tlement."

Mrs. Chiverly stood by him as he sat at the desk. "You must call the
picture," she said, "'The Seven Ages of Trees.'"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mr. Chiverly, turning suddenly and gazing with
astonishment at his wife. "That will do for a bit of pleasantry, but the
title of the picture is 'A Scene on the Upper Mississippi.' You don't want
to deceive the man, do you?"

"No, I do not," said Mrs. Chiverly, "and that is one reason why I did not
give it your title. It is a capitally painted picture, and as a woodland
'Seven Ages' it is simply perfect. That was what it sold for; and for that
and nothing else will the money be paid."

Mr. Chiverly looked at her for a moment longer, and then bursting into a
laugh he returned to his desk. "You have touched me to the quick," he said.
"Money has given title before and it shall do so now. There is the
receipted bill!" he cried, pushing back his chair.


Francis Bret Harte.

Bret Harte, so far as we can discover, has written the only story of
Revolutionary times in Morristown, and the only story of those times in New
Jersey except Miss Holdich, who follows, and James Fenimore Cooper, whose
"Water Witch" is located about the Highlands of New Jersey. By a passage
from his story of "Thankful Blossom" we shall represent him at the close of
this sketch.

Between 1873 and 1876 Bret Harte lived in Morristown, in several locations:
in the picturesque old Revere place on the Mendham Road, the very home for
a Novelist, now owned and occupied by Mr. Charles G. Foster; in the
Whatnong House for one summer, near which are located old farms, which seem
to us to have many features of the "Blossom Farm" and to which we shall
refer; in the Logan Cottage on Western Avenue and in the house on Elm
Street now owned and occupied by Mr. Joseph F. Randolph.

The steps by which Bret Harte climbed to the eminence that he now occupies,
are full of romantic interest. Left early by his father, who was a
Professor in an Albany Seminary and a man of culture, to struggle with
little means, the boy, at