The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191?, December 17, 1909, THIRD SECTION, Image 20
TELLS OF BABYLON I *-IFE IN OLD LAND DESCRIBED BY MAN OF SCIENCE. ^rof. Delitzsch Has Delved Deeply In to Matter, and Graphically Por trays the Habits and Cus toms of Ancient Empire. Prof. Friedrich Deli tz sc It, whom the kaiser, in an access of just enthusi asm, once described as "knowing more about Biblical culture than the Biblical chroniclers themselves," has .iust delivered a remarkable lecture on Old Babylon before the German Orient society. The records of Baby ion, said the professor, are of espe cial interest now, for the destruction of the city seems to haye been an ex act parallel with the overwhelming «f Messina. The godess Istar, mother of all mankind, was much enraged after Babylon's destruction to find •hat Bel, the god of the earth, had been granted so much power, and the result was that for a thousand years there was not anolher earthquake. Old Babylon in those days was smaller in extent than northern Italy, it was a flat, rainless land, intersect ed by hundreds of canals; and the Ti gris and Euphrates, which then issued into the sea, were united by a big ca nal. Thousands of rowing and sail ing boats, and of wicker canoes crowded the waterways. Everywhere was active life and a genuine cul ture. The whole country was crowd ed with small villages, built chiefly of reeds, but bricks and stone were used for important edifices. From 75 cents to annually was the rent of the av < rage house. Every girl found a hus band. Severe winter frosts and ter rific summer heat made life disagree able, and ihp country was overrun with lions and swarmed with myriads of flies, while parts were periodically swept by sandstorms. The original civilized race of south and central Babylonia was the Sume rian, a tremendously gifted people, whose women for beauty rivaled the statues of ancient Greece. In north Babylonia the people were Semites. The later civilization was the result, of a anion of the two. Afterward fol lowed the Chaldeans, whose king, Ne buchadnezzar, lived 1,000 years before , Christ. It was the original Sumerians who invented cuneiform writing. They were great mathematicians, and had a sexagesimal system of counting, with separate signs for 1 and 10, but un zero. Prof.: Delitzsch said he had himself found their clay tablets with multiplication and division tables, and their methods of calculating cubes arid quadrates. The Sumerians went lean shaved, whereas the Semites al ways wore long beards and long hair. In the third millennium before Jurist the Babylonians were using gold and silver as a medium of ex i hange. This was an inevitable de velopment, as trade and Industry were already highly developed, and busi ness was even carried on by com panies and corporations. One of the oldest institutions of old Babylon was ihe banking Arm of Egbi & Sons. Iiealing in stocks on margins must have been a profitless business, as the Babylonian rate of interest lor loans was usually 20 per cent. The Babylonians had no standing army, but they had a strong militia Their ideas on sorcery and witch craft are largely responsible for the superstitions on these subjects of western countries. It is possible, said the professor, that Christianity is al so indebted to their heathen temples for the towers and steeples of its hnrches. Vocal Training for Babies. tables like to imitate. They try to ropy everything older people do. In Mb first playthings are pretty colored lords, for instance, and when mother holds up a bird, she sings a tone, al ways singing the same tone to the -ame colored bird, calling it do, re, or mi, as the case may be, it will be out a short time before baby will fry o imitate the pitch, quality of tone and syllable; and before the ordinary child is a year old, or soon after, it could have the scale well fixed with •■■rice, ear and eye. \ baby breathes naturally deep, usy and right. And if he learns to sing softly, eas ily and sweetly before becoming self onscious, the worst part of a vocal ■cacher’s work would be done before ■re baby was old enough to insist upon doing things wrong, namely, "breathing and voider placing.”— Funny F. Hughey in the Etude. I Cost of an Education. .'lie average yearly expenditure a : upil in the public schools of this ountry is given as $28.25 in the re ently published report of the commis - oner of education. In 1870 it was only $15.55. Nevada lias the highest yearly ex penditure, $72.15 a pupil, followed by York with $51.50. Montana with 549.40 and California with $49.29. In the south the expenditures a pupil range from $0.37 for South Carolina to $20.36 for West Virginia. The new -fate of Oklahoma spends $15.79, New Mexico $19.46, while Arizona with $40.41 spends $5.16 a pnpil a year lore than Oklahoma and New Mexi co combined. One-third of the states spend from 325 to $10 a pupil. "Tile fact that one 'mirth s^Tid less than $15 and ono 'uurth spend more than $35 is