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FORTUNIO‘S 5036. ~' “ Wear your white dress to-night, Nina," said Mrs. La. Touche. “ My white !” exclaimed Nina, opening wide her lovely eyes. “Who is coming, mamma? I meant, to put on my old pink silk. it is quite good enough fora small dinngr‘ party. ” ‘. n1, “Quirte s‘lo, dear; but Mrs. Roberts is coming, and you know that. Isabel Roberts always dresses so extremely well! rather extravagantly, perhaps, but in perfect, taste. And then your dear godpapa is com- ing to meet, Cousin Roland, and I like you to look well when he is here.” Mrs. La. Touche generally said “ Cousin Roland,” she liked to claim kinship with him. audit vexed her a little that Nina. firsistently gave him the more formal title. ina. was nobfond of Sir Roland. “Very well, mamma,” said the girl in a. docile way. She knew all the time that her mother wanted her to dress well tor Sebastian's eyes, not for those of Mrs. Roberts and General Fane. But that was one of the things which mother and daugh- ter would have died rather than acknowl- edge. “ Esthencomes w~night, I hope '2” She will be here after dinner. » Dear Nina, you must learn to call her Miss Deni- aon. I heard Cecily speaking of her as Esther the other day. It is quite too famil- iar. She ought; to begin to call you Miss La. Touche. I think I shall speuk to her.” “ Oh, mumma, don’t !” criEd Nina, who was genuinely found of Esther. “Leave it. to me. “I’ll manage it somehow, if you thinl} she ought." ~ “It is 0111;! in public, of course, I mean,” Mrs. La. Touche went on smoothly. “In private nobody could be nicer than Esther Denison. I am quite fond of her, and so are we all. But, poor thing, of course her posifiion is very different from yours. ” ‘ “Shall I wez'xr any color with my dress to-night, mamma 2" said Nina, who cared not; a. jet for anybody’s posniou except her own. “ No, Nina. You may have my pearls, darling ; and some white flowersâ€"or per- haps the faintest touch of colorâ€"~blush roses, orâ€"" “ White would be better,” said Nina de- cidedly. She had the instinct, of dress, and her [Hot/her b9wed to her judgmenp. ,, _ “ Very well, white. And Marshall shall dress you “ But, mamma, you will want Marshall. ” “No, dear, I shah do very well. Come to my room before you go downstairs and 1e_t mg look at you.” She dressed in a. leisurely manner, ind went tohermobher’sroombefore going downstairs. Cecily, an inconvenient child of twelve, rushed at her on the landing. “Oh, Nina, Nina, how lovely you do look l” “ Get, out of my way, child, for good- ness’s sake l” cried Nina, not in the most amiable tone of voice. She was almost querulous when she entered her mother's room. “Cecily is so rough ; not at all nicely behaved, mamma. ; she has thrown her arms round me and broken my stephanotis. I wish she were in bed.” Mrs. La. Touche rearranged the flowers, and looked critically at her daughter. ” My Nina. must not pout,” she said blandly. "I will speak to Cecily. You look quite nice, darling. Ahem ! Did I tell you that your Cousin Sebastian was coming ?" “Yes, mamma. It is 57) long since I have seen him that. I quite forget what he is like," said Nina, perpetrating a neat, little fib, with coolness worthy of her mother. Mrs. La. Touche gave her an approving look. “He will take Miss Roberts in to flinner,” she said. “Let me seeâ€" how have I arranged the table? Oh yes ; you will be 'between Mr. Corbett and Sebastian. Mr. Corbett likes to eat; his dinner in peace so you must; not talk very much to him." "Oh, don‘t you think so? I gave her to Sebastian because I understood that. she was such a. clever: girl.” said Mrs. La. I‘ouche innocently. “If she does not talk, you must try and entertain Sebastien a. libtle;not let. him think that we are all country mice, you know. Of course, he must have seen a. great deal of good society abroad ; but you must try to make him feel at, home again and amuse him, poor dear boy. Now we will 20 down to the draw- ing-room. I believe I heara. carriage in the lane. Dear Roland kindly acts host, as usual, when I have my little dinner parties. I think I beer his ring at the bell. I wish dear pups were here no see you to-night, Nina, darling.” "‘And Isabel Roberts Lever has anything to say,” remarked Nina, looking at herself in the cheval glass. , Sebastian followed his uncle rather dis- consolately into Mrs. La. Touche’e pretty drawing-room. When he