The Ail Uolden.
i.
Through t nty happy line I nog,
I fool the tonio of tho spring.
The time it like an old-time tace
That gloitns aoroei sotne graaiy place—
The old-time face—an old-time ohum
Who riaee from thn grave to come
And lure ino hack along tho ways
Ol Timo'a all golden yesterday*.
Sweet Day! to thua remind mo of
Tho truant !>oy I ual to lovo—
To aet, onco more, hi* finger tipa
Againat the bloaeomi of hia lij>a,
And pipe for ine the aignal known
By none but ho and 1 alone!
11.
I aoo ncroM tho arhoolmom floor
The ahadow of tho open door,
And dancing dual and aunvhiue blont
Slanting the way the morning wont,
And beckoning my thought* afar
Whore roeiU and running wutora are;
Where amber-colored bayoua gluaa
The half drowned weed* and wutpaol gra/M;
Where sprawling frogs, in lovoluas key,
Sing on and on incoasnntly.
Against tho green wood's dim expnnao
Tho cat-tail tilta ita tufted lunee,
While on its tip—one might declare
The white "snaketeeder" blossomed there'
HI.
I catch my breath, as children do
In woodland swings, when lite is now, I
And all the Moral U warm ns wine
And tingles witli a tang divine.
My soul soars up the atmosphere
And sings aloud where Ural can hear.
And all my being leans intent
To mark his smiling wonderment.
0 gracious dream and gracious time,
And gracious theme and gracious rhyme-
When laid# of spring !>egin to blow
In blossoms that wo usttl to know—
And lure ua liock along the ways
01 Time's all golden yesterdays'
—Jamtt Whitcomb Wi/ry.
A SACRIFICE.
"There Is something I want vou t*>
lell me, aunt," said Eliza Herbert, a
girl of fourteen, and she drew a stool
■close to her aunt's feet, and leaned her
head in her lap, so that a whole cloud
of nut-brown curls fell over her black j
Bilk apron.
"What is it?" said her aunt, passing
her hand carelessly over the fair fore
head upraised to hers.
"I am almost afraid to ask." said
Eliza "but I want you to tell ine why
you, who are so goo. 1 and so handsome, 1
and so accomplished, were never !
married ?"
A slight flush was, for a moment,
perceptible on Aunt Hannah's cheeks, i
which might have been occasioned bv
Eliza's compliment to her beauty and
good qualities, or a consciousness of j
the ricllrule which a certain class attach
to the appellation of old maid. It
might,to i.have been caused by a blend- I
Ing of all these, or by certain memories
whi'h the question called up. She re
mained silent a few minutes, and then
said, "I will tell you, Eliza —I never
had an oflcr that exactly suited me."
"How strange'" said Eliza "when
you are so easy to please, and are s->
keen-sighted to everybody's virtues,
and so blind to their faults. Now
there is Aunt Margaret, who is not
half as pretty as you are, married to
one of the liest, the handsomest, and
the most noble-looking men in the
world. Come, aunt, do tell me all
about it, for I ani tired <f my piano,
my worsted work, and my l>ook."
"My life has been a very quiet, un
eventful one," said Aunt Hannah,
"and would. I am afraid, make a dull
story; but I will tell you alxmt some
dear friends of mine, if that will do."
"Oh, yes," said Eliza, "that will lie
the next best thing to hearing about
yourself. There, I hear mother
coming, but that need make no differ
ence."
"Eliza wants me to tell her a story,
sister," said Aunt Hannah, as Mrs.
Herbert took her accustomed seat at
the fir&side, "and I have promised to
tell her one about some old friends.
It is an old story to you, so you can
prompt me if I make any mistakes."
"Certainly," said Mrs. Herbert.
; "One of my friends," said Aunt
Hannah, "whom I shall call Isaltel,
was the youngest of a large family of
daughters. Her form was slight, her
complexion and features delicate, and
ehe might have l>een called interesting
rather than handsome. Her sister,
Kate, two years older, some jieople
called lietter looking, though."
