I resolved to try and touch your heart before you knew who I
was. The guard put me into your coupé, for I bribed him, and
then I acted my best; but it was so droll I nearly spoiled it all
by some boy's word, or a laugh. My faith, uncle, I did not
know the English were so gallant."
"It did not occur to you that I might be acting also, perhaps? I own I was puzzled at first, but I soon made up my mind that you were some little adventuress out on a lark, as we say in England, and I behaved accordingly."
"If all little adventuresses got on as well as I did, I fancy many would go on this lark of yours. A talent for acting runs in the family, that is evident," said the boy.
"Hold your tongue, jackanapes!" sternly. "How old are you, my lad?" mildly.
"Fifteen, sir."
"That young to begin the world, with no friends but two cold-hearted old women!"
"Ah, no, I have the good God and my mother, and now—may I say an uncle who loves me a little, and permits me to love him with all my heart!"
Never mind what answer I made; I have recorded weaknesses enough already, so let that pass, as well as the conversation which left both pair of eyes a little wet, but both pair of hearts very happy.
As the train thundered into the station at Nice, just as the sun rose gloriously over the blue Mediterranean, George whispered to me, with the irrepressible impudence of a mischief-loving boy:
"Uncle, shall I give you the English good-by now?"
"No, my lad; give me a hearty English welcome, and God bless you!" I answered, as we shook hands, manfully, and walked away together, laughing over the adventure with my mysterious mademoiselle.
Atkinson, in his Asiatic explorations in Central Asia, met this curious natural arch, standing in the midst of the basin of an extinct lake, like some ruined temple of another age.
The name of the genius of evil occurs in all Kirghi's legends, and in their local names. In the Bascan Valley he came upon the basin of a lake which must hive dried up at a comparatively recent period, as the sides were still covered with shells. The triangular block of granite shown in our illustration there towers to the height of four hundred feet, pierced on three sides with an archway seventy-five feet wide. While the traveler was sketching it, the sun suddenly rose above the Altai mountains, appearing like a crimson globe through this natural arch, adding a magic effect to the gloomy landscape.
Grand as this natural monument is to the Kirghis it is the work of Satan, who built it, dried up the lake, and still roars beneath the soil.
The Bunker Hill week of 1869 will be long remembered as one of especial note, since in it was held the greatest musical festival of modern times. The National Peace Jubilee Association was organized by the choice of Honorable Alexander H. Rice as president, with Eben D. Jordan as secretary. The executive committee, which had full control, consists of the president, the treasurer, with M. M. Ballou, Josiah Bardwell, Frank Wrisley, Oliver Ditson, Horatio Harris, Lewis Rice, George H. Davis, and Francis Richards, all leading men in the city.
Messrs. George H. Davis, Lewis Rice, the proprietor of the American House, M. M. Ballou, the proprietor of the St. James Hotel, and Francis Richards, were chosen the building committee, March 13. The building contract was awarded to Judah Scars and Son, and the lumber contract to George C. James and Co., while the supervising architect chosen was John R. Hall. The original designs were by Francis Allen.
The work was commenced on the 29th of March, and the building was completely roofed in within seven weeks. Over 2,000,000 feet of lumber were used in its creation. Bliss and Perkins put in 25,000 feet of gas pipe (over four miles in all), and 24,000 burners, capable of burning some 13,000 feet of gas an hour. J. C. Story and Co., and the American Roofing Co., furnished 20 tons of cement and 30 tons of felting, to cover the roof of 170,000 square feet. Between 20,000 and 25,000 panes of glass have been used in windows; and chairs by the tens of thousands; and settees by the thousand, have been used to provide seats; and great quantities of bunting, and of muslins and cambrics, have been used in the decorating. The size of the building, 800 feet by 500; the height of its roof, 100 feet, and of its side-walls, 36 feet; the promenade, more than a fourth of a mile in length. Suffice it to say that the edifice is probably the largest ever created on this continent.
Patrick S. Gilmore, the originator of the Musical Peace Jubilee, is a native of the Emerald Isle, having been born near Dublin, on the 25th of December, 1829, and passed the years of his childhood in a small town in the county Galway. From his earliest youth he manifested a great fondness for music. It was not till be became clerk in a mercantile house in Athlonc, at the age of fourteen or so, that any opportunities were presented to him for study. In that town were always stationed
