New York dispatch. [volume], July 04, 1886, Page 6, Image 6

About New York dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1863-1899

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6
DANDELION.
A dandelion in a meadow grew,
Among tho waving grass and cowslips yellow,
Pining on sunshine, breakfasting on dew—
He was a right contented little fellow.
Each morn his golden bead he lifted straight
To catch the first sweet breath of coming day;
Each evening closed his sleepy eyes, to wait
Until the long, dark night should pass away.
Ono afternoon, in sad, unquiet mood,
I passed beside this tiny, bright-faced flower,
And begged that he would tell me, if he could,
The secret of his joy through sun and shower.
He looked at me with open eyes, and said:
•• 1 know the sun is somewhere shining clear,
And when I cannot see him overhead,
I try to be a little sun right here.”
WINKING TIB PRIZE.
BY CLYDE RAYMOND.
“ I shall go to the country well armed for con
quest, that’s certa.n,” laughed i ou Harding, a
rich young widow, tossing a p ie of dainty laces
into the lap of her paid companion with the in
junction to “hurry up and get those flounces
made as soon as possible.”
“ I’ve learned that Hugh Mansfield is to spend
part ot the bummer there,” she went on, turn
ing again to the friend who had run in to dis
cuss with her their plans for the season, “ and
you know, Fannie, what a magnificent catch he
is. So 1 warn you in time that we shall be
deadly riv als, for of course you will try as hard
as any ot us to land the big fish.”
“ Oh, I yield to the inevitable at the very out
set,” returned Fannie Remington, banteringly;
“ for what earthly chance will my poor beauty
have against your gold?” And there was just
a su-liicient shade of truth in the jesting inquiry
to make Mrs. Harding wince a little, f r there
was no denying that her friend Fannie had, by
far, the advantage in the way of good lo ks.
But what will Miss Weir be doing in the mean
time while all the rest of us are quarreling over
the great prize ?” she added, turning, with one
of her charming smiles, to Mrs. Harding’s com
panion.
“Ob, I shall bo happy enough, never fear,”
said the latter, returning the smile with one
equally as bright over her lapful of laces. “ I
shall not be burdened with society cares and
conquests, you know, so when Mrs. Harding
doesn’t need me I shall be out gathering wild
flowers and exploring nature’s beauties. I
dearly love the country for itself.”
“Bravo 1” cried Miss Remington, gayly,while
Mrs. Harding merely arched her black brows
and shrugged her elegant shoulders, as if the
likes or dislikes of her paid companion were
several degrees beneath her notice.
When “ tho season ” was fairly inaugurated it
found the y; ung widow and her party delight
fully established in one of the quietest of the
fashionable watering-places, if there is such a
thing as a place being [quiet after Fashion has
once found it out.
It is doubtful, however, if Mrs. Harding
would have chosen it as the favored spot where
in to display her ravishing new toilettes had it
not been lor Hugh Mansfield’s presence there.
For beneath her light jests upon the subject
was a firm, determined purpose to win the
handsome young millionaire in the face of all
p ssible rivalry.
And it soon began to look as if she had not
made a vain boast. Lou Harding, if not a
beauty, was quite pretty enough to turn ft
y ung man’s head, and her black eyes, fine
figure and coquettish ft’rs were really bewil
dainty be-ribboned morning-gowns and exquie
ball-dresses that displayed them to the best
advantage. . . ,
And so Hugh Mansfield evidently thought.
At least he paid her many flattering attdfitlOlTß
and the pretty widow’s heart beat high with
hope.
“ I tell you I meant to win the great
prize ?” she retorted, with a triumphant snap in
iier black eyes, as Fannie, in mock indignation,
bantered her upon getting the lion’s share of
the voung millionaire’s attentions.
“ When a young widow enters the field of
conquest, you poor girls might as well give up
the struggle first as last,” she added, with a
complacent laugh.
“ Especially when she has the ducats with
which to back up her other fascinations,”
laughed Fannie, with a saucy little grimace.
“ Well, as I never entered the lists against
you, I can afford to let you boast a little. Any
way, Hugh Mansfield isn’t the only conquest
But here the young lady checked herself
abruptly, biting her saucy red lip, while a sud
den vivid color flushed her pretty cheeks.
“Oh, you may as well spare your blushes,
Fan; don’t you suppose we can all see which
way the wind is blowing?” teased Mrs. Harding,
with her self-satisfied little laugh. “ Well, I ad
mire your taste as well as your discretion. For
since you can’t have first choice—catch of the
season, you know—why, Captain Carroll is cer
tainly a splendid substitute.”
“ I’d advise you not to ‘count your chickens,’
Ac., Lou. You know the old proverb,’ retorted
Fannie, a wicked sparkle in her pleasant brown
eyes. “ Now, Miss Leslie here has never a
word to say on the subject; yet it wouldn’t sur
prise me at all if the big fish were to land him
self in her modest net, despite all the rich
widows and marriageable girls who are just
dying to capture him.”
“ Miss Remington I”
There was a thrill of indignant surprise in the
clear, sweet tones as Leslie Weir, with an
abrupt, startled movement, lilted her head
from the book she had been reading, paying lit
tle attention to the confidential chat which had
been going on, as usual, regardless of her
presence.
For it seemed to be a cardinal point in the
rich young widow’s creed to treat her hired de
pendents as if they were mere sticks or stones.
Leslie could not feel angry with the charming
girl who always championed her cause so
sweetly—“spoiled her,” was Mrs. Harding’s
version of it; but there was a proudly reproach
ful look in the large, deep gray eyes that shot
such a swift glance toward the speaker, and a
hot wave of crimson dyed Leslie’s fair face to
the very roots of her rich, tawny hair.
Fannie laughed merrily in answer, while Mrs.
Harding shot a look at the lovely companion
from her bright black eyes—an insolent look of
mingled amusement and disdain.
“ What an idea ! You do take up with such
ridiculous notions, Fannie,” she remarked, with
her ever-ready shrug and a short, derisive
laugh that was meant to crush in the bud any
similar “ notions ” that might possibly exist in
Leslie’s mind.
The girl, however, did not deign to notice the
intended slur. Mie simply said, with an ap
pealing glance that went straight to Fannie’s
Kind heart:
“ 1 trust you will leave my name out of such
discussions hereafter, Miss Remington.”
And then, in her proud, quiet way, she rese
and left the room with an air of graceful dignity
that a queen might have envied.
Ten minutes later, with her large white Swiss
covered hat shading her flushed cheeks, and
her book in her hand, she was pacing slowly up
and down the beach ; but her mind and heart
were too full of excited thought to permit her to
read, or even to notice the lovely scene which
the sunset was painting on the still surface of
the sea.
Calmly as she had borne it, that subtle, barbed
thrust of Mrs. Harding’s had gone straight to
its mark. It had stung her to the very soul. It
came ho: ae to her now for the first time, with a
thrill of bitter shame, how completely Hugh
Mansfield had realized her perfect ideal of man
hood and how often his image had, of late, been
a part of her sweetest daydreams.
Several times, in the first two or three weeks
following their arrival, they had met by chance
—once during one of Leslie’s early morning
strolls, when the dew was yet glistening in the
hearts of the wildflowers she was gathering and
the wood was ringing with the trills of a thou
sand fluttering, silvery-throated birds.
The young man’s quick, firm step, as he came
striding down the woodland path, switching the
dew off the grass with his light cane as he.
walked, startled her so that she had let fall the
hatful of sweet June roses she had gathered,
and they lay scattered on the dewy grass direct
ly in his path.
With a graceful apology he stopped and as
sisted her in gathering up her fallen treasures;
then, when he had seen the last velvety pink
blossom safely replaced in the wide-rimmed
straw hat, he had gone on his way with her few
modest words of thanks, uttered in a voice
marvellously low and sweet, lingering pleas
antly in his ears.
Leslie did not dream what a lovely picture
she had made that morning in the eyes of the
young millionaire-standing therein the tender
light that was still half-shadow under the leafy
boughs, her soft white gown prettily defining a
lithe and graceful form, the bare head crowned
with rich cols of tawny>hair that waved in silky
rings over a broad, white forehead, and the
wide straw hat, with its fluttering pale-pink
ribbons, filled to tho very brim with blushing,
dew-wet roses.
