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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, OCTOBER 1, 1882. The llmvo Girin of Vllln^IIoheinln. Follct was sitting upright in bed in the apartment to which four young girls hnd retired for the night. Tho room was just under the sloping eaves of an old country-house, and was dis mal enotfgb, lit as it was by only the sputtering, flickering tlanie of a tallow candle. Carol combed her brown hair in front of a cracked looking-glass, and the two were earnestly talking about a namefor the home into which they had moved for the summer season. Follet shook her auburn head obsti nately, and said, “No. I quite disap prove of the name on the spot.” “0/tho spot, lie lucid, my dear,” re turned Carol. “For my parti consider It very appropriate—the Villa Bohemia. It means all that is free and comfortable; no brothers, nor rules, nor men; we can take care of our selves and not be bur dened by encumbrances. Yes, it seems to me, the name is singularly fortu nate. We have come here where we are independent of other people, and can work and act as wo please. I vote for Villa Bohemia, and ask a resolution of thanks for the suggestion. Don’t all speak at once." “Their’s no ‘all’ here, Carol,” res ponded Follet, who had crept undor the bed-clothes, and answered in a sleepy; voice from beneath the yellow and red patch-work quilt. “Tho other girls have gone to look for burglars in tho spare chamber.” “ Say guest-chamber, Follet. What is the use of having an extra room in ahouse ifitis not used to add dignity to the establishment F' “I don't see how it can add dignity,” complained the sleepy voice." We shall never have anybody in it” “ We do not desire anybody, young wo man. Itemember it la seclusion, study and general improvement wo have come hero for. Ahem ! ahem! There, sho’s off to the ‘land of Nod.'" Carol yawned, disclosing two rows of tho whitest and cvenest of little teeth. Just then, her mouth closed almost with a snap. There was n sudden running, scuf- flingand scrambling heard without, followed by tho bursting in of the chamber door. In an instant Fly and Dimple, with distended eyes, pallid faces and extinguished tallow dip, rushod into tho room and tumbled over her as she sat on the floor. FABLES FOB THE YOUNG. “HelpI Robbers! Mammal Oh help 1” cried Follet. “Stop that noise, Follet, for mercy’s sake! Don’t you see that it is only these two girls 7 You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, girls. You’ve just torn my one decent skirt off my back, and smeared me all over with that nasty tallow dip!” cried Carol. “Sme—sine—smeared you, indeed, you thing,” panted one of the girls, struggling up to her feet, very pale about the lips. You wouldn’t think of tal— tallow, if you had seen what we—we saw. Would she, Dimple 7” "What was it?” inquired Carol, suddenly dropping the brush on Dimples prostrate head. “O Fly, can’t you speak? Here, quick, smell this ammonia, and do speak 7” groaned Dimple. "Thieves! Robbers! Where ore they? Oh, I wish I was out of the horrid old place. Maybe they’ve got Aunt Daffy 1" screamed Follet, disappearing under tho bed-clothes. “ Don’t make such a noise," said the trem bling Fly, straightening the broken candle, while Dimple, with very red cheeks, and rumpled frock, slowly drew her roly-poly form upright. “And some of us must go and see to Aunt Daffy.” “I’ll notstir a step out of this room until you or Dimple tell us what you saw," said and I thought we had better take a look through the house to see if anybody was hid away in it. Such a lonesome old ratty place, and no dog.” “Take all night in telling about it! Oh, take all night !”• “You are a regular snapping turtle, Carol." “Go on," groaned Follet, from under the quilt. “We started. Dimple would not go first. Of course I wasn’t in the least afraid,—but, well, I didn’t care to go. Oh, I remember; I carried the dip, and going first made a draught. So we sort of went along, and by- and-by we came to the spooky entry-way leading to the spare” “Gnest, Fly,” corrected Carol, solemnly. “And Dimple clung to me, and wanted to go back, and the dip sputtered and smudged— and you couldn’t see your hand before your face—and I pushed open the door wide,— it was a bit ajar,—and oh, girls, there I saw—I saw” “Go on 1 Go on I say 1" cried Carol, her hair rising in tho latest fashion, and her hands clenched in suspense. There was a smothered groan from Follet, whose head protruded from a hole in the enveloping bed quilt. “At an instant I saw something white in the centre of the room. Girls, it rose up, and rose up as high as the ceiling and then I excitement the water-pitcher against the door. There was a renewed chorus of exclama tions from the bed, while Fly wildly tugged to the resetfe the dressing-case, scattering mirror, bottles and knick-knacks in every direction. A pause ensued. Not a sound was heard outside the door. “Do you hear anything 7” “Not a breath.” “He’s planning,” “How do you know it’s a ‘he 7’ ” “Could an animal plan 7” - ”’8hl I do hear something.” “Hark!" There was a still more oppressive silence, then a furious fluttering that sonnded like wings, and again something came with a crash against the door. Another scream arose from the brave bo- hemiennes. Then Fly, after a pause, with chattering teeth exclaimed,— “Girls, it—sounds—it—seems to me—it sounds more like—a bird—than—than—rob bers." Quack 1 Quack j Quack, quack, quack! Qu—a—ack I was heard in the entry. Follet and Dimple reappeared simultane ously from among the bed-clothes. “It’s nothing in the world, girls, but that horrid old white grander Mickey gave me,” said Dimple triumphantly. “I shut him up in the hall so he wouldn’t run away." Fly and Carol arose from among the disorder of the chamber furniture, and smiled idiotically at each other. The latter, removing the now noseless water- pitcher, and cautiously apply! ng;her eye to the crack of tliedoor, demurely exclaimed.— “If it is the goose, ho, is, doubtless, ashamed of you two.” “It is, Carol 7 "jimplored Fly. “Is it. And the next time’you and Dimple go looking for a burglar, just try to remember our mission here is to be brave and strong, and not to suc cumb to the quacks of life. You should have accosted that goose, not fled from him.” "Are you done 7” inquired Fly, with recovered sarcasm and dignity. “Then please hand me the remains of thW* disgusting tallow tip, and let us have a little light on this disagreeable'matter." The four tlion tiptoed into the entry and drove tho poor gander out of tho Window. “My dears,” said Aunt Daffy’s soft voice at the door, “did you hear any dis turbance 7 My head being well wrap ped from the unusual draughts in this old house, I am not positivo as to whether or no I heard a noise." “Ob, it’s nothing, Auntie, it’s noth ing,” said Fly, escorting the deaf old lady back to her room, below stairs. “Wo were celebrating our first night at the villa, os independent and brave bohemiennes." — Maris LkBauon, in Youth’s Companion. The Donkey Philosopher. A GROUP OF DEER. Carol, crouching down behind the door. " Dimple, tell us this minute.” " Indeed I can’t. It was Fly who saw it.” “O—o—oh 1" returned Carol, a trifle more composed behind her barricade. “ Nobody saw nothing!’’ “But I saw something!" was tho indig nant Fly’s rejoinder, os she cast a furtive glance towards the hall-way. “You see Dimple and I thought wo had better just take a look— Hark 1 Did you hear that?” “Oh! Ohl I heard itl Harry! O Har” “ Follet, if you dare to screech that way again after that soft-headed Harry, back you go to him ! We are sworn estatics.” “Ecstatics? Ascetics, you mean,” mur mured Follet, tearfully. “Hysterics! more like,” snapped the val iant Carol. “Fly, I don’t hear the slightest noise. If there is anything horrible to tell, tell It or hold your peace and go to bed.” “Poor Aunt Daffy!” sobbed Follet. “Woll, you see," continued Fly, “Dimple —exclaimed, and Dimple screamed, and a cold, unearthly breath blew out the dip, and Dimple nearly pulled me over, and then we scrambled, somehow, through the entry, and finally—well, here we ore! Oh, it was awful!” Just then there arose a noise, as of something strggering along the hall, and then something struck the door. “0—o—oh!” screahied the four bohemiennes in prolonged and terrifying chorus. “They’ve got Aunt Daffy. Oh!” Then there was silence for the space of one min ute. “It's coming Fly! I know it! Here it is,” panted Carol. A smothered scream rose from Follet, and a wild and ungenerous battle ensued be tween her and the distracted Dimple, in an attempt to secure tho greater portion of the sheltering bed-clothes. “Help me, all of you! Bring the wash- stand; move up the trunk; hand me the bowl and bandbox. Bring everything!” commanded and urged Carol, placing in her “Come close to the hedge, Teddy,” said a worn-out horse to his friend the donkey, with whom he was picking up a scanty meal by the roadside. “Why ?’’ asked Teddy following with his measured pace. “Look who’s coming?” said the horse, and there passed a well-conditioned cob drawing a cart full of beans. “How nice they smell I” said Teddy. "I should think they must be very good, but I never tasted any." “I used to get them in my better days,” said his companion, sorrowfully; “but I can never hope for them again.” “He’s a happy fellow, isn’t he 7” said Ted dy, turning his head slowly around to watch the cart going up the hill. “Some are born to prosperity, some to ad versity," sighed the old horse. And he went on to entertain the donkey with his recollections of the taste of beans, and to draw comparison between their com dition and that of the happy cob. Some hours afterward, while they were yet in the road, the cart returned empty, and while the driver stoppod to chat with a friend passing by, the horse walked up to the cob. “Good-eveningsir! Pray what have you done with all your beans?” "Loft them behind,” said the cob.