fat spread throughout the house. Like lightning I flew down the stairs and saw, O terror! Zephyra sitting on the table, book in hand, all the stove lids open and the flames rising high around and into the frying pan, the sauce running over, the cat at the cream which was to go with the strawberries; the dog just jumping through the window with the half-roasted bird; the table buried under an accumulation of pots and pans, vegetables, preserved fruits, spices, and so forth, while Zephyra, lost completely in her novel, recited in tragic tones: "Yes, the day had come the last day of the miserable creature. It will be revenged, the innocent blood of the faithful Constantia. In vain he calls for mercy. Mercy? No! death, death alone shall be thy fate, thou monster; death without the triumphant-"

"Oh, most honored madam! Oh, heaven, what do I see? The dog! Come here! Oh, the villain! The cat! The milk! Go away from it! Oh, Lord! Lord! The sauce! The meat!"—

This time I was really angry and let her feel it, and she was hurrying around in great excitement to put everything in order again.

"But the bird, Zephyra," I called out.

"No fear, madam. Are there not out there a number of the dear little feathery flock, sleek and fat? I will run out and-"

It was now high time for me to dress, because the guests would soon arrive. Indeed shortly afterward they came. I received them as best I could, but being worried about the servant I soon left them to look after her. She was just coming from the dining room, where I found everything mixed up on the table-soup, bread, meat, cucumbers, salad, strawberries, etc., etc., in fact a conglomeration of provisions and delicacies which could hardly be imagined.

I ran to the kitchen to call Zephyra to help me. "Zephyra, quick!"

"One moment, madam. 'How will it be with Constantia? Will she with broken heart, weeping on the grave of her love—””

Thoroughly angry I ran up to her, seized the book and threw it out of the window.

"Oh, my Constantia !" she shouted, and with one bound she went through the window and saved her precious book from the dog's teeth and sat down, calmly reading, right into the midst of my best flower bed:

"Oh dear, oh dear, what shall I do?" I exclaimed, thoroughly astonished and frightened and quite at a loss what to do. But the thought of the dinner and the bidden guests soon made me come to a decision. I left Zephyra to do as she liked among the flowers and was determined to see to everything myself. But before I found time to open the kitchen door it flew open as if struck by a whirlwind, and there stood Zephyra before me, her right hand raised on high, and reciting with theatrical inspiration:

"Look at me, you wicked man! I am Constantia, the murdered innocent! My heart was pierced by Reginald, the wicked, but my bloody shadow shall follow you forever. Roosters, cats and dogs, all is mixed together like the feathers on the breath of zephyr and winds a wreath of immortels round my grave, the grave of Constantia, the murdered. innocent. I am Constantia-"

At this terrible noise my husband and the assembled guests came hurrying along and tried to pacify her, but in vain. The poor creature seemed crazy. She had lost her reason, a victim of the pernicious and ridiculous dime novel literature.

Later she recovered somewhat under careful nursing, but in all my life I shall never forget that family feast and forever hold to my resolution formed that day to do everything myself rather than have to do with another romantic servant.

66

"W

HAT are all those men looking at, papa? | Has something happened in the sky?" and as Reginald called his father's attention they saw the opposite sidewalk crowded with people of all conditions looking, evidently, at something very high if not actually in the sky.

"I see," said Mr. Burton; "they are looking at the highest point in Chicago, a tower actually three hundred and eighty-five feet high; twelve of its stories in the main building, the rest in the tower itself."

"But what was this very high tower built for?" asked Reginald.

LEANING TOWER OF PISA.

"In other words," replied his father, "what does this tower represent, rising, as it does, above everything in our great city? If it were in a Catholic country, it would be attached to a church, would be its bell-tower; in other words, would represent God in His own world, as the one Supreme Being. Now and here it represents a large mercantile house, lifting itself above all its neighbors and rivals; represents, too, the commercial spirit and mind of our city and of our people. It is very wonderful as it stands against the sky and one could wish it represented an idea of life as lofty as itself. But it reminds me of several towers of which all

of us have heard, some of which I have seen, and this evening we will have a talk on Towers.'

