All this happened twenty-three years ago, but from that day to this Charlie Ross has never been found.

His father was frantic with grief, and a careful search was made for the child, but no traces of him could be found.

Some days after Charlie had been stolen, a letter was brought to his father, saying that the boy was being held for ransom, and would be returned to his father on the payment of twenty thousand dollars.

This money was raised, and would have been paid to the brigands, but that the police stepped in and insisted upon their right to manage the case.

Mr. Ross had been warned against allowing the police to interfere.  The thieves had written to him that if he did so they would kill the boy.

The Mayor of Philadelphia offered the enormous reward of twenty thousand dollars for the recovery of the boy and the arrest of the persons who had stolen him.  Notices of this were printed in every language, and sent all over the world; but though numbers of people were working to gain the great reward, Charlie Ross has never been found.

* * * * *

We told you last week of the new volcano which has appeared in Mexico.

The shocks have done a great deal of damage.  The town of Tehuantepec has been completely destroyed, and the people are living in tents on the outskirts of the place.

Tremblings of the earth still continue to be felt along the Pacific Coast, and the people are terror-stricken.

One very severe shock was felt in San Francisco, but little damage resulted from it.  Some of the California towns have, however, suffered severely.

Nature seems to be playing some strange tricks this year.

The French people have been treated to a cyclone.

They seemed to be really indignant over the visitation.  They had always considered that cyclones were American institutions, and never expected that they would follow the example of American people and find their way to Paris.

This storm was a regular Westerner, sweeping down everything in its path, blowing houses over, and destroying things generally.

Having spent part of its rage in France, it rushed across the English Channel, raising such a gale there that many vessels were wrecked, both on the English and French shores.

The storm crossed England and reached the Irish Channel, where it again played havoc with the shipping.  Admiral Lord Nelson’s flag-ship, the Foudroyant, was anchored off Liverpool.  It had been touring up and down the coast as a show-ship.  The storm put an end to its journeyings forever.  It was caught in the gale, driven ashore, and is now a total wreck.

If such storms are repeated, we shall have to tell our European cousins how they manage tornadoes and cyclones out West.

In the State of Kansas, tornadoes are more dreaded than fires, and the Kansas children are taught a tornado drill as our Eastern children are taught a fire drill.