... . THE following facts were obtained at first band and are wholly accurate and trustworthy. The story has no likeness to the numerous wonder tales which have no better foundation than gossip and imagination. The occurrence, should it prove to be true, was deemed of so great importance that a special messenger was detailed to visit the spot with instructions to inquire carefully and thoroughly ...

... . HERE is another extraordinary letter from your Cousin Ann, exclaimed the bride of Captain Arthur Forster, glanc ing up from the closely written missive she had just opened. xou know I would not say a word against any of your rela tions for the world, darling, but don't you think that Cousin Ann is just a wee bit. eccentric No, I certainly never thought that, laughed her husband. She is a ...

... FOLLOWING THE BARON. WELL, how will your system work now? What will win next year's Derby? It was Roland Myers who asked the above question; it was addressed to Jack Pointsford, and, as he was standing next to me, I overheard it. The Middle Park Plate of 1870 had just been run, and the winner's number-- Albert Victor-- was being hoisted. What was third? asked Pointsford. Hannah? Well then ...

... THE NEW BOUNDARY EIDER. A STORY OF AUSTRALIAN BUSH LIFE. By Mary Gaunt. IX. MARRIED. AND the next morning she set off for Acacia Greek. She wished she was not going, she wished she had not promised to go; but, having promised, she did not quite see how she was to get out of it. No reasonable excuse presented itself. She could not say to Tom she wanted to stay at home because Adrian Grant had ...

... . By Byron Webber. CHAPTER 11.-- [Concluded.) THE morning came, the chaise-- that is, the cab-- was brought, and I was presently en route to Waterloo to secure the first train down, The weather was dull and foggy. B d for roarers, thought I; but, as there was nothing the matter with the mare's pipes, I was not uneasy. I wondered if I should like my mount Almost the only horsey passenger ...

... MR. ANDREW O ROURKE'S RAMBLINGS. FLIGHT. Craven- street, Strand, London, Jan. 3, 1876. ME DEAR MIKE,-- 'Tis often them laist behoulden to advise that's most ready to give it, and 'tis often to them who can or will make laist use of it that 'tis given to. That may not be raison, but it's human nature, an human nature is above raison; for, Mike, there was human natur long before there was raison ...

... BAD .BOB; OE, -RUINED BY THE STAGE. A STOEY IN TWO PABTS. By Aethue a Beckett. PART I. I WAS certainly out of temper. It was a very wet night, and I had just visited a place that was ever my pet aversion. I had been behind the scenes to see an actor-manager. I had a piece in hand for this actor-manager, and during the waits in the performance I had been discussing some details in his part. ...

... A YACHTING AND SHOOTING TRIP TO ALBANIA. -IX. By Bagatelle [A. G. Ear/ot.) TOWARDS the afternoon it cleared up, and with a nice sailing breeze we started, having a quick passage till we got abreast of the gulf of Arta, where it blew so hard I had to heave to. About 3 a.m. it moderated a bit, and we let draw, though it was still blowing a whole gale. At 7 a.m. we passed a large steamer ...

... SOME PLEASANT PISHING QUARTERS. No. III.-- LLANTHONY ABBEY. [Concluded.) To illustrate this, I may mention that I have stayed in the abbey with other anglers who knew every bit of the river and all its peculiarities, and for several days we barely kept the break fast and dinner tables supplied with trout for home consumption, when a sudden change of weather altered the whole character of our ...

... Bv Bagatelle [A. G. Ingot.) III. THE following morning the well-known sound of bugle-calls woke us early. Perhaps the plural us is stretching a point, for I don't believe a broadside would have had any effect on J--; he had declared, before turning in the previous night, that he had been worn perfectly smooth, like a pebble, from rolling about, and that he would not show a leg till 10 A ...

... SOME RARE BRITISII ANIMALS. III.-- TIIE POLECAT Continued THE vermin of the preserve have, as a rule, a more or less fœtid odour attaching to them, but it is in the polecat-- Mustela fœtida, as the scientists have dubbed it-- that this objectionable peculiarity is most strongly developed. No member of the weasel-tribe, as we know them, can be esteemed particularly savoury, although many rural ...

... . BY MRS. G. W. GODFREY. Author of My Queen Unspotted from the World c. RUNNING, running along the sun-stricken dusty high road; running, running with little tender feet, in slender sandalled shoes pierced with cruel stones; with little bare, burning head, and small shapely tired limbs clad in ragged tawdry clothes, she knows not where-- running out of the miseries she knows, into those that ...