The Utile One*. Oh ! when at dawn the children wnko, And patter up and down tho oUiirs, The flowers and loavee a glory take, Tho rosy light a splendor shares That nevermore these eyes would see, If iny sweet ones were gone from mo. And when at eve they watch and wait To fold me in their arms so white, My burdens, whether small or great, Are charmed away by calm delight And, shutting out the world, I live The purest moments life can give. But when at bedtime 'round me knee Wee, tender, loving, white-robed forms, Twth hands upraised in fond appeal— Ah ' then are hashed life's weary storms . And heaven seems very near to me, With my sweel darlings 'round my knoe ! THE CURFEW HEROINE. J' kod quite half an hour of Cur few toll. The old bell-ringer came from under the wattled roof of his cot" tage -toop atul stood with uncovered head in the clear, sweet-scented air. He had grow n blind and deaf in the service, but his arm was as muscular as ever, and he who listened this day mar lied no faltering in the heavy me talie throbs of the eathredral bell. Old Jasper had lived through many changes. He had tolled out his notes of mourn ing b>r good Queen Hess, and with tears scarcely dry he had rung the glad tidings of the coronation of James. Charles ,1. ha 1 I men crowned, reigned, and expiated his weakness before all England in Jasper's time ; and now he, who under his army held all the com monwealth in the hollow of his hand, ruled as more than monarch, and still the old man, with the habit of along life upon him, rang his matin in sor row. Jasper stood alone now, lifting his dimmed eyes tip to the softly dappled sky. The walls of his memory s med so written over—so crossed and reero-scd by tho annals of the years that had gone before—that there seemed little room for anything in the present. Little reeked he that Cromwell's spears men were camped on the moor beyond the village; that Cromwell himself rodo with his guardsmen ale igue away ; he only knew that the lull that hail been rung in the tower when Wil liam the Conqueror made curfew a law had been spared by Puritan and Round head. and that his arm for sixty years had n< ver failed him at eventide. He was moving with slow step towards the gate, when a woman came hurriedly in from the street and stixid beside him ; a lovely woman, but with face so blanched that it seemed car vis 1 In the whitest of marble with all its roundness and dimples. Her great solemn eyes were raised to the agisl face in pitiful appeal, and the lips wen forming words that he could not under stand. "Speak up. lass ; I am deaf and can not hear your clatter." The voire raised, and the hands clasped and unclasped, and rung them selves together palm and palm. "For Heaven's sake, Jasper, do not ring the curfew to-night." "What, not ring curfew ! Ye must be daft, lassie." "Jasper, for sweet Heaven's sake, for my sake, for one night in all your long life, forget to ring the bell. Fail this once, and my lover shall live, whom Cromwell says shall die at cur few toll. Do you hear? my lover, Richard Temple. See, Jasper, here is money to make your old age happy. 1 sold my jewels that the Lady Maud gave me, and the gold shall all be yyurs for one curfew." "Would ye brilie me, Lily do Vere? Ye're a changeling. Ye've na the blood of the Planfagcnets in ve're veins as ye're mother had. What, corrupt the bell-ringer under her Majesty, go-xl Queen Hess ! Not for all the gold that Lady Maud could bring me! What is your lover to me? Haltes have been Imm and strong men have died before now at the ringing of my bell. AwaT' And out on the village green, with the solemn shadows of the heavens lengthening over it, a strong man awaited the curfew to toll for his death. He stood, handsome and brave and tall—taller by an inch than the tallest pikeman who guarded him. What had he done that he should die? Little it mattered In those days, when the sword that the great Crom well yielded was so prone to fall, what he or others hail done. He had been scribe to the late Lord up at the castle, and Laxly Aland, forgetting that man must woo and woman must wait, had given her heart to him without asking, while the gentle Lily I)e Vere, distant kinswoman and poor companion to her, had, without seeking, found the treas ures of his true love, and held them fast. Then he had joined the army. But a scorned woman's hatred had reaches] him even there. Enemies and deep plots bad compassed him about and conquered him. To-night he was to die. The beautiful world laid as a vivid jpictuve before him. The dark g;c.