A Hummock Hong.
Swing! iny nottod hummock, awing,
Evor lightly to ami fro!
On tho bough thu robins aing,
Violets (lot tho grtcs Imlow.
Ah! how sweat tho spring-lime woollier,
Youth and love nr young together.
Bwlng! my nottod hammock, awing,
Ail tho fields oro drilling snow,
Daisy locos nod and sway
To tho south wind, iionding low.
Passing sweet tho summer woothor,
Youth and lovo oro young together.
Swing! my netted hammock, swing,
Maples, gold and crimson, glomn.
Cardinal (lowers niako gay thu wasto,
Asters nod hesido tho stream.
Like a dream tho autumn woollier;
Youth and lovo ore young togothor.
Swing' my netted hammock, swing,
From tho limb so cold and Intro,
Thro' ths boughs tho north wind sings,
Snow.(lakes fill tho frosty air.
Dear and blest tho winter weothor,
Youth and lovo are young together.
THE HOUSE OPPOSITE,
At the death of her brother Wilfred,
Vivia do Forest felt broken-hearted.
He had been her only near living rel
ative. The news of his death had
come to her with fearful suddenness.
Called to a Western city fur the pur
pose of superintending smite business
Connected with the estate of his late
father, Wilfred (who sometimes,
though rarely, had periods of dis
sipation) was shot in a barroom quar
rel.
Poor Vivia had suffered terribly.
The funeral was over now, and the
dull quietude of her present life had a 1
monotony which almost made her
long for the more exciting painfullness j
of the previous week.
A distant cousin of hers, an elderly '
lady, hail come to live with her in the '
large family mansion, which was now
Vivia's exclusive property. Hut old
Winifred Carr was rattier doleful com
pany.
To-day it had rained dismally from 1
dawn until late in the afternoon. Vi- 1
via could not lix her thoughts very
long upon the books she was reading.
In spite of herself they would some- !
how wander bark to recollections of | I
her dear lost brother, of their childish
life together, and of the untimely
death which had parted them now. 1
Several times during the day Vivia i
went to the window ami looked out
upon the rainy street.
In the house directly opposite was
one special window, where, ever since i
morning, she hail seen a girl of her
own age. ,
The girl was very pale, and wore an
expression of undoubted worriment.
Sometimes Vivia thought that site |
gazed toward her own window, with a <
wistful, appealing look.
She hail known, in years past, the
previous occupants of this house, but ]
it had recently passed into other hands,
and she had never heard the name of I
the people who had taken it. Now I
and then the pale girl whose sail looks I
had today attracted her notice, had
been before seen by Vivia, while as- <
cending or descending the stoop. Hut j
•he had never seemed as troubled as at t
present.
"I wonder what her trouble Is," '
thought Vivia. "Ah, lam sure it is j
not as bitter as mine!"
She started while this thought was
crossing her brain, for the girl oppo- i
site had made with one band a quick, i
beckoning gesture, that there seemed ■
no mistaking. And after having made l
such gesture she had hastily left the
window.
In about ten minutes she returned j
again, however. Vivia was waiting ■,
for her. If ever girl ha/I a kindly |
heart in her breast, that girl was Vi
via de Forest. She now made signs i
which plainly indicated;
"Do you wish me to rome over?"
An eager nodding of the head gave i
emphatic affirmative to this silent I
question.
"She is in trouble," thought Vivia i
"I may do some good; I will go!"
The rain had stopped. It was now i
almost nightfall. Vivia threw a dark ,
shawl about her shoulders to defend i
her against the raw December wind,
and ran across the street She hail not
to ring the bell. The door was opened
as she reached the top step of the
stoop. The pale girl opened It herself.
"It was so good of you to come," she
said, while her dark, sad eyes swept
Vivia's face as tliey stood In tho hall
together.
"I hope I can lie of some service to
yon," Vivia answered. "You seem to
be in trouble. I know myself what
trouble is. l'ray tell me how I can I
help you."
They were presently seated togeth
er. and the girl had taken one of Vi
via's hands between both her own.
"I have a brother, here in this j
honse," she said, "who is pursued by I
the police. Ho wishes to escape.
Once in a foreign land, he can elude
the law's vigilance. lam quite alone,
being an orphan, and only having Hugh
to lovo and earo for out of ull tho
world. I wanted to tly with him, but
that, ho says, is impossible. Ho will
not hear of it, though ho promises to
writo for mo to join him after lie is
safely beyond pursuit."