came home to play at seclusion and learned Ieisure,he did not count on country dinner-parties. He Lnew thatit would be dreadfully dull. But. he nhuuld see Esther after dinner. He saw some one else first. He had ad- mired many beautiful women both in Eng- land and Germany and France, but he did not remember that; one of them had ever startled him so much by her beauty as did the radiant creature who now gave him her hand, and looked up into his face with be< aeeching sweetness, and said: “YOE don’t remember me? But I Nina.” As Nina. had remarked, Miss Roberts was incapable of conversation, so practically she had Sebastian all to herself an dinnertime. And in some respects Nina. could hold her own. She was exceedingly like her mother, who was by no means a fool. Nina. could talk rather cleverly for a, girl of her age; she gave the impression of knowing far more than she actually did know. She had been a. good deal in Paris, and had already bad part of a. season in London ; the was not the unsophisticated country girl whom Se- bastian had expected to meet. The very shock of finding her so (liflerent from the child of his remembrance made her doubly attractive. Her gay chatter was piquanlr; and she was assuredly very beautiful. He laid himself out to amuse her, to interest her, perhaps even to dazzle her; and he certainly succeeded. Esther went upstairs to the school-room, where she found Cecily in high glee. The child triumphantly displayed dishes ofjelly and cream, which she had begged from Brigg’s hands as they came out of the dining- room. “May and Dolly are sitting up in eating theirs, and nurse doesn’t know,’ said. “ Here’s a. pink-ud-white ice CHAPTER XIV. KERSHAM MANOR. am you, dear Miss Denison ; and a glass of hor- rid, horrid old port wine which Briggs made me bring you. He said it was very, very old indeed, and seemed to think that being old made no better I” “Li/i} dear child, I don’t want anything,” said Esther, laughing. But it was Cecily’s custom at dinner- parties to make these raids upon the rem- nants,and Esther was not allowed to escape Without tasting the purloined delicacies. She was in s. blithe mood, and laughed to herself at the want of dignity she displayed in accepting Cecily’s gifts. And while she was eating her ice, Cecily, having devoured her own, stood beside her, taking care not to crumple the white frock in which she was presently to go down to the drawing- room for half an hour. CeCily was neither so prim nor so pretty as Nina. had been at the same age: she had bright round eyes like robin’s, rebellious short hair and rosy cheeks, and was a. rough, noisy. affection- ate, troublesome child. “ Miss Denison, Nina. looks lovely to- night, quite lovely. She has on her best frock, the one made out of her presentation frock, and mammals good pearls, not her second-best ones. She is quite as pretty as anrsrmgel, I think, though flat so go-od.” “ You must not say Nina is not good, Cecily."‘ “ I only say it to you. I think she has put on her pretty frock because Sebastian has come home. He 15 here to-night. \Vhy, gliss’Denison, how red you are, all of a sud- en.’ “It is the wine; I am not used to it," said Esther. “Let us go down sthirs.Cecily: only I want to go into Nina’s room and look at myself in the big glass first, to see Whether I am neat.” “ You are quite neat, and you look very nice. I suppose you haven't a. big glass at; home ?”said the child. as she ltd Esther into Nina’s pleasant bedroom, Where a. maid was trying to restore order to the chaos that; Miss La. Touche had left. “No, I have only a. tiny one ; seventeen inches by twelve," said Esther, with a. laugh; yet she was childish enough to feel a momentary irritation. It, was not the few inches of looking-glass : it was the contrast between her life and that. of girls like Nina LaTonche which flashed across her all at once : gayety, brightness, and admiration for the one, and What for the other? But surely there had been admiration in Sebas- tian’s eyes? She looked at herself in the glass, and thought shyly that. it had not, been altogether undeserved. She sighed as she turned away from the glass with a. little touch of envy. But the picture that, she had seenâ€"the graceful head, the fine eyes, the dazzling whiteness of the fine-grained skin â€"was one that some, men would have regarded with greater ad- miration than Nina. La. Touche’s smaller, though very