J.--JOAN OF ARC. JOAN OF ARC, as we call her in English; Jeanne D'Arc, as she was called in her native country; "The Maid of Orleans," as she is called in history, was the daughter of a French peasant. In her childhood and through her girlhood she was often employed in tending sheep, and so lived much alone. She grew dreamy and imaginative; and her young heart was much given to religious exercises. It is said that she used to spend hours at her devotions, and when she was thirteen years old her mind had dwelt so much upon the superstitious legends of those days that it was not strange she should in one of those exalted moods of religious fervor imagine that she had a vision, and heard voices speaking to her of the wonderful exploits she was to achieve. The people among whom she lived were ignorant and superstitious, and could very easily be made to believe in anything which had a tinge of the supernatural. Mythical stories of the saints, accounts of the doings of fairies and demons were told around every fireside, and the children eagerly drank in the strange tales. What you boys and girls would turn away from with a decidedly skeptical shrug of your shoulders, declaring, like a boy I know, "Ghost stories are no good!" these children of a dreamy, visionary people drank in as truth, and very solemn truth too. And so when Joan, walking in the shadow of the chapel, fancied she heard a voice and saw a great light, or when standing at the altar of the Catholic church she imagined the pictures of the saints coming out of their frames speaking to her, it is not surprising that the people of that neighborhood believed she really saw and heard these things. And when she imagined that she heard St. Michael speaking to her and telling her that she was sent to deliver her country from the English, some of the people believed it--but it appears her father with more practical sense than the others declared it was only a delusion, and sought to convince her of the absurdity of her wild idea. But she could not be persuaded out of it, and at length when she was twenty years old the king hearing of her and of what she considered her mission, sent for her and placed her at the head of the French army. A number of curious things are said to have occurred upon the occasion of her interview with the king. For one thing she recognized him at once among his courtiers though she had never seen him before. Then she told him of a certain sword hidden in an old chapel which it was necessary to bring out for her use, though it is said she never struck a blow; she only led the army, so I suppose an old rusty sword would do as well as any.