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a Tady 'whose real Dame | do Wh hss a a oe _ you will kindly explain, b rhe "the circumatsnce. in sought your aid on wy i | fides '1 knew® absolutely nothing, |. As politely as 1 _could | told him I had no de with. by Suis man, bill. j no necessity. for your ald," 1 somewhat. blyp WThere- Yolee; "and Af o JOU Yourselt would, entiely: wasigy I RE 1 cried, in sudden enthusi- you mean {0 tell me solemn- L can perform a miracle?-- an restore my. sight to. me?' , sir" he 'dnswered quite you will undergo a small "open your eyes and look upon the His words were certainly startling to , shut qui so long from' all the pled- ures of life, 'This stranger promised new. existence, a world of light ,.0f dolor, and of all the " movement, i. | interests" which combine lo make life | worth ving: At first I was Inclined | to. scorn this treatment of his, Jet sodrier solemnly, had he uttered if, and with 'such an gir of confidence that I became hall convinced {hat he was more than 'd_mere quack, . . Fo "Your words arouse within me a new. interest," I said. "When do pose this operation?" "To-morrow, i you will." CS ewill it be painful?" "Not very--a slight twinge, thats RIL Xx TF remained again in doubt. He noticed you pro- 'my hesifation, and" urged me to sub- Son z . But my nalural caulion asserted it~] elf, and 1 fell disinclined to place my- elf in the hands of one whose bona this, "1 have been sent by the lady whom we both know as Edna. 'confidence in her desire 'Certainly I have." "She has already explained to me that you 'have promised toscarry out her wishes. It i6 at her urgent request that 1"have come 0 you withthe object of giving you- back your sight." - "She wishés me to submit to the ex: 'but 'he merely replied-- . ~ "Pardon me. It is mo experiment," 'hé said. "She desires you io' submit yourself to my {ireatment, "If you do, 1 have 'entive confidence that in a week oF so you. will seé¢ almost as well as 1 1 do. yo 1 hesitated. This stranger offered me me. | tbe one great desire of my life--the- de- - i sire of every - person who is afflicted with blindness--in" return. for a few mo- ments' pam. Edna had sent him, pre in| faced by the mysterious letter -si gned "Avel," It was her desire that 1 should &1 regain my ight: 1-was my desire 10 discover her and look. upon her face. 17% 1 find your name in the Medical +f Register: I will. undergo the operation,' 1 said at last. AY To Search wil be in. vain," he re- y WI There 1 1] very defuclantly promised: "Hating | the ai | bandages and bal | lution: of 'atropine. gain would be to my. distinct advantage. . fore, after further argument, to allow him to operate nme on the morrow. LT anawered. "I fell that your natupal-desire for the restoration of your sight would not allow your miner prejudices fo stand in the way. Shall we say at noon to-morrow " "Any hour will suit me," I answered briefly, with rather bad grace. - "Then let it he al noon. I'and my assistant will be here by eleven-thirty.' "I should prefer to come to your sur- gery," T said with the idea of obtaining some knowledge of the stranger's ad- 'dress, If T knew where he lived 1 could "easily find out his real name. "That is, unfortunately, impossible,' he answered blandly. "I .am staying at a hotel. I do mot practice in' London." -'He seemed to have an ingenious an- always upon the tip of his tongue. , after some further conversation, in. which he continually foiled any at- tempt 1.made to gain further knowledge of Edna or of himself, ie rose. and bade me adieu, promising to return on the morrow with the necessary instruments. ith. a rather unnecessary show of punctuality he. arrived next day, ac- companied by a younger, sad-voiced man, 'and after some claborate prepara- tions, the nature of which 1 guessed from my own medical knowledge, 1 sat in my big armchair, and placed myself entirely at his disposal. From the firsé 'moment that he approached me and ex- amined me prior to producing anesthe. sla of the part to be operated upon 1 knew that my prejudice had been hastily formed. 'He was no quack, but care ful, confident, and skilled, with a firm hand evidently used to such cases. Lo fully describe what followed can te of no Interest to any save medical men, {herefore suffice it to relate that the operation lasted about an hour, al- ler which my eyes were carefully band- a and my attendant and his assist- ant left. Slade called each day at noon, and carefully dressed my eyes, on each occasion expressing satisfaction at my progress, but always impressing upon me the absolute necessity for remaining with the blinds closely drawn, so that no ray of light should reach me. Dark- ness did mot trouble me, yet Parker found qt rather difficult to serve my 'meals Inthe gloom, and was very in- credulous regarding the mysterious doc- tors talgnts, She viewed the whole af- Tair just as I had once done, and, with- cul mincing wonls, denounced him as' » quack; who