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TOUTH.
Ob! slrance inronfr queue of youth,
When days vri re livnl from hand to mouth.
And thought in round un njptyrirg
In foolish, tweet imagining.
We handled Iotp In childish fashion
The name alone and not the pafslon
The world and life weie tMngs so small.
Our littie wit encoiarased all.
"We took our being as our faith
For granted, drew our easv breath
And rar. ly stayed fo wonder why
We were set here to lire and die.
Vague dreams we had, a grander Fate
Our lives would mould and '"ominate,
Till we fhould Ptand Fome fnr off day
More godlike than our iLOnal clay.
Strong Fate! we mret tbee but to Snd
A soul and all thnt Hex behind,
We lose Youth's Paradise tnd gain
A world of duty and cf pain,.
AT TEA-CUP TIME.
' At'tta-cup time, when day is done,
"And mellow light ofbeitlng sun
ShineR through 1he room with fitful gleam.
Lighting fair faces with its earn,
A little while and then is gone.
When shadows deepen and the dun
ChlU mirk of night cieeps s'owly on,
There comes a man in Joy supreme,
At tta-cup time.
Forgotten are his dog and gun,
Each game of tennis h hdb won,
lie muses o'er he Iraerant ttroam,
Pours tenderly the yellow cream,
Ai.d depms his pleasure just begun,
At tea cup time. .
The Mysterious Wedding.
Toward the end of the year 1811, that
year p memorable in Russian history,
there Jived near ftenaradowo a wealthy
nobleman, whope hospitality and gener-
opity had made him favorably known in
all that region. Every day his neigh
bors came to his house, some to eat and
drink, and others to see his daughter
Marie, whose pa'e and melancholy, but
beautiful figure and quiet and gentle
virtus won their Iovp and admiration.
She was just seventeen, and was known
to be the sole heires to large estates; and
consequently, more than one gentleman
thought of her for his son.
Marie had red poetry and romances,
and by these, had been early initiated
into the mystery of love. She bad lent
a ready ear to the gallant words of a
young ensiim of the Russian army, who
had been passing a few days with his I
lamny m tne neignDornooa. ne went
away, however, without confessing his
love publicly; but the vigilant parents,
remarking this mutual inclinat'on. treat
ed the young oflioer with severity, and
forbade Marie ever to think of marrying
him.
Meanwhile, the two lovers wrote to
each other, and had frequent interviews
in the forest of fir trees, near the ruins
of an ancient chapel. There, accusing
the rigor of destiny, thev swore to each
other eternal love and -fidelity, and all
manner of projects of the future. Their
letters and their conveisations led them
at length to a decisive resolution. "As
we cannot live without each other,"they
said, "and as cruel fate seems to obstruct
our happiness, we must ourselves sur
mount the obstacles thnt oppose us." It
was the young officer who nrst express
ed this thought, and Marie, with her ro
mantic imagination, immediately accept
ed it.
The winter had just opened. The
rendezvous 'in the forest could no longer
take place, but their correspondence
only became the more active. In each
letter Wladimer entreated his sweet
heart to abandon herself to him, and al
"ow their union to be consecrated by a
secret marriage. They would pass some
time in retirement, and then would re
turn and cast themselves at the feet of
her parents, who without doubt moved
with such constancy, would say to the
3'oung couple: "Children, we pardon
you come to rur arms!"
While Marie accepted this project;, she
vet hesitated to nut it in execution. At
length her lover proposed a plan of
elopement, which Bhe adopted. On a
'ertain day she was to pretend illness,
and to retire to her chamber at the hour
of supper. Her chambermaid was in the
secret; they were both to descend a pri
vate staircase leading into the garden, at
the gate of which they would find a
sledge, which would take them to the
church of Dschadrinc, where Wlauimir
would await them. All the night pre
ceding the decisive day, Marie did not
sleep. She prepared her baggage, her
wardrobe, her jewels; then she wrote a
letter to her mother, and another to one
of her friends. She bade them adieu in
the most experessive terms, excused the
step she was taking by the violence of
her passion, and finished by assurinc
them, that the moment when sho could
come and cast herself at their feet and
obtain their pardon, would be the hap
piest period of her life. These letters
sealed, she threw herself upon the bed
and was socn wrapped in sleep. But her
slumbers were trubbled by a frightful
dream. It seemed to her that when she
departed from the church, her father
seized her in wrath and hurled her into
a torriWo nVivoo- flion fr VtnfrnfliPrl
stood before her all pale and bloody.and
entreated her with u dying voice not to
forsake him. In the morning she arose,
paler than usual, and really ill. Her
parents questioned her with tender
solicitude, and their affectionate anxiety
rent her heart. She attempted to tran
quilize tliem and appear gay, bat could
not succeed. The important evening ar
rived. She was cruelly oppressed with
the thought that this was the last day
she was to past under the paternal roof.
