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lewis >?. g-rist, pijopri6^-[ ^';!|I jwtycndint Jjamitij gtraspapcr: rjjor titt promotion of the $otifel, Social, ^gricutlurat and ^ommcrtial Jnfcrcste of the &ouflt. {terms?$2.00 a year IN advance. VOL735. STOBKYILLE, S. O., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1889. NO. 4. Ihc ^targ icHcr. BOLPH HEYL16ER. Id the early time of the province of New York, while it groaned under the tyranny of the English governor, Lord Cornbury, who carried his cruelties towards the Dutch inhabitants bo far as to allow no dominie, or schoolmaster, to officiate in their language, without his special license; about this time, there lived in the jolly little old city of the Manhattoes, a kind motherly dame, known by the name of Dame Eeyliger. She was the widow of a Dutch sea captain, who died suddenly of a fever, in consequence of working too hard, and eating too heartily, at the time when all me innamtanta rarnea out in a paiuo, to fortify the place against the invasion of a small French privateer. He left heri with very little money, and one infan^ son, the only survivor of several children, The good woman had need of mud management to make both ends meet and keep iip a decent appearance. How ever, as ner husband haa fallen a victii to hi^zcal for the public univereaDy agreed that "somethfa* ought to be done for the widow;" am on the hopes of this "something" ale lived tolerably for some years; in tie meantime, everybody pitied and spole well of her; and that helped along. She lived i> a small house, in a smJl street, called Garden street, very prolably from a garden which may hive flourished there some time or other. As her necessities every year grew gyeahk, and the talk of the public about dang "something for her" grew less, she iaa to cast about for some mode of d4ng something for herself, by way of helang out her slender means, and maintaii Lng her independence, of which she k*as somewhat tenacious. Living in a mercantile town, she had caught something of the spirit, and determined to venture a little in the treat lottery of commerce. On a sucBen, therefore, to the great surprise of the street, there appeared at her wind<jv a grand array or gingerbread kingsand queens, with then* arms stuck akin bo, after the invariable royal manner, there were also several broken tumblers, some tilled with sugar plums, some withmar' hies; there were, moreover, cafes of variouB kinds, .and barley suga* and Holland dolls, and wooden horses with here and there gilt covered picture books, and now and then a skein of thred, or a dangling pound of candlqs. it the door or the house sat the good old dime's cat, a decent demure looking persmage, that seemed to scan everybody that passed, to criticise their dress, ana now and then to stretch her neck, and look out with sudden curiosity, to see what was going on at the other end <f the street; but if by ehance any idle vagabond dog came by, and ottered to be uncivil ? hoity-toity! ? how she would bristle up, and growl, and spit, anc strike out her pawB! she was as indignant as ever was an ancient and ugly sjinster, on the approach of some graceless profligate. But though the good woman bad to come down to these humble means of subsistence, yet she still kept up ? feeling of famiJy pride, having descended from the Vanderspiegels, of Amsterdam; and she had the family arms painted and framed, and hung over her mantelpiece. She was, in truth, much respected by all I the poorer people of the place; her house | was quite a resort of the old wives of j the neighborhood; they would drop in | there of a winter's afternoon, astthe sat knitting on one side of her fireplace, her | cat purring on the other, and thdtea ket- i tie singing before it; and thef would j gossip with her until late in the evening. There was always an arm chair tor Peter de Groodt, sometimes called Lojfc Peter, and sometimes Peter longlefgu/fc clerk [ ~ and sexton of thellttlemHPra^nmcnr I who was her great crony, and ijdeed the i oracle of her fireside. Nay, the dominie I himself did not disdain, now ojd then,: I to step in, converse about the state of I her mind, and take a glass of he special i good cherry brandy. Indeed, fe never failed to call on New Year's d.y, and I wish her a happy New Year; ind the I good dame, who was a little rain on i some points, always piqued heself on i giving him as large a cake as axy one in < town. J , i I have said that she Lad one on. He I was the child of her old age; hit could hardly be called the comfort?far, of all I unlucky urchins, Dolph Heyligerwas the i most mischievous. Not that the yhiuster I was really vicious; he was onlj full of 1 fun and frolic, and had that daring, 1 gamesome spirit, which is extoled in a < rich man's child, but execrated ti a poor i man's. He was continually getthg into scrapes: his mother was incessantly ! harassed with complaints of soae waggish pranks which he had placed ott; bills were sent in for windows that he had broken; in a word, he lad not reached his fourteenth year beferehe was pronounced by the neighborhood to be a "wicked dog, the wickedest dog in the street!" Nay, one old gentlemaa, in a claret colored coat, with a thin ad face and ferret eyes, went so far as to assure Dame Heyliger, that her son wofid, one day or other, come to the gallowd Yet, notwithstanding all this, tie poor old soul loved her boy. It seened as 1 /\tt/v/I V> tivi liiUU^U DilC 1WVCU llini UL1U UiO worse he behaved; and that hi grew more in her favor, the more he gsw out of favor with the^world. Mothtrs-are foolish, fond hearted beings; there's no reasoning them out of their dotagi; and, indeed, this poor woman's child vas all that was left to love her in this world? so we must not think it hard that she turned a deaf ear to her good friends, who sought to prove to her that Dolph would come to a halter. To do the varlet justice, too, te was strongly attached to his parent He would not willingly have given her pain on any account; and when he had been doing wrong, it was but for him to catch his poor mother's eye fixed wistfully and sorrowfully upon him, to fill kU heart with bitterness and contrition. But he was a heedless youngster, and could not, for the life of him, resist any new temptation to fun and mischief. Though quick at his learning, whenever he could be brought to apply himself, vet he was always prone to do led away by idle company, and would play truant to hunt after birds' nests, to rob orchard^ or to swim in the Hudson. In this way he grew up, a tall, lubberly boji: andafcgfi mother began to l>e greatly perplexed what to do wiun mm, or now to put him in a way to do for himself; for he had acquired such an unlucky reputation tliat no on9 .semed willing to employ him. Many were the consultations that she held with Peter de Groodt. the clerk and sexton, wbo was Her prime counselor. Peter was as much perplexed as herself, for ho had no great opinion of the boy, and thought ne would never cone to good. He at one time advised her to send him to sea?a piece of advice only B'ven in the most desperate caste; but ame Heyliger would not listen to such an idea; she could think of letting Dolph ?o out of her sight. She was Bitting one ay Uniting by her fireside, in great per- 1 plexity, when the sexton entered ndthan air of unusual vivacity and briikness. 1 He had just come from a funetaL It had been that of a boy of Dolph's years, < who had been apprentice to a femous German doctor, and had died of a consumption. It is true, there had been a whisper that the deceased had been brought to his end by being made .the ^subject of the doctors experiments, on ; ^ which he was apt to try the effects of a 1 new compound, or a quieting daught, ' This, howrever, it is likely, was t mere J scandal: at anv rate. Peter de Groodt 1 did not think it worth mentbning; though, had we time to philosophize, it would be a curious matter for speculation, why a doctor's family is apt to be so lean and cadaverous, and a butcher's so jolly and rubicund. [ Peter de Groodt, as I said befoie, entered the house of Dame Heyliger with unusual alacrity. He was full or a Vright idea that had popped into his head at the funeral, and ever which hq had chuckled as he shoveled the earth into the grave of the doctor's disciple, k had occurred to him, that, as the situation of the deceased was vacant at the doctor's, it would be tho very place for Eolph. The boy had parts, and could poena a pestle and run an errand with any hoy in the town?and what more was wanfedin a student? The suggestion of the sage Peter as a vision of glory to the mother. 81$ already saw Dolph, in her mind's eye,kith a cane at his nose, a knocker at his foor, and an M. D. at the end of his nafce? one of the established dignitaries o| the I town. J i i I Tfce matter, onofl?l^^;a^en' ,was soon effected; the aextoP^ some influence *1A the doctor, tHW' having had much dealing together into? of their separate professions; 0 ,very next morning he called ami conducted the urchin, clad in hit^^y clothes, to uqdergathe inspeofr ?* ^ Karl Lodojfhey SESff the dpctor seated in an bJow chair, in*one owner of his study or ^oratory, with a ItB? volume in Gerupn print, before MB-' He was a short, Mt man, with a da& square face, rendered more dark by # black velvet cap. Be had a little, knofcbed nose, not unlike the ace of spe8*? a pair of pectacles gleaming ? each side of his jfusky countenance, Hk? a couple of bow pindows. _ I Dolph felt struck whh awe, on entering into the presence of this learned man; /hid gazed abont W? "with boyish /Vonder at the furnijff? this chamber of knowledge,, vhich appeared / fo him almost as the of a magician, f In the center stood ad*w footed table, vith pestle and morttf, phials and gallipots, and a pair of wnail, burnished icalea At one end vai a heavy clothes press, turned into a receptacle for drugs Ind compounds, againM^vhich hung the doctor's hat and cloak |nd gold headed cane, and on the top Atoned a human JfcUUL AlonnLthlM?tfWBCPWagQ-eUbM? refisfclsrm wmcB were snafces and lizards, ind a human foetus preserved in spirits. 1 closet, the doors or which were taken g, contained three whole shelves of >ks, and some, too, of mighty folio dimensions?a collection the like of which Dolphhad never before beheld. As, however, the library did not take up the whole of the closet, the doctor^ thrifty housekeeper had occupied the test with pots of pickle and preserves, and had hung about the room, among awful implements of the healing art, itrings of red pepper and corpulent cucumbers, carefully preserved ror seed. Peter de Groodt and his protege were received with great gratify and state liaess by the doctor, who was a very wise, dignified little man, and never smiled. He surveyed Dolph from head to foot, above and under, and through his spectacles; and the poor lad's heart quailed as these great glasses glared on him like two full moons. The doctor heard all that Peter de Groodt had to say in favor cf the youthful candidate, and then, wetting nis thumb with the end of his tongue, he began deliberately to turn ever page after page of the great black eolume before nixn. At length, after many hums and haws, and strokings of the chin, and all that hesitation ana deliberation with which a wise man proceeds to do what he intended to do from the very first, the doctor agreed to take the lad as u disciple; togive him bed, The doctor agreed to take the lad at a ditcipU. X>ard and clothing, and to instruct him In the healing art; in return for which id was to have his services until his jwenty-first year. Behold, then, our hero all at once zansformed from an unlucky urchin, running wild about the streets, to a stulent of medicine, diligently pounding a beetle under the auspices of the learned L>r. Earl Lodovick Kn ipperhausen. ft was a happy transition for his fond idea of her boys nemg brought up worthy of his anoeetors. and anticipated the day when he would be able to hold up his head with the lawyer that lived b the large house opposite; or, peradventure, with the dnmtnfa himself. Dr. Enipperhausen was a native of the Palatinate of Germany, from whence in company with many of Us countrymen he baa taken refuge in England on account of religious persecution. He was ono of nearly 8,(XX) Palatines who came over from England in 1710 under the protection of Governor Hunter. Where the doctor bad studied, how he he hvJ acquired his medical knowledge, and where he had received his diploma, It is hard at present to say, for nobody mew ai me ume; yet u is certain that his profound skill and abstruse knowledge were the talk and wonder of the common people far and near. His practice was totally different from that of any other phgndaa. consisting in mysterious compounds known only to himself, in the preparing and administering of which, it was said, he always consulted the stars. So high an opinion was entertained of his skill, particularly by the German and Dutch inhabitants, tliat they always resorted to him in desperate cases. He was one of those infallible doctors that are alwayaeffeCting sudden and surprising cures when the patient has been given up by all the regular physicians; unless, as is shrewdly observed, the case has been left too long before it was put into their hands. The doctor's library was the talk and marvel of the neighborhood, I might almost say of the entire burg. The good people looked with reverence at a man that had read three whole shelves full of books, and some of them, too, as luge as a family Bible. There were many disputes among the members of the little Lutheran church as to which was the wiser man, the doctor or the dominie. Some of his admirers even went so far as to say that he knew more than thegovernor himself?in a word, it was thought that there was no end to his knowledge! No sooner was Dolph received into the doctor's family than ne was put in possession of the lodging of his predecessor. It was a garret room of a steep roofed Dutch house, where the rain patted on the shingles and the lightning gleamed and the wind piped through the crannies in stormy weather, and where whole troops of hungry rats, like Don Coasacks, galloped about in defiance of (traps and ratsbane. He was soon up to his ears In medical studies, being employed morning, nopn and night in rolling pills, filtering tinctures or pounding the pestle and mortar in one corner or the laboratory, while the doctor would take his seat in anowIavt* wa ?? lieu 1>0" "hdJ"IdxJtA to do or expected visitors, and; Irrayed in his morning gown and velvet cap, would poro over the contents of some folio volume. It is true that the regular thumping of Dolph's pestle, or, perhaps, the drowsy buzzmg or the Bummer flies, iit/mi 1/1 riA?r on/4 f lion lnll i'? 1 i. uuiu w" >."vu uu mo uiue man into a slumber; but then his spectacles were always wide awake and studiously regarding "the book. There was another personage in the house, however, to whom Dolph was obliged to pay allegiance. Though a bachelor, and a man of such great dignity and importance, yet the doctor was, like many other wise men, subject to petticoat government. He was completely under the sway of his housekeeper; a spare, busy, fretting housewife, in a little, round, quilted, German cap, with a huge buncn of keys iingling at the girdle of an exceedingly long waist. Frau Ilse (or Frow Ilsy, as it was pronounced) had accompanied him in his various migrations irom Germany to England, and from England to the province; managing his establishment and himself too; ruling him, it is true, with a gentle hand, but carrying a high hand with all the world beside. How she had acquired such ascendency I do not pretend to say. People, it is true, iid talk; but have not peopla been prone to talk ever since the world began? Who can tell how women generally contrive to get the upper hand? X husband, it is true, may now and then be master in his cwn house; but whoever knew a bachelor that was not managed by his housekeeper? Indeed, Frau Ilsy's power was not confined to the doctor s household. She was jne of those prying gossips that know every one's business better than they do themselves; and whose all seeing eyes, md all telling tongues, are terrors throughout a neighborhood. Nomine of any moment transpired in the world of scandal of this little burg, but it was known to Frau Ilsy. She had ber crew of cronies, that were perpetually hurrying to her little parlor with iome precious bit of news; nay, she would sometimes discuss a whole volume cf secret history as she held the street ioor ajar and gossiped with one of these yarrulous cronies in the very teeth of a December blast. i - i Betweer tbo doctor end the housekeeper it may eauly he supposed that Dolph hp^'a busy life of it. As Frau Ilsy kept the keyi, andiiiterally ruled the roast it was starvation to oifend her, though h0 found the atudjof her temper more pejPkxing even that that of medicine. vihen not busy in the laboratory she kept fim runniag hither and thither on her errands; and on Suodays he was obliged W accompany her to and from church, /-ad carry her Bible. Many a time hasfbe poor vazlet stood shivering and blow/hg his fingers, or holding his frostbittd1 nose, in the church yard, while lls^ and her cronies were huadled together, Egging their heeds and tearing somi unlucky character to pieces. WithjJaii his advantages, nowever, Dolph rfcde very slow progress in his art. T^ls was no fault of Ul6 doctor's, certain l> for ho took unwearied pains with tT| lad, keeping close to the pestle J?d mortar, or on the trot about town if?h phials and pill boxes; and if 1 >Jlrinrn.Q,l J,{a in/JnsrfrV. Which he do7*7d<%r would nd ask him if-he e ver his profeasientmless closer to the study, retained the fondness ilef that had marked 3 habit, indeed, had