Sounds of mirth and music rose like a distant murmur on the air, and mingled with the songs of birds and insects.

Then the sun went down, and in a few minutes it grew dark, while the brilliant fire-flies began their nocturnal gambols.

Suddenly a bright flame burst over the village, and a flight of magnificent rockets shot up into the sky, and burst in a hundred bright and variously-coloured stars, which paled for a few seconds the lights of nature.

But they vanished in a moment, and the clear stars shed abroad their undying lustre,--seeming, in their quiet, unfading beauty, a gentle satire on the short-lived and gairish productions of man.
"Mighty purty, no doubt," exclaimed Barney.

"Is this the Imperor's birth-day ?" "No," replied the hermit, shaking his head; "that is the way in which the false priests amuse the people.