When supper was served she announced
with a trembling voice, that her ill
ness forced her to retire, and wished her
parents good night. They embraced
her, as was their custom, and gave her
their benediction. When she arrived in
her own apartment she threw herself
upon a couch and gave herself up to the
conflicting emotions which agitated her.
Her chambermaid prayed her tc be calm
and take courage. All was ready ,in one
little half hour, Marie was to leave the
home of her youth, and bid adieu to the
peace and serenity of a virgin life. Di
rectly, a dreadful tempest of snow burst
upon the hills, ani roared through the
neighboring forests; the wind growled
madly and made the doors and win
dows of the castle tremble, as though
they had been shaken by a thousand
arms. Marie was superstious, and
thought this an evil presage.
Soon all was quiet in the house.
Wrapt in a cloak, and followed by her
chambermaid, Marie descended into the
carden.
The storm had abated none of its vio
lence, and she reached, with difficulty,
the, extremity of the garden. .
The sledge was there; the horse, shiv
ering with cold, stamped with impa-,
tienee; and the coachman, after assist
ing the ladies toaecend, seized the reins
and drove rapidly toward Dschadrino.
Let us now leave them to pursue their
course, and see what has become of the
voung ensign. " ,
Wladimir has been actively engaged,
during the whole day, in makine his
preparations first, with the priest, to
arrange the ceremony of marriage; and
then with his neighbors, to invite them
to the church as witnesses.
After having sent his faithful Michael
with his sledge, to wait for his Marie at
the garden gate, he took a lighter one,
drawn by a horse, and drove toward
Dschadrino, where, in a few hours, he
was to meet his bride.
He knew the way well, and thousht
he would reach there in twenty min
utes. But scarcely had he reached the
open country, than the storm burst in
its furv, and clouds of snow hid every
thing from his view.
In an instant the read was covered
with snow; the horizon was enveloped
with a somber vail, through which he
I could distinguish neither heaven nor
earth.
Wladimir preceived that he bad lost
his way, and sought to return; but his
horse fell from one ravine to another,
and at every moment the sledge was
overturned.
Although ho had been mere than a
half hour on his journey, the young offi
cer had not yet reached the forest of
Dschadrino.
He continued his route through an
open fipld. The storm increased in vio
lence; the sky become more gloomy and
threatening, and his jaded horpe could
scarcely be urged forward.
What, hen, was his dismay when he
found he had again taken a false direc
tion? Hepau8ed, reflected, sought to
collect hi thoughts, and decided at
Iwpt that be ought to turn to the right.
He had rontinued thus hi" wearisome
journey fully two hours, when he per
ceived, at some distance, a dark line,
which told him he was not far from the
forest. "God be nraised," sa'd the young
man "I'm not far from the end of my
journey;" and he advanced along the
edge of the wood, hoping to find the true
direction. Some time after he emerged
from this extensive forest, but he looked
in vain for the villare of Dfchadrino. It
was nearly midnieht; he was in despair,
and wept in the bitterness of his disap
pointment. Meanwhile the tempest
abated, the clouds dispersed, the heav
ens became clear, and the young officer
discovered a large plain, covered with
snow in the midst of which arose a mis
erable hamlet, composed of four or five
cabins. He approached the nearest one
and Knocked on the window. A minute
after, an old man, with a white head, ap
peared, and inquired his wishes.
"Am I far from Dschadrino?"
"De Dachadrino?"
"Yes, yes is it far from here?"'
"Xo not far about ten versts."
At these words, Wladimir made a ges
ture of despair, and remained motion
less as a man thunderstruck.
"And where do you come from?" asked
the old man.
Without replying to his question Wla
dimir asked if he could furnish a guide
to show him the way.
'Wait," said the old man, "and I will
3end my son."
The door opened, and a young man
appeared, holding in his hand a large
stick.with which he felt his way through
the snow.
