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BT BARRETT SYLVESTER, AUTHOB OF •Vbtt»rei>.yet ?nEE," "clouds aotj sunbhiwb," "BSTEI.LE'S ERROR," " FALBB PHIDB," '• STRICKEN' DUMB," KTC, ETC. OOSTtXWJk, CHAPTER XXVIII. THE RELENTLESS KNEMY. The General turned toward the shadowy form wlii.-h still remained in the gloomiest corner of the room. "Are you convinced now?" said the wo man's voice. "Do you now believe that I told you the truth* on the night that Mr. Ovington was assnnlted, and again on the eve of your wedding-day, when I declared to you tbiit Maud Ovingtou was a murder ess?" "Yes," answered the General, in a hoar»e voice, and with the strange, unnatural man ner of a man who speaks iv his sleep — "yes, I believe all now." The honest, the generous and manly heart of Grauby Dumont was well-nigh broken. He had* met with the basest treach ery from the woman he had trusted so long, so fully. The blow was indeed a terrible one. Then, for the nist time, the General dis tinctly beheld the denouncer who had fol lowed upon his wife's track from the hour of Clarence Soydam's disappearance. By the extra light of the lamp which was now turaed up he saw a shrouded figure, slender and delicate, but veiled from head to foot in white draperies, which gave a shadowy and ghost-like appearance to her form. "Who are you?" cried the General. "I am a woman," answered the voice which had struck despair to his proud heart — "I am a woman, and a revengeful one." Two small hands flung back the white and cloud-like draperies, and the pale face of Clarice Suydam was revealed. It was she who had plotted the fatal dis covery which had taken place this night, and James Dalton had assisted her iv its ac complishment. "I am a woman and a revengeful one," she continued, her voice sounding almost un earthly in its unnatural and melancholy earnestness. "I come of a proud and pas sionate family— a family whose souls are like untempered iron, that can break, but will never bend. Where we love, we love forever. With us love and hate are akin to madness, perhaps, but we never change. I loved my cousin, Clarence Suydam — loved him as only a true woman can love — loved him better than my life— better, it may be, than my soul! Ay, and the day was when he returned my affection, when he loved me truly and dearly, and the fair future smiled before me, a bright and sunny prospect of happiness and delight!" "Poor girl, poor girl!" murmured the Gen eral. The dream of the strong man's loving heart had just been shattered, and he could feel for a woe which was like his own. "I was happy — Heaven knows how hap py," continued the impassioned girl, "till the evil day came, the black day for him and for me — the day which sealed the fate of both. I say that Clarence Suydam loved me. He did love me until Maud Ovington crossed his pathway. From that hour he changed. He was bewitched, intoxicated by the studied fascinations of the false en chantress. Perhaps, as much as she could love, she loved him. It pleased her heart to see him cast his heart, his ambition, bis fu ture, all beneath her feet, that she might trample on them. She had written him let ters — letters in which she avowed her lasting — her eternal affection, and she knew your proud nature, Granby Damont— she knew that if those letters had fallen into your hands, you would have cast her from you as a base and unworthy creature, a traitor alike to love and honor. Clarence Snydam re fused to return those letters. He did not choose that another man should be fooled as he had been fooled. He threatened to place them in your hands. From that hour his doom was sealed, and the same night that he had declared his reason he was decoyed from the house and murdered — murdered by some tool, employed by your wife, Maud Uvington! "Oh, misery, misery!" exclaimed Granby Dumont. He could no longer refuse to believe in bis shame and dishonor. From the lips of his wife he had sufficient proof of her guilt. "But tell me," he cried, "what was the meaning of that strange scene which took place below not halt an hour since? What was the reason of the terror of — of her whom E may no longer call my wife, when he* ac cuser removed his mask?" "Maud Dumont had good reason for her terror," answered Clarice, coldly; "she be lieved that she was looking upon the face of the dead. " "And the terror of the man who was with her?" "He also thought he beheld the dead— the murdered dead. That man was no other than one of the base tools who perpetrated the murder- a tool in the pay of Mrs. Da mon t." "Mercifal Heaven, this is too horrible!" The General covered his face with his hands, stunned and stupefied by that which he had heard. He rose from his seat and walked across the room, at first staggering like a drunken man. but afterward steadying himself. He pointed to the trap door, and spoke in a strange and husky voice to the man in the glouch hat, who was watching him with a glance of pity. "If you will conduct me to the spot where my carriage waits, 1 shall be obliged to you," he said. The man bowed and raised the trap door. Before descending, the General turned once more to Clarice. 