THE LARGEST REPUBLIC IN THE WORLD. WORSHIPING AT SHRINES OF ANCESTORS. bet upon them the same as if they were as large as elephants. Those of us that have heard the song of some cricket in the corner of some old house on a long evening, never dreamed that these little creatures could 17 be made to fight with each other for those who wished to gamble on their strength and endurance. Boys in China go and pry them out from their hiding-places, and sell them to people who wish to pit them against each other. The people often bet large sums upon which cricket will come out ahead in the fight. Finally one of the combatants is killed, the other disposed of as tired and useless, and new ones are produced for more sport. Among the more whimsical curiosities of China is the wheelbarrow sail-boat. A sail is rigged with bamboo mast, and if the one who is propelling the vehicle is going with the wind, he finds that it helps him very much. Freight and passengers both, are often transported in this way. This same plan is resorted to for the purpose of transporting larger vehicles across the country. But the railroad has already "come out of the West", and invaded this new Republic; and, doubtless, within a few years, large portions of its trade will be honey-combed with iron. Many other western improvements will no doubt follow, and we all hope that they will redound to the well-being of this singular but wonderful race. It is to be hoped that now China is a sister-republic, she will send over more specimens of her very best population, to show us what she is really like: that the two nations may dwell in peace and unity for many years; and that many of our own people will find that it is a pleasant thing to sojourn for more or less time in the "Celestial" Republic, either for pleasure or profit, or both. In case this occurs, perhaps we will not have so much use for exclusionlaws. Guest-Spies. BY EDITH H. DREW. I HAD always enjoyed the visits of Eleanor Sanders, because we had few school-friends, and thought enough of each other to continue the acquaintance after academic days were over. She was such a frank, engaging little thing, that no one could help liking her; she was the class valedictorian, and wielded the pen more ably than any of the rest of us; and we petted and admired her. So when Dave and I were married, I told him that we must have Eleanor come and visit us, as soon as it could be arranged. She made a very pleasant guest: she was bright, sparkling, and generally a great entertainer at the table; and amused Dave very much in her rendition of ancient and current gossip. She spent a good deal of the time in her room, industriously engaged in writing; and although she had never stated it as among her ambitions, I was quite sure that she was really writing a book. I was curious at least to know the title; but did not like to ask her about her private business. One day, however, as Nora the maid was emptying a waste-basket from my friend Eleanor's room, preliminary to burning the contents, I noticed a page or two of manuscript, or at least I thought it was that which she had evidently spoiled with an accidental ink-blot, re I was about to burn it, when my eye caught not only my name, but Dave's; and feeling that when she threw the pages away they were everybody's property, I ventured to look at it. It was not the preliminary work upon a book, unless the same was to take the form of letters-as perhaps it was. But a page or two of it read as follows: "You know, Albert, I always thought Ruth and her husband lived together without a flaw in their connubial happiness; but as a guest I of course have exceptional opportunities of observation; and am obliged to say that they are addicted to their little spats-the same as other couples with whom I have visited, the same as you and I will be, maybe, when we are married-although I hope not. The house-keeping bills do not always suit 'Dear Dave', as she persists in calling him, and he has twice stayed out a little too late at night to suit my sweet but somewhat precise little friend. I wrote about this to Ethel Allen, and she replied, laughing through her pen: 'Oh, never mind, Eleanor: there's more or less trouble in all families, you know, only they keep it to themselves, if they're smart.'