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The Talking- Oak* < * I bonded low to tlio talking oak, When the moon tras overoast. The dark, grcon wood was filled with gloom, The soreech-owl shrieked the note of doom. And tho sable bat flow past. Damp was tho wind in tho night-full ohill As a shroud for tho dead at soa. And tho grasa-prown earth on which I trod Wbb tho clammy mould of n gruve's fresh sod At tho foot of tho anoiont treo. I spnke thy namo in a trembling voico, And what said the talking tree ? "Sho love" but thee, sho loves thee well. Sho loves but thoc, though sho muy not tell." Thus spake tho oak to me. I bonded low to the talking oak, The moon rodo a cloudless sky, With soft and questioning voice I spako, And psked the oixk for lovo's dear si\ko, II her love would be for nyo? "I tell to theo, that sho told me, Sho lovos thee well, she lovo9 but theo,* And thus spako tho ancient tree. Soft blow tho wind us a maiden's sigh, Or us words of love confessed. And the grass-grown earth was n noblo bod, While tho waving branches overhead, Told of peaceful, dreamy rest. Again thy name in a trembling voice I spake to tho talking tree, "Sho loves but tbeo, t?he loves thne well, " She loves but thee, though she may not to 11.' Thus spake the oak to 1110. ?J. B. Dortnau m Detroit Free Press. . SHADOWED. Soon after Maxamilian had established himself in Mexico I landed in New York direct from Paris. I had been in France nine years, but was American born and American in all thincrs. I mav have hail a "Frenchv" look. Indeed I may have looked like a French agent or diplomat. At least, Uncle Sam seemed to think so. He 'Ot it into his head that I had arrived 11 New York to "sound" the N"orth in egard to French occupation of Mexi-o, and he determined to watch me. I had no suspicion that such was the ^ase, and hnd planned to enjoy myself n the big city for a couple of weeks. Two days after my arrival, as I sat in i,he office of the Astor House, reading a newpaper, I had the feeling that omeone was looking at me. You nave probably had the same feeling, .j. and have raised vour eves to find some stranger looking you over. As I lowered my paper I discovered a spare, <x>nsumptive:looking man of 40 sizing me up. He dropped his eyes when I raised mine, and had scarcely taken in his "points" when I felt a hatred for him. It was more than aversion?it was positive hatred. lie seemed snakish to me, and rather than endure his presence I arose and passed out on the street. My first call was at the general delivery window of the postotlice. When I had given my name three letters were passed out to me. I stood for a moment looking at the chiography and postmarks, and as I turned away I bumbed against the fellow I had left I? in the office. He had been looking over my shoulder: "Ah, beg pardon!" he said in a thin, piping voice, as he moved a3ide for ma * ,h !? 1 had hated him for his looks I" should certainly have hated hiin for his voice. It did not strike me as queer that he should have followed me, but I left the building saying to myself that I would like to do him a bad turn. I returned to the office and read my letters, aud then took a seat in the reading room to answer them. They were letters from relatives, and there was no call for extraordinary precautions in answering them. As each epistle was finished I inclosod it, directed the envelope in a plain, bold hand, and laid it aside. When the t.hvpo Wpro n iaK o.l oml ro.? A tt vm* vw t v/ *-aa Aauuv/U uklu 4 U/rtUJ1 tU UD \l stamped I felt the presence of that snake again. As I turned to look behind me he moved away with cat-like t, step and disappeared in the office. "Beg pardon, sir," observed a gentleman reading a newspaper at my right, "but that fellow acted in a queer manner." "IIow?" "I believe he took down the address of your letters. lie came in so noiselessly that I^iever heard him?" "Do you know him?" "No." I was thoroughly vexed, and at once proceeded to* the office to call the fellow to account. He had disappeared, I posted my letters and then walked up Broadway, the sight and scenes of which soon drove the man from mv thoughts. At the corner of Canal street a veritable Frenchman accosted me in his native language and inquired for the office of the French Consul. My prompt reply, in good French, delighted him. and he drew me aside I for a short chat. We asked and answered various questions, and were on the point of separating when my newf*. -I H-i a ? ? ? ijr-iuuiiu ineiiu lowerea nis voice and , said: The deuce! Do they have spies in u' this country ?" I wheeled al>out, and the snake, as I shall hereafter call him, was only two * V/' - - - < r * ' f \ " .>* '. *v ' ': v - , feet away. Iq my sudden anger I raised my band to strike, but a smile crossed his evil face, he bowed obsequiously, and holding up /in unlighted cigar in his fingers he said: "I was about to ask the gentleman for a light." You can't have it!" I savagely answered. 4,Ah?well?pardon my boldness," he said as he turned away to enter the passing throng. "That's a bad man," said the Frenchman as we looked after him. "lie kept edging up to catch our conversation, and I think he has been set to watch you." I began to think so, too, and I was boiling with anger. I wanted to be sure of it, however, before letting myself loose and I determined to keep an eye open. After standing on the corner a few moments I hailed a cab and was driven to Central Park. As I alighted at Fifty-ninth street I took a careful look about me, but there was no signs of a following carriage. Then, on foot, I nroceeded to the Zoological Gardens and entertained myself there for an hour or more, Just as I was about ready to go down town I felt that presence again. I had learned caution Without making any abrupt movement I began a careful survey of the people around me, and by and by I located my man. lie was ten feet away, placidly puffing at. a cigar. He had pulled a red wig over his closely-cropped black hair and had changed hats, but I spotted him in an instant. I wanted to walk right up and take him by the throat, but prudence warned me that such action would lead to my arrest and perhaps cause me a great deal of trouble. As I started down town I made up my micd to do that fellow an evil turo if he persisted in trailing me. I speculated for an hour on his motives in shadowing me, but could arrive at nc satisfactory conclusion. I thought ol going to the police about it. but was restrained by a natural feeling of obstinancy. I decided to give the fellow rope and see how the affair would end. That evening, in the office of the Astor House again, I spotted him. He had removed his wig'and now wore green goggles and walked with a limp. He took my trail again in the morning and shadowed me all day, changing his disguise three times. At night I determined to shake him. I quietly settled my bill and gave order* about my baggage, and about 10 o'clock at night the "spotter" having temporarily disappeared, I slipped out of the hotel, and hurried to the ferry and crossed to Jersey City and took rooms at a hotel there. I came down to breakfast next morniug feeling highly pleased over my little stratagem, but the first man I saw as I entered the olfice was my shadow. He had on a white hat, a loud suit, and was passing off as a sport, but I was "on to him" in a minute. During the day I crossed to New York, went over to Brooklyn, and tramped around for miles, but he kept my trail and was in the hotel office when I went to bed. That night I was aroused from sleep to receive a telegram. It was from a relative in Chicago, requesting me to come on at once. I did not start next morning, but waited for the evening train. 1 took the hotel clerk into my confidence, and arranged to have my trunks sent to the depot and checked, and to secure a sleeping car to Buffalo. I again started out on a tramp, and again the snake followed ma I dodged here and there in crowds? changed from one street car line to another, crossed the ferries?doubled on my trail, but he clung to me like a veritable shadow. As train time approached I lounged into the depot, as if to see who was going out. I bought and read a paper, and tried to appear cool and careless, and three minutes before the train left I mad9 a break for it and entered a sleeper. As the train pulled out oi the depot I felt certain I had escaped the snake, but an hour later, as I started for the smoker, I encountered him on the platform of the very car I had taken a berth in. The rascal could not get a berth in that car, but he had secured one in another. I was boiling with indignation at the discovery. He was smoking, and and as I c;ime out he extended his cigar and said: "Have a light sir* My plan was takeu in an instant. As I reached for his cigar I gave him a push and be went head over hells oil the platform, uttering a wild yell as*?i? vainly clutched at the railing. At Buffalo I stopped my trunks and changed my route to Cincinnati, and wa9 bothered by no more spies. I saw ur tne papers that tno man had.a terrible /all, a leg being broken and thai he was raving for six weeks. The idea was that he had fallen oil the train. What sort of a story he told V:'../' V,: sa-; tmy/w. X . .'V-- . . J '-at : . ? .is.'