EST
Bellefonte, Pa., March 28, 1902
SPRUNG ON SPRING.
When the crocus ix a croaking,
And the garbage piles are smoking,
And the busy housewife poking
Everything :
When the geese are northward going,
And the dust and dirt is blowing,
That's the way we have of knowing
That it’s spring.
When the streets are awful slushy,
And the poets write rhymes gushy,
And young lovers all grow mushy,
Never fear :
Soon the birds will all be singing,
Street pianos will be ringing,
And the mud will soon be elinging—
Spring is near.
AN EASTER EGG.
The half-grown boys of Blue Bridge
were the worst lot of young scoundrels out
of Hades—so the forefathers of the hamlet
said, and they guessed they knew, for al-
though they had never been to Hades, they
had themselves been bad half-grown boys
in different sections of the country and
kept the worst company they could find.
Yet there was one day of the week when
for an hour and a half the Blue Bridge
hoys were as orderly as a lot of deacons; the
day was Sunday, and stranger yet, the
hour and a half wasspent in Sunday-school.
Their parents and even the local Constable
wished that thisshort but gratifying spasm
of propriety was due to a desire to learn
the ways of 1ighteousness, but they knew
it wasn’t; it meant merely that for the
time being they were with one accord wor-
shiping Ipsie Brett. their teacher, who had
accidentally taken the bad boys’ class one
Sunday, and got along so well with it that
the regular teacher joyously resigned in
her favor.
It should therefore be inferred that Miss
Ipsie was pretty and interesting. Half-
grown boys are quite as quick as their eld-
ers to appreciate that sort of thing and to
enjoy it, and as they have no hesitation
about staring at whatever they admire it
happened every Sunday that ten pairs of
eyes regarded Ipsie Brett so fixedly that it
was hard to divert any of them to a book.
They were not the only eyes, though, that
contemplated the young woman with much
interest; all young men not already ‘‘pay-
ing attention’’ to other young women, as
well as some who were, found Miss Ipsie a
most engaging person to behold, and as no
young man was her “regular company,’’
hopes sprang anew in manly breasts when-
ever Ipsie appeared before manly eyes.
Of course the bad boys knew, each for
himself, that none of them could ever win
and marry the teacher; they wished she
might wait a few years before giving herself
away, but there was little chance of it
when balf a dozen more or less likely fel-
lows, with half a dozen years the advan-
tage of the boys, were doing all they could
to prevent it.
|
Of course too, each half-grown boy was.
distinctly of the opinion that he knew just
which oue of the ‘big fellows’’ the pretty
teacher should marry, and the opinions
differed hopelessly.
the members of the bad boys’ class would
stroll off by twos and threes, to perpetrate
some foreordained mischief, or go in search
of that which Satan finds for idle hands to
do. As they walked there was unanimous
agreement about anything complimentary
that any of them said about the teacher,
. but before long some boy would free his
mind as to which of the big fellows should
win Miss Ipsie; then was the beginning of
strife, with the usual accompaniments of
fisticuffs, hair-pulling and shocking bad
language.
Such had been the situation for some
months before the sun rose on a certain
Easter morning, and each member of the
bad boys’ class prepared for worship—of
the teacher, and for combat, the latter, so
far as was arranged for, being the old
country custom of ‘‘fighting Easter eggs.
Each boy put on his Sunday jacket, and
perhaps was carefully buttoned and
smoothed down by mother or sister, on-
ly to have all the style taken out of him
a moment or two afterward when he
sneaked to the barn or woodshed and filled
his pockets with eggs that had been boiled
hard and highly colored. With these eggs
he would have cracking matches with
other hoys. the cracked eggs being the
property of the winner, who promptly put
them where hoys think eggs do most good,
and, as the chances were about even, there
was scarcely a Blue Bridge boy who had
any appetite left for Easter Sunday dinner
at home, or who didn’t wake with a head-
ache and a bad temper on Easter Monday.
Egg-fights were indulged in onthe way
to Sunday school; they were slyly kept up
in school itself, particularly during prayer
time, when all heads were bowed, and they
were continued even in church itself by
such boys as were trusted to sit in the hack
seats and out of range of paternal eyes, as
they still are in thousands of villages every
Easter morning. :
But not all the colored eggs in the town
of Blue Bridge were doomed to destruction
on the Sunday with which this story bas
to do. Fully a week before the eventful
day there had come to Billsey Chubb, the
biggest of the bad boys and almost old
enough to rank with the hig boys, that it
would be the proper thing for the class to
make its teacher a present of a box of Eas-
ter eggs, each boy to contribute his hand--
somest specimen. t
“It don’t need to be the hardest, you
know,”’ explained Billsey, ‘‘for of course
she won’t have nobody to fight eggs with.
Gosh ! Just think how awfal it must be
to be a girl—a young woman, I mean.”’
‘Not to he her,” replied Jack Mulling,
who ‘was as imaginative as he was bad,
and:who always wore long hair and the
mosh brilliant neckties that the village
store could supply. ‘'A daisy like that
wonldn’t be a hoy if she could—not for a
hundred egg fights, an’ all the rest of the
fun that’s going.”
“This was so strong a statement that all
the boys gave it a moment or two of wide-
eyed thought, but no one ventured to deny
it. Finally Billsey Chubb remarked :
‘‘Well, there ain’t to be no eggs given
her that ain’t as pretty as pictures. I’ve
got a. toney box to put ’ém in, an’ we'll |
lay ’em in colored cotton, just like them
breastpins that’s for sale at the store. Say,
fellers, would it do to put in a note, sayin’
we hope she won’t give none of em to any
of the young fellers that come a ‘visitin’
her???
‘No, it wouldn't!’ exclaimed Jack
Mulling.. ‘‘Ladies don’t give away the
presents they get. I read all about it in
the ‘Answers to Correspondents’ in a news-
paper that my sister takes.”
“Good !"” ‘said Billsey.. “I didn’t
know but she might give one of ‘em to
Lije Minsey, who goes up to her house
sometimes Sunday evenin’s, an’ he ain’t fit
to be her daddy’s sick mule. If she wasa
*
After Sunday school |
.| won’t do.
i
mind to give one to Luke Holway, now—"
‘‘Luke Holway don’t need nothin’ but
hoofs to make him a hog. All the rest of |
him’s finished. Lije Minsev’s a gentle-
man; he puts cologne on his handkerchief
Sundays an’ he knows lots of pieces of
poetry, an’ hespent two whole weeks in
the city once, there !”’ said Jack.
“Luke’s a gentleman, too,’’ insisted Bill-
sey. Don’t he get two new hats every
winter, an’ ain’t the buckles of his buggy !
harness silver plated? What’s cologny
handkerchiefs an’ poetry pieces alongside
of that?”
The other boys, to whom Billsey looked
appealingly, seemed in doubt as to which
side to take. It really was a puzzling
question, for Lije Minsey was the Sunday
school librarian, and had made a special
collection of money from the solid men of
the village to buy such books as he thought
the bad boys’ class would like, while Luke
Holway was not the man to let a boy walk
in the dust of the highway while he was
driving in his sweli buggy—not even if
Luke had his Sunday clothes on and the
boy was covered from head to foot with
dust and cockle-burrs. It is hard to say
how long the boys would have delayed
their decision had not the youngest and
most wandering-eyed of the crowd sudden-
ly piped out :
‘‘Hey, fellers; she’s a-comin’.”’
Sure enough down the brick-paved, oc-
casionally shaded sidewalk came Miss Ipsie
Brett. None of the boys knew enough to
assume respectful attitudes, but all stared
reverently and Billsey half whispered, half
croaked :
‘Don’t she just look like a mince pie at
Thanksgivin’ ?”’
‘More like a glass of lemonade after go-
ing swimmin’,”’ suggested Jack. After a
moment he continued :
“If Luke Holway was a gentleman he'd
be takin’ her out buggy ridin’ a fine day
like this.”” ‘If Lije Minsey was anything
but a store clerk’’ retorted Billsey he'd be
a walking home with her.’’ -
At any other place and time the differ-
ence of opinion might have been settled:
with fists, but Miss Brett had been ap-
proaching so rapidly that she reached the
group just as Jack’s remark ended and she
put on a quizzical smile, which the boys
thought was too pretty for anything, as
she stoppad and said :
‘Talking over next Sunday’s lesson,
boys? Be sure you all have it correctly.’
Then she passed on, while Billsey groaned :
‘Gosh, boys, I s’pose she thinks we’re
just like her—ain’t got no use to think of
nothin’ but what’s good.?’
Several of the other boys groaned, through
sympathy, and thought to themselves that
between them and their pretty teacher
there was as wide and deep a gulf as that
which separated the winter skating from
autumn apple-stealing.
But Jack Mulling was not one of them,
for suddenly there came to him an inspira-
tion that made him jump as if he had been
stung by a yellow-jacket. Several hoys
asked him what was the matter, but Jack
replied merely that it hadn’t yet been set-
tled who should present the class present
to the teacher and how the presentation
should be made, and when. :
‘‘You’re the feller to de it, Billsey,”
said he. “ “You're the oldest and the big-
gest of us.”’
Billsey at ouce blushed, tried to shrink,
and showed other signs of embarassment,
concluding with the statement :
‘‘Not by a durned sight. I ain’t got no
gift of gab.’”” Several other boys declined
in rapid succession, and finally voted n-
nanimously that Jack Mulling, having been
the first to think of it, should be deputed
to make the presentaticn, that being ac-
cording to the custom of town meetings re-
garding any man who made a suggestion of
anything special to be done.
The several days that followed were very
busy ones for Master Jack Mulling. The
youth had been the cleverest student in
the Blue Ridge Public school, but sudden-
ly he recited so imperfectly that his teach-
er, who had once been a bad boy himself,
suspected that some new mischief was
brewing,so he provided himself with a new
lot of hickory switches, such being the
most approved means of school authority
in that part of the country. Jack was
home at meal time every day, instead of
being late through pressing engagements
with other boys. and he did not go out af-
ter supper—two facts which encouraged
his mother to believe that he had ‘‘got un-
der influence’’ at some of the special meet-
ings, which had recently been held at the
church. The only place beside home and
school at which he spent any time was
Driver’s store, which Lije Minsey was the
sole clerk. Minsey attached no special
importance to these visits, for lounging at
the store was the delight of all the village
loafers, old and young, but he was ‘some-
what surprised. during a late afternoon
lull of business, by Jack asking, with a
painfully sheepish face, if ‘he would look
at a piece of poetry and see if it was all
right. I
“You see,” Jack explained, “I know
well enough what IT want to say,but I ain’t
sure I’ve said it correct, and it’s got to be
just ‘80, aud thundering nice, too, or it
Now, you know lots of ' pieces
of poetry—I’ve heard you speak some of
em at the Literary Society evenin’s, so' I
thought mebbe you'd —"’ ;
“Why, certainly, Jack,”’ said the clerk
heartily. « ‘I'll do anything to help a bud-
ding poet into bloom. ‘What are the verses
about—beautiful spring or a girl 2” :
“Why, a girl, to hesure. aud she’s as
beautiful as a hundred yearsfull of springs.
Say, Lije’’—here Jack’s face suddenly be-
came very earnest and inquiring—*‘did you
ever know one of that kind 2’! “£4
The clerk wanted to laugh, but suddenly
his own fancy went on a short journey—
only as far as the home of Ipsie Brett; and’
he replied softly : i :
‘‘Yes, indeed; I've one in'my mind now.
Between men; Jack —between men, mind—
she’s there all the while. But that poem
of your’s—read it to me, hefore some one
comes in.”’ ats
“It’s about Easter eggs; colored ones,yon
know," said Jack as he drew a bit of fold-
ed paper from the inside pocket of his
jacket. :
“I thought you said it was about a
girl 27? kind
“*Well, so it is. Here—read it yourself,
and then you'll understand. It’s to go
with a present of a box of Easter eggs.”
The clerk unfolded the manuscript with
the judicial air with which any poet ap-
proached the work of anv other man who
thinks he ean write poetry; he read for a
moment and then, suddenly saying, ‘‘I’ll
have to take it to the window; the light
isn’t any too good in this part of the store,”
made haste to secrete himself between the
desk screen and the window and laugh
himself almost into apoplexy as he read as
follows : 4
A prettier lot of eggs than this
No fellow ever saw ;
But you'd be prettier than the lot
It it was a million more.
+
If you love me as I love you,
Give me both hands on Sunday ;
Bat if I ain’t no good to you,
Please smash the eggs on Monday.
“Jack,” said the clerk, when finally he
could trust himself to return with a straight
face to the counter, ‘‘you have two quali-
ties for which many older poets have
striven in vain-—breviey and directness. 1
think, though, that the latter tends too
strongly to abruptness.’’
“I felt sure there wassomethin’ wrong,’
replied the maker of the verses. ‘‘-ay,
Lije, won’t you help me out? Mebbe I
can do as much for you some day, some
way.
make it yourself, if you was going to send
a bully lot of Easter eggs to the prettiest
girl you know—just the very prettiest girl
in the world ?”’
The clerk fell quickly into a day dream
dared send a present of Easter eggs to Ipsie
Brett and ask for her heart at the same
time. Would that he bad the courage of
extreme youth, as exemplified by blunder-
ing Jack Mulling. Really, how would he
put it ? Wonder and fancy and love took
possession of him; the store remained void
of visitors, except the boy poet,so the clerk
went again to the desk.
‘Don’t leave out that about giving both
hands on Sunday, Lije, if you please, ’’said
Jack. ‘‘I ain’% so particular about her
smashin’ the eggs on Monday—I put that
Jine in to make the verse come out right,
for I counldn’t make it work any other
way.”
‘All right, Jack,” came a drawling
reply ‘Don’t talk to me any more for a
few minutes.”’
Jack would have seemed very good com-
pany for himself, had anyone seen him in
the quarter hour that followed; he smiled,
he winked, he slapped his leg, and did
many other things peculiar to half-grown
boys in high spirits, and he did not seem
in the least offended when the clerk show-
ed him some verses in which his own had
been revised almost out of recognition. On
the contrary, he exclaimed :
‘‘Bully for you, Lije. Say, tell me
something I can do to pay yon for taking
all thie trouble.” .
‘Well, Jack, you may give me your
poem for mine, if you like; fair exchange
is no robbery, you know.”
“It’s a bargain,”’ said the younger man,
folding the revision carefully and hurrying
out of the store, while the clerk re-read
the original manuscript and laughed until
the arrival of a customer, who chanced to
be Miss Ipsie Brett,who made a small pur-
chase and was hurrying away when the
clerk remarked :
“I’ve just had a serious interview with
one of your Sunday charges, Miss Brett—
Master Jack Mulling.”’
“Indeed ? Ididn’t suppose boys ever
could really be serious. They seem to try
very hard while in my class, but I pity
them for the terrible amount of self-re-
straint it must take. You see. I’ve broth-
ers, and I know.”’ :
‘‘Ah, but Jack's seriousness is of a very
different kind. He’s in love, or thinks he
is, which amounts to the same thing, so far
as his feelings are concerned.’’ A
‘*Poor fellow,’ sighed the young wom-
an.
wish him well”? | : L
‘‘How good of you. If only more mature
years are necessary, won’t you extend your
good wishes to such other of your aec-
quaintances as are in Jack’s condition of
mind ?”’
“With all my heart. if they are as hon-
est and earnest and adoring by nature as
that scamp Jack.”’
The clerk responded with a look that
caused Miss Brett to turn quickly and de-
part, though not soon enough to hide a
store, to the clerk’s eyes, into a nook in
Paradise.
The day before Easter Sunday was the
Blue Bridge had known since that before
the Fourth of July. The bad boys’ class
set as a committee of the whole on theac-
ceptance of Easter eggs for the testimonial
to the teacher. The session, which lasted
from frosty morn till dewy eve, was held
in Billsey Chubb’s father’s barn, where the
ist had done his very best, assisted by such
home talent as he could command, and the
results wonld have amazed most artists and
horrified not a few. Jack Mulling had
‘been so intent on his poetry and other de-
vices that he had not succeeded in coloring
a single egg which met the approval of the
committee. When this fact was forced
upon him he bravely offered to trade his
entire lot for any single egg which would
be accepted. : . :
The question of the eligibility of colored
goose eggs and turkey eggs being raised,
it was referred to a sub-committee of three
and the members retired to the corn-crib
for consultation, prudently carrying their
utes the discussion became so animated
the sub-committee’s room and found the
and a mass of broken eggs, and when order
was restored the three disputants looked
somewhat like gigantic chickens newly
| hatched, ‘so abundantly were ‘they covered
| with yellow stains and fragments of shell.
ain by the praise which had been award-
ed his bright particular egg, insisted that
on each egg should be scratched with * the
point of a pin the initials of the giver.
This suggestion was voted down, as also
was ope that the givers should unite ina
‘‘round robin’’ to accompany the box.
Jack Mulling listened to everything, but
said little; but he moved the appointment
of a committee to devise an appropriate in-
soitiption. He was made the chairman of
said commiftee, and soon brought in a re-
port that there should be no inscription
‘whatever upon the box, this being the pur-
pointed. It was agreed that for the bearer
to say that the present was from the bad
boys’ class would be sufficient.
Finally after many arrangements and re-
arrangements of the eggs and a fond, last
look at them in their rosy nest, it was dis-
covered that no bad thought to bring paper
and string with which to wrap it. Then
came the opportunity for which Jack Mull-
ing had been hoping, and which he had
vowed should come some day, no matter
what trick he might have to play to bring
it about. He said his mother had some
silvered paper and thin blue ribbon. and
that if the boys "would let him take the
box to his house he would hook enough to
make it almost as pretty as the ‘daisy for
whom it was intended. i
The offer was accepted, and within five
minutes Jack, with a smile so large that
made him feel as if his face wasstietching,
had slipped under the cover of the box
Lije Minsey’s poem in Lije’s own hand-
writing, and neatly wrapped and tied the
package and rejoined the boys. Then, as
Won't you fix up that poem for me |
so it'll be just right? Just like you’d |
and wondered what he would wrire if he |
“If he were a few years older T would"
most important that some of the youth of |
box and the'red cotton had been on private '
view for three successive days. Each color- |
surplus’eggs with them. Within five min-’
that the committee of the ‘whole’ invaded’
members on the floor in a triangular fight!
Then one boy, who had been made over-'
pose with which he had the committee ap-
blush which. transformed the dingy old |
to the boys that there was no better time
to deliver it. and he was escorted by
the whole class to the teacher’s house, with
the instructions to give the present only
into the teacher's own hands. He had no
trouble in doing this, but when the young
woman asked him from whom the package
came he stammered.
‘*‘Mebbe the name’s inside. If it ain’t,
I reckon yon’ll know the writin’—it’s that
«of the nicest young man in the town.”” He
dared not trust himself to remain for fur-
ther questioning, so he dashed out of the
house and rejoined the boys, who greeted
him with a. chorus of hoarse whispers.
“What did she say ?”’
‘She said,”’ Jack replied as coolly as if
he were a veteran politician and a disbe-
liever in a hereafter, ‘‘shesaid that she was
much obliged to us, and:she wouldn’t ever
forget onr kindness.”
Most of the bad boys’ class spent the re-
mainder of the evening in longing for the
morning “and the egg-fighting which, ac-
cording to the time-honored custom, could
not begin until sunrise, but Jack Mulling
was not sure that he was in a hurry to see
the light of Easter morning. Now that
the deed was done, he recalled some well-
meant practical jokes upon young men and
women that had made an immense amount
of trouble at Blue Bridge—jokes for which
over-smart people had been compelled to
leave town, some of them failing to get
away before they had been soundly kicked
or otherwise soundly punished.
Suppose that he was mistaken in believ-
ing that his friend Elijah and Miss Brett
were quite fond of each other and the
young clerk learned what nse bad
been made of his verses. what would hap-
pen? Suppose Luke Holway were really
the favored of the pretty teacher, and was
shown the poem, it would be just like him
to go to Driver's store, thrash Lije, who
was much the smaller man, demand an ex-
planation afterward, and theu go for Jack
himself with a buggywhip or whatever
might come handy ? Suppose Miss Brett
herself should be angry, find out how it all
happened, and dismiss the well-meaning
but meddlesome perpetrator from her class?
Indeed, if anything hut the right thing
were to bappen, Jack would wish he had
run away from home—he would 1un away
now but for the egg-fighting he would do
in the morning with the fruit of a trusty
hen whom he bad treated to unlimited
bobe-dust for a month.
He took no part in the early morning
contests, but stood among the earliest at
the Sunday school door, prepared to hurry
away ahd hide should any alarming signs
appear. When Miss Brett arrived she af-
fected Jack like an apparition, for, of
course, she had on a new bonnet, like any
other young woman on Easter Sunday,
and Jack, like most other members of his
sex wasn’t quick to discern a familiar face
under “an ‘unfamiliar bonnet. A load
tumbled. from his heart, though, as the
if Jack was connected in her wind with
something pleasing. So far, so good ; but
how: about Lije Minsey, who wasn’t'vet in
sorts of names, but they made the situation
‘wo better. Could he in any way. give Lije
| a quiet tip. He was sure he didn’t see
how, but with a wild determination to do
something he stood in front of the build-
ing, and as soon as he saw Elijah afar off
he hurried toward him.
‘‘Good-morning, Jack,’’ said the young
man, and then continued with a quizzical
look. ‘‘How did the verses work ? How’s
the girl ?
*‘She’s prettier than ever this mornin’ ?’
Jack replied. ‘‘How’s youis?”’
‘Mine? Ob, I haven't any.”’
‘“‘Haven’t? Then why don’t you make
up to my Sunday school teacher? She’d
suit you, wouldn’t she ?”’ g
‘Ah, she’d suit any man, Jack.’
“Why don’t you get her, then, b fore
some other feller grabs her? I reckon
she’s sweet on you already.”’
‘Upon my word, young man,”’ exclaim-
ed the cierk-librarian, stopping and staring
at his companion, ‘““are you in the habit of
observing women closely ?”’
‘I"ve looked at her lots, an’ I guess you
don’t know how much she looks at you in
Sunday school when you're lookin’ some
other way.’’
Minsey’s face reddened ; Jack went on:
‘Pity you didn’t send them verses to
her instead of givin’ ’em to me-—’ specially
that part about givin’ her two hands on
Sunday. She’s a picture to-day, I just tell
you.”
By this time the couple had reached the
school, and both entered, and it seemed to
Jack that his teacher and Lije quickly ex-
changed tender yet embarrassing looks.
‘The school service opened in the usual
‘manner, the lesson of the day was discussed
and Miss Brett tried her utmost to make it
of practical value to her . graceless charges.
The school was held in the church huilding,
each teacher having a pew instead of chair
‘or desk, with ‘her scholais in one or two
pews behind her. - At one end of the front
row. of bad ‘hoys was Jack, with Bill-
sey Chubb beside him, and Billsey asked
several times why Jack was so confounded
silent and ‘stupid, for the youth had. neith-
ereyes nor: thoughts for anything but his
pretty teacher and Lije Minsey. Toward
the end of the lesson, while the librarian
was collecting the hooks returned, Miss
Brett's thoughts seemed to wander from
the lesson itself, and as Lije approached
her seat the lesson paper fell from her
hands.
Jack leaned slyly forward ; he saw Lije
how, put down both hands to take the re-
turn books of the class, then he saw the
little hands steal into those of the librarian.
Then Jack dropped back in his seat,
heaved a long sigh of relief and gave Bill-
howl that brought the entire school to its
feet. while’ the librarian snatched the
hooks and hurried away and the pretty
teacher blushed as red as the roses in her
bonnet ; and Billsey Chubb turned on his
tormentor with a long pin, and the super-
intendent, who on week-days managed a
| lamber yard, hurried down to the bad
boys’ class, snatched out both Jack and
Billsey and deposited them on the sidewalk
with a vigorous kick or two by way of em-
phasis, and both hoys went into an open
lot nearby to adjust their differences, and
Jack got a severe drubbing without whinip-
ering a particle. Then. he - made his way
home to remove the dust of battle from his
garments and thus avoid a painful inter-
view with his father. He had just finished
and the ‘‘last bell for church?’ services was
tolling when a loud and persistent knock-
ing summoned him to the front door,
where he found himself face to face with
Lije Minsey, who gasped : :
“Jack, you young scoundrel, you're
mixed up in this thing in some way. Tell
me all about it—quick.’’
‘“What’s the matter with’ yon? asked
Jack, assuming as bold a front as he could.
**Ain’t you in luck ?”’
“Yes, but—"’
‘‘Ain’t she happy ?”’
the shades of night had fallen, he suggested |
teacher’s eye met his, for there seemed a.
| grateful, though shy look in it—a look as
the secret at all ? Jack called himself all
teacher’s head drop slightly ‘and her. two:
sey Chubb a mighty pinch that elicted a
‘‘She certainly seems to be, but—"’ |
‘*Well, then, what are von coughin’ |
about ?”’
It took some effort to get a frank and |
[nlf statement from Jack, but when Lije |
learned that there had been a deliberate |
bit of match-making developed from some |
hero worship in which he himself had been |
the hero he said more pleasant things than |
Jack had ever heard about himself before.
All that seemed to trouble the happy man
was that his taste in colors might be
judged by the epgs—he had seen Blue |
Bridge Easter eggs before. When
how he relieved himself from this imputa-
tion Jack never knew, but when the en-
gagement of the belle of the village was
formally announced Miss Brett gave a din-
ner to the bad boys’ class, there being no
other guests present but Lije Minsey, and
after the meal the young lady brought in
the box of eggs which all the boys remem-
bered well, and begged each of the givers
to pencil his autograph upon his own con- |
tribution, and later in the evening the |
boys saw one anther home without a single
fight, although Billsey Chubb remarked
two or three times that he couldn’t see
what excuse Jack Mulling had at that din-
ner for putting on about as much style as
if he was a grown man.—Jokn Hablerton.
Easte rn ‘Jerusalem.
, ‘Christ is risen I” “*Chuiist is risen, in-
deed, and hath appeared unto Simon.”
Thus were Christians in primitive times
wont to salute each other on Easter morn-
ing. This beautiful custom is retained in
the Greek church. In Russia one may still
hear these words which recall theday when
the surprised disciples first listened to the
joyful tidings.
The anniversary of the Risen Lord will
be commemorated throughout Christendom
on Snnday, but in no spot will the cele-
bration of Easter have so deep a significance
as in Palestine, the scene of His birth, min-
istry, crucifixion. resurrection, ascension.
A traveler gives an interesting account of
Easter in Jerusalem.
**On Easter Day the tomb of Christ in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre is covered
with the lilies which are used all over the
world. The Mount of Calvary is visited hy
the Christian population of the town and
the members of the various religious orders
inbabiting it and flowers are strewn upon
the spot where the cross is supposed to have
stood. The archways under which tradi-
tion tells us Christ walked upon His way
to the spot of crucifixion are standing just
as they stood fully 2,200 years ago. Every
Easter the little children of many of Jeru-
salem’s families are taken to this place of
the cross and told what the various objects
signify and of the great events which tran-
spired there,
“On Easter Sunday every believer in the
doctrines which were preached by the Be-
ing whose resurrection is celebrated, makes
his way to the mount, and there, in some
form or other, observes the day. There are
processions of old and young. One hears
that familiar anthem, “Gloria in Excelsis?’
all about. Now to the mount or the Gar-
den of Gethsemane comes a troop of young
girls all in white and singing ‘Christ the
Lord is Risen Today. Alleluia.’ ;
“This Garden of Gethsemane, where the
children love to spend muoch of their time
on Easter, is a small enclosure 100 ft. long
and 150 ft. wide. It is cared for by a col-
ony of Franciscan monks, who spend much
time beautifying it. The place is beauti-
fully adorned with hedges kept in exquisite
order by the monks, There are innumera-
ble beds of pinks and roses and visitors are
given a nosegay hy the monk in attend-
ance. :
“The Easter celebrants are ‘also almost
sure to visit the bunch .of seven venerable
olive tiees, some of them nineteen feet in
circumference, and so old that their trunks
are stored up with stones. These trees are
believed to be descendants of those which
existed upon the same spot at the time
Christ lived inthe world. This belief is
lent what seems positive proof by the fact
that they are unlike all other trees of the
same -variety in that country. The only
spots in the garden where the appearance of
the Easter visitors indicates other than a
feeling of joy and religious inspiration are
those where a monument marks the spot
where Judas Iscariot gave the kiss of be-
trayal. Even the little children scorn the
memory of that most famous of traitors.”
. Billed as Potatoes.
A Young Man in a Sack Travels 700 Miles in a Freight
Car.
Billed as a choice sack of potatoes a
young man has arrived in Chicago from
Kansas City tied up in a sack. For three
days and a half he had been confined in the
sack, and during that time he had traveled
close to 700 miles in a freight car. The
sack which covered him was inclosed in an
open fruit case. \
The traveler, who is Martin J. Klansdig-
ger, a machinist of Kansas City, was nearly
famished when he was cut from his prison
at the Chicago & Northwestern freight
house by a friend who had been waiting for
a day and a half in the city for him to ar-
rive. - 8 Lo
Klansdigger began his journey with only
a quart of water and two pounds of crack-
ers in the sack with him, this being a con-
dition of a wager of $300, which caused
him to make the perilous trip. When re-
leased Klansdigger was nearly blinded by |
the dust which had crept into the sack,and
‘his throat and mouth were so parched that
be could hardly speak, his little cask of wa-
ter having been spilled after he had heen
on his journey a day. | :
For nearly three days he had been with-
out water, and he stated when he was able
to talk that had it not rained Wednesday
he would certainly have died of thirst.
During most of the storm the car in whieh
he was packed was side tracked out in one
small country town, and the water came
through a crack in the roof and fell on the
sack. ' The burlap became quite wet, and
he was thus enabled to snck from the cloth
a few drops which allayed his thirst.
——May—Charley Stubtoe is a good
dancer in hig way. gpa
Sue—Yes, and in everybody else’s way.
VERY CURIOUS.
A nomiy came tilting over the lawn—
Curious ! Curious ! Curious !
He glanced all ahout with his bright litlle
eyes, a
And he hauled up a worm of a very great
size
And he gobbled him down with an air of sur-
prise— i
Such a very ridiculous air of surprise!
(Curious ! Curious! Curious!)
And [ said to him: “Birdie, reflect—is it
wise, i
In a manner so frantic and furious,
To gobble down worms of such terrible size !
Don’t you think it is very injurious ?"’
But all he would say as he hurried away
Was: “Curious ! . Curious! Curious!
What curiosity! What-what !
© Curious— curious creature ! 4
— Alice Reid in Harper's Bazar.’
and |
.| perfectly light when handled.
Special Cakes for Easter.
Many of the delightful old observances
attached to Eastertide have become almost
obsolete. The practice of serving special
kivds of breads and cakes on certain days
is still kept up by those who love the old
| time customs.
The lists of these breads and cakes con-
| sidered appropriate, or having any signifi-
| cance in connection with the days, is not
very varied, heing confined to pancakes,
{ fritters and buns. Bat ignoring the mean-
| ing attached to all observances of this sea-
| son, we may take the same liberty in this,as
| we doin choosing other dishes toserve dur-
| ing the Lenten season,if we still observe the
‘‘eternal fitness of things’’ in the selection
of the materials composing them.
Pancakes and fritters, to be stric tly or-
thodox, should be served only on Shrove
Tuesday and on Good Friday; but are in
keeping for luncheons all through Lent,
especially on Wednesday and Fridays.
PLAIN PANCAKES.
Break six eggs into a bowl and beat un-
til very light. Allow to each egg a gill of
milk, an eighth of a teaspoonful of salt and
abcut an ouuce (quarter of a cup) of flour.
Sift flour into a bowl. Make a well in the
center and add the eggs and milk gradual-
ly, mixing toa smooth batter. If eggs
are large a little more flour may be neces-
sary. The batter must be the consistency
of thick cream.
Place a smooth iron frying pan on the
fire; see that it is perfectly clean and
smooth or the pancake will stick. When
the pan is hot put in a small piece of sweet
butter. When it is melted pour in just
enough batter to cover the bottom of the
pan; about half a enp for a pan five inches
in diameter. If made thin enough they
need not be turned. When done sprinkle
.over with powdered sugar, roll it up in the
pan and take out with large eake turner.
