The First Snowfall,
Yo snow had began in the gloaming,
And busily all the night
Blad Leen heaping field and highway
With & silence deop and white.
Fivery pine and fir and hemlock
Wore ermine too dear for an Earl,
And the poorest twig on the elm troe
Was ridged inch deep with pearl.
From sheds new roof’d with Carrara
Came Chauticleer’s muffled crow,
The stiff sails were softened to swan’s down,
Ana still flatter'd down the snow.
1 stood and wateh'd by the window
The noiseless work of the sky,
And the sudden flurries of snow birds,
Like brown leaves whirling by.
¥ thought of & mound in sweet Auburn
W here a little headstone stood:
How the flakes are folding it gently,
As did robins the babes in the wood,
Up spoke our own little Mabel, :
Saying, “Father, who makes it snow!"
And I toldof the good All-father
W ho cares for us here below.
Again I look'd at the snow fall,
And thought of the leaden sky
That arch’d o'er our firs” great sorrow
W hen that mound was heap'd so high.
{ remember’d the gradual patience
That fell from that cloud like snow,
Flake by flake, healing and hiding
The scar of our deep plung'd woe,
And again to the child I whisper'd,
“The snow that husheth all,
Darling, the mereiful Father ,
Alone can makeit falll”
Then, with eyes that saw not, I kiss'd her;
And she, kissing back, could not know
That my kiss was given to her sister,
Folded olose under deepening snow.
TSS
PLAYING A BULL.
Tho Hon, Gas Trenchark knew life— |
at least he thought eo, and it certainly
fooked like it; for he had managed to
live sumptuously on next to nothing for
some years, The fact of the matter
was he was a hawk and preyed on gil-
ded fledgeings with great dexterity, One
of the best dressed men in town, and
certainly one of the best looking, Le
tad sailed charmingly through life. A
man with a cool head, a steady nerve
and an easy conscience—if well bred,
looking, keen witted and moder-
ately clever—has ten chances to one in
his favor and the Hon. Gus had all of
these qualifications, He had one or
two faults, for he ‘‘plunged,” and be
had s habit of backing his fancy horse
for outrageously large amounts, After
each of those periodical fits of plunging,
however, he would sit down for some
time on the stool of repentance, and
would look about for a rich stripling
Hon, Constance, tossing her head in
high disdain.
“I will have him here to dianer to-
morrow, and you must be attentive to
him; ptt on that pretty smile and
charming manuer that you wear when
you want to bowl a fellow over,” con-
tinued her brother, calmly,
The Hon, Constance Trenchard looked
at her brother thoughtfully. She knew
from old experience that she would
have to do exactly as he liked, and she
had a wonderful respect for his ability.
Eight years before she could have been
settled in the Shires with good-ratured,
middle aged man of years, Bat she
liked Jack Ince, and Jack Ince liked
her, though he had no money. .
The fact of it wae, Constance had her
little romance—most women have, some
time in their lives—but Gus, who even
then had an eye to the main point, had
urged her warmly not to lose the golden
opportunity.
“Marry the fellow with the money,
Con; do not bo a silly fool! Five thou-
sand a year cannot be caught every
day.” Her romance ended, as these
unpractical romances generally end, in
nothing; or rather, in Jack emigrating
to Australia, and being completely for-
gotten, and in Constance being single
at 27, and perfectly willing to marry
any average man with sufficient to keep
her.
She was clever and was taking; but
somehow the men did not come forward.
Two or three youngsters had gone into
ecstasies about her, but then Gus was
busily occupied fleecing them, and she
had httle time or perhaps inelination
for playing her own game, Invariably |
with the loss of their money they lost
their love and shunned her brother's
chambers,
Last season she heard a man, leaning- |
over the rails in the Row, asked another
“Who 1s that fine girl, By Jove
The two men now pulied their chairs
around the fire, aud lighting their
cigars talked In a desultory way about
things in general, Gus kept Jones's
glass filled, and told him many little
stories of dukes and duchesses and royal
personages, talking of them patron-
imngly, #8 if they were his bosom
friends and everyday companions,
“They are a queer lot, Jones, when
you know them well, as you will by and
by,” he said yarning.
*‘1 have a high respect for our old
nobility,” said Jones,
*Just so—all rich men bave, By-
the-by, Jones, why don’t you marry?
You are not a chicken, vou know,”
*<{ suppose I shall some day, soon.
I am only forty-two.”
“‘] know such a lot of nice girls,”
continued (Gus, “There are Lady
Maude Ofit, and Violet Trenchard, and
a heap of other friends of Uon's dying
for husbands.”
**I'hey would not have me, Gus,”
“You never know what a» woman will
or will not do, I will ask Con fo intro-
duoe you, if you like."
“No, no,” interrupted Jones, hur
riedly. “I'd rather you said nothing to
her about it; I would, indeed!”
“Well, old man, just as you
Let us go in now and get her to sing.”’
Constance had a moe, soit voice,
which was perfectly trained; and, as
Samuel Jones turned over the leaves of
the music and glanced down on her
well-developed figure, he felt a choking
sensation in his throat, and swore men-
tally that he would “‘try all he knew” to
make her the Hon. Mrs, Jones,
The room was warm, the fire burned
brightly, and the rose-colored lamps
gied in Jones's brain with the fumes of
the good Burgundy which he had im-
what a figure!”
“Gus Trenchard’s sister; hut no |
spooning there. Hawks, you know, and |
all that,” replied his friend. i
Cool as she was—and ehe wrs cool— |
the intense pain and mortification she
suffered brought somehow visibly to
her recollection the old days when she
would stoop to no dishonor, and when
Jack Ince,
As she looked at her brother now she
could not help feeling almost as she did
that day, for she knew the part she
would have to play in any new scheme
of his would not be an honorable one;
{ and though she submitted, and even
| youngster, yet her conscience would
| upbraid her afterwards.
| However, though she was nervous
bibed freely. Constance sang love song
English ballads, and Jones thought
she could never sing enough. The Hon.
Gus stood with his back to them and
| his face fo the fire, but he could see
| opposite mirror,
| *She is playing him splendidly,” he
| muttered.
| over to-night if she liked!”
Jones was “bowled over” completely,
| and he never felt so happy in his life
as when Constance, having finished
singing, sat on the sofa, and made room
{ for him by her side.
| They turned over the leaves of her
| album togetiter, and every second pho-
| tograph was that of a duke or duchess.
| Princess,
| she said nublushingly.
! «It isa very nice one indeed!” re-
for being taught; but vow and swear as
nim and his banker's sccount was re- |
spectable, to do exactly what he had |
sworn against, i
The Hon, Gus had a sistcr—not very
handsome and not very young; but a
fine, tall, stylish girl, who dressed well |
and made the most of a good figure, |
She lived generally in chambers with
her brother, and constant association
with him had given her an insight into
London life that few girls attain. OI |
late the Hon. Gus had been decidedly
anluoky, for he had lost a lot of money |
at two consecutive meetings, and he |
had not found any fledgeing willing to be |
plucked. |
“They are getting so deuced smart; a |
iad of twenty knows as much now as I |
did at thirty,” he murmured plaintively |
to his sister.
Heo felt aggrieved, and considered,
ike many another man not so clever as
he was, that the times were sadly out of
joint, and that with new-fashioned
ideas, education of the masses, uniet |
lands, and hard-up fathers, life was be- i
soming every day more diffionit.
Then Constance did not go off, and
though he was fond of her, and had
grown accustomed to her companionship
yet it would be, after all, much more
somfortable if she married a rich, good-
natured fellow, who would help him
over on difficulty on a settling day, or
perhaps sllow himself to be plucked
moderately.
The Hon, Gus sat over the fire in his
chambers, looking into the embers and
reviewing the situation, Evidenily his
thoughts were not pleasant for he poked
the fire savagely and muttered through
his clenched teeth:
“Curse it all; I am tired of life!’
Even the soothing influence of a good
cigar had no charms for him now, and
ne allowed it to bum out, and then
threw it viciously into the grate, Con-
stance lay on a sofa, pulled close to the
table, and was reading, or rather mak-
ing pretence to read, a new novel; but
every now and then she looked over the
book at her brother, and when she
turned her eyes on the book they wan-
dered liatlessly over the opened pages.
