The Flower* and the Sonl. All throutfli tho lonely, dreary wint" day*, Home plauts caused not to urovr and bloom, Enlivened by a lienrtb-flro'a steady blaze, Where ruddy conls Jelled the fetid tflooui, Which outdoor* did nboand. Quite lustily they throve, and seamed to steal, For increase, each pale aunbeam that down ahone: Well were they cared for, and were made to feel Tho impress of that subtle charm which home So gently girds around. Until the joyous springtime came apace. Anear it mystic echoes seemed to ring, And nature showed |u bright and kindly face, So that the birds no longer feared to sing Upon the budding boughs. Then there arrived n very busy day; The close-grouped plants wore | tried, lifted forth And parried to a garden, far aw ay. All greenly bonntiftil. which toward the north No prospect wide allows. Ah. much we missed the tender, leafy screen. The pretty blossoms 'gun t the window pane! Regretting then uttirst, we did not deem That only then depart. I had their reign, 111 very sooth, begun. And hero we see a likeness to the soul. Which dwells at b >st within a pleasant room, While bound to o irth. yet ever lies its gotd In Beulah's shining meads beyond the tomb, Where glows the Eternal Sun. —Boston Hiillrtin. Running Away From a Rival. "'Tis a burning shame," mused Alt' Singleton, discontentedly, "that amid so litany fair and charming women one cannot be sure of finding a true, disinterested heart. The jtooronesare generally given to fortune hunting, while even the heiress seem none too high or proud to angle for a few extra thousands. If 1 could believe in the 1 genuine goodness of any of them, it would be— but, p.-haw!" he broke off, gloomily, "no doubt she is just us heartless as the rest, it one chose to test the matter." And the misanthropic young bache lor bit off the end of a fresh cigar half savagely, as, glancing in through the open window, he saw Kstneralda Hue smiling sweetly up into the face of an elderly gentleman wit.mi he knew to be the possessor of a handsome for tune. "Just like the rc-t of her sex," lie continued, moo,Uly. "She would sell her youth and beauty only too willingly for that old curmudgeon's half million. And yet," with a tender, reflective look softening his features, "it is only two evenings since that her face changed color and her eyes grew moist at my reading of ' Locksley 11 all.* A man might have staked his life just then upon her being capable of sacri ficing everything for love's sweet sake. An I here she is. smiling like an an gel upon old Moneybags! Hah! I feel like turning my back forever upon them till." But li" didn't. After one or two more hesitating turns up and down the piazza he threw his eigar away, and, entering the ballroom, walked straight up to Esmeralda and asked her for a waltz. The young l.t ly m.il much inter est ed in her conversation with "Old M -neybags," a< Alf had disrespect fully dubbed the wealthy Judge In gram. Still, at Alf singleton's ap proach. a flush of unmi-'akablc pleas ure rose to h r fair cheek, and, ex cusing herself to her companion, she was soon gliding through the mazes of a perfect waltz to music that might have stirred the pulses of an anchor ite. Alf was an ex qui ite dancer, and, as he passtsl the judge with his arm en circling Esmeralda's graceful form and his handsome head bent low in conver sation with his lovely partn he was quite sure he detected an exptw.,on of jealous envy upon the elder gentle man's face. ' Aha!" he thought, with a thrill of ungenerous triumph; "he is probably thinking just now that money ean't buy everything. Well, after all, youth and good looks are better than riches, and if Miss Estne has made up her mind to choose thg latter, I will, at least, make her realize to the fullest extent the happiness that her cboice will cost her." And he was a* good as his word. Never before had he been so brilliant, so interesting, so attractive, Esme seemed so pleased and happy, too, in his so-iety. and so charmingly appre ciative of his efforts to win her regard, that lie felt almost inclined to think he It'id misjudged l#r. For one brief, blissful interval life began to look all coiileur-do-rose to poor doubt-tortured Alf until in an evil moment he intro duce 1 *he subject of the lady's wealthy admirer. " He is tiie most charming old gentle man in the world," declared Esmer