THE SWORD OF NAPOLEON.

knew not how to proceed to ex-
tricate herself from the toils that
held her in her prison. This man
professed to be anxious to con-
front death. He slackened his
pace a moment and reflected.
"If I am to die were it not as
well," he said to himself, to "die
for this woman in peace, as to die
for a strange land in battle ?"
All of the best part of Muri-
etta's nature was being aroused
again.

Here is a man to be punished —a woman to be avenged! But how? What will be the result? The result! He laughed at himself, and began to despise himself that he could stop to ask the result or weigh the danger when a lady needed his help. He walked on out, mechanically following the long line of peasants on their way to market.

All roads lead to Rome. The carriage drove off in advance; the peasants followed, and then Murietta came on slowly after. He stopped as he came up to the Arch of Titus. There was an old woman on the left, under the shadow of the arch, rattling a little tin cup with a few centimes in it, and calling out, "Blind! blind! blind."

He stopped, after stepping up close to her with some pence in his hand, and stepped back. There was an old man on the other side of the arch who seemed not only to have his eyes, but to be very comfortable as well as something of a merchant, for he had roasted chestnuts and apples for sale.

Murietta turned and gave this man the pennies, and passed on almost cursing the wretched old woman with the tin box. At length he said, "No, no, no! I loved her in a grand, proud way. I did not persecute her. I stood far off, content to know that she lived and was happy. I did not even speak to her. I scattered roses in her path. And what came of it?"

He set his teeth together as he said this, and set his face and his heart against woman as he slowly sought his hotel.

(To be continued.)

due in no small degree to the power of the sword; as, for instance, where would have been now the influence of the classic pens of ancient Rome if the sword of Cæsar and the Roman Legions had not opened the way for it?

There are thus swords which are historical. Who would not like now to look upon that which Alexander wore when he cut the Gordian knot, or Cæsar drew when he crossed the Rubicon? The Punic sword of Hamilcar or Hannibal would be of as much interest now, if we could but grasp it, as the pen of the mightiest writer. In modern times no sword surpasses in historical interest that of Napoleon. From the time it first blazed with genius at Toulon, till its light flickered and went out at Waterloo, it was a brand of living flame.

In the collection of arms at Windsor Castle, there is preserved with scrupulous care this interesting relic of the Emperor. "The hilt and guard of the sword are of ormolu, beautifully chased, the style of ornamentation being in the classic taste which arose after the first Revolution: the head of Medusa, the thunderbolts of Jupiter, figures of Neptune, etc., being amongst the enrichments. The blade is engraved for a short way below the hilt, and gilded, and a small shieldformed part is blue. The scabbard is of black leather, the chape, etc., being of ormolu." A sword of similar character to this was taken at Waterloo, and is now in the possession of the descendants of the Duke of Wellington.

CHINESE ARTIFICIAL PEARLS.

PEARLS are concretions found in several kinds of molluscs. These shell-fish deposit on the interior surface of the shell the pearly substance in the form of a slimy secretion from the exterior of the mantle. If a grain of sand, or any other foreign substance, lodges between the mantle and the shell, it produces an irritation of the delicate tissues, and the mollusc deposits the pearly matter around it for self-protection. Advantage is taken of this in China for the production of pearls of various shapes and dimensions.

This manner of producing pearls is only practised in the Celestial Empire, in the neighborhood of Ning-po, and, until very lately, but very little was known of the manner in which they were formed, the account which was first published, it seems, by Sir Joseph Banks, being looked upon as an imposition upon that distinguished naturalist, and was then permitted to be forgotten.

It appears that the Chinese engaged in this business gather the mussels in the month of May and June. They are brought in bamboo baskets a distance of twenty or thirty

THE SWORD OF NAPOLEON. SIR EDWARD BULWER-LYTTON has said, "The pen is mightier than the sword," but it is the sword that has produced effects that have retained a more lasting impression upon the world. Even the influence of the pen is

CHINESE ARTIFICIAL PEARLS.

These matrices are made of various forms and of different materials. Sometimes, as in the specimen given in our engraving, copper images of Buddha, cast in molds, imitations of fish, flowers, and amulets. Sometimes pellets of clay are strung together on threads and introduced, but the best matrices are said to be made by introducing fragments of mussel-shell which, in time, become round and smooth, and resemble very closely the genuine pearls.

