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and probably ein i HAN ISAT Is In the Court of the King of Kings _ When He Kneels In Prayer, fag without ceasing.--I. Thess. All divine commands make for the welfare of the individual and the civilizatiox of the race. These : rs forgotten, the man touches the dir of degeneration, the family is a den of abomination and the na- tion totters on the brink of bar- barism, The faithful Christian is a con- queror in the moral world, bears off all its trophies and wears its crewn and glory. These precepts do more. They hedge in all human _ dignity and guarantee -- beyond the privileges | power of the world to destroy. Eminently true all this of prayer. The quickening pulse of prayer is in the heart only. Lip prayer alone is mockery and insult. Hence, when Heaven is deaf to our beseeching it is because while our --woice mutters words of devotion we are bargaining in our souls with the world, the devil or the flesh. Never yet has the heart of man sent up on THE WINGS OF PRAYER its palpitating message without finding strength and healing. Even is such a pleading as music in the ears of God, causing His hand to open and shower down blessings. To pray is a privilege beyond ex- pression and the employing of our highe-t faculties in their noblest function. To pray is to be on the heights, in the court of the king of kings--it is fanning that spark di- vine which is in every one of us in- to a flame wrapping the soul in the splendor or raiment of the eternal halls. Prayer is -the lordliest spurning of the world and the most defiant proclamation of the vanity. of its promises and of its utter help- lessness in our hour of need. Man is at his' finest as he kneels in prayer. ee What may we pray for? Augus- tine answers that it is our right to ask for anything and everything our heart has the right to desire. Nur is it impossible to pray without ceasing. If we only knew our dan- ger and our dearth our whole be- ing would be ATTUNED TO PRAYER and in the incessant encounter with our spiritual foes and perils cur every thought and word and deed would be instinct with peti- ticn. Why lack trust in the efficacy of our supplication? Confidence is easy when we remember the in- finite power of the God who made us, because He loves and yearns for us. As we pray we are prostrate be- fore omnipotence and_ boundless love. It will be well with us all when we learn to pray. If it is well with us now it is because there are more than ten just men appeal- ing in our behalf. Yes, it is all right with the world because God is in His heaven, but it is more all right because He is on His earth as well and no sentinel bars our way to His presence. REV. P. H. HALPIN. THE S. S. LESSON INTERNATIONAL LESSON, MAR, 20. A Paralytic Forgiven and Healed, Matt. 9. 1-13. Golden Text, Matt. 9. 6. Verse 1. Entered into a boat.-- Acceding to the request of the peo- ple of Gerasa. He had gone thi- ther for retirement, but events had thrust him once more into the thick of the crowd, and he turned back to his own city (Capernaum). Com- pare the additional interesting de- tails of the story of the demoniac in Mark 5. 18-20. 9 2. They brought to him -- From a study of the accounts in the first three Gospels it is impossible to 'tall what was the exact situation --whether Jesus was in the syna- gogue (David Smith), or in the house of Peter, or on the covered veranda'of the house (EKdersheim). At any rate, the throng was so great as to make access to Jesus impossible except through a hole in the roof. Lying on a bed--Anything like a modern bedstead was rare among the ancients. Usually a thin mat- tress, sometimes supported by a light wooden portable frame, suf- ficed. Seeing their faith--An - example of prevailing intercessory faith. The man, being sick of the palsy, would hardly have the mental alertness requisite to an act of faith. Still, it may have been at his own insti- gation that the four friends had breught him to Jesus. Be of good cheer--On_ his face must have been signs of the despair, also the remorse, which was in his heart because of the sins which perhaps were respon- sible for his helpless condition. His bodily weakness had driven home the sense of his guilt and made him aware that his first need was to be forgiven. Jesus saw this and went to the root of the trouble at once. 8. Scribes--Tradition has assign- ed them a threefold. task: (1) To study and develop the law; (2) to teach it; (3) to act as judges in the yractical administration of the law. They were present on this occasion as eritics of the method of Jesus. They had been deeply offended by his praise of the Gentile centurion, and were otherwise suspicious of Jesus. It is not improbable that they represented the Sanhedrin. 'This man blasphemeth--To claim to be able to remit sins was to throw down the gauntlet to his op ponents, for it was an assumption of both the uncommunicable power and the right of God. All the aceu- ations of blasphemy brought against Jesus (three in number) were of this character. To speak sphemously was to render one- If liable to the extreme penalty the law. Knowing their thoughts--Com- e John 2, 25. All three accounts ke it plain that knowledge of the reasoning of the scribes came, not "6: trom what they said, but from ~ what he saw in their hearts, another evidence of a power' not human. = ' 4 * Par . A + } b. Which is easier--There. could | 2 no doubt that it. was easier to #, Thy sins are forgiven. Ac- ~ cording to a strict tardition, no map could get release from disease ntil all his sins had been remitted. Jesus could heal, that in itself proof of his power to forgive. An impostor would be detected at 'once, who should say, Arise, and alk; whereas anyone could say, rithout fear of his sham being de- acted, "Thy sins are forgiven.' Son of man-A phrase occur- eighty-one times in the Gos- t used invariably by our An Old .Testament is's hearers, to- gether with all Jews, would under- stand to refer to the Messiah. By using it to designate himself Jesus proclaimed himself the Anointed of God, Fulfilment of Jewish hope, while emphasizing the closeness of his relation to the human race. It included the deeps of humiliation and the heights of kingship. Hath authority on earth--As well as in heaven. right to forgive by condescending to his lowly human estate. st He had not lost his | how to quibble over the minutiae] of the law, but they knew nothing of the compassionate treatment of their fellows. -- : Not to call the righteous--If they they had no , - 8 were the righteous more need for him. . a . DISEASE GARRIED BY FLY THEORY OF SAVANT INVESTI- GATING PELLAGRA, First Assumption Was That it. Was Caused by Eating of Moldy Corn. Sponsored , by a representative committee Europe's foremost medical and scientific experts, a determined effort is to be made to trace the real origin of pellagra, a disease which recently created wide discussion owing to the initial assumption that one of its prime causes was to be found in the con- sumption of corn, especially when the grain was in a damaged condi- tion. Under the auspices of this central organization Dr. L. W. Sambon, of London, who now con- tends that the disease is communi- cated to man _ probably by sand flies, just as the "sleeping sickness" is carried by the tsetse fly, and his assistants will proceed to a pel- lagrous area in order to carefully and extensively investigate every phase of the dread disease and seek to find its cure. SCOURGE WIDELY PREVALENT For a considerable time past, it is stated, pellagra has prevailed extensively in Lombardy and other parts of northern Italy, in the Asturias, in Gascony, Roumania and Corfu. It is common in lower Egypt, where in certain villages Dr. Sandwith found as much as 36 per cent. of the inhabitants to be affected. Dr. Lavinder found it still more common in upper Egypt. Drs. Cuthbert Brown and G. C. Low have recognized if in Barba- does, and several other authors have mentioned its occurrence among the Zulus and Basutos of South Africa, while Dr. U. Ray observed several cases during a brief stay in north Behar, in In- | dia. An exchange of views by those of Arise--That alone might net have been convincing. But that he was able to bring into play his entire body in the act of gathering up his bed, and then to push through the tion of the claim of Jesus. 9a record as declaring his equality with God. 8. They glorified God who had given such authority unto men -- incarnation. This was not power | | | er inherent in Jesus as the Son of God. solute power (John 20. 23). Verses 9-13 treat of still another challenge to the Pharisees. 9. Matthew--This seems to be the adopted name of the man who fig- ures in the other Gospels as Levi, tue son of Alphaeus. At the place of toll--Taxes were collected from goods imported exported, and | be a suitable place for a custom- house, situated as it was on the ake and on the great caravan route between Egypt and Damascus. Follow me--His immediate re- sponse may be explained by the widespread fame of Jesus, and his own opportunities of hearing and secing Jesus. 