Newspaper Page Text
[For The Sunny South.]
THE SOI'THROW OF 1*60.
BY CATHARINE A. WARFIELD.
I'pon his saddle as quick as a flash.
On through the greensward with gallop and dash—
One hand lightly wreathed in the reins of his steed,
The other lelt free for his pleasure or need:
To grasp the rich blossoms that droop from the bough;
To put back the dark hair that cumbers his brow;
To pluck from his holster the weapons of strife,
Or to draw from his bosom the gleaming knife
That his baud knows to wield should the panther or bear,
Aroused by his horse-hoofs, spring fierce from his lair,
Or the foe t-. his house mutter, “Life for a life!”
Such dangers attend him through all his career.
They quicken hie iustiuct. yet deaden his fear;
They lend to his beariug a careless disdain,
Yet keep his quick impulses under the rein;
They fit him to till his strange, intricate sphere.
His home is a proud one; his beard groans with plate,
Crown'd with fruits, viands, flowers, fit for kingly estate.
A hundred dark servitors swarm at his call;
The wayfarers welcomed repose in his hall;
lu his stables are steeds, stalled for kinsman or guest;
On bis beds might the sybarite peacefully rest;
Yet should night close around him in forest or swamp,
No gipsy who passes his life on the tramp,
More coolly strikes fire and prepares to encamp
’Neath the live-oak or cypress—his bed on the ground,
His supper a crust, but his slumber profound,
Regardless of solitude, danger or damp.
Would you see him ? A figure lithe, vigorous, bold;
In his boots are his pantaloons carelessly rolled;
Straight of limb you behold him and swathed to the knee;
His seat in the saddle is fearless and free;
llis tread is of those who are born to control;
Water wets not his feet, yet flows under the sole;
His dark eye is slumb’rous, yet ready to catch
Its bla/.e in a moment as quick as the match
That lights the cigar that beneath his moustache
(ileams out like a fire-fly with glimmer and flash.
When he frowns,a dark thunder-cloud lowers on his brow;
When he smiles, all his features are lit with a glow;
His laugh has a freshness that thrills one right through;
His speech a warm eloquence, careless yet true;
In his beariug you trace the rich blood in his veins
That flowed from good knights of the olden domains,
And brooks not the presence of tyrants and chains.
THE SOI THROS OF 1805.
Again on bis wide ancestral lands,
Ruined and lonely and grim he stands,
Gazing afar on each fenceless field.
With its mullein and wild datura yield.
Where once the staple that brought him gold
Its snowy flag to the sunlight rolled.
That blackened pile proclaims full well
How his stately and pillared mansion fell;
And the tall stone chimneys like sentries keep
Their watch o’er the moldering and ruined heap,
Holding sad vigil above the hearth
That his ilear ones circled in Christmas mirth.
In his weed-grown garden a straggling rose
Its arms to the heavens as for mercy throws;
Or a myrtle struggles t it put away
The briar and the thoru that obscure the day;
Or a pure white lily, a shaft of light,
Springs from the grasp of the parasite.
Sad records these that alone are left
Of a darkened life and a home bereft;
Of a time that had better be forgot,
When peace and plenty made fair his lot—
Ere the Northern host, with its deadly tramp,
Had summoned the Southron to horse and camp.
Defeat and Ruin.'—a fearful twain
Receive him back to his old domain,
Whence every vestige of care and toil
Has been effaced from the savage soil;
The very home of the careless slave
Is a mound of ashes-a general gra - e. *
The boy gave a shriek of pain, and the police
man, growling out an imprecation, ordered him
to -‘shut up," with liis stick uplifted as if for a
second blow. But Harvey, who had come up to
him, dashed the club aside, exclaiming:
•• Strike that child again, if you dare ! Yon
are going beyond your authority, and you know
it! ”
The policeman picked up bis stick, muttering
curses and threats, to which Harvey paid no at
tention. He tossed the blubbering boy a silver
half dollar, saying:
••There, youngster; take that and buy you
some supper. It's the last cent I have in the j
world; let it go and do good to somebody.”
