ON a railroad in Pennsylvania stand thirty-two Pullman palace-cars, closely guarded day and night by watchmen, whose only duty it is to see that no one interferes with the process of decay and despoliation which the elements have inaugu rated. The cars are the property of the Pennsyl vania Railroad Company, and represent an outlay of about four hundred thousand dollars. These handsome coaches have been dragged through the slow and tortuous processes of litigation for over five years. Both the Railroad and the Pull man Company have claims on the cars, and until a final decision is rendered in the courts these magnificent vehicles of travel by rail are left to rot and crumble in the open air. They will soon be unfit for any use except kindling-wood and old scrap-iron.— The Argonaut.
Ax a recent term of the Knox County (Indiana) circuit court the jury commissioners, in drawing a jury, selected one David L. Buck, of Bicknell; but when the sheriff went to notify him of his se lection, he discovered that Mr. Buck had been dead for several years. Not to be outdone, and having a little fun in view, the sheriff placed the papers in the hands of a country constable for service. The constable, somewhat verdant, has tened to the home of the late David L. Buck and, finding that he was dead, telegraphed to the sheriff for instructions, and Sheriff Orndorff wired back : " Do your duty." The constable then re paired to the cemetery where the body of David L. Buck was moldering in his tomb and, going to his grave, uncovered himself, and in the most solemn manner possible read aloud the subpoena summoning him as a juror. The affair was wit nessed by a small crowd of people who had been given an inkling, and they report that it was a novel, grewsome sight. The constable chose the early hours of evening for his task, and this made the spectacle more weird and uncanny.
SINCE 1881 the number of criminal cases in France has increased by 30,000, although practically the population has not increased at all. Especially has the number of murders and homi cides increased. Up to recent times Italy re ported the largest percentage of criminals of this kind, namely, from 250 to 300 each year. France
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has now the sad distinction of being in the lead, the average in late years being about 700. While Italy reported annually about 80 child murderers, France now averages 180. Taking all the data together, the criminality of France has just about doubled in the last fifty years. The saddest feature about this increase is the fact that it is proportionally greatest among tue youth of the country. The actual fact is that the number of criminals who are yet children or youths is twice as large as the number of adult criminals, although France has only about seven million children and youths and twenty million adults. In Paris more than one-half of the criminals arrested are less than twenty-one years of age. Prostitution among children is alarmingly on the increase. During the last ten years an average of 4,000 of such cases were brought to the attention of the author ities every year. In 1830 there were but five sui cides to every 100,000 inhabitants; in 1892 there were 24, and the rate is increasing. Suicides of children under sixteen were formerly unknown in France; now there are on an average 55 each year. And in 1875 there were 375 suicides be tween sixteen and twenty-one." —Revue des Deux Mondes. TORONTO, in Canada, has long been a rival of Scotch Edinburgh as a paradise of Sabbatarians. No Sunday newspapers are published there, and no street cars run on Sunday. The lack of local Sunday papers seems to be endured with proper stoicism, but there is a strong sentiment in favor of Sunday transportation, and a fight is going on now about it. If a majority of the voters de mand Sunday street cars they may have them, but it is understood to be rather unlikely that a majority favorable to them can be found. Advo cates of a change say that without cars people find it hard even to get to church, while poor peo ple who cannot afford carriage hire are unable to get to the cemeteries or into the suburbs for fresh air. Of course the prohibition of Sunday cars bears hardest on the poor, but it also causes an increased use of other vehicles so great as to involve about as much Sunday labor as if the cars were run. Among the opponents of Sunday street cars are people who see no objection to using their own private carriages on Sunday; but that is one of the customary inconsistencies of extreme Sab batarian convictions.
