Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

[For The Sunny South.J MY BRIDE. [At the Medical College in Philadelphia, a young gentle man of wealth and talent became a lunatic and died. Among hie papers was found the following manuscript, giving at once the cause of his heart-break, his derange ment aud death.] I wooed her in her beauty—her purity and bloom— When her gentle breath seemed freighted with an orient morn's perfume; When the lovely pink ol sunrise seemed mantling on her cheek, And her blue eyes beamed with tender hopes her lip for bore to speak. I wooed her by the Bummer sea, where but the stars above And the spirits of the mighty deep conld hear our vows of love; I saw their misty shadows pass, I heard their dreamy strain. And foreboded not they presaged a future wild with pain I only saw her— my sweet dower that opened day by day. Each charm too beautiful and bright to yield to foul decay; 1 only heard her whiBpered tones that gave her heart to me, Lula laughingly escorts the Colonel to his seat, gives him two or three kisses, which have the effect of so harrowing up the Major's feelings that he at once leads out three kings consecu tively to discover the whereabouts of the aces. Then she leaves him to his fate and returns to Mr. Weir, who is making much ado over a burnt finger. “All in your service,” he said, reproachfully, as she sits down beside him. “Question my gallantry after that." “Noble emulation of Sir Walter Raleigh, I only question your good sense; why did you not use the snuffer ? “For the same reason that he did not use a plank—1 did not see one. His queen was grate ful, but mine ” “I wish to know,” puts in Grayson Manning, “ if you, sister mine, always expect to rule in the high-handed style of to-night, over the lords of creation ? “ Certainly, until the hour which is said to end the female reign,” and she looks at Mr. Weir from under her long lashes. “ Sapient female! It will be well for thee thy expectations do not extend into that, to thee, undiscovered bourne of married life—that state In all its virgin sweetness, by that sounding summer sea. 1 iu which the golden fetters which bound the strong man and made him her willing slave is passed, and the fetters, golden no longer, are transferred to her own spirit, lately so joyously free. The despotic throne before which the sons of wealth and chivalry bowed themselves in humble adoration. Alas ! how it crumbles be neath the touch of Hymen. Instead of the gala festivities of the court of Cupid, behold an end less round of domestic duties. The uninvi ting ” “A truce!” cries Lula, holding up her hands. “Mr. Weir, will you see me devoured outright by this Ursa Major?” “I was only waiting for a signal of distress. I do not belong to the fraternity who think these days of woman’s rights, that if they wish to take our prerogatives they must take our disadvan tages also, as a man in a crowded car told a cel ebrated champion of her sex, as he kept his seat while she stood." “It would certainly be very unjust to visit upon my innocent head the sins of my sex. While I think it a good move in the right direc tion, I am far from endorsing extravagancies of the reform, but, the contrary, I was contending that when a woman marries she yeilds up unre servedly all rights except those of being loved.” “ Which comprises tnem all,” puts in Gray son, sententiousiy. “ You are mistaken,” retorted Carrie, “as was the woman who thinking, ‘ with all my worldly goods I thee endow,’ meant what it said, found j it meant, instead, one calico dress a year.” “ Well done, Oarute ! I am glad something has at last drawn you out in defense of your sex. I have been thinking of the legend the old Danish poet tells, of the Marstig’s daughter, who, after leaving home and friends for an 4 unco man,’ finds she has wedded a fiend, who destroys her. That is a case, though, to which a parallel can be found any day.” “ Don’t annihilate my sex, entirely, Miss Lula, by your cutting sarcasm. Let me repeat the legend of Frithiof, which Tegnir tells so beauti- j fully, and perhaps you may think better of us. ; How Frithiof and Ingeborg grew up under the same roof; he like the young oak; she, the lily, with the blush of morn upon her cheek. The old king, her father, dies, and her brothers refuse to allow her to marry beneath her station, for Frithiof is only the son of a Thane. They meet clandestinely in the temple of Balder, for which profanation, when her brothers hear of it, glad of an excuse to be rid of the troublesome suitor, they