North Carolina Newspapers

Qj)h Chatham , Record. 3X . 'ji i. iL"L'-Z3 H. A. LONDOIJr., r.niTOK ami iMMi'icnrrou. BATES OF ADVERTISING. TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION: One copy, one year. - -One ropy, tkree months, - - One square, one insertion. One square, two Insertions, -One square, one month, - fl.00 X.fO 2.30 f2.C0 1.00 .60 yoL. 1. PITTSBOltO', CHATHAM CO., X. C. DECEMBER 19, 1878. NO. 14. For larger advertisements liberal contracts will be made. ivqttisements. LABBEST STORE LARGEST STOCK Cheapest Goods & Best Variety CAN BE FOUND AT LONDON'S CHEAP STORE. New Gcois ReceiFei eyery Weei. You ran always find what you. wish at Lon don's, lie keeps iverrthin;;. Dry GooJs, CIotLing, Carpeting, Tiara ware, TU Ware, Drag, Crockery, Confectionery 8hoes, Boot, Cap, Ilats, Carriage Materials. Sowing Machinee,Oilfl, Putty, Glass, Taints, Nails, Iron, Plows and Plow Castings, Sole, Upptr and Harness Leathers, Saddles, Trunks, Satchels, Shaw', Blankets, Um brellas, Corsets, Belt, La dles' Neck-Tic s and Raffs, Ham burg Edgings, Laces, Furniture, &c. Best Shirts In the Country for $1. Best 5-cent Cigar, Chewing and Smoking Tobacco, Snuff, Salt and Molasses. My Ftoek is always complete In every line, and goods always sold at the lowest prices. Special inducements to Cash Buyers. My motto, "A nimble Sixpence is better than a slow Shilling." EPA11 kinds of produce taken. W. L. LONDON, Pittsboro', N. Carolina. H. A. LONDON, Jr., Attorney at Law, PITTSBORO', ar. c. iSTSpecial Attention Paid to Collecting. J. J. JACKOfJ, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW, PITTSBORO', A. C. SPAU business entrusted to him will re ceive prompt a'tention. R. H. COWAN, DEALER IN Staple & Fancy Dry Goods, Cloth ing, Hats Boots, Shoes, No tions, Hardware, CROCKERY and GROCERIES. PITTSBORO', N. C. NORTH CAROLINA STATE LIFE INSURANCE CO. OIF RALEIGH, . C.VIt. F. H. CAMERON, PreHdmt. W. E. ANDERSON, Vice Pre. W. H. HICKS, Sc'y. The only Home Life Insurance Co. in the State. All Its fund loaned out AT ITO.IIE, and among our own people. We do uot send North Carol'na money abroad to build up other Btates. It is one of the most successful com panies of its age in the United 8tates. Its as sets are amply sufficient. All losses paid promptly. Eight thousand dollars paid in the last two years to famil ies in Chatham. It will cost a man aged thirty years only five cents a day to insure for one thousand dollars. Apply for further Information to H.A. LONDON, Jr., Gen. Agt. PITT8BOKO N. C. Dr. A. D. MOORE, PITTSBORO', ff. C., Offtrs bis professional atrrices to tbe citizens of Chatham, with an experience of thirty year he hupea to fire entire aattafaetion. JOHN MANNING, Attorney at Law, HTTSBOBO', N. 0., Practices la the Courts ot Chatham, Harnett, Moore and Orange, and la the 8upreme and Federal Courta. O. 8. POE, Dealer la Dry Qoodi, Groceries & Geatrtl Kercbaibe, All kind of FlowiiBd Castings, Btfgy XXateriala, Tunitrt, ttc. FITTtiDORO, S. CAR. THE SCHOOL BOY. Wf bought hlni a box fer hip books and things, And a cricket-bag for his bat ; And he looked the brightest and best of kings Under his new straw hat. We banded him into the railroad train With a troop of Ills yotrng compeers. And we madeas though it were dust ; and rain Were filling our eye with tears. We looked in his Innocent face to see The sigh of a sorrowful heart ; But he only shouldered his bat with glee. And wondered when they would start. Twa? not that he loved not as heretofore For the boy was tender and kind But his was a world that was all before. And ours was a world behind. .Twas not that his fluttering heart was cold For the child was loyal and true But the parents love the love that is old. And the ch lrtren the love that is new. And we came to know that love is a flower Which only groweth down ; And we scarcely spoke for the space of an hour. As we drove back through the town. NATURE. As a fond mother, when the d:iy Is o'er. Leads by the hand her little child to bed. Halt' wilting, half reluctant to be led. And leave his broken playthings on the floor, Still gazing sit them tureugh the open door, N or wholly reassured and comforted By promises of others in their stead. Which, though more splendid, may not please him more: St Nature deals with us. and takes away Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest so gently, that we go Scarcely knowing if we wish to go or stay. Being too full of sleep to understand How far the unknown transcends the what we know. a. W. Longftlloto in the Atlantic. A DARK GAME LOST. The three magistrates had sat uninter ruptedly far into the autumn afternoon, and had now retired to consider their de cision. It was a distressing case and oc curred in Singlebridge, which is a mere handfulof a town.and provoked intense in terest among the inhabitants. SilasJWest brook, the reluctant prosecutor, was se nior partner in an impressively solid firm which had flourished in the borough lor generations. His son Augustus, also of the firm, a witness for the prosecution, was held in much esteem by certain of the younger sort in Singlebridge, who sympat hized with his amiable w.ildness. About Mr. Blanchard, another witness for the prosecution, little was known to the in quiring gossips. He had been a resident with the Westbrooks for about eight months, during which period he had sat alongside Gus in the office in business hours, and had been a good deal about him at other times. They got on amazingly well together, people observed, but despite all his efforts and some of these were marked enough suave Mr. Blanchard failed to similarly captivate Gus s pretty sister Fanny. As became her father's daughter, she treated the West Indian connection of her father's firm with unerring graciousness. But her sweetest moods, her tenderest looks and gentlest tones were not for him. The magician at whose bidding they so gladly came, was Blanchard s instinctive foe. From tLe moment Harold White, confidential clerk to the flrm,and a potential partner therein, met and simply shook hands with the West Indian, they hated each other with a hatred that owed its sustenance on the one side to contempt, and on the oilier to malice and all uncharitableness. To-day will behold the triumph or discomfiture of Blanchard. In the Police Court of iin glebridge, in the presence of a crowd of people, the majority of whom are person ally known to him, Harold White stands accused, on the united testimony of the Westbrooks, father and son, of embezzle ment. To the profound chagrin of the magis trates' clerk, who, cordially disliking Blanchard, wishes well to the accused, the latter conducts his own defense. "Silence in the Court!" The silence is oppressive when, in a voice full of feeling, the chairman turns to the accused, and says: 'Harold White, I, who have known you for so many years, need not say that the long examination, which my brother magistrates and myself have this day con ducted to the very best of our ability, has been to all of us fraught with considerable pain. And we are bound to admit, in your behalf, that nothing has transpired in the course of this hearing which re flects in the least upon your conduct during the period to which I refer. We have given due consideration to this fact in your favor, and have come to the con clusion, actuated by motives which we earnestly hope you will live to appreciate in a proper spirit, to dismiss the case. You may go." 'But my character " exclaimed White, in a voice husky with emotion, "who is to clear that of taint?" "Yourself," solemnly answered the Chairman. "Call the next case." Dazed, trembling under the influence of warring passions, he left the dock and passed out of the court into the sunlit street. Whither should he direct his feel? The September sun was setting redly behind a familiar belt of woods which fringed the further bank of the river as he continued his moody walk. He had held on for miles, heedless of the direction he took, and now he awoke from the fit of passionate bitterness to find himself on a spot that had often been hallowed by the presence of the girl he loved. What did she think of him? "Harrv!" "Fanny!" In those two words all was expressed. 0, Harold, I have followed you for hours, fearing to speak, you look so pale and changed I" , . . "I am changed. They have not sent me to prison, Fan , but the prison taint is on me. Why don't you shrink from the moral leper, as the rest of them have done?" i "Because" and it seemed to him as though her voice had never thrilled with such sweetness before "I know you." "And you believe " "That all will be righted yet. I can wait, dear, if you will let me. You were never more precious to me than you are at this moment.' "Miss Westbrook Come, Fanny, this is no place for you." Harold and she bad not heard the foot steps. It was Blanchard and her brother who approached unnoticed. "And no place for you, either," said White to Blanchard. "Faugh, replied that worthy, "I have no words to waste on such as you, sir. I am here to perform a duty.' Scoundrel!" Harold began, at the same time raising his hand. She touched him and he was still. "Sir," she said, "I am mistress of my own actions. If I choose to accompany my brother it is because I choose! Harold, good-bye. Come what may, my faith will not falter, my love never change." The last four words were murmured. As she shaped them she reached forward and kissed him before her brother, whose surprise at her defiant attitude was un speakable. They parted and went their several ways. Three months had elapsed, and not a word had been heard of or from Harold White; unless, the female gossips, sug gested, he had written to Miss West brook, which, considering his departure, he was hardly likely to have done. It puzzled the Well-informed Single bridge to hear Fanny Westbrook's cheer ful words, to note her placid browr and bright manner. She never could have thought much of that Harold White, you know, or she would have manifested some regret at his misfortunes. Blauchard, too, was mystified by her. What did it portend? Had she resigned all hopes of being restored to the lover whom he had so effectually helped to dis grace and banish? Was the course clear at last? He would see. His impetuous love for the sunny-haired, Saxon-eyed girl, a love which sprang into existence the moment they met, had grown mightily since the going of White. He would put an end to this uncertainty. He could lace his fate. "An interview with me?" replied Fanny to his blaudly proffered request; "cer tainly, Mr. Blanchard." Her tone was provokingly even. "And if you please, let it take place now. Pray be seated." If she had only been embarrassed. "Miss Westbrook, I 1 fear that the impression which I made upon you the day of that unfortunate rencontre by the river side was not favorable. I " 'Pray proceed, sir," she remarked in icy tones. "Well, then allow me you cannot surely have remained firm ill the reso lution you tlieu expressed to cleave to" "Mr. Blanchard, I will assist 'or.. You apparently wish to say that I must have ceased to love Harold White. Js that so? ' "Miss Westbrook Fanny pardon me; I do. He is all unworthy of you. Oh, if you did but know the tiepth of my love tor you ' "Slop, Mr. Blanchard," she said, rising from her chair, and moving slowly to ward the door. "Let us understand each other. Whether or not Harold Whin holds the place in my heart which he once did concerns me and me only. The honor you have done me, Mr Blanchard call it by what tender name you please I despise. Mr. Blanchard, 1 know you!" "Stop. Miss Westbrook!" he exclaimed, making one step forward and barring her way to the dour, "ua harken to me. i'on have thrown the gage. Very well. 1 ac cept it. It was I who drove Harold White from Singlebridge. Ah, you can be im pressed, 1 see. It is I who can compel your consent to my demands. Now, Miss Westbrook, know rue!' Her face was very white as she swept proudly past the West Indian, but it was not the w hiteness of fear. They mea sured swords with their eyes how clear and searching hers were! and parted. Next clay Fanny Westbrook was mis sing from Singlebridge. Fqr twelve months Silas Westbrook has been daughterless. Fanny was sought for, far and near, but without avail. However, we must for the present leave Singlebridge, and make our way to the Theatre Royal, Easthampton. The house is crowded by the admirers of the leading lady, whose benefit-night it is. Old Fussyton, the stage door-keeper, is at this moment in a state of mind bordering on despair. He dare not, for the life of iiim, leave his post, and he has just learned that a stranger has succeeded in reaching the stage under the cover of an audacious super. If that should come to the knowledge of Mr. Somerset Beau champ, the manager, he (Fussyton) will to a certainty be dismissed on the spot. "Take a note to Miss Harebell, sir! Could not do it. It's against orders, sir." The speaker is a call-boy. His tempter is Mr. Blanchard. "Very well, sir, I'll risk it. If you are an old friend, I suppose it will be all right." Induced to commit a breach of disci pline by the bestowal of a rather potent bribe, the call-boy disappears behind a pile of scenery, unci is presently heard in altercation with Miss Harebell's dresser. "What do you want? Miss Harebell is not 'a beginner,' she is not on until the second scene." "I know7 that Mrs. Cummings. I want to speak to you. Open the door. ' ' "Blanchard heard no more. A whispered conversation between the leading lady's dresser and the call-boy was immediately succeeded by the reappearance ot that precious youth, who said: "Miss Hare bell will meet you after the performance at her hotel, the George. She has private apartments there. All you have to do is to send in your name. And now, sir, do clear out of this. How you got in, I don't know. If Mr. Bowshang was to stag vou, wouldn't there be a shine, nei ther?" Meantime his note had produced a start ling effect upon Miss Harebell. It ran thus: 'At last I find you. In Miss Harebell I l ave recognized Fanny Westbrook. At the peril of those nearest and dearest to you. see me to-night. Iam desperate. ' ' "Cuinming," gasped she, "lock