alda, with the prettiest blush Imagin able. " Indeed, Miss Esme, the judge is f irtunate In having such a lovely champion," said Alf, a half-sneer but | partially concealed in his light laugh. ) " I wonder if it is to his own charms, ior those of his half-million, that lie ! owes the happiness of your —love?" lie had not meant to say that last word, but since he hod spoken it he breathlessly watched for its effect. If she had no ambition as he had ascribed to Iter, this was surely a splen did opportunity to disclaim it. " Mr. Singleton," site exclaimed, im petuously, it flash of real anger in her blue gray eyes, " such u question does no honor either to your head or heart, ; Judge Ingram is a noble mail, and I should think of him jusl the same if lie Ipid nut a dollar in the world." Alf's heart •-auk. and. as the waltz wits endisl, ho led her to a seat, and soon found lumsclf once more paring the moonlit piazza in bitter restless ness of spirit. He did not believe that Estne loved til" jit Ige, despite the evi dent feeling w !:.i-11 site ha I displayed. N'o fair young g.i l hk-- that < uthl love a man old enough to lie Iter father. He still believed that she meant to wisl him for his wealth, hut that her pride impelled her to make the world think otherwise Well, he loved her. he reflecttsl, with a sad, half-mocking smile; ves, lie loved her, this fair, sweet g.rl who had seemed so very near his highest ideal of womanhood. Hut he would never lay his heart at her dainty feet to be e.nt aside for ano'her man's gold. Vet he could not -,tay to be tortured by the sight of a rival's happiness. No; before K>ui rahla opened her lovely eyes upon a new day of triumph he would be far away from that mls crable watering-place! ****** The sun was setting upon a beau tiful mountain luudscap • in the far West. All >ingleton was combining business with pleasure, and. while business lis 1 him to the pretty Western town whose modest houses were scat tered picturesquely about on the level plain at the foot of the mountains, lie was tempted by its beauties to remain and explore the many points of in terest in the \ bind v. Hut it was not until, itt turning the leaves of tiic hotel register, his eyes fell upon the name of Judge Ingram that he bethought him "f the fact that Estne's home was in the West per haps in that very town, for aught he knew, lie retneml>crcd that she had sometimes spoken of iter Western home, though she had never named the particular spot thus favored. That Judge Ingram should cross his path again in thi* faraway locality, aroused all the old-time love and jealousy which he had thought buriisl long ago. " Judge Ingrain is here, I see," he said, speaking with atbs-ttsl carcb-.v to the eb-rk. "I had a slight acquaintance with him in the East. Quil- wealthy, js he not?" " Ves, -tr." replied the clerk, politely, "but he is not lu-re at present. He is visit ing his wife's relatives just now, t believe, and you could probably lind him there. It :s but a stone's throw from the hotel." " Ilis wife's relatives!" echoed Alf. " And they are—" "Colonel Hue's family—old and honored residents of this city. Why, sir, didn't you know—" "No," said Alf, .briefly; "the judge was not m.trriisl when I knew him." And, thanking his informant, he turned on his heel and left tlie hotel, as the clerk supposixj, to seek the judge, but in reality to hide the agitation which this sudden confirma tion of his fears caused him. Poor Alf I It was hard work choking back the big lump that would stick in his throat at the bare thought of Estne Hue Iwing another man's wife. To | think that ho had fled from the mere possibility of his rival's triumphant ; happiness at that Eastern watering place only to confront the bitter fact in this far away Western town 1 His heart was swelling with indig nant sorrow as he turned to clintb a hillside whose uneven paths and jut-. ling boulders Offered a chance for action and something of an escape- j valve to his excited feelings. Turn ing a sharp curve in tho patli, it seemed only natural and a part of his luckless fate that he should suddenly come almost face to face with the two who were uppermost in his thoughts, i They were seated upon the flat sur-' face of a large projecting rock, as If ( resting after a long ramble over the mountain. Esme was busying herself with pressing some freshly-gathered