It i4 not pleasant for a woman to wil-
pess in silence the misery of another,
particularly when that other is her own
brother, Gus did not speak, but con-
tinned to Yook steadily into the fire, He
had evident! the savage stage,
and wns cooly the pros and
cons of some new scheme.
With s sigh of relief—for he had made
up his mind—he arose from the chair,
and. standing with his back against the
mantelpiece, said to his sister:
“Con, we must do something; it can’t
go on; Y have not two hundred at the
bank.”
What
Constance,
*(iive up schooling those youngsters
~tbey know as much as I do nowadays
wand in for business,”
. g in for business!” she ejscula-
ted, in intense astonishment.
“Yes, by Jovel 1 will ao en the
“On the Stock Exchange, Gus, You
must be dreaming. Why, they are all
wo sharp there,”
“50 wueh the better. You remembar
‘Bamucl Jones?”
“That horrid looking Jew!”
"That horrid Jow, as you pi
"n
| of having to again assist actively in the
asked:
“What do you wish me to do? Speak
plainly, Gas. Its better that I should
know the worst at once.”
“The wors" is bad enongh, though it
is only to make love to Samuel Jones.”
“And—," she commenced; bat here !
frightened, nervous deprecatory expres-
sion on her face that amused him,
“No, Con; not that, by Jove! Don’t
think me such a brute. I'd sooner see |
you dead than married to a fellow like
that!”
Constance said nothing, though she
evidently was relieved; and her brother |
continued: !
“Jones is on the Stock Exchange, |
snd is the leading light of a dirty ring |
of rich speculators, who ‘bull’ and ‘bear’
—one or two stocks, as it suits them.” |
His sister listened attentive, and Gus
went on: i
“Jones would give his eyes to get |
into our set, and he would jump hike a |
hungry trout at a fly, at any girl, so |
jong ss she was one of us. If you play |
your cards well you will have him at’
your feet in a week,” :
*‘And then?”
“Get him to put you on to a good
thing. ‘Mexican Ordinaries,” ‘Brighton
A's,’ and a lot of other speculative |
stocks are worked by rings, and Jones |
leads the dirtiest and heaviest rings in |
the house. Find out what he is going |
to do next, give me the tip, and by |
Jove, Con, get him to put in twenty |
thousand for you.” i
“Twenty thousand pounds!’ she ejac- |
ulated, in astonisoment. i
“You don't understand it, Con, and |
vou needn't. He will, soon enough. |
Just say you have enough money to pay
differences or carry over, He will never
ssk you to deposit securities, if yon
spoon hum properly. I will take care
that he drinks enough before I give you
your opportunity.
“] am afraid, Gus, I must be very
stupid. Am I to ask Lim to invest
twenty thousand pounds for me, and
to tell me in what he invests 11?”
It is pretty much like it, though it
n't exactly that. Just find out if his
ring are going in for a big thing soon,
what it is, and if they will be ‘bulls’ or
‘bears.’ Admire his cleverness, tell
mm you love speculation and want to
make a lump of money with the couple
of thousand you have idis at the bank,
Just get him to promise to let you into
‘the swim’ and to put a big lot on for
you,”
“Do you think he will do it?”
“If yon play him properly he will to
a certainly. I will then give rhe ‘tip’
to a fellow I know, who will put a pile
on for me. But now, Con, I shall go
to bed, he smd, rising, ‘‘and you can
think matters over.”
When at the door he turned to his
sister and said:
“Pus the rose-colored shade on the
lamps, Con, Have a rosring fire and
a lot perfume about, I will
$
i
dinner was excellent, Consiance was
smiled and talked to him
| one for two shillings,
“She teld me the same day,” con-
tinned Constance, hesitatingly, “but I
forgot—"" and here she stopped short,
“I suppose it is a State secret?”
“No,” she answered, laughing, *’1
suppose there is no harm in telling it.
She said she would come to my wed-
ding, whoever I married.”
Jones was struck damb with aston-
If she wonld marry him!
