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day is no doubt intended to be considered not altogether imaginary.

BELONGING to the same school of romance as the one just noted, The Lost Casket,13 from the French of F. de Boisgobey, is an effective story, though more melodramatic than is pleas

Saxon models. Its materials are drawn from the incidents and situations that a fertile invention may conjure up in connection with the machinations and counter-machinations of Russian emissaries and Nihilist conspirators on foreign soil. The narrative describes some of the methods by which these skilled architects of plots and counterplots carry out their plans in Parisian society; and it is relieved of its perilously close resemblance to the procès-verbal of a French commissaire of police with histrionic leanings, by the device

pleasing love stories, in which the characters for whom we are most interested become implicated, either as active or unconscious agents of the Muscovite spies and birds of prey.

MR. BLACK'S Sunrise1 is in a different vein | these two form the romance of the story. The from any of its predecessors, and exhibits his tale has some tragic and sensational episodes; versatility at the cost of some of his most pop- its love romance is exceptionally pure and ular and attractive characteristics. In the bracing in its tone; and its delineation of the most of his former novels the atmosphere and dark designs and ruthless methods of the Concharacters have been typically English or Scot-tinental socialistic conspirators of the present tish, and their descriptions and incidents have been native to English and Scottish scenery or society. In this romance all these are exotics, alien to English air and sky and soil, foreigu to the temperament of English men and women, and having a furtive existence only in those dark corners of England where political desperadoes and refugees hide from the lighting to a taste formed on our severer Angloof day. The story is a combination of romance and politics. Its motive is supplied by the intrigues of a wide-spread communistic society, whose head is in Italy, and which, among its manifold ramifications, has a subordinate society in London, under the direction of a bold, astute, and unscrupulous agent, whose fidelity is insured by his ambition for advancement, and the certainty of his assassination if he falters in his trust. Under the pretense of a union of all peoples in a common brotherhood of mankind, the society is the most relentless of despotisms, which hesitates at nothing, how-of ingrafting upon it a brace of moderately ever ruthless, in order to the accomplishment of its ends, and whose membership is cemented by oaths and the fear of vengeance by poison or the dagger. Of this society a few hold the reins and exercise power; a host of spies, agents, informers, spies upon spies, and assassins form its effective force; and the membership is recruited to a considerable extent from men who are dreamers or enthusiasts, or perhaps thoughtful and honest reformers, but who are not admitted to the secret objects of the society until there is no longer a way of retreat open to them. On this dark background Mr. Black has painted the romance of a queenly woman, innocent, pure, and radiant with beauty and every noble womanly virtue, endowed with splendid gifts of intellect and with boundless faculties for love and devotion, and who is an enthusiast for the avowed lofty objects of the society, of whose real aims and unscrupulous methods she has no conception. On this stately and beautiful figure Mr. Black has expended all the wealth of his art. She is the daughter of the scheming and ambitious English agent or chief of the society, and although he has a genuine parental love for her, he does not scruple to use her as an unconscious decoy to the rich and brave and titled young Englishmen whom he would enroll. One of these, for love of her, compromises himself in associations and deeds which are hateful to his nature, but finally escapes from them, and is rewarded by a return of love as profound and self-sacrificing as his own. The fortunes of

12 Sunrise. A Story of These Times. By WILLIAM BLACK. 12mo, pp. 461. "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 85. New York: Harper and Brothers.

THE remaining novels and stories of the month, whose merits warrant their admission to our Record, with such general words of commendation as may dispose our readers to welcome them to their households as safe, wholesome, and agreeable visitants, can be announced by their titles only. They are The Dean's Wife," by Mrs. Eiloart; The Posy Ring,15 by Mrs. Alfred W. Hunt; Under Slieve-Ban,1 by R. E. Fraucillon; Better than Good," by Annie E. Ridley; Under Life's Key, and Other Stories,18 by Mary Cecil Hay; Stories and Romances,1o by H. E. Scudder; and Ilka on the Hill-Top, and Other Stories,20 by H. H. Boyesen.