"What o'clock is it?" inquired Wlad-
"It is nearly day," was the reply of the
peasant.
Wladimir was dumb with grief and
disappointm enfc.
When they arrived at Dschadrino, the
blush of day was upon the eastern sky,
and the air jesounded with the crowing
of the cocks.
The church was cloEed; the youug en
sign, after paying his guide, ran to the
house of the priest. What news did he
learn? But let us return to the inhabi
tants of Nenarndowo, and see what is
passing there.
In the morning as the breakfast was
served, the father of Marie sent a domes
tic to her chamber to bring news of her
health. She soon returned to announce
that Mademoiselle Marie had slept bad
ly, but found herself better now, and
would come down. A moment after she
appeared.
"How are you, my child?" said the
father.
"I am better " whispered Marie.
That evening Marie fell seriously ill.
The physician, who was called in haste,
declared that she had a dangerous fever;
and for fifteen days she lay at the door
of the tomb.
No person in the bouse knew of the
resolution she had taken to elope with
her lover. The letters she had burned.
The chambeimaid had been discreet,
and also the prieet and witnesses of
Wladimir, andthese, for very good rea
sons. The secret was thus faithfully
kept by more than half a dozen accom
plices. But Marie betrayed it herself in
her delirium. She said things so strange
that her mother believed her profoundly
in love with Wladimir; and attributed to
this unfortunate attachment the illness
of her beloved daughter. She spoke to
her husband, and they decided to allow
Marie, if she recovered, to have her
wish, and thought, that after all, the
poverty of her lover was not a very con
siderable vice, or a serious obstacle to
their union. Full of this thought, when
they saw Marie convalescent, they wrote
Wladimir, to inform him that they con
sented to his marriage with their
daughter. But what was their surprise,
on receiving from him an incomprehen
sible letter, wherein he said that he
would never again enter their house,
and that his only hope was to die! Some
days after, they learned that he had de
parted forthe army. This was in 1812.
Foa a long time they did not dare to re
veal this news to their daughter. She,
herself, never mentioned his name, but
one day she saw it among the names of
those who had distinguished themselves
at the battle of Borodino, and who had
been severely wounded. On reading the
details she fainted.
. Some time after, her father died, leav
ing a large fortune, which, however,
could not console her for her loss. With
her mother, she abandoned the home
which recalled to them remembrances
so painful, and withdrew into another
province. There her youth and fortune
attracted new suitors, but she gave them
no hope. Wladimir was dead, but his
memory was sacred for Marie.
We have said that Marie, notwith
standing her coldness, was "surrounded
by suitors; but these were soon eclipsed
by a new one a' Colonel of hussars,
named Burnux; who bore the croci of
St. George in his buttonh6le, and was
about twenty-six years of age. Marie
treated him with particular distinction
Near him she was neither silent nor re
served, as with all others; it would be
unjust to say that with him she lrdulged
in coquetries.
Barmin was really an amiable man,
endowed witn precisely those qualities
which are the most pleasing to women.
His conduct toward Marie was simple
and without constraint, but his eyes and
soul seemed to follow all Her movements
and to dwell upon all her words. What
interested Marie was not only the at
tracting conversation of tne yonne of
ficer, his paleness, his wounds; it was es
peciallv his silence. She could not con
ceal from herself that this man pleased
her much, and with his experience he
conlrt not out see tne lmpressiou nn naa
mado upon her heart. Why, therefore,
did he not", throw himself at her feet and
confess his love? vVhat motive re
strained him? Was this that timidity in
'pparable from true love, or the coquetry
of skillful gallantry? After long reflec
tion. Bhe paid that such reservp ruld he.
attributed onlv to timidity, and resolved
to ppcourage him by her artvanceF.
She was successful. Burn-.in rjrr.ce
more and more serious, snd hi d.i-k
pyea were fxsd on Mr.rio with such
burning intensity that the dec:s:ve mo
ment couM not be far off. One day,
when her mother was pitting r!ohg in
her chambpr, Bunrnn orteied p'nd in
quired for Marie. ' She ib in ths a'den,"
responded the mother.
