The I .and of Content. I wt out lor Uio land ol oontoot, IJy tho uy crowded plemuro-lii^hway, With laughter and jesting, I went With the mirth-loving throng lor a .lay; Then I knew I had wandered astray, For 1 met returned pilgrims, belated, Who said: "We are weary and sated, But wo lound not the land ol content." 1 turned to tho steep path ol lame, I said, " It is over yon height— This land with tho noautitul name- Ambition will lend mo its light." But 1 paused in my journey 'ere night, For the way grew so lonely and troubled; J said—tny anxiety doubled — " This is not tie road to content." Then I joined the great rabble and throng That Iroquents tho moniod world s mart; But the greed, and the grasping ami wrong, Lelt me only one wish—to depart. And sickened, aud saddened at heart, I hurried away trom the gateway, For my soul and my spirit said straightway, " This is not the road to content." Then weary in body and brain. An overgrown path I detected, And I said I will hide with my pain In this by-way, unused and neglected. Lo! it led to the realm God selected To crown with His best gifts of beauty. And thro' the dark pathway of duty 1 came to tho land ol content. Ella Wkttltr. THE HIDDEN WILL. I When they told old Ethnn Vanwirt thnt It is days were numbered, the first thing he said was : "Send for Miss Wr*k; I muat see ( Miss Wcrk before I die," I Singular as this demand seemed, no , one thought of questioning it. Miss Work was sent for. I Laura turned quite white when the j strange imperative summons first came ; i and then she was told that he who sent was dying. ! "What ran he want P Shall you go, . Laura?" asked Pauline Ruble, who was i visiting her. "Oh, yes, yes, poor old man! lam sorry for him. Certainly I will go." Pau.ine put her arm around the slight I figure, and drew the golden head down upon her shoulder. i "Little fool." she thought, as she < carried the fair face with her slim, white hand. "Of course it is something about Lewis Vanwirt." i Aloud she said, insinuatingly: "I had better go with you, dear—don't you think so?" "Oh. if you only will," IAU. ried eageriy. Mrs. Work was quite an invalid, ami could not accompany her daughter, so she, also, wsut very glad to have Pauline go with her. As the carriage drove off with the two girls she'sank upon her couch with a thoughtful look. "It muat be something about her grandson. I hope I-aura won't be silly." The ladies were shown at once into Mr. Vanwlrt's apartment. " r wish to see you alone, lAura. my chi '."be said. "I'll wait for you in the next room, darling," Pauline volunteered ptomptly and depared. "Mr Lewis has come, sir," the ser vant said, as he was leaving the room in obedience to an impatient gesture from bis master. "Let him wait," the old man said grimly. It was an easy thing lor Pauline to step out upon the veranda without at tracting att ntion and pass along to the wiudow of the sick room. " I want to know what he wants of her," she said to herself, "and Istnra is such an obstinate iittie child sometimes, as likely as not she would not tell me." " l have sent for you, I .aura Work," the dying man was saying, " to ask you if you love my grandson." ' " My dear," he said, " I am dying, or I would not ask you such a question. Lew is my only son's only child. If I die without a will, the whole Vanwirt property will fall to him as the natural heir; but the boy has taken to had courses lately, lam afraid. He gambles I have heard. His father did before him. The taste of it is in the Vanwirt blood. It came near being my ruin at his age. I'.tft 1 promised the woman I married I would never touch a card agnin if the would have me, and I never did." " I.rtur.V lips opened, hut she would not utter a word. " Little fool!" thought Pauline. "Listen to me," old Kthan Vanwirt said, lifting himself upon his elbow in his excitement. "If you love Lewis, promise me that before you consent to marry him you will exact I nan him the same pledge my wile did trom me. He shall be my heir." Laura burst into team. "I do love him!" she stammered. " I will promise anything rather than you'd do such a dreadful thing. But—what —if he does not care for me as you think?" " I will risk that; I think he does. All I ask of you is to promise not to marry him till he has solemnly sworn he will never touch a card again. Oive me your hand, child, and say the words over alter me." I.aura obeyed him, mors calmly than might have been expected under the