Newspaper Page Text
[■Written for The Sunny South.!
VARIAN
The Story of an Orphan Girl.
BY MARY PATTON HUDSON.
“ Miss Westbrook, you -will go with ns to the
moated grange next week. There will be our
party from the Hall, and a dozen of couples
from C . There will be lawn games, and
moonlight sails, and dancing, and everything
delightful.”
“No, M iss Hailey, 1 cannot go; I am really
needed at home. And beside. I do not think I
am quite well, and would be but a sorry com
panion."
But Aunt Priscilla, who somehow’ felt a little
awed by the change in Varrey’s demeanor since
her return from (’ , and the wonderful cos
tumes that she felt anxious should not remain
unseen, demurred at once to the refusal, and in
sisted that she needed change, and must go.;
and while Yarrey was gone from the room a mo
ment, added, confidentially, to Miss Hailey,
that things were different here to Yarrey, and
they did not wish her to droop. They looked
upon her more as a visitor, now, than anything
else; although she entered as usual into the old
routine of duties, and the real work was chiefly’
given over to Winnie—a buxom lassie, whose
chief delight was watching the dextrous turns
of the little brown bands, as they tried the
loaves of cake and bread, or the prints of golden
butter.
There was really no further excuse that Yarrey
could give, and Mildred was in a flow of delight,
remembering Raphael's parting words.
Yarrey read the list of names, and saw that
Carleton King was not of the number, and this
fact withdrew the strongest objection she could
have to being one of the party. With listless
heart and bands, she went about the things that
must be done in preparation for the little jour
ney. As usual, she was assigned to Mr. Lane,
who seemed as full of happiness as the wild
birds that sang upon the tree boughs.
Driving through the hazy glory of the old
grange wood, where wild laburnums waved their
yellow plumes, and the air was rife with wood
land scent, a strangely regretful feeling came
over Yarrey’s mood, and she wished an hundred
times that she bad not been tempted into join
ing this festive throng, so widely at variance
with her own heart-misery and hopeless love.
Where had the girl been taught such wonderful
tact and self-possession that made her hideaway
her real self and become, if not bright and happy
appearing, yet a calm and placidly engaging
woman, that, together with her marvellous beau
ty, wrought constant mischief in the hearts of
men? Had the world been under her feet, she
could scarcely have been cooler or grander in
They stood by the bedside of the sufferer,who
smiled and laid a hand caressingly on each, and
then her brow was darkened by a memory that
had a pang.
“Oh! Varian !” she said, pathetically, “why
would yon not tell me your troubles, dear? I
would have rejoiced to help yon.”
Athalie endeavored to draw her attention to
take a composing draught, hut Carleton mo
tioned her away, and Mrs. Westbrook contin
ued:
“If your lover was in distress, I would have
done what vou asked.
which compelled the driver to come out with
one horse, the other having been foundered or
otherwise disabled, and I could only he taught
by a month’s experience and observation that
the use of shafts was almost unknown.
