stars and a dog and everything. And a man «He is so dear!» said Miss Arenam. « You named Gee hated him, and went and told his don't think his father would hurt him, do you? father, and then he came and took me away I do hope that some day I may do something from her; and I'll have his head cut off, and to make Hoo Chee happier! » put it up the chimney, and then he won't hate « I will teach him mission-school,» Hoo King me any more. She 'll cut it off for me. And was threatening, while the Infant trembled then I'll stay in the house-and find little and paled, and scarcely felt Miss 00 behind Quong Sam-for a thousand years,» finished him. «If he does n't come home I will bring the Infant, abstractedly.

police to your house. And there is one who Miss 00 had gone to sleep. The Infant saw can help me," said Hoo King, pointing to Sum

» her head rising and falling a tiny distance on Oo's father, who had just come hopefully into her chubby chest; but lovely as she was, he the yard, after a long search through the wished she would go home. He could not run quarter. to the house and leave her, for the Monstrous « Oh,» said Miss Arenam, recognizing Sum Rat might come. It was wretchedly uncom- Chow; « is it your little girl who is missingfortable, for his father would surely be seeking Miss 0o? Surely no one would harm them! Do him. There she sat, with her hands hanging you think so ?» at her sides like a Japanese doll's. He wished «Gone childs,» said the learned Dr. Wing the Lady of Cakes and Tea would appear, and Shee, appearing behind Chow. «Omens says take them both away forever on a cloud that shall be find; shall come from east,» said the would float so high that no one could reach it. doctor, pointing toward the Go-down. «Omens He thought of the thousand years, and he was say good times come for that poy, by by.» nearly ready to cry.

«She is good little girl,» said Sum Chow, It was really a long time since they had trying to smile. «She is too much-and the entered the Go-down. The learned Dr. Wing, mother is too much sad. But we do not think pacing in Sum Chow's yard, trying to reason you — » out the disappearance of two small children, Why don't the foreign devils go?» said became aware of faint sounds coming from Hoo King. «Why do they loiter on my premthe direction of the Go-down, and after listen- ises? Do they want to steal me ? » ing carefully for a while to the story of a little The Infant shivered. He saw the Lovely boy laughed softly to himself and departed. Lady about to depart. She would disappear There were now people in the yard, the Infant again-forever--and he would be left alone knew-several of them; and one was a man with his father. Ah, no, no! He rushed wildly speaking Chinese in a foreign accent. Then out of the Go-down and after her, calling some one in a wonderfully lovely voice spoke loudly: -a voice the clear, soft tones of which pene- « Ha-o, Pay-lee! Pay-lee! » trated the Go-down. Surely Hoo Chee had «Why, you darling! » cried Bayley Arenam, heard that voice before! He grasped the gin- joyfully. «You were hiding?» ger-jar, and crawled excitedly over Miss Oo's The Lady took the dusty young person up, feet, and put his head out to listen. Oh, joy! and kissed him, and, as fast as she could, and oh, most marvelous surprise! It was the came trotting after him the barefooted Miss Lady of Cakes and Tea! He wriggled out as Oo, who ran to the Lovely Lady, and said fast as his hands and knees would carry him, demurely: jostling the small maid, who murmured sleep- «Miss Oo?» ily, «Miss Oo?» and awoke to see his disap- And when the Lady put him down, to look pearing heels.

at the Infant and Miss Oo as they stood side Near the door of the Go-down the Infant by side, the Infant took hold of the Lady's paused, and peeped through a crack from be- gown, and turned his head back so that he hind a barrel. He heard his angry father, who could look beseechingly up into her eyes. spoke but little English, hotly declaring in « We want to go home with you,» he enChinese that when Hoo Chee should be found he treated, with frightened breath. «We want would be tied indoors-for a thousand years. to go to the House of Glittering Things. We

« The fellow 's a brute!» said the gentle- want to," he begged, with a pain of suspense. man who had come with Miss Bayley Arenam, «She 'll be good, and I'll be good. We don't in English. «He still pretends to believe that want to stay here. We want to go home with you stole his boy, and he threatens the child you.» with torture-in the same breath. If he is n't And Miss Oo, hearing the Infant talk of careful I 'll have the boy removed to the going somewhere, decided that he should not mission.»

grasped the tip of Hoo Chee's cue, and must stay with him. I am sorry; but the Lady looked earnestly into the face of the Lovely will come again some day--surely! » Lady.

Hoo King strode forward and snatched the « The darling things! What does he say?» Infant's hand, tearing his hold roughly from asked Miss Arenam.

the Lady's skirt; and Sum Chow took the hand « He says they want to go and live with of his daughter. But Miss Oo began to sniffle you,» translated Mr. Arroway.

too, resisting with all her tiny strength the «You angel! » cried the Lady of Cakes and loosening of her grasp of Hoo Chee's pigtail

. Tea, kissing him again. «I do wish I could When it was accomplished she broke into a take you!

wail. «Miss Oo! Miss 00!» she cried woefully. The Infant laughed aloud. It was all right, Hoo Chee was dragged by his frowning sire then. One could tell from the kiss and the toward the house, but the Infant wept no tone, no matter if one knew not a word of longer. His breath caught and caught, as if what she said. He would go with her to the his bursting heart was forcing it all from his house, and the thousand years would be left body; his brain was whirling in a panic. The behind. Hoo King was glaring at his son in sun was to be taken from the sky for a a rage, but the presence of the gentleman thousand bitter years. who spoke Chinese restrained what the father might have said.

LONG after the yard was deserted there ap« Good-by,” said Hoo Chee, radiantly turn- peared at the window, just above the sill, a ing his head to his father, but still holding little round face with two red eyes and a tight to the Lady. «I go to the House of mouth drawn very far down at the corners. Glittering Things. I shall be always happy.) A wind was sending in a swirling fog. The

« Ah!» cried Hoo King, beside himself. little red eyes overlooked the Important Town « Fool offspring! Fool! Come here; they have and the waving posies and the ginger-jar with filled your impious body with devils! >> the scattered treasures, and they saw into the

Hoo King made a dash for his son. empty Go-down. But those whose forms stayed

« No, no, no!» exclaimed Hoo Chee, fear- pictured in his memory-Dr. Wing and Miss fully, running behind Miss Arenam, with the 0o and the Lovely Lady- they were gone, all troubled Miss Oo following after and holding gone, forever. They were the only ones he to his pigtail. «No, no, no! Pay-lee! Pay-lee!» loved, but he should never see them again. But Mr. Arroway caught him.

The wind slammed the gate and latched it. « You belong to your father, little boy,» he The little eyes blinked and blinked and filled said tenderly in Chinese, while Hoo Chee till they could not see, and the small head struggled and wept and hated him. «You bowed on the window-sill.

Chester Bailey Fernald.

THE DREAMER.

THE dreamer cried, Oh, that it once were mine

To build a song that should defy the years —
One that should lift with hope those bowed in tears,

And touch the wavering with a strength divine;
An all-puissant lay, whose every line
Should front some wrong as with a thousand spears,

a
Or strike to mist the horde of lurking Fears

That guard the keep where Truth immured doth pine!»
The while earth's children, worn with care and pale,

Grieved for the light lost here for evermore,

Each day went by him, wandering in despair;
The blind unnoted passed him, and the frail;

Sin dwelt unchallenged near his very door,
And Error, mailed in guile, was castled there.

Henry Jerome Stockard.

BY WILLIAM M. SLOANE.

THE COLLAPSE OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.

POLITICS AND STRATEGY—THE END OF THE GRAND ARMY—THE FRANKFORT
PROPOSALS—THE INVASION OF FRANCE- NAPOLEON'S SUPREME

EFFORT- THE GREAT CAPTAIN AT BAY.

THE GRAY OVERCOAT.

