A SAD POSSIBILITY. 
the party’s chairs. They are dressed ridicu¬ 
lously, in European style, and no two alike. 
On the return of the royal party from 
their voyage up the Nile, the Princess and 
Mrs. Obey rode out with Mocha© Pasha, 
one of the Viceroy’s court, to see his wife. 
His house, in the old town of Cairo, is pro¬ 
nounced perfectly delightful. It was entered 
through a large court-yard, and tbeu a most 
beautiful garden. Moukad Pasha’s wife 
met them at the entrance, “ dressed quite in 
the Turkish fashion, with a loose peach- 
colored satin dress, trowsers of the same, 
with a gold band, fastened with a large dia¬ 
mond clasp, round the waist; a necklace of 
enormous diamonds, diamond and pearl ear¬ 
rings, and a violet velvet head-dress, covered 
with diamond ornaments.” 
Luncheon is an affair of two hours’ length 
in Turkey, and at one of these dtjeuners , 
when the party were in Constantinople, Mrs. 
Grey sat next a Turkish Minister of State, 
who spoke very plainly and earnestly of the 
social condition in the Orient. “ Our ladies 
are the most unhappy beings in the world,” 
he declared, “ always shut up, always kept 
away from all civilization; and this is, to 
Touching a matter that should receive 
serious thought from all who have assumed 
marriage relations, Robert Coli.yek thus 
writes: 
If it be true, then, that the hope of the 
world lies in its cradle—not only that our 
life may go on at all, but that it may con¬ 
stantly reach upward toward nobler and 
better things—in what relation do we, who 
are now responsible for this new life, stand 
to it? and as it is intrusted to our care, how 
do we deal with it? And in saying this, I 
must call attention to the outcry that is 
raised on all sides of us about the danger 
that is now threatening this nation, through 
the baleful decrease in these blessed gifts 
from God that are the hope and treasure of 
the world, where the fairest hope of this na¬ 
tion ought to rest. I need not say what a 
difficulty I encounter in touching on this 
matter in any way. I speak for that, how¬ 
ever, which ought to give courage to any 
man who has to deal with these sacred 
things in our life, when I say that wherever 
this sin may hide itself, and under whatever 
name it, may hide, once make sure that it is 
so, and the reason is no better than is, I be¬ 
lieve, usually given. 
Then there is a word to say about it that 
goes deeper than that, of the physician, the 
political economist, or the patriot. It is this: 
That in some way we cannot even imagine, 
we may leave the whole world poorer by 
what we have done. What a loss to the 
world if once such a sin had been hidden 
away in Stratford-upon-Avon ; or in the poor 
clay biggin, two miles from Ayr, in Scot¬ 
land ; or in the hut, eight miles from New¬ 
castle. in England: or in many another 
BLESSED ARE THE MEEK 
SYMBOLS OF VICTORY, 
BY A. H. LINTON, 
Yei.low leaves on the ash tree, 
Soft glory In the air, 
And the streaming radiance of sunshine 
On the leaden clouds over there. 
At the window a child’s mouth smiling. 
Overhung with tearful eyes 
At the flying raluy landscape 
And the sudden opening skies. 
Angels hanging from heaveu, 
A whisper in dying ears, 
And the promise of great salvation 
Shining on mortal fears. 
A dying man on his pillow, 
Whose white soul, fled to his face, 
Puts ou her garment of Joyfulncss 
And stretches to Death’s embrace. 
Passion, rapture and blindness. 
Yearning, aching and fears, 
And faith and duty gazing 
With steadfast eyes upon tears. 
I see, or the glory blinds me 
Of a soul divinely fair. 
Peace after great tribulation, 
Aud victory hung in the air. 
They go forevermore unblost 
Who cherish closely In their breast 
Tint pride of earth; all goodly things 
Fly past their reach on slleut wings. 
And worthless Is the prize they seek; 
But ever •• Blessed aro the meek!” 
The forms that walk erect mid proud, 
Aud trumpet their own praises loud. 
Shall ran at last; hut those bowed down 
Shall win ut length the victor’s orown, 
However humble they, und weak. 
For ever “ Blessed arc the meek 1” 
God's promises are always Just. 
All dust of earth is only dust, 
And vanishes aud leaves no sign. 
The lowliest is most divine, 
And in its lowly being feels 
A grace humility ouuceuls. 
The sweetest fragrance horn of bloom 
By modest mound or lowly tomb 
Breathes faintly out upon the air; 
The surest answer granted prayer 
Is granted unto those who seek 
Believing “ Blessed arc the meek.” 
