I cannot better illustrate my meaning than by relating to you two incidents that have come under my own personal observation. You all know that in our old Eastern cities, which have so long been the homes of wealth and learning, is to be found a society almost unequalled for its high standard of intellectual culture and refined manners as well as for beneficent actions. Two young Western women whom I have known, aspired to gain access to and meet with recognition in a certain famous circle of such people in one of these Eastern cities. Both young women were graduates of Western universities, and had had really exceptional advantages for acquiring a thorough collegiate education. One had been surrounded by every possible helpful condition. Fond parents, possessed of abundance of this world's goods, and admiring friends, had done everything in their power to secure for her freedom from all other cares while she was pursuing her studies. Being thus helped and petted and praised and encouraged she seemed to feel that all circumstances and everybody's convenience and comfort must give way for her plans and interests. The other young girl was the eldest daughter of a poor widow. She struggled through the university by teaching in vacation; renting a poor little room in the town where the university was situated, and cooking her own food, doing her own washing and ironing, living in the plainest way, wearing cheap clothing, and eating the plainest food, while she was pursuing her studies. Her struggles with poverty and bitter circumstances taught her sympathy and kindness and helpfulness; and though she was plain, very plain, in face and figure, the gentle kindness of her spirit was apparent to all. As time passed on after their graduation, both of these young women gained the goal of their hopes and ambitions: an introduction to this brilliant and cultivated circle of people through certain literary clubs. And furthermore, both secured an invitation to read a paper before the same literary society during the same winter. The first-named young lady was visiting friends, while the second had secured a position as teacher. When the first young lady appeared before the society, her dress of velvet, point lace, and diamonds, was so striking as to be obtrusive. Her paper was fairly good, but contained nothing of any permanent value. Her self-consciousness and evident desire to be conspicuous had the effect of repelling the earnest and thoughtful men and women who composed the society. Her essay and herself were alike quietly dropped; and to this day she cannot understand why. She calls the members of the society proud, haughty, and exclusive, and denounces the city where these people live as pedantic, disagreeable, and unsocial. Before this same club came our quiet, unostentatious, plain young friend of the toilsome life. Her dress was as plain as her face, but her paper was rich in information and filled with the results of a deep and earnest observation. Around her gathered the good men and women who knew how to appreciate such a spirit, and from thenceforward she was one of them. Every winter since the reading of her first essay I have found her name among the list of those who are leaders in the world of thought and of benevolent action. With pride in the success, of a genuine Western girl, I have often observed her name among the invited guests present at receptions given to distinguished authors and philanthropists both of our own country and of Europe. Why did she succeed against such odds, when the other failed with all her advantages? Simply because she was possessed of the true, deep, thorough genuine culture, both of mind and heart, which alone associates, the best people together. To her, "plain living and high thinking" was a life-long practice, and she was at home and happy with the good and the learned.

Would you be prepared to attain a like reward? Cultivate her spirit; imitate her example.



WE TWO ALONE IN EUROPE.

By MARY L. NINDE. Illustrated from Original Designs.

12MO., 348 PAGES. PRICE $1.50.

The foreign travels which gave rise to this volume were of a novel and perhaps unprecedented kind. Two young American girls started for "the grand tour" with the father of one of them, and, he being compelled to return home from London, they were courageous enough to continue their journeyings alone. They spent two years in travel—going as far north as the North Cape and south to the Nile, and including in their itinerary St. Petersburgh and Moscow. Miss Ninde's narrative is written in a fresh and sprightly but unsensational style, which, with the unusual experiences portrayed, renders the work quite unlike the ordinary books of travel.

"In these days when letters and books about travels in Europe have become generally monotonous, to say the least, it is absolutely refreshing to get hold of a bright, original book like 'We Two Alone in Europe.' ... The book is especially interesting for its fresh, bright observations on manners, customs, and objects of interest as viewed through these young girls' eyes, and the charming spice of adventure running through it."

—Home Journal, Boston.

"It is filled with so many interesting glimpses of sights and scenes in many lands as to render it thoroughly entertaining."

—Congregationalism Boston.

"As the work of a bright American girl, the book is sure to command wide attention. The volume is handsomely bound and copiously illustrated with views drawn, if we mistake not, by the author's own fair hands, so well do they accord with the vivacious spirit of her narrative."

—Times, Troy, New York.

Sold by all booksellers, or mailed, on receipt of price, by JANSEN, MCCLURG, & CO., PUBLISHERS, COR. WABASH AVE. AND MADISON ST., CHICAGO.



BIOGRAPHIES OF MUSICIANS.

LIFE OF LISZT. With Portrait. LIFE OF HAYDN. With Portrait. LIFE OF MOZART. With Portrait. LIFE OF WAGNER. With Portrait. LIFE OF BEETHOVEN. With Portrait.

from the German of Dr. Louis Nohl

In cloth, per volume $1.00 The same, in neat box, per set 5.00 In half calf, per set 12.50

Of the "Life of Liszt," the Herald (Boston) says: "It is written in great simplicity and perfect taste, and is wholly successful in all that it undertakes to portray."

Of the "Life of Haydn," the Gazette (Boston) says: "No fuller history of Haydn's career, the society in which he moved, and of his personal life can be found than is given in this work."

Of the "Life of Mozart," the Standard says: "Mozart supplies a fascinating subject for biographical treatment. He lives in these pages somewhat as the world saw him, from his marvellous boyhood till his untimely death."

Of the "Life of Wagner," the American (Baltimore) says: "It gives in vigorous outlines those events of the life of the tone poet which exercised the greatest influences upon his artistic career."

Of the "Life of Beethoven," the National Journal of Education says: "Beethoven was great and noble as a man, and his artistic creations were in harmony with his great nature. The story of his life is of the deepest interest."

Sold by all booksellers, or mailed, on receipt of price by JANSEN, McCLURG, & CO., PUBLISHERS, COR. WABASH AVE. AND MADISON ST., CHICAGO.



SHORT HISTORY OF FRANCE, FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, By Miss E.S. KIRKLAND, author of "Six Little Cooks," "Dora's Housekeeping," etc.

12MO., EXTRA, CLOTH, BLACK AND GILT, $1.25.

"The narrative is not dry on a single page, and the little history may be commended as the best of its kind that has yet appeared,"

—Bulletin, Philadelphia.

"A book both instructive and entertaining. It is not a dry compendium of dates and facts, but a charmingly written history."

—Christian Union, New York.

"After a careful examination of its contents, we are able to conscientiously give it our heartiest commendation. We know no elementary history of France that can at all be compared with it."

—Living Church.

"A spirited and entertaining sketch of the French people and nation,—one that will seize and hold the attention of all bright boys and girls who have a chance to read it."

—Sunday Afternoon, Springfield (Mass.).

"We find its descriptions universally good, that it is admirably simple and direct in style, without waste of words or timidity of opinion. The book represents a great deal of patient labor and conscientious study."

—Courant, Hartford (Conn.).

"Miss Kirkland has composed her 'Short History of France' in the way in which a history for young people ought to be written; that is, she has aimed to present a consecutive and agreeable story, from which the reader can not only learn the names of kings and the succession of events, but can also receive a vivid and permanent impression as to the characters, modes of life, and the spirit of different people."

—The Nation, New York.

Sold by all booksellers, or mailed, on receipt of price, by JANSEN, McCLURG, & CO. PUBLISHERS, COR. WABASH AVE. AND MADISON ST., CHICAGO.



FAMILIAR TALKS ON ENGLISH LITERATURE. A Manual embracing the Great Epochs of English Literature, from the English conquest of Britain, 449, to the death of Walter Scott, 1832. By ABBY SAGE RICHARDSON. Fourth edition, revised. Price $1.50.

THE BOSTON TRANSCRIPT SAYS:

"The work shows thorough study and excellent judgment, and we can warmly recommend it to schools and private classes for reading as an admirable text-book."

THE NEW YORK EVENING MAIL SAYS:

"What the author proposed to do was to convey to her readers a clear idea of the variety, extent, and richness of English literature.... She has done just what she intended to do, and done it well."

THE NEW YORK NATION SAYS:

"It is refreshing to find a book designed for young readers which seeks to give only what will accomplish the real aim of the study: namely, to excite an interest in English literature, cultivate a taste for what is best in it, and thus lay a foundation on which they can build after reading."

PROF. MOSES COIT TYLER SAYS:

"I have had real satisfaction in looking over the book. There are some opinions with which I do not agree; but the main thing about the book is a good thing; namely its hearty, wholesome love of English literature, and the honest, unpretending, but genial and conversational, manner in which that love is uttered. It is a charming book to read, and it will breed in its readers the appetite to read English literature for themselves."

Sold by all booksellers, or mailed, on receipt of price, by JANSEN, MCCLURG, & CO., PUBLISHERS, COR. WABASH AVE. AND MADISON ST., CHICAGO.

THE END