fingers, or embolus for sucking. The monster has numerous piercing eyes glaring around for food and plunder, and the arms and suckers are perpetually twisting and moving about far and near, and the claws and fingers and spongelike absorbers gather enormous stores of booty and filthy aliment, and convey the same to the cavernous jaws. Thus the eyes are constantly watching, the arms and suckers continually moving, and the mouths ever devouring. This is all the monster has to do.

The peculiarities of the spectacle are numerous and interesting. Seen in varying shades of light, and from different points of view, the monster assumes quite different aspects. Viewed from a distance, from an eminence called Mount Theology, a strange metamorphose transforms the frightful apparition into an object of rare and incomparable beauty. The body is no longer a putrid mass of heaving corruption, but a comely and delicate organism of choicest and highly-prized materials. The repulsive heads take on the appearance of venerable patriarchs and grave sages. The faces are those of harmless sheep and innocent doves, all wearing a bland, charitable, and lamb-like expression. The formidable arms and long, slimy trunks are changed into lovely members, outstretched to protect, and shining conduits dispensing golden bounties everywhere around. Instead of talons and grasping claws, there are soft, white hands, from which a profusion of deliciously perfumed blessings are constantly dropping. By an easy change of view, this marvelous creature is transformed from an enormous and hungry gormandizer to a most pleasing object -a veritable living fountain of copious gifts and benefits.

The appearance is, in reality, a reflection set in the historical firmament of a grand and imposing institution spread over a vast area of country, and which has existed with various mutations, for many generations. At certain times a lurid light shoots athwart the monstrous emblem, and then are traced in forked fire, the inauspicious words, "Mystery, Babylon.”

As to the origin of this marvel of deformity, its growth and present aspect, the following story has been culled from the most authentic reports and annals upon the subject:

A certain illustrious Prince, the son and heir of a grand and mighty King, inherited from his sire a goodly estate. The patrimony covered a vast extent of territory, including provinces, broad plains and populous cities; wide seas, populated with fleet-winged commerce; high mountains, flowing rivers, and islands abounding with perfuming spices and mineral treasures. Flocks and herds in vast numbers grazed fertile pastures. On every hand the fair landscape was chequered with the careful lines of fencing, wall and hedgerow inclosing vineyard, orchard and field, the precious wealth of industrious husbandry.

The character of the Prince was such as every good person might imitate with assured advantage. In physical form he was perfect, and his surpassing mind intreasured every excellent and estimable quality. His sole heed and solicitude was the happiness and well-being of his subjects. It was his gracious desire that each of them should enjoy the bounties of his fair domain. He disfavored all striving inequality-disdained coercive might, and severely condemned oppres sion of the poor and the triumphs of the strong over the weak.

The form of government he loved was that called patriarchal—the benign rule of natural fathership and primogenial authority-as from this source his own right and eminence were derived.

But notwithstanding the benevolent disposition of the Prince, and his good will towards his subjects, he had a vindictive and implacable enemy-a powerful chieftain and approved leader of a numerous and formidable band of seditious marauders. The all-absorbing animus of this arch-antagonist was undying and malicious hatred of the good Prince, conjoined with illimitable craft and wily seduction, in all which qualities of evil and insidious cunning his vile crew of lesser potentates partook and used, each according to the strength of

his malignant nature. The adversary and his evil band had their abode in a vast and dreary desert hard by the Prince's domain. From there they made constant incursions into his estate, and there, by cruel and artful tricks, wrought untold mischief and misery among his yielding subjects, by inciting them to rebellion and seditious uprisings against their rightful Lord's authority. Many, by listening to the seductive voice of these evil advisers, became proud and grew hard and tyrannical, usurped unlawful authority over their brethren, and oppressed and cruelly treated them. This ungrateful and perilous conduct sorely grieved the Prince, seeing it was foul treason against him and his majestic Father also.