-n wood above tho rocky hill where Robin Hood and his merry men had dwelt; tho frowning castle with its drawbridge and square towers; the long stretch of moor with tho purple shadows upon it; tho green, straight walks of the vil lage; tho birds overhead, oven the daisies at his feet be saw. Hut, ah! more vividly than all,he saw the great red sun with its hazy veil lingering above tho trees, in though it pitied him with more than human pity. He was a God-fearing and God-serv. ing man. He had long made Ids peace with Heaven. Nothing stood between him and death—nothing rose pleading between him and those who were to i destroy him, hut the sweet face of Lily |do Vere, whom lie loved. .She had | knelt at Cromwell's feet and pleaded for his life. She had wearied Heaven with her prayers, but all without avail. Slow ly now the great sun went down Slowly the last red rim was hid behind the greenwood. Thirty seconds more and his soul would bo with his God. Tho color did not forsake his check-. The dark rings of hair lay upon aw arm brow. It was his purpose to die as martyrs and brave men die. What was life that he should cling to it? He al most felt the air pulsate with the first heavy roll of the death knell. Hut no sound came. Still facing tho soldiers with his clear gray eves upon them, he waited. The * rims-m banners in the west were paling to pink. The kino had ceased their lowing and had been gathered into tho brick-yards. All nat ire had sounded lor curfew ; but old Jasper was silent. The hell-ringer with his gray head yet bared had traversed half the dis taneo that lay bctw< -n his cottage and the ivy-covered tower, when a form went flitting past him, with pale, shadowy rols-s hitting around it, and hair that the low western lights touched and tinted .as with a halo. "Ah, Htildah, Huldah!" the old man muttered; "how swift sli- Hies! I will come soon, dear. My work is almost ' done." Huldah was the good wifo who had gone from him in hert.uly woman hood and for whom he had mourned all his long life. Hut the fleeting f"nn was not Holdall's, it w as Lily do Vere, hurried by a sudden and desperate pur pose tow ards the cathedral. "So help me God, curfew shall not ring to-night! Cromwell and his dra goon- come this way. Once more I will kneel at his feet and plead." She entered the ruined arch. She wrenched from its fast nings the carved and worm-eaten door that barred the way to the tower. She a-> ended with flying and frenzied fee? the steps; her heart lifted up t-> God for Richard's deliverance from jw-ril. The bats lb w out and shook the dust of centuries from tho black < arvings. A- she went up she caught glimpses of the interior of the great building, with its groined rixif, its chevrons and clustered columns. Up—still up—Vyond the rainbow tints thrown by the stained glass across her death-white brow; up -till up—past open arcade and arch, with griflln and gargoyls staring at her fr in bracket and cornice with all the hid ousness and media va) carving—the stairs, flight by flight, growing frailer beneath her young feet, now but a slen der network between her and tho outer world, but still up. ID-r breath was coming short and gasping. She saw through an open space old Jasper cross the road at the foot of the tower. Oh, how far! The seconds were treasures which Crom well, with all his hlood-lniught common wealth, could not purchase from her. Up—ah!—there, just almvo her. with its great brazen mouth and wicked tongue, the bell hung. A worm-eaten block for a step, and one hapd had clasped itself alxve the clapper, the other prepared, at the tremble, to rise and clasp its rnato, and tho feet to swing off, and thus she waited. Jasper was old and slow, but ho was sure, and It caino at last. A faint quiver, and the young feet swung from their rest and the tender hands clasped for more than their pre cious life the writhing thing. There ' was a groaning and creaking of tho rude pulleys al>ove, and then the strokes caino heavy and strong. Jas per's hand had not forgot its running, nor his arm its strength. The tender, soft form was swung and dashed to and fro ; but she clung to and rarrssed the colli, cruel thing. Let. one stroke come,! and a thousand might, follow, for Its fatal work would lie done. She wreathed her white arms alsiut It, so that at every pull of the great ropes it crushed Into the flesh. It tore her, and wounded and bruised; but there. In the solemn twilight, the brave woman swung and fought with the curfew, and God gave her victory. The old bell-ringer said to himself : j "Aye, Huldah, my work is done. The pulleys are getting too heavy for my old arms. My ears, too, have failed me. I dlnna hear one stroke of the j t -r.\w, D?-r old bell. It is my ear*' that have gone false, and not you. Farewell, old friend." And just beyond tint worn pavement a shadowy form again went Hitting past him. There were drops of blood upon the white garments, and the faro was like tint faro of one who walked in Iter sleep, and the hands hung wounded and powerless ot her si<'. Cromwell paused with his horsemen under the dismantled May-pole before the village green. He saw the man who was to die at sunset standing up in the dusky air, tall as a king and beautiful as Absalom. ITo gazed with knitted brow and angry eye; but his lips did not give utteraueo to the quick eomman I that trembled on them, for u girl tamo flying towards him. Pike man ami archer steppi d aside to let her pass. She threw herself upon the turf at his horse's feet; she lifted her bleed ing an I tortured hands to his gaze,anil onee more poured out her prayer for the life of her lover; with trembling lips she told him why lUehard stil lived—why tho curfew had not sounded. Lady Maud, looking out of her lat. tired window at the castle, saw the grc at Protector dismount, lift the faint ing form in his arms, and bear her to iier lo\.r. She saw the guards release the jr. n r, and sle heard the shouts of joy it Ins deliverance. Then she welcomed the night that shut the scene out fi out iii r i n vious ' ye and • pultured her in its gloom. At til- next matin lll old .lasjiei dud, and at curfew toll lie was laid I '"side (in wife Who had died in his youth, but the me!.i in of whim had lie**n with him nlw ay <. If We knew. If we k:i' w - that every particle of stale, musty, . r adult, rated f.*nl not only | : ned but w uken <1 body and brain; If we kne- that a musty ■gg for breakfast u. . eau.e us to make a bad bargain 1. re dinner; If we knew that the miik • f onenn lualthy or fe\. ri-li ow will irtf• t with its distcmfH r the i. Ik of tw• nty her COWS ; If wo knew that our • .il stoves were continually sending f rth :n* • .1!. vapors unfit to bp athe; if we knew that every uncle s mu - cular motion, the result of ha it, such as leg swinging while sitting down or walking n< rvously about to n<* purpose is in cxptnditure of nerve force for naught as is money idly flung into the sea; If we knew that every tight-fitting binding and compressing garment was in the expenditure of strength neces sary in wiaring equivalent tothecar ryingof |HIUIHISof insilli-s weight; If we knew that the jk r'ii who can s;t perfectly still and hold his or her mind directly to the j p-*c;,t moment and the things of the moment, and not allow it to go straying off in longings to the place where it most desires its l .-ly to lie, was hoarding up strength to lie us,si as occasion shall require; If we knew that we who despise thus the day of small things and g • ■ n in a 1 things as we do now. would in a few years' time be vainly applying to some doctor to tinker up our worn out Indies; If we knew that every bodily pain, •■very feeling of lassitude, weariness, whether weariness of the plrit or weariness of the body, was a r proving and anmonishing sermon against some act of disobedience cither near or remote; If we knew how blindly and stupidly we warred at. times against our physical and mental happiness ; If wo knew that the mind, which schemes, plans, studies, buys, sell*, makes bargains, builds houses, navi gates ships, gets us into difficulties, gets us out again, acts in the drama, paints on the canvas, cuts out of mar ble the statue, thrills from the plat form, writes tho story, fights the battle, dis covers the continent, directs tho voice in melody, manages the lingers on tho piano, is not an unseen myth hut an invisible power within us built up out of our bodies, improving as the body improves and influenced for good or ill, for quickness or siowless, for keenness or stupidity by every breath wo inhale, by the quality and purity of what wo buy, by the cleanliness of our bodies, by the fit and ease of our clothing, by the presenre and influence of the peo ple aliout us, by our habits of method and precision or the reverse ; If we knew, believed and realized fully all this, what then?— New York Graphic. A woman onee went for a pound of candles, when, to her great astonish ment and mortiflrntlon, she waijtold that they had risen a penny in the pound since her last purchase. "What ran le the cause of auch a rise?" said the old woman. "I can't tell," an swered the "but I believe 'tis principally owing to the war." "What!" exclaimed the old woman, "do lii fight by candlelight?" THE MOON AND THE WEATHER. Kout Hiiprratlilnna Conn-ruing Fair I.nnn'a Influence on Cropg, Kit*. No belief is more general than that the moon exercises an influence over the weather. People who declare that they are not superstitious in the small- i est degree, believe that a change in the ' weather is almost certain to occur with every change in the moon. Perhaps! they inherit the belief, but if not they acquired il very early in life and strengthened it through years of obser vation. Their observations were not very accurate, and their methods of recording them far from methodical. T hey believe that the weather changes with the uuHin, and when a sudden change did occur at the appearance of a new quarter, half or full moon they remembered it and sometimes noted it down. If the weather did not change ! at or about the same time the moon did they did not charge their memory with the failure. Hy means like these they became more strongly convinced of the influence of the moon on tie weather. Scientific men in different times and in various countries have atti-n* ,tcd to overturn the popular and almost uni versal belief that the moon influenced the weather. They have been at the trouble of keeping an accurate account of the prevalence of winds, tin- fall of Water, the degree of temperature ami other phenomena, with a view of show, ing whether change are more likely to occur at one time in the lunar month than at another. They have all come 1 to the conclusion that no coincidem-i exists lilt Ween the changes of the IIIOOM and those of the weather. At the mis ting of the JSri'i-h A mciation for the Advancement of .* jenen, this vear. Sir William Thomas stated tli.it "c are ful observation with the 1 urometer thermometer and anemometer, at the time of new moon, full moon and half inoon, has failed to establish any rela tion whatever Ixtween the pha-es of the moon and the weather," and that ••if there is any dependence of the weather * n tin* pli.t . . f th< He or:, it is only to a <1 gr< •• quite imp- r. < jribb to ordinary ob-ervation." Still, it is questionable if this announcement will | in the 1- ,-t shake the faith of farm* r- i and sailors who, inore than < tie r < U—s of j rv>n. are directly int* r ested m the weather, in their old ideas j about the influence of the in---n upon ' it. Th a' will not wast" away in the frying-pan.' They will, however, lay up rail feni w hile the moon is d< reusing in .? - if- t • prevent the r.i Is from warping and f; >m rotting mit I • fore their time. It may l>e said that no evil remits from U'lieving in a harmle s supcrsti ti m. Such, however, is not alw ay s the c.ie. l>r. Harper has shown that su- I rstltious jieople are very likely to !■ conquered in war. They will not set out on a march or engage in any haz ardous undertaking unless all the sign and omens arc favorable. If they place reliance in lucky and unlucky days j they will accomplish h-ss in a given time than people who regard all day as of equal value. If they relv on sti- . jn rnatur.il aid thev will not use their ' !*est exertions. They will attribute 1 victory or defeat to other than human and natus.il causes. If such are the effects in a belief in sujicrstitlons on a people engaged in war, similar unfa, vorable effects would le observed among jx-oplo engaged in a peaceful pursuit like that of fanning. The de lay of two weeks in planting a crop would often result in failure. It is likely that tho general lielief in certain agricultural superstitions has had much to do with rendering farming unprofit able. It is generally very difficult to discover the origin of a superstition, on account of its great antiquity. Su perstitious beliefs are the oldest we in culcate. They are also among the first wo receive in rhildhood. They are taught in tho nursery long before we learn to road, and many years before we Itcgin to study science. Buch be liefs aro very difficult to dispose of. Our Judgment may condemn them as follies, but they remain toinfluenceour actions. Few persons are willing to acknowledge that they aro supersti tions, although they hold to beliefs having no foundation on carefully con sidered olwervation* main by them selves or others. They hold to the doctrine thnt relations exist lietween certain things that cannot be explained with our pros*-at knowledge of science. —Chioayo "Umi. SCIENTIFIC' SERAI'S. Ether sjiray; in the jiractice of l)r McColganan, has not only Immediately relieved facial neuralgia, but has ef fected a permanent euro, Tho intense cold produced is considered to have act. Ed on the affected nerve so as to have jiroduced a complete change in the nu trition and its action. Diigong-oil, width is yielded by an herbivorous cetacean of the waters of Australia ami the Fasten Archipelago, lias all the medicinal qualities of <-<* - - oil, without tho repulsive taste , ami odor and the tendency to decay. I Tho dose i-s the same in quantity as cod-liver oil. In the neighborhood of the Thurin gtan town of Kosen there are some di ■> l used saltworks with considerable j water-power. The latter is now to be utilized for the electric lighting of the i town, and Kosen will thus be the first Herman town to introduce the electric light for illuminating the whole town. Mr. (}. if. Darwin maintains that while there i, nunc evidence of a yield ing of tho buly of the earth to the tidal forces exerted by the attraction of the sun and moon, that yielding is \< ry small indi * d, and that the rigidity ne day, after i had presented the lat 'cr with a pane of ruined negative giass, she ventured to compare her fa vorite with m>. My flattering acknowl •slgment - of this* unpliment made dt * id kill ev erything she cam'- in contact with, ! and it required great ' are to restrain her. The rase is a very remarkable one, from the development of the disease so early in life, as with children. The u - ual tendency in such < a l.v fr en two to three day-, an! < -u on .m < r twice a month. Soin< time ago a wcll-kn >wn sjs-rting man. who was a narcobpf.c lived here and was a source of much curi'e;tv. (>! as. -nailv ).■ would as tonish his friend l.v g< ng to *!<■;. at the bar while taking a drink and re main perfectly uncortsf ions for a f< w moments, when he w uid wake uji and take l.is drink, j.erfc tly unconscious of any interruption. He created con-idi rable amusement one night at ; gentleman's hous- by falling s uind to sleep while just in the .. t of receiving an introduction to a young lady, mu h ti her discohifiture and his friends' amusement. It is im j ossible to sir uw the | ilicnt out < f He sleeps, and th< attacks are liable to come on at any moment, no matter lew the vi< 'in; may l.c situateb This mysterious and unaccountable disease was first do-- r;.i*l a:tout ten \< ars ago, and since then it has received much at tention fr. in ncur -logi-ts, but its class ification has not yet lon definitely net tled. From fhe spasmodic character of the dis'*a>c and its frequent associa tlon with epilfpsy, physicians believe ;t one of the branches of this disease, and ere long, no doubt, it will !*• given its appropriate position with the epilep tic class.— Louisrilte Co tirirr-Jou rnal. Introduced Animals. The bare enume ration of the animal organisms that have in various ways enlarged the area of occupnt ion thri ugh the director indirect agency of civiliml man would occupy the greiter jx.rtion, if not the whole of the olumns of an issue of the Record, and if to this were added the more or b-s* exactly known data respecting the dale and circum stances of th'ir introduction, the* various countries they are distribute J In, and other facts of interest, a thick quarto volume would not sufilce to contain alb .So, leaving out insects and invertebrates generally, as well as fishes and reptiles, inanv sjiecies of tlio former of which classes have lately leen transplanted with success, we will confine ourselves to a short mention of some of the mammala and birds tout have been brought into the hemisphere we live in. Our domestic dog, cat. sheep, goal, ox. pig. ass, horse, fowl, guinea-fowl, peacock, goose and canary, are all natives of the Eastern hemis phere; only the turkry is a native, taken eastward, domesticated and re introduced, just as the .Spaniards rein troduced the cultivated Indian fig or prickly pear (a cactus.) All these and more man brought, but with them came the black and brown rats and the common mouse—creatures which live with man and at his cost, in spite of all his efforts, aided though he may lie by cats, dogs, auxiliaries of other car niverous triU-s. and all the parapher nalia of traps and poisonous fo<*! Ph Uaddph ityJßtSini.