d him, as
usual, in his shirt-sleeves. Madam Delia, however, wore a new breastpin
and gave Gerty another. And the great new attraction, the Chinese
giant, had put on a black broadcloth coat across his bony shoulders, in
her honor, and made a vigorous effort to sit up straight, and appear at
his ease when off duty. He habitually stooped a good deal in private
life, as if there were no object in being eight feet high, except
before spectators.

Anne, the placid and imperturbable, was promoted to take the place that
Gerty had rejected, in the gentle home of the good sisters. The secret
of her birth, whatever it was, never came to light but, she took
kindly, as Madam Delia had predicted, to "living genteel," and grew up
into a well-behaved mediocrity, unregretful of the show-tent. Yet
probably no one reared within the smell of sawdust ever quite outgrew
all taste for "the profession," and Anne, even when promoted to good
society, never missed seeing a performance when her wandering friends
came by. If I told you under what name Gerty became a star in the
low-comedy line, after her marriage, you would all recognize it; and if
you had seen her in "Queen Pippin" or the "Shooting-Star" pantomime,
you would wish to see her again. Her first child was named after Madam
Delia, and proved to be a placid little thing, demure enough to have
been born in a Quaker family, and exhibiting no contortions or
gymnastics but those common to its years. And you may be sure that the
retired show-woman found in the duties of brevet-grand-mother a glory
that quite surpassed her expectations.

SUNSHINE AND PETRARCH.

Near my summer home there is a little cove or landing by the bay, where
nothing larger than a boat can ever anchor. I sit above it now, upon
the steep bank, knee-deep in buttercups, and amid grass so lush and
green that it seems to ripple and flow instead of waving. Below lies a
tiny beach, strewn with a few bits of drift-wood and some purple
shells, and so sheltered by projecting walls that its wavelets plash
but lightly. A little farther out the sea breaks more roughly over
submerged rocks, and the waves lift themselves, before breaking, in an
indescribable way, as if each gave a glimpse through a translucent
window, beyond which all ocean's depths might be clearly seen, could
one but hit the proper angle of vision. On the right side of my retreat
a high wall limits the view, while close upon the left the crumbling
parapet of