Golden Dreams.

forms , or gangrened our dispositions , we are apt to forget what a roseate hue that " golden dream" of ours once cast upon the outer and inner life of our whole physical and moral being . For then , trusting and unsophisticated , we were rather inclined to believe that all that glittered was really gold . We knew nothing of dejection or disappointment , trickery or treachery ; we confidedin otherswe were confided in . ourselves ; hope told us its most

flattering-, , tale , and we literally hugged the clear deceit to our hearts . Alas , to-day , how vast the difference , how dark the shadows , how black the outlook . These " golden dreams " have flitted away never to return . The happiness we once counted upon securely never has been ours . The " loving cup " we raised so joyously to our lips we have put down untasted , for it was full of "fennel . " The friends we so clearly loved have left ns , have passed away from earth

before us , have forgotten us , have cut us . The heart we once claimed so exnltingl y and believingly , after' nil was never ours . Reality to-day is a sad blank , a mournful contrast to the glittering forms anticipation once sketched out for our ardent longings . And on us at last has fallen , what comes to us all , I fancy , sooner or later here , that realization that after all is said and done , gone and spent , acted and parted here , " Nehushtan '" is the most fittingmotto , alike for our aims and plans and expectations , the dreams and delusions of life , the friendships we form , the homes we create , the work we do , and

the lots we fill . On everything , and on us all equally , " decay ' s effacing fingers " have rested , blighting both our hearts and hopes , our memories , oui sympathies , our love , our life ; and yet who would not have had these " golden dreams ? " Some petty stoic , some snarling cynic may say " Thank God , I am not as other men are . I have no touching reminiscences to evoke , no tender confessions to make . In my bureau and despatch box you will find no fair

or dark tresses , no perfumed note , no faded flower , and no soiled glove . Nothing shall be there to amuse some callous executors , or to betray my weakness or my folly . " But such men , happily for the world , are few and farbetween . The best and worst of us all may well remember , wistfully or gently , as the case may be , those " golden dreams " which once were theirs , and which they cherished so hugely and grieved over so intensely . And yet , It is

who knows ? , perhaps , the best thing in the world for us , the very best thing , that they never were realized and that we gained them not . We did not think so then . We perhaps did not believe so then ; nay , we would have laid clown our life to get them ; and yet here we are to-day none the -worse without them , perhaps much better , indeed , for the want of them . So let us be contented and cheerful , genial and resigned ; whatever is , is for the best . Yes it is a queer world , my masters ; but let us ever remember the good sound old proverb , MAN PROPOSES , GOD DISPOSES .

Literary And Antiquarian Gossip.

LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN GOSSIP .

MR . Thomas B . Trowsdule is contributing to The Welcome ( S . W . Partridge & Co . ) a monthly chapter entitled " Lore of the Months , Antiquarian and Historical . " We understand that these articles , which contain a large amount of curious information anent old world customs in connection with the calendar , will be re-issued in volume form at the close of the year . Mr . Elliot Stock has just issued a vigorous volume of verse from the pen of a new poet , who bids fair to attain an exalted position in the Temple of the