Nor did she know that he had secretly carried
one of those same roses away with him as a
souvenir of his meeting with the lovely wood
nymph, as he called her in his thoughts.
Later, only a few days ago, nad come a formal
introduction given by Mrs. Harding, and most
reluctantly, as Leslie clearly divined by the
cold, hard glitter in the widow’s black eyes and
the slight, but scornful, emphasis with which
she uttered the explanatory words “my com
panion,” carefully added after Leslie’s name.
An amused smile was Hugh Mansfield’s only
recognition of the little trick, and there was a
light in his handsome dark eyes as he took her
hand that made Leslie’s heart unconsciously
beat quicker.
After that, in a proud, graceful little way all
her own, she quietly avoided him. With all her
dreams—and Leslie was something of a dreamer
—she was not romantic or simple-minded
enough to fancy that he, the lionized millonaire,
would think seriously of a girl in her position,
and she was far too pure and proud to permit
any attentions from such as he that might be
lightly misconstrued.
And now, pacing the shingly beach, she knew,
at last, that another feeling, stronger ana
deeper than pride alone, urged her to fly from
his presence.
“If 1 could only leave here,” she was saying
to herself, with a kind of passionate rebellion
against her fate. “If I could only be free from
the pain of seeing him, and—and knowing that
he belongs to a different world from mine ! If
I need never again bear that woman’s petty
etinge and slurs. But, there 1” checking her
feverish longings with a grim little smile
of recollection, “what am I saying? I must
earn my daily bread, and Lou Harding, with all
her mean little tyrannies, gives me the chance
to do that. No. no ; I must stay on and continue
to bear it. Where else could Igo ?—what could
Ido?”
“ What a pleasure to see you at last, Miss
Weir !” broke in a cheery, masculine voice upon
her excited reverie. And, turning, she was face
to face with Hugh Mansfield, who extended bis
hand with a trank, glad smile that lit up his
dark face most winningly. “What must one
do,” he went on>in a tone half jesting, half
serious, “to obtain an occasional audience of
your majesty? I will do anything—only tell
mo. Do you know,” quite earnestly, “ that you
have not allowed me the chance to speak one
word with you m three whole days ?”
“Indeed"! How you must have suffered 1”
she retorted, lightly, her careless tones just
Ringed with irony ; and she hastily withdrew
the hand which she had permitted to merely
touch his for an instant. “ But lam not in so
ciety, you know,” she added, fearful that he
might guess the real truth, “and I have duties
which keep me quite busily occupied. Even
how, ’ she added, glancing nervously toward
the widow’s cotlage, “I must be going. Mrs.
Harding ”
“ What ! you don’t mean to say you are going
the moment I am so fortunate as to find you ?”
he interrupted, with a rueful countenance, in
deed.
“I must,” she retorted lightly, as she moved
away. Then, glancing back indifferently, she
added, with a careless smile and nod, “Good
evening, Mr. Mansfield.”
‘•Jove ! how she does manage to cut me short
whenever 1 try to talk with her/’ muttered the
young millionaire, gazing alter the light, van
ishing form, with a puzzled frown on his hand
some, dark face. “ Why does she do it, I’d like
to know ? Is it pride, or—what ? No other
woman ever tried, or cared, to keep me at such
an icy distance, I’m sure. But she is so differ
ent from all the others, in every way I Just a
glance from those deep, cool gray eyes, and
then she is gone. Ah I my fair, proud Les-
lie walked up and down the beach for a time,
halt-hoping she m ght return. But she was not
visible again; and three hours later Mansfield
was smiling and uttering hia meaningless com
pliments to the fashionable women who thronged
about him with their sweetest smiles, while his
thoughts were forever drifting away to a fair,
proud face with gray eyes that seemed to be
gazing upon him with their mocking light from
the far-off, frozen pinnacle of an iceberg.
Mrs. Lou Harding had chanced to witness
that brief interview on the Leach and a startled,
uneasy look flashed into her glittering black
eyes.
“ I’ll have to get rid of that girl, I see that,”
she muttered vindictively, drawing her breath
bard as she watched them from her window.
“ She is lovely, in her odd style—dangerously
so; and it’ll be impossible to keep her in the
background any longer, now that he’s insisted
upon having an introduction to her. 1 won’t
mention this affair, of course, but I’ll find some
good excuse for discharging her before two
days have passed. I would die before I would
admit thatl looked upon her as a rival.”
Mrs. Harding kept her word. And when,
after several days hail passed without a glimpse
of Miss Weir, Mr. Mansfield made some in
quiries concerning her, the young widow put
on a pretty air of injured innocence.
“ iShe left me very unexpectedly, and I must
own that I felt rather hurt over it, since I had
kept her so long in my employ and done so
much for her,” said she, with a charming little
pout. “ But she said she expected soon to be
married, and hinted at some old romance which
had just ended all right, as an excuse for leaving
me so suddenly. So I suppose I really ought
not to blame her, aft?? ’
The look that swept over Hugh’s dark, hand
some face and settled gloomily in the depths of
his beautiful dark eyes, as he beard the start
ing cor.™--3 It? PXSiIJ schemer
that sheliad not sent Leslie away 6H6 moment
too soon.
Bui the watering-place suddenly lost all at
tractions for the young millionaire. He left at
once, not caring particularly whither he went;
and, by some strange fate, found himself, at the
end of the first day, in the very same hotel at
which Leslie Weir was stopping on her way to
take a new situation.
In the shock ot the sudden meeting, Hugh
blundered forth the story of his honest love,
and Leslie, having heard it, threw aside her
coldness and reserve, and then the whole truth
came out.
“ Since you have no relatives or friends to
consult, my darling,” pleaded the impassioned
lover, “ let us be married here at once, and we
will return to the fashionable watering-place we
have just left to spend our honeymoon.”
And Leslie allowed the happy fellow to plan
the whole affair just to suit himself.
When Fannie Remington received their wed
ding cards she smiled and nodded her sincere
approval. When Mrs. Lou Harding received
hers—which chanced to be at the breakfast
table, in presence of a dozen other guests—she
fainted dead away.
Within a week the beautiful Mrs. Mansfield
was the reigning belle and fashion; while Mrs.
Harding, who had lost not a moment in packing
up her bewildering wardrobe and fleeing to new
fields of glory, listened in bitter silence to the
hated echoes of her rival’s fame.
STORY OF “MISS
BY F. E.
(From the Times-Democrat.)
Coffee had just been served, and the room
was filled with smoke, and that genial al ter
glow of pleasant, reminiscent talk that always
follows a good dinner, and especially a dinner
where old friends have met, old friendships
been revived and old stories told. These men
had been comrades in war, had served under
the same flag, held the same political opinions
and suffered the same losses. It seemed pleas
ant now, after the lapse of years, to exchange
experience from an easy chair, with the best of
cigar’s in one’s mouth and a bottle ot old wine
at one’s elbow. They enjoyed it keenly in their
sober, middle-aged fashion, told their stories
with gusto, drank their toasts with enthusiasm
and listened to each other’s talk with an eager
ness of attention and a freshness ot sympathy
at once as novel as it was delightful. Innumera
ble changes were rung upon three themes, viz.,
“ before the war,” “ the war ” and “ since the
war. ’ We of the new generation can easily
imagine the style of talk.
Each had told his story, when our host turned
toward me and said:
“ Well, Harrison, we are waiting for your
story.”
Harrison smiled deprecatingly, gazed into
the tire, and then began the following, in his
soft. Southern drawl:
Well, my story happened when we were in
Georgia, just outside of Marietta, and our mess
consisted of six men—two Georgians, one Ala
bamian, a Virginian, myself, and a Creole, with
a beautiful face and a tenor voice that would
charm the birds from the trees, named, sing
ularly enough, Orphee. We became a very
tuneful set under his inspiration, and ex
changed musical information with much gen
erosity. Our favorite air was that famous camp
song, “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground.”
You should have heard us sing it. Orphee’s
tenor, my baritone, and the three other fellows
chiming in softly, until the very pine trees stop
ped whispering to listen and the tire burned
softly in admiration, and war somehow did not
seem so hard and cruel. Well, one dark night
we were sitting around the fire, discussing with
unwearied enthusiasm the prospects of the
Cause, when we heard irregular footsteps out
side, and paused in our talk to listen.
“You can turn in here until further orders,”
said our lieutenant’s cheery voice, and a min
ute afterward a short, thick-set man entered.
He made an apologetic little bow, shook himself
like a dog, and, taking off his large wideawake,
disclosed a dark, square face, with shy, dark
eyes, blue-black hair, and a wide, firm mouth.
He smiled tenderly, giving an air of great sweet
ness to an otherwise sombre face. He sat down
on a blanket, Turkish fashion, quietly hoped he
was not disturbing us, and then dropped his
eyes meditatively on the ground. Silence
reigned. We were too disconsolate to be polite,
and so listened uneasily to the slow, indefinite
stirrings of the wind through the trees, when
suddenly a new sound arose, as of stealthy, un
certain footsteps coming nearer and nearer.
The new-comer pricked up his ears and his face
wore an expression almost approaching guilt.
“ A spy ” was my first illogical conclusion as I
rose to my feet and waited expectantly. The
flap of the tent stirred slightly, cautiously ; the
wind rose and swept the darkened landscape ;
the rain poured down with a rush, as it to give
a tragic significance to what was about to hap
pen, for—something did happen—the flap was
suddenly pushed aside, and a goat walked in
and went straight to the stranger, who received
her with an indescribable tenderness of look
and gesture.
“A rum go,” said the Virginian under his
breath.
We all agreed, but contented ourselves with
staring at the strange spectacle of a man and a
goat fondling each other with uncouth marks of
affection. After a while we resumed our old
lazy positions and silently awaited further de
velopments. The little man signed the goat to
a remote spot, where she lav down, and then
turning toward us said, as if taking up an unre
preased thought:
“ You see, boys, I could not help it if Nannie
would follow me. I have been good to her and
she remembers it. I had to leave home secret
ly to escape her, and all through the journey I
felt like a scoundrel, and now—well, here she
is.”
He stopped abruptly without waiting for
comment and lay down with a short good night.
I lay awake several hours after the others, won
dering idly as to the probable tie which bound
the new-comer to the goat, but arrived at no
solution. From that night Parsons arnd his
goat became a subject of never-ending specula
tion to the mess. He was very quiet and unob
trusive, never resenting, although contriving to
evade impertinent questions and bearing every
thing with a good nature amounting to stupid
ity. As for the goat, she became the hapless
butt ot the whole division. We called her de
risively “Miss Anna,” treating her with an
amount ot mock consideration that made Par
son’s eyes fairly glisten with appreciation.
The second night after their arrival we began to
sing, as usual, when the Virginian rose, and in
a speech, the delicate humor of which I shall
not attempt to reproduce, begged that “ Miss
Anna’s” rest should not be broken by our rude
chanting. I shall never forget the broken, ten
der, deprecating little reply that caiao from
NEW YORK DISPATCH, JULY 4, 1886.
Parsons, and how we consented at last to sing.
His face was so rapt as he sat beating time with
bis forefinger and occasionally quavering out an
effective “Dying to-night, dying to-night,”
which we sang as if our very life-blood were
ebbing away, that I began to realize the abso
lute cowardice of ridiculing a perfectly inno
cent, unconscious man. 1 began to try and
shield him from tiie lun-makers, and was final
ly joined by Orphee, who became his more ar
dent and eloquent partisan. As for Parsons, he
grew almost to worship the handsome, sweet
voiced lad.
One luckless afternoon Parsons, Orphee and
I strolled off together, leaving “ Miss Anna ” to
the mercies of our mess, bat tormented by some
vague presentiment of evil, I induced my com
panions to return a little earlier than they in
tended. As we neared the tent my ear caught
the sounds of derision that came first from our
Virginian, and were then finally caught up by
the others, and ended in peal alter peal ot laugh
ter.
We pushed eagerly in. Alas ! “ Miss Anna,”
decked out in the most ridiculous toggery, had
been tied between four stakes driven into the
ground, and the men were engaged in pricking
her with pine burrs until the poor animal fairly
writhed with agony. In a minute we bad freed
her, and Parsons held the poor bleeding crea
ture close to his breast. His small, square fig
ure seemed to rise and dilate with a certain
sense ot superior power, as ho turned his
blanched face and blazing eyes upon the crowd.
“You call yourselves gentlemen,” he said
harshly, “you, who have tortured a poor, dumb,
defenseless creature, left in your care. Thank
God, my meaning of the word is different! You
have no excuse. You are all supposed to be
men, and honorable men, men who are fighting
for the rights of their country, and yet you can
amuse yourselves with senseless cruelty such
as you have practiced this afternoon. You have
branded yourselves as cowards and liars, lor ”
—his voice broke suddenly—“ I trusted you.”
, There was an ominous, threatening stir in the
little tent, and several men stepped out toward
the speaker, picturesque in his very unpictur
esqueuess, whose grotesque figure stood out
sharply against the bit of landscape showing
through the opening of the tent. But his lace
awed them back. The goat turned and moaned
pitifully, rubbing her nose against Parsons’s
coat with mute insistence. His face softened
wonderfully; he seemed to forget the men, his
anger, everything, and he whispered to her in
soft, caressing tones:
“ You have followed me through thick and
thin, Miss Anna. When the overflow came and
we were starving, it was you who struggled
back to us through the water, and it was your
milk that kept us alive. Everything depended
then on your strength. We called our baby
after you, and when the poor little one died it
cut me cruelly—cruelly. I can never forgive
this day s work. Be brave, Miss Anna, be
brave, and putting bis cheek on Miss Anna’s
head, the tears fairly rolled out of his eyes.
He stopped a minute, drawing in his breath
in short, quick, little sobs, and threw out both
hands with a forlorn gesture oi abandonment.
“ O ! great God I I was so lonely when wife
and babies all were dead, and I loved Miss
Anna then ; I love her now as the one relic left
me of that beautiful, vanished past. Then the
war came, and i tried to leave you, thinking it
would be best, but you followed me, to be ridi
culed, despised, and even tortured. All the
conduct of the last week breaks over me, and I
see what a blind fool I have been.”
“Parsons, yon are to go on picket duty to
night, and you had better start now,” called in
the voice of our lieutenant. The men, now thor
oughly ashamed of themselves, came nearer,
and were about to offer some heartfelt words
of apology, but Parsons turned away, and, de
livering “Miss Anna” over to Orphee, said,
pleadingly:
“Ifanything should happen tome, you will
take care of her ?”
Olphee’s eyes filled with tears as he pressed
the extended band.
Without another word or look Parsons strode
out into the dark,
“ We’re brutes—cowardly brutes,” said our
Virginian, disgustedly.
“ I would rather face a million Yankees than
hear that man's story told in that voice again,”
said another.
That night was a weary one. "We could not
forget the solemn figure, the dark, patient lace,
the broken, harsh, tender voice, and the pines
above and the river far away seemed to mingle
their grief at our cowardice and brutality.
Meanwhile “ Miss Anna” slept peacefully on
the best blanket of the mess, while we lay there
sleepless, thoughtful, unhappy, even the greater
issue of the war momentarily forgotten.
With tho dawn came action. The Yankees
were upon us, and we fought like wildcats. As
evening came on, the fight was suspended, and
when our mess met everybody was there, “ Miss
Anna” included, except Parsons. We had made
up a scheme to beg his forgiveness and to swear
to be gentlemen, at least. Each of us had a
separate speech of apology to make, expressive
of shame and contrition. When night settled
down, and Parsons did not appear, we grew
anxious and sat silently around, not daring to
breathe the great fear uppermost in our minds.
“Miss Anna” too, walked up and down un
easily, sniffing the air and rubbing her nose
ngainst any convenient shoulder. As we sat
thus, our lieutenant called in to me:
“ Harrison, step here a minute.”
I arose and went out a little unsteadily.
“Parsons was hurt last night, on guard, and
has asked to see you. Go now, there isn’t
much time, I’m afraid.”
He turned to lead the way.
