my dreams by night and my desires by day.

In the new and holy condition into which I am about to
enter, and to enter with the same reverential feelings as I
would Heaven itself. I anticipate some signal changes in my
feelings, in my views, in my purposes, in my pursuits. What
they may be I know not; time alone can tell. My ardent
desire has been through life to reach the highest order of
human excellence by the shortest possible cut. Associated
night and day, in sickness and in health, in war and in
peace, with a woman of this highest order of excellence,
must produce some curious results in my heart and feelings,
and these results the future will develop in due time in the
columns of the _Herald_.

Meantime I return my heartfelt thanks for the enthusiastic
patronage of the public, both in Europe and in America. The
holy estate of wedlock will only increase my desire to be
still more useful. God Almighty bless you all.

JAMES GORDON BENNETT.

A BARBER LINGUIST.

King of Italy's Prize for Language Scholarship
Won by Humble Toiler
Who Amazes Europe.

Alfredo Trombetti, who won the King of Italy's Prize for Languages, has a
remarkable history. In 1903 King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, carrying out
his plan for encouraging education, offered a prize of ten thousand
_lire_--two thousand dollars--for the best contribution to the study of
languages. Hundreds of Italian scholars competed. But the work of the
judges was facilitated by the fact that one man so far distanced the
others that there could be absolute unanimity in making the award. The
successful treatise was in five volumes, and was a remarkable study and
comparison of ancient languages, into which the author had compressed a
store of knowledge that astounded the learned judges.

The writer was Trombetti. Those who passed on his work had never before
heard of him. They looked him up, and their astonishment at his erudition
was heightened when they found he was a poor teacher in a little academy
at Cuneo, a town with a population of thirty thousand. He, in turn, was
astonished that the reward should come to him, for he was as modest as he
was poor. His salary was less than two hundred and fifty dollars a year,
and on this he supported a family of seven. The prize amounted to two
thousand dollars--a sum greater than he could earn in eight years of
teaching. He was master of fifty lang