NOT AS I WILL.
Blindfolded and alone I stand,
With unknown thresholds on each hand,
The darkness deepens as 1 grope,
Afraid to fear, afraid to hope;
Yet this one thing I learn to know
Each day more surely as I go,
That doors are opened, wajs are made,
Burdens are lifted or are laid,
By some great law unseen and still,
UnfatliomtHl purpose to fulfil!,
'Not as I will."
Blindfolded and alone I wait;
Loss seems too hitter, gain too late; .
Too heavy burdens in the load,
And too few helpers on the road;
And joy is WeaJi and grief is st rong.
And j cars and days so long, so long!
Yet this one thing 1 learn to know
Each day more surely as I go, 4
That I am glad the good and ill
By changeless law are ordered still
'Not as 1 will."
"Not as I will the sound grows sweet
Each time my lips the words repeat.
"Not as 1 will!" The darkness feels
More safe than light when this thought steals
Lake whispered voice to calm and bless
All unrest and all loneliness.
"Not as I will, because the One
Who loved us first and best has gone
Before us on the road, and still
For us must all his lore fulfill,
"Not as 1 will."
Iklm Hunt Jackson.
Mystery of Cecil Dacre.
ECIL DACRE was
an artist. He was
desperately poor,
undeniably good
looking, and he
stood six feet in
his stockings.
Young Dacre was
an Englishman,
and he lived with
another artist, a
young American as poor as himself, just
behind the Curch of San Martino, in one
of the oldest houses of old Naples. So
poor were they that they could hardly
ever afford a model, so they used to take
it in turns to sit to each other. Cecil
Dacre and his friend Orlando P. Jons
were both rival artists, but Dacre had
an additional talent he was a farceur
of the first water. He hadn't been six
months in- Naples before he attended
before the committee of Monte di Miseri
cordia and suggested that they should
pay his debts. "Iam poor," he said,
"I am persevering, and I am deeply in
debt so deeply that I can get no more
credit. Pay my debts, give me a little
cash to go on' with, and you, gentlemen,
will be doing your duty. That is your
raison d'etre."
I But the committee laughed and bowed
Mr. Dacre out, declining to accede to
this very modest proposition. On an
other occasion Dacre, becoming indig
nant at the pertinacious way in which
his movements were watched by one of
his neighbors, who was accustomed to
stare at him from his balcony opposite,
drove up to his door late one evening in
a street cab. The cabman got down from
his box, and a female figure wrapped in
a cloak was carried carefully into the
house by the "artist and the cabman; the
two men reappeared in the street, the
artist mysteriously placed his fingers to
his lips, paid the cab-driver, and the
man drove off. The little drama was
well lighted by the solitary gas lamp
that stood in front of the artist's lodg
ings. The inquisitive neighbor was at
his post and -carefully noted all the de
tails of the mysterious affair.
At noon the. next day four officers, ac
companied by the neighbor, presented
themselves at Dacre 's room door nnd
knocked loudly for admission in the
name of the law.
Only at the third and very impera
tive summons was the door opened by
Orlando P. Jones. The supposed crim
inal was discovered seated at his little
table, on which lay a blood-stained
dagger : his face was buried in his
hands. !
"Signor Dacre," said the chief of po
lice, "I call upon you to surrender, and
I demand to search your apartments.
This eentleinan." said he. nointincr to
' f r . fy
the informer, "detected you last night
conveying the body of a dead or insensi
ble female into this house.'
"The informer, being an Italian, im
mediately struck an attitude.
. yield," said Dacre in a broken
voice; the proofs of my crime you will
find in the next room."
Two of the agents advanced and
seized the supposed murderer by the
arms.
"I should recognize her at once,"
cried the informer. "The poor creature
wore a dress of bright blue color: I saw
the edge of it frpm under the cloak in
which she was enveloped. "
The bedroom door was firmer nnsn bv
the leader of the little partv. In theJ
center of the room was a. lay figure in a
bright blue dress; it was standing on its
head.
The police instantly released their
prisoner.
"Let this be a lesson to you. sir," said
Dacre to his too curious victim in a
voice of thunder, "when you dare to in
trude upon the privacy of gentlemen and
men of honor."
And then Messrs. Dacre and Jones
executed a very ferocious pas de tri
omphe. A less sublime but equally ridiculous
1 i "1 1 "TV
OKe was perpetrated oy uacre upon an
unfortunate old lady who had the mis
fortune to dwell upon the second floor
of the great house of which the comrades
occupied the sky parlors.
She was a devotee, her one barm
less amusement being the keeping of
two immense gold fish in a big glass
globe on her balcony. "With diabolical
ingenuity Dacre, by means of a piece of
string, a bent pin and a small piece of
meat, angled for the two finny monsters
who formed the joy of the old lady's life,
caught them, fried them in egg and
bread crumbs, and then restored them
to their once happy, and transparent
home.
In the Cafe Verdi, Cecil Dacre once
calmly declared, after a rather hilarious
breakfast, that he would cause twenty
innocent citizens of Naples to be arrest
ed within the hour. The Cafe Verdi is,
as we know, situated in the Piazza del
Martiri. Dacre went out and purchased
a large ball of string; he made a loop in
the end of it, and then he took a mean
advantage of the urbane noliteness of
the Italians. Producing a huge note
book, he courteously raised his hat to
the first respectable bystander.
"Signor," said he, "will you greatly
oblige me by holding this piece of string
while I take a few measurements? Thank
you so much." And then with strides
he commenced to pace the piazza. Of
ourse a little crowd collected at once.
Dacre selected another victim with the
same result.
"Keep it quite taut, if you please,"
and he bowed politely. Within five
minutes thirty individuals were holding
the tightly stretched string, an immense
crowd had assembled, Dacre had finished
his pacings, his string and the careful
notes he had appeared to be making.
"Be patient, gentlemen," he said, "I
shall not detain you long." Then he
disappeared, only to re-enter the Cafe
Verdi by the back door to watch the re
sult. He had chosen his time with
considerable ingenuity, for he knew
that the police patrol always arrived on
the Piazza del Martiri punctually at
noon. It wanted two minutes of the
hour. J ust at that time the peace of
Naples was much disturbed by political
demonstrations, which were severely put
down by the authorities. The hour
struck. Twenty policemen, headed by
a sergeant, appeared upon the scene; of
course they proceeded at once to arrest
the thirty mysterious conspirators who
were still innocently engaged in holding
Dacre's string, Dacre and his friends
watching the whole scene from the win
dows of the Cafe Verdi with delighted
merriment.
But the master stroke of Dacre's in
genuity was the artfully arranged plan
by which he obtained feloniously a sum
of five pounds five sterling from Mr.
Donald MacTaggart, of Leith. Mac
Taggart was an ambitions young fellow
of small talent, who had recently ar
rived in Naples to study art.
MacTaggart was well-to-do, excessive
ly stingy, preternaturally ugly and pre
posterously short. He was one of the
"unco guid;" he wouldn't foregather
with the other students, his ways were
not their ways, and young Mr. Mac
Taggart, of Leith, was shunned when he
was not made a butt of.
MacTaggart had one grievance against
Providence upon which he constantly
harped, it was his want of stature. It
was this weakness of the young Scotch
man's that the wily Cecil Dacre deter
mined to take advantage of, and at the
same time gratify his taste for practical
joking. Cecil Dacre was in the want of
5 very badly indeed. He was always in
want of 5, but the want at this particu
lar time was more than usually urgent.
One day the three young men met by
accident in the Cafe Verdi.
"That American doctor's a wonderful
fellow," said Dacre, in a loud voice to
his friend, Orlando P. Jones. "I won
der whether he is a humbug?"
Now MacTaggart was sitting at the
table consuming a dish of macaroni with
great gusto. "No 1 don t think he's a
humbug," said Jones; "they say he
really does possess the secret of per
manently diminishing or increasing the
stature at will. I've noticed people v ho
have been to him two or three times,
and there was always ah extraordinary
difference in their height. It's very
marvellous."
McTaggart, who had drunk in the the
conversation with greedy ear, now joined
in with manifest interest. The two
young fellows gave him a host of cir
cumstancial details. You ought to try
him, McTaggart, at any rate," said the
crafty Dacre.
"Any change in your appearance,
my Caledonian Apollo, would be a ben
efit." "1 am thinking it would be very ex
pensive, and I object to extravagance on
principle," said the Scotchman.
"Well, you could beat him down;
now, at all events you could try," said
Dacre.
"Without a doot. I'll sleep on it,"
said McTaggart, and he paid for his
breakfast and departed.
1 It took the Scotchman a whole week
to make up his frugal mind, and then
he screwed up his courage to the stick
ing point and informed Dacre that he
should visit the American physician the
next day.
"D'ye ken where he lives. Mr.
Dacre?"
"Well, he lives in the same house as
I do, on the first floor. He's a benevo
lent old boy; you're sure to like him.
Jones here knows him very well; the
Yankees are almost as clannish as the
Scotch, yon know. You are sure to find
him there at 3," and they parted.
No sooner had the unfortunate Mc
Taggart turned the corner than Cecil
Dacre triumphantly executed a cellar
flap breakdown, to the astonishment of
the little crowd of Neapolitan bystand
ers; then he bowedto bis little audience,
kissed his fingers to them, and started
off as fast as his legs would carry him to
his lodging. The next .day Cecil Dacro
obtained the loan of his landlord's first
floor for the day, and then he began to
busy himself in a very extraordinary
manner. He secured the services of the
porter's wife and daughter, the black-
eyed Pippa; they dusted, they arranged, j
and rearranged the big dismal reception 1
room on the first floor. Dacre rushed J
out and borrowed a screen and pur
chased a small bottle of turpentine; and ;
then, in the bathroom, which opened j
from a little passage which was built in
the corner where he laid the screen, :
he laid out at least half a dozen towels.
Then he ran over to the costumer's across
the street and came back with a fur robe
de chambre, a long gray beard, and a
close cap of black velvet, and a pair of
big green spectacles exactly similar to
those worn by the celebrated Dr. Faust
in the first act of Gounod's opera. Pippa,
her mother, and Dacre worked with a
will, and the two women, with many
gestures of astonishment from Pippa
herself, took their departure, promising
that everything should be ready punc
tually at 3. Dacre ran up to the rooms
of the medical student on the third floor
and borrowed several of his largest and
most professional looking books, which
he placed in a row upon the writing
table. Two gruesome looking anatomi
cal preparations in spirit he also ob
tained irom the Italian Bob Sawyer;
with these and a human skull, procured,
from the same source, he decorated the
mantel piece. Then he put Qn the dress
ing gown, the long gray beard, the velvet
cap and the spectacles, and he looked a
very tremendous specimen of a quack
doctor. When the travestiment was
complete, he went to the window and
waited patiently for young Mr. MacTag
gart. He was not kept long in suspense.
The great bell of San Giovanni struck
three, and punctual to the hour Mac
Taggart appeared on the other side of
the street.
In the meantime Orlando P. Jones on
his part had not been idle, for he called
upon at least a dozen of MacTaggart's
friends and acquaintances, had a short
interview with each, and he took his
leave with each of the-people he had so
honored with a visit, laid his forefinger
to the side of his nose and appeared
considerably amused.
As has been said, the bell of San
Giovanni struck three. A rather timid
knock sounded -upon the outer door
of tho first floor . where Dacre was ly
ing in wait. Dacre allowed it to be
repeated, then he flung the door open
suddenly. There stood MacTaggart.
"Have I the honor of addressing the
newly-arrived American physician?" "he
said.
"Enter, my young friend," said he of
the gray beard and green spectacles, in
a loud but drawling voice. "Take a seat,
inquiring stranger," he continued, "and
let me hear in what way I can be of use
to you. You see before you," he added,
"the celebrated old Dr. Jacob Townsend,
a physician of world-wide celebrity a
man, sir," he went on, "who has devoted
a long life, prolonged by his own skill
far beyond the ordinary human span, to
the amelioration of the condition of the
human race."
'I'm afraid I have come to you on a
fool's errand," said the patient uneasily.
"No man who consults me," said the
doctor, "is guilty of an unwise act. I
read your thoughts, young man," he
continued severely; "my eagle, eye de
tects the working of your puny brain.
You are discontented with your stature.
Say, is it not so?"
The patient nodded.
"Are you ready to submit to the treat
ment, young man? Have you every
confidence in me?"
I've every confidence, doctor," replied
MacTaggart uneasily, "but I heard that
your fees were high, and I thought, per
haps, as Pm only an art student, you
might consent to make a little reduc
tion." 'Young man," said the physician in
an indignant tone, "do not trifle. The
paltry honorarium I exact is but to cover
the cost of the balsamic drugs used in
the treatment of such cases; they have
been procured from the deserts of Cen
tral Asia, after the expenditure of much
time, blood and treasure, but be assured,
young man, that the trifle wrung from
your parsimonious clutch will be im
mediately distributed by me to the
deserving poor."
"And you won't take any less?" said
MacTaggart, as he stretched out his re
luctant hand and deposited five guineas
upon the physician's table. "Is the pro
cess very painful, doctor?" he said.
"There are two means of achieving
the object," said the physician, who took
no notice of the fee. "The one is pure
ly mechanical; it is gradual extension;
considerable physical pain has naturally
to be endured. The other course, which
is equally efficacious and quite painless,
is by means of a medicated bath, but no
more than four inches increase in height
can be obtained."
"I shall be perfectly satisfied, doctor,
with four inches."
"Very good, young man, very good.
You know your own business best. Re
tire behind that screen, divest yourself
of your apparel; in a few moments all
will be prepared. So powerful are the
effects of the drugs, your clothing, were
it exposed to the potent vapors, would
be utterly destroyed. Strip, young
man," said the doctor emphatically, and
he pointed to the screen.
Mr. MacTaggart retired behind the
screen, and did as he was bid. and the
venerable benefactor of the human race
disappeared into the bathroom. The
first thing that Dacre did was to empty
his bottle of turpentine into the bath,
and then he turned oh the hot water till
the bath was nearly full.
"Are yon prepared, young- man t be
cried in a loud voice, as he re-entered
the reception room. r
"Pm quite ready, sir," said Mr. Mac
Taggart, from behind the screen. "I
can smell the potent odors of the drugs,
even here." -.
"Don't trifle, boy," cried the Ameri
can physician; "take your watch with
vou, and proceed to the bath. You will
find it very hot, and the odor of the East
ern balsams is pungent; but do not let
that deter you; enter it as speedily as
possible, for the hotter the bath the
more rapid is the osseons change. "Re
main extended in that bath and perfect
ly still, and every five minutes by your
watch, and not more frequently on any
account, let your head disappear be
neath the balsamic film with which the
surface of the water is covered. Do not
speak, and breathe only through your
nose. I will warn youfvheri the process
is complete."
Mr. MacTaggart entered the bath
room, with watch in hand. The odor of
the Oriental balsams made him sneeze
violently, the water was evidently very
hot, and was covered by a thick oleagin
ous film. But Mr. MacTaggart had
paid his five guineas, and he was deter
mined to have his money's worth. After
a little time he entered the bath.
Every five minutes his head disap
peared beneath the steaming, oily sur
face. In the meantime Cecil Dacre was not
idle. He rang the bell; Pippa and her
mother appeared; the one carried a lit
tle charcoal brazier and a flat-iron", the
other a very small work-bag and a big
pair of scissors. They laughed immod
erately as they set to work upon the
clothes of the young Scotchman. Three
inches were cut off from the trousers
legs, the sleeves of the coat and of the
shirt; Pippa's mother worked with a will
with her needles to refashion the extrem
ities of the garments, and as she finish
ed each, Pippa herself carefully pressed
the newly made seems with the hot flat
iron. Then the physician dismissed his
two assistants, flung open the bathroom
door and addressed the bather.
"Come forth, young man," he said.
"You entered that bath a miserable and
puny specimen of humanity; you will
leave it in all human probability, a well
grown youth, of prepossessing appear
ance." Mr. MacTaggart did as he was bid.
He dried himself to the best of his
ability, but the balmy odors of . the bal
sams of the East still clung to his hair. No
sooner was he dressed and had emerged
from behind the screen than the mock
doctor addressed him.
"Young man," said he, and his voice"
was apparently momentarily choked by
emotion, "behold the result of the won
drous bath of Bokhara.' There is a con
siderable change, I think," he said
solemnly.
Mr. MacTaggart had evidenly grown
out of his clothes;1 his arms and legs pro
truded in a portentous manner.
"Don't thank me," continued the
American physician hurriedly; "don't
thank me, but hasten home to bed to
sleep of the effects of my potent medica
ments." Mr. MacTaggart bowed as gracefully
as he could, and left the premises.
The very first person he met in the
street was his acquaintance, Orlando P.
Jones. MacTaggart's appearance was
sufficiently striking. His ordinary
straight red hair was curly and extreme-'
ly odoriferous from the effects of the
turpentine. His face and hands were
the color of a boiled lobster, and his eyes
were bloodshot from the same cause.
"Goodness me," said Jones, "I
shouldn't have known you. What have
you being doing to yourself ?"
"Don't ak me," said MacTaggart;
"my happiness is too great for words,"
and his scarlet face was illuminated by
a smile of celestial beatitude.
Before he reached his own honse he
had at least met twenty of 'his acquaint
ances. Each one interviewed him with
a similar result.
But the cup of happiness was rudely
dashed from his lips when his extremely
i
plain and elderly sister, Miss Flora
MacTaggart, on her arrival, addressed
him in these indignant words:
"Eh! Donald, man, is it fou ye are!
or simply fatuous ? that ye have been
making a Merry Andrew of yerself by
cutting doan yer claithes."
In vain the brother explained big visit
to the doctor.
Then the secret came out, and Mr.
MacTaggart and his sister left Naples
for Rome within the twenty-four hours.
Belgratia.
"Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed Miss
Gushington, looking up from the paper;
"they are going to appropriate, oh, ever
so much money on coast defenses. You
remember the last time we went tobog
ganing I tore my costume into ribbons
by running off the slide." Boston Tran
script.
, Trapped by lhe Old Ua,
J
"Mr. Kajordan." v
nity into the narloT , P?8
A:
man sat waiting. "I'm e Jem?,
I
11
Irene is confined to W , ft
indisposition
rooabv.''
and
this evening!
And she sat down anil ,
youth steadily but not unWi1
the presence of this elderlvi I' V
mother of his Irene, Bardolpn Kfi J
was conscious that he loomed?
disadvantage.- Ho was opprJJ?
sense of immaturity, obtrusive W 4
unmanageable hands, and yet h?
being was pervaded with a xl?-
anxiety to please. Jann
"I trust," said he, huskilv "that -4-nothing
serious."
"You are kind," replied, the
"By the way Mr. KOjorSan,
me for asking the question, but aW
eveT removinS a mote from
"With rapidly-rising coura29 &ni
heart-throb of exultation at thetwL
bility that the indisposition of the
Irene was one that he might have t?
happiness of removing, he exclaimed-
"Without presumption, Mrs. Pii
I may say that I am. I have J
great deal of practice at htUejobs,i
that kind and am nearly always LZ.
ful. Of late I have tried then?
of doing it and have f ound it to oX
perfectly. If a cinder or other gnuli
particle has lodged in one eye I rab ft
other one, and it always brines it S?
If Miss Irene"- u out
' 'Thank you, Mr. Kil jordan. For the
last day or two I have been troubled
with a speck 'of some kind in my left
eye. If not too much trouble to vou I
will ask you to see if you Wwtit
out."
And for the next half hour the haples
young man rubbed that old lady's off
eye and groaned inwardly in wretched
ness of spirit. Chicago Tribune
Effectively Made Up.
I heard a good story the other day of 1
member of the Societe de Precieuse Rid
icule, which, during the season, gives
fortnightly receptions, upon which 00.
carions some sparkling little play for the
entertainment of the friends of the club
is given. Upon one occasion the plar
selected numbered among the dramata
persona? a maid of all work of the stvle
of the little Marchioness. This role vai
assumed by a young lady who hvesin t
handsome house in a fashionable quarter
of the city, and who had extended invi
tations to a number of her friends for t
terrapin supper after the play. The cur
tain having fallen upon the closing scene
the. young lady, without waiting to
change her attire, jumped into the car
riage and drove rapidly home, leaving
the guests to follow more leisurely w&
her mother.
Arriving at her own door, unmindful
of the fact that she was still attired 13
the theatrical maid of all work, in ti
ters and smudges, she hastily entered
the dining room, to see that everr prep
aration for the snpper, which had been
given in charge of a fashionable caterer,
was complete. Hearing the door open
the head waiter turned and for a moment,
stood aghast at the apparition thick
greeted him, then with a decided man
ner he advanced, reopened the door, and
catching the young lady by the arm sum
marily ejected her from the apartment
with the injunction, forcibly uttered,
that she at once return to the kitchen,
and under no circumstances again dare
to put in appearance.
Yalued at a High Figure.
The Portland Oregonian says. A middle-aged
lady, a new-comer, called at
real estate agency to inquire abont some
land. She was somewhat of an eques
trienne, which the agent soon learned,
and he tried to effect a sale in this direc
tion. After the usual questions alout
the gentle proclivities of the animal lor
sale, the agent relapsed into deep
thought for a moment, as if considering
some political issue, and finally said ia
a generous breath: "Madame, if yon aw
injured in any way by that animal Iw
pay you one , yes, I will guarantee w
pay you $1,000," and then he marted
the figures down in big black letters.
"Only a thousand, sir?" exclaim1 -
lady. "I don't consider myself a enoj
nor one of the Muses, but I reaUv UW
I am worth more than S1000. to
times some slaves sold for $2,WV J
know. Now, considering that it w wr
year, couldn't you guarantee to pa.
1-e-e-t-l-e more?"
The Boy.
Papa had visitors and sent the
old to bed. The child disapproval
this and had no hesitancy toshoicg
When he went up stairs be let.tbe,fa,
lor door open. Papa prides himseii
his method of disciplining children,
called him down again. T
"I just want to show you
age a boy," he said turning to
ors. "There's nothing like gas
light way about it to make a boy
Slowly and sulkily
Hit) w;
down.
. "What are doors made
for,
sirr
The child looked at turn, -ors,
at the door, and said: nsri
"To open. 0' course."-W
CalL
Thb "lifts" of the Hotel 3fcW
companies, of which a noxnJjf ' ttf
tablished in England. By the
under pressure is earned vev . tt
vx one 01 mo uj .
streets and delivered to ci re
fixed rates. After doing tbe i0 VJ
quired of it the water is return
central stations of the company
to be used over again.
I