... Robert Burns's Hundred and Forty-First Birthday. THE SPHERE makes its first appearance almost exactly 141 years after Robert Burns saw the light in the two-roomed cottage which still stands in the village of Alloway about two miles from the prosperous Scottish country town of Ayr. Between the Britain of 1759 and the Britain of 1900 a great gulf seems to be fixed-- a gulf to which only Burns's ...

... RONUK, LIMITED, RONUK, LIMITED, RONUK SANITARY POLISH POLISHES, PRESERVES, and PURIFIES Floors, Linoleums, Rfarble, and all Furniture Special kinds for Glace and Brown Boots, and Brown and Black Harness. HIGHLY CONCENTRATED. USE LITTLE AND RUD LIGHTLY. In Tins, 3d., 6d., is., and 2s., Everywhere. 83, UPPER THAMES STREET, E.C. ...

... The Pope in his Ninety-first Year. A Letter from Rome. Rome, 22nd January, igoo. Not many months ago, when threatening war clouds had already begun to gather over the South African veldt, Leo XIII. breathed a fervent prayer that all the world might be at peace during the Jubilee which he was about to proclaim. Apart from the deeply Christian owing to his extreme old age, he had hardly dared to ...

... The Late Rev. James Martineau. From a portrait by A. E. BORN IN NORWICH, APRIL 1805. DIED IN LONDON, JANUARY 1900. ...

... WITH OUR SPECIAL ARTISTS AT THE WAR. The Difficulties a Scout. This picture illustrates the exciting adventure which befell four of Dr. Jameson's picked scouts near Chieveley Camp on January 4. Venturing too far they were cut off by a party of mounted Boers. The scouts made a bolt for it, and, after an exciting race, in which the Boers pressed them closely, they managed to elude their pursuers ...

... The Guns we are using against the Boers. THE 47-INCH QUICK-FIRING NAVAL GUN MOUNTED ON CAPTAIN PERCY SCOTT S INGENIOUS CARRIAGE. This is a naval gun mounted ou an improvised carriage of heavy baulks bolted together. The gun itself is a lone-ranee auick firry n,\ a i projectiles being shrapnel and common shell. The latter may be filled with powder, or the infinitely more powerful explosive ...

... /M f Ihe Sphere, januar* 27, 1900. SECOND EDITION. ^Ce 1. 1 THE SPHERE I -4JV ILLUSTRATED NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOME _ _ fREGISTERED AS A NEWSPAPER FOR TRANSMISSION Vol. 1, No. i. London, January 27, 1900. I in the united kingdom. Office: 6, Great New Street, London, B.C. ...

... The SANITAS Co., Ltd., 1 _ _ , ,.--f tT-. t Influenza, Lung Throat AFFECTIONS. The salubrious atmosphere 01 PINE Al\D EUCALYPTUS FORESTS can be perfectly secured at home (thus saving an expensive journey abroad) by using the SANITAS FUMIGATOR. SANITAS INHALERS, I/- and 2/6. SANITAS OIL (I and 4 Bottles) is the best possible inhalant, and is a power ful Germicide and Oxidant. SANITAS ...

... WITH OUR SPECIAL ARTISTS AT THE FRONT. and Magersfontein. LANCERS CROSSING THE MODDER RIVER AT SUNSET. hAUttlMILE SKETCH BY W. B. WOLLEN, R.I. HOW THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE MARCHED INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH AT MAGERSFONTEIN. FACSIMILE SKETCH BY W. B. WOLLEN, R.I. The Black Watch which was at the head of the attacking column, was in the act of deploying into line for attack, when all of a sudden (at 4 ...

... A Prisoner of Power. By E. W, Hornung. There were only six passengers by that coach, and they had seen more than enough of each other after a night and a day of it. The squatter nodded by the driver's seat, an ap parent hunchback, his long beard stretching to his stomach's pit. Almost every minute some inequality of the road would interrupt his slumbers, lift the beard a little, and ...

... At the Front a in the Front NOTE.-- TO THOSE WHO HAVE FRIENDS AT THE FRONT.-- BOXES CONTAINING ONE DOZEN TINS, BACKED AS SENT OUT FROM THE COMPANY'S WAREHOUSES, CAN BE PURCHASED OF ANY GROCER OR CHEMIST IN THE KINGDOM. ...

... DEAR MOLLY,-- Arma virumque cano. It is a pity that we cannot translate this as arms and the men, instead of arms and the man, for it would be a suitable national motto, as war is the only subject of interest; indeed, we resent every other topic. People are curiously ignorant of the provis'on made for the wives and children of our troops in South Africa. Knowing my inquisitive d ...