were to be set off at a signal of Napoleon and Marie Louise. These fireworks were divided into three parts, representing a military scene, the Temple of Peace, and the Temple of Hymen. In the first there were two forts which soldiers were assaulting, firing their guns amid the sound of trumpets and the rattle of drums. The forts were discharging shells and bullets, which burst into flame, and were reflected in the water before they fell into the river. When the two forts were captured, they disappeared in a great blaze. Then the ship, the symbol of the city of Paris appeared and took its station between two columns of light. The decoration changed, and first the Temple of Peace was seen, then that of Hymen-a real pyrotechnic masterpiece. After the fireworks the Emperor and Empress went first into the record room, then into the concert hall, where was sung a cantata, with words by Arnault and music by Méhul, which began with this apostrophe to the Empress :

"From the throne where our homage rises to you, From the throne where beauty reigns by the side of courage,

And Minerva by the side of Mars,

On these shores of which love has made you sovereign,
On these happy shores adorned by the Seine,
Louise, cast thy glance."

After the cantata a ball began. Napoleon did not dance, but Marie Louise did. At two o'clock supper was served at this fifteen hundred ladies were present, and the ball went on till daybreak.

The portrait of the Empress which the Baron de Méneval has drawn, is as follows: "Marie Louise had all the charm of youth; her figure was perfectly regular; the waist of her dress was rather longer than was generally worn at that time, and this added to her natural dignity and contrasted favorably with the short waists of our ladies; her coloring was deepened by her journey and her timidity; her fine and thick hair, of a light chestnut, set off a fresh, full face, to which her gentle eyes lent a very attractive expression; her lips, which were a little thick, recalled the type of the Austrian Imperial line, just as a slightly aquiline nose distinguishes the Bourbon princes; her whole appearance expressed candor and innocence."

We had halted, and a shahr-àshüb, a very loud voiced official, proclaimed the fact that we must descend.

"But why," I asked, "when everything appears so propitious when we are led by expectation and attended by comfort-should we stop in this way?"

Whereupon he pointed out to me that the train was going the wrong way.

"Why not," I argued, "in that case, turn it round?"

But this would not mollify the official who demanded our descent, and, aided by the persuasion of our friend, he attained his object, and left us with our luggage while the train went on. Seeing I was dejected they sought to cheer me, and said it was all right," which expression, and a pipe, comforts an Englishman for everything; and my guide-may the grass of prosperity be thick in the pastures where he herds his wishes-produced a magic book written by a philosopher called Bradshaw, by which, and some abstruse calculations, made with the help of the clock and a hermit who lived in the thickness of the station wall (called Clerk), and had only one small hole to breathe through and look out of, he was able to find when the next train would start.

Allah akbar! but Bradshaw is too much for me. My father could tell what the weather would be in ten days' time by watching his favorite star, and I have harvested my millet or betook me to journeys on the omens of the sky, but this little prophet in the shabby yellow shawl is more wonderful than anything! Outside never did fakir wear a meaner look, inside he is dusted thicker with unimpeachable facts, all put out in narrow rows, than is your beard with gray sand when you first take your head from under the camel bags after a khamseen has gone by.

"It is all right, hadji," said my friend, "there is one in a few minutes which will do capitally for us-drop us right into the imperial Presence with no more changes, so come down off that pile of boxes and let us have some coffee!"

A very wonderful man indeed is Bradshaw. How he must have travelled and observed! Not even the slave Said Ben Thabet conld have been a much greater writer. Surely his book is an eighth Mu'allikat, and ought to be hung up at Mecca !

The Muse of Heaven.

From Flammarion's "Uranie." (Cassell.) URANIE stretched forth her arm toward a lake that was to be seen upon the planet, and pointed out to me with her finger a group of winged creatures hovering above its blue waters. They had not the human form of our earth. They were beings evidently organized to live in air. They seemed made of light. Seen from afar, I had taken them at first for dragon-flies; they had the same slender and graceful form as these, the same large wings, the same vivacity and lightness. But on observing them more nearly, I took note of their size, which was not inferior to ours, and I saw from the expression of their eyes that they were not animals. They resembled dragon-flies in their heads as much as their other members, and like those aerial beings, they had no legs. The enchanting music I had heard was only the sound produced by their wings in flight. There was a very large number of them-several thousands, perhaps.

On the summits of the mountains were to be

seen plants, which were neither trees nor flowers, whose fragile stems rose to an enormous height, spreading out at the top into branches that looked like extended arms bearing large tulipshaped cups. These plants were endowed with

life at least as much as, if not more so than, our sensitive plant. Like the Desmodie, with its mobile leaves, they revealed their inward impressions by their movements. These groves were veritable plant cities. The inhabitants of this world had no other dwellings than these thickets, and it was among these fragrant sensitive plants that they reposed when they were not floating in the air.

"This world seems fantastic to you," said Uranie, and you ask yourself what can be the

thoughts of these beings, what can be their manners, what their history, what species of art, of literature, of science, can they possess? It would take a long time to answer all the questions you might ask. Let it suffice you to know that their eyes are more far-seeing than our most perfect telescopes; that their nervous systems vibrate at the passage of a comet, and that from the impressions transmitted to them through electric currents they discover facts which you upon the earth will never know. The organs you see under their wings take the place of hands more skilful than yours. Instead of printing, events are with them recorded by direct photographic impressions, and their very words phonetically fixed. For the rest, they occupy themselves only in scientific researches-that is to say, in the study of nature. The three passions which fill up the largest part of life on the earth, the eager desire for wealth, political ambition, and love, are unknown to them, because they need nothing to sustain life, have no political divisions nor any other government than a council of administration, and because they are androgynes." "Androgynes!" I returned. Then I ventured to add, "Is that better?"

"It is different," she answered. "It spares the race many serious troubles."

"It is necessary to detach one's self entirely," she continued, "from the sensations and the thoughts of earth, to be able to comprehend the infinite diversity manifested by the different forms of creation. Just as on your planet species have changed from age to age, from the strange beings of the earliest geological periods to the

time of the appearance of man; so that now, even the animal and vegetable species of the earth are composed of the most diverse forms; from man to the coral, from the bird to the fish, from the elephant to the butterfly; thus, but over an extent incomparably more vast, the forces of nature have given birth in the innumerable abodes of the sky to an infinite diversity of beings and substances. The forms of the beings of each world are the result of the elements peculiar to it, such as the substance of which it

entered the house in their calfhood and never been outside since. The part of the floor devoted to them was littered with fresh-cut grass, which is brought to them daily. The lady's half of the hut was floored with packed red clay. The furniture consisted of a few jars, a rude bed, like an Indian charpoy, and a low stool. Fire was built on the floor, and as there was no outlet for the smoke the whole interior was as black as a chimney. The atmosphere was suffocating. We were both strong young men, but we couldn't

is composed, its heat, light, electricity, density and gravity. The forms, the organs, the number of the senses-of which you have but five, and those not very perfect ones-depend upon the conditions of life peculiar to each sphere. Life is terrestial on the earth, martial on Mars, saturnian on Saturn, Neptunian on Neptunethat is to say, adapted to its surroundings, or rather, to be more correct, produced and developed by each world, according to its organic state and in consonance with a primordial law which all nature must obey: the law of Progress."

Miliali's Favorite Home.

stand the air of this Princess's fairy boudoir, and we were glad when we could retire. Whew! and Kilimanjaro so cold and pure close by.

We found here in Marangu ornaments that we saw nowhere else. Instead of the broad belts or big folds of beads peculiar to other tribes, the ladies of Marangu encircle their waists with prettily beaded rolls of leather. A length of dressed kidskin is rolled up the size of a small rope, strings of seed beads of many colors are then neatly coiled around it. The result is a very pretty and substantial-looking ornament, smaller editions of which are worn about the neck and arms. About the waist is worn any number, from one to eight, according to the

(Cassell)

WE were shown the residence of the favorite spouse. The interior of the house was interesting as showing us the way in which the most favored lady in all Marangu is lodged. Her quarters were anything but elegant. The circular room was about ten feet in diameter and in shape suggested, as from without, a huge beehive. One-half the space was occupied by three fat cows that had either been built in or had

mered brass, obtained in barter from Ugweno, are also worn. A brass collar and a coil or two of beads about the waist, with a beaded apron three inches wide and six long, used to form the sum total of a Marangu lady's costume a few years ago. What with traders and white visitors, however, cloth has become more plentiful with them nowadays, and only girls of twelve and under are now to be seen in its truly simple and effective garb.

On the Bluff.

leaned over the bulwarks of the bow and looked at him. There he stood, part of his right arm still

O GRANDLY-flowing River!
O silver-gliding River!

Thy springing willows shiver
In the sunset as of old;

They shiver in the silence

Of the willow-whitened islands,
While the sun-bars and the sand-bars
Fill air and wave with gold.

O gay, oblivious River!
O sunset-kindled River!
Do you remember ever

The eyes and skies so blue

On a summer day that shone here,
When we were all alone here,
And the blue eyes were too wise
To speak the love they knew?

O stern impassive River!
O still unanswering River!
The shivering willows quiver

As the night-winds moan and rave.
From the past a voice is calling,
From heaven a star is falling,
And dew swells in the blue-bells
Above her hillside grave.

Becalmed in Pleasant Company. From Stockton's" The Merry Chanter." (Century Co.) AT last the Merry Chanter was got around, the wind filled her sails, the boats cast off, and, pulling to a little distance, their occupants waved their hands and cheered; there was a slight inclination of the deck to leeward, and our ship was under way.

It is seldom, I think, that a ship goes to sea with a crew composed entirely of captains, but the consideration of the fact gave us great comfort. Here were men with long lives of experience. Whatever might happen they would know exactly what to do. These noble seamen had been from pole to pole; they had known the desolation of the icy north; they had sailed through the furious typhoons of the tropics; and with sound ships, or ships with battered sides, they had dashed in safety through maddened waves from port to port. And not only the best of good seamanship, but the best of good luck, we carried with us. In all his life Captain Cyrus had never had anything serious happen to his ships; and why should he begin now? It was especially consoling to me, as I looked at my lovely wife, to think of these things at the outset of our wedding trip.

Not only seamen of vast experience, but able and lively seamen, were our captains. No one could imagine that years hung heavy upon them. Captain Timon stood at the helm with the bold, bright eye of an old sea-king. Captain Garnish, acting as mate, strode tall and strong along the deck, looking up at the sails and rigging with the air of a man who knew exactly what each inch of canvas, each stick of timber, and each piece of cordage should at that moment be doing, and ready, if he saw the least thing amiss, to roar out condemnation.

Captain Teel had assumed the duties of cook, and was now shut up in the galley; but Captain Cyrus, as lively as a squirrel, and still wearing his embroidered velvet slippers, was here, there, and everywhere, stowing away this, coiling up that, and making things generally ship shape, and always with a pleasant grin upon his face as if it were all an old story to him and he liked it.

Doris ran forward to see how the Merry Chanter himself was getting on, and I followed. We

hair appearing ready to float in the breeze, while his open mouth seemed drinking in the fresh salt air.

We had fine sea appetites for our meal, but Doris ate hurriedly. "I am so afraid we'll pass around the point while I am down here," she said. "I wouldn't for the world miss our actual passage out on the bosom of Mother Ocean!"

When we ran on deck we looked about and beheld the point still ahead of us.

"Why, Captain Timon," cried Doris, "have we sailed a bit ?"

"Oh, yes," he said cheerily; "we're gettin' on, we're gettin' on. We haven't lost no headway so fur. This wind 'Il freshen before long, and then you'll see." And, leaving the helm in care of Captain Garnish, he went below.

Whether the wind fell off instead of freshening, or whether, as Doris surmised, we had become accidentally anchored, we certainly made but little progress, and there were times when it seemed as if the distant point were actually becoming more distant.

As there was no probability of an immediate rush out upon Mother Ocean, we went below to look over our little stock of literature; and while so engaged we heard a great sound of flapping and banging upon deck. Hurrying up, we found that the sails were loosely swinging and hanging, and that the crew, assisted by Captain Timon, were engaged in pulling them down.

