Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, December 23, 1875, Image 1
PORT ROYAL
Standard and Commercial.
YOL. IV. NO. 3. ' BEAUFORT, S. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1875. $2.00 per Amm. Single Cow 5 Cents.
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* To-Day.
OdIt from day to day
The life of a wise man rune ;
What matter if seasons far away
Have gloom or have double suns ?
To climb the unreal path,
We lose the roadway here,
We swim the rivers of wrath
And tunnel the hills of fear.
Our feet on the torrent's brink,
Our eyee on the cloud afar,
We fear the things we think,
Instead of the things that are.
Like a tide our work should rise,
Each later wave the beet,
To-morrow forever flies,
To-day is the special test.
Like a sawyer's work is life;
The present makes the flaw,
And the only field for strife
Is the inch before the saw.
TROTTIE'S DREAM.
A Christmas Story.
On Christmas eye, 1871, two poor girls,
averaging between twenty and twentytwo
years of age, quitted a large biscuit
manufactory in Rotherhithe, in whioh
they were employed, and continued their
way westward towards the Borough,
oonver&ing as they went in what manner
they should spend the next day. One
of them, who lived in Lambeth, said to
the other:
" At our house we intend to have a
regular jollification, and I mean to spend
eighteen pence of the money I've earned
during the week in buying a bottle of
good rum, to give my father and mother
a treat of punch. And very happy we
shall be together, for my brother Tom
has just come home from sea, and
Martha has got a holiday for three days
from the shop she works at in Piccadilly.
What do you intend doing, Trottie ??
aint you going to give your people a
* treat t"
Trottie, a pretty brunette, replied that
she was rather puzzled what to do.
"The fact is," she said, "we're in a
great deal of trouble at home. Father,
who works in the docks, has been thrown
out of employment through the oontinuanoe
of the east wind, which keeps the
shipping from coming up the channel,
and poor John, my brother, who worked
in the silk factory, has so sprained his
leg that it is probable he will not be able
to go to work again for some weeks to
come. If it had not been for what 1
have earned, and mother pioking up
something at umbrella making, we
should be pretty well starved. As it is,
the two little ones, Kate and Johnny,
are getting so pale and thin for want of
nourishment, it quite goes to my heait
to see them. Still, I should like to give
pour father a treat if I oould, for he's
very low-spirited, and it would cheer
him up a little, aud do him good."
" You'd better do so," said her companion;
" and depend upon it, it won't
Kq mnnar f.hrrtwn ftVAT. It's onlv fair a
daughter should think of her father aud
mother's comforts."
By this time the two girls had arrived
at the ooruer of Tooley street, in the
Borough, aud after a very affectionate
parting, each wishing the other the com
pliments of the season, the one hurried
southward to her home in Lambeth, and
Trottie contiuued her way onwards over
London bridge towards the Commercial
road, where, in a by street, her parents
resided, thinking as ahe went over the
conversation she hadVith her friend.
The poor girl was in a state of great
indecision. She much wished to purchase
the rum, but she had heard her
father say it was his intention to take
the pledge. He kuew, he said, several
men who worked in the docks who had
done so, aud their report was that not
only could they perform their work fully
as well and with as little inconvenience
to themselves as when taking three or
four pints of beer during the day, but,
in point of fact, found them in better
health than before; they rose fresher in
the morning, and went to bed feeling
less fatigued iu the evening; also that
their wives and families were made the
more oomfortable, on account of the
money economized from the public
house. Still, Trottie argued, her father
and mother had not yet taken the pledge,
and therefore she would not be tempting
them to break it. They could have a
happy evening to-morrow, and then become
teetotallers, if they pleased, the
m:\viiinn X ml fVl ATI it OOOniTed to
UUAV lUV/Auiu^? ?
her that, suppose they did not, would
she, iu auy manner, hare made Herself
answerable in keeping them from their
good resolution? Other thoughts then
came into her head. The family larder
was at a very low ebb, and would
it not be better to give her mother the
money she had earned, to expend in
good nourishing food for the family instea
1 of dr nk ?
Poor Trottie continued onwards in a
state of lamentable inoertituie. At last
she came to a conclusion. On passing a
flaring gin palace in Whitechapel, which,
from the splendor of i s decorations,
probably surpassed Aladdin's palace
(with the exception that the quaint Oriental
magnificence of the latter might
be worthy of some admiration, whde the
execrable taste displayed in the former
was worthy of all reprobation), her eye
was attracted by the glare of gas, plate
glass, and gilding. She looked at the
building for a moment, and found, among
other labels, embossed in golden letters,
in the window: " Fine old Jamaica
Rum, eighteen pence a bottle." The
words seemed to cast a singular spell
over Trottie, and she could not keep her
eyes from them.
At last the truth of the proverb,
" What is done cannot be undone,"
came across her mind, and she resolved
to enter the gin shop and purchase a
bottle of rum. But attractive as the
show and fiuery of the place might have
appeared from the outside, and although
the gilding and appointments on the in?
side were even more lavish than on the
exterior, she sood found that she was
in a most uncongeniil atmosphere.
There was a crowd composed of women
of the lowest character, workingmen
(and, alas ! some also had their wives
with them), soldiers from the Tower,
sailors, and others, few being quite
% sober, the majority slightly intoxicated,
and some positively drunk. There was
a considerable uproar going forward at
the time, caused by the attempt of the
I barman to push out of the shop a
wre tched, ragged, drunken middle-aged
woman, who screamed and fought with
great energy. Of those present, some
took her part; others were for her exI
pulsion. Possibly neither party were
much interested in her cause, but simply
interfered from love of the fun it
created.
Disgusted with the scene, Trottie left
the shop, and went into the street, determining
to oontinue her road homewards.
She had not, however, succeeded
in passing the shop, when she saw on a
side door, written also in gold embossed
letters: " Bottle Department." Being
somewhat of a determined character,
and having resolved that she would
carry home the rum, she entered this
department, where she could make her
purchase quietly and unobserved.
This however, was hardlv the case.
for she found it filled, though with a
somewhat more decent set of customers
than in the barroom; but every sound
and blasphemous expression used by
those she had just left was as audible as
if she had been among them. She could
hear that the barman was evidently succeeding
in taming out the woman, her
defenders at the time making still mors
noise, and using more horrible execrations
as they found the other party the
stronger.
Trottie could support this no longer,
and, before making her purchase, she
left the place, at the same time as the
woman was expelled from the other
door. When outside the house the
woman continued her vociferations as
loudly as ever, totally indifferent to the
remonstrances of a policeman, who
earnestly advised her to go home, or he
would be obliged to lock her up.
44 You ungrateful vagabonds!" she
roared out to the barman and others employed
in the shop; 44 you ought to be
ashamed of yourself, for you know
you haven't a better customer than
me. Why, this very evening I pawned
the shoes off my children's feet; and
now I've spent all the money I've got
you refuse to give me credit for another
quartern. Oh ! you're a precious set of
Christians, you are ! I wouldn't have
my soul in any of your bodies for auvthing."
Here the policeman managed to drag
her away, while poor Trottie, thoroughly
disgusted with the whole scene, continued
her way homeward, leaving all
thoughts of the bottle of rum behind her.
When Trottie arrived at tne nouse sue
found all the family assembled; bnt
gloomy indeed was their appearance.
The stamp of hunger was on the faces j
of all, and net without oause, for that
day, with the exception of a half quartern
loaf, they hail eaten nothing. Trottie,
when she noticed their expression,
was very pleased she had not purchased
the bottle of rum. Without making any
remark, she drew from her pocket the
whole of her week's earnings and placed
it in the hands of her mother, who
silently kissed her, and then putting on
her bonnet, started off for the open-air
market in the Whitechapel road, leaving
Trottie to converse with the others, and
make herself as useful as she could dur-!
ing her absenoe. After talking a little
to her father and brother, and putting
the tea things on the table, she sat down
and silently reflected on the temptation
she had overcome. Presently an upstair
lodger entered the room, carrying -j
on her arm a basket filled with good
things for the next day's enjoyment.
Trottie asked what she had got, and the
woman, opening the basket, showed her
many delicacies which she had bought?
plums, currants, tea, sugar, meat, vegetables,
and other things, including a
bottle of rum.
" Tou're determined to make yourself
happy to-morrow," said Trottie, looking
at the rum.
" Yes," said the woman; " Christmas
comes but once a year, and we may as
well be happy as not. My husband
works hard enough, and has enongh to
try his temper, and it would bo sad indeed
if he can't make a little merry once
a year. Why, we always look for it on
Christmas day. I believe my husband
would sooner go without halt his meat
than his glass of rum-and water and
pipe after dinner, and another in the
evening."
The lodger continued conversing with
the family for a short time longer, when
Trottie's mother returned from the market.
"And what have you got, mother?"
asked Trottie. " Let's see if your basket
is as well worth having as Mrs.
Thompson's." *
Trottie's mother seemed to have some
diffidence in showing the contents of
her basket, and possibly with some
reason, for her purchases were vastly in
ferior to those made by the lodger.
Trottie also felt half ashamed of the exposure,
but made no remark.
"I see," said her mother to the lodger,
" you've got something good there in
that bottle. I should like to have bought
one as well, but I'm sorry to say we can't
afford it."
"Oh," said the lodger, "you ought
to have made an effort. It will be hard
indeed if Christmas night passes off
without some jollification."