Burmin found her seated by a littJo
stream, reading, like a true heoine of ro
mance. After a few words passed be
tween them, the young girl suspended
the conversation, in orler to embarrass
the officer, and iorce him to an explana
tion. Not knowing how to iesumed his
attitude, Burmin declared to Marie that
he had for a loug time sought an occasion
to open his heart. Marie closed her
book and cast down her eyes. "I love
vou with passion. I have committed a
great impudence in allowing myself to
acquire the sweet habit of seeing and
hearing you every day. Now, I can no
longer resist my destiny. Your remem
brance, your adored image, will.be the
orment and the joy of my life. There
remains for me now a great duty to ful
fill. I must reveal to you a fatal secret,
which establishes between us an impass
ible barrier."
Marie looked at him with a stupefied
air.
'I am married." resumed Burmin
"have been married three years, but do
not know who ia my wife, where she is,
or whether I shall ever see her again."
"VVhat do you say?" cried Marie, ''flow
mysterious! Continue, I beseech y ou."
"At the beginning of the year 1812,"
said Burmin, "I was on my way to join
the army at Yfilna. Arriving one
evening very late at the relay, I com
manded the horses to be changed imm -diately.
At the same time commence
a dreadful snowstorm. The postma ie
and his people advised me to wait, bu
impatient to continue my journey, I
braved all and departed. The snow had
hidden the track, and soon we found
ourselves in a vast plain, which was en
tirely unknown to us. I saw at last a
light shining at a distance, and directed
the postilion to proceed towards it. We
arrived in a village, where I saw a
church open and lighted, and some
sledges, around which were many per
sons. 'Here, here!' they cried. I ad
vanced. "'In the name of heaven,' said a
stranger, 'why are you so late? The bride
has fainted, the priest knows net what
to do, and we were about departing."
"I descended from my kaitka, wrapt
in my cioak, and euteie.lthe church. A
young gial was sitting upon a bench, an
other, standing before, was rubbing Iter
temples.
" 'God be praised,' said she, 'you are
here at iast; idv poor miauess is almost
dead.'
"The priest approached me and said,
'Shall I commence?' I answered, 'Yes.'
They assisted the maid to rise; she was
beautiful. An unaccountable and un
pardonable levity took possession of me;
I advanced toward the altar, and a min
ut after we were married. 'Embrace,'
said they. My wife turned her face to
ward me. I wished to embrace her.
'Great God!' she exclaimed, 'it is not he!,
The witnesses looked at me with aston
ishment. I hastened from the church,
and was soon far from that place.
"God of Heaven!" exclaimed Marie,
"and you know not what has become of
your wife?"
"I know not even the name of the
village where the ceremony was per
formed. There remains no hope of our
findinn this poor girl whom I have so
deeply wronged, and who avenges her
self fo cruelly to-dav."
"Good God!" said Marie, taking his
hand; "it was you, then! And did you
not recognize me?"
Burmin turned pale, and cast himself
at the feet of his wife
A DISCRIMINATING TRAIN BOY.
Pli uiognoniy Applied to Railroad I'aseu-
cers Male and Female Tastes.
New York Tribune.
"What made you think I'd want to
purchase that book?" asked a Tribune
reporter on the "West Shore road of a
train boy who had just deposited in his
lap a volume giving a complete history
of all the notable encounters in the prize
ring within the last 100 years. The re
porter in question, be it observed, al
though of unfortunately somewhat pug
nacious aspect, takes especial delight in
reporting sermons, and is as ignorant of
the Marquis of Queensberry roles as of
the differential and integral calculus.
"i tnougnt you was a sport," replied
the train boy, taking a rapid inventory
of hi& interlocutor. He was a shrewd
looking lad with piercing eyes and a
nose which is generally supposed to in
dicate that its owner knows a thing or
two.
"Then do you always try to select
books to suit the character of each pas
senger?" 'Of course I does. I hits it right, gen
erally too, though I sometimes get lefc
But 'taint half as bad to mistake a relig
ious man for a sport as to mistake a sport
forn religious man. The sport'll get
madder'n a wet hen every time and
sling all the cuss words he knows at you
that is, if he's in the smokin car."
"Do you find much variety of taste
among the ladies on the trains?"
"Cert. When I see a woman who
wants to be thought a fine lady but ain't,
I drops her some novel about jukes and
and bloated aristrocrats, where all the
men has plenty of stamps and the wo
men folks lots of fewelry. When I
strikes a lady whaf s the genooine thing
I flcpeher down a book that ain't sot no
darned nonsense in it some book that's
been runnin' ever since I've been in the
business and no tellin' how long afore?"
