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THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS.
I.nARSdIILK _
W. A. MAKSIHALK,/ Editors and Proprietors.
UK.ASS ASD KO sKSi
I looted where the roses were blooming,
They stood among grasses and weed';
I said, “ Where such beauties are growing,
Why suffer these paltry weeds ? ”
Weeping, the poor things faltered :
“ VFe have neither beauty nor bloom,
We are grass in the roses’ garden.
But the Muster give 6 us room,
“ Slaves of a generons Master,
Born from a world above,
We came to this place in His wisdom,
We stay to this hour from His love.
We have fed His humblest creatures,
We have served Him truly and long ;
He gave no graca to our features,
We have neither color nor song.
“Yet He who has made the flowers
Placed us on the >eJf-samß sod ;
Be knows our reasons for being,—
We are grass m the garden of God.”
THE DEAD LETTER.
BY HARRY MAPLE.
Ten years ! Yes, just ten years since
that night.
As memory retraces the journey of
those years the time seems very long,
and yet the events of that night could
not be more vivid had they occurred on
yesterday.
Then my hair was brown, my life was
full of hope, my soul fnil of trust.
There are threads of silver among the
brown to-night, and the intervening
years between that time and this have
brought a succession of disenchantmcnts
and sad experiences.
How one changes in a decade.
Among my lady acquaintances and
friends none were to me so fascinating
aud perfect in all that goes to make up
the sum of female loveliness as pretty
Jennie Fisk, and I shall not conceal the
fact thr t the mention of that name bears
to me a cruel memory.
One evening upon arriving at my
lodging I found an invitation from
Jennie to attend a party her father
intended to give to celebrate her eight
eenth birthday. The thought of Jen
nie’s “coming out” caused me a mo
mentary pang, for I was confident that
her beauty and expectations would soon
surround her with a host of admirers.
The possibility that someone else might
lay siege to her heart and carry off the
prize made me very unhappy, and I
determined to see her as soon as possi
ble ami ask her to bo my wife.
Putting on my best suit, and arrang
ing my toilet with as much care and
precision as a society belle would have
done, I set out for the Fisk mansion. It
is needless to say that my anxiety about
the result of my visit made me some
what nervous. I ascended the steps,
paused, a moment to renew my courage,
and then rang the belj.
A servant answered the summons, and
showed me into the parlor.
“ I suppose you wish to see Miss
Jennie,” the young woman remarked
with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
“ Yes ; is she t home?”
“ She is ; I wiil announce you, aud I
presume she will soon be down.”
That, I thought, was suspicious. At
least the manner as well as the words of
the girl indicated that my footing with
Jennie was favorable. Going to the
long mirror at the end of the room to
satisfy myself again that I was present
able, I heard the patter of footfalls on
the stairs and harried back to my seat.
Jennie ctme in. I thought I had
never seen such a vision of loveliness.
She was dressed in snowy mulin, that
fell in fleecy folds about her graoeiul
form; a pink rose adorned her hair,
which fell, in golden waves, to her
waist. Another rose of the same color
r posed at her throat, vieing with her
cheeks in loveliness of tints.
She welcomed me with a cordial yet
modest greeting, and I sat down by her
side. The restraint that I feared might
make a coward of me, was soon gone,
aud I told her the “old story,” which
yet is ever new, of my deep love for her.
Taking her willing hand in mine I asked
Jennie to be my wife.
Her answer was not delayed. Her
eyes had already indicated her reply,
and her tongue confirmed the language
of her heart speaking through them.
Speaking figuratively, I was in the
“seventh heaven” of delight. Jennie
had promised to be mine; what more
on earth was there to covet ? Strange
infatuation; wondrous passion. It
comes alike to all the sons and daugh
ters of men—the cultured and the
savage, the peasant and the king.
Well, the night of the ball arrived.
It was clear and beautiful. The silvery
ligfit of the moon bathed tho old Fisk
mansion in a halo of soft radiance, and
tho stars, gleamed and glistened like
gems- in Night’s coronet, a bright
augury of Teunie’s happiness (such was
my interpretation of the scene) through
life.
I was among the first arrivals. Jen
nie met me with a smile of love and
trust ; she laid her little hand again in
mine, aud though no words were spoken,
each well knew the other’s thoughts.
She was dressed in exquisite taste.
Every circumstance connected with her
on that night will never be effaced from
my recolleotion. She had never looked
anything but charming to me, but on
this occasion she outshone, herself
Her drees was ot the whitest muslin and
lace, puffed over blue silk. She wore
a necklace of pearls, aud bracelets to
correspond encircled her shapely arms.
Her whole toilet was faultless, and
during the evening she was the cynosure
of many eyes, the admiration of the
young men, and the envy of a score or
more of her own sex.
She welcomed her guests with per
fect ease and graee. The rooms were
soon filled with company, and then she
chatted merrily with one aud another
for a while, and gradually found a place
near me.
Presently the music sounded its pre
paratory note. Jennie took my arm,
and we took our place at the head of the
room.
A young physician, Richard Price by
name, and his partner, were opposite in
the quadrille. He paid little attention
to her, aud seemed rather abstracted
and ill at ease. It is was a mystery to
me then, this manner of his ; but sub
sequently it was explained. Several
times during the evening, when Jennie
and I were together. Price hung upon
our steps, much to Jennie’s anuoyance.
After a while, after she had filled sev
eral engagements with others, I claimed
her again for my partner, and at the
close of the waltz we sought the refresh
ing air of the summer-house, in the
spacious gardens attached to the man
sion. Here we conversed of the future,
of our plans and prospects, and oh, how
bright were the promises that the future
held for us then.
How long we talked I do not know.
But fearing our prolonged absence
would occasion remark, we returned to
the house.
At length the guests departed, and
then I bade my betrothed good night.
