Newspaper Page Text
GALLAHEft'S INDEPENDENT,
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT
QUITMAN, CIA.,
J. C. GALLAHER.
TERMS OP SUBSCRIPTION i
TWO DOLLARS per Annum in Adrmict.
CECIL’S CHOICE.
BT LOTTIE BROWN.
There wns a great party of pcoplo gath
ered for two or three weeks at the Ocean
House, Beach. ami among them
was the Villiers family. First, though not
most important, was Mrs. Villiers, the wid
ow of old General Villiers, who had served
daring the Moxioun war. Next came her
sister, also a widow, Mrs. Adams; next the
two Villiers girls, Cecil and Estelle.
And with them and about them c me a
half-dozen or more families—rich, respec
table and fashionable; and twenty or more
young, middle aged and doubtful aged
gentlemen —all respectable, and nearly all
of them in love with ono or the other of
the Villiers girls.
Estelle, the youngest, was a pretty girl.
With an incomparable complexion, black,
roguish eyes, an irrostible laugh aud an
arch, aoquettish manner that conquered
everybody; but Cecil was the beauty of the
family.
She was a tall, splendid girl with a beau-
tiful pliaut figure, round, graceful, and
full of delicate curves and lines. Her face
was neither too fall nor too thin, but pure
ly Greek in outline, and exquisite in color,
with its lustrous eyas of gray, its shading
of rippling dark hair, its faint dashes of
pink upon a surface otherwiso soft and
clear as wax.
She was the pillar of strength in the
Villiers family, and people said that their
entire worldly possessions taken collective
ly would amount to very little if beautiful
Cecil was left out.
But with those mysterious financial
movements, known only to clever mothers
of marriageable daughters, these Villiers
girls were always models of elegance and
style; and of all tho young ladies far and
near, there were none who wore so much
admired as they.
They had brought to the Ocean House
themselves and their party, and wero pre
pared to have a glorio ,s time, after our
modern, idle, languid fashion.
So, one night, two men—two strangers
—sauntering along the 000 l piazza, came
around to the widow of the great parlor,
nnd looking in saw them all, and among
them Cecil Villiers.
She was sitting, by acknowledged right,
in the most conspicuous place iu the room,
whore the best light fell upon her and her
übunduut draperies; and she looked pre
cisely what she was, a queen of beauty aud
fashion. The prevailing color in her dress
was a soft, delicate cream, almost white; ;
but there were dashes of gold hero aud
there, and long spray's of smiiax, aud lit
tle clusters of tuberoses aud oamelias iu
her hair aud on her bosom. Hit fan was
white uud gold and the mantle on the arm
of the chair behind her was white and
gold, and all about her the two colors
seemed beautifully, aud harmoniously
blended.
One of the men outside said, with a long
drawn breath:
“Great heavens I What a perfect wo
man !"
The other smoked silently and said not
A word.
“You have seen her before, Ernest,”
said the other.
“Yes I saw her a year ago. Where have
you been, Harry France, that you never
before saw Cecil Villiers ?”
“Oh, oh ! So that is Cecil Villiers; and
if I remember right, you saved her life last
year, on a steamer that was taking a pleas
ure trip up the Hudson. You must be
good friends.”
Ernest Tratfte.ll knocked the ashes from
bis cigar; saying, with- easy non chalancc:
“Not necessarily so. A man may do
very much for one, aud never bo on fa
miliar terms with with her. However, I
fancy she would remember me.”
"Then come in and introduce me.”
“Nonsense ! Have a cigar, and ho sen
sible. - There’s a man behind her chair
•whose hourly income is more than you
can call your own in tho world; aud she
can have him by one look from her beau
tiful eyes. Take a cigar ?”
Harry France looked silently at his
friend; bnt Ernest was settling himself
back in a chair, and looking away over the
sea with an indefinable expression in his
eyes which could not possibly relate to
Cecil Viliiers.
“Boh 1”
This came in a burst from somebody and
there was a flatter of a silken dress, a whif
of perfume, and tho'bright sparkling face
Of Estelle Viliiers met Ernest’s surprised
eyes.
‘‘l saw yon look indifferently in at ns,
and then take your chair and sit back here
ns though we were of the least possible
account in the world. I didn’t dare to
tell Cecil of your presence, and your total
contempt of us. She would bo in a rage,
and Cecil in a rage ! Come in and see her. ”
There was a lmmed introduction, and
then, between the two gentleman, Estolie
Viliiers went back into the bright pal lor.
“Book here! My sister, Mr. France.
Cccy, see what a fi.di I have captured 1”
And Estelle, brought tall Ernest Traffton
around with a flourish, and the beauty,
looking up, saw the man whose blue eyes
had looked into hers once when she be
lieved herself going down to a cruel death,
in the cold waters of the Hudson.
There was a deepening of color in Cecil’s
face for a moment; then the old habit of
crushing back every emotion came to her
relief, and she held out her hand.
“I am very glad to see you, Mr. Traff
ics,” she said. “Mr. Thorpe, allow me
VOL. IT.
to introduce to yon a friend of niiue, Mr.
Traffton. He was once kiud enough to
save my life.”
"Yes, yes ! Traffton and havo met be
fore, and I have heard the story. Traff
ton, we owe you a great deal ?”
And Thorpe, the man with the big hour
ly income, gave Traffton*s hand uu ener
getic ahnkc.
Then, after a moment, Er..t bowed
himself away, and when Harry France
came out to find him for a quadrille, ho
was again sraokiug aud looking over the
water, as though bright rooms and beauti
ful women were no part of his life.
“Are you melancholy-mad ? or what tho
deuce ails you?” asked Hairy. “Why
don’t you come in ?”
“Oh, bother/’
“Yon are the oddest stick 1 Will you
conw ?"
“Yes I suppose so.”
And ho went in with a lounging, idle
step, and walked through tho quadrille
with lofty iudiffbrenoo, his handsome blue
eyes lazily taken iu tho room, but his
mouth shut close behind his long blonde
moustache.
This was the beginning of his short sum
mer vacation, and had they looked into
his heart they would have seen how thor
oughly he wished it wns its ending.
They were very gay there, and iuspite of
himself Ernest was often drawn into their
parties, and was often the cavalier of Ce
cil Villiers.
One night, when tho moonlight was
flooding the beach, tho white' rocks nnd
the house, he lmd taken a stroll out, with
his cigar for a companion, and had found
a seat to his satisfaction, away down al
most to the water’s edge.
She came out, all iu white, liko some
spirit, and found him.
“Always smoking always alone 1” she
said.
“May I sit here ?”
“Yes,” he answered, coolly.
“Do you despise us so vr ry much that
you liko your own company so well ? Wo
are usually very merry. l)o you really
hate us ?”
“No,” he answered.
“Why don’t you come with us ? We
would all like it—l should liko it very
much, ltemembor how much I owe you
—my life 1”
“Nonsense. A Newfoundland dog
would have done as much, and I—l should
havo dragged uu apple Woman out as
readily.”
She was not daunted yet, though his
voice was as cold and hard us the rocks at
their feet.
“Well, let all that go past, if you will;
but tell me—whjMlon’tyou come ?”
He turned a face white as snow toward
her, with eyes now almost black with in
tense passion.
“Why? Do you wish to know ? Be
cause, Cecil Villiers, lam fool enough to
love you better than I love iny own soul 1”
“A man must boa fool, then, to lovo
me t” she asked.
“Yes, unless lie can write it in your
hand with letters of gold; unless he is a
—John Thorpe !”
She let the white scarf fall away from
her face, and for one or two moments
looked silently at him.
“Aud yon think this of mo ? My God,
how miserably low I have fallen I”
And then sho turned and walked away,
asslie had come, like some unearthly thing.
*****
There was a disturbance in the apart
ments occupied by the Villiers. It was
not noisy or ill-bred, but it was a distur
bance as fall of hot anger as ever was j
raised on earth.
There was Mrs. Yilliys, rod and violent;!
thero was Mrs. Adams speechless with;
rage, save for au occasional exclamatory
burst; there was Estelle, tearful and trem
bling; and there was Cecil, ss cold and
whito as marble, but resolutely defiant. —
She was .saying:
“You can tell John Thorpe that I re
fuse to marry him ! I think he will un
derstand you."
“Ce-cil, do you dare to send him a mes
sage like that ? You must marry him 1 It
will ruin me if you do not ?”
“I don’t see why.”
“Fool! Who will pay the hills ?—who
will keep ns from starving poverty ? I
have depended upon you, Cecil. If yon
give up this man, what is to stand between
us and miser}' ?”
“Not my flesh and blood ! Not my soul I
Do you think I do not understand the
selfish, cruel bargain you would make, for
your own comfort ? Are you a mother, and
dare tell me you loto me, when yon urge
me to sell myself to a man I hate ? I am
not a child—l am a woman 1 You cannot
swerve me from my purpose, asyou might
have done years ago; and once for all I
tell you I will not marry John Thorpe !”
“Then you will starve 1”
“No I will not ! I will work as any hon
est woman should, for myself, for you, for
aunty, for Estelle. But I will not marry
this man !’’
“Then leave me 1” and the mother's
trembling finger pointed to the door.—
“Leave mo, and never—”
“Mother 1” Estelle cried out.
“You need not fear, Estelle,” and Ce
cil passed out. “Ishall ho recalled.”
“How hot it was there!” she thought
and she walked along the hall and out up
on the piazza.
For a moment she thought she had lit
erally entered fire; for John Thorpe stood
there, and had evidently heard all they had
said.
QUITMAN, GrA., SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 1874.
Ho put out his hand.
“You are a bettor woman than even I
lmd thought. I wish to ueavou I might
help you !”
Then ho went quietly away, and loft her
there, so full of shame and misery that
she prayed to die.
