“ I zun a great friend of the “ nut. door Cellar,†so popular in many of the \Yestm-n States. \Yllcn properly constructed, one of these “ have," store houses is the best thing out in which to kccp roots‘m a, natural state. The secret is, you can here govern tempera- ture. The best, ones I ever saw were only partly underground. Just; imagine a mm- stm‘y out building, say 11x20, scltlctl half its height, into the ground, the sides ethane thu cm’th luring double :Llltl tilled with saw- dust, and the l‘lmf made doubly warm. I have men t-uch a building as this preserve Do you want your potatoes to sprout in the bins, and lose their Vitality, or do you want to keep them hard and fresh and sound till planting; time? Potatoes form one of our most important articles of food, and un- like grain they are of perishable composi- tion, a duration of about nine month’s time from digging, constituting their edible life. A mealy, wholesome potato, properly cooked is the delight of an epicure, and a watery, badâ€"flavored one disgusts the palate of the poorest laborer. Yet the board of the poorest laborer is as often blessed with tubers of a kingly quality, as his more. fastidious employer. The truth is, good potatoes are within the reach ofall, and especially of him who has an acre of ground to plow, or a 1'()O(l of garden to spade up. After we learn how to raise potatoes of good quality, we want to learn how to pre~ serve that quality, so that the tubers will make as ï¬ne eating in April as they did in October. int few farm house cellars have a winter temperature eqliable enough forthe preservation of quality in potators. They are generally too hot, or too hot at, time . so that the tubers earl)7 in spring send out a mass of sprouts, which prematurely shrivel and soften the seed. Potatoes stm ed in cellars should have a low temperature with a dry air. The cellar is generally lonated under the farm house kitehen, \Vlllt'll is proverbially the hottest room in the build. ing. It is difï¬cult or next to impossible to maintain a low cellar temperature under such conditions. i As fzmners we need to think more and plan more, both in regard to crop raising, and in the appearance of our homes, and so I say form your ideal and then work to carry it out, trusting in Providence for re- suits. It is an old saying that if a man aims at the sun, although he will not hit it, his arrow will fly higher than if he aimed on a level with himself. Therefore I say again stick to the ideal, and (lo the best you can to make it a reality. This applies to the gen- eral appearance of the farm and farm build- ings as well as to the growing of crops. Form your ideal of just how you want your place to 100k, and then as you have means and op- portunity work according to the plan you have mapped out. It may be a slow process, unless you have plenty of ready money with which to hire laborers, but never mind, do a little this fall, more next spring, and so on until your ideal is realized. v Itvis true that the farmer has to contend against innumerable objects that come between him and his ideal. He manures a certain piece of ground heavily, gets it in excellent condition, puts in his seed, hoping that his ideal crop will be a reality. But, alas ! the seed fails to germinate. The frosts nip the young plants. The cut-worms put in their work. The (lrouth comes, later on the potato beetle gets there, then comes blight and rot, and at the end of the season he finds that instead of his ideal crop he has one of the poorest crops he evergrew. This was just my experience with a field of com the past season. But, noththstanding all this, farmers must not get “ down in the mouth †as the saying goes, but stick to the ideal, even if we never reach it we shall be the laetter for it. Nearly every one who owns or improves a farm has an idea. of how he would like to have that particular form look, and of the magniï¬cent crops he would like to raise, of the bountiful supply of choice fruits and vegetables for his family and a, thousand other things of like character, and he plans accordingly for big crops, plenty of money, good living, and an improved appearance of his farm and buildings. “'ell there is noth- ing bad about planning for something better than we now possess, ior sometimes we get it and sometimes we do not. It is the ones who never plan, who have no ideal in their farming, that are continually and steadily going down hill. When the vine hangs low with its purple fruit, \Ve do not long for its pale green flower. So then, when hopes of our Spring at, last Are found in fruit. of the busy brain, In the heart’s sweet love, in the hund’s brave toil, “'8 shall not wish for our youth again, Ah, no ! we shall say, with a glad content; “ After the years of our hard unrest, Thank God for our ripened hopes and toil ! Thain; God, the harvest of life is best !