It is Chinese loan at a low rate of interest. These are essential services to China, and will not be forgotten, and we think they were wise and politic measures. Russia is strong through her material resources, yet still more through her to which British prosperity depends | external help it may once more become upon the state of affairs in the Pacific. formidable. That help can proceed The United States of America, the only from Russia. This is evidently Australian colonies, and Great Britain recognized at St. Petersburg. are the three powers most interested highly significant that the Russian govin the navigation and independence of erument at once demanded the abanthat Eastern ocean. donment by Japan of her territorial There can be no doubt that the car-conquest, and agreed to guarantee the dinal principle of our policy there should be the maintenance of friendly relations with Japan. The value of England's cordial support is fully recognized by her forecasting statesmen; and even the jealousy of irresponsible politicians has been in a possession of an anticipatory policy. measure disarmed by England's for- Her plans for the future are perfectly wardness to settle the long-pending defined, and she allows nothing to question of treaty revision. The stand in the way of their realization. Treaty of Commerce signed at Lon- They include the occupation of an open don, July 16, 1894, fully satisfies the harbor on the North Pacific coast, and demands of Japan. She obtains by it probably a certain amount of influence terms of more than equality, British in Corea. The construction of a costly subjects in Japan being at certain dis- line of communication debouching at advantages from which Japanese sub-a harbor like that of Vladivostock, jects in Great Britain are exempt. choked with ice during four months of Thus, they cannot own real property each year, would be an ineptitude of or engage in the coasting trade; while which Russia is assuredly incapable. it remains entirely at the option of the But at this point her interests conemperor of Japan whether or not the flict with those of Japan. This aspirsaid treaty comes into operation at the ing power seeks to dominate Corea. end of the prescribed term of five By its energy the resources of the peyears. An import tariff annexed to it ninsula are to be developed, the abuses permits the levying of what may well of government remedied, commerce be called prohibitive duties on British stimulated and controlled. Corea is goods. This is now nominally in force, a cotton-growing country, and can supbut cannot actually take effect without ply, when waste lands are brought the consent of the remaining fifteen into cultivation and means of transtreaty powers, which may long be de- port afforded, ample materials for Japlayed. The example of Great Britain, anese manufactures. Japan even now however, counts for a great deal. depends largely upon Corean rice and Both Mr. Curzon and Mr. Norman beans for the support of her populaattempt to forecast the destinies of the tion, and will require more and more Far East. They prophesy, however, of them as silk-culture replaces at with due reserve, making ample allow-home the growth of cereals; while the ance for l'imprévu. Their views are surmised mineral riches of Corea offer tolerably accordant, and contain little still further inducements 'o enterprise from which we feel obliged to dissent. in a land inviting by supposed advanThe spectacle presented to us at this tages. Its occupation by a foreign moment is sufficiently striking. It is power would, besides, constitute a that of a highly organized nation of standing threat to Japanese indepenforty millions standing, as it were, over dence. Hence a Russian Corea would the prostrate body of a thoroughly disorganized nation of four hundred millions. The colossus caunot of itself rise from its prone position, but with appear intolerable at Tokio; while a Japanese Corea will certainly not be regarded as admissible at St. Petersburg. Here lies the coming danger. Japan is confronted by the huge latent | since it completes her own insular emforces of China on the one side, of pire. But even Formosa will not be Russia on the other. To a small State, held without a considerable effort. It either of these empires may prove a must be subdued by military forces, dangerous neighbor. Her position is, requiring very possibly six thousand accordingly, critical. The crisis may men and ships of war to exorcise the be slow in coming; but it can hardly be phantom of a Chinese republic which averted, and she must not, under peril has appeared on those inhospitable of her national existence, relax in her shores, and subdue the interior. Japan preparations to meet it. has won great conquests by a spirited The strength of Japan lies in her in- and ambitious policy; but, the war sular position, in which she resembles being over, the real burden of the futhe islands of our own United King- ture begins-which is to defend and dom. It is probable that her military keep them. She will long have to and naval forces, when concentrated, maintain her forces on the footing of would suffice to defend and protect her a war establishment, and, with the from any direct aggression, because exception of the large pecuniary inshe is mistress of her own resources demnity she is bound to receive, no on the spot, and any hostile European immediate results can be profitable power would find itself at an enormous enough to the exchequer of the "Risdistance from the base of operations.ing Sun" to repay the sacrifices she Even the troops and supplies of Vladi- has made. In fact, this peace with vostock are conveyed thither by sea. But Japan will enfeeble herself by every attempt to establish her authority on the mainland of Asia, since it would compel her to scatter her forces and encounter various enemies. No greater service has been rendered to Japan than when she was induced by the Continental powers and the advice of England to restore to China the position she had occupied on the Manchurian territory and Port Arthur. To Japan herself