wild flowers between the leaves of a I took site held, while the judge alter nately watched her at her fascinating task, and looked away over the graad and picturesque landscape with an ex pression of serene and perfect happi ness on his noble old countenance ex asperating to lieliohl. Alf had just time to grind Ids teeth together savagely ere Esme glanced up front her flowers, and for a full l half minute they looked straight Into ' i'*fh other's eyes. lie notis! tin- warm I color slow ing rising in the clear, fair j cheek of the worn an he had loved and | lost, until a deep, rich crimson dyed the lovely face from forehead to chin, i Then he raisisl his hat, with a slight smile of triumph, and turning abrupt ly on his heel vanished from Ksme's sight before the judge had even with drawn his contented, admiring gaze from the magnificent panorama spread out before t hem. Ksmeraldadid not mention her mo mentary vision of her old lover, but the carnation roses glowed in her cheek long afterward, and dreams which she thought dead and almost buried out of sightrameto light again with startling vividness, and she knew that she had never ceased to love Alf Singleton, and never should until her dying day. What did that strange expression in his eyes mean when he looked at her just now? There was the same look which she had oee thought was love in those delightful days when they wandered together by the summer sea; and the saine half-mocking light which had so often marred the manly beauty of his countenance, only both were now intensified. Vet if lie had loved her then, why had he gone off so sud denly without a word of explanation or farewell? Hut while Ksine was thus puzzling her brain over a problem which had often troubled her. the judge was hap pily unconscious that anything had oe currisl to disturb Ins fair companion's tranquillity. Therefore, when lie almost ran over my hero that same evening in turning a street eorm r. he was hon estly glad to see him, and almost over whelmed poor Alt with the heartiness of ins greeting. What torture is there irnp"-*d upon man by the requirements of civility comparable to that which fore s loin to congratulate a successful rival U|K>H the winning of that which was th" objis t of his own dearest hopes? This was the ord'-al poor Alf had to go through, and his manner was very cold and constrained as he did so. " Y-s, my lsiy," said the judge teaming like sunshine upon iiis wretclusl listener. " I am a happy man. My wife is one of the loveliest of women, and belongs to one of the tinest old families in tins plare the Kin s. Hut I Is-liev e you know them." "I had the honor of Miss Ksme's acquaintance la*t summer at Cape May," s.ml Alf, trying to speak nat urally. "Ah, yes, young dog," said th judge, slinking his curly old head at Alf with his brightest smile. " I once thought tin re was a very promising love .afT.iir going on in that quart- r. hut 4 was an old f*>l just then -in love myself, and fancying that every body else was. Hut come round to the colonel's an>l we'll talk over old times. Singleton. Ksnie will le delighUsl to meet you again, I'm sure." And the judge movtsl off, e. uttering smib-s of sunshine as he went. "He hit the mark that time," thought Alf. as he walked back to bis hotel, moodily resolving to leave the town by that evening's train. "There is no fool like an old fool. !!<■ fondly tielieves that Esme Hue married him for love, while 1 know that it was only for his money. If he had seen the way she blushed to-day at the mere sight of her old lover he would hardly have invited me around to talk over eld times with his wife. An old fool, indeed, 1 pity him, with all his wealth. Hut I'm not quite villain enough to accept his Invitation. Xo, I'll pack my valise once more, and see if I can find .*l spot where I shall not he tormented by the sight of that old simpleton's happiness." Alf kept his word, and two hours later, valise in hand, was walking firmly toward the depot whence the coming train would sn hear him from Esmeralda's too fascinating neighborhood. It was not strictly necessary that he should pass her home on his w ay to the depot, but that was one temptation which he found it impossible to re sist. In Ids heart he longed to cross that shrubbery-dotted yard and vino wreathed portico; to enter that white cottage and clasp for one moment the dear white hand of the heartless wo man he had loved; to gaz.e down into the depths of those blue gray eyes until he brought the conscious blush to her check, that blush which told him that he alone reigned king of her heart, wife though she was. .Some men would have done so; but Alf contented himself with walking past very slowly, gazing at the open windows so intensely that, in the growing dusk, he almost brushed against some one leaning over the low white gate la-fore he knew where he was. One swift glance and then they clasped hands over the gate as by a common Irresistible Impulse, Esme wns blushing deeply—he could see that ' even in the dusk—but as for poor Alf, he was very white and Ids breath came quickly. " Ksmel" he exclaimed. Then, re membering, he added: " I beg your pardon, Mrs. Ingram. Let ino con gratulate you." " Mrs. Ingram!" echoed Esmeralda. "What do mean, Mr. Singleton?" " I mean to congratulate you ujton your brilliant marriage," said Alf somewhat bitterly. "1 met your hus band, the judge, an hour or two since, and lie invited me to call and see you. However—" " My husband -the judge?" repeated Ksnie, looking as if sic- thought ldrn la-reft of his senses, "What do you tin-an, Mr. Singleton?" " A r>- you not .1 udge Ingram's wife?" lie asked, hoarsely. " Indeed I am not," she answered, a mischievous h-ok beginning to dawn ill her ey, s. " Then, who the deuce is his wife? He told ine in- had married into Colonel Hue's family, and asked me to call, saying 'Ksine' would he ph-aix-d to see me. And I saw you together to day. Now, what docs it all mean?" " It means," said Ksmcrt-Ula, laugh ing now, "that Judge Ingram married my father's youngest sister, and, being Ic-re now, is stopping at our house. And I assure you, Mr. Singleton, he is the most charming uncle in this world." Alf i'H.kisi bewildered, crest fallen ami happy ail at once. "Tell me one tiling, Esme," he pleaded. "Was he your um b- when you told me you loved him that night is we were waltzing at Cap.- May?" "No," -Jo- said, smiling; "but 1 km vi he s. M *u would be. ami I had ii p'-rf,* t right to love hi in even then." "Oh, Esme, why did you not giv< me an explanation then?" " Ik-cause von did not ask for one." -- Xo" (\* rv much ashamed of him self). "A young fool is worse thar: an "id one after all. Hut, E-tne, I loved you so. ami I Itclicvcd you were going to marry the judge for his motley, ami 1 could not stay to see it Vou don't know how miserable I havi IK-CII." " Was that why you left us without a word, you foolish Imy ?" •• Indeed it was !" A if droppe l Ins v ah so to the ground for Ksme's crimson face was hidden on the rounded arms, < Tossed over tlie low. square gate-post, and he was very anxious to lift it from its hiding-place ami see the love-light shining in those bewitching blue-gray eyes. And thus we have them t*> talk over the old, old story in the deepening twilight of the that far-off Western town. SCI ENriVIC SI Rt l*S. (>rapes exposal t* sunlight contain three and three fourths |ier cent, b-ss a<-id tlian those wbicli have remaimsl in darkness. A '-ording toth agnt that cyclones, tornadoes and troniltes ar- one and the s.iin,. tnt-cli antral phe noinenon and that their powerful ac tion M due to the force in upper cur rents. In Kurojio electric railways are growing rapidly in public estimation, rn>( only on tlie continent but in (Ireat Hritain. Alreaily list miles of electric transit are in operation, and there is every probability of the total mileage le-ing considerably increases! before the end of the present year. The liritish were not the first to bring balloons with them to Egypt for purposes of war. They were cer tainly taken out by the French army in 17'Jl. H >naparte was unable tc - use them, however, a* the apparatus for the preparation of the hydrogen gas was destroyed when Nelson anni hiiatisj the French fleet at Ahottkir. These balloons were very small, hav ing a capacity of only 5-JO cubic me tcrs. They were made of silk, and were inflated with hydrogen made by j causing steam to act on iron filings. The coal required in London fot lighting purposes and motive power Sir Henry Bessemer would have burned at the mines from which it Is pro cured. The coal's energy might then lie transmitted to the metropolis over a copper wire in the form of electricity, at a vast saving