Chapter V: Part 5

"History repeats itself. Fifty years ago English parties found themselves in the presence of difficulties similar to those by which they are confronted to-day. The general election of 1835 left O'Connell master of the situation, as the general election of 1885 leaves Mr. Parnell. Then England returned 212, Ireland 39, and Scotland 13 Tories, making a total of 364 members who were prepared to support the government of Sir Robert Peel. On the other side, England returned 99 Whigs, 189 Radicals and Independents; Scotland, 10 Whigs, 30 Radicals and Independents; Ireland, 22 Whigs, acting mainly with O'Connell, and 44 Repealers, acting directly under him; thus making a total altogether of 349 anti-Ministerialists. But between the members of the Opposition so formed there was no cohesion. O'Connell stood aside from Whigs, Tories and Radicals, awaiting the arrangement of the terms on which his alliance was to be secured. Of the 219 Radicals and Independents elected at the polls only 140 could be relied on to support a Whig administration, and the result was that, so far as England and Scotland were concerned, the Tories had a working majority of 15. Thus: Tories, 264; Whig-Radical Coalition, 249; Tory majority, 15; Irish in reserve, 66. Here was 'an extraordinary state of parties,' to use the language of the _Edinburgh Review_; 'an awful situation,' to adopt the phraseology of the _Times_. 'O'Connell would be real Prime Minister,' roared the Thunderer of Printing-House Square, if Whigs and Tories did not loyally unite to put him down. One thing, in the opinion of the _Times_, was clear--no English party ought to touch 'the Repeal rebel,' 'the unprincipled ruffian,' 'the demon of malignity and anarchy,' in whose hands the people of Ireland had been forced to place the destinies of their wretched country."

The above is from the _Dublin Freeman_. Catholic emancipation was then the burning question, and O'Connell triumphed. To-day the question is Legislative Independence for Ireland. Will it be a triumph? The struggle of desperation will not, we hope, have to answer.

* * * * *

With true orators success is won by the long-continued work which supplies the hard facts and telling truths for which eloquent words are but the vehicle. Powder, no doubt, is very useful in war; it makes the most noise, but it is the bullets and shells that silence the enemy.--_Rev. William Delaney, S. J._

JUVENILE DEPARTMENT.

THE DAISY AND THE FERN.

The day was hot, the sun shone out
And burned the little flowers,
Who earthward drooped their weary heads,
And longed for cooling showers.

One little daisy, hot and tired,
And scorching in the sun,
Had altered much, for fair was she
When the morning had begun.

"Come, put yourself beneath my shade!"
A graceful fern thus spake,
"For if you stay out there, dear flower,
You'll shrivel up and bake."

So daisy leaned towards the fern
And hid beneath her shade,
And on the fern's cool, mossy root
Her burning petals laid.

No sunlight fell on her, but, oh!
The poor fern had it all;
She drooped down low, and lower still,
Who once was straight and tall.

"Daisy," she said, "I'm dying fast,
My life is near its end,
My time with you is almost past,
So farewell, little friend."

Then daisy wept, her tears ran down
Upon the poor fern's root;
A thrill of fast returning life
Through the languid fern did shoot.

Full soon she grew quite fresh again,
No longer did she burn;
For little daisy's tears of love
Had saved the dying fern.

MAUD EGERTON HINE, a child of less than eight years old.

* * * * *

CHEMISTRY OF A HEN'S EGG.

Before proceeding to inquire into the interior composition of the egg, we will consider the exterior covering, or the shell--the physical and chemical structure of which is exceedingly interesting and wonderful. The white, fragile cortex called the shell, composed of mineral matter, is not the tight, compact covering which it appears to be; for it is everywhere perforated with a multitude of holes too small to be discerned by the naked eye, but which, with the aid of a microscope, are distinctly revealed. Under the microscope the shell appears like a sieve, or it more closely resembles the white perforated paper sold by stationers. Through these holes there is constant evaporation going on, so that an egg, from the day that it is dropped by the hen, to the moment when it is consumed, is losing weight and diminishing in volume. This process goes on much more rapidly in hot weather than in cold, and consequently perfect eggs are not so readily procured in summer as in winter. If, by any means, we stop this evaporating process, the egg remains sound and good for a great length of time. Covering the shell with an impervious coat of varnish, or with mutton suet or lard, aids greatly in their preservation. The substance used to stop transpiration must not be soluble in watery fluids, or liable to be removed. By chemical agencies, that is, by actually filling up the little holes in the shell by lime placed in solution (the solution holding the proper chemical substances to form an impervious coating of carbonate of lime over the entire surface), we have preserved eggs for months, and even years, in a sweet condition. Not long ago, eggs broken in a laboratory in Boston were found to be quite fresh, which, according to the memorandum made upon the vessel, were placed in the solution four years ago.

The shell of the egg is lined upon its interior everywhere with a very thin but pretty tough membrane, which, dividing at or very near the obtuse end, forms a small bag which is filled with air. In new-laid eggs this follicle appears very little, but it becomes larger when the egg is kept. In breaking an egg, this membrane is removed with the shell to which it adheres, and therefore is regarded a part of it, which it is not.

