Middletown transcript. [volume], March 14, 1868, Image 1

About Middletown transcript. [volume] (Middletown, Del.) 1868-current

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MIDDLETOWN, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE, SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 14, 1868.
VOL. I.
NO. 11.
THE LHIHT AT HOME.
Till! tight at bon» 1 liow bright it beams
Whim evening shades around us fall,
And from the lattice fur it gleams,
To love, and rest, and comfort all ;
When wearied with the toils of day,
And strife for glory, gold or fame,
How sweet to sock the quiet way,
Where loving lips will lisp our name
Around the light ut borne I
When through the dark and stormy night
The wuywnrd wanderer ho me ward flies,
Htvw cheering is that twinkling light
Which through flic forest gloom ho spies 1
It is the light of home, lie feds
That loving h ;tir1s will great him there
safely through hU Losuni steals
The joy and lot-«* that bnulsU care
3 Around the light at home.
The light qt home! how still and sweet
It peeps from yonder cottage door,
The weary inboi-er to greet
When the rough toils of day are o'er ;
Sad is the soul that does not know
The blessings that the beams impart,
The cheerful hopes and joys that flow,
And lighten up the heaviest heart
Around the light at home.
_ _ , .
ft was George Shaw s summer vacation.
Ihe hrm for which he daiiy measured tape
add-rotted and unrolled yard after yard ot
goods for the inspection of fashionable
-lames who seem to look upon dry goods
■clerks as » species of automaton wound up
and set going for their amusement, never
tired and never run down, had given him
* holiday, and now hurrah for the country
and the glorious June breezes, the mur
muring of brooks, the smell of new-mown
hay, th« tinkling of cow tails, and the
bright eyes of country maidens.
George felt like a hoy newly lot out of
school. Long years had passed since he
had reveled 1.1 tho innocent delights of
rural we-nics, sports and rambles, hut his
b-xrt had not lost its freshness nor his
spirit its bouyaney. Tape had not tied
down his elasticity, nor had piles of dry
good, smothered his capacity for enjoy-
msnt r ^ j
One evening during the preceding an
tumn, while passing through an unfre
quented street on his way from his store
to his boarding-house, Gcorgo encountered
* burly ruffian who had seized a young
girl by thc arm, and with ribald jests and
obscene oaths, was trying to force her to
■enter some refreshment saloon of doubtful
reputation—either mistaking her cliarae
tor, or sufficiently itiflnmcd with drink to
he indifferent to her social status. A well
directed blow from George sent the wretch
sprawling upon the ground, where he lay
E artially stuuned and afraid to rise lest
e should be met with another dose of thc
same medicine. Having disposed of the
assailant, George's next oare was for the
victim, who leaned against a friendly tree.
Her face was closely veiled, hut her voice,
as she thanked him for his assistance and
protection, though tremulous, was low and
sweet.
George, with a graceful disclaimer of
any merit in the act lie had just perform
cd, drew her trembling arm within his nnd
requested the privilege of accompanying
hor, that he might save her from further
annoyance or molestation. This was glad
ly, accorded him, nnd after a short walk
Ihey paused bofore the door of a handsome
residence in an aristocratie quarter of the
city, where, after learning his name and
address, she hade him adieu, thanking him
in the warmest manner for his kindness,
but without removing her veil, or asking
him to call upp» her. •
From tithe day, however, George's posi
tion in the houso of Hayes & Co. seemed
to undergo a mysterious change. Before,
he had lived upon starvation wages, was
snubbed by his superiors, and treated as
underclerks too frequently aro. After this
adveuture his dutios were made lighter,
his treatment front the firm much better,
a ud his salary raised by degrees until it
reached a figure which enabled him to
-dress well and live in good style.
On tho morning whuu our story com
niences, Mr. Hayes called our hero into
.the counting-room and addressing him
kindly, said:
" ill. .—I y OU bavc worked hard during
the winter and spring ; dull times arc coin
ing on ; don't you tbiuk you uood a holt
dajrl? ' > ■■
" Y*s, sir," replied George ; "but you
!know my means arc limited ; my buiary is
:all I have to depend upon, and I cannot
afford to be wasting my time."
"Don't let that trouble you, my boy,"
«aid Mr. Hayes. " Your salary shall go
-on just .the same during your absence ;
and hcre'tk à cbdbr for a hundred dollars
to start on. Consider this a present from
tho firm. Now, where do you propose to
go?"
