memorable, on account of the extraordinary storm and accompanying phenomena which occurred in the afternoon. The day previous was sultry, and so was this, but hardly sufficiently so to make the approach of any storm of consequence expected. The morning of this day was fine, with sunshine; the wind until 11 a.m. was from south, after then from north. At 2 p.m. thunder was indistinctly heard in the direction of N.w., and from this time until four o'clock, the distant, though gradually approaching storm, gave unequivocal signs of being of more than ordinary magnitude. The lightning, or rather its reflection, was first seen in the w. and N.W. horizon about 3 o'clock: by 3h. 30m. the lightning itself was visible, and the thunder was then heard in more distant claps, the previous sounds being but the echoes from the masses of clouds which hovered about; these echoes were so numerous that the reverberations of one clap had not subsided before the next occurred, thus causing a continued rumbling since 2 o'clock. much as the gauge did retain, and some years' experience, I think the amount cannot be less than two and a half inches. The wind varied but little from the N. except after the hail-storm, when it blew from the E. for an hour, and then returned to N. The barometer fell but little before it commenced, and then continued stationary. "When the first storm abated, which it did about a quarter past 5, the aspect presented on looking round was dreary and distressing to the highest extent. The streets and roads were like running rivers; Midsummer Common was one sheet of water, in the midst of which a burst drain boiled up like a miniature Icelandic geyser; glass, wherever exposed to the fury of the elements, was of course shivered to atoms, and with such extreme violence had the hail descended, that in some instances it passed through windows almost like a ball from a pistol; trees were half-stripped of their leaves, which were seen lying in layers on the roads, and on apple-trees the fruit was battored to pieces, in some cases pieces being actually scooped out; birds, even rooks and pigeons, were killed in large numbers, and picked up in the country in all directions; the houses in the town were in many parts flooded, the cellars being several feet deep in water, which had also made its way through the roofs, and destroyed furniture and stockutterly destroyed, and the havoc made amongst the crops just ripening for the sickle was of the most lamentable kind. Herein, indeed, the devastation effected by this awful storm is greatest and most to be regretted: harvest had just begun; the bounties of the earth were waiting to be gathered and stored for the comfort and sustenance of man, and in one short half-hour they were swept away or rendered perfectly useless. The effect on the crops where the storm was most violent was very remarkable. In some instances the straw was actually beaten down and broken up into little pieces, almost as if it had been chopped, and the ears were as bare as if they had been regularly thrashed." "From 4 o'clock until 4h. 45m., the storm approached rapidly in an almost due east direction, passing therefore rather northward; some large drops of rain fell in this interval, and the flashes of lightning became very vivid and of a brilliant purple colour. At 4h. 45m., the hail-storm began, and for twenty minutes continued with a violence probably unpre-in-trade in its course; garden-produce was of course cedented in the last century, in the latitude of England. The great size of the hailstones was the first thing to attract attention, for many measured an inch in diameter; some were even larger, and the average size was probably from half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter. They fell as closely as the drops of rain from a waterspout, and this, with their weight, and some accelerating force from a brisk N.E. wind, caused them to do immense destruction. The temperature of the rain was certainly not higher than 40 degrees; the hail was, of course, icy; it fell upon the earth whose temperature was siderably higher, and thus a mist, or almost a steam arose, and made the view still more dreary than the effect of a snow-white ground alone would have presented. con "The entire storm went by N.E. to E., and for a time disappeared, though the lightning now and then became visible; at 6 o'clock it had completed three-quarters of a circle, and appeared again in the s. and s.w.; soon afterwards it was evident that Cambridge would have its near approach again, although it was fast getting westward. The character of the lightning in this second appearance was more terrific than before, for the principal portion of every flash was in a vertical direction, and on many occasions several of these vertical streams were visible almost simultaneously; once I counted seven distinctly, at irregular intervals, varying from four to ten degrees; from this circumstance it is much to be feared that considerable destruction has occurred from this cause also. No hail accompanied this appearance of the storm, but a very copious rain fell whilst it was passing from w. to N. Frequent flashes of lightning were visible all the evening, in the N. and N.E. horizon, and there were frequent heavy showers during the night, especially about 1 o'clock, when thunder was again heard distinctly. Unfortunately my rain-gauge was not in a proper condition to receive so much rain without overflowing, and therefore I cannot state accurately the quantity of rain which fell; but estimating from so " Mr. Glaisher's graphic description was prepared for the Cambridge Chronicle," in which paper it appeared on Saturday, Aug. 12, with the following editorial notice of the event: "To-day it is our painful duty to record a storm of thunder and hail more terrific in its character, and more disastrous in its results, than any by which this district has been visited within the memory of living man, or indeed of which history supplies us with an account. Wednesday, the 9th of August, 1843, will hold a conspicuous place in the annals of this and the adjoining counties, and the remembrance of it will never recur without sorrow to the minds of those now living, for to many it brought positive ruin, while very few escaped more or less of the injury with which it was fraught. Experience totally fails to supply us with anything in this latitude approaching the devastation occasioned by the tempest of which we speak, or the terror which it diffused amongst all classes of people during the time of its continuance. "The early part of the day was hot and close, but there was nothing to indicate the approach of such a storm as afterwards visited us. About 2 o'clock there were symptoms of a change in the sunny atmosphere which we had in the morning: clouds began to gather, and the air felt heavy and oppressive, and between 2 and 3 o'clock, the rumbling of distant thunder was heard. This increased, and was accompanied by-and-by with very vivid flashos | of lightning, but for a long time no rain fell. In the meantime the atmosphere became darker and darker, and it was evident that a storm of extraordinary magnitude was at hand. Large drops of rain began to fall soon after 4 o'clock, and in a short time a perfect deluge poured down upon the earth. The hail-storm began at about a quarter before 5, at which time there was a tolerably brisk wind from the N.E. Whether we regard the size of the hailstones, the violence with which they were driven against objects on the earth, or the destruction they have caused, there is no parallel in this part of the world to the tempest which now raged for nearly half an hour. The extraordinary darkness of the atmosphere, with the clouds almost sweeping the house-tops, the incessant roar of the thunder and flash of the lightning, and the deafening noise of the falling hail, impressed one with a sense of awe and admiration which cannot be described. "The scene was positively terrific, and the fright of many of the inhabitants of the town was in no small degree increased by the crash of broken windows and the inundation of their houses. During the whole of this time it was impossible for the eye to penetrate many yards through the storm; the hail fell with such wonderful closeness, and there was such a peculiar mistiness rising from the earth, that a complete barrier was opposed to the power of vision. We are almost afraid to speak of the size of the hailstones, or rather blocks of ice, but we are certainly not exaggerating in the least degree when we say that very many of them were as large as ordinary walnuts; some, indeed, far exceeded this size; one that was picked up measured three and a half inches in circumference, and several have been described to us as being about as big as a pullet's egg." Mr. Leonard Jenyns, then vicar of Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridgeshire, quotes the reports in his "Observations getting out to make a track for the wheels, he told me he sank up to his knees. "The above storm was not confined to Cambridgeshire, nor even to the adjoining counties. Before reaching that neighbourhood it had travelled over a large part of England, from w. to E., dividing in one part of its course into several branches, which took different directions. Almost all the midland, as well as some of the southern counties, were visited by it during some part of the day; though in very few instances its violence in other places was equal to what it was in Cambridge." Sonnets of the Sacred year. BY THE REV. S. J. STONE, M.A. TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. "He beheld the city, and wept over it."-St. Luke xix. 41. THE tears of Jesus! once again they flow; Again those words-upon whose "brief vibration Hangs Passion infinite-whose lamentation * "Those two words, 'Jesus wept,' upon whose brief vibration hangs the whole passion of a world redeemed from pain through pain." (Mrs. E. B. Browning: "Essay on Greek Christian Poets.") Varieties. on Meteorology" (Van Voorst), So fell the good seed for the Harvest-tide. adding:-"The damage done by this storm in the way of breakage of glass, and destruction of garden and field crops, was almost incalculable. It was supposed that in the University and town alone it might be set, at the very lowest, at £25,000. What it amounted to in the surrounding parishes it was quite impossible to say. The storm seemed to have raged with most violence at Quy, in which parish one farmer alone was stated in the papers to have suffered to the extent of £2,000. At Bottisham and Swaffham Bulbeck the storm was rather less violent, and the damage less; but even here, when I returned home a few days afterwards, in many places, the cornfields, which had standing crops in them at the time of the storm, looked as bare and beaten as they ordinarily do after the corn and stubble have both been cut and cleared away. At Peterborough, where I was at the time, the storm was heavy, but not of such unusual character as to require special notice. "It will give some idea of the immense quantity of hailstones that fell during this storm, when I state that a friend of mine, who had gone into Cambridge from Swaffham Prior, in a four-wheel pony carriage, that morning, and who was kept there while the storm was raging, on his return home in the evening, three hours after the storm had abated, found the hailstones, lying still unmelted, in such heaps in the road between Quy and Anglesea Abbey, that his horse was unable to drag the carriage along. On THE EIGHTY-ONE-TON GUN.-The "Engineer" states that the first four of 81-ton guns, which are to form the armament of the future ironclad Inflexible, will be proceeded with as soon as the experimental one has been completed and proved. The the breech end, will be 27ft., and the length of bore 24ft. In total length of the new gun, including the plug screwed in at the first instance the calibre will be 14in., but ample provision is made in the thickness of the steel tube to increase that figure to 16in, if deemed desirable. The rifling has not as yet been decided on, but will be a matter for consideration as the gun approaches completion. Neither the weight of projectile nor the quantity of powder to be contained in the cartridge for the 81ton gun has been positively fixed, but the first will probably range between 1,000lb. and 1,2001b., while the second may be estimated at about one-sixth of that amount. Assuming an muzzle for the 1,000-lb. projectile a blow of 11.715 foot-tons, for initial velocity of 1,300 feet per second, there will be at the the 1,100-lb. projectile one of 12,886 foot-tons, and for the 1,200-lb. projectile the terrific force of impact of 14,058 foottons! It is also calculated that after travelling for a mile and three-quarters the projectile from the 81-ton gun will strike a far harder blow than that from the original Woolwich Infant at first starting, even assuming the former to weigh no more than 1,100 lb. But a comparison of the forces generated by this monster, at such a range, with those of the 35-ton and 7-in. guns, is still more striking in its contrast, the two latter computing only to 6,076 tons and 755 tons respectively. With this immense power the gun is expected to penetrate at least 19 or 20 inches of armour-plates and their backing at a distance of 500 yards. INCH MEASURE.-A bronze halfpenny is exactly an inch broad, and therefore gives a very convenient measure. Laid on an Ordnance map of an inch scale the halfpenny covers just 500 acres. Now, also, the third of an ounce is the postal unit, and it is well to remember that a penny is precisely that weight.Society of Arts Journal. IRISH RAILWAYS.-All the Irish railways together do not much exceed 2,000 miles, yet there are fifty-six companies, each with an average length of forty-three miles. They are managed by not less than four hundred directors, and the solicitors, engineers, and officers are innumerable. The chief employment of the directors is to watch one another's machinations, no doubt an employment singularly suited to the genius of the country. The fares are often " prohibitory;" that is, considering the circumstances, for we doubt whether they are higher than English and Scotch fares. A penny a mile may be prohibitory in Ireland, but it is cheap in this country. It is computed that the additional cost involved by the multitude and the machinations of the directors is between fifty and a hundred thousand a year; more near the latter than the former, we should think. LIVINGSTONE ON MISSIONS.-Some may say, "Why go to the heathen abroad, so long as we have so very many heathen at home?" It is only the large-hearted that go to either, and the class distinguished by large-heartedness unquestionably do much for our home population, and is the very class that do most for the heathen abroad. The question supposed to be put tacitly assumes that the heathen at home are neglected, and this is a manifestly false assumption. Every parish in England and Scotland is a scene of active benevolence, and the great centres of population are also the grand foci of active untiring Christian charity-and in America it is much the same. To read the accounts of the Christ-like feeding the hungry on Thanksgiving day, and other days, in New York, made the heart well up with gratitude; and who could refrain from grateful thanks for the labours of the "United States Christian Commission," which was really the most gigantic enterprise of systematic benevolence the world ever saw. No! no! our home heathen are not neg lected. On the contrary, it might be argued that far too much benevolence is expended on our own narrow circle, and far too little on the great outside world. In London, for instance, I found the artisan class in dogged enmity to all religion, and, like our coast tribes, feeling sore against all outside their own class. And, besides these, a very large number of the population never do, under any circumstances, receive the gospel. The primitive plan seems. to have recognised this as a fact of human nature, and provided that much time should not be spent on them; but the Evangelists were sent on to those that would hear and believe. The first offer was made to those who had the Old Testament in their hands as the most likely to receive the recent facts of Christianity witnessed in Judea. Reasonable time for the Message to be understood or rejected, led to the Evangelists passing on to the Gentiles. PEAT IN IRELAND.-Mr. O'Hara ("Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science," vol. 4, p. 261) estimates the peat bogs of Ireland at 1,576,000 acres, occupying the limestone plains, and 1,255,000 acres on the hills and mountains, showing a total of 2,831,000 acres of turf and bog. If we take as an approximating fair estimate of the peat bogs in Great Britain 3,500,000 acres, we find a total extent of peat in the British Isles equal to in round numbers 6,000,000 acres; and if we accept an average thickness of 12ft. deep over this enormous area, and each acre as capable of supplying 12,000 tons of peat fuel, we may justly regard this as a powerful auxiliary to keep up the steam-producing power of Great Britain, and to some extent help to stave off the day of the exhaustion of its coalfields. RECRUITS FOR THE ARMY.-The total number of recruits raised in 1873 was 17,194, being rather less than the supply for 1872, but this is accounted for by the recent reduction of our forces to the extent of 5,000 men, so that fewer recruits were required, though larger numbers might, if needed, have been obtained. The physique and stamina of the men who joined were satisfactory, and those whose bodily development and general appearance were at first objected to, were mostly young lads who have since grown into strong and healthy men, in consequence of the better feeding provided for them in the army, and to the more healthy and active habits they pursue as soldiers, compared with their conditions of life previous to enlistment. A soldier is now better fed, clothed, ledged, and educated than ever he was formerly; his health is carefully attended to, and provision is made for his amusement. The average age of recruits is found to be less than it used to be, owing probably to the existing high rates of wages, which tempt the full-grown labourers to seek employment in other channels. In the North of Scotland there has been a great lack of success in recruiting, and nearly all the Highland regiments have there. fore been kept below their full strength. Again, in the seafaring districts the lads become marines or men-of-war's men, owing to preferences which are easily understood. Very little is said about desertions, except that they have become frequent for several years past, and are a considerable drain upon our forces. High wages, in reality, seduce the soldier from his duty. Five feet five is the present infantry standard; in no other army in Europe is it so high.-Land and Water. HEBERLEIN RAILWAY BREAK.-A train has been running between the Mansion House and Broad Street, London, fitted with a break (the Heberlein) which is generally used in Germany, and possesses many important advantages. The break is worked by the motive force of the train, and its power is consequently proportionate to the velocity of the moving mass which it is designed to control. Running into Hampstead station at a speed of forty miles an hour, the rear guard put on the front and rear breaks, and in twenty-four seconds brought the train to a standstill in the station, a distance of 240 yards. There are few accidents on record in which the driver has not had at least a minute's notice of the danger, so that we may calculate that had such a break been in use some hundreds of lives might have been saved, and destruction of property representing many thousands of pounds avoided. LADAK.-Between Lahore and Yarkand, the country of Ladak is the most important. As for the people of Ladak, they probably are of a mixed Tartar and Thibetan type, and they steadfastly adhere to the Buddhist faith, in the usages and dominant priesthood of which some have traced a likeness to the worship of Rome. Certainly something like the following scene might have been witnessed in medieval Europe: "The Lamas are all jolly-looking fellows, and not unlike, in their dress and general appearance, the monks one sees in Roman Catholic countries. They own a great deal of the land, which they cultivate themselves, and many of the monasteries are said to be very wealthy. In all the monasteries the prayer wheels form a prominent feature. Each turn of the wheel is equal to repeating a prayer, but if turned in the wrong direction, I believe it represents an imprecation. Half the population of Ladak seem to have adopted the monastic life.' The game of polo is indigenous to Ladak:"As soon as everything was ready and the music began, the leader of the side which had the ball rode along at a gallop, followed by all the others, and when he arrived near the centre of the ground, he threw up the ball and very cleverly struck it with his club, sometimes succeeding at the first stroke in driving it to the goal. Usually the ball was intercepted, and a very animated scene then ensued, each side trying to urge the ball towards their own end of the ground."-Dr. Henderson's "From Lahore to Yarkand." RECOMMENDATION OF A TEACHER.-An English nobleman, who had resided two years in Paris, took lessons in French from a celebrated professor of the language. He made very little progress. On going to say good-by to his tutor, he asked him if he could do him any service in England. "Oh," replied the teacher, "the only favour I have to ask is, that you do not mention that you have been my pupil !" CHARITY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY.-This Society is not in opposition to other societies which are not connected with it, as has often been thought by some. It is an organisation by which they can ascertain whether those persons they help are really in need of assistance or not. The report of the Society shows this result, which is an evidence of real and hard work. During the past year 14,891 cases have been investigated, of which a little under 5,000 have been dismissed as either unworthy or not fit for relief, upwards of 4,000 have been put in the way of relief by being referred to other agencies to relieve, and close upon 6,000 have been assisted by the Society itself. Of the dismissed cases, 1,108 have been dismissed as not requiring relief, and I think it is very reasonable to suppose that a large proportion of those cases would have got help from private individuals if it had not been for the Society, and that would have done more harm than good. 941 have been dismissed as not deserving, and 252 as giving false addresses. The Society has been the means of recommending 1,148 cases to the Poorlaw Guardians.-MR. FORSTER, M.P. A FAMILY JOURNAL OF INSTRUCTION AND RECREATION. BEHOLD IN THESE WHAT LEISURE HOURS DEMAND,-AMUSEMENT AND TRUE KNOWLEDGE HAND IN HAND."- Cowper. MR. DAVID WADDLE'S SPECULATIONS. CHAPTER I.-MR. DAVID WADDLE AT HOME. R. DAVID WADDLE stood in his breakfast- comfortable; the fire was in that state of perfectness KK Alto PRICE ONE PENNY. dulge in quiet thinking-when the annoyances of curious patterns of leaves, and ferns, and branches, yesterday have been buried in a sound sleep, and the as if, in her exuberance, nature, even with stiffened engagements of to-day have not yet fastened them-hand, could not but trace these forms of beauty and selves upon the mind and heart. of life. But Mr. Waddle noticed none of these things, not even the robins that prematurely pecked for their customary crumbs. Mr. Waddle looked up the road and down the road, but no one appeared in sight, and he returned to his former position before the fire. Say what you like about southern climates, scenery, and classical associations, for real substantial home comfort there is no place like Old England, even in mid-winter. It is all very well to speak of a cloudless azure sky, of the tideless waters of the Mediterranean, of feather-topped palms, scented lemon groves, and sombre olive yards. But wait till the sun goes down, and the house feels cold and cheerless; and the doors creak, and there is not a comfortable chair to sit on; while the beef is hard and the mutton detestable, and the chickens have ever so many legs in excess of their wings, and the company around is queer, and-in short, take all the year round, and one longs for English comfort and fireside enjoyment. How many an ambitious wife has bitterly rued the day she persuaded her husband on retiring from business to undertake a foreign tour, when, the heavy stone once set in motion, it has rolled on for long years, dragging her with it, through dreary towns, comfortless hotels, and endless shows and galleries, till the dull monotony of it had settled upon her with such a feeling of despair, that she could willingly have given up all for a small cottage in a most out-of-the-way corner of her native country, so that she could again have heard home voices, and known home, with its joys, its work, and its rest! Just then a pattering of feet on the stairs, first slow, and next with a sort of merry run, announced the successive advent of the rest of the household. Mrs. Waddle was what you would call a comely woman. The truthfulness of her nature shone out of her clear grey eyes, and the kindliness of her heart beamed from her every feature. As she appeared within the door, and quietly took her place to make the necessary preparations for breakfast, the cloud that had again gathered on Mr. Waddle's brow seemed visibly to float away, and to leave it serene. But the bright sunshine broke over his whole face, and left him all aglow, when "Pussy" came in, and with a bound made for Mr. David Waddle himself, and taking her father by both shoulders successively, kissed him on each cheek, before she bent down to warm her little hands at the fire. And certainly to look at Kate, or "Pussy," as she had been called from her babyhood, was sufficient to kindle the light on the face of a sterner parent than Mr. David Waddle. She was the pride of their hearts and the delight of their eyes. She had never given them an hour's uneasiness, except it were when she had the hooping-cough, the chicken-pox, or the measles. Now that she was bursting into womanhood, she was as good and sweet as she was pretty and attractive. No one could help liking Kate. The most grumbling of old women in her district always dismissed her with a smile, even when she had come without the anticipated quotum of propitiatory tea. The naughtiest children in the Sunday-school were regularly put into her class, and learned to sit still, at least for the time. Nay, the most critical among the spinsters of Greenwood had nothing to say against her. To look at Kate you might almost have wondered how this slight, perhaps too slight and fragile girl, should have been the child of Mr. and Mrs. Waddle. Not that she was exactly handsome or beautiful, only her face and her ways were so delicately "winsome." She had light a very fine complexion, eyes grey and soft, a small mouth, around which a bright smile mostly played, a nose just the least bit upturned, a pretty little chin, and a soft musical voice. Yet, if you looked more closely at hor, there was a decided likeness to her mother; only not to the good, comfortable Mrs. Waddle who sat there, but, as it were, to an idea or architypal Mrs. Waddle, of which the present owner of that name might be regarded simply as a sort of plaster-of-paris cast, made in a preparatory way. To be sure, this is a very prosaic version of the delights of sunny France and classic Italy. But then it must be admitted that the hero of this story, Mr. David Waddle, was a very prosaic man, lived in a very prosaic little town, and had till very lately been engaged in what perhaps offers least material from which fancy may form her wings-the trade of a tanner. Mr. Waddle had now retired from business on what for many years was the goal of his ambition-£300 a year and a neat, trim cottage, with "walled garden attached." The "premises," as he would persist in calling them, were small, but then, as Mr. Waddle truly though somewhat ungrammatically remarked: "There is only us threeme, the mistress, and Pussy.' Not that there had been any special reason for Mr. Waddle's retirement. The business was steady and thriving; and he himself a hale, healthy man, scarcely beyond middle age. His figure, as it showed in his comfort-hair, able grey tweed suit, was just beginning to tend towards obesity, and the top of his head, though bald, had as yet reached neither the florid nor the shiny state, but was still pale and modestly unobtrusive. But though Mr. David Waddle had climbed the utmost height, toward which, in long years of patient toil, he had striven; and although, as we have seen, he was just then in circumstances most conducive to inward self-relaxation, to judge from his face he was not quite at rest. Every now and then a passing cloud seemed to darken his brow, and however often banished, it would come back, apparently more frequently as the minutes seemed to drag on their slow length. Neither "the mistress" nor "Pussy" had yet come down to breakfast, and Mr. Waddle moved slowly to the window. It was a bright frosty March morning. The thin snow lay white and crisp on the little plot that separated the cottage from the hard, shiny road, which the keen east wind had mostly swept clear. The frost lay on the window-panes in Under such influence, it is scarcely to be wondered at that breakfast proceeded without any return of the cloud to Mr. Waddle's brow. The meal was almost over, when a figure, rapidly passing the window, caused the two ladies to exchange anxious, troubled looks. Mr. Waddle sat with his back to the light, happily unconscious of events in the outside world. He was just in the act of lifting to his mouth a most promising piece of buttered toast, when a double knock at the front door caused the |