1 *You have done me a service," he said, in the same husky voice. ''I have been blind antil to-night; but you kave torn away the bandage that obscured my mental vision. I jannot thank you yet — I suffer too much — but the day may come in which I shall be able to express my gratitude." "You owe me no thanks," replied Clarice. "I swore to be revenged upon the murderer of the man I loved, and I have kept my oath. Life holds no further purpose for me, and I can but pray for death as a wel come release from a dark and joyless exist ence. If the dream of your life is broken, mine was shattered long ago — upon the night on which Clarence Suydam fell be neath the relentless hand of his murderer!" No other word was spoken. The General descended, and left the ireary and tenantles3 building, and a mo ment after was driven rapidly away from the spot. Thus perished forever Granby Dumont's faith in the woman he had loved so tenderly. CHAPTER XXIX. DEATH AT THB OTCNGTON MANBIOIT. < The cold gray dawn was glimmering upon the leafless tree-tops when Mrs. Granby Dumont returned from the masquerade at Morrisania. She threw aside her domino and mask. Her beautiful face was of a ghastly and corpse-like pallor — of a marble rigidity. "The dead!" she muttered— "the dead! Even my courage failed before that white, accusing face, and William Gorton, my un scrupulous tool, who could commit murder for a golden price, even he shrank from that ghastly sight, and could no longer help me. I put the Spaniard, Levinto, upon the track. Surely he will not fail — surely not! Oh, that 1 could see George, and get his advice!" Ten minutes after, the outer door was cautiously opened, and Levinto entered the zoom. __"Bpeak, Levinto!" she cried— "speak, I implore— l command yon! Have you suc ceeded?" "Unfortunately, no, madam," answered the Spaniard. "He had disappeared!" "Oh, horror!" cried Maud Ovington, de spairingly. "Bah! fool! coward! why did you come away with your work undone? I would have paid you as I have never paid yon yet. I would have sacrificed the last penny I have, every jewel I possess!" The Spaniard smiled with a strangely sin ister expression. "Ay, madam," he said, "I doubt not that you would pay me well, but I am rich al ready, and have no great fancy for risking my life, even in your service. The laws of this country are hard against the murderer. I have escaped once, but I might fail to es cape a second time. I have failed in doing this, and therefore, lady, I shall do wisely, perhaps, in wishing you farewell." "Farewell!" exclaimed Maud Dumont, with an air of stupefaction. "You would not surely desert me?" "It is no desertion, madam. I would re turn to my own country. lam rich, and there I may be a uobleman. Here my life is in danger; so farewell." "You are determined?" "Ay, madam; Levinto does not easily change his mind." "Go, then!" cried Maud Dumont. "Yonr crimes have made you rich, aud your cow ardly spirit would take you from all peril! Bat, before you go, it is in your power to grant me a favor. My wealth has helped to make you rich, so you cannot well reluse to do what I ask. Your countrymen are skilled in the use of the stiletto?" "We are, madam." "Do you know of a stiletto so fine at the point that 'one puncture would go directly to the heart and yet leave upon the skin no trace of iU oourse, for prying eyes to dis cover?" Levinto smiled. "I do know of snch an instrument, mad am," he said, quietly. "And can you procure one for me?" "I can give you one," replied the man, significantly. He took from his pocket a small morocco ease, which resembled a cigarette-holder. He opened this case and took from it a slen der piece of steel, to which was attached a tiny pearl handle. "On the blade of this stiletto, madam," said Levinto, "is a substance which will heal the puncture made, and also aid the steel in its deadly work. One stab, and a painless death results. Any one finding the stiletto could scarcely guess the purpose for which it is used." "And you will give me this?" "I will," said Levinto, handing her the delicate instrument. "The person who possesses it, need not long dread a sleeping enemy, nor fear the hangman. I shall start this morning for my native country. Fare well, madam." "I am glad he has gone!" muttered Mrs. Dumont; "and yet— and yet he might have been useful to me!" The gentle daylight crept in through the rose-colored linings of the white lace cur tains, and made the pale face of the Gen eral's wife even more ghastly than it had been before. She was about to throw off her masquer ade dress, and fling herself upon the luxuri ous couch in her bed-chamber, when the door was once more opened. Maud Dumont looked up with a start of terror. General Dnmont entered. He was as pale as death, and there was an awful calm ness on his face, which caused the guilty woman to stifle a cry of fear as she beheld it She disguised her terror with a terrible effort and looked at the General with a smile. "You have risen early this morning, Granby," she said, cayly. "You shame my dissipated habits. The masquerade was so delightful that I lingered longer than I had intended. I have only just returned, and I am going to take a few hours' rest, for I am terribly sleepy!" The General did not reply to this speech. "Yes, I am very, very tired!" murmured his wife. "But it is only seven o'clock, Granby," she added, looking at a tiny jew eled watch that lay among the trinkets be fore her. "I had no idea you were such an early riser!" "lam not an early riser," returned the General, coldly. "I have not been to bed ail night!" "Indeed! Oh, then of course you were at some private meeting of yonr party. lam only sorry you were not at Morrisania. The masquerade was delightful! " "You enjoyed yourself very much, then?" eaid the General, fixing his eyes, with a searching gaze, upon the false and guilty creature whom he had so long loved. "Oh, yes, indeed! I cannot remember ever having enjoyed myself more. My only regret was that you were not there to share my pleasure," she added, with one of those half-pensive, half-tender smiles, which had so often