made It, she waa not free to break It. Poor Nel' 
ly! I liavc often wondered bow she resisted such 
temptation. For do not suppose that Satan did 
not offer her many an outlet. 
•* Break the seal,” be whispered, “ read your 
letter, then go up-etrirs, seal It again with red 
wax like this, and just tc-31 me 11 Hlr John win be 
any worse for It 7 It Is your letter after all! 
Think of your long agony till he comes home, 
and do this: who will bo the wiser?” This was 
cruelly plausible, and are there many men 
and women who could have resisted either that 
suggestion, or the bolder or more honest one of 
breaking her promise altogether, and not con¬ 
cealing from her master that she had done so? 
What had Nelly to lose ? He had given her 
warning; this fine situation, with its twenty 
pounds a year, was gone; she had risked It to 
comply with her sick mother’s wish, and she did 
not repent having done so. Why should she not 
win peace when all was lost and risk was gone? 
Why are not conscience, Integrity, and honor 
mere words, and not awful realities ? Nelly 
could not do this thing, Ihe sacredness of her 
word stood between her and Paradise. For, 
after all, her reading the letter would change 
nothing. It would not give her dying mother 
life, or restore Mrs Dering's lost m oney. “ Well, 
then, I mustand I will bear It," thought Ellen. 
And she hore It. Wnat tortures Nelly suffered, 
as she sat In that dull parlor on a sultry July 
day, with Joseph's letter on her lap, she never 
told—perhaps she could not. Great mental or 
physical pain can never be remembered In Its in¬ 
tensity, for to remember it would be to go through 
It a train, and Providence Is too merciful to Inflict 
the same pang twice over. Stltl, It must surely 
have been something terrible for the poor girl to 
let the slow hours go by and hear the kitchen 
clock ticking below. Cook and housemaid were 
very merry together that day. How cruel and 
how mocking sounded their loud laughter and 
their ldle talk! I t she could even nave told them 
her trouble, It might have eased her. “ But they 
hato me," thought Nelly, her heart swelling at 
the thought. They certainly did not love her, 
and, though Nelly was a good girl, she had little, 
short, precise ways which tree, easy, unscrupu¬ 
lous natures must, dislike. Not a soul came near 
her. She sat unheeded and forgotten, neither 
eating nor drinking nor stirring—but looking at 
Joseph’s letter on her lap and reeling: “ Will he 
ever come?” 
When the hour of Sir John’s return drew nigh, 
the suspense grew to he almost Intolerable. 
There was nothing which poor Ellen did not Im¬ 
agine. Suppose he dined out: suppose he did not 
comeback till the morning, could she or ought 
she to hear It ? Surely, In such a case, she must 
he freed of her promise. She had never pledged 
herself to an indefinite watting. 
Sir John was the most, punctual of men. He 
dined at six cxa«tly Yet at five minutes past 
six he wasn’t at homo. " He Is not coming home 
to-day” thought Ellen. Her hand waB on the 
letter; but she paused. “I shall wait till the 
clock strikes the quarter,” she thought, “then 
I shall see what I am to do.” 
She bad not to watt so long. At ton minutes 
pact sis Sir John’s knock was hear d. Nelly ought 
to have flown and opened to him, but she did 
not. Now that dellverenee had come, she shrank 
from It ae if it had been a oaiamtty. She never 
stirred till Sir John entered the room, and see¬ 
ing her, rather shortly asked, •• Any letters?" 
Nelly placed all the letters In his hand. He 
saw hers, and gave It back to her without a word, 
Nelly took It and left the room. Sir John was 
a slow, deliberate man. When one of his letters 
was sealed, he never broke the seal, but cut the 
paper round it. lie rang the bell to ask Nelly 
for a pair of scissors. She came In staggering, 
and before Sir John could utter his commands, 
Nelly was in a dead swoon at his feet. “ Bless 
my soul! what is the matter with the girl?” 
cried poor Sir John, very much startled. He 
picked her up and, In so doing, saw a little bit 
of rumpled paper in ber band. I trust no one 
will think the worse of Sir John for looking at 
that paper. It waa a short missive—and ran 
thus: “Money Is all safe; mother Is getting 
better and better. Yours truly. 
“J, M.” 
So It was all right; but the sudden relief had 
been too much for Nelly. This, however, was 
Greek to her master. So he rang the bell, and, 
thanks to water, vinegar, and burnt feathers, 
Ellen was got round. But she was so weak by 
the bitter suspense of seven hours that it was 
some time before she could answer Sir John’s 
questions and tell him her story. She related it 
very simply, but he heard It with the deepest 
amazement, “ By Jove,’’ he cried, “ there was 
never anything like it—never 1 And so, not know¬ 
ing but that the money was lost oi your mother 
worse, you would not read the letter.” 
