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cai:k-fhjle.
I have no cai-es. My life is like a summer
brook
Whereon doth float no weight of leaf or
flower;
And mirrored in its peaceful look
tennsliine or clouds but faintly gleam,
As listless as the honied freight of every
passing hour,
In idleness of life I muse or dream.
Oh, wretchedness! come stir my soul from
the despair
Of quietude’s bleak misery 1 Bring care
Or woe, or hapless discontent,
Or break in clouds the heaven above.
Or make the placid stream of life—with
good intent—
Turbid with the fretful cares of Love!
—Louise Andrews, in the Current.
A Midnight Serenade.
“Malviny! Malviny Riggs! Come here
quick, and stir thi* apple-butter! My
arm’s a’niost stirred off. Beside, I’ve
got all them milk-cans to scald yit.
Malviny! Dear me, where can the girl
be—where can the girl be? Foolin’ with
that city feller ag’in, I T 11 warrant. I
wonder Jed Atkins stands it, that I do.”
Mrs. Riggs stole to the pantry-window,
and peeped out.
Sure enough, there was Malvina, just
beyond the rosebushes, looking like a
rose herself, with her pretty curly head
drooping, and pink flushes staining her
dimpled cheeks. A very dandified young
gentleman, remarkable chiefly for his di
minutiveness, s ood near, sometimes
twirling a lithe whalebone cane, anon
figeiing his upper lip, as if in search of
the very feeble mustache which lan
guished there. with cheeks; his
He was fair, rosy
light hair was parted exactly in the mid
die; he was very prett-v—he thought so
hlmsei'f.
He was spending a few weeks at the
farm-house, ou the plea brother-in-law’s of being Mrs.
Riggs’ fourth cousin's
stepson; and he was making love to
Malvina Riggs, who, to use her mother’s
expression, was “completely carried away
with him”—-his city airs and affectations
rather.
Malvina was who as owned good half as engaged he to
Jed Atkins, the farm
and her father were running together.
Jed lived with the Riggs’—a tall,
stalwart, sun-broAvned, but good-look
ingfyoung farmer—and to quote Mrs.
Riggs again, “awfully sot” on Malvina,
“Yes, ma, I’m cornin’,” called Malvina
at a renewed summons from her mother,
through the pantry-window. permit assist
t * Will you me- aw—to
you, Miss Malvina?” simpered Mr. Clar
ence Billings, as he tiptoed along beside
her to the Avide, glowing kitchen, redo
lent now of spicy odors, and steaming
Malvma rather demurred at his com¬
ing in; but he persisted.
Joe Atkins was just bringing in a bi,
basket of apples, and Mr. Billings show coul the
not resist the temptation to
young farmer on what intimate terms he
was with his sweetheart.
As Mrs. Riggs which gave up the big wooden
spoon with she was reached stirring to her it,
daughter, the exquisite and “Allow for
with uttered a graceful mellifluous bow, me!”
in accents.
“Betterlet Malvina!” grumbled Mrs.
Riggs. “You’ll spile them fine cuffs
o’ yourn.”
In the anxiety to avoid such a catas¬
trophe, Mr. Billings stood as far as he
couid from the seething kettle, and thus
—stirring with one hand, while the
other unconsciously extended his whale¬
bone cane at right angles—he caused presented
a spectacle which Mrs. Riggs to
ejaculate, under her breath: “Land o’
Goshen 1 IJhope he won’t fall in!” —
while Jed, jealously but furtively watch¬
ing the pair, uttered a short, involuntary
laugh, which the dandy heard and did
not like thc sound of.
He meditated a moment how be3t to
annihilate the rustic; then;
“Miss—er—Miss Malvina,” he said,
elevating his voice for Jed’s benefit,
“the— er—presumption of the lower
classes in these country places is—er—
shocking. Weallv now, don’t you find
it so?”
Malvina's blue eyes opened very wide
at this speech: but before she had begun
to even comprehend Avhat it meant, her
mother called out, sharply: burn,
“Malviny, that sass’ll sure as
fate! You’d better stir it yourself. City
folks don’t know nothin’ about apple
butter.”