Her manner towards me was all that a
lover could expect, and yet at parting
some unexplained and undefinablo feel
log oppressed me. It was one of those
strange forebodings fox which no one
n *n satisfactorily account. When I
should have been tho happiest of mor
tals I was depressed with a presentiment
of coming evil. I tried to shake it off,
but in vain. It bound me like some
horrid dream, and the feeling did not
leave me for several hours.
The next morning I slept late, and
having partaken of a light lunch I went
to the postoffice, impelled by I know not
what motive, as my letters were usually
delivered at my place of business.
At all events, to the postoffice I bent
my steps, and there found a note from
Jennie. She had been suddenly sum
moned by te’egraph to a distant ci>y by
reason of the severe illness of a near rel
ative—so ran the note—but would soon
return. But the strangest part of it was
that she hoped I would not write to her,
statiDg that she would give a satisfactory
explanation upon her return.
The days wore heavily away, and no
word more came from her. I was de
pressed and oppressed with a feeling of
anxiety and alarm. A week elapsed be
fore she returned. The first intimation
I had of her arrival was the following
note:
Fiiiene Haukt : It pains mo to write this
note, but it is very necessary, and I cannot
shrink from it. When I told you that I loved
you I did not know my own heart; and the fu
ture happiness of both of us compels me to
say that I can never become your wife. Do
not make any effort to see me; an interview
would be of no avail, and could only prove
painful to both you and me. Jennie.
Need I say that this heartless note
completely stunned me for a time. My
brain was in a whirl, and I was so
stupefied that I hardly knew whether I
was dead or alive.
This condition passed after a time,
and I looked at the matter as calmly
and coolly as I could. I determined to
leave the scene of this bitter disappoint
ment and seek “ surcease of sorrow ” in
the excitement and change of travel.
Arranging my affairs did not take me
long, and drawing my funds from the
bank, where they were deposited, I
bade adieu to my frier ds and started for
New York. My sudden resolution was
a surprise to all who were intimate with
me, but my explanation was that I had
long meditated a trip to the old world,
and a more opportune period than the
present to gratifiv this desire would
probably never occur. I had been
entirely reticent about my relations with
Jennie, and although some of my boon
companions rallied me about leaving
sueh an attraction when, to all appear
ances, I was the favorite suitor, I passed
the matter off as though it was a cap
ital joke while suffering unspeakable
torture at my heart.
In a few days a gallant steamer bore
me across the ocean. It is unnecessary
to name the route pursued, or speak of
my rambles in England and on the
continent.
A year passed ; then came a longing
for my native land, and homeward I
turned my footsteps. Upon arriving at
New York I went straight to Washing
ton, where I had friends, through
whose influence I obtained a position in
the postal department of the govern
ment. My duties were in the bureau
devoted to “dead letters.” Here an
other year was spent. Time passes
very swiftly when one is busy, even if
the heart is heavy. My duty was
chiefly opening dead letters, and many
a curions and quaint epistle passed
through my hands.
One day while the room in which
several clerks beside myself were en
gaged was undergoing repairs, several
old letters dropped from a desk being
removed from the wall. The carpen
ter picked them up and handed them to
one of the employes in the office.
“Why,” said he, “Harry here is a
letter directed to you.”
As I received it from his hand I re
cognized the hand-writing at a glance.
It was from Jennie, and had been writ
ten nearly a year previously. By some
means it had not reached me while I
was waiting for the place I subsequently
obtained, and had preceded me a few
days in the “Dead Letter office.”
There it had lain almost a whole year
through an accident, but for which I
should never have received it, and
probably never know the revelation it
brought.
With a nervous tremor I opened it
and devoured its contents, which were
these:
Deau llaury : To-tlav I was surprised and
pleased to ascertain that you had returned
from your wanderings and are in Washington.
I write at once because we have both been
grievouslv pained I know by a cruel forgery.
When I heard that you had left N I could
not believe it, but soon was compelled to do
so. Believing that I knew your heart, it was
impossible to understand the motive or reason
for your sudden aud strange departure. Fate
solved the mystery. Yon remember the party
cn my eighteenth birthday, and vou will rec
ollect that Richard Price dogged our foot
steps wherever .we went. He overheard our
conversation in the garden, and thus learned
of our engagement. A year previously he
had proposed to me and was rejected, and in
revenge he determined to blast my happiness
at all hazards. He was an expert at imitating
the hand-writing of others, aud having at
tended the same school that I did for several
years, be was easily enabled to produce a
fac simile of my chirograpliy. A few weeks
after your departure be was thrown from a
buggy and fatally injured. Before lie died he
sent for me. and I received from his tongue
the secret be was the author of a Jotter to
which my name was signed, and had caused
your sudden and strange flight.
In whatever light 3 T ou have come to look'
upon me, it is but right for you to know tfie
truth. For myself my heart has never
changed. Jennie.
The first thing I did if ter reading
this letter was to obtain leave of absence
for a few weeks ; the next was to hasten
to my loggings, pack my trunk and take
the first train for N .
The train was the “ Fast Express,”
but to me it seemed a “slow coach.”
Cl :se connections were made, and at six
o’clock that evening I stepped upon the
platform at N . It had been two
years since my feet had touched it. A
crowd of recollections rushed through
my mind, but nothing stayed me. At
once I set out for Fisk mansion. It
was Bumme r , and as 1 followed the walk
from the gale to the door every object
seemed as familiar as if 1 had seen them
only the day before.
My desire was to find Jennie alone,
and "my wish was gratified. The old
hall door was open, and I stepped in
unannounced. I turned into the parlor
softly and saw her sitting at a west win
dow gazi:-.g at the glowing sunset sky,
but oh how changed. There were Jen
nie’s eyes and hair, but the roundel
form aud glowing cheeks were wanting ;
in their place were wan features and an
emaciated form —a wreck of her former
self. Thehandof the destroyer was upon
her, and evident that her sufferings
were fearful. My heart sank within me,
and again my dream of happiness van
ished.
