ories; and the mind could not have created for itself a vision. Then
what was it? At the moment of dissolution the soul had flitted through
the gates of the eternal city.

* * * * *

* * * * *

A study in sombre tints:

In one of the large cities in the wretched portion where men, women and
children hive together, there lived--or existed--a little boy, so small,
so insignificant, that the people with whom he came in contact would
scarcely have considered him worthy of mention. He was a wee specimen of
humanity with flaxen hair and blue eyes, and people who stopped to
notice him at all, saw something so strange, so pathetic in the childish
look, that they involuntarily turned to look again. He spent the days
selling matches; the nights he spent as he could, in empty boxes, on
bundles of straw, in miserable alleys, anywhere, where night overtook
him. There was no one to make enquiries, for he was alone, alone in the
great city, alone in the world. One stormy night a woman found her way
to one of the wretched tenement houses, bearing in her arms a tiny
burden. One of the inhabitants, more kindly than the rest, took her in,
gave her the only bed they had, a pallet of straw, on which she lay for
a few days, making no complaint, giving little trouble. The women saw at
a glance that she was a different order of being from themselves, that
she belonged to another world than theirs. But by what chance had she
wandered there? Questions were asked but no answers returned. She simply
asked to be left alone. In a short time she died, leaving behind the
little bundle of humanity, bequeathing to him nothing but her own
sensitive nature, the same blue eyes and flaxen hair, and the name
"Ned," nothing more. They buried her in the potter's field, and a life's
tragedy was ended. Little Ned lived among them, getting more blows than
kind words, nearly always hungry, but never complaining. If they gave
him food he ate it; if he got none, he never murmured. The rough women,
involuntarily, lowered their voices when little Ned was present, for
there was something they could never comprehend about the strange child.
They felt he was with them but not of them. He was unlike the children
in the street, never seeking, but shunning their society. After a time
he was old enough to go on the street and sell matches, and it was a
relief to the women when he was gone, for then there was no