10> At meat in the house --- From Luke We learn positively that it wus Matthew's house, and "a great multitude'? were there. Publicans--A class hated by the Jews. The gathering of taxes was "farmed out"? by the government at Rome, and was under the con- trol of powerful capitalists. Ex- tortion was the rule. The tax-col- lectors of the Gospels were agents of the monopolists and bore the brunt of hatred, being classed with cutthroats and robbers. The type most obnoxious of all were the Jewish publicans, of whom Mat- thew was one. Though a Jew, "he had hired himself to the Roman government to do thé heathen's work»for the heathen's gold, prof- iting by the shame and oppression of his. countrymen." men, and with sinners of equal dis repute, Matthew invited Jesus eat, in order that he might, in part- Jing with them, make open confes- sion of his new allegiance. 11. When the Pharisees saw--Ac- cording to the custom the banquet hal! would stand open to the pub- lic gaze, and the Pharisees had fol- lowed him with set purpose. They said unto his disciples --- Wh»: not to Jesus himself? Perhaps they were still smarting from his recent exposure of them, and founved . further embarrassments. Another suggestion is that they thought by their scorn to draw fsome from following Jesus. j He 'said--Making himself |} spokesman for his disciples. In one swift sentence he discloses his sym- pathy for the outeast, and epito- mizes his mission as the physician of those who are morally and spiri- tually sick. 18. Go... learn--They knew this familiar word about mercy and sacrifice. But, apparently, they had not learned its meaning. Jesus had often upon his lips this thought tliat was so present in the utterance of the prophets. God wants -- not the vain sacrifices into which men put no humility and reverence, but he wants worship that issues into yf delegated to a mere man, but pow- | or ly affected, and this view derived | Capernaum would} With such} to | gentlemen who form the investi- gation committee tended to the con- | clusion that the malady is essential- 'ly of a chronic character and chiefly |affects cultivators of the soil. A dense press of people in getting to | large number of pallagrous tasted his house, was a complete vindica-|Sants end their days in lunatic asy-| By this lums, while many more drag out a | miracle Jesus allows himself to go' miserable existence in their native | 'villages. The changes discovered |after death have been of such a 'character as to indicate a general | tissue degeneration, more especi- . . '2 ' in? Q < aue They missed the significance of the! ally of the brain and nervous sys-| | tem. The tendency to melancholy, im- becility or mania andthe curiously God did commit to specially | mummified state of the body are under the ordained men the power of forgive-| 4uite peculiar to the disease, and) tion Act, the widow of a composi- ness, but a conditional, not an ab-| point to some special cause for the ter has been group of symptoms with which they | are associated. BASIS FOR MAIZE THEORY. For many years it was assumed that this cause was to be found in the extensive use of maize, often of |damaged maize, as a staple article , of d'et among the populations chief- plausibility from the conditions ex- isting in Lombardy, where the food of the peasantry has consisted largely of the more worthless varie- ties of this grain of their own grow- ing, sown late, harvested before maturity, stored carelessly in its wet state, and either made into a sort of porridge or into: loaves, which were baked hastily on the surface and left wet within, large enough for a week's consumption, and apt to turn sour and mouldy before the week had expired. Shi eee FISH THAT WALK. Move on Land By Using Their Side and Small Fins as Feet. It may seem absurd to speak of fishes as walking. 'The flying fish ;is well known, but its flight looks much like swimming in the air. We naturally think 'of fishes as living aly ays in water, as being incapable in fact, of living anywhere else. But Nature maintains no hard and fast lines of distinction between animal life which belongs to the {land and that which belongs to the water. If we can believe the, ac- ; counts of naturalists, there are fish- es that traverse dry land. | It,is reported that Dr. Francis | Day, of India;-has collected several jinstances of the migration of fish- les by land from one piece of water | to another. | A party of English officers were | upon one occasion ehcamped in a | certain part of India when their at | tertion was attracted by a rustling }sound in the grass and leaves. Jn- 'vestigation showed it to be caused by myriads of little fishes that were 'making for one direction and were passing slowly on. There were hun- 'dreds of them moving by using the'r sido small fins as feet ; now upright, 'now falling down, squirming, bend- ing, rolling over, regaining their finny feet and again pressing on.. These fishes were the famous climbing perch, about which so much has been said and writtea, and they were passing over the country to avoid a drought. When the stream in wIfich they have been spending the season dries up, they scale the banks, and, directed by some marvellous instinct, crawl to another. at i Greta--"Belle tells me she's gor- ry she ever married you?' ' Olar.. ence--"She ought to be. She did some nice girl out of a good hus- { FROM BONAIE SCOTLAND Somes op iNteest Row WEE MASKS ANOOREAES: What is Going On in the Highlands and Lowlands of Auld -- Scotia. a During the month there weré no fewer than three maiden Courts in Leith. During the year 14,272 lodgers 'made use of Elgin Corporation -| Ledging-house. During the past quarter 186 lbs. of meat were destroyed in Elgin as being unfit for food. : An enterprising Dundee burglar has managed to get a haul of $300 frem a local poorhouse, ' A scheme is to be formulated for the medical inspection of the schools in the County of Morayshire. -- Southwick School has been closed owing to influenza, which has af- fected nearly every house in the parish. The Firth of Forth herring fish- ing has proved a complete failure, and fishermen have abandoned it altegether. Large catches of herring were landed at Campbeltown recently by trawlers, They were caught in Lough Swilly. Musselburgh has* voted against adopting the Public Libraries' Act. The question cannot be raised again for three years. Large flockmasters and _ their shepherds report the recent wea- ther as having been as severe as any within living memery. Clydebank Distress. Committee have paid the unemployed over $14,065 for doing work which a con- tractor offered to do for $9,710. The total number of deaths regis- tered in Edinburgh during a recent week was 89, equal to an annual mortality of 12.83 per 1,000. Salmon fishing in the Dee, Don, and Spey has opened under favor- able auspices. Fish is abundant, of excellent quality, and free from traces of disease. Mr. Skinner, General Inspector of Fisheries, says Scottish herring exporters risk lesing their Contin- ental trade through bad quality and bad packing. The Duke of Buccleuch has pre- sented Dalkeith with a site for an infectious diseases hospital, and has promised a donation towards. the erection of the building. Lerd Provost M'Innes Shaw Glasgow suggests the amalgama- tion of the three infirmaries in the city, with a view to greater eco- nomy of management and efficiency of administration. Saltcoats Town Council have de- cided to remove a large quantity of sand which had accumulated at the West Esplanade wall to the ladies' | bathing ground, and deposit it on | the rocks there. | In an Edinburgh arbitration case Workmen's Compensa- awarded the $1,380 craved, with expenses, for the death of her husband through lead poisoning. To the disappointment of some 80,000 miners throughout Scotland jnone of the candidates who were put up for Parliament in Lanark- shire, Ayrshire and Fifeshire was successful, s A Scat nea MYSTERIES OF BABYLON. Deciphered: After Study of Signs. An interesting explanation of the decipherment of cuneiform in- scriptions, such as had been found at Babylon, has been given by the Rev. C. H. W. Johns at the Royal Institution, London. Decipherment at first met with a very serious obstacle, for, although many inscriptions had been discov- ered, they were in an unknown tongue and an unknown script. For a long time there was nothing to do but to guess. It was soon ob- served that a certain group of signs occurred somewhat frequently, and the fortunate guess was made that they meant "king." Mr. Johns went on to show how the names of the kings referred to were next guessed at, and in this way all the different characters were eventually discovered, He shawed on the screen the ear- liest inscriptions which it had yet been possible to read with certain- ts. One of the signs, he pointed ont, was an arc, or bow, with short vertical lines underneath. That might be intended to represent the sky, with drops of rain falling, but, in any case, it was the ancient cu- neiform character for sky. He gave a number of instances showing how the drawings of objects originally used in inscriptions gradually be- came distorted until they develop- ed into the signs used in cuneiform inscriptions. Words Long Or INGENIOUS SWINDLE. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Swiss wine merchant who has made a fortune by sending wine to dead men and compelling the relatives of the deceased to pay the bills' The merchant/1eceived every day dozens of. newspapers from all parts of Switzerland, and kept a book in which he noted the names and addresses of the men who had recently died. He would then write to the dead man stating that, according to the latter's or- der, he had forwarded the barrel of wine, and enclosed his bill. HOW TO KNOW PEOPLE. "How well do you know the Browns vu Fea 'Very well. I lived in the same house with them for almost a fair play, Whese Pharisees knew of | SOME NOTED RECLUSE GENIUSES WHO «LEAVE THEIR HOMES, Hermit Life of ie "belies perk Great Painter Lives in Strict -- Seclusion, : Carlyle once remarked when a friend chided him for being such a 'recluse that social life was work's greatest enemy. The Chelsea Sage considered that _a man- must shun acquaintances and friends if he wished to give the world his best work, and a study of the lives of some present-day geniuses shows that it is total absorption in their work which causes' them to hide from the public gaze, says London Tit-Bits. ~~ Take the case of Matthew Maris, for instance, the well known pain- ter, whose picture, '"'Four Mills,"' fetched 3,300 guineas at Christie's a few days ago. Maris lives in strict seclusion in London Jodgings, the whereabouts of which is only known to about half a dozen peo- ple. He is now an old man of 70 years of age and rarely leaves his study. And not only does-he hide himself from the public, but he al- so HIDES HIS PICTURES. He has not sold a painting for years, although dealers are willing to pay thousands of pounds for them, as is evident from the prices fetched by those which are occa- sionally put up for auetion. Maris reminds one of the great Italian sculptor, Vincenzo Gemito, who twenty years ago shut himself in his study and refused to leave it. To a certain extent Gemito's reason has become unsettled owing to overwork and distressing mental suffering and one of the reasons why he would not leave his study was that he feared the attacks of fantastic foes, who were the fig- ments of his disordered brain, but his malady in no way interfered with his work. For twenty years Gemito has been working hard at the production of statuettes, real masterpieces, which he modelled and remodelled time after time, bringing them to the highest de- gree of perfection. Is was reported a few days ago, however, that Gemito had been in- duced to leave his study by no less a personage than the Duchess of Aosta, who frequently visited him. the sunny streets of Naples. At the palace he was cheerfully greet- ed by the Duke and Duchess of Aosta, who entertained him for a considerable time. THE EFFECT WAS MAGICAL. i | Throwing off the depressing gloom lof years the aged sculptor returned | home full of joy, declaring that he | would come out again and enjoy | life. | For the first time for some years | Tolstoy left his home at the begin- | hing of October to pay a visit io ;a friend in Moscow. The famous | Russian has for many years led a peaceful and quiet life on his es- tate at Yasnaya Polyana, which is situated about 180 miles south of Moscow, amid forests and sur- rounded by beautiful hilly country, devoting his time between writing and outdoor labor, clad in the picturesque blue smock of the Rus- sian peasant. Tolstoy, however, while refusing to mix with the world, is: ever ready to receive visi- tors. The consequence is that al- though Yasnaya Polyana is by no means easy of access, many pilgrims find their way thither to pay their respects to the preacher of ebedi- ence. to Christian principles. In.a little cottage of the simplest kind at Bromley, Kent, lives Prince Kropotkin, the famous Russian ex- ile, whose revolutionary teachings led to several terms of imprison- ment, while serVing one of*which he escaped to England. The Prince rarely leaves his Bromley home, where he writes his books and in- dulges in his favorite hobbies of bock-binding and carpentry. He is a man who has suffered even more than Tolstoy for his ideas, and still seeks by his writings to ameli- orate. the conditions under which the Russian peasant lives. TOLSTOY AND KROPOTKIN remind one very much of Bjornson, tho famous Norwegian poet, who hides himself from the world ina little house in Christiania. Bjorn- son was an intimate friend of Ib- sen' and never cared for the social world. . He has a great contempt foy a man who seeks social triumphs* ana since Ibsen's death has become even more strict in his seclusion. He seldom leaves his study or re- ceives friends. Maurice, Maeterlinck, who has been called the "Belgyfan Shakes- peare," has immured}himself: in Normandy at a ruined Abbey, which he has made his home. Now and again he gives the werld some new masterpiece, but 'people seldoin have an'opportun¥ty of seeing the genius who has made for himself & name as one of the greatest of living thinkers: ~-- FEEDING WARM MASH. A serious mistake, made by many poultrymen is the feeding of warm mash the first thing in the morning. It is natural for a hen to gorge her- self on warm mash, when she will dump in the corner of the house all the rest of the day. Feed whole grain in a litter for the morning feed. If you think that you must feed a warm mush feed it at noon, | but in small quantities. The warm mush is going out of favor. with A crt ce BE ok | practical feeders. -- eas SELDOM GE * _ CULES THE COMET SCARE. Sir Robert Bali Says Barth May be in Tail About: Hopes 16 Wan, Sir Robert Ball, professor of astronomy at Cambridge U Sity, does not share the views of Camille Flammarion, the French astronomer, and others with regarl to the result of a collision between the earth and Halley's comet. He has received multitudes is the reply he has se ONS* ONQuiTer me eS ee VE ee, "A rhinoceres in full charge 'would not fear collision with a cobweb, and the earth need not fear collision with a comet. : : "In 1861 we passed through the tail of a comet, and no one knew anything about it at the time. "For a hundred million years life has been continuous' on this earth, though we have been visited by at least five comets every year. If comets could ever have done the earth any harm they would have done it long ago, and you and I would not be discussing comets or anything else. "I hope this letter will give you the assurance you want. So far as I can learn we may be in the tail of Halley about May 12, and I sincerely hope we shall. "T think Sir John Herschel said somewhere that the whole comet could be squeezed into a portman- teau."' WANTED COMET REMOVED. Next to the story of the Italian village crowd who hissed the comet 1916 A because it obstinately re- fused to appear 'from behind a clcud bank, and who clapped their hands vigorously when at last it became visible, must be placed on 'record a formal written complaint handed in by a night watchman at G.edello, Hungary, to the local imagistrate. The man's grievance jwas that the comet interfered with the proper discharge of his duty as a watchman at night. In his own words :-- "The news of the appearance of the comet has plunged everybody in the neighborhood into great consternation, and the people, driv- en mad, run about the streets all night. Therefore I must request the Minister of the Interior to be so kind as to ask the Meteorologi- cal Bureau to have the goodness to remove this dangerous comet from the neighborhood of Hun- gary." nt to. one anxi- | RICE AT WEDDINGS. Throwing It is the Cause of Many Serious Accidents. People often talk about the dan- ger of throwing rice at weddings. Occasionally a bride or bridegroom wili ask that the custom shall not be observed. But in Germany they have gone farther. The reigning Duke Leo- pceld Frederick of Anhalt, noticing that in his capital of Dessau sever- al serious accidents--some of them with fatal results -- happened through rice 'being thrown, issued a decree entirely prohibiting the custom from being observed any- where in his dominions. . People say that his example will! very likely be followed by the rul- eis of other German States. And the Kaiser himself has written to Duke Leopold, warmly approving his action. There may even be an Imperial decree prohibiting the throwing of rice at weddings all over the German empire--unless tunis would be regarded as an tndis- cretion on the Kaiser's part! Of course, the custom has been the cause of many serious accidents at weddings. Ty England, not. long since, a bride and bridegroom were~just stepping into their carriage, amid a shower of rice, when some of the sharp, stinging grains caught the ear of one of the horses. The ani- mat bolted, and his fellow promptly followed his example. The bridegroom was half in the carriage and half out. He fell as ihe vehicle started off and was diagged along the ground for sev- eral yards. The bride was thrown out of the open door. The coach- man leaped frem his box and was seriously injured, and the mad- dened horses finished up by dashing int) a wall, smashing the carriage to pieces and injuring themselves so severely that they had to be shot. But even without serious affairs of this sort rice is not the most pleasant thing in the world to have flung at one. If the grains strike the face they sting like--like any- thing. If they work down inte ene's garments~and they usually de -- And when a are trying to pass themselves off as a shower of tell-tale rice, descend- hing from a pocket or a suddenly- jopened umbrella, gives the whole show away, the result is embarras- sing. : : Nor are its drawhatks appreci- ably less when, as with the lady in the well-known. joke, the rice is boiled before use, espeeially when people forget as she did, to take it out of the basin before throwing rit. But. that's frivolous. Rice as a wedding luck-bringer is a very doubtful blessing. | : etna, Wee RAE "Who is that big man '"' asked the stranger. "That," replied the native, f"is Mr. Pompns.'" "Only plain nister'? bearing "* of a ee r-general,"' +*V es; and: the. oe + ak 2 a ee Sets eek ee ASTRONOMER RIDI-| MN May 12th, and | of letters on the subject, and this|C Thempson era began to The fierce brute Tho Sad Side of Cinomatograp! "Dramas I Univer- | re alarmisé | li mes or the operator Tun considerable risk--risk whic more than once has ended in aut accident, says London Answers. } One such tragedy occurred - eS: some train wrecke interrupted as they sleepers on the line. | The scene chosen for the enac ment of the tableau was a quiet sid lag outside Stoat's Nest Station ant all went well until the engia came _ Then, owing to a misunderstanding, the driver did not pull up in time. The unfortu- nate man representing the gangoe -- was caught by a flying sleeper and suffered such injuries that he died a few hours later. aa REALITY OR ACTING? One day, in June last, the steam- boat pier at Bellevue, near Paris, was the scene of a really horrible tragedy of a similar type. On one of the scenes enacted before the lens of the cinematograph camera, a Suicide is supposed to fling him- self into the river and drown. The actor chosen to play the part was @ well-known acrobat named Otreps. _At the appointed moment he jumped far out into the Seine, and -- struggled and shouted in so tense-: ly realistic a manner that the crowd who were looking on, clapped their hands and cheered. Presently he sank, but as this was part of the "'business," no one was surprised. Seconds grew to a minute. Otreps dit not 'reappear, There were shouts for a boat. Men pulled out, but there was no sign of the poor fellow. It was not until an hour later that his dead body was re- covered, He had been seized by cramp, and shouts for assistance ha been taken for clever acting, It was another French film com- pany which accepted for reproduc- tior. a scenario called "The Lover's Reyenge," in which a runaway horse flings itself over a precipice, | and some employees of the company were instructed to obtain such a picture. Will it be believed that these ruffians actually brought an old blind horse, and harnessing it to a light cart, flogged the animal until, in its pain and terror, it dashed away and actually flung it- self over a cliff three hundred feet high on to the rocks. below? The blackguards were arrested and fined three dollars each, thia by French law being the maximum penalty for the offence of cruelty to animals. \ SAVED BY A CAMERA. Speaking of animals, Mr. ¥. Martin Duncan, the well-known na- turalist, has had many adventurea whilst taking living pictures of wild animals. Once he had erected his cinematograph apparatus in a tiger's cage in Carl Hagenbeck's great zoo at Hamburg when one of the tigers lost its temper, gave a furious growl, and went slap at him. Fortunately, the camera was the way. This the brute knocked own and seized, crunching it to picces between its Tong, sharp fangs. Naturally, Mr. Dunean lost no time jm escaping from the cage. Other naturalists who have risked their lives to secure a photograph of .a charging wild beast are Mr. Edward Prebie and Mr. Ernest Seton, who recently journeyed to the Great Slave Lake. The party sighted a musk ox, a big shaggy brute, with wicked red eyes. . "Now," said Mr. Preble to Mr. Seton, "if you'll toweh the button, T'll do the rest." He stepped for- ward, rifle in hand, and Mr. Se- ton followed with the camera, The moment the musk ox. saw them down he came. The plucky man waited till he was within fifty yards. Then the cam- click. At twenty Preble's rifle spoke, crashed dead at Seton's very feet. Sa ' vards Mr. Mr STORY OF AN INK STAIN, } Pens and furniture used in the signing of famous treaties and do: cuments recall Archibald Forbes' experience after Sedan, says. ta London Chrenicle. After 'witaess- Whi; he has the} ing Napoleon's interview with Bis- marck at a wayside cottage and his subsequent surrender, Forbes and they are extremely uncomfortable. | a fellow war correspondent slept at honeymoon couple) tue chateau which the fallen Fm- peror had occupied the night be- married folk of long standing, and! fore.. The bedroom was just as Na+ poleon had left it and by the bed -- the open book with which he had read himself to sleep. It was Tyt- ton's 'Last of the Barons " > Sit- J ting at the adjosing writing 'ihe, Forbes wrote his despatch Schils luis companion gnawed at a ham bone, their sole remainder of food, Trate at the. little eating it furiish- ed,-he flung it across the room and upset the ihkstand into which Forbes was dipping. When Forbes revisited' the chatean a month or so later the ink stain was- pointed out as caused by Napole- on's rage on learning the German terms of peace. . >