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F' PC-!. 1
WASHINGTON CITY.
Reminiscences of Distinguished
Public Men.
Incidents Which Have Transpired at
the National Capital.
Oirl.lnm. in \Va.hin£l»n.
Christmas was the popular holiday here before
thel.de war, the descendants of the Maryland
Catholics joining the descendants of the Virginia
Episcopalians in celebrating the advent of Christ
their Lord. The colored people enjoyed the fes
tive season, and there was scarcely a house in
Washington in which there was not a well-filled
punch bowL In some antique silver bowls was
"Daniel Webster punch,” made of Medford rum,
brandy, champagne, arrack, menscliino, strong
green tea, lemon juice and sugar; in other less
expensive bowls was found a cheaper concoc
tion. Hut punch abounded everywhere, and the
bibulons found Washington a rosy place where
jocund mirth and joyful recklessness went arm
in arm to flout vile melancholy, and kick with
ardent ferver dull care out of the window.
Christmas carols are sung in the streets here
by the young colored people, and yule logs are
burned in the old houses where the fire-places
have not been bricked up.
Col. !>lll:«ney.
Col. Dulaney was a prominent figure here at
Christmas time, half a century since. He was a
large, fine-looking man, who adhered to the Con
tinental costume, and who wore his hair pow
dered and done up in a queue. At Christinas
time he rode a magnificent steed, elegantly ca
parisoned, and was attended by a black servant
in a livery, who generally rode about twenty
feet m the rear of his master. The colonel
avenue irom Gadsby Hotel, uow tlie National,
perhaps to Crawford's, afterwards tiie Union,
now the West End Hotel, in Georgetown, at a
moderate walk, and ever and anon, when oppo
site some house of consequence—a hotel. boui d-
lng-house or residence <»f some prominent indi
Tidual, the public offices or tlie President's
house—would rise in the stirrup and give three
lusty cheers for (Jen. Washington. As the colo
nel advanced in years he grew quarrelsome, and
his friends were compelled to devise means for
confining him in an insane asylum at Baltimore,
and made the necessary arrangements for his
reception and security. A fine parlor was pre
pared. and the halls decorated with halt!e pieces,
and the hail and vestibule made to appear more
like a splendid house of entertainment than a
lunatic asylum, and a special strong room with
iron-grated doors and windows, concealed by
handsome drapery, was made ready, in which to
enlrapthe unsuspecting visitor. All being ready,
a few partieular friends called at tile colonel's
residence and dined with him, and v.hen drink
ing their wine one asked another ii lie had yet
been to Baltimore and seen tlie new and el. gant
hotel recently completed. He answered affii ma
tively and said it was a magnificent house and
the fare superior to any of the kind in the coun
try. He also said that the proprietor, U-. was a
gentleman of the first water and an old acquaint
ance of Itis. Others remarked that they would
like very much to visit tne hotel. It was pro
posed to make up a small party and go there in
a coach and four. "You would also like to ac
company us, colonel, ell?” "Certainly," was
the reply.
The party breakfasted together at a public
house in Baltimore, and then drove up to the
quasi hotel, with servants in livery in attend
ance. The colonel looked at the outside of the
house for a moment, and remarked that it was a
very plain building, but large and w<-!l construct
ed. Ills friends, apprehensive that lie might be
suspicious of the true character of the institu
tion, hurried him Into the reception parlor, and
introduced him to the courteous and genial host.
Fine liquors and lunch were served and enjoyed,
and it was then proposed to look at the decora
tions and see the rooms intended for the wine
vault, and by that time dinner would he ready.
At the farther end of the strong room was a
large portrait of (Jen. Washington, and, on en
tering, the host remarked that the pictures of
Revolutionary battles were excellent engrav
ings, but the portrait of the immortal Washing
ton, opposite, was a very superior production.
"You are a judge," said he to the colonel, "go
and examine it, and give us your opinion of it.”
