The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, October 28, 1885, Image 5
THE INTERPRETERS.
m
m Days dawn upon ua that make amends for
P many
r Sometimes,
i When heaven and earth seem sweeter even
F than any
t Man's rhymes
r Light had not all been quenched in France,
or quelled
In Greeco,
Had Homer sung not, or had Hugo held
I His peace.
r Had Sappho's self rot left her word tnus long
fc For token,
f The sea round Lesbos yet in waves of song
Had spoken.
And yet these days of subtler air and finer
|jV . Delight,
r When lovelier looks the darkness, and diviner
| The light.
The gift they give of all these golden hours,
. v':. Whose urn
Pom's forth reverberate rays or shadowing
showers
In turn.
* <
t Clouds, beams, and winds that make the live
f j|? day's track
Seem living?
* What were they did no spirit give them back
Thanksgiving?
in.
Dead air, dead fire, dead shapes and shadows,
telling
4pk Time nought;
Man gives them sense and soul by song, and
dwelling
In thought.
In human thought their being endures, their
power !
Abides:
Else were their life a thing that each light
hour J
Derides.
The years live, work, sigh, smile, and die |
with all
They cherish;
The soul endures, though dreams that fed it j
"5? Fall and perish.
IV.
i
e In human thought have all things habitation;
Oar days
W" Laugh, lower, and lighten past, and find no
station
That stays.
But thought and faith are mightier things
than time
t Can wrong,
~ Hade splendid ouce with speech, or made
sublime
Ey song.
Remembrance, though the tide of change that
rolls
I "Wax hoary,
Gives earth and heaven, for song's sake and
the soul's,
Their glory.
?Algernon Charles Sminbaurne.
MAKING HER WAY.
p - .
i
It did not exactly rain on that dull
autumn day, Dut tne air was iuuoi anv- j
ing mist, aud the clouds hung like a
leaden drapery almost to t :ie hill tops.
It was a day when fairyland itself
would scarcely appear at ii;s best, and so
perhaps it was not surprising that the
"Tabitha Home" wore rat'aer a cheerless
aspect.
It was a long, low brick house, with
rows of square windows, curtained with
white-cotton hangings, floors covered
with matting, and drear, whitewashed
walls, broken by no cheerful pictures or
panels.
The fire in the stove spluttered a ad
smoked, and declined to burn. .Two or*
^ Ihree blue-nosed old women huddled
around it; another was bemoaning herself
over the face ache; and the matron,
: standing in tl*e middle of the room, was
b scolding because fault had been found
1 - r ?i.
witn tne morning meai ui stureueu uaimeal.
"It ain't as if you -was ladies," said
she, " but you as has no home at your
time of life, you hadn't ought to be
pickin' flaws iu this, that and the other \
thing. And the oatmeal was good
enough for anybody, that it was! And
if you don't like the style of cooking
here, you're every one of you at liberty
to go elsewhere!"
All this Janie Sevier heard, as she
stood in the hall with old Mrs. Ball
leaning nervously on her arm.
The young girl was tall, resolute, and
lovely as a wild poppy blooming in a
iield of corn.
The old woman was withered and
colorless, her face all woven over with a
network of tiny wrinkles, her toothless
- jaws uneasily moving, while the eyes,
that had once been so blue and bright,
were now dim and dull.
"Oh, Janie! oh, Janie 1" faltered Mrs.
Ball, clinging to the girl's soft, young
arm, "take me away?don't leave me
hn.AlH
JiCIC I
. "But you wanted me to bring you,"
said Janie, soothingly.
"Yes, I know; but I didn't think it
was such a place as this!" cried the old
woman. "Take me away, I sayl"
"Where am I to take you?"
"I don't know," said Mrs. BaU, beginning
to tremble. "Anywhere away
from here! Oh, quick, Janie?quick!"
Janie Sevier looked pityingly at the
poor old crone.
"Was this to be the end of all kind Mrs.
Montague's canvassing, and visiting, and
wire-pulling? Now that the admittance 1
to tne "Laonna nome ior um i^aaies i
was finally obtained, and a refuge se- !
cured for Mrs. Ball which should shelter !
her to her life's end, was it all to be !
thrown up for a whim?
Nevertheless, thus it proved. Nothing j
would induce old Mrs. Ball to cross the
threshold of the dreary room where the
fire smoked and the matron scolded; so
Janie took her home again.
"What else could I do?" said Janie,
"You were very foolish, Miss Sevier,"
said Mrs. Montague, angrily. "After
all I have done to secure the poor, childish
creature a good home! And I can
tell you vacancies in the 'Tabitha Home'
do not occur every day!"
* 'I cannot help it," said Janie. "She
would not stay there."
"But what do you expect to do with
her now?" sharply interrogated Mrs.
Montague.
"I don't know!" sighed Janie.
"You can't keep her?"
<?T tmiof if Tin nnp will."
1 'That is absurd nonsense!" said Mrs.
Montague. She is no relation of yoursl"
"No," said Janie?"only an old
neighbor."
Mrs. Montague shrugged her. shoulders.
"I have done all that I can do," said
she.
_ And so she departed, shaking the dust
of the old mill olf her Paris-booted
feet.
The old mill was all that belonged to
Janie Sevier. Long since the wonderful
powet of stoam had taken all the custom
away from the old"Xvheel, which was now
moulderipg away in the ceaseless rush of
the water.
* \
Most of the building had fallen to decay,
as buildings do when the tenants
cannot afford necessary repairs.
Eut there were still two or three habitable
rooms in the south wing, and there
Janie lived, with the rest of the house
shut up, and abandoned to the tender
mercies of blue mold and rats.
"Queer she don't live with her brother's
wife!" said the neighbors. "Eut
inose seviers were always queer; anu
Mrs. Mark Sevier ain't easy to get along
with."
As poor Janie knew to her eost, Mrs.
Mark Sevier's final oration was yet ringing
in her ears.
"I've left off being astonished at anything
now, Janie Sevier," said she. "A
college-educated girl like you, to go and
shut yourself up in an old owl's nest, with
a half-crazy creature like Mrs. Ball!"
"You won't have us here?" said Janie,
half smiling.
' Of course I won't!" said Mrs. Mark.
"There are mouths enough to feed without
you, let alone Mr.,. Ball, 'who is
nothing to nobody.' "
"But some one must take care of
her?"
"There was a good place found for her
in tlm 'Tiihith.i TTnmn ' if slie'd have
stayed there. But you've chosen to assume
the care of her; now let U3 see how
long it wi 1 last.
"And you needn't think," she added,
viciously, "that Stephen Ball is coming
back from Manitoba to reward you, like
the taithful lovers in story-books. He
can't care take of himself, much less of
you."
"1 don't expect him to come back,"
said Janie, calmly. "I would not marry
him if he did. A man who leaves his
old grandmother to the cold charity of
strangers, is scarcely the man who would
make a good husband. Because I was
engaged to him once, it doesn't follow
that I care fcr him now. I don't! But
old Mrs. Ball is helpless and alone, and
lam not goins: to desert her."
"Very well," s:iid Mrs. Mark, "do as
you p'ease. But, mind you, don't expect
any lielp from Mark."
HT..-, DAH nrtf KAfTPrtA/l.firO
OU 1U13. iJtUl Oan 1/VlViu iuw HVVM M*w
in the old mill, and knitted and dozed.
Thank fortune, there was plenty of
wood in the pine thicket, and Janie was
strong and active to bring it in.
And Janie herself cogitated what was
t > be done, as she watched the dancing
blaze.
"If the house wasn't all tumbling
down, I'd take boarders," said Janie.
"Since the silk mills have opened, there
are plenty of women and girls who would
bo thankful for a good home. Or, the
Grove seminary isn't far from here?I
could board the young ladies who find
the distance from the village too great.
But the roofing is out of repair, and?"
Just then there came a tap at the door.
It was one ot the seminary girls, her
blue eyes sparkling from beneath the
border of her scarlet hood.
"Oh, if jou please, Miss Sevier, don't
be vexed," said Aurora Atkins. "But if
you'd sell me one of those lovely mincepies,
and a bottle of your home-made
root-beer,' I should bo so glad. Lucy
Smith had a piece of pie here yesterday,
and she says it was too utterly delicious
for anything! Please, Miss Sevier 1"
Janie's first impulse was to give the
' "> i.~ il.. ?l
mill) Iilinut* pic iu tiiv; piuiup suuuui-gut,
but she remembered that it was the last
in the larder, and that their slender stock
of money was nearly gone.
"I don't know how much it is worth,"
said she.
' "We give a quarter fcr them at the
bakery.-" said Aurora. "Miserable driedup,
tas.teless things, too! A quarter for
mince, and fifteen cents for the squash
and apple-pies. And fifteen cents for |
lemon-soda and ginger-pop.
"I should like to make you a present
of it," said Janie, coloring a little;
"but?"
"Oh we don't want you to give it to !
us!" said Aurora. "We're not such. '
greedy monsters as that. We shall be j
only "too thankful if you will sell it to '
us, dear Miss Sevier!"
So Janie packed the plump, raisinstuclded
pie into a box, with a bottle of
birch-beer beside it, and took the forty
cents, with a curious sense of embarrassment.
"What a goose I am!" she thought. I
"Doe3 the artist turn red all over when j
he pockets the check for his pictures?;
Docs the author feel ashamed when he '
receives the payment for his story or :
poem? The pie |is mine?the wprk of
my own hand. Why should I hesitate to
sell it for what it is worth? This forty
cents will buy more than one thing which
we need, and I am thankful that I have
been able to earn it.
At^dinner time there was nothing but
the remains of yesterday's chicken pot- j
pie. Poultry was not an expensive lux- j
urv since Janie raised her own fowls.
"Ain't there no mince-pie?" said Mrs. I
Ball, wistfully.
She was only a seventy-year-old child, '
after all, and she missed her tidbit.
"I hare sold the pie, dear," said Janie.
"I will make some more to-morrow. But
' !
UUIC 13 U llitiu vi iuou*ov<guvgu |
snuff, and some more blue yarn for you ;
to knit."
^And bid Mrs. Ball forgot her troubles,
and chuckled over the snuff and the
yarn.
That afternoon Janet went out into
the fields, and gathered a great yellow
pumpkin and a store of juicy red apples.
Anu the next day she baked all manner
of pies, finishing them high and early
before the stream of school girls and 1
i a - i - n
laetoxy worners liegan 10 now past.
And she put them in the front window,
labeled "For Sale.""Bles3
me!" said old Mrs. Ball, when
Janie led her down strirs in a clean capborder
and a neat calico gown, to begin
her days's work of knitting, "what be
you goin' to do!"
"I'm going to make money," said
Janie, cheerfully.
It was quite au artistic window. There
were the pies of divers and sundry sorts,
the bottles of'lemonand birch beer, with
a suggestive coflce pot placed in their
midst, and a glass pitcher of milk.
There were fresh-fried doughnuts and
shining gillifiower apples, and light,
home-made cakes; and there was a little
wire basket of boiled egg?, looking like
monster pearls as they hung there in the
sunshine.
The school girls, with the flavor of
yesterday's treat yet in their mouths,
came trooping in to buy their lunches;
the factory girls followed suit.
Old Mrs. Ball sat smiling by the chimney
corner, while Janie Sevier wrapped
up neat little parcels and made change
j witn switt alacrity.
"It makes the place a deal livelier,"
said the old lady. "I always did like
company."
At the day's end, Janie counted the
contents of the till.
"So far as I can see," said she, "we
have made three dollars clcar profit.
Three dollars a day is not bad for a
i woman. And I think I can improve
j upon the business after a little experi!
ence."
j At the expiration of a month, Mrs.
Mark Sevier would not believe that her
I sister in-law had actually opened an
l account with the Silverdale Savings
4 lank and deposited twenty dollars.
"Twenty dollars?" she . screamed.
"Mark, there is some mistake 1"
"No, there aia't!" said Mark. "The
cashier told me so himself."
"But how did sheerer make twenty
dollars? I can't do it?not with all the
butter and cheese and the dried fruit."
persisted the woman.
"Earned it, I s'pose," Mark answered,
drily.
"The business," as Janie called it,
grew apace. The village carpenter was
called in to patch up the old wing and
build on :t new room, and when, three
years afterward, Mrs. Ball died peacably,
sitting in her chair, Janie sold the
old mill and opened a ladies' lunch
room in Silvcrdale village, now a thriving
young town.
"Nobody ever hcered o' such a thing,"
said Mrs. Mark Sevier.
"That's the very reason that I think it
will succceu," said Janie.
And she hung the windows with
Madras muslin, papered the wall with a
< i 1 -?
pattern or green ana goia peiicuuiva
plumes, and made the little place as
beautiful as possible.
It succeeded.
And when Stephen Ball came back
from Manitoba, poorer than he went, lie
found that Janie Sevier was one of the
richest women in Silverdale.
"Lucky for me!" said Stephen Ball.
"I don't believe I can do belter than to
marry her. She's prettier than ever."
But Janie Sevier had very decided
opinions of her own on the subject.
"\fnrrTr riMi?" coif! aim "WVtV flhfHllfl
I marry^ou? I neither love nor respect
you, Stephen Ball!"
"We were engaged once," whined the
poor fellow.
"Ouce!" echoed Janie. "But that
was before I understood your character.
Do you think I would marry a man who
coufd leave his old grandmother to
starve, without ever troubling himself
about her fate?"
And Stephen Ball was compelled to
retreat from the field.
j "How could I ever have loved that
I man?" said Janie to herself. "Dear,
! dear!how people change! Once I neari
ly broke my heart about him; but now?
| now I may perhaps marry some day, if
j the right man comes along. Just at
present I am a great deal too busy to
, think of such things."?Helen Forrest
| Graces.
Saying ami Doing.
What is my opinion of saying and no'
! doing? It is a fault as universal as
speech, and it has done an incalculable
| amount of injury. The child learns it
j from its parents aud hands it down to
j all posterity, so that it may be called aD
i inherited blemish of character. The
i mother will tell her child she will do
| thus and thus if it does not do so and
j so, and the kid finds out, after one ur
j two trials, that the mother is indulging
* ? ' ?-i w.:u 1
j in aa auowuinu vurtuLy ui umu
; and, besides presuming npon that to do
as it pleases, adopts it as a part of its
i early training, and in after years uses it
| as it has been taught to do. This habit
j has become so common among all
j classes that, in the rare cases whet'fe a
! person does or does not as he says once
j that he will, it is productive of all sorts
j of trouble. For instance, a man tells
j auother that if he does not return
| promptly a certain sum of money he has
borrowed, he will never let him have
any more. The borrower, presuming
upon the universal practice, delays
a day, or two or three,
nod comcs up smiling, to make
good the loan, for he is honest and will
pay. He feels that he has done the fair
thinsr, and is sure that the lender didn't
mean what he said, because nobody ever
I. is that particular, etc. In a few days he
may need another loan, and, of course,
goes to the same friend to procure it.
Then the friend, doing what he has said 1
plainly that he would, is roundly abused,
not only by the borrower but by the
borrower's friends, and the general
opinion of all is that the lender should
have impressed the borrower with the
fact that he could get no money from
him, and so prevented the poor borrower
from getting into trouble. All around
in similar cases we hear the cry of those
who are struck: "Yes, I know yon said
so, but I never thought you would do it."
People make all sorts of threats about
what they will or will not do, but those
threatened laugh softly, and go right
ahead, doing as they please; for they
know that it will all end in mere talk,
and it generally does.?Mrs. Brown, in
Merchant Traveler.
Everything from Taper.
Since the discovery of paper from rags,
about 900 A. D., we date the paper age.
Since then all has been easy enough.
Books took the lead, newspapers followed,
periodicals, magazines and trade
journals closed the triumphant march
toward complete happiness. Scientists,
always short-sighted folks, began to look
upon the paper age as nearing its close.