But then there came a breath of cool
sea air across her cheek, ns if to rebuke
hor, and she started up aud hurried down
the stairs to a point where it blew stron
ger; and ns she eumo mound to tho spot
she was seeking, she camo upon Ernest
Traffton, still smoking and looking out
over tho water.
110 turned, ns sho camo up, and gave
hor u quick, sharp glance.
"You nre fal* ! Avo you ill ?”
"No. I have only broken looso from
myself.”
“What do you mean ?"
“Nothing; only I havo refused John
Thorpe, and mother has disowned mu for
a little while. She’ll soon call mo buck.
“Shall you care to go ?”
And then for a moment there was a si
lence.
•‘Perhaps not. Yet—”
“Oh, Cecil 1” and two strong white
arms clasped hers—“was it foi your own
sake that you did this ?”
“No, Eriiest for yours !”
And the proud faco drooped, nnd tho
beautiful eyes were veiled beneath their
! lids.
After all, there are many women who
! for love’s sake, will give up worldly honor
| and possessions, aud Cecil Villiers w as ono
of these.
| .HISS SEDGWICK’S UOMANCK.
How a Novelist Didn’t Harry.
Th.ro lived many years ago in tho
comity of Berkshire, Massachusetts, a
young lady possessed of more than tile
ordinary accomplishments which, at that
day, distinguished tho intelligent daugh
ters of New England. At an early period
of lu-r life her writiifg attracted tho atten
tion of flic public, and her novels pene
trated all parts of the civilized world w here
the English language is spoken; and sho
was fully entitled to the envied reputation
she had earned by her graceful pen
sketches. She camo of one of the leading
families of Berkshire possessing wealth
and having every requisite necessary to
make her a desirable companion to some
worthy who chose to make her a wife.
This Indy had a brother living iu the city
of Albany, N. Y., where ho followed the
j profession of the law iu partnership with a
worthy luau of wealth irreproachable char
acter and high reputation not only for his
learning, but his sterling integrity. The
intimate relations existing between these
two individuals served to bring together
the brother’s partner and the sister here
tofore alluded to, and the oircumatauces
resulted in the lawyer malting an offer of
hand to the gifted authoress, which was
accepted and the engagement continued
I for a long time with no apparent jealousy
doubt, or misunderstaudiug to interrupt
the smooth tenor of their way. But the
gentleman was accustomed to read novels
as well as the law, nnd it is natural to sup-
pose that he read the works ot ills ml:-
anced bride with all the ardor which the
circumstances of the ease will warrant.
In one of these volume's ho found the
affections existing between the hero and
the heroine of the tale portrayed in snob
glowing, ardent colors that he was impress
ed to stop and ask himself the question,
“Is this real? are these the true senti
ments of the fair writer ? must I possess
all the characteristics of this hero in order
to satisfy and make happy the woman
whom I have chosen as a companion for
life ?” The high principle of honor which
lie possessed forbade him to proceed with
any further act that could hereafter be
chargeable with concealment or falsehood,
and ho immediately informed the young
lady that if the love which sho had por
trayed in her work of fiction should ho
exacted from him, then im felt candid to
confess that he aid not, nether could he
ever feel, that iris love was anywhere near
the standard which she hud written in
words of lire. The result of tins under
standing, or misunderstanding, which
ever you may call it, was the breaking up
of the engagement between Harmauua
iiU-ecker and Catharine Sedgwick, and
they remained from that day estranged
forever. The lady lived a celibate life to
a good old age, and was gathered to her
fathers, rogrettd by all who enjoyed her
acquaintance, but her brilliant genius will
live untill the science of literature shall be
buried in oblivion. The love of Miss
Sedgwick was the love of romanco, high
wrought and elevated by the poetic en
thusiasm of a too active brain. Such
persons can love hut once, and when sud
denly crushed, their passion is followed
sometimes, by an insatiable malady or kind
-1 red disease, and their action gives to the
world wonderful effects. Those who sink
! under the burden are lost forever. Per
! haps to this event the world owes the cu
i jovment of the many happy moments
Jt JJIUMUV
which it has employed in the perusal of
the late works of this gifted authoress.
Not so with Hermanns Blecekcr, lie
took a more common-sense view of the
marriage relation. Possessed of the prac
tical good sense and philosophy of his
Butch ancestry, he was impervious to tnat
intense enthusiasm which burns in flic
brain of the decendants of the impulsive
puritan. Had he married bliss Sedgwick
he would have taken her home, when she
would have settled down into a matter-of
fact lady of the mansion, and aecommoda
t'd herself to the manners and customs of
the Hutch Knickerbockers, and the world
have been forever deprived of the enjoy
ments rendered by her magic pen; or, the
lack of affinity and tastes between the
parties might have resulted in an open
rupture, like too many of the unfortunate
unions of antagonistic organizations. Mr.
Bieecker never married until in the “sere
and yellow leaf” of old age. It is well
known he passed many years in'Hoiland,
and the language there spoken being fami
liar and his mother tongue, he passed
much of his leisure time in cultivating
the acquaintance of the old families, in
one of which he found a lady who express
ed herself willing to leave her native coun
try and fellow the fortunes of an old man
in foreign lands. This was spring wed
ded to lioary winter. Nobody would sup
pose that there was any romance in uu ae
rangoment of this kind, but it is said that
a true, fervent, and lasting nflestion ex
isted between the parties, which only
terminated with the death of one of the
twain. Having his trunk already packed
on board the vessel ready for his departure
for home, he called to bid farewell to the
family, when some act or expression made
by the young lady led the old man to be
lieve that she would not bo unwilling to
accompany him in tho voyage. The
trunks were immediately landed and ar
rangements completed for an early mar
riage, and the old gentleman returned to
: Albany with his young wife. Every one
; that knew this worthy woman knew how
j well she performed every duty as a. wife.
| She lmd no novels hi write, but attended
1 faithfully to her duty at her husband’s
: side, cheering his last days with affection
I and soothing his ' oh-way to tho grave;
and, although era->v, u with a princely
I legacy from her husband, yet, after his
death, she voluntarily surrendered a for
tune to endow institutions of education
aud benevolence, which was intended to
bo done by her husband before her mar
riage.
-
Buried Tniuannr Found.—Mr. Phil
brick was taking a walk on the new road
near tho oil null last Sunday, after tho
shower, when lie noticed a piece of tin or
sheet iron projecting from tho hank near
the race. Oliriosity prompted him to ex
amine it, but wns go firmly imbedded in
I the solid earth that he way unable to re
move it then. The next morning lio made
a second attempt, when ho was more suc
cessful, end removed a large piece of sheet
iron, shaped into the form of a box, which
contained about a quart of silver coin,
mostly Spanish pieces. Tlio box was
nearly eaten up with rust and tho coin had
turned black. Home of it has been ex
amined by • Xpert*, who pronounce it gen
uine, and if the balance should prove to
be as good, Mr. Pliilbriek may consider
tiiis the most fortunate walk lie ever took.
How the coin came there, or how long it
lias lain there, are, of course, mutters for
conjecture, unless tho following will throw
some light upon it: About eight years
ago word was n eoived in our city that a
| young man, living somewhere in Illinois,
; had confessed on his death bed that ho
j had stolen SB,OOO, mostly in silver, and
then sought safety in flight, but the offic
ers followed him so closely that he got off
the ears hole and buried the money near
the race, and close by a large oak tree.
Considerable excitement was created at
the time, and the ground in that vicinity
was prortty thoroughly examined, but no
one found the treasure then. The find
ing of the money so near to tlio point
indicated by tho young man may go a
long ways towards solving tlio mystery.—
Caliiirater [Mich.) Republican , AuyustL
Plain People.
I like ’em. Tho Creator never made a
man to part, his hair in the middle, and
sav “weally” for “really,’’ and the Creator j
didn’t intend to have women spend eigh
teen limirs a day over powder and paint,
and send their children into the country
to he cured for by some cross-eyed old wo
man at three dollars per week.
No, sir ! and no, ma’am 1 1 f Providence
had his way about it he would have small
boys play in the road, roll on the grass
.mil carry dusty noses, instead of being
in;prawn.ed in starched jackets, and threa
tened with a thrashing if they didn’t
“pucker their mouths just like mu.”
If people want to say “chawming” for
charming, faint away at the sight of a nit,
and lead little poodle dugs around by lit
tle chains, and have their monograms
painted on their front doorsteps, why, it’s
all right, only I should think it would be
n great bore on ’em for fear that some
mudsill would some day find out that their
grandfathers or fathers sold soap, or navi
gated a flat-boat.
I knew Jones years ago; I was a hoy
and he a man, but I remember that lie
was glad enough to haul tanbarlt at three
shillings a load, and that his sous and his
daughters picked blackberries and sold
’em to buy starch and saleratus. They
are “ton” now. Arabella has a fashiona
ble limp, and a fashionable squint, says
“daw” for day, “hawse” for horse, and it
costs her more to paint her checks, than
it does me to paint my house. Her
brother, Algernon, sports a tender little
! cane, wears eye-glasses, and his lively bill
| for a mouth amounts to more uffiney than
his old father earned in six. Their name
used to bo Jones, —plain blunt Jones, but
now they huvo it changed to “Jorenu,”
and they draw it out a mile long.
Well,' I suppose it’s all right, but if the
old man could rise from his grave and
drop irj on ’em he’d wonder if he hadn’t
j struck the wrong house.
And it’s none of my business if Will
Larkins wears a diamond pin, alligator
boots, swell collars, and mauve pants, and
has three coach dogsat his bools, a French
dancing master, goes to Saratoga, owns a
race home and stays in doors on sunny
days for fear of getting his fingers tunned.
Hectares at me when I go by him, and if I
j nod he pretends that he didn’t see it. It’s
| all right, and probably he has forgotten
bow his father lit;. <1 la boo corn for my
father at fifty cents a day, and how his
mother drove a milk wagon and sold straw
hats.