" We must try and be happy without
the bottle," said Trottie's father, joining
for the first time in the conversation.
" And not only be happy to-morrow
night, but every night in the week.
! I've rarely found any good come of the
I bottle, but I've known a great deal of
! harm. I was never a drunkard, but I
J can easily see now that if I'd kept away
from the public house altogether, and
saved my money, we should not be in
the strait wo are now in. But it shan't
occur again, though, if I can help it.
Whenever I'm again in work I'll put by
every farthing I should have spent in the
public house, and I suspect before next
i Christmas I shall not have as much
dread of the east wind keeping shipping
from coming up the channel as now."
Trottie's mother argued on the other
side, and expressed ^reat regret that she
was not able to obtain the same means as
the lodger for their enjoyment the next
day.
"For my part," she continued, "I
think every workingman wants something
to strengthen him, and all the doctors
now say there's nothing does so
much good as spirits. A good glass of
brandy is often worth all the physic in
a doctor's shop put together,"
Trottie's father, however, although he
did not contradict his wife, held to his a
own opinion ; and Trottie began to 0
think that his intended abstinence was ~
occasioned rather by the pain he felt at
seeing their poor circumstances than
from any dislike to the liquor itself. c
The lodger now left them, and after
their meal Trottie and her younger sister J3
Kate soon went to bed. J3
Although tired with the day's exertion, "
Trottie did not fall asleep, but continued, c
in the darkness and solitude of her n
room, the train of thoughts that had oc- "
cupied her mind during the evening.
She was particularly struck with the F1
words of her mother, and the sorrowful 15
expression of her countenance when she J
lamented they had nothing whatever in *!
the shape of spirituous liquors to glad- ?
den their hearts the next evening. Now J?
Trottie was a good daughter, and infanaolv
fnnd nf her mother, and sho be- P
gan to oonsider whether it would be possible
to obtain a bottle of rum, aud make ^
it a present to her. True, she had given c
all her week's earnings to purchase food P
for the family, but still there might be ?
some plan by which to accomplish her
object. No doubt her friend, Martha 8
Jones, who acoompanied her from the ?
factory as far as Tooley street, aud whose h
parents were comfortably off, would lend 8
I her the money, which she could repay ^
j from her next week's earnings. Well, ?
she thought she would do it, and then
she thought she would not. a
"Better go at once," suggested itself ^
to her mind, and that so plainly and dis- 8
tinctly that she thought it must have ^
been whispered to her. Again the
words were uttered, and, if possible,
more clearly than before. Trottie was 8
in doubt whether she really heard a gi
voice, or whether it was merely fancy g:
on her part, when she felt a hand taken a
hers. She attempted to withdraw her
own, but it was impossible. Without ]
any pressure the hand seemed simply to g
chap hers, but so cold and clammy was ^
it that she shuddered as she felt it. And n
then she remembered, some years before, a
when she had seen her little brother, as 0
he lay in his coffin preparatory to it e
being sere wed down, that she had kissed ^
him first on his forehead, and then, tak- ^
ing his hand, had kissed that also, re- gj
marking at the same time hew cold and n
clayey it felt. The hand that held hers n
at the present moment seemed that of a a
dead child's about her brother's age. *
Without being able to understand in
what manner it was done, Trottie found n
the hand leading her through darkness n
so profound she could distinguish nothing
whatever. All, too, was silent ?,
i i ami ..i. l ^
around ner. ouu bum weui uu, ^nuwg c
swiftly, without meeting with any im- ^
pediment, or without the dread of doing
so. At length there appeared to be e
a glimmer of light, as if ^frorn gas or ^
a lamp, which increased in clearness till
she began to notice that there were ob ^
jects near her. These in their turn be- ^
came more and more distinct, till she j
found herself, the dead hand holding Q
her still, behind the counter in a large g
pawnbroker's shop. To her surprise,
neither of the shopmen appeared to '
notice her ; and she turned round to see j.(
who it was that held her hand, but she
could soe neither the hand nor her own. ^
On looking round the shop she found it
contained three small compartments,
like boxes, each having an occupant, j(
with two of whom the two Bhopmen
were busy completing loans. In the _i
third was a respectable-looking woman, j.|
who remained silent till her turn came
to be attended to. 8he kept her head
turned somewhat aside, so tnat her fea- ^
tures were not visible, and this was ^
done in such a manner as evidently to ^
show the wish to escape observation ; (
and no one could see her, for, as before u
stated, the shopmen were busy with two a
other customers, and Trottie herself felt v
that she was as invisible as the one who
stood beside her and held her hand. ^
And now it came to the woman's turn ^
to be waited upon, who had so fixedly Q
engaged Trottio's attention.
"What can I do for you, ma'am?" ^
said one of the shopmen.