-Dave is awfully odd in some of his domestic ways; he lacks practice, you see. I think I shall 'do him up' as one of the characters in my first book. But don't tell anybody" 1 GUEST-SPIES. Well, it was rather startling, to learn that everything we said and did was as faithfully reported as if there were a phonograph and a flash-light movingpicture camera in every room: but I tried to be equal to the emergency, and think I was. I wrote a letter to the aforesaid Ethel Allen, who was also one of my guest's correspondents, and an acquaintance of her fiance. "Dear Ethel: I want to tell you what fun it is to watch Eleanor flirt with a young clergyman who comes here to dinner once or twice a week. I don't know whether her 'Dear Albert', as she persists in calling him, would like it; but then he will of course never find it out: I as a hostess, you know, have exceptional chances of observation. I have written to Bessie Bennett about this, and she says"-etc., etc. Well, I left this letter carelessly (?) where I knew Eleanor would run across it and she came to me with it, that same day. "Oh, Ruth! how could you write such a cruel letter!" she exclaimed. "You know I didn't mean any harm in walking and visiting with the young minister, and Albert, if he should find it out, would feel like breaking our engagement: he's awfully jealous! And Bessie will tell him, as sure as the world: she's a great gossip. Oh, how can you be so derelict in your duties as a hostess, as to take advantage of the situation, and tell all the little things that happen! Oh, Ruth!" And her eyes filled with tears. "The letter is only a parody on yours, 19 my dear Eleanor", I replied, holding out her own. "There are duties that guests owe, my darling girl, as well as hosts. Both are in very intimate relationship to each other, and both have a chance, if they wish, or are careless, to do a great deal of harm. "Do not be afraid of the results of this letter, dear: I have not sent it-do not intend to, and wrote it just to show you how disagreeable and perhaps harmful it is, to have one near you who is telling everything that happens, out of which gossip could be made." Eleanor threw herself into my arms and burst into tears. "You have taught me a very useful lesson", she murmured. "I did not realize what I was doing. I will be a guest-spy no more." And I believe she kept her word. Three Thoughts. Almost the greatest kind of power is that of making others use their own power in accordance with your wishes: but the very greatest, is the power of making yourself do the same thing. Clouds that look as if they weighed thousands of tons, are lighter than air; and sorrows that seem as if they would crush us, may be brushed away by the lightest of breezes. Cleanliness and godliness submitted. one time to a vote the question as to which was the more popular: but loveliness was induced to enter the lists, and carried the election twenty to one. Francis Joseph-Oldest of Emperors. EIGHTYONE years old! Sixtythree years on a throne! And for many years on a throne that bore much likeness to a rocking-chair, during the critical decades of the middle of the last century. Dangers threatened Austria from without and from within, during the thirties and forties. Francis I. was the incompetent but kindly Emperor. His brother, Francis Charles, was heir apparent, and the latter's son, Francis Joseph, was next in line. Metternich had ruled with despotic power. To pave the way for better things the Emperor, (persuaded thereto by his consort), abdicated, and his brother renounced the unsteady seat of Empire in favor of the youth of eighteen, his son and heir. From early childhood this right royal prince had a truly tender sympathetic heart. We hear of him as a child of four noticing a sentry, standing in misery in the scorching rays of the midday sun. Seeking his grandfather-Emperor, the latter gives the boy a coin or so for the poor man. The sentry presents arms but mutely declines the gift, as discipline demands. Greatly disappointed, the child returned to his grandfather, who went back with him and lifted him up, so that he could drop the gift into the soldier's cartridge-box. Severe, indeed, is the training of a prince no drawing with diamond pencils on golden slates as pictured by the fertile fancy of Hans Christian Ander sen. Not only must he learn the classic languages of old, and the usual modern foreign tongues, but he must study to address Magyar, Czech, Pole, Sclav, each in his native idiom, and this he did with such good effect as to captivate his disaffected Hungarians when he spoke to them in purest Magyar accent. Francis Joseph was fortunate in his mother, the beautiful, clear-sighted, masterful Archduchess Sophie. Skilled teachers trained him in statecraft, and in the important military studies, which were practical as well as theoretical, for he wore in turn the uniform of a horseman, gunner, and lancer. He became also an expert horseman and huntsman. The history of this reign is the history of Europe from 1848 to 1912. 