Folks needn’t bo stuck up because they
have a few dollars in hank. Nature’s cur
rency is brains and honest hearts, and
money needn’t make a man forget that
! bis father run a saw mill and his mother
was her own servant. If any one can im
prove on the English language I have no
objections, but let ’em do it without puck
j ering their mouths until they look like
i mashed watermelons, and without twisting
i their tongue: us if they had a peanut shuck
'in tiieir windpipes. Collins are made to
| measure, and the earth never asks whether
the dead are bon-ton or paupers.— M.
Quad , in Our Fireside Friend.
•—*
Duty Bravely Done.
Of every man who performs the task as
signed to him, or the task for wnick he is
best fitted, in the complex machinery of
life, and who does this in a straight-for
ward temper and in a work manlike fashion,
two things may he safely predicated: first,
that he is doing his duty, and secondly
that in order to do it, he lias to use efforts
arid overcome temptation of some sort,
whether if he the temptation of indolence
or that of pleasure, and in tho most cases
the philanthropist or the missonnry does
no more. No true or worthy work of any
kind can be accomplished without encoun
tering difficulties and surmounting obsta
cles and facing dangers, and putting forth
the qualities of energy and perseverance;
without, in word, a steady resolution and
a persistent at If control which arc worthy
of ail honor. -IF. li. Ore;/.
[From the Danlmrry Nows.]
A Defence ol' Cats.
It has always boon tho custom to abuse
cate.
Cats arc stigmatized as treacherous,
ungrateful, thievish, deceitful, and to
through tho entire list of adjectives of
that class.
Wo believe tlint oats aro wronged. They
are certainly not to blame for being iu the
world, though moat people lmto them ns
it they were.
If there lmd been no eats, liow many
rats and mice would a house be likely to
support? Talk about rut-traps, indeed !
There was never a rut-trap invented, and
never will be, which could being to com
pete with a iiobei-miiidod, well-trained,
i industrious old tubby, who knows her
! business and attends to it.
Y-. *• have had mi experience of years
I with eats, ami nave owned scores of them,
and have never found them treacherous—
or yet ungrateful for the favors they have
I received.
V. e have always fed them regularly, as
we would any ether useful animal; and iu
j con: queues we have had no thieves
!hi our sleek. Our cupboards and
; a!itries are unmolested, and our tclines,
: aving a pise, where they are always fed,
-o anil nil there patiently when they are
. hungry, end wait for the food which the}'
! know shall be sure to come.
When wo go about among our friends
| and notice the way in which their cuts are
! tie,;,ed, wo i. aso to wonder that cuts have
I fallen info such bad repute.
Asa general thing a family gets a cat
j because there is a child who wants ono to
play with.
j Of course, it is a kitten; andnotwitluitand
j iitg the 1 1 aditiimill nine lives, it has plenty
i of feeling in its tender little body, and can
toll as well as you or 1 when it is pinched
and kicked. Tho baby carries it by the
tail, or one leg, by the ear, or tho skill of
its neck, and nobody goes to its rescue,
I because it is only a kitten. Kittens have
! always been treated so, and are used to it.
They don’t expect iwylhing else.
The baby thinks it is n most wonde.r
--j ful plaything, and lie will amuse himself
j w ith it by the hour. He will singe its fur
i with matches, and pull out its whiskers,
and put popper in its eyes, aud the strings
I around its neck and drug it along after
him; and by-and-hy, the wretched little
animal, goaded to desperation, bites or
scratches its graceless tormentor; and tlion
it is beaten, and carried off to tho river
mid thrown in with a stone tied to its neck,
aud the whole family declares they never
want to set eyes on another cat ! Never 1
Dear little, Johnnie, his eyes were nearly
scratched out of his head—the poor darl
ing !
(!ats, for tho most part, aro kept half
starved, and it is no wonder they are
thieves. They but obey the dictates of
their nature in seeking food when tlioy
are hungry; and if it is to he obtained in
no other way they steal it, just as you
or 1 would do under tho same circum
stances.
If you tease and torment a cat, she will
'growl at you just ns anybody clso would
do.
If you treat her kindly, yen will almost
invariably find her' good-natured.
Homebody says that nobody likes cats
but old maids ! If this be true, then it is
only another proof that old maids are
quite as sensible as their married sisters.
And wo do believe that there is some
thing ill the old saw, which asserts a man
who is kind to the cat will ba kind to his
wife.
But enough of this.
Oats are nothing but eats, aud wo sup
pose people will go on abusing them to
the end of timo. Kate Thorn.
Always too Late.--Some people are
always to late and therefore accomplish
through life nothing worth naming. If
they promise to meet you at such an hour
they are never present uutill thirty min
utes after. No matter liow important the
business is either to yourself or to them,
they are just as tardy. If one of this class
is to take passage by steamer or railway,
he arrives just as the boat lias left the
warf or the train the station. His dinner
has been waiting for him so long that the
cook is out of patience. This course, the
character wo lmvo described ul ways pur
ees. He is never in time for church; at
his place of business,'ul his meals, or iu
his bed. Persons of sncli habits, wo can-
I not but dea; >i:.o. Always start in time,
! ami be ready id the appointed hour. We
would not give a tig for a limn who is not
punctual to his engagements uud who
;e.•.(■;■ makes up his mind to a certain
comv." till the (hue is lost, Those who
I: in,; i.srk, he. lisle and tremble—who are
never at hand for a journey, to meet nil
appointment for busmens, or anything
elii* :re poor sloths, and are ill calculated
to succeed iu business or get a living in
this world.
• ■ ■—- * ■ ' 1 ■
Not Anybody’s Fool.
Katurday nf U moon, a sad-eyed boy, with
dirt on hi .; chin and a tear on his nose,
called at one of the police stations and
I :;m and the ;-er;:.( cut if ho could bo sent to
j the reform school, lio being a homeless
! waif. As he had committed no offense,
| lie was told that lie laid better go to tho
workhouse, but ho replied that his brother
was at llio reform school and he’d rather
Igo there. He didn’t want to go out and
steal anything or smash someone's plate
! glass w indow, and his anxiety to go toucb
i od the heart of a gentleman who had eall
lod on busiues 1 . Ho consulted with iho
i sergeant, and then said to tho lad: “I
; guess wo can fix if. I’m going to leave
i.iy vulletSou tho desk, and the sergealil !
and I Will go upstairs. If you take the
; wallet it will be stealing, and von will be
sent to the reform school.” The wallet
i was left, the men went up stairs for a mo
ment, and when they came down the lad
was nowhere in Right. Neithei was the
wallet, containing five dollars, and, to be
brief about it, the lad and money are still
missing,— Detroit Free Frees.
-
Spontaneouh Combustibility of yy ood
CllAlteoAL. —The journal of the German
Chemical Society makos the following
statement in regard to charcoal prepared
by the destructive distillation of wood: “If
such charcoal, twenty-four hours after the
completion of the process of preparation,
is pulverized and left standing in open
vessels a gradual elevation of temperature,
which, in about thirty-six hours, culmin
ates in open combustion. If the pulver
ization of the coal is not made until after
the lapse of threo days, this phenomena
does not occur.” The journal adds:
“Many experiments instituted in the same
direction prove that wood charcoal, for
something like thirty-six hours after with
drawal from Ihe noloi'ts, coutiuueu to
absorb oxygen./”
Cured by Saying the Lord’s Prayer.
Seven years ago Mrs. Jenliett E. lto
liiuson, m attempting to alight from a
street our in Chicago, was thrown violently
from tho plat-forui by the horses starting
suddenly, and Ntruok on her head. She.
was taken up insensible aud carried to a
neighboring dwelling to bo cared for. In
the course of a few hours she became
conscious, but found a peculiar tightness
about her jaws, an inability to use her
tongue, and complete paralysis on her lott
side. About two years ngo slie camo to
Cuwpville, N. Y., to live near her broth
er, a farmer in the town, and during that
j time her jaws were so completely closed
that she was obliged to Use liquid food en
tirely; her tongue so confined and useless
that no one could understand lier talk.
For this reason she Ima always answered
questions by writing on the slate: aud
from the paralysis of the limbs she con
stantly used a crutch nnd cane to move
about the house. There seemed to be no
particular improvement in her ease for the
last three or four years; and having tried
tho bust medical skill in Chicago without
much benefit, she had about concluded
that she was fated to live the long, help-,
less life of a paralytic. But seven years
after the accident, to a day, almost to u ■
minute, sho was fully in possession of i
health and vigor, and of the regain let j
her own story tell. Sho say: : “On that
day I was feeling much worm than usual,
having less strength to walk, was more
weak and desponding; hut near night, after
this day of sadness and gloom, tlio thought
came to me suddenly, and peculiarly
string, that if I should pray I could ob
tain help from a higher power than hu
man hands. I retired to an adjoining
room, kneeled on ono knee, not being
able to bond the other, and eommoccil to
say the Lord’s Prayer, and iu doing so,
to my surprise, I found my jaws immedi
ately opened, tongue unloosed, and was j
audibly repeating the prayer. Frightened ;
at the "sound of my voice, I arose, and I
crossing the room hurriedly, forgot my I
crutch and eano, but soon learned that j
they were of no use to me, for strength j
was fully restored to my limb, and I could |
walk aud run even ua well as I ever could
Pat end the Eec3.
In Charles Lever’s delightful “O’Dono
ghue” there occurs a remarkably rich pas
sago illustrating tho relations subsisting
between an improving English landlord :
nnd an untutored tenant. The scene is on
the lawn of the O’Donoghue’s Castle, in
Kerry. The tenants have assembled to
meet the worthy English baronet who has
purchased the property, nnd who, with his
agent standing in the parlor window,
watches eagerly for some result of the
many “improvements” which at great cost
ho lias endeavored to introduce to the
wild and untutored peasant of the district.