George, overwhelmed with astonishment
at this unexpected liberality on thc part of
Ihis en^eyers, ooold only stammer out that
the idea.never having ooeurrod to him bo
fore, he had formed no plans in reference
toit. "Well, then," said the good old
gentleman, with a merry twinklo in his
.eye, whieh Georgs, in his entUarrassmont,
.failed to notice, ".let mo plan for you.
You ton taks-the up-river train to-morrow
moraiM, and by dark you will reach the
JittU Village of H. which is nestled
R hills of ...... eoupty. full of
'Lruptjdrsgpis- Wtto plenty of shooting and
,the .bast groves ana rambles for pio-uic
.parties .in tho whole oountry. There is'
an old farmer living thore, whom I have
known for many years. I will give you a
As
Jopular $alrs.
WILL YOU TRY ME?
letter to hint, and you can make your
home with him at a trifling expense, du
iug your absence from the store."
George was too thankful for the unex
pected liberality granted to him to fiud
any fault with Mr. H.'s selection of a place
for spending his vacation, even if his rural
tastes had riot inclined him to just such a
spot ; and on the evening of the day fol
lowing the conversation with the old mer
chant, the H
front of an old hut conifortuble looking
farm-house, at the base of a majestic hill,
with broad lawns and meadows lyiug in
front of it, traversed by muny a winding
stream.
no
to
ytiigc sat him down in
He was received with a cordial welcome
from the stalwart farmer, and a grasp from
a brawny hand, which showed that the
bfeart wont with it. "Come in, stranger,"
said lie, "conto in—we aint exactly pre
pared for visitera, though Mr. Hayes did
talk sollte about sending up some young
f Iks to keep us old ones company. Come
in—mother will fix up some place for you
to sleep."
A supper of now-laid eggs, home-made
bread and freshly picked strawberries, was
spend upon a snowy table-cloth, and the
party of four sat down to the table. There
were the old man, his wife, George, and a
fourth person, whose position in the family
George was at a loss to divine. She was
clad in a plain gingham dress, had evi
dcntly been helping to prepare the supper,
and ^dressed the old farmer and his wife
a „ unfk , aunt but eurcly George
ht that delicate tinge of rosy red
upon hor cheek wan never acquired upon a
c<)Ullt hillside, those hands could never
havc bct , n prcgorTcd s0 8u ft nn d slender in
lnilkittg c „ wg am , washing dishes, that
ari . s toer*tic poise of the head, that dainty
cnrTC of th ' e n( . ck and that perfect self
possession was the result of something elf*e
Asides eountry/training.
TT , , .
IIe w ?? 1 ,0 S, ^P between sheets of
snowy whiteness pillowed upon a yielding
of " livc S ees ? 'bathers " and
dreamed of the! farmer s niece until he was
awa, ,"" n ,'' d ",' e sound of an °P c , ra air be '
l " s windot^ anil executed as none
l,ut a car< rfully trained voice of unusual
"»eetness could execute it. lie sprang to
thc w . ,ndow ' and , t, ' rol, " h tho ba f-drawn
curtiunh saw only the young girl in her
totton gown and sunbonnet m thc kitcl.cn
K an ' en cuttmg lettuce for his breakfast,
Mo dressed and descended with nn ap
P etitc sharpened by mountain air, and did
ample justice to the hearty and wholesome
viands set before him. George had conte
to 'bo country with the intention of enjoy
>'ig himself, and lie set about forming the
acquaintance of Julia, or July, as she was
called by the farmer, at once, and so suc
ecssful that in half an hour they were
chatting like old friends. Spite of her
aristocratic air, he could not draw from
her any admission that, she had ever known
'be pleasures of a city life, and George
was puzzled to know how she had become
possessed of so much information relative
to nuisie, tho fashions, and tho small talk
°f fashionable circles, which is supposed
'° be the property of tho favored few.