It is always interesting to the traveler to ob
serve the peculiarities in the customs of the la- trem, which weighed 58 ounces, though the
boring classes. In fact we may almost discover
in the apparel of people the nature of the gov
ernment under which they live. The peasants
whom we encountered by the way-side, were uni
formly dressed in what was doubtless the cos
tumes of their fathers centuries ago. The charac-
lated here. Many of the great statesmen and | spruce and cedar, and the hearth is white and
scholars of the world have had brains much j sweet with a polish of blue clay, given instead
above the average weight. Appleton’s Cyclo- i of modern paint; and the scent of the cedar
pedia gives the weight of Daniel Webster's and j contrasts strangely, but not unpleasantly, with
the first Napoleon's brains as “an ounce or two the atmosphere astir of tender roses and new-
mown hay. The great, sleepy-looking sofa of
respectable mohair, would woo our dreaming
senses to an evening nap hut for the manv
tbiugs not yet recorded. A table, all legs anil
dignity, holds the family's cherished librarv of
dm : * n t ... _
less than that of the French surgeon Dupuy-
weiglit of Webster’s brain was stated shortly af
ter his death as high as 83 ounces. Cuvier, the
great French naturalist, bad, according to Ap
pleton’s Cyclopedia, “between 59 and CO < Bible, Pilgrim’s Progress, Lorenzo Dow, and
ounces” of brain, but the weight has been placed volume of sermons by a favorite leader of their
by another authority as high as 04.1 ounces, i chosen church. There is a conch-shell behind
She paused, as if verv wearv, while the rose- 1 teristic garmetof the men was the wide-legged i Prof. Abercrombie is said to have possessed 09 the door, that is decorously always in place, to
- - - — ' ■ - ..... trousers, and of the women, the white kerchief j ounces. All these made their mark in the world’s , do the honor of weight to keep the door ajar,
’ j j . >--.a —,i r.i-;— 1 history. Itnloff, the murderer, who was hanged i and the walls are decorated with paintings of
at Binghamton, New York, in the spring of 1871, [the family patriarchs and mothers, long since
had 59 ounces of brain. He is represented to gone to the laml of the hereafter. The fathers
have been a man of more than ordinary intelli- all appear to have shrunk away from their
gence,and shortly before his execution, appealed clothes, and grown diminutive and exceedingly
to the Governor for clemency on the ground sober; while their “ partners ’’ have that pecul-
red flush came over Yarrey’s face, and the lumi
nous eyes were full of strange bewilderment;
hut she thought her step-mother wandered, and
her face said as much to Carleton King, who
answered it coolly, by saying:
“No; she is perfectly clear, and wants an ex
planation of jour strauge withdrawal from
Windsor Square.”
And then, only half understanding, she said
slowlj’, with calm articulation:
“Dear mother, you mistake: I have never had
a lover. I went away for Athalie’s sake, and she
will tell you why.”
And Carleton King understood, and repeated
the facts to Mrs. Westbrook. Athalie was gone,
and the trio were left alone.
“Oh! Yarrey, my darling! I might have
known that vou were trup.” he said, as he held
hound around the head and falling upon the
shoulders, and the angular red apron. They
were uniformly polite and always saluted us with
what 1 was told was some pious ejaculation,
commending ns to the protection of the Al-
miohtv or the Virgin, or some of the saints.
was driving a flock of geese cry out “gooska !
gooska!” thus pronounced, though written in
the Sclavonian language “quska,” meaning in
our language, goose. This was the only word
I heard which bore any resemblance to any in
our langurge, and both the sound and signifi
cation of this being the same, we must hare de
rived it directly, or through the mediuih of an
with the idea, urging that the service of his
great learning would render to science ought to
induce the Governor to respite his sentence of
death to one of imprisonment. The Governor
did not heed these appeals, and Itnloff was
hanged. About all the world knows of him is,
John and Dick.” Upon the afore-mentioned
table, reposes a large, round straw basket, lined
, with some scarlet stuff goods, beside the “ li-
; brary,” filled with “types” all the past and
j present generations of kinspeople. There is
Nancy Crockett, natural as life, taken on the
that he committed a murder, and was hanged same plate with Mirandy Brown, strapped, as
his two hands to her. "Forgive me ! ’’ and he ! other language from the Sclavonian. However
drew her closely to his breast. j this may he. it is a curious coincidence.
The eyes of the dying woman turned npon them j About night-fall we arrived at the shore of the
luminous with kindness and restored eonti- 1 Sa^e, whence our road followed the windings of
dence. j the river, over the high bluffs through which
for it, and that he had 59 ounces of brain.
they should be, to the hack of their chairs, rnain-
James Fisk, of New York, whose singular ca- i taining through all time the ominous dignity of
reer was ended by the bullet of an assassin, four i the family style,
or five years ago, possessed 58 ounces of brain.
In his case it was clearly demonstrated that the
Whose sweet?” “Bofe of us,” involunta
rily occurs to our mind. Then good, one-eyed
jnality and not the quantity” determines in- 1 cousin Timothy, sitting upright, with hands
now you are free, Carleton—free to make her i morphosed the name of Zagreb, contains at pres- ! status is shown in the fact that his associates
yours and to he happy. Heaven bless you, my 1 ' ’ 1 " ’ ' 1 * x - 1
children ! ’’
She lay quite still looking at them, with noth
ing hut peace on her face. They stood bj T her
bedside through the long night; and she seemed
content to know they were near,
rested upon them as the day broke over the hills
and her spirit passed away.
Three daj’s alter Mrs. Westbrook’s funeral,
her will was opened, and it was found that, with
the exception of a legacy left to Athalie’s moth
er, the large inheritance was given to Carleton
and Varian, to be divided equally between them.
But no division was needed. Their hands and
fortunes were soon united, as their hearts had
so long been. Mildred Hailej’and Raphael Lane
were among the bridal attendants when the
quiet wedding took place.
Raphael Lane bore his disappointment brave
ly, as manly natures can, though he had learned
to love the beautiful brune as he had never loved
a woman. Perhaps his cousin’s unspoken sym
pathy helped him to bear the frustration of his
ent a population of about twenty thousand, i were largely of a vicious and violent class—ad
Being the chief town of Croatia, the seat of the ! venturers, stock-gamblers, swindlers, and bar-
Ban, or Viceroy, and the place of meeting of the I lots—the froth and scum thrown up by the cor-
States, or Parliament, it wears somewhat the ! ruption of a great commercial city—while his
aspect of a Capitol. Although the streets are j procedure in converting to his own use the prop-
Her last look j better paved, wider and cleaner, than those of a ; erty of other men, and of interfering with their
over the hills i Turkish town, they bear towards each other a : “domestic" relations, has been justly character-
| striking resemblance. i ized as audacious and reckless in the extremest
j The hotel in which we were lodged is situated
| in what is called the lower town, near to the
! principal square, called the Iellachich Platz,
| where, on stated occasions a fair is held, and
j which on market and holidays is crowded with
; the peasants of the country around. The day
A chalky-looking daub is exhibited, with shin
ing eyes in the pleasure of its possession, as the
very image of “ Martha Ann’s last baby.” Fists
doubled up in the general pugilistic manner of
babyhood (we discover the same by carrying the
“ type ” to the uncertain light from the tall win
dow); no hair on its little pate, that we can dis
cover, and black spots in lieu of eyes and month.
If a woman, we ejaculate, “How sweet! ” If a
A writer in a New York journal, a few j man, we lay it tenderly 7 down at the very bot-
“ tom of all we have seen, where we will he cer-
degree.
days after his sudden taking off, said :
He is a phenomenon the like of which has ■ tain to see it no more, and proceed to look at
seldom been seen in our ordinarily decorous and i dear, sweet-faced grandma in her white cap and
somewhat monotonous American life. In an- j black shawl laid smoothly across the faithful
dacity and pluck, in the grandeur of his schemes [breast; and grandpa in his long “weskit”and
iFor the Sunny South.)
Travels in Europe.
Notes by the Hon. James Wil
liams, United States Minister
to Turkey Under President
Buchanan from 1858
to 1861.
her stately, yet girlish way. She was not spoil- ! hopes, and perhaps it was this that drew him
ed by all the education she received, but it only | towards Mildred more tenderly than before,
served to deepen the pain in her heart, through | “He will open his ej’es to her worth and love
the remembrance that what others saw in her to I as 8 ^ e deserves, thought Aarrej’, who had
love, had no power to touch the one for whom i lon g thought that Mildred loved her cousin,
her soul was so distraught. She stood by the I Before the leaves budded and dropped again,
oriel casement of her room, that overlooked the I ^ er wor ^ 8 proved prophetic,
moonlit waters. Miss Hailey had just withdrawn, i the end.
to complete her evening toilette, with some j
playful words about Varrey’s beauty that needed
no adornment. But the words had brought a
heavy sense of pain into her breast What was
this beauty to her? It might once have been a
great deal, but that time had passed, and she
could no longer find it in herself to prize the
loveliness that others professed to see. It was
rarely now that the scarlet bloom came into her
cheeks, as it used to do; the lips were red, but
they’ had lost a trifle of the brilliant glow, that
had haunted the dreams of Carleton King.
Leaning on the arm of Raphael Lane, she
came into the quaint, wainscoated parlor of the
Moated Grange. She wore a simple dress of
sombre shade, with scarlet geraniums in her
hair, and clustered at belt and neck. A party
of hunters, weary and loaded with game, drew
near to the open window, and one laughed
cheerily, rs he said:
“Like vagabonds, we creep to the window to
see the glory within. Say, King, do you see
that glorious woman by the harp, brown as
a bun, and without a dash of color, except in
the perfect lips,
poised on the music starnl!
Gods divinely tall ’ she iF."
But Carleton King was in no mood to hear
such rhapsodies. He gnashed his teeth in the
shadow of the linden tree, and breathlessly lean
ed against the casing of the window, to see her
face, half-turned away, that bad—he saw for the
first time—no flames of brilliant color that he
had loved to watch as it flickered and died away.
And she was here with the partj 7 from Guerdon
Hall, and he was seeing her for the last time.
He honestlj’ hoped that this was so, for each
time that he looked upon her beauty he insanely
thought that he would sacrifice his honor, even,
to hold her in his arms, hut one brief moment,
that they might die and enter eternity together.
But he was absurdly strong and sinewy limbed,
and little prospect of any such drama ever com
ing before the sensation-loving public.
But that greatest of all inquisitions, the human
heart, beat on, and ached, and longed for love’s
requital, that he dared not hope could ever be.
The lips and eyes were sad, he saw, as he scanned
her face from the window, hut the very thought
steeled his heart the more against her—she
might have this for a sweet decoy—as more en
trancing than the happy smile of ordinary
women, and he turned away.
But he could not leave the spot, without an
other look at the face that was dearer to him
than life, hope, and everything.
He buttoDed his hunting frock closelj- about
him, for the night was cool, and returned again
to the window. He saw her near the spot where
he stood, and Raphael Lane bending his head
above her, so close that his bonny hair almost
touched her cheek. He could not hear the j
words, but he saw the old time flush, like pome- j
granate bloom, flame into her face, and he set j
his teeth closely together to hush the coming j
cry, and passionately murmured, as he walked j
nway:
“Accursed fool that I was, to ever believe in !
her—to stake my soul’s honor upon her. to end j
like this ! A heartless coquette, that lives but j
in the smiles of flattery.”
Had he hut known that the blushes he saw [
were all called forth by the simple mention of j
his name, how different would have been the
feelings that burned within his breast.
A telegram awaited at the farm house where
clhe hunters lodged, from Airs. 'Westbrook, that
after my arrival was Sunday, and the Platz was | and the energy and success with which he car- j huge collar and stock. We place them all hack
filled with these rustic visitors. The costume j riedthem out; in the effrontery of his vices, the i with care in the crimson-hearted basket, where
i presented j gorgeous display of his ill-gotten wealth, t
ley all wore ! impudent manifestation of vulgar vanity, a
white ker- j in his outrageous defiance of public opinioD , _
chief, two points falling in front and two on the | he resembled remarkably some of the notorious ! the Madonna, and a very unsuggestive looking
back. Around the waist is wound a red scarf, 1 characters that rose to the surface of the Roman ; cast of Washington (with the tip of his nose de-
and in front, a small apron of the same showy [ Republic in the corruption and confusion of its j stroyed by a stroke); and there is something
I occupied two hours of our halt for dinner in
visiting the vast boiling spring and the adjacent
baths. The atmosphere is not such as one
would plunge into without, a cause on a hot sum
mer day, nor the steaming water such as one
would swim in for amusement, but it seemed a
very paradise for those who might find it nec
essary to boil out their aches and pains, and I
almost wished that I could feel a transitory
Such classic hands are those j twinge of the gout in order that I too, might
* Daughter of the i plunge in and he healed.
There are not at present any very elaborate
arrangements for amusement, but the proximi
ty of Krappina to the gayer Baths of Rohitsch,
enables convalescents to go there to dance after
their limbs have become pliant, their crutches
laid aside, and their spirits restored to their
natural elevation.
A number of visitors still lingered at the baths
although the season w T as so far advanced, hut I
was fain to content mj’selfwith a two hours res
idence, a due proportion of which was occupied
in dining upon the usual dishes of the country,
in the public speis salon, in the midst of a
cloud of smoke, to which each diner contributed
his due proportion after having laid aside his
knife and fork. This is a German custom which
it might he supposed would’be honored by the
ladies at least, rather in the breech than the ob
servance, hut custom seems to have familiarized
the gentler sex with the annoyance, and they
smileas sweetly through the misty atmosphere
as though it conlered upon them a real pleasure.
A day’s journey over the hills of Croatia and
Styria brings to the view of an American travel
ler many divergences of character and customs
which are in striking contrast w’ith his own
country; hut in nothing is this dissimilarity
more striking than in the vast number of
churches, chapels and other places of devotion
which abound in the one and the infrequency
with which they are encountered in the other.
During my two hours’ drive from Rohitsch to
Agram, we could have counted these edifices or
altars devoted to worship by hundreds. They
crown almost every hill-top, and line the road
side, while several are sometimes found together
as it were, upon a single acre of ground, while
not a single residence is visible. From one
point near the road-side could he counted thirty-
two churches, and throughout the days’s jour-
nej- w T e rarely passed out of sight of one altar
with a picture of the Virgin or of the crucifix
ion or of some of the saints before another ap
peared. The numbers seem to be so dispropor-
tioned to the scanty population that one won
ders, not only why they were erected, but where
the means were found to make so lavish and so
color. The men were not so uniformly clad in
the costume of their class, though many wore
the curiously ornamented dressed sbeep-skin
coat, so much in vogue in the Danubian prov
inces of Turkey. The greater number of the
peasants however w’ear the wide, white trousers,
extending to the ankles, which at least in the
uncoothness of the shape and the superabun
dance of material employed in their construc
tion, seem but a variety of thehag trousers worn
by the subjects of the Sultan. All were, how
ever, decently clad and their garments scrupu
lously clean. If one might judge from appear
ances, they were well-to-do for people of their
class: were entirely contented with their lot in
life, and would noti have given akreuzer for the
inestimable privilege of voting for a President
to rule over them.
The principal caffe was near hv and thither
our party went to partake of a light breakfast,
atone of the many ff*a!l tables placed upon the
broad side-walk in front of the restaurant, un
der the shade of the trees which margined the
street. I had learned by experience of the scanty
allowance furnished to order, always two por
tions of coffee—but lest I might, from this cir
cumstance, be supposed by the reader to be an
inordinate consumer of this pleasant beverage,
I must explain that npon this double order, I
was only served with enough to fill twice a small
cup, cream included. Thus it is also in Turkey 7 .
The quantity of coffee called a cup does not
amouDt to a gill which is usually drank, by sub
jects of the Sultan, withont cream or sugar.
Happily the Croatians, although limiting the
supply to a very moderate allowance, partially
make amends for the deficiency by adding twice
the quantity of rich cream. Their coffee is, in
truth delicious, though in larger cities it would
be impossible for a like proportion to become
general.
[For The Sunny South.)
