IN MID-AIR
PUOK. KINGSLEY. the aeronaut
bad been my ebuui at college.
Fifteen years bad pascd since
then. He bad tuade rapid strides In
hli chosen field of science; I bad en
tered the army and become au officer
of the Hoy Hi Engineer. Circumstances
had now brought me Into hi neighbor
hood and I decided to visit him.
I found blin In a state of enthusiasm
over a new Invention of his own to
enable human beings to breathe the
rarefied air of high altitude. I wan
made acquainted with the details and
learned that arrangements were about
completed for a balloon asceut, by
which a practical test of the Invention
waa to t- made. He was confident that
It would eclipse, all previous air voy
ages In practical results. Despite my
Ignorance of the practical detail of the
Invention, I was Invited to become the
profettHor'a compiitilon on this voyage,
through space, and for the novelty of
the thing 1 had never been In a bal
loon accepted the Invitation and con
sented to act as amateur assistant
One morning a few weeks later I
found myself at the side of I'rof. Klngs
ley standing In the midst of an admir
ing crowd, who were eagerly waiting
for the ascension of the great airship,
which, fastened to the ground by a net
work of ropes, plunged and strained
like some living Anlmul. Five minutes
later we had embarked in the car, and
In another minute there wns a sudden
shout Without for a moment under
standing the reason, I found that the
people and tho place had somehow slip
ped away from us and disappeared. It
was the most singular sensation I had
ever felt, and as I lookod over the edge
of the car I was astonished to observe
that In one minute, or less as It appear
ed to me, the trees and surging crowd
of upturned faces had grown so amaz
ingly small and distant. The motion
was almost Imperceptible; Indeed, It
took some time to grow accustomed to
the Idea that we were moving at all.
Yet there could be no doubt about the
fact thRt we were moving, ami moving
at a surprising rate of progress, too.
tTp, up and as we rose we were
traveling to the eastward. Towns, vil
lages, country the brond silver stripe
of the widening Thames, dotted here
and there with quivering specks which
we knew to lie sails, and tiecked with
llttlecnlllng wreaths of darkness which
trust have represented steamers; and
then the great sliver shield of the chan
nel, glittering In the blaze of the sun,
passed under our eyes In one vast
moving diorama, the details of which
grew fait ter and fainter yet as we as
cended. Then Klngsley began to talk. He was
always a brilliant tulker, but now he
seemed to to talk more brilliantly than
ever. I felt a sense of exhilaration my
self that was new to me a sort of wild
sense of freedom a' lightness of body
and mind that had the effect of strong
wine on the nerves. But In spite of
rou WCST 00 Ol'T.
this I .van surprised at Its effect on my
comiMinlon, He talked like n man In
spired. In a strain of exaggerated elo
quencea rhaimody of science made
poetry which struck me as the finest
thing of the kind I had ever heard.
Yet I round myself glancing at him
from time to time a llttlo uneasily. It
seemed to me, excited as I was, a little
extravagant, and for the moment I
wasn't quite sure bow far the excited
nervous condition might be consistent
with the safe traveling of our balloon.
I waa wrong, however, for I soon ob
served that the professor kept a wary
eye upon the movements of the bal
loon, and wm noting each change In
the condition of hla delicate Instru
ment that were fixed to the aide of
the ear beside him.
On. on, and upward still, and now
wbm I ventured to look below I could
see the great panorama of land and
sea Mm the tracings on a globe aad
iiill
It
showing something like the same gen
tly rounded surface. And all the time
Klngsley talked on. Sometimes, Indeed,
he would pause for an Instant to Ira
lirt some practical Information, and
almost at once go back to his declama
tion and bl theories.
"Five thousand feet," he announced.
"Ah! now we have risen above the puny
mountain tops of our little island."
