little Jim. M>o cottage was a thatched one, tho outside old and mean, Tit t*i rything within that cot was wondrous neat and clean; lhc night ass dark and stormy, the wind was howling wild, A (talieut mother watched licsido the death-bed of her child. A little worn-out creature- his once bright eye" grown dint; It was a collier's wife ami child, they called him " Little Jim." And, oh I to see the briny tears, f ast liuirying down her cheek. As site offered up a prayer—in thought; she was afraid to speak, • liml she might waken one she loved far lietter than her life; For she had ail a mother's heart, had t hat poo collier's wife. With hands uplifted, see, she kneels hctidu the sufferer's bed, And prays that 110 will spare her boy, atid take herself iustead. •lie got her answer from the boy, soft fell those wortla from him " Mother, the angels d.eo smile, and beckon to little Jim; I have no pain, dear mother, now, but, oh ! 1 am so dry, Just moisten poor Jim's hps again, anil, mother don't you cry." With gentle, trembling haste, she held a teacup to his lips, He smiled to thank her, as ho took tlirec tiny little si))*. " Tell father when he comes from work, 1 hid good-night to him. And, mother, now I'll go to sleep." Alas, poo r little Jun I She saw that ho was dyiug, that tho child she loved so dear Hail uttered the last words she might ever hope to hear. The cottage door is openod, the collier's step is heard. The father and tho mother meet, jet neither speak a word. Ho felt that all was over, ho kucw his*child waa •lead; He took tho candle in his hand, and walked to ward the bed. Hia i|uivertng lip gave token of tho grief he'd fain conceal. And, see, his wife has joined him, the stricken couple kneel; With hearts bowed down by sadm-aa, they hum bly ask of Him, In Heaven once more to mod their own dear little Jim. —lVvrptr't Jfjynruu. A LITTLE ESTHETE. Annt Eunice was certainly impracti" cable. If yon thonght yon had her here, np sho sprang like a jack-in-the box there, and yon never knew what to expect from one with a point of view differing from that of almost all aronnd her. There was, to be snre, one thing yon Lad a right to expect, and only one, and that was always and everywhere of late certain and complete disapproba tion of Rosalie's proceedings—Rosalie she had been christened, bnt she had taken to spelling it " Uosalys" at the time the learned the Kensington stitoh, snbscribed to I'unth for the simple pur pose of cntting her gowns, since no dressmaker conld do it, on the model of those of Mr. Dn Maurier's ladies there, and dng np all her sweet-briers and lemon-verbenas for the sako of planting whole beds of sunflowers. "I can't understand what it means," she moaned. " I bad ray need* from the j agricultural bnrean in Washington, and ; I planted a ponnd of them, and there ' have only two come up. Ido believe— I I do believe—" And she looked at Joe i a* if what abe believed waa that he pulled them np an faat an they apronted. "Don't look at meßosa,"aaid Oonain Joe; "look at the birds." And while they are watching a saucy robin tng at the stem of one of the springing plants, that be might get the seed at its root, I will tell yon that Joe wasn't her oonain really; I never allow any of my heroes and heroines to be connina; they were step-cousins, no tossy, and by no means of any blood relaMon; bnt that had never hindered the warmest sort of in timacy till Rosalyn began to spell her name in old text, and declaro she conld see no absurdity in the yonng (esthete's declaration that he dined off a lily, that it merely meant the satisfying sense of beanty in which the banqueting of the soul dulled the hunger of the body, and, that Mr. Rivas said the sense of color was something quite as actual as the sense that enjoys a chop, and so msunder on till Aunt Eunice put her fingers in her ears and told Roslys if she didn't become quiet she would have to shake her. Upon which Rosa lys would walk off singing to herself from Oscar Wilde: " Her sold hair fall on the wall of gold Like the deltoata goMmr tangU* *imn On the burnished illak of the marigold. Or tha sunflower turning to meet the win When the gloom of the Jealons night la done. And the spear of the lily is anreoled." "I am worried about her," cried Aunt Eunice. "Is she really becom ing an idiot?* " Not she, Aunt Eunice I" said Joe, laughing. "It takes a world of sense to make that sort of idiocy." "Well, she doesn't do a useful thing any longer, and she naed to be invaluable. It is sll along of that paint ing fellow Rivas. Ever since he snd his moon struck sister there name beck, she tuts been bewitched. I'll gite him s piece of my mind I" And for the time being that pleasant prospect imparted comfort to Aunt Eunice. " Do you really mean to go out to tho enemy, Rosa?" said Joe, overtaking tho pretty minx with his long stride, presently, "Hove you taken out yonr naturalization papers in the fleshly school? And do you find pleasure in tho thought of alipping over our own graven as two nnaken, or creeping through hot juugleß as two tigern? What in the veise you read no often " ' How niy heart leaps up To think of that grand living after death in Ixiaat and hiril and flower' 1" " I mean to do just an I please, Joe, and to let yon do the name," was tho tart reply. "Indeed you do not; for if you did I should take you so far away from all thin nonsense that you wouldn't know you were on the name planet." But ltosa had gone without any more words, and left hint watching hey down tho garden aisle, with her scant blue robes clinging about hor pretty feet, and her scarf catching on overy thorn, to where young Ilivas sat sketching on tho old stone wall at the garden foot, wearing his bicycle dress, whose knee breeches and jacket wore perhaps something as noar the Old Florentine as ho dared to approach in these parallels. Joe could not hut acknowledge that the dark young artist, lithe and slender, and the sylph hurrying under the arched pathway, with her long nnbraided brown hair streaming round her and away in the wind, made a pleasant pic ture. Yet it vexed him that it should be mad" by his ltosa, who six months ago had been all but his wife, plauniug their house and home with him, choosing their chairs and sofas, "till bedeviled by this medieval idiot and his sister," growled Joe. Then a spasm of humility seized him, and he didn't wonder she preferred the Italian beantv of the yonth to his own giant stature and Saxon tints, the novelty of the ono to the long usage of tho other. For all that it had occurred to him that ho might counteract a portion of the be devilment by seeing if there wore any thing in this sad sister Gladys; yet, on the whole, he was too hnrt and angry and disgusted to trj , and he rubbed his short yellow curls, aud flashed his great gray eyes at them, and strode away gnawing his mustache, after one dismal glimpse of Rosa <-itching up the clinging skirts to dance down the path more trippingly, and waving her scarf with her arm, whose cunning disposi tion was tho nearest that she, in turn, dared approurh to angel slecres. Joe knew that the girl in tho long, sulphur colored gown opening over olive green velvet, reading a book as she walked with downcast head and face, was Gladys, and he knew jnst why she walked there, and that at this mo ment his great figure cast a shadow at hor feet, but he would none of her. and went back for a little solace to Aunt Eunice. " I saw you," said the good bnt con trary and old-fashioned soul, " from the window. And I saw that bilious-look ing girl making eyes at you. Hhe looks like the 'lady' in the lobster. Rut don't yon bo troubled, Joe. Only have patience, and it will all come right. i Rosa isn't really a fool yet. Y'on go right on furnishing yonr house as if nothing hsd been said or done." "I don't know that I want to," said Joe, gloomily. "Don't know that yon want to?" cried Annt Eunice. " Then there is really more mischief done than I feared. Don't know that yon want to? Joe, if yon don't want to, I'll sae yon for breach of promise myself." It was a long snmmer to poor Joe who had expected by this to be revel ing in an ideal world of bappinoas. with a charming wife at Niagara in June, at Newport in July, at the Crawford Notch in Angnst, and in Septem ber settling in their home in the Boston suburbs, tho home that was to be nothing bnt a nest of love and mnsio and joy and goodness. And here was Rosa never letting him mention the subject, planting her snnflowers over, and rescuing bnt two of them from the birds again, going about with her little thumb through a palette patched in dullest colorsjof old gold and dirty green, or spending hours over her easel where sn ethereal pot of impossible lilies was trying to pat on—or off semblance of reality, draping old iron ing blankets at her windows, and talk ing of the ineffable dream of dead light blooming in the slumber of their Uwny folds, uttering further fanfaronade of spiritual, idyllic and realistic whims and living in any world bnt his world. It was altogether too much for poor Oonain Joe. He could enduro the hate fulness of it all no longer ; ltoaa in all aorta of gowns bnt.her wedding gown, in all aorta of postures but her old one of his worshiper; Rosa with a wall o' separation growing up between herself and bim ; Rosa rapt in the contempla tion of vanities and the admiration of this little painting chap, who waa so rapt in the same admiration that he did not need hers—it was all detestable, a nightmare from which it wai time to wake, an experience that it was best to be done with. Joe bad had as many sleepiest nights and bitter days as he oared to lire through; he would cnt the knot once and for ail, and be off; and forget her. His friend Arkwright'a bark was at Long Wharf now, fitting out for Australia ; ho would take passage in her, and put himself beyond sight and hearing of what tormented him. And when he was gone, perhaps Rosa would mitts him, and begin to listen to reason— Hut no; on the whole, he didn't know thut ho wanted her to do so. And then he asked himself what in the world, in that case, was he making all this fuss about ? There sho was now, down by tho bed of sunflowers that had not como up, and where the weeds had como up—but Rosa had joined the school that loved weeds tending those two tall late stems that were just beginning to open their big disks when all the other sunflowers had withered. " That is just tho thing," said Rosa lys, as ho approached. " They como, you see, when no ono else has them, and just as if they knew all atmut the fancy party in Gladys' garden to-night. The idea of your being Guy of War wick, Joe I Just the representation of brute strength. As if there wore any poetry or beauty or soul food in such a part! lam to lie the Morning Htar. That means something—" "It might mean everything." " You never can be serious, Joe." "It's enough for the garden party to bo serious. A garden party in October I No ices." " Those that don't like out doors can stay in doors, yon know. I shall be everywhere. And I shall wear ono of these great shining suns just over my heart, the buds trailing down the front and side, and ending in tho other great shining one on my train. Won't that lie delicious 7" "If it were on any ono else sho would be taken for an Indian squaw, that'H all." " Well, it isn't on any one else ; it's on me. Gladys is to lie Twilight, but I am going to lie the Morning Htar, you know," she cried, with her rosy smile and breaking dimples. " And I am going to be just too—" " Utter," said Joe. Bhe looked at him iu a moment of doubt. "If you are making fun of me, Joe, you can't—you cau't—" "Expect to bo considered Early English." "Oh!" cried Rosa. "You, Joe? It is too—it is too—" " Un-utter-able," said Joe, stalking off just before Rosa began to cry. Rosa alwavs was a bsbv. "We are all going into Boston this afternoon to s matinee," said Emetine, 1 who bad, to tell the trnth, straggled in resisting an inclination to turn ber i into ay, but who had come out victo rious, and njw looked on her sister j Kosaljs and the two Rivase* a* a por petnml entertainment, as she told Joe. in urging him to have patience; for she was sure the machinery was not strong enongh to hold the curtain np much i longer. " What do you think I" she ' ; added, walking ba<-k with Joe. " Aunt ' I Kunioe ha* been reading it np in the : English pspcrs, and she says she is de- I termined to see the new plsy Persever ance—no, that isn't the word. It isn't Procrastination either. Ob, Patience— yoa. They give it to day, and she has had the tickets bought; they are st Charlie's office, where we rendezvous, and we can all bo at home in time for i tea. And I rely on you, Joe, to help mc out, for I shouldn't be shit surprised to see Aunt Eunice on the stage—" " Palling HaphiPs hair or tearing oil Oroevenor's lily. Yes, Pre seen Pa tience, as well as tried its perfect work." And, accordingly, as merry a crew as the twenty love-sick maidens themselves were at the doors of theMnsentn, where Patience had begun its career, that warm autumn afternoon, Joe grave, and supporting Aunt Eunice, who looked like a queen about to do justioe on an heir-apparent, bnt Emetine and Charles and John and Marion and Hal and I and the rest, all but Mr. Rivas, full of quivering exoitement over the sup pressed fun of seeing Rosslys and Oladya shd their painting chap put to the burlesque. I don't remember that I ever saw any thing more ludicrous than Annt Eunice in the flrst scene of ths love-sic* maid ens. She evidently had not the faintest idea of burlesque or satire; she had supposed she wae going to a melodrama or one of the light comedies of ber youth, hardly having been in a theater for twenty years. Bat those dreary damosels! " Why don't thay pnt their clothes on properly?" she was matter ing; " and sew up their sleeves? Love sick maidens I Shameless hussies t Talking in that fashion. ' To-day he is not wellf And I shouldn't think he would be after eating butter with a tablespoon!" Bnt when Mr. Bunthornc made his appearance my annt began to writhe in her seat; when he read his vemea she nntied her bat and threw the strings back violently; not a smile die turlied the majestic contempt on her countenance, and with the last words of the >ong, " Why, what a most particu larly pure young man this pnro young man most be I" she turned to mo with a gasp, and said: " Tell me, tell me, am I going crazy ? Or la the place really fall of peoplo who have como Lew to isten to tLin abominable fool 7" Vig orous nudges on all tho angles she pre sented, however, brought Aunt Eunice to the recollection ol herself, and she smothered her wrath temporarily, only to havo it blaze np again at tho " Wil low waloy O' of Urosvonor asking Pa tience to inorry him when he had aeon her but throe minntes, as she hoarsely whispered. What Aunt Eunice would have said if she had waited to hear the duet of Reginald and Lady Jane, "Sing ' Rooh to you—pooh, pooh to you I'and that'H what I shall sav," whether she would have found anvtbing delighting and amusing in the attitude and play of tho three handsome young dragoons gotten up regardless of expense in the Hottic*>llian stylo, "perceptively in tense, and consummately utter," I don't know. For when the lovely sunflower scene of tho travesty came, and Oros venor dawned on us again in his beauty, followed by his twenty maidens with their archaic mandolins and lyres and zithers in hand, lovely little shapes out of Fra Angelico's pic tures, wavering and bowing and bend ing and turning and falling in rhytlr tnical circles about him, like so many ethercalized sunflowers, each yearning with hor face toward tho god, Aunt Eunice rose in her might, her bonnet falling into her hand. " Como along," sho said aloud—"come along with me, every one of yon. I won't sit here an other minute and see ]>eople gaping at fools that behave exactly as our Rosalie does with that extraordinary fool of a Rivas!" They might have heard her all across tho theater. I don't know whether they did or not. For, if you will believe it, we dared do nothing else than oloy her; w-- couldn't sit still after th -t, and wo CJUI lu't let Aunt Ennice go o IT ulono in tint infuriated state, and, one and all, we rose and went after her, Emetine an 1 Charles and John and Marion and Joe and Hal and I and the remainder, certainly af fording a s|>ectaclc of as great fools as those upon the stage. However, we knew wo should see the play again; and, for the rent of it, it wt rather fun to us; Aunt Eunice an swered well enough for our LKIJ Jane, and we ha<l a roaring fareo all to our selves on the way home with our rju'jxt and jokes over Aunt Kdnioe's iudignstion —all hut little Itoaalie, who sat rather pale aod still through the uproar, and reading her libretto quite studiously. Our hilarity supported ui over the tea-table, and we had separated to <lre*s for the fancy party, having over come Annt Kunice'a objections, when, just as I closed my door, I beard a sud den little wail from the garden under my window. Looking out through my shutter I saw Rosa among the weeds in her sunflower bed. her hands npon her fsce, and crying bitterly. There were no blossom* on those two sun flower stem*. Joe went stalking over toward her. "Oh !" she said, looking up, her face lovelier than I ever thought it was before, as one last ray of sunlight played in the streaming tear* and the fading blushes and the shining asure eyes, "would you haTe thought it? ltiva* has taken my sun flowers that he knew 1 was nursing so He is going to be Apollo, and he says they suit him so much better, and he will wear them to-night, and paint them to-morrow when they begin to droop, he says, with the kisses of the— of the sun god. And he picked them while I was gono. lie—he stole them 1" " Itivas be dashed!" ! heard Joe aay, or something of the aort. "And—and—oh, Joe, is it true? Have yon taken your passage for Mel bourne? Oh, Joe, aren't you going to take me with you?" And out went the white arms to Joe. But Joe was stoutly drawing back. " I don't know as I want to," be said. And then came ancb another little wail, and Rosa had turned away, biding her face in the hollow of, her pretty lifted elbows. I tmi strictly honorable person. 1 scorn eavesdropping. I polled down the shade. I knew how it wsa all going to end after that, jnst as well as I did when I passed an arbor in Oiadys' gar den that night after almost every one ha>l been obliged to seek shelter from the chilly dews, and aaw the crumpled Morning Htar warmly folded in the arms of Gay of Warwick, whose helmet lifted off showed a great head of yellow carls bending over a rosy little face, where eyes and lips and smiles all looked as if the owner's sensations were bat " jast too jolly utterl"— Harptr't Hattr. The Dog Watch. At the station of Dol, in Brittany, is a French " Hail way Jack," a dog, who makes it his mission to warn people to keep out of danger. The poor creators was once injured by a passing train, baring his nose crashed and a foot cat off. Ever since he watches for each train to bo signaled, and on its arrival limps close to tho train and barks vig orously until it leaves the station and then lios down quietly ontil the next stives. EAPTH FOK THE t I'lt 101 H. It is estimated that a quarter of a bil lion pounds of tea are used every year. Chinese cotton is yellow, and hence the peculiar color of the fabric called nankeen. Egyptian sieves were made of jpy run or rushes; those of horse-hair wort first used by the Gauls. In New Mexico the inhabitants sup plement their dinners with a plateful of honey aunts for deisert. A wind of twenty-five miles an hour, or what sailors would call a stiff breeze, travels 39.07 feet per second. Two hundred beetles, out of 500 spe cies known to inhabit Madeira, are so tar deficient in wings that they cannot fly. The Persians swore by the sun; the Scythians by the air i.nl their cim eters; the Gn-ek and Rom ins by their gods. The artificially fatted ortolan becomes snch a ball of fat that, strung on a wick, it is said to make a very good lamp. When oysters are very crowded they will grow standing on end, side by side, thus producing the worthless, elongated forms known as "strap-oysters" and "stick-ups." In tho Reigian Ardennes, where every aoraof woodland is under the control of professional foresters, a runaway pony managed to elude his pursuers for over eight years and wus Anally shot. The new bell for St. Paul's in London has been cast, twenty-one tons of metal being used in tho operation. The bell weighs 17i tons, being the largest in England and one of the largest in Europe. A bridge now in process of building near Newburg, N. Y., will be one of the most notable of the country, longer than the Niagara Suspension bridge or tbe new London bridge over the Thames. The great Parliament House clock in Ijomlon, tho largest in the world, started running in 1859. It gives an error of but ninety seconds a year ; the larger bells when it strikes are heard at a distance of ten miles, and the smaller ones four or five miles. The horns of the water-snail are hol low tnlies, and when it draws in its horn* th'- eyes disappear down the tnlnw. When tho "optics" are needed again it is only necessary for tho muscles round the tube to oootract, and so to squeeze the tip gradually out. An Allegory. A I iwrcr, an cnthuKiastfc admirer of the late Thomas J. Crittenden, of Ken tucky, contribute* to tbc Bpringfleld li'jibhe<nt an anecdote illustrating bin extraordinary power orer a jury: Mr. Crittenden VM engaged in defend ing a man who bad been indicted for a capital offense. After an elaborate and powerful defense be closed bin effort by tbe following atriking and beautiful allegory: " When God, in Hia eternal counsel, conceived tbe thought of man'a creation, He oalled to Him tbe three minister* who wait constantly npon Hia throne- Justice, Truth and Mercy—and thus addressed them: 'Hhall we make man T " Then said Justice, 'O God I make him not. for he will trample upon Thy laws.' Truth male answer also, ' O God ! make him not; for he will pollute Thy sanctuaries.* " But Mercy, dropping upon her knees, and looking up through her tears, exclaimed, 'OGodt make him ; I will watch over him and aurround him with my care through all the dark paths which be may baTe to tread.' Then God made man, and said to him, ' O man! Thou art tbe child of Mercy; go and deal with thy brother."* The jury, when he finished, was in tears, and against evidence, and what must have been their own convictions, brought in a speedy verdict of not gnilty. An Intelligent Dog. Onr friend, It. T. Brooks, tells a dog story which is worth repeatinv; in print: Some three or four weeks ago Mr. Brooks sold a setter dog to Mr. Albert Goodnow, the owner of a} new miloh cow which daily appeased the appetite of her offspring and yielded qnite a quantity of milk besides A week or two sfter purchasing the dog Mr. Good now observed that, for some reason not apparent, the cow seemed to be giving lees milk than formerly; be also ob served tbat the dog was fatting up un accountably. It was not long, however, before both mysteries were solved. Entering the barn one day Mr. G. found the cow standing patiently, with the calf on one aide of her partaking of its noon-day meal, while on the other aide stood the dog, drawing nourish ment from the same reservoir. —Natid (MOM.) (Viitm. At Zwicken, Baiony, spectacles have ivred a very short-righted mare of shy ing. How many poor animals have been beaten on aooonat of a natural de- I feci in the eyosl HC-'IEJITIPIC SCKAPH. Berlin Lm now nearly 1,000 mile* of telephone wire*. A Oornian scientist find* that the true color of perfectly pure distilled water in a fine deep-hlac green. There is noma reason to believe that ants produce sounds of such a high pitch that they are inaudible to the hu man ear. • An American anatomist maintains that owing to the diminution in hard knocks and butting, the human skull is becoming thinner. The invention of flreproof paper seems to leave no excuse for the de struction by tire of public records and other valuable manuscripts. It has lately been proven experiment ally that calomel may l>e decomposed in the human system with the forma tion of eorroMve sublimate—a powerful poison. Two kinds of preservative paper have recently come into use. One of them is for wrapping fruit to prevent its decay, and the other is a preventive of the action of moths. Both are said to be effective. M. Bordier has been investigating the history of the plague called treating V.ckness, with a view of showing that the blonde races of Europe have a special aptitude for it. It first appeared in IMS, during the war of the roses. An electric signal apparatus on a French railway causes the blowing of a steam whistle upon a locomotive ap proaching a danger signal. The engi neer is thus warned. This apparatus is found valuable in fogs and snowstorms, when ordinary siguals often escape no. tice. In view of the ravages of the phyl loxera, which have so seriously inter fered with vine growing, a French agriculturist has sought to discover a substitute for the vine, and is said to have obtained very good results with a variety of red beet. This beet yields a wine which is said to be equal to many of southern growth, and the plant has the advantage of being adapted to all soils and climates. The " Home or the fold." A story about which there is a fas cination which it is impossible to resist when yon hoar men toll it is that of the " Dome of the Gold." Somewhere in Southwestern New Mexico, in the Sierra Mad re, it is said, there is a wonderful valley. Small, inclosed in high, rocky walls, and accessible only through a secret passage, which is known to but few, is this extraordinary place. It ia about ten acres in extent, and has run ning through it a stream which waters it thoroughly and makes it a perfect paradise, with its exquisite flowers and beautiful trees. In it are thousands of birds of the most brilliant plumage. Running across it is a ledge of pure gold, about thirty feet wide, which glistens in the sunlight like a great golden licit. The stream crosses this ledge, and, as it runs, murmurs around blocks of yellow metal, as other streams do amoug the pebbles. The ledge of gold is supposed to be solid gold and to run down into the center of the earth. The legend ia of Indian origin, and around it clusters a number of Indian stones, in which the name of the ill-fated Montezuma occurs fre quently. The descendants of the Acteaa believe firmly that the day will coma when Montesuma will return and free them from the domination of the de scendants of the Conquistodores. They believe that the money necessary for thia work will be taken from Mad re d'Oro. The secret of the entrance into the valley is supposed to be carefully guarded by a tribe of Indians living near it, and among them ia only com municated to the oldest men. amid the solemn ceremonies of the medicine lodge. Having such a story to work upon, there ia little wonder that the vivid imagination of the Mexican should have built upon it tales of men who have found this wonderful piece. One is that a certain Jose Alvsm-n, while wander ing through the mountains in search of game, asw the valley from the top of ono of the walls. Finding that he could not hope to enter it by climbing down, he took np his abode with the Indiana who guard the canon leading into it. The daughter of the chief fell in lore with him and betrayed the secret to him. Exactly how aha found it out they do not tclL Having been shown the entranoe Jose went in, and would possibly have got away with some of the gold had he not weighed himself down to such an extent that he oould not get up the declivity at the lower end of the passage. He was discovered, and the Indiana naorifloed him on the golden ledge with all of the I err ibis cere monies of the old Astec religion. The girl, in despair at losing him, threw herself from the high walla into the valley below. Hundred* erf prospectors bavo spent mouths of toil trying to find the Madre d'Oro, it is scarcely necessary to nay, widfwk result. Dakota Territory's oath valuation is almost M 5,000,000.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers