Fe 3 \ T A CASTLE IN SPAIN, \ my dreams I've built for you, weet, a castle grim and grand; Many nights its turrets grew, And in Spain its ramparts stand; (Spain is near to fairy-land). And its towers, proud and free, Look through Roncesvalles to France, Northward o'er chivalry, Southward over all romance, Qutspread for a lady's glance. There between the frowning towers, s a space to walk upon, Strait, yet wide enough for flowers, Violets, daisies, every one, ‘When you smile they feel the sun. There I see you robed and crowned, As I never saw you yet; Your hair filleted and bound n a pearl-embroidered net, Whence its braid falls, pearl beset. Your gown’'s texture I don’t know, But I know that it is white; S8amite, maybe, pure as snow, Clasped by strange alexandrite, Green by day and red by night. In that air-built land of mine Never lady was so fair; Little shoes of quaint design, Silver-furred, I think you wear, Noiseless on the granite stair. There's a curious swinging seat In the upper arches’ gloom, For a refuge from the heat. In the vaulted, Gothic room, I have placed a Jute and loom. And a pale Christ hanging, stares From the alcove wall alway, And a missal for your prayers, Shows God's service day by day— Even in dreams I know you pray, There I see you,.but I see Even in that enchanted spot, There is never room for me, Night or day 1 am forgot, Even in dreams you love me not. —Mary Eleanor Roberts, in Harper's Weekly. Fr rT TTT. TT. 3.2. 3.3.3.3 His Latest Improvement. SPP WO EE Kaye is a handy man with tools, and there is nothing he enjoys more than pottering round the house. Now that he owns “Westwind,” a pretty summer cottage, he has ample opportunity to indulge this taste. Mrs. Kaye some- times secretly wishes that he cared for fishing or was a golf enthusiast, for it is not entirely restful or conven- ient to have one’s home in a continual state of alteration. “Roland,” she said one day, when there appeared to be a slight lull in his activities, “now that you have the well-sweep hung and the porte-cochere done, I think I'll have a little after- noon tea on Friday, if you are sure you won't be building another arbor or making over the front forch, or putting any more new windows in the dining room. I'd really like to have company once when the place wasn't littered with kindling wood and shavings, though of course, dear, I like all your improvements.” ’ “Well, I'll try not to let my improve- ments bother you Friday,” Kaye re- turned a bit grumpily, for he felt that his talents were not fully appreciated. “I'll go in town Friday for the day, and let you and your company have the place to yourselves.” “Why, Roland, you know I'd love to have you here.” “Yes, of course, Nell, but I really should go in town oftener, and you know I'm not specially fond of tea- fights.” Mrs. Kaye, realizing how true this statement was, made no further pro- test against her husband’s absence. She was really touched by his self-denial in postponing until after her tea the enlargement of the linen closet and the construction of a swinging porch seat, which, of all the work he had in mind, seemed of the most immediate import- ance. ‘I really wish you weren’t going, Ro- land,” she said, when Friday morning came. “It just seems too bad for me to entertain when you are away.” “Oh, well, Nell, you'll have a better time without me, and I'll try to gel everything arranged at the office so I can stay out all next week and get the place fixed up in good shape.” Mrs. Kaye tried to smile and look cheerful as she waved him a good-by when he drove away, but she felt a little lonesome and doleful, for never before had she given any sort of party at Westwind without her husband’s help. A regret, too, of her rather out- spoken weariness of his carpenter work added to her discomfiture, and she began her preparations with a sad lack of enthusiasm. Even when her gaily dressed friends were merrily chatting on the lawn late in the after- noon, her heart was still a little heavy, and she found herself wondering, as she laughed and talked, if Roland would come out on the five-twenty Jocal or take the six o'clock express. The weather was so ideally lovely that she decided to turn the affair into a garden-party, and have the refresh- ments served under the trees on little tables. The two neat maids had brought the tea and chocolate, with the accompanying sandwiches, and had returned to the house for the ices, when Mrs. Kaye and all the guests were startled by a series of loud screams in the house. Before Mrs. Kaye could reach the porch, the maids came running out, with white, scared faces. “O ma'am,” exclaimed Angie, ‘we couldn’t get the ices! There’s. some awful thing in the refrigerator room! I’m thinking it’s a wild animal howl-" ing.” ‘Its more likely some thievin’ tramp gone crazy while he was stealin’ for it’s a man’s voice raving most fearful, ma’am, and poundin’ and jumpin’ to9,” said Sarah. “Mercy! How dreadful! What can it be? exclaimed all the ladies at once; and then Mrs. Kaye announced, as firmly as her trembling voice would allow, that she would go to see what the trouble was “Do be careful, ma'am!” Angie. “A crazy tramp is dreadful danger- ous,” added Sarah. “You shall not go alone,” said one of the guests, a tiny woman in a pearl- colored silk. I'll protect you whatever happens.” “We'll all go with you,” announced another; and in a moment the whole party was flocking into the house. Mrs. Kaye led them through the dining room and kitchen to the door of the little refrigerator-room, one of the achievements of which its builder, Mr. Kaye, was most proud. “Why—dpn’t—you—Ilet—me — out ?”’ cried a terrible voice, in fierce staccato; and then whack, whack at the door so viclently that had not its builder made it triply thick to keep in the cold, it surely would have crashed beneath the blows. The women stared at each other for a moment; and as Mrs. Kaye put her hand on the door-knob, they all gasped, for the voice began yelling with redoubled force. Their hostess hesitated only an instant, and then bravely threw open the door to be con- fronted by the disheveled figure of her husband, whose first almost wild look quickly changed into an expression of chagrin. : “Oh, Roland, how did you come here? I thought you were in town.” “I came home on an early train, and slipped in the side way with a new spring-lock I discovered in the city. It’s just what we needed here, and I put it on the door for a surprise for you, and it swung shut. It only opens from the outside. I--” Just then the released captive caught sight of the curious group gazing into his prison at him, and bowing, he said, “I—I—hope 1 didn’t disturb the party.” Most of the ladies were too polite to laugh, and they only smiled when Mrs. Kaye said, laughingly, ‘I'm so glad you came home for the tea after all.” —Youth’s Companion. implored ANCIENT CHINESE LITERATURE. How Records Were Kept—Books Cast From Moulds. It is now absolutely certain that neither clay, leather, parchment nor the papyrus was at any date ever used by the ancent Chinese for the purpose of making records, which fact alone gones far to negative any prehistoric connection with Egypt, Babylonia or Persia, touching which, moreover, there is not the faintest specific evidence te be found in Eastern or Western rec- ords. It seems also equally certain that the Chinese never used a metal style to scratch characters upon wood, bam- bco or palm leaves, as natives of India —for instance, Banyan bankers—may be seen doing any day, even now, not only in India itself but also in Singa- pore and perhaps Hongkong. ‘What the Chinese used was a stick or style of bamboo, such as one or two of the older historians describe as be- ing very like the Chinese joiners’ “ink- stick” or “wooden stick and line” of the sixteenth certury (when first mentioned), and also like that : of to- day. As there were and are no bam- boos in Khoten .the natives, and prob- ably also the Chinese of that place, ia imitating as best they could their own. bamboo slips and styles had perforce to avail themselves of the tamarisk, a tree which the Russian traveller Piz ewalski found thirty years ago all over the Tarim valley. From the most ancient times ink -had been employed in China chiefly for the purpose of branding the foreheads of criminals, but it had also been used concurrently with varnish, for inscrip- ing bamboo and wooden tablets with written communications. Presumably the ink was the same in both cases. For books nothing but bamboo seems to have been used, except that records of dynastic importance and state laws were also occasionally cast from molds upon metal tripods in order to secure permanency. As the bamboo stem is usually no thicker than a brandy bot- tle it follows that the plane surface available for writing chanacters could neevr be very broad; accordingly we find that the most important works, such as the classics, were written upon slips of pared bamboo about two and one-half English feet long and about one inch broad. Works of rather sec- ondary importance were inscribed on narrow strips of half the length. The number of ideographs on each piece cf bamboo varied with the im- portance and dignity of the subject, but in no case does it appear to have exceeded thirty. These bamboo laths would therefore resemble our variously graded modern boxwood paper knives, and it may be reasonably supposed that four of the smallest would about go to the ounce—say, 100 words to the ounce, or from 1000 to 2000 to the pound, according to the size of the strips. Thus an average book of one volume, as issued by a modern Euro- pean publisher, would weigh the best part of a hundredweight.—From the Asiatic Quarterly Review. Slang in England. Hotten's division of slang terms for inebriety would be useful in police courts if fashion did not so quickly change in this respect. The following were classified as denoting mild in- toxication: Berry, bemused, boozy, hosky, buffy, corned, foggy, fou, fresh, hazy, elevated, kisky, lushy, moomey, muggy, muzzy, on, screwed, stewed, tight and viney. In an intermediate class stood podgy, beargered, blued, cut, primed, lumpy, muddled, ploush- ed, obfuscated, swipey, three sheets in the wind and topheavy.—London Chronicle, Those Mechanical Toys. Fond Mamma—What! broben al- If I'd given it to your father ead it wou kept him quiet for hours!-— ready? Crowding the Horse Off the Farm By H. W. Perry. 3 2URIOUSLY, England appears to have made more progress in the development of the small internal-combustion - engine farm trac- tor than America, although thousands of small stationary and portable gas engines are used for feed cut- ting, grinding, churning, pumping -and sawing wood on farms throughout the United States and steam traction engines are common. The first of the successful light gas engine tractors was the Ivel, brought out in England in 1902. This can be operated on gaso- line, kerosene or alcohol, and has won twenty-six gold and silver medals in plowing matches and other competitions before agricultural and other so cieties in difterent countries. Complete, the machine weighs thirty-two hun- dred weight (3584 pounds). Motive power is supplied by an 18-20 horse-power double-cylinder opposed engine disposed Jongitudinally in the frame and pro- tected by a metal cover. A pulley is fitted for stationary work, such as thresh- ‘ng, grinding and driving a dynamo. Hauling a three-furrow plow, the trac- tor has plowed six acres in nine hours to a depth of seven inches on a con sumption of twenty gailons of gasoline or kerosene and one gallon of lubricat- ing oil. One user, after two year’s experience, claimed to have done with it daily on an average as much plowing as he could do in the same time »H4 three teams of three horses, three men and three boys—that is, 2% acres oO heavy soil to a depth of six inches. With one six-foot reaper and binder at- tached, 2% acres of grain could be cut in an hour on a consumption of 2% gallons of gasoline and one pint of oil. Two small binders can, however, be hauled on suitable ground. Another user found that it would easily drive a 60-inch double blast threshing machine, and at the same time a straw trusser. More powerful tractors are built for plowing and reaping on a more extensive scale, such as the 50