of them were of considerable value. The collection of oils included works by many American and European artists. Especially good were examples of Vibert, Rossi, Delort, Marchetti, Chelmonski, and Madrazo. A collection of black and whites by American illustrators formed a feature of the exhibition and sale. Among the noticeable American pictures were Chase's "Jester" and Inness' "Valley of the Shadow of Death."- -Upwards of seven thousand paintings and drawings have been sent to the Paris Salon this year, and out of these only 2,500 can be hung. More than two hundred snuff bottles, most of which came from the famous De Semalle cabinet, were sold to the First Japanese Trading Company for $4,700. One of them has since been sold for $1,600 and another for $1,550.- -The Slade Professorship of Fine Arts at Cambridge has been conferred upon Mr. J. H. Middleton. He is not an artist, but an author of works on art.One of the buildings to be used for the coming Jubilee Art Exhibition in Berlin is an imitation of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.- -A person who knew Millet very well says that it was one of his ambitions to paint a perfectly dark night without moon or star.- -Theodore Duret is of opinion that "the women of Renoir's pictures are enchantresses. If you own one, she will be the person on whom you cast the last look on going out and the first on entering."- -Holman Hunt claims that he was the first among painters who had studied Browning and received inspiration from him.- -The true artist, according to Browning, works in the faith that what he does is of great service and is divinely influenced.- -The latest craze is carpeting ceilings.- -In the convent of Jonica, in Bosnia, there was lately discovered a rich surplice on which were embroidered the arms of Matthias Corvinus and those of Hungary. It is supposed to have been a present sent by Matthias Corvinus to the Bosnian Queen Catharine Tomasovics. The Emperor of Austria has bought the surplice, and presented it to the Hungarian government, with the request that it shall be used forever in the coronation of the kings of Hungary.Edmund Russell says, "The highest art education is that which fits one for making a home; a home-not a storehouse or curiosity shop." MUSIC. BEETHOVEN'S VIOLIN.-Beethoven's violin is now in the possession of an English gentleman named Kunwald. This instrument on which Beethoven often played has a history. The master, before his death, gave it to his friend, Carl Holtz, whose widow sold it three years ago to its present possessor. On its arrival from Vienna, the package containing the precious relic was opened in the presence of the Austrian consul. The violin bears on the back a B, which seems cut by a chisel. On the case is inscribed: "Eliza Holz, geborene von Bognar." The authenticity of the instrument is proved by official documents and by a portrait engraved by Seib and inscribed by the master's own hand: "A M. von Holz de son ami Bethoven." Observe the spelling with one e, which letter is also wanting on the engraving. The certificate given by Frau Holtz was: "Mon mari, Charles Holz, recu en present ce violin de son ami Louis von Beethoven; apres la morte de mon mari il devint ma propriete. Vienne, 14th Juin, 1879." Joachim, on. being convinced of its authenticity, tried it, and declared it to possess excellent qualities.-American Musical Journal. LISZT AND THE RUSSIAN EMPEROR.-The Emperor Nicholas, of Russia, was one of the handsomest and most imperious sovereigns ever known. He received the celebrated Abbe Liszt one evening, that the imperial family might enjoy this incomparable pianist's genius. While he was playing, the emperor spoke to one of his aides-de-camp, and as he did so rather loudly, Liszt suddenly stopped. The emperor exclaimed: "Well, Abbe Liszt." "I will not interrupt your majesty's conversation," said Liszt. "Oh, you do not disturb or interrupt me in the least,' impatiently said the emperor. "It is then your majesty that interrupts me," said Liszt, drawing in his velvet paw. The effect of this remark was that the emperor cut short the concert, and next day sent the director of the police to the great abbe to express his majesty's fear that the Russian climate might injure the abbe's health, and the emperor's advice to seek a milder climate and pastures new.— Temple Bar. NOTES.-The New England Conservatory of Music has sent out a manual "to correct certain misapprehensions, and to furnish in concrete form information frequently asked for by friends." The work done in the Conservatory is strongly commended by Rev. Phillip Brooks, D. D., Rev. Joseph T. Duryea, D. D., Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, and others.-Madame Patti has had an unprecedented suceess at Lisbon under very difficult circumstances. Just before she left her hotel for her performance the porter shot his wife dead before her eyes. She fainted twice in the effort to conquer her emotions. At her last appearance she was re. called forty times, the King remaining until the last.