* * * * *

There may be some false report of this character at the bottom of the trouble in Siam, which we were speaking about last week.

The State Department has merely filed all the papers in relation to the outrage on Vice-Consul Kellet, and has decided to let the matter drop.

Consul-General Barrett sent word that the King of Siam had not taken any notice of his demand for an inquiry into the matter; and the only reply given him was a polite note saying that his letter had been received.

People who know, say that this means that the Government wishes to have the matter dropped.  Otherwise word would have been sent to Bangkok that the Consul-General was to insist upon a proper explanation from the Siamese government.

Meanwhile, the commander of the gunboat which was sent to Siam, has received orders to make inquiries.  He is not to do this as an official, or on the part of the Government, but merely to find out the facts, and let the Government know if it is necessary to take any further notice of the affair.

It seems that Mr. Olney thinks that Mr. Kellet may have been to blame, and that Mr. Barrett got excited, and made demands from the Siamese government without first stopping to find out the truth.

* * * * *

There is more trouble in Turkey, between the Turks and the Christians.

This time the trouble is in Crete.

Crete is a large island in the Grecian Archipelago, and lies just at the foot of Greece.

It is a very celebrated island, and played a most important part in the affairs of Europe when Greece was the famous empire of the world.

It has another claim for celebrity.  It was the supposed birthplace of the heathen god Jupiter.  Jupiter was a fabulous person, of course, but the Greeks believed in him, and declared that he was born on Mount Ida in the island of Crete.  When you grow older and read your classics, you will learn a great deal about the heathen gods and goddesses whom the Greeks worshipped in the days before Christianity had come to enlighten the world.

Crete, in the days of Grecian glory, was one of the most famous parts of that wonderful empire.  From its favorable geographical position, it was at one time the place through which all the arts and wonders of Asia and the East were made known to the then rough and uncultivated Europeans.

People from the East, and from the West, would meet on the island of Crete, and it became one of the most important points in Europe.

After many ups and downs—­you should read all about them in your Grecian history—­Crete fell, with the rest of Greece, into the hands of the Turks.

When the Greeks fought for and gained their freedom from the Turks in 1827, Crete struggled bravely for liberty too, but she was not as fortunate as her sister land, and had to submit to the hated rule of the Turk.