an infl ation,” says the commissioner, ‘‘of 'lie great variety In support of public • Miration, and, I believe, in the oppor iunity afforded for school training in ct.r various commonwealths.” ANCIENT METHOD OF HEALING Laying on of Hands Is One of the Old est Prescriptions Known to Men of Medicine. For countless ages among barbaric, pagan and Christian peoples the belief was current that Individuals diseased and "curtailed of their fair propor tions’’ could be healed by "touch,” by the "breath,” by words and prayer, by the wearing of amulets and talismans, by "charms" of every conceivable and luconceivab'e kind. These supersti tions, under various aliases," are re markably in evidence even in the ad vanced civilisation of our day. The healing of the sick by the application of hands is of vast antiquity. It is to be found in the records and the prac tices of tile early Egyptians and Jews, the Assyrians and Indians. One of the earliest, recorded examples is to be found in the Old Testament. We are told that Elisha brought to life a "dead” child by stretching himself three times upon the child and calling aloud to God. Headers of history are acquainted with the supposed healing powers of the kingly "touch.” It was believed for a long time that living together and breathing upon a sickly person would produce salutary as well as harmful effects. Young children and virgins were supposed to have the power to “cure” by breathing upon the patient and sprinkling him with their own blood. This method of "cure” is mentioned by Galen, Pliny and Virgil. History tells us that the great Barbarossa, when dying, was ad vised by liis Jewish doctor to have 1 young, robust boys placed across his stomach, in lieu of fomentations. The following curious inscription, cut in marble, was discovered at Rome by J the archaeologist Gomar: » To Ai sriilaptus ami Health, tills Is erected 1 >.v I,. Clauilins Herinippus, Who. By Hie breath ot young girls. Hind 115 years and 5 days, at which physicians were no little surprised. Successive generations lead such a life.!!! A Teutonic writer, Hufeland by name, from his vast reservoir of ex perience, gravely informs us that “when we consider how efficacious for lameness are freshly opened animals, or the laying of a living animal upon any painful affection, we must feel convinced that these methods are not to be thrown aside.” Curing by “words” was common in the early ages. They cast out the dis ease spirits by exorcism. Ulysses, mythology has it, stopped a hem orrhage by words, styptic words, evi dently. Cato cured sprains by the same means. Various astrological signs inscribed upon amulets and talismans—of min erals or of motals—were supposed to prevent and to cure diseases when worn on the body of the sufferer. Herbs, roots, loadstones, bloodstones, pieces of amber, images of saints, were also worn for the same reason. The Huddhists, for instance, had a sort of religious reverence for the sapphire. They called it the stone of stones (op tiinus. quem tellus niedica gignit).— New York Medical Journal. j The Squaw Winter. “When does the Indian summer come, anyway?” she asked. “Why, it doesn't always come at all, but when it does come it comes just after the squaw winter,” replied her friend. "Squaw winter! Well, I never even heard of that before. When is that?” "Well, the first protracted period of cold weather that we have is called the squaw winter out in the country, j After this spell of frosty weather there are sometimes several days of unseasonable mildness and warmth that we call Indian summer. Some I years there isn’t any warm spell , after the frost has well set in and we ( have no Indian summer. But the squaw winters always come. The 1 years when there isn't any Indian i summer the squaw winters just glide ! into the real hard winters so that you can't tell where one stops anil the other begins. It is only when there i is an Indian summer that you can distinguish the squaw winter.” Evening Things Up. In Chicago, recently, a mutual friend introduced two men. One of them was smoking. Very deliberately lie blew a lungful of of smoke into the other man’s face. “That means trouble," gasped the other man. pulling olf liis coat. “Oh, no," said the offender, calmly. “It didn't mean trouble last night when you blew smoke in my face," "I never saw you before," stormed the smokee. "No. but I've seen you,” said the first man. "You passed me in an au tomobile last ni.:hi and while you and 1 were waiting in a jam you blow a cloud of gasoline and oil smoke into my lace that I'm tasting yet. Want to fight about that?" “No,” said the victim, “but VU like to buy you a good cigar. That one you're smoking is worse than automo bile smoke.” Peace was ratiiied at the corner drug store. Bald Heads. Thomas, live years old, came face to lace the other day with an uncle he had never seen before, and noticed that this uncle had a bald head sur rounded by a fringe of hair—such a head as the cartoonists used to