Poor souls! Paper bags and papfer boxes
made them smile; paper boats, paper
barrels.and paper wheels gave them a
chill in the dorsal region; paper collars
and paper handkerchiefs set them humming
and hawing; paper bottles and
paper tea caddies and paper chimneys
created quite a flutter in so called ''scientific
circles"; paper timber and paper
flooring render them rather uneasy;
naner shirt front3 and paper slippers
broke them down entirely. But the end
is not yet. "We are, in reality, only just
; entering upon the border, so to speak,
i of the genuine paper age. In a few short
j years, in our paper shirts aud paper
| trousers, we shall sit down to our paper
j tables, upon our paper chairs, and drink
' our coffee out of our paper cups and eat
; our egijs with paper spoons. When we
go out of a morning, we shall make
I ready our paper shoes, paper overcoat,
paper gloves, paper umbrella or paper
cane and paper hat; kiss the baby,
happy in liis paper pinafore, trip lightly
i down the paper stairway, over the paper
sidewalk to our paper carriage, and start
; down town, and continue our noiseless
j ride over the paper pavement, stopping
' once more, possibly, to order the latest
i r>ftiir?r rmvpltv for our better-half. Oh
, I'?? ^
i no, ye wise men, the end of the paper
age is not yet!?Neio York Herald. ;
Curious Case of Nervous Sympathy. '
At the last meeting of the French 1
academy of medicine, Dr. Brown-Sc- 1
quard related a very remarkable instance
of the power of sympathy which came 1
I within his recent observation. A little 1
i girl was looking out of a window in a 1
! house in the Batignolles. The lower
i sash was raised and the child had placed
; her arms on the sill. Suddenly the sup'
port on which the sash rested gave way 1
I and the window fell with considerable
! fnrnp nn flip lit.tln mrl's arms, inflicting
j a severe bruise, ller mother, who was
i in the room at the time, happened to
I look toward the window at the moment
j of the accident and witnessed it. She
I fainted with fright and remained in!
sensible for a minute or two. When she
recovered she was conscious of a severe
pain in both arms, and on examining
the seat of it she was amazed to find on
each arm a bruise corresponding in position
to that left by the accident,ob the
{ child's, though more extensive. ' ';
WORDS OF WISDOM.
There is no policy like politeness; and
a good name.or to supply the want of it.
Let friendship gently creep to a
height; if it rush to it, it may soon run
itself out of breath.
In studying character, do not be blind
to the shortcomings of a warm friend or
the virtues of a bitter enem\\
If thou desirest case, in the first place
take care of the ease, of thy mind, for that
will make other sufferings easy.
It is no help to a sailor to see a flash
of light across a darkness, if he does
ftot instantly steer accordingly.
The seeds of love can never grow but
under the warm and genial influence of
kind feelings and affectionate manners.
Words are spiritual forces, angels of
blessing or of cursing. UnutterccI, we
control them; uttered, they control us.
It is better to be the builder of our own
name than to be indebted by descent for
the proudest gifts known to books of
heraldry.
Some are brave one day and cowards
another, as great captains have often
told me from their own experience and
observation.
"Whatever is coming, there is but one
way to meet it?to go straight forward,
to bear what is to be borne, and to do
what is to be done.
No person can be so feeble or so poor
that he has not a duty to perform;
which, being performed, makes him one
with the highest and greatest.
Let us remember those that want neccessaries,
as we ourselves should have desired
to be remembered had it been our
sad lot to subsist on other men's charity.
Bagdad.
A city of over 100,000 .inhabitants,
with no place of public resort, wlier?
every house resembles a fortress or a
prison, the ponderous doors opening
upon narrow, gloomy lanes winding between
grim, bare walls, and creaking
heavily on their hinges, to reveal the
low, dark, vaulted eutrance that leads to
the courtyard inside, sometimes picturesque
enough with pillared vcrrandas
and arabesque lattices, but always rambling,
uncomfortable, inconvenient, uncared
for, to English ideas what a man's
* * i _ 1 A1 1..........
noine snouia ue?a city wiiere mu nuiu-y
of a wheeled conveyance i3 unknown;
for who could drive anything that goes
on wheels in lanes six feet wide that
twist round every house corner, and
the mud lies ankle deep in wiuter and
dust darkens the air in summer? A city
through the midst of which flows a
mighty river, on which the traffic
is- carried against wind and
steam by men harnessed like
beasts, on which the only
native boats for pleasure or profit are on
the same model, and no better In construe.ion
than the coracle of the ancient
Briton, on which foreign enterprise has
placed steamers which have to contend
against every device and delay known to
the crafty Ottoman- A city unrivaled
for# position and fertility of soil, environed
by desert which might be made
to blossom as the rose, the center of
trade for a whole continent, yet sunk in
decay and poverty; where 30,000 Jews
contend in the struggle for existence, or,
more properly, for a bare subsistence,
with twice as many other Orientals not
less supple, wily, patient and persevering
than themselves, in a city where
poverty and oppression have sharpened
every man's wits. A city that might sit
enthroned as a queen upon the waters,
heir and daughter of mighty Babylon and
the later splendors oi Maaain, aeieucia i
and Ctesiphon, now groveling in the
dust amid the ruins of a long forgotten
former glory. Such is Bagdad of today,
the city of Haroun-al-Rashid, the
familiar home kof Sinbad the Sailor and
the other worthies of the "Arabian
Nights."?Saturday lie view.
A Miser's Horrible Fate.
Bent under the weight of years, low In
stature, clean-shaved facc, sandy hair,
bright blue eyes, but deaf as a stone,
such was the little old Frenchman, Pedro
Eymin. On the day that the eagles of
France fell wounded and defeated on the
field of Waterloo, and fortune turned
her back on the first soldier of the ago,
Eymin, the bugler, under the orders of
General Ney, sounded the signal for the
attack on St. John's Hill. It was the day
fatal to Napoleon, June 18, 1815: Eymin
was seventeen years of age then. His
home life in this city was far from happy,
and he neared the winter of his days
abandoned by his wife and daughter. A
miser, his clutch on his gold grew tighter
as he neared death. Many a bitter lawsuit
had been prosecuted here by him
when he found himself, as he often did,
robbed of portions of his sequestered
wealth. He could have lived in a.palace
and rolled over the Paseo in a sumptuous
carriage. In a little room, No. (J Calle
de Monzon, lived the old miser. His Inst
clays were sad and his death was terrible,
as the revelations made now at the trial
of his murderers prove. He died a fearful
and mysterious death behind the
massive walls of .the ex-convent of San
Geronimo in this city. In the groin of a
musty corridor, where the sunlight did
not enter, he was partially strangled on
May 10, 1885, and, tied hand and foot,
left to die a living death in a great dox,
and scarcely dead was attacked by myriads
of ferocious rats, entering through
the half opened lid of his awful colfin.?
City of Mexico Two liejtublics.
The Mantle of Tame.
The Pall Mall Gazette prints a new anecdote
illustrating the care with which
noblemen are made, and the poor material
which kings use in making them,
as related in a Swedish contemporary.
When King Gustavus III. was in Paris
he was visited by a deputation of the
Sorbonne. THat leavnca i>oay congratulated
the king on the happy fortune
which had given him so great a man as
Scheele, the discoverer of magnesium, as
his subject and fellow-countryman. The
king, who took small interest in the
progress .of science, felt somewhat
ashamed that he should be so ignorant
as never even to have heard of the reuowned
chemist. He dispatched a courier
at once to Sweden with the laconic
order, 4'Scheele is to be immediately
raised to the dignity and title of a
count." "His majesty must be obeyed,"
said the prime minister, as he read the
order; "but who in the world is Scheelc?"
A secretary was told to make inquiries.
He came back to the premier with very
tull inf jrmation. "Scheele is a good
r.fvt.4- nf fn'ilrvnr )? oniri lln 4n llf> II frpn H n t. in
3UI V U4 iVUUil j omu v.-< .?
the artillery, a capital shot, and a firstrate
hand at billiards." The next day
the lieutenant became a count, and the
illustrious scholar and scientist remained
a simple burgher. The error was not
discovered until the king returned home.
His majesty was indignant. "You must
all be fools," he exclaimed, "not to
know who Scheelc is!" He himself had
only known him for three or four weeks.
The light of friendship is like the
light of phosphorus?seen plainest when
all around is dark. ,
= *
HUMOROUS SKETCHES.
Old Crulk*Iiank Didn't Stay.
''Tommy, is your sister Clarinda in?"
"Mebby she is and mebby she ain't.
What's your name?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Waal, ye sec, she said if Mr. Tompkins
called she'd be in, but if oid Cruikshank
came she'd be out. Which be
o> -*r_ /"i?:i.?i 1.
juui Jill* V>i uii\3Liujiiv uu|/ax hjci.
Ckicajo NeiDs.
i
Sin Answered*
The dude was visiting a charming
young socicty lady, and as they sat on
either side of an open grate fire his heart
waa full of a burning desire to say something
not only complimentary, but brilliantly
suggestive. So, after revolving
I 4-V*r% aw in ln'fl m!nr] rlnrinrf Q Inn
IJ1VJ JUUlbUl 111 UIO LllJUU uuiiju- c# vvu
minutes' burst of silence, he said:
"Ah, Miss Lillie, why are those firetongs
so like Frederick?" [Ho meant her
to guess, or him to tell her "because they
glowed in her service, or were prostrate
at her feet," or something of that kind.]
Miss Lillie,lookingso solemnly demure
that the clock stopped, said she didn't
know unless it was because they had
two thin legs and a brass head. He was
groping blindly for the front door before
she had recovered from the shock of
her own volley. ? GoodaWs Sun.
Obcdicncc to the Letter.
Not long ago a young man in Carson
got married, and started for California
with his young wife. As he boarded the
train his father bade him good-by, and
gave him his blessing.
"My son," said the aged sire, shaking
with emotion, etc., "remember these
words if you never see me again: Never
go into a place where you would not
take your wife!"
The couple settled down in Mariposa
county, and recently the old man went
down to visit them. He proposed a bear
hunt, and they were fortunate enough
to track a grizzly to his lair, among some
of the bowlders in the chaparral. As
they approached, the bear roused up
and sent a growl of defiance which
shook ihe trees. ?
"Go in there and kill him?" said the
old man, excitedly.
The son held back, further acquaintance
with the bear seeming in some respects
undesirable.
"Count me out," he said.
"Have I crossed the sea and settled in
America to raise a coward!" shouted the
father.
"I but recollect your advice when I
left Carson," was the reply. "How can
I forget your sage precepts? Didn't you
tell me never to go where X could not
take my wife? Now, how would Sally
look in there with that bear?"
The old man clasped his dutiful son
to his bosom, and as the bear issued
from his lair, exclaimed:
"Speaking of Sally, let us hasten home.
