-
All, all were sweet; and yet _my_ heart beat true,
Nor shrined one wish I might not breathe to you.

So when we parted little had been said:
I left you standing just within the door,
With the dim moonlight streaming on your head
And rippling softly on the checkered floor.
I can remember even the dress you wore--
Some dainty white Swiss stuff that floated round
Your supple form and trailed upon the ground,
While bands of coral bound each slender wrist,
Studded with one great purple amethyst.

* * * * *

My story is not much--is it?--to tell:
It seems a wandering line of music, faint,
Whose sweet pathetic measures rise and swell,
Then, strangled, fall with curious restraint.
'Tis like the pictures that the artists paint,
With shadows forward thrown into the light
From the real figures hidden out of sight.
And is not life crossed in this strange, sad way
With dreams whose shadows lengthen day by day?

But you, dear heart--sweet heart loved all these years--
Will recognize the passion of the strain:
Who eats the lotos-flower of Love with tears,
Will know the rapture of that numb, vague pain
Which thrills the heart and stirs the languid brain.
All day amid the toiling throng we strive,
While in our heart these sacred, sweet loves thrive,
And in choice hours we show them, white and cool
Like lilies floating on a troubled pool.

MILLIE W. CARPENTER.

"PASSPORTS, GENTLEMEN!"

The close of July, 1870, found our party tarrying for a few days at
Geneva. We had left home with the intention of "doing" Europe in less
than four months. June and July were already gone, but in that time,
traveling as only Americans can, Great Britain, Belgium, the Rhine
country and portions of Switzerland had been visited and admired. We
were now pausing for a few days to take breath and prepare for yet
wider flights. Our proposed route from Geneva would lead us through
Northern Germany, returning by way of Paris to London and Liverpool.

We had intentionally left Paris for the last, hoping that the
Communist disturbances would be completely quieted before September.
At this time their forces had been recently routed, and the Versailles
troops were occupying the capital. The leaders of the Commune were
scattered in every direction, and, if newspaper accounts were to be
believed, were being captured in every city of France