Newspaper Page Text
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.
