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lewis m. grist, proprietor. [ j^it Intrrpcnlrcnf Jfamiin ?tems paper: Jfor % ^promotion of tjje political, Social, |cgricaltnral aitb Commercial Interests of tjre Soat|. TERMS--$2.50 A YEAR, IN ADVANCE. "VOL. 28. YOEKVILLE, S. C., THUE8DAY, MAY 11. 1883. NO- 19. Original f octrg. Written for the Yorkville Enquirer. A FANCY SKETCH. BY ELLSWORTH. In the bright sunny morn of life, Athwart my musings oft would glide A form of beauty, love and grace, The image of my spirit bride. And when the lofty heights of fame Broke first in splendor on my view, Again that peerless beauty came? Of fond affection, chaste and true. And now, as then, my heart bounds high, But not of one that is unreal, For now I see in a new form My long-cherished heart's ideal. Yea, more by far in her I see Than the lithe frame and pretty face I worshipped in the spirit's form, My youthful fancy loved to trace. And yet in her I see all charms That oft threw o'er me such a spell, It bore me off in ecstasy. On fancy's wings with her to dwell. Bnt now my friend is flesh and blood, And sweeter than a rose in MayPrettiest and best now on the earth, Yet growing better every day. A perfect Venus in her form, Of precious love and symmetry, Wherein there dwells a noble heart That e'er o'erflows with sympathy; A shining model for her sex, Who by her spotless piety, Arrays herself in shining grace, Highly adorned with purity. She lives a life of poetry, And every act of it is love That speaks directh' to the heart, As would an angel from above; And from her nimble fingers drops Music like falling showers of rain Upon a lake?pure and sweet As echoes from an JRolian strain. The prototype of all that's good, And one who scorns all treacherous arts, Bnt like the sun through every day, New life and light to earth imparts; And thus dispenses round her joy A 1-J*. * ~ Ko Kloc t ami1 lu tuab aiijvu^ luv wivjt, As if, indeed, she came to earth To give the weary-hearted rest. But who can tell her priceless worth, Or peerless beauty who portray? Whose virtues battle art and skill Of every kind, both grave and gay ; And make all fear and love her too When they behold hef face and eves, That draw them to her as the sun Lifts up earth's vapors to the skies. Nor has there ever on this glot>o Once throbbed a braver heart than hers, Or breast so full of generous worth, Or moved as quick by grief or tears; Ever affectionate, kind and tender. Stain lass and free from every guile, Qiving aid where aid is needed, Even to the vicious and the vile. Her voice is music's best refrain, And more melodious than the Nine, So none can turn from her away? An incarnation 20 sublime. lrtn all <*a>? kon trnorn 1*1 CII lil Vucii ucniboan ivi uvt ?.?*? ) And from the best among the fair, Turn quick away with gallant haste, Her friendship and her love to share. For her sweet smiles give zest to life And a rainbow's hue to every scene, Crowding each moment with such bliss, Life glides away like a morning dream. O, were this earth but peopled o'er With just such beings as Evelyn, Then pain and sorrow would take their flight, And heaven on earth would soon be seen! lite Seller. A DOUBLE MISTAKE. "'A letter for you, Aunt Thankful." A bright young face, like a gleam of April sunshine, flashed into the room where Miss /Thankful Moore sat knitting?a pretty, girlish face, with a saucy dimple in either cheek, and a merry sparkle in the laughing eyes. A mammoth blue-checked apron, much too large for her, quite enveloi>ed her slender form, and both sleeves were fastened up al>ove the elbows, displaying two plump, snowy arms, the sight of which would send thrills of envy to the heart of any hall-room belle. "Lay it on the table, child, and go back to vour morning's work." "Who do you suppose it's from ?" questioned the girl, turning the letter over, and viewing the superscription curiously. "I'll see soon's ever I've knit to the seamneedle. I make it a pi'nt never to lay things aside all in a muddle, no matter what happens." The girl colored consciously. "Oh, that everlasting seam-needle! I believe sometimes you knit past it just to keep me waiting." "Harriet 1" Mi3S Thankful never used this name in addressing her niece except when extremely displeased. .Slowly and carefully she folded her work, sticking the needles firmly and securely into the ball; then wiping her sjjectacles .in unnecessary length of time 011 her spotless apron, she adjusted them in their proper position across her nose, and took up the letter. Meanwhile, Harriet had flown back to the kitchen, where she gave vent to her impatience by making a great clattering among the breakfast dishes. "She's the dearest old auntie in the world !" she said: "but she does try me so with her awful precision. She'd like to have me spend the rest of my life in the unvarying routine of the old family clock 011 the mantle yonder. But I can't: I'm too full of life and activity. I want something new, and dearly as I love her, I'd like a change once in a while. Aunt Thankful and the old clock are exactly alike. The tick, tick, tick of the clock, and the click, click, click of her knitting needles, are about the only sounds I hear, except the occasional racket I make just by way of variation. The clock is a perfect model of accuracy and promptness; so is she. They never make a mistake or go wrong." In the next room, Miss Thankful Moore had taken the letter from the envelope, and iihu reau ii uuuugu twice uciure cuiuuieuuiig upon it. Then dropping it into her lap, her face assumed a thoughtful expression, her eyes took on a dreamy look ; and no wonder, for she was gazing far back into the past?full forty years. "Strange, strange !" he murmured, meditatively, "that Mehetable should have writ to me after all these years. She's moved to Bramlileville quite lately, and wants to renew our acquaintance, she says. Only twenty-five miles from here, an' the cars run right past her house, an' mine, too. Seems most like bein' neighbors. She's a widow, poor thing! an' her children are all dead an' gone but Nell. Well, well! I haven't been called upon to pass through them afflictions, an' I reckon, on the hull, ;rs how I'm about as contented as mosto' women o' my age. I'm right glad that she hasn't any boys. Her Nell must be quite a girl. Mehetable's every bit as old as I am, an' Nell's her youngest, she said. I wouldn't wonder if she's about Harrie's age. Dear me! how that girl does fret. She's so lonesome. I don't know's I blame her either. I was young an' chipper once myself. Mehetable writ an invite for me to come and spend a week or two with her. 1 couldn't think of leaving home for so long a time. Things would go to rack j an' ruin if I did. But it would be a real treat for Harrie, an' I could run down an' stay a couple o' days when she's ready to come home. If Mehetable's as glib a talker as she used to lie, we can, talk upthe past forty years in two days, an' not half try. It's a blessed thing that she's only got a daughter. If she had grown-up sons, I'd never think of lettin' Harrie go : for she is pretty, there's no denyin* that. Yes, I'll answer Mehetable's letter right off, an' ask her if Ilarrie may come for a j week or two. It'll be a change for 'Tier, an', I like as not, she'll be more contented after she I gets home again." j * * ' * * * * * "A letter for you, mother, and the very superscription is as good as a photo, of the writer. I can imagine a prim, dignified spinster < of uncertain age, to whom the least shadow of indecorum is an unpardonable sin. Mrs. Me- ; hetable Morton! Why, little mother Hetty, i your very name looks unnatural; it is so pain- < fully precise. I wonder if she accepted your 1 invitation to make us a visit. I hope not, for we'll have to drop all pet names while she's ] here. She'll Mehetabie you and Nelson me. I wouldn't wonder but that she considers it i altogether too familiar to address people by I their given names, and we will be at once pro- | moted to Mr. and Mrs. uI)o let me take the letter, Nel. I am so anxious to read what she has written. She used to be my dearest friend, years ago, when we were little girls. I haven't seen her for a 1 great many years. Ah, just as I thought! < I She can't leave home for any length of time; but she writes that Peter's child?Peter was her brother, two or three years younger than < herself?is with her. Shethinks the child is < lonely and needs a change quite badly. If it < will not be a bother to us, she will send Harrie ? down for a week or two, and she will come at s the end of that time and make a short visit." 1 Nel puckered up his lips and gave vent to 1 a long, expressive whistle. < "A little boy's next thing to an old maid. 1 What will we do with the small tornado, i mother ?" I uOh, Nel, you'll have to amuse him in some t way! As for me, I rather like the idea of having a child about me once more. I've 3 lost my little boy, you know," with a fond upward glance. 1 "Speaking of that lost boy of yours reminds c me that I've an old chest of tools in the garret, and I'll win his everlasting friendship and i bring the condemnation of Aunt Thankful a down on my devoted head, by presenting them 1 to him on the very day of his arrival." "I'll have Bridget fix up the little room next ' to yours for Harrie. She can make it so cozy I and pleasant; and you must take him out on a the lake in your sail-boat occasionally," said c Mrs. Morton, whose kindly heart was instant- a ly filled with plans for the comfort and pleas- t ure of her expected guest. ? "What a pity that the depot isn't nearer !" \ said Nel, reflectively. "I guess I'll take the 1 horses instead of the carriage when I go to i meet him. The little fellow will be delighted with a horse-back ride. Who ever saw a boy . .. ~.. I j that wasn't V t "Of course lie will, poor little dear. I ex- r pect he's had rather a sorry time of it, with \ only Thankful for company. He shall make * all "the noise he likes the next two weeks." t Mrs. Morton instantly answered Miss Moore's letter, setting an early day for Harrie's visit. \ The day arrived, and Nel, with one of the t carriage-ponies and his own handsome horse, j started for the depot. In a few moments the ? train came thundering in, and the usual bustle F and hurry ensued. a Nel vainly searched among the new arrivals a for his little charge. There was a little boy F with his nurse, and a big boy with his father ; a but no boy answering the description of the a one Nel was in search of. "Dear me!" he said, in perplexity, "I hope d he hasn't been taken on with the train." At that moment he espied a young lady, li whose wide, blue eyes wore a very anxious i expression? as she searched the faces of those e about her in vain attempt to find the one for which she was looking. Stepping up to her side, Nel lifted his hat politely, and asked o if he conld assist her in any way. a "I expected a young lady to meet me at this a train, but I fear something lias occurred to detain her," she said with tears of vexation in q her eyes. c "And I came to escort a little boy, who has r failed to put in an appearance, to my home," f he said, smiling. "If you will tell me the o young lady's name, perhaps I may assist you 1 in finding her residence." "Iler name is Miss Nell Morton," she an- I' swered. 8 "And the little boy I was to meet at this train was Har.'ie Moore!" exclaimed Nel, s while his features went through a series of c comical contortions, in a vain attempt to tun- > ceal the merriment which this ludicrous mis- i take stirred up within him. v "Are?you?Nell ?" t Harrie looked up at the tall, handsome, a broad-shouldered young man in bewildered sur- a prise, scarcely knowing whether to laugh or s cry at the mistake. "My name is Nelson, but mother always o calls me Nel," he explained, pitying her evident embarrasment. "And you must be t Harrie, whom mother sent me to meet. I shall J have to take you into the ladies' waiting room e while I make some changes in my arrange- s ments for conveying you home." h Procuring a hack, he placed her in it, and o after giving the directions to the driver, he o mounted his horse, and, taking the pony's S bridle, rode by the side of the hack, so that t he might reach home in time to introduce e Harrie to his mother and relieve her from r further embarrassment. f "It is all on account of the names," said c Mrs. Morton, laughing heartily, as she kissed t Harrie's flushed cheeks; "but I'm ever so glad ' that you are not a boy, dear! I shall enjoy r your society so much better. a "I shall not break my heart over the disappointment," thought Nel, as he cast admiring s glances at the bright, animated face opposite, t "Oh ! what would Arpit Thankful say, if 3 she knew ?" said Harrie, as she stood before 1 the mirror, letting down her long, goldenbrown hair, in the lovely guest chamber where c Mrs- Morton had left her, with a good-night 1 tyss still warm uj>ou her lips. i The room fitted up for the little boy's comfort stood unoccupied, and Harrie knew notli- f ing of it, or the chest of tools with which Nel ' had planned to purchase her affections. i "Such a lovely tie!?and I brought it to * Nell," she said, viewing the dainty article of 1 lace and embroidery admiringly. "Just imagine this ornamenting his shirt-front ! Oh, 1 dear, it is too funny 1" She laughed merrily. -T ,....,. + ,.,1 U Tr.,o..lf I lwmrrl.f if milv t X nanvtu IV "l,VyU * wv'uh,,v Av? V,"J I could not afford two, and now I can have it," t she added, tying it about her white throat, and smiling at the pleasing effect. "I shall 1 not write one word to Aunt Thankful about f the mistake. I mean for once to enjoy myself. Mrs. Morton is such a darling old lady, and r Xel is just splendid, if he is a man !" j The next two weeks *were the brightest, happiest weeks of all Ilarrie's experience. There i were such nice, long talks with Mrs. Morton, J while Xel was at his odice, which 1 am sorry ( to confess he neglected shamefully during 1 those two joyous weeks. * There were carriage-rides and boat-rides, 1 picnics and music, until Harrie's foolish little j head wasnerrly turned with the pleasures she enjoyed ; but the two weeks drew to a close at ' last, bringing a letter from Aunt Thankful, stating that she would be with them on the fifth. i Mrs. Morton and Harrie rode over to the f depot in the carriage, to meet her, and hrought her back in triumph between them. i "There's no use askin' how you've enjoyed ( your visit." said Aunt Thankful, glancing at s Harrie's bright, happy face. "I'm only afraid c that you'll never be contented with me again." 