Tb
Gouri
lb RANK
ER
'2
GEO. S. BAKEE, Editor and Proprietor.
TERMS: S2.00 per Annum.
VOL. ITT.
LOTJISBTJKG, N. C, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1874.
NO. 48.
Sorrows of Werther.
Vr'crther bad a love for Charlotte,
Snch an words could never utter.
Woui'i yon know bow first be met her ?
f);'j wa cutting brc id arid butter.
Charlotte was a rr.arried lady,
And a moral man was Werther,
And for all the wealth of Indies
Would do nothing that might hurt her.
Bo bo nighed and pined and ogled.
And bin pant ion boiled and bubbled :
Till be blow his hilly brains out,
And no more was by them troubled. '
Charlotte, having Been bis body
1 Iiorne before tier on a shutter :
Like a well-conducted person
Went on cutting bread and butter.
THAT BAY WINDOW,
I suppose I am what you would call
sn old fogy. Yes, I am undoubtedly
an old fogy, and I think you will agree
with my verdict upon myBelf when you
hear a little about me. Well, then, to
begin : I am an old bachelor of sixty,
and I live in a 6mall village on a cer
tain prosperous railroad, near enough
to a certain prosperous town to allow
too to run in every day to my business.
I enjoy life after my own fashion, and
am friends with every one, only I some
times half suspect people think me a
foolixh old boro ; but I am not so fool
ish as somo suppose, for I consider
I've escaped some portion, and a pretty
largo portion, of the bothers of life by
not marrying, which is a very clever
thing to have done on my part,you must
confess. My home is just as snug and
comfortable without a wife to worry
mo, and my stag parties are a great
deol more cosey than stiff dinners,
where one's better-half (honor to the
ladies) sits grumpily at one end, not
allowing a wretched, ignorant man to
say a word regarding anything, but
severely frowning upon him if he
cnaneo to a-,Kf merely for information,
you know-how he is to help the dish in
front of him, and what it is, anyhow.
,i am privileged to discuss my
ow'n difihcK, and to say to Charles my
id colored waiter, occasionally :
" By Oeorge, Charles, here is some
thing to surprise us. What is this con
coetion, anyhow ?"
1 hen all my cronies can discuss the
dish and wonder with me, and there
stands Charles grinning delightfully,
and nt the proper moment he explains :
' Not bin' in this wide world, massa,
but vollevan. Had it a dozen times
afore, only you forgets."
- - v oiievan is supposed to mean
Vol au vent." And so you seel am
very swell in my tastes.
lint how I do digress. It is my pur
pose to tell you the story of a person
very dillerent from myself, but who,
strange to say, exerted for a time quite
a nappy intiuence over my life.
l saw ner every morning on my way
to town, and l sometimes spoke to her,
1.1 1 1 11 1
,ur mrew uit a aies, or Drought ner a
bunch of flowers, and she and I were
great friends. There she used to sit in
- tho bay window of our picturesque
station, with the pink and bine bows in
her haii, and those bright eyes of hers
gazing out at, a fellow, enough to set
mm wild. Her hair was one mass of.
golden curls, and ner complexion deli
i - 1 1 i .
crio an a wild rose, and ner name was
Kathie Kathie Ellis and she was the
telegraph operator for our depot, you
must Know.
I wonder if people noticed how
friendly she and 1 were : but I do not
care if they did.
Uno morning in June I brought Ka
thie a bouquet of pink rose-buds from
my garden; and as I placed them upon
her desk 1 noticed a similar floral offer-
ing by their side.
"Homo one is beforehand with me. I
A ft
eeo r
Click, click went the wires.
" les, but bolh are so pretty," and
np went tho blue eyes, and the dainty
nose snined at my oilenng enjoyably,
and men tne sweet voice said :
" How kind every one is to me I
As though they could help it 1"
I replied gallantly. And then she
plucked a flower from my bouquet, as
ehe always did, and placed it with the
most dainty coquetry possible in the
button-hole of my coat. Just then I
glanced toward the window of a car,
stationed for the moment at the depot,
and i saw somo one laughing immoder
ately ; a good-looking fellow enough,
but excessively impertinent.
"Vho ia that young scamp?" I
asked, and Kathie looked up hurriedly.
"Ob, sir 1" she said, "it is Cousin
James laughing at my awkwardness."
" Uousm James ! I repeated
" iour cousin wuere did he come
from? I never heard of him before."
"No, sir: he only came home last
night from Nevada. He's ever so rough
ami rude, being out in that wild region,
and it's real unkind of him to laugh so
at me," and she shook her finger at
him playfully. I resolved that moment
but dear me I it sounds so foolish
to tell what I resolved upon after all
my asseverations about matrimony.
Well, to confeea the truth, I was never
in huoh imminent danger as then.
j. ue train containing iiathie s cousin
had sped away, and I, too, was soon
off.
tin i i t . ii. . ii . .
