soon saw the advantages of the later Italian, or Roman, styles, and have kept to them ever since. The people of Germany are troubled to-day with near-sightedness. It has been claimed, with a great show of truth, that this is largely owing to the fact that the Germans still retain the old black-letter of the early Irish and the Anglo-Saxons. But every year the Germans are printing more and more books in Roman type, and for generations Roman type and Roman script have been taught in their schools, together with the angular Gothic. [Illustration: THE OLDEST CHALDEAN ALPHABET.] Among the half-civilized nations which are now being taught our wisdom, many are learning to use our alphabet; and it seems almost certain that in time the whole world, excepting perhaps the Mohammedan nations, will express their thoughts in our version of the letters that came down from the Phœnicians. What a glory for that strange old folk of the Mediterranean Sea! [4] This massive collar or bracelet, here reproduced from Mr. George Stephens’s “Old Northern Runic Monuments,” was made of twisted gold, and was found at Buzeo, in Wallachia, upon the site, probably, of a heathen temple. The runic characters inscribed upon it mean “dedicated to the temple of the Goths.” This torque was worth nearly twenty thousand dollars. A BALLAD OF BASE-BALL. BY I. D. I. Now that Summer has just reached its mark, And the schooling and fishing are done, Come! To-morrow get up with the lark (And you know she gets up with the sun)— Come along! who would shirk or would shun The game that is best of them all, For glory and frolic and fun? So hurrah for the Bat and the Ball! II. Yes, hurrah! we’ll be first in the Park; Our Nine will go up there as one, _Not_ to see all the beasts of the Ark, Nor the birds, nor the beetles,—no fun!— But around the green Diamond to run, And the Red-stockings’ hearts to appall, And to show how a game may be won: So hurrah for the Bat and the Ball! III. We’ve a Catcher as keen as a shark, For fouls—well he can’t be outdone; And our Batters could bat in the dark, And our Pitcher knows every one Of the “curves” and the “shoots”; not a run Did he give those Red-stockings last Fall In the champion match that we won. So hurrah for the Bat and the Ball! Jack, throw down your rod and your gun, Let kite and top go to the wall, Of _good_ games there’s not more than one, So hurrah for the Bat and the Ball! MAN OVERBOARD! BY H. A. JOHNSON. [Illustration: OFF TO THE RESCUE.]