Plattsmouth weekly journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1881-1901, March 15, 1894, Image 7

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IN MEMORY'S HEAVEN.
Can there fall, in Paradise,
Sweeter light from deathless eye.
Than across my pathway fell
Once by happy miracle.
In the morning of my days,
"When my heart first met her gaze?
Day was melling into even.
Crimson was the dying heaven;
Overhead, in depths afar,
A faint and solitary star
Slipped aside its airy veil.
Cloud-inwoven, and with pals
Finsers dipped in silver dew
Set its taper in the blue.
From what still, enchanted race
Came the marvel of that face!
Beauty such as seraphs wear
In illumined realms of air.
Or the dead, when o'er their deep,
Passionless, eternal sleep
Steals a glory that transcends
Earthly loveliness, and lends
To Love's heart and Sorrow's eyes
Glimpses of celestial skies.
In a vesture snowy-white.
Like an angel form of light.
Thus in radiant grace she stood.
In the dawn of womanhood.
For a moment's dreaming spacs
I had vision of her face:
Then she turned, and, with a last
Farewell gleam of beauty, passed
Silent as a star might fall
From its heights empyreal.
She was gone, and I no word
From thoe sacred lips had heard:
"What was left, by heavenly chance.
As my heart's inheritance,
Was a look ttat time can never
With dark disenchantment sever
From my memory forever.
Wilbur Dubois, in N. Y. Independent
KOMANCE OF A PLAY
.A Plot From Heal Life and the
ReBUlts.
"Bat what put the idea into your
liead?" asked the leading man of the
-dramatist, as they stood together dur
ing1 the rehearsal of the new play.
The dramatist was a lady, a tall,
light woman of perhaps thirty, with
a striking f aee, lighted by a pair of
dark blue eyes. The beauty of those
eye made people sometimes fancy
.Mrs. Clavering was beautiful, but she
was not; she was intellectual, she was
charming and sympathetic, and she
liad suffered you could see that in her
face. Perhaps, then, Bhe was, in a
sense, beautiful. The leading man was
inclined to think so, and he liked Tery
much to talk to her. As for her, she
thought him "a nice fellow," and ad
mired his acting, but that was alL She
Btniled at his question.
Oh! I hardly know," she said, with
an absent look in her blue eyes. "Don't
you like it?"
"Like it? Yes. of course I do; it's
telling, very telling; a bit romantic,
you know."
"Oh, yes! not like real life; but real
life is sometimes too prosaic for the
stage- I often thinli these pessimists
-one hears so much o now have known
very little trouble. They are too fond
of dabbling in the miseries of exist
ence." The leading man gave the speaker a
quick look; but his cue came just then
in fact, he had missed it and he had
to run forward to take his place.
Mrs. Clavering was a novelist who
.tad not been very long in London, hav
ing spent most of her life abroad. She
had written two or three one-act
pieces, which had been well received;
and now she had launched into a three
act pie:e and was going to produce it
at a matinee. It was a clever play,
well put together and well written, but
riot calculated to set all the town talk
ing, though superior to a good many
plays that do 6et the town talking-.
What the leading man alluded to
was, as it were, the motif of the piece.
The hero, in the first act, cast off his
wife and left her, declaring be would
live as he chose, she hampered him,
and so on. The wife, still loving the
man who was so cruel to her, declared
he could not shake her off. "1 shall be
with you," she cries, "whether you
will or no! You shall hear me call to
you when the darkest hour of life
comes; and if I cannot win you back to
lore I will, at least, keep you from
crime."
In the second act the hero is about to
marry a rich girl; the wedding guests
arrive, all is ready, when suddenly
he starts; he hears his wife's
voice calling to him; he is appalled,
conscience-stricken; he confesses his
intended crime. In the third act mat
ters have reached a climax; the hero,
ruined socially and in purse, is about
to commit suicide; once more the warn
ing voice arrests him, he flings the pis
tol away, and as he does so his wife en
ters and the two are completely recon
ciled. "A charming idea," said the leading
lady to the author, "but don't you
make Margaret too forgiving?"
