268 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



September 



N«vith's Social Vagarieoc 



There has been a good deal of gossip 

 in the EngJish papers about the social 

 vagaries of the late Colonel North, the 

 "Nitrate King. " When he returned to 

 England with his millions, he bought a 

 great estate at Eltham and filled the 

 house with r.rticles of luxury and all the 

 modern appliances that riches can pro- 

 cure. His stables were full of thorough- 

 bred horses, he had well stocked dog 

 kennels, and his game preserves afford- 

 ed grand sport for hundreds of persons 

 jivery season. He used to go there on 

 Friday and stay until Monday, keeping 

 the place as crowded and as busy as a 

 summer hotel. Every night he dined at 

 the head of an immense table in the 

 company of men and women who were 

 invited there by such loose commands 

 as ' 'Come along and bring your friends, ' ' 

 or "Come down and bring some nice 

 people with you. " 



People in that part of Kent, or even 

 well dressed strangers driving that way 

 from London, Y\-ere in the habit of drop- 

 ping in to luncheon without an invita- 

 tion, and even without previous intro- 

 duction. It was only necessary to say, 

 "I am a friend of Lord So-and-so. " On 

 one occasion a member of that year's 

 Oxford crew was eating quietly at about 

 the middle of the long table, not daring 

 to speak to the pretty girl seated beside 

 him, when he was startled by the colo- 

 onel crying oiit from his end of the ta- 

 ble, "I say, young fellow, if you don't 

 kiss that girl next you I'll throw a 

 banana at you. " 



Clothes or No Clothes? 



A man who has been living among 

 the natives on the west coast of Japan 

 is advocating (he abolition of clothes. 

 All summer long he "moved in the 

 best society the place affords, " clad only 

 in a fuudoshi, a garment which it were 

 base flattery to call a sash. So garment- 

 ed, he was both perpetually dressed and 

 undressed, always ready for dinner or 

 for a stroll en the beach or for a swim 

 or to go to bed or to get up. The amount 

 of time saved is remarkable. In a year it 

 amounts to over two months. ' 'Think, ' ' 

 he exclaims, "how often we in America 

 lie abed too long because dressing is 

 such a bcrei' If we were already dressed, 

 we should arise and go about our busi- 



ness. But t.ressiug deters us — getting 

 into clothes and arranging them about 

 us in accoid;ince with the unreasoning 

 demands of the public until we stand 

 concealed in worrying 'tubes of cloth.' 

 We disturb ourselves too much also 

 when we go to bed. After an evening 

 in our restricting garments, we are nat- 

 urally much in need of repose, so we 

 start off for bed, thinking how sweet 

 will be the sleep that is upon us. But 

 we are in clothes which must be removed, 

 and the removing awakens us so thor- 

 oughly that the sleep we might have 

 had is banished for an hour longer. ' ' — 

 San Francisco Argona.ut. 



An Automatic Ima^e of Satan. 



There are many curiosities in Paris 

 which it is not given to everybody to 

 see. Thus in the old Cluny museum, on 

 the Boulevard Saint Michel, there is a 

 most realistic presentment of hissatanio 

 majesty inclosed in an artistically carved 

 case. The exterior of this article of fur- 

 niture, for such it is, is decorated with 

 a finely painted head of the Saviour, 

 but on touching a spring the picture re- 

 calling heaven is replaced by the figure 

 of the evil one. Satan is seen inside a 

 niche advancing with terrible grimaces, 

 while at the same time a sort of musical 

 box or small organ inside the case emits 

 tempestuous sounds. 



The figure of satan in the Musee 

 Cluny is only shown with the greatest 

 reluctance, as the conservators ordered 

 it to be kept hidden, owing to the fact 

 that on one occasion when it was being 

 exhibited to the public a lady fainted 

 away and nearly died of fright when 

 she savv' the devil advancing toward her. 



— Paris L etter. 



Eirds That Stole a Nest, 



Nature tells a tale of a pair of rooks, 

 evidently young birds, that strove in 

 vain to build a nest. The wind each 

 time blew the foundations down while 

 the rooks, which fly far for nest ma- 

 terials instead of taking those close at 

 hand, were away. At last, despairing 

 of building a home by legitimate means, 

 they fell upon a completed nest of an- 

 other pair vvhile the owners were absent, 

 tore it to pieces and built a nest founda- 

 tion that would stand in the wind. 

 Then they made a superstructure iu the 

 clumsy and inexperienced way that 

 Touns' bii'Us alvv'avs do. 