At that. Mr. Billings bsgan to stir so
furiously TTiat a big splash flew out and
feh upon his neat, light-colored summer
pants. It was hot beside.
Mr. Billings screamed,and in his fright
threw the spoon with which he was
stirring on the floor.
Now it was Jed’s turn. Picking up
the spoon, he darted away, cleaned it,
and coming back, presented and it to Mal¬
vina, with a low bow an “Allow
me!’’ uttered in such exact imitation of
his rival that the girl herself could hardly
keep from laughing. at Jed.
Billings, with a savage stare
i betook himself haughtily outside.
Malvina was alarmed in a moment.
“There nowd you’ve made him mad.
Ain’t you ashsmed of yourself, Jed
Atkins?” she cried.
“No, I ain’t 1” retorted Jed. “He be¬
gun it.”
And Jed in his turn stalked away.
When he came in to dinner, neither
Malvina nor Mr. Billings w'ere anywhere
to be seeD.
•‘I wish you’d call ’em,” said Mrs.
Riggs, angrily. “Such doin’s!”
i i No!” scowled Jed; “I don’t call’em
, - nary a call!”
Mrs. Riggs looked at him.
“Well, I dunno as I blame you any,”
she said. “You can empty this apple
butter, can’t you, while I look for ’em?”
Jed took tne dipper from her hand
and began to ladle out the spicy, hot
stuff into the big tub which stood near
awaiting it. presently hurrying
Mrs. Riggs came
back.
“’Twon’t come to nothin’, Jed.” ?) she
panted. “He’s too big a tool, with all
; his pretty looks—a 1 ig wax doll, that’s
j what he is, an I no more brains than one!
| Where do you think 1 found ’em.' Down
! in the holler by the big wornut tree.
She was a-leanin’against it. and he was
a-settin’ onto a stump, with his eyes
rolled up, a-tbumpin’ that playin’-thing such
he brought with him and singin’
stuff, it makes me sick 1”
“It don’t seem to make Malvina sick,”
grumbled Jed; gloomily, that,” returned Mal
“I dunno about
vina’s mother. “She looked to me as if
she wanted to laugh dreadfully.”
At dinner, Jed, as usual, was very si
lent,
„ Mr. Bibmgs was very talkative. tx He
had changed his trousers for a hand
somer pair, and donued a fresh.necktie,
beside waxing his moustache with a new
preparation that he had received that
morning by mail.
He passionately fond of .
was music,
he informed them all, and the guitar was
his favorite instrument.
“Ma,” broke m Malvina, ‘Mr. Bil
lings wants to teach me how to play on
1 his guitar. May he—and will you get
me one if I learn?’
“Is that what you call it? exclaimed .
Mrs. Riggs, evasively. “I fought it
was some kind of hddle, only I didn t see
no bow.”
When the men came m to supper tha
night, there was Malvina on the porch,
“dressed to kill.” as Jed muttered, an
grily, to himself, and Bilungs with her.
The guitar was on her lap, and as the
city exquisite bent over to adjust it and
show her how to touch the strings it
was certainly not a sight calculated to
giadden the eyes of a jeaious lover.
Jed’s dark eyes shot murky flashes as
he went on mto the house.
“I’ll get even with him somehow, if I
die for it!’ he muttered
Mr. Riggs—a queer inoffensive little
man, to whom his wife s will was law—
remarked mildly, that he thought Mai
vmasma had ought to speak to her.
“And she has done it, to my knowin
he added. But the gal is that sp liedLi
bein’ the only one, and t others all dead j
o’ scarlet fever or measles, she can do
what she likes with her ma.”
Jed made no answer. But after sup
and without ““word to”any one,'set off
for the viTa^e
Mrs. Riggs called her daughter into
the kitchen
“You’ve done it now,” she said,
“Jed’s dressed hisself in his Sunday best
and gone off somewhere, like as anyway
to spend the evenin’ with Sabrina Cos.
she'd nive anvthim- to nit him.” ;
“I don’t care”’ retorted dismayed! Malvina
though she looked somewhat
“I don’t know what I’ve done.”
Jed returned a little after dark, and
went in the front way, so no one should
know he had come. He meant Malvina
should think he had stayed out all the
evening. He went into the parlor and
sat down. No one was there, ’ and the
a ,
I wmdow _ oa which looked on the back
porch had been left open for air, and
through this came to Jed’s pricked-up
ears the murmur of Malvina’s and his
rival's voices, mingled with the strum¬
ming of the guitar.
Poor Jed gnashed his teeth as he
heard it.
“I should iike to break it over his
plaguy head !” he muttered.
After a little time, Mrs. Riggs’ voice
was heard, calling her daughter to come
and go to bed.
As she and Billings came near the
parlor window, they stopped a moment
before separating, and Jed distinctly
heard the dandy say:
“At 12 o’clock, then, beautiful Mai
vina. They will all be asleep then.
Sweet angel, till then adieu!”
Jed’s hair fairly stood on end.
What did it mean? Could they be
going to run away together?
No sleep for him till ho knew, at any
rate.
He sat still, thinking. The house
gradually grew quiet. Then Jed went
around and closed and fastened all ttie
windows below except one. He locked
all the outside doors and put the keys
in his pocket.
At the foot of the stairs, down which
any one must come to leave the house,
was a door opening into the kitchen.
This Jed left open; also a window by
the outside door.
'fhen he seated himself in a dark
earner, where a projecting cupboard
partially concealed him.
The moon shone in brightly, making
objects pretty distinct, except where he
sat.
The hours wore on, till it was nearly
at last,
j e ; never shut his eyes,
“They shan’t get out without my see
j no . ?em , in y wav> '» h e 8a i d) grimly.”
presently he heard a step. Some one
was coming down the stairs.
It was Billings. the front
He hesitated a moment at
door, and tried it; and then, as Jed had
calculated, turned into the open kitchen.
He had his guitar with him, and Jed’s
wonder deepened. door, and seemed
He tried the kitchen
vastly annoyed at not being able to get
it open. He Anally brought stood a chair to
the window, which so invitingly
wide, and deliberately climbed out.
j ed wa ped a minute, and followed
h5m He wenfc round the house, tm h e
waa unde r Malvina’s bedroom window,
w jj en jj e g^jj- gracefully on one knee
ftnd l)e „ an to 8 j n \y and pj fty
Jed stared a minute, and went back to
^ kp^hen.
“I’ll fix him I” he said, grimly.
Out from the kitchen, and reached by
a descent of a few steps, was a sort of
Btnrp . room ’ half cellar The outside
door Qf thi g room wag exactly like the
outside door of the kitchen, and there
wa * algo a window beside it.
Thig window wab 0 pen, an d beneath it
stood the big tub of apple-butter, the
pride of Mrs. Riggs’ heart, set there to
j ’ ir previous to putting J, away in stone
f the winte
j ed stooped J and felt of it.
„ It , 8 col » he said .
Then he went and stood just inside
^ k p c h en holding the door a little
opeDi and waited patiently, i nd samragood while,
f ^ laved J
and Ma vi a put ' her head out of her
window and ta!ked to Mm in 8Cared
whispers, mingled with some tittering.
Everybody else seemed sound asleep,
Thc gerenader tore himself away at
lagt ^ and „ rocee d e d in search of the
’ which he had made
frie dl nin „ the' by
hig egress f rom house.
Naturally, that being closed, and all
be5 gtran to him< he went on to tho
gtore . room w j n dow, thus walking
gtrai 6 „ h t into the trap Jed had set for
*
Keachmg h.s gurtar through first, ho
Jed grinned with savage delight as he
heard the splash. much difficulty owing
Neat, without
to his abbreviated stature, Mr. Billings
managed to climb to the sill of the win
dow, and began to let himself down
» 1,h >> 13 fe f ,or the chalr hehad
leftatthe other . place.
“Odd!” Jed heard hhn mutter.
“Where the deuee can that chair be gone
to? Jt ’ 9 very strange!” little then.
IT He seemed to reflect a
“I must have mistaken the window
somehow. But it can t be far to the j
fl°5 He )r - let There crash v that
go. was a ;
thn led Jed s very soul with joy, as his
rival lighted first on his Precious guitar,
and then seemed from the sounds, to
£ave literally sat down in the apple
t» utter -
Jed waited for no more, but stealthily
drawing the store-room door tight, slipped he
1 olted it as he had found it, and
up stairs to his bed.
He had not been there long, when
R liings, finding he was fastened in, be
g n to hailoo lustily for help. the
The farmer and his wife slept roused over
kitchen, and were presently by
the noise.
% * Thieves!” cried the wife.
She, being the better man of the two,
prepared to face them, ordering her hus¬
band to follow her. Malvina, being still
awake, also beard.
The three entered the kitchen about
the same time.
As Mrs. Riggs bravely opened Billings tho door
of the store view—such room, poor sight stag¬
gered into a !
He dripped apple-butter; he exuded
it from every pore. It was in his hall
and his eyes, and reeked from his shoes
as he stepped. The store-room floor,
and the steps up from it, were plastered
with the stuff. ,
Mrs. Riggs’s eyes fairly started from
her head as they drank in the full extent
of the calamity. fellow for
She took the luckless a
thief.
“Oh, you villain!” she screamed.
“After my apple-butter, was you?”
“Why, ma,” cried Malvina, beginning
to laugh, “it’s Mr. Billings!” echoed Jed
“Why, so it is!” sweetly if ho
Atkins, entering upon the scene as
had just waked up.
The poor wretch tried to explain; but
the more he did that, the worse they
laughed. could help it, except Mrs.
No one
Riggs, who continued to pour vitupera*
tion on the destroyer of her apple-butter
till she was hoarse.
Mr. Clarence Billings returned to the
city the following day, and no one
seemed to regret liockwood. his departure, not even
Malvina .—UeUn
Tonsorial Artists of Persia.
In Persia the barber shops are entirely
open. One of tho common sights in the
streets of Teheran is a man seated on the
pavement against a w*all, while a barber
shaves th<M»own of his head. The bar¬
bers trade is among the most important
in Persia. The customs enjoined by the
Koran, or religious law, makes it indis
pensible that barbers should abound in
the country. The Koran makes it hon¬
orable for a man to wear a beard, but
commands the shaving of the head.
There are two great sects among those
who accept the IVlohamniedan faith—tho
Sheas and the Sunnees. The latter are
all Turks and they shave the whole
crown, excepting a tuft in the centre
by which the archangel may draw them
out of the rave, But the
Persians are heas and they
shave the centre of the head from
the forehead to the neck, leaving a long
curl on each «'ido. It was curious to see
even little t bye with thoir heads thus
polished. Tho Persians consider it a
great disgrace to lose their side curls.
As they all wear turbans, or black coni¬
cal caps of Astrakhan lambskin, no one
would suspect the head to be shaven
until the cap is taken off. Then, in¬
deed, the appearance of the head is ex¬
ceedingly evident grotesque. that the of the hair
It is care
is a very important question in Persia.
But this is not ail. One rarely sees a
gray beard a or gray , locks , in . rn Teheran, t
Even the most venerable men have dark
or red hair. The reason is because all,
from the highest to the lowest, dye their
hair. This is done first with henna,
wnich gives it a reddish tint. Many
prefer to leave it thus. But many add
to the henna a second stain of indigo,
and the combination of the two colors
imparts to the hair a dark brown tint,
^ , )andr
The “mower” is the latest tviw of Gal
lie dandy, says a Pans letter. His name
arises from his habit of swinging his cane
like a scylhe, steadily and regularly, a3
he walks along. Ifc gets himself up ia
the truerural style, with a broad brimmed
® traw ha f i'“ ll « i over his eyes wide
trousers, large shoes with flat heels anil
n o gloves. Usually the "mowers stroll
in trios and quartets, mowing in perfect
? irae ,.®i“* their canes, smiling, but s»y
mg little, and they dine together in some
The room “mower,” hung wilh pictures of rustic scenes,
however, is sn improve affected
0n ^ 1S predecessor, the
“pschuttreux’ or “grelatteus, as he
vigorously pursues athletic eiorclse and
cultivates robust health.
There is almost no man but sees
clearer and sharper the vices in a speaker
than the virtues.