CHARLOTTE MESSENG
YOL. I. NO. 14.
Wait.
He look 9 at me with eyes so blue—
A little lad just coming eight,
“When shall I be big as you ?’*
“Dear boy,” I auswered, “wait.”
The years hare come, the years have gone
The lad is tall and strong and straight ;
Yet still he asks, “What have I done ?”
“Dear boy,” I answer, “wait.”
“It came at last—that sweet content.
He yearns no longer to be great,
“Dear friend, I know now what you meant,”
He cries, “when you said ‘wait l* ”
A MIDSUMMER FREAK.
"Hands wanted at White’s Dairy
Farm, Eltingville.” We were sitting
in the phaeton in front of Lavand’s Ho
tel at Roseville, when this sign, hnng
oat on the wall, met onr eyes.
I looked from it to Baby; Baby, with
a little laugh in her bine eyes, returned
my gaze. We understood eaoh ether.
"Let ns gol'she said as we drove
off.
•Now?” I asked.
“Nonsense I Os course not; but we
can drive borne, hnnt np some old
dresses and old shoes, make a oonple of
snnbonnets, and to-morrow morning,
when Harry gets away, harness np the
box wagon and try onr lnck. It will be
lots of fun.”
Now be it distinctly understood that
my audacious friend was “wooed an’
married an' a,” while I was a single
yonng woman, accountable only to my
self for my misdeeds.
“And Harry?" I asked.
“We will tell him when we come
back.” i
“But,” I urged again, “what do yon
imagine we will have to do? I have
only the vaguest notions of farm work.
My knowledge has been principally de
rived from story books, and I am afraid
their suggestions are, to say the least,
unpractical. Is it to hnsk com, or pare
apples, or—or—"
‘Pick potatoes, most likely," broke
in Baby. “Never mind what it is ;we
can steal away and go home if we do
not like it.”
“Very well,” I said, and it was set
tled.
Harry took the seven o'olook train
the next morning, with an nnsnspicioas
heart, and his wife and I went home to
begin onr adventure.
Titus was ordered to harness np the
box wagon while we dressed. Two
straight, plain calico skirts we put on
and viewed with much complacency.
My jacket was a loose onq, borrowed
from Sarah, the cook; Baby had ripped
the ruffling off one of her own. Her
snnbonnet was bine, mine a bright
pink. Onr hair we plaited in two
braids down our backs ; onr shoes were
a miracle of holes—l gave a fleeting
thought to Baby’s high French heels.
Farm women did net usually wear
them, I thought; bnt I said nothing.
We langhed till we were exhausted at
the figures we made, bnt decided,
thanks to the snnbonnets, that we were
pretty well disguised.
Away we drove in high glee, amid the
laughter of the servants, who were by
this time pretty well need to onrpranks.
“We will be baok for the half-past
five train,” shoutel Baby, as we tnraed
out at the gate.
“Baby,” 1 said, when we were on the
Anadale road, “do you know where
it is?"
“Which; the farm, or Eltingville?"
“The farm.”
“No, but we can ask.”
And ask we did, and no little amaze
ment we created, as we drove into the
iun-yard, put np the horse, and pro
ceeded the rest of the way on foot—a
wise suggestion of Baby’s. It would
not look right, she said, for working
women to drive np in their own wagon.
Os course I acquiesced.
I wonder did there ever present them
selves at any plaee two snch remarkable
little figures as turned in at White’s
Dairy Farm?
We went past one or two fields, and
met no one; at last we came across a
man with a spade on his shonlder.
“Is this White's Dairy Farm?’ asked
Baby.
“it be,” was the answer.
“Where do they want people to
work?” demanded I, ashamed to let
Bahv do all the talking.
“Oh, yon want a job, do yon?”
Baby'a snnbonnet dropped and quiv
ered. I knew she was speeoliless.
m “Yes,” I said; “where do we go?”
“To that red bnilding over them,
dost down that path and then to the
right.”
We thanked him, and ran on till we
came to a great red bnilding, a sort of
barn, with wide open doors, and within
men and women apparently bard at
work,'sorting and packing fruit
Baby gave my arm a triumphant
squeeze. We could do that
A few turned end stopped at their
work, looking at us curiously, bnt the
CHARLOTTE, MECKLENBURG CO., N. C., SEPTEMBER 23, 1882.
rest kept on, occasionally exohanging a
with one another.