Aftera time he announced 10,000 feet,
and then 15,000. I looked below, and
It seemed to me that the slender thread
of twisting silver, darkened on both
side by puny excrescences that might
be buildings, must represent Paris and
the Seine. There was hardly any wind,
yet It was growing colder, and I felt
some little oppression In breathing. I
said this to the professor. He smiled,
and, stooping, threw out two of our
sandbags that served for ballast. My
eye followed them, and I wondered
where they would fall. I even asked
my companion if it wasn't dangerous
he didn't answer me, but I stooped
and threw another over. We were now
rising rapidly.
"Twenty thousand feet," he exclaim
ed, rubbing his hands together. "Ha!
What are the Alps? Mere molehills
dignified with the name of mountain."
This was all very well, but now I
began to find that breathing was mo
mentarily becoming more and mora a
labor, and that the cold was increasing
every nilnuto. I asked Klngsley if it
wan not time to try his new apparatus.
"Not yet!" he exelaljned. "Not yet!
I must see how high we can go without
It first"
I looked anxiously at him, but I said
no more. He went on talking by fits
and starts, and I was relieved to see
that the rarity of the air was affecting
him, too. He must have suffered as I
did, and yet he sat still looking from
one of his Instruments to another. I
wrapped a heavy sealskin cloak around
me and waited as well as I could. I
began to feel half stupid, and it was
with a start that I heard htm say In
a thick voice, "25,000 feet. Ah! That
will do!" Then ho put one of his new
respirators Into my hand, and as I look
ed at him half stupidly he added; "Now
these will take U.t up to 50,000."
The professor's Invention worked like
magic. In two minutes I could breathe
freely again. As tho thought passed
through my mind with a certain satis
faction the professor stooped and threw
out another sandbag. The sun was
still bright, but suddenly there was a
faint crackling sound like the breaking
of glass. I looked at my feet and saw
that the floor was covered with small
transparent Icicles. I put my hand to
my mouth and found that my mustache
was bristling with Ice. "Thirty thou
sand feet!" Klngsley announced In a
voice that sounded muffled and distant
Thirty thousand! And yet tho man
talked of fifty. Ah, well, I could see
that we had only one more sandbag.
Even Klngsley by his enthusiasm
couldn't overcome the laws of nature.
He 8tooed and threw out our lust bag
as tho thought passed through my
mind. Again we rose rapidly. Like the
professor himself, my eyes were fixed
on the barometer. It was cold deadly
cold. After a pause ho exclaimed:
"Thirty-five thousand. Ha! We have
broken the record now."
I looked nt Klngsley. Ills fare was
blue and pinched, but his eyes shone
with a light that was new and alarm
ing In Its wild brilliancy.
"Haven't we gone high enough?" I
managed to articulate, though with
difficulty.
"Enough?" he returned In a strong
voice; "enough? Are you crazy? Fifty
thousand, or we don't go back, I tell
you 50, man!"
Tho man's face had changed; his
eyes glittered and sparkled with a
strange shifting light good God! He
was going mad! After all, I thought,
the last t.andbng Is gone; mad or sane
ho can't rise higher without lightening
the balloon more. I glanced at the
barometer It was stationary. The pro
fessor's eyes were fixed on If, too
then he looked round him then he
glared at mc!
"We don't rise," he muttered lo him
self; "but we must. .We must!" He
rose and made a step toward me. He
laid bis band on my shoulder. He
pointed to the barometer. "We don't
rise," he repeated with a strange sig
nificance. I nodded. "Somebody must
go!" he said.
"Good God, man!" I exclaimed. "What
do you mean?"
He gripped me on the shoulder he
brought his race to the level of mine
be glared fiercely Into my eyes.
"She won't rise," he muttered. "You
must go oat!"
I looked at him. The man waa clear
ly mad It waa la hla area and In hla
foloa.
"No," I sniwered angrily, "no: (Jo
yonrselfr
He looked at tue with a half question
ing expression.
"You can't take the observation,"
be said.
I shook hi band from my shoulder
angrily. Suddenly be looked at the
barometer again. "Only 38,000!" be ex
claimed In a despairing tone. "I prom
ised 50.000." He turned away with a
wild gesture. He grlpjied one of the
ropes and swnng himself on the seat
of the car. By a supreme effort I man
aged to rouse myself.
