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lewis m. grist, proprietor. | An Inbcpcnbent Jfamilp ftetospaper: Jfw % promotion nf tjte ^olitital, jsntial, Agricultural anb Commercial Interests uf tjje jJontjt. TERMS--$2.50 A YEAR, IN ADVANCE. VOL. 26. YORKYILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1880. , . 3STO. 37. ?bc HARRY MARTIN'S WIFE." BY G. B. STUART. "I'm afraid I've finished all my yarns," said the Lieutenant, thoughtfully drawing a match across the sole of his boot, as he spoke, for we were smoking in the veiandah of his mother's house at Southsea. "Then tell us a true story," I suggested, innocently. The Lieutenant took no heed ot my impudence, but pulled away at his pipe for full five minutes, in a manner which was supposed to assist the deepest reflection. Presently he began : "Did I ever tell you how I got Harry Mar tiu's wife tor him '{' "No!" very incredulously from everybody ; and from a chair in the back ground, "I should think that Captain Martin was perfectly well able to get a wife for himself." "There you are wrong," said the Lieuten-1 ant, so superbly that we all felt abashed, and humbly begged for the story. "Believe it or not," asserted the some what mollified sailor, "but I can assure you it's as true as?as true as?Old Boots !" This was the Lieutenant's usual formula before beginning one of his wonderful adventures, and it never failed to convince us? outwardly, at least; for who can withstand the undeniable existence of old boots ? Having thus successfully closed all interrupting mouths, the Lieutenant graciously proceeded to recount the following episode in the life of Mrs. Henry Martin : "The Valeria was lying in the bay at St. Michael's, one of the dullest holes we ever put into in all my experience. Harry Martin was first lieutenant, and I was second. Cripps was our captain?a good old sort enough, only he bothered us rather with reading out sermons on a Sunday, for he was a rigid Presbyterian, and was forever inveighing against the errors of Rome. Rather a queer Hue for a thorough going sailor to take up, wasn't it?" "Of course I could get frequent leave when I wanted a run on shore, but I did not much no m o Krviif faL-iniT if fnr renllv. there WSS -V, -- j, nothing earthly to do in the place. I had a bad leg at the time, I remember, the remains of a frightful back at football, whenVe played the Excellent, and beat them into fits, in this very place, the Autumn before, so I wasn't up to much walking, and couldn't visit the places beyond the town, which Martin was always talking about and 6ketchiug. "By and by I began to notice, that though he spoke of the general beauties of the island scenery, he appeared by his sketch-book to haunt one spot almost exclusively?the convent of Santa Agata, on the top of a hill just beyond the town. There were pictures of Santa Agata from all points of the compass. It was only to me, as an old chum, that he showed those pictures; and it wasn't long before I got out of him, by dint of a little chaff and a little judicious sympathy, that he was madly in love?or fancied he was, which is just as bad, every bit, while, it lasts?with one of the sisters at Santa Agata. Why, you might just as well have been in _ love with the moon, for all the response-you could get to your finest feelings, if you cent tered them on a Spanish nun. And so I told Martin, for I had been through the very identical same case mvself at Vera Cruz, aboard y the Rapid. "'But Jim,' said Martin, quietly, looking shy, and red in the face, for he was au awfully modest man, and not half as well seasoned in these matters as I am; "suppose there has been some response." " 'You don't mean to say you've spoken or corresponded with her ?' "For answer Martin pulled a little packet of letters out of the breast pocket of his jacket, tied with a piece of brand new blue ribbon, which the poor old duffer must have bought for that purpose. "By degrees the whole story was told.? He had seen Dona Dolores for the first time three weeks before, when he had strolled into the convent, at the visitiug hour, to buy some of the nuns' famous lace for his people at home. That was how the acquaintance began ; by looks of admiration on the one side, and apparent appreciation of them on the other. After this, Martin confessed, he was always buying lace every visiting day, until the old gorgouess who assisted at the lace selling began to grow suspicious, and changed her companion for another sister more of her own calibre than pretty little Dolores. With the latter, however, our precious first lieutenant was by this time on pretty intimate speaking terms, and hy means of a market-woman, or a mule-girl, or some such emissary, managed to carry on a correspondence of frequent notes. "I started with astonishment when he told me all this ; but, really, there are no lengths that a shy man won't go to when he's once roused. Of all lovers, I've heard girls say, there's nothing to come up to a shy man when he's in earnest. "Well, so far the affair had gone, and there it had stuck ; for who was to say what could be the end of such a hopeless attachment? Hopeless, in so far that there was no chance of the girl ever being released irom the convent, which, she now intimated to Harry Martin, she cordially hated. She was an orphan, and had a lot of money, and though she had not taken the vows as a professed sister, you might just as soon expect a shark to leave hold of your leg when he had once grabbed it, as the priests and the sisters of Santa Agata to let poor Miss Dolores out ot their clutches. "There was nothing to advise Martin to do but to cut the whole affair; not see the girl again, but just keep close by the ship until we got our sailing orders, which most of us were hoping for every day. It's a thing sailors have to do, all the world over, for one cant marry everybody, and it's astonishing to find in how short a time you don't want to. "But you should have seen the fury Martin got into when I suggested this everyday course to him. He talked about honor, and Christian feeling, exactly as if I hadn't got either one or the other. Upon my word, if he hadn't been my senior officer, and such an old chum, and such a big fellow, too, I should have knocked him down for what he said. At the same time, I was sorry for him, for by this time I saw he was in earnest iri the affair; so when he had quieted down a bit, 1 said to him : "' What do you say to a rescue ?" "He jumped as if he'd been shot, and seized me bv the hand. "" Do you really mean it, Jim ? Will you lend a hand to help her out?' " 'Are you going to marry her ?' I asked severely. 