She uttered a cry of delight as I
hastened to her side, and, half-rising,
extended both hands toward me. I
caught her in my arms and pressed her
to my h^art; then she sank exhausted
ioto her chair. In a few moments she
revived, and a look of angelic sweetness
overspread her features as I told her the
history of the “Dead Letter,” for then
she saw that it had remained unan-
swered from accident and not from
design.
We went over the bitter past, only to
prove how cruelly we had been de
frauded of happiness by untoward ac
cidents following the malice which had
first directed our paths apart.
Supper was announced, and I attended
Jennie to the dining-room. The family
were not aware who their visitor was,
for Jennie had purposely kept them in
ignorance thereof, to curprise them as I
had surprised her. They greeted me
cordially, and were soon made ac
quainted with the facts. Although a
shade of sadness pervaded the house
hold and tinged the conversation, still
the evening passed very pleasantly.
Several weeks I remained at N ,
and passed most of the time with Jen
nie. She seemed to rally, and ona and
all began to entertain hopes of her re
covery. How I longed and prayed that
her life might be spared. She was
cheerful and hopeful, and as my leave
of absence approached its limit I made
up my mind to resign, eo that I might
be constantly near her. With this view
I bade her good by for a short time, my
intended absence being only for the
period necessary to close my affairs at
the capital.
Scaroely had I arrived in Washington
when a telegram reached me that Jen
nie’s condition was exceedingly critical.
It was the recoil from the temporary
improvement consequent upon the ex
citement, which we had mietaken for re
turning health. I hurried through my
business and returned to N at once.
Reaching the house, I went at once to
the parlor door, opened it, and looked
in. A cold chill crept through my body
as I discovered the unwelcome sight.
Not a sound broke upon the stillness
except the throbbing of my own heart.
It was the stillness of death. I sank
upon my knees by her lifeless clay ; the
fountains of my soul were broken up,
and my aching heart found vent in
tears.
We laid her to rest under the willows
and maples. A shadow rests upon a
stricken home—as dear to me as to her
kindred—but the oloud that cast it
wears a silver lining, for the white soul
which left the earthly casket basks in
the sunshine of eternal bliss. In that
bright realm she will yet be mine.
How Granny Roberts Took Her Coffee.
She was very particular about it, that
was sure. She generally timed her
calls on my grandmother when that
lady was awav from home. Not that
she would have failed of her peculiar
and cherished entertainment had my
generous and kindly grandmother been
at home. But she doubtless felt more at
liberty when the girls were the only
dispensers of hospitality.
“ New, honey,” she would say, when
she had laid her green sun-bonnet on
the floor beside her chair and had filled
her corn-cob pipe from my grandmoth
er’s tobacco box, lighting it by means
of a coal held in her horny and callus
fingers : “ Now, honey, can’t you give
me a cup of your mother’s good strong
yaller coffee ? I hain’t had none like
that sence I was heah last. Yer mother
alius has sich nice yaller coffee.”
This of course meant a raid on the
thick cream set for making butter.
Granny Roberts scorned anvthing th.n
ner than the creme de la creme.
My mother, besides being generous
and hospitable by nature, was also
young and inexperienced. Consequent
ly she suffered a good deal at the hands
of this old neighbor and frequent
visitor. Her older and more worldly
wise sister and the very touchy black
cook were not thus imposed upon.
Granny Roberts “sensed” this altitude
of mind toward herself on the part of
these two members of the family, and
she took good care not to provoke hos
tilities by any act of her own. But my
mother, sensitive and fine fibered, could
not bring herself to snub this old wo
man, whose feelings she ignorantly im
agined to be as sensitive as her own.
Cunning old granny ! She imposed on
this high-minded young soul as syste
maiically as any professional humbug
the world has ever known.
She never came at meal-time. The
most ample of coffee-urns would not
have stood the demand’s of Granny’s
capacious appetite. She usually came
in the middle of the afternoon, when
the kitchen fire was out, save the few
embers in the middle of the huge fire
place, covered up in order to keep fire
till time for supper. So my mother
would kindle a fire—as much a martyr
to blazing logs as anyone would suf
fered at Smitbsfield (imagine this on a
sultry July afternoon), and, grinding a
large millful of coffee, would proceed to
make an amount of the liquid ordinarily
sufficient for a large family.
“ Now, honey,” Granny would say,
following her young hostess to the
kitchen, “make it goal and strong.
Yon know I’m kind o’ ailin’. I’m trem
bly like, an’ I’ve got a ’flictioni in my
head, and a sight o’ misery in my side,
and I know a cup o’ your mother’s
good, strong, yaller coffee would kinder
o’ set me up. I only want a cup, child.
Never take more’n a cup. That’s my
rule.”
This single cup was filled and pre
pared according to minute instructions
from Grauny. When more than half
drained she would pass the cup, saying:
“Too sweet, honey, lols too sweet.
Jest fill it up, won’t ve?”
This time perhaps two-thirds was
swallowed aud the cup passed with the
request for a little more cream. Re
plenished in this direction, it seemed to
be entirely satisfactory except the last
tablespoonful. “ Jest a leetle mite o’
sugar, honey. You put in mos’ too
much cream that time.”
Sugared, it seemed the nectar of the
gods for a little while, and my mother
would take up her nettiug in the vaiu
hope that granny was at last satisfied.
Not by any means.
“ Now, honey, this is a heap too cold.
I wish you’d jest fill it up with hot cof
fee.” And so proceeded the futile at
tempt to satisfy the very critical taste
of this old woman until the last drop of
the ftrong brown liquid was exhausted,
aud then Granny Roberts praised her
cup of coffee highly. This cup of cof
fee required a pint of thick cream aud
caused a perceptible lowering of the
air pie sugar-bowl, but it was only one
cup.
“ I never drink but one cup, honey,
but I like that good and strong and
yaller.
On being asked by one of his fair
daughters why the bulldog’s nose is
placed so far behind his mouth the very
reverend gentleman discovers another
instance of the merciful consideration
ever shown by—shall we say “Nature?”
—to the humblest of her creatures, and
replies : “My love, it is to enable him
to breathejmore comfortably while he is
hanging oh to the nose of the bull I”
Punch.
CARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1875.
HOW THE IRISH HEART HEATS.
An (extraordinary Incident ot tlie Amer
ican Team'ii Visit to Dublin—Enthusi
astic Reception of tlie “Star Spangled
Banner.
Dublin correspondence (Jane 23) of the New York
Times.
After fifteen minutes of the most tre
mendous enthusiasm ever known in a
theatre, Miss Bessie Sudlow, well known
in Niblo’s end other New York theatres,
came forward to sing the “Star Span
gled Banner.” She seems to have made
hosts of friends at this side of the
ocean. She looked uncommonly well
and much more womanly than when I
last saw her at home. She sung the
song splendidly, though manifestly af
fected by the great crowd aud the En
thusiasm of the time. When sho had
finished the applause was deafening.
Mrs. Dakin sent her a beautiful bou
quet, and the whole parly handed down
a basket of flowers ornamented—and
wax flowers can be ornamented—with
the stars and stripes. Miss Sudlow
kissed the flag and sang the song agaia.
I can hardly tell you, in the hope of
credence, the scene that ensued. Our
people were very well pleased—the
Trish were boundless in their enthusi
asm. Matters were not made easier by
the conductor of the band. Hu played,
and the forces at his disposal being
superb in number and skill, he played,
magnificently, “ The Star Spangled
Banner,” “Hail Columbia,” “Tramp,
Tramp,” “Yankee Doodle,” “Red,
White and Blue,” and one of the negro
melodies. The first two went off well,
I learned from Mr. Michael Gunn, who
is a public man here, that “Tramp,
Tramp ” had a political insignificance in
Ireland. This was soon made manifest
by the cheering with which it was re
ceived, and the effect was heightened
when the audience, numbering nearly
5,000, sang the last verse in good time
and with amazing power. Was there
ever such a people for merriment? Now
they were on the tiptoe of good humor.
In five minutes they were hooting, yel
ling, hissing, whistling and groaning
“Red, White and Blue,” because the
flag of England was thus composed.
One-half the crowd was of one opinion
and the other of a very different. They
maintained the noisy contest all the
while, and there was no peace until the
band had concluded. Then the weight
of the crowd began to tell upon two
stairways leading from the pit floor to
the stage. Half a dozen times the occu
pants came down pell mell on the people
below them, and then they fought aud
laughed and cursed and shouted in a
manner more surprising than pleasant.
Avery unfortunate young gentlemen
with a very excellent tenor voice came
forward after one of these encounters
and essayed to sing the “ Death of Nel
son.” Had he proposed to sing “The
Marseillaise ” in a Berlin singing house
he could not have raise a more thunder
ous storm. Tho audience lashed them
selves into a terrific rage. I need hardly
tell you the song celebrates the Euglish
victory over the French at Trafalgar.
The very instant the vocalist sang the
second line, showing the French to be
foemen, the uproar began. They hissed
the singer off the stage—hissed him in
a manner which you should hear before
you could believe. He ran off soon
enough. They were not satisfied.
They demanded a song of their own
choosing; but be was inexorable, and
so the programme, so far as vocalism
was concerned, came to an end. The
band played various selections from
operas; but the audienoe hooted to the
last, and cried out for the “programme”
in lusty wrath. Finally they got tired,
or recovei ed their good humor ; and
fearing lest the Americans should mis
take their local and native pleasantries
for anything but what they were, they
gave a tremendous cheer for the team,
comically adding, “We wish you every
success, except at the match.” I con
sider last night’s experience suggestive.
The Irish people ought to be let alone.
They are naturally good-natured, exu
berant, humorous and easily led. When
they don’t get what they want, they sel
dom look far for it, and they readily
content themselves, though they are
very angry if you say so. But to tease
with philosophy a people who cannot
listen to a song which celebrates the
melancholy death of a man to whose
memory and exploits there is the grand
eet memorial in Dublin, is foolish in
the extreme.
Our Riflemen Abroad.
As the details of the great rifle match
ft Dollvmount, Ireland, reach us, they
confirm the skill of our marksmen and
the completeness of their victory. The
results show a great improvement over
the shooting at Creedmoor last year. At
both places the ranges were 800, 900, and
1,000 yards; the targets six feet by
twelve in size, with a center six feet by
six, and a “bull’s eye” three feet by
three. Tho sporting journals tell us
that a shot in the bull’s eye counts four,
in the center three, in the outer part of
the target two. The teams are each six
men, each man having fifteen shots at
man range, and forty-five in all.
By a comparison of the shooting at
Creedmoor and that at Dollymouut it
will be seen that there was great im
provement in favor of the latter. The
figures are thus given at Creedmoor :
The total of the Americans was 934, that
of the Irish, 931 —thus made up : At
800 yards, Americans, 325; Irish, 317 ;
900 yards, Americaos, 310; Irish, 315;
1,000 yards, Americans, 298 ; Irish, 303.
At Dollymount the total was as fol
lows : Americans, 967, Irish, 929
thus made up : At 800 yards, the Amer
icans made 337; the Irish, 338; 900
yards, Americans, 327; Irish, 292 ; 1,
000 yards, Americans, 303; Irish, 299.
Therefore the Amerioms beat their
former scores heavily in each case—l 2,
17 and 5 points, respectively. The
Irish gained heavily at 800 yards, 21
points— lost 23 points at 900 yards, and
at 1,000 yards lost 4. The Americans
beat the Irish by 38 points, and their
Creedmoor score by 33 points ; the Irish
fell behind their Creedmoor perform
ance 2 points.
Toward the conclusion of the shoot
ing at Dollymount the Irish blood got
up too high and great excitement pre
vailed. The police were unable to pre
serve order. The crowd swayed to and
fro and gave ominous signs of disorder,
and the Americans refused to proceed
until quiet could be restored. The Irish
did not seem to entertain any particular
inhospitable hostility to the Americans.