fascinated the General. Now his heart was marble. The mask had fallen from that once idolized face, and he could only look upon it with feelings of horror and disgust. ' 'You are mistaken, madam, " he said. ''I was there!" A deathly shadow came over the face of the young bride, and she grasped the tiny stiletto tightly in her slender hand. •*You were there?" she gasped— "you were at the masquerade?" "No, madam, I was not at the masquer ade. I was at Morrisania. I was the wit ness of a strange scene which took place in the dimly-lighted chamber of a tenantlesc cottage." Maud Dumont rose from her chair with a wild cry of anguish. She tottered forward a few steps and fell upon her knees at the feet of the General. "Pity me!" she eried — "have pity upon me!" ♦•No!" said Granby Dumont, sternly. "No, madam T' be exclaimed; "I can feel no pity for you; neither can I feel revenge. You are too base, too utterly degraded and contemptible to evoke either sentiment in my breast! The past is past. I blot the love I bore you from the history of my life as I would blot out a dark page from a book. You are free to go where you will. Mine shall not be the tongue which will be tray you to the officers of justice. But doubt not that, fly whither you will, justice will track yon out in the end. False wife, murderess, traitress, Heaven have mercy on you when the hour of doom shall come!" The wretched woman was bewildered, ter ror-struck, stupefied. For the first time, she felt that all was lost. "Were I alone possessed of your horrible secret, I should feel that my fate was sealed," continued the General. "You, who did not hesitate to murder Clarence Suydam, the man yon pretended to love, would scarcely scruple to murder me, if you thought, by so doing, you might retain possession of the wealth for which you have periled your soul! But others hold your fatal secret. A woman— an outraged and revengeful woman holds in her relentless hand every clue of that horrible mystery. That woman will hunt you to your death. Her name is Clar ice Suydam!" A groan of misery burst from the lips of the cringing woman. She remembered the dark and stern face of Clarence's cousin. Yes, there was an avenger! "Farewell!" said the General, walking toward the door. "We have met to-day for the last time. God pity yonr poor old father!" He left his guilty wife kneeling on the velvet rug before the fire, and passed out of the room. The door closed behind him, and Mattd Dumont was alone. She lifted the tiny stiletto with the pearl handle, and looked at it with a strange smile. "Yes," she muttered, "Levinto was right! He could laugh at the hangman while he possessed this!" At twelve o'clock that day a terrible scene took place in the Ovington mansion. When the French maid pushed open the door communicating with her mistress' luxurious dressing-room, she drew., back with a long and piercing scream, which re sounded through the stately dwelling. Mr. Ovington, startled by the cry, rushed through the hall into Maud's room. He had just been notified of the arrest of his reprobate sou George; now he was called upon to witness the sight that broke his heart. His beautiful daughter lay upon the vel vet hearth-rug, motionless, ghastly— dead! CHAPTEB XXX. "FHOM HIS OWN LIPS!" Let us, for the lost time, enter the dwell ing of Clarico Suydara — that dwelling which had been the refuge of the magnificent Ce leste Sicker. Clarice was at home, moving about with a face as pale as the wall. She had convinced General Dumont of the hideous perfidy of her whom he bad cherished with an all-confiding devotion. Now that she hod accomplished that all-ab sorbing desire, her heart sank within her under the crushing sense of loneliness. "Lonely, lonely!" she murmured. "Love less, sad and lonely from the beginning to the end!" James Dalton entered the room. "James DaltoQ," she gasped, "speak, I implore you!" "Presently, Clarice," said the artist, in a strange voice — "presently." He sank into a chair, and looked at her kindly. "Clarice Suydam, we have both worked hard to bring to bay the destroyer of our dear friend Clarence. I have done what I could— l pave up everything, that my mind should be entirely on the one vital matter." "You have done all that man could do," said Clarice, . "Yes, I feel that to bo so. My chief re gret is, that I should have hesitated so fool ishly at co important a stage of the proceed ings. That was a selfish madness, which no sane man would have indulged. I regret it — sincerely regret it. Yet the lesson was a good one." "I can sympathize with you," said Clarice, sadly. "You ha>e been victimized by a base woman.'' James Daltou sighed. "Ay, she is a sinful woman, but I know that she loves me, wicked as such a love may be. She is much like you in her pas sionate nature, and swears she would take hei life, if she dared. She has begged of me a boon, which I am anxious to grant, but cannot unless you also consent." "What is it?" "She pleads that nothing more shall be said of Mrs. Dumont's crime — that no fur ther steps shall be taken to punish the guilty." "How can that concern her? Why should she wish me to forego taking the re venge I seek'" "JShe desires it for the sake of her hus band, who planned the crime, which was carried out by his friends." "Ah, I am glad you have told me this!" exclaimed Clarice. "And you are weak enough to suppose that I will give my con sent to hush up this dreadful crime! Never will I gratify that wish." "Clarice, be a woman, not an avenging angel," said James Dal ton, almost sternly. "You have succeeded in destroying Maud Damont. Let that suffice." Suddenly Clarice