"Here, Pierrot!" cried the farmer's wife. At this invitation, made in a tone which suffered no reply, a little imp separated from the crowd, and came forward with the cringing air of a dog that feels that his master calls him only to beat him. Pierrot, who, since morning, had been nursing the delicious prospect of taking, after vespers, his share in the play upon the church square, appeared only moderately flattered by his aunt's proposition. She repeated it in such a way that he judged it prudent to consent. She put the little bundle of the stranger under his arm, then, pushing him by the shoulders: "Go through the woods, and be sure not to walk too fast for this young demoiselle, who has neither your feet nor your legs.' Thereupon Pierrot started with a sullen air, while Neuvy-les-Bois, commencing to recover from its stupor, was lost in comments upon the events of this great day. We suspect this village of Neuvy-les-Bois to have been so named by antiphrasis. For Neuvy (green), it is perfectly correct; but for les bois (the woods), it is another affair. For my part, I know nothing more deceitful or more fallacious than these names of places or of persons that have a precise signification, and are as well-formed pledges. I have noticed that, in such cases, persons and places rarely furnish that which they promise, and that in general what is lacking is precisely that quality which christening has given them. I have known Angelines who possessed none of the attributes of an angel, and Blanches black as little crows. As to places, without going farther, Neuvy-les-Bois, since we are here, has not a clump of elms, or poplars, or aspens to shield it from the winds of the north or the heat of the south. The circumjacent country is as bare and as flat as the sea-coast, and in its vicinity, within the radius of a half-league, you would not find the shade of an oak. However, at Fontenay-aux-Roses, they show a few sorry rose-bushes. However, as the young girl and her guide withdrew from the dusty road and penetrated into the country, the landscape gradually assumed greener and more joyous aspects. After two hours' walking, they perceived the woods of Valtravers undulating at the horizon. In spite of the recommendations of his aunt, Pierrot went at a brisk pace, without thinking of his companion. The possibility that he foresaw of being able to return to take part in the play, gave wings to this scamp. Although she had light feet and fine limbs, at intervals. the poor child was forced to ask mercy, but the abominable Pierrot deafened his ear and pitilessly pursued his course. Going post-haste, he regarded with mournful eye the shadow of the trees, that the sun began to lengthen enormously upon the surrounding sward; in the bitterness of his heart he did not dissemble that, if he went as far as Valtravers it was an end to his Sunday joys. Once upon the edge of the forest an infernal idea passed through the mind of this young shepherd. "There!" said he, resolutely, putting upon the grass the bundle that he held under his arm. "You have only to follow this wide avenue, which will lead you right to the château. In a quarter of an hour you will have your nose at the gate." Then this rascal prepared to escape; a motion retained him. Having detached from her girdle a little purse, which did not appear very heavy, the young girl drew from it a little white piece that she courteously offered to M. Pierrot, thanking him for his trouble. At this trait of generosity, upon which he was not counting, Pierrot felt troubled. He hesitated; and perhaps he might have given way to this cry of his conscience if he had not discovered in the distance, on the plain, the steeple of Neuvy-les-Bois, like the mast of a ship aground upon the beach.-Madeleine. SANDYS, GEORGE, an English traveller and translator, born at York in 1577; died at Bexley Abbey, Kent, in March, 1644. He was a son of the Archbishop of York, and younger brother of Sir Edwin Sandys, who was Treasurer of the Virginia Company, and assisted in procuring a charter for the Plymouth Colony. George Sandys travelled in Turkey, Egypt, the Holy Land, and the remoter parts of Italy, and the neighboring Islands, of the existing condition of which he gave an account in a folio volume, Relation of a Journey begun A.D. 1610. About 1621 he went to Virginia as acting treasurer of the company, where he remained about four years. While there he completed a spirited translation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid-the earliest book penned in North America which has any pretensions to a literary character. Though written in America the Metamorphoses was printed in England, with a dedication to King Charles I. It was, he says, "limned by that imperfect light which was snatched from the hours of night and repose; and was produced among wars and tumults, instead of under the kindly and peaceful influences of the Muses." MODERN CONDITION OF FAMOUS COUNTRIES. The parts I speak of are the most renowned countries and kingdoms, once the seats of most glorious and triumphant empires; the theatres of valor and heroical actions; the soils enriched with all earthly felicities; the places where nature hath produced her wonderful works; where arts and sciences have been invented and perfected; where wisdom, virtue, policy, and civility have been planted, have flourished; where God did place His own commonwealth, gave laws and oracles, inspired His own prophets, sent angels to converse with men. Above all, where the Son of God descended to become man; where he honored the earth with His beautiful steps; wrought the works of our redemption, triumphed over death, and ascended into glory. Which countries, once so glorious and famous for their happy estate, are now, through vice and ingratitude, become the most deplored spectacles of human misery; the wild beasts of mankind having broken in upon them, and rooted out all civility; and the pride of a stern and barbarous tyrant possessing the thrones of ancient and just dominion; who, aiming only at the height of greatness and sensuality, hath in tract of time reduced so great and goodly a part of the world to that lamentable distress and servitude under which, to the astonishment of the understanding beholder, it now faints and groaneth. These rich lands at this present remain waste and overgrown with bushes, receptacles of wild beasts, of thieves, of murderers; large territories dispeopled or thinly inhabited, goodly cities made desolate; sumptuous buildings become ruins; glorious temples either subverted or prostituted to impiety; true religion discountenanced and oppressed; all nobility extinguished; no light of learning permitted, nor virtue cherished; violence and rapine insulting over all, and leaving no security except to an abject mind, and unlooked-on poverty. Which calamities of theirs, so great and deserved, are to the rest of the world as threatening instructions. For assistance wherein I have not only related what I saw of their present condition, but, so far as convenience might permit, presented a brief view of the former estates and first antiquities of these people and countries-thence to draw a right image of the frailty of man, the mutability of whatever is worldly, and assurance that, as there is nothing unchangeable saving God, so nothing stable except by His grace and protection.-Preface to Travels. SANGSTER, MARGARET ELIZABETH (MUNSON), an American miscellaneous writer, editor, and pect, born at New Rochelle, N. Y., February 22, 1838. She was educated at home, showing great precocity in her studies. In 1858 she was married to George Sangster. After having done much journalistic work she became associate editor of Hearth and Home in 1871. In 1873 she began her editorial connection with the Christian at Work. In 1879 she joined the staff of the Christian Intelligencer as assistant editor, and in 1882 accepted the editorship of Harper's Young People, retaining her place on the Intelligencer. In 1890 she became editor of Harper's Bazar, a place which she still retains. Her books include: Manual of Missions of the Reformed Church in America (1878); Hours with Girls (1881); Poems of the Household (1883); Home Fairies and Heart Flowers (1887); Maidie's Problem (1890); On the Road Home with My Neighbors (1893); Little Knights and Ladies (1895), and several Sunday-school books. ARE THE CHILDREN HOME? Each day when the glow of sunset I steal away from my husband, |