-foon a ramble was proposed, and with thc
grace of a fairy and the light step of
mountain sylph, she led him " through
bush and through briar," to gaze entranced
upon the beauty of the sylvan scenery,
George began to wonder how ho had ever
boon attracted by the stereotyped smiles
and empty talk of city hellos, whilst list
cni, ig to her glorious descriptions of Na
ture's beauties, almost as it seemed, in the
presence of Nature's God. This was hut
a prelude to oilier walks, drives, fishing
parties, pic-nics, and rural excursions, in
»H of which she seemed the queen,
One day, when thc time allotted for his
stay was drawing to a close, they were in
a boat upon a neighboring poud gathering
water-lilies. Julia had made for herself
a wreath, with which she had adorned her
beautiful head, and was fashioning another
for George, when, in reaching too far for
a particularly fine lily, she lost her bal
ancc, and with a scream, fell into thc
water. George plunged after her, and the
boat' floated away. Her rosoue seemed
easy at first, for thc shore was not far dis
tant, and he was au exocllent swimmer ;
but soon, to his horror, he found that she
was entangled in tho stems of thc lilies
whichhadfornicdothieknctworkbeneat.il
the surface. Vigorously he struggled .to
extricate her, hut in vain. Then, in that
moment of deadly peril, flashed upon him
the truth that he loved the girl who rcst
cd, half uueouscious with terror, upon his
left arm, while lie supported her and bim
self upon the surface with his right.
"Save yourself," cried Julia; "if both
cannot live, at least domot let two lives be
sacrificed."
" Never, Julia," ho replied, firmly; "if
you die 1 have no care to live, for, Julia,
you arc my life. Tell me, Julia, here,
struggling on thc brink of eternity, do you
return my love?"
"Ido," she softly murmured ; and,'as
their lips joined in the first kiss of a true
and fervent affection, she fainted.
"Oh, God!" cried George, " will no
one come to our aid ? Must I dio now
when I hold in my arms all that oan make
life dear to me? At least, kind heaven,
save her, and let me be the sacrifice, if
sacrifice there must be."
It seemed as though heaven had heard
and answered his prayer, for almost at the
same instant ono of the farmor's men ap
poured in sight, and, answering George's
frenzied coll for help, ho
other hpat which was lying at the landing
place, and in a few moments George, al
most exhausted, and his unconscious com
panion, were lifted into it. That evening,
fully recovered,they both sat on the vinc
to
a
into nu
covered porch of the cottage. There was
no need now of shyness or coyness. The
tale of love had been told, anil with her
head upon his shoulder and his arm around
her dainty waist, both were reveling in
the sweet delirium of ' ' love's young
dream."
"It may seem unmaidenly, George,"
she suddeuly said, raising her head from
his shoulder, after he had been painting in
glowing colors the delights of the cottage
home they would enjoy together, some
time in the future, when he should have
earned money enough to have a home to
offer her—" it may seem unmaidenly in me
to suy so, but I would much rather you
would marry me and take me with you."
" Would that I could, my darling,
plied George ; " but you urc poor I know
—and, as for myself, I am a clerk on a
salury, which, though large enough for
one, would be but a small pittance for
two."
" Never fear for me," returned Julia,
laughingly ; "Ism a famous housekeeper,
and while we havc each others love, what
other luxuries shall we need?"
"But, dearest, can you hear up against
thc poverty which is all the marriage por
tion I have to offer you ?"
'.(Can I ?" was tho womanly reply—
"can I? Will you try me?"
And so tho matter was settled, aud in u
few days George Shaw was married in the
quiet sitting-room of the old farm house,
and with his bride set out on his return to
to the city and the dull routiixi of measur
ing tape and peddling calico. Great was
his surprise when the ears reached tile de
pot to find Mr. Hayes, his employer, wait
ing for him on the platform.
" Ah, you young scamp," lie said, jocu
larly, "you found something else besides
trout streams in the village of IJ., did
you? You've made short work, I see.—
Mrs. Shaw, I suppose. I am happy to
welcome you, madam,"
"But how, iu hoaveu'suame, Mr. Itayos,
did you know I was married, and coming
homo to-day?" cried George, iu a still
great r maze of bewilderment.
" Never mind where 1 got my informa
tion," said the old gentleman. "I know
how you huve been driving over fences
and through ditches, tumbling into mill
ponds and pulling youug ladies out ; hut
my errand here is not to scold you. As
soou as 1 learned of your marriage 1 knew
your former bachelor lodgings would not
suit, und I took tho liberty of engaging
other quarters for you. Jump into the
carriage, both of you, and tho driver will
attend to the baggage."
