THE CUNARD LINE.--After the 17th of April, the Cunard Steamers will sail weekly from Boston, on Wednesdays, in place of Saturdays as formerly. The company have placed their best steamers on the Boston service,--the OREGON, GALLIA, BOTHNIA, and SCYTHIA. With this fleet, Boston is the place to get the most rapid passage between America and Europe. The _Oregon_ is already favorably known to the travelling public for the superiority attained in speed, and when running to or from Boston, will certainly cross the ocean in six days. The _Oregon_, on her last trip from New York to Queenstown, made the run in six days and seventeen hours. HOLYDAYS OF OBLIGATION.--According to the request of the Fathers of the late Council of Baltimore, the Holy Father has intimated by letter to the American Episcopate that the number of holydays of obligation, to be observed by all Catholics in this country, has been reduced to the following six, viz., Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, Nativity of our Lord, Ascension of our Lord, Circumcision of Our Lord, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, and the Feast of All Saints. The Feasts of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, Epiphany, and Corpus Christi, as festivals of obligation, have been abrogated; but the solemnity of the last-named feast the Holy Father desires to be celebrated on the Sunday within its octave. This arrangement of feasts makes the practice of their observance a general one. The days named are of obligation in every diocese, and now every diocese has six holydays; formerly, many had as many as nine. By lessening the number the Holy Father made it certainly more easy for the laborer, who felt that he could but poorly afford to observe the day, as his earnings were about all he had. CARDINALS.--_Lake Shore Visitor_: Just now we are having a few newspaper Cardinals. Baltimore, Boston, and New York want the honor, and the papers seem to think that there should be a proper selection made on the part of the Holy Father. Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, and several other small places have not been heard from yet. This country could supply on newspaper more than enough of Cardinals. The Americans are by no means greedy. The lecture of Hon. A. M. Keiley, at the Boston Theatre, on Sunday evening, January 31, in aid of the House of the Good Shepherd, netted the handsome sum of over seven hundred dollars. Vick's Floral Guide, for January, 1886, is beautifully illustrated. All lovers of flowers, plants, etc., should procure this issue. Address, James Vicks, Rochester, N. Y. The _Catholic Mirror_, Baltimore, Md., has issued a supplement in the shape of an annual for 1886. It is profusely illustrated and contains besides the Almanac a good portrait of the Archbishop of Baltimore with other engravings. * * * * * The Papal Mediation.