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BUSINESS INDEX. WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, MAY 24, 1876. CIRCULATION FREE, VOL. I.--NO. I. THE DYING HUSBAND. Drarcst, I'm dying ! bend thee down One little moment by ray bod, Aud let the Bhadovr of thy brow Fall gently on my aching hc&tl. 0, raise me up, and let me feel Ouee more the beatings of thy heart, Aud press thy lips again to mino, lloiore in midnight death wo part. Nay. tremble not, but fold me close, Pillowed upon thino I fain would let my struggling aoul Pass forth to its eternal rest. Sbe stoops, and on hor bursting heart, His drooping head is resting now, While white and trembling fingers part The damp hair from his palid brow. And there upon his cold white front, With quivering lips the kiss Aud pressed as if 'twould draw him bnok, Back from the gates of Heaven. There, like a dying bird, his soul Lay panting out its quiv'riug life; Aud still his almost lifeless arms Clung fondly to his pale young wife. One look he gave her, and it teemed An ang«l had from Heaven above Shaded with wings of tenderness The troubled fountain of his love. l A Quaker Jumping a Ditch. Ilezekiah Broadrin was a fat Quaker in the state of New Jersey, I who sold codfish, coflee, china and earthen ware, cloths and all sorts of liquors. We like the Quakers very much who are Quakers in deed as well as name ; but Heze kiah was a Hickory Quaker. He was somewhat of an old bachelor, ! and had a sistor somewhat of an old | maid, but was the best creature ulive, straight as a candle, blooming as a roso, and smiling as charity. Her name was Dorcas. Hezekiak and Dorcas walked out one Sunday afternoon, in the bloom ing month of May, to breathe the fresh air and view the meadows, The walking was smooth and de lightful, with no manner of ob structions, except here and there a ditch full of water spanned by few bridges and too wide for any man of ordinasy jumping capacity to cross at a single bound- But Heze kiah valued himself, as fat people commonly do, on his agility, and instead of walking a few additional rods for the sake of a bridge must needs leap every ditch he came to. " Tliee'd better not try that, Ilezekiah," said his kind and con siderate sister. "Never the mind, Dorcas," re turned Ilezekiah, "there's no danger. I've jumped many a big ger ditch when I was not half my present size." " All that is very likely. But recollect, Hezekiah, thee's grown dear breast; go A holy srnilo came o'er hia five, Ab moonliiht gleaming ov snow ; One struggling breath—one faint embrace, Aad lifvicBS he is 1; iug exceedingly pursy since thee was a young man." " Pursy ! Well if I have, that is why I should not be as I tpll thee, Dorcas, no reason agile as before l ean jump this ditch without so much as touching a linger." " Ay, but thce'l touch thy feet to the bottom." " Thee's but a woman, Dorcas, and thy fears magnify this narrow ditcli even to a river. Now stand thee aside, that I may have full speed according to my abilities." " Nay, brother Ilezekiah, ihee'd better not. The ditch is wide, and the bottom muddy, and thee'l as suredly spoil thy Sunday clothes, if no worse." A fudge for thy fears, girl ; they shall not stay me a jot. Nay, do not hold me, lor I am resolved to jump this ditch, if it were merely to conviuce thee of my agility." Accordingly, Ilezekiah went back a lew yards, in order that he may nave a tuir run, aud that the im pulse thereof might carry him over, iiuving retreated iar enough, lie came toward with a momentum proportioned to his weight and ve locity, aud found. himsolf in the middle of the ditch. The water splashed round on all sides, and be spattered the bunday clothes of jUorcaS, who COuld not, with all her (Quaker sobriety and kind feeling, I help nursling into a loud laugh, There was ilezekiah, showing his agility aud tloundering in the mud, line a whale. The water was not so deep as to be daugerious, aud the scene was too irresistibly comic for even a saint ! to abstain trom laughing, though on | a bunday. At length, when the risibility would allow her the bower ol speech, Dorcas kindly held out her hand, as she stood a roil from the bank, ami said, ''come hither, Hczekiah, aud i'll help thee out." " W ell ! well !" returned the llounderor, in a tone ot vexation— " thee docs well, Dorcas, to stand there aud laugh at me as tnough it were mere sport to stand in the water up to my middle." "Nay, nay, Ilezekiah, thee has shown thy agility so marvellously, that 1 dould not help being pleased, for the life of me, and I take shame to myself for haviug opposed thee so strenuously, or lor having for a tingle moment doubted thy eapa city tor jumping. But if thec's satisfied with thy exploit, ifnd is ready to come forth, I'll help the out." Thus saying, Dorcas drew near to the edge of the ditch; but Heze kiah, having got himself in by his own unaided