How the King Lost Ills Crown. Tho kins'* mon, wlnn ho hml slain tho b<>*r, Strung him aloft on tho lishor'a oar, And, two behind and two before, In trinmi>h boro him atong tho ahoro. An oar I save the king; 'tin a triflo !—why Did tho fisher frown and tlio good wifo aigti ? A triflo, airo I was tho fool'a reply; Ttien (rown or langti who will; for I, W ho tailgti at all ami am only a (down, Will never moro laugh at trifloal A rtuinor next day leaped down tho aand, And launched a akilT from tho tiaher'a otrand; For ho cried—An army invadoa tho land I The paaaoa aro seized on either hand I And I must carry my message straight, Across tho lake to tho castle gate t * • Tho caatlo ho uearoJ, but tho waves wore groat, Tho fanged rooks foamed like tho jaws of Fate; Ami lacking an oar tho lmat wont down. Tho Furies laugli at triilos I The swimmer against tho waves began To strive as a valiant swimmer can. Methinks, said the fool, 'twere no had plan If suecor wero sent tho drowning man ! To sncoor a periled pawn instead, The monarch, moving his rook ahead, ltowed over the chessmen, white and rod, Have chock!—then looked on tho lake and said, Tho boat is lost, tho man wilt drown I • * * Ob, king ! be ware of trifles ! To tho lords, tho mirthful dames, the bard Was trolling his lxh st song: the guard Were casting dice in tho castlo yard; And tho captains all wore drinking hard. Then came tho chief of tho halberdiers, And tol l to the king's astounded ears; An army on every side appears ! An army with banners, and bows and spears I They liavo gained tho wall and surprised the town I • * • Our fates are woven of trifles I The risl usurper rraehol tho throne; Tho tidings over tho realm were Mown; And flying to alien lands alono With a trusty f- w, tho king rnvlo moan. ♦ • * But long and loudly laughed tho clown; We broke tho oar and the lioat went down; And so the messenger chanced to drown; The messenger lost, we lost tho town; And the loss of tho town has coat a crown; Ar.d ail these things are trifles ! Our Continent. A SUNFLOWER. " I shall wear a sunflower in ray hair, I tell you." " How queer you will look." " I shall look well." "I beg your pardon, but it is impos sible." ' "Impossible for me to look well?" " Heavens! no, Impossible* to look well with a great horrid weed on your head." " We shall see." " I shall not I am ffoing out of town." "Cannot you get back?" •' I am afraid'not." "Very well. You will hear, then." There was a silence. "Eva, dear," said tho young man at last, lon't make a guy of yourself." " I am sorry if my taste doesn't please you," the girl replied. "Othors may be less difficult. Wo can easily find peoplo to go with us." " Doubtless. And yon will give them the sunflower irom your hair in recom pense. Well—enjoy yourself. Good-by." They parted in anger, the youug man shutting tho street-door hastily behind him and walking oil without a single backward glance, though Eva stood in tho window watching under her long lashes for some such sign of repent ance. The wicked little creature knew well enough why Phil was so angry. When ho was out of sight she left the parlor and went slowly upstairs to her sister's apartment. Mrs. Kent was in dulging in a headache, which meant a wrapper, a shawl and seclusion with a novel and the morning papers. "Mr. Egerton did not stay long," she remarked, languidly, as Eva en tered. " No. lam afraid he has a shocking temper. It is all for the liest, no doubt," said Eva, mysteriously. "Child, what has happened?" ox claimed Mrs. Kent, dropping her book into her lap. "You have quaiTcled with Philip 1 Ob, yon foolish Eval" " I don't agree with yon. It is quite too soon to begin to dictate about my dress. I shall never be willing to.'givo in to thit extent." " About your dress! How could that be, my dear 1" " Well, Helen —I suppose I must tell you. Of course I don't care about sun flowers, lilies or dandelions especially, but I consider that I have a right to like them if I want to like them, and Phil objecta to them and ridicules them and sneers at certain colors—for reasons of his own—which I like. Now that ia going too far, as yon must acknowledge, Helen, and it makes me a little indig nant. Finally I happened to say that I wonld wear an olive-green dress at the St. Valentine's ball and a sunflower in my hair. Of course I was only joking, but be took it up seriously and assured me I should look horrid, and—jast fancy I—declined to go with ua on the transparent pretense that be was going out of town. He oonld not enduro the sight of me with a horrid sunflower in my hair. Goose I, where did he suppose 1 was going to get a sunflower in Feb ruary P "Oh, I see. He thought it was for. Mr. Maynard, Poor Phil, he is jealous. How can you trifle ao, Evaf " Trifle, Helen ? It is no trifle now, I promise you. If there is a sunflower to be got bofore the I tth, I will wear tho sunflower in my hair at tho boll." Mrs. Kent began to laugh, but look ing at her sister's faeo sbo suddenly re fruiuod, not without some effort, and said mildly. " Yon will think hotter of it by that time, my child." Poor Phil Egorton, walking swiftly down the street, sotting <1 own each foot with a flery and determined stamp, mot a tall, paleyonng man who nodded and then stopped to speak. " I know you oome from Mrs. Kent's," ho said, slow ly and softly. 