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A MYSTERY t'Ml A YELLED.
I had been “ doing ” tho continent in
a rambling way and lmd stopped for a
few days at Venice.
Here 1 met my old college chum,
Dick f! lover.
The latter had become a famous doc
tor within the last few years.
Having at last married a rich and
handsome young widow, he had con
cluded to take a short period of relax
ation, and hence his presence in this
distant clime.
Of course he was overjoyed to see
me, and having been there long enough
to know something of the place, lie
volunteered to show me around.
“ By George !” 1 exclaimed, sudden
ly, as we stopped before the piazza San
Marco. “There’s as handsome a pic
ture as I ever saw. Innocence permi
tted” r
A young and most beautiful girl
stood before us, engaged in feeding the
pigeons.
The birds were marvelously tame,
and approached her fearlessly, even
lighting on her hands.
“ Did you ever see a more attractive
sight!” I asked my friend, enthusiasti
cally, as we passed on.
“Hum! I don’t know,” was the
rather doubtful reply. “ Rumor lias
been busy about that ladv’s name of
late.”
“ In what way ?” I asked indignantly.
“ I never saw a sweeter face in all my
life.”
“ Well, I’ll tell yon the story as near
as I’ve heard it. The woman is Coun
tess Ardotti. Her husband, the count,
is reputed to be immensely wealthy,
while the wife was but a poor peasant
girl when he married her. Of course
the general belief is that she wedded
him for his wealth. This would not
amount to much were it not for the fact
that she makes no effort to show her
dislike for her husband's society. I
happened to be present at a large ball
given here a few weeks ago. On that
occasion the countess flirted shamefully
with a young Italian, the son of some
nobleman. Her conduct attracted uni
versal attention, but she did not seem
to heed that in the least. Now you see
why I am rather more doubtful of her
innocence than you are.”
“ Still you may be mistaken by your
prejudice against her,” I retorted gaily.
We arrived home at about four p. m..
and the doctor's wife met us with a look
of horror on her face.
“Have you heard the news?” she*
gasped. “ Isn’t it perfectly horrible ?"
" What news, dear ?” asked the doc
tor, in surprise. “You'll have to en
lighten us on the subject, I'm afraid.”
“ Count Ardotti has been murdered !”
The doctor looked grave at this intel
ligence, and glanced toward me. As
for myself, I was trembling with con
flicting emotions.
“ Let me hear the particulars ?” I
asked, quickly.
“ I will tell you all I know,” replied
the lady. “ The count was found sit
ting in his chair with a poniard driven
to the hilt in his heart. lie must have
fallen asleep and been attacked in that
state.’!
•• What time did it occur ?” asked
the doctor, briefly.
“ About three o’clock they disco ver
ered him, and then his body was not
quite cold. The countess was imme
diately suspected of the crime. She
was engaged in feeding the pigeons
when the) - arrested her, and there was
blood upon her delicate hands.”
“ You was rather mistaken in your
judgment that time,” said the doctor
addressing me. “ I suppose you'll ad
mit it now ?”
“ Never!” I replied. “It strikes me
that there is some deep mystery at the
bottom of this, and that the countess is
still innocent.”
“Your legal instinct is wrong this
time, I'm afraid,” said the doctor's wife.
“ The poniard with which the deed was
done belonged to the countess, and has
been already identified.”
“ Pooh!” I retorted ; “that is proof
positive of her innocence. No one but
a fool would have left an article behind
that would have convicted them. ’
“ I left the doctor, and proceeded at
once to the police officials. I found
them in perplexity, some of them be
lieving in tbe innocence of the count
ess, and the rest firmly believing her to
be guilty. I had provided myself with
a letter of introduction from the doctor,
and was politely received.
Stating that I was a lawyer by pro
fession, and used to unraveling myste
ries, I offered my services in the pres
ent case. I was accepted without hes
itation, save by one member of the
board, who was'most bitter in his hos
tility to the countess.