that door. You did it for the best to get rid of him. It is always convenient to decline receiving a visitor at one's hotel; but I will see him. Finish my hair and then find Mr. Beauchamp. I would speak to him before I go on." Blanthard nad again curiously under valued the strength of his lovely oppo nent. She saw the manager and exchanged with him a few whispered words. He grasped her hand warmly by way of em phasizing his chivalric intentions in her cause. Since that day, more than twelve months previously, that Miss Westbrook had merged her identity in that of the now talented actress, Miss Harebell, Fanny had played many parts, both on and off the stage. On this paiticular night she excelled herself. The applause ofhercrowd of admirers was what would have been termed in stage parlance "terrific." Such was the electric force of her acting that it carried all before it. Was she play ing up defiantly to Blanchard? Perhaps. On the conclusion of the play she, laden with bouquets, retired to her dressing room, and in a few minutes had resumed, with the aid of the attentive Mrs Cum mings, the attire of ordinary life. In the space of a few minutes Miss "Harebell" was proceeding unnoticed, save by a group of her youthful idolators who surrounded the pit door, under the convoy of Mr. Beauchamp, to her apart ments at the George. Before ascending the staircase which led to her rooms, she informed the maid servant that probably a gentleman would call upon her. If he did she was to show him up, after having privately informed Mr. Beauchamp, who would wait for the news in the bar parlor, of her visitor's arrival. Mr. Beauchamp, whose face beamed with complacent delight, nodded his ap proval of this arrangement. Observed Fanny to him: "Now, Mr. Beauchamp, I shall leave you to your devices riiere she indulged in the tiniest ripple of laughter) your devices, mind." "Very well, my dear, they shall be ready if wanted." "And he " "Everything is ready, Miss Harebell, and everybody. Let that suliice you." Seated in her snug little room, Fanny dreamily awaited the coming of her ancient persecutor. S e had not to wait long. "Mr. Blanchard, 'ra," announced the maid servant, and thereupon ushered In that gentleman. Miss Westbrook rose and acknowledged his elaborate bow with a silence that was full of scornful eloquence. She then re sumed her seat. "Miss Westbrook, can you divine why I am here?' "Yes." "Oil, you can? You are frank. After all, why should you not be? We can spare each other the recital of a long pre face of dull retrospection. After a long and painful search I have found you no matter how." "I know how," she calmly interposed. "Ah!" he exclaimed, "perhaps you would not mind enlightening me." His tones were sneering. Her perfect equa nimity ut him about. "Not at all. You got the information from my brother." "Even so. And your brother? Had he informed Tou also that he is just as completely in my power as was another person ot our acquaintance more than a year since? Did lie tell yon that there is a bundle of pipers that would give him penal servitude if I chose to put the law in operation? Did he " "No, Mr. Blauchard, he did not." A tear had stolen down her check at the mention of Harold s name, but now that she confronted the West Indian, her eyes blazed defiance at him. "He did not. Keruove your mask. I can read the rascal underneath it. So, then, my hand be imwtiJ on you 1- w be the iriee of vour silence concerning my brother's crime, if crime it be. But you have shown your claws too soon, sir; see that they are not clipped. ' "And who is to clip them?" "I!" exclaimed a voice that came from behind the chair near which Blanchard stood, while at the same time his arms were seized in a grip of iron and wrenched violently back. "1 Harold White! Fan, take possession of those papers." "So you think to trap me, do you?" growled Blauchard, actually foaming with rage; "but you are mistaken." "Not a bit of it," observed obliging Mr. Beauchami , at that moment entering by the door on the landing. Coolly turning the key and placing it in his pocket, the manager of the Easthampton theatre con tinued: "Now look here, Mr. Blanchard, I have stage-managed too many little things of this kind not to know what's re quired to strengthen the situation. I have two of my fellows handy on the stairs. My property man is on the other side of those folding-doors. My friend here and myself reckon for something, to say noth ing of Mr3. Harold White ' "Mrs. Harold White!" gasped Blanch ard. "Yes, Mr. Blanchard," releasing him and approaching her, "my wife. She always believed in my perfeet innocence of the charge you helped to fasten on me, and when poor, miserable Gus confessed the part which he played in the conspiracy, we got married." "Confessed conspiracy !" sneeriugly exclaimed Blanchard; 'svhere are your proofs?" "Here!" replied Harold, pointing to the papers; "and here they remain until " Uutil what?" "Until the father of my dear wife has perused them line by line, and the magis trates of Singlebridge have made my in nocence as pubMc as a year ago they proclaimed my guilt." "Then I may go," said Blanchard, after a pause; and taking for granted the con sent of his temporary custodians, he stepped toward the door, which was under the janitorship of Mr. Beauchamp. That gentleman gracefully waved him back. "You may go on one condition, sir pardon me and it is this. That you leave for Jamaica by a certain steamer which leaves this port to-morrow. I have to night bespoken your berth. Pardon me if you decline, take the consequences, one of which will be the temporary occu pation by yourself of a neat and commo dious apartment within the precincts of Easthampton Jail!" "Open the door." Not another word did he utter, but taking his hat, and look ing straight before him, he left the hotel and proceeded not unattended in the direction of the Jamaica boat. It was a pleasant hour or so which Mr. and Mrs. Harold White and their friend Beauchamp spent together that night. It was a more than pleasant meeting that took p ace a few days after in Singlebridge. Silas Westbrook's happiness was unspeak able. There was a streak of sorrow in it, though, when he thought of his absent son, and prayed that the lad had turned over a new leaf at the other end of the world. London Society. TORPEDO PRACTICE ON SHARKS. Not a year, indeed, hardly a month, passes but a shark spoils a British ship of one or more of her hands. While the vessel is in the harbor, or riding in the offing, a man tumbles overboard, or is capsized from a boat, or attempts to swim ashore, and is torn in pieces by sharks within sight of help and sound of human voice. The Alice Davies, of Liverpool, has just returned to the Mersey, and in her "log" is duly recorded a terrible catastrophe of this kind. She was anchored off a small river known as the Probolingo, on the const of Java, and one of her crew, a Welshman, of the name of Owen, went with four others to bathe. Thy were all good swimmers, and Owen, who was the most skillful, had ventured some little distauee from the vessel, when he was suddenly heard to utter a piercing shriek. A large shark, rising suddeuly from the bottom, had bitten him immediately below the fifth rib and literally torn him to pieces. A rope was thrown to him, but his inju ries were so terrible that he immedi ately sank. His companions escaped uninjured, but of Owen's body no trace was recovered. The shark which at tacked him was, we are told, judged to be some fifteen feet in length. Such dimensions, although large, are yet not unusual in the Javanese seas. The shark is not so much the tiger as the vulture of the sea. Like the vulture, he hesitates to attack any thing with life in it; but, if hungry, becomes for the time possessed with a cou. age not his own. We shall never exterminate him, aud his presence in tropical waters must always remain a constant source of danger. Meantime he has at least this merit, that wuere ever he may be found he affords a cer tain rough species of sport. There is no better fun than fishing for a shark with a hook the size of a pitchfork, and a huge piece of pork by way oi bait. Harpooning the creature is also an exciting amusement, although seidom practiced. Of late years, to , the shark has been hunted in novel and scientific ways. There is no better form of rifle practice than to shoot at hiin from over the stern with explo sive bullets. If you miss him lie stili follows on. If he is hit, a great hole is rent in him. He rolls slowly over on his back, displaying his cruel, gaping jaws, and vast expanse of white under-suriace, and his brother sharks, coming up from around, quarrel and dispute fraternally over the carcass. Best, however, of all modes of shark chase, because most scientific, and, consequently, most amusing, is that recently adopted in her Majesty's navy of combiuing torpedo drill with shark fisher'. A miniature torpedo is enclosed iua bait ot junk or pork, and lowered with proper care. The bat tery is duly charged, and at the mo ment that the huje fish seizi s, and, as a pike-fisher would say, "pouches" the tempting morsel, the circuit is com pleted. The effect is instantaneous. The head and jaws of the monster are Mown into fragments, and a bubbling circle in the water marks the- spot wiiere, a few seconds before, his fin was showing above the waves. London Doily Neirs. SERPULAS, OR SEA WORMS. The rambler along the sea shore will not uufrcquently meet with shells, stoues, and other objects that have long been immersed in the waters of the ocean, more or less incrusted with masses of whit8, calcareous tubes, which, from their writhing forms, at ones suggest to his mind the idea of worms. These elongated, variously twisted tubes, popularly supposed to ue "petrified w orms," constitute the dwel ling places of certain small marine worms called Serpukc. In the animal kingdom ihese little creatures have their place in the lowest class of Arti culates. This class, the Annelida, embraces an extensive series of animals usually grouped together under the common name of "worms," and com prehends four orders, as types of which we may take, for instance, the (1) sea centipede, (2) the leech, (3) the earth worm, and (4) the marine worm (ser jula). This class is remarkable as being thvi only section of invertebrate animals which possess red blood. The worms blonuing to three of these orders are erratic, but the fourth (whose type is the serpula) iucludes creatures which inhabit a fixed and permanent residence that serves to inclose and pro tect them from external injury. This is generally an elongated tube, varying in texture in different species. Some times it is formed by agglutinating foreign substances, such as grains of sand, small shells, etc., by means of a secretion which exudes from the surface of the body and hardens into a tough membranous substance, as in the case of the Terehella. In other cases, as in tid'puht contortuplicata the tube is homogeneous in texture, formed of cal careous matter, and apparently secreted in the same manner; for this reason the tube keeps increasing in length and diameter as long as its inhabitant con tinues to grow, the formation of this protecting sheath beiug the progressive work oi the entire lite ot the animal, The elongated body of these worms is divided into numerous rings, and its anterior portion is spread out in the form ot a disk armed on each side with bundles of coarse hairs; in this disk is the moutli opening. From the sides of the mouth arise the "fan-shaped respiratory tufts, form ing most elegant arborescent append ages of a beautiful red color, mixed with yellow and violet, aud exhibiting when expanded a spectacle of great beauty. In some species there is a remarkable provision made for closing the tube when the worm retires within its cavity. On each side of the mouth of the worm is a fleshy G lament resembling a tentacle; but one of these, sometimes the right, sometimes the left, is found to be considerably prolonged, and ex panded into a f unnel-shaped operculum or lid, which accurately hts the onhee of the tube, and thus forms a sort of door, well adapted to prevent intrusion or annoyance from external enemies. It has been shown by experiment that if these little creatures be taken from their shell, or the latter be destroyed, they make no attempt to form another, having lost either the faculty or the instinct of doing so. As it is in the nature of serpulas to live in numerous colonies, we usually find their tubes agglomerated into com pact masses on all kinds of submarine objects, about which they bend and twist themselves in all sorts of shapes. MAN'S DARKEST MOMENTS. WAITING- FOR A WOMAN TO "GET READY." Are you a man? If so vou have nro- bably had the pleasure of waiting for a woman to "get ready" to go somewhere. Getting ready is a mighty operation for a woman to perform. It has nlwavs been so ; but in these days of compli cated costumes, and innumerable ap pendages of the toilet, it is a stupen dous undertaking. You are infatuated with Miss B. You invite her to ride behind your span of gravs. You are wise enough to know that all women. or most of them, like a fine turn-out. and would much sooner be made love to by a man who owns a nice team than by one who takes his airings in horse cars or omnibuses. You set the time at 3.30 p. m. She asks sweetly if you could not just as well come at 4. Of course she would like to go earlier, but she doubts if she can get ready, and, of course, as you are not married to her, you are only too uappy io uo jusi, as sne wants you to. After marriage, as the French say, "we change all that," and when monsieur bids, her madame must be ready or be left behind. At precisely 4 the next day you drive to Miss B's gate with a grand flourish It looks old fogyish to e walking with yo-;r horses up to a hitching-post. and you have been showing your animals the whip a few blocks back. They are stir ed up by it and toss their heads, md paw up papa B's concrete, and snap ai the shrubbery in a vicious way, and assure you equinely that they had just as soon not wait for a woman to get ready. You think at first you won't hitch