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. The Snow Storm. Lightly and whitely As wheat from tho grain, Thickly and quickly As thoughts through tho brain, So fast and so dumb Do the snow-flakes como; Swift, swift ns tho lays drop From glad poet-lips, Soft, soft as tho days drop Frotn Time's finger-tips. Oh, so many, so many! Yet no sound from any Oh, so iu-st, oh, so fast! ^ Yet no truck whore they passed* Oh. so frusrilo. so frail! Yet no force can prevail To speed them or stay thorn. No prayer can out-weigh thorn. They lull where they must, Through she fathomless gray, Anil bring to onrtli's dust What of heaven tlxoy may. ? Grace 1). Litchfield, t?? St. Nicholas. 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." ? "iiui,\vnut is tue matter, my petr said old Mrs. Harrington, soothingly. She had found Aileen coiled up in the deep embrasure of the window^ where the winter sunset was strained through in deep hues of crimson and amber, crying bitterly. The Harrington family were ambitious people. They had come to Yir guut huu puroiiasfu, at a luurmy aomiaal price, the fine old mansion that had once belonged to a luxurious planter, long since dead. Mr. Harrington, who had been contented to raise humble corn and pumpkins in the valley of the Connecticut lliver, now devoted himself to the more aristocratic crop of tobacco. Mrs. Harrington, who had beon a notable Yankee housekeeper, hired two negro women to do the housework, and cultivated society: and the'three Misses- Harrington forgot the days of is factory work and honest district-school teaching in the gentilities of "Valley Lawn." The old lady alone remained true to her colors. "All this is very fine," said she, "but I don't see what is to be gained by it. Dan'l losin' money, as true as you're born!" "Money* isn't everything, grandma,'' ?aid her daughter-in-law, tartly. I "Humph!" said the oldTady. And when Aileen, the orphan cousin* came down from the New England hills, grandma was the only one who reallv wplcnmwl hpr. . "There are. three of ua already," said ' Selina Harrington, grudgingly. "Why couldn't she have been a boy, ao 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 "Pa," 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. 1 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?" j Aileen was pretty too, in her shy, wild-daisy way, with big biue-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, by instinct, that the 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 i;v; 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 through the tumble-down fence and frightened h6r nearly out of her wits; | ?V and she was doubtless not personally v.* -responsible for the fact that Captain Dulany chanced to be passing, and 1.. |, rescued her from the big-horned enetny with prompt gallantry. "He was so very kind!" said Aileen, wistfully. "Do you think, grandma, ?/; that. 1 ought to tell my aunt and the girls that he w alks with me when I go Si1:/-.' to the post office? or that he gave me v them beautiful, deep-blue asters that p?\ they thought I found in the copse? or that it was he discovered the big lp bunch of mistletoe in Greenough's EL; woods?" Well, not unless they ask you," r said old Mrs. Harrington, shrugging L her shoulders. p For she had heard her three grand|$K" daughters discussing the Dulany question with some acrimony. V "*'m eldest," Selina had said, | '? tartly, "and I ought to have the first chance. If any of us is to call with ma at Dulany Betlcheaf, it shall be me'" Vv; -You always wera a selfish thingi" ;wv . BBTBRWifnfifitWiliBffM > -i: C '* v?r V"* ' \. r v%. : *l?Y?'/v- v^v'v'; yjrr!* '. x a? ^ * . - ' . * ' ' ' -. . V " ' '' . '" '] ' '. . said Norma. "Captain Dulany's mother has a large library, and you know very well that I'm literary." "I'm the youngest, and I don't seo why I should be poked into a corner always," pouted Miss.Jiunita?Judith. But Selina, by strength of yedrs and tongue, had carried her point. So when New Year's Day approached, and Aileen timidly consulted Aunt Harrington as to what she should Avear, 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 parlor. Three women are quite enough. 