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m 7-!" ==t __â€"_â€"â€"â€" 'GAMMIDGE’S GHOST. Published by arrangement with the publishers from advanced sheets of Cliambcrs‘s Journal. CHAPTER II. The housekeeper led the way up a long fli ht of stairs, down two or three great cor- rirors, all sounding empty and hollow, to a door which, being opened, disclosed a bright fire in a pretty room. A bedroom opened off through another door. “Does any one sleep near this room ‘3” I asked as Mrs. Johnson turned to go. I was somehow struck with a sudden sense of lone- liness. “Well, not very near," she be an. “Oh, it doesn’t matter at al. It looks very comfortable, and I'm not nervous, so I shall be all right.” “These are Captain Penrose's rooms. I put you in them, thinking you would be comfortable. " "Very ood of you Mrs. Johnson. Oh, I shall be a I right." “I don’t know whether you smoke, sir," she said; “but if you do, there are some cigars of the captain’s in that little cupboard by the fire which I am sure will be good. And so I’ll say good-night ;and if you should happen to want anything, you’ll please to ring.” “Yes ; thank you. I shall not want any- thingâ€"Goodnight, Mrs. Johnson.” As soon as I heard her last heavy foot- step die away at the end of the long corridor, I looked the door: then I took one of the candles and went into the bedroom, which, as I have said, opened into the sitting-room. I now found that it also had a door opening into the corridor, so I locked that, and then had a look round. The bedroom, like the sitting-room, was old-fashioned as regards furniture and appearance. The walls were hung with some sort of tapestry stuff of )eculiar pattern. I swung this aside here and there, and found the walls to be panelled in very black oak, the panelling reaching up to the ceiling. The bed, a huge fourposter affair, was also tapestried, and looked solemn enough to lay a king out in. I went back to the sitting-room ant examin- ed that. It was hardly so funereal as the bedroom : there was no to estry ; but it, too, was panelled in dark on '. There were no pictures, tWo or three books of somewhat heavy material, no newspapers ; nothing to while an hour away before retiring. “ The Captain doesn’t have very lively quarters down here,” I said to myself. “ However, I’ll see if I can’t find his cigars.” I looked for the cupboard which Mrs John- son had spoken of, and found it at last in the oak panelling by the side of the fireplace. Inside reposed two or three boxes of cigars, which melt particularly fine ; and above the boxes lay a couple of novels, which I seized on eagerly. I looked at all three-boxes before choosing a. cigar. You see, I didn’t- often smoke cigars in those days, and one gains a lot of pleasure in dallyin ' with rare delights. I looked at them a1 , and smelt them with the air of a judge, and finally I lighted one, and made myself comfortable in an easy-chair with one of the novels in my hand. You may guess I felt quite luxur- ions, and blessed the chance which had brought me to such grand quarters. If only Alicia had been nearer, I should have been perfectly happy. So an hour passed away. The cigar was splendid, the novel but so so. I have not read many novels in my life, and when I do read, then I like them strong, that is to say, sensational. 'l‘his'rnovel was not very sen- sational, and at the end of an hour it ceased to chain my attention : so I lighted another cigar and began to think of Alicia. “'hat was she doing ‘! Asleep. probably. The“, was she dreaming of me? \Yas she dream- ing of that little house which we were to take at Clu ham when I had saved some money and s w was twenty-one, and where we were to be as happy as the day is long? Dear Alicia ! \tht an angel she was, and how “'lien I had got as far as that, a great clock somewhere about the Abbey be- gun to strike the hour of twelve. Now I have said already that I am not nervous. I was not nervous then, but that clock made me jump. It had a deep scpulchral sound which reminded you of hobgoblins and vliosts and all manner of unpleasant things. Iconfcss that at its first stroke I dropped iuy cigar and started up from my chair inâ€" well, in something like a fright. \Vlicu it died away, the silence was really awful. “I‘ll go to bed," I said. “There is some. thing docidcdly queer about the place.” I went into the bedroom and locked the door. In five iuinutes I was between the the sheets, with the candles out and the moonbcanis struggling in at the diamond- paned windows. I suppose I must have been tired, for I was soon sound asleep and ob- livious of anything in the material world. How long I slept I don't know: but what I do know is that in the course of the night I found myself sitting up in bed, looking at something which stood at the bed-foot look- at me! I felt a cold perspiration steal over me i and perlinpsmy hair grcwerect. The moon was hid behind a cloud when I woke, and I could only see the outline of the thin that was in lilVTOOlll. Suddenly the moon ight flashed in'acain with rcdoubled radiance, and I saw standing at the foot of my bed a tall figure clad in sable robes, whose eyes slionel brightly from under a heavy cowl. It was the Black Friar ! “'hat happened next I don't quite re- member ; but I know that I got out of bed and went after the Friar. who receded to- wards the tnpes tried wall. beckoning me to follow. There was no doubt about his being there. I rubbed my eyes, and saw him more clearly. He had on long sable robes and sandals ; a large cowl hid his face :but I could catch 'liuipses now and then of his bright eyes. 0 went with a strau e glid- ing motion towards the wall and irushed the hangings aside : then he placed his hand on the panelling, and. to my astonishment and surprise, I saw a dour open and disclose a flight of stairs which led down into dark- ness. The Friar turned, beckoned, and began slowly to descend the staircase. Somehow, though I struggled against giv- ing way, I had to follow him. I was in scanty attire. and the nights were chillv. and I rciucmlmr how I shivercd asinv bare foot touched the first of the worn stone stow. They wow so warn that they dipped in the middle. The Friar went down, down, and I follow-ed. Very soon we moonlight from the window above ceased to give any light, and we were in darkness, Yet even then l'cozild sec the dark figure before me in a SUX‘I of luminous haze. Every now and tlicii he turned and beckoned with a white hand that lookcdjust as transparent as a ghost‘s band should be. I “'ell, we reached the bottom of the stair- case. It was a very long one; there must have been nearly ahundred ste s in it. \I e 'went along 5-. paved passage, t e walls and iroof of which I touched with my hands as we traversed it, the Friar still going before, and I, attracted by some strange ins etism, following dutifully behind. Sud enly a door opened in front and a half light, half mist, broke upon us. The Friar passed throu h, and I followed and looked about me. \ 'e were in a vast church, light- ed by I know not what strange means, but with neither windows nor sunlights thatI could see. The great pillars sup rting the roof were lost in the mighty blac ’ness over- head, great aisles stretched away into dark- ness on every side. But in the c annel there glimmered in the mist light a few tapers, and right in the mid le 3. blood-red lamp swung to and fro, as though With eddyin gusts of wind. , I leaned against a pillar an gazed. As I became accustomed to the strange light, I saw that here and there were placed enormous tombs--tombs of cru- saders in their armour, knights kneeling in prayer, fine ladies with enormous ruffs, and children in curious formal-looking dresses. While I gazed, I saw another Friar, habited like the one who had conducted me, enter from the door we had opened. As he came in he threw back his hood from his face and head and bowed profoundly towards the chancel. Others followod in rapid succes- sion, till at length the chancel was full of dark-robed Friars. Presently they began to sing. One of them had a. magnificent tenor voice, and as it went vibrating info the vaulted roof above, with the voices of the others answering it, the effect was really delightful. The singing was a. somewhat lengthy performance. One psalm succeeded another, till, despite the charm of the voices, I got tired. I looked round me for a seat. A stone bench was placed a little distance away, and towards this I moved. I sat down, and â€"â€" ” \Vell, I was conscious of falling down, down, down through apparently limitless space. I yelled out something in my hor- ror, and suddenly awoke. The Friar, after all, was only a dre-nuâ€"or rather a night- mare! But the strange thing was that I felt cold, as if I had been out of bed. I got