"Better looking?" said Mrs, Herbert,
tweaking in upon her, "she was the
meet lieautiful girl in town, yet beauty
was her least charm."
*. "I believe you exaggerate a little,
Btoter," said Aunt Hannah. "When
Isabel was sixteen and Kate eighteen,
one Leonard Frankland, a young titer
dhant, came to reside in the place.
soon became intimate with their
toother, who used often to invite him
'home to take tea or spend the evening,
was- that is, most persons thought
him singularly handsome, and that his
manners were peculiarly attractive.
It was not long before It began to be
whispered in tho family, and among
t e more intlmnte acquaintances, that
he was partial to Kate, Kate was not
so blind as not to perceive it herself,
and but for one thing It would have
mado her the happiest girl that ever
lived. She from tho first had seen that
Isabel, though unconscious of it her
self, had given her heart to the fasci
nating Frankland; so she made up her
mind to sacrifice her own happiness for
tho sake of this dear sister. It was
very hard for poor Kate, hut she had
more confidence in her own strength,
both moral and physical, than she had
in Isabel's; she felt that she would be
able to rise from the blow, and ulti
mately to have the power of being
tranquil and even happy. But Isabel,
so frail and so delicate, she knew that
it would kill her to see the chosen of
her heart forever lost to her."
"But if Leonard Frankland liked
Kate best," said Eliza, "then there
must have been a double sacrifice,"
"lie liked her best at lirst," said
Aunt Hannah, "yet there was a gcntlra
ness, a loss of self-reliance in the char
acter of Isabel, that needed only to be
discovered by such a person as Leon
ard Frankland, to excite an interest
which might soon ripen into love. I
believe, inded, that it is not uncom
mon for men who are remarkable for
spirit and energy, to Is.- better pleased
with those whose more prominent
traits are softness and delicacy, rather
than those similar to their own.
"Kate affected more independence
and vivacity than would have been
natural to her, even bad lot heart j
been at ease; and she soon found that ■
it began to have the effect she desired-
Such unrestrained exuberance of
spirits offended the taste of Frankland, I
and he often turned from the brilliant j
and sparkling Kate to contemplate the j
serene loveliness of Isabel. If he could
only have seen the anguish that la\ ,
lieneath the mask <>f smiles which she ,
constantly wore—if he had known how \
ditllcult it sometimes was for her to 1
prevent the gay n"tes of some livc-h
snug, as the appeared carelessly t<> i
warble them, from breaking into the !
moans of agony but he neither saw |
nor knew he never knew, so well did
she act her part, that he was ever I
otherwise tlian perfectly indifferent t<>
her."
"And did Isabel know?" said Eliza.
"Never it would have poisoned all :
her happiness, for she was tenderly
attached to her sister."
"I am glad that she did not," said
Eliza, "it would have l>een so selfish
and ungenerous in her if she had, t<>
have received Leonard Frankland's
attentions."
"Kate did not miscalculate her own
strength, and when one < •. eiiing Isabel
folded her arms around her and told
her she was the afllanred bride of
Leonard Eranklan 1, she felt calm and
satisfied. How, indeed, roiild she fee!
otherwise, when she knew that had
she herself been Frankland's bride, sh<
must have turned from the altar U<
stand beside a sister's grave? 'How,'
thought she, 'could I ever have bxiked
on my wedding robe without imagin- '
ing it to be stained with the drops rung
from a broken heart ?' "
"And were Frankland and Isabel
h.-.ppy," said Eliza, ".after they were
married ?"
"Yes, as happy as it is possible to Ih>
in a life where we ran drink of no cup
that is not dashed with gall, and wear
no flower that does not conceal th<>
worm or the thorn."
"Are they still living, aunt?"
"Yes, an'l surrounded by a group of
lovely and happy children."
"I hope that dear Kate was married
to somebody that she liked a great deal
better than she ever did Leonard
Frankland."
"That would have been Impossible,
so she never married."
"What! did such a lively, handsome
girl as Kate, without a bit of starch
about her. live an old maid?"
"Hhc did."
"And w hat could she find to do to
make her time pass pleasantly?"
"What does your Aunt Hannah find
to do?" said her mother.
"Oh, Aunt Hannah is different from
other single ladies. If she had been
married I don't know what 1 should
have done, for if I have a new dress to
mako she always assists me; if my
music or drawing perplexes me, she
knows how to put ine right, and if I
am sick she nurses me. And then,
you know, when you and father want
to go on a Journey, she always keejm
house for you, so that you never foci
uneasy about the children while you
are absent. It was the luckiest thing
in the world for us—anil Aunt Mar
guret Waldron, too—that Aunt Hannah
remained single."
"Then you arc glad tlfet your aunt
never married?" said Mrs. Herbert.
"1 urn sure I have reason to be," re
piled Eliza, "anil so huvo you- haven't
you, aunt?"
"YOB; reason to be glad and thank,
ful, too."
"1 know so, for there Is no stution la
the world that yon would ho so happy
In yourself, or mako others so happy."
"It Is not the station that hits made
your aunt so happy," said Mrs. Her
bert, "but beoanse she early found out
the true secret of happiness."
"And what is the secret, mother?"
"In whatsoever situation you are In
to be therewith content."
"1 would give almost anything to
see Kate ami her sister, and Leonard
Erankland. I don't believe he was so
handsome a man as I 'nele Woldron Is
-was he, aunt?"
"Yes, he was handsomer than your
I'nclo Waldron is now; for Leonard
Erankland was then in his youthful
prime."
"I wish you would tell me who
Kate really was," said Eli/a.
llor mother smiled and looked signi
ficantly toward Aunt Hannah.
Eliza sprang up from the stool at her
aunt's feet, and threw her arms round
her neck,
"Why, how stupid I was not to
guess it was you all the time," said
she. "I might have known that there
was not unother person in the world
beside dear Aunt Hannah who would
haveacttsl so nobly and generously as
Kate. And now I know, too, that
Leonard Frunflaml and Isabel were
I nele and Aunt Waldron."
A I'ersecuted Picture.
llofore Vandyck made his Ilrst
journey to Italy he paid a farewell
visit to Ilubens, and presented him
With three of his pictures. One of !
these, "The Romans Seizing Christ in j
the Harden of Geth.semane," Rubens
hung in the principal room of his
j house, and was never weary of prais
ing it The master returned hi#
pupil's generosity by presenting him
I with one of his finest horses. Vandyck
; m.vle his first stop at Savelthem, a vib
l lage near Urussels. Here he fell in
love with a girl named Anna van
| Ophcm, and forgot Italy and his art
j while gazing in her face and wander
ing by lor side through the fair valley |
.in which she dwelt. Hut Anns re
| gretted his idleness, and was curious j
to see the pictures that he could paint.
Einally, he yielded to lu*r persuasions, j
and painted two pictures for the parish !
church at Savelthem.
One of these was a "Holy Family," f
in which the Virgin was a jtortrait of ,
Anna, while St. Joachim and St. Anna
represented her father and mother. !
This picture he gave to the church.
It has long since disappeared, and it is
sai l that it was us.sl to make grain- I
i-ags by French foragers. The second
picture, for which he was paid, repre- :
sentc-1 >t. Martin of Tours, when he
divided his cl*>ak with two lieggars. |
The saint was a portrait of Yan-Iyck
himself, an-l the hrse he rode was
tainted from that which Hulicn* had
given him. This picture was very j
s|--ar to the people of Savelthem. an-l
when. In 17.'>s, they discovered that the j
parish priest hail agreed to sell it, they
armed themselves with pitchf*>rks and
other homely weapons, and, surround- i
ing the church, insisted that the !
pi'-ture should not le removed. In
1 s*; however, thev were powerless !
