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if II If J -- 1 tl ITT' 'J A A A A. 3 VWV 'Ml ilMl & ij j mil. 9 I LfTT"Yrw. - TERMS PAYABLE IX ADVANCE, . T,T. ,.TfT, . , . ( TEK3H -TATABLE IN ADVANCE, (m.) AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 5 (.taM.,i.uBt,.wiiP.ininded.. $1.25 per Tear ; 75 Ota. 8 Months.) $1.60 per Year ; 85 Cts. 6 Months. - -- ---i- - - : . ' . ' r : -.. v" - - . ; . - - -v- Vol. ArIII. IVoav Bloomileld, I?ix., Tuesday, NovoihIxm- 24, 1S74. TVo. 47. r I'm r. w t moomvLtw minis. 8 VP IB FU11LI8UEO EVERT TUESDAY MOKNINO, BT THANK MOHTIMER & CO., At New Bloomflold, Terry Co., Ta. BoltiR provided with Htoam rower, and large Cylinder and Job-Fresne. we are prepared to do all kinds of Job-rrlntliiR ill good style and at Ixw l'rloes. ADVEltTlSINa HATES 1 TramientH Cents per lino for one insertion 13 ' twolnsertlons 15 "three insertions Business Notices In Local Column 10 Cents per line. .For longer yearly adv'ts terms will be given upon application. Our Strange Lodger. A DKTKCTIVF.'N NTOKVi 11HOUGH we could bardly hope to meet . with a model lodger again, like the Rev. Mr. Adolphus, wbo bad been with us ever since we began house-keeping, it was certainly desirable so Annie and I con cludedto have a lodger of some kind, even if it were an inferior description of the article ; for my salary at that time, as junior clerk in the respectable banking firm of Lawes and Fielding, was more prosper tive than real ; sufficient, perhaps, for a bachelor of economic tastes, but sadly out of proportion with the needs of a married mau. It being decided, therefore, that a second lodger was a necessary evil, a card notify ing that Apartments for a single Gentle man were to be let within, took its place in our window ; but week after week pass ed away, winter faded into spring, spring lost itself in summer, and still we remain ed without a single applicant for our very genteel and commodious rooms. The hot days of June were drawing to a close when, on reaching home one evcuing from the office, I saw by the sparkle in my wife's eye that she had something particu lar to tell me, and I was scarcely seated before the news burst out. " Tom, dear, we have got a lodgor at lastl" " Did you say a lodger?" I cried, start ing up. " Another poor victim come to the net to be cheated, worried, bullied, and fleeced unmercifully 1 What is the wretch ed individual's name?" " Mr. James Twoshocs." " A very ancient and houorablo name, well known in nursery history. Describe him." " There's not much about him to de scribe, lie's like any other commonplace gentleman who is drawing on towards middlo-ago, with little in bis appearance to distinguish him from any one else. He is about flve-and-forty years old, as near as I can Judge. Bhort black hair, with just a tinge of grey in it ; no beard or whiskorg ; dressed in a new glossy suit of black clothes ; wears black gloves, much too long in the fingers, and an old-fashioned black satin stock, fastenod with' a little pearl brooch. IIo has a good-tempered looking face, lighted up by two quick black eyes. lie is deaf to a very slight extent, and you have to elevate your voice when speaking to him. He has a habit of carrying his bead forward a little, and partly on one side, wbicb gives, bim the appearance of being continually listening for something which he is expecting every moment to bear." " A description worthy of a passport, When does he arrive?" "About noon to-morrow. Ho sleeps at one of the hotels to-night. But I forgot to say that he will only be a temporary lodg er. He has engaged the rooms by the weok, as his stay in Markhollow will only be a short one. He may want the rooms for one month, twd months, or three months, be said, just as the fancy takes him, and dependent on how soon he grows tired of our little town." " Ah, well I I suppose a temporary lodger is bettor than none. What refer ences did he give?" , "References 1" exclaimed Annlo, in blank dismay. "Upon my word, I was so taken op with the idea of letting the rooms, that I forgot all about references." " Through which forgetfulness," I said, severely, "you Introduce into the house person of whom we know absolutely noth ing." "Oh I he's thoroughly respectable, my dear ; you may tell that at once from bis appearance 1" " No doubt. Forgers and genteel pick. pockets are generally men of very respect able appearance. Thoir respectability is part of thoir stock in trade. This fellow, for anything we know to the