Newspaper Page Text
[For The Sunny South.]
HE IP AND DOING.
There's not a place in church nor state,
'Mong all the noble, wise and great,
But what the youth in time must fill;
And all the world is looking still
For great abcievements to be done>—
For greater battles to be won. ^
Be up and doing while it's day—
The harvest time will pass away
Like early dew and morning light;
Then comes the long and dreary night
Of age and life's declining years,
With death and sorrow’s falling tears.
Deep mines of truth lie unexplored;
In art. in science, there are stored
Full many a hidden, priceless gem
To wreathe a starry diadem
For earnest effort, patient thought
That has its ideal beauty wrought
Or has some useful knowledge brought
From Nature's store-house wonder-fraught.
And when you reach the final end,
Where all the truths of science tend—
The final goal where systems run—
A crown of victory will be won;
For Truth, her ample orbit run,
Shall find in God her Central Sun.
[Written for The Sunny South.]
FIGHTING AGAINST FATE;
OR,
Alone in the World.
BY MARY E. BUY AY.
CHAPTER XIV.
Tb ree days afterwards, 1st Mode, the vessel char
tered by the president of the republic, dropped
quietly out of the harbor, bearing United States
colors and papers, and carrying arms, ammuni
tion and volunteers from Mobile and other por
tions of the country, as well as from New Orleans.
Among the recruits to the hitherto unlucky
cause were desperate and unprincipled adven
turers, enthusiastic striplings and restless, ex
citement-craving spirits who, like Harvey, were
at odds with Fate.
Ostensibly, this memorable expedition was a
secret to the government of the United States;
yet it was generally believed to be known to and
covertly winked at by the ruling powers for rea
sons of their own. The adventurers were in the
wildest spirits. Harvey's mercurial nature rose
with the fresh hopes that glittered before him,
and he cheered his sister with his most persua
sive eloquence as they sat clasped hand in hand
for an hour before the parting hour arrived.
“ Thar’s Mansfield !” and Mr. Hutchins lifted
his double-chin from his chest, rubbed bis
sleepy eyes, and told Esther. “ Here we are !”
Driving through the little town, they stopped
before a rather imposing structure, set in the
midst of elevated and ample grounds, which Mr.
Hutchins informed Esther was the college build
ing, as he assisted her to alight and escorted her
up the broad steps, while dozens of girl-faces
watched them curiously from the windows above.
After waiting half an hour in the chilly drawing
room. the principal appeared—a tall man, with
iron-gray side-whiskers, a cold, blue eye, and
manners as formal and precise as the furniture
of his reception-room.
He touched Esther's hand with three chilly,
inexpressive fingers, hoped that she had not Buf
fered from the trip, that she would be pleased
with this part of the country, and other plati
tudes which Esther cut short by pleading fa
tigue and begging to be shown to her room.
When she was gone, Mr. Hutchins proceeded
I to satisfy the principal as to the respectability
and capacity of the new teacher, informing him
that one of the first men in the city recom-
. mended her to his attention, and that as to ca- j
pability, all the ‘‘big piano-players said she was
tip-top,” and though he did not pretend to be a
judge in that line, it seemed to him “she got
more music out of the piano than any one of
those scientific chaps, who would charge more
io teach a few lessons than the salaries of all the
faculty amounted to; whereas he had got the
lady cheap”—“a first rate article at auction
“ And yon—do you not love music, too?”
“Better than anything in the world!” she
cried impulsively. Then drawing back into her
shell with the chilling suspicion that Esther was
pumping her for amusement, and with the view
of caricaturing her to the girls, she said;
“I don’t know anything about any music but
the Jews’-harp and the dinner-bell, and I think
they sound a great sight better than the strum
ming that’s done on the piano.”
“So do I.” said Esther, laughing. “Better
than some strumming. Come, you are a good
critic, I see. Sit down and listen to my strum
ming, and tell me what you think of it.”
The girl hesitated, and at last reluctantly sat
down on a foot-stool at one end of the piano, and
dropped her chin upon her hands.
“Do you like lively music?” Esther inquired,
looking with interest at the queer little face and
figure. .
