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HEIRLOOMS IN MINIATURES

a member of his regiment called to see him,
and was ushered in. The man shut the door
behind him, then advanced, shook hands with
his host, and talked of general topics for
awhile. He noticed the General's sword hang-
ing above his desk, and, reaching up, took it
down and drew it from the scabbard, felt its
edge, and then, turning to him suddenly, said,
' Say a prayer, a short one, quick ! quick ! as
I am going to cut off your head.' The General,
turning to the man, saw that his eyes were
blazing with the fury of a maniac, and, looking
him steadily in the eyes, said, ' What ! you,
a good soldier, going to murder your own
General!' The man still persisted, when the
General said, keeping his eyes on him all the
time, ' Well, if you must do it, let me see if
the sword is sharp enough.' The man obedi-
ently handed him the sword; the old gentle-
man threw it away, and, seizing the madman,
held him until help arrived."

A French artist, who bore the high-sound-
ing name of Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret
de Saint Memin, to which Louis XVIII. after-
wards added the unsubstantial title of lieu-
tenant-colonel in the French army, came to
America from Switzerland in 1793. Saint Me-
min landed in Canada, and afterwards lived in
New York and Philadelphia, where he applied
himself to the construction of a machine for
the making of profiles with mathematical ac-
curacy. A French engraver, named Queneday,
had invented a machine for this purpose, and
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HEIRLOOMS IN MINIATURES

Saint Memin constructed his from his recol-
lection of Queneday's physionotrace.