"I don't know Graham is her hus
band." "That makes it harder."
"Oh! no; I think it makes it easier."
"Do you?" aloud but to herself:
'Her husband was one of the good
sort, or she wouldn't talk so. It's all
right to forgive like that in a play;
in real life the husband would go the
old way again in no time at all."
"Yes," 6aid Mrs. Clavering. "Have
you ever read Browning's 'Any Wife to
Any Husbandr "
'The leading lady raised her brows.
"No, indeed!" she said. "Browning
is too deep for me."
"Anyone can understand that. Head
it."
The stage manager came v to ask
about a proposed "cut," and tue lead
ing lady turned away to ask the lead
ing man whether Mrs. Clavering was a
widow, divorced or separated.
"I'm sure I don't know," was the an
swer; and nobody else did. She lived
in apattments near one of the West
Central squares and was always wel
come ia the literary nd artistic circles
In which she moved, and, though it was
generally presumed that her husband
was dead, it could not be relled that
h bad ever said so; and fcoruotims is
these days it isn't wise to be curious
about people's absent or non-est hus
bands. When yon come to think of it,
indeed, it would be difficult to assert
positively that Clavering was her real
name. Her novels were published as
by Alix Clavering, and when she came
to London she called herself Mrs. Clav
ering, which might or might not be a
torn de guerre; for it was her publish
ers who first introduced her into Lon
don literary society, and it was not
their business to disclose her real name,
supposing that she had another name
than that under which she chose to ap
pear. The rehearsal was over and Mrs.
Clavering went home. She had a few
alterations to make in the second and
third acts, and after a slight luncheon
she settled herself to the task. Set
tled? She seemed very restless and
worked fitfully. Sometimes, for min
utes together, she sat with her face
hidden in her hands and more than
once tears trickled through her fingera
"They say the piece is likely to catch
on," said a gentleman, who. in truth,
was a backer of a West End theater,
lie was one of a group of men in the
Bmoking-room of a rather Bohemian
club, and his remark was in continua
tion of a desultory chat between him
self and a well-known actor manager.
"Yes," answered the other, careless
ly, as he knocked the ashes off his
cigar. "They say that of so many of
these matinee shows, and they're gen
erally such rot."
"What play is that, if I may ask?" in
quired a man who had just caught the
last words.
The speaker was an uncommonly
handsome man, apparently about thirty-six
or thirty-even, but he had a
reckless look, not pleasant to see. A
cautious man would think twice before
introducing this gentleman into his
home, for, besides his personal good
looks, he had a sweet-toned voice and
an attractive address, and with these
weapons of attack he could easily con
quer women's hearts, breaking them
afterward at his leisure.
The "backer" answered him. "A
piece written by Mrs. Clavering. the
novelist She's not a 'prentice hand.
Some one-act plays of hers have been
done already."
"I remember reading one of her nov
els; it was clever," said Mr. Leslie.
"What's the play about?" You noticed,
when he spoke, that his English was
slightly tinged with foreign accent.
That was natural enough, for his life,
since his youth, had been passed abroad,
and he had only come to England about
a month ago.
"I can't teU you; story out of the
beaten track, they say, again. I shall
be able to send you a stall, if you care
to go; you needn't sit it out if you're too
much bored."
Wilmot Leslie was already a favorite
with the men who knew him. In this
topsey-turvy world it often happens
that the least worthy are the most at
tractive. "Thanks," Leslie answered. "I shall
be very pleased to go. A trial matinee
is something of a novelty to me, you
know. One doesn't have them abroad."
"No, thank Heaven!" groaned the
actor manager, and Leslie laughed, but
his laugh was not mirthful; it would
not strike yon that he was a happy
man. Perhaps, like a good many, he
was trying to live down his conscience:
Some one suggested cards, and a move
was made to the cardroom.
