CHARLOTTE MESSENGER.
VOL. I. NO. 10.
The Postman.
The postman up the village street
Should come this hour. Alas for mo 1
I hoar no tread of nearing feet,
No sound save wind and wandering bee.
TJio long vines stir; how dim the room !
A singie ray Blants by my chair ;
An insect, soaring in the gloom,
Liko a chance firefly flashes there.
Be silent, heart! Adown the street
The postman loiters on his way ;
The grass is green the flowers are sweet;
The waving branches bid him stay.
Perchance his love trips down the path.
(So merely human, could ho haste?)
Sweet, shining, hazel eyes she hath,
Sweet lips in dazhng carmine traced.
The postman comes ! At last, his feet!
Oli lagging steps, ho faint, so far !
Advance, lest my poor heart should beat
Its warm, imprisoning walls ajar.
He nears the gate ; his coat of gray
And leathern bag make oath to it.
Where is my lotter ? Hush I sway,
A thousand lights before me flit.
The postman paces up the street
With quickened steps. It cannot bo
An anxious face he dreads to meet ?
P n cannot guess my misery.
The room is dint; the long vinos stir—
Bhut out the sunny single ray ;
Stifle hopes that fruitless wero, ’•*
To wait another weary day.
AT THE OLD RED FARM-HOUSE.
People called Lela Brownson ‘ 'pecu
liar.” Perhaps they were right; but
then a girl with seventy-five thousand
dollars of her own when she is ten days
old, and five hundred thousand more
before she is fifteen years, has almost a
right to he peculiar. To be an heiress
is enough to muke a girl different from
other girls; but to be a beauty as well,
and also possess a merry, cheerful,
laughter-loving, generous nature—sure
ly a creature so gifted could Indulge in
almost any whim or caprice, and be
counted blameless by her three hundred
and one dear friends.
Lela certainly claimed her privilege,
and did pretty much what seemed good
in her own eyei. She had a guardian,
of course—an easy-tempered man, who
loved his orphan niece very dearly, but
was too much devoted to business to
look after her very closely.
Another relative, a matron lady, pre
Bided over the household of the heiress
since the death of her father, which
event took place when she was fifteen
years old. Mrs. Malcom was the widow
of a rather eminent Scottish artist—an
excellent lady. She also indulged Lela,
and, being childless, loved her with all
the strength of a heart intended by God
to be "motherly.”
"I want to go somewhere this summer
where there is nobody, Aunt Nellie,”
said Lela, one bright spring morning,
as she gazed through the window of her
borne.
"Somewhere where there is nobody?"
replied Mrs. Malcom, with slightly ele
vated eye-brows.
“Yes, some place where there ain’t a
soul ? lam going to study like—like
fun. Aggie Austin learned Spanish last
Reason while she was in such a lovely
farmhouse, and used to make hay, and
got all burned up with the snn, tile way
Dio Lewis says is good for you; and I’m
going to do the.very same thing this
season.”
"Cm! Yon knew Agnes Austin is a
very poor girl, and is going to be a
teacher. Ido not see the necessity for
you to bury yourself in that way.”
“Aunt Nellie, you don't know how
siok and tired I am of being the rich
Miss Brownson. I overheard that Mrs.
Selkirk say last night: 'Oh, Brown
son’s pills! Are you in agony ?' making
fun of poor papa’s advertisement. Yes,
I am going away, all by myself, and I
am not goin ? to take anything but the
very plainest dresses—calicoes and ging
hams—and I may play the part of the
poor girl. Now, everyone who looks at
me or speaks to me, thinks of ponndn
and peace, and Brownson’s patent medi
cines.”
“By yourself, Lela? Do not you
want me to go with you ?
“No, Aunt Nellie, Ido not. If you
go, there is a nameless atmosphere of
wealth about you; no one would ever
believe I was poor. You must go to
Saratoga, as usual, and if I get tired
of rusticating I’ll run along and join
70U.”
“Well, I suppose you mnbt have your
own way, as usual,’’ said Mrs. Malcom,
reluctantly.