Yet the Prince was patient and longsuffering, and while his subjects were hostile, defiant and rebellious, and, furthermore, threatened him with personal abuse and violence, he went about among them doing good. He took the part of the poor and distressed, and defended the weak and the downtrodden against their hard masters and cruel tyrants. He fed the hungry, and healed and comforted multitudes of sick people, and finally offered to ransom them from the odious crime of rebellion and treason, by sacrificing his own life to satisfy the broken law. Some were penitent, submissive and obedient, but the bulk of his subjects continued defiant and rebellious.

Although the charity and forbearance of the kind Prince were boundless, he could not condescend to dwell among a people who every day insulted and defied him. Moreover, his Father, the King, who was witness of this wicked insolence and contumacious treatment of his well-beloved son and heir, invited him to return to the imperial palace until his subjects should have learned obedience by their experience of the effects of their folly, become penitent, and be glad to welcome back their rightful Lord.

Therefore the Prince called together his few faithful adherents, and prepared them, by many valuable instructions and

endowments, to assume his government and be his representatives after his departure. There were only about one hundred and twenty of them, all told; but they were brave and valiant men. They braved terrible dangers in maintaining the cause of the discarded Prince against hordes of fierce and savage enemies. They were, as the Prince himself told them, like a small flock of sheep scattered over a forest, in which prowled hungry and ferocious beasts. But he said he would not leave them unprotected and comfortless. He invited them to send petitions at any time to him for help and advice, and promised to answer them promptly and grant them all assistance and supplies necessary. He also endowed them with some extraordinary gifts and powers, such as he himself possessed and had exercised. They could cure all manner of diseases by a touch of the hand; they could exorcise evil spirits, make the lame to walk, restore sight and speech and hearing to those who, by any cause, were deprived of those valuable faculties. They could release the poor imbecile and pitiable lunatic, and re-install reason upon her throne. They could warm into flowing liquid the frozen life current, call the departed spirit back, and rescue the body from the dark chambers of death. They could burst prison doors, and, by their word, cause to quake the foundations of adamantine dungeons. They could command the thunder and the storm, or still to calmness their tempestuous fury, and smite with palsy or death their malignant opposers. They possessed and employed these miraculous powers in the name of their Prince, and used them as far and as long as his wisdom permitted. They were also clothed with plenary authority to admit aliens and returning prodigals to citizenship; to collect and disburse rents and revenues, and the Prince promised to honor all their transactions of this nature with his sanction. But they were to be the stewards and friends and protectors of his subjects, not masters. He hired them, not the people, and to him alone they must look for their reward for

service. "Shepherds, feed my sheep,' said the Prince, whereas, "Sheep feed us," was the imperious demand of the robbers and tyrants.

At length the Prince took his departure, and his servants began to labor diligently in his cause. The Prince had set a valiant man, named Peter, at their head. Under his direction they dispersed themselves over the estate, and entered heartily and zealously upon the good work of reformation. They showed the people the true character and just claims of the Prince, and how much they owed to him their fealty and obedience. They reminded the people of his numerous acts of benevolence and good will towards them, and proved that they themselves were the Prince's true servants, by their possessing similar pow

ers.

Now, it frequently happens that a benefactor is valued more after he is lost than while he is present, and this was the case with regard to the absent Prince. The earnest speeches of the legates aroused the attention of the people and called out their regretful emotions. Thousands upon thousands joined with the Prince's servants, were enrolled as citizens, and entered into solemn covenant to serve their rightful sovereign. In a few years the cause of the Prince had spread with amazing rapidity, and achieved prodigious marvels of success and victory and volume. With untiring assiduity the dauntless ambassadors pushed the good work along. They spread the fame and proclaimed the gracious will of the Prince through widespreading countries, and large colonies were founded, and powerful associations of brotherhood and loyalty were established in many parts of the Prince's domain, and it appeared hopeful that the righteous government had secured a permanent foothold among his subjects.

