The National tribune., September 24, 1881, Page 2, Image 2

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THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE: WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 24, 1881.
4
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For the National Tuibvxe.
A RETROSPECT.
Just twenty years ago to-night
1 held my darling on my knee;
Iy star of hope shone clear and bright
Upon life's calm, untroubled sea.
No doubts, no fears.
No griefs, no tears
Disturbed my being's sweet repose,
But love earest,
I watched the West
To catch the evening's latest close.
Just twenty years ago to-night
I thought the sun would ever shine
That skies would never seem less bright
That love, and hope, and joy were mine
For ever more ;
And o'er and o'er
2 pressed love's image to my heart,
Nor thought my child,
"Who slept and smiled.
Could ever from my bosom part.
Just twenty years ago ! To-night
I sit and watch the frilling rain
Fast sifting through the dusky light
That struggles through the window pane.
My hopes arc fled,
My darling, dead ;
Yet comes he o'er a sunless sea
To bring one ray
Of perfect day
From Heaven's blest eternity.
Grif.
UNDER BODDAM LIGHT-HOUSE.
" Nellie, I wonder why it is that you have not
married yet? I am sure it cannot be for want of
offers.'
Sirs, distance, Nellie's old friend and school
fellow, with whose party she was staying at Peter-
head, was the speaker; and had you or I been in
Buchan Haven cove on this sunny summer morn-
ing, lounging with them on the sand, we should
have awaited the answer with some curiosity ;
for none could deny that Nellie Stewart was a
"beautiful woman, beautiful still with the beauty say ill nature, which Nellie Stewart had won I Peter Jones was the old fisherman from whom j the sunken rocks seemed to fill the air, and the ' journal, in which, veiled under Hebrew charac
of girlhood, though she only wanted three years among men of more brilliant pa-rts than himself: ! they hired the boat; and Nellie looked up in alarm, boat rocked up and down perilously. Vaguely ters, the Western scholar may discover the
of thirty. The two friends had been bathing, but seeing so much of her in the intimacy of his j but was comforted by observing that they were ' she saw her companion writing something inside Castilian of the fifteenth century. London Times.
and Nellie's thick hair still fell in wavy masses
round the small delicate face. Her complexion
was almost too clear, but the mobility of the
features and the quick glancing mirth of the eyes
redeemed her face from any reproach that might
attach to its belonging to the impassive class of i
"beauties. Her tall, supple form was seen to ad- and my sister has issued an edict against dress
vantage as she half sat, half lay against the ing for the same. Will you let me row you out
pebbly ridge, gazing across the sea at a few
brown dots almost lost in the haze, which were
all now visible of the receding fishing smacks
slowly making their way to the haddock beds.
Por a moment or two there was silence. "Not
so many as you would suppose, Mary," she re
plied, with something of bitterness in the smile
which was wasted upon the distant horizon.
"Then that must be your fault," said Mrs
Custauce, keenly watching the face only half
turned from her. She was anxious to obtain a
knowledge of Nellie's feelings upon a point of
some present interest to another in the party as
well as to herself. !
"It may be so: I dare say it is. You think I ,
have suitors always at my feet. No. Mary: shall ;
I tell you how it is? Shall I confess? My face
Zc -.4-4-. n.siirvl-t 4 r moVn -ii tivy itrili -f-k "Ki inivA
JJ3 JlCLlJ tUJUWy.ll l.J UIUAV 1UU1 HlOll tU WU 1II11U"
duced to me; in London my life seems in the
season one long series of introductions to fresh
men to soldiers, sailors, tinkers, and tailors,"
added she laughingly, casting a stone into the sea.
"Hostesses like to have me, for I always draw at I
first, I look very well at a distance, and make
quite a pretty picture. But men never dance
with me twice; not because my 'paces are bad,' :
as Mr. Colwyn would say, but because, Mary i
they don't like me." J
Really, Nellie, you always were a ridiculous ,
girl," answered Mrs. distance, not well pleased
by the tone of Nellie's allusion to her other guest.
