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v. ^ The Sno>v Storm. Liehtly and wbitoly As wheat from tho grain, Thickly and qaiokly > As thoughts through the brain, So fast and so dumb Do the snow-flakes come; Swift, swift as the lays drop ) From glad poet-lip9,, Soft, soft as the days drop From Time's finger-tips. S Oh, so many, so many! J Yet no sound from any Oh, so last, oh, so fadt! Yet no track whore thoy passed. Oh, so fragile, so frail! Yet no force can prevail To speed them or stny thorn. No prayer can out-weigh them. "They fall whero thoy must, Through the fathomless gray, And bring to earth's dust What of heaven thoy may. ? Grace D. Lilchjield, m St. JVicliolas. r Waiting and Winning. "It don't matter so much now, grandma," said Aileen, drying the tears that had sparkled on her cheeks like dew-drops on a rose. "Of course, . it is very silly for me to cry, but I couldn't help it, just at first." "But what is the matter, my pet?" , ?aid ojd Mrs. Harrington, soothingly. She had found Aileen coiled up in the deep'" embrasure of the window^ where the winter sunset was strained (t K r>r\it rvY-i in rl an>\ Ii nna r\f nrimaAn onH nnvugfu aaa viouj; ii uuo w i. vituigvu uuu amber, crying bitterly. The Harrington family were ambitious people. They had come to Yirginin and purchased, at a merely nom> anal price, the fine old mansion that :fradonce belonged to a luxurious plant1 <er, long since dead. Mr. Harrington, who had been contented to raise humble com and pumpkins in the valley of the Connecticut Uiver, now devoted himself to the more aristocratic crop of tobacco. Mrs. Harrington, who had been a notable Yankee housekeeper, hired two negro women to do the housework, -and cultivated societv: and the three Misses Harrington forgot the days of factory work and honest district-school A" teaching in the gentilities of "Valley Lawn." The old lady alone remained true to her colors. "All this is very fine," said she, "but 1 don't see what is to be gained by it. Dan'l losin' money, as true as you're bom!" "Money isn't everything, grandma/* said her daughter-in-law, tartly. "Humph!" said the old iady. And when Aileen, the orphan cousin* came down from the New England hills, grandma was the only one who really welcomed her. "There are three of us already," said Selina Harrington- crrnrlcrincTlv o ? n o?O"^ "Why.couldn't she have been a boy, - v so as to help pa with the plantation?" said Norma. "What do we want of any more girls?" sighed Juanita, whose baptismal name had been "Judith." : "Ain't no use of growlin' about it," said vPa," who could not be made an elegant gentleman, let the family varnish and veneer as they pleased. "Here she is, and here she's got to stay. I don't want her no more'n you do; but she ain't got no friends to go to, so what ye goin' to do about it?" Aileen was pretty too, in her shy, wild-daisy way, with big blue-black eyes, reddish-brown hair and a rich Titanesque complexion. The Misses Harrington were not pretty. This was another objection, although it was not generally discussed, and Aileen soon knew, bv instinrt. t.hnt.thn old grandmother was her only friend in all the big, dreary house. A third matter of offense cropped out on All Hallow E'en, when Aileen went out into the woods to gather hickory-nuts to burn in. the fireside blaze. Perhaps it was not her fault that Mr. Daller's vicious bull jumped Vthrough the tumble-down fence and frightened her nehrly out of her wits; and. she whs doubtless not personally responsible for the fact that Captain Dulany chanced to be passing, and rescued her from the big-horned enemy with prompt gallantry. "He was so very kind!" said Aileen, -wistfully. vDo vou think, crrandmn that 1 ought to tell my aunt and the girls that he walks with me when 1 go to the post office ? or that he gave me them beautiful, deep-blue asters that they thought I found in the copse? or that it was he discovered the big bunch of mistletoe in Greenough's woods ?" Well, not unless they ask you," said old Mrs. Harrington, shrugging her shoulders. ' -rj For she had heard her three grand;; daughters discussing the Dulany question with some acrimony. "I'm the eldest," Selina had said, ; tartly, "and 1 ought to have the first chance. . If any of us is to call with >ma at Dutany Beeches, it shall be met" You always wera a selfish thlngi" ?s&v-v; 'If: .Vv . ' vflH? i -* -V: ' ,v.c . v ifty W'- v ' ?'/ ? ,\ v?--? fjw/';-) :> # said Norma. "Captain Dulany's mother has a large library, and you knowvery well that I'm literary." "I'm the youngest, and I don't see why I should be poked into a corner always," pouted MissJuanita?Judith. But Selina, by strength of years and tongue, had carried her point. So when New Year's Day approached, and Aileen timidly consulted Aunt Harrington as to what she should wear, that matron opened her large, light eyes with counterfeited amazement. "You, child?" said she. "'"Why, you're not to come in at all! The girls don't want a whole drove in the par ior. xnree women are quite enougn. And you're so young, you know." "I'm seventeen, aunt!" faltered Aileen. "Two or three years hence will do very well for you," said the relentless elder. "Try and put such silly nonsense out of your head!" And this was why Aileen was crying. Old Mrs. Harrington under.'tood it all very well. She had been young once. She saw the folly of interference in this particular case, however. "Dan'l's wife likes her own way," said she. "She ain't pleasant if she thinks any one is meddlin'. I'll tell VOU what Ail??n?vrm ?nd I'll crn nnfr. to the big chamber over the stun barn, and get Pomp to build us up a real good fire of pine logs in the old chimbly. There's a carpet loom there and a spinnin'-wheel and all the fixin's and I'll show you how I used to spin flax when I was a gal, and weave rag carpet." "Will you?" said Aileen, with brightening eyes. "Oh, grandma, how very, very nice that will be! And can I roast chestnuts and apples In the ashes??and will you tell me about your sailor-lover that was drowned before you ever saw my Grandfather Harrington?" "Yes," said the old lady?"yes! We'll hev our New Year's by ourselves?me and you, child." So Aileen put away the pretty, little, blue merino gown that she had retrimmed for New Year's Day, and donned instead the brown Merrimac calico that made her look like a robinredbreast; and just about the time that her three cousins were quarreling for the possession of the biggest dressing glass to "do" their hair, she and her grandmother were adjusting the ancient spinning-wheel in the stonebarn chamber, and piling wood in the cavernous recess of the huge fireplace. They had a very pleasant New Year's Day, after all, though the tears came to Aileen's blue eyes once or twice, when the carriages rolled by over the hard-frozen road toward the house. And at dusk she lighted the cheerful candles, and sat down to prepare grandma's supper, with fresh corncakes, baked in the hot embers, according to the recipe of Aunt Felicia, the colored cook, fragrant coffee, and sweet apples, roasted, and eaten with cream. But Captain Dulany, riding his Morgan horse. Hotspur, throu gh the pine-woods, drew rein close by the old stone barn, whence he had not seen the red lights gleaming out for ten years. "What can it be?" he asked himself. "We children used to play at ghost up there of an autumn evening, when the Valdimir family lived there. Or perhaps the careless servants have set something on fire." He jumped off his horse, flung the reins over a projecting pine-bough and went in to see what the meaning of this unwonted illumination might be. The door stood wide open?the whole room was aglow with a warm, ruddy light. Grandma, enthroned in a big splint-chair before the blaze, was drinking her coffee, and Alleen sat spinning at the old wheel, with cheeks softly reddened and blue eyes sparkling?a very picture of health and beauty. Both started at the sudden apparition of the captain on the threshold. *1?I beg your pardon!" said Captain Dulany, lifting his hat. "I saw the light shining out, and I was afraid that something had happened." , "Something has happened,M said Aileen, laughingly. *'I have learned tosp'n. And grandma and I are having a picnic. Will you come in, Captain Dulany?" -Well, since your coffee smells so good, I think I will," said the gallant young officer. His cup?which for lack of more expensive china happened to be a mug? was scarcely poured out, before their numbers were augmented by Mr. Ferrars and young Doctor Fenchurd, who had seen the lights, and had also observed "Hotspur" fastened to the fonce. "May we venture to iatrude?" said they, peeping in over the stair-rail. : / ( ' > c. -v A ' , \ ,' ; " , !' I'i '*/ , ' *f . Oh, certainly!" said grandma, smiling. And Aileen distributed handlelesa cups and bountiful slices of goldenbrown corn-cake, yet steaming from the fire, to her guests. We are hardly prepared to enter, tain so large a company," said she\ composedly; "but we can, at all events, give you a sincere welcome." Two?three?half a dozen more dropped in. OldPomp was summoned to pour fresh pine-cones on the blaze and bring more coffee and corn-cake. He (rrinned from ear to ear. "Pow'ful like lie good old times," said he, to Aunt Felicia, when he returned to his cabin. 44De berry cream ob de gentry enjoyin' de corn-pones an* coffee like dey was our own old marse's folks. Ain't nuflln like cornpone for rale good flavor, dat dey ain't. An' the young lady from de Norf, she's as pretty as a peach. Reckon de capt ing finks so, too. He, he he!" And old Pomp shook his sides with an inaudible chuckle of glee. Later in the evening the gentlemen went up to the house, where stood the three Misses Harrington in a simpering row. But their call there was insipid, and several of them returned to the "Stone Barn" to finish their evening. Adrian Dulacy remained the latest of all?so late, in fact, that it was he who escorted grandma?who had discreetly fallen asleep in her big chair some time ago?and Aileen to thu house, under whispering pine-boughs, by the light of a big round moon. The three cousins, whose list of calls had long since ended, were yawning in the parlor. "Dear me!" cried Selina, as the little group came in. "Where have you been all day, Aileen ?" "In the old stone-barn chamber, learning to spin," said Aileen, laughing and colorinsr. w O Juanita looked sharply at her. What change had subtly crept over her voice and manner? Then she looked at Captain Adrian's bright face. Take good care of her," said the young officer, tenderly removing the heavy shawl from Ailecn's shoulder. "She has promised to be my wife, befor a great many weeks." It was not until Dulany had gone that the full cannonade of questions burst on Aileen's devoted head. "Girls, girls! don't all speak at once," said grandma. "It's just exactly as I've always told you. The right one will be sure to come along if you sit in the chimney-corner and wait. And that was just what Ailean was doing this eveninsr." And that night, when the frostwhite stars of midnight climbed the sky, Aileen whispered: Good-by, sweet New Year's Day? the happiest I have ever known!"? Helen Forrest Graves. Historical Trees. The tree under which "William Perm made his treaty with the Indians. The tree on Boston common, where, tradition says, seven tories were hung. Elm tree on Cambridge common under which General Washington first drew his aword as commander-in-chief of the continental army The Charter oak. Pine tree near Port Edward, N Y., where Jane McCrea w?s murdered by the Indians. The thirteen trees planted by Gen. Alexander Hamilton on his estate near New York, representing the original thirteeu States. The oak tree at Franklin, NT. II., oa which Daniel Webster, when a boy, hung his scythe and said to his father, "Now the scythe hangs to suit me." The apple tree at Appomattox under which General Grant received the surrender of General Lee.?Magazine of American History. Mexican Silver Money. San Francisco, it is believed, is the only city in tho United States in which the exchange of Mexican dollars is ex tensively conducted, and is one of the only two cities in the world where the business is.largely transacted?the other being London. The Mexican dollar is an ugly ill-stamped, badly milled silver disk of 41 grains, but it has been accepted as the standard coin of China for nearly thirty years and has steadily grown in use and favor, notwithstanding the amusing episode of the trade dollar, with its 420 grains and English die-sinker. {friable t Walk Forwards Dr. Mazzottl tells of a man who had a scorbutic affection, which he set about to cure with whisky. He got well of this trouble, but became a hard drinker, and soon found himself the victim of a rare disease called opisthoporia. This curious affection consist in inability to walk forward. "When the patient was told to advance, he used every effort to do so, but could only succeed in going backward, and ' continued to do so until be died. & 'i1 ii-W tnmlliKUw -9K9& .^CiwiWa.n, (r.t < ^ . [THE BRAKEMAN DECIDES | He Settles a Dispute Between Two Drummers. And Makes a Deoision Whioli Benefitted the Eeferee Only. One drummer held in his hand an unlighted cigar. Another drummer asked that the cigar be given him. "I will." was the reply, "if you will first tell me correctly what is to become of it." "All right. I predict that you will not give it to me." "Xow see how stupid you am If I should give it to you your prediction would be false. And, your prediction being false, according to our agreement I keep the cigar." "But, stay there," replied the other; "if you keep the cigar my prediction is true and the cigar must be mine. | my prediction cannot be proven false unless you give me the cigar." i "You have lots of gall to think you can get something for nothing." "You have lots of nerve to stand up here and refuse to carry out your agreement. "You are a Irar." "You're another." "You " "You " "Here," cried the brakeman. "no fighting here. "What is the row about?" The case was duly stated to the brakeman. That individual scratched his head, wiped the coal soot and Der splration from his lip with hi3 gloved hand, and, alter great deliberation, exclaimed: "Give me the cigar.'' The cigar was handed him. "This is a very interesting case," he said; "it reminds me of the syllogisms of Zeno, which we used to study at the round houso on the problem of cause and effect illustrated by the example of two double-header freight trains trying to pass each other on the same track, or the similar but more abstract problem of what is the result when an irresistible force comes in contact with an immovable body. But, gentlemen, as Aristotle used to say? oh, have you got a knife about your clothes?" "Drummer No. 1 produced a knife j and with it the brakeman cut off the end of the cigar. j "As Aristotle used to say, that is a I reductioad absurdam?a two-and-twomake Ave casa But as Plato observed in his work on color blindness and bolted frogs, the impossible is possible only with the impossible and?by the way, have you got a match about your clothes ?" Drummer No. 2 produced a match. "And now," continued the brakeman, addressing No. 1, "you promised to give this cigar to No. 2 if he would correctly guess what would become of it?" "Yes." "Well, he guessed that you wouldn't give it to him, and, a3 you haven't given it to him, according to your promise the cigar no longer remains yours." "Yes." "And now, you other fellow, you think the cigar is yours because you correctly guessed what this man would do with it." "Yes." "But if he should give the cigar to you then your guess would be a false one, and, according to the contract, the cigar would not be yours." "Yes." "Now you see, gentlemen, that the cigar belongs to neither of you. I think (puff, puff)?I think it is (puff, puff) a good cigar. Good day, gentlemen, and if you have any more syllog lauia cv 4unnci uvor pionso tut iue stakes be a house and lot or a diamond ring, and I'll be glad to settle the dispute for you." And as the two drummers looked at each othftr out of the corners of their eyes the brake man walked proudly away, exclaiming: "Smartville! The next stop is Smart* villel"?Chicago Herald. Bridges. The first bridges were of wood, and tl earliest of which we have any account was built in Rome 500 B. C. The next was erected by Julius Csosar for the passage of his army across the lihine. Trajan's great bridge over the Danube. 4770 feet loner, was mada nf | timber, with stone piers. The Romans j also built the first stone bridge, which I crossed the Tiber. SunnAnidnn hrMnna L ?"B*"' are of remote origin. A Chinese one mentioned by Kirchen was made of j chains supporting a roadway 830 feet in length. It was built A. D. 65, and it still to be seen. The first large iron bridge was erected over the Severn in 1777. The age of railways has brought a remarkable development In this branch of engineering, especially | in the construction of bridges of iron and steel.?Cultivator. ' ' V, W*. ' jkV'v^, ' " ' '3 -cf ' Ay isSssw '.'Jt Foreign Life nt Washington. Tt is a curious thing that tho capital of the United States should be more like a foreign city thaJi any othor town in this country, says a Washing- j ton letter. The writer adds: It is a , great place for people who have lived in Europe for a good many years to set up their household. It is a kind of brake which gently lets them down from the intoxication