“Yes, on dinner-bells and Jew’s-harps,”
“ But not on the piano—the deepest-sonled of
instruments, as Liszt called it Well, we shake
hands there, Dusky. I think it an imperti
nence, too. I will play no jig for you.”
She chose, instead, bits of the tenderest and
sweetest music she knew—bits from Beethoven,
and Weber, and Handel, that mixed grandly with
the sighing of the wind in the cedar trees at the
window, and the light of the fall moon slanting
through the gray twilight and falling across the
room in silver bars. For an hour she played on,
half-forgetting the silent listener, whose face she
could not see. At last, at the close of a thrilling
A NOBLE WORK^FOR WOMEN.
HOW TO PREVENT THE GREAT MOR
TALITY AMONG CHILDREN.
The unparalleled number of deaths among
children under five years of age shown in the
records of various cities, especially of NewY'ork.
has awakened inquiry among humanitarians far
and wide. Committees of medical men have in
vestigated the subject with the view of prevention
in future, and the results of their inquiry show
the most deplorable want of cleanliness and igno
rance of the commonest principles of hygiene, 1
such as pure air. bathing and proper food in the
homes and tenement habitations where so many
children perished. An able paper in that ad- '
mirable monthly journal. The Sanitarian, asserts
that these homes of the ignorant class are the
missionary ground that is best deserving the la
bors of noble-hearted, philanthropic women.
Their exertions can do more to prevent this ter
rible death-rate among the helpless innocents in j
our large cities, and even in towns and villages, ,
than any elaborately prepared system of hygiene
that could be published, or any quantity of drugs
that could be issued.
A wealthy and benevolent gentleman of
[From the Daubnry News.]
TALKED HIMSELF TO DEATH.
THE PILL-BACK DRESSES WERE TOO
MI CH FOR HIM.
He got off the morning train the other day
and meandered into the city, and stopped in
front of a fine-looking residence on Munson
street. He opened the gate, walked up to the
door and pulled the bell. In a moment it was
opened and he stepped quickly inside. “ Y'ou
see,” he said to the astonished girl, “I much
prefer to do the talking inside. It is so un
pleasant to have the door closed in one’s face
when only half through.”
He walked into the parlor, and the frightened
girl went to inform her mistress that a sewing-
machine man ora book-peddler had gained access
to the house. The lady entered the room and
was greeted by the young man of cheek as
follows;
“They call me a blessing—the ladies do, and
I am, madame. 1 am a labor-saving benefactor to
the whole sex. I have a little invention which I
am introducing—a perfect little gem. It is,
madame, a small, silver-plated, gilt-point con
cern, which will allow you to wear the new style
of pull-back dresses as easily as the breeches.’
“What do you mean, sir?” demanded the
lady.
“No longer, madame, will you have to take
your meals off from the mantle-piece. You can
sit down as easily as in the old style of barrel-
price,” as Mr. Hutchins put the fact of Esther’s , minor strain, the child’s head was lifted—her neighboring city, now an octogenarian, was led j shaped dresses. When you trave'l you won’t
engagement in his elegant mercantile phraseol
ogy, rubbing his hands and chuckling in admi
ration of his own shrewdness.
So, next morning, Esther was formally intro
duced to her new pupils, and entered at once
upon her wearying duties. Wearying, indeed,
to brain and body is the office of music-teacher:
to give similar instructions, hour after hour, to j
a succession of pupils, many of them devoid of
a single musical idea—to listen to the monoto
nous bang, bang, of “exercises,” until the brain
dark face flushed, her black eyes swimming with
emotion.
“It’s sweet!” she said, “as sweet as heaven.
I’ll always like you for your music—I don’t care
how much you despise and make fun of me. ’
“Child, child '
gering for affection,
spise you; I will "
of us alone; let us care for each other. Can you
love me, little one ?”
“Can you love me, do you think?” asked the
to examine among the poor for the causes of the
high death-rate of children, from having lost his
only two children years ago by cholera infantum.