1 ."Oh, yes, 1 shall," said Harrie; "for I f know that vou are the dearest friend I ever ' J had." "Where is Xel ?" asked Aunt Thankful, < ~ 1 1 ? J il.. .In., \ T f'Q II alter uiey nau emereu mc i'uuui, mm mia. . . Morton had seated her guest in a large easy- i chair. "Xel was obliged to be absent this after- 1 noon, and will not be at home until teatime," ' { said Mrs. Morton, sending a mute dispatch t across to Harrie who was obliged to leave the 1 room instantly, while a convulsive tremor: i shook her entire form. Harrie was coming down the stairs as Xel! ( opened the front door, and their voices came Moating dovyi the long hall and in through the 1 back parlor door, which stood ajar, to where Aunt Thankful was sitting. ' "Mehetable, who is that man talkin' to my 1 Ilarrie V'' asked she, anxiously. ; At that instant Xel and Harrie entered the room together. 1 "Oh !" exclaimed Mrs. Morton, smiling complacently, "it's only Nel, Miss Moore, allow me to make you acquainted with my son Nelson. You didn't know that I had such a great boy, now, did you ?" "The mischief's done !" cried Aunt Thankful, sinking helplessly into a chair. "But, then, 'what can't be cured must be endured,'" she added, philosophically, while Harrieblushed rosy, and Nel laughed merrily. "You thought I was a young lady, didn't you, Miss Moore ?" said he coming over and seating himself beside her, and entering into conversation in an easy, and attractive way, that quite won her lonely old heart. Aunt Thankful proved a true prophet in regard to the mischief which those two happy weeks had accomplished ; but she often remarks that since Harrie must marry somebody [and pretty girls generally do), she is awfully ?lad that she chose a sensible yourig man like Nel.?Bose Harticick Thorpe. MATT I E?STRO U B LE. "And must I live here always ?" said MatDie Fox, despairingly, as she clasped her hands m the low ledge of the open window. "Here" was no earthly elysium, to be sure. A. lonely farm house, perched half way up a lesolate mountain ; whip-poor-wills moaning >n the edge of the woods ; owls hooting solimnly by the lake ; mournful winds sourging iround the tree-tops, like the rush of an unseen garment?all this was so different from ;he crowded city life to which she had been litherto accustomed. And even as the tears )f vague homesickness rose to her eyes, the Mice of the old farmer and his wife, in the oom below, rose audibly up through the stove)ipe hole, which had not yet been sealed up for ;he summer months. "What are you going to do with her ?" said Vlrs. Fox. "We must do the best we can," said Elihu, ler husband. "She's my brother's orphan laughter, and she's got nowhere else to go." "And why, in the uame of goodness." querilously demanded Mrs. Fox, "couldn't she ;tay where she was, instead of rushing out lere and takiog us all by surprise V" "Well," slowly answered the good fanner, 'I ain't Clear aDOUt an tnat myseir, xvnoua. 3ut as nigh as I can calculate she's been disipp'inted in love. She was a shop-girl, Rhola, don't you know ? and it seems there was l genteel young man used to come there to >uy neckties and ribbons, and sicli fol-de-rols. Ind this girl, she s'posed lie was dead in love vith her, and all of a sudden it come out as he tad another sweetheart, as he was goin' to be narried to this very next week." "Bless and save us V" said Mrs Fox. While Mattie, sitting silently by the winlow as if she had been frozen into stone, felt a eculiar sensation of dull curiosity to hear vhat would come next, as if all this were spo;en about some other person, entirely different o herself. "And she is a proud girl, Mattie is," slowly vent on honest Elihu. "It runs in the Foxes o be proud ; and she won't stay there to be eered and made fun of by the other shopgirls. >o she come here because she had no other lace to come to; and that is all that I know .bout it. I guess we'd better see if the doors nd windys is all safe and go to bed ; for it's ast ten, and them haying hands will be here fore daylight, to see about cuttin' that twelve ,cre medder.*" Mrs. Fox had a talk with her niece the next lay. "Mattie," she said, I'm going to show you iow to bake apple-pies, this morning ; because f you stay here, of course you will want to nake yourself useful." "Of course," said Mattie, listlessly. "And as it happens, I hain't no girl," went n Mrs. Fox; and there's the work people, ,nd my summer boarders are coming next oonth." "Summer boarders?" Mattie louked up [Uickly, with a red flush overspreading her heek. She had come here for solitude, for est, for utter isolation ; and now, almost beore she had unpacked her little trunk, a horde f city fashionables would be upon her. Oh 1 lunt Fox, do you keep summer boarders ?" "Every summer of my life," said Mrs. Fox, riskly. "They comes in July, and mostly ;oe8 away in September, with the first frost. "Uiofa uinH monv move fr>r no +n earn n kit . ?ia IJ lUUAiJ TICVf ki i.v JL UU VV VUAAI u> vtv VA pending money, you know, Mattie; and, of ourse, if you help me I shall expect to divide rith you, square and even. And remember, t's sinful to spend your time weeping and mailing and gnashing your teeth for a lost >eau," piously added the woman. "There's s likely fish in the sea as ever come out of it ; nd, p'raps one of the hay hands will take a hine to you?who knows ?" And thus Aunt Fox dismissed the question f her niece's heart-trials. After all, perhaps it was the best treatment hat her poor, festering wounds could receive. I sharp, sudden cauterizing?a merciful crulty! And Mattie set herself diligently, if piritlessly, at work helping to feed the huge, mngry farm-hands, to shine the glittering rows f milk-pans?even to milk the horned beasts f which she was at first so nervously afraid, he learned to bake white, sweet loaves of iread, to churn butter, to raise young chickns; she gathered wild-flowers, and made a ude wicker cage for a blue-bird, which she ound with a broken wing and "treated" sucessfully. And she began to smile now and hen, and Mrs. Fox remarked, complacently, 'that Mattie was quite a decent-looking girl, low that the color had come back to her cheeks , little." But one day the mountain stage lumbering lowly over the rough roads, with its four iand linrrarrp-r'nverfd roof. stODUed at ?oo**o ~ ? 7 ** Jrs. Fox's porch, and down came the avaanch of city guests. Mattie was straightening tlie muslin curtains if the upper windows, and hurriedly tilled the arge blue pitchers with water when the trunks vere brought up. "It's Mr. Bassett and his bride, all the way rom Boston," said Aunt Fox, complacently. 