"And what crime has ho commit
ted?" asked Vivia
"Oh, it was no crime," answered the
girl. "Ho has been falsely accused of
murder."
"Falsely accused," murmured Vivia;
"how terrible! Have they convicted
him
"No; he has not been tried yet He
was In St. Louis only a short time ago,
when a friend of his, from whom he
had but recently partial, was found
killed in his hotel. Hugh was arrest
ed on the charge of having murdered
him, but escaped."
"And why should ho not have faced
his accusers?" questioned Vivia. "Was
he afraid to do so?"
"No," said a voice in the doorway.
Vivia looked in the direction whence
he voice had coma
A very handsome young man, though
worn and haggard-looking, had just
entered. It was Hugh.
"1 see, Klla," he said, " that you are
trying to enlist the sympathies of this
lady in my behalf. Hut have you
thought of what, a reckless thing you
are doing?"
"You tiei-d not feel any fear of mo
sir," said Vivia, quietly. "1 should
have no motive in betraying you, even
though 1 thought you guilty."
"Hugh is as innocent as I am!" ex
claimed his sister, in a plaintive, tear- i
ful voice.
The young man was now close at !
Vivia's side. The dimness of the room j
hail riot previously let iter see how
handsome he was. He fixed his dark
ly-brilliant eyes intently on Vivia's
face, and said:
"If I had passed through a trial I
might have I won sure that circumstan
tial evidence would have convicted
me. Can you understand this?"
"Yes," said Vivia, "but surely. If
you are innocent, it would have l/een i
better to suffer conviction than go j
through the ri-st of your life a fugitive 1
from justice."
"I do not think so!" cried Klla at
this j>int "I would have him live at
any cost!"
More than a hour elapsed l/ef<>rc
Vivia went home again. And she
visited that house many times more
during the next few weeks. Hoth she
and Klla lwlieved that iter exits and
entrances were watched, and that
Hugh's presence there was su|.erti*i
by certain spies posted in the neighbor
hood, but they were not by any means
sure.
Hv this time Vivia had silently
admitted to her own heart that she
loved Hugh Kolwrtson. It had !>een
"love at first sight" with her. His
beauty and his melancholy fate bad
both produced disastrous results with
her young, romantic soul.
She had determined to help him to
escaj/e. She was a girl of strong will
and indexible determination. Oncday
she said to him:
"I have la-en working out a plan
The house directly in the rear of yours
is mine. I purchased it yesterday
To-morrow night it will quite
vacant. You can cross by the back
fences, and get into the next street j
through that house. There will Int a
carriage waiting for you a few doors
l>elow. It will drive you wherever
you wish to lc driven."
Hugh's face lighted with a softly
grateful smile. Klla threw both arms '
about Vivia's neck and rapturously i
kissed her.
On the following night they all three
met for a few last words of farewell,
just before Hugh's venture was tried.
In tho hack garden a ladder was
ready, by which Hugh would climb
into the garden of the other house.
Hugh, Vivia and Klla all sti/od In a
room which communicated with tho
rear piazza Hugh first said farewell
to Klla who clung for a few minutes I
sobbing at/out his neck. Then ho ,
turned to Vivia Ho was frightfully ,
pale.
"What I have to say," he began, j
"Klla ought not. perhaps, to hear. It
may kill her. It will probably give
you, Vivia do Forest, an intense* an
guish. I have deceived my sister up
to this moment. lam not innocent. I
shot the man of whose murder I am
accused—shot him oj/enly enough, in a
barroom in St. Louis. He insulted t
me! I was very much enraged! We
had both been drinking. There is no
doubt that I was terribly to blame!"
"Hugh"' now broke from Klla's lips,
"this cannot be! You are deceiving
us!"
"Would I were!" ho murmured;
"and would, too, that this were all I
had to tell. Hut it is not all. Vivia
du Forest, from the first moment that
I looked on you 1 lovod you. Hut it
was days before I knew who you were.
Wilfrid Caldwell was your half-broth
erl You bear a different uauio from
hia."
"What do you mean ?" faltered Vl
vla, with paling cheeks.