The shell proper is made up mostly of earthy materials, of which ninety-seven per cent is carbonate of lime. The remainder is composed of two per cent of animal matter and one of phosphate of lime and magnesia. Carbonate of lime is the same material of which our marble quarries and chalk beds are composed: it is lime, or oxide of calcium, combined with carbonic acid, and is a hard, insoluble mineral substance, which does not appear to form any portion of the food of fowls. Now, where does the hen procure this substance with which to form the shell? If we confine fowls in a room and feed them with any of the cereal grains, excluding all sand, dust or earthy matter, they will go on for a time and lay eggs, each one having a perfect shell made up of the same calcareous elements. Vanvuelin, the distinguished chemist, shut up a hen ten days and fed her exclusively upon oats, of which she consumed 7,474 grains in weight. During this time four eggs were laid, the shells of which weighed nearly 409 grains: of this amount 276 grains was carbonate of lime, 17-1/2 phosphate of lime, and 10 gluten. But there is only a little carbonate of lime in oats, and from whence could this 409 grains of the rocky material have been derived? The answer to this question opens up some of the most curious and wonderful facts connected with animal chemistry, and affords glimpses of many of the operations of organic life, which, to the common mind, seem in the highest degree paradoxical and perplexing. The body of a bird, like that of a man, is but a piece of chemical apparatus made capable of transforming hard and fixed substances into others of a very unlike nature. In oats there is contained phosphate of lime, with an abundance of silica; and the stomach and assimilating organs of the bird are made capable of decomposing or rending asunder the lime salts and forming with the silica a silicate of lime.

This new body is itself made to undergo decomposition, and the base is combined with carbonic acid, forming carbonate of lime. The carbonic acid is probably derived from the atmosphere, or more directly, perhaps, from the blood. These chemical changes among hard, inorganic bodies are certainly wonderful when we reflect that they are brought about in the delicate organs of a comparatively feeble bird, under the influence of animal heat and the vital forces. They embrace a series of decomposing and recomposing operations which it is difficult to imitate in the laboratory.

In the experiment to which allusion has been made, the amount of earthy material found in the eggs and the excrement of the hen exceeded that contained in the food she consumed. This seems paradoxical, and can only be explained upon the ground that birds as well as animals have the power, in times of exigency, of drawing upon their own bodies for material which is required to perform necessary functions.

The shell of an ordinary hen's egg weighs about one hundred and six grains, that is, the inorganic portion of it; and if a bird lays one hundred eggs in a year, she produces about twenty-two ounces of nearly pure carbonate of lime in that period of time, which would afford chalk enough to meet the wants of a farmer, or perhaps even of a house carpenter of moderate business, for a twelvemonth.

If a farmer has a flock of one hundred hens, they produce in egg shells, about one hundred and thirty-seven pounds of chalk annually; and yet not a pound of the substance, or perhaps not even an ounce, exists around the farm-house within the circuit of their feeding grounds. This is a source of lime production not usually recognized by farmers or hen fanciers, and it is by no means insignificant. The materials of the manufacture are found in the food consumed, and in the sand, pebble stones, brick-dust, bits of bones, etc., which hens and other birds are continually picking from the earth.

The instinct is keen for these apparently innutritious and refractory substances, and they are devoured with as eager a relish as the cereal grains or insects. If hens are confined to barns or outbuildings, it is obvious that the egg-producing machinery cannot be kept long in action, unless the materials for the shell are produced in ample abundance.

Within the shell the animal portion of the egg is found; which consists of a viscous, colorless liquid called albumen, or the _white_, and a yellow globular mass called the vitellus, or _yolk_. The white of the egg consists of two parts, each of which is enveloped in distinct membranes. The outer bag of albumen, next the shell, is quite a thin, watery body, while the next which invests the yolk, is heavy and thick. But few housekeepers who break eggs ever distinguish between the _two whites_, or know of their existence even.

Each has its appropriate office to fulfil during the process of incubation or hatching; and one acts in the mysterious process as important a part as the other. If we remove this glairy fluid from the shell and place it in a glass, and plunge into it a strip of reddened litmus paper, a blue tinge is immediately produced, which indicates the presence of an alkali. The alkali is soda in a free condition, and its presence is of the highest consequence, for without it the liquid would be _insoluble_. A portion of the white of an egg, when diluted with water, and a few drops of vinegar or acetic acid added to it, undergoes a rapid change. The liquid becomes cloudy and flocculent, and small bits of shreddy matter fall to the bottom of the vessel. This is pure albumen, made so by removing the soda held in combination by the use of the acid. A pinch of soda added to the solid precipitate redissolves it, and it is again liquid. There is another way by which the albumen is rendered solid: and that is by the application of heat. Eggs placed in boiling hot water pass from the soluble to the insoluble state quite rapidly, or, in other words, the albumen both of the white and yolk becomes "coagulated."

No contrast can be greater than that between a boiled and unboiled egg. Not only is it changed physically, but there is a change in chemical properties, and yet no chemist can tell in what the change consists. It is true, the water extracts a little alkali, and a trace of sulphide of sodium; but the abstraction of these bodies is hardly sufficient to account for the change in question.

The hardening of the albumen of egg by heat constitutes the cooking process, and this deserves a moment's consideration.

Great as is the physical difference between a fully cooked and an uncooked egg, it is no less remarkable in the degree of digestibility conferred upon it by the process. Uncooked, it passes by the most simple processes of assimilation from the digestive to the nutritive and circulatory organs, and is at once employed in nourishing or sustaining the bodily functions. Unduly cooked, the egg resists the action of the gastric juices for a long time, and becomes unsuited to the stomachs of the weak and dyspeptic. A raw or soft-boiled egg is of all varieties of food the most nourishing and concentrated; a hard-boiled egg is apt to trouble the digestion of the strong and healthful, and its nutrient properties are sensibly impaired. The yolk contains water and albumen, but associated with these is quite a large number of mineral and other substances which render it very complex in composition. The bright yellow color is due to a peculiar fat or oil, which is capable of reflecting the yellow rays of light, and this oil holds the sulphur and phosphorous which abound in the egg. If the yolk be removed and dried, and the yellow oil separated, it will be found to form two-thirds of the substance. The whole weight in its natural state is about three hundred grains, of which three-fifths is water; of the white more than three quarters is water.

The yolk and albumen of a fecundated egg remains as sweet and free from corruption during the whole time of incubation as it is in new-laid eggs, and there is but little loss of water; whereas an unfecundated egg passes rapidly into putrefactive decay and perishes.

Any one who eats three or four eggs at breakfast consumes that number of embryo chicks.

All the materials which enter into the legs, bones, feathers, bill, etc., of the new-born chick, exist in the egg, as nothing is derived from outside. The little creature which has just pecked its way out of its calcareous prison-house, has lime and phosphorus in his bones, sulphur in his feathers, iron, potash, soda and magnesia in his blood, all of which mineral constituents come from the egg, and are taken into the stomach when it is eaten as food.

The valuable or important salts are contained in the yolk, and hence this portion of the egg is the most useful in some forms of disease. A weakly person, in whom nerve force is deficient and the blood impoverished, may take the yolks of eggs with advantage. The iron phosphoric compounds are in a condition to be readily assimilated, and although homoeopathic in quantity, nevertheless exert a marked influence upon the system. The yolks of eggs, containing as they do less albumen, are not so injuriously affected by heat as the white, and a hard-boiled yolk may be usually eaten by invalids without inconvenience. The composition of a fresh egg, exclusive of the shell, may be presented as follows:

Water 74.0 parts.
Albumen 14.0 parts.
Oil or fat 10.5 parts.
Mineral Salts 1.5 parts.
------
100

The whole usually weighs about a thousand grains, of which the shell makes a tenth part.

The chick-making materials, exclusive of water, form only one-quarter of the weight of the liquid contents, or only about two hundred grains.

This seems to be a small beginning upon which to rear a full-grown rooster. The bulk or quantity as found in hens' eggs, and indeed in the eggs of all birds, is wonderfully disproportionate to the size of the mother bird. The laying of eggs must be regarded as a particularly exhausting process, and yet fowls will keep it up for a long time and not lose much in flesh. We have known a hen of the game variety which has laid twenty-two eggs in twenty-two consecutive days, and they average in weight one thousand grains each. This gives in amount twenty-two thousand grains, or rather more than three pounds avoirdupois, of which about two and a quarter pounds is water. The dozen or more ounces of rich, nutritive material, parted with in twenty-two days, would seem to be a prodigious draught upon the small physical structure of the bird, but there were no indications of exhaustion.

Whilst it is true that the quickening of an egg which results in the birth of a chick, is no more marvellous a process or result than the embryotic development of any creature endowed with the mysterious principle of life, yet there are some circumstances connected with it which make it a matter of greater perplexity and wonder. Here is an oval white body consisting of a calcareous shell, within which there are some semi-fluid substances, consisting mainly of albumen and water, without any signs of life. In fact, there is no life; it is simply a mass of dead, inanimate matter. Talk as much as we will about the germinal principles involved in the structure of the egg, we are totally unable to recognize it, or form any conception of its nature.

There is no evidence of the presence of any germ or principle of life whatever. The egg left to itself decays like other organized substances, but with our assistance in simply transferring it to a place where the temperature is in a certain uniform condition, in a few weeks, the albumen, water, oil and mineral salts are transferred into a living chick, which thrusts its little beak through the shell, and in ten minutes is running about, almost able to take care of itself.

Here is the development of life apparently without the agency of the mother, and what a marvel! The chemist may place together in a body in a warm place, just such elements or substances: he may carefully weigh the water, the albumen, the phosphotic compounds, the sulphur, the iron, soda, etc., and construct a very accurate egg mixture, but out of it all there will never come a living chick. In this, we obtain some idea how little we actually know about life, how dark is the region where the life principle begins, or where the vital forces originate. The indefatigable man of science has pushed his inquiries close up to the boundary between the inanimate and the animate; but he has never been able to obtain the least glimpse of anything upon the _life_ side of the line. However great maybe our curiosity, our skill or knowledge in this state of existence, there is not the least probability that we shall ever be able to endow matter with life, or know much more than we do at present of its origin or nature.

* * * * *

AUNTIE, to a little four-year-old who is resting his head on the table--"Ah, Louis, you are sleepy; you will have to go to bed." "Oh, no, auntie, I aren't sleepy; but my head is loose, so I laid it down here."

* * * * *

HE WAS ONLY A NEWSBOY.

It was a very small funeral procession that wended its way slowly from the King's County Hospital to the Holy Cross Cemetery at Flatbush, New York. There were no handsome carriages, no long string of hacks, only the hearse containing a small, plain coffin, followed by a solitary coach. But the mourning was just as sincere as at the largest and most imposing funeral. And it was not confined to the four boys who accompanied the body of their dearest friend to its last resting-place. A hundred hearts were touched by grief. A hundred faces were wet with tears.

"It's only a newsboy," said a policeman. True, only a newsboy, a waif from the streets of the great city. But no philanthropist was ever kinder, no friend more true, no soldier braver, than little Joe Flanigan. Every newsboy about the offices of New York's great journals knew and loved him. All owed him a debt of gratitude for the many good deeds he had done in his humble way.

Little Joe first appeared on the streets of New York two years ago. He was small and slight, with great brown eyes and pinched lips that always wore a smile. Where he came from nobody knew and few cared. His parents, he said, were dead and he had no friends. It was a hard life. Up at four o'clock in the morning after sleeping in a dry-goods' box or an alley, he worked steadily till late at night. He was misused at first. Big boys stole his papers, or crowded him out of a warm place at night, but he never complained. The tears would well up in his eyes, but were quickly brushed away and a new start bravely made. Such conduct won him friends, and after a little no other dared play tricks upon Little Joe. His friends he remembered and his enemies he forgave. Some days he had especially good luck. Kind-hearted people pitied the little fellow and bought papers whether they wanted them or not. But he was too generous to save money enough for even a night's lodging. Every boy who "got stuck" knew he was sure to get enough to buy a supper as long as Joe had a penny.

But the hard work and exposure began to tell on his weak constitution. He kept growing thinner and thinner, till there was scarcely an ounce of flesh on his little body. The skin of his face was drawn closer and closer, but the pleasant look never faded away. He was uncomplaining to the last. He awoke one morning after working hard selling "extras," to find himself too weak to move. He tried his best to get upon his feet, but it was a vain attempt. The vital force was gone.

"Where is Little Joe?" was the universal inquiry. Nobody had seen him since the previous night. Finally he was found in a secluded corner, and a good-natured hackman was persuaded to take him to the hospital in Flatbush, where he said he once lived. Every day one of the boys went to see him. One Saturday, a newsboy who had abused him at first and learned to love him afterward, found him sitting up in his cot, his little blue-veined hand stretched out upon the coverlet.

"I was afraid you wasn't coming, Jerry," he said, with some difficulty, "and I wanted to see you once more so much. I guess it will be the last time, Jerry, for I feel awful weak to-day. Now, Jerry, when I die I want you to be good for my sake. Tell the boys"--

But his message never was completed. Little Joe was dead. His sleep was calm and beautiful. The trouble and anxiety on his wan face had disappeared. But the expression was still there. Even in death he smiled.

It was sad news that Jerry bore back to his friends on that day. They feared the end was near and were waiting for him with anxious hearts. When they saw his tear-stained face they knew that Little Joe was dead. Not a word was said. They felt as if they were in the presence of death itself. Their hearts were too full to speak.

That night a hundred boys met in front of the City Hall. They felt that they must express their sense of loss in some way, but how they did not know. Finally, in accordance with the suggestion of one of the larger boys, they passed a resolution which read as follows:--

_Resolved_, That we all liked Little Joe, who was the best
newsboy in New York. Everybody is sorry he has died.

A collection was taken up to send delegates to the funeral, and the same hackman who bore little Joe to the hospital again kindly offered the use of his carriage. On the coffin was a plate, purchased by the boys, whose language was expressive from its very simplicity. This was the inscription:--

LITTLE JOE,
Aged 14.
The Best Newsboy in New York.
WE ALL LIKED HIM.

There were no services, but each boy sent a flower to be placed upon the coffin of his friend. After all, what did it matter that Little Joe was dead?

He was only a newsboy.

This is not a fancy sketch. Every word of the above story is true.

* * * * *

OFFICE BOY (to country editor): "A man was in while you were out, who said he was the genuine John Wilkes Booth."

Editor (hastily): "He's a fraud. You didn't give him anything did you?"

Office Boy: "No. He left a dollar for a six months' subscription."

Editor: "Well, well. And so John Wilkes Booth is still alive. It beats all."

* * * * *

AN UNWASHED PRINCE.

The Crown Prince of Prussia, was always a very sensible man in the management of his household, and he is ably seconded by his wife. On one occasion the governor of his children came to him and said:

"Your Highness, I must complain of the little Prince; he refuses to have his face washed in the morning."

"Does he?" answered the Crown Prince. "We'll remedy that. After this let him go unwashed."

"It shall be done," said the governor. Now the sentries have to salute every member of the royal family--children and all--whenever they pass. The day after, the little four-year-old Prince went out for a walk with his governor. As they passed a sentry-box where a grim soldier stood, the man stood rigid without presenting arms. The little Prince--accustomed to universal deference--looked displeased, but said nothing. Presently another sentry was passed. Neither did this one give a sign of recognition. The little Prince angrily spoke of it to his old governor, and they passed on. And when the walk was finished, and they had met many soldiers, who none of them saluted the Prince, the little fellow dashed in to his father exclaiming:

"Papa--papa--you must whip every man in your guards! They refuse to salute when I pass!"

"Ah! my son," said the Crown Prince, "they do rightly; for clean soldiers never salute a dirty little Prince." After that the boy took a shower bath every morning.

* * * * *

THE LEGEND OF THE WILLOW.

One day a golden-haired child, who lived where no trees or flowers grew, was gazing wistfully through the open gate of a beautiful park, when the gardener chanced to throw out an armful of dry cuttings. Among them the little girl discovered one with a tiny bud just starting.

"Perhaps it will grow," she whispered to herself, and, dreaming of wide, cool boughs and fluttering leaves, she carried it carefully home, and planted it in the darksome area. Day after day she watched and tended it, and when, by-and-by, another bud started, she knew that the slip had taken root.

Years passed, and the lowly home gave place to a pleasant mansion, and the narrow area widened into a spacious garden, where many a green tree threw its shadow. But for the golden-haired child now grown into a lovely maiden, the fairest and dearest of them all was the one she had so tenderly nourished. No other tree, she thought, cast such a cool, soft shade; in no other boughs did the birds sing so sweetly.

But while the tree lived and flourished, the young girl drooped and faded. Sweeter and sadder grew the light in her blue eyes, till by-and-by God's angel touched them with a dreamless sleep. Loving hands crowned the white brow with myrtle, and under the branches she had loved laid her tenderly to rest.

But from that hour, as if in sorrow for the one that had tended it, the stately tree began to droop. Lower and lower bent the sad branches, lower and lower, until they caressed the daisied mound that covered her form.

"See!" said her young companions, "the tree weeps for her who loved it." And they called it the Weeping Willow.

* * * * *

HOW TO BECOME PROSPEROUS.

Let every youth be taught some useful art and trained to industry and thrift. Let every young man lay aside and keep sacredly intact a certain portion of his earnings. Let every one set out with a determination to engage in business for himself as soon as he can. Begin in a small, safe way, and extend your business as experience will teach you is advantageous. Keep your own books and know constantly what you are earning and just where you stand. Do not marry until in receipt of a tolerably certain income, sufficient to live on comfortably. Let every man who is able buy a farm on which to bring up his sons. It is from the farm the best men are turned out, morally and intellectually. Bear in mind that your business cannot be permanently prosperous unless you share its advantages equally with your customers.

* * * * *

CHANGE THE SUBJECT.--"Always," said papa, as he drank his coffee and enjoyed his morning beefsteak--"always, children, change the subject when anything unpleasant has been said. It is both wise and polite."

That evening, on his return from business, he found his carnation-bed despoiled, and the tiny imprint of slippered feet silently bearing witness to the small thief.

"Mabel," he said to her, "did you pick my flowers?"

"Papa," said Mabel, "did you see a monkey in town?"

"Never mind that. Did you pick my flowers?"

"Papa, what did grandma send me?"

"Mabel, what do you mean? Did you pick my flowers? Answer me yes or no."

"Yes, papa, I did; but I fout I'd change the subject."

* * * * *

The noblest mind the best contentment has.

DONAHOE'S MAGAZINE

BOSTON, MARCH, 1886.

NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

ENLARGEMENT OF BOSTON COLLEGE. The increase in the number of students has been so great during the past year that the president, Rev. E. V. Boursaud, S. J., has concluded to add a new wing to the main building of the college, as there are not a sufficient number of class rooms to accommodate all. The foundation will be laid in the spring, and the wing which is to extend into what now comprises the college garden, will when completed contain a new chemical laboratory; accommodations for the English department, which will be conducted as usual under Professor Harkins, and an extension of Boston College hall.

RECONSECRATION OF ALTAR STONES.--The _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_ states that an indult has been granted by Leo XIII. to the Most Rev. Dr. McCormack, Bishop of Achonry, allowing him to consecrate at his convenience the altars of his diocese which may need reconsecration, and to use for this purpose the short form prescribed for the Bishop of St. Paul's, Minnesota, U. S. America. He is also privileged to delegate a priest to perform this ceremony.

* * * * *

Mr. Parnell said in the House of Commons that he had always believed that if the principle were admitted that Ireland was entitled to some form of self-government the settlement of details would not be found a formidable task, and that there would be no great difficulty in securing the empire against separation. He himself, although a Protestant, feared no danger to the minority in Ireland from the Catholics. The whole question was one of reasonable or exorbitant rents. He denied that the National League encouraged boycotting. The Nationalists members, he said, on seeing the manifest desire of England to weigh the Irish question calmly, had resolved that no extravagance of word or action on their part should mar the first fair chance Ireland ever had.

Neither Liberals nor Parnellites appearing to be inclined to challenge the government, Lord Randolph Churchill, secretary of state for India, wished the House to clearly understand, that it would be impossible for the present government ever to sanction an Irish Parliament. He added that the government would be prepared, when the proper time arrived, with a scheme to improve local government in Ireland.

* * * * *

Up to the present time the Canadian Militia Department has authorized the payment of a fraction over $4,000,000 on the expenses of the Northwest rebellion.

From the ancient Diocese of Clogher (Monaghan), established by St. Patrick, two patriot priests have come to America to solicit aid in building the Cathedral of Clogher. They are the Rev. Eugene McKenna, of Enniskillen, and the Rev. Eugene McMahon, of Carrickmacross. It is a notable fact that both are Presidents of the National League in their parishes. The Bishop of Clogher, Dr. Donnelly, has always been a patriot, and we trust that his missioners will receive a generous welcome here, especially from the people of Monaghan, Fermanagh, Louth, Tyrone and Donegal. Fathers McKenna and McMahon have received permission from Archbishop Williams to solicit subscriptions in the Archdiocese of Boston.

_Boston Herald_:--Mr. Gargan quoted for the benefit of England, in his speech at Halifax, the French saying, that "You can do almost anything with a bayonet except sit on it." The Republican administrations found the bayonet prop under the carpet bag governments impossible to maintain, and England cannot forever keep Ireland sitting on it.

THE CHARITY BALL.--The coming Charity Ball will be given on March 8, the Monday evening before Ash Wednesday. The success of the ball is dependent upon the noble exertions of friends. The large number of destitute children cared for by the Home has necessarily increased the expenses, and therefore the directors are anxious that the ball will be financially successful. It must be gratifying to know that the Home has been able to receive and care for over four hundred destitute children during the past year, and provided good homes for three hundred and ninety. All these children would have been compelled to seek refuge in the city or State pauper establishments and lost to the Church, were not the Home open to shelter and provide for them.

THE FRANCISCANS.--During its existence of six centuries, the Franciscan Order has given to the church 247 saints and beati, 1,500 martyrs (2,500 are found in the Menologia Franciscano), 13 Popes, 60 cardinals, 4,000 archbishops and bishops, 6,000 authors. At present 2,500 Franciscans are engaged in missionary work, and another thousand Capuchin Fathers may be added to the number, in all, 3,500.

LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.--The venerable founder of the Order of the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Rev. Auguste Le Poilleur, of the diocese of Rennes, France, has just celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. The order was founded by him at St. Servan in 1840; and to-day it possesses two hundred and ten houses in all parts of the world, with about 3,400 sisters, who devote themselves to the caring, feeding, and clothing of upwards of twenty-three thousand poor and helpless fellow-creatures. His Holiness the Pope has written a letter of congratulation to the pious founder. There are two foundations of the Little Sisters in Boston, one on Bunker Hill, the other, Boston Highlands.

JOHN SAVAGE.--Our old and venerated friend, John Savage, we regret to see, is dying, out in Paris, far away from the land he loved so well, and also from the home of his choice, the United States. The following letter (written by John P. Leonard, to the Dublin _Nation_ of December 26th), shows that his visit to Paris has not been as successful as his many friends and admirers would wish:--

_To the Editor of the Nation_: "Sir,--Mr. John Savage, our
patriotic countryman, who came to the Continent for his
health, was seized on Monday last with a paralytic stroke,
and has his right arm paralyzed. Mrs. Savage has been
untiring in her care of the patriot, who is attended daily by
the eminent physician, Dr. Ball, Professor of the Faculty of
Medicine, Paris, and also by his friend, the present writer.
Hopes are entertained of his recovery, and great regret is
expressed by all who know him here."

J. P. L.

Mr. Philip A. Nolan, General Secretary of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, writes: "Within a month we may expect the promulgation of the Decrees of the Baltimore Council, when it is the purpose of the Executive Council to inaugurate such a crusade in America that before long will sweep like the mighty armies of old across the entire continent and be felt in the remotest parishes." Mr. Nolan is an enthusiast in the cause of cold water, says _The Catholic Columbian_.

A Touching Custom prevails in many of the parishes of Normandy, where the adult male population are for the most part engaged in the vocation of fishing. When, as at certain seasons of the year, these poor fishermen are far away from their homes, and unable to assist at Mass on Sundays, each one's family has a candle burning in the church before the statue of Our Lady, Star of the Sea. These candles represent the husbands, sons, and fathers who at that moment are braving the terrors of the deep, and the flame of each burning offering is the hymn and prayer to Heaven on the part of the absent one.

_Catholic Columbian_:--It is something for us to be proud of that in this great State of Ohio, where we form so small a minority of the people, two of the members of the present Legislature chosen to receive its honors are Catholics and Irishmen. In the organization of the House, Hon. Daniel J. Ryan, of Scioto, was made President pro tem., and to the same position in the Senate Hon. John O'Neill, of Muskingum, was called by the voice of his party associates. May they both live to be Governors!

LITTLE COMPANY OF MARY.--During his recent visit to Rome the Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney made the acquaintance of the Rev. Mother-General of the Society of the Little Company of Mary, and also had numerous opportunities of witnessing the good done by the sisters in nursing the sick in their own homes; and his Eminence was so much impressed by their work, that he applied to the Superioress for some sisters to accompany him to Australia to carry on the work there, with the result that six sisters are now in the diocese of Sydney. The sisters have lost no time in commencing their good work, and they announce that they are now fully prepared to receive invitations to nurse the sick without distinction of creed, at their own residences in any part of the city or suburbs. It is the rule of the sisters to remain in constant charge of the patients in every kind of illness.

AMERICAN RENT PAYERS.--The _National Republican_, Washington, D. C., of January 5, makes the following uncomfortable statement: "The generally prevalent impression is that the farming of this country is really carried on by farmers, who, in great measure, are the owners of the farms they till. On the contrary, Mr. Thomas P. Gill, in the _North American Review_, points out that at the census of 1880 there were found to be 1,024,601 farms rented by tenants in the United States, and he claims that in the five years since this census was taken the number of tenant holdings has increased 25 per cent. raising the number of tenant holdings at present in the United States to 1,250,000. In England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales at the present day the total number of tenant farmers is 1,069,127. So the United States contains 250,000 more tenant farmers to-day than the three kingdoms and the principality together. These statements are not radiantly cheerful. Our country is being Europeanized at an uncomfortably rapid rate."

THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. Archbishops, 12; bishops, 62; priests, 7,296; ecclesiastical students, 1,621, of which the largest number, 335, belong to the archdiocese of Milwaukee; churches, 6,755; chapels, 1,071; stations, 1,733; diocesan seminaries and houses of study for regulars, 36; colleges, 85; Baltimore having the largest number, 8; academies, 618; New York having the largest number, 34; parochial schools, 2,621, attended by 492,949 pupils; charitable institutions, 449.

GOOD FOR AN M. P.--The trustees of the fund subscribed to indemnify William O'Brien, M. P., editor of Dublin _United Ireland_, against the losses he sustained in the famous Bolton, French and Cornwall libel suits, have published a balance sheet, which shows that the total amount of the subscriptions received was L7,619. Of this L6,495 odd was expended directly in litigation, and L98 went for miscellaneous expenses and advertising. The balance of L1,025 was handed over by Mr. O'Brien, for distribution among the poor of Mallow.

His Holiness the Pope has conferred on Prince Bismarck the ancient Portuguese Order of Christ, which was founded by King Denis of Portugal in 1317, and adopted by King John XXII. three years later. The decoration, which is only conferred upon the most distinguished and exalted persons, was accompanied by an autograph letter from his Holiness.

Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, who, as a Conservative Catholic contested North Camberwell at the recent Parliamentary election, in a forcible letter to the _London Times_ gives his views on the Irish question. He holds that there is no middle course now between Home Rule and martial law, between Mr. Parnell Prime Minister at Dublin and Mr. Parnell a traitor in the tower. And how long, he asks, would the country support a policy of blood and iron? Would even the Whigs go through with it for two sessions? I say no. One party or other would rebel, and we should in the end be forced to give in shame what we could now give in honor.

CHURCH FREED OF DEBT.--The congregation of St. Ann's Church, Gloucester, Mass., was informed by the priest in charge, the Rev. J. J. Healy, that the church is now free of all indebtedness. The building was completed in 1876 with the exception of the spire, which was added during the summer of 1884. The church is built of granite, with a seating capacity of about one thousand, and is valued at $100,000. The church will be consecrated in July.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN BOSTON.--The Irish societies of Boston held a meeting to decide the manner in which St. Patrick's Day should be celebrated in this city. Fourteen societies, represented by sixty-two delegates, were in attendance. President Edward Riley presided. The motion made at a previous meeting to invite Dr. Croke, Archbishop of Cashel, to lecture, in preference to having a street parade, was adopted by a vote of thirty-eight to six, and the convention adjoined, subject to the call of officers. Most Rev. Dr. Croke sent a despatch saying it was impossible for him to accept the invitation.

HOME.--The annual meeting of the directors of the Home for Destitute Catholic Children on Harrison Av., was held on the evening of the 14th of January. During the past year 414 children were admitted into the Home. Three died, two absconded, 401 were placed in families, and 186 boys and girls remain in the Home. Since the Home was organized it has received and provided for the large number of 6,364 poor children. The officers of the corporation elected for the present year are: John B. O'Brien, President; Charles F. Donnelly, Vice-President; P. F. Sullivan, Treasurer; James Havey, Secretary; James W. Dunphy, John W. McDonald, and John Miller, Executive Committee.

ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN.--A writer in a household periodical recommends washing dishes as the best thing to put the hands in the soft and pliable condition most favorable to piano practice. Mothers should give this recipe a good long trial on their girls who assault the keyboard, but shun the dish pan.

_Lake Shore Visitor_: Ambition, as it is now understood, is not made of very stern stuff. There are men regarded as ambitious, who are puffed up with vanity, and who look upon themselves as very important. Death would make such men an irreparable loss to themselves, but not much of a loss to any one or anything else.

A YEAR OF JUBILEE.--We give elsewhere the Encyclical of Our Holy Father the Pope, proclaiming an Extraordinary Jubilee. The translation is made by Rev. Dr. Mahar, for the _Catholic Universe_, Cleveland, O.

March is the month of St. Patrick. On the 17th, the children of Ireland, wherever located, celebrate the day. Their hearts revert back to the dear old land of their birth and the happy days of their childhood.

"The lilies and roses abandon the plain;
Tho' the summer's gone by, yet the shamrock remains,
Like a friend in misfortune, it blooms o'er the snow;
Oh, my heart's in old Ireland wherever I go."

Hon. John Finnerty in a recent utterance said, after he had read the Queen's speech, "The Irish people must make up their minds to meet the English with a courage displayed by the American colonists in dealing with the Queen's grandfather, George the Third. The Queen of England has a personal grudge against Ireland because Dublin refused a site for the statue of her husband, who once said of the Irish that they ought to live on grass."

The first Hungarian Catholic church erected in America was recently dedicated at Hazleton, Pa., by the Rt. Rev. Bishop O'Hara, of Scranton, same State.

GRAND ARMY RECORD.--This is the name of an eight-page paper issued by Thomas Keefe, at 31 Cornhill, Boston. As its name indicates, it is devoted to the interests of the Grand Army of the Republic, all soldiers and sailors of the late war, sons of veterans and the women's relief corps. The price is only $1 a year.

NEWLY ARRIVED EMIGRANTS.--The Rev. John J. Riordan's efforts at forming a home, employment, and inquiry bureau, to benefit friendless and poor Irish immigrant girls and women, have met with wonderful success. Matron Boyle moved from 7 Broadway, where the Mission of the Rosary was started less than two years ago, to the home at 7 State Street, New York, purchased for $75,000 by Father Riordan. This property consists of a building and lot facing the Battery. On it Father Riordan expects eventually to erect a chapel, mission and home. The money thus far raised has come from 25-cent annual subscriptions.

John Kelly, the politician, is seriously ill at his residence in New York.

Oliver Wendell Holmes attributes his years and good health to an early morning walk or horseback ride before breakfast. He was naturally of a delicate constitution, and when he married Doctor Jackson's daughter the father-in-law said to him: "If you have the necessary physique to stand horseback riding, do it: if not, take an early walk each day." He scrupulously followed the advice.

Lord Erskine, while going circuit, was asked by the landlord of his hotel how he slept. He replied dogmatically: "Union is strength, a fact of which some of your inmates appear to be unaware; for had they been unanimous last night they could easily have pushed me out of bed."--"Fleas?" the landlord exclaimed, affecting great astonishment. "I was not aware that I had a single flea in my house."--"I don't believe you have," retorted his lordship, "they are all married, I think, and have uncommonly large families."

JUBILEE YEAR.--See Encyclical of our Holy Father the Pope. Let every Catholic in the land peruse it.

The Boards of Guardians throughout Ireland have resolutely set themselves to the task of erecting laborers' cottages under the Laborers Act. Here and there some of the landlords are obstructing the performance of this good work, especially by resisting the extension of taxation for the purpose over the unions at large. But the days of the landlord's power on boards of guardians are very nearly at an end, and they are fast retreating before the determined attitude of the national guardians and the laborers, who are strenuously supported by the organized public opinion of the country as expressed through the various branches of the National League.

Farmers in Wales are now demanding a permanent reduction of twenty-five per cent. in rents, fixity of tenure and compensation for making improvements on their holdings. This is considerably in advance of what the Irish farmers asked when they began their Land League movement; yet they were denounced as plunderers by English writers who now say the Welsh must get what they claim.

HELP THE PRISONERS.--Father Kehoe of St. Joseph's Cathedral, Columbus, Ohio, who has charge of the Ohio State Penitentiary, appeals through the _Columbian_ to those blessed with the means to send him some assistance, be it ever so trifling, towards securing a better provision for the religious interests of the Catholic prisoners in that institution. There is surely no better way in which people can show proofs of their benevolence in a good work, and none in which their charity is sure of being more fruitfully exercised. The demands are more than ordinarily urgent just now, and the Chaplain appeals with confidence to the people and to Catholic publishers for their practical sympathy. He has the consent and authorization of the Right Rev. Bishop of the diocese to this course of procedure. Good books on any subject, pamphlets, magazines, papers, etc., would be welcome additions to the Catholic Prisoners' Library, which has been already established by the zeal of former chaplains and by the generosity of subscribers. At present the particular need is for prayer books or for funds that will enable Father Kehoe to purchase a sufficient supply of these and other religious articles. Donations of beads, scapulars, etc., would be most thankfully received.

The new boot and shoe store of Brennan & Co., 21 Tremont Street, and 851 Washington Street, Boston, announce a mark-down sale that merits attention. For one month, they offer to sell all goods at 20 per cent. discount from market rates. As the goods are of recent manufacture, and therefore stylish and new, the sale is a _bona-fide_ one, and one where bargains may be looked for.

OUR MAGAZINE.--Baltimore _Catholic Mirror_: DONAHOE'S MAGAZINE (Boston) has occupied a field exclusive to itself from the start--it is the popular magazine for the Catholic masses. It is not like those flimsy ventures which, under the title of "popular," get the people's money without giving them adequate returns. On the contrary, it is ample in scope, and its well-stored pages are carefully selected by its veteran editor. The leading article in its January issue is that on Cardinal McCloskey, by John Gilmary Shea.

A Belfast paper says: "As regards opposition from the minority in Ulster, it will soon subside. An Irish Parliament, once established, will have no warmer supporters than Protestants of the North." The Orangemen are but a small fraction of the Protestants of that part of Ireland.

A BAD OUTLOOK.--At the present time there are in London about one hundred and fifty thousand persons in want and penury. There are nearly forty thousand men out of employment, and some ten thousand persons are sunk so low, physically and mentally, that many of them are in dire necessity, and were it not for the timely aid of the charitable, their hard fate would soon increase the number of those who die from starvation in the streets of the richest city in the world.

SMOTHERING CHILDREN.--In a recent inquest in London a physician testified that the practice to which young mothers are addicted, of lying over their infants at night, caused the death of about five hundred children a year in London alone.

MUNSTER BANK.--Two of the directors of the late "Munster," have appeared in the Bankruptcy Court:--William Shaw, whose indebtedness to the bank is stated to amount to over L129,000; and Nicholas Dan Murphy, indebted in the sum of over L24,000. A manager, other than Mr. Farquharson, who, by the way, is _not_ dead, will probably find himself in the hands of the liquidators before long.

TOBACCO.--The "paternal" government of Ireland prohibits the raising of tobacco. Mr. Thomas Power O'Connor, Nationalist Member for Liverpool, gave notice that he would introduce a bill to repeal the prohibition of the cultivation of tobacco in Ireland.

Father Burke was often heard to say that he could never speak at home as in America. "I never knew what freedom was," he declared, "until I set foot on the emancipated soil of Columbia. Then I said, 'I am a free man, and I will speak my soul.'"

President Cleveland has signed the Presidential Succession bill. The law now lodges the presidential succession in the cabinet, and puts seven men in the line of eligibility for the place. It so happens that all of the present cabinet are Americans by birth, and over thirty-five years of age.

The returns from the late ball of the Charitable Irish Society is estimated to be about $800. At this rate it will take a long time to build that hall.

The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster has written to Rome in favor of the canonization of Joan of Arc.