'Is everything ready ? Because they are comng up stairs directly. And I never did see my one dressed as genteel as she is. A reguar beauty, too!" Mattie stood quite pale and silent, with the lomespun towels in her hand. "Bassett 1" she repeated, "And from Boson ! Oh! why of all places in the world, did hey come here V" And the next moment the homespun towels ay like a drift of scattered snow at Mrs. Fox's eet and Mattie was gone. "Mercy on us !" said Mrs. Fox, stooping to ecover her lavender scented treasures, is the firl gone crazy ?" The soft, crimson glow of the sunset was rradiating the lonely glen, when Harold [iasset parted the overhanging boughs with me hand, and plunged into the leafy wilderless where, on one side, the mossy rock rose ilmost perpendicularly, and on the other a nown-waved brook ran, with clamorous gurJle. "Mattie!" he exclaimed, stopping short. 'Am I dreaming V" Mattie Fox spraag angrily to her feet. Would they leave her no solTtary spot of efuge? Must she thus be hunted down like i wounded deer V For Harold Bassett was the man she had illowed herself to love?the soft voiced, violet?yed deceiver who had fed her with soft glances md whispered words, until?until that dark lay wnen me orner snop-guis, wiui siueiuny ooks and tittering whispers, had told of his ippropching marriage to Miss Bellfort, the Boston heiress. She made an involuntary movement to es;ape, but he placed himself directly across the larrow gateway of rock, which alone atforded in egress. "No," he said firmly, yet not without the in king shadow of a smile around his lips? 'you shall not leave me until-you explain all lie mystery of your sudden departure from Boston, leaving behind you neither name nor iddress." "I am not responsible to you she breath?d. "You are responsible to me! he retorted. 'I loved you, Mattie Fox, and you knew it." "This is simply folly," cried out Mattie, j 'if not something worse! Go back to your jride, Mr. Bassett. It is to her ears only that fou need whisper love !" The young man opened his violet-blue eyes /ery wide. "Mattie." said he. "what on earth are you talking about V My bride ? I have no bride. I never shall have any bride but you!" ""Who is the Mrs. Bassett who came to my aunt's house this morning ?" gasped Mattie, marveling at the hardihood which could thus deny an absolute and apparent fact. "Oh!" said Harold, "is that what you mean ? It is my brother's wife. And she and her husband are putting up their hammocks and establishing their rustic tables under the pine trees back of the house, at this very moi ment. Of course, I couldn't remain with them. Is not a third person always de trop when a young married couple are on their wedding trip ? So I came here, and I think that heaven directed my footsteps; for the very last person in the world whom I could have expected to see was you, dear Mattie!" "And you are not married?" repeated Mattie, with a great, overwhelming thrill of happiness at her heart. "No!" he answered, with emphasis. "And it was your brother who was really to be married, when I believed it was you, and broke my heart over what I considered your treachery and deceit ?" she pursued. "Well, it certainly was not me !" declared Harold Bassett; "for now and here at your *--j- j i. r 1. nf ItieL, uemtjist, 1 Uiot ucnaiauvu VI love I ever spoke. I love you, Mattie !" I have been wretched in your absence. Let me take you back ta Boston with me as my own treasured wife ?" So Mattie, shy and beautiful as some drooping wild-flower, was brought back to the farm house, to be presented to the city bride and her husband as Harold's engaged wife. Mrs. Hardy Bassett put up her eye-glasses and smiled condescendingly. "Very lovely !" said she, in an audible sotto voice; "and so sweetly unsophisticated 11 can always tell these country rosebuds at the first glance." "But I'm not a country rosebud," said Mattie, crimsoning. "I have only been here at the farm for a few weeks. I am a shop-girl, Mrs. Bassett." The bride started first, then simpered. "How very romantic said she. Exactly like a novel." Mattie might almost have been vexed, if she had not caught the suppressed laughter in Harold's eyes. And Aunt Rhoda declared that the Fox farm-house had never been so lonsome as it was after Mattie went away to be a grand city lady. "But she has promised to come back every summer," said Mrs. Fox. "She says the old farm will always be the dearest place in the world to her."?Helen Forrest Graves. wmmmmmmmmmmma?mmm THE CHINESE AT HOME. The chief characteristics of the Chinese, as a nation, the speaker said, is industry. Their working day begins at dawn and lasts until sunset. Schools open at sunrise and do not close till 5 P. M., there being bqt one short recess during the day. The Emperor and his court rise soon after midnight, and court audiences are given between five and eight o'clock in the morning. This same industry is exhibited by all classes. After sunset very few people are in the streets, the Chinese, like domestic fowls, retiring early to rest. There is no day corresponding to Sun lay, and only a few holidays in the year. Busily as they toil, these people are never in a hurry, are never nervous, and are not given to worrying ; but are steady, cheerful and sober. They rarely quarrel, and even if they do, seldom come to blows. There will be a little queue pulling, some calling of hard names, and then the by-standers will quietly separate the combatants. It is not physical timidity, but a sensitive consciousness of the disgrace of fighting that keeps them from engagingln brawls. That they are not cowards is well proven by the fact that they submit without flinching to the most sever?surgical operations without ever using anaesthetics. They maintain that it is very injurious to health to be nervous, to worry or to give way to anger. As a people, the Chinese do not desire a voice in the government. The common people are not public spirited, and are not only through ignorance, indifferent to beneficial reforms, but they oppose them strongly if they are apt to increase the taxes. The government of China is not nearly so aristocratic as foreigners are accustomed to think it is, but when the popular voice is once aroused it is sure to have great force. Iiv any case where there is a conflict between the mandarin or governor of a district and the people, if the people are patient and commit no acts of violence, the mandarin either yields or is removed by the government. The people have the profoundest respect for precedent, and are, in fact, constitutionally conservative. Although in the main they use the same implements and materials known to them for thousands of years, yet their religion itself is an importation from India, and they use foreign watches, needles, kerosene, sulphur matches, cotton fabrics, etc. They are, as a people, excessively polite, and their ceremonial of social intercourse is to foreigners painfully elaborate. It is an error to suppose, however, that they are a cringing race ; they assert their rights vigorously enough when occasion calls. They are not a truth telling people. They give false evidence in trials, furnish false statistics and even officials present reports that are tissues of falsehoods. It is impossible to shame them by their untruthfulness. They are not addicted to thieving, however. There is much said about the gross immorality of the people. In China, at least, if it exists it is not seen. There are societies for the suppression of immoral books. The sacred writings contain not one indecent word, and their painting and sculpture are perfectly pure. Vulgar language is never heard above the lowest classes. All Chinamen drink some wine, and a native beverage made of rice, but drunkenness is absolutely unknown, so that there are none of the evils of intemperance there so common here?wife-beating, brawling and violence of all kinds. The habit that curses the nation, opium smoking, enervates the physical, mental and moral nature, but does not lead to violence.?E. B. Drew. m ? Tiie Deserving Poor.?In my opinion, the beggar who openly asks for and receives charity is not so much to be pitied as those who suffer every day without complaining : the time has been wheit tliey were masters of their wants and wishes, and they have too much of their old pride remaining to solicit assistance ; but they go struggling on, and are every day forced to deny themselves some want or comfort. There are homes in every large city where the support depends upon the women, and tlieir only way of earning money is with the needle. Hard is their struggleworking continuously, denying to their lives every pleasure, and wasting their health and strength, they are hardly able to gather together enough money to meet expenses. The insufficiency of wages paid to women has much of the soitow and suffering of the world to answer for. Often it will be found that these girls have lived in happy and comfortable homes, and this changed condition of affairs is wearing and killing to them ; they feel the crushing weight of poverty, and long for the companionship of which the change of fortune has robbed them. They do not cry over their misfortune or go out and court charity, but, as long as strength and health is left, go struggling on, seeking to hide from the world their sorrow and suffering, like a proud njan does his deformity. Such people are deserving. Assistance onereu in u iiieiiuiy uimmci, nuu without ostentation, could not offend, but would be gladly received and Jet the sunshine into many a dreary hour. Queen Victoria's Assassin.?The acquittal of McLean, the would-be assassin of Queen Victoria, suggests two questions: First, would he have been acquitted had he killed the Queen ? And second, would he have been acquitted in this country if lie had made such an attempt upon the life of the President of the United States V Both of these questions may well be seriously cogitated?the latter by the friends of popular government who credit such governments with all the virtues and none of the vices of monarchies ; and the former by everybody. There, is nothing else so cruel as a mob; and it would seem that there is 110 other country in the world in which trials in the Courts are so much under the control of public opinion?that is, in effect, of mobs?as this country. Ipscrikmeous Reading. FUNNY PATENTS. Some of the applications made for patents are very amusing, but, however funny the idea, if it is only original with the applicant, the patent can be secured. The rights of the American inventor are sacred, and no Commissioner of Patents dares infringe upon them. It will be sad news to many a housewife to learn that every time she pricks a bole in an egg with a pin she is violating the patent of an American inventor, but such is the case. Years ago an inventive genius devoted himself to discovering a method to prevent eggs from cracking during the process of boiling. He solved the problem by pricking a pin hole in one end of the egg, through which the air in the shell was allowed to escape, and this pin hole he duly patented according to law. Precisely how he manages to collect his royalty is a mystery, but the fact remains that he has a legal claim for royalty on every pin hole niarlo in an oorcr hflfnrA hnilinir. An application has recently been made for the patent of a machine to prevent young orphan chickens from being lonely. This is an invention which should, and probably will, commend itself to Mr. Bergh. The inventor claims that hundreds of chickens hatched out in the artificial incubators become lonely because they miss the "Cluck 1 cluck I" of the mother hen, which is the lullaby of all well regulated chickens hatched in the natural way, and many are killed by this loneliness. He has arranged a system of clock-work, which produces a noise somewhat similar to that of the hen, which he proposes to attach to the incubator, and on this machine the patent is asked. A patent has been issued on a clog for fowls, designed to prevent them from scratching in gardens. It consists of a wire in the shape of a hair-pin, sharp at the points. This is attached to the feet of the fowl in such a way that, when it attempts to scratch, the points enter the ground and prevent the claws from reaching it. Hens have ever been the subject of much patient, thought on the part of inventors. A nest designed to deceive them into laying more that one egg daily, which every respectable bird contributes to the farmer's larder, has been devised and patented. It has a false bottom, through which the eggs drop as soon as laid, and the patient hen, feeling that she has failed in her duty, proceeds to lay another until her treasury becomes exhausted or she discovers the deception. A bee-hive has l:>een patented, the doors of which are attached to the hen roost in such a manner that when the fowls go to roost they close the hive and thus secure the inmates against the ravages of the bee moth, and at daylight, when the hens leave the roost, the hive doors are opened and the bees set at liberty. Even the faithful Jinrsp has teen made the subiect of ontical de iusion by tbe inventors. A patent has been secured for what is known as a horse fence. It consists simply of a wire frame placed over the head of the horse, so that when he approaches a fence with the laudable desire of jumping it, lie sees the wires above his head, mistakes them for part of the fence, and concludes that it is too high for him to leap. Bishop Wiley on Utah.?Bishop Wiley, of the M. E. Church, in an address, at a missionary meeting, thus spoke upon the Mormon question: "Utah is now occupied by about 150,000 people, 130,000 of whom are Mormons, and reaching out farther into Nevada and other Territories you have 20,000 Mormons in the circle, and then you have the full number, 150,000 Mormons. I intended to stop to tell you what Mormonism is, but will give some of its features. We have there, in the heart of our country, one of the most abominable and vile caricatures upon religion and disgraces upon civilization that now exists in the world. Just think of it! In the heart of this Christian land, in the