contrary, may be one of the two men who broke out of a London prison t'other day, come down to this littlo placo to hide till the affair has blown over." Seeing, however, that An- nlo was Inclined to lapse into a " moist re- lentment," I added, with my usual good nature: "Bnt don't distress yourself about it ; it may turn out all right, you know ; and I can ask him for his refer ences when he comes to-morrow." Punctual to appointment, Mr. Twoshocs arrived at noon the following day ; and I may here say that my wile's description of him was so close and faithful, that I can find nothing to add to it. A portmanteau and a writing-case formed the wholo of our new lodgor's luggage. "Mr. Starling, I suppose?" he said, with a pleasant smile, and a hearty shake of the hand. " I hope we shall suit one another ; at least, I am sure it shall not be my fault if we don't. Fine old city this of yours," he went on, after we bad introduced him into bis rooms. " I am quite in love with it already. I flatter myself that I have al ways retained a dash of poetry in my com position, notwithstanding that my life has been a hard and practical one ; and if any thing could revive that sentiment within my breast, it would be the sight of your grand old cathedral ; and I may tell you, in confidence, that when I, James Two shoes, was rambling through its aisles this morning, I felt more than half-inclined to to try my hand at a sonnet." Ho sat down as he said this, and laughed in a hearty way that it did one good to listen to. Who would ask such a man for references ? From that moment I gave up the idea as an absurdity. " Your good lady," he wont on, " has, 1 presume, told you that I am only here for a short time. My stay may be limited to three weeks, or it may extend over three months. For ray part, I'm a fellow who always makes a point of giving way to my whims. So long as a place takes my fancy, there I Btick, as fast as a barnacle, till some fine morning a whim pops into my braiu, and then, bey, presto 1 I'm off by the first train whither I know, at the time, no more than the man in the moon. Rathor an uncomfortable, vagabond sort of exist ence, you probably think. Bo it is. I grant it. But what can a fellow do whose whims are the master of him? Qive way to them, of course ; and that's just what I do. Well, well," he went on, " I've seen many a more lively and populous place than Murkhallow that hasn't pleased me half so well. I'll take a cutlet for dinner, if you please ; and any little pastry you may have on hand." I saw nothing more of Mr. Twoshocs that day, for when I reached home in the eve ning, be was seated upstairs in his own room, as my wife told me, smoking an Im meuse meerschaum, in company with some gin-and-watcr and a newspaper. To say that my wife and I were prepossessed in favor of our new lodger, is merely to state the bare fact of the caso. We were de lighted with him, and felt sure that he would bear comparison with even such a model individual as the Rev. Mr. Adol phus. Mr. Twoshocs went out in the course of the following forenoon, and shortly return eci, Bringing witn mm a canary and cage, which he proceeded to hang up in his room with evident delight ; and on the bird turning out to be a famous whistler, he had Annie and me specially upstairs to listen to it, and give him our opiniou as to its quail flcations. In the course of this day, too, we discovered that our lodger was a per former on the flute. We heard him tootle- tootle-ing in his rooms in a wandering, aimless sort of way for some minutes be fore he settled down into any tune ; but he seemed to get into the propor groove at last, and then went on with one tune after another, from tea-time till dusk. I cannot say that he Impressed me as being a very good player; and all his tunes were of an oia-iasuionea, sentimental kind, such as bad had their day, and gone out of vogue, a dozen years before J indeed, to bear him at dusk, tootling feebly through his open window, you would have taken him to be some love-sick swain of eighteen, rather than the bard-headed practical man of the world he laughingly declared himself to be. At the end of a weok, Annie and I were still as far as ever from being able to make out the profession of Mr. TwoBhocs.tbough we considered the question in all its bear- ings, and gave due weight in our delibera tions to the various vague hints thrown out at'differcnt times by our lodger. We con eluded at last, in lack of all direct evidence, that whatever be