"What is the matter?" we cried.

Nothin' is the matter," replied Captain Cyrus, cheerily. "We're goin' to fish." Doris sat down on something. "Fish!" she gasped.

Captain Tímon now came towards us. "You see," said he, "it ain't no use tryin' to make headway against this flood tide; and so we thought we'd a great sight better anchor and fish. The fish'll be comin' in lively with the flood. The tide will turn about six o'clock, and then we can go out on the ebb and pass the p'int in just the prettiest time of the evenin'. And if you want to fish, there's lines enough on board for everybody."

For some minutes we were disgusted to the point of not being able to say how disgusted we were. Then Doris, seeing the captains gathered at the stern all busy in preparing their lines, sprung to her feet and declared that she might as well make the best of it, and that she was going to fish.

Captain Cyrus took charge 'of her, baiting her hook, and cheerily giving her all needful help and advice. As for me, I did not care to fish; and as for the butcher, he did not care to fish; and, together, we walked forward.

"It's my opinion," said he, confidentially, "that this is a stone ship. I'll lay two to one there's barnacles on her like the foundation walls of a church, and inside they've loaded her up with stone enough for a monument. If she ever sticks fast on a bar she'll be solid enough to build a lighthouse on."

"You don't seem to have faith in the sailing qualities of our ship," said I. "You must be sorry you took passage with us."

"Oh, no," said he. "I've come on board with all my belongin's, and I intend to stick to her as long as anybody else does. Stone ship, or wooden ship, I don't go back on my bargain."

Genius Is Infinite Patience. From Towle's" Heroes and Martyrs of Invention." (Lee & Shepard.)

AT the age of twenty-one Watt opened a shop of his own in Glasgow, and put out his sign as a mathematical-instrument maker. But he did many other things besides making instruments. He constructed organs, fiddles, guitars, and flutes. At the same time he pursued other studies with the greatest ardor, and soon knew a great deal about engineering, natural history, languages, and literature.

One day an old steam-engine, made by a man named Newcomen, was brought to him to repair. This engine was the best that had ever been invented; but it was a clumsy affair at best, and could not do better or quicker work than horses.

This was the most important of all Watt's discoveries. He worked away on his engine now with redoubled zeal; but years were to pass before his great object was fully achieved. It was ten years after his walk on Glasgow common before his idea had taken shape in an actual working steam-engine. His health more than once failed him, and on one occasion, so discouraged had he become, he bitterly exclaimed, "Of all things in the world, there is nothing so foolish as inventing!"

But the triumph of his life, bringing with it world-wide renown and ample wealth, came at last. About a hundred years ago Watt set up his first complete steam engine in London. It saved labor, and in many industries at once took the place of man and horse power. All the world

As soon as Watt's keen eye examined it, he saw that the Newcomen engine was not good for much. Yet it showed him that an engine might be made which, with the use of steam, would perform wonders.

From that time he gave himself up to an absorbing study as to how to make a really useful and powerful steam-engine. There was something wanting-what was it?

One day, as with knitted brow he was sauntering across the Glasgow common, all of a sudden an idea struck him which solved the difficulty which had so long worried him. It occurred to him that, since steam was elastic, it would rush into any space or vessel the air in which had been exhausted. He hurried home in a fever of impatience. He constructed a vessel separate from the cylinder, and made a connection between them, and the vessel being exhausted of air, he found that the steam rushed into it.

saw after a while what a wonderful machine it was; but no one then could have foretold to what vast uses the idea of Watt's engine was to be put. We, who live in the days of steamships, railways, great mills, elevators, and a thousand other results of Watt's invention, can more clearly see of what enormous benefit it has been to mankind.

James Watt lived to a happy and prosperous old age, crowned with honors and revered by all his countrymen. He pursued his labors and researches to the end, and many were the ingenious devices which he invented. A fine statue of Watt stands in the Museum at Glasgow, near which the little model of his steam-engine, made by himself, was long kept for every one to see. The visitor to Westminster Abbey may observe among the memorials of poets, statesmen, and the most famous of Britain's sons, a statue of Watt, in a sitting posture, with an eloquent inscription by Lord Brougham.