A yonng man stood itv his shirt
sleeves—marvelously white they were,
too—with his baok toward ns, giving
orders to a cartman who was loadings
wagon. 'ln a moment he turned and re
garded ns with a broad stare of aston
ishment.
“Sir,” said Baby, with her eyes on the
ground, “we heard yon wanted hands;
can yon give nB any work?”
Alas! Alas! Baby was more than half
a French woman, and as the clear, orisp,
nn-English tones fell on his ear, the
look ot suspicion on his face became one
of certainty.
“Will yon come this way?” he asked,
leading ns out at the opposite door-way.
“What can yon do?” he added.
“Anything,” I said, as confidently as
I could
He showed ns a pile of frnit which
was to be sorted and pnt into baskets,
and walked away to the first comers.
Baby and I fell to at onoe. She
knew what Bhe was abont, and I worked
nnder her directions.
“Oh, Min,” she said in a whisper,
“we are in a nice scrape if he finds ns
ontl Harry will be so angry.”
“Let ns steal away,” I whispered baok;
“we can do it in a little while.”
Still we kept on, half laughing, half
dismayed, for a oonple of hours, when
onr master, as Baby persisted in calling
him, came back. He might have been
any age between twenty-five and thirty,
tall, straight and handsome. I saw him
glance at Baby’s white, slender fingers,
where, horror of horrors! shone a dia
mond, which from sheer force of habit
she had forgotten to remove.
He looked somewhat surprised at the
quantity of work we had done.
“Yon are getting along famously,” he
said, in an amused tone. Then, “Will
you be so good as to follow me?"
Men did not generally speak that way
to hired belp, bnt we could not in prn
dence refuse; so we followed him to a
little garden where, nnder some trees
that screened them from observation,
we fonnd a bench and rude table.
“Will yon wait here?” be asked, and
touching his hat, went away.
“Well,” I cried, sitting down, “if this
does not beat everything! What does
it mean?”
“It means that he has fonnd out who
we are,” answered Baby, dejectedly.
“I wish we had not come.”
“Never mind,” I said, consolingly;
“it is an adventure, anyhow ; a little
more than we bargained for, that is
all.”
Just then back came “onr master,"
carrying a tray which be deposited on
the table before ns. Onr astonished
eyes took in wine, milk, a cold chicken,
fresh butter, and slices of home made
bread.
“Mrs. Lester,” he said turning to
Baby, “will yon forgive me for recog
nizing yon ? Bnt it was almost neoes
sary ; the men might have been rude,
and it is better that yon should go home
now. Yen are wondering, I dare say,
how I came to know yon, but I have
seen yon quite often driving sronnd the
country with yonr friend. My name is
Roger Carlyle.”
Baby langhed till the tears ran down
her cheeks.
“Mr. Carlyle,” she said, “I am infin
itely obliged to yon. We saw the sign
yesterday at Bossville, and thonght we
would come for the fan of the thing.
Bat I had no idea we wero to have
snch an adventnre. Bat I have an idea
that yon are masquerading vonrself.”
“Well, I am,” he acknowledged. “I
am acting to-day for my uncle, who
owns the place. Bnt will yon not eat
something? Yon mast be hungry."
We were starving, and did fall jnstioe
to the nioe luncheon. While we were
eating he went to the inn for the horse,
and brought him round to ns.
“Good-by," said Baby, as he gave
her the reins ; "and be sore yon come
and see ns. Mr. Lester will be glad to
thank yon.”
He langhed and promised.
“O Biby I” I said, when we were all
on onr way. "What a a-race I”
“Pshaw I” retm ned Baby. “It was
plenty of fnn; nevertheless, we will
not do it again."
As the half-past five train oame in,
two irreproachably dressed young
ladies sat in a pony phiaton, waiting for
Harry Lester.
We told him all abont it after dinner,
and thongh he scolded he had to laugh,
particularly when we donned onr ooe
tnmes to give him an idea of the effect.
One good thing came ont of it all—
onr friendship with Roger Carlyle. He
oame over as he had promised, and gave
Harry a very ludicrous account ot our
proceedings.
Did it ever lead to more than friend
ship ? How curions you are I Perhaps.
—rWaverly Magazine.
Rev. Dr. Robert Pries, ot Vioksburg,
has signified his aeoeptanee of the chair
of history, English literature and
rhetoric in the Southwestern Presby
terian University.
rOR THE FAIR SEX.
Putin Nun.
