of our brave army, during the celebrated
retreat of November, when they had to
endure continuous storms of cutting wind and
rain, while struggling through almost impassable
roads, and experiencing sufferings from
famine more terrible than the harassing guns
of the enemy. At length the army having
retreated upon Ciudad Rodrigo, was in safety,
and went into cantonments on the Coa and
the Agueda.

Hearing, and taking a " Briton's " interest
in all these things, our young butcher of
Slough bethought himself that perhaps the
most acceptable present that could be made
at Christmas to the Commander-in-Chief of
the English forces, under such circumstances,
would be a good piece of home-fed beef. He
selected a fat and magnificent " baron," with
which he proceeded forthwith to the Horse
Guards. Having made known his wish, and
deposited his Christmas present, the mighty
"baron " was forwarded by the most speedy
means that offered.

The "baron," whom all good fortune attended,
arrived at head quarters in the very
nick of time; and the Commander-in-Chief
and his staff made their Christmas dinner
from the welcome amplitude. By the
next despatches that reached home, the
delighted young butcher of Slough received a
precious letter of thanks in the Marquis of
Wellington's own hand, wherein he described
the excellent and joyous dinner that he and
his staff had made from the " Roast-beef of
Old England," and said that they had never
enjoyed anything half so much in all their
lives, and that they had all drunk to the
health of Edward Shirley, the patriotic donor;
as we hope to drink to the brave old Duke
himself, this present Christmas, wishing that
he may live long, and die happy.

DEATH IN THE BREAD-BASKET.

EVERY one knows how different home-made
bread is in flavour and sweetness to that
procured at the bake-house. In making bread
at home, we use nothing but flour, water,
yeast and salt. The bakers sometimes add
potatoes, alum, magnesia, and other
substances, to give it a white appearance and
impart lightness. Alum is largely used, not
as an adulteration of itself, but for the
purpose of enabling them to work up and whiten
an inferior flour to mix with that of a better
quality. Ask a baker why he puts alum? he
tells you "it keeps water and raises well,"
meaning, we suppose, that it improves the
look of the bread, rendering it firmer and
whiter.

This alumed bread might not, perhaps, hurt
a stout labourer, whose healthy digestive
organs would be strong enough almost to
convert leather into nutriment, but for persons
of sedentary habits or infirm constitutions, it
is a very serious matter to have their digestive
process daily vitiated by damaged flour,
whitened with alum. The quantity of alum
is always proportionate to the badness of the
flour, and hence, when the best flour is used,
no alum need be introduced. " That alum is
not necessary," says Dr. Ure, "for giving
bread its utmost beauty, sponginess, and
agreeable taste, is undoubted, since the bread
baked at a very extensive establishment in
Glasgow, in which about twenty tons of flour
are regularly converted into loaves in the
course of a week, unite every quality of
appearance with absolute freedom from that
acido-astringent drug."

Some of the adulterations of flour are made
by the baker; others by the wholesale flour
dealers who, in large towns, supply the bakers
with the corn ready ground.

We observed a little time ago, in the public
papers, an account of a gentleman who,
whenever he visited Newcastle-under-Line,
Staffordshire, was invariably seized with severe pains
in the stomach; he suspected it was caused by
the bread he had eaten. This led to an
inquiry, and the bread, upon analysis, was
found to contain Plaster of Paris.
The baker declared his innocence; but on
searching the miller's premises from whence
the flour was procured, a large quantity of
this substance was found, which led to his
being mulct of a considerable sum in the
shape of a fine, Not a very pleasant thing
to have one's stomach walled up with Plaster
of Paris! it may be very good to keep the
damp from our houses, but not so agreeable
to line the inner man with.

A REMEDY FOR COLLIERY EXPLOSIONS.

SIR,—Having read in the 37th number of
the " Household Words " a coal miner's
evidence, I take the liberty of forwarding for
insertion a suggestion to relieve the pits from
large accumulations of gas, and thus render
them safer than under the present system of
working.

I have attended two or three inquests which
have been held, upon the unfortunate miners
who had lost their lives in following their
dangerous calling. I have paid great attention to
the details; and though it has been my lot to
listen to the evidence of some men who had
been burnt by the explosion, and of others
who had lost sons by either the fire or the
after-damp, I never heard these men
complain of a want of ventilation, or of the
neglect of the owners or viewers in taking
every precaution to provide for their safety.
How is it, then, that the public is so often
horror-struck by such awful catastrophes as
are continually occurring ? The " viewers"
are all agreed that a sufficient current of air
circulates through the workings; that in
dangerous parts candles are strictly
prohibited; that in some pits known to be more
than usually fiery, an additional precaution is
taken in placing a barometer at the bottom
of the shaft, the indications of which are