"I want half-a-crown on those," fcaid ^
the woman, putting something down on j
the counter, but Trottie could not see ^
what, a3 the shopman stood betwoen her ^
and the woman.
Taking up the article she had put J
down, the shopman carried them (a pair
of child's shoes) under the gaslight to a
examine them more minutely.
"All, you may examine them as much g
as you please," said the woman; "they
are very littlo worn; I gave six shillings
for them not long ago, and the boy's <
only worn them on Sundays."
" Eighteen pence," said the shopman.
" Eighteen pence won't do," 6aid the
woman.
"Take them back, then," said the g
shopman, throwing them on the coun- e
ter. < a
Say one-and-nine," said the woman, t
" Eighteen pence crnothing," replied j
the shopman.
" I'll take the money," said the j
woman. \
The man now proceeded to tie to- t
gether the shoes and make out a ticket, t
and the dead hand drew Trottie from 1
the shop. fi
IIow it was she could not* tell, but, t
without hurrying or making scarcely any a
movement, Trottie the next moment I
found herself in a r~om overhead. It I
was fitted up in a singular manner, with 1
racks and shelves raised round it and in c
the center; and these were filled with t
objects of a most varied description,
many of them folded up in cloths, while 1
others were open to the eye, all having 1
labels on them, and arranged in the
neatest order. There were two men 1
also iu this room?one of them an assistant
in the house, the other a visitor. i
They were conversing together on some 1
common subject when a noise was i
heard in one part of the room, which ?
seemed to proceed from a small cupboard
in the corner. The assistant went i
and opened the doer, and there, on a ?
shelf, he found evidently the same pair c
of shoes which had been pledged by the ?
woman below. The man having inspect- ?
ed the ticket on them, took them to a t
shelf where a number of other pairs of 1
shoes about the same size were ar- ?
ranped. I
" How I do hate having to do with ?
these things," said the man to his com- t
panion. t
" Why ?" ho asked. |1
"I don't like them; they all tell the
ame tale," was his reply. " There isn't
ne pair of the whole of these shoes on
tiis shelf that hasn't been taken off the
5et of the child of a drunken mother."
" How do you know that?" asked his
ompanion.
"A sober woman," he replied, "may
e in distress, and bitter distress, too,
ut she will part with everything she
as sooner than pawn her children's
lothes; while the drunken mother makes
0 scruple on the occasion, and in
inetv-nine cases out of a hundred beDre
half an hour has passed since she
eceived the money every farthing of it
1 gone in the gin shop. It would be
ery curious to trace the stories of those
imilies whose children's shoes are on
bat shelf. Many a tale of the most
eartrending description would bo
ound connected with them, and every
ortion of the misery endured, the
lult of a drunken mother. Now as to
hese very shoes," he continued, "I
an tell the history of the woman who
awned them so saying, he mechaui ]
- 3 XI. _ l.VLi
ally examined inem uuuer me ugub. ]
' You see they're well made; there's no \
lop-work here. I can almost tell by \
be look of them that the child's mother
as never pawned them before. I ]
hould like to have seen her when she t
ras in the box offering them, and then. I <
ould have told. When I used to be be- j
iw in the shop I could always tell when |
woman offered a pair of her children's ]
hoes for pledge whether she was a beinner
or an old hand." '
" How could you know that?" asked |
is companion. 1
" If a beginner," said the man, " she
enerally turns her head on one side and \
ries t# conceal her face ; if an old hand i
be will brazen it out. Why, these ]
hoes have not been worn a fortnight or
ny thing like it." <
Trottie's eyes now fell on the shoes as i
be man was examining them, and it 1
truck her they were remarkably like <
er little brother Johnny's, and she re- j
lembered that about a fortnight before ]
pair of shoes had been bought for him |
ut of the last wages her father had i
arned before he was thrown out of j
rork at the docka* It also oocurred to ]
er that the shawl the woman wore
trongly resembled the one which her ]
lother had on when she went out to <
larket. Her attention, was, however,
gain riveted to the conversation of the (
wo men. i
" I wonder whether any of these fe- i
lale drunkards are ever reclaimed," re- i
larked one of them. i
"Never," said the assistant. "I'v? j
een now in these kind of shops in Eat- (
liff highway and about Whitechapel for <
be last five and twenty years, and, you 1
lay imagine, have had a good deal of <
xperience, and beyond that, I belong ]
i a temperance society myself well, I i
an assure you I've nover in my life i
nown a female drunkard reclaimed afjr
ooce having pawned her children's
Lioes. I almost look npon it that when
nee she has pledged her child's shoes
tie is as completely lost to all chance of
-formation as the men we used to read
f in former times who sold themselves
i the evil one."
"Isn't that carrying the idea rather
io far ?" said his companion.
44 Not a bit," replied the assistant.
44 You don't, then, oonsider it possible
ir a drunken woman to be reclaimed ?"