Mr. Burton was as good as his word; if he had not been Reginald would have been prompt in reminding him of his promise. The stormy March evening made the whole family glad to gather in the warm library with its wood fire; no sham logs with gas pipes and jets, but a genuine fire of hard maple wood, which left glowing coals on the hearth by the time they separated for the night.

When they came together after supper, Mr. Burton had evidently prepared himself for a talk, and he began with-what do you think? The Tower of Babel; turning to the eleventh chapter of Genesis, in which is such a dramatic account of the building of the tower; what started the idea in the minds of these wandering tribes of men; wandering over the face of the earth which had been, so lately, overflowed by that deluge to which all nations bear witness by their traditions as well as the earth itself.

The children had read this very chapter a hundred times, they declared, but when their father had finished reading it, they again declared they had never taken in the poetic sense of this wonderful description. "It is all in the way anything is read," said one.

"It is all in the way one senses it, or takes in its meaning," said Mrs. Burton. "When your father reads it, his very voice takes a different inflection from bearing in mind the wonderfulness of this coming together of wandering people; their determination to build a tower which would make their name famous; make, also, a rallying place when they wished to carry out any great design. And now comes that part which we may call dramatic, when the Lord is said to have come down to look at the city and tower which the children of Adam were building, and seeing they had only that ambition in their hearts which makes strife among men, said: "Behold it is one people, and all have one tongue; let us confuse their language so that they will not understand each other's speech; and the result was leaving the tower unfinished."

"And this is why we are tormented today," said Ned, "with the study of all these languages."

"Precisely," said his mother, "but remember you have here the explanation of those 'roots' of languages, as they are called, proving, to this day, that all these varying languages really came from one original language; the Bible verifying the linguists, the linguists bearing testimony to the truth of the Bible narration. But your father has other towers in his mind, for instance the Round Towers of Ireland, it may be."

"These are so much matters of conjecture," said Mr. Burton, "that we can only speak of them as picturesque features of the Irish coast, contrasting

with the beauty of its interior; but while these round towers which were in some cases used for defense, where important annals were stored for safety throughout Northern Europe, over which, for so many centuries, roved barbarous tribes, while other parts of the world were teeming with civilization, we find all through Southern Europe towers of the greatest architectural beauty and depositories, as it were, of the artistic sense of the people by whom they were reared.

"Bologna is celebrated for its towers, its leaning towers; but although people are fond of saying that these towers were intended to lean, I have never believed that the architects of the old city of Bologna, founded by Etruscans noted as lovers of

TOWER OF GIOTTO

beauty, would lend themselves to such a freak; we must rather believe that these towers were begun in good faith, but stood on treacherous soil. The Asinelli Tower is two hundred and seventy-two feet in height and leans three feet and five inches from the perpendicular. The Garisenda Tower is only one hundred and thirty-eight feet high, but leans eight and a half from the perpendicular, and is still settling. Dante compares the giant Antagus, who bends toward him, to this tower when a cloud passes over it. In fact, it leaned so much that it was impossible to complete it.

"But of all the leaning towers none can compare with that at Pisa for beauty. This tower is only

one hundred and seventy-nine feet high, but it leans thirteen feet from the perpendicular. Galileo availed himself of the oblique position of this tower in his experiments regarding the laws of gravitation. At the same time it is perfectly evident that an upright tower was the intention of the two great architects who had it in hand, Bonannus of Pisa and William of Innsbruck. We can easily imagine their dismay when they saw their beautiful columns and arches looking awry, and the very point where they began to restore its equilibrium is to be seen. It is like the slightest possible curvature of a human spine; and from this point upward but one idea governs the architect, which is to preserve the perpendicularity of his beautiful columns and arches, in spite of the treacherous soil on which his tower rests. The equilibrium is still further insured by the seven bells, the heaviest weighing six tons, which are so arranged that their greatest weight is on the side opposite the overhanging wall of the

tower.