'For it's all very good fun rescuing the young lady, only goodness knows what we're to do with her afterwards. You may be sure St. Michael's will be rather too hot to hold her or us if our share in the matter gets wind. You won't be able to marry nearer than Lisbon, and I don't exactly know how you're going to get her there either, uuless the boss gives her a passage, which, perhaps is a little too much to expect. It may interfere with the efficiency of his first officer. "Poor Martin stood speechless, for though he had jumped at my suggestion, and evidently had considered the possibility of rescuing Dolores from her prison, his plan had j ! hero evidently stopped short. He had not reflected that the English Consul would nQver i marry them in the teeth of the Spanish au| thorities, who would probably tear us to pieces for meddling with one of their ewe lambs. "Well, Martin may be a very smart officer? (indeed, there is no doubt about that?and he may have been a red-hot lover, but he cerj tainly was not much of a strategist. So while j I was maturing the plan, in which I was now almost a3 much interested as he, I set him to i write to the lady and formally offer her marj riage, to be arranged for and carried out as J soon as ever she could be conveyed safely to | Lisbon, always provided that she herself could j elude the vigilance of the Sisters, and join ! her lover outside the convent walls, on an appointed evening. Back came her answer J through the medium of old Carmen of the i market, a friendly old hag who carried vegeI tables up to the convent every day. The ' escape would be difficult, but not impossible. Carmen was to leave certain doors and windows of the back premises unlocked, and I Dolores was to slip out at the time appointed. But, oh! were the English senors certain that she would not be caught afterward ? For she knew that if she were, the penalty would be death?or next door to it. "Meanwhile, I had been laying out the whole plot, and very prettily I had dovetailed one thing in another. There was an old Irish woman, married to a Portuguese Jew fruit merchant, who lived in the Jews' quarter of the town. I had heard her tongue going, one day, like a mill clapper, as I passed by, and there was no mistaking her accent. I often used to stop and have a chat with her about the beauties of Queenstown, which she upheld against all comers. "What her religion "was I never discovered, for she held the priests in as great detestation as Captain Cripps himself; whilst she spoke with high disdain of her Jew husband and his religious exercises, though allowed he had more religion than a "Pratestant." But she was a good old creature, in the main, and her house, though rather an unsavory retreat, was the only safe asylum I could think of where Dolores might be concealed until the Lisbon steamer could carry her off from St. Michael's. "Perhaps you'll ask why didn't we postpone the adventure, altogether, till the very day of the Lisbon steamer's sailing, but this we did not dare do, for the Valeria was under orders to sail at a moment's notice, and at any moment the orders might come and the Velaria v/eigh anchor, leaving the poor little nun unrescued on the top of the hill. "Tn my hpflrh of hpRrts T Rhnuldn't have thought this any great misfortune, for I was well aware that what we were undertaking was a terrible risk, and like enough to land us in no end of difficulties ; but once entered on the undertaking I was not going to draw back, and the hereafter gratitude of Martin for my co-operation, combiued with the enthusiasm of old Mother Zachary, when I let her, by degrees, into the secret, kept up my courage for the adventure. "I couldn't divest Madame Zaehary's mind of the idea that I was really the principal in the affair, and I had to undergo a considerable amount of chaff, and much Hibernian humor before I managed, finally, to arrange that Martin and I were to bring the young lady on a mule to her house, on the night appointed, where she was to hide the runaway, and provide a disguise for her in which she could be hustled on board the Lisbon steamer^ accompanied by her hostess as du enna. "Once safe in Lisbon, the girl could be placed with friends of Martin's (we had been hanging oil'and on thereabouts for six months or so, and knew all the English residents in the Portuguese capital) until the marriage could take place, and Mrs. Martin be sent home to England. We did not anticipate auy further trouble would be taken about her if she once got clear of St. Michael's, and Martin, unlike some other poor fellows that I could mention, could afford to marry whom he pleased. "Everything was well in train. The night arrived, and Mis3 Dolores was appointed to make her exit from the convent at half-past eight, precisely. Martin and I were to be in biding outside, with mules to carry us down the bill, by a circuitous route, to the Jews' quarter?a deserted part of the town, where mother Zachary aud her fruit merchant lived. ?t? . . .1 i l _ j. :li_ "J3UI at me last moment came a terriuie hitch! When" Martin and I applied for leave on shore, for the evening, old Cripps told us that he intended dining and sleeping on the shore himself, at the Consul's and he could not give leave to both his senior officers to absent themselves the same evening. We could decide between ourselves which was to remain, but ono must certainly do so. "We dared not show the captain how dreadfully we took the sentence to heart, but withdrew with our usual bows, looking uuutterable things at each other. "'You must go," whispered Martin ; I am no good at all; I should lose my head and spoil it all. You must go, Jim, old boy, if you're still game for it, though goodness knows how I shall get through the time till I know you're safe!" "There was nothing for it but for me to go as Martin said, for he was so excited he would have boshed the whole thing. So, by andby, having given the Captain, in his full dress togs, the precedence by about half an hour, I wa3 rowed ashore, just about sunset, and told my men to be ready to take me off again to the Valeria at ten that evening. I went round to the Plaza and hired a mule, avowedly for a ride into the country ; and a miserable brute I got, for all the animals were out except tnis one, at tne consular