LcJT&voHn t*e ey68 and the housekeeper, the doctor wit on waxing wealthy and renowned. Be was famous for hfo skill' in managing cases not laid down in the books. He bad cured several old women and youte girls of witchcraft; a terrible complaint, nearly as prevalent in the province in those days as hydrophobia is at present. He had even restored one stripping country girl to perfect health whohad gone so far as to vomit crooked pins and needles; which is considered a desperate stage of tho malady. It was whispered, also, that he was possessed of the art of preparing love powders, and maiw applications had he in consequence from tove sick patients of both sexes. Bat all these cases formed the mysterious part of his practice, in which, according to tho cant phrase, "secrecy and honor might be depended on." Dolph, therefore, was obliged to turn out of the study whenever such consultations occurred, though it Is said he learned more of the secrets of the art at the keyhole than by all the rest of his studies put together. As tho doctor increased in wealth he began to extend his possessions and to look- forward, like other great men, to the time when he should retire to the repose of a country seat. For this purpose he' had purchased a farm, or, as the Dutch settlers called it, a bowerie, a few miles from town. It had been the residence of a wealthv familv. that had re turned some time since to Holland A large mansion bouse stood in the center of u, very much out of repair, and which, m consequence ot certain reports, Had rt ceived the appellation of the Haunted House. Either from these reports, or from its actual dreariness, the doctor had found it impossible to get a tenant; and, that the plaice might not fall to ruin before he could reside in it himself, he had placed a country boor, with his family t in one wing, with the privilege of cultivating the ORn on shares. The doctor now felt all the dimity ot a landholder rising within him. He had a little of the German pride of territory in his composition, and almost looked upon himself as owner of a principality. He began to complain of the fatigue of business, and was fond of riding out "to look at his estate." His little expeditions to his lands were attended with a bustle and parade that created a sensation throughout the neighborhood. His wall eyed horse stood, stamping and whisking off the flies, for a full hour before the house. Then the doctor's saddle bags would be brought out and adjusted; then, after a little while, his cloak would be rolled up and strapped to the saddle; Jhen his mmhtylfc wmiM be buckled to. the cSmt; while, in the meantime, S group jf ragged boys, that observant class or beings, would gather before the door. At length the doctor would issue forth, tn a pair of jack boota that reached above His knees, and a cocked hat flapped down In front As he was a short, fat man he took Borne time to mount into the saddle; and when there, he took some time to have the saddle and stirrups properly adjusted, enjoying the wonder ana admiration of the urchin crowd. Even after he had set off, he would pause in the rriiHHln of the street, or trot back two or J three times to give some parting orders, which were answered by the housekeeper from the door, or Dolph from the study, or the black cook from the cellar, or the chambermaid from the garret window; and there were generally some last words bawled after him just as he was turning the corner. The whole neighborhood would be aroused by this pomp and circumstance. The cobbler would leave his last, the barber would thrust out his frizzed head, with a comb sticking in it, a knot would collect at the grocers door, and the word would be buzzed from one end of the street to the other, "The doctor's riding out to his country 6eatr These were golden moments for Dolph. No sooner was the doctor out of sight than pestle and mortar were abandoned, the laboratory was left to take care of itself, and the student was oft on some madcap frolic. Indeed, it must be confessed, the youngster, as he grew up, seemed in a fair way to fulfill the prediction of the old claret colored gentleman. He was the ringleader of all holiday sports and midnight gambols, ready for all kinds of mischievous pranks and harebrained adventures. There is nothing so troublesome as a hero on a small scale, or, rather, a hero in a small town. Dolph soon became the abhorrence of all drowsy, housekeeping old citizens, who hated noise and had no relish for waggery. The good dames, too, considereaf nim as little better than a reprobate, gathered their daughters under their wings whenever he apEroached, and pointed him out as a warnlg to their Bons. No one seemed to hold him in much regard, excepting the wild striplings of the place, wno were captivated by his open hearted, daring manners, and the negroes, who always look upon every idle, do-nothing youngster as a kind of gentleman. Even the good Peter de Groodt, who had considered himself a kind of patron of the lad, began to despair of nim and would shake his head dubiously as he listened to a long complaint from the housekeeper, ana sipped a glass of her raspberry brandy. - Kki rxWhor *nnn A. Vr. out of her affection by all the waywardness of her boy, nor disheartened by the stories of his misdeeds with which her good friends were continually regaling her. She had. It is true, very little of the pleasure which rich people enjoy, in always hearing their children praised; but she considered all this ill will as a - ' - * 4-1? Kind OI persecuuuu wuiuu no ounuicu, and she liked him the better on that account. She saw him growing up a fine, tall, good looking youngster, and she looked at him witn the secret pride of a mother's heart. It was her great desire that Dolph should appear liko a gentleman, and all the money she could save went towards helping out his pocket and his wardrobe. Sne would look out of the window after him as he sallied forth in bis best array, and her heart would yearn with delight; and once, when Peter de Qroodt, struck with the youngster's gallant appearance on a bright Sunday morning, observed, "WelL after all, Dolph does grow a comely fellow 1" the tear of pride started into the mother's eye. "Ah, neighbor! neighbor!" exclaimed she, "they may say what they please; poor Dolph will yet hold up has head with the best of them." Dolph Heyliger had now nearly attained his one-and-twentieth year, and the term of his medical studies was just expiring, yet it must be confessed that he Knew little more of the profession than when he first entered the doctor's doors. This, however, could not be from want of quickness of parts, for ho showed amazing aptness in mastering other branches of knowledge, which he could only have studied at intervals. Ho was, for Instance, a sure marksman, and won all the geese and turkeys at Christmas holidays. He was a bold rider; ho was famous for leaping and wrestling; uo played tolerably on the fiddle; could swim like a fish; and was the best hand in the whole place at fives or ninepins. All these accomplishments, however, procured him no favor in the eyes of the doctor, who grew more and more crabbed and intolerant the nearer the term of apprenticeship approached. Frau Ilsy, too, was forever finding some occasion to raise a windy tempest about his ears; find seldom encountered him about the house without a clatter of tho tongue; so that at length tho. jingling of her keys, as she approached, was to Dolph like the ringing of the prompter's bell, that gives notice of a theatrical thunder storm. Nothing but the infinite good humor of the heedless youngster enabled him to bear all this domestic tyranny without open rebellion. It was evident that the doctor and his housekeeper were preparing to beat the poor vouth out of the nest the moment his term should have expired; a shorthand mode which the doctor had of providing for useless disciples. Indeed, the little man had been rendered nioro than usually irritable lately in consequence of various cares and vexations which liis country estate had brought upon him. The doctor hiui.been repeatedly annoyed by the rumore and tales which prevailed concerning the old mansion, and found it difficult to prevail even upon the countryman and his family to remain there rent free. Every time lie rode out to the farm he w teased by Bomo fresh complaint cf strange noises and Tearful sights with which the tenants were disturbed at night, and the doctor would coiqe home fretting and fuming, and vent his spleen upon the whole household. It was indeed a sore grievance, that affected him both in prids and purse. He was threatened with an absolute loss of the profits of his property; and then, what a blow JaJaia fmitorialoaneequenoe to 4>o tho landlord of a haunted nouse! It was observed, however, that with all his vexation the doctor never proposed to sleep in the house himself; nay, he could never be