It is not considered in good taste for
yonng ladies gowned in white to wear
mnoh jewelry. Indeed, high art de
mands none at all.
Mau7e is again a popular shade. It
is to be hoped that it will only be worn
by those to whom it. is becoming, so
tbat the result will not be mauvaise.
Close caps, made entirely of “rick
rack,” are worn by small people. A
lining of pale bine or pale pink, with
strings to match, makes a pretty finish.
A pineapple that exactly follows the
| lnscions frnit in shape is made of ham
mered silver, and fills the arduous po
sition in life of a teapot.
Long stocking mittens, in black, al
mond, lichen-green and white, are liked
for evening wear, and dc much toward
hiding the imperfections of an nnsym
metrical arm.
Ribbon ties hare superseded buttons
on fashionable rqbes de nuit. They in
volve considerable tronble, as they have
to be detached whenever the garments
visit the lanndry.
Only a cook-book wonld appreciate
as a bonnet ornament six small birds
fastened to a small gold spit. O Fash
ion! how many crimes are committed in
thy name!
Aa Artistic Yanas LaSt’a Keoai.
People furnish their rooms now ac
cording to their caprices. The personal
comes out. The ridjh literary young
lady fits np her room with fornitnre of
an antique pattern, with book cases in
dark wood or nak, with a tiled fire-plaoe
and brass andirons, a Venetian mirror,
and deep inxnrions rngs. She has rare
engravings, and a Sevres writing-table.
“Simple bnt choice,” one says on enter
ing. If she is a fashknable belle, her
room will be festooned with pink or
bine silk, covered with laoe, or tnfted
satin let into the walls. Long mirrors
will abound, and the furnitnre will be
of ormoln. The spirit of Pompadour
breathes from this interior ; ft is all
roses and bine ribbons. The artistic
yonng lady has three important caprioes:
a bunch of peacocks' feathers, a brass
pot full of oat-tails, and a medieval
candlestick. These are the essentials.
Japanese fans as a matter of detail; an
easel, a few straight-backed chairs, a
brown curtain embroidered with sun
flowers, and a Persian cat With all
the stiffness, and the preference for a
certain dirty yellow, which has become
the passion of the followers of Cimabne
Brown, these modern rest he tea do some
times make very pretty rooms. They
are quaint and individual, bnt there is
no doubt that the “high artistic craze”
has produced some very ngly effects.
The severe stiffness of the cat-tail has
entered mnch into modern embroidery.
Every one feels for the stork which has
stood so long on one leg
“ The lilies lank and wan.
Each stork and sunflower spray,”
all are stiff and dismal. They are the
pendants to the “lean disciples of
Borne-Jonea.” The Postlethwaites and
Bnnthornes and their female adorers
look like a stork on one leg. The hero
of a modern msthetic comedy says, as
the highest synonym of despair, “I
feel like a room without a dado.”
It is one of the pleasantest caprices
of modern lnxnry that women have
their bedrooms and boudoirs furnished
in colors which will set off their favor
ite dresses, and add china to match the
bedroom.—[Harper's Magazine.
Premiums for Babies.
It is well known that Baltimore
sooietv people form themselves in clnbs
of a dozen or so and give teas and re
ceptions at one or the other's honses
during the winter bnt perhaps it is not
so well known that there exists here an
association, composed often of the most
fashionable yonng married ladies of
which the city can boast, called “The
Sonr Grape Clnb.” It is learned that
the club was formed at Lehman’s Hall
last winter one year ago, during a ger
man given by the Tuesday Club. The
lady members—no gentlemen are ad
mitted to membership—agree to present
to the lucky mother numerous articles
of wearing apparel and infanta’ jewelry
npon the birth of every ehild to one of
its members. This obligation has been
faithfully carried out, and in one in
stance one of the members has received
two sets of prizes. Committees of three
members each on qualification, prises,
and records are appointed yearly, and a
photograph of the “blessed baby” is
furnished each of the members. The
membership is limited to ten, and all
vacancies occasioned by death or resig
nation are filled by ballot by the re
maining members. It is said that the
number of applications for admission to
the clnb is over fifty. The prises are
estimated to be worth over SIOO, and
an of the very best quality.— [ Baltimore
D »J
Bev. Mr. Moody has olosed bis Scottish
campaign.
The Lime-Kiln Club.