1 The Lost Casket. Translated from La Main Coupée of F. DE BOISGOBEY, by S. LEE. Sq. 16mo, pp. 541. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

14 The Dean's Wife. A Novel. By Mrs. C. J. EILOART. "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 58. New York: Harper and Brothers.

15 The Posy Ring. A Novel. By Mrs. ALFRED W. HUNT. "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 19. New York: Harper and Brothers.

16 Under Slieve-Ban. A Yarn in Seven Knots. By R. and Co. E. FRANCILLON. 16mo, pp. 275. New York: Henry Holt 17 Better than Good. A Story for Girls. By ANNIE E. RIDLEY. "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 47. New York: Harper and Brothers.

18 Under Life's Key, and Other Stories. By MARY CECIT. HAY. "Franklin Square Library." 4to, pp. 61. New York: Harper and Brothers.

19 Stories and Romances. By H. E. SOUDDER. 16mo, pp. 298. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Co.

20 Ilka on the Hill-Top, and Other Stories. By H. H. BOYESEN. 16mo, pp. 240. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Editor's Bistorical Record.

UR Record is closed on the 19th of Febru- | the bill during a continuous session of forty

OUR Recond if flowing appropriation bills

one hours, at the end of which time the Speaker were passed during the month: Naval, $14,405,- arbitrarily closed the debate, and the bill was 787, House, January 20; the Senate, January 27, read. Messrs. Parnell, Finnigan, and Dillon added $259,750 to the House bill, and passed it; were suspended for obstruction, and were the House, February 3, concurred in some of ejected from the House; twenty-seven Home the amendments, and rejected others. Indi- Rulers who refused to vote were also suspendan, $4,597,866 08, Senate, January 21; House ed and removed. The state trials of the Land amendment abolishing the Indian Commis-Leaguers at Dublin ended, January 25, with sion was rejected; the House, February 3, in- | the disagreement of the jury. sisted on retaining the amendment. Post-of- The Boers in South Africa defeated the Britfice, $40,760,432, House, January 25; Senate ish forces in two attacks, one on January 26 passed it, February 14, without the subsidy and the other February 8. amendment, which was tabled. Legislative, House, February 9. Pension, Senate, February 9. River and Harbor, $19,189,800, House, February 17.

The Chilian army entered Lima, the capital of Peru, January 17, after a desperate battle, in which both sides lost heavily.

The Russians routed the Tekke Turcomans, and captured Geok-Tepe and Dengil-Tepe Jan

The Three-per-Cent. Refunding Bill passed the House January 19, and the Senate Febru-uary 24. Over four thousand corpses of Tekkes ary 18. The Senate amended it by making the bond a 5-20 instead of a 5-10.

President Hayes, February 1, sent a message to Congress sustaining in the main the findings of the Ponca Commission, and approving its recommendations. The President suggested that the general Indian policy for the future should embrace the following ideas: First, the Indians should be prepared for citizenship by giving to their young of both sexes that industrial and general education which is requisite to enable them to be self-supporting and capable of self-protection in civilized communities; second, lands should be allotted to the Indians in severalty, inalienable for a certain period; third, the Indians should have a fair compensation for their lands not required for individual allotments, the amount to be invested, with suitable safeguards, for their benefit; fourth, with these prerequisites secured, the Indians should be made citizens, and invested with the rights and charged with the responsibilities of citizenship.

The Senate, February 4, passed Mr. Morgan's concurrent resolution declaring that the President of the Senate is not invested by the Constitution of the United States with the right to count the votes of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, so as to determine what votes shall be received and counted, or what votes shall be rejected. An amendment was added declaring in effect that it is the duty of Congress to pass a law at once providing for the orderly counting of the electoral vote. The House concurred February 5.

On the 9th of February the electoral votes were counted by the Vice-President in the presence of both Houses, and Garfield and Arthur were declared elected President and VicePresident of the United States.

In the British House of Commons, January 24, Mr. Forster moved a bill for the protection of life and property in Ireland. The Home Rulers stubbornly resisted the first reading of

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were found inside the fortress.

