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VOL. IT.
The Course of Time,
A SPANISH POEM.
*
()! let tin* soul its slumber break,
Arouse its senses and awake,
To see how soon
Life, with ifsglmies, gliiesaway,
And the stern footsteps of decay
Come stealing on.
Slew pleasure, like the passing wind,
Blows by, and leaves us nought behind
But grief at last;
How still our present happiness
vSeerns to the wayward fancy less
Than what is past.
And while we eye the rolling tide,
Down which your Hying minutes glide
Away so fast;
Let us the present hour employ,
And deem each dream of future joy
Already past.
hot no vain hope deceive the mind—
No happier lot let us hope to lind
To-morrow than to-day.
Our golden dreams of yore were bright:
Like them the present shall delight—
Like them decay.
Our lives like hasting streams must be,
That into oae eugnlphing sea
Are doomed to fall;
The sea of Death, whose waves roll on
O’er king and kingdom, crown and
throne,
And swallow all.
Alike the river’s lordly tide,
Alike the humble riv’iets glide
To that sad wave;
Death levels property and pride,
And rich and poor sleep side by side
Within the grave.
Our birth is but a starting place:
Tile is the running of the race,
And Death the goal;
I here all our steps at last are brought;
That path, of all unsought,
Is found of all.
Dong e-re the damps of earth can blight,
The cheek’s pure glow of red and white
Hath passed away;
\ < uth smiled, and all was heavenly fair;
Age came, and laid his linger there,
And where are they ?
W here are the strength that mocked de
eay,
The step that rose so light and gav,
The heaat’s blithe tone ' *
1 he strength is gone, the step is slow',
And joy grow s weariness and wo
When age comes on.
Say then, how poor and little worth
Are those glittering toys of earth
That lure us here;
roams of a sleep that Death must break,
Alas! before it bids us wake,
Ye disappear.
EYES IN BLANK STREET
BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENW
street is chiefly remarkable for
Te leprous state of its houses, which,
v !! » a 'l stucco fronted, the contracting
t'under has tailed in some of his materi
ai> ail( | the said stucco is constantly peel
in splinters, scales and slips.
Everybody must know Blank street,
” lM * ns genteel family residences ; but,
tfnowing.it not, it was down that street I
passing some months since, when a
'o sr opened, and a tall, full-bearded man
pped hastily out and walked on,
, Amv, to another person there would
;;' iVe nothing particular in the man;
' - >L l e annoyed me, lor, being somewhat
r-Aicular in my dress, with a tendency
1 ords the unique, it was vexatious to
'X that the man in front had on a light
of the same pale, neutral shade,
u ' m a P u b- of trowsers of precisely the
pattern as my own.
T’- might liave stopped here; but no,
AUGUSTA, GA., MARCH 12 1870.
his hat was of the same shap<\ and, at
first sight, it seemed as if he had been
taking me for a worthy subject of imita
tion, and I did not feel at all fluttered.
But I had no time for further thought,
for, just as I came abreast of the front
door, I heard from an open drawing-room
window, a faint scream, the fall as of a
heavy body r , and the loud bang as of a
door closed with great violence.
Asa matter of course, I stopped short,
and listened for a few moments; but
hearing nothing more, I sot the matter
down a family quarrel, and stepped for
ward, but only to turn my head the next
moment, on hearing the front door open,
when there it stood just ajar, the dis
tance between door and post not being
more than a couple of inches. Quite
sufficient, though, to send a cold shudder
right through my frame, as I saw a pair
of glittering eyes fixed upon me, look
ing through ine, as it were. They might
have been serpent’s eyes, lor the strange
fascination they exercised, holding me
fixed as it were to the spot; while the
opening of the door grew slowly less and
less, tiil it was hardly perceptible,
though the impression of the eyes was
there still, and it was not until I heard a
faint click, as of the spring of a lock,
darting into its place, that I shuddered
once more, and passed on, with a strange
feeling of discomfort pervading me.
