good an opportunity of
laying in a large stock.

The traditional union of fidelity, obedience to orders, strict
discipline and stupidity in the old-fashioned military servant is
wittily illustrated in a story told by the _Gazette de Paris_ at the
expense of a captain of the Melun garrison. This officer, who had been
invited to dine at a neighboring castle, sent his valet with a note
of "regrets," adding, as the boy started, "Be sure and bring me my
dinner, Auguste, when you have left the letter." The soldier took the
letter to the castle and was told, of course, "It's all right." "Yes,
but I want the dinner," said the lad: "the captain ordered me to bring
it back, and I always obey orders." The baroness, being informed
of the good fellow's blunder, carried out the joke by despatching a
splendid repast. The officer, too amused to make any explanation to
his servant, merely sent him back at once to buy a bouquet to carry
with his compliments to the baroness. Successfully accomplishing this
feat, the brilliant Auguste was handed a five-franc piece from the
lady. "That won't do," says the honest fellow: "I paid thirty francs
for the flowers." The difference was made up to him, and he returned
to the fort, quite proud at having so ably discharged his duty. We
think this incident will fairly match some of the experiences which
our own officers are fond of narrating, regarding the way in which
their servants have interpreted and executed their orders.

LITERATURE OF THE DAY.

Sub-Tropical Rambles in the Land of the Aphanapteryx. By Nicholas
Pike. New York: Harper & Brothers.

The story of a bright and educated traveler is always a capital one,
and Mr. Pike has done wonders for Mauritius, which would seem in
itself to be one of the most deplorably dull and fatiguing prominences
on the face of the sea. An enthusiastic botanist and naturalist, as
well as an interested ethnologist, this lively observer relieves the
monotony of a seemingly easy consulate and repulsive population by
watching all the secrets of animated nature around him. It is a very
bloodthirsty island that his fates have guided him to: everything
bites or stings or poisons. When wading out into the sea for
shells, Mr. Pike is attacked by "a tazarre, a fish something like
a fresh-water pike," which comes right at him repeatedly, "like a
bulldog," and is only subdued by being speared in the head with a
harpoon. Creatures elsewhere the most evasive and t