An Old, Old Story.

when Air . Mainwaring chimed in by observing— " He ' s a bustling little fellow ; but I do wish he'd be a little more independent . He does not seem to have an opinion of his own , and if you ask him a question , he never knows what to say . "

" Ah , " said the Colonel quickly ; " I'll tell you what , a little " straightening " would do him a deal of good . I can't bear to see our young men rambling about as they do , the idle chaps , positively with round shoulders . He wants ' setting up

drill' for a few clays , and I ' m even inclined to think he would profit by the ' goose step . '" Miss Margerison , who had become a little fidgety during these not altogether complimentary opinions of her model curate

, tried to change the conversation by asking Mr . Mainwaring if he would stop and dine with them . " 1 never , " she said , " turn the Colonel out without receiving him as he says himself , ' to bed and board , ' and as your residence is so close you have lenty

p of time to go and dress and return . " Miss Margerison was always very particular about people dressing for dinner , aud I thmk she was quite right . So much did

the Colonel know and regard his old friend ' s particularities , that whenever he came , as he often did , from his little London lodgings close to his club , to spend a clay in the country , his old soldier servant Johnson , who had been with him

many a long year , and had been in his old oompany from a boy , alwa } r s came with him , with his well-filled carpet-bag . And so that party broke up , the ladies returning slowly to the house , Air . Mainwaring getting into his outrigger which

lay chained to the steps , and the Colonel moving alone , sedate aud serene , erect and animated , humming his favourite melody , 1 ' Why , soldiers , why , " as he lit his cigar and took what he called " a constitutional " on the " quarter-deck" a little terrace

, which overhung the Thames . Now did I not tell yon at the first that my story would be very slow and very prosaic , and am 1 not right ? Oh ye classic and graceful maidens , who are for ever in ecstatic admiration and

awestruck emotion , at the sensational tales of the day , how dull , how dreary , how stale and flat and unprofitable , must this veracious chronicle appear to you 1

An Old, Old Story.

Why I hear Belinda crying out , " There is no excitement , nothing horrible ! I want my feelings harrowed up ; I long for some desperate villainy . I am utterl y tired of this humdrum life , and conventional habits . I like the weird , the

deplorable , the detestable , the very wicked !" Fair Belinda , charming as you reall y are , I do not agree with you . Put away , my clear girl , these monstrosities of modern sensational literature—at once . Cease to be " bizarre . " Do not think it clever to ape

being fast and knowing , or up to the vice and horrors of a debased society ; but remain your own gentler better , truer , self , and be what you really are and can be , the most charming and cultivated , the most refined and amiable , the most tender and beautiful

of beings . If this sensational literature goes ou much longer , we shall have all our girls marrying " tickets of leave , " and the only people who will get on in the world will be those who defy " Mrs . Grundy , " and transgress every law , human and Divine .

Masonic Sermon.

MASONIC SERMON .

Preached by Bro . Eev . CHARLES E TISDALL , D . D ., Chancellor of Christ Church Cathedral and rector of St . Dolough ' s , ou the Feast of the Nativity of St . John : — " ' He must increase , but I must decrease . " —St , John iii . SO . He said the nativity of St . John the

Baptist was commemorated that clay by the Church . From seclusion he came forth when the time had arrived for his showing unto Israel . Having from the very first given no pledges to society he owed it nothing but one thing , and that

was truth—the truth as he manfully gave it , regardless of the consequences as they might affect himself ; rebuking alike the naturally confident , the hypocritically formal , and the openly depraved . As his name signified , he was a gift from Jehovah

bestowed upon a people of whose moral condition of uufruitfuluess and degeneracy it might be said it was imaged by the wildness of tho scene chosen for the exercise of his ministry . Une of God's own heroes , he was a valiant soldier in the noble army of those whose blood had so often proved the