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[For The Sunny South.J
MY BRIDE.
[At the Medical College in Philadelphia, a young gentle
man of wealth and talent became a lunatic and died.
Among hie papers was found the following manuscript,
giving at once the cause of his heart-break, his derange
ment aud death.]
I wooed her in her beauty—her purity and bloom—
When her gentle breath seemed freighted with an orient
morn's perfume;
When the lovely pink ol sunrise seemed mantling on her
cheek,
And her blue eyes beamed with tender hopes her lip for
bore to speak.
I wooed her by the Bummer sea, where but the stars above
And the spirits of the mighty deep conld hear our vows
of love;
I saw their misty shadows pass, I heard their dreamy
strain.
And foreboded not they presaged a future wild with pain
I only saw her— my sweet dower that opened day by day.
Each charm too beautiful and bright to yield to foul decay;
1 only heard her whiBpered tones that gave her heart to me,
Lula laughingly escorts the Colonel to his seat,
gives him two or three kisses, which have the
effect of so harrowing up the Major's feelings
that he at once leads out three kings consecu
tively to discover the whereabouts of the aces.
Then she leaves him to his fate and returns to
Mr. Weir, who is making much ado over a burnt
finger.
“All in your service,” he said, reproachfully,
as she sits down beside him. “Question my
gallantry after that."
“Noble emulation of Sir Walter Raleigh, I only
question your good sense; why did you not use
the snuffer ?
“For the same reason that he did not use a
plank—1 did not see one. His queen was grate
ful, but mine ”
“I wish to know,” puts in Grayson Manning,
“ if you, sister mine, always expect to rule in the
high-handed style of to-night, over the lords of
creation ?
“ Certainly, until the hour which is said to end
the female reign,” and she looks at Mr. Weir
from under her long lashes.
“ Sapient female! It will be well for thee thy
expectations do not extend into that, to thee,
undiscovered bourne of married life—that state
In all its virgin sweetness, by that sounding summer sea. 1 iu which the golden fetters which bound the
strong man and made him her willing slave is
passed, and the fetters, golden no longer, are
transferred to her own spirit, lately so joyously
free. The despotic throne before which the sons
of wealth and chivalry bowed themselves in
humble adoration. Alas ! how it crumbles be
neath the touch of Hymen. Instead of the gala
festivities of the court of Cupid, behold an end
less round of domestic duties. The uninvi
ting ”
“A truce!” cries Lula, holding up her hands.
“Mr. Weir, will you see me devoured outright
by this Ursa Major?”
“I was only waiting for a signal of distress. I
do not belong to the fraternity who think these
days of woman’s rights, that if they wish to take
our prerogatives they must take our disadvan
tages also, as a man in a crowded car told a cel
ebrated champion of her sex, as he kept his seat
while she stood."
“It would certainly be very unjust to visit
upon my innocent head the sins of my sex.
While I think it a good move in the right direc
tion, I am far from endorsing extravagancies of
the reform, but, the contrary, I was contending
that when a woman marries she yeilds up unre
servedly all rights except those of being loved.”
“ Which comprises tnem all,” puts in Gray
son, sententiousiy.
“ You are mistaken,” retorted Carrie, “as was
the woman who thinking, ‘ with all my worldly
goods I thee endow,’ meant what it said, found j
it meant, instead, one calico dress a year.”
“ Well done, Oarute ! I am glad something has
at last drawn you out in defense of your sex. I
have been thinking of the legend the old Danish
poet tells, of the Marstig’s daughter, who, after
leaving home and friends for an 4 unco man,’
finds she has wedded a fiend, who destroys her.
That is a case, though, to which a parallel can
be found any day.”
“ Don’t annihilate my sex, entirely, Miss Lula,
by your cutting sarcasm. Let me repeat the
legend of Frithiof, which Tegnir tells so beauti- j
fully, and perhaps you may think better of us. ;
How Frithiof and Ingeborg grew up under the
same roof; he like the young oak; she, the lily,
with the blush of morn upon her cheek. The
old king, her father, dies, and her brothers refuse
to allow her to marry beneath her station, for
Frithiof is only the son of a Thane. They meet
clandestinely in the temple of Balder, for which
profanation, when her brothers hear of it, glad
of an excuse to be rid of the troublesome suitor,
they exile him to the Orkney Isles, and, in his
absence, give Ingeborg in marriage to old king
Ring. How, after years of weary wandering on
the seas, the Viking Frithiof longs with an irre
sistible longing to behold once more the face of j
0 God! I saw that cheek’s soft rose fade slowly day by day;
1 knew Consumption's blightiDg hand bad stole its tints
away;
I heard the slow, dry, fatal cough burst from her laboring
chest—
Death’s watch-dog baying ceaselessly within her lovely
breast.