The main outlines of the arrangement between Russia and China are that Russia shall restore all of Kuldja, reserving a small territory in the northwest of Ili. China will pay a substantial amount over and above the 5,000,000 rubles (less than $4,000,000) stipulated by the treaty of Livadia for the expenses of Russia's military preparations.

DISASTERS.

January 19.-Terrific gale and snow-storm in Great Britain. Several vessels wrecked on the coasts, and many lives lost.

January 26.-Report reached London of the loss of a Singapore trading steamer. Twenty dead bodies recovered, and many others carried away by the current.

January 31.--Twelve fishing-smacks wrecked at Sables d'Olonne, Bay of Biscay. Fortysix men drowned.

February 4.-German ship Bremen wrecked near Lerwick, Shetland Islands. Thirteen of the crew drowned.

February 6.-Steam-ship Bohemian, from Boston for Liverpool, wrecked in Dunlough Bay, on the Irish coast. Thirty-five lives lost.

February 7.-Colliery explosion near Chell, Staffordshire, England. Seventeen men lost.

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"One bitter cold night, early in the winter, I had a call to visit a patient about thirty-five miles distant, the trail lying over an uninhabited plain, vast tracts of which were inclosed in fences of three wires, fastened to cedar posts. We entered one of these ranches, as they are called here, through a gap left for the purpose, and after a short time the trail was entirely obliterated by the snow. No shelter was near, and we wandered about for some time, when I remarked to my driver, an 'old timer,' that the advantage of being inside a ranch of five or six thousand acres, inclosed by a wire fence, was not very apparent, as we had lost our way all the same. 'No,' drawled my companion, swinging his arm vigorously; 'but I s'pose we aren't quite so liable to take cold.'”

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A Scotch minister was asked if he was not very much exhausted after preaching three hours. "Oh no," he replied; "but it would | have done you good to see how worried the people were."

ANOTHER anecdote from Judge Carter's book, showing how Lawyer John Brough-a very able man in his day-was beaten by a darky witness. A mulatto was on trial for murder. Among the State's witnesses was an old darky who answered to the name of George Washington. His evidence was strong against the prisoner, and Mr. Brough desired to weaken it by throwing ridicule on the old negro. LAWYER B. "So your name is George Washington ?"

WITNESS. "Yes, sah, dat be my 'pellation." LAWYER. "Where did you get that 'pellation ?"

LAWYER. "From whom did you get it?" WITNESS. "Well, now you hab me, boss. Dunno."

LAWYER. "Are you a son of General George Washington, the father of his country ?"

WITNESS. "Well, I s'pec' I be. If he was de fodder of all dis country, he must hab ben de fodder ob de black folks as well as de fodder ob de wite folks, and as I be one ob dem black folks, he must hab ben my fodder as well as de rest."

LAWYER. "Don't you know that the great George Washington never told a lie ?"

WITNESS. "Dat's what um say, and in dis 'ticular I much 'sembles him, fo' I nebber tole no lies in de whole curse of my bressed life, sah."

LAWYER. "And you have told no lie about this case?"

WITNESS. "Why, bress de Lord! no, honey, no; I's tole nuffin but de whole trufe." LAWYER. "Couldn't you have made some mistakes in your testimony?"

WITNESS. "Dunno 'bont dat. We all be po' sinners here below, and I's one of dem fellows here below, shual; an' I's a sinner, shuah."

LAWYER. "You are a good witness for the State, Mr. George Washington, and I want to call your attention to the facts."

WITNESS. "T'ank you, sah, fo' de compliment; but you can't fool dis niggah. I's great on de fac's; I knows dem all fust rate, salı."

LAWYER. "Please state how long time elapsed between the act of Bill Perkins's throwing the knife over the table at the body of the deceased, and the deceased's calling Bill Perkins a scoundrel and liar. Be particular about this."

WITNESS. "Well, boss, I didn't hab no watch -I's not able to carry one. And if I had one at such a 'larmin' time, I shouldn't looked at it to count de minutes an' de seconds; but if my memory be jes so, it be my 'pinion dere was s'ficient time 'tween times fo' dat murderin' Bill Perkins to demediate and preliberate; dere was plenty time, in my 'pinion, fo' murder in de fust degree to be hatched out."