ainner party. I dawdled about the town for a while ; then after the Angelus had finished singing and the dusk began to creep down, I turned my beast's head up a narrow side street, which led to the very walls of Santa Agata. "There was scarcely any one about, for the natives have an idea that the hour after sunset is unwholesome in the outer air; so I made my way up the street unnoticed by any one, except that at a turn of the road I saw the | sharp eyes of Carmen, the market-woman, glancing at rae, first suspiciously, then knowI ingly, as she decended the hill with her I empty basket piled on her back. "Very soon I was safely landed at the ap| pointed spot, a thick clump of coarse elder j bushes which grew close under a small stone window belonging to some out buildings of j the convent kitchen apartment. The winj dow was a good bit above my head, and so j i.eeply inbedded in the thickness of the wall : that it was only by standing well from the | building that I could see into the aperture, which was secured on the inside by a screen of wire trelli3-work, such as is often used over larder windows. "This was the opening which Carmen was to have loosened, and sure enough, after a short spell of waiting, I could plainty hear a | rustling and a rummaging inside. Then a I hand pulled back the screen, and a minute after, something soft and black and of no particular outline whatever, filled up the window-frame and came creeping outwards 1 towurd the edge of the wall. "Are you ready ?" asked a soft voice, and : almost before I could reply, something jumpI ed bang ! into my outstretched arms. I declare to you she was not much bigger than a good sized kitten. Such a little bit of a thing as Martin's Dolores I never saw in my life. For ray part, I like them tall, and broad too," observed the Lieutenant, in the confidential, rather thau the narrative strain ; j "but this Dolores was a wonderful beauty, j though there was so little of her. "She was a bit frightened and shy at first, | especially when she discovered, by catching i hold of my whiskers, that I was not Martin, i who shaved clean in those days. But very I soon I got her on the mule and explained mati ters in my best Spanish, and we were creeping 1 stealthily down the hill the best of friends ; and Dolores, who was not more than seventeen, apparently in childish high spirits at the success of our enterprise." "But though she had done her part so easily, I didn't feel at all sure that our adventure was ended. There were lights moving to and fro at the upper windows of the convent, and at any moment her presence j might be missed, whilst the open window, with its piled stools and boxes on the inside, would declare which road she had taken. Just at this juncture, the confounded mule, that up to this had behaved himself pretty decently, began to back about in a manner simnlv fiendish. He was all over the road r-J , ? _ .. at once, and you never knew whether his head or his heels would be uppermost. I suppose it was the girl's clothes that excited him, unless the beast was in league with the priests, and was doing his very best to stop the affair?those Spanish mules are artful enough for anything. Added to this, Miss Dolores got frightened, and I could hardly keep her from screaming out: and my leg, which had not done so much work lor a long while, began to ache and throb so that I could scarcely keep up the mule's vagaries. "We hadn't made more than a quarter of our journey, when I saw very plainly, by the sudden appearance of lights and-torches in front of the convent above us, that the little sister's escape was discovered, and that the holy ladies were in hot pursuit. I wasn't so frightened of the ladies themselves, for I flatter myself I have rather a knack of managing them ; but I had an unpleasant idea that they might have called in the assistance of hardy peasants armed with pitchforks, the thought of whom I did not relish at all. "In vain I dug my dirk into the hindquarters of the mule. We could not keep the pace, and soon cries and noise behind us in the darkness told us that our pursuers were close upon us. At the top of the * ?i T _ j xl. i sleep vineyard pain i seized ine enu vi wie nun's black cloak, and wrapping it round her head to prevent her cries being heard? for she was by this time quite beside herself with fear?I jumped off the mule and dashed with her into the vineyard, which edged the road with stumpy, thick bushes. "The mule, released from restraint and maddened by a last prod from my dirk, galloped with astonishing clatter down the narrow road, followed almost instantaneously by a shouting mob of people, all in pursuit of what they believed to be the heretic and his captive. I could not help chuckling as they tore by, the old jackass leading at a speed to which I- had been vainly urgiHg him all the evening. "But there was no time to be lost, for the road that the pursuers had taken was the one that led straight to the entrance of the Jews' quarter, and it was clearly impossible to try to make that port. I had not a moment to reflect, or probahly I should not have dared to do what I did. Raising and disentangling Dolores from her heavy cloak, I half dragged, half carried her across the vineyards, down to the seaboard, and thence, by the quickest and quietest road, to the steps where I had told the men to meet me with the boat. It was lying in waiting, for the big clock of the cathedral had just gone ten, and without ceremony I tumbled my living bundle into it, and jumping in after her, gave the word to be off. "Not a minute too soon?for the quay was all at once alight and alive with people and lanterns. The news of the escaped nun had just reached the town, and I saw my old enemy, the mule, being dragged into the plaza, and surrounded by a crowd of gaping Spaniards, who seemed to expect he would open his mouth and tell them what had become of the runaway. Our boat did not altogether escape notice, for some one ran along the quay with a lantern, and cast a long, bright flash across our course ; but we had pulled through it before any one could have recognized that the dark mas3 in the stem of the boat was the lady for whom they were searching. "My men pulled on in steady, stony British silence, just as if theijr officers were in the habit of making a dash for it every two or three evenings a week, with some young lady or other. But I was beginning to feel horribly uncomfortable as to the reception Captain