draw of David B. Hill. This fact, added to (he uncle’s extreme height, and thin ness, excited Tommy's comment. “Say, mamma," he said, turning to his mother, “my new uncle grew up so fast his hair didn’t have time to reach the top <vf his head!" FAR iN THE NORTH MISSIONS FOUNDED IN THE LAND OF THE ESKIMOS. —'I Spread of Christianity Has Been Marked Among People of the Most Inhospitable Land on ttie Earth. Rev. Dr. It. .1. Renison, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal church, speaking here before a large congregation on inis , sionary work among the Eskimos, said ho considered the Eskimos were the only civilized race in the world Dial were secure from the encroachment of the civilized while man and that it therefore escaped extinction, or at least degradation, from contact with so-called civilization, a San Francisco dispatch says. Unless tlie earth shall change its axis, thereby changing the climate of the bleak and inhospitable north, he said, tto nation will ever attempt to deprive the Eskimo of his land. Thi; peculiar people inhabit a vast terri tory, yet. notwithstanding the vast ness of their domain, there is only one tribe. They speak the common lan guage and have the same customs, whether in the Hudson bay country or in the Baffin’s bay regions. The speaker was unable to under stand why they had chosen such a habitation, if they really had chosejt it. "In the brief three months of sum mer,’’ said the speaker, "the Eskimo hunts (he seal and walrus and en gages In fishing to lay up a store of food for the nine months of winter, and when the winter comes he saws the hard snow into large blocks and with these builds a house in the shape of a bee hive, pours water over it and it freezes hard and makes a tight dwelling, secure against the wind. The opening of the door Is so small that one must crawl on his hands and knees to enter the igloo. Hushes are spread upon the floor and seals' blubber in a hollowed stone is lighted and serves for lamp and cooking stove. “In the Baffin's bay country the pro testant Episcopal church has the most northerly mission in the world. It was founded 30 years ago by Rev. Mr. Peck, who, after learning the lan guage, spent several years in convert ing the people of the ice-bound land. The first church building he erected was built of sealskins sewn together and when it was finished the dogs de voured it over night. The permanent churcli was built soon thereafter with lumber shipped from Canada. “Mr. Peck found these people to have an Innate sense of right and wwong and found them faithful and trustworthy in all respects. Before they became Christians the Eskimos used to kill all their aged and decrepit men apd used to force the old women to commit suicide. This was done under what they conceived to lie tlie stern law of necessity, but since that time the practice has been abandoned. They are sincere Christians, or at least those of them that have come j within reach of the missionary influ- | enee.” The Mullet in Gulf Waters. The mullet has always attracted a goodly share of attention. His fame is not circumscribed by the boundaries of the gulf. Whether the visitor be from the Atlantic or the Pacific coast or from the shores of the Mediterran ean or the Baltic, he wants to see, ex amine and feast on the mullet. He Is the best known flsn that swims. Some have a prejudice against him, hut like nil feelings of tills na ture, it rests on an unsubstantial foun dation. It cannot bear investigation, for the mullet plays a greater part in appeasing the craving for sea foods than any fish that inhabits the waters of the gulf. He is here in summer and winter, in fall and in spring. When the fisherman contemplates Ills plight, when luck is against him and a feeling of depression creeps over him, the mullet, always ready to give him a helping hand, rushes into his seine and contributes to his fortune and to the gastronomic pleasure of Hie thousands of pc oph to whom they are shipped. He is a regular standby. In prosperity and in adversity lie is always in alwndance. Pascagoula Chronicle. Well Guarded Trade Secrets. There are iwo trade secrets at least that the world at large may never learn. One is the Chinese method of making the bright and beautiful color known as vermilion, or Chinese red; and the other is a Turkish secret - the inlaying of the hardest steel with gold and silver. Among the Chinese and the Turks these two secrets are well guarded. Apprentices before they are taken for either trade, must swear an iron clad oath to reveal nothing of what passes in the workshop. These ap prentices, furthermore, must belong to a family of standing, must pay a large sum by way of guarantee, and must furnish certificates of good char acter and honesty. Those secrets have been handed down faithfully from one generation to another for hundreds of years - The Sunday Mag azine. The Early Drama. • 1 suppose those fashionable ladies of old England wore masks tit the the ater in