Ha became convinced that the evil is in the man
agement of the nursery, and recently remarked
have to lean up against the water-cooler, nor sit
on the sharp-edge seat arm. The little inven
tion which will thus facilitate your movements
retails for only one dollar. It is called the semi-
cylinder, double duplex non-conductor, magical
reels, and the sensitive, cultivated ear is tor- j girl, raising her eyes to Esther, incredulously,
tured with disgust for the once-beloved instru
ment. Esther's only preventive against this dis
gust was the half hour of solitary communion with
the masters of her art, which she managed to
secure after college hours were over, and while
the twilight built up fantastic shadows in the
music-room, or the moon stole through the
parted curtains and laid her long, white fingers
upon the rapt face of the solitary occupant.
One evening, when she went as usual for her
honr of musical refreshment, she was stopped
in the act of unlocking the door of the music-
room, situated in the wing of the main college
building, by hearing some one within softly
singing an .tnfamiliar air, and picking out the
tune a little uncertainly upon the keys of the
piano. The air was plaintive and pretty. The
But a foreboding hung ever Esther that not j words were Spanish, and sung in a fresh, sweet
all liis cheerful words could lift. It deepened
when he had gone, and she crouched by the
smouldering fire and heard the November wind
wail without, and felt how utterly lonely she
was. A wild longing came over her to commu
nicate with Vietoiine, by letter if no other way;
but she reflected that it would not be well.
“ It would bring trouble to the poor child if it
should reach her hand, which it is barely pos
sible it would be permitted to do. It would
put the burden of secresy upon her frank na-
voice that Esther did not recognize. On unlock-
; ing and opening the door, behold ! seated at the
piano, the black sheep of the college flock—a
| sallow, black-eyed, sour-visaged imp, whose
; name of Sadossa her unfriendly schoolmates
I had transformed into “Dusky” in malicious allu-
j sion to her dark skin. “Little Injun” was another
I appellation they bestowed upon her.
| She had been an inmate of the seminary for
j over two years, having been left there by her
father, who represented himself as going on a
ture, and I know what a weight that is, and how trip to California and the Indian Nation.
closely akin to shame. Then, by this time, she
has lost her first impulse of faith in me. How
could it last, after she had heard what Dr. Hay
wood could tell her on his return ?"
Sighing wearily, she put aside the thought of
holding any communication with her sister, and
wrote instead to Ellen—a cheering, comforting
letter, in spite of her own aching heart, giving
her the particulars of Harvey’s departure, dwell
ing upon his regret at being unable to see her
before he went, and Lis hope of returning with
bettered fortunes.
The letter finished, she set about making her
few preparations for going away. For appear
ance sake, she had purchased a trunk, though
there was not much to fill it. When her clothes
were neatly folded and laid in it, there was
room for the guitar—poor Copley’s gift. At that
moment, the little local was walking his tiny
room, haggard and sleepless, feeling very bitter
against this school-teaching scheme that would
deprive him of the happiness of taking care of
Esther. These past weeks had been a green
spot in his barren life. All the romance that
had been buried under over-wo'k and care and
poverty had sprung into a life that would last
forever, for in humble, faithful natures like his,
an attachment is dog-like, and clings to its ob
ject in spite of absence, neglect and wrong.
This evening, in the chill, rainy twilight, he
was waiting for her on the pier when she de
scended from the carriage with her new protector.
Nerved to unusual assurance, he ventured to
claim the privilege of handing her across the
staging and into the cabin of the steamboat.
While Mr. Hutchins saw to the safe bestowal of
his baggage and freight, the reporter stood for a
few sadly-happy moments by Esther’s side on the
steamboat guards. Esther was genuinely grieved
to part from him. She thanked him with tears
for his kindness to Harvey and to herself.
“Oh! don’t speak of it. Miss Esther—don’t.
The kindness was to me. It was a happiness to
do anything for you—oh ! it was a happiness I
am afraid I shall never know again !” cried poor
Copley, carried away by his feelings, and begin
ning to choke and stammer. “Never,” he re
peated, "unless this music-teaching is a failure,
and yon come back here. I hope—I mean I am
afraid the school will fall through; so many fe
male colleges do.”
“I cannot tell. I shall try to do my part; that
is all that will be required of me.”
