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different from those sul… len batteries which used to go rumbling through our streets are the crowds of light carriages； laden with flowers and greenery； wending their way to the neighboring cemeteries！ The grim cannon have turned into palm branches； and the shell and shrapnel into peach blooms。 There is no hint of war in these gay baggage trains； ex… cept the presence of men in undress uniform； and perhaps here and there an empty sleeve to remind one of what has been。 Year by year that empty sleeve is less in evidence。 The observance of Decoration Day is un… marked by that disorder and confusion common enough with our people in their holiday moods。 The earlier sorrow has faded out of the hour； leaving a softened solemnity。 It quickly ceased to be simply a local commemoration。 While the sequestered country churchyards and burial… places near our great northern cities were being hung with May garlands； the thought could not but come to us that there were graves lying southward above which bent a grief as tender and sacred as our own。 Invisibly we dropped unseen flowers upon those mounds。 There is a beautiful significance in the fact that； two years after the close of the war； the women of Colum… bus； Mississippi； laid their offerings alike on Northern and Southern graves。 When all is said； the great Nation has but one heart。
WRITERS AND TALKERS
AS a class； literary men do not shine in con… versation。 The scintillating and playful essayist whom you pictured to yourself as the most genial and entertaining of companions； turns out to be a shy and untalkable individual； who chills you with his reticence when you chance to meet him。 The poet whose fascinating volume you always drop into your gripsack on your summer vacationthe poet whom you have so long desired to know personallyis a moody and abstracted middle…aged gentleman； who fails to catch your name on introduction； and seems the avatar of the commonplace。 The witty and ferocious critic whom your fancy had painted as a literary cannibal with a morbid appetite for tender young poetsthe writer of those caustic and scholarly reviews which you never neglect to readdestroys the un…lifelike portrait you had drawn by appearing before you as a personage of slender limb and deprecat… ing glance； who stammers and makes a painful spectacle of himself when you ask him his opinion of 〃The Glees of the Gulches；〃 by Popo… catepetl Jones。 The slender； dark…haired novel… ist of your imagination； with epigrammatic points to his mustache； suddenly takes the shape of a short； smoothly…shaven blond man； whose conversation does not sparkle at all； and you were on the lookout for the most brilliant of verbal fireworks。 Perhaps it is a dramatist you have idealized。 Fresh from witnessing his de… lightful comedy of manners； you meet him face to face only to discover that his own manners are anything but delightful。 The play and the playwright are two very distinct entities。 You grow skeptical touching the truth of Buffon's assertion that the style is the man himself。 Who that has encountered his favorite author in the flesh has not sometimes been a little； if not wholly； disappointed？ After all； is it not expecting too much to expect a novelist to talk as cleverly as the clever characters in his novels？ Must a dramatist necessarily go about armed to the teeth with crisp dialogue？ May not a poet be allowed to lay aside his singing…robes and put on a con… ventional dress…suit when he dines out？ Why is it not permissible in him to be as prosaic and tiresome as the rest of the company？ He usually is。
ON EARLY RISING
A CERTAIN scientific gentleman of my acquaintance； who has devoted years to investigating the subject； states that he has never come across a case of remarkable longevity un… accompanied by the habit of early rising； from which testimony it might be inferred that they die early who lie abed late。 But this would be getting out at the wrong station。 That the majority of elderly persons are early risers is due to the simple fact that they cannot sleep morn… ings。 After a man passes his fiftieth milestone he usually awakens at dawn； and his wakeful… ness is no credit to him。 As the theorist con… fined his observations to the aged； he easily reached the conclusion that men live to be old because they do not sleep late； instead of per… ceiving that men do not sleep late because they are old。 He moreover failed to take into ac… count the numberless young lives that have been shortened by matutinal habits。 The intelligent reader； and no other is sup… posable； need not be told that the early bird aphorism is a warning and not an incentive。 The fate of the worm refutes the pretended ethical teaching of the proverb； which assumes to illustrate the advantage of early rising and does so by showing how extremely dangerous it is。 I have no patience with the worm； and when I rise with the lark I am always careful to select a lark that has overslept himself。 The example set by this mythical bird； a myth… ical bird so far as New England is concerned； has wrought wide…spread mischief and discom… fort。 It is worth noting that his method of ac… complishing these ends is directly the reverse of that of the Caribbean insect mentioned by Laf… cadio Hearn in his enchanting 〃Two Years in the French West Indies〃a species of colossal cricket called the wood…kid； in the creole tongue； cabritt…bois。 This ingenious pest works a sooth… ing； sleep…compelling chant from sundown until precisely half past four in the morning； when it suddenly stops and by its silence awakens everybody it has lulled into slumber with its in… sidious croon。 Mr。 Hearn； with strange obtuse… ness to the enormity of the thing； blandly re… marks： 〃For thousands of early risers too poor to own a clock； the cessation of its song is the signal to get up。〃 I devoutly trust that none of the West India islands furnishing such satanic entomological specimens will ever be annexed to the United States。 Some of our extreme ad… vocates of territorial expansion might spend a profitable few weeks on one of those favored isles。 A brief association with that cabritt…bois would be likely to cool the enthusiasm of the most ardent imperialist。 An incalculable amount of specious sentiment has been lavished upon daybreak； chiefly by poets who breakfasted； when they did breakfast； at mid…day。 It is charitably to be said that their practice was better than their preceptor their poetry。 Thomson； the author of 〃The Castle of Indolence；〃 who gave birth to the depraved apostrophe；
Falsely luxurious； will not man awake；
was one of the laziest men of his century。 He customarily lay in bed until noon meditating pentameters on sunrise。 This creature used to be seen in his garden of an afternoon； with both hands in his waistcoat pockets； eating peaches from a pendent bough。 Nearly all the English poets who at that epoch celebrated what they called 〃the effulgent orb of day〃 were denizens of London； where pure sunshine is unknown eleven months out of the twelve。 In a great city there are few incentives to early rising。 What charm is there in roof…tops and chimney…stacks t