Our long absence might cause her needless
alarm."
In about fifteen minutes they had
reached the ranch, the old man a little
ahead.
licit and tlio Bunco nan*
If there is any man who looks more
like a broad-shouldered, deep-cheated
agriculturist than Ben Maginiey, we
would like to see him. There is a story
told of a bunco man touching him on
the shoulder on Broadway, one day last
summer, with a "Why, my dear old
friend, how do you do?"
"I haven't felt better in twenty years,"
replied Ben, taking in the situation at a
glance.
"I'm real glad to hear it. How are
all the folks?"
"All right, except Bill."
"Why, is William sick?"
"Bless you, no! Didn't you hear that
he collided with that red bull of old
Jones' ?"
"That is very sad; a man should be
careful when he's fooling around cattle."
"Ha! ha!" roared Ben. "Bill isn't
a man; he's our old white bull," and his
laugh occupied more'of Broadway than
a healthy fog-horn would have done. If
tbo Km ncn mon tvontiirl imp mnr/> fn nrnvp
to hint that he had caught a greenhorn,
Ben's hillside laugh settled the question.
"Now," said he, "I have a friend in
New York who has shown me all the
sights worth seeing; so I can start right
in and show them to you. What do you
say?"
"Why," said Ben, "I'm here to see
everything you've got worth seeing; but,
young man," and he took a most tender
hold of the lappel of the steerer's coat,
"I have been telling stories to presidents
and princes for the last forty years, and
a tear wells up into my eye as I think ol
how sad a thing it is to have to correct
the impression you have formed of me.
I need say no more than that, like my
illustrious brother, Forrest, I served the
first part of my apprenticeship in a circus."
And with a trip and a box under
the ear, the bunco-steerer was tangling
himself in the gutter in the middle of
iiroadway, wnne lien movea q.uieny
down the street whistliug "I Am a
Pirate King."?New York Dramatic Mirror.
Ills Ear Pierced with a Fish-hook.
"Wall, wall," remarked an ancient
and honorable Lake Ontario oarsman,
who, on the retired list, .its it were, was
a trifle over critical of the youngor and
rising members of the profession: "This
'erc's a world of improvement, sure
enough. When I was a-pullin'?and I
tell you I hefted the ash for some big
men in my time?Secretary Edmunds,
President Arthur?and what a fly he kin
cast! And there was Gen.?what's his
name??he that fought the duel with
Col.?. ' Names kinder slips on me these
muggy days, but he was a caster too, and
Pve seen him put an old fashioned
hnrldn flv eir*htv-five feet with one hand
tied behind him.
"See this ear-ring," he continued,
pointing a gouty finger at a gold hoop
that hun? from hi3 left ear. "The
general bored that himself. One day we
was out and the two men got into a
wrangle, they was always a doin' it,
about their castin', and at last they got
me to stand fifty foot off on a p'int?
down at-Pitch Pine p'int?and hold out
a tin mug. The general he bet that he
could take the mug out of my hand in
three tries by puttin1 the fly through the
handle.
"I was gettin' paid well, aud so, as I
though I couldn't lose more than an eye j
or so I stood up, and the first cast the
old man took mo right through this 'ere
csr. I tell ye, I dropped that cup quick,
? * ii-_ 1 i, ?.,i? ?
UUt [I1C geuerttl u<J? iiuu iiauKi a y*v
shiner and tosses it at me and says:
Jack, leraine reel ye in and it's yours.'
'Go it,' says I. So lie began to reel in,
playinr me for all I was wuth, the colonel
standin' ready with gaff, and when the
general cot the line in he hooked the
gaff in the slack of my trousers and give
me a sling of about ten foot and yells
out: 'It's wuth $10 to land a two hundred
pound sucker.' He paid it, too.
They hooked me and landed me, and it
cost 'em $30. When they cut the hook
out the colonel said he'd pay for a gold
earring to go in, and said I'd never have ,
sore eyes, and I never have, so help me. ;
^That's how I come to wear one earring
I lost the money, though. When th
old woman heard on't she allowed w<.
was all drunk, and so took the $30 for
her share."? Philadelphia Times.
Old New England Taverns.
Many a New England village inn
could, in the opinion of the most fastidious
of Frenchmen, well bear-comparison
with the' best to be found in France.
The neatness of the rooms, the goodness
of the beds, the cleanliness of the sheets,
the smallness of the reckoning, filled
him with amazement. Nothing like
them to be found in Fiance. There the
wayfarer who stopped at an ordinary
over night slept on a bug-infested bed,
covered himself with ill-washed sheets,
drank adulterated wine, and to the an
noyance of greedy servants was aauea
| the fear of being robbed. But in New
England he might, with perfect safety,
passnightafternightatan inn whose windows
were destitute of shutters, and
whose doors have neither locks nor
keys. Save the postoffice, it was the
most frequented house in the town. The
great room, with its low ceiling and
neatly-sanded floor, its bright pewter
dishes, and short-backed, slat-bottomed
chairs ranged along the walls, its long
tables, its huge fire-place, with the
benches on either side, where the dogs
s!eep at night, and where the guests sat,
when the dipped candles were lighted,
to drink mull and flip, possessed some attraction
for every one. The place was
at once the town hall, the assembly
room, the court-house and the show
tent. There the selectmen met. There
the judges sometimes held court. On its
door was fastened the list of names
drawn for the jury, notices of vendues,
offers of reward for stray cattle, the
names of tavern haunters, and advertisements
of farmers who had the
best seed potatoes and the best
seed com for sale. It was at.