"How about the men?"
"You've got to study them just as
hard. Them dudish fellers is the worst
customers. Thty never buys no books.
They'll just set and suck their canes all
day, thinkin' about mashin'orsomosuch
rot, I suppose. A man wot's fall of busi
ness and looks worried don't often buy
bookB. He can't keep his thoughts on
Vin. Young men that ain't dudes and
ain'c got no more money than they
know wLatio 'do with make the best
customers. And old men wot's takin'
life easy an' contented like andaii-'t
everlastingly bothering themselves about
money, buy a good many books on the
trains. A railroad train is a r.,ightv
ood pkco to study human nature in."
-What's your favorite reading'
' I like to read how poor boys got en
in the world till they got to be real big
bugs like the fellow Edison wot u3eJ to
oejl books ou a train same us I do."
Let mo have that book of Farrai's
sermon's, and don's take me for ;i sport
again."
" You can bet I won't."
POSTAL, STATISTICS.
During the fiscal year ending June 30
sayb Bftidttreets, the carriers in the free
delivery service delivered 404,996,842
mail letters, 1Q4,742,59S mail postal cards,
143,406,ri78 local letters, 78,226,570 local
pobtal cards, 3,187,965 registered letters,
256,054.602 newspapers. They collected
409,853875 letters, . 140,630,704 post-
tal cards and 83.432,673 newspa
pers. The total number of pieces
handled was 1744,537,413, or an average
per carrier of 400,307. Tho aggregate
cost of the service was, including inci
dentals, $3,985,952, an average cost of 2 3
mills per piece, or of $912.90 per carrier
The postage on local matter was $5,281,
721.10. Nineteen offices were added to
the free delivery system during the fiecal
year, making a total of 178 offices at the
end of the year, employing 4,358 carriers.
The transactions at a few of tho larger
offices were as follows:
Pieces
Cities. handled.
Baltimore 48,760,335
Brooklyn 46,290,214
Cnicago 202 801,326
Cincinnati 36,132,?56
Galveston 3,055,940
Indianapolis 13,30 1,722
Cott of Per piece
service, in mills.
$121,318 2.5
146,845 3.2
297,959 1 5
110 307 3 1
7,995 2.6
35,508 2.7
43,204 2.1
590,031 1 8
427,080 2.4
79,349 1.9
7' ,910 3 5
Milwaukee 20.0C3.177
New York 324,656,328
Philadelphia 175,687,761
San Fran, iaco 40,415,705
Washington 19,744,451
The most expensive service, based on
the number ef pieces delivered, was at
Gloucester, Mass., 5 mills apiece, and
the cheapest service was at Dallas, Tex.,
wherethe cost was 1.1 mills per piece.
The entire cost of the service waa $481,
746 more than the cost during the pre
ceding fiscal year.
An Indiana Woman Aged 11 i.
Camden (Ind.) Expositor.
On Monday of last Keek two residents
of Camden, Dr. Camp and Mr. Samuel
Thompson, made a pilgrimage to Russia
ville for the purpose of seeing what is
eaid to be the oldest resident ol Indiana,
Mrs. Colter, whose, maiden name was
Perry, said to be a sister of Commodore
Perry, of revolutionary renown. This
old lady was born in the state of Dela
ware, in Apri, 1769, making her present
age llo years, bhe retains all her facul
ties except htanntr, which is impaired
to borne extent. Her father was in the
continental army, and became on inti
mate termb with Gen. Washington, who
visited their family after tne war, and
with whom she remembers conversing
oa such occasions. Think of a lady
living now who came on the stage of ac
tion in the time of Geoi ge III., and has
lived undor every president s.nce the
origin of government. From what our
informants gathered from her, her ca
reer has been no exception to the old,
old story, of a life struggle with fortune,
she being compelled in early life to per
form all kinds of out door labor. Her
son, with whom she lives, and who is
himself 80 years of age, told of having
reaped wheat by her side many days.
She is said to be the oldest Methodist
living, having united with that church
seventy-five years since, and she is still
a member in good standing,
right leg was caught and crushed com
pletely off below the knee, two wheels
paEsing oer it.
A WONDERFUL TIMEPIECE.
A Bradford County Youth's Five Years
Achiev ement.