that acquisition would have been a highly injurious and mischievous gift. The position she aspires to hold in Corea is open to similar objections, and cannot be maintained without a large military force in the Corean peninsula. The true interest of all the neighboring powers is that the independence of Corea should, if possible, be maintained, to which the corruption of the government and the apathy of the people are grave obstacles. China leaves the Japanese with two wars on her hands more formidable than the scattered armies of the Celestial Empire. In Corea their authority is contested by a barbarous and corrupt court and a hostile population; it can only be supported by a large military force and occupation, which may lead to other difficulties. In Formosa they encounter the hostility of the Chinese upon the coast, and they take possession by force of arms; whilst the interior of the island, into which they propose to introduce law and order, is peopled by tribes of savages absolutely unsubdued. These are great and difficult tasks, demanding large supplies of troops and money; and the best advice the friends of Japan can give that interesting nation is to concentrate their resources at home, and shun the treacherous lure of foreign territorial conquests. From Temple Bar. CAB'S FATHER. BY MRS. H. H. PENROSE. OUT in the flatwoods stood the square log-cabin- barest and ugliest of all bare and ugly dwellings-in which Cab Pollard first saw the light. If the day, and she looked for it tremblingly logs of which it was built had been in the countenance of her new-born rough, it might have presented a some- babe, as the gaunt, unprepossessing what picturesque appearance; but they neighbor laid him beside her for the had been painfully carved into a hide- first time. It was with au evident sense ous squareness, as though, from a per- of relief that she failed to discover it. verted sense of the fitness of things, The little girls had been at last called in the architect had desired them to cor- to see their brother; she looked from respond with the shape of the squat the baby to them, and back again, building itself. For two or three vainly endeavoring to trace a likeness, months in each year it was threatened and her weak voice had a note of triwith destruction by floods and over-umph in it, as she remarked to Mrs. flows, and it might perhaps have been Jacobs of the forbidding features, in consideration of its precarious tenure "He don't look skeared-not yet, of existence that not only ornament, anyhow." but the common decencies of comfort, "Nor never should," answered the had been disregarded in its construc-old lady grimly. "He's too fine a baby tion. Cab's father, Rant Pollard, was to turn out a fool. always about to move; but it was an weighs, the beauty! Every ounce of important step, calling for much delib-it." eration, and he had not moved yet. Two very small and puny girls, little more than babies themselves, stood, wide-eyed, waiting to behold the newcomer who was being ushered into the world by an ancient neighbor, uglier than the witches in those fairy stories that had never been told to them. Their features were delicately formed, but marred by an unchildlike expression of fear and watchfulness, and their cheeks were pale and thin; these white-faced children were Cab's sisters, Leonora and Elvira - known, for the greater ease of all concerned, as Lennie and Vira. Twelve pounds he Mrs. Pollard lay very still, with closed eyes, silently enjoying both her discovery and this favorable prophecy. Presently she looked up again and said feebly, "Mrs. Jacobs, it must be twelve o'clock. Rant will be coming in for his dinner." "I reckon he can git it when he comes," answered Mrs. Jacobs calmly. "But there's nothing hot," Mrs. Pollard objected. "Lennie kin stay right here, and take care of me and baby, and you go light the fire, and hev something ready for him." "Sakes alive! Didn't the man ever 66 Very patiently they waited, making eat a cold dinner in his life?" deno effort to penetrate beyond the pas-manded Mrs. Jacobs. sage, and occasionally emerging there- Not often, I reckon," said the infrom to squat on the steps of the valid, the scared look becoming painverandah and hold converse in fright- fully apparent in her pale face. “If ened whispers. Just now there was he comes in and finds things like this, nothing to make them afraid, for their he'll be father was not at home; but fear had become second nature to them. In Raut Pollard's presence they dreaded to raise their eyes or to speak above a whisper; and in his absence they lived in terrified anticipation of his return, so that the scared look had never time to leave their faces. "No," interrupted Mrs. Jacobs, "he won't be; and if he does be, I'll fix him." At that moment a heavy tramp was heard on the steps, and Mrs. Jacobs marched from the room with determiued strides, leaving the two bigger babies in charge, one on either side of The same look had grown upon the the bed, gazing rapturously at their face of their mother during the five new brother, and occasionally casting years of her married life, which had be-apprehensive glances towards the door. guu shortly after her seventeenth birth- "Well," exclaimed Mrs. Jacobs, "Oh, no! Never," answered Louisa eagerly, "neither me nor the children. Never, indeed." "Jest so; and why not? Because there weren't no need. He has only to scowl, and you're all shakin'. If he gives a roar you're ready to die of fright; and you'd jump for the moon, if he fancied a lunch of it, sooner than hear him swear a bit. I hain't got no patience with sech everlastin' foolishness. No wonder the man behaves ugly, when you give him so much encouragement." Lennie and Vira gaped attentively, and sidled closer to the bed, impelled by some vague notion that their mother was being scolded on their aceount; but she smiled at them and gave them the baby's hand to touch, and Mrs. Jacobs herself patted their heads; so their young minds, which had run some chance of disturbance, returned rapidly to the accustomed conviction that there was but one