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It Never Pays.
It a«T«r pays to fret and growl
When fortune seems our foe;
The better bred will look ahead
And strike the braver blow.
Ytxir lock is work,
And those who shrink
Should not lament their doom,
But yield the play,
And clear the way,
Tbat better men have room.
It never pays to wreck the health
In drudging after gain,
And he is sold who thinks that gold
Is cheapest bought with pain.
An humble lot,
A cozy cot,
Have tempted even kings,
For station high,
That wealth will buy,
Not oft contentment brings.
It never pays! A blunt refrain
Well worthy of a song,
For age and youth must learn the truth
That nothing pays that’s wrong.
The good and pure
Alone are sure
To bring prolonged success,
While what is right
In heaven’s sight
Is always sure to bless.
THE BASKET SELLER.
“WeH, I declare!” said Mrs. Gibson,
slowly and emphatically. “What will
happen next? There was the eclipse
a-Wednesday night, and the earthquake
■hock a week ago, aud Jane Ann
Bhorey’s runaway match with Phil Par
kinson last night; and I swan to gracious
if here don’t come along Emma Ellis,
ridin’ on top of a load o' wilier
ware, jest for all the world as if she was
a roani"
“Don’t you want to buy a clothes
basket, Mrs. Gibson?” called out Emma
Ellis’ dear soprano voice, as the sturdy
sorrel pony came to a pause in front of
the painted garden fence, where the
young quinces were just beginning to
assume shape and form among the
downy, groen leaves.
“A clothes-basket?” repeated Mrs.
Gibson. “That’s just exactly what I
do want. Got any good, substantial
ones, with bars o' wood across the bot
tom to strengthen ’em?”
By way of answer, Emma Ellis swung
down a solid-looking willow receptacle,
springing after it herself, and a lively
discussion ensued.
“Guin' into the peddlin’ business,
ah?” said Mrs. Gibson.
“Well, 1 thought I’d see how I liked
it,” Emma answered, with a cheery,
good-liumorcd laugh. “Do you like
this basket? I’ve got some capilal easy
rockers for the old grandmother here,
and a doll s cradle that will exactly sud
die babyf and as for work-baskets—’»
And she made a triumphant motion
of her hand that expressed marvels.
“Well, I'd like ’em all,” said good
Mrs. Gibson, “but I don’t feel ablo to
buy nothin’ but the basket this morn
ing. Se'lin’ on commission, eh?”
“No—out and out. Let me see; you
want two dollars and nineteen cents
ohange, do you?”
And Miss Ellis opened her flat leather
pocketbook aud couuted out the money
in true business-like fashion.
“Well—1—noverl” repeatod Mrs.
Gibson, staring after the cloud of dust
that followed the load of willow-ware
in its progress down the street.
“Why, what is the matter?” said
Chares Borden, who had just stopped
at the gate to see if he could borrow
Farmer Gibson’s mowing machino for
the morrow.
“It’s Emma Ellis,” said Mrs. Gibson,
“driviu’ a load o’ wilier-ware, and
sailin' baskets and hampers and things.”
* ‘Nonsense 1” cried Borden.
“I jest bought this ’ere clothes-basket
of her 1” declared Mrs. Gibson. “I tell
j* what, Charley Borden, she’s been
disappointed in the deostrick school, and
the squire ho must have come plumb up
agin a snag in tho marble-mantel busi
ness, and as sure as you live Emma’s
got to earn her own livin’, with all them
genteel ways and piano lessons and
crayon pictcrs o’ hern. My I what a
come-down it is for that family! I
don’t see how Emma can be so chirk
about it. Where’s that Borden fellow?”
she cried, staring about her. ‘ 'Gracious
me, if ho ain’t cut across tho medderl
I guess most l.kely he’s seen Gibson
fhere.”
And Mrs. Gibson tied on a green
ahccked sun-bonnet and ran down the
street to 3Irs. Dalrymple to tell the news.