" Not when she's once pawned her
hildren's shoes," said the man, 44and
sere's a very curious circumstance conected
with it, showing how much more
rejudicially drink will act on a woman's
lind than a man's. A man may be an
reclaLnable drunkard, and to satisfy
is propensity for drink will purloin or
beal anything he can lay his hands
pon, but I never knew a case of a man,
lthough very likely a dozen-times-conicted
thief, ever having pawned his
hildren's clothes for the sake of drink.
l drunken woman, on the.contrary, afar
once having perpetrated the act,
ever again hesitates. No, believe me,
rhen once she has done that she is
horoughly lost.
The dead hand now drew Trottie from
lie warehouse, and after passing through
tarkness as profound as that she enered
when first led from her home, the
ight began gradually to appear, and obects,
as of people passing her in the
treets, became distinguishable. Then
, glare of light appeared in the distance,
nd presently she found herself standing
tear the Whitechapel gin shop in which
he had intended to purchase a bottle of
um, and then quitted it in disgust
rom the scenes she had witnessed.
Dhe same noise of shouts, quarreling and
aughter which had appeared to her so
epulsive, she now heard again, and with
he same abhorrence. She would willngly
have moved off, but the dead hand
ed her forward. She attempted to reist,
but the pressure, which had hith
:rto been lignt, now Decame bo strong
is to be irresistible, end she was obliged
o enter the place against her better (
udgment.
The scene here was, if possible, more .
evolting than the one she had before
ritnessed. There were more persons in
he place, both men and women, and
hese in a grosser state of intoxication.
Language of the most disgusting deicription
was bandied about from one
0 the other, less in anger or jest than
is ordinary conversation. One scene
particularly attracted Trottie's attention.
1 middle aged man, in a state of maud
in drunkenness, was crying, and a dirty,
lisreputable-looking woman was atempting
to console him.
" Don't take on so," she said; "you
mow that'll do no good?you can't cure
ler that way."
" But she'll bo dead before I get
lome," said the man.
"Well," you can't help that," said the
voman; "it's very sad, but you can't
lelp it. And when she's gone, I shan't
nake you a fashionable wife, but we
ihall be very happy together."
Turning from this scene, Trottie witlessed
another still more painful. A
fir I about thirteen years of age was enleavoring
to drag her father from the
fin shop. He resisted, however, all her
mdeavors, and the poor girl cried biterly.
And then a quarrel took place
jetween him and a sailor, and a tight
msued. The sailor was by far the meat i
>owerful of the two, his adversary being
svidently of a weak, dilapidated copstiutiou,
apparently a workm n in one of
he numerous factories in the neighbored
of Whitechapcl,
In a short time the sailor had so great
in advantage over his adversary as to
prove that the latter had not the slightest
chance against him. He had got the
wretched man against the wall and was
bommeling him in the most terrific manner,
the poor child screaming violently
ind begging the bystanders to interfere
)i her father would be killed. The
jonius of the place, however, was domilant
at the time, and no one offered to
ender any assistance or to part the combatants;
on the oontrary, they called out
tor fair play, the sailors cheering their
jompanion, while those of the workman's
party advised him to stand up and show
limself a man. At last the poor wretch
toll, utterly senseless and exhausted, on
;he ground, his face covered with blood.
Some of the bystanders evidently
;hought he was dead, and advised the
sailor to decamp as rapidly as possible.
Ee took their advice and left the place.
The landlord of the house then sent for
?he police, and the poor girl remained
jy the side of her father, crying in a
nost pitiable manner. Here, it is true,
nany offered to console her, but even
;heir consolations were mixed up with
;he odious influence of that locality.
" Come, cheer up, my gal," said one
nan; "your father will be all right as
won as he's got the police to take care
bf him. Here, take a drop; it'll do *you
jood," and he placed some gin to the
jirl's lips, but she pushed it away with
horror.
Af. laof nnline arrived, and the marl
eras placed on a stretcher. One of them
then asked where he lived, and the girl
told him.
" What a shame I" said the policeman
to the landlord, " for you to allow the
man to have got so drunk in your
bouse."
'So it is," said a woman, who now
jeemed to exhibit some kind feeling towards
the girl, and who, had she not
been in such a locality, might have been
x>nsidered respectable. " It's a shame,
for he is a hard-working man enough, if
be had his way; but it's places like this
;hat tempt him in. Why, the man spent
as much money here to-night as would
feed his family half a week, and they're
pretty well starving at home."
The policemen now carried off the
nan on the stretcher, and the dead hand
Irew Trottie after them.
