[Tho last Poom She Wrota,) My swootheart! wy loveling! you darkened all the day, When from my silent dwelling vour footsiops | turned away; | The morn was dark as midaight, the noonday sad as dawn, | The milk-white daisies drooped thelr hoads | along the dewy lawn. My darling! my dearest! I sought the garden | roand, | But never in a blossom your precious face I found. No rose was red beside your lips, no Lly like i your throat, No Sound thrush’s note, or thrilli of your voice to any Ah! what is like your eyes, dear? gray sparkl of the sea, eioar y 1 crystal shining their beryl | i So glances | And wh pare With the WL re is cuy flower of all that may com- | lancing glitter of the sunshine ng stops beat | dewdrops rastis erhead me and you together for have fled. » 18 sad and weary, too dark with the spac s hear! ome light this night Hesper shining long have I to] satinted me the saads of were t i fortably, the vas abou iy rrid yrs of known hostelry, a M tobust, well preserved « I had first met at the tabl , approached and took He was alone and inning Saad wh vy alysnt 61 MERA ! i ame, | presum I monsieur a Spanish wor “Na 7} fe Answer +1 Lie * said ue, ia of a charmin ity of Caracas ti ’ is the o i fore me stretched a perspective of tifully kept lawn and shaded while farther along, among trees, shone the silvery gleam Inke. and far off in the zling white of the Carne a background of sun and tails **But it was not at Nature's painting that I I did not the landscape for beasities to charm the eve when sidle was seated what seemed to me then and still—for she is the inveliest woman that | Cres an. “Ta describe to vou tl ardor which I regarded the lustre of the hair, t#e gentle depths of ti the seslet curves of the am syipi-like figure is simply skirts of the ¢ he of a tiny listance the daz- 1 houses agair sombre moun was gazing at need maomet to search now my wife, sir— had ng lips and impossible, ougly that I had just proposed to her to d> it—and was waiting breat to recive my answer, He liked me, 1 knew, her father also, and 1 find been a great deal at their house: but living is not love, and whether Nina de Lstore loved me or not, friend iness of ber manner, so tantalizing to a lover who fears his doom ahead, had hitherts prevented my finding out. “Yost know of course, sir,” pursued M. le Qual, diverging a moment from the line of Lis story, ‘‘how frequent earth- quakes are in that part of South Africa, especially in summer, when they occur almost daily, At theday [ speak of, every since early morning, the ground bad been shivering inwardly, while from time to time a low, deep rumble could be Beard, like the mutter of distant thunder, “Like every one else, however, who Hved in Caracas, had grown accustomed to and in a measure indifferent to these constant seismic disturbances, but now, even in the absorbing interest of the sub. ect that filled my thoughts, I could not elp noticing how greatly of late these qusking tremors had increased. “In fact, 1 had hardlyfinished my lov- er's ples, when a huge porcelain vise at the foot of the steps was jostled from its pedestal and shivered to atoms and at the same instant I was thrown violently to the floor of the balcony, With a haste that grest peril on'y inspires, I was on hlessly my feet again ond turaing to seek Ninato seize her im my arms and if possible to bear her to a place of safety. She no longer beside me, and looking about could no “It was useless as well as madness to wait longer, and with difficulty keeping my footing on the rocking floor 1 fled down the staggering steps and from the dancerous yo of the groaning To go far, however, on the toss impossible; sick and dizzy, 1 was forced to my knees. The house. in the apart; fastenings, leaving great holes the seiirs writhed and fell srashed to the earthin a debris of wood, glass, bricks and plaster. “In less than a moment, it me, the beautiful villa of an reduced to heap of dust broken rubbish. this happened in than it to tell it, but a to be seems a All takes scene remained sudden, musketry, in its depths, ‘‘At the same instant there was a s« behind me in Nina's voice ly in time re she h open and engulf my be to 8 las! onl the eart again whe f 1 [BY ‘“(xod have mercy upon knees y way towards the crevic lieved had swallowed her, In ’ ry side great rents were nearer and nearer es I crouched, re and then, 1 with despair, lize the horror of