of expense. He mti- ' mates that 84,000-horse power, re quiring an annual consumption of over a million tons of opal, might in tills way be conveyed to London over a single copper wire one Inch in diam eter. An important advantage of tho plan, in addition to the saving in cost, is that the combustion of so large an amount of coal at a distance instead of in the city limits would considerably reduce the quantity of suuiko in the | Loudon atmosphere, if" Oriental Traffic and Wealth. How many Herman and Italian cities | owed to tliis toilsome Oriental traffic their wealth and magnificence? Pro fessor Thorold Hogers brings this out I dearly in bis most interesting hook on the " History of Agriculture and Prices in England." He says: "In the fifteenth century such towns as Nurcmburg and Hatislion, Mayenco and Cologne, were at the height of their opulence. The water-way of the Hhine bears ineffaceable traces of the wealth which was oarrb-d down it in the numerous castles of the robber barons, tli<- extirpation of whom la came the first object to which the re sources of civilization were direrti-d. The trade of the Ka-l i-ririehed burghers <*f the Low Countries till, after a long and tedious transit, the abundant spices of (fie East, increased in price a hundr<-d-fo]d by the tolls which rapacity exacted and the profits which merchants im posed, were sold in small parcels hy the grocer **r apothecary, or purchased iti larger quantities by wealthy con sumers, at the great fair of Stour bridge or in the perpetual market of London," (vol. iv., p. ti.VK) Then came a memorable revolution. West ern Aia was repcat'-dlv ravished by the Turkish and Tartar hordes. In many rich, fertile and famous coun tries the * ultiv ,it*-*l lands returned to their primiti vt- de-datioli. great eiti'-s shrank into ini-*-rahle eountrv towns, ami th<- people -ank into an incurable and hopi iess lethargy. The Chri-!i m merehant found it more and more dan gerous, less ami less profitable, to pen etrate into the interior of Asia. At length the Turkish conquerors reached the Hosphorus ami the 11* ih-spont. Tlie (ire<-k emperors gave place to tlie Ottaman sultans, and under tlu-ir new ma tcrs the Kuxine and Asia Minor were dosed to Christian eoffimerce From Ciinstantiriople the Ottomans s;..eal their conquests to the lb:, i 1 a (he om- sj.je and tlie Eu- I rati •on the otlier. Finally >* lam I i I Mesojmtaiiiia. tlie holy cities of \r.t' a and Egypt, and stopped the rlaml rout, a few years after a.: R .. N-1 1 .. • < . *<-of HO*NI Hope. I'ro f- lh ■ 11!*• -• has shown with great fullness how .*v-iim's c*n pi'st of Egypt raised th*- price of almost every oriental commodity iuiiMirt'-d into Eu rope. The same conquest struck a fatal blow at the greatness of inanx an Italian aid Herman city. From this iqtocii we may ilati- the d*s line of Ven ice. and \ enice scarcely sufT* rixl more than Hatisixin, Augsburg and Nurcm burg. There, f**r generations, many an untenantisl palace, many a sih-nt stroii.>p.]y the empire <>f India and of the s. as. was to Europe all that Venice ami Henna, Augsburg and Nurcmburg ha 1 tx * n ; an*l she was much more. Ilut the dedine of the Ottoman empire, followed liy the con struction of the Suez. * anal and of the Alpine tunnels, has nsqs-ncd tlie old path of commerce. The cities ot the Mediterranean are reviving. Tlie Mediterranean state* have gaim-d much and we have lost something, even in the last two years, and as time giK-s on they will continue to gain and we to lose. Any one who visited, as 1 did. the cities of Southern Eurojie forty years ago, then cities of the dead, would hardly recognize them now—all bustle, activity and progress. Hut we must not forget that political freedom has had as much effect as the return of Eastern commerce in the renewal ol their prosperity. The English mer chant is not so selfish as to complain of a change which has benefited the pro ducers anil consumers of the world. Instead <>f sitting down with hia hands before him. liemoaning his hard fate or Jiving upon a r-ducod trade, he has found out new trades, if not so profit able to individuals, even more lieneficial to mankind than those which he has lost.