O God of love! look down, I pray, 
Upon my haughty huari. to-day 1 
Let meekness with me eVr abide 
A treasured guest, In place of pride, 
And let this truth bo to uio known 
That ” Blessed are the meek ” alone 1 
Watching, waiting with weary feet— 
The shadows grow in the dusky street. 
The birds retire; 
The trees all tremble with night winds cool. 
Sweet ripples break across the pool, 
The sky has lost its fire. 
Watching for one who comes uo more, 
Whose barque has pass’d to a distant shore 
On stormy wave; 
Who left us—ub ! long years ago, 
When flowers were gone, and the glittering snow 
Its shining luster gave. 
Tidings came he would come again 
When the sky was heavy with spring’s soft rain. 
And grass was green; 
But the grass was green and gathered away, 
Cold winter succeeded summer's long day. 
And he was never seen. 
In spring's warm dayB we ever, I fear, 
When sunset’s hour dLraweth near. 
Will watch the gate; 
And murmur low In each other's ear, 
He cometh not—and I fear, I fear 
He fver will be late.” 
MANY-SIDEDNESS. 
HOME-LIFE IN THE EAST. 
The Hon. Mrs. William Grey accom¬ 
panied the Prince and Princess of Wales on 
their visit to the East, rather more than a 
year since, as lady-in-waiting to Her Royal 
Highness, and a volume just published gives 
her journal of the tour. As the royal party 
were received in Egypt and elsewhere into 
the palaces of royalty, they saw oriental 
home-life more fully there than visitors gen¬ 
erally are permitted to see it, and Lady 
Grey’s journal is chiefly of iuterest for the 
informal pictures it gives us thereof. Her 
Ladyship takes us into Egyptian bedrooms 
and drawing-rooms, gives us a peep at the 
furniture, and shows us generally how those 
far-away Eastern people live when at home. 
She gossips first of the Palace of Esbekieli, 
at Cairo, one of the Viceroy’s residences, 
which was appropriated to the Prince of 
Wales during his stay. 
“The Prince and Princess have an im¬ 
mense bedroom,” she remarks, “ full of rich 
French furniture. The beds are very beau¬ 
tiful, made of massive silver, and cost, I be¬ 
lieve, £3,0001” What, gorgeous dreams 
they ought to coujure up, to he sure ! “ My 
room is so large,” she continues, “ that even 
when the candles arc Ut there might be 
somebody sitting at the other end of it with- 
You could not even 
THE WORTH OF WORK. 
CHIGNONS, 
We saw in a show-window on a New 
York avenue, the other day, a ghastly at¬ 
tempt at a joke. Three chignons were 
placed in a row, one above another,—the 
lowest one being a small, rouud alTair, scarce¬ 
ly larger than your fist, and labeled “ The 
Past.tho second having ampler dimen¬ 
sions, large enough to weigh down a head 
not over-heavy, and hearing on a card “ The 
Presentand the crowning one of the three 
spreading a foot in width, and a full foot and 
a-half in length, and seeming to wear a 
Inroad smile in the prophetic words,—“ The 
Future." 
“ And are we coming to that?” asked we, 
as the last named attracted our attention. 
May the good fates deliver usl So praying, 
we read and endorse the following found in 
an exchange:—Some punster asks: “Arc 
not chignons hair-em scarc-em things?" We 
cannot smile. In view of the latest fashion, 
it is with a degree of sadness that we press 
the question, Are they not? Huge hirsute 
boulders, exceeding in their proportions the 
craniums to which they are attached, are all 
too common. What in nature do they re¬ 
semble? In the patience, of hope we meekly 
await the day when at least the principal 
“foundation” for a lady’s hair will be the 
lady’s head. 
MODERATE DRINKING 
Rf.y. Wm. GooDELL thus declares in refer¬ 
ence to the various shades of drinking: 
“Which is most destructive of health and 
life, drunkenness or moderate drinking? 
But what arc the facts V A man may get as 
drunk as some do once a mouth, vomit out 
the poison, sleep otT the effects and be sober 
nil the rest of the month, drinking nothing 
till the fit comes on again. Such a man may 
do more business, do it better, preserve bet¬ 
ter health and live longer than the ‘ mod- 
rate’ drinker, who never gets drunk, never 
vomits out the poison—keeps it within him, 
adding a little to it daily till it undermines 
his constitution, so that he readily falls a 
prey to all manner of diseases without vi¬ 
tality enough to recover from them. He 
.dies a‘moderate’ drinker, never suspected 
of intemperance, much less ranked among 
the drunkards, yet losing his life In conse¬ 
quence of his ‘ moderate ’ drinking. Scien¬ 
tific and experienced physicians entertain 
these views, and are of opinion that more 
than half of those who die in consequence of 
drinking alcoholic liquors die before they be¬ 
come confirmed and downright drunkards." 
out your knowing it, 
hear people speaking from one end to the 
other. It is ns high as it is long, with nine 
large windows. There is a beautiful silver 
bed, a large divan (rather high and hard for 
comfort) round half of the room; a common 
writing-table and wasliliand-stand, (put in all 
the rooms at the request of Sir S. Baker;) 
a large sofa, and quantities of very smart 
Chairs round the walls. The curtains and 
covers of the furniture are all made of the 
richest silk. Add to all this one immense 
looking-glass, and you have the whole furni¬ 
ture of my room, which is more like a state 
drawing-room at Windsor than a bedroom. 
All the other rooms are furnished in the same 
way.” On the whole, we don’t care to sleep 
in such style! 
The ladies are invited to dine with “ La 
Grande Princesse," the Viceroy’3 mother, in 
her harem, and we see the round silver table 
in the middle of the room, with the large 
square cushions all about it, on which they 
sit down a la Torque ; the slave coming in 
smartly dressed, half the skirt of black satin, 
embroidered in gold, the other half of yellow 
satin, also trimmed with gold, on her head a 
turban, and on her arm a gold-fringed nap¬ 
kin ; see her give a.tortoise shell spoon, with 
a large coral branch as a handle, to each of 
the diners; and then we look on while they 
all dip their spoons into the tureen together! 
Later, when a large piece of mutton comes 
ou, we see them tear off bits with their 
fingers, and put the same at once in their 
mouths! A score of dishes follow, into each 
of which all dip their spoons together; pastry 
succeeds, and some other curious dishes, with 
sweetmeats, currant jelly, and thick sour 
cream served between ; and when “ a small 
basin of compote of cherries” is placed be¬ 
fore everybody the dinner is ended, accord¬ 
ing to Egyptian habits. “ I must confess,” 
adds our fair author, “ that I never In my 
life was more disgusted, or felt more inclined 
to be sick, than I did during this meal.” 
When the party have retired from the 
table to the drawing-room they take seats 
upon a divan, and twenty musicians, all 
girls, decked out in uniform like a military 
band, enter, followed by fourteen other girls 
as dancers, and the danciug continues for 
two hours. Meanwhile coffee is served, 
borne in by a slave, on a tray covered with 
! a black velvet cloth, all embroidered with 
» pearls and enormous uncut emeralds. Un- 
^ der this cover are the cups, masses of dia¬ 
monds, which u slave hands about, while 
2 another follows offering a long Turkish pipe, 
set with diamonds, or a cigarette with a 
r v holder one mass of precious stones. About 
Ik. five hundred slaves are in the harem, and 
about twenty are constantly on duty behind 
GOSSIPY PARAGRAPHS, 
HOW TO BEGIN THE DAY 
Rise with the lark, hut not for one. Be 
very careful to attire yourself neatly; our¬ 
selves, like our salads, are always the better 
for a good dressing. Shave unmistakably 
before you descend from your room; chins, 
like oysters, should have their beards taken 
off before being permitted to go down. Start 
with determination to be agreeable and good 
tempered, and that like an overwhelming fire, 
nothing shall put you out. Should the tea 
not be hot, take it coolly; should the ham 
be salt, emulate the philosophic Bacon, and 
having made a few pleasant observations 
about the milk of human kindness, the sugar 
of domestic felicity, the cup ofhappinesa be¬ 
ing full, and the butter resembling an actor 
in a fresh part, because it appears in a new 
roll, conclude with the appropriate ballad of 
“ Let the toast pass,” cracking lresh eggs and 
stale jokes simultaneously. 
Sunshine and Clodds. —Ah, this beau¬ 
tiful world! I know not what to think of it. 
Sometimes it is all sunshine and gladness, 
and Heaven itself lies not far off, and then it 
suddenly changes, and is dark and sorrow¬ 
ful, and the clouds shut out the day. In the 
lives of the saddest of us there are bright 
days like this, when we feel as if we could 
take the great world in our arms. Then 
come gloomy hours, when the fire will not 
burn ou our hearths, and all without and 
within is dismal, cold and dark. Believe 
me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which 
the world knows not, and oftentimes we call 
a man cold when he is only sad.— Longfellow. 
The real lade in all systems of religion, 
based upon nature or reason, us opposed to 
revelation, like the ancient Hellenic pagan¬ 
ism, is their utter failure to afford comfort 
und strength to mankind in the hour of 
weakness, trial, and sorrow. 
Self-helpers usually make the best 
helpers of humanity at large. 
The “ stificate ” was satisfactory, and the 
young lady obtained the school. 