- vnxjd-Dy, ivatnie, i said; "you
wouldn't mind, perhaps being an old
mans darling?"
" Foolish fellow 1' said the pouting
lips, and then I was cff.
I considered this encouragement,and
. went into town and hinted to my part
ner, when I arrived at my office, that
scraping my hands together in embar
rassmeni notwithstanding one was a
great deal happier single, matrimony,
after all, was not such a busbear.
Scimmins that's the name of my part-
ner laughed heartily. He is the fath-
er of six children and twr BAtn nftvino
Then he slapped me on the back, and
eaid :
" What's up now, sir?"
A blonde's np, sir : young, bloom
ing, and sweet-tempered," I replied.
A pity, sir, for you must go East,
and leave her for awhile. Here's a let
ter just received, which requires one of
us should undertake the journey, and I
cannot leave my family."
" A most unfortunate time for me to
getaway."
" Trutt to the lady's constancy, old
fellow 1 Here's a chance to test wo
man's faithfulness.'
" She's very much in love with me,"
I replied, " and I'd trust her any
length of time." Scrimmins laughed
then. I am sure I don't know why ;
but ho is one of those men who are al
ways laughing at everything and noth-
r: : r
mg, so
and didn't mind.
- . uiuuutiiiuiij
That night I departed from my vil
lage bound eastward on my business
trip.' I visited Kathie in her window,
of course, before I left, and I asked her
what I should bring her from Boston.
"Only yourself, back safe again,"
she said in a trembling voice. " There
are so many accidents on the cars nowa
days. Oh 1 what, what should I do if
one were to occur and they should sud
denly telegraph back that you you
were injured. 1 resolved then and
there to get Kathie the most expensive
present my purse would allow, and I
went off in the half-past seven express
a blissful man, even though I was an
old fogy. I took my trip to Boston
and, arrived there, I bought the most
extravagant ring I could find. I never
even once thought of what my dainty
relatives would say to my marrying a
telegraph operator, so self-abnegating
was my love, and it was all for nothing
yes, absolutely lor nothing, as l must
tell you. That ring reposes in my
bureau drawer to this day, and upon it
ia marVo To h pWrol in rnxr I
is marked, jlo oe delivered to my
niece, Tabitha Strong, after my death ;
, . w.v- v, MJ
by her to be sold, the money accruing
therefrom to be expended for the re
generation of the Hoodoo Indians, a
most worthy charity." Tabitha is an
old maid, but she is a most charitable
creature, and that diamond will be
rightly expended in her hands.
When I returned from Boston, which
was two week3 afterwards, in the even
ing, I arrived at our station in a great
state of excitement. I caught my bag
and rushed for the bay window.
" Kathie, dear, said I.
Click, click, went the wires.
"There ain't no Kathie here," ex
claimed a nasal voice.
"Dear me! but that gal's a pesky
nuisance.
" Kathie gone ?" asked I. "Is is
she ill ?" I peered at the person I was
addressing, and made out in the dark a
tall, spare individual in spectacles and
screw curls.
No, she ain't ill nuther. She's ben
married."
" Married ?" I shrieked.
" Yes, married, and she's gone out to
Neevaddy to live."
" Cousin James 1 I exclaimed.
" He warn't no cousin o' hern, man
alive. That was one o' her jokes. She
was engaged to him two years ago, and
they ve kept company four years or
more."
" Heavens 1 She was a mere h ild.
Four years 1, You mistake."
"Pshaw, now, 1 ain t no goose.
Kathie's thirty if she's a day. Look
ahere, old gentleman, you needn't to
feel bad, for you ain t the only one
taken in. There's ben loads inquirin'
for Kathie, and I've ben called "dear
est " and ' sweetest " ever so often.
You see she didn't expect to be off so
soon, but I'm glad she's gone, I'm sure,
for now we shall see work in this office
if I ain't greatly mistook."
I retired in disgust, listening as I
went to the familiar click, click of the
wires, which seemed to-night to possess
a fiendish sound.
I never glanco toward the bay win
dow now, carefully avoiding it on every
occasion. I even complain c f it as an
unnecessary ornamentation to our un
pretentious country depot;
usual lately, and am gaining immensely
in r,ODUiar favor that is with the men
I have given
in popular favor that is with the men,
especially the Benedicts ; but as for the
women, bless you 1 I avoid them as I
would the plague I ,
Poisoned by Lead.
At Lennoxtown. in Scotland, recent
ly, a lady's death was caused by lead
poison contained in soda water. She
had been in delicate health, and had
been in consequence ordered to drink
freely of soda water. She did so, and
shortly afterward manifested all the
symptoms that would attach to a pa-,
tient suffering the effects of poison.