I loved her yet more wildly because I knew that Death
Was wooing her, my bride, to him—was drinking her
sweet breath.
It was a strange, mad rivalry, and BleepleBB foes were we,
Each watching some unguarded point to win the victory
But slowly, steadily she waned, as stars before the sun,
And I knew by her faint pulses that Death’s victory was
won;
But as her life was sinking low, her smiles to me were
given,
And with my name upon her lips, her spirit entered
heaven.
They buried her—I knew not when; fierce madness ruled
my soul;
I seemed to hear a demon’s yell sound in the death-bell's
toll.
They say I burst through weeping bands, and madly,
fiercely stood
Upon her grave’s black yawning verge, and frantic cursed
my God.
*******
They bid me give my heart to fame,—I have no heart to
give;
Tor though I move, and act, and think, I do not seem to
live.
A night-mare dream enfolds my brain—a dream of woe
and pain;
I wildly strive to burst the spell and wake to life again.
Ah! when I wake, I shall behold, all blooming by my side,
And robed in heaven’s radiant garb, my own lost angel
bride;
But while I sleep, O Heaven, thiB is my only prayer—
My heart be not so sinful here as not to meet her there.
without much jingling of glass and silver, which
announced to the indefatigable whist party that
if they wished to make a night of it the material
was at hand.
They were not slow to hike the hint, and soon
came out of the library, Capt. Mason, gallantly
escorting Miss Seawell, triumphantly heading the
party. Then the delicious beverage was disposed,
health pledged, and tales told of the'olden time
by the Colonel, in which both the Major and the
Captain might have assisted if they had been dis
posed. Then as the night wore on to the “wee
sma’ hours avant the twal,” the former gentle
man called for his horse, which order gave the
signal for the breaking up of the merry-making.
“I suppose j’ou are not afraid of bogles and
the like, Major, since you ride so late,” said Mr.
Weir, as he bade him good-night in the cordial
American fashion of shaking hands.
“No, for there are only kindly spirits abroad
on the blessed yule-tide you know, and having
no irate dame at home with brows of gathering
storm,
•Nursing her wrath to keep it warm,’
I may safely venture homeward.”
“Randal,” said Grayson, when the parlor was
deserted by all except themselves, as he sat stir
ring the remains of the hickory logs, “let us
have some fun to-night. These girls will return
here before long to hang up their stockings; sup
pose we don the disguises in which we are to
appear with the Fantastics to-morrow night, and
frighten them.”
“ But I am to represent His Satanic Majesty.”
“And I a Ku-kiux — a truly frightful couple.
They will scream and shriek and go through the
programme which ladies seem to think necessary
on such occasions, doubtless, but as to anything
serious, you may make yourself easy.”
“Then the sooner we attire ourselves, the bet- |
ter. ”
“ I suppose so, but if we fail to reach the par
lor before they come to hang up their stockings, j
we have still another opportunity, for that sister J
of mine is too true a daughter of Eve to sleep j
soundly with an unknown present in her stock- j
ing; they will be here again before day, depend
on it.”
Thus saying, Grayson piled a fresh lot of logs \
on the tall bright andirons, and then the plot
ters against the peace of the two unsuspecting ■
females wended their way up the broad stairs to j
their bedroom, taking care to make as much [
noise as possible in doing so, that the young
ladies might know they had retired for the night.
Half an hour afterward, when everything was
quiet in the house, two figures, frightful to be
hold, stole with cat-like steps back to the place
of rendezvous.
“Now,” said Grayson, in a low voice, “we
“At thy bidding, we come.” i “Indeed no.
In an agony of terror, Lula flew shrieking to Proserpine.”
the door, shook it violently in a vain effort to “How cruel!
open it. but, as generally happens in such cases, j of one true and devoted heart?’
I have no desire to dethrone
But you will accept the empire
the bolt refused to turn. Seeing the spectre
close behind her. she rushed wildly away in an
opposite direction, circling quickly around the
piano, closely pursued by the kuklux.
“It is I-don’t you know me?” reiterated
Grayson, following her as rapidly as his cum
brous headgear and impedingjsword would per
mit.
But in her state of terror Lula did not recog
nize the voice, thinking it was only some ghostly
utterance of satisfaction at the prospect of gob
bling her up; so around they flew, performing
amazing feats of gymnastics, in the way of clear
ing chairs and ottomans at a bound, in a race
which would have shamed John Gilpin.
Mr. Weir, in the meantime a prey to the keen
est remorse, administered generous quantities of
eggnog to Carrie’s face by way of a resuscita-
will take our stand, or rather seat, in the recesses i unpardonable freak of-
tor in lieu of water, which at last had the desired \ on the slender finger
effect, and Carrie, opening her eyes and finding " ’ ’ ’
herself in the grasp of His Satanic Majesty,
would have relapsed into unconsciousness, but
for the fortunate circumstance of beholding an
object which would have recalled any woman on
the verge of existence—her chignon swimming
about in the remains of egg-nog, a great black
island in a cream-colored sea; with a little shriek
she released herself from Mr. Weir’s supporting
arms and rescued, all dripping, that indispen
sable portion of her coiffeur.
Just at that moment, the Colonel with a stick
in one hand and the light in the other, rushed
in, en deshabille.
“Heydey ! heydey ! What is the matter?” he
exclaimed excitedly.
“Opapa!” cried Lula, rushing to him, and
seizing him so tightly around the neck as to pre
clude any further inquiry on his part.
“I have told her fifty times that it was I,” said
Grayson, from the cavernous depths of his ku
klux chest, as he dodged a well-aimed blow from
the Colonel’s cane. But calculating only for his
ordinary height, the skull received the stroke
which removed it from its elevated position and
brought to view Grayson's own brown locks.
“Grayson Manning, this outrage is perfectly
unpardonable !” cried Lula, indignantly, releas
ing the half suffocated Colonel. “ I am not sur
prised at any act of yours, however thoughtless
and unkind; but Mr. Weir,” turning to that gen
tleman, who had partly removed his satanic be
longings, “ I did not expect this of you.”
“My daughter!” reproved the Colonel, who,
under no circumstances, forgot his duty as host
“I deserve any reproof she may give, Colonel
Manning, but I hope she will pardon a seemingly
“ My sponsors promised for me that I should
abjure His Satanic Majesty and all his works."
“ How can you tease me so, Lula, my darling?”
and he bent his dark, full eyes upon "her face.
Coquettish to the last, she turned it quite
away, that its roseate glow might not prema
turely betray her.
He seized the hand that lay temptingly upon
the balustrade, and drawing from its case a for
get-me-not ring of turquoises and pearls, said:
“This is my Christmas gift; but the donor
goes with the gift. May I put it on your finger?”
Her silence was her affirmative to this ques
tion, but though her saucy tongue was dumb
anil her blue eyes downcast, the tell-tale blushes
whispered the secret.
“Mine!" he cried, rapturously. “In token
of which I affix my seal,” and he slipped the ring
of the chimney, which are in the deep shadow.
You will be md by this high-backed chair, and
this divan will screen me from too inquisitive
eyes. When i tap on the mantle, rise up, and
we will appear simultaneously.”
“ I am really afraid we will frighten the young
1 Randall is not to blame, father,” interrupted
Grayson.
Then followed an explanation of the affair.
In the meantime hurried footsteps and glow
ing lights proclaimed an aroused household.
Miss Seawell arrived first on the scene in neglige;
ladies; you have no idea what a horrible appear- j after her the Captain, ditto, just in time to hear
[Por The Surmy South.]
THE RESULT OF A WHIM.
A CHRISTMAS STORY.
BY H. E. SHIPLEY.
The time was Christmas Eve, with the night
gathering darkly over the hills; and the place
was Brandon, the country house of Col. Man
ning, whose custom it was to gather about him,
on these occasions of peace and good will, as hia
ancestors had done before him, the friends and
neighbors of the family. His wife had long since
passed away to the land of perpetual peace and
good will, but his home, under the judicious
administration of her maiden sister, knew no
diminution in hospitality, and Brandon was still
a synonym for enjoyment.
His son and daughter, just returned from their
respective halls of learning, had each brought I
home, to enjoy the holidays, a friend. These I
young people were now grouped before the great,
generous fireplace, with its tall, shining andirons
and huge hickory logs; beyond, around a table,
were clustered, the hearty old Colonel with Major | down—”
fl w. ... a n n a r. a« ,1 G A .. I A V . 1 X . . I ^ ^ Pi Y AT Vl 1
ance you present.
“lean return the compliment—but hush!
here they come.”
The gentlemen sprang to their respective hid
ing places, as the soft lootl'alls sounded on the
staircase, and soon after the door opened, admit
ting Lula and Carrie. Lula with her wealth of
blonde hair falling about her shoulders over the
blue merino dressing-gown, and Carrie, with her
hair still, in ladies’ parlance, “done up,” her
sombre brunette beauty heightened by her crim
son robe; both figures looking very slim indeed,
each bearing in hand a long white hose.
“This is delightful!” exclaimed Lula, sinking
down all of a heap upon the rug before the fire,
“ after our descent through that cold hall. Some
considerate mortal has replenished the fire in
anticipation of our return.”
44 Grayson I suppose. He is a dear good brother,
his still beloved Ingeborg. He lands as Juletide j if he is an incorrigible tease.”
on his native shore, accompanied by his faithful j
friend, Bjorn, who urges the forcible abduction
of the beautiful Ingeborg. This Bjorn, a bear
indeed, knows so little of love as to offer to bring
to Frithiof a whole ship load of maidens, from
the far off land of the sunny south, as red as
roses and gentle as lambs; but Frithiof will have
44 1 am glad to hear you say so Carrie, for I am
particularly anxious to have him installed in
your good graces,” and Lula looked quizzically
at her friend.
Grayson smiled from his post of observation
as he saw the conscious glow overspread Carrie’s
face. He had been particularly anxious about
none of them; he wishes only to see his white j the same thing himself for some time, despite
lily, wife though she be of another. So when
the king and queen sit drinking mead in the
banquet hall, the ‘bear-skin man,' old and hoary,
enters and humbly seats himself; the courtiers
jeer at him, in return for which delicate atten
tion he seizes one of them and twirls him up and
Grimes as partner, and Capt. Mason and Miss i
Seawell as opponents, enjoying the time-honored \
game of whist.
“If we had half lights, in only a sufficiency j
to 4 throw shadows from the fitful firelight dan- ;
cing on the parlor wall, ’ this great room with !
its gloomy recesses and dark oak paneling, ;
would be the place of all others for telling ghost j
stories. ”
Miss Vanne says this looking around, and then i
making a little shiver at her own suggestion.
Whereupon, Lula Manning springs up in her
Pity but some modern coxcombs could be
served the same way,” came from the whist-
table—the Major, most likely.
“The king demands the name of this inter
rupter of the yulerus, which is not given by the
old man, but his disguise falling off, discloses a
princely figure clad in blue velvet, while over
his shoulders float his shining ringlets like a
wave of gold. Ingeborg doubtless recognizes
him, for the color 4 came and went in her cheeks
like the northern lights on fields of snow;’ and
when King Ring, laying his hand on the boar’s
his assumed nonchalance.
44 1 don’t think he will ever belong to the Bene
dict fraternity,” returned Miss Vane, nervously
attaching the hose to a knob of the mantle, such
as are found in most old-fashioned country
houses, for the purpose of holding the shovel
and tongs in place.
“ Don’t you believe that. It is just his way of
talking, because he knows that I am so anxious
Grayson’s explanation of the disturbance; dur
ing which, the curiosity and excitement abating
somewhat, Miss Seawell, becoming conscious of
the remarkable appearance of the party conse
quent upon their scant attire, her own included,
made a frantic sally in the the direction of the
open door, followed by the young ladies in a
like expeditious manner—the Captain had pre
viously mysteriously disappeared.
Not until they had reached their bedroom, did
Carrie become conscious of a most disagreeable
stickiness about her dress and face. The young
ladies stood regarding each other a moment, and
then broke into peals of ringing laughter.
44 Lula, do go to the glass and look at yourself,
else you will fail to appreciate your forlorn ap
pearance.”