ion of too move vhole body, mt | was God knows 1 Hh. from a di Retracing wther, equally swallowed ‘high, narrov i des with inch and leading—-God knows where! to the bowels of the earth, perhaps! ! and per | “Crushed by this discovery, for awhile [ was powerless to advance x step, but then, as I bad n thing lose, 1 deter mined to make an effort to press on and leave no stone unturned liberty to { me at {down i to the | came. My heart beat like a hammer, “It is a precipice,’ | thought, {the wheezing sound the wind { depths. Better illed outrigh die a slow death of starvation! Creeping little by little I ] the stony gorge, | was at last « its in 1 oe k ¥ fell forward | touched something human face ! | felt again, runnisg my hand along the body as the blind explore, and made outa dress! Like a fiash it dawned upen me, ‘Nina, Ninal' | cried aloud, my voice rolling and reverberating like the voice of a thousand. “She was not dead, either, for it was the sound of her breathing that I had taken for a wind in the subterrapean depths or the smothered rushing of a mic stream. | caught her hands I chafed them in mine--but it is useless, monsieur, to go over again those dmg. ging moments of agony when I worked over the hglf-desd body of my love, or those moments of mingled joy and tor. ture when her returning consciousness had to struggle with the fearful reality, “I told hier as well as I could where we were and how we had come there, To her piteous pleas for comfort I could only respond with a sorrowful silence or an equally piteous entreaty to her to be hopeful, ‘At that moment, sir-~how strangely does the aspect of things change as the wheel of life goes!--we would both of us have given ten years of our lives to have escaped from our living tomb. Now I, at least, would not have escaped that experience. 1 should then never have known those bittersweet hours when my love and I, buried together and with death rrariog us in the face, wers ¢rawn warm oa together by the strongest tie humanity knows-the bond of a common adversity. “When at last, on my persuasion, Nina sought to move, she fell back help- less with a loud ery of pain: she had sprained her ankle and could not stir without agony. Nothing could be done but to lie there where she had fallen. “How long we remained thus I do not know, Hunger and thirst came in time, two new troubles added to the rest, Though we could not lose ourselves in sleep, still our minds were tortured with waking dreams, horrible to think of now, The strain, in truth, was so hideously cruel, that Nioa, at times, grew delirious, tossed and writhed regardless of the pain she gave herself and filled the darkness with her heartrending cries, “Then again peace would return and she would cling to my hand for human companionship simply to feel that some As 1 say, how long this lasted, I do not know, but, suddenly, after an eternal torture, a shiver struck brusquely through walls and floor, fol still another, ac- companied at first by a faint rumble that died away bowels of the earth. “But soon the rumble grew to a roar, the roar to thunder. The noise was deaf ening. The rocky ground heaved like the ocean. It was my turn lose my reason. I knew not what 1 Nina tells me that | her in a frenzy of despairing love r face, her hands with Kisses, in the echoing now to did, but in my selzed “oats i Qe together we must, Nina, we « at in least dis part us! “Proportionately as 1 ' Nina became besoucht me think on perfed $ extraction no Even is jormal or ighteen in e the dental statis 0 of n terth of 80 per ct nt of the popul iti are rthermore Sir James stated that no eoth the : fewer than 10.000.000 of artifical t in England pre sent pa tooth human sure and vitiated atmos. phere—the first, at least, an inevitable condition of latter-day life other hand the nervous existence and the h easga0t be eliminated from the great dental probe lem, and are bound to exert an increas. ingly destructive influence on the type of the coming man. We are mm idly yward an era of total Dr oa and this, it seems, is to be further agera vated by toothlessness, There is an ancient Greek legend of the daughters of Phoreys, who had only one eye and one tooth among them. This, we take igh pres is by no means tension of modern rowth of ¥ ' the results of culture and civilization on the woman of the future .—{Loadon Globe, o_o "A A Big Rudder, It French ironclad Brennus, launched some time since at Lorient, was eighteen feet high, thirteen feet wide, and weighed seventeen tons, In transporting it from the shops where it was made to the ship- yard it was necessary to suspend it be. tween two flat cars, as it could not be placed upon a single car in any position, even by this latter arrangement the rud- der just clearing the roadbed and the arches of the tunnels through which it wis necessary to pass, This great rud- der was built with aa interior framework of wrought steel, iron angles, and plates, and covered with steel plates, extraord- inary care being taken to have it per- fectly watertight. [Chicago Inter-Ocean. A oni HE KNEW HIS DUSINESS, Gushing Girl—Now, don't you put my name in your paper; don't you dare, Experienced 1eporter— Very well, How did your sey wav apell your namet. - Intar Ocean. THE JOKER'S BUDGET JESTS AND YARNS BY FUNNY MEN | OF THE PRESS. ! Why He Couldn’t Take it Out Why | She Licked Him--Not as Exquisite as She Thought Astronomical, &e¢., &c. HE COULDN'T TAKE OUT. WHY IT Principal Smith is one of the wisest and kindest of teachers, but now and wrichfulness makes In the geography class the him over | i who | { suspicious, other day hiv eve fell upon scemed to be eating something. “Jack,” said the master, sternly, | ‘take that piece of candy out of your mouth at once.” To his round the a boy went | giggle next astonishment a room, and the instant 1 i i | and ns he went after remarked “You | of Mr. Bim- | the ply, “1 like L Washing “I can't, sir: it's troit Free Press, WHY BHE LIKED He had ther fan, then her shawl brought her a chair, AB Ice, her friend seem to think a deal mons.” “Yes” him for his *on Star. great was fetehing wavs NOT AS EXQUISITE AS SHE H Ave If I had a 1 sewing ma would have it and oil rribly, = New my hion—~] see an English wo man has been dogs pull the Mrs De Fashion sO the cruel thi Why didn’ the baby 1d i y dogs : Weekly. : MHy tam CAUSED THE FIRE Wool--It is said the firefly strikes the spark by rubbing its wings together Van Pelt—I presume that’s righ often read of fires being caused fective flew, t: 1 have by a de PART OF THE BIRD. The Young Housewife (to the butcher) ~Have you a niee spring chicken this morning? “Yes, ma'am.” “Well, please cut out the eroquettes and send hee to my address, "—[ Chicago News-Record HE THOUGHT IT WAS LEAP YEAR, She-1 love all that is grand, majestic and beautiful He—=Thank you very much, Miss Wil. kins, butewor-—really, you embarrass me, ~{ Boston Globe, WHERE SIE WOULD RE SAFE. Ben has been promoted to “‘pants.” He has thoroughly imbued his little sis. ter with the idea of their grandeur, So, when her mother told her not to go to the meadow with Ben lest the cow should hurt her, she exclaimed: “Why, ‘course she can’t hurt me. I'll just get behind Bennie's pants.” THOSE GENERAL INVITATIONS, A sportsman who, on the strength of a general invitation, had gone to passa week with a friend in the country, soon found by a gentle hint he would have done better to have waited for a special one, “I saw some beautiful scenery,” was the vistor's first remark, “as I came to. day by the upper road.” “You will sec still finer,” was the re. ly, ‘‘as you go back to-morrow by the ower one.” THE MATTER OF BAIT, The pastor was calling at the nouse of Brother Billings, and the smal boy was “Do vou ever go fishin'?"” inquired the voungster, who had inherited his father's “I am a fisher of men,” he responded, “Do you carry your bait in a jug, like papa does,” was the next question, and just at that moment Brother Billings ap peared with a seraphic smile of innocence lighting up his genial countenance, NO GOOD, “Been abroad, I understand? Visited Piggleton (from inois)—7T truth, I was disappointed in Swit Too hilly, you Boston Transcript, zeriand know : not a bit like Chi- OKE WAY OUT OF IT. an have thi y me! All our gir, Travers—Then and Furnisher Travers { you charged t« Hatter cash basis, business lend me § Tramp pants fi HAPPESED TO COME TO HED Young Wil Wake uj Husban i Young Wil “By Jove igh baby was Lads black one. Little Girl lin’ their o« black one Good News i VERY WROKG | “You did wrong to call flannel mouth duffer.” isn't he!” “Well, “Of course he Dawson a ~1 1 hrinl Flannel! shrinks, never isn't Dawson's mouth does.” rer REASSURANCE. Timid Lady going | Monument elevator) up in Washington Conductor, what if | the rope breaks that holds us? Conductor—Oh, there | more attached as safety ropes. Timid Lady-—But if they all where shall we go! ! Conductor—Oh, well, mum, that all { depends on what kind of life you have been living before, a number are break QUESTION AND ANSWER. Mildred-<What are you looking at me for? Jack~-1 know what I'd like to lock at you for, Mildred What! Jack-~Forever, — Boston Courier. A Snake In Church, The services at Grace Methodist Church were rather unpleasantly interrupted last Sunday evening by the appearance of a snake in one of the aisles. The reptile, the species of which cannot be agreed upon by members of the congregation, was about two feet long, and as it crawled along the passage with a wicked look in its eyes made things mighty uncomfort- able for those in the immediate viciaity. One or two ladies were especially loud in their exclamations, and would probably be still standing in the pew in their at. tempts to got as far as possible from his snakeship had not a courageous young man picked up the serpent and carried it out. The ladies then regained their seats, also their breath, and the gramme continued. The reptile was probably a harmless gopher snake, but some have been so as to say that it more dangerous type, be to DE roars (Cal.) Pross, BRR FOR THE CHILDRENY, PLIZABILTH, BETSEY AND BESS, Elizabeth, Betsey and Bess v $4.4 * Lf ow v rnia bt} . Went walking in sunshiny weather; 1 pon atree, ina ln Two apples were Setsey and PBeus, ked an apple and ate it; i i x one apple left; Pi Elizabeth, "hi Y Cac h pi Bnt still there If t tate i YOu Know the reason, jus i% 1 i wi har Little Men snd Women. LETTY WAS MISTAKEN, Letty pet il marks on the wall had a naughty habit of making for 1 she her for ered, whit and at length ured, as discos her father, in putting wis often reproved friends 1 time no “ii Was « MArks wi day, however, irtain, { window fr defaced SOME One i d tha aside a { armed yw by her i woods Oo ich was taken which was finally the means & capture by the Greeks great unwieldy thing came alls, there was one man who t deceived by its innocent appear. That was Laoce the Trojan riest of Neptune He tried hard to dissuade the people from admitting it, declaring that it wasa trick of the Greeks, and finally, in the beat of his plea, he threw his spear against the horse, The horse to Minerva, who was helping the Greeks, and as a punish- ment for Laocoon’s impious conduct two great immediately glided up from the sca and attacked him and his They coiled around their victoms’ bodies and finally crushed them but not at once, for the priest were very strong and wom, WAS COnseer ated we rpents t®wo 8 ons to death, and his ws muscular One of ns the most celebrated TOUpS of statuary in the world is that of Laocooan and his children in the embrace of these serpents. The figures are those of three men, physically perfect, with looks of agony on their faces, and muscles stand. ing out like cords, as two immense ser- yeuts coil around their waists and limbs Pliny, the old Roman naturalist and author, SAYS the group was carved out of a single block of marble by Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus, of Rhodes, The statue is in five pieces, but very skilfully joined, and is now in the Vatican st Rome. It was discovered in 1506 by workmen while digging in an old vine. yard.--| New York Voice. Spanish Laziness, “One reason for the existence of the tremendous trees in California is the averseness of the Spaniards to felling trees or cutting live timber of afly sort, said G. A. Satterice of Los Angeles, Cal., at the Southern, “The Spaniards, you know, two centuries ago pushed their way through Mexico to California, and save the clearing of paths through the dense forests not a twig did their axes chop down, Nor do the Spaniards transplanted to this continent cver de stroy timber. With stubborn pertinaci. ousness strangely at variance with their lethargic dispositions they continue to build their houses of stone and mortar at great expense of money and physical exertion when timber in abundance sur- rounds them out of which they could construct log houses, as did other oneers, at a minimum of cost and labor, Why, the Spaniard doesn’t even fell trees for firew but picks up dead liznbs as they fall to the ground, or pulls them from the trees with his lariat."-[8& Louis Globe-Democrat,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers