_
HER DREAM.
ns
slop 3d dreamed that, where the sea-
y
1 oe a form to-day;
The sun seemed drooping in the western
sk
The wo seamed sobbing as it hurried by,
“Stay, stay.’
Its golden hair, outstreaming in the wind,
ht the sun’s dying glow;
Among he curls a spray of seaweed twined;
A fairer vision you will never find,
1 know.
Then as the sun sank slowly in the West,
Softly the form drew near,
And laid its crowned head upon my breast,
And Jo! I cried aloud and could not rest
Por fear.
I woke from out my strange and troubled
dream ;
The young moon, calm and free,
Shone through my window with a tender
beam,
Yet still a pressure on my breast did seem
To be.
1 rose from out my chair where I had slept
The livelong afternoon;
And opening full wide my door I stept
From out the house, while on, above me,
swept
The moon.
Upon the bare cliffs where the sea bird flies
The moon its radiance shed;
1 wandered down, and neath the starlit
skies
A child with golden hair snd close-shut
eyes.
Lay dead
Rocket :
OR,
The Nautch Girl’s Champion.
It was many years ago that I found
my lot cast with the Great Western
Hippodrome, one of the first circus or-
ganizations that had ventured into the
interior of British India.
The venture had proved fortunate
almost from the start, After perform-
ing to excellent houses in Madras, Cut-
tack and Calcutta, on the coast, we had
pushed victoriously up the Sacred river,
capturing Patna and Benares on the
way, and were at last in the midst of a
perfectly stumning season at Agra, high
gp on the Jumna, and with regal Delhi,
and thence, across the country to Ba-
roda, Bombay and Goa in golden pros-
pect.
In Agra, as elsewhere, we were
equally popular with the native popu
lation of all castes and with the British
residents, both civil and military. In-
deed, we were intending to remain there
tor a month or mere, when an unfore-
seen event promised to cut wus short
i) our career.
In the midst of our third performance
before a vast and brilliant throng, plen-
tifully interspersed with wealthy rajahs
trains, that were fairly
pearl 3.7!
and their harem
lustrous in *° barbaric
the feature that had preved our best
card + patives brought abo,
the in Ti
series of marvelous trick scenes enacted
by Seraphina called her, with
Rocket, ot trick
humored as the girl alone knew how
humor him
mensely powerful,
of exceptional
rily so ferocious that no one had been
able to make much of him until we had
fortunately engaged the services of Ser-
aphina whilst in Ceylon.
FO,
and
3
Lie it
among
terruplion. is feature was a
a8 we
ur best horse, when
to
a superbly beautiful, im-
sngw-white stallion
intelligence, but ordina-
careering on him like an Amazonian vis-
+ don of delight around the ring, without
saddle or bridle, preliminary to her
startling denoument—that of linking
her ankles under the animal’s throat,
and, stretched backward along the ribs
and flank near to the spectators, to
make two circuits thus—when a young
rajpoot was seen to suddenly rup excit-
edly through the spectators to the pavil-
ion occupied by the chief rajah of Agra
and his household, together with some
distinguished foreign residents, and be-
gin to talk loudly and earnestly to that
magnate.
The rajah made some reply. Then a
trumpet sounded from the pavilion, and
an official loudly announced, in pigeon
English, that, by reason of a startling
revelation just made with regard to the
peerless equestrienne, the performance
must come to a close at once. A sensa-
tion ensued which could scarcely have
been surpassed by anything down on
the bills.
Then the official made public the
tura of the revelation, In brief, the
young rajpoot had recognized in eur
Seraphina a former slave of the harem
of an uncle of his, Prince Mzhapootra,
na
a rich but miserly old rajak of the vi-
cinity, who had died two days before.
joining a troupe of mountebanks and
Nautch girls, from whom she had come
into our employment as has been stated,
and had succeeded in eluding
until now, when wis
claimed, and must be straightway
stored to the dead man’s estate,
mirabile dicty, this was the
Not only had the avaricious o
outlived wives,
had
for Nirvana,
members of his seraglio into his better-
rupees | that to the
consternation of his high-caste and
pious relatives, he lay dead, without so
much as a single wife or female slave to
serve a suttee on his pyre—that is, offer
herself (%) up to be burned alive with
his insensate old carcass, after the an-
cient and aristocratic custom of the
Hindu nobility ; But lo! with the re
covery of the fugitive odalisque—our
own-—our beautiful Seraphina—here at
last was a solution to the difficulty, and
she was now claimed and appropriated
offering to the grim oriental
woloch of sutteeism !