Mr. Brough saw he was not eliciting anything favorable from the darky, who seemed in his peculiar way to be posted in the law, so he said:

"We don't desire your legal opinion, Mr. George Washington. You're no lawyer. You may leave the stand."

WITNESS. "Bress de Lord, I'm not one ob de perfession. I wouldn't tell as many lies as dey do for de whole world. T'ank you, sah; I be glad to gib up my place to de next gemman."

Thanks to Mr. Brough's eloquence, Mr. William Perkins was convicted of murder in the second degree, and therefore escaped the hanging so much desiderated by the good colored

WITNESS. "Way down in ole Virginny, sah." | G. Washington.

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I HAD an infatuation

For beautiful Sallie Brown,
Who cherished a reputation
As the sauciest flirt in town.

Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown!
Ah, sauciest flirt in town!
You had many a gay flirtation,
But your pride at last came down.

You had an exalted station,

My beautiful Sallie Brown,'

And you drove to desperation

The killingest beaux in town.
Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown!

Ah, sauciest flirt in town!

You had many a gay flirtation,
But your pride at last came down.

Men courted annihilation

From beautiful Sallie Brown, And the chorus of lamentation

From all the beanx in town

Was music to Sallie Brown.

Ah, sauciest flirt in town!

You had many a gay flirtation,

But your pride at last came down.

For a socially high importation

Mashed beautiful Sallie Brown.

A Count with his wealth and his station

Cut out all the beaux in town.

Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown!

Ah, sauciest flirt in town!
You had many a gay flirtation,
But your pride at last came down.

He was tendered a grand ovation
By beautiful Sallie Brown,

And her evident subjugation
Surprised and amused the town.
Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown!
Ah, sauciest flirt in town!
You had many a gay flirtation,
But your pride at last came down.

1

Twas a desperate, short flirtation
With beautiful Sallie Brown,

And excited the execration

Of all the beaux in town.

Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown! Ah, sauciest flirt in town! You had many a gay flirtation, But your pride at last came down. Then he offered his wealth and station At the shrine of Miss Sallie Brown;

His immediate acceptation

Was the talk of all the town.

Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown!

Ah, sauciest flirt in town!

You had many a gay flirtation,

But your pride at last came down.

Immense was your exultation,

My beautiful Sallie Brown;

But it was of short duration,

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For your "Count" soon fled the town.
For his title and wealth, Sallie Brown,

Were bogus alike, Sallie Brown.

You had a most charming flirtation,

But your pride at last came down.

All your hauteur was affectation,

My beautiful Sallie Brown;

For your bitter humiliation

Was patent to all the town.

Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown!

Ah, sauciest flirt in town!
You had many a gay flirtation,
But your pride at last came down.

Still bright is the rich carnation

Of your fair rounded cheek, Sallie Brown;
But you broke the infatuation
Wherewith you ruled the town.

Ah, beautiful Sallie Brown,
Ah, sauciest flirt in town!
You've had many a gay flirtation,
But still you remain Sallie Brown.

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IN the Legislature of Ohio, some years ago, there was a warm dispute whether a certain proposed railroad should commence at a given point down or at a certain other up the river. "Who ever heard," said a down-the-river advocate, "of beginning anything at the top? Who ever heard of building a chimney from the top downward? Who ever saw a house begun at the top?"

and asking for her hand. Being a precise and punctilious individual, and nice to a degree even in matters of emotion, he inclosed to her a stamp for the return postage. "Very sentimental," was remarked by one of the party who had listened to the ludicrous anecdote.

"Two cent-imental," was the clever rejoinder of a bright young lady seated opposite.