"Of all the towers in the world, however, Giotto's Tower, which serves as a companion or belltower to the Cathedral of Florence, is the one which merits our study as well as our admiration. Some day or evening, for the evening seems to draw us. together in a way to study such a work of art, I will show you not only a view of the tower, but all the sculptures, from base to summit, which adorn it. This tower is two hundred and ninety-two feet in height-"

"After all," broke in our Reginald, "not so high by almost one hundred feet-'

"Reckon closely now, my son," said Mr. Burton. "Yes, papa, by just ninety-three feet-as our Chicago tower. That is a great difference," added Reginald, who was a stout advocate for the honor of his native city.

"A great difference, certainly," replied Mr. Burton, "but I shall try to have you realize the still greater difference between these two towers when I show you the photographs of Giotto's masterpiece in sculpture. Even now, I can broadly sketch the difference in a way to make you anticipate how almost infinite it is. In the first place, twelve of the stories of the Chicago tower are a mercantile house, with all the associations connected with traffic. Our Florentine tower edges its very basement stones with pietre dure, colored stones that make a border for the door-steps, for every bas-relief. These basreliefs represent nothing less significant than the creation of man; man in Eden; man in the world delving for his daily bread; the first man and woman succeeded by Noah and his descendants with the various occupations of man in that early time; Tubal Cain making his instruments of music; others as agriculturists, as navigators; then as musicians, as orators, as law-givers, sculptors, painters, architects, astronomers. These primitive occupations, occupations of roving tribes-"

"How," said Reginald, "could sculpture and painting belong to men roving over the world?"

"Most naturally," replied his father. "The discoveries made among the Indian mounds in our Western country prove that both sculpture and painting were practiced among them, and the same testimony was familiar to Giotto and his followers as to the roving people of Asia and Africa, saying nothing of Europe. These bas-reliefs or medallions belong to the very foundations, we may say, of the Tower, and above them are other medallions giving the sciences as studied in schools and even universities, to be continued by representatives of the three natural virtues, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance; still further by the three supernatural virtues, Faith, Hope, Charity; and on a line with these the Seven Sacraments, all given with their symbols in a way for a child or a wayfaring man to understand. Above the stories enriched by these bas-reliefs from the hands of famous artists rose one with niches for statues, beginning with Abraham, giving David, Solomon, and the principal prophets to Saint John Baptist; thus, as you see, providing repositories for art during several generations. Above these are the beautiful windows, of which Ruskin speaks so admiringly in his 'Seven Lamps of Architecture,' and the whole finished by a parapet of beauty.

"The French talk a great deal about values in art, i. e., the comparative value of light and shade. We can use the same word, 'values,' to indicate the difference in things that pertain to life. Our Lord says: 'What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul, or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?' showing us plainly what is the value of the whole world compared with the value of a soul. Then we say, what is the value of distinction for talent or even genius compared with a reputation for morality; or the value of a wellselected library compared with upholstered furniture, or really beautiful pictures compared with lace curtains? The value of all these things is relative, and you, my children, know which is to be most desired. It is this idea of values which makes us feel that although, as you say, Reginald, Giotto's Tower is almost one hundred feet less in height than the Chicago tower, it is almost infinitely more precious. Do you think anyone will be inspired by the Chicago tower to write a sonnet like that which Longfellow wrote about Giotto's Tower? I hope you will read over that wonderful sonnet by yourselves, and think what must be the significance as well as beauty of any object, thus to kindle the imagination of a poet like Longfellow; thus to make an object of pilgrimage for every lover of the beautiful in the civilized world."

DOMESTIC.

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2. The quality of the cards must be substantially that of the government postal cards.

3. The cards must bear these words at the top of the address side: "Private Mailing Card-Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19, 1898." ("Postal card-Carte postale.") When prepared by printers or stationers for sale they should also bear in the upper right-hand corner of the address side an oblong diagram with the words "Place the postage stamp here," and in the lower left-hand corner the following words should be printed: "This side is for the

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For over $5 and not exceeding $10.

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.3c

.5c .8c

IOC

I2C

15C ..18c

.20C .25c

.30c

An additional fee of 2 cents is charged for each order as a special war tax.

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state.

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40c

50c

бос

70c

.8oc

.90c

.$1

International money orders may be drawn in the United States upon any of the following countries or places: All countries in North America except Mexico. In Central America: Honduras only.

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