“No, sir,” quietly answered “Nelly, “I could 
not break my word.” 
“You are a noble girl,” cried Sir John, with a 
touch of Hotspur enthusiasm, “ and i’ll tell you 
what, Nelly, if 1 was ten years younger—I would 
marry you.” 
“ But I would not marry you, Sir John,” de¬ 
murely answered Nelly, 
“Of course you woutd not.” he ruefully re¬ 
plied. “You would not jilt a man, and poison 
the rest or his life. You would not do that.” 
That absurd Sir John 1 with poisoning his life 
indeed! I wonder now much poison It takes to 
produce my worthy friend's—1 will not say how 
many stone; or to give a man that bluff rosy 
face, or that hearty voice and Jovial “ Ha I ha!” 
Poison Indeed l 
Tin re came another letter from Joseph the 
next morning, explaining everything. 
Need I say that Sir John, rescinded the warn¬ 
ing he had givesi Nelly, and that he authorized 
her to open her letters the moment the postman 
put them into her hand. So, though he was out, 
she read tills one, which, as I said, explained 
everything. Ten minutes after Nelly had left 
her mother's cottage, Mrs Dering'found the notes 
In the garden. As soon as Joseph returned she 
told him the whole story. At once he wrote, 
but it was too late for the post, so Joseph went 
to the station, and a friend whom he had there 
promised to And him a safe messenger In one of 
the guards, by whom his letter should be posted 
In London as soon as the fl rst train came In. 
“Oh, Joseph, Joseph !” thought Nelly, “If you 
had only written your letter outside Instead of 
Inside, what a world of misery you would have 
spared me.” 
“ Why did he not send you a telegram ?’’ indig¬ 
nantly asked Sir John. “But, sir,” argbed Nelly, 
“I should not have opened that either, besides 
the letter came as fast aB myself—It was all the 
promise.” 
Yes, It was all the promise, and Sir John did his 
beat to atone. Nelly and Joseph have been mar¬ 
ried years, and their prosperity 1 b not the mere 
offspring of their labor and Industry. A kind, 
helping hand has often been stretched out to¬ 
wards them. “ But I owed Nelly more than 
I ever did for her,” says Hotspur. “Would you 
believe it, sir. ever since that girl left my let¬ 
ters have gone wrong again 1” 
I have no doubt Sir John would like me to be¬ 
lieve (hat. As If I could! 
SIGHT-SEEING IN PARIS, 
E. F. MOSBT. 
Nothxno at the Paris Exposition attracts more 
attention than the Gobelin tapestries and the 
Sevres china. One is disappointed at first by the 
royal tapestries and hangings, for the colors, es¬ 
pecially the scarlet or rose tint, have faded very 
much, but the fidelity with which line alter line, 
touch after touch of the great artist In some 
matchless painting, Is transferred to the web, 
grows ever more and more upon one’s admira¬ 
tion. It is said the weaving of one.of these pieces 
sometimes lasted six years, the silent workman 
having his model or pattern placed behind him, 
instead of before, and occasionally looking back 
to trace Its Image more accurately on his mem¬ 
ory ; and one fancies in the faded lints some re¬ 
semblance to the slow-passing and colorless days 
of patient labor spent over them. 
Far brighter is the beautiful work on the 
Sevres china, so called from the town of Sevres, 
which Is situated a short distance from Paris, 
near the town and grounds of St. Cloud. TUe 
many revolutions of Paris, the pillaged palaces 
and consequent sales, have caused many speci¬ 
mens of this royal ware to be brought Into the 
private households of other countries, so, many 
of my leaders are doubtless familiar with the ex¬ 
quisite texture of this frail china, as delicate and 
as translucent as the shell of an egg. 
The graceful designs in which It Is wrought 
suit the material admirably, and so do also its 
rare devices of brilliant colors, its flowers and 
wreaths and trailing sprays of blossoms. The 
work on the painting and gilding Is most elabo¬ 
rate, and tbe china is even decorated still more 
expensively by the setting of brilliants or pre- 
clousstones, and flowers, statues, vases, urns, are 
all made of this frail porcelain, as well as the 
exquisite sets tor tea and dinner services, with 
which our eyes are most familiar. 
There are also tall jars of llouen china, and 
ware from Limoges and Nevers. Much of the 
early French porcelain Is wrought In grotesque 
and quaint shapes of animals and fish, and queer 
ereatures of land and water, with plants and 
flowers, exquisitely colored lu fresh, bright tints. 
For several years persons have been busy in col¬ 
lecting fine specimens or china, old furniture, del¬ 
icate laces from different parts of France, and as 
you look at some of the old china you can Imagine 
the Interiors of the tall, dark houses la the old 
towns of Normandy, where these were ranged 
row over row on strong shelves, or placed on the 
tall armof res with many compartments and draw¬ 
ers. 
There is one thing that strikes you pleasantly 
about the designs on the china, and the carvings 
of the tall chairs and chests and slender tables— 
all the plants seem to grow and the birds and 
butterflies to live, and peck at the wooden fj ult, 
or poise above It. It shows the vigorous, warm 
enthusiasm of the artists who worked upon them, 
and loved their work. 
It > ou have traveled In Franco enough to learn 
something of. the life of the people, you will reel 
a much more Intelligent interest In many of the 
articles exhibited la Paris. For instance, the de¬ 
licate black laces of Gaea and other provincial 
towns, will recall to you the women In their pic¬ 
turesque peasant dresses, weaving the line 
threads Into symmetrical figures, andyou wlU re¬ 
member vividly thtir beautiful, old-fashioned 
towns, with their narrow streets, and tall houses 
with projecting rooms, and the curious, over¬ 
hanging balconies, shading the sidewalks. 
If you have ever been to these, there are two 
places you will remember—the busy market¬ 
place with the fresh, lively peasant women, sell¬ 
ing and bargaining with so many compliments 
and smiles, and their pretty stalls with fruits and 
dewey flowers, and even vegetables arranged 
with exquisite taste and neatness; the bright 
crimson radishes and silvery-white onton, the 
crisp green leaves of lettuee forming a perfect 
study lu color by themselves. Then, after leav¬ 
ing a little behind you all this busy merriment 
and good-natured din, you will come to a quiet 
green yard and tall gray church, its spire rising 
solemnly heavenward, and Us sweet bells ringing 
matius, augelua and vespers over the heads of 
the crowd coming and going underneath. The 
church doors are always open, and looking in you 
see cool shadowy spaces, only cleft here and 
there by rays of rlchJy-colored light from the 
stained windows. 
In the great international Exhibitional Paris 
now, the work displayed Is a fragment from Just 
such sights and sounds in many lands, and the 
young visitors there should try to understand the 
people who produced these beautiful things, and 
their homes and lives, to gain the full interest 
and meaning of them. 
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF CYPRUS. 
The following statistics as to the agricultural 
products of Cyprus, are taken from a report fur¬ 
nished to the Imperial Geographical Society of 
Vienna by an officer of the Austrian army. Al¬ 
though written as far back as 1873, tbe report will 
still bo found interesting, owing to the great 
scarcity of Information regarding the Island. Of 
wheat, which Is one of Its chief products, Cyprus 
raises in a good year about one million five hun¬ 
dred thousand bushels. Of these about one mil¬ 
lion bushels are consumed In the Island, leaving 
about five hundred thousand bushels for export. 
The shipments commence In the month of June, 
and In 1872 the average price or wheat, placed 
free on board ship, was about 4s. 2 tf. per bushel. 
Barley is also cultivated to a considerable extent, 
but the bulk of it is consumed in the Island; and 
In some localities small quantities of maize, oats, 
and mtllet are raised. Carobs, or locust-beans, 
are largely cultivated. The annual harvest of 
these varies from eight thousand to t welve thou¬ 
sand tons, and the fruit is generally ready for ex¬ 
port about th e beginning of September, its price 
varies from 70s. to 140s. per ton, and about th roe- 
fourths of the total export goes to Russia, Egypt 
taking the hulk of the remainder. Of raisins, 
Cyprus produces annually about one hundred and 
fifty tons. They are of medium quality, fetch 
about £11 per ton, and are mostly shipped to 
Alexandria, Beyrout, and Constantinople. Wine 
Is still one of the chief products of the Island. 
About one hundred and forty thousand gallons of 
the common red wine are produced yearly, the 
retail price being about lOd. a gallon. Some¬ 
where about one-third of this quantity Is con¬ 
sumed on the Island. 
Of the better wines, the annual product Is about 
eighteen thousand gallons, and these are nearly 
all exported. They are bought up by speculators, 
who store them until matured; the price ulti¬ 
mately realized for Commandlne, which Is the 
kind most sought after, varying from 4 s. 2d. a 
gallon when It is two years old, to twenty times 
that sum when It has been kept for twenty-five 
years. Brandy also Is made from raisins and 
damaged grapes, and about thirty-four thousand 
gallons are sent each year to Alexandria. Nearly 
eight thousand hales of cotton of .the average 
weight of two hundredweight each, are exported 
yearly, the home consumption absorbing an ad¬ 
ditional one thousand bales. Silk used to be an 
Important article of export, hut owing to the out¬ 
break of a disease the production has been greatly 
curtailed. In good years about two hundred and 
twenty thouaand gallons of olive oil, two hun¬ 
dred and fifty to three hundred and fifty tons of 
madder root, and one hundred tons of nuts are 
produced. Sumach grows without particular 
care, and from three hundred to four hundred 
tons are yearly exported to England and Syria. 
