"But you don't ask for your wife, Nephew no difficulty in doing. Archie," said Aunt Pen, slyly.

fair" Ethelind," and lastly proceeded to read aloud two letters. This was the first :--

DEAR BESSIE,All is well here. A. M. is going on as usual. I received your letter, and I burned it as agreed. got a letter to post from A. M. to his mother, and burned it also, as agreed. I hope all is going well. S is getting cross about her money. Don't forget to send me the envelopes. Old Your faithful friend, SARAH GREEN.

A chorus of exclamations hailed this let

ter. Aunt Mac was by this time growing
very white and blue in the face. Archie was
in agonies of laughter; Uncle Randal was lis-
tening with all his might; Aunt Janette was
in a hopeless maze of bewilderment; Mary
and Rachel were trying to understand; Le-
Aunt Pen proceeded
titia was still invisible.
with the next letter.

company, that I am not married, nor did I ever make the acquaintance of any lady rejoicing in the romantic name of Ethelind.' I now understand why Aunt Penelope wrote off to me to come home in such a hurry that I concluded you must be all dead, or the house have fallen at least; and also, I suppose, why she was so urgent to know all particulars of my habit as to the posting of my letters home; and also as much as possible about the servants at my lodging in Brompton. If it will throw any light on this affair, I will state that it has been my custom to write my letters for Glenrig during the evening at Brompton, and to leave them on the table for the servant; for whose sake I had been led to understand an obliging milkman took them away and posted them early in the morning. Of the servants I can tell very little. The maid who attended upon me until about a month ago was a rather nice-looking, fair-haired girl; but I did not like her much, as I suspected her more than once of meddling with my loose papers. She left, and another came in her place, a quiet-looking young woman, of whom I had never any reason to complain. It was rather strange, however, that when I told her, the night before last, that I should start for Ireland in the morn-it whenever I can. I locked up the two old ing, and must be wakened early, she dropped my slippers in a panic and ran out of the room. And the next morning, as I was leaving, my landlady was in great trouble, as it seemed Sarah had left the house suddenly, and not returned."

DEAR SARAH,-Why did you send me a sheet of blank paper? You know I am so anxious for news. Write quickly and tell me here and very troublesome. I did not count what is going on. The two old aunts are still on having them to deal with. One of them goes spying about the house at night, and I know she suspects me. The other one watches her as well as she watches me. I have found the place, however, and will search

myself. One of the panels in the end wall aunts the other night, and had the field to of the dining-room slides back, as granny said. I must try and get out of this as soon as I can. I can't tell yet what I shall have with me. I enclose the envelopes. Use the most carelessly written one first. Be sure you watch well, and don't forget to burn this.

66

BESSIE ANDERSON.

“I being the suspicious old aunt,” said Aunt Pen, folding the paper with mock solemnity, "stole these letters, and inside the last I found these envelopes, enclosed all ready for the purpose of covering the epistles received by Miss Bessie from her disinterested friend, Miss Green. This evening I gave her a hint of my nephew's expected arrival here before to-morrow night, and I think it has hastened her movements a little. And now, I believe, we have nearly got to the bottom of it."

"The best thing she could do, I think!" said Aunt Pen. And then she, on her side, proceeded to make a speech, in which she triumphantly informed the company, with many a laughing pause, and many an energetic nod of her brilliant cap, of how she had, from the first, recognized in the would-be Mrs. Archie, her former protégée, Bessie Anderson, the grandchild of old Nannie, who knew the secret hiding-place of the supposed treasure; and how, recollecting the grandmother's boast, and Bessie's cleverness and covetous disposition, she had found no difficulty in arriving at the motive of the hoax; also that on calling to mind the fact that Bes- Here Aunt Mac, having probably got a resie had been sent from Glenrig in disgrace ten turn of that toothache from which she had years ago for cleverly forging a letter, she had suffered so much ten years ago, got up and hardly been surprised at the successful decep- left the room. And after the shrieks of tion she had been enabled to attempt. Then laughter, which had rung through the drawshe recounted her nightly adventures with the ing-room, had somewhat subsided, Aunt Pen THIRD SERIES. LIVING AGE.