†Vthn the apples are red on the topmost bough, “79 do not think of their blossoming hour; The days of harvest are past again : \Ve have cut the corn, and bound the sheaves, And gathered the apples green and gold, ’hIid the brown and crimson orchard leaves, VVitha, flowery promise the Springtime came, With the building birds and blossoms sweet ; But. oh 1 the honey, the fruit and Wine ; And 0h 3 the joy of the corn and wheat! \Vhat was the bloom to the apple’s gold, And what the flower to the honeycomb? Vtht was the song that sped the plow To the joyful song of harvest home? So sweet, so fair, are the days of youth ; So full of promise, so gay with song ; To the lilt of joy and the dream of love Right merrily go the hours along, But yet in the harvest time of life “7e never wish for its Spring again. \Ve have tried our strength, and proved our heart; Our hands have gathered the golden groin ; We have eaten with sorrow her bitter bread, And love has fed us with honeycomb; Sweet youth, we can never \Vetp for thee \Vhen life has come to its harvest home. AGRICULTURAL. Winter Care of Potatoes. The Ideal in Farming. After Harvest. “"l‘liere is no need to check it too severeâ€" ly, as: a loss of (L large portion of its roots would do. A cutting away of (me-fourth will probably lie ample. This process )‘ELI‘C- 1y fails to cause flower buds to form. If dnnc in spring or summer lnuls will form for the next season. Smuetimos summer pruning of the launches will have the same effect. The cutting 011' of the and of growing shoots is drmo while the sap is still active and where am. flower lmds will often form. This way will «lo \VlK‘Y'c some fruit is looked for Lo test a so: 1, but it, is sometimes in; the expense of the shape of the tree, and it, its not no be re- commended as so good :L way as that of root :7 pruning. Joseph Meehan gives the Practical Farmer some hints on pruning:r for fruit. Many are so pertinent and sensible that we give them here. “IL is never wise to let trees bear fruit while still young, and should they flower and fruit, then the fruit should be taken all before it gains any size. But it sometimes happens that the reverse of this is the case, and trees which are well grown and should bear fruit do not do so. it is then that the skill of the fruitygrower comes into play, and he uses his art and primes for fruit. l’run- ing may he of the branches or of the roots, and both mav be done to produce fruit. It must be understood that when a tree is growing fast it will not. fruit. To check the growth isa step towards fruiting, and this is what pruning is for. A tree in rich ground will grow larger and be longer coming into hearing than one in poor soil. This is why with the same variety of tree one man may have fruit from his tree long before his neighbor doesâ€"the soil (lifTei's in richness. There is no use in waiting long after time for a tree to hear any more than there is to have one bear too ear 5'. 'lx’eepin;r in mind that, a (on last grmving iree must, be checked in its growth to make it fruitful, root. prun- ing is the thing to do to accomplish it. The earth should be dug away intil some of the larger roots aie exposed and these should be chopped away. Again, it is next to impossible to secure butter which is perfectly sweet; it is as difï¬cult to keep as either milk or meat. 111 well managed creameries churning is done twice a day, the butter being made from nice sweet cream, but in ordinary country dairies, the cream is allowed to become very sour, being churned when a sufï¬cient quan- tity is accumulated. Meantime the germs are lmsy with their work of increasing the acidity~hutyric acid fermentation taking place at the very least. Consequently, but- ter made from it contains myriads of germs, ready when fave ‘able Conditions of warmth and moisture are added, to grow with great rapidity. \Vlien taken into the stomach they begin their mischievous work immedi- ately. Butter made from cream which has been boiled before churning will keep much the best. That is the method pursued in France and no salt is added. Cream con- tains most of the germs present in milk, beingr lighter than the milk they thus rise to the top with the rising of the cream. â€"Dr. J. H. Kellogg. In the selection of food, something more must be considered than that it is rich in nutritive qualities. For instance, in con- sulting a table of food valuesdiutter is shown to be almost all nutriment : but it is not the kind of nutriment most