12 Conservative *
The story of a
A FEMALE female Cnisoo is
CItUSOE.
told by Thovct in
his Cosmogrnphie , and by Marguerite of
Navarre , and yet seems to be founded
on fact. The heroine is the niece of the
Sieur do Robeval , whom she accom
panied on a voyage of discovery , pre
sumably in the North Atlantic. A
handsome young ship-builder of St.
Mnlo was of the party , and also a Hu
guenot minister , and the end of the bus
iness was naturally a secret marriage
between the girl of blue blood and the
workman. The cruel uncle , discovering
the plot , put the unlucky couple ashore
on an island , uninhabited save by de
mons , and left them with one female at
tendant and a small supply of provisions.
The hardships of such a life , and the
trouble caused by the demons were too
much for the young man and the ser
vant , and Margaret was presently left
alone with an infant born on the island.
The babe did not long survive , but the
mother was of true grit , and supplied
herself with food by hunting and fish
ing. For two years and live months she
lived on this northern island , and was
then rescued by some Breton fishermen ,
who brought her back to France. In
stead of trying to bring her uncle to jus
tice , Margaret hid herself from his ap
prehended vengeance , and supported
herself during the rest of her life by
teaching a school for young "demoi
selles.1 ' Household Words.
SOME AVHIMSICAL ADVEUTISEMEXTS.
The author of ' 'Pages from a Private
Diary" gives some whimsical advertise
ments , as , for instance : "Respectable
girls , about eighteen , wanted for bet
tling. " And from a bookseller's cata
logue : "Clergymen. A fine collection
of two hundred clergymen , consisting of
Protestant ministers , Roman Catholics ,
Wesleynu Methodists , Unitarians , and
Presbyterians , nice clean lot five shill
ings. " Another story is of a temper
ance meeting , where a lady speaker , the
wife of a clergyman , told how her hus
band used always before his evening
service to eat an egg beaten up with
brandy , which made him bilious ; but
since ho had left off this drunken habit ,
ho had also left off his bilious attacks.
This was more than old B. could stand ,
for he roared out : " 'Twere the egg ,
inarm , what made he bilious. You tell
your mister to take t' brandy wi'out
"em. " Household Words.
LIFE IN THE JEE1 > SKA.
Aii expedition left London a short
time ago , the object of which was to in
vestigate a most important problem re
garding the distribution of life in the
sea. It used to bo believed that the
ocean depths were tenantless , and that
all life was confined to the shallow sur
face belt ; but this idea had to bo aban
doned oven before the Challenger went
on her memorable voyage of scientific
research. Next the idea was mooted
that ( ho oceanic fauna was confined to
the surface and bottom belts , separated by
nu intermediate /one of barrenness.
During the Challenger expedition it was
found that if the depth at which the
surface nets were towed was increased ,
new animals were enclosed in their
meshes , an observation which pointed to
the probability of life at all depths. The
investigations now in progress are de
signed to settle this important point.
The Oceana , fitted with deep-sea gear
and oveiy modern appliance , is at work
off the west coast of Ireland. It was in
tended that extended observations
should be made with a chain of tow-nets ,
the length of which would be gradually
increased until a depth of 2,000 fathoms
was reached. Experiments were also
devised with nets of a self-opening and
closing nature , so that samples of life at
different depths could bo thus secured.
It was also intended to conduct experi
ments with trawl. The
a deep-sea ex
pedition was fitted out at the expense of
the Royal Geographical Society and the
Drapers' and Fishmongers' Companies.
Chambers' Journal.
THE GKEEK CHUKCH IX ALASKA.
The Rev. Dr. J. Sheldon Jackson ,
United States general agent of educa
tion for Alaska , replying to the attack
made upon him by Bishop Nicholas of
the Greek church , for his alleged indis
criminate appointment of officials in
Alaska , said :
"The bishop was , perhaps , sincere in
so far as the prelate's knowledge went
regarding the appointment of officials
for the territory. The fact is , I have
nothing whatever to do in regard to ap
pointments for the country. The offi
cials are appointed by the president , and
he does not consult mo.
"The greatest enemies to public
schools iu. Alaska are the priests of the
Greek church. They have even impris
oned young boys to keep them out of
the schools. They do not want their
children to learn English for fear they
may leave the Greek congregation.
However , the cause of the Greek priests
in Alaska is dying. They are not citi
zens , but are sustained by the Russian
government , and have been required to
renew their oaths of allegiance every
time there has been a change of Russian
authority. For the support of the
Greek church in the territory the Rus
sian government pays annually the sum
of $60,000. Their work is not progres
sing , and my opinion is that twenty-five
years hence will see the end of the
Greek church in Alaska. " Philadelphia
Press.
When men who have only been taught
to make shoes are elected to make laws
there is generally a complaint to the ef
fect that the laws are only half-souled.
IlEKLIX SUI'EKSTITIOXS.
Although in Berlin , as elsewhere ,
most .superstitious are connected in
someway or other with marriage or with
death , still there are quite a largo num
ber that have nothing whatever to do
with either. For instance , many a
housewife would feel as if she were just
tempting the fates if she were to allow a
room to bo swept at night ; for , while
the dustwas going out , she would argue ,
trouble would bo sure to creep in. A
pence-loving servant-maid will have re
course to all sorts of odd stratagems to
avoid talcing a pair of shoes from off a
table ; for , whoever takes them off , she
holds , is sure to have a quarrel that very
same day with him or her who put
them on.
I shall never forget the scene I once
witnessed in n German household when
the fact became known that I had
broken a looking-glass. The thing was
of no great value it was only a little
hand-mirror and as I was its owner , I
was at a loss to understand why the
breaking of it should cause so much
excitement. The servants stood around
me wringing their hands , and indulging
in all sorts of noisy demonstrations of
grief and sympatlry ; while their mis
tress , who passed in the world for being
a strong-minded woman , looked equally
distressed. She told me again and
again how sorry she was that such a
misfortune should have happened to me
in her house. "You will have no luck
now for seven long years , do what you
may , " she assured me in quite a sepul
chral tone. And when I laughed , she
waxed quite indignant , and was heard
to remark later that the English were
sadly lacking in reverence.
On n previous occasion , in that same
house , I had stumbled while going up
stairs , whereupon it was promptly
taken for granted that wedding presents
would soon have to be bought. If two
persons have the same thought at the
same moment , and express it in the same
words , they may each wish a wish , and
the wish will be gratified if they but
have the patience not to speak until they
are addressed by some third person.
With regard to the moon , endless super
stitions prevail , not only in Berlin , but
throughout Germany , and among them
the old English superstition that to see
the now moon through glass brings mis
fortune. There are superstitions , too ,
with regard to the color of the horses
one may meet. Some people will walk
miles on the chance of coming across a
piebald horse , just as others will go far
out of their way to avoid one that is
"skewbald. " Then the way the birds
fly , how the leaves fall to the ground ,
whether stairs do or do not creak ,
and whether door-bells ring or remain
at rest , are all matters fraught with sig
nificance for Berliuers ; and not for them
alone , for in every land old superstitions
die hard. Correspondence London
Standard ,