Fancy the Princess at his wedding! Ho
looked at Constance, aad her soft, lan-
guishing glances set his blood on fire
and his brain in a whirl
“When shall you
her promise?” he stammered,
“Some day, I suppose; but, Mr.
Jones, how stupid men are nowadays—
I mean ourset. I will never marry a
man who bas not brains and who does
not work.”
“It is a wise decision,” he said, softly,
for he know he had brains and worked
“Oh, Mr. Jones, what a grand career
a man has open to him if he has talent,
and I will sing or do anything for you.
Do promise, won't you?"
“Yes, with pleasure,” sald Jones,
decisively,
“Oh, thanks, how good it is of youl
what ean I do to repay you?”
“You oan do a great deal,” he sald,
softly,
“Can I? Do tell me what it is?”
If Jones intended to propose he had
no ttme now, for the Hon, Gus awoke
at that moment with a start, and,
stretching his legs, exclaimed: “Why 1
believe I have besn asleep. Jones, old
roan, you must forgive me,”
Later on, standing under the rose-
colored lamps, Constance bade Jones
good night, and, as she did so, she
whispered: ‘‘Recollect your promise;
write and tell me the day you will come
to dine,”
As she said this she let her white
hand rest in Jones's and he felt a soft
pressure, and certainly saw, he thought,
a look of unmistakable admiration in
her eyes as she looked at him. Going
down the street he exclaimed: “What a
woman for a wife! and the Princess at
the wedding! By Jove, I will win her!”
Three days afterwards Constance re-
ocewved the following letter:
Dean Miss Trescuarp: 1 will accept
your kind invitation to dinner to-mor-
row if you will allow me. Believe me,
yours sincerely, SAMURL JONES,
The dinner and wine were all that
could be wished, and Coustance looked,
if anything, more charming than on
the previsus night, Jones was excited
and bumptious, He drank heavily,
and when he went into the drawing
room after dinver and stood over Uon-
stance as she sang tenderly, plaintive,
old love songs he felt that he would
give all the world to call her his wife,
Gus left them alone for a Tew min-
utes, and in those few minutes she
learned that Jones's ring was going a
tremenduous ‘bull’ on Mexican Ordina-
ries, and that they were sure to send
it
i
“Five? What is that?” she asked, |
“¥ive per cent.; they are £100 stock. |
| “Oh, then, Mr. Jones, my two thou- |
| sand will buy forty thousand. Do buy |
| me at least twenty.” i
Jones was somewhat staggered af tho
| request, but he could not refuse her, |
| and he thought to himself, **I can slip |
| out of them a little below the syndicate |
| igure and be safe anyway,” so he
| promptly replied:
{ *I will, and, Miss Trenchard, yon |
| will make a thousand pounds before |
| three days, or my name is not Samuel |
{ Jones,"
At this moment Gas entered, but |
somehow he was not sleepy that night, |
| so Jones had no opportunity of saying
| anything soft or tender to lus sister,
“Now tuat vou know our diggings,
drop in often.” he said, as be bade his
| tender-hearted Jones good night at the |
hall door,
That night Tom Smith, a shrewd
broker, aud the Hon, Gus Trenchard
gat over the fire in Smith's stody until
long past his bour for going to bed,
and, when going away, Gas said 0 him:
“It's all settled. You put on thirty
| for me at first price in the morning.”
At mid-day the stir in Mexicans com-
menced, They went up rapidly, aud
jeft off that night at 39; 3 per cent
higher than at the opening. Next day
| the **bears” rallied and solid
i
3
too strong, and the stocks closed 2 per
cent, higher still,
| “bulls” had it all their own way, and
| amidst tremendous excitement *“‘Mexi-
{
{
|
i
KNIGHTS OF THE BAR.
Students of Nature who Mix Drinks
Behind the Bar.
“Oh, yes, I have handled the
lasses,” said a rather stylish-appear-
ng, but decidedly over-dressed man
of middle age, as he leaned agaiost
the bar of a Fifth avenue saloon, New
York, and ordered up a ‘cocktail’ at
the invitation of a friend,”
“When you first knew me ten years
ago,” he continued, usddresging his
friend, “I was just learning how to
mix the drinks, I have learned a
good deal besides that since then,”
Then, evidently warmed up by his
fresh potation, the over-dressed indi
vidual went on: ‘lf you don't believe
the first-class barkeeper is a student,
‘hung him up’ for a drink, Come
around again, say a month afterward,
and try to ‘hang Lim up’ again. It's
$100 to a toothpick you will get the
‘co)d laugh.” This is convincing proof
that barkeepers take a mental photo.
graph of faces. Darkeepers, as a gen-
eral rule, are not over particular as re-
gards the interest of their cmployers,
In refusing drinks on credit, it is not
because the stuff they handle costs
money. They hate to be ‘stood up.’
“There is something galling about it,
class barkeeper, and everytning will go
wrong with him the remainder of the
day, He is nervous and fretful, His
customers think he is either suffering
from dyspepsia or billiousnees. They
try to console him. This is simply a
process of rubbing it in, or, in other
words, of adding insult to injary. I
knew of an instance where a barkeeper
who is rated as A 1, lately attached to a
well-known hotel, stopped short in his
work after being ‘stood up,” He felt
confident that he could not do justice
to his employers and himself that day.
completely *broke up.’
“pesides being barkeepers, thess
assume the role of the physician and
drug clerk. A man enters and says:
I've got a splitting headache; fix me up
The barkeeper is supposed
to know just what to prescribe and pre-
pare.
keeper comes in again. With a smile
he says: ‘Why, certainly,” at the same
time grabbing the wiuskey bottle,
few drops of ammonia in it. “That will
fix you all right,” he says. The man
drinks the decoction without hesitation,
pays his money and goes away feeling
much relieved: at least he thinks he
does. Another man will walk up to
the bar complaining of indigestion.
The barkeeper listens to the tale of
on his
you want, he marmurs musically. The
bottom of a glass is covered with a so-
lntion of phosphates, whiskey is added,
sud then the mixture is carefully
stirred, Imagination has a great deal
to do with the cure. The dyspeptic
thinks he is better, for the barkeeper’s
assuring air has had more to do with
the effect than the dnok itself, The
batkeeper of the leading hotel or re-
sort will tell you that he prescribes for
fifty complaints every day.”
EE —————
Shot Through Jealousy.
A pote from Reading, Penna, says:
Recently & sensation occurred in the
| “bulls” had commenced to operate,
| Constance had cleared two thousand
{ pounds and Gus three—if they “‘could
| get out,”
Joves was triumphant, **We have
§
change!”
“Jo you really envy such men?
May 1 venture to say that I am a pretty
big man myself on the Blosk Ex-
ge?”
Constance looked at him in apparent
sstomshment, “You,” she exclaimed,
“on the Stock Exchange! Ob, Gus,
fancy!
¢ ,
Gus, who had been listening to every
i pretence to sleep, started, but he
only answered with an “‘umph,” and
then fell back in the arm chair with
closed eyes,
“Such a frightful custom, Mr, Jones;
fanoy-he falls asleep every night after
“I wonder he has such bad taste,”
said Jones, gallantly.
“Now, do tell me ail about the Stock
Exchange and the bulls and the bears,
Do you really have wild animals there?”
“No, no,” Le langhed, "though the
men are wild enough when they are
‘cornered.’ ‘Ball’ is a vulgar expression
for fellows who want to force stocks
up, and ‘bear’ for the lot who wants to
fores them down.”
“Aud you--are you a
‘bear'?”
**] am neither at the moment, but 1
shall be soon.”
“You said you were a big man on the
Stock Exchange, she murmured in a
disappointed voice, “and I adore great
speculators,”
“I have cleared £10,000 on differ.
ences on settling day before now, and I
expect to make a coup of twenty before
the month is over,”
“What are differences?” she asked in
bewilderment.
“The margin between the price I
buy or sell at and the price the stock is
at on settling day,” he explained,
“Oh, this is delightful? You must
teach me what to do with some £2,000
I have idle at the bank, but don't teil
‘bull’ or a
| week.”
| “I would rather not run any more
risk. [ would sooner have the two
thousand—I really would, Mr. Jones.
I have not head for this tremendous
| speculation; Iam only a woman—and,
{ oh! Mr. Jones, how clever you are!” she
| exclaimed.
| He did realize for her,
|» check for £2000. Gus also made
| sure of his profit.
| Next morning when the
| stance came down to breakfast she
{ found two letters lying on the table.
One was from Jones, and to her intense
| surprise the other was from Jack Ince.
| The latter was opened first and read:
| Dmanssr Coxsraxom: 1 arrived in
| town last night from Australia. My
| Unele Simou is dead and has left me
| all hus property, I will call to-day, and
you know what I shall call for. Af last,
darling, I can ask you to be my wise.
Yours loviogly, Jack Ison,
Samuel Jones's letter read:
Danzer Mums Tresxcmanv: May I
have the pleasure of seeing you on
Wednesday, say at 3 rv. a, if I eall, I
think you can guess why I wish to ses
you, sud I earnestly pray that your
answer to the question I intend to ask
vou may be favorable,
Yours very sincerely, Samust Joxzs,
At 12 o'clock Constance went into
the city and got Jones's cheek oushed;
at Sv. ax, Jack called, and at 6 ». ut.
ghe wrote to Jones:
Dran Mn, Joxgs: I shall be at home,
The Car's New Title.
It is reported that the Ozar intends In
{887 to assume a title equivalent to
the whole of Cen-
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dressed young man from New York,
pnased Charles Y. Bimonton, who has
frequently visited Reading on business,
called upon the daughter of Mrs, Blank-
No. 1009 North
paying his addresses for some time and
visited her whenever he came to the
oity. Appsareutly some young men
her» were jealous of the sttemtions of
the stranger, and ono of them, who saw
ered half a dozen of his friends and
hour, Mrs. Blankborn called upon the
the
and I went up staivs apd looked
out of the window, when I saw three
men in the ysrd and three others ont.
side. They tried to get in through the
window, and one of them smd, ‘The
scoundrel is there,” meaning that Si-
monton was in the house, They con-
tinued creating a disturbance until Si-
motion got & gun
went up stairs and put a heavy charge
of powder wm it. He intended to fire
out of the window into the air to
frighten the men away, and when he
pulled the trigger the weapon burst
with a Joud report and a flash of flame,
“At the same time one of the parties
outside fired a gun which was. evidently
aimed at Simonton, and he fell back.
ward on the floor exclaiming, ‘My God,
I'm shot.” Ha lay there in an uncon-
scious condition until myself and daugh-
ter and another woman got over our
fright, picked him up, bathed his
wounds and bound them up.
“We found that a number of shot had
penetrated his forehead from the gun
outside, and tuat his hands were badly
lacerated from the exploded gun. Two
of us fainted at the sight of the blood.”
The police as yet have made no arrests,
he, wounded man was removed to a
h
A Challenge to England.
M. de Freycinet has informed the
Earl of Rosebery, minister of foreign
affairs, England, that he has instructed
Lily Langtry's Father,
Bt, feliers is a clean little ety, well
paved and shaded, Its inhabitants are
very proud of it, and, albeit they have
never crossed to the Continent in their
life, they tell you flatly that their shops
are much handsomer than any in Paris,
You really want to believe them, they
lie so earnestly. Yet there is one thing
the Jerseyman may brag about until he
dislocates his jaw, and I am sure he
will not succeed in overprawing-—the
beauty of the women, I have met
everywhere on this lovely island a dozen
| of girls far handsomer than the Lily of
| which it boasts. This is, doubtless, the
| reason why the members of the Koyal
i Yacht Club find it so pleasant and con-
venient to linger here for months at &
time. It is their bounteous patronage,
| indeed, which has made St. Heliers so
| thriving a place; for, whether it be the
| equable climate or the preity girls or
| both, certain it is that my Lord Duke,
| tarrying here from August to Decem-
| ber, contrives at once fo enrich its citi-
| zens and have & ‘dem jolly time” him-
| self. 'Thus did that great and good
| man—the benefactor of London society,
| the stage, and chiefly the Prince of
| Wales— His Grace, the Duke of Bed-
| ford, who discovered the Jersey Lily.
The rectory stands in the heart of the
| town, a a rus in urbe, The clean granite
| stones and white shutters show dimly
| through the thick hedge aad tall, um-
brageous trees, As 1 approached by
| the gravel path the front door opened
| and out came the Dean, very handsome
| and distingue, indeed, ns Madame at the
| hotel had said, If you will sad two or
| three inches to Dan Dougherty's (of
| Philadelphia,) height, thirty or forty
| pounds to his weignt, remodel his jaw
| and lower lip upon the English plan,
and trim his whiskers, you will have the
| Dean’s double,
Talking commonplace for a time, I
finally brokethe ice with:
“How do you regard your daughter's
entrance upon the stage 7”
“Oh, 1 don't know,” said he, smiling.
“1 really haven't thought much about
it. Bhe is the best judge now of her
| own conduet. She is old enough, don’t
| you think ?”
“How old is she?”
“I'm afraid Lily wouldn't wish me to
toll. Not that she’s much older than
{she looks, but age, you know, is a
woman's only secret, The finest Chris-
| tian lady I ever knew would ho about
| her age to me—onoe vowed she was only
40 years old, with tears in her eyes,
whereas the parish record showed her
| to be 60.
“Have you ever heard of Mr, Geb-
bard 7"
The Dean looked wicked for an in-
stant, and then said coldly: “I think
Mr. Gebbard is a fool. I am sure Lily
bas been mirunderstood in this matter,
You Americans doubtless believe her to
be very shrewd and knowing in the
| ways of the world, but she is not. I
have often cantioned ber against per-
mitticg her inelination to repose im-
plicit confidence in people to lead her
into relations which would be miscon-
strued to her social hurt. She takes ai-
ter me in this respect, and I can only
pity, not chide her.”
“Have you heard ber play yet?”
“Only as an amateur. But I am sure
she has talent and will succeed. You
see the great difficulty is that ber old
unfortunate fame as a ‘beauty’ predis-
posed the critics against her, and it
| must be some time before the real merit
that she undoubtedly can
| eradicate this prejudice from their
| minds, Dut that time will come; we
| are sure of it, absolutely sure.”
“Do yon keep up any communication
with Mr. Langtry 7”
“None whatever. But I have nothing
harsh to say of him at all, Indeed, my
own family affairs take up all my time
and attention, and I can give but brief
consideration to Lily's, They were no
doubt extravagant while in London,
foolishly so, I believe, and are now en-
gaged in the mortifying task of reaping
the whirlwind. It 1s often a very pro-
fitable, if not pleasant, employment,
| you know."
ssn tA ss -
A Fish-Eating Plant.
| The eommon biadderwort found in
| ponds and stagnant pools all over Eng-
| land looks a harmless enough weed. It
| is only about twelve inches long and its
| leaves are just like hairs, Yer ii feeds
on insects and fishes. Awong its
| branches will be seen a number of small
green bladders, from which the pliant
gets its name. These bladders have
| each a door that opens inward only, and
into these doors fresh water shrimps
and insects go As unsus y as &
fly into a spider's parlor. But they
never come out again, for they are held
by the hairy coating of the bladder and
become the weed’s food. It was at first
su that the creatures thus im-
prisoned entered the trap by accident,
without the plant trying to catoh them.
But there is now very litile doubt that
the bladder doors open whenever prey
approaches near enough to them, and
that a distinot-attempt is made to seize
it. Professor Mozley of Oxford has seen
the bladders with baby roaches caught
in these snares, some by the head aad
others by the tail, As the bladder is
hardly as large as a garden poppy seed,
it is obvious that its vietims must be mn
the very earliest stage of infancy.
Three Ways of Spelling It.
It is Allegheny in Pennsylvania, Al
leghany in Vugnia, and Allegany ir
New York. Recently the Postoffics
Department being in doubt as to how
the name should be led in Maryland,
applied to the H Society of that
State, which recommended Allegany,
because that spelling accorded with the
statute creating Allegany county,
Maryland.
sip lim
soap, with half its weight
one ounce of mixture in