Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, January 23, 1889, Image 1
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