ude at having accomplished
this feat, I overlooked the little discomforts of an eye in mourning, a
broken finger, and garments perfumed throughout in defiance of _la
mode_.

At present, I am engaged in a business which I deem far more respectable
and lucrative than lecturing, to wit, explaining the merits and
advantages of a patent needle-threader to interested crowds on Broadway.
Here my oratorical abilities are advantageously displayed, my audiences
are attentive, and my profits are good.

[_Exit Brown_]

* * * * *

THE WATCHWORD.

'Trust in the Lord, and keep your powder dry!'
So cried stout OLIVER in the storm, before
That redder rain on bloody Marston Moor,
Which whelmed the flower of English chivalry.
Repeat the watchword when the sullen sky
Stoops with its weight of terror, while the roar
Of the far thunder deepens, and no more
God's gracious sunshine greets the lifted eye!
Not Faith alone, but Faith with Action armed,
Shall win the battle, when the anointed host
Wars with the alien armies, and, unharmed,
Snatch victory from a field where all seemed lost.
Front Death and Danger with a level eye;
Trust in the Lord, _and keep your powder dry!_

* * * * *

TINTS AND TONES OF PARIS.

It is a curious test of national character to compare the prevalent
impressions of one country in regard to another whereof the natural and
historical description is quite diverse: and in the case of France and
England, there are so many and so constantly renewed incongruities, that
we must discriminate between the effect of immediate political jealousy,
in such estimates, and the normal and natural bias of instinct and
taste. To an American, especially, who may be supposed to occupy a
comparatively disinterested position between the two, this mutual
criticism is an endless source of amusement. In conversation, at the
theatre, on the way from Calais or Dover to either capital, at a Paris
_cafe_, or a London club-house, he hears these ebullitions of prejudice
and partiality, of self-love or generous appreciation, and finds therein
an endless illustration of national character as well as of human
nature. But perhaps the literature of the two countries most
emphatically displays their respective points of view and tone of
feeling. While a popular French author sums up the elements of life in
England as being _la vie de fa