FAITH'S MESSAGER Out in the stormy night ‘With not a star in sight, And moaning winds that wander wearily. Rocked in his leafy nest, And vexed and sore distressed, A little lonely bird pipes drearily. And I within my room, ‘Who know that morn has come, in pitying love would say, ‘Oh, little bird, The night would have no chill, The rain thou wouldst not feel “That is often the way these aristo- word ! “For close again thy tree, That seems so dark to thee, Even now the rising sun has flashed his old ; And in & moment more Exultant thou wilt soar, Babette, dipping her hand into the foun- tain and tossing some drops of water about contemptously, as if they were “They eat bold.” And thou, oh fainting heart, That shrink 'st when winds upstart, And canst not rest is sorrow's bitter night If thou couldst only hear Faith's message in thine ear, And calmly wait until the morning light! For morn will surely come; Even now the shades of gloom In her soft light are fading fast away 'Tis but a moment more, And, free, thy soul shall soar, And speed on tireless wing to endless -— The Secret of the Chateau. {to is become of all what the rich plate and jewels that belong to the family ?"’ “1 wonder sajd Rose, the eldest of “Oh, M. le Mayor will soon find out “He will be the chateau, depend upon it, by to-mor- 11 look cried Babette, in before, and he He's a man that knows what and who has no false fine about the aristocrats, sOme of the plu Revolution, when the reign of churches and stopped every outward of land. n the religious form, and when the Reign Terror was at its height in the The little town of Verreville, ir south of France, lay all wrapped in n a glory of evening sunshine that w rought rare magic among the dingy houses and Now it played golden jokes with the fountain in the drowsy streets and alleys. that danced in a broken basin in the little square ; now it clothed with a new, wonderous, charm gable of yonder old decaying mansion | picturesque now it glided into a small gloomy bi k ne Of ass 1 or Is Ailes + nti Hw by changing every } tiny windows round it |i a gem, Up the principal streets of Ul came lumbering.a cart It spread bear burden. was a coffin, over was a coarse, mantle by way of pall. the heavy eart ho vehicle walked a dark-robed man Minan, man and a wi funeral party advanced ove: pavement, that made the wl cart jolt noisily, and with f i sound of woe. Slowl) through the river o they went, two or th ing with their pitcl tan, i tched watch them had a touch of sorro made their comments, as tones, a HOW home of he cing la Comtesse, as a bri 11 1 nel the 0 Oia LAL : to ab ave 13 of lackeys in , and t of the six gray horses and the « of the crowd as she threw ail at ine rain that thi among them And now to th funeral of her daughter! ink the seen strange changes in the land was your age, Babette, my child.” Babette tossed her head and the red handkerchief upon it 1 fully, a little disdain- as if her modem lights showed her things which were more worthy of note than anything which the old woman's memory could call up out of the past. “What good were they in the land, those aristocrats “wh were of no more use than the statues in the garden of the old chateau, where we poor folks can wander now with our babies or our sweethearts at our will.” “But the young countess was of a different pattern from those who went before her,’ here put in a third woman. “When my husband lay sick with the fever, and everybody fled from our cottage on account of infection, she came to visit us, and stood by his bed often and felt his pulse better than the doctor, and sent him strengthening food and medicine, She was no more like her grandmother, who used, when I was a child, to go rolling along in her coach, all one piece of silk and pride, than one of the glittering buttons on the livery coats of the count’s footmen was like a bright bit of money that we can spend to buy chocolate and sugar, and all sorts of goed things that will rejoice our husband's and children’s hearts.” “Well, anyhow, if she had not died now she soon would,” said Babette, decidedly, ‘‘Her husband is in the prison at Toulon, and she was quickly enough to have followed him there, I know on good authority ; and what a prison ends in for aristocrats in these days we all know better than we used to know our paternosters in the times when it was the fashion to say them.” “Her death seems to have been a sud- den and rather strange one,’’ said the old woman who had first spoken, “Yes,” replied the elder woman ; ‘‘it was but two days since I saw her cross- ing the foot-path through the field op- posite our cottage.” “They say she fell down in a fit as she was standing before her dressing- ?'* she cried. ey “Fifine looks grave and sad dead mis other frees R LISS Bb her the as she walks by body,” remarked elder woman. “No Rose wonder, poor “they were brat 1 hy i eau other more ind servant. gad “But for all her looks wager my silv cat's necklace, ing more of h the dead. for her, In companion in she's a sly Ol and her sm no more in it ia Babette of into which she probably would Babette had her own special train thought, not exactly have liked any of } to look. “* As sure as wr friends the countess’ diamonds are real, and not glass V'—this was the way in which “ Pierre shall try his luck to-night. I don’t see why Babette and Pierre should not be the fortunate pair, as Fifine and Maurice." 41 her reflections ended- well as Meanwhile the young man and the girl, of whom their neighbors’ mouths and minds had just, all unconsciously to their two selves, been so full, had reached the church for of their sad errand. No religious cere- monies of any kind were permitted at this time in France. But still the ser- vants of the young Comtesse de Florion, perhaps recollecting that in her life she had scarcely clung to the rites of her ehurch, were going to lay her remains in hallowed ground, and a portion of the pavement beneath the southern wall of the church and inside the building had been raised to allow of the body being placed beneath it. The family vault of the De Florions was far away in a dis- tint large town ; but, as the troublous times forbade the countess’ remains being transported thither, her servant and foster sister and companion, Fifine de Fouviere, had chosen the interior of Verreville church as their resting-place, As long as no religious rites were used, the civil authorities of the little town had made no objéction to this arrange- ments, “ Maurice will do all the rest,” said Fifine, when the coffin had been lowered into the place prepared for it, turning to the two men who had been helping them in their mournful work. ** I should like my poor mistress’ own faithful servant to perform the very last offices for her.’ “1t is strange that Fifine de Fouv. the completion more evide.t in outward signs,” the elder of the men to his companion, as they withdrew from the church in obedience to the girl’s words. **1 had expected to see her drowned in tears.” { ments for the casket of diamonds, but it had vanished like gems seen in a He discovered the strong iron usually kept his between them before the lady died. If is always so, sooner sons and daughters of the people form close bonds of intimacy with an aristocrat,” the man, who was none other than Babette’s said as his future most emphatically better was often in a very hazy state about them, even when he expressed them the loudest, “Well, 1 old know.” ‘ of it, don’t thougtfully. he can’t but man, Bay what may be 1 cause that girl's face and than the change of the wind.” 1 the face of Fifine de Fouvriere inly was a face that any man might have found it difficult she i to read the mean by bly pretty bin ULC 1 ing of as stood ther the hs oie wis whose feature , generally, ling with animated tho i all Spal K- nght Mill «Ada 1 went Swill, +1 Line i to the play from mouth, But to-d whole face “Must I go a - with me ¥ We shoul pleasanter hae) much j pany in an old house and there was a death (n sav it’s haunted, ' » 1! sweet Babette, do, here so lately, please, come with me.”’ “May I be * answered that young stewed in a pol lady, Tu~feu first, very forcibly and laconically. **You go along, Pierre, and look sharp, and don’t such a mixture of mule and a milksop. I shall stay here and watch.” she pushed her true knight further ceremony through which she had opened. So saying, without the door On went Pierre, his teeth chattering and his heart beating in unison, the narrow windows of the old house, play- ing strange, uncanny games with him as he went. ure seemed lurking in yonder corner, now a pale hand beckoned to him in a moonbeam, now the shadowg formed themselves into a long black procession which came to meet him. With care- fully held breath, and feet that searce servants’ rooms lay: but to his joy and relief he heard no sound there. The family portraits as he passed them in the long gallery, came to life, now and then, in a ray of moonshine, and glared at him : the wind whispered something mysterious and startling to him through every keyhole ; the rows of chairs in the rooms looked as if they were wait. ing for a party of ghosts, But the worst of all was that, carefully as he had been schooled beforehand by Bab- ¢tte as to the whereabouts of all the valuables in the chateau, he got nothing for his pains. He ransacked the pantry, which he had expected to find full of plate, but found nothing better than a pewter spoon. He sought hither and ther in the dead countess’ apart. was not so easy to send to bank for sup- plies ; but though wus there it not a son in it. to to return his liege lady, the box It was terrible have who would be certain to lay the whole blame for the failure of their enterprise on his and light still such a fate was better the With flying steps he sped along which to make it 10 burden too ; risking meeting ghosts any he had to the which the corridor traverse Arrow staircase of was the door h was it that, before he had passed half ght windows he passage, which was lit by $s rough moonbeams fell, Way & wl W100 A des would ire, shape Lie other apparitio ed him to onward chateau, and arrest and ein had coll F'oulon, paratory to the trying with his wife to make after the the good of Verreville be turbed by stories which went the concerning being haunted, It was people who had passed the old It months that began was some few just narrated 0 dis- mting the said about town in light gleaming through the windows : but hitherto those who told The old church was now completely religious services had, it is formed in the land, but in Verreville new chapel which had been began, and lately finished. Thus the old church had become a place well fitted for ghosts to frequent. We must mention here that the Count de Florion had escaped, in some way that had never been explained, from his prison at Toulon, the very day after his wife's funeral, and had made his home, it was said, since then in England. As for Fifine and Maurice, they had married soon after their mistress’ death, and were now living on a little farm which they had taken near the town, and which they cultivated with care and Success, But to return to the mysterious light in the old church, One night Babette and Pierre, who were still plighted lovers, though the extreme contempt of the maiden for her adorer had hitherto prevented the final knot being thed, were coming back from a friend’s house, where they had spent the evening. When they reached the old church, both of them perceived that there was, most certainly, light shining through its windows, Pierre's immediate im- pulse was sudden flight, but Babetts, still true to her colors as a philosophic free thinker, declared her intention of clearing up once for all the mystery, Pierre wait close by, and then boldly advanced hers She made the trembling self toward one of the church windows and looked in, As Babette gazed at the sight which met her view it 114 vas so strange and ut- hat eyes, thinking she must be under some optical illusion, but when she looked still there, What was, shortly, this, and it was little wonder that she terly unaccounatble t she rubbed her again it was all she BAW was bewildered beheld the with the side wildest astonishment : She grave and Fi the glittering Ow per, i fine, farmer's of “a heap of gold wife, HARE SOT feet, ‘ forse wrk melted morning mist ; the notio ALIONALIBLL treacherously, most like 14 i tv flashed across 1, and she sank For the Fair Sex MERINOS ~~ Quaker gray, dove and cloud gray are Inerinos combined with velvet to make street toilets for spring. A pleated flounce on the bottom of the skirt, velvet bands, which also form the trim- trimmed with ming of the draperies, corsage and cuffs, Hand- figures embroidery fashionable garniture for black Ottoman ailk dresses, nakes a very elegant costume. run ls with Andalusian lace heavy as those of Aas is the A Srirar TAPER, — Amber wax can- dles moulded in deep spiral curves have appeared in the shop windows, This shape is to keep the wax from guttering down the sides irregularly as the candle is consumed. The lower ends of the candles are sensibly cut away in grooves %0 that they can fit into an ordinary can- dlestick without * wobbling ** or sitating bands of paper. Besides amber, other pretty colored tapers are old blue and framboise pink. 110CeS- Piano Bexcnes.—The piano stool, which like the Mauritian dodo still lingers in out-of-the-way corners of the world will soon become an oxtinet species. Though not of Celestial origin it too “must go,'’ that is, the conven- tional and most uncomfortable round stool which swing round and round and round, with occasional danger of spin- ning off into space. They are replaced by piano chair or benches. A low broad bench is covered with richly stamped leather of a dull crushed raspberry or copper color, embossed with flecks of old silver or gold. A longer mahogany bench, with carved back, is shaped to accommodate duet-players. These can match either the piano case or the wood of the furniture of the music room. Cabinét makers are furnishing piano chairs with tall legs, upholstered to match the parlor or musie-room ure. Warm Milk as a Health Re~ storer. Considerable has been lately said in medical journals concerning the valus milk diseases, of warn as a remedial agent in The at Work, referring to an interesting article on this subject which lately appeared in the London Mik the authority certain Christian Journal, states on of Dr. Indj Benjamin Clarke, milk a specific that in the East WAI is for hours diarrhoea, used to a great A will check ths four diarrhoea, most violent and be stomachache, incipient cholera lysenten I'he milk should never sit l ntly to be drink. for gives several instances which agreeably warn } hot to Milk Lilet, which has been boiled is unfit in arresting inease, ANong is the following : The never failed and 1 writer fil : § wi onsiag HS ID g Hard green wood, fibre stuff SLLLER ws $41 : water, 1. fibre stuff, 270: ater. 300, and WON r. 305. 1 wil, obser- orrect If M. Risler has made « vations, the wheat plant never grows upon any day when the temperature of ot for a period of several 43° Fahren- he air does 1 hours at least above heit. The New York Times is one thing to be said about the incan- rise +} savs that there descent electric light with all its draw- backs. It neither vitiates the air nor gives the high and often unbearable temperature of gas, Town sewage does not, according 10 iron pipes competent authority, affect with lead joints so much as ordinary water. The greasy matter appears 1o form the of the pipes giving the needed protection, The lesseps plan for the inland sea in Algeria is to cut a canal between Gabes and Biskra, the chief centres of North African trade, connecting several “ehotts,” the first of which is assorted to be rt least fourteen times as large as the Lake of Geneva, -—— m— a coating on inside The birthplace of Thomas Carlyle, at Ecclefechan, in Scotland, has been pur- chased by his niece, Mrs. Alexander Aitken Carlyle, who will take steps for permanent preservation of the edifice. Many persons have of late visited the house, and Mrs, Carlyle intends to put it in the care of some one by whom it can be properly shown to visitors, The house is known in Eeclefechan as “the arched house." a———— A — The Mexican Congress will meet in the City of Mexico. It is said that President Gonzalez, in his message, will urge the greatest economy in the administration and discourage the granting of further subventions te railroads,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers