The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

my fair young patient a good story told by a london doctor i am a family doctor with raffidently arduous if not overlooratlve practice chitfl among tho lower middle class whose homw abound in a south eastern suburb of modem babylon some years ago when i was more of a ttnvgler than i happily now am i hd by good fortune obtained a foothold as medi ad adviser in the household of a wealth city stock broker who dwelt fa spacious and luxuriant mansion some three miles fa ther out on the surrey hills than the then extreme limit of my regular round of visits and the fees i received lor occasional call to mount aureo when mr midas contango had a tench of hit cbronlo tormentor the gout or ms somewhat sentimental spouse quite a grand dame however in her own esteem was suffering the penalties of tyi tematlo outrage on the digestive fitup of her portly person were so liberal in their exxn as to form in the aggregate no inconsiderable proportion of my modest inoome alter my connection at mount aureo had continued to the seeming satisfaction of all concerned for some two years i began to receive more frequent summonses thither ward tae only daughter of the contangos miss muriel a fine tall gracefully moulded damsel ot seventeen who might have stood as a iculptots model so perfect was her physique had returned home for the chris jnas vacation from her fashionable brighton boarding school troubled with a slight cough in all respects save this trifling laryngeal affection she enjoyed the excellent health of whioh both her parents had had possession in their earlier days before tho indulgences whiohfollow in wealths wake had made them profitable acquaintances of my own it was clear enough too to me that miss muriel contangos throat trouble was purely local nevertheless it was causing serious alarmjto the master and mistress of mount aureo who idolised their obarming child the dream of the contango existence was to mate miss muriel to some solon of the aristocracy their reputation for riches having obtained them the entree to society to which by birth and breeding they were not entitled mr and mrs midas contango had both begun to dread that miss muriels indiaposi- tion would culminate in bronchitis or a deollne the slightest cough the least ronohus raised the grim and terrible spectre of phthisis and the beautiful young lady was held to be in imminent danger of an early grave i had examined her chest with the most anxious and minute cart bub could discover nothing to justify any fear or even dondt of the correctness of my diagnosis yet despite balsamics and sedatives ex posure however little ui treacherous weather would cause hoarseness and a transitory cough indeed these disagree able bymptoms often manifested themselves without any apparent cause except as i judged the inordinate precautions taken to avert them the rooms at mount aureo were always too hot miss muriel was overclothed oould not stir out for a constitutional in the garden without a respirator or take a drive unless hidden in an envelopment of costly fare when i ventured to hint at this the invariable reply of the contangos was ah i doctor if we did not take this care of muriel how long would- she be with ust the dear child is so delicate aud nothing i conld say would alter their opinion 0 ae day late in the april succeeding when miss muriel had been coddled up at home for four months instead of peing sent back to brighton to continue her studies mrs contango was more than usually con cerned about her daughters condition the stockbroker and his good lady had overnight hedan anxious discussion i had made my now usual though quite uuneccs sary daily visit to mount aureo and mrs midas contango was in her patronising an i yet eolioltoua manner bowln me out i had almost reached the door hat in band when mrs contango said with some effort dootor you know we have the utmost confidence in you we carry out your in structions to the letter but our dear child yes madam only you will persist in treating her if i may be pardoned the simile too much after ehe manner of a tropical orchid instead of regarding her as a beautiful plant of english growth well perhaps you may bb right dootor but we are so very anxious mr coutigo and myself yon see muriel is our only child oursole hope now would you mind our asking the opinion of a famous specialist as to the oase j nothing would bo more proper pray whom would you like and when may we arrange oontlngent on his being able to come to have him here mrs midas contango mentioned the name of a very fashionable and expensive london physician with a consultative praotice con- lined almost entirely to the houses of those who had been presented at court ho was certainly not the man i should have chosen for the faonlty rather smiled at his preten sions to preeminent skill and his reputa tion was far more that of the drawingroom than professional however i a humble if conscientious practitioner could not afford had 1 bo deslret to decline to meet him and i consented to facilitate arange- mente for an interview at the great mans i convenience jv lho fashionable physician drew up in his imposing equipage at the door of mount aureo half an hour behind time appointed wmlutroduced to bis patient making the wbiler prof use apologies for having been unavoidably detained by a critical case thafeibtthe dako of deerwood to whose hbusethmyfair he had been summoned by the duohefse request to give his opinion as to the treatment adopted by the attendant medical gentleman what 1 said the sooioty exquisite for such the celebrity certainly was what 1 exclaimed he in grandiloquent tones strik ing a theatrical attitude is it that fine young lady we are to consult about that superb girl in suoh perfect condition come confess madam that yon arc only making fun of us well replied mrs contango ira- preesed as she was meant to be by the importance of the pompous personage wh was addressing her i admit ap- fiaraucesare in my daughters favour and hops that you may bs able to assure ns that ber condition is not serious but the is always losing her voice always cough ing and if we were hot to take care a flood of tears drowned the rest of the sentence but airily remarked the famous dootor my dear madam why distress yourself all may be well let me hear from this gentlemanyour family attendant the symp toms as he has interpreted them i save the history of the case la a few words well well there teem to be nothing serious but we must examine the chest with the almost exactness to decide that pardon me interrupts mamma but will you allow me to remain la the room of courts madam responded the favenrite of fortune too have a sacred right to stop here pray sit down and then he directed me to commence the ex animation i percussed with minute care fulness every part of the tnorax and as before could really find nothing abnormal tnere you psroetva that i nave tested with exactness and the resonance is every where perfect i made the remark as a mere matter of form for i had not failed to note that the vol superior west end practitioner had not condescended to pay the slightest attention to my proceedings but was talking in low tones to mrs midas contango all the time ah well now it is my turn said he and with the most delicately impressive care placed miss muriel again in position not as i had done with the arms crossed on the ohest but stiffly extended in place of tell ing her to count thirteen to sixteen he gave her a book and directed her to read a dizan lines and then to sing the gamut an ocave and a half the mother was watch ing all this in admiration and devouring every letail ah 1 humph 1 sjd the oracle it seems there is something but extremely difficult to differentiate let us hear wnat percussion yields and his style was truly enchanting every tap with his fingers was given with a flourish and a graceful sweep worthy of the most expert professor of sleightofhand that ever enter tained a countesss guests there was a covert smile turning to me he said there it is listen my dear young friend as he heat his digital drum now on this side then on that tick- tack ticktack hark 1 do you hear it there is a very appreciable difference i do nob say an enormous difference no but tners it is 1 for my own part sir i returned i cannot with all deference detect the slight est difference oh 1 very likely but there neverthe less it is now come however though having ascertained the truth about the case my time is short let me convince you i will turn my baok to the patient and you shall again psronss i will tell which side you are tapping upon by the variation in the sound tie turned round and i percussed as equally as possible the two sides of the thorax you are on the left side he was quite right in a moment however my surprise was changed to admira tion of the fashionable physicians smart audacity his professional nay i yet hope i may more truthfully write it unprofession al trick was obvious enough but performed with such perfect aplomb that i was doped even whilst taking part in it he had turn ed his baok to the patient to mrs midas contango and myself but he was looking into a large mirror above the oonsole which faced him 1 what conld i do 1 was mute the tables had indeed been so completely turned upon me that i had nothing to say madam i must not alarm you observ ed the triumphant specialist to mrs con tango who was in blissful ignorance of the deception these delicate gradations in tone cm only be at once deteoted after im mense practice only by those who examine a stream of patients but there is something on the left side of your daughters ohest no thing serious so littleindcedthat my young friend here has been unable to find it but there it is and now the examination being complete permit us to consult as to the treat ment and then i must go or i shall incur tho displeasure of a noble but somewhat im patient patient of mine when we were alone i again expressed my incredulity delicately hinting at my observa tion of his ruse tut tut 1 my dear young friend said he testily you have not yet grasped the situation now here you have a girl who couehs and has been hoarse for a long time then how the deuce oan you get over the fact by tolling the parents that there is no catuo for it i very likely there is nothing the matter with her but why does she cough that was exactly what her mother said to me there you are and mamma was quite right there must be some cause for it we may not be able to lay our finger upon it for we must examine and understand our patients thoroughly very often before we oan make out their ailments and then one finds the mischief because you see wa are ex pected to disoover it but suppose there really is nothing nonsense 1 there always is bat even if there were not we are equally bound to find it for if you tell these anxious people i oan discover nothing wrong they will naturally put it down to your ignorance and send for somebody else who has know ledge enough of human nature or sufficient savoir faire not to be embarrassed with so small a difficulty now do you see my meaning theoretically there is nothing practi cally there it you may put it so if so it please you but i assured you that there is and there is your vigilanoe and punctilious exacti tude notwithatuidinf a little convenient difference in resonance the mamma heard the remark as i intended her to do she has not the remotest idea what it means why should sho have but she is perfeotly happy now that tho cause of her darlings cough has been discovered because she thinks the ciuso being known the cure will follow tne moro unintelligible the explan ation the mo o convincad is sho of its cor rectness one may remedy yoa know a difference in resonance but how can you pretend to oure a nsrsun whom you per sistently declaro to havo nothing the matter with her i began to understand now continued this consummate reador of societys intelligence i admit this is not science nor what the schools and our academi cal training teach us hazirded i qojte so my dear fellow but aocept for once tho tuition of a man who has not alto gether failed in his profession what i have taken the trouble to demonstrate to you gratis is a good working rale smelling a little perhaps so to speak ot the shop or of isgal tape but our patrons are satisfied our patients made happy our reputations advanc ed oan we wisely permit so trivial a matter at departure from slavish adherence to what it miscalled principle to stand between us and success well admitted 11 little sadly perhaps yoa are right ot coarse i am my dear young friend i am a cynic but i succeed i have been for instance beteeched to meet yea here to day and now for treatment a little delicate counterirritation was arggeated and agreed on then the fash ionable p ysiciaa stepped into his elegant tare out before the door of mount aureo amid the profuse thanks ot mrs midas c a taago a hundred guineas richer for hii half hours visit at he shook hands with me on throwing himself back among the cushions of his brougham the famous expert smilingly whispered you are too modest my ingenuous young friend you have al ready the science of me heine at your finger- ends why not acquire the art also adieu p oae rareiy takes part in a consultation without learning something but i never obtained such valuable praotical knowledge from any meeting with a brother professional as 1 did in that inglorious scene in the draw ingroom of mount anreo in which i was so sadly let down for a time at least in the estimation of mrs midas and miss muriel contango miss muriel subsequently recovered her temporarily defective resonance sufficiently to gladden the hearts of her parents by mak ing a marriage at their cost into a noble house i still have the pleasure of ranking ber among my patients bat for no organic or other serious ailment and i have it on excellent authority that her husband vis count barrenlands wonld beextremely glad at times when he has been inordinately ex travagant with bis unearned increment if lady muriels vigour of voice and physique were both a little less robust u s sunday desecration bishop little john of the diocese of long island has written a powerful lotter on the subject of sunday deseoration in the united states in it he says it is simply fright ful to behold the rapid increase of almost every form of sunday desocration i may not here go into the causes of this increase they are well known to all who have their eyes and ears open and if they are allowed to work on nnoheoked along the existing lines of lawless and unrestricted indulgence the american sunday as bound up with the best traditions and customs of our social and religions life will in the next twenty years practically cease to exist in our great oities and in their farspreading suburbs this consideration ought to be enough to arouse all christian people of every name from their present apathy but there is another fea ture of the case which ought to tell with equal force upon all who value as necessary to the peace and order and well being of the community the proper enforcement of the law bad as are the violation and contempt not only cf the religious sanctity of sunday but also of its domestic and social proper ties and of its labour exemptions for the masses the open habitual and wanton defiance of the laws enacted by the state for the protection of the day is only less fraught with disaster commenting upon tho bishops letter the brooklyn times says thab there can be no doubt that the open breaking of the sunday laws breeds con tempt for all law turns the suburbs into pandemonium and tends powerfully to destroy the character of sunday as a day of rest a eadioal ohange pioposed the defenders of the established church in england have succeeded in inducing the gov ernment to introduce and support a measure which if it becomes a law may as its ultimate outcome put in serious peril the continuance of that ohnrch as a state organization at the present time the tithes by which the clergy are supported form a chart e upon the land either the land owner or tho tenant is compelled to piy so much towards the support cf the established church a failure to pay gives the clergyman thus deprived of his income the right through his representatives to take possession of the land and seize upon its nndiapcbedof products this is not a satisfactory arrange ment where resistance is made to payment of tithes and just now in certain parts of eogland and especially in wales the at tempts to collect tithes have led to a reals tance which has been almost oarried to a riot the proposed law makes tithes a charge both upon personal property and land and psrmits the olergymau to sue and recover as in the case of any legal debt while this may make the work of recovery easier the proposed change in the law is such a radical one that the chances are it will increase to an immense extent the popular hostility to the established church thus though the money when it is neces sary to forcibly collect it may oome easier it is not unlikely that in a short time more t will not oome at all vacant lands in the eastern states so great la the number of farms in tho new england states left vaoant by their former occupants having gone to the west or drifted to the cities that determined efforts are being made to repeople the depopulated areas in vermont the drain has been so heavy that it is estimated that 200000 acres of vaoant farming land exists there it is proposed to introduce a swedish colony of fifty families into the state tho boston herald says from a somewhat care ful study of the conditions on which farming is made suocessf ul in northern new hamp shire it is believed that tho present diffi culty in farming with us is not so much in the soil as in the men who till it the econ omic changes acoount for a great deal of un successful farming in the ohoice of crops in the expenditure of money for machinery jn the changed oharacter of home living is to be found the explanation of the faot that a large number of the now england farmers are in debt it is very instructive for the canadian farmer to note these confessions of the unsatisfactory conditions of american farming tho united states journals do not blind their eyes to the facts or talk glib ly about a sixty million market they leave that for the cabbagobeaded comm jr- clia unionists ex m herman oalriohs the rich new york club man and politician astonished the peo ple of long branch on a recent sunday by swimming three miles out to sea and back he had arranged a match with some new york professionals who did not tarn ap in time so mr oelrichs swam oat alone to show what he could do if pressed fokeign hews the total recsipt of the eiffel tower since the opening oa the 15th of may to the 30b of july amount to 2421739 francs at pittis farewell in baeaos ay res in the barber she waa called ant thirtytwo times and the receipt were 23000 half of the proceeds from a two days x htbiiion ot the angelut 2000 francs ka been sent to mrs millet juat 200 francs more than millet sold the picture fur tae congo district appears to bj develop ing as a producer ot tobacco brussels tobacconists say that its leaves are remark ably well adapted for cigars being of ex oedingly good flvor and very tuppte the international congress of societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals in paris assembled have passed resolutions con demning blinkers and the long whips and the bi8 now in use the tickets of admission to the paris exhibition used to july 31 number 10022- 000 as against 5116 000 during the corres ponding period in 1878 the highest number of admissions in a day has been 29s00o one of the most prominent men on the french turf baron hirach was put ap at the paris jockey club the other day but though his proposer and seconder were popular men he was heavily blackballed about a dozen persons are now constantly at work among the onoe hidden aroblves of tho vatican employed by the germn austrian french and eaglish governments in studying the histories of their respective countries the sultan of turkey wishes to reduce his weight prof schweninger of berlin who cured prince bismarck ot his too pronounced tendenoy to stoutness will at the request of the sultaninstract two turkish physicians in his special method of treatment preparations are already being made in several german university towns to cele brate next year the three hundredth anni versary of the invention of the miorosoope zacharias janssen of middelbnrg put toge ther the first mioroscope in 1590 the longest uninterrupted debate on re cord was on aug 1 bought to a oloae by the new zasland house of representatives it had caused a continuous sitting of seven tysix hours entirely given np to the dis cussion of a representation bill yet the debate was not finished the great bell of hang wo which has long lain half buried in the ground has at length been lifted by foreign machinery and hung in a pagoda built of iron by a foreign firm according to prophecy this bell was never to be lifted until china had entered upon a new career of prosperity there is now in forbidden circulation on the continent a book containing the letters nf the crown prince rudolph aud marie vetsera the cause and companion of his death from these it is seen that rudolph was so mnoh in love with the girl that he offered to renounce all his titles and digni ties for the batte of marrying her considerable friction has arisen at the paris exhibition through the attempt of the jury which awards prizes to sit in judgment on the produot of the factories at sevres gobelin and beauvais they all refuse to be j udged or examined or reported upon and the contest between them and the jury has finally gone for settlement to premier tirard the wellknown deteotlon of a crime in diplomacy through the perfume of a womans glove was reproduced by a recent ocourrenoe in paris a man who found his room robbed of all his j iwlery perceived a peculiar perf ume and a few days later noticed it again when passing two well- dretaed women in tho street they were arrested and found to ba the thieves dr olivier of havre advises people to be careful in drinking cider if they would avoid typhoid fever frenoh older ia nude as a rule with stagnant water tne microbes in whioh do not perish during the fermentation iho fever germs thrive upon the juice of the apple in procf of this theory dr llivier odors the fact that typhoid fever is more prevailent in normandy the treat elder- making distriob than in any other part of france it is possible that the widowed crown princess cf austria may yet become empress the archduke francis the heir presumptive to the throne aud tho eldest son of the emperors second brother the arohduke charles louis is devoted to her and wants to marry her a great obstacle to his wish however is the faot that he is an epileptic and extremely weak minded the arch duke charles louis has formally renounced his rights to the frantic rage of his third wife who is twentytwo years his junior a committee of soientists and phil osophers italian and foreign has met at milan with the object of instituting a new national church their first sp haa been to draw up a oatechlsm and to invite adherents through a manifesto addressed to parents students and publio fners the manifesto declares that its promulgators wish to found a free church in a free state unfettered by the ideas prejudices or dogmas of other creeds and having for its sole guide the book of nature with the ternal truths tautrht therein the sentences imposed upon the miners who have been tried in breslau for serious breach of the peace during the recent strikes in silesia were terribly heavy though their offences had been unusually serious the conrt sentenced henkel the ringleader to seven years penal servitude to ba followed by seven yews deprivation of all righta sentences varying from eighteen months hard labor to five years psnal servitude were passed upon nine of the accused while thirty- six others were condemned to terms of im prisonment ranging from twelve months to four years the prisoners are mostly youths of 16 to 2 years of age only twelve of them being above 21 oar esteemed contemporary the vienna gambrlnus publishes a table of european breweries and their output for tho year 1887 the whole number of brokeries in europe was 60831 and the produotion of bser and ale amounted to about 4 680000000 gallons the taxes colleoted from this soa of bser amounted to about 130000000 iho malt used weighed 740000 tons and the hops 110000 tons germany alone contained 2g 143 breweries producing 1188000000 gal lons while austrchucgary bad only 1979 brewerios producing 354000000 gallons the figures relating to the production per capita show that the smallest quantity oao litro per head the litre being a little more than a quart is in bosnia and ronmanla grceceshowa 2 litres rassia 43 sfrance 31 si inland 40 dmraark 63 germany 73 upper austria 116 lower austria 121 bjlglam 150 warcembarg2l8 and the king domof bivaria leads all competitors with 24s litres or nearly 65 gallons for every man woman and child in the country teb4subs ohambebs op india vast boa da of money bidden away by native prince in the courts of the native princes of india boarding take place on a vast scale says chambers journal the maharajah of burdwan died lately and lef c a large hoard it proves that anterior to 1835 there was much hoarding when it is stated that the maharajah had withdrawn from hit store 230000 ot ilver whioh waa la the form ot sikka rupees none ot whioh have been coin ed since 1835 a letter was submitted to the royal commission on the tub act of the maharajiha hoard a description waasjy- of the several treasure houses in the etotj their dimensions and their content one large room measuring about 48 feet in length l- feet 6 inches in breadth and 13 feet 9 inches in height where gold and silver ornaments and ornaments set with precious stones are kept these artloles are in almlraht and boxes ot all descriptions and also some gold plates and cups thalees and katorans as well as wash- ing bowls jags etc two other rooms contain silver domestic utensils forks spoons etc and strange to say english dinner and breakfast sett all of silver two of these rooms were one er look and the doors bricked up there are f our other rooms one containing ornaments of gold silver and pre clone stones gold ornaments and throne two others containing the reserve treasury which included the estate collections and government securities and debentures while the other is thus described the fourth room measures about 22 feet 6 inches in length 15 feet in breadth and 12 feet 3 inches in height where there are two large sized vaults prepared for hoarding the current silver coin and eince tho year 1267 b c some money was from time to time put in and taken out by the maharajah mah- tab chand bahadoor for the expenses of an emergent and extraordinary nature such as the late maharajah aftab chund bha- doora marriage lala bun behari kapurt marriage and buying landed proper ties when he died one lao was left in one of the vaults in another department the ornaments belonging to different goda of the family were kept and silver thalees sap- alas etc for the religious pniposes the room being locked and sealed lb was the custom of the of the burdwan raj family to confide the custody of thesevaluables to the maharanee for the time being but the vaults were never inspected save in the presence of the maharajah when sums were withdrawn only relations and trust worthy servants were admitted into the room and vault treasures and dewana used to be present outside the room or apart ment where the sum drawn was sent out female guards being plaoed in the passage tor the purpose of weighing counting and bagging it before it was bent to the mint osher instances of hoarding were given by an officer of the indian poatoffico in 1886 who stated that a native prince was then hoarding gold at the rate of 40000 to 50- 000 a year and on the death of two native prinoes recently it waa believed that they had left 4000000 each one of these prinoes took a loan of 300000 from the government of india in 1887 when he must have been in possession of a large hoard himself for it is a point of honor with a family not to break into a hoard which is treated with the saoredhess of a family pic ture when the prinoe in question had to make a payment to the government ot india for a purpose in whioh he was interested and was asked whan he could make the payment a payment of 150000 he said at any moment hoards are only drawn on in extreme cases and it is suoh cilamltles as war or the great famine in madras or bombay that will bring them out daring those famines bullion or ornaments were taken out of the hoards and sent to- the bombay mint to england or pledged with tho native banker or moneylender but unless under special circumstances the gold and silver of which tho hoards are composed are drawn in without auy intention of re turning to circulation again womns waists and heads tho venus do medicis head measu oi around the temples 20 j inohes allow for thewauyhaira half inoh and call it 20 inches i make the waist 27 inohes but t e tho figure is bending slightly forward it may vary accordingly as the measure is applied ths neck is 13 inchos a lady friend was so kind as to measure several other ladies for my benefit and i do not fiad such a marked difference tho heads are generally larger and the waists smaller it is trno but take one instance flead21 inches waist 21j iaohes nook 12j inohes a young girl of 16 measures 21 inches head and 24j inches waist another lady measured juso 20 inches head tho measures are taken over the waist of the tnnio one would suppose the measures would be less if taken after tho classical manner but by some my sterious diapenaation of providence the waist of the modern woman is acknowledged to measure more when untrammeled art sludent a west ssneca n y woman has for the last tew years supported herself from the earnings of a seventeenaoro flower farm her incomo is at times as much aa 2000 a year she recommends 11 oriculture as a good business for women and the wild west as the best fisld to begin in one of the most successful women dootors in london is mrs soharlieb who was the firat woman to write m d lond after her name mrs scharliob studied medicine and began the praotice of it in madras but her health gave way under the indian cli mate she camo to london where she hat made a success of her profession the popular notion that not all kid gloves are made from the skin of kids is true though all poor kid gloves are net necas- sarily frauds lamb sheep and antelope skins are used in glove making and pass for kids but the best ones are made of real kid some other material besides those mentioned may be sometimes used but not commonly france and saxony produce the beat skins chiefly because there tho most pains is taken in raising the kids a visitor at santa cruz tried to swim in the surf a wave was carrying him out to sea when three girlt rescued him he pre sented each with a silk dress