exile him to the Orkney Isles, and, in his absence, give Ingeborg in marriage to old king Ring. How, after years of weary wandering on the seas, the Viking Frithiof longs with an irre sistible longing to behold once more the face of j 0 God! I saw that cheek’s soft rose fade slowly day by day; 1 knew Consumption's blightiDg hand bad stole its tints away; I heard the slow, dry, fatal cough burst from her laboring chest— Death’s watch-dog baying ceaselessly within her lovely breast. I loved her yet more wildly because I knew that Death Was wooing her, my bride, to him—was drinking her sweet breath. It was a strange, mad rivalry, and BleepleBB foes were we, Each watching some unguarded point to win the victory But slowly, steadily she waned, as stars before the sun, And I knew by her faint pulses that Death’s victory was won; But as her life was sinking low, her smiles to me were given, And with my name upon her lips, her spirit entered heaven. They buried her—I knew not when; fierce madness ruled my soul; I seemed to hear a demon’s yell sound in the death-bell's toll. They say I burst through weeping bands, and madly, fiercely stood Upon her grave’s black yawning verge, and frantic cursed my God. ******* They bid me give my heart to fame,—I have no heart to give; Tor though I move, and act, and think, I do not seem to live. A night-mare dream enfolds my brain—a dream of woe and pain; I wildly strive to burst the spell and wake to life again. Ah! when I wake, I shall behold, all blooming by my side, And robed in heaven’s radiant garb, my own lost angel bride; But while I sleep, O Heaven, thiB is my only prayer— My heart be not so sinful here as not to meet her there. without much jingling of glass and silver, which announced to the indefatigable whist party that if they wished to make a night of it the material was at hand. They were not slow to hike the hint, and soon came out of the library, Capt. Mason, gallantly escorting Miss Seawell, triumphantly heading the party. Then the delicious beverage was disposed, health pledged, and tales told of the'olden time by the Colonel, in which both the Major and the Captain might have assisted if they had been dis posed. Then as the night wore on to the “wee sma’ hours avant the twal,” the former gentle man called for his horse, which order gave the signal for the breaking up of the merry-making. “I suppose j’ou are not afraid of bogles and the like, Major, since you ride so late,” said Mr. Weir, as he bade him good-night in the cordial American fashion of shaking hands. “No, for there are only kindly spirits abroad on the blessed yule-tide you know, and having no irate dame at home with brows of gathering storm, •Nursing her wrath to keep it warm,’ I may safely venture homeward.” “Randal,” said Grayson, when the parlor was deserted by all except themselves, as he sat stir ring the remains of the hickory logs, “let us have some fun to-night. These girls will return here before long to hang up their stockings; sup pose we don the disguises in which we are to appear with the Fantastics to-morrow night, and frighten them.” “ But I am to represent His Satanic Majesty.” “And I a Ku-kiux — a truly frightful couple. They will scream and shriek and go through the programme which ladies seem to think necessary on such occasions, doubtless, but as to anything serious, you may make yourself easy.” “Then the sooner we attire ourselves, the bet- | ter. ” “ I suppose so, but if we fail to reach the par lor before they come to hang up their stockings, j we have still another opportunity, for that sister J of mine is too true a daughter of Eve to sleep j soundly with an unknown present in her stock- j ing; they will be here again before day, depend on it.” Thus saying, Grayson piled a fresh lot of logs \ on the tall bright andirons, and then the plot ters against the peace of the two unsuspecting ■ females wended their way up the broad stairs to j their bedroom, taking care to make as much [ noise as possible in doing so, that the young ladies might know they had retired for the night. Half an hour afterward, when everything was quiet in the house, two figures, frightful to be hold, stole with cat-like steps back to the place of rendezvous. “Now,” said Grayson, in a low voice, “we “At thy bidding, we come.” i “Indeed no. In an agony of terror, Lula flew shrieking to Proserpine.” the door, shook it violently in a vain effort to “How cruel! open it. but, as generally happens in such cases, j of one true and devoted heart?’ I have no desire to dethrone But you will accept the empire the bolt refused to turn. Seeing the spectre close behind her. she rushed wildly away in an opposite direction, circling quickly around the piano, closely pursued by the kuklux. “It is I-don’t you know me?” reiterated Grayson, following her as rapidly as his cum brous headgear and impedingjsword would per mit. But in her state of terror Lula did not recog nize the voice, thinking it was only some ghostly utterance of satisfaction at the prospect of gob bling her up; so around they flew, performing amazing feats of gymnastics, in the way of clear ing chairs and ottomans at a bound, in a race which would have shamed John Gilpin. Mr. Weir, in the meantime a prey to the keen est remorse, administered generous quantities of eggnog to Carrie’s face by way of a resuscita- will take our stand, or rather seat, in the recesses i unpardonable freak of- tor in lieu of water, which at last had the desired \ on the slender finger effect, and Carrie, opening her eyes and finding " ’ ’ ’ herself in the grasp of His Satanic Majesty, would have relapsed into unconsciousness, but for the fortunate circumstance of beholding an object which would have recalled any woman on the verge of existence—her chignon swimming about in the remains of egg-nog, a great black island in a cream-colored sea; with a little shriek she released herself from Mr. Weir’s supporting arms and rescued, all dripping, that indispen sable portion of her coiffeur. Just at that moment, the Colonel with a stick in one hand and the light in the other, rushed in, en deshabille. “Heydey ! heydey ! What is the matter?” he exclaimed excitedly. “Opapa!” cried Lula, rushing to him, and seizing him so tightly around the neck as to pre clude any further inquiry on his part. “I have told her fifty times that it was I,” said Grayson, from the cavernous depths of his ku klux chest, as he dodged a well-aimed blow from the Colonel’s cane. But calculating only for his ordinary height, the skull received the stroke which removed it from its elevated position and brought to view Grayson's own brown locks. “Grayson Manning, this outrage is perfectly unpardonable !” cried Lula, indignantly, releas ing the half suffocated Colonel. “ I am not sur prised at any act of yours, however thoughtless and unkind; but Mr. Weir,” turning to that gen tleman, who had partly removed his satanic be longings, “ I did not expect this of you.” “My daughter!” reproved the Colonel, who, under no circumstances, forgot his duty as host “I deserve any reproof she may give, Colonel Manning, but I hope she will pardon a seemingly “ My sponsors promised for me that I should abjure His Satanic Majesty and all his works." “ How can you tease me so, Lula, my darling?” and he bent his dark, full eyes upon "her face. Coquettish to the last, she turned it quite away, that its roseate glow might not prema turely betray her. He seized the hand that lay temptingly upon the balustrade, and drawing from its case a for get-me-not ring of turquoises and pearls, said: “This is my Christmas gift; but the donor goes with the gift. May I put it on your finger?” Her silence was her affirmative to this ques tion, but though her saucy tongue was dumb anil her blue eyes downcast, the tell-tale blushes whispered the secret. “Mine!" he cried, rapturously. “In token of which I affix my seal,” and he slipped the ring of the chimney, which are in the deep shadow. You will be md by this high-backed chair, and this divan will screen me from too inquisitive eyes. When i tap on the mantle, rise up, and we will appear simultaneously.” “ I am really afraid we will frighten the young 1 Randall is not to blame, father,” interrupted Grayson. Then followed an explanation of the affair. In the meantime hurried footsteps and glow ing lights proclaimed an aroused household. Miss Seawell arrived first on the scene in neglige; ladies; you have no idea what a horrible appear- j after her the Captain, ditto, just in time to hear [Por The Surmy South.] THE RESULT OF A WHIM. A CHRISTMAS STORY. BY H. E. SHIPLEY. The time was Christmas Eve, with the night gathering darkly over the hills; and the place was Brandon, the country house of Col. Man ning, whose custom it was to gather about him, on these occasions of peace and good will, as hia ancestors had done before him, the friends and neighbors of the family. His wife had long since passed away to the land of perpetual peace and good will, but his home, under the judicious administration of her maiden sister, knew no diminution in hospitality, and Brandon was still a synonym for enjoyment. His son and daughter, just returned from their respective halls of learning, had each brought I home, to enjoy the holidays, a friend. These I young people were now grouped before the great, generous fireplace, with its tall, shining andirons and huge hickory logs; beyond, around a table, were clustered, the hearty old Colonel with Major | down—” fl w. ... a n n a r. a« ,1 G A .. I A V . 1 X . . I ^ ^ Pi Y AT Vl 1 ance you present. “lean return the compliment—but hush! here they come.” The gentlemen sprang to their respective hid ing places, as the soft lootl'alls sounded on the staircase, and soon after the door opened, admit ting Lula and Carrie. Lula with her wealth of blonde hair falling about her shoulders over the blue merino dressing-gown, and Carrie, with her hair still, in ladies’ parlance, “done up,” her sombre brunette beauty heightened by her crim son robe; both figures looking very slim indeed, each bearing in hand a long white hose. “This is delightful!” exclaimed Lula, sinking down all of a heap upon the rug before the fire, “ after our descent through that cold hall. Some considerate mortal has replenished the fire in anticipation of our return.” 44 Grayson I suppose. He is a dear good brother, his still beloved Ingeborg. He lands as Juletide j if he is an incorrigible tease.” on his native shore, accompanied by his faithful j friend, Bjorn, who urges the forcible abduction of the beautiful Ingeborg. This Bjorn, a bear indeed, knows so little of love as to offer to bring to Frithiof a whole ship load of maidens, from the far off land of the sunny south, as red as roses and gentle as lambs; but Frithiof will have 44 1 am glad to hear you say so Carrie, for I am particularly anxious to have him installed in your good graces,” and Lula looked quizzically at her friend. Grayson smiled from his post of observation as he saw the conscious glow overspread Carrie’s face. He had been particularly anxious about none of them; he wishes only to see his white j the same thing himself for some time, despite lily, wife though she be of another. So when the king and queen sit drinking mead in the banquet hall, the ‘bear-skin man,' old and hoary, enters and humbly seats himself; the courtiers jeer at him, in return for which delicate atten tion he seizes one of them and twirls him up and Grimes as partner, and Capt. Mason and Miss i Seawell as opponents, enjoying the time-honored \ game of whist. “If we had half lights, in only a sufficiency j to 4 throw shadows from the fitful firelight dan- ; cing on the parlor wall, ’ this great room with ! its gloomy recesses and dark oak paneling, ; would be the place of all others for telling ghost j stories. ” Miss Vanne says this looking around, and then i making a little shiver at her own suggestion. Whereupon, Lula Manning springs up in her Pity but some modern coxcombs could be served the same way,” came from the whist- table—the Major, most likely. “The king demands the name of this inter rupter of the yulerus, which is not given by the old man, but his disguise falling off, discloses a princely figure clad in blue velvet, while over his shoulders float his shining ringlets like a wave of gold. Ingeborg doubtless recognizes him, for the color 4 came and went in her cheeks like the northern lights on fields of snow;’ and when King Ring, laying his hand on the boar’s his assumed nonchalance. 44 1 don’t think he will ever belong to the Bene dict fraternity,” returned Miss Vane, nervously attaching the hose to a knob of the mantle, such as are found in most old-fashioned country houses, for the purpose of holding the shovel and tongs in place. “ Don’t you believe that. It is just his way of talking, because he knows that I am so anxious Grayson’s explanation of the disturbance; dur ing which, the curiosity and excitement abating somewhat, Miss Seawell, becoming conscious of the remarkable appearance of the party conse quent upon their scant attire, her own included, made a frantic sally in the the direction of the open door, followed by the young ladies in a like expeditious manner—the Captain had pre viously mysteriously disappeared. Not until they had reached their bedroom, did Carrie become conscious of a most disagreeable stickiness about her dress and face. The young ladies stood regarding each other a moment, and then broke into peals of ringing laughter. 44 Lula, do go to the glass and look at yourself, else you will fail to appreciate your forlorn ap pearance.” “ Not until you have had a glimpse of your self first. Was it not a shame to serve us so?” “I can forgive everything, but being bedaubed with egg-nog,” exclaimed Carrie, looking rue fully at her mass of disheveled hair. “That is an offense for which only the most abject apol ogy can atone, or time and warm water remedy.” 44 Grayson was originator and instigator of the whole affair. I know he alone is to blame,” said Lula, decidedly. The family, with the exception of the Captain, were all assembled at the table the next morn ing when Lula and Carrie put in an appearance. They came in looking as fresh and sweet as if the whole night had been passed in peaceful slumber. Randall colored slightly as they entered, but Grayson preserved his usual complacent and easy manner. “Most amiable and forgiving damsel ” he bore so much from any tormentor in childhood as I from that brother of mine. I once found him cool!}’ decapitating my Queen of Scots, while Queen Bess sat at a little distance turned to a blackamoor, and I was quietly informed that he wished to impress two historical facts upon my not too retentive memory—that Queen Mary was beheaded, and that Queen Bess paid the pen- extinguished the candles in the tall girandoles i kre J T Odin and the mighty Thor, the stranger j alty of her vanity this time, by her maids having nearest to her, called upon Mr. Weir, who is i throws his sword on the table with a resounding j used soot instead of rouge. You are not hear- leaning with a certain unstudied grace against I clang, and swears to defend Frithiof, so help him j ing one word I say !” suddenly exclaimed Lula, “ -- ’’ ” * “ " ’ - Destiny and his good sword. This so pleases the 1 1 " : — 1 - u_ i | that he should give me a sister. If our virtues j began as Lula seated herself beside him. are developed by exercise, I ought to be a female ! “ Grayson, I wonder you can have the audacity edition of Job, for no unfortunate creature ever j to look us in the face this morning,” said Lula, impetuous child-fashion, and having auicklv I head, swears to conquer Frithiof, so help him a• • i i 11.. _ ii • . ,, -. ^ *3 aLa .a.’aUi.. ti *.1. „ ..a the opposite end of the mantle-piece, to do like wise. He affects not to understand the import i °l. d king that he orders Ingeborg to fill a golbet of her words, in order that she may repeat them with the captivating naivete peculiarly her own. “If you really wish it,” he says, extending his hand toward the light, but thinking only of the saucy face uplifted to his. “ Of course I do, or I should not have made the request, and the rosy lips form themselves into a charming pout, whereupon his forefinger and thumb act as an extinguisher to the offend ing light, as he coolly replies: “That is too unsafe a precedent to be made a rule of action. Only on yesterday ” “ Hey-day ! What’s the matter? Lights out?” calls the jolly old Colonel, who endeavors to find out by the aid of the fire-light whether he has turned up the knave or king of hearts, “Relight the candles. Pet.” Then Lula goes to him, and with one soft hand about his neck, while the other performs all manner of feats through his hair, says in her irresistible way: “We are going to be ever so romantic, papa, and tell any number of ghost stories, and you know we can't get scared one bit with those great bright lights staring at us. Can we now ? So all yon dear old fogies (the Major winces) are going into the library, to finish the rubber, like good children,” and she pats him on the cheek and kisses him, whereupon the Major immedi ately plays his ace upon the Colonel’s king. with the choicest wine, which she presents to her sometime lover with downcast eyes and trem bling hand; then the Skald takes up his harp and siDgs the story of Harbort and fair Signe, and the yulerus is prolonged far into the night. becoming conscious that Carrie, who had seated herself beside her, was gazing abstractedly into the fire. “Yes, I heard you,” said Carrie, slowly taking out her hairpins, “but I was thinking of an an cient superstition to the effect that if cedar, or fir as it was called, is burned at midnight, or When afterward the old king discovers the stran- : yule-tide, by any one desiring to know the future, ger’s real name, instead of sending him to Val- ! a vision of it will appear.” 