was merely runing up a Long bill for nothing. Like many old ocun women, she did not be- lieve in any doctoring save that of the usual homely remedies; and in her rural ignorance. declared {hat the whole me- dical profession were a sel of self-con- ceited rogues, . For nearly three weeks I lived with the Venetian blinds of my sitting-room al- ways down, and with a thick curtain drawn across them, shutting out all s | light, as well as a good deal of air, un- til the summer heat became stifling. Hour alter hour I sal alone, my hands idly in my lap, ever wondering what the success of this experiment would be. ,| Should I ever again see, after those grave. and distinct pronouncements of Fry and fhe rest, who had plainly told me that my sight was for ever destroy- €d? 1 dared mol fo hope, and only re- ragined inert and. Hul, congratu- mysel! that at least obeyed of 'my mysterious and un- spondent, under whose In- foolishly-placed mysell. had a0 athed my eyes [n a so 1 'Then, having made 1 careful examination, he went to the in: | window, drew aside the curtains, and pebghily opened the Venetian binds, "In an instant I dried alou for joy. My sight had been restored. The de- i 2 sire of my life was an accomplised fact.' | 1, could actusily see- op timed) | Married One of the Most Brillian Wo- Career. 'Mr. Herbert H. Asquith, who has ulled, by the King to succeed - Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman es Pre- faler of Great Britain, has 'heen char- aclerized by Sir Charles Dilke, assur- edly by no mean judge in such matters, {os the greatest Parliamentarian in the United, Kingdem. - No man in English publio life has a cclder manner or a kinder heart. He is wholly lacking in cordiality, nor has be any trace of that personal Thagnet- isin which some consider, and wrongly #0, as indispensable to a political lead- er; Bul he impresses one by his extra- ordinary lucidity of ulterance and of intellect. His absence of humor is fore than counterbalanced by his con- vincing cleverness, and he possesses in an allogether pre-eminent degree "that one virtue of all others which the Eng- lish speaking races value so highly in their public men, that is to say, safe- ness, There is no danger of his ever being carried away by emotion, of his deferring to mere sentinf@nt, or of speaking on the impulse of the moment. In' fact, no one credits him with any svth thing as impulse, in the sense of its 'subordination to cold logic and rea- son, and the hopes and expectations which were formed by his Iriends and acquaintances concerning him when he fcok to golf that it would inevitably re- sult in his learning fo swear, have not been realized. HIS BRILLIANT WIFE Probably it was just because of { peculiar characteristics that he was thle to secure the heart and hand of}. one of the most brilliant women in IL<ndon society, who is his antithesis in every respect, who is brimful of wit and of humor, rossessed of such mag- netism as to render men such as Ar- thur Ballour, Lord Tennyson, and Wil- Lam E. Gladstone her most devoted ed- nirers and subject to her sway, and who, known from one end of Europe te the other prior to her marriage as Miss Margot Tennant, is familiar to many people in America through her pertrayal as "Dodo" in the popular novel of that name which first made fhe literary reputation of its author, Edward Frederick Benson, younger son ol the late Archbishop of Canterbury. Miss "Jack" Tennant is understood to have rejected innumerable offers of marriage before astonishing not only her friends and acquaintances but li:ewisc the public through becoming the secand wife of Herbert Asquith, a self-made man in every sense of the word, without any special comeliness, birth, or fortune, and, moreover, handi- 'cap) "a matrimonial sense by a "timily of six children, issue of a former marriage. Ii is dificult to say whether it was tle glaring contradiction between their temperamenlal characteristics that first eltracted Margot Tennant to Herbert Asquith, 'or whether it was that, with ter clever feminine intuition, she pene- trated 'the qualities of heart that were concealed under his cold academic ex- terior, and , foresaw already, four- teen "years ago, that he was destined one ofthese days to become the Prime Minister of the British Empire. Whatever the cause of her attraction, it cannot be denied. that the union has turned "out a happy one in every re- spect, and that, while the wit, the humor, the amusing persiflage, and, above all, the great magnetism of Mrs. Asquith serve to counteract the chilli ness of manner of her husband and to allract those who might otherwise be repelled by -his icy reserve, he, on the other hand, has invested her with what nay. be described as an Intellectual ballast which she lacked as a young girl. HIS SCHOOLBOY DAYS. Herbert.Asquith is to-day 56 years of age and Js the son of a manufacturer |in a emall way at Morley, a little un- im, 'own in Yorkshire, His fa- ther was far