If George's surprise was great bofore,
how much was it enhanced when the car
riage drew up at the identical door to
which he had escorted the veiled young
lady whom he rescued from the grasp of
the ruffian more than a year before.
The happy pair were ushered into a
handsome parlor, and Julia withdrew to
exchange her travelling dress for ono more
suitable. George was engaged in exam
ining thc georgeous paintings which adorn
ed the walls, when a pair of soft arms
were flung around his neck. He turned,
and there stood tho same figure, in the
identical dress and veil whieh had leaned
trembling against a tree while he polished
off' a brute on a pleasant summer evening
long before. He lifted thc veil, and be
neath it found the laughing, blushing face
of his own Julia.
" Sit down," said she "while I tell you
my story. I fell in love with you at first
sight, hut I am of a romantic turn of mind,
and have always entertained a holy horror
of being married for my money. It is
high time you should know, master
George, that I am an orphan, and a rioh
one too. This house is mine, and my
credit ia pretty well established at Stew
art's and Tiffany's. I took your address,
and made sufficient inquiries about you to
ascertain that you were poor and over
worked. I had your Balary increased and
procured for you thc vacatioii which pro
cured for me a husband ! And now, mas
ter George, wlmt do you thiuk of your
country sweetheart ?"
George's reply was much more impres
sive thau words etui make it, aud would
havc continued much longer, if Julia had
not complained that he was rumpling hor
dres* and pulling down her hair.
He drives a span of fast horses now,
and never regrets the lucky moment when
ho knocked down a brute and pulled a
pretty girl out of a mill-pond.
Change» Iu the English Language.
How much is there in our present fa
miliar speech which would be strange and
meaningless to one of Elizabeth's Court!
IIow much again, .do we find in any of tho
writers of that period—in Shakespeare
instance—which is no longer good current
English ! phrases and forms of construc
tion which nevpr fall from our lips now
save as wc quote them ; scores of words
which we have lost out of memory, or do
not employ in tho sense which they then
bore. Go back yet farther, from half
tury to half-century, and the case grows
rapidly worse ; and when we arrive at
Chaucer and Gower, who aro separated
from us by a paltry interval of five hun
dred years, only fifteen or twenty descents
from father to son, we meet with a dialect
which has a half-foreign look, and can
only he read by careful study, with the aid
of a glossary. Another like interval of
five hundred years brings us to the Anglo
Saxon of King Alfred, whieh is'absolutely
a strange tongue to us, not leBs unintel
ligible than tho German of tho present
day, and nearly as hard to learn.
for
MO
To persevere is one's duty, and to be
silent is the best answer in ealuinny.
(Original Articles.
For (ht Muldltto un Tramer ipt.
Icc-lSouml.
Old Winter seems loth to loose his hold
upou us. Only last eve, us if to defy the
timid approach of Spring and fright her
uway, he loosed his fierce minions, the
north winds, and hade them bind all Na
ture with the icy chains of his power, fur
having dared to think of throwing off his
sway ; some of the trees having even shown
their dainty buds. And well did they ex
ecute their King's commands. They hound
every branch, and even the tiny twigs in
hard and heavy ice-fetters. Meekly
little shrubs bowed themselves, with out a
murmur to the ground. The lordly trees
strove to stand erect, but they were so en
cumbered they could scarely move, and the
heavy winds broke against them with fury ;
clashing their icy chains, so that many a
noble tree was despoiled of its fairest
branches in the vain contest. Every un
timely bud was chilled to the heart ; and
the little birds were so affrighted that it
stilled their songs for many an hour after
wards. Then the winds in a frolic dbeked
the rough roofs and fences with crystal
fringes that a mermaid might envy ; and
the air was tilled with the sounds of the
creaking and the crashing of limb against
limb, as they struggled with the raving
wiuds. And all that day the sun was
shrouded from sight, and Winter reigned
supremo. When .night came, and the
moon illumined the scene with her beams
as cold as the crystals upon which they
fell, the winds were again loosened to tor
ture the poor trees. How they struggled,
the bound branches, clashing their iey
fetters and often dashing them in pieees to
the ground, in their impotent efforts to he
free—and the chill moon shone calmly on.
