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:■,. ; ♦ <BY ACTJEON.)

Aquatics. Wellington Regatta.....: March Rowing Association Regatta March 7 Georft_ Buboar (England) v. Wallace Ross, (US.), for £100, over Thames Championship course (H miles) March 10 Tauranga Regatta March IS Whangarei Regatta March 17 Coromandel Regatta Maroh 18 Edward Hanltin V. Elias Laycock or tho'next beat man In Australia, £1,000 a-side, before _March-31

CRICKET.

February 23—Auckland v. Unitod, Otahuhu v. Excelsior (at Otahuhu), Our Boys v. South End, West End v. North Shore, West End 2nd v. United 2nd, "Herald" v. Carlton, .Our Boys '2nd v. Standard, Eden v. I'arnell, Gordon v. -r—. I March I—United v. West End, Auckland 2nd v. Excelsior, Otahuhu v. South End (at Otahuhu), Our Hoys v. North Shore, West End 2nd v. Waverley, Avondale v. Eden, "Herald" v. Our Boys 2nd. United 2nd v. Parnell, Standard v. Alpha, Gordon v. Grammar School. March B—United v. West End, Grammar School v. Excelsior, Otahuhu v. South End, North Shore v. Our Boys (at North Shore), United 2nd v. Alpha. West End 2nd v. Eden, Standard v. Waverly, "Herald" v. , Gordon v. Ponsmiby.

Thk Waitemata Rowing Club has now between fifty and sixty members-.

The yacht Toroa has changed owners, She is about to enter the fish trade.

O'Connor visits Melbourne in March. He will run in the mile race at the St. Pat rick Day sports.

Bailey is building a new twenty-feet open sailing boat. She is to be of cedar, and will take part in thePonsonby Regatta.

The twenty-feet open sailing boat Imp is expected to remain here until after the Ponsonby Regattu, on Easter Monday.

Tho thirteen-feet open boat Secret, built by W. Holmes, junior, has been bought by Parker and Sutcliffe.

Warbrick has built a pretty open sailing boat, 18 feet in length, for the use of Miss Mariebel Greenwood, at Waiwera.

Iranian, the oarsman, left London for Australia on Monday last. He is to meet Layooek, or the next best man in Australia, for £1,000 aside.

Tho prizes oti'ered for competition at the Tauranga Regatta, on March IS, amount in value to about £100. Several Auckland sailing boats are expected to take part.

Coursing has lost a firm adherent and a. good supporter in tho Earl of Craven, whoso demise took place atAshdown Houto on December 5.

H.-Mosee, who made 147 runs for tho New South Wales Fifteen against the Aus tralian Eleven, is said to be the prettiest left-handed batsman in Australia.

A sailing race between the thirteen-feet open boats, Dot and Secret, va? arranged for this afternoon. The match arose out of last Saturday's sweepstake?, which proved a victory for the former.

Messrs Parker and HolderI.* thirteen-feet boat Mabel, which recently sunk in the harbour, has not yet been raised, and there now appears very little chance of her recovery.

John L. Sullivan, tho pugilist, proposes to fell an ox with a blow of his fist. The feat has been performed before, but in Sullivan's case is looked upon as dangerous, as his right hand has been once broken.

The next Rowing Association Regatta takes placo in March, and crews belonging to the various Clubs are in active training. Tho contests are expected to be unusually close.

Flowers, who is one of Lillywhite's team for the Australian tour, is a first-rate all round man. He bats in a free and vigorous style, and bowls a medium-paced ball, with a slight off break.

The Otago Football Union have requested Mr Sleigh to act for them in arranging for the Sydney tour. Steps will be taken to ascertain what Otago players can get leave of absence.

A Southern paper refers to the fact that Messrs J. Pickering and \Y. Houston, of Auckland, are willing to back S. Goodman, the boy walker, to walk one or two miles against any Junior ped. in New Zealand, for any reasonable stake.

Charles Mitchell, the plucky little English man, writes : " I will return to New York in February, and bring with me a strapping heavy weight, Mr Fred Collier, who, I believo, will pnt Eome of the boys in New York to shamo."

There should be good competition for the various events at the forthcoming Rowing Association Kegatta. Entries are expected from the Auckland, Tonsonby, North Shore aud \Yaitemata clubs, the latter having been granted the use of several of the Auck land lvowiiig Club boats.

Kdvard Winship, one of the old Tyne oarsmen, died on Dec. 14 at North Shields, aged lifty-one years. He formed one of the winning crew in the champion fours at the Thames National Regatta in ISjO, 1861, and IS(>2, and won tho champion pairs with It. Chambers in 1860, IS6I, and 1562.

Donald Dinnio is endeavouring to arrange a wrestling match with John Tirt'en Gumber land style, for £50 a side, the match to be decided on February 25 ; or, if this date will not suit the Dunedin man, Dinnie is willing to wrestle any time after the middle of March for C2Coaside.

John L. Sullivan declines absolutely to journey to Australia to meet Prof. William Miller in a glove contest, but offers Miller $1,000 in payment of expenses to come to San Franciscoand meet him there, thecontest to be one of four rounds, under the Marquis of Queensberry rules.

At the athletic exhibition of the Williams burg Club, N.Y.,Dpc. 31, M.-VV. Ford, of New York, beat the Atnerican record at standing hop, step, and jump. His jumps were 25ft 2in, 26ft lljin, and 28ft lljin. Three standing jumps, 28ft, 30ft 4Jin., and 30ft sJin.

Gimn, tho Nottinghamshire professional who has been selected as one of Shaw and Lillywhite'a team for Australia, is a fine athletic fellow, over 6ft high. He has per formed very creditably for his county, and his style is just suited for the fast Aus tralian wickets.

Tho match, at Christchurch against Tasmania ended in a most exciting finish, the last Canterbury man having to go in before the 85 runs required were obtained. Dudnoy played a fine innings, but Hale and Kendall, particularly the former, bowled splendidly, and proved altogether too much for the majority of the local men.

The Auckland Plumpton coursing ground is being rapidly put into shape, and- the wire is on its way from England, so that prpbaKly the first match on it will take place either in June or July, when no doubt there will be a large" entry," as it is under stood that the President of the Club, Alfred Isaacs, Esq., will give a gold cup for tn,e, first event.

Some delay in paying over tlie prizes won at the recent' Wellington Regatta.-.has been occasioned through the inability of the offi cers of the Club to gather in some of the subscriptions promised. One of the gentle men who canvassed the town for funds has left the district without forwarding to the Committee the account of the amount col lectod by him, and several others have also neglected to "square up," ; : . . ■

The Waitemata Boating Club met at Gleeson's hotel on Monday evening. There was a large attendance. Mr Superintendent Hughes was elected vice-president, to act witn Mr A..E. Isaacs, yrho previously occu pied that position. Some discussion took place re crews for the Association regatta, but nothing definite was done It was de cided to erect a shed at the \Yynyard Pier directly sufficient funds were available.

The match Malono v. Murphy, Malone to run 100, 200, and 300 yards while Murphy walked 60, 120, and 180, for £50 a-side, came off in the Friendly Societies' Gardens, Melbourne, on Jan: 26, when Murphy won the 300 yards in 36sec—Malonenot starting, being under the idea that the signal had not been given—and the 200 yards by five yards in 19fsec. Matone won the 100 yards by 7 yards, the time taken being 94-sth sec. ' ,',"

The temperance unions are greatly dis appointed in the conduct of Herbert A. Slade in Kansas. He was induced, after much persuasion, to become a Gocd Templar by John L. Sullivan, whose views on the subject have been printed all o% rer the country, and who has become a Worthy Grand light. At Lawrence, Kansas, where the Sullivan combination was giving an en tertainment for the benefit of a Mormon church, Slade got on a tear and proceeded to paint the town red. The board of Alder men and most of the grown men in the town were lying in the streets, and the gutters were flowing with blood, when 300 or 400 constables and cowboys succeeded in running Mr Slade down and capturing him with a lasso. He was held in durance fill the combination left.

A Hanging Bungled.