He went, and presto! the iron portal was closed
upon him, and the ponderous bolts instantly
locked. Then the raged lion chafed and roared,
uttered fearful execrations against his deceivers
for tla-ir cowardly treachery, shouted "murder,
fire, thieves," and spent his wrath upon the
door, shaking and jarring it as though to wrench
it from its hinges. Co!. Dulaney died there a
few years later.
I.iiicolii and II is llaf,
Mr. Lincoln's personal appearance when he
was first Inaugurated made a deep impression
on those who witnessed it. He came out from
the capitol upon the platform, erected over the
eastern steps, with Ins natural awkwardness
increased by the momentous circumstances of
the occasion, and by a gorgeous wardrobe, in
which it was evident he felt exceedingly tin com
fortable. The stiJT dress-coat, vest and panta
loons of black broadcloth were enough of them
selves to disturb liis mental and physical equa
nimity, but to these were added other ineuni-
brances ia the shape of a brand new silk hat
and a ponderous gold-headed eane. The rune
he managed to put away in a corner, hut the.
disposition of the hat perplexed him gr.-atU. It
was too good to throw away, too nice, ;ls he
thought, to rest upon the rough boards, so for a
minute, at least, poor Lincoln stood there in the
gaze of assembled thousands, grasping the hat
desperately and seeking in vain tor a safe place
to deposit it. Douglas, who sat immediately in
the rear, saw the embarrassment of his rival,
and rising, took the shining heaver from its
sorely bothered owner and held it during the
delivery of the inaugural address. It is doubt
ful whether, five years before, Stephen A. Doug
las ever dreamed that he was destined to hold
the hat of Abraham Lincoln while that individ
ual was appearing for the first time as Presi-
dent of the United States
remarked that his work seemed to he endless, j
for as soon as one matter was adjusted, another j
arose, and that many matters must he brotigh |
before him which it would he impossible for any j
man to settle.
"That reminds me of a man out West,” said
Mr. Lincoln. "He lived away end West, where
he had no neighbors, and winked his farm him-
"elf. One day some friends visited him and
walked out to look at the place. The P<**t poiti-
j ted out the use of this and that lot. and in one
that lie said lie was going to plow ila- \isilois
obseived all immense tree which had been cut
downi recently. They asked him what he was
going to do with that tree. Well,' said he,
'that tree has caused me considerable perplex
ity- I couldn't make up my mind just what to
do about ft. It is so green that 1 can't burn it.
It would take ten pair of oxen to drag it off,and
I have only one pair; and if I take the necessa
ry lime to dig a hole to bury it in it will make
me late with my plowing. ’This morning, how
ever, 1 solved the problem. I determined just
to plow around it..’ ” This story closely resem
bles one which Mr. Blaine once told at the Maine
Republican Convention, where lie artfully a
peared as the opponent of an open quarrel w ith
Pre sident Hayes, to the effect that ill such mat
ters it was bel ter to follow the example of tile
countryman, who, when lie came across a par
ticularly solid stump, always plowed around it.
Cooklinar :<n<| Waslilmme.
Mr. KoscoeUonkling,of New York, and Mr.
Eliliu Washtiurne, of Illinois, had a lively nil in
the House oi Re| resentatives oil the 2'.Uli of
April, 1S62. on the Report of the Selee; commit
tee on Government Contracts, which Mr. Wash-
burue was a member of. I liad Stevens had drily
rema'ked the week previous by saying that the
committee had committed more frauds than they
had exposed, and Mr, Uonkling was replying to
some startling remarks by Mr. Dawes, win n Mr.
Waslilmrneobjected to an extention of hisliine-
Mr. Uonkling thereupon told Mr.j Washburne
that lie was tile only man ill the Hoii-e suily
enough to interpose objections, and called him
to order. "I call the creature to order,'' shout
ed Mr. Washburne, “The member from Illi
nois," said Mr. Uoukiing. ’'must understand the
rules of the House, and that this is not the place
for personal altercation, lie knows the proper
place (or that is outside these walls." "Yes.
sir.’ exclaimed Mr. Washburne. "and 1 am
ready tor it.’’ Mr. Uonkling. without carrying
on 1 lie personal altercation, said that lie regal ded
tile cominillee as one of those ornaments loo ex
pensive, uudeMhe circumstances, to lie indulged,
and in this connection humorously commented
on the allowance to the committee by their own
order, of twenty cents a mile for traveling, and
?2 a d. V besides other nceess i
THE WOMAN'S REALM.
