our common nature. fought with sickness and depression was one in which most of us are at times engaged, and where many sufferers carry on a lifelong struggle. Anywhere his example would have been splendid; it could hardly have been more widely seen, or have better helped his fellow But the field on which he men. There was this about him, that he was the only man I have ever known who possessed charm in a high degree, whose character did not suffer from the possession. The gift comes naturally to women, and they are at their best in its exercise. But a man requires to be of a very sound fibre before he can be entirely himself and keep his heart single, if he carries about with him a talisman to obtain from all men and all women the object of his heart's desire. Both gifts Stevenson possessed, not only the magic but also the strength of character to which it was safely intrusted. But who shall bring back that charm? Who shall unfold its secret? He was all that I have said: he was inexhaustible, he was brilliant, he was romantic, he was fiery, he was tender, he was brave, he was kind. With all this there went something more. He always liked the people he was with, and found the best and brightest that was in them; he entered into all the thoughts and moods of his companions, and led them along pleasant ways, or raised them to a courage and a gaiety like his own. If criticism or reminiscence has. yielded any further elucidation of his spell, I do not know: it defies my analysis, nor have I ever heard it explained. There linger on the lips of men a few names that bring to us, as it were, a breeze blowing off the shores of youth. Most of those who have borne them were taken from the world before early promise could be fulfilled, and so they rank in our regard by virtue of their possibilities alone. Stevenson is among the fewer still who bear the award both of promise and of achievement, and is happier yet in this: besides admiration and hope, he has raised within the hearts of his readers a personal feeling towards himself which is nothing less deep than love. APPENDIX A ADDRESS TO THE SAMOAN STUDENTS AT MALUA, You are the hope of your race. You stand in a position of so much privilege and so much responsibility, that I myself feel it a privilege and a responsibility to address you. What your race is to become in the future, that you carry in your hands: the father and the mother carry and feed the little child; yet a little, and the child learns to walk, and to look for and to plant for itself; yet a little longer still, and he is carrying and teaching, and feeding and teaching new young ones. So it is with the generations in a family. So in a far wider sense with them in a country and a race. You, gentlemen, are now learning to walk: very soon at the swift pace of years the fast runners-you will be called upon to teach in your turn. And while all are called upon first to learn and then to teach, you are so called particularly; you have been chosen and set apart; you are the elect Levites: you are called upon in a few years to be the fathers and guides of your race: according as you do well, so may your country with God's blessing flourish; according as you do ill, so will it certainly decline. FIRST, TO LEARN I was in an island not very far from here where they are trying to teach them French, for the Government is a French Government: show any of the young men some written French, and they would read it out aloud with a good pronunciation, never stumbling; ask any of them what it meant, and they held their peace; they did not understand one word: they read as parrots speak. Now we may not be quite as stupid as the Marquesans, and yet we may be no better at all. We may learn a great deal about religion, yet not learn religion. We may know a thousand texts, and get no sense from them, as a blind man might have a thousand lanterns and yet see no better. The meaning of religion is a rule of life; it is an obligation to do well; if |