Jean did not answer, but he gently shutters the night before, was burning drew forth a brown curl straying from be- still on the table, near a cup of milk and neath her white coif, and looked down in a piece of bread, and, sitting by the black, her face with a smile. And they both bare hearth was Annette, pale and rigid, laughed aloud to think Annette should with closed eyes, but smiling still. have dreamed that her dark hair was white.

Annette only said to Jean: "That is Maître Blondel calling me - let him wait a while;" and she dreamed on. Early the next morning Alexis was at Annette's door again, but it was fast and closed. He knocked, and got no answer. Was she doing it on purpose? Alexis remembered that the outhouse in which Rose used to work had a little door which was often on the latch; so he went round to it, and finding it unlocked, as he had half expected, he entered the outhouse, where he had sometimes stolen in to talk to Rose, crossed the yard, and went straight to the kitchen.

"Annette! Annette!" he cried; but as he read the meaning of her silent face, he stood awe-struck for a moment; then he bowed his head in his hands, and burst into a loud passion of remorse and grief. Yes, Annette was cold and dead. After Love, had come Hate, the fierce avenger; and when he was conquered, Death, the great peacemaker, closed her wearied eyes, and sent the much-suffering woman sleep.

to

The village doctor found a long and learned name for the cause of Annette's Then death. It mattered little, after all. What good she could do she had done, and she was not called upon to pay the cost of the generous sacrifice which saved a home in Manneville from despair, and filled with joy two true and loving hearts.

"Annette!" he began, "I bring your money." He paused. The little lamp, of which he had seen the light through the

And this is the end of Annette's lovestory. It began on a lovely May morning, in a green cavée, where a happy girl sat waiting for her lover, and it ended forty odd years later with a dream which left its smile on an old woman's lips.

-

that there is a larger quantity of phosphoric acid in it than in the soils of the carboniferous and millstone grit systems; also a much larger quantity of oxide of iron than in either of them. He has calculated that each inhabitant on the Cheshire sandstone, if he consumes a pound of wheat daily, takes in nearly five grains per day of the sesqui-oxide of iron more than the inhab

"ON GEOLOGICAL SYSTEMS AND ENDEMIC DISEASES," BY DR. MOFFAT. The writer showed that the soil has an influence on the composition of the cereal plants grown upon it, and on the diseases to which the inhabitants are subject. The district in which he practises consists geologically of the carboniferous and new red sandstone or Cheshire sandstone systems. The inhabitants of the first are engaged in min-itant of the carboniferous system, and who ing and agricultural occupations, those of the latter in agriculture. Anemia, with goitre, is a very prevalent disease amongst those living on the carboniferous system; whilst it is almost unknown among those living on the new red sandstone system; and consumption is also more prevalent amongst the inhabitants of the former. As anæmia is a condition in which there is a deficiency of the oxide of iron which the blood naturally contains, Dr. Moffat was led to make an examination of the relative consumption of the wheat grown on the soil of Cheshire sandstone, carboniferous limestone, millstone grit, and a transition soil between Cheshire sandstone and the grit. The result of the analysis shows that the wheat grown on the soil of Cheshire sandstone contains the largest quantity of ash, and

seems, therefore, to be subject to this great liability to anæmia in consequence of the deficiency of iron and phosphoric acid in the food he consumes. It is not only in the wheat grown upon the carboniferous system that there is a deficiency in the quantity of the oxide of iron, and the phosphates, says Dr. Moffat, but also in the blood of the animals reared upon it; so that the inhabitants upon that system take in a minimum quantity of these constituents of the blood, compared with that taken in by the inhabitants of the Cheshire sandstone. He stated that sheep were liable to anæmia- a fact which he attributed to sheep-walks being upon trap and limestone hills, in the soil of which there is but little, if any, iron.

Athenæum,

From The Dublin University Magazine.
THE HIGHWAY OF CLOUD.