“I thought the persuasive arts of woman were rights ” rendered it possible to get her services . audacious assertion ourselves, and are disposed
at the bottom of your lukewarmness, though I
own I suspected them to be a lady-love’s. I am
quite cheaply. He asked for no references or
credentials: he was from the country, and not
Two men were witnesses of this little scene. ; sion for music. And you say she is a fine mu-
They had paused, attracted by the voices, as sician?”
they were in the act of walking away from the ’ “An inspired one, I often think,” Harvey an-
pier, where they had been watching the landing swered, with enthusiasm. Then he gave a
of passengers from the boats. One of these was thought to the thin-toned, cheap piano at mad
to tilt a lance in favor of the slandered taste of
- . °ur masculine friends.) This excuse before
yet more interested on finding that it is a sister , suspicions or worldly-wise, and he took it for matrimony; afterward, the fair qnibblers argue
that they must continue to deck themselves in
gorgeous array, or “their "husbands will think
they no longer care to win their admiration !”
Of this latter plea, we will only say, en passant,
that perhaps not one woman in twenty gets up
an elaborate toilette tor the eye of her husband,
or indeed that of any other man. no matter what
his attractions or position. It is for ea,-h other
that truly fashionable women dress. The mul
titudinous items—the thousand trifling but in
dispensable adjuncts that make up the crowning
glory of the perfect toilette -all these would be
“It removes one great source of uneasiness for lost, absolutely thrown away, upon the nnap-
whose influence seeks to hold von back from the
career I offer you. The love of a sister for a
brother seems to me one of the sweetest and ten-
derest of feelings. And this sister of yours —
lovely, gifted and unprotected as you have de
scribed her —I don’t wonder that you dislike to
leave her, and that she is unwilling to have yon
go. But if I could see her, I would convince her
that it is your best course—that it will give you
fresh springs of hope and energy. Truly, I
granted that a person whom the rich music
dealer commended must be respectable as well
as proficient.
He was anxious in his own phrase to “close
the bargain ” at once, but Esther, looking at her
brother, requested time to thifik over the offer,
and writing her address on a card, gave it to him
and asked him to call the next evening.
As she and Harvey walked home in the mellow,
autumn twilight, lie expressed his gratification
should like to go to hear her play; I have a pas- at tlie offer she had received.
“ I call it a piece of truly good luck,” he said.
a slight, grave-looking man, with a pale, clr-ar-
cut face, and a melancholy, mobile mouth,
shaded by a firm mustache. The other was
heavy built and grosser, but sbrewd and intel
lectual looking.
“ Do you know that fellow?’ asked the slender
man, looking after Harvey, who had walked
away and was standing at the edge of the wharf.
“He looks to be at odds with fortune. He stares
down into the water as if he had a mind to jump
into it.”
“Not much loss if he did,” returned his com
panion. •■ He’s a wild, drinking fellow—a kind
of a hanger-on of the press.”
“There is manhood in him for all that
may be just the man for our purpose. I ll speak
ame’s, and continued: “I will tell you, my Gen
eral. If you will take the trouble to drop in at
Zerlein’s music store this afternoon, you shall
hear her play, and can, if you please, try to re
concile her to my going away.”
“At five, then, this afternoon, I will be there,”
said the General, who had taken a keen interest
in his young follower.
me. I dreaded leaving you here in the city preciative eye of a man; only a woman can do
among strangers and unprotected; but in the justice to the cause and the effect; and princi-
country—inside the walls of a nice, respectable pally to extort the admiration of each other do
female school—you will be quite safe and happy; the queens of society struggle through the weari-
won’t you, my poor, wounded, storm-tossed
dove?”
Esther only pressed his hand in answer;
some details of “full dress.’
We aver that of all servitudes, the misguided
votaries of fashion endure the most galling and
sudden foreboding came over her. Would she harassing. It is a common observation amonc
CHAPTER XIII.