'‘Serves ’em right!” said Mrs. DaL
rymp’e. “A fambly o’ rog’lar goin
upstarts! I never did take no stock in
Emma Ellis.”
“Your son Oliver did though,”
chuckled Sirs. Gibson, with a meaning
“That ain’t neither here nor ther«,”
said Mrs. Dalrymple, sharply. “Oliver
ain’t goin' to squander on no girl the
money that bis father laid up, unless
she’s real savin’, bard-workin’
crectur , as will know how to take care
of it.”
“There she is now!” said Mrs. Gib
son. “Stoppin’ here!”
“No-o-o!” bawled Mrs. Dalrymple,
opening the window a mere crack.
“We don’t want nothin’. No, I say!”
Emma Ellis smiled to herself as she
drove on, stopping next at the Borden
farmstead, where, strange as it may ap
pear, Borden himself had already ar
rived, by means of the short-cut across
the Gibson meadows.
“Oh, is it you, Mr. Borden?” she
asked, carelessly. “Won’t you ask
your sister if she requires anything in
my way this morning?”
i « But, Miss Ellis, what does this
mean?” exclaimed the amazed young
farmer.
“It means—willow-ware,” Emma an
swered, composedly.
“Has anything happened?”
“Things are always happening,” said
Emma, reaching across the load for a
particularly pretty market basket, “I
think she will like this, Mr. Borden. ”
“I’ll buy it for her,” said Charley,
recklessly.
“And a scrap-basket, shaped like a
little barrel, don’t you see,” persisted
Emma, “for your own room?” It’s cheap
—only a dollar.”
“I’ll buy that, too,” said Charles
Borden. “And this hamper and. this
pair of little baskets for Kate’s boys to
go blackberrying with, and—”
V i Oh, stop, stop, ” merrily cried Em
ma. “You musn’t buy all my stock in
trade, or I shall have nothing left for
anybody else.”
“Oh, but I really want that big rock
er for the front porch,” persisted Mr.
Borden. “That’s a necessity.”
“The big rocker, then,” said Emma,
half laughing; “but beyond that, abso
lutely nothing more.”
“But y ou’11 promise me one thing?”
“It depends very much upon what it
is.”
“If you have anything left unsold at
the end of your trip, you’ll give me a
chance?” said Charlie imploringly.
“Wicker goods always come handy, you
know.”
Emma only laughed and touched up
the old horse.
“I make no promises,” said she.
That day, on the high seat among
the baskets and rockers, the wash-tub3
and clothes-horses, to Emma Ellis it was
quite a new experience. The chaffering
at shady farmhouse doors with busy
housewives, the counting of change, the
discussion of qualities and tho persist
ent standing up against the general dis
position to beat down prices and haggle
for odd cents, the various views of hu
man life which she now obtained for
the first time from her aerial peich, the
odd sensation of being “in trade,” the
consciousness that she was looked upon
with pity by some of her friends and
scorn by others—it was altogether a
strange conglomeration of feelings.
Toward the close of the day's work,
as she was returning home with her
wagon-load considerably depleted, and
her purse somcwh.t better furnished
than it had been, she chanced to come
face to face with handsome Oliver Dal
rjmple, trotting along on the Morgan
mare, which once had been the pride
of the elder Dalrvmple’s heart. She
looked him full in the face. He seemed
absorbed in the knot on the end of his
whip-lash, and never even looked her
way.
“So!” she said to herself; “sets the
wind that way?” Mr. Dalrymple do^s
not .seem to approve of this new enter
prise of mine. Well, I’m sorry, but 1
can’t help it. Charley Borden, now,
views things in an entirely different
way.”
And sho smiled a little as she saw,
leaning anxiously over the gate beyond,
the stalwart figure of the young farmer.
“Miss Ellis 1” he uttered pleadingly.
“I’m sure you can’t want to buy any
moro willow-ware,” said Emma, check
ing her horse. “There can’t bo room
for it in tho house. ”
“No; but won't you lot mo put this
horse in the atablo, or drive it home for
you, while you come into tea? Alice
will bo de ighted to see you. And you
must be so tiredl” urged he.
Emma thought a moment, and as she
reflected how refreshing a cup of hot tea
would be, Alice Borden put her curly
head out of the w.ndow.
“Do come, Emmal" sho aleJL
SCHLEY COUNTY
“We’ll have waffle* and maple syrup
and broiled chickens; and I’ve got evar
so many things to tell you.”
And Emma capitulated.
But as Charley Borden helped her
down from her high seat, he stood a
minute holding both her hauds in his.
“Emma,” said he, “I know I’ve no
business to speak so abruptly, but I
can’t help it. I don’t know why you
are doing this thing, but if it is to earn
money, let me earn it for you, Emma—
give me the right to do it. I’m only a
farmer, but I’ve got a nice place here,
and I can keep you like a lady. And I
love you, Emma! I’ve loved you well
and truly this many and many a day.
Now I’m not going to tease and bother
you about this. Take time to make up
your mind. I’ll drive the old horse
home, and then I’ll take you back my
self in the little buggy when you and
Alice have had a good visit. And you
can give me my answer when you please,
and not before.”
Emma broke from him and ran into
the house, blushing yet not displeased.
Alice met her at the door.
“Where is Charley?” said she. “Oh,
going to take your load of willow-ware
home? Now, Emma, tell me what this
really means. Have you lost all your
property?”
“No.”
“Are you going into trade?’*
“No.”
“You won’t answer me?”
“No.”
“Then,” laughed Alice Borden, “I’ll
ask you no more questions. Hereafter
I’m as dum as an oyster. Now come in
and help me dish up the chickens and
waffles.”
It was past eleven that night when
Charley Borden brought Emma Ellis
homo to the old house, where the squire
was nodding over his evening paper.
Well,” said he, viewing her over the
edge of his spectacles, with a waggish
twinkle in his clear blue eyes, “how did
the thing work?”
“First rate, papa,” said Emma. “I
sold twenty dollars’ worth—within a
few cents. And Mr. Borien here was
one of my best customers.”
“Then,’’ said the squire, with a sigh
of comic resignation, “I’ve lost my
wager. You see, Borden, my girl want
ed me to buy this stock of willow-ware
with the horse and wagon, to set old
Miss Barhydt up in busine s—and I told
her no woman would succeed iu such aa
enterprise, let alone their being unwill
ing to undertake this sort of work. But
Emma stuck to it that it could be done,
and I was weak enough to wager the
whole outfit that it couldn’t. So Emma
declared she would prove it practically
—and I didn’t think she had pluck
enough; but, by jingo, she has! Yes,
yes, Emma, you’ve beat me square and
fair!”
“And Miss Barhydt is to have the
outfit of willow-ware!” cr ed E.nma,
joyfully, clapping her hands, “and the
horse and wagon. On, Mr. Borden,
you can’t think what a nice old woman,
•he is, nor how anxious she is to earn a
livelihood in tho open air like this!
And now you know,” with the archest
and most bewitching of glances, “how
it came to pass that I was peddling
willow baskets around tho country.
Wouldn’t you have done it, if you had
been me?”
Young , Dalrymple was in despair
when he learned of Charles Borden’s en
gagement to the prettiest girl—aye, and
the richest girl—in the country.
“But who was to suppose,” said he,
that she would take such an unaccounta
ble whim into her head?”
And Sirs. Gibson always declared
that she never had a clothes-basket wear
like the ono she bought of Squire Ellis’
daughter !—Saturday Nig'it.
A Railroad iu the Holy Land.
The preliminary suiveys of a railroad
to run from Jaffa on the sea coast in
Palestine to Jerusalem, and thence to
Bethlehem, have just leen completed,
and a party of engineers have started
from London for the Holy L ind to lay
out the route. A company has al
ready been formed to build tho roa 1, in
which a number of English and Fiench
bankers are interested. From all ac
counts it is a purely business enterprise
without a trace of sentiment of religious
fervor.