Ten minutes afterward, with those
eyes still apparently troubling me, I
stood at the door of the house occupied
by the Philopuerile Society ; that emi
nent body being then in want of a Se
cretary—a post that it was my ambition
to fill.
1 must preface what follows by saying
that two or three communications had
already passed, and that 'I was at the
office by appointment.
“Will you take a seat?” said the
clerical gentlemen into whose presence
1 was ushered.
I would, and took one, afterward going
through a very severe cross-examina
tion respecting my principles, abilities,
habits etc. My testiniontais had already
been declared to be most satisfactory,
and under the arrangement that I was
to meet the Board of Management in
solemn conclave on the following morn
ing, I rose to leave.
“Dr—er, by the way, Mr, Freestone,”
said my clerical friend, “er—allow me,
for your own good, you know, just to
point out one little thing;” and as he
spoke, he stood up with his hands beneath
ins coat-tails; and being a little perky,
cock sparrowish body, he rendered his
resemblance to an eaves chirupper more
complete by twitching his hands at every
two or three words, after the fashion of
a bird’s tale.
T shall ouly be too proud to hear any
suggestions,” I replied.
“ Well-er-er,” said my friend—and as
he passed his hands over his smooth,
pinky cheeks aud chin, I knew what was
coming—“you seo-er-er—we aim at a
quiet staidness of demeanor; and er
beards-er-beards-er-er-er-I thiuk you un
derstand what I mean, uvA-er-good
morning.”
01. course.! understood what he meant
and as I stood upon the landing, and ian
my hands—at least, one hand and the
handle of my umbrella—through my
wide-spreading, jet-black beard, my heart
sank, tor I felt that 1 was going to sell
it for a secretaryship with a salary of two
hundred and fifty pounds per annum.
What would my mother say ? What
would somebody else say ? Never more
would it tickle and get into that dear,
darling little vetvousse nose, and make
her sneeze. But then it was on the
strength -ot tnis secretaryship that we
weie going to be married. I was
pledged—engaged to her, in fact; and
the question was, whether I had any
right to disfigure myself. Someone
else was to be the possessor of a certain
estate—‘man’s estate ;” agreements had
been made in all formality; was I at li-
berty to go and cut down a certain
amount of timber upon that estate and
change its aspect ?
It was a hard* struggle ; but knowing
full well that somebody could not have me
with the beard, for want of money, and we
could not live upon its ambrosial beauties,
I determined to let it go, feeling that, in
spite of what might turn up afterwards
in the way of disappointment, it would
be a good test of somebody’s affection,
since should I not be the same man ?
and marry a beard—eh? that idea was
absurd.
On passing out into the stieet I start
ed ; for the recollection of my morning’s
adventure came upon me as , T passed a
gentleman in the street. I say I passed
a gentlemen; but, save that I noticed his
eyes, I had not the slightest idea of what
kind of a person he was. For the mo
ment it seemed that I knew those eye3;
that they were the same, in fact, as those
which looked out at me from the ajar
door of the* house in Blank street; and
giving an involuntary shudder, I con
tinued my route, not daring to look
round; for, I cannot explain the sensa
tion, but it seemed to me that the eyes
were still fixed upon me, and following
me wherever I went.
Under the nervous state of trepida
tion in which I then was, ■' felt tempted
to turn up first one street, .'mi then down
another, making myself believe that 1
was watched; but with an impetient
“Pish!” I stepped out boldly, and turned
my thoughts in the direction of that
Philopuerile Society whose Secretary I
aimed at being.
This brought me to my beard, which
had been in the hands of Nature for full
ten years, and as I passed my own hand
through the luxuriant growth, something
closely akin to sorrow oppressed me, and
it was with a that I paused in
front of a large hairdresser’s shop, where
there was a representation of a full hun
dred short-haired gentlemen being brush
ed by machinery.
“1 can’t go in there,” I muttered to
myself; “they know me.” So I passed
on till I came to a cheap shaver’s in a
by street, when, after one or two at
tempts, I darted in, and seated myself in
the operating chair.
In a moment thq soapy-smelling print
cloth was round my neck, and tucked
inside my collar ; the owner of the shop,
a very smooth-faced man, with barely
live hairs on his upper lip and nineteen
on the point of his chin, giving a sigh
as of envy as he carefully spread my
beard over the cloth.
“Hair cut, str ?” said the man.
“No—shave!” I growled hoarsely.
“Shave, sir!” he stammered. “What
that heard, sir ?”
“Yes-, and be quick,” I added.
The man looked at me again ; and
then slowly taking up a razor, began
leisurely to strop it, laid it down, drew
some hot water from a little boiler above
a gas-jet, laid a piece of rag across my
shoulder, and then approached, brush in
hand.
“You said shave, sir, I think ?” lie
once more stammered.
“Confound you yes!” I roared; “and
put me out of my misery—l mean,
shave me—no razor tricks, you kuow.”
“Much or little off, sir ?” he inquired,
after thoroughly lathering my beard.
.“Give me the razor !” i exclaimed, in
quite a Shakespearian tone ; and then,
standing before the glass, I scraped and
scraped, had myself relathered, and
scraped again, till I groaned bitterly at
the now whiskerless face I saw in
the gl tss ; and, mentally vowing to put
on a stiff white cravat the next morning,
I stepped to the sink, removed the last
trace of soap, and turned to pay the man.
“What a pity, sir!” he said apologeti
cally, as he gave me change. I couldn’t
believe you meant it; and, really, sir, 1
shouldn’t have know n you again.”
My hat was in my hand, and I was
about to take the change and go, when I
felt a shiver run through me, as I once
more encountered the eyes ; for, as the
words left the man’s lips, there came, as
it were, an answer, hissed out savagely:
“But I should—the villain!”
then, before I could well recover myself,
a stranger darted at my throat, and
would have pinned me to the wall, had
I not, by an effort, leaped aside, and
rushed terrified into the street.
I ran rapidly, till I was out of the by
street, when, mingling with the busy
throng of passengers in the main thor
oughfare, I felt that I should be safe, and
kept plunging into the thickest parts of
the crowd that I could find, in the hope
of avoiding, or being missed by the
strange being, who followed me, I felt
sure.
At last, having conquered, for some
time, the desire to look round, I stopped,
by a jeweler's window; but as I did so,
1 became aware of mine enemy closing
up to me, and I turned again, and
walked hastily away\
The matter seemed to be growing se
rious. To have a strange man dogging
my footsteps in a most pertinacious way,
and ready at any moment to dart at my
throat—it was dreadful ! But what
could Ido ? Appeal to the bystanders,
and have a crowd around me in an in
stant ? Speak to the first policeman I
met, which would probably mean giving
the man into custody, and having to ap
pear in a police court ? And for what ?
Because the man followed me, and I had
felt his eyes! Pshaw! the thing was ab
surd, and the reporters would snatch at
the small case, and a nice figure I should
cut in the morning papers, probably as
“The Haunted Man,” with a spicing in
the report of “laughter,” “much laugh
ter,” etc., etc. N>, that would not do
Ur a man who had sacrificed his beard
to obtain the post of secretary to the
Philopuerile Society.
The very tiling. I jumped into an
omnibus, when, as I seated myself, the
man with the eyes took the opposite
place, and eat with his knees touching
mine.
I rode half a mile, trying to ignore his
presence, and, then, getting out, walked
a short distance, meeting a friend I knew,
but he passed me without a sign of re
cognition. I hailed another ’bus, but it
did not stop ; 1 ran after it, bounded
upon the footboard, and climbed up, but
only to shudder again, for my enemy
was by my side in an instant, apparent
ly taking not the slightest notice of me,
as far as other people were concerned,
but watching me the while with an in
intensity of purpose that grew alarming.
What did it mean ? Who was lie ?
Had I, unknowingly, injured anybody?
(Questions like these kept darting through
my mind, but the answers came not.
Twice over I was about to address him,
and ask what it meant; but as I opened
my lips to speak, lie held me with his
glittering eye, my lips remained apart,
and no sound came.