Place on a hot dish before the fire until
you have sufficient quantity fried to serve.
They are better served as soon as fried. A
little grated lemon or orange rind may he
added to the batter orsifted with the sugar.
If the whites of the eggs are beaten sepa-
rately and added to batter the last thing
the pancakes will be lighter. . Allow four
or five minutes for the very thin pancake
and six or eight for the thicker one. Very
rich pancakes are made with eggs. cream,
sugar, sherry, grated nutmeg and flour.
ORANGE FRITTERS.
Measure a cupful of sifted flour and sift
into a mixing bowl with a level teaspoon-
ful of salt. Beat the yoke of one egg with
a tablespoonful of good salad oil; mix these
gradually into the flour by making a well
in the center of the flour and adding egg
and oil. When the batter is ‘smooth add
gradually enough to hold a drop let fall
from the mixing spoon. Beat whites of
the eggs to a smooth froth and fold lightly
into the batter. Put two or three slices of
orange into this batter; cover them well,
and then slide into hot fat aud fry a golden
brown. Remove with a skimmer or wire
egg whip; dust with powdered sugar and
serve hot.
POPOVERS.
Mix to a smooth batter two cups of flour,
and two cups of milk and the yolks of two
eggs; add a level teaspoonful of salt. If
you do not possess iron popover pans, but-
ter six little earthern custard cups and
place in a pan in a hot even. Beat the
whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and fold
lightly and quickly into the batter. Fill
the hot, buttered cups about half full of
batter and bake until they are brown and
These can
be served for breakfast, eaten with butter,
or for luncheon or dinner as a dessert, using
a good sweet sauce or maple syrup.
BREAKFAST ROLLS.
Heat to scalding poiut one pint of milk
with a large tablespoonful of butter, a
tablespoonful of sugar, a level teaspoonful
of salt. Turn into a howl and when luke-:
warm add half a yeast cake dissolved ina
little lukewarm water. Beat in flour
enough to have rather a thick batter; beat
for five minutes until full of bubbles, then
add flour to make a dough. Knead for at:
least ten minutes, until the dough is smooth
and elastic to the touch. Set in a moder-
ately warm place and let rise for four hours;
watch that it does not get too light. Knead
down well; take pieces of dough about the
size of an egg, roll out on board, having
the roll about an inch thick in the middle
and pointed at each end. Place some dis-
tance apart in well-buttered tins;cover and
let rise for an honr; then bake in a quick
oven.
HOT CROSS BUNS.
Two pounds of sifted flour, two cups of
sugar, two oups of currants, half a tea-
spoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of mixed
spices. Mix these all together in a bowl.
Make a hole in the center and add half a
pint of warm milk and half a cake of yeast
dissolved in a half a cup of lukewarm wat-
er. Mix slowly into the flour until you
have a smooth, thin batter; cover and set
in a warm place until light, then add half
a pound of melted butter and milk enough
to make a soft dough of all the flour; cover"
this with a thin. coating of flour and let
rise once more for half an hour. Shape in-
to buns and lay them far apart in buttered
tins. Cover and set to rise for half an
hour. ' Just before going in the oven make
a cross on each one by pressing the back of
a knife almost entirely through the dough.
Bake in a quick oven for ten or fifteen min-
utes. j LIN10
' ANGEL FOOD CAKE. :
Take one and one-half cupe of granulated
sugar and sift twice, one cup of flonr sifted .
four times. the whites of eleven eggs, a
teaspoonful of vanilla and half a teaspoon-
ful of cream tartar. ey
Add a pinch of salt to the whites and
beat them about half stiff, then add, the
cream tartar and continue whipping until
eggs are very stiff; sprinkle the sugar in’
lightly. then add the flavoring, beat in;
then fold in the flour as lightly as possi-
ble; sprinkle it in, a spoonful ata time.
Do not stop beating or folding until ready
for the pan. Pour into an nngreased pan
and bake ina moderate oven for forty min-
utes. ,
ANGEL CHARLOTTE,
Make a loaf of angel cake by above.
recipe. When perfectly cold carefully cut
out the center, leaving a wall at least an
inch thick. Ice the sides and top with
boiled icing, then fill the center with
sweetened and flavored whipped cream or
charlotte russe, heaping it up roughly.
Scatter over the whole candied violets.—By
Lida Ames Willis.
The Oldest Grand Army Man.
Aaron Young, who died in Lynn, Mass.,
the other day, was said to be ‘the oldest
Grand Army member in the country. He
was born in Union, Me., April 14, 1808,and
exempt from military service when the Civil
War broke out, being fifty three years old, |
he enlisted in the Thirteenth Maine Volun-
teers and followed his twenty year old son.
to the front. He was a member of Post 5,
Department of Massachusetts, the largest
post in the United States. ¥