order to hide their blushes." ‘‘I fancy not," answered .Miss Cay enne; "it was probably that they might assume to be bit him: without fear of contradiction" HAVING FUN AT THE TABLE Stimulating the Appetite by Cheerful ness and Freedom from Worry Is a Good Thing. It is astonishing to one who has not studied l bo subject thoughtfully to learn bow completely under tho control of the nervous system, or rath er of the emotions, the entire diges-( the apparatus is. It is a matter of everyday experi ence that the appetite is under tho subjection of the feelings, although not of the will. The Impulse to cele brate any good news by a dinner is founded upon the fact, that when one is pleased and elated hunger is ex cited. in early times this hunger was gratified on the moment, just as tho accompanying thirst too often is now, hut the modern man usually defers his eating to a suitable occasion. Tho loss of appetite caused by bad news or misfortune of any kind is too well known to need more than men tion. Worry or physical fatigue will often act in the same way. The same causes that destroy the appetite will arrest or greatly retard the process of digestion, it is a matter of common experience that any disagreeable oc currence during or just after a moal will stop digestion and may bring on a bilious attack with headache, nausea and a coated tongue. Concentration of the mind or anxiety will act in the same way. On tlic other hand, as Iho appetite is stimulated by good news and mental elation, so digestion is favored by whatever promotes gnyciy and high spirits. jjuugu mm Kin" nil, 11kc ho many popular Hayings, is an expression which contains much truth. Dyspep sia is a malady that will seldom be found In the family where the dinner gives occasion lor cheerful talk and mirth; where all worry and "disgrnn tlement," and especially ipiurrelllng, are under a ban. I Every member of the family should make it an absolute rule to put worry and all thoughts of business or study aside for the moment and lo come to the table prepared to lie light hearted and gay. This is not only a moral duty, but rests upon the very physical reason tiiat his appefite will be belter and his food will taste better and will be better digested. In this connection it gnen without saying that bills and disagreeable let ters should never he the accompani ment of the morning meal, because a day started with chagrin is u very hard day to straighten out.—Youth’s Companion. Christian Burials at Jerusalem. Until about fifty years ago Chris tians In Jerusalem, and Frnnelseans as well, were buried without a coflin, the latter simply in the habit of the order. At the grave the hood of I he deceased was sewed shut over his fuoo, and thus he was bedded in the earth. The former burial place of the Catholics was in the valley of the Cedron along side the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where the Jews are still buried to-day. Only a century ago a new churchyard was laid out on Mount Sion, the place where King David and his success ors are still buried. The exact spot is unknown, although many attempts have been made to And It. An old tradition says that about the fifth cen tury some workmen accidentally pen etrated this vault. They looked in and saw the magnificent sarcophagi, but In trying to enter, the chambers of the dead they were repulsed by flames of Are bursting forth from with in. The frightened workmen closed the entrance to the vault, the exact location of which has been forgotten. Up-to-Date Polar Toys. “Tlie latest French toys are all fur and ice and American flags and polar bears. Look here." Tlie salesman took down a card board representation of tlie white north. Two fur-clad figures, each holding an American flag, were la beled Cook and Peary, and a socket was labeled north pole. When tlie toy was wound the two figures fenced fiercely with their flags about the socket unt II, finally, one of them got fits flagstaff into the hole Here is a new north pole game,” the salesman said. 'This white pole is the pole itself, and the figure in white fur is Cook, while the one in black is Peai ' The game is played by throwing dice. Kach figure is ad vanced so many degrees, according lo the number thrown, lie wins, of course, who gets to the top of the pole first.” Another toy was an 10s kimo sledge containing a fur-clad ex plorer and drawn by six dogs. A turn of tlie key and Ihe dogs galloped and the explorer flourished his long lashed whip. Doing Fairly Well. Mrs. O. II. I*. Belmont says ‘‘Ameri can women do not know how to bring up their children.” N'o doubt there is some truth in whai she says. A large number of the failures in life may be traced to improper training during childhood. There is no denying that mothers are of the very first impor tance; that there is great responsi bility upon them, and that they make many mistakes thal might be avoided if only some expert would tell them what to do. But Mrs, Belmont should not be loo severe on them in their ignorance. Shi should realize that the American women are producing fair average results, considering the kind of material some of them have to work with. The American mothers may not know it all, but they are do ing pretty well for a lot of blundering amateurs. i WAS AN INSPIRATION FIRST SINGING OF SANKEY'S MOST FAMOUS HYMN. “The Ninety and Nine,” So Powerful an Aid in Evangelistic Work, Was Not Planned by the W riter. The religious faiths of the world have produce many remarkable and beautiful lyrics, such as Newman’s "Lead, Kindly Light,” the "Nearer, My God. to Thee” of Sarah Flower Adams, and Cowpor's “God Moves In a Mys terious Way," Many of these were written under peculiarly dramatic cir cumstances, as was particularly the case with those of t'owper and John Henry Newman alluded to above, writes F. Heddell in the Milwaukee Sentinel, Hut wide as lias been their use and their application among Christiana ol all creeds and sects, there is one hymn that overshadows all others, whether we consider its widespread popularity or its wonderful evangelistic power. This hymn is "The Ninety and Nine," by the late Ira I). Sankey, long the mu sical associate of Dwight L. Moody. These two men together were Hie greatest soul winners ever known, and the success of their united work was undoubtedly largely traceable to Mr, Sankoy's songs’in general, and to "The Ninety and Nine” in particular. Its unique origin has often been de scribed, blit will bear repetition. "When leaving Glasgow for Ivlin burgh with Mr. Moody, Mr. Sankey bought a penny religious paper. Glancing over it as they rode on (lie cars, liis eye fell upon a few verses in the corner of the page. One day they had an unusually impressive meeting in Kdinburgh, in which Dr. Honor had spoken on “The Good Shop herd " At the close of the address Mr. Moody beckoned to Ills partner to sing something appropriate. “At lirsl he could think ol nothing hut the Twenty-third Psalm, lint, that lie had sung so often; Ills second thought was to sing the verses he had found in the paper but how could It be done when he had no tune for them? Then a thought came—to sing the verses he had found tn the paper anyway. He put the verses before him, touched the keys of the organ, and sang, not knowing where he was going to come out. He finished the tirst verse amid profound silence. He took a long breath and wondered if he could sing the second (lie same way. He tried it and succeeded. After that it was easy to sing it. When he had finished the hymn the meeting was all broken down—throngs were crying and ministers were sobbing all around him.” Hundreds ivc'c converted then and there, while In siil*eqtient years other thousands of souls were gathered In through the singing of "The Ninety and Nine." Clearly the song was the result of a sudden inspiration so far as Its mu sical setting was concerned, and It may be doubted if there was ever a similar case of spontaneous and subse quently successful composition. "The Ninety and Nine" literally sang its way around the world. The simple paraphrase of the Scripture parable appeals to "all soils and con ditions of men," and the world's hymn ology Is the richer for that Sunday afternoon inspiration in the Scottish capital which came to Ira D Sankey. Not in Ade's Set. The first time Mrs. Kendal, the Kng lish art reus, went to Chicago the city editors rent reporters over to Inter view her. Among them was George Ade, then working for the Record. “How do you like Chicago, Mrs. Kendal?” he asked. 'Oh, 1 have not been here long enough to answer that, but I know I shall like it. i am so infatuated with vour country, and I know I shall dear ly love Chicago. I have met some charming Chicago people.” "Indeed,” said Ade. ‘ whom do you knew-?” \\ hy, I have met Mr. Armour mid Mr Fairbanks and Mr. Illginbotham and several others. Do you know them?” "Well," said Ade, "1 have heard of them, but then, you know, all these you have mentioned are in trade. Good-morning." — Sati.rdav evening Post. A Forceful Style. A teacher at an evening school had before her a class in which were many very rough lads. "Suppose,” said the teacher.!"! should say, ‘Look out, boys; here comes the police!’ Would that he correct?” There was a silence. Finally a little fellow said, "Xo'm; that wouldn’t be right." * Well, inquired the teacher, "how should it be said?” ‘‘‘Cheese it, cullies; here comes a cop!'” was the reply.—Tit-Hits. His Charity. He was poor, but otherwise honest, and he had Just proposed to the heir ess. "Are you sure," she queried after the manner of her kind, “that you do not want to marry me for my money?” “Of course I don't,” he replied, “I mu anxious to marry you because I haven't the heart to let you become an old maid merely because you happen to have a paltry halfjnllllon.”—The Wasp. THE CHICKEN AND THE CAR Not to Speak of the Pony, the Poodle( the Collie and Others Who Were in the Mlxup. \ sort of house-that-Jack-bullt motoi case is reported In tin- Green Mag, II says that as a motor cnr was passing quietly through n village In New Eng land a chicken pursued hy a cat sud denly crossed the road just In front of the automobile. The sudden dash of the chicken and cat startled a pony, driven by two lit tle girls, one of whom had a poodle in her lap. The poodle Jumped out In give chase to (lie cat and fell on the road right in front of the car, causing its driver to pull up suddenly. lust as this happened a collie travel ing with Its mistress in (he car leaped out and chased the poodle, which frightened the pony so that it bolted toward the car. Seeing Ibis, the chauffeur drove toward the gutter, but as the dogs wore lighting there had to take another course, colliding finally with a stone wall and totally wrecking tin* machine. The owner of the car brought an ac tion for damages against the owner o( the chicken, claiming that it was re sponsible for (lie damage. In giving Judgment the court argued that them was no doubt us to the chicken having been (be proximate cause of the acci dent, for bad it not crossed the road tho cat would not have scared tho pony; bad the pony not been scared the poodle would not have got out of the pony trap; had the poodle not done so the automobile would not have stopped and the collie and tint poodle would not have been in tho gutter; had the collie and poodle not been in the gutter the eat would not have hung round to see things through; had the cal not remained ou the scene the chicken would not have been trying to scale tho wall, and bad the chicken not been trying to do this the chauffeur would have kept his nerve and saved the machine from ac cident. Yet though the clue Ken causou inn accident the chicken's act was not in itself violent or dangerous. This chicken would doubtless have mad* a tender broiler; it was gentle and In offensive, and not being ferae natura* its destruction of the automobile was unconscious and free from malice. Therefore the chicken not having ex ceeded its common law rights the ac tion could not be maintained and judg ment was accordingly entered lor th* defendant. Bribery in Elections. bribery, according to an expert on (lie subject, first became a recognized mode of securing votes In the reign of Charles I. It was afterward improved upon by George III., who lost no op portunity of enforcing its claims as a good gote getter. “If,” he wrote to ids chief adviser on one occasion, •'the duke of Northumberland requires some gold pills for the election it would lie wrong not to satisfy him." The king was not altogether selfish In tins matter of spending money, for the gold pills came out of his own medicine chest, the civil list, where as his successors drew upon the secret service cash for the corruption of the voters. In those days the British constitu tion worked on the principles of Mr. Quinton IMck, a wealthy West In dian planter, who explained his man ner of election thus: “At the last election I spoke to iny constituents. 'Gentlemen,' I said, my opponent is a very rich man with u large family. 1 am a very rich maA, and I thank God thai all I care for in the world is covered by my hat.' I put my hat on my head, and they returned me. That, sir. is the practical work ing of the Dritish constitution."—Lon don Daily News. Smuggling Partridge Eggs. A singular custom of smuggling by means of a dummy baby was brought to light liy the city customs officials at northern station in Vienna. Partridge eggs have for a long time been extensively stolen from pre served estates In Hungary, smuggled into Vienna and sold to poultry deal ers, who hatched the eggs in incu bators, brought up the birds by hand 1 nnd fold *h,,ro b**1ow thp pHrps n«kprt by more honest dealers. A special lookout for smugglers has resulted in the arrest of two peasant women. Arriving in Vienna in the na tional Slavonian costume, each of thin carried a baby tied, according to th< invariable custom, to a cushion ! and so closely “packed” that only the lace was visible. The women were noticed to be a lit tle agitated as they passed the cus toms, and they were followed home, j It was then discovered that, while on« baby was a living child the other was a dummy. It consisted of a wax head, partly hidden by a shawl anil a cap. * while the cushion was filled with more I than COO partridge eggs. Curiosity Squelched. At dinner the professor of history was seated between two young ladies, who, in accordance with their training in the art of conversation, sought to ; draw him out upon the subject In j which lie was most Interested. They | did not meet with much success; his answers were short—"Yes,” "Oliver Cromwell,” “No.” “1492,” and the like. Finally one of them in desperation ventured: “Professor, we were wondering only this afternoon, and none of ua could remember: How many children did Mary, Queen of Scots, have?” This was too much. “Madam,” said the professor, facing her with squelch ing dignity, “1 am not a scandal monger.”