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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 203, 26 August 1880, Page 4

. 'So many deftnijiiqns of the various stages of the •' besetting sin" are given almost daily in the Police Courts, and Magistrates are so often called upon to decide when a man is, or rather was, drunk, that anything which may help them in future to decide the knotty point ought to be /gratefully received; Hence our reason for giving the following little. incident as observed by Mark Twain at the table d'hote at Xeukerbad, and told by him: — "A very grave man — in fact, his gravity amounted to solemnity, and almost to austerity — sat opposite us, and he was ' tight/ but. was doing his.bestjto appear sober. He took up a corked bottle of wine, tilted it over his glass awhile, then set it out of the way with a contented look, , and went on with.his dinner. Presently he put his glass to his month, and, of course, found it empty. He looked puzzled, and glanced furtively and suspiciously out of thie corner of his eye at a benignant and unconscious old lady who sat at his right. Shook his head, as much as to say, * No, she couldn't have done it.' He tilted the corked bottle over his glass again, meantime

searching arpund with his watery eye to see if anybody was watching him. He ate a few tnouthfulsj raised his glass to bis lips, and of course it waß still. empty. Se bent an injured ahd accusing side igb_nce npon that unconscious old lady which, was a study to see. She went oti eating, and gaye no sign. He took up his glass and his bottle, ;with a wise private nod oi his head, and ;, set them gravely on the lefthand s ide of his plate— went to work wi,th his knife and fork once more— presently lifted his glass witbi good confidence, and found it empty as usual. Thiß was almost a petrifying surprise. He straitened himself up in his chair, and deliberately and sorrowfully inspected the busy old ladies at his elbows, first one and then the other. At last, he softly jerked his plate away, set his glasß directly in front of ,him, held on to it with his left hand, ' and proceeded to pour with his right. [J his time he observed that nothing came. He turned the bpttie clear upside dpwn ; still nothing issued from it j a plantive 1 look came into bis face, and he said, as if fo himself, "ie! They've got it all!' Then he set the bottle down, resignedly, and took the rest of his dinner dry." The Mussulmans in China have multiplied by millions, and are making many converts. Some day they may make their way by 'force of arms, and it is prophesied that before so very long the peoples from Bagdad to Shanghai ;will be of one faith, and will push {heir creed by conquest. The Milan cremation society has mow a membership of 200. During the three years it has excisted 48 cfemations have taken place, among which was that of Alberto Keller. The last subject was the body of a young girl, which was completely reduced to ashes in less than three hours. A man was struck down by paralysis in a Michigan sawmill. He fell across a log which was being sawed, andiwas carried with it, slowly but surely, to tbe saw. He was conscious, but utterly helpless. Tbe saw had cut half ,way through bis arm when his awful ;predicament was discovered.