with the discontent of free mechanics, caused by the competition of convict labor. All power for moving machinery, pumping water, etc., is obtained by keeping a large number of convicts at the tread-wheels. These wheels are horizon tal wooden cylinders, from twenty to twenty-five feet in length, supplied with narrow, longitudinal platforms, onto which the prisoners are forced to step and to continue climbing, though they never succeed in mounting, during periods limited according to the judgment of the overseer, who stands by with watch in hand, and who generally gives five minutes' rest after each twelve or four teen minutes' work. The shop offers a curious variety of stock. There are pretty and durable plaited colored palm fans; jew-harps twenty inches long, par tially of wood; and quantities of baskets of many sizes made of plaited split rattan, almost as durable as iron and really very beautiful. This shop is the principal source of the open work split rattan balls used in the game of ragaraga, or foot shuttle-ball. We found the men in charge of these prison wares ver}' phlegmatic. It was difficult to arouse them. They seemed very indifferent as to whether customers bought anything or not, but did not forget to chew the betel-nut. Very little of the revenue of the jail work ever reaches the prisoner. In the United States, within the recollection of many, the 'dead bodies of prisoners, unless claimed by friends or relations, were given over to anatomical scientists, whose investigations of the human frame are believed to benefit the human race. In Bangkok, after the death of a prisoner, the authorities assure themselves of that fact by impaling the body. It is then given to the department of cremation, after having been stripped by vultures. LITERARY NOTES. THE August ATLANTIC contains several articles that will attract criticism and discussion : President Hadley's practical and much-needed paper on •• Po litical Education; " Talcott Williams's '• The Price of Order, how to rule colonies; Mark D. Dunnell's "Our Rights in China," most timely and appropri ate in the present crisis; and Sylvester Baxter's "Submarine Signaling," a new and little-known method of saving life on the sea. The number is

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peculiarly rich in fiction : Miss Jewett's " The For eigner; " Alice Brown's " A Sea Change; " Caro line Brown's " Angels and Men; " Fanny Johnson's "The Pathway Round; " Foster's " The Dungarvan Whooper,"and Wetherbee's " The Circle of Death," with the conclusion of Howell's brilliant tale, com prise a remarkable gathering of remarkable stories. THE August Fiction Number of SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE is always a notable one, both for its short stories and the unusual number of illustrations. This year it will be found especially rich in these particulars as well as in other features. The con tents include the names of some of the best-known writers and artists of to-day, and, as usual, those of new contributors to the magazine. Mr. Richard Harding Davis's article, " Pretoria in War Time," gives a vivid and novel idea of the appearance and curious individuality of the Boer capital, and of the way its people viewed the approach of the British, and a most attractive impression of the stalwart fig ure and vigorous personality of President Kruger. The comments upon the conduct of a number of the captured British officers, in which they are said to have taken their imprisonment in anything but a "sportsmanlike " spirit, has excited considerable discussion. Mr. Ernest Seton-Thompson, author of "Wild Animals I Have Known," etc., contributes "Tito, the Story of the Coyote that Learned How," illustrated with a number of his own inimitable drawings. He describes the eventful puppyhood and education of this wonderful little animal, that by her knowledge of the ways of men saved her kind from annihilation. The other contents are va ried and of interest. THE Midsummer Holiday CENTURY is chiefly notable, perhaps, as introducing a writer hitherto unknown, of whose power to interest those who "never read serial stories " the editors feel confident. The new comer, Miss Bertha Runkle, is a young woman still in her early twenties; and the scene she has chosen for her first effort in fiction is Paris at the time of the accession of Henry IV. The story, which will run for several months, is called •' The Helmet of Navarre." It is announced as a dramatic romance of love and adventure, characterized by great inventiveness and by rapid and absorbing ac tion. Among the characters are the King and his opponent, the Duke of Mayenne. In the depart ment of fiction, the number contains also a humor ous monologue, " The Author's Reading in Simpkinsville," by Ruth McEnery Stuart, and three other short stories—by Laura E. Richards, Lillie Hamilton French and Mary Knowles Bartlett,—be sides an interesting instalment of Dr. Weir Mitchell's