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“Bean to Government House ?" I ask- ed one of .these genjgsterday. “‘7 "No," said he, “andvI’m not‘l'going, I am; afraid. they might send me some- are celebrated for not being afraid to dieâ€"the Soudan Dervishes, i mean, and the stolid Turks and pilfering Alban- ians,and now. last of all, these wood- en-headed Boers. Of some of these we are told that they welcome death, of others that they believe themselves in God’s cane. And what of these English? Are they afraid to die? \Vho would say such a thingâ€"or think it for a momentâ€"of these splendid fel- lows who have led England’s ranks against every fanatic on earth, except the Turk ? They are as ready to die as any men, and they rank above their toes as towers rise above the lowly grass, because they risk their lives with a full knowledge of what they are doing, and because in risk’ng themâ€" selves they risk the most enviable lot of which any man can boast. The in- comes, the estates, the wives and sis- tom, the companions, the sports, the clubs, the coanforts and the luxuries with which these men can surround themselves whenever they will are ties which should make life dearer tothem than the bare, hard lot of most of the poor wretches whom historians and poets have glorified for not fearing death; every one of whom, l honestly; believe, fears it more than thesel splendid, dashing fellows, who keep on carving empires out of the map to swell I watched these men on shipboard during seventeen days. They were up .at 6 o’clock every morning, running so many dozens of times around the deck in slippers and pyjamas, in order to keep themselves in good condition, then plunging into a cold bath and coming back to the deck again in flannels as fresh and blooming as N EWâ€"CUT FLOWERS. All day they read about South‘ Africa in the little libraries they had brought with them, and which they exchanged for other books that other men had brought on board. They were, I say again, the best of Englishmenâ€"wide~ awake, well-informed, p-roud, polished; polite, considerate, and bounding with animal health and high spirits. The mam I saw of {hem- the angrier Igot at allI have ever read about the variougx fianaticzgl people on earth who These fine young fellows have come during their leaves of absence, which have been well-earned in active ser- vice, in disagreeable climates, in lonely garrison posts in the Soudan or on the Indian frontier. One who came here with me has given upa billet for which he had long been striving, and which was offered! to him just as he had. de- termined to come out here and do a little fighting for variety. Another of my companions on the voyage was starting to make a long-proj.cted tour of the worLd, but this disturbance proved more attractive. A third officer on the same ship arrived in England to see' his people, from whom he had long been separated; but he got no further than London, and only stayed four days when he caught the spirit of his comrades and bolted for South Africa. On another ship was a young man with an income of £40,000 a year, who was just about to be married, but instead of taking his bride to St. George’s he asked her down to Waterloo to see him off for Durban. of skirmishes they read after they have landed: tell of the deaihs of offi- cers and, the wounding of others. Ap- panently the manner in which the enemy reveals its presence among the hills out Nlatal way, is by the drop- ping of an officer from his saddle or in his tracks as he pushes ahead of his men. What of that? It is part of "the fun" they say. Are Not Afraid of [Death on the Battle- fieldâ€"Going out to South Africa to “See IIH‘ Fun"â€"â€"Some Johannesburg Refugees. Julian Ralph, the wellâ€"known Amerâ€" ican author and journalist, is in South Africa as a war correspondent. In a recent letter from Cape Town to The London Daily Mail, he deals mainly with his impmessions of the British of- ficer. His letter is as follows :â€" A TRIBUTE Tl] BRAVE MEN JULIAN RALPH WRITES OF THE BRITISH ARMY’S OFFICERS. On every ship that arrives in Cape Iown from London are many British urmy officers. The one strange thing about them is that nobody is sending them here, and they do: not know to what p’art ofi the seat of war they are going or what they are going to do. They only know that they could not keep away. They Ive here to see what