These foreign substances being introduced literally into the flesh of the animal, it is found that the irritation from these foreign substances increases the pearly secretion of the fish, and the matrices are rapidly covered with a layer of nacre or "mother of pearl." When these ornaments are sufficiently coated to answer the purposes of trade, they are cut off from the shell and used as decorations, or in any way that may suit the fancy of the proprietor. The operation seldom fails of success, and affords the means of livelihood to a considerable number of people. Large quantities of the shells with the matrices adhering to them are carried to the port of Ning-po, and are bought by foreigners as curiosities. The shell, which we give in an illustration, has upon its interior surface, as will be seen, quite a number of little copper figures of Buddha; they are well covered with the pearly secretion, and at a distance seem to be wrought out of the mother of pearl, yet possess a polished surface that indicates it could not have been given by any artificial means. The art is a new evidence of the ingenuity and cunning of the Celestials. Should the outside barbarians ever get into the empire, there is no doubt that many inventions that "beat the Yankees" will be found common among those most peculiar people.

THE SCHOOL-TEACHER AT BOTTLE FLAT.

T certainly was hard. What was the freedom of a country in which the voice of the original founders was spent in vain? Had not they, the "Forty" miners of Bottle Flat, really started the place? Hadn't they located claims there? Hadn't they contributed three ounces each, ostensibly to set up in business a brother miner who unfortunately lost an arm, but really that a saloon might be opened, and the genuineness and stability of the camp be assured? Hadn't they promptly killed or scared away every Chinaman who had ever trailed his celestial pig-tail into the flat? Hadn't they cut and beaten a trail to Placerville, so that miners could take a run to that city when the Flat became too quiet? Hadn't they framed the squarest betting code in the whole diggings? And when a 'Frisco man basely attempted to break up the camp by starting a gorgeous saloon a few miles up the creek, hadn't they gone up in a body and cleared him out, giving him only ten minutes in which to leave the creek forever? All this they had done, actuated only by a stern sense of duty, and in the patient anticipation of the reward which traditionally crowns virtuous action. But now-oh, ingratitude of republics!—a school-teacher was to be forced upon Bottle Flat in spite of all the protest which they, the oldest inhabitants, had made!

Such had been their plaint for days, but the sad excitement had not been productive of any fights, for the few married men in the camp prudently absented themselves at night from "The Nugget" saloon, where the matter was fiercely discussed every evening. There was, therefore, such an utter absence of diversity of opinion that the most quar

fruitless.

On the afternoon of the day on which the opening events of this story occurred, the boys, by agreement, stopped work two hours earlier than usual, for the stage usually reached Bottle Flat about two hours before sundown, and the one of that day was to bring the hated teacher. The boys had wellnigh given up the idea of further resistance, yet curiosity has a small place even in manly bosoms, and they could at least look hatred at the detested pedagogue. So about four o'clock they gathered at The Nugget so suddenly, that several fathers, who were calmly drinking inside, had barely time to escape through the back windows.

The boys drank several times before composing themselves into their accustomed seats and leaning-places; but it was afterward asserted, and Southpaw-the one-armed bar-keeper-cited as evidence, that none of them took sugar in their liquor. They subjected their sorrow to homeopathic treatment by drinking only the most raw and rasping fluids that the bar afforded.

The preliminary drinking over, they moodily whittled, chewed, and expectorated; a stranger would have imagined them a batch of miserable criminals awaiting transportation.

The silence was finally broken by a decided-looking redhaired man, who had been neatly beveling the door-post with his knife, and who spoke as if his words only by great difficulty escaped being bitten in two.

"We ken burn down the school-house right before his face and eyes, and then mebbe the State Board 'll git our idees about eddycation."

"Them

""Twon't be no use, Mose," said Judge Barber, whose legal title was honorary, and conferred because he had spent some time in a penitentiary in the East. State Board fellers is wrong, but they've got grit, ur they'd never hev got the school-house done after we rode the contractor out uv the Flat on one of his own boards. Besides, some uv 'em might think we wuz rubbin' uv it in, an' next thing you know'd they'd be buildin' us a jail."

"Can't we buy off these young uns' folks ?" queried an angular fellow from Southern Illinois. “ They're a mizzable pack of shotes, an' I b'leeve they'd all leave the camp fur a few ounces.

"Ye-es," drawled the judge, dubiously; "but thar's the Widder Ginneys-she'd pan out a pretty good schoolroomfull with her eight young uns, an' there ain't ounces enough in the diggin's to make her leave while Tom Ginney's coffin's roostin' under the rocks."

"Then," said Mose, the first speaker, his words escaping with even more difficulty than before, "throw around keards to see who's to marry the widder an' boss her young uns. The feller that gits the fus Jak's to do the job.'

But,"

"Meanin' no insult to this highly respectable crowd," said the judge, in a very bland tone, "and inviting it to walk up to the bar, and specify its consolation, I don't b'leeve there's one uv yer the widder'd hev." The judge's eye glanced along the line at the bar, and he continued softly, but in decided accents-"Not a cussed one. added the judge, passing his pouch to the barkeeper, "if anything's to be done, it must be done lively, fur the stage is pretty nigh here. Tell ye what's ez good ez ennything. We'll crowd around the stage, fust throwin' keards for who's to put out his hoof to be accidentally trod onto by the infernal teacher ez he gits out. Then satisfaction must be took out uv the teacher. It'll be a mean job, for these teachers hevn't the spunk of a coyote, an' ten to one he won't hev no shootin' irons, so the job'll hev to be done with fists.'

“Good !” said Mose. "The crowd drinks with me to a Chuck the pasteboards, square job, and no backin'. jedge The-dickens!" For Mose had got first Jack.

Square job, and no backin'," said the judge, with a grin. There's the stage now-hurry up, fellers !"

The stage drew up with a crash in front of The Nugget, and the passengers, outside and in, but none looking teacherish, hurried into the saloon. The boys scarcely knew whether to swear from disappointment or gratification, when a start from Mose drew their attention again to the stage. On the top step appeared a small shoe, above which was visible a small section of stocking far whiter and smaller than is usual in the mines. In an instant a similar shoe appeared on the lower step, and the boys saw, successively, the edge of a dress, a waterproof cloak, a couple of small gloved hands, a bright muffler, and a pleasant face covered with brown hair, and a bonnet. Then they heard a cheerful voice say :

Good-morning, gentlemen," said Miss Brown, with a cheerful smile; "please be seated. I suppose you wish to speak of your children ?"

Toledo, who was a very young man, blushed, and the whole committee was as uneasy upon its feet as if its boots had been soled with fly-blisters. Finally, Toledo answered : "Not much, marm, seein' we hain't got none. Me an' these gentlemen's a committee from the boys."

"From the boys?" echoed Miss Brown. She had heard so many wonderful things about the Golden State, that now she soberly wondered whether bearded men called themselves boys, and went to school.

"From the miners, washin' along the crick, marm-they want to know what they ken do fur yer," continued Toledo. "I am very grateful," said Miss Brown; "but I suppose

The judge extracted a small valise marked “Huldah Brown,” offered his arm, and he and the teacher walked off before the astonished crowd as naturally as if the appearance of a modest-looking young lady was an ordinary

occurrence at the Flat.

'Well, boys," said he, "yer got to marry two women now to stop that school, an' you'll find this un more particler than the widder. I just tell yer what it is about that school—it's agoin' to go on' spite uv any jackasses that wants it broke up; an' any gentleman that's insulted ken git satisfaction by

"Who wants it broke up, you old fool?" demanded Toledo, a man who had been named after the city from which he had come, and who had been from the first one of the fiercest opponents of the school. "I move the appointment uv a committee of three to wait on the teacher, see if the school wants anything money can buy, take up subscriptions to git it, an' lay out any feller that don't come down with the dust when he's went fur.”

Hurray!" "Bully!" "Good!" "Sound!" "Them's the talk!" and other sympathetic expressions, were heard from the members of the late anti-school party.

The judge, who, by virtue of age, was the master of ceremonies and general moderator of the camp, promptly appointed a committee, consisting of Toledo and two miners, whose attire appeared the most respectable in the place, and instructed them to wait on the schoolmarm, and tender her the cordial support of the miners.

Early the next morning the committee called at the schoolhouse, attached to which were two small rooms in which teachers were expected to keep house.

The committee found the teacher “putting to rights" the schoolroom. Her dress was tucked up, her sleeves rolled, her neck hidden by a bright handkerchief, and her hair "a-blowin' all to glory," as Toledo afterward expressed it. Between the exertion, the bracing air, and the excitement caused by the newness of everything, Miss Brown's pleasant face was almost handsome.

'Mornin', marm," said Toledo, raising a most shocking hat, while the remaining committee-men expeditiously ranged themselves behind him, so that the teacher might by no chance look into their eyes.

"Don't count on them, marm," interrupted Toledo; "they're livin' five miles away, and they're only the preacher, an' doctor, an' a feller that's j'ined the church lately. None uv 'em but the doctor ever shows themselves at the saloon, an' he only comes when there's a diffikilty, an' he's called in to officiate. But the boys—

the boys hez got the dust, marm, an' they've got the will. One uv us 'll be in often to see what can be done fur yer. Good-mornin', marm.

Toledo raised his hat again, the other committee-men bowed profoundly to all the windows and seats, and then the whole retired, leaving Miss Brown in the wondering possession of an entirely new experience.

"Well ?" inquired the crowd, as the committee approched the creek.

Well,” replied Toledo, “she's just a hundred an' thirty pound nugget, an' no mistake-hey, fellers ?" "You bet," promptly responded the remainder of the committee.

Good!" said the judge. Toledo's countenance fell.

"What does she want ?"

"By thunder !" he replied, "we got out 'fore she had a chance to tell us !"

The judge stared sharply upon the young man, and hurriedly turned to hide a merry twitching of his lips.

That afternoon the boys were considerably astonished and scared at seeing the schoolmistress walking quickly toward the creek. The chairman of the new committee was fully equal to the occasion. Mounting a rock, he roared:

"You fellers without no sherts on, git. You with shoes off, put 'm on. Take your pants out uv yer boots. Hats off when the lady comes. Hurry up, now—no foolin'."

The shirtless ones took a lively double-quick toward some friendly bushes, the boys rolled down their sleeves and pantaloons, and one or two took the extra precaution to wash the mud off their boots.

Meanwhile Miss Brown approached, and Toledo stepped forward.

Anything wrong up to the schoolhouse ?" said he.

Oh, no,” replied Miss Brown, "but I have always had a great curiosity to see how gold was obtained. It seems as if it must be very easy to handle those little pans. Don't you don't you suppose some miner would lend me his pan and let me try just once?"

Certainly, marm; ev'ry galoot ov 'em would be glad of the chance. Here, you fellers-who's got the cleanest pan?"

Half a dozen men washed out their pans, and hurried off with them. Toledo selected one, put in dirt and water, and handed it to Miss Brown.

"Thar you are, marm, but I'm afeard you'll wet your dress."

“Oh, that won't harm,” cried Miss Brown, with a laugh

She got the miner's touch to a nicety, and in a moment had a spray of dirty water flying from the edge of the pan, while all the boys stood in a respectful semicircle, and stared delightfully. The pan empty, Toledo refilled it several times; and, finally, picking out some pebbles and hard pieces of earth, pointed to the dirty, shiny deposit in the bottom of the pan, and briefly remarked:

"Thar 'tis, marm."

Hans's." "Jest see how she throwed dirt an' water on them boots," "Them said another, extending an enormous ugly boot. boots ain't fur sale now-them ain't.' "Them be durned !" contemptuously exclaimed another. "She tramped right on my toes as she backed out uv the crowd.

Every one looked jealously at the last speaker, and a grim old fellow suggested that the aforesaid individual had

"That's it,” said Toledo. I'll jest put it up fur yer, so

yer ken kerry it."

camp had, consequently, a right to demand satisfaction of him.

But the judge decided that he of the trampled foot was

"You washed it out, marm, an' that makes a full title in these parts."

All of the traditional honesty of New England came into Miss Brown's face in an instant; and, although she, Yankeelike, estimated the value of the dust, and sighingly thought how much easier it was to win gold in that way than by forcing ideas into stupid little heads, she firmly declined the gold, and bade the crowd a smiling good-day.

"Did yer see them little fingers uv hern a-holdin' out that pan?-did yer see her, fellers?" inquired an excited miner.

"Yes, an' the way she made that dirt git, ez though she was useder to washin' than wallopin'," said another.

'Wallopin'!" echoed a staid miner. "I'd gie my claim, an’ throw in my pile to boot, to

whether fraudulently or otherwise, hadn't the spirit of a man in him.”

clothing contained therein, and increased at least six-fold the price of all the white shirts.

Next day the sun rose on Bottle Flat in his usual conservative and impassive manner. Had he respected the dramatic proprieties, he would have appeared with astonished face and uplifted hands, for seldom had a whole community changed so completely in a single night.

Uncle Hans, the only German in the camp, had spent the preceding afternoon in that patient investigation, for which the Teutonic mind is so justly