The next time the ’bus was stopped,
I alighted, and walked slowly away in as
nonchalant a fashion as I could assume
I stopped here, and I stopped there, at
shop windows, pretending to be interested
in their contents. I entered a confec
tioner’s, took plate and bun, and pre
tended to eat—pretended, - for the plate
nearly dropped from my hand, and the
bun turned to so much bitter chaff', as I
saw that I was still followed—the man
entering the room set apart for tea and
coffee, and seating himself behind the
ground glass screen, through which 1 felt
sure I could see the eyes glit.ering.
J had forced myself into looking at the
man as he passed, to see him gentle-'
manly dressed, dark featured, close black
beard and mustache, and, on the whole,
presenting no striking, point save his
eyes, and the slight glance 1 had of those
made me shudder.
Asa rule, the consumption of a bun is
1 not a very long task, but on this occa
sion mine seemed as if it could never be
ended; pieces stuck in my throat, swell
ing out like sponges; hard crumbs got
into corners, and currants took the shape
of pea rifle-bullets ; for, though going
through the form, I was not eating, but
laying plans for ridding myself of'my
follower.
I hit upon one at last, and, watching
my opportunity, I slowly made my way
close to the room door, picking up an
extra bun the while and paying for both.
Then I ordered a cup of tea, and, us the
damsel made her way to an inner cham
ber for thse ame with one bound I had shut
the refreshment-room door, turned the
key, and then darted out of the shop.
“Safe now!” I thought; and, hurrying
as much as I possibly could, without ex
citing attention, made my way to the
railroad station.
I heard the welcome sound of a com
ing train; the lightsshoneTroin afar in the
black tunnel, the gate was fastened by a
ticket collector, and I felt safer, fori
knew that even if I had been tracked,
it was impossible for my pursuer to come
by that train.
There was the usual opening and shut
ting of doors, the customary cries follow
ed, and then my heart was beginning to
rise, for the train glided along by the
platform; then, as we plunged into the
darkness »>t the tunnel, my spirits rose
higher and higher, and I felt that I was
free.
But how vain are human hopes ! I
was leaning back in the comfortable
compartment, considering which station
I should alight at, when we glided up to
a platform, came to a standstill, the door
of my compartment opened, and two
ladies stepped in; and then I turned, as
it were, to ice, and shrank back in my
seat; for l saw my enemy slowly making
his way along the platform, looking in
tently in carriage after carriage, till he
caught sight of me, when he quietly
opened the door, stepped in, and took
his place by my side.
I rose to leave; but the train was
already in motion, and the next minute,
in the semi-darkness, with the train
making its loud vibration, I seemed to
hear a voice hissing in my ear, slowly
and distinctly, the one word, “Villain!”
over and over again.
It was fancy 1 knew, for the ladies
present made no sign; and, at last, in a
sort of state of stubborn defiance, 1 leant
back, determined to let matters take
their course.
I prepared myself as well as I could to
address my obtrusive friend, but kept
putting the matter off till we drew up
at another station, when four people
alighted, and I looked anxiously for some
one else to come in. Hut we started
again, and, feeling somewhat perturbed,
I did not speak, and we reached another
station; when, to my horror, the other
two passengers got out, leaving me alone
with my enemy.
It was impossible to take maiters
coolly at such a time; and unable longer
to bear the strain, I leaped up, opened
the door, and was stepping out just as
the train began to move. One hundred
would have been sufficient, and in spite of
the risk, 1 ventured; but at the same
moment, there was a powerful baud
grasping the cellar of my coat, I was
dragged back into the carriage, and my
enemy stepped over me, aud closed the
door.
The chill that, had more than once
passed through my nerves, seemed to
paralyze me, for the thought now came
home that I was alone in a rail wav-car
riage with a madman, and that no op
portunity remained of making mv con
dition known. I saw mv dinner in an
instant, and reproached inyseli for my
toily in not putting myself und t the
protection oi thepoiiee. I could even
make out v.hat would take place, and
therefore licit no surprise when, re-enact
ing the scene in the shaver’s shop my
enemy Hung himself upon me, and this
time with success.
3STO. 52.