SMOTHERING CHILDREN.--In a recent inquest in London a physician testified that the practice to which young mothers are addicted, of lying over their infants at night, caused the death of about five hundred children a year in London alone. MUNSTER BANK.--Two of the directors of the late "Munster," have appeared in the Bankruptcy Court:--William Shaw, whose indebtedness to the bank is stated to amount to over £129,000; and Nicholas Dan Murphy, indebted in the sum of over £24,000. A manager, other than Mr. Farquharson, who, by the way, is _not_ dead, will probably find himself in the hands of the liquidators before long. TOBACCO.--The "paternal" government of Ireland prohibits the raising of tobacco. Mr. Thomas Power O'Connor, Nationalist Member for Liverpool, gave notice that he would introduce a bill to repeal the prohibition of the cultivation of tobacco in Ireland. Father Burke was often heard to say that he could never speak at home as in America. "I never knew what freedom was," he declared, "until I set foot on the emancipated soil of Columbia. Then I said, 'I am a free man, and I will speak my soul.'" President Cleveland has signed the Presidential Succession bill. The law now lodges the presidential succession in the cabinet, and puts seven men in the line of eligibility for the place. It so happens that all of the present cabinet are Americans by birth, and over thirty-five years of age. The returns from the late ball of the Charitable Irish Society is estimated to be about $800. At this rate it will take a long time to build that hall. The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster has written to Rome in favor of the canonization of Joan of Arc. Says our esteemed contemporary, the _Catholic Record_, of London, Ontario:--"The number of Catholics in the new British Parliament is 76, the greatest since Emancipation. They are all Irishmen. The Anti-Irish English "Cawtholics" could not elect a man in their own country to the office of pound-keeper without the aid of the Irish whom they affect to despise." The California millionnaires set an example in charity that might well be imitated by their Eastern contemporaries. At Christmas James C. Flood donated $1,000 to the Catholic Orphan Asylum of San Francisco, and $1,000 to the Catholic Orphan Asylum of San Rafael, Cal., and $500 to the Magdalen Asylum, San Francisco. James Mervyn Donahoe donated $100 apiece to the Catholic Orphan Asylum, Presentation Convent, and Youth's Directory, all of San Francisco. Mrs. Maria Coleman $1,600 to the San Francisco Catholic Orphan Asylum. A magnificent altar, composed of Carrara marble and onyx, costing $5,000, has just been completed in St. Joseph's Church, San Jose, Cal. It is the gift of Mrs. Catherine Dunne.