— Fortnightly llerietr. Manofartnrr of Jew sharps. An Englishman lias just established 4 manufactory of jew.sharps in Troy.. It is said that there are only two others in the country—one in New York and the other in Boston. A simpler In strument than the jewnharp it would lie hard to conceive, but the process of manufacture comprises no fewer than thirty separate operations. The" In ventor Vf that humble instrument* which has lieen vibrating all over the 1 world for centuries. Is unknown to fame. At the beginning of the present century the Jewsharp was developed ; by combining several different instru ments, each with a separate nitrh, and in 1827 Eulenstein, a native of Wurt em burg. made a sensation in Londou by playing upon sixteen at onoe. t'Ml'l'lXO* FOR THK (TKIOI.'M. A German hu inv<-nt<-e low ( hester, LiigJand, the largest sal mon e\< r caught in the line. It was found t > i turn tin- vale at forty pound*, w .-n four feet in length, ami a healthy, clean and w ell-developed fish. '1 he use of face masks of mica, foi the protection of metal and gla-.- melt -1 rs, stone masons arid other workmen ex j. .sol hi heat, dust and noxious va por-, is found to he quite serviceable. These masks allow- the eyes to l> tiirinsl in any direction and admit of the \v< aritig of glasses. I. land was visited by a remark aide sand storm last spring, which lasted for two week*, and during wi,;< h the temjM-ratlire was inten-' iy cold. The air was tilled With dry. fine sand to such an extent that it wa- imp >-sible hi see more than a short distance, and the sun was rarely visible. 'i! i.-s-spjtinir g and phis—flower man uf uture is a very extensive I ranch of the Austrian glass industry. It i- new so developed that a petroleum flame gives some 1 ..*•4' yards of gia-s thread e\ rv minute, that are wo.en not only f->r glass cloths, etc., but also for watch chains, brushes, etc. When the army of >u\ tr• >y retreated from Kim in IT'.e.i the march of the men loosened the snow of tin- Alps so that avalan'lu-s descend-*! upon them and .'km mule drivers and th< ir ani mals ware luiriisl under one of thew immense snow slid--*. Only 17,f*t0of the i>i.i*Xl who left Klin made the march in safety. The balloon Reliance made a singu lar tlight from the Alexandra palace, London, recently. It rose gradually to a height of l,.V*i fret. drifting in a northerly direction, then, when ballast had ! <• n thrown out, rose l.Stkl feet more. At that a current carried it toward London, .ind through a thick mist i! descended at the end of an hour upon the very place from whict it had risen. The I.art'<'l Th<- Jargt-st TI-LCM UJH- in use is tlie great reflector of ih* Karl f li<.so, at I'ar-.ntoun. Inland. The instrument weighs twelve ton*. The sp'-eulum is -.\ f>•< t in diameter, and lias a focal length of a!*' ait lift y-ll v< feet. Thelarg est and most effective refractor tele scope in the world now in actual use it the one in the Naval olearvatory ir. Washington, constructed hy Alvir. Clark A N>n. Cambridge, Mass This is the instrument which ha' been rendered famous by the dis covery of the two msins of Mars. An instrument nfone-inrh greater ajs-r --turehas jn>4 lieen mounted in the Im perial olswTvatorv at Vienna the one at Washington having an apt rture of twenty-six inches and that at Vienna twenty-seven. Two still greater re fractor telescopes have been ordered, one for the imperial observatory at Pultowa, Russia, with a glass of thirty inches diameter and focal length of forty-five feet, and another, of equal or greater dimensions, to l>e mounted in the Lick observatory on Mount Ham ilton, near San Francisco, (ialileo is regarded as the inventor of the tele scope, although liefore he exhibited his instrument at Padua Italy, in 1609, Hans Lippershun, of Holland, had in vented the convex object glass, and Galileo is said to have got his idea from hearing of discoveries made by Met ins. a Hollander, through a combination of lenses. The Cost of the Fences. It has Ix-en estimated hy ttradstrrrt'* that there are six million miles of fence in the United Statea the cost of has lieen more than $2,000,000,- QOO, or about $620 a mile. Formerly the fences of farms were built of wood, and the annual repairs put a heavy tax upon the farmers. The last census shows that the cost of * such repairs in 1877 was $78,029,000. Most farm fences ar# now built of wire, and sixty thousand miles of such fence were built in 1881, at a cost of $10,000,000, or alsuit half the oast per mile of the old wroodea fences. *V ■ -