prevailed upon to remain in the premises after dark, but made the best of his way for to> m as soon as the bats began to flit about in the twilight. The fact was, the doctor had a secret belief in ghosts, having passed the early part of his life in a country where they particularly abound; and indeed the story went that when a boy he had once seen the devil upon the Hartz mountains in Germany. At length the doctor's vexations on this head were brought to a crisis. One morning, as he sat dosing over a volume in his study, he was suddenly started from his slumbers by the bustling in of the housekeeper. "Here's a nne to do!" cried she as she entered the room. "Here's Claus Hopper come in, bag and baggage, from the farm, and swears he'll have nothing more to do with it. The whole family have been frightened out of their wits; for there's such racketing and rummaging about the old house that they can't sleep quiet in their beds!'' "Donner und blitzen!" cried the doctor impatiently; "will they never have done chattering about that house? What a pack of fools, to let a few rats and mice frighten them out of good quarters!" "Nay, nay," said tho housekeeper, wagging her head knowingly, and piqued at having good ghost story doubted, "there's more in it than rats and mice. All the neighborhood talks about the house, and then such sights have been seen in it! Peter de Groodr. tells me that the family that sold you the house and went to Holland dropped several strange hints about it, and said 'thev wished you joy of your bargain;' and you know Sourself there's no getting any family to ve in it." "Peter do Groodt's a ninny?an old woman," said the doctor peevishly. "I'll warrant he's been filling these people's heads full of stories. It's iust like his nonsense about the ghost that haunted the church belfry as an excuse for not ringing the bell that cold night when Harmanus BrinkerhofFs house was on fire. Send Claus to me." Glaus Hopper now made his appearance?a simple country lout, full of awe at finding himself in the very study of Dr. Knipperhausen, and too much embarrassed to enter into much detail of the matters that had caused his alarm. He stood twirling his hat in one hand, resting sometimes on one leg, sometimes on the other, looking occasionally at the doctor, and now and then stealing a fearful glance at the death's bead that seemed ogling him from the tip of the clothes press. _, Joceor triea CvTiiy -means td pdfsuade him to return to the farm, hut _ii . _ l_ tui III VtLLU; UO UliUllUUllCU u uu^cu determination on the subject; and at the close of overy argument or solicitation, would make the same brief, inflexible reply, "Ich kan nicht, mynheer." The doctor was a "little pot, and soon hot;" his patience was exhausted by these continual vexations about his estate. The stubborn refusal of Claus Hopper seined to him like flat rebellion; his temper1, suddenly boiled over, and Claus was glad to make a rapid retreat to escape scalding. When the bumpkin got to the housekeeper's room, he found Peter de Groodt ana several other true believers ready to receive him. Here he indemnified himself for the restraint he had suffered in the Btudy, and opened a budget of stories about the haunted house that astonished all his hearers. The housekeeper believed them all, if it was only to spite the doctor for having received her intelligence so uncourteously. Peter de Groodt matched them with many a wonderful legend of the times of the Dutch dynasty, and of the devil's stepping stones; and of the pirate that was nanged at Gibbet Island, and continued to swing there at night long after the gallows was taken down; and of the ghost of the unfortunate Governor Leislor. whrm-no Vinncmri for treason, which haunted the old fort and the government house. The gossiping knot dispersed, each charged with direful intelligence. The sexton disburdened himself at a vestry meeting that was held that very day, and tho black cookjlhrsook her kitchen, and spent half too %ay at the street pump, that gossiping-, plice of servants, dealing forth the nevn jro all that came for water. In a little thao the whole town was in a buzz with tales about the haunted house. Some Baid that Claus Hopper had seen the devil, while others hinted that the house was haunted by the ghosts of some of the patients whom the doctor had physicked out of the world, and that was the reason why he did not venture to live in it himself. All this put the little doctor in a terrible fume. He threatened vengeance on any one who should affect the value of his property by exciting popular prejudices. He complained loudly of thus being in a manner dispossessed of his territories by mere bugbears: but he secretly determined to have tne house exorcised by the dominie. Great was his relief, therefore, when, in the midst of his perplexities, Dolph stepped forward and undertook to gamson the haunted house. The youngster had been listening to all the stories of Claus Hopper and Peter do Groodt; he was fond of adventure, he loved the marvelous, and hla imagination had become quite excited by these tales of wonder. Besides, he had led such an uncomfortable life at the doctor's, being subjected to the intolerable thralldom of early hours, that ho was delighted at the prospect of having a house to himself, even though it should be a haunted one. His oner was eagerlv accepted, and it was determined that he should mount guard tliat very night. His only stipulation was, thai tho enterprise should be kept secret from his mother; for he knew the poor soul would not sleep a wink if she knew that her sou was waging war with the powers of darkness. * When night came on, he set out on this porilous expedition. The old black cook, his only friend in the household, had provided him with a little mess for supper, and a rushlight; and she tied' round his neck an amulet, given her Jv\ an African conjurer, as a charm against evil spirits. Dolph was escorted on jhis way by the doctor and Peter de Grc*6dt, who had agreed to accompany hitfa to the house and to see him safe lo^ed. The night was overcast, and it was very dark when they arrived at the grounds which surrounded the tnansionJ The sexton led the way with a lantenn. As they walked along the avenue of flcacias. the fitful light, catching from Bush to bush, and tree to tree, often startled the doughty Peter, and made him fall back upon his followers; and thq? doctor grabbed still closer hold of Dol^h's arm, observing that the ground was very slippery and uneven. At one itimo they were nearly put to a total torn by a bat which came flitting about? lantern; and the notes of the insecjfrom the trees, and the frogs from a ^ttghboring pond, formed a most drowsy doleful concert. A The front door of the man^A opened with a grating sound, thatco*de the doctor turn pale. They enterd ft tolerably large nail, such as is ccmlwon in American country houses, aad which serves as a sittiug room in warm w*.\,thej. From hence thsy went up a wide staircase, that groaned and creaked asihey trod, every step making its particular nete, like the key of a harpischord- This led to another hall on the second stofy, from whence they entcred-'tbe room where Dolph was to sleep. It -Was largo; and Bcantiiy furnished; the shutters ^yere \ ii sy closed, but as they were much Droken there was no want of a circulation of air. It appeared to have been that sacred chamber known among Dutch housewives by the name of "the best bedroom," which is toe best furnished room in the house, but in which scarce anybody is ever permitted to sleep. Its splendor, however, was all at an end. There were a few broken articles of furniture about the room, and in the center stood a heavy deal table and a large arm ehair, both of which had the look df being coeval with the mansion. The fireplace was wide, and had been faced with Dutch tiles, representing Scripture stories; but some of them had fallen out of their places, and lay shattered about the hearth. The sexton had lit the rush light; and the doctor, looking fearfully about the room, was just exhorting Doiph to be of good cheer, and to pluck up a stout heart, when a noise in the chimney, like voices and struggling, struck a sudden panic AUa TTa MnV 4a k4o Kaola JLLIIAJ UiC OCAIVU* AAV IWA, VW ?U0 UWUJ with the lantern; the doctor followed hard after him: the stairs groaned and creaked as they hurried down, increasing their agitation and speed by its noises. The front door slammed qfter them: and Dolph heard them ' scrabbling down the avenue, till sound of their feet was lost in the d&rthljttkf That he did not Sa ii/ tMi precljSRte retreat, might ve been owing to his possessing a little more courage than his companions, or perhaps that he had caught a glimpse of the cause of their dismay, in a nest of chimney swallows, that came tumbling down into tbe fire place. Being now left to himself, he secured the front door by a strong