There Leslie proved a "plunger."
but he generally won, and a keen ob
server of human nature might have
noticed that there was something
fictitious in his excitement as if he
were keeping up the steam, as it were,
to prevent his "inner self" asserting it
self. At three a. in. he walked through
the growing dawn to the chambers,
but the ghosts that flitted along by
his side all the way followed him in
and kept their silent watch, ghosts of
evil deeds and misspent hours. There
ws one gho6t than came nearer to
him than the others and looked at him
with eyes of unutterable pain and sor
row. He covered his face, but he saw
these eyes all the same; he called him
self a fool and cursed his "nervous
mood," but the specters never stirred,
and the sad eyes grew sadder that
was alL
"I have done with it all!" he cried.
kwith a reckless laugh. "I'm getting
sentimental. Pouf! I'll settle accounts
with a six-shooter if I can't get rid of
those fancies any other way. It's too
late to hark back."
The day of the matinee came. The
play was ' called "Opal," from the
legend of that beautiful stone that it
glows bright while the love of the
wearer for the giver burns clear and
strong and grows dim when love
falters and fails. Leslie's stall was in
the last row, and he knew none of the
people near him; his acquaintances in
England were at present not many.
He looked carelessly over his pro
gramme, and bit his lip for a moment
with a quick-drawn breath; his tongue
almost whispered the name of the
heroine. Margaret
But the name is
common enough. He
listened to the
chatter of the people about him most
ly professionals not because it had
any interest for him. but because he
hailed anything that took his atten
tion away from retrospection any
thing that drove the ghosts a little
farther away.
The curtain rose; the play began.
Leslie listened at first with the languid
indifference of the blase playgoer. By
and by be became interested; he
watched and listened intently. He
held his breath when the hero flung
his wife from him and went oui It
was the close of the act, and the peo
ple in front applauded, all except Wil
mot Leslie. He did not stir.
In the second act the interest deep
ened; the man in the stall." with the
handsome, reckless face was en
thralled. The fe.llow in the play was
haunted so was he, Wilmot Leslie.
He scarcely heard the applause; never
lifted a hand how could he? For this
was not a play it was reality. Mar
garet loves Ijt husband through all
through unfaith and desertion, and all
Lis piled up sins against her. Bah! it
ia play a woman's sertimeutal no
tions. Let the author be tried. She
would not keep the opal bright The
man wasn't worth one tear of hers. Let
him be cast out and forgotten, as he
deserved.
And now came the third and last act,
where the husband ia prevented from
committing the crime he meditates;
and in the end, in a beautifully written
scene which alone, said the critics
afterward, ought to make the fortune
of the play Margaret forgives the man
who has so bitterly wronged her.
Wilmot Leslie, white as death yet
otherwise masking, for pride's sake,
the agony in his heart listened to the
words every one of which stabbed him
with fatal blows. A play yes. only
a play!- but oh! that there could be for
his wasted, sinful life such a last act as
this!
The curtain was down and the house
applauding and calling for the author.
Wilmot Leslie, eager to see the woman
who could write like this, lingered,
and presently Mrs. Clavering appeared
at the wing to bow ber thanks. The
face flashed for a second upon Leslie's
startled gaze: the next, his eyes were
blinded by a scarlet mist he saw noth
ing, heard nothing, knew nothing. He
groped his way out to the lobby; some
one spoke to him; he gave no answer;
he had not heard. He reached his own
rooms going on through the streets in
the same dazed way and there he
flung (himself down, and with a great
and exceedingly bitter cry: "Margaret!
Margaret!"
"A gentleman, ma'am, asks to see
you."
"What name, Janet?" said Alix Clav
ering, putting aside a pile of morning
papers, all of which, more or less,
praised the new play, though some said
that Margaret's love was too nearly di
vine to be possible in real life.
"He said you would not know it,
ma'am. He would not detain you long."
"Still, I suppose he has a name.
Well, show him up."
The servant retired and in a minute
opened the door again. A tall man
came in, just a step beyond the thresh
old, and paused there, the door closing
behind him.
Mrs. Clavering rose to her feet,
trembling, and they stood face to face
after seven years husband and wife;
seventy times seven years of wrong be
tween them.