In Woodbury, Bedford count j, Pa., re
sides a young man noted for his mechan
ical skill, who is working at a wonderful
tfock, which, when completed, will
eclipse anything ever produced in the
clock line, not even excepting the fa
mous Straaburg clock. He has been
working on this clock over five years,
and expects to complete it next spring.
When finished this immense timepiece
will be twelve feet wide and three and a
half feet deep, budt entirely of walnut
wood. It is artistically designed and
displays in its composition a grandeur of
proportion, with its graceful moldings
and' delicately carved ornaments. On
the lower front of the face is a circle of
eleven dials, with a large dial in the cen
ter giving the time at Washington, D. C,
in hours, minutes and seconds, the
month, the week, the day of the week,
the four seasons of the year and the
changes of the moon. The eleven re
maining dials give the difference of time
in New York, Chicago, San Fsancisco,
London, Pekin, Constantinople, Mel
bourne, Vienna, Cairo and St. Peters
burg. One of the most curious features
of the clock is the lol lowing: At a cer
tain hour of the day a figure represent
ing William H. Vanderbilt, the great
railroad king, arises from his chair,
holding a charter in his right hand, and
in turn all the great railroad kings of
this country slowly enter a door at his
left, pass and bow to him and disappear
in a submissive way at a door to his
right.
Ice Was New to Him.
Gainesville (Fla.) News,
A white man from away down south
in the Okeechobee lake region came up
to Gainesville last week onbusiness at the
United States Land office. While here
heeaw the first ice he had ever seen.
He manifested great interest in the
frigid substance, and put a half pound
lump in his'pants pocket to take home
to his family. He soon took it out of his
pocket, however, and as he did so, he
said, "I am afeered I will spile my ter-backer."
WEDDING NIGHT.
The Strang His'ory or a Beatmcky Habi
tation Which for Tears hssBceR Khowb
as a Haunted House.
In Boone county, Kentucky, jost be
low Petersburg, on the bank ot the Ohio,
and almost opposite the rolling mill at
Aurora, Ind., stands a deserted, vacant
frame dwelling, around which c'uster
various stories of ghosts, spooks,' and hob
goblins, rt i3 knofl-nfar and wide as
the haunted house, or, as the darkies in
the neighborhood say, ''the haunted
house," and all the money in Bone
county wculd not induce a darky who
has grown up in that vicinity, or who
has been there long enough to hear
some of the stories concerning it, to en
ter the house after night, and some of
them will not cross the threshold alone
even in the daytime. They swear by Mo
ee&, Ham, and all the prouhets that the
house is "hanted;" that- strange noises
have been heard there at night; that a
woman's screams and dying groans have
floated out from the house upon the
night air; that something in white has
appeared at the windows, and that mys
terious lights have floated, and danced
about in the old rookery for years past.
In their imaginations they have peopled
the old house with mysterious midnight
ghostlv hemes, flitting about from room
to room, dancing with noiseless feet over
the ba ren, rotten floors during the dark
and silent hours of night, and vanishing
at the approach of dawn. So many sto
ries have been told about the hou;ethat
steamboat pilots, when their boats are
passing at night, watch it, as though ex
pecting every minute to see a light flash
from some of the windows: sturdy.
weather-beaten, and suntroLzd fisher
men, while passing in their skiffs, look
upon it and talk about it as a "hanted"
place, and the boys and girls from An
rora, while rowing for pleasure upon the
river in the summer moonlight evenings,
cease their singing and are inclined to
pull away from the Kentucky shore
when approaching the place, seeming to
realize that there is something which
repels them from, rather than invites
them in that direction. This uninvit
ing, shunned, and mysterious house is a
frame, two stories high, with two rooms
below and two above. It stands above
the reach of floods, some fifty feet back
from the high bluff bank. The fence
which once surrounded it has long since
fallen down, and the yard is full of high,
rank weeds and creeping vines, where
snakes and lizards live unmolested. The
house is old and dilapidated, the win
dows are broken in, the weather-boarding
decayed and diopping from the
frame in many places, the doors either
gone or hanging loose upon their broken
and rusty hinges, the roof full of holes,
letting in both the sunshine and the
rain, the lower floor all rotten and
rrumbling away upon the ground, and
the sides and ceilings of the rooms, both
above and below, presenting a patch
work of rent and cracked plastering and
barren lath. In the evening hundreds
of swallows fly out of the old brick chim
ney, circle around, and settle back into
the dark funnel; bats fly in and out of
the broken windows andhalf-open doors,
and later in the night is heard the owl's
dismal hoot from her perch upon the
roof. The whole premises present a
scene of utter ruin, decay, and desolation,
andas one looks upon it, if he is at all
inclined to believe in spooks, he can't
help saying that here is their home,
where they can hold their ghostly mid
night carnivals undisturbed, for no one
wih care to invade such a gloomy abode.
Grim, lonelv, cheerless, deserted, and
forbidding,5what has given it the name
oi "the haunted house" This has been
caused by several strange stories told
concerning it, each of which is tinged
with enough of bloody crime to give it
its reputation and cause people to shun
it, of which the following dark and mys
sterious tragedy seems to be the one moat
generally believed:
The house was built many year ago,
with lumber and materials taken down
the river from Cincinnati, by a young
man named West, whose family was
murdered among the pioneers of Boone
county, all the members of which were
were prominent and respected citizens
of the community at that time, young
west Deing considered a very excellent
young man and not known to have any
bad habits or vices. The house was in
tended to be his future home, and at the
time of its construction was regarded as
the finest residence in . that neighbor
hood, nearly all the others being log
cabins of rude construction. The young
lady to whom he was engaged to be mar
ried and whom he expected to occupy
his new home with him as his wife was
named Reed, and lived upon theopposite
side of the Ohio, on the hills near Aurora.
At that time Aurora- was but a small
place, and much of the surrounding coun
try, which is now divided up into beau
tiful farms, was covered with the dense
original forests. Miss Beed waB a very
pretty young lady, though she would not
be considered beautiful, and was pos-
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munity, and her many friends, as well as ,
those of her future husband, predicted
that their future life would be very hap
py. In due time the marriage took
place at the home of the voune bride.
and after the ceremony their friends ac-j
companied she young couple to the riv
er, and West rowed his wife over to the
newly built and furnished home, reach
ing there just at dark. Their friends
watched them from the opposite shore
till they entered the house, and that was
me iaBiumeeicner were seen aiive. jate
the following morning relatives called.
and failing to receive any reply to their
repeawju xnocKingsupon tne a oor opened
it and entered the house. Upon the
bed in her night clothes lay the bride of
a few short hours, cold in death, her face
and throat showing that she had been
strangled or smothered to death, and
the furniture in the room giving proof
dv its disarranged condition that a terri
ble struggle had taken place in the
chamber of death. The husband could
not be found, and has never been Bet n. or
heard of. Whether he killed his wife and
fled has never been known, but his rela
tives and friends asserted most positive
ly that that could not have been the case
as there was no motive for such a deed.
The most reasonable theory is that some
tnira person or persons murdered them
both, the murderers having some grudge
against them, and then either concealed
the husband's body in the vicinity or car
ried it down with hia clothing and, with
rocks to hold them down, sunk them in
the river. Why the wife's body was not
similarly disposed of, some say, is because
the murderers wished to leave it in the
room, and the husband's body and
clothes not being found, the natural in
ference would be that he had murdered
MURDERED ON A
her and had fled the country h MT.
petratoTB of the double murder taling
this plan to divert suspicion from them
selves. But be that as it may. and let
whichever story told concerning it be
true or false, the fact remains that the
house has stood vacant for many years
gradually going to decay, covered with a
shadow of mystery, shunned and avoided
by all. and known as "the haunted
house."
Great Salt Lake.
Corahill JCpgarino.
Great Salt lake is in fact not a branch
of the sea at all, but a mere shrunken
remnant of a very large freshwater lake
system, like that of the still existing St,
Lawrence chain. Once upon a time
American geologists say a huge sheet of
water, for which they have even invented
a definite name, Lake Bonneville, occu
pied a far larger valley amorg the out
liers of the Rocky mountains, measuring
300 miles in one direction by 180 miles
in the other. Beside this primitive Su
perior lay a great second sheet an early
Huron (Lake Lahontan the geologists .
call it) almost as big and equally of fresh
water. By and by the precise dates are
necessarily indefinite some change in
the rainfall, unregistered by ami oa
temporary, made the waters of these big
lakes shrink and evaporate. Lake La
hontan shrank away like Alice in Won
derland, till there was absolutely noth
ing left of it; Lake Bonneville shrank till
it attained the diminished size of the
existing Great Salt lake. Terrace after
terrace, running in loi g parallel lines
on the sides of the Wahsatch mountains
around, mark the various levels at
which it rested for a while on its gradual
downward course. It is still falling in
deed, and the plain around is being
gradually uncovered, forming the white,
salt-encrusted shore with which all visi
tors to the Mormon city are so familiar.
But why should the water have become
briny? Why should the evaporation of
an old Superior produce at last a Great
Salt lake? Well, there is a small quan
tity of salt in solution even in the fresh
est of lakes and ponds, brought down
to them by the streams or rivers, and, as
the water of the hypothetical Lake
Bonneville slowly evaporated, the salt
and the other mineral constituents re
mained behind. Thus the solution grew
constantly more and more concentrated,
till at the present day it is extremely
saline. Prf. Geikie (to whose works the
present paper is much indebted) found
that he floated on the water in spite of
himself; and the under side of the steps
at the bathing places are all encrusted
with short stalactites of salt, produced
from the drip of the bathers as they
leave the water. The mineral constitu
ents, however, differ considerably in
their proportions from those found in
true, salt lakes of marine origin, and the
point at which the salt is thrown down
is still far from having been reached.
Great Salt lake must simmer in the sun
for many centuries yet before the point
arrives at which (as cooks say) it begins
to settle.
Jay Gould's FlratJOriuk.
It is more than a quarter of a century
since Jay Gould tasted whisky, if the
Albany Evening Journal is right and the
first drink was the last. In the days
when he was a surveyor in a small way,
and was mapping a county, on the prac
tical plan of getting I odgings and meals
of the farmers in exchange for making
correct sun dials on their doorsteps, he
became tired one hot, dusty afternoon.
He came to a country tavern. In his
pocket was a five cent piece. It sudden
ly struck him that, as a medicine to re
lieve faintness, he ought to buy a glass
of whisky with the half dime. "I was
ignorant of bar usage," he is quoted as
saying, "and so, when a glass and a bot
tle were set before me, I filled the tum
bler chock-full. The bartender made no
protest, and I swallowed the big horn.
Then I went my way, trumbling my
wheelbarrow-like measurer of distances,
and occasionally taking the bearings
with a sextant. Never in my life had
my work gone off half so blithesomely,
and for a while I felt as though making
a map of the starry heavens instead of a
very dusty portion of this mundane
Sphere. After an hour or more bf exal
tation I grew sleepy and took a long
nap under a tree in a field. I awoke
with an awful headache, nd found that
the figures entered in my notebook dur
ing the time of extra steam were quite
incoherent. I was fully convinced that
whisky was a bad surveyor, and I have
never tried it for any other purpose."
A W .rd to Ujyj.
Chlcego Inter Ocean,
Parents may well afford to give time
and attention not only to the proper in
struction of their children, but to their
amusement at home. Many a boy and
girl would have been saved from evil as
sociates and resulting miseries if home
had qeen made as attractive as it should
have been. Children and vonnz neonle
must have amusement, and fathers and
mothera e wise when they see that
, havfl th:B ak hnmft. . 1 w f h s
are encouraged to invite the bestof their
associates at proper times to assist in the
rf - . j - -j
merry-making.
One great trouble with parents is that
they get old too soon and forget that
they ever were young. Just at the open
ing of the season of long evenings, see
that you add to your own ana your
young people's happiness by arranging
for games and good times just as care
fully as you arrange for cords of dry
wood, Dusneis oi potatoes, and barrels or
four.
It is related of a great English scholar
noted for his dignity in public that at
home he enjoyed a regular romp with
his children. Upon one occasion, when
the fun was boisterous and at its height,
it was observed that an eminent stater
man was approaching, when he re
marked to the children, "we must stop
this, there is a fool coming." Apropot
to this a Chicago gentleman' relates thas
last winter he hid occasion to visit Gov
ernor Dick Oglesbv at his home and
found him laid out fiat on the floor and
a troop of children playing leap frog and
rolling over him. Such men can always
be trusted.
Attorney General Bradford has com
menced a suit at Emporia to set aside
the sale of the state normal school lands.
These lands lie in Mitchell county, and
the sale was made the subject of a
lengthy investigation by the last legis
lature, which instructed the attorney
general to commence this suit, if in hia
judgment it was advisable. About 13,
000 acres of land are involved. Fraud
in the sale is alleged as the reajom why
he fuit should be instituted.
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