of European life to the dead level of an American commercial city. This class of returned tourists make up much of the winter population of Washington? and being as a rule both rich and idle, they add much to its charm. Nowhere on this continent is there so much leis ure as nere. Everything like work begins fit 9 o'clock and ends at 4. Then, unlike other great cities, the workers do not hare to traverse the wholo length and breadth of the town to get to their homes. The public workshops are all central?it is not far from any man's work to his home. The shorter hours of work which prevail in foreign cities are a continual marvel to the American. The idea of a man of. business making his first appearance at his ollice at 10 o'clock in the morning, then taking a big slize off at noon?just the most valuable part of the working day?and then quitting about the time the American gets fairly warmed up to his work is certainly very surprising. But it becomes still more so when he comes here and finds that after 4 o'clock all the town is at leisure. It is true that the higher officials have longer hours and the Cabinet officers are driven to death if they mind their business,, but the average worker does his eight hours work, and then leaves off, with two hours of daylight before him even in winter. Then for that fraction of the world known as 4,society," the hours are fixed and invariable, and this, too, conduces tu the economy of time. One is in no danger of having a whole day, from noon to twilight, monopolized by a string of inconsequential visitors. Nobody visits before 2, and nobody versed in Washington society before 3, and at 5? it is all over. All official houses and nearly all private ones have a day for receiving, Si> that each individual nas six days in which to labor and do all that he or she has to do. It is a wonder that this easy, well-ordered life charms people to Washington, and getting them here keeps them ? ' A Younjr Indian's Komnntlc History. A tall young man, with a complexion of the rich color of the ripe chestnut and with limbs as cleanly cut as thoou of Michael Angelo's statue of David, called upon President Cleveland recently, and asked the appointment of a cadetship at AVest Point, says a Washington correspondent of the Cleveland Leadei'. It was young Hole-in-the-Day, the son of the noted Chippewa Chief, and now the King of all the Chippewas. lie is about eighteen years old, is over six feet tall, and he has an eye like that of a young eagle. A romance clusters around him, and it was at Washington where his father, the noted Chippewa King, met the woman who became his mother. It was in 1867 that old Hole-inthe-Day came here on business with the President. He was made much of by the newspapers, feted by society, and at the National Hotel, where he was stopping, he was spoken of as the rich Indian King, who owned the greater part of the lands of the Northwest At this hotel there was a pretty Irish chambermaid who did up the old chief's room. The two met. Thev - - * looked, and from their eyes sprang love. Chief IIole-in-the-Day, who had met the belles of Washington, passed them by, and chose the chambermaid. He proposed. She accepted. They were inarri6d, and she ^ent back to Minnesota an Indian queen. From the marriage sprang this boy, who has now ' inherited his father's position. The old King begot the jealousy of some of the Indian tribes by his union with a white wife, and they suspected him of treacherously giving away their lands. They assassinated him. Mrs. Hole-in-tlie-Day still lives. Her boy has the true military bearing about him, and he looks and walks lik? the king that he is. He dresses in American clothes, and talks pure Anglo-Saxon. Governor Iiamsey is nushincr his claims, and h? will r?rnh? bly receive an appointment Pennybunkor In Danger. Miss Eamerelda Longcoffln, one of the most attractive belles of Austin, said confidentially to her mother, -who is a poor widow: "Old Judge Pennybunker proposed to me last nicrht. Shall I tell him yes?" "No, my daughter, of course not. He is too old for you. He is worth $50,000. I'll have to be satisfied with him myself, I suppose. Just let ma attend to him."?T&xas Si/tings. >\v, I T<Mlajr The sunshine lingers in the room, I sco it through the window stream, Kissing the pillow, where lie laid His head, in many n boyish urcam. lint, oh! the cluinge since yustertlay? The young, strong step thut so I miss. The weary miles now stretching on ljetwoon us, and iny lust fond kiss. And miiio had boon a different plan, A dream of sheltered brooks and bowera. Of toil and ploasuto hand in hai.d, Of homo and friends and merry hours; But ho had longed to try the world, Its hojHJs, ils promises, its cares. To tempt Dame Fortune's fickle siuilc, And win her to him unawares. And so, with spirit 1k>M and lnravo, lie pressed my hand in muto good-by, And turned aside, lost I should soo The toars that glistened in bis oyo. And my poo- heart whs aching sore. lie might have hoard each throb oi pain; My questioning heart that yearned to know If I should meet my boy again. Oh, life is hard! The common lot And parting wring tho anguished heart. But, oh! how differently we'd choose, Yet sco our fondost hopes depart! Wo take tho burden wo would fain .Lay down, and fold our woary hands, Praying our loss may bo bis gain, Trusting to Him who understands. ? Kvcry Other Saturday HUMOROUS. Good at a pinch?A tight shoe. A r.? ?4. t-? in- ' ijuc mi.?x resiumg over a ponce court. The successful author ha3 a fortune in his own write. Auctioneer ('selling town property)' "Why, gentlemen, the very atmosphere's worth the money " Iowa encourages men to quarrel and become sick by employing 5 women lawyers and 122 women doctors. It is given . a reason why lawyers charge such enormous fees that their career is a brief one, at the longest. "Nervous girl" wants to know how 10 cure a tickling sensation about the | lace. liet him to shave oft his moustache. Imitation cod liver is now made in Paris. "What anybody wants to imitate the stuff for Is a mystery. Something as unlike it as possible would be more taking. "Something new in butter dishes, I see," said Mrs. Pompano as she glanced over the advertisements. "What is it?" asked Pompano eagerly. 4 Good butter." A Boston oculist advertises to supply "cork nose spectacles." "Without being positive we presume that spec nplfi" riat'li' r* aarto o?*n V* a fim ?v> a nr? ai/iuo tUi ov/ia. uuouu u&?j vuu ocb&ajvt ww those for the ordinary kind of noses. In Spain the natives keep guinea hens about their houses for the sake of enjoying their harsh and discordant cries. This would seem to indicate that they have no street band3 in Spain. Underclothing. Says Dr. "Wm. A. Hammond, "The chief object of underclothing is the retention of the natural heat of the body n such a way that low temperatures and sndden charges will not affect the surface. Several years ago I performed some experiments which went to qH rv w hox7AnH onv A nnKf fK of aUlr la MM*# ?t MUM uvuuu I'uau ona ! below wool in its power to prevent the loss of heat from the body, and very little superior to cotton. Indeed, nothing is in this respect preferable to wool, and of this material all underclothing meant for winter use should be made. In summer a mixture of wool and cotton, called merino, may be worn, but even in very hot weather silk is not desirable, for it is not such a ready absorber of the perspiration as wool, and allows the body to be kept in a state not very remote from that J known as parboiled. Wool, however, | taking up, as it does, the moisture irom me Doay, exposes in to me atmosphere, or is evaporated, and, the process being a cooling one, keeps the skin from being overheated. No underclothing should ever be so thick as to prevent free passage of the cutaneous excretions and the atmospheric air. The skin requires ventilation as do the lungs. Chamois-skin undergarments, "perforated" or unperforat. ed, are abominations. The Largest Nugget of Oold. Louis Bland ing says that the generallv accented statement that the largest nugget ever found in California was worth a little more than $21,000 is an erroneous one, says the Virginia City Enterprise. He says that ?T. J. Finney, "Old Virginia," found a piece of gold about six miles from Downieville, Sierra County, on the 21st day of August, 1857, that weighed 5,000 ounces. The gold of that vicinity was worth $18 an ounces which would make the value of the nugget some $90,000. This would make the Finney nugget the largest piece of pure gold ever discovered, so far as accounts go. Heretofore the Australian nugget, found In the Ballarat gold fields, has been considered the largest. It was valued at #60,000. ' v-' , vStl