the " General Greene," or the
"United States Arms," or the "Bull's"
Head," that wandering showmen exhibited
their automatons and musical
clocks, that dancing masters gave their
lessons, that singing school was held,
that the caucus met, that the caucus met
duriug general training. Thither came
the farmfirs from the back countrv.brine
ing their food in boxes and their horses'
feed in bags, to save paying the landlord
more than lodging rates. Thither many
a clear night in winter came sleigh-loads
of young men and women to dance and
romp, and when 9 o'clock struck, go
home by the light of the moon. Thither,
too, on Saturdays, came half the male
population of the village. They wrangled
over politics, made bet3, played tricks
and fell iuto disputes, which were sure
to lead to jumping-matches, or wrestlingmatches,
or trials of strength on the
village green. As the shadows lengthened
the loungers dispersed, the tavern
was closed and quiet settled upon the
town.?McMastefs History.
Lillpatian Tribes.
- 'I-'" T ? DlAn/vAAn a
lUrfli ilHUU JjC x lUU^CVU IT&Abgo U VU44ous
account, published in the Scientific
American, of some villages of pigmies
discovered by her husband and herself
on the eastern coast of Yucatan. It is
singular that rccent ethnological discoveries
in various parts of the world have
related to dwarf tribes, and Mrs. Le
Ploogeon, before describing the Liliputian
towns of Yucatan, reminds us that
a number of stone tombs were found a
few years ago on the banks of what the
printed account calls the river Merrimac,
containing adult human skeletons only
three feet long, and it is probable that
the colonization of Central Africa will
show the existence of many tribes of
little men. In Mexico, particularly in
the south, the dwarfs play a large part
in the traditions of the natives, who attribute
to them the construction of the
ruined buildings found there, and sometimes
profess to have seen them, or to
have been disturbed by the sound of
their hammering at night. The place
mnst frenuented bv the dwarfs seems to
w 1 ? ?/
have been Cozumel Island, a low, flat
reef, about twenty-four miles in length,
off the east shore of Yucatan. On this
island still exist the ruins of pigmy cities
of considerable importance, with temples
built of carefully-hewn stone,
the largest of which is fourteen feet long
and nine feet high, and has a doorway
three feet high and eighteen inches wide;
and near by are well constructed triumphal
arches nine feet high. On the
neighboring coast are still to be seen the
remains of villages, all the houses in
which are of stone, but so small that tfo
one larger than an ordinary child of two
years could comfortably get into them.
There is some reason to suppose that the
little race still survives. According to
the Indian guide who led Dr. and Mrs. |
Le'Plongeon to the ruins, and who professed
to have seen the dnvarfs frequently,
they are very small and quite shy,
appearing only at night, with large hats
on their heads, and" never speaking to
those whom they meet. Many of our
readers are old enough to have seen the
"Aztec children;" the diminutive specimens
of a race supposed to be extinct,
which were exhibited about the country
twenty-live years ago; and it is not impossible
that the remnant of tribes which
occupied the country long before the
Toltec conquest may bo found in the valleys
of the Cordilleras, just as representatives
of nearly all the ancient European
races are fouud still existing in the remoter
Alpine valleys.?American Archi
tect.
Sliam Mushrooms.
"You notice on the bill of fare that
your turtle soup is but ten cents more per
plate than mock turtle soup, saia a
stranger in a great, gilded eating house.
Calipash and calipee, green fat, an historic
delicacy, famed in the history of
the world's metropolis as the acme of
epicurean delight, for ten cents more
than a fried meat ball. But the age
likes to think it is eating turtle soup. It
sounds rich?therefore the veally counterfeit.
I am going to eat a Spanish
omelette," continued the stranger,
changing the subject. The stranger
gave his order to a colored waiter, who
yawned and twisted his mustache,and the
omelette was brought. The stranger
investigated the ingredients of the savory
mess with his fork and on the end of.
the utensil produced a mushroom. "Look
at this," he said. Then he picked at the
appetizing vegetable with his knife,
scraped off the covering of sauce and
began paring the stem. It crumbled
under the operation in a decidedly unveeetable
way. The reporter's eyes
popped out on his cheeks.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Dough," replied the s*.ranger. "It
is an old trick. Mushrooms are scarce
and high. Still the patrons like to have
the sensation of ordering mushrooms in
that composition. If prices were put up
to the mushroom market they would
abandon the restaurant. So they use
dough. It is harmless. I would advise
the proprietor to stick to dough,and not
indulge in toadstools, which might work
injury."?Philadelphia Press.
Never be idle, but keep your hands or
mind usefully employed except when
sleeping. ,
IN-AUTUMN.
The flowers
Of
summer fair,
The blooms we loved so well,
Which made so redolent the air,
r*lA^A^ fliA ?VIMA TTOIAQ wiili tonaafrff mAii
VlVUUCU UUO TT1UO "iwu IIIWT
rare,
Have yielded their pure lives to autumn*!
spell;
Yet, nodding everywhere,
Are blossoms debonair,
Which summer's glare
And hours
Knew not;
Gay asters nod
In breezes cool, and swing;
And rocks the graceful golden rod;
The milkweed's hidden silk escapes the pod?