up, lighted my candle, and looked round. I confess that the dream had left such an impression on my mind that I ex- amined the waiuscoting rather narrowly for traces of the staircase. I found none; so I turned in once more, and was soon again asleep. V “'lien I woke it was morning, and the sun was shining brightly through the win- dow. I sprang out of bed ant began to dress, at the same time thinking about my night-mare or vision of the previous mid- night. “ Hillo.” I said to myself, “where’s my slipper?” For of tlic slippers that I had left standing by my bedside the night be- fore, there was only one left. I limited round the room for the other with no result : and then I suddenly remembered that I had slipped them on, with admirable foresight, when Iliad followed the Friar. I laughed to think ofit ;but, lauglior not, that slipper was no where in the room ! “ Mrs. Johnson,” I said, three-quarters of an hour later, “ that ghost of yours is no imaginary personage. ” Mrs. Johnson stared at me. and a faint flush rose to her already rosy check. “ Indeed l" she answered. “ You don’t mean thatâ€"that” “That I’ve scen'.’â€"ch; I do. I saw him last night.” “ The Black Friar?” " Not only one, but two, three, ten, per- haps twenty Black F riarsâ€"a whole monas- tery of them. Fine voices they had, too, all of them.” Mrs. Johnson looked at me suspiciously. “Now, you’re joking,” she began with some- thing of a reproach in her voice. “You say you saw him ‘3” “Yes, I can’t come to any other conclu- sion.” I didn’t believe in hosts; but Alicia’s mamma did, and I had card so many spirit. stories from her in intervals when Alicia was making herselftidyor putting on her hat ' andsliawl, that I had come to look upon them as being something familiar. “Yousce,” I continued, “the Friar not only appeared to me, but he proved himself a burglar into the bargain ; lie prigged one of my slippers. , l “Now,” said tliehous‘kceper indignantly “you are making fun ! \Vho ever heard of a ghost stealing slippers !” ' “Stop, stop !" I cried. “Let me tell you all about it, Mrs. Johnson. You mustn’t condemn nic unheard.” So I told her all I could rememberâ€"and , there was precious little that I couldn’tâ€"of 'niy nocturnal visitor. I never saw a wo~ man so completely flabbergasted in my life as when I came to the slipper business. “ Now, ma'am," I said in conclusion, “I’m ’ a plain sensible young man; I’m engaged to as nice it girl as ever you saw, and if I can find that will, it will be probably be a long ' step towards our marriage. I don't believe in ghosts, whatever you do. But I’ll tell vou what; I do believe I got slee -walking last night, and left my slipper ehind in some cold passage. The question is, do you know of an ' secret passage leading from that room where I slept 2" Mrs. Johnston considered. “\Yell,” she said at length. “ I can't deny that there are secret passa 105 in the place. There are in - all these old onscs. At Lord Plantagenet's l lace in Devonshire there were several. I . iad my first situation thi re, you know, sir, ' and" “ Yes, yes," I said; “ I know. But this one?” “ My late mistress knew them all," she replied, “ and I know that she used to wan- ' der about them now and then." “Ten to one. she’s hidden that confounded will in some of them!" I said. “\Ve may hunt for a mouth or a year and never find l “ Miss l’cnrosc used to spend a deal - of time in the Captain's rooms when he was l V! _ - ,abscnt, remarked the housekeeper, after a : pause. | “Did she? Tlicn perhaps she hid the Will . somewhere there." i “You see. Said Mrs. Johnson confiden- tially. “when my poor mistress was dying, she tried hard to tell us where she had put the will that you speak of. At least so we thought~Miss Stanley and myself. ltwas mentioned afterwards. and we were laughed q l i atâ€"â€"by the other side." 