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to be a reminder of the twelve apostles. To please her I inserted a bit of the true cross in the gold setting."

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PRETTY SMALL THIEF.

The newspaper thief who was fined $25 by Justice Kersten got off easily. He should have been sent to the penitentiary for life. The newspaper thief is the smallest, most contemptible, most exasperating of all thieves. He steals an article valued at a penny, and causes $100 worth of annoyance. He throws the domestic economy of a household into disorder for a beggarly red cent. Sneaking along in the gray of the morning, he filches a newspaper from a doorstep, and by that miserable theft upsets the harmony of an entire family. The master of the house feels lost without the market reports, the housewife misses the "slaughter sale" advertisements, and the rising hope of the family languishes in ignorance of the indoor baseball scores and the latest oration of Mr. James J. Corbett. Everyone begins in a bad humor, and keeps it up all day. For this the wretched, picayunish newspaper thief is responsible, and he gets off with $25 fine. He ought to be boiled in oil.-Chicago Chronicle.

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CONFLICTING LEGAL STYLES.

A good anecdote is told of the two celebrated barristers, Balfour and Erskine. Balfour's style was generously verbose. Erskine's, on the contrary, was crisp and vigorous. Coming into court one day Erskine noticed that Balfour's ankle was bandaged.

"Why, what's the matter?" asked Erskine.

Instead of replying, "I fell from a gate," Balfour answered in his usual roundabout manner:

"I was taking a romantic ramble in my brother's garden," he said, "and on coming to a gate I discovered that I had to climb over it, by which I came into contact with the first bar and

grazed the epidermis of my leg, which has caused a slight extravasion of the blood."

"You may thank your lucky stars," replied Erskine, "that your brother's gate was not as lofty as your style, or you would have broken your neck."

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A PARALLEL TO THE DREYFUS CASE.

A parallel to the Dreyfus-Esterhazy case is to be found in "Alice in Wonderland." Here is the extract from chapter 12:

The king turned pale, and shut his note book hastily. "Consider your verdict," he said to the jury, in a low, trembling voice.

"There's more evidence to come yet, please your majesty," said the white rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; "this paper has just been picked up." "What is it?" said the queen.

"I haven't opened it yet," said the white rabbit, "but it seems to be a letter written by the prisoner to-to somebody."

"It must have been that," said the king, "unless it was written to nobody, which isn't usual, you know."

"Who is it directed to?" said one of the jurymen.

"It is'nt directed at all," said the white rabbit "in fact, there's nothing written on the outside."

He unfolded the paper as he spoke, and added, "It isn't a letter, after all; it's a set of verses."

"Are they in the prisoner's handwriting?" asked another of the jurymen. "No, they're not," said the white rabbit, "an that's the queerest thing about it." (The jury all looked puzzled.)

"He must have imitated somebody else's hand," said the king. (The jury all brightened up again).

"Please, your majesty," said the knave, "I didn't write it, and they can't prove I did; there's no name signed at the end."

etition of this has just taken place at Rappolstweller, in Alsatia. The chief of the fire brigade was a few days ago presented with the first child, a boy. The firemen thereupon called a meeting at which it was decided to make the baby boy an honorary member of the corps, and the men susequently cut off thir mustaches and beards to form the stuffing of a red velvet pillow for the baby's use.

That history repeats itself has just received another proof. Some years ago the men of a Bavarian regiment, of which Prince Maximiliar was chief, in order that they might show their devotion to him, cut off their mustaches and sent them to the princess who had just become a mother. that she might use them as a pillow. Something like a rep

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CURIOUS CUSTOMS.

A curious marriage custom obtains in the island of Himla, just opposite the island of Rhodes. The Greeks, by whom it is peopled, earn their living by the sponge fishery. No girl in this island is allowed to marry until she has brought up a certain number of sponges, which must be taken from a certain depth. In some of the other Greek islands this demonstration of ability is required of the men, and if there are several suitors for the hand of a maiden her father bestows her on the man who can dive best and bring up the largest number of sponges.

Walter Savage Landor always insisted that green eyes were the most "wonderful." In support of his argument he was wont to ten the following story: "It so happered that when I was a young man at Venice I was standing in the doorway of the Cafe Florian one day, watching the pigeons on the Piazza San Marcɔ, when an old gentleman rushed up to me and said: 'Pardon me, sir, but will you allow me to look into your eyes? Ah, I thought so! Sir, you have green eyes! I never saw but one pair before, and they belonged to the late Empress Catherine of Russia; they were the most wonderfully beautiful eyes in the world.' I have reason," continued Mr. Landor, "to remember this, for while the old gentleman was examining my eyes I had my pocket

picked."

J44

MY OLD STOVE-PIPE.

My old stove pipe, my good stove pipe, Thou art my comforter;

When wind is cold and weather foul

From thee I hardly stir;
Although thou never talk'st to me,

Thou never smok'st, I know;
Thou art a good old chum to draw-
And never known to blow!

Although thou hast no heart in thee,
Yet thou art good indeed;

O, thou can'st make the coal burn bright,
The brightest I have "seed;"

I fill the stove with good small bits,
And thou wilt do the rest;

I care not for those smoky pipes,
The smokeless are the best!

I care not for those smoky pipes,
Which fools with poison cram;
My stove pipe is a useful pipe,

And not a mere sham.

Now get your coals and twist the lid,
And pour the crystals down-

Now work the lever at the side
And let Old Winter frown.-H. C.

is

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THE FRENCH PRESS.

to

Three or four journals excepted, the It decadence of our press is manifest. dirty vulgar, corrupt. given thoughts. It is continually in financial the to pander to difficulties, forced masses, who are neither very intellectual nor of over-nice morals, and who can not afford to be truthful. But laws can not reform it. The people have the press that is fit for them, and if we would change it for the better, we must first raise the present low moral level of the country. And that, again, can only be accomplished by the men of the to say, the honorable press, that is among them. They must absolutely refuse to prostitute their pens in the service of the average newspaper. Unless that is done, society will topple over. Nobody knows that better than the So

New York City last week, some of the alumni cheered Dr. Shields, only what Without might be expected occurred. doubt many fully approve of the drinking facilities that had been furnished at Princeton Inn. But if the reports are not misleading, President Patton could not well have spoken to worse effect than he did. He indorsed the graduates and condemned prohibition. He had only disapproval for those who have opposed all connection of the university with a drinking-place. But the climax of presidential folly was reached when he declared: "Prohibition will not stop drinking in Princeton. It will only increase the sale of corkscrews." If this does not mean that because there will be drinking there should be a university saloon, and that as the saloon there is closed, drinking in the rooms will not be greatly opposed, the reason for saying it does not appear. Opposition to an evil always calls out its full If on strength in increased activity. this account the evil is to be unopposed and even fostered, then penitentiaries are a social mistake, and the bottomless pit a blunder in the divine administration of the universe.-The North West Presbyterian.