They were more enraged, perhaps, against
their own team. But they seemed to want
“ a bit of a row ”on general princi
ples, and it was feared they would in
dulge their proverbial propensity of
hitting at every head they saw. Every
thing passed off peaceably and pleasant
ly, however, and they became more en
thusiastic than ever over the Americans,
But there are new triumphs for our
couutrymen to win. Their shooting,
though excellent, was not superior to
the beet shooting at Wimbledon, the
great English rifle ground. The match
will come off at that range in a few
days, and the American team will have
to guard with great care the laurels
they have won. The English are cooler
and more delibei ate than the Irish, and
on the whole bet f er shots. They wiil
be nerved to their best shooting at the
approaching match, and we may expect
the public interest of both countries to
be greatly stimulated by the result in
Ireland.— Courier Journal.
Death of George Washington’s Grand-
Niece.
We are called upon to cbroniclo the
death of that distinguished lady, Mrs.
Frances Parke Butler, wife of our es
teemed friend, Col. E G. W. Butler, of
Dunboyne, parish of Iberville, but for
the past four years a resident of Pass
Christian, Miss.
The deceased, one of the most gifted
and accomplished women of her time,
was born at Mount Vernon, Nov. 27,
1797, and was the daughter of Lawrence
Lewis and Eleanor Parke Custis, of
Woodlawn, Fairfax county, Va. Law
rence Lewis was tho son of Fielding
Lewis and Elizabeth Washington, only
sister of Gen. Washington, and was one
of the executors of his uncle’s estate.
Eleanor Parke Custis was the youngest
daughter of John Parke Custis, only
son of Mrs. Washington by her first
husband, Daniel Parke Custis, and her
mother was Eleanor Calvert, of Mary
land, grandaughter of Lord Baltimore;
and she, in common with her brother,
George Washington Parke Custis, of
Arlington, father of the late Mrs.
Robert E Lee, was adopted by Gen.
and Mrs. Washington, at the death of
their father, at the close of the revolu
tion. Her eldest son, Edward George
Washington Butler, resigned his posi
tion as secretary of legation at Berlin,
and fell at Belmont as major of the 11th
Louisiana regiment, requesting Gen.
Polk to say that he died like a Butler,
in the discharge of his duty.
Her second son, Maj. Lawrence Lewis
Butler, served, during the late civil
war, on the staff of Lieut. Gen. Polk,
and now resides in St. Louis, Mo., as a
member of the house of Edward J. Gay
& Cos.
The eldest daughter, Isabel, married
Col. George Williamson, of Louisiana,
present United States minister in Cen
tral America, and died soon after the
close of the late war ; and her youngest
daughter, Caroline Swan wick married
the late William B. Turnbull, of Louis
iana, and has resided with her parents
since the death of her husband.
Her youngest sister, Angela, married
the Hon. Charles Conrad, of Louisiana,
and at her death left two sons, Charles
A. Conrad, of New Orleans, and Law
rence Lewis Conrad, of Baltimore.
The deceased was the nearest living
relative of “the father of his country,”
and with Mrs. Commodore Kennon and
George Washington Peter, of Maryland,
was the nearest living relative of Mrs.
Washington. —New Orleans Picayune.
A $2,000,000 Head of nair.
The London Echo prints the follow
ing : “We have it upon the authority
of a medical journal that there are
“from 160,000 to 200,000 hairs in a
lady’s head,” and upon other, if not
higher authority, we know that “beauty
leads us by a single hair.” What, then,
in this eminently commercial and
money-making age is the obvious con
clusion ? Is it not evident that every
one should consider what is the worth
of a single hair “ upon a lady’s head,”
what is the worth of it when removed
from a lady’s head, and what fortune
may she, under penalty of baldness, be
supposed to carry ? And we are not
without data, for the same journal tells
us that Mme. Nilsson lately sold a hair
from her head for £fl, “and in a few
moments the Swedish songstress was
surrounded by admirers anxious to buy
a hair at the same rate.” Of course,
this pelican-like conduct on the part of
Mme. Nilsson was, we need not say,
done with a good object—it was to feed
the sick and wounded, and of course it
occurred at a fancy fair, aud in New
York. “ Mme. Nilsson was asked by
an American banker to let him have a
hair at her own price ;” and she valued
the treasure at $lO, which at once set
our cousins to “ calculate ” that “ the
Swedish songstress ” carried $2,000,000
on her fair head. Here, then, is anew
line of business for yonDg ladies at
fancy fairs. But all may not have Mme.
Nilsson’s success. We once saw an
English lady displaying to an Arab fam
ily a hair of Chas. James Fox, at which
they distinctly turned up their noses.
But, then, he was a man.
Wtat is in the Bcd-Iloom.
If two persons are to occupy a bed
room during the night, let them step on
a weighing scale as they retire, and
then again in the morning, and they will
find that their actual weight is at least a
pound less in the morning. Frequently
there will be a loss of two or more
pounds, and the average loss through
out the year will be a pound of matter,
which has gone off from tbeir bodies,
partly from the lungs, and partly
through the skin. The escaped matter
is carbonic acid and decayed animal
matter or poisonous exhalation. This
is diffused through the air in part, and
absorbed by the bed-clothes. If a
single ounce of wool-cotton be burned
in a room, it will so completely saturate
the air with smoko that one can hardly
breathe, thongh there can only be one
ounce of foreign matter in the air. If
an ounce of cotton be burned every half
hour during the night, the air will be
kept continually saturated with smoke,
unless there be an open window or door
for it to escape.
Now, the sixteen ounces of smoke,
thus formed is far less poisonous than
the sixteen of exhalations from the
lungs and bodies of two persons who
have losl a pound of weight during the
eight hours of sleeping ; for, while the
dry smoke is mainiy taken into the
lungs, the damp odors from the body
are absorbod both into the lungs and
iuto the pores of the whole bojy.
Need more be said to show the impor
tance of having bed-rooms well venti
lated, and of thoroughly airing the
sheets, coverlids and mattresses in th
morning, before packing them up in the
form of a neatly made bed.