'labour, I leaned “The Inn and short of it is, ma‘am," I said rising mm the breakfast table, “I'm going to look for my slipper and Miss Pen- rose’s will.” “I hope you may find them,” said the housekee r. I hope so myself; and it was because I was so very much in earnest that I deter- mined to make the search a thorough one. I put my line of attack on a good basis. To begin with, I had gone to sleep on the previous night in a bedchamber supposed, in common with the rest of the house to be haunted. I was not in a very particularly nervous state of mind, nor had I drunk too much wine or smoked too many of the Captain’s cigais. I had dreamed dreams, or seen visions, or had a nightmare. I had wandered in my dreams through underground passages ; and when I dressedjn the morning, one of my slippers was gone. Ergo, somewhere in my dream the bounds of the unseen world had been broken in upon by the rude foot of reality, cased in a scarlet slipper. “There is a secret passage in this room, I said to Mrs. Johnson, as we stood in my bed chamber, “and we must find it.” “ Hurray l” I said there’s something here, ma’am. Come and see.” Mrs. Johnson came to my side and tapped the panelling. “ It certainly does sound hollow,” she said. “ But you see there‘s no knob, or any indication of a latch or anything, so I don’t see how we can get in.” “ There’s no indication of a door at all, for the matter of that. But as long as this is hollow, I’m going to see what lies behind, even if I have to fetch a carpenter.” “ It would be a pity to spoil the panel- ling,” she said. “If there is a passage, - there is sure to be a door and a spring to open it.” “ Then we must find it,” I said, beginning to feel amongst the curious knobs and pro- jections 0f the carving for anything which would prove an open sesame. \Ve worked on for quite an hour, exaiuin' ing every little angel’s wing, every little demon’s body, screwing, or trying to screw them about to see if they concealed springs or door handles; but all with success. At last, tired with the unwonted against the panel- ling and fairly grouned. “It's no good, I’m afraid. \Ve’ll have to try somewhere else, ma’ain. Tliisâ€"â€" Hillo l” There was a faint click behind me, and the wall seemed yield- ing to the weight of my back. I uttered a cry of joy as I saw a goodly portion of the l wainscoting turn slowly inwards, revealing a dark cavernous recess. Mrs. Johnson utters ed a little scream. “Here’s somethin , at anyrate,” I said triumphant] . “ stuck, ma’am â€" those candles ! Ho d a light.” She held the light up, and I went boldly in. I soon found that the place was a sort of closet, a few yards square, and evidently intended as a hidihgéplace in the old times. My feet slip ed over-something; I stooped, and picked t e object up. It was my red slipper ! \l'ell, to cut a long story short, I may as l well say that in that little box of a place we , found a small chest, in which the ancient Miss I’eiirose had deposited papers of immense value, not to speak of the missing will. The Captain got his rights, and he and Miss Stanley were soon afterwards married. I think it was on the morning of their wedding-day that I re- ceived an envelope containing a cheque for two thousand pounds. There was another wedding soon after, at which Alicia and I assisted, doing the principal parts. And Alicia’s mainina insists to this (lay that the Black Friar influenced my search for Miss Penrose’s will. [THE 151nm] SUMMER SMILES. The man you meet going down bill was at one time higher than you are. Quimby thinks that an ocean greyhound should be barkrigged. Even the patent labor-saving, self-bind- ing reaper goes against the grain this hot weather. A new play for next season is called “The Oath.” Without much doubt the hero is a teamster. “Charity begins at home” remarked the father as he gave away his daughter at the marriage altar. It is presumed that when a spirit gets to , the point of disregarding the summons of the medium it doesn’t care “a rap." Tomdikâ€"Tlie women of the present day can’t make such pies as our mothers did. McClanimyâ€"No, it’s alost tart. The great soda-water trust in the United States contemplated by an English syndi- cate has turned out a complete fizzle. \Vc suppose a beaming smile is one that is drawn from the wood. The man who keeps still when he hasn't anything to say is a public benefactor. Debtor : “I want to pay that little bill of yours.” Creditor : All right, my dear boy." Debtor : “But I can’t.” Mother: “What makes you look so sober after fishing all day 2” Johnny : “Because I caught nothing but pouts.” Book agent (returning) after having been fired down one flight, to irate broker) :“Bu now, joking aside, won‘t you take one copy ‘." ____â€"+..â€"_.