“De odder nite de ole man Saleratus
Brown dropped ober to see me,” began
the old man, as Piokles Smith got
through swallowing a ten-penny nail
which he was holding in his month to
cure the backaobe. “He sot down wid
a grant, shoved ont his feet wid a groan,
and remarked dat timee had so changed
dat he didn’t car* to lib anoder day. It
made me narvons ’to h’ar him take on
an* tell how modern felksea war dyin’
off—modern honses no better dan
coffins modern food a pizen to de
system—an’ dat ninety-nine men oat of
ebery hundred war' liars, cheats, an’
thieveß.
“Almos’ ebery day I h’ar some of yon
takin on ’bont de good ole times when
nobody died an’ de front doah ot ebery
honse'stood open. Yon doan’ know
what yer talkin’ ’bout! In de good ole
times de oommon house was ’bont as
comfortable as de oommon hog-pen.
More people had to ride ten miles fnr a
doctor dan a less distanoe, an’ when he
arrove he didn’t kno* bran from broom
sticks. Any sort of a man who knew
Moses from Aaron was good ’nnff fnr a
preacher, an’ de man wid de londest
voice an’ de londest bellow was de bes’
lawyer. Women war 1 freckled and men
went bar’ fated to ahnreh, an’ de sadder
who didn’t bring np his sons wid a
great deal of stern dignity an’ bine
beech gad mixed together expected de
boy to tnrn ont a pirate.
*’ln de good ole times men stole, an’
cheated, an’ lied, an’ played hypocrite,
jist de same ae men do now, an’ if de
women didn’t gad quite so often, dey
gossiped jist as mnch. De man who
sighs fnr de* good ole times, am frowin’
away his breaf, an’ dar am a dim sus
pishnn in my mind dat he am lazy an’
shiftless. De pnsson who ean’t play his
hand wid de world of to-day, am either
light in de head, or wobbly in de knees.
I fnrder desire to add dat de nex’
time I h’ar a member of dis clnb wishin’
far a return of de days when only one
fam’ly on a road ten miles long had an
nmbrella to lend, an’ not one family
onter sixteen could lend a capful o’
sugar widont scrapin’ de bottom of de
box, I shall pnroeed to read him a
lecktnr dat will slant his ears at an
angle of fo’ty-seben degrees."
Indian Girls.
The red maiden entertains as high a
standard of morality as her carefully
nurtured white sister. She is sturdy
and strong, and a good honsewife. She
may not possess New England notions
of cleanliness, bnt she takes not a little
pride in her personal appearenoe, and
in the arrangement of her lodge she dis
plays some crade ideas of taste and a
certain amount of neatness. If she
marries a white man, she. makes him a
good wife as long as she lives with him.
His home is her sole oomfort, and his
comfort her sole ambition. She thinks
of him and for him, and makes it her
stndy to please him and make him re
spect and love her. She recognizes in
him one of a superior race, and by her
dignity and devotion endears herself to
him and straggles to make him happy.
At the agenciee of the npper frontier,
thonsands of men are employed, and it
is not an exaggeration to say that the
majority o( them have Indian wives and
live happily. They are not sought after
by the maidens, for the Indian girl’s
custom is to remain quiet until after the
marriage contract is made and the mar
riage portion paid over. The husband
mnet have the dowry, with which he
must invest his projected mother-in
law before the ceremony takes place.
He must be well known in the tribe,
and able to support a wife; otherwise
he cannot hope to win her. The court
ship is left entirely to the mother, who
makes as good a bargain as she can.
A Singular Blunder.
It is customary in newspaper offices,
says an exohange, when varions tele
graphic or other news comes in, to
write directions for the compositors as
to the disposition to be made of it. For
instanoe, a dispatoh from the seat of
war late at night will be written, “Add
war in Egypt,” meaning tbat this is to
be included with the previous dispatches
on tbat Bnbjeot. The compositor sets
np this direction for the oonvenienoe of
the foreman in “making np,’’ who be
fore patting the item into the "form,”
detaches the direction. Bnt sometimes
he misses it, as he did in the New York
Tribune office the other night, which
next morning announced a vacancy in
Congress in the following fashion:
“Neither of them was in the leeat hart,
bnt Orem died of heart disease after
some little sparring had been done.
Add Oongreseional Nomination.” It
waa a singular blander for snch a news
paper as the New York Tribune to
make.
An exohange aaya that “up in New
Hampshire yon can, for $3.00, purchase
a barrel of cider with a yellow dog
thrown in." Yea, but hang It I who
wanta a barrel ot eider into which a
yellow dog has been thrown ?
