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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.