seductive, loveliness. \Vhen the ladies came in from dinner Esther was standing with her little pupil by the piano. They came in smiling, straightening their skirts a little, rearrang- ing fan and handkerchief. or slowly drawing on their gloves,with waves of delicate per- fume and the dainty rustle of gowns. There seemed a. great many of them when they made their formal entry into the room, and Esther’s heart always shrank with moment- ary timidity and dislike at the sight : she Would have felt differently if she had been one of them, for she was not naturally timid or ixnsocial. There were really only six ladies,â€"Mrs. Roberts and her daughter, Mrs. Fane, Mrs. \Vright, the curate’s wife, Nina. and her mother. Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Fame, who came in first, were ponder- ous women, gorgeously attired. Mrs. Fane put up her eyeglass and stared very hard at Esiher; Mrs. Roberts executed a. hesitating nod, as if she did not know whether a. governess ought to be spoken to or not. Miss Roberts turned aside and whispered to Nina. Only Mrs. Wright, a. friendly woman whom Esther knew and liked, came up and shook hands. Nina came over to Miss Denison, and whispered to her caressingly : “ Darling. you look so nice to-nighf. How am I looking ?â€"â€"Oh, do you realiy think so : Sebastian saysâ€"but I must; not. tell you now, somebody might hear. He has brought, his violin; and he can sing, too: did you know?” So Esther played, and in spite of a strange tumultuousness of feeling, she played very well. Before she had ended the gentlemen came flocking in. Where did Sebastian go? Straight to Nina’s Side; and she made room for him on the sofa,a.n<l gave him her sweetest smile. He began to play with her fan, and to talk to her in earnest, undertones. He did not even glance toward the piano. It was of no consequence to him that Esther was sitting there. ”Perhaps Miss Denison will give us a. little music.” said Mrs. La. Touche, whose eyes was on her daughter. She withdrew into the background on rising from the music-stool. She was dis- appointed, but not dismayed. Sebastian was “her friend” : he would surely come and speak to her. and make the evening brighter than even a. June noonday. But he did not come. Miss Roberts sang in a deep baritone, and the curate in a thin treble. Then Sebastian was asked to produce his violin, and he played a little 3010 of fairy-like dance-music. He was in a ii‘ivolous mood, he said, and would not attempt classical compositions. Some one begged him to sing; and with a. laugh and an utter absence of the mauvaise honte of a young Englishman he sat down and played the rippling plaintive triplets of Ofienbach‘s accompaniment to De Musset’s Chanson de Fortunio. He sang admirably, and not a word was lost on Esther’s ear. It was eleven o'clock when he rose from the piano, Mrs. Roberts’s carriage was at It was eleven o'clock when he rose from the piano. Mrs. Roberta’s carriage was at the door. Mrs. Fane's cmrriuge was at the door. Mr. and Mrs. Wright; were waiting for the great people’s departure to convey themselves snugly and affectionately, arm in arm, to their pleasant: little dwelling on the Woodbury Road. Somebody asked for Miss Denison. She had slipped away. “ I can excuse her, poor girl," said Mrs. La. Touche urbanely. “She did not want to fa: Touche l 20 throu ,her urbane 1gb th( m stem WES already half-way down Ken- Wibh Miss Meredith’s maid ntem beside her. She hurried in the warm summer night. formality of leave-taking.” ed like one that awakes from she here ?” he said. “ I did And a little color rose in his I feel that I can not sufficiently apolo- gize formy heroine,even in these democratic days, not only for having fallen in love with out being asked to do so,but for having fall- en in love with a man belonging to her em- ployer’s family ; a. thing not at, all according to the convenances, and therefore quite the unpardonable sin. If she had fallen in love with anybody in her own station, why,of Course we could simply have said that. the girl was a fool, like other girls, and would get over it; but that she should give her heart, unasked, to a. man like Sebastian Malet. proves a height of arrogance and a sublimity of folly, from the shock of which no right-minded person can recover until they see her with their own eyes‘reigning in honor and glory at Ketsham Manor, as Sebastian's wife. A very unlikely thing, truly. that the maid got out of breath and begged her to stop. After this she walked more slowly ; but fast or slow it, seemed to he: that her heart and footsteps kept time be the haunting melody of Fortunio’s songâ€"â€" They were the last words on her lips before she fell asleep in the rosy dawn. At eighteen and fifteen years of age a. boy and girl are, in our country at least, completely children at heart. If either of them is otherwise it will be the girl, the younger of the two, and not the boy. She may be to all intents and purposes a. Woman, while her companion is merely an overgrown child. Esther’s early life had developed her emotional faculties very quickly : while in Sebastian they had been carefully repressed. It was not till lately that his fancy had turned to thoughts of love. But when once, after a few dainty hoverings here and there. it settled upon NinaLa Touche’s fair loveliness it clung closely, and was not to be dislodged. He fell passionately in love with her on that first evening at the Dower House, and had henceforward neither look nor word for way other woman. Esther was completely for- gotten. When Esther went home after the dinner- party. she did not at first know what ailed her. She felt her heart filled with grief and humiliation, and yet she could not say why. It was yesterday’s walk and talk with Sebastian that had done the mischief. She could not forget that lingering look into her eyes before they parted. Had it meant anything? Had his words about friendship meant nothing? He had been in a. room with her for nearly two hours that evening, and he had not taken the slight- est notice of her at all. She went to her mother’s room to say good-night and to tell her about the party. Generally she was full of talk on these oc- casions : the little oddities of the guests, the dresses they wore, the things they said, Mrs. La. Touche’s latest unveracities, were all reproduced by Esther for the mother’s benefit. Mrs. Denison’s lurking love of satire, repressed in her husband‘s time, camé'to the surface in Esther’s tempera- ment. But on this evening Esther said only_th}a.t she was very tired. ‘:Did 011 “0b havé 3. 16853.11” evenin ’ y P g5 dear ’ ,” Oh yes, mother.” But; the usual hearti- ness was not in her tone. “ I’ll tell you about, it; to-morrqw if yqu glon’t mind.” “ She is always quite charming, mother. She was so sorry that she never had any opportunity of seeing you ; it would be so delightful if you could have come with me to-night, or if you could dine with her sometimes en famineâ€"quite en famille, you know." , , _ “‘7‘ Yés, dear. Go t5 bed now and rest. Was Mrs. La. Touche pleasant ‘3" Mrs; Deuison laughed delightedly. “ I wonder she does not fix a day,” she said. It was well known that, she was not strong enough to go out. “ fshull take her at her word some day, and you shall go in a Bath chair,” said Esther. “ Good-night, mother darling.” Mrs. Denison lay awake half the night, wondering Why the girl’s eyes were so lun- guid and her cheek so‘pnle. ‘3 Anglilésther lay awalie too, scourging her s’elf relentlessly. “ What a fool I am ! What a. silly, con- ceited, idiotic creature! As if I had not al- way a known that he meantâ€"as they all meanâ€"only to be kind to me ! Oh, how I hate their kindness. ‘ I don’t want kind~ ness ; I want love !”â€"â€"'I‘hen she checked herself at the word. “ I have love ; I have my mother’s love. I am ungreteful and selfish to foigetit for a. moment. But what is it that makes one want something more " they say that only a. mother’ 3 love endures forever. Other lovesâ€"other friend- shipsâ€"easily die. Don’t I know that ‘2” cried Esther to herself, thinking, as girls will think, that they have penetrated the secret of all experience. “Sebastian said that he would always be my friend; but because I was a. nobody in that drawing- room to- night, he would not notice me. Oh, it was very unkind.” And she water- ed her nillow with tears. But better venience. IL takes mesh of us some time to discover whether our love is only an ephemeral growth, like a. lady -fern or a. Wallflower. or whether il 15 to develop into a mi ghty Wrestling, which sets it goons deeply, gand throws out its branches far and wide. It depends a. good deal upon the soil; for there is generally plenty of every kind of forest~king throws out. depends a. there is gel seed. Comme les blcsl Lovz's MARTYRDOM. CHAPTER XV BE CONTINUED.) u‘ell and a. fleet of war ships. for its suppression. The expenditure of tens of millions of dol- lars which such a. display of force will call for, could not be met by Spain, already on the Verge of bankruptcy. unless she had the assurance that her disbursements would be made good, either bya pecuniary indem- nity or by territorial compensation. There is no doubt that. when the Riflians are beaten, and the outworks of Melilla. made secure, Prime Minister Ssgsstn will de- mand that adequate amends be made to Spain by the Shereef of Morocco for the loss of life and outlay of money to which she has been subjected by his inability to control his nominal subjects. A pecuniary indemnity the Shereef can pay, for he is known to have a. large amount of treasure stored in the vaults of his palace at Morocco, but it is improbable that this will satisfy the Madrid Government, coerced, as it will be by the unusually excited state of public opinion. The traditional and well-earned hatred with which, for almost twelve cen. turies, the Spaniard has regarded the Moor, has not been so fiercely inflamed since the capture of Tetuan as it now is ; and no Min- istry would be forgiven, if it failed to seize the present opportunity of gaining a. con sidemble concession of territory. It is be- lieved that the claims of the Madrid Gov‘ ernment would be backed by the French, who desire a. westward extension of their l Algerian frontier, and who look forward to the eventual partition of Morocco between 1 the Spaniards and themselves. Some years ago a. careful student of th European situation made What seemed the paradoxical assertion that n. general war was as likely to start in Morocco as on the Danube or the Rhine. It begins to look as though there might be some ground for the statement, now that the contest between the Spanish defenders of Melilla and their liffian assailants is assuming. daily, larger proportions, and imposing burdens which must severely tax the resources of the Madrid Government. What seemed at first, a local disturbance, which. seemingly,might have been quelled by prompt and vigorous measures, will now require an army corps statement, now Unit the Spanish defcudets Riffian assailants is as: proportions, and impr must severely max t It is here, of course, that the Morocco question becomes one of European interest and threatens to cause widespread compli- cations. England has repeatedly declared that if the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts of Morocco are to be divided between European powers, she must haves part; and sooner than miss a share she would defend the Shereei against aggression. She wouid be content, perhaps, with Tangier. which she possessed in the time of Charles IL; for this, in conjunction with Gibraltar, would give her the absolute control of the entrance to the Mediterranean. But it is precisely Tangier and the contiguous ter- ritory which, in the eyes of France and Spain, constitute the most precious morsel of the Shereef’s possessions; and this would never he suffered to fall into English hands Without a. fight. We see, therefore, that the moment a. demand ior territorial com- pensation is pressed, a. demand that seems reasonable enough in view of the Shereef’s , inability to control the Riifian tribesmen, it will be scarcely possible to avert a col- lision between England on the one hand, and Spain, backed by France, on the other. In such an entanglement, England could easily secure the assistance of the Triple Alliance, by making certain reciprocal en- ‘ gagements, and France could as certainly count upon the support of Russia. That England would be forced to contract inti- mate relations with the Triple Alliance seems evident from the admission of Eng fish naval authorities that the combined lorce of France and Russia in the Mediter- ranean at present considerably exceeds that of England in the same sea. It will be observed that there is something like logical concatenation in the process by which a. petty outbreak in the mountains near Melilla is made to appear as leading to a. general war. If the first step be taken, that is to say, if a demand for a. territorial indemnity be pressed by Spain, it seems probable that every other step in the process would follow as we have indicated. As to the first step, it seems evident from the present temper of the Spanish people that Senor Sagasta will be succeeded by his old Conservative