IME was when slaves were exported like cattle from the British Coast and exposed for sale in the Roman market. These men and women who were thus sold were supposed to be guilty of witchcraft, debt, blasphemy or theft. Or else they were prisoners taken in war-they had forfeited their right to freedom, and we sold them. We said they were incapable of self-government and so must be looked after. Later we quit selling British slaves, but began to buy and trade in African humanity We silenced conscience by saying, "It's all right-they are incapable of selfgovernment." We were once as obscure, as debased, as ignorant, as barbaric, as the African is now. I trust that the time will come when we are willing to give to Africa the opportunity, the hope, the right to attain to the same blessings that we ourselves enjoy.-William Pitt.

HE highest study of all is that which teaches us to develop those principles of purity and perfect virtue which Heaven bestowed upon us at our birth, in order that we may acquire the power of influencing for good those amongst whom we are placed, by our precepts and example; a study without an end-for our labors cease only when we have become perfect-an unattainable goal, but one that we must not the less set before us from the very first. It is true that we shall not be able to reach it, but in our struggle toward it we shall strengthen our characters and give stability to our ideas, so that, whilst ever advancing calmly in the same direction, we shall be rendered capable of applying the faculties with which we have been gifted to the best possible account.-Confucius

A great city, whose image dwells on the memory of man, is the type of some great idea Rome represents conquest; faith hovers over Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the preeminent quality of the antique world-art.-Disraeli.

Silence is a true friend who never betrays. -Confucius.

WHAT makes a man noble? Not sacri

fice, for the most extreme sensualist is capable of sacrifice. Not the following of a passion, for some passions are shameful. Not the serving of others without any self-seeking, for perhaps it is just the self-seeking of the noblest which brings forth the greatest results. No; but something in passion which is special though not conscious; a discernment which is rare and singular and akin to frenzy; a sense of heat in things which for others are cold; a perception of values for which no estimate has been established; a sacrificing on altars which are dedicated to an unknown God; a courage that claims no homage; a self-sufficiency which is super-abundant and unites men and things.-Nietzsche.

ACROIX told Gustave Doré one day, early in his life in Paris, that he should illustrate a new edition of his works in four volumes, and he sent them to him. In a week Lacroix said to Doré, who had called, "Well, have you begun to read my story?" "Oh! I mastered that in no time; the blocks are all ready;" and while Lacroix looked on stupefied, the boy dived into his pockets and piled many of them on the table, saying, "The others are in a basket at the door; there are three hundred in all!"

-Blanche Roosevelt.

When thee builds a prison, thee had better build with the thought ever in thy mind that thee and thy children may occupy the cells.-Elizabeth Fry. (Report on Paris Prisons. Addressed to the King of France.)

A man can know nothing of mankind without knowing something of himself. Self-knowledge is the property of that man whose passions have their full play, but who ponders over their results.

-Disraeli.

Love of truth will bless the lover all his days; yet when he brings her home, his fair-faced bride, she comes emptyhanded to his door, herself her only dower.-Theodore Parker.

ELIX Mendelssohn was not a bit "sentimental," though he had so much sentiment. Nobody enjoyed fun more than he, and his company was the most joyous that could be. One evening in hot summer we stayed in the wood above our house later than usual. We had been building a house of fir branches in Susan's garden up in the wood. We made a fire, a little way off it, in a thicket among the trees, Mendelssohn helping with the utmost zeal, dragging up more and more wood: we tired ourselves with our merry work; we sat down round our fire, the smoke went off, the ashes were glowing, it began to get dark, but we did not like to leave our bonfire.

"If we had some music!" Mendelssohn said, "Could any one get something to play on?" Then my brother recollected that we were near the gardener's cottage, and that the gardener had a fiddle. Off rushed our boys to get the fiddle. When it came it was the wretchedest thing in the world, and it had only one string.

Mendelssohn took the instrument in his hands and fell into fits of laughter over it when he heard the sounds it made. His laughter was very catching, he put us all into peals of merriment. But he, somehow, afterwards brought beautiful music out of the poor old fiddle, and we sat listening to one strain after another till the darkness sent us home.

-Reminiscences of Alice Taylor.

The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future; and that his thoughts are as children born to him, which he may not carelessly let die.

-Herbert Spencer.

A man is a great thing upon the earth and through eternity; but every jot of the greatness of man is unfolded out of woman.-Walt Whitman.

The Courage we desire and prize is not the Courage to die decently, but to live manfully.-Carlyle.

HO I am truly sensible of the high honor done me in this appointment, yet I feel great distress from a consciousness that my abilities and military experience may not be equal to the extensive and important trust. However, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess in their service and for the support of the glorious cause I beg they will accept my most cordial thanks for this distinguished testimony of their approbatione se

But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.

As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will discharge, and that is all I desire. -George Washington. On His Appointment as Commander-in-Chief.

Y piano is to me what his boat is to the seaman, what his horse is to the Arab: nay, more, it has been till now my eye, my speech, my life. Its strings have vibrated under my passions, and its yielding keys have obeyed my every caprice Perhaps the secret tie which holds me so closely to it is a delusion; but I hold the piano very high s

In my view it takes the first place in the hierarchy of instruments; it is the oftenest used and the widest spread. . . . . In the circumference of its seven octaves it embraces the whole circumference of an orchestra; and a man's ten fingers are enough to render the harmonies which in an orchestra are only brought out by the combination of hundreds of musicians.

We can give broken chords like the harp, long sustained notes like the wind, staccati and a thousand passages which before it seemed only possible to produce on this or that instrument. . . . The piano has on the one side the capacity of assimilation; the capacity of taking into itself the life of all instruments; on the other it has its own life, its own growth, its individual development > It is a mi

crocosm II

My highest ambition is to leave to piano-players after me some useful instructions, the footprints of attained advance, in fact, a work which may some day provide a worthy witness of the labor and study of my youth.

I remember the greedy dog in La Fontaine, which let the juicy bone fall from its mouth in order to grasp a shadow. Let me gnaw in peace at my bone. The hour will come, perhaps all too soon, in which I shall lose myself and hunt after a monstrous intangible shadow.

HE first performance of the Messiah took place in the Neale's Music Hall in Dublin, on 18th April, 1742, at midday, and, apropos of the absurdities of fashion, it may be noted that the announcements contained the following request: "Ladies who honor this performance with their presence will be pleased to come without hoops, as it will greatly increase the charity by making room for more company."

The work was gloriously successful, and over £400 were obtained the first day for the Dublin charities. Handel seems always to have had a special feeling with regard to this masterpiece of his—as if it were too sacred to be merely used for making money, like his other works. . . . In this connection a fine saying of his may be repeated. Lord Kinnoul had complimented him on the noble " entertainment" which by the Messiah he had lately given the town.

"My lord," said Handel, "I should be sorry if I only entertained them-Į wish to make them better."

And when some one questioned him on his feelings when composing the Hallelujah Chorus, he replied in his peculiar English, "I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God Himself."

What a fine saying that was of poor old George III, in describing the Pastoral Symphony in this oratorio—“ I could see the stars shining through it!"

The now constant custom of the audience to rise and remain standing during the performance of this chorus, is said to have originated in the following manner: On the first production of the work in London, the audience were exceedingly struck and affected by the music in general; and when that chorus struck up, "For the Lord God Omnipotent" in the "Hallelujah," they were so transported that they all together, with the king (who happened to be present), started up and remained standing until the chorus ended. This anecdote I had from Lord Kinnoul.-Dr. James Beattie.

It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.-Benjamin Disraeli.

HE Parnell I knew-and I may claim to have known him more intimately than anyone else on earth, both in public and private lifewas incapable of motiveless brusqueries. That Parnell could crush utterly and without remorse I know; that he could deal harshly, even brutally, with anyone or anything that stood against him in the path he meant to tread, I admit, but that he would ever go out of his way to say a grossly rude thing or make an unprovoked attack, whether upon the personal appearance, morals, or character of another man, I absolutely deny. Parnell was ruthless in all his dealings with those who thwarted his will, but-he was never petty.

Parnell had a most beautiful and harmonious voice when speaking in public. Very clear it was, even in moments of passion against his own and his country's foes-passion modulated and suppressed until I have seen, from the Ladies' Gallery, his hand clenched until the "Orders of the Day" which he held were crushed into pulp, and only that prevented his nails piercing his hand. Often I have taken the “Orders " out of his pocket, twisted into shreds-a fate that also overtook the slips of notes and the occasional quotations he had got me to look out for him.

Sometimes when he was going to speak I could not leave my aunt long enough to be sure of getting to the Ladies' Gallery in time to hear him; or we might think it inexpedient that I should be seen to arrive so soon after him at the House. On these occasions, when I was able, I would arrive perhaps in the middle of his speech and look down upon him, saying in my heart, "I have come!" and invariably I would see the answering signal-the lift of the head and lingering touch of the white rose in his coat, which told me, "I know, my Queen."

This telepathy of the soul, intuition, or what you will, was so strong between us that, whatever the business before the House, whether Parnell was speaking or not, in spite of the absolute impossibility of distinguishing any face or form

behind the grille of the Ladies' Gallery, Parnell was aware of my presence, even though often he did not expect me, as soon as I came in, and answered my wordless message by the signal that I knew. Katherine O'Shea (Mrs. Charles Stewart Parnell).

Rome endured as long as there were Romans. America will endure as long as we remain American in spirit and in thought.-David Starr Jordan.

If we had paid no more attention to ou plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weeds. -Luther Burbank,

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one has to do.-James M. Barrie.

We no longer depend for Salvation upon either a man or a book. Men help us; books help us; but back of all stands ou divine reason.-Charles W. Eliot.

You may depend upon it that there are as good hearts to serve men in palaces as in cottages.-Robert Owen.

It is only those who do not know how to work that do not love it. To those who do, it is better than play.—it is religion. -J. H. Patterson.

Affection can withstand very severe storms of vigor, but not a long polar frost of indifference.-Sir Walter Scott.

Illusion and wisdom combined are the charm of life and art.-Joseph Joubert.

When one begins to turn in bed it is time to turn out.-Wellington.

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. -Mark Twain.

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.-Victor Hugo.