“ Not until you have had a glimpse of your
self first. Was it not a shame to serve us so?”
“I can forgive everything, but being bedaubed
with egg-nog,” exclaimed Carrie, looking rue
fully at her mass of disheveled hair. “That is
an offense for which only the most abject apol
ogy can atone, or time and warm water remedy.”
44 Grayson was originator and instigator of the
whole affair. I know he alone is to blame,” said
Lula, decidedly.
The family, with the exception of the Captain,
were all assembled at the table the next morn
ing when Lula and Carrie put in an appearance.
They came in looking as fresh and sweet as if
the whole night had been passed in peaceful
slumber.
Randall colored slightly as they entered, but
Grayson preserved his usual complacent and
easy manner.
“Most amiable and forgiving damsel ” he
bore so much from any tormentor in childhood
as I from that brother of mine. I once found
him cool!}’ decapitating my Queen of Scots,
while Queen Bess sat at a little distance turned
to a blackamoor, and I was quietly informed that
he wished to impress two historical facts upon
my not too retentive memory—that Queen Mary
was beheaded, and that Queen Bess paid the pen-
extinguished the candles in the tall girandoles i kre J T Odin and the mighty Thor, the stranger j alty of her vanity this time, by her maids having
nearest to her, called upon Mr. Weir, who is i throws his sword on the table with a resounding j used soot instead of rouge. You are not hear-
leaning with a certain unstudied grace against I clang, and swears to defend Frithiof, so help him j ing one word I say !” suddenly exclaimed Lula,
“ -- ’’ ” * “ " ’ - Destiny and his good sword. This so pleases the 1 1 " : — 1 - u_ i
| that he should give me a sister. If our virtues j began as Lula seated herself beside him.
are developed by exercise, I ought to be a female ! “ Grayson, I wonder you can have the audacity
edition of Job, for no unfortunate creature ever j to look us in the face this morning,” said Lula,
impetuous child-fashion, and having auicklv I head, swears to conquer Frithiof, so help him
a• • i i 11.. _ ii • . ,, -. ^ *3 aLa .a.’aUi.. ti *.1. „ ..a
the opposite end of the mantle-piece, to do like
wise. He affects not to understand the import i °l. d king that he orders Ingeborg to fill a golbet
of her words, in order that she may repeat them
with the captivating naivete peculiarly her own.
“If you really wish it,” he says, extending his
hand toward the light, but thinking only of the
saucy face uplifted to his.
“ Of course I do, or I should not have made
the request, and the rosy lips form themselves
into a charming pout, whereupon his forefinger
and thumb act as an extinguisher to the offend
ing light, as he coolly replies:
“That is too unsafe a precedent to be made a
rule of action. Only on yesterday ”
“ Hey-day ! What’s the matter? Lights out?”
calls the jolly old Colonel, who endeavors to find
out by the aid of the fire-light whether he has
turned up the knave or king of hearts, “Relight
the candles. Pet.”
Then Lula goes to him, and with one soft hand
about his neck, while the other performs all
manner of feats through his hair, says in her
irresistible way:
“We are going to be ever so romantic, papa,
and tell any number of ghost stories, and you
know we can't get scared one bit with those great
bright lights staring at us. Can we now ? So
all yon dear old fogies (the Major winces) are
going into the library, to finish the rubber, like
good children,” and she pats him on the cheek
and kisses him, whereupon the Major immedi
ately plays his ace upon the Colonel’s king.
with the choicest wine, which she presents to
her sometime lover with downcast eyes and trem
bling hand; then the Skald takes up his harp
and siDgs the story of Harbort and fair Signe,
and the yulerus is prolonged far into the night.
becoming conscious that Carrie, who had seated
herself beside her, was gazing abstractedly into
the fire.
“Yes, I heard you,” said Carrie, slowly taking
out her hairpins, “but I was thinking of an an
cient superstition to the effect that if cedar, or
fir as it was called, is burned at midnight, or
When afterward the old king discovers the stran- : yule-tide, by any one desiring to know the future,
ger’s real name, instead of sending him to Val- ! a vision of it will appear.”
44 much more address any observation to me.
We will forgive your shameful conduct of last
night only on the most solemn assurances that
your aggravating propensities culminated in that
act.”