rival, Senor Canovas del Cas- tillo, unless he forces the Shereef of Morocco to atone for the Melilla affair, not only by a. pecuniary indemnity, but by a. considerable territory. Mr. Walter Besant has lately been bold enough to express the opinion that there are some fields of enterprise that Women are not absolutely incompetent, to enter, which. nevertheless, it is best that they should leave to men. “For women,” he says, “ to take men’s work from them is the most disastrous thing that can possibly happen, especially in a. small country, for it halves the wages and lowers the position of the Workers, and it drives the men out of the country or forces them to compete with women at lowar pay. It deprives men of their wives and women of their hus- bands." This is a. familiar objection, and one not Without gravity. If there are to be families in the lachd it is better that a man Shoald get two dollars for a. day’s \vork,an(l share It With his wife, than that a. man and a woman should each work and each get 8. (15711313 It is a matter of common observa- tion that the woman who can earn a. dollar 9- dfly Shrinks from marriage. She can live m0“? comfortably and neatly on her own earnings than as the wife of a. man who earns ten or twelve dollars a. week, and the mother of his children. One would not venture to take away any work she has at Present in order to cure her aversion to marrying. That would be too desperate a. remedy. But without suggesting any Inarrowing of her boundaries, it is permiss- field of labor by womankind is not a clear gain even to the invading host. A part of ‘ the immediate gain of the women is the loss of the men, and it is not putting the case too strongly to say that a. man is one of the most convenient and valuabEe pos- sessions an American woman can obtain,and it is doubtful whether she can afford to cheapen him by her competition to such a degree that he will cease to seem a desir- able acquisition. It is not hard to spoil a good Servant by persistently doing his worlc. The raw material for husbands is liable to the some sort of damage, and far- seeing women will try to shape their con- duct so as not to contribute to its degenera- tion. There are women, no doubt, who would make good locomotive engineers 01‘ efficient stokers on steamships, but we should be sorry to see them attempt to share the wages of those csllings with the men. he Europvan “'ars care A Grave Sillmlion An lnlrroeling Stretch of River. Unlike Anylhlng Seen Elsewhere in Afr-lea. The western head sources of the Congo River were visited for the first time by white men last year, and the story they have told of the great gorge they saw and of the stream that plunges through it, almost, as swift as an arrow for many a mile, was entirely out of the common in Congo explorations. The explorers were Lieub. Francqui and Dr. Cornet, in the service of the Congo Free State. They traced the Lualaba. River from its fountain head, and made a discovery that. as far as is known. ls duplicated nowhere in Africa. Imegine a. narrow stream flowing plecidly between Elts rather low banks. It has gradually been gathering volume from little contributions that a. dozen or fifteen tribu- taries have supplied. The channel is quite deep, though not wide. Nearer and nearer the Water approaches a. mountain pass to the north, which at a. distance appears to have no passage through. Suddenly the water rushes into a. rift in those hills, and for many a. mile it tumbles along, zigmgg- ing between two gigantic, perpendicular walls of solid rock. Sometimes it falls headlong as a. cataract, and then again it is merely a. rapid, with a speed five times as great as that with which it enters the hills. This great gorge has a tortuous course bending first to the east; and then to the west. It is nowhere over 120 to 150 feet wide, and it rises 1,000 to 1,1300 feet above the level of the stream. The walls rise nearly perpendicular in every part, and are formed of bare crystalline rock: Here and there in some crevice a. little soil has formed, just, enough for a tuft. of grass on a puny tree to take root. At the level of the stream one can see only a, little ribbon of the sky above, for at that great height the top of the walls seem almost to touch one another, and the trees at the top overhang the edge and shut out nearly every glimpse of daylight. At the bottom of the narrow gorge the little river glides swiftly, sometimes almost with an unbroken surface, and then again lashed into foam by thousands of rocks, whose tops rise above the surface ; and then again the water pours tumultuously over the edge of a. deelivity, and then plunges on in a. series of rapids. In a. distance of forty-three miles the river drops 1,500 feet, and then it emerges upon the plain, and, forgetting its mad career, it flows plecidly along to join the Luapula River. and at the junction of the two rivers the true Congo begins. No other tributary of the Congo or even the great river itself, where it tumbles along in rapids for 235 miles, between Leopold- ville and Matadi, presents a. spectacle so savage and so violent. Advance sheets of the quarterly supple- ment to the Canadian Official Postal Guide have been received by the authorities. The principal change is that in future type- written circulars in numbers of fifty or over will be allowed to pass at the rate of one cent for two ounces. The instructions 0 Postmasters read as follows : 1. Provincial Government Bulletins.â€" Periodical bulletins issued by Provincial Government Departments, relating to the crops, farm stock, insect pests. contagious diseases, etc., may be allowed to gass free. 2. Undelivered'Newspapers.â€"Postmast- era are reminded that; undelivered copies of newspapers cannot be returned free to the offices of publication, but should be sent to the Dead Letter Oflice. 3. Circulars produced in imitation of type-writting.â€"Circulars printed or other- wise produced in imitation of type-writing may be allowed to pass at the la per 2 ozs. rate, when at least 50 copies in exactly identical terms are handed in to the Post Ofl‘ice at one time. When such circulars are posted in the receiver they should be tied together. 4. Newspapers and books bearing requests for direct returnâ€"Attention is called to the fact that, requests on the covers of news- papers and book packets, for direct return if not. delivered, cannon be complied with, but that only letters can be thus treated. 5. Alleged Sample Packetsâ€"Care should be taken to see that packets containing articles for sale are not allowed to pass at the sample rate. When packets of tea, etc., posted as samples are observed to contain a. larger quantity than would reason- ably be required for sample purposes, they should he treated as insu fficiently paid 5th class matter. 6.â€"Covers used by Debt-collecting Agencies.â€"-Ca.re should be taken to exclude from the mails 8.11 correspondence posted by Collecting Agencies on which the “ dun- Ding" character of their business is promin- ently indicated. A French woman has discovered a. new and eminently ladylike employment. She goes from houseto house among her clientele and tastes dishes that are being prepared for breakfast, luncheon, or dinner. If the dainties prepared for the table are not suf- ficiently delicate or well flovoured,she hints to the cook that they may be improved,and suggests a new way of preparation for dishes that have perhaps grown unwelcome- ly monotonous. This clever woman finds her occupation sutficiently lucrative to be able to drive about to the houses of her pet- runs in a. smart little brougbam with a. neat “ buttons ” in attendance. Among the Hindoos gambling is regard- ed on a. certain day of the year as a. religions dut-y. This day, appropriately called De- vali, is celebrated like other great religious festivals. The chief female winner, says Mr. Hakim Aminuddiu, an Indian student at Cambridge, spends the whole moneyin buying sweebmeats or fruits, which are dis- tributed among all members of the family as a. token of good luck for the whole year. Amongst the curious, but not less accept- able, wedding presents the Duchess of York received is an Irish spinning-wheel sent to her by the Hibernian colony in Chicago. The whole machine is made of bog oak, and the spindle is part of a, rebel Irish pike, the head of which drew blood at Vinegar Hill in 1798. A female druukurd at the VVeIlington Police court, New Zeafland, was recently discharged on account of her exemplary conduct. when sober. The prisoner was sev- enty years of age. and the evidence showed that, she was the sole support of her father and mother, aged respectively ninety-eight and ninety-six years. TIIEGORGE 0F TE‘L‘LIYALABA. POSTAL C ILLVGES. The prisoner was sev- d the evidence showed support of her father apectively ninety-eight