The man spoke first, his head beet,
his voice hoarse and broken, the sen
tences falling from his lips in disjoint
ed fragments.
"I have been in England for a
month past I did not know that you
called yourself Clavering. No matter
I should not have troubled you only
" He paused. It might have helped
him if he had seen her face; but he did
not see it; he dare not lift his eyes to
hers. lie went on with an effort: "I
saw your play yesterday, and I saw you.
1 he woman Margaret that was not
you yon? Only a beautiful play
isn't that it?"
"No," she said, slowly. She did not
move, but clasped her hands tightly
over her laboring heart "The woman
i Margaret is my heart She loved him
i all through though his sins were sear-
let he was her husband! And he loved
i her once! So when he came back to
her, casting all the evil years behind
i him. she forgave!"
! "No. no!" the man cried, trembling
in every limb. "She could not forgive
such wrong! The message was not for
me, Margaret; it was only a play!"
"It was deep calling unto deep," she
said; "it was my heart calling to
yours!"
She stretched out her hand toward
him, and he looked up and saw the
light in her eyes. He staggered for
ward, with a broken cry, and fell down
at her feet, and she laid her arms about
his neck and drew his head against
her. "My husband," she said. Lon
don Sketch.
FOR A UTOPIA IN AFRICA.
Socialists to Found There a Brotherhood of
Man, and Maintain It with Maxim Guns.
It is stated by the Manchester Guar
dian that negotiations are proceeding
for the establishment of the "free
land" colony in East Africa, where it is
intended to make an attempt, on s
scale never before contemplated, to
carry out the idea of a socialistic com
munitj'. It is in Austria that the idea
originated, and the district selected
for the experiment is Lykipia. near
Mount Kenia, in the British sphere of
influence. Representations have been
made to the British foreign office and
an offer made to purchase a large tract
of country on the condition that while
the community shall be subject to any
general laws which the British gov
ernment may make, they shall have
absolute freedom to regulate their in
ternal affairs on a socialistic basis.
The experiments made in America and
elsewhere have failed, it is said, be
cause they were tried on too small a
stage and on too small a scale, and the
highest hopes are entertained that, re
mote from the bad example of society
as at present organized, and with am
ple elbow room for development, the
new community will show to the
world what may be done by men and
women devoted to the socialistic ideal.
The British government is averse to
giving absolute rights of ownership
over the large tract of land in ques
tion, but the organizers of the nev
movement are apparently very much
in earnest. They have secured a leader
of the expedition to the new promised
land in the person of Herr Deuhardt,
who is well known on the east coast of
Africa, and part of the equipment of
the new community is to be a Maxim
gun and a supply of rifles.
"Crank came in my office to-day.
Demanded ten thousand dollars.
Threatened dynamite if he didn't get
it," said Callow. "And you did what?"
"Gave him the money right off." "So
you are out ten thousand, eh?" "Nope.
When I'd given him ths uoney, I in
duced him to put it up ip I had."
"Yes?" "He did it, ana I won my pile
back on a turn of the market" Har
per's Bazar.
It is supposed that a hen lays aa
egg because she can't stand it on nd.
Texas Sift.ir.ga,
ON THE TARIFF.
Nothing to Be
Gtinetl by Further
Inves-
tiration.
The decision of the senate finance
committee to give no hearing; on the
Wilson tariff bill is wise. In the ab
stract it is indeed desirable that an in
dustrial measure of this sort should be
carried through only after a most care
ful and painstaking investigation, and
with a detailed consideration of the ef
fects in regard to each industry. But
as legislation goes in the United States,
the experience of the last fifteen years
indicates that nothing would be gained
and something would be lost by pre
liminary hearings.
Among the congressional documents
there is a long series of reports, argu
ments and hearings presented at one
time or another on the tariff question.
There is the report and testimony of
the tariff commission of 1SS2, in two
large volumes. These are the argu
ments presented on the Morrison
tariff bill of 1SS4, and on the next
Morrison tariff bill of 18S6. The testi
mony taken before the senate finance
committee in 1SSS fills four bulky vol
umes. The hearings before the com
mittee on ways and means on the Mc
Kinley tariff act of 1390 make another
thick book, and those before the pres
ent committee on ways and means on
the Wilson tariff bill still another.