44 Grant me absolution, sister mine, and I will
promise anything you wish, even to joining,
provided ‘Barkis is willing,”’ looking slyly at
Carrie, “the Benedict fraternity.”
Carrie’s face flamed as she remembered the
conversation of last night. To hide her confu
sion, she turned to Randall.
“ When did you learn that egg-nog was a
specific for syncope ?” she inquired.
"it was the suggestion of the distracted mo
ment.”
“ Distracted man would be more to the point.”
“Come, Miss Carrie, don’t scold me; I feel _ _
badly enough already, I assure you. Besides, I j kind « of candy, starch, sugar or glucose is used
He might have affixed another seal, had he not
espied, at that moment, the Major alighting at
the gate.
That gentleman knew, when he marked Lula’s
conscious manner and Mr. Weir’s air of proud
proprietorship, that, in common parlance, “his
jig was up.” But, as he afterwards persuaded
Miss Seawell to take charge of his bachelor quar
ters as its mistress, the presumption is that he
was consoled.
SCIENTIFIC.
Equal parts of American potash and pearlash,
two ounces each to about one quart of water,
give a good oak stain. Use carefully, as it will
blister the hands. Add water if the color be too
deep.
Bricks made in Japan, and paying twenty per
cent, duty, are now imported into San Fran
cisco. The quality is superior. Japanease
briok-makers can beat the world in the cheap
ness and excellence of their productions.
Beautiful semi-transparent casts of fancy ar
ticles may be taken in a compound of two parts
unbaked gypsum, one part bleached beeswax,
and one part parafine. This becomes plastic
at one hundred and twenty degrees, and is quite
tough.
The use of a solution of borax, instead of al
cohol, for the preservation of anatomical prepa
rations, has been suggested by M. Schetzler. His
experiments show that the decay of organic
matter can be prevented by the action of such
a solution.
The astronomer Leverrier has placed the let
ters O. P. after his name, and now proposes to
take partial charge of the weather bureau. He
has made a prediction which is noteworthy. It
is that the winter of 1875 7(5 will be uncommonly
severe. Enormous quantities of snow are to fall
in December and January.
Metal Glass.—Another hard glass, to which
the above name has been given, has been pro
duced at Count Solm’s works, near Buntzlau,
Germany. The tests withstood appear to be
about the same as those to which the Bastic glass
was subjected, with the exception, however, that
the metal glass is indifferent to cold water when
highly heated. The Bastic glass breaks under
similar conditions.
According to Dr. Hoffman, a fluid called
“liquid parchment,” consisting of gutta-percha
soaked and softened in ether, is especially
adapted for forming a coating for pictures and
cards, as it permits the removal of dirt with a
moist rag. Pencil and crayon drawing may be
rendered ineffaceable by sprinkling them with
the liquid by means of an atomizer, an exceed
ingly delicate film remaining after the evapora
tion of the ether.
Marvelous Printing Invention. —A wonderful
invention has been patented by the Victoria
Printing Machine Company, in a machine which
can turn out, ready for the reader, 4,000 copies
of a work containing twenty-four pages, bound
together, without any manipulative aid. The
machine has cost about $20,000, and requires no
“feeding,” as it regulates its own supply, taking
in a sheet at one end, and in less than a second
ejecting it at the other, printed, and with the
pages stitched together and ready for the book
sellers.
A new discovery utilizes the diamond dust,
heretofore comparatively worthless, in making
mock diamonds that so closely resemble the real
as to deceive the best judges. The dust—that is
the fine particles and minute chippings that fall
from the diamond when it is cut and polished—
is dissolved by a chemical process, and the
liquid is used to galvanize crystals of quartz,
which, after being put into the galvanic battery,
come out thickly and durably coated with the
liquid diamond, and glittering like real Kohi-
noors. The originator claims to have spent
twenty-eight years in perfecting his process.