Climbs the blue sky like a winged thing,
Then seeks again the sod;
O'er ledges grey and broad,
Held by frail cord,
Doth rock * ~
' v/i* *r {-'M.-zcA
And ring
The harebell blue; / . .
The maple trees are red,
As are the clouds the sun sets
through;
The sumach's waving flags are crimson, too,
As tho' a rainbow's dyes were o'er them
spread.
The world is sweet to view! . \ ;v
Nature to me and yoa
A lesson true
Doth fling.
She tells
Us everything
Must suffer change and die?
'Tis all-wise Allah's ordering; ... ~
And tho' the change hurts like an adder'#
sting,
Not ours is it to halt and question why;
He best knows where to fling
The sunshine of bis wing? /
And when to ring
Farewells.
?Portland, (Me.) Transcript, ~
PUNGENT PARAGRAPHS.
A stern necessity?A ship's rudder.? '
Judge.
Song of the cowboy?Oh, these steers.
?Hatchet.
The locks on a door are worn perfectly
plain. It is the door that is banged.;
?Statesman..
' An exchange asks: "What is hostile
furniture?" Don't know "unless it ia
armed chairs.? Eianitille Argvs.
"What chin is it which, is harder to
keep still than a woman's?" "Why, the
ur-chin, of course."? 'Toledo American.
It is a curious physiological fact thai
a corn never grows on the right foot. I*
ii always on the wrong one.?Boston
Transcript.
Whether the world goes round or riot* >
it is certain that that Dart of the Worla
situated in Europe Iras its revolutions
often-enough.?Boston Transcript,
A Georgia man who lost an eye had a _
catis eye put in its place. Now, when- ~
ever he sees a boot-jack he doesn't know "
whether to dodge or not.?Graphic.
Alligators are now quoted at from
$1.50 to ?3.00 per running foot. Lay in
your winter stock now, before somebody
corners the" market.?Pittsburg Chronicle,
The piano sounds the knell gt parting day;
Next door the singing pupil shrieks high Cj.
The cornet practices across the way,
And gives the night to anguish and to ma.
?Boston Gazette.. .
"Why comes not my love to me?" ask*
a poetess in (i Chicago newspaper. If we
~v*4. 1%a /\llrt a if TFQQ
UilgUli UC Ollvncu lu *? nm pvvir
bly because he had never seen her before..
?Puck.
An exchange says: "Fremont has ten
secret societies within her limits." It
would now be interesting to know hcfv7
many she has outside her limits'.?
Graphic.
A bottle of milk which a Baltimore
chemist was testing ths other day exploded
with great force and nearly killed
him. It was probably from a kicking
cow.?Detroit Free Press.
The poor man of to day is said to fare
much better than a king cmld have done
a few centuries ago, and yet a blister oil
the heel or a boil under the arm makes him
forget all this.?Chicago Ledger.
Sculptor Joe! L. Hart has just chiseled
a piece of statuary representing "Woman
Triumphant." She is represented in a '
garden leaning on a broom, with the hen
disappearing in the distance.?PhiladeV
2)hia Call. '" * * '
"If you can't feel any more interest
than this, Caroline, perhaps we had better
break off our engagement." "Don't
say 'break,' Charles?it's horridly vlolnnfc.
But we miirht let it disintegrate
peacefully, don't you think ?"-n?Fliegende
Blatter.
"I was never exactly buried alive,"
said an old clerk, recounting his experiences,
"but I once worked in a store that
did not advertise. When I came out my
head was almost as white as you now
see it. Solitary confinement did it."?
Cincinnati Gazette.
Getting out of it?She: "By the way, ;
''you've got my name wrong; it's Singleton,
not Simpleton. You see jou take
me for more of a simpleton than I really
am.'' He: "Oh, no; I assure you I don't
?er?1 mean?er?have you.been to .the
aciidcmy yet!"?Judy.
AVe are assured by scientific authorities
that when electricity i3 loafing along at ^
the rate of not more than forty thousand
miles a second it is not dangerous, and >.
v,?? Ka 1ionrlI#>fl with sai'etv. It will
ill a j ug uuuutvw. ...... y
therefore be well to always notice before
hand whether it is going at a jog trot or
on a full gallop before you undertake to
stop it. Attention to this caution may
preserve the filiiug in your teeth.?Chicago
Ledger.
tub turn'-up xose.
Her lips aro re.l, her eyes are bright,
Her checks are like the rose.
Hor graceful nock is ivory white,
She has a turn-up noso? ?
A turn-up nose, ihis pretty rfiiss,
But she's a charming creature,
And I esteem her proboscis?
anrrnrriiifr ffiJltllFO. ?
J..LC4 1UVJV w"b"0"*0
Indeed I do. You ask mo why?
The reason is simply this:
'Tis never in the way when I
Attempt to snatch a kiss.
?Boston Courier.
Husband and Wife's Epitaphs.
A visitor in the old town of Norfolk,
Conn., was tramping in a graveyard
there the other day, trying to read the
moss-hidden epitaphs, when his eye fell
uiioa a tombstone with this inscription:
Here lies the body of Lieut. Nathan
Davis, who departed this life Sept. 17th, .
1781. in the 77th.year of his age.
Death is a ilet
thats justly duo
that I have paid
and so must you.
On the opposite side of the slab waa
the following: Here lies the body of
Mrs. Elizabeth the wife of Lieut. Nathan
Davis Descd. She died June the 30th
17SG in the 97th year of her age.
This det i owo
is justly due
and i am come
to sleep with you.