This man alluded to showed such an
amount of strong dislike to me that 1
resolved to find out the cause. All I
could learn, however, was his name, and
the fact that he was the father of a half
witted girl.
I had two interviews with the coun
tess, and each of them strengthened my
belief in her innocence.
I endeavored to find the young noble
man whose name had been coupled with
hers, but he had left the country. Of
course this gave a still darker look to
the case, but I did not despair.
One night I was proceeding home
ward at a late hour, when I heard a
stealthy footstep behind me. I turned
quickly, and just in time to catch my
assailant by the arm. A keen stilletto
was iu his hand, and my prompt action
had saved my life. Snatching out my
revolver. I leveled it at his head, and
ordered him to move on, at the same
time keeping a firm hold upon his collar.
The muzzle of my weapon was a con-
VOL. Ill —NO. 11.
vincing argument, and he did not dare
disobey. I marched him straight tot lie
house of my friend. Dr. Glover. As
I marched my prisoner into the doctor’s
presence, I. for the first time, caught a
glimpse of the face beneath the slouch
hat.
I started back in astonishment. It
was no less a person than my strange
enemy among the police officials. I
knew then that he was able to throw
some light upon the mystery.
“ See here.” I said, assuming ray
fiercest tone ; “ you are fairly cornered
now. Confess what you know concern
ing the murder of Count Ardotti. and
you shall go free, otherwise I shall give
you into custody for your attempt upon
my life.”
The man. frightened by my manner,
told all he knew. His insane daughter
had been so made by the count’s former
attentions. Having betrayed her. he
had cast her otf, and she had brooded
over her wrongs until she had become
dangerously insane.
After the count's marriage she had
sworn revenge, and became so violent
that she required constant watching,
tin the day of the count’s murder she
had succeeded in eluding the vigilance
of her friends.
Her father was the first to miss her.
and fearing her purpose, had gone
straight to the count's entrance, lie
had arrived just in time to see his
crazy daughter escaping by a back en
trance, and shrewdly guessed that the
deed had been perpetrated.
His wish for revenge upon the new
countess for usurping his daughter’s
rightful place, and his fear that the
crazj T girl might have to pay the pen
alty of her act with her life, had led to
his silence.
Strange to say, the sight of her mur
dered lover had brought back the girl's
wandering senses, and she was legally
liable for the act.
The doctor listened in open-mouthed
astonishment, while 1 drew up the state
ment in legal form, and compelled the
man to sign it; then we accompanied
him home and had the truth corroborated
from the unwilling lips of the daughter.
The countess was quickly liberated,
and public opinion swung round in her
favor. The real murderess was never
prosecuted, opinion seeming to be that
it was an act of justice.
Such is the story, as told me by a
lawyer friend on his recent return from
abroad. His wife was the former Coun
tess Ardotti, and she was, indeed, a
most beautiful woman.
In Love with His Aunt.
Xcir York Sun.
William O. Jackson, when ID years
of age, in 1864 went to live with Mrs.
Anna M. Jackson, his uncle's widow,
who is about twenty years his senior.
He says that he fell in love with her,
and that she promised to marry him.
By the death of his father he became
possessed of a legacy of about $40,-
000. This money he gave to her. and
she invested it in real estate in her own
name. After William had lived with
his aunt about ten years she began to
receive the attentions of Mr. Richard
M. Hunt. William objected, and a
quarrel followed, and afterward William
sued to recover his property. He was
in May, 1876, induced, as he says, by
a renewed promise of marriage to dis
continue his suit and give Mrs. Jack
son a full release. She soon afterward
married Mr. Hunt, and William insti
tuted a suit to set aside his release and
get back his property. Mrs. Hunt's
defense is that she gave a full considera
tion for the release bv the conveyance
of a mortgage and some lots in Jersey
City to William.
The case was on trial yesterday in
the Special Term of the Court of Com
mon Pleas. Mr. Jackson related his
story, giving the history of his quarrels
with his aunt, which were begun after
Hunt was regular in his visits and had
given the defendant a diamond ring.