1848-9, the years associated in America with the discovery of California gold, and a great westward migration, recall to Europeans those uprisings of the people in Austria and Germany and Italy against what seemed to them unjust and unbearable oppression. Though Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, were well off economically and industrially speaking, the people wanted more than mere bread-they could not live by bread alone. Liberty to think, liberty to speak, a voice in the government, they craved, and so the kindest and bestintentioned of Emperors and ministers would not suffice, especially as the people could not read his good intentions, his paternal kindness, in some of the acts promulgated by himself and his ministers. A melting-pot presents a serious problem when the ingredients are bad mixers and the recipe is still a matter of experiment. Mistakes were made by both sides of course, and when rigid press censor FRANCIS JOSEPH-OLDEST OF EMPERORS. ship followed upon violent uprisings, many of the most brilliant youths of Germany and Austria came to America. Thus, when our great conflict broke out, these risked gladly their lives for the country that had given them the liberty so much desired. The writer knew one such man who, while a youth, lay in wait, weapon in hand, in the Tyrolean mountains, to kill the Emperor, who, fortunately for himself and his country, took another road: for it is generally believed that the Emperor's personality and record have held together elements that otherwise might long ago have flown apart. Yes, the Kaiser's rule fell in a period. of storm and stress well described by Lowell: "At the birth of each new Era With a recognizing start, Nation wildly looks at nation Standing with mute lips apart, And glad Truth's yet mightier manchild Leaps beneath the Future's heart." With Kossuth in Hungary, Garibaldi in Italy, Father Jahn, and the thinking folk of Prussia and the other German States, all beginning to stir and throw off the swaddling bands of ages, nation did wildly look at nation; and driven from Italy by France and Prussia, defeated by Bismarck and Moltke abroad, Francis was obliged to grant the Hungarians their independence, for it proved impossible to knit together into one body politic all of these jealous, selfsufficient races. Great were the rejoicings, brilliant, gorgeous, the picturesque pageant, when Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary in 1867, galloping up the artificial mound and waving his sword to the four corners of the earth, according to ancient preCopernican custom. The brave, high-minded, magnanimous Emperor, may, perhaps, reviewing his long life and reign, ask, Have I been a failure? But those who can mirror to themselves, however dimly, the mental and moral earthquake that shook Europe to its royal foundations in the last century; those who can guess, though but vaguely, at the manifold perplexities incident to ruling many various races in days when monarchy is in its last convulsive throes, before final dissolution, may well say, "no." "He that loseth his life, shall save it", may be true of a national body, as of an individual. When Italy and other foreign provinces are lost, the powers thus necessarily concentrated at home, may well lead to an Austria richer in all those forces that make for true life. The Emperor was most happy in his wedded life, marrying his cousin, the lovely Princess Elizabeth, whose tact and kindliness, mingled with good sense and a strong individuality, lightened and glorified the burdens of State. But many tragic incidents saddened the private life of the devoted couple. Alas, what pitiless Furies appeared to have pursued him and his lovable consort! When he was still but a youth of twentythree, an attempt was made upon his life; his brother, Ferdinand Max, was the ill-fated Maximiliar, for so short a time called Emperor of Mexico (his Queen Charlotte losing her mind and dying but a few months ago.) A sister of the Empress Elizabeth was burned in the fatal Charity Bazaar fire. at Paris; the Crown-Prince, Rudolf, the son on whom the Empress doted, heir to the throne, drowned himself,-sin most heinous in Roman Catholic eyes; her well-beloved cousin, King Louis of Bavaria, became mad, and therefore must be kept a royal prisoner; and, last sad blow of all, the Empress herself fell by the assassin's hand in the year that was to be celebrated as the Emperor's jubilee. Truly, Father Time has filled the shadows in heavily, as he has spun the web of the Kaiser's life. Bismarck thus describes the youthful Kaiser, as he appealed to him in his early days: "The young ruler of this country has made a most agreeable impression upon me. The fire of his twenty years |