“ I may tell them ?” I asked.
“No use,” he answered shortly, as Orphee’s
stricken lace appeared in the doorway.
Well, I followed him to the rude hut selected
for our hospital. It was lighted by torches, and
the surgeons were busy with the men who had
fallen in that day’s fight. In the farthest corner
of tho room lay Parsons. 1 knelt down by him
and took his hand. He smiled faintly, reassur
ingly, and whispered:
- “ It’s not so hard—it was so quick, you know
—just a flash, a burn, and then a dull pain. On
ly, I lay there so long, Harrison, that 1 thought
everything very clearly out, and I’m sorry.
How c uld those fellows know? lam afraid I
lost my temper. I’m such a devil of a fellow
when 1 lose my temper,” he said, pathetically,
“and, Harrison, 1 beg your pardon, old fellow
—but Miss Anna?”
His eyes apologized amply for this inquiry,
and I went in search of the men and their
charge.
They followed me eagerly, and we uncon
sciously fell into a procession and moved
through the door with “Miss Anna” in our
midst. It must have been a strange sight, a
half-dozen men and a goat marching solemnly
up the aisle of the rude cabin, but to the
credit ot human nature be it said, nobody
laughed or seemed to observe the humorous
side of the situation.
“ Miss Anna 1”
The voice broke like a sob across the still
ness, and tho faithful friend pressed close to
her master’s side. The strong men who had
faced death so unflinchingly ail day, Quivered
and shrank before this new phase. Orphee
looked longingly into the dying face as the
white lips murmured of bygone days, oi baby
hands aud tender, wifely kisses.
“Miss Anna,” the voice began again, weakly,
“the boys all know and love her,” and then
suddenly recollecting he turned his eyes on the
manly bearded faces around him, and noted
their moist eyes, then with the old frank smile
ot appreciation, he muttered: “Dying to-night,
dying to-night. Sing it, Orphee.”
The river rushed aud sang, the wind sighed
airily through the sorrowful pines, but distinct
and clear rose the voice of Orphee, that sweet,
high tenor, thrilling with tears and pathos. It
quivered and fell as it reached the chorus,
and the “ dying to-night ” was sobbed out on
his knees as he held the poor, cold hands close
to his breast. , The wounded men turned on the
rough floor, the surgeons desisted from their
work, and one little fellow, his breast shot to
pieces, crossed himself involuntarily, stirred by
the sorrowful sweetness.
Again Parsons spoke:
“Be good, boys, to ‘Miss Anna.’ No better,
truer sweetheart could you find. Say with me
now, God bless ‘Miss Anna.’ ”
And we said it with him.
“ Amen,” he answered solemnly, and with a
spasm of pain he was lying there quite still,
smiling tenderly, as of old, with “ Miss Anna ”
close to his breast.
“ And ‘Miss Anna?” asked the host.
“ Was shot down the next morning in the first
charge.”
There was silence for a few minutes, and then
Harrison raised his glass, and looked wistfully
around. In an instan t the glasses were refilled,
and, with reverently bowed heads and hushed
tones, the whole room drank to the memory of
“ Miss Anna.”
FORE EST AFTER THE WAE.
How the Famous Chieftain Sought to
Overcome His Lack of Education.
(From the Washington Critic.)
Your little anecdote of Gen. Forrest and his
proverbial defiance of the rules of English
grammar, as told by Col. McClure, Appoint
ment Clerk for the Post-office Department, re
minds me that while in Memphis shortly after
the war and for several years I was brought into
frequent association with Gen. Forrest aud
knew him well. He was a good citizen and a
true man. Not a soldier in the Confederacy
ever accepted the results of the war with
greater honesty and manliness. He looked up
on the new order of things as he would have
looked upon a new revelation, and he seemed
to feel a genuine pride in the thought that as a
citizen of the restored Union it lay in his power
to do something, however humble it might be,
toward rebuilding that which had been de
stroyed by the shock of war, and contributing
of his own energy and industry in the common
prosperity of the country. Hence he was al
ways found a conservator of the peace, always
on the alert to keep his old companions in arms
on their good behavior, and always furnishing
in his own conduct an example that they might
safely follow. In this way Bedford Forrest ex
erted a wide and beneficent influence among a
class of men whom no other man in West Ten
nessee could so nearly approach. What For
rest said was law and gospel to many men who
were prone to unruly resentments.
It was now he began to feel very keenly the
want of education. He had the universal con
fidence of the business community, and had
been elected President of the Planters’ Insur
ance Company, a position which afforded him
an ample salary, at the same time that his per
sonsal popularity and military celebrity made
his selection for this important trust advantage
ous to company. But he did not choose to
consider the position an honorary sinecure.
He conscientiously felt that, being the chief
officer of the company, it was his duty to labor
in all ways lor its interests and to enlarge its
business. And here began his real and only
schooling. He not only devoted himself to a
careiul study ot the principles of insurance and
the details of its methods, olten coming to the
office of your correspondent with inquiries for
information, and having no hesitation in asking
even the commonest questions, but he also
took up the rudimentary English studies -
grammar, arithmetic and geography—that he
might better equip himself for the duties before
him. He realized the disadvantages at which
an ignorant man was placed, and, though well
along in years, worked hard and faithfully as
any schoolboy ever did to overcome then. I
was much impressed with the man’s earnest
ness and zeal, and learned to admire his excel
lent qualities of head and heart. He threw all
his antecedents behind his and looked only to
the future. He was a man now-born, brave as
as lion, yet simple-minded as a child. Tho
rugged uncQuthnesß of his nature, so terrible
in war, gradually faded away in the benigner
atmhsphere of peace. Whatever he may have
been was the result rather of circumstances
than of choice. Forrest was undoubtedly the
making of an uncommon man. Had his lie
been spared he would have demonstrated it
conspicuously to the country.
CAVEOFVULTURES.
Abodes of Death and Desolation Found
in the L’espe Mountains.
(Letter in Ventura Free Press.)
The writer has, for the last few years, offered
a liberal reward for a set ot vulture eggs, and
numerous have been the attempts of both hunter
and urchin to procure them, with one common
result—they were unable to find where they
nest. Believing that the Pacific condor nests
somewhere in the Sespo Mountains, 1 deter
mined to make one grand effort, if possible, to
obtain the eggs. After considerable search I
finally discovered the locality where these birds
bring forth their young.
High up in one of the deep, dark gorges that
put into thQ turbulent Sespe, a few miles above
Devil’s Gate, on the west side of the stream, at
an altitude ol more than 4,000 leet, the home of
the vulture was discovered, with all its strange
and peculiar features. Climbing up the rocky
gorge to a point where a perpendicular wall of
rock fifty feet high stopped any further prog
ress, and following along the base of the rocky
cliff a few yards, I observed a cluster of pine
trees that grew near the base of the cliff, and,
seeing one that shot above the projecting rock
some sixty feet, being full of limbs that pro
jected at right angles from the trunk, I deter
mined to climb the tree and, if possible, get on
top of the great rocky shelf that, like a terrace,
extended for hundreds of feet around the rocky
bluff.
With but little exertion I climbed to a point
parallel to the rocky sh’elf, and by careful at
tention walked out on one of the projecting
limbs six or eight feet and stepped down upon
the terrace. Here I found a rocky shelf some
ten feet wide, and extending far along the bluff
and back to an overhanging wall, arranged
something after the manner ot the Cliff--
Dwellers of Arizona, in which were excavated
chambers, large enough lor a person to com
fortably pass in, being on an average ten feet
deep.
On the floor of the caverns lie scattered
ardiind a very Golgotha ot bones, while near the
back I observed a pile of sticks, grass and
other debris resembling a wood rat s nest, about
three feet high, culminating in an uniformly
pointed hillock. Taking a dry stick that lay
near by, i proceftflfld to tear down this pile, be
lieving that I ha J found at last a vulture’s hOSt,
and that the birds had covered up the eggs be
fore departing in the morning. Denuding the
pile a few inches, I came to the heads of halt
decomposed carcasses of numerous small ani
mals, in which I recognized the head of a pig,
sheep, several jack rabbits and other small
varmints. The stench was so great that I was
compelled to retreat.
