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The Song.
The poet sang of War, that mighty king
Who.-e crown is flame, whose oath is thun¬
dering,
Whose sceptre steel, The pa-an shrilled
unheard
Of tiery souls by battle-fury stirred;
And screaming shells out-sang his miiistre!-
ing.
Again he sang the glories Gold can bring;
Out-voiced him now the coins’ metallic ring;
And, uutd for gain, men heeded not a word
The poet sang.
Then softly to his own heart did he sing;
And trembling-sweet a song of Love took
wing,
As tender as the call of mating bird:
The smoke-grimed soldier in the trenches
heard,
The flushed gold-heaper caught each whispr,-
ing
The poet sang!
— [Dorothea Dimond in Frank Leslie’s.
HER PARTY.
nr siiiRi.F.r browse.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, little
girl,” said Doctor Deeiner, “but I am
afraid this party of yours is quite out
of the question.”
Stacy set down the quaint old Chinese
coffee-pot and looked at him with
large beryl-blue eyes of disapproval.
“Uncle,” said 6he, “you promised
it to me.”
Doctor Deemer retreated behind the
stronghold of the weekly paper.
Stacy’s reproachful eyes were too
much for him.
i 4 Yes,” he acknowledged, “I know
1 did. And I meant to keep my prom¬
ise, but I couldn't foresee then how
things would turn out. Our funds are
very low; in fact, we seem to * be iu
debt everywhere. I don’t really know
what is to be the end of it.”
“Yet,” said Stacy, with slow, severe
accents, “you went to the book sale
and paid forty dollars for that old
edition of ‘Beaumont and Fletcher.’ ”
“Ye?, I know, Stacy; it was a great
bargain.”
“Forty d liars would have furnished
music and refreshments for my
* ,ai *- v „
'
“Don’t scold, child,” said the doc-
tot, stining his egg. “ I m \cr\
sorry! I forgot all about the party.”
\ouie alv\a}s fo.getting me,
said Stacy, a big tear balancing itself
on each reproachful eye. “My poor
party aud I’d told so many. people
about it, and promised to invite all the
girls! I shall never accept any more
in\ nation*, now that 1 cant lepay
'
Hash-plash! went the big tears on
(he old Canton china breakfast plate.
Doctor Deemer was a tender-hearted
man, and the two diamond drops went
fo bis vci \ soul.
“Don’t cry, Stacy,” xaid he. “Have
your party just the same, with cake
and lemonade. Debby can make very
fair cupcake, and lemons are only
thirty cents a dozen. And Simeon
shall bring up his fiddle.”
“Cupcake, and lemonade, and
Simeon.” scornfully uttered Stacy.
A i No, Uncle Deemer, I haven’t fallen
so low as (bat. I can do without a
party, but I can’t ondescend to second-
i.ite imitations.
And she ran out of (He room in the
tempest of tears, coming into collision
with old Debby as she did so, and
scattering a plate of graham gems on
t,lC floor ’
Doctor Deeiner and his niece, Anas¬
tasia, lived all alone in Roslyn Hall,
one of those great echoing houses where
everything goes to prove the empty
glow of the past. Doctor Deemer had
lost his fortune, and Anastasia’s too,
iu a scries of disastrous speculations.
He had all the tasts of a man of
wealth, and a blind adoration of his
ancestry. He himself was quite con¬
tent to dwell in life’s shadow; but
sometimes it seemed to him as if Stacy
ought to have a little more sunshine.
8tacv thougat so, too. Her 18-year-
soul revolved against the sort of life
she led with a great rebellion.
! “Louise Melton is engaged to be
married,” thought she, “and Emily
Eldon spends her winters in New
York. But I shall live and die an old
maid, for I never see any one, nor
travel anywhere- Louise was going
to bring her Chicago cousins to my
Easter party, and Emily was going to
write to Mr. Vavasor to come down
from New York for it. Emily said
Mr. Vavasor thought I was the pret¬
tiest girl in Clanconnell. I don’t be¬
lieve that; but I should like to have
l»im see me in a white serge dress with
baby-blue sash ribbons. I wore a hid-
eous blue seersucker that day when he
came to see the prize chrysanthemums
in the garden.”
Up and down, up and down the long
oak-lloored gallery tore Stacy w T ith
flaming cheeks and yellow curls stream¬
ing out behind. It was Stacy's way
when she got into a passion to walk
herself out of it. Just opposite a por¬
trait of her great-grandaunt, whose
name she had somehow inherited, she
came to a sudden stop.
“Well,” she cried, “why do you
stare so steadily down at me, Aunt
Anastasia, with those big blue eyes?
It really does seem as if you had some-
thing you wanted to say to me and
somehow couldn’t get it out. Really,
one don’t wonder that old Debby scur-
ries past you in the twilight and says
the family portraits haunt her worse
than any ghost. Oh, it’s all very well
for you to smile in that simpering,
inane fashion,” she added, shaking her
little dimpled list at the counterfeit
presentnient of her dead-and-gone an¬
cestress. “You were an English
beauty, and danced at General Wash¬
ington’s state balls, and Gilbert Stuart
painted your portrait, and you were
married at eighteen and went to the
West Indies. That was life and hap¬
piness enough, even if you did die
young. People say your eyes and
mine are exactly alike, but I’m sure I
never was half as pretty as you. But
perhaps it’s the string of pearls and
the satin gown that makes you so
lovely and—”
She sfooped suddenly and picked up
an opened letter lying on the dark
oaken floor, directly under the tar¬
nished gilt frame.
“What’s this?” she cried, “Oh, a
letter from the picture dealers in New
York. They want a genuine example
of Gilbert Stuart l'or a private collec¬
tion, and have heard of ‘The Lady
with the Pearls’ in the old Roslyn Hail
gallery. ‘Anastasia Roslyn, 1789.’
Are prepared to give two hundred dol¬
lars for it if Doctor Deeiner will kind-
ly consider their offer. And here’s
Uncle Deemer’s pencil writing upon it.
< Rec - d March 3d> 18 _. Mem. To
write back that the Roslyn pictures are
not in the market!’ Oho! But Un-
cle Deemer never consulted me—and I
am the owner of the Roslyn pictures!
Two hundred dollars-that’s a deal of
money . W hat do vou say, Aunt An-
a6tasia? „ lookilJg up witb eager blue
eyes at the dim pictured face-“will
you help me with my party? It isn’t
that 1 have no family feeling, but
you ‘ re dead and buried, you see, aud
you Wlt to partic6 and danced when
were a girI , and yoll must know
exact]y howl feel.”
Stacy Deemer rushed upstairs to her
r00U1; wrote a hurried letter to the
New Vork I)icture dealer> ran to the
postoffi(>e just in time t0 6ave the maU ,
aud came dancing hack, her yellow
cur ] 8 afloat , h er cheeks pink as . roses,
The wrcaths o£ , now were melting
away from the bill8 i d es, the maple
trees were bur sting into mi stars of
b]oom the li]ao and wbite crocuses
lift(jd their tiuy heads along the gbc !-
tered edgc of ,' bc path, and an adven-
turous bluebird shrilled his tiny trum-
'
p(jt flom the old cedai . grovo . Stacy,
too? CQuld have 6uag aloud iu the full-
uegg o£ hep gil . ligb glee .
g , mU haye my party> afier all,”
saiii she.
<4 What's this, Stacy?”
Dr. Deemer stared first at her, then
at the slip of pale-green paper in her
hand.
4 4 It's a check, Uncle Deemer, for
two hundred dollars. Can you cash it
forme?”
“A—check l”
“Yes. I've sold my aunt Anasta¬
sia,” calmly admitted Stacy. “She’9
going to help me give my party, the
darling ‘Lady With the Pearls.’”
It was some time before the old
gentleman could be made to under¬
stand the full extent of his niece's der¬
eliction. Then he grew pale.
“Stacy,” said he, “you don't desrve
to have any ancestors! I would re¬
deem this picture with a thousand-
dollar bill if I had it! Has it gone?”
“A week ago, Uncle Deemer.”
He threw the check back to her.
“I’ll have nothing to do with it!”
said he. “It's almost equal to trading
in human flesh and blood! You’ll be
selling me next, you wicked girl!”
“But, Uncle Deemer—”
“Please leave me, Stacy; I’d rather
be alone.”
Stacy went away rather awed. There
WU something in Uncle Deemer s pale
old face that frightened her.
“I—almost—wish I hadn’t sent the
invitations,” thought she. “But, after
all. Aunt Anastasia was my very own
grandaunt, and I'm quite sure she was
willing. I could read it in her eyes.
She was a girl once, and 1 know she
liked parties.”
But Stacy had not calculated for all
that followed. Uncle Deemer was an
old man and very feeble, and the
shock was too much for him. lie took
to his bed. A physician was sent for,
who shook his head and looked un¬
utterable things.
“Something on his mind,” said he.
“It’s Aunt Anastasia,” faltered
Stacy; “and it’s all my doing, I—I
sold a family portrait that he is
especially fond of.”
“Get it back again, at all hazards,”
said the doctor. “I can’t fight disease
as long as all the mental forces are
against me.”
“Do you think lie'll die?’ said
trembling Stacy.
“I hope not,” said the man of
medicine.
For the first time in her life Stacy
went to New York, to interview the
picture-dealer. The picture-dealer was
sweeter than milk, smoother than oil:
but it was beyond his power he said to
help.her,. The picture was already
hanging in the private collection, No.
— Fifth Avenue.
“Can I go there?” said Stacy.
“Well — 1 suppose — you — can,”
doubtfully observed the picture-
dealer. “But I don't believe it will
do any good.”
Stacy, however, was resolute in try¬
ing to undo the mischief she had done.
She went straight to No. —, Fifth
Avenue.
“I have called ab ut a portrait,”
said she. “A Gilbert Stuart, ‘The
Lady With the Pearls.’”
The butler eyed her closely. She
had no leather bag in her hand, nor
did she appear like a solicitor of sub-
scriptions.
“I'll ask master,” said he.
“Take him my card,” said Stacy,
loftily. “Miss Deemer of Roslyn
Hall.”
The butler showed her into a recep¬
tion-room with crimson crape curtains
festooned between pink marble col¬
umns and a great, grinning Japanese
idol in old ivory and cloisonnee, aud
departed noiselessly.
Presently another footstep crossed
the threshold.
“Miss Deemer.”
Stacy uttered a little cry.
“Oh, Mr. Vavasor, is it you? Oh,
please, 1 want my grandaunt bank
again, and here is the picture-man’s
check. I haven't even cashed it, you
see.”
I 4 But,” said Mr. Vavasor, looking
with artistic admiration at the sun¬
shine glinting on her golden hair,
the shifting light in her wonderful
blue eyes, “1 don’t think 1 quite un¬
derstand.”
And then Stacy, blushing and em¬
barrassed, made her confession. Poor
little wrong-headed, impulsive Stacy.
“I didn’t know uncle Deemer was
so fond of her;” murmured she, “or I
never would have sold her. And
please, may I have her back'”
‘1 don’t think you realize, Miss
Deemer, how-much 1 value that ‘Gil¬
bert Stuart,’ ” hesitated Vavasor.
“Oh, but she’s my ancestress,”
urged Stacy. “And she was my
namesake, and people say 1 am like
her, and when I sold her I sold the
luck of Roslyn. Please, please,” cried
Stacy, wringing her poor little hands,
“let me have her back.”
“On one condition only,” said Mr.
Vavasor. Stacy looked terrified.
4 4 That you allow me to give you that
party. You are to supply the old hall
for dancing and the evergreens, and I
am to send down the music and the
supper, and mind, you are to give me
the very first dance of ail.”
Stacy clapped her hands.
“And I sha'n’t have to recall the
invitations after all,” said she. “Ob,
how splendid it will be! If only Uncle
Deeiner gets better!”
Uncle Deeiner did get better, dating
from the dav when the “Gilbert
Stuart” was hung up on his bedroom
wall.
“The luck of Roslyu has come
back,’’ said he. It was very kind of
Mr. Vavasor to travel down with you,
child. I suppose he knew the picture
must be carefully guarded.”
The party came oft' with eclat. Stacy
looked like a newly opened rosebud.
The music was delightful—the supper
such as onty Charezzi could get up.
••But Stacy,” said Emily Eldon, who
was of a rather critical turn, “mamma
says yon shouldn’t accept so many
favors from any gentleman who is
neither your relative nor your ac-
cepted lover.”
“Does she?” said Stacy, with a mis¬
chievous sparkle of the eyes. “Well,
then, tell her to set her mind at rest;
Mr. Vavasor is my accepted lover! He
asked me to marry him last night, and
I'm sure Aunt Anastasia knows it"—
with a bright upward glance at the por- •
trait—“for see how she smiles down
upon me.”
And for a moment it did seem as if
there was a smile on the .face of “The
Lady With the Pearls.” — [Fireside
Companion.
Ran His Train Through the One Ahead.
“There are heroes, and heroes, and
there are heroines and heroines,” said
Chauncey M. Depew in speaking of
personal bravery. '“There are - blue-
shirted men who go over our railroad
lines every day in engine cabs who
would laugh at you if you intimated to
them that they are heroes, and who in
spite of all are as brave as any man
who ever drew a sword or carried a
musket. Railroad men have seldom
much time to think. They are cowards
or heroes in a second. Not long ago
one of our engineers of an express
train rounded a turn in the road and
saw that another train had been derail¬
ed, and lay right across the track. A
collision was inevitable. The engineer
might have taken chances and jumped,
but he didn’t. As he said afterward:
“ ‘I saw right away we were in for
it, and like a flash it struck me that our
only chance was vo go right ahead and
cut through if we could. So I threw
her open and let her go.’
“ The experiment was perilous, but
it was successful. lie did‘cut through,’
aud no one was injured. This act of
the engineer was that of an exceedingly
courageous, cool-headed man.
“Another engineer on a Western
road performed a similar act some time
ago with tragic results. He tried to
—or in fact was forced to try to—out
through a freight train that had been
thrown across the track. None of the
passengers were injured, but the engin¬
eer and his firemen were killed. This
is but too often the reward of bravery
n all walks of life.”—Philadelphia
Press.
Gold From Siberian Mines.
A very heavy consignment of gold
from the Siberian mines recently ar¬
rived at St. Petersburg. Our corres¬
pondent telegraphs that the caravan,
which left Irkutsk on the 9th of De-
l
cember, took 183,840 ounces of gold.
The-wagous containing it were escort¬
ed by 300 Cossacks, under tho com¬
mand of Lieut. Cols. Mekrassoff and
Karneyoff. Part of this gold was
frem the Amoor fields.
Very Timely.
Stranger—“1 have here a poem, sir,
on ‘The Beautiful * ??
Editor—“Mv dear sir, we have 10
000 on ‘The Beautiful Snow’ on hand
now, and we don’t want any more.”
Stranger—“Then perhaps, sir, you
will allow me to continue. My poem
is on ‘The Beautiful Mud. 1
Editor—“We’ll take that, young
man.”—Judge.
Helping an Author.
A French millionaire who wanted
to help a French, author to some
money, in an indirect way ordered 7o
000 copies of his book and burned
them for fuel. Then he learned that
the author had sold his right, title,
and interest before publication for the
sum of $150.
To Be Inferred.
A Michigan weekly says of a sub¬
scriber who died the other day: “Had
he maintained a different attitude to¬
wards water, we have no doubt that he
would have lived on for a score of
years to come.” We infer that he
drank too much water—altogether too
much.
A Fine Distinction.
Under the laws of New Jersey “a
disorderly person’’ may be a person
who “stands and looks over a fence at
at a woman standing on a step-ladder
to wash a kitchen window.” A man’s
privileges are being whittled down
pretty thin nowadays.
SCIENTIFIC' . CRIPS.
Light moves 192,000 miles pr ;r
ond.
The hydraulic force of Xi
Falls is equal to 2,000,000 jj t*
power. aril
It is officially declared that thei
salt enough in the Teeside field i D j ast
land, to supply the world fo r
years. e
It is said that a single bae!eri a
multiply at such a rate that in
four hours it will produce 280,000'
of bacteria.
An Englishman claims to hive!’"* juicS
covered a means by which the ‘
grapes or apples can be preserved! v(Bn‘tf ^
fermented for so long as seven y
Germany ascribes the origin of J a
late scourge, the “Russian” inffid
to the decomposed bodies of'ftJ if
million Chinese victims of the IIo* I
Ho floods. lose
Astronomers figure it out that
small comet which was discovered from] j
month was 240,000,000 miles
sun when it was first called to Pi
attention. If
The latest invention of
many ds a mechanical conductor,|Bd,
figure which heats the time with
ematical accuracy at any tempo'
may be desired. i h-
-Near Tucson, in Arizona, ad
large cave has been discovered, wJ
is as yet unexplored, and from wl s
ranchmen in the neighborhood iJ
obtained beautiful specimens of
carbonates.
A mineral oil of a beautiful
color has been discovered near odor^^ BoB
ing Green, Ky. The oil is 1
when cold, but when heated it ea
an odor not unlike that of attar
roses. It burns slowly with a roj
colored flame.
A recently devised French metb
of testing the purity of drinkirguvji—
is to put a drop of a solution of
manganato of potash in a glass !
wrier. If the latter becomes yellofl
it is not potable; if it remains clJ
it may be drunk. I t
There is a very curious Btone abol at
which very little is ever heard. Itl
called the “Alexandrite,” in honor I
Alexander of Russia, who was veryfoj
of them. In the daytime they reseml
an emerald, except that they are sod
what darker, but at n'glit they foundl are!
deep purplish red. They are vaj :11
India, and, like all rare stones,
much in their qualities. •
What an Author Got.
Among many agreeable people inti
ested in the passage of the Intebiatio ‘ I
al Copyright bill before Congre:
which is intended to protect Americ™^
authors from the piratical publish!
abroad, is Julian Ilawtliorne, the
of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author
“The Scarlet Letter,” and
Frank Pierce’s Consul to Livcrpo^J
Julian Hawthorne is just 40 years
age, 5 feet 11 inches high, educated
a German university, and is an athle
Julian Hawthorne tells his expeM
ence with one of the best knowu puB
fishing houses in London, which. g«
Him a satisfactory round sum for
short volume of stories, with an agre
meht for one-fourth after deductii®.
expenses of publishing.
Last July Mr. Ilawtliorne received
polite letter from that firm «aying tb(
could not make up his account befoi
the then coming mouth of JanuaflH
About the middle of last January
letter came to Mr. Hawthorne encloi
ing an itemized account of the firn
This letter enclosed a check for l—
cents, which was the sum total of M
liau Hawthorne’s profits on his bool
for the year 1889.— Philadelphia
quirer. *
To Allow French Women to Vote*
A circular has been sent to the cod
mercial bodies in France, asking the*
views on a law allowing women to
for members of the Tribuna ux
Commerce. Such a law is now
ing in the Senate, and is supported
the ground of the large number
women at the head of business e nter
prises.
Will Boom Balloons.
Smokeless powder, some indited
men believe, will boom balloons
They argue that with no smoke
difficulty of observing au enemy| bsj
doings will be increased, and that
loolis would solve the problem—coM
they but be managed.