___. Too Heavily L2ade l. Prisonerâ€"Yer Honor, would yo:1 be kind enough to discharge me. I want to g ) oti‘ into the country. Judgeâ€"I am afraid to discharge you Sullivan. You are too heavily loaded. Wanted Proof. Tommy (down in the street)»(), pa, put your head out of the window a minute. I’a (putting his head out of the window) â€"\\'hat is it. Tommy? Tommyâ€"Nothing, except I have got a bet with Johnny Jones that your bald place is bigger than his pa's bald place. Confirmed and Explained. “Why did you say she woes a designing woman ‘3" "."o she is. She belongs to the Decorative Art Society." Last Words. “What were Mctiinfy's last words 3" “I don‘t know. ‘Drop me a line,’ I guess." i the performance of “Macbeth” with the sol- ders clothed in the Austrain uniform. Late Forcgn News. A NEW BRITISH CRUISER. New Use for Electricity. BRAVERY AT SE. . Extraordinary Suigical Operation. The Paris dinner hour is now 8 o'clock. enlivened croquet. w... four y’fais, while thenuuibcr of resorts where "saki is sold has fallen off. Years ago the J aps were wont to drink 130,000,000 gallons ! of "saki" annually. A cheer is due the Dutchmen. When the Prinz Frederik mllided with the English. ship Marpessa on June '25, the commander ‘ of a detachment of Dutch colonial troo , which happened to be on board immediate y i ordered the assemblv sounded, and the men :fell in on the deck like clockwork, in the 1 face of certain loss of the ship. Their con- duct was an invaluable example to the passengers and crew, for although the entire company were then transferred to the boats Frederik went down as the last boat left her A new lawn game entitled “couare” is an i With perfect. quiet and despatch, the Print 1 The stage censor at Prague has forbidden The general manager of the Magazins du Louvre in Paris gets a salary of $30,000 a year, with a percentage on the profits. “Carnot, Organizer of Peace," is the title bestowed on the President of the republic by the French colonists settled in Mexico. The latest revelation is that France pays $400,000 out of the public funds to subsidize newspapers for the support of the Govern- ment. The A thenaeum has this advertisement : “ Writers of fiction (ladies especially) may be supplied with new materials of exciting and romantic character.” A gentleman who drew out his pipe for an after-dinner smoke in the Grand Hotel, Paris, was immediately told that the rules of the house did not allow pipes. The employees of the British Admiralty, “'ar Office, and Post Office have begun the formation of aunion of Government work- men, for strike or other purposes. The onl Jewish daily paper in the world is said to e the St. Peter-slimy Hamclitz, of which Mr. Zei'lerbaum is the editor. Diffi- cult as his task is he carries it on. Some practical but inartistic German has made up a compound of sugar and condensed )inilk and tea, from which a cup of tea , can be had by simply pouring on boiling water. H. M. T. Blenheim, just launched, will be ‘ the king of cruisers. She is of 9.000 tons displacement, 20,000 horse power, '2‘). knots speed for four hours, unnrinored, with steel 1 deck 6% inches thick, two ‘Z'Z-tou guns, and other small arms. A search light now costs about $10,000, and weighs 1,000 pounds. A new search i light weighing 130 pounds, of 4,000 candle : power, and said to be able to penetrate the ' thickest fog for the distance of one~eightli of a mile, costs less than $500. ' ! An amateur photographer has met with a serious accident. ’An enthusiastic artist, the ‘ head master of Harrington School, while I trying to photograph a rustic bridge from a ' n and was killed on the spot. A system of steuo-telcgrapliy has been shown to the Chamber of Deputies, invent- ed by M. Cassagncs, by which shorthand reports of speeches can be sent any distance as they come from the stenograplier. The I unparalleled. A; Neucndorf, Prussia, the lightning fired the gable end of a barn where a. pair of storks built their nest for years. The flames soon ‘ ing, but the mother stork, refusing toleave, i spread her wings over the young ones and. . ; and plays With a doll. | li the child has taken the place of the idiot. was burnt alive. The use of electricity is offered to the lion timer in the form of a light wand, with an insulating grip for the hand, connected by a flexible wire with a battery of which the power can be varied at will. An experiment with this form of applied science has been successfully made. In Brussels there is soon to be a meeting , of the “Giants of the North.” Malines, Duiikerque, and Douai will be represented. l I . Gagaut and I’apa Reuse and Jannekc and Mieke will meet and embrace each other in imperial fashion. It will be a great affair. lThe giants are the mythical founders of their towns. The Roumanians have completed the erec- tion of a statue at Jassy in honor of a journalist named Asaki, who was the first to bring out a newspaper in Moldavia, and i who also founded the first theatre and the first music school in Jassy. He was a civil . engineer, an architect, a painter, a mathe- ! matician, and a dramatic author. | John Hope, a well-known and rich gentle- man of l‘ldinburgh, liziscxecutcda trust deed conveying £84,459 to trustees of which he himself is one, for advancing the cause of total abstinence at home and abroad from liquor, tobacco, and opium, and for “dissem- inating a knowledge of the anti-Scriptural character of the Church of Rome.” The St. James} Gay/re makes the state- ment that there is a schism in the English ‘ church as to what one’s ghost is, one side holding that it has an existence of its own, , and can walk abroad as it likes, the other ‘: party thinking that it is begotten by the; relation between the minds of two living! personsâ€"that it is, in fact, a “cooperative i h-illucination.” A French company his been formed for the purpose of setting up a second Monte; Carlo on the Bosporus, at Scutari, which! will be paved, beautified, and electric light- 1 ed. The Sultan has always, in response to? di loniatic pressure, refused to allow gaming 3 ta )ICB at Constantinople, but there exists; hope that he will relent for the other side 0 5 the liosporus. Berlin has a stenograph with a uniquel l specialty. He attends all funerals of prom. ' ineut persons, and takes down verbatim the i addresses of the ofiiciatiiigclergyinen. Then i he repares highly ornamented copies of the l ad rcsses and sells them to the friends of: the culogized dead. His business is so good I that. he has taken one assistant and has ad- vertised for another. By the English law heirlooms are exempt from probate duty, so the Duke of I-lainil- ‘ ton paid nothing on the treasures of his pal- ace when he came into possession in 1503. ‘- llut when he sold them they ceased to be heirlooms, it a ipcars, and the Board of lii- ' land Revenue lids shocked his “race with a sudden demand for £l5‘,|)00, or 3 per cent. on the $000,101 realized from the Hamilton l'alace sale. A revolution is taking place in the drink- ing habits of the Japanese. The rice brandy called "saki.” which has long been their national leverage, is being supplanted by beer brewed after the Norman method. In Osaka the number of beer saloons has increas- . cd from thirteen to almost 000 in the last I consulerable height, fell to the rocks below i speed of this instrument is also said to be‘ caught the nest in which the brood scream- 1 side. She carried with her six Dutch pri- vates and an officer, who doubtless had been overwhelmed by the waters rushing in at the point of collision. In the vears 1879-1889 there were 2,759 duels in Italy, 2,489 of which were. fought. with swords, 179 with pistols, 90 with dag- gers, and l with revolveis. Fifty duels m~ sulted fatally, 1,060 in severe wounds, and 2,541 in mere scratches. Nine hundred and seventydonr duels were caused by newspn. par and literary quarrels. 730 by oral quar- rels, 359 by political differences, 133 by soc. ret dissensions, 278 by premeditated insults '29 by religious discussions, [9 by trouble at games, and 162 by unknown cansrs. The greatest number of duels was fought in Au~ gust, 3‘26, and the smallest number in Doc~ ember, 6'2. Ii11885,165 of the )riucipals were authors, 64 lawyers, 156 odicers, )4. Deputies, l4 profissors. and the rest bank~ ers, Judges, and one singer. The Reverend Spurgeon advances asome- what radical view in Sword and ’I'ron‘cl: “In the matter of faith healin health is set before us is if it were t in great. thing to be desired above all things. It is so?’ I ventured to say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health with the exception of sickness. Sick- ness has frequently been of more use to the saints of God than health. Ifsomc men that. I know of could only befuvorcd with a month of rheumatism, it would mellow them iuarvellously by God‘s grace. As- surcdly they need something better to preach than what they now give their people,_ and possibly they would learn it in tho- cliaiiiber of suffering. I would not wish any man a long time of sickness nml pain, but a. twist now and then one might almost ask for him. A sick wife, anew made grave, poverty, slander, sinking of spirit, mi rht. teach lessons nowhere else to bo learner so well. Trials drive us to the realities of rat ligion.” Probably the most extraordinary surgical operation on record is reported from Paris. Dr. Launelonguc, an eminent specialist in the Children’s Hospital, has just succeeded in the effect to give intelligence to a poor little idiot. The child, a little girl, 4 years. old, had a deformed head, only about onc~ third the size of an ordinary little one of her age. She never smiled, never took notice of' anything, and she could neither walk nor- stuud. The Doctor became convinced that; the condition of the little creature was duo to the abnormal iiarrowiicss of the head, which hindered the natural growth of the brain. About the middle of May last he made a lon r and narrow incision in the (en. tre of the hill“ and cut a portion out of the left'sidc of it, without injuring the (1117a maltr. The result of this operation was s iinctliing astounding. In less than a month ihe child began to walk. Now she smiles, iitercsts herself in everything around her, A tolerably bright A Railroad Under the Channel. Sir Edward Reed, the distin ruishcd English engineer, has devised a DTMI for running a. railroad under the English chan- nel which he believes has all of the merits of the tunnel without its defects. \Vliat ho proposes is to lay on the sea bed on proper supports two parallel tubes, similar in con- struction to the double bottom of a larva ship, the space between each of the doulilo coverings to be filled in for the most part; solid with Portland cement, which preserves iron and steel for along period. These tubes are to be sunk in sections of about 600 feet, and to have strength to withstand the tidal action. The bed of the channel is said tobo sufficiently smooth to admit of this construc. tion, which would rei uirc, in the opinion of Sir Edward, a period of five years’ time, I and involve an expenditure of about 375,-. l000,000. The merit from a national point. of view that the tube has over the tunnel is. Ithat, in case of war, a dynamite torpedo ‘ could be let down upon tlicsc tubes and en- tirely destroy them, so that there would ho. no danger of their use by aniiivadiugarmy, while in the opinion of their roposer the. submarine tubes would have al the merits in carrying two lines of railway track that; i would he possessed by a tunnel. Them 'in a possible defect, however, which does 1 not seem to have sug estcd itsslf to those in England who iave been com. nienting upon this plan, and this is the posaibility that the tube might be broken in the case of a railroad accident. If the train, through some defect in machin- ary, the breaking of a wheel or axlc, should rim off the track in a tunnel, the accident. might result in some damage to the passen- gers of a train, as a similar accident under ordinary conditions, though, in all probabil- ity, of a less serious character. llnt it is to be feared that an accident of this kind tak. ing lace in one of these pro )oscd tubes wou d lead to the rupture of the enclosing covering, its prompt filling with water, and the immediate death, not onl ' of those who happened to be on the wrcclicd train, but. those on any other train which was at that. time going in the same direction between England and France. Gross Bxagzerations. ()1'r.iw.\, Aug. 0. »â€"-A sensational inter~ view with a Mrs. Rigby, who claims to be the immigrant girls friend, is telegra lied l. here from New York. The attention 0 Mr. Lowe, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, was trmlny called to the dcspatcli. ” I am satis< glicd,” said he, “that Mrs. Rigby's state. menu: are gross exaggerations. The allega- tions in this article are more generalization and they do not contain n single specifica- rtion on which an enquiry or test could be made. The statement that the church of ~ England clergymen are luigued with benevo- lc; t societies to send out immoral girls in a libel and is not sustained by one specifo fact." Ill: would not say but that girl whose character was not as perfch as could be wished might have come to this country, but he knew of none who were new. from any criminal institution or who were in- carcerated after coming here.