" No, it is because I too often make them ridic
ulous, that they don't like me. Men are natur
ally so vain, my dear, that they never forgive a
woman who meets them on an equality. My new
partner says something foolish to me indeed he
seldom says anything else and it hardly needs
a word from me a mere look is often enough to
send him off, to tell the first friend he meets,
Doosid odd girl, that : uncomfortable sort o' girl.'
And he doesn't ask for another dance, Mary. I
am sure to hurt their pride, and away they go.
Isn't it a dreadful thing to have a sense of the
ridiculous, and a mastering inclination to use the
powers of repartee nature has given us?" finished
Nellie, with a comic sigh that had a plaintive
reality in its depths.
"What an odd girl you are, Nellie!" said the
elder woman, pettishly.
" Just Avhat my neAV partner says Avhen Ave haA-e j
had our first and only danee.'?
"Well, at any rate, all men are not of his opin
ion ; some come back for a second and a third,
and as many as you Avill give them, Nellie;" and
Mrs. distance glanced meaningly at a little boat
with tAvo nnvers Avhich had just rounded the arm
of the tiny bay, and Avas slowly making its Avay
toAvard them.
"Yes, but those avIio are so ready to accept the
superiority of my contemptuous highness are
hardly fit to become my lord and master," said
Nellie, in a loAver tone. " I do not think it bet
ter to rule in hell than senTe in heaven. Mary,"
with a sudden cry as she turned to the other,
putting her hands in hers, "you do not think me
spiteful and ill-natured?"
Mrs. distance saAv that the eAres Avere brim
ming Avith tears, and hardly needed her womanly
clearness to divine the Avarm depths that under
lay the sparkling cynical surface Avhich her clever
friend opposed to the Avorld.
The kindly little Avoman administered femi
nine comfort in the shape of a kiss, and, possess
ing the Avonderful knoAvledge of Avhen it is best
to let Avell and ill alone, said nothing upon a
subject Avhich Avas Arery near her heart. She rose,
sind proposed that they should stroll along the
Shore and meet the boat Avhich Avas coming to
Retell them back to Peterhead and luncheon.
If it is a far cry to Loch AAve, it certainly is a
long one from London to the little fishing tOAvn
of Peterhead, in the northeast corner of Scotland.
Before the herring fishery begins, it is a pleasant
place enough ; the coast is in parts delightfully
rugged, and where the sea is sufficiently smooth
to allow of small boats approaching the base of
the rocks, no more picturesque spots for water
picnics can be imagined. But it is seldom that
small boats can venture outside the large harbor,
the entrance to which, when there is the slightest
wind, is marked by the breakers that reach from
either side, and leave but a narrow passage of
comparatively smooth water. To the eastward
of the harbor lies the fishing hamlet of Boddam,
to the westward that of Buchan Haven; when
there is any wind, a rough sea, that would soon
swamp any rowing craft save a lifeboat, is always
tumbling outside the harbor mouth. You can
see the whales spouting out there; and nearer
the beach, by the mduth of the little river, the
salmon leap faster than you can count their
splashes. But that is later in the year.
The distances had been there a month, and
would leave in a day or two to join some friends
in Edinburgh. The party was not a large one,
consisting only of themselves, their two children,
Mrs. distance's brother, Jack Colwyn, and her
close friend. Nellie Stewart. That the party
might be made smaller by the conversion of the
two latter into one was the earnest desire of the
pretty little woman, who was herself so happy
in her husband and children and in the little
nest at Brompton, to which they would retire
with less reluctance than the great majority of
Londoners feel when their holiday is over. Her
brother was only too anxious to fall in with her
wishes; he had dogged the Stewart's footsteps
through the earlier part of the season, and now
he was playing attendance at Peterhead, when
his natural impulses would have led him to seek
some spot where the fishing was better and the
society exclusively male. Jack Colwyn was a
favorite with men, but until he met Nellie at his
sister's house he had avoided with some care the
j places where the other sex congregate. Jack, in
j truth, was better with his fists than with his
j tongue, and of course he had never shown to
. advantage in the presence of his mistress. He
knew the reputation for wit and sarcasm, not to
sister's home, though he would writhe under her
barely disguised contempt and her unconcealed
sense of superiority, he dimly discerned the
j womanly feelings which underlay these ebulli-
tions, and continued his eager rmrsuit.
" Miss Stewart, it is
a long time until dinner,
for half an hour? It is so cool now."
" I will come with pleasure, I am sure,' cried
Nellie, who had a genuine and great love of the ' The current runs along this shore, I fancy, and j The girl did as she was told, and bowed her England, Bacon lived a life of meanness and dis
water. " Ted," she added to one of the children, in the middle we may escape it." j head on her knees, while Colwyn sat gazing with tress Spencer died in the most abject poverty,
"will you fetch me my cloak?" Suiting the action to the word, he pulled his ' pale set face at the white line now close at hand. mon sold his copyright of "Paradise Lost" for
Now Nellie felt almost sure that Jack intended ' right scull hard, and ceased with his left, while I The sun had altogether gone, and it was almost ani('ie('i m wretchedness and obscurity,
to propose to her this evening. She made a Nellie pulled her right string. The current made dark; up above, but beyond the reef, the gleam J Dryden lived m poverty and distress. Otway
shrewd guess that her friend had been sounding ' turning difficult: and Jack, seeing how far the ' of the lighthouse Avas now appearing and disap- perished of hunger; Lee died in the street; Steele
her in his behalf, and had reported not altogether i boat is being carried back, pulled a violent stroke pearing. So the' sat a few moments waiting for , was in PeiTetil wariare with the bailiffs; Gold
mi f;ivnr!'i'hlv Rlif h;ir1 nn "Khnnrh r ni' pvful in o- it I fr two with his rio-lif Tn n mirmfp thf wn!1 n flip pnrl wln'lp flip rlfivL-np! imtliprprl rmrl Tip Sniltll'S ICar 01 Wakefield Was SOl(l lor a trifle
1..1.... . W... J . -..W ....v.. .. ,..,... ... O-"
Jack intended going on with them to Edinburgh,
and in that most picturesque of towns, what with
walks to Arthur's Seat, moonlight expeditions to
view the Grass market, and the lights in the old
town, his opportunity must come sooner or later.
Nellie had no intention of taking him. True she
had a sneaking kind of liking for Jack in a cousinly
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J , clIHl CI VI 1111 CI.HOV Ul 11I,J jVWVl IjUUIl 1.1V.O . UUU
it was as she had said she was too conscious of
her own superiority to be able to feel for the
good natured, shy and ordinary young fellow as
her romantic nature would have her feel for her
future lord and master.
Once out into the middle of the harbor, away j
from the slimy stone steps and the tottering cur- i
ing houses, where the perfume of last year's her- !
rings yet lingered, and which would soon be red- j
olent with the bouquet of this year's catch, Col-
wyn rested on his oars, and swinging the boat
broadside to the town, they looked back at its i
huddled stone houses, and its streets all leading to
the sea, and the market place with its monument
to Marshal Keith, the stout old Jacobite who j
escaped from the '15 to fight the battles of Fred
erick the Great, and to add one to the long list of
Scottish soldiers who for half a century lent a
lustre to the military annals of every nation
save our own. But I doubt if either of them
were thinking of any of these things.
"Will you pull us under the Boddam shore, j
Mr. Colwyn ? We have never gone up that side !
of the bay." J
For answer Jack pulled sturdily towards the ,
eastern shore of the harbor. The tide was with
him, and they were soon lying a few hundred j
yards from the sandhills, against which the Avaves j
Avere gently plashing. Then he again lay on his j
oars and thinking to himself for he Avas prone,
I regret to say, as Nellie had hinted, to metaphors
of a sporting nature "Harden your heart and ;
stick in your knees, old boy!" he out and spoke i
his mind.
" Miss SteAvart," he added, after an appeal more
manly and to the purpose than the girl, avIio sat
gazing into the depths of the Avater, aware that
she must hear him out, had expected, "I have
known more and seen more of you than many
men see or know of the girls they Avould marry,
and I am certain that you Avould make me happy ;
and, Nellie, that my life Avould not be so empty
Avith you as it has been. I do love you ; let me
try to make you as happy as you Avould make me."
And Jack Colwyn leant forward to hear his
fate in a A'ery downright manner.
" I am sorry," began the girl, in the stereotyped
form, finding it by no means so easy to give him
his answer as she had expected, for the earnest
ness of his appeal touched her, and her eyes Avere
full of tears, and Jack through them looked very
manly in his flannel shirt and the straightfor
Avardness of his love; and the sun Avas setting,
too. "No, it cannot be, 'Mr. Colwyn. I kneAV
that you Avere going to ask me, but I could hardly
prevent you. I can only say no. I do not feel
towards you, and I am sure I never shall, as a
girl should to the man avIio is to be her husband.
I I am quite sure of it; and I shall be glad if
you Avill not ask me again or refer to it. Please
to forget that it has happened; and and, Mr.
Cohvyn, do not let us be Avorse friends. I should
be sorry for that. I cannot do Avhat you ask ;
but I have not many friends."
And Nellie stretched out her hand to him,
Avillful little creature, and there Avere softened
tones in her voice that few had heard, and the
hand that she held out trembled so that his re
luctant one could hardly touch it
"Yes, I Avill try," he said quietly and sadly,
and. looked at the end of his sculls as he turned
the boat round.
" We shall be late," said she, with an attempt
at cheerfulness; "and we have floated so far that
the town is quite indistinct."
Jack made no answer he was busy turning'
the boat's head round ; and a man cannot, like a
woman, on these occasions at once disguise his
defeat under careless talk. It was some satisfac
tion to him to put his strength into the pulling,
to grind his feet against the stretcher and to
make the tholepins groan with the strain put on
them, to hear the water washing Tound the bows
with every stroke. Miss Stewart, who had coin-
mand of the rudder-strings, said no more, but,
letting her hand drop into the cool water,
watched the ripples that streamed and widened
from her white fingers. Maybe, too, from the
corners of her eyes she cast a glance of feminine
admiration at the broad shoulders and brown
arms that were making the little boat bound so
merrily. But after a time she looked up, and,
glancing at the shore, said:
" We don't seem to have gone far, when you
look at the shore, do we? And yet we must
j have."
Jack looked up, and with surprise for he
knew better than she did the vigor he had been
! throwing into his strokes observed that they
I were still abreast, or rather but a little on the
' homeward side of the big chimney, which they
had become accustomed to regard as a landmark.
I Even while he stayed to look they lost the little
j distance by which they had passed it, and went
' in a line with it again,
! "By jove!"said he, setting to work at once
j more strenuously than before, "what a tremen-
dous current there is on that side of the bay ! I
' remember hearing Peter Jones say that there
j Avas one at certain states of the tide ; but I had
i quite forgotten it."
j slowly but surely making way. Jack's powerful
j strokes were sending them against the current,
j which beat upon the boat as if the latter were
J making several miles an hour. But Jack knew
that this could hardly go on ; he was putting all
his strength into the strokes, and if he made no
more way than this, even could he hold out, they
would not be back until after dark.
" I had better pull out into the middle of the
i bay. Will you please to put her head that way ?
- "" .... -.-j; . --- .. ....... ...V ..1., it
' hired one, snaps in two, and the longer end has
I floated far away down the stream. Colwyn can-
' not altogether stifle a cry of dismay the immi-
nence of the danger is at once before his eyes.
: The now uninn. c
the current, ai 'i,
j it into fheo.n a
1 ack, who is aware that
.. blowjng all day, knows
me the little craft will
i o livid.- focf: Y1 i
" .J.v v.mjt
In
1
; full well in now
float there.
Nellie did not so quickly comprehend the situa
tion. She too littered a cry when she saw the
accident and the speed with which the boat im- i
mediately began to drift backwards, but the idea !
of real danger lid not at once come home to her ;
mind. She hod never been in peril of her life, and j
the iact that she was now m that peril did not so ,
easily occur to her as to Colwyn, who in the j
course oi his sporting experience had faced death
more than once. Now he turned to make the
best of the situation. He threw over his other
scull to that side, and while Nellie pulled the
contrary string, tried to get the boat round out
of the current as he had been endeavoring to do
when the accident occurred. He only did it in
the hope that they might be almost out of its
influence, and the attempt Aas futile. Then he
bent all his strength and skill to work the boat
against the stream with one scull plied at the
stern, in the old-fashioned manner; but his efforts
were equally in vain. Hardly five minutes had
passed since the accident, and already all that he
had gained in his twenty minutes' pull against
the stream was lost; the boat was abreast of the
tall chimney again; nay, it Avas seaAvard of it
before Jack had time to note his position. He
could guess now that the rough Avater Avhich
marked the entrance of the harbor Avas little
more than half a mile aAvay, if so much, Avhile
the breakers Avhich flanked it, on to Avhich it
seemed more probable that the boat Avould be
carried, Avere nearer. In his pain, as he con
templated the almost immediate crisis, there Avas
no selfishness; it never occurred to him as a satis
faction that they Avould perish together. If he
could only save her, he cared little, genuinely
little, at that moment to save himself. But to
see her die by his side, to see those dear hands
struggling and that fair face Avorking in the
agony of suffocation, Avhile the gray relentless
Avaves rolled on over it that did fill his soul
Avith an anguish that almost made him cry aloud.
And he kneAv how, though he hardly dared to
look at the Avhite face before him, that she com
prehended some part, if not all, of their peril.
Yes, Nellie could not but see the Avhite line of
breakers that stretched out from the now distant
shore across their path ; she could not but see
Iioav swiftly they Avere bearing down upon them.
Already the distant roar of the AvaAes breaking
over the hidden rocks came, with Avhat mutter
ing of threats to the ears of those tAvo can Avell
be imagined. When he gaAre up his attempt to
scull at the stern and returned to his seat, she
said:
"Is there any hope?"
Jack Avas a brave man, and that quiver in the
poor girl's AToice, Avhile it Avrung his heart, pulled
him together.
" Yes, there is hope, though Ave are in some
danger. Will you Avave my pocket-handkerchiGf
on your umbrella? They may see it from the
lighthouse at the mouth of the harbor, and notice
Avhere Ave. are. No doubt they are looking out
for us at the tOAvn," he added ; "but Ave are too
far away, I fear, for their help to be of much
avail."
Nellie strained her eyes across the Avater to
where the town could dimly be discerned, and
thought of the dear friends who at this moment
were probably looking towards them. The sun
set of evening was over everything save the re
lentless breakers, whose thunder came more and
more loudly on the ear.
"If a," cried Jack suddenly, "what an idiot I
have been the stone!" and he hurriedly caught
up from under a seat where it had lain hid the
great stone which they used as an anchor when
fishing. Until that moment it had been un
heeded. The rope was loose, but he fastened it
to the seat, and flung the stone, which was now
almost their only hope, over the side with all
possible speed. Down, down it went through the
j gray-green water, checking the boat's progress
j in some degree before the rope became taut.
"Would it reach the bottom? and if it did, would
it drag or become fixed? and would the old rope
stand the strain of the current? Nellie watched
him with heaving breast, one hand clutching the
seat, while the other mechanically waved the sig- ,
nal of distress. No ; Jack gave a groan as he saw j
that the rope was not long enough; the stone ,
was not at the bottom ; still, it very much stayed i
their progress. They were now being carried;
along at a quarter of their former speed. Yet he
saw that nearly all hope was gone. There were
sails in sight, but at a great distance, while the
white line of foam was not three hundred yards
away. He could do no more ; he did not know
how to say anything cheering to her. At last he
told her that there was some chance yet, for
nearer the breakers the water might grow more sent out in misery and destitution to be massa
shallow, and the anchor find holding ground. ' cred in Morecco, to die of pestilence at Naples or
From which Nellie knew that all other hope was ! at Genoa, or to find a rest after their wanderings
gone, and gave a shuddering glance at the waves, ; in the north of Europe or in the Levant. In the
that more and more boisterously leapt up against Turkish Empire, as is well known, there remains
the sides of the little craft, as they had not done ' to this day a large population of Jews who still
in the still water nearer the shore. Nearer and ' use Spanish as their mother tongue; and the
nearer, until the thunder of the waves falling on
i some leaves of his pocket-book, and nailing the
little packet to the seat of the boat with his knife,
i Then he leant over towards her, where she
1 crouched rather than sat, her eyes fixed upon the
! waves, that struck the side with more and more
I violence.
" Nellie, let me take your hand. My darling,"
he went on, holding the cold trembling hand
firmly in his own, "it will not be very bad. Shut
your eves and don't Avatch the water."
V.. ,..,.., .. ...-X. ,.. V...,...,.- fc....V., ...V -. .W
; thunder of the breakers grew louder and louder.
' Then Colwyn noticed that they were getting no
nearer. Had the anchor caught ? No. The hope
' died away almost as soon as conceived, and he
at is in the centre of , saw that the current was carrying them no Ion
help arrive, may carry ", ger straight upon, but rather across the front of
the reef and towards the centre of the mouth of
the harbor. It gave them a few more minutes
before the end ; the struggle in the rough water
might last a little longer than in the foaming
surge, but the end would come, and it would be
the same
He did not tell Nellie of the change.
She still sat, and he clasped her hand, trying only
to comfort her by his presence, until he saw that
the boat Avould certainly clear the reef.
" We have passed the breakers, Nellie; but we
are "ohi" into the broken water. The boat must
soon be swamped, yet we may cling to it for some
' time, and may possibly be saved yet."
She looked up at his first words with a white
! quivering face, but he could not give her a look
1 that told of hope. When she saw the Avhite foam
j abreast of them and the great rollers Avhich raised
tlie boat up and (Ioavii like a cockleshell, and hid
i at times everything from them but the dim gray
1 stretch of heaving Avater and the revolving light
! above, she shudderingly said :
"Good-by."
Then, A'ith the faintest pressure of his hand
she bent her head again upon her knees.
He passed one hand round her, that they !
might not be parted when the boat Avent from J
under them and then he saAv that they Avere
saved. There, there, hardly tAvo hundred yards
from them, and coming doAvn through the gloom, '
looking tAvice its size, Avas a fishing smack. The j
keeper of the light-house had observed them and
their signal, and given the alarm at Boddam
Harbor; the rescuing smack had stolen upon its '
errand of mercy, hidden from them by the i
breakers until the little boat passed beyond the ;
latter. Cohvyn doubted if his craft Avould ride '
until the other came up, though he hoped to be j
able to keep Nellie and himself afloat. But he
Avas not to save her life. The little vessel floated
bravely until the other was within a feAV yards;
then Cohvyn turned to his companion.
"There is hope; there is life. Thank God,
Nellie! Lookup!"
She did and fainted; she Avas but a Avoman December, 1849, as folloAvs: "We are at peace
after all. ! with all the world, and seek to maintain our
The rescuers pitched a rope to them, and soon I cherished relations of amity with the rest of man
they Avere safely on board. Nellie recovered in I kind" But Mr. Buchanan almost matched it in
no long time, and in a couple of hours they Avere j a speech Avhich he made at the South, in Avhich
being driven back to Peterhead and their friends, j he said, "I do believe, gentlemen, that mankind,
The road was difficult and the drive long; and
Nellie had time to think Avith a shudder of those
great gray rolling Avaves that Avould for nights
haunt her sleep, and Avith heightened pulse of
the man avIio had done all Avhile anything Avas
to be done, and then he had sat down bravely
and calmly to face death, thinking only Iioav he
might comfort the girl Avhose hand he clasped.
She reminded herself Avhat had been her morninr
thoughts of him with a sigh and a blush. The
carriage Avas rolling over the stony streets of
Peterhead, Avhen she leant toAvard him :
" I told you not to ask me again, Mr. Colwyn,
the question you asked this morning. I did
not know my own mind or you. If it Avill
please you, I can say now, I do love you."
London Society,
All the world should be at peace;
And, if kings must show their might,
I'd have those who made the quarrels
Be the only ones to fight.
Jeanndte and Jcannot.
HOW JEWS HAVE FARED- IN SPAIN.
Roughly handled all over the world, the Jews
have nowhere been so roughly handled as in
Spain. Under the Visigoths they had to submit
to all kinds of humiliation, and the invading
Moors found in them their best allies. The estab
lishment of Mussulman rule in Southern Spain
was an unmixed blessing to the Jews. They
throve under the Caliphate of Cordova and in
the kingdom of Granada; their schools were a
model to Europe, their wealth grew, they pro
duced scholars, physicians, and financiers, and
the feeling of respect for them spread even into
the Christian kingdoms, so that there, too, they
became an important and a wealthy part of the
population. Then the old story began to repeat
itselt. At tlie end of the fourteenth century they
; were found to be too rich; and that most effective
j of all alliances, the alliance between the debtors
' and the fanatics, was formed against them. Mas-
sacres and forced conversions began to be the
order of the day : and the new converts, given to
relapsing when the pressure of danger seemed to
be removed, became the favorite food of the Holy
Office. At last, a century later, in the very year
such is the irony of chronology of the discov-
ery of America, there came the famous decree of
Ferdinand and Isabella, banishing all Jews from
the realms subject to the houses of Castile and
Aragon. A hundred and sixty thousand are sup
posed to have gone forth on this new exodus, not
laden with the spoils of the Egyptians, "but them
selves robbed of almost everything of value, and
f modern Jews of Salonica read their news in a
UNREQUITED GENIUS.
Homer was a beggar. Plautus turned a mill
for his bread. Terence was a slave. Bcethius
died in jail. Paul Borghese had fourteen trades,
yet starved with them all. Tasso was often dis
tressed for a few shillings. Cervantes died of
hunger. Camoens, the writer of " Lusiad," ended
his days in an almshouse, and Vangelas left his
body to the surgeons as pay for his debts. In
......
to save him from the grasp of the law ; Dr. John
son wrote " Rasselas " to raise money to defray
the expenses of his mothers funeral, and used
freguently to walk about the streets of London
all night, because he had no money to pay for
his lodging.
A MEMORABLE REPLY.
It Avas a memorable reply of Phidias, Avhen
remonstrated Avith for chiselling so carefnlly the
backs of his statues, AA-hich where to stand high
against the Avail, Avhere no eye could see any part
but the front : " But the gods Avill see the Avhole ! '7
The finest, almost the only utterance of faith in
the perfect presence and oversight of the gods,
from the Grecian A-orld. And Ave should knoAV
and continually feel, that not only Avill God see
all parts of our life, the secret, lonely, as Avell as
the public, but that often He may make that Aery
thing Avhich looks most secret and most lonely
the bearer of greatest messages to others; the
seeds in them of character and of destiny. Anony
mous. A CHINESE SERMON,
The folloAving discourse by a coiwerted Chinese
tailor, Avith reference to the merits of Confucian
ism, Buddhism, and Christianity, is Avorth pre
senting. A man had fallen ino a deep, dark pit.
and laA' in its mirv bottom, groanimr and utterlv
unable to move. Confucius Avalked by, approach-
ing the edge of the pit, and said, " Poor fellOAV, I
am A-erv soitat for aou. WIia Avere aou such a
fool as to get in there? Let me give you a piece
of advice : if you get out don't get in airain." A
Buddhist priest next came by, and said, "Poor
felloAv! I am very much pained to see you there,
I think if you could scramble up tAvo-thirds of
the Avay, or even half, I could reach you and lift
you up the rest." But the man in the pit Avas
entirely helpless, and unable to rise. Next the
Savior came by, and hearing the cries, went to
the very brink of the pit, stretched doAvn and laid
hold of the poor man, brought him up, and said :
" Go. and sin no more."
RIDICULOUS SAYINGS.
General Taylor Avas made ridiculous for a time
lry the sentence Avhich occurred near the begin
ning of his message to the Thirty-first Congress,
as well as the people of the United States, are inter
ested in the preservation of this Union;" and
John C. Calhoun, in commenting upon the clause
in the Declaration of Independence to the effect
that all men are created equal, remarked that
" only tAvo men were created, and one of these was
a woman.'
NOT EXACTLY,
It is said that forty members of the French
Academy once undertook to define the word crab,
and hit upon this, which they deemed quite
satisfactory: "Crab a small, red fish, which
Avalks backAvard."
"Perfect, gentlemen," said Cuvier, when inter
rogated touching the correctness of the defini
tion; perfect only I make one small observation
in natural history. Tlie crab is not a fish, is
not red, and does not Avalk backAvard. "With
these exceptions, your definition is admirable.
Art is the application of knoAvledge to a prac
tical end. Sir John Jlerschel.