A reader living in Aberdeen informs us that the last batch of Scotch refugees arrived from England last Thursday in an exhausted condition. * * * "Cats are very poor swimmers," states a writer in a weekly journal. This no doubt accounts for the exceptionally high infantile mortality among these domestic pets. * * * Last week a wedding at Ibstock, Leicestershire, had to be postponed after the ceremony had already begun, owing to the failure of the Registrar to appear. It was not until the best man, who denied having mislaid the Registrar, had been thoroughly searched that the ceremony was abandoned. * * * A burglar accused of stealing sixteen volumes of classical poetry was sentenced to a month's imprisonment. The defence that he was insane was evidently ignored. * * * The Westminster magistrate, the other day, described a prisoner as "a very clever thief." It is said that the fellow intends printing this testimonial on his letter-paper. * * * A man knocked down by a racing motorist in New York is reported to have had both legs and an arm fractured, several ribs broken, and other injuries. Motorists in this country incline to the theory that it was the work of an amateur. * * * A Swiss guide recently discovered a chamois within sixty feet of the summit of the Jungfrau. Only on receiving the most explicit assurance that the Fourth Internationale would not be held at Grindelwald would the creature consent to resume its proper place in the landscape. * * * According to the conductor of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra the modern fox-trot has been evolved from a primitive negro dance called "The Blues." The theory that the Blues are the logical outcome of a primitive negro dance called the fox-trot is thus exploded. * * * A gentleman advertises for an island for men who are fed up with taxation. We can only say that Great Britain is just the very place. * * * * * [Illustration: _The Laird._ "NOW, WHO ON EARTH MIGHT THOSE PEOPLE BE, DONALD, DRESSED LIKE TOURISTS?"] * * * * * "In some ways the American woman, it must be confessed, can give we English points on good dressing."--_Evening Paper._ She might now extend her beneficence and include some points on syntax. * * * * * "The clergy had to work far more than forty-eight hours per day, but their pay was quite inadequate."--_Local Paper._ We don't see how it would be possible to give adequate remuneration for such a feat. * * * * * =IN DEFENCE OF DOROTHY.=