44 much more address any observation to me. We will forgive your shameful conduct of last night only on the most solemn assurances that your aggravating propensities culminated in that act.” 44 Grant me absolution, sister mine, and I will promise anything you wish, even to joining, provided ‘Barkis is willing,”’ looking slyly at Carrie, “the Benedict fraternity.” Carrie’s face flamed as she remembered the conversation of last night. To hide her confu sion, she turned to Randall. “ When did you learn that egg-nog was a specific for syncope ?” she inquired. "it was the suggestion of the distracted mo ment.” “ Distracted man would be more to the point.” “Come, Miss Carrie, don’t scold me; I feel _ _ badly enough already, I assure you. Besides, I j kind « of candy, starch, sugar or glucose is used He might have affixed another seal, had he not espied, at that moment, the Major alighting at the gate. That gentleman knew, when he marked Lula’s conscious manner and Mr. Weir’s air of proud proprietorship, that, in common parlance, “his jig was up.” But, as he afterwards persuaded Miss Seawell to take charge of his bachelor quar ters as its mistress, the presumption is that he was consoled. SCIENTIFIC. Equal parts of American potash and pearlash, two ounces each to about one quart of water, give a good oak stain. Use carefully, as it will blister the hands. Add water if the color be too deep. Bricks made in Japan, and paying twenty per cent, duty, are now imported into San Fran cisco. The quality is superior. Japanease briok-makers can beat the world in the cheap ness and excellence of their productions. Beautiful semi-transparent casts of fancy ar ticles may be taken in a compound of two parts unbaked gypsum, one part bleached beeswax, and one part parafine. This becomes plastic at one hundred and twenty degrees, and is quite tough. The use of a solution of borax, instead of al cohol, for the preservation of anatomical prepa rations, has been suggested by M. Schetzler. His experiments show that the decay of organic matter can be prevented by the action of such a solution. The astronomer Leverrier has placed the let ters O. P. after his name, and now proposes to take partial charge of the weather bureau. He has made a prediction which is noteworthy. It is that the winter of 1875 7(5 will be uncommonly severe. Enormous quantities of snow are to fall in December and January. Metal Glass.—Another hard glass, to which the above name has been given, has been pro duced at Count Solm’s works, near Buntzlau, Germany. The tests withstood appear to be about the same as those to which the Bastic glass was subjected, with the exception, however, that the metal glass is indifferent to cold water when highly heated. The Bastic glass breaks under similar conditions. According to Dr. Hoffman, a fluid called “liquid parchment,” consisting of gutta-percha soaked and softened in ether, is especially adapted for forming a coating for pictures and cards, as it permits the removal of dirt with a moist rag. Pencil and crayon drawing may be rendered ineffaceable by sprinkling them with the liquid by means of an atomizer, an exceed ingly delicate film remaining after the evapora tion of the ether. Marvelous Printing Invention. —A wonderful invention has been patented by the Victoria Printing Machine Company, in a machine which can turn out, ready for the reader, 4,000 copies of a work containing twenty-four pages, bound together, without any manipulative aid. The machine has cost about $20,000, and requires no “feeding,” as it regulates its own supply, taking in a sheet at one end, and in less than a second ejecting it at the other, printed, and with the pages stitched together and ready for the book sellers. A new discovery utilizes the diamond dust, heretofore comparatively worthless, in making mock diamonds that so closely resemble the real as to deceive the best judges. The dust—that is the fine particles and minute chippings that fall from the diamond when it is cut and polished— is dissolved by a chemical process, and the liquid is used to galvanize crystals of quartz, which, after being put into the galvanic battery, come out thickly and durably coated with the liquid diamond, and glittering like real Kohi- noors. The originator claims to have spent twenty-eight years in perfecting his process. Colored Candies.—The coloring substances used in the manufacture of red candies are either carmine or aniline red, both harmless. In blues, either ultramarine or Prussian blue is used, both harmless. In yellow, saffron, chromate of lime, chromate of baryta, chromate of lead, gamboge, or yellow vegetable colors precipitated by alum or chalk. Chromate of lead and gamboge are poisons. As to flavors, oil of peppermint is often adulterated with oil of turpentine. The other flavors are generally artificial ethers, many of which are considered injurious. It will be safe to avoid highly-colored orange, yellow and green candies, and all highly-flavored candies. In some halla or Nifflehem, as our modern husbands would have done, he offers him, not only his “Let us try it!” cried Lula, with character istic impetuosity, springing up and breaking a queen, but his kingdom after his death, and j sprig of cedar from a wreath depending from a until then, a home with them. Frithiof modestly i painting above the mantle, and as she spoke, the declines the generous offer, and retires from I old clock in the hall began, with a premonitory court, but, when the old king is gathered to his fathers, returns, and in the temple of Balder, where they had parted years before, weds his long-loved Ingeborg. How is that for constancy, Miss Manning?” “To self, very good. She was his socialsupe- j flame, rior throughout.” “ Well, what do you think of Schiller’s knight, who, on returning from a crusade, finds his be trothed has plighted her vows to Heaven; he builds a hut near the convent, content if he catches but one glimpse of her a day. Then after years of waiting and watching, whirr, to count out the mystic hour. “Oh, no !” cried Carrie, drawing back with a little superstitious quiver. But the remonstrance came too late, for Lula had already thrown the sprig into the fire, and it quickly burst into a There a corpse they found him sitting, Once when day returned; Still his pale and placid features, To her lattice turned.* 11 “ That is very touching, but not true to life. “ What a tyrannical little pet,” cries the fond You are wasting breath on that spirit of con- father, with his love and pride beaming from tradiction known as my sister. She is as variable every lineament of his ruddy face. as the vane upon the church-steeple, Weir, and “And papa," she continues, still hanging as incorrigible upon some points as—as—as her- about his neck, “ we are going to be children j self, since I find no parallel,” says Grayson, in again, ‘just for a night,’ and hang up our stock- the bantering tone he usually adopted toward his mgs- “ My dear !” remonstrates Miss Seawell, much shocked. dearly beloved sister. “Eh, Bob, this is very clever of you. May you live a thousand years." This last sentence was addressed to a servant, ‘ Well, hose, then, auntie. Do you know any who entered the parlor with the noiseless steps a irliA itaii 1 lilro in nluv Sunto Plonc nn tv a 9’* in d i DO tivn of # v r-w-i, I traininn Knavinn on waiAa. one who would like to play Santa Claus, papa ? “ Shouldn’t wonder, pet. have trumped my trick !” The tone of earnest remonstrance recalls the Major’s wandering faculties, hut too late, for they lose “the house,” and the scores are against them. Then the Colonel, who is an inveterate whist-player, and like all ardent lovers of the game, dislikes interruption of a diverting kind, proposes an adjournment to the quietude of the library, whose warmth and light come to them through the open door. indicative of good training, bearing on a waiter My dear Major, you a handsomely chased silver bowl, teeming with the inevitable egg-nog, without which our South land Christmas were not Christmas. Close behind “Was ever anything more opportune?” thought Grayson; and then giving the signal, he quietly emerged from the recess, while Randall came from the other side. Carrie, looking up, beheld what mortals con ceive to be a faithful representation of the arch enemy—horns, tail, cloven foot, the lurid eyes, and wicked leer, disclosing gleaming, pointed teeth, and an undoubted odor of brimstone. There was little left for the imagination, and hers quickly supplied the jets of flame, which the wavelets of flickering firelights indeed re sembled. With an unearthly shriek, which ran through the house, she fainted quite away, striking as she fell, only her chignon against the silver bowl which still remained on the centre-table, and Randall, quickly springing forward, prevented her reaching the floor. As Lula raised her eyes, they fell upon the spectral figure of the ku-klux, looking supernat- urally tall in the firelight. Around the ghostly waist was buckled a clanking sword, and. at its spectral heels jingled military spurs. Above the grinning skull was affixed an officer's hat with a floating sable plume, and from the cavern- want your good offices in another direction,” in dicating Lula, by a glance “ Miss Vane,” said Grayson, “ if you have satisfied the demands of hunger, and can so far forgive my misdemeanor of last night as to re pair to the scene of its enactment, 1 shall hence forth regard you as the paragon of your sex. I do not include my irate sister in the invitation, as Pet seems to be her normal condition as well as her name.” “Very well, Grayson, adding insult to injury; you will retract that, when you examine your coat pocket.” “ Most heartily do I,” he returned, as unrol ling a paper wnich Lula had slipped into his coat pocket, he displayed a pair of beautifully wrought slippers, silver on a blue-white ground. He bent down and kissed her, fastening an ele gantly chased chain around her white throat; “ An advocate,” he said, “to plead my cause at the bar of your offended dignity; will you come with me, Miss Carrie? I am afraid to make my offering to you so publicly.” He said this in a saucy, I’ll-take-no-refusal way all his own, and with a blush and a pout Carrie rose up and took his arm. Some moments after, his deep, rich voice floated in to them in the words of “ Don’t be angry with me, darling.” “Taking the initiatory of the Benedict frater nity, I suppose,” suggested Lula, as she passed with Mr. Weir out of the breakfast room. “Shall we join them ?” When they had reached the parlor door, Ran dall said: “Come into the colonade. I have a cause of j my own to plead this morning. Can you ever 1 forgive me for my cruelty of last night? Cruelty as a substitute for cane sugar, and starch is used instead of gum arabic. Both these substances are harmless. HOW UNCLE BEN GOT RICH. “Well, in the first place, boys, alwaj’s know what you wish to do before undertaking it. Be fore putting a plow into the ground, I make the | calculation as to how much corn and hay and | fodder I must make for my stock, and set aside I land enough to make it, leaving a good margin I for a short crop. I then calculate how much I wheat I want for home consumption and for sale, i and also set apart the necessary number of acres j for that. Then I look after the potatoes, beans, | and such stuff, making sure I will have enough and to spare. Then I put the balance—surplus ! acres—in cotton. Now, when I farm, I farm well. Y’ou had better give up the farm and go at | something else, if you don’t mean to farm well. : A half-worked farm is as bad as one that never ! saw a plow—almost. Look well to everything on your farm. Keep the fence erect; your im plements in proper place and good order; your cattle and stock fat, and sheltered in the winter, having full faith in the result of your labor, and the end will be well with you. By this w’ay, I manage to have corn, wheat, bacon, cotton, po tatoes and other things to sell - none to buy.” “But don't you buy any guano ?” asked one of the crowd. “ No, sir; I make a better manure on my place than any guano ever dared to be; and so can you, if you would only believe it; but you have all gone crazy over gnano, and w-ill pass under the sheriff’s hammer if you ain’t cured soon. I bought a formula for making a fertilizer on the farm, and it is better, because I do not him, in imminent danger of stepping on his ‘ ous depths of its socketless eyes, shot forth phos- still, though unintentional. You cannot know j adulterate, as do makers of guano. You are all percursory heels, came a small edition of him- -* ’ ’ ’’ ” ’ ’ r —a- — >— * . ” 1 • • self, burdened with the weight of sparkling gob lets and plates heaped with snowy cake. The negro addressed bowed and showed his white teeth, as he carefully deposited his burden on the marble-topped centre table, which action was followed by his follower, (not, however, phorescent gleams. This chef d'oeuvre consisted of a cuticle-like fitting suit of black, upon which the outlines of a skeleton were so perfectly repre sented as to have deceived one in a stronger light than that in which Lula beheld them. This ghostly object advanced towards her with outstretched arms, saying, in a sepulchral tone: how I suffered when I saw your terror.” “ That accounts for Carrie’s baptism of egg nog.” “I suppose so,” said Randall, laughin gin spite of himself. “But do not keep me in suspense. Will you accept the omen of the cedar as indic ative of our future ?” welcome to my experience if it is anything to you. It is worth something to me, I can assure yon.” And we thought so too as we turned away, convinced that we had met with a level-headed farmer once in our life. We sometimes wonder if he is the “hist of his race.”—The Rural South-j erner and Plantation.