He

"Autocrat" records a conversation in which he showed how that each individual has three personalities. says, "Let us suppose the real John to be old, dull, and ill-looking. But as the Higher Powers have not conferred on men the gift of seeing themselves in the true light, John very possibly conceives himself to be youthful, witty, and fascinating, and talks from the point of view of this ideal. Thomas, again, believes him to be an artful rogue, though really We thus get :

simple and stupid."

"Three Johns."

"1. The real John, known only to his Maker.

2. John's ideal John; never the real one, and often very unlike him.

3. Thomas' ideal John: never the real John, nor John's John, but often very unlike either."

The "Autocrat" then adds:

"A very unphilosophical application of the above remarks was made by a young fellow, answering to the name of John, who sits near me at table. A certain basket of peaches-a rare vegetable, little known to boarding-houses-was on its way to me via this unlettered Johannes. He appropriated the three that remained, remarking that there was just one apiece for him. I convinced him that his practical inference was hasty and illogical, but in the meantime had eaten the peaches."

The foregoing is a good example of the manner in which Dr. Holmes lightens and makes entertaining what might otherwise have been a tedious demonstration of a theory. It will at once be seen how thoroughly he plants his theories in his reader's mind; for, taking this example, anyone who remembered the three peaches would be sure to remember the three Johns.

Another specimen of the humor of the young man John, is the following. The "Professor" had been remarking how men get tired of tobacco.

"Just so said the young fellow John.-I've got tired of my cigars and burnt 'em all up.

"I am heartily glad to hear it-said the Model [of all the Virtues].—I wish they were all disposed of in the same way.

"So do I, said the young fellow John.

"Can't you get your friends to unite with you in committing these odious instruments of debauchery to the flames in which you have consumed your own? "I wish I could, said the young fellow John.

"It would be a noble sacrifice, said the Model— and every American woman would be grateful to you. Let us burn them all in a heap out in the yard.

"That arn't my way, said the young fellow John; -I burn 'em one 't' time,-little end in my mouth and big end outside."

Dr. Holmes has written a number of amusing songs

and ballads, too numerous for all to be mentioned, but we may give the following titles; The Spectre Pig, Daily Trials, The Music Garden, Once More, Aunt Tabitha, and The Treadmill Song. The last named is concluded by the prisoner-who greatly enjoyed his prison life—thus:

"If ever they should turn me out
When I have better grown,

Now hang me, but I mean to have
A treadmill of my own."

We think the examples we have given will suffice to show the character of Dr. Holmes' wit and humor. His works abound in frequent flashes of wit and gleams of humor; so that these literary qualities are spread over the whole, rather than concentrated in any one work. It is to this fact, doubtless, that we may attribute the agreeable nature of those works; for it so relieves them from anything which could be called "dry," as to make them most pleasant reading even when treating of the gravest matters. It is rather a cheerful smiling on the part of the author, and a genial mood which is maintained throughout, and keeps the reader always on good terms with what he is reading, that we find in Dr. Holmes' writings, than, as in some others, sudden and occasional gusts of boisterous hilarity. The secret of good writing is evidently possessed by

our author, or he would not be so successful in pleasing as he is and we are inclined to think that the secret consists not a little in the presence of this continuous though seldom obstrusive stream of geniality and pleasantry.

We have but to add that the wit is always refined, and the humor always pure and free from any coarse allusion, and will then leave it to the reader—if he please to enjoy these qualities of Dr. Holmes' works, by reading them for himself.

The great problem of many anxious souls in these days is how to reconcile religion and science: how to keep the faith of the one and accept the teachings of the other. And it is a great problem not so much because the essential qualities of religion and science are at variance, as on account of the various growths of superstition and presumption which have gathered about them and falsified both. For, if religion-the