1 ® x REMINISCE NCE
Through the glistening glory of moonlit air
When frost through the night was steal
ing.
I rode to the rush of a glorious pair
One night long ago, with my beautiful
Claire,
As the Christmas bells were pealing.
The night was sparkling, sharp ar.d still,
The snow held the earth in Its keeping.
While under Its mantle o'er vale anil hill.
By the banks of each river and Ice-bound
rill
The unblossomcd flowers were sleeping.
Roy Griffith was out with his dappled grays,
And Fanny Cremorne In his cutter,
And wild Willie Ford with his blooded bays,
And that dashing beauty, Miss Kate Du-
Pays,
A trifle too utterly utter.
Now a gray grows white and a bay horse
fades.
But mine showed beauty arid breeding,
For Ronald was black as the queen of
spades.
And Lais still blacker by several shades.
And bred with a view to speeding.
And the face by my side was the loveliest
far,
Like a dream, through Its fur w raps show
ing.
Ah, never shone sun, r.or moon, nor 'star,
And never broke wave over crystalline bar
\\ Ith the light in those dark eyes glowing.
And never sang seraph a sweeter strain
Than the song of her rippling laughter;
And never a field of golden grain
Followed the breeze like a soft refrain
As her echoing smile followed after;
And never breathed spirit of light and air
With a grace so winning and tender;
Hi, Ronald! Come clown from that dance in the air!
Hey, Lais! Have done with your frolicking there I
Come! show us your best for the Lady Claire!
Gently, there! gently! Now steady! So, so!
Ah, grandly, my beauties! We'll let the boys know
What it means to come up with a pair that can go.
Ha! Ha! Lady Claire! the bays are in air!
They never could trot with the blacks, fair and square;
And there go the grays off their fleet, over there.
Great Scott! but they're both coming up on the run!
Hold tight, little Claire, this thing's just begun;
'1 hey shall have all the running they wish ere they're done.
Go, Ronald ! —Go! Go, Lais ! —Away!
Great heavens! Just see Willie Ford's cutter sway.
Get on, my black beauties! Get on there, I say!
Hi, Lais! Look out! Look out or you'll slip!
As I live, Lady Claire, it's a two-minute-clip;
And see! do you see? Roy's using the whip!
Ah, steady there, Ronald! Cling close, little one,
We're making a beautiful, beautiful run,
And the blacks' blood will tell before we are done.
I told you! I told you! Will's out of the race;
My soul! little one ! that was a bad place ;
Those bays cannot run when the blacks set the pace.
Now carefully, Claire; mind, child, how you sit,
I'm going to touch up the blacks just a bit.
Not afraid, my brave girl? Not a whit?—not a whit?
Hi! you black phantoms! Get away ! —Get away!
My life! how they go! This has passed beyond play.
I hope—l—yes, Claire—that this cutter —will stay!
See! little one —see! Look back at that gray!
He's done, and hurrah! we've carried the day.
Hurrah, you wild beauties ! Hurrah, there, 1 say!
• *••••• « •
We had won, we had wonfwith my brain
all aswlrl,
But my heart most blissfully singing;
For through all the desperate rush and
whirl
1 knew that that dear little, sweet little girl
Was close to me, close to me clinging.
Of course, I was tired after the race,
And my heart in a terrible flutter.
So I pulled down the blacks to a moderate
pace
And sat, while my right hand held them In
place,
With my left on the back of the cutter.
And then, as the heavens were not quite
clear,
And the chains of love were clanking.
My arm crept along on the seat, by the rear,
And slyly, with doubting and many a fear,
Strove to capture my captor, by flanking.
But Claire was awake with hervidettes out
And soon had the enemy routed.
'Twas merely a whisper, 1 have no doubt,
But it seemed as if earth and air about
With a thousand voices shouted.
"Do you think It quite safe" (in a tone very
grand),
"Single handed to drive with a lady?
I'm sure, sir, you'd better take two—and—
and
I think that perhaps—l could—lend you a
hand.
As I see you have only one ready."
As that last low whisper flew oft into space
Andmydarlinggrew scared into coldness,
And never dwelt soul so white and fair,
With the sweetness to love and the couraff* |
to dare,
In a form so fragile and slender.
I had loved little Claire since long ago
But never a word had spoken;
The dear, winsome creature, she frightened
me so,
For 1 feared that, perhaps, she might an
swer me. No,
And the charm of my life b» broken.
I scarcely could fancy it really true
That tlure at my side she was sitting,
In my gay little cutter all fresh and new
With its golden striping, and built for two,
Through theChrlstmasmoonlight flitting.
I was driving along In a quiet way
With never a thought of speeding,
Trying to think of something to say,
Though the horses were fresh and full of
play.
And the blacks, as usual, lending.
The lights shone out on the glittering snow
With Christmas cheer and greeting,
Giving a glimpse, In the firelight's glow.
Of silvery heads and heads of tow
O'er Christmas bounties meeting.
We were just turning Into the Norfolk Plk«
Where it joins the road to Fentlever,
Where it stretches away to the Cambridge '
dike.
Broad and level and arrow-like.
And smooth as a frozen river.
I was furtively watching the radiant flush
Up into Claire's cheek come creeping,
When the bays and the grays drew up with
a rush,
And the six all abreast, for a bit of a brush.
Came Into the wide road sweeping.
I read In the beautiful, blushing face,
Its story of trust and of loving grace.
And my heart thrilled up into boldness.
"And what happened then In the soft moon
light?"
Well, I certainly did not borrow.
Is it anyone's care it I seized that night
That dear little hand by my love's strong
might
And kept it through Joy and through sor
row?
And never a one to-night shall know
That those bells to my thought seem
weeping.
With a sobbing cry, as they swol to and fro,
Ov»r the beautiful, silent snow,
Where the unbloss»med souls lie sleeping
Ah, me!—how I long for the years by gone!
Alas! that their glory is ended—
When horses were horses, and knew how to
run;
When the girls, pure and true, were not
like a nun.
By a she-dragon always attended.
My Willie goes out with bis girl, goes he,
And his coachman fine as a tiddle.
And his footman arrayed most gorgeousli
In a sleigh that was built with a seat for
three,
And a chaperon sits In the middle.
Oh, my heart and my temperboth are wrung
For the ancient days so golden,
"\\ hen life was royally sweet and young.
And love was never a tTio sung,
\\ ith the third part cracked and olden.
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1901.
PUZZLE PICTURE.
WHERE IS THK lIOEH (iIOM.HAI.f
GERMAN ARMY AND NAVY.
Hulcn IIIMI Hruiil.-it IOIIM Tlint Govern
OtllrerN ii II (I Mrn of That
Co 11 nt ry.
Army and navy officers in Germany
are not allowed to marry unless they
have a certain private income and
must make a deposit of 30,000 marks
cash ($7,500) with the government he
fore the marriage can take place,
writes William E. Curtis, in the Chi
cago llecord-Ilerald. This is depos
ited to their credit in the public treas
ury, and they receive three per cent,
interest a year. At the death of the
officer the principal is refunded to his
family. The purpose of this rule is to
protect the government from the bur
den of destitute officers' families, and
also to protect the officer aga nst
court-martial, for the regulations pro
hibit him from incurring debts. When
an officer gets into debt he must re
sign or go before a court-martial, and
if he cannot show that his misfortune
was unavoidable and due to circum
stances over which lie had no control,
he will be dismissed from the service.
If the debts have been incurred for
reasons which he could not prevent,
they are paid out of the deposit to
his credit and the amount is deduct
ed from his pay in installments.
The privates in the German army
get no pay at all. By the constitution
of the empire every German capable
of bearing arms is enrolled in the
standing army or navy for six years
from the twentieth to the twenty
seventh year of his age, although he
is liable to be called upon at the com
pletion of his seventeenth year. Of
these six years, two must be spent in
active service in the infantry and ar
tillery, and three in the cavalry, and
the remaining years in the army of
the reserve. During this time the sol
dier receives allowances for food and
clothing and the other necessaries of
life. He is also given beer and tobacco
from the commissary, and if he is
economical can commute his rations
into cash and thus acquire a little
spending money. The soldiers of the
United States army, who receive sl3
a month, are the best paid in the
world. Those of the British army,
who receive a shilling a day, are next.
The pay of the officers of the Ger
man army is very small, and no one
can obtain a commission unless he
has a sufficient private fortune to
yield him an income of at least 500
marks ($125) a year. Captains re
ceive about the same compensation as
second lieutenants of infantry in the
United States, and officers of the low
er grades even less in proportion. A
second lieutenant in the German army
receives less than a commissary ser
geant or a hospital steward in Ihe
United States. The Germans get
marks where our officers get dollars—
a mark being 25 cents. Army officers
in Germany, however, have privileges
that civilians do not enjoy. They are
HAD WATER IN HIS SYSTEM.
Sockless Feet —Wat's de mattter wit Willie?
Ilrewser—He run so hard git tin' away from a wood pile dat he sweat
reel water. It almost give him a bath. Deie's de result —a lit.
entitled to half fare for themselves
and their families on all the railways,
like clergymen in the United States;
they are given half rates at most of
the hotels and restaurants, and a dis
count from the regular prices at the
shops, usually from 10 to 30 per cent.
They have half rates at the theaters
and operas, but at the royal opera no
officer is allowed to appear in uniform
unless he occupies a box or seat in the
parquet or in the first row of the first
balcony.
The regular garrison of Berlin is
20.000 troops, which, with the general
staff and the various bureaus, gives
the city a large military population,
and nearly every third person you
meet on the street wears a uniform.
During an hour's walk on the prin
cipal streets the other day I met 28
generals.
MILES OF JOS-LOT BOOKS.
VnM Xumlierii of Vnlnmra In I.ondon
l.ilirury StorerooniN That
Ar« n Drill;'.
One of the most curious sights in
London is that provided by the cellars
and storerooms of the great circulat
ing library firms, who have literally
miles- —nearly 20 miles in one case —
of shelves of once more or less fash
ionable books that may be bought now
for a few coppers apiece, says the New
York Herald.
To show how uncertain is the fate
of any book that may be issued, it
may be sain that in a vast number of
cases there are often in these cata
combs hundreds of copies of one book,
the latter less than three years ago
having been read by thousands of peo
ple, though absolutely a drug in the
market now.
In a great number of instances, too,
the books now offered at a few cop
pers—published at £1 12s, (id. original
ly—have never been issued by the li
brary or read by a single being, al
though written by a supposedly noted
author.
The libraries throughout the coun
try, from second down to twentieth
rate, having been supplied from these
many miles of shelves, millions of nov
els issued during the last few years
remain, and tons of them are periodic
ally carried off to the paper makers, to
reappear as bright, virgin sheets, and
very likely to revisit once again the
literary dead house of one of the li
braries. Sometimes, however, these
catacombs yield treasures.
An author, hitherto unrecognized,
writes a book that goes with a swing,
and that brings him fame at once, and
then people discover that many unread
stories by him are mouldering in
library cellars'.
World'* I.nrtccnt Fletnre.
The largest picture in the world is
"Paradise," by Tintoretto. It hangs
in the Doge's palace at Venice. It is
$4 feet wide and 34 feet high.—N. Y.
Herald.
SLOT MACHINE CHARMED HER.
Slir lluil Ileen Bitterly Optioned to>
UnmhliiiK till II Her lliiMbmid
Won n Dollar.
"One of the most decided and
quickest changes from a pronounced
stand that ever came to my atten
tion 1 noted in the case of my wife
.vhile we were on u vacation trip re
cently, '' remarked a well-known lo
cal official. "Ever sj»ice we have been
married Mrs. (J has been unalter*
ably opposed to gambling in any
form. The mere mention of the word
caused her to shudder. While stroll
ing about a summer resort a few
weeks ago we passed one of 4hose
machines that bear a sign inviting
all who pass lo drop a nickel in the
slot. The inducement is the possibil
ity of the coin dropped striking a
channel that will result in the drop
per receiving an amount varying
from one dollar to $2..10 in nickels as
a return from the investment. Hut
the dropped coin follows a winning
passage about once in a lifetime.
".More for the sake of witnessing
my wife experience a momentary
chill than for ayy other reason I
suddenly halted in front of the ma
chine I spoke of and parted with a
five-cent piece. Vastly to my sur
prise, 20 nickels slipped from the ma
chine. The event of a lifetime had
actually come to pass. But more re
markable was the transformation of
Mrs. (i . Without a word she took
possession of my winnings, deposited
them, and when tiiey were gone bor
rowed a dollar more in sm#ll change
from me and placed all of it in the
slot. She next called for more.
Thereupon I protested.
"Hut I'll surely win $2..10 if I kuep
on trying," she expostulated.
" 'You won't try with my money,
though," I declared. Since this little
occurrence, says the Washington
Star. Mrs. O has not discoursed
on the evils of gambling.
CELTICISMS ON THE STAND.
Paint.v SnyliiKN of Irlnli WltnenHea
While I ii<ler|£uingr the ( antom
nrj lo\n in i nut lons. '
Lawyers with an appreciative sense
of humor enjoy nothing so much as to
get a quick-witted, ready-tongued
son of the Emerald isle on the stand
to relieve the monotony of the legal
technicalities of a case. A gentle*
man who has been collecting samples
of Irish wit and repartee for some
time relates the following anecdotes,
says the Baltimore Sun. Some of
them are doubtless mellow with age,
but in any case th«y will bear repeti
tion:
"Arc you guilty or not guilty?"
asked the court clerk of a prisoner
charged with some trivial offense.
"Phat are yees there for but to
foind out?" was the quick rejoinder.
A henpecked husband had hi.s bet
i ter half arrested for assaulting him.
| The plaintiff was on the stand.
"And now, Mr. O'Toole," said his
I counsel, "will you kindly tell the jury
j whether your wife was in the habit
of striking you with impunity?"
"Wid what, sor?"
"With impunity."
"She wuz, sor, lipw an* then; but
slie ginerly used th' potaty masher."
A witness testifying 1 in a murder
ease was asked to describe to the jury
the exact location of a flight of stairs.
"Explain to the jury," said the
prosecuting attorney, "exactly how
the steps run."
"Shure, sir, if ye shtand at th' bot
tom thej - run up, an' if ye shtand at
th' top they run down."
KITCHEN WALLS.
Should He Covered with Tilt I'nper
to He Kept Constantly in
tiood Order.
I want to speak a word for
the desirability of enameled or
tile paper for bathrooms and
kitchen walls, says Anne Warner, in
Good Housekeeping. The friend who
recommended it to me is still enjoy
ing her kitchen paper in its ninth
year of service, and mine is in its
fourth and has been washed twice
every year. The secret is this:
When it is first put on have a coat
of good varnish laid over it. This
will render it impervious to water
along the edges and the line where
the paper is matched and where it
soon shows wear without this bit of
"know how." In washing, use warm
water and soap, or a little soda, if
the walls are badly smoked, and a
soft flannel. Clean, a spot at a time,
quickly and lightly and wipe dry be
fore proceeding. Do not wet a large
surface and leave soaking and expect
good results. The original expense,
and the outlay of strength and pa
tience in care, are considerably less
than an oil paint finish exacts. I
prefer not to have the ceiling 1 pa
pered, but calsomined when neces
sary, until some one invents and ap
plies to humanity the facilities en
joyed by flies for keeping a com
fortable working position upon it.
A Helpful Hint.
If your woolen dresses look dread
fully creased and wrinkled after
packing, try the following plan, and
don't, however, if you are tempted,
try to iron the creases out. Instead
dip a clean piece of stuff of the same
material as the dress, if you have it,
in hot water. Wring it slightly and
sponge the creased places with it.
Then hang the drr-ss in the open air,
l>ut not in the sun, and the creases
will disappear as it dries.—Washing
ton Star.
A (icntlo Hint.
lie —1 love you more than words can
tell!
She (shyly)-—•Well—there are other
ways.—Suminerville Journal.
SCHOOL AND CHURCH.
Statistics of Atchison county, Kan.,
show that of the 10,501 people living
there 12,14:1 have never utended Sun
day school.
Rev. Samuel Scoville, the son-in-law
of Henry Ward lleecher, has become
associate pastor with Dr. Jlillis, of
the Plymouth church in Hroolclyn.
The bishop of London said recent
ly in talking of the poverty of the
clergy that 4,5GG livings average $750
a year, and no fewer than I,'UI
benefices were worth only $325 per
annum.
Rev. Richard Lewis Howell, one of
the best known Episcopal clergymen,
of Washington, 1). has a project
for the erection of a magnificent edi
fice in that city to serve as a meeting
place for the communicants of ail re
ligious denominations.
Nearly 1,000 men and women are
employed to conduct .summer vaca
tion schools and playgrounds in the
boroughs of Manhattan and the
lironx. Last summer more than 100,-
000 boys and girls were in more or
less constant attendance.
In the future Boston's public school
buildings are to contain well-appoint
ed bathrooms. The impulse was given
two years ago, when the Paul Re
vere school was erected, and now
bathrooms are to become a regular
adjunct of the public school system.
Carrie Nation the other evening lec
tured to a large audience in Marietta,
()., under the direction of 11. J. Con
rath, a saloon keeper, and .Joe
l'.runer, a pugilist. In answi r to crit
icisms on her appearance under such
management Mrs. Nation said:
"Neither the W. C. T. U. nor the
churches would bring me here, but
these men did, and 1 am grateful to
them."
President Eliot, of Harvard, insists
that the school-teachers spend alto
gether too much time trying to teach,
arithmetic to young children. In his
Twentieth Century club lecture he
told of a naughty boy who was toki
by his mother that lie must either
do as she told him or leave the room,
'i'lie boy thought for a moment and
then remarked: "That's fair." "I
■would give more for that judicial
comment for its effect on the boy's
later life," said President Eliot, "than
for any amount of accurate figuring."
A WEAPONLESS HUNTER.
AVootlMiiinn Who CliokeM llcnm nud
AVililentM to Dentil, ami lluiitx
Small (iauic with Stone*.
Bob Brown, of Fox Hollow, is a
woodsman who gets much game, yet.
uses neither gun nor knife, nor any
other weapon except occasionally a
club or a stone, says the New York
Sun.
lie has a record of choking bears to
death, and even a wildcat is among
his trophies that he bagged in that
way. His manner of hunting bears is
to trail one to its feeding grounds, get
to the windward of it, creep stealthily
upon it, qnd, when near enough, throw
a horse blanket or sometimes his coat,
over its head.
While the bear is blinded and its
forepaws entangled in it, Brown
jumps in, finds the bear's windpipe
with his right hand, clutches it'with a
grip like a vise, and actually chokes
the bear to death. At least, he has
succeeded in killing two in this way.
One of them weighed over 200 pounds
and one was a 110-pounder.
The wildcat that Brown choked to
death leaped at him from a hollow
stump where she had kittens con
cealed. Brown, who is a powerful
man, seized her by the throat while
she was still in the air and held her
at arm's length until she was dead,
with her hind legs drawn clear up to
her breast.
He killed a wildcat once with a sin
gle blow of his list, crushing the ani
mal's skull.
Buffed grouse, or partridge, as they
are called by the natives, will tree
when flushed if they hear the barking
of a dog. Brown hunts partridges by
imitating the bark of a whiffet, when
the birds rise.
When they tree he brings them
down with stones, with which his aim
is almost unerring. He is said to he
nble also to kill a running rabbit by
stone throwing.
Hunting; the Knit (Serin.
The London city council have tun
neled under the Thames,reconstructed
bridges, demolished many streets,
provided parks and music for the
masses, and are anxious to add a serv
ice of free steamboats and hope to buy
up all the water companies whenever
parliament will grant the requisite
powers. Not satisfied with these enter
prises, it is now suggested that the fog
fiend sraould be localized, run to earth
and deprived of his asphyxiating ter
rors. As a commencement it is only
proposed to spend £250 on an experi
mental investigations. When prelim
inaries are completed fogs may cease
as soon as the Essex marshes are re
claimed, the river diverted and smoky
chimneys suppressed. These cannot
be called trifling obstacles, but with
ambitious councillors on the job there
is sure to be a bijr effort made to over
come them. —X. Y. Snn.
M UNt ll ell CM of Old.
Men with enormous mustaches real
ly have nothing to be proud of. Rather
are they to be pitied. Those of high,
rank among the Gauls and Britons, ac
cording to Caesar and liiodorous,
shaved the chin, but wore immense
forests of hair on (lie upper lip. The
mustaches of the inhabitants of Corn
wall and the Sicily isTes hung (Uma
upon their breasts like wings.—X. V,
Press.
Poverty J\"ot tlie \Vor*t Thing:.
Poverty may sidetrack a man, but ij
never blows him lip. —Chicago Uaijjr
News.
13