they call “the fun.” It ,is a war against bushwhack- hrs, gueriILas and sh'arpshooters, in which a far greater proportion of offi- cers than men are certain to be kill- ed, but that does not matter to them. Some ships bring a dozen or twenty; )thers as many as fifty. They are the pick and flower of Englishmen. Most nf them are young men, in the late twenties and early thirties, bearing iistinguhhed names, exhibiting the long, slenden faces of the British aris- tocracy, carrying themselves at once like dandies and like athletes. THE SIZE OF ENGLAND THE FIRST ACCOUNTS If it is manners that "maketh; man,” it is most; certainly woman who both makes and mars men’s manners, for there is no man, however rough and uncouth in manner, Who is not in- fluenced, and to some degree soften- ed, by contact with a courteous and gracious mannered woman. If. as the old saying has it, civility costs nothing, it certainly gains much, both in the way of liking' and of: kind- ness; therefore, it seems a great pity that so many people dispense with it in small matters of daily life. There are. no doubt, very few people who are actually and actively rude and uncivil, but there are, on the other hand, many who are, if we may use the term, passâ€" ively impolite. They do not, that is, commit a downright rudeness but they omit a vast number of little civi- lities. Really, Cape Town is a wonderful pLaoe. It is worth the journey to see the strxets blocked by able young men and the hotels crowded by rich reâ€" fugees, while each night’s train takes out the fearless gentleman who are de- liberately risking not only their lives but more of worldly advantage than can ever come to these skulkers who cling to the shelter of England’s guns and weep While they wait for men to die that they m :y rush up to the Brit- ish_Tneasury with their claims. If the exhibition these refugees are making in Cape Town were as import- ant as it is conspicuous, one would think the Englishmen in charge here would drop the contest where it is and go home in disgust. But it is only a phase of a side issue, quite apart from the principal at stake. And that was the man who told me that out of 100 men with whom he served, 75 are dead already, fifteen of illnesses and sixty of bullet wounds and spear thrusts. It is disgusting to leave these men and turn into any one of the Cape Town hotels to find yourself surroundâ€" ed by the rich refugees from Johannes- burg and to Lear them cry like children as tley tell you what they will lose if the British do not hurry up and take the Transvaal before the Boers destroy Johannesburg. They actually cry in their plates at dinner, and halfâ€"stran- gfe themselves, sobbing as they drink their whiakey at bed time. The Mount Nelson, the Queen’s, and the Grand Hotels are, all full of these merchants, and millionaires, faring on the fat of the Land, idle, loafing, all of every day and discussing what per cent, of their losses the British Government will pay when they put in their claims at the end of the war. Some come here as clerks, some as Laborers in the mines, and some are merchants who brought £10 worth of goods out from Birmingham a dozen years ago. They tell you that they have left £100,000 worth, or £80,000 worth of goods in their shop, and that altogether £25,000,000 is in danger of destruction in Johannesburg. “Oh!” one has just been saying to me: "I can’t dell how much Ils’hall lose by dis peezness. I shpeak mit mucvh feeling, my frent. Blease ex- coose me grying. Vot do you dink? Do you dink I can git back dirty-dreo per cent. of vet I lose from de British Government? Oh, Got, den I lose £6,- COOâ€"fain’d it derrible 'I” The] are pulling their long faces all over the place and shedding their tears wherever you. meet them. It is enough to make a statue ill to have to hear and see them and move among them. Why don't they fight? The war has jeopar- dised their property, and they have a kemer interest in it than any Tommy or any officer now at the front. How can they see the cream and flower of Engl‘nd's manhood rushing down 10 e to spil. its 1,reci.