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i' A Clerical Episode.
“Ik’a a very disagreeable duty,”
thought the Bef. Hr. Thornton, as he
entered lbs. Mspon’s parlor, “ but as
I’ve been thoughtless enough to make
the promise, there's no way of avoiding
it” Mr. Thomtoh was a young and
rather handsome! gentleman, whose
thorough earnestness and sincerity,
joined to a fair share of mental ability
and a very large amount of kind-heart-
edners, bad made him extremely popu
lar with the people of the country town
in which ho wa3 located, and with no
one more so than with the lady whoso
house‘he had just entered, she con
sidered him almost perfect, and would
have been deeply insulted if the had
heard anyone rashly calling in question
the soundness of his judgment on any
subject. On tho present occasion he
had come to fulfill a promise to her
that he would call and have an inter
view with her nieoe, Hiss Hattie Hal
lowed, who waa spending a few weeks
at her house.
Miss Hallowed was one of the reign
ing belles of a neighboring oity, and
her manner toward gentlemen, though
not actually unlady-like, was far too
free and unconstrained to suit her
aunt’s old-fashioned and rather narrow
minded ideas of propriety, and the lat
ter had begged her minister to give the
S mug lady some wholesome advice on
te subject. After promising to com
ply, Mr. Thornton had become more
and more consoious that he had placed
himself in a very awkward position, and
that the only result likely to ensue
from this undertaking to advise Miss
Hadowell was a groat deal of displeas
ure on her part. And though unwilling
to give way to what he feared might be
a mere want of moral courage, he was
a good deal embarrassed when the time
came for the duty to be performed.
His embarrassment was by no means
lessened when Miss Hadowell came
into the room, looking really lovely in
her handsome, dark-blue morning-dress,
which enhanced, by contrast, the
brightness of her blonde complexion
and beautiful light hair. The truth
was, sho had made up her mind some
days before that the minister was “ the
only civilized man in the whole stupid
little town,” and had taken some pains
that morning to appear at her best be
fore him.
She greeted him very cordially, and,
as he notieed how frank and pleasant
her manner really was, he was troubled
by a stid greater uneasiness about lec
turing her on that point. Bnt after
some preliminary conversation—during
which she noticed that he was very
nervous and ill at ease—he made a de
termined effort to get through with his
disagreeable task.
"Miss Hollowed," he said, "lam
sure yon know what a high regard I
feel for you, and how very muoh inter
ested I have beoome in you since you
have been here.”
“ I’m very glad, indeed, that yon like
me eo much, Mr. Thornton,” she an
swered, with a charming smile.
He fonnd it impossible to say any
thing more at first, and there was an
awkward pause. Then, under a sense
that something most be said, and not
knowing exaotly what it was to be, h$
went on in a strain that was rather
stronger than tho faots of the ease
warranted.
"Ifeel as if I were more than a
friend to you,” he said. “Indeed, I
haven’t seen anybody for a long time
who excited my interest as yon have
done.”
Here there was another pause, during
which he became more embarrassed
than ever, while his companion began
to entertain a oertain idea about his
meaning.
"I want to ask you something,” he
said finally, in a hesitating way, “ I’m
afraid you’ll think it very strange in me
to say such & thing to you when I've
only known you a few weeks; but I
think yon will—I moan, I hope ”
Here he came to a dead stop and was
entirely at a Iobb how to go on.
Bat before he oould pat an end to his
hesitation the lady herself suddenly
brought matters to a climax in a way
that put a very different aspect on the
affair.
“Mr. Thornton,” she said, with a
manpat in which kind feeling was com
bined with decisive firmness, “ I think
* yon want to say to me,
>will be better to stop
u say it, I believe yon
> ask me to many yon. I
can always esteem and honor yon very
much: but it would be impossible for
me to be more, than your fnend, even if
I wished to, for I’ll toll you frankly
that I’m engaged to some one else.”
If Miss Hauowell had suddenly spo
ken to him in pure Sanecript or the
choicest Iroquois, Mr. Thornton oould
not have been more astounded. He sat
for a few moments in silent amazement.
