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<oddascteterdicse+osl A Midnight Visitor eo 404040404846 040404040404 40+ 04+ 04+04+04+04+0+0+0+04 ' I. "There are more terrors at sea than shipwreck and fire, more frights horrors, mateys, than famine, Dliadness, and cholera,"' said the old with a slow motion of his eyes round upon the little company M gailors. "I remember once being aboard a ship in the Indian Ocean. There was ne'er a moon that night. The ship rose faint and hushed to the stars. It was one bel! in the morning watch. carce air enough moved to give life to the topmost canvas. As the ship bowed upon the light swell the sails swung in and i of Yet that Be- The grey-haired, respectable sea- man closed his eyes in silence, filled with significance, and, after a short smoke, thus proceeded : 'Some of e watch on deck sprawled about in the shadow out of curled up, asleep. Only one --. forward. 'Twas the shape of the man on the look- out. "This man thus standing, by no means asleep, yet with his head sunk and no doubt his eyes closed, suddenly struck on the side of the face by something hairy. damp, -- cold He sprang into the air though he hed been shot through the Oh, heavens! What was it? figure, shaggy as Peter Sarrano, wild with hair, furious with a grin, terrible with the red gleams: the starlight flung upon his little eyes. The sailor shrieked like a midnight cat, and fell in a heap down upon the deck in a fit. "The ship was in commotion In an instant. Such a yell as that was worse than the smell of fire. ** 'What's the matter?' roared mate. ** *Here's Kennedy sung out a ¥ ** 'Is that all?' 'said the mate. And he went forward to look at the man. "*It's a fit, certainly,' said he. "Give him air, lads. Get o drink of cold water into his mouth. It's epilepsy." "When the mate was told the man had his senses and was sitting up, he went forward again and question ed him. He was sitting on the foot of a cathead, and was too weak to rise when the mate stood before him. "What is this you're rambling about?' said the officer. 'Aren't you quite well yet?" 'Blow me, then, it slapped me fair over the chops, like flicking yer with the wet sleeve of a jacket. He rose four fqet when I swounded. He 7 Been more an' he might les&, Darkness put him out--only that I recollect,' said the man, turning up his pale face to the stars, 'taking notice of a couple of eyes like red lights floating in water, and a grin of teeth wide as the keys of a pianey.' "He's mad,' thought the man, who ftepped, nevertheless, into the reget and looked over. Nothing was to seen. He surveyed the ocean by the light of the along the deck and told the look-out man to go 'below and turn in, and went aft, reckoning the thing an epileptic's nightmare. "**Just then a catspaw blew. It was 80 faint that 'it scarcely chilled the ger of the officer it had to be reckoned with, never- theless. It was an air of wind, any- how, and someone sung out that the ship_was aback forward, on which the mate went to the break of the Poop, and yelled to the seamen to trim sail. Something went wron in swinging the yards on the fore. uinp aloft, a hand, and clear in a fit, it.' "A seaman went up the rigging; his shadowy shape vanishel in the | gloom that blackened like a thunder- cloud upon the foretop. "Suddenly. when> midway ging, he yelled at the top of his voice. His cry was more dismal and heartshaking than cven that with which the man Kennedy had terrified the ship. He caught hold of a backstay, and sank to the bulwark- rail as though handsomely lowered away in a bowline. 'By Jingo!' he roared, flinging down his cap, whilst those who peer- ed close saw that he trembled vio- lently; 'der toyfel is on board dis ship' I have scen her mit mine eyes! If I hov not seen her, den I was a nightmare, and she was mad! Look up dar!" "He obtained no answer. The sea- men, attending the indication of the Dutchman, were to a man gazing aloft with hanging chins; for on high up iu the crosstrees, a visible bulk there sat, squatted, hung the rig- "What's wrong aloft forrad there?' bawled the mate. And sung eut with energy and deci- sion, for the figure of the captain was aluagsije of him. * "Fyere's some on thing aloft that 'looks like a man!' hoWied_» pe a of the upstaring c ing skylarking in those cross trees? earts, what Or seeing, wy. 