A FEW evenings ago, we spent an hour enjoying some music on the fine organ of a certain church. As we stepped out of the sacred building, lo! in the west a marvellous conflagration of scarlet clouds dashed across a pure reach of pale sky; delicate lines of cloud of wondrous effulgence, bathed in a most tender hue of inconceivable colour, at once bright, soft, etherial, remote, melancholy, pure. So suggestive, so elevating, so accusing, by their extreme beauty and purity, we hesitate not to use the word melancholy; leading the mind away to regions of ineffable tranquillity and light unsullied, that on its return to this dark earth mourns the ills and sorrows of men. Long we gazed at the awakened heavens, flushed with new lustre as the day declined-brightest ere it sped away, and turned again and again to gather the beauty of those high clouds, where sunlight lingered long after earth lay dark below. Paler and paler grew the sky; more westerly passed the colouring, as the light left one and another cloud, which gradually took the grey shades of night. A grave gladness, we had almost said a sorrowful rejoicing, took possession of us as we thought of so much loveliness evolved from such scanty materials, and of the reserves of beauty and grandeur which such a scene suggests.

Perhaps the main characteristic of the sky is its diversity, open to the enjoyment and admiration of all, even of those pent in city dens, where, between close walls, and from noisome alleys, may some gleams be caught of hasting cloud or the far expanse of blue. Community of interest pertains to the sky. Choice spots of earth, and open freedom of the sea, may be given to the few for admiration; but the sky knows no restriction, and reveals scenes of grandeur and loveliness to all who are watchful for its display. The poorest peasant from the plough may gaze on matchless combinations of form and colour, which even a Turner may not fully express. Much room for study is there in aerial effect, not only in an æsthetical point of view, but the practical one of weather forecasts. Again, no two skies, short of perfect blue and complete cloud are ever precisely alike; but day after day change follows change in the form, colour ing, height, and massing of clouds. This feature of the sky is peculiarly interesting, since we may be assured, as we linger to look on the glowing west, that no other

LIVING AGE.

VOL. XX. 906

sunset with clouds was ever precisely like that, which so becomes peculiarly ours.

We are writing in autumn, at which season, perhaps, more fine sunsets and sunrises are produced than at any other season of the year, especially in late autumn, when storms begin to sweep the sky clear of vapour between cloud and cloud, and so bring about that readiness to receive the half colours of the sun. Sunset among the higher clouds at such a time is often wonderful in brilliancy and duration of colour, as well as clear backgrounds of free sky; both sky and colour full of appealing, imaging some super-earthly rest. Many a time have we gone out to take better the lustre of such a sunset, when the far high clouds have been bathed with a surpassing tone of crimson, or rather a colour for which language has no name. Sometimes we can foretel the coming splendours of evening from the clear sky below, which at far altitudes bears thin and delicate and welldefined lines of white cloud, crossing and interlacing, but stationary to us for hours. As the sun goes lower, first an amber warmth comes upon them, slowly deepening to orange, which gradually and almost imperceptibly turns to scarlet; then comes that tone of crimson, above all others pure and soft and pensive, as the lustre floods the West, and completes the magical chord of beauty of unexpressible, clean, shadowless colour. Such a colour we once saw reflected on the craggy summits of part of the mighty Berwyn, like beacon-fires lit for joy. The heights of that mountainrange were fairly aflame with dying daylight.

How strange it is that so many people take little or no regard to the beauties and wonders of creation around them! We have more than once been struck by the apathy of those about us, when the flushed heavens called for admiration: no rapt gaze - perhaps no regard at allwhen burning filaments of cloud lay dashed across the west by a masterly hand. Again, how commonly do we find ordinary people we pass in the way pay no heed when cloud beauty calls for observation. All that wealth, all that display, is lost to them; they apparently care not for it; so that it is not a rare thing to find a look of surprise, or some token of disdain when we point out the beauty of cloud. Only a few days ago we passed along a suburb of a midland town, where the ascending road gave a good view towards the west, which at that time glowed in rare tints of sunset that permeated many delicate long cloudlets of unspeakable tranquillity and

Jean did not answer, but he gently drew forth a brown curl straying from beneath her white coif, and looked down in her face with a smile. And they both laughed aloud to think Annette should have dreamed that her dark hair was white.