ER.
W. c. SMITH, Pilisler.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
The Baptists have 2,000 members in
Russian Poland.
Efforts have been made to ory down
the plain white handkerchief, bnt there
is no doubt that it is always in good
taste and always fashionable.
The Mexican consul at San Fran
cisoo is returning to their native ooun
try many Mexicans who, like hundreds
of people of other nationalities, cannot
find means of support in that oity.
The consumption of tobaeco in
France during the past five years has
averaged 33,000 tons—thrice the con
sumption of 1832. The revenue amounts
to $50,000,000 a year.
The Texas and Pacifio Railroad will
establish experimental farms along its
line next season. The purpose of these
will be to test the availability of lands
for different farming purposes.
The Rev. A. H. Sweetser, of Provi
dence, who left the Universalist for a
Bapt-’st pulpit, is now preaohing with
out salary or emolument, and snrtaina
himself by his prosfession of wood en
graving.
The Methodist Episcopal ministers of
Kentacky have pledged themselves to
work for the defeat of any candidate for
public office who attempts to gain nomi
nation or election by the use of money
or liquor.
Dr. R. G. Alexander, writing in an
English medioal paper, says that neu
ralgia is a disease arising from debility;,
that it i 3 increased by disease, mental
or bodily, bnt is relieved by food, and
sometimes by stimulants. Pure air,
night and day, and periect cleanliness
are advised.
A. B. Martin, of Monnt Oarmel, has
a plant which he calls a coal lily. It is
now in fnll bloom, bearing abont
twenty flowers of a very large size.
The plant possesses many peculiarities,
and among them might be mentioned
its ever-blooming qualities, and also
that no leaves adorn it. The flowers
are entirely odorless, and black as the
coal from which the plant derives its
name.
Charles Slack took John F. Waite's
wife to his home at Van Boren, Miohi
and Waite went after her, accompanied
by a large party of friends, among
whom was a constable bearing a war
rant for Slack's arrest on a charge of
abduction. On the arrival of the mob.
Slack took Waite aside, and asked him
his price for the woman. Waite
thonght SSO was not too mnch, and
Slack regarded it as rather dear, thongh
he pail it, and Waite spent a part in
treating the crowd to whisky.
In 1631 the Lord Mayor, at the in
stance of the Privy Council, took a
careful census of London. The result
showed 130,268 inhabitants. In 1636
what we know collectively as London
contained 700,000 inhabitants. Sir
William Petty estimated that by 1840
London wonld contain 10,718,800 souls,
bnt that it wonld reach its maximnm in
1880, and then begin to deoline ; bnt
while it has reached only half his esti
mate, it shows no sign of decline. The
population of the city proper has de
clined 62,000 in twenty years, and is
20,000 less than in the reign es
James I.
HUMOROUS.
Why are some men meaner than bad
coffee ? Because bad coffee will finally
settle, bnt some men won't,
“ They said I could make either aide
In my cheek a most beautiful dimple
If I cut out a piece ; and I tried,
And it isn't a dim—it'a a pirn—pie 1”
Women’s heads are like safes—yon
ean’t tell how mnch they have in them
by the number of iooka they have on.
“ Help from an unexpected quarter,'
as the tramp remarked when a twenty
five cent piece was handed him by the
lady of the hon-e.
The fashionable maiden chooses heavy
parohment paper. It has added weight
when nsed as a writ of attachment—
i. e., a love letter.
The Grand Maharajah of Calcutta
Got tipsy and fell in the gotta;
He was fonnd by a lackey,
Who shouted, “Oh, craekey 1”
And toted him home on a shutta.
The family were telling riddles one
evening, and the five year-old told this
one:
“ Four little hopper-toads sat on a tree ;
Two hopped off, ami then there were three.”
Nobody could guess it " Well,” she
explained, “ one of them hopped right
back again.” " Who told you that rid
dle?” asked mamma. “Nobody," re
plied the little one. “ I thank it up
myself.”
It must be rather trying to be mar
ried to an emotional actress—to hava
her clutching yon by the throat at
3 AX., and shooting in a hoarse stage
whisper: 11 Sieve t didst look the kit
ohen door? The key—where is it?
Quick I I’ll strangle thee I Didst ley
tne milk piteber on the outer battle
ment ? Aye, me good lord, Fm mad l’*