"Os course I must—decidedly. I will
be Little 80-Peep, who lost her sheep,
and you will be quite surprised to learn
how few admirers I shall find, once I
am perfectly clear of the pills and liver
pads. I want to find just how lovable
Lela Brownson is without the filthy
luore that arises from the ills that flesh
is heir to-”
CHARLOTTE, MECKLENBURG CO., N. C., AUGUST 26, 1882.
“Another of your whims, dear,” said
Mrs. Malcom, with a half sigh. “Well,
I hope no harm will come of it.”
“Harm, Aunty Nellie ? What possi
ble harm could come of it ? ”
“ I don’t know. Somehow I do not
like the idea. If you give your name,
people will be sure to guess who you
are.”
“ Well, then, I won’t give my name.
I’ll call myself Lela—Lela I’ll
take your name, Aunt Nellie—Lela
Malcom.”
* * * * *
The sun was setting among the white
birch-trees behind the old red farm
house—the homestead of the Parkei
family, near North Attleboro’—as an an
cient buggy drew up, and a young lady
stepped out.
“ I declare, Aunt Mabel, here’s the
boarder come a’ready I ” exclaimed
Daisy, Mrs. Parker’s rosy-oheeked
niece.
‘' I declare—so it is! Well, Daisy, go
and ask her in ; I can’t quit the fire till
the bread’s out.”
Half-shyly, half-gladly, Daisy obeyed.
She wanted to see the new boarder, and
yet she felt timid.
Miss Austin, the young lady who bad
spent the previous summer with them,
had highly recommended Miss Malcom
—a nice, quiet girl, who wanted to
study and enjoy the advantages of
fresh air, new milk and berries. Agnes
Austin had smiled to herself as she
penned the letter, thinking how soon
the ’'"lie would tire of the old red
farmhoU
Tea in the i'teben was a new experi
ence to Lela. She’ watoued tt" amount
of home-made bread and tea tnal so
rapidly disappeared with astonishment.
She drank fresh, creamy milk, ate
fresh strawberries, and admired the
red flush that came and went so rap
idly on Daisy’s round cheeks. She
retired early, and rose next morniug
when she heard the first stir in the
house. Ou consulting her watch, she
was surprised to find that the hour was
fire.
“Dear me, wbat shall I do till break
fast time ?” she said to herself. "I’ll
take a book, and sit down beside a pile
of hoy.”
The wish was hardly formed when
it was carried out. Seated by the hay,
book in hand, she watched the chang
ing colors on the dewdrops, the shift
ing lights among the birch-trees, and
the clouds passing out of sight before
the ardent gaze of the sun.
A manly footstep roused her from
her reverie. A tall, dark man stood
before her, dressed in a loosely-fitting
suit of gray, with a soft felt bat pulled
over his grave, brown eyes, and a book
in his hand also.
“ Have I taken your seat?” inquired
Lela. preparing to rise.
“Yes and no. I sit there at this
hour usually, but the seat is not
mine.”
“ Well, you may have it, if you like.
I think I will go and walk through that
grove;”
" Indeed, I will not occupy the spot
if I drive you-from it. Is not there room
for both of us ? ”
Lela did not know what to say or do.
She wondered if this was Mr. Parker'
her host. But no ; if that was the case
she certainly would have met him at
supper the night before. Perhaps the
Parkers had a grown-up sou. This man
appeared to be about twenty-four yeara
of age, and somehow he had not the
look of a rustic.
She stole a glance at his book. It
was a medical work. He was very
quiet, and Lela studied his face for
some time. A very good face, she
thought it—resolute and. perhaps, a
little stern.
Suddenly he looked up, and caught
her regarding him steadily, smiled
slightly as she looked abashed, and
began to talk. How well he talked—
speakiDg on all sorts of subjects I He
had travelled, and, before she was
aware of it, had drawn from Lela an
account of her one visit abroad.
"It is breakfast-time,” said the
stranger, rising and offering his hand
to assist Lela to do like. " I suppose
you are staying at Parker's ? ”
•' Yes.”
“ I heard Daisy say they expected a
friend of Miss Austin’s to spend the
summer.
He was one of the family then. But
no, for when he entered Mrs. Parker
hailed him with a friendly “Good morn
iag, Mr. Stndley.” •
They took their plaoes at the table,
and the conversation became general.