"Stop!" I shouted. He looked around
at me.
"Will you do It?" he said. "Somebody
must, you know." He was In the very
act of overbalancing himself when the
terrible emergency seemed to restore
some of my vigor. I seised blm and
dragged him back. He struggled wild
ly, and In his madness be was stronger
than I. There was nothing else to be
done I raised my band and struck
with all my force. Klngsley fell sense
less to the bottom of the car.
I staggered. I looked feebly around.
I felt as If I were falling asleep. Some
thing touched my hand and I grasped
It It was the string that ojened the
valve of the balloon. As I grasped It
I grew unconscious. As I clung to It
I sank on the senseless body of the
professor.
I know nothing ef what happened af
terward. The next sounds I beard
were the sounds of human voices; the
next thing my eyes opened upon was
the Interior of a small cottage room.
There was a poor French print of a
Madonna on the wall opposite me the
I SK1ZKD HIM AND DRAOOKD HIM HACK.
voices that I heard spoke In the rough
patois of French. I had been rescued
by a miracle.
It was months before Klngsley re
covered, and to this day I never see
him without his Introducing the sub
ject of the balloon ascent we are to
make together, when we will certainly
reach 50,000 feet Poor fellow! That as
cension unbalanced his brilliant mind
for life. Utlca Globe.
An Original "Ad."
Hlcycle repairers are so numerous
that startling advertisements are nec
essary to secure business. A handbill
of this purport has been widely circu
lated within the last few days on the
South Side:
"Jileycle. surgery,
"Acute and chronic, rases treated with
assurance of success.
"Languid tires restored to health and
vigor.
"Tires blown up without pain. Wind
free.
"We understand the anatomy, physi
ology and hygiene of wheels anil give
homeopathic or allopathic treatment ns
Individual cases require. Sure cure
guaranteed.
"Testimonials:
" '.My wheel had three ribs fractured
and you cured It In one treatment.'
" 'My tires were suffering with a case
of acute aneurism which had been pro
nounced fatal by other bicycle doctors,
but you cured tho disorder and I did
not lose a day of my tour.'
"'I was troubled with varicose tires,
Involving frequent ruptures and Incon
tinence of wind. You cured me.'
"Thousands of testimonials like the
above sent on application." Chicago
Itecord.
Charles Dickons' Fault.
A book might be written and doubt
less much has been printed on the origin
of certain slang phrases which drop
from the lips of almost everybody ns
the cant expression becomes popular,
says the Boston Globe. "A fine day, I
don't think," says my friend who is
quick to catch on and appropriate any
thing new In a lino which distinguishes
tho vernacular of the day. of course,
somebody originated this seml-san-an-tic
and wholly ridiculous hyperbole of
speech, and that person was no other
than Charles Dickens. In "Martin
Chuzzlewlt," simple, trustful Tom
Pinch ruminates: "I'm a nice man, I
don't think, as John used to say," etc.,
which only goes to show that there Is
nothing so very new In certain of the
popular slang phrases of the time af
ter all.
Stranger lo the people do much
hunting around here? Native They
do, for a fact. Head loads of It.
Stranger What do (hey bunt deer and
quail? Nnllve Nope. Money to meet
their notes In bank with. Florida
T1ines-L'n!on.
Clara If Mr. Castletou succeeds In
kissing a girl he tell all the rest of the
men about It. Maude That accounts
for It Clara For what? Maude The
crowd of fellows that have called upon
you lately. New York Herald.
Curry Carson seems to be very
f rlendly with everybody all of a sudden.
Yokes Yes; he la going to get married
soon, and ha want to have as many
friends as be eaa to Invite and get prea
eata from. Truth.
CHAPTEIt XVI. (Continued.)
"I know I lost this stud," said Marsden,
very deliberately, "oa that unlucky even
ing, and never could find it; but why
should not the roblx-r have picked it up.
If he found it, aa he most probably did,
in the tent?"