- The harp O'Carolan which was played before the last of the Irish kings, and said to be more than eight hundred years old, has been brought to this country, and will be on exhibition at the forthcoming Irish musical festival in New York.- -The Independent announces the temporary omission of its weekly musical column by saying: "With the present issue the usual brief intermission of this department occurs. The time of singing of birds is come. The birds are artists that are above all praise or blame, so that the musical critic can stuff his note-book into a corner of his desk."- -The Thearte de la Monnaie in Brussels has closed its doors with a deficit of $36.000. Opera did it.- -Mozart is to have a monument at Vienna.- -The Berlin Philharmonic Society and the Imperial Opera House both used the French pitch for the first time on the Ist inst. -Mme. Jennie Lind Goldschmidt has retired from the position of the first singing teacher at the Royal College of Music, London.Paul von Janko has constructed a new kind of keyboard. With it two octaves can be covered with one hand. -“The Sultan of Zanzibar " is said to be the worst comic opera ever produced on earth. That is the opinion of the Musical Courier. RELIGIOUS. to opened, recruits can be sent yearly, without going in person to settle them. He enters into agreement with chief and people: "I. To select and import good preachers and teachers from America. 2. To pay their passage from America 3. To secure and pay for the tools, implements, and machinery required in founding an industrial school; but beyond initiation into their work, I pay no money for the support or salary of any preacher or teacher whom I may appoint, taking it for granted that the great chief and his people are well able to provide for the education of their children, and are not a lot of beggars expecting educated men and women to come all the way from America to work for them for nothing. "I therefore ask the party of the second part-the great chief and his people: I. To procure a good tract of about one thousand acres of land for a school farm. 2. To clear and plant a few acres of said farm immediately, to provide early subsistence for the school workers. 3. To build houses for the residence of the preachers and teachers of the institution. 4. To build a good house or shed for the school, and for God-palaver.' 5. To do all those things for the benefit of the great chief and his people, without any pay from me. 6. To pay a small monthly fee for the tuition of day scholars. 7. That boys and girls coming for a full course he allowed to remain in school at least five years, and that all the boys and girls who cheerfully do the work assigned them shall be fed from the products of the school farm, and their own industry, and pay no money for their tuition." 6 DRAMA. NOTES. The new comedy by Mark Twain and W. D. Howells, entitled "The American Claimant," will be produced at the Lyceum, New York, May 24. Mr Burbank, the well-known reader, will play the leading role.An amateur performance of "Old Heads and Young Hearts" has been given in New York in behalf of the Hancock fund.-No less than five plays, the production of W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan, are being produced in Boston at the present time. "The Mikado" is being burlesqued under the name of the "Ci gar-do." It is reported by the New York Tribune that Bartley Campbell is insane.Mr. Lawrence Barrett is in San Francisco.- -Both Mrs. Langtry and Sarah Bernhardt are engaged to come to America next season - A reader sends The Mirror the following extract from a conversation he overheard between two sons of Erin in the gallery of the Metropolitan the other night. Katisha has just entered upon the scene. Pat-" Phat's it all about, onyway? Divil a wurrud kin I make out." Mike" Arrah! thin, de Tree little maids' hev run away from school, an' t'ould 'ooman hez come to fetch 'em back agin."- -Ingersoll promises to give a brand new lecture next September and turn over the entire proceeds to the actors' fund. Henry E. Dixey has gone to England.- -Four generations of the acting family of Conway appeared on the same stage at the Theatre Royal, England.Henry Irving is playing "The Devil" at his own theatre in London. He said that after playing the church scene in "Faust" he shall take up a collection in aid of the dramatic and musical fund.- -The American Opera created a furore in Philadelphia last week.- -"Acharnians" is to be performed in Philadelphia on May 14 and 15.- -In comparing Salvini and Booth, Amelia Lewis says: "No one actor a hundred years hence will play "Othello" as Tommaso Salvini does now, for his view is emotional only, and will be the view of the past; but hundreds may play Iago as Booth plays it now, for his view is intellectual, and the intellec tual is progressive and of the future.". -Henry Irving is to lecture at the Oxford University on "The State of the Stage," defining the four periods-the Shakesperian, the Restoration, the Garrick, and the Edmund Kean.