Mr. Stndley could talk as well to the
farm people as he had done to her, and
was as well posted on other topics as
on travel. Without bis hat be was
finer-looking than with it. An earnest,
tbonghtfnl face, wonderfully attractive
to Lola, who was thoroughly tired of
society young men.
Days passed, and Lela did not tire of
the red farm house. She did not study
muob, however, though she had in
formed Frank Stndky that aho was
preparing for the profession of a
teacher. How her cheeks burned
when she thought she had told a false
hood I
Four weeks since Lela arrived at the
farmhouse,and she still lingered,thongh
she received letters almost every day
from Mrs. Malcom, urging her to join
her many friends at the seaside.
“I wonder why I like to remain here,"
she said to herself, glancing over one of
these epistles at the table, where the
family were assembled to breakfast.
“Well, Mrs. Parker, I must leave you
on Monday.”
Frank Stndley was the speaker. A
pang shot through Lela’s heart; the
words seem an answer to her unspoken
question.
“Yes—dear me, how the time flies—
yes, I suppose you must. Well, this is
your last examination, isn’t it?”
“Yes. When you see me again I
shall be a full-blown M. D.,’’ he return
ed, laughingly.
The next day was Sunday, and Lela
attended church. She was simply
dressed, as indeed she had been during
her whole stay. In the afternoon she
wrote some letters, and in the evening
went to ohurch again, accompanied by
all the Parker family.
She had not seen Mr. Stndley during
the whole day, and felt a delicacy about
inquiring for him.
Daisy walked beside Lela, and after
about half the distance to the church
had been accomplished, began of her
own accord to give her fuller informa
tion about their other guest than she
had ever had before.
He had spent four summers with
them. He was studying medicine uuder
grea’.difficulties, for he was vory poor.
She believed he was engaged to be mar
ried to Miss Ausiiu.
How cold Lsla grew wnoi she heard
this; how dull and dark the tvU'ght
seemedl
“They got acquainted right here in
our house,” said Daisy, triumphantly.
They were now in chnrch, and Lela
saw Stndley sitting in a pew near her.
His eyes met hers, and rested kindly
on her pale face, for she had tnraed
white, the pain in her heart was so
keen.
She knew very little about the ser
mon, listening to it in a dazed manner
with great apparent attention, while in
trnth her thoughts were far away with
Aggie Austin, the fortunate possessor
of Studley’s affections—Aggie, the girl
she had pitied because she was poor!
Oh, wbat words could describe how she
now envied her?
‘ ‘Aunt Nellie said harm would come
of it, and so it has," she said to herself
bitterly.
When the service was over, Lela
found Stndley beside her as they passed
out of churoh, and he continued beside
her as they walked home under the stars.
He was unusually silent till they reach
ed the little gate; then he said sudden
ly, in a voice unlike his own:
“Miss Lela, will you walk on with
me? I have something to say to you.”
She was too much agitated to speak,
but she passed the gate.
“In the first place, I must tell you
that I correspond with Aggie Austin,
and she has told me who you are. I
can't plead ignorance as an exense for
my madness, and yet I must give way
to it so far as to tell you. I love you
with my whole heart—l, a penniless
man! Yon are silent; it is my most
meroiful answer. Well, I will only say
farewell. We will never meet again.
God bless youl”
He wrung her hand and tnmed to
leave her, his face ashy grey in the star
light, despair in his strong, manly
heart.
As he walked away, Lela fonnd her
voice, and called after him faintly:
"Mr. Stndley, I—”
“What!”
Joy was in the tone, though no other
word was uttered. And what joy was in
his face when she held out her hands
to him, saying fondly:
“Yon cannot love me half ao well as
I love yon, for I am not worthy of such
love.”
When Mrs. Maleom was introduced
to Lela's intended husband, she was
satisfied, and rejoieed that no greater
harm had come of Lela's summer spent
at the old red farm-honse.
The Sullivan farm in Illinois, once
ten miles by seven, but afterward
reduced to 20,000 acres, has at last been
sold in small tracts- Ex-Governor
Snllivan originally bought it at forty
cents an acre, having brought about its
classification by the Government as
swamp land. Me was at one time rated
at three millions, bnt died insolvent,
having failed to make snoh tremendous
farming profitable.
She was a lady of culture. She stood
watching a boat loaded with iee.
“What is that boat loaded with ?”
