AT — ” —Y -_ " i ————— 1 1 and troubled. ‘Can’t you look at it Bayers of Old Books. the Tartars certain men, honored above fas I do--not even for my sake?’ he | all others, being idol priests from India, I! asked. { | persons of deep wisdom, well conducted | ane WPS TTY ~ ¥ i : : 3 our is nights and listening to the rain on the A Mystery of the ¥isins, roof.” TRY RIVER OF LIFE. all Looks come The more we live, more briel appear Our life's succeeding stages; A day to childhood seems a year, Aud vears like passing ages. The ladon ire § Steal Al ie current of our youth, in yet disorders, ugering like a river smooth or its grassy borders. ssi Bat the careworn cheek grows wan, And sorrow’s shafts fly thicker, Ye stars, that measure life to man, Why seem your courses quicker? vs When joys have lost their bloom and breath, And life itself is vapid, Why, as wo near the Falls of Death Feel we its tide more rapid ? It may be strange, yet who would change Time's course to slower speeding, When one by one our friends have gone And left our bosoms bleeding? Heaven gives our years of fading strength Indemnifying fleetness ; And those of youth a seeming length Proportioned to their sweetness. a a AUNT ABBY'S LITTLE NOMAXOE, In hunting up my friends at Wells- march, I had occasion to inquire my way of an old woman digging potatoes in a4 weedy little patch by the roadside. She looked up as I spoke, and leaned 2+ hoe, tall and gaunt and some- rim, but with a singularly lucid idly expression in her large gray eyes. She was coarsely clad, her thin, aray hal short, was covered by a man’s straw hat, and she had the mus- cular brown hands of a man. Yet, when she paused in her potato digging to answer my questions, it was with an %r of quiet intelligence and a simple ace of utterance hardly to have been pected from one of her sex engaged oarse an occupation, spoken, she stooped to pick put into a peck basket the pota- ar hoe had uncovered, and I rode on. but could not forbear looking back and gz her as she rose up with her it burden aud walked away, across the weedy patch, towards the door of a lonely little house near by. The sun bad gone down, heavy shadows {ell across the fields from wooded hills bevond, the night crickets had struck up melancholy notes, and in the aspect of the woman entering her soli- tary door, at that hour, there was something so sad that it made my heart ache. Tl iil Ol nd k Ir, Cul Jp and toes h walcl that LIT peture haunted me, and on reaching my friend’s house 1 spoke of it. “7 was directed,” 1 said **by the old creature, working in the potato patch, and living in ] old house 1 ever 1 t little e ] lon 1168 lonelies: the saw | onelies .'* said my host with a look of , “you have seen Aunt Abby! ite an extraordinary charac- ittle as you would think it, to ng potato’s for to-mor- kfast, she is a real heroine- roine of a genuine romance.” He told me something of her story, which excited still further my curiosity and sympathy, and I expressed a desire to make her acquaintance, That could be easily managed, he sald; and, driv- ing roe about the country the next day he tool » to her house, row’s the he 1 her trimming a bed of old i flowers at her and as to the gate spoke to y towards us with a sprig » in her coarse brown hand, v,”’ said my compaaion, ‘“‘here’ d of mine I want you know.’ An he proceeded to int: me in a way which the at! { door ; and Td ity { books get accustomed to and learn to endure without blushing. ‘I have heard of you," she said, giv- ing my hand a cordial grasp, and look- ing into my eyes with an earnest, al- most ardent, expression. ‘Come in, wom't you? It’s a long time" —turning to my friend—*'sinee yon have made me a call,” He excused himself, but said that I could go in if I chose, and wait till he returned for me, after transacting a lit. tle business which he had in view. The arrangement suited me admirably, and as she repeated her invitation I alighted and entered the gate. “I hear that you live quite alone here.”’ I remarked, as she preceded me along the narrow grassy path towards the door. “Alene ? Dear me, no!" she replied cheerfully, turning to face me in the midst of her little flower “Here are some of my companions,” and she pointed out the pinks and pansies and phlox and hollyhocks, which grew in an almost wild state, along with fennel and caraway and sage, in the tangle but well-weeded beds. “But I have other and better companions than these, and sunshine and grass and frees and OTS ¢ a body be alone ?*° “I quoted Emerson’s saying: ‘‘If a man would be alone, let him look at the stars,” “Why, bless the good man!” she said, “when 1 look at the stars I am some- times least 2lone! It seems as if they brought the hosts of Heaven near to me. But come in, come in.” She ushered me into a very plain but neat little sitting-room, with a rag car- pel (ptobably of her own braiding) on the floor, a few books on hanging shelves, and cn the walls some cheap prints which I fear would have made the apostle of modern culture smile. in side table, after giving me a seat in her cushioned arm chair, “Some of them you know,” she added, with a smile which lighted up her brown features with beautiful benignity, It could have hardly A” by accident that she let the pages fall open in my hands at a place where my eye fell upon a litle scrap of verses which I knew indeed. “1 don’t know how to compliment an author,” she said, seating herself on I am glad of an opportunity to tell you that that poem has been a great comfort to me, a very great comfort. I cut it from a newspaper a few years ago, and I fave read it over and over again until I know it by heart. 1 love to repeat it 10 myself when I am lying awake Her eyes glistened as she spoke, having written a few words which had | afforded solace to this lonely creature made me humbly grateful, My vanity | was not in the least moved, and I can relate the circumstance without vanity now ; for, alas, my little piece was | pasted on a page with others which she | seemed to regard as equally precious, { although they were not literature, any | more than the sentimental prints on { the wall were art. It was evident that { she viewed poems and pictures, not with a cultivated or eritical eye, but | wholly from a spiritual and sympathet- ic attitude of mind; prizing what ap- pealed to her emotional and especially to her religious nature, without being | mueh disturbed by weak lines, bad rhymes and other imperfections. How some of my msthetic friends would have scorned to see their verses included in such a serap-book ! But after all, there is something in life better than culture and I would not for anything have said a word to lessen the satisfaction old Aunt Abby found in the feeblest of that trash, of her early easy to lead her to speak life, “1 have heard something of you history,” I said, and it makes me won- der 1f you have never regretted the very great saerifices you once made,’ Her large, gray eyes beamed upon me mistily. *‘I have asked myself the same question many times, For it was a sacrifice!” she said, trembling. “‘Bat the answer deep down in my heart is always no. We must live according to our light. I lived according to mine. I could not do differently then; I couldn’ do differently now, if the thing was to do over.’ “I hear that spects, a worthy her on. And Abby, were you I 18 1 he was, in many re- man,’’ I said, *‘tolead lI me frankly, Aunt t ERY ry very stron te 3r ied) tached to each other?’ “There was only one thing in he and earth that 1 loved better t loved Aaron NEWere with emotion. ‘*‘But there were o things that he loved better loved me. Too many! too many!’ “What were they?" I asked “His and worldly possessi As you say, he was a worthy Few people blamed him, but a great many blamed me. That was what made it so hard for me to do as I did. My friends called me foolish and overserupulous ; while he acted as so many other have acted in his place,’ She wiped her eves and answer to my «guestions: engaged, and were to be married in a few weeks, believe there never Deems, she a ti vaan ¢ and his Ease men and I 1 was a young couple with happier pros- pects, until he came to me one evening and told me of an exciting event. He had a rich uncle who have af dishon leaving Aaron see fort h evervi mea qui une, ‘But, HOW TDL Aare bu there is $ Ts arto ores ihe VOT MES SX had his Ble 3 not his enemy,’ 1 said; ‘and I bave had the story from your own lips. You always condemned that transaction; and I never heard you speak of him with any respect, hope,’ said I, ‘you are not going to let the fact that he has made you his heir change your ideas of right and wrong.’ “He laughed in a way 1 couldn’t like. ‘I have no idea on the subject,’ {he said. ‘All I know is, the property is mine now,’ “ ‘But you can’t it,’ I said.”’ “Why not ?’ was his answer, in a tone that astonished and grieved me. | *I never heard that my uncle did any- thing illegal ; the property is lawfully mine,’ “ ‘Why, Aaron!’ I remonstrated, ‘I have heard you say yourself that he was shrewd enough to keep clear of | the law, but does that make his wicked - ness any less wicked ? And what if the property is lawfully yours, if it is not yours by absolute right, can you accept in? “What I said disturbed him ; and I { could see that a dark shadow was com: ing between us—the first that had ever crossed our path. He argued that it wasn’t for us to inquire too closely into i his moral right to the property, since | nobody could say that his hands bad | been stained in the getting of it; while | I maintained that it was his duty to find out just how far the widow and or- | phans had been wronged, and make i restitution out of his uncle’s wealth. | * Good heavens! Abby,’ said he | according to what folks say, it would | take the bulk of the estate,’ | + Tet it take the bulk of it,’ 1 said ; | let it take every cent ! You don’t want [Some > of money, no matter how you Welle take itl and enjoy come by it, that belongs to anybody i else,’ * tXo,’ he said, ‘If il’s a claim any- body can prove ; but I guess if every one was to be as particular as to the way their estate, real and personal, was | come by, from generation to generation, | few would keep what they've got very | long. I homor your principles, Abby : | bat, don’t you see, carried out as yon ! would have them, they are utterly ab- | surd ¥’ | “°F don’t see ity’ I replied. * ‘On the | contrary, I believe there is a rule of | absolute right, and we ought to five by it! So we argued until he grew very | much irritated and got up to go. , 9] don't see the thing as you do,’ he said, ‘and can’t.’ ’ I “1 am sorry,’ I sald, ‘for it is very | plain to me, If you can take and enjoy | property that you know belongs to | others, you can do what I never can ! never, Aaron Deems |’ | He stood before me, looking pale “+ {Not even for your sake, Aaron l’ I said. though my heart was ready to break. ‘But don’t let us talk of it any more to-night; I am sure you will think as I do when you have had time to re- flect. * ‘1 hope—I am sure—we shall come to think alike in so important a matter, rated from you, Abby I’ «Oh, we can’t be separated, Aaron,’ I said, and clung to him with all my heart. But there was a coldness in his good-bye, and I felt that awful shadow between us after he was gone, 1 couldn’t endure that the man I loved should take such views of right and wrong, even for a moment. Well, we had may talks on the sub- ject after that; and the more we talked the colder and "heavier the shadow grew. He couldn’t give up any part of what was left him by his uncle; no, not even for me. And 1 couldn't give up the light I walked by; no, not even for him! I couldn't prevent his accepting | the fruits of his uncle’s dishonesty; and if I married him I would be a partaker in the wrong. So it came to this, + ¢ Aaron, I said to nm one night, “if you are determined, then we must part. I can’t share in any advantage obtained through your uncle's wrong-doi as I should have to, by our Y vife nit: ng; becoming ¥ love me,’ he said, 0 take back those hard words, * « Aaron,’I said, ‘I would take them back if I conld, for I feel that 1 am giving up all the world when I give you up. But I can not give up the spirit of righteousness in my own soul. Com- pared with that, O, Aaron,’ I said, ‘how little seems that which I asked to give up, me omy, but for your own conscience and life,’ “Ie was all of a tremble as he my hand. ‘Abby,’ said he, ‘you are the girl 1 ever saw, and 1 dot know but vou are right, All I know is 1 am not up to the sacrifice that seems $0 easy to you. So I suppose we must part.” “And so we parted, Abby went on, ‘never « t followed ! 1 torn wit anguish ; [ was tempted terribly. It seemed to me that I was giving up all that was worth living for, I was young and not bad fond of oive not for + Le VWHON i $ : DOLIESL $41 1 & I neve X an forget the Wis #3 looking, and all beautiful thing of money ; too with a But all that was no t i How £) value . been pleased life of ease a joyment, my attachment up? should you?’ sometlh ‘Why can't you do what any body else would in place, without any such silly scruples You can do good with the money, an 30 atone for any sin there may be in ac cepting it. Don’t throw away yor Lappiness for an idea.’ “On the other hand, a id: ‘Walk by the you.’ am 1 1. or give hing " Hp whispered. v al - ¥ x . 4 AIMOsL youl { i ir @# 8a g or = © Why id iven May be 1 I walked by the light That led me and world and WAYS, until twenty years ago, I settled down in this little house that appeais to you so lonely, Here 1 have lived ever since, except for a few weeks every winter, when I visit friends who would gladly keep me with them all the time, But, strange as it may seem, I am never so happy as when I come back here to my hermitage—to my birds Wan, AY 18, Was given me, more out of the more is thoughts, Aaron? Oh, yes, he lived and was prospered ip a sense. He had a hand- some and fashionable wife, and he grew richer still by some transactions which some said were too much like his uncle's. Bat I don't condemn him, He may have walked by his light, as I walked by mine. I only know our walks did not lie together, And have I never regretted the sac | rifice I made ? Sometimes when I have looked upon myself, living alone in poverty, with these hands hardened by toll, and without the daily affection which the heart craves, I have won- dered and said tomyself : ‘Abby, is it all a dream ? Wouldn't that other life have been better for you ?* Bat some- thing says: ‘No; you couldn’t have chosen differently.’ "sorrows and heart aches ; but there is | no loneliness like that of a soul that has lost its rectitude, and grieved away the Spirit. fully, *1 am very well off here, No- | tional as folks think me, my neighbors | are very kind ; they come and see me, { and lend me books ; every winter they | bring me fire-wood, and every spring | they plant my little patch to corn and | beans and potatoes. Oh! she exclaimed, | grasping my hand, as 1 rose to take | at the gate, “I sometimes think there | isn’t another woman in all the world so | blessed as 11” | As I rode away with my friend I once | more looked back at the little house, | which did not seem so lonesome to me now, as [ thought of it peopled with high and holy thoughts, and filled with the presence of that heroic woman, to whom a great light had been given, with courage and strength to live by that light. | A writer in the Popular Scgence Monthly attributes sea-sickness to an irritation to the semi-circular canals of the ear or abdominal viscera, or both, | which become full of blood and cause | vomiting, and illustrates the theory b a detail of interesting facts, and expe montis, Persistent people begin their success | whore others end in failure. “Where do the old from? Well, that is a question requires a long answer. It is which we are asked a good many times during the day,” said the proprietor of a second-hand book store. ‘*“There is a prevailing idea that most of the books | npon our shelves are sold to us by des- { titute people who take this means of raising a little cash, but that is true in a limited number of cases only. 1b 1s true that people whose fortunes have suddenly changed for the worse are ready to sell thelr many of them. Many bcoks are brought to us by a class of people who have no desire to keep them after they have once been read, The money which they get for them is spent for others, which in | turn are sold to us, This system ac- | counts for many of the new books un- sold upon our shelves, “80 many books are now printed and sold in pamphlet form, however, thatthis is not done sovoften as formerly, Only those books which are sold in bindings by the publishers and are not published in pamphlet form reach us in this way. ““The great bulk of volumes are bought in large numbers, whole libra which are sold by ti xecutors of the wills of deceased persons fy 1 1 Of one Our T1168 Ww \ the o the « laims of ¢ who are no lo WO common who have the dis 3 ip charge sum them k the same as con- for work. The ts the lot. T vat yi regulated by the original f the books which it contains, nor y condition of the covers and the state of preservation. but by the if readin matter contained. Patent-office 1 medical and legal books may cost fortunes i and be the best works extant up subjects, but ynd-hand men » ie ie is not oot gel nature « and to 1 the average buyers o volumes tudents, anx ds, which ale he number of greater of pay ti r cent, ould not . r 1 5 of fiction TNE aaiies © mn the work ‘School books are excepted from thi 1 book store { school 10 Second-han as markets deal in them upils graduate from one set of b to anther long before the old ones are r We for when standard, Mid we IATEeIY. ORS good vhey are won out. works pay prices readily and are quite as ific 1 rarely worth over a quarter unless they are of kind that are demand. These prices may seem low for bound volumes, bat when you remember that people expect to buy them for almost nothing and that we have to keep them on the shelves sometimes for years and sometimes forever, they are in reality high prices. }ibles are worth from two to three ‘cents jeach, unless they happen to Le copies of old prints, which 1s one of the improbable happenings, although two of those books which are valued in the thousands of dollars were found upon the shelves of second-hand book stores. “When Caesar wrote his Commenta- ries he did not think