In 1ST3 the total value of the exports from Cy¬ 
prus was £360,000, and of the Imports, £88,000, 
In 1875, according to our consular reports, the ex¬ 
ports amounted to £854,ooo, and the imports to 
£ 200 , 000 . Two-thirds of the total tonnage of 
8hlp6 trading .with Cyprus belong to Austria.— 
Economist. 
-■*-*-*- 
CLANDESTINE DOCUMENTS. 
Apropos of the recently discovered theft of an 
Important State dooument a copy of which was 
stolen by a clerk and sold to the press, the Pall 
Mall Gazette gives the following Interesting ac¬ 
count of similar offences: 
Historical instances are numerous in which 
State documents of great Importance have found 
their way into the hands of people who had no 
business with them; and sometimes the course of 
the world's affairs has been materially influenced 
by such accidents. But for a hazard which placed 
under Cromwell’s eyes a letter In which Charles 
I. stated that he had no intention to fulfil the 
promises which he had made to secure peace, the 
negotiations between the king and the Parlia¬ 
ment might have come to an Issue; as it was, 
Cromwell refused to treat, and It may be said that 
CharleB’ unlucky letter cost hfln hla head. 
Similarly the breach between Louis XVI. and 
the French people was rendered irreparable 
when a blacksmith revealed the existence of the 
famous Iron closet at the Talleries, which having 
been broken open, was found to contain the 
damaging evidence of the king’s negotiations 
with the Austrian Court In view of an Invasion of 
France. In 1734 Talllen having read his name on 
a piece of paper which Robespierre let fall from 
hts pocket in pulling out his handkerchief, con¬ 
cluded he was marked down for execution, and 
at the Instigation of his high-spirited wife, Im¬ 
mediately took measures which resulted In 
Robespierre’s downfall on the 9th Thermldor, 
To come to more recent times, Louis Napoleon’s 
coup d'etat waB wlthlu au ace of falling, owing to 
the officlousne8s of a lady In communicating the 
plans to Prince Napoleon (the future emperor's 
cousin), who forthwith tried to put some of the 
Republican leaders on their guard. 
Victor Hugo gives an account of this affair In 
his “History of a Crime,” and he furnishes some 
details as to the minute precautions which were 
taken to Insure secrecy at the National. Print¬ 
ing Office, where Louis Napoleon's proclamations 
were printed. The place was guarded by sol¬ 
diers and detectives, and not a workman waB al¬ 
lowed to leave the building until all the copies 
were struck off and In the hands of the bill- 
stickers. M. Hugo might have added that the 
original manuscripts of these proclamations were 
all lu the handwriting of Count de Moray, and 
that no one save that able conspirator and his 
master was permitted to see them before they 
were consigned to the printer. St. Arnaud, Mau- 
pas,’Mocquard and Perslgny had been favored 
with a sight of proclamations worded quite dif- 
lerentjy, and they grumbled by and by at not 
having been trusted. But. De Moray trusted no¬ 
body. in 1870 on the outbreak of the Franco- 
German war, the world was startled by tbe pub¬ 
lication In tbe Times of a draft treaty drawn up 
by M. Benedettl, and proposing the annexation 
of Belgium to France, M. Benedettl pretended 
that he harl been entrapped into writing this 
draft under Count Bismarck’sdlclalIon: butany- 
how, its disclosure had a marked effect In draw¬ 
ing away British sympathies from the French 
6tde, and It compelled the Gladstone Administra¬ 
tion to sign a treaty binding England to protect 
Belgian independence. Three years later the 
fortunes of the Monarchist factions In France 
were terribly damaged by a confidential circular 
of M. Beule, the home minister, which somehow 
fell Into the possession of M. Gambetta. In this 
document M. Beule suggested a plun for the 
wholesale corruption of the provincial press out 
of the public moneys; and when M. Gambetta 
had read this straDgely cynical paper In the tri¬ 
bune such a storm of Indignation arose, both in 
the Parliament and In the country, that the 
Broglie Cabinet, became hopelessly discredited. 
Soon afterwards M. Beule was obliged to re¬ 
sign, and within a twelvemonth from his resigna¬ 
tion he committed suicide. 
