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CHARLOTTE MESSENGER. VOL. I. NO. 44. THE SILENT LAND. I. Into the Silent Land! Ah! *ho shall lead us tliither ? Clonds in the evening sky more darkly gather, And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand. Who leads us with a gentle hand, Thither, oh! thither, Into the Silent Land ? n. Into the Silent Land ! To yon. ye boundless regions Os all perfection! Tender morning visions Os beauteous souls! The future’s pledge and band! Who in life's battle firm doth stand. Shall be ir Hope’s tender blossoms Into the Silent Land! OT. x 0 I^ind! O Land ! For all the broken hearted, The mildest herald by onr fate allotted, Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand To lead us with a gentle hand Into the land of the great departed, Into the Silent Land! — J. (J. Von Salts. THE BIGGS FAMILY. • So Hiram's folks lias made money, eb’r” said old Mr. Biggs. Miss Paulina Prickett had invited the Biggs family to tea. with hot waf fle-, quince preserves, Sally-lums, an gel cake, and the best quality of young hyson, to celebrate the purchase of a new tea-set—white French china with » gold bank on the edge—in which she had in bilged. Inviting the Biggs family, ai Miss Paulina very well knew, was better than advertising the whole thing in the newspaper, for there was a goodly number of them, anil they always talked to everybody about everything The Biggses sel dom invited company themselves, be cause, like .lolm Gilpin’s wife, they had a frugal mind, hut they always came in iu.l force wherever they were hidden. “ Vi s," said Mrs. Iloratio Biggs, "in the book business, I’m told.” "1 knowed a bookmaker once,” ol>- served Miss Prickett, liberally ladling •ir the golden syrup of the quinces, "as only g it ninety cents a day and found himself.” * The Biggs family had not been like ''r. Watts’ proverbial birds, which “in llieir little nests agreed.” Horatio liiggs ban overreached his two younger brothers in business, and had set up a ” general store ” in Biggsville, out of '.ln result of his sharp practice, with a tall, angular wife, who despised Mrs. f.nke because she had once worked in a factory, and scorned Mrs. Hiram be caus • sh • was a teacher when her hus h mil first met her. Luke Biggs was a oili-li, grinding, miserly sort of fel low, anil Mis. Luke’s chief end and aim in life was to secure enough cash out of her husband to outilress the other matrons and maids of the neigh borhood. Miss Josepha Biggs, the un married daughter, made dresses for "tbr gentcelest families only,” and old Mr. and Mrs. Biggs lived in a wing of the old homestead, and when they wire not quarreling between them selves, made common cause against Mrs. Horatio. Under tho circumstances it was not to be marveled that Hiram Biggs, who had contrived to get an education from his slender share of the family money fa few thousand dollars left by a dis tant relative, and gobbled up at once by the Riggses), and the young wife that he hud married, had found the at mosphere too l ull of disagreiable elec tricity, and removed to New York. " Take my word tor it,” said Mrs. Iloratio Biggs, “you are making a mistake.” . " Don’t you expect us to support Jon when you come baek here without » cent," su’d Mrs. Luke, ruefully sigh mg. • Hiram’s marriage has been his ruin," whispered Mtss Josepha. “I offered to pay his wife fifty cents a 'lay 1 1 help trim dresses tn busy times, hut she declined it." " Klizabeth always was too proud t) put up witli us plain people,” said Mrs. liiggs senior, with the quiet mali e that occasionally develops itself in a mother-in-law. These family details may In some measure account for the animus dis played over the wailles and angel-cake »t Mips Priekett’s tea party that after noon. "Well,” sni.Ti Miss Josepha, "ac cording to my Idea of things, book making ain’t no btlsia ss at all. If it was carpentering now, or the hard ware line, or if Elizabeth had energy enauffh to go into the niilimerv trade. CHARLOTTE, MECKLENBURG CO., N. C., MAY 6, 1883. instead of paying four dollars in good hard money for a spring hat, as she did whsn she was staying here in April 1 But I’ve no faith in their calculations, and never had.” Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Biggs, however, had ambitions which the family never dreamed of. Hiram’s tastes had always been of a refined and literary nature, and several simple stories of rural life which lie lul l ventured to Bend with fear and trembling to a popular month ly magazine had been accepted and liberally paid for. And Elizabeth, though she could not trim hats, and abhorred the dressmaking business, had a delicate fancy with her pencil in illustrating the ideal dreams of others, and she too tried her luck, and succeeded in ttie artistic world, much to her own amazement. And as time went on their good fortune became more pronounced. Mr. Biggs wrote a satirical ’novel which had a wide and brilliant circulation ; Mrs. Biggs il lustrate! a popular poem which was brought out in an edition de luxe. And the young couple became the fashion. The Biggses of Biggsville, not being literary, were a long time in finding out that their kinspeople were suc ceeding in the world. At first they declined to credit the thing at all, hav ing a settled idea that the “book-mak ing business,” as they persisted in call ing it, was but a grade above the avo cation of ragpicker. But when at last they realized matters they decided that Hiram and Elizabeth ought to be encouraged. "I’ve never been to New York,” said old Mr. Biggs. “Folks tell me its quite a stirring place. I guess I’ll go and stay a spell with Hiram’s folks. And it’ll be a good opportunity for mother to buy herself that new ala packy gownd she’s been cacklin’ about this ever so long.’’ “ I don’t see why I shouldn’t sec the world as well as other folks,” re marked Mrs. Biggs senior. “ I shouldn’t wonder if I went along too, to get a look at the fall fashions,” said Miss Josepha. “ Well, while we’re about it.” sug , gested Mrs. Horatio, “ why don’t we make up a party and get excursion tickets cheap ? I’ve always wanted to see what the city was like myself, only I don’t care about paying hotel prices.” Mrs. Luke entered with ardor into the scheme, add the old man sat down, with a single sheet of fibrous paper, a muddy inkstand and a stumpy steel pen tied on a stick with thread, to concoct a letter, in whicli he formally notified “Hiram’s folks” of the pleas ure which thev might prepare Them selves to expect. The document was brought just as Hiram Biggs was getting into tho spirit of his morning’s work in his study, with Elizabeth dreaming at an ad joining table, and the breath of a vase of Niphetus roses perfuming the room. “My dear,” said he, looking aghast at his wife, "what are we to ilo? All the family are coming to visit us ! With the proof-sheets of my last novel coming in, and your etchings of ’Wild Rose’ only half completed I” “We must do the best we can, Hiram,” said Klizabeth, perplexedly knitting her pretty brows together. “My darling child, there’s no • best ’ about it,” groaned Hiram, tearing his hair—which, being brown and curly, looked none the less picturesque for the operation. “You don’t know the peculiarities of the Biggs family as I do. You will be dragged up and down Grand street. Eighth avenue and the Bowery from morning until night—-you will have to visit every show, theatre and picture gallery in New York, and pay all the hills. Your houseke' ping will be picked to pieces, your dress criticised, and ten to one my mother will offer to come here and take charge of the baby, while Josepha will volunteer to improve your most cherished drawings.” Mrs. Hiram Biggs glanced with ter ror at the plump baby who, in charge of its white-capped nurse, was being carried up and down the pavement in front of the house. Then she looked piteously around the pretty Brussels carpeted lihrarv, with its deep crim son-curtained bay-windows, its tall Dracama plants in majolica vases, its oil-paintings and Japanese scrolls, Its cage of green paroquets, and shelves ofehina and bric-a-brac, and pictured to herself the whole Biggs family spreading themselves over Its sacred precinct*. She was only human, too, this young wife; she could scarcely help remem bering how Mrs. Horatio hail snubbed her when she first came, a timid, shrinking bride, to tho Biggs farm bonso: how Mrs. Luke bad one* re- fused to lend her twenty-five cents, in Hiram’s absence, to pay the charges on a telegram, alleging as a reason “ that it wasn’t never good policy to have business matters between relations,” nor how old Mrs. Biggs had cried and said “ that Hiram had shown dreadful poor judgment in selecting his wife,” while Miss Josepha had taken especial pains to contradict every statement she made, and Luke and Horatio had ignored her altogether. Hiram laughed. “My little darling,” said he. “I can interpret that look. You shall not be tormented out of your existence to become a conven ience to a swarm of relations-in-law, who don’t any of them care a copper cent for you. If they had ever treated us decently it.would be a different matter. As it is—” “ But, Hiram, yqu can’t send word to your own father and mother and brothers and sisters not to come,” plea led Elizabeth. " No,” said Hiram Biggs, thought fully, “ I shall do nothing of the sort. But—l shall send no word at all." "They’ll come, all,the same,” said Elizabeth. "But,” said Hiram, with sparkling eyes, “they don’t know where we live.” ‘'They’lllook out your name in the directary,” sighed Elizabeth. “Itisn’t there,” said Hiram, chuck ling. “Not there?" repeated his wife. “ Don’t you remember that we didn’t move in here until the middle of .Tune. How could our names be in the directory?” argued Hiram. Mrs. Biggs clasped her hands dra matically. “ There’s a family of Bigg ses in the next avenue,” said she— ‘“ll. Biggs, Books, Stationery and News Agents.’ They’ll go there.” "Well, let them,” sdiil Hiram. “Just as they please, so long as they don't come here. And he threw the letter of Biggs pere into the sefap basket, secretly feeling himself to be avenged on the family for all the slights and jeers and neglect that they had cast not only on him, but on his gen tle little Elizabeth. “But, Hiram,” said Mrs. Biggs, “it seems so dreadful I” “ Not half so dreadful as a visita tion of the xv hole Biggs family would be,” said Ilirain, with a groan. But Hiram knew little of the per severance and energy of the Biggses if he believed that so trifling an impedi ment as a lack of invitation or a delay in sending addresses would keep out the invasion. It was Canute and the ocean over again; and in ttireedays the whol3 family arrived, all packed into one hack to save expense, with a perfect Leaning Tower of Pisa of bag gage on the roof, the driver perched in front nobody knew how, and Mrs. Luke’s two little boys astride of the very apex of the tower. At the first wholesale grocery store on Barclay street a directory was handed in and duly studied, and the driver, “hanging half-way down, like one who gathers samphire, dreadful trade,” was hidden to drive to 26,012 Thirteenth avenue. “ H. Biggs,” said Mrs. Horatio. “Bookmaker and news agent,” ad ded old Mrs. Biggs, in a high falsetto. Anil the man chirruped to his horses and drove on. “Humph!” sniffed Miss Josepha, who had had the good luck to secure a win dow. “if this is Hiram’s elegant city mansion, it don’t come up to my ideas of style. Brown brick, with dormer windows, and only two stories high ; and the whole front a store, with the shutters up, just exactly as if there had been a death in the family.” “ Dear me!” said old Mrs. Biggs, " how you do startle one! But there ain't no crape on the door.” “Mother takes everything so dead in earnest*!” said Mr. Luke Biggs, scornfully. “Letnme see,” said Mrs. Horatio, crowding across the old lady, and giv ing her best hat a “ poke” not intended by the. milliner. “ Well, I declare! I guess the bookmakers’ business ain’t so dreadful full of money after all.” “ And a liquor store next door, and a pawnbroker's across the street!” jeeringly observed Miss Josepha. “ P’r'aps that’s ttie way folks lives in New York,” said old Mr. Biggs, who was squeezed nearly Hat between his wife and Mrs. Luke on the back seat. "’Taint what I expected to see,” said Mrs. Iloratio, in accent* of scarcely repressed scorn. “I don't know how they can ao oommoda’n us all,” sighed Mrs. Biggs, vainly endeavoring to straighten her bonnet. “That's their lookout,” said Mra. Luke, leaning comfortable baek, with the heel of her boot balanced on her father-in-law’* most sensitive corn. The-driver having by this time tum bled off his perilous seat, and rung the door-bell twice without evoking any sign of life from within, looked ap pealingly toward his fares. “ What am I to do?” said he. “ Ring again,” said Mrs. Horatio. And the hackman rang again, this time with so much energy as to pull the whole bell-wire out, and precipi tate himself backward on the pave ment, like Hamlet at the first sight of his father's ghost, at which the little boys laughed engagingly, and a hat box tumbled down from the Leaning Tower into the gutter, where it split open like an overripe nut, revealing Mr. Horatio Biggs’ best black felt hat. “ Boys, boys, do set steady up there!” screamed Mrs. Biggs. “Look 1 There’s some one coming at last. Is it Hiram? Or is it Elizabeth?” It was neither one nor the other, as it happened, but a stout old woman in a flannel dressing-gown, carpet slip pers, and a red nose. “ Mr. Biggs’ folks to homp ?” shrilly inquired Mrs. Horatio, who had con stituted herself spokeswoman for the party, without any formal appoint ment. “Oh, yes,” answered the old woman, in a snuffy, confidential sort of tone, “they’re to hum. But p’r’aps the children hadn’t better come in.” By this time the hackman had opened the door of the vehicle and the tide of Biggses ha J begun to flow out on the pavement. But Mrs. Luke stopped abruptly on the carriage step, with her father-in-law’s bronzed visage peeping over her shoulder. “Not come in!” Baid she. “Why, we’re their relations—come to visit ’em.” “ Not but wliat they’re a deal better, and the doctor says there ain’t no more danger of contagion,” reassuringly added the old woman. “ Contagion!” echoed the Biggs family. “ Hadn't you heard ?” said the old woman, with the solid satisfaction which old women generally evince in communicating any startling piece of information. “ Well, it ain’t no se cret in the neighborhood, especially as people ain’t best pleased with the board of health’s concludin’ to insu late ’em here instead of sendin’ ’em to hospital. They’ve every one of ’em had the smallpox. And that’s the reason the store is shut up. I'm here to nurse ’em. I ain’t afraid of the smallpox, bein’ as I’ve had it a’ready.” (Which was a self-evid int fact to any one who looked upon her broad and smiling countenance.) “ Bles3 me!” said Mrs. Luke, prompt ly retreating into the hack. “ Very thoughtless of Hiram’s folks not to let us know. Mother! Josepha! Harriet Ann! come in at once. Pick up the hat-box. Tell the man to drive* back to the ferry as fast as he can. P’r’aps we’ll be able to catch the 4 o'clock train back to Biggsville.” " I didn’t know.” suggested the old woman, rather disappointed at this sudden withdrawal of the invading forces, " but you might have come to help nurse ’em.” “Nothing of the sort,” Mrs. Iloratio answered, as, forcing herself into the already overfull hack, she slammed the door with an emphatic bang, and shouted to the driver to “Go on !” " The—smallpox !” groaned Mrs. Biggs senior. “ And not one of the children has been vaccinated!” “ Wo’d better stop at the nearest drug store and have it done at once,” said Mrs. Luke, breathlessly. “It’ll be dreadful expensive,” said Mrs. Horatio. " But it'll be cheaper than having the smallpox,” argued Mrs. Biggs senior. So, after this important sanitary ceremonial, during which the Biggs lKiys bawled as if they were being flayed alive, the family returned, without loss of time, to Biggsville. And Hint u’.s folks did not have the pleasure, tin n or ever, ol' entertaining their re ations. In fact, they never dreamed how near they had been to that happiness. The Biggsville Biggsw declared over and over again that they never should forgive their city rela tione, hut as lliram’s.folksdid not know it, they were saved frpm any over whelming pangs of conscience. They wrote a letter to the board of health, reproaelyng them bitterly with the bad management of the varioloid case in Thirteenth avenue, but they never got any answer from that august body. In short, the Biggs family were very an gry, but they would probably have been angrier still If they had known with what fortitude Hiram * folks en dured the deprivation of tbeir society. —Barvrr t bazar. V. G. SMITH, PrtMir. PROGRESS. Steadily, steadily, step by step Up the venturous builders go; Carefully placing atone on stone— Thus the loftiest temples grow. Patiently, patiently, day by day. The artist toils at his task alway; Touching it here and tinting it there. Jjiring it ever with infinite care A line eaore soft or e feme more Mr; Till, little by little, the picture grows. And at last the oold, dull oanvaa glows- With life and beanty, and forma of grass That evermore in the world have plaoe. Thu* with the poet—hour by hour Be listens to catch the fairy chimes That ring in his soul, then, with magio power He weaves their melody into hie rhymes. Slowly, carefully, word by word, Line by line, and thonght by thought. He fashions the golden tisanes of song— And thus are immortal anthems wrought. Evory wise observer knows— Every watchful gazer eeee— Nothing grand or beautiful grows. Save by gradual, slow degrees; Ye who toil with a purpose high And fondly the proud remit await, Murmur not aa the hours go by, That the season is long—the harvest is late. Remomber that brotherhood, strong and true, Builders and artist*, and bard* sublime, Who lived in the past and worked like yon. Worked and waited a wearisome time— Dark and cheerless and long their night, Yet they patiently toiled at the task began Till, lo! thro' tho clouds broke that morning light Which shines on tbe|sonl when snoeese I* wen —The Quiver. HUMOROUS. Landlord—“ We’re so crowded, I'm sorry to say, that you two gentlemen will have to sleep in the same bed with another guest.” Travelers—“Oh, no. we can’t do that: we’re Grangers, and don't want any middle man.”— Courier- Journal. A young lady was recently asked by her gallant what sho considered the height of impudence. Looking archly at him. sho said: “ Spark a girl for three solid hours and nevor offer to kiss her.” He is not so impudent now. Wheeling Journal. A Sulida (Mo.) woman won S2O on a bet that she could chop a cord of wood sooner than a certain man. She would have lost her wager, however, if thore had been in that vicinity a back-yard fence with another woman leaning over it. —New York Commer cial. Enthusiastic professor of physics, discussing the organic and inorganio kingdoms—“ Now, if I should shut my eyes—so—and drop my hoad—so— and should not move, you would say I was a clod. Bat I move, I leap. I rua; then what would you call me?” Voico from the rear—“A clod-hopper P’ Clan is dismissed. Wonder has often been expressed that women have adopted the custom of carrying their purses in their hands. Why they do so has just been re vealed in the reply a Philadelphia woman made her husband when be propounded to her the question. “Oh,” said she, “it is so light that I am afraid it might jump out of my pocket” A New York paper prints a picture of “ the late ex-King Cocobau, of Fiji, and his suite.” We infer that the tailor bills of Mr. Cocobau and suite seldom amount to over sls a year, and we shouldn't advise any of our readers to go to Fiji and open a ready-made clothing establishment, unices they want to starve to death.— Norriztou>n Herald. _ Prior to the reform act of 1857 tbs Catholic church owned $150,000,000 worth of property in Mexico. That act confiscated the whole to the states cathedials and all. suppressed all re ligious societies, prohibited parades and public demonstrations of every kind; even the ringing of church bells was regulated by law. Nevertheless there are almost 400 churches in the republic, and nowhere else is the Catholic ohuroh stronger. A bridge across the Firth-of-Forth Is projected, and Indeed is already under way, which, if Anisbed, will be one of the most remarkahle bridges In tbs world. The main girder will be within a few feet of a mile In length and will rest upon round cylindrical piers, each of which will weigh 18,000 tons. It will, of course, la high enough for all vessels to psss under neath and about 42,000 tons of stall will be required In ita construction. The estimated cost will ba $7ji00j)00l
Charlotte Messenger (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 5, 1883, edition 1
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