Several times had Esther, accompanied by her
brother, called into Zerlein's Emporium of
; Music, and yielding to Harvey’s wish and her
He own inclination, plaV^-Aipon some one of the
-•ak elegant pianos that stood at the lower end of the
to him and ask him to come to our meeting to- i long and lofty room which opened upon the
night.”
He went up to Harvey and put his hand on
his shoulder.
“My friend,” he said, “ I should like to know
what you are musing about so intently.
street. Zerlein was as courteous to the un
known girl in her plain dress as he would have
been to the wealthiest of his, patrons. He knew
nothing of her beyond this, that she understood
and appreciated music—that was a sufficient
Harvey turned quickly and looked at the 1 passport to his respect. This afternoon, he put
speaker with a half-startled, half-savage glance.
“ What do you mean, sir ? ' he asked haughtily.
“I mean no offense. I would like to know
what plans for the future you are contemplating
as you gaze in the water. Believe me, curiosity
is not my motive.”
' “Plans for the future!”repeated Harvey, with
a short, hitter laugh. “There's but one plan
J for the future that seems best just now, and that
is to throw away the remnant of a worthless life
down ttiere,” pointing to the black river below.
“You can lio something better witli your life,
if you will. Listen to me. You are the man I
want. Come with me. I will show you how
' you may throw away your life, to some purpose,
i if you are tired of it, or ^as is better) how you
may fiil it with honor and wealth and fame —
i with stirring incident and manly effort."
i “Wliu are you?” demanded Harvey, looking
! in amazement at the high-bred face, deep ey es
and firm, sweet mouth of his inti rlooutor.
The stranger bent close and whispered a name
in Harvey s ear. A flash of enthusiasm lit up
: the young man’s face.
! “General, is it possible?” he said, grasping
• the extended hand. “ I recognize you now. i
! have seen you before, and I knew you were in
; the city, hut my mind is so disturbed, so drowned
: in a sea of trouble ”
“ That overflows us all at times," replied the
j General, with hissmileof melancholy sweetness.
| “But we must struggle out of it hunt some
j other, higher foothold, a clearerutoi s, lu re, new
i scenes, new acquaintances, new purposes. These
I I am about to offer you. But here is not the
j time or place to explain. Come witn me; let me
i present you to my right bower, Colonel —
He drew Harv’ey’s arm within his own, and
they joined tiio heavy-set, hands me man, who
had waited a few paces off.
Half an hour later, Harvey sat with his new
friends in the room of a large oi l warehouse,
whose dark, cob-webh-il interioi\._iiiix< dimly
lighted by a candle placed upon a long goods
before her a difficult German composition, and
stood by her side, turning the leaves and watch
ing with admiration the ease with which she
read the intricate passages. She was dressed
neatly in black, with a bud of the white cape
jessamine in her dark hair: and Harvey was
proud of her as he looked at her, absorbed in
her music, pure and sweet in her noble simplic
ity. Two men entered while she played, and
stood looking on and listening. One was the
little near-sighted foreigner with the huge nose,
whose music bad so delighted Esther the first
time she passed Zerlein's; the other was a stolid
stuffy personage, with a hint of the country in
: his deliberate ways as well as in the fit of bis
clothes.
As Esther finished playing, the little foreigner
i broke into a jabber of encomiums, to which Zer
lein. who joined them, added his praises.
“ She has the quick eye and the true touch,”
he said. “She feels as the masters wrote.”
“I should like her to try the piano I selected
this morning, if she understands music so well,”
I said the country gentleman. “Would you mind
asking her?"
• “Surely not; though I thought you were sat-
; isfieil with the tone of the piano,” returned the
music dealer;” and going up to Esther, he pre-
; ferred his customer’s request,
i •• What shall I play ?” she asked of him, as she
sat down before the piano he had thrown open,
j “Anything yon like-one of your favorites,”
| he answered.
; “ One of mine, if you please,” interposed Har-
: vey. “Play The Wanderer, Esther. It is apro-
i pos.”
She looked up at him with eyes that filled with
' sudden tears, and waited a moment with her
hands upon the keys before she could play the
tender, wild, beautiful Italian symphony she
| had learned from her mother.
At its close, a voice behind her murmured
“ /?> ‘ •: hunch oL^iolet*..dropped
_ _ | upon the keys. As she turned around, she met !
box sec on end. Grouped about on boxes and i the gaze of a pair of deep-set gray eyes, with
not be better here? Was not the city’s wilder
ness of souls the best hiding-place for slander-
wounded doves ?
The careless eyes of these streetsfnl of city
people did not wound her. They were indiffer
ent, incurious. They were too full of thought,
and work, and changing scenes and topics, to
care for her or her history. But in the country,
in those terrible, little inland towns, with their
dullness and stagnation, only broken by the rip
ples of gossip, how would it be? Nevertheless,
she intended to accept the place ottered her, be
cause it furnished a means of support. The
money she had obtained for her serial story was
more than half gone, having been devoted to
paying board and buying a few articles of cloth
ing for Harvey and herself.
Then Harvey would need money, now that he
was going away. As the thought came into her
mind, he said:
“Yes, it lifts a burden off my mind to know
that I shall leave you comfortably situated. Y'ou
mast not go away, though, until we sail—that
will be in three days; and 1 have no outfit yet,
and no money to buy one. The General liber
ally offered to give me everything necessary, but
he needs' all the money he can get to buy arms,
ammunition and provisions. All the men are 1
going to provide their own equipment, except a
few poor devils such as I am. It’s too bad. by j
Jove ! Say, my dear little treasurer, haven't you
some money you can spare me ?”
“ I have no money but what I will, absolutely
need to settle our bills and to pay my passage to
Mansfield, if I really am going—unless "
“ Unless what, Esther?”
“ Yesterday, I came across a fifty dollar Aote,
where it was put for me to find between the pages
of a little Bilile that was given me by Miss
Grant, my governess at Haywood. I know that
she meant for me to keep it, because she offered
it to me, and I refused to take her small savings,
laid aside by the dear, little, careful soul for a
dark day of sickness or want. I was going to
send it back to her. but ”
“Send it back to her, of course, my sister,
but not just now. Lend it to me. It will help
to forward our glorious enterprise, and when
that has enriched us, as it will do, I will return
women, that to keep up with the styles—not lag
a foot behind—requires one's whole time and
attention. What is to-day the “agony,” the
1 sought-after and admired of all. the grand cli
macteric of the season, is to-morrow cast aside,
to be superseded by something which the ca
price of the age declares even more faultless
and bewitching. Children of wealth carelessly
toss by the most costly garment to adopt another
which the latest utterance of the Parisian oracle
pronounces, the very perfection of style — the
only fitting garment in which beauty should
array itself. But what of others less favored in
this world's goods ?
At infinite pain and toil, after laborious saving
and scraping together, some girl of limited
means has just succeeded, perhaps, in the pur
chase of the long-coveted garment, when presto !
it is condemned as not at all “the thing”—
quite antiquated, in fact—altogether thrown in
the shade by a novelty that is really setting the
world mad — the most captivating thing for
years.
How many a simple and homely joy is sacri
ficed to this debased and debasing ambition !
How many a harassed father racks his tired brain
and turns on a sleepless pillow in hopeless en
deavors to fall on some plan by which to gratify
the desire of his dissatisfied daughters—to pur
chase the new dress or bonnet without which
their actions declare life is a burden too grievous
to be borne ! How many a pale, hard-worked
shop-girl toils through the long, laborious days,
wasting her health and strength for a miserable
pittance that she straightway expends in cheap,
showy finery, that may perhaps win for her the
passing admiration of men whose badlv-uttered
compliments should revolt any woman of pure
taste, while those whose respect is worth prizing,
pity the folly of thus throwing away on the fash
ion of an hour the hardlv-won earnings of a
week.
