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. i, vrwa,»«.- 4.- (xi â€"â€" STORIES WITH A SHIVER to- gather, and the old great coat tingâ€" ed with green and the bowler hat THEY ARE MORE THAN QUEER that had played a conspicuous part the time when, we were young in our outdoor life in the country. Part of my youth, writes Forbes Phillips, vicar of Gorleston, was spent at Goole, a port on the River Ouse, in Yorkshire. A huge bridge spans the river, which continues the railway from Doncaster to Hull, and this structure is about two miles from'Goole. My father was in the revenue, and his duty took him out at all hours, day and night. An abâ€" sence, therefore, of twenty or thirty hours called for no remark in his COINCIDEN CES. Instances Related by Men and Women of Standing and Conceded Sanity. Queer coincidences are always -in- teresting and the London Psychic-I1 Society thinks that they are worth studying from a scientific point. of view. Hence the opportunity recentâ€" ly embraced by the London Daily Graphic to gather in from reliable ' . quarters a great number of curiosiâ€" family. . ‘ ties of Coincidence. The Graphic’s It was when I was fourteen years symposium includes all sorts of 00- 'of age that, what I am about to re- incidences, some supplied by persons late took place. I had been out in of high repute in literature and sciâ€" the country, came home late, and, ence. The appended specimens will being tired, I Went straight to bed. serve to indicate the character of I dreamt I saw my father on what the stories: Was called the Hook Bridge, to Mrs. Katherine Tynan, the Well- Which I have referred already. I l-nown novelist, sends the following: saw him advaming through a fog, and in front of him was ' A CLOUD OF STlilAM. I ran to meet him, and found that between him and myself was a gap caused by the removal of several plates between the rails; a cloud of steam from an engine blew up through the opening tO‘WhiCh my father was advancing, unconscious of the danger, and advancing to what looked like a certain death, for there was a drop inti the river of something like 80 feet, with a rushâ€" ing tide below. I awoke, v .ry much frightened, and immediately went to his room, only to find that fhe had not come home. No one in the house knew where he was. I dressed and went to the Custom house. it was in darkness. The junior officer in charge of the outdoor department of the customs was a man called Lockwood. I Went to his house and rang him up, told him my story, and insisted upon his dressing. He knew nothing of my father's whereabouts, This may be a coincidence. On the other hand, it may be a ghost story. It happened to one near and dear to me. It was in his college days,- and it was a long vacation, during which he had elected to stay in his college rooms and work. The rooms were at the top of the highest houses in the ancient foundation of ‘Quecn Elizabeth, T. C. D. There was not a soul in the house but himself, and the quads and buildings were full of echoing emptiness after nightfall. He was not nervous in the ordinary sense of the word, and did not ob~ ject to his solitude in this eyrie, alâ€" though an impressionable Celtic visiâ€" tor calling on him one afternoon rcâ€" marked that he would not occupy the rooms in the empty house in the empty college for a single night, no matter what inducements were of- fered to him to do it. It was a night or two later. The sole occuâ€" pant of No.â€"- awoke in the dark. He had been awakened by an unusual Sound at '3th 3' “meâ€"the Sound Of but on my expressing my determinaâ€" . .. . . . n ,. . . a root on 1115 Stm'b- H0 he‘lld th" 1.1011 to go to the bridge he said: foot ascend and pause outside his door. He sprang out of bed and FUMBLED FOR A LIGHT. By the time he had got it he heard the foot going downstairs again. He hurried to his door, opened it, and listened. All was silent as the grave in the empty house. He re- turned to bed mystified, and slept till morning. In the morning, as he made his own breakfast and thought of his mysterious visitor of the night before, he glanced toward the door and noticed something white half-way under the doorâ€"a visiting 'card. He picked it up. It was the card of a man he knewâ€"a college acquaintance, whom we shall call Roland White. In the corner of the card was written in pencil, “Just passing through." The mys- tery was not cleared. Why on earth should Roland White have called in the dead waste and middle of the night? He heard of him a, few days ago as enjoying himSelf, thoroughly, grouse shooting in the West. A day or two passed. As he came into colâ€" “Well, if you will go on this wild goose chase I suppose I had better go and look after you," or words to that effect. When We got on to the Hook Road there was a dense mist arising from the river. We made our way to the bridge, and we had not walked far before We heard steps coming in our direction. I ran forward, and there was before me the whole picture of my dream. A cloud of steam was coming through a wide opening in the bridge and my father was within twenty feet of it, coming to his doom, with his swinging, quick stride