'don't you go for it?' thundered the n after a pause, during which the ° tg. had r "He travelled with heroic speed ti he got as high ag the foretop. There he stood at gaze. Presently, after you might have counted fifty, put- ting his foot into the topmast rig- ging, he began to crawl, with fre quent breathless stops; his passage uP those shrouds had the dying un- certainty of the tread of a bluebot- tle when it climbs a sheet of glass in October "On a sudden he came down into the top very fast. There he stood staring aloft as though fascinated or electrified; then, putting his foot over the top, he got into the fore- The captain near the main hatch, looking The mate approached him, and, in a whisper of awe and terror, exclaim- ed, whilst his eyes sought the shad- ow up in the foretopmast crosstrees: 'I believe the Dutchman's right, sir, and that we've been boarded by the devil himself.' at are yer talking about?' ***I never saw the like of such a thing!' said the mate, in shaking ones, "Ts it a man?' said the captain, staring up with amazement, whilst the seamen came hustling clone in a sneaking way to listen, and the Dutchman drew close to the mate. "* 'It has the looks of a man,' said the mate; 'yet it sha'n't be murder if you kill him.' no man, sir. I vent closer don you. I ex- said the Dutchman, 'she's Strange dot I did not sec him till I was upon her.' I vos II, "The captain went swiftly to cabin' for a binocular glass. 'The lenses helped him to determine the motionless shadow in the crosstrees, and he clearly distinguished an = ap- parently large human shape, but in what fashion, or whether or not habited, it was impossible to sec. How had he come into the i The captain and searched the silent glass with some fan boat wthin reach of his vision. ing was to be seen, "It got wind in the {crecastle that lsomething wild, unearthly, hellish, was aloft, and the watch below turn- ed out, too restless to sicep, and all through those hours of darkness the his of findng oth- the captain let said the second mate 'I cannot miss that shoot him?' at four o'clock. mark.' '* 'No,' said the chief mate. 'I've talked of trying what shooting will do. e captain means to wait for sunlight. But how did it get on board?' said he) sinking his voice in awe 'There's no land for hun- dreds of leagues.' "It was not long before day whit- enod the east. And then, and even then, what was it? There it sat up in the crosstrees--a hairy, sulky bulk of man or beast, black; and the crea- ture looked hard down, whilst all ands were staring hard up. ** 'Seized, if it isn't a gorilla!' said the mate. "'*No,' said the fall his binocular. 'Look for your- self. Yet it's not a man. either.' He burst into a laugh, as though for relief. 'It's a huge hairy baboon, one of the biggest I ever saw in my life. He'll be as fierce as a mutin- ous crew, and strong as a frigate's comple ment. What's to be done with m?"' 'How in Egypt did he come board?' said the mate, viewing beast through the glass. 'By that, maybe, sir,' exclaimed the recond mate, pointing to some object foating flat and yellow, faint and far out upon the starboard quar- ter. captain, ietting on the "The -- levelled the ship's te large Ta {t.' he-- ex- lexamination, ay "The captain said: 'The beast on't seem faint, but I guess he's thirsty, and he may fall mad, come down, and bite some of us. So,' eays he to the chief officer, 'send a hand aloft with a bucket of water for the poor brute and a pocketful of ship's bread If we can civilise him, so much the better.' "Rut it never came to it, for he refused to come on deck. He bared his teeth, and his eyes shone with malice of hell if the men attempted to approach him Tt impossi- ble to let him rest. cloft throughout the night to commasd tke ship, so to speak; for he might sink to the deck stealthily as the shadow of a cloud blown by the wind; and he was strong enough and big enough to tear a sleeping man's throat out. '* 'He must be shot,' said the cap- tain. And he told the second mate to fetch his rifle. "The second mate, that he might m man-beast against the liquid blue, Come down!' he cried an- |then the captain shoot him through the head, for God's sake!' "As the beast rose witha wild Rtin after having been so long out of sight through the frightful height he had jumped from--you'd have " (ome he'd have risen with a burst skin--the captain bawled out, 'Bless- ljed if he's not making for his raft!' 'The beboon, with a fixed sion, and bvith eyes askew upon the ship as he drove past, swimming |. very finely with long, easy flourishes of his arms and dextcrous thrusts of his legs, whilst the end of his tail stood up astern of him as though it was some comical little.