bolt and bar; and having seen that the other entrances were fastened, he returned to his desolate chamber. Having made his supper from the basket which toe good old cook had provided, he locked tno chamber door and retired to rest on a mattress in one corner. The night was calm and still: and nothing broke upon the profound quiet but the lonely chirping of a cricket from the chimnev of a distant chamber. The rushlight, which stood in the center of the deal table, shed a feeble yellow ray, dimly illumining the chamber, and making uncouth shapes and shadows on the walls, from the clothes which Dolph had thrown over a chair. > With all his boldness of heart, there was something subduing in this desolate scene; and he felt his spirits Lag within him as he lay on his hard bed and gazed about the room. He was turning over in his mind his idle habits, his doubtful prospects, and now and then heaving a heavy sigh, as he thoughton his poor old mother; for there is nothing like the silence and loneliness of night to bring dark shadows over the brightest mind. By and by, he thought he heard a sound as If some one was walking below stairs. He listened, and distinctly heard a' step on the great stair case. It approached solemnly and slowly, tramp? tramp?tramp! It was evidently the tread of some heavy personage; and yet how oould he have got into the house without making a noise? He had examined all the fastenings, and was certain that every, entrance was secure. Still the steps advanced, tramp?tramp?tramp! It was evident that the person approaching could not be a robber?the stop was too loud and deliberate; a robber would either be stealthy or precipitate. And now the footsteps had ascended the stair case; they were slowly advancing along the passage, resounding through the silent and empty apartments. The very cricket had ceased its melancholy note, and nothing interrupted their awful distinctness. The door, which had been locked on the inside, slowly swung open, as if self moved. The footsteps entered the room; but no one was to be seen. They passed slowly and audibly across it, tramp?tramp?tramp I but whatever made the sound was invisible. Dolph rubbed his eyes and stared about him; he could see to every part of the dimlv lighted chamber; sill was vacant; yet still he heard those mysterious footsteps, ^qTOS.walking^ut the chamber.^ ,IIiill wag j&paf >Bii?wnoH There .was something more appalling in this invisible visitation than there would have been in anything that addressed itself to the eyesight. It was awfully vague and indefinite. He felt his heart beat against his ribs; a cold sweat broke out upon his forehead; he lay for some time m a state of violent agitation; nothing, however, occurred to increase his alarm. His light gradually burnt down into the socket, ana he fell asleep. When he awoke it was broad daylight; the sun was peering through the cracks of the window shutters, and the birds were merrily Hinging about the house. The bright, cheeir day soon put to flight all the terrors or the preceding night Dolph laughed, or rather tried, to laugh, at all that had passed, and endeavored to persuade himself that it waa a mere freak of the imagination, conjured up by the stories he had heard; Dut he was a little puzzled to find the door of his room locked on the inside, notwithstanding that he had positively seen it swing open as the footsteps had entered. He returned to town in a state of considerable perplexity; but he determined to say UUUllIlg UU UiO OUUJtTUL, UIB UUUUL3 wero either confirmed or removed by another night's watching. His silence was a grievous disappointment to the gossips who had gathered at the doctor's mansion. They nad prepared their minds to hear direful tales; and they were almost in a rage at being assured that he had nothing to relate. The next night, then, Dolpb repeated his vigiL He now entered the house with some trepidation. He was particular in examining the fastenings of all the doors, and securing them well. He locked the door of his chamber, and placed a chair against it; then, having dispatched his supper, ho threw himself on liis mattress and endeavored to sleep. It was all in vain?a thousand crowding fancies kept him waking. Tho time slowly dragged on, as if minutes were spinning out themselves into hours. As the night advanced he grew more and more nervous; and he almost started from his couch when he heard the mysterious footstep again on the Btaircase. Dp it came, as before, solemnly and slowly, tramp?tramp?tramp! It approached along the passage; the door again swung open, as if there had been neither lock nor impediment, and a strange looking figure stalked into the room. It was an elderly man, large and A strange looking figure stalked into the room. robust, clothed in tho old Flemish fashion. He had on a kind of short cloak, with a garment under it, belted round the waist; trunk hose, with great bunches or bows at tho knees; and a pair of russet boots, very largo at top, and standing widely from his legs. His hat was broad and slouched, with a feather trailing over one side. His iron gray hair hung in thick masses on his neck, ind he had a short grizzled beard. He valked slowly round tho room as if exftnining that all was safe, then, hanging hs hat on a peg beside the door, he sat dtwn in tho elbow chair, and, leaning hit elbow on tho table, ho fixed his eyes onDolph with an unmoving and deadeninc stare. holph was not naturally a coward; but ho had been brought up in an imSlic't belief in ghosts and goblins. A louand stories came swarming to his mini, that ho had heard about this building; and, as he looked at this strange personage, with his uncouth garb, his nale visage, Ids grizzly beard, and his fixed, staling, fish like eye, his teeth began to chatter, his hair to rise on his head and a cold sweat to break out all ovtr Ins body. How long he remained in this situation he could not tell, for ho was like one fascinated. He could not take Ins gaze off from tho specter; but lav staring at him with his whole intellect absorbed in the contemplation. The old man remained seated behind the table without stirring or turning' an eye, always keeping a dead, steady glare upon Dolph. At length tho household cock from a neighboring farm clapped his wings, and gave a loud tffleerful crow that rungoverthe fields. At the sound the old man slowly rose and took down his hat from the peg; the door opened and closed after him; he was heard to go slowly down the staircase ? tramp ? tramp ? tramp! ? and when he had got to trie bottom, all was again silent. Dolph lay and listened earnestly; counted every footfall; listened and listened if the steps should return?until, exhausted by watching and agitation, he fell into a troubled Bleep. Daylight again brought fresh courage and assurance. He would fain have considered all that had passed as a mere dream; yet there stood the chair in which the unknown had seated himself; there was the table on which he had leaned; there was the peg on which he I hod hung his hat, and there was the door, locked precisely as he himself had locked it, with the chair placed against it. He hastened down stairs and examined the doors and windows; all were exactly in the same state in which he had left them, and there was no apparent way by which any being could nave entered and left the house without leaving some trace behind. "Pooh!" said Dolpn to himself, "it was all a dream;"?but it would not do; the more he endeavored to shake the scene off from his mind, the more it haunted him. Though he persisted in a strict silence as to all that ne had seen or heard, vet his looks betrayed tm uncomfortable night he had passed. It was evident that there was something wonderful hidden under this mysterious reserve. The doctor took him into his study, locked the door and sought to have a full and confidential communication; but he could get nothing out of him. Frau Dsy took him aside into the pantry, but to as little j ..rpose, and Peter de Groodt held him by the button for a full hour in the churchyard, the very place to get at the bottom of a ghost story, but came*>ff not a whit wiser than the rest It is' always the case, however, that one truth concealed makes a dozen current lies. It is like a guinea locked up in a bank, that has a dozen paper representatives. Before the dav was over, the neighborhood was full of reports. Some said that Dolph Heyliger watched in the haunted house with pistols loaded with silver bullets; others that he had a long fad It with the specter without a head; others, that Dr. Knipperhausen and the sexton had been hunted down the Bowery lane and quite into town by a legion of ghosts of their customers. Some shook their heads, and thought it a shame that the doctor should put Dolph topassthe night alone in that dismal house, where he micht be snirited away, no one knovv whither; while Others observed, with a shrug, that if the devil did carry off the youngster, ft would be but taking his own. These rumors at length reached the ears of the good. Dame Heyliger, and, as may be supposed, threw her into a terrible alarm. For her son to have opposed himself to danger from living foes would have been nothing so dreadful in her eyes as to dare alone the terrors of the haunted house. She hastened to the doctor's, and passed a great part of the day in attempting to dissuade Dolph from re. Beating his vigil; she told him a score of alar, which her gossiping friends had Inst related to her, of persons who had peen carried off when watching alone in Id ruinous houses. It was all to no tffect. Dolph'spride. as well as curiosity, Iras piqueo. He endeavored- to calm the ^prehensions of his mother, and to aslure her that there was no truth in all the rumors she had heard; she looked at him dubiously and shook her head, but finding his determination was not to be shaken, she brought him a little thick Dutch Bible, with brass clasps, to take with him, as a sword wherewitb to fight the powers of darkness; and, lest that might not be sufficient, the housekeeper gave him the Heidelberg catechism by way of a dagger. the next night, therefore, Dolph took . up his quarter a. for the third time in the om iMonaion.. Whether dream or not the faBfci thing was repeated. Towards midnight* when everything was still, the tihiTim i-ipty mile tramp?tramp?tramp! The stairs were again ascended; the door again swung open; the old man entered, walked round the room, hung up his hat and i i ?* Ai- A mi Beaieu minseir oy ine iaoie. rne kudo fear and trembling came over poor Dolph, though not in so violent a degree. He lay in the same way, motionless and fascinated, staring at the figure, which regarded him as before, with a dead, fixed, chilling gaze. In this way they remained for a long time, till, by degrees, Dolph's courage began gradually to revive. Whether alive or dead this being had certainly some object in his visitation; and he recollected to have heard it said, that spirits have no power to speak until they aro spoken to. Summoning up resolution, therefore, and making two or three attempts before he could get his parched tongue in motion, he addressed the unknown in the most solemn form of adjuration that he could recollect, and demanded to know what was the motive of his visit. No sooner had he finished than the old man rose, took down his hat, the door opened and he went out, looking back upon Dolph just as he crossed the threshold, as ir expecting him to follow. The youngster did not hesitate an instant. He took the candle in his hand and the Bible under his arm and obeyed the tacit invitation. The candle emitted a feeble, uncertain ray; but still he could see the figure before him, slowly descend the stairs. He followed, trembling. When it had reached the bottom of the stairs it turned through the hall toward the back door of the mansion. Dolpli held the light over the balustrades, but in his eagerness to catch a sight of the unknown he flared his feeble taper so suddenly that it went out. Still there was sufficient light from the pale moonbeams that fell through a narrow window to give him an indistinct view of the figure near the door. He followed, therefore, down stairs and turned towards the place, but when he got there the unknown had disappeared. The door remained fast barred and bolted; there was no other mode of exit; yet the being, whatever he might be, was gone. He unfastened the door and looked out into the fields. It was a hazy, moonlight night, so that the eye could distinguish objects at some distance. He thought he saw the unknown in a footpath that led from the door. He was not mistaken; but how had he got out of the house? He did not pause to think, but followed on. The old man proceeded at a measured pace, without looking about him, his footsteps sounding on the hard ground. He passed through the orchard or apple trees that stood near the house, always keeping the footpath. It led to a well. Bituatea in a little hollow, which had supplied thaiarm with water. Just at this well Dolph lost sight of him. He rubbed his eyes and looked again; but nothing was to be seen of the unknown. Ho reached the well, but nobody was there. All the surrounding ground was open and clear; there was no bush nor hiding place. Ho looked down the well and saw, at a great depth, the reflection of the sky in the still water. After remaining nere for some time, without seeing or hearing anything moro of his mysterious conductor, he returned to the house full of awe and wonder. He bolted the door, groped his wav back to bed, and it was long beforo ho could compose minseu 10 Bieep. His dreams were etrango and troubled. He thought he was following the old man along the side of a great river, until they came to a vessel that was on the point of Bailing; and that his conductor ledhim on board and vanished. Ho remembered the commander of the vessel, a short, swarthy man, with crisped black hair, blind of one eye and lame of one leg; but the rest of his dream was very confus*d. Sometimes ho was sailing; sometimes on shore; now amidst storms and tempests, and now wandering quietly in unknovn streets. The figure or the old man was strangely mingled up with the incidents of the dream, und the whole distinctly wound up by his finding himself ,>n board of the vessel again, returning hone with a exeat bag of money! [TO BE CONTINUED.] 46T "O, Fred, you've made me so happy?I was afraid you wouldn't propose to-night." "Why, dear? What would have happened if I hadn't?" "0 I'm sure I don't kne i but I saw the new moon over my right shoulder this evening, and I'te always seen it over my left shoulder when I've been proposed to before." J . 1 i Bgy Do not take advantage of the : hospitality of your friends, by un- I timelyi and unannounced visiting. 1 Send Word that you would like U < visit tMem, if convenient, and then await a feply before ventjutfng; j #tiscdtaueou5 goading. LADIES OP THE WHITE HOUSE. The youngest person to enter the office of President was U. S. Grant, at forty-seven, and the youngest wife was Frances Folsom Cleveland, at twenty-two, the bride of the White House. The youngest presiding lady of the mansion was Elizabeth Tyler Waller, atnineteen,daughterof John Tyler, President Harrison's successor, and the first vice to come into possession of the office to which he was constitutional heir presumptive. The prospective President, when he enters the office to which he has been chosen, will be about midway between the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth year of his life, or about the age.of Martin Van Bhren, Zachary Taylor, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Mrs. Har rison will enter the executive mansion as presiding lady at about the age of Aoigail Smith Adams, wife of thesecond, and Eliza McArdie Johnson, wife of the seventeenth President of the United States. Since Mrs. Washington inaugurated1 the social regimeof the President's household at New York, then the capital, there have been thirty-two presiding ladies. Eighteen of these were the wives of the Presidents: Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Adams, Mrs. Munroe, Mrs. J. Q. Adams, Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Letitia Christian Tyler, who died while her husband was in office, Mrs. Julia Gardner Tyler, who married the President in New York when she was but a year more than the age of Mrs. Cleveland; Mrs. Polk, Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Fillmore, Mrs. Pierce, Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. Garfield, and Mrs. Cleveland. The remaining fourteen presiding ladies were: Jefferson's daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, or when absent, Mrs. Secretary of State Madison; Mrs. Emily Donelson, wife of President Jackson 's pri vate secretary, aDd Sara Yorke Jackson, wife of his foster son; Angelica Singleton Van Buren, the wife of the President's son and private secretary; Elizabeth Tyler Waller, the President's daughter, and Mrs. Cooper Tyler, his son's wife; Elizabeth Taylor Bliss, a married daughter of President Taylor; *r a lj ? 21 mm ? iYiary AiJiguu rmujuic, t* unu^mci of President Fillmore; Harriet Lane, the niece of James Buchanan : Mrs. Martha Johnson Patterson ana Mrs. Mary Johnson Stover, married daughters of President Johnson; Mary Arthur McElroy and Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, sisters of the last two Presidents. EATING NOTHING IN EIGHT YEARS. The following remarkable story comes from.Lewiston, Maine: Josephine Bedard isa pretty, darkeyed, vivacious French-Canadian girl, who has been on a Christmas visit to her uncle and cousins at 27 Birch street, Lewiaton, for the pdst few days. If her story is true, she has fasted more than 2,550 days, having neither eaten nor desired to eat nor tasted food in any form for that length of time. When the reporter called upon her to-day and introduced himself, her story, as told by herself, was that she was born on her father's farm in Tingwick, a small agricultural town in Canada, in 1872. Her mother was stricken with a disease which terminated fatally when Josephine was but 3 months old. As a child she grew robust and strong. She attended a country school *or a short time and ?