" said his mother severely, "some one has taken a big piece of
ginger-cake out of the pantry."

Johnny blushed guiltily.

"Oh, Johnny!" she exclaimed. "I didn't think it was in you."

"It ain't, all," replied Johnny. "Part of it's in Elsie."--_Philadelphia
Press._

WHAT HE GOT OUT OF IT.

He never took a day of rest,
He couldn't afford it;
He never had his trousers pressed,
He couldn't afford it;
He never went away, care-free,
To visit distant lands, to see
How fair a place this world might be--
He couldn't afford it.

He never went to see a play,
He couldn't afford it;
His love for art he put away,
He couldn't afford it;
He died and left his heirs a lot,
But no tall shaft proclaims the spot
In which he lies--his children thought
They couldn't afford it.

_Chicago Record-Herald._

The Vision of Charles XI.

BY PROSPER MERIMEE.

Translated from the French for "The Scrap Book" by S. Ten Eyck Bourke.

Prosper Merimee, whose virile pen enriched the world's
literature by the creation of "Carmen," was born in 1803, in
France. At the outset of his career he studied law, and
until his death, in 1870, was associated with politics,
occupying several posts of importance.

He was an intimate friend of the Countess de Montijo, later
the Empress Eugenie, and always was _persona grata_ at the
Tuileries during the imperial regime. This fact, however,
did not influence his success as a man of letters; for that
he owed directly to the elegance and purity of his style,
the truthfulness of his local coloring, and his forceful and
versatile brain.

Merimee traveled widely, corresponding with the Paris
papers. It is to one of these journeys that the fragment,
"The Vision of Charles XI," is attributable. Apart from its
literary excellence, it is of interest as relating an actual
occurrence during the reign of that Swedish monarch.

Visions and supernatural apparitions commonly inspire ridicule; some there
are, however, so fully attested that to refuse them credence one must, to
be consistent, reject the entire fabric of accumulated historical data.

An affidavit, drawn in due legal form, subscribed to by, and endorsed with
the signatures of four witnesses worthy of belief--that is my guaranty for
the authenticity of the occurrence which I purpose to narrate. I de