The Greater Wrong. He murdered her, you] nay—with one quick blow In her fair breast lot all her young life out, And then, abov i her, with a maniac's shout And shriek, rejoicoJ to see her lying low. He struck her down, you say, in lifo's glad spring, When hope and faith and love and joy were strong In her glad heart, and life was like a song: There oould not bo, you think, a sadder thing. I have seen murder that was fouler far: I have seen sweet hope slain, and joy, and faith, And tender true love stricken unto death, With weapons swoot as smiles and kisses are. The quick, sharp biow that does not mar nor miss, Nor torturo long, but lets the white soul go Unrobbed of all the best that souls can know, la very tenderness, compared to this. —Cai luCia Perry, i a Lippincott. AUNT DEBDRAH'S DRUDGE. I had workel in Annt Deborah's kitchen till nobody expected anything else of me. I had been retained in the house on sufferance at first, becanse Aunt Deborah's brother, my father, had run throngh all his property and was only distinguished for his shiftlessness and the size of his family. I suppose I was never missed from that superabund ant home oircle; anyway, they never came to see me nor never inquired after me, that I know of. Aunt Deborah had a great deal of company, being a rich and childless widow, and fond of society. But no one ever noticed me. I was not even snubbed, for it was not worth while to enub a mere drudge like me. My cousin, Elsie Allston, was also a member of my aunt's family, but she received very different treatment from that which fell to my lot. Her father was auntie's favorite brother; therefore she was educated and was understood to be certain of a homo and life's com forts always and of a fortune at Aunt Deborah's death. Yet I did not envy my fortunate cousin, for while I was let alone, and at least took pride in the consciousness that I earned my own living, Elsie was continually being taunted with her de pendence, and was kept in abject ser vility by constant threats of disinherit ance. Elsie would have been kind to me if I had allowed it, but I bad a sort of pride which forbade me to receive pat ronage from any one. I must be re ceived on an equal footing or not at all. The only pleasure of my life was un limited liberty to use the books in ray ..ant's great and ever-increasing library My rough work unfitted my hands for sewing, a fact for whioh I was suffi ciently thankful, as it increased my leisure hours. For the first two or three years of my stay I read novels exclusively. But ono of the novels happened to have a noblo and aspiring woman for its hero ine. Somehow, the story of that life haunted me day and night and I re solved to bo somothi'ig worthy of love and respect, whether I ever received my reward or not. My first step was to map out a line of thought and conduct, and a course of reading. My intellectual natnre was to be molded by some of the best books :n my aunt's library, and that ideal woman of whom I had read was to be my moral lever, lifting mo into an atmosphere of self-forgetting holiness and love. I believed that if Annt De borah's drudge never had an opportu nity of showing her devotion to the hnman race, her own sonl would grow rich by the quiet effort. It had been years since I formed this resolution when Mr. Gleason, forming one of a party of visitors, came to my aunt's house. But having oompany to cook for in the summer had come to be a settled thing, and all company meant to me was more drudgery and less time to read. There was no prophetio voice to whis per to my heart on the morning of Mr. Gleason's arrival that my fate, my hope and my despair, my blesaic g and my misery, bad come to me. He was only one more guest, to be cooked for and to be waited npon by the drndge. One day Elsie came to me with her aweet, weak face tearful and pleading. 44 Yon must help me, Hannah," said she. 44 Help yon do what, child ? " 44 T0 keep Aunt Deborah's good-will and marry Mr. Gleason. You see Mr. Gleason is very poor, and if aunt threat ens to disinherit me it may lessen my chanoes of getting him." I think my astonishment and disgust showed themselves in my faoe as I an swered : jf "Have you so little oonfldenoe in your prom<sed husband? So little faith, and yet willing to be his wifo?" She made an im| a'ient gesture, f 44 You don't understand," she said, alowly and nnblusbingly. 44 He has not yet asked me to be his wife, bat he will. lam enro he will I He does not love me very mnoh, bnt when we are married and he sees my devotion it will be different. 44 Then she put ber faoe in my apron and sobbed bitterly, and I knew by her tears that she had many misgivings. " How oan I help you'T" I asked. " I don't know," she replied throngh hor tears; " but you can manage any thing, lam snre. Annt Deb says you are to this bouse what grease is to an axle; that is, yon seem to make every thing run tmoothly." I could not help smiling as I re plied: "That is the first compliment I over received, and I think it an exceedingly doubtful one. It cannot be expeoted that a kitchen drudge oan successfully intermeddle in so delicate a matter as a love affair. Why, Elsie, I was nover in love in all my life, and I daily pray Heaven to preserve me from any such calamity, becanse the man I oould love would not notioe such a person as I seem to be." "1 don't know," said Elsie, dubious ly, and for the time forgetting her troubles. "There is something about you different from other servants— something strong and masterful; but I think you are troubled with morbid sensibilities. Promise that you'll help me if you can, Hannah." " Yes, I can make that promise with perfect safety," I replied. I formed a little plan of aotion very speedily. That evening I went to Aunt Deborah's room, and being bidden to enter, my first words were: " I suppose yon mean to leave Elsie penniless, if she marries a poor man." " Yes," replied she, "I have secured for her the offer of a very eligible hns" band. If she does not see fit to accept him her future must be whatever she makes it." " Then," said I, " Elsie's loss will bo my gain, I hope. Don't fail to consider mo after she has flung away her chances for some day beooming your heiress." Aunt Deborah looked at mo steadily for a moment, as if she felt inclined to think I was taking leave of my senses; then she sat in her chair and langhed long; laughed until her round face was very red indeed. As soon as she was in a condition to speak, she said: "Yon had better have practicod awhile on some one else before yon tried to overcome my purpose with strategy. Your face betrays yon. Yon are not earnest enough, and you are most mortally ashamed of yourself. You know that I am contrary and yon know that lam always angry with the person that wrongs Elsie; therefore, yon thought that by making me angry with yourself, you could get me to vow eternal fidelity to Elsie. Not so. It is just as I have said. Elsio must obey mo or she will not receive a penny from me. As for you, you have strength and ability to earn your own living. Yon know how to work, and do not care for the luxury that money brings. Yon do not need my money, and further, I do not believe you want it." I tamed away with a bitter smile. How little did my aunt know of my tastes, only because I was too proud to make them known 1 And my intended aid to Elsie bad proved a failure. The next afternoon, having a leisure hour, I went into the library, intending to carry a book up to my room ; but becoming interested in the volume I had selected I forgot my purpose, and seated myself near a window in an ob scure corner. Not long after the door opened, and Air. Gleason entered. He spent Bome time searohiug among the books, and at last turned to the door with empty hands and an air of dis appointment. Then I rose and sug gested that I might perhaps bo able to find for him whatever he wanted. He tamed and surveyed me for a brief moment; then asked: " Whom do I address?" "Hannah Allston, theoook and floor scrubber," I answered. "I was searching for a work on archi tecture, and am disappointed at not finding it, because I wished to settle a warm argument, fast descending to dis pute, which I left in fall progress in the drawing room. I am snre I oonld establish my point if I had the book I saw here yesterday." I returned to the afore-mentioned comer, aid produced the volume I had been perusing with so mnoh inteieat. "This is probably what yon were looking for, sir,'' I said. He took the volume from my hand with evident pleasure and just as evi dent surprise. " La lies do not usually caro for this* sort of literature," he said, apologeii cally, when he saw that I had read his face. I replied : " L idies have little incentive to care for such things,because society promptly and most emphatically discourages all saoh indications of strong mindedness. Of course it can make no difference to a woman whether the house she lives in is built in Corinthian, Doric or Oothio style, or has no style at all. In her affectation of pretty, childlike sim plicity is considered very interesting,and if she can be interesting, why need she aspire to become intelligent ?" 41 1 think yon are mistaken, Miss All ston. I think the days when a woman was admired for her ignoranoe may safely be named in the past tense." 14 You aro a man of society, and ought to know; bnt my small field of observation has shown me that some women, at least, affect frivolity and aim" plieity in the presence of oompany' from which I inferred that sooiety ad* mires that sort of women. " Perhaps it does, after a fashion,'' he replied with a smile. " But depend npon it, Miss Allston, the scepter of belleship was never yet wrested from an intelligent conversationalist by an ignorant woman, even though the bril liant woman has a much plainer face than the other. Poople love to be en tertained, and one who can offer wit and wisdom without pedantry is sure to be admired, and, if she can add genuine unselfishness to hor list of accomplish ments, to be loved also." "Perhaps," said I. "But have you not forgotten to return to the drawing room?" "Thank you for the reminder, Miss Allston; may I venture to hope that this will not be our last meeting?" " I am, as I told you, a servant, and prefer not to bo patronized. We mot by accident. If we meet again, I shall not recognize you." He smiled good-humoredly, bowed, said "Wo shall see," and turned away. I felt vexed with myself for having conversed so freely with a stranger, and made sundry good resolutions by which my future deportment was to be gov erned. I do not understand what there was in the trifling event just narrated to stir my nature, but that night I did not close my eyes till 3 o'clock. I began to hate myself for having remained so long in a menial position without a sin gle struggle to rise above it. A beauti ful thought came to me at last, with the suddenness of inspiration. I had in many instances proven myself to be a good nurse for the sick. I had more than once administered simple remedies with success in the absence of a physi cian. I had been fascinated by the study of anatomy and physiology; why not add to these a knowledge of tliera pentics? Why not become a physician, practicing among women and children? The thought was healing oil to my troubled spirits, and I was soon asleep, happily ignorant of the long struggle entailed upon me by my resolution, of the cost of medical courses and the dif ficulty of persuading patients that a woman can be fit to undertake a "case." It was wonderful how often Mr. Glea son found it necessary, after that, to como to the pump at the kitchen door for a drink, and how he persisted in not noticing the glass which I placed there for his accommodation, but must always come into the kitchen, no matter how busy I and trouble me to get one for him, and pause awhile to talk. I found out one thing. I could talkj and no one had over tried to draw me out boforo. I was not alarmed when I found that I watched eagerly for his coming. I told myself that no one whose friend ship was worth caring for had ever be fore treated me like a rational being and an equal, and that had this friend been a woman, my love would have been just the same. We talked on every subject, from the lore of legends to international politics, and I never dreamed that it was more than the pleasure of speaking on sub jects remote from puddings and pies that made mo care for Mr. Gleason. I had a terrible awakening. One day he was jnst leaving mo when a voice on the lawn was heard to call oat: " Where's Mr. Gleason ?" " Down in the kitchen, I suppose, courting the oook," was the answer, more suggestive than ladylike. It was not the heat of the stove that made my face bnrn at that moment, and the thought flashed into my mind that I had an unquestionable right to be courted, just as Mr. Gleason re-entered the room and said : "That coarse jest on the lawn has made me resolve to ask you now what I had intended to defer to a later day. I love you, Miss Allston ; will yon be my wife ?" ,s Oh, no, no, Mr. Gleason I Where is yonr honor, to trifle with the affections of Elsie, then seek to wed me ? lam surprised beyond measure. I thought better of yon. Go 1" " I cannot toll what you may have heard," he replied with a pale, stern face, "but I have certainly been no more attentive than courtesy demanded. 1 had dared to hope for a different an swer. Ton have accused me of dis honor. That parts us." Then he was gone. The same day he departed from my Aunt Deborah's. "A sudden fanoy for sketohing among the mountains. Never thinks of anything hut his art," complained the guests. The following day Elsie's engagement was announced to the person whom Aunt Deborah had chosen for her. She could not live without plenty of money she said. Six years passed, during the most of which I was not in communication with Aunt Deborah or any of my relatives, t'uey having with one acoord refused to forgive me for being " strong-minded " end persisting in the stndy of medi oine. Thoy were yeara of hard work and almost unendurable loneliness. I was engaged in professional labors in a village in Vermont. One day a messenger came in great baste to call me to the bedside of a stranger who was very ill, perhaps dy ing. No male physician was to be found. Would Igo ? I hesitated but a single moment. How thankful was 1 afterward that I obeyed the impulse ol mercy, and cast aside that of prudery ! It was Mr. Gleason I When ho became conscious, days afterward, he reached feebly for my hand, and said: " This is what I have been praying for. I have found you at last, Han nah." That was five years ago, and now wo have been married jast four years and eleven months, and are us happy as mortals, subject to the ague and thoir neighbors' chickens, can ever hope to be. On our marriage day I threatened to " throw physio to the dogs," but my husband said: "No. You sball always be my phv- Bician." The Old Rail Fence. I am told by foreign tourists that while many of our fences are reflected in those of other lands, the counterpart of the zigzag fence is to be Been in no other country. It is typioal of Yankee land It is known as "Snake of Vir ginia fence," and as a relio of a lavish era of unlimited forestry. History doei not chroniole the name of its inventor, but I have long since learned to cherish a profound respect for the memory of this unknown individual. It is hard for mo to imagine in the person of this primitive rail-splitter the picture of an untutored backwoodsman, and I never follow the course of one of those fences without feeling a certain consciousness that its original builder must have seen his work through eyes artistio as well as practical. The careless abandon of its lines—a repetition of form in which absolute repetition is continually defined by the capricious oonvolntion of the grain, for there are no two rails made in the same mold—and their gray satiny sheen, their weather-beaten stains of moss and lichen, and the ever-changing play of lights and shadows ftom the waving weeds and vines, make the old rail fence truly an object of real beauty in onr landscape. Often have I lingered in its angles, and a hundred times have I thonght of the host of pictures and reminiscences which might fill a book to the glory of a fence corner.— lLurper, America's Coal Fields. Minors in Illinois sre only making $7 a day. Goal dnst is manufactured into bricks in France. All the Canada railroads get their supplies of coal from the United States. The Chesterfield county (Virginia 1 coal mines are the oldest in America. In the manufacture of iron last year in this oountry 9,979.503 tons of coal were used. Coal is being prospected for in the vicinity of Pittsburg, Kan., under very favorable circumstances. Dams and reservoirs with a storage capacity of 100,000,000 gallons have been built in the anthraoite regions of Pennsylvania. Ths biggest tow ever brought down the Mississippi was a fleet of thirty loaded ooal boats and barges recently arrived at New Orleans from Pittsburg. The fear of spontaneous oombustion prevents vessel owners aooepting the high prices offered for freight on bitu minous ooal to Japan. As mneh as $5 a ton has been offered. Nino hundred sqnare miles of coal territory have been developed in Dates and Vernon oountie?, Mo., showing veins six feet in thiokness at a depth of from forty to eighty feet from the sur face. Indians at Baseball. The Modoos are very good base ballists. A very fine game was played on the open prairie between the Modoca and the Peorias. The Peorias appeared to be the more athletio and taller, but the Modoca, although a shorter, squat tier set of men, seemed to hold theirown. They are really skillful baseball players, being splendid catchers, throwers and excellent runners. The Peorias are finely nniformed in white shirts, black velvet breeches trimmed with gold atripe down the leg, red stockings and regulation shoos. They play a very quiet game, seldom speaking a word, and seem to thoroughly understand and utilize all the tricks practiced by the best clubs. A Novel Industry. A novel but profitable industry in mountains of North Carolina and East Tennessee is that of collecting roots (mor-tly laurel). Th roots are shipped to Philadelphia and Boston, and used for the manfaotnre of door knobs snd pipe-bowls. The roots frequently weigh from seventy-five to one hnndred and fifty pounds. There is a o nstattk de mand, and good prices are paid for them by the too. Capo Cod Cranberries. Any ono driving in the fall of tlio year, perhaps during the month of Oc tober, over the sandy roads of the cape, says a Sandwich (Muss.) correspondent, would bo surprised to find almost every spot of low and swampy land, without regard to size or shape, covered with the thickest cranberry vines, from which great numbers of the people are pick ing. The meadows, or bogs, as they are usually called, vary greatly in size and Bhape, but are generally laid out in the form of rectangles. Nearly all of them are intersected or surrounded by screams of water, which serve the double purpose of drainage and overflow ; the latter for protection from frosts of winter, and, in the sum me., from very destructive insects pe culiar to the vine. Where there iB no water the bog must be loft to the mercy of these destructive agencies. Stretched across the bogs in time of harvest is a phalanx of industrious pickers, a few feet apart, working hard to fill their measures. Although the prices paid for picking are small, hardly ever ex ceeding one and a half cents per quart, yet, evon at this figure, the older pick ers can make from $2 to $3 per day, while the younger ones can earn $1 easily, 1 know of ladies leaving their homes in oities, being fatigued by the noise and excitement of city life, and the impure air incident thereto, who eome to some village on the " Cape," roll up their sleeves, glove their hands, and at once proceed to the picking of these berries, and, after inhaling the fresh bog air, mingled with the air from the salt water, which borders both sides of them, tbey return to their homes greatly improved in health and strength. Since the first ultivation of cran berries on the Cape, some eighteen years ago, this industry has grown to be an enormous one. The cape berries are considered the best, and, accordingly, are in prompt demand. Ihey are not white and small, as you generally see in stores, but are of a bright red, and sometimes of a dark color, and are of a good and uniform size. These berries are put up into neat, new barrels of a regular size, holding one hundred qnarts each, and, if picked over and the frozen and wormy ones removed, they will command the highest price, while, on the other hand, the frozen ones will barely reach half price. In about every village on t e capet however small, may bo seen in harves, time teams driven by people cf alj colors and nationalities, directing the.r way to the nearest shipping station loaded with the rich-hued berry. Stormy weather does not interfere with them; all that concerns is the price he berries will bring in the market, pro vided th> y reach their destination be fore the fluctuation. Some keep their berries lor speculation, and often, in the spring, tbey command au enormous figure ; but keeping them in cellars dors not improve the quality, as more or less f them spoil. Nearly all these berries are shipped dir ct to New York, where there are established markets for them. It is difficult to state how many barrels of these berries go out of the Cape towns in a season, and still harder to esti mate the hundreds of dollars that come into them. A good yield is considered from eighty to 100 barrels por acre. If the soil is in good condition one oan reap 150 barrels. As the prices are at present (Sl7 per batrel). this could be called a profitable business. The crop fell short of its usual amonnt last year, and consequently the prices are the highest. An Arkansas Snake Charmer. Mr. Black, who resides in Hillsboro, Ark., exhibits a control and influence over the reptile family astonishingly mysterious. In the woods, creeks or wherever he finds a snake, it matters not of what type of deadly poison and venom it may be, hesncoeeds in eaptnr ing it alive and suffering as little from the clasp of its fangs as if it were an ordinary pin-scratch. He bandies and fondles them about his person with as mneh indifference as if they were eo many harmless toys. He will allow the largest rattlesnake to deliberately strike and bury his fangs into his flesh, and apparently snffir no inconvenience or serious oonsequenous from the tragic risk. By a ocrtain weed or growth of vegetation he olaims to destroy the of feot cf the bite. When bitten he chews and swallows the juice of the weed, which aots like a charm. A Boy's Couplet. Bald a teacher to a class in composi tion, "Make a rhyming couplet includ ing the words nose, toes, corn, kettle, ear, two, and boil.'