Here we have a whole array of vol
umes, from which we can judge what
would be the probable result of further
hearings, if now given by the senate
finance committee.
An examination of this huge mass of
evidence on the tariff shows that it
yields singularly little satisfactory in
formation. It consists chiefly either of
general disquisitions on the tariff at
large, or else of appeals by interested
parties for increase of duties on par
ticular articles. The only object which
hearings could now promote would be
an improvement of the details of the
Wilson bilL As to the general
principle, the country decided emphatic
ally in the elections of 1S90 and 1592
that it desired a moderation of the ex
treme protective system. As to details,
the hearings of the past have shown
chiefly what duties those engaged in
the protected industries desired, while
THE DEMOCRATIC WASHINGTON
WARE. N.
the main evidence which they have
brought forward in justification of
their demands has consisted of lengthy
comparisons of the rate of wages in
European countries and in the United
States, without any reference to the
relative efficiency of labor in the two.
Tf it were desired really to secure
trustworthy and solid information as
to the expediency of the different
rates of duty, it would be necessary to
have something more than this sort
of vague and ex-parte testimony. Men
interested in protective industries are
inevitably tempted to exaggerate their
need of duties, and, indeed, will often
honestly think that their business re
quires a greater degree of protection
J than in fact there is any occasion for.
I It is an open secret, too, that they will
j sometimes intentionally ask for more
j than they expect to get, so as to leave
j some room for apparent concession.
In the hearings held when the repub
lican senate bill of 18SS was prepared,
and at those which preceded the Mc
Kinley act of 1890, this diplomatic pol
icj' was followed with unexpected re
sults. Higher rates were asked, in not
a few cases, than it was expected to se
cure; then, when the details of the bill
were presented, the manufacturers
were as much surprised as was the
country to find that they got every
thing which they had asked. Under
the present circumstances, hearings be
fore the senate committee would mean
simply that those who were interested
in the protective duties would present
long tales of woe, and protest that any
reduction of duty would ruin them.
They would exaggerate the effect of
any change, in the hope of securing
some sort of concession, and would
throw no real light on the question
how far vested interests are really
likely to be affected by the changes in
the rates of duty. All the information
which is now likely to be got by
public hearings is already in the posses
sion of the senate, from the voluminous
reports of the last few years.
It is unfortunate that our traditions
and habits in legislation make it virtu
ally impossible to get accurate, de
tailed information as to the probable
effects of tariff measures. It would
not be impossible in the abstract to
have a commission of honest and capa
ble men, who should examine the con
dition of the various protected indus
tries, and should report a careful and
i detailed scheme for a moderation of
the tariff. Such a commission would
not content itself with hearing only
those who chose to appear; it would
summon witnesses, appoint special
agents to investigate particular cases,
carry its inquiries to other countries,
secure information from all possible
HEARINGS
sources, and would give real aid in the
preparation of a well-framed tariff bilL
Something of this sort was attempted
in 1SS2, when the tariff commission of
that year was appointed. Unfortun
ately that commission was made up al
most entirely of protectionists, and its
investigation, while more fruitful than
those of congressional committees, yet
had the same ex-parte character. Even
if a perfectly non-partisan commission
were appointed it is questionable how
far congress would follow its recom
mendations. The absence of any con
centrated responsibility in congress,
and the possibility of tinkering
and amendments in committees, in
the house, in the senate, in cone
ference committees between the two
houses, make it exceedingly diffi
cult to carry through intact any
piece of legislation, however carefully
prepared. Our political methods make
inevitable a certain rough-and-ready
element in legislation, which perhaps
has its good sides as well as its bad.