"You are a brave man to face me a you
dor she exclaimed. "But I hold you in
my band," and she clinched it. "1 will
tell you who found it, snd where! Your
sweet, beloved fiance, when paying me
a private visit in my room, admiring my
ball-dreee, espied tbs glitter of that dia
mond among the lace on the body, where
it had dropped when you struggled to
stupefy me with your horrible cholorform.
Me, the woman you have been making
love to ten minutea before who waa
ready to give you all she had you base
midnight thief!"
"Do not be o positive. Might it not
have fallen among your lace as we danced
together, or when I was assisting to lift
you ?"
"No, no, no," she cried, aa if carried out
of heraelf, and apeaking with immense
rapidity. "I aaw it on your breaat when
you left me, and Nora, your Nora, told me
you never touched me! It la useless de
nying your guilt. Wuite, the detective,
knowa you. He aaw you here, here with
me, before he started to pursue you. He
was with you at Amsterdam, in Paris, at
Chanlalre, when you went to your sick
friend, De Meudon. He tracked you, he
can swear to you. I have paid hundred
to prove it, and I have you in my grasp:
She stopped, panting.
Marsden rose slowly, his eyes fixed up
on her. She was frightened by bis silence,
his desperate look. She, too, rose; but
her fury seemed to evaporate.
"What are you going to do, Marsden?"
she said, quivering. "You would not mur
der me?"
He laughpd a strange, discordant laugh.
"I am blackguard enough," be said;
"but 1 would not hurt a hair of your head.
No! It Is useless to contradict your as
sertions. You have me, indeed, in your
grasp, and there la but one way of es
cape." He moved to the door, but she was too
quick for him. Setting her back against
it, she stretched out her arms to keep him
off.
"You shall not kill yourself! I forbid
you! You are bad, and buae, but you be
long to roe you belong to me! No, Mars
den, you Bhall not leave mel"
"What is life to me?" aked Mareden,
with a calm despair. "A dishonoring
shackle! The sooner I am rid of it the
better. I cannot struggle with you. If
you have any pity, let me go!"
"I will not! I cannot! Oh! Marsden,
how I have hated you! You have been
o unspeakably false. To rob me, that you
might shake me off and marry my rival.
Yet," and her eyes softened as they rested
on his fine face, so rigid in its despair, on
his attitude, grand even in ita expressive
abandonment, "with ail, I cannot let you
destroy yourself! If I could hope that
gratitude would awaken anything like
affection, tenderness!"
"I am not worth saving," interrupted
Marsden, speaking more collectedly. He
began to calculate chances. "I kuow I
have done a dastardly deed. I never saw
its full baseness till I wns found out."
Hesmiledabitter.cynical smile. "That does
not show much of a moral nature to work
upon; but I have so much decency left that
it is torture to be under your eye, to hear
your just reproaches. I do not ask for
mercy. If you choose to call a policeman,
do so. Y'ou will be in your right I will
not resist."
He folded his arms and stood quite still.
"And do you not know I should tear my
own heurt to pieces if I injured you?" she
cried, in n passion of anger and love. "Oh!
I can save you! I will save you! if you
promise to give me the love I long for!
Can I not win you by such service as man
never had offered him before? I can
save more than your life."
"I have no love to give!" said Marsden,
In a low tone. "1 have done with love and
friendship; and, however generous yon
may be, how can you sileuce your de
tective?" "I hnve bound up his interest with his
discretion," she said, eagerly, still keep
ing between Marsden and the door.
"I tell you, your bitterest revenge is to
prevent my escaping life and its intolera
ble pangs."
"And I tell you," she cried, hardening
again, "that if you kill yourself I will
blazon tho story of your felony, your
slinine, to the whole world! I will my
self describe lo Nora L'Estrange your dis
guises, your creeping to and fro to sell
your plunder."
"Silence!" Interrupted Marsden, fierce
ly, making a step forward, then recover
ing himself. "It is not probable I can do
anything to alone, to compensate. If I
can " he broke off.
Mrs. Kuthven paused and clasped her
hands tightly together.
"If I hold my tongue none need ever
know of your infamy," she said, slowly.
"It will bo a secret between our two
selves. Ought not that to be an Indis
soluble bond of union? There is not a
breath of suspicon sgitlnst you. Walte's
Interest Is distinctly to be silent. If I
choose to submit to so great a loss, that is
my affair."
"Is is a tremendous if," Bald Marsden.
"How am I to repay au huge a debt?"
"By giving mn your llfo," she returned
In quickly resolute tones, "by giving me
your name."
"Do yon remember that I am not only
In love with Nora, but openly engaged to
her?"
"I do, and breaking with her will be a
considerable part ef your atonement, 1
know man tolerably well; you are quite
capable of loving two."
"You are rlghtl Mr love for Nora Is
I cannot sneak ef It to yen It has hith
erto been the most, the only, spiritualised
passion I ever knew) there has been no
time as yet for It to beoome Incarnate.
Now there Is In yon an aadertone ef dev
ilry that always attracted me,"
'Will yon break with Kara for my
taker demanded Mr. Batheea, Imperi
eqely, It oould be maaaaea," ha seUraed,
I bought fully, remembering bis last inter
view with her. "Be that aa it may, I shall
never marry her now!"
"And my great sacrifice, will it not
draw your heart to me!" she cried. "Oh!
I have been wild with love and hate for
you and I feel how madly fooliah and
despicable I am to act a I do!" She
burst into a passionate fit of sobbing.
The light came back to Maraden'a eyes.
"You are a woman any man might
love," he said, "and as you wisely admit
that men can love two or more (we are
generally broader than women, some wo
men), you shall have all the love left in
me, of my life-long gratitude you may be
aure. You are making a sorry bargain, I
warn you. I shall never be the same
again, but if you care to be Mrs. Marsden
of Evesleigh, so be it!"
"Ah! you are simply selling yourself!
And what a price I pay!"
"No! by heaven! I am grateful, and I
always admired you! Even that night,
when I unclasped your necklace I felt
inclined to kiss the pretty white throat
that was so velvety soft to my sacrilegious
touch !"
"And why did you not? Had you
brought back consciousness by kisses and
confided your difficulties to me, all would
have been well!" cried the infatuated wo
man, throwing herself into his arms.
What could a criminal so respited do
but pay the tribute demanded with liberal
lips?
For the moment Marsden was moved
and really grateful, though a bitter sense
of being sold into slavery tinged his feel
ings of relief.
"How could you be so fascinated by
Nora L'Estrange?" asked Mrs. Kuthven,
still leaning againat him and looking up
in his face. "She never could under
stand you as I do, she never could share
your feelings as I can."
"She is what she is," said he, shortly,
"and has been an infinite misfortune to
me."
"I am glad you see it." Mrs. Ruthven
sat down on the soTa and signed to him to
sit beside her. "Can I trust you, Mars
den?" looking intently into his face.
"I think so. Dictate your own terms
settle everything on yourself everything
of mine that is available. I shall never
feel more than a dependent on your char
ity."
"You must not say that. You will see
that, together, we shall command society."
"Tell me," resumed Marsden, after a
moment's pause, "before we drop this ac
cursed subject forever, bow did that de
tective fellow see me?"
"Do you remember an engineer, a Mr.
Colville, calling here and speaking to me
of his having a little girl, who was my
god -daughter?"
"Yes. Shirley waa here."
"That man was Waite. I wanted him
to see you. I wanted to test the complete
ness of his disguise by defying Shirley's
recognition. Shirley found him forme."
"Good God, has Shirley any suspicion ?"
"Not the faintest. Do not doubt; I
took every precaution to shield the name
I might possibly bear. I waited, oh, .how
Impatiently! hoping you would avow your
love and difficulties to me, then I should
have hidden my knowledge even from
you ; but when I found you were going to
marry Nora L'Estrange, to expose me to
the contemptuous pity of all your world
and mine, I was on the verge of getting
a warrant of committal against you. My
relapse saved you. Ay, and saved me.
Does not Nora love you intensely?" with
keen curiosity.
Marsden understood the drift of the
question.
"It would be unchivalrous to boast,"
said he, with a significant smile.
A look of delight in the suffering she
hoped to inflict gleamed in Mrs. Ruthven's
large dark eyes.
"I must let you go, dearest," she said,
laying her hand caressingly on his shoul
der, yet he fancied with a touch of pro
prietorship. "But you will be sure to re
turn to dinner, and be sure you do not
go to the L'Estrange's. A letter will do
much better than an interview."
"An interview? God forbid!" he ex
claimed, with unmistnkable sincerity.
"How pleased Lady Dorrington will
be," said Mrs. Ruthven, meditatively.
"Oh, charmed," returned Marsden,
while he thought how cruel fate had been
in permitting his affectionate interlocutor
to leave Ched worth alive. "J must leave
you now," he said. "I feel I must be
alone. I am still dizzy and unhinged with
with the sense of your great goodness."
"But you will come back? You will not
do yourself any harm?" anxiously.
"No. 1 don't think I have pluck
enough left to blow my brains out, or
rather you have given me a fresh zest for
life. You are looking awfully exhausted.
Y'ou must lie down and rest."
"Do yon caro enough for me to wish I
should rest ?"
"How ran you doubt? Good-by for the
present." A little further tribute, and he
fled from her, half mad with rage, de
spair and self-contempt.
His ruling motive for the Inst few
minutes hnd been to escape from Mrs.
Kuthven, to be alone with his crushing
sense of discovery and defeat. He had
been utterly ont-witted, he was at the
mercy of a deeply Injured woman a wo
man from whom he shrunk revolted, all
the more because he had injured her.
The force of degradation could no fur
ther go, and he had been such a doubly
dninned fool as to believe himself safe!
That he could defy this keen, subtle,
tenacious woman, and hng himself in the
belief thnt by so base, so shabby a crime,
he could secure an adorablo creature like
Nora! He hnd said truly that failure, de
tection, showed him the depth of shame
into which ho hnd fallen. Hnd he suc
ceeded, It would not have occurred to him
to repent
Still aglow with the passion Nora had
Inspired, It was torture to give her op;
yet he, had so much sense of right left, or
rather restored, that he felt it would be
equally torture to meet her eyes, to hear
her voles, knowing he was a despicable
outcsst, from whom, was she but aware
of his true character, she would turn with
scorn and loathing. Why, If he had mur
dered a man In anger, he thought, as he
paced his room, or sat with locked doors,
bis head burled In his hands, he eould
face the world with comparative bold
aaaa, and yet, hew anlnst opinon la I
What real harm had ha Jeae Mm, Ruth
ven J Only deprive! bee af a few ban hies
he leaked anile as well without He had
not robbed her of any comfort or
aity, or of money or land. Why had he
bwu to unlucky aa to have taken such an
overixiwering fancy to a girl like Nora,
unapproachable save by the tremendous
sacrifice of iuurriuge? This waa really
the mainspring of his uxiafurtuue.
A to the future, he shuddered to think
of it. Why should he not escape it? As
to his kolrinn promise to Mrs. Ruthven,
that weighed but lightly on hia aouL
What stayed bis band wo partly the de
moralization which seemed to paralyse
him, but chiefly bis dread of being hope
lessly disgraced in Nora' eye. She had
immense power over him, and he had
mid truly, that all of good in him was
linked with his feelings for her. No! he
might have had resolution to end his
ruined life, had he not felt convinced that
Mr. Ruthven, furious at being robbed of
her prey, would tell ail and make the
worst of all to Nora. No; the one shred
of comfort in the hell he had created for
himself, waa to remain unblemished in
Nora'a eyes. He would affect to release
her by noble effort of self-deniel, and per
haps she would give him a kind thought;
perhaps, when wesried of a monotonous
life with Winton or some other prig, a
regrptful thought.
What a sham life was altogether! Was
Nora as true, ss real, as she seemed?
Yes, now, he would swear, but how long
would her truth last the wear and tear of
the world?
