ating reports, the righteousness which exalteth a nation would speedily come, and the hope of the Pilgrim and the Puritan would be realized. "When I could not sleep for cold I had fire enough in my brain, My beautiful castles in Spain." J. R. LOWELL. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. "Your young men shall see visions." JOEL. ΧΙ CASTLES IN SPAIN FITZHUGH LUDLOW relates that in his boyhood, the drug-store of his friend Anderson possessed such a fascination for him that he wanted to taste everything he found there. He spent many leisure hours examining mysterious drugs, inquiring into their composition and their effects. One day he discovered, among the new goods, a little jar labeled Canabis Indica. Pleased with its aromatic smell, he proceeded to investigate its other properties. He learned from the dispensatory that it was familiarly known as hasheesh, was used in cases of lockjaw, and that it possessed an extraordinary power of producing dreams. He forthwith rolled up a goodsized pellet and swallowed it. A few hours later, as you will antici pate, he fell into an ecstatic dream. The room in his modest home, where he was sitting, began to enlarge and to grow surprisingly beautiful; the hall became an enchanting vista and the stairs à magnificent avenue up which he could triumphantly ascend. His delight and anticipations knew no bounds. No young man ever before possessed such talent, deserved such consideration or enjoyed such distinction. The rich, the gay, the famous hastened to do him honor. The very atmosphere was radiant with hope. and promise. He was about to summon the poor and oppressed of all lands to receive the golden rain which dripped from his fingers, when the family physician administered a timely sedative and relieved him of his heavy responsibility. Scarcely less extravagant and improbable are the day-dreams and air-castles of many a boy as he looks eagerly forward into life. His pictures lack proportion; his events are unreal; his |