At all events, there are flaws of detail
in every tariff act Even the McKinley
act was admitted by the protectionists
to contain some mistakes, and those
who favor the passage of the Wilson
bill need not claim that it is immacu
late. But it is an honest measure, car
rying out the pledges on which th
democrats were put into power by the
people. It is as carefully framed in its
details as any tariff measure which
has been before the community for the
last thirty years. It is not likely to be
improved in the provisions as to pro
tected articles by hearings or by
tinkering in the senate. On the other
hand, the business interests of the
community demand a speedy settle
ment of the tariff question. Harper's
Weekly.
OPINIONS AND POINTERS.
"Conservatism" is the name of
the senatorial decoy duck the McKin
ley itesare now depending upon. N.
Y. World.
McKinley's swing around the
circle might have more effect if the
date were two years later. It will re
quire a good deal of a strain to keep
the enthusiasm up to this pitch until
1893. St Louis Gloe-Democrat (Rep. ).
CROSSING
Y. World.
THE M'KINLEY DELA-
The handwriting on the wall
spells McKinley in Pennsylvania, but
outside of that citadel of the sky high
tariff it reads: Proceed with the Wil
son bill, annd proceed with greater ex
pedition than hitherto. Boston Her
ald. The protectionist scheme has al
ways been to complicate the tariff, so
that nobody can understand it The
way to reform it is to simplify it
Down with the rascally schedules and
classifications! Louisville Courier
Journal. In the declaration of the re
publican leaders that they will have
no more crookedness, there is a re
freshing admission that they have
heretofore been given to wandering
from the straight and narrow path.
Detroit Free Press.
It will be noticed that the manu
facturers who reduce the pay of their
employes "on account of the Wilson
bill" always forget to reduce the prices
of their products. This is the McKin
ley idea of protection to American la
bor. N. Y. World.
The democratic party will never
make much progress towards annihi
lating tariff monopoly until it drums
the tariff monopolists out of its camp.
Two or three protectionist democrats
under such circumstances can do more
to block reform than the entire repub
lican organization. Chicago Herald.
The welcome report that the
United States treasury is in an im
proved condition affords further evi
dence of the fact that the general pros
perity of the country is being restored
and that time coupled with wise action
on the part of those in national control
are alone necessary to the establishment
of better times than could ever be
hoped for under the baneful influence
of McKinleyism. Detroit Free Press.
"When the republicans reduced
tariff duties," says the St Louis Globe
Democrat "they did not increase the
public debt to make good the loss of
revenue." But they made it necessary
for their successors to increase it under
the republican revenue laws. "When
the republicans reduced tariff duties." it
was the revenue duties which they re
duced, increasing at the same time pro
tective duties. It is thus that under the
operation of their law, which has not
been changed in the slightest particu
lar, a deficiency in the revenues
made a bond issue necessary. The
reason that the republicans did not re
sort to a bond issue was that they were
turned out before the operation of their
law required such an expedieacy. They
had their bonds already printed when
they went out of office. Louisville
Courier-J ournaL
SCHOOL AND CHURCH.
udge Melvin M. Gray,of St Louis
Las given f 25, 000 to Drury college,
Springfield, Mo., to endow a chair of
geology in memory of his wife.
Nine years ago there was not a
single Salvationist in Denmark. Now
there are 57 corps there, 175 officers,
8,000 soldiers, and a weekly War Cry
circulation of 12,000.
The pope has accorded an extra
ordinary jubilee to France, to extend
from Easter to Christmas. The occa
sion is the fifteenth centenary of the
baptism of Clovis, king of the Franks.
Miss Carrie E. Small has been
chosen principal of the Woodward in
stitute for girls to be founded at Quin
cy, Mass., and endowed by the bequest
of 300.000 from the late Dr. Woodward.
She is a graduate of Wellesley college,
and is now principal of the high school
in Plymouth, Mass., and president of
the Plymouth County Teachers' asso
ciation. Pope Leo, who is past eighty-three,
is the oldest ruler. The grand duke of
Luxembourg and the king of Den
mark, respectively seventy-six and seventy-five
years old, stand next to him
in this regard. The grand duke Karl
Alexander, who lives in Weimer, is
fourth in point of age, and Queen Vic
toria, with her seventy-four years, ia
the fifth oldest monarch.