them, for surely she is ready, but re membering former experiences with those of her sex, you change your mind and give a small boy ten cents to have an eye on them. You ring the bell and are admitted, and the small boy en gages in marble playing with another small boy, and entrusts the horses to Providence. "Is Miss B. ready?" you blandly ask the maid servant. She doesn't know, she'll inquire. You stand first on one foot and then on the other, and stare at the hat-tree, and pull up your new style collar, which ought to stand up, but which has de veloped an obstinate tendency to lop down, and you wonder where on ear. h that servant has gone to inquire, and you run out to see your horses, and ad minister some sharp words to your small delinquent groom, and he thumbs his nose at you the minute your back is turned. By the time you get into the house again Mrs. B. is coming down the stairs in a toilet made in evident haste. She is cordial and invites you into the parlor, and says Marie will be down in a moment, and she is so sorry to have kept you waiting. From above stairs you can hear the sound of the notes of preparation. Much treading back and forth, opening of closet doors, shutting of drawers, scolding of the maid in suppressed tones, and liveliness generally If you could look into Marie's cham ber you would be in despair. Her 'crimps" are not taken down, her boots unbuttoned, her pullback's elastic cords are out of gear, and the maid is fixing them ; she can't find her brace lets ; one cuff pin is missing ; she has put arnica on her handkerchief by mis take thinking it Jockey Club ; there is a button off tier basque from hurried buttoning, and oh, dear 1 dear I where are her lemon kids, and her parasol, and her lace scarf, and that coral neck chain, and a shawl, and a white lace veil, aud a dozen other necessary arti cles? She has hurried so that her face is all a blaze and she is sure she looks like a washer-woman, and she seizes her powder-puff, dabs a little chalk on her forehead, and hopes it won't be seen, as she is going out to ride with a gentle man and hot with a woman. All unconscious of the trials which beset your charming Marie, you are striving to do the agreeable to Mrs B., with the sound of your horses pawing up that sidewalk in your ears, and you know the old man is particular about his grounds ; and directly you hear something snap and rush out to find that one of your spirited nags has bit ten off a fence picket and is trying his best on another by way of dessert. Will she ever get ready ? You go back to tell Mrs. B. that your horses are so restive that you must stand by them, and you retire to tue sidewalk, painfully conscious that across the street, in that big tenement house half a dozen children and young people, and as many more idle loafers, are watching you and laughing at your predicament, and telling each other that that is the chap "that is trying to court Marie B., and she's had nine fellers already and every one of 'em went back on her.7' Y"ou consult your watch, 5 o'clock ! You feel inclined to swear a little, but early piety forbids, and you try to pos sess your soul in patience. The door opens. She comes radiant and smiling, in the lovliest of new cos tumes, pinned back so tight thiit she creeps towards you like a snail, and you mentally wonder how she is ever going to step high enough to get into the car riase ; and her hat is so becoming, and her black lace scarf increases the white ness of her neck so much, and she tells you so sweetly that you feel infinitely obliged to her for doing it, and feel for a moment as if the highest and most supreme delight of existence could be found only in wTaiting for her to "get ready." Kate Thorn. The United States Circuit Court at Trenton, N. J., recently gave Mrs. Almira Walters a judgment against the Mutual Life Insurance Company, of New York, for 52,674.50, the full amount of the policy on her husband's life and interest, which that company refused to pay because he had committed suicide. Said he: "Matilda, you are my dearest duck.' Said she: "Augustus, you are trying to stuff me." She wan too sage for biro, Varieties. Bees swarmed into Shelby ville, Ind., recently in such conntless num bers that the merchants had to close their stores. Mr. Os. Williams, Spaulding coun ty, Ga., owns two woolly chickens which in form and habits do not differ from other fols. -Thirteen carloads over 2,200 bar rels of apples recently passed through Pittsburgh on their way to Liverpool, England. They were shipped at Grand Rapids, Michigan. Under the direction of the spirits of his two dead wives, a Mr. Wheaton has erected a flag-pole on Mount Wash ington, and placed upon it a banner of a strange device, costing $60. Miss Lavinia Goodell, the Wis consin lawyer, is mentioned as a slen der woman whose hair is gray, but not with years, and whose toilet is without eccentricity, as her manner is without boldness. The number of acres of ploughed land in England has considerably de creased during the past decade, but the area of pasture land has steadily in creased. This change is expected to continue. Sir Garnet Wolseley sent to Quebec for a "buckboard" lor his own use on the abominable roads of Cyprus; now he has ordered a carriage from one Montreal maker and a set of harness from another. A soldier stationed at Turin, Pied mont, recently won 43,975 at the royal lottery; but his sudden riches failed to tell on the military authorities, who demand of him two years' further ser vice in the ranks. At a cost of $800, the Academy of Arts of Paris has obtained possession of an Egyptian papyrus in excellent preservation, though estimated to be more than 4000 years old. It is on view at the Exhibition. Mr. Parkman is about to spend some time in the vicinity of Quebec to obtain data and other information for the completion of his last volume of Canadian history up to the time of the English occupation. Citv of Mexico advic.ps armnnnpp . - that the Government has set on foot the project of a special exhibition, to lake place at a conveniently early date, for the exhibition exclusively of Ameri can and Mexican productions. During the last year the life insur ance companies in America have re turned to the insured tor losses, endow ments, surrendered values, dividends and other items, a larger amount than tney nave received m premiums. The balance of our trade is largely against our country in its dealings with Japan, yet the United States imports twice as much as it sends to that na tion, while Great Britain furnishes more than halt its imports, aud seven times as much as this country. The Hon. A. T. Goshorn, Direc tor-General ot our Centennial Exposi tion, who has just returned from Paris, pronounces the Paris exposition in terior to the American, except in the single matter of art display. He says the buildings were not as fine as our own, and the arrangement of the dis play was not so good. Jle thinks the buildings were even inferior to those at Vienna. Poaching affrays are still not in frequent in England. A few days ago three gamekeepers of the Rev. W alter Sneyd were attacked by ten poachers, upon whom they had suddenly come. The poachers attacked them with stones and set their dogs at them, threatening to murder them it they came on. The keepers were badly injured, but three of the assailants were secured. Great droughts, like that which has raged over India and Ciiina this year, produce a sort of disease among the inland fishes, and they die by mil lions. Nor "will any but the most in telligent and enterprising of the Hin doos gather the carcasses witli which to fertilize their fields, and thus the vast and valuable deposits of phosphate manure along hundreds of miles of river banks is wasted. The North American says that the remarkable activitv of the buildimr trades in Philadelphia through the whole hve years ot the business revul sion still goes on in all parts of the city and suburbs, the number of new struc tures commenced being proof of the sanguine belief that present values of property are only temporary, and sure to give way to an upward movement before long. These improvements are of all classes, many of t hem quite exten sive and costly. The manufacturers' Association of the Northwest, with headquarters in Chicago, now proposes an excursion to the halls of the Montezumas, accom panied b wives and daughters. Every convenience is to be arranged for the comfort of the party. Such an incur sion among the Aztec slumberers may assist them to awake, and encourage them to start on their coming march for the greatness and prosperity which exist somewhere m the iuture. Mil waukee Journal of Commerce. Lord Lytton, it is related, once told an odd and entertaining story of his uncle, Sir Henry Bulwer, who for some months fancied himself affected with paralysis of the limbs, and who refused to put foot to the ground, but was wheeled in a chair by his servant. At last, one day, the Rhone steamer, on which he was traveling, caught fire; and the captain, having run the boat ashore, a plank was thrown out by which the passengers might land. The first person observed on this new bridge, and stepping nimbly down, was Sir Henry. When fairly safe upon the shore he remembered himself, and called out to his servant, "Carry me,Forster." But it was too late. Forster refused to hear more of his master's folly, and Sir Henry had to walk, and he walked very well to the day of his death,