THE HESPEK A AT.
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. AFTER THE MUSICALE.
The silvery moonlight floated o'er
A city wrapped in slumber sweet,
And very soft and rare, the sound
Of the tread of late returning feet.
Through the darkness came a happy pair,
Talking in that walk, enough for a year,
Lingering long and wishing in vain
That the cruel gate were not so near.
But unmixed joy is ne'er to be;
Behind them with loud laugh and cheer,
In haste to o'crtakc the lagging pair,
A crowd of happy youths appear.
But hark! What sounds disturb the air
Before the crowd draw near?
Yet louder then, a cry was heard,
As a Chinaman called with voice so clear:
"What breakce my window for mean Mclican man?
Come makec my window fix, you come right
away."
Then rushed to the culprit who guiltily stood,
Trembling, yet rcady,if it must be, to pay.
Loudly he raved for half an hour,
Threatening arrest, imprisonment and fine,
Till one of the crowd ventured up to the sash.
And found that the pane had been whole all the
time.
The hero was led off amid happy cheers,
But disconsolate Lee Waw remained behind,
Tearing his cue and swearing revenge.
As the triumphant shouts floated back on the
wind.
The silvery moonlight now floats o'er
A city wrapped in slumbers sweet;
Now has ceased the muffled sound
Of the tread of late returning feet. c. E. v.
THE MYSTERIOUS PROFESSOR.
Professor Black was a mystery. Everyone in the school
imagined that there had been a romance in his life, and
many were the conjectures we students made as to what it
might have been. Innumerable were the questions asked me,
for by some queer fancy the professor had singled me whom
the other instructors avoided out from among the mass and
had given me the privileges of his private laboratory, I car
ried a key to this room, much to the envy of the others, and
passed in and out at any time of the day or night. But on
matters concerning himself, I knew no more than the others
and dared not intrude upon his personality, so I remained
in ignorance of even the place from which he came.
I think his fancy for me sprang from the interest I had
evinced in psychology. I had many talks with him on that
subject, sometimes very interesting ones, while again, if
started oil on aline untouched before, he was just as likely
as not to take his hat and depart while I was in the middle of
a sentence. He seemed eager and yet fearful to have me
study the science more deeply, I imagined that he was in
possession of some interesting knowledge which he had stud
ied out tor himself, and was eager to have my suspicion prov
ed but dared not press him.
On Saturday forenoon I started for the professor's labora
tory to press some ferns and carry on some (experiments with
ozone. About a block from his bachelor lodge I met the pro
fessor walking hurriedly. He hesitated a moment and then
stopped. Thtn he turned to go. I caught at his sleeve to
attract his attention. The touch filled me with wonder and
I stood still. He did not turn. I touched his shoulder and
my wonder deepened, but this time he turned and looked at
me scarchingly. My sense rallied. "Has the granulated zinc
been delivered?" He nodded and passed on.
I walked slowly on, in a state ol confusion. Surely, when
I had touched his sleeve and shoulder there had been the
feeling of touching the air. If I had believed in ghosts
but there he stoo.l in the broad sunlight. Perhaps my fingers
were paralyzed. I touched a fence, a tree, my clothes, a
passing dog they all responded. They were surely material
and my fingers were in full possession of their powers. Then.
I laughed. The idea! Did I not know it to be a fact that mo
mcntarily we sometimes lose one sense? I looked back at the
professor's retreating figure und went into the laboratory, but
I stopped instantly and with a feeling of awe, almost terror,
for before me in his great easy chair, sat the professor, mo
tionless, apparently asleep, except that his lifeless looking
eyes were open. I spoke to him and he did not answer. A
moment later the door apparently blew opcn;"thcrc was a rus
tle among the papers as if the wind were blowing; the prof,
started and stood up.
"I did not expect you till afternoon," he said somewhat se
verely. "I thought you had an examination under Prof. Sew
ell-"
For the first time I felt like an intruder in the professor's
house. "I am very sorry to have intruded. I came to bring
you these ferns. Prof. S. is ill and could not meet the class
this morning." The severity left his face and he took the
ferns.
"You arc more thoughtful than any one else," he said al
most tenderly. "You are welcome now and always, boy.
Your unexpected presence startled me from a reverie and -and
I awakened cross. I wished you to come and help me
this afternoon, but you are here now and we will go on to
gether." Later in the afternoon he mentioned the fact that his twin
brother had come to town with bad news and I must overlook
it if he was severe when I entered. It was the first word he
had ever spoken of his own affairs and I was somewhat sur
prised. He went to the store room a little closet and
brought out some chemicals and set me to work. He was
very cheerful and soon made me free and easy, although I
was conscious of a worried feeling all the morning. I went
away at noon and instead of going to my boarding place,wan
dercd around the edge of the city, I knew not where, think
ng, thinking. Was it possible then, after all, that the old
Greeks were right and that there was a material and an im
material existence? His twin brother! Bah! The prof, had
played his cards poorly. I had never seen the brother and
was it possible that he of his own accord would stop me in
the street? If the immaterial could'cscape from the material
how could it carry so perfect an image of the material? When
I had found the professor he was apparently dead so far as
sensibility to touch and sound were concerned. Yes, mind
and matter were connected mysteriously. Could it be that
movement and understanding were due to the immaterial
which when connected with the physical or material, produc
ed life? If the physical were dependent upon the mental for
action, and the mental were long absent 'would it not produce
death of the body?
It was dark when I crept into my own room and fell into a
dreamless slumber. Days went on and I was restless and
buried in thought. My professors began to grumble loudly
about my poor school work. At last, one day, I made up my
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