Morning journal and courier., 1886-08-20

ry or 8 poetic cuckoo flying in a moon thar
 have them covered with cheap-looking em
 broidery work
 The same sentiment forbids us to overload
 our rooms with mere curios. For this req
 son our bronze flower vase. however uniouf
 ana rare thing 1t may happen to be, we | always appreciate it better with fresh cut
 branches of trees planted in it than when
 IL IS Kept topside down on a special stand l Just to satisfy the visitors curiosity.
 FURNITURE AND LANDSCAPE.
 condescend to say that our dwellings generally lack glaring contrast of hues and | or abundant furnituring of chairs sofas 1 mirrors, stands, etc., which are so many sources of western comfort But it must be owned that it is not the Japanese tenn per to extort wonder and admiration under a glance. We are satisfied, if we find
 pleasure in looking into our yard, where 8
 hlu rises in perfect likeness of serene na-
 ture, and cascade ripples down a rugged
 prec1pfce into pond below, enjoyed by a
 pair or two of happy ducks, fishing peace
 ful!y at the roots of growing reeds We
 reel proud if the landscapes and birds and
 flowers upon our doors and screens are
 vivid enough to transport our guest into
 an unconscious recitation of lyric. The snelVes, running not uniformly, but artis-
 tlcally; the carved figures, not grotesoue.
 put quaint; the exposed posts, neither sha- ven nor stained, but polished until it is shlnlng; the nails, insignificant and yet or nament headed, one by one as they come into perception, will work immeasurabIe charm into the mind of an interested ob- server.
 We have sometimes been ridiculed at the iaeK or geometrical unifority in our decora- ton. but we never look over the harmony. For instance, we will hang up our valuable pictures with costly silk string instead of worthless wires, and the 1uxuriant plants we haar f,,1 E.. stead ot crude wares of reddish brown earth NOT do we overlook that important principle or art of decoration-the change and re. Iresnlng; neither do we overcrowd our rooms wltn the wholesale exhibition of all peauti- ful things we have. We display panels and pictures sparingly at a time in their number: put we never allow the same ones to remain hung at the same spot over a season; they are displaced with the reserved ones from Ilme to f1mda. htg thtgs giving the place the fresh casinn In fact this system of 'spare and | change" display IS very sensible portion of | Japanese decoration, for our visitors will al- l ways find a chance to do honor to the cor rect taste of the host. \
 How Empires Have Been Founaoa.
 From the Pal Mall Gazette]
 There are few facts that impress the inn l agination more in beginning the study of l physical science than the rain of the skele- | tons or shells which continue ceaselessly | from the surface of the sea to the ocean 1 depths. Out of these tiny relics of marine | life is formed the cha1ky ooze of the ocean | bed, makers of the marble that is to be- The | young princes in "The Cruise of the Bac- chante," speaking of our island empire in | the West Indies, which some propose we | should abandon, esk indignantly: 'Was it for this that these islands were taken and re- taken till every gully and every foot of the | ocean bed holds the skeleton of an English man" It is striking figure and sugges- tive. What rain of English skeletons through these purple seas, skeletons which, hardening in time like the shelly ooze of the ocean floor, form the material of empire! It is a great thought and true one, although grim enough ill it's way. All empires are founded on skeletons. Whoever wishes to rear throne must use corpses as its founda .lon. The eastern conquerors who reared pyramids of skulls but roughly illustrated the universal truth. He who would attain 5o supreme dominion must first find men who are willing to allow their carcasses to be l used as building material The noble Rus | sian soldiers who were marched into the bog l in which they sank overhead, merely in or | der that those who came after might find the | way paved with the crowns of their dead | heads, were but offering in a | most horrible fashion the same sacrifice which all men must offer who would found | empire, or indeed do anything else of per- and solid worth The price of lib l erty, of empire, is life. And he who is 1 not willing in case of need to lose his life | will never attain to those things which alone l make life worth living.