To hang a man in such a. manner that he will die instantly is not so easy as it would appear to the uninitiated. On December 3rd last Henry Dutton, a younir iron moulder, who murdered his mother-in-law, was hanged at Liverpool. Bartholomew Binns, Marwood's successor, was the chief operator, but made a bungling job of it. Precisely at 8 o'clock the drop fell. The body turned round several times and the doctor remarked : " This is poor work ; he is not dead yet." In fact, the body moved convulsively for two minutes, and the pulse did not cease to beat until eight minutes after the Jrop. It was the opinion of the doctor that death was caused by simple strangulation. Subsequently an inquest was held, at which the following facts were brought out: The body of deceased weighed 123 pounds and the drop was seven, feet five and one-half inches. Tke rope was far too thick, being nearly as large as a ship's hawser, the drop too short, and the noose was placed on the nape of the neck instead of under the jaw or under the ear. To in sure a speedy and painless death the spinal cord must be fractured, and it has been calculated that it requires a momentum of 2,240 pounds to dislocate the vertebra. In this instance the momentum was only 1,920 pounds, and the drop should have been nine feet instead of seven feefc five and one half inches. A rope about seven-eighths of an inch thick would be strong enough to bear a weight of 2,240 pounds, and lesa likely to slip than one much thicker.

Police Statistics of London.

" Lo>'do.v ib the best protected city," says the " Morning Advertiser ' of November sth, '• not alone as regards life and pro perty, but it is safegaurded by a smaller force- than capitals not half nor a third its size." At the close of ISS2 there were 25 superintendents, 611 inspectors, 'J77 sergeants and 10,086 constables, being a total of 11, COO. During the present year there have been added G inspectors, 30 sergeants, and 427 constables. AYhile this may appear as a large number, it should also be borne in mind that during the year 23,301 houses were built, forming 508 new streets and one square, covering a distance of 75 miles. The labour of the police is something enor mous, and the statistics of crime in London in this connection are interesting. ' Simple drunkenness' docreased from 8,567 in ISBI to 7,402 in 18S2. Burglaries decreased from to 437, but housebreaking in creased from 1,392 cases to 1,764. The total value of property stolen was £50,000 against £127,000 in 1881. During last year 12.578 children under 10 years of age and 3,9(31 adults were reported to the police as missing; 7,538 children and 860 adults were found by the police ; the remainder re turned home or were found by their friends —all but 74 adults, who committed suicide, and 12 children, who have not been traced. Of tke 18,659 deposits of lost property handed in by. drivers and conductors, 10,031 were returned to their owners. Among the recoveries were three bonds of .£21,000 each, a piece of silver weighing 1,034 ounces, a diamond valued at £15,000 and bank notes for £250. On the other hand, three bank notes for £30 each, and several other valuable deposits remained unclaimed and were returned to the finder.

Spurious Champagne in Paris Restaurants.

Messrs Moet and Chandon have (Paris, Nov. 29) obtained judgment against the proprietor of a Paris restaurant, M. Gamier, for palming off upon his customers an inferior wine, for that of the famous Epinay merchants. M. Garnior has been sentenced to fifteen days' imprisonment, a fine of LBO, payment to the plaintiffs of L4OO damages, and the obligation to insert a statement of the judgment in ten newspapers. The devioa employed to take in the con sumer was very clever. The spurious liquid was served in bottles closely resembling Messrs Moet's, and bearing i their labels. This, however, was not all. In order to deceive the sharpest customer, the waiter, when he drew a cork, substituted, by a dexterous movement a Mdet's cork for the one in the bottle, which, of course, he ab stracted.: According to the evidence of a waiter who has turned approver this was called making champagne a la ale, and an indispensable qualification of waiters em ployed at this establishment was the ability to " deboitcher Ie Moet."

The real value of the liquor sold as the genuine wine was notjnore. than 15 pence a bottle. "'■■"lK; "Gamier,? the 'defendant, pleaded1 '' line inhuvaise inspiration," which he regretted. The practice was de tected, by some young men sent by Messrs Moet to sup at the restaurant. They took with them a genuine bottle of champagne, i and when the: waiter's back was turned sub stituted it for. the one served, which they i| brought away as a piece d& e&tivivlion.—, I " London Standard.

THE ARMY, NAVY, AND VOLUNTEERS.

[By Map.tixi-Henki.]