needed. More prob- ably it may be considered as a food ele- ment, the same as starch, f01 one cannot live on either alone. Another objection to butter is that it is a food element not easy of digestion. By the process of churning, the little globules of fat in the cream are driven together, but the digestive fluids must undo the work of the (layirymaid and emulsify the fat before it can be of service. Cream is already an emulsion, mixes rapidly with fluids, therefore it is much better to take our butter in the form of cream and save the double labor of the (lairymztid and the stomach. If the seed potatos ‘are freshly cut, and the ground is dry at planting time, which frequently happens on sandy soils, the seed should not come in contact with dry earth. I have seen freshly cut seed put into dry planting, and not one hill in a hundred of them came up, while seed that had been cut a few days and had the cut sides dried over, 1 when plaeed in the same soil, came up ï¬nely as soon as it rained. Farmers are beginning to discover that it is not so much the space that they plant in p0tatoes,as it is the pains taken to cultivate the (Top. Potatoes are very easy of degeneration, therefore in se lecting seed, â€survival of the fittest†should always rule. Do not use out of your potato bin all winter, and then plant the scraps that are left. Many farmers do it and then they buy phosphate and put on the crop, and blame the phosphate dealer because they get I no bigger returns. Fertilizing a crop may cover a multitude of sins of soil depletion, but it cannot hide seed inferiority. I wish that those who have been delinquent in the past would please think the matter ever, and hereafter aim to look to seed superiority, as well as fertilization. may prepare a rich seed bed, fertilize it in {L seientiï¬u manner, plant potatoes thereon whose vitality has passed out through the eyes by continuous sprouting and you will not realize over half the crop that you would by the use of vigorous seed. The writer knows what he is talking about, because he has tried it in a famed potato region, and with reliable varieties. I have found that almost half depended on seed, and I have taken great pains with its preservation. By maintaining a. low temperature in the storing room, I would keep the life of the po‘ato dormant, as late into the spring as possible, and would try to so time it that the ï¬rst sprouts would be on the seed at pluntingtime. 'l‘he sprouts then should not he more than half an inch long, and 11s the potato is sound and firm, they will be vigorous, and ready prepared to con- ‘ tinuo their development uninterruptedly in the soil. The seed should not be rudely shaken together so as to knock oil" these sprouts before planting. Potatoes cannot be expected to be kept into eaily summer without sprouting, in fact such :1 thing would not be desilable if they we1e destined for seed ; but we p1 etest against their being allowed to sprout in Mnrel1,z1nd e1 en Februaiy, and having me Sprouts removed, sprout again repeatedly till planting time, when Lhe seed hiue shxiveled 11p :111dl1ave lost half then 11'1211 iLy.Mz1ny farmers little realize how much crop success depends on seedhvitalitvy. You vegetables and roots through the severest winter weather, and yet be cool enough when the warm weather of spring came, to keep potatoes from §prouting badly. _ Pruning For Fruit. Butter as a Food. During his recent visit to Toronto, Hon. John Carling, Minister of Agriculture, took occasion to refer to the British import trade and to point out the part which Canada. and the United States, respectively. take in supplying the British demand. He quoted a vast array of figures to Show the unlimited extent of Britain's wants, and the particular points in which Canada might easily and proï¬tany enlarge her trade with the Mother Country. He expressed the opinion that if our farmers will set themselves to cater for the British market, there can be no reason- able doubt that in many things a much larger and more proï¬table trade could be established. Much depends, however, upon the quality of the products offered for sale. Let the quality he made satisfactory and, like aS in the ease of Canadian cheese, the goods wul find ready purchasers anal at pay- 1113‘ prices. Recently a story has been going the round of the press to the effect that two men out in Kansas while excavating for a building "ame upon a pot of gold containing about '5000,which *as supposed to have been hid- den before the war and that the owner had been killed. Concerning this lucky find the New York Tribune wisely remarks : “ I’rob- ably 500 newspapers recently chronicled the story that two Kansas men a few weeks ago found $5,000 in gold in an iron pot in a gully near a certain town. Now, the papers, of course, acted in good faith in printing the story, but as a matter of fact they {vere fool- ed by an unprinciplcd liar. There were no such men, no such gully, no such town, no iron pot and no $5,000. Stories about the ï¬nding of buried treasure, and about live snakes in people’s stomachs, as a rule, need not he believed.