Feminine Fancies, Foibles and
Curious Infatuations,
Freaks and Feats of the Little Blind
God Among the Sexes.
A young man is ail in confusion in pondering
over ihe problem whether, when he tuk>-s a
young lady to church, lie should give her money
to place iii the contribution box. Of course ha
should not. Young ladies are always provided
w ith funds lor this purpose, and any escort who
offered his companion the necessary coin would
almost certainly Insult tier. This is the common
seuse view of tiie matter.
A Liverpool constable learned something new
about the law the other day. When he went
home his wife hammered him with a flat iron.
He applied for a separation, but was informed
that white the law allows wives to sue for a
separation on tiie ground of cruelty it does not
grant the same privilege to husbands. There
is no doubt of it. We are continually having
examples that there is one law for man and an
other for woman.
That was a cold couple which went to the
Mansion House at Greenfield. Mass., and got
married. As the story goes, they drove up to
the hotel, went into tiie parlor, and sent for a
clergyman, who came and performed tiie cere
mony. They asked a young man in the house
to act as a witness, and when ail was done got
into the buggy and were whirled away, withont
having said so much as thank you to any one.
They were entire strangers, and behaved as if
they did not think they had done anything ex
traordinary. Tin t couple will w in in life, and
will he apt to live comfortably where more
thoughtful folks would find it hard to get along.
A young man marries and his bride refuses to
leave her own home and her mother and live
with him alone. He offers her a home but she
will not go to him, but she threatens, unless lie
gives iter money to sue him for support. Can
tie, as long as she hold* to her present, mind, he
compelled t-o support her? _ That is the gues-
tion whieh is just u:>*v agitating New York.
And progress is asked about il. Progress does
not think that the mm, under the circumstan
ces, can he made by the law to support the wo
man. Mas she not. praetie illy deserted him by
refusing to _o to his lion.se.? She certainly d<
not. obey him. It W
always to settle • »
plamly before mama
od pre
motht
their
il cost. Vs a line point was heii.«i pul oil tilings, i
it behooved them all to'know whether any per
sons round the hoard had been getlinganvthing
they ought not to have. A little mileage was a
d numerous thing. Like liquor, if it was tasted
too much the habit gets fastened. Mr. W.tsh-
nurne, replying, said that after the biting sar
casm and blistering invective of the gentleman
from Pennsylvania, the House had been called
on to listen Vo what might be called a painful
imitation from the extraorninary member i Mr.
( onklmg from New York, who had attacked the
committee for the benefit of thieves, contractors
and plunderers, who had been for two weeks
holding high carnival, in anticipation that the
committee was to be destroyed. It would have
been hut fair to give the committee notice of
the contemplated annihilation, that it mighi he
prepared to die with decency. Why did not the
member from New Y«rfc make his charges like
a man, and not like a skulking cow;«rd?3PThe
member undertook to criticise the expenses of
the committee, which lie had figured up. and
sneaked into the clerk’s office to ask how much
the member, had been paid. II the member had
»■-now’ll any i lung, lie must have known his st iie-
ment was false. If the committee had failed to
discharge its duty, and was obnoxious to the
charges made, he fWashburne) cailed on the
House notdo post |tone its action, hut disband t he
committee at once. The committee and the
country would accept that as a tribute to its
faithful performance of its duty, which had led
to the attack by the member from New York, and
by every plunderer, thief and robber who had
broken into the treasury. While the committee
was engaged in its examinations he found, by
an official document, the member from New
York besieging the door of the Secretary of War
to get contrabands for his constituents. Truly
the member was a pretty man to come here and
lecture the committee as to what the committee
had done. The committee knew it would be
met; It knew whose paths It had crossed; it
knew who w ere the aiders and abetters of the
public plunderers in and out of this House; it
did not like the committee, of course not, for—
No rogue e’er felt the halter drew
With good opinion of the law.