Lieutenant Lowry, of H.M.S. Espiegle, made some sensible comments at a social meeting of the seamen of that veesel and the Lyrtelton Navals. In his remarks, he said "it was always a special pleasure to see the Royal Navy and the Volunteers pulling so well and cordially together. He would remind the Naval Artillery Volun teers that in the hour of the country's need they would probably be the first to be called upon to meet the foe. By the water he' must come, and on the water they must meet him, if they wished to keep fighting and bloodshed from their own hearth stones. They should especially exercise in boat work, and, at the earliest opportunity, he drilled at guns mounted afloat. In the end a system of naval defence must prove the truest economy for New Zealand. There was no power that he knew of which could move a stone fort at Port Chalmers to help Lyttelton, or heavy land batteries at Wellington to. drive an enemy from before Auckland. On the other hand, the telegraph could summon every Naval Artillery Volunteer and every war vessel in Aew Zealand to assist to crush an euomy's ship or squadron off any threatened point. Again, tho heaviest shore batteries and thousands of soldiers would not save • Lyttelton from the humiliation and grave pecuniary loss of finding their port block aded by the smallest of Alabamas while days were being spent in bringing up an Imperial cruiser, which perhaps at the time might bo engiged chasing a foo reported on one of the great oceantrat'e routes.

The "Broad Arrow" of December Sth; states that detachments of the Royal Engineers are ordered to proceed to Aus tralia and New Zealand in connection with coast defences, .',,

The Port Chalmers Naval Artillery had a total of 71 men on parade at a daylight in-; spection on February 16. ' ' I

An account of the cost to France of the war_ with Germany, just issued by the audit department, puts the total down at £341,440,000.

The Christchurch City Guards are going in for an extensive outfit. . They decided at a meeting lately to send Home an order for; great coats, waterproof sheets, and: water bottles. Why the water bottles '!

The Union Steam Shipping Company are issuing return fares at single rates to Volunteers desirous of attending the meet ing at Ellerslie next week. Similar con cessions are made to competitors' wives.

In a match at Dunedin, between the Dunedin Naval Artillery and the Dunedin Hussars, ranges 200, 400, and 500 yards, seven shots at eacli range, ten men a side, the Navals scored 731 ; Hussars, 6SS. On the Navals' side there were three scores over 80 points, Petty-officer Jack heading the list with the fine score of 88 points. .

A smart little skirmish re Colonial cavalry has been going on between Lieut.- Colonel Sarpood, who is, organising the Victorian militia as " War Minister,'.' and a cavalry major who objects to some of the reforms proposed. The Colonel, a3 ,in artillery officer, holds a very high opinion of his branch of the force, and considers cavalry as an almost useless encumbrance in an army whose motto is defence, not aggression.

Dr. Nicholaeff, of the Russian Medical Service, has been publishing some articles in one of the St. Petersburg papers on the proportion of suicides in the various Euro: pean armies. According to him, to every 1,000 troops the number of suicides are at the following ratio :—Austria, 1-0 ; Prussia, 088 : the English Army in Europe, 0.-36 ; the English Army in India, 0 14; the French Army in Europe, 0-35 ; the French Army In Africa, 0-55; Italy, O-37; and Kussia, 025.

An Australian paper makes some not un deserved comments upon the condition in which cemeteries of soldiers who fell in colonial wars are kept: "The cemeteries in New Zealand, where hundreds of British soldiers are buried who fell in action against the Maoris during the troubles from '(>0 to r(>s, are overgrown with weeds, overrun with pigs, and scandalously neg lected in every way. For the repair, of some of them in the Waikato, a large sum was voted by Parliament, but the vote .was deliberately devoted to the repair of roads through property.".

Shipbuilding in China.

The Chinese Government commenced building five months ago at Shanghai and in its immediate neighbourhood, sea floating batteries for the defence of tho Yanjrtse^ Kinng, four of these batteries have been ordered from foreign builders who are established at Shanghai, while the two others are : being built at Kiang-Nan, the arsenal of .Shanghai, some three miles from the city. Two of these batteries wero launched last month, and; like the four < - there, they have wooden-hulls, with double decks, and have no masts or propellers. They are 135 feet long, by 3G feet in beam, and 5 feet deep. Upon the upper deck is a wooden turret, armed with three 12-ton Armstrong guns. The hull is divided into five compartments for the •provisions, sleeping-berths, and other supplies, the centre compartment carrying the powder and ammunition. The crew will consist of 10r> men, of whom five will be officors, 50 seamen, and 50 marines. As these batteries have ho pro pelling power they will have to be towed or hauled to the point selected for the de fence of the Yellow River. The arsenal at King-Nan, at which these batteries have been built, has turned out several men-of war recently, including a wooden ■ frigate which has never taken the sea. The best vessel built there was a gun-boat bearing the terrific title of The Terror of the Western Nations, but this vessel is so deep in the water that the upper deck only just clears the surface, so that she cannot leave the river. There are also at Kiang-Nana cannon foundry, a torpedo factory, and a manufactory of rifles which is said to turn out 500 Remingtons each week. The principal cannon foundry is at Shanghai, and it is under the direction of an English man, formerly in the Woolwich Arsenal, and muzzle - loaders of the description made at Woolwich for the English Navy-up' to the adoption of the breech-loader are manufactured there. The' Fou-tcheoii' Arsenal, said to be the best equipped in China, is busily engaged upon the arming of the cruiser launched from there a few months ago. This cruiser is of 1,600 tons burden and 2,000 horse-power, and it is.to be armed with Krupp guns of heavy calibre, to carry' several, torpedoes, and to have a speed of. 15 knots an hour.