†From this it will be inferred that labor in the southern Continent is thoroughly organized. And this is true. In no other country is the organization more complete and more comprehensive. In striking con- trast was the condition of capital, which at the beginning of the strike had scarcely the semblance of organization. But the struggle thrust upon them taught the em- ployers the necessity of union. Consequently, after colonial unions had been formed in Melbourne, Sidney, Brisbane, and Adelaide, measures were taken to bring about inter- colonial action, and on hep. 9th, aconferencc of capitalists, representing the industries of all the colonies was held in Sydney. Here they decided to hold out to the bitter end The result has been that not a single point has been conceded to the trades unions. Under the protection of the police and the militia, non-union workmen have every- where been put in the places of the strikers, ,and gas works, dockyards, foundries, fac- tories, and mines have one after the other resumed operation. Queensland was the ï¬rst of the Australian colonies to break the deadlock in business, for there the merchants and shopkeepers discharged and loaded steamers With their own hands. Then in South Australia the union men themselves rebelled against the orders of the trades unions and insisted on going back to work. And now we learn that even in Victoria, where the labor agita- tors are most powerful, the strike has colâ€" lapsed. Thus the attempt at C(ercion has failed, and no fair-minded person Will regret it. The demands were manifestly unjust, and had they been allowed, the door would thereby have been opened for further and more intolerable interference. But not only has the strike failed in acemnplishing its innnediate purpose, it has brought into ex- istence an organization, which, created in the ï¬rst instance for defence may yet be found to play the part of the aggressor. In such an event it is conceivable that some of the ground gained by labor and to which it is justly entitled may be wrested from it. That those who have been so greatly injured in their property by the unjust demands should be tempted to adopt the 189: ice/{0712’s and render “ an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth †is perfectly natural and human. It is to be hoped however that wiser counsels will prevail, and that employers, believing in the almightiness of the eternal principle ofjusticc, will keep in view that higher law which enjoins kindness for unkindness, good for evil. Thus will they hasten the day when the experiences of thepastfew months will be a moral impossibility. .branches of skilled labor to cut down the A telegram from Mr. Chaplain, of Mel~ bourne, the well-known labor agitator, to Mr. John Burns, of London, announces the fact that the great Australian strike which has for many weeks convulscd the labor world of the islandeontinent is over, and that the strikers have failed. To appreciate the struggle, which was fought with so much determination on both sides, it is necessary to consider the nature of the demands made by the strikers and the strength of the opposing parties. The strike was precipitated by the demands of the labor unions that no non-union men should receive employment, and that every mem- ber of a union should be secured against dismissal. In case of refusal the employers were told that their commodities would be boycotted, and that the railway servants would strike sooner than handle boycotted goods. Regarding this as an unjust inter- ference with their rights and liberties, and an act of tyranny on the part of men to whom the most liberal concessions had al- ready been made, the employers positively refused to accede to the demand. Hereupon the trade unions ordered the seamen, ï¬re- men, (lockers, miners, and employees in sev- eral other trades to cease work. For weeks steamers lay idle at the wharves because they could not be manned nor loaded nor supplied with coal. For three nights there was not a glimmer of gas light in the city of . Melbourne. Theprogrammeof coercion, how- ever, proved a failure. This was, no doubt, a great surprise to the unionists who had al- ready succeeded in carrying out so large a portion of their programme