'Do tell me if the ladies are at homo. It is so chilling to stand and ring and meet a blank de nial." "Miss Wilmarth is at homo—Mrs. Kent is ill," Egorton answered, briefly. "All, thanks—then I will go on," murmured the other, but Phil had hur ried past. " Maynard has gone o rra 1 poetry ou sunflowers to her," so he thought, and despaired, reflecting ou his own lately expressed animosities to that harmless vegetable, " All girls wero alike," muttered tho unhappy young man, " wild after whatever idiocy is tho newest, whether it is in dress or poetry or people. My Eva prefers this May nard to me, and trios to becomo as ab surd as he is by the grace of nature. Weil, I can boar the parting if it comes to that; better than that the other alternative." And ho strode proudly on to his office, where ho made life miserable to liis subordinates all that day. " Eva Wilmarth," said Mrs. Kent, when they were putting on their bon nets to go shopping, with a view to their dresses for the ball. "You don't really mean to stick to your sunflower?" "Yes, I do mean it," replied tho young lady, trying a very dotormined bow nndcr her chin as she spoke. " Never, Helen, never will 1 give op on sneh a subject as that to the best man that lives. ,Wc have a few rights, and I meau to defend them," she con tinued, absently, "to tho end of my bonnet strings. Helen, do yon thiuk they ar.-becoming, tied in this way?' Her eyes in tho glass looked expectant ly at her sister, and her beautiful head leaned forward sideways on tho pause of ilonbt. "Yes, loecoming enough. I know you can wear almost anything but, Eva, yon are only Ave feet one." "So much the better," said Eva, or acularly, and tho sisters departed on their mission. Eva was grave and pre occupied all tho morning, but Mrs. Kent diil not wonder, being well aware that her sister objected more strongly to looking like a fright than to almost anything else; and not herself seeing a way ont of the dilemma. In vain she endeavored to persnade her to change her miml. Miss Wilmarth was Arm as a rock, and went on haying tho differ ent articles for her proposed toilet in tho most business like manner. Tho expedition was long anil fatigu ing " I have a good mind not to go to the ball," said Eva, wearily, when they returned. " I am tired. 1 hate the whole thing." " And your sunflower? ' said her sis ter, wickedly. " Ob, yes, my sunflower! 1 must go to wear it. It is a great pity that people cannot understand each other; though you cannot be always explaining your self, yon know, Helen, because people choose to imagine things." Fbii E Jgerton went ont of town cross and sail, dispatched his business while his thoughts were full of Era, and re turned before the festival of the patron saint of lovers. It was weak, but he could not help it He never cared for any other girl in hi* life. ,Era Wil marth represented ths whole sex to him. Ho felt himself capable of giving np everything tor her, and yet ho be lieved her ready to forsake him for that miserable idiot, Maynard. The moro he thought of it the more impossible it seemed to believe in snch a decelera tion. Time after time he went over the history of tho last few weeks, seeking to trace the progress of her alienation and to ascertain whether by doing any thing that ho hail not done or leaving anything that bo had done this terrible eatastrope might have been averted but be got no light. He passed a dreamfnl week, and in the long nighta, unable to sleep, he meditated on what he could make of his future when Eva was lost to him irrevocably. There were moments when he feared that in losing hor he should also lose himself, and aink into evil excitements to drown the pain that would scathe his life as by fire; but generally his mind settled upon Lesdvillo, or some beneficent polar expedition, as affording a calm rotreat where ho might drag on a maimed and crushed existence till death came to bis rolief. Ho got home then before St. Valentine's, and on the afternoon of tht day be wee sitting in bis oflloe listlessly looking through a pilo of letters that had accumulated during his absenoe. Taking up one of these he suddenly recognized the hand writing, and with a great throb he tore it open. It was a vales tine, a sua flower of goodly proportions, with this motto: " Tho roDHtant flower follows its love, the sun ; My constant heart turneth to thee alimo." Phil wuh thunderstruck und puzzlod. He put his head in his hands und thought it all over again, harder than over before. Ah a result of these re flections ho determined to go to tho ball by himself, in tho character of a spectator. If Mayuard was one of Mrs. Kent's party he would observe them. At least Eva was no flirt; that ho know. Gould it bo that ho nnjust to her, that ho might bo mistaken? Blissful thought 1 if that could by any possibil ity bo true. Ho went early to tho bull and from a quiet lurking-place watched tho ar rivals. At lost they came, Mr. Kent with his wife, Eva escorted by an old bachelor cousin who was considered an almost fatal bore by most people. In the crowd ho could only see the top of Eva's small head, but sho was not accompanied by the odious Maynard, that was sure. Hero was tho odious May nard arriving all by himself, with a se reno air and a lily in his coat. Egerton ccuhl have wept in tho sense of relief. Still he waited, ho had gone through too many phasos of suffering to regain his equilibrium lightly. He paused a quiet hour in his corner before summoning courago to approach Eva. At last he advanced, skillfully concealing his trepidation—at least ho thought ro under u mask of indifference. Bhewas surrounded by admirers and had never looked more lovely to poor Phil's eyes- He raw that her dress was of some darky, rich substance, and that the ar rar-gement of her hair was unlike other people's hair, which gave her, ho thought, a distinguished and peculiar grac \ In reality her gown was olive green velvet, rich white lace at the neck and sleeves, tho only relief to its somber color. Her red-gold hair was dreased high, and on the top of her head a veritable sunflower apparently reposed on its edge in full-blown magnificence like a star, or rather a sun. liow tho thing was fastened only she and her hair-dresser knew, but there it was among the brighter lings and curls that shone tho brighter from contrast with its dingy yellow and brown. Mi i Wilmarth was small and dainty in figure, she had large blue eyes and a charming complexion, her childish lilies and roses w. re as well Fet off by her grave dress as her curls and dainti ness by the cumbrous head ornament; ht was a fairy, a dryad, a beautiful masquerading child. it was highly probable that sunflowers in the hair would be do rigueur tho rest of the season. Egerton made his bow and receivxl a sweet, confiding, self-pa'.hetic smile. "Good-evening," she said, softly, "I am glal you got back. I thought per haps you would. Is not evcrbody looking nice to-night ? Yes, my sister is bore; do you not see her in the second set ? I havo been dancing; I am a little ti red." Tojtidgofrom her fanner nothing hal happened. Egerton gasped and accepted the situation. "I found I could come back," be M il, hypocritically, "and of conrso I did my best, though I am rather late in finding my way to you. It struck him that lie was on dangerous ground here, and he hastened off it. "now beautifnlly you look, dearest," the poor fellow said, rapturously, "I never saw yon dressed so perfectly." Eva's month quivered, and the long lashes fell over hercyes to conceal their laughter. When she cauld trnst her voice she said simply, " I am pleased that you like my dross, for it is a fancy of my own." " I am sure no one elso could design anything so effective," answered the euamorod Phil. " But you remember you did not think it would be pretty when I spoke of wearing olive green and a sun flower." " That was—some time ago. And I was a fool to suppose 1 knew anything about a woman's dress. Darling Eva, did yon send me a valentine f " Yes, Phil," said Eva, •• I did." Out of this turmoil there emerged peace for Egerton. He need no longer yearn for the miuo or the pole. He thought of himself as a vandal of the deepest dye while he looked at the lieantifnl creature wearing her sun flower with the serene, unconscious grace of a child princess. What was he then to dictate in snob ineffable mat ters ? Did he know anything lmyond cropped hair and a stovepipe hat ? Mrs. Kent came np radiant. " How senslblo of yon to come bade in time for the ball 1" said she. " How many valentines bavo yon ha 1 this year 7' And they all laughed. A little Hooteh terrier, ab.nt ten years of age, belonging to G. D. Daggett of Boston, suddenly disappeared, and was Anally found in the homceopathio hos pital In West Concord street. It had presented itself at the dispensary with a broken leg, and barked at the door until admitted. Proper surgioal atten tion was (iren it, the dog quietly sub mitting. TOPICS OP THE BAY. Btatiaticians estimate that tho popu lation of this country Las increased over 1,000,000 sinco the taking of the eonHUH in 1880, making our population upward of 52,000,000. It is believed that in IHOO it will approximate 00,- 000,000. Tho Nashville (Tennessee) American makes the curious statement that there seems to bo a pretty general belief in that Htate that tho extraordinary rains of tho past season havo prepared a drought for Tonnof-seo and failuro of crops next summer. A society has boon organized in Can ada for the purpose of encouraging tho establishment of a teetotal colony. One thousand acres of luml havo been se cured of the government, and are of fered to strictly tcinpcrato persons at les than tho established rate. Notwithstanding tho American corn petition, which caused Kwiss watch makers great anxiety not long ago, their trado has been prosperoUH of lato, and wages havo been largo for Bwilzerland. But tho financial crush in Paris and heavy losses in Vienna havo affected the industry, and largo orders for tho French and Austrian markets havo been countermanded. Professor Goexsman, of tho Massa chusetts Agricultural college, has con firmed by reoont investigation his be lief that ho Los found a cure for tho "yellows," that arch enemy of peaches and of tlioso who eat them. Now if tho learned professor will turn his at tention to the mysturious complaint which distorts the vision of the peach while tho crop is maturing, he will de servo still better of his country. Mary tun Hermann, th poor lunatic of Cbarlestown, Ind., who beat Tanner at liis own gamo and died uftcr a hixty three dnr' fad, uttered only one cry of suffering during her long period of tor ittro, and that wav shortly before her dcatb, when, singulnrly enough, a se vere attack of mumps was added to her miseries. During the last twelve days of her lifo alio lo*t t* nty pounds in weight, and at the time of her death weighed pcircely tn re than seventy five pounds, having lod 105 pounds in all during the fast. A young man in Denver, Col., while engaged in repairing an electric lamp, ; moan tod a high rtep ladder, and, with a wire in each hand, was about to con l neet the circuit when the current wa 1 turned on. The shock completely par alysed Lira, and he fell backward off the ladder. 110 has brought a unit for damages against the company, and the trial will be an interesting one. He claims that the current was turned on | before the mitral tunc, which the com pany denies. One sido of his fa-w is still paralyzed, and the doctors thinPi l will remain so the rest of hi* life. A aciontifie feat never before at tempted with success ha* l>eon accom pli-bed in Cleveland, Ohio, whpre Bich ard Jahr, a German student In | photography, has photographed Pres ident Garfield's tomb by moon light. Jahr ha!*••. There are 1,143 Presbyterians ir Texas, with forty churches. The Methodist church extension board aided 410 churches the past year. Tho annual Htato convention of the j Y nng Men's Christian association will • next year bo held at Newburg on the 1 Hudson. A third Presbyterian church has been | organised in Cxaton, China with , twenty-eight members. Two native elders wore chosen. The Methc 8,320; New Jersey, 13, Illinois, lows, 20,812. Tho Balvation army recently had a " demonstration " of" reclaimed drunk ards " in City hall, Glasgow. Addresses wero made by tho reformed, and the hall rang with cheers, *ongs of rejoicing and hallelujahs. "Major" Edmonds said the army bad 30,000 souls in the United Kingdom who wero teetotalers. He Never I.xld it Down. Years ago into a wholesale grocery in an Eastern city walked a tall, mus cular man evidently a fresh comer from some Itackwoods town. Accosting the first person he met, who happened to be the merchant himself, he asked: " You don't want to hire a man in your store, do yon ? * "Well," said the merchant, " I don't know. What can yon do " I)o f said tho man, " I rather guess I can turn my hand to almost anything What do yon want done f " Well, if I was to hire a man, it would be oue that could lift well, a strong, wiry fellow; one, for instance, that could lift a sack of coffee like that yonder and carry it across the store and never lay it down." " There, now, cap'n," said the countryman, "that's just me. c.u lift anything I can hitch to. Yon can't suit me better. What will yon give a man that suits yon T' "1 11 tell you," said tho merchant, " if you shoulder that sack of coffee and carry it across the store twice and never isy it down, I will hire you for one year at one hundred dollars a month." " Done," said the stranger. By this lime every clerk in the storo bad gathered around and was waiting to joiu in the laugh against the ma who threw the sack across hi* shoulder with perfect ease, end carrying it twie across the floor, went to a large hook which was fastened to the wall and hang it ap, then tamed to the merchant and said: " There, now, it may hang there til doomsday. I shall never lay it down. What shall Igo about, mutter T Just give me plenty to do and one bandied dollars a month and it's all right," The clerks broke into a lausrh, and the merchant discomfited yet satisfied kept bis agreement, and to-day the gren countryman is the senior partner in the firm and worth n million dollar* Tea-Tasting. A New York