POLITICS AND the 27th revealed a perfect knowledge of the
STRATEGY. enemy's rout; yet the burden of their conver-

sation was execration of the Emperor. «He's THROUGHOUT the a

-, who will ruin us all,» was the renight, after his peated malediction. If we may believe Navictory at Dresden, poleon himself, he had a violent attack of Napoleon believed vomiting near Pirna, and was compelled to that the enemy would leave everything on that fateful day to others. return again to bat- The sequel goes to show that neither his own tle on the morrow. sickness nor the bad temper of the army sufIndeed, the council ficiently accounts for Napoleon's unmilitary of the disheartened conduct; it appears as if he wilfully refrained allies debated far from annihilating the Austrian army in order into the small hours to reknit the Austrian alliance and destroy whether an advan- the coalition. tageous stand could Had Oudinot and Macdonald succeeded in not still be made on their offensive operations against Berlin, and the heights of Dip- had Napoleon himself done nothing more poldiswalde. But the than hold Dresden, which from the outset he coalition army was considered as a defensive point, it would have sadly shattered, hav- sufficed, in order to obtain the most favora

ing lost a third of its ble terms of peace, to throw back the main numbers. Crippled on its left, and threat- army of the coalition, humiliated and dispirened on its rear, it began next morning to ited, through Bohemia to Prague. But long retreat in fair order toward the Erzgebirge, service under the Empire had destroyed all or Ore Mountains, and so continued until it initiative in the French marshals: in Spain, became known that Vandamme was directly one mighty general after another had been

the path, when a large proportion of the brought low; those who were serving in Gertroops literally took to the hills, and retreat many seemed stricken with the same palsy. became flight. Then first, at four in the after. It is true that in the days of their greatness noon, Napoleon, having ridden almost to Pirna, they had commanded choice troops, and that issued orders for the single corps of Van- now the flower of the army was reserved for damme, slightly reinforced, to begin the pur- the Emperor; but it is likewise true that suit! Thereupon, leaving orders for Mortier then they had fought for wealth, advanceto hold Pirna, he entered a carriage, and drove ment, and power. Now they yearned to enquietly back to Dresden! These are the almost joy their gains, and were embittered because incredible facts: no terrific onslaught after Napoleon had not accepted Austria's terms the first night, no well-ordered pursuit after of mediation until it was too late. Moreover, the second, a mere pretense of seizing the Bernadotte, one of their opponents, had been advantage on the third day! In fact, Napo- trained in their own school, and was fighting leon, having set his plan in operation, sank at for a crown. To Blücher, untamed and unonce, to all outward appearances, into a state trustworthy in temper, had been given in the of lassitude, the only sign of interest he dis- person of Gneisenau an efficient check on his played throughout the battle being shown headlong impulses, and Bülow was a comwhen he was told of Moreau's mortal wound. mander far above mediocrity. Such considThe cause may have been physical or it may erations go far to account for the disasters have been moral, but it was probably a politi- of Grossbeeren, Katzbach, and Kulm, which cal miscalculation. If we may believe Captain made it insufficient for Napoleon to hold Coignet, the talk of the staff on the night of Dresden and throw back the main army of the allies, and which thwarted all his strategy, leon's great strategic plan. In no way responmilitary and political.

sible for Grossbeeren, or for Macdonald's The first of these affairs was scarcely a de- defeat on the Katzbach, he was culpable feat. Oudinot, advancing, with 70,000 men, both for the selection of Vandamme, and by Wittenberg to seize Berlin, found himself for failure to support him in the pursuit of confronted by Bernadotte with 80,000. The Schwarzenberg. At St. Helena, Napoleon latter, having fixed his eye on the crown of strove to account for the crash under which France, feared to defeat a French army, and he was buried after Dresden by the sickness had suggested abandoning the Prussian capi- which made him unable to give attention to tal. But the Prussians were outraged, and a the situation, by the inundation which renshow of resistance was imperative. On August dered Macdonald helpless at the crossing of 22 a few skirmishes occurred, and the next the Bober, and by the notification from the day Bülow, disobeying his orders, brought on King of Bavaria that, after a certain date, a pitched battle at Grossbeeren, which was he too would join the coalition. This was not waged, with varying success, until nightfall history, but an appeal to public sentiment, left the village in French hands. Oudinot, carefully calculated for untrained readers. however, lost heart, and retreated to Witten- The fact was that at Dresden the gradual berg, pursued as far as Treuenbrietzen by the transformation of the strategist into the polienemy. On August 21, Blücher, aware of the tician, which had long been going on, was circumstances which kept Napoleon at Dres- complete. This is proved by his next step. den, determined to attack Macdonald. The Hitherto his basal principle had been to mass French marshal, by a strange coincidence, all his force for a determinative blow, his comalmost simultaneously abandoned the defen- binations all turning about hostile armies and sive position he had been ordered to hold, and their annihilation, or at least about the proadvanced to give battle. On the 25th the two duction of a situation making annihilation armies came together, amid rain and fog, on possible. Now he was concerned, not with the Katzbach. After a bitter struggle, the armies, but with capital cities. Claiming that French were routed with frightful loss. A to extend his line toward Prague would terrific rain-storm set in, and the whole weaken it, in order to resume a strong decountry was turned into a marsh. For five fensive he chose the old plan of an advance days Blücher continued the pursuit, until he to Berlin; and Ney was sent to supersede reached Naumburg, on the right bank of the Oudinot, Schwarzenberg being left to recuQueiss, where he halted, having captured 18,- perate unmolested. The inchoate idea of 000 prisoners and 103 guns. To these disas- political victory which turned him back from ters the affair at Kulm was a fitting climax. Pirna was fully developed; by a blow at Berlin No worse leader for a delicate movement he could alarm Prussia, separate her army from could have been selected than the reckless that of the other allies, and then plead with Vandamme. «If there were two Vandammes Austria his consideration in not invading her in my army,» Napoleon once said, « nothing territories. In spite of all that has been writcould be done until one had killed the other.) ten to the contrary, there was some strength As might have been expected, the headlong in this idea, unworthy as it was of the augeneral far outstripped the columns of Mar- thor's strategic ability. Ney was to advance mont, Saint-Cyr, and Murat, which had been immediately, while he himself pressed on to tardily sent to support him. Descending with- Hoyerswerda, where he hoped to establish out circumspection into the plain of Kulm, he connections for a common advance. found himself, on the 29th, confronted by the This would have been possible if for a Russian guard, and next morning, when at- fortnight Macdonald had been able to hold tacked by superior force, he was compelled Blücher, and Murat to check Schwarzenberg. to retreat through a mountain defile toward But the news of Macdonald's plight compelled Peterswalde, whence he had come. At the Napoleon to march first toward Bautzen, in mouth of the gorge he was unexpectedly met order to prevent Blücher from annihilating by the Prussian corps of Kleist. Both sides the army in Silesia. Exasperated by this unwere surprised, and rushed one upon the other expected diversion, the Emperor started in a in desperation. The Russians soon came up, reckless, embittered temper. On September 5 and Vandamme, with 7000 men, was captured, it became evident that Blücher would not the loss in slain and wounded being about stand, and Napoleon prepared to wheel in the 5000. Saint-Cyr, Marmont, and Murat halted direction of Berlin; but the orders were aland held the mountain passes.

most immediately recalled, for news arrived This was the climax of disaster in Napo- that Schwarzenberg was under way to Dresden. At once Napoleon returned to the Saxon and when Bernadotte came up with his Swedes capital. By September 10 he had drawn in and Russians the battle was over. Ney was his forces, ready for a second defense of the driven into Torgau, with a loss of 15,000 men, city; but learning that 60,000 Austrians had besides 80 guns and 400 train-wagons. The been sent over the Elbe to take on its flank Prussians lost about 9,000 killed and wounded. any French army sent after Blücher, he This affair concentrated into one movement ordered the young guard to Bautzen for the moral effects of all the minor defeats, an the reinforcement of Macdonald. Thereupon influence which far outweighed the imporSchwarzenberg, on the 14th, made a feint to tance of Dresden. The French still fought advance. On the 15th Napoleon replied by superbly in Napoleon's presence, but only a countermove on Pirna, where pontoons were then, for they were heartily sick of the war. thrown over the river to establish connection The Prussians, seeing the great French genwith Macdonald. On the 16th Napoleon rec- erals successively defeated, and that largely onnoitered, on the 17th there was a skir- by their own efforts, were animated to fresh mish, and on the 18th there was again a push exertions; even the reserves and home guard and counterpush. These movements convinced displayed the heroism of veterans. On SepNapoleon that Schwarzenberg was really on tember 7, Ney advised Napoleon to withdraw the defensive, and he returned to Dresden, behind the Saale, and his opinion was that of determined to let feint and counterfeint, the all the division commanders. Throughout the «system of hither and thither,» as he called country partizans were seizing the supplyit, go on until the golden opportunity for a trains; Davout had found his Dutch and crushing blow should be offered. Blücher Flemings to be mediocre soldiers, unfit at meantime had turned again on Macdonald, crucial moments to take the offensive; the who was now on the heights of Fischbach, army had shrunk to about 250,000 men all with Poniatowski on his right. Mortier was told; straggling was increasing, and the again at Pirna; Victor, Saint-Cyr, and Lobau country was virtually devastated. To this were guarding the passes from Bohemia. last fact the plain people were, in their

This was virtually the situation of a month larger patriotism, amazingly indifferent; the previous, before the battle. Schwarzenberg «hither and thither » system tickled their might feel that he had prevented the inva- fancy, and they dubbed Napoleon the « Bautsion of Austria, Napoleon that he had regained zen Boy. Uneasiness pervaded every French his strong defensive. While the victory of encampment; on the other side, timidity was Dresden had gone for nothing, yet this situ- replaced by courage, dissension by unity. This ation was nevertheless a double triumph for social transformation seemed further to enNapoleon. Ney had advanced on the 5th, in tangle the political threads which had already obedience to orders. Bernadotte lay at Jüter- debased the quality of Napoleon's strategy. bog, his right being westerly at Dennewitz, Technically no fault can be found with his under Tauenzien. Bertrand was to make a prompt changes of plan to meet emergencies, demonstration on the 6th against the latter, or with the details of movements which led so that behind this movement the rest of to his prolonged inaction. Yet, largely conthe army should pass by unnoticed. But Ney sidered, the result was disastrous. The great started three hours late, so that the skir- medical specialist refrains from the immemish between Tauenzien and Bertrand lasted diate treatment of a sickly organ until the long enough to give the alarm to Bülow, general health is sufficiently recuperated to who hurried in and turned the affair into assure success; the medicaster makes a direct a general engagement. At first the advan- attack on evident disease. Napoleon contage was with the Prussians; then Ney, at ceived a great plan for concentrating about an opportune moment, began to throw in Dresden to recuperate his forces, but when Oudinot's corps, a move which seemed likely Blücher prepared to advance he ordered to decide the struggle in favor of the French. Macdonald to make a grand dash. Driving But Borstell, who had been Bülow's lieuten- in the hostile outposts to Förstgen, he then ant at Grossbeeren, brought up his men spent a whole day hesitating whether to in disobedience to Bernadotte's orders, and go on, or to turn westward and disperse threw them into the thickest of the con- another detachment of his ubiquitous foe, flict. Hitherto the Saxons had been fighting which, as he heard from Ney, had bridged gallantly on the French side; soon they began the Elbe at the mouth of the Black Elster. to waver, and now, falling back, they took up It was the 23d before he turned back to many of Oudinot's men in their flight. The Prus- do neither, but to secure needed rest on sians poured into the gap left by the Saxons, the left bank of the Elbe. But if Napo