that I knew so Well. May I add I had never been on the bridge before. No one was allowod to cross save .the officials of the company and the officers of customs, who did so at their owu risk. There was never a doubt in my father’s mind that my appearance saved him. from'death, as it was impossible to see the opening because of the fog and the steam; and, never expecting part of the bridge to be taken up, he would have continued walking on love one afternoon he was sto -'d' . b5 one of the porters. “Very pggd throughout the length of the bridge. about poor Mr. White?” “Haven’t Some unknown influence cruised a picture of that bridge to appear in my mind, and, stranger still, to project in my mind also a situation of immediate danger while my father was some three or four miles tant from the scene, and we ask: ‘ ‘WAS IT CHAN CE?’ ' About ten years ago, writes a wo- man, my husband was in Africa, and we had parted in great sorrow and distress, for it was uncertain wheâ€" ther we should ever meet again, and we were greatly attached to one an- other. It has been our custon for some years previously to go to a “watch-night service" together on New Year's Eve. When the day of the year came round my thought naâ€" turally reverted to this, and I re- tired to res feeling intensely sad ‘9,an lonely, and longing for his pre- sence. Some hours afterâ€"I cannot fix the timeâ€"I suddenly awakened from something utterly different from an ordinary dreamâ€"as different from dreaming as dreaming is from waking, is the nearest description I can give. I was absolutely convinc~ ed that my husband had been there with me. I had seen him, spoken to him, felt his arms found me. Leagues of stormy ocean had been annihiâ€" lated somehow, that were rolling be- tween us, and of course, We were overjoyed to be together again. I said: "This does not look like being you heard, sir? It’s in the evening papers.” It was the familiar acciâ€" dent of the trigger of a gun catching in~a twig as the sportsman scramâ€" blcd through a fence. Shot in the head, Roland White had died within a few minutes of the accident. On a recent occasion, writes Mme. Sarah Grand, I was driving from Charing Cross to Dover street, and on the pavement in Piccadilly, strolâ€" ling along through the crowd with a detached air, I saw a kinsman of mine whom I had not met for some time. I was not surprised to see him, but what did strike me as odd was that he should be Wearing in London, in the height of the season, an overcoat green with age, and a bowler hat which he used to wear in the depths of the country in bad Weather. I tried to catch his at- tention as I passed, but he DID NOT LOOK MY W AY.. .A few days later I was .walking from Dover street with another kinsman, a cousin of mine, to have tea with him at his club in Pall Mall, and again I saw, quite close to me in Piccadilly, my young kinsâ€" man in the old overcoat and bowler hat. “Oh! there's L-â€"" I exclaim- ed; “I must speak to him,” and I ran on to overtake him; but he had disappeared in the crowd. My cou- sin, who had also seen him, remarkâ€" ed: “Well, I should certainly have {parted forever. “003 it?” 31111 I (10 said it was Lâ€",” “But it was [not remember all we said; but I Lâ€"," I protested. “Well, I should know he asked me: “Is this too ex- havc said to myself," he resumed Citing for you? Can you bear it?” dispassionately, but for three thing-S, and I answorcd, “Oh, no, no! Don't Lâ€" at the present moment is the fa- go back yet." On Waking I at ther of a family, a senior officer, Ionce made a pencil entry in a little and a middleâ€"aged man. That was book 0f tOXiJS that is always 011 my Lâ€" at eighteen." table, and I have it now. But the So it. was; but there is neither most curious Part is this: Next day. time nor space in the flush of vivid January lst, I wrote and told him recollection, and the impossibility of of this strange visit, and asked him seeing him again as he was when I had he dreamt anything of this sort knew him best had not struck me. that night. NOW. 1‘0 wrote to me That evening I Went home, and 011 January 3th. and 0111‘ letters there, to my surprise, I found await- crossed, asking me the same thing. ing me a letter from Lâ€"â€". It was lloth letters are now in my posses- the last thing I should have cxpect- sion. Naturally, they are of too inâ€" ed, so long had the correspondence timatc a nature for publication; but ceased. Some meddling women had I would show them to any accredited made mischief for purposes of their member of the Psychical Society if own, in consequence of which three considered of sufficient interest. As lives had been wrecked, and the long as my husband lived, and later, blame of it all had been ingeniously there seemed to be some occult link cast upon me. My kinsman had by We accident discovered the truth, and had written at once to express his Crap regret fpr ever having doubted me,- and 22.3.? he went on to recall or communication between us. were not Spiritualists in the ordinâ€" my sense of the word. nor what one would call very religious in every- day phrase, but we bo‘h thought the dis- ‘ foregoing experience was allowed