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I
Immense Estates.
What is to become t f the great Irish
mansion houses? Is the close of the
next decade to find half of them in
decay ? It is difficult to see how this
can be otherwise if matters con*
tlnue as they are. The Land Com
mission has in many cases reduced
rentals ot farms from 10 to 20 per cent.
Few laudlords have other sources of
income, and in most cases it was as
much as they could do to keep up
their places before the troubles began.
Among the foolish vanities of the
Irish gentry the erection of places of
infinitely too great a scale for the in
comes available to maintain them has
been conspicuous. As a consequence
you see in many cases vast mansions
sadly in need of paint, more or less out
of repairs and surrounded by ill-kept
grounds. It is quite common to see
in the hands of a man with £10,000 a
year an area of pleasure ground and
garden for the maintenance of which
thrioe that amount would be deemed
requisite in England. The extent
of the demense is amazing in some
Irish seats. At Curraghmore (Lord
Waterford’s) it is 8000 acres. At Rock
ingham, Mr. King Harman’s, • 2000.
\At another seat you travel through
about five miles of private road from
the turnpike road to the house. Many
Of these houses contain from 40 Lo 80
rooms, and have cost from 115,000 to
over $500,000. In some are splendid
gjatuary, &c. This applies to some in
very remote places, Lord Sligo’s in
Mayo, for instance. About the finest
mansion In the country is Lord Bel-
more’s in Fermanagh. It has crippled
the finances of the family to this day.
There are very few parks under deer
in Ireland—probably not thirty in the
whole country. Where they exist the
park is rarely around the house as in
England, but in a place apart. Red
deer are only found in Kerry. *
The Women of Quebec.
The French Canadian people have
had the rare taste or luck to keep their
surroundings in harmony with tneir
character. I imagine the city would
be dull, or even distasteful, if its
drowsy and romantic spirit were re
placed by a coarser life. The women
of Quebec are attractive by their ap
pearance of good health. Few of them
are pretty, but many are good-looking
and pleasant. You meet them at al
most any hour returning from mass
or confession, dressed always in dark
colo s, and walking with a slow gait
that might be taken for a sign of med
itation. Their manners are unobtru
sive ; their voices are low and pleas
antly modulated. The young women,
as you brush close by them on the
narrow sidewalk, look up frankly,
without either boldness or shyness,
and pass on with a direct and modest
manner. You see on the Cathedral
steps some ladles of the old French
type, with highbred features and a
dark complexion rich with color.
Their walk, though dignified, is grace
ful and free from haughtiness; and
their manners suggest characters at
once strong, sympathetic and digni
fied. But the most beautiful objects
in Quebec are certainly the children—
rosy, bright and cherubic.
The Most Superior Cat Yet
Heard From.
A literary friend of mine at Bath
had been often vastly amused at the
Interest with which her oat appeared
to view her proceedings at the writing
table. He would sometimes jump up
beside her and lay his paw upon her
wrist. On one occasion, however, he
leaped on the table in front of her and
watohed her narrowly and with such
a preternaturally knowing glance in
his bright eye and with his head held
slightly on one side that she was im
pelled to lay down her pen and look
at him. What was her surprise and
delight to see him walk deliberately to
tno inkstand, take a pen in his mouth
and, leaping to the floor, oommence
tracing characters with it on the car
pet, fortunately for which poor Timo
thy had forgotten the ink.
Another day his mistress said to
him, in fun, “ Oh Timothy, I have
lost the button oil my dress, I wish
you would find it 1” The animal look
ed at her, walked out of the room and
returned in a few minutes with the
missing button in "his mouth. Alas!
poor Timothy! he has disappeared,
and this is probably the only perma
nent record cff his winning ways.
\ Robert George, a mining oapltal^t,
was drugged at Pueblo, Col., and
ibbed of *6000.
Lite in Morocco.