1077

went off to free the fair" Ethelind" from her the old yellow satin gown. It was very heavy captivity. But lo! the bird had flown! On and thick, and being ripped up, proved to be discovering which fact, Aunt Pen looked nei- filled, between the lining and the satin, with ther surprised nor displeased. The blue a quantity of old-fashioned jewels of valuable crape dress and many other articles (value description, and goodly guineas to a large for old S-'s money, possibly) were after- amount.

wards found in her room, but "Mrs. Ar- A slab in Cushlake church covers good

chie was never seen again by any of the inhabitants of Glenrig. A merry countrydance concluded the evening, Letitia and Archie leading off; and Aunt Mac having departed in her "shanderadan," Aunt Penelope ventured to join. We have only now to add that on the next day, Letitia, creeping into the wonderful closet to see what manner of place it might be, laughingly dragged forth

old Uncle Randal—“ Also, Janette his wife.” The two aunts their "warfare o'er," sleep soundly, hard by. Mary and Rachel have grown-up sons and daughters. And Letitia and Archie, when they come to Glenrig for the summer, tell their children the merry story of that clever Bessie who gave them so merry a laugh, and found for them the wonderful hidden closet.

1

which it may be known and identified. A drop of otto of lavender puts on one shape, a drop of turpentine another. Drops of sperm oil, olive oil, colza oil, naptha, creosote-indeed each individual drop, be the fluid what it may-can be easily recognized by its form. In order to test any of these forms or shapes, we have but to place a

THE FORM OF A DROP.-We are accustomed | each a form peculiar to its own kind of liquid, by to see substances of all kinds, each in some peculiar and characteristic shape or form, and we recognize them all by their shape-in fact, we know them as we know persons, by their features. Throughout all substances there is some one general feature peculiar to each class, no less than an individual character to each subdivision of its class, by which we can identify and individual-drop of the fluid under examination upon water. ize them. Thus, there is a general form of coal, by which it is recognized as coal, and an individual form by which each kind is known from other varieties. No two pieces of chalk-flint are alike; yet all flints have a form by which they are known from other stones. There is gray granite and red granite; but no one will mistake granite for Portland stone.

All metals have a general metallic lustre, but though one may be heavy and yellow, as is gold, and another lighter than water, and white, as in potassium, we still know them as metals. The stars, whether fixed stars or planets, have all the same globular form; yet, when minutely examined, there is not much difficulty to identify each individual star. Thus, by its generic outward form, and its own individual character, exhibited in its various parts, everything may be recognized as readily as a shepherd knows each individual sheep of his flock.

For this purpose we must employ a glass to hold the water, taking the greatest care that it is quite clean. It must even be rinsed after being wiped, lest there be the least fluff from the cloth adhering to the vessel. The glass being then filled with distilled or clean filtered river water, we let fall upon it a drop of the fluid, and watch the shape or form it puts on. A very little practice will show how easy it is thus to distinguish a drop of one fluid from that of another. Even more; if one fluid be mixed with another, for any sinister motive or design, we can thus detect the mixture, because we can see each fluid in one drop of the mixture. Thus, by the examination of one drop of sperm oil adulterated with one-twentieth of colza oil, the mixture is instantly discovered. So, if turpentine be mixid with otto of lemons, or otto of lavender, we have now a ready mode of discovering the cheat.

How useful may not this knowledge become to manufacturers and others, now that we are enabled to recognize the individuality of each fluid from one single drop.—Septimus Piesse.

Without examination of a close and careful character, we are apt to assume that a drop of any known fluid has one form. It is round; and whether it be a drop of oil, a drop of water, a drop of æther, or any other of the innumerable fluids which are known, they all appear to be round. Now, however, comes the ingenious discovery of Professor Tomlinson, of King's College," London, to bear upon the subject. He finds, if we do but examine a drop of any known liquid under certain conditions, that fluid drops assume

THE latest in photographical publications is the Animal-Album of the International Exhibition at Hamburg, 1863: Photographs by Schnaebeli : Edited by Hermann von Nathusius-Hundisburg and A. Krocker."

From The Saturday Review, 8 Aug.

AMERICA.

peace will be largely modified by the power of the weaker belligerent to offer further resistance.

Mr. Seward is again reported to have displayed, in his advice to the president, a good sense and moderation which could not have been anticipated from his public speeches or from his foreign despatches. If he has really proposed that the Southern States should be invited to return to the Union, with a guarantee for their institutions and their property, he has shown that he understands the true interests of the North and the only real value of the recent victories. If the president were to adopt the councils attributed to Mr. Seward, the North, even if offers of peace were peremptorily rejected, would derive great advantage from such a proof of its mod

It is possible that the Confederates may rally from their heavy disasters; but those among them who talk of continuing a guerilla warfare after the dissolution of their great armies virtually acknowledge defeat. If the Southern population is resolved to persevere in its heroic resistance to the invader, its energies will be most advantageously employed in the ranks of the regular army. As yet, the Confederacy is only weakened by the loss of men in the long and unequal struggle. There is probably a larger supply of artillery, of small arms, and of ammunition than at the commencement of the war; and numerous officers of experience and ability are ready to train and command any new levies which eration. Prudent Northern Americans must may be forthcoming. The principal army, under the commander-in-chief, still holds in force the north-western frontier of Virginia; and Johnstone and Bragg, though they are not strong enough to cope with the enemy in the field, must be able to dispose of a considerable force. The Confederate Government, and the States which are immediately threatened, have called all able-bodied men to arms, in the extreme peril of the country. The statesmen and generals of the South are too well acquainted with the theory and history of war to rely on the desultory efforts of guerilla bands; and it is evidently their object to husband their resources, by declining, as far as possible, all decisive actions. General Lee prudently wishes to cover the retreat of his baggage, and also to occupy the main Federal army, while his Government is engaged in measures for immediate defence. Even if he were certain of success, he could scarcely, at this moment, afford to fight a pitched battle in which he might lose ten or twenty thousand men. A fresh advance into the Federal States would once more bring an innumerable militia into the field, and eventually it might be necessary again to retreat behind the Potomac with diminished numbers. It seems strange, if the report be true, that reinforcements from Southern Virginia should have been forwarded to Lee's army, while Charleston is in danger from the operations of a small land force, acting in concert with the gunboats. We have not the means of accurately estimating the present strength and resources of Beauregard, but he may still be able to save the principal port of the Confederacy, and to baffle the expected triumph of the North over the capture of Fort Sumter. Whatever may be the necessities of the future, the Southern Government displays its wisdom in maintaining its defiant attitude under the pressure of ill fortune. Should negotiation become inevitable, the terms of

be aware that the resistance of the South may, in any case, be indefinitely prolonged. It is generally admitted that the great armies cannot be maintained without the conscription, and experience has not yet shown whether compulsory service can be made acceptable to the most considerable Northern States. The New York riots have, for the moment, united the respectable classes in support of the Government, and they have discredited the Democratic party, which was previously increasing in numbers and in influence; yet it will be difficult to renew the conscription after its temporary suspension, especially as it is discountenanced by the Governor of New York, who is supported by the legal authority of one of the State Judges. The Americans have neither sympathy nor respect for Irish rioters, but, in the present instance, the New York quota can only be made up of Irish conscripts. The imported Helots of New York, among the few advantages of their situation, enjoy the privilege of a large proportionate representation in the municipality of the city. The corporation has consequently voted half a million sterling to purchase substitutes for unwilling conscripts, and, of course, every conscript will take advantage of the grant. The Republicans argue, with much force, that the measure is illegal, as it is deliberately intended to thwart the policy of an Act of Congress; but it will be difficult for the War Department to refuse the regulated price of exemption, when it is tendered on behalf of any conscript from any quarter whatever. The respectable inhabitants of New York will have the pleasure of paying for the exemption of their Irish neighbors as well as for their own, and the corporation will have furnished a precedent which, if it were generally followed, would render the creation of a Federal army altogether impossible.