And so the tide sweeps on. Fashion reigns
supreme, and none so bold as to utterly run coun
ter to its dictates. Let any one, man or woman,
have courage to assert his or her right to dress
and live as their own good taste and judgment
direct, and immediately such a hue and cry
would be raised against him—such a volley of
diatribes against liis peculiarities, his eccentric-
your friend's money trebled.”
And so Miss Grant’s "savings" were sucked ities, his defiance of appearances, his old-fogyish
into the whirlpool of the “glorious enterprise.” and obsolete notions, etc., that the luckless of-
He has no dwelling, no country now,
And the mark of the pariah is on his brow;
He claims no part of a freemau's State,—
In his face has been closed the Nation's gate;
Outwitted in counsel, outnumbered in fight.
He proves the stern maxim, that might is still right.
The chances of war are for man to bear,
And feeble the soul that courts despair:
The hopeful heart and the willing hand
May rebuild the house and re-till the laud;
Rut the disenfranchised!—a people’s ivail
Swells that dire word to a tragic tale!
i cotton bales sat a number of men. most of I
i young and well-dressed, who had dropped
a shade of melancholy and mystery in their
lepths. Harvey uttered the name of his new-
twos and threes in a quiet way, and now sat found friend, and Esther, who was prepared to
greet him coldly, found herself giving him her
hand, and yielding .to the magnetism of his
manner. As the two stood a little apart from
the others, behind a grand, gilded harp, on which
the General leant his arm, a conversation took
place, of which Harvey was the subject; and Es
ther soon felt her objections to his joining the
filibustering expedition melting away beneath
the persuasive powers of this wonderful man,
“It is a lucky god-send,” Harvey said, as he
tucked the bill into his vest-pocket. “If it had
not turned up, I should have been obliged to
fall back on Cop, and set him to hunting up
funds for me, somehow.”
“Poor Copley ! Will I find another friend so
true and devoted where I am going?” Esther
thought.
Ee had -been nearly heart-broken when he
found that he was about to be relieved of his
charge.
“Why, Copley, old fellow,” Harvey said, “we
have only been a trouble and an expense to you—
nothing more. Y'ou can lay up money now and
[Written for The Suiniv South.]
FIGHTING AGAINST FATE;
OR,
Alone in the World.
i talking in low tones, hut with repressed c-xcite-
; incut betrayed in their eyes and movements.
! They were instantly hushed into profound at
tention when the slight, pale man w ho lnul whis-
j pereil his uauie to Harvey arose and began to
j address them. What did lie speak ol? 1’n what
deeds of daring did he persuade Lm-e ardent
! young spirits to make their eyes kimiie and their
, hearts thrill with an almost fanatical enthusi- ^
asm fnv fVh tl i eU,e ,f ftS a b C T< lr ’ V ; l ‘" lVi ° n l ' y, tr,0t I the * ecret of wL ° se el0< l nence was his eurnest - : thrumming the"air on Esther’s ^uitar.
r from these gait-washed Southern shores—a ! ness. ° j 3 ,
“It will bring out all the latent manhood
there is in him,” he urged, “and there is much,
as you know. It will be his best opportunity to
break the chains of bad habits that are riveted
by circumstances and surroundings. It will
open for him a career such as his active energies
crave—it will furnish him with new springs of
hope, with a grand goal to look forward to, with
opportunities to redeem any mistake of the
fender is eventually driven back into the orderly,
properlv-reinformed ranks. The evils that fol
low in the train of fashion are many and varied,
but we allude particularly to the rage for dress
I because we think that a plague-spot so appalling
in magnitude and consequences that its impor
tance cannot be over-estimated, or its disastrous
effects too loudly deplored. It is, we verily be
lieve, the curse that may fitly rank with that of
intemperance. Many a lost, abandoned woman
to-day dates the first step in her downfall to the
longing for finery which her means were quite
inadequate to gratify. The glitter of gems—-
the flashing rays of diamonds and of rubies—
BY MARY' E. BRY AN.