circumstances. "God bless you!" be saM, as he Wt her hand go. "You have made my dying moments almost happy.' As I .aunt quitted the room, sobbing, Pauline was about to join her, when she heard the sick man mutter: "1 am not ure, after all, that a will would make vcrything safer." Then ho ordered the attendant who had just come in to go and bring Mr. Scribe. " Can ho be going to make a will after 11 P" wondered Pauline. " I'll wait and sec." To her amnzement she heard the sick man dietnting a will to his lawyer,in which he I'ft everything he possessed to Laura Work, absolutely. Mr. Scribe ventured to remonstrate, but it was of no use. " I know what I am about," the ini crious old man said, and would hear nothing. The wid duly signed, witnessed and scaled he told the lawyer where to put It in his desk, which stood within his view. "Is it safe here?" Mr. Scribe asked. " I see no key." " Who would touch itP" the sick mnn asked, irritably. "It would benefit no one hut Lewis, and the Vanwirts arc not thieves, whatever else they may be. (o, now, plr:isc, and toll tome one to send my grandson to me." Pauline wouirt like to have stayed and witnessed litis interview also, hut she did not dare. Laura must tie wonder ing greatly now where she was. She found that Laura had come out of the sick room so agitated that Mrs. Hecket, the housekeeper, had made iter tie down, and was now sitting with her. Pauline took the house keeper's place beside iter friend, and in a short time Laura was asleep. As Pauline sat there watching the white childish face of the girl she pretended to love, her brain was full of wiektd and envious thoughts. I-aura was already rich, she was poor, and yet to her who had already so much, the great Vanwirt property had just been given. She envied her the handsome lover, with whom she was herself more than half in love, and whom, hitherto, she had not been without hope of win ning away from I-aura. Suddenly, as site sat there, the deep silence was broken by the sound of some commotion in the house —sue heard steps and excited voice*. " What can it be," she wondered. " Mr. Vanwirt must be worse." She sat listening for some moments, then rose softly. Laura was still sleep ing. Pauline succeeded in opening the door without disturbing her, and stole out into the hall. From the Innding site could sec the servants below hurrying about with awe-struck looks. An impulse of ungovernable curiosity seized Iter. She watched her chance, and, gliding down the stairs, skipped through the open door without being seen, and passtd swiitly along thr ver anda till she come to the window where she had already spmt so much time. One glance at the bed told her what bad happened. F.than Vanwirt was dead! A sudden awe and horror seiz.d her. Site was about to flee the spot, wh* n her eyes fell upon the* desk in which she had seen the will placed. "I wonder if it is there yet?* she thought. " I am sure I can reach it from here. I should know it atagiance,"shc mused. She put her hand in and raised the lid. Thcte It was. A wicked thought crossed iter. What if she took it P" At that thought she snntchod the will, and hiding it in the folds of her dress, she hurried IT retraced her steps. • • i • • Ethan Vanwirt had been dead about a month, ilis grandson had entered into possession of his estate without an; hindrance. There were rumors about a will; but when it eould not be found Mr. Seribe roneiuded that the old man had destroyed it. and refused, when questioned, to tell who was named in it. Pauline Ruble wns still visiting I.AUrn Work, although, tru'. i to tell, her wel come had grown somewhat cold both on Laura's part and Mrs. Work's. Laura wns very unhappy. Lewi* Vanwirt scarcely ever spoke to her es cept in the moat formal manner, though he rntnc to the house as often as former ly. Apiarcntly it was to see Pauline now; and though the gentle girl strove to feel the same toward her false friend, she eould not quite'.do so. There was another rejected suitor of Laura's** named Robert Lester, who about this time took advantage of the situation to renew his devotion to her. Laura had never liked him, and liked him less than ever now. "I must bring masters to a crisis soon," thought Pauline one night, as she wreathed her brilliant face with smiles, ana pretended not to have seen Mrs. Work's cold manner to her. Presently, when Ix;wis Vanwirt called, she was watching for him, and drew him at once into the garden. " I