- -Mr. George C. Miln has written for a Chicago newspaper an entertaining narrative of his evolu tion from the pulpit to the stage, in which he declares, "I was a clergyman; I am an actor." Concerning which a contemporary remarks: "Mr. Miln is mistaken; he is not and never will be an actor." MEDICAL. HUMAN VIVISECTION, ETC.-The anti-vivisectionists predicted, some years ago, that the investigators to whose objects they are "anti" would come at last to experiment on the human subject. Mr. W. Mattieu Williams has become aware of three instances in which this horrible prediction has been fulfilled, in each case with the full consent of the subject and without injury to him. Pasteur has mutilated human skin and moistened the blood with the poisonous secretions of mad rabbits. Dr. B. W. Richardson has invented a painless cutting-knife, and has tested it upon his own arm. And Mr. Harrison Branthwaite, in the interest of temperance, has administered brandy, for the purpose of testing its thermic effects, to three classes of persons-habitual drunkards, moderate drinkers, and abstainers.-Popular Science Monthly. NOTES.-Timothy Seeton, a Dublin philanthropist, has left $200,000 for the benefit of infirm clergymen.- -Harvard has elected a "Professor of Christian Morals" who is to have five assistants, all well-known clergymen of different religious denominations.- -A resort at Shelter Island, L. I., is to be hereafter known as "Divinity Hill," from the fact that so many clergymen summer there. Rev. S. W. Dike, the divorce reformer, is of opinion that the churches of America are a hundred years behind the political organization of the country, and that the Christian Church is not doing for general society what our political institutions are doing for the development of national life. Rev. Dr. Burton, of Hartford, Conn., in a lecture before the Yale theological students, is reported to have said: "I tell you, young gentlemen, a man must have a head full of steam on to keep his whistle open wide or a modern congregation will go to sleep under one of his sermons. Times have changed, and a preacher cannot pray an hour and then preach an hour, and then pray another hour, without disgusting a congregation of the present day. You must so conduct your services that an hour spent in church will not amount to imprisonment."- -The Roman Catholic authorities in Canada have prohibited any more of their flock from joining the Knights of Labor until the Pope has given his permission.- -The Gossner Mission among the Kols in India has now 8 stations and 30,063, or, including the Catechumens, 31,807 Christians. During the last year, 1,155 Christian children and 674 heathen were baptized. Fifteen missionaries, II native pastors, 137 catechists, and 73 teachers are engaged in the work, together with a number of colporteurs and Bible women. 1 The Kol-Christians last year contributed some $1,700 or $1,800 in support of the work, and for church building and repairing.- In a letter written at the close of February, Bishop William Taylor, of Africa, says, having begun two chains of missions toward the interior of the Dark Continent, he hopes during the present year to start two more. He says the chief difficulty is at the beginning. After the way is ALIMENTARY IMPORTANCE OF WATER.-Professor Germain Sée, of Paris, remarks, concerning the alimentary importance of water, that it is essential to dissolve the salts taken in with the food and eliminate them from the system. He denies that men can live on a purely vegetable diet, and points out that the vegetarians themselves confess the fallacy of their theory by using eggs, milk and butter, by which they make up for the want of solid meat.-Popular Science Monthly. WAR UPON FOOD ADULTERATIONS.-The London Sanitary World publishes regularly a "Black-list," including the names of dealers who have been proved to be selling falsified or adulterated goods. It intends to secure for this list the records of all proceedings under the Foods Act, and against the owners of rookeries, throughout England, so that the people of all the villages can learn at once who is cheating them and selling them unwholesome goods.-Popular Science Montal. SCIENTIFIC. MAP OF THE SOLAR SPECTRUM.-Professor H. A. Rowland, of Johns Hopkins University, has completed a photographic map of the solar spectrum, from wave-length 3,680 to 5,790, and has nearly ready the portion above 3,680, to the extremity of the ultra-violet, wave-length about 3,100. A scale of wave-lengths has been added, and the whole is claimed to be more exact and give greater detail than any other map in existence. While the error in wave-length at no part exceeds go, the wave-lengths of more than 200 lines in the spectrum have been accurately determined to 300000 part. MUSIC IN SMOKE.