might formerly have been ho could now be nothing more nor less than a gentleman living on his private means. From the first day Mr. Twoshocs had bargained for the use of a latchkey, with free permission to come in and go out at whatever hours of the day and night he might think proper ; and he was not long before he made frequent use of the privi lege we had bo readily conceded him. Not unfrequently he would leave the house at dusk, and not return till two or three o'clock next morning ; at other times, he would set off early in the morning, and remain out the whole of the day. " When one of my whims lays hold of me," he laughingly observed to my wife on one oc casion, " and whispers to me that I had bettor take a ramble, then must I obey, and call Shanks' mare into immediate requisition, whatever hour of the day or night it may be." I confess, however, that it gave me " a turn," as my wife would say, when on reaching home one evening, just after dusk I encountered Mr. Twoshocs on the steps, as be was in the act of closing the door be hind bim, habited from head to foot in the garb of a groom. I could bardly believe in the reality of .what I saw ; but there he stood, benignantly smiling down upon me from the height of the stops, not disconcert ed in the least, but calmly puffing away from the little black pipe between his lips. On his head he wore a Glengarry bonnet ; round his neck a blue-and-white scarf. fastened with a horse-shoe pin ; a waistcoat low down on the hips ; a short cutaway coat, breeches and gaiters ; decidedly " horsey." All these particulars I could make out by the light of the opposite lamp. He remarked that one of his whims had overtaken him, bade me a cheerful good night, and walked off at a leisurely pace down the street. It was three o'clock next morning bofore Mr. Twoshoes re turned, and having let himself quietly in, stole upstairs to his bedroom so gently that ho would hardly have disturbed a mouse. But worse was to follow. Mr. Twoshoes had been with us about a month, when I was one day sent to R- a neighboring town about thirteen miles away, on business for the firm. There being no railway between the two towns, I had to hire a horse and gig. I bad finished my business at R , and was setting out late in the afternoon on my return, when it began to rain heavily, for which reason I determined to take the shortest road home, The road in question was not a very plea sant one, running as it did through a wide tract of barren moorland, dreary and deso late, in the extreme, with not more than half a dozen houses on it in a distance of as many miles. The weather, however, de cided me to adopt this route ; and I bad got half way across the moor on my return wnen my norse, wntcn was but a poor innkeeper's hack, betrayed such unmistak able signs of distress, that I pulled up at a roadside inn, the only one within a distance of several miles, in order to have my horse baited before continuing my journey, While the ostler was busy outside, I en, tered the little taproom to obtain some re. freshmentfor myself. On one side of the room sat two or three individuals in the dress of laboring men, while opposite to them, and quite alone, sat a man on whom the whole of my attention was immediately concentrated. If not Mr. Twoshoes him self, it was his living presentment! I started back in amazement, as though I had seen a ghost, when my eyes first fell on him and the next moment was about to accost bim familiarly, but some inward feeling made me hesitate just as the words were forming on my lips. The stranger, stranger he were, gave me one long steady glance, and then resumed his perusal of a ragged oountry newspaper. Was I right or wrong in imagining that a faint gleam of surprise shot for a moment out of his eyes, to' be immediately quenched in that dull, unrecognizable stare ? As far as dress went, he certainly bore no resemblance to Mr. Twoshoes, for ho was habited in a suit of blue cloth with gilt buttons, after the fashion of a mate or captain in the mer chant service. He sat in silence during the whole time I was there, neither speaking to, nor being addressed by, any of the company. To make his likeness to the genuine Mr. Twoshoes still more startling. he bad the very same slight stoop forward with bis head and shoulders, and the same intent look about his eyes as though he were listening to some imaginary conversa tionwhich I knew so well. In about ton minutes the ostler announced that my horso was ready. As I