whispered that the Chief himself had taken him | tributions were solicited for certain boys whose down to the Docks, and reshipped him for the relatives were in India, and who were appealed Spanish Main; but nothing certain was ever known about his disappearance. At this hour, we can not thoroughly disconnect him from California.

for under the generic name of "Holiday-stop pers"-appropriate marks of remembrance tha should enliven and cheer them in their homeless state. Personally, we always contributed thesc tokens of sympathy in the form of slate-pencil, and always felt that it would be a comfort and a treasure to them.

Our School was rather famous for mysterious pupils. There was another-a heavy young .nan, with a large double-cased silver watch, and a fat knife, the handle of which was a perfect Our School was remarkable for white mice. tool-box-who unaccountably appeared one day Red-polls, linnets, and even canaries, were kept at a special desk of his own, erected close to that in desks, drawers, hat-boxes, and other strange of the Chief, with whom he held familiar con- refuges for birds; but white mice were the faverse. He lived in the parlor, and went out for vorite stock. The boys trained the mice, much walks, and never took the least notice of us- better than the masters trained the boys. We even of us, the first boy-unless to give us a de- recall one white mouse, who lived in the cover preciatory kick, or grimly to take our hat off and of a Latin dictionary, who ran up ladders, drew throw it away, when he encountered us out of Roman chariots, shouldered muskets, turned doors which unpleasant ceremony he always wheels, and even made a very creditable appearperformed as he passed-not even condescending ance on the stage as the Dog of Montargis. He to stop for the purpose. Some of us believed might have achieved greater things, but for havthat the classical attainments of this phenomenon ing the misfortune to mistake his way in a triwere terrific, but that his penmanship and arith- umphal procession to the Capitol, when he fell metic were defective, and he had come there to into a deep inkstand, and was dyed black, and mend them; others, that he was going to set up drowned. The mice were the occasion of some a school, and had paid the Chief "twenty-five most ingenious engineering, in the construction pound down," for leave to see Our School at of their houses and instruments of performance. work. The gloomier spirits even said that he The famous one belonged to a Company of prowas going to buy us; against which contingen-prietors, some of whom have since made Railcy conspiracies were set on foot for a general defection and running away. However, he never did that. After staying for a quarter, during which period, though closely observed, he was never seen to do any thing but make pens out of quills, write small-hand in a secret portfolio, and punch the point of the sharpest blade in his knife into his desk, all over it, he, too, disappeared, and his place knew him no more.

roads, Engines, and Telegraphs; the chairman has erected mills and bridges in New Zealand.

The usher at our school, who was considered to know every thing as opposed to the Chief who was considered to know nothing, was a bony, gentle-faced, clerical-looking young man in rusty black. It was whispered that he was sweet upor. one of Maxby's sisters (Maxby lived close by, and was a day pupil), and further that he "favored Maxby." As we remember, he taught Italian to Maxby's sisters on half-holidays. He once went to the play with them, and wore a white waistcoat and a rose: which was considered among us equivalent to a declaration. We were of opinion on that occasion that to the last moment he expected Maxby's father to ask him to dinner at five o'clock, and therefore neglected his own dinner at half-past one, and finally got none. We exaggerated in our imaginations the extent to which he punished Maxby's father's cold meat at supper; and we agreed to believe that he was elevated with wine and water when he came home. But, we all liked him; for he had a good knowledge of boys, and would have made it a much better school if he had had mor power. He was writing-master, mathematicalmaster, English master, made out the bills, mend

There was another boy, a fair, meek boy, with a delicate complexion and rich curling hair, who, we found out, or thought we found out (we have no idea now, and probably had none then, on what grounds, but it was confidentially revealed from mouth to mouth), was the son of a Viscount who had deserted his lovely mother. It was understood that if he had his rights, he would be worth twenty thousand a year. And that if his mother ever met his father, she would shoot him with a silver pistol which she carried, always loaded to the muzzle, for that purpose. He was a very suggestive topic. So was a young Mulatto, who was always believed (though very amiable) to have a dagger about him somewhere. But, we think they were both outshone, upon the whole, by another boy who claimed to have been born on the twenty-ninth of February, and to have only one birthday in five years. Weed the pens, and did all sorts of things. He disuspect this to have been a fiction-but he lived upon it all the time he was at Our School.

