who had taken out his holiday by exhibiting a
cabinet-stand and case, veneered, by way of
showing that he could do something besides
making shoes, though in making them much
fancy may be expended. Here, too, was a
bootmaker, who treated us with a timepiece
and a glass shade. A boot-clicker exhibited,
with some fancy leather-work, a case of picture-
frames, vases, and flowers. Another bootmaker
showed us some ornamental cabinet-work;
and still another, a casket in walnut, and
tulip wood; and, lastly, another shoemaker
contributed a manuscript book, entitled the Flora
of Shakespeare, and also Specimens of the
Present Flora of Hampstead-heath, scientifically
arranged.

So much for the "Shoemakers' Holiday," so
nobly furnished by "the Workmen's Festival."
But other trades and employments found also
their recreation in this Industrial Exhibition of
the Working Classes. Ornamental work of
all kinds, inventions without end, all manner
of ingenious contrivances, have occupied the
leisure hours of about a thousand persons
who represent the labouring classes. We are
glad to find that the late exhibition has been
eminently successful. The hall was daily
besieged with visitants, and fairly stood its
ground against the Philharmonic and other
music-halls with which the neighbourhood
abounds. Nor has music been excluded from
"the Workmen's Festival." Concerts and
oratorios were repeatedly added to the exhibition
of curiosities. Among them the Messiah
was performed. The general administration of
the Agricultural Hall, however, is not faultless.
More than once it has been made the arena of
low-class entertainments. Under proper
management, it might be raised to a very high level.
That general society is so raising itself has been
abundantly proved by the lengthened existence
within its walls of the "Metropolitan and Provincial
Working Classes' Industrial Exhibition."

In such an exhibition we have tangible facts
which testify to the working of moral and social
laws that are yet struggling for recognition,
though lying at the base of all the progress that
excites the special admiration of the observer.
The growing intelligence of the working classes
is evidenced equally in the choice and elegance
of their work. Their tendency to co-operation
is likewise manifested by the collection of so
many curiosities, the inventions of so many
labourers, under one roof. In such union
they show sources of strength which the
ambitious will not be slow to utilise. But, in our
observation of the body, let us not neglect the
individuals that compose it, variously occupied
as they are, and many of them suffering under
"the iniquity of fortune." Too many are found
in impoverished dwellings, too many inextricably
complicated in social arrangements which militate
against the exercise of taste or invention,
and too many far removed from the means of
intercourse with congenial minds by whom they
might have been helped in their early trials,
How many, for the want of a free interchange
of ideas, have wasted years of patient study
and labour, and sacrificed health, in arriving
by slow degrees at results which might
otherwise have been attained with comparative
facility? Among these are chemists, naturalists,
geologists, botanists, mechanicians, sculptors,
architects, who, under other names, have battled
with their fates in homely abodes, amidst the
roar of cities, and in the solitudes of nature.
Records of such men are continually turning
up in provincial journals, and in the minutes of
local institutions. In the obscurest nooks in all
our counties the, local poet is sure to be found,
"brooding like the stock-dove over his own
sweet voice," and awaiting in hope the day
when it may be heard by those who can
appreciate its music. Because such men are
always existing, though secluded for a while
from observation, it is possible at any time that
some grand intellect, some great inventive mind,
some powerful orator, some attractive singer,
may suddenly spring from the body of the
people, from the midst of the industrial classes
—heroic souls that have long struggled in darkness,
upheld simply by a strong self-determination,
and have at length found the daylight for
which they yearned. To such the opportunities
afforded by "Workmen's Festivals" are
invaluable. They have none of the drawbacks
to which the "Shoemakers' Holidays" of our
fathers were liable.

          KÄTCHEN'S CAPRICES.
    IN TEN CHAPTERS. CHAPTER IX.

AT last the kitchen was cleared of all save
the Kesters, Hans, and Ebner.

"Oh, Herr Ebner, what will they do to
him?" asked Kätchen, in a pleading voice.

"Ah, Kätchen, Kätchen," said he, with a
sad smile and a shake of the head, "ought I
to care what they do to him?"

Kätchen blushed, but answered eagerly,
"But you do care, Herr Ebner, because you're
good and true, and can't endure that any one
should suffer unjust suspicions. What can
they do to him:"

"I don't rightly know how far he was responsible,
but I suppose the owners will put a value
on their property, and he will have to make
good the loss."

"Oh, and it might be worth Heaven knows
how many gulden! These foreigners are so
rich. What will he do? What will he do?"

"Well, Kätchen, as to the value of the box, I
can give you some good news; and indeed I came
down to the Golden Lamb to-night partly to say
something that I wouldn't say before the idle
chattering folk who were here all agape for
gossip. There's a man at my house who has
come over from Ischl about this business. He
is a courier in the service of the people who
own the box, and is going with them to Vienna.
A Swiss named——"

"Not Laurier?" interrupted Kester.

"Yes, truly; his name is Laurier," returned
Ebner.

"Ah, I know him! He's a friend of mine."
said Kester.