person in the world to be feared, and that one was their father. Suddenly, however, he changed his mind, and returned the matches to his pocket. It had occurred to him that if he were to make a fire, Mrs. Jacobs "However things are, I reckon might come back and appropriate the they'll hev to stay so now," said fruit of his labor to her own uses; and Louisa hopelessly. "Tis too late to he preferred eating a cold dinner to strike a fresh track after five years doing anything which might possibly on the old one. But I wouldn't hev be useful to any of "the (variety of minded much, Mrs. Jacobs, if you'd 'a expletives) women folk." Accord- let me and the baby die, if only I c'uld ingly he ate his bacon and potatoes hev taken Lennie and Vira along to with great repugnance, but with a sup- the New Jerusalem; but I wouldn't porting sense of heroism created by the be so mean as to go and leave them consciousness of having sacrificed taste | behind, if I c’uld help it. Rant might to principle, and prepared to return to meet his match in the next wife, and his work. then there wouldn't be a shred of the "What did he say ?" asked the anx-poor things left between them. "No," ious wife, as Mrs. Jacobs marched she added drowsily, "the baby and I back to her bedside in dignified but will stand by Lennie and Vira, so long triumphant silence. as we're fit." "Nothing," answered the old lady Then she fell asleep, and Mrs. Jaconcisely; then, noting the look of sur-cobs took the two little girls to the prise and awe that overspread her kitchen, produced her dinner and theirs patient's face, she lengthened her an- from a basket packed that morning by swer by the addition of a little whole- the eldest Miss Jacobs, and finally lit a some advice. fire to make coffee which she did not want in the least-so that Rant might be tantalized by a sight of the smoke curling ostentatiously from the chimney, and be led thereby to reflect on the error of his ways. "When you git around agin, Louisa Pollard, jest take yer stand, and don't go a-lyin' down to be trampled upon any more. Rant never struck you as I knows on; did he, now?" CHAPTER II. WHEN Cab was five years old, a great and long anticipated event took place - no less an upsetting of established things than the removal of the Pollard family from the flatwoods to Rimesville, on the sandhills, where Rant had taken a little homestead of ten acres, having declared to all and sundry his disgust at the monotony of being swamped every summer and "froze down to his last bananer" every winter. Neither floods nor frost troubled the high, rolling pineland of the sandhills; and, if the soil were poorer, and if unaccountable difficulties existed as to the rearing of calves, these things were by the way; and, having for so long looked forward to Rimesville as a land of promise, Rant Pollard had no intention of disproving his own sound judgment by seeing imperfections in the place now that he had actually reached it. So he settled down to the contemplation of a prospect of peace and plenty; and when he lost a calf in the hot, dry spring, he swore but little, and accepted more readily than he would have done in other circumstances the fact that he had brought the loss on himself by not having taught the animals to eat anything more than grass. His winter garden was a grand success, and by sending vegetables to Fort Ballantyne he made enough to buy a couple of new cows in the following spring. He took much pains to teach them and their calves to feed on bran and oats, so that when one of the little heifers showed signs of sickening, there was no difficulty in getting her to take medicine mixed with her food, and a triumphant recovery was the prompt result. So remarkable an innovation in stock-tending, as practised by the majority of Crackers, could not fail to raise him in the estimation of his neighbors; and, much to his own satisfaction, Raut found himself recognized as a genius, and consequently became slightly more amiable in his domestic relations, even as the most savage of toms will sometimes purr when continually stroked in the right direction. But the effect wore off in time, and as Cab grew out of infancy into sturdy boyhood, it became evident that little more than the child's presence was required to arouse the evil passions of his father's unruly nature. Why this should be no one knew-least of all the boy himself; but Louisa, who presumably had the most perfect attainable knowledge of them both, had her own theory on the subject. She thought it was because, of all the family, which now numbered six children, Cab alone had never at any time shown the least fear of his father. His face alone had never taken on the scared look; and only he among these pale children had escaped the stultifying effects of long-continued abuse and unceasing terrorism. Manly and independent, he alone never ran away when he saw his father coming, and faced Rant's strongest remarks, couched in the most impressive terms of which he had command, with unaffected indifference. If personally attacked, accused, and threatened with summary chastisement, he ran then, and thought no shame of it, because he knew he had no chance in fair fight; but he never went to hide, like the others, in anticipation. So far he acted solely on the defensive; but once, and only once, when he was about nine years old, he took up the line of offence and retaliation. Not on his own account- that was not in Cab's nature; but on account of his mother and the new baby. Louisa had told the truth when she assured Mrs. Jacobs that Rant did not strike her or the little girls, but he had of late contracted an objectionable habit of throwing things at them, which had the effect of wholly destroying any little nerve they might once have possessed. On the memorable day on which Cab appeared in a new but transitory light, the chosen missile was a dish, and it was flung at Louisa by reason of its emptiness at a time when Rant expected to find it full of hominy. The baby was sitting on the floor, passing its time happily in feasting on the sweets of its pretty pink |