Jonas Hanway was the son of a storekeeper in the dockyard at Ports mouth, and on the death of his parents was bound apprentice to a merchant in Lisbon. When the term of his indentures expired he went to St Petersburg, where he became a partner in a good house of business, and being desirous of opening up a trade with Persia, and also of penetrating into that land of mystery, journeyed thither, meeting with strange and wild adventu-es and enduring many hardships. But he picked up much infor mation, which, ou his return to England, he published ; and he brought back with i him rich experience, a fair competence, and — an umbrella! Picture Jonas Hanway, with his plain honest face and his suit of broadcloth, walking through the streets of London, the first man who ever used an umbrella ! People stood and stared, boys jeered an I hooted, and some thought him mad, while others only laughed at him as eccentric. But Jonas had a purpose; he found the umbrella useful in wet weather to shield him from the rain, and in summer to keep off the sun, and at other times to serve him as a stick, and wherever he went persistently he carried this curiosity until people got accustomed to see it; and after a time, on wet days, Jonas was not the only man to use it: one after another took to the “ ridiculous ” umbrella, until at last a new trade was originated, and to-day it is the source of a livelihood to thousands. From Cassell’s “ Heroes of Britain in Peace and War.”

A ROTHSCHILD ANECDOTE.
