turbed her lone retreat,

Nor listened to her moaning, but a something stayed my feet.

had performed many journeys up and 1 would have turned me homeward, nor disdown the mountain, carrying venison to market and bringing back corn and other necessaries before winter set in, sufficient to last until the early spring should open a path down into the inhabited valleys. There was of course no lack of fuel, and

the huge stone fireplace and chimney tightly plastered with mud, sent up all day a warm and cheerful blaze, that would delight the eyes of many a denizen of wealthy homes.

As in the summer, Sol was often absent, but Lun, the negro, a runaway slave, was always at home, and cut and brought in wood from the forest, and water from the stream. The poor crazed Aggie grew calmer and contented to remain in doors, though in pleasant days she still loved to sit on the rock and gaze out into the blue distance. The children had glorious frolics in the snow, and kept rosy and strong. Kate was generally cheerful, and on the whole it was a happy winter for all, Kate alone looked forward with dread to the coming spring-for then who could tell what might happen. And so the months rolled on.

To be continued.

The zephyr caught her accents as it swiftly
And bore them to my ravished ear in melody

passed along,

and song

"My mother! many years have passed since And we bore the empty casket to the mansions

thy pure spirit fled,

of the dead.

I have roamed through ancient Egypt, where the pyramids are seen,

Through Sahara's burning desert my pathway too, hath been;

Through Persian vales and Turkish wilds I've sped my onward way,

And the sweet Circassian maidens have trilled for me their lay:

I've scaled the distant pyrenees whose summits
proudly rise,

And I've crossed the vine-clad valleys 'neath
Italia's sunny skies;

In light Venitian gondolas, by Luna's mellow
beams,

I've glided o'er the waters and gazed on beau

teous scenes;

Rome's sculptors and proud artists have op'ed their doors to me,

And I've caught the sweetest accents of Athenian minstrelsy.

I've roamed through Switzer's mountain-glens
where Alpine music swells,
I've traversed Obe's flowing stream, through
Siber's frozen dells:

France, England and old Scotia's shores my
wandering feet have prest,

And St. Helena's rocky isle has lured me to its breast.

I've climbed Parnassus slip'ry steep with firm, untiring zeal;

I've poured o'er ancient pages with a hope of coming weal;

appreciated at one glance, as a prodigious return for so small a capital invested! However we are not sure that this wholesale mode of operation would be allowed, as we did not stop to thoroughly peruse the regulations in the little book handed us by a good-natured looking priest, whose station was in a sort of pulpit, or sentrybox near the door of the vestibule. These sacred stairs and the door-frame of stone, brought from Jerusalem by the mother of Constantine, were to us the most interesting Christian relics of Rome.

sage being so constructed by its sloping grade and gradual contraction of size as to prevent it from becoming choked. Thus has it stood for all these long ages, with a fair prospect of continuing for centuries to come as now, a most interesting and useful monument of the practical skill of those old Romans, nearly seven hundred years before our Christian era commenced. There were numbers of devotees climbing the Scala Santa, upon their knees, in this spacious vestibule of San Giovanni in Laterano, at the time of our visit to this remarkable church. By a faithful Whether the stairs were or were not the counting of beads, and repeating of prayers identical ones over which our Saviour assigned for this spiritual and bodily hu- passed at the time of his examination bemiliation, a thousand years of indulgence fore Pilate, it is certain that they were was granted the performer. Who can transported from the Holy City by the wonder that an opportunity of purchasing Empress Helena, who, a fresh convert to an indulgence of such importance, upon the Christian faith,-filled with enthusiassuch reasonable terms has always been tie veneration for every inanimate object eagerly sought and accepted by the disci- in anywise connected with the life of ples of the Roman mother-church; or that Christ in Jerusalem, especially anything the sacred stairs daily present their num- bearing upon those last scenes, when that bers of crawling penitents, who would long sublime sacrifice was completed, which ere this have literally worn out the origi- gave to humanity a Saviour indeed, unto nal stone steps. had they not been well whom all the ends of the world might look protected by a covering of stout plank, and live; she, we believe, with her zeal, which, thick as it is. has to be renewed her wealth and power, would have left no occasionally, by a fresh covering of the means untried, of assuring herself of the same material. authenticity of the stairs as actually beImagine the buoyancy of those pilgrim-ion ing to the house of Pilate, which penitents from various parts of the world, after the topnost stair is gained, and that long thousand years of indulgence is secured! If in Yankee land the thing was satisfactorily consummated, we fancy it might be a little hazardous to have any special confidential dealings in a business way with the man thus situated; possibly it might be like the case of Sir Walter's "Robin Hood," who, after settling up all his old scores of honor, (according to his ideas of just compensation,) woe to the next unwary traveller who might fall in with the green-cated outlaw!