-♦_*_*-■ 
EGGS AS FOOD. 
Egos of various kinds are largely used as food 
for man, and It Is scarcely possible to exaggerate 
then- value lu this capacity, so simple and con¬ 
venient are they In their form, and so manifold 
may be their transformations. They are exceed¬ 
ingly delicious, highly nutritious, and easy of di¬ 
gestion, and when the shell is Included, they may 
be said to contain in themselves all that. Is re¬ 
quired for the construction of the body. It has 
been r-lalintd for them that they may be served 
in about six hundred ways, although It la gener¬ 
ally found that the more simply they aro prepar¬ 
ed the more they are approved. Although other 
eggs than those or birds are eaten—for instance, 
turtles’ eggs—It is generally conceded that the 
eggs of the common fowl and or the plover pos¬ 
sess the richest and sweetest flavor. The eggs of 
ducks and geese are frequently used In cookery, 
but they are of too coarse a nature to be eaten 
alone. The eggs of the turkey and of the pea-hen 
are highly esteemed for some purposes. 
The weight of an ordinary new-laid hen’s egg 
Is from one and a hair to two and a half ounces 
avoirdupois, and the quantity Of dry solid mat¬ 
ter contained lu it amounts to about two hun¬ 
dred grains. In one hundred parts, about ten 
parts consist of shell, sixty of white, and thirty 
ot yolk. The white of the egg contains a larger 
proportion of water than the yelk, it contains 
no fatty matter, but consists chiefly of albumen 
In a dissolved state. All the fatty matter of the 
egg is accumulated In the yelk, which contains 
relatively a smaller proportion of nitrogenous 
matter, and a larger proportion of solid matter, 
than the white. Therefore, in an alimentary 
point of view, the white and the yelk differ con¬ 
siderably from each ether, the rormer being 
mainly a simple solution of albumen, the latter 
being a solution of a modified form of albumen, to¬ 
gether with a quantity of fat. .... Raw and 
lightly-boiled eggs are easy of digestion. It Is 
said that raw eggs are more easily digested than 
cooked ones; but this may be doubted It tbe egg 
Is not overcooked. A hard-boiled egg presents a 
decided resistance to gastric solution, and has a 
constlpatory action on the bowels.— Cassell's Do¬ 
mestic Dictionary. 
-- 
GLADSTONE AND BEACON SFIELD. 
The Springfield Republican, discussing “ The 
Personal Element In English Politics,” sketches 
neatly and accurately the two central figures of 
trans-atlantlc politics. Gladstone Is the man 
of moral Ideas, and Beaconsfield is the very em¬ 
bodiment ot cynical expediency. Gladstone can 
hardly crack a filbert without somehow con¬ 
necting the fact with the moral order of the uni¬ 
verse ; Beaconsfield jests over Bulgarian atroci¬ 
ties as It he were craoklng filberts. Beaconsfleld’a 
career Is made up of anomalies. OI Jewish des¬ 
cent, he is the practical head of the Established 
Church; a conservative loader, he beat the lib¬ 
erals by offering a wider suffrage than they had 
ventured to propose; a thorough political adven¬ 
turer, he Is obediently followed by a proud and 
Btlff aristocracy; he Is the most adroit of cour¬ 
tiers, and the most absolute of party chiefs. 
“ But consistency still waa a part of his plan 
He’s been true to one varty-and that was himself,” 
He has succeeded mainly by giving to a strong 
and stupid party the benefit of leadership as 
skillful as unscrupulous; and also through the 
sympathy of a clasB—which the Pall Mall Gazette 
represents—with the cynical Indifference to any¬ 
thing hut material success which the prime 
minister so jauntily avows. Nothing Is more de¬ 
testable to this clasB than the Intense and se¬ 
rious temper of a man llko Gladstone. Glad¬ 
stone Is deficient In the qualities In which Bea- 
consfleld is Btrong—tact, coolness and sclf-con- 
trol. But It Is tbe best head and heart of Eng¬ 
land that listens and responds when Gladstone 
Bpeaks. Beaconsfleld is, after all, but the clev¬ 
erest of charlatans. Gladstone Is a statesman, 
of a lower order indeed than Bismarck and Ca- 
vour and Lincoln in shrewdness and partlcualr 
force; an orator and scholar, rather than a man 
of affairs; but second to none la the purity of his 
alms and the generosity of his sympathies. 
“I’ve bought you a nice Swiss clock, mother,” 
said an old farmer to hla aged wife. " Why, Ja¬ 
red !” she exclaimed, “ why didn’t you bring me 
an English or American one, so’t I could under¬ 
stand It when It strikes?” 
