climate—nor are they necessary in any other. All over the world, my dear fellow,

    true

   love is ever warm."

   There was a decided interval. I felt sorry for the little lad who had been a god and who had become an elevator boy, so I said to him:

   "Never mind, Danny, you are sure of your office always."

   "I wish it were so," said he, sadly. "But really, sir, it isn't. You may think that love rules all things nowadays, but that is a fallacy. Of late years a rival concern has sprung up. I have found my office subjected to a most annoying competition which has attracted away from me a large number of my closest followers. In the days when we acknowledged ourselves to be purely heathen, love was regarded with respect, but now all that is changed. Opposite my office in the government building there is a matrimonial corporation doing a very large business, by which the fees of my position are greatly reduced. Possibly after you have had your audience with Jove to-morrow you will take a turn about the city, in which event you will see this trust's big brazen sign. You can't miss it if you walk along Mercury Avenue. It reads:

   "Dear me!" I cried. "Poor Love!"

   "I don't need your sympathy," said the boy, quickly, drawing himself up proudly. "It can't last, this competition. Man and god kind will soon see the difference in the permanence of our respective output. This is only a temporary success they are having, and it often happens that the spurious articles put forth by Mammon & Company are brought over to me to be repaired. My sun will dawn again. You can't put out the fires in my

   furnaces as long as men and women are made from the old receipt."

   Here the elevator stopped, and a rather attractive young woman appeared at the door.

   "Here is where you get out, sir," said the elevator boy.

   "You are Mr.——" began the girl.

   "I am," I replied.

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