When the morning broke you might
have thought you had been transported to
fairy laud. The foliage quivered and
sparkled in the golden light, with the bur
ning blaze of a million tiny suns ! The
ice-fetters wore transmuted to burnished
silver, glittering with jewels of sapphire,
and emerald, and ruby, as if the sunshine
had got entangled and frozen there.—
Snow-clad fields bearing crystal fruitage,
gleaming and glittering with jewelled
drops of liquid light ! Icy hedges hound
the snowy road on either side, and Win
ter's triumph was quite complete ; for we
could not hut gaze upon his wonderful
beauty with an admiration that was near
akin to love ; and we forgot to sigh for the
vanquished Spring-time.
Starching lor Spring.
We have been hound in ice. and buried
in snow-drifts so long, that right cordially
will we welcome the Spring when she
makes her advent among us.
This morn, I took a walk to sec if I
could discover any traces of Iter cotniug ;
hut I was too early ;—the buds ami blos
soms yet slept in their winter wrappings—
the snow lay in patches here and there,
and so firm it did not sink beneath my
tread. In the midst of thickly clustering
trees, I came suddenly upon a pool, bound
o'er by the clearest ice, as it were a mirror
reflecting the beauty below. Thtfre could
be seen the roots of over-hanging trees,
whose otherwise rude forms were trans
figured into many grotesque and fanciful
shapes, by a covering of velvety goldeti
brown moss, which glowed in the gleaming
sunshine. The bottom of the pool was
perfectly concealed by the faded foliage of
doad summers The forms of many of
the leaves were as perfeçd as when they
first sank beneath tlie surface of the water.
A few were stained entirely black, some
dark green, others brown or purple, and
the rest matted o'er with moss. The
shine had dissolved the ico in spots here
and there, and the loosened water was rip
plod by tho passing breeze, giving life tp
the still scene where no sound was heard
save rustling leaves, and swaying branches.
With lingering footstepB I left the place
never again to see it the same.
1 felt chill from remaining motionless
so long, and wrapping my shawl more
closely about me, attempted to pass quickly
over the intervening space into the cleared
ground. But my pathway was obstruc
ted by the briars that infested it, and ever
and anon I was obliged to stoop and un
clasp their clinging hold. Thus, I thought
is it with the world. If we hold our hands
aloft, and attempt to pass onward with
hurried indifference, it will revenge itself
by many a petty twitch and pull.
tlie
BUU
How Soox Forgotten. —So lately dead,
so soon forgotten. 'Tis the way of thc
world. Men take us by the hand, and are
anxious about tho health of our bodies, and
laugh at our jokes, and we really thiuk,
like thc fly on tho wheel, that we havc
Bomething to do with thc turning of thc
earth. Somo day we die and are buried.
The sun does not stop for our funeral;
everything goes on as usual ; wo arc not
missed on the streets, men laugh at jokes ;
one or two hearts feel the wounds of afflic
tion, one or two members still hold our
names and forms. But thc crowd moves
in the daily circle, and in three days tlie
great wave of time sweeps over out- steps
and washes out thc last vestige of our
lives.
Beauty, though it is very pretty var
nish,, is of a frail constitution, liable to
abundance of accidents, and is but a short
lived blessing.
For drunkenness, drink cold water ; for
health, rise early ; to be happy, be honest ;
to pleêre all, mind your own burinera.
^flrct jpoetrg.
Mli ul! Wc Sec and Know Etch Other.
Shall wo see and know each other
In that happy home above?
Will our souls be there united
By those sacred bonds of love?
Shall we meet with joyful feelings
On that happy tranquil shore,
There with seraphim and angels
Live together evermore ?
O, 'twould be very, very sad,
To live a life like this.
If the future did not promise
Something more of joy and bliss,
A haven bright and cheerful.
Where all our troubles cease.
There to live and love together
lu happiness and pence.
For the love wc bear each other
In this world where we move,
Is nothing but the shadow
Of that we'll know above.
Where the skies are
And sunshine is always;
There we* il live and roam together,
Chanting hymns of joy and praise.
(Dur (Olio.
The Fidgets.
There are people whom one oceasionally
ineets with in the world, who are in a state
of perpetual fidget aud pucker. Evory
thiug goes wrong with them. They arc
always iu trouble. Now, it is the weather,
which is too hot; or at another time, too
cold The dust blows into their eyes, or
there is "that horrid rain," or "that
broiling sun, or that Scotch mist." They
are as ill to please about the weather as a
farmer ; it is never to their liking, and
never will ho. They " never saw such a
summer, " not a day's flue weather," and
they go buck to antiquity for comfort—
" it was not so iu our younger days."