A Word for the Volunteers.

Sib, —The approaching tournament here under the direction of the New Zealand Rifle Association at, the end of this month calls for a few remarks, for the purpose of. awakening, some little interest in the meet ing. There is one notable distinction between the modern volunteer and his

predecessor of a former generation. He is what the other was not—a rifleman. To join. .the ranks .now .is not only to fulfil a patriotic duty, but to find a pursuit which loses none of its attractions when the iilarm of war subsides,, and is replaced by a faith in the permanence of peace. ~ A volunteer force which musters only when danger seemsto threaten is essen tially evanescent; A body of riflemen eager to perfect themselves in a manly art will hold together almost as closely at one time as another, and if all our volunteers were good with-the rifle I should no more doubt the permanence of the force than I should, expect all the old manly sports of our country to die out from the languid indifference of future generations. Many, though not all, of the .volunteer leaders have fully appreciated the importance of the rifle &* the mainstay of the Volunteer Movement; but it will be impossible to discard anxiety .Is. to the future until the volunteersand their supporters accept the truth that; in rifle shooting they will find, not merely one very important part of their duties, but the sole element of permanency, by which the ultimate dissolution of the force can !be averted. Not more than a fourth .of the men ever touch a rifle except on parade. Tllia :s equha'ent to saying that not more than one in lour can be depended on as a permanent addition to the strength of the country. There we see the utility of encouraging all endeavours made to perfect them in the use of the weapons they carry—as a high Im perial officer has said, Perfection in drill can do no more than place the rifleman in the best position for using his weapon with effect. The rifleman who cannot use his rifle with skill is useless if brought face to face with skilled men, such as the Boers of Africa. The public here has, at times, been accused of apathy, but forty years knowledge of it has convinced me that when the meeting takes place the public will be, has it always has been, equal to the occasion. The watchword being, "Advance Auckland."—l am, &c, J.C.S. February 9th, ISS4.

ATTACKED BY AN OCTOPUS.

A Diver s Struggle in the Hold of a 1 Sunken Vessel.

"That's an odd charm," said a "New York Sun " reporter to a travelling com panion on the New York Central Puiilroad.