Suspicion eventually fell on the soda
water. A bottle was sent for analysis
to Dr. Wallace, Glasgow, with the re
sult that the aerated liquid was found
to contain lead in the proportion of
9-10ths of a grain in a gallon. The ef
fect of that is stated in the following
sentence in Dr Wallace's report : "Or
dinary drinking water is considered
dangerous if it contains 1-10 of a gram
of lead per gallon, and some authorities
consider even 1-20 of a grain deleteri
ous to health if the water is used con
tinuously for a series of weeks or
months." In the case referred to the
patient drank this soda water to the ex
tent of six or seven bottles daily, swal
lowing in the same time no less than
three-eighths of a gram of lead.
Goxk. Colonel Congreve, the cele
brated inventor of the destructive Con
greve rocket, was a musical amateur,
and one . day accompanied Mme. v es
tris, the greater singer, to view a monu
ment that had been erected to the mem
ory of Pureell, the composer. The
Colonel read aloud the epitaph with
good emphasis and modulation : " He
is gone to that place where alone his
harmony can be exceeded." Vestris
immediately cried out, " La, Colonel I
the same epitaph will serve for you by
merely altering one word, thus : " He
is gone to that place where alone his
fireworks can be exceeded.
That house is no home which has a
grumbling father, a scolding mother, a
dissipated 6on, a lazy oaugnier, and a
bad-tempered child. It may be built
f marble, surrounded by garden, park
any luuumui . cwyeio vi ciuawiuit
of
costliness may spread its noors ; pic
tures of rarest merit may adorn its
walls ; its tables may abound with
dainties the most luxurious j its every
ordering may be complete ; but it
won't be a home."
Bayard Taylor writes from Iceland
that he offered an Icelander a piece of
money for some small service, and the
man laughed and ran away 1
In a Burs ted Balloon.
While the balloon is on the ground it
is customary to close the neck of the
machine by means of a handkerchief
tied in a slip-knot, in order to prevent
the admixture of the heavy lower
stratum of atmospheric air with the
more buoyant carburetted hydrogen in-
c, - a fhA rmllonri T) rwMv t Via V, .11
ascends the prudent aeronaut slips of
the handkerchief. Our aeronaut did
no sueh thing. The assistant may have
been unaware that the thing eught to
be done. He cried out gleefully that
we had risen to the altitude of one mile
that we were just over Fulh'am
Church, and that we were about to cross
the Thames. J ust then I heard a sharp
crackling report, probably like 'that of
a musket-shot, above my head. The
balloon had burst. It could scarcely,
under the circumstances, have done
anything but burst. The gas in the
machine had become rarefied, and had
rapidly expanded. It could not escape
from above, the valve was closed ; it
could not escape from below, the neck
was closed. So it went to smash, just
as an inflated and air-tight bag of paper
goes to smash between the palms of a
schoolboy's hands. So we fell, as a
stone falls, half a mile. When we as
cended it had appeared to me that the
earth was sinking: beneath us. Now
the globe fields, houses, lamp-posts.
;Ji ' u lr.; '
. " " ... . uo 1U.8U.
up to us with literally inconceivable
rapidity. There was in particular one
f with litara lv inommflirnh a
tall church steeple, which, by the celeri
ty of its approach, appeared to be hor
ribly anxious that I should be impaled
on its apex. It could not have been
Fulham Church ; but whatever and
wherever was the edifice, it was there
ruf hing up at me : and I declare that
the grotesqueness of the position of im
paiement an legs and wings, like a
cockchafer distinctly and visibly oc
curred to me. l declare also, sans
phrases, that there arose before me no
1 m m
"panorama oi my early me or oi my
bygone acts and deeds, as yuch pano
ramas are said to have arisen before the
eyes of persons rescued at the very last
instant from hanging or drowning.
Yet I do plainly and literally remember
several things : that I heard a voice cry
with an oath, "Let go 1" and "Cut!
cut !" and that a knife was thrust into
my hand ; and it seemed afterwards that
the assistant and I had pitched out all
the ballast in the balloon bags and all
and that I had cut away the grapnel
or anchor from the side of the car.
That I had done so was plain from two
of my fingers being jagged across by
the knife. What becamo of the grap
nel we never knew ; but if it had fallen
in a populous street it "would in all
probability have killed somebody. The
heavy bags of ballast, too, must have
fallen like stones. Meanwhile the
term is well-nigh inappropriate, since
there was scarcely any "while" to be
"mean" the aeronaut, who looked like
a sailor, had not lost his presence of
mind and not been idle. He saw at a
glance, this brave little old man al
though he had been forgetful in the
matter of the slip-knotted handkerchief
wherein our single chance of safety
lay. He jumped out into the shrouds
of the balloon ; cut the cords which at
tached the neck of the machine to the
hoop ; and away to the very top of the
netting flew the whole of the exhausted
silk body of the sausage. Then it
formed a cupola of the approved um
brella pattern it formed a parachute !
It steadied instantly. There was no
collapse, and down we came swiftly but
easily, in a slanting direction, ab'ghting
among the cabbages in a market-gar
den, Fulham Fields. Oeorge Augustus
oala.
The Canada Thistle in Missouri.
The foothold which this formidable
weed to farmers is getting in Mis
souri, ought to attract attention. In
England, the thistle is held to be so
noxious, as to be a common enemy to
the whole population. No farmer,
landowner, or gentleman will pass one
growing on the roadside without stop
ping to cut it down with his pocket
knife ; and it is the habit in some com
munities for landowners to carry a
pocketful of salt, with which to salt
the fresh stump, as an additional t se
curity against its sprouting up again
Even cutting and salting, however, does
not always destroy the life of the stub
born plant ; and the only sure method
of extermination is to dig up each plant,
dry it in the sun and burn it. .Flowing
under scarcely makes any impression on
it. It is generally said amongst farm
ers, that a lodgement of the Canadian
thistle on a farm, impairs its value to
the extent of five dollars per acre.
Five years ago it was comparatively un
known in Missouri, but now its purple
heads and thorny leaves can be fre
quently seen along the railroads,
whence it is generally creeping into the
adjacent fields. When the seeds are
ripe in the fall, they are borne abroad
on the down which supports them, and
scattered far and wide. If the plant is
to be kept down it is too late now to
keep it out relentless war will have to
be waged against it, not only by land
owners, but by county courts, and even
by the State. The legislature ought to
enact a law, requiring railroad com
panies to keep the margin of their
road clear of it ; county courts ought
to pass orders, instructing road over
seers to cut down or rip up all the
plants along the public highway once a
year ; and farmers and landowners
ought to carry the same process into
their fields.
Craxy from Wealth.
A sincrular case of suicide recently
occurred in Gessenav. near Berne, in
Switzerland. The man, who killed
himself, had by immense efforts, in
UrWh ho.
xeho was even more avaricious than
nimseit. sncceeaea in amjLRRinc a rv-m-
siderable sum of money. Not long ago
he was informed that a legacy of ?5,000
francs had been left him. This piece
of fortune gave him the msrtal blow, a
pr d found melancholy seized him, and
tha fear of death from hunger haunted
hizi day and night. To avoid this fear
ful prospect, he stealthily left his house,
went into the neighboring forest, and
hung himself to a . pine branch. He
left 100,000 francs.
The Wild Sheep of California,
I have been greatly interested in
studying their habits during the last
four years, while engaged in the work
of exploring these high regions. In
spring and summer, the male's form
separate bands. They are usually met
in small flocks, numbering from three
to twenty, feeding along the edges of
glacier meadows or resting among the
castle-like crags of lofty summits ; and,
whether feeding or resting, or scaling
wild cuffs for pleasure, their noble
forms, the very embodiment of muscu
lar beauty, never fail to strike the be
holder with liveliest admiration. Their
resting places seem to be chosen with
reference to sunshine and a wide out
look, and, most of all, to safety from
the attacks of wolves. Their feeding
grounds are among the most beautiful
of the wild Sierra gardens, bright with
daisies and gentians and mats of
blooming shrubs.
These are hidden away high on the
sides of rough canons, where light is
abundant, or down in the valleys, along
laka borders and stream banks, where
the plushy turf is greenest and the
purple heather grows. Sweet grasses
also grow in these happy Alpine gar
dens, but the wild heep eats little be
sides the spicy leaves and shoots of the
various shrubs and bushes, pernaps
relishing both their, taste and beauty,
alt.hnncrh tame men km slow to snsnfict
wild sheep of seeing more than grass.
Im C "7...
W1W tueeu Ol bBeillK IUUfB lUUU KrH,
When winter storms fall, decking their
summer pastures in the lavish bloom of
snow, then, like blue birds and rooms,
our brave sheep gather and go to warm
er climates, usually descending the
eastern flank of the range to the narrow
birch-filled gorges that open into the
sage plains, where snow never falls to
any great depth, the elevation above
the sea being about from 5,000 to 7,000
fee. Here they sojourn until spring
sunshine unlocks the canons and
warms the pastures of their glorious
Alps.
In the months of June and July they
bring forth their young, in the most
solitary and inaccessible crags, far
above the nest of the eagle, l have
frequently come npon the beds of the
ewes and lambs at an elevation of from
12,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level.
These beds consist simply of an oval
shaped 'hollow, pawed out among loose
disintegrating rock chips and sand,
upon some sunny spot commanding a
good outlook, and partially sheltered
from the winds that sweep passionately
across those lofty crags almost without
intermission. Such is the cradle of the
little mountaineer, aloft in the sky,
rocked in storms, curtained in clouds.
sleeping in thin, icy air ; but, wrapped
in his hairy coat, nourished by a warm,
strong mother, defended from the tal
ons of the eagle and teeth of the sly
cayote, the bonnie lamb grows apace,
He learns to nibble the purple daisy
and leaves of the white spiraea, his
horns begin to shoot, and ere summer
is done he is strong and agile, and goes
forth with the flock, shepherded by the
same divine love that tends the more
hopeless human lamb in its warm era-
die by the fireside. Overland Monthly,
Blowing It Out.
Judge Pitman's chimney has been
foul for some time, and when he men
tioned the fact at the drug store, Mr.
Squills said he could easily clean it out
by exploding a little powder m the fire
place. The idea seemed to Pitman to
be a good one, and he bought almost
ten pounds of powder in order to do
the work thoroughly at the first blast.
The men were busy gravelling his roof
that day, and lust as the Judge was
about to touch off the charge, a work
man named Snyder, leaned over the
top of the chimney to call to the man
below to send up more tar. Then the
Juogelitthe slow match. Tho view
which met the eye of Mr. Snyder as he
went up was a fine one, embracing as it
did, Cape May and Omaha and Constan
tinople and Baltimore and the Hand-
which Islands, and when he got enough
of drinking in the scenery, he came
down in the river, apparently with the
intention of exploring the bottom.
When he was fished out he was glad to
learn.not only that the Judge's chimney
was thoroughly clean, but that it would
need about four cart loads of bricks to
repair damages. After, this the Judge
will clean his-flues with a brush fasten-
cu tu wwiuco pruy. .
Imparting Disease
It is not cften that dogs are instru
mental in the spreading of small-pox,
but an instance showing how the dread
ed disease was imparted in this manner
has just come to light at Tonkers, N.
T. Not many hours subsequent to the
death of a man named Van Orden from
the loathsome malady indicated, and
which occurred in that city a few days
since, a neighbor's dog found its way
to the bed from which the corpse had
been removed, and indulged in a roll
on the covering. On returning home
the brute was fondled by its mistress,
the result being that she soon after
wards developed unmistakable symp
toms of the contagion. The infectious
dog was then summarily shot, and the
patient has since recovered. Another
illustration of the facility with which
the pestilential disorder can be trans
mitted may be cited in connection with
the same case. It seems that the wife
of Van Orden, fearing that the health
officer would order the clothing worn
by her deceased husband to be burned.
concealed a bundle of it in the house of
a friend, and as a consequence the lat
ter was attacked with a mild type of
small-pox, which ultimately yielded,
however, to prompt medical treatment.
" My father was a farmer before me,
and I thank God that I am a farmer
born." 3uch was the soft soap with
which a well-known Western lawyer ex
pected to soothe 'the Grangers with on
the occasion of meeting them just be
fore an election. It reminded a speaker
of the Illinois orator who addressed a
rural audience : " Gentlemen," .said
he, " I am proud to be one of you. My
father was a farmer, and I am a farm
er born. lea, 1 may truly say l was
born between two rows of corn." At
this juncture a tipsy agriculturist at
the further part of the house hiccough
ed out : "A (hie) pumpkin, by thun
der I',
A LOYE STORY.
mmtsterlBJC to sick Bldt
Bafltlal
p.
EffctU of Cfetckca
We were sitting in our room at the
Glades HoteL in Oakland, ML. one
day, says Don Piatt, with a charming
lady who had dropped in on a visit.
One of our windows looked into that of
another room so placed by the projec
tion of the main building that half of
its interior could be seen. We were
looking at and admiring a little chubby,
blue-eyed two year-old, white as snow,
who was pulling a bouquet to pieces
and tossing out the fragments, or clap
ping her little hands with delight as a
train went thundering by.
TriACA Vtf-wtma a i3 atc fata neif
"have some very tender associations for
aa UVCU A W4lAO DIU VU4 Ali f 101lVi
me.
"Why so ?" we asked.
" Well," Bhe answered, " during the
war the greater part of the hotel was
seized by the Government as a hospital,
and we were crowded into a few rooms.
My sister and I had this. In that room
where that little beauty is were two
Union officers, one sick of the fever and
the other of a wound. It was hard to
tell whether they were slowly dying or
slowly getting well. I never saw snch
ghastly skeletons to be alive. We were
'secesh
h, and not modest about it either,
but still
111 our hearts ached I or the POOr
young men, so ill, perhaps dying, so far
from friends and relatives.
frnm fnVnfl wktiw. " I
-" I
" It bothers one to know how this
should be a hospital," we said, it is
so far removed from active opera
tions." "It was thought," she answered.
" that the mountain air of the elades
would be more favorable to recovery
than elsewhere, so this was made a hos
pital. One day one of these officers
dragged himself to the window, and
under tne impulse oz the moment my
sister asked if we could do anything
for them, and he answered, gasping for
breath, that a little chicken soup would
save their lives. Chickens were rare in
those days an army is hard on poul
try. The men will work all night, after
marching during the day, to secure a
few chickens ; ho that while the hos
pital nurses and physicians had an un
limited supply of actual luxuries in the
way of wines, potted meats and canned
vegetables, they were without anything
fresh.
