found letters, stating that they had committed suicide in the Seine, because they had lost everything at the gaming-table. Do I know how many of those men entered the same gamblinghouse that you entered, won as you won, took that bed as you took it, slept in it, were smothered in it, and were privately thrown into the river, with a letter of explanation written by the murderers, and placed in their pocket-books? No man can say how many, or how few, have suffered the fate from which you have escaped. The people of the gambling-house kept their bedstead-machinery a secret from us, even from the police. The dead kept the rest of the secret from them. Good night, or, rather, good morning, M. Faulkner! Be at my office again at nine o'clock. In the meantime, au revoir !"

The rest of my story is soon told. I was examined and reexamined; the gambling-house was strictly searched all through, from top to bottom; the prisoners were separately interrogated; and two of the less guilty among them made a confession. I discovered that the old soldier was the master of the gamblinghouse: justice discovered that he had been drummed out of the army, as a vagabond, years ago; that he had been guilty of all sorts of villainies since, that he was in possession of stolen property, which the owners identified; and that he, the croupier, another accomplice, and the woman who had made my cup of coffee, were all in the secret of the bedstead. There appeared some reason to doubt whether the inferior persons attached to the house knew anything of the suffocating machinery; and they received the benefit of that doubt, by being treated simply as thieves and vagabonds. As for the old soldier and his two head myrmidons, they went to the galleys; the woman who had drugged my coffee was imprisoned for I forget how many years; the regular attendants at the gambling-house were considered "suspicious," and placed under "surveillance"; and I became, for one whole week (which is a long time), the head "lion" in Parisian society. My adventure was dramatized by three illustrious playmakers, but never saw theatrical daylight; for the censorship forbade the introduction, on the stage, of a correct copy of the gambling-house bedstead.

CONFUCIUS

CONFUCIUS. Born about 551 B.C.; died 476 B.C. A Chinese philosopher still venerated and obeyed by a nation of four hundred millions, more than two thousand years after his death. One of the world's greatest ethical teachers, and the enunciator in a negative form of the Golden Rule. For many centuries his doctrines have formed almost the entire amount of instruction given in the schools of China, as well as the main subject for the National Examinations for the Civil Service. Divine honors are paid to him twice a year by the Chinese emperor, as well as by millions of his subjects, and numberless temples have been reared in his honor.

THE SIXTEEN SACRED MAXIMS

I

You must put in practice the duties prescribed by filial piety, and observe that deference which is due from a younger to an elder brother: by these means only can you learn to set a proper value upon those obligations which nature imposes on all men.

II

You must always preserve a respectful remembrance of your ancestors: hence will result constant peace and union in your family.

III

Let harmony and concord reign throughout every village: by this quarrels will be banished, and lawsuits be prevented.

IV

Let those who cultivate the earth and breed silkworms be esteemed and respected: you will then want neither grain for your nourishment nor clothing to cover you.

V

Let frugality, temperance, modesty, and prudent economy become the objects of your reflection, and regulate your conduct.

VI

Let the public schools be carefully maintained; and, above all, let youth be instructed early in the duties of life, and formed to good morals.

VII

Let every one attend to his own business and to the duties of his office; they will then be better discharged.

VIII

Let religious sects be carefully extirpated as soon as they spring up: it might be too late afterwards.

IX

Let the terrors of the penal laws be often held up to the people for rude and intractable minds can be restrained by fear only.

X

Endeavor to acquire a perfect knowledge of the rules of civility and politeness: these tend to maintain concord.

XI

Let the education of children, and particularly younger sons, be the principal object of your attention.

XII

Avoid slander, and abstain from malicious accusations.

XIII

Conceal none of those criminals who, on account of their crimes, have been banished from society, and condemned to a wandering life: by concealing them, you become their accomplices.

XIV

Be punctual in paying the duties and taxes imposed by the prince: this will free you from the oppression of those who collect them, and from vexatious lawsuits.

XV

Be careful to act in concert with the magistrates of the district to which you belong, and to second their efforts in discharging the duties of their office: by these means they will be enabled to detect the guilty, and to prevent robbery and theft.

XVI

Restrain every sudden emotion of passion, and you will avoid many dangers.

RELIGIOUS BELIEF

CHANG-TI, or Supreme Lord or Being, is the principle of everything that exists, and Father of all living. He is eternal, immovable, and independent: his power knows no bounds: his sight equally comprehends the past, the present, and the future, and penetrates even to the inmost recesses of the heart. Heaven and earth are under his government: all events, all revolutions, are the consequences of his dispensation and will. He is pure, holy, and impartial: wickedness offends his sight; but he beholds with an eye of complacency the virtuous actions of men. Severe, yet just, he punishes vice in an exemplary manner, even in princes and rulers; and often precipitates the guilty, to crown with honor the man who walks after his own heart, and whom he hath raised from obscurity. Good, merciful, and full of pity, he forgives, on the repentance of the wicked; and public calamities, and the irregularity of the seasons, are only salutary warnings, which his fatherly goodness gives to men, to induce them to reform and amend.

There is no other principle of all things but a vacuum and nothing; from nothing all things have sprung, to nothing they must again return; and there all our hopes end.

Cherish mildness, suppress passion; then you need not wait for the mediation of others: habits of contention will cease of their own accord. How excellent would such manners be!

Labor and determination of the will are mutually necessary to each other, in order to the perfect accomplishment of any great object.

ELIZA COOK

ELIZA COOK. Born in London, 1818; died at Wimbledon, September 23, 1889. Author of many touching poems, including "The Old ArmChair," "The Old Farm Gate," "The Home in the Heart," "I Miss Thee, My Mother."

THE OLD ARM-CHAIR

I LOVE it, I love it! and who shall dare
To chide me for loving that old arm-chair?
I've treasured it long as a sainted prize,

I've bedewed it with tears, I've embalmed it with sighs.
'Tis bound by a thousand bands to my heart;

Not a tie will break, not a link will start;

Would you know the spell?

a mother sat there!

And a sacred thing is that old arm-chair.

In childhood's hour I lingered near
The hallowed seat with listening ear;
And gentle words that mother would give
To fit me to die, and teach me to live.

She told me that shame would never betide
With Truth for my creed, and God for my guide;
She taught me to lisp my earliest prayer,

As I knelt beside that old arm-chair.

I sat, and watched her many a day,

When her eye grew dim, and her locks were gray;
And I almost worshiped her when she smiled,
And turned from her Bible to bless her child.
Years rolled on, but the last one sped,
My idol was shattered, my earth-star fled!
I learnt how much the heart can bear,
When I saw her die in her old arm-chair.

'Tis past, 'tis past! but I gaze on it now,
With quivering breath and throbbing brow:
'Twas there she nursed me, 'twas there she died,
And memory flows with lava tide.