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had his fill of black beans for once, to
a certainty.
Those who drew black beans seemed
to care very little about it. Occasion
ally one would remark, as he drew out
the fatal color —“ Well, boys, the jig is
up with me or “ They have taken my
sign in at last;” or something of a sim
ilar character, and then give way to the
next, apparently as unconcerned as if
he had no interest whatever in what
was going on around him.
There was but a single exception to
this. One poor fellow, a messmate of
mine, too, appeared to be completely
overcome by his apprehensions of draw
ing a black bean. He stood until his
own time to draw came round, wringing
his hands and moaning audibly, and con
tinually telling those near him that he
knew he should draw a black bean ;
that he had a presentiment such would
be his fate. When his turn came, he
hung back, and absolutely refused to
go up at all until a file of Mexican sol
diers forced him forward at the points
of their bayonets. He hesitated so long
after he put his hand into the vessel
containing the beans that a Mexican
officer near him pricked him severely
with his sword to make him withdraw
it. All this, of course, was immensely
gratifying to the little baboon-faced offi
cial, who “ninoed” and “pobrecitoed”
him in his kindest tones, all the while,
though, evidently snickering and laugh
ing in his sleeve at the fears exhibited
by the “pobrecito.”
At last the poor fellow was forced to
withdraw his hand, and his presenti
ment proved too true, for in it he held
the fatal black bean. He turned deadly
pale as his eyes rested upon it, but ap
parently he soon resigned himself to his
inevitable fate, for he never uttered a
word of complaint afterwards. I pitied
him from the bottom of my heart.
My name beginning with W, was of
course among the last on the roll, and
when it came to my turn to draw, so
many more white beans than black had
been drawn out in proportion, that there
could have been no great difference in
the number of each. I observed twen
ty-four white beans drawn out in suc
cession. The chances of life and death
for me were, therefore, not so very un
equal. I will frankly confess, when I
put my hand into the pot, and this fact
recurred to my mind, a spasm of fear
or dread sent a momentary chill to my
heart, but I mastered it quickly, and
before even the lynx-eye of the little
baboon-faced official detected any sign
of such weakness. At any rate, he be
stowed none of his endearing epithets
upon me.
All the time the drawing had been
going on I stood pretty close to the
scene of operations, and I thought I
could perceive a slight difference in the
size of the black and white beans—that
the former were a shade larger than the
latter. This difference, I know, may
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
have been purely imaginary, but at any
rate, t was eventually decided by it in
my choice of a bean.
M hen I first put my hand in the pot
1 took up several beans at once in my
fingers, and endeavored to distinguish
their color by the touch, but they all
felt precisely alike. I then dropped
them and picked up two more, and after
fingering them carefully for an instant,
I thought that one of them seemed a
little larger than the other. I dropped
that one like a hot potato, and drew out
the one left. It was a white one, of
course, or I should not now be here to
tell my story —but not a very white one,
and when I cast my eyes upon it, it
looked to me as black as the “ace of
spades.”
I felt certain for a moment that my
fate was sealed, but when I handed it to
the Mexican officer who received them
as they were drawn out, I saw that he
put it on the wall with the white beans,
and not into his waistcoat pocket, as he
had done the black ones. I knew then
that I was safe, and the revulsion of
feeling was so great and rapid I can
compare it to nothing except the sudden
lifting of an immense weight from off
one’s shoulders. I felt as light as a
feather, though I weighed at least one
hundred and seventy pounds net, (after
all my hardship and starvation,) exclu
sive of the remnant of clothing I had
on me.
Among the last to draw was an Irish
man, by the name of W , a fellow
noted for his wit and humor, as well as
for his reckless dare-devil character.
He put his hand into the pot, and feel
ing around discovered that there were
but few beans left in it.
u Arrah now, my hinnies!” he said,
“ and is this the way you would thry to
desave an innocent man to his destruc
tion ? Faith, and there’s not a dozen
beans left in the pot, and I’ll not draw
them at all.”
He was peremptorily ordered to take
one out at once.
“Oh, it’s for murtherin’ me ye are,
ye bloody spalpeens,” said Pat, “ wid
out judge or jury. 1 see that as plain
as the nose on my face. Yees let the
itlier men pick and choose as it suited
’em, out of scores of beans, and now
there isn’t a dozen left in the pot, and
I’ve no choice scarcely at all. Divil
take such a lotthery, say I. But I
suppose there’s no help for it, so here
goes.”
And Pat drew forth his bean, and
everybody, even the Mexican officers
themselves, I believe, were rejoiced
when it proved to be a white one.
“There, you bloody nagurs,” said
Pat, handing the bean to the officer, “it
teas a black one, but I offered up a short
prayer to Saint Pathrick, you see, and
in the twinkling of an eye he convarted
it into a white one ! Hooray for Saint
Pathrick and Old Ireland forever.”
When the drawing was completed, the
white and black beans were carefully
counted over again, and the number
found to tally with that of our men.
Those that had drawn black beans were
kept separate from the rest of us, and
in a few moments after the drawing was
concluded, they were marched off in
two squads, and shortly afterwards re
pested volleys of musketry were heard,
and we knew that their cares and troub
les were forever ended in this world.
One of them, however, a man by the
name of Shepperd, as we learned sub
sequently, made a most miraculous es
cape for the time being. When they
were fired upon by the guard, Shepperd
fell and pretended to be dead, though,
in fact, he was only slightly wounded.
He was left on the ground with the dead
bodies of his companions, and when
night came he got up and went off with
out being observed. The next morning
when the Mexicans examined the bodies
again, they were greatly astonished to
find that one was missing, and could not
be accounted for satisfactorily in any
way. Shepperd wandered around for
several weeks without being recaptured,
but at length he was discovered, taken
back to Saltillo, and shot to death in
the public square, and his body carried
out and left unburied on the commons.
BRUCE AND BRAVO.
wp; _
\ NE day a Newfoundland dog
and a mastiff had a sharp dis
cussion over a bone, or some
other trifling matter, and warred away
as angrily as two boys. They were fight
ing on a bridge, and being blind with
rage, as is often the case, the first thing
they knew, over they went into the wa
ter. The banks were so high that they
were forced to swim some distance be
fore they came to a landing place. It
was very easy for the Newfoundlander —
he was as much at home on the water
as a seal. But not so with poor Bruce.
He struggled and tried his best to swim,
but made little headway. Old Bravo,
the Newfoundlander, had reached the
land, and then turned to look at his old
enemy. He saw plainly that his strength
was failing, and that he was likely to
drown. So what should the noble fellow
do but plunge in and seize him gently
by the collar, and keeping his nose
above water, tow him safely into port.
It was funny to see these dogs look at
each other as soon as they shook their
wet coats. Their glance said as plainly
as words, “ We’ll never quarrel any
more!” and, sure enough, they kept
their resolution. I think some boys
might learn a good lesson from this
old Newfoundland dog.
Lacing.
A learned doctor has given his opin
ion that tight lacing is a public benefit,
inasmuch as it kills all the foolish girls,
and leaves the wise ones to grow into
womanhood.
COFFEE.
fuffiPjy. ERBERT was helping mother
.'"A ' * pick over some coffee, pre
paratory to roasting it, when
he came upon a berry which was still in
its husk.
“Now,” said mother, “you can see
how the coffee grows. This husk, or
shell, is about the size of a cherry, and
each one has two coffee grains in it.
It grows on a large shrub, some fifteen
or twenty feet high. Great pains are
taken with the coffee raising in Arabia.
The shrubs are grown from seeds, and
set out in large nurseries in moist and
shady grounds. Little rills of water are
conducted around the roots of the plants,
which are very thirsty things when the
fruit is growing. Before they are ripe,
however, the water is all turned off.
“ When the berries are ready to gath
er, cloths are spread under the trees, and
the laborers shake them down. The
next thing is to spread them in the sun
to dry. Then come the heavy rollers,
which break off the husk. Then comes
the second drying. After that, it is
winnowed with great fans to blow the
husks away. So you see what a pro
cess coffee must go through before it
comes to our hands, and then it requires
care and skill to make it into a whole
some, pleasant drink.
“ The Turks are perhaps the greatest
coffee drinkers in the world. They will
sit all day long with their opium pipes
and coffee, and scarcely take any other
nourishment. Some writer tells us of one
who would drink during the day, sixty
cups of coffee, and smoke as many
pipes.
“ Their little booths, or coffee houses,
are great places of resort. Here fa
mous story tellers sit and spin out their
long stories from morning till night,
while the lazy Turks do nothing but
drink coffee, and smoke, and listen.-
Often the story is left unfinished at
nightfall, and is begun the next day,the
same around to hear it,
just as we open a story book where we
left off the day before.
“Now we are all through, Bertie, and
we will put this coffee into the roaster,
and when it gets warmed through, you
may turn it for me if you like.”
“ Neither Poverty nor Riches.”
Agar said, “Give me neither poverty
nor richesand this will ever be the
prayer of the wise. Our incomes should
be like our shoes: if too small, they
gall and pinch us, but if too large, they
will cause us to stumble and to trip.
But wealth, after all, is a relative thing,
since he that has little and wants less is
richer than he that has much, but wants
more. True contentment depends up
on what we have: a tub was large
enough for Diogenes, but a world was
too little for Alexander.
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