“I know you will; yon will do more than yonr
part. You will work yourself down, and then I
shall never forgive myself for letting you go.”
“I’ll not be so unjust as to hold yon responsi
ble for my breaking down,” Esther answered
lightly, for Copley’s utterance was growing too ;
fervent.
"If anything should happen—if you need a
friend, promise to apply to me—promise to let
me know,” he entreated. “Remember, your
Had paid in advance in gold doubloons for a
year’s tuition for his daughter; but for the past
eighteen months, nothing had been heard from
him. Dusky’s bills for that time were unpaid;
her clothes were outgrown and shabbv. She
was still kept at the seminary, for it was not
known what else to do with her. She seemed
to have no home, no friends, and no relative,
with the exception of this single parent, whom
the trustees now abused as an impostor. Their
suspicions extended to the girl. The teachers
treated her with neglect, and even with harsh
contempt. The ill-feeling speedily reflected itself
in the minds of the other girls. The little dark-
skinned, elfish child, in shabby clothes, too
short and small for her, became an object of rid
icule and a target for sehool-girl wit. Her case
illustrated the wonderful capacity of the school-
| girl intellect for devising ways of teasing, tor-
: menting and wounding. She became the scape-
; goat of the school. All acts of mischief or
I awkwardness were laid upon her. She was not
' trampled upon in this way without doing her
j best to sting. She grew bitter, resentful, care-
I less of pleasing, and defiant of blame. She in-
! vented schemes of malicious mischief for vic-
; timizing her persecutors. She turned upon them
with fierce retorts, and, on several occasions,
j with sharp assaults. Once, she came near stab-
; bing one of her tormentors with a little silver-
- hilted Spanish dagger she carried concealed in
her pocket. In short, she did what she could
to deserve the bad reputation which had been
! given her.
Esther had heard a full description of Dusky’s
! fiendish qualities the first day or two after her
| installment in her new position. The girl’s
| scowling, defiant face had borne out the reputa-
! tion, and she was well satisfied to have nothing
| to do with her. and glad that she was not one of
her pupils. Great was her surprise to find the
, black sheep sitting at the piano and singing the
plaintive Spanish song in a voice that was alto
gether unlike her usual sullen tone.
She started and looked around as Esther
opened the door; her face took on its dogged
look, and she got up from the piano saying:
“Well, you’ve caught me. Now you can re
port to the Grand Mogul that you found the Imp
trying to smash the best piano, sacred to the
use of young ladies who have money to pay for
the privilege of strumming upon it.”
“How did you get in ?” Esther asked, without ,
noticing the girl's sarcasm.
“Climbed in at the window, as other cats do,” \
she answered, smiling grimly and looking down
at her nails that she wore long and pointed for
the benefit of her enemies. “ Put that in your
report, too.”
“ How do you know I shall make any report ?”
“ Of course, you would not miss the chance
of currying favor with the principal and the
young misses. It would be such a pure delight '
yet oh ! how earnestly. “ Can you love a wicked,
ugly, dark imp like me ?”
“I will not believe you are wicked. If you
were loved and happy, you would be good—yes,
noble and unselfish; I know it by that brow, and
by these eyes,—these beautiful eyes,” she said,
lifting she girl’s fuce and kissing it.
A flood of light and color broke over it from
throat to brow, as she fell at Esther’s feet, sob
bing passionately and kissing the hands of her
new-found friend. The joy of being loved and
believed in, was overpowering to this childish
heart, that had been almost broken in the effort
to steel itself defiantly against injustice and op
pression.
From that hour, she attached herself to Esther
with a devotion which partook of the nature of :
passion— a silent devotion, manifesting itself in
thoughtful, unobtrusive acts, and in looks
rather than in words. From that time, too, a
change took place, as it seemed, in her very na
ture. The scowl left her face; her sullen manner
changed to one, not genial, it is true, but quiet
and unaggressive. Gradually she ceased to re
sent the slights or insults of the girls. “I don’t j
mind it now,” she said to Esther, “since you I
care for me.” And, finding their attempts to
provoke her unnoticed, the girls in a little while i
ceased their persecutions, and she was left com- !
paratively in peace. She made no friends among \
them, for she was not winning, and she took no ]
pains to be so to them, but siie disarmed their j
enmity by her indifference; so she was let alone, )
and voted a “queer thing that the new music i
teacher had taken a whim to pet.” Nor was it
long before an improvenfent” bTg ail to show itself
in her appearance as well as in her conduct. To
please her new friend, the tangled black locks
were neatly braided, her clothes repaired and
carefully put on. Two or three new dresses,
gifts from Esther, made their appearance in her
wardrobe—cheap prints, but neatly made by
Esther's own fingers, as the two sat around the
lamp in the music teacher's room in the length
ening autumn evenings. So potent is appear
ance, that these simple improvements in the
girl's looks did more to create respect for her
in the minds of teachers as well as pupils, than
did the amelioration in her morals and manners.
The bond between Esther and this little waif
was destined to be more closely riveted by sym
pathy and affliction. The shock of sudden, aw
ful intelligence prostrated Esther upon a bed of
sickness, and Dusky became her faithful, ef
ficient nurse. Oh. so light, the little Spanish
feet creeping around the bed; so soft the little
brown hand in its untiring ministrations ! Days
i went by in the alternate delirium and stupor of
j fever. At last, one rainy midnight, Esther’s eyes
I opened consciously, and rested on a wan little
face that bent anxiously over her.
“I am better,” she said in answer to the mute
I inquiry that rested in Dusky’s eyes. But ah!
j child, how weary and worn you look. Come,
j lie down here by me.”
J She stretched out her arms appealingly, and
Dusky lay down beside her, and was clasped
to her breast. With her head against the child’s
bosom, came a burst of tears that brought relief.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
his medicines. He has given practical effect to
his convictions by bequeathing two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, the interest of which is
to be a perpetual fund to be employed in the
prevention of sickness among the children of the poor
of his native city.
On visiting any domicile of the poor, however
repulsive it may be, you recognize at once how
that home may be improved and made compar
atively healthy by the housekeeper; you know
how the walls may be cleansed with carbolic acid;
how the floors may be deprived of dirt by scrub
bing; how the furniture may be cleansed by rub
bing; how vermin may be destroyed; how the
bed and body clothes may be cleansed and made
wholesome; how the various foods may be se
lected, preserved and prepared, so as to be
digestible and nutritious; how the children are
to be bathed and taken into the open air. You
do not doubt your ability to so improve the con
dition of every poor mother's home, with the
means at her command, as to save the children
from the fatal diseases which now destroy them
in such numbers. The saving of child-life is
then largely a matter of good housekeeping and
proper nursing. Cleanliness, pure air and suit
able food will save the children confined to the
nursery. But the housewifery of the poor can
never be improved, except by personal instruc- j the invention.
it under yonr skirts this way (illustrating with
| his coat tail), and when you desire to sit down
' pull the right-hand string, which you can have
come out in your pocket, and lo! down you
j gently float until you reach the chair. If you
j desire to get into a carriage, drop the invention
j by pulling this string, put your foot on the
i spring, and you’ll find yourself in the carriage
I in an instant.”
The lady called her husband to see the new
■ invention, and the agent explained its workings
J to him. As the husband’s eye fell upon the
| agent, a wicked thought flashed through his
j brain, and he determined to be revenged.
“This is a new invention,” began the agent,
“to enable ladies to draw bacR their skirts
J much tighter than at present and, at the same
j time, allow them to sit down. It is called the
! high-fangled, draw-back and squeeze together,
! new modus operarali. Ladies say I am a labor-
j saving benefactor—that I am an everlasting ”
] “Wait!” shouted the husband; “please ex-
| plain its workings again.”
j The agent did so.
“Why, that would make a good hay hoister.”
“Yes,” answered the agent, “but it is more
, particularly designed for ladies.”
The husband sent for his daughter to examine
tion in their homes. You may reply that this
is the work of the health authorities. No, it is
not, except so far as they perform the work
through your agency. They can remove the
grosser nuisance, but they cannot teach the poor
how to manage their domestic affairs; they can
supply well devised ventilators, but they can
not keep them open; they can secure the clean
ing of passage-ways, areas, etc., but they cannot
keep them clean. The real value of much of
the work of Loulth officials depends upon Hie
co-operation of the poor themselves. This must
“This is a new, unparalelled, upright longi
tudinal, square-shaped perpendicular, two de
grees south by four west, extra strong, sling to
gether and squash up pull-back dress invention
which I am selling for ohe dollar. Ladies call
me a—”
“Hold on !” shouted the husband and father,
“until I call my other daughter,” and he waltzed
out of the room and returned with the hired
girl and the chamber-maid.
“You see, Vdies,” began the agent, “this is
a flop-over and stand-you-up magical tragical,
be secured as missionary service by women, j two strings to the right and one to the center,
+1-./-vv.i~^^.1 i invP’nt.inn fnr rmllinor V»ar*lr vmvr rlrAcs ,,! and li*
though it might be well incorporated as a branch
of general sanitary work by health boards.
You may allege that the poor are so perverse
that such instruction would be rejected. This
depends upon the manner in which the instruc
tion is given. Long experience in visiting the
poor will convince any one that there is no fam
ily so degraded that you cannot entirely change
gross domestic habits; that in the great majority
invention, for pulling back your dress;” and he
went on for half an hour, during which time
the husband slipped over to the next house and
induced the neighbors to come over and hear
the agent talk. He returned with six women
and four children, just at the winding up for the
fourth time. Escorting one person into the room
at a time, he had the agent to tell each one about
the “invention.” He stationed a small boy out
of instances you can secure all you attempt in j id the hall with a lead pencil, who was instructed
Ill-Cooked Food.
Ill-cooked food produces indigestion. A dys
peptic is gloomy, morose, and irritable. Chil
dren as well as adults participate in the ill
effects of bad or indifferent food. They become
peevish, fretful and fractious. A husband com
ing home after a wearisome day of business has
a right to be met by bright, healthful, shining
faces at his own hearthstone, and to be furnished
with a well-prepared, wholesome meal: instead
of which he finds too often a languid and sickly,
or indolent and incapable wife, and troublesome
and quarrelsome children, and under-done or
over-done slovenly dinner. These causes com
bined often send a man from his home to seek,
at club or restaurant, the comforts he is entitled
to look for in his own dwelling. It is no longer
impressed upon girls, about becoming wives,
that the necessity of studying the tastes of hus-
cleanliness, in the care of children, and in the
preparation of foods. This radical change in
the habits of ignorant people cannot be effected
by one visit, or ten; nor can it ever be accom
plished by those to whom the work is repulsive,
and who stand afar off and simply say: “Be ye
clean.” It must be undertaken, if at all, in
downright earnest, by those who can bring
themselves into full sympathy' with the poor,
and enter heartily into the trials, troubles and
difficulties which beset them on every hand.
The well qualified visitor who calls regularly,
week after week, upon a given poor family, in
quiring kindly into all the family affairs, and
advising and aiding to relieve sources of domes
tic unhappiness, imperceptibly gains the confi
dence of the children and parents; her visits are
welcome, her advice is sought, and she becomes
the mistress of the household. Says an experi
enced sanitary missionary: “I am constantly
appealed to to teach how to clean and cook, and
I daily see the home-life of my families improv
ing under my advice and instruction; their
rooms are becoming models of cleanliness and
good order; the food is well selected and pre
pared; the children are daily bathed and taken
to the parks; and scarcely a case of sickness is
known among the children of my families
throughout the year.” There are tenement
houses in this city in which the annual rate of
deaths has been reduced from fifty-five in one
thousand to less than ten in one thousand, by
improvements in the domestic habits of the fam
ilies. In one instance, I attempted the experi
ment of improving the domestic habits of the in
mates of one of the most unsanitary tenement
houses in the district, for the purpose of pre
venting the high death-rate that had for years
distinguished that house. The task was by no
to make a mark on the wall every time the agent
repeated his story. The stock he had brought
in was exhausted about noon, when he sent a
messenger around the ward to send in the neigh
bors, and the agent was kept telling the story
without intermission till near midnight.
As the sun disappeared behind the western
horrizon, the agent began to show signs of fa
tigue, but the husband was as fresh as ever.
