ments-Motley's "Dutch Republic "-Leffingwell's "Reading Book of English Classics "-Appletons' Handy- Rood's "Modern Chromatics"-Jeffries's "Color-Blindness"-Russell's "Library Notes "-Haeckel's "Evolu- Tennyson's "The Lover's Tale"-Mallock's "Is Life worth Living?"-Froude's "Cæsar "-Blaikie's "How to Get Johnston's "History of American Politics "-Stickney's "A True Republic"-Studies of Paris, by Edmondo de The Light of Asia-Blanid-Bayard Taylor's "Studies in German Literature "-Apthorp's "Hector Berlioz "--What 89 378 474 570 385 367 146 Patriots abroad-The Wisdom of Leaders-The Poetry of Distance-The Objective Novel. About Melancholy again-The Poetry of the Familiar-The Honors to the Prince Imperial. The Nude in Art once more-Women as Horticulturists-Art and Democracy... APPLETONS' JOURNAL. A MAGAZINe of geneRAL LITERATURE. NEW SERIES.] JULY, 1879. [No. 37. I. RICARDA. IT was a cozy room for a bachelor's parlor, despite the untidiness that outcropped between the weekly visits of the housemaid and her "ridding hands." The carpet was bright with spots of color imprisoned in precise geometrical limitations; there were two low, deep-seated lounges, that must have been made "to order," as furniture men then (this was two-and-twenty years ago), as now, avoided as much as possible an adaptation of their wares to the comfort of the human body; there were some good engravings on the walls; some fantastic knickknacks clinging about the mantel-piece and book-shelves, such as are made by lady friends, who prick their fingers and weary their eyes in making, and which the recipients never know what to do with, and secretly dub a nuisance; then there were odd chairs, a large table bearing a huddle of printed literature, and before a glowing, open fire, a pair of capacious fauteuils, occupied by the two men with whose subsequent lives this story has to do, and who may as well at once be introduced with the explicitness of a Frenchman's visiting-card: MYGATT JAMES, Chemist. Both were New-Englanders, doing business in New York. James, a man of thirty-two or three, tall and slight, with dark mustache, hair crimped and tumbled for effect, and, either from carelessness or a lack of real breeding, was never able to put on a clean collar and a new necktie without the fact in some way betraying itself, appeared a fair type of a gay, kind, flirtative, lighthearted, but clever young fellow. Lane, several years younger, was not so tall, but more strongly built, and had a solid, manly look, combined with firmness, and an air of responsibility that placed him in sharp contrast to his companion. Upon VOL. VII.-I the evening in question the two men had been sitting for some time in silence before the fire, Lane apparently gazing at the toes of his embroidered slippers, tilting one foot on the top of the other by turns, to catch the reflected heat, while on his face was an expression of disgust, mingled with grief. James stroked his mustache with his slender hand, and gazed alternately at the glowing grate, and then at a richly-incased miniature of a pretty young woman that stood on the mantel, while his face shone with a radiancy as if a naphtha lamp were mysteriously illuminating it from within. Well," finally spoke Lane, with a groan, rising and leaning against the mantel, "I suppose this is our last night together, after three years of chumming." "That will depend on you, Dick," replied James. "Depend upon me! Quite likely, Jim," he retorted, ironically (he abbreviated his friend's surname for convenience). "Your logic is like a woman's. In spite of all my sighs and tears— for in your present state of exaltation you can only appreciate sentimental phrases-in spite of our sworn loyalty and agrarianism of affection, as you have fantastically termed it, you coolly put an end to all by tying yourself to a woman's apron-string. You marry! Then you say the continuance of our comradeship depends upon me. No man can serve two masters. Although a woman may be silly and vain, as most of them are, and as characterless as a piece of gauze, yet she hangs about a man's neck like a millstone, or hedges him about like a prison-wall, so far as his liberty is concerned. No, Jim; you married, and you're the same as dead to me. The fellow never lived who passed through the matrimonial gate and came out alive in the old sense." James broke out into uproarious laughter. 'But, seriously, Dick, do listen to sense and reason. You exaggerate things. Lizzie is the kindest and dearest little creature-" to a blind man as to you of love. Wait until you know what it is-until it opens your eyes, gives wings to your soul and body, transforms the world, and makes a fellow feel like a seraph. Ahem! Dick-come, old fellow, don't look like a sepulchre, for I'm the happiest chap alive. I feel as if I could touch heaven with my hands," and he straightened himself upon tiptoe, laughing, and then subsided to look at the miniature, adding, "but heaven is not so far away," and concluded by kissing the picture. "Bah!" ejaculated Dick, turning disgustedAn angel, of course. They're all angels in ly away with his hands in his pockets. "This is ear-rings and corsets. Go on." intolerable." Then drawing out his watch, "I "And our home will be yours as much as will say good night, Jim, and leave my adieux for ours; and-" the morning. We'll get through this tug with as little demonstration as possible-pack and dispatch our traps, leave this dear old den, and then separate like two pieces from an exploded meteor." "Nonsense, Jim! I've heard that rigmarole of 'sense and reason' ever since you've been in love, and it seems an age. If a woman in love is crazier than a man, Heaven defend me from her! Women may be well enough in their way, but I don't see what you want of one. I'm sure, if I loved a woman, I couldn't have the heart to ask her to marry me; and if she loved me, and I wanted to retain her love, I could do it better than to receive her into the familiarity that breeds contempt. No man is a hero to his valet de chambre, and what can he be to his wife? For my part, I should like to see a man and woman who in loving had the strength and sense to live rationally, worthy of intellectual beings, enjoy that comradeship, and give each to the other a loyalty, devotion, and unselfishness of affection that lie above the plane of touch and sense; but no, they must all marry, you along with the rest -Bridget and Patrick. Nothing is more commonplace and vulgar." "Why, Dick, the strongest feeling in a man's heart when he loves a woman is the desire to protect and take care of her. It is the supreme office of love." "Ah! yes; to shield her from the storms of life. How fine! That no rude breeze may visit her too roughly. How beautiful! And yet the demands a man makes of his wife-demands that bring suffering, anguish, and even death in their train-are such as he would shrink from inflicting on his most hated enemy. The French proverb is true, at least for women: Aimer, c'est de souffrir.'" "Ah, but you don't understand, Dick. You can't understand it until you are where I am. Love is the one divine mystery in life. For Love's sake everything, even pain and torture, becomes almost to be coveted; and, where love weds two hearts, no suffering can be borne entirely by one, nor be unshared by the other. Love is as willing to endure, as eager to enjoy. But I might as well talk of the sidereal heavens The following morning Dick was up long before day, and with the aid of an extra pair of hands had his boxes ready for removal as the breakfast-bell rang. The two chums exchanged but a few words during the meal, and then withdrew to their parlor, which wore the look, as James expressed it, "of all your broken-heartedness, Dick, and all my craziness." 66 Oh, it is not strange that the room we have lived in together," replied Dick, "should have gone daft and wild at this outrageous break-up; it is enough to affect the composure of a granite bowlder. These poor arm-chairs look already like abandoned and empty-armed old crones who have sat down by the wayside of life to mourn for those that are not. November seems to have permeated everything within as well as without. You hit upon a fitting season for this sorry business, Mygatt." Oh, let it be 'Jim' till the last!" pleaded James, seizing his friend's hand. • When you say Mygatt' I feel as if you had thrust me to the other side of the Atlantic," and tears filled his eyes. Lane, who had a horror of scenes, coolly threw off a dampening phrase. You shouldn't mind that so long as you voluntarily remove yourself infinitely further away. But good-by, Jim-good-by." A lurking smile hovered over James's face as the two men looked in each other's eyes for a moment; but Lane's face was pitiably sad, and hastily drawing his hand from Jim's he darted down stairs and was off for his office. The evening found him installed in his new quarters, and for the first time during many weeks he went to the theatre to drown his loneliness. After that he grimly set about hardening himself to his new life, drawing himself with |