Cripps would give me and our fair visitor, and I recollected with relief, that for this night, at all events, he was 6afely disposed of. I thought it best to give the men my version of the story ; so, before we readied the ship, 1 told them in the most business like manner possible, that the young lady was' detailed against her will in a convent, and had appealed for protection to a British raano'-war, 'where she'll find it, lads, of course!' I ended, with a confidence which I'm bound to say, I was very far from feeling. "Wasn't I glad just to find myself safe aboard the vessel again, handing over Dolores,who by this time was quite frightened and cowed into silence, to my superior officer, as in duty bound, and retiring a bit aft myself until their first greetings should be over. Then I came forward and explained briefly how it was that the plan of boarding Mother Zachary in the Jews' quarter had fallen through, and exonrated myself for takiDg the dangerous step of bringing the girl on board the ship, which would in all probability be searched the first thing next morning by the local officials, with a warrant from the English Consul. "Naturally, the presence of the lady could not be concealed from the other officers and the ship's company, most of whom were already agog to know who was this mysterious female who had suddenly appeared on the quarter deck. Martin, calliog the men together, gave them much such an explanation of the affair as I had made in the boat, keeping his own and my special part in the business cleverly out of sight, and leaving each nf hie anrtWnra with n nlpRsinor imnression that V/A AA?? UUUtVV.W ?.VM^r --D r " -----it was in consequence of his own remarkable honor and gallantry that the poor, distressed Spanish girl had flown for protection to the men of the Valeria. 1 "Martin then conducted Dona Dolores to his own cabin, where she was entreated to 1 make herself as much at home as possible, for though an untoward accident had marred the completion of our plans for her safety, there was not a man on board the ship that night who would not prevent her return to the convent if necessary with his life. Martin was to turn in along with me, but though I was almost dead beat, it was a long time before he would let me get to sleep for discussing a hundred different ways of concealing the young lady during the search which we knew was inevitable next day, and for appeasing he wrath of the Captain, a rigid disciplinarian and martinet, which was only one degree less terrible. I fell asleep in the middle of the discussion, and Martin, I believe, went up on deck to star gaze, or else stationed himself on guard outside his own cabin door, within which he cautioned the girl to remain until something was decided for her i safety. "I roused out of what seemed only like half an hour's sleep by the knock and entrance of Mat, one of the mess waiters: a clever, handy chap, whom I had several times thought of taking into our confidence when the rescue scheme was at first undeveloped. Having coughed and hemmed, once or twice, and figetted about with my things, which lay in a heap on the floor, as I had kicked them off at night, Mat looked at me very knowingly and said, pulling his forelock: "If you please, sir, don't you nor the first officer be in any taking about the young lady. With your permission, me and some of the other chaps have a plan which will beat the Papishes hollow. Just give us leave, sir, and the thing is done, and the ^oung lady will be as safe as a bird, sir.' " 'But what's your plan ?' said I, for I was beginning to feel I'd done enough in the concern, and would willingly shove off the responsibility upon Martin, Mat or any one who liked to take it. " 'Music, sir,' said Mat, coming confidentially nearer, and chuckling so that I could hardly make out what he said. We'll receive the frfint.lpmpn. or deDutation. or what-not. ? * ? w- 4 ' ' with all the ropes manned and the colors flying, and the band playing on deck, just as it it was the Admiral or the Dook himself.' " 'Well, and what ?' Ijftsked, rather crossly; for I couldn't quite see the point of his wonderful reception, nor how it was to relieve us of anxiety on the score of Dolores' safety and our own. '"Why, the big drum, sir,'said Mat, triumphantly, as if he had now mentioned something so crushingly conclusive that all further explanation was unnecessary. 'I plays it as you know, and I'll play it to-morrow, but not so hard as to hurt the young lady inside, sir.' "And in the big drum Doloies was actually concealed next morning, when old Captain Cripps, as innocent as a lamb of what had occurred during his absence, conducted a strong party of priests and polide officials over and into every nook and corner of the Valeria in search of the missing nun. We were all in fits of laughter while the old fellow did the honors of his vessel, and the Spaniards' faces grew longer as the search proved fruitless and unavailing. They left not a cranny unnoticed while the band played gaily on deck, and the big drum appeared to do quite as much duty as usual, though the broad grins on the faces of some of the bandsmen, and the preternatural solemnity of Mat's countenance might have led any one to suspect that something was up. "Martin was of course introduced to the visitors as first officer of the ship, and one of the old priests asked him suspiciously if this were the usual state of things on board an English vessel?band playing, and flags flying as if for a holiday ? "'Oh, no,' Martin answered coolly; 'we saw the captain was bringing off a boat-load of distinguished visitors, the first thing this morning, and I instantly set about having the ship dressed, and the music playing, to do honor to their jfrrival.' "ine old cnap couidn t out De pleased at this compliment, and at last they all cleared out, making a thousand apologies for having for an instant suspected any of our honorable number for complicity in the nun's escape. We heard them as they left, deciding to make for the opposite side of the island, where dwelt a wild tribe of fisher people, who might have given the girl shelter. "How we laughed as they were rowed ashore! Although there was still old Cripps to tell, which, to my mind, was the worst part of it, our spirits tegan to rise with the success of our last move. "The bandsmen cleared up their instruments and then retired, and Dolores was huddled back into Martin's cabin, where breakfast was spread, and the key turned on her. I believe the Captain was the only man on board his own ship who did not see the whole transaction ; but he was tremendously taken up with our immediate sea-going orders, which had just arrived, and the anchors were to be weighed and the Valeria off* to Lisbon without an hour's delay. "We all had to look alive that morning, and I declare it wasn't till we sat down to dinner in the afternoon, by which time we were almost out of sight of St. Michael's, that I had time to think of the little prisoner in Martin's cabin ; though to judge from his moony look, Martin had never thought of anvthing else. Naturally the conversation at the Captain's table, at which the senior officers likewise dined, turned upon the examination of the morning, and in answer to a mute appeal from Martin opposite, who was unable to say a word, I boldly asked old Cripps, point-blank, what he would have done if the poor little girl had run for refuge to the Valeria from the tyranny of the priests. "'Done, sir!" thundered the old gentleman, spluttering over his grog in his excitement, 'I'd have done what every other Christian and officer and gentleman would have done; given the poor little creature shelter and protection from the rascals that were hunting her, and a chance of becoming a a sensible British protestant! Why, by Jove, when those smooth-faced blackguards went sneaking over my ship this morning and I had to palver and speak civilly to them, I just wished the girl had been aboard, that I might have had a hand in saving her. I'll warraut you we'd have managed to keep her out of sight!' "Martin gave a gasp, like a whale coming up to blow, and jumping up from the table unceremoniously rushed out. In a moment he was back again holding the little nun by the hand. "Of course old Cripps couldn't say anything, after the manner in which he had committed himself beforehand. And though he gave us a tremendous jawing about the risk, etc., we had run, i believe 'he enjoyed the JarK as much as anyone ; especially as his part in it didn't begin until all the danger was over. I'm not sure that he would have liked driving that jackass down the vineyards; but he was wonderfuily polite to Dona Dolores and made her as comfortable and welcome as possible, lent her sermons to read, which she took very demurely, and evidently felt he had scored one to himself off the Pope by the move. "We got into Lisbon th^next day, and the girl was handed over to the English chaplain's wife, who rigged her out for her wedding with Martin,, which took place a few days afterward. "After that she was sent home to Martin's mother, at Southampton, and I believe she went to school for a bit; anyway, Martin got his promotion shortly, and left the service to settle down in Hampshire with Madam. And a rare little handful he's found her, I believe, for she can't help flirting any more than she can help breathing, though I really think she likes old Harry xf.i x xi muruu liesi m ine umiu. "Now you may argue," concluded the Lieutenant, putting his pipe back permanently into his mouth and speaking through one corner of it, to signify that his tale was nearly finished ; "you may argue that marriages are made in Heaven, and I devoutly hope Providence is setting a good match for me up aloft, but you'll allow, after listening to this yarn, that I had a pretty good lot to do with getting Harry Martin his wife!' S&" Georgia boasts of a citizen who has never taken a drink of liquor nor had a spell of sickness, never smoked a cigar nor taken a chew of tobacco, never ate any animal that could climb a tree, nor anything that could live in water or burrow in the ground, nor anything that was cooked by a negro. ^iUffUancottis Reading. JUDGE MACKEY ON THE SITUATION. In conversation with Judge Mackey, a few' days since, he gave us a very interesting sketch of men and things as he saw them on his recent visit North. He was profoundly impressed with General Hancock, with whom he had an extended interview and regards him as in the first rank of American statesmen. The Judge states that General Hancock is confident of victory in the pending election, and expresses his firm conviction that with a free and untrammelled ballot, unswayed by the organized interference of Federal officials, he would be elected by the votes cast in the Northern States alone. He declared that in his judgment the great and vital issue in*>lved in this campaign is the restoration of a spirit of fraternal concord among all American citizens, and that this can beet be effected by a just and equal administration of the laws over all, without re j x. ? i? ? ? TI..! tkx guru to race, cuior or siuwuu. nmv mc political changes now transpiring throughout the country but mark the general reaction against those 'methods of government and that sectional party policy which have heretofore tended to defeat that benign object. He expressed himself as highly gratified by the broad and national platform adopted by the South Carolina Democracy in 1876, and reaffirmed in 1880. He especially commended the first article of that platform which is in the following words : "We accept in perfect good faith the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States; accepting and standing upon them, we turn from the settled and final past to the great living and momentous issues of the present and the future." Here the Judge made a certain exculpatory statement as derived from General Hancock himself, touching the Surratt execution. The Judge reports General Hancock as sayiug he made a prompt return to the writ of habeas corpus, served on him by Judge Wylie, setting forth the authority by which the prisoner was held in custody, and also the proclamation of President Johnson suspending the writ, but declaring that he submitted himself to the judgment of the Court and would obey the mandate of the writ if the Court so ordered, after iiearing the return; by producing the body of the prisoner in open Court. * Judge Wylie held the return sufficient and quashed the writ. Judge Mackey states that many of the leading business men North, who have heretofore acted with the Republican party and aided to furnish it the "sinews of war" during the past twenty years, have given in their adhesion to Hancock. Among these he instances Union Adams, of New York, the head of one of the largest, if not the largest, wholesale clothing houses in the world and worth many millions of dollars. The chief fear