and a second
signal was sent. How astonished that simple-minded Irish
telegraph-operator was! Five minutes passed, and then the answer came.
The chief electrician gave a loud cheer, which was repeated by every
man on board, from the captain down to his servant.

There are now four cables in working order, and the cost of messages
has been reduced twenty-five per cent. The New York newspapers now
contain nearly as much European news as the London newspapers
themselves.

THE CANARY THAT TALKED TOO MUCH

BY MARGARET EYTINGE.

Annette's canary-bird's cage, with the canary in it, was brought into
the library and hung upon a hook beside the window.

Out popped a mouse from a hole behind the book-case.

"Why, what are _you_ doing here, canary?" she said. "I thought _your_
place was the bay-window in the dining-room."

"So it is--so it is!" beginning with a twitter, answered the canary;
"but they said I talked too much!"--ending with a trill.

"Talked!" repeated the mouse, sitting up on her hind-legs and looking
earnestly at him. "I thought _you_ only sang!"

"Well, singing and talking mean about the same thing in bird-language,"
said the canary. "But goodness g-r-r-racious!" he went on, swinging
rapidly to and fro in his little swing at the top of his cage, "'t was
they that talked so much--my mistress and the doctor's wife, and the
doctor's sister--not me. I said scarcely a word, and yet I am called a
chatterbox, and punished--before company, too! I feel mad enough to
pull out my yellowest feathers, or upset my bath-tub. Now, you look
like a sensible little thing, mouse, and I'll tell you all about
it--what they said and what I said--and you shall judge if I deserved
to be banished.

"The doctor's wife and the doctor's sister called.

"'It's a lovely day!' said they.

"'A lovely, lovely, lovely day!' sang I. 'The sun shines bright--the
sky is blue--the grass is green--yes, lovely, lovely, lovely--and I'm
happy, happy, happy, and glad, glad, glad!'

"They went right on talking, though I sang my very best, without paying
the slightest attention to me; and when I stopped, I caught the words
'So sweet' from my mistress, and then I sang again: 'Sweet, sweet,
sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet is the clover--sweet is the
rose--sweet the song of the bird--sweet the bird--sweet the
clover--sweet the rose--the rose--the clover--the bird--yes, yes,
yes--sweet, sweet, sweet!' And as I paused to take breath, I hea