-Professor Barrett, in a lecture, at Dublin, on "Fluid Jets and their vibrations," showed that a jet of water emitted in water would shorten up and flare in response to a musical note of proper pitch; and a jet of smoke in air would be similarly affected by a musical note; and that a musical note is produced when a small flame is brought underneath a long jar. This phenomenon has been applied to the explanation of the dark lines in the solar spectrum. SHIPPING CHEMICALLY PRESERVED BEEF. Recently a steamer, the British Queen, sailed from these shores for Liverpool with the first shipment of chemically preserved beef ever sent to England.—Philadelphia Press. NOTES. A writing telephone is on exhibition in Pittsburgh; the name of the inventor is James H. Robinson.- -Arrangements are to be made with the Mount Hamilton Observatory so that the clock will communicate the correct time to all the rai road offices of the Pacific as far east as Ogden and south to El Paso.— The Mexican Telephone Company made only $87.63 profit on last year's business. -Another genuine original inventor of the telephone has been discovered; his name was Orville Burbank. He was a boy, and made his instrument out of tin cans and string thirty years or more ago; he is dead now. The finance committee of the Massachusetts legislature has reported against under-ground wires.A new polar expedition, under the leadership of Dr Bunge and Baron Toll, has been organized for the zoological and topographical investigation of the island of New Siberia.- -Danger signals in connection with the weather service have been established in the mining districts of England in order to make known there atmospheric changes that make the mines dangerous to work. The leading observatories all work at specialities. At Harvard the relative magnitude of the stars receives chief attention; at Princeton, spectroscopy; at Allegheny, the dark part of solar spectrum and the effect of invisible heat rays on the earth; at Washington, position and orbits of satellites; at Cincinnati, double stars; at Chicago, the surface of Jupiter; and at Albany and Yale, the maps of the heavens.man in the coal region put a little dynamite in the cook stove to remove clinkers. It removed them. It also removed three chairs, one table, the family cat, a twenty-four hour clock, four dollars worth of dishes, and the stove. The fact that the man was likewise removed in something of a hurry will be apt to prevent his mode of removing clinkers becoming popular. This is the candid opinion of The Age of Steel. -A ling cars. I warrant this invention to--" "To save how much wear and tear on NOTES.-The earnings reported for the fourth week in April include the follow- No. No. lines. Miles. State. lines. Miles. I 2.0 Mississippi 43.2 Missouri 83.5 North Carolina 15.0 I 10.5 16.0 2 88.0 Illinois. Louisiana. Michigan Minnesota. 40 666.5 It thus appears that we have a record of tracklaying in the present year in 22 of the States and Territories on 40 lines, which has already reached an aggregate of 6661⁄2 miles of main track, not counting the very considerable mileage of sidings and of old track relaid. This total is about twice that reported up to the same period last year, although the winter of 1884-5 was much more severe than the one just passed, which would account in part for the small amount of construction last spring up to the same date; but the total given for the past four months is also larger than that for the same period in 1884, and indeed in any of the last thirteen years excepting the four years 1880, '81, '82, and '83, the aggregate of construction for 1882 exceeding that of any previous year in the history of the country. It will be seen from the table that some tracklaying has already been done in nearly half the States of the Union, although most of them report only one road each. The principal activity thus far appears to be in Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, and Kansas, and these figures are an indication of the very large mileage which is actually under construction in these States, as the record for the full year will show. Of the 40 lines referred to in the table tracklaying is still in progress on at least 24, and these alone expect to add fully 1,800 miles to their present mileage during this year.-Railway Age. WHAT THE RAILROADS WANT.-The inventor of a patent car coupler was lately admitted to an interview with a Chicago railroad president, and started off with: "Last year twenty-six men were killed or crippled on your road while coup STATISTICAL. SEVENTY YEARS AGO.-The illusions of people concerning the past are generally very attractive, but there are people who take a delight in knocking them to pieces by a volley of facts. The Philadelphia North American, for instance, sets to work to dispose of the delusion, as it calls it, cherished by some people, that the prices of farm products have either declined or not much improved, while manufactured articles have increased in cost. This delusion, it says, comes partly from the almost universal belief that the golden age was during our grandfathers' time, and partly from the false statements in the doctrinaire prints. The North American therefore goes back seventy years, and compares the prices of what the farmer had to sell then and now, as follows: |