"So it is," was the reply, " and it has a Btory," holding up a curious oval object in which was set a compass. It formed a bowl about two inches in diameter, and was of a substance resembling fish scales, but of a rich opal hue. The edges were serrated, and • within them had been placed a compass. "If you didn't know what it was," continued the owner, "you would never guess, but not to keep you in suspense. ■ It's the sucker of an octopus that attacked me once. If you remember, about four years ago there was a rumour to the effect that valuable pearl fisheries had been discovered on the Alaskan coast; in fact,.a large jewellery house in New York displayed some large pearls that it was claimed came from that locality. It fooled a good many, as it turned out to be a dodge to start immigration, and it caught me for one. I secured five men, good divers, and started across the continent, and got there to find it was all a swindle. There wasn't a pearl within two thousand miles, and to get my money back I went into the regular diving business, and after raising several vessels we squared up and left. It was during one of these trips that I got my charm. We generally went down in.pairs, but this day we were working at a small -mack that had sunk, and I took the first spell down alone, to see whr-ft^ivas the matter with her. She was lying in about 40 feet of water, some of her running gear afloat showing where she was. We anchored our ."loop to it, put out our moot ing, and in a fewmoments I wasgoingslowly down. I sup pose you can't imagine the sensation, but I never saw a diver, young or old, that liked his business. To feel that you are strapped to weights and going down to a depth where if a blow should cut your pipe you would be anchored for good isn't pleasant, to say the least. In about live minutes I reached the deck, and as I wanted first to find out what had hit her, I walked forward, swinging myself round the shrouds and ropes. I swun" oft", and I found that two of her planks nad burst right out. She was loaded with pig iron, and I reckoned the seaway had jerked the bottom out of her. Having settled this, I walked around her to the lee side, the bottom being a hard plean' sand, and there I easily stepped aboard and walked toward the hatch. It was wide open, and as I stepped near it I saw, something that I took for a rope hanging over the coamings. Tak ing my boat hook I gave it a punch, and it seemed to fall off into the hatch. One of the maip halliards was hanging clear, and taking, it I swung off and lowered myself fnto the hold to see if the iron had been covered with sand. "Down I went, my hook in one hand and the halliard in the other, and when neai: the bottom I let go. In a second I landed on a soft yielding mass that, bound as I was, gave me .a sick ening sensation. .It moved from under me, and in a moment I seemed to be sur rounded by.the flying arms of some hideous creature. „ They clasped my legs, wound around; my body, and. fastened about my helmet, gradually drawing me down and , horrifying me- so that for a moment I was utterly powerless. But at the first alarm I 1 had given the signal to draw me up, and having a large knife fastened.. at my waist, I attacked the monster, cutting it anywhere that I could strike. In a moment the animal had lifted itself so that its body rested against my chest, .and it seemed to be about as large as a, flour barrel, with legs extending out from it like the legs of a spider. I hacked at,it with the knife, my armour preventing it from biting, or cutting me, and soon had the. satiafaction'lof cuttiog it fairly in two, so that, it partly dropped off, and 1 tore the remaining arms away. I was dragged to the surface with part of it, however, clinging to me. I was about exhausted with the work and nervous prostration, and if they hadn't unscrewed my helmet immediately I should have dropped, but a few minutes in fresh air revived ■ me, and i© that tino© I eloped my career as a diver. , I don't think a mil lion would have tempted me to go down again.",., ..-•■•..■ .;< ,-j ■■■~; I" " And the charm t ■•,-. / "This charm, as I said, Mas one of the suckers that lined the arms, and had so cut into the rubber part of the sleeve that it hail;been, torn from the animal in the struggle, and as.it was rich in colour I kept it as.a curiosity. When I. reached the surface the-1 men. hauled up half the octopu3 with a boat hook. I tell you it was a fearful sight. The arms, when stretched out on opposite sides of the body, measured exactly' 27 feet* from tip to tip. On their under, sides were these suckers, each one a shelly cup with a saw-like edge. When the arm: isiwound about a fish ox other animal, each of the auokers is pressed against the fleshy the saw edge, cutting and holding it firmly, while a piston like .arrangement exhausts the air, and thu3 you are held by hundreds o! air pumps, while the body of the animal is

drawn toward you and the mouth applied. Tho latter was between the arms. There nero no teeth proper, their place btino taken by a pair of hard black bills, that were almost fnc similies of a parrot's bill, except that the lower jaw received the upper. The tongue was armed with teeth for the grinding up of prey. ■ " You may be surprised to learn1 that in San Francisco the Italians and Chinese eat cctopi, and the octopi fisheries are quite important. In all the fish markets they may be found hanging up. They attaina length of fourteen feet."

" Is yours an isolated case?" we asked!

By no means, was the reply. Soirie yeara ago a Flathead Indian woman was bathing with a party of companions, who finally left" her in the water alone. All at once she disap peared. A boat wassentoutand search made, and after a long time one of the men saw the body at the bottom lying on some rocks. A man dived down, but came up, saying that an octopus had the woman, and so it proved. The monster had seized and pulled her down before she could utter a cry. &• long spear being secured, both the animal and its prey were brought to the sur face together. The creature was almost as large as the one that attacked me. The largest authentic specimen from Alaska was seen by Mr Dall, of the Smith sonisn. It had a length of sixteen feet, and a radial sprend of twenty-eight feet. The body was extremely small, however, in pro portion. I believe they attain nearly the same size in the Mediterranean Sea."

FOR THE LADIES

The priests of Brittany have ordered the Breton girls not to sell their hair.

Ellen Terry's breakfast consists of a hard boiled egg and bread dipped in sherry wine. Matilda Heron introduced real food in stage spreads. She would not play "Camille" unless genuine articles were on tho table.

