time have a line of followers connecting him with the
palace, he frequently sent home messages which were of use and value
to his nation.

"I may as well retire," said the Sphinx to itself. "As the King has
found his vocation and every thing is going all right it is not
necessary I should remain where I may be looked upon as a
questionable personage."

THE PHILOPENA.

* * * * *

There were once a Prince and a Princess who, when quite young, ate a
philopena together. They agreed that the one who, at any hour after
sunrise the next day, should accept any thing from the other--the
giver at the same time saying "Philopena!"--should be the loser, and
that the loser should marry the other.

They did not meet as soon as they had expected the next day; and at
the time our story begins, many years had elapsed since they had seen
each other, and the Prince and the Princess were nearly grown up.
They often thought of the philopena they had eaten together, and
wondered if they should know each other when they met. He remembered
her as a pretty little girl dressed in green silk and playing with a
snow-white cat; while she remembered him as a handsome boy, wearing a
little sword, the handle of which was covered with jewels. But they
knew that each must have changed a great deal in all this time.

Neither of these young people had any parents; the Prince lived with
guardians and the Princess with uncles.

The guardians of the Prince were very enterprising and energetic men,
and were allowed to govern the country until the Prince came of age.
The capital city was a very fine city when the old king died; but the
guardians thought it might be much finer, so they set to work with
all their might and main to improve it. They tore down old houses and
made a great many new streets; they built grand and splendid bridges
over the river on which the city stood; they constructed aqueducts to
bring water from streams many miles away; and they were at work all
the time upon some extensive building enterprise.

The Prince did not take much interest in the works which were going
on under direction of his guardians; and when he rode out, he
preferred to go into the country or to ride through some of the
quaint old streets, where nothing had been changed for hundreds of
years.

The uncles of the Princess were very different people from the
guardians of the Prince. There were three of them, and they