“Ioe," was the reply. "Oh, my I” she
exclaimed, in surprise; “if the horrid
stuff should melt, the water would sink
the boat!”
The Origin of Tolmceo,
There has been not a little research
in regard to the first discovery and use
of tobacco, bnt the snbjcct is still en
veloped in the cionds and smoke cf
uncertainty. It has been claimed that
the nse of tobaoco was known in China
from very remote antiquity, as it has
been very extensively cultivated there
and in Japan, and in some of the oldest
pieces of carving and porcelain paint
ings much the same pipe as that now
used by the Chinese in smoking tobacco
is represented. Some conjecture that
the North American Indians immigrated
from Asia byway of Behring straits to
the American continent, bringing
tobacco and certain Asiatic customs
with them. The name tobacco or toba
go, is variously derived ; by some from
Tabacco, a province of Yucatan ; by
others from Tobago, one of the Carib
islands ; by a few from Tobaseo, in the
gnif of Florida; by Humboldt from the
Carib name of the tube or pipe in which
the Caribs smoke the herb, and which
name he thinks the early discoverers of
the West Indies transferred to the plant
itself, and disseminated through all
Europe. When Columbus came he
found the red man smoking the pipe,
and he is smoking it yet, thongh it is
not always the calnmet, or pipe of
peace. He found some tribes who made
the weed into cylindrical rolls and
smoked these, wrapped in strips of
maise leaf. Had the nse of tobacco
been common in China, even from re
mote antiquity, as some claim, it seems
very probable that its nse wonld have
spread from there to other nations,
especially when we remember with what
rapidity it extended after its discovery
in this conntry, fonr centuries ago. And
this rapid spread was despite the efforts
of kings, popes and sultans to prevent
it. King James I. of England issued a
‘'Counterblasts to Tobacco," declaiming
against it as “loathsome to the eye,
hateful to the nose, hurtful to the
brain, dangerous to the langs, and in
the black, stinkic" fames thereof near
est resembling the horrible Stygian
smoke of the pit that is bottomless.''
Popes Urban VIII. and Innocent IX.
fulminated against it the thnnders of
the chnrch, and priests and snltaus of
Turkey declared smoking a crime;
Amnrath IV. punished its nse by the
most cruel deaths, the pipes of the
smokers being thrust through their
noses; and in Russia, in the early part
of the seventeenth century, the notes of
smokers were cut off. Bnt in spite of
all this, the nse of tobacco rapidly in
creased wherever introduced. Tobacco
gets its botanical name (nicotiana) from
Jean Nicot, who introduced it into
France from Lisbon in 1560.
The Bird of Paradise.
The twelve-wired bird of paradise in
its ad nit male plnmage presents a very
remarkable appearance. The head,
neck and throat are velvety black,
changing in certain lights to a beautiful
pmple. The breast feathers are edged
with metallic emerald green. The back
is olive-green, the primaries and sec
ondaries rich pnrple, the flank and un
dertail coverts bnff. The peculiarity
which suggested a name for the bird is
a curious prolongation of the shafts of
the flank feathers—six on each side,
like long wires. The female does not
possess these, and is altogether much
plainer in plnmage. Mr. Wallace has
described it as frequenting flowering
trees, especially sago palms and panda
ni, sucking the flowers, round and be
neath which its unusually large and
powerful feet enable it to cling. Its
motions are very rapid. It seldom rests
more than a few moments on one tree,
after which it flies off, and with great
swiftness, to another. It has a load,
shrill cry, which can be heard a long
way, consisting of “Cah, cah,” repeated
five or six times in a descending scale,
and at the last note it generally flies
away. The males are solitary in their
habits, although perhaps they assemble
at times, like the trne paradise birds.
WORDS OF WISDOM.
Act-, looks, words, steps, form the
alphabet by which yon spell character.
There is a great art in knowing how
to give without creating an obligation.
He who has filled the measure of his
days has only learned how to begin to
live.
Great things are not accomplished by
idle dreams, bnt by years of patient
study. •
They who presume most in prosperity
are soonest subject to despair in adver
sity.
Don’t covet the possessions of any
man until yon are willing to pay for
them the price which be paid; then
you will not 4 need to oovet them, for
yon can go and get them for yonrseU.
