him the imperial of gold cloth, which is some fifteen feet in length, with a cape of ermine, and covered with the double eagle of Russia in black enamel and precious stones.

Over this they placed the broad diamond Collar of St. Andrew, which sank into the bed of snowy white fur, and lay glimmering and flashing as the Emperor moved forward to take the imperial diadem from the hands of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg.

The crown was a marvelous thing, fashioned in two halves to typify the eastern and western kingdoms. It was formed entirely of white diamonds, and surrounded by a great glowing ruby, above which was a diamond cross. The Czar lifted this globe of flame and light high above him, then lowered it to his head, and took the scepter in his right hand and the globe in his left.

When he had seated himself upon the throne, the Czarina stood up and walked to a place in front of him. There she sank upon her knees at his feet, with her bare hands clasped before her. He rested his crown for an instant upon her brow, and then replacing it upon his head, lowered a smaller crown of diamonds upon hers. Three ladies-in-waiting fastened it to her hair with long gold hair-pins, the Czar watching them with deepest interest as they did so.

Then, as they retired, two of the grand-dukes placed a mantle similar to the Czar's upon her shoulders, and hung another diamond collar upon the ermine of her cape. When this was done, the Czarina stepped back to her throne of ivory, and the Czar to his throne of turquoise.

The supreme moment had come and gone, and Nicholas the II and Alexandra Feodorovna sat crowned before the nations of the world.

Some one made a signal through the open door, and the diplomats on the tribune outside rose to their feet, and the crush of moujiks below them sank on their knees, and the regiments of young peasant soldiers flung their guns at salute, and the bells of the churches carried the news over the heads of the kneeling thousands across the walls of the Kremlin to where one hundred and one cannon hurled it on across the river and up to the highest hill of Moscow, where the modern messengers of good and evil began to tick it out to Odessa, to Constantinople, to Berlin, to Paris, to the rocky coast of Penzance, where it slipped into the sea and hurried on under the ocean to the illuminated face in the Cable Company's tall building on Broadway [New York City], until the world had been circled, and the answering congratulations came pouring into Moscow while the young Emperor still stood under the dome of the little chapel.

At

After the congratulations the ceremony was continued by the priests alone, who chanted and prayed for nearly two hours, during which time the Czar and Czarina took little part in the services beyond crossing themselves at certain intervals. last the priests ceased, and the most solemn ceremony of the coronation was reached. The Czar passed from sight through the jeweled door of the screen, while his young wife, who could not enter with him, waited, praying for him.

When he came forth again, the tears were streaming down his cheeks. One could see in his face, white and drawn with hours of prayer and fasting, how strongly he was moved. And one could imagine what he felt when he looked forward into the many years to come and again saw himself as he was at that moment, a young man of twenty-eight, taking in his hands the insignia of absolute sovereignty over the bodies of one hundred

million people and on his lips the most sacred of oaths to protect the welfare of one hundred million souls.

Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
"This is my own, my native land!"
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go, mark him well!
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim-
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S INAUGURATION

When the new Senators had taken the oath, the procession formed to march out to the stand erected in front of the Senate wing of the Capitol. There the chief ceremony of the day, the swearing in of the new President by the Chief Justice, was to take place.

Any scene with the Capitol building for a background must of necessity be impressive. Its situation is more imposing than that of the legislative buildings of any other country; the Houses of Parliament, on the Thames, and at Budapest, on the Danube, appear heavy and somber in comparison; the Chamber of Deputies, or the Seine, is not to be compared with it in any way. No American can look upon it, and see its great swelling dome, balanced on the shoulders of the two marble wings, and the myriads of steps leading to it, without feeling a thrill of pride and pleasure that so magnificent a monument should belong to his country and to him.

To the foreigners in the crowd the absence of any guard or escort of soldiers near the President, or of soldiers of any sort, was probably the most peculiar feature of the scene. In no other country would the head of the nation, whether he rules by inheritance or is elected to power, stand on such an occasion so close to the people without a military escort. Indeed, when the President takes the oath of office before the people, and delivers his inaugural address, there is not a single man in uniform to stand between him and his fellow-countrymen, crowded so closely to him that by bending forward he could touch them with his hand.

Down below the crowd cheered mightily when it saw the