end of this nineteenth century, on the richest and most beautiful territory, is growing and prospering and magnifying every day one of the foulest abominations of this earth; one of the most terrible impositions ever practiced on man and woman ; one of the most wicked deceptions ever imposed upon people abroad, and one of the most subtle in character that ever gained a foothold in our country. These are very hard words, but true, every one of them. As a religion it is false, and as a system it is tyranny. It is vile, root and branch, stem and leaf. I make the indictment coolly and deliberately because I know what it is. Now, what does 150,000 Mormons mean ? It means 150,000 people who believe in Joseph Smith's bible, in Mor mon revelation, under the divine inspiration of Brigham Young ; 150,000 people who now believe in the inspiration and divine revelation of John Taylor ; 150,000 people who believe the best man among them is the 'Hon.' J. B. Cannon, very severely married,claiming to be a representative or delegate to the United States Congress; 150,000 people who Ibelieve in plural marriages ; 150,000 people who believe in marrying for time and eternity, marrying half a dozen wives down here and half a dozen more up there; 150,000 people who at this time set at defiance the laws of the United States; and yet year after year the patient American nation lets it alone. There is no place else in this world where this blot could exist." What She Saw in Church.?He stayed at home and she went to chuTch, after dinner he asked her : "What was the text, May ?" "Oh, something, somewhere in Generations; I have forgotten the chapter and verse. Mrs. Ilight Silt right in front of me with a Mother Hubbard bonnet on. How could I hear anything when 1 could not even see the minister? I wouldn't have worn such a looking thing to church if I had to havp gone bareheaded." "How did you like the new minister ?" "Oh, he's splendid! and Kate Dartin was there with a Spanish lace cape that never cost less than S50 ; and they can't pay their butcher bills, and I'd wear cotton lace or go without any first." "Did he say anything about the new mission fund ?" "No, and the Joneses were all rigged out in their yellow silks made over; you would have died laughing to have seen them. Such a taste as those girls have ; and the minister, gave out that the Dorcas society will meet at Sister Jones' residence?the old poky place." "It seems you didn't hear much of the ser mon." "Well, I'm sure it's better to go to church, if you don't hear the sermon, than to stay at home and read the paper ; and oh, Harry ! the new minister has a lovely voice ; it nearly pats me to sleep ; and did I tell you that the ltioh's are home from Europe, and Mrs. Eich had a real camel's hair shawl on, and it didn't look like anything on her." A long silence, during which Harry thought of several things, and his wife was busy contemplating the sky or view, then she suddenly exclaimed : "There ! I knew I'd forget to tell you something. Would you believe it, Harry, the fringe on Mrs. Jones' parasol was an inch deeper than mine and twice as heavy ! Oh, dear ! what a world of trouble this is !" A Hi suand's Love.?It is easy enough to win a husband. Most any attractive little dumpling with a bright eye and a coaxing voice can gather in a noble husband, but it is pretty difficult to retain him. Noble husbands are thicker than hair on a dog, but the grand difficulty is to draw out their true nobility and secure it at home. If the wife only understands her business she can introduce the soothing racket in her new field of operations, and walk away with the whole business. Most men like to be loved and soothed. There is something in man's great, rough earnest nature that can be won quicker and easier with gentleness and pie than by the logic of the broom-handle and a bilious course of reasoning with bread-and-milk diet. We huve seen a girl who understood her business take a reformed road agent by the nose, so to speak, and lead him through life in such a way that he wouldn't know but that he was boss of the ranch. So i*rfect was the delusion, that when she asked him to bring in a scuttle of coal, or to get up in his night-shirt and kill a burglar?that he knew was nothing but a bob-tailed cow four blocks away?he *1 ways went, and he felt as though he counted it a mark of special favor that a poor unworthy worm of the dust like him should be j sought out and delej. .ted to go and chase a j lame cow across nine vacant lots with an old a i barrel stave, and clothed in nothing but a t little brief authority and a knit undershirt. a We cannot exactly describe this magic power c of a devoted wife over her husband, and we do y not intend to try it. It is an unseen motive, j a nameless leverage, that makes the husband t get up in the dead hours of the night and set t the pancake batter near the parlor stove. A a man need not think that because he gets up ji and looks for burglars in the night, and isoth- fe erwise obedient, it is because he has no back- 8 i bone. It is simply because he is the husband j] of a woman of whom he ought to be proud. 0 n | How Comets Affect the Earth.?It is p reassuring to learn irom rroi. j^ewis xhiss' n prize essay on comets, just published, that no h serious results are ever likely to happen to our L little planet from the visits to the solar system n of those celestial vagrants. The influence of s comets upon the earth, he says, is in all prob- p ability quite insignificant. They may, like the v sun, affect the earth's magnetic condition, a and thus to some extent, possibly, its meteor- 1< ology. No such effect has ever been perceived, v In spite of some chance coincidence between h the aparations of great comets and remarkable v public events, no well informed person now v believes that there is now any real connection a between them. By a liberal and credulous v interruption of any frequently occurring celes- a tial phenomenon similar coincidences could h also be shown. When a comet is converted n into meteoric bodies, which impinge upon the s< earth's atmosphere, there is some direct though h probably minute effect. Some have thought v that a sensible portion of the heat which the si earth receives is generated in this way; but 1 the weight of scientific opinion seems to be n against that hypothesis. The impact of mete- o ors upon our atmosphere must add some mat- b ter to it, and this is probably in the form of a: dust. This may be the origin of the so-called v cosmic dust, which has been collected at sea p in recent times. The finer particles of it may h: have some influence on cloud formations, and t( other meteorological phenomena; but all this s( is merely conjecture. w A more remote effect may be sought in the" ? possible fall of meteors and comets upon the bi surface of the sun. Owing to his vast bulk, of hho aim wnnlrJ nff.iwt an immpnsft Tnimhpr nr 81 these bodies; but it is quite certain that their bi effect upon the sun's heat is insignificant. It if is now generaliy admitted that we must look vi for the