The yonth who begins life with a
modest determination not to fail, and
an earnest purpose to do only that
whirh is right, will succeed as surely aa
patience is united to hit effort and hop*
* ever in hi* heart.
W. C. SMITH, Publisher.
Early Morning.
Without my window in the purple light
I hear the sound of birds among the trees ;
The rustling of wiDgs prepared for flight,
From the soft nest built underneath the cros
The low, far-reaching meadow-lands stretoh
white
And dewy in the dawn*:
Unfurled above them o’er the clustered
sheaves,
The pearly mists are drawn.
The breeze blows sweet that blows at break of
day,
Rich with the soft, dolicions snbtile scent
Os honied clover, gathered on the way
O'er pasture-land, and fields of flowers
that lent .
Their thousand perfumes, o’er new-mown hay
Fresh, cool, upon my brow,
With all the stolen odors strangely blent,
I feel it blowing now.
Long shadows fall across thelong wet grass,
Aa trhough.the breathing and mysterious
hush,
The opal tints grow brighter on the mass
Os clouds hnng in the east; a sn dden gush
Os soDg from wild birds as they swiftly pass
In their aged flight.
And nearer, clearer carol of the thrash
Breaks with the light.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Every county in lowa has a railroad.
The French residents of New York
are about 10,000 in nnmber.
A census of the church-goers of To
ronto, Ont, shows that 44.92 (per cent,
of the population attends churoh, a
percentage higher than that of any
Scotch borongh, and falling behind
only three English cities.
Italian bees gather honey from flowers
which fail to attract black bees, because
the former have a longer tongue, and
are rfble to find honey which is beyond
the reach of the black variety.
The total consumption of peanuts in
the United States in 1878, 1879 and
1880 was 4,373,000 bushels, whioh, at
the average price of sl.lO a bushel, or
five ceffis a ptiiniu; rGallaeu fit Tfhclsfilff
$4,810,300, or an average of $1,603,433
a year. In round numbers 139,936,000
quarts, or 297,872,000 pints, or 559,744,-
000 half-pints were eaten, being an
average of 93,290,666 pints a year.
Nearly the whole supply comes from
Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina.
For the ten years 1870-1880 the total
nnmber of bnahels raised was 9,280,000,
of which Tennessee snpplied 4,200,000,
Virginia 4,385,000, and North Carolina
695,000. Last year's orop was very
short, owing to a drought, but this
year's promises to be the largest ever
knowm
HCMOROUJL
It is said that a pair of pretty eyes
are the best mirror for a man to shave
by. ’Zackly so ; and it is unquestion
ably the case that many a man has been
shaved by them.
A curate once asked a little girl in
the Sunday school: “Who made your
vile body ?” “Mother made the body,’
quickly retorted the child; “I only
made the skirt."
When a yonng lady asked to look at
a parasol the clerk said: "Will you
please give the shade you want ?” "I
expect the parasol to give the shade I
want,” said the yonng lady.
“Are those stars which we see at night
anna?” asked a little boy of his father.
"Yes, my boy.” “Are the shooting
stars sans, too ?'* “No ; the shooting
stars are not snns; they are darters.”
Twenty women of lowa have won
repnte by remaining together for an
boar without speaking a word. As the
sixtieth minute drew nigh, all the men
in the vicinity fled to eßoape the loos
ened torrent that was so near at hand.
How They Looked.
On the Jefferson avenue line the
other day a man with an umbrella and
a woman with a basket were the only
occupants of a car for several blooks.
The man not only stared at her, bnt
rested bis umbrella on his chin and took
a long look. Bhe waa first nervous,
then vexed, and bye-and-bye she oried
ont:
“Why do yon stare at me in this rude
manner ?”
“I am not staring at you to be rude,
madam, bnt simply to study’you.”
“Well. I want yon to stop it”
“Certainly, madam; but I assure you
that I was regarding you in the light of
a piece of statuary.”
“That's all right, air, and I have
been regarding yon in the light of a
baboon, but we’ll both quit regarding
or one of ns will walk the rest of the
way home.”
He turned his head and regarded the
beck end of the hone in the light of
a beautiful landscape, bnt it didn't seem
to nelly satisfy his artistic longings.—
Detroit Free Press.