"Ah, why did you not remember
when you ilrat met me," Hugh Itob
ertaon now cried, "that I bore tlio
aame name (common a name aa it
may have been) aa the man who ahot
your brother? Itut you did not think
of thin! You pitied me! Then you
cared for mo—oven loved me, Vivia,
since at this hour I need not deny that
I guessed your love! Yet all the
while 1 was -oh, Heaven! how hard
it is to speak the words! -1 w;ia your j
brother Wilfred's murderer!"
A faint shivering moan broke from |
Vivia'* lips. The next instant she and
Klla were clinging together, aa if for
mutual support. It was a common,
impulse with the two unhappy crea
tures. Each had been cruelly do.
cclvcd. Each now woke with horror
to a realization of the truth.
"Farewell!" they now heard Hugh
call to them, while they stood with i
heads I towed on each other's shoulder. I
"tiod guard both of you if wo should
never meet again."
They heard him open the window
and go out into the garden. Then
came quite a long silence. And then
a gruff voice, w hose tones seemed to
curdle their lihssl, called out amid the
still night: "Stop, or I will lire."
'I here was no answer. I'erhajia
three seconds of silence followed, and
then a keen pistol-shot rang out on the
tranquil night air. After that tliero
was a long, heavy groan.
"He has been shot!" cried Vivia,
looking with dilated eyes into her
companion's ghastly fare.
It was true. Vivla's plans, shrewd
ly as she had conducted them, had la-en
watched. A neigh Is iring house had
been taken by the detectives as a post
of observation. Perhaps, after all,
Hugh lioliertson's appearance, climb
ing the fence there in the bright Win
ter" moonlight, had lieen somewhat of
surprise, else the shot would not have
been tin-.!. Hut it was a shot that
proved fatal.
A few years later Ella lioliertson
married,but \ ivia do Forest has never
changed her name, and never will.
There are some wounds that, although
they do not kill, never heaL And Vi
vla's is one of them.
Village Government in Russia.
Every commune, every tuir is gov
erned just the way it wants to IKS.
The liussian ndr is the perfect realiza
tion of the perfect commune dreamed
of by certain Occidental socialists.
Ihe property of the commune is indi- ■
visible, and as each has always more
land than it is p-ssil ie to cultivate, a
regular conference is held every year
and a decision made as to what part of
the soil shall bo planted and what pro
ducts shall Itc cultivated. Every soul
in the village is employed in the work
and after harvest the profits are equal
ly divided. The "mlr" has the privi
lege of banishing lazy or worthless
characters. If a crime bo committed
all the inhabitants arc held raspmsible
until the guilty party is found. In
the same way every member of the
community is held responsible for the
payment of taxes. Hut in practice
things do not run so smoothly by any
means as the theory of the system
might load one to suppose. There art
plenty of lazy folk, turbulent anil dan
gerous characters, ambitious men, and
over all these tower the employes of
the central government, who rule ty
rannical! y and make the peasantry pa}
them heavily for overlooking certain
things or pretending to ignore deficien
cies.— l'uri.% Fignro.
Rich Indians.
The Navajos are a great nation,
numliering some 27,000 souls, of this
number some 10,000 are warriors.
They are well armed, but, fortunately
for the whites, have immense flocks of ,
sheep and many cettle and ponies,
which tend to keep them at peace. I
Man-ue-li is reported to lie worth not i
less than $-100,000, most of it lieing In i
sheep. He has lieon an Indian of great i
power and character, but of late has j
liecome a great drunkard. The Nava- i
jo Indian agency is forty-five miles i
north from Fort Wingate, New Moxl- |
co. They manufacture curious and i
unique ornaments from silver coin,
and their blankets and rugs have al
ready liecome famous for curious min
gling of colors ami remarkable textures.
They are eagerly sought for by the
whites, and have a high value, ranging
from #.'> to $lOO each, which is really '
not extravagant when one consider*
that they often occupy weeks and
months in weaving them. There i
neither cotton nor shoddy in the blan
kets, but pure, unadult rated wool, col
ored with unfading dyes Wo saw 4
few of the tribe, great, strong, repul
sive-looking creatures— Chicago InUr
OtMS
PEARLS OF THOUGHT.
The first and worst of all faults is to
cheat one's self.
Nature Is the master of talent; gen
ius Is the master of nature.
Wo never deceive for a good pur
pose. Knavery adds malice to false
hood.