Tho travel in the Holy Land of late
years has been increasing steadily, and
it is believed if first cbm railway accom
modations were furnished the number of
tourists who annually visit Jerusalem
from all parts o the earth would soon be
Uwhk-L
CHL0R0F0RMISTS.
Facts About a Dangerous Class
of Criminals.
The Cunning Manner in Which
They Rob Their Victims.
A correspondent of the St. Louis
Globe- Democrat gives the following in
teresting description of the methods
adopted by a band of criminals known
in France as chloroformists:
The chloroformists administer with
great skill, either with the aid of a
sponge or that of a handkerchief, that
poisonous, powerful, tenacious and al
ways dangerous substance, which, given
unskilfully, may prove fatal. They are
shrewd, adroit and well posted; they
are met with on the railway trains, on
the steamboats and at the hotels. Es
sentially cosmopolitan, they spend the
major part of their existence in travel
ing. They talk like guides and are
thoroughly acquainted with the water
ing places and sea baths where the aris
tocracy and wealth gather.
The ch.'oroformist is generally an old
hand, having frequented the schools of
medicine, where he learned the use and
efficacy of narcotics. A man of the
world, intelligent and good company,
his conversation is captivating. He
speaks several languages and claims to
belong to the nobility. He has an
agreeable presence. An cxce lent
dancer and somewhat of a musician,
young ladies are delighted with him.
This is the way he operates on a rail
way train: He stations himself -in the
depot and watches the purchasers of
tickets. Having cho»en as his victim
the man with the best filled pocketbook,
he buys a ticket and gets into the same
compartment. In his traveling bag he
carries a reserve of provisions, good
wine, extra cigars, playing-cards and
everything such as au experienced trav
eler would have.
He adroitly engages his victim in con
versation, speaks of the inconvenience
of railway station restaurants, the long
wait to be served, and the small time
allowed to passen ^ers. In a winning
manner he then offers to share his bill
of fare with his companion. A friend
was going with him to Switzerland, but
at the last moment wired h m that he
could not go, and that is why he is so
amply provided with provisions. If
necessary he shows the dispatch.
Should the victim refuse to partake, he
proceeds with his repast and afterwards
offers him cigars, prepared as was his
wine. They chat, time flies, and the
monotonous noiso of tho train, added to
the cigar smoke, plunges the victim
into a torpor which ho cannot conquer,
and by which ho is finally overcome.
The chloroformist then opens his vial
and places it for several seconds beneath
the sleepers nostrils. At the same time
he g entl .Y puts over the mouth a sheet
of very fine parchment to prevent tho
breathing of the external air. This
parchment is called the “stifler;” it is
shaped like the lower part of a carnival
mask. The man is in a sound sleep^
almost a corpse; the chloroform vapor
has done its work. Thea the thief
leisurely riflei tho victim s pocketbook,
taking care to leave one or more bank
notes in it, after which he restores it to
the owner’s pocket. He does not ap
propriate any of the sleeper’s jewelry.
The robbery committed, the thief quits
the 'rain at the next station, Two rea-
80ns actuate the chloroformist in not
absolutely depriving his victim of
money. Having enough left to pay his
expenses, the latter is in le-s haste to
make his complaint. The second rca
®° n is that, should tho min die under
the influence of the chloroform, being
in possession of his jewelry and money,
his death will be attributed to natural
causes, and the authorities will not sus
pect that a crime has been committed.
The Siamese Twins.
Chang and Eng were brought to Bos
ton in 1829 by Captain Gabriel Coffin
in his brig, tho Sachem. Mr. Hale
travel’.e 1 all over Europe and the United
States, exhibiting the twins for C p
tain Coffins benefit. At last they came
of age, and having meanwhile learned
enough English to converse freely and
enough American to lake care of thern
selves, held on to their own receipts,
then amounting to about $2,000 a week
over the expenses. On this, as is
well known, they soon married Sisters
in North Carolina and settled down
there to enjoy their ease.
Effects of Heat.
How is it that so far higher a temper,
ature of air can be borne by the human
body than of water? When the body is
exposed to a very high temperature the
amount of exhalation from the sudorif
erous ducts is immensely increased, and
it is on account of the rapid evapora
tion which takes place that persons have
been able to endure for several minutes
a temperature greatly exceeding that of
boiling water. The amount of vapor
that is lost from the body under these
conditions amounts to from two to four
pounds an hour. A much greater ele
vation of temperature can be tolerated
with impunity in dry air than in moist.
A familiar instance is that of the Rus
sian vapor bath (moist air) and the
Turkish bath (dry air). In the former
a temperature of 130 degrees Fahren
heit is almost unbearable, while in
the case of the latter a temperature of
160 degrees to 200 degrees can be born*
without danger. A hot-water bath of
110 degrees to 150 degree* would be
absolutely unsafe, and would tend to
scald, the pores of the skin being
nuable to properly fulfill their evapora
ting functions in water of this tempera
ture. Tiltctt records au instance where
a young girl remained in an oven for
ten minutes without inconvenience at –
temperature of 324.5 degrees. Dr.
Blagden found that 211 degrees could
be easily borne. Chabert, who exhibited
as the “Fire King," is said to have
entered ovens at from 400 degrees to
500 degrees Fahrenheit. In such cases
as these the body is protected from the
radiated heat by clothing; the air is
perfectly dry, and the animal heat is
kept down by the excessive exhalation
from the surface of the skin.
Biblical Relics in Damascus.
_
Damascus is so fortunate as to possess
the tombs of three of Mohamet’s wives
and of Fatimah and the tomb of
Saladin, which Nicolas of Russia in
1867 found in a bad condition and re
stored at a cost of $16,000. But no
name is connected with Damascus of
equal importance in history with that of
Saul of Tarsus, who ou his journey to
the city saw T the “brightness above the
midday sun,” aud underwent the mirac
ulous transformation from the persecu
tor to the earnest advocate of the Chris
tian faith. The street called “Strait”
is thirty feet below the level of tlje
present thoroughfare of that name,
which is the straightest avenue I saw in
any Eastern city.. The hou9B of
Ananias, tho house of Judas, the
very fountain whore Paul was baptized
and the place where he was let down
from the wall, in a basket, are shown,
but hardly satisfy the critical or roman
tic interest of the tourist. The Christ
ian population in the city is about 12,
000, most all of which belong* to the
Greek communion. The Catholics have
some flourishing schools and five build
ings. Excellent Protestant schools are
conducted by the British Syrian Mission
and the Mission of the Irish Presbyter
ian church. The Rev. M. P.iillips, of
Ireland, and a missionary lor twelve
years in Damascus, told me that the
Mohametani would bo accessible if the
espionage and opposition of the govern
ment were withdrawn. As it is there
are groups who study the Scripture* in
secret.— Mai. and Express.
The True Eating Banana.
The true eating banana,or “madura,"
is said to be unknown in northern coun
tiios, tho varieties we import being sim
ply those which are use l in the laud of
their growth for cooking purposed.
Many varieties of the m idura are recog
n zed, each of which is distinct in
flavor; the smaller are the moro deli
cious, and the smallest of all, the so
called “ladv-linger banana,’ wi.h *
skin hardly thicker than paper, is tile
most highly prized, Green cooking
bananas are peeled and roasted in the
ashes and eaten with butter; partially
lipe ones are boiled for a few inkntfe 9
with the skin on and eaten with syrup
or honey; and ripe ones arc sliced
lengthwise aud fried iu olive-oil or but
ter.
One of fho Six Hundred.
Tramp (at tho back door)—“If y° u
knew me, madam, you would not hesi
tate to extend the open hand of sympa
thy. I am one of tho famous Six Uao
dred.”
Lady of the house (astonished)—
“You? You don’t look old enough.”
Tramp (with his mouth full of pu‘)—
“I am one of the six hundrecl inmates
of the workhouse mentioned in the s*
periptcadcat’s last report.”