by a kind Providence to comfort us in AN ENFORCED ABSENCE. I was on my way through with my daughter of July for a few weeks’ holiday, says another contributor, when she suggested that we should stay there a few days and see some of the theatres. We were not far from the Gaiety at the time, and on inquiry there we were told that all the seats had been booked for that evenâ€" ing. As we were leaving, however, two seats were sent in, Nos. 15 and 16, in the upper circle, which we gladly availed ourselves of. We then went on 'to the Prince of Wales, and were again told that tliepgood seats for Friday evening (the seventh) Were taken, but they suddenly dis- covered that Nos. 15 and 16 in the upper circle were available for that evening. We looked on this as a piece of great good luck, but thought it very odd that the seats Were in the same part of the house as the Gaicty, and the same bers. town in. the beginning, eighth,I and were again told that all the seats had been taken, but alâ€" most immediately afterward it was discovered that there were two seats in the upper circle to be had, Nos. 15 and 16; __..___+__.___.. THE NEW OCEAN QUEEN. The Steamship Amerikaâ€"Largest Steamship Afloat . The Amerika, the last new steamâ€" ship of the Hamburg-American Comâ€" pany, eclipses the record in the line of palatial steamships. There is no steamship on any other line that apâ€" proaches her in size, in fittings or in general magnificence. The North Ger- the same class as the Amerika. The consequence is that while steamships on other lines, even in the basy sea- son, have vacant space, those 0f Ger- man lines are always full and to over flowing. The Amerika arrived the other day at New York from Cherbourg, and covered a distance of 3,050 knots in 7 days, 17 hours 12 minutes. This of course, is not rapid time, because the Amerika is not a flyer. But alâ€" though there was rough weather most all the way and high head wind the vessel was very steady, and one would have supposed her to be sail- ing through some inland lake. This vessel has many prominent characteristics. She is really unsink- able owing to the large number of transverse bulkheads and system 0f waterâ€"tight doors. The doors are worked automatically, and are clos- ed by turning a handle from the bridge. There is great steadiness when in motion owing to'the huge displacement. of the ship, which is the largest afloat. There are sub- marine bell signals to give warning of approaching dangersâ€"wireless tel)â€" graphy as on other ships. Perfectly balanced engines, therefore no vibra- tion. Ventilation on a new system, \so that the air in all the rooms is automatically changed every few minutes. She has excellent promenâ€" ade decks, with special space for dancing. There are two fine prom- enade decks for the second-class pas- sengers, and also promenade (lcclrs for the third and fourth-class passen- gers. Telephones connecting all the staterooms with a central station, an information office, gymna- sium, electric elevators and a medical staff with nurses. An innovation on this vessel is the a la carte restaurant. This feature is so successful that the capacity of the kitchen has to be doubled. You can buy your ticket as formerly, includ- ing both meals and berth, or berth alone, and pay for what you eat at the restaurant. There are several decks in the steamer, each known by names, such as Kaiser, Washington, Roosevelt and Cleveland. Evidently the company desire to cater to the American crowd, which of course is their largâ€" est customer. The vessel has accommodation for 3,057 passengers and a crew of 520 Her displacement is 42,000 tens. She is 687 feet long, '74 feet 6 inches broad and 53 feet deep. She has a greater displacement than any other ship in the world. Her gross ton- nage is 23,000, and when loaded car- ries 16,000 tons of cargo, which if placed on freight cars would reach a distance of more than ten miles. ._.._¢ __...__.. HIGH TIME. Every one knows that nerves are delicate things, easily disturbed and diflicult to keep in order. Mr. Underâ€" foot, loyal husband that he was, had learned this lesson. “Yes, the doctor said Jenny ought to have a change of air, and she's gone to a kind of a restâ€"cure place for a while,” said Mr. Underfoot to one of his old friends, while his gaze was carefully fixed on the-distant landscape. “Tired out?" inquired the friend. “No,” said Mr. Underfoot, slowly, “she wasn’t tired out, for she hadn‘t done anything to tire her. But she was always kind of high-strung, and toward the last of it she got real nervous. One day I just happened to inquire what time 'dinner was to be,â€"f0r it had varied about two hours one way or another,â€"and she was making molasses gingerbread, and my asking that question upset her nervns agitliat she poured the batter right over me before I could move off. So next day she to the rest-cure." num- We then» tried our luck at the Gal‘- rick for Saturday evening (the man Lloyd boats, such as the Kaiser Wilhelm, are the only ones afloat n l i went 1 ‘ some of them with indignant parenzs GRElilAGREffi with HALCYON DAYS: OF ROMANTIC West of Carlisle. MAT CHE S . An Erstrrhile Carpenter Is Play- ing the Role of the Black- smith of Tradition. Gretna Green, the little Scotch' village just across the border from Cumberland, is witnessing a reviValI of the weddings which made it fam-l ous in the romantic days of yore, writes an Edinburgh correspondent. One Peter Dixon, a carpenter, 1s; playing the role of the blacksmith oil tradition, and so well does it pay him that he has abandoned his trade to devote himself exclusively to the tying of nuptial knots for couples who are in a hurry to get spliced. I found Dixon in a public house, the center of an admiring throng of villagers. He is a good type of the canny Scot of middle shrewd eyes, ironâ€"gray hair and mouth screened by a full board thatl some can well keep its owner’s own counâ€" sel. He was not at all averse to drinking at a stranger’s expense, but not even Scotch whisky, that most potent encourager of loquacity, could induce him to be communicativcl about his signular occupation. “I don't want anything published in the papers about my business,” ne| said. “But publicity would increase your â€"y0ur business,” I suggested. “It might,” he admitted, “but' it might, also increase competition and I don’t want any other folks getting up in the same line here. There ain’t any more in it than just keeps me going comfortably, and as I started it I think I’m entitledto all there is in it." The assembled nodded villagers their heads approvingly. “Are you a, minister?" I asked. “No I ain’t," he answered. “You don’t have to be a parson to man-y folk in Scotland. I can tie ’em to- minister in the land. If you are thinking of getting ,married, young man, just fetch along the girl and I’ll do the job for you. You'll fin'l it’ll cost you a lot more than I charge you to get it undone." UNDER S COTCH LAW :2. marriage can be celebrated where and at any hour of the day or night. for .. the ceremony in its simplest form consists in mere!y a 0011ple agreeing before witnesses to take each other for husband and wife. One of the contracting parties is IC- quired to have resided in Scotland for 21 days before the marriage, bu‘. it is doubtful if steps are taken '10 compel proof of this, though the en- actment was specially aimed at the runaway Gretna. Green matches. I judged from Dixon’s offer to marry me off hand that he does not bother himself about the matter. an ,‘J- istone bridge over the Sark, gether just as hard and fast as avtuousy fitted up. and guardians at their heels, is a dull"littlo place at the head of tho Solway Firth, about ten miles north- The railway dl‘oDé! its passengers there now, but in its palmy days of romance panting young couples sped furiously along the road through the fir plantations and over the dreary “debatable land" of hog and peat, in earlier days the scene of so many desperate encounters between Picts and Nor‘h- umbrians. The beginning of the end 0f the journey was the bridge over the broad English Esk, then came two level miles over the debatable land and finally the actual Scotch and English boundary, the little beyond which lay THE HAPPY HERE'AFTER. On occasions of great emergency it wasnecessary only to flog the labor- ing horses over this bridge and 10 make a dash for the little tollhouso on the other side, and if papa could age, with- be barricaded out while somebodyâ€"â€" no matter whoâ€"hurried through form of ceremonyâ€"no matter what so long as it was an agree- ment to marriage in the presence of witnessesâ€"all was well and the mar- riage held good in spite of the worst that papa could do. Until 1826 these marriages were mostly conducted at the little toll- house. Who first officiated seems to be. quite doubtful, and the only reas- on for supposing that a blacksmith had anything to do with it is the exâ€" istence of the tradition itself. The first marriage of which any record exists was conducted by K. John Paisley, a tobacconist. But there is 'a legend that Paisley himself was initiated by a Solway fisherman. At. one time there were four establish- ments in which these irregular cereâ€" monies were conducted. One John Linto, dissatisfied with this state of affairs, made a bold bid for a mon- oply of the swell portion of the matâ€" rimonial patronage by building Gretna Hall, a large square hotel with a special bridal chamber sumpâ€" In this apartment the proprietor officiated and his son after him until the runaway marriage business declined to such an extent that it ceased to be profitable. Peter Dixon will never succeed in making it anything like what it used to be. '~ +â€"-â€"-â€"- REBUILDING OF LONDON. Many Inartistic Structures Being Erected. Are Mr. E. Guy Dawber, the president of the British Architectural Associaâ€" tion, recently delivered an address to the members of the association on the rebuilding of London. There was a large attendance, and Mr. Dawber was warmly congratulated upon his election to the chair for the second term. He said the subject was especially appropriate, inasmuch as a large portion of London was be- ing rebuilt, and the public were forc- l‘ ascertained by inquiry in the vil- ed to notice what was proceeding on logo that in the course of the precedâ€" every side ing week he had married half a dozen: People were inclined to throw the blame for the condition of couples, but it is probable that most things upon the architects, but until of the loving swains were attracted the public was made to understand more by the romantic associations of the difference between good and bad the place and the unconventional form of marriage than by any neces-‘ sity for defeating the machinations of hostile relatives. Most of these mo- dern Gretna Green weddings take place at Dixon's own house, asmail tenement in the main street of the village, but those who want a little more style have the ceremony perâ€" formed at the Queen’s llead Hotel. Dixon keeps a marriage register which he declines to show anyone. Nor will he tell what his fees are. He is not giving away any one of the secrets of his “business.” It is just about half a century since the little Dumfrics village. of Gretna Green fell back into the naâ€" tive obscurity out of which a most singular fortune had temporarily lift» ed it, and from which it is now emerging. Up to the year 1751, there was no need for a couple of English lovers to be scampering off to Scotland to get married. Ever since the Reformation had repudiated the Council of Trent, and most of its doings, English practices in the my»â€" ter of marriages had been growing more and more lax and irregular. To put an end to the scandal the mar- riage act of 1754 was passed. It re- quired all persons EXCEPT J EWS AND QUAKERS to,get marriedâ€"if at allâ€"in a Church of England and according to the Church of England ritual. A great many people resented the new law, and as it did not apply to Scotland, the most obvious way to escape ii, was to flit across the border. But flight was not always easy. Num- erous stories were told of sensational chases, of broken down vehicles, of barricaded roads, and of the horses of pursuing carriages being shot to give gay Lotharios in front just time to get OVer the bridge into the land of liberty. When the names of great lords and ladies began to be mixed up with such romances, weddings at Gretna Green began to be almost as fashionable as are those at Saint George’s, Hanover Square. Fifty such marriages in the course of a month were by no means unus-l ual at one time. Among the earliest recorded marriages at Gretna Green was that of Richard Avnell Edg- worth who, in the course of his ec centric career married four wivesâ€"â€" one of them a deceased wife’s sisterâ€" and had nineteen children, among Maria Edgworth, the novelist. Then followed several lords, among when were Brougham, Eldon, Dundonald and Erskine, besides many scious :i noble and distinguished houses. The little Ilumfries village to which these infatuated folk made a dash, architecture, and urged the citizens to take a pride in the beautifying of their cities, the indiscriminate dis- figurement of the streets and thor~ oughfares would continue. Familiarity bred not only conn tempt but indifference. The monoton- ous rOWS of jerryâ€"built villas at sea- side resorts or on the outskirts of large cities. the pretentious and vul- gar houses at many country towns and villages the railway stations, the work houses, the factoriesâ€"all of these things were accepted as neces- sary eVils just the same as an inâ€" crease of rates and taxes. At the present time, however, work was being done in England, not only in architecture, but in painting and sculpture and the subsidiary arts which equalled and even surpassed that of other nations. It must be re- cognized, therefore, that the lack of appreciation of architecture in this country was due, not to apathy or indifference, but simply to a want of knowledge. On the Continent it was the custom for an architect to “sign' the buildings which. he had designed and erected, and he could not help thinking that if that were done in England it would tend to make arch- itects more careful of what they pro- duced. _______+______ LOSS OF LIFE AND MONEY. _â€" One Year’s Disasters on United States Railroads. According to figures furnished by the Unite-21' States Interstate Com- merce Commission, 537 passengers were killed and 10,040 injured, and 3,261 employes were killed and 115.15 4-26 injured on the railroads in the fiscal year. The total number of passengers killed in train accidents was 350; passengers injured in train accidents, (3,498. The total number of employcs killed in train accidents was 798; in. jured, 7,052. There were 187 pasâ€" sengers killed in other than train ac~ cidents, and 3,542 injured, and 2,- 403 cmployes killed in other than train accidents, and 38,374- injured: a grand total of all classes of 53? passengers killed and 10,010 injured, and 3,261 employcs killed and 45,- 246 injured. . This shows an increase of $1.17 pas sengers killed and 1,963 injured, and a decreaSe of 2,160 emplost injure-l. There were 6,224- collisions duriay. the year, with a money loss of 554:,- 849,054, and 5,371 dorailments, will; a money loss of $1,862,602; a, tot-"3.5 of 11,595 collisions and derailment-.15, and a total money loss of $3,711,55d being damage to cars, engines any} roadway.