But if one ascent secured a thousand years indulgence, why not make a business of it, and where so much is granted for so small a recompense, by mounting the stairs a sufficient number of times, gain fifty or one hundred thousand years? which to any one of tolerable keenness in practical business transactions, would be

might have been identified among the ruins of Jerusalem. For, although in accordance with an ancient custom, a ploughshare was run over the city, as a symbol of destruction, by the conqueror,we believe it has been proved that the destruction of the city was by no means so complete as to leave no trace of buildings, or to obliterate all the landmarks of particular places of interest so as to prevent them from being recognized

Thus in the absence of decisive proof against the supposition, we came to the conclusion that a belief in the genuineness of the Scala Santa, was the best, as also the most agreeable mode of settling the question. At least we believe that they were truly brought from the Holy City by Helena - according to church history;that there is no reason for supposing that they were not taken from the house of Pontius Pilate, though that does not

prove them to be the identical ones leading from the judgment hall, upon which JESUS ascended and descended. The same may be said of the two columns and door-frame but it does not follow that our Saviour leaned against the former, or passed through the latter.

occupants of the papal chair, down to John IV. The work of making these medallions is still actively carried on at the manufactory of the Vatican, but whether the list of them will all be completed, including the present Pope, during his lifetime remains to be seen. Upon the ruins of the old St. Paul's, destroyed by fire in 1823, the present splendid structure is reared, and from present appearances, long years will pass ere the edifice, in all its

Aside from all the mummery which the Roman church has connected with these relics, they are objects of sacred interest to the Christian believer, from the fact of their forming some portion of that build-rich adornments, will be completed. ing, within which, the Master passed The last day of our stay in Rome, was through those scenes of trial, the begin- spent in visiting the studios of modern arning of those more terrible sufferings tists; a day full of rich and pleasant memwhich awaited him upon Calvary, in theories! The Gabriel" and "Evange consummation of that stupendous sacri- line" of Shakspeare Wood, an English fice whose effects were to be felt through- artist, were subjects so purely imaginative out the whole earth and for all coming as to give the sculptor ample scope for his fancy and taste; and charming creations they are! The statue of "Nydia" at Rogers' studio, we thought exquisite. The frail, delicate figure of the blind heroine,-who is represented while wandering forth in the storm, - the slightly bent posture, the drapery floating in the wind,-the entire form, as it were instinct with the keenest sensitiveness, in the ab

time.

-

This same church of St. John Lateran is one of the oldest Basilicas of Rome,-or rather was, for since its erection by Constantine, in the fourth century, it has undergone so many changes, repairs, and additions, that probably very little of its original form is preserved, The facade, though elaborately adorned, is truly grand and imposing, the effect of it being height-sence of sight, is wonderfully expressed; ened by the elevation upon which it stands, and by the wide, open space in front. Its entire aspect, standing out as it did upon the day of our visit,- against a background of clear azure-was at once grand and beautiful.

We were charmed with the magnificent columns and pilastres of the Basilica of St. Paul. Good Stephano could have desired no greater admiration expended upon this, his favorite kind of artistic productions! Those eighty columns of granite, with their Corinthian capitals stretching along the vista before you. The exquisite pillars of alabaster the gift of Mahomet Ali:-the splendid specimens of malachite, from the Emperor of Russia, the porphyry and marbles, all of the richest description, present ed a collection of material wealth and arttstic skill, at once imposing and beautiful. medallion heads of the Popes, from the first down to Pio Nono, executed in mosaic, are intended to adorn the transept and the former is already entirely hung around with them-and includes all of the

nave

and we fancy that no one who has dwelt
upon this interesting character of Bulwer's
romance of "The Last Days of Pompeii,"
will fail to accord to the artist a tribute
of just admiration for this admirable im-
personation of the blind girl! Here too,
we saw the model of the bronze doors of
our Capitol at Washington, which were
then being cast at Munich. What im-
pressed us particularly in their design was
the faithfulness with which even the small-
est ornament was made to correspond with
the idea of the main design. Columbus,
with the monarchs at whose court he
sought the needed aid to carry out his
splendid project-heads of native chiefs of
the newly discovered country, tropical
flowers and foliage, in every minute detail
the hand of a master-spirit fully alive to
the harmonies of his theme, was visible; in
short, upon those doors we find portrayed
the history of a people, a country, and an
age.
Moziers' statue of “Truth,” Queen
Esther," or rather Esther, the wise and