The announcement of immediate war with England has always been the favorite resort

of American factions when they found them-bellion against a Government which usurped selves in a difficulty; but the device was too its undoubted rights. The zealous advocates stale and too irrelevant to bear upon the im- of centralized Government might possibly pediments to the conscription. The Irish suppress resistance for a time, if Mr. Lincoln, rioters were as willing to listen to the dis- in compliance with their earnest recommendacreditable twaddle of their archbishop when tions, were to make General Butler dictator he stimulated their bad passions against Eng- of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. land, as when he assured them, with shame- Such an appointment would gratify the party less mendacity, that they were not even riot- passions of the Republicans, but it would be ers. There is a great difference, however, regarded with deeper satisfaction by the Govbetween applauding a sycophantic demagogue ernment of Richmond. It would be highly and submitting to compulsory enlistment in inconvenient to attempt in the Northern the army. Even a disciple of Archbishop States, during the continuance of the war, Hughes can understand that, if the Act of the experiment which, in the event of conCongress is unconstitutional, its defects can quest, must ultimately be tried throughout by no means be cured by the employment of the Confederacy. It may be found possible an army illegally raised in the most wanton to govern South Carolina as a subject provand wicked of quarrels. The Irish intellect ince, but New York is not prepared to bemay also perceive that a contingent war, for come a dependency of Washington. The which a pretext has yet to be discovered, can hope of dissensions among their enemies will scarcely require so urgent a measure as a con- perhaps encourage and console the Confedscription. If American patriots of all par- erates in their distress and danger. ties are to be trusted, a war with England would fill the ranks with volunteers eager to wreak their vengeance, according to the proverb, for insults and offences which they have themselves offered to the object of their enmity. A forced levy to represent the national animosity is too paradoxical a provision to impose on the most unsophisticated mind. The Irishmen of New York believe, with much reason, that they are to be expended in the Southern States, and not, for the present, in Canada. If the untoward Polish question should issue in a European war, there can be little doubt that the Government of the United States will take the opportunity of assisting Russia, and of venting its hatred against England. In the more probable contingency of a merely diplomatic controversy between England and Russia, the President and his advisers will not be so insane as to take any step which would more than compensate to the Confederacy for the loss of a dozen Vicksburgs.

From The Saturday Review, 15 Aug. THE MEXICAN EMPIRE.

THE appointment of Archduke Maximilian to occupy an imperial throne in Mexico is a surprising event, both in itself and as the accomplishment of a project which seemed wholly chimerical. Napoleon III. belongs to the highest order of thaumaturgic performers. Not contented with the mere display of unexpected skill, he challenges the skepticism of his audience by announcing beforehand the almost incredible feat which he afterwards proceeds to perform. When Mr. Disraeli became a leader in the House of Commons, when Prince Louis Napoleon ascended the throne of France, the adroitness of both achievements was enhanced by the recollection that neither aspirant to power had ever doubted of his own ultimate triumph. The Emperor of the French has since that time The Republicans are beginning to accuse ventured upon many enterprises, without Governor Seymour of treasonable intentions, wearing out his astonishing good fortune. because he discourages the conscription, and When he embarked, against the wish of his resists the encroachments of the Federal subjects, in the Mexican speculation, and power. Where there are two conflicting au- more especially during the long delay of his thorities, the special champion of either is forces on their way to the capital, it was always liable to be denounced as a traitor. thought by many that his demon or guardian To foreign observers, the Federal Government angel had at last deserted him. It is still by seems to have strained its prerogative to the no means obvious that any solid advantage utmost, but it is for Americans themselves to will accrue to France from the expenditure reconcile or distinguish the pretensions of of treasure and life in a superfluous conWashington and of New York. It may be quest; but the army and the people will exsafely assumed that Governor Seymour'is only ult in the power of a sovereign who can a traitor so far as his supporters, who are the create and give away empires. It was as unmajority in a population of four millions, are likely that an Austrain Archduke should acalso traitors. If he were violently deprived cept a crown from a Napoleon as that a French of the command of the armed force of the garrison should occupy the chief city of SpanState, New York would not be far from re-ish America. The splendor of the transaction