among men of this class? merchants and bankers?has been that if the Democratic party came into power it might rudely disturb or change disastrously the financial policy maintained by the Republican administration during the past four years. Upon this vital point many of them have conferred with General Hancock, and are perfectly satisfied with the assurances that he has given them. Judge Mackey has had along conference with Mr. John Kelly, of New York, whom he characterizes as the Warwick of American politics, who, by his splendid party leadership, and his unequaled political sagacity and inflexible resolution, averted a great calamity from the Democratic party. He states that Mr. Kelly is universally recognized as an incorruptible public official, who, as comptroller of New York city, has eflected a retrenchment and reform in its financial administration which has saved to the taxpayers nearly seven millions of dollars during the past two years. The Judge says Tammany is in hearty accord with -the regular Democracy on the Presidential issue, and has hung the Hancock banner out from its historic hall. He states that General Hancock and the Democratic leaders of the North, who are most distinguished for their political forecast, regard New York, New Jersey and Indiana as sure for the Democracy ; while all the indications point to the great probability that Massachusetts and Pennsylvania will be swept from the Republican column. All the political telescopes in the North are now being directed towards the Southern horizon. * * * * * Our friends in the North fear, and our enemies there hope, that there will be collisions between the races in the Southern States that will furnish the Republican party the raw material out of which to weave their bloody shirt. * * * * * The great danger of violence springs from the practice of a compulsory division of time with Republican speakers at their own called meetings. This practice is regarded in the North as an outrage upon the Republicans? virtually denying them the right of freely assembling to hear their own chosen orators, and it is earnestly advised that no attempt will be made to enforce it in this campaign, for it is certainly calculated to provoke violence.? Chester Reporter. IMAGINATION POWER. Many persons are sick merely from the effect of imagination or habit, the old woman, for example, who has been bed-ridden for years with her rheumatics. She was left alone one summer day at the farm-house. She saw a mad bull tearing across the pasture in the direction of the house, and feeling that it was "neck or nothing" she bounced out of that bed in double quick time, barred both the doors, and never complained of rheumatism afterward. Many cases are given in the medical journals of persons who have been bitten by dogs and have afterward taken to foaming at the mouth, shuddering at the sight of water, and imitating a dog's bark, imagining that these are signs of hydrophobia, and have actually died in convulsive agonies, the facts being that mad dogs don't foam at the mouth, never bark, aud can drink water "like a fish." So far from running about in desperation as -1* ? ^k niinn n J aIo/1 fin rvn nn 11 U UUUUICU muusauu unapuatcu biu-pnua were tied to their caudal prolongations, really mad dogs are the quietest individuals in the world, make no noise, seem to want to be alone, keep their mouths shut, the distinctive symptoms of such madness being great restlessness, pawing the face and eating their own fresh dejections. Mad dogs do not run after people, but will snap at any one who comes in their way, especially individuals of their own kind ; they seem to trot or run as if looking at something straight ahead. In6nite mischief is done in publishing cases of persons becoming hydrophobic, one, ten and even twenty years after the last remembered biting of a dog, the reporters of such tales not having taken pains to inquire if there had not been a later biting. Such monstrous absurdities are well calculated to keep nervous persons who have been once bitten by a dog in a state of wearying uneasiness all their life long afterward. If a person has been bitten by a dog supposed to be mad, the animal should be put in a quiet room and let alone, only slipping in food and drink from time to time. If really mad, death will take place in a day or two, and if not mad, there will be a complete recovery. Only one bite in twenty of dogs supposed to be mad is fatal, A dog in New Jersey last year bit a woman, and ran under the sofa; her husband dragged him out by the tail, held him up and whipped him; in this position the dog got a chance of biting his master, who died in a few days of hydrophobia; this shows that the state of mind of the animal gives virulence to the bite. A mother nursing her infant child was thrown into a sudden tempestuous rage; as soon as it was over, she finished nursing the child, which was at once taken with convulsions: The state of mind of the mother imparting virulence to the milk of her bosom. A lady saw at a distance a window sash falling immediately on the ends of the fingers of her little grandchild; the child's fingers were crushed?those of the grandmother were similarly affected. This is given on the testimony of the distinguished Dr. Brown Sequard. The lesson is, seek to control the imagination and to guard against mental excitement by habituating the mind to take a calm, measured and deliberate view of all the circumstances of life. Intelligent people should bear these things in mind. The greatest throat-swabber of the age began to think he had sore throat too, and swabbed himself every day; and when he died his throat was found to have been as well as anybody's. The best way to escape imaginative disease, is to be just as busy as you can in doing something useful, profitable or good ; to have the mind fully employed in some commendable object; it is thus that the washerwoman is often happier than the wife of the millionaire; the hod carrier than he who has "retired from business."?Half8 Journal of Health. A NEW TTX LEVY. The man that would invent a plan for paying taxes without oppressing or inconveniencing the people would be ^ very justly voted the benefactor of his race. The raising of money to defray the expenses of government, and keep the State and national finances in a healthy condition, is one of the roost serious and perplexing problems that now confronts the political economist. All sorts of systems of taxation have been resorted to, and very few of them have proved satisfactory. Hardly two men can be found- who agree in their views as to the justice and policy of many of the ways and means to which resort is made to meet the public expenses. The popular sentiment would seem to be in favor of taxing the luxuries and exempting the necessaries of life; but then there will arise differences of opinions as to what particular commodities constitute luxuries and necessaries. Th;s, however, can, or ought to be settled by the law-making power so as to be satisfactory to all parties. The Italian Parliament has taken the bull by the horns in adopting rather a novel policy in this direction, and one that onght to commend itself to general adoption. If has decided to tax titles and the privilege of wearing decorations. By this bill princes, dukes, marquise^ counts and barons are taxed according to grade, including the wearing of a crest upon the family coat of arms, and permission to sport a foreign decoration. A large income to the State is thus levied upon the vanity of those who luxuriate in titular distinctions. Why, it may be asked, should not this plan be adopted in this country ? Certainly, so far as this distinction goes, an American Colonel ought to out rank a beggarly Italian Count, a live Brigadier top over a Marquis, and a Major General, even though retired from business, or put on a peace footing, should be a full match for a Duke or a Prince. In consideration of the sublime gratification of being constantly addressed by these high sounding titles, no American citizen of patriotic impulses could object to paying a reasonable annual stipend. Only think what a vast sum would be added to the national exchequer of South Carolina alone, by a reasonable levy upon its innumerable Colonels, Majors, Generals and Judges, to say nothing of the hosts of Honorables, and other minor titles, that everywhere prevail. This system of raising funds would, in a measure, obviate the necessity of the whisky and tobacco tax, and enable the Government to admit quinine, opium, castor oil and chewing gum, with other prime necessities of life, free of duty. A mere nominal tax, that would by no means be onerons, on society, collegiate, base-ball, political and other badges, would create a sinking fund sufficient to meet the interest on the national debt, finish the Washington monument, build a Darien ship canal, erect a home for indigent ex-Congressmen who have become disabled in the service of their country, and finally pay off the national debt. We feel confident that the more this subject is meditated upon by those self-sacrificing patriots who love their country more than themselves the more reasonable it will appear, and the more forcibly it will commend itself to those who do not happen to carry round with them any titles of honor, profit or trust, and those who never expect to be either Judges, Colonels or Generals, or to belong to any traveling show, base-ball or defeated candidates' club.? Columbia Yeoman. F05TAINEBLEAU. The forest of Fontainebleau covers 42,000 acres and is sixty miles in circumference. Most of the trees are very old, and to the most remarkable ones are affixed small plaques giving the particulars of their history. Originally the demense was named the Foret de JBiere and became known as Fontainebleu from the fact that King Louis, while hunting in one of its wildest parts, lost one of his favorite hounds, whose name was Bleau. The dog was found quietly drinking from a spring of cool water, which the king named Fontain Bleau, or Bleau's fountain. Struck with the beauty of the spot, the king ordered a hunting mansion to be built near the spring, and this hunting box has in successive reigns been enlarged and beautified until it became the stately palace which all visitors to the environs of Paris know so well. In Francis I's time, tradition says, the forest was infested by an enormous serpent, which gobbled up men, women and children in large numbers. As there were no snakecharmers sufficiently courageous to attack the monster, Kirig Francis determined to try his hand on it, and caused a suit of armor to be made of razors, with the edges pointing outward and the serpent met bis death. The library of the palace contains many of the first books seen in France. In Charles VII's reign the 853 books therein contained were worth the present sum of 848,100. The English carried off the books when tiey were , rulers in France, but they were bought back at the cost of 6250. In the Hotel d'Albret, in the Cour du j Cheval Blanc, Cordinal Richelieu dwelt when attending on the court. Here he was taken ill and was removed to Paris on a litter. The litter was too wide to pass through the door of the hotel and was lifted out through i a window. In 1657, Christina, Queen of Sweden, while visiting at the palace, caused i Monaldeschi, one of her favorites to be assassi- i nated. Cardinal Mazarin, by order of the king, wrote to her to leave the palace. She replied by ordering Mazarin to mind his own business; as a queen was always a queen ; wherever she happened to be. Fontainbleau was the scene of many triumphs of Rousseau and Voltaire. The latter, however, was requested to leave the palace, an uncompliraen- < tary remark he had made having come to the ears of royalty. The abdication ot Napo- < leon I, was signed at Fontainebleau, and here the petit corporal kept Pope Pius VII pris- I oner for the space of two years, on account of some alight difference of opinion between himself and the successor of St Peter. In the Cour du Cheval Blanc, Napoleon took bis leave of the Old Guard when he started on his trip of exile to Elba. . Warm Weather Diet.?The first warm days are fruitful of complaints about the failure of appstite. Breakfasts are no longer relished; dinners afford but a languid interest, and suppers seem superfluous. Only vigorous workers out of doors, or young people, who are so blessed as not yet to have made the acquain tance of their stomachs, come to the table with a real zest for food. And it is no wonder, considering how few people have yet learned the art of altering the diet to suit their own conditions and the state of the season. The Sjoring appetite fails, and ought to ian, ueiore nam uuu egga, ur ? gtcai. yic\,o ui steak, on these enervating first warm mornings of the year. Rich soups, heavy meats and all stimulating and blooa making articles of diet, that met a real want in the nipping and eager air of winter, are as much out of place now as the furs and ulsters. And yet many a person who would think it a sign of lunacy to dress in the December style in May, does not appear to see any incongruity in eating in the December fashion. Food and coal create heat, and thick clothing and tight houses preserve it for the comfort of the body in winter. Yet meo who know enough to dump their furnaces, opon the windows and lay off tfieir overcoats on the advent of spriDg, are stupid enough to keep on stocking their stomachs at full blast and consider themselv ;s "out-ofsorts" and ill if nature resents the abuse. It is time to let up on the cold w atlier diet, especially for persons doomed to li ?e indoors. A mold of well-ccoked oatmeal, t jrved cold with cream and sugar, with two o three oranges and a cup of coffee, makes an adequate and appetizing breakfast All fruits and vegetables attainable fit in well at this'season. The many preparations of the small grains afford a variety, which it is well to study. Milk and egg's and fish contain ali the needed food-elements for the diet of a month or two, with such sugar and starch as the housewife combines in toothsome light puddings or other desserts. Whether we eat to live or live to eat, we ought to be rational enough to dispense with food'when not hungry and to tempt rather than force the appetite.? Oolden Rule. A Chld Fascinating BiRDg in Ohio.? 1 A . J x xt x xl vy e learn irom a correspondent mat mere resides in the vicinity of Harrisburg, in an outof-the-way place in Hancock county, about three miles west of Mount Blanchard, a very remarkable child, only five years old, who seems to h we the power to charm birds at will. Her mother first noticed the strange fascination that the child possesses about a year ago. The little girl was playing in the door yard among a bevy of snow-birds, and when, , she spoke to them they would come and light upon her, twittering with glee. On taking them in her hands and stroking them, the birds instead of trying to get away from their fair captor, seemed to be highly pleased, and when let loose would fly away a short distance and immediately return to the child again. She took several of them into the house to show her mother, who thinking she might hurt them, put them out of doom, but no sooner was the door opened than the birds flew into the room again, and lit upon the girl's head and began to chirp. The birds remained about the premises all winter, flying to the little girl whenever the door was opened. The parents of the child became alarmed, believing that this strange power was an ill omen, and that the muchdreaded visitor, death, was about to visit their house. But death did not come, and during last summer the child has had numerous pets among the birds. The child handler* the birds so gently that a humming bird once in her hands, does not fail to return. This winter a bevy of birds have kept her company, and she piays with them for hours at a time. Every morning the birds fly to her window, and leave only when the sun sinks in the west. The parents cf this girl are poor, superstitious people, and have been reticent about the matter until lately, fearing that some great calamity was about to befall them.?Forest and Sbream. The Old Folks.?Do young people ever think that they will be old; that they will soon feel that the grasshopper is a burden and fear is in the way ? Only a few short years ago that aged man and feeblo woman were young, strong, and full of life; their young hearts were gushing with tenderness and care for the little ones who stand in their places. Do not jostle that aged couple out of your pathway, but rather lift them with tender care over the rough declining 1 XT 1?- 11 T il voaa. i ou may miive iurguneu uuw mcjr kept your tender foet from stumbling and with what care they watched your advancing steps. But they have not forgotten, and the time will come when you are forcibly reminded of it, by the love you have for your little ones. Will they hand you the same bitter cup to drink that you put out for that aged lather and stricken mother. Verily, "with the measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Think of the anxious days and nights four mother has watched by your sick bed; remember her loving care; her patience and long suffering with your fretfulness, and then,let the blush of shame dye your brow, tibat you should be impatient or unkind to her now that she is old. Old folks aire such atrial! Yes, they know it; they feel it! and so will you be such a trial to your children in the days that will surely come; aye, and you will .remember, too! $& Mr. Benjamin Butler was in hie youth destined by his mother to become a Baptist minister, and she sent him to Waterville College for preparation. Mr. Bland, a new biographer, reiates that one of the professors delivered a sermon in the chapel, in which he said : "1. None but the elect <&n bo saved. 2. Of so-called Christians probably not more than one in a hundred will be saved. 3. Heathen people will have more consideration of the Almighty in future life than men of Christian nations, who bear but do not profit by the Word of God." After hearing this sermon the young Butler petitioned the faculty to relieve him from further attendance upon preaching, upon the ground that according to the proportion stated, not above six persons in the college could possibly be saved; and as there were nine worthy professors, all of whom were doctors of divinity, it would be presumptuous for him, a poor student, to hope for even the re* - ?i?A? i ..AJ. 3 tnotesi cnance 01 saivauuu ; uencc iu aneuuing church he was only making his damnation more certain and terrible. A Stkange Plant,?A curious plant has been discovered in Wisconsin which produces a kind of cotton and flax from the same stalk. It has already been woven into fabrics, and, as any article that will make as good cloth as can be made from this plant will make good paper, it has been called the paper plant. It can be planted in the spring, and cut in the fall and winter. It bleaches itself white as it stands, and it will yield three or four tons to the acre., From a single root that was transplanted last spring grew twenty large stalks, with 365 pods containing the cotton, at least sixty seeds in each. From this root were obtained seven ounces of pure cotton and over a pound of flax. It is a very heavy plant and grows from six to seven feet high. .? ' ' . *