value, for exportation. Upon the solid marble floor of the gold melting room is placed another of perforated iron. The sweepings which are annually taken up from the safe custody of the marble floor, are said to reach the value of 80,000 dollars. Many young females are employed in the lighter departments of work, the period of labour being 8 hours daily. The old gentleman who supplied me with sundry new coins to take home across the "fish pond," was very kind and polite. One thinks that the absence of metal coinage in the United States cannot be long continued. With the strong-box of Californian gold, and the rich veins of silver in Nevada and Idaho open to all seekers, the mint must soon have some of its legitimate work again.

Turning from a scene of comparative inactivity, I entered the museum. If you cannot see United States gold and silver coins in the process of manufacture, you can at least find samples of the real “almighty dollar" in the museum. A party of ladies were saying that they never saw any gold in circulation now, upon which I showed them an English sovereign, the finished workmanship of which they admired. Among the curiosities is a Chinese bar of gold worth 10 taels or 235 dollars; also a thin plate of gold, a sample of Japanese money. The law as to its circulation is very strict, and denotes the way of an exclusive nation.

FOR KNOWINGLY TAKING THIS PIECE OF MONEY OUT OF JAPAN, THE PENALTY IS DEATH; FOR TAKING IT OUT OF JAPAN BY ACCIDENT, THE PENALTY IS TEN YEARS IMPRISONMENT. The Siamese coins are rather neat, and very curious in design.

Poor Maximilian and the Confederate States of America are now ranked together in museums, since they resigned the functions of active life. Of the former there are

few traces. A poor stricken widow, a lonely castle in Austria, an autograph in a Derbyshire scrap-book, bitter memories among the Mexicans, and a few beautiful and well-finished coins in a United States museum are all that remain of the founder of an empire in Mexico. Poor Maximilian! The late Confederate States of America are represented here by promises to pay which they could never redeem. A large scrap-book is filled with notes like the following:-"The Confederate States of America promise to pay the Bearer One hundred dollars, two years after the ratification of a peace with the United States."

There are specimens of quartz from the gold mines of Nova Scotia, of pure copper from Lake Superior, and most curious of all is a bird's nest, a perfect nest, incrusted with carbonate of lime in a wonderful manner. I left the mint and its museum with the feeling that I had never spent an hour in sightseeing more profitably and enjoyably.

Perhaps you will nowhere find an establishment more self-contained as to all its departments of labour than the Continental Hotel. Two stories below the level of the street are workshops, in which the artificers of the concern are busily engaged. Gas-lights flaring fiercely, along with a consciousness that we are below the ground, suggest to the lively imagination of an American companion that the scene bears a resemblance to Dante's Inferno.

Of course we visited Fairmount Park and Waterworks. Passing over the river Schuylkill, the conductor pointed out the dwellings along its banks as being the homes of the poorer and more turbulent population; for we are sorry to say there are such Arabs even in great and good Philadelphia, and streets in which a man's life is not safe after dark. The waterworks uphold the renown of the

city. Never-failing supplies are pumped up from the river, and the clear sparkling stream sent circling through twelve miles of streets and dwellings. A dam is built across the river, and through a race cut in the solid rock the current is brought to play upon the waterwheels, and there supply the power for pumping. The whistle-call of a tiny steamer summons us on board, and we ascend the river to the pretty falls. Near here are the beautiful cemeteries of Mount Vernon and Laurel Hill, the former entered by a simple gateway guarded by an Italian campanile; the latter through a many pillared portico. Within the gates at Laurel Hill we come upon the monument, or rather the sculptured group known as "Old Mortality," and cut in the solid rock, overlooking the Schuylkill, is the tomb of Dr. Kane, the Arctic traveller. The cemetery is a triumph of landscape gardening, and is bright and gay with blooming flowers, and green with cedars of Labanon and the weeping ash. Further up the river, and along the banks of Wissahickon Creek, many a ferny dingle and many a dimpled flume unknown to fame will gladden the eye of the rambler, and perhaps he will come upon spots which are known to fame and name like "Fairy Dam" and "Poet's Haunt."

In American parks you see much green and few flowers. In this respect Fairmount is no exception. It has groves of chesnut and maple, but you miss the pansies, the roses, the primroses and violets, the heaths and rhododendrons, the geraniums and the trumpet-flower which flourish so bravely just over the southern line. The river Schuylkill is its lake or fringe of silver, and among its artificial attractions are a finely chiseled monument to Frederick Graeff, the man who originated the plan for laying out the park; and the wooden hut or cabin in which General Grant lived during his campaigns in Virginia.

I found the old park-keeper quite a learned man in his way. He could tell me the names of trees growing in the the city squares which puzzled me sadly to make out and classify. There was the Chinese catulph with its clusters of thimble-shaped blossoms like bunches of grapes, and leaves three times the size of a man's hand; the analanthus, or tree of heaven, with its long tine-like leaves; the silver and red-stem maples, with the chestnut, Spanish and over-cup oaks. The linden trees have served other purposes besides forming street-parasols, according to the following, which is taken from the London "Telegraph" of April 23rd, 1869 :

The streets of Philadelphia, like those of most American cities, have their pavements bordered by limes, planes, elms, and other "shade" trees, the value of which is incalculable during the summer heats. For many years past, the trees have been infested by countless swarms of insects, known as "measuring" or "span" worms, which hang from the branches by their long silken cords, adhere to ladies' dresses, crawl over gentlemen's hats, alight on parasols, and otherwise obtrude their disagreeable presence on the passers-by. The City Fathers determined on applying to old Mother England for a cure; and an agent was sent over to procure 1,000 sparrows. They were brought to Philadelphia, tended with great care until the beginning of Spring, and a few days since they were liberated in the heart of the city, to fly whithersoever they chose. The sparrows have since been building nests in belfries and under the caves of buildings, and have also taken possession of the boxes set up for them in the parks and squares. Thus settled in their new home, they are expected to multiply rapidly, and be in good condition for fighting the "measuring worms" when they make their abhorrent appearance about the end of May. The sparrows have experienced the warmest welcome in Philadelphia. The Mayor, at the time of the liberation, issued a special proclamation, requesting the public to protect the little strangers, and prohibiting all persons from injuring them.

At home one occasionally sees ladies who adopt the quiet garb of the Quakers, and here one meets cousins of theirs in the same dress of drab and silver-grey. It feels strange however, when from under the large "cottage bonnet" peers forth the swarthy face of a negress, who scorning the gay bandana, chooses to follow the Friends in fashions. The dress is strictly adhered to only by the orthodox section of Quakers,-the other section, the Hecites are not so formal in the matter of the "thee" and "thou" and the dress. My kind friend Lewis Cooper tells me that the largest "meeting-house" in the city belongs to members of the old régime. Next to the Swedes' buryingground, its grave-yard is the oldest in the city. It is said that William Penn spoke over the grave of the first person interred there. During the Revolution and also during the late Rebellion, some of the good Quakers laid aside their peace principles, and fought bravely for a cause which they valued more even than peace.*

Lewis Cooper himself is one of the Hecite section. His definition of the use of speech or language is simple enough "Use the words by which you can best be understood," and of dress, "use that material which is most comfortable, healthy and warm." Why therefore be bound by any rule of speech or dress? I told him the story of Alexander and Diogenes,-the conqueror of the world came to the philosopher and asked him how to be happy; "Be humble minded" said the stoic, and taking

*This conduct was not approved by "Friends" in England. A lady thus eloquently pleads in favour of the non-fighting Quakers. "No community has had the cause of freedom so near at heart as our Society. Therefore it was not necessary to add to the real help they did afford, by taking up the sword. Many Friends refused to join the army, and were persecuted for so doing. But they were in a remarkable manner preserved from evil."