The rescued people were happy and prosperous in their new affiliations. They were a family brotherhood, having aims and interests in common. There were neither cankering poverty nor super-abounding affluence among them—all were satisfied and content. Nevertheless, all were rich together, and their commonwealths

were

centers of wealthy abundance. Many rich and oppulent families had joined the Prince's government, and had poured their riches-houses, lands and possessions-into its treasury. Under directions from the Prince the accumulated wealth of the new government was used solely in the support and advancement of his cause. The poor and needy were first supplied. The expenses of carrying on the government were few and not burdensome, and rich and stately edifices were erected to the honor of the absent Prince and the majestic King. Many curious and beautiful palaces were built, in which the loyal potentates were wont to assemble in counsel to transact the weighty affairs of the imperial state; but all the wealth and splendor, all the lands and possessions were considered as belonging to the Prince, and dispensed only as he dictated. Such an institution, abounding with valuable benefits, was sure to become popular and attractive to a poor and oppressed people, for all its influence was on the side of liberty, prosperity and happiness. All its officers were honest, upright and brave men; their very presence was a boon-a perpetual joy and benediction-to the favored locality where they sojourned. The sick were healed, the hungry were fed, the naked were clothed, the stranger was treated with hospitality, the widow and the orphan were cared for, and the sorrowful visited and cheered.

Such was the character-these were the fruits of the Prince's benign and gracious rule. Who but demons could strike them down, or wish them blasted? Alas! the frailty of human nature is strange and inexplicably perverse.

As the crouching, hungry wolf watches from his lurking covert the lambs gamboling on the green, quiet pasture, so glared with greedy and jealous eyes, the malicious robbers and tyrants upon the young and sturdy state. Here was prey for rapacious greed; here was plunder for ravening covetousness. At first they leered and chafed, yet hesitated to attack. They met in secret conclave, and brooded over the growing strength of the infant giant. They muttered male

dictions at the thought of possible danger and menace threatening them. They gloated and grimly smiled as malevolent thoughts planned dark plots for pelf in their avaricious souls. But the wolf must find excuse for seizing and devouring the helpless lamb, lest his fair reputation for gentleness be soiled, and he be thought cruel. They were sage and artful in all old schemes and strategy of plunder called government. They had hitherto demolished every buttress which struggling innocence and freedom had reared against villainy and encroaching tyranny; but here was something new and strange. They were baffled and confounded at the unique features-perplexed and amazed with its robust frame and vigorous vitality. They viewed with envy the spell-like power of the Prince's legates; the ease with which they drew the multitude towards them; how freely the rich poured out their wealth and treasures at their feet. If they only could wield such an influence as this! They grew wild as they gloated over the thought of such advantages-such opportunities. Again they turned to fresh and vigorous plotting.

But the excuses. Were they not honorable men? Their reputation must be considered first. They must be dainty upon this important and delicate point. If a youth murdered his father and mother, could he not claim pity because he is an orphan? Would it not be unkind to ask the robber of the poor to relinquish the booty? It might put him into inconvenience. How cruel to take the kid from the jaguar just because he was about to pick his bones. Is not this Prince an impostor? Are not these legates plotting against us? Are not we the rulers of the estate? Do we not hold the lands, and the cattle and the palaces? Are they not encroaching upon our rights, and using our treasures? Are they not thieves and traitors? Do not every one of them deserve death? Are we not the most honorable and merciful and forbearing men alive? We can bear it no longer.

Since Cain, to grasp his brother's flocks and herds, scrupled not to be a fratracide,

plunder has ever been the luring bait for power, greed and ambition. And, allured by their insensate lust for power and plunder, these greedy tyrants commenced a crusade of mischief and misery, of cruelty and crime upon the domain, unparalleled before in the annals of atrocious infamy. Heretofore the quarrels between the tyrants were of a less infamous character; they were blood-thirsty disputes of robbers over the division of spoils; but this was an onslaught of villainous rapacity against innocence, righteous and lawful authority and honest possessions.

Like a menagerie of wild animals let loose upon a defenceless flock of sheep, the hungry horde rushed upon their prey. The marauders acted together, and placated the rival spirits by agreeing to divide the plunder. They seized the head steward and his faithful fellow-laborers, and with scourgings and tortures put them to death. The colonies of the faithful were set upon, and the helpless people scattered and slaughtered with merciless ferocity. The innocent victims struggled and fluttered as ineffectually as the dove in the claws of the kite.