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 Ail9en was crying. Old Mrs. Harrington understood it a:i very wen. one nau. ueeu young once. She saw the folly of interference in this particular case, however. "Dan'1'3 wife likes her own way," said she. "She ain't pleasant if she thinks any ono is meddlin'. I'll tell you what Aileen?you and I'll go out to the big chamber over the stun barn, and get Pomp to build us up a real good tire of pine logs in the old chimin \T Thoru'a o nornof lnnm o rwl Mij xuuio o cv avuiu biicio ?uu a. spinnin'-wheel and all the fixin's and I'll show you how 1 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 couBins were quarreling for the possession of the biggest dressing-glass to "do", their hair, she and her grandmother were, adjusting the ancient spin&ing-wheel in- the stone^ barn chamber, and piling wood in the cavernous recess of tho huge fireplace. .They had a very pleasant New Year's Day, after all, though the tears came to Aileen's blue eye3 once or twice, when tho carriages rolled by over the kar.l 1 H - ' uuiu-nwcuiuiiu i/uwnru LKf lljuse. And at dusk sbe 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 anH nronf ir? tn o?n - uxu <u ..v oro nuub Ilia UiCUUlllg 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 Aileen sat spinning at the old wheel, with cheeks 3oftly 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," said Aileen, laughingly. "I have learned j tosp n. And grandma and I are having a picnic. Will you come in, Captain Dnlany ?" 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 ob 9 .rnTT -IJ-a 'm Berveu -noispur iastenea to tne fence. "May we venture to intrude?" said -they, peeping in over the stulr-rall; / v.<y,\ v v' :: ,"t Xt.'is :lS"i- .. \X- ^ v\ ^,''*p^, ?, ' fi v ^ >v *h KTI'J^y^v.' ' J'." .ri*V Oh, certainly!** said grandma, smil- > ing. And Aileen distributed handleless cups and bountiful slices of goldenbrown corn-cake, yet steaming from the fire, to her guests. "AVe 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. Old Pomp was summoned to r r a. 1 pour ireau pine-cones on uie uia/io uuu bring more coffee and corn-cake. He grinned from ear to ear. "Pow'ful like de good old times," said he, to Aunt Felicia, when he returned to his cabin. *'De berry cream ob de gentry en joy in' de corn-pones an' coffee like dey was our own old marse's folks. Ain't nulfin like cornpone for rale good flavor, dat dey ain't. An' the young lady from deNorf, she's as pretty as a peach. Reckon de capt ing finks so, too. He, he he!" A n>! n.,,?V.io oi.ta. Ofifll I1UU I'lU JL U 111 OJIUUIV llio OIUW ?? A Will an inaudible chuckle of glee. Later in the evening the gentlemen went up to the house, where stood the three Misse3 Ilarriugton in a simpering row. But their call there was insipid, and several of them returned to the "Stone Barn" to finish their evening. Adrian Dulany remained the latest of all?so late, in fact, that it was he v/ho escorted grandma?who had discreetly fallen asleep in her big chair some time ago?and Aileen to the 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 ltoon nil Huv A ilnnn 9" "In the old stone-barn chamber, learning to spin," said Aileen, laughing and coloring. 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 otlicer, tenderly removing the heavy' shawl from Aileen's shoulder. "She ha3 promised to be my wife, be tor a great many weeks." It was not until Dulacy had gone i that the full cannonade of questions burst on Aileen's devoted head. Girls, girlsl don't all speak at j .once" said ; grandma- "It's just exactly as I've always told yoii. 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 evening." < ' 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 Penn made his treaty with the Indians. The tree on Boston common, where, f rH/litlAn QQWO uAt?AV? ? 1 .iuu>vav? vji.j o, ilq t CU IU11C3 Wl'l B UUIIg, Elm tree on Cambridge common under which Genera) Washington first ;lre\v his sword as commander-in-chief of the continental army The Charter oak. Pine tree near Fort 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 Fr?nklln, N. H., oa which Daniel "Webster, when a bey, hung his scythe and said to bis father, "Now the scythe hangs to suit me." Thfl nnnln t.rp? nt. Annnn.nHov WW AA|/^/vumi<bUA UUUC1 | which General Grant received th* | surrender of General Lee.?Magazine of A merican History. Mexican Silver Money. San Francisco, it is believed, is the only city in the 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, badlymilled silver disk of 41 grains, but it has been accepted as the standard coin of China for nearly thirty years and I has steadily grown in use and favor, notwithstanding the amusing episode , of the trade dollar, with its 420 grains ! and English die-sinker. ! Unable t- Walk Forward? Dr. Mfczzotti 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 driuker, and soon found himself the victim of a rare disease called opisthoporia. This ourious 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 jo continued du So until he died. . ),\7, V. - V'v * .