The death of Rev. Dr. Adolph
Jellinek, at Vienna, deprives the Jew
ish church of the ablest exponent of
modern Hebrew homiletics. He was
born in 1821, and in 1856 became the
leading Jewish preacher in Vienna,
whose Hebrew population at that time
was larger than that of any other
European city. Dr. Jellinek was a pro
found scholar and an able defender of
his faith.
In the Epworth league there are
nearly 12,000 chapters, and 850,000 mem
bers have been added in a little more
than four and a half years. The Chris
tian Endeavor movement started the
new year with nearly 29,000 societies
and about a million and three-quarters
of members. The growth during the
last six months has been larger than
ever before in the history of the move
ment. The Outlook.
The Catholic directory for 1S94,
which has just been issued, gives the
statistics of the Catholic church in the
United States. Every diocese furnishes
its own figures. The Catholic popula
tion in many of the dioceses is approx
imated, and in the absence of exact fig
ures, the compilers of the directory are
unable to say just how many Catho
olics there are in the United States.
The directory gives the number as
8.902,00:5, but Catholic authorites
claimed last year that there are at
least 12,000.000. Catholic Mirror.
The last official census of Ireland
shows that there are 3,949,738 Catholics
and l.lSS.CUfl Protestants in that island.
Catholics are most numerous in the
county of Cork and Protestants most
numerous in the county of Antrim.
The Catholics in Cork are to the Prot
estants as ten to one. The Protestants
predominate in the counties of Armagh,
j Down, Tyrone, Londonderry and An
trim. A little over 76 per cent of the
! population is Catholic, 12 per cent be
longs to the Church of Ireland, and 9
per cent to the Presbyterians. N. Y.
j Independent
I A fresh propaganda of Buddhism ia
j being undertaken in Paris. It is as
serted that thirtt thousand Parisians
! now profess the ancient religion. Many
j well-known women describe them
I selves as electric Buddhists. A little
volume gives a summary of the doc
I trines of the new creed. It has just
been printed, and large 'numbers have
been bought by wealthy neophytes, and
will be distributed soon among all
classes. The converts are not expected
to desert the churches of which they
are members. The copies of the book
! have been bound in black morocco,
' gilded to resemble prayer books.
Among the manuscripts unearthec
j at Fayoum, in Egypt and now under
! examination at the British museum,
; one lias lately been deciphered which
I possesses a peculiar interest for stu
! dents of early Christian history. It is
a certificate issued during the Decian
j persecution in the third century to
some faint-hearted Christian that hs
j has fulfilled the requirement of sacri
ficing to the gods. The subject in this
case is an old man of seventy-two years,
"a scar over right eyebrow." The doc
ument is made out in regular official
form, duly signed and attested. This
is the only specimen of its kind that
has yet been discovered. Livinjj
Church.
lie Rrally AT an ted a Shave.
A curious case of the tramp was seeifc
the other day. He was a veritable
one, with a three weeks' growth of
stubble. Sliding into a downtown
restaurant lie asked for alms.
"What would you do with a dime if
I gave you one?" asked a guest.
"Spend it on a shave," he said.
He got the dime, nobody, however
believing him. One of the spectators
followed him to a shop in the neigh
borhood and the man did spend the
money on a shave, and on being spoken,
to about it said he thought he might
now strike a job, he looked so respect
able. N. Y. Herald.
Gnod and Bad.
The fine-art critic had been looking
over the pictures submitted for the ex
hibition. "Well," inquired a friend, "what do
you think of them?"
"Em-er," he replied, "some of them
ought to be hung and some of them
ought to be hanged." Detroit Fra
Press.
Two I'ointa of Vlf
Mabel Terribly disagreeable weath
er we have been having.
Madge I thought it rather pleasant.
Mabel But I have a perfect dream
of a suit for wet and sloppy days, and
I have no chance t wear it Puck.
Changed Condition.
Cholly Slender Bah Jove! I pity any
Htan who has to earn his own living.
Kitty Winslow But ;t' yen were a
man, you know, you prc:; ' ".ldat
mind "it T.-uth.