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narrative, which shallcomprehend this period of social disorganization, must beascribed entirely to the skill and luminous disposition of thehistorian. It is in this sublime Gothic architecture of hiswork, in which the boundless range, the infinite variety, the, atfirst sight, incongruous gorgeousness of the separate parts,nevertheless are all subordinate to one main and predominantidea, that Gibbon is unrivalled. We cannot but admire the mannerin which he masses his materials, and arranges his facts insuccessive groups, not according to chronological order, but totheir moral or political connection; the distinctness with whichhe marks his periods of gradually increasing decay; and the skillwith which, though advancing on separate parallels of history, heshows the common tendency of the slower or more rapid religiousor civil innovations. However these principles of compositionmay demand more than ordinary attention on the part of thereader, they can alone impress upon the memory the real c

"So much pettiness," he explained; "so much intrigue! And really, when one has an idea--a novel, fertilising idea--I don't want to be uncharitable, but--"

I am a man who believes in impulses. I made what was perhaps a rash proposition. But you must remember, that I had been alone, play-writing in Lympne, for fourteen days, and my compunction for his ruined walk still hung about me. "Why not," said I, "make this your new habit? In the place of the one I spoilt? At least, until we can settle about the bungalow. What you want is to turn over your work in your mind. That you have always done during your afternoon walk. Unfortunately that's over--you can't get things back as they were. But why not come and talk about your work to me; use me as a sort of wall against which you may throw your thoughts and catch t

even convey different significationsby the simplest inflections of the voice.

Philologists have said that there are but two or threelanguages, properly speaking, among all the numerous tribeswhich formerly occupied the country that now composes theUnited States. They ascribe the known difficulty one peoplehave to understand another to corruptions and dialects. Thewriter remembers to have been present at an interviewbetween two chiefs of the Great Prairies west of theMississippi, and when an interpreter was in attendance whospoke both their languages. The warriors appeared to be onthe most friendly terms, and seemingly conversed muchtogether; yet, according to the account of the interpreter,each was absolutely ignorant of what the other said. Theywere of hostile tribes, brought together by the influence ofthe American government; and it is worthy of remark, that acommon policy led them both to adopt the same subject. Theymutually exhorted each other to be of use in the event ofthe cha

had come into being firstof all men, contrived a device of the following kind:--Taking two new-born children belonging to persons of the common sort he gave them toa shepherd to bring up at the place where his flocks were, with amanner of bringing up such as I shall say, charging him namely that noman should utter any word in their presence, and that they should beplaced by themselves in a room where none might come, and at theproper time he should bring them she-goats, and when he had satisfiedthem with milk he should do for them whatever else was needed. Thesethings Psammetichos did and gave him this charge wishing to hear whatword the children would let break forth first after they had ceasedfrom wailings without sense. And accordingly it came to pass; forafter a space of two years had gone by, during which the shepherd wenton acting so, at length, when he opened the door and entered, bothchildren fell before him in entreaty and uttered the word /bekos/,stretching forth their hands. At firs

t him think me--everything that is base!"

For a moment Mr. Northey looked a little nonplussed. Then, "Well, you can--you can bow to him," he said, pluming himself on his discretion in leaving the rein a trifle slack to begin. "If he force himself upon you, you will rid yourself of him with as little delay as possible. The mode I leave to you, Sophia; but speech with him I absolutely forbid. You will obey in that on pain of my most serious displeasure."

"On pain of bread and water, miss!" her sister cried venomously. "That will have more effect, I fancy. Lord, for my part, I should die of shame if I thought that I had encouraged a nameless Irish rogue not good enough to ride behind my coach. And all the town to know it."

Rage dried the tears that hung on Sophia's lids. "Is that all?" she asked, her head high. "I should like to go if that is all you have to say to me?"

"I think that is all," Mr. Northey answered.

"Then--I may go?"

He appeared to hesitate. For the first

as you like. All you got to do is sit down and wait as quiet as you can. Then pretty soon you'll find out I was right."