No sooner does one laud in Africa
than be passes into a sphere of tran
quillity and enj >ys a state of rest and
c dm to which all parts of Europe are
strangers. The haste and flurry of life
fall off like an irksome garment shed
on a hot day; time is of no more ac
count, and worry is lmpossibl amidst
a population Which moves with digni
fied slowness and defers all unneces
sary exertion till to-morrow. What
ever may be the bustle of arrival, the
clamor of boatmen, the indescribable
noise and tumult and vociferation of
the swarm that assails the stranger,
seizes his property with a hundred
hands, and threatens to scatter it all
over Morocco; whatever may be the
market-place, with its camels, and
donkeys, and dervishes, and conjurers,
and beggars in clouds, pellers of lentils
and greens, and bundles of stick for
firewood, grain, sugar-candy, dates,
oranges, pottery and “ truck ” of all
sorts powdered with dust; whatever
may be the importunity of sellers, and
the eagerness to act as guides of bright
eyed boys, who have a smattering of
half a dozen languages and ofteh the
oourtly manner of young princes,
there is, nevertheless, in all this noise
and rout, a sense of underlying calm,
of absence of hurry, very grateful to
Europeans, whose nervee,«in the de
velopment of civilization, have all
worked out upon the surface. There
is even .something soothing in the
ceaseless and monotonous tom-tom of
the drumB and the skirmishing and
plaintive attempts of the flutes to sug
gest the minor air they are too lazy to
play, and in the spasmodic and die-
away ejaculations of the musicians,
who sit upon the ground worrying
away at the tunes that are a thousand
years old, and will be played with the
same industrious idleness a thousand
years hence. It requires less energy
for the performers to go on with this
sort of music than to stop.
Highest Bridge in tbt World.
The highest railroad bridge in the
world, now being constructed on the
extension of the Bradford branch of
the New York, Lake Erie and West
ern Railroad, is now nearly half com
pleted, and will, no doubt, be finished
and trains crossing within six weeks.
The bridge spans a deep ravine, at the
bottom of whioh flows the Kinzua
creek, situated in^ McKean county,
Pa., three miles from Alton, the pres
ent terminus of the Bradford branch.
The structure, when finished, will be
2052 feet long between abutments and
302 feet high from..the surfaee of the
ground to the base of the rail. It is
composed of continuous lateral girded
irons, supported on twenty iron tow
ers, formed by columns strongly con
nected together by bracing, so as to
give the greatest amount of strength
and stability to resist pressure from
winds and storms. There are twenty
clear spans of sixty-one and one of
sixty-two feet in length. Dae provi
sion is made for expansion and con
traction, as in the girders of the truss
on the plates'oonnecting the columns
at the base of the towers and to the
masonry. The towers are firmly an
chored to the masonry piers by heavy
iron rods. The floor system of the
viaduct, which is twenty feet in width,
consists of oak ties eight inches in
width and twelve Inches deep, laid on
the girders eight inches apart, on
which the rails rest. Every provision
is made for safety by double timber
guard rails and au inside steel guard
rail. On each side, outside the guard
rails, a sidewalk is laid and protected
by a hand rail. The weight of iron in
the structure is 4,200,000 pounds.
The Power of Figures.
It is stated that the cost of shoeirq? a
hbrse with eight nails to each shoe,
commencing at one oent for the first
nail and doubling the amount of each
suooessive nail, amounts in the total
to forty-two million, nine hundred
and forty-nine thousand, six hundred
and seventy-two dollars and ninety-
five cents. This is altogether too much
money for shoeing a horse, though no
doubt the blacksmith might be pre
vailed upon to throw off the odd nine
ty-five cents. A cheaper plan would
be to pay him one oent for the first
nail, and then take the horse home,
and return him next day and begin
over again, commencing at the second
nail at one oent, and so on until the
horse was shod. This would consume
thirty-two days iu the shoeing, but
the owner of the animal would save a
big pile of money.
Mabel’s Lover.