This was Annette's dream -a dream so happy and so deep that a loud knocking at her door did not break it. In vain Alexis called out, "Annette! do you hear me? Open to me, Annette!"

Annette only said to Jean: "That is Maître Blondel calling me - let him wait | a while;" and she dreamed on.

shutters the night before, was burning still on the table, near a cup of milk and a piece of bread, and, sitting by the black, bare hearth was Annette, pale and rigid, with closed eyes, but smiling still.

Annette ! Annette!" he cried; but as he read the meaning of her silent face, he stood awe-struck for a moment; then he bowed his head in his hands, and burst into a loud passion of remorse and grief. Yes, Annette was cold and dead. After Love, had come Hate, the fierce avenger; and when he was conquered, Death, the great peacemaker, closed her wearied eyes, and sent the much-suffering woman to sleep.

The village doctor found a long and learned name for the cause of Annette's Then death. It mattered little, after all. What good she could do she had done, and she was not called upon to pay the cost of the generous sacrifice which saved a home in Manneville from despair, and filled with joy two true and loving hearts.

Early the next morning Alexis was at Annette's door again, but it was fast and closed. He knocked, and got no answer. Was she doing it on purpose? Alexis remembered that the outhouse in which Rose used to work had a little door which was often on the latch; so he went round to it, and finding it unlocked, as he had half expected, he entered the outhouse, where he had sometimes stolen in to talk to Rose, crossed the yard, and went straight to the kitchen.

"Annette!" he began, "I bring your money." He paused. The little lamp, of which he had seen the light through the

And this is the end of Annette's lovestory. It began on a lovely May morning, in a green cavée, where a happy girl sat waiting for her lover, and it ended forty odd years later with a dream which left its smile on an old woman's lips.

"ON GEOLOGICAL SYSTEMS AND ENDEMIC that there is a larger quantity of phosphoric acid DISEASES," BY DR. MOFFAT. The writer in it than in the soils of the carboniferous and showed that the soil has an influence on the millstone grit systems; also a much larger composition of the cereal plants grown upon it, quantity of oxide of iron than in either of them. and on the diseases to which the inhabitants are He has calculated that each inhabitant on the subject. The district in which he practises con- Cheshire sandstone, if he consumes a pound of sists geologically of the carboniferous and new wheat daily, takes in nearly five grains per day red sandstone or Cheshire sandstone systems. of the sesqui-oxide of iron more than the inbabThe inhabitants of the first are engaged in min- itant of the carboniferous system, and who ing and agricultural occupations, those of the seems, therefore, to be subject to this great lialatter in agriculture. Anaemia, with goitre, is bility to anemia in consequence of the deficiency a very prevalent disease amongst those living on of iron and phosphoric acid in the food he conthe carboniferous system; whilst it is almost un-sumes. It is not only in the wheat grown upon known among those living on the new red sand- the carboniferous system that there is a defistone system; and consumption is also more prev- ciency in the quantity of the oxide of iron, and alent amongst the inhabitants of the former. As the phosphates, says Dr. Moffat, but also in the anæmia is a condition in which there is a de- blood of the animals reared upon it; so that the ficiency of the oxide of iron which the blood nat- inhabitants upon that system take in a minimum urally contains, Dr. Moffat was led to make an quantity of these constituents of the blood, comexamination of the relative consumption of the pared with that taken in by the inhabitants of wheat grown on the soil of Cheshire sandstone, the Cheshire sandstone. He stated that sheep carboniferous limestone, millstone grit, and a were liable to anæmia a fact which he attribtransition soil between Cheshire sandstone and uted to sheep-walks being upon trap and limethe grit. The result of the analysis shows that stone hills, in the soil of which there is but litthe wheat grown on the soil of Cheshire sand- tle, if any, iron. Athenæum. stone contains the largest quantity of ash, and

where water can only exist as snow or minutely frozen vapour. These remain white when the sun has set to us, but still for some time shines fully there: then comes the charming change, while the tints linger, tost by reflection from cloud to cloud, as though unwilling to be gone. Now and then such clouds may be seen to brighten into fresh tints after we deemed their treasure gone, the reflection caught just for a moment from some lower and more westerly clouds, just then taking the full splendour of evening.