<Wwar4g>i?^8i3tfevUi^tly^ household. duties atfiome. On Christmas day, 1881, she was violently attacked with diphtheria, and for three weeks she was between life and death. From this sickness begins the date of her prolonged and curious feat, and to-day, as for years, her means of sustenance is derived from water only, which she drinks as people drink ordinarily. No form ofeatablescan arouse her sleeping appetite, and the most delicious fruits are no temptation to her. In appearance she is of medium height, weighing 125 pounds, with a symmetrical figure, intellectual head and what is called a pretty face, with sparkling brown eyes ana short coal-black hair. She is a fascinating brunette of demure countenance and modest bearing. Mr. ^edard said that when in Canada in order to remove the doubts of a few skeptical persons, Josephine was locked in a room for 15 days as a test with no nourishment but water, and that she came out at the end of that time without experiencing the slightest illness. At present she enjoys perfect health, and headaches and other ailments flesh is heir to are entirely unknown to her. TIGHT STOCKINGS. Alexander Nasmyth took his first art lessons at an evening school in Edinburgh. The teacher had little to work with, and for that reason was obliged to give his pupils the same copies again and again. The young Alexander had just finished nis sixth copy of a drawing of the Laocoon, when he was tojd to make another. He begged for a new subject, and the master, somewhat out of temper, answered, hotly: "Well, I'll give you another." Upon that, he turned the group of the Laocoon upside down, and said: "Now, then, copy that." The boy accepted the task, and in a few evenings accomplished it. The master was so much pleased with his spirit, and so proud of his skill, that he had the picture mounted and framed, with a note at the bottom recounting the circumstances of the case. A few years afterward, Alexander went to London, where he became the pupil of Allan Itamsay. One day he had promised to take a young lady to a fashionable place of amusement. Full dress was called for, and all the young men were expected to appear in long, striped silk stockings. Young Nasmyth had only one pair, which he washed for the occasion in in his lodging-room, and hung them, however, where they were so badly burned that they could not be worn. rne poor dui nign-spirneu youug artist was in a sorry predicament, but his ingenuity helped him out. He took his water-color box, and painted his legs with black and i white stripes. The paint soon dried, he completed his toilet, and with the i lady went to the show. No one discovered the trick, although more than one person complimented him upon the extraordinarily good fit of his handsome stockings. * Beginning Again.?When two ; people have "made up" after a quar- : rel, it is safest to "let sleeping dogs i lie," and refer no more to the bone of contention. Even a good natured recurrence to the subject contains within it the germs of recrimination. A Scotch couple had lived together happily for several years, but one evening when they were seated at ' their fireside a mouse chanced to run ' across the floor. ' "There's a moosie," said the wife. "It cam' frae below the bed." "Na," said ?her husband, "it cam' oot below the kist (chest)." They began to debate the point, a keen argument ensued, and angry words were unsparingly used. The controversy was resumed in the i morning and continued, from day to i day, with increasing violence, until ( the wife left the house and returned 1 to her friends. t The couple lived apart for twelve t years, and'then after friendly inter- ( cession, became reconciled. They re- s 3umed housekeeping, and during five i years the voice of discord was ua- 1 heard beneath their roof. At length t Df their long eetmngjement. -3 aq jfj okn *i|l rated a boot sic a trifle as a moosie comin' frae below the bed?" "I tell ye it cam' oot below the kist woman," said the husband sharply. "It did na that, John," retorted the wife. "I mind see'n it, as if'twere yesterday, comin' frae under the The quarrel had begun again, and raged furiously. In a short time the couple separated, and were never reunited. t t t i Well Answered.?A train from Pittsburg was approaching Chicago. On board was a quiet, well-dressed, copper-cotored young Indian who seemed to have fill he could do to attend to his own business, which he did without molestation, until a young man, whose brains had evidently been devotedto his clothing, came from the sleeper into the smoking-car, and saw him. "An Indian, I guess," said the young man, as he lighted a cigarette. And then, approaching the son of the plains, he attracted general attion by shouting, with strange gestures j "Ugh, heap big Injun! Omaha! Sioux! Pawnee! See Great Father! Have a drink of fire-water! Warm Injun's blood." The Indian gazed at the young man a moment with an ill-concealed expression of contempt on his face, and then said, with good pronunciation : "You must have been reading dime novels, sir. I am going back to my people in Montana, after spending three years in the East at school. I advise you to do the same thing. Where I live, gentlemen do not carry whisky flasks in their pockets." The young fire-water drinker did not wait to finish his smoke. There was too much mirth and music in the air just then. Sour Grapes.?-Perhaps It is well for human comfort that, according to the old phrasing, grapes are so often sour. What consolation is at once so ready and potent, for the ordinary mind, as that of feeling that a good denied, might not, after all, have been very desirable? A field slave one day found in his trap a nice plump rabbit. He took him out alive, held him under his arm, patted him, and began to speculate on his qualities. "Oh, how fat! berry fat! the fattest I eber did see! Let me see how I'll cook him; I broil him! No he so fat he lose all de grease. I fry him. Ah, yes! he so berry fat he fry him 86lf. How fat fie fie I JNo, I won't fry him, I stew him I" The thought of the savory stew made the negro forget himself; and, in spreading out the feast in his imagination, his arms relaxed, when suddenly off hopped the rabbit, and, squatting at a goodly distance away he eyed his late owner with cool composure. . i The negro knew, of course, that there was an end of the stew; ai d, therefore, summoning up all his philosophy, he thus addressed the rabbit, as he shook his fist at him, "You long-eared, white-whiskered rascal, you not so berry fat, after all!" In His Own Trap.?It is usually gratifying to justice to see an old offender fall into his own snares, especially if he be a destroyer of the young. The Buffalo Express tells how a rumseller plaintiff in courti was called to a true accountity C?p#R( judge, -.a sixteen-year-ohl youths named 'Miris was brought- before Justice King on the'tcmnfeipt of a saloon-keeper, who charged Chris with having stolen three cigars, valued at twenty-five cents: The beer-seller had brought his wife and family to prove the fact. Chris had no witnesses and no friends to defend him. "What was the boy doing at your saloon?" asked Justice King of the complaining witness. "He vas drinking beer." "Was he drunk?" "Yes, sir; he comes to my place every leedle vile, und gets drunk." "That'll do," said His Honor. "I'll fine him just one dollar, and you. Mr. Hendemeyer, may step over to tbat desk and pay a fine of ten dollars?the utmost the law allows. I have arraigned you on a charge of selling liquor to a minor, and you are convicted on your own testimony." A Wonderful Well.?One of the most remarkable of the wonderful things of which Pittsburg boasts, is the combination well that has been struck at the cracker factory of S. S. Marvin k Co. It produces at one and the same time cold water as pure and sweet as the dew that falls from heaven, salt water as briny as old ocean's waves, and a flow of gas that when ignited illuminates the entire surroundings. The well was drilled some time ago, Mr. Marvin's idea being to get a supply of pure cold water for use in his bakery in the summer and during flood times, when the city water is not desirable. At one hundred feet the fresh water was struck, and at two hundred feet the salt water and gas were found. Two casings were inserted, one for the salt water and gas, the other for the fresh water; and now, when the engine is started and the gas lighted, spectators behold the wonderful sight of fresh water, salt water and fire all coming out of one well at the same time. Black and White Prayers.? A little black girl, eight years old, was setting the table, when a boy in the room said to her: "Mollie, do you pray?" The suddenness of the question confused her a little, but she answered : "Yes, every night." "Do you think God hears you?" the boy asked. And she answered promptly: "I know he does." "But do you think," said he, trying to puzzle her, "that he hears your prayers as readily as those of white children ?" For full three minutes, the child kept on with her work; then she slowly said: "Master George, I pray into God's ear, and not his eyes. My voice is just like any other little girl's; and if I say what I ought to say, God does not stop to look at my skin." S&* A man in Maine, says the Lewi9ton Journal, who had left a good many accounts unpaid got up in a prayer meeting down East one day last week, and confessed his sins, and declared that he was ready to pay svery dollar he owed. An enemy of his raked up a lot of creditors interested in the new convert in various parts of the State, and pretty soon the convert found he had a menacing 3tock of liabilities in Lewiston ana elsewhere. True to his pledges he redeemed them all except an outlaw 3d note, declaring that as the gospel is the fulfillment of the law, he wouldn't be blamed for not paying "or dead horses. Resting Razors.?The popular idea that a razor needs rest occasionilly has a scientific foundation in the :ase of fine razors. The grain of the 3est Swedish razors runr in^a diagonil direction from the upper end of :he outer point toward the handle. Constant stropping will ttwlst the iteel until the grain sets uplnd down, md steady use^rawfl>*0j|rain stilL, 'urther oveiv?J condition )Ut^aid For the YorkviHe Enquirer. REMINISCENCES OF WESTERN YORK. The 13th day of June, 1857, was the day set apart by some alleged European astron- f omer for a comet to strike and destroy our earth. To many weak-minded and credulous persons this announcement was a terror. How the report got its wings I could never tell% But it was all the talk for weeks before the appointed day, with certain persons who were terrorized by this predktion. It was the day that Gainey Bolin was buried at Unity. Venus, following close in the. track of the son, could be seen about 2 P.* M. nearly overhead. When I arrived at the graveyard the body bad not been brought^r burial, ~ MMrl 4-U/VAA f aim uie gravts-ui^gcra tuiu tuvoc w n?? ground were star-gazing. Old man Lige Aikins was there. It will not be out of place to say here that he was v.whatis commonly known, in country parlance, as a "^jrass widower," and, like most of that stripe, he was a standing candidate for a second matrimonial alliance. He had lost most, if not all, of'hls -front teeth, and had been dubbed "forks," by some one given to nicknaming. He had a desire to show off to the greatest advantage with the girls. It was a rather difficult matter for him to look up toward the sky without grinning and showing his "snags" of teeth and gums. So he would try to conceal these defects by putting his hand over his mouth. This created a good deal of laughter among the girls at his expense. When he found out that he was an object of their derision, his language was more forcible than elegant, and no amount of apology was sufficient to appease his anger. He told them that "Old Aikins" was a "close paper" and had more sense than they or their mammas before them ever had, and many other things of like import. Once Mr. Henry Whisonanfc owned a calf that was supposed to be mad. Some- * body had reported a mad-dog as passing through the neighborhood a few days before, and the belief became general with some people that the calf had been bitten by it. Curiosity took a good many per sods to see it, among them John Childers (Tied-up) and "Did" Sandling. The calf was lying down and took no notice of them. The children had been teasing it and it had contracted a habit of running after them. "Did" concluded the calf was nearly dead, and entering the pen, went' round the calf, and told John he thought the "jig was up with it," at the same time tipping it in the side with the toe of his shoe, but all to no purpose. The calf lay perfectly still. "Tied-up" said "twist its tail, "Did ;" that will move it, if it ain't dead." As "Did" took hold of the caudal appendage of the prostrate bovine and gave it a twist, the calf sprang to its feet, and looking around saw the intruder, at whom it made a lunge. "Did" couldn't stand it < and made a break for the fence. He had to run up hill and climb the fence from the * lower side. John Childers yelled, "Look ? out, "Did," it's coming." "Did" made a lunge for the top of the fence that had been built higher than usual forthesafe keeping " of the suspected mad calf. In his haste he pulled a rail off on himself which nearly killed him. It was a long time before "Did" heard the end of the calf story. Whit Ramsey had nearly the same experience with the 8a?e)mbtj6?t., I lTfiaven7fcl6ldyetTKijwNfl|?^^ broke Uncle Luke, her husband, from drinking wfifsky. Soon after~they wpre married oat harvest came on, and Uncle JLUKe cue aowu a lew aozen one morning before he went to a petty muster, which our older readers will remember was a very poor thing if there wasn't whisky enough there to make all drunk who would drink it. Uncle Luke took a little too much of it and struck out for hofpe. His excellent wife received him in her happiest mood, and suppressed her disgust at seeing him intoxicated. He went out to tie up his oats, and when he would stoop down to pick up the oats he would pitch forward and couldn't make it. Aunt Nancy, seeing his dilemma, went to him and proposed to tie the oats for him. He told her to never mind, he would tie them. "Oh I no, honey," said she, "you're not in a fix to work now; I'll tie them up for you." Uncle Luke said that that day'3 work broke him from even taking a dram for many years, and it was the first and last time Aunt Nancy ever saw him drunk. Right here we beg to make a suggestion to any of our lady readers, whose homes and happiness may be destroyed by the satanic influence of strong drink, to adopt Aunt Nancy Smith's rule, and if your hus bands are men at all, you will heap coals of fire upon their heads. Mrs. Smith was a Miss Walker, a near relative of Capt. J. Felix Walker, of the 18th S. C. Regiment, who was well known in Western York, and who received his death wound at Second Manassas, August 30th, 1862. She was a Christain lady and a member of the Presbyterian church at Salem, where, with her husband and children, her dust now reposes. j. l. s. Antiquity of the Pentateuch.?I have never seen anything in the way of advanced criticism which evertempted me to believe that the substance of the Book of Deuteronomy was the work of a late age of Jewish history. I hold that the book must have been written by a man familiar with desert experiences, and for a people fresh from desert wanderings and Egyptian life. The whole atmosphere of the book?and that it is next to impossible for the most skillful manufacturer to imitate?breathes of the desert and of Egypt. After the Jews had been bro^ughUntocon- ^ tact with the great OrientardespotTsm, all" the imagery would have been in quite another key had the book been written in those days. Ttoen the Jews had entirely lost sight of Egypt and the desert; and the acknowledged literature of their later days bears the strongest traces of the influence which the Oriental civilization had exercised on their imaginations, an influence which it would have been simply impossible for a writer of those days to suppress. I believe firmly that the advanced criticism will return to the belief that the books of the Pentateuch were substantially the work of the age which witnessed the wanderings.?[Baldwin Brown. ^ * Verbal Contracts.?Verbal contracts occasion more trouble, disputes, and litigation than any other business transactions. The Trade-Mark Record says: The wise merchant, taught by experience, will endeavor to have a writing executed by the party to be charged, in every case of importance arising in his business. This is especially necessary of gaurantees. A man enters your office whom you know to be perfectly responsible. He tells ivnn frt oaI 1 PvAiim ann fK aiioo nrl rl a1 lo?a? jwu IU ovii xjiyjyy n K/LIV uiuuoauu uuiiaio worth of goods. Brown is all right, he will answer for that, etc. Make him sign a memorandum. A customer gives you a large order for future and installment deliveries. Make him sign it in writing. You engage a salesman for a year, or for a month, or for a trial trip. Have it all put down in writing and signed. You save taking your chances beftre a jury, who nine times out of ten prove un- I certain and too sympathetic with that par-v / ty whom they consider is the "under?^dog." 7 j It Is only a little trouble at ISllHH itjflMkves