y in the world which is
still in a flourishing condition, what would be your answer?

In nine cases out of ten, the person to whom such a query might be
propounded would hark back to Egypt, Greece, or Rome. He would be wrong.
The oldest city in the world is Damascus.

Tyre and Sidon have crumbled on the shore; Baalbec is a ruin; Palmyra is
buried in a desert; Nineveh and Babylon have disappeared from the Tigris
and the Euphrates. Damascus remains what it was before the days of
Abraham--a center of trade and travel--an isle of verdure in the desert;
"a presidential capital," with martial and sacred associations extending
through thirty centuries.

It was near Damascus that Saul of Tarsus saw the light above the
brightness of the sun; the street which is called Strait, in which it was
said "he prayed," still runs through the city.

The city which Mohammed surveyed from a neighboring height and was afraid
to enter "because it was given to man to have but one paradise, and for
his part he was resolved not to have it in this world," is to-day what
Julian called the "Eye of the East," as it was in the time of Isaiah "the
head of Syria."

From Damascus came the damson, our blue plums, and the delicious apricot
of Portugal called damasco; damask, our beautiful fabric of cotton and
silk, with vines and flowers raised upon a smooth, bright ground; the
damask rose introduced into England in the time of Henry VIII; the
Damascus blade, so famous the world over for its keen edge and wonderful
elasticity, the secret of whose manufacture was lost when Tamerlane
carried the artist into Persia; and that beautiful art of inlaying wood
and steel with gold and silver, a kind of mosaic engraving and sculpture
united--called damaskeening--with which boxes, bureaus, and swords are
ornamented.

A FEAST OF AUTO SONG.

The Egotism of the Motor-Car, Even in the Realm of Poesy, Proves More
Than a Match for the Wit of People Who Continue to Traduce It Until
They Decide What Model They Will Buy.

UNCLE HENRY ON THE PASSING OF THE HORSE.

Every little while they tell us that the horse has got to go;
First the trolley was invented 'cause the horses went so slow,
And they told us that we'd better not keep raisin' colts no more.
When the street cars got to moting that the horses pulled before,
I thought it was all over for old Fan and Doll and Kit,
S'posed the horse was up and done for,
But