opinion fliat i f hnsl
club frequenting it is the fault m l;n ge |<irt of
tin* wives. Her husband is very little of a
clubman, and she takes to herself the credit
that he is not. She has no trouble in keeping
him at home in the evernugs. Her receipt :s a
simple one. and though it is not new. many wives
have, from their actions never heard <' r She
makes a point of keeping his “d«*n, a* he cabs
it just as comforlable as possible, and >he en
courages him to invite his friends to little eu
chre parlies. The plan works excellently w»-ll
so tar as she and her husband are concerned,
but what of the wives of those friends wtio<
to the ‘ little ciicl-r
like it that so attra<
their husbands to keen
at night? And if all w
od, would il not obviot
ble?
A SOUTHERN CHRISTMAS SCENE,
of boquets from the ladies in the galleries; to
which he gracefully alluded "as a rosebud in
the wreath of his political destiny.”
The convention at last, on tlie forty ninth bal
lot, nominated General Fierce—Purse, iiis
friends railed him—a gentleman of courteous
temper, highly agreeable manners and conviv
ial nature. He had served in tiie -recent war
with Mexico; tie had never given a vote or
written a sentence that the straightest Soul!,
ern Democrat could wish to blot; and iie was
identified with tiie slave power, having de
nounced its enemies as I lie enemies of the con
stitution. William R. King, at the time presi
One day a gentleman who was speakin
Mr. Lincoln an ~
to
Tout Mr. Chase's political ambi
tion, expressed surprise that the office of Chief
Justice of tiie Unit.sl States was not sufficiently
high to allay the ambition <>f any man.
"Do you know Mr. Chase well, very well?”
asked Mr. Lincoln.
"Yes-1 think so," somewhat doubtfully re
plied the other.
“Well,” rejoined Mr. Lincoln, “let me tell
you about Mr. Chase. He is a man who, if lie
h happy enougli to get to Heaven, will certainly
aspire to a seat on the throne."
At another time during a critical period of
the war, two gentlemen were consulting with
Mr. Lincoln on an important matter which re
quired prompt decision. Observing that other
persons were waiting to see him, one of them
Cass A I'icroc.
President Fillmore's receptions were always
well attended, and they were the only large so
cial gatherings then held at Washington, with
the exception of occasional entertainments giv
en by Mr. Crampton, who so ably represented
Queen Victoria, a noble specimen of the fine
oid English gentleman, whose hair was prema
turely silvered by time. At these receptions
one could see near together gallant officers of ^
I lie army and “colonels” of the "lobby engirt- j fient protein, of tiie Senate, was nominated loi
eer corps;’’ diplonintcs whose breasts blazed
willi decorations and chevaliers d’induslrie"
without reputations; exquisites in full evening
attire and frontiersmen in buckskin minting
suits; Quakers with their hats on their heads
and ladies witii their dresses off their shoul
ders. old .and young, the good and t lie great. all
contributing to make up a kaleidoscopic whirl
of silks and broadcloths, epaulets and dia
monds. that, circled round tiie East Room to the
music of the Marine Band.
There were “hops" at the hotels, dinner par
ties given by lobyistsat Boulanger’s restaurant,
and many small social entertainments, to which
only those wiio were politically in sympathy
wit'll the host were invited. As the time for
holding tiie nominating conventions^ approach
ed, many of 'he delegates visited Washington,
where they received marked hospitality irom
the candidates who were there and from the
friends of all. Tin-supporters of Judge Doug
las were especially demonstrative, and their
"headquarters” was famed for its abundant
supply of whiskey and cigars, and as a mint
where there was a daily coinage of epigrams,
witticisms and quaint sayings, which were cir
NOTIONS ABOUT BRIDES.
Thus, in an old book enlitled tiie “Fifteen Com
forts of Marriage,” a bride and her bridesmaids
are represented conversing together respecting
vice-president receiving every vote except the j tiie colors to be used for the decorations of the
eleven given by the delegation Irom Illinois,!, , ,
which were for Jefferson Davis. | bridal dress, it was finally decided, after many
(lass and Douglas were at first very much pro- j colors had been rejected, "to mingle a gold tissue
yoked by the action of tiie convention, but j itli a grass green,” tliis being considered syiu-
( with little ceremony, and nothing of ancient
i fashion but two bridesmaids. The endowing
I purse, I believe, has been left off since broad
. _ j pieces were called in and melted down.”
Some of the Queer Fancies That Have it has been pointed out, however, that»survi-
•n , . _ ., 0 | val of this usage is preserved in Cumberland.
prevailed AmODg the superstitious. The bridegroom provides himself w ill) gold and
rCassell’s Family Magazine 1 crown pieces, and when the services reaches
[Cassell s Family ai.tg.izim J tiie point “With all my worldly goods I tlice en-
Import.ance was formerly attached to the col- ; dow,” he takes the money, hands the clergyman
ors which the bride wore on her wedding day. j his fee and pours the rest into a handkerchief.
which tiie bridesmaid holds for the bride.
In Scotland, the bridesmaid is popularly known
as tiie “best maid," and one of her principal du
ties was to convey the bride's presents on the
wedding to her future home. Tiie first artiele
generally taken into the house was a vessel of
salt, a portion of which was sprinkled over tiie
floor, asa protection against tiie "evil eye." She
Iilnted everywnere in' Washington. Their
mereiless attacks oil "len cent Jimmy” Burli-
anau. and oil Cass, wTium* reputation was be
yond tiie U. proved fatal to tiie hopes of those
veteran members of the party who deserved
more considerate treatment. Tin; friends of
these "(.Id fogies” determined in turn that
Douglas should lie slaughtered also and great
excitement [prevailed at Washington tor some
weeks before the national Democratic conven
tion assembled at Baltimore.
The sessions of the convention were long and
stormy, and it was on tiie thirty-fifth ballot that
tiie name of General Franklin Pierce was
brought forward, for the first time, by the \ ir-
ginia delegation. Some other States voted for
the New Hampshire brigadier, but it did not
seem possible that he could be nominated, and
the next day. on tiie forty-eighth ballot, Virgin
ia gave her vote for Daniel S. Dickinson, of
New York. It was received with great ap
plause, but f.ir. Dickinson, who was a delegate
pledged to the support of Cass, was too honor
able a man to accept what he thought belonged
to his friend. Receiving permission to address
the convention, he eloquently withdrew his own
name, and pleaded so earnestly for the nomina
tion of Gen. Cass that be awakened the enthu
siasm of the audience, and received a shower
Buchanan gracefully accepted tiie situation
"You judge me rigidly." he wrote to a South
ern political friend, "in believing that 1 have
borne defeat with philosophy; it lias not cost
me a single pang. The support l received from
Ihe Old Dominion and her noble sisters of the
Soutli will be a source of satisfaction to me so
long as i shall live, still, when I see such a
man as iiallett of Boston elevated to tiie rank
of high-priest in tiie Democratic church, 1 can
not avoid mortification. i have long observed
him and such Yankees as lie, who have never
had any principle except the five loaves and
two fishes. Rantoui and Hallett were a pr ■-
cions pair of Democrats. I have a very high
opinion of Pierce, he will make an exei IP in
President if surrounded by tiie proper iiillii-
ences; but Heaven save us from the influences
of Boston Democracy! The South are entitled
to very great influences wit Ii Inin, and, i hope,
will assert their rights ilia proper manner. I
shall aid them all in my power." This was Mr.
Buchanan's first bid for the nomination, which
lie secured in isr.fi.
llaPiilay'N Ihiuglifcrs,
Beil llalliday, tile overland m ul contractor, be
fore the completion of the Pacific Railroad, had
two lovely daughters, who were educated in
Paris, and who married French noblemen. One,
who had married the Count de Pour!ales, a mem
ber of the French Legation at Washington, had
been, witii her husband and fluid, visiiing ln-r
father in Oregon, and was hastening Eastward
to see her mother, w ho was ill at “OpbirFartn,”
near New York, when she died in tiie cars as
she approached Chicago. Her sister, the wife
of Baron Henri de Bussiere, left Paris some two
years afterwards, apparently in perfect health
and spirits, and took passage on a Cunard
steamer for New York. When only three days
from that port she was taken suddenly ill, and
on her arrival, had to be carried to a hotel. She
grew steadily worse, although under tiie best of
medical care, and in a few days death was a
happy release from almost unendurable suffer
ing.
An East Montpelier, Vt, man has caught
sixty-four skunks sinoe September let.
bolical of youthful jollity.
Again, that the office of a bridesmaid was in
times past not altogether a sine qua non may tie
gathered from the fact that during ilie period of
tiie wedding festivities, which often extended
over a week, tiie bridesmaids were expected to
lie in attendance, and do whatever they could to
promote their success.
Then Hit re was Hie custom of “flinging the
stockings." at which the bridesmaids took a
prominent lead, a ceremony to which no small
importance was attached. It lias been made
tiie subject of frequent allusion by our old
w riters, and one rhyme, describing a wedding,
telis us:
But still the stockings are (o throw;
Some throw too high, and some too low,
Tlieie’s none could hit tiie mark.
Mission further informs ns that if tiie bride
groom's stockings, thrown by one of tiie brides
maids, fell upon his head it was regarded as ail
omen that she herself would soon be married;
ami a similar prognostic was taken from the
falling of the bride's stockings, thrown by one
of the groomsmen. It was the bridesmaid’s
duly, too, to present the bride witii tiie "bene
diction posset." so called from the words utter
ed ovi r it; a practice thus noticed by Herrick,
in liis “Hesperides:"
Wliat short, sweet prayer shall he said,
And how the posset shall be made
Willi cream of lilies, not of kine.
And maiden's blush for spiced wine.
Buckling thus alludes to his custom:
In came the bridesmaids with the posset,
The bridegroom eat in spight.
Once more tiie bridesmaids were supposed to
look after the bride's pecuniary Interests. Thus,
at the church porch, when the’ bridegroom pro
duced the ring and other articles relating to liis
the “dow purse,” which was publicly given to
the bride as an installment of her pin money.
Horace Walpole, writing to Miss Berry in the
rry 1
year 1791, speaks of the dow purse as a thing of
* ., and writes as follows:
wedding is over very properly, though
also attended the bride when she called on iier
friends, and gave a personal invitation to her
wedding.
Ella and Sylph-
Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Colonel John A.
Joyce, of Kentucky, are having a lively dispute
over the authorship of a twenty-four line poem.
The Colonel declares he wrote the verses in a
Louisville gin-mill twenty years ago. Mrs. Wil-
eox, on the other hand, claims that she com
posed the poem two years ago. just after return
ing from a funeral. Blood, it is feared, will
flow in consequence of the wrangle. Mrs.
Wheeler lias already a “poem of defiance,” of
which tiie following is the initial stanza:
if ever I patch that sway-backed Colonel,
The ring-boned,knock-kneed Kentucky sneak,
I’ll chew him up into Hamburg sausage
So quick that lie won't have lime to squeak!
1'U squeeze him. pinch him and hate him to
death!
I'll beat him all black with niv own little fist—
Oil. lust let me seize that redoubtable Colonel,
i'll just twist him in two with a turn of my
wrist.
If Colonel Joyce has not skipped intoCanada
he'd better be packing liis Hunk. Ella is no
tenderfoot, and, from tiie tone of the above, it is
evident that she intends to plaster the Colonel
all over the Southern States.—fYisco A’eu-a
Letter.
It does not take much to make an Indian
rich. Tiie Plegan Indians, who were freezing
and starving last winter, are now said to be
rolling in wealth. Not only have they received
large quantities of supplies from the government,
hut they are accused of having stolen nearly
hut they are accused of having stolen nearly
„ 2.000 head of horses from the Crows and whites
marriage, theT chief bridesmaid took charge of during the summer and are anxious to barter
ponies and flour for arms and ammunition, with
the Intention probably of going on the war path
early next spring. The matter is to be Investi
gated. U the above is true, it won’t do to say
that all Indians are shiftless and devoid of en
terprise.
Two lovers of one girl quarreiei
that they were taken to a pole
eir! was there also as a witness,
the young men were both hot
that one was as imicii to bl.iuie as the oiner.
They both wanted to marry her. ami she was
not prepared to say for a week w'lich -I.- won'..!
have It was tier intention, evidently, not to
reach a decision in a hurry. But it, was appar
ent that she was a generous girl, for she teid
the justice that she had more beaux than she
needed and would be glad to share with some
sister who was not as fortunate in this particu
lar as herself. There are not many gi.ls who
behave in that wav. The average girl, at least
until she lias made up her mind whom she will
take for tier life partner, cannot have too many
beaux. Tiie more tiie merrier is tier creed, and
as to sharing witii another girl, though she
might have a full dozen in her train, that is the
last thing she would think of.
A New York girl is engaged to be married,
and though she has been engaged for quite a
a w hile now. the gentleman does not ask her to
set the day. Naturally, this uncertainty an
noys her and she wants to know whether it
would lie unladylike if site questioned him up
on tliis important point. Assuredly it would
not It is exactly what she ought to do. When
alone she should say to him. "And now, my
dear -sir. when are we to lie married?” or some-
tiling in that way. That is, if she wants to
marry tiie gentleman ; but I should not think an
accepted lover who did not press for a speedy
marriage w.is of much account. It »s most un
generous for any mau to treat tiie girl .•> whom
lie is engaged in this fashion. Perhaps the lady
would do best to break off the contract and
leave tiie gentleman to guess why she does so.
But if she loves him and does tint want to lose
him, and still feels an enibarr issmeat in speak
ing to him on the subject, let her have her
father, mother, or brother politely but determ
inedly demand an explanation.
“Tip Cat” is a story written by a lady, who
expresses the opinion that under certain cir
cumstances ladies should make mairiage pie*
posais. Slie regards it as an absurd custom
ami false desty which prevents a woman
from declaring tier affections to a man of whose
reciproeatorv sentiments she is sure, but who,
owing to what lie may regard as good reasons,
does not make known liis love. It is not im
possible that oilier ladies share this opinion,
but safety, lies in the fact that the old rule is
too firmly established to be easily uprooted.
However, there is no knowing what may hap-
pon and especially wliat women may do, that
itni.ivbeth.it before long it will be decidedly
dangerous tor a man to be alone with a lady.
This supposition opens up a series of startling
thoughts. A man who is rejected may feel very
badlv about it. but,lie either goes aw ay ami it t's
tiie matte'-drop or lie persists in liis suit and
wins in the end, or is finally convinced that
there is no hope. With a woman it would be
different. We have all heard Imw it is with a
woman scorned. No man would dare to refuse
the woman who said sin- wished to marry him.
If lie did wliat would follow would he terrible.
A woman with pluck enough to propose would
have pluck enougli to m ike it. very uncomforta
ble for the unlucky wight stie wanted and who
would not have her. It is much better as It is.
A Resort for Brides and Bridegrooms.
Tiie question as to whether Niagara Falls
should he preserved as a public park or not by
the State, is being discussed in many quarters.
It seems to us that the region in the vicinity of
the great cataract should be [deserved as a pub
lic pleasure-ground forever, if for no other rea
son than that it may be a resort ior fair brides
and happy bridegrooms ou their wedding jour
neys.—Liilyer.
Europe and British India consume about
000 gallons of h.uidkercliief perfumes yearly.
There is one great perfume distillery at Cannes,
in France, which uses yearly 100,000 pounds of
acacia flowers. 140,000 pounds of rare flower
leaves, 32,000 pounds of jasmine blossoms, 20.000
of tuberose blossoms, and an Immense quantity
of other material.