•
before the French soldiers, an-l though
they loved th<*ir saint as dearly as ever
he was 1-ornc away to Paris ami placed
in the gallery of the Louvre, where he
remained until I*l \ when he was
taken again to Savelthem an-l restored
to his original place. It is also said
that, in I*so. a rich American offered
#-'<l.ooo to any one who would bring
this picture to him, no matter how it
was obtained. Suno rogues tried to
steal it. but the watch-dogs of Savel
them barked so furiously that the men
of the village w ere alarmed, and rushed
to the church so quickly that the
robbers scarcely escaped. Since then
a guard sleeps in the church, and St.
Martin is undisturbed, and may always
lie seen there dividing his cloak and
teaching the l*sson of that Christian
charity for which his own life was re
markable.—St. Sirholn J.
A Safe PI ere.
Laura was a conscientious child, but
evinced a strong aversion to evening
prayers. Auntie was very patient w ith
her, anil the most successful argument
was that auntie herself was not wil
ling to fall asleep without returning
thanks for the day's mercies and ask
ing protection for the night One
evening, the child continuing very ob*
durate, auntie left her alone. When,
at a later hour she was ready to retire,
Laura, wakeful and uneasy, called from
her crib, "Auntie, have you said your
prayers to-night?" "Yes." "Do you
think God will take care of you all
right?" "Most certainly I do." "All
right, then," said the child, with ani
mation, "1 gueaa I will cvoie over and
■ sleep la your bei." I
HPOOPEiIDYKK.
lis Han a I'rlnflna I'raiaa a nil Trra In
Hun It, Witt, IHaaitroua Haaalta.
Kpoopendyko came home one night
bringing a small bundle in his arms.
"It's a printing press, on which I ex
pect to do all my own printing here
after," he said.
"Oh, hut isn't that lovely!" Iluttered
Spoopeiulykc, dropping the stork
jtnd rushing to her husband's side, "and
han't wo do the loveliest things with it!
It Is tin; kind that the Ht-rultl and Sun
and all those papers are printed with.
"Oh, yes, Mrs. Kpoopcndyke,"
grow led her husband, "you've hit it ex
actly. This is the very kind. I got Mr.
Dennett to kindly try it on, so as to get
it the same size as the llernbt is print
ed on."
"And will you print papers with
yours like Mr. liennett and the other
editors?" continued Mrs. Npoopendyke
timidly.
"Oh, lint won't I, though?" yelled
her husband. "It needed a dod gasted
female idiot to think <>f that, you've
struck the proper plan. Think you
can print .Vix'i't show bills with a -Ix4
press? Well, I tell ye that ye can't,
(.'an ye get it into your measly head
that this is a card press. and can only
print a card three inches by four
Inches?"
"Well," said Mrs. Sj-oopendyke, "1
suppose you an print \ isiting cards on
it ?"
"Yes, Mrs. npoopendyke, I can," said
ficr husband, in a - -fb-r tone, and h<-
grew in a much ls*tter humor as lie
proceeded t - show his wife the press
and exhibit his dexterity in the use of
th> _pe and the priws.
At last he got his worthy helpmeet's
name set up in type, and proceeded to
put the chase on the press with a grand
flourish. Hut in an evil hour he hail
forgotten to key it up, and at a touch
tin* whole business went to pi, and at
tin* next f<dl in a confused mass all
over the carpet.
"Why, what m ike* it do that," said
Mrs. npoojiendyke, laughing.
"What makes it do what, Mrs. S. ?"
sneered her husband as he hit his head
on a corner of a table in a mad dive
after the type. "What d'ye S'JMPHC
makes it do it' What makes anything
d * anything? If I had your t.il-*nt for
asking idiotic questions Ed get a glass
of ls-cr and a three-inch paper collar,
and live out as a prosecuting attorney.'
Hy thi* time the worthy gentleman
had g-t tin* name set up an-l securely
fasten* 1. and was printing with great
gusto; but be bad. unfortunately, set
th<* types in wrong order, an-l the first
eight p'-rfumed visiting car-Is came
out lik<* the following:
.< kylnrjt'joj.S .nrV
When Mrs >p.H-j>en<lykc saw it she
.'>•■! up a little s ream. "Hh. isn't that
funny, though ? What makes it wrong
side up?"
"Funny!" howled her husband, with
horrid derisb-n as he grasped the situ
ation. "It's a perfect thunderbolt of
f.in. It's the in -st delicious humorous
thing->f the r-utury. All you need is
in advertisement of liver pills on the
<-o\ cr, and a joke al-out a goat on the
lirst page, to Is* a comic almanac.
With your appn- iation of humor, all
you ne<sl is a broad grin and # l-*>
w .-rth of stolen diamonds, to be the
b*a<ling comedienne of the American
boards. Can't you see the measly
type's turnisl wrong? They have only
got to be turned round the other way.''
After half an hour of diligent lalior
the types wi re again in j-osition, se
curely keyed up, and put on the press.
When the final arrangements were
completisl, Mr. Spoopendyke turned
round t" w ink at the baby and incau
tiously left his thuinh over the islge of
the press. As luck would have it,
Mrs. Spoopendyke, in her anxiety to
show her husband how well she under
stood an-l appreciated the press,brought
the lever down and the press close. 1 on
that gentleman's thumb, making him
Jump four feet high, and utter an ex
clamation that Would have made the
second lieutenant of a company of
pirates blush. "Hod gast the measly
print ing press." tie shrieked, as he
smashed the base burner with it, and
then he threw it in the alley. "Haven't
ye got any sense scarcely ? Why didn't
you go on with the entertainment?
The measly thing only got as far as
the IsMie. Why don't ye finish the
chapter?" an-l Mr. Spoopendyke
danced up stairs, five at a time, with a
parting injunction to his wife to hire
out for a slaughter-house.
"Well," said Mrs. Bpooj>endyke, as
she picked up the habv, and put a
pitcher of water where her husband
would l>e sure to fall over It when he
went down-stairs In the morning,"if we
have so much trouble in printing one
word, I wonder how Mr. Dennett gets
along with a whole newspajier to print"
-StanUy HuntPy.
There are fifty-three cigarette facto
ries In Havana, which collectively pro
duce 18,000,000 cigarettes a day.
THE EASILY DOCTOR.
To prevent hair from falling out. try ;
first wetting the head at night with
salt and water. Mild sage tea is also
excellent. If these remedies do not
effect a speedy cure, try this: Get a
little bottle of brandy, arid put in all
the salt that it will absorb; wet the
head with this two or three times a
day.
If the arnica with which bruised
i limbs are bathed is heated, its g'ssl ef
| fects are perceptible much earlier than
j if it is applied while cold. If arnica is
to he taken as a remedy, as so many !
physicians recommend, in cases of sc- i
vcrc sprains, it should he prepared
with water m this proportion: a tea
s p-win ful of urni-a in a goblet tw<>- i
thirds full -if water, and of this a tea
j spoonful is to betaken once an hour or i
; once in two hours, as the severity of
the case determines.
A new remedy for headache has been
found by Hr. Haley, an Australian phy.
sician, who says that for some years
past In* has found minimum doses of
iodide nf potassium <•( great service in
fr-iiital headache; that is, n heavy, dull
hi-a-lii'he, situated over the brow, and
a- - --in j -allied In languor, chilliness and
a feeling of general discomfort, with
distaste fur f---I-i, which sometimes ap
-1 proaches t- nausea, can be completely
removed by a two-grain dose dissolved
in half a wineglass of water, and this
quietly sipped, the whole quantity
being taken in alsuit ten minutes. In
many cases, h-* adds, the effect of these
small doses has l>ecn simply wonderful
-as, fur instance, ,- person who a
quarter of an hour before was feeling
most miserable, and refused all food,
wishing only f*.r quietness, would n w
take a good meal and resume his wont
ed cheerfulness. If this cure of ]>r.
Haley's is in reality a practical one, he
will merit for the d.*>' -<vcry the grati
tude of suffering millions.
The Jew's-Harp.
The origin -f the Jew's-harp Is lost
in the long lapse of time, and hat
hardly ever attracted sufficient notice
as a musical instrument to be worth
the inquiries of musical antiquaries
In Germany it is called "Maul Har.
mom-a;" in Denmark, "Mund harp
in Sweden "Mungigaf in France
"Guinl-arde;" in Italy, "Tr- inl a," an-l
in the Highlands, "Tr-itnp." Ths
Greeks of >inyrna ' .ill it, in imitation
of its sound, "Di.imlsi." In the Neth
erlands and Tyrol it has for a long
time been the delight <-f the p- asants,
the lalnirers, and their families, an-i at
present it seems to be in exception
al gr--.it fav.-r in America, where an
Englishman lri< in Trov establish- 1 a
fa-tory --f these vibrating instruments
an-l so l-r.-k has the business ls-- nth.it
another fact >rv has 1 --n started re
- -*rt!y where the comnc-n-pl.i e Jew 's
harps are turnisl out in hun-lr- N <*t
th-lusands.
The iirst m-t'sl performance on this
simple instrument is iia-nti- ii--1 in the
memoirs of Mine, de Genii*, in which
is ib *cril>ed the astonishing power on
the Jew's-harp of a p-r German
soldier named K->ek, In the service <-1
Frederick the Great.
However, it was reserved f--r a Ger
man herdsman and laborer of the name
of Kulenstein t> acquire an aim *t
European reputation as a player <<u
the Jew s-harp. After ten years' close
application and study, he surmounted
a host of difficulties, and attained a
perfect mastery over this intractable
instrument.
Mr. EulensU-in appeared with great
est success at concerts, tird in Paris, in
January, I*2>, an-l later on in London,
in June. lsji'>, where he executed with
"grace and expression the iint charm
ing Italian, French, an-l German airs:
t-> the great admiration of amateurs
and'professionals'alike." He used at
the concerts to play duets with Mr-
Stockhausen on the pedal harp, ths
latter accompanying him pianissimo,
and touching the chords lightly, so that
Mr. Eulenstcin's part in the duets I
could be perfectly heard.—Jfun't
tiwl Pramu.
>ol So Green a< lie Looked.
A green-looking granger, travelling ,
: with a wagon, took in a number of boy?!
in an eastern town very neatly recent
ly. He would allow a rope to l>e tiisl
around each wrist, and holding an ap j
pie In eaeb hand, liet that while twe
bystanders pulled the rope in opposite
directions he could bite first one applr
and then the other. He won every
! l>et with apparent ease, much to the
surprise of th<we who did not under
stand a very simple principle in dyna
mic*. He was naturally stout, but the
trick lay in the fact that the man pull
ing on his right of course Assisted him
materially in pulling against the man
on the left, and vice versa It wa>
two against one every time; but the j
mountaineer was always oao of U I
twa
i
- t
Jtilnif.
Thity twyl npon the wide vermed*, sod
llelore bo left bar nil# I aaw him torn
And take for her, from out tba rine-hur>£ urn,
A rritnaon roar, end with a 'lefarent hand
Ifn plaowl it in lha aoft hair'a silky atrawi
Then in mjr aotil did a fierca longing huro,
And a new toedneaa, swift, sod keen, and
item,
i Aroae and held me in ita strong command.
And then—Oh, blessed then'—l aaw bar take
A white roae from the white t/roaat where it
alapt,
And, with a J rood hot timid courage, lift
it to her lip*, for joy I could have wept—
'or joy hath tear*. The white roae wa* mr
gill! —CarlAla J'trry.
IM NIJKNT I'ARUIUFIIH.
i Should oarsmen wear scull caps?
