real. And in glancing
at his collection your tongue must not trip nor your eye confound
styles. It requires a literal mind, besides a good memory and practised
observation, to be an expert, and diffused and generalized knowledge
amounts to little.

We have in mental view a lady who five years ago possessed apparently
neither powers of thought nor capacity for expression, but who has,
since she became a collector of china and antique furniture, developed
into a tireless talker. Formerly she sat in her pale gray-and-blue rooms
dressed faultlessly, "splendidly null," and you sought in vain for a
topic which could warm her into interest or thaw out a sign of life from
her. Now her rooms are studies, so picturesquely has she arranged her
cabinets of china, her Oriental rugs and hangings, and her Queen Anne
furniture; and she herself seems a new creature, so transfused is she by
this fine fire of enthusiasm which illuminates her face and warms her
tongue into eloquence. There is no dearth of subjects now. The briefest
allusion to the Satsuma cup on the table beside you, and the lady, well
equipped with matter, starts out on a tireless recapitulation of the
delights and fatigues of collecting. She is a better woman and a much
less dull one from this blossom of sympathy and interest with something
outside of the old meaningless conditions of her life.

We all remember that it was a point of etiquette inculcated in our youth
never to make allusion to the furniture and fittings of the houses where
we paid visits. That rule is far more honored in the breach than in the
observance now-a-days. It would show chilling coldness not to inquire if
our fair friend herself embroidered the curtains of velvet and
mummy-cloth which drape her doors and windows, and if that plaque were
really painted by one of the Society of Decorative Art, and not imported
from Doulton.

It would, in fact, seem as if this initiation in fresh ideas and
aims--which, even if trivial, are higher than the old uncreative forms
of occupation and interest--was an answer to the yearning of the
feminine mind for something to sweep thoughts and impulses into a
current which results in action. And certainly any action which lends
interest, worth and beauty to domestic life, which draws out talent and
promotes culture, is deserving of all encouragement.

L. W.

THE STORY OF THE TROCADERO.

There is no portion of the Paris Exhibition of 1878 which has exci