-man there stcering--the baboon, I say, was un- having taken its bearings when aloft; but at the moment the second mate knelt to level his piece, meaning to murder the poor brute. out of pure mercy, the thing uttered--oh, heav- ens! what a horrible cry!--and van- ished, and a quantity of blood rose and dyed a black patch upon the calm blue. No more was seen of the baboon, but a little later the back scythe-like fins of three sharks show- ed in the spot where he had disap- Ppeared.'*--London Answers. --~~--_4--------- PERSONAL POINTERS. Interesting Gossip About S me Prominent People. Dr. Joachim as a lad of thirtecn Played the violin at a Philharmonic Society concert in London sixty years ago, and he will this year again perform in London in connec tion with the celebration of his dia- mond jubilec. The Hon. A. G. McGregor, Vice President of the Federal Exccutive Council of Australia, is the oldest member of the Ministry, being nearly sixty years of age He was origin- ally a laborer on a South Australian sheep farm, and lost his sight through an woed. le is blind and has to be led everywhere. Mr. McGregor has a marvellous memory, is a wonder- fully good debater, and enjoys' the respect of members of all parties. Lord Edward Churchhill is an in- teresting man, with a quite unusual variety of occupations and attain- ments. He is an expert at mechan- ics and electric science. He has built a church organ and made a_ brass model of an eighty-one ton gun. He also constructed clectric dynamos for Queensinead, where he resides, and "wired" tho house throughout. Mic- roscopic research also attracts him, and he gives much time to astrono- mical studies. Many people have wondered why the Empress FEugente always carries about with her, wherever she goes, a little wicker basket, speculations have been m its contents. The basket. is lined with cotton-wool, and in that soft substance nestles a hedgehog! It is the Empress's only pet, and she would not dream of allowing it to be attended by anyone but herself. She has rather a superstitious at- tachment to the curious creature, and believes that it has a talismanic power of ensuring her safety and Canara well-being. Lord Masham must be reckoned among the great inventors of his time. Three new industries he has created at least--that of machine wool-combing, the power-loom velvet and plush weaving, and that of the utilization of waste silk. In _ work- ing out the machinery for these in- dustries he spent, as 'he loves to re late, over $3,000,000. To-day he reapg his reward in a colossal in- The story of Lord Masham's career is one of the romances of in- In his time he has taken in connection with silk and wool manu- facture. Alton B. Parker, who is to be De mocratic candidate for the Presi- dency of the United States, was born on a farm four miles from Cortland, New York, on May 14th, 1852. He was successively school-teacher, law- yer, judge, and, finally, Chief Jus- tice. His mother, who is now near- ly eighty, has been talking of her son. "I do not know whether Alton is likely to be President ar not," she said. 'I began to use the switch on Alton when he was very young, and I attribute much of his goodness as a boy and his success aS a ma to those early corrective measures. Mr. George Lansell, the gold king of Bendigo, who has been repeatedly urged to become one of the members for that Australian golden city in Parliament, has invariably declined. He has ong given the reason to an interview 'My father threw himself Gard and soul into the agi- tation for the repeal of the Corn Laws, neglected his business, and was ruined. It was such a lesson to me that I have carefully avoided pol- ities ever since." Mr. Lansell born in Margate, England, eighty- two years ago, but Bendigo has been his home for half a century. He is the sole proprietor of several of the most productive gold mines, and a ae shareholder in others. His Bend mansion '"'Fortuna,"' with its valuable pictures, statuary, and delightful gardens, is one of the most luxurious places is the Common- wealth. - Pry --_---- > SAME LINE. "y wonder what has on he was at accident while chopping |; employed,as compared with the old this rgument and cntirely omitting : 'opor f unrability while Present ata big|' ion CHINESE BUSINESS WAYS THEIR WORD Is AS GOOD AS THEIR BOND. Keen Conscientious Objections to Progress. ~ The Chinaman is a complex pro- blem, and it is not within the scope of ie in the East--better able to preciate his business capabilities, for reason