Miss Hope sat on the door-stone, and looked after them with a strange mingling of relief and regret. She was unfeignedly glad to be set free from the day's new responsibilities, and yet was there not a longing envy in the sigh she drew, as she remembered the mother's rapture? She recalled the dinted bell, the ruined brush, the broken cup, the interrupted dinner, the disordered rooms, the uprooted flowers, the greased dress and carpet, the whole day passed without reading or gardening or music. All these things had tried her orderly spirit severely; and yet, and yet

When her brother returned, and sat down on the step beside her, there was no fretfulness or complaining in the face she lifted towards him. Weary it was, very weary, but he thought he had never seen her look more beamingly sweet, more womanly, and gentle. Neither spoke for a long time. The twilight deepened and the stars came out. Both thought their own thoughts, happy in being near each other, content

without communication. It was often so with them. At last, however, when the darkness made it easier to speak from the inner self, when, in the hush of the night, the barriers between heart and heart were melted away, Mark suddenly said,

"Speak out, little woman; tell me the question you've been puzzling over all this time." And Hope replied,

"I was remembering how I half despised Mrs. Oxford yesterday, for being so absorbed in her housekeeping and nursery cares, and how she seemed to think lightly of my gardening and German and reading; and now I have spent to-day in her way; and somehow I feel better satisfied with myself than I sometimes do when I have disposed of my time according to my taste. I feel as if "

"Yes, Hope”

[What Hope said is the moral of our little sketch. Curiously enough it is needless to repeat it. For once the lesson must inevitably be clear to every one who needs it.]

IN the year 1786 a vessel of three hundred and fifty tons burden sailed from an American port for Canton. She was the first to carry the flag of the United States to the shores of Cathay, and to begin a commerce that has since assumed enormous proportions. European nations had carried on a limited trade with the Chinese before that time, but they were restricted to a single port, and their jealousy of each other prevented their adopting those measures of cooperation that have recently proved so advantageous. China was averse to opening her territory to foreign merchants, and regarded with suspicion all their attempts to gain a foothold upon her soil. On the north, since 1727, the Russians had a single point of commercial exchange, and by the treaty between Russia and China all the trade between the two nations was to be conducted there. Two small cities, one thoroughly Russian and the other as thoroughly Chinese, were founded, and grew up, side by side, for the purposes of international, commerce. The name of the Chinese city (Maimaichin) signifies "place of trade." Along the whole northern frontier of the Celestial Empire there was no other settlement of its name or character. In the south was the single point open to those who came to China by sea, while along the coastline, facing to the eastward, the ports of the empire were sealed against foreign intrusion. Commerce between

China and the outer world was hampered by many restrictions, and only the great profits derived from it served to keep it alive. But once fairly established, the barbarian merchants taught the slow-learning Chinese that the trade brought advantage to all engaged in it. Step by step they pressed forward, to open new ports and extend commercial relations, which were not likely to be discontinued, if only a little time were allowed to show their value.

As the years rolled on, trade with China increased; the merchants, of all classes, found that foreign gold and silver were desirable things to gather into their possession, and that the teas and silks and porcelain of the empire brought a remunerative price from those who came to purchase. For a long time the foreigners trading, with China had no direct intercourse with the General Government, but dealt only with the local and provincial authorities. It was not until after the famous "Opium War" that diplomatic relations were opened with the court at Peking, and a common policy adopted for all parts of the empire, in its dealings with the outer world. Considering the extremely conservative character of the Chinese, their adherence to old forms and customs, their general unwillingness to do differently from their ancestors, and the not over-amiable character of the majority of the foreigners that went there to trade, it is not surprising that many years were required for commercial relations to grow up and become permanent. The wars between China and the Western powers did more than centuries of peace could have done to open the Oriental eyes and teach the oldest nation of the world that its superiority in age had not given it superiority in every thing else. Austria's defeat on the field of Sadowa, whose cannons' echoes are still ringing in our ears, advanced and enlightened her more than a hundred years of peace and victory could have done, at her old rate of progress. The victories of the allied forces in China, culminating in the capture of Peking and dictation of terms by the foreign leaders, opened the way for a free intercourse between the East and West, and the immense advantages that an unrestricted commerce is sure to bring to an industrious, energetic, and economical people.

With a river-system unsurpassed by

that of any other nation of the world, China relied upon navigation by junks, which crept but slowly against the current when urged by strong winds, and lay idle or were laboriously towed or poled by men when calms or headbreezes prevailed. Of steam applied to propulsion, she had no knowledge, until steamboats of foreign construction appeared in her waters and roused the wonder of the oblique-eyed natives by the mystery of their powers. The first steamboat to ascend a Chinese river created a greater sensation than did the Clermont on her initial voyage along the Hudson or her Western prototype, several years later, among the Indians of the upper Missouri. The Chinese very speedily saw the advantages of steam-navigation on the great rivers of the empire, and were quick to patronize the foreign invention when it was fairly established. In 1839 the first steam venture was made in China. An English house placed a boat on the route between Canton and Macao, and advertised it as ready to carry freight and passengers on stated days. For the first six months the passengers averaged about a dozen to each trip-half of them Europeans, and the rest natives. The second half-year the number of native patrons increased, and by the end of the second year the boat, on nearly every trip, was filled with Chinese. The trade became so lucrative, that another boat was brought from England and placed on the route, which continued to be a source of profit until the business was overdone by opposition lines, just as the same kind of business has been overdone on the Hudson and elsewhere in America. As soon as the treaties permitted, steamers were introduced into the coasting-trade of China, and subsequently upon the rivers and other inland waters. The Chinese merchants perceived the importance of rapid and certain transportation for their goods in place of the slow and unreliable service of their junks, but the advance in rates was overbalanced by the increased facilities and the opportunities of the merchants to make six times as many ven

tures annually as by the old system. Probably there is no people in the world that can be called a nation of shopkeepers more justly than the Chinese; thousands upon thousands of them are engaged in petty trade, and the competition is very keen. Of course, where there is an active traffic the profits are small, and any thing that can assist the prompt delivery of merchandise and the speedy transmission of intelligence, money, credits, or the merchant himself, is certain to be brought into full use. For the first few years the steamvessels in Chinese waters were owned by foreigners, who derived large profits from the native trade; but very soon the Chinese merchants conceived the notion of purchasing steamers and running them on their own account. No accurate statistics are at hand of the number of foreign steamers now in China, but well-informed parties estimate the burden of American coasting and river-vessels at upward of thirty thousand tons, while that of other nationalities is much larger. Steamboats, with a burden of more than ten thousand tons, are now owned by Chinese merchants, and about half that quantity is the joint property of Chinese and foreigners. In managing their boats and watching the current expenses, the Chinese are quite equal to the English and Americans, and sometimes display an ability to carry freight upon terms that are ruinous to foreign competitors.

Foreign systems of banking and insurance have been adopted, and work successfully. The Chinese had a mode of banking long before the European nations possessed much knowledge of financial matters; and it is claimed that the first circulating-notes and bills-ofcredit ever issued had their origin during a monetary pressure at Peking. But they were so unprogressive that, when intercourse was opened with the Western World, they found their own system defective, and were forced to adopt the foreign innovation. Insurance companies were first owned and managed by foreigners at the open ports, and as soon as the plan of secur

By the facilities which the advent of foreigners has introduced to the Chinese, the native trade along the rivers and with the open ports has largely increased. In this respect China has only followed the rule that everywhere prevails where men engage in commercial pursuits. On the rivers and along the coast the steamers and native boats are actively engaged, and the population of the open ports has largely increased in consequence of the attractions offered to the people of all grades and professions. The greatest increase has been in the foreign trade, which, from small beginnings, now amounts to more than nine hundred millions of dollars annually. As this is all from the open ports, it naturally follows that the domestic trade, tributary to those ports by means of the numerous canals and rivers, and coming from a population of more than four hundred millions of people, must be enormously large. Where formerly a dozen or more vessels crept into Canton, during each year, there are now hundreds of ships and steamers traversing the ocean to and from the accessible points of the coast of the great Eastern Empire. America has a large share of this commerce with China, and from the little beginning, in 1786, she has increased her maritime service, until she now has a fleet of sailing-ships second to none in the world and a line of magnificent steamers plying regularly across the broad Pacific, and bringing the East in closer alliance with the West than she has ever been before.

Railways will naturally follow the steamboat, and an English company is now arranging to supply the Chinese

with a railway-system to connect the principal cities, and especially to tap the interior districts, where the watercommunications are limited. Railways in India, where the population is dense, have been found profitable, and the promoters of the scheme are confident they will prove equally so in China. There is no system of mail-communication in China; the Government transmits intelligence by means of couriers, and when merchants have occasion to communicate with persons at a distance they make use of private expresses. Foreign and native merchants, doing an extensive business, keep swift steamers, which they use as despatch-boats, and sometimes send them at hundreds or thousands of dollars' expense to transmit single messages. It has happened that, on a sudden change of markets, two or more houses in Hong Kong or Shanghae have despatched boats at the same moment; and some interesting and exciting races are recorded in the local histories. Some of the native merchants have expended much money in purchasing and maintaining their despatch-boats, and occasionally, when business is dull, they get up private races, on which respectable amounts of cash are staked.

The barriers of Chinese exclusion were broken down when the treaties of the past ten years opened the empire to foreigners, and placed the name of China on the list of diplomatic and treaty powers. The last stone of the wall that shut the nation from the outer world was overthrown when the court at Peking sent an embassy, headed by a distinguished American, to visit the capitals of the Western nations, and cement the bonds of friendship between the West and the East. It was eminently fitting that an American should be selected as the head of this embassy, and eminently fitting, too, that the ambassador of the oldest nation should first visit the youngest of all the great powers of the world. America, just emerged from the garments of childhood, and with full pride and consciousness of its youthful strength, presents