they baistesses, then ha wid talk mortal spiritty, grandfer, widn't ba?"

"Eh, for zure, for zure, mortal spiritty, I'll be bound," Zam answered.

The flush of excitement died out from the boy's face. "Moast like 'twull niver happen," he said, in a sorrowful voice; "up tu 'eaven things ba painful riglar."

"Ba 'ee tired, lad?" Zam asked, as he rose from his chair and lifted the child tenderly in his arms. "Shall I carry 'ee tu and fraw a bit."

Joe pressed his thin white face against the old man's breast."

"Tull me about things avor I wez born, grandfer," he said. "Tull me about vather; wez ba vine and upstanding?"1

"Ay, ay, lad, ha wez pleasant tu look upon upon," Zam answered, "but ha brauk yer pore moather's heart for all o' thic. Ha wez turribul wild, wez Jim; goodhearted anuff, but turribul wild; ha wezn't built for marrying; ha cudn't stay pauking about in a little vullage zich ez this ba; ha zed thet tha wordel wez zmall anuff, but ez vor tha village, ha cudn't breathe in it; and yer pore moather hur cudn't get tu understand thet nohow-hur reckoned thet if ha loved hur, ha wud stay; but, law bless 'ee, lad, vor men zich ez Jim ther ba zômmat ulse in the wordel beside tha love o' wimen folk, tho' they, pore zouls, cant gaw for tu zee it. But ha wez turribul fond o' hur vor all thic, and I cud zee thet it jest went tu hiz heart tu act contrary; but ha cudn't help it, pore lad

twez the nater thet wez in him foced him on. Eh, but they made a windervul handzome couple tha

1 Upstanding, well-built.

day they wez merrid; the vullage riglar tarned out tu look on 'em, and I thort tu mezulf thet twid o' bin a proud day vor my pore owld wuman if tha Almighty had spared bur; but twez better ez it twez-better ez it twez. Wull, they hadn't a-bin merrid a skaur o' wiks avore Jim wez riglar pining tu ba off: ha didn't zay nort, but wid gaw and wander about in tha wids for haurs, and wan day ha didn't coome 'ome; ha wrote from Liverpool tu zay ha wez starting vor Merikey. But tha ship wez lost wi' all 'ands; ay, ay, pore lad, I reckon ha zlapes zound anuff now wi' tha zay a-rolling a-tap o' him: ha cud niver o' breathed iv it had bin airth. But yer moather, hur niver forgave him vor it-niver: twez a Zunday thet tha noos coomed, and Martha Snykes and zome o' tha naybours rinned up yhere ez fast ez they cud, pore zouls, reckoning thet yer moather wid like to cry all-tugether comfortabul, tha zame ez it iz uyshil wi' wimen; but, law bless 'ee, when hur zaw they well-maining dumans cooming droo tha door, hur tarned hur back quat 2 on 'em and marched up-stairs. Arter a bit hur coomed down wi' a bonnet all auver pink roses. atap o' hur 'ead, and Martha Snykes wez thet tooked aback thet hur fell down wi' tha recurring spasams and drank ivery drap o' brandy ther wez in tha 'ause avor hur wez brought to. Yer moather didn't throw a look at hur, but went off down tha strait tu charch wi' all tha naybours standing at ther doors and crying shame; but, law bless 'ee, hur didn't heed 'em ony more then tha geese on tha green. Ay, ay, pore zoul, hur wez alwiz wan for howlding hur head high;

2 Quat, plump.

hur niver cud stomach tha contrary. Wull, wull, wimen's wimen, mortal strong in tha affections, but managing tu tha last-managing tu tha last. Them wez turribul days, and yer moather's vace grew that hard I wez moast afeardt tu look at it. I thort mayba thet when yer coomed things might o' bin diffurrent; I tooked 'ee in tu hur. 'Jane,' I zed, 'ha wull want 'ee alwiz,' and when I zed thic hur kained1 acrass at 'ee, and hur vace changed back intu a wuman's vace agin; then all-ta-wance zômmat coomed auver hur and hur tarned hur vace round agin tha wall. 'Take 'im away,' hur zed, ha ba nort tu me.' Hur niver spoke arter thic; ther wez ony wan pusson in tha wordel thet hur iver loved, and thet wez Jim, and when ha died, hur wi' all hur pride wez foced tu valler."

Later, when Zam laid the boy in the old truckle-bed, Joe looked up in his face. "Vather wez mortal understandabul," he murmured sleepily.

"But not tu wimen-folk," Zam answered, "not tu wimen - folk. Wull, wull," he continued to himself, "tha lad hez hiz vather's spirut, ivery bit o' it; but ha wull niver break no wuman's heart wi' wandering,-tha Lord hez minded otherwise."

It was about a week after the conversation recorded had taken place that Joe's uncle, Ben Tapp, came to Zam's cottage; but the old man was not at home, and Ben, who, after many years spent in America, had arrived in England only to find that most of his relations were dead and he himself forgotten, sat down on Travelling Joe's bed in an exceedingly bad

humour with himself and the world in general.

"Wall, Travelling Joe," he said, "thet be a darned queer start o' a name yer have fixed to yerself anyhow. They pins o' yars ain't extra spry at covering the ground, I shud think from the look o' 'em."

"But things wull ba mortal diffurent up ta 'eaven, uncle Ben," the boy answered. "Ther woant ba no diffurence 'twixt me and tother folk then, 'cept mayba I shall ba more rasted. I shall do a sight o' travelling when I gets up ther; you zee, uncle Ben, tha Almighty ba powerful understandzome, zo I ain't got no cause tu ba feardt when I gaws up avore tha throne, and I shall jest ax Him tu let me vind noo ways droo tha dimmet parts o' 'eaven. 'Dear Laurd,' I shall zay, 'I knaws wât rasting ba like, and now I wid dearly like tu ba doing.''

Just as Ben Tapp would have tortured any helpless animal that fell into his power, so now, as he looked down on the boy's eager, pathetic face, a desire came into his heart to crush out its happiness.

"Thar ain't no such place as 'eaven, Joe," he said, leaning forward and placing his great hand on the child's cripple form; "'tis all darned rot-bunkum, as us says out in the States. And as for the Almighty that yer talk so slick about, tha bally old 'oss has kicked his last kick. Nater hez played low down on yer, Joe, and tied yer up to yar darned bed; but when Death gits hould of yer, ha wull tie yer a tarnation sight tighter, yer can bet yer bottom dollar on thet, Joker;" and the man burst into a laugh of coarse

enjoyment. "Thar, young shaver," he added, as he rose from the bed, "thet's the opinion o' wan thet has covered a darned sight more miles in his life than yer have minutes, so stow it in yar pipe and smoke it": so saying, he left the child alone. But from that moment a change came over Travelling Joe -he began to pine away, and the villagers said he was "marked for death"; but Zam, as he walked to and fro with the dying boy in his arms, muttered, "Better death than thet tha Union shid 'ave him; better thet than thic-better thet than thic."

One day, when it was plain that Joe was more than usually ill, Martha Snykes came to the cottage. "I jest drapped in, Zam Tapp," she said, sinking her stout form in the nearest chair, "to tull 'ee o' a remedy, a mortal efficumcasious remedy, tho' I zay it ez shudn't, baing, zo tu spake, the inventor o' tha zame. But, law, I've suffered thet turribul bad mezulf; what wi' tha recurring spasams, and a percussion in the head that jest drones on continuel for all the wordel like the passon o' praiching o' Zundays, thet I can't a-bear tu think of the pore child wi' death rampaging auver him, and tha cure, zo tu spake, at hiz vury door; tha zame baing nort ulse but a tayspoonful o' tha brownest o' sugar, togither wi' a tayspoonful o' tha strongest o' brandies, and let it be tooked zitting, Natur liking a smoothness at zich times. I have alwiz reckoned mezulf thet if thet child's moather had vallered my advice and tooked thickey remedy, hur wid niver 'ave bin lying in tha charchyard at this yhere blessid minet; tho' I won't gaw for tu deny thet hur made a vine corpse,

straight vaychers favouring the zame. The which I have alwiz allowed, and many's the time I've zed ez much. Jane Vaggis,' I've zed, 'may have acted a bit contrary in hur life, zich ez tha wearing o' roses at mistaken moments, but taken ez a corpse, hur did hur dooty, hur looked hur part.' Not thet I would ever act contrary tu them ez Natur hed less vavoured at zich times; and when my pore moather came tu the last, and what wi' dropsy and wan thing and tother, hur wez moast tha size o' tha feather-bed that hur layed on, 'Moather,' I zed, 'if yer 'ave a fancy in coffins, zay the wud and I woant go for tu deny 'ee.' 'Martha,' hur answered, 'ony colour but black, and let the handels ba shiny;' and I guved hur halum1 picked out wi' brass, and ther ain't a corpse in tha parish ez wez burried more comfortabul. But ther," she added as she rose from her seat, "I must be gettin' along 'ome; law bless us!" she exclaimed, looking down on Joe, "how turribul bad the pore chil does look; but there ha iz gwaying tu a home o' light, tho' I alwiz reckoned mezulf thet 'eaven must ba trying tu tha eyes. Wull, I wish 'ee good day, Zam Tapp," she added, "and doan't forget a tayspoonful o' the brownest o' sugars togither wi' a tayspoonful o' tha strongest o' brandies, and let tha zame ba tooked zitting."

"Grandfer," said the boy when the door closed on Martha Snykes's fat, comfortable form, "carry me tu and fraw a bit and tull me zômmat; tull me what the wordel ba like out ther,-ba it mortal wide?"

"Ay, ay, lad," Zam answered, raising the dying child in his arms,

"wide and lonezome, wide and lonezome."

"But windervul full o' ditches," Joe said; "do 'ee jump they ditches, grandfer, when yer gaws tu and fraw tu wark?"

"Naw, lad, I ba getting owld," Zam answered; "I moastly walks 'longzide."

There was silence for a moment, and then Joe spoke. "Grandfer," he said, "do 'ee reckon thet they knaws more about 'eaven auver tu Merikey than they does yhere?"

"Tiz tha tother zide o' tha wordel," the old man answered; "maybe they zees clearer ther."

1 "I ba mortal wangery, grandfer," Travelling Joe answered, sighing; "I reckon I cud zlape."

Zam laid the dying boy back in the old truckle-bed. "Shall I tull 'ee zômmat from the Buk, lad?" he asked.

The child shivered. "Naw, grandfer," he answered, "I wid liefer bide quiet." He sank into a broken slumber, suddenly to awake with a start.

""Tiz turribul dimmet," he exclaimed ; "but," and his face brightened, "I zees things like ditches:" so saying, he died.

ZACK.

DISRAELI

THE persistent vigour of Lord Beaconsfield's popularity is almost as much of a surprise to his friends as to his enemies; though of course they feel it most who like it least. According to precedent, the statesman who died in 1881 should have been forgotten by this time, so speedily do they vanish from the memory of the world who figure most proudly in it while they live. Earl Russell, a true statesman, a great power, and extremely popular, had so little hold upon remembrance that he was forgotten years before he died on this side of the grave he completely passed away. Lord Palmerston was still more popular, and men whose recollection is as long as mine can attest that his name was rarely heard five years after his masterful activities had ceased. True, both these statesmen were English in a sense which, since their time, English statesmanship has been assiduous to unlearn; and it may be said that their memory suffered the particular misfortune of eclipse in the rising brilliancy of Mr Gladstone's genius. Besides, they were remnants of an expiring age-an age condemned by its successor as politically bad and foolish; though in truth no word was ever more apt than Renan's when he told Mr Cobden that he admired him very much, "mais vous marquez la fin de la grande politique d'Angleterre." It may be, then, that these things do account in some degree for the oblivion that fell so speedily upon the statesmen of that age; but considering that, one by one, their dead successors, save Disraeli, were

VINDICATED.

I.

all lost in the same darkness before their friends were out of mourning, there seems small reason to admit the operation of exceptional circumstances. Unless their names are closely associated with great and striking historical events-as those of Fox and Pitt with the French revolution and its first prodigious consequences-the most eminent statesmen must not look to be remembered for many days after they have doffed the ministerial

uniform.

Yet after a great defeat, after a year of rayless seclusion, and fourteen years of absence altogether from this changing world, Lord Beaconsfield retains a hold upon the popular mind which has scarcely relaxed since its unsuspected strength was revealed at his death. To some that may appear an exaggerated statement, but I believe it would bear any test that could be applied to it. Test is difficult-the dead do not return; but let us imagine a pageant in the Queen's honour20th June of this royal year-in which the greater of her old departed servants should rise and take part with these others of to-day-all in their robes of State. It is not pretended that Lord Beaconsfield would make the first figure in that noble procession— (the Great Duke! what in these days would the sight be worth of that "good grey head" moving with the rest under the dome of St Paul's!)-but who believes that he would pass with less acclaim or less regret than attended his last days with us? There is no such