*>us blood for them and ne'veu‘ libel a blush of shame or a pang of any emotion except grief over losses which will still leave many of them riclh ? whom out of the thick of things. I don't want than to know I'm here. I’m going to Wherever it’s liveliest. I'll be certain to find somebody under whom I have served or with whom I have fought, and so I’ll see the best of: it." ', , J)" 71-», , I. U _ / ‘- mat-x”. (2/; "3 ‘7? ;, J"... J MANY LONG FACES. LITTLE CIVILITIES. IHE PR11\C[PAL FORTRESS OF JOHANNESBURG. l “6 Slgnalurcs of Sovereigns Who llave Vlslt- lung: ed Windsor Castleâ€"The Queu-n’s Grand- children Have a Queer Name for the Volume. men jape Among the most valued treasures of undâ€" 3, personal character belonging to if]; Queen Victoria is an autograph book, 38 if on the pages of which are signed the take names of all those distinguished per- ”?y sonages who have been her guests at V “1 Balmoral, Osborne, Buckingham pal- £5113; ace, and more particularly at Windsor, mnt during the sixtyâ€"three years that she .‘andi has occupied the throne of Great Bri- antsl tain. To those who are aware of the existence of this volume of autographs heir; the visit paid recently by Emperor pay/[William to his venerable grandmoth- thexel‘, appeals perhaps the more strong- ‘ly, because they know (that he as Well as his escort will not have been P01" 5 as i mitted to leave the historic castle on half)? the banks of the ‘Thames without hav- ugmging once more inscribed their names hey and the date of their sojourn in that Ja000,,book, which, more perhaps than any mil); other thing comprised in so small a 3 compass, shows the march of time, and g to' the progress of history. For a perusal qjal:llyof this volume serves to demonstrate ngigabove everything else the extent to nkrfl which England’s sovereign has outâ€" drea lived her contemporaries. It calls tish ' forth memories of dynasties that have £6" been overthrown and kingdoms thatl have disappeared, and eems to evoke sill-ls the specters of a great throng of rul- iugh ers and of celebrated statesmen, alll and now in their graves, not a few of whom 32?: have met with terrible deaths at the w, n hands of assassins. The visits paid by foreign rulers and by foreign statesmen to her majesty 'possess, thanks to her absolute and supreme control of England’s foreign policy far more importance than one might be disposed to accord to them alt first sight. For the stay at Windâ€" sor of nearly every continental mon- arch has been followed by political conâ€" sequences. The course of history, in- deed, may be said to have been largely influenced by these visits which the (queen receives from her brother and sister sovereigns. And it is this that } renders her book of autographs so ex- ceptionally interesting. MILESLEONES OF HISTORY. The autographs may be regarded as bearing a certain analogy to mileâ€" ‘stones, since they mark so many dif- ferent epochs. What more remark- .‘able, for instance, than the changes ‘ which have fallen to the share of the i ireigning house of Prussia during the ‘near sixty years intervening between the visit of King Frederick William IIV. to attend the baptism of the prince ;of Wales, and the stay of Emperor iWilliam at Windsor? At the time ‘when this king was a guest of Queen iVictoria, Prussia was in every sense ; of the word a second rate power. Fred- -erick William, in fact, was almost ab- !jec‘t in his subserviency to the Ger- man emperor at Vienna, and to his rother-in-law, Czar Nicholas I. As ; far as the Imperial house of H‘apsburg iwas concerned, he seemed to be unâ€" able to forget that his ancestors had until within a little more than ahun-1 idred years held the position of cupâ€"‘ 1 bearer to the Emperors at Vienna, and‘ 1been compelled to stand at state banâ€"i ‘quets behind the imperial chair, doing; =duty, if not as a menial, at any rate :as a mere vassal. lAs for his attitude‘ 'toward Russia he permitted himself‘ ‘to be bullied and browbeaten to such an extent by the czar that he did not venture to take any step, even in his BIG NAMES [1F HISTORY. THEY ARE ENROLLED IN QUEEN VICTORIA’S AUTOGRAPI-I BOOK. King Frederick William was at the‘ .- outset of his reign when he visited} T11: POPE AND FOUR CZARS'h.l Queen Victoria at Windsor in 1842.? . 9 name 0f the present pops'w 1° "S‘tlll papal nuncio to the Brussels Six ears later he was a isoner in y pr court, as well as of no less than four the hands of the people of “his capitaliemrs of Russia are to be found in and forced to pay homage to the deadi . . ‘ 7_ . . bodies of the men’ women and chit; Victoria s autograph book. The first is dren who had been shot down by his} that Of Etnpem? Ni°h°135 It, WI.” Eudâ€" troops_ And during that time hisi denly arrived Without warning in Engâ€"1 brother, William, who eventuall suc-' latid to ViSit t1,” queeI.