THE ANSWER OF THE GARDENER.
Ha'Jeanfc. at sunset, on his spado,
(Oh, but the child was sweet to see—
The one who in the orchard played!)
He called: “I’ve planted you a tree.’’
The boy looked at it for a while,
Then at the radiant woods below,
And said, with wonder in his smile:
“Why don’t you put the leaves on, though?"
The gardener, with a reverent air,
Lifted his eyes, took off his hat:
“The Other Man, the One up there,”
He answered, “He must see to that.”
* S ’ ; -T~'i M. IS, Platt, in Bclford's Magazine.
IN TWO HALVES.
THIS STORY OP A DIVIDED BANK NOT i.
THE FIRST HALF.
Wet and dreary. It i3midwinter; the
scene Northwestern; is ivirkliugton, the on the London and
time one-quarter to
eleven-just flashed after the night mail has
-bound for through without stopping—
railway officials . iverpool and the north. The
aio collect mg prcpaia
gmng off duty for the night.
Where s Dan?” asked one of the
crowd upon the platform.
“1 saw him in the hut ust after the
ODe-quarter to eleven went through.
Cant have come to any haim, su cly?”
Ao; ho said he’d seen something
drop the from the train, and he wentdown
line to pick it up.”
ADd . an had picked up somolhin<T.
Itwasa -----t basket, . a - common white . wicker -
basket, with a lid fastened down by oy a
string. clothes? What did it contain? Dirty
What?
A baby- -a child half a dozen weeks
eld, no more.
“Where did you come across it?”
asked one.
“ ying oa the line, just where it fell.
chucked Perhaps .t ,u didn’t U. 1 UU u fall, mil perhaps pernaps it it was
out. What matter? I’ve got
it, and got to look after it, that’s euomrh b
forme”
The little mite's linen was white and
m line umter.al, but he lay upon an oid
shawd shawl and ana a a few few bits bits of of dirty dirty flinnel fl .nnel,
All they found was a dilapidated purse,
* brown common leather. snaploek Ins bag- purse of faded
de was a brass th m
bie,apawn-ticket,and of England the half of a Lank
note of £100.
eome Heis lately to ICirklington
visits, now paying a round of paroch al
<ihum, who accompanied by an old college
in®- is spending Christmas with
ti«n “Yonder,” said Treffry, pointing to a
thread of smoke which rose from
some gaunt trees into the sullen wintry
air, “yonder is the house-if, indeed, it
deserves so grand a name-the hovel,
ratber, of one whose case is the hardest
of a.l the hard ones in my parish. This
•wbo inau is works a mere for hedger and ditcher, one
for the any master, most olten
rai,way, but who is never certain
of a ,ob all the rear round, lie has a
swaim of young children, and he has
trated, just lost his wife. He is absolutely pros
capacity aghast do his probablv at his utter in
little to I wonder duty by his motherless
ones. whether you could
rouse him? If you could only get him
take to make the a sign, or cry, or laugh, or to
smallest interest in common
affairs. Jack, I believe you’re the very
man. You might get at him through
the children—that marvellous hanky
panky child of yours, those surpris.ng tricks;
a takes to you naturally at once,
Try and make friends with these, t’er
haps ested when the father sees them inter
and amused he may warm a little,
speak, and peihajis the approve, perhaps smile,
ui end give in. Jack, will you
try?” ack Newbiggin
o was by profession a
conveyancer, but nature had intended
Mm for a new Houdir., or a wizard ot the
Aorth. He was more than half a pro
fessional by the time he was f .ii grown,
In addition to the quick eye and the
facile wrist he had the rarer gifts of ttie
Buave manner and the face of brass. He
had even studied mesmerism and clatr
'voyaQce, and could upon occasion sur
prise his audience cons.derably by his
power. '! hey
entered the miserable dwelling
together. The children—eight of them
—were all skirmishing child over the iloor, cx
eept one, a of six or seven, a
bright the eyed, exceedingly beautiful boy,
le.ist—were not nature's vagaries
well known— likely to be born amo, g and
bei ng to such surroundings. «ho stood
between the legsofthe man himself, wuo
bad his back to the visitors, and was
-crouching low over the scanty fire.
The man turned his head for a
raent, gave a pereceptibie stare, then an
impereepuble nod, and once more he
,P C U the fir a‘
• little | . i ones; do you see this . gen
.. what
Cl * n „ uror ,s » Tommy? Tnl C !?’", catching r lv 1IIOW up a mite , a
of four . five from.the
or tioor. “No, not
you nor you, ~arah. nor you, .lakey”—
‘2 le y h had '^ l0Ugh now ceared a l their n . am03 gambols -
and were staling , ha d at their visitors—
the moment was propitious; Jack Aew
b ggin began. He had fortunately filled
his pockets with nuts, oranges and cakes
befoie leav.ng the parsonage so he had
half h s apparatus ready in hand.
ftJvL .♦T£V ,ett a ?, ,a b °J r v°, hl me ‘ d OVert Ieft J ° He J T father '"
the fuu, going - back, , however, toexh.bit k
his share of the spo.l and describe voiu
m nously what had occurred. This and
the re eated shouts of laughter seemed
to produce some impression on him.
Presently and he looked over his shoulder
said—but without ammat'on:
It is very good of you, sir, surely;
very good for you to take so kindly to
the little chicks It does them good to
a bit, but it am t much aa they ve
had to make em lately,
’It ,s good for all of us now and
«g»'n, I take it, said • ack, desisting
a ld g” ln g toward j um i the children ,
gradually collecting lu a far off corner
and comparing notes.
Vou can 1 ■ au S l1 , 3,r ; lf y° ur 1 ? eart8
, do it can be only sham.
you a
Whde he was speaking he had taken
the the Bible hiblc from from the the shelf, shell, aid a .d resuming resuming
his seat kegan to turn the leaves over.
‘Tm an untaught, rough countryman,
S ’ r - bUt 1 lla ‘ VC kt ‘ ard tel1 that th” 80
strange things you do are only tricks;
ain’t that so?”
Here was indeed a hopeful symptom,
He ( was was rousfifl roused thfifi then to to iftkfi take sninc. some inter- mipr.
est in what had occurred.
“All tricks, of course it all comes of
practice,’’said pmciice,” , „ said . Jack, Jack, , , as as ue ue proceeded proceeded . ^ to to
® x P la :d some of the simple processes,
ho l’ ia g tH enchain the man s attention,
have “That’s what I thought, sir, or
given you a job to do. I’ve been long
J h want of a real conjuror many a
a “ nothing Ie« II do. .''ee here,
s f ‘ 1 r !’ .” ' he ' le said, ! ' am ’ as f ne he took ^ 00K a :l small M *J al1 carefullv careiuuy
folded piper Irom be ween the ffiaves of
theBible • do you see th s:
It was half a Bank of England note
. ..J 0
''’
How, sir, could any conjuror . help ,
by itr’«ked
Jack at-mce.
‘ I ‘1 tell _ short I make
you, sir, as can
^ o ni “ ro! . 0 r no conjuror, you ve got
a k 'n d ly heart, and I m mam sure that
you 11 help if you can
D /‘“ then described how he had picked
U P the basket from the 10:io Liverpool
e ’P r ® 83 -
>berc ,, the .. hnea _, I , kc Pt
} * e
See „ here; “ l w,ar ' ed ‘l“«e P'etty and
p ro P el j wlth , lac “ r,,l ‘ nd th f ed g®?> as
though , its mother loved to make the little
one smart.
examined the linen; it bore a
mono S ram and Cle9t ' Tli e rsthemade
out <» mean i. . M., and the crest was
P lal| ily two hammers cros ed, and the
utotto, I strike not a common crest
~ and he never remembered tohaveseen
11 t e io '. e ’
. And A was that all ,, r i „
Cept the bank note. That ,
was in a
poor old purse with a pawn-ticket ana a
'•bimble. 1 kept them all.
bike a true detective ack examined _
*»ery article minutely. The purse bore
f he name Hester ' orngan, in rude
lott e r ® msiae, and the pawn-ticket was
made out in the same name.
-
THf J , SEC0ND ‘
.then Jack Newbiggin got back to the
parsonage he fotmd that his host had
accepted an invitation for them bith to
dine at the “Big House,” as it was called,
the country seat of the squire of the
parish, “I beeu fighting battles
have your all
day,” began Mrs. Stillwell, the hostess,
when seated at dinner next to Jack,
“Was it necessary? I should have
thought myself too resign ticaut ”
“They wero talking at lunch of your
wonderful tricks in cou uring, and some
one said that the skill might prove in¬
convenient—when you played cards , for
instance.”
“A charitable imputation; with whom
did it originate?
“Sr Lewis > allaby.”
“Please po ut him out to me.”
He was shown a grave, scowling face
upon the right of the hostess—a lace
like a mask, the surface rough and
wrinkled, through which the eyes shone
with Bopuichre. a balclul 1 ght, like corpse-candles
in a
Jack bis let habit his to companion all the chatter information on. It J
was get j
found possible about any company in which he j
himself, for h s own purpose as a !
clairvoyant, and when .Mrs. Mill weir
i a ~ gcd b e ber w th artlcss 'l ues ' | !
tions, and , led her on l om one person to
another, making mental nore 3 to serve
h m hereafier. 1* is hits by careful and
laborious preparations that many of the
strange and seemingly invstdrious feats
of the clairvoyant conjuror are pur- r
formed
W hen the whole party wee assembled
in the drawing rmim after dinner a
chorus of voices headed by that of the
hostess, summoned Jack to his work,
There appeared to be on y one diss.-n
Slr J - cwi \ who not only
did not trouble hnitself 10 back up the !
invitation but when the performance
wa* actually benuu wa* at no paius to
conceal his coutem.it and dssgust.
I he conjuror made the conventional
plum pudding in a hat, fired wedding
rings card into quartern loaves, did all manner
of tri ks, knife tricks, pistol tricks,
and juggled .. B console tiously right
through his repertory. Tnere was never
a smite on ir Lewis's face; he sneered
unmistakably. Finally, w th a i ostenta
tion that sa-ored oi rudeness, he took
out his w .tch, a gre it gold repeater,
looked at it, and tremi- akal.ly yawned
he ack hungered for that watch directly
mHk,; saw it. I erhap- throu h it he raignt
lts owner uricoml. .cable, if only
for a moment. But how to get it into
h.s hands? He a-k. d for a watch—a !
dozen dozen were were o o I I ered ered .ui, none of these ;
would do. It must be a good w*tch—a
repeater.
US b.r i.ewts Mallabys was the ,uc only UIIIJ one OllC
in the room, and he at rat. d sti .cily re
fused to lend it ut so many tarne-t
entreaties were ad Ire-se i lo him. the
hostess lmutMca leading lour]im» tl«u the «.»■».«..l* attack, that »!-»..*• he couid j
not m common eour e^y continue to re
fuse.
With something , I ke a growl he too<
his wateh ..ff the chain and handed it to
ack curi iVewbiggin.
A .us, old fashnuie i watch it was,
which would have gladdened the heart
of awa ch codec.it a l jeweled and
ename ed, udoiued with crest and in
g.:r gcr pt pt oa—an n„-an heirio iteirlo un tn wu wu < . h h had had
probably been in the. Mall,o.v family
for years, ack looked u over cun., u-iy,
medttat.veiy ; then, -udde .ly ra a ng h.s
eyes, be stared intently mo. tr ew s
allaby’s face and almost us quicaly
b fiSr,
w b.
courteously. much of a treasure, to
be risked in any enju ug tnca. An
ordinary uio,ie i, w uch 1 mght replace,
but not a work ot art like this.”
j And he handed it i. ,ck to S. • ewis,
1 who received it >v th ill • once led sat.s-,
faction He wj. as mm h plea-ed, prol>- j
ab y. at ..ack’s expires on ..f p. urn he
failure in the hi proposed trick as at the
recovery of prop rty.
| Another watch. However, wa- pounded
| into a jelly and brou-.h ut whole Horn
a cabn et in an ad ounng rnmn.
“Oh, but it is too p ep sterous,” Sir
Lewis Mai aby was he .id t.. s .y u te |
augrdy. foundly disg The emit ed hi nued ”lh> applause pio-l
. is a. is the
merest cha, latani.-m. It mu-t be put an
end to. It is the ommonest imposture
These are things which he has co .ched
I up tu advance. ■ et h m be tried with
i something which upon the ace of it he
cannot have learned be ..rehand by
artificial means.”
“Try him, Sir J ewis, try him your
self,” cried se eral vo.ces.
“I scarcely like to ie d my-elf to such
folly or encourage so pitiable an ex
hibition. ’
But he seemed to be conscious that
further protest would be .n ack'siavor.
' so he said : “ an you tell whit l ha e
in this pocket?” He tou.hcd the left
breast of his coat.
“A pocket book.”
“‘Bah!’ Everyone car es a pocket
book in his poeae
“But do you:” asked -evc-al of ihe
bystanders, all of whom were growing
deeply interested in this strange duel.
Sir Lewis Mallaby cotifes-ed that he
did. and pro o c d it—an ordinary
morocco leather purse and poc .etbook,
al. in one
“Are you prepared to goon?” said the
Baronet, hang t ly to a k. i
“(. erta my.”
“What ioes tliis pocitetbook contain?”
“Evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“Of fac’s that must, sooner or later,
come “Whit to ight." ridiculous nonsens'*! I
g ve
you mywordihs pock.-, book contains
no'hing — absoltneiy ami lmtli ug—but ” a
Ba ik of 1- ng n te m.- i
“Slay .” said acs N.-» bieg n, lacing
him abruptly, and speak ng in a vo ce of
thunder. “It is not so-you know it—
it is only the half!”
And as he spoke he took the poeket
boos from the hands of the really stupe
tied Baronet and exhibited for nspec
tion—the half of a Bank of England note
for 1 » .
There was much applause at this harm
less and sue. essful denouement of what
threatened at one stage to lead to alter
cati New.iggre n, perhaps to a quarrel. But Jack
"as not satisfied,
“ W vou have dared me to do mv *
w<> r -t,” reid he. “listen now to what
have to say sot only did I know that
was only the half of a note, but I know
where the mher half is to be found.”
“-o much the better for me," said the
Baronet, with an effort to appear humor
ous.
“That other half was given to—shall I
s&v, -ir lewis?”
Sir Lewis nodded indifferently,
“It was g ten to one Hester Gorrigan, 8
an old nurse, six years ago.”
leuce! t ay no more,” cried Sir
Lewis in horror
Mr lewis had Ven a younger son;
the eldest inherited the family title, but
ti ed early, leaving his window to give
huna posthumomheir.thetitlereroaining
in abeyance until time showed whether
the infant was s boy or a fewis girl. It proved
to i.e a boy whereupon information Mallaby,
w o had thefirst of the act
put into execution a nefarious project
wh ch he had carefully concocted in ad
vane. A girl was obtained in a found-
1 ng ho-utal and ubst.tuted by Lady
allaby’s nurse, who was in i ewis’s
i ay lor the newly-born son and
her. Th s son and heir was
h.tided o'er to anotheraceom nice, Hes¬
ter err gan, who was bribed with ul #,
h df down, in the shape of a half-note,
the other half to be paid when she an
noimeed ■ . ber safe r al lexas with ,
ar r in
the sto en child. It occurred to Mrs.
( orngan m her transit between ondoti
and Liverpool that though M 0 wood
he aceeptaole on her arrival, the child
would be on y an encumbrance. 3im
therefore threw the basket containing
him out of the window, lorgetting ’deposited that
in it she had for safety her
puise.
H was the watch borrowed from Sir
Lewis dal.abv which r>t aroused .la k’s
h usp cions It bore the same crest—two
ha.mneis crossed, with the motto “I
„ trike”—whch was marked upon the
of ihe child that an Blockitt
he
with the mouo.-ram H M
the-e fa. t-and what he had been told by
rs . tjHwell, ack rap dlydrcw hiscon
< lusions, and msde a bold shot, which
hit the mark, as we have seen
ew i Malla y’s confession combined
w i,|, t h at . 0) ji rs . t oingun who was
f,,u:d bv the police, soon reinstate l the
r ohtful heir, and an Blockitt in after
years had no reason to regret the gener
osit „ which h d pn.mp ed him to give
t ,.ei t.le ion idling the shelter of hisrude
home .—London Ttd-Biu,
Chinese Beggars,
A writer ’n a shang ;ai journal re
for ring to the beggars of i htim. says
tlx <t large d,.nations are given to them
p v Hie” people, but these are in the
nature of an in urance. in the ciues
t uu beggars are orgauized into very
powerful guilds, more powerful by lar
ban any organization with which they
ha e to contend, lor the beggars have
nothing to |,.se and noihmg to lour, in
which respect they stand a one. The
shopkeeper wbo sbould refuse a dnnat on
to a stalwa t beggar, a ter the latter has
wa ted lor a considerable tune and has
besought with what lawyers cal “due
diligence.” would be liable to in as on
from a ho <le of famished wretches, who
would render the ex stcnce even of a
stolid Chine e a burden, and would
ut'erty i revest the transaction of any
bu-ine-e u .til their continually rising
demands should be met. Both the-hop
Keeper and the beggar understand this
perfectly well, and it is lot ibis reason
that the g fts flow in a steady, if tiuy,
rih.— Lomuu Timex.
A Mayor’s Epliem»ral Exaltation.
Alderman Whitehead, who has been
installed i ord Mayor of London, is a
lanmaker by trade. He is, of course,
w.-a thy, as the sa ary of li;s o i.ee, .* o,
, on, will not su.i.ce for more than haif
of his expeu-es The glories of the po¬
sition are many. The i.ord ajorranks
and h ts the his precedence of an English
Earl during reign of twelve months.
He is add e-s.-d officially and in private
as “,Mv Lord,” and his wife ra les at
court as a > ountess. Once the term is
..ve> they sink back into plain “Mr.**
and “ rs.” and are no longer eligible
for court functions.