Colored Candies.—The coloring substances
used in the manufacture of red candies are either
carmine or aniline red, both harmless. In blues,
either ultramarine or Prussian blue is used, both
harmless. In yellow, saffron, chromate of lime,
chromate of baryta, chromate of lead, gamboge,
or yellow vegetable colors precipitated by alum
or chalk. Chromate of lead and gamboge are
poisons. As to flavors, oil of peppermint is often
adulterated with oil of turpentine. The other
flavors are generally artificial ethers, many of
which are considered injurious. It will be safe
to avoid highly-colored orange, yellow and green
candies, and all highly-flavored candies. In some
halla or Nifflehem, as our modern husbands
would have done, he offers him, not only his
“Let us try it!” cried Lula, with character
istic impetuosity, springing up and breaking a
queen, but his kingdom after his death, and j sprig of cedar from a wreath depending from a
until then, a home with them. Frithiof modestly i painting above the mantle, and as she spoke, the
declines the generous offer, and retires from I old clock in the hall began, with a premonitory
court, but, when the old king is gathered to his
fathers, returns, and in the temple of Balder,
where they had parted years before, weds his
long-loved Ingeborg. How is that for constancy,
Miss Manning?”
“To self, very good. She was his socialsupe- j flame,
rior throughout.”
“ Well, what do you think of Schiller’s knight,
who, on returning from a crusade, finds his be
trothed has plighted her vows to Heaven; he
builds a hut near the convent, content if he
catches but one glimpse of her a day. Then after
years of waiting and watching,
whirr, to count out the mystic hour.
“Oh, no !” cried Carrie, drawing back with a
little superstitious quiver. But the remonstrance
came too late, for Lula had already thrown the
sprig into the fire, and it quickly burst into a
There a corpse they found him sitting,
Once when day returned;
Still his pale and placid features,
To her lattice turned.* 11
“ That is very touching, but not true to life.
“ What a tyrannical little pet,” cries the fond You are wasting breath on that spirit of con-
father, with his love and pride beaming from tradiction known as my sister. She is as variable
every lineament of his ruddy face. as the vane upon the church-steeple, Weir, and
“And papa," she continues, still hanging as incorrigible upon some points as—as—as her-
about his neck, “ we are going to be children j self, since I find no parallel,” says Grayson, in
again, ‘just for a night,’ and hang up our stock- the bantering tone he usually adopted toward his
mgs-
“ My dear !” remonstrates Miss Seawell, much
shocked.
dearly beloved sister. “Eh, Bob, this is very
clever of you. May you live a thousand years."
This last sentence was addressed to a servant,
‘ Well, hose, then, auntie. Do you know any who entered the parlor with the noiseless steps
a irliA itaii 1 lilro in nluv Sunto Plonc nn tv a 9’* in d i DO tivn of # v r-w-i, I traininn Knavinn on waiAa.
one who would like to play Santa Claus, papa ?
“ Shouldn’t wonder, pet.
have trumped my trick !”
The tone of earnest remonstrance recalls the
Major’s wandering faculties, hut too late, for they
lose “the house,” and the scores are against
them. Then the Colonel, who is an inveterate
whist-player, and like all ardent lovers of the
game, dislikes interruption of a diverting kind,
proposes an adjournment to the quietude of the
library, whose warmth and light come to them
through the open door.
indicative of good training, bearing on a waiter
My dear Major, you a handsomely chased silver bowl, teeming with
the inevitable egg-nog, without which our South
land Christmas were not Christmas. Close behind
“Was ever anything more opportune?” thought
Grayson; and then giving the signal, he quietly
emerged from the recess, while Randall came
from the other side.
Carrie, looking up, beheld what mortals con
ceive to be a faithful representation of the arch
enemy—horns, tail, cloven foot, the lurid eyes,
and wicked leer, disclosing gleaming, pointed
teeth, and an undoubted odor of brimstone.
There was little left for the imagination, and
hers quickly supplied the jets of flame, which
the wavelets of flickering firelights indeed re
sembled.
With an unearthly shriek, which ran through
the house, she fainted quite away, striking as
she fell, only her chignon against the silver bowl
which still remained on the centre-table, and
Randall, quickly springing forward, prevented
her reaching the floor.
As Lula raised her eyes, they fell upon the
spectral figure of the ku-klux, looking supernat-
urally tall in the firelight. Around the ghostly
waist was buckled a clanking sword, and. at its
spectral heels jingled military spurs. Above
the grinning skull was affixed an officer's hat
with a floating sable plume, and from the cavern-
want your good offices in another direction,” in
dicating Lula, by a glance
“ Miss Vane,” said Grayson, “ if you have
satisfied the demands of hunger, and can so far
forgive my misdemeanor of last night as to re
pair to the scene of its enactment, 1 shall hence
forth regard you as the paragon of your sex. I
do not include my irate sister in the invitation,
as Pet seems to be her normal condition as well
as her name.”
