nd gave
the lecturer the applause of their hands and feet. And then, well
pleased, he recommenced--"I do not make these remarks with reference
to myself--"

"I hope he's not going to be modest," said Miss Dunstable.

"It will be quite new if he is," replied Mrs. Smith.

"--so much as to many noble and talented lords and members of the
lower House who have lately from time to time devoted themselves to
this good work." And then he went through a long list of peers and
members of Parliament, beginning, of course, with Lord Boanerges, and
ending with Mr. Green Walker, a young gentleman who had lately been
returned by his uncle's interest for the borough of Crewe Junction,
and had immediately made his entrance into public life by giving a
lecture on the grammarians of the Latin language as exemplified at
Eton School. "On the present occasion," Mr. Smith continued, "our
object is to learn something as to those grand and magnificent
islands which lie far away, beyond the Indies, in the Southern Ocean;
the lands of which produce rich spices and glorious fruits, and whose
seas are embedded with pearls and corals,--Papua and the Philippines,
Borneo and the Moluccas. My friends, you are familiar with your maps,
and you know the track which the equator makes for itself through
those distant oceans." And then many heads were turned down, and
there was a rustle of leaves; for not a few of those "who stood not
so high in the social scale" had brought their maps with them, and
refreshed their memories as to the whereabouts of these wondrous
islands.

And then Mr. Smith also, with a map in his hand, and pointing
occasionally to another large map which hung against the wall, went
into the geography of the matter. "We might have found that out from
our atlases, I think, without coming all the way to Barchester,"
said that unsympathizing helpmate, Mrs. Harold, very cruelly--most
illogically too, for there be so many things which we could find out
ourselves by search, but which we never do find out unless they be
specially told us; and why should not the latitude and longitude of
Labuan be one--or rather two of these things? And then, when he had
duly marked the path of the line through Borneo, Celebes, and Gilolo,
through the Macassar Strait and the Molucca passage, Mr. Harold
Smith rose to a higher flight. "But what," said he, "avails all
that God can give to man, unless man will open his hand to receive
the gift? And what is this