■ Countess d'Edle, wife of the ex-King of Portugal, who is in Paris, was Miss Hansier, whose father was a tailor in Soringneld, Mass., thirty years ago. Maaulay once received a letter from a lady who urged that as he had made so much money by abusing better people than him self he ought to give a portion of it to her. Following the advice of her physicians, Mrs M. J. Pitman ("Margery Deane") will soon sail for Europe and spend the winter in Southern France and Italy. She will do no literary work, but will lead as quiet and restful a life as possible, hoping thus to re cover entirely from the distressing affection of her eyes. ; •

At i meeting of persons interested in the Woman's Department of the Institute Fair in Boston, Mrs Julia Ward Howe spoke en thusiastically of woman's work saying: '" What shall we do ?' is the cry of rich women as well as poor ones. Work and learn to work, was the cheery answer. Can and Cannot balance each other. We women have made a large appearance on the can not side. Lord Byron said that women could not run, forgetting the legend of Atlanta. Dr Clarke—heaven rest his mem ory ! —said that women could not; go through a college course, and so on. Such an es hibition as this abridges this dismal column of Cannot and enlarges the column of Can." English and American Fashion Note*.

Forty small heads of the robin-red breasts form the coronets of red-velvet bonnets.

Mousquetaire gloves are worn shorter than they were last season, that is, less wrinkled on the arm.

The high-shouldered sleeves have at last found favour in Paris and are seen on all imported dresses.

Triangles formed of many rows of sou tache braid are newer than wheels of braid for ornamenting cloth dresses or cloaks. Transparent crepe of faint pink and blue shades covered with silver spots is the nov elty for evening dresses. It is ornamented with fringes of silver sequins and is made over satin. \

Plain velvet is the material preferred above all others for winter costumes for the street, for church, and for afternoon recep tions. Fur or feathers with a little lace are the trimmings. A tea-gown forms as important a part of a bridal trousseau as morning wrappers formerly did. For blondes they are made with a long pale blue sicilienne and a short skirt covered with Venetian embroidery. For brunettes they are of vicux rouijc surah, trimmed with a blouse vest and creamy lace in the Fedora fashions of Sara Bernhardt's Play-

America's Future.

These last seven years have given occasion to the Americans and to their foreign, friends to give utterance to many congratu^ lations about the happy result of that strug gle of a century ago—the war of indepen ence. Every one has been saying, withal! degrees of eloquent emphasis that never since the iroi'ld began has there been such progress seen as lias been seen betweea.the Atlantic and the Pacific Shores since them People point to maps of. a hundred or fifty, or twenty years ago, and show us with.exul tantwonderthe difference between eac!jijjaii\ With the peace of Paris, the United States reached out to the Mississippi, and excluded New Orleans and Florida ; and vast roigons ofthattrack were uninhabited and unalearad.. We need not dwell on tho change taat each year, each week, has brought forti* on the extension of territory westward aad northr ward, on the hundreds of great citiaitha my riads 01 towns, the tens of thousands of miles of railway, the mines, tho manufacturers tha .machinery. AU this is familiar to every one. What is less obvious is tho goal to which this vast material progress is tending :; a question which ,has perploxei refloating minds since De Tocquvilles day, and which* is exercising America not a attle" ab, this moment. The United Statce have now formed aad established themselves,, not without one struggle of tremsndoua propor tions ; their material resources are scoured to them ; they are safe for a long time to come against many of the -tatals wlSch beta! the older civilization of Ehgope. But it is already almost a commonplace to say Shat their real trials are only just beginning. When tho era of supplement is over that of internal development wili begiin. What will be tho moral and intellectual aspect of it ? What will bo the gift of. Asaerica *o the common stock of ideas * The question is one that can only be vaguoly jtskod as yet ! time alone can answer ii*.. But meanwhile it wauld be vain to deny that the century-old republic is-giving eveuy indication of a future as remarkable in the region of morals and of ideas as hi the material region. Literature is beginning to hvke n, character, and a very charming character, of its.own. In art the Americans arc showing, if not independence, at least an oxtraodinary faci lity which must lead them to better things before long. They are eager for all tli^t Europe can send tnem in tho way of letters, the drama or pictures. There is no " evacu ation of Heir York" on tho part of English lectures, English actors or English writers. The keen American mind;is turning with eagerness, uninformed with criticism, torl ward the best that the modern world can give it. The intellectual feature of such a race is not likely to disappoint: the moe^ sanguine of the prophets.— London Timts,

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