pipes, is received into a large reservoir on Bergen heights, from which it is distributed through a multiplicity of mains to the several cities. A careful calculation has been made, and it is estimated that the reservoir is capable of supplying two millions of gallons every twenty-four hours. The introduction of water into manufactories, stores and dwellings, together with an efficient system of sewerage; the advantages of gas and many other valuable features of domestic economy, render Jersey City a desirable place of residence, while the facilities for manufacturing and ease of transit, make it attractive to the mere business man, and the course of the city must for many years to come be onward and upward. Paulus Hook was fortified with a small stockaded block-house during the Revolution, which was attacked by Major Lee, with a small force, and a large part of its garrison made prisoners of war. It was at this point that Sergeant Champe, in his pretended desertion from the American army for the purpose of capturing Arnold, and thus saving the life of André, embarked on board of a barge and escaped to New York, though hotly pursued by a party of dragoons. Our series includes a view of the court-house and jail of Hudson county, New York.

MUSIC.

There is a magic in the very name of music; it brings with it a flood of delightful memories, echoes of grand symphonies, peals of mighty organs summoning thousands to pray, the clangor of brazen trumpets maddening marshalled hosts to the fury of battle; strains of unwritten melody, the purling of summer brooks, the carols of woodland birds, the plaintive wailing of winds among the forest foliage; for

"There's music in the forest leaves
When summer winds are there,
And in the laugh of forest girls

That braid their sunny hair."

But music, glorious as it is, may be a terror and a bore. A squeaking fife or a tuneless handorgan grates most horribly on the tympanum. The piano-forte may be an instrument of divinest harmony, or a machine fit to rank among the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, according as it is played with taste and skill or belabored with tuneless mechanism. And this leads us to inquire why an ear for music is no longer considered a requisite in a fashionable young lady? Why should fashion decree that a young lady, merely because she is a young lady, must be compelled to learn to play on the piano, whether she has the capacity to become a musician or no?

In no particular branch of education is absurdity so regularly carried out as it is in music; every young lady must learn to play; this is one of the absolute requirements of modern society; she may scarcely have ear enough to distinguish the tunes she learns from one another; her hands may be so clumsy and incapable of being trained, that after years of scale practice, one may always safely bet on the right hand as sure to distance its competitor by two or three notes in the race; these matters are only so many little difficulties, to be overcome by persevering application; and after a frightfully large proportion of the most precious part of life has been expended in the attempt to achieve an impossibility, what is the

result? After the most successful struggle of perseverance against incapacity, very considerable mechanical power and precision may be attained, so that at the sacrifice of fully one fourth of a girl's school time, she shall be able, after dinner, to execute with good effect some elaborate piece of music. The instances to which we allude are rare-very few and very far between ; but we are speaking of what may possibly be acquired by dint of hard work. The price paid down for this is very heavy; that fourth part of the school-time was a period of the extremest drudgery; but that is not the only consideration -it was taken from something else. Youth is not so long in its duration that we can afford to throw away a quarter of the educational period; these girls have tastes that require cultivation, and talents or facilities that require development, and these must suffer and remain more or less dormant and neglected in proportion to that large amount of wasted time. "Nothing in the world is single," Shelley tells us, and this evil in particular entails and necessitates others. But we looked at the subject just now in the most favorable aspect that it can assume; in about ninetyfive cases out of every hundred the same waste of time results in nothing, or else in something worse than nothing-in a style of playing that only disgusts those among the listeners who are gifted with any degree of musical appreciation. Surely the next generation will be wiser, and will learn to watch and study the tastes and capabilities of the young, so as to lend help where help will be of use; to develop what God has planted, instead of trying so vainly to do his especial and exclusive work-to create the germ of any gift or grace. Then we shall have a more pleasing and intelligent race, though they may number among them fewer "musical people."

THE ASH TREE.

In the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of a child, it is said that the nurse takes a bunch of the ash tree, one end of which she puts into the fire, and while it is burning, receives into a spoon the sap which oozes from the other end; this she gives to the child to be mingled with its first food. It is supposed to impart wonderful virtue. In a certain part of Scotland, near Kenetry church, is a famous ash, the trunk of which is now twenty-one feet ten inches in circumference. When a funeral of one of the peasantry passes by this tree, the procession pauses, the body is laid down for a few minutes, while all offer a few words of prayer. Then each person casts a stone to increase the heap which has been accumulated over its roots. This is imagined to benefit both the dead and the living.-Scottish Life.

PRUDENTIAL CONSIDERATION. A lady of a distinguished officer died in one of our colonies, just previous to which she expressed a wish to be buried in England, and was, accordingly, deposited in a cask of rum, for the purpose of transport home, but remained in the cellar after the officer's second marriage; the detention being occasioned by his expectation that the duty on spirit imported into England, in which the dear departed was preserved, would in a few years be either lowered or taken off altogether! Strange as this may seem, it is true.

JAPANESE LITTLE FOLKS.

The Honorable Frank Hall, who is now in Japan, speaks thus favorably of the Niphonese children: During more than half a year's residence in Japan, I have never seen a quarrel among young or old. I have never seen a blow struck, scarcely an angry face. I have seen the children at their sports, flying their kites on the hills, and no amount of intangled strings or kites lodged in the trees provoked angry words or impatience. I have seen them intent on their games of jackstones and marbles under the shaded gateways of the temples, but have never seen an approach to a quarrel among them. They are taught implicit obedience to their parents, but I have never seen one of them chastised. Respect and reverence for the aged is universal. A crying child is a rarity seldom seen. We have nothing to teach them in this respect out of our abundant civilization. I speak what I know of the little folks of Japan, for more than any foreigner have I been among them. Of all that Japan holds, there is nothing I like half so well as the happy children. I shall always remember their sloe black eyes and ruddy brown faces with pleasure. I have played battledoor with the little maidens in the streets, and flown kites in the fields with as happy a set of boys as one could wish to see. They have been my guides in my rambles; shown me where all the streams and ponds were, where the flowers lay hid in the thickets, where the berries were ripening on the hills; they have brought me shells from the ocean and blossoms from the field, presenting them with all the modesty and a less bashful grace than a young American boy would do.

We have hunted the fox holes together, and looked for green and golden ducks among the hedge. They have laughed at my broken Japanese and taught me better, and for a happy, good-natured set of children, I will turn out my little Japanese friends against the world. God bless the boys and girls of Niphon."

VARIOUS MODES OF SALUTATION.

Of all the different modes of salutation in various countries, there is none so graceful as that which prevails in Syria. At New Guinea the fashion is certainly picturesque; for they place their hands on the leaves of trees as symbols of peace and friendship. An Ethiopian takes the robe of another and ties it about his own waist, leaving his friend partially naked. In a cold climate this would not be very agreeable. Sometimes it is usual for persons to place themselves naked before those they salute as a sign of humility. This custom was put in practice before Sir Joseph Banks when he received the visit of two Otaheitan females. The inhabitants of the Philippine Islands take the hand or foot of him they salute, and gently rub their face with it, which is at all events more agreeable than that of the Laplanders, who have a habit of rubbing noses, applying their own proboscis with some degree of force to that of the person they desire to salute. The salute with which you are greeted in Syria is at once most graceful and flattering; the hand is raised with a quick but gentle motion, to the heart, to the lips, and to the head, to intimate that the person saluting is willing to serve you, to think for you, and to act for you.-Farley's Syria.