But the utter ridiculousness of the
thing’soon came to him in its foil force,
and, without any premonitory symp
toms, he fell into a violent paroxysm ol
laughter. His efforts to control him
self were quite useless, and one or two
faint attempts which ho made to speak
were instantly smothered in a fresh
outburst.
Miss Hallowell’s astonishment was, at
first, as great as his had been. She,
too, soon recovered from that feeling ;
bnt, instead of being succeeded by
mirtb, it was followed, in her case, by
a passionate fit of anger. With a look
of ineffable scorn sho got up, walked
out of the parlor, and went straight to
her own room, Mr. Thornton left the
house feeling tumble to make any ex
planation at that time. In the mean
time Miss Hallowell indulged in numer
ous rather wild plans for being revenged
npon the man who, she thought, bad
treated her so shamefully in return lor
her consideration and kindness. Bnt
at last she found relief in a flood of
tears, and soon afterward was half-in
clined to laugh at the whole affair her
self.
She returned to the oity a few days
after this little episode; and one morn
ing, when she had been at home nearly
a week, she received the following note:
Erculaneuu, Jan, 2, 1873.
My Dear Miss Hallowell — I hardly know
how to apologize for what nHist'have seemed
to you the most outrageous rudeness. But as
the exact truth of the matter is all that can
afford any oxeuso for mo, I will give it at once.
I called that morning at Mrs. Mason's request,
having promised her to give you some advice
about your manner to g lemon: and feeling,
after the promise was made, that you could
hardly fail to consider such action very offi
cious and unwarrantable, I was awkward and
embarrassed, and conducted myself in a way
whioh led to 'he voty natural mistake you
made. I bog you to believe that I am heartily
sorry for having acted so foolishly throughout,
and hope you will not refuse to number among
your friends your sincere well-wisher. ■
Alan Thornton.
Miss Hallowell’H reply was an invita
tion to her wedding.— Hearth and
Home.
Natural Resources of Egypt.
Egypt has but a single natnral re
source—the Nile. There is no other
river in the country; nor has this one a
branoh or affluent between its mouth
and the Nubian desert. Besides the
almost shelterless date-palms, there are
no palms, tho few wooded parks planted
by order of MehemetAli, the ornamental
trees of the cities, of whioh Cairo and
its suburbs contain forty thousand, and
tho mulberry trees raisedfor silk-worms,
Bcoreely deserving to be mentioned in
this connection. There is little or no
rain, the agrionltnre j of the country
depending almost entirely upon the ir
rigating canals connected with the Nile.
Egypt proper consists of Lower, Mid
dle, and Upper Egypt. It contains
160,866,500 acres of area, and a popula
tion, in 1871, of 5,203,405. The arable
area of Egypt is confined substantially
to the innncfable portion of the Valley
of the Nile. As the river olosely hugs
the hills and palisades on its right
bulk, this area is nearly altogether on
the left. In some places the arable
lands are eleven miles wide; in others
they dwindle to a mere strip of bank.
For the most part, however, this area
extends westward from the river abont
five to eight miles, where it is termin
ated by the Libyan hills and desert.
Every year it is extended by the rise of
the nver upon its own bed. This rise
was found to be, at the close of the last
ceuluiy, 4,960 inches per century. If
the eelimaUft worked by the khedive
and his relatives, or the nobies oi his
court, be deduokd, there will not re
main in Egypt over one-half an ocro of
arable land to eaoh person; and even
if the land cultivated at present were
divided equally among all, there would
still be not over nine-tenths of an acre
G r capita. Imagine how small most
the portion of an Egyptian laborer
who, if all the food products of that
land were kept at home instead of be
ing shipped abroad, as a large portion
of them are, would still possess but
one-seventh the heritage of an American
or Englishman, and bnt one-fourth that
of a Frenchman I v
'Iff '
Carlyle’s Opinion;
Carlyle’s papers on “ The Early Kings
of Norway " came to an end in the
March Fraser, and closed with the fol
lowing arrow direct to the heart of his
imaginary America; . j.
“ The history of thdse Haarfagrs has
awakened in me many thoughts of des
potism and democracy, arbitrary gov
ernment by one, and * self-government
(which means no government, or anar
chy) by all; of dictatorship with many
faults, and universal suffrage vrith little
possibility of any virtue. 'Fqjrthe con
trast between Olaf Tryggvssen and a
universal-suffrage parliament or an ‘im
perial’ copper captain has, in these
nine centuries, grown to be very
great. And the eternal Providence
that guides all this, and, produces
alike these entities with their epochs,
is not its coarse still through the great
deep ? Poes not it still speak to as,
if we have ears? Heie, clothed in
stormy enough passions and instincts,
unconscious of any aim but their own
satisfaction, is the blessed beginning
of hnman order, regulation, and real
government; (here, clothed in a highly
different but again suitable garniture
of passions, instincts, and equally un
conscious as to real aim, is the accursed-
looking ending (temporary ending) of
order, regulation, and government—
very dismal to the sane onlooker for
the time being; not dismal to him
otherwise, hiB hope, too, being stead
fast ! But here at any rate, in this
poor Norse theater,-one looks with in
terest on the first transformation, so
mysterious and abstruse, of hnman
chaos into something of artieulate cos
mos ; witnesses the wild and otrauge
birth-pangs of human society, and re
flects that without something similar
(litle as men except such now), no cos
mos of human society ever was got
into existence, nor enn ever again be.
“The violences, fightings, crimes—
ah, yes, these seldom fail, and they are
very lamentable. But always, too,
among those old populations, there was
one saving element; the now want of
which, especially the unlamented want,
transcends all lamentation. Here is
one of these strange, piercing, winged-
words of Buskin, which has in it a ter
rible truth for us in these epochs now
oome:
“ * My friends, the follies of modern
liberalism, many great though they be,
are practically summed iu this denial
or neglect of the quality and intrinsic
valne of thinge. Its rectangular be
atitudes, and spherioal benevolences—
theology of universal indulgence, and
jurisprudence which will hang no
rogues, mean one and all of them, in
the root, incapacity, of discerning, or
refusal to discern, worth and unworth
m anything, and, least of all, in man ;
whereas nature and heaven command
yon, at yonr peril, to discern worth
from nnworth In everything, and mest
of all in man. Your main problem is
that ancient and trite one, “Who is
best man? ” and the fates forgive much
—forgive the fiercest, wildest, oruelest
experiments—if fairly made for the de
termination of that. Theft and blood-
guiltiness are not pleasing in their
sight; yet, the favoring powers of the
spiritual and material world will con
firm to your stolen goods, and their
noblest voioes applaud the lifting of
your spear, and rehearse the sculpture
of your shield, if only your robbing
and slaying have been in fair arbitra
ment of that question, “ Who is best
man ? ” Bnt it you refuse inquiry, and
maintain every man for his neighbor’s
match—if yon give vote to the simple
and liberty to the vile, the powers of
those spiritual and material worlds in
dne time present yon inevitably with
the same problem, soluble now only
wrong side upward ; aud your robbing
and slaying mast be done then to find
out “ Who is worst man? ” Whidh in
so wide an order is merit, is, indeed,
not easy; but u complete Tammany
risg^snd lowest circle in the Inferno
oi worst, you are sure to uuu, uuu to
be governed by,’ ”
A bed-hot meteor fell near West
Liberty, in the eastern part of Iowa,
on the 12 ult., sinking fifteen feet into
the ground, and making a hole ten feet
in diameter. For hours it continued to
spit forth flames, crackle, spatter and
smoke, and occasionally discharge can-
non-like reports, to the infinite tenor
of the people in the vicinity. None
dared approach while the miniature
volcano continued in action, but with
the cessation of life hundreds gathered
round to investigate the wonder.
Pure Expression.
Every word that falls from the lips of
mothers and sisters especially should
be pure aud eoneise and simple; not
pearls suoh as fall from the lips of a
S nnceEs, but sweet, good words, that
ttle children can gather without fear
of soil, or any regret to pain through all
their life. Children should be tanght
the frequent use of good, strong, expres
sive words—words that mean exactly
what they should express in their
prmwr Places. If a child, or yattng
person, has a loose flung-together way
of strisgmg words when endeavoring to
say something, he should be made to
“ wy again” and see if he cannot do
better. It is painful to hear many girls’
talk. They begin with “ My gracious!”
and interlard it with “So sweet!” and
“ So queenly 1” and so many phrases,
that one is temp’ed to believe they
have no training at all, or else their
mothers are very, very foolish women.
There is nothing more disgusting than
the twoddle-of ill-bred girls; one is pro
voked often into taking a paper and
reading, and letting them ripple and
gurgle on, like brooks that flow they
know not whither. My heart warms
with love for sensible girls and pure
boys, and, after all, if our girls and
boys ate not this, I fear it is not our
own fault—for this great trust rests in
the heart and hands of the wamen of
our land. If we have a noble, useful
purpose in life, we shall infuse the
right spirit into those around us.
Boston’s Latest Hobbob.—The re
markable murder oase which is setting
Boston an 1 vicinity in a ferment, scarce
ly receives as much attention as it de
serves. A beautiful and accomplished
woman, Mrs. Margaret Bingham, was
murdered at her own house in the day
time, and when other persons were near
at hand ; but the circumstances of the
crime, and the chase and capture of the
criminal are uot mat.ers of common
notoriety.
The murderer was a tramp or beggar;
his motive was plunder. He wanted
money to satisfy his appetite for drink;
he obtained it by killing Mrs. Bingham
in her own house and seizing the small
articles of jewelry which sue had about
her person. He made directly for a
drinking-saloon and openly offered his
booty for sale. The police were early
on the track of the criminal, and he
was arrested the third day after the
murder. He was identified positively
by the saloon-keeper to whom he had
offered the jewelry for sale, and on his
person was fonnd a penknife belonging
to Mrs. Bingham.
Modebn Medical Discoyeky.—It is
claimed that disease, with a few ex
ceptions, has been conquered by the
research and intellect of enlightened
men; and yet a noted professor of New
York admits that “of all sciences, med
icine is the most nnoertain,” and that
“thousands are annually slaughtered
in the sick room.” Certain “schools”
of medicine are in existence, one of
whioh “makes the patient .ill," in or
der to claim a enre; and another ad
ministers “sugar-coated bread pills,”
relying upon nature to effect her own
cores. Dr. J. Walker, of California,
an old and respected pnysioian, tried
both modes of treatment and both
failed. He then appealed to nature’s
curative—herbs; and now enjoys rug
ged health. He has given the benefit
of his discovery to the world, in the
shape of Vinegar Bitters, and since
its introduction has sold a quantity
almost large enough to make a small
harbor, or to float the “Great Eas
tern.” Its curative properties are at
tested by grateful thousands.
The art of voicing reeds, the most
difficult and important in the manu
facture of Cabinet or parlor organs,
was invented by Mr. Emmons Ham
lin, of tie Mason & Hamlin Organ
Co., in^49. It has been universally
adopti/ by American acd largely by
European makers, bnt none have at
tained that high standard of excel
lence in it which is reached in the
Muson & Hamlin Cabinet Organs.
This fact is universally recognized
by musicians. ■ *
Cheaplllomei in Texas.
The Great Tea ,s Beal Estate aud Gold Dis
tribution takes d tee 13th of May, when 64.-
000 acres of chol»land in the beet portions of
Texas, near the; indple railroads; 15 houses
In TTnnatnn Crvtrv alien OA AAA\ ..Ja iuu> .
enterprise
Houston. 8end
rv V Wiuitu I
l to J. E. Fosteb, the nuu
^ A vou,A* tUO mill
age* at Houston Texas, for a ticket, circuit
descriptive pamp eta and maps of Texas.
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