Newspapers / Eastern Courier (Hertford, N.C.) / Feb. 27, 1895, edition 1 / Page 3
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... THF. ENGLISH SPEECH. the English speech ! how true it rings 1 low masterful and clear ! ( vehicle for greatest things fhat mortal man may hear. emea of greatest noblest thought rtelr songs divine have sung, i lawsof highest Justice taught h this ma jestio tongue. item, defiant, tempest tones, s battle shouts arise, ing the coward's heart like stones, iiaking the vaulted skies, ' oh ! what frank and hearty mirth oth English speech reveal, - pn Pence, Goi's angel, walks the earth, ho wounds of war to heal ! - ore's not am impulse of the min3. hr feeling of the heart, t mi j-its full expression And n this consummate art. v mother tongue! the English speech ! i"he ages' masterpiece ! those sway around the world doth reach, Und shall, till Time doth cease. h. the English speech! how true it rings! Kimple, direct, and clear, ,e speech of freemen, Nature's kings, Lnnguage o; men sincere ! W. J. Herbert Hogan, In New York Sun. LOVE AND A TIGER. HAT Charlie Wal lace, of the fcorty second B. N. I., was in. the dumps, was evident. Nor whol ly without cause. Dame Fortune had just dealt him one , of those ugly, blows she sparjs none of ps not even the lucidet. An official letter lay open before him. And thns z ran : Sir : I havethe horior to inform you th4t . have placed your name on the list of np blicants for tha vacant post in the Waste Pi per Ofuae. A.s you are one or two hun dred nd eighteen candidates. I feel it rlght.fp Jam you against hirborlng any very san Juine hopes of success. Tours faithfully. John Levisg. Such was the answer to his twen tieth application for a post in that de partment of the Indian Civil Service. And he had nothing but his lieuten ant's pay to depend, on, nor any pros pects worth mentioning; and he was head over ears not in debt but in love with Lucy Campbell, the only child of the Collector of Bnngareeo pootur, the place where his regiment was then stationed. And albeit she smiled on him, and kept other suitors including rich old Colonel Grey beard at arm's length for his sake, her parents did not give him any en couragement, though they liked and esteemed him. On the whole, then, ho had some reason for being in the dumps, as he sat in his bungalow, '"chewing the cud of sweet end bitter fancv." - 9 His meditations were suddenly cut short by the cheery voice of his bosom yiriend, Captain Finch. "Why, Char lie, what the dickens ails you, that you've cut mess these last three days?" "Oh, I'm a trifle out of sorts nothing much," replied his friend. "Any news?" "Only that the man-eater has been meal of another post-run- within the in Charlie making .a ner '' "Why, that's thi sixth last nine months," broke Wallace. "I believe you, my boy," replied his friend; "and Collector Campbell has offered a reward of 3009 rupees for said man-eater's skin. And high time, too! Else we shall find no one to carry our letters." "Where did it happen?" inquired F allace. j . "Why, about ten miles nor'east of this place just where the road dives into the Scrawat jungle after crossing the gully. They found the poor fel low's letter-bag and his bells lying in the bad of the gully." "It seems as if those bells, instead of scaring the -brute as intended, acted B3 " visual to nim to, mate reaay 10 pounce on his prey." ' True to you, friend Charlie." i should dearlv like to have a shot at the brute." No go, my boy ! He's too leery. Grant and Sparling have both been on his track; but they couldn't even catch eight of the tip of his tail. After a few minutes more chat about thinsrs in ceneral. the CaDtain left the bugalow ; and Charlie Wallace forthwith shouted to the boy in the verandah outside: "Where's Marreem Ali?" This was his factotum a native of the lowest caste, but faithful as a mastifE "Gone to bazaar, saheeb," answered the lad. "Then go you and buy me a half a dozen small bells such as the post-run ners carry on their sticks," said his master, flinging him a couple of rupees. 'And be quick about it." Away sped the boy to do his errand. Meanwhile the lovelorn Lieutenant carefully loaded his rifle and double- barrelled gun, and then strolled out on to the verandah to await Murreem Ali's return. Ali soon made his appearance, with the boy at his heels. When he was within earshot, his master called to him, "That brute of a tiger has killed another mail-carrier : and now I'm minded to put a bullet through his hide;' ': "Pardon, saheeb. He no tiger, he devil!" said Ali; saheeb no shoot him. He eat saheeb !" "We shall see about that," replied the Lieutenant. "Are you man enough to come along with mo and chance it?" ' . "If saheeb go, Ali go with him, and devil-tiger eat both," replied the native, calmly. "Well, then,, just get me a red coat such as the mail-carriers wear, and we'll be off at once. " The native took the purse which his master . held out to him and re traced his steps toward the bazaar, thinking his master stark mad. But then in the East madmen are deemed inspired. r When he returned with, the red coat he found the Lieutenant trans formed into a fair imitition ot a native by the aid of burnt cork. Tha Lieutenant donned the coat, loaded his pistols, thrust them into his belt, and handed the gun to his servant. The rifle ho shouldered himself The two then stole out of the bungalow by the back door , and gained the high road by an unfrequented path to avoid attracting attention needlessly ; always a wise precaution when one goes out for wool at the risk of coming home shorn. For some four or five miies their road lay through open fields sown with maize and cotton. Then they dived into the jungle. Here the Lieutenant bade Ali fall behind and trotted on ahead by himself, lest the tiger should jsmell a rat. " So on he jogged alone, hoping though not without a qualm or two that the beast would mistake him for' a post-runner and show him self. To this end he tied the bells in La L Dunca to nis giraie, ana a preiiy iCjingle they made as he sped onward. Anon ho plunged into a wood of lofty trees, where the underlying brushwood grew thick enough to harbor a hun dred hungry tigers within easy reach Of him. The thought made Ijim blanch a bit; but nevertheless he pushed on till he reached the very spot where the man-eater had made his last meal of human flesh. There could be no doubt of it, for traces ot the poor fel low's blood were still to be seen on the white pebbles iu the bed of what, 4uring the rainy season, became a foaming torrent. Hero Charlie Wal lace halted, with his rifle at full-cock in his right hand, and gazed around him. Naught stirred. All was silent as the grave oppresively silent. Ah I what noise was that which he fieard behind him? The footsteps of his servant? Impossible! Ali must still be half a mile behind him. As this thought' flashed through his mind he .faced round just in time to see a pair of gleaming eyes glaring at him from the brushwood. Quick as lightning he raised his rifle and fired. A wild howl answered the report, and a huge iiger rolled down into the gully, where it lay for a moment as if stunned. But it' quickly recovered itself, and crouched to spring on its assailant. Had Wallace wavered for half a second he must have shared the fate of the luckless runner. But he whipped out which the horseman had pumped him during their chat. r Scaroely had the tiger-huntfeoffecl his red coat, Washed off his war-paint. his pistol and discharged it point- and donned his ordinary "tog?, "when boy came in with a note, whica his ran blank in the animal's face. One of the slugs entered its eye and pierced the brain, and the ruthless creature fell seemingly lifeless at his feet; then he knew that it must actually have made its spring when he fired. With his second pistol in his hand he sat down on the brink of the gully and mopped the moisture from his dripping brows. Meanwhile he kept his eye fixed upon his enemy, half .ex pecting to see it riso and renew the attack. But there it lay quite mo tionless, and was indeed stone dead. He had ample time to admire the beauty of his sleek ccat before Ali made his appearance. "What a marvel 1" exclaimed that worthy, almost breathless with wonder and admiration. "Heaven has en abled saheeb to shoot the devil !" "The question now is, what are we to do with the devil, as you call him?" ever since they detected her weakness Tho Governpr-Gencral be.?s m to inv'.ta you to din9 with him at my hooie. Co 21 3 just as you are. Yours sincerely, i IlrcTQa CiirrnEix. '. Dinner at 8 sharp. J So the frank, plain-spoken horse man who first accosted him was no less a person than the Viceroy of India, the universally beloved and respected Lord Mayo, who like Mr. Gladstone went here, there and everywhere, finding out things for himself, instead of trusting to hearsay. But far from this reflection wera Charlie Wallace's thoughts. He was thinking' of dining, not so much with the Governor-General, but rather with him in the presence of Ducy Campbell, whose parents had prudently kept her out of his way for months; in fact, said his master. "Can we eret a bul lock-car hereabouts?" "purely I" replied Ali. "At the next village not a mile off where every bullock-cart and.bullock will be proudly at the beck of the saheeb who has destroyed the devil. for the impecunious Lieutenant with out "expectations." , But, indeed,, mighty little time had he for any reflections ; barely time to give himself an additional brush-up and reach the Collector's bungalow as the diunar-on-tablegong Bounded! one 1 One will serve our turn," said the dining-roomj and Lucy fell to the tho devil-shooter smiling. lot of his lordship's aide-de-camp ths About half" an hour later, aloud gentleman who had pumped our hero shouting proclaimed the approach- of so skillfully. But he did'-not feel in- the vehicle and half the village. As clined to grumble at s r that arrange- the noisy crowd drew near, one old ment. . He was well content to bring; man rushed' forward, and, grovelling up the rear ,with her father and sit op- at the Lieutenant's feet, exclaimed: posite to her and side by side with the) "Oh, my Lord, my Lord, hast thou Governor-General. verily destroyed the devil that de voured my brother's son?" Meanwhile the villagers crowded! round the carcass of their fallen foe, and kicked and spat upon it to their hearts' content. One fellow pulled out a tinderbox and struck a light, wherewith he proceeded to singa the animal's whiskers. But Ali checked him with a threat that if he spoilt the creature's skin he was likely to share its fate. Others, instead of venting their hate on their dead foe, tendered milk and fruit and wild honey to tho tiger queller, or, rather, to the devil queller, as' they, deemed him. And," 3ure enougbi ere long up came a hoary , priest to lay fho spirit of the beast, lest it should haunt the village and work far more evil than while clothed with flesh. They drew a magic circle round the 'carcass, and smeared its head with dabs of red paint, and pros trated themselves before it, by way of soothing the wrath of its patron god dess, the mischief-working Kali. Fin ally, they wreathed its neck with wild flowers, and hoisted it into the cart, and marched in procession before it to the music of tomtoms and half a dozen horns. And then, as night came on, scores of torchbearers swelled tho throng that marched in front of the cart. When thev were within two miles distance of the Lieutenant's head quarters, .they were overtaken by a stoutish gentleman riding a powerful and spirited horse. Reining it in alongside the cart, where sat the Lien tenant alongside the tiger, he asked : "What's the matter?" Wallace modestly explained, to the best of his ability, amid all that din of tomtoms, horn3 and human voices. The horseman looked puzzled for a moment. Then he said : "But you're not a post-runner." At this moment up rode three other horsemen. He turned to one of them and whispered something which Wal lace failed to catch. He then rode off, followed by the two other horsemen. The one to whom he had spoken ac companied the procession, chatting to the amateur post-runner, till the cirs stopped at the door of Wallaoe's bun galow. There he abruptly said: "An revoir, Lieutenant Wallace"," and rode' off. What on earth does he mean with his an revoir?" muttered the tiger -queller as he entered his "diggings." "And how the dickens does he know my name and grade?" He had failed to observe the diplomatic art with Like all thoroughbred gentlemen, Lord Mayo had the art, or "second nature," of setting all persons at their ease in his presence, except, of course, t , i i f - -1 : l . siy rogues, wau ueyer cua leei (uilj at ease in the presence of ah? houest man. The' dinner might have been that of a family party for any 6snse of stiffness or constraint that prevaded it. Nor did the talk once flag, or turn toa much, but just enough, on the event that gave Charlie Wallace his seat at that table. lordship arid the aide-de-camp between them drew Charlie out, and discovered, without much difflcnltv. that it wa not the three thousand rupees reward that induced him to risk his life, but rather the reckless courage born of that hope deferred which maketh the heart sick.! ""I havd seen that odiously polite form so often that I know it by heart," he said; and he repeated with grim humor the prescriptive words, " :Sir I have the honor to inform you, etc." "Ay, it Iseems you know your lesson thoroughly," quoth Lord Mayo, with a merry' twinkle in his eye. "But 1 11 1 Jl 1 t pernaps vue uiru may Humenuies cuaugu its note.' Next morning, as he sat at break fast, Charlie received a note addressed to him in a peculiarly bold hand. He hastily tore it open and read : ! 'Sir r I have the honor to inform you tbat I have placed your name on the list of ap plicants for the vacant post in the General Supervision Department. But as j our name beads the liar, you may chanos to find thU announcement somewhat better-than wasto paper. Wishing you heartily every success, t am, very hithfully yours, Jfiro." Up he jumped, snatched np his hat, and rushed off at the top of his speed towards Collector Campbell's bunga low, to pour out his thank? to the ; Governor-General. Bat ho found tho the bird jflown. There was some one, however, to receive him ; some one in whose bright eyes the kind-hearted nobleman had read a certain tale of true love ; whose course ho forthwith resolved to smooth so far as in him lay. And he succeeded so well, that when a twelve-month later. Collector Campbell, retired, sailed with his wifa for England, they left Lucy behind them. Only she had changed her sur name for that of old Scotland's darl- Old and Young. ing herol The British Government possesses the greatest number of distinct flag3, excluding thos3 used for signal pur- poses, tne numoar oeinj ivraniy-six.
Eastern Courier (Hertford, N.C.)
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Feb. 27, 1895, edition 1
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