! far
: tropical land, rich in fruits, in gold, in fertile
! soil and luxuriant beauty a land that was rep-
; resented as chafing under a foreign yoke, and
: burning to fling it off and give itself to the more
congenial rule of the American flag perhaps.
! And yi t, as tlie speaker kindled with hi - theme,
I and liis eye, glancing around, caught tlie rapt
| k oks of liis listeners, he more than intimated
| i hat the government which should be established
j on that tair land, when it was wrenched free of : past.”
CHAPTER XII.
•Starting from his fitful sleep, Harvey tossed
himself from the bed, and strode down-stairs
and out into the street. His brain still fevered
with liquor as well as with passion, liis mind torn
by remorse and self-disgust, lie walked aimlessly
on, with the fine rain drizzing in his face. Of
late, he had been wont to sit at I ds hour, ball
stifled, inside the circus-tent, watching Zoe’s
daring flights on the trapeze, over the heads of
the gazing crowd, or her pose on the back of
Desert Wind, which was always worth looking
at for its saucy grace, though she was by no
means a skilled equestrienne. Was she per
forming there to-night, with the black bruises
that uis lash had left on her polished neck and
bosom covered by tulle and tinsel? He felt
sure that both she and her admirer would,
through shame and fear of ridicule, seek to j
cover up the affair and to withdraw the atten- ;
tion of the police, which they had drawn to it on
the fir-.t impulse of rage.
foreign chains, should be au independent one
given over wholly into the hands that 1
to free the soil.
So, he held out among his other inducements
the fascinating one of power. To this was added
wealth, fame, a wild, free life, thrilling adven
tures, warm, bright beauty, whose black ’eyes
should swim in tears of gratitude as they hailed
the deliverers of their country.
He drew this picture with a fervid fascination
of voice and manner that thrilled liis hearers.
His voice, low and quiet, was made impressive
by its depth of fervent earnestness. There was
! that inexplicable influence called magnetism
i in liis voice, in his deep-set eye and his few sig- !
mficunt gestures. His audience listened to him
He gained his point, so far as influencing Es-
1 helped | ther’s judgment, independent of her feelings,
in favor of Harvey’s taking part in the adventur
ous scheme. As to the expedition itself, he
succeeded in painting it to Esther’s imagination
as a glorious crusade, full of philanthropy as well
as of profit. And all this was effected by a mon
ologue of thirty minutes, aided by that intense,
earnest look that seemed to lean upon you in
confidence of your belief and sympathy.
Harvey, seated at the piano, deadened the
sound of the conversation by the sonorous notes
of “Watch on the Rhine.” As the General
bowed low over Esther’s hand and was turning
! away, Zerlein came up and presented his coun
get rich, you little saving field-mouse. Now have lighted many a soul down the steeps of
perdition: and we believe that many a home has
had its happiness wrecked and its husband and
father driven to intemperance or suicide because
of the fretful repinings of those dearest to him—
the loudly-expressed dissatisfaction with their
■ surroundings, and longings for the elegancies
of the rich, which have maddened the true and
devoted heart that could not—let it do its very
best—meet the constant and never-ending de
mand.
The picture, we sadly believe, is not too darkly
painted.
We are far from advocating inattention to
dress. We would not be understood as under
valuing the real importance of neatness and be-
eomiugness in attire. We abominate slovenliness.
We have no words to express our contempt for
1 what is forcibly termed a “ dowdy.”
Every woman owes it to herself to dress at all
times in well-made and pleasing garments. No
matter how simple t^ie style, and how inexpen-
! sive the material, deft fingers can fashion the
garb into something graceful and becoming that
I venture the assertion that three-fourths of < will stamp the woman, in the eyes of the most
there’ll be nobody to borrow from you and to
eat up your store of provisions. Don't cry, Cop
ley; you’ll set me to snifiling, and you'll make
Esther sob herself so hoarse she can't sing ' By
ron’s Adieu ’ for us. We’ll all meet again under
brighter auspices—in marble halls, perhaps;”
and he hummed:
I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls
(TO BE CONTINTED.)
