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' -- i - " . ....... W 7-.- V V J h; ih; k ii j i . . - 1 1 .. - .. , . f; -L. G. GOULD, Publisher. Devoted to fte Intera Two Dollars per Annum, In AdVance. ; uyOL VI.NQ; 28.r y -; .- WHOLE A SPRING IDYL; BY WILLARD E. COULTER. Spring is coming," Spring is Doming, ' ' is the echo everywhere ; We can see it on the landscape, know it in the Very sir. v --- . r In tho meadows clothed An graM is it there moat plainly seen,' As they enange from somber gray to the emerald living green. - In the lilacs which are springing forth in eager ness to bloom . In the croc me and tulips, .with the hyacinth's per fume - . Flowers growing, nature showing joyous life in everytliing Hail the lithesomsness which, oomes with the bright enlivening Spring I , ' . , v . M Spring Is coming," " Spring is coming !" we can near it in the notes Of the birds that are returning, as they tune their feaherd throats - - In sweet songs of gladsome music, seeming happy thai the a tern, . Icy winter chain, in breaking', now permits them to return . From the Southern fields and forests where they fled to, when exiled t By the rude December blasts sweeping fierce and roaring wild Birds come winging to us singing from a genial clime; - - What season is so fraught with joyance as the bright Springtime? ? r Spring is oming, Spring is coming !" e'en the - breeses tell as as, ; ---- . As from the warm southwest they gently, softly flow; ; - ..- - -j. .; - , . Bene-wcd-SU-ehgth end energy to oar nerves they lend. . - - " Bringing healtn, infusing vigor, as on their course they tend. ? , , .. , Ah, those breezes J how delicious to the suffering sick and weak ; . Eow the zephyrs force the pallor from the fever'd wasted cheek I What ao pleases as purs breeses when they waft in Spring, With the warmOlot other, skies which in their track theybring.J . - , , Spring is oominpr,1 " Spring is ooming !" forest ' trees the fact confirm, - In the-signs of waking life shown in every separate germ; And the trees so lately fettered in the frigid, glacial grasp, ." .' i - -v- .... How are pliant to the breeze, freed at last from that cold clasp ; Freed and way wwiftly changing, leafing out in colors rare;3 4 , -Teanng out in cozy nooks, homes for song birds of the air;1 - - Cool and shady, sure no lady e'er could for such boudoir sigh, As the forest trees in Spring build for birds to oo- " Spaing is coming," " Spring is coming 1" buzzing bees the tidings spread. As they Hit in search of neotar, hovering o'er the violet bed, Or alighting at the window, where the tender house plants .stand : v For the seen regard all sowers equally at their com--xnand. Whether native or exotic, rare or common, bright - or plaint. t " r Whether raised in field or green-house, only so that they' contain Certan measures ov rich treasures from which honey can be wroughvTV " Here's a lesson ; only useful flowers by the bees are U 4 S . ' ' " Spring is coming," Spring is coming I" is ap parent ever yw hero ; ? - We can see it, hear it, feel it ; know it in the balmy Terdbre all about as springing to the touch of Na ture's hand - ' Birds in merry chorus singing sweet and sometimes almost grand. Bills unfettered, - lightly splashing,- rippling . on throughout the day, ; Among the willows, brightly flashing back the warm sun's ray. Flowers growing, zephyrs blowing, joyous life in every thing. Bail the liUiesomeuesa which comes with the in vigorating 8pring 1 ONE OF MY "BY-GONES." - v After striving all day with the total depravity of chairs and tables and bed steads, which refused on any terms to look home-like in a new ; house, it . was comfort-untold to TUsh'out into the avenue, in the. dusk, and take sweet counsel with myself, or, as quaint old Herbert expresses it, - '.-": t to tumble up and down my chest, - ' - And see what my soul doth wear." - , . It was the avenue which made me take the Jiouse nobody's avenue in particu lar, yet it belonged to each one of the small group of cottages to which ii led from the high road. It had existed as a sort of lane before the cottages were ' thought ' of, and great trees had had : time to grow up in a leisurely way and meet overhead. A long gate closed it in at night from the snares of the outer world, and gave greater sense of security to the lonely spinsters and timid widows who lived in the cottages. -. - -- -On this : night a thin ' mist enfolded the trees and me as with a somber gar ment, and the remark of one of our old neighbors when she heard our destina tion pame back to me like a bird of ill omen : f Going to Dovecotes I Then you will live-and die an old maid.' - Nq one ever goes there but the doctor to make them sick, and the ' lawyers, to make their wills. It ia too far front the village to- walk and too near to make it worth, while to ride." She evidently spake not without knowl edge, and I keenly felt the little fine point that was. wrapped up in it. -It had a fearful sound to be an old maid all my days, for old maids do live im mensely long lives, having neither great joys nor great sorrows to wear out their bodies. It almost seems that with a . little effort they, might live forever. I was twenty-two years old,, and no love passage had ever been mine. If one must be- an old maid it would be some consolation to have a few old letters and a bunch of dried ""flower ta'"tura.6ver winter evenings It Was an. bid familiar ' track in nrfnund ; 'my thoughts traveled ' it often. ,Xhe; lionr -was not very late, but the fog made a darkness that, might be felt. Suddenly I heard voices near me, but whether in front or following it was impossible to tell, as I distinguished no foot-steps.