I entered a second chamber, where I found a
similar pile, and pursuing my further investiga
tions I entered a fourth one, containing one of
those peculiar nests, in which I observed a hole
at the base, about six inches in diameter, and at
tho point oi thrusting a stick into the hole, out
came a most miserable looking creature, re
maining lor a moment and then darting back
again. It once more appeared at the hole, com
pletely filling it up, and this time I discovered
that I was gazinz upon a young vulture, and
that these piles were in reality vulture’s nests,
the sole object of my perilous adventures.
Stepping around into the second chamber, I
began to tear down one of those heaps, believ
ing that I would find the eggs somewhere within
the ghastly pile.
Just then, easting my eyes upward, 1 beheld
far to the northward the old bird sailing high in
the cloudless vault, aud with renewed vigor I
hastily demolished the pile, and when about
one-third of the top had been torn off, consist
ing of partially decomposed carcasses of small
animals, to my horror and surprise, there lay
half buried in the heap, protruding from be
neath, torn and lacerated, the hand and forearm
of some human being, sufficiently intact not to
be mistaken as to its identity. Appalled at this
ghastly sight, and again looking to tho north
ward, I beheld the old birds approaching the
caverns.
Knowing as I did that they would swoop’down
in a tew minutes, I sprang to the edge of a rock,
seized a protruding limb and rapidly descended
to the foot of the tree, just in time, for that mo
ment, like a great avalanche, with the velocity
of lightning, they came, shaking the very earth
I stood upon. Simultaneously they alighted
upon the projecting shelf, when, with their
great wings still outstretched, they seemed to
know at once that some daring intruder 'had
ventured to enter their home of death and deso
lation.
Quickly wending my way down the mountain
side, I finally reached my gun aud outfit, and
casting a look in the direction of the cave, 1 be
held that there were unmistakable indications
ot turmoil in the camp—the great birds attack
ing each other for a moment in their imperial
altitude, then alighting upon the overhanging
rock, but too far distant lor the range of my
rifle. Hurriedly retracing my steps down the
dismal and rocky stream, with the horrible and
strange discoveries ever vividly before my eyes,
it was not untill was past the Devil’s Gate,
where 1 halted, that I once more regained my
normal condition of mind, determining that at
some future day I would again visit the Vulture
Caves of the Sespe.
GRAND" COMPANY.
MONKEYS AT BREAKFAST.
An English gentleman who lived in India
during his early life, tells an amusing story of
some pranks played by monkeys. They were
almost as tame and playful as kittens about his
home, and there were a great number of them.
He says : I was married in India, and engaged
for our home a house fourteen miles from any
other habitation ot white men. On the morning
of arrival my wife went to change her travel
ing-dress while the servants laid breakfast on
the veranda overlooking the river. At the clat
ter of the plates there began to come down from
the big trees that overshadowed the house, and
up from the trees that grew in the ravine be
hind it, and from the house roof itself, from
everywhere, a multitude of solemn monkeys.
They came up singly, in couples and in families,
and took their places without noise or fuss, on
the veranda, and sat there like an audience
waiting for an entertainment to commence.
And when everything was ready, the breakfast
all laid, the monkeys all seated, I went to her
room and called my wife.
“ Breakfast is ready and they are all waiting,”
said I.
“Who are waiting?” she asked, in dismay.
“ I thought we were going to be alone, and 1 was
just coming out in my dressing-gown.”
“Never mind,” I said: “the people about
here are not very fashionably dressed them
selves. They wear pretty much the same thing
the year round.”
And so my wife came out. Imagine then her
astonishment. In the middle of the veranda
stood our breakfast-table, and all the rest of the
space, as well as the railings and steps, were
covered with an immense company of monkeys,
as grave as possible, and as motionless and
solemn and silent as if they were stuffed. Only
their eyes kept blinking, and their little round
ears kept twitching.
“ Will they eat anything ?” she finally asked.
“Try them,” I aaid.
So she picked up a biscuit and threw it among
the company. Three hundred monkeys jumped
into the air like one, and just lor one instant
there was a riot that defied description. The
next instant every monkey was sitting in its
place as solemn and serious as if it had
never moved. Only their eyes blinked and
their ears twitched. My wife threw another
biscuit, and again another riot, and then another
biscuit. But we gave away all we had to give,
and stood up to go. The moneys at once arose
every monkey on the veranda—and, advancing
gravely toward the steps, walked down them in
solemn procession, old and young together, and
dispersed for the day’s occupataesL
JOHN "SMITH/THE KICKER.
How He was Found. Lying on a Cellar-
Door, and. What He Did Then.
(JVom the Philadelphia North-American.'].
“What’s the matter with your jaw?” asked
Magistrate Lelar ae Policeman Hamington
walked up to the desk.
John Smith, that chap over there, kicked
me last night.”
“ Where was he ?”
“ Lying on the cellar-door, drunk. I shook
him and told him to get up, when he kicked me
in the face. Then I ran him in.”
“That was right. What have you to say,
John ?”
“ Isn’t this a free country ? Isn’t a man’s cel
lar-door a part of his house ? Has a policeman
any right to take a man off private property
when he ain’t doing nothing? Wouldn’t you
kick if he would try to take you out of your
own yard or out of your own house ?”
“ Hold on—hold on I I didn’t want to start a
conundrum mill when I asked you a question.
There is one answer to the whole of your in
terrogatories, and that is that you have no right
to get drunk and lie down on the street to sleep
off your load.”
“I wasn’t on the street ”
“There, there—that’ll do. Godown or find
S6OO bail.”
The bail wasn’t handy.
HUMOR OF THE HOUR.
BY THE DETROIT FREE PRE3S FIEND.
HE’LL PROBABLY GO.
“Going away this Summer?” he asked as
they met on the Campus Martius for a moment.
“ Well, I’ve made a start toward it.”
“ Selected the place ?”
“No—borrowed SIOO at eight per cent 1”
THEY CAN’T HELP IT.
“If I pick out some wall paper right away,
can you send a man to my house to hang it this
forenoon ?” she asked in ’a paper store three or
four days ago,
“ Yes’m.
“ Very well; you may show me some sam
ples.”
She sat in a chair before the sample rack until
a quarter of twelve, and then went to dinner.
She was back at one and remained until almost
five, when she finally heaved a long sigh and
said to the patient clerk:
“ Dear me, but it is such a task and so late in
the season that I guess I won’t get any at all.
Much obliged, and I’ll probably buy of you next
Spring.”
THEY BOBBED.
A newsboy who was eating away at a yellow
banana, while he had two red ones stuffed
into his pockets, was anproached by another
and asked:
“Did you get that tin-type took fur ten
cents?”
“ Naw 1”
“ Too cloudy ?”
“ Naw ! I was on my way to the gallery when
bananas dropped to three fur ten cents, and I
took advantage of the decline. Tin-types are
alius ten cents, but bananas bob up and down.”
ONLY THE SEVENTH TIME.
“ Say ! did you hear that Barnum was dead ?”
queried one bootblack of another the day the
afternoon papers contained the false dispatch.
“ Yes, 1 heard of it, but that’s nothing.”
“ ’ Taint, eh ? Ho won’t be here with the
circus ! ’
“Oh, yes he will. He died seven times since
I can remember, but he’s always around the
next season, just the same. That’s the reason
his show is the biggest thing on this hemisphere
—admission the same as usual.” '
SHE DID IT HERSELF. J
There were five of us in the stage riding out
to the Mammoth Cave, from Cave City, and one
of the number was a young lady. As she was
good-looking and attractive, it was no wonder
that all of us men folks slicked up our hair,
wiped off our chins and sought to entertain her.
She didn’t ask any of us whether we was mar
ried or single, but just chattered away with one
and another like a sensible girl.
We had gone about a mile when the harness
broke, and we had to wait for half an hour
while the driver made repairs. During this in
terval the young lady produced a small book of
poems and interested herself. Pretty soon the
Major asked her to read a few poems aloud for
our delectation. She blushed and hesitated,
but finally complied.
She was a fair reader, and it read like fair
poetry, but she had scarcely finished the first
poem, when the Major spoke up:
“ Ah, it’s Burns ! I recognized him by his
false syntax, lame metres and wishy-washy
rhymes. Dear me, but 1 hope he is not your
standard.”