Well, he had escaped detection, and for
Nora's sake, for his sister', hia name's
sake, be had better drift with the tide
which seemed sitting in hi favor. His
only way of enduring existence was to
forget there was a yesterday or a to-morrow.
But dine with that woman, who was
his mistress In the cruelest sense, he
could not at least, to-day. No; to-day
he must be alone; he must be free to swal
low, unchecked, such an amount of bur
gundy, champagne, brandy, as might
drown the intolerable rage and remorse
that maddened him.
His Incoherent note of excuse, however,
only brought Nemesis upon him, in the
shape of Mrs. Ruthven herself, wrapped
in shawls and furs, wbo sent up an urgent
message, and sat in ber carriage at the
hotel door till her captive joined her, and
was taken off in triumph.
(To be continued.)
FATALITIES AT SEA.
Large Increase Shown by tbe Report
of the Inspector General.
Tbe records of the United States
steamboat Inspection service, wblch
during the lust nineteen years has been
under the direction of Gen. Dumonl
us Inspector General, show that during
tho last fiscal year tbe number of lives
lost on steam vessels was approximate
ly 308. This was an Increase over the
average of the preceding eighteen
years of 128. Tbto great Increase was
caused by tbe large loss of life by th
foundering of the steamship Collma,
recently, off the Pacific coast This
makes tbe average for the last nine
teen years 247. The highest previous
annual loss waa 580 In 1874. Tbe low
est was 133, In 1886. Notwithstanding
the great Increase In the number ol
vessels since 1870 over 100 per cent
there have been but 759 disasters to
steam vessels, with a loss of but 5,067
lives, the number of passengers car
ried per annum having increased from
122,580,130, carried in 1870, to not lew
than 650,000,000, carried In 1892.
The average loss of life under the law
of 1852 was one person to every 250,181
passengers carried, while under the aci
of 1871, which greatly Improved the
efficiency of the service, there waa
only one life lost In 2,708,333 passen
gers carried, or a reduction in the
number of lives lost of nearly 11 to 1
in proportion to the number of passen
gers carried. The service consists of
about 175 officers and clerks, one su
pervising inspector general, ten super
vising Inspectors of districts, under
whom are local Inspectors, divided
among the various customs collection
districts of the United States. One ol
the most striking instances of the ben
efits derived from the powers con
ferred upon inspectors under the law
Is the almost eutire absence of Intem
perance at the present time upon the
part of licensed officers.
An alleged defect in the laws, and
one -which has caused much criticism,
Is In the local inspectors' power to In
vestigate the cause of boiler explosions
and casualties to steam vessels, thus,
giving the inspectors the right to past
judgment upon their own acts. The
present head of the Inspection service.
Gen. Dumont shares in the opinion oi
tho opponents of such power, and has,
unsuccessfully however, endeavored
to have the laws amended to correct
tho evil. As long ago as 18S9 he called
attention in his annual report to tit,
matter, and suggested a remedy In Hit
form of a Mil, which, however, never
became a law. Tfie bill provided foi
a court of inquiry, to be appointed by
the Secretary of the Treasury, to In
vestigate acts of local Inspectors In
granting licenses, etc., such court to
consist of three supervising Inspector!
of other districts than the one In which
the inspector belongs. It Is very likely
that this matter will again be brought
before Congress at the next session.
tio Song, No Supper.
Those men that undertake to train
birds how to sing tbe notes of musical
Instruments usually teach their pnplli
lu classes seven birds to a class, for
Instance. Girls and boys that have
studied under the best of masters, at
the best of schools, have an enviable
time compared with the poor birds,
who are shut np in a dark room to
start with, and are, moreover, half
starred If they are too long In begin
ning their task of Imitation. On the
other band, if they get on nicely and
are fairly "quick at the uptake," the
light will be gradually admitted and
their hunger will be partly relieved,
to reward their efforts and enconraga
them to higher things. As aoon aa
they coma to end that a little Ugbt ami
food accompany song, tn the long raa
they wan to sing af their awn accord
for these aecaaaltlea of Ufa. Tbe awes
la the chief Instrument aaad hi
bird