‘ in.1844‘ .To ceeded him on the throne, was obliged; this day the ObJeCt Of hls trip “mama - . 1more or less of a state secret. But to. flee for hls hie’ to England' Where} it is generally believed that he came he in his turn, enjoyed for a time the: , . h hospitality 0f queen Victoria and i 2:331:33" Ia; 'iifecgfnileitijxrifighhhi: he? . . V ‘ wrote his name in her autograph book.. signs u n Constantinople, and that The Closmg years Of the relgn Of ng! he quitted Windsor more or less disap- Frederick William IV. were darkened! . . . . . by insanity of the most violent des_;p01nted by the failure of his mission. cripition. William became first King‘T‘he impressmn that he 0”“th upon of Prussia and then after 1870 Ger_;(the queen (does not seem to have ‘been ’ ‘ ’ . - ’ _I altogether agreeable. At any rate, her man empemr' appropmtmg at V” ibu’blished diary leads to that infer- sallées-a dtlfinity Yhfiihhfad he?!“ for‘enuce His son and successor came to cen uries e mos 1g y-prize pos- . ‘ . 3‘ session“ of the house of H‘apsburg. glinfhsgrtflgrfig: £1ng ifiezniylofigiigfi: “ 7’ ‘ 83.15311 ,FRITZ- ter to Queen Victoria’s’ second son. Al- t EmIfPror llllamfi successor wasi exander III. 'was a frequent visitor to that Upser.1§‘ruz’ Who was 0f alljVVindsor and likewise to Osborne be- 1 Queen thona S sons"ln'law’ the one ! fore he ascended the throne, while the istle. loved beSt’ and many were the present autocrat of Russia, agrandâ€" ‘ Visits which the paid to her at Balmorâ€" son by marriage of the- queen, has al and at Windsor, one soJourn at the visited her once at Balmoral since he latter place being, however, sudden~ became emperor but spent whole denly interrupted by aviolent tiff be-i months at Wind’sor while he was tween hls W‘IB’ the now w’dowed Em'icourting the lovely princess, now 'his press Frederick. rand her augUSt mOth‘i wife. Ilt is to the affectionate rela- er’ on the sub-1th Of the latter’s fro'i tions then established between young Ghety’ “silky, and terr‘bly surly High“ Nicholas and the venerable queen that land gllhei th'.‘ Brown' . ,is largely due the maintenance of . Emperor Wllham 11' Who. now Vls‘ipeape between Russia and Great Bri- lts hm grandmOther at Windsor fort tainâ€"two countries which find themâ€" the second time since his accession to: ~ - 1 d 'tion '11 the throne is, therefore, the fourth rulâ€"l 19122751: lgve:;v::grte:n 0333530be A... A: h‘...--i.. “Jute... ~14- "wrungâ€"v”... Ln A very important state visit and certainly one pregnant with great political consequences was that of Em- peror Napoleon III. and Empress Eu- genie to Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle at the time of the Crimean War. It may be said to have constituted the first actual recognition of the emper- or, and, above all, of the empress, by any of the reigning families of Eur- iOD'e. Napoleon had until that time been regarded as a mere successful conspirator who prior to his seizure of the French throne had been a dis- reputable chevalier d’industrie; while the empress was looked upon as an adventuress, concerning whose ante- cedents the most scandalous stories were current. Indeed the wars of 1855 and of 1859, which resulted so disas- trously to both Russia and Austria, were largely brought about by the contemptuous manner in which the courts of St. Petersburg and of Vienâ€" na rejected all advances made to them by Napoleon and Empress Eugenie. Queen Victoria was then, as now, re- nowned for her strictness on the score of the character of all the wo- men whom she consented to admit to her presence, and her action thereâ€" fore in inviting not merely Napoleon, but likewise, his consort, to Windsor, where she treated them with the utâ€" trfOst distinction and regard, went so far, to improve the status and prestige of the imperial couple both in the con- tinental courts and even in France, that neither of them ever forgot the kindness of Victoria in the matter. Indeed, as long as he remained on the Emperor William II. who now vis- its his grandmother at Windsor for the second time since his accession to the throne is, therefore, the fourth rul- er of Prussia whom she welcomes beâ€" neath her roof tree, and she greets him no longer as the sovereign of a second or even thirdâ€"rate state, but as the head of the greatest military ipower on Kthe face of the globe, whose friendship England is glad to secure at the present juncture ,and who holds to a great extent at the present mo- ment the balance of power in the Old World, his understanding with Great Britain resulting in a combination so mighty as to put an end to all the projects which had been entertained of a continental union against Eng- land. Truly, Prussia, has undergone many and amazing vicissitudes dur- ing the period that has intervened be- tween King Frederick William’s vis- Lt to Windsor in 1842, and the stay there last Week by his grand nephew. NAPOLEON’S MEMORABLE VISIT. own dominions, without the sanction‘ of his imperious brotherâ€"inâ€"law. So great was the contempt in which Prue-i sia was held at the tifm’e of the con-g gress of great powers held in Paris at’ the conclusion of the Crimean war,‘ King Frederick William’s plenipotenâ€" tiaries were not admitted to the meet-' ing, on the ground that Prussia was not a power of sufficient importance to warrant her receiving any such apriyilege. ‘ i King Frederick William was at the outset of his reign when he visited‘‘ Queen Victoria at Windsor in 1842.!i Six years later he was a prisoner in' the hands of the people of “his capital; and forced to pay homage to the deadl bodies of the men, women and chilâ€"% dren who had been shot down by his‘ troops. And during that time hisl brother, William, who eventually suc-' ceeded him on the throne, was obliged} ‘to‘ flee for his life, to England, where} he in his turn, enjoyed for a time the: hospitality of Queen Victoria andj wrote his name in her autograph book.§ The closing years of the reign of King! Frederick William IV. were darkened! by insanity of the most violent des-z cripition. William became first King of Prussia, and then, after 1870, Ger-2 man emperor, appropriating at Ver- sailles a dignity which had been for. centuries the most highly-prized pos- session“ of the house of H‘apsburg. One of the most dramatic things about this book of the queen’s is the faqt that so many of the personages ,who have signed their names therein , have met their death through violence. lIndeed, many are the grim tragedies tthat are called to mindwhen one lperuses its pages. Taking them at hap- lhazard, there is that. to the queen, ‘leaszt welcome of all the guests whom -she ever entertained at Windsor, inamely, Nasrâ€"Eddeenâ€"Shah, the ruler ,of Persia, who was shot down only a few years ago by a religious fanatic. |Then there was the late Sultan, Abdul ,Aziz, who stayed at the castle in 1867, .who who was done to death nine years ‘la‘ter in his palace at Constantinople {with a pair of long, sharp, concaveâ€" ;bladed Oriental scissors. Czar Alexan- [der II. had the entire lower portion 1‘ of his body blown to pieces by Nihilist ‘ bombs in 1881, while Empress Elizabeth lof Austria was stabbed to the heart ‘at Geneva, but a little more than a. ,year ago. She had often visited the lqueen, and in spite of everything, as- fserted to the contrary, was on terms 10f warm friendship and continuous correspondence with her. The young ‘Prince Imperial of France was killed ,by the anus, in South Africa while Iwearing the queen’s livery as one of the officers of her army. He was one ‘ of her special favorites and might have ibercome her son-inâ€"law had he lived. ' Nawl said the little Bear; she's just begun hibernatin’, an’ won’t wake up for three months yet. Marguerite,â€"Some men are awfully stupid. Amyâ€"Who, for instance? Margueriteâ€"Well, there’s Harry. I remarked that-I just doted on dixa- monds, and he simply said he did too. First Farmerâ€"And you didn’t have a single covw shot? » ' Second Farmerâ€"No; I disguised all my cow‘s as deer. ' Dear me, said Master Fox, aren’t you afraidyour mother will give it to yo}; for bgip’ out_sq latte? MEMORIES OF TRAGEDIES EVOKâ€" Napoleon was not the only French monarch whom the Quees. had the op- portunity of welcoming at Windsor. In her visitor’s books is likewise to be found the name of King Louis Phil: in'pe, who stayed with her once while still ruler of France, and then sev- m’aL times after he had been dethron- ed] and was in exile. a throna, the emperor continued the warm: and 'loyal friend of the English pieople. : AFTER THE HUNTING SEASON \VASTED AMMUNITION. SECURE.