To preserve cherries—Keep the smaJl
IjOVH off.
t Stare-way The entrance around a
(hurch door after services,
i The Moss Pointers (Miss.) jla' e
; eggs instead of dimes in the contribu
tion box. They are entered in the
church Ikkills an lav offering*.
This hit of conversation, which we
find in an exchange, is lioth timely and
expressive: "I think this ice-cream
tacts a little fiiwv," sai l ).<•. "Mine
tastes bully," said she.
"How is it," asked the landlady,
"that you never complain of anything
but tin- butter, Mr. Jones?" Mr.
Junes: "Well, that is a tug enough
! contract for one man!"
A l'i e utile maiden nuns! I'lurntncr,
Fell in love w.th fc grort-ry drummer,
And the lOy be gave
She concrete. 1 to **ve,
Bo fciie canned it. (It iMel ell ummer )
A religious exchange tell- a story of
a cornet player employed by a Baptist
church, who lost his jeisiUon by play
ing the well-known melody, "Pull for
the shore," at the baptism of unutulier
of converts.
It is said that wh'-n one i- drowning
ail that he ever - ,. d, thoiight, fJt, or
did. paws before him in a swift pano-
I ratna; and that the bad memories
crowd tlie good into the background.
One nwxl not drown in order to have
the expt rien'-e. Only be "me a candi
date for office.
Doing a heavy bu'inoss—The stone
yard. D'Jrjg a light businw—Thcga3
works. Doing a safe business—The
hank vaults. Doing a grave business
—The cemetery company. Doing a
1 medium busines" '1 be spiritualists.
J>oing a rattling 1< :vne-s The tin
sh p. Doing a fine business The
judges. I hung .1 funny business—The
humorists.
W hist ling,
rapt. Burt >n tells us how the Arabs
dislike to hear a p r->n whistle, called
by them "el -ifr." Sime maintain
that the whistler's mouth is not to be
: purified f-T forty days, while, accord
ing to the explanation of others,
c.it.m touching a man's 1m1v causes
him to produce what they consider an
offensive s und. The natives of the
T"nga islands. Polynesia. hold it t • le
wrong to whistle. as thisa<t is thought
to 1-e disres]KVtful to fiod. In Iceland
the villagers have the same objection
to whistling, and so far do tliey tarry
their superstitious dread of it that "if
one sw ings about him a stick, whip,
wand, or aught that make- a whistling
sound, ho scares from him the Holy
<iho*t," while other Icelanders who
consider themselves free fr"ra supersti
tions, cautiously give the advice: "Do
it n"t; for who kno wet h what is in the
air?" In some districts oLNorth tier
many the villagers say that if one
whistles in the evening it makes the
angels weep, speaking, however, of
ladies in connection with whistling,
it is a widespread superstition that it
is at all times unlucky for them to
whistle, which, a -cording to one legend,
! originated in the circumstance that,
while the nails for our Lord's cross
w ere being forged, a woman stood by
and whistled. Curiously enough,
however, one very seldom hears any of
j the fair sc\ indulging in this nvrea
. tion, although there is no reason, a* it
has often Iteen pointed out. why they
' should n>t whistle with as much facili
ty as the opposite sex. One cause, per
haps. of the alsenee of this custom
j among women may l>e. in a measure,
i due to the distortion to the features
which It occasions. Thus we know
how Minerva cast away, with an im
-1 precation. th" pipe, which afterward
proved so fatal to Marsyas. when she
beheld in the water the disfigurement
of her face caused by her musical per
formance. There are numerous in
stances on record, nevertheless, of
i ladies whistling at public entertain
ments. and charming their audience
With the graceful case with which they
performed such airs as "The Blue Bells
of Scotland" or "The Mocking Bird."
Indeed, not many years ago, at a grand
provincial concert, two alsters excited
much admiration by the clever and ar
j tistlc way in which they whistled a
i duat G.-ntt+mnn't MagasiH*