Under the shadow of a great fig-tree
a young girl sat iu a deep reverie
Such a sweet smile of full satisfaction
on her face that a stranger would cer
taiuly have said : ‘ She is thinking of
her lover.” But no lover had Mabel
Rae. Her pleasure sprang from a far
less dangerous source—from the hand
ful of tuberoses in her lap. Their
spiritual, dreamy beauty, and rare,
rich perfume always held her as in a
spell of measureless content, and the
lovely waxen flowers, pale, pure, and
white as moonshine, haunted her
heart and imagination, and received
from her a perpetual love and friend
ship.
There she sat until the heat and
stillness of the tropic noon drove her to
the house, a grand old home, hid
among giant live oaks gray with the
solemn waving Southern moss. She
went to the large dim parlor intend
ing to put her favorites am6ng the
damp moss of the hanging baskets,
but the dreamy languor of the room
overcame every desire but that of sleep,
and she lay down on the nearest couch
holding her flowers in her hand.
Half an hour later Mr. Rae opened
the door and ushered in a gentle
man who had accompanied him from
New Orleans.
“Sit down, Allan,” he said, “I will
soon arouse the house. You see It is
the hour for siesta, and I believe all
take it at the time when I am away.”
For a few minutes the young man
believed himself alone. A subtle pow
erful perfume was his first sensation.
Then, as his eyes became accustomed
to the dim light of the jalousies,he saw
a sight that he nevermore forgot—a
most lovely girl, in the first bloom of
maidenhood, fast asleep on the silken
cushions piled on a low divan. Her
white robes made a kind of glory in
the darkened corner, one hand had
fallen down and the flowers gemmed
the carpet at her side ; the other lay
across her breast as if embracing the
tuberoses which it hud scattered there.
Never in all his native mountains,
never in any dream of love or fancy,
had Allan Monteith seen a woman
half so fair. He stood gazing on Ma
bel as if he had “seen a vision,”
There lay his destiny asleep ; he knew
it and opened his whole soul to wel
come “Love’s young dream.” But
when Mr. Rae, followed by a negro
valet, returned, and Mabel languidly
opened .her great pensive eyes and
stretched out her arms for her father’s
embrace, Allan almost thought he
should faint from excess of emotion,
and it was with difficulty he con
trolled himself to receive the introduc
tion and apologies necessary.
Allan Monteith was a young Scotch
man, the only son of a gentlemtfh
with whom in early life Mr. Rae had
formed a most aident friendship. He
was rich, and by nature and birth
equally noble; nor was he destitute of
the traditional business capacities of
his house, as some late transactions in
cotton and sugar in New Orleans had
proved to Mr. R*e. And partly be
cause he liked the young man, and
partly as a matter of interest, he had
invited him to his home among the
woods and lagoons of the ever green
bayou. Mabel, iu this transaction,had
scarcely been properly considered;
but to her father Bhe was yet a child.
True, he recognized her beauty, and
was very proud of it, and she possess
ed an exquisite voice and great skill
in* music, and the passing idea of
showing his pearl of great price to the
foreigner rather flattered his vanity
than alatmed his fears. Ha did not
dream that he was Introducing anew
olaimant for its possession.
Allan lingered as if in an enchanted
castle till he had no life, no will, no
hopes, but those whioh centered in
Mabel Rae. And she soon returned
his passion with a love even more ab
sorbing and far less selfish than her
lover’s.
Oh, the sweet, warm, love-laden
days in those solemnly shaded woods!
Oh, the blisjful hours in the cool
evenings, when the perfume of tube
roses and jasmine filled the air I when
the soft moonlight glorified every
lovely and every oommon thing 1 It
was like a dream of those days when
the old rustio gods reigned, and to live
was to love, and to love was to be
happy.
With the fall, however, there c£ne
letters from Sootland, and Allan oould
no longer delay. Mr. Rae would hear
of no engagement for two years, by
whioh time he said he hoped to give
Mabel such a fortune as would make
her acceptable In the eyes of Allan’s
father. But for the present he abso-
lutelr refused to look upon the young
people’s attachment as binding on
either side.
