And they fell from a perfectly cloudless blue skyFloating down just as though they had wings, While I puzzled my brain to discover some use For such very remarkable things.

I was sure they would prove much too small for myself,

And that I, for the bells, was too oldSo I pondered it over; but soon something else My attention completely controlled.

With a laugh and a shout there came two merry boys,

Who between them a casket upbore;

And they looked like the cupids familiar to us
When we conned mythological lore.

"We have found out a use for those garments," they said

"For those socks and that coraline toy;" Then they smiled, and the casket laid low at my feet

And, behold, in its depths-a wee boy!

IN VERNAL SHADES.

AT rest upon the dewy lap of earth,

· My fancy turns to mythic legends sweet; My dreaming thoughts to changeful scenes give birth,

Which, fair as visions, are as visions fleet.

Each sight and sound recalls the fabled days When ruled great Pan o'er forest, stream and vale;

Again fair Syrinx to the Naiad prays,

Then, changed to reeds, gives music to the gale.

I feel the cooling touch upon my lip

Of purple grapes impearled with dews of morn, And I, with Bacchus, wine delicious sip,

Then follow Ceres thro' the rustling corn.

In Enna's fields, a-sway on stately stem,
The honeyed lilies tempt the wild bees' kiss ;
Persephonë, delighted, gathers them,
But lets the flowers fall when seized by Dis.

A tangled mass of crimson roses sweet
Drops fragrant petals on the verdant sod;
There Love, to shield his mother indiscreet,
With one fair blossom bribes the silent God.

At rest upon a vernal couch of earth,

My senses steeped in spring's soft ecstasy, These phantasies in glowing dreams had birth, Which to Olympic heights transported me.

JAMES T. WHITE.

"I would be measured by my soul;

The mind's the stature of the man."

HE ethics taught by our Puritanical ancestors, "line upon line and precept upon precept," formed a part of the early training of James T. White, and his success in life is mainly due to his unswerving integrity combined with intense earnestness and energy of character. His grandfather, Rev. George White, a man of literary taste and a minister of the Church of England, came to this country in the early part of the present century and settled in Canterbury, Conn. On his maternal side, Mr. White is descended from the Ashbys, a prominent and distinguished family of England, connected by marriage with Cowper, the poet, and other men of note. The father of Mr. White, who resided in Canterbury, Conn., married the daughter of William Ashby, of Newburyport, Mass., and went to Boston, where he shortly afterward died. The widow returned to her parents in Newburyport, Mass., where she died soon after giving birth to a child-the subject of this sketch-July 3, 1845. He, with his sister, was adopted by a maiden aunt, and to her he is indebted for the moral and physical training which laid the foundation of his success in life. He enjoyed the advantages of a good common school and academic education, graduating with honor at Brown's High School at Newburyport. At the age of seventeen he removed with his aunt to the Pacific coast, and soon after obtained a situation as porter in the publishing house of H. H. Bancroft, San Francisco, Cal. Three weeks following he was promoted to the position of salesman, and at the end of six months he was placed at the head of the retail department, a position second only in importance to that of a partnership interest. He availed himself of the social advantages thus offered, and in 1869 married a niece of his employers, Miss Florence C., daughter of Geo. H. Derby, Esq., of Buffalo, who established the original business of H. H. Bancroft & Co., his employers. He remained with this firm ten years, and in 1873 he severed his connection and became the general agent and manager of Appleton & Co., on the Pacific coast. With increased responsibilities he developed equivalent executive ability, and was soon foremost in the ranks of a large corps of workers employed by this extensive publishing firm. A man of great versatility and unlimited resource, he devised new plans and schemes for developing the business and was soon on the road to wealth. In his intercourse with schools and colleges he observed the imperfect and rather ambiguous methods

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of teaching the anatomy of the human system. This led to his invention of the Physiological Manikin, one of the most ingenious yet simple devices ever invented for this purpose. Its merits were at once appreciated by the various institutes of learning, and so great was the demand that he decided to close out all his other business interests and devote his attention to the manufacture and sale of his new invention. He came East in 1886 and settled in New York, where, with increased facility and a wider field of operation he soon established a large and lucrative business, of which he is the center and the life.

Mr. White has always evinced an enthusiastic love of literature, a study which served him as a relaxation from the strain incident to an active business life. The peculiar charm of his verse lies in its purity of technique and its happy turn of expression. Most of his work has been in the line of vers d'occasion, although he has published two holiday volumes, "Flowers from Arcadia" and "A Bouquet of California Flowers."

In appearance Mr. White is not tall, but is so genial and surrounds himself with an air of such gentle dignity that his presence may be called commanding. His quick sympathies and his keen sense of honor draw him very closely to the hearts of others, while his conversation, sparkling with happy turns, delights all who listen. As a husband he is all that is loyal and true; and as a father earnest and winning. He has four children, and his eldest boy, who is nearly twenty-one years of age, has become his companion and secretary in the publishing business. E. T. Y. P.

CLEMATIS.

TRUST.

IF hearts are dust, hearts' loves remain,
And somewhere, far above the plane

Of earthly thoughts beyond the sea
That bounds this life, they will meet thee
And hold thee face to face again.

And when is done Life's restless reign,
If I hereafter but regain

Heart's love, why should I troubled be
If hearts are dust?

By Love's indissoluble chain,
I know the grave does not detain
Heart's love. The very faith in me
Is pledge of an eternity,

Where I shall find heart's love again,
If hearts are dust.

PLATYSTEMON.

CONFESSION.

THOU hast taught me, my beloved;
Thou hast taught me:

Taught me Life's profounder meaning;
Taught me honor, virtue-weaning
Me from all ignoble things:
On Imagination's wings

Taught me how to soar, and find
Rarest pleasure in the mind:
Taught me Life's dull incompleteness
Without Love's renewing sweetness:
From the height of thy pure soul
Taught me passion to control;
And hast brought me

At thy gentle feet to learn

What thy clearer eyes discern.

Thou hast blessed me, my beloved,

Thou hast blessed me:
Blessed me with thy tender eyes,
Which look on me with such a wise
My faint soul grows strong again,
As the flowers after rain:

And they rest me,

While they more and more enchain.
Thou hast blessed me with thy words:
Sweeter than the song of birds,
They have soothed my weary brain,
Banished every care and pain

That distressed me,
And a new strength put within me
To resist delights that win me
From the duty God commands.

Thou hast blessed me with thy hands,
Which have ever shared my toil,
Heeding neither ache nor soil,
And caressed me,

Making all my burdens lighter,
And the sky of hope still brighter.
Dear hands-only made for smoothing
Restless pillows, and for soothing
Tired hearts-would they were mine
To have and hold by right divine!

Dost thou love me, my beloved?
Dost thou love me?

Thou whom I have from afar
Watched and worshiped, like a star
That above me

Shines, and yet may never know

The blessings that its beams bestow? Thou hast taught me, thou hast blessed me, And with happiest thoughts possessed me,

But to love me

Is the crowning of all blessing;
Making me by thy confession

Rich beyond all power to measure;
Royal-crowned by thy sweet pleasure
Sovereign of a fair domain

I had never thought to gain.
Blessing, honor, rest thou art,
And with undivided heart,

Dear, I love thee

Love thee more than words can tell:

And I would that my caressing
Could bring thee so rich a blessing,
And forever more compel

Love's peace in thy heart to dwell.

CEANOTHUS.

ABSENCE.

THE day is night when thou art gone; the night
Is long, and silence, like a roaring sea
By angry tempest driven, thunders on
My utter loneliness and solitude.

O, friend beloved, how can I part from thee!
How can I say farewell to those bright eyes,
Those eyes which bless me with their tender light!
How can I say farewell to those soft hands,
Those hands which hold me in their light caress!
How can I say farewell to those soft lips,
Those lips which teach me Love's divinest law!
How can I say farewell to that dear heart,
That heart which is to me my heaven, my all!
No, no, dear love, I can not part from thee;
My heart on angel wings will follow thee,