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J LOOKED INTO THINE EYES, I looked into thine eves, they gave no sign That answerea to my lore Bare tender light; And yet I know they flame and gleam to mine With secret fire, as dawn looks back - at night! . Thus fair disguised, my sweetheart, look at me! Sweet Tisions lead me as I watch by thee. I watched thy soft closed Hps, they gave no sign Of love, save glow as rapturous as the rose; And yet I know thy sighs breathe back to mine As flower unto the sun in fragrance blows! Thus fair disguised, my sweetheart, sigh to me, Soft radiance lures me as I watch by thee. I clasped thy quiet hand, it gave no sign Of love, save gentle pressure of sweet will; And yet I know its pulse throbs unto mine In riot of thy heart's responsive thrill! So far disguised, my love, hold hands with me, My life now quickens as I watch by thee. Concealing eyes, love hides your light close in; Soft shut red lips, you're full with fragrant sighs; . Ye quiet hands, love's fever burns within Your gentle touch ! Thus in thy dear dis guise And secret love, my sweetheart, sit by me That none may know how faithfully I watched by thee ! Harriet Maxwell Converse. that I sold my commission on account of fever to De Land, of thie Hawkhurst Blues, and left before my time. I was a wild fellow in those days. A few hours before my departure, . while returning from a tiger-hunt in "which I and my fol lowers were shamefully out witted, I ran across the tent of a snake charmer -a villainously dirty old Hindoo, who with horrible yells and imprecations made tne twilight hideous by cudgeling his daughter, as he swore she was, while she asseverated with . lifted arm to 'Allah,' that she was simply his slave. I inter fered, cf course. We had a free fight, leaving the old fakir hon de combat, and THE SNAKE CHARMER. DON'T pretend to account for it, you know, or offer any excuse, such as in herent madness, or taint in the blood, but I simply say as I would that I a -m m nave a iock oi gray hair in a bald place on my head and a mole on my neck that I am irresist ably drawn toward tropical snakes and have a leaning in the direction of fakirs and smugglers. My mend Harcourt is as much drawn the other way, but I swear I had no no tion of the probable effect on him the day I drew him into a little cross street or court, where a number of very fat. well-preserved boas were lolling in the -obscurity of a dark glass case on a pile of semi-white blankets. . Harcourt, something of a dreamer generally, followed me in my searchings after wonders, as amiable as a collie, with only an understanding in a tacit sort of way that I was not to introduce him to women who would fancy it an incum- bant benevolence to pull him out and make him talk. TP 1 11 il jl naraiy minx ne Knew where we were until I forcibly plucked him out of the unrestricted glare of July day to the gaudily papered passage way to the mu seum. ' 'Harcourt, I have lovely specimens to show you mottled boas and cobras, and an awfully swell kind of a snake charmer done up in the true Oriental flimsies red coif, bracelets of sequins, bare ankles, "and all that. The Rajah is a snake you should know. Upon my life, l tmnK lie negms to Know me. With the best intentions in the world, I gave Harcourt a little push, and he stumbled against the cage with a dull thump on the glass, which roused "Ra- jan, ;jana, rearing nis nead very sensi bly, he gazed straight into our eyes. As i i i i . i paie ana ump as a live man could ever become, my friend shrank back and seemed suddenly bereft of his legs. . steadied him up, and really thought on the moment that the ministerial Har court had imbibed an extra glass of some spirited American drink. He asked me to take him in the air. . He was pitiable weak and as ghastly as ;if he had seen . his grandmother's ghost in a camera obscura. The strong, rollicking breeze brought him round, and almost quite himself he led the way to one of the wayside parks so refreshingly frequent in the large cities oi tins country. He laid his hat on the park seat and nervously wiped his forehead, while tried to entice a pigeon from the gravel without plum cake, seeming not to no nce nis strange agitation. He reverted to the affair uppermost in my mind himself in his painful straight forward way: "Don't laugh, Strahan, when I tel you that I am the slave to an all pervad ing dominant horror. I cannot look at snakes, although once I really believed that Nature intended to inspire admira tion in making a brown and green boa. And women of the tropics were once my adoration, with their brown velvety skins, black eyes and graceful move ments." He shuddered. "Now I can never see the one without being reminded of the other. In fact, I think there has been a sort of sympathy between women and snakes since the conquest of Eve by the serpent. Both are fascinating. The serpent fastens you with its gaze like a woman; the woman stings you to death like the snake. Let me tell you my story. Perhaps then you may find an excuse for me, and tolerance of something that is not super stitious, heaven knows!" I could not think of anything to say, so I said nothing. Harcourt, as I explained, was pain- fully direct. I do not like verbiage, but I shun a man generally who dives head long into a thing and drags you with him. Yet, I liked Harcourt, as we some times do a chap who we fancy has suf fered his full measure. "There are pages in niy life, Strahan, which you do not know; but you do know that I was an officer in one of her Maiesty's Foot Guards in India, and I bore off the child Zobeide one of the loveliest creatures even then that I had ever seen, and as wild as a hawk. "It was lucky that I had been fully prepared to quit the country. As it was the boys of my mess begged me to nave nothing to do with Parsee, Hindoo, or Arab women, to leave this dark-eyed houn behind. Seeing me obdurate, Captain Bellamy said: "Do as vou will, Harcourt, but you may regret the day you did so foolish a thing. Kindly remember that I warned you.' "And how often I havel "But then it was with a glow of ex ultation I admitted to myself the entire ownership of anything so untainted and so beautiful as Zobeide. She was as delicious to my senses as a pomegranate blossom, and was gratitude herself. Poor, starved, unloved little thing! She twined about me like a vine." Again that convulsive shudder. "You recognize the old routine the manner of disposing of such cases? My maiden aunt considered it scandalous, but consented to chaperon e my protege. V - mmm m- a M Into her hands 1 gave Zobeide lor a year stipulating that she be taught all Christian graces. And so I left her to tapestries. French verbs, and the piano. "I confess I thought very little about her. The only life between Tue and my estates was severed by the death, while hunting, of my cousin, the young Earl of Favisham, and I was brought to real ize my position by my solicitor. I could give my wife a position which would seem desirable in .English eyes; 1 enter tained some extravagant notions about the the new life at the hall and the new Lady Favisham whom I would introduce to my people. The most dazzling beau ty on the walls of the old picture gallery would, I felt, pale beside the charms of the last Lady Harcourt, Countess of avisham. "Yet how shall I describe my first meeting with her? I heard her light foot in the corridor, and the rustle of her silken gown. The morning sunshine flooded the room, the odor of roses from their tall green vases for a moment turned me faint. Was it a fancy that the old musty incense of the jungle where the boa lies coiled entered the room with her, emitted by her white garments? "She glided toward me, scarcely mak ing a sound, and my senses seemed bound by a spell. 'There was no forbidding airs of hauteur. She coiled her arms about me. and slid her dusky cheek along until it lay against mine: yet it was cool. "I was very nearly overcome when my aunt entered the room, bringing a cur rent of fresh air with her. 'Is she not lovely, your little Indian savage?' point ing to Zobeide, who seemed to drift not walk over the floor to the -piano. from which she evoked such quaint mu nor chords that I begged her to come and talk to me instead of playing. ' "From that hour my soul passed out of my body to the keepmg of this girl. She spoke to me caressingly, soothingly, as a child. When wearied of my crav mgs for her kisses and caresses, she would shut herself up for hours in her apartments, or would gallop away over the downs on her black horse Sehm, an Arabian 1 had given her. "We were married in London one day, and began life in an irresponsible, un- Lnglish way, as my aunt had said. But we were always together. If we gave no balls, that was a mere matter of taste. I had once had a passion for such diversions, but it had died in me. as had most passions except for my child- wife. Zobeide seemed to revel in the county ball at first and to gloat on the homage and admiration she received. But very soon she tired of that sort of thing, and even of her rides with Selim, the great splendid rooms, the library and the picture gallery, the lakes, the swans, and the elm-shaded avenue, with snowy statues gleaming ghostly in the moonlight. "She had wearied of the homage of men and the envious amazement of wo men, awe-struck by her beauty loDgago. She locked herself up more often in her own wing, and always laughmclv re fused to admit me. I cannot see why I did not marvel at this, but this was no more strange than that I gave up hunt ing which had been a passionate faney oi mine netore. JUy aunt had laid her hand on my brow, saying: How changed 70U are, Henry!' j "Nonsensel I replied, 'It is you who are altered. Where is Zobeide? "Always that question! she mur mured in a tone of distress. ' ; - "Once she pulled-me into ner own chamber, saying in a way calculated to startle me but it aia not Mv Apat hev I want io speak to you. I must speak now with you. Why do allow Lady Favisham to amuse herself daily with a brood of detestable snakes ?" . 