that indefinable, inestimable something which makes all the difference between a mere portrait and a work of art.

The "Dream; Reverie; Reflection," is also in progress. At my earnest solicitation, the artist has substituted Alice's face therein for mine; as furnishing a stronger contrast to Ruth's, and more perfectly embodying the idea—reverie being Alice's normal expression. Both she and Ruth give him a sitting, when desired; yet I cannot report satisfactory progress in the little romance heretofore hinted at. His artist-eye lights up at sight of Ruth's face; yet his enjoyment of Alice's silent, intuitive sympathy with all his thoughts and moods is scarcely less evident. Certainly, he

is beguiled, by its subtile charm, to talk to her more freely than to any one else of whatever he has done in the world, or dreams of doing. Nevertheless, he may forget her even while he talks to her most unreservedly, being moved solely by the natural impulse of thought to flow into the first sympathetic ear that comes in its way.

Yet the themes which chiefly engage his mind and conversation, the history, scope, and mission of Art,—the suc cesses, discouragements, and self-consecration of her workers,—these, and kindred topics, discussed in a lofty, generous spirit, and with a rare flow of language and imagery, are not without a noticeable effect in quickening and enlarging the minds both of Alice and Ruth. With every visit to the studio, their faces are informed with a deeper thought; the girlishness is fast departing thence, and some new charm of womanhood blossoms there daily.

As for Essie Volger, though Shiloh would seem to lose half its sunshine without her, and parish-work would greatly miss her helping hand, yet any detailed record of her fresh, active, joyous life, free and bright as a meadowbrook, and as innocent of care and turmoil, would but serve to illustrate the French proverb, "Heureux le peuple dont l'histoire ennuie."

XXXVIII.

IN ST. JUDE's.

N St. Jude's the summer has wrought some greatly needed improvements. The fund for repairs prospered to such a degree, under Mrs. Prescott's fostering care, that a self-constituted committee, composed of that active lady, Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Danforth, Essie Volger, and your indefatigable reporter,-aided and abetted

by the artist, whose surplus fancy and energy like to bubble over in gratuitous church architecture and decoration, ventured to turn a half-dozen carpenters and painters into the sacred edifice, and to set them at work there. It was irregular, we knew;-but then, Church work had to be done irregularly in Shiloh! To call a parish meeting, and pass a vote, was to quash every forward proceeding. Fortunately the opposition would be as irregular as the advance. It would never organize, and therefore would be ineffective, save in producing uncomfortableness.

The aspiring gallery, which actually seemed to climb higher every time I mounted it, was first brought low. Not alone to the confusion and wrath of the wasps that had tenanted it undisturbed all the week, and waged fierce war upon intruders on Sundays; nor of the urchins that had whispered and tittered and contorted in its recondite nooks during service, wholly out of eye-shot either of minister or congregation; but to the dire dismay of all the representa

tive stagnancy and ossification of the parish. Major Burcham came to inspect the work, one day; and I heard him saying to Mr. Taylor, in his most pompous and overbearing tones,

"You little sus--imagine what you are doing, sir! The gallery is the main support of the church, sir, the main support of the church. It keeps the walls in place, and when it is taken away they will tum-collapse, sir, and leave nothing but a heap of ruins-a heap of ruins! I wash my hands of the whole business, sir, of the whole business!"

Which supererogatory ablution the Major immediately performed, by rubbing his large hands together, sprinkling the air with imaginary water, and turning his broad, imposing back, typical of universal disapprobation, upon us and our proceedings. Whereat Mr. Taylor looked a little scared; but the feminine wing remained undaunted; and the artist, emerging from the shadowy corner where he had listened to Major Burcham's comments with what struck me as a very odd and inexplicable expression of countenance, laughed and poohed and insisted; so the work went on. The huge heap of gallery timber was quickly transformed into a small organ loft, at a moderate elevation, with not an inch of lounging or play-room in it; also a vestry at the rear of the chancel, to supersede a narrow cuddy in the vestibule, wherein Mr. Taylor had hitherto groaned himself into his surplice, and then walked, in state, up the aisle to the desk. Finally, two of the obnoxious windows were suppressed, the others were darkened with blinds, the chancel was refurnished, the artist gave an effective touch here and there, and St. Jude's was success fully remodelled. Its walls, in spite of the loss of their "main support," preserved their equilibrium, and the ob jectors recovered theirs.

However, by the inevitable fatality attending all such work, the repairs outran the fund. Hereupon, Mrs. Danforth's fair came magnanimously to the rescue. It was

held in Mrs. Divine's house,—not that it was more roomy, central, or adaptable, than many of its neighbors, but because its mistress's heart was larger, warmer, and less easily irritated by domestic turmoil and upset, than any similar organ within a radius of many miles. It was good to see how cordially she entered into it, how readily she sacrificed domestic routine and comfort to it, how she aided, satirized, and enjoyed it.

Being an exotic, it required all Mrs. Danforth's tact, fluency, and skill, to save it from languishing in Shiloh's ungenial air. To use her own felicitous phrase, she "galvanized the thing through," forcing a kind of spasmodic life from the very joints and muscles of death. The refreshment tables were tolerably well patronized, an appetite being the one thing to be counted upon with certainty in all gatherings. But the native population "fought shy" of the fancy-work table-stocked with all sorts of frail and fanciful money-traps (under other names!), knitted or crocheted by Mrs. Danforth, or donated by her idly-busy city friends. Great, brown farmers touched them with the tips of their horny fingers as if they suspected them to be dangerous combinations of the brittleness of glass with the flimsiness of cobweb, asked what they were for, bestowed upon them a certain amount of half-bewildered, half-contemptuous admiration, and went their way without opening their purses.

But for the timely presence of a waif from the city, who bought whatever he was requested to buy without looking at it; and a small army of Essie Volger's admirers, anxious to impress her with their generosity; these elegant nothings would have been left upon our hands. The quilts, however, sold readily enough, by "chances," as the softening phrase goes. Taken as a whole, the fair was a success,but a success resembling certain victories in the battle-field, which not even the conquering general himself would care to repeat.

The summer has done much for the Sunday School; it is now in a most flourishing condition. Though it has a duly appointed superintendent, Mr. Taylor never fails to give it the strength and inspiration of his presence; and makes it a point to shake the hand of every teacher and scholar, at each session, with, at least, a cordial "How do you do?" When the lessons in class are over, he devotes a quarter of an hour to catechising the scholars, in person; a time to which they look forward with real pleasure. For he has the rare faculty of talking to children in a manner that is at once simple, entertaining, and instructive; neither wrecking himself upon the Scylla of silliness nor the Charybdis of obscurity.

As for my own class, in which you take so kind an interest, it has bettered my anticipations. Being a work in an untried field, and undertaken very much on my own responsibility, my pride-as well as better feelings-was deeply concerned in its success; and I spared no pains in its behoof. I prepared myself for the recitations with the utmost care; looking out or inventing stories, and hunting up pictures and curiosities-whatever could be made to serve the purposes of illustration. An old herbarium, containing dried specimens of fig-leaves, palms, pomegranate, and other plants mentioned in the Bible, helped me out; so did the artist's collection of antiquities and portfolios of sketches. I took care never to be without something of the sort, to awaken and interest the childrens' minds, and give shape and point to their very vague ideas of Bible accessories (to borrow a term from the language of Art). Also, I made it a rule to visit, at the earliest moment pos sible, every child that was not in its place, on Sunday; and the mother's certainty that every such absence would be followed by my appearance beside her wash-tubs, on Monday morning, may have had its share in bringing about a gratifying regularity of attendance. The class now numbers thirteen; it has greatly improved in appearance and