CHARLOTTE MESSENG
VOL. I. NO. r>.
Imperfection.
She sat, half nliaded from the glare
Os common light, a (Feature rare
And finished with perfection;
From dark-crowned head to elendc r foot,
1 looked—no mortal e’er could put
Dispraise in his inspection.
The aHgel face that men liad praised
I closer scanned, with lorgnette raised,
My study not concealing ;
She bore it with the proudest ease,
She felt po confident to please,
Such beauty fine revealing.
I wondered if au inner grace
Matched all this loveliness of face,
And used my mental eye-glass ;
Its prarching crystal only saw
A mind so free from rust pr flaw
That I laid down my spy-glaps.
I grew to love her, day by day;
Bho knew it, liked it—woman’s way—
Was pleaded with the new-comer ;
She saw another slave enroll
flip heart for her serene control,
And liked me—for a summer.
I was a fool; I sought her heart :
The calm face did not feign or start,
Surprise to seem to cover ;
She only said with candid speech.
She really had not meant to teach
Me to become her lover.
I smile to think that I have learned
(With lorgnette critically turned)
So little worth discerning ;
For now I see, withont my glas#,
One great defect—well, let it pass ;
No heart. Was she worth learning ?
THE TIFF.
“ How are yon, my dear fellow ?
John, a chair for Mr. Graham. Excuse
mv rising. You see, I’m gonty. Beef
steaks and hampers have done it at last,
and, though I’m only sixty seven, I’m
really beginning to feel old.”
“ What 1 and yet reading a novel ?”
“ Yes ; I was reading of a young
virago who, with the appearance of an
angpl, had the temper of a demon. I
felt the more interested in the subject
because she reminds me of the heroine
of that picture—tb6 ore over the man
telpiece—‘The Tiff,' I call it.”
“ I have often heard you say, Jeremy,
that there war a story connected with it.
Tell mo the tale.”
“ Well, stir up the fire—take a
cheroot. John, retire till you’re called
—and now, my dear lad, we ll be as
cosy for the rest of the evening as if
we d just eaten a Thanksgiving dinner,
and had had our fill of turkey and
oyster sauce. ‘ Blessed be tbe man,’
as Sancbo Panza says of sleep, that first
invented turkeys—though, to my taste,
it would be better if they all ran about,
ready boiled, swimming in oysters and
gravy. But to my tale.
“When I was about twenty—that was
in the year 18—, contemporaneous, I
believe, with your grandfather’s mar
riage—X knew as pretty a girl as ever
Bewed a sampler on week-days, or
earried her prayer-book to church on
Sundays.
"Bella Belgrave was the beauty of
the district. Her step was such as a
dryad’s might be supposed to be ; her
eyes w»re as dazzling as the sun at
noon-day ; her lips were as fragrant as
strawberries, and twice as sweet; and
her voice—sir, if yon could have heard
it yon would have fancied that a night
ingale had nestled in her throat, or that
Ht. Cecilia herself was come down from
Heaven. At twenty, a man falls in love
as naturally as be takes to smoking ;
and be does both, I suppose to prove
himself full grown. Well, I soon lost
my heart to Bella. Nor was my suit
hopeless. I am haudsome yet, as you
see—don’t laugh at me, you young
scapegrace—and of course, I was hand
some at twenty I wrote poetry, too,
which won girls’ hearts then just as a
mustache does now ; and I had a pretty
little fortune—so I wassoon the accept
ed lover of Bella.
"Bella possessed bnt one fault—she
had a dose of a temper. Now, a little
sharpness it. a wife may occasionally be
very excellent, jnst to spice the monot
ony of matrimony, as mustard spices
beef ; but too much of it is as bad as
spilling the contents of a whole pepper
box in your plate when yon have just
taken the last bit of what was nice on
the table, Nat that Bella was what is
called quick tempered—l often wish
she had been—for it is better to blow
off superabundant steam now and then,
than to keep it screwed stnbliornly
down, till, some day, a grand explosion
takes place, that sends everything to
kingdom come. Unfortunately, Bella
took oflence easily, and then ‘nursed
her wrath to keep it warm.’ She had
been so much petted, that nothing
short of abject slavery on the part of a
lover would suit her; and i’faith, I
grew t'red at last, as yon shall hear.