vided the little boys with the Latin master (they were smuggled through their rudimentary books, The principal currency of Our School was at odd times when there was nothing else to do), slate-pencil. It had some inexplicable value, and he always called at parents' houses to in that was never ascertained, never reduced to a quire after sick boys, because he had gentlemanstandard. To have a great hoard of it, was some-ly manners. He was rather musical, and on how to be rich. We used to bestow it in charity, and confer it as a precious boon upon our chosen frier ds. When the "olidays were coming, con

some remote quarter-day had bought an old trombone; but a bit of it was lost, and it made the most extraordinary sounds when he sometimes tried

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Chief aroused him, in the midst of a dread silence, and said, "Mr. Blinkins, are you ill, sir?" how he blushingly replied, "Sir, rather so;" how the Chief retorted with severity, "Mr. Blink-ting the sufferings or the triumphs of affection. ins, this is no place to be ill in" (which was very, very true), and walked back, solemn as the ghost in Hamlet, until, catching a wandering eye, he caned that boy for inattention, and happily expressed his feelings toward the Latin master through the medium of a substitute.

I will relate the story of Gadallah, the son of the sword-maker, and of Hosneh, the daughter of the merchant. It is handed down to us by tradition, and the fathers of some yet living, re-beautiful!" These words caused the master to member to have heard it told by eye-witnesses. Not that any great weight of testimony is required to exact belief. No extraordinary incident befell the lovers; and the pure-hearted, when they hear these things, will say within themselves, "This must be so; we would have done likewise."

They proceeded to a distant quarter, where the streets were silent and the houses large and lofty, The master of the house came back, and gentsurrounded by gardens with tall trees that trem-ly chid him for his idleness. "Go," said he, “and bled overhead in the sur-light. At length they return to-morrow at the same hour. Thou hast

now sufficiently fed thine eyes-go; but remem- | part of his time walking in the streets; but every ber, envy me not the wealth which God hath bestowed. Gadallah went his way, having first ascertained from the servants, that his employer was the Arabian merchant Zen-ed-din, whose daughter Hosneh was said to surpass in beauty all the maidens of the land of Egypt. On reaching the house, he repaired to his mother's side, and sitting down, told her of all he had seen and all he felt, beseeching her to advise him and predict good fortune to him.

Fatoumeh, the mother of Gadallah, was a wise woman, and understood that his case was hopeless, unless his desires received accomplishment. But it seemed to her impossible that the son of the poor sword-maker should ever be acceptable to the daughter of the wealthy merchant. She wept plentifully at the prospect of misery that unfolded itself, and when her husband came in, he also wept; and all three mingled their tears together until a late hour of the night.

Next day Gadallah went at the appointed hour to the merchant's house, and being kindly received, finished the work set to him; but saw no more of the maiden who had disturbed his mind. Zen-ed-din paid him handsomely for his trouble, and added some words of good advice. This done, he gently dismissed him, promising he would recall him shortly for other work; and the youth returned home despairing of all future happiness. The strength of his love was so great, that it shook him like a mighty fever, and he remained ill upon his couch that day, and the next, and the next, until he approached the margin of the grave; but his hour was not yet come, and he recovered.

In the mean time, the Angel of Death received permission from the Almighty to smite thirty thousand of the inhabitants of Cairo; and he sent a great plague, that introduced sorrow into every house. It flew rapidly from quarter to quarter, and from street to street, smiting the chosen of the tomb-the young, the old, the bad, the good, the rich, the poor-here, there, every where; in the palace, the hovel, the shop, the market-place, the deewan. All day and all night the shriek of sorrow resounded in the air; and the thoroughfares were filled with people following corpses to the cemetery. Many fled into other cities and other lands; but the plague followed those who were doomed, and struck them down by the wayside, or in the midst of their new friends.

It happened that the merchant Zen-ed-din had gone upon a journey, and had left his house, and his harem, and his lovely daughter, under the care of Providence, so that when Gadallah recovered, before the pestilence reached its height, he waited in vain in the shop, expecting that the merchant would pass, and invite him again to his house. At length the affliction of the city reached so great a degree of intensity, that all business was put a stop to, the bazaars were deserted, and nen waited beneath their own roofs the inevitable decrees of fate.

day went and sat on a stone bench opposite to Zen-ed-din's house, expecting to see some one come forth who might tell him that all were well within. But the doors remained closed, and not a sound ever proceeded from the interior of the vast mansion. At length, however, when he came at the usual hour, he perceived that the great entrance-gate was left half-open, and he mustered up courage to enter He found the Bawab dead on his bench, and two black slaves by the side of the fountain. His heart smote him with a presentiment of evil. He advanced into the inner halls without seeing a sign of life. Behind the great crimson curtains that swept over the doorway of the saloon where he had worked, lay the guardian with his sword still in his hand. He pressed forward, finding every place deserted. Raising his voice at length, he called aloud, and asked if any living thing remained within those walls. No reply came but the echo that sounded dismally along the roof; with a heart oppressed by fear, he entered what he knew to be the ladies' private apartments; and here he found the attendant of Hosneh dying. She looked amazed at beholding a stranger, and, at first, refused to reply to his questions. But, at length, in a faint voice, she said that the plague had entered the house the day before like a raging lion, that many fell victims almost instantly, and that the women of the harem in a state of wild alarm had fled. "And Hosneh ?" inquired Gadallah. She is laid out in the kiosque, in the garden," replied the girl, who almost immediately afterward breathed her last.

Gadallah remained for some time gazing at her, and still listening, as if to ascertain that he had heard correctly. Then he made his way to the garden, and searched the kiosques, without find ing what he sought, until he came to one raised on a light terrace, amid a grove of waving trees. Here beneath a canopy of white silk, on pillows of white silk, and all clothed in white silk, lay the form that had so long dwelt in his heart Without fear of the infection, having first asked pardon of God, he stooped over her, and kissed those lips that had never even spoken to a man except her father; and he wished that death might come to him likewise; and he ventured to lie down by her side, that the two whom life could never have brought together, might be found united at least under one shroud.

A rustling close by attracted his attention. It was a dove fluttering down to her accustomed place on a bough, which once gained, she rolled forth from her swelling throat a cooing challenge to her partner in a distant tree. On reverting his look to the face of Hosneh, Gadallah thought he saw a faint red tint upon the lips he had pressed, like the first blush of the dawn in a cold sky. He gazed with wonder and delight, and became convinced he was not mistaken. He ran to a fountain and brought water in a large hollow leaf, partly poured it between the pearly teeth, which he parted timidly with his little finger, and partly Gadallah, who had confidence in God, spent sprinkled it over the maiden's face and hosom VOL. IV. No. 19-F

At length a sigh shook her frame--so soft, so gentleness of Gadallah-for he had spoken degentle that a lover's senses alone could have dis-spondingly about the chances of their future cerned it; and then, after an interval of perfect union, and said that when Zen-ed-din returned, tranquillity, her eyes opened, gazed for a moment she would relate all that had happened, and fall at at the youth, and closed not in weakness, but as his knees and say, "Father, give me to Gadallah." if dazzled by his beauty. Gadallah bent over The sun had just set, the golden streams that her, watching for the least motion, the least in- had been pouring into the garden seemed now dication of returning consciousness; listening for sporting with the clouds overhead; solid shadows the first word, the first murmur that might break were thickening around; the flowers and the from those lips which he had tasted without war- blossoms breathed forth their most fragrant perrant. He waited long, but not in vain; for at fumes; the last cooing of the drowsy doves was last there came a sweet smile, and a small, low trembling on all sides; the nightingale was tryvoice cried, "Sabrea! where is Sabrea?" Gadal- ing her voice in a few short, melancholy snatches: lah now cast more water, and succeeded in re- it was an hour for delight and joy; and the two storing Hosneh to perfect consciousness, and to lovers bent their heads closer together; closer, modest fear. until their ringlets mingled, and their sighs, and the glances of their eyes. Then Gadallah suddenly arose, and said, “Daughter of my master, let there be a sword placed betwixt me and thee." And as he spoke, a bright blade gleamed betwixt him and the abashed maiden; and they were both seized with strong hands and hurried away.

He sat at her feet and told her what had happened, omitting no one thing-not even the love which he had conceived for her; and he promised, in the absence of her friends, to attend upon | her with respect and devotion, until her strength and health should return. She was but a child in years, and innocent as are the angels; and hearing the frankness of his speech, consented to what he proposed. And he attended her that day and the next, until she was able to rise upon her couch, and sit and talk in a low voice with him of love. He found every thing that was required in the way of food amply stored in the house, the gates of which he closed, lest robbers might enter; but he did not often go into it, for fear of the infection, and this was his excuse for not returning once to his parents' house, lest he might carry death with him.

On the fourth day Hosneh was well enough to walk a little in the garden, supported by the arms of Gadallah, who now wished that he might spend his life in this manner. But the decrees of fate were not yet accomplished. On the fifth day the young man became ill; he had sucked the disease from the lips of Hosneh in that only kiss which he had ventured; and before the sun went down, Hosneh was attending on him in despair, as he had attended on her in hope. She, too, brought water to bathe his forehead and his lips; she, too, watched for the signs of returning life, and as she passed the night by his side, gazing on his face, often mistook the sickly play of the moonbeams, as they fell between the trees, for the smile which she would have given her life to purchase.

Zen-ed-din had returned from his journey, and finding the great gate closed, had come round with his followers to the garden entrance, which he easily opened. Struck by the silence of the whole place, he advanced cautiously until he heard voices talking in the kiosque. Then he drew near, and overheard the whole of what had passed, and admired the modesty and virtue of Gadallah. He caused him to be seized and thrown that night into a dark room, that he might show his power; and he spoke harshly to his daughter, because of her too great trustfulness, and her unpermitted love. But when he understood all that had happened, and had sufficiently admired the wonderful workings of God's Prov idence, he said to himself, "Surely this youth and this maiden were created one for the other, and the decrees of fate must be accomplished." So he took Gadallah forth from his prison, and embraced him, calling him his son, and sent for his parents, and told them what had happened, and they all rejoiced; and in due time the marriage took place, and it was blessed, and the children's children of Hosneh and Gadallah still live among us.

While the excellent sheikh was rapidly run ning over the concluding statements of his nar rative, I remember having read the chief incident in some European tradition-possibly borrowed. as so many of our traditions are, from the East

has versified the story, came unbidden to my memory; but I could not recollect the poet's name, nor understand how the train of associa tion could be so abruptly broken. The line doubt less describes the first interview of the lover with the plague-stricken maiden-it is as follows:

Praise be to God, it was not written that either of them should die; and not many days after--and then a single line of one of our poets, who ward, toward the hour of evening, they were sitting in another kiosque beside a fountain, pale and wan it is true, looking more like pensive angels than mortal beings, but still with hearts full of happiness that broke out from time to time in bright smiles, which were reflected from one to the other as surely as were their forms in the clear water by which they reclined. Gadallah held the hand of Hosneh in his, and listened as she told how her mother had long ago been dead, how her father loved her, and how he would surely have died had any harm befallen her. She praised the courage, and the modesty, and the

"And folds the bright infection to his breast."

A BIRD-HUNTING SPIDER.
HEN the veracity of any person has been

WH

impugned, it is a duty which we owe to society, if it lies in our power, to endeavor to establish it; and when that person is a lady