BUSINESS before pleasure is evidently not the motto of Judge Curran of the English county court. Among the grand jurors who failed to attend at the quarter sessions in King's County were an auctioneer and a master of foxhounds. The former got a solicitor to explain that he had fixed an important auction for that day; the latter sent word that he was away at a meet of the hounds. His honor fined the auctioneer. The sportsman's excuse was accepted as satisfactory. RECENT experiments have disclosed the fact that olive green is the best color for war vessels. White is the most easily distinguished by search light at night. In the daytime a drab-colored ship is with difficulty seen on the horizon. Olive-green harmonizes with the water, is as difficult as drab to see in the daytime, and much more invisible at night with the search light. This color was first used by the Brazilian navy in 1891, and would be used by the English navy in time of war.
THE most expensive book ever published in the world is the official history of the War of the Rebellion which is now being issued by the United States Government at a cost up to date of $2,300,000. Of this amount nearly one-half has been paid for printing and binding, the remainder to be accounted for in salaries, rent, stationery and miscellaneous expenses, including the purchase of records from private individuals. In all probability it will take three years to complete the work and an appropria tion of $500,000 more has been asked, making a. total cost of nearly three million dollars. The work will consist of a hundred and twelve volumes.
A SHIPBUILDING; firm of Copenhagen has recently completed for the Russian government the largest and most powerful ice-breaking steamer yet built, the Nadeshuy, which means " one to be depended upon." The engine was contracted to develop 3,000 horse power, but at the trial indicated 3,600 horse power, giving a speed of 14^ knots. The Nade shuy is built of }í in., Ji in. and i inch steel plates; the ribs are numerous and strong. Both sides and ends are much concaved. The rudder and propeller are placed so far under the vessel as to be fully pro tected. The engine occupies some % of the steamer. She has, in Copenhagen, with a speed of 3 knots, cut through firm 20-inch ice, and with stern foremost she went still faster through 27-inch ice. Nadeshuy successfully broke ice of i6-feet thickness consisting of accumulated flakes of over 2 feet thickness. Finally
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with several repeated runs she cut through an accumu lation of ice extending over a mile and measuring 22 feet in thickness. The Nadeshuy is to be sta tioned at Vladivostok, to keep that harbor free from ice; previously it has always been icebound for part of the year. ALTHOUGH the French and German governments may have each other chiefly in view in their naval augmentations, England is bound to take note of these menacing preparations. Happily the rivals seem to be toning down their maritime enthusiasm, and their program of construction has shrunk to quite modest proportions. Still there is a certain amount of increase in both cases. The German Kaiser will not easily give up his plan of making Germany as powerful on sea as she is already on land. France also is much stronger on the sea than she used to be, nor does Russia lag behind in this department of warlike preparation.
A GRACEFUL act of international courtesy on the part of the consistory court of London has drawn attention to the remarkable history of a manuscript volume which is essentially one of the most valuable heirlooms of the American nation. The Pilgrim Fathers who left their native land on board the Mayflower bequeathed to their children a detailed chronicle of all their doings, in the form of a manu script book, entitled " The Log of the Mayflower." It did not end with the voyage but was continued as a history of the first settlement of New Plymouth and of the general colonization work of the next twentyeight years. At the application of the American ambassador, the consistory court of London gave this book to the President of the United States.
IT maybe said without disrespect to M. Hanotaux, who has recently been elected to membership of the French Academy of Letters, that his services to literature are not to be mentioned in the same breath with those of M. Zola, whom the Academicians reject in his favor. Yet M. Zola's defeat was a foregone conclusion, and many of his admirers wonder why he continues so persistently to seek admission to a society which has so often rejected his name. This reason has been given by the novelist. He knocks at the Academy doors not only in his private capac ity but as the representative of a school. The important movement begun by Balzac and carried on by Flaubert, de Concourt and Emile Zola has ever been overlooked by the Academy; none of the great names which illuminate its history have been officially
