I might get a small plate, or a dish, for the money.  Clothes wear out.  Furniture,—­you don’t want to say, “This chair, or this bureau or looking-glass, is my Aunt Allen’s gift.”  No, indeed!  It must be something uncommon, recherche, tasteful, durable, and, if possible, something that will show well and sound well always.  If it were only to spend the money, of course I could buy a carpet or fire-set with it.  And off went my bewildered head again on a tour of observation.

[To be continued.]

* * * * *

HARBORS OF THE GREAT LAKES.

In a recent article upon “The Great Lakes,"[A] we remarked, that, from the conformation of their shores, natural harbors are of rare occurrence.  Consequently, for the protection and convenience of commerce, a system of artificial harbors has been adopted by the Federal Government, and appropriations have been made from time to time by Congress for this purpose; and officers of the United States Engineer Corps have been appointed to carry on the work.  It is to some extent a new and peculiar kind of engineering, caused by the peculiar conditions of the case.

[Footnote A:  See Atlantic Monthly for February.]

Most of the lake-towns are built upon rivers which empty into the lakes, and these rivers are usually obstructed at their mouths by bars of sand and clay.  The formation of these bars is due to several causes.  The principal one is this:—­The shores of the lakes being usually composed of sand, this is carried along by the shore-currents of the lake and deposited at the river-mouths.  Another cause of these obstructions may be found in the fact, that the currents of the rivers are constantly bringing down with them an amount of soil, which is deposited at the point where the current meets the still waters of the lake.  A third cause, as we are told by Col.  Graham, in his Report for 1855, is the following:—­

“Although the great depth of Lake Michigan prevents the surface from freezing, yet the ice accumulates in large bodies in the shallow water near the shores, and is driven by the wind into the mouths of the rivers.  A barrier being thus formed to the force of the lake-waves, the sudden check of velocity causes them to deposit a portion of the silt they hold in suspension upon the upper surface of this stratum of ice.  By repeated accumulations in this way, the weight becomes sufficient to sink the whole mass to the bottom.  There it rests, together with other strata, which are sunk in the same way, until the channel is obstructed by the combined masses of ice and silt.  In the spring, when the ice melts, the silt is dropped to the bottom, which, combined with that constantly deposited by the lakeshore currents, causes a greater accumulation in winter than at any other season.”

These bars at the natural river-mouths have frequently not more than two or three feet of water; and some of them have entirely closed up the entrance, although at a short distance inside there may be a depth of from twelve to fifteen or even twenty feet of water.