charm, thrown upon a clean sky ranging the highest clouds, especially at altitudes in tint from blue to green and primrose. Several clouds were contorted and turned up at the edges in a strange wild way, as though just transfixed after a boiling tempest. A knot of young workmen stood where a good view might be had of such splendour; they were grouped in common conversation, heeding only each other's "chaffing" talk, without one look across to the west, as it seemed to us,- certainly without any worthy regard. Their loss the greater. Several times, from a railway carriage, we have caught glimpses of a good sunset; but found generally the occupants of the compartment indifferent thereto. Thus common gifts of great worth are often disregarded. Those young men standing vacantly "in their shirtsleeves," coatless and loud of speech, would probably see more to admire in the gross portraiture of the "Marquis of Granby," that great warrior so often found gracing a wayside tavern, in amazing sleeves and buttons, and, with a far-seeing eye, sub-into reverence we gaze entranced, when limely looking into the far distance! Their loss, we repeat, the greater.

Sometimes it shall happen, probably only once or twice in a lifetime, that at sunset the sky from horizon to zenith, is flecked with minute cloudlets, thick as falling flakes of snow. Provided the light catches these at the right angle, we have a scenic display compared with which all earthly pageantry is poor indeed. It becomes as though the heavens were strewn with the blazing wings of seraphim. Awed

thus sun and cloud combine to show us a little of what may be done in the way of It came to pass this last spring, that we colour. So lifts our hearts that beatific stood one evening at sundown, on the sum- vision into contemplation and awe, that we mit of craggy Moel Wyn. Here and there, long to pass the portals of that bright city, on this side, on that, the pride of evening of which it is told us "there is no night rested on the brown backs of sundry there." We have beheld such a sunset mountains near, burnishing their rugged tops with surprising rosy light. But away, over the sea, hung poised a few drops of gold that fairly dazzled sight, becoming changed to warmer and softer colour as the sun set behind the sea. The clouds were few, but what a melting lustre theirs! No brightness on earth can surpass the pure tints of such clouds, that verily seem the gates to some heavenly city. A brief while was that crimson sheen upon them, then gradually the light left them one by one until we scarce could see them, so inconspicuous but as receptacles of that marvellous light. Such a change to cold ashy grey, mostly brings the observer a touch of mild regret for so much beauty gone. We have before now longed to follow the sun at the same distance round the world, and see one continued sunset with all its marvels and mysteries of beauty.

Occasionally it happens that a sunset reveals to us the unequal distance of clouds, that in broad daylight seem alike removed from us, by leaving a rich legacy of light on some, while others are standing in the cold. The clouds nearest to us are soonest abandoned to grey while remote shreds of snowy vapour continue invested resplendently. Colour lingers longest on

overspread the face of the sky, like bright grains of wheat flung from the sower's hand. Then is the rich reflection glowing on the favoured earth, its fields, and trees, and human dwellings. Then is its lustre caught from the eye of a friend, westward turned in fellowship of admiration. Then the unwonted ruby light is on the page we have left to front the sky. Then we measure not its parts of beauty, but stand mute, struck into silent wonder and delight, while such passages of unearthly melody are being rendered out of the air. When such hues of tenderness have left the sky, we feel we have been privileged to gaze upon one of the choicest pictures of the Great Master.

Such occasions very rarely come: perhaps but once during our lifetime. Hear Ruskin upon them: his words very greatly surpass anything we could say upon such sunsets. "Nature has a thousand ways of rising above herself, but the noblest manifestations of her capability of colour are in these sunsets among the high clouds. I speak especially of the moment when the sun's light turns pure rose-colour, and when this light falls upon a zenith covered with countless cloud-forms of inconceivable delicacy, threads and flakes of