“These are not Burns’s poems,” she quietly
replied.
“Notßurns? Who then?”
“I—l wrote them myself, sir !”
The Major slid out to see about the harness,
and we saw him no more. He walked back to
the hotel to ruminate.
Earliest Methods of Measuring
Time.—The story is that King Alfred had no
better way to tell the time than by burning
twelve candles, each of which lasted two hours;
and, when all the twelve were gone, another
day had passed. Long before the time of Alfred,
and long before the time of Christ, the shadow
of the sun told the hour of the day by means of
a sun-dial. The old Chaldeans so placed a hol
low hemisphere, with a bead in the center, that
the shadow of the bead on the inner surface
told the hour of the day. Other kinds of dials
were afterward made with a tablet of wood or
straight piece ol metal. On the tablets were
marked the different hours. When the shadow
came to the mark IX. t it was nine o’clock in
the morning. The dial was sometimes placed
near the ground, or in towers or buildings.
The old clock on the eastern end of Faneuil
Hall, in Boston, was formerly a dial of this
kind ; and on some of the old church-towers in
England you may see them to-day. Aside from
the kinds mentioned, the dials now in existence
are intended more for ornament than for use.
In the days when dials were used, each one
contained a motto of some kind, like these :
“Time flies like the shadow,” or, “I tell do
hours but those that are happy.” But the dial
could be used only in the day time, and, even
then, it was worthless when the sun was covered
with clouds. In order to measure the hours of
the night as well as the hours of the day, the
Greeks and Romans used the clepsydra, which
means, “The water steals away.” A large jar
was filled with water, and a hole was made in
the bottom through which the water could run.
The glass in those days was not transparent. ,
No one could see from the outside how much
water nad escaped. So there were made, on
the inside, certain marks that told the hours as
the water rau out; or else a stick, with notches
in the edge, was dipped into the water, and the
depth of what was left showed the hour. Some
times the water dropped into another jar, in
which a block of wood was floating, the block
rising as the hours went on.
An Amateur Smuggler. —Not long
ago a friend of mine was crossing from the
Continent to one of the eastern English ports,
and on the voyage was applied to by another
passenger as to how he (the passenger) could
most successfully evade paying the duty on two
or three boxes oi cigars which he had in his
possession. My friend, who knew something
of Custom House strictness, and had, beside,
a conscientious regard lor the laws of his coun
try, advised his fellow passenger either to
throw the cigars overboard or to “declare” and
pay duty upon them when he landed. This, it
subsequently transpired, the passenger did not
do, but rolled up "the cigars in some soiled
linen aud placed the lot in a portmanteau.
When it came to declaring baggage at the land
ing stage or railway station, the smuggler, like
many of his class, grew timid and left his port
manteau in the hands of the customs officers
without owning it as his property. My friend
declares that the scared look of the gentleman
smuggler, as he did Lack in the railway car
riage, while a customs boatman walked up and
down the platform with the unlucky portman
teau and calling out stentoriously, “Claim your
luggage ! Claim your luggage ! ’ was a sight
once seen never to be forgotten. The unfortu
nate passenger of course lost his portmanteau,
clothes and cigars.
A Gun Useful for Something Beside
Riots.—The riot gun, of which considerable is
expected in case of another outbreak of Anarch
ists in Chicago or Milwaukee, is a repeating
shotgun recently invented, and is a very good
weapon for the purpose. A short steel tube under
a barrel holds six cartridges loaded with buck
shot or any other size of shot. A small cylin
der, just right to take hold of with the hand, is
slipped over the cartridge tube, a steel rod
running from it to the mechanism of the gun’s
breech. By sliding this grip-piece along the
cartridge tube and back to its place again a dis
charged shell is thrown out, a fresh cartridge
inserted and the gun cocked. Each cartridge
holds an ounce and a quarter of buckshot. The
six cartridges can be fired six times in three
seconds. They are now in use among the ex
press companies and post-office agents in the
West, where road agents abound, and are not
equaled by any weapon for demoralizing a gang
of evil-doers. One or two of these guns should
be furnished every stage-driver, with instruc
tions to get the first shot at any highwayman
who orders “ all hands up, and throw off that
treasure-box.” That is the short way to stop
highway robbery.
Patriotism. —Of General von Manteu
fel, the late German military governor of con
quered Alsace, who hated all that was French,
it is said that he once at a public dinner engaged
in a dispute with a French diplomatist, who
maintained the superiority of the French work
men over the artisans of all other nations. “ A
thing so ugly does not exist that the skill and
genius of a Frenchman cannot make of it a thing
of beauty,” he said. Angered by the contradic
tion, the old soldier pulled a hair from his brist
ly gray mustache, and, handing it to the French
man, said, curtly : “Let him make a thing of
beauty out of that, then, and prove your claim i”
The Frenchman took the hair and sent it in a
letter tn a well-known Parisian jeweler, with a
statement of the case and an appeal to his patri
otic pride, setting no limit to the expense of
executing the order. A week later there arrived
a neat little box for the general. In it was a
handsome scarf-pin made like a Prussian eagle,
which held in its talons a stiff gray bristle, from
either end of which dangled a tiny golden ball.
One was inscribed “Alsace,” the other “ Lor
raine,” and on the eagle’s perch were the words,
“ You hold them but by a hair.”
A New Ornamental Tree. —The Ja
pan lilac has been raised from seed at the Har
vard arboretum, at Cambridge, Mass. The
seeds were planted in the Spring of 1877, and
some of the trees raised from them bloomed
for the first time last Summer. These trees
have already attained a bight of fifteen or six
teen feet, with a straight, clean stem, covered
with a thin, smooth, light-colored red bark,
similar to that of a thrifty young cherry tree.
The leaves are five or six inches in length, ac
cuminate, wedge-shaped at the base, coria
ceous. The flowers are small and white, and
are borne in immense panicles, eighteen inches
to two feet in length and three-fourths as
broad. These panicles are borne in profusion
and the flowers open during the first week in
July, and remain in bloom a long time. The
tree is considered perfectly hardy here, and
grows rapidly. What hight it will attain is not
certainly known. It promises to be a splendid
ornamental tree for this country. The time of
its blooming is later than that-of most other
trees and shrubs, and this feature gives it ad
ditional value.
A Skye-Terrier Which Devoured
Fifty-Dollar Bills. —Says the Philadelphia
liecord: Mr. David W. Sellers, who is well
known at the Philadelphia bar, is the fortunate
possessor ot an unusually intelligent skye-ter
rier, whose aptness to learn and ability to per
form various amusing tricks have enabled him
to move in the highest circles of canine society.
He has recently given proof of an accomplish
ment and a power of perception of which his own
er had previously been in ignorance. A few days
ago Mr. Sellers gave each of his daughters' a
crisp fifty-dollar bank-note, which a few min
utes later were accidentally brushed from the
table where they bad been placed and were in
advertently permitted to remain upon the floor
lor a few moments. Shortly afterward search
was made for the bills, and, to the surprise of
all, they were not to be found, and fora brief
period their sudden disappearance was an un
solved mystery. As the accomplished terrier
was the only visitor in the room during the in
terval, he was looked upon with suspicion. The
circumstantial evidence of his guilt was over
whelming, and Mr. Sellers at once instituted
proceedings in equity against him for the recov
ery of the treasures. An emetic was adminis
tered and the recovery of the bills in a sadly
mutilated condition disclosed the terrier’s
guilt. The recovered notes were, however, in a
condition to be identified and were exchanged
at the United States Sub-Treasury for new
bills.
Gamblers and Army Officers.—Says
a Laramie (Wyoming) letter, one o.f the brake
men on the Overland, in discussing the tr.cKs
of the fellows who work the trains, said last
night: “It is often charged that railroad men
stand in with the sharps, but they don’t do any
thing of the kind. I know most of them, and
have known them for years, but I can’t go
around punching passengers in the ribs and
telling them to look out. I did that a few times
and got the worst of it, and, beside that, I have
noticed that sometimes the passengers come
out ahead. We had an army officer on board
once last Fall, and he cut the heart out of one
of Doc. Bragg’s men in a poker game, and I’ve
known others to beat them at their own games.
The boys are usually very careful about getting
in with army officers. You can generally tell an
officer by his outfit, but not always. They’re
worse than the sharps, especially alter they’ve
been out here a few years. The boys have a su
perstition as to them which is funny. They
think if they play with one without knowing
who he is that their luck is gone forever. I
knew one fellow who killed himself after trying
for twenty-four hours to skin an officer, think
ing he was a stock man. The officer said some
thing finally about being on a furlough and the
sharp never smiled alter that. No, we can’t
stop the thing.”
Wouldn’t Take It Out in the Mud.—
The special agent of an Eastern insurance com
pany was in the city to-day and was giving
some anecdotes of experiences in various parts
of Pennsylvania. “I was in Tamaqua not long
ago,” said the agent, “ and I was told the town
had a new fire engine, and had provided a first
class team and all the essentials of a good de
f artment. The local insurance men congratu
lated themselves on the arrival of the
machine and on the prompt service it
would render in the future. They asked me to
go and see the engine, and I went. Just as we
got to the door of the engine-house there was an
alarm of fire. We found the horses hitched and
the men standing around. The engineer didn’t
seem to be in a hurry to get out, and after’ a
few minutes I said:
“ ‘ Wasn’t that an alarm of fire ?
“ * I guess-it was,’ said the engineer.
“ • Why don’t you get out, then ?’
“ 1 Get out with this engine 1 Why, I spent
three hours cleaning it up and shining the brass
yesterday, and you don’t suppose I’m such a
blamed fool as to take it out in all this mud, do
you ?’ ”
The Latest Fashionable Folly.—
The ladies of Paris, tired of wearing dead birds,
are now spending fabulous sums in procuring
all sorts of creeping things—such as spiders,
beetles, Ac.—with which to adorn their hair and
dresses. It seems the idea originated with
Mme. Judic, who, during her tour in “the
Golden South Americas,” was presented by a
deputation of feminine admirers in Brazil with
a “brace” or “pair” or ♦couple”—we are not
sure of the technical term for two insects—of
Brazilian beetles, or “gold bugs,” which, it ap
pears can be trained, and are tethered by thin
gold chains to a hairpin, and are allowed to
wander about her head at their own sweet wills.
This idea of ladies adorning themselves with
living insects is hardly original. Not to go as
lar back as the Egyptians and Etruscans, we
ourselves remember seeing in the Brazils a
party of ladies who, having captured a number
of fireflies, enclosed them in long tubes ot mus
lin, with which they trimmed the fronts of their
dresses. The effect in a garden after dark was
quite as pretty as the electric lights which the
“lolanthe” fairies wore at the Savoy.
Drinking in Burmah.—A correspon
dent of the Indian Good Templar writes from
Bhamo: “ Burmah is a fearful place for cheap
drink and heavy crime; the natives manufacture
what is called sham-sho; it is supposed to be
made from rice and lime. One may form an
idea of its power when I assure you that it will
dissolve a Martini-Henri bullet in thirty minutes.
It burns the inside out of those who drink it,
and I am afraid it will play fearful havoc among
our troops before this Summer is past. We are
glad to bear from the same source that deter
mined efforts are being made by Burmah Good
Templars to suppress the sale of this fiery
poison, and they have no doubt that govern
ment will take action shortly in the matter in
their own interest, if not in that of the temper
ance cause. Among other doubtful mercies
Burmah will be favored with a revised abkarry
ruling, which is sure to moderate the strength
of this dreadful poison. Much more to the point
are those efforts now being taken by members
of our Order to have temperance pledges widely
circulated and an alliance formed against the
ruinous traffic.”
Better Things than are Said in Con
gress.—Ex-Governor D. H. Chamberlain tells
the following of the first colored Legislature in
South Carolina under reconstruction: A very
black member from the up-country was ad
dressing the House, when up rose Steve Brown,
a Charleston member, of equally sombre hue,
exclaiming: “ Mr. Speaker, I rise to a p int of
order.” The Speaker blandly asked him to
state his point of order. Steve promptly re
sponded, pointing to his up-country antagonist,
“ Dat ar niggar dono what he’s talkin’ ’about.
Dat’s my p int of order.” And the Speaker
ruled the point well taken. On another occa
sion a bill was under discussion in the House,
and a member in discussing it, had frequent
occasion to speak of the “provisions ©f the
bill.” This caught the ear of a sable member
from Sumter, named Burrell James, who fol
lowed in the debate thus: “Mr. Speaker, de
gemman talks ’bout de perwizyuns ob de bill,
sah—de perwizyuns ob de bill—but I tells you
what my people wants is de perwizvuns widout
de bill!”
Physical Changes in the Holy Land.
—The physical features of the country, point
out evidences ot old sea margins 200 feet above
the present sea margins, and show that at one
time an arm of the Mediterranean had occupied
the valley ot the Nile as far as the first cataract,
at which time Africa was an island, and that, at
the time of the exodus, the Red Sea ran up into
the Bitter lakes, and must have formed a bar
rier to the traveler’s progress at that period.
The great changes of elevation in the land east
ward of these lakes, prove that the waters of
the Jordan valley once stood 1,292 feet above
their present hight, and that the waters of the
Dead Sea, which measure 1,050 feet deep, were
once on a level with the present Mediter
ranean sea margin, or 1,292 feet abo .e their
present hight. The great physical changes
which have taken place in geological time are
evidenced by the fact that while the rocks in
Western Palestine are generally limestone, those
of the mountains of Sinai are among the most
ancient in the world.
Worcestershire Sauce. — “Do you
know,” said a bon vivant as he poured a liberal
supply of Worcester sauce upon his chop at the
club this morning, “ that this relish was first
introduced as a medicine ?” The club man
didn’t know it. “It was though. It contains
at least one of the most neauseating drugs
known, assafcetida, and the original formula
was evolved by a noted physician for a noble
patient, whose high living had impaired his
digestion. An effort was made to disguise the
drugs, and it is generally conceded that the at
tempt was successful, but they are there all the
same.” And the stream of information was in
terrupted while the drug-drenched chops were
put where they would do the most good, no
diminution of appetite following the revelation.
A Luxuriant Growth Of Hair
May be obtained by the continued use of Ayer’s Hair Vigor. ** A few years ago
my hair began to turn gray, and, a short time after, fell out so freely that I
became nearly bald. Ayer’s Hair Vigor stimulated a new growth of hair, and
of the original color. I have applied the Vigor, occasionally, since that time,
and my hair is now strong and abundant. — Ira D. Kennah, Utica, N. Y.
I had been troubled, for years, with
scalp disease, and my hair was weak
and thin. The use of five bottles of
Ayer’s Hair Vigor cured my scalp, and
gave me a luxuriant head of soft, black
hair. — Mrs. E. H. Foster, Lynn, Mass.
Ayer’s Hair Vigor,
Prepared by Dr. J. C. Ayer &Co., Lowell, Mass. Sold by all Druggists and Perfumers.
Scrofulous
Humors originate in the blood, which,
when vitiated, carries disease to every
tissue, and fibre of the body. Ayer’s
Sarsaparilla eradicates all traces of the
scrofulous taint from the system.
I have used Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, in
my family, and know that it is a reliable
specific for Scrofula. I have also pre
scribed it as a tonic, and honestly be
lieve it to be the best blood medicine
compounded. —W. F. Flower, M. D.,
Greenville, Tenn.
Ayer’s Sa
Prepared by Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell Mau.
How a Brakeman Dined.—Says tha
Pittsburg Dispatch: “ There goes a white ma«
it he has got red whiskers,” remarked a big
railroad brakeman who sat on a baggage truck
at the Union Depot last night. He pointed at a
fine-looking man. with a full brown beard andf
crushed bat, who was walking up and down tha
platform, as he continued: “ That’s
Ingalls, of the ‘Dig Four’ Railroad, an’ I camei
over on his private car from Columbus to-day«
I got up pretty late this morning, and fiad td
run five or six blocks to catch my train, an 3
didn’t even have time to get my breakfast. Well
-1 was on the rear end of the ‘special’ when
Ingalls and his party was eatin’ dinner. The/
had a purty good lay-out, and it didn’t help mS
a bit to see it through a plate-glass window and
then think that it would be 8 o’clock before S
could tackle my own feed in Pittsburg. Well,
you could have knocked me right off that calf
with a restaurant sandwich when the colored
steward with a white apron came out after they,
were through dinner and said: ‘Have you hadij
your dinner, yet, brakeman
“‘No,’said I, ‘I didn t have time to get it be?
fore we started.’
“ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘ Mr. Ingalls told mo fob tdf
ask you, an’ if yo’ hadn’t, to ax yo’ in.’
“‘There’s where he hits me,’ says I, *l’nj<
hungry’s a bear.’ .
“ ‘Jes wait a minnit,’ says he, ‘an’ I’ll done/
call yo, an’ I’m darned if he didn’t go in an*
clear off that table an’ fix up for me as nice as
1 d been Jay Gould himself. Now it wasn’t so
much the dinner that catches me as the fact otf'
him thin kin’ of it an’ carin’ whether a poor devil
of a brakeman had any dinner or not.”
A Queer Family.—When Hobart'
Houston was buried at Coultersville, 111., tha ■
other day, he was laid by the side of his sec--
ond wife, while his first wife stood by among
the mourners. It happened this way: HoustoG
married in Scotland, where he and his wif.a
were born. They reared a family of five
and then were divorced. Each married again,
and his wife and her husband died. Aftetf
years had passed, Houston again married hi®
first wife, and again they separated. When tha
woman heard of Houston’s illness she volun*.
teered her services and nursed him. All of
their five children have married, and all hava
separated from their spouses.
Capt. Boycott’s Popularity.—Tha
changes of fortune experienced by Capt. Boycott
read like the chapters of the novelist. He waar
one of the most unpopular men in the west pf
Ireland when the social revolt against landlord®
left his leased estates desolate and his nam©
fixed to the peculiar system of ostracism adopted,
by the Irish of this generation. Capt. Boycott’®
life was saved by British bayonets at Ballinrobe
and the most daring optimist would not have
predicted a career ot popularity for him. Bute
about four years ago it was proposed to run th
railroad from Ballinrobe to Tuam. Capt. Boy-;
cott favored ft, and to his astonishment became
an exceedingly popular man.
Plug Hats of Chinese Origin.—lt igf.
a curious fact, unknown to the vastlmajority
people, that the first silk hat was made about
fifty years ago, th»t like so many other article®
which are common and of every-day use, it was
of Chinese origin. The story runs that a French
sea captain on the coast of China, desiring tcj
have his shabby beaver hat replaced by a new?
one, took it ashore, and a§ they had not the ma
terial, they made him a silk one instead. This,’
it appears, happened in 1832, and he carried th®
hat to Paris that same year. Here it was im
mediately copied, and in a few years became ®
regular style.
Some Commonplace Foreign Names.—■
How commonplace some of the high-sounding:
foreign names appear when you know what they
mean. There is Andrea del Sarto, the great
Florentine painter. The family name was Van?
nucchi, and Andrea received the name of del
Sarto because bis father was a tajlor. Andre®,
del Sarto has a much loftier sound to our. ear®,
than Andrew ot the Tailor. The Empress Jo
sephine was the widow of General Alexandra
Viscompte de fieauharnais when Napoleon mar*
ried her. Beauharnaiu means simply “hand*
some harness,” and Josephine was fond of wear
ing it too.
Taken Aback.—Daniel R. Arnold
the station agent at Pawtucket. Recently th®
clerks and freight bands went to his office in a
body, and the spokesman began a speech about .
the strikes out West and the relations of em-<
ployers and employed, and was going on wheiy
Mr. Arnold very sternly and impatiently said : 1
“State your grievance.” The next moment h®
felt the cheapest of any man in New England,
for the spokesman said the boys had come to
make him a present on his fifty-seventh birth
day. It was a nice present’ but Mr. Arnold
could hardly say “ thank you,” he was so sur
prised.
Tricking the Spirits.—Chinese pa
rents are afraid to give their children the fin®
high-sounding names their love suggests, lest :
the evil spirits, of whom they stand in constant
fear, should come to understand how precious
they are and cause them some calamity. And
so the foreign resident constantly meets with,
children answering to the names of Little Stu
pid, Vagabond Flea and the like, the idea being
that, when the spirits hear the little ones called
by such uncomplimentary names, they will
imagine that the parents care very little for
them, and will not take the trouble to molest
them.
Carlisle’s Dfstrf, to be a Man of
Affairs.— Mr. Larkin, who was for ten years a
sort of secretary and intimate associate of Car
lise, says that fhe open secret of the Scotch
man’s life was his desire to be a man of affairs
rather than a writer. “ Little as some of hi®
critics imagine it,” says Mr. Larkin, “his heart
was sick of perpetually exhorting and admon
ishing. He longed to be doing something, in
stead of, as he says, eloquently writing and
talking about it; to be a kind of king or leader
in the practical activities of life, not a mere
prophet, forever and forever prophesying.”
A Safety Cartridge for Mines. — Dr.
Kosman, of Breslau, has introduced a new
safety cartridge for use in coal mines. The
is a novel one. Finely divided metallic zinc is
placed in a glass tube divided into two partd,
one to contain the zinc, the other sulphurip
acid. This cartridge is placed in a hole bored
to receive it, and, being “clayed,” the miner
drives an irc.n rod into the tube, which breaks
the contracted part of it. The sulphuric acid is
thus brought into con act with the zinc, and a
rapid evolution of hydrogen gas takes place.
The Most Curious Book in the
World.— The most curious book in the world is
one that is neither written nor printed. Every
letter of the text is cut into the leaf, and as th®
alternate leaves are of blue paper, it is as easily
read as the best print. The labor required and
the patience necessary to cut each letter may b®
imagined. The work is so perfect that it seems
as though it was done by machinery, but every
character was made by hand. The book is en--
titled “The Passion of Christ,” and is now kept:
at a museum m France.
To Kill Insects.—Most people put
saR in the water in which they wash greens,,
cabbages, cauliflower, <\o., to kill the insects,
they say, should there be any. Undoubtedly
salt does kill insects; but they are not drawn
out into the water. A better plan is to put two
or three tablespoonfuls of vinegar into the wa
ter after the first washing. This will make the
vegetables fresh and crisp and draw out in--
sects. Cauliflower should be laid in head
downward, and left to soak for half an hour at.
least.
An Interesting Fkull.—The skull of
a man dug up at Northborough, Mass., last
year, proves a puzz'e z br the naturalists. Pro
fessor Putnam, of the Peabody Museum at
Cambridge, says it is the most remarkable and
interesting skull he ever studied. Not one of
the great collection of heads of the Peabody 7
Museum is anything like it.
An Extraordinary Request.—A King
ston (N. Y.) lawyer appeared before the Board
of Education of that city, a few days ago, and
asked that a one-thonsand-dollar 'assessment.
be taken from a neighbor and put upon hi®
own lot. This was such an extraordinary re
quest, that the board were nearly struck .
speechless.
Too Much Good Luck.—Jacob Weiler,
aged skcty-two, of Lobachsville, Pa., while at >
supper, was informed that a letter containing
$1,700 back pension money had been received
for him. In hurrying to finish his meal, a piece
of meat became lodged in his windpipe, and he
choked to death.
I have used Ayer’s Hair Vigor for tho
past two years, and found it all it is
represented to be. It restores a natural
color to gray hair, promotes a vigorous
growth, and keeps the hair soft and.
pliant. —Mrs. M. V. Day, Cohoes, N. Y.
Affections
Of the Eyes, Lungs, Stomach, Liver,
and Kidneys, indicate the presence of
Scrofula in the system, and suggest
alterative treatment. For this purpose,
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla is unequaled.
I was always troubled with a Scrofu
lous Humor. Lately my lungs have
been affected, causing much pain and
difficulty in breathing. Three bottles
of Ayer’s Sarsaparilla have, relieved
my lungs, and improved my health
generally. — Lucia Cass, Chelsea, Mass,
rsaparilla,
gold by all Druggist*. Price <1; six botUefef*