- - " I fear we. have made" a mistake," said a woman's voice," trembling" in spite of a hard tone in it. . '.' If you cannot bear with me while -we are lovers, what will become of me by and by ?" . ! " It is only when we are alone that I should ever sufcpect we were lovers"jce - sponded a masculine voice. " You were willing that our engage ment should be a secret," , i a. ' "Yes, because you besought me so anxiously ; but your manner to other men is so utterly utterly " " Don't hesitate for a word. -: I assure you can endure it. Jtty manner is so- ?" ,-..!):! L, y " Unemraged, I ; would say, to put it very mildly. -' i ' .. " Perhaps it is better that my condi tion should ht my manner. " . "Perhap unless you can ' change that manner. "I could -no more ' do that than the . leopard could change his spots. I have loved you well, but that is no' reason why we should marry, I suppose." "Oh, "none whatever. I hear some one coinings" Here is the ring that yon meant for a . fetter. . - Good-night and good-bye I" ' 3 . .-, -, A woman ran by me so closely that her skirts brushed mine, and the fog lifting a little at the same moment, I saw the outline of a man take his elbows from the gate on which he had been leaning, and stooping down seemed to look for something on the ground. Then he hurried away toward the village, and, as Banyan says of his pilgrims, " I saw him no more.;', " o - - 1 - -" - ' - - u I felt like a person blindfolded, who had been tormented with other people's secrets against his wilL I leaned my own arms on the gate until the fog cleared away, and a soft, wavering moon light fell on the trees, which seemed to whisper together about the very secrets that I had shared with them. In a crack between post and bar something gleamed in the moonlight. I picked out a ring the ring which one . had thrown away in her "angry haste, and which the other had looked for on the ground in- vain: - It was a violet, formed of small sapphires,' with a diamond in the center. , I carried, it home and tucked it into the further comer of my upper drawer, and .for a month I pon dered it in my heart. ' I looked eagerly for all notices under the head of Iiost and -found."""" Vast hordes of dogs seemed to have gone upon their travels about that time; muffs and bonds and other small matters were entreated to return, and no questions asked ; but no one had lost a ring. I composed with infinite pains at least a dozen advertise ments which should delicately convey to that outline of a man that his ring might be recovered if he desired it. ' I said no word to my aunt (with whom I shared the cottage and all other worldly goods) of my little adventure in the avenue. If she had ever had any non sense about her it had entirely worn off before my time. She would have sought for the owner of the ring in the same straightforward and exhaustive way as if it had been a stray hoe,found in our garden. Those two lovers wordd have been forced to stand and deliver their names and their secret within a week. ' Aunt Esther had brought .me up in the same way; that she did everything else ; she never forgot to wind her clock on every seventh -day, and she never failed to give me good measure of home comfort, but it was not pressed down nor running over. : I gave her honest liking and respect without any love, and she never missed it. - Nevertheless, it gave me a terrible shock , when her vig orous life was suddenly arrested by a stroke of paralysis. Our only servant in her fright was helpless as her mis tress ; but Miss Purdy, who lived next door, came in to stay with my patient, while I ran through midnight darkness down the avenue and the long village Btreet for the doctor. Dr. Gilmore was the name on the first door that , had a light behind it. At the first pull of the bell the handle came off ia my hand, but I opened the door and found myself in the office. The doctor lay on a lounge, sleeping heavily, as if he had just thrown himself down after a hard day's work. I called him in vain, and finally laid violent hands on. him. He must have been dreaming some fearful thing, for he seized my hands .as in a 'vice and roared, " Now, I have you !" before he opened his eyes. ... . .. . - " You are mistaken, doctor ; it -is' T who have yoOi" I said, laughing.1 He released my wrists, and sat up with his eyes very wide open! - - ' "i - " And what are you going to do with me?" " " Oh, you must come to" my aunt at Dovecotes, this -very moment," and I began to cry more heartily than I had laughed.