“ In less than two years I will be
here again, Mabel darling,” were
Allan’s last whispered words, as he
held her in bis arms, and kissed again
and again the face dearer than all the,
world to him. And Mabel smiled
through her tears and held the last
tuberose of the summer to her lips for
a parting pledge.
But the two years brought many
changes. The war cloud gathered,snd
long before Allan could redeem his
promise the little inland plantation
was desolate and deserted; Mable was
an orphan and cruelly embarrassed
in money affairs; claimants without
number appeared against the Rae
estate, and creditors forced the planta
tion into the ground at the most un
favorable time. She was driven from
her home in strict accordance with the
letter of the law, but she felt and
knew, though powerless to prevent it,
that she had been wronged.
For the first time in all her life
Mabel thought for herself and dared
to look the future in the face. She
had promised her father neverto write
to Allan without his permission, bat she
considered that death annuls all con
tracts, and surely now if ever it was
Allan’s duty to befriend and care for
her. So she sent him word, in a few
shy, timid sentences, of her sorrow
and loneliness. But it was doubtful if
ever the letter would reach him;
mails in those days were not oertain-
ties; and even if It did reach Allan it
was still more uncertain whether he
oould reach Mabel. And In the mean
time she must work, and though
Mabel could command no higher posi
tion than that of a nursery governess,
yet she found in it a higher life than
ever the dreamy, luxurious selfish
ness cf her father’s home had given
her.
Her employers were of the ordinary
class. I can weave no romance out of
them. They felt no special interest in
Mabel, neither did they ill use her.
She was useful and unobtrusive, and
asked for neither sympathy nor atten
tion. No letter came from Allan,
though she waited and hoped with
failing heart and paling ckeek for
more than a year. She had not the
courage to write again, and her anx
iety and distress began to tell very
perceptibly on a naturally frail consti
tution. Then a physician advised her
to try at once a more invigorating cli
mate, and she not unwillingly agreed
to accompany the Invalid wife of an
officer returning to her home in New
York.
This was the dawn of a brighter day
for Mabel. By the advice of friends
she established herself in a fashionable
locality and commenced teaching
music. I think few women oould
have been more successful; so In the
seoond winter of Mabel’s residence In
New York it became “ the thing ” to
invite Miss Rae to preside over select
social and musical entertainments. I
have a friend who met her during that
season and who describes her tact and
influence as something extraordinary
and magnetic. H ;r rare beauty was
undiminished though more thought-
fi«l; her dress was uniformly the same
—a pale pink lustreless silk, with tube
roses In her hair and at her breast, for
her passion for these flowers was
stronger than sver.
Sae had many lovers, but she de
cidedly igndred or refused all. Her
heart was still with the tall fair moun
taineer who had won it amid the
warmth and perfume of tropic noons
and moon-lit nights; and though
twice two years had passed she still
refused to believe him false.
And she was right. Allan deserved
her fullest faith. Her letters had
never reached him, and he had with
incredible difficulty made his way to
New Orleans only to find the planta
tion in the hands of strangers and
Mabel gone. After a long dispiriting
search he left Mabel’s discovery in the
hands of well paid agents and return
ed to Scotland almost broken-hearted.
But he still loved her passionately
and often on stormy nights when the
winds tossed the tall pines like straws,
and mountain snows beat at the barred
doors and windows, he thought of the
happy peace and solemn sileoces in
whioh he and his love had walked,
listening only to the beating of their
own hearts or the passionate under
tones qf the mocking birds.
Thus the two walked apart who
should have walked hand in hand,
and it seemed as if the years only
'widened that breach over whioh two
souls looked longingly and called
vainly.
But if we will wait the harvest of
the heart will come; and so one day
Mabel got a note from a friend an
nouncing her return from abroad, and
begging her to be present at a small
reunion at her house that evening.