Whatever Is becoming Is honest, and
whatever Is honest must always be
becoming.
The way to gain a good reputation is
to endeavor to be what you desire to
appear.
No soul is desolate as long as there
Is a human being for whom it can feel
trust :ind reverence.
The mere wants of natnre, even
when nature is refined by education,
are few and simple; but the wants of
pride and self-love are insatiable.
Young man, In building thy temple
of life let the foundation t>e honesty,
the timber wisdom and the root there
of temperance, virtue and manhood.
Man is not horn to solve the prob
lem of the universe, but to find out
what lie has to do, and to restrain him
self within the limits of bis compre
hension.
When fate has allowed to any man
more than one great gift, aecident or
necessity seems usually to contrivethat
one shall encumber and impede tin
other.
It is as alisurd to pretend that one
cannot love the same woman always,
as to pretend that a good violinist needs
several violins to execute a piece of
music.
Trait* of Michigan Lumbermen.
In a letter from Michigan describing
the lumber Interests of that Mate the
New York A"renin;/ l'<mt correspond
ent draws this pen picture of the har
dy lumbermen:
The human product of this remote,
(sol a ted existence, with its strenuous
work, its rigid ills' iphne under the iron
rub- of the foreman of the camp, is a
strange sort of lieing. In physique the
lumberman is generally a tremendous
fellow, with mighty thews, dis-ji shoul
ders. and a l-dy whose every sines*
aliovc the waist lias lieen thickened by
incessant toil. A good many, too, par
ticularly those of Scotch birth or ex
traction. have classic profiles and lofty
foreheads that Italic their crude intel
lects. Hut one may search far lefore
lie finds a s,-t of men. as a whole,
whose external traits are more radical
ly vicious. Almost every man drinks
when he has the chance, and for redun
dant and voluble profanity they vie
, with the mat<-s of th- Mississippi boats.
All emphasis is lost in the torrent of
oaths, and the j rofano t ngue -• 1 inter
lards ordinary talk as to obstruct nst
and cause a roost lamentable waste of
colloquial energy. When, after their
four or five months of winter lalsir,
tlnse big fellows are paid off and go
down with full pickets to Hay City or
some other lake town, they change a
peaceful community into a wild pan
demonium. Like sailor .lack after a
Voyage, their hard-earm-d dollars melt
away in the vilest orgies and a few
days finds them p-nntless and with
sunken cheeks *<-eking a job among the
loom* or saw mills. In these terrible
spell*, coming once or twice a year, the
strongest constitutions are aapj-ed, and
the local proverb, "Smell pine without
whisky, in old age you'll l-e frisky," Is
rarely realized. Yet underlying all
the lumlierman's callousness and laxi
ty of morals, there arc some sulstan
tial traits. He is good-teinjiered, spite
of hia prolific and aimless profanity;
generous and hospitable lieyond his
means; in camp, at least, be is said to
lie honest; and he submits to discipline
and t>e.nds to his yoke of toil with
cheerful composure. The yoke is cer
tainly a rasping and heavy one. All day
long during the short cycles of w inter
he must lalsir from sunrise to night
fall, often in |>eril from the falling tree
or ill-balanced log. He must put up
with a pabulum of which boiled pita
toes, salt ham, and astringent pork ara
the foremost luxuries. He has to sep
urate himself from all civilized life and
fall back for his diversions on the rude
amusements and coarse yarns of the
camp; and all tills he must endure for
1-10 a month and 1 mard. under a fore
man whose piwers within the pale of
the camp are atisolntely despotic.
Ills New Clothes,
First tramp—"Hullo!"
Second tramp—"Hullo!"
First tramp—"Where'd you git your
new clothes?"
Second tramp—"Shi Don't give it
awayl Farmers have liegtin to dress
up the scarecrows in the cornflolils."
There are between 700 and 800 pro
fcssional models in Paris, thirty-three
of whom are Americans. They are of
every age, from children of 6 to men
and wotnen of 60.
A Ureedy Wood-Chopper.
"Tough business? Well, 1 should
' nay so." The ex-steamboat clerk r<-
ferred to the old days on the Upper |
Missiaslppi, Minnesota and Bt. Croix
rivers.
"The people living along the river
uwd to think it wax righteous to beat
a steamboat whenever they could.
I Wo had to keep our cyot open for all
■ sorts of swindlers. Kteamliouteni were
common prey for those peojile. I re
, member once our boat worked all day
, to get through the Hawk Creek chute,
a narrow, shallow and tremendously
Hwlft place in the Minnesota Hiver.
! An old codger on the bank saw us
working away with all our might and
burning our wood at a fearful rate.
1 He calculated we'd need wood by the
time we got through the chute, HO he
harnessed hi oxen and haulid several
cords of green Cottonwood down to the
bank. Sure enough, when we got
through we had used up all our wood,
and were burning almost dear rosin
out o' the barrels. When we landed I
• asked the old curmudgeon what he
wanted for his wood.
" 'Four dollars a cord.'
" 'Hut.' says I, 'we buy the best ma
ple for $2.50.'
, " 'Four dollars for this. Take it or
. leave it' The old hkinllint knew we
had to take it, although green cotton
wo>d is the jMxinvt of all fuel.
"Well, 1 measured off two cords—
' just enough to take us to the next
' woodpile. While the roosters were
( takirig it alsiard I whisjjered somc
, ' thing in the mate's ear, and them
when <lie wood was ail --hipped, I told
the old swindler to coino to the office
on the )tat and get bis pay. When
| they were well in the oflicc the mate
i pulled In the staging and we put into
the river. I paid the wood man his
"'Here,'says he,as he stepped out
••n deck aiid saw we were in the mid
dle of the river, 'I want to get ashore.'
" "I>o you?' says L 'Well, you'll
just pay us to land for you.
j " 'Then I'll go to the next landing
with you,* says lie.
' " 'All right, you ran go, but It'll
cost you just f- for the ride,' says I.
"He finally paid me the f-. and we
ran up nigh the bank and bt'im jump
off in the mud. Yes, those people
along the river used to abuse us steam
boat men shamefully." Chicago
II < ral>L
A Hood Place for a Sent.
John Burroughs describes in the
i f'rnturp "The Tragedim of the Nests,"
and commends the shrewdness of the
luilsilink: "If I were a bird," he says,
"in building my nst 1 should follow
the example of the bobolink, placing
it in the midst <f a 1 r<>ad meadow,
when there is no gran*. or flower, or
grow th unlike another to mark its site
-1 judge that the l*d*olink escapes the
dangers to which I have adverted as
i few or no other birds do. Unless the
mowers come al ng at an earlier date
than she has anticipated, that is, !*v
fore July Ist, or a skunk goes n<ing
through the grass, which is unusual,
she is as safe as bird well can be In
the great oj.cn of nature. She selects
the most monotonous and uniform
place she can find amid the daisies or j
the timothy and clover, ami places her |
simple structure upon the ground In I
the midst of it. There is no conceal- i
merit, except as the great conceals the
little, as the desert conceals the peb
ble, as the myriad conceals the unit j
You may find the nest once, if your j
course chonces to lead you across It j
and your eye is quick enough to note j
the silent brown bird as she darta
swiftly away; but step three pares in
the wrong direction, and your search
will probably be fruitless."
Slue of Snn-Spot*.
A single spot has len measured
from 4",000 to 50,1)00 miles in diam
eter. in which, as will lie readily seen,
we could put our earth for a standing
point of observation, and note how the
vast farular waves roll and leap al>out
the edge of the spot, and how the me
tallic rain is formed from the warmer
portions of the sun. In June, 184-% a
solar spot remained a Week visible to
the naked eye, having a diameter of
about 77,000 miles; and in 18.17 a elus
tet of sj>ots covered an area of nearly
4,000,000,000 square miles. When we
call to mind that the smallest spot that
can be seen with the most powerful
telescope must have an area of about
50,000 miles, we can readily sen how
large a spot must be in order to l>e vis
ible to the unaided eye. PasterofT. in
1858, measured a spot whose umbra
had an extent four times greater than
the earth's surface. In August, 1858.
a sj>ot was measured by Newalt, and
It hail a diameter of 58,000 miles
more, as you will see. than seven times
the diameter of the earth. The largest
sjtot that has ever been known to as
tronomy was no less in diameter than
153,500 miles, Popular Srnenot
Monthly.
CUPPINGS FOB TIIK CUBIOCB.
