portunity to read for a day about the wonderful city of Constantinople which was reached shortly before night. It was cold during the stay at the Capital of the Turkish Empire. In fact it was the only day during the trip that one could complain of the cold; but so much time was spent in the Mosque of St. Sophia, the Imperial Treasury and the bazaars that even the cold did not chill one unduly.

A day in Smyrna and Ephesus and another in Beirut prepared the tourists for a week or fortnight in the Holy Land. The Lord Bishop of Ontario and a few other choice spirits went to Baalbec and Damascus, reaching the Sea of Galilee by rail from the north, while other members of the party rode from Haifa to Nazareth and Tiberias in carriages, and after a sail on the Sea of Galilee to the sites of Capernaum and Bethsaida returned by rail to Haifa. Perhaps a dozen people went across country from Nazareth to Jerusalem, but the rest of the party reached the Holy City by rail from Jaffa.

Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablous, Jericho, the Jordan and the Dead Sea, as well as Bethany and the Mount of Olives, were visited by members of the Cruise, according to the time reserved for Jerusalem and for the side trips. No one could take all the excursions provided, as considerable time was needed for places of interest in and about the Holy City. Many of the tourists attended the American Church in Jerusalem supported by the American Christian Alliance, and later they held a service near the Russian Church on the

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Mount of Olives. The Garden of Gethsemane, the garden near Gordon's Calvary, and the tomb in the garden produced a deeper impression on the minds of the non-Catholic part of the company than did the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, though every one went through that historic building as well as the Mosque of Omar, not far away.

One week or two was spent in Cairo and on the Nile according to the selection made in dividing the time between Egypt and the Holy Land. Egypt still is the land of romance as well as history. A young Armenian from Constantinople, to whom one of the Southern ladies had carried a letter of introduction, followed the party to Cairo, and pressed his suit with such effect that the young lady was in tears as she considered what answer she should give to the old but ever new question.

The members of some of the Nile parties saw Luxor and Assouan, and if reports are true, at least one of the couples found time to take a fishing trip, for it was reported on their return to Cairo that their future was assured, as he had "hooked her up the Nile." There were other romances connected with the Land of the Pharaohs, and not a few interesting incidents experienced by members of the party; and many amusing comments were made by those who were visiting Egypt for the first time. It was difficult for one of the American travelers to remember the name of the stone image back of the Pyramids, but she was able to iden

tify it by this designation: "I mean that fixin' with a man's face on it." No one failed to know that she had seen the Sphinx, and in referring to it as masculine she had shown greater wisdom than some travelers with more book knowledge than she possessed.

A day in Sicily after sailing through the Straits of Messina whetted the appetite for Naples and Rome and Florence and Pisa and Venice and Milan, for those who went through Europe. About two-thirds of the party contented themselves with Naples and Rome, and after a few hours on the Riviera and a glimpse of Monte Carlo sailed for Queenstown and Liverpool. There a transfer was made to another ship, and after another week of ocean life, the Cruise of the Arabic was at an end, and enough information and inspiration had been gained to last its five hundred members many years.

Thackeray concludes his story of his month on the Mediterranean with a paragraph which may well encourage future travelers in the Orient: "What a number of sights and pictures and novel sensations and lasting and delightful remembrances after such a tour! You forget all the annoyances of travel, but the pleasures remain with you; the sorrows of the journey pass away with the soothing influence of time; the pleasures of the voyage remain, let us hope, as long as life will endure. It is but for a couple of days that those shining columns of the Parthenon glow under the blue sky there; but the experience of a life could scarcely impress them more vividly. Who can

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forget the Bosphorus, the brightest and fairest scene in all the world! But the happiest and best of all recollections, perhaps, are those of the hours passed at night on the deck when the stars were shining overhead as the hours were tolled at their time, and your thoughts were fixed upon home far away.”

For those who desire to trace the course of the trip in the Mediterranean which Thackeray took, and to see the ports visited by those on the cruise described in these pages, reference may be made to the frontispiece of this volume, which is reproduced by the courtesy of the officers of the White Star Line, to whom grateful recognition is made.

From first to last Mr. P. V. G. Mitchell, the director of the Cruise, representing the White Star Line, had done everything possible to insure the safety and comfort of the passengers, and, assisted by Mr. E. L. Herman, of Thomas Cook & Sons, had carried out every promise made for side trips in Spain, Turkey, Palestine, Egypt and Italy. To call the trip ideal is to speak within bounds; and no one could fail to recognize the good hand of an overruling Providence in the journey by land and sea.

HOME THOUGHTS FROM EUROPE

BY THE REV. HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., LL.D.

IT is good to see the Old World, and travel up and down
Among the famous countries and the cities of renown,

To admire the crumbly castles, and the monuments and kings;
But soon or late you have enough of antiquated things.

Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air;
And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;
And it's sweet to loaf in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;
But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.

Oh, Europe is a fine place, yet something seems to lack,
The past is too much with her, and the people looking back;
But life is in the present, and the future must be free;
We love our land for what she is, and what she is to be.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again to God's countrie,
To the blessed land of Room Enough, beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunshine and the flag is full of stars.

From "White Bees." Copyright, 1910, by Charles Scribner's Sons, and reproduced here by the kind permission of the author.