Weight of the Human Brain.
latter days.”
else, resembling nothing on the earth, in the
Aside from these questionable traits, Fisk left j heavens above, or waters under the earth, viz.:
no evidence of the possession of more than a j a highly colored article of virtu, with a hole in
very ordinary 7 mind. Some anomalous cases, as i the middle and a knot on the hack, that, we
that ofaLondon cartman whose brain was found ' learn by the very humble question propounded
to weigh more than that of Cuvier, caunot be j to Aunt Priscilla, is “a rack for a watch.” We
explained with our present knowledge of anato- [ sit in (he old-fashioned parlor and dream of
my, but he is eclipsed by an Indian woman, I other days, when great log fires blazed high
whose brain, now in the Army Medical Museum j above the shining andirons, and grandma and
at Washington, was found to weigh sixty-nine j grandpa were young and blithe, surrounded by
ounces, which is probably the largest ever re- j their children, some of whom now sleep for-
corded. The world never heard of her as a gen- I ever in the old family burying ground just back
ius, and it was no doubt a lusus naturi by j of the meadow field, and the others have gone
which she was endowed with an organ of such I to distant homes, and are aged now, and have
The brain of the late Vice President Wilson
weighed 491 ounces, and this was claimed by
some of the'newspapers to be “rather above the
average weight, that being in this country prob
ably about 44 or 45 ounces.” This gave rise to
considerable discussion as to the weight of the
brain, especially in men who had made their
mark in the world’s history. According to Prof.
Gray, of St. George’s Hospital, London, whose
work on anatomy is a standard authority,.the
average weight of the adult brain is 49J ounces,
just the weight of that of Vice President Wilson.
According to Dr. Leidy, of Philadelphia, the
average is 50 ounces. In the female the average
is five to six ounces less than in the male. A
correspondent of the Baltimore Sun claims that
these averages are very nearly correct for this
country, as well as England, though our phy
sique is often lighter than that of our English
cousins. An elaborate paper was read before
the British Royal Society five or six years ago,
in which the existing evidence as to the weight
of brain among different nations was carefully-
analyzed. The average brain-weight for the
English is stated to be 47.50 ounces, two ounces
less than the average fixed fay Prof. Gray; for
the French, 44.58; for the Germans 42 83; but
there are discrepancies in the results of different
observers,some giving a greater average than this
to the G mans. The Italians, Lapps, Swedes,
Frisians and Dutch come into the same category
with tlic English. Among the Asiatic races, the
Vedahs, of Ceylon, and the Hindoos give a
mean of about 42.11 ounces. The Mussulmans
have a slightly increased brain-weight over that
of the Hindoos. Two skulls of male Khouds—
of the piety of a people by the number of their
religious edifices, then can the Styrians and the
Croatians lay claim to a degree of sanctity to
Ge must return at once to Windsor Place. These j which no other Christian people can pretend,
•messages never meant very much to him, he i The roads over which we travelled were ex-
knew her caprices so well, but always obeyed j eeptionally good, considering the nature of the
unproductive an expenditure. If we may judge [ one of the unquestioned aboriginal races of In-
■ ■ ... , .. . | qj a — s jj OW a brain-weight of only 37.87 ounces.
| The general average of the Asiatic table shows a
j diminution of more than two ounces when
; compared with that of Europe. The general
mean of African races is less than that of the
ponderous dimensions.
This statement was published more than a
quarter of a century ago :
“ Chatterton wrote all his beautiful things,
exhausted all hopes of life, and saw nothing
better than death, at the age of eighteen. Burns
and Byron died iD their thirty-seventh year, and
doubtless the strength of their genius was over.
Raffaelle, after filling the world with his divine
beauty, perished also at thirty-seven. Mozart
earlier. These might have produced still greater
works. On the other hand, Handel was forty-
eight before he gave the world assurance of a
man.’ Dry-den came up to London trorn the
provinces, dressed in Norwich budget, some
what above the age of thirty, and did not even
know 7 that he could write a line of poetry; yet
what towering vigor and swinging ease appeared
all at once in “Glorious John.” Milton had, in
deed, written “Connes” at twenty-eight, hut he
was upwards of fifty when he began his great
work. Cowper knew not his own might till he
was beyond thirty, and his “Task” was not writ
ten till about his fiftieth year. Sir Walter Scott
was also upwards of thirty before he published
Lis “Minstrelsy,” and all his greatness was yet
to come.”
Dr. Beard, an English physician, has taken
the trouble to prove what every one ought to
know, although there is a current superstition
to the contrary, namely that brains are condu
cive to longevity. Intellectual force is but a
form of vital force, and where vital force pre
dominates life is persistent. Dr. Beard declares
that there is a great deal of ignorant notion
about the mortality of precocious children, and
insists that precocity is a sign of health and an
occasion of longevity. Precocious children are
more frequently spoiled by the indulgence of
their parents, whom their sprightly wit and ty-
ranic spirits overmaster, than through any hy
gienic disadvantage to which their precocity
subjects them. Dr. Beard finds that five hun
dred of the most celebrated thinkers and brain
workers the world has produced, give an aver
age age of 6-4 years, and one hundred and fifty
of them described as precocious in their child
hood, an average of C6J. These facts certainly
upset the theory of the author from whom we
had previously quoted, that precocity of intel
lect is an evidence of short life.
old-fashioned parlors of their own. Grandpa
and grandma have died long years ago, and
Aunt Priscilla has come again, with her hus
band and children, to live at the old homestead.
She guards wifh reverent care all these things,
placed here by hands that are folded now in
their calm, eternal rest. EveD baby Rosy has
learned to shake her little head and scold when
“ Snow-hall,” the kitten, makes too free with the
curtains of grandpa’s chair. Ah ! we tread
lightly as we pass beyond the door into the
busy, careless world, over the daisies and vio
lets that grow abundantly in the emerald sward,
and we leave behind ns the infinite rest and
scent of the odorous roses that clamber above
the windows of the dear old-fashioned parlor.
Woman’s Power.
The Old-Fashioned Parlor.
33T ALICE PATTON 6LOAX.
In summer the roses clamber over the tall
outcasings of the window, from which the little
ones can never see, unless mounted on grand
pa’s old arm-chair. The scent of roses is very
sweet as Aunt Priscilla opens the casement; the
pink-and-white showers of odorous leaves fall
over the floor, to the infinite delight of baby
Oh ! yes,
Rosy, the pet of the old homestead,
the roses are very sweet, and the parti-colored
morning-glories are very 7 gay in their wild luxu- j me, the wife of my bosom will have the acknowledge
1 Man is what woman makes him,’ said Rousseau,
himself a respecter of the sex, and the records of
history contain examples of women who have sup
ported their husbands or brothers, at the crisis of
their lives. John Stuart Mill said that he owed
everything that was excellent in his writings to
the influence of his wife. Thos. Carlyle gave sim
ilar testimony. John Flaxman, the sculptor, made
considerable progress in his art when he married
Anne Denman, a noble spirited, intelligent woman,
full of love for art, and with an intense admiration
for him as an artist.
It happened that socn after the event he met
Sir Joshua Reynolds, in whose opinion no man
could hope to become an artist who had not studied
patiently and reverently the works of the great
masters of Italy itself. He bluntly told Flaxman
that he was ruined for an artist.
Flaxman went straight to his wife, and said to
her;
“Anne, I am ruined for an artist..’*
“ Who has ruined you, John ?” she asked-
“ It happened in church,” he replied ; “ Anne
Denman has done it.”
He then told her what Sir Joshua had said, and
added.
“ 1 should like to have been a great artist.”
“And so you shall be, and go to Rome too, if
that will make you one. We will work and econo
mize. 1 will never have it said that Anne Den
man ruined John Flaxman for an artist.” And so
the brave couple did work and economize.
They worled patiently and hopefully for five
years, never asked help from any one, never men
tioned their hopes to any one, and at last went to
Rome, where Flaxman studied and worked to such
purpose that he achieved both fame and competen
cy. His success was not shared to the full extent,
however, by his faithful wife, for she died many
years before him. Thomas Hood gave a touching
tribute to his wife’s excellence:
“ I never was anything, dearest, till I knew
you, and I have been a better, happier and more
prosperous man ever since. Whatever may befall
riance, hut the
Many bugs of many minds,
Many bugs of many kinds.
ment of her tenderness, worth and excellencefrom
[ my pen.”
Many other instances might he enumerated, but
are anything but agreeable as they loiter around j we have touched upon sufficient to prove that a
the spacious drawing-room, the earwigs finally | good wife is “ God’s best gift to man.”
their commands, and so was speeding away in
the railway coach in the early dawn of the fol
lowing day, carrying with him the memory of
Yarrey Westbrook as she stood by the oriel win
dow.
A smiling, rose-leaf face welcomed his coming
to W indsor Place—r face that, despite his natu
ral love for women in general, he had learned to
hate. Mrs. Westbrook was very ill, and con
stantly asking if “her hoy” had come. Athalie
remained below while he went to Aunt Marga
ret’s room. He took a wrinkled hand in both
his own and kissed it softly, while he smoothed
the white puffs of hair and soothed her gentlv,
as he would a child.
“I wanted you to send for Yarinn; Robert’s i
child, yon know she is;” and the sick woman's j
tancy seemed none too clear, hut he did as she j
had hade him, telegraph for Varian.
country, and we had no difficulty in keeping
our horses np to an average speed of six miles
an hour, during the time we were in motion;
but the -carriages we met, and others which
passed us went, often much more rapidly, not
withstanding a peculiarity in the manner of at
taching the horse to the vehicle, which always
European, although there are great differences;
the Kaffre rising high and the Bushman sinking
‘ bringing-up ” on the nape of our neok w’ith
commendable precision. There is a nice car- |
pet, of home manufacture, rainbow-hued, that
covers the great square floor, and the “grand
quick i
and wagons drawn by a single horse.
we encountered no others, except one with four
horses attached. Shaits are never used, hut in j
low in the scale. The average oi the aboriginal i gloomy and peculiar” mantletree stands out in
i American races is stated at 44.73 ounces, which | bold relief, triumphantly plethorous of many
i is 2.14 ounces less than ha of the European j ornaments, bouquets of impossible fruit, apples,
i races. The Australian ra eg - how a brain-weight j with a dyspeptic appearance; corpulent pears,
1 one-ninth less than that oi the general average i and sandy-colored peaches, with flame-colored
! of Europeans. The Mala vs and others of the j cheeks; tomatoes, plums and cherries, the like
- - - 1 V-- —r before our time or
and mild-looking
occupy respective
places on either side of the above-mentioned
board, and are likely to remain in their perfect
condition of body, as no one under the sun hut
Baby Bates,” the Kentucky giant, could reach
In fafet i high average of brain-weight.
It is perfectly correct, as asserted by a writer
in discussing the weight of Vice President 'Ail-
all cases a tongue, as for two horses. To one i son’s brain, that “the quality and not the quan-
side of this the horse is harnessed, the end
being attached by a chain to the collar. Noth
ing can be imagined more primitive in its aspect
or more awkw: a si in the tout ensemble. At first,
I believed it to he an extraordinary necessity
Marritige Maxims.
A man is what his wife makes him,
A good wife is the greatest earthly blessing.
It’s the mother who moulds the character and
destiny of the child.
Never make a remark at the expense of an
other, it is meanness.
Never part without loving words to think of
during your absence. Besides, it may be that
yon may never meet again in life.
Never both manifest anger at once.
Never speak loud to one another unless the
house is on fire.