1

quently very high priced. The odontolite 1 turquoise is the teeth of fossil animals, colored by phosphate of iron.

6. "The real gem is very hard and of a beautiful ăzure blue, opaque but slightly transparent at the edge. They are found. in Turkey, Persia, and Arabia Petræa. The odontolite is found in France; these can be acted on by acids, though the real ones can not; they are not so hard as the true gems, and when burnt give out a strong animal odor.

7. "Precious stones are long-lived, if I may so speak. Handed down from generation to generation, who can tell what they have passed through, how often they have changed owners, or what their age? Had they but the gift of speech, what stories they could tell! The gems that flash or gleam upon the person of a modern belle may be the very stones upon the gift or rejection of which empires have fallen and kingdoms been convulsed by war and bloodshed.

8. "And the gems flash back no record of the past. No tears have crystallized upon their surface-no drops of blood congealed there; yet perhaps the faultless hand of a Mary Stuart or Marie Antoinette caressed them; the cruel touch of an Elizabeth Tudor or a Catharine de Medicis 5 is among the memories they could recall!

9. "The love of the glitter and display of elaborate toilettes, and the aid of precious stones in dress, was not confined to the old world alone. In the wilds of Mexico and among the South American mountains the natives were fully aware of their value and beauty. Of all the nations of the east, India and Persia are the most famed in this matter of precious stones.

10. "We read of the army of Dari'us, magnificent beyond expression in its equipments. The 'immortals,' a body of picked troops, wore collars of gold and dresses of cloth-of-gold, while the sleeves of their jackets were covered with precious stones and gold embroidery.

1

don'to lite, a petrified tooth. 2 O pāque', impervious to the rays of light; not transparent.

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, born in Vienna, Nov. 2, 1755; beheaded in Paris during the "Reign of Terror," Oct. 16, 1793.

England, daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn, born at Greenwich. Sept. 7, 1533; died at Richmond, March 24, 1603.

5 Catherine de Medicis, Queen of France, born in Florence in 1519; died at Blois, France, Jan.

4 Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of 5, 1589,

11. "As Christianity spread, gold and silver and precious stōnes were lavished upon the service of God, and no church in France owned greater treasures than St. Denis. The Abbé Suger presented it with a crucifix profusely ornamented with precious stones, which was destroyed by the Leaguers in 1590. The church besides had shrines, crosses, and chalices of gold, enameled and jeweled, presents from Charles the Bold; beside many precious gifts from Charlemagne' and other kings.

12. "Rings are of the greatest antiquity and of universal fashion. The wedding ring we get from the Hebrews; adopted from them by the Romans, it became a general custom. In the time of Pliny this ring was of iron, and contained a loadstone or magnet, as emblematic of the love which should bind man and wife closely together.

13. "Rings were worn as a badge of knighthood. In early ages they denoted that their wearer was a freeman and not a slave. Seal-rings are as ancient as the days of Alexander the Great; and as early as the fourth century rings were made part of the dress of a bishop. The Popes have two rings, of which one, called 'the Ring of the Fisherman,' is the special ring of the Popes, and is broken whenever a Pope dies, a new one being provided for his successor.

3

14. "Now one word mōre befōre saying good-night, by way of moral reflection and a summing up of our talk, or rather my monologue. If you were to put a diamond beneath a bellglass filled with oxygen gas, and expose it to the rays of the sun, condensed to a focus by means of a lens,4 your diamond would burn, and the result would be merely carbonic acid gas. So you see, my dear, that not only our hopes and plans-the most precious natural desires of the human heart-but the hardest and most precious substance in mineral nature ends— in smoke!"

1 Lǎv'ished, freely expended. 2 Monologue (mon'o log),a speech uttered by a person alone.

3 Fō'cus, a point in which the rays of light meet after being reflected or refracted.

4 Lens, a piece of glass or other

transparent substance, ground with two opposite regular surfaces, either both curved, or one curved and the other plane, and commonly used, either singly or combined, in optical instruments, for changing the di rection of rays of light.

R

SECTION XII.

I.

41. CHURCH AND FATHERLAND.

1.

EVERE the Chûrch thy Mother, the fair immortal Spouse Of Him whose thorny chaplet now binds her bleeding brows; The strong and mighty Mother, the old, the ever young, No tumult of the ages can drown her silver tongue!

2.

With what a joy she caught thee upon her bosom broad,
When from her womb baptismal she brought thee fōrth to God!
And o'er thy cradle stooping, her face was just as fâir

As when it smiled on Peter and his brethren at prâyer.

3.

There is blood upon her garments, where her martyr sons took hold

Of their Mother's robe, and held it till their dying hands waxed

cold;

But in the light celestial that from her face ō'erflows,

Each blood-drop like a ruby on her royal raiment glows.

4.

And from its folds she scatters the odors of the saints,
The breath of the arena 1 where the mangled martyr faints;
While in her grand encircling arms, majestic and sublime,
She gathers to her breast the sons of every age and clime.

5.

She hath sanctified thy life, hath been thy best and truèst friend,
God grant her last anointing may be with thee at the end!
God grant among her precious gems thy soul for aye may shine;
Revere the Church thy Mother, the deathless, the divine!

A rēna, the space in the middle of an amphitheatre in which, during the early Christian persecutions, the

martyrs were flung to the wild beasts or otherwise tortured for the amusement of the spectators.

6.

Revere the Church thy Mother, and love thy Fatherland!
In rich, unbroken music should flow the blessed command.
And woe unto the traitor who, by deceit or force,

The golden bonds would sever, the lovely twain divorce!

7.

O Land! by magic memory made fairest land of all,
Whether the Northern snow-clouds, like curtains, round thee fall
Or Southern seas surround thee, or Western rivers gild,
Or Eastern skies bend o'er thee, with changing glories filled;

8.

Whether it be old Erin, the loveliest of isles,

Or pleasant France, or Germany, the Tyrol's deep defiles,
Or Italy the fair, or yet America the free-

O Land, beloved Fatherland! our hearts are true to thee!

A

II.

42. PANCRATIUS.

HUSH lay on the multitude-softly and low
Died out the echoes of that mighty rōar,
Which rose triumphant but a space ago,
As the strong wrestler, pale as Al'pine snow,
Reeled in his agony, and stirred no more.

2. They bōre him fōrth, and in his robe of pride
The Roman courtier turned with smiling face,
To woo the fair girl resting at his side,
Who, in her beauty, cälm and starry-eyed,

Could view such struggles with a careless grace.
3. But hark! along the smiling, sparkling tier,1
A murmur stole the smile gave place to frown,
And every eager eye grew cold and clear,
When light and graceful as a mountain deer,

A Christian martyr sprang to win his crown!

1 Tiēr, a row or rank of seats, especially when two or more rows are placed one above another.

4. It was a youth—a slight yet manly form-
Who, with an eye like some unruffled lake,
And virgin cheek with rosy blushes warm,
Seemed all too tender for the cruel storm

Whose giant force must either bend or break.

5. And yet there was a cälm upon the brow,
And in those thoughtful eyes a holy peace,
As though the youthful martyr stood e'en now
In triumph on a noble vessel's prow,

Whose pōrt was nigh, whose labors soon should cease.

6. Slowly he turned, and o'er the swaying tide

Of jeweled forms his gentle glånce was flung,
Till many a Roman maiden turned aside,
Lest some might note the grief she could not hide,
At thought of death to one so fair and young.
7. But pity, like the trembling moonbeam shed
Athwart the dark waves of a stormy sea,
O'er those untutored hearts, by passion led,
Gleamed but a fitful space-then meekly fled,
As things of light from darkness ever flee.

8. And he, Pancratius, in his joyous race,

Was nearing fast the long-desired goal-
Ere age had dashed the beauty from that face,
Whose shrine should be in time the fitting place
To nerve the fainting faith or sinking soul!
9. He stood unmoved-e'en as the warrior stands
Who neither courts nor shuns the coming fray—
But even as he clasped his slender hands,
A door swung grating-and across the sands
A lion stalked in majesty of might.

10. There was no fury in his stately tread,

No bloody thirst which hastens to destroy,
But cälm in power he raised his noble head,
And with a kingly glory 'round him shed,
Moved onward to that slender, graceful boy.

1A thwart', across; from side to side.