Eleven minutes to twelve o’clock the agent, who
had just completed his yarn for the two hundred
and sixteenth time, looked up and gasped. A
glass of water was thrown in his face, and the
husband told the boy to run in half a dozen
more persons, for he thought he could finish
the agent now in about an hour and a half. The
boy left to rouse up the neighborhood, to find
half a dozen who had not yet heard the story of
the “invention.” When he was absent frequent
stimulants had to be given the agent to prevent
him from fainting. Shortly the boy returned,
saying that no more neighbors could be found,
as they had all gone on an excursion. The hus
band on hearing this was in despair, but he had
the agent to repeat the story a couple of times
to the boy and once to himself. YVhen he had
finished he was so far exhausted as to be unable
to sit up.
A fiendish smile stole across the features of
the husband as he said:
“Y'oung man, I have hoped for this moment.
I have been haunted almost to death by agents.
The last agent that came along swindled me out
of two dollars, and then I took a terrible oath
that I would be revenged upon the next man
that attempted to seduce me. Know, then, that
I have induced these people who have listened
to your eloquence, to come in, that I might turn
your own weapon against you. You have talked
means as difficult as I had expected, though the | yourself to death. Thank Heaven ! I have suc-
people were the most stolid of their class. With cseded in my revenge. You can live but a few
cleanliness, ventilation, more select and better- j moments longer, but before you die I pray you
. _ i j r J .. 1, ‘ l l xl: . x ■ j i • ! tn rnneo f o rrm in that wall-lrn r.wri o fnrr **
cooked foods, daily bathing of the children in |
the summer, suitable clothing in the winter, etc.,
to repeat again that well-known story.’
The agent backed himself up against the side
brother honored me with his friendship—I have i to them to have me reported for punishment.”
Ciim xx lifflxx nloi tv» ,xn. ’’ . ., T ii _ xi •_ i x *x N’. .. i. _
some little claim on
“ Y'ou have the highest claim on my confi
dence, ' Esther cried warmly. “I do promise to
apply to you whenever I may he in need of a
friend’s help and counsel. ”
I shall say nothing about it. Y’ou have not
hurt the piano or anything, unless you have
done your hands a damage climbing in.”
“Not any, thank you; not a finger-nail bro
ken—I’ll take care of them. They are all the
Ah! I leel a presentiment that the time will ' weapons I have, now they’ve robbed me of my
come.
She gave him her hand; he pressed it convuls
ively in his. while she felt his hot tears splash ■
upon it. He could not speak another word.
The warning bell rang, the steamer rocked
with premonitory motion, and Mr. Hutchins,
coming up behind them, informed Esther that i
her trunk was “all right.” and her state-room
had been engaged for her. When she looked
back, Copley was gone. She leaned over the
railing of the guards and watched through her
tears the receding city, with its thousand lights
a-gleam through the November mist, and its
domes and pinnacles faintly penciled on the
twilight sky.
“You should never have left it,” whispered the
foreboding voice in her heart. “ Before you see
it again, you shall have passed through the fiery
furnace of anguish—through the bleak shadow
of despair.”
CHAPTER XY.
Two days of stemming the clear, dark current
of the Mississippi, and "the dun. turbid waters
of Red River; another day of jolting in an an
cient hack through a wooded and sparsely-
settled country, then the driver cried out:
knife.’
She was going out, when Esther said gently:
“That is a strange song to me that you were
singing. What is it?”
“ It was nothing. I don’t sing anything but
‘Dan Tucker.’”
“It was very sweet, I thought,” contined Es
ther, taking no note of the ungracious reply.
“ I should like to learn it. Spanish, too, was it
not? When did you learn Spanish?”
“ When I learned to talk. That’s Mexican
Spanish ?”
“ Were you horn in Ylexico?”
“ Yes. Don’t you hear the girls call me Mex
ican Ylustang and Indian ? They would add nig
ger. if they dared.”
“I have heard a great deal about the pretty
Mexican ladies and their little feet. Do they
really wear silver slippers like Cinderella ?”
The girl forgot her sulkiness, and broke into :
a smile that flashed all over her dark face, lit up
her eyes, and set her white teeth a-gleam.
“ They don’t wear slippers or shoes either— ,
those that I knew,” she said; “but their feet are
little, aud they can dance like mad, and they .
love music.”
. . ^ • - i • , , . . . I'xl v o UiliXlJUX« o UtWuoxv vivliiliiL AAA 111 w V> IHvCi « Ctv* . ' D X D
ba “ ds 4 and . ministering jto them ^ in wise and I the s i c kness-rate fell until that house became I of the room, a'glass of water was given him, and
he began:
“Y'on see, I have a double-duplex—”
And he was dead.
The coroner was summoned, an inquest held,
the jury returning a verdict that the deceased
came to his death by too much circumlocution
of the jaw, and they contributed their fees to
the husband, and caused a diploma to be awarded
him as a testimonial of the good he had done the
public.
Any one now passing Munson street can see a
sign hung on the front door of a fine-looking
mansion, which reads:
AGENTS, BEWARE.
wifely fashion is an incumbent duty. This del
icate duty is transferred to ignorant and stupid
servants who have neither the intellect nor the
inclination to enable them to serve up food in
an acceptable manner. A woman, whatever her
station, can possess no more desirable accom
plishment than that of being able to instruct
others, or, if need be, to prepare with her own
hands a good dinner, and to serve it daintily.
“I thought you were born on the first of
April ?” said a husband to his lovely wife, who
had mentioned the twenty-first as her birthday.
“Most people would think so, from the choice
I made of a husband,” was the reply.
“You say you love her, old fellow?” “Yes, to
distraction.” “Well, then, there’s only one
thing to be done—marry her.” “Ah ! that’s out
of the question; I feel that I love her too ar
dently for it to last long.”
Coxstaxt success shows us but one side of the
world, for it surrounds us with flatterers who
will tell us only our merits, and silences our
enemies, from whom alone we might learn our
defects.
noted for its healthfulness.
It should be the duty of the visitor to aim to |
instruct the family in all the details of house- j
keeping in which the housekeeper was found J
deficient. A schedule of her duties as teacher j
would he somewhat like the following: 1. The j
necessity of ventilation, and how to secure it in j
the apartments. 2. How and when to limewash j
walls, and how to use carbolic acid for that pur- '
pose. 3. How to dry scrub floors. 4. How to j
wash, cleanse and disinfect dirty clothing. !
5. How to destroy vermin, and preserve beds 1
clean and wholesome. 6. How to select, cook j
and preserve suitable foods, and the kinds of j
food adapted to children of different ages and 1
conditions of health. 7. How and when to bathe j
children. In addition to such instructions,
she could look carefully after the health of |
the children, and correct, by advice, slight ;
ailments which would become formidable dis
eases if not promptly attended to. She should |
organize parties of children to visit the parks,
and spend much of the day in the open air.
Marine Beauties.—One of the prettiest crea
tures that live under water is the sea-mouse. It
sparkles like a diamond, and is radiant with all
the colors of the rainbow, although it lives in
the mud at the bottom of the ocean. It should
not have been called a mouse, for it is larger
than a rat. It is covered with scales that move
t a ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ j up and down as it breathes, and glitters like gold
These are but few of the thousand practical de- , shining through a flocky down, from which fine
tails in the care of a house and family where ' sl ^y bristles wave, that constantly change from
After waiting four years, a Michigan lover
finally popped the question, and the girl an
swered: “Of course I’ll have you! Why you
fool you, you might have married me three years
ago.”
the visitor’s advice and quiet, unobtrusive aid
would be useful. And what amount of life-saving
would grow out of such work it is impossible to
conjecture.
“Husband,” said the wife of a young clergy
man, “read me one of your sermons; I feel
dreadfully wakeful to-night and wish to sleep. ”
one brilliant tint into another, so that, as Cuvier,
the great naturalist, says, the plumage of the
humming-bird is not more beautiful. Sea-mice
are sometimes thrown up on the beach by
storms.
Be constant in what is good, but beware of
being obstinate in anything that is evil. Con-}
stancy is a virtue, but obstinacy is a sin.