'Does she ?' I asked listlessly. - 'My. good soul, why should I interfere if the child really does amuse herself... Don't worry about Zobeide, dear; I don't P "No, poor boy ? I wish you did P "Strange ! 1 passed tne conversation off as if it had related to the flannels of the rheumatic tenants. Yet ordinarily I should have been paralyzed- with hor ror at the idea of my wife juggling with snakes. It sets my teeth on edge now only to think of it, and it would have made my hair stand on end had I been in my right mind. . .. "I was insane all that horrible summer when a snake charmer ruled at Favis ham Hall, the seat of a loyal and hot blooded race of which I was the last and least worthy. ' "Yet any one that knew Lady Har court at that time would not have won dered at her autocracy, I am sure. Even the servants were tinctured with the poisonous atmosphere, and only my aunt, who constantly went abroad, was able to shake off the leaden pall which had settled down upon us at the halL "Suddenly, in obedience to the wishes of my physician, I made ready-to run over to my shooting box in Scotland. I was stubbornly firm about taking my wife with me, although she demurred and even wept when I presented the tour to her. I earned my point, and we were away just ten days. "Lady Harcourt stipulated that her wing of the hall was to remain undis turbed during her absence. But she expected fully to be back within a week. My aunt had gone to Kugby. "I will try and describe our coming home as intelligently as possible. "I had noticed with wonderful elation that my head was clear and my whole mind more coherent during our absence, as if some terrible influence had been wanting to sway and blacken my life. "On the contrary, my wife, although so young and lovely, with all the world to fall at her feet, seemed strangely ill at ease during our trip, and grew so nervous nearing - home that she actually leaped from the carriage as it drew up before the hall. She had coiled herself up in it without a word, although I talked incessantly of the rains and the hops. "Perkins, the butler, gravely met us, saying, 'Dinner awaits, my lord,' like a theatrical call-boy. But my wife sprang out and rushed off to her dWn apart ments with her wraps on her arm, hum ming a little strain of a HinSoo song which she knew made me particularly unhappy. "I threw myself in a deep chair and broke the seals of two or three letters, running over their contents in the great banquet room, where the tall wax lights flared in their sconces, trying to be patient till Lady Harcourt came. The flowers wilted in their blue and gold vases; the clock ticked ominously; still Lady Harcourt did not appear. I think a sort of paralysis must have seized me; yet I remember that I felt satisfied that the end had come. .1 knew by some strange foresight that the curtain had fallen on the tragic little comedy I had played at the old hall, with the woman who society had declared would one day shock or startle every one. I knew that I should never lift my head again to find her great black eyes glowing from behind the tea urn. I had not been unhappy with Zobeide, but I question if I was in a state to know the quality of happiness she gave me. I had grown to think the thoughts she gave me; that was all. "I simply told Celeste, my lady's maid, that I would go to her apartments; but Celeste, with, the desire probably to save me a detected sight, ran up the polished stairs, her little slippers mak ing a loud noise in the silent house. "With a shriek Celeste staggered halfway down the Ktairs, her face like chalk, her eyes wildly staring. " 'Oh, monsieur! don't go in, if you value your life!' "I pushed her aside and entered Lady Harcourt's boudoir, hung witfi the pale green silk curtains she had chosen be cause it would remind her of the jungle where we first met. The old overpow ering, indefinable odor met me at the my head bo often lay the head of a mon- ter boa. ; nis loaiusuuio . rTj tightly about the luckless girl had Wh: In a fervor of Sadness over her return or madness from hunger he had Joiiea ine wuiuaia who fondled him when not with me.. "I managed to retain my senses some lpff flm room, so permeated with poison. Down stairs once more, 1 breathed freer than lor many aays. j. leaned out of the window and looked at the old stars which had twinkled through every hour of my miserable misspent ife T rp.ftlir.pd all at once how base and inactive I had become, a dreamer, but was I to blame? "The old butler kindly led me to my room, begging me to drink of the glass he forced to my lips, saying that all should be done well. "I drank, and, throwing myself on the bed, I lost my mind in a dreary and dreadful maze which melted into a long sleep. I knew in that sleep that the python had been strangled and the ru mor given forth that Lady Harcourt had fallen dead from heart disease. "The end of it all came, of course, and I went through it properly, I heard afterwards; but t think my body had acted without soul for once. - "I went to Switzerland a place hap-, pily free from snakes, where I recovered my old mental poise, and got back to a point where I could reflect upon all that fearful time" which seemed a sort of heaven to me while it lasted my strange irresponsible life with Zobeide,a charmer of serpents, a ruler of men! "Now you know, Strahan, why I do not care to look on such sights. It un nerves me to look on a boa more than to meet a wild beast face to face. Don't laugh." Laugh! I was never further from it at any moment of my life! Harcourt's experience only strength ened me in my theory about the sympa thy between snakes and some people. It is always a woman who chains snakes, you know ; never a man. I wonder why? Annie Robertson Nozson, In Lippincott's. TUE LIME-KILN CLUB. I! IfWl'PH threshold, but I stepped across her tiger skin rug and felt every vein in my body congealing with horror. "My wife's little gray silk bonnet and scarf lay on the floor near the sofa where she reclined, her hair, unbound, stream ing in disorder over the mossy green carpet. She was quite dead, but had, perhaps, breathed her last only a mo ment before I found her. "On the bosom which had pillowed A Few Maxims and Watchwords Adopted. Upon the opening of the meeting Brother. Gardner announced that the following mottoes, sayings, watchwords and axioms had been handed in during the List week to replace those destroyed in the raid three weeks since: "Lookup." "Put yer ear to de ground "Protect our lambs." "De man who is in debt has got hand cuffs on." ' "De eagle flies high; but he's mighty poo' eatin'." "Industry am de doorway to success." "Life should hev its roses, but cab bages alius command a ready sale an' a fair price." "Doan't worry about what sort o dra pery you ar' gwine to w'ar in Heaben. You may not git dar'." , "Some folks am' so powerful honest dat when you git frew tradin wid em you ain't got nuffin left." "A man who has no better use for him self dan to become a reservoir fur poo whisky orter hev bin bo'n to take up less room in de world. "It ar easy 'nuff to forgive everybody when you die, far you am gwine to a place whar' you can't pay off any grudges." "Natur' saves some men from gittin' drunk by makin' a f ule of 'em on the start, but a feller slips past her now an' den." "Wives airnin' six bits a day at de wash-tub never strike. Dat am left to husbands airnin' twelve shillin's a day at sun thin' easy." "If you want to keep a man poo' all his life let him understand dat his credit is good wid de grocer an' butcher." "Human natur' ar' liable to mistakes. but de police hev got so dey want a fust class explanashun of how dem chicken- fedders got into de back yard. "Whateber we do is list right. What odder folks do kin be criticised from a dozen standpoints." "Doan seem to us we would bark quite so much if we was a dog, an' yit we doan' car' who am disturbed when we take a fit to whistle or sing." Vampire Superstition in SerYla. The Pester IZoydreports from Belgrade what narrowly escaped being a fatal case of shameful superstition. The police found a few nights ago, lying in the street, the body of a man apparently frozen to death. Efforts to revive hYm failed, and his identity having been as certained he was handed over to his family for interment. The cemetery was a considerable way distant, and as it was being reached the driver of the hearse told the priest, who attended for religious service, that he heard some noise in the coffin. The clergyman and others drawing near also heard "the noise, and all ran away lest a vampire should issue from it and attack them. .The driver, terrified at finding himself alone, turned about and drove the hearse to the nearest police station. By this time a knocking was distinctly audible. The cpffin was forced open, and the man was found alive and in a very exhausted state. He complained pathetically of the attempt to bury him despite his re monstrances. He was taken to the hos pital and has nearly recovered. He had been spending the evening with some boon companions, and wandering in a state of intoxication fell and became in sensible from the cold. Probably the jolting of the hearse revived him. It is a superstition in Servia and among many Slav people that when a man dies sud denly his spirit returns as a vampire, and preys on his near relatives and friends. At.Ti people are on an equality when they get mad. Forgetting all About His v the Appointed H0H An" old telecTftnh stationed at Menlo Pai- x w first came there, entertained? .w " 1 hi some tfRi' r-r? the wizard. He is an oddity JnT naugnt an tne convtn..i.i. first Mrs. Edison was an orJr tj JNewark factory where Rl?. ing the machine to fill hi3 fil 7 x- """nich bior-i?. into uuuee ana iormed the 1 the fortune. girl one of winding magnets as a tall. a dozen sittbs at fi was walking down the line tv spoke up and Dade mm good &5 without raising her eves from -uooa morning, said the "How did you know it was If "Oh, I always can tell wWw near, was the reply. "See here," said the maa t tions, "I've noticed you a late. Suppose you and I ried?" ' "I'm ready." "When shall it be?" "Three weeks from to-niht "All right!" and the inventory his rounds while his intended merrily wound away upon her bcU? wire. ' On the wedding day tho first cos ment of stock indicators came bacit, the purchaser, inoperative. When? Batchelor, who has always been EdW iiui uluia uiau, cui uowa to the ia after supper he found the inventor S in his dirtiest shop-clothes tinfe away at the machines, Didat tej member that it was his wedding No, he'd forgotten all about it. Eatiaj uraggeu me lagging groom to the 15. est clothing store, got him into 1 H suit, then to a barber shop, and v. put him on a car and shipped hbtfi the house of the bride. Then tev back to the shop to work, supposi was the last of Edison for that nii li an hour or two, however, Edison n4 in again, threw his new coat donxi greasy lathe, hung his waistcoat ta 11 ! 11? 1 . me gas-pipe, jucKea ms snoes nndaii bench, seized a file and went at thefc fective stock indicator as if there s such thing as marriage and pnssk marriage, and there he stayed villi b faithful lieutenant till the morning c looked in on two weary toilers sad 1 electrical stock indicator that Tdi like a charm. When wealth came to thea.MnE son No. 1 betrayed a tendency to ksa, out in the social world, bnt it had ncf feet on the inventor's habits. Oaf the largest entertainments Newark m saw was given at her lionss. lUk leading men of the Edison works is there, but he was npwhere to be c His subordinates grew a little ssot A committee of them went orr to fa laboratory about midnight aiJ&CTtu the inventor, tipped back in 1 ik&t old chair, in his sliirt sleeves, li Boot less feet high up on the workbench, ing away into his phonograph atthtti of his voice, happy as a cka it H tide. The present Mrs. Edison sticbtot? husband like a shadow. She is ?) at his elbow in working hour?, withUtf and pencil, taking down his ideas a experiments. She is, in fact, mate in every way worthy oi his ities. " .i 1 1 Worry Worry is the cause of moretr than any other one thing not exce alcohol. For it leads nien to eg suicide, embezzlement, insanity, eg family estrangements, qnarrelstal iness difficulties. Worried VrZ not make good bargains; tIifp"S become so warped or twisted, U? dwelling too long on the same r-. with those subjects they are no e at the end of their thinking w n were at the beginning. There to regular specific diseases, csr fever, dyspepsia, consumption V disease, which have for their .Ci worry muuees &ucu a ,1. mat 11 reaqny receives mc b -ease. To one who was accustomed - - - -7.1 C&Z a friend said, who avoiuw . j mucn as possible: "vuak n you stopped every uui? the possibility of every ac 1 , a woman who walked carej smooth carpeted floor; h her hip joint, and died in a know of a neighbor who ate 12 uuu ieu. cieau as ue juw; . Another went to sleep .Jjjil woke! another rode out and xJl.. V 1 Thus instance after iaf-twae mentioned for every daily travelled or read much or sons. f1 Occasionally we meet pe. f truly be called born fretters;-N dariner the week to lo au w living with them, it is , Cf ishment that thev have to o selves. Lrrtt$ Wz ioiw r.wf faces tna milts of worrv: they &re wnn&ieu anu iuu w tzf , 11 Vi . v f rif. a. u-ftiTiiirr to US. Ai 1 1 W strength spent in worry cor in self-improvement ftntib6 ii 1 1 ium wouiJ. y those' near us. there changes in every Housekeeping. A Cyxthiana (Ky.) : 0& ceived an appointment in one of the department Washington, and of tfJ' papers that mentioned Jgfc '! eleven described him & f elevator."
The Wilson Mirror (Wilson, N.C.)
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April 4, 1888, edition 1
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