Florida has raised a water-melon
weighing seventy-five pounds, and fif
teen people couldn't eat it.
The total number of species of (low
ering plants In the world is roughly
estimated by Jlentbaiu and Hooker to
l.e 95,620.
There is a vinegar vat in London
which will bold 53,000 gallons. One
hundred men were entertained at #
dinner in it by the owners.
Oysters are sensitive, both to cold
and heat. In sh.'illow waters enor
mous quantities perish by frost, and
enormous quantities perish in great
heat.
in France, nntil the introduction of
postage-stainjis, and the rule of
double postage for unpaid letters, it
was considered ill-bred to j>repay a
letter addressed to a friend.
An old lady in Greenwood, Ohio, has
a wonderful in n which recently laid an
egg that weighed jjve ounces, and was
as large as a goose egg. On breaking
it, it was found that it contained in
side another egg, fully developed,
which was of the ordinary size.
Drs. >it her wood and Hanlan have
expressed the Is-lief that excessive
mental work produces a rapid decay of
the teeth. As an exj.lanation of the
alleged fact, another writer suggests
that the overworked brain steals all
the phosjihates and leave- none for
the teeth, or else that too much study
< auHi-s the general health to de
teriorate.
The cans wary catches fish by wad
ing into thg water, spreading and
submerging its ruffled wings and lay
ing quite still The fish mistake its
feathers for a weed in which they are
accustomed to shelter themselves, and
swim in among them. Then the bird
closes his wings, straightening its
feathers. fc tcjis ashore, shakes out tlie
fishes and dines.
The largest amount of gold hell
one owner in the world is that of the
t United States. Tlie a-tual metal oa
hand, the j>roj>erty of Uncle r-am, is
$198,000,000, The next largo* goii
ow ner Is the Hank of France, wh'e
late-t rj.rt shows in the vaults $198,-
275,000. So the United Mates has in
exe< s of the Lank of France gold to
the amount of $4,625,090.
i The Chinese have some very inge
nious methods of cajltiring fishes. In
Swat vv, for instance, they employ a
boat draw ing a few inches of water,
with a rail nearly level with the sur
face. A narrow j lank on one side is
painted white, ami in the moonlight
the fish mistake this fir water and g
jumj over it into the boat. At I
Kingpot cormoraats ate -v" 1, matkaily ®
trained to fish, while at 1< hang, a w ild k
animal, such as the otter. Is trained, i
not to fish, but to frighten the fish
Into nets.
An (lid-Time Humorist-
Poor Lieutenant Derby, who whiles! I
away the weary hours at Yumt I
Arizona, as well as at the other posts
at which he was stationed on the Pa
cific coast, in concocting the rare
drolleries he gave the world under the
nom de plume of "John I'ho nix,"
| completely ruinid Yuma's rejmtation i
as a summer resort by his famous joke 1
about the soldier stationed there who 1
died and brought up In the infernal 1
regions, which he found so chilly by I
contrast that he found it necessary to 1
send back for his blanket. Mncethat
period, it is said, "sin-hardened invalids
rejiair to Yuma to die, with a view to '
becoming inured to the great trials of
the hereafter." It was also Lieutenant (
Derby who, l-eing left in chargeof one
of the Pan Diego pajH-rs at one time
for a few days during the temporary
atisence of the editor, changes! the
politics of the sheet, to the horror and
chagrin of that trusting victim of mi
placed confidence. It was also he who i
on being presented to General Augur
and family for tlie first time, express*]
ed his pleasure at the meeting. so*
then, looking down blandly at the
children, said, "And these. I suppose,
are the little gimlets," for which un |
timely ebullition of humor. It Is said,
the general never forgave him.— lnter- I
Orean.
The German lgnper<>r's famotu I
horse Ganges, on which he made hit I
solemn entry Into Berlin after the wart I
of 1866 and 1870. has recently leol
destroyed; but having undergone thtfl
taxidermic process, he now staods In I
the atelier of Prof. Memcring, and Is ufl
be reproduced in bronre in the
equestrian statue of the Kaiser for
soldiers' monument at Lslpslc. 11l
horse will afterward be placed to
public gallery at Berlin
Steam yachts grow In favor In
Britain. In 1863 there were only 90 fl
steam yachts of 8,752 tons; there arefl
now 466, and the aggregate tonnage Isfl
61,809. ■