After Jackson had begun his first suit
and the Deputy Sheriff had gone to
serve an attachment, his aunt enticed
him away from the officer, and when he
was alone with her she wept and clung
to him, and the result was the signing
of the discontinuance and release, with
an agreement that they should be mar
ried within a few months. He told her
that he had no money and she gave him
the mortgage, he says, for the purpose
of purchasing an outfit for her and him
self. He received $2,200 for the mort
gage and paid the greater part of it for
her benefit, principally to lawyers em
ployed by her to defend the first suit.
Mr. Hunt, who had not made any visits
for some time, reappeared the day after
the release was given, and was again
regular in his attentions. The only ex
planation the aunt vouchsafed to give
was that she would receive the atten
tions of whoever she liked. Jackson
told her the house was not big enough
to hold two men and went away.
Augusta Evening Sentinel: It is fun
ny that Dc la Matyr should defeat Han
na for Congress, because all the Indiana
wags are now shouting “That's "hats
the matter with Hanna 1”
HARTWELL, UA.. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER (>, 187S.
Forty in a Duel.
Morrittvvn (Ttnn.) flazettr.
Tho famous duel in which forty or
more gentlemen were engaged 1828, is
still remembered in Natchez. Colonel
James Bowie, the famous fighter and
inventor of the knife which bears his
name, used to spend a grout deal of his
time in that city. lie was challenged
by a gentleman from Alexandria, La.,
whose friends to the number of forty
or more accompanied him to Natchez
to see fair play, knowing that Bowie
was a desperate man and had his
friends about him. All parties went
upon the field. The combatants took
their places in the centre, separated
from their friends in the rear, or enough
not to endanger them with their balls.
Behold the battle array thus: Twenty
armed Louisianians fifty yards behind
their champion and his seconds and
surgeon, and opposite them, as far be
hind Bowie and his seconds and sur
geon, twenty armed Mississippians.
Behold the heights of Natchez throng
ed with spectators and a steamer in the
river rounded to, its deck black with
passengers watching with dec)) interest
the scene. The plan of the light was
to exchange shots twice with pistols and
to close with knives, Bowie being armed
with his own terrible weapon. At the
first tire both parties escaped. At the
second the Louisianian was too quick,
and took advantage of Bowie, who
waited the word. At this Bowie’s sec
ond cried “foul play,” and shot the
Louisianian dead. The second of the
latter instantly killed the slayer of his
principal. Bowie drove his knife into
this man. The surgeons now crossed
blades, while with loud cries came on
the two parties’ friends, the light of
battle in their eyes. In a moment the
whole number was engaged in a fear
less conflict. Dirks, pistols and knives
were used with fatal effect until one
party drove the other from the field. I
do not know how' many killed and
wounded in all, but it was a dreadful
slaughter. Bowie fought like a lion,
but fell covered with wounds. For
months he lingered at the Mason House
before be fully recovered. •
Instructions to a Jury.
Speaking of the'courts reminds us of
a funny instruction said to have been
given by a Judge to a jury in—well, we
wont say in what State. It runs in this
way :
“If this jury believes, from the evi
dence, that the plaintiff and defendant
were a partner in the grocery, and that
the plaintiff bought out defendant, and
e;ave his note for the interest, and defen
dant paid for note by delivering to the
plaintiff a cow, which he warranted
‘not breaehy’ and the warranty was
broke bv reason of the breachiness of
the cow, and the plaintiff drove the cow
back and tendered her to the defendant,
but the defendant refused to receive her
home again, and put a heavy yoke or
poke upon her, to prevent her from
jumping the fence, and the cow in at
tempting to jump the fence, by reason
of the aforesaid yoke or poke, broke her
neck and died, and if the jury further
believes that the defendant's interests
in the grocery aforesaid was not worth
anything, and the plaintiff's note was
worthless, and the said cow good for
nothing, either for milk or for beef, or
for ‘green hide,' then the jury must
find out for themselves how they will de
cide the case, for the court, if she un
derstands herself, and she thinks she do,
don’t know how such a cussed case
should be decided.”
It Makes AH Wrong.
“ Please, father, is it wrong to go
pleasuring on the Lord’s day ? My
teacher says it, is.”
“ Why, child, perhaps it is not ex
actly right.”
“ Then it is wrong, isn't it, father ?”
“O, I don't know that; if it is only
once in a while.”
“ Father, you know how fond I am
of sums ?”
“Yes. John, I'm glad you are; I
want you to do them well. and be quick
and clever at figures ; but why do you
talk of sums just now ?”
“ Because, father, if there is one lit
tle figure put wrong in a sujn, it makes
it all wrong,however large the amount
is.
“ To be sure, child, it does.”
“ Then, please, father, don’t you
think if God’s day is put wrong now
and then, it makes all wrong ?”
“ Put wrong, child —how ?”
“ I mean, father, put to a wrong use.”
“That brings it very close,” said the
father, as if speaking to himself; and
then added, “ John it is wrong to break
God's holy Sabbath. He has forbidden
it, and your teacher was quite right.”
“ Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy.”
At one of the schools in Cornwell,
England, the inspector asked the chil
dren if they could quote any text of
Scripture which forbade a man having
two wives. One of the children eagerly
quoted iu reply, the text, “No man can
serve two master .”
Pungent Paragraphs.
I)o as your conscience dictates and
you will not go far astray.
A Western paper says, “A negro
is found dead near the business end of a
mule.”
The Asheville (N. C-) Pioneer nomi
nates Grant for President and General
Longstreot for Vice-President in 1880.
A Columbus man says he started 30
years ago to make $14,000,000. lie
has got the fourteen, hut the cyphers
Lot her him.
The California grape crop this season
is the largest ever gathered, and prepa
rations have been made to cure a million
pounds of raisins.
The loss by the yellow fever, through
the destruction of crops by neglect, so i
page of trade, and .pii nor causes, is esti
mated at 8200,000,000.
A farmer was asked if he cleared any
thing on his farm last year. He replied
that he cleared a ten-rail fence when the
sheriff’ got aftei him.
An elephant hutted the end out of a
car on a Kentucky railroad, fell with
his forelegs astride the couplings,
broke his tusks, and had a foot cut off.
A man named Ramsey was choked to
death at Wnrdsvillo, Out., by a grain
of wheat. Here is another argument in
favor of taking your grain in a liquid
state.
*• How came you to have such a short
nose?” asked a city dandy of a country
boy. “So that I would not he poking
it into other people’s business," was the
reply.
Charles G. May, the man who wink
ed at Victoria Woodhull a year ago in
a passenger ear, died in a New York
pool-house the other day. Remorse will
fetch a man every lime.
The abundant corn crop in the West,
will tend to increase the number of hogs
raised, and that, in turn, will depress
prices. Heavy holders of hog products
are a little uneasy at the lookout.
A negro boy was driving a mule in
Jamaica, when the animal suddenly stop
ped and refused to budge. “ Won't go,
eh 1” said the boy. “Feel grand, do
you? “ I s’pose you forgot your father
was a jackass 1”
Detroit Free Press : When they go to
a barbecue in Georgia it is no one-horse
affair—or, rather, one-ox affair. At a
recent “roast” at Siiver Creek, in that
state, thirty oxen, as many hogs and 84
sheep were cooked.
Detroit Erie Press : An infant who
will insist on howling and kicking after
being tendered the last tooth-brush and
only eggjbeater in the house, sadly needs
that regular motion of the elbow which
Solomon invented and patented.
A woman who went to a concert to
hear Blind Tom “ play by ear,” writes
that she was swindled, and wants us to
expose the fraud. Shesays that instead
of playing by ear, he played with his
fingers, just like any other performer.
The Notth Carolinians who live near
the sea are at present engaged in har
vesting the mullet crop. At one point,
“ Mullet Pond Fishery,” 260 barrels
were caught one day. At Bogue Inlet
the eateli for one day was 160 barrels.
Allied time little Willie was saying
his usual prayer on his mother’s knee,
and when he got as far as, “ If 1 should
die before I wake,” hesitated. “ Well,
what next?” asked his mother. “Well,
I s’pose the next thing would he a fu
neral.”
A modern writer declares that Amer
ican men are gradually decreasing in
statue, and that two or three generations
hence the women will he taller. He at
tributes it to the use of liquor and to
bacco stunting the growth of the hoys.
It not only shortens the height, but also
the length of life.
A lady writing from one of the fash
ionable watering places declares that
“ the low-necked dress is :*n abomina
tion into which it is the duty of the
press to look.” “We must say in simple
justice to ourselves,” says the Louisville
Courier-Journal, “ that it is a duty we
have seldom lost an opportunity to dis
charge.”
Janies Miller started from Ohio with
his family for the far West, tratStjJbig in
an emigrant wagon drawn by twiihorses.
In Missouri one of the horses died, and
he stole another to replace it. He was
arrested, convicted, and sentenced t
eight years’ imprisonment. Lately his
term expired, and lie resumed his jour
ney, his family hnvinglived in the neigh
borhood of the prison while waiting for
him to be released.
SjiringJield Republican ; A pretty lit
tle story is told of a Bellows Fall law
yer, who is very fond of children. He
recently saw a little girl crying over the
loss of a pet kitten, and tried to console
her by promising to find it. His search
was in vain. But a few days ago, while
deep in a knotty argument in a case on
trial, somebody who had heard of the
lawyer’s promise brought in the kitten.
The orator stopped short, and the Jus
tice reprimanded him. But the lawyer
replied: “I can't help it, your Honor.
Tub. i Man's lost kitten, and I must
WHOLE NO. 11 A.
take it to her.” And take it he did, and
the Court patiently waited for his re
turn.
Clarendon Pnss: A prominent phy
sician of our town ami a little French
man, who is noted for his hospitality as
well as for his many peculiarities, par
took of a novel dinner at the residence
of the latter a few days ago. Part of
the dinner, and that wo speak of espe
cially, consisted of a rattlesnake which
had been killed bv tin' Frenchman.
The snake was a large one and contain
ed eight rattles and a button. It was
dressed in the same manner us we would
dress an eel. I lot h of tiie gentlemen
pronounced the meat excellent,’and de
clare they prefer snake to fish.
Chronicle .$• Constihitton'dlist 2(>7i
inst.: Augusta has received up to date,
since September Ist, fifty-six thousand,
five hundred and seventy-five bales <>t
cotton against thirty thousand four hun
dred amt seventy-three for the same pe
riod of last year —an inercasejd’ twenty
six thousand and one hundred and two
hales. Nearly all of this cotton has
been sold as fast as it reached the city.
At an average of forty dollars per bale,
a little less than nine cents per pound,
it lias brought two million, two hundred
and sixty three thousand dollars.
Recently,•‘‘near Jefferson, a young
married couple were in bed with their
infant child. During tlie night the
young mother felt something strange on
her foot, but thought nothing of it. In
the morning both parents were-horror
stricken at finding their child in the
coils of a rattlesnake, with cold, slimy
folds, forked tongue and glittering eyes.
Without thinking of alarming the rep
tile the mother seized the child ami
snake in a twinkling and separated them.
The little innocent died some days after,
supposed from a bite ou the hand.
The Beauford (S. C.) Tribune of a
recent date says: “A letter from New
York to one of our citizens says : “ Who
do you suppose came to beg for some
money, yesterday, to buy food, and this
was the second time he had come? Poor
devil! I felt sorry for him in his abject
misery, and gave him enough to carry
him through the day. The fellow was
your ox ( iovernor M uses. Ho .pretends
that lie wants to retutu to South Caroli
na, but has not the means to return.”
Augusta Evening News: And now
when a Main street clerk who wears a
button-hole boquot and parts his hair in
the middle goes to see his sweetheart, he
carries a joint of sugar cane with him,
anil when lie gets to the house she puts
one end of it, in her mouth and he puts
the other end in his. Then they chew
and chaw, and chaw and chew and chew,
until they meet, and—irnd—oh, good
ness ! somebody hold me! Why, sugar
cane ain’t nowlmr!
“One minute in the penitentiary”
was the punishment fixed by a Dallas
(Texas) jury for the tramp who, having
been discharged weak and hungry from
the hospital, stole a citizen's breakfast.
Rules for Acquiring Wealth.
Be honest. If Satan tempts you to
defraud your neighbor, it is only that he
may rob you of your ill-gotten gain in
the end.
Be temperate. Liquor has made
more paupers than all other vices com
bined.
Be industrious. Improve each day
as if you expected to die on the morrow.
Indolence, disease and debt are brothers.
Let your word be your bond. Good
' credit is a fortune to begin with.
Limit your expenses by necessity and
comfort, leaving u good margin for
“ balance saved.”
Invest your funds carefully and intel
ligently. Beware of the brilliant bub
bles that are blown up to tempt ingeni
ous speculators.
How She Saw the Runaway.
“Oh, it was a terrible runaway ! You
sec an umbrella was carrying a man,
and it frightened a buggy, and it started
to run of with the horse, they ran over
a lamp-post and knocked the sidewalk
down, and upset a little baby who was
carrying its mother in her arms, and
struck some apples, and knocked all the
apple-women out of the peanut stand,
and then they went down the lightning
like a street, and knocked three spokes
out of the'torses hind legs, and took the
hide off the wheel, and 1 fell out and
run a mud-puddle into my head clear
up to my shoulders, and the mud got
full of my mouth and ears and eyes,
and I'll never get over it, and it’s awful,
ain't it?”
How (jin Houses Burn.
Mr. Harry Cutup, writing to the Cov
ington Enterprize, says:
“Gin houses are being burned by the
wholesale. I have had fifty years' ex
perience iri the ginning business, and
have no doubt that many matches have
passed through my giu, but none have
been burned. If the brush band is too
tight, it draws the cylinder against tne
box, and the brush running at high
speed heats the brush cylinder very
quickly and causes the lint to take fire.
Don’t have your brush band too tight.”
“ONLY A NIURKII PREACHER.”
t>l iii> Didn't Uo Burls,on IIIm Dnty t
IIY BAM W. SMAI.I., (Oui Si.)
Atlanta C<nuHtutim\.
Rev. Ben Black, a colored Methodist
minister, at Holly Springs, proved him
self a hero during the prevalence of
tho scourge. He visited white and
black and ministered comfort wherever
he went, and at one time was tho only
minister present in the village to con
sole the sick and assist at the burial of
the dead:
Ben Black ? Well. 1 reckon I know him—
That Holly Springs preacher, you mean?
Yas, lie's black as old Natur could grow
him
♦Mongst nil the hlnek niggers you’ve seen,
lie till born on tbo old plnntasbun
An' register’d thar ez er slave,
But the Lord in bis wise all-crcashun
Put in him a heart diet is brave.
lie wn* out tliar dhtin' all evil,
An’ try in* ter save his own rnce
Frum out of the jaws of tbo devil.
By the power o'gospil an grace;
lie wuz tliar when the yaller inttieshun
Come stalkin’ ’long over the lan’,
An' tlie hour of awful ulHicstiun
Sliow'd up the true grit of cr man !
Thar wuz then er stampede of the people,
Ez well of the po’r an’ the rich,
The preacher lost sight of his steeple
An' "his duty,” an’ “cross,” an’ all sirli!
They tied frum ther kith an’ ther kin, sir,
Tiier faith warn’t ez stronger that thread,
An’ only u few stayed to win, sir,
Thet battle Tnongs* (lyin’ an’ dead !
Old Ben never dickered cr second.