The wild
this announcement
she
not worst,
but
lighting out
’ MS
the
legitimate
before
converted
his
also, shortly
remaining
beloved
S80 NOW,
as a living
excitement
was indescribable,
It was tremendous, Seraphina retained
% her
Rocket
Bi Mii s,
sufliciently to
him
self-control
in charge
bbls
hobbling
and ive
after mwuzzling, and
him as was her wont,
ulder
haltering
stood le
facing the go
absolute d
her fate
of
wre sted Ww
a delicate
appeal a warm, living picture of
less beauty in supreme distress
assemblage
of rajahi’s de-
mand, like an unrest,
( ‘onquete, livid with rage and anguish,
prostrated himself before the gold and
purple pavilion, wringing his hands and
majority of the vast
its disapprobation the
ocean in Poor
meter, which was brilliantly illuminated
by sunlight admitted through a glazed
aperture directly overhead.
A trumpet was blown, and Rocket
was first admitted by the sudden opening
of a grated door, Superbly beautiful,
powerful and spirited, he bounded
into the centre of the arena, and stood
there pawing the sand, with his head
erect, eves blazing and nostrils ex-
tended.
The tiger was admitted almost imme-
diately afterward. He had not been in
; the least exaggerated. In size, strength
and ferocious appearance he was the most
appalling brute we had ever conceived
of.
Licking his chops in silence, with his
fiery eyes never for an instant quitting
the horse, he at once set up a slow, me-
chanical pacing around the extreme edge
of the
part, moving around and around
if on a pivot, with his head bent down
like a dog, was equally watchful of every
grant our Seraphina absolute immunity
from all caste obligations, on the sole
condition that she would find some
beast, wild or tame, that should suc-
cessfully champion her cause in a con-
test with Jabdahor, the famous king of
the rajah’s unexampled wild beast col-
lection, the contest to take place in the
arena of the royal menagerie on the
following morning. Failing in obtain-
ing such a champion, or in the event of
such champion being vanquished, if ob-
tained, Seraphina was to be given up to
be burned alive on the funeral pyre of
her quondam lord. :
Such was the decree,
The rajpoot relatives made no at-
tempt to disguise their satisfaction,
while the sympathizers with the poor
girl were correspondingly despairing,
This can readily be made plain, Jab-
dahor, the pride of the rajah’s collec
tion, was famous throughout the upper
India as the hughest, the most power-
ful and the most ferocious royal Bengal
tiger that had ever been captured
tamed he never had been--or, as many
that had ever He
was said to be five feet four inches high
at the shoulder, eleven feet in length
from to tip: with of
hurdle with a carcass of a
buffalo in his teeth,
nary cat would get
foe,
Suddenly,
of warning,
tric springs,
bulk of the
without so much as a growl
been . ch
and as if
averred, seen,
impelled by elee
tiger was seen
tip a capacity
8 gonist. The latter,
the quicker and warier,
flash, he the full
with his lashed out heels,
him with against the
the pit, again, with
head confronted him pivotally as
the
tread as if
however,
ill grown as an
away with a
W
caught tiger in
and in numerous encounters Lo
‘et . breast
have killed lions. throttled panthers
pairs, ribboned up other 1
is, forced di
will,
wall
lowered
before
a crash
gers into
hile ne when he
Sir wible-horned rhino-
and caused the most . .
tiger resuming his lent
it had
ai
formidable rogue-elephants to squeal for nok bean interruptes
atall.
“In the
spring,
eried the
hear,
But
1
ection
that the
regarded as
of the
demand of the suttee seekers.
No wonder rajah’s decision
to
ast in the thir
kill
we all
next, or at i
‘ Feud $= 7% 55 t
was at first tantamount Jabadahor will
surrender poor giri to ihe tidak. in 8 voles
10 be Dro
the it was
when,
first shock of
hardly
MICE
the
SETA
x
Lie arn
ment had
But
passed to for the tiger was blinding h
1
one, better judgment, In a few minutes th
but with e
Again
stallion
spring was repeated, ven
phina started forward with a glad ery
of relief and gratitude. success than before, the
hind hoofs of the
the assailant,
the latter
from, though
were speedily resumed,
with undiminished
energy.
Proudly rearing herself erect, with harled bac
flashing eyes and breast a-heave, she
spoke in a clear, ringing first in
Hindustanee, and then translated her
words into English,
“1 accept your august highness’ con-
dition !"* she cried ; “and my champion
is here at hand, with kind mana-
ger's permission.” looked in-
voice. did not s0 promptly
his silent footed cirgli
apd apparenti
watchfulness an
my
She ocket with
But it was
himself towards
of a catapult,
Not
across the
who,
responded with
shrug
| quiringly at Monsieur, doubtless
| divining her meaning, only did the her
pit, this time
jaw and dislocated shoulder, bu
the
We
| an eloquent, even an ecstatic and with a
i and she then and
i laced her hand caressingly on Rocket's
“This shall
pion.” she cried |
i THY sv}
| Another semsation! Thunders of Bl
in which
proud
¢ of mur
reitreated,
i grimace ;
followed up repulse wit] repeats
heels, whol
of
be my cham. | Shocks from 1 terrible
ilvery mane.
completing Ui
ord
Indeed, from that instant Jabdahot
abbed to his
fru
welled up the
ne © el evidently } heart's content
NE AS Nest K, . #
. : ric Binge bi vi 2vevy
curveted spit rhe and nothing bu } Rahman
s though with warrier-like in- | PVR around the arena,
beet the rajpoot contingent
snort followed by a shr
trivmphant
whinn
the g
the viet
In
was hedd
| didn’ weaken in the Jeast, being
wholly
O88 nfident as to the yingcory,
though Rockel’s lorious steed remained tab
no myth
in their favor, indubi
fighting qualifications were
The high rajah and his
more than shared
POW ETH,
i Pests
to i.
then. train spite of the fear in
probably and his disguised chagr
the maj:
present joined in the
rushed from every British throat ; whi
Saraphina, without a movement on tl
this confi- un
dence in Jabdabor's (rratified
smiles beamed everywhere from the
pavilion, while the little old rujah him-
self gleefully rubbed his skinny paws
at the result,
Right or Wrong; is the Lesson
of the Clock..
———
Tick |
clock. Polly Marsh and
hardly noticed it, But the
soon to wind it up. It was Thursday,
and as sure as that day came,
hook and wind up the old clock,
But besiaes being Thursday, it wa
ing Tom how to spin a new top,
had just been given him,
Dame Marsh was busy
dinner ready,
she glanced at the happy children,
wish he would come,
try to begin the New Yea:
wish he would come,”
getting
and was saying softly,
with us,
So deep in thought was she, thal
the clock,
Tom just ther
OL rd
remembered
s flung down his {op ar
in a lemper,
» he
“1 ean't do it! “shi
iry.’
“Hush,
(:rannie as she took dow
“You sl
never
: ’
(ear
n the clock
hush. Tom, ee
r you wi
ng
niobod ¥
wouldn't can’t, ©
Ay
8
learn to do anvthi and
shouldn't say shan’t, or
You are bx
have
Se)
teach you. only a wee
vet, and hardly
you
nmi in
afl yihing | give up
1 soon.’
i
Tom hid his
1 | grandmothgr’s apron,
ghty to kick
crossly to his sister,
for he knew
Was nau his top
and see
lock,”
3
1
na
“Come me
said Dame Marsh,
and
children
e | old ¢
a wise ; loving woman, tried
g | train
Kil
otheriess f
4
the two m
AVE.
In
SINies,
Tom's face
he heavy weg
while the
lum swung gravely from side to side
if
a4 IInoment WAS
r as he watched t
wing drawn up, big pend
y
d
it never meant
“Why do i
Polly *
0 slop.
wind up those weigh
“ . .
“It wouldn't go if you did not,
Polly. gravely, ‘‘Grandfather
11 about that on Christmas day.’
and so eve
ught the
and the
jut
tick
just it. dear
it was bought weigh
yd up.
t8 Work
<
wou
Sys qv
When we
: x0] TON
SAN
ip us, we are
ioing be we
“But l} real work
i
y
his in. vet,” said
Polly,
Y our
gentle
Then
which
it i
OTE
“Yes,
now is Wu
dear,
be
Yo
vou have, Wi
obedient and
in
10 eam IORSONS Weil,
sides ticking and striking,
may call the clock’s hard work,
right
le
ie | & face which shews us the
—-—
The words were hardly out of his
mouth before Brown, Browning and
Williams had drawn from the pile leav-
ing Hoperaft the fourth to draw, He
took a toothpick. Bob drew a second
time, and the others followed seriatim,
Hoperaft’s quick eye ran over the pile.
He saw where he was about to land, and
he tipped a quick wink at Williams and
Browning, Banana Bob had drawn
the fourth time, Before Browning
could reach the pile Hoperaft threw the
remaining Soothpie ks out of the win-
dow, saying: ** That settiesit, You
jose, Bob.”
“How 77
dealer
‘ Why,
sponse,
The wine
shrewdly
said the astonished cigar
8 |
the re-
you drew last.”’ was
1
! Mr. Williams
obsery ‘ Excuse
Bob, but you're not very fiy.’
was paid
ing . he,
a
Certainly He Would.
Ly
The other evening as a muscular citi
Montcalm
gate
| zen was passing a house on
street, a lady, who stood at the
called out to him
“8ir! 1
t
$icsi
ION
* What's the
you for protec-
appea
trouble hie asked as
stopped short
‘ There’
wouldn’t
; 1 HE
{ 4
a the house, ang he
i
8 ail
a0 Out cle ordered
wel
1
see about
'
that
iN
: hereupon the
bide
ix
woman
the house
An gave i
ed into
He
abie,
his coal to bold and sai
spilt found a man
down at u
ig on his Fa wis,
ie supper-t and he took
him by the neck and remarked :
* Nice
Come out
it ; ¥
stvie of a brute you are, eh 7
o' this or I'll break every
bone in your body !
wis not
the
ud it
broken
hauled
The man fought back, at
had been and
upset, that he
a chair
wo
WAS oul
table
doors fling
and given a
Then, as the muscu-
placed hi where it
arked 2
old
by the
through the gate,
itizen
the me
then,
tramp, you move on or I'll finish you.”
! Tramp!" shouted the vic-
I'm no tramp! 1 own
yis property and live in this house id
‘You
eR,
leg IS,
& boot
he
brass-faced
lar ¢
would do
“NOW
wi hurt TeInar
U- you
:
Tramp
tim. as he got up,
ti
do vv
that’s my wife holding
yous
the victim,
other. and
gi
=
made a grab
‘Thunder !*’ whispered
ry
ie
Ak
’ 5 Or 2% : 41
a8 hie gazed from one to the
realized that the wife had square
through him ; and then he
P01 J salitE BAAS ada
ik | The Cost of Living in France
Ee eX
working-class
of Mulbouse, ip
might be a
under this estimate
but, upon
accepted
The sixteen families
wk
}
the
Similar expenses
we little over or a little
in
‘nS 1 other distriets in France ;
the whole, the results may be
There had always been a mystery
about her. We had found her a friend-
Jess Nautch girl, hungy and sick, in
Colombo, where She had been deserted
by the troupe of jugglers, snake charm-
screening forth his protests like one as a fair average.
possessed. The English officials nobly
and earnestly seconded him te the best
of their ability, though the rajah’s voice
was at that time autocratic over the
part of the chopfallen rajpoot to detain
her, rushed ever to our part of the
benches and fell sobbing with joy into
the transported Monsieur Conquet’s
arms,
together, if in anticipation of a
prodigious treat, compared with which
kis royalist practical joke would be
nowhere,
A fight te the death between the
as So all little children, as well as big peo- ’
| tabulated by M. Armmangaud were
pie, their faces whether |
they are doing God's werk. When you chosen from different classes of work-
: men, and their expenditures varied frons
look cross and pout, as some one did
. - : (W yng & “hy - Tar ay - —“
just now, you are like a clock, which is 1100 francs to J000 francs per annun
can rhow by
ers and dancing women with whom she
had traveled. There was reason for
suspecting, from a certain superiority
of language and demeanor, that she
might be a fugitive from some great
man’s household ; but she would never
afford the slightest inkling as to her
antecedents, and little did we care what
they might have been, for that matter.
An odd incident revealed an extraor-
dinary and mysterious power over the
equine temperament ; she was induced
to exert it upon Rocket, with such sur-
prising results that our enthusiastic
manager, Monsieur Conquete, had en-
gaged her forthwith at a salary that
must have inclined her straight, night-
black hair to crispiness at the outset.
During the ten months of decent treat-
ment, wholesome food and immunity
from mental fret, she had, in addition,
to becoming our chief attraction, blos-
somed and rounded out into one of the
most lovable, bewitchingly beautiful
piece of nut-brown femininity you can
imagine. A romantic attachment had
arisen between her and Conquete, who
intended to make her his wife at the
close of the peninsula season ; and she
was as popular among her fellow-per-
formers as with the spectators, who
were attracted alike by her beauty, her
courage and her talents.
Imagine, then, if yeu can, the sudden
shock we underwent when, on the occa-
sion alluded to, it was sundenly and
publicly announced to as that our pre-
cious Seraphina (it was by this nom de
guerre that our manager had replaced
tne -consonantal jaw-breaker under
which she had originally come to us)
was in all probability to be ruthlessly
torn from us, and to meet a fate the
most awful that has been evolved eut
of Hindu caste prejudice.
fortunes and lives of the native popula-
tion of his provimce, and British re
formative measures had not then made
the progress they have since made in
crushing out the hideous customs and
abuses of the caste tut the
rajpoot had been reinforced by many
other kinsfolk of the defunet Maha-
pootrs ; they belorged to the Kshatruga
caste, which is second only to the Brah-
mins, and they vied with each other in
volubility and insistence upon the right-
fulness of their claim, that the gir
should be forthwith given up, and thus
a suttee be fumished for the cremator-
svstem.
ial embellishment that bad been arrang-
ed for the following day.
It all lay with the great high rajah of
Agra, as be should decide. He was an
odd- looking, wrinkled little old nabob,
half buried out of sight in his jewel
crusted robes and turban, with twink-
ling little eyes, and a facial idiosynerasy
when he smiled that was suggestive of
both an amused gorilla and a hyena in
hysterics,
He let every one have his or her say,
with praiseworthy imperturbability,
then corked up the entire hubbub with
an impatient gesture, and finally, after
a few whispered words with the dia-
mond-dusted chief begum at his side,
smilingly announced tiwough his herald
that he had formed a decision.
This was awaited in an agony of
suspense. The high rajah was known
to have a penchant for cruel practical
joking, in which the throwing of un-
suspected sudras as tidbits to his favor.
ite wild beasts, and kindred oddities,
had been features, from which the
general anxiety with which his fiat was
looked for can be better imagined than
depicted,
At. last it, was proclaimed. The
monarch of the jungle and the auto-
erat of the stables, with the liberty and
life of the prettiest girl in India for the
stakes! Could aught be more
guinarily fascinating ?
ances in Agra,
san- | on his word, and the fame of Rocket
girl went before us in the shape of a
advertisement such as bill posters
advance agents combined had never
The assemblage broke up tumultu-
ously, Seraphina being ordered into the
of her late master’s relatives
for the time being.
The next morning found the smal
amphitheatre in the rajah’s menagerie
crowded to suffocation by the elite of
Agra society, native and British, per-
sons of lesser consequence not being
admitted, with the exception of the
members of our troupe, Seraphina, of
course, included. The first glance af
her made us suspect that no kindness had
been thrown away upon her by her cus-
todians.
Picturesquely clad in slight folds of
snow-white, richly prnamented jamdari,
which rather expressed than veiled her
exquisite proportions, she occupied an
isolated position near the rajah and his
party, from which a full view of the
arena was obtained, Her eyes were
lustrous with hope, and she occasionally
cast upon us, especially upon poor
Conquete, a glance full of encourage-
ment ; but at the same time a nervous
twitching of her lips told of the agony
of suspense she was suffering,
This may be more fully appreciated
when I say that on her way to the place
she had been, with a refinement of
cruelty, compelled to pass the funeral
pile already thronging the corpse of her
late lord and master, and upon which it
was confidently expected she wonld be
forced to immolate herself at the closeof
the extraordinary trial by battle that was
about to begin.
The arena was a high walled pit, cir-
custody Y
ganized,
i Old
fired up, perforee, without se much as a
apology of a suttee do him
We opened in
where (0 tremendous business,
at the close of the Indian
Seraphina became the
of Monsieur Conguete,
vw
ence,
a an
calnpaig
happy
Thev sul
and opened a hotel in
gratuitous guest to the day
death,
AH 1 UU sain
Brilliant Prospects.
going down Austin avenue,
are you bound for ?"’
tablishment. There is millions in it.’
“ You don't say so?"
brother has just graduated as a doctor
He is going to practice in Leadville
Good-bye, take care of yourself.’
asian AGIA A 5
Recorder of a vagrant.
cular in form and about sixty feet in dia- yourself 1
pointing to the wrong time |
vou are bright and smiling, you are t
ling the right time, and are like a lit
sign-post pointing to heaven,
‘
{ OMpAInon,
8
n
-
A Neat Trick.
1
Mirth vegetated like a mushroom
Hoperaft's, in Franklin street,
week. Senator Browning, the Hq
Arthur DD. Williams, Robert
Brown. a well-known cigar dealer a
n
d
n
tamrant, were at dinner,
» { called frown the table on
| suggested Banana Bob,
“ Possibly it can’t be
Browning observed.
done,” M
very fly,” Mr. Brown replied.
me by counting
yellow splinters,
to let Hop in for the wine.’
Bob threw three on the floor,
eight--d’you twig ¥ he remarked.
:
on the table,
'
Ate you in
‘tor inquired,
“ Why, each of us keeps on
toothpicks, one after another, And
n® *
A plied in a tone of wncutauty,
Hose
swallowed up
expenditure,
food 61 per
per cent, being reserved for mis-
In the matter of
food the highest expenditure registered
was 72 per cent., and this item of exe
penditure thus distributed ;
33 per cent for bread, 14
per cent. for meat, 13 for milk, 24
per cent. for groceries and 16 per cent.
for miscellaneous aliments, The great
est expenditure upon bread in any indie
vidual case was 48 per cent. It was thus
seen that the average expenditure of
these sixteen working-cimss families of
Mulhouse upon bread was a little over
one-fifth of their total expenditure.
This being the case in the average, and
the greatest expenditure being about
one-third of the total expenditure of the
families, it will be seen that, taking
these figures as fairly representative of
the expenditure upon bread among
working-class fail is an exaggera-
tion to say that the chief item in a
working-class family’s expenditure, in
France at least, is the bread bill,
that is, from £44 £120
accommodation, as a rule,
15 per cent. of the total
clothing 16 per cent., and
cent, 8
cellaneous purposes,
4 Year,
6.
tie
Was
WAS
at
mn.
C
nd
as
I.
a“
fou 4
Ayia
——— ob]
TA peasant in Sweden never passes
fellow -pessant without a polite lifting
of his hat. This explains why so many
Swedes come to this country. Trey
some to avoid catching cold inthe head
Ss Sn
The editor wrote that “he was a
member of an old family of musicians,’”
Sd when it WprCaed in the paper it
“a member of an old family of
| J ance. Je mp Ju