The agent presents the tenants to the
worthy innovator, who inquires into the
condition of the grumbling and dissatis
fied recipients of his favors. At length,
on n tenant presenting himself whom the
agent fails to recognize, the baronet turns
to the figure before him, which, with head
mid face swollen out of all proportion and
showing distorted features and fiery eyes
through the foldsof a cotton handkerchief,
awaits his address iu sullen silence.
“Who are you, my good man? Whnt
has happened to you ?"
“Faix, an it’s well yo may ax; mo own
mother wouldn’t know me this blessed
morn in’; ’tis all your own doin’ entirely.”
“My doing!” replies the astonished
baronet. "What cun I have to do with
tho state you are in, my good man ?”
“Yes, it is your doin’,” answers the en
raged proprietor of the swollen head; “ tis
all ’your doin’, and well may ye be proud
of it. ’Twos tliim blessed bees ye gev me.
We brought tho divils into tlio house lust
night, an’ where did wo put them but iu
tho pig’R corner. Well, after Katty an’
the childer an’ meself was awhile in bid,
the pig goes rootin’ about the house, and
he won’t aisy till he hooked his nose into
the hive, and spilt the bees out about the
iliua;; and then whin I got out of bid to
let out the pig that was a roaring through
the house, the bees sittled down on me,
an’ began stingin’ me an’ I jumped into
bid agin wid the whole of tliim after me
into Kitty an’ tho childer; an’ thin, wid
the bees a buzzin’ an’ a cringin' ns under
the clothes, out wo all jumped agin, an’
the divil such a night was ever spint in
Ireland as wo spint last night. What wid
Katty and the childer a-roarin’ an’ a bullin’,
an’ the pig tarin’ up an’ down like mad,
an’ Katty wid tho besom, and mo. If wid
the t'ryiu’-pan ilattcuiu’ the boi a agin the
wall till mornin’—begor it’s ashamed o’
ycrself ye ougtli to bo !”
A Naked Elide.
By a strange perversion of legal prinei
pies, it was supposed by our imc stors that
whosoever married a widow olio was ad
ministratrix upon the estate of her dices:
od husband, represented insolvent and
should thereby possess himself of any pro
perty or thing purchased by tho doeesed,
would become an executor tie son tart,
and would thereby make himself liable
to answer for the goods of his predecessor.
Maj. Moses Joy became enamored of Mrs.
Hannah Ward, widow of William Ward,
who died in 1788, leaving an insolvent es
tate, of which Mrs. Ward was administra
trix. To,avoid tho unpleasant penalties
of law, o:i the morning of her marriage
with Maj. Joy, Mrs. Ward placed herself
in a closet, with a tire-woman, who strip
ped her of all her clothing, and when in a
perfectly nude state she thrust her lair,
round arm through a diamond hole in the
door Of the closet, the gallant Major clasp
ed the hand of tho buxom widow, and was
married in due form by the jolliest par
son in Vermont, At the close of the cere
mony the tire-woman dressed tin* bride in
a complete wardrobe which the Major had
provided and caust and to be deposited in
tho closet at the commencement of the
ceremony. She came out elegantly dress
ed in silk, satin and lace; and there was
kissing ail around .—Montpelier Aryus.
—■ —j —
The proverb that “God helps those who
help themselves” was well paraphrased by
a little fellow who tumbled into a foun
tain, in Now York, and was nearly drown
ed. Pale and dripping he was put to bed,
and when his mother requested the young
man to thank God for saving him, Young
America answered: “Is'poseGod did save
me, but then I held on to the grass, too !”
To do things properly in New York nt a
wedding, the birds must have eight brides
maids and a hundred-dollar poodle be
sides the one she marries.-
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.
A tail of thrilling interest—The ruttlo
| snake’s.
A wonderful aerial phcuomouou—A’
flight of stairs.
Wanted—A fresh covering for tho hells
that have pealed.
A Literary olass -Builders; they arc id
i ways finishing stories.
“A play upon wprii.x,’’ said a boy who
was using “Wobstef" for a foot hall.
The Boston TriyiK’lln' quotes Oxl Liver
Oil under the fi'eStt of “Kitchen Prices
Current 1”
Pittsburgh typographical error; “Tlio
Legislature pasted the bill over tlio Gov
ernor's hertd."
“You littlo hydrophobia” in now tho
familiar expression for “Yon Berried dog.”
“The vilest shiner may fettirii,"wrote a
j pious Methodist giil to fi&f Itircf, With
whom sho had parted ih anger.
Wlint is tlio difference between nu over
coat and a baby ? One is what you wear
and the other is what you was.
The reason why the Ilfivnnose have sc
lectod for u poind settlement the isle of
! Pines is doubtess because it’H fir away.
An exchange says: —"A century usualy
pro.luces precisely one great man.” Which
of us is this time ?
A little Olio after undergoing the disa
greeable operation of vaccination exclaim
ed, “Now I won't havo to bo baptized,
will I?”
Bickford, Vt., is a happy place. Every
body is cousin to tlio whole village, and
a limn can’t throw a stone at a cut without
causing a family quarrel
An Illinois mechanic ban invented e rifio
: that shoots sixty times a minute. This
| will wondevfjilly increase the attractions of
the Buffalo Dili drama.
In Richmond, Mo., a man wns driving
in the night when u fulling star fright
ened his iiorc.c and ho was thrown out
and seriously, if not mortally, wounded.
A woman at Knoxville, T nil., recently,
had two live rattlesnakes taken from her
stomach. She feels better, but the rep
tiles aro without a home.
i J ..
A man in San Francisco who closed Ilia
saloon onu night recently to allow a lady in
; the rooms above to die quietly, in now
.-.uing her heirs for $350 for the favor.
A Pennsylvania boy wns so homesick
i that lie walked home, seventy-eight nqles,
j iu two days and a halt, with no other ncuitt
i ism cut than green clovor leaves.
The young Woman in England who has
just accomplished the difficult tusk of
walking 1000 miles in 1000 hours had no
other motive than to enable her father to
win a wager of $250.
An autograph letter of George Washing
ton was stud in Boston last week for $25.
j Tho young man who wrote it got lint 75
; cents. There is very littlo justice iu this
world.
It is an admitted fact in Chinn nnd Ja
pan that the older the tree the better the
tea. The shrubs which supply the nobles
of Julian with their favorite beverage aro
said to bo iu many instances 500 years old.
“Let the comet alone,” says the New
York Commercial. Good gracious who’s u
torcliin’ of it?
An amorous swain declare I>e is so fomf
of his girl that lie has rublied the skill
from his nose by kissing her shadow on
tho wall. .. . . , t
“Gimme a rest” is tho way South Sixth
street young ladies stave off the marriage
proposals of their lovers.
The St. Louis Globe speaks of a certain
long-winded Missouri orator as nrnau wLoi
“bus a sleeping car attached to his train of
thought. ”
NO. 10.
Ostentatious undertaker having charge
of an aristocratic funeral—“Ludies and
gentleman will please keep their seats tin
the corpse pusses ciU. ”
A rhiladephia man dislocated his jaw
the other day laughing at something he
saw in a newspaper, Hut it wasn’t in a
Philadelphia paper.
"Oil, Alphonse 1 Alphonse ! what a soul
yon have for art; you were meant for a
great painter !” Her father unexpectedly
close behind, added, “and glazier I”
When any one out West relates a cir
cumstance that takes more than two men
to believe, they interrupt hfui by asking if
he has a photograph of tho occurrence.
“Why are you so precise in your state
ment—are you afraid of telling an un
truth ?” asked an attorney of a female
witness in a police Court. “No, sir,” was
the prompt reply.
“And pray, sir, what do you intend to
settle on my daughter ? and how do you
nu an to live ?” “I intend, sir, to settle
: myself on your daughter, und live on
I you 1”
Beaver Dam lovers don’t cure so much
about who marries them and how the
church is decorated,{but they want thilrt}-
two kegs of lager driven around to the
house at the right hour, sure.
Wilkins says his girl waved her hand
kerchief at him as he passed tho lionn
last evening. In response, lio waved I a
coal sleeve—which he uses at; a handle
chief.
1 Doctor (who has been opt for a din i
j sport)—“lt’s too bad 1 Here I’ve hceu o’ >
; all day and not killed ft single liore!’’
I’oresfer- •‘Prescribed something for tin
! hair, doctor; that w ill fetch him, sure !”
An Illinois paper says: “Mr.—, who Ics
been in retirement for a few weeks ii!t r
marrying and burying three sisters, ecu ■
up smilingly to the altar -.gain,yesterday,
having begun on anew family.'
Editor’s snnctnm—Enter foreman;-’
“Half a do?,' n lines wanted, sir, to bloc.!:
out witli. Give us a joke on annexation.’ ’
Married editor, adjusting his kpectiu
with an air of surprise: “Ah, hut annexa
tion is no joke/’
A Lower Cove boy, after reading t! o
“Pirate’s Own Book’ sat silent and me
ditative for some time and at last observ'd
to his startled relatives that ho “thought
three or four pirates might do well in lit.
Johu harbor.
All old lady called atoffr office yesterday
mid inquired for a copy of the Oincinm-ii
Times. She said there were Rome “lleill
current” items in that paper that she i -ed
to think were very funny fifty years :
and she would liko to look over them
j again.
A benevolent physical! in Laporlo
I county, Ind., gave a Fouiih of July pic-
I nie to seven hundred child'Cu, not even,
cnch delicacies as cake, sin wherries and
ice cream being emitted, 1 e got bade
bis outlay in colics, however, before tho
week was over.
Anew invention in telegraph bv which
four messages can be sent al tlie same
time on tin* who, lias been 'successfully
tested in New York.-