quitted the room I cast another long inquisitive glance at the sea faring man sitting so silent and grim ; but ho never looked up again, and I left him still intent over his newspaper. When I reached home I found that Mr. Twoshocs was out, and had been for several hours. At whatever hour be might return, I de termined to be on the watch for him, and judge from his dress whether it was really he whom I had seen in the roadside inn. I sat up patiently till twelve o'clock, but as he had not then returned, I put out all the lights, and stationed myself in a bedroom upstairs ; and after waiting there three more hours, my patience was rowarded by seeing Mr. Twoshoes come down the street. Thanks to a friendly lamp opposito, I had no difficulty in seeing how he was dressed It was still raining a littlo ; and the first thing I perceived was that he carried an umbrella ; but when he put it down on nearing the door, all I could make out was that he wore his ordinary black bat, and a waterproof cape that reached nearly to his heels. Ho let himself In with his latchkey, and stole upstairs to bed in bis usual stealthy manner. These mysterious and suspicious pro ceedings on the part of our lodger naturally became a tomce of much disquiet both to Annie and myself ; indeed my wife began to get quite nervous on the point, and to imagiue all kinds of terrible and unlikely things as the results of our harboring such an unaccountable personage in our house. Mr. Twoshoes was, however, as I have said before, such a model lodger in every other respect, so kind and consider ate in every way, such a punctual and lib eral paymaster, that, debate the question as we would, we could by no means make up our minds to part with him. So we de cided at last to keep our apprehensions and suspicions to ourselves, and mention them neither to Mr. Twoshoes nor to any prying neighbor, and to put down everything in our lodger s ways of life for which we could not find a natural solution to the score of eccentricity a term of vory wide application indeed. "Mr. Twoshoes had been with us about five weeks, when Annie's brother. Mr. Dick Dereham, came down from London to spend his holidays with us, for the sake of the fishing for which the neighborhood of Markhallow is celebrated. He was in those days a tall raw-boned young fellow, with fair complexion, large blue eyes, cold ana sceptical in expression, and a nose as sharp and inquisitive as that of a ferret ; with, to crown all, a most excellent opinion of his own acuteness and general abilities, dashed with that slight superciliousness of tone and manner which, especially towards homely country-folks, in such a common characteristic of the middle-class Cockney, He had not been three hours in the house before he had wormed out of Annie every. thing that we knew, surmised, and imag ined concerning Mr. Twoshoes. Here was a promising pie ready for an acute young Cockney to poke his finger into 1 No fish ing to be done till it was disposed of to his satisfaction. Really the country was not such a dull plate after all I He mot me that afternoon at the bank door, and, link' ing bis arm in mine, unburdened bis mind as we walked home together. " Nan has been opening her mind to me this afternoon about your lodger, Mr. Two- shoes," he began. "Indeed," said I, dryly ; "you were Ira monsely interested, no doubt." "Oh 1 you may jest about it if you like, but the question is a serious one. There's something bad about that fellow, you may depend upon it ; and if I were you I'd either report him privately to the police or else give him a week's notice, and so get rid of him altogether." " Thank you," I replied ; "but as I have no particular fault to find with Mr. Two shoes, 1 don't fuel quite inclined to adopt either of your suggestions." "But consider, my dear follow ; it's really not safe to have a man like that in your house who frequently stays out all night who dresses ono day as a groom, another day as a merchant seaman, and the next as a curate or private gentleman. It arises from no mere eccentrioity, you may depeud on it. There's some villainy afloat, and it will be well if you are not implicutod in it when the expose comes as come it must, some of these fine days." . "ow, see you here, my port young Cockney," I replied ; "Mr. Twoshocs is my lodger, and a mau whom I respect, so don't attempt to pull him to pieces lu my presence. You always were a tolerable haud at discovering mares'-nosts, but, please, don't try to find any in my house, Whatever may be the little eccentricities of Mr. Twoshoes, they are no business of yours or mine. That he is a very worthy gontleman, and thoroughly honest and Up right, I am fully convinced. My advice to you, thorofore, is to go and look after the little fishes, ami let my estimable lodger aloue." Dick was torribly huffed by my plain speaking, and did not fail to complain to my wife about it ; but what annoyed me moro was to find that he had contrived to a fleet her to some extent with his own absurd fears, so that when wo went to bed that night she would insist on having the bed room door locked, a precaution she had never cared to exercise before, saying, in her circumlocutory, feminine way : " There's no knowing what may hap pen with such mysterious people in the hoilBO." A day or two after my conversation witk Dick, our senior partner sent for me int tho parlor, and informed me that he want ed me set out for Franco by the mail that evening, on business of importance which would probably occupy me about a week. Having received my instructions, I hurried home, dined, mado my few preparations as speedily as possible, sent for my Aunt Barbara to come and stay with Annie dur ing my absence, and then lingered a mo ment to give a parting injunction to my wife and Dick respecting Mr. Twoshoes. I would not go till I hnd received an as surance from both of thom that matters should go on as usual during my absence that Mr. Twoshoes should be allowed to come and go as he might think proper, without notico or comment. Dick's prom ise of neutrality was given too readily to satisfy mc, and I thought I detected a malicious twinkle in his eye, as I shook his hand at parting, which bodod no good to somebody. But there was no help for it business called, and I must obey. Conclu ded next week. Curious Wills. A German, troubled bow to dispose of bis money, bequeathed it to a man whom ho detested, upon the condition that he always wore thin, white linen clothes with out any underclothing. A Mr. Sargoaut, of Leicester, England, sought to Improvo the habits of his bed loving nephews by putting the following chiusolnhis will: "As my nephews are fond of Indulging themselves in bed in the morning, and as I wish them to prove to the satisfaction of my executors, that they have got out of bed in the morning, and either employed themselves in business or taking exercise in the open air from five to eight o'clock every morning from the sec ond of April to tho tenth of October be ing three hours each day and from 6 to 8 o'clock from the tonth of October to the fifth of April, being two hours every morning. ''This is to bo done for seven years, to the satisfaction of my executors, who may excuse them in case of illness ; the test must be made up when they are well, and if they will not do this, they shall not re ceive any share of my property." It was very hard on the poor nephews, but as the amount at stake was quite large they had to do it. W Itchcraft IrTvVest Virginia. The Wheeling, WeBt Virginia, Intelligent eer contains the following remarkable story of superstitution and ignorance : " On alley Sixteen, In East Wheeling, a peoular dis ease recently appeared among the smaller children. Sovon babies, in as many differ ent families' suffered from the same mys terious complaint. One of the babies died, and it was thought tho others would not survive long. No medical advice was call ed, as the children wero believed to be bewitched. Au old lady, however, who is known to possess much influence with Superstitious persons tried to drive out the evil spirits. She visited tho different families and advised them to keep every door locked and stop up the keyholes. Nothing was to be loaued from the house for fear some bold aud adveutu rous spirit would accompany the article and make mischief in a neighbor's family. The stock ing on each child's left foot was turned In side out to spoil the enchantment and many other ridiculous things were done. We have not learned what effect these pre scriptions have had upon the little suffer-, ers, but it seems horrible- to think that in nocent children are compelled to sudor be cause of the ignorotice and superstition of their parents." man in Kenncbeo county, Mo., cut off the roots on one sjclo of a peach tree, last wintor, and bending it over covered It up to protect it from tho cold, which is too severe for peaches in Muiuo. Last spring ho restored it to its old position and has raised a good crop from it 1