Up jumped a Dutch member from an up-the-To the Editor of Harper's Monthly: river county. "Meester Brezident, de jentlemans zay dat dees beeznes ees all von hoomboog, pecause vee vants to pegeen our railroat mit de top ov de Shtate, und he make some seely combarisons apout de houze und de schimney. I veel also ask de jentlemans von questions. Een hees bart ov de Shtate, ven dey pegins to built von vell, do dey pegins mit de bottom ov de vell, or do dey pegins mit de top ov de vell? Veel de jentlemans bleese answer me dat leetle von question ?"

and accurate article of Mr. George Merrill on the French Republic in the last issue of Harper's Monthly. In fact, I may say that, having resided over five years in this country, I have never as yet seen in any American periodical such an impartial and comprehensive survey of the politMerrill's article a few inaccuracies and omissions, which ical situation of France. I have noticed, however, in Mr. I hope you will allow me to correct for the benefit of your readers. I will follow in my presentation of facts the same order as Mr. Merrill himself.

DRAR SIR,-I have read with deep interest the very full

The laughter which explosively followed this Teutonic retort showed who, in the opinion of the legislators, had the better of the argument.

A CORRESPONDENT, wandering through an old church-yard in Ulster County last summer, noticed the following epitaph:

Here friends may mourn,

And strangers weep.

Her mouldering form

In memory keep.

Respected worth encircled here
A husband's joy, a name so dear.
Of stature large, her form genteel,
An active mind and lovely friend.

That line in italics strikes us as just too sweet
for anything.

ROOM for Guilford, Connecticut:

A man in that town who was too poor to indulge in any luxuries other than children was presented by a loving but unreckoning wife with triplets-three boys-and he sought for some family to adopt them. Mr. Clark was rather inclined to take them, but his good wife thought one would perhaps be enough. They were talking it over before their little eight-year-old daughter, who said, "Why don't we take one of them, ma?-or don't they want to break the set ?"

AT a recent dinner party in this metropolis, the eccentricities of certain people were being remarked upon. One lady related a circumstance connected with the courtship of a dilettant bachelor, who lately came to town, and soon afterward met at the house of a mutual friend a charming young lady, with whom he from that moment fell violently in love. A sudden and serious illness befell him next day, which prevented him from again meeting the object of his adoration, as he was ill several weeks. Learning her address, he resolved to write her a note, and did so, avowing his love,

First. In dealing with the Councils General, Mr. Merrill omits to mention a very important reform introduced by the law of August 10, 1871; I mean the institution of the Permanent Committee (Commission Permanente). The Permanent Committee consists of five, six, or seven members of the Council General, elected by their colleagues, to whom is intrusted the task of seeing that all resolutions of the Council be faithfully carried out. They meet at least once a month in the intervals between the sessions of the Council, and report to the same at the opening of the two sessions of April and August. I will add that these Permanent Committees have proved a most valuable check on the omnipotence of the prefects, and the most effectual agency for combining the reality of local selfgovernment with such a strong centralization as has been produced in France by fourteen centuries of national existence.

Second. In his account of the system of municipal government of the communes of France, Mr. Merrill seems to be under the impression that all mayors are now elected by the municipal councils. An exception must be made for the chefs-lieux of arrondissements and departments, and all other cities of 20,000 inhabitants and over, the mayors of which are still appointed by the President of the Republic. Still, it must be added that it has been the constant practice of the republican administration to consult the wishes of the municipal councils, and to appoint the men they would have elected.

Third. The greatest inaccuracy in Mr. Merrill's paper I find in his account of the composition of the Superior Council of Public Instruction. The law of March 19, 1873, according to whose prescriptions the Council had been composed as Mr. Merrill represents it to be, was repealed laws for the reorganization of public education. The a year ago, and the law replacing it is one of the Ferry Council as now composed consists of sixty members, twenty of whom are appointed by the Minister of Public Education, while the forty others are elected by the members of the academies, the professors and teachers of the universities, colleges, public and private schools. No although some may be elected as professors or teachers minister of any religion, as such, sits now in the Council, by their own colleagues.

Lastly. I will say that there is not in France any such thing as a state religion. There are four religions which are recognized by the state, and whose ministers are salaried by the nation-the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, the Presbyterian or Calvinistic, and the Jewish religion. Legally all these religions are on a footing of perfect equality. Whatever advantages the Catholic religion possesses come from its having been a state religion until 1792, and from the fact that at the present time over thirty-six millions of Frenchmen are still nominally Roman Catholics. Yours respectfully,

ADOLPHE COIN,

Correspondent of the République Française of Paris.

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