They had hardly quitted the threshold
)f the house when Trottie noticed a
woman approaching. The dead hand
now held Trottie stationary, and as the
woman came nearer Trettie began to
recognize her as tho same she had seen
in the pawnbroker's shop. Onward she
?me toward the gin shop, and just as
jhe was about to enter Trottie found, to
aer intense horror, that she was no other
;kan her own mother. She implored
aer not to enter, but her words seemed
mheard. She then stood before her to
mpede her way, but her mother seemed
;o pass through her as if she had been a
ipirit, and unaware of her presence, and
;hen to enter the gin shop. Trottie, in
leepair, attempted to utter a violent
icream.
" Why, Trottie, what's the matter
with you ?" said little Katie, her bedfelow;
" what ails you to-night ? One
would think you were being murdered,
that's the matter, dear Trottie ?"
Trottie remained for some moments
lilent and motionless ; she could hardly
relieve she was in her home, and in bed
with her sister, so vivid and real had
i.nnin onnftornil STha inclined
IC1 U1W1U ?|7jn (UVUI .. ??
0 beliove alio had been sleeping, and
be scenes she had passed through were
limply illusions ; but then again the
lead hand?how could she account for
bat ? She still felt its pressure; her
innd was perfectly numb, aud then the
bought occurred to her that she had
xjen lying on it, and the pressure she
lad felt was only caused by stagnation
)f blood.
In a few moments Trottie was fully
iwakcned by little Kate, who passed her
irms round her neck, and after kissing
lor, said : "Dear Trottie, what is the
natter with you? Do tell me what
nade you cry out in that dreadful manaer."
Trottie only kissed her sister,
aut did not give her any explanation as
0 the cause of her cry; nor did she to
my one eNe.
No visit was paid that day by Trottie
x> hor friend Martha Jones, and no rum
was purchased. Christmas evening,
aowever, could not have passed more
happily with the family than it did, had
Trottie carried out her determination ;
and the money thejmm would have cost
was not only economised, but probably
a mischief not less terrible than that
which Trottie had witnessed in her dream
avoided.? William Gilbert.
What I Have Seen.
Au old man of experience says :
I have seen a young man sell a good
farm, turn merchant, and die in the insane
asylum.
1 have seen a farmer travel about so
much that there was nothing at home
worth looking at.
I have seen a man spend more money
nrnnlrl onnnnrf hifl fATT)l'lV
LLL lUJLljr buan nuui\? uu^v**
in comfort and independence.
I have seen a young girl marry a
young man of dissolute habits, and repent
of it as long as she lived.
I have seen a man depart from truth
where candor and veracity would have
served him to a much better purpose.
I have seen the extravagance and folly
of children bring their parents to poverty
and want, and themselves to disgrace.
I have seen a prudent and industrious
wife retrive the fortunes of a family
when the husband pulled at the other
end of the rope.
I have seen a young man who despised
the counsels of the wise and advice of
the good, and his career end in poverty
and wretchedness.
A Great Injustice.
A milk peddler named Drew was at
the Detroit police station to secure aid
in tracing the whereabouts of a family
who had changed locations between two
days, owing him three dollars.
" "Well, I suppose there was twelve
shillings' worth of water in that threedollar
milk account,"remarked the chief.
" That's where it galls me?that's
where it hurts!" replied the dealer.
" They were new customers, and I had
not commenced to water the milk yet!"
I
1 GRE1T RUSSIAN CONTRACTOR.
The Collapae el a Man who Employed
Orer One Hundred Thousand Workmen.
A Vienna paper says : Dr. Stronsberg,
who was arrested at St Petersburg
after failing for nearly ?100,000,
is of Jewish origin, his fall name being
Baruch Hirsch Stronsberg. Born in
1823 in humble circumstances at Neidenburg,
in East Prussia, he went to Lon.don
in 1835, after the death of hi?
father. Here he was received by hif
uncles, who were commission agents,
and was shortly afterward baptized a
member of the Church of England.
Gifted with great intelligence and energy
he more or less educated himself, and
entered journalism.
In 1848 we went to Am* rica, where he
gave lessons in German, but finally realized
some money by buying a cargo ol
damaged goods and selling them at a
heavy profit. With this capital he returned
to London in 1858, and founded
several newspapers, but six years afterward
ho went to Berlin, where he wae
for seven years the agent of an English
insurance company. In 1864, however,
Stronsberg began to think of improving
his fortunes, and having made acquaintances
at the British embassy, by this
means came to know some English capitalists,
with whom he contracted for the
Tilsit-Insterbursr railway. Within sir
years Strousber& was making a dozen
lines, among others those of Roumania.
He had over 100,000 workmen in hi*
pay, and had launched out into othei
Vast enterprises. At Hanover he established
a gigantic machine factory ; ai
Dortmund and Neustadt he had smelting
works and iron factories; at Antwerp
and Berlin he built entire new quarters
in Prussia he bought ten estates ; in Poland
an entire county ; in Bohemia he
paid ?800,000 for the splendid domair
of Zbirow, where he established railway
carriage works which employed 5,00C
workmen.