[For The Sunny South.]
THE TYRANNY OF FASHION.
The Passion for Dress one of tlie (treat Sins
of the Day — Ranking next to Intemper
ance—The Rich ami Poor Devotee at the
Shrine —I'lihnppy Homes — Ruined For
tunes—Wrecked Lives the Consequence.
BY FLORENCE HAETLAND.
the women of the civilized world devote more
time and thought and energy to the one subject
of dress than to any two alien topics that can be
suggested. With thousands of them, it is the
one idea. To the style and trimming of a new
bonnet, they will give more serious and anxious
reflection—more real, earnest thought—than they
would expend on the solution of a problem in
volving the greatest issues of human destiny.
The rage for fine clothes has invaded all
classes. The daughters of the humblest farmer
patny ana appr<
When there was quiet again
tlie meeting proceeded; a few me
uiitted, contributions of money
and the Colonel, who had be*
Harvey as tlie General’s right bower, drew out
careless observer, as a lady of taste and refine
ment. What we condemn and lament so deeply
is the abuse of fashion—the sinful extreme to
which it is carried. Take away the superfluities
of dress—the countless costly trifles that go to
ward the making up of what is falsely termed
a faultless toilette, and devote the sum they
would demand to the adornment of home; or, if
that be already sufficiently beautiful which is
seldom the case — expend it in books that
would not only grace the too-often empty.shelves,
but lend ten-fold grace and attractiveness to
their studions possessors; or, in the case of
the rich, granting that there is nothing lacking
the town of Mansfield, and also one of the “trus- curse of the poor man that those he loves best fects and results ?
upon it maddened him, to look forwaid was de
spair.
When the meeting broke
pledged himself to tlie fortunes of the fillibuster
Finding a relief in motion, he walked on, he ; ciiiet, and was ready, like the rest of liis adher- j ther, and hearing her playing commended by
hardly knew in what direction, until he found j blits, to follow him to the death. He broke the , able judges, he determined to speak to her and
himself upon the levee where two steam boat.-. , intelligence to Esther that same night, when, make her “a proposition.” It would take a
of bells and puff- upon going to bis lodgings an Lour later, she j weight from his mind if “things should suit,”
t l; .1 1 . ....I.,., ! I'MIIID I • lu !■< Illlll Itllltilll I’ll Yflti. I ..*> 1 ‘ A* 1 . 1 . Y * L _ 1 11. I.. J
In knowledge, more than in any other posses
sion, we delight because of its excellence for
excellent we deem it, though we draw it from a
stream. The stream suggests a fountain; fount-
. , ain suggests the highest degree of excellence.
Harvey had and had intended to advertise for the teacher in craving for such things, which leads to the un- We flight- in the stream; we would worship the
the to-morrow morning’s paper; but seeing Es- i doing of many a misguided girl, who might fountain if we could find it. I think we should
upon
were coining in with ringin
otherwise have been the light nnd happiness— j worsb j p j t tor j ts excellence, rather than because
the sweet household divinity—of some humble we should be permitted to. drink our till of its
of t ugines, and red signal lights aglow
through the mist. On the wharf, figures were
musing about, looking like shadows in the
ghoul, and flaring torches were throwing tli-ir
glare on the black river, aiding the feeble illu
mination of the clouded moon. Racks of cotton
baits and sugar casks, guarded bv watchmen, lay
upon the landing. Among these crept a misera
ble, starved-looking boy, picking up bits of cot- j She could not reconcile herselt to the thought,
ton from the ground and putting tln-m in an old j she entreated him to recall his promise; to re-
carnc into ms room, haggard witn
watching, and forced her usual
lul greeting. The news she now
him seemed to be almost as gloomy as what she
Lad been 1 curing and trembling o-.li for the last
two hours, lie had joined a hand of adventu
rers he was going to leave her, to leave the
country, on a wild and dangerous expedition.
bat honest man's dwelling.