that they would go a begging on the shelves of dealers in old books at twenty-five cenis apiece, nor did Joseph Smith think I would have three calls in one day for Mormon Bibles, which I could not suppiy. s(ireenleaf, when he puzzied his head to paralyze the school children with his thus 101 ithe in that it would be one of the unsolvable problems how to sell a score of copies of | them at ten cents apiece or three for a quarter, Only the writers of ten-cent or fifteen cents. They reach us in two | sand to the dealers copies that are left | been cut.” a —— Ortontal Mage. The old mussionary Jesuits in India and China relate with holy horror the under their observation, and lament that some credulous Princes who have been converted to Christianity should still allow diabolic tricks to be played | before them, As, for instance, heavy goblets of silver to be moved from one end of a table to another without hands and heavy articles of furniture to dance about the room as if possessed of de- mons. This was many centuries be- fore the development of modern spirit- ualism., How these pious old monks would be shocked at seeing tables tip- ped, banjos banged, fiddles fly through the air and the evil “spirits” were supposed tied hand and foot. A very learned friar who lived sever- | al hundred years ago, and is described as ‘‘perfectly honest and trathful,’’ re. fates that in his time there lived among to be and of the purest morals, They were acquainted with the magic arts, and depended upon the counsel and aid of | demons *’ Among other delusions they exhibi exactness, he says “they can sit in the air without any visible means of sup- then one stick after another 1s removed and the man still remains, not touch- ing the ground,” He further relates that **with a long stick I felt under the suspended person and found pothing upon which his body rested.” Iv was told that his last performance was pro- fessedly exhibited in Madras during the present century. and minutely des. eribed by writers “whose veracity can not be impeached.’ And now comes the most astonishing trick of all, which has a touch of the melodramatic to give a more piquant flavor, I shall tell it in quaint language of the old ehronicler, somewhat abbre- viated, and trust no one will take it to be literally true. He describes very vividly the basket trick, which is well ywn fn Indl and says: *‘I1 am r which HE OW surpasses all be- had not been witnessed 3 under my own eves, Ai 1 gusand LWA IL y § + iit ALY Pad will 1 beyond t neds and wa asto 4 Was Lo i { Ln natant p AN LRIILE Y hd nd 3 Le ud INLo a4 DASKEL, une down, iv ANoLLer 3 nemner ei Le AW will y Logeti traightway I “ ho Ne & Wiio 1 wo i a HaihUL & Gamage. OVErCA nee of thie he showed me s [hey gave . BOWevYer, wiiici © i me of The Kad 1d s Aa re HY 2 Lelegrapi who can send : with | hand al IAT rign id take a copy of the same with his left. When we were in New York we visited Mr. Spencer, son of founder Spencerian system of penmanship. He isa ambi- dexterist, and as we found him writing with his left hand we had some conver- gation regarding it. He told us that the number of pupils he had to use the pen successfully with both hauds amounted to several thousands and were scattered all over the United states, He showed us several samples of work done by some very young per- sons. Among them was a specimen of the signature of the 13 year old son of Carl Schurz, which was done in beau- tiful script. Mr. 8. said he considered him the best left-hand writer for his age in the country. President Garfield could use both hands, and had practi- ced it from his boyhood. Thomas Jef- ferson lost the use of his right arm by a paralytic stroke, With constant practice he became very proficient in the use of the left, and all his writing in the latter part of his life was done with that hand. the of the sroticient --_—- Florida Sinks, known as sinks have attracted the al- tention of scientific men and form one | tors. Timid people are afraid of them, but I not see any difference between meets with in all wooded counties, Sometimes an acre will commence to sink towards the centre, and year after year the depth increases until it reaches | its lowest point and stands still, Some of these places are wonderfully beauti. | ful, being covered with a luxuriant un- | qer-growth of bush vegetation, shaded | by immense trees garlanded with grape- ‘draped with the beautiful moss of the | pool of clear water, These bosky shades | motion a picture that any artist wight be proud to add to his collection. Some- | times the central part really does fall ! out of sight leaving a hole whose depth may be imagined, but out of such fiiss- ures I have seen oak trees growing of : large girth, proving that they do not | really go through to China. i ans intl I Ws | Fue courses of brick will lay one i foot in height of a chimney. Nine | bricks in a course will make a flue eight inohes wide and twenty inches long, {and eight bricks in a conrse will make in fine eight inches wide and sixteen | inches long. An uo. miner told the following tale in relation toa wagon train. He said Idaho Springs, I came upon a rich lead, The rock, however, was hard, and had required two men to do the work, While I was still in a quandary as to whom 1 could get, a stranger came up to where 1 was I inquired whether he knew anything of mining “He assured me that he had worked in mines in California and Nevada for vears, and thought he understood it, Borpething in the manner and conver- sation of the man made me take a strong and sudden fancy to him, and 1 never had cause to be sorry for it. He gave his name as Robert Williams, and had a mild and rather agreeable face, but with a melancholy that seemed to be the result of years of habit, Ast is LU custoinary in this country, espec- ally in a mining district to inquire par- icularly into a man’s antecedents, I at mee made a proposition to Williams to yin me and work the new prospect on shares. He accepted the offer, and, as % oecas to before, 1 never ways (quiet, y i i i 1 . ( aaa 4) Al ustrions, he became a fa~ A : aril thie Yur , ana the only and othe ently, and told me a wondert rlwasb in Pittsburg iron mani- all the benefits of indulged me in coulkd buy. was admitted OW Val 4 large ind gave me ing that wild the : ight visi the fortune ths » that which 1 or if trains Ot i land. While SOME arrangements plains, 1 was accosted one day asked me if I was gong mm being told that that ion, he saad: ““I am about loaded with nitro-gly- sil, as it is called, the trip 1s dange . 1 ind it take the risk. will pay well for the service, and all | Not knowing or I eagerly seized ning a pmty of Lt Lo Cross a them of th of the cargo con- I started th another man s me, When we we always drew ie side, took sine distance of an alter. 1500, when near on the Little Blue, ne dark, a thunder storm as fate would have it a bolt of Seeking z 0 8 the 10 raake 10 a i s AIME BS 1 with me t to get anyone to 5 - for the i iil er © rigs On al Ya C1. UeCAl £ its contents, which consisted of 3,500 pounds of the dangerous substance kill- ing every one of the small party, togeth- er with all of the horses and cattle, and reducing to fragments every wagon in the train. By a miracle I was riding con- siderablyin advance at the time, seek- ing to get a shot al some antelopes which were grazing in the distance, I became aware of a report louder and more distinct than thunder, and turn- ing on my horse, saw adense cloud of smoke where the train should have been but could not discover its whereabouts, diding back, I beheld a horrid sight. Bodies of men without legs or arms lay scattered about, and mingled in the confusion of fragments of wagons and their freight were the still quivering carcasses of cattle and horses, You can judge of my horror at the speciacle. I was the only living survivor of party. Almost bereft of my senses 1 rode on, and was seized with a new ter- ror. What account could I give of the party or how explain their mysterious disappearance? Then I came tons res- olution that was both cowardly and in- humane. “1 would avoid going to the point of destination of the train and would con- ceal the facts of its fate in the Rear that I might be accused of making away it. Instead of stopping at the miping camps near Pike's peak, I made the went to California. Once in a great while I would see a newspaper in which was commented on, everyone believing they had been massacred by Indians. Thins secret I have kept locked in my breast all these years, and it has tortur- ance. At this point of his story Wil liams became so weak that he could not continue, and shortly after breathed his last ©’ - A report 18 going the rounds that a could only be fully carried out. The eleotrio battery is to be worked by sun. hight mostly, if not entirely, and the cost of the other elements could be re- duced toa minimum, If cheap and ble scouamulstors oould be made or storing the electricity the sunlight of a single summer comld be made to store foroe enough to drive all the mills and railroads for years, Proms the fight against insects on house and conservatory plants early in the fall, Bome green flies are sare Lo be turkiag abont the plants at this season.