- c,:; .'' -'": ;: ;. , He took me up as easily as' if T had been a baby, and laid me on the lounge. " Now lie there perfectly still until my carriage is ready, he said, as one in authority. In a few minutes he brought me some innocent-looking ! stuff in a glass, which I drank ; without a word, and' my nerves .grew steady again. '( I climbed, into the little old-fashioned sulky, in which, there was but spare room for its - owner a' carriage that must have been invented by some misan thropic doctor who did" not -mean to drive his own .patients. ".I Contracted myself into about the substance of a paper of pins,' and-, held my breath, but that sulky was a tight fit. indeed I I - wore a thin summer dress,' with only a straw hat on my head, and as my ex citement lessened the cool, sharp air of the September 'night' pierced me like a knife. , . . , . - - . You are shivering," said the doctor. wrapping one side of his round cloak about me and. holding. me. close. to his breast, with one arm, while he drove his horse with furious speed with the other. , I cive vou a crreat deal of trouble. I whispered into his beard. ' "Not at all. . J.t:is all in myday s work," he said, gruffly. This was not very gallant, but it made me more com. fortable in mind, as it was possibly meant to do. . - He did all that a doctor .'could lor my aunt, which was little enough. Time and -oatience were all the TM-eseri Dtions that he gave to her or to me, but he came every day. sometimes twice, as he per ceived that time was growing snort ana patience would soon have its perfect wort. The old story-s-old as whea Cain went courting into tne land of Nod is com ing, as my reader can see. with half an eye. I did not fall in love with Dr. Gil- more nor he with me all at once : but there grew to be. an irrepressible com fort in his rough sincerity, and the warm Ihand-elasp with which at every ' visit he met and stilled my snrinKing nerves. In the first week of our acquaintance I confided to him my unwilling listening in the avenue to the love-quarrel of strangers. With his advice and assist ance I sent a carefully-worded advertise ment to the village, paper. To judge by the" pile of answers .which I received de scribing every kind of ring that ever was worn,- one would think the earth should have been ' sown as thick with them as was the field bf Cannae after the great slaughter of Carthagenian knights. But not one of the answers so much as hinted at a' violet of 'sapphires- with a diamond center. - ' In these lonely days I saw a great deal of my neighbor,. .Miss Purdy ; she was one of those rare and blessed souls who interpret literally- the command to love ons's neighbor as one's self.. Sh and her niece, Kate Purdy, lived together, as I lived with Aunt Esther, and a sort of f eflow-f eeling, from our similar con ditions, made us wondrous kind from tne first. Kate was a sparkling brunette, who made love to everybody, male or female, Jew or Gentile, -bond or free," it was all one to her. I am a very meek-looking person myself , light-haired, Diue-eyed, laded out you almost need a daxK background to see me at all,- - Kate and I looked well together, and tayed together chiefly for that reason at first,' afterward for a strong and earnest liking that- lasted our life-time. I told her all about the ring, and showed her the answers to my advertisements ; and when our talk reached low water on other matters.' we always fell back . on speculation about those two lovers and the sapphire ring. ; Kate was disposed to treat it more lightly than I could find it in my heart to do. She thought it far too pretty to hide its light in a bureau drawer, and after a time I wore it, think ing that in that way it might be possibly seen and claimed py its owner. We had become very intimate in girls fashion before I mtrednced Kate to ' my doctor, Tas r'"called.:him in my heart. They " toqk kindly"', to : each other, but she did not at once begin to wile the heart out of him, as I had seen her do with all other men. ".Why don't you makeove to Dr. Gilmore ?" I asked her at last. " You are naturally a fisher of men, and the prey is very scarce at Dovecotes." " t "Dirstiy, said Hate, " because you already have him in your" own net, and unless all signs fail you will neon land him. ; Secondly,-hd as .too fearfully old and grave. I don't mean that he has lived any great number of years, but he is one of those who are born forty years old, ' and that would make him at this present time three-scoreand ten." - r i a ii ' i i 1 -n jny worm was weii nign empty oi aim and kin when Aunt Esther died, but I was not not near so doleful as. I ought to have been. ' 1 had very little money, but I had youth and hope, and there was the doctor. . Kate Purdy had been help ing me to set. the 'house in . order after the dreadful bustle that follows the van ishing of a familiar face. 1 - At night-fail she left me alone for an hour or two ; . it was then as Kate' and I had tacitly supposed, reading it in one another's eyes, that ' my doctor'icame to see me. " I am afraid you are going to be very lonely here," he said after the first greet ings were over.. . .. r. ... " -fcsut x shalt not be here : 1 am going to live with the Purdys." i - - Are you quite sure tney want you T "They say so. ? . . ' ' ' Doubtless they feel in that way, now, but their hearts are warmed by the sight of your