origin of the sun's heat in a constant, 01 though to us imperceptible, shrinkage of his n: vast bnlk. Some connection between the fre- la quency of sun spots and comets has been rather t< vaguely suspected. "Were the search for com- 1* ets systematically pursued with equal persis- Ji tence for a length of time, we might have tc some data of the formation of sound opinion. Yet it would still be an open question, whether comets cause the spots or whether greater activity of the sun tends in some way to ren- 111 der comets brighter, so that more will be c< visible?with probability in favor of the latter ^ supposition. " Finally, it may be said, with all due respect ^ to scientific decorum, tnafc the appearance of a a great comet does exert one most happy ? influence on the earth, in that it stimulates a1 the curiosity of mankind and directs their w thoughts to the more particular contemplation 8 of the glorious universe which surrounds them. a w That's Just Me.?Years ago into a wholesale grocery store in this city walked a tall, ? muscular man evidently a fresh comer from ** some backwoods town in Maine, or New T Hampshire. Accosting the first person, he met, who happened to be the merchant him- J* self, he asked? T. "You don't want to hire a man in your store, do you ?" * "Well," said the merchant, "I don't know. J What can you do ?" ? "jjosaia tne man, "i rainer guess i can , turn my hand to almost anything. What do ? you want done ?" "Well, if I was to hire a man, it would be ?' one that could lift well, a strong, wiry fellow; one, for instance, that could lift a sack of f! coffee like that yonder and carry it across the store and never lay it down." * "There, now, cap'n," said the countryman, r. "that's just me. I can lift anything I can jf hitch to. You can't suit me better. What ^ will you give a man that suits you ?" y "I'll tell you," said the merchant, "if you C( shoulder tliat sack of coffee and carry it across y the store twice and never lay it down, I will ^ hire you for one year at one hundred dollars aj a month." y "Done," said the stranger. y By this time every clerk in the store had oj gathered around and was waiting to join in ^ the laugh against the man, who threw the sack across his shoulder with perfect ease, and carrying it twice across the floor, went to y a large hook which was fastened to the wall C? and hung it up, then turned to the merchant ^ and said: jr "There, now, it may hang there till dooms- ^ day. I shall never lay it down. What shall I go about, mister ? Jnst give me plenty to do and one hundred dollars a month and it's i1( all right." w The clerks broke into a laugh, and the merchant, discomfited yet satisfied, kept his agree- y meat, and to-day the green countryman is the ?j senior partner in the firm and worth a mil- y lion dollars.? Waverly Magazine. A, G The Advantages of Two Eyes.?In answer to the question, "What is the use of hav- g< ing two eyes ?" the answer has been given, n< "To have one left if the other is hurt." Much q, as we may admire the sagacious foresight of tl this youthful physiologist, it will not be found ti sufficient to rest contented with his ultimatum. C1 TT * * 1 n i.! j lie una evidently not trieu ma a tun w unu uuyy unexpectedly he would miss the inkstand while endeavoring to dip his pen into it at arm's ai length, with one eye closed. He had not a thought of holding his lingers a few inches cc away from his face to find what part of the h wall it would hide from each eye in succession, i0 or how differently it would look when regard- ^ ed from those two points of view separately, how much thicker it would appear when 0i both eyes were open; how much more defi- w nitely he could examine three sides of it at h< once; how much more definitely he could i? judge its distance; in a word, how much more tl comprehensive was the information given by fcj two eyes if used at the same moment. Assuming that.he knows exactly how to account for the inversion of the retinal image and the di erect appearance of the object there pictured, (j( how our visual perceptions are only signs of d< what we momentarily feel on the retina, signs 0i that generally represent, with a fair degree of ti accuracy, but may sometimes represent almost ar anything else on demand; how, if the eyes be st healthy, we have no consciousness of possess- hi ing any retina at all, but instantly and uncon- aj sciously refer every retinal sensation to some m external body whose existence we are obliged ? to assume, unless there be special arguments i8 to convince us to the contrary?granting all t* this, our young physiologist has not thought of qi inquiring how it is that, although two retinal C( images are produced, we see but a single object, and this despite the fact that, photographs or aj the same body simultaneously taken from dif- hi ferent standpoints, these two images are neces- re sarilv dissimilar.?Popular Science Monthly. p ca Tiie HujiaN Haik.?Not less thau 90 per z? cent of the women and 5 per cent, of the men cl of this country wear more or le68 false hair. The enormous consumption of the artificial and natural product suggests the fact, fearful pi but true, that nine women out of every ten tl nhont. the street. in the church, or on the cars, nc charming or ugly to the line, have 011 a wig or w a weft, a bandeau or a prepared net, bangs or hi weaves arranged at the hair dresser's. lit Some people think that blondes never grow ce grayheaded. The fact is, one thjrd of the to white shreds may be mingled with such hair bi and few will notice it. The same proportion k< of blonde-headed people turn gray as those pe with any other colored hair. ce The proportion of people who dye their hair fo is also surprising. Some 20 per cent, are said e<3 to do this. Of course the greater proportion E of these people are white-haired people. A th white head is often, though not always, a sign pe of a life of trouble. le WHIT IS NICKEL 1 Since the convenient five-cent coin, which n common talk is called "a nickel, " has come nto general circulation, the question above is sked, either mentally or orally, hundreds of imes every day? and but few get an intelligent iiswer. In China and India a white copper, ailed pack tong, bits- long been known, and las Ixien extensively tised, both there and in Surope, for counterfeiting silver coin. About he year 1700 a peculiaif ore was discovered in he copper mines of Saxony, which had the ppearance of being very rich, but in smelting t yielded no copper, and the miners called it :upfer-nickel, or false copper. In 1754 Contadt announced the discovery of a new metal a kupfer-nickel, to which he gave the name f nickel. It was in combination with arseic, from wbicli he eould relieve it only in arts. The alloy of nickel and arsenic which ie obtained was white, brittle and hard, and ad a melting point nearly as high as castron. It was not not until 1823 that pure ?i ?J ?? 1 r* ucKei was ouuiiueu uy auaiysia uj. ureimau ilver, which had for a number of years been roduced at Suhl, in Saxony. Its composition ras ascertained to be copper 10 parts, zinc o nd nickel 4. If more nickel be used the alsy is as white as silver and susceptible of a ery high polish, but becomes too brittle and ard to be hammered or rolled, and can be worked only by casing. Pure nickel is a rtiite metal which tarnishes readily in the ir. Unlike silver, it is not acted on by the apor of sulphur, and even the strong mineral cids attract it nut slightly. Nickel has the ardness of iron, and, like it, has strong magetic properties, but cannot be welded and is oldered with difficulty. Pure nickel has eretoi'ore been used chiefly for plating, for rhich purpose its hardness and power to reIst atmospheric influence admirably adapt it. 'he French have succeeded in rolling the letal into plates, from which spoons and ther table furniture may be pressed. Nickel ronze, which consists of equal parts of copper nd nickel, with a little tin, may be cast into ery delicate forms, and is susceptible of a ollsh. Mines of nickle are worked at Chatam, Ct., and Lancaster, Pa., and it is said ) be found at Mine Le Motte, Mo., and at ;veral points in Colorado and New Mexico, here but little attention is paid to it. It is rtensivelv mined in Saxony and in Sweden, at the late discovery of a new ore (a silicate f nickel) in New Caledonia will probably ispend the use of the arsenical ores, and yet ring nickel into commom use. Switzerland, t the year 1852, made a coin of German sil?r, which is identical in composition with iir nickel coin. The United States made ickel cents in 1856, and then eight years ,ter coined the 5 cent pieces. Belgium adop,>d nickel coinage in 1860, and Germany in 173. England has lately coined pennies for imaica, but at home she and France adhere > clumsy copper small change. Perpetual Motion.?In looking back and atching the way in which the human race as blundered and struggled into the present mdition af knowledge, there are some things hich tend to give rise to a feeling rather akin > exas])eration. There are so many times in hich we see it running deeperand deeper into false theory, and getting so mixed up with illacies, that we often get vexed, as it were, t seeing so much energy misdirected, and Isli we had been on the spot to have arued the ancients out of their false positions, ad into following some better theory. They sed to labor on, however, and eventually ex:icate themselves from a maze of inconsistenies ancl anomalies by adopting some fresh hyathesis as a basis of action. Chemistry in articular, furnishes us with examples of this ind. What centuries of scrambling there ere for the philosopher's stone and the elixir 'toe. And, in more recent times, how anima;d controversy was over such forgotten things i calxes, philoiriston, &c. Chemistry, howev r, has quite lived through these phases in its evelopment, and the merest tyro in the science ever seems to be fascinated with a desire to ffect the transmutation of vessels. These msiderations strengthen us in the hope that, t some time, not very far in the future, the ist effort at perpetual motion will be recordi, and it will be possible to write a history of le origin, progress and end of the search for self-moving power, with no more fear of the ibject being added to than if it were a histoj of the Crusades or the Punic Wars. It lust be confessed, though, that we are some istance from sucn a consummation yet. In le face of the fact that during the present jntury, something like two hundred applicaons for patents?which, more or less openly, re for j?erpetual motion?have been received, ; the English Patent Office alone, and that ley continue to be received, it would be rash > speak of the subject as completely disposed I and as not requiring discussion.?Meclianal Herald. "As Little Chileren."?To the mother lese words come home with peculiar signifimce, a wonderful beauty. .She looks into 3r baby's eyes, and reading there its perfect roocence, the desire wakes in her spirit, or jepens and strengthens, for purity of heart id thought and life?purity before God. Other children come in, and the little one ilds out his tiny hands, laughs and coos a elcome. She watches them in their gentle, ippy play, notes the easily contented spirit, le little kindness the perfect sincerity, the ving-up, the shared apple or ginger-bread, le love for pussy and Rover, and bunny, and ads in all a lesson to herself?"Peace and ood-will." As her child grows older?if she is faithful? iverning by love, blending firmness, gentle2ss and consideration, she obtains an un lestioning, cheerful* obedience. And, too, le gratitude for every trifling gift, and elaac hopefulness, the ready forgiveness, of a lild's nature, are all "leadings" toward the ingdom of Iieaven. Angels are very close to these little ones; id it has been truly said that "She who holds babe to her bosom and holds it lovingly, lines within the sphere of angelic influence." ave we not felt it soothing our restless, anxus spirits, quieting passion, inciting hope, iptizing us in the very blessedness of love V Blessed, indeed, is the heart that has not itgrown its childhood. Blessed the mother hose soul is young enough to* take part in ;r children's joys and sorrows; and who is d of the little ones till she becomes like lem, and so enters more and more into the ngdom.?Arthur'a Magazine. Hours and Minutes.?Why is one hour vided into 60 minutes and each minute into ) seconds ? Why not divide our time as we ) our money, by tens, counting ten, fifty, or le hundred minutes to an hour ? This queson was asked by an intelligent boy, and the lswer given him "may both interest and inruct other young people. It is this: We we sixty divisions on the dials of our clocks id watches, because the old Greek astronoer, Hipparchus, who lived in the second intury before Christ, accepted the Babylonh system of reckoning time, that system iing sexigesiiaal. The Babylonians were acuiinted with the decimal system, out for >mmon and practical purposes, was counted f sossi and suri, the sossos, representing sixty id the suras sixty times sixty, or thirty-six jndred. From Hipparchus that mode of ckoning found its way into the works of tolemy, about 150 A. D., and thence was irried down the stream of science and civiliition, and found the way to dial-plates of ocksand watches. * ' Secrets of Newspaper Men.?'There is obably no newspaper man of experience in te country, who does not hold secrets of imirtance in his mind, which, if made public, ould create a sensation, but would stamp m as being unreliable, and consequently un; for his profession. The great race for presence in the publication of news impels him i do his utmost to outstrip hiscotemporaries, it a higher feeling, the dictate of honor, ieps sacred trusts reposed. Frequently a;rson would like to know the authorship of rrtain matters published, and whether his efrts are directed to "pumPinS" the managing litor or the galley-boy, they are alike fruitless, very compositor on a paper, as a rule, knows ie handwriting he sets up2 but if any other ;reons think they can learn it from him ?well, t them try it.?Tolrtn TelegrnnK f