of reform in the principal Australian colonies. For they had not only plated an eight-hour law on the statute book, but had enforced it in all trades, and had even managed in some working hours to forty-ï¬ve per week. They had caused all railways to be owned and operated by the Government and to be ad- ministered with a View, not to the payment of dividends, but to providing the utmost possible accommodation to the masses of the people at the cheapest rates. In New South \Vales the railways have to carry school children gratuitously. In Vic‘ toria the tramways running in the cities and towns become the property of the munici- palities after a certain term of years. In truth, so many and so great were the points gained that Australia, and the colony of Victoria in particular, was beginning to be celebrated as a workman’s paradise. The Great Australian Strike. Miss Julian Rappiport has been enmlating, in the Antipodcs, the intellectual successes of her sex in England. Three years ago, when only sixteen, she passed the matricu» latien examination at the Melbourne Uni- versity with honors in Greek and French. At the last examination for the clerical (li- vision of the Victorian Civil Service, when 167 candidates presented themselves for ‘25 vacancies, Miss Rappiport took the highest marks ever achieved in arithmetic, securing 492 outof a possible 500. Sllenow holds a Government appointment in the Melbourne Central Telegraph Ullice. 'l‘he clever young lady is anxious to take the M. A. degree. It is thought that She may eventually become a doctor, or emulate the young Ronmanian lady, Sarnissa Bilcesco, and become the ï¬rst woman barrister of her country. Daughtcr~“ \Vhy is it, ma,t]mt a honey- moon is supposed to last only three months?†Mam“ At the end of three months the quarterly bills come. in.†Referring to the sympathy which the Prince of \Vales is said to have expressed for General Booth’s scheme for the regenera- tion and salvation of “ Darkest England,†the New York Sun remarks : †The Prince of \\'ales has now, like the Kaiser of Ger- many, become a social reformer, and he him- self has announced the fact in a letter to Brother Booth, the Salvationist. The Prince is to become a co-worker with Brother Booth, whose project for the refor- mation of ‘Darliest England’ he approves of, and perhaps, after paying in the sub- scription which he has promised to the Salvation fluid, he may take up the practical business in which he says he is interested. His Royal Highness has been a rather jocund heirnpparent (hiring the half cen- tury of his life, and it will be interesting to hear of his spending the rest of his time as a reformer.†The surprise of the Sim would have been less had it called to mind that it is the unexpected that generally happens. But as to the Prince giving himself up to the work of social reform, he might easily do worse than follow the example of his energetic and daring nephew. In the matter of house-furnishing, an in- genious woman, by twisting and turning a carpet will make it last twice as long:r as it might otherwise. By varnishing the wood- work, and npholstering the furniture, she will give her sittingq‘oom the appearance of having been newly«furnished. I have seen women whose ingenious minds and (left ï¬ng- ers seemed capable of transforming and beaubifying everything round them. LlLLIAN M AYNE. There are women who can concoct a deli- cious breakfast of mate rial that the modem serumt would throw away ~ and there axe women who can fashion a tasteful dress out of material cast of by their fortune-favored sisters. Nearly all of us know of brave women who have fed, clothed and educated families of children with so little money that it would seem almost insufï¬cient, to supply them with bread. Nor did her dress sufl'cr by comparison with a, friend’s nun’s veiling which cost ï¬ve times as much. ,l‘lie skirt ‘was tasteful in its arrangement and drapery, and the waist was a. marvel of skill. The square neck \‘zx‘s ï¬lled in with Spanish lace, and from the elbovx -sleeves de- pended frills of the same. There was enough left of the ï¬ve-dollar bill in lmy a pair of nice gloves. My young friend went, to the wedding with a light. heart and bright face. The consciousness of being well-dressed al- ways makes a. Woman comfortable and ham) y. A week before the momentous afTair, she was coming out of a dry goods store in com- pany with a friend who was making pur- chases for the ï¬nishing touches of a. dress, when a bright idea flashed through her brain, There was displayed in full glare of the light a piece of cream-colored goods (veiling, she supposed), marked “ twelve cents per yard.†In a twinkling her path brightened, and she saw clearly her way to the wedding. On examination, the goods proved to be a superior quality of cheesecloth, so delicate in Weave and coloring that only an expert could distinguish it in the evening from veiling. My young friend bought twelve yards on the spot, also paper-muslin for a lining and to give it the effect of having more body. She also bought Spanish lace to trim waist and sleeves, and went home with a. light heart. The next day this ingenious girl, who was accustomed to make her own dresses with taste and skill, set to work upon the cheese- cloth, and, devoting all the time that could be spared from other duties, in a few days evolved a stylish dress. No one but a. woman can make one dollar do the work of two ; indeed, I know of one case where a young,r and pretty Country girl made one dollar do the work of ï¬ve. She lmd been invited to a. weddingâ€"a full~dress affair. A new dress was needed, but her purse contained only ï¬ve dollars. As at Lhat time dresses of creamAVhite wool were much worn, a. nun’s veiling would have been my friend’s choice, but it could not be thought, of while her ï¬nancial condition was solow. After a desperate struggle she de- cided to remain at home rather than attend the wedding shabbily dressed. When I drive through a certain section of countly occupied almost entirelj7 by work- ing-men and their families, 1 note with pride their neat, comfortable cottages and the happy children playing about). These signs of thrift speak of women who so wisely spend their husband’s scanty incomes as to make their dwellings homes indeed. .30 sublime is my faith in this characterisâ€" tic of woman that I dare to assert, that man will neV or compete with her. Whenever she wills to do 2L thing, her fertile brain is not long in ï¬nding the means to accomplish the end. I might refer to the managing mother who marries her daughter to a milâ€" lionaire, despite his thorough understanding of her plans and intended resistance to them ; hub I prefer to consider the ingenuity of the good woman who make the homes of our land. “ \Vhere there’s a. will, there’s a. way,†and “\‘Vhen she will, she will, you may depend on‘t, and when she won’t, she won’t and there's an end on’t,†were evidently written by those who understood the ingenu- ity and met of woman. Man has been accredited with greater powers of intellect and will than woman; but in no sense is he so fertile in expedient as a member of the weaker sex. The Prince of Wales and Gen. Booth. A (‘lcvor Young Austral m Lmlyl The Ingenuity of Women. was killed while 11101111Laincering, and of the faithful dog WI 10 fol Llnce momhs watched over his nuistm'k remains. Sir \Vaitcr Scott describes the event in the poem “ I climbed the dark hi‘nw of the mighty Helve]1yn,â€and W'm‘tlswm'tli records it in his lines on “ Fid- elty. †The costof the monument has been hnrne by \Iiss F1 11111005 Powei 0011110 and the H. D Rziwnsloy, Viczu of Crosthwait-e. Bihbsw‘flr wonder why my tailor failed '3†Fiblvs*r“ Pure politeness. His customers wouldn’t, come down, so he went up.†A monument 11st just been ï¬nishcu which is to be erected on Hclvcllyn Lo the memory of Charles (x‘ongh, who, >in the ye: 178075, A full, high forehead denotes intellectual suPcyiprity.‘ Then for the girls ; make mother the «1:111 companion C\ Cl\b'\\1101',0 ' she 1s heartily wol- cometl, for Lthh shcmay hmc wrinkles on her forehead thew rue 110110 011 11811103“. A 1 w, receding brow marks mental den- sity V. Then, dear mother of girls, won’t you keep yourselves young fm‘ them ‘3 \Von’t. yon k‘>(‘,p up an interest» in what the girls are doing and saying ‘I Won‘t you make tlu-m know that nobody is as «lad to help them in their fun, to mgo on theii innocent mouiman as 1“110t1101†" Believe 1110, the best; cliszemns for girls are mothers. The) V are Gotl- six en ones, and ceitziinly (-zw li one will look care- fully after licrown lmnb. I know Iought to talk only to the girls, but it does seem as if I wanted to say a word to their mothers. “When we got, to he thirty or thirty-live we are apt to forget the days when we were eighteen, and judge them a bit harshly. Now, don't do this ; temper your justice with mercy and think over your girl. Reincmberthut if she has your ingenuousness she has an impulswe temper not inherited from you ; and that if she is not musical like you are, she has (L gift for painting that comes a direct gift from her father. In your one girl you have- two temperaments to contend with lieside your own. The one is your own, the other that given her by her father, and the other her individual self. She has the right to have this respected, and it is your duty to teach her this. It is a singular fact that while the strong« est doubt 011 the historical character of the earlier Biblical records iinds its champions in theologians, such as Kuenen, \Vellhansen, and Robertson Snith, some of the most pro nounccd declarations in favour of their his toric accuracy come from ()rientalists and: historians who do not belong to the theolo- gical ranks. Most of the new discoveries in Egypt which have shed a flood of light on old problems have been the work of nor.