Will they meet the other three States half-way, and effect a peaceful compromise? Or will they carry out the threat of the German Emperor, and, in the words of her own brave Prime Minister:
Now this is the story of the Greek and Cretan troubles of which every one is talking in Europe and in America.
Some time it will be printed in grave-looking histories, and will perhaps seem very dry and dull to the young people who have to commit to memory the strange names of men and places, and perhaps, the dates of great battles fought!
It is your privilege to read this thrilling story from day to day, as it unfolds.
The European and Cuban despatches which your fathers and brothers eagerly read and talk about at breakfast every morning, are _history_. Not dried and pressed between the covers of a school-book, with all the life and spirit taken out of it; but history warm and palpitating with life; telling of things which happened yesterday, and are happening to-day, and which we all fear or else long for to-morrow.
Every American with the blood of a patriot in his veins is longing to hear to-morrow that _Cuba_ is free, and that _Crete_ is safely restored to the arms of Greece. This will happily close two of the most thrilling chapters in the history of modern times.
Juno was the cat. We all knew perfectly well that there never had been such a cat as Juno. Not that she was so fine-looking, or so expensive. She would never have taken a prize at a cat show, unless it might have been the booby prize. She was the very plainest kind of a brindled cat, and she wandered into our house from the street during her early kittenhood and calmly established herself in mother's work-basket.
From that time on Juno had been the friend and playmate of the younger generation. She never seemed like an animal to any of us. Many a time I have heard Ned apologize for having unintentionally hurt Juno, with the exclamation:
"Oh, excuse me, Juno, I didn't mean to do that!"
After which Juno always purred softly, and showed that she had forgiven him.
But the one thing that specially distinguished Juno from all the other cats that I ever knew, was her big-hearted motherhood. If Juno had been a woman, how many desolate orphans she would have cared for! She would have given them summer outings, no doubt, and would have filled their stockings brimful at Christmas time.