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 Rh hog weighing about 120 pounds and hevin1 a kink in his tail? " " Of co'se. I was in posses sion of six hogs, and he was one of 'em. What's all this beatin' around fur, Squar'? Why don't yo' go ahead and let me sw'ar to the k'llin' and findin'? " " Law is law, Tom, and we must go 'cordin' to law or we can't make a case. Was yo' out in the woods in the afternoon of the 5th?" "I was." « Gettin' chestnuts? " " Yes." " Find any?" "'Bout half a bushel, but what's the matter now? What has chestnuts got to do with that hog?" "Steady, Tom. Is yo'r eyesight good?" "Jess h'ar him. Squar' Taylor, that ain't no law. That's only foolin' around, jess like a man lookin' up a coon tree when the coon is somewhar' else." " How about yo'r hearin'?" continued his honor. "Say, Squar'," continued Tom, as he rose and pounded on the desk, " this hain't no case whar' somebody traded mewls, but it's a case whar' that pesky Abe Salter stole one of my hogs, and is yere to be tried fur it, now yo' quit fussin' and go 'cordin' to law, or I'll walk right off." " Wall, Tom, I reckon we've made a good 'miff case," said his honor, as he closed the law book before him, " and Abe Salter is sentenced to three months in jail, and will be took thar' right off!" CURRENT EVENTS. A CURIOUS row over the divorce question has arisen in a village of Brittany, the most strongly Catholic part of France. The mayor, whose duty it is to per form the civil marriage ceremony, refused to marry a couple because the man had been divorced, and sent in his resignation. The assistant-mayor and four municipal councilors were asked in turn to perform the ceremony, and, rather than comply, resigned one after the other. The sub-prefect of the district re fuses to accept the resignations, the disappointed bridegroom has sued the recalcitrant officials for ten thousand francs damages and six francs for every day he remains unmarried, and the district attorney threatens to prosecute them in behalf of the state. JAPAN is a literary country, with a history of writ ing and literature since at least A.D. 712. Last year the number of books published was 26,965, of which 20,000 were translations or compilations. Law led with 4,830; religion followed with 1,183; paint ing and sculpture had 3,000; music, 1,022; Jap anese poetry, 982; and works in belles-lettres, nov els, stories, criticisms, etc., 1,112 titles. — The Critic.

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AT Kew no watch has yet succeeded in getting the one hundred marks which signify perfection. The Kew test is no light one. The watch is tested in every position, and its rate registered, not only per day, but per hour; it is hung by its pendant, hung upside down, hung on each side, placed dial down and back down and at any number of angles, and 1o finish up with is baked in an oven and frozen in an ice-pail. A watch with a Kew certificate is a com fort to its owner. When it is considered that it makes eighteen thousand vibrations in an hour, and must not vary a second a week, while a quarter turn of its two time screws, meaning the millionth of an inch, will make a difference of twenty seconds a day, the delicacy of its adjustment will be appreciated.

ACCORDING to a decision just rendered by the su preme court of appeal at Paris, all companies incor porated for the purpose of carrying on business in France must be incorporated in France itself, accord ing to the French company law. As there are a large number of American enterprises of one kind and an other in France, this attitude on the part of the French authorities is worthy of serious consideration, all the more as it is a matter for discussion as to whether it does not constitute a violation of the stip ulations of France's treaties of commerce with foreign countries. THE taxable wealth of the negro population of the United States is over three hundred millions of dol lars. There are twenty-three thousand four hundred and sixty-two negro church bodies, with church prop erty valued at over twenty-six millions of dollars. There are over one thousand college-trained colored ministers. SNAKES and wild animals claim an increasing num ber of victims in India. According to the last yearly returns, 3,014 persons died from snake bite, while 22,086 were killed by wild animals, tigers and wolves claiming the largest number of victims.

FOR a fee of from two to eight cents a message, one may talk from the smallest of Swiss towns over a long distance telephone system to any part of the country. The instrument is kept in perfect repair, and the serv ice is excellent. PROFESSOR LANG of Vienna declares that sponges, owing to the impossibility of killing germs in them, have long since been banished from the surgeon's table, and should also be excluded from the bathroom and washstand.