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JKERWttRS BUiCllOi'l fcjj VOL IV. J. H. & W B. SEALS, {“aopKiKTORs ATLANTA, GA„ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8.1878. i? t”' TFPAfSIJ *3 PER ANNUM ILllJlO) IN advance. JNO. 188. LEAVES. BY ANNIE H, SMITH. Some autumn leaves are strewn around, Like deeds of ours. Many decaying on the ground. Life's wasted hours. A few go whirling with the breeze. Like cherished toys— Some firmly cling to naked trees, As we to joys— Still one bright golden sheaf is eauvlit By childish hands, and gently taught To grace a tomb—or wake a thought As sweet as tlowers. MABEL CLAIRE; —0R- A Romance of the Sea Shore. Oh. sweet days of youth and i ope—can I write of you? Oh, silver-stranded islands, crowned with palm aDd pine, and lying in the deep em erald seas of the South; I see you now with your gallant ships, your quaint fishing smacks, your weather-beaten schooners rocking at anchor in that blue bay by whose shores I loved to walk with the fair sister and the young teacher whom I idolized. It was in April, and the orange and the oleander were in bloom when shecime to ns. Lively, brilliant, almost beautiful, she won all hearts, especially those of the oldt nd weary, for she was both strong and tender. Whatever shadows had fallen across her path she seldom wore them on her brow, bnt faced the present bravely. Ytt her pisthad leen shadowed. I, who loved her se dearly, who watched over her with such jealous devotion and was seldom absent from her side. I knew that some hidden grief was heis. She loved me best, I think, of all our house hold, though I was not fair like my sister, beau tiful Mabel, a bud the*, w££_*.-s.per»: 'jc ' ' ' "■--— uxr ,\aL - ..romlue v <. iarc urr-.-uiii; . ' ' . , father looked stern. The Summer went by uneventfully, 8 t 0 od and told me not to speak of Dr. Lennox’s visit that afternooD. A week went by and Mabel’s b ; rthday came and we had a little fele in honor of if. Mabel wrote Dr. L'mnox a special invitation, lie came, but she hardly spoke to him. She seemed wrapt up in Hugo, for a time at leas’; she danced with him several times in succession, but pres ently she went out on the balcony with Dr. Lennox and I saw him bending over her. Hugo seemed restless and left Miss Swartz and fol lowed them. My sweet teacher! I remember how pale she was that night ; how lovely and girlish she looked in her simple dress, and how hard she tried to be gay and to entertain our little handful of guests. The dancing ceased, several pairs of the young folks strolled down to the beach. Mabel and her two lovers were missing from the bal cony. I thought they too had walked down to the water side, but as the time passed, and the others returned and some of them said good night and went away. I grew uneasy and hunted for Miss Swarz A few moments before I had hi ard her playing in the library while my father and mother and some of the elder and quieter guests listened to the sweet Beethoveo sonata. But she wa3 not playing now. I peep ed in. There sat my father reading, while my mother played chess with our old friend, Capt. Derby, of the steamship ‘Magnolia.’ But where was Helen ? 1 stole around to the side window of the libra ry that opened on the back piazza. It com manded a view of the interior of a little recess curtained off from the main library apartment. The blinds were closed but I turned it and looked in. Miss Swartz was there alone. She was kneeling by a large stone vase of flowers ; her lips were moving in prayer, a look of deep anguish was upon her beautiful face. I longed to go to her, to comiort her, but I shrank from intruding on her * rief. ‘It is all the doing of that miserable Dr. Lennox, and that flirt of a sister of mine.’ I thought, ‘I would box her ears, or at least tell both of them what I thought of them, if I could only find them.’ I was down to the beach impulsively, but all there was silent. The promenading couples were gone. I came back and we-nt through the shrnbberied yard, the garden, calling my sister’s name, not loudly but distinctly enough for her to hear. Then I came back to the house and went all over it. I conld not And her. Had she run away with Dr. Lennox ? Had that great, dark man carriad e ff ruy sister? And what would become of her, and what would my father and mother say ? I was beginning to seb in my terror and per plexity when 1 met M’ss Swartz. Her own eyes showed she bad been shedding tears, but she took me by the hand and asked soothingly what my trouble was. •Mabel*’ I stammered. ‘I believe she has run away.’ * 1 saw by her face, that the same fear had entered her mind. I have been looking for her ‘she said’ Let us go to the grove, she may possibly be there. •Have you seen Dr. Lennox and your cousin Hugo, Miss Helen? •No, not since they were in the veranda with Mabel. Dr. Lennox told mo though, that he had business that would oblige him to leave early. It wi s the reason he assigned for asking me to sing his favorite song.’ ‘And Hugo?’ ‘He gave no excuse.’ Her lips were set, her face white in the moon* light, I felt she was suffering the pain of slighted love, perhaps ot betrayed faith, for I felt sure now that Dr. Lennox had been her lover, that something had separated them, but that he had followed her here, only to prove fickle and desert her for my sister’s whitc-roBe face. Miss Swartz was kneeling by a large stone vase of ft'/]* -«■: her lips w L.-t ■ ^7Ir <„ orSi ere moving in prayer. place when every one br.t me vas gone on o-, Hei came over to where I ened by Miss Swartz s presence —her songs, her stories and her versatile talk. In October came the usual influx of visitors to our sunny coast-people from colder and less genial o im< s. Among them were two who soon made an addi tion to our society at home. One was a faxr-hair- ed cousin of onr teacher s^Hugo Evan-whom she met with a blnsh of pleasure, the other was Dr. Lennox, a singular bnt mscinating man, with keen bnt kindly dark eyes, that had vet a lurking sadness, and a dark, pale face and a tall, bioad-shouldered figure. There was a mystery about him I conld not fath om He looked like a man with a history, and somehow I connected that history with Miss Swartz I immagined that ihey had met before and been lovers. Bnt I was a romantic child, so thev all said. Too much reading of old-time novels had made me a dreamer. Yet it was no dream that my lovely teacher was more given to those secret fits of passionate grief than she was before the comiDg of these visitors to tL e pleasant hotel of our little village. Oiten she wept in her sleep, and once she said: •Yes, it is all over, it is all over; he lcves an- 0t Did she mean Dr. Lennox, and was Mabel the one she meant, when she said, he loves another? Dr Lennox evidently admired my beautiful sister. Once I heard him fay to Miss Swartz, ‘She is so lovely* it would be a sin not to love her,’ and she looked at him gravely and said, *B6WBr6» I pnzz’ed over that look and word in vain. But I became more and more convinced that Miss Swartz loved the dark, grand looking, Dcctor. I was savagely resentful and jealous at first, but when 1 saw the continued fitful unrest of my teacher, I became willing she should be happy even if I lost her ; and then my resentment turned against Doctoi Lennox becarse I thought he was proving recreant to Helen and suffering himself to be drawn to the sweet fresh beauty of my sister. Sbe is too y ’UDg for him, I said to myself. ‘Hugo would make a far better match for her—proud, fair sensitive but gifted and handseme Hugo, who wrote and drew ske'chts lor the Northern magazines and was the only son of a wealthy and aristrcratic mother, handsome ss a princes^ in spite of her forty-five years and proud ot nothing so much is of her sod. Miss Swartz had told ns this. Hugo’s father, who was dead, had been Miss Swartz cousin, and 1 gathered that the rich lady had not cared to acknowledge her kinship to the young teacher, for I did not think she ever sent Helen a message in the frequent long letters that Hugo received from her Bnt well I knew, my peerless teacher was the equal of any lady in the land though she might wear a tiara of diamonds as did Mrs. Evan in the picture of her that Hugo showed US T did not think that even that proud lady however would olject to her son marrying Ma- lel for onr family though not so wealthy now, was the first in the land, and our circumstan ces were not narrow. Our Mabel had refine- ment and culture and she and Hugo were well matched in beauty- both tair and stately with brown curling locks. They made a splendid r air in the dance or the gay Spanish waltzes tha le sometimes improvised on the moonlit b T C he course of their love would run smooth I tRnmrht if it were not tor that Dr. Lennox. Why wonld ie so often stalk in upon. their inter- Tews and claim my sister’s attention and carry her away, for she would leave Hugo often to walk with this grave man so much older than she. There seemed, a singular, unaccountable fascination in those sad, dark eyes ot his. ADd Miss Swartz often looked after them with a sad ness in her own eyes that made me feel bitter against Dr. LenLox and wish he would come again- He did absent himself for a a week It was after a long interview he had had with my father-an interview that took ■ t r enin.tv W bayon or armlet oi t’aoftay ii>*which was built onr boat house. I tna! to it aud cried out. ‘It is as I thought ‘Lajly Golightiy, (which was onr pretty painted boat) is not here. They Lave pone in her ; they have run away sure enough. Oh ! what shall we do ?’ •Be calm,’ said Miss Swartz, speaking quietly though 1 felt her hand tremble. ‘They are gone to the town, or to the steamer yonder at anchor to be married. He will marry her I am sure, he loves her and your father cannot object to him. He only carried her c ff to be married in this clandestine way, because because he shrank from facing one he had wroDged’ she added under her breath, but I teard the murmured words that wore halt a sob. “Let us tell my father at once, wns all I said. We went to the house, but my father had retired for the night. Before he could be aroused, and had drei sod and come to an understanding of what had happened, a half an hour more had passed. The run a ways had been given three honrs at lbast. But my father determined to follow them, and he called up and ordered a ser vant to get ready a boat, while he had ns hunt ing around in a high state of excitement for his hat and cane. They had just been found and he elapped one upon his head and with the other clutched fiercely in his fist, was geing to wards the door, when it suddenly opened, and there stood the object of our worry and distress. Mabel herself, with Hugo and Dr. Lennox beside her. Mabel cried, “Oh ! father,” and threw her self before him. clasping his knees and looking beseechingly into his fa^e. “Oh ! father, ! dis obeyed you: I could not help it, I loved him so, and* I Knew he is noble and worthy. Forgive me; forgive us dear father: I will be miserable if you do not." My father never could stand any woman's pleadiDg, much less his parents daughter? He held out some time and looked fearfully grim and stern, but finally he consented to over look his objections to Dr. Leancx that he was so much older than Mabel, and been a “filiibus- ter,” as he irreverently called the brave bnt un fortunate helpers in the Cuban eanse-and ac cept him as a son. There we bad embraces, handshakings and congrataJa'ions. In the midst of them, Hugo asked. “Where is Helen?” I looked around and then remembered that Miss Swartz bad disappearod in the early part of Mabel’s plea for forgiveness. I went in search of her, followed by Mabel, and found her in that same certain recess ot the library, standing there like a statue of Kksr'.ess dispair. Mabel wont up to her and put her arms around her, I thought I saw her shiver, but my sister said softb. Dear Miss Swartz, you are not angry with me are yon? All the others have forgiven me, and I thought you liked Dr. Lennox.” “Dr. Lennox? Have you manied, Dr. Len nox?” ,, „ “Yes, dear Miss Swartz, did you not know. “But I saw Hugo ” “Oh ! yes, he went with us. He was our best man. He has been our good friend and confi dant a 1 along. And we would have told you dear Miss Swartz, but we did Dot want to be blamed in the matter. You were my teacher and I was under your charge; it would have embarrassed you to knoV it. You would,have felt it your duty to tell papa, and so I practiced ever so much self denial and kept our secret from you. But Hugo came very near betraying us, He seemed to think you must be told; did you not Hugo ?” He had followed us, unnotiaed by me. Now, he came to our teacher’s side and took her little hand in his, saying :j •Nevei mind, I have some news of my own to tell her that may not be altogether indiffer ent Helen, my sweet cousin, my betrothed. I have at last a^lelter from my mother, containing TK LirdiiV, a r iiri cartel u • t fortune have acte'i as a rennke to her pr’de She en losed a letter to yon in which she tells me sbe entreats you for past nnkindness and begs you to accept to her wayward boy. I reed no longer make a secret of our love Helen. I, am proud to acknowledge it before the wrrld- and to renew the engagement, broken off be cause your self respect would not brook my mother’s haughty and ill-founded objections.’ And so this was onr young teacher's secret. And it was Hugo and not the dark, keen eyed Doctor whom she had loved, bnt refnsed to listen to, becanse her pride forbade. But she had loved him well, and had suffered keenly when she thought he had forsaken her for Mabel. In the spring, she was married at our house and left us in tears at losing one f lovable. Both she and Mabel are happy wives, while I well, I sit here this rainy, sad-colored evening, and old memories are m” only com panions, and I seem to hear the sound of the sunny waves that are so far off and the sweet laughter and pleasant voices of dear ones who are yet farther away irom me to-night. A TRIP TO SOUTH FLORIDA, Whatistobe Span in Manatee-It’s Orange Tree*, ami perennial growth. SILVIA. SUNSHINE. Manatee, January 30th, 1879. Many imagine that a trip to Stuth Florida is an enterprise which would require the forti tude of a Stanley to undertake. It is true the inaccessible position of some localities in this porition of the State would be rather impracti cal for feeble invalids. But a climate where the thermometer never rises ever ninety and rarely descends lower than sixty, what more could craving humanity demand? By taking a creditable Steamer at Cedar Keys we can reach Manatee, the point of onr destina tion. Somet'mes the gulf is a little rough, bnt very often, smooth as a mill pond, when we glide along gently as a sail over a summer sea. The view of Manatee as we approach the town situated about ten miles from the gulf on a riv er by the same name, is Dot particularly impo sing, the houses being scattered in every direc tion like the forces of a retreating army, while each settler appears to have taken poss ssion of what land re could cultivate as he ca ne here. The dwellings are embowered in orange trees, which in March freight the air with a perfume that permeates our very existence, producing a kind of luxurious rest, when time aud all ob jects around ns move dreamily on. Perennial spring time keep3 vegetation grow ing all winter. The Palma Christa in this local ity attains to a large tree, which yields its beans perfectly every year, while tomato vines grow to an immense size, twining into shady bowers, fruiting without cessation until three yesrs old, when the fruit has a strong taste resemb’-iug the vice. The Guava grows spontaneously, audit is said the daddy of all in South Florida, is growing at this place. The lands in this vicinity are pine, hammock and prairie. The pine land requires fertilizing. The hammock clearing and ditching, when two hogsheads of sugar and seventy-five gallons of syrup are the average product of an acre, which to those who never had as much sugar as they could eat, is a sweet item. The prairie lands furnish sustenance for the lowing herds, which are wild as deer. They are captured by a song the ‘cow boys’ sing resembl ing nothing in the world. Where it orignated none can tell; but the cattle gather from afar whenever it is Bang, when they are driven at will, by those long rawhide lashes that pop like pistols, cutting nut pieces of quivering flesh at the sight of which humanity would shrink. The luscionsness of oranges produced here is incomparable, particularly when contrasted with those sour, stringy products of commerce. Wo have tasted this trnit from everv clime, but never have the Alar atee oranges been excelled. Hew ripe and delicious they grow on those tall trees, where they hang constantly exposed to the bright beams of a tropical sun, until March. Messrs. Gates, Whittaker aDd Lee have old bearing groves while hundreds of others are coming on. When we reflect upon the superabundance cf natnral produces which flourish in this locality with wh’ch to supply the necessaries of life, can we wonder why only the wrecks of odcb powerful tribes, so long resisted the encroach ments of white settlers, contesting for territory, until nealy extinct, many of them suffering with the calmness of Christian martyrs, or the bravery of Roman heroes, thus regarding death with a lofty disdain. 