Meantime he built a palace for him
self in the Wilhelmstrasse at Berlin,
which in decoration, luxury, and accom
modation surpassed that of the emperoi
himself. In it were to be found workf
of the first German and French artistsDelacroix,
Meissonnier, Gerome, and
others. Nor was his charity on a lest
splendid scale. In winter he caused
10,000 portions of soup to be given dailj
to the poor, in addition to 2,000 pounds,
worth of wood. When the famine broke
out in East Prussia he sent whole train;
laden with corn and potatoes to his suf
fering fellow countrymen. Of course,
such a man had his own organs in the
p. ess, and was chosen to represent the
Dation. Yet he took from the* Moscov
bauk, which he founded, 4,308,00(
roubles, and it is hinted that his future
is not altogether unprovided for. Nc
greater collapse than that of Strousberg
has probably occurred in the financiaJ
history of the country, save, perhaps,
that of Law.
Thoughts for Saturday Kight.
We should never play with favor; we
canno t too closely embrace it when it if
flr triA far firm it tvVlpn it if
XC(Uy il VX AJJ VVV #?*J> ?*V *M ? *> ?. wM ?? M
false.
Humility is a grace that adorns and
beautifies every other grace; without it,
the most splendid natural and acquired
acquisitions lose their charm.
Prejudice lurks in hidden corners oi
all minds over which knowledge has not
shed its penetrating light, and prejudice
is the natural foe of magnanimity.
Wisdom consisteth not in knowing
many things, nor even in knowing them
thoroughly, but in choosing and in following
what conduces the most certainly
10 our lasting happiness and true
glory.
Sloth makes all things difficult, but
Industry all easy; and he that rises late
must trot all day, and shall scar clovertake
his business at night; while laziness
travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes
him.
Far from the crushed flowers of gladness
on the road of life a sweet perfume
is wafted over to the present hour, ae
marching armies often send out from
heaths the fragrance of the trampled
plants.
A pious cottager residing in the midst
of a lone and dreary heath was asked by
a visitor: "Are you not sometimes
afraid in your lonely situation, especially
in the winter ?" He replied: "Oh,
no! for faith shuts the door at night,
and mercy opens it in the morning. .
Ingratitude is too base to return s
kindness, and too proud-to regard it:
much like the tops of mountains, barren,
indeed, but yet lofty; they produce
nothing, they feed nobody, they clothe
nobody, yet are high and stately, and
look down upon all the world aDoui
them.
Welcome Christmas Gifts.
The usual practice in choosing Christmas
gifts, says Scribner, is to start oul
with a full portemonnaie and oome
home with it empty, having scoured s
dozen book and print and curio shope
meantime, to " find enough prettj
things to go round." The gift sent tc
one friend might have been offered with
equal propriety to a hundred others.
Now everybody (worth remembering ai
all on Christmas day) has a fancy, 01
whim, or association, which a trifle will
recall and gratify. Now that we have
so little money, let us set our brains tc
work to remember these whims or hobbies,
and to find the suggestive trifles,
and, to our word for it, we will startle
our friends with a more real pleasure
than if we had sent them the costliest
unmeaning gift. There must be a nice
discrimination, too, in assorting these
trifles. There are certain folks whom we
know to be sorely in need of articles foi
the wardrobe, and to whom we must
therefore give utterly useless folies, be
cause they know that we know it ; anc
there are better folks in like con
dition, who will receive a collar or a pail
of gloves with as hearty and sincere
feeling as though the offering were e
strain of Christmas music. There if
one cousin whose gift must smell of the
shops and dollars paid for it, and anothei
who, if we sent her our worn copy oi
George Herbert, cr the little broker
va*e which has stood for years on the
study table, would receive them wit!
wet eyes, and find them fragrant witl
old memories.
Items or mieresr.
The "king of the pumpkins" in
1 France this year weighed nearly four
hundred pounds, and is the largest ever
. raised in that country.
A voter, praising a favorite candidate
at a late election, said : " He's as fine
: a fellow as ever lifted a hat to a lady or
t a boot to a blackguard."
"Mamma, can I have some beef?"
asked a little girl at supper table. "No,
1 my dear; but if you eat your bread and
1 milk, go to Sunday-school on Sunday,
and keep your apron clean, I will show
' you a picture of a cow."
Here is a Mormon reason for marry^
ing a Gentile: "Why, isn't he handseme
! and then he is good, and then?
( and then?I wanted every bit of him to
myself ! Father didn't like it, mother
r didn't like it, but I did."
k Near Mount Vernon, 01., a man named
. Jackson got up befo: e daybreak, and
[ accidentally stepped o l the chest of his
. fifteen-year-old daught ir, who was sleop(
ing on the floor. His reight being two
t hundred and twenty pounds, he crushed
in her chest and killed her almost in>
stantly.
During the late fire at Virginia City,
> Nev., all the rats in the Opbir and Cen
solidated Virginia mines were killed by
> gas. The rats are the scavengers of the
- * ? si l
: mines, eating np the refuse Jooa leu oj
i the miners, and their disappearance
from the mines is therefore a misfori
tone.
Our Dan remarked to his wife one
' evening, as he left home for the office :
' " I'll be back by ten o'clock if I don't
' meet with any serious pull-back." "It
won't be well for you to meet any pullI
backs, Daniel, serious or smiling, if i
know of it," said his better half, in tones
5 which indicated that she meant it
| A Chinese philoeophei rejoicing in
I the expressive, and, if a truthful appellation,
the valuable name of "Tin,"
says : " There was a place set apart in
heaven for good wives who could judge
' a wicked thing as harshly when a man
j did it as when a womai did it. But it
' has never been occupit d, I believe."
There is a rector in England who,
[ after his establishment in a parish,
, preached the same sermon to his congre[
gation Sunday after Sunday?a very good
r sermon, but always the same. At last
the farmers sent a deputation to request
5 a change. " Very well," said the rector,
, " but now let any one of you tell me all
. about that sermon." Not a person
could give an account. " Then," rej
sumed the clergyman, "111 continue
, to preach it till I'm sure you all know
r what it contains."
) A bold and ingenious swindler in Ohio
) oollected* about $500 by the following
> process: He made the acquaintance of
; a dealer in fruit trees under the pretense
I of wanting employment, and, having
learned that a large number of trees had
been shipped to a certain point to be delivered
in the neighboring country, he
want tn the nlaoe. paid the freight on
the trees and delivered them according
' to the address marked on the several
1 packages, collected the price and dis1
appeared.
Captain J. C. Symmes, United States
' navy, fifty years ago believed th t the
I earth is hollow, and that it is habitable
' within as well as without. Symmes
thought there were openings at the poles;
and Count Romanoff offered to help him
; with money in investigating the theory.
Symmes patriotically declined to serve
Russia. A vessel, according to the
theory, would sail into a pole, without
| apparent change of course, except from
the hiding of certain stars or a change of
' horizon. Tho main fact upon which the
i theory depends is the warm air and temperate
flora that float southward from
. the north pole.
The Immigration in September.
' Returns made to the Washington
bureau of statistics show the number of
immigrants who arrived at the port of
New York during the month ef Septem1
ber, 1975, as compared with September,
1 1874, is as follows :
1 September, 1875?males, 4,949; females,
4,400; total, 9,349. September,
1875?males, 8,796 females, 7,584 ; total,
'> 16,380, a decrease in 1875 of males, 3,r
$47 ; females, 3,184; total, 7,031. The
i principal islands or countries of last
- permanent residence or citizenship of
I the immigrants were as follows :
C^tnirU*. 1875. -1874.
England 2 266 4,544
k Scotland 483 - 822
. Wale? 51 46
I Ireland 1.716 8,011
Germany .*....2,598 3,959
> Au?tria 220 *322
) Sweden, Nor wry and Denmark. 780 722
[ France 295 496
. Switzerland 166 166
Rossis 254 1,655
Bread ts. Meat.
Experiments made abroad to test the
. effect of an exclusive bread diet prove
\ that a bread diet alone is very expenk
sive, as a large quantity must be given
, to supply the daily waste of the fleshy
P tissues. On the other hand, the addi,
tion of a small quantity of meat reduces
l the cost of support and keeps up the
strength of the body. The attempt was
[ made to ascertain Which of the several
. kinds of bread in ordinary use was ab[
sorbed in the greatest amount in its
j passage through the alimentary canal.
\ It was found that wheat bread was ab.
sorbed in the greatest amount-, then
leavened rye bread, then rye bread
| raised by chemical processes, and lastly,
, the " pumpernickel," or German black
; bread. The great nutritious value at,
tributed to bran is denied by the ezperi)
menter.
J Better than Fish.
: Thev recognized each other at one of 1
- the fish stands, and one called out:
1 "Is that you, Mrs. Jones? And are
- you after a fish?"
r " And is that you, Mrs. Toddle ? And
3 on, I never buy fish."
i "You don't?"
) "No. I have got the particulareef
3 husband you ever saw. If he's eating;
r fish and gets four or five scales in his
f mouth he makes as much fuss as some
i men would over a cobble stone in a loaf
3 of bread. So I buys liver, and there's
i no scales on it, and all you have to do is
i to give it a rinse, flop it into the spider,
and the bntoher gets all the blame."
JH
I*.