S— THE CHILDREN OF THE HOUSEHOLD, There's a clatter on the stair; There's a clatter in the air; Where our little ones are romping right merrily; There's a shout sent along, And some snatches of song From baby voices carroling cheerily, There's a litter in the hall; There are stains on the wall; The window panes have marks of little fingers; There's an antiquated dolly Looking sad and melancholy, ‘Whose loveliness tho' lost still lingers, Mother Goose with paper wings Dog-eared and dirty sings, Of the marvelous in miscellany rhyming, While the nurse reads "tween nods, Of Goddesses and Gods, With baby prattie lispingly chiming, There are bumps, there are tumbles, There are rolls, there are rumbles, There are little folkses joys and Sorrows : There are trials sore to-day, Which quickly pass away In assurance of hopeful to-morrows, Then from the hopeful morrow Let us generously borrow, All we may that is beaming, bright and merry, Four our little ones to-day S0 happy in their play, Ab, full soon will be way-worn and weary, AON SOR RIN. THEY MET BY CHANCE! nothing, Kitty?" ‘1 thing not, Jane,” making a thor- ough examination of the contents of her hand-bag. “I have my trunk re- ceipt, and my keys, and my ticket, and a button-hook, and black and white pins, and my purse for small change, and a pocket-comb. And, O, yes!”— mvestigating more freely—‘‘the small mirror, and three—four extra handker- chiefs, and my bottle of heliotrope. I really cant remember anything that I have forgotten,’’—meditatively—‘‘ex- cept, perhaps it might be the coupon for the sleeper, and John is getting that for me.” It is the afternoon of a damp, doleful September day. The place is, unro- mantically enouch, the Chicago depot. The speaker: Jane Spencer and her | sister, Miss hilly Warner, who has | been visiting western friends, and is | about to take the uexu eastern train for home, To say that Mrs. Spencer is in | a state bordering upon distraction, is | simply to gild, refined gold. Originally | a simple, unsuspecting countrywoman, | who has been introduced rather late in | life to the evils of a great city as exem- | plified in certain experiences with bur- glarious serving men and maids, and a | daily diet upon the pot pourri of crimes | served up by the press, a 900 mile jour- | ney for her young, pretty and unpro-| tected sister seems to her mind an un- | dertaking fraught with her most terri- | fying dangers. And many and solemn | are the warnings which she bestows upon Miss Kitty anent the perils to be avoided, and the precautions to be taken until she reaches New York. “1 am so sorry that our train starts before yours is due!’ she exclaims fret- fully, with tears in her eyes. *‘If it were not for Aunt Eunic’s telegram, John and I might have stayed over un- til to-morrow, 80 as to have seen you fairly off.” And the ne:vous little woman shakes | out a fresh handkerchief and brushes a rising tear-from her left eye, just as her husband comes up with the depres. sing intelligence that the plan of the sleeper on the Pennsylvania railroad will mot be visible fof twenty eight minutes yet—just a quarter of an hour after their train is to leave. This last calamitous piece of news has a paralyzing effect upon Mrs, Spen- cer, and she looks on in distressed si- lence while her husband gives Kitty a few parting instructions, as together they pore over a rallway guide. **I bave a novel somewhere for you! to read on your journey, Kit.”' John | says, preseuily;and reaching over to his light overcoat, which 18 thrown carelessly across the back of the near- est setieee, he produces a dun-colored | volume from one of its capacious pock- ets. Aud, O luckless John! in his ex- plorations he brings to light something else. ‘I'wo letters, which he produces with trembling hand, and delivers to their respective owners, his wife and sister-and-law, Whereupon the spell of silence that has Leen laid upon Mistress Jane is broken, and she exclaims ina volce of reproachful tone. “Well, Jonathan Spencer, I actually don’t believe you could remember the day that you were born!” “No matter, Jenny. At any rate I never shall forget the day that 1 was married,’ retorts are amiable spouse, ith a facetiousness that under the circumstances is odious, for a skillful cross-examination discloses the fact that the wretch has carried these let- ters in his pockets for at least three days. But before the long suffering Jane has time properly to rebuke him, pas- sengers for the southern train are warn- ed that time 18s up. So Miss Kitty, hastily thrusting into her bag the letter which a glance tells heris from her brother Edgar, descends the steps with her relatives, and chats with them up- on the platform as cheerfully as Jane's misgivings will permit, until the last ong strikes, and they enter the train ust as Jane is in the midst of recount. ing a tale that she has read in some news r-about a lady whose pockets was p by a gentlemanly appearing man, who politely helped off the cars, dear,”’ she “Now remember, Kitty, whispered, leaning from window, ad speaking in a deep, impressive tome ou are to trust noth appear. ances. The best dressed men are inva. riably the ones to be of. Be careful of your tickets and money, and" ~here the cars are fairly in motion *‘write as soon as you reach New York, And, oh, Kitty! beware of drummers!” and with a theatrical wave of her gray- kidded hand, Mrs, Spence draws in her head and disappears from her sister’s In spite of herself Miss feels ata e of eset Musa JY dois in the and seeks conso- lation in her letter. Pg i legal ha ', and an execrable Colorado can make it, But Kitty is thoroughly familiar with her brother's scrawls, and by skipping a word here, and gues- sing one there, her mind eventually The concluding paragraph read like this: I received a letter from my friend in Chicago of next. If you write me what day you intend coming up town, I will wire him your address and have hum call on you. He is look- ing after some legal interest of his know al. Haseldon isa fine and as rich asa jeweler In his own right, (Oh, dear!” interpolates Kitty, “1d is so full of what Disraeli I would tel! you all about him, but 1 am in a tremendous hurry office waiting for. a my pen stubbornly refuses to write any more. Try to enjoy yourself, sis, and Epcar pout and a smile at the nally. With a little thoughtfully underlined, I should fail to recognize them, indeed Kitty returns the missive to its broad, i : eyes just in time to meet a surprised and steady look from a gentleman who has just come up the stairs from the street. In reality it is not an 1mperti- nent stare; only such a look as a man might give who fancies he recognizes an acquaintance, yet doubts the testi- mony of his own eyes as he meets noth- ing of a repelling blankness in the other’s answering regard, “Jane's drummer! He is appearing rather early upon the scene!” are the thoughts that flashed through Kitty's mind, as she looks frigid, unutterable things through and beyond the new comer, who passes on to the next seat, and disposes of his pormauteaun and glance occasionally with a puzzled look at the pretty girl opposite, But Miss Kitty has already sought refuge in John’s gift, and is absorbedly through the opening chapter. puzzled gentleman® wisely produces a become absorbed in its By and by Kitty becomes aware that the ticket office is open, and with weariness born of Jane's warnings, she arranges her traps in a compact pile, and, clinging valiently to the hand-bag gets into line, and patiently awaits her busy seller. lay, since some one in advance Inaugu- tes a mild, but lengthy dispute with that official regarding the claim toa telephoned for, or something of that sort, And when Kitty gets back to her place she finds that certain Polish emigrants have come in, and virtually evicted her; an oh horrors! her belongings have settee occupied by that her?-—No; he is actually reading he book! She cannot see the title, but it is the same duncolored volume with the regulation gilt frieze and monogram. She could identify she saw it in Africa, she is sure, “‘Impudence!’’ she ejaculates, men- book, intend and waits for him to return her jat this he evidently does not ask it, the annoyed young to be unaware of the dark eyes frequently desert the pages of the bor- rowed novel, to bestow a long steady and puzzled look upon the face of their neighbor. She watches with well-simulated in- terest the different characters in the busy scene that is constantly changing meut as the trairs come and go. She reflects upon the majesty o« the law as burly policeman thumps his care up and down the tres. dingly with the matron, who flirts her duster in return as coquettishly as though she were a maid in a comedy, But all the audacity of her neighbor; and her faith in Jane's penetration goes up thirty de- grees as she recall’s that lady's warn- ings as regards the deceitfulness of ap- arances. He certainly does look de- ir and well-bred, she admits relue- tantly, and she 1s slealing a second glance at him, when suddenly: “Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago train is now ready. Passengers for Philadelphia, New York and the east all aboard!” intones the train agent, as though it were a cathedral, and he were rendering a regorian chant, And immediately there 15 a stampede for the stairs, Kitty picks up her shawl and duster, and et of fruit with delib- erate slowness, He shall have a chance to return that book used, it he wishes to,she determines. But evi. dently the gentleman has no such in- tentions, too, 18 Jahan op his traps, pausing to put fateful Bor prone peat, lo KITS ng seat where Kitty has dropped it, he tri- umphantly brings forth from one of its pockets the twin volume, With a hasty and bumble apology, the blushing Kitty once more collects her possessions, and in a very unenvi- able frame of mind follows the into the Pullman ear, She is almost ery:ng at her own stupidity as she glances hastily at the coupon which she carries, and notices that it bears the number six. She hardly glances at her opposite neighbor—a small boy and his big brother—as she arranges her iuggage and tries not to see her new acquaintance, who 18 coming {down the 18le, To her annoyance, he pauses just at her section, and scans his coupon with a nonplussed air. But Kitty ob- stinately looks out of the window, al- though she 1s keenly conscious, that, after an instant’s hesitation, he takes { the seas beside her, And while she is still feeling hot and angry, and uncom- | fortable, the train rushes out of the station, and inte the wet, foggy streets beyond. Presently enters the white capped conductor and one by one the passen- | gers’ tickets are examined satisfacto- rily, until he comes to the turn of the people in section 6. Her three neigh | bors passed muster successfully, and { unhappy Kitty timidly thrusts forth | shame and consternation as the con- ductor turns the coupon upside down, and, plercing her with his cold, shiny, eye, gruflly roars: You have mistaken your section!” Kitty's companion politely removes her bags to number 9, and leaves her to her by no means pleasant meditations, She can see him in the mirror of the panel beside her, deeply interested in the misleading novel of Howell's, She notices that he reads steadily until supper time, and then he goes off to the smoking car, and she sees him no more that night, Her vis-a-vis turns out to be a wo- man with a teething baby; and Kitty abdicates the lower berth in their favor and goes up aloft, where Jane's evil | prophesies have their due effect, and | she dreams of brigands, and the Sicflian maga, and all manner of horrible things. Perhaps it is because the dark-eyed | traveler orders breakfast in the train, | that Miss Kate disregerds her sister's { commands, and decides to liance. For the same reason she elacts | to dine in Pittsburg; yet her orderis scarcely filled when her ‘‘chance ac- quaintance’” walks leisurely in, and is is forced to admit before the meal ends | his demeanor; he is polite; simply that and nothing more. Nevertheless she does not linger over the meal; and at its close she hastily makes her way to the gate to be confronted by an official whose brass is not limited to the but. tons on his uniform, and who authori- tatively demands to be shown her ticket, Poor, heediess Kate! Of course she has left it in her bag in the car. She attempts an explanation to the guard, who og the whole, rather enjoys bully- { a quiet voice at her side requests that | fers to be responsible for her ticket | if need be. The officer steps back ob- | sequiously, and Kitty passes on, timid- ly murmuring her thanks. In her em- barrassment at this, her newest obliga- | tion to the dreaded drummer, she steps aboard the wrong car, and once again | he quletly sets her right, witha few | deferential words waving all title to her gratitude, Jane is too great a pessimist anyway, she reflects throughout that gloomy af- ternoon as the train is flying along through smoky Pennsylvania towns, and she makes a pretense of reading while covertly watching the traveler. who is stationed opposite just a seat two ahead. He has met the porter and the enemy is his, Evidently he has travel- ed before and knows his man, Miss Kitty thinks; for after he has donned a becoming cap, 4 word to the atten- tive functionary and a pillow for his head is produced, against which he leans in a lazy, comfortable fashion and | reads leisurely--to all appearance, at least. But in his secret heart he is blessing the laws of natural philosophy and particalarly the veneficient rules mirrors; for from his easy position he commands an unobscured view of the little girl who sits just back of him; and whose dark traveling dress and natty hat of ultra-marine furnish such an admurable setting for her bright, clear complexion, and heavy brown braids. At Pittsburg she has sent a telegram to Edgar, and at Rochester the reply is brought to her. As she reads her brother's message her blue eyes light up with an expression of loveand pleas- ure that her neighbor's mirror faith- fully reflects, “From her husband! he thinks with a great wave of bitter- ness at the good luck that some fellows always enjoy. And then for awhile he reads on violently and tries to forget. The train flieson and on, In an honr, the conductor telis them, they will reach the famous Horseshoe Bend. Outside, a cheerless, slanting rain 18 falling steadily, Within, some among the are ; others are reading . of the gentlemen have a table and inaugurate a game of cards, acquaintance this station, she oan have a lower berth 1 ince she persisés in giving up her own number to the lady with the sick baby. This is gratifying to our little lady, who secretly dreaded another night up aloft, But conductors propose apd fate disposes, An Erie train leaves the station just as their train enters; and through some confusion of signals; a number of Erie passengers let their train pass unnotic- | ed and are forced to seek refuge on board the sleeper which carries our two friends. There are six or eight persons in the group, and their annoy- ing mishap excites much commisera~ tion among the passengers. Numerous telegrams are sent on to Philadelphia to quiet the anxiety of friends on the train ahead, Derths are kindly offered them; and by fhe time the train is fair- ly under way they are completely at home and as comfortable as their impa- tience will admit, On, on they rush through the dark- ness of the stormy night. The porter goes his rounds, the berths are quietly arranged, and one by one the sleepy passengers disappear behind the friend- ly curtains, Kitty, who is not a bit sleepy, and is in deep converse with a Boston artist who has numerous novel and msthetic views to unfold, retires with her campaunion to a rear seat, and talks art with the pretty enthusiasm of an amateur who paints plaques and works South Kensington. It 18 ten | o'clock before the conference ends and unsuspecting Katherine makes her way down the aisle between the fluttering green curtains to section four, the number that the conduetor has promis- ed her early in the evening. Warned by past mistakes, she carefully searches for the proper number; and having found it, she parts the curtains careful- ly and deliberately to see—what! a pair of laughing black eyes; a hand thrust forth to seize the parted curtains; the flash of a familiar diamond ring! and in confusion and terror Kitty Warner re- treats hastily to confer with the porter and bribe that worthy into making a full explanation of the causs of her blunder to the disturbed dreamer of section four. An upper berth is found for her pres- ently, and heavenward she mounts, her blue eyes suffused with tears, and her cheeks burning with shame at the ful encounter with this man, been the bugbear of her whole journey. “1 hate him! Idol” she passionately. And poor Kitty cries softly as she sud. denly remembers that her hand hangs on the hook of section 4, and { and that Edgar's letters and all possessions are in it, i { “I don’t suppose he will be ungentle- { thinks with a flash of honesty, as she | remembers that he has not yet justified | Jane's suspicions in every respect, Still it is a very anxious head that lays ft- to Jersey City. “Why, Kitty, darling! home"’ exclaims a familiar voice as i | i | the most unhappy hours of her life, to { what bearish greeting. | Haselden, my dear boy! | to greet Kitty's bug-bear, the “D, H.” | who has unwittingly been the means of | spoiling ber pleasure ever since she | Chicago. { ried introduction, and the friends seek different ferries; but not until blind, | boisterous, good-natured Edgar | made his friend promise to dine with | them at the Windsor that evening. As an ordinary thing, Miss Kitt rather enjoyed courting | sympathy when in trouble. Bat for | some unaccountable reason she refrains ! from confiding to him the mishaps of her journey. And vary faintly and | feebly she echoes his regrets that she | did not know Haselden before leaving | Chicago. But Edger’s attention is soon diverted; and he is utterly unaware of ! the constraint in his mster’s manner { and voice as she greets his friend when | “ye appears with commendable prompt. ness that evening. “Perhaps I was rude,” Dwight las. | elden confesses ingenuously, as he and | Kitty stand by the window of a private | parlor of the Windsor, in the dusk of thanksgiving evening, and indulge in an amused yet tender retrospection. “But you reminded me so forcibly of Edger that I could not resist staring mildly; even if there was not another valid reason to justify me,” he adds fondly. “I had never seen as much as a photo of you and, of course, knew nothing of your western trip.” “Do you know,’ she acknowledges penitentially, “I took you for one of those conceited commercial travelers. And can you guess what quite confirm- ed me in my opinion? Your f . ness in Il this!" and she holds up to his inspection the familiar cluster diwmond which upon the third finger of her left hand. “Can you ever forgive me?" His pardon 1s not in words, but it A Venerable Structure, From this day the huge shaft which rears its majestic head high above the waters of the historic Potomac must stand back, for it is a base imposter, Its claim to the name of the Washing ton monument is an assumption of a title which properly belongs to a more modest, yet not inconsiderable pile, which towers, if not five hundred feet above its base, yet higher above the ocean’s level than its more pretentious fellow. The artist has discoVered the first and original Washington monument, whose claim as such cannot be questioned, and to which justice is now for the first time done, Not that this paper would de- tract ome iota from either the noble shaft which to-day looms above us the most chaste and beautiful architectural structure of the kind in thv world, or from the glory of C»lonel Casey, from whose brain has evolved a piece of en- gineering unsurpassed by man. But our monument must gracefully yield to the fact that it is but the child of another and not the Adam of its race, Our artist, in search of ‘*‘some- thing new under the sun’ to present to a public surfelted with politics and hot weather, found himself groping among the clouds that obscured the summit of South Mountain, Maryland. ¥ 13th of September, 1862, when the brave Reno gave up his life and the gallant Hayes fell bleeding from his horse, From South Mountain’s bluffs echoed rattle of musketry, and the blood of rable day. And here, standing lke the ghost of a sentinel of by-gone days, overlooking the field of battle, our artist found something which if not new ww all, must be new to many of our readers. In the cleared spot of an acre rises a solid pile of masonry, circular in form, about twenty-five feet in diame- ter at the base and tapering to sixteen or seventeen feet at the top, It stands on a square foundation of rock thirty- five feet square and about four feet high, and over its head is a hexagonal | roof supported by 3-inch rods at the corners, These rods are well braced by smaller ones running from the foot of | one to the top of the next of the sup- poriing rods, A ladder leads through a hole above, so that the more adventu- rous observer may take to the roof fora The whole structure is about fifty feet entrance is made, first by three stones steps up the foundation, through a narrow door way, and then up a winding stairway of some thirty or more stone steps to the top. Near the he following inscription: Built in Memory of GEORGE WASHINGTON, July 4th, 1827, By tne Cimizess oF BOoXsSBORO' AND VICINITY, Rebuilt July 4, 1882, by the mem. bers of South Mountain Encamp- ment No. 25, I, 0. O. F,, of Boonsboro®, Maryland, WILLIAM F. SMITH, JACOB R. BLECKER, ELIAS COST. Commitiee, The rebuilding in 1882 consisted in | erecting the roof over the monwment | and repairing the stone work, where it | had either been struck by cannon balls during the battle or had succumbed to the wear and tear of time, So here rests the proof that the patri- otic citizens of Washington county Md., honored the memory of the lad whose proficiency with the hatchet determined the fate of the celebrated cherry-tree, twenty-one years before the corner- stone of our monument was quarried. The top of this ancient structure once | gained there breaks upon the vision a view that would make Col. Casey's shaft flush with envious shame were it made of anything more sensitive than white marble. Stretching out for miles at one’s feet lie hundreds of beautiful | farms teeming with life, industry corn | and cabbages. To the west and north hes the Washington county valley, from which rises the spires of Boonsboro’, Keedysville, Hagerstown and number- less smaller towns. In the east Mid- distown valley reposes peaceful, pros. perous and happy with its myriads of farms and villages, In the south the mist-capped summit of Mount Reno towers high into the clouds; while pale blue mountain walls in the distance sur- round the whole panorama as though afraid that something that's in mignt get out, or something that’s out might get in, Electricity as a Lion Tamer, An animal tamer has introduced electricit as a subduer of unruly beaste, His fostrument is an like a stick and mghly electricity. When 2 i TE7E] Dismonds, A London expert says that of old the world recetved each year new diamonds of about §250,000 in value on the aver. age, Suddenly, from South comes a new supply excesding $20,000, 000 each year for ten years. In conse. quence the price of diamonds has stea~ any fallen from $15 to 8.75 a carat. f course, it is known that when they go over a comparatively insignifi- cant number of carats diamonds take a leap into the thousands, Brazilian dia. monds are very fipe stones, but no stones found there or in the South Af. rican diamond felds, are as lustrous and beautiful as the gems in the gala decorations of East Indian princes, and those which have been oblained in India during the past century by con- quest and purchase. These came muain- ly from the mines of Golconda, The ex-Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, is said to have the finest collec- tion of diamonds, rubles and emeralds in the world—aggregating several hun- dred thousand dollars in value, rubles of a lurid, lustrous red, without 4 blemish, are scarcer than big dia monds, and are consequently more vals uable, Ex-Queen Isabella of Spain is sald to £g% i 2 have the finest pearls in the world; and the unaccountable loss of many of the most valuable gems in the Spanish crown jewels set the tongues of Spanish courtiers going. Xing Alfonso, Isa. bella's affectionate son, probably thinks | his mamma's continued absence a pearl | beyond price, i Drowned by an Octopus, i ! In the harbor of San Diego, Califor | nia, lie a number of Chinese junks pre- | paring for a fishing trip to the coast of {| Lower California. The Chinese who sail from this port fishing are quite dif. | ferent from the Mongols who run laune. | dries, Sunburnt they are, and look | almost as bronzed as Modoc Indians, | A representative had a talk with one | of them recently, named Hoy Kee, who seemed to be intelligent and English rather fairly, and elicited the news that on their last trip they lost one man. It occurred down at Ballenas Bay | below Abrejos Point, on the coast of Lower California, about four hundred miles south of San Diego, They were en~ gaged in gathering the abalone, the beau tiful shell which adorns many homes in the United States, One of the men, whose first trip this was, strayed away from the rest, it being the lowest point of the tide, which was commencing to run with big breakers, It seems that this Chinaman, standing barelegged with the water up to his knees, was surprised at being caught by one of his legs by an immense oclOpus, or, as our informant called it, a devil fish, and in | a second he was tnpped over, drawn out | into deep water, and drowned before | the rest of the Chinamen realized what was the matter with their shell gatherer. | The boats of the Chinamen were high | up on the beach, and when they were | got into the water no trace could be seen of the missing man, Several days afterward his remains fioated ashore in a hornbie state of mutilation. The octopus from the description of it, must have been a monster, each arm measus ring about ten feet. ——————— AI A Artin Smoking. “I can tell directly I can see him light his cigar whether a man is going to enjoy his smoke, or, indeed whether ' be knows how to do so. I often smile {when 1 see a man looking wisely { through a bundle of cigars, and picking out ope, under the fond impression | that he i* making me think he isa | judge. There is an old story of a man | who went into a store and asked for | the best cigar the dealer bad. He was | handed a tep-cent cigar, That didn't satisfy him he wanted a more expensive | one, He was shown several, ranging fifteen, twenty: twenty-five und | cents apiece, but he always pre | they were not good enough, aithough | any of them was an excellent article, | the most expensive being so only on ac- | count of its brand or perhaps on ac- | count of its perfume or some little matter of that kind. At last the store- keeper became annoyed and weaned, so he determined to settie the matler, ‘I have a cigar bere which 1 seldom sell, because 1 have only one box left; they are a dollar a cigar and are very choloe, ‘Why didu’t you bring ‘em out be. fore?’ faid the customer, Accordingly the dealer handed him one of his five- cent cigars, pocketed the dollar and the cigar 1t 1s only because they happen be flush of money and want to brag the big price they have paid for smoke,’ Drunkard’s Paradise in Afrion. : i § i I i i 5 i ; id § : ? I : 2 2 E i ¢ 3 E igi E He g 3 ! ; 2
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers