WHAT IS A PASHA?

He dispenses often with a carriage simply because he has hitherto done without it, and can do so still. There is no attempt to outvie his neighbour in magnificence. These ambitions are unknown amongst them. Their hours are almost universally the same. Breakfast at eight or half-past. Coffee and bread and butter-not a substantial meal as in Britain. About twelve o'clock, luncheon. This they call taking coffee; and when inviting a friend to this mid-day meal, it is always to "take coffee." It consists of that beverage, of wine and beer for those who prefer them, bread and butter, and a dish of hot or cold meat. Five o'clock is the general dinner hour. After this they take tea or coffee; and the last thing before going to bed many sit down to a heavy supper. Such is the kind of life they lead-simple in their ways and ideas-infinitely pleasant and refreshing after the wealth and ceremony and display of other countries. It has its charming side. You will find amongst them refinement of feeling, and cultivated minds, and a due appreciation of all things necessary to the higher life. A Dutch lady will wash up her best china tea-things, rather than trust them to the tender mercies of her servants, in the presence of her guests, and put them away, and be as much a gentlewoman, as refined and courteous, as a fastidious and highly-polished Englishwoman, in a somewhat different way, perhaps. But it gives to their surroundings that real atmosphere of home and homeliness-that sense of the good housewife looking after her household that is so delightful an experience to live with. They live a simple, true life. They are what they seem.

WHAT IS A PASHA?

AT the head of the Turkish state is the Sultan, or supreme ruler, who, before he comes to the sovereignty, is kept secluded from all political and state affairs, until suddenly, perhaps at a day's notice, he finds himself called to the office, with despotic power at his command to use as he pleases. But if he is ignorant of state matters to begin with, his Grand Vizier will be able to give him all the information he requires. The Grand Vizier has, indeed, the entire responsibility of the state on his shoulders, and is assisted by six Viziers of the Cupola, as they are called, to distinguish them from the various other Viziers in Turkey. The word vizier signifies "he who bears or supports a burden," and was first confined to the Sultan's prime minister, but at the present time is applied to numerous high officials in Turkey and other Mahommedan States. Closely resembling Vizier is Pasha, a title formerly given to princes

POETRY.

of blood, but afterwards extended to the Grand Vizier and other civil and military officers. The word is derived from "Pa," fort, or support, and "sha," ruler, and therefore signifies the support of a ruler. The badge of a Pasha is a horse's tail waving from the end of a staff crowned with a gilt ball; but if you ever happen to come across a Pasha of three tails you may conclude he is a very exalted personage-in fact the Pasha of three tails is the Grand Vizier himself!

Poetry.

THE CITY OF OUR GOD.

O, CITY of the jasper wall,
And of the pearly gate!

For thee, amid the storms of life
Our weary spirits wait.

We long to walk the streets of gold
No mortal feet have trod;

We long to worship at the shrine,
The temple of our God.

O home of bliss! O land of light!
Where falleth neither shade nor blight!
Of every land the brightest, best,
When shall we there find peace and rest?

O city where they need no light
Of sun, or moon, or star!

Could we with eye of faith but see
How bright thy mansions are,

How soon our doubts would flee away,
How strong our trust would grow,
Until our hearts should lean no more
On trifles here below.

O home of bliss! O land of light!

Where falleth neither shade nor blight!

Of every land the brightest bost,

When shall we there find peace and rest?

O city where the shining gates
Shut out all grief and sin,

Well may we yearn amid earth's strife
Thy holy peace to win.

Yet must we meekly bear the cross,

Nor seek to lay it down

Until our Father brings us home,

And gives the promised crown.
O home of bliss! O land of light!
Where falleth neither shade nor blight!
Of every land the brightest, best,
Soon shall we there find peace and rest!

HERE is one of the most wonderful streets in the New World. It is the main thoroughfare in New York, and is called Broadway. Very many fine buildings of stone stand on one side or other of this very beautiful street, which, in ten or twelve years' time, will be the finest street in the world. At present you may see handsome ranges of houses, and even buildings which look like palaces, standing side by side with cast-iron "stores," as the Americans call their shops. In a few years these cast

iron "stores" will give way to fine houses of stone.

Broadway is three miles long, and runs in a straight line through the City of New York. Other streets, quite as straight, run out of it on both sides; and as the city stands on an island, and these cross streets run down to the water, those who walk along Broadway can see at

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

almost every opening ships at the wharves, or under sail and ready to go

out to sea.

Hundreds of omnibuses are always rumbling along. Some of these are very large, and will hold twice as many as the omnibuses used in London. Those are American flags flying from the windows. They are often called "the Stars and Stripes."

Anecdotes and Selections.

CHARLES KINGSLEY AT MAURICE'S FUNERAL.-The funeral of Frederic Denison Maurice I shall not easily forget. Respect for him, and faith in His Master, were almost the only common ties which linked many of those who followed him to the grave. In the space of half a minute I saw the Dean of Westminster, two clergymen from St. Alban's, Holborn, and the minister of Hare-court Chapel. When the Rev. Llewellyn Davies read, "We, therefore, commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ," I was standing close behind Charles Kingsley. He was crying and sobbing like a child. He shook with sorrow, and the tears streamed down his face, but he made no attempt to hide them from the crowd around. "He recked not that they saw," being too much taken up in wistfully watching the descending coffin of his friend. Tenderheartedness and manliness can go together, just as milksoppishness and the most ruthless cruelty. When the members of the Working Men's College, who had marched in six abreast procession after the hearse of their founder, were singing their funeral hymn around his grave, a bird alighted on a neighbouring tree, and joined in with them; ceasing when they paused, and beginning to sing again as soon as they resumed the strain.-Sunday at Home.

MR. BRYANT'S TALK.-Mr. William Cullen Bryant recently addressed the children of a Sunday school as follows:-" "My young friends, I am not much accustomed to addressing young people like you, but I hope to be understood. The poet Collins said he had but one book, and that the best one,-it was the Bible. In the New Testament you will find all the rules you need to guide you in the paths of virtue; follow them, and you will be in sympathy with Christ. I have visited the place where Christ spent His youthful days. The scenery was delightful. The fig-trees were just putting forth their beauties, the flowers were in bloom; among them were the cyclamen with its nodding blossoms, and the hyacinth with its blue bells. I could but imagine that Jesus must have picked such flowers with His little hands when He was a child. He evidently sought every opportunity to store His mind with knowledge. He lived in the utmost harmony with His mother's family, and was obedient to all their wishes. He worked at the carpenter's trade with His father, and made honest and faithful work. When at your age He was gathering up truths, as I hope you will do in the Sabbath school, and when you read the Testament. They

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

had no Sabbath schools in His days. You have heard some good sermons from this desk, but never such a sermon as Christ delivered upon the Mount, which surpasses all other sermons. Jesus never uttered a falsehood; He never quarrelled with His associates; He never disobeyed His parents: He tried to impart to others the good which He possessed. I hope you will follow His example."

THE YOUNG NAZARITE.-Simon the Just was the last of the great high priests of Israel, in the days of Antiochus the Great. All men loved and honoured him. "There are three foundations of the world," said he, "law, worship, and benevolence." Again he said: "I never could endure to receive the monastic dedication of the Nazarites. Yet once I made an exception. There came a youth from the South to consecrate himself. I looked at him; his eyes were beautiful, his air magnificent, his long hair fell clustering in rich curls over his face. Why,' I asked him, 'must you shave off those splendid locks?' 'I was a shepherd of my father's flocks,' he replied, 'in my native village. One day drawing water at the well, I saw with undue complacency my reflection in the water. I should have given way to a wicked inclination and have been lost. I said, 'Wicked one, wilt thou be proud of that which belongs not to thee, a worm and dust? O God, I will cut off these curls for the honour of heaven."" Then Simon embraced his head, and exclaimed, "Would that there were many such Nazarites in Israel."-Stanley's "Jewish Monarchy."

ENGLISH IS ENGLISH.-English is English, and Greek is Greek; and as the proper method of spelling Greek words, when adopted into English, has been settled by the usage of the past English classics now for three hundred years, it is not only a silly affectation to change it, but it is a violation of the historical continuity of our language, which adopted these words, not directly from the Greek, but indirectly from the Latin. It is for this reason that we say Plato, Zeno, Strabo, and such like; not Platon, Zenon, Strabon. The law of historical continuity in the same way leads us to say Socrates, not Sokrates; Isocrates, not Isokrates; and so forth. As little are we entitled to write Keltic for Celtic, Mykenae for Mycenae, Kikero for Cicero, on account that the Greek K and the Latin C were both pronounced hard, even before a slender vowel, as they are always in Gaelic at the present hour. For, as before said, Latin is Latin, and English is English; and we are no more entitled to say Keltic and Kikero than we are to call Munich Munchen, or Florence Firenze.-Prof. Blackie.

INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS.-The Indians believe that the thunder is a huge bird, with green back and gray breast, and that the flapping of his wings causes the thunder (some faint resemblance to the mythological birds of Jove, who carried the thunder in their claws). They imagine that the heavens are supported by four large poles, resembling large trees; that the big bird lives in the west, and is only heard when flying east. This is easily accounted for by the fact of their storms almost invariably coming from the west. They have a superstitious fear of the aurora borealis, which they call the "medicine fire." They believe that it has the power of rendering them good shots (an idea