Fidgety people arc rarely well. They
have generally "a headache," or "spasms,"
or " nerves," or something of that sort;
they cannot bo comfortably in their way
without trouble. Most of their friends
aie ill ; this one has the gout " to had;"
another has thc rheumatics; a third is
threatened witli consumption ; and there
is scarcely a family of their acquaintance
whose children have not got measles, hoop
ing-cough, scarlet fever, or some other of
the thousand ills which infantine fiesh is
heir to. They are curiously solicitous
about the health of every-body ; this one
is exhorted " not to drink too much cold
water ; another ' ' not to sit in the draught ;"
a third is advised to " wear flanuels; aud
they have great doctors at their fingers'
ends, whom they can quote iu their sup
port. They have read Buchan and Cul
pepper. and fed their fidgets upon their
descriptions of diseases of all sorts.—
They offer to furnish
draughts, and liniments
believe them, your life depends on taking
their advice gratis forthwith.
To sit ut meals with sueli people is
enough to give one the dyspepsy.
chimney has been smoking, and the soot
has got into the soup ; the fish is over
done, and the mutton is underdone ; thc
potatoes have hud the disease, thc sauue is
uot of the light sort, tho jelly is candied,
the pastry is musty, the grapes are sour.
Everything is wrong. The cook must be
disposed of; Betty stands talking too long
at the back gate. The poultry
must ho changed, the potato-man discarded.
There will he a clean sweep. But things
are never otherwise. Thc fidgety person
remains unchanged, and goes fidgeting
along to the end of the chapter; changing
servants, and spoiling them by unneces
sary complainings and contradictions, till
they become quite reckless of evor giving
satisfaction.
The fidgety person lias bcon reading the
newspaper, and is in a forment about " that
murder !" Everybody is treated to its de
tails. Or somebody's houso has been bro
ken into, and a constant fidget is kept up
for a time about "thieves!" If a oat's
whisper is heard iu the night, "there is
a thief in the house ;" if an umbrella is
missing, " a thief has been iu the lobby
if a towel cannot be fouud, "a thief must
have stolen it oil" the hedge." You are
counseled to bo careful of your pockets
when you stir abroad. The outer doors
are furnished with latches, new bolts and
bars are provided for out-houses, bells are
hung behind the shutters, and all other
possible expedients aro devised to keep out
the imaginary " thief."
" O, there is a smell of fire !" Forth
with the house is traversed, down stair*
and up stairs, and a voice at length comes
from thc kitchen, " It's only Bobby been
burning a stick.
with of a thousand accidents, deaths, and
burnings, that have come from burning
sticks 1 Bobby is petrified and horror
stricken, and is huunted by the terror of
conflagrations. If Bobby gets a penny
from a visitor, he is consulted " not to buy
gunpowder" with it, though he has a se
cret longing for crackers. Maids arc cau
tioued to "be careful about tho clothes
horse," and their ears are often startled
with a cry from above stairs of " Betty,
there is surely something singeing !"
gety person " cannot hear" the
wind whistling through the key-bole, nor
tho smell of washing, nor the sweep's cry
of " svee-ocp, svee-eep," nor tho beating
of carpets, nor thick ink, nor a mewing
eat, nor new boots, nor a cold in the head,
nor callers for rates and subscriptiona,
All these little things are magnified into
miseries, and, if you like to listen, may
sit for hours and hear the fidgety person
wax eloquent about them, drawing a mel-l
aneholy pleasure from the recital.
The Gdgety person sit; upon thorns, and
receipts for pills,
; and if you would
woman
You are told forth
The fid
loves to perch his or her auditor on the
same raw material. Not only so, but you
arc dragged over thorns, till you fall tho
roughly unskinned. Your ears are bored,
and your teeth are set on edge. Your
head aches, and your withers arc wrung.
You are made to shake hands with misery
and almost long for some real sorrow as a
relief.
The fidgety person makes a point of get
ting out of humor upon any occasion,
whether about private or public afiairs. If
subjects for misery do not offer within
doors, they abound without. Something
that has been done in the next Btrcct ex
cites their ire, or something done a thou
sand miles off, or even something that was
done a thousand years ago. Time and
place matter nothing to fidgety. They
overleap all obstacles in getting at their
subject. They must be in hot water. If
one question is set at rest, they start
other ; and they wear themselves to the
bone in settling the affairs of everybody,
which are never settled. Their fevprish
existence refuses rest, and they fret them
selves to death about matters with which
they have often no earthly concern. They
arc spendthrifts in sympathy, which in
them has degenerated into an exquisite
tendency to pain. They are luunched on
a sea of trouble, the shores of which arc
perpetually extending. They are self
stretched on a rack, the wheels of whieh
are ever going round.
The fundamental maxim of the fidgety
is—whatever is, is wrong.
They will not allow themselves to be
happy, nor any body else. They always
assume themselves to be the mott aggrieved
persons extsnt.
cessant, and they operate as a
poison wherever they go. Their
and self-conceit are usually accompanied
by selfish
an
When Plato, was told that his enemies
were making very free use of his name,
he quietly replied ;" I will endeavor so to
live that no one will believe them."
Advice is like snow ; the softer it falls,
the longer it dwells upon, and deeper it
I sinks into the mind. '
Their grumbling is in
socisl
vanity
in n very aggravated form,
which only seems to make their fidgets
more intolerable. Yon will generally ob
serve that they are idle persons; indeed,
as a genera) rule, it may lie said, the fidg
ety class want healthy occupations. In
ent in some
the
nine cases out of ten, em
active pursuit, in whioh they could not
have time to think about themselves, would
operate as a cure.
UAXIUL.
The devil has a wonderful penchant for
rebuking sin. Eyes which are full of
beams have an unacconntahle clearness of
vision in detecting motes in others' eyes.
Some people are brought into the world to
accomplish a marvelous mission, and that
mission is to ferret out obliquities of oth
ers. Of course it is not expected that
these apostles have any business with them
selves; their mission is violent, and docs not
admit of time to scrutinise their own posi
tion. What profit is it that they should
stop to consider their own pccsdilloes, when
the enormities of their neighbors loom up
like mountains ?
So goes it the world over. Everybody
minds everybody's business, but every body
ueglcets Itts own. Whut sort a world
would this be, if we were without each
other to food upon ? Mon have eyes and
cars for some purpose, and what else could
they find for them to do, if not to hear and
see each other's failings, derelictions er
rors, transgressions, enormities. They
have tongues which must stand uselessly
idle, if not employed in giving currency to
such delinquencies. So it is with mtn.
The obliquities of his offended brother for
melles the ohief staple of conversational
interest. Human error is the current eoin
of intercourse, and too often the coin eomes
from the speaker's brain.
Occupation? what a glorious thing it
is for tho human heart. Those who work
hard seldom yield themselves entiiwly np
to fancied or real sorrow. When grief
sits down, folds its hands, and mournfully
feeds upon its own tears, weaving the
dim shadows that little exertion might
sweep away, into a funeral pall, the strong
spirit is shorn of its might, and sorrow be
come« our master. When troubles flow
upon you dark and hoavy, toil not with
the waves—wreatlo not with the torrent !
rather seek, by occupation, to
dark waters that threaten to
you, into a thousand channels whieh the
duties of life always present. Before von
dream of it, those waters will fertilise
the preseut, and give birth to fresh
flowers that may brighten the fotwro—
flowers that will become pare and holy, in
the sunshine whioh penetrates to the path
,of duty, in spite of every obstacle. Grief,
after all is bnt a selfish feeling : and most
selfish is the man who yi
the indulgence of any passion whieh brings
no joy to his follow man.
divert the
overwhelm
himself to
Relioion an» Reason. —Religion is as
necessary to reason ta reason is to relig
ion ; the one cannot exist without tho oth
er. A reasoning being would loss his rea
son, in attempting to aooeuat tar the phen
omena of nature, had he not a Supreme
Being to refer to; if there had beon no
God, mankind would have been obliged to
imagine one.— WtuAtuyton.
Bom«
aro like eats. Yon
stroke the fur the right way for years, and
hear nothing but purring. But accidently
tread on the tail, and all memory of past
kindness is obliterated.
'Sfllit and gumo^
A lady in Rhinebeck was recently read
ing to her child—a boy of seven years
—a story of a little fellow whose father
was taken sick and died, whereupon the
youngster set himself diligently ut work
to assist in supporting himself and his
mother. When she bad finished the story,
the following dialogue ensued :
Mother.—"Now, my little man, if pa
was to die, would'nt you work to help to
support your mother V"
Boy, (not relishing the idea of work.)
"Why, ma what for? Ain't we got a
house to live in?"
Mother—"Oh, yes my child; but wc
eau't eat the house, you know."
lloy—" Well uiu't we got flour and su
gar and other thiugs in the. store-room ?"
Mother—"Certainly, my dear, but they
will not last long, and what then ?*'
Boy—" Well, ma, aiu't there enough to
last till you could get a now husband ?"
Ma gave it up.
-»
" Where arc you going with that miser -
traveller of a far
able animal ?" asked
nier who was dragging a lean, wretched
looking honied sheep along tho road.
"1 asi taking him to the ' mutton-mill,'
to havc him ground over," said the fer
' ' The mutton-mill ! I never heard of such
a thing. 1 will go with you and witness the
process."
They arrived at the mill. The shsep
was thrown alive into the hopper, and.^
almost immediately disappeared. They
then descended to a lower apartment, and
in a'few moments there were ejected, from
a spout in the editing, four quarters of ex
cellent mutton, two sides of niorooco leath
er, a wool hat of the first quality, a sheep's
head (liamlsomely dressed), and two ele
gantly curved powdorhorns.
David Crocket happened once to he
present at an exhibition of animals in the
city of Washington, when a monkey seem
ed to attract his particular attention ; and
he abstractly observed, "If that fellow
had on a pair of spectacles, he would look
like Major Wright, of Ohio." The Ma
jor happened to bo'jnst behind Crocket,
and tapped Davy on the shoulder. Turn
ing round, Davy very formally remarked,
"Major, 1 don't know whoae pardon to
nitlr vnnrs nr mAnlrov'fi **
An industrious and penurious mechanic
in Chicago lost his wife by-death. Tha
husband only stopped his work to attend
tlie funeral, and immediately afterwards
returned to his labors. " IIow is this? - '
saked one of his neighbors; " can't you
stop to mourn a little ?" " No, sir," was
the reply; " business before pleawre."
And thc old fellow returned to his
bench.
' ' Why do you always walk with a '
stick?" said Smith to Robison, on meet
ing him in thc streets; "exeept the in
firm, 1 regard thoso who use walking stiok*
as idlers, with nothing to do," "Quite
thc reverse," replied Robison ; "I look
upon them as active -and industrious per
sons, who always have tomethûtg in hand."
A traveller stopped at an inn to break
fast, and having drank a cup of what was
given to him, the servant asked,
"What will you take, sir, tea or coffee?"
" That depends upon circumstances,"
was the reply ; * * if what you gave me last
was tea ; 1 want coffee ; if it was coffee, I
want tea ; l want a ohange."
A gentleman, on leaving a hotel where
he had "been stopping several days, re
warded the attention of an obliging ser
vant with a gratuity. "Ah!" said the
grateful Pat, "long may your houor live,
and may I make your fires hereafter."
__ _ _ g» --asw *c i
lady was told by a married
lady that Bite hail better precipitate herself
off the Niagara Falls iuto thc basin beneath
than marry. The youug lady replied
would if 1 thought 1 could find a husband
at thc bottom."
A
A widow lady, sittiDg by a ehoerful firs
iu a meditative mood, shortly after herbus- *
band's decease, sighed out: "Poor fol
low ! how he did like a good fire 1 I-hope
he has gone where they keep gqpd fires !"
When an acquaintance «ays, "Hew are
£ «u ?" and rushes bv ffbu without pansing
r a reply, 1 WQKMn't, if I were in your
place, fellow him more than a mile to toll
him I waj 4ell.
A land speculator in describing n lake
In Cumberland County, Virginia, says it
is so clear and so deep that, by looking
iuto it. you can see them making tea in
China.
»a
"Mister, 1 say, I suppoae jo* don't
know of nobody who don't want to hire
nobody to do nothing, don't you ?"
answer was, „Yes, I don't."
The
What is the difference between a barber
and a mother ? One has raxors to share,
and the other has shavers to raise.
What
between
vegetable expresses the fetation
milk and water ? Pumpkin..
Why are old maids the most eh arming
people? Because they are matchlets.