Nor falter’d when weary an’ faint.
But whatever the stricken 'uti beckon’d
He bent to his work like cr saint !
flight, thar at the bed o' the whitest
lie took up er merciful stand,
Or trod wither step that, wuz lightest
When doth wuz the closest at baud.
lie talk'd of the Lord and his power
Ter save an’ make holy the heart.
He told the weak soul not to cower
In ther face of Heath's pestilent dart:
He spoke the sweet message of heaven
Ter them that never lied lieer’d it,
An’ put a firm faith in them even
Thet know’d of the futur’ an’ feer'd it.
I tell ycr thet old black preacher
Wuz worth thar his weight in pure gold,
Fcr lie fuller’d the path of his Teacher
Like them ’Postlemen did of old?
I’ve seed ninny parsons in churches
A shoutin’ of duty an' death.
But they left all their lolks in tho lurches
When of danger thar come er first breath.
I’ve liccr’d menny fhgh -toned sparkiea
(Jo shoutin’ nround about niggers.
An’ swearin' the souls of the darkies
VVern’t worth enny more'ii er chigger’s,
But ef thnr's er man in this party
Wither heart in him big as er flea
Thet won’t cheer for Old Ben right hearty
Why, then- -lie’s got ter lick me !
Per 1 sn v thet the Lord had cr reason
Fer paintin' thet old nigger’s hide,
An' He meant him to turn up in season
With all the wozlisquare oh his side ;
An’ when all in the judgment conic even,
I'J I pass, you can net on this thing—
Thar’ll he one nigger angel in heaven
I’ll jine with ter praise an’ ter sing!
Cl;c rfal 4V( men.
In marrying, men should seek happy
women. They make a terrible mistake
when they many for beauty, or for tal
ent, or fbr style ; the sweetest wives are
those who possess the magic secret of
being happy under any and every cir
cunirtunc. Rich or poor, I igli or law,
it makes no difference, the bright little
fountain bubbles up just ns musically in
our hearts. Nothing ever goes wrong
w ith them—no trouble is too serious for
them “to make the best of it.” Was
ever the stream of calamity so dark and
deep, that the sunlight of a happy face
falling across its turbid tide would uut
w ake an answering gleam ? Why, then,
joyous tempered people don't know half
the good they do. No matter how cross
and crabbed they feel, no matter if your
brain is full of meditation on “ afflicting
dispensations,” and your stomach with
medicines, pills and tonics; just one of
these cheery little women talking to you,
and we will wager anything she can
cure vou. The longer drawn finesabout
the mouth will relax—the cloud of set
tled gloom will vanish, nobody knows
where, and the first thing you know, you
will he laughing. Oh, what blessings
arc; those happy women ! How often
their little hands guide the ponderous
machine of life, with almost an invisible
touch! How we look forward through
the weary day to their fireside smiles!
No one knows, no one w ill ever know
until the day of judgement reveals, how
touch we owe to these helpful, hopeful,
uncomplaining happy women.
Formation of Character.
If you ever watched nn icicle as it
formed, you would have noticed how it
froze, one drop at a time, until it was a
a foot long or more. If the water was
clean, the icicle remained clear, and it
sparkling brightly in the sun; but if the
water was slightly muddy the icicle look
ed foul,' and its beauty was spoiled. Just
so our characters arc formed. One lit
tle thought or feeling at a time adds its
influence. If every thought is pure and
right, the soul will he bright and lovely,
and will sparkle with happiness, but, if
their thoughts arc impure and wrong, the
mind will be soiled, the character de
praved and darkened, and there w ill be
final deformity and wretchedness. How
important then, that we should he on
our guard against every evil impulse
and desire.
Keokuk Constitution : The last man will
have an awfully lonesome time of it.
Nobody to borrow money of; nobody
to dun him or raise his rent; no gas me
ter to make things lively; no boot
agents; no life-insurance man, and no
oldest inhabitant to declare that it's the
most remarkable weather w’e ever have
had.