burst into tears. "Oh, what am I to do?" she moaned. "What am Ito say? I am lost, bewildered, reckless of the future— eager only for death! My heart is dead to all feeling — to every emotion." "To every emotion, Clarice?" "Yes." "Many things have happened to-day, Clarice. I came here from Madison Ave nue — from the Ovington mansion." "Indeed." "Death has been busy in that splendid dwelling." "Death!" repeated Clarice, in a dull voice. "Yes; the wife of Granby Dumont died this morning by her own hand." "She is dead, then, this beautiful fiend — the destroyer of Clarence Suydam?" "What if she were not his destroyer?" "Not his destroyer!" "What if the wrong man were murdered?" "No, no, no!" cried Clarice, passionately. "Have pity on me! One ray of hope — one dazzling, blinding ray of hope would kill me!" "I only ask you to consider that strange mistakes have happened before to-day," said James Dalton, quietly. "What if the wrong man had been lured to death?" "You torture — you madden me!" gasped Clarice. "Was Clarence Suydam murdered or was he not?" "He was not!" "And you know this " "From his own lips!" cried a familiar voice behind Clarice, and in the same mo ment she was clasped in the arms of Clarence Suydam. Clarice uttered a wild cry and fell faint ing on her cousin's breast. Clarence Suydam had escaped, almost by a miracle, from the hands of the wretches who had plotted to destroy him. Upon the night of the ninth of October, when he had left his studio to keep the ap pointment at the Metropolitan Hotel, he met his half-brother, Henry Baymond, who stood in the lobby of the hotel. He had been drinking heavily. Clarence left him there, intending to rejoin him after seeing Mr. Spencer, the gentleman who had ap pointed the meeting with the artist. Henry Baymond, the artist conjectured, must have followed him, and have been mistaken by the waiter for Clarence. At any rate, the waiter had handed a card to a gentleman, somewhat intoxicated, who, when asked if his name was Suydam, had replied in the affirmative, and accepted the card, bearing the name "Charles Spenoer," which the waiter tendered him and directed him to the waiting-room. This had evidently been a joke, which proved fatal to Henry Bay mond. Failing to find Mr. Spencer, Clar ence Suydam left the hotel more disheart ened than ever. He stood outside the building a few minutes in deep thought. "What if I should leave this city?" he muttered. "I have nothing to hold me here; Maud's treachery has made me detest civilized life. I'll do it— l'll leave for Eu- rope to-morrow morning, find my old chum, Dalton, spend a few days with him, and then hide myself in some out-of-the-way place." He did not dare return home, for fear his cousin would discover his plans, so he took lodgings for the night On the mor row, he started for foreign lands. But he did not feel content after reaching England, and after wandering abont for a time, miserable and sick, he returned to his native land. His first visit, upon reaching New York, had been to the house of his friend, James Dalton, whose address he obtained from a fellow-artist Within a year after his return, Clarence Suydam led his cousin Clarice to the altar of a quiet little church in the suburbs of the city. Mr. James Dalton frequently visited the widow of Henry Baymond, and little Bertie became more and more attached to him. Perhaps it was that which led Mrs. Bay mond to think so much of the calm and dig nified artist; and perhaps James Dalton wished to have Bertie always with him, for, two years after the marriage of Clarence Suydam, another domestic alliance was formed, the parties being Mr. James Dalton and Mrs. Henry Baymond. William Gorton and Levinto fled from New York immediately after the suicide of Maud Dumont, but were overtaken and pun ished for their crimes. The wretched Celeste Bicker was released from prison, after the sentence of her hus band, and disappeared. [the end. 3 "You do not like to make calls," said an uncle to his nephew. " But you must make calls," ho continued, "for there's always pleasure derived— if not when you enter, at least when you come out" THE ORIGIN OF A FACETIOUS BAYING. The origin of the allusion to New Jersey as a foreign country is said to be as fol lows :— "After the downfall of the first Na poleon, his brother Joseph, who had been King of Spain, and his nephew, Prince Murat, sought refuge in this country, and brought much wealth with him. Joscpl Bonaparte wished to build a palatial resi dence here, but did not desire to become a citizen, as he hoped to return o Europe. To enable him, as an alien, to hold real estate, required a special act of the Legis lature. He tried to get one passed for his benefit in several States, but failed. He was chagrined, especially because Pennsyl vania refused. After this he applied to the New Jersey Legislature, which body grant ed both him and Princo Murat the privi lege of purchasing land. They bought a tract at Bordentown, and built magnificent dwellings, and fitted them up in the most costly manner. Eare paintings, statuary, etc., were profuse ami selected with the greatest care, and the grounds laid out with exquisite taste. Joseph Bonaparte's residence was perhaps the finest in Ameri ca. Thousands of people from all parts of the country visited him and were treated courteously. He was exceedingly liberal with his money, and gave great impetus to business in the little town. The Philadel phians, finding that he had apparently no end of money, and that he used it to benefit business generally, regretted, when it was too late, that they refused to let him locate among them, and to keep up their mortifi cation, would always taunt Jerseymen with having a king — with importing the King of Spain to rule over them. They were called Spaniards and foreigners on that account. But these taunts harmed no one, as the Jerseymen lost nothing by allowing him to settle among them, and thus 'for eigner/ jokingly applied to Jerseymen, has come down to us long after its origin has been forgotten, except by a few of the past generation. Many years ago — during the reign of Louis Phillipe — both Bonaparte and Murat found they could safely return to Europe, so they returned. Bonaparte's mansion afterwards passed through vary ing fortunes. It was at last torn down, the magnificent grounds being disposed of at public sale and otherwise for business purposes. INTERESTING FACTS. The organ of vision is considered the most delicate organization of the human frame; yet many who were born blind have been enabled to see by surgical operations, and the following is an interesting fact concern ing one of that class : A youth had become thirteen years of age, when his eyes were touched by a sur geon. He thought scarlet the most beauti ful color; black was painful. He fancied every object touched him, and he could not distinguish by sight what he perfectly well knew by feeling ; for instance, the cat and dog. When his second eye was touched, he remarked that the objects were not so large in appearance to this as the one opened at first. Pictures he considered only partly colored surfaces, and a miniature absolutely astonished him, seeming to him like putting a bushel into a pint. Stanley, the organist, and many blind musicians have been the best performers of their time ; and a schoolmistress in England could discover that the boys were playing in a distant corner of the room, instead of studying, although a person using his eyes could not detect the slightest sound. Prof. Sanderson, who was blind, could, in a few moments, tell how many person were in a mixed company, and of each sex. A blind French lady ceuld dance in figure dances, sew and thread her own needle. A *&md man in Derbyshire, England, has ac tually been a surveyor and planner of roads, his ear guiding him as to distance as accu rately as the eye to others ; and the late Justice Fielding, who was blind, on walking into a room for the first time, after speak ing a few words, said, "This room is twenty-two feet long, eighteen wide, and twelve high," all of which was revealed to him with accuracy through the medium of the ear. Verily, "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." THE RAGE FOX SEALSKINS. Some thirty years ago sealskin was com mon enough. Boxes were covered with it, gloves and driving-rugs were made of it, costermongers and cabmen cut their caps from it. Then came a time when some cunning furrier discovered how to dye it a rich dark brown aad to give it that ex quisite soft and downy texture which is its chief charm. At once ladies adopted the luxury. It was soon found that for cloaks, jackets, muffs, dainty little hats, collars, cuffs, bags, portemonnaies, for a thousand other articles of fern mine use, it was the most delightful, the most beautiful, the most indispensible of all possible materials. The demand for it increased with rapidi ty almost marvelous, and the fashion, in stead of wearing itself out, has, if anything, steadily increased. Indeed, the best Alas ka sealskins, like the furs ef the sable, the silver fox and the Russian sea otter, com mand an altogether fancy price, aad a handsome jacket of close texture and uni form color, with no white hairs to break the continuation of its tint, will fetch as many guineas as five-and-twenty years ago it would have fetched half-crowns. The result is that the luckless seals have had waged against them now for several years what practically amounts to a war of ex termination. A LIFE-SAVING DREAM. In the preface to one of Dickens' novels we find a statement to the effect that some of the incidents in his writings, which hare an air of improbability are founded on fact, while other Incidents, purely fictitious, are more easily believed. The deduction is, that in writing novels, you must leave out incredible facts. The following occurrence is so highly improbable that it serves as an example : A heavy man, who had a good deal of strength in his arms, dreamed that his wife and himself were on a canal-boat, and that they were coming to a low bridge. It seem ed to him that his wife, who was a very ob stinate woman, declined to go below, and in order to prevent her from having her head knocked off by the bridge, he thought in his dream that, to save her life, he must force her into the lower cabin. He was awakened by the Bound of groans issuing from under the bed, and found that in his dream he had forced his wife under the bed, and broken her nose. This incident ia worthy of note, as show ing that we ought not to display too much doubt when an occurrence seems to be im probable. The nose oan be produced as ev idence.. THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP. Among the many different species of game in a country possessing such a varie ty there axe none so difficult to capture as the Rocky Mountain sheep, or bighorns, as they are sometimes called. Living remote from civilization and the haunts of man — ranging along the roof of the Continent, on almost inaccessable peaks high above the timber-line, and endowed by Nature with keen scent and hearing, they are consider ed by hunters as being the most difficult to approach of any animal among the deer kind. The horns of the male are sometimes of enormous size. I have seen them eight inches in diameter at the largest part, and weighing sixteen pounds. Those of the female are small and sharp, resembling the horns of the goat ; in fact, but for the horns and fine silky wool at the roots of the hair, they might readily be mistaken for deer. They feed upon the short nutritious grass which grows upon the treeless ridges and ravines along the Snowy Kange, and when fat weigh from one to two hundred pounds. The flesh is very much like that of the deer, but juicier and of superior flavor. They are almost constantly on the move, ranging from one mountain to another, feeding as they go, and finding some rocky cliff sheltered from the range of winds, where they lie at night. Sometimes sev eral hundred may be seen in one drove, but generally from two or three to a dozen. When pursued they make a break for the highest point of rocks in sight, where they stand looking curiously at the hunter as he slowly picks his way upward over the de bris to get within shooting distance. When that has been gained, however, the sheep have disappeared ; nor does the tired sportsman get another glimpse of his game until he has reached the cuff he has just left, where they may be seen standing on some point higher up on the mountain, and still beyond rifle shot. Should the hunter have perseverence and plenty of muscle, he wiH probably follow them to the highest pinnacle of the range to find at last that his climbing has been in vain, and that the game he has been following so faithfully and hopefully have mysterious ly vanished from his sight. The only successful method of hunting the mountain sheep is to get above them, unseen, and, if possible get a shot before be ing discovered. In this way the herd become confused, not knowing which "ray to run, and sometimes four or five may be killed before they recover themselves. Once started, however, pursuit is useless. Throw ing back their heads they throw themselves into space as if shot from a cannon, and in a few minutes are miles away, taking leaps of twenty or thirty feet, and hardly ever making a mishap, however rapid and head long their flight. HOME. Best of all things to us is home. In hours of ambition and pleasure we may sometimes forget its exquisite sweetness, but let sickness or sadness come, and we return to it at once. Let the hollow hearts that feign a friendship which they do not feel, stand revealed before vs — let us know, as we all must at moments, that however important we may be in our own estima tion, our places would be filled at an hour's notice should we die to morrow ; then we whisper to ourselves the magic word Home, and are comforted. "Home, Sweet Home !" It does not matter how humble it is, nor is it less a home for being a place. It is where those we love dwell — wherever that may be — where we are valued for ourselves and are held in esteem because of what we are in ourselves and not because of power, or wealth, or what we can do for other people. Who would be without a home ? Who would take the world's applause, and honor in place of the tenderness of a few true hearts and the cosy fireside meetings where the truth may be spoken without disguise, and envious carpings are unknown? In life's battle even the hero finds many ene mies and much abuse and slander and de traction ; but into a home, if it is what it ought to be, these things never find their way. There, to his wife, the plainest man becomes a wonderful thing — a sage, a man who ought to be President of the United States, and would be were his worth known. A Ten-Thousand-Dollar Girl. I must give you a story lately told ma which goes to show the value of the girl of the period. On a certain day, on a Penn sylvania railroad, a belle of a thriving Penn sylvania town, the daughter of a wealthy I amber merchant, was traveling in the same ear with a shrewd old citizen of her native town, and an agreeable young gentleman from the West, who tells the story. The latter had been talking to the belle, but as night drew on and the young lady grew drowsy he gave up his seat to her and placed himself beside the somewhat cynical Penn sylvanian. The latter began the conversa tion by pointing to a high mountain past which they were whirled, and said, "You gee that mountain. Six or eight years ago it was covered with as fine a forest as ever grew, and was worth ten thousand dollars and upward. Now, without a tree, covered with stumps, the land is scarcely worth a continental. The net produce of that moun tain lies over there in that seat," and he pointed to the recumbent belle ; "that is my calculation. It has just about absorbed all of that lumber which her father owned to raise that girl, pay for her clothes and jew elry, bring her out in society, and maintain her there. Some of you young men, per haps, if your were given your choice between the mountain yonder, as it now stands, and the net produce on the seat, would take the net produce; but as for me, give me the stumps." A History of Mowing-Machines. The oldest mowing-machines, though very rade, were used by the Gaols. A cart, hav ing blades arranged in front, was pushed forward into the grain by oxen hitched be hind, and thus cut off the heads. A system of six rotating scythes was made by Joseph Boyce in 1799, and an attempt to use th« same principle was made by G.ompretz and Mason in 1852, In 1811-1815& Smith, of Deans, once brought out a machine in whicb a short vertical revolving cylinder carried a knife on its lower end, but all these rotating machines have proved impracticable. Rob ert Meares, in Frome, in Somersetshire, es tablished, in 1800, the shear principle .as < the only practicable one. Salmon, in Wo* burn, in 1807, built a machine with a row of blades and fingers moving over them, and also applied the reel. The Scotch parson, Patrick Bell of Torforshine, in 1826, and William Manning, of Plainfield, N. J., in 1832 were the founders of the present style of machines. Manning was the first to at tach the draught at the side of the machine, all others previously having been pushed from behind. Obed Hussey of Cincinnati, attached the side-platform and slit-finger. McCormick of Rockbridge, Va., now of Chicago, in 1835 improved the Manning and Hussey machine, and the appearance of these at the London exposition, in 1851, was the signal for their introduction into general use. The oldest threshing-machine (except the antiques) was made by Michael Menzies, in 1732, or perhaps at the same time by Tull, consisting of a rotating cylinder with flails. Several others followed shortly, some like a flour-mill, and in 1792, Willoughby, of Bed ford, made one like that of Menzies/ which Yon Thaer brought to -Germany, and which served as a model for the Mecklenburg thresh er. The machine of James Wardropp, of Ampthell, in Virginia, is on a similar prin ciple, only the beaters are sticks moving up and down. Finally, in 1785, Andrew Me ikle, ofTyningham, East Lothian, laid the foundation of the present form, by using a drum with four beaters parallel to its axis, that carried the grain between itself and a concave, furnished with similar rods. - An American, named Moffitt, in 1854, substitut ed spikes for the rods, though Menzies' ma chine adheres to the old system. Snipe on Toast, "Sixty Cents." A sojourner fei a large city, who is at the mercy of restaurants where you are treated with a big bill of fare and very little food an your plate, thus hits it off! Snipe on toast would be almost too hearty food to feed people on who had been floating on a raft three weeks, feeding on old boot legs. Says I to the waiter, "Give me snipe on toast." By-and-by he came in and put down some toast, and I kept on reading about what a donkey Grant was, and what a ridiculous set everyone is who is running for office, and I sat there for an hour. Then I Tang the gong. The waiter entered, and, says I, "Where in thunder is my meat?" ■ '■tfß** Says he, "They've been on the table more than an hour." Says I, "I didn't order plain toast ; I want a snipe on it." Says he, "There is a snipe on it." Then I drew close up to the table, and I saw a little black speck on the toast. Says I "You'll swear that's a snipe ?" Says he, "Yes." Says I, "You'd make a good linen buyer, you would." Says he, "It's a snipe on toast, anyhow." Says I, "How did it get on ?" Says he, "That snipe is all right. It's a full-sized one, too." : Says I, "I'm glad of it. I'm glad you told me that's a full-sized snipe ; for do you know, young man, when I sat out there reading I saw a black spot on the toast, but I took it for a fly, and I'm glad to be in formed it's a snipe — a full-sized snipe. Now you can take that snipe away and bring me a turkey on toast. I want a full sized tur key, too." I hain't hankering after snipe after that episode. I could have blown that snipe through a putty blower without hnrting the snipe or the putty blower either. Snipe on toast may be game, but it's mean same. Learning by Experience. A few days since an elderly gentleman in Saramento, who had got out of business and considered that he was too advanced in age to do hard work, concluded that he would start a grocery store. He secured a stock of goods, and a few days since, while pre paring for opening the establishment, con cluded that he would tap the kegs of beer left on the previous day. A friend who was present, seeing him approaching one of the kegs with an auger, inquired what he was going to do, and learned that he intended "to tap that beer." The questioner sug gested that the proper way was to place the faucet in position, and drive in the cork which the revenue stamp covered, but the old gentleman concluded that his way was the best, and forthwith forced a hole through the top of the keg. Of course the beer as cended like a fountain as he withdrew the auger, and he endeavored to suppress it by putting his hand over the hole, and failing in this, by inserting his finger ; as a last re* sort he sat down upon it, calling loudly for some one to hand him a faucet ; but mean while the beer had forced its way through his Aunts, climbing upward, and was oozing out jrery where — emerging from his waist band and even at his shirt collor, and the bystanders were laughing so hard that they were unable to do anything to relieve him, even if they had dared to venture within the area of beer spray. It was not until every drop of liquid had left the keg that th* old gentleman felt warranted in getting up. Social Life. A young man writes for the best way to gain entrance to our mast respectable fami lies. We like to see our young people aim to improve themselves, and in no way can they do this as surely as by good books and the society of the refined. To gain entrance to our best families, the easiest and most direct way would seem to be by the front door, although our young friend might tun nel under the sidewalk and come up through the cellar. TfllS AAD THAT. Gaps and hats came into general use about 1449. Words are oheap except when they are sent over the Atlantic cable. Engiitbs on the Pennsylvania railroad use 80,000 tons of sand annually. "Why is a blacksmith like a safe steed? Because one is a horseshoer and the other is a sure horse. Talk about breaking a child's will — it's a great deal easier to break a man's : That is, for lawyers. *Ammr, vat makes de little baby orj so? Do it want iz mudder?" "Yea, dear, and its fodder, too." Mike Hogg is the name of a Kentucky journalist. He avers, however, that he doesn't write with a pig pen. It rains alike on the just and the un just—on the just mainly because the unjust have borrowed their umbrellas. To behove rust from steel, rub well with sweet oil ; in forty-eight hours use unslacked lime, powdered very fine ; rub till the rust disappears. One thousand shingles, laid four inches to the weather, will cover 100 square feet of surface, and ftf e pounds of shingle nails will fasten them on. Thebe are ninety-five lakes in lowa, covering an area of 62,000 acres. Should these hikes dry up, as some of them are doing, the land will belong to the Gov ernment. The small boy who can ride * three wheeled velocipede in the hall, and beat a drum at the same time, has qualities calculated to make home happy when he is not well. The Detroit Free Press does not be lieve in the new process which to be able to make all fabrics waterproof. It would like to see a yard of waterproof mosquito-bar. An lowa paper says that "the Dea Moines ladies have made a compact to remain at home Friday afternoons to receive calls." But if they all remain si home who will do the calling? Ob, banded with pansy and curtained with white. Yellow with gold from the sunset sky, Laced with the shadelets of latticing light, Silken and soft as a vanishing >igh — Oh, what can yon say of a bonnet, doggouit, When writing a sonnet upon it » Buckwheat-stbaw, which heretofore has been considered of little value, has of late been utilized by some of the Western farmers by chopping it fine and adding meal to it A small quan tity fed to stock occasionally would be relished, no doubt. Pbof. Sheltok, of the Kansas Agri cultural College, favors September calves, because, dropped in that month, they escape the trying heats of summer, can be pushed during the winter with grain, and in spring are ready for grass as soon as it appears. A good test of the hardiness of any variety of forest trees is found in the ripening of its seeds (fruit). If a tree does not perfect its seeds in a given lo cality, it is good evidence that it is not sufficiently hardy to be generally culti vated in such sections. A contemporary asks Puck : "Is kissing dangerous?" and that paper an swers: "That altogether depends. If the young lady ignores poisonous enamels, and her father doesn't enter the parlor in the midst of the labial ex eroises, kissing may be indulged in with impunity. Kissing another man's wife k dangerous, we believe — if her hus band catches them in the act." A man, interrogated by a Judge of Instruction, in France, on a charge of murdering his mistress, stared vacantly, and long appeared unconscious of what was going on, but, on a probing ques tion being put, he suddenly defended himself with great intelligence. "Ah," said the Judge, "I see you have bees simulating insanity." "No," was the answer, "I was mad, but my reason has just returned to me." EXPLAINED. Many people have been puzzled to decide why the dark wood so highly valued for fur niture should be called rosewood. Its color certainly does not look much like a rose, s* we must look for some other reason. Upon asking, we are told that when the tree is first cut the fresh wood possesses a very strong, rose-like fragrance, hence the name. There are half a dozen or more kinds of rose wood trees. The varieties are found in South America, and in the East Indies and neighboring islands. Sometimes the trees grow so large that planks four feet broad and ten in length can be cut from one of them. These broad planks are princi pally used to make the tops of piano-fortes. When growing in the forest, the rosewood, tree is remarkable for its beauty, but such is its value in manufactures as an ornamen tal wood that some of the forests where it once grew abundantly, now have scarcely a single specimen. In Madras, the Govern ment has prudently had great plantations of this tree set out in order to keep up tba Worked Too Hard. If woman could be free from hard labor antil she reaches the age of twenty, man kind would be the gainer. This is a physi ological matter, and the result of our inves tigation of facts in this connection, andj oar careful consideration of the subject leads us to express the hope that, if no other subject connected with the labor question is though* worthy of legislation, this may be selected for legislative study and action. No argu ment is necessary to convince people of the Importance of giving the years under sixteen In a girl's life to the growth and develop ment of her organization, on the healifcjs condition of which so much depends — htc »wn health and usefulness, not any to her lelf, but to those dependent upon her. Totes is a movement to have the on* hundreth anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17) celebrated by a grand parade of the entire 6,000 State militia at Boston, and the Ancient and Hon orable Artillery Company are trying to a» cure a reunion of all the veteran associa tions in New England. The New York Seventh Regiment will visit Boston on that day. TVnAT is a true friend ? A true friend is he who not only shows himself so when the frowns of misfortune fall upon us, but even when we treat him as a foe builds friend ship s altar higher and firmer with the very stones cost against him by our folly or perverseness. Teetotalers object to the theater be cause the house often gets full, and the audience* gets intoxicated with delight.