Fairy Tales Utilised For, The New Generation.

matters it to us that poor Puss ' s antecedents are very questionable , ( ask Inspector Grummer ) , and that her moral propriety of conduct is very much open to doubt . It is a mistake for us to ask for too much , or to look too deeply below the surface of things . Let us regard things as they

arelet us be reasonable and practical , and philosophical to boot ; and , above all , do not let us forget that good old refrain : " Take the goods the Gods provide you , Lovely Thais sits beside you . " Alas ! this is the old , old fallacy amid the " fallentis semita vita , " which has benumbed the consciences of thousands of our

kind , and with the art of Mephistophiles has condemned many a Faust , to say nothing of injured Marguerite , to endless sorrow and shame . Yes , disguise it as we may , cover it up as we will with the rank luxuriance of sceptical thought , this world of ours has been given in all its agesand

, still is , to shams and to impostors—to the cunning charlatan and the brazen knave . For the world , curiously enough , despite its high moral tone and " pompous preludes , " seems rather to like being taken in , and hugs its chains complacently and calmly

enough . After all , probably there is , and must be , some pleasure in being deceived , since we all often prefer hypocrisy to sincerity , and treachery to truth ! So wags the world away , and in its revolving-cars , like as you may see in some busy fairthe

, rogue and the honest , the faithful and the betrayer , the kind and the malignant , the good aud the bad—all seem to move on pretty much alike around the customary circle ! Nemesis no doubt will be here one

day an unbidden guest at this Sybarites feast , but we shall most of us be cold in our graves and long forgotten , before this world ' s blind judgments are overruled , and its unsound decrees reversed . I do not

wish however , to be too hard on " Puss in Boots , " not only because I do not see why , like Diogenes , 1 am to keep railing from my tub against all which my fellow bipeds admire , but simply because I fully admit also that " tour les gouts " are " permis , " if not " respectables . "

Yet , I venture to-daytosay , that I , for my part , much prefer in all the concerns and company of life , that modesty which needs no allurements , that truth which never wavers , that purity of purpose , that

unselfishness of disposition which make No 1 give way to No . 2 , and do not consider it fair , even among " chief friends , " to inquire irretrievably your neighbour , simply to gratify your own personal dislikes , or to accommodate your own pressing interests .

I fear that , after all is said and done , " Puss in Boots" only represents the earthiness of earth , the worldliness of the world , the lesser and lower if outwardly agreeable characteristics of human nature , and thereforedespite the courage and

, cleverness , the attractiveness and the address of poor Puss , we should always be on our guard lest we ever forget that all this is only outside show , a skilful varnishing , and that beneath it all , alas , we miss entirely these truer emotions which should

control , and those higher aspirations which should elevate this fleeting life of oars . I know many a " Puss in Boots " in society , so do you , whom I think a pleasant companion and an agreeable member of our little circlenot a bad vis it visnot at all a

dis-, , agreeable associate 5 , tete a tete ; but yet when the music is hushed , the lights have flared out , when the flowers have withered , I feel more than ever how unsafe a

companion , how unfit a helpmate for all the cares , and crosses , and troubles , and sorrows , of life . No , depend upon it , though " Puss in Boots " may be admired by this world for that outward brilliancy and success which often attend on the audacious and

unscrupulous , here we shouldbe very much mistaken indeed , if we ever allowed ourselves to think for one moment , that such a state of things could give any of usreal happiness , or illuminate for us with any true or abiding light the often dreary pathway of

earthly existence . As I do not desire to seem to write too severely or too harshly , so I will only add that , as I have always been taught to look on life as a " real thing , " I feel bound to point out to my readers today that , though the world has lost none of

its fascinations , it has lost neither anything of its short-lived emptiness ; aud , like a good many other fragile and painted toys , " Puss in Boots" will also in turn pass away like allthings here , to point the moral and adorn the tale for all who can think , for all who can discern the the real from the unreal , the true from the false , the good from the evil , amid that