*'. ' ' - V ~ . '/.i1 '* , , . k ' :v/rv \ . .. . it ' THE BRAKEMAN D ECIDES | i He Settles a Dispute Between Two Drummers. And Makes a Decision Which Benefitted the Beferee 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." "Now see how stupid you are. 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." "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 liar." "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 perspiration from his lip with his gloved hand, and, after great deliberation, exclaimed: "Give me the ciirar." 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 house 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?" "Ilnimmpp "MY? 1 nrnHnrarl a Irnlfo and with it the brakeman cut off the end of the cigar. "As Aristotle used to say, that is a reductio ad absurdam?a two-and-twomake Ave case. But as Platc^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 brake man, addressing Xo. 1, "you promised to give this cigar to Xo. 2 if he would correctly guess what would become of it?" "Yes." "Well, he guessed that you wouldn't give it to him, and, as 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 syllogisms to quarrel over please let tbe 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 other out of the corners of their eyes the brake man walked proudly away, exclaiming: "Smartville! The next stop is Smartville!"?Chicago Herald. j Bridges. The first bridges were of wood, and the earliest of which we have any account was built id Rome 500 B. C. The next was erected by Julius Cresar for the passage of his army across the ! Ithine. Trajan's great bridge over the ! Danube, 4770 feet Jong, was made of | timber, with stone piers. The Komans also built the first stone bridge, which crossed the Tiber. Suspension bridges are of remote origin., A Chinese one mentioned by Kirchen was made of , 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 ;1r the construction of bridges, of iron and steel.?Cultivator. " : * . "v . ji"''.* ' "'5w' ')' '/f /'T ' ' '"v V*V' ^ > i, ,?* -VyX ViJ'' 'm * . V*.s . Foreign Life nt Washington. ' Yt is a curious thing that the capital ! of the United States should be more j like a foreign city than any other town in this country, says a Washington 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 let3 them down from the intoxication of European life to the dead level of an American commercial city. Thi3 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 leisure as here. Everything like work bezins at 9 o'clock and ends at 4. Th?n. unlike other great cities, the workers do not have to traverse the whole 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 lirst appearance at his oflice 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. J3ut it becomes still more so when he comes here and finds that after 4 o'clock all tho town is at leisure. It is true that the high er omciais nave 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 "society," the hours are fixed and invariable, and this, too, conduces to the economy of time. One is in no danger of having a whole day, from noon to twilight, monopolized by Q of fin#* t _ i a. ? u?>.u^ ul lubuuscijucuiiiiii viditora. Nobody visits before 2, and nobody versed in Washington society before 3, and at it is all over. All official bouses and nearly all private ones have a day for receiving, so that each individual has 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 ? ' > \ ? 7 A Younjr Indian's Komnntic History.'* A tall young man, with a complexion of the rich color of the ripe chestnut and with limbs as cleanly cut as those of Michael Angelo's statue of David, called upon President Cleveland recently, and asked the appointment of a cadetship at West Point, says a Washington correspondent of the Cleveland Leader. It was young Hole-in-the-Day, the son of the noted Chippewa Chief, and now the King of all the Chippewas. He 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 T? ~?: rt ?1-- ** uuu iuuiuu mug, who owneti me greater part of the lands of the Northwest. At this hotel there was a pretty Irish chamber in aid who did up the old chief's room. The two met They looked, and from their eyes sprang love. Chief Hole-in-the-Day, who had met the belles of Washington, passed them by, and chose the chambermaid. He proposed. She accepted. They were married, and she went back to Minnesota an Indian queen. From the marriage sprang this boy, who has now inherited his father's positioh. 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-the-Day still lives. Her boy has the true military bearing about him, and he lool;3 and walks like the king that he is. He dresses in American clothes, and talks pure Anglo-Saxon. Governor Ramsey is pushing his claims, and he will probably receive an appointment. Fenuybnnker in Danger. Miss Esmerelda LongcofBn, one of the most attractive belles of Austin, said confidentially to her mother, who isapoor tfidow: " "Old Judge Pennybunker proposed to me last night. Shall I tell him yes?" "No, my daughter, of course not. He is too' oH for yoja. He ia worth $50,000. I*U hVve to be satisfied with him myself* I suppose. Just let tab attend to him/*?Te.ras Siftings. ? N ' */ \ . . T0-day; ~ Tho sunshino lingers in tho room, I sco it through the window stream, Kitsing tho pillow, "whero he laid His head, in many u boyish tirenm. But, oh! tho change since yosterduy? I Tho young, strong step that so 1 miss, Tho weary miles now stretching on | Between tis, and my lust fond kiss. I And mino had been a difleront plan, A dream of sheltered brooks and bowers, i Of toil and pleasuro hand in hai.d, Of homo and friends and merry hours; But he had longed to try tho world, Its hopes, its promises, its cares, To tompt Dame Fortune's ficklo smile, ' iviuj win nor 10 nun unawares. And so, with spirit bold and bravo, Ho pressed my hand in muto good-by. And tu rnecf aside, lest I should seo Tho tonrs that glistened in Ins eye. And my poo- heart wus aching sore. He might havo heard each tlirob oi pain; My questioning heart that yearned to know If I should meet my boy again. Oil, life is hard! The common lot And parting wring the anguished hoart. Hut, oh! how differently we'd choose, Yet seo our fondest hopes depart! Wo take tho hurdflii wo wnnlil fain Lay down, and fold our weary liands, Praying our loss may bo bis gain, Trusting to Ilini who understands. ? Kvcry Other Saturday HUMOROUS. fJnnrl At. a ninnh?A ohno A fine art?Presiding over a police court. The successful author has 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 lawvfirs nnd 19.9 WAmon ilnofnpa It is given a reason why lawyers charge such enormous fees that their career is a brief one, at the longest. "Xervous girl" wants to know how io cure a tickling sensation about the face. Get him to shave off his moustache. Imitation cod liver is now made in Paris. What anybody wants to imitate the stuff for is a mystery. Some- , thing as unlike it as possible would be more taking. "Something new in butter dishes. I see," said Mrs. Porapano as she glanced over the advertisements. "What is it?" ask&d Pompano eagerly. * Good butter." A Uoston oculist advertises to supr ply "cork nose spectacles." Without being positive we presume that speciac'les for cork noses are the same as those for the ordinary kind of noses. In Spain the natives keep guinea liens about their houses for the sake of enjoying their harsh and discordant cries. This would seem to indicate that they have nc street bands in Spain. Underclothing. Says Dr. Win. 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 sudden changes will not affect the surface. Several years ago I performed some experiments which went to show beyond any doubt that silk is 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 resneet nreferabl? to wool, and of tliis material all underclothing meant for winter use should be made. Jn 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 known ns parboiled. "Wool, however, taking up, as it does, the moisture from the body, exposes it to the atmo$-? phere, or is evaporated, and, the process being a cooling one, keeps the olr in frnm lialn rr AvorKaatbd \Tn nn (jfWft* ?yw*ug V ? UtUVUUUUi a.1 V UU~ derclothing should ever be so thick as to prevent free passage of the cutaneous excretions and the atmospheric air. The skin requires ventilation as y do the lungs. Chamois-skin undergarments, perforated" or unperforat. yd, are abominations. - Tbo Largest Nugget of Gold. Louis Biandlng says that the generally accepted statement that the largest nugget ever found in California was worth a little riiore than $21,000 is an erroneous- one, says the' Virginia City 'Bnterprine. He says that Js. J.' Finney, "Old Virginia,*' found n piece of gold about six miles from Ddwnieville, Sidrra County, on the 21st day of August, 1857, that weighed 5,000 ounces. The gold of that Vicinity was worth $18 an ounce, whloh would make the value of the nugget some $90,000. This would make the Finned nugget the largest picce of pui$ gold eVer discovered, so fHtas accounts go. Heretofore1 the Australian nugget, foudd In the BhIlarat gold fields, has been considered the largest. It was valued at 160,000. - *; ..?/// !fs J 'ii&V'-v < ;%V xi'JfcnftCWfJS Vy" 1 v> >3