“Very well, Grayson, adding insult to injury;
you will retract that, when you examine your
coat pocket.”
“ Most heartily do I,” he returned, as unrol
ling a paper wnich Lula had slipped into his
coat pocket, he displayed a pair of beautifully
wrought slippers, silver on a blue-white ground.
He bent down and kissed her, fastening an ele
gantly chased chain around her white throat;
“ An advocate,” he said, “to plead my cause
at the bar of your offended dignity; will you
come with me, Miss Carrie? I am afraid to make
my offering to you so publicly.”
He said this in a saucy, I’ll-take-no-refusal
way all his own, and with a blush and a pout
Carrie rose up and took his arm. Some moments
after, his deep, rich voice floated in to them in
the words of
“ Don’t be angry with me, darling.”
“Taking the initiatory of the Benedict frater
nity, I suppose,” suggested Lula, as she passed
with Mr. Weir out of the breakfast room. “Shall
we join them ?”
When they had reached the parlor door, Ran
dall said:
“Come into the colonade. I have a cause of j
my own to plead this morning. Can you ever 1
forgive me for my cruelty of last night? Cruelty
as a substitute for cane sugar, and starch is used
instead of gum arabic. Both these substances
are harmless.
HOW UNCLE BEN GOT RICH.
“Well, in the first place, boys, alwaj’s know
what you wish to do before undertaking it. Be
fore putting a plow into the ground, I make the
| calculation as to how much corn and hay and
| fodder I must make for my stock, and set aside
I land enough to make it, leaving a good margin
I for a short crop. I then calculate how much
I wheat I want for home consumption and for sale,
i and also set apart the necessary number of acres
j for that. Then I look after the potatoes, beans,
| and such stuff, making sure I will have enough
and to spare. Then I put the balance—surplus
! acres—in cotton. Now, when I farm, I farm
well. Y’ou had better give up the farm and go at
| something else, if you don’t mean to farm well.
: A half-worked farm is as bad as one that never
! saw a plow—almost. Look well to everything
on your farm. Keep the fence erect; your im
plements in proper place and good order; your
cattle and stock fat, and sheltered in the winter,
having full faith in the result of your labor, and
the end will be well with you. By this w’ay, I
manage to have corn, wheat, bacon, cotton, po
tatoes and other things to sell - none to buy.”
“But don't you buy any guano ?” asked one
of the crowd.
“ No, sir; I make a better manure on my
place than any guano ever dared to be; and so
can you, if you would only believe it; but you
have all gone crazy over gnano, and w-ill pass
under the sheriff’s hammer if you ain’t cured
soon. I bought a formula for making a fertilizer
on the farm, and it is better, because I do not
him, in imminent danger of stepping on his ‘ ous depths of its socketless eyes, shot forth phos- still, though unintentional. You cannot know j adulterate, as do makers of guano. You are all
percursory heels, came a small edition of him- -* ’ ’ ’’ ” ’ ’ r —a- — >— * . ” 1 • •
self, burdened with the weight of sparkling gob
lets and plates heaped with snowy cake.
The negro addressed bowed and showed his
white teeth, as he carefully deposited his burden
on the marble-topped centre table, which action
was followed by his follower, (not, however,
phorescent gleams. This chef d'oeuvre consisted of
a cuticle-like fitting suit of black, upon which the
outlines of a skeleton were so perfectly repre
sented as to have deceived one in a stronger
light than that in which Lula beheld them.
This ghostly object advanced towards her with
outstretched arms, saying, in a sepulchral tone:
how I suffered when I saw your terror.”
“ That accounts for Carrie’s baptism of egg
nog.”
“I suppose so,” said Randall, laughin gin spite
of himself. “But do not keep me in suspense.
Will you accept the omen of the cedar as indic
ative of our future ?”
welcome to my experience if it is anything to you.
It is worth something to me, I can assure yon.”
And we thought so too as we turned away,
convinced that we had met with a level-headed
farmer once in our life. We sometimes wonder
if he is the “hist of his race.”—The Rural South-j
erner and Plantation.