that it is in this capacity into t that we most nearly touch with him. come Successful training is the aim and , }ambition of the middle class China- this man, and he devotes himself to end with an energy of which few Europeans, with their _-- other interests in life, are capabl The greater part of my life having been spent in the north of China, says H. Fulford Bush in the Shang- hai Times, it must be understood th e at my remarks bear upon the ae the latter must therefore n|*t® acquaint himself with the native merchant, who is more phlegmatic and cautious is less familiar with foreigners and their ways. The strong gambling instinct herent in every prompts him to a boldness in trade specula- tions which forelgners do not care to emulate, and which--uncombined with that intimate knowledge of past transactions and forecast of conditions prices, exchange, northern and south- ern demand and supply poss¢seed b; every native trader--would inevitably lead to disaster. The Chinese mer- chant, however, going on the broad principle, which experience of has justified, that continues intelli- gent trading in the staple exports and imports will yicld a return of five years' profit as against two years' tracts, and stakes the greater part of HIS CAPITAL AND CREDIT on the correctness of his estimate of the present, vis-a-vig the future, mar- ket, winning five times out of seven ana waxing prosperous on the fruits of his bold reliance upon his busi- ness perspicacaity. The foreigner cannot hope to com- pete with the Chinaman in his own lines without adopting methods which to the Western mind appear unpractical and opposed to all busi- ness precedent. 'lhe native does not trouble about bank guarantees, de- goods against documents book- Stcpive and fixed hours Dealing tfargely on the barter tem, he delivers imports aguinst ex- ports, each firm making a memoran- dum of the transaction in a rough day book, without any bank inter- vention; and every merchant is pre- Pared to do business at any time in the twenty-four hours, at his home, his hong (business residence), the tea shop, opium 'house, theatre or public bath. There is no sign of *'rush"--why rush when you have the whole day, and if necessary the whole night. for deliberation and conclave before determining your line of action? And yet, when an op- By S- portunity effers such as a sudden fall | in the prices of produce, or ex- change, or freight rates, the native merchant an make up his mind and act as pronptly and withal as calm- ly as the smartest Westerner could wish. Though -xtremely conservative and opposed te az fanovation, the Nor- thern Chiinnen is beginning to adopt such Western improvements as recommenc themselves to his sense by reaso: of their money-savin qualificatins--and the last few years have witnssed great changes in the ber- cakefactory machinery--which : costructed in Hong Kong on pPlan--improving the outpuc vioil and allowing of a re- duction inthe labor HUMAN AND ANIMAL, process. There is still vast room for improvemnt in this direction; but, though farless to a dégree when em- barking Pon enterprises purely Chin- ese in thir noture and working, the Celustiglis timorously cautious in the nyse of striking out a new line in wher the assistance of foreign methodsis a necessity. It is pre cisely ais seemingly contradictory trait ip his character which baffles the mority of Westerners, who en- deavorby their rhetorical efforts to over prsuade the possible purchaser, whoschesitancy is due as much to theironly too apparent eagerness as to th dictates of his conservative and aperstitious mind, which looks uponall things foreign as partaking of th nature of the evil one. Th traveller lies under a heavy hantap in North China, where the Engsh-speaking Chinaman is a rara avisand the employment of an in- terptter is merely an additional hancap in that the Chinaman has a hfrty, if unreasonable, contempt for hose unacquainted with his lan- guat. Good and trustworthy inter- prets are almost impossible to get, the erage interpreter's rendering of theoquacious forecigner's disserta- tiomhowing up the weak points of legquence. of interpreters and their in the north . of. Sense of Justice and. and ©|With such knowledge, he will apparent intuitive governing years loss, enters into forward con- purchases in large quantities + bo placed cellence of the qatietitemnint provid- ed by the host, prefacing his inter- pretation by the words "T'a Shbhuo" oe Bays). of the-.pronoun was absolutel excusable but the foreigner did, not understand Chinese, and ice- roy who should have RESENTED THE INSULT to his guest passed it over as being doubtless good enough for a nom r. country in the world is ett quette more rigidly observed and held in honor than in China, but the foreigner is a walkubdjen (a man from without, in slang parlance, an out- sider); and-as stch not entitled, un- less acquainted with the language and ctiquette, to any great consider- ation. This may be a somewhat extreme instance, but it serves to demon- Strate a fact which foreigners desir- ous of deing business in the aa cannot afford to ignore, viz. th the average Chinaman, whether oft cial or merchant, considers himeelf superior to the European, and that be carefu} lan- people. find that he can cause an entire change of sentiment in his individual case, and put through>matters of moment with an ease which is conspicuously lacking when an interpreter is neces But it must not be inferred over-discourtesy will be guage and manners of the the contrary, the impression he will receive will be that the Chines mer- chants he has visited have been kind- ness .and courtesy personificd. They will dodbtless have plied him with ted> cigars and cigarettes, the while they have listened with an air of charmed interest to his imperfect- y peeereted utterances; and he 1 take his departure convinced o Onie Willingness, circumstances per- mit, to do business with him and his firm exclusively. He cannot, of course, be expected to realize the fact that the conversation between the merchant ard interpreter, when the mutual exchange of compliments has been exhausted, has been confin- ed principally te matters of local business interest. THE EXCHANGE RATES, the resolution of promissory notes into hard sycee (silver), the proba- ble cause of the detention of bean craft up river, and its upon produce pricce and so on. One of the most striking character- istics of the Chinese merchant is his business integrity. Much has written and sa-d on this theme, and it is impossible to extol too highly the absolute reliance that can Upes the merchant's bond. writer's futher, Henry E. Bush, for over thirty vears in con stant touch with the merchants of North China, never experienced a bad debt in alli @tis many business Yurious native 1 Swan Cainer ron of the Hong Kong and Shanghei Banking Corpor- ation, when speaking of his tenure of office in China, extending over many years, said he has never lost a cent through his native constituents. When it is considered that the said bank ig the leading bank in China, aod the one with which native as well as foreign most anxious to do business, it will be admitted that no finer tribute could well be paid to the integrity of the native trader. At the time of the Boxer outbreak the Russo-Chinese Bank at New- chwang had over 5,000,000 taels in- Vested in the native city, and de spite the business stagnation result- ing from the disruption of the usual commerce conditions since that date, that money has all been accounted for. The main cause of this admirable State of affairs is, in my opinion, the guild organzation. Every merchant is a member of a guild, every trades- man has his guild, and what the guild ordains is faithfully carried express it. is Mterally his fortune. Were he to be engaged : in any discreditable transaction, and be reported to his guild, he would lose "face,'"" and with it credit, bus iness standing and his entire clien- te ~ e. The Chincse merchant has a keen sense of justice, in spite of the fact that the Chinese official class is sin- gularly deficient in that respect; and if the foreigner. can but show that he has "li" (right) on his side he will find it an unfailing argument, one to compel a body of Chinamen. for the "'face" to decide {n his sympathy with their fel- . their i notwitl & sii a ii TURKISH SULTAN'S WEALTH. There is an amazing collection of \ jewels in the Sultan's treasury at Constantinople. The turtians of all' the Sultans since Mahomet I. are there, all glittering with rare and jlarge gems of the purest water. There are also the Royal Throne of Persia, carried 'off by the Tur i 1514, -_ covered with more than. - 20,000 ubies, emcralds;- and fine pearks, one the Throne of Sulciman 1., from the dome of which hangs over the head of the an emerald Gin. long and 4in. jects in the collection. Ch Riven by 2 native Viceroy ovepard the 'inferpreter appointed | to principal foxelae reqs j vey' The real "'harp that e«nce Kinase T: * merchants are the. 7 (erm st cushy PCr'