She went early i » the day and spent
the afternoon in that pleasant gossip
which young and happy women enj oy.
Her friend rallied her a good deal upon
her growing years, and laughingly
advised her to secure a youag Scotch
man with whom they had a pleasant
acquaintance in their travels, ar d who
was now in Njw York and going to
spend the evening with them.
Did fate knock softly at Mabel’s soul
then ? for she blushed, and instantly,
as if by magic, there sprang up in her
heart a happy refrain, whioh she
oould not control, and which kept on
singing, “He comes ! he comes 1 my
lover comes 1”
She dressed with more than ordin
ary care, and was so impatient that
her toilet was completed before the
others had begun. So she sat down in
the sun-lit parlors, saying to herself;
“I must be still. I will be calm ; for
how shall 1 bear a disappointment and
what ground of hope have I ? Abso
lutely none, but that he comes from
the same country. There is no hope.”
But still above the doubt and fear
■he oould hear the same chiming un
der tone, “He comes, he comes ! my
lover oomes!”
She became nervous and supersti
tious, and when the silence was broken
by a quick ring and rapid footstep she
rose involuntarily from her chair, and
stood trembling and flashing with ex
citement in the middle of the room,
Ah, Mabel, Mabel, your heart has seen
further than your eyes. Allan has
come at last.
“Ah, my darling! my darling! I
have found you at last! ’ ’ was all that
Mabel heard as Allan clasped her to
his bosom.
And so Mabel’s winter of sorrow
and discontent was over, and never
more did she have pain or grief, un
soothed—for she was loved.
The Diffusion 61 Bacteria.
The researches of M. Pasteur and
Darwin have shown how earthworms
may aid the diffusion of small organ
isms, some of which may produce dis
ease. Professor 8chn?tzler states that
the dfj actions of earthworms always
contain numerous living bacteria and
their germs (the hay-bacterium in
cluded). It is clear that bacteria in
enormous quantity flaat in the air ;
and Professor Schnetzler points out a
small apparatus traversed by about
8000 cubic centimetres of air per min
ute, which may give information as to
those floating germs. This is no other
than the nasal cavity, on the mucous
surface of which air-particles are de
posited. To observe these he advises
injecting the nose with distilled water
(completely sterilized) by means of a
glass syringe previously calcined. The
liquid so obtained is put in one per
fectly dean watch glass and%>vered
by another. With a microscope mag
nifying 700 or 800 one finds among
the various particles in the liquid,
some real live bacteria. If the liquid
be kept a few days in a glass tube her
metically sealed the bacteria are found
to have increased very considerably.
One sees bacterium termo, vibro, spiril
lum,, bacillus, subtilis, e ven some infu
soria, and spores and fragments of
fungi. Professor Schnetzler has fur
ther successfully cultivated the organ
ized germs by means of a mixture of
gelatine and dfttllled water.
Why do not those bacteria in the
nasal cavity always multiply and de
velop and penetrate to the windpipe
and the lungs? Their progress is
doubtless opposed by the vibratory
movement of cilia (or minute hairs) in
the air passages, and the weakly alka
line reaction of the nasal mucous may
(it is also suggested) be unfavorable to
some of them. Oohn has proved that
bacteria producing acid fermentation
]>eriBh in liquids with alkaline reac
tion. Infectious bacteria may, how
ever, multiply to a formidable extent
on living mucous surfaces, witness the
growth of the miorooooous of diphthe
ria, brought by the air into the air pas
sages; aho the baoterlum of anthrax.
The bacillus of tubercle, as Kooh has
lately shown, may be transmitted
from one person to another by the air
passages. Professor Schnetzler thinks
hay fever may also be due to baoterla
entering the nose. While the devel
opment of baoterla on normal muooua
surfaces la usually limited, millions of
them are found in the dejections of
healthy children.
Bet bard’s grist and saw mill, at
Chatham, Ont., was burned. Loss,
$12,OCO.