paper thus describes the operation of tea listing an performed in a tea broker 1 * office by profeMionaJ tea-tasters: Drawing near to the table, wbero the attendant is engaged in pre paring a set of sample* for the tea taster, a clear insight tnav he gained aa to the manner in which the operation of tea-tasting is conducted. The at tendant takes a small quantity of tea from the canister, and 'place* as much of it in the diminutive scales jn the center of the table as will balance a silver half dime. He then drops the tea into ono of the caps, which are made of fino porcelain and hold abont half a gill. The samples to Ire tasted having been disposed of in the various cups, he fills the latter with boiling water from the nrn. The toa-taster then holds each of the enp* in turn be neath liis nostrils to catch the aroma exhaled, which is of great aasistance in enabling him to determine the quality. When the tea has sufficiently cooled to bo not mach more than lukewarm, he proceed* to test it try tasting it. This operation is conducted with much solemnity and deliberation, the toa taster closing his eye* as if to shut himself out from the world, and insist ing on the strictest silence being main tained by those around him as long as the test is in progression. He only takes a few sips from each cap, but sometimes he applies himself a second, a third, and even a fourth time to the same sample. The tests having been made, the tea-taster renders a decision as to the quality of the dif ferent teas he has sampled, and the values at which they should be rated in the market. By many it may be thought that tho matter of de- J riding as to the quality of different kind* of tea must depend largely upon individual ideas an 1 taste. As far as tb" professional tea taster is concerned, this is a popular delusion. Tea-tasting, in a professional sense, is very decided ly a trade in itself, and like most other trades has to be learnol by dint of ap i plication and experience. That it ianot merely a question of individual twte is demonstrated by the fact that when, as is often tho case, a certain set of sam ples is submitted to several tea-tasters, acting independently of each oilier, tho various opinions rendered as to quality an 1 value are almost invariably identi ; eal. fij delicate arc t'uo perceptions of | the tea-taster that ho quickly and ae j curately grades the different samples ! submitted to him, rocoguizing the most minute gradations, and in many in stances pronouncing the part of the country in which a certain tea was I grown. In the same way the judgment of the tea-taster* purchasing tea in I China for the importers, as a general rule, coincides with thsi of the tea tasters hero. Tho tea trade is divided into four dis- I tinct branches—the importer, tho bro ker, tho jobber and the retailer. The wholesale price of tea ranges from ten to seventy cents per pound. The im porter's pmflt is a moderate but re munerate Ano, the largest percentage ' of profit, from forty to sixty per cent., falling to the retailer. When a con signment of tea is received by the im j porter samples of the consignment, I which often consists of different kind* of tea, are sent to the broker, who dis posal of it to tho largo retailers or to the jobbers, who in tarn sell in leaser quantities to tho smaller retailors. The broker reoeives one per cent, commis sion on mil sales effected by him. The tea taster act* in the interests of the broker, to whose advantage it is to have a correct estimate of the quality and value of the tea he is handling, in order to satisfy and retain his custom ers. There are but a few professional tea-tasters in New York. Altogether they do not number more than thirty or thirty-five at most. They are generally men of long experience in the tea trade, and many of them havo acted as buyers in China for large importers in New York. The occupation of a tea-taster can scarcely be termed a healthful one. The constant absorption of tea super induces a nervous, excitable condition and occasionally leads to nervous dis eases and attacks of insomnia. The in jury sustained by constant tea-sampling differs in individuals, bat is more or less marked in aIL The calling is pe cuniarily a very profitable one. Polygamy in cub. " Cpnn the question of suppressing polygamy in Utah," uji Our Continent., " there seems to be a substantial unity among the churches. Almost every pulpit sounds the trumpet of alarm to a congregation in thorough sympathy with the sentiment expressed, Hardly a town or village of the Northern States having in it a single hoevenwarJ-point ing spire has failed to make it* voice brand in denunciation of this far-away evil of Me Western plains. Perhaps the hast that they were firing at long range has not tended to make the bom bardment of the • Prophet's' stronghold any less futons." Hay not a }arr be eaid to be aalflah [ when they have a greed.