"We knew where a few chickens were
hid in a cellar, by a neighbor, and we
coaxed one out of the owner, and after
a deal vexatious trouble for at every
turn we were met by a fixed bayonet
and an insult we got the soup ready,
ana as me guard in ine nail would not
permit us to approach our patients, my
sister attempted to hand the bowl to
the officer in the window. Just as he
was feebly reaching for it, and she
stretching herself half out to give it to
him, a harsh, ugly. voice below cried
aloud. ' Look out there poison.' She
nearly dropped herself, soup and all.
Drawing back, she hesitated for a see-
onaf ana men sne too tne spoon and
began eating the broth. Oh I bother I
cried the officer, don't waste it that
way I'm not afraid and s she gave
mm tne boup. t seemed to revive
them, and they continued steadily to
improve, as day after day we supplied
them with chicken broth until the cel
lar was empty. During this time we
sat at the window talking, and we sang
to them sang My Maryland, and all
the Southern songs we knew, until they
were well enough to leave the hospital
and return to duty. They both seemed
sorry to ' go, and forced on us a quanti
ty of hospital stores and some coffee,
which last we needed sadly. Then one
gave a ring, and the other a brooch, as
tokens of their kind feelings."
" And did they never return ?
" One did not, for, poor fellow, he
was killed in the very next battle in
which he was engaged. His companion
wrote us about it, and the writer insist
ed upon opening a correspondence with
my sister ; and soon his letters grew
into love letters, and after a time they
were engaged. Nearly a year subse
quent to this, our patient got leave of
absence, and came on to be married.
He put np at a hotel, and, will you be
lieve it, our own brother, who was in
the Confederate service, and knew
nothing of my sister's affair, led a band
of guerrillas at night into town and
captured Lii tatSKd tarthtoSS
frm tj,,. Mu aa
tne marnacf tint rfenrivert th -vrmncr
West Pointer of his promotion, that
had been promised for gallant services
in the field. It was really aggravating,
for exchanges had almost ceased, and
it looked as if the lovers would have to
wait until ' this cruel war was over ' be
fore they conld be united. Procuring
passes, we went through the lines and
appealed to Jeff Davis. Jeff said he
would put my brother s prisoner in his
sister's keeping. They have been hap
pily married these many years. He is
brevet brigadier-general now, and it all
came of our nursing the enemy in that
room."
His Patience Explained.
I have heard the story of an incident
at one of the Richmond hotels, which
made me laugh, although all readers
may not see anything funny about it.
A Boston man and two Virginians sat
at the same table. The Boston man
was shocked to hear the Virginians
call the colored waiter "a black rascal"
and "nigger." Sure, he thought, the
spirit of slavery is strongly npon this
people. He was careful to call the
waiter "his friend." when ordering
dishes, and to speak to him in the
kindest and most polite manner. Not
withstanding his honey speeches and
bland smiles, he noticed thst ihe waiter
brought the Virginians altogether the
best dinner.
When the Virginians left the table.
the sympathetic, but rather poorly-fed,
Boston man, hastened to get the ear of
the waiter. "Here were those two
men, who insulted you and swore at
you, and talked rough, yet you brought
them a much better dinner than me,
who spoke to you most kindly and
politely ; how is this?" "Well," re
plied the African, as he cast a sly
glance around, and wiped the perspira
tion from his forehead with the corner
of a napkin. ' I know these men talk
sorter rough like, but
money, and you don't I
they give me
The Boston
man retired with a slur ht f eelinar of dis
gust.
A Hundred Dollar Outfit.
If a girl has but a hundred dollars to
get herself a wedding outfit she should
buy a white muslin if it is summer, a
white alpaca if it is winter, and make
it herself. Then she should manage
out of her money one rood black silk.
at two dollars tier va.nl or an sIdics, at
seventy-nve cents per yard, a linen or
brege suit, a striped polonaise, and
blsck silk skirt and two cambrics : er
for winter one dark English print and
one delaine. Ui course, ii the black:
silk is achieved the blsck silk skirt is
omitted, and the striped polonaise msy
or may not stand in the place of the
more useful alpaca.
ine possiDiiiiies ail aepena upon vne I uie auiKuig cuienfM ui f"---cleverness
of th cnrl hr famltY for Dockets, and Petticoat .Lane became
making a little go a gTeat way, and put-
ting her own intelligence, her own
ideas, and her own ringers to use.
If she is rerr smart she ought to
have twenty-five dollars left for a hst
(straw or felt), shoes, glomes, and out
side garment underwear having been
previously made by her own hands.
