tact and skill. It is the inconsequential and announced his intention of marrying. William Lamb of the House of Commons, and not the exalted Lord Melbourne, whom Mrs. Ward had in mind in portraying William Ashe; and it was more particularly his young wife, Caroline Lamb, who furnished the real motive of the novel. 66 'Lady Caroline," we are told by Lord Melbourne's biographer, Dr. Dunckley, "became the mistress of many accomplishments. She acquired French and Latin, and had the further courage, Mr. Torrens tells us, to undertake the recital of an ode of Sappho. She could draw and paint, and had the instinct of caricature. Her mind was brimming with romance, and, regardless of conventionality, she followed her own tastes in everything. In conversation she was both vivacious and witty." Such was Lady Caroline Ponsonby when she married William Lamb. The marriage proved an extremely unhappy one. Lady Caroline's whole life was a series of flirtations-deliberately planned, as a matter of fact, and yet entered upon with such mad rushes of passion as to seem merely the result of some irresistible impulse. A son was born to the couple, but he brought no joy, for as he grew up he developed an infirmity of intellect amounting almost to imbecility. The life of the young people was incessant round of frivolous dissipation." The after-supper revels often lasted till daybreak. But this brought no happiness, and both husband and wife came to realize that marriage had been, for them, a troublesome affair. About this time Lord Byron appeared on the scene. "Childe Harold " had brought him sudden fame. He had traveled in the East, was the hero of many escapades, had been sufficiently wicked to win the admiration of certain ladies of romantic tendencies, and altogether created quite a furor through the peculiar charms of his handsome face and dashing ways. He sought and obtained an introduction to Lady Caroline. He came to call the next day when she was alone, and for the next nine months almost lived at Melbourne House. They called each other by endearing names, and exchanged passionate verses. They were constantly together, and the intimacy caused much scandalous comment. It lasted until Byron became tired of it all, an The marriage to a cousin of Lady Caroline aroused the fierce jealousy of the latter, who proceeded to perform a little melodrama of her own, first trying to jump out of a window and then stabbing herself—not so deep that it would hurt— with a knife. Such escapades could have but one result. There came a separation, of course; but some traces of the early love remained in both, and when Lady Caroline was dying, William Lamb was summoned from Ireland. The final parting was not without tender affection on both sides, and William felt his loss deeply. In this brief sketch the reader of Mrs. Ward's novel will recognize Kitty Ashe in every line. The portraiture is very close. Cliffe takes the place of Lord Byron without being made to resemble him. But he serves to reveal the weakness of Kitty's character. Even Kitty's mischievous work in writing a book, which came near ruining her husband's career, was an episode in the life of Caroline Lamb. She wrote a novel in which Byron and herself were the principal characters, and their escapades were paraded before the world in a thin disguise which deceived nobody. Of Mrs. Ward's later books there is little to say, so far as scenes and " originals " are concerned. In "Fenwick's Career" the little cottage where the artist and his wife lived was in reality the summer home of Mrs. Ward's daughter Dorothy. It stands on the slope of a hill near the Langdale Pikes in Westmoreland, commanding a view of surpassing loveliness. In the "Testing of Diana Mallory" the scenery is all taken from the country near Stocks, the summer home of the novelist. In her latest book, "Daphne," or "Marriage à la Mode," Mount Vernon, Washington, Niagara Falls, and an imaginary English estate supply the necessary scenery, and these are not described with real interest, for the author, contrary to her usual custom, is here writing with a fixed didactic purpose. But a chapter incidentally thrown in reflects the novelist's impressions of a visit to the White House as the guest of President Roosevelt-an experience which inter ested her greatly. In "the tall, blackhaired man with the meditative eye, the equal, social or intellectual, of any Foreign Minister that Europe might pit against him, or any diplomat that might be sent. to handle him," it is easy to recognize Mr. Root. Secretary Garfield is "this younger man, sparely built, with the sane handsome face-son of a famous father, modest, amiable, efficient." Secretary Taft, with whom, apparently, the distinguished author did not really become acquainted, is lightly referred to as "this other of huge bulk and height, the hope of a party, smiling already a Presidential smile as he passed." It has been said of this book that it does an injustice to America. But such ROBIN GHYLL Summer cottage of Miss Dorothy Ward near Langdale Pikes. Original of Fenwick's cottage was assuredly far from the author's intent. Mrs. Ward, who is one of the keenest observers of English and European public men, pays a high compliment in the remark that "America need make UPPER HOUSE KINDERSCOUT The old house at the right of the tower was the no excuses whatever for her best men. She has evolved the leaders she wants, and Europe has nothing to teach them." She is attacking the laxity of the divorce laws in certain American States, and in doing so is actuated by motives which every high-minded American must applaud. The English general who berates American institutions is held up to ridicule, and the most agreeable woman in the book-perhaps the only agreeable one is an American. Daphne, through whom the author condemns the evil, is not a typical American girl, but, with evident intent to avoid offense, is made the daughter of a foreigner. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Ward's feelings toward America are of the kindliest nature, and, whatever may be said of the merits of "Marriage à la Mode" as a work of fiction, in condemning an abuse which nobody can defend she has performed a real service. Double Trouble By Martha Young Hit's good to be twins, so some folks say, Hit would be good ef ever'thing Growed double des lak twins grow! Ef two apples growed whar one hangs now, Ef ever' cake dat Mammy bake Ef watermelons grew twins on de vine, "Hit's good to be twins and heah!" Our Mammy and Daddy say dey are twins And dey say us two is better by half Fer hit's" Peter, you take de bigges' half Our Mammy say us must keep dat up Den often one young 'un gits licked in a scrap, But us two al'a's wins! And so ever' day us thanks de Lord Dat us is bof un us twins! By Walter V. Woehlke F OR more than half a century New York State has been famous for the apples it produces; the fate of the Delaware peach crop has become a matter of National concern every spring; the reputation of Florida's oranges is older even than that of New York State apples. Along the Atlantic seaboard in the South, in portions of the Middle West, orchards were in blossom and bore fruit before gold was found in California, at a time when Puget Sound was remoter from New York than Cape Town or China. And yet, with the accumulated experience of a hundred years and more at their disposal, the Eastern fruitgrowers are going West to learn their business. Twenty years ago Florida laughed at the puny attempt of the Californians to enter the Eastern markets with their oranges. This spring fifty of Florida's representative orange-growers crossed the continent to study the California methods of growing, packing, and marketing the citrus crop. Fifteen years ago Oregon and Washington imported apples from the East for home consumption. Last year scores of Eastern apple-growers traveled through the gray sage-brush valleys and fir-clad mountains of the Pacific Northwest, inspecting the young orchards growing on the bare hillsides, in an endeavor to discover the cause of the high prices Western apples were bringing in the East. What they saw caused many of them to hurry home, put the ax to their venerable trees, and make a new start along lines developed on the Pacific Coast. The lesson imparted to the Eastern fruitgrowers in the Far West was short and concise. Its main theme, recurring in every phase of the business, from the planting of the tree to the marketing of the crop, was Quality. And to the average unit of a democracy the lesson of Quality is hard to master because the tendency of the mass, as opposed to the class, expresses itself in mediocrity. The service of Quality is hard; it requires sustained effort, thorough training, the continued application of foresight and judgment, as against the nearly automatic performance in the treadmill of mediocrity; but its rewards are proportionately greater. The Californian's average net income of two hundred dollars per acre was the magnet that drew the Florida THE OLIVE PICKER The fruit must be carefully placed in the tin pail, and never dropped in A CROP OF WINESAP APPLES OF THE orange-growers to the Golden State. The Eastern growers of deciduous fruits had heard of car-loads of pears grown in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon. that sold for three and four thousand dollars, of pears that brought five, six, and even eight cents apiece, wholesale, in New York City, when their own pears sold for but a small fraction of these prices; they had heard of consignments of apples sent from the Hood River Valley in Oregon, and the Wenatchee Valley in Washington, to London, there to set new price records in competition with the most famous fruits of the Old World. They had heard of apple, pear, and cherry orchards of the Pacific Coast yielding a thousand dollars and more per acre in a year; startling tales of the earnings of Western groves had come to their ears; and their investigations showed that these earnings were the rewards paid by Quality to the faithful toilers in its service. Intrinsically Eastern fruit is in no way inferior to the product of the Pacific Coast. The best grade of apples grown in New York State need fear no comparison with the apple of the West. But only the highest grade can stand the test, for the 125,000 cars of fruit and fruit products that annually roll over the passes of the Rockies, eastward bound, are filled with only the choicest portion of the Western fruit crop. The balance stays at home. This process of |