- theologians. The latest illustration of this ‘aet is furnished by an article on “ Joseph in Egypt" which the master pen of lirugsch» Bey has contributed to a. German periodical. In this essay, with new arguments, details, and data, he reiterates his conviction of the per- fect historical correctness of the account given in Genesis. The occasion of the pre- sent article was the discovery made a year ago by Mr. \Vilbour of a stone at Lnxor, in which mention is made of the seven years of 'ant and of the attempt of a sorcerer, Chitâ€" het, to banish the calamity. 'h'ugsch calls attention to many points of Contact between the storv of Joseph given in the Bible and the statements of the Egyptian monuments, especially in regard to the names of persons and places. Even for the one hundred and ten years which, according to Genesis, were the length of Joseph’s life, he ï¬nds an Egypt- ian testimony in the l’apyrus l’risse now in the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris. “'iihi respect to the Luxor stone itselfY though it is probably of late date, the inscription doubtless consists of the remnants and re- miniscences of the story of Joseph. This much is certain, that the stone is a valuable extra-Biblical evidence for the existence or the seven years of famine in the days of Joseph. This is the question that is being consid- ered by the Technical Commission now in se :ion in Brussels. Seine are in favor of al- lowmg the State to levy import duties so as to raise the money necessary for governmen- tal functions. This it objected to by others who propose a subsidy, to be subscribed by the signatory powers. As a reason for their opposition they claim that the treaty agreed upon ï¬ve years ago forbids the levying of duties on imports for a space of twenty years. Other than this no good reason is assigned why the Congo Free State should not be al- lowed to fall in line with the great chartered companies whose territories surround herâ€"â€" British German, French and Portuguese. All these colonies enjoy a sustaining revenue fromi customs on imports. But whatever may be theoutcomeoftheCommission s deliberations? this at least seems Certain, that unless the Congo State be promptly provided with an adequate revenue, its interests will be im- paired, its progress checked, its good fame- tarnished, and the cause of civilization in Central Africa incaleulably injured. Na‘w Light on the Sun-y of Joseph in Egypt Had the European rulers, who signed the treaty in 1885 by which the Congo basin was erected into :LFree State, foreseen the mighty changes that would be affected dunk ingr the next five years, and the wonderful progress that would be made in opening up the Dark Continent, it is doubtful Whether they would have incorporated into , that document certain provisions whose 01)- servanee at present is threatening the State with a serious crisis. So much has been ac- complished in the way of discovery, and so rapidly have the European nations that have colonies in that country been introducing ; the methods and appliances of civilization, that in order to keep her place in the line ,of march the Congo Free State has been iobliged to make great outlays. Hitherto the expense has beeen principally borne by King Leopold of Belgium and his Govern- ment. Out of his own private fortune he spent #3] ,750,000 in founding the State, and for nearly six years he has personally borne the expense of maintaining it, minus about $100,000 a year from export dues. The cost of maintaining the State has never been less than $400,000 in one year, and the building of new stations and new roads and the ex- tension of the police system have swelled the sum now to $850,000. To meet this the King of the Belgians can give only $200,000 and the Belgian Government $400,000. If we add to these sums $125,000 export dues, there is still left a deï¬cit of $125,000. Nor is this all. The recent Anti-Slavery Con- gress at Brussels imposed upon the State the duty of making greatly extended efforts to suppress the slave trade, to do which, will, of course, cost much money. \Vhere is the money to come from? My Girl's Mother. The Congo Free State.