,'One day I had been singing to her
a ballad she bad asked me to write
some of her music, when one of her
CHARLOTTE, MECKLENBURG CO., N. C., JULY 22, 1882.
friends came in—a dashing little crei
tnro sho was—since a great-grand
mother, my lad, with three hundred
and fifty lineal descendants, egad!—and
I, as in duty bound, did my best to be
agreeable Scarcely, however, had the
visitor gone, when Bella, with a face
like a thunder cloud, began:
“Mighty sociable yon and Alioe
Green are”she said; “I suppose you’re
half in love with her still? I always
hoard you were her most devoted ad
mirer.” • •
"Now Belle,” I said, “don’t be jealous
M
"Jealous!” sho exclaimed, stamping
her little foot, while her eyes flashed
fire; "it is time to be jealous, sir, when
every pretty fAce yon meet tempts you
to neglect me. Bnt I'm not jealous—
I’m only ashamed of you sir.”
“My dear, lovely creature,” I began
again, trying to take her hand. Bnt
she jerked it pettishly away.
"Don’t dear me,” she broke forth—
"yon know you don’t love me; you never
come here more than once a day, while
Harry Saville, whom I dismissed for
you—more fool I—used to be here
three times a day, and always dined
with us on Sundays.
“I began to grow red in the faoe, I
assure yon, at being thus talked to; bnt
I mastered my rage—you know I’m a
meek man; it’s because of that I was
chosen president of the peace society—
and said meekly, "Bella dear, don’t be
foolish! I love yon better than all the
rest of your sex put together; but you
musn't expect me to neglect, nay, in
sult by my rudeness every other woman
I meet. Once for all, let this be under
stood between us.”
“Women’s rights were not yet
thought of, my boy, and wives were ex
peoted to obey their husbands, as nature
aud Scripture command. I deemed it
high time for asserting my prerogative,
and spoke accordingly. ‘Yes I’ I re
peated, ‘you are anjust; and yen ask too
mnch, my dear Bells
‘ She made no answer, but sat sullen
and sulky I again attempted to take her
hand, and, thinking I had spoken too
harshly, used a tone of mild persuasion.
Bnt she only replied by jerking her
band away, and removing her chair
from me. I expostulated with her, I
told her bow idle was her jealously,
but, the more earnestly I defended
myself, the further she hitched her
chatr round, until she brought its buck
directly against that of mine.
"I now gave up explanations, and sat
silent. Her pettishness began to open
my eyes. She had always been un
reasonably exacting; her vanity for ever
ran ahead of possible attentions; and
tho jealousy, thns unjustly entertained,
yet continually smothered by her sul
len temper was now finally come to a
crisis. As I stole an occasional glance
over my shoulder, I saw no longer any
beauty in that sulky face. My love
was fast changing to anger. I asked
myself why I had submitted so long to
her tyrany.
"Yet fearing that I might be also in
tbe wrong, though nnooncious how, I
made my last effort, after we had sat for
some time in silenoe, to conciliate her.
For this purpose, 1 threw my hand over
my shoulder, and dangling my glove so
as to let it playfully strike heir head, I
said, smiling and speaking gayly, ‘A
penny for your thoughts, Bella. Gome,
forgive and forget. We’ve had a very
pretty quarrel, now let’s make it up.
You know the making up is always the
sweetest part of it.’ And, as I spoke, I
wheeled my chair around, and would
have put my arm around her as of old.
“Did yon ever sco a tigress in a fury ?
If not, you’ve no idea how Bella looked
then. She had been sitting, pouting
and pnlling at the chain to which was
attached my miniatnre ; she now sprang
to her feet, her eyes emitting fire like
an electric machine in the dark, and
her whole countenance distorted with
passion.
“ ‘Unhand me, sir,’ she cried, ’how
dare you touch me after having insulted
bu? Leave the house this instant, sir.”
"I bad borne a good deal; I was not
going to endure any more. 1 had never
dreamed that my charmer had snch a
temper. I replied, hanghtily:
“ ‘As you please, mils, but if Igo
now, remember, I go forever.’
"She became white as death for an
instant—l had spoken firmly, and she
knew me to be resolnte but directly
her face grew redder than ever, and,
with a jerk, breaking the miniatnre
from its chain, she cast it into atoms at
my feet.
“ ‘X discard you as I discard that,’ the
hissed between her teeth. • Never come
here again!'
“My eyes darted lightning at her. I
was, for once in my life, in a towering
passion ; but I remembered that I was
a gentleman, and, therefore, controlled
my tongue. I merely bowed low, bade
her good morning, and walked from the
house.”
“ Aud is that all, Jeremy ?”
" All. She repented the next day,
and sent a verbal message to me, but I
took no notice of it. Forgave me, egad!
Yet it was long before I cured myself
entirely of my passion, I often found
myself on the point of going back to
to her ; but, in such moments of weak
ness, I called up the vision of her face
inflamed with passion, and thought
what a precious life I should lead ; f my
wife was to treat me to such exhibitions
every now and then, as I felt sure
Bella would if I married her. She
actually did drive her first husband
into being a drunkard, but ber second
was too tough for her. He had buried
three wives, and knew how to manage
viragos. He said nothing to her when
she got into a passion, and, conse
quently, in three years she fretted her
self to death. And now, my dear fellow,
take another cheroot, and I’li ring for
coffee.”
“And tbe picture was painted to com
memorate yonr escape?”
“Just so.”
The Power of Music.
On one occasion, when young Chopin
had been traveling for several days in
the slow fashion of German diligencies,
he was delighted and surprised on stop
bing at a small post-house, to discover
a grand piano-forte in one of the rooms,
and still more surprised to find it in
tune—thanks probably to the musical
taste of the postmaster’s family. He
sat down instantly and began to impro
vise in his peculiarly happy manner—
cne by one the travelers were attracted
by the unwonted sweet sounds, one of
them even letting his beloved pipe go
out in his ecstacy. The postmaster, his
wife, and his two daughters joined the
group of listeners. Unmindful of his
audience, of the journey, the lapse of
time, and everything but the music,
Chopin continued to play and his com
panions to listen in rapt attention, when
they were suddenly roused by a sten
torian voioe which made the windows
rattle, calling out: “The horses are
ready, gentlemen!’’ The postmaster
roared out an anathema against the
disturber—the postilion—and the pas
sengers cast angry glances at him.
Chopin started from biß seat, bnt was
instantly surrounded by Lis audience,
who entreated him to continue. "But
we have been here some time,” said
Chopin, consulting his watch, "and are
due in Posen already. ” “Stay and play,
noble yonug artist,” cried tho post
master; “1 will give yon couriers’
horses if you will only remain a little
longer.”
"Dobe persuaded,” began tbe post
master’s wife, almost threatening the
artist with an embrace. What could he
do but resume his place at the instru
ment? When at last he paused, the
servant appeared with wine; the host’s
daughter served the artist first, then
the travelers, then the postmaster pro
posed a cheer for the mnsioian, in which
all joined. The women, in their grati
tude, filled the carriage pockets with
the best eatables and wine the house
contained, and when at last the artist
rose to go, his gigantic host seized him
in his armß and bore him to his carriage.
Long years afterward Chopin would re
call this little incident with pleasure,
and declare that the plandits of the
press had never given him more delight
than the homage of these simple, music
loving Germans.—[Good Words.
WORDS OF WISDOM.
In the battle of life no man can win by
firing blank cartridges.
The most brilliant qualities become
useless when they are not sustained by
force of character.
The idle man travels so slowly that
even poverty easily overtakes him at
the first torn of the road.
We cannot conqner fate and necessity,
but we oan yield to them in snch away
as to be greater than if we conld.
The mind profits by the wreck of
every passion, and we may measure our
road to wisdom by the sorrows we have
undergone.
As selfish and ill-bred as the mass of
mankind are, I prefer to live with them
rather than go into solitnde and try to
live with myself.
This old German proverb is worth
practicing : “ Honor the old, Instruct
tbe yonng, consult the wise, and bear
with the foolish.”
Inquisitive people are the fnnnels of
conversation ; they do not take in
anything for theii own nse, bnt merely
to pass it to another.
The discovery of truth by slow,
progressive meditation is taleDt. In
tuition of the trnth, not preceded by
peroeptible meditation, is genius.