The shepherds smitten and slain, many of the sheep escaped for a time by scattering upon the mountains. Some crept into caves and hid in catacombs, where they endured the horrors of fear, of hunger and thirst, of cold and pestilence. But even this dreadful exile did not save them-they were hunted with horses, and ferreted out with bloodhounds. Many were racked and pulled asunder, others thrown to the wild beasts to be torn to pieces for the diversion of theatre spectators; while others were daubed over with tar and oils and set on fire, to give illumination to the ghastly entertainment.

The legates and faithful followers of the Prince, thus dispossessed, driven off and destroyed, the homes and lands, the treasures and possessions of the scattered flocks were confiscated, divided and devoured by the usurping tyrants and despoilers. They took possession of the palaces and government storehouses of the Prince, and began imme

diately to assume authority and act as rulers of the imperial estate. They had the presumptuous effrontery to call themselves the officers of the Prince, and had the cool impudence to affect his authority. They chose one, the most bold, crafty and venomous of their horde, to be their head and chief usurper, and with blasphemous audacity called him the "successor" of the Prince's headsteward, Peter, whom they had deposed and murdered. So with all the other servants and cabinet ministers of the government. After having cruelly butchered them, they set themselves up in their places and assumed to act in their stead. They carried their consummate. gall even further, and augmented offices and intensified their names and titles. They called the head robber, “His Holiness." The others were plumed as "His Highness," "His Grace," "The Right Reverand," "The Arch Shepherd," etc. They proclaimed themselves throughout the plundered domain as the lawful officers of the true Prince, and pretended to send petitions to him, and so blinded the Prince's subjects that they believed that he acknowledged them in all their impious villainy.

And now, once more, the cruel and merciless tyrants and robbers had full possession of the Prince's estate, and there rested down, like a sable pall, a black night of ignorance and terror, oppression and gloom, upon the whole domain. Nothing but cries of misery and woe went up into the ears of the Prince, but he was silent. The lamentations of the widows and orphans sounded in the streets, and the groans of slaves and prisoners, and the sobbings of the comfortless poor, wailed hideously upon the night air, while the bloated harpies, secure in guarded vaults and cloistered palaces, feasted and brawled, rioted and grew brutishly fat upon the plunder and spoils.

But the evils and plagues which always attend wrongful plotters, fell upon them. They quarreled and fought over the ill-gotten booty. First one, and then another burly ruffian would arise and grasp a part of the plunder and es

tablish himself as a head and leader, each claiming to be the especial favorite of the Prince, until the entire domain was covered with these upstart, greedy chiefs, and every one has his set of Holi nesses, Arches, Graces, Right Revs., and Revs., and all are engaged in plundering and absorbing the bounties of the Prince's estate, while all are his avowed enemies and presumptuous rebels.

Looking over the estate, one of the Prince's servants described the vision thus:

"She is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

This is a true but imperfect story of the origin and growth of the monstrous apparition as it is reflected in the historical firmament. John H. Kelson.

THE VALUE OF THE PURITAN SABBATH.-Sunday has had more value in this country than merely as a day of rest. It has been a power in forming American character. It has caused a pause to men in whatever pursuit. It has kept before men always the knowledge of a great authority regulating their affairs. Those who were brought up under the strict law of what is called the Puritan Sunday, sometimes look back from early manhood with intense dislike to its iron restraints imposed upon the jubilant spirits of the youth. But as they grow older and more thoughtful they recog nize at least the priceless discipline of the day, its effect on the formation of mind, its lessons which hurt so much in entering that they are never to be forgotten. No wandering life prevails to lead them away from the effects of those days; nor are there among the sons of men in this world of labor and pain any who look back with such intense yearning for the home rest as those men, who out from the anxieties and agonies and sins of mature life, howsoever guilded its surroundings, send longings of heart to the old fireside, where the Bible was the only Sunday book and the Pilgrim's Progress was almost the only week-day fiction. Scorn it, as may those who