affliction, xou nad far better come home to me." He held out his arms, with a gesture that belied the calmness of his words ; but I would not see it. How can I be sure that you want me?" "Do I nofcutay it V " . " Yes. and so did the Purdvs. It may be that your heart is warmed by my lone liness. -" " What is the use of fencing, when I love you and you love me ?" Jiow do you inow tnat ? ,". Because you have been so careful not to show even a decent regard for me. If you had not loved me you would have been more cordiaL" - " O wiser than Solomon !" I said ; but I saw his arms put out to me at that moment, and I forgot what o'clock it was until Kate's opening the hall door made 'me draw away from V my doc tor." i - " - - Kate made lively talk- for a fewmirr- Utes. but had little response for her audience. . ri-'My dear turtla-doyes," she said, -at last, laying one 'hand on mine and look ing hard at my friend, " I see how it is with you. You have reached the point where ' two ia company and- three is a crowd.- "No, we have passed it," said the doctor, --. t, -- f:; - " And Esther is going tq marry you ? You-have said it." .. -j ' Then I wish you joy with all my heart. ; By the way, did you bring the engagement-rmg witn you ? Of course not ---r- ;; 'You need not look so irate. Some men are so certain of thir Happiness that they buy the ring beforehand. Why don't you use ' this - one that . came to Esther out of the gate-post ?" said Kate, drawing from her nnger tne sapphire ring, which she often wore. It would be a bad omen, J. said. shrinking away from it ; " and suppose some one should claim it, after all ?" L did not tninK of tnat : but you could have another made like it. Noth ing could be prettier f or an engagement- rmg. - i :v .i. If Dr. Gilmore likes it. I am sure I have no objection," I said, at last, for there was a tinge of romance in giving the ring a happy ending, after being spurned by its first owner. - XJr. urumore cua uae it, and put ii on my finger before Kate went off, with some good advice about not sitting up late, which met the fate of most good advice. I crept into her bed in the " we sma' hours ayont thetwal," and she woke instantly. ; - " This is a good example to set before a young and innocent maiden," she re marked. . , " Oh. Kate. I said, in the usual gush ing fashion, " I am so happy, I can't be lieve it, " Oh, well, I can. . Nobody comes to bed at this time of ' night unless some thing awful has happened. . " I wonder he did not fall in love with you, Kate." oo do j. j. but some men have no taste, you know? They are to be titied. not to be blamed. Besides, as I have said before, he is too aged for me. He'll be a centurion' .when you're in your prime. ..v Kate refused to talk all night,' as would gladly have had her, and I did catch an hour or two of sleep, full of happy dreams. ! I was nearly alone in the world, and there was no earthly reason for delaying tne marriage, except lor wedding gar ments. Dovecotes was wonderfully healthy just at this time, - & - f f ' out in aoetor oar riage (he had discarded the old narrow, sulky and replaced it with a buggy) might be seen going at full speed along the avenue often enough for a patient at the point of death. . ; ' We were married,-and went into the village to live in - the very house ' in which 1 had nrst tasen possession ox its owner. That former neighbor, who had seen me an old jnaid in her. prophetic soui, said : " So you. took the doctor, after alL" If this were an ordinary and well-con ducted story, it ought to end here ; but being a true history, my life did not at once come, to an -end, like that of most heroines, with marriage. .. I had been Mrs. Gilmore nearly , ten years, and had led a very downy me or it. . My love, which had run so smooth from the beginning, kept up the same habit. I mentally carried an umbrella - all these years, but it never rained anything but good fortune. . ' ' - - Three little Gilmores made my life a happy burden, and my old friend, Kate loiray.xame constantly to -tne nouse. to help me "bring them up. Kate was near ly thirty years old. when her fate was carried into her aunt's 2 house with a sprained ankle, and came out of it her accepted lover. Many men bad fallen in love with Kate in these years, but they had been without form or comelinesain her. eyes. The mild, colorless man, -whom -she loved at last wita all her tender, heart, carried her away from Dovecotes, and I did not see her again till she, brought with .her - the -transcendent first - baby, which was to cast far into the shade Gilmore babies,, past,, present, and to come. One foggy twilight when our tyrants were laid jf or the- nighty we walked to ward Dovecotes. The long gate open ing on the. avenue, was shut, and we all leaned upon it to rest a moment before turning .homeward -: By the way, said . 