windows at pleasure, and secure stillness and quiet, and repose and regular hours than where one is crowded and hurried and pressed and forced to other people's hours, and made perforce partakers of other people's domestic arrangements. 10. Why do so few stay at home, then? 11. Well, then, in the first place, many of the inmates here revolve around some sufferer from "the hay fever " or autumnal cold - which like an evil spirit seems to be seeking whom it may devour. We can count many families sojourning in this Twin Mountain House, that are here only because the husband, or the wife, or the daughter, or sister, is here free from that annual curse. The Twin Mountain House is situated in a region supposed to be peculiarly adapted to the cure of that disease. Most obstinate cases have here found relief. 12. People who for years have been dragged down by this recurring drain upon their constitutions, in this air find themselves restored to soundness and comfort. Immunity is not to be purchased by a short stay, it must cover at least the six weeks or two months of the annual visitation. We are surrounded on all sides by patients of this description, cheerfully putting up with all other deprivations, for this one great boon of security from their enemy. 13. Then, again, apropos to the summer rush from home, come the fatigues of housekeeping. 14. A gentleman said to us when we inquired why so many left lovely houses, commanding sea breezes and fine air in Boston, to crowd into such apartments at Lynn and Rye, "It's servants that they want to be rid of; the houses are well enough, but they cannot have the fatigue of meeting these gentlemen and ladies every day any longer they must have a breathing spell from their servants." 15. This reminds us that a friend who remains in her Boston house through the season, has just received warning from her cook that she must leave her to take her summer vacation. 16. "What! want to be gone a fortnight in the midst of this hot weather?" says Madam Mistress, to the great wheel of her establishment. แ Certainly," says Madam Maid, "Everybody takes a summer vacation. Why should n't I?" So it goes! Thus the great idea of the summer vacation is getting to pervade all classes. It is a fixed fact. 17. Well for us, since we have elected the mountains for our summer resort, that we came hither. We know no place where one has a more agreeable outlook. 18. The house stands on a wide plateau around which sweeps a panorama of the finest peaks of the White Mountains, not overhanging in terrific gloom, but softened by distance, with their cloud-spotted sides and evershifting lights and shadows. At their foot, a belt of piny upland where the dark spires of the spruce and fir mingle with lighter forest trees. Through the plain flow the crystal waters of the Ammonoosuc. The gentlemenpatients who frequent this place have here laid out walks, and rustic seats and retreats, which afford an easy range even to an invalid. Two or three boats are at the disposal of the guests, and the mountains as reflected in the mirror of the river are a lovely sight. 19. From the house excursions to other points in the mountains are daily organized parties coming and going constantly, either to Mount Washington or the Notch, or other points of interest; and the arrival of stages with new-comers from all these points is one of the vanities of the daily scene. We have concluded that one has only to be still here a certain number of days to see all one's acquaintances. Sooner or later they revolve around — pass in sight and are gone. 20. But after all, our beau ideal of a summer is not a sojourn anywhere, even in the most agreeable wateringplace, but a home; a plain country house in some quiet New England village, with a good jogging horse, and a carry-all not too fine for use, and plenty of corn and beans in the garden. When all is said and done there's no place like home, and let those who have one to stay in, stay in it, and not only be happy, but know that they are so. ROME LESSON 31. ROME AND CARTHAGE. OME, like the eagle, her formidable symbol, spreads her wings, displays her powerful talons, seizes the lightning, and takes her flight. Carthage is the sun of the world; it is on Carthage that her eyes are fixed. Carthage is mistress of seas. Carthage is mistress of peoples. She is a magnificent city, full of splendor and opulence, glowing at every point with the strange arts of the Orient. 2. Her inhabitants are polished, refined, finished, and lack nothing that labor, men, and time can command. In a word, she is the metropolis of Africa, and at the height of her culture; she can mount no higher, and every step onward will now be downward. Rome, on the contrary, has nothing. She is half savage, half barbarous. She has her education and her fortune alike to gain. All is before her; nothing, behind. 3. Long the two nations are face to face. The one suns herself in her glory; the other is growing in obscurity. But, little by little, air and place are needed by both for development. Rome begins to crowd Carthage; for long has Carthage pressed on Rome. Seated on the opposite shores of the Mediterranean, the two cities look one another in the eye. This sea no longer suffices to separate them. Europe and Africa are in the balance, weighing one against the other. Like two overcharged electric clouds, they approach too near each other. They are eager to mingle their lightnings. Here is the climax of this sublime drama. Two races, this one, 4. What actors are before us! of merchants and sailors; that one, of farmers and soldiers; two peoples, one ruling by gold, one ruling by iron; two republics, one theocratic, one aristocratic; Rome and Carthage; Rome with her army, Carthage with her fleet; Carthage, old, rich, and crafty; Rome, young, poor, and strong; the past and the future; the spirit of discovery and the spirit of conquest; the genius of travel and commerce, the demon of war and ambition; the east and the south on one side, the west and the north on the other; in short, two worlds, the civilization of Africa and the civilization of Europe. 5. Each takes full measure of the other. Their attitudes before the conflict are equally formidable. Rome, within the narrow confines of her world, gathers all her forces, all her tribes. Carthage, who holds in her power Spain, Armorica, and that Britain that the Romans believed to be at the end of the universe, is ready to board the European ship. 6. The battle-flames blaze forth. In coarse, strong lines, Rome copies the navy of her rival. The war at once breaks forth in the peninsula and the islands. Rome collides with Carthage in that Sicily where Greece and Egypt had already met, in that Spain where, later yet, Europe and Africa met in contest, the east and the west, the south and the north. 7. Little by little the combat thickens,- the world takes fire. It is a hand-to-hand fight of Titans, who seize one another, and quit their hold only to seize each other again. They meet again, and are mutually repulsed. Carthage crosses the Alps; Rome passes the sea. The two nations, personified in their two leaders, Hannibal and Scipio, each grasping the other with fury, strive to end the conflict. It is a duel without quarter, a combat to the death. Rome reels; she utters the cry of anguish, "Hannibal at the gates!" . . . But once again she rises, gathers her forces for a last blow, hurls herself on Carthage, and destroys her from the face of the earth. -Victor Hugo. LESSON 32. THE SKY-LARK. IRD of the wilderness, BIRD Blithesome and cumberless, Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea! Emblem of happiness, Blest is thy dwelling-place Oh, to abide in the desert with thee! 2. Wild is thy lay, and loud, Far in the downy cloud; Love gives it energy, love gave it birth. Where, on thy dewy wing, Where art thou journeying? Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth. 3. O'er fell and fountain sheen, O'er moor and mountain green, O'er the red streamer that heralds the day, O'er the rainbow's rim, 4. Then, when the gloaming comes, |