* There was silence for a little while, and then a little boy held ap his hand in token of ensoesa. "Bead the couplet," said the teaohar, and the boy read: •'A boil in the kettle's worth two on yonr nose, And a ooru on iliooaria worth two on your to ah It ia with happiness as with watches, the less oompliaated ths low easily leranged. The Parmer. Let the wealthy and great 801 l in splendor and state; I envy them not, I declare it; 1 eat my own lamb, My chicken and ham, I shear rny own fleece, and I wear It; I have lawns, I have bowera, I have fruits, I have flowers, The larh is my morning alarmerf So, jolly boys, now Hcro'e Godspeed the plow, Long life and auccesa to the farmer, PUNGENT PARAGRAPHS. The original Boar-hea<l—The.balloon iat A cool reception—An ioe cream fes* tival. A man should not resign—even aa umbrella—while under a cloud. If a musician enjoys himself withoul "measure," can he have a good timet Htnlan has won SBO,OOO by his skill with the oars, and that is good aonller ehip. Paris green is the fashionable color for buckets, but it's bad taste for oo> rant worms. It is a terrible come down for a man to fall out of a balloon and be obliged to walk home. It takes the whole legislature to change a man's name. A woman can change hers by the act of a single man. A correspondent wants a core for lazinesv Let him try nitro-glyoeriua placed underneath his rocking ohair. A dynamite mine in Russia is not nearly so destructive as a brand neiT ten-million dollar silver mice in Colors ado. "H'ml" ejaculated Fogg. "Bo they say this play is taken from life ? S should say rather that the life is taken from the play." " No, yon don't; you must pay as you go I" exclaimed the landlord, as Lflj canght an impecunious boarder trying to skip away. "Does poultry pay V asked a stranger of a city dealer. "Of course," was the reply, "evon the little chic la ens shell out." Old Crusty, who has two pretty daughters, says he has kept a bullda for years for the express purpose of dis tribnting the males. " Who was the mots est man?" asked a Sunday-school teacher. "Moses.* "Very well; who was the meekest woman ?" '• Never was any." Persons with boys in the family should know that the boys have a and that, they always stand on it. il reads: " Scolding doesn't hurt, whip ping doesn't la6t long, kill they daFsnt.* Physiology—" Mother, what hav* people got noses for ?" asked a child of her mother, who hod seen better days. "To turn up at poor folks, my child,"! was the oynioal response. Don Carlos, the would-be king oj Spain, and his wife have parted. Thd cause of the disagreement is not given, bnt the neighbors say she used the royal scepter to stir soap with, and set a hen on fourteen duck eggs in his kingly crown. Every little drug sloro has a soda water fount, Whicheimply raisos ructions with a fellow's bank account. For he meets his girl at twilight, when he* coming home from biz, And ho sweetlv has to ask her if she'd like t bear it fiz. "Poor man," exclaimed the physi cian, as he approached the patient's bed, "ho seems to bo suffering from neuralgia" "You're mistaken," said the sick man. " Her name isn't neuralgy, it's Sophia, and we've only been married six months." J. M. S.: "Can yon giro me any recipe for preserving fence pos's. PJeaso reply in your next issue." We can't doit. We have asked several ladiev and all of thera emy they never tried it* believing that it vonld take too muoh sngar, and that the thing wonldn't be much of a delicacy anyway. But they say if yon want to know how to fli to matoes or cau green corn, they can flood yon with information. "Is Mr. Vanderbilt in?" asked a gentleman of a person who was lounging at the entrance of the officers' apart ments at the Grand Central depot, New York. The latter regarded his inter rogator with a look of mingled pity and contempt as he answered: "In ? Well* I shouli say so Lake Shore stook was OS three weeks ago and now it's 113. He's in abont 8510,000 if he's in m cent,'* A Texan stopped into a Philadelphia tonsorial saloon to have his hair oak The offl dating artist having enveloped his victim's neck in towels and com pressed him seenrely in the ohair opened the conversation by aayingt " Yon are a little nervous sir, I per ceive Allow me to wy tl at oar 'OapiV lary Elixir* not only covers bald heads with a luxurious growth of hair, bnl calms the mind and restores the who la nervous system to a bt alt by equilibrium. What do yon do for nervousness fli Texas?* The representative of the Lea • Btar Btate looked np serenely and an swered: "We usually go gut uad kill ft harbor." |y
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers