pessimism increases. But even
taking these facts into consideration, there is no denying that the
young man about town of the nineteenth century is a blot upon our
boasted modern civilization. His is not a pleasant figure to
contemplate, though it is one that we all see very often and know very
well--clothed irreproachably in the most expensive raiment that London
tailors and unlimited credit can supply. He lives lazily and
luxuriously on his father's money and his wife's, and, being after his
natural term of days laid away in a tomb at Mt. Auburn, ends his
existence without making any more impression upon the world's history
than a falling rose leaf, or an August cricket's faintest chirp."

PREVENTION OF CRUELTY.--In Congress, Feb. 14, Mr. Collins, for the
judiciary committee, has given a favorable report on the bill and
memorial of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, asking the passage of a law to protect dumb animals in the
various territories from unnecessary cruelty. In the report Mr.
Collins says: "This body occupies the foremost place among the
organizations of men and women who in our time have done so much to
repress and punish human cruelty, abuse, and neglect in dealing with
dumb animals. In all the States, we believe, laws now exist to prevent
and punish unnecessary exposure, neglect, or cruel treatment of beasts
of burden and other animals. To bring the federal legislation into
co-operation and harmony with the laws of the States on the subject,
and provide a uniform rule for the District of Columbia and the
Territories, your committee recommend the passage of the bill."

VALUE OF BIRDS.--Maurice Thompson contends that the failure of
orchards in this country is largely or mainly due to the war upon
birds. The mocking bird he considers the most valuable of all. "No
Scuppernong vine," he says, "should be without its mocking bird to
defend it." Let ladies think of this who patronize cruelty by wearing
birds' plumage on their bonnets.

HOUSE PLANTS.--Dr. J. M. Anders has decided after eight years'
investigation that house plants are very sanitary agents, and even
thinks that they help to ward off consumption and other diseases.

THE LARGEST TUNNEL IN THE WORLD has been completed at Schemnitz in
Hungary. It was begun in 1782, and is ten and a quarter miles long,
nine feet ten inches high, and five feet three inches wide, costing
nearly $5,000,000. Its purpose is to dra