The Kansas State superintendent of schools has discovered that thousands of dollars belonging to the State school funds are annually squandered by the scattering residents of the plains of western Kansas. A striking instance of this is the case of W. H. Freeman, whose family are the only residents of a school district in Logan County. His wife, his son, and himself annually elect themselves members of the school board, vote a six-months' school at thirty dollars a month, and employ the daughter as teacher, her brother being the only scholar. Thousands of dollars are annually wasted in this way.
A Canadian dog story in the " London Specta tor," tells of a little cocker-spaniel dog which was accidentally left by its mistress at a house she visited about a mile from her home. He could not be made to go away till he was taken to the telephone, and the trumpet was applied to his ear. Then his mis tress called from her house, "Come home at once, Paddy." Immediately he wriggled out of the boy's arms, rushed at the door, barking to get out, and shortly afterward arrived panting at the rectory. The same paper also gives the story of another, a little fox terrier, which, when the family are from home, goes to stay with one of the workmen, three miles away. When the people return, they send word to the mill directing that " Donovan" be told of it. He invariably arrives in the afternoon. He is quite happy and contented at the workmans till he is told of the return of his master and mistress, but after that nothing will keep him from the house.
In a book recently brought to light, " De Naturis Rerum," or " Concerning the Nature of Things," by one Neckham, who was some time in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century a professor in the University of Paris, the game of chess is treated entirely as a military diversion. The actions of the several pieces are compared to the military deeds of the heroes of old or to strategetical devices in war. There are other evidences that it was played in Europe ordi narily or chiefly by soldiers. Among them is the presence of the chess rook (castle) in the coats of arms of twenty-six English families. It was discour aged by ecclesiastics about Neckham's time as a vanity and source of quarrels. One council, in fact, went so far as to order clerks excommunicated who indulged in it. For the same reasons John Huss is said to have deplored that he ever learned it. Neckham's account of the game includes a story of Louis the Fat, of France, who, when fleeing from Henry I, of England, killed a soldier who had caught his horse by the reins, saying that the king could never be taken, even in chess; and tells of several sanguinary
feuds, with the loss of many lives, being occasioned by Reginald Fitz Ayman slaying a nobleman in Charlemagne's palace with a chessman. Neckham's book is a very curious one, covering most of the lore of his time, and treats of poetry, biblical criticism, astronomy, popular myths, birds, fishes, the structure of the earth, trees, compasses, fountains, animals, and many other subjects. — Appletou's Popular Science Monthly. Japan is a country without domestic animals, according to a picturesque account published in a Russian journal, communicated by M. E. Mliller to the Paris Geographical Society, and reported in the "Revue Scientifique." " The inhabitants of Japan neither eat beef nor drink milk, and consequently the cow is of no use in their domestic economy. The Japanese do not ride horseback; their two-wheeled vehicles are drawn and their palanquins are carried by porters. Besides, they have neither mules, asses, nor other beasts of burden. There are numerous dogs in the country, but they all run wild. The Japanese keep these animals neither for the chase nor for protection. It is very rare that one meets a domesticated dog, and such a dog always belongs to a foreigner. As to sheep, goats and swine, the Japanese do not raise them. The place of the wool that sheep could furnish is taken with them by silk, which is very cheap, so they do not wear woolen garments. In a Japanese establishment, fowls are seen rarely, ducks and pigeons still more seldom; they are raised only to satisfy the demands of for eigners. Some persons in the suburbs of Yeddo raise cattle, but not for purposes of rural economy; the animals are used only for religious ceremonials : in fact they are intended to draw the funeral car when some member of the Mikado's family dies." — Translated for The Literary Digest.
LITERARY NOTES. Harper's Magazine for February contains Part I., of "Social Political Satire," by George Du Maurier, and deals with the life and works of John Leech. Other articles are, " Projects for an Isthmian Canal," by Hon. David Turpie; " Some Americans from Oversea," by Kirk Munroe; "Undercurrents in Indian Political Life" by F. H. Skrine; "The Due d' Aumale and the Cond6 Museum," by Henri Bouchot; and " Musical Development in Chicago," by George H. Upton. The number contains five short stories, as follows: "Roan Barbary," by George Hibbard : "A British Islander," by Marv Hartwell Catherwood; "Martin Farroner, " by Marguerite Merington; "An Incident," by Sarah