from rich, and, destining tim 40 a commercial career, sent him to tha ¢ity" of London school, where he distinguished himself.as a scholar, but not as a schoolboy. That is to say, he showed no laste whatsoever for the sports and games of the Institution, made few friends, and when by senior- ity 'and pre-eminence in his studies he should 'have been chosen for the posi tion of captain of the school, was re: ped rejected by his fellow pupils lin the elections for thai office owing to_his unpopularity, He -off, however, all the school an Oxford university | ted , entering Baliol' -Col- | 80. many men of mark ted, became one of ils most Sone of the bright par- Dr. -Joweilt, sits famous .led | these he pays nothing, y from main point of 'attack was berlain. It was a pied i able atlack and a crushing indictment; not a word 100 much, and, withal, char- acterized by a. certain indefinite mod- esly." It.was the speech of his life and fulfilled all the expectations of the nd old man, who, on forming his binet, rewarded him by confiding to him the portfolfo. of Secretary of State for the Home Cepartment, . > AT THE HOME OFFICE. Though new lo office he proved a great success, and displayed not only much skill but also an altogether un- suspected amount of tact in dealing with the labor troubles, the Trafalgar square meetings, and the cab strikes, which had been keeping Lohdon on a ferment for a number of years. More- over, he inaugurated some remarkable and - effective: factory legisintion tend- ing to the improvement of the working ciosses, at the same time reorganizing the entire system of factory inspec- tion. "Indeed, his administration ol the Home Office remains on record as the most 'successful in evéry respect of any during the last 30 or 40 years. _ On the formation of the Adminis- \ration, by Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman, Asquith was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. As quith is Sir Henry's natural succes- scr, and, while there are plenty of men among the members of. his party who have no fondness for him personally, yet one and all are compelled to ad- -aliké to his Sovereign and to all factions of the Liberal camp. , {mit his superior qualifications for = rc qualificatons whch commend HIS OUTWARD APPEARANCE. Asquith is no} good-looking. His face has been justly described as hard and parchmenty; the face of one who might hove been fed upon the call binding of Blackstone or Coke, mingled with rogouts made up of blue books. His figure is stiff and stocky. Nor does he in:prove his appearance by the display of any care in dress. In fact, he is justly reputed as one of the shabbiest garbed men in Parliament--this, too, in sprite of the efforts of Mrs. Asquith to keep him well groomed. --- HEALTH DEPENDS ON PLAY. Proper Recreation Brings. Happiness and Long Life. Nature intended that we should first work to live, and then live to play,. People of this couniry have learned to work first, last, and all the time, and play is never given a recognized stand- ing in the regular course,of the aver- age life. So intent are we on work that we are gradually crowding play out of the life of the children, says A. S. Atkinson, M. D., in the May Design- er. We begin their education early, and crowd them into manhood before they havo passed through the period of full childhood. The children get the mania for success in life when they should be concerned chiefly with the playthings of the nursery or playground It is an arlificial system of forcing which makes her prematurely old and dissatisfied with life, so losing the art of playing that they can never find plea. sure in anything save work and high- pressure living. The question of whether we can af- ford to play is a serious one that should Le allowed no Ught answer. Unless we can afford to play we cannot long ocon- tinue as strong, robust mortals, with keen intellects and healthy bodies. The man wrapped up in his bustness or pro- fession so that he takes little interest in all outside malters is laying the seeds of destruction' which must soon come up to destroy him. The woman who tis herself down to household duties £0 that there is no end to them, no in- terval for relaxation, no rest for weary mind, nerves and muscles, must break down physically and nervously before she has pussed the normal span of life. If we cannot afford lo be sick and die prematurely we can afford the time lo play. Serpe MONARCH'S PRIVILEGES. Scarlet liveries in England are lhe King's exclusive privilege. In Abyssinia royalties alone may wear en earring in the left ear. In Persia none but the Shah is privi- Jeged fo drive white horses with scar- lel-dyed tail tips. ~ Only the German Emperor is permit to smoke a certain very fine Ha- vana cigar with a green and gold band. In Russia no one but the Czar may drive at full gallop on the public roads. The King of Siam chooses, once a year, the best stonés taken from the splendid Siamese sapphire mines. For a ar DL. 8 'a national ik is unla or any- bevy a kite. as high as: those of the r family ascend. 3 i best China' tea is: grown ou the Tea Mountains, a plantation' on riquin borders. rs. Under penalty off 'no Chinaman save one of royal | lo About the Farm . SEED OATS. Last year upwards of 2,700,000 acres were used in Ontario for the culliva- tion of oats, This area is three times as large as that used for any other cereal{ grows in the province. Af réturn of 40 bushels an acre would give a total yield| of 108,000,000 bushels. This could be| - largely increased by the use of better] seed. At-the Ontario Agriculture College} for the past five years some varieties of cats have yielded 102 bushels to the acre, while others have run as low as 56 bush-i els to the acre. The variety sown is not! {he main thing, however. The yield de-| pends to a large extent upon the quality ol-the seed itself. It would be possib not only lo increase the yield of oats [1% Ontario by several million bushels annu- ally, as well as greatly improve the qual+ ity of the crop by using betler seed. Every precaution should be observed: when selecting seed oats. Oats contain. ing barley, wheal, wild oats, or other foreign grain, should not be used for seeding purposes. Dirty seed means a dirty crop, and sced weak in vitality will result in an inferior harvest. Foreign material in the marketable product con-| siderably depreciates the value of the: oats when being offered for sale. There- fore we cannot lay too much stress upon the importance of using only the cleanest of seed oats. Heretofore we have been accustomed to' sow our oats upon our poorest fields. Think what it would mean lo us finan cially if we would place our best flgids at the disposal of our oat crop, for in| the long run oats are one of the m,,'sb} profitable crops the farmer can grow A large share of the surplus oat cp! i: exported. Large quantities are uscdi in the manufaclure of oat meal both for home consumption and export. The de- mand for this purpose is increasing, and| cculd be increased still more if farmers: would give closer attention to producing: oals of the highest quality. For oatmeal, purposes the crop must be clean and ofl the very best quality. ' THE FARM WORK HORSE. The spring season is a trying one on' farm work horses. Usually they are idle, during the winter, and should not be worked too hard al the commencement cf seeding. If before the spring work be- gins, horses have had a few weeks' train- ing in some light work they will render beller service and come through the seceding operations in better condition. Many colts are put to work for the first time in the flelds in the spring. These stould be handled with the greatest care. ! The initial work they do should be light, and increased as the colts become ac- customed to hard work. The value of a, colt may be decreased 50 per cent. by, injudicious treatment when put to work.' Tney cannot stand tne hard work of the troined horse. While it is advisable that the older horse be toned up to the work, it is infinitely more so tha. the colt should be so treated. Many an otherwisa good colt has been spoiled during two cr three weeks' hard work in the field! when the spring rush is on, by not being carefully treated. After the winter idleness horses' shoul- ders are more or less tender. Care should be taken that the collar fits prop- erly and js in clean condition. Especi- ally should the shoulders of the young horses be watched to prevent abrasions and soreness. A strong solution of white oak bark rubbed on, will harden them somewhat, and there will be less danger ol their becoming tender. Careful grooming, as well as careful feeding is necessary to keep horses in condition at this season. erm Mei ODD SOUTH A.{ERICAN ANIMALS. Ferocious Big Frogs--Huge Rats and a Toothless Curiosity. Many curious animals haunt the marshy parts of South America north of the pampas. Frogs big and ferocious (the, ceratophyrs) given lo making vicious, {spring when 'closely approached; the' capybara, a cavy "contented with the bulk of a sheep"; the huge coypu rat andi the swarthy piglike tapir are frequently seen. Along the forest margins troops of pec- caries are often mel with, occasionally {Le jaguar, sometimes the puma, likewise that {oothless curiosity the great ant bear, long in claw, long nosed and re-| markably long longued. Very plentiful teo are those "little knights in scaly ar- mor," the quaint, waddling armadilloes;' leng toed jacanas pave about upon the' 'ficating leaves. A familiar object is the great jabiru, a sterk with a preference for the desolate lugoons, where, it may often be observed slatuesque on one leg and wrapped. in prospection, - a : rr : Mother: "I am. sorry to hear-that Pom- my Smith dled a kettle to a poor. dog's tail. You wouldn't do such a thing, would - yo Bobby: - "No, indeed, ther." ier; *\v hy didn't you stop Robby: L'couldn't mother; Ig. FR that heal ascends?" Jil: 4 hotheaded