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port arthur valueless Oi'HfiALTHY POSITI^ OF THE TOWN. Easily O^'Off by AtvEneniy and Large Garrison Useless. ^ixe decision of Admiral Alexieff to make his headquarters in the central provinces of Manchuria and withdraw trim Port Arthur was inevitable, says the London Daily Mail. Even assuming that the Russian fleet remained intact, and Japan did not possess command of the sea, it would have been poor policy to maintain headquarters down in one corner of the country to be covered by the Campaign. Besides this strategic reason there are, however; others still more potent. Port Arthur is a typical Chinese fortress, and combines all the disadvantages consequent upon the Chinese character. When a Chinaman seeks a suitable sipot for a fortress his first objective, is to end a V>lace, well surrounded by hills, which shall hide his presence from a passing foe. The Chinaman is never filled with a desire for offensive action, and only seeks to be left quietly alone; the defensive is the utmost acrion he can think of. Thus, in Port Arthur we find the town situated snugly at the bottom of a saucer, 1 the Port Arthur garrison, denied them, the implacable Japanese sea rings them round, and gives to Japan command over tneir one neck of land. In the appointed time Port Arthur will fall, like a ripe apple, into tho mouth of Japan, and will have the mortification of having to surrender without having struck an effective blow in the But Chinese fortresses are not designed to strike effective blows, and the garrison at Port Arthur may the Russian diplomat whose astut< has been tin i humiliation. the t ijtng i the all the dan <ry conditio HINESE. >. Thi s of th THREE STRANGE PETS. Two Cow Moose and Red Tamed by Lumber Men. One of the members of a great lumbering firm who has just returned to Hull, Que., from spection made a discovery at < the shanties which surprised h: After supper he decided the horses. Something : the impression that they were trying to hide something. This caused him to pry into a kind of of stalls, where t prise he found two huge and a beautiful red doe reclining ,t theii brushwood for browsing lay around, and rude mangers showed where the grain and hay were r fed to the tame creatures. the bush, hay has cost $50 iriy $2 a bushel imc they have b< The feeding c vidently costing a considerable o the firm, water dr.'.i kim;s highland estate Beauties of Balmoral and Forest Are of World-v; The Royal forest of Balmoral embraces Balmoral, Ballochbuie, Birk-hall, and Abergeldie. The boundaries of the combined for A. Inkson McConnochie interesting art'-.le in the "Scottish Field" which are situated in the parishes of Crathie and Glenmuiek, and extended to about 44,000 are :--On the north, the Rivei from Bridge of Dee (Iv< the Muick confluen< Birkhall, thence v, .... the Muick, Loch Muick, Dubh Loi Cairn Taggart (3,430 feet) a Meall at Sluichd (2,771 feet); and to Bridge of Dee by Creag n Leachda (2,549 feet) Claise Moire. _ All the peaks of Lochnagar (3,786 feet) are thus Ing from tho hilli hills are bare of vegetation, and the numerous fortifications which surmount them are the only crops which are raised in the neighborhood or Port Arthur. The fact that the Chinese had established a dockyard kt Port Arthur led the Jvussians to Hecide upon making this place their chief fortress in South Manchuria. They would have been far better advised to have relinquished the dubious advantages of the solitary dry dock in favor of the site where the new town of Dalny now stands. Here they would have had an ample deep-water harbor, while the natural conditions compare most favorably. It shar.i was another example of the stren^i' It was shown that early in December the moose had come up to t for protection from a pack wolves which had chased them most to death. All afternoon t rested actually within reach and at nightfa ed them right up to the shanty The men noticed that tho were also following at a di and in pity they persuaded the harassed creatures to enter the then empty stable," where they 1 tentedly rested ever sine The doe was the only s deer) 'found by the admakers a few miles from " lers had been ea 3 one had folloi mobilizimjhe sailors HOW PORTSMOUTH SPRINGS { INTO ACTIVITY. When the Message Comes That the Sailors Must 3 Since Admiral Sir John Fisher took over the command at Portsmouth naval depot sweeping changes j ] have been made in the dockyard and | vms sue a the administration generally. All , lawyer referring 1 employees who were reported as in-j the witness unde different or superflous have been dis- . meant the lady, missed, and a good deal of the an- "She was," he it red tape methods of the Ad- j "Was she gentle ana «.mu y alty, which harassed Lord Nel- j the legal limb, and the reply v been done away the affirmative, though the i ! JUMP OUT OF BSE ares. • The history of Chir • ith instances of how r.act heir national charactcri.stii dopt Chinese ideas. This a of Russia can onlv plained c :ould induce practical i EASILY CUT OFF 1 Po i between This Fill then leave Port Arthur isolated to work out her own salvation or destruction. There can never be any difficulty about the isolating- of the fortress by the breaking of the • railway line South of Kin-chau, the line runs along the shore itself of the Yellow Sea, and the neck of land adjoining the Port Arthur territory to the mainland is both narrow and flat at this point. A couple of Japanese gunboats could destroy the line and isolate the fortress with landing any troops. What would then be the condition of Port Arthur? Tho 25,000 men, packed into barracks amongst Chinese hovels would stand in the first instance, every chance of becoming infected with disease. HUNGER AND DISEASE. Even at the best periods of the year disease is always present in the town. The water supply depends largely upon the distilling machines in the harbor, and it does not require much calculation to know that 25,000 men require an enormous amount of water. Under ordinary conditions all the fresh supplies for Port Arthur come from Chefoo, but already these have been shut off for many days. There remain only for the soldiery the stores laid up by the authorities. These, owing chiefly the necessity for every officer to make his commission, ,are not what they are made out to be. Besides being insufficient, the stock is very smaller than it is supposed to Thus the garrison is confronted disease and starvation, and these Without any chance of striking__ the foe. Tho presence of the fleet will also have assisted in the reduction of the food supply. WEAKNESS SHOWING. The moral effect of the Japanese attacks and the knowledge that they are abandoned, as it were, to their fate, cannot fail to be great. Granted that Port Arthur's fortifications pre impregnable, hunger and disease are certain to prove more efficient Iocs than several army corps of Japanese. And there are serious doubts as to the efficiency of the fortifications, recent manoeuvres having dis- posed s Port Arthur ■ going ■ But the t of their land operati at Kinchau and the holding of Beck of land. The more men t were poured by Russia into Port lotto. Men can and do e redible lengths of time matter to starve in silence, «t of the rays of the limelight! BOUND TO FALL, vet that is tho frite ;:tf th* t and be ex- willing to chip what j to meet the expense of board: ral and j their big pets and to prevent th a base j being turned out into the deep sn )le har-! to the wolves. The lumber merch iderable bi id in mercy to the di and-also in sympathy with the shanty stable arrangei left undisturbed. Probably of the most, novel, of the most interest-factory operation, is ng practiced in several cities Germany, where dynamos are being driven by wind power. For sev-ral years past factories, both at 'amburg and Leipsic have been sing thi he power is generated by wind hich have a diameter of abou feet, these being the roofs of the works. To insure its reliability, the wind wheel itself has ing parts, the speed regula-i being obtained by ;dmill so as to vary the "angle under which the wind strikes upon hich are built of steel 'become sheets. This regulation is performed auxiliary wind and is said to be done so quickly •ately that the voltage of the range of s. An. auto-arranged so that wind falls below a certain point the battery connected with the dynamo is cut out. This device is also being used in these districts mentioned for the purpose of generating- electricity for lighting. FREE PASSAGE. ard has related to a correspondent a method by which dishonest persons defraud steamship companies. The fraud is generally perpetrated by seemingly well-to-do gentlemen, after the vessel has got. i her way the ticket collector gath-s in all tickets, and leaves the eolation of the saloon tickets to the St. The wary one, knowing the Hector is about, places something resembling the ticket inside his hat, and suddenly knocks off his own hat, which is caught by tho wind and carried overboard. He bitterly plains to the officers, regretting that ticket was in the lining of his pes having to pay s passage. and poor beasts regularly weeded out, the general excellence of u«j of Wales) was an ardent stal-, and as a good prefunctory agement of the foi eagles, male and fe-tably lodged at tin Croft, the forester's residence, when they hav been brought from an evrv near rgeldie Castle in 1885. During of eagles sted in the forest, one produci o eaglets, the other only oi icre are not a few foxes who so f e not molested as they keep do' e stalker's dread-- TROUBLESOME GROUSE; t they are dealt with when they numerous and interfere with the young fawns. The excellent fishing in connection with the forest needs only to be referred to here. The salmon fishing on the right bank of the Dee extends from Bridge of Dee to the Muick confluence; on the left bank (leased from Inver-cauld) from Bridge of Dee to Balmoral Bridge. Tho Prince of Wales is^a most enthusiastic fisherman to fishes are already following the paternal example. There-is practically of trout fishing to he the Muick and many Then there are Loch Muick, over two miles long, and the Dubh Loch, besides which were stocked w about fifty years ago. carcely be mentioned th.._ . beauties of Balmoral and its world-wide fame. ell j Lochnagar itself has 110S<the Fall the Ballochmii s the Dee by the n. The^" Lochnaga -"I love ould give . wealth--*--" Madelir Madeline. of Garbh AHt ing allowed, un old bridge whic Shank" the prevail-no the glens the upper rth Girnock alone si "black" bothies, he district told the wri s youth a line of 30 horses ig from that strath, loaded kegs of smuggled whiskey en for the south by the Capel Mounth. f s well provided . . pi life," She the ft is a good thing for him that the vas j necessaries of life do not includi aer :--"I understand that that ud married a struggling young ' Parke :-- \ es; ho struggled snough, but he couldn't get ' -The postal We | wretched condition." Friend :-- | "Never noticed it." "Well, I have j Turing last month I (hundred and eighty statements of aC-with | count, with requests for immediate * ! payment, and, So far as I can learn, than two of my customers ed their letters." d yiz iver make iny money n' horses,. Mulligan ?" "Sure, made twenty dollars wance." r did yez do ut ?" "Oi back- Four Wars in Seventy-five Years --The Crimean War. hich is furnishing so on is the fourth upon which Ri ' last three-qui first and second were with Turkey. It olved an expenditure of £20,000,-) sterling and a loss of 120,000 Thar, was in 1828. Twenty-x years later came the Cr' hich France and Britain took a hand. It was spread over 1854-6, £305,000,000 and 485,000 Then in 1876-7 followed a further fight with Turkey, in which £190, 000,000 wore expended and 180,001 disposed of. The Crimean wa: Britain dearly. She put into the field 97,860 men, of whom 2,755 killed in action and 1 wounded. Of the latter 1.847 in hospital; 17,580 died of di Deaths totalled 22,182, or 22J of the whole strength i army. None went than the Ambassador of that period, Lord Stratford. When he heard that the British fleet had cast audio; the DardenolieS he claimed exultingly, "That is an I shall be avenged the Tsar." The Tsar had refused is Ambassador. iring in the Scottish Highlands a. lady was taken to a cave in which Macbeth was said to have been born. She attentively, and listened very closely to the eloquent speech of her guide. At the end she turret! and said quietly to the man ;--"Come, now, tell me truly is this really the place where Macbeth was born ?" The guide smiled awkwardly. He shifted about a little. "Weel," he : length, The investigations of the geologi-il survey have brought to light facts about the enormous quantity jaf underground crust of the globe which are calculated to astonish the ordinal read-Below a depth of about six miles it is believed that no water can exist in the rocks, because the tremendous pressure probably closes all pores, but above that level the amount of underground water is estimated to be equal in quantity to One of the. rules of waking one-third of all the water contained exert every nauscir of the body all the oceans. If poured over j twaately, "first tht: arms, then the the land surface of the globe, the j legs, then all tfce wther muscles. Go underground water would be suffi- j through with all the muscular con-cover it to a uniform den h i,,i i m while vo* si etch. *nd you 3,000 to -ViOO faat. j will find yourself rested thereby. le night before. For those who can't h: ig plunge, and* who i comfortable without it, substitute, massage. Massage ■ches the muscles and rests them nrf gives all the effect of the fric--" the bath and the bath towel. , get massage, there is still another resort. Wake up slowly and stretch every muscX of the body. Wake up by degre :e up in a leisurely way, wake up, over, yawn three times and stretch again. That is the way to wake up in such a manner that you do not need bath c "A good yawn is better than a cold bath any time," said an in-physical culture. "Let wake up, taking half an hour for the exercise* and let me yawn all 1 to yawn, and I will do with-le cold bath and without x