Cremation is regularly practiced by
the Ute and Digger Indians of the
Sierra region, pine wood being always
used fir the pyre. The widow dosen’t
hire a hack or bay any fashionable
mourning goods, but she smears her
face and hair with the exuding resin,
and resolutely declines to permit the
wooing of an enamored brave as long
as the pine juice remains. Per
haps, however, scrapes it sometimes
with a chip, or eke a stone, so as to
hasten its departure—being merely hu
man. yon know.
non khows ill the rkst.
“ Now I lay,” repnat ic darling
“ Lay me,” lisped the tiny lips
Of my daughter, kneeling, bending,
O’er her folded finger tips.
“Do-n to sleep “To s’eep, she murmured,
And the curly head bent low ;
“ I pray the Lord I gently added,
You can say It all, I know.
“ Pray the Lord”—the sound came faint,
Fainter still—' 1 My soul to keep.”
TQen the tired head fairly nodded,
And the child was fast asleep.
But the dewy eyes half opened.
When I clasped her to my breast,
And the dear voice softly whispered,
“ Mamma. God knows all the rest.”
Early Birds.
My idea of perfect happiness is the
consciousness of having done our whole
duty, and the certainty of getting our
reward for it.
Life is short, but the majority out
live themselves anyhow.
It is a great deal easier to be saucy
thau to be sarcastic ; but there is many
critics who haven’t discovered the dif
ference yet, and probably never will.
The man whom success renders more
humble, and at the same time more cau
tious, is one whom a defeat couldn’t
weaken.
If a man is going to leave the world
and retire into solitude he must take a
large stock of virtues with him, for
these are the only things he can enjoy
there.
There has seldom been a great occa
sion yet but what there has been found
someone equal to it, and that one has
often sprung from an unexpected
source.
The mau who fully understands a
subject is always satisfied to use the
simplest terms to explain it.
If you expect to keep ynre friend yu
have got to see all his virtues with both
eyes and his failings with one.
The man who tells you that there
ain’t an honest person living has studied
his own character too well.
Of all created things animate or in
animate, we find no fools except among
mankind.
He who has the most authority and
uses it the least is truly a noble char
acter.
The world has always longed for
sensations ; if a man could invent anew
Punch and J ndy, he would be admired
more than the one who could make one
barrel of flour go as far as two.
You can’t separate wit from truth ;
truth may not be wit, but wit is always
truth.
Our pashions were not given to us to
be destroyed, but to be controlled.
The man who told us “ that virtue is
its own reward,” might have added that
vice was too.
The theory of medicine has eured
more patients than the practice of it
ever has.
No really wise man ever asks ques
tions that he thinks can’t be answered.
Silence has been prized more perh ips
than it really deserves, but in the case
of folly it can’t be commended too
much.
You can’t make an enemy of the
meanest wretch with impunity, for the
meanest wretch can set fire to yonr pig
pen just as easy as anybody.— Josh
Billings in N. Y. Weekly.
Waehtel Singing While His Child is
Dying.
The opera-house is thronged with an
expectant audience, for Theodore Wach
tel is to appear in “ Der Postilon von
Lonjumeau,” and all Leipz’g must hear
him. Perhaps more than one person in
that assembly is thinking what a fine
thing it is to be a favorite actor, and
wishing that he could change places
with Waehtel. The audience even fancy
that he must be as impatient as they for
the curtain to rise and the opera to
begin. While they are waiting let ns
take a peep back of the scenes. The
postboy stands threshold, and the
attendants one to the other
with awe-struck faces. Through the
half-open door of a dressing-room we
see the celebrated Waehtel in an agony
of grief, and can easily guess that the
paper he has dropped on the floor is a
telegram with bad news. In truth it is,
for it brings word that his youngest son
is dying and wants to see him. He can
not go ; the audience must not be dis
appointed ; he must swallow the lump
that rises in his throat till it almost
chokes him, and assume all the gayety
of Chapelon, the postilion of Lonju
meau. At the end of the second act,
while the audienoe is making the house
ring with applause, Waehtel is reading
another telegram. This one tells him
that his son is dead. At the end of the
third act he thrills the audience as he
sings “ Gute Nacht, mein Herzliches
Kind.” They think tne postilion is
singing that eong, but we know that
Theodore Wachtei is bidding his child
a last good night.— Leipzig Letter.
A Follower of Etiquette.
An amusing chapter of Laferriere’s
forthcoming memoirs, is devoted to a
Russian celebrity at tie court of the
late Emperor Nicholas, the Count Paul
Demidoff: A young attache to one of
the embassies, now a distinguished di
plomatist, was invited to dine with
Count Demidoff. On the return of the
company to the salon groups were
formed here and there, and when the
coffee was handed round the young
attache , carried away by the interest of
the conversation in which he was en
gaged, took a lump of sugar from the
sugar-bowl with his finger when the
servant presented the tray to him. Count
Demidoff, indignant at this breach of
etiquette, signed to the lackey to throw
the rest of the contents of the sugar
bowl out of the window. The lesson
was a severe one, and struck dumb
those who witnessed it. But the spir
ituel young offender, while understand
ing perfectly the insult intended, pre
served an imperturbable calmness. He
slowly drained the contents of his enp,
and, walking deliberately to the window,
he fixed his eyes on M. Demidoff and
tossed caressly into the street the cup
and saucer of priceless Sevres and the
gold spoon. “ I did not know that
such was the usage,” he said to the
count. And then he recommenced his
conversation with an air of perfect nou
chalence.
A Vicksburg lady was recently in
quiring of a girl from over the river
how a certain old acquaintance, who
married a widower a few months ago,
got along. “ Very poorly,” replied the
girl; “ there’s five children, who ought
to be spanked twice a day, and Maria’s
left-handed and can’t begin to do ’em
justice. Poor woman, my heart bleeds
for her!”
The largest library in the United
Stats is the library of congress, which
contains 274,000 volumes; next in order
is the Boston Public library, with 273,-
000, whilst the Harvard University
library, with 198.000, and the New York
Mercantile library, with 155,120, are
respectively third and fourth in point of
size.
THE MVTRISONIAL MARKED
Its Distressing Dullness All Over the
Country.
Sinoe the panic, the matrimonial
market has been extremely dull, and
heads of families are in most despond
ent mood. It had been hoped last fall
that the usual winter’s festivities or
marriage fairs would have witnessed a
revival iu trade, and every legitimate
effort was made by those having on
hand stocks held over from the previous
season to force off goods that were
rapidly growing out of fashion and
depreciating iu value. Prices were
liberally marked down; young ladies
who before the panic were held (by
themselves) at a Fifth avenue house, a
Newport villa and an opera box, mod
estly hung out signals of distress and
openly avowed their predilections for
love in a cottage. But so depressed
was the general feeling that even with
these concessions very little real busi
ness was transacted; there was much
skirmishing but few serious engage
ments. It is well known that at this
moment it is a matter of anxious debate
with the heads of our leading up town
houses as to what is the best plan to
adopt during the coming summer cam
paign to infuse more briskness and
firmness into the market. It is, at
least, an open question whether the
increased budget necessary to a vig
orous taking of the field at Sharon or
Saratoga would be justified in view of
the barren results at these matrimonial
centres during the past two years.
These summer exchanges certainly at
tract the better class of buyers, but
competition is necessar ly so much the
keener. Experience, too, has shown
that two weeks at a quiet seaside or
mountain resort will practically pro
mote more business (not to speak of the
vastly reduced percentage of operating
expenses) than two months at a fash
ionablewatering-place; but without men
it is impossible for even the most beauti
ful and accomplished of maidens to
launch her little bark on the sea matri
monial, and desirable men, the genuine,
high-priced articles, rarely are kept on
hand at the more modest resorts. When,
however, they are found there, they are
had at as eminent disadvantages as
whales in shoal water, and. helpless for
stout and prolonged resistance, fall an
easy prey to their great enemy. Veter
an dowager dealers, who for the last
forty years have been engaged in this
branch of trade, freely confess that
dnriDg the whole course of their com
mercial experiences they have never
known so prolonged a period of extreme
depression, with not the faintest glim
mer of better times. Tho out-look is,
indeed, gloomy. Washington, which
during the winter season is a sort of
matrimonial Novgorod or Leipzig, offer
ing to the speculative investor a greater
choice of goods than can be found at
any other center in this country, was so
overstocked last jear that there was a
fall of at least fifty per cent, in first
class fancy calicoes, and even at these
ruinous sacrifices, though the offerings
were large, but little property changed
hands.
Learned Fools.
The exuberant fecundity of the im
aginative faculties of some geological
savants led them into a blunder re
cently, which would be amusing if only
it were a degree or two less ridiculous.
It appears that in the Turkish collection
of geological specimens which were ex
hibited at the Vienna exposition were a
number of odd-looking instruments of
flint, six inches long, an inch broad,
and a quarter of an inch thick. After
a close examination of these uniaue
curiosities, and a large amount of reck
ondite cackling over them by learned
geological experts, they were pro
nounced to be flint knive3 of the ver
itable stone age. The discovery was
hailed as a great acquisition to science;
and in the opinion of these learned pun
dits, went far to prove that man existed
and delved and worked with tools at a
period far earlier than any of which we
have any record in the Bible. Geologists
were triumphant over these wonderful
flints, which had proved the antiquity
of pre-historic man and dissipated an
other of the fables of the Inspired
Record. But “mark now, how plain a
tale” has put the savants down, and
how completely they hoaxed themselves
by trusting to their own fertile imagin
ations. It has been discovered that the
flints in question are modem instrn- (
ments which are in universal use at this
day by peasant husbandmen of Rume
lia, Anatolia and Syria, in the con
struction of their threshing machines,
which are armed with these knives.
There is the whole of the mystery ! The
learned geologists knew all about the
stone age, but were utterly ignorant
concerning the present age. The inci
dent is an evidence of the slight foun
dation on which the scientists are wont
to build their facts, as well as of their
easy credulity, or shall we say gulli
bility ?— Christian Intelligencer.
Plants as Weather Guides.
It is well known that certain plants
are very sensitive to ehangts in the at
mosphere, and by their behavior, the
opening and closing of their leaves and
flowers, etc., serve as natural barome
ters to indicate the coming weather.
A Prussian horticulturist, Mr. Hanne
man, of Broekau, has published a long
list of plants, the indications of which
he has found trustworthy. The Pim
pemell, or poor man’s weather-glass,
{Anagallis arvensis,) expand their
flowers at the approach of wet weather,
whilst on the other hand the different
varieties of clover contact their leaves
before rain. If fine bright weather is
in prospect, the leaves of the chickweed
(Stellaria media) unfold and its flowers
remain awake and erect until mid day.
When the plant droops and its flowers
do not expand, rain may be expected.
The half-opening of the flowers is a
sign that the wet will not last long.
The Barnet saxifrage ( Pimpinella sax
ifraga) indicates the coming weather in
the same manner. As to the small Cape
marigold, ( Calendula pluvialis,) should
it open at six or seven a. m., and not
close till four p. m., we may reckon on
settled weather ; if the flower continues
sleeping after seven, it betokens rains.
Wood sorrel, ( Oxalis, acetocella,) and
other species of Oxalis, indicate rain
by closing their leaves.
“ Got the ’phoby, have ye ? Cant’
swallow any liquid, eh ?” she observed
to her husband, who had refused water
for two days. “ Well, we'll seeand
the good old woman drew the cork
Irom the whisky bottle and placed
the nozzle near her liege’s mouth.
Milliss’ face emerged from its gloom
like a full moon from behind a cloud,
and glancing at his wifi with a quizzical
expression, he said: “Oome to think
of it Jane, I don’t believe that dog had
any teeth.”
VOL. 16--NO: 30.