. when he got his seDses I know not, but the government either discovered that 1 was harmless, or failed to find my trail again.?Detroit Free. Press. What's In a Nnriiof There is a great deal that i3 funny in names. Faroes are sometimes comical in themselves, but oftener they become ridiculous by their association. Thus,' the name Asa Poor might excite our pity if we considered what the name might mean. But to see the , sign "A Poor Shoemaker," painted without any punctuation, as one is , said to have been hung out in New Orleans, would certainly provoke mirlh. * , Announcements of engagements and marriages may bring names into strange connection. A happy titness is seen in the union of a Mr. Catt to a Miss Mew, and of a Mr. Tee to a Miss Kettle. A famous Irish bull is that , of the orator who, in delivering a eulogy upon a man of learning, closed by saying:? "In fact, pentlemea, he was a creat man, a very great man, gentlemen; he ' was the father of chemistry, and brother of the Earl of Cork." \ From this it appears that the Earl of Cork must have been an uncle of chemistry. , No words are better suited to the purpose of the punster than are many of our familiar names, and no words have oftenerj been degraded ' to his service. The name of Theodore Ilook, a famous wit of the last generation, was made the subject of a very clever pun. A gentleman was asked whether he knew IIo,.k. "Oh yes," was the answer, "Hook , \ * J ul? Uiu lilUUitJN. It is related of two gentlemen, one , named Fuller, the other Ilawke, both , fond of a joke, that the former asked , the other what was the dill'ereace be, twoen an owl and a hawk. Ilawke > replied?"The owl is fuller in tho ! eyes, fuller in the head, and fuller in i the body; iu short, he is Fuller all . over." Another old but very good instance of punning upon a name is told of a > Mr. Gunn, who was called as a witness in a judicial court. After his > examination the counsel said to him: "Mr. Gunn, you can now go oil." The Judge saw the pun, and either to . avert the effects of the shot, or to imnrovfi on Mia othmiIv 4- ^*???v*; uuuou, "Sir, you are discharged."?Youth's , Companion. California Pearl Fisheries. The Lower California pearl* hold an enviable position in the pearl marts of the world. They are not only larger, but the color is superior to those . found in the Persian Gulf, the Indian ocean and tho waters of Borneo. Contrary to all other gems, the pearl does not require polishing or the art of the mechanic to add a lustre to it. It is eminently a jewel. Some of the very largest pearls that have ever been discovered have been taken from the Gulf of California. In the Bay of Muleje a pearl weighing 100 carats was taken?it was as large as a small egg; while pearls weighing from 20 to 40 carats are of frequent occurrence. And then, again, we have in our waters the rare black pearl so highly prized by connoisseurs. I remember seeing a black peurl which was fisned from out the San Lorenzo Channel, which weighed 27 carets and was sold for $J000. Pearls are of different colors, from the pure white to the delicate rose-tinted and to the pale green. It cannot be said which of these is the most valuable, as prices depend greatly on the caprices of fashion. Certainly pearls are prized * by the Mexicans. It is common to see girls there with strings of pearls around their necks which would fetch a large price in London. I myself know women in La Paz who have pearls of extraordinary value, and sometimes they are so poor that they have not the wherewithal to buy food. , Of course you will say that they should sell, and undoubtedly they do, but a sale effected from such a woman {a tanfom/innf frA ...U-l ?it- 1 1 iu munuiiwuuu iu wuuicsuie rouuery. ^ I will give you an instance: There was a poor naked diver once who fished up a pearl which was valued on the spot at $2000. Well, he got hyrd up, as usual, and cheerfully gave away this gem for the insignificant sum of j $ 150.?San Francisco Call A Cnre for Snake Bite. Dr. Shaw, writing to the Mcdical Times from Water Gap, where poisoni ous snakes abound, says that during ! the past six years, in which he had , followed out ' a method of cure for ; snake bite, he has not lost a case. lie [ gives sixty minims of aromatic spiriia I of ammonia hvnmlprminallv nn.i ?in i - v f m j ounce of whiskey every two hours. A nrge poultice of bruised raw onions is , applied to the wound und renewed \ every hour. The whisky and onions i are continued until cnr*? io effected, I which is usually on the third day. ? ^ ~ v-r;. ./ . ' ii i55S^r:-r--,""" FORTUNES IN DEFORMITY Large Salaries Paid to the Dime Museum Freaks. Pay tliat Runs from Fifteen to Seven Hundred Dollars a Week. The first dime museum was started on the Howery, in New York, in 1872. At first the museums multiplied slowly, but about three years ago they sprang up all over the country, and now all large cities have from one to three. It is a burger thing to bo a freak than to marry a rich widow. Freaks grow rich. The competition between museums has run up the price of curiosities until they draw more pay than a receiver in a railroad suit. A good freak makes more money without opening his mouth than the most accomplished actor. Little Lucia Zerate, the Mexican midget, who is undoubtedly the smallest human beinir ev?r pvhiWtnd 49 Qnn 0 _ . ? ?, 1UI four weeks in this city, and now wants $800 a week. Jo-Jo. the dog-face boy, gets |500 a week. The first season lie exhibited he drew $700, but curiosities, as a rule, draw larger salaries on their first tour. The Greely survivors were offered $1,000 a week to show themselves, but the Government interfered. The "turtle boy," a misfit little darkey, whose limbs are frigtfully distorted, commands $75 a week. The gentleman with the elastic skin, who thinks nothing of pulling the skin of the back of his neck over his face and can make a neck-tie of his nose, got $300 a week for his first season, and now gets $150. The two negro girls who figure as "what-is-its" are paul $200 a week. Chang, the Chinese giant won't show for less than $350 a week; Colonel Goshen, who is almost as tall and runs ft furm IWOP in \Tfiiu 1 1 U I V> iu xiun UKiacjr, gCLB Ullt $55, bat Mr. and Mrs. Bates, the wellknown giants, are in demand at $600. The Count and Countess Magri (formerly Mrs. Tom Thumb) and the Count's brother, Baron Little Finger, get $600 a week. Josephine Myrtle Corbyn, the four-legged girl, gets $450 a week. The Aztecs, man and woman, who originally showed with Barnum, gets $150. x The "Modern Hercules," who loves to catch redhot cannon-balls, does about twenty minutes' work a day and draws $200 a week, but he is not properly a freak, although he is likely to be one if he ever misses the ball and it hits him. But these are high-priced freaks. The second-class curiosities manage to worry along on from $50 to $150 a week. Fat women aro in demand at $40. Ada Briggs, who is good-looking and heavy as she is pretty, gets $60. Dave Navarro, the "fat boy," who, by the by, was not a woman, made managers pay him $125 a week. He died recently. Living skeletons get from $40 to $S0. Ike Sprague drawing the latter ligura Sprague is so delightfully ethereal that he can't stand without being propped up with straws. Armless men who do things with their toes are bribed not to run away for $50 a week. The "leopard boy," a colored youth who is turning white in spots, commands $25 a week. Albinos and minor curiosities that are used to fill in the bill receive $15 to $20 a week. Musical families ?those families where the old gentleman plays the violin, the mother the piano, and all the children some atrocious instrument?chietly drums, draw from $50 to $100 a week. Freaks die, and sometimes they go out of business. Captain Costentenus, the original tattooed Greek, retired upon a fortune, and is now living on a fine estate in Greece, but has become blind. Dudley Forster, "Ilop-o-my Thumb," a very little fellow, made enough in two years to buy his father a nice farm.?Philadelphia Times. Legal Intelligence. A young lawyer; who had recently been admitted to the bar of San Antonio, came to Juilge Noon an for advice. "I want to ask your advice, Judge, about a'very important matter." "Well, what is it, Timothy?" "Lawyer Howl has been telling everybody that I am a donkey. Don't you think I ought to fight him, or sue him for damages r' "You say he called you a donkey?" "Yes." "Then fight him by all means. If you sue him he will prove it on you."? Riflings. * She Had Ihe Last Word. "Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. F., after vainly endeavoring to pour hot water All? nf ?ha ?" J J * UUII wi nuo cuipuj kctlivcbvir, "HOW U1U JL forget to fill it, I wonder ! I'm getting to bo a perfect simpleton. I wish 1 did have a little common sense." "But, my dear," interrupted Fogg, "suppose you had. Do you think you'd know what to do with it?" "Do with itl" echoed Mrs. F.;"many things. I might want to be married again, you know, and it might save me from making n fool of myself* second time."?Boston Transcript. r Chinese Servants. [ A lady, recently returned from t long residonce in California, said: "I was constantly meeting witt ( frosh examples of the strong clannish * spirit prevalent among the Chinese at ( the transcontinental seaboard. Or i one occasion I conferred with a China man in regard to taking the familj wash by the month. j " 'Twelve dolla,' he said. " 'Too muchee,' I replied, in his owr < dialect. 'Other Chinaman eight dolla. " 'No,' quickly. You pay Sing Let ten dolla - one day.' And I recallec that some time before, while living it a remote locality, I had indeed employ < ed such an Oriental, retaining hinc ] only one month at that rate. Later, in keeping house, I had i ' Chinese cook, several, in fact, one final i ly leaving me somewhat abruptly, or 1 account of which I refused the ful month's wages. His first successoi spent only a few hours in my hous? before he gravely announced: " 'Ma go, me no stay.' "Two finished each a day, and thet departed with the same brief, emphath declaration. Number four appearec quite satislled for three days, but a', the end of that time he, too, followed his predecessors. In some concern, ] called in my husband's office boy, ; bright young Chinese lad. "'ChingFoo,' I asked, 4wliat is tht matter? Chinaman no stay here.' " 'Ah,' he said, 'me know, may be; and he went into my kitchen, whithei 1 followed him, wholly perplexed. II < looked carefully all about, peered int( pots and kettles, upturned tubs and buckets, lifted lids, and turned ovei chairs, as If looking for something. "When he mished tho r.lnrk frr?m u? place on the shelf he uttered a quicb cry of discovery." " 'Lookee,' he said, 'and pointed t< a row of Chinese hieroglyphics on th< back of the clock. "Having them translated, I discovered that Sing Lee, my disaffected cook, had left his condemnation behind him." "'She velly bad woman; she nt payee,' he had written.'?New Yorh Suv. A Cheerful l'rop ecj. Canon Farrar, the Eminent Englist divine in his farewell lecture, delivered in the New York Academy o! Music, closed with the following peroration: This country of yours is a land id strength the most overwhelming and in wealth the most allluent. You have grown excellent in virtue; you Jlave here the elements and development of national righteousness; you not only equal other nations, you excel them. And why? Because you are under the protecting guidance of s ceaselessly vigilant God, to whom you bow and whose gracious smiles are the prosperity and progress everywhere evident; a God who says. "Them that honor me I will honor." I believe that this America will be preserved from the perils which will beset her, by the hallowed memories of her glorious dead; that her aspirations will be blessed and fulfilled through the virtue ol her present religious intellectuality. J believe that she will disenchant nations from the horrors of war by the enchantment of her peace; that she will lead nations in the triumphant path which streams behind the growing history of her government, and smite' the hoary head of inveterate abuse which springs up in government from false types of orthodox faith and goodr\ aoo It'/*" f K/v?? ? - ! uko. i nicac wujncta, UMU lias glV ea her a boundless territory, has formed her towering mountains, haa marked the course of her mighty rivers and spread above all the taintless aznre of her skies. By the blessing ol God you are fullilling the purpose oi God, and no power can dim the glory which will shine in the realization oi such divine intentions. Presence of tilud. Dean Stanley had a great respect for presence of mind, and used with great delight to tell a story of presence ol mind by which he had liberated himself from a dangerous visitor. Since he was willing to see almost any one who asked for him, he once told hid servant to usher into his study a gentlemnu who had called, and who happened to bear a name which was familiar to him. When the gentleman appeared, Ju proved to be an entire stranger. It was evident there had been some mistake. This becnm? at.ill mnra evident, when, advancing with an air of great, excitement, the gentleman exclaimed, "S\r, I have a message to the Queen from the Most High. I beg that you will deliver it instantly." "In that case," said the dean, taking up his hat, *'there is not a moment to be 1 >st. Let us go at once." They went down-stairs to the hall; and opening the door, the dean requested V.s visitor to step out. | No sooner had he done 80, than the j dean shut the door behind the lunatic* * CHILDREN'S COLUMN. One Ijlttlo Uliymc. 5ne littlo grain in the sandy bars; Jno littlo flowor in a field of flowers; _)no littlo star in a heaven of Bturs; Due little hour in u year of hours? What if ib makes or what if it ninra? Hut the bar is built of the little grains; \nd tho littlo flowers mako the meadows gay; (Ynd tho littlo stars light tho heavenly plains; <Vnd tho little hours of each littlo day 3ivo to us all that lifo contains. ?Krnctt Whitney in Si. JVicholas. ElepHant In Battle* There is a beautiful story of an old elephant engaged in a battle on tho! plains of India. lie was a standard bearer, and carried on his huge back the royal ensign, the rally ing-post of the Poona host. At the beginning of the fight he lost his master. The mahout, or driver, had just given him the word to halt, when he received a fatal wound and fell to the ground, where he lay under a heap of slain. Tho obedient elephant lay still while the battle closed around him and the standard he carried. He never stirred a foot, refusing to advance or retire, as the conflict became hotter and fiercer,until the Mahrattas. seeing that the standard was still there, flying steadily in its place, refused to believe they were being beaten, rallied again and again around their colors. And all this while amid the din of battle the patiet animal straining its ears to catch the sound of that voice it would never hear again. At length the tid? or conquest left the field deserted. The Mahrattas swept on in pursuit of the fly ing foe, but the elephant stood like a rock, with the dead and dying around him and the ensign waving in its place. For three days and nights i remained where its master had given the command to halt. No brilje or threat could move it. They then sent to a village one hundred miles away- 4 and brought the mahout's little son. The animal hero seemed then to remember how the driver had given his authority to the little child, and immediately, with all the shattered trappings clinging as he went, paced quietly and slowly away. A Legend of the Weeping Willow. Just where the path disappeared into the cop9e that skirted the great dark forest, where all d;iy long the shadows hid, and out ol which the night seemed to come as the sun went down, a man came, bearing an armful' of firewood. As he jogged along ha caught a protruding twig and tossed' . it away. Quickly a little slip of a girl, with sun-kissed hair and eyes of divinest blue, ran and picked ic up. "May I have it?" she asked of the man. "Ye may have it without asking, if ye'11 take the trouble to stoop for't." returned he. "I'm going to plant it," declared the tiny maideD, lightly holding the twig between her soft finger tips. "What*II ye do that for ?" said the man. "It will never grow." "Oh, it will if I tend it," confidently returned the lassie. With another look at the windblown curls and the eyes like heaven, the man went his way and the wee one planted the twig. Every day she watered and tended and watched the little wisp, with its slender, silvery lining. Day by day it grew larger and sturdier, and swayed * more gracefully in the summer wind; and the little maid clapped her hands in her glee, as she cried "I knew it would grow." Again and again the seasons came and went. The castaway twig had grown into a beautiful tree. The slip of a girl on the verge of womanhood stood. Then it was the hand of the death angel touched the lovely maiden and chilled the warm life in her tender frame and put ont the light in her beautiful eyes. Th6y made her grave beneath the tree she bad planted and fostered, because she had wished it, and mourned her long and deeply. But now the tree, they that had ? i i i-? ' iuvou uer uuieu, seemea 10 aroop and languish, and on the breeze there came a sound as of sobbing and sighing,, which shook the tree through all Its* branches to its very core, and quivered! and trembled in each pointed leaf.They said it seemed almost as if that insensate thing grieved like them?. seemed?for they held it could not bei so. Still the tree languished, untiti every upward turning branch withi every twig hung down, and every leaf! from its twig depended; and each) night and morning the dew droppedi like a tear from each slender point and' fell on the grave. Then they said: "The tree truly 1 grieves for her." The "Willow" she! had named it, and now they called it* 'Weeping Willow."?Happy Hbitrs at Home. ' ' ' k '* = The Danes are the heaviest drinkers^ In the World. # "V . - . ,jy y x >< M &y- . "> iirx.i * - i W9lH