There never was a golden sunbeam That fell on a desolate place, But left some trace of its presence That time could never efface. Not a song of ineffable sweetness That ravished the listening ear, Then slumbered in silence forgotten For many and many a year— But a word or a tone might awaken Its magical power anew, Long after the sweet-voiced singer Had faded from earthly view. Nor a heart that was ever 80 weary, Or tainted with sin and despair, But a word of tender compassion Might find an abiding place there. Yet countless thousands are yearning Fer sympathy, kindness and love, And souls are groping in darkness %¥ithout one Soe from ahove. There was never a sunbeam wasted, Nor a song that was sung in vain, And souls that seem lost in the shadows A Saviour's love may reclaim. Thon scatter the sumbeams of kindness ; Though your deeds may never be known, The harvest will ripen in glory, Ifthe seed be faithfully sown ; And life will close with a blessing, And fade into endless day ; Like the golden hues of the sunbeam That fade into twilight gray. A ———— A Young Widow. — A Story of Real Life. «* A 1's well that emds well.” --0LD SAYING. He was dead they told me, and I did mot believe it—my noble, handsome husband! It oceuld not be true, and 1 laughed in the face of the physician when he repeated the assertion. Wot twelve hours before I had kissed Harold good-bye, and watched him ride away over the prairie. It was a lovely day, but to an experienced eye, the clear-cut white clouds, showing so wi- vidly against the dark blue sky, were the banners of the vanguard of a storm, But no ene could have told that a terrible cyclone two hours later would burst upon us, leaving ruin and death behind it. Yet soit was. Two hours after my husband had said : * Good-bye, Madge ; don’t sit up for me,” and passed from my sight, a black, funnel-shaped cloud appeared in the south-west, and Ralf an hour later it broke over the little village of Pearl. Strangely enough, it swept only the western edge of the place, leveling the few houses in its path, passing on to the town of Albion, where the destruc. tion was fearful. But Harold, soy husband, was caught on the plain right in the path of the cyclone—no shelter on either side which he could reach in time. A par- ty of home-coming hunters found him a few hours after the storm had passed, lying face downward on the prairie, where the cyclone had dropped him af- ger carrying him no one knows how far. The horse he rode was found dead a mile further back. I had been glad that he was away from home out of reach of the storm, sever dreaming that he was right in its way on the prairie ; and so when they brought him in white and still, I would allow myself to think of nothing only that he had fainted. When the doclor and others came to me saying : “Try and bear it, Mrs, Howard ; your hus- band has been dead hours,” I said, ss J¢ isnot so!’ Andthen I grew an- gry that they should tell me so dread- ful a thing, and breaking away from them ! threw myself dewn beside him, calling him all the old loving names, and pressing passionate kisses on his face. But he was silent and cold—so cold $hat the chill from his lips struck in my heart. I could notsee. I thought 1 was dying too, and was glad. But I lived. If grief killed women few of us would be living. The gray clouds of November hung over the earth when I was strong enough so face life again. The necessity of earning a living was brought sharply to my remembrance when I found myself nearly penniless, My girthood’s home had been in Al- bany. 1 had married Harold against my proud old father’s express command. I loved him, therefore it mattered little to me that he was poor. But father was exceedingly angry that his only daughter should throw herself away on a penailess fortune- hunter, as he chose to call my husband. I knew that Harold was not a fortune hunter, so I married him, and we came to Kansas and settled in the little town of Pearl. Our short year of married life had known no cloud. Now all was changed. I was a widow at twenty, the daughter of a rich man, therefore, unased to the methods of earning my living. 