1 he Indians like the wild beasts in whose skins they were clad, have been driven by the march of civilization farther and farther into the grass water country, where like a lion deprived of his c’aws, resentment has died for want of strength to assert its prowess, while by contact with an enlightened race, their original independence has been brought into a state of subjugation, Ibe inducements here for immigration are equal to »Dy in the state. Adventurers do not flourish cn this soil, no locality has a better class of settlers. Schools of a high order ar9 in operation, also •veil attended church services. Dr. Bobir son a Methodist presiding elder, and his estimable wife Rebecca are old residents. Here, as in other localities, settlers have to sow before they can reap, but the natural growth in the hammocks evidences great fertility of soil. Tte Manatee hoarding houses are sani'ari- ums, where more trouble is taken to please visiiors, at less expense, than almost any other place in the state. The tables are supplied with what visitors want to eat, and will agree with dined on lemonade. There was'a quantity cf provision to gladden the hungry. Almost an entire wild roasted turkey, stuffed quarter of venison, fresh baked fish, home made light bread and biscuit, pound cake, fruit cake, rich lemon pies all of which would tempt an epicurean taste. ‘You are eating nothing hardly,’ said she. ‘Now whenever yon wish, come and help yourself.’ The remoteness of this place from the princi pal resorts i3 the only objection to it, everyone who comes, says the climate is perfect. The streams ana gulf swarm with fish. Visitors sit on the wharf and recreate in catching twenty pound snapptrs; while ot low tide,the rheumatic old men wade about in the warm salt water, happy as boys just entering their teens. Let all those who dream of sand hills and star vation staring them in the face while in Florida, come to Manatee. Society Gossip. An exchange, speaking of youDg ladies, says it wants “more kitchen and less parler; more pudding and less pianos.” More sass is what that chap wants, with a broomstick thrown in. A yonng man too bashful to tell the girl how sweet she was in her presence, sent her a jar of honey with a note accompanying, which stated she was ten times more “sacchariner” than the honey. Miss Preston, daughter of General John Pres ton, of Senth Carolina, was married to Henry Frost, of Charleston’ S C.,atthe Church of St. Ignatius in New York last week. The reception was held at the residence of Mrs. Dr. Darby, a sister ot Miss Preston. At a recent New York “Kettle Drum,” the house was profusely decorated with flowers, ferns aud ropical plants, whilea’arge tea-kettle, composed of red and white roses was suspended ov<-r the en'rance to the dining-room, a band of music was stationed in the hall behind a screen of palms and evergreens. Any one, says the Baltimorean, who supposes that the time for Baltimore people “marrying 'aud being given in marriage” is over, aro most egregiously in error. We hoar of over one hun dred weddings that are to take place before the song of the birds shall be heard in the beautiful month of May, At the reception and ball given on the open ing of the new Capitol at Albany, a convenient plan was adopted for callin' the sleighs as the guests departed. From tiie telegraph station in the vestibule a telepbono was connected with a post near the curbstone without. The de parting guest sent his order through the tele phone, and waited comfortibly within doors uutil tho answer came that tae sleigh was at the door. A delightful private letter and a glowing no tice in the Montezuma Weekly tells us ef the marriage of Miss Rosa Jessup, of Garden Valley, Ga., to George Gostin, of Oglethorpe. Miss Jessup, under the nom de ou'erre of Rosa Rilston, was one of the Sunny Souths earliest friends and a frequent and esteemed contribu tor to its columns. She also writes regularly for the popular “Happy Home” monthly. Dr. Goston is a gentleman, worthy of the lovely and accomplished wife he has won. He is a young physician in fine practice, a winner of the first prize at the Mobile Medical College where he graduated. The marriage took place in Pine Level church, M con county, and was witnessed by a large concourse of friends and acquaintances, and followed by an elegant collation at the home of the bride, after whioh, the bridal party set out for their home in Oglethorpe. They have onr heartiest wishes for their continued happiness and prosperity.