SAYINGS AND DOINGS.
The Wine op Life. —
The spring is lovely on the earth and sky,
Because its beauty must so soon go by.
And Love’s young dream is sweet because Its
day
Swifter than spring's first blossoms fades
away.
Yet to have loved, though Love has fled, is
bliss,
For nothing warms the human heart like this.
Of that glad wine my soul has drunk its fill;
Now the sun sinks,—let night oome when it
will.
The unknown hours may bring or shade or
Bhine,
The treasure in my heart is always mine.
When a man has a business that
doesn’t pay, he usually begins to look
around for a partner to share his losses
with him.
Cause and eonsequenoe. The great
New York merchant prince, Stewart,
advertised to the extent of 885,000 last
year. Brt it was less than one per oent
of the total amount of his sales.
! Fermentation of food should be
guarded against as the warm weather
approaches. This action is always
liable to cooked vegetables when set
aside. Instead of warming up oold
n esses, it is better to scald them.
"There!” exclaimed the indignant
Boston wife, as she fetches her husband
a resonant whack on the head with a
chair-rocker, “ I’ll raise a Bunker Hill
monument on yon that you’ll remem
ber.”
In a recent investigation of the num
ber of missionaries and converts in
Japan the following was the result:
Greek church, missionary, 3,000 con
verts. Roman Catbolio, 40 missionaries,
20,000 converts ; Protestant, 70 mission
aries, 200,000 converts.
Many persons are in the habit of
sleeping for half an hour immediately
after dinner. Ten minutes sleep before
dinner is worth more than an hour
after. It rests and refreshes, and pre
pares the system for vigorous digestion.
If sleep is taken after dinner, it should
be in a sitting posture, as the horizontal
position is unfavorable to digestion.
Lot those who need rest and sleep
during the day take it before dinner
instead of after, and they will soon And
that they will feel better, and that
their digestion will be improved there
by.
A FAMiLT in this oity, the widowed
father of which has been somewhat
afflicted of late with an attempted in
termeddling of an uproarous sister-in
law, has a six-year-old girl that has a
“faculty of prayer.” A few evenings
since she enumerated the objects of her
supplications as follows : “ God bless
papa and my governess, and my sisters
and brother, and my uncle Sam, and my
aunt Georgia, and my twin cousins and
cousin Julia, and all my relations ex
cept Maud and Jane and Ellen (the ob
noxious aunts), and the less you have
to do with them the better it will be for
yon.” —San Franc? eco Chronicle.
When yon get fairly across the bloody
chasm yon might as well wade up to the
waistband. It was ex-Gov. Andrews of
Sonth Carolina who was so affected by
dhe appearance and the enthusiasm of
'the Boston ladies as to remark that he
“ felt that an angel, a thousand angels,
had oome down and tonched the pool of
misunderstanding, and that henceforth
the waters were to be pure and sweet, and
were to flow out and mingle with others
on every side from our great country,
all converging in one united interest,
bearing upon their bosom affectionate
greeting to all the members of our great
family.” Gosh!
There is nothing which man can pro
pose, however ridiculous, but that some
one will be crazy enough to take it up.
Tyndall’s prayer test has found some
lK)dy to try it in the Peculiar People,
who have hired an old building in Lon
don Fields, and stuck up a notice invit
ing the halt, the lame, the blind and
incurable generally to present them
selves to be prayed over. Measles,
smallpox, and all similar ailments re
ceive the same medicine. A number of
the sect are already under commitment
in the Old Bailey to be tried for man
slaughter, and the rest are on little bet
ter terms with the police.
An analysis of England’s marriage
statistics presents some cnrions data
relative to the probabilities of marriage
for women at different ages. Thus,
supposing the snm of a woman’s chances
of marriage to be 100, these statistics
show that she exhausts between the
ages of 15 and 21, 14i chances. If she
lives unmarried from 20 to 25, 52 more
of her chances appear to be lost; and if
she remains unmarried for 5 more years
she will turn 30 with only li\ ohanoes
out of her 100 left. Alter 35 fhe has
114 chanoes ; and even after a woman
lias lived unmarried 60 years, she still
has the tenth of a chance out of the
original 100.
Fair Hair.— Says a writer : Shakes
peare especially appears to have de
lighted greatly *in golden hair. “Her
sunny locks hang on her temples like
the golden fleece,” he says of Portia in
‘ ‘The Merchant of Venice. ” Twice only
in his plays does he mention black hair,
while numerous scattered allusions
everywhere show that he esteemed fair
hair the peculiar attribute of his deli
cately imagined and beautiful women.
It is a singular fact that among the por
traits by the great masters hanging in
the national gallery of England—ltalian,
Flemish, Spanish, and French—there
is net a single feminine head repre
sented with blaok hair among them all.
Pope has founded one of his finest
loems, “The Rape of the Lock,” upon
a woman’s hair, and he declares in a
well-known couplet—
Fair tresses man’s imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us by a single hair.
Asa race, the Chinese are the most
inveterate and consistent of iatalists.
Their in difference is the time of grief
and trouble, which we generally ascribe
to apathy, is more commonly the result
of their philosophy. Medicine, as is
well known, is with them a science in
which for hundreds of years no progress
has been made, owing, it would seem,
in a great measure, to their fatalism.
With a Chinese population iu a city of
twelve thousand, theie are, at the most,
njt more than ten physicians, and these
and srive their incomes in a great measure
from outside sources, Such remedies
as are commonly in use among them
hive probably been proved by the ex
perience of oenfrnries. A Chinese crim
inal, not destitute of money, in mafly
cases refuses to employ an attorney, in
the firm conviction that whatever he
does will not alter the result of the trial;
and such ai do procure counsel are in
clined to be unoommunioative and indif
ferent in enlightening him as to the
facts ,in the case, and await the result
with the utmost seeming indifference.
In answer to the interrogations of coun
sel, they ard apt to turn away with a
shrug and “ You are lawee man- Tow
know allf same me,”