1could not appeal to my father. He had disowned me, and I had inher ted something of his ewn indomitable will, ‘What should I do? I could not sew. There was music teaching, that infalli bile resort of all broken down gentle women, but that I could not do ; I was out of practice, and I hated teaching, An idea came to me like an inspirad tion. I had a natural genius for cook: ing. After my marriage I did all my own work, and my husband had often said that, being the daughter of 4 man ‘of wealth, it was marvelous that I could cook like a Frenchwoman. I formed my plans at once, social position—I, whose life was dark- ened forever ? I sold all the furniture, all the jew- elry 1 possessed except my wedding ring, secured testimonials of character from the leading citizens of Pearl, and telling no one where I was going, went to San Francisco, When I arrived, I had one trunk containing my clothes, and money enough to board me cheaply for a month, The next day after my arrival, I looked over the wants in a dally paper, One struck my fancy in particular, and I at once determined to answer its: y ANTED IMMEDIATELY, A FIRST ¥ class cook. Good wages and a pleasant home to competent person. I put on a plain gray dress—I did not wear the mourning ; Haroid would not have wished it—and called at the ad- dress given. There was an appalling array of women in the vestibule of the large house which I entered. The ser vant seemed puzzled whea she answered my ring, as to what I was until I said: “1 came to answer your advertise- ment.” She understood, and seated me beside a fat Irish woman, who looked upon my diminutive figure with unmistakable scorn. One by one they went up stairs and ene by one they came down again. Judging by their faces, the intérviews were mot satisfactory. Feeling my courage take flight, at length I ascemded the stairway and was ushered inte the presence of the lady of the house. She was a handsome woman of 40, with a look of weariness and vexation on her face. Near the window in an easy chair, sat a man of perhaps 38, whose face indicated that he was recovering from a severe illness, An expression of surprise crossed Mrs. Davidson's face as she asked : “Did you answer my advertisement for a first-class cook ?V’ “Yes, ma'am,” I replied. I could please you." “But-—I1 beg your parden—you do not look like a cook.” I felt my face flush as I answered = One need not be less of a lady be cause one is a cook.” “No,” doubtfully. been in service 7’ “I think Have you ever “No, madam,” answered; ‘‘but I can give you testimonials as to charac. ter, and I should be glad to prove to you that I can cook. Please do not think.”” I added eagerly, interpreting the perplexed look on her face, ‘‘that because | was pot born in that station of life that I shall expect to be treated differently from any other servant, Being compelled to earn my living, I have chosen this in preference to any other method, Will you look at my letters #* offering two or three, She took them and crossing the room gave one or two to the gentleman by the window, who had not seemingly been listening to the conversation. Evidently the letters were satisfactory, for after a few remarks, Mrs. Davidson returned to me, saying : low-toned “1 will try you. My nephew is just want you to exert your utmost skill in his behalf."’ Ringing the bell she ordered the ser- vant who answered, to take me to the kitchen, adding : “You may tell whoever calls hereaf- ter that I have engaged a cook.” “I followed the girl to the kitchen, and shortly after Mrs, Davidson ap- peared and gave orders for dinner, in forming me that I should have to as sist in waiting upon the table when there was company ; that my wages would be $12 a month, and that she would send the coachman to my board- ing house that night for my trunk. Then began a strange life for me, yet I was not unhappy. 1 mourned my husband, I grieved over my aliena- tion from my father ; but I gave satis- faction to my employer, because | could cook to perfection. Of course I had no friends. The other servants leoked upon me 88 a rara ovis, but I managed to secure their good will, By feeding my em- ployers well [ gained their esteem al- so, and having been there six months, Mrs. Davidson one day told me that she had never known what it was to Hve until I came to her. I did not presume on my edueation, or the fact that I was a lady ; so if Mrs, Davidson had felt doubtful, as I know she did, regarding the expediency of employing “lady help,” she had found her doubts groundless. I attended strictly to my work. 80 the time passed until I had been cook fora year. 1 had been required, perhaps a dozen times, to serve the dinner 1 had cooked, and those were the only times I had seen the grey eyes of Mr. Temple—Mrs. Davidson's nephew-who had entirely recovered on the regimen of good food I had pre- pared for him, One day Mrs, Davidson came down stairs and sad : “Mrs, Howard, I am going te give a dinner next Wednesday, snd you must do your best, for 1 expect & val namo ued friend from the east, whom I espe. cially wish to honor,” 1 did my best, and the dinner served at 8 o'clock would have tempted a king. When it was time I went in with the cream, but I nearly dropped the tray 1 carried, for at the right of the hostess sat my father, Judge Dellaire. Strong man that he was, hegrew white to the lips as he sprang to his feet, cry- ing: “ Madge, Madge! My daughter.” Chauncey Temple, grasping the situ- ation more readily than the others, took the tray from my hands, thereby sav- ing some lovely Dresden china from destruction, and a moment later 1 was crying in my father’s arms, Mrs, Davidson behaved with utmost presence of mind, Turning te the astonished guests she said, ‘‘ You will excuse us for a few minutes,” and {sading the way to the library left me alone with my father, saying as she kissed we, *‘ 1 am rejoiced.” Dear old father! He was delighted to get his little girl back. Shortly af- ter Harold's death, he had concluded he wanted his daughter bad enemgh to put wp with her husband. Receiving no amswer to the letter he addressed to the place where Lhe had last heard of us, he began a vigorous search, He traced us to Pearl, and there learned of my husband's death, losing of course, further clew, because 1 had told no one where I was going. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson were friensas of his younger days of whom I had never heard him speak. Being in San Fran- cisco on business, he naturally stopped at thelr house, “ Mrs. Davidson will have to adver- tise for another cook at once,” he said, I could see that he was shocked at my plebian calling, but joy at seeing me outweighed all other emo tions, That was four years ago. Father took me back home, and tried by every- thing that money could buy or love sug- gest to make me forget my Sorrow. Sometimes Channcey Temple visited us, and a year after my return home he asked me to be his wife; but 1 said “No.” Another man would have giv- en up ; not so Mr. Temple ; he waited patiently. “ I don’t ask you to forget the past,’ he said, ‘“‘but 1 love you that I know I cau help {o make you happier.” Six months ago father sald to me : “ Madge, my daughter, I should like to see you the wife of Chauncey Tem- ple. Not that I expect you to forget, but you are young and would be hap- pier with new interests in life.” Mr. Temple had been several weeks in Albany, attending an interminable aw suit, That night he said to me : “ Madge, I will wait forever if need I don't want to take Harold's place in your heart; but can you not As for me | { shall love you always, and none other, 80 dearly be, love me a little too ? Can you not trust yourself to me #*’ I thought about it week longer, | and the day he left for home I gave Lim the final To-morrow it is past midnight now--1 shall A answer, no, to- day ; be the wife of Chauncey Temple. Ce — Words of Wisdom, Folly is like matter, and cannot be annihilated. In all superstitions, wise men follow fools Bacon, What I most value, next to eternity, is time, — Mme. Swetchine, The conqueror is regarded with awe, the wise man commands our esteem. but it is the benevolent man who wins our affection, A work prospers through endeavors, not through vows, The fawn runs not into the mouth of a sleeping lion. Hindu ; Hilopoadesa, There is no time in a man’s life when he is so great as when he cheerfully bows to the necessity of his position and makes the best of it. He who understands how to inform others gracefully and interestingly of what they know of beforehand, soonest acquires a reputation for cleverness, — Maria Eschenbach. . What unthankfulness it is to forget our consolations, and to look only upon matters of grievances ; to think so much upon two er three crosses as to forget a hundred blessings, Sibber, Look sot mournfully into the past, it cannot come back again ; wisely im- prove the present, it is thine; go forth to meet the shadowy future wibout fear and with a manly heart,— Longfellow, APIA ——— George W. Bromley, soldier of the Mexican War, and who, it is claimed, killed the Seminole Chief Osceola in the Florida Indian war, was buried at Darby, Pa., Saturday, 10th inst. He was born in Norwieh, Conn., on August 8, 1817, and died last Thursday. A gion and retirement with pay. He has been a soldier in the regular army for forty-eight years, tn AA ssn Queen Victoria continues to visit and decorate the grave of John Brown, The Tower of London. ——— its Exceptional Place Among the Great Edifices of the World, London is slowly awakening to see that it is not only the biggest and the richest city in the world but in many ways the grandest and the most his toric. Rome has her ruins ; Paris has her boulevards, palaces and quays; Moscow has her Kremlin, and Constanti- nople her minarets and domes. Fach of these, and, perhaps, some famous cities in Italy or Spain, are superior to { London in the single element of beauty, 1 of magnificence or age. Hat the great- ness of Loodon lies in its historic con- tinuity, in the survival of its true or- ganic centres in all their essential character, It possesses in the Abbey, in Westminster Hall, and in the Tower three of the noblest buildings in the world ; all of them have an unbroken history of eight centuries ; all are still devoted to the uses for which they were designed, and for BOO years they have all been the local seats of our national existence. These three great monu- ments are bound up with each other as well a8 bound up with the history of England. As cathedral, hall and castle noone of them has any superior in Eu- rope, Bat, in the way that they are inwoven with the greatness, the genius, the poetry, the destinies of the country, as also in length and continuity of ser- vice, no one has its equal in Europe The city which possesses all three has at once a dignity of her own ; nor need we think of St, Paul's and the Temple, the Guildhall and the Palace of West- minster, the Parks, the bridges and the docks, to believe that we are truly citizens of io mean city. Neither mud, por smoke, nor stucco—neither vest ries nor railways can make London mean. For in the mass, in the anti quity, in the historic splendor of her national monument, in the halo which the heroism, the crimes and the imagi- nation of eight centuries have shed over them London remains to the thought. ful spirit the most venerable city of the modern world. And now, it seems. London has an HEdile, We have now a Minister of the Crown who conceives it to be pant of his duty to preserve, cherish and open to the public our great public monuments, It belongs to our nation- al habits that an English Minister of Puldic Works should regard his office as a sort of society for the preservation of ancient buildings rather than as a syndicate for the destruction and trans formation of ancient which the fixed idea of the Continental Hauss mann, These Attilas and Genghis {hans of modern society, with the aid of the railway and building companies who form their natural allies, rapidly achieving the tion, and not only of Paris, but of Rome, Vienna, Milan, F mexdiswval city of Europe. fort think that, Mayors and Town Councils everywhere on the Continent are seeking to make their cities a fair if New York, our First Commissioner of Works cities, is are Haussmanniza- lorence and every It is a com- where to Prefects, unilation « is pecupied in preserving to us our ancl- ent monuments in the form And curious that at the present moment he is busy about the preservation of all three great monuments, He has just revealed to us what West minster Hall was in the days of the Normans, He has still before him the cruel problem of refacing the Abbey. And now he is showing us the Tower— not alas! as it was when it still served the Tudor Kings as a palace, but freed from the eyesore with which the stupid vandalism of the last hundred years had loaded it. The Tower is the oldest of the three great monuments of London, and assuredly it stands at the head of all buildings of its order iu the world. It is the most perfect extant example of a feudal castle of the first class, contin- uously used as a fortress by the same dynasty, and as a seat of the same Government since the times of the Crusades, It is, in fact, the civil build ing in the world which can show the longest and most splendid history. The Pantheon at Rome, a few of the great Basilicas, the Byzantine Church of the Holy Wisdom, and a few religious buildings on the Continent, can show a longer life ; but there is no civie build. ing, being neither a ruin nor a restored ruin, but still a great seat of govern- ment, which can show 50 vast a re- cord. The Tower of London has entered upon the ninth century of its continu- ous life in the service of the English Crown. When the White Tower first rose beside the Thames, as the buttress | and symbol of the Conquest, the nations we call France, Germany and Spain did not exist, It had already seen centu- ries of great and memorable things be® fore the oldest of the palaces and halls of Europe had their foundations laid. Men talk of the traditions of the Krem- the first balf of the wild history of the in which they were built, it is not a litth of our rafsed the fantastic domes of Moscow wandering herdsmen and robber tribes in Asia, when the Tower was the home of the most powerful kings in Europe. The old palaces of state of Venice, Florence, Ghent and Bruges have tra ditions of - grest antiquity, and are memorable sources of art, romance and poetry. But their real life bas closed for Ages ; they are little now but monue ments or museums, The Tower, which began 80 long before them, has outlived them all in permanent vitality, The descendant of the Conqueror is still mistress of the White Tower, which for 800 years has guarded the symbols of our national power, It is true that in point of picturesque beauty, the Tower must yield to some of its younger rivals, It is not the mountain-like grandeur of the Palace of the Popes at Avignon, nor the fairy beauty of the Doge's Palace at Venice, nor the sky- line of the Old Palace at Florence, or of the Castle at Prague ; much less has it the weird -impressiveness of that skeleton of castles, the upper city of Carcassonne, or the piles of Loches, Ceinon and Angers, The glory of the Tower of London lies in its matchless historical record. Carcassonne has been a ruin now for six centuries ; the civic palaces of Italy, Germany and the Netherlands had a history at most for a few hundred years; and Avignon re cords but an episode in the career of the Papacy, seventy years of servility, ferocity and vice, The building of all: others which in historic dignity approaches most nearly the Tower is that fragment of the great palace of the Capetian Kings beside the Seine, which pow survives under the name of the Conclergerie, of which the Palais de Justice is the transformed Court of Justice, and of which the Sainte Chapelle of St. Louis was the proper Chapel. Behind that screen of brand-new Gothic restorations wich which the Viollets-le-Due have eve, v- where enveloped the ancient monuments of France, Parisians, if they only knew it, might still ind the fortress of their ancient monarchy worthy to compete in historical importance with the Tower of London itself. We are far too apt to think of the Tower as a mere prison, and to dwel too long upon its bloody memories, Prison it is, far the most memorable in the world, or at least second only to the Mamertine Prison by the Capitol. But it is pot a whit more prison than it is fortress, or palace, or seat of govern- went, or court of judgment and court of record, It isa prison by accident, or by consequence ; not that it was built as a prison, or ever destined to be a prison ; but because all g.vernments seek to have prisoners of state in the mbst central and secure seat of their power. The Tower is not more bloody than the Crown of England or the his- tory of England. It has been the howe of some of our greatest rulers, the scene of some of the wisest the treasure-house of the most things, and the subject of some of the in our language, Tower has really 8 fourfold character and a fourfold history. It fortress, treasure-house and seat of gov- ernment ; it is only prison as part of the a fortress, Perhaps the reason why we Londoners usually re- gard the Tower as a prison is that too many of us visit it as children, or in com- pany with children, and then the tales about racks, martyrs, the young princes and the Traitor’s Gate form the natural staple of the talk.— London Times, councils, Precious TT noblest poetry he is palace, functions of --- “Smoke.” The cigar is driving out the pipe in Germany. During the past year there were consumed in the German Customs Union 5,058, 140,000 cigars of the weight of 37,5665 tons, and the value of 240. 270,000 marks, against 36,570 tons of tobacco, of the value of 42,240,000 marks, A week or two ago the French cus. tom-house officers made a big seizure of cigars and cigarettes at the Gare du Nord. Paris, which had been smug- gled. across the Belgian frontier. consisted of 45.000 cigars, and 26,000 cigarettes {pure tobacco without paper. They were hidden in bales of paper. The Japanese are said to be inveterate smokers, men and women. Their pipes, however, are very small, the bowls holding tobacco suflicient for a single whiff. The cigar and cigarette have not yet come into general fashion with them. Theconsumption of tobacco in France As rapidly increasing, and last year show- @d no exception to the rate of progres- sion, the quantity consumed amounting tol grammes (about 21 Ih.) per inhabi- ‘tant, and representing a value of 9 fr, T6c. (6a, 03d.) i : : ¥ DU wma AA 0 sl. £ At one of the schools in Cornwall, England, the teacher asked the children if they could quote any text of Serip- ‘quoted in reply the text, **No man can ea . r WE a tl 8 ie E — Domestic Animals, In a dwelling house that was burned near North Adams, Mass, three chil- dren were sleeping, their parents being away from home, The house dog suc- ceeded in getting into the children’s room and rescued them with the great. est difficulty, as two of them had fainted. A boy of Luther, Mich., on his way to school met a bear, and bastily climb- ed a tree. He clung to bis dinner pail, but as bruin sat at the foot of the tree patiently waiting for him to come down, he finally tossed the pail to him, The bear gulped down the contents of the dinner pail, and then leisurely off, A dog at New Castle, Pa., was for twelve years Lhe inseparable companion of Bidney Davis. Davis died recently, and after searching in vain for his mas- ter, the dog finally settled down in his arm-chair and awaited his coming. It required great stratagem to get him to take the smallest quantity of food, and he gradually pined away and died. A Boston lady bas a dog which, when it or its friend, the cat, wish to go into the kitchen, stands by the door and al- lows the cat to jump upon its back, The cat can then reach one paw over the latch, and by pressing the other paw on the thumbpiece is able to open the door. The cat them drops on the dog’s back, and rides into the kitchen in triumph. A Rochester robin has built its nest en the main frame of engine 340 of New York Central railroad, between the left forward driving spring hanger and a cross brace. The apgine runs daily between Rochester and DeWitt, The bird kept faithfully at work as ci cumstances permitted, and having com- pleted the nest, she now eccupies it even when the engine is ruoning The origin of domestic cats is ob- scure, All the histories of ancient na- tions go back to a time when there were uo cats, Wild cats were hunted and eaten by the Swiss lake dwellers. Afri- ca, south of Egypt, appears to have been the cradle of the cat as a domesti- cated animal. Thecat was reverenced by the Egyptians to a ridiculous extent. If any of them voluntarily slew one of the sacred animals he was punished by death. Dead were embalmed, When a pussy died in a house, the oc- cupants shaved off their eyebrows, Af. ter considerable discussion, it seems be settled that the Greeks did n cats, An elephant belonging to engi- neer officer had a disease in his eves, and bad for three days been complete- ly blind. Webb decided to try on one of the eves the effect of nitrate of sil- ver, walked the cals #4 LO ot have an which was a remedy commonly used for similar diseases of the | uman eve. The animal was accordingly made the nitrate of uttered a terrific occasioned. for the 3 anda to lie down, and when silver was applied roar at the acute But the effect eye was in a great degree restored The doct nsequence ready to operate » Peal pain it was wonderful, could see. WAS in Cx £1 larly on the other eve on the ing day, and the animal when bh the doctor's Ww g, layed down of own accordgt Placed bis head on one sidenried up his trunk, drew in his breath like a human being about to endure a painful operation, and then by motions of his trunk and other gestures, gave signs of wishing express his gratitude, I AGIIN55s555 on is il : a4 1g GLieuy 0 Lord Alvaniey's Duel. On the way home after his duel with O'Connell, in a hackney coach, Lord Ivanley said: “What a clumsy fel- low O'Connell must be to miss such a fat fellow as I am! He ought to prac- tice at a haystack to get his hand in.” When the carriage drove up to Alvan- ley’s door, be gave the coachman a sovereign. Jarvie® was profuse in his thanks, and said. “‘It's a great deal for only having taken your lordship to Wimbledon.” “No, my good man,” said Alvanley, “1 give it you not for taking me, but for bringing me back.” Everybody knows the story of Gunter, the pastry cook. Ile was mounted on a runaway borse, with the King's hounds, and excused himself for riding against Lord Alvanley by saying. “Oh, my Lord, I can™ held him; he's so hot!" “lee him, Gunter—ice him was the consoling rejoinder, - { Was Into Oil. “Now, then, what is it? guiried a New York broker, as his daughter came tripping Mito the library. “Father, Charles Henry has asked me to marry him,” “He has, eh ? Wants to marry you, ei ¥ Well, what are his pros pects ¥° “He has $40,000 up on a deal