‘ As well be out of the world as out of the
sparkling waters. So great will be our gladness,
so grateful our affection, that we would gladly
vim anxiety and ’ for he had finished laying in his stock of goods, i fashion," flippantly avows some giddy “girl of cast & bac j- j nto tbe fountain what store we have
siml. and cheer- and was anxions to return. Esther presently j the period,” whose highest conceivable ambition j of knowledge, and be content to bask in its sheen
ard from found out that the things he particularly wished | is gratified when she can saunter down a crowded ; an d exalt its excellence. ~
suit ” were her religious views and her : promenade on a fashionable parade-day, ar-
to have
terms
his
the
But if we are on the
stream, why not find the fountain? The method
putting
suck that hung from his shoulders. A pompous
policeman, stalking about with a cigar in his
mouth and his club swinging iu his hand,
threw his eye upon the little figure and growled
out:
“What are you doing here again? I’ll take
\ ou up for a vagrant. Y’ou are looking for a
’chance to steal something.”
“I ain't,” returned the boy. “I was just
picking up waste bits, trying to earn a honest
dime. You lemme ’lone.”
“ Who are you speaking to, you little scamp?”
cried the surly policeman. “Take tLutfor^onr
udenee !” and he struck him across the shoul-
mciuber Ellen and his child; to think of her
own loneliness and anxiety when he hud left her.
She painted the dangers of the adventure the
probability o. deteat, disgrace and punishment.
All tlie while, there was present, unspoken iu
her mind, tuo feeling that if he did go away w ith
this buna of reckless men, her lust hope of his
reforming and becoming steady and settled was
o v er.
Her entreaties so wrought upon Harvey that
when next day he met the General, the young
convert seemed to have lost much of his enthu
siasm. the keen eye ot the leader soon observed
this, and drew from him its cause. He listened
to Harvey with attention, and then said:
■* What church do you belong to ?” and seemed ; mount to every other earthly consideration, i from cause fo prior cause, find at each stage the
relieved when Esther answered: She must, she maintains, have her accustomed • wa q er g row -i n g purer and our delight increasing,
“To none.” ' luxurious outfit every season. .The silks and j until from tlle tbro ne of the Eternal we find the
He was afraid he should hear her profess her- j muslins and laces, the plumes and ribbons, j v j r g] n fountain sending forth its stream. Hail,
self a member of some denomination other than ■ must be forthcoming, or what would be the use, 1 p Urer SO nrce of our pure earth-enriching, soul-
the one to which he and the Mansfield College ; pray, of living at all? . gladdening stream ! I bathe in bliss. I baptize
Conceive,” she says, “the utter misery of ! m f, j n ij v j n g waters—in the river of the water of
belonged. Such an avowal would make her
musical abilities worthless, so far as the college
was concerned, that being built on a sectional
foundation, and tolerating within its walls no
teacher who held to a different profession. An
“unbeliever” would be more eligible to a posi
tion iu the seminary than the most devout mem
ber of a rival church.
The question of next importance in Mr.
Hntchin’s eye related to terms; and here he was
delighted to find that Esther’s inexperience and
deficiency in the art of “standing up for her
a season without a new suit—a stylish hat, a
startling novelty of some description to ‘ take ’
with the beaux and to be the despair of the
girls !”
These little accessions are indispensable. She
declares she must have them in order to secure
an advantageous settlement in life. “ Gentle
men ^ill not look at a plainly-dressed woman
when there is a handsomely-clad one present,
no matter how superior in personal attractions
the former may be.” (We rather question this
life!—Jay.
A flea weighs less than a grain of salt, and
leaps a yard and a half at a jump, and we are
told that “were a man of a hundred and fifty
pounds weight possessed of equal agility, he
could spring from the dome of the capitol at
Washington to China, and go round the world
in two jumps.” It is a fortunate thing for the
steamship companies that man cannot go round
the world in two jumps.