power, declared he would get himself out in the same way. But the mud was deep and adhesive, and fast as he got one foot out, he got the other in, and thus he continued to labor and plunge, till he was fully satisfied his own ability was better calculated to help him in, then to help out of a ditch. lie grew worth—he used harsh words, and so far forgot the plain language, that he exclaimed— " By the-" had of the the " Don't thee swear, brother Hcze- at. kiah," iuterupted Dorcas. was " Swear !" roared H e z e k i a h, thce'd swear too, if thee was in one " Swear not at all, Hczekiah ; but ' a even lend me thy hand, and i'll use he may ability to pull thee out, accord ing to the scripture which saith : now ' If thine ox or thine ass lall into a ditch on the Sabbath day—' " ' I ! life, here." " Now, sister Dorcas, thcc is too bad. Verily, thee would not make me so heavy as the former animal, nor so stupid as the latter!" " As to thy weight," returned | Dorcas, " thee must be pretty well j • satisfied by this time ; and as for , thy stupidity, it were, indeed unsis -1 terly to liken thee to the long-eared animal. But if thee is satisfied ou tliese points, and will forthwith i reach me thine hand, I'll do as die much as in me lieth to bring thee all sate to land-" of Ilezekiah was pretty well con vinced by this time, that, bis own ability would never fetch him out ; wherefore humbly reaching his hand to Dorcas, he said— * | "Verily, sister, I will accept thy : the aid, inasmuch as my own ability has grievously deceived me." ! Dorcas kindly lent her assistance ■ and pulling vigorously, Hezekiah at ; length came to land. Shaking off not the nnid and water like a spaniel, 1 lie returned home ; but charged his sister never to mention how he ing came to his catastrophe. Dorcas promised of course -, and as she was a girl of truth and kind feelings, she was as good as her word. But once or twice, when sundry of their irieuds were conversing sociably, 1 Dorcas, looking archly at another girl said_ i " Did I ever tell thee, Rachel, how brother Hezekiah one Sunday _>> Hezekis* turned an embarrassed and imploring look toward her, when she said_ j a " Nay, nay, Hczekiah, I'm not oing to tell—but merely to ask if, ever had told how thee showed , thy agilitv one Sunday and jumped ! into the middle of the ditch." ' V Is it not rather curious that men who do not advertise " because no-, " body secs it," are willing to give 85 to keep their names out of the his police court reports Î Iiicl* for a Moment. The British ship Britanna was wrecked off the. coast of Brazil, and had on board a large consignment of "punish dollars. In the hope of saving some of them, a nipnber of barrels were brought on deck, but the vessel went to pieces so fast that the only hope for life was in taking at. once to the boats. The last boat was about to push off, when a young midshipman went back to see if any one was still on board. To his sur prise, there, sat a man on deck with a hatchet in his hand, with which he had broken open several of the casks, the contents of which he was now heaping up about him. ' What are you doing there ? shouted the youth. ' Don't you know the ship is fast going to pieces ? ' The ship may go,' said the man ; ' I haved lived a poor wretch all my life, and I am determined rich.' • His remonstrances were answered only by another flourish of the hatchet, and ho was left to his fate, We should count-such a person a madman, but he has too many im itators. Men seem determined to die rich, at all hazards. Least of all risks do they count the chance of losing the soul iu the struggle, at any moment at all. And yet the only riches we can bug to our bosom with joy, iu our dying hour, arc the riches of giacc through Jesus Christ, which we must make ours before the dark hour comes. Oh ! how rich have many died in their garrets and huts, while kings and princes have entered on the other life more destitute than beggars. Who would not rather choose to be rich for eternity, than rich for the fleeting moment in which the ship is siuk ing into the dark waters ? _ _ _ ' 1 We have, from a reliable source the following ilustration of parrot i cunning. A certain wise parrot undertook to amuse himself by tak ing a walk iu the garden. _ A cer tain hungry eat espying him, crept softly behind him ; poll was evi dently disturbed by puss presence, 1 j a "4 as he quickened his stemhe oast frequent glances behind to watch her movements, and as he , saw the cat following him,he thus ! soliloquised : I believe the beast ' V *M catch me on my life I believe the creature will have me. 1 he oat at length crouched for a spring when the parrot, mustering all his courage, faced suddenly about, and shouted at the top of his foice— to die " scat you beast—seat you baust !" and away went puss in the greatest consternatiou, leaving poll to finish his stroll unmolested.