A great Characteristic of the Bible.

Writing of the poetry and allusions of the Bible, Dr. Cunningham Geikie points out one of the great characteristics of the sacred volume.

"It is not," he says, "the production of cloistered ascetics, but breathes in every page a joyous or meditative intercourse with nature or mankind. The fields, the hills, the highway, the valleys, the varying details of country scenes and occupations are interspersed among pictures of life from the crowded haunts of men.

"The sower and the seed; the birds of the air; the foxes; the hen and its brood; the lilies and the roses; the voice of the turtle; the fragrance of the orchard; the blossom of the almond or the vine; the swift deer; the strong eagle ... the hiring of labourers; the toil of the fisherman; the playing of children; the sound of the mill; the lord and his servants; the courtier in silken robes, and a thousand other notices of life and nature, utilised to teach the highest lessons, give the sacred writings a perennial freshness and universal interest."

Delight in Praising.

Walter S. Landor.

A Greek Opinion on Women.

The Greek philosopher, Aristippus, was once asked by a friend what sort of a woman he ought to choose for a wife.

His answer was, "I cannot recommend any sort, for if she is fair she will deceive you; if plain, you will dislike her. If she is poor she will ruin you; if rich, you will be her slave. If she is clever, she will despise you; if ignorant, she will bore you; and if she is spiteful, she will torment you."

Perhaps this opinion of the Greek sage should be taken with a grain of salt, as the great thinkers of Greece entertained such perverse notions of woman's character that the question was actually raised among them whether women had souls!

Tall Men.

"Exceedingly tall men have ever very empty heads," writes Lord Bacon.

Thomas Fuller writes more warily. "Often the cockloft is empty in those whom Nature hath built many storeys high," a metaphor seemingly borrowed from Bacon's "Nature did never put her precious jewels into a garret four storeys high."

Compare Fuller's moderate "often" with Bacon's sweeping "ever" and "never" which surely smack of some personal ill-will. Can it be that the "wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind" was dealing a side-thrust at Elizabeth's tall favourite, my Lord of Leicester?

The Best Sauce

A prince, overtaken in his walk by a shower, sought refuge in a wayside cottage. The children happened to be sitting at table with a great dish full of oatmeal-porridge placed before them. They were all eating with a right good appetite, and looked, moreover, as fresh and ruddy as roses.

"How is it possible," asked the prince of the mother, "that they can eat such coarse food with such evident pleasure, and look so healthy and blooming withal?"

The mother answered, "It is on account of three kinds of sauces which I put into the food. First, I let the children earn their dinner by work; secondly, I give them nothing to eat out of meal-time that they may bring an appetite with them to table, and thirdly, I bring them up in the habit of contentment, as I keep dainties and sweetmeats out of their way. 'Seek far and wide, no better sauce you'll find than hunger, work and a contented mind.'"

A Plain-looking Poetess.—"Mrs. Browning," says a friend who knew her in Florence, "was the tiniest of women. There was something elfish in her bird-like face and masses of black hair. But she had probably in her childhood bidden good-bye to the hope of beauty and had forgotten all about it. Hence, when her soul looked directly through the pinched features into yours, what did you care how plain they were?"