It used to be considered disgraceful
for a girl not to have a handsome stock
of underclothing, neatly stitched and I
embroidered by her own deft fingers.
and there is no excuse for it now. It is
easily ebtained piece by piece, is in-
finitely more satisfactory than machine
mad and tnr hontr'nt nd i alnAhl
Us civinor her an PTTwripn in indns-
" r I
ill"! Wk. .
trial art.
Five hundred dollars is the average
spent on bridal outfits, and those who
think that a large sum must remem
ber that the whole of it would not pay
for many a wedding dress, or for any
one out of dozens of articles which go
to form "fashionable" bridal frous-
seaux. a velvet cloak or a lace shswl i
might easily cost as much, and sn ele
gant India scarf (an indispensable)
twice that sum : so that prospective
brides who have made up their minds I
that five hundred dollars will buy
'everything " must be prepared to de
cide between what they want and what
they decide to get, and not sacrifice too
much to point lace, which is only fit for
a dowager, and a train which has to be
cut off at the third time of wearing.
If a sensible girl is going to settle
down into a plain farmer's wife, and
does not want a white dress at all, has
no use for it and does not know that
she ever shall have, she should provide
herself with a nice gray or wood-brown
all wool suit or poplin if she prefers
and can afford au Irish poplin have
hat and gloves to match, and white
silk or crepe necktie, with a sprig of
orange blossom in it instead of a
brooch. This will be tasteful enough
for the most fastidious if it is well
made, and useful and economical
enough for the most saving.
A Rattlesnake Story '
If it will not fatigue you, I will tell
you a snake scene of the olden time,
said an old Tennessean. A neighbor
with a wife and one child built his
cabin on a flat rock among the cliffs.
The rock furnished him with a substan
tial floor, impervious to floods but not
to snakes. Upon this rock Peter built
his cabin; his winter fires were built
in the centre of
ney stack of rocks and mud protruded
through the roof and carried off the
smoke. The fires being kept during
the winter upon this floor, early in the
spring thawed the snakes. He and his
wife and child occupied their only bed
in a corner, elevated some two feet
from the rock. Just before dsy he was
awakened by the crawling of snakes
over the bed, and their hissing all over
the house. He soon became sstisfied
that his cabin was
infested with snakes.
to ettempt to walk
It was dangerous to atteznbt
across the rock floor to the door, as he
could not avoid being enveloped by
snakes, so he whispered to his wife to
cover np her hesd and that of the child
with the bedclothes, and hold them
down, and remain in that condition
until his return, as he wss going to es
cape through the roof of the house and
bring her relief by morning. He thus
escaped, and alarmed the neighbors,
who assembled at the break of dsy,
with guns snd ropes. They examined
the situation and found that the floor
and bed were covered with snakes.
be, got to L"? A" "ESSS
lot down ropes thst had . running
I w 1 - o-- -
culty they were placed under the arms
of his wife, and she, holding to her
child, they were safely drawn np, and
thus saved from destruction. -
The rattlesnakes herd together and
lie dormant under the rocks and cliffs.
and this rock hsppened to be their win
ter headquarters, and being thawed by
the fire that night, took up their line of
march. Thero were upward of a hun
dred slain that morning, and found
amonpr the embers of the burned cabin.
I do not know how it is now, but 1
know that sixty years ago this was an
awful snake country. But I suppose
that the snake, like the bear, the pan
ther, wolf, and Indian, has retired be
fore the spproach of civilization, and is
now seldom seen.
Sight Wort.
"Ave malster, said a Cornish miner
in Colorado, " it be true a hard loife,
but we uns are brought np to it like.
and be gout the danger well enjie it
some loike o' you the sir bout you.
Aye.
it be, maister, dark, but don t
tbink'se we cawu't UU
noight. Aye, can we,
moighty differ atween '
dsy from
snd make a
e noight and
day. No man can sleep
same in the
nnioht h rwn't fix it nn nrv
how, an we do know when noight come
on e minute, when e sun go down.
nnt ont o all h what bm 11. '
dyin hour o the night : its fro three
or four o mornin.
There'e best
o uns
gins e hammer a
slight pop an
a
i feels
his strength a goin." Experience in
the mines proves that curious fact that
there is a "dying hour between three
and four o'clock in the morning ; and
though one would think dsy and night
the same in this Egyptian gloom, the
miners find avast difference.
At Richmond, near London, the ants.
red and black, and without wings, have
- 1 suddenly assumed the character of a
1 plague.
A London Fire Tolnts.
WhitechspeL isys the D anbury man,
is but one of the boundaries of a sec
tion of London of which Petticoat Lane
is the heart. It Is but a lane crooked
enough and slimy enough to be a snake.
1U entrance from Whitechspel is sp
prooriatelv flanked by two low rum
shops, jrom wnose severs uoor w"
a cot vi vial stream that is not in the
least inviting.
I was particulsrly warned by friends,
newspsper articles snd guide book,not
to venture within its precincts unless
under the guardianship of a policeman,
With a feeling of almost hysterical ex-
ultation, Jinguahmen naa weai upon
especially known toxae as tho place
where the stranger lost his pocket-hsnd
kerchief at one end and found ft hang
ing np for sale at the other. I thought
I should like to see my handkerchief
thus exposed for sale, and intensely
wondered who would buy it. I didn't
think I could afford to. . t ' -
It was late in the afternoon when I
tot into Petticoat Lane, and for full
three hours I kept up a eeaeelesa tramp
along it and ihrougn me narrow ana
noisome alleys and courts leading out
of it, .
There were second-hand shops in
abundance, meat stalls and groceries in
every direction. The lane itself had
.k f 1.., fmm
w vul( "ivi .w ,
a foot to two feet of sidewalk.
There were bloated women and one
eyed men, and deformed children, and
repulsive dwarfs among the dirty horde
who lounged on the walki or loitrd in
the streets. A striking peculiarity of
the tenements was in the size bat few
of them exceeding two stories in
height. There were no ' half-dosen
flights of crazy stairs to climb Cr fall
down. No fourth, fifth, or sixth story
window to topple out of and injure the
pavement.
The houses were of brick, defaced by
age and dirt, and the first floors to all
of them were either on a level with the
street, or a foot or so bslow it. There
were ah abundance of courts snd alleys
adjoining, and in them the pedestrian
found much difficulty in making his
wsy. Some of the alleys were so nar
row that four people could not; walk
through them abreast, snd when their
mallness was considered, it was really
wonderful the amount of stench they
contained.
I found boys and girls here in the
full enjoyment of happiness, and acting
dreadfully natural. It brought the
tears te my eyes to see seventy-five of
them helping to raise a kits to the un
bounded exasperation of the boy who
had hold of the string, and when a half
dozen of them came rushing by me
with a dead cat attached to a cord, I
felt too full to breathe. And I took
every care not to breathe until they got
Petticoat Lane is the home of the
costermongers whom we meet in the
more respectable thoroughfares at all
hours of the dsy and night.
But it is of a Sunday that Petticoat
Lane shines forth in its happiest light.
At the hour of noon on that dsy it is
the busiest. All the shops are the
busiest ; the costermongers till the road-
WJ nd who ef 1 lfa .lhtJ Le7
- . ,
accompanied by sufficient cash to rent
n7 w Pimn ,u"
which forms the sidewalk, and sing out
the sttractions and advantages of their
goods st a lively rate. The people in
their holiday attire, consisting princi
pally of a breastpin, flock about and
among the venders, bickering about the
Pces. c55 ech ohtt. nd getting
n TTb?d7 7- . d. nnieJ
stana, reaiiy, wny ai ccjguuoiuuw.
so abounding in elements of vie and
contention, is yet so free from diatur
bsnces. In my three hours among its
lanes and courts I saw neither a row
nor a policeman. Of course, st home,
I should not expect to see both of them
st once. Perhsps it is becsnae the po
lice here are so efficient that their sim
ple reputation is enough without their
presence to keep down the turbulent
And the simple secret of their iaoews
is thst they bsve the fnll respect and
t.M
I ,1 r
sympathy of all respectable people, and
A SUrtllar Crime.
The crime perpetrated near JInrj
ville. Ind., says the New York -Worirf,
was one of the most horrible thst a set
of blood thirsty criminals could con
ceive. The victim, August ' Gardner,
sppears to hsve been a perfectly peace
able man. In very straitened circum
stances, with only S3 in Lis pocket, Le
wss, according to his statement msde
juat before dying, walking to Louis
ville, where bo hoped to get employ
ment. The three wretches) who over
took him, after robbing him of tne lit
tle money he had, tied him to the rail
road track to be run over and killed by
the cars. Was not the man drunk
and asleep on the track? and did he not
invent the horrible story to excuse Lis
own fault and create sympathy ? are
questions which at once suggest them
selves, and they were the first ones put
to the dying man by the physician who
went to attend Lira. But on inspecting
tie track at the spot where the man
said he was laid, the ropes were found
still tied fast to the cattle-guards, the
ends that were fastened around the rail
having been cut off by the wheels as
they pasted over. The crime was per
petrated in the middle of the dark,
rainy night, and the victim lay bound
to the rail for half an hour, struggling
snd shouting for help before be "heard
the cars whistle." Thm he lay still and
shut his eyes." His left leg wss cut
off, the train passing lover the rest of
his body without crushing iU When
a crime so hideous as this is committed
it seems as if the populace should not
wait for the regular authorities to hunt
down the perpetrators. Every man in
the country should come to the help of
the officers of the law.
A Chicago gentleman has sued the
Timet of that city for $100,000 damage
to his character. The Times asks torn
to knock off the cyphers, take a dollar,
and call it square.