1, "it is just like the night when I found this ring. I wonder if-those lovers ever made up their quarrel and married, after all." "1 am quite sure theynever married, said Kate s husband, gravely. ' What do you mean T 1 gasped. ' -. if Tell lier all about it," said Kate to Dr. Gilmore. . . We are all happy now." She kissed me twice, with a long look into: my .frightened face,, and walked away with her husband. . .jU What is-.it, t"'C said, with great ef fort, so-dry was my throat. " - 1- - t "It was Kate Purdy and I who quar reled at . the gate and lost the ring. - That is alL " " i ' s , . ; ? " All t" I repeated, " Little wife, have we not been happy together?" " I have supposed so. " And I have known it." " But the long deceit " " On my word there has been none. After you introduced me to Kate, I never spoae a word to her that you did not hear, nor looked a look that you did not see. She f ascinated me once, but I never really loved her." - .. ; .-' - believe men often make this sort of remark to their wives touching their youthful follies, but it has comforted many another wife. X had always worn the sapphire ring,. the sign of our be trothal, and as we tai&ea J. had been slipping it up and r down around my finger..' . . ..".! As we turned to leave the gate. I saw a deep crack in the ground where frost had loosened the post i m an instant 1 had dropped , the ring into the crack, and went on, with one bruise less on my spirit. ' '. .'' . 3 ' ' - - ' On fie ' way' home we talked of the usual preference for moonlight over fog. and found Jvate .walking alone on the door-step. ?" I will - not darken, yonr doors again, "t she -H3aid, " till you say" that you forgive me, Xes, said the doctor, " she will let by-gones be by-gones," and Kate took that for her answer. You will find your ring where you left"it," I whispered to Kate as I left her for the night. ;2 When 1 was taking out hair-pins un der the gas-light, I saw the doctor look curiously at my forefinger. ies, i saia, is is gone , j. zounu the owner,-you now." "- " - -' u He made me no reply, ' but he drew . . TT -W ' "I 1 1 ' 1 . T r 3 from under the dressing-table ' the little leather-covered box that held all his private papers; the: only thing in the house of which I did not possess the key. He took out a little case and uncovered . a. pearl ring, , an exquisite solitaire.; .--'. - , . . " I bought this ring for you," he said, on the. day after you. aooepted me, feeling sure that you-would some day throw away the other." - v l -put on - the ring, and christened it with kisses and tears. I could not long be angry with my doctor ; I loved him too well. - ---' As to Kate,-1 can forgive, but I can never quite forget. . -' ' -r 1 y- The Origin of the Late Horse Disease. The veritable origin "bf the" horse dis ease is the suDiect of a paper in tne American Naturalist, by Mr. Moore- house, of New York. ; He examined the matter exuding from the nostrils of the affected animals, and besides the regu lar nns. found no less than three differ ent kinds of vegetable organisms, all in states of vigorous development. One was a species of minute lichen, and known as Urbeolaria acruposa. . These were in every form, of .development, there heing hundreds of fragments in single drop. Another, was .an unknown species of Anergillug, also giving evi dence of propagation and growth. The third form was an unknown species, not hitherto described. , In order - to prove that these spores were floating in the atmosphere, they were caught on moist ened glass in the atmosphere in the vicinity of the disease. This brings the atmospheric and vegetable origin of the diseasenearer to a demonstration, but does not prove it, as the atmospheric vegeta ble spore may have simply found a fa vorable nidus in which to germinate in the mucous matter given off by the disease.: . , ........ Tub library of Congress'" has twice doubled within twelve years, and now HBki 260,000 volumes. ; ; u - Miscellaneous. Nebraska has 1,800 miles of railroad. South Cakolina has 101 colored legis lators. ..". . Beoad-soled shoes are best for com fort . ... Iowa and Colorado owe no man any thing. , Iowa farmers are going into peanut culture. Only one person out of forty belongs to church out in Nevada. THxhensof this country do$60,000,000 worth of business a year. ThubiiOW Weed likes to walk his room at midnight and repeat " The Ha ven," ' ' v : An Indiana farmer figures a Congress man's new salary at 30,000 bushels of oats. , . An Iowa man is planting 7,000 trees on his 800-acre farm near juiswortn, Kansas. ,. . , ; - The average diameter of blood cor puscles scarcely exceeds two ten-thou sandths of an inch. The New York Herald advocates the abolishment of life-boats and the carry ing of rafts by ocean steamers. -The United" States' grows annually about 130,000,000 bushels of potatoes three bushels for every man, woman and child. ; . . i The new Atlantic cable between the United States and Great Britain will be ,060 nautical miles in length, and will cost 1,211,000. A ' woman in Gardiner, ' Me.', weighs sixty-five pounds less than she did be fore the surgeons removed her from a tumor on which she had grown. - , The man who can set ' the Thames on fire has made his appearance in Lon don. He claims to have perfected a plan by. which the hydrogen in water can be used as fuel. ". A GiKii of 13 recently brought to' mar ket at Americus, Ga. , a 500-pound -bale of cotton, the result of her own unaided labor, from the plowing of the soil to the picking and ginning. 1 . . . Every member of the family of Craw ford Nally, who left Paulding county, Georgia, last November, for Arkansas,' has died of small-pox since reaching the latter State. The family consisted of 21 persons, ' 4 . . ?The average weight of the brain in man to the weight of his body is as 1 to 36.or 1 to 40. In the mammalia the proportion is 1 to 86 ; in brrds, 1 to 21'J ; in reptiles, 1 to 1,321; and in fishes, only to 5,668. A young woman, while eating a stew i Middletown, Ct., the other evening, complained that one of the oysters was full of bones, and careful, if not attrac tive, examination showed that it con tained 45 pearls, varying in size from a i r i It is generally believed now by me teorologists, says the JNew xork Times, that we are to have a cycle of very hot summers.' An eminent sanitarian in the Health Department, Dr. Stephen Smith, has already issued a report suggesting measures during the coming summer which shall prevent the fatal effects of the expected heat. - Prop. Agassiz has been lecturing on eggs, and he asserts that " an living be ings, whatever their diversity ox lorm, have grown up ' from eggs which are at first all precisely similar. Deviations take place, little understood, that event ually change these beings into widely differing animals. 'X his explains where everything comes from except eggs. . The Troy Times has a story that a gentleman residing in the vicinity of Sandy TTill holds a ' note against Gen. Washington for $1,500, given for sup plies during the American Kevoiution. There is an indorsement on the. note for about one-half the amount, and it is al leged that' the balance has never been paid. ,.i ;,.'? . The temperance cause in Kentucky has been, some what set back by the an nouncement that one of the few water- drinkers in that State has just discov ered at the bottom of his well the body of a neighbor who disappeared four years ago ; and the majority of the peo ple have resolved to stick to whisky and let well alone. Mary Ann Cotton's Execution. The execution of Mary Ann Cotton, who was found guilty of poisoning her step-son, at West Auckland, England, some time since, took place recently at Durham, where the prisoner had been confined in jail since her trial. On the morning of the fatal day, at the sound of. the death-knell, the unfortunate crim inal left her cell in company of the offi cers, and was led out to the scartoid, fol lowed by Calcraft and his assistant. The prisoner was escorted on either side by a male warder, but though her step was firm and her body erect, there was deeo emotion observable in her face, which had so changed since her trial that she was scarcely recognizable. ' She was dressed in a black stuff gown, with a black and white check shawl thrown over her shoulders, and so fastened in front as to hide the pinioning straps. Her head and throat were bare, and her hands convulsively clasped in front. - As she left the cell she said, Heaven is my home," and on her way to the scaffold was continually moaning and muttering prayers. When she reached the drop, Calcraft immediately stood before her and covered her face with the white cap, She, trembled perceptibly, and never ceased her devotions. Having strappei her legs together and seen that the rope was duly adjusted, Calcraft withdrew to the part where the handle of the bolt was placed, whilst the two male warders retained their position on the plank on each side of the prisoner. The unhappy woman clasped her hands close to her breast, murmured in an earnest tone, " Lord have mercy on my soul," and in n nnment t.rin bolt was drawn bv Cal- craf t's assistant. All present were deeply moved, oarticularv . the under-sberifl. whom it was necessary at one point of the proceeding to support. , POSTAGE MATTERS. No More Free Matter to be Sent Through the Mails—The Postal Rates as They Now Stand. [From the Postal Record.] ThA rMvni Cnn err arhi on nl lefrislation provides that "all laws and parts of! laws permitting the transmission by mail of any free matter whatever be, and the same are hereby, repealed from and after June 30, 1873." This cuts off the free exchange of newspapers between publishers, and the the free circulation of papers within counties of publication. jSo changes in The rates of postage have been made, consequently postage charges will be as follows: . , LETTERS. To all parts of the United StateB, three cents per half ounce. . , : . PAPERS, MAGAZINES, ETC. Pamphlets, occasional . publications, transient newspapers, magazines, hand bills, posters, unsealed circulars, pros pectuses, book ,. manuscripts, proof- sheets, maps, prints, engravings, blanks, flexible patterns, sample cards, photo graphic paper, letter envelopes, postal envelopes and wrappers, cards, plain and ornamental paper, photographic epresentations of different types, seeds, cuttings, bulbs, roots and scions can be transmitted through the mails at one cent for : each two ounces or fraction thereof. ..- , s- . . .. . Books: two cents for each two ounces or fraction thereof. Samples of merchandise, metals, ores and mmeralogical specimens can pass through - the mail in packages not ex ceeding twelve ounces, at the rate of two cents for each two ounces or. frac tion thereof; to be left open at the ends for examination, ' and -to contain - no writing other than the address.. ; All liquids, poisons, glass, explosive material, obscene books, and all other material liable to injure the mails or those having charge thereof - shall ' be excluded therefrom.- , ' ' :. ; REGULAR PUBLICATIONS. Newspapers sent by mail must be prepaid by stamps, unless "regularly issued and sent to regular subscribers by publishers or newsdealers, when, the following rates are, charged, payable quarterly in advance, either at the mail ing or delivery office : 4 ' - - ' Dailies . i . . . .'. .-.".'35 cents. Six tunes week. .......... ....30 cents. Tri-weeklv .'. ' 15 cents. Semi-weekly .-, t . s . . i .;............ 10 cents. Weeklies ., ; Scents. Semi-monthly, not over4ozs. .. 6 cents: Alontniies, not over 4 ozs. ........... o cents. Quarterlies, not over 4 ozs. .......... 1 cent. Newspapers and circulars dropped into the office for local ' delivery must be prepaid at the rate of one cent for two ounces, and an additional rate for every additional two ounces or fraction thereof ; and periodicals weighing more than two ounces are subject to two cents, prepaid at the letter-carrier offices. . . ' i-':: The postage on regular papers, etc., must be paid in advance, either at the place of delivery, 'to the carrier, or at the ; office, otherwise . they will be chargeable at transient rates. . . --. BOOK MANUSCRIPT. Book manuscript ' passing between authors and 'publishers requires pre payment at the rate of one cent for each two ounces or fraction thereof. . . -.- Manuscript intended -for publication in- newspapers, magazines, pampmets, etc., is subject to letter rates of post age.: - '" ' ' GENERAL RULES. "Frill prepayment bv stamps is re quired on all transient printed matter, foreign and domestic. - " . All letters not prepaid by stamps, an such as are received in the office with stamps cut from stamped envelopes, or with such . postage stamps as were in use : prior - to - 1861, or with revenue stamps on them, are treated- as ' " un mailable" and sent .to the Dead Letter Office. . ' : ' . - - Letters which have not been delivered canl be' forwarded,1 without- additional charge, upon a written request Letters once delivered from a post- office cannot be re'mailed without pre payment of postage. ; ' .Departmental postage alter June ov, 1873. -will be prepaid bv special stamps. prepared and furnished by the Poetoffice It will, nevertheless, become impor tant for correspondents of the several departments, and bureaus to tuny pre pay their postage after the 20th of June next. Of course, the local officers, and agents of ' the departments will be in structed to this effect.'"' ' ' f " Egotistic Talkers. Almost every circle is blessed with the egotist, who exercises a kind of dicta torship over it. Are vou in mistake as to a matter of fact? He cannot suffer you to proceed till you are correctecL Have you a word on the end oi your. tongue ? He at once comes to your re lief. Do -you talk bad grammar ? He Quotes rules and gives examples like pedagogue. Does he discover that there is a link wanting in the chain of your argument ? He bids you stay till he has supplied it. Do you drop a word in which he has devoted much research? He asks you whether you know its primitive signification, and straightway lniiicw upon vixts circle a mug piuiuiugi cal disquisition. When you relate an incident which you suppose new and af fecting, your friend listens without emo tion. When you nave done he ob serves that he heard the same long ago, and adds a very material circumstance which you omitted. - He is never taken by surprise, and it is impossible to give him any information. And yet he never takes the lead in conversation, nor ad vances an original thought. It is his business to come after, and pick up the words which others let slip in a running talk, or to check their impetuosity, that he may point out to them their missteps. Had he lived in the days of Solomon, he would have flattered the royal sage with an intimation that some of his proverbs were but plagiarisms; or, had he been a contemporary of Solomon's father, would have, felt himself bound to give ' the slayer of Goliah some lessons on the use of the sling, and.-hinted to the sweet singer of Israel his private opinion that tne snepnera uaru uiu.nor- periecuy un derstand the use oi the harp. , : 'A marks swell The porpoisfe , AT THE EASEL. If I bad anKht of art to traos ' Soft-pencilled lines which poets love, , ( I'd draw myself a fairy fase, To hang above. ; t." Twin-roses blushing npon snow . ' The tints commingling here snd there Soft melting into smooth white brow -And annny hair. Bright tresses like an anreole, With downward-drooping rays, to glance, . ' . A chastened light npoS the whole Sweet countenance ' -U- ' Eyes, for the dim-reflected ray f : r : j 5 f,-, AO tinge wnn pensive lesaeroow, Which the more dazzling light of day . Would dispossess. . ' ... . ' -.- ; ' -,-.- - ' But, ah, 'what painting can command,' What ariiHt-ekJll could e'er arrange, V, - Each melody of movement, and ; Each charm of change T , ) ; ,' The fitful play of life and light Transluoent through that face of hers . -Like stars hang out to guide aright , Us wayfarers. ; Is it a sin to sit and watch This shadow of a fairer face "-f if ' With tearless eyes, eager to catch .. : , .( Each gift and grace T . J .' . Is it s sin this ones to seat' , : ; ; . ? ' Her in my heart as on a throne ; - . And fancy her, from face to feet,.- . .: : - All, all mine own : :- : '.. !vv-;- - All, all mine own, from dusk to dawn, .. 0( All orbed within eyes' neroe strain ; . Nor once to fear the lips' cold soorn, ; The nds' disdain T ; -. s.-it Is this a sin T Perchance and yet No fairer sin e'er earned a fall. Soinrn the portrait and forget Face to the wall. ' Humorous. FroDiiESTioKS Bad violin players..,: ; ' Expensive timber School boards. ,- , j Always driving things A hammer. ; t . -. ' Always on the spot rDetectives., ( . ( , Many men spend their lives in. gazing at their shadows. ' ' ' The kind of ' animals admitted at en tertainments White kids, - t r. ' ? : ; " ' . . : Why are teeth like verbs f" Because they are regular irregular and defective. ' Ladies anxious for pin money should mairy the proprietors of bowl in g-alley s. ; ;. Why are umbrellas like pancakes ? - , ;" Because 'they - are - seldom Been after ' " Lent. (; -r . , r f jjia-.,c;i( m :! i .Quest -If -a sailor has been - travel-' -ing on horseback, can it be said that he rowed? '".- ;t-'t".tii, ;":V;' : ' WEW'tt pickpocket pulls at' your r-'; watch tell him plainly that you have no ; -time to spare. ' An umbrella deserves no' credit for its -services, for it never does any good unless ' i 11 put Op W it. - . . A young lady of sixteen who had worn short dresses all her life positively told her mamma she would wear them no 4 longer.". -. . - , .-. . . A woman with a quick temper should not marry a dilatory, easy-going man. Such a slow match must lead to a blow- -. up in the end. - - ' - ' ' - ' - - "' ' The most strkinfir difference between a ' fool and a looking-glass is that the fool .. speaks without reflecting, and the looa . ing-glass reflects without speaking. ' A GENTLEMAS traveling m Ireland said -' to- a 'very importunate beggar, " You . have lost all your teeth." The beggar quietly answered, " An' it's time I parted with um, when I'd nothing for unt to. do." ' ' " " ' " " ... .' Uncle Ii. ' Now, Sammy, tell' me, have you read the beautiful story of ', 1 Joseph ?" Sam-i-" Oh, - yes, uncle. " , "Well,. then, what wrong did they do ;". when they sold their brother?"'. Sam They soid him. loo. cheap, uncie, Jt think'. . - . ,.-.,- -V-' I hope you will be able to support . me, said a young woman, wniie wanting out with her .intended during a some what slippery state of -the pavement. Why, yes," replied the somewhat hesi- ' ' tating Bwain ; . f ' with a; little . assistance ? . from your father." There was some con fusion, and a prof ound silence. -' - '' Strange Interruption of a Marriage Ceremony. TVia ftrirntnairvn. tells the story - of a . young man named Albert E. Knights, of . Half Moon, who for several moons past - ; has been "paying his distresses to a respectable young lady of .East Line,: in, Saratoga county. His attentions culmi- . nated in an engagement ol marriage, and the time fixed for the ceremony was the - 2d day of April. . As the event turned r out, the 1st of April would have "been a more appropriate appointment. -: The- 1 friends of the parties were assembled at the bride's residence, and the Bev. J. M. Webster -was called , in to tia the knot. - Previous to the ceremony, however, the , clerical gentleman waer invited to a pri vate interview by the groom, who inti- - ! mated that " he wished the marriage cer emony cut short, objecting : articuiariy and refusing to assent to that part of the '- form to "love iier, comfort her, nonor,. and keep her, in sickness and in health ; and forsaking all o theirs, keep thee only unto her so long as ye both shall live, saying " he could not promise to live with her until death, not knwing what might happen." The dominie remonstrated. and on the groom s persistence, reiuaea in to to to perform tne service, remara- - ing that "if he the groom) felt that .. way he had better stop where he was ; upon which he withdrew, first inform ing the lady's parents how the case stood. Imagine tne oonsternauon oi tne oriue expectant, the indignation of her friends, and the mortification of the parents and friend of the groom at this exhibition and exemplification of the " free love teachings of the Woodhull-Claflin school. One Way of Making a Lrvrna. Vel pean, the French surgeon, had two hos pital patients whose business for fifteen -years was to be knocked down and run . -over in the street.. When they saw a . light vehicle approaching and knew the t owner to be wealthy, they would run across the street in such a way as to get before the horses, to be- knocked down -and carried to the hospital, when they -would sue for damages. When the money thus - gained was spent, ' they would go out and get run over again. They generally managed to- avoid being seriously injured in this way ; yet nearly every bone in their bodies had been broken. - ""'-, - .;.,-.... , t :- ; 0 " '