WHEN IS A STEEPLE NOT A STEEPLE?

"Here is a photograph of a pinnacle that never occupied the summit of a church tower. It is in the churchyard of St. Thomas's, Barrowford, Lancashire. It appears that, in 1839, the church then being without pinnacle on its tower, a gentleman offered to find one if the congregation would supply the remaining three. He fulfilled his promise by furnishing one, but, the other three not being forthcoming, he had it placed in the churchyard, where it now stands with the following inscription upon its base :

In 1839
I should have mounted high,
But, alas! what is man?
Poverty and discord

Have tied me to the ground,
And here I am left alone."

straws off the bottles. It was a ladies' event in the sports on the way home from the Cape, and caused

a great deal of fun. When the target was hit the head fell down as shown in photo. number two. Some very old travellers said it was quite original."Mr. A. S. Pitt, 113, Brompton Road, Eastbey, Portsmouth.

AN OLD ROAD-BOOK. "Road-books abound nowadays, and at first sight this might be taken for a photograph of one of the latest, but it is not. It is an old book of 1736, one of the pioneers of such literature, and was issued before bicycles were dreamed of or even the majority of the roads were made. The above view gives the now-familiar Portsmouth road. It is interesting to see what it was like nearly a hundred and seventy years ago. London appears to end at the turnpike where the Dullidge' road turns off, that is, about a mile and a half from London Bridge, and from there to Wandsworth is a hedged road with various country houses and seats sprinkled along it. An examination of these pages gives a great amount of

detailed information in a simple fashion that might well be copied by the cycle guides of to-day. One sees at once if the road is open or hedged, up or down hill, the crossroads, the rills and rivers, and the very material of which the bridges are made. The margins are filled with the history of any remarkable place on the road, and nothing could be clearer either in matter or in printing. The road begins at the bottom lefthand corner and proceeds upwards, then continues from the bottom of the second column, and so on throughout. To make this plan possible the road must be drawn fairly straight, and, as this might prove misleading, at frequent intervals come the familiar

looking wheels, with their little fleur-de-lys pointing always to the north. It is a wonder that such a simple, easy, and compact plan has not been more frequently copied." Mr. John Brook, c/o Mrs. Back, Swinegate, Grantham.

A SHELL THAT "GOT TIRED." "This is a photo. of a shell which began to burst but 'got tired' and failed to finish the job. Artillerymen state that such an occurrence is almost unprecedented, and amongst the many and various curios of the South African War we have not met with such a thing before. The shell is a 15lb.

shrapnel, and was fired by A Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, in February last, when repelling an attack made by Boers on Vryburg, Bechuanaland. The casing of the shell was blown off, but all the rest remained solid. The shell was picked up by a scout, and photographed for THE STRAND by Mr. W. Klisser, Vryburg."

THE PRIZE-FIGHTER'S PARADISE.

"In the photo. which I send you A stands for Staffordshire, B for Cheshire, and C for Derbyshire. By sitting on the stone X a person can be in all three counties at once. This spot has been the scene of many prize-fights, because, by moving three or four yards, the fighters could resume a fight, started in one County, in another county, under the very eyes of the sheriff of the first county holding a warrant for their arrest. The warrant was, of course, rendered useless by their movements."-Mr. S. Bidder.

THE WRITING ON THE WALL.

permission to take the photo., seeing that the matter chiselled on the stones is specially provided for the edification and amusement of the public. Your readers will make out the interpretation without using the stone in the manner suggested."-Mr. J. J. Burnley, 100, Wallasey Road, Liscard, Cheshire.

TAKEN BY CANDLE-LIGHT.

"I send you a photograph taken by candle-light, on an ordinary plate, with an exposure of half an hour. It was taken by the light of fifteen candles, no other light of any kind being used." Miss H. M. McKenzie, The Cedars, Sunderland.

dug a hole in the centre of the roadway, placed a chair in it, and sat there. His neighbours, who sympathized with him, placed two American flags upon the chair to show their admiration. Either the druggist or one of his family occupied the chair night and day, until the railroad company paid him £200, which he claimed for his damages."-Mr. D. Allan, Willey, Baltimore.

"This monster hat was recently made by Mr. J. G. Field, of Wellington Street, Luton, for exhibition purposes. It measured 7ft. 4in. across the brim and contained upwards of 300yds. of broad Jumbo plait. The crown, which was 18in. deep and measured 54in. round it, had to be trimmed and lined before the brim was sewn on. The brim itself required the services of four men to shape it, and took upwards of three hours to sew on a 'box' machine."-Mr. H. Field, 83, Guilford Street, Luton, Beds.

A REMARKABLE TREE.

to open out into the shapes seen in the photograph. Nothing unusual can be noticed about the trunk, which is covered with a perfect coating of bark."-Mr. R. H. Stevens, 40, Gannow Lane, Burnley, Lancs.

A KING'S ROCKING-HORSE.

"I beg to send you a photo. of King Charles I.'s rocking-horse. This old 'curio is now kept at Cheshunt Great House, where I was fortunate enough to obtain the picture." Mr. W. E. Sutton, Prospect House, Cheshunt.

"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST."

"While I was leaning over to pick some flowers a friend of mine, unknown to me, secured a snap-shot, with the accompanying 'freak' result-a caricature of a bulldog, the hat forming the head and the waist the body of the animal. By holding the picture at arm's length and covering the skirt portion the effect is more striking. Modern millinery and a camera have, in this instance, combined to produce an extraordinary picture-that of a vicious brute who owes his photographic existence to a chiffon hat, a military collar, and a shirt-waist. The picture was taken by Mr. J. E. Bourke, of this city."-Miss Lillian Ferguson, the Examiner, San Francisco.