His comrade grunted stubbornly. For a moment he seemed to be searching for a formidable reply. Finally he said: "Well, you don't know everything in the world, do you?"

"Didn't say I knew everything in the world," retorted the other sharply. He began to stow various articles snugly into his knapsack.

The youth, pausing in his nervous walk, looked down at the busy figure. "Going to be a battle, sure, is there, Jim?" he asked.

"Of course there is," replied the tall soldier. "Of course there is. You jest wait 'til to-morrow, and you'll see one of the biggest battles ever was. You jest wait."

"Thunder!" said the youth.

"Oh, you'll see fighting this time, my boy, what'll be regular out-and-out fighting," added the tall soldier, with the air of a man who is about to exhibit a battle for the benefit of his friends.

"Huh!" said the loud one from a cor

well said," replied Mr. Campbell, heartily. "And now to cometo the material, or (to make a quibble) to the immaterial. I have herea little packet which contains four things." He tugged it, as he spoke,and with some great difficulty, from the skirt pocket of his coat. "Ofthese four things, the first is your legal due: the little pickle moneyfor your father's books and plenishing, which I have bought (as I haveexplained from the first) in the design of re-selling at a profit tothe incoming dominie. The other three are gifties that Mrs. Campbell andmyself would be blithe of your acceptance. The first, which is round,will likely please ye best at the first off-go; but, O Davie, laddie,it's but a drop of water in the sea; it'll help you but a step, andvanish like the morning. The second, which is flat and square andwritten upon, will stand by you through life, like a good staff for theroad, and a good pillow to your head in sickness. And as for the last,which is cubical, that'll see you, it's my pra

e captors. 'Its flesh,' wrote Cartier, 'was as good to eat as any heifer of two years.'

The explorers sailed on westward, changing their course gradually to the north to follow the broad curve of the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland. Jutting headlands and outlying capes must have alternately appeared and disappeared on the western horizon. May 24, found the navigators off the entrance of Belle Isle. After four hundred years of maritime progress, the passage of the narrow strait that separates Newfoundland from Labrador remains still rough and dangerous, even for the great steel ships of to-day. We can imagine how forbidding it must have looked to Cartier and his companions from the decks of their small storm-tossed caravels. Heavy gales from the west came roaring through the strait. Great quantities of floating ice ground to and fro under the wind and current. So stormy was the outlook that for the time being the passage seemed impossible. But Cartier was not to be baulked in his design. He cast anchor a

EOPATRA.
Hear the ambassadors.

ANTONY.
Fie, wrangling queen!
Whom everything becomes,--to chide, to laugh,
To weep; whose every passion fully strives
To make itself in thee fair and admir'd!
No messenger; but thine, and all alone
To-night we'll wander through the streets and note
The qualities of people. Come, my queen;
Last night you did desire it:--speak not to us.

[Exeunt ANTONY and CLEOPATRA, with their Train.]

DEMETRIUS.
Is Caesar with Antonius priz'd so slight?

PHILO.
Sir, sometimes when he is not Antony,
He comes too short of that great property
Which still should go with Antony.

DEMETRIUS.
I am full sorry
That he approves the common liar, who
Thus speaks of him at Rome: but I will hope
Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy!

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. Alexandria. Another Room in CLEOPATRA'S palace.

[Enter CH

ements. Germany, with her submarine policy of ruthlessness, changed the Atlantic Ocean into another No Man's Land across which every American soldier had to pass at the mercy of the enemy before he could arrive at the actual battle-front.

This was the peril of the troop ship. This was the tremendous advantage which the enemy held over our armies even before they reached the field. This was the unprecedented condition which the United States and Allied navies had to cope with in the great undertaking of transporting our forces overseas.

Any one who has crossed the ocean, even in the normal times before shark-like Kultur skulked beneath the water, has experienced the feeling of human helplessness that comes in mid-ocean when one considers the comparative frailty of such man-made devices as even the most modern turbine liners, with the enormous power of the wilderness of water over which one sails.

In such times one realises that safety rests, first upon the kindliness of the elements; secon