want to tell you something." she said, in her soft voice; "and beside* Isuira and her lover are so happy in there by themselves it would be a pity to disturb I hem." " Has she consented to marry bim at last P" he asked bitterly, " Oh, of course; I told you she would. He is such a very moral young man. and denr I,aura is so very strict in her ideas. " Mr. Vanwirt," Pauline said, sud denly f "do you know to whom your grandfather left his money, in that will that has never been found P" "I do not know." "I can tell you," "YouP" He stared at her. "Itgaye everything to Laura Workj" "Impossible! How do you know?" "Never mind. I do know," Pauline said, lilting her beautiful blHck eyes to his in the moonlight. " Moreover, that will is in existence." He stared at her harder than before. " I know where it is." " You do?" " Would you like to see UP" slipping her hand into Iter pocket. " I certainly should." " How would you like to see l,nura and Robert taster lording it at the Vanwirt house?" Lewis ground his teeth with involun tary rage. This decided the false, bold girl beside him. " tawis Vanwirt," she said, " if that will could be put into vour possession to do what you like with it, would you marry a woman who loves you better thnn Laura Work ever could P" " I would." Trembling with joy she drew out the folded paper, and put it into his hand. He held it up in the moonlight a mo ment and then thrusting it inside of his breast turned suddenly and began to go swiftly toward the house. Paulinecouid scarcely keep up with him. An awful misgiving seized her. " What arc you going to doP" " You shall see," he answered nUntij, and she read his determination in hi* eyes. " What a foal I was." she muttered, but made one effort more. "tauraand taster won't i.. ink you for interrupting them." No answer as he strode on and entered the drawing-room through one of the open French windows. Laura sal there, witli her mother. She hod been crying. No one else was in the room, lie laid the will upon hrr lap. " I find," he said hurriedly, and in a shaking voice, "that my grandfather left hi* monc-y to you. There is the will that has been mising so ,ong. I hope. Laura, that you will be a great ileal happier with Mr. taster than you would have been with me. But lie will never love you any better than I do." " Laura detests Robe rt taster," cried Mrs. Work, taking in the situation at once "She. has never cared for any one but you I* wis Vanwirt, and you ought to know it." "Oh! my darling!" ejaculated tawis, wildly, extending his arms, "isittrue* 1 " In another instant Laura was sobbing on his shoulder. Pauline went quietly to her own room, and spent the night in pa king. When, the next morning, she announced hrr ap proaching departure, no one objected. The Cotton king. Mr. Richardson, of Crrsson, Miss., is the largest cotton planter in tbe wind, and is the cotton king'of America. He ha* worked hard ail his life, nnd is still working. He is popular with the masses, and especially so witli his colored laborers. He is generally lie lie ved to hnvc accumulated from $15,- 000,000 to ft 0.000.000, all made in the South, the poor South- Kiglit hundred ban is are employed in the factories, three-fourt lis of whom are women gathered from the surrounding country, good, faithful, industrious and intelli gent. The remaining fourth are men nnd boys, gathered from various places, a few from the Nortli and n few from England and Scotland, who work 400 looms and I*,(100 spindles. In cotton these mills consume daily from eighteen to twenty bales, besides an enormous quantity of wool obtained mostly from the Fiorida parishes of Louisiana on take Pontcbartrain - The prices ol the products ol these mills are kept down to rock bottom, and these mills being situated in the southern cot ton belt and in the wool producing dis tricts, and no freights to pay on cotton, their far ilitie* lor buying tUo raw mate rial sre without doubt unsurpassed and they can thus undersell all others Their savings in freight, having to pay none at all, amounts to seven or right dollars per bale. These goods find a ready sale in all the large cities. The mills are now running day and night, using the Brush electric lights, making the buildings as bright a* day. The night hands are separate and distinct from those that work in the day. A ll hands work harmoniously together. There has never been a strike or any threats of auch a thing. There is no colored labor employed, except five men as firemen. This labor cannot be util ised to manage the looms and spindles. The monotonous humming and droning ol the [machinery, it is claimed, would invariably soothe the negro to sleep and let the looms run wild and the spindles foul. Hence he is not considered avail able as a laborer in cotton factories. Cresson is a very thriving town, and it* population orderly and temperate. There is not a grog shop in the town.—Aouts ville Courier Journal. Dog, Kee and i'lteher. A bee flew into a pitcher that stood on a doorstep of a house in Boston. A dog, coming along, saw the bee, and bis head went down into the pitcher after the insect. The bee made it lively for the dog, and lie could not now withdraw liis bead, and the circus began in earnest. The dog howled fearfully and began to plunge wildly about, and then started on a mad run down the street. The dog. being completely blindfolded by the pitcher, could not guide himself, but got under the feet of a stout man, and both took a roll In the gutter, and the shouts of the roan, who did not attempt to die guise his annoyance, were se loud as tbe yella ol the dog. A policeman, coming up, broke up the pitcher and the show at the same time. A KAIIY WITH TWO UK A I)M. A tlruii. Crulian In Ilia Hinllh.oal.il Institute—Sfj slery to It* Origin A recent ictu-r irom Washington to the Philadelphia 'A'rocs says: One of the ofllocmof the Smithsonian Institute sent me 11 note it day or two ago asking me to come over ami sc.s the strangest thing Unit hail ever been in the institution. I went, an a matter of course, and won surely shown a very amazing thing. It wits a two-headed baby, nicely dried and preserved. It won nliout a foot long. The he.ids, about the size of a base ball, were perfect, and so were the two trunks, which came together at the waist. The shoulders seemed to be per-' feet, the four arms were perfect, and the two chests were, so far as I could sec, natural and normal. The hipß ap peared about the proper size for an in fant of that age, and the legs and feet were natural. Every part of the boys to the hips seemed natural. Here the ril>s seemed to grow together. The right arm of the left boy was over the head of the other boy, while the left arm of the right lioy was around the neck of the other. The other arms were stretched along the sides. The child or children were larger than usual at birth, and it is a conjecture whether it or they may not have been born alive. The scientists have not examined it critically; but so far there does not seem to be any nat ural reason why the children should not have lived. It is certainly a more curious freak of nature than the Sia mese twins, except in the matter of living. The remains arrived a day or two ago from a Southern State. The case is enshrouded in a good deal of mystery and still more secrecy. The authorities pretend that they have not a full history of the singular thing, and whether they have or not it is doubtful that it will ever be given tothe public, bvcti the " specimen " itself is kept locked up in a room with a lot of rattlesnakes, and the people are not al lowed to see it, and this Is the first pub lication altout it that has ever been made. The probability is that the ex istence of such a child was concealed hy the parents, nnd that the remains were found hy accident, the parent* be ing ignorant rf the finding. One thing I noticed particular.y about these baby, or that babies, and that was the shape of the beads. They were as well de veloped heads as I ever saw. They were large at the top and the foreheads were fu.i and it did not slope back like the Siamese twins. What is to become witti him is a question no one con an swer at the Smithsonian. The Mahogany Tree. Full-grown, the mahogany tree is one of the monarch.* of tropical A men ca lls vast trunk and massive arms, rising to a lofty height nnd spreading with graceful sweep over immense spaces, covered with beautiful foliage, bright, glossy, light and airy, clinging so long to the spray as to make it almost an rv ergrern. present a rare combination of loveliness and grandeur. The leaves are very small, deiiiate and polished, like those of the laurel. The flowers sre small and white, or greenish yellow. The mahogany lumbermen, having selected a tree, surround it with a piat fotrn about twelve feet above the ground, and cut it above the platform. Home dozen or fifteen feet of the largest part of the trunk art thus lost; yet a single log not infrequently weighs from six or seven to fifteen tons, and some times measure* a* much as seventeen feet in length and four and a half and five fret in diameter, one tree furnishing two, three or four such log*. Some tree* have yielded 12.000 superficial feet. A ranastlc Pair. The F\gam states that two ph nom enal specimens of humanity are now in Paris; one is a giant and the other a dwsrf. The giant named Nirolai Simon off, seven feet five inehe* high, I* a young Russian of twenty-four, who served in the body-guard of the em peror of Russia during the Turkish campaign. He is one of the one hun dred and seventy men who forced a passage across the Danube near Hem nilza on the Istb of June. |k77. and wo* rewarded with the Saint-George medal for liis bravery. During thp war many of his companions fell around him while he (scaped unhurt, and a* some people expressed their astonishment at the fact, "It is very simple, n he said; "All the shot* passed between my legs.*' Nicoiai SlmonofT began to grow so enor mously only when he was about twenty; until eighteen he was of ordinary sut ure. He boo married before joining the military service, and on hi* r.'turn bis wife, much astonished to see a giant enter her house a* her husband, refused to recognise' him. Princess Paulina, the dwarf, is Dutch; •he measures only one foot two inches. The giant holds her on bis stretched-out palm. A Wise PrecMtlsn. When diphthiria is prevailing, no child should be permitted to kiss strange children nor those suffering from sore throat (the disgusting custom of com pelling children to kiss every visitor is s well-contrived method of propogating other grsve diseases than diphtheria); nor shouid it sleep with nor be con fined to rooms occupied by or use articles, as toys, taken in the mouth, handkerchief, etc.. belonging to children having sore throat, croup, or oatarrh. If the weather is cold, tie child should be warmly clad with flai iets. An insane physician poisoned two men to death at Lyon, Minn., before bis malady was discovered. MiMK ODD IIAPI'KJHMJF. Ry a change of channel the Missouri river cut off one thousand Acres from Kansas and added it to Missouri. A carpenter while repniring a house in Bt. John's, discovered beneath a par tially decayed window-sili $5,000 in banknotes. The original seckel pear tree, 150 years old, still stands on the shore of the Dela ware. This tree was produced from a seed that was washed on shore. While the residence of Irving Clay, of Grand River, Mo., was burning, a loaded musket lying upon a gun rack was discharged, and the con tents, con consisting of turkey shot, wounded two of the children. When Miss Minnie Gorges, of Staun ton, Va,. heard L. P. Benjamin, the solo cornetit of a visiting minstrel troupe perform, she fell madly in love with him. Opposition was useless, and after a be trothal of two hours they were married. A Madeira county Texan gathered over 1,000 bushels of pecan nuts from his farm and sold them in San Antonio lor $3.40 per bushel. His net profit was $3,400 on the crop, the entire cost of gathering and marketing being just $25. Ella Dorsey, the aflianecd wife of Conrad Seitz, of Monroe, Ala., jwhen notified*)! his death sent back this tele gram: "Delay funeral two days. I will IK* ready for burial with him." She was; she committed suicide immedi ately afterward. A diamond ring lay on a marble slab in Cambridge, Mass., where a lady had placed it before washing her hands. An hour afterward a mouse was sun to run across the room with the ring round his body, having crawled into it as it was standing on it* edge. The mouse: was afterward caught and the ring rc j covered. A Son's Alleged Sscriflce. A ind in the Kansas penitentiary, who confessed n lew years ago to having inurdcrt-d n man named Farris, now j poes before the public as a devoted son. He s ys he became convinced at once that hi* father had committed the murder, but at the coroner's inquest shielded hi .a and oonvicUd himself. The fatlxr then got out on bail, and tbe | boy remained in jail five months. During his confinement the father visited the son frequently. On one of these visit* the boy was told that there was a bog containing a pair of boots on top of a cupboard in the jailer's office, and the father wanted them secured and burned. There were two doors between the prison and theofice. but to the surprise of the boy the iai,er strangely left these two doors unlocked and the bag was very eosiiy got, and in the presence of other prisoners, burned in tbe stove. Two of those witnesses ore now in the ; penitentiary- These boots, it seems, were the father's, and bore marks that pointed to iii* guilt. After that the boy was persuaded to sacrifice himseif to pave Lis father, upon the promise that a pardon would be procured in a few years on the ground of his youthfulneas. Afterward the mother visited tbt prisoner, and he thereupon confessed to her that he bad killed F'arris in a quarrel. \S hen the case came up ; for trial the young man pi coded guity i to the charge, and wholly exonerated his father from all complicity in the bloody deed. After the prisoner had been in the penitentiary a year, his fsther and mother went to California Alter five years the mot her returned and endeavored to procure a pardon for her boy, but tailed. This [intelligence wa conveyed by letter to the father, and he killed himseif. The Knowledge of the suicide, however, did not reach the boy until some] time last September. This is one of tbe most remarkable state ment* in criminal annals. That a boy of sixteen should hsve the nerve to consign himself to disgraceful imprison ment to shield a cowardly lather seems j incredible.— Nets York Jribmnc. * Ddd People." Undoubtedly odd people have their consolations. In the first place, they are quite sure not to be weak people Every one with a marked individuality ha* always this one great blessing—he can stand alone. In his pleasures and his pains he is sufficient to himself, and if he does not get sympathy he can gen erally do without it. Also " peculiar" people, though not attractive to the many, by the lew who do love them are sure to be loved very deeply; as we are apt to love those who have strong sal ient points, and in whom there is a good deal to get over. And, even if un'oved, they have generally great capacity ol loving—a higher, and, it may he, a safer tiling. For affection that rest* on an - other's love often leans on a broken reed; love which rest* on itself is founded on a rock and cannot move. The waves may lash, the winds may rave around it; but there It is. and there it will abide. _____ Professor Watson, tbe astonomer. had a remarkable memory. When an un dergraduate he used to memorise long passages of tbe Greek and Latin authors, which he sometimes in after years re peated to his friends with complete ac curacy. | There are in the city of New York about twenty charitable hospitals for the oars of the sick. In addition to those of thfir patients who wholly or In part pay the cost of their own treatment, they provide tor ten thousand sick parsons annually without charge. ffo Such Kib. JTiO minister hit 'tn every UI/i, And when h *;*ilii> of laehion, And riggiii' ""t in hows and thing*, A* woman'* rutin' ; en* ion, A nd ooiniu' to churcii to Mm the styles, I couldn't help a wmkin' And midgin' wy wile, and nay* I, " J bat'* you," And I gtie** It (to !/r to thinkin'. Jost then the rrt in inter amy t, nay* he, " And now I've ootn- to tiie leilem, Who've lout thin nbower by oain' their rien'la { An a nort o' rn'tral urnbreUem. • Go borne," aaid he, "and find your taulta, Inntcnd of buntin' your brothel'*; Go borne," aaid he, " and wntr the coata You triwl to fit lor other*." My wile *he nmlgiyl, arid Brown he winked. And there was lota o' *rnil : n' And lota o' lookin' at our pew; It *ot wy Mood a hilin' Hey* 1 to iny*e!l, our minister I* gettin' a little bilterj I'll teil him, when meetin'a out that Ain't at all that kind ola critter. !ILMOKOl T S. Best pincc for the blind—The sea eide. The longest shoe is under a foot, when worn. In h war of words the di< tionsry gets the best of it. It is natural to avoid a clock when it ! is about to strike one. The beehive is the poorest thing in the world to fail back on. No matter how old a crowbar may l*e, ! it remains as pry as ever. At this season the most popular letter flan I..— Hyraauc Times. The New Orleans I'tx/tyune thinks I that a man, like a ranor, is made keen | hy being frequently strapped. "Do fish sine?" asks an exchange. Certainly, and many of them have been known to reach the high "a. "Tiers, idle tiers," as the actor said when be saw the row of impty benches before him. — HarcUhe/n Independent. it isn't neccusary u. sftrrh the rock* for the antediluvian man; lie is here, and can be found in the store that don't advertise — lxickpori Union. What wend* ar<-Jtiri