He is a great simpleton who imagines
that the obief power of wealth is to
supply wants. In ninety oases ont of a
hnndred it creates more wants than it
supplies. Money and contentment do
not always go hand in hand.
Penny royal, distributed in places
frequented by roaohee, will drive them
•way.
FOR THE FAIR SEX.
Fashion*.
Dotted foulards, trimmed with white
embroideries, will be mnch worn for
morning dresses at fashionable resorts.
Dull green and coppery reds are
among coming colors. London ladies
wear long floating bows of ribbon on
the left shoulder.
The round hats, now worn, are ex
ceedingly picturesque in shape, and .a
profusion of colored plumage adds to
their attractiveness.
Laced boots, for some time worn
abroad, and being revived here, both in
stout material for long tramps in the
country and in fine kid for the street.
In tbe fashionable coiffure the hair is
arranged in a simple coil at the back,
with the front slightly waved and with
a fluffy fringe falling over the brow.
Darned embroidery, i. e., filling in
the ground and leaving the design in the
color of the material, is a popular sort
of needlework at the present time.
Shirred round hats are made of the
polka-dotted white and ecru muslins
that are so popular for neckerchiefs
The orown and brim are formed of many
small puffs, that are drawn together on
rattans, and the tri aiming is a handker
chief or fichu with embroidered dots
aud scolloped edges arfanged around
the crown, with the square ends knotted
in an Alsacian bow in front.
After spun silk hose, the first choice
are the lisle-thread stockings, which
come in all the new shades of mastic,
crushed strawberry, silver gray, deep
orange, bronze, laurel-green, Burgundy,
cadet blue, and claret, as well as the
more delicate shades of water-green,
pearl, cameo, flesh, mauve, and many
other exquisitely delicate tints. Black
hoes are in great demand, as well as
those of dark green and nuns’ gray,
three shades are in high vogue with
ladies of fine tastes.
New. find Note, for Women.
Girls have gone to painting carriages
in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Miss Sarah E. Whitney was ordained
at Algnna, lowa, on the third instant, at
the fifth annnal meeting of the lowa
Association of bJtiitarianß.
Mrs. S. J. Baxter and Mrs. H'len
Scott, of Plymouth, Indiana, are suc
cessful business women, each carrying
on large millinery and notion stores.
Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, oi Min
nesota, a member of the Duluth school
board, has invented a simple but excel
lent ventilating apparatus for the Bchool
room.
Mrs. J. It. Hoag reports that nearly
all the American women in the south
ern p.-rt of Gage county, Nebraska,
where she ciijulated a petition for
woman suffrage, Bigned it.
Miss Lelia Stout, of Argos, Indiana,
is acting as night operator for the Peru
and Chicago railroad at that point, until
she obtains her majority, at which time
she is prepared to be admitted to the
bar as an attorney-at-law.
One of south Georgia’s most popular
society ladies, a resident of Lowndes
county, has cleared this season on an
acre and a half truck farm over two
hnndred and fifty dollars. Sho super
tended its cultivation in person.
Maria Mitchell, professor of astron
omy in Vassar College, has received tbe
degree of LL.D., from Hanover college,
at Madison, Indiana. This is, we be
lieve, the first instance in which the
degree of LL.D, has been conferred
upon a woman.
Miss Forney, daughter of the late
Colonel Forney, of Philadelphia, is one
Os the editors of Progress, beqneathed
to her and to her brother by its founder.
These children, who seem to have inher
ited their father's talents as well as his
newspaper, are faithfully trying to carry
out his ideas.
The Des Moines “Register,” in speak
ing of the conrage shown by tho women
during the recent storm at Grinnel!,
says ; “It is notable that the women
were more composed than the men,
They endured the storm better, and can
tell more of it, and talk mure col
lectedly about it now.”
The fiist college in Canada to grant
the degree of B. A. to a woman was that
of Mt. Allison, in New Brunswick, at
its recent convocation. Mias Harriett
Starr Stewart was the fortunate young
lady. She wore the nsnal college cap
and gown as she came in with her fellow
graduates, and her well prepared ora
tion was received with applanse.
The size and weight of the human
brain are absolutely greiter than in
any animals except the elephant and the
larger whales. The brain of tbe elephant
is said to weigh from eight to ten
pounds, and that of a large flnneT whale
between five and six pounds. Relative
ly to the bulk and weight of the body,
the brain of man is exceeded in size
only in some small birds and mammals.
ER.
W. C. SMITH, PnMcr.
A Dream.
O’er land and sea the peaceful hash
Os midnight’e dreamy hoar
Lay calmly, as my restless goal,
Drawn by gome mystic power,
Did wander through that voiceless realm
Where blooms the lotus tree,
And resting ’neath the Bilent ehades,
Found love, and joy, and thee.
Dull daylight’s weight of broken vowe.
And buried lovo, and pain,
Fell from my heart, and thon didst seem "
To be mine own again.
And life was love, and love was life,
The cruel past was dead;
Thy tender lips were close to mine,
Whemlo! the vision fled.
Life many a bitter trouble gives
That saddened hearts forget,
Bnt one that never ceasing lives
• Unwearied—is Regret.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
No persons are more empty than
those who are fall of themselves.
The first appearance of ootton as an
article of commerce was a shipment oI
seven bales from Charleston, 8. 0., in
1767.
Mississippi has 427,689 children be
tween the ages of six and twenty years.
There are 76,187 more blacks than
whites.
Sngar-cane produced in Louisiana
and Mississippi occnpies 150,000 acres,
and yields annually 208,750 hogsheads
of sngar.
Seventy gold mines are at work in
Georgia. The belt in which the mines
are said to exist is expected to produce
this year $3,000,000 worth of gold.
Murderers in France are frequently
compelled, in addition to death or the
galleys, to pay a heavy compensation in
money, when they have It, to their vio
tim’s family.
In 1834 all the table cutlery used in
the United States was imported from
England. To-day, of an annnal con
sumption amonnting to $2,500,000
worth, not more than eight per cent,
comes from England.
One of the many carious facts to be
found in the census reports is that the
number of working oxen in nse on
farms in the United States has decreased
twenty-five per cent, since 1870.
The leading industries of Pittsburg
required, last year, $76,000,000 capital,
employed nearly 57,000 hands, and
turned out over $84,000,000 of natural
and mannfactnred merchandize.
Forty thousand dollars’ worth of
spruce chewing-gum is gathered in
Maine every year. The clear, pure
lumps are worth one dollar a pound. In
the large mill cities of Massachusetts
the girls consume enormous quantities,
one dealer selling one thousand fonr
hundred dollars in a year.
HUMOROUS.
A volume of water cannot ba called
dry reading.
“Ma, will my little brother always be
younger than I am?” “Yes, darling.”
“That’ll be nice." “Why, lovely?’
"Because, then I can always lick him I”
Solomon’s old proverb, “There is
nothing new nnder the sun,” has recent
ly been revised. It now reads, "Every
pretty girl has been some otherjfellow’s
sweetheart,”
There is no end of suggestions offered
to the lowa farmers as to how they
might escape the fnry of fntnre torna
does, bnt no one has yet advised them
to build their houses under their
cellars.
It was in the cabinet-maker's shop,
and a party of strangers were looking at
the different labor-saving devices. One
gentleman, very short-sighted, had
tarried at tbe bench across the room.
He was examining a circular saw that
was whizzing with lightning-like rapid
ity. Absorbediy interested in the pieoe
of mechanism, his face drew nearer and
nearer to the crael teeth tearing round
and round with remorseless energy. At
this instant his friends tom about.
They see his danger. Inevitably the
gap grows smaller and smaller. Spell
bound, they are unable to utter a sound.
They cannot endnre to see their friend
torn and lacerated. Instinctively they
shnt their eyes. Then comes the awful
jar of the collision. There is a whirling
sonnd and a crash A shudder runs
through them aIL The next instant
they hear the voice .of the cabinet
maker: “Os course yon will pay for
that saw. sir.” Their friend bid es
caped uninjured. Bnt the saw was
shattered. It had struck his cheek. He
was a commercial traveler.
A curious instance of internal vegeta
ble growth has been recorded by M.
Lebl. Some potatoes kept in a cellar,
and from which the sprouts were
removed as fast as they formed, were
split open after a time and found to con
tain small, but perfectly shaped tubers.