SME ERED AT, It's a shane and ol dere to the graduating cluss that any ove of us saonld be dressed so shabbily! said Edith Linton to a group of girls who were discussiug the closing exercises of Les er Seminary, now near at hand, Of course it ri flects on us to have a por bubody with us, Particularly since that nobody is to recite the valedictory | poem, laughed good-natured Bessie | Long. Ii we could keep her the corner, or draw attention from her by air own better appearance, she might | be overlooked; put if she is shabby, | »hy that | poor | in she will be couspicuously shat pight, When people can’t their | ¢Sildren as they ought, they have no | a like dress righ by send them to school this. said Edith, Oh, I've heard Alga Rivers say her nn ‘le in California pays her school bi ls, ove of the girls answered. She | @ys her father is too poor to send her lsere, and she's going out as a teacher NeXt year, Why don't her uncle in California | give her decent clothes, then ? Edith | «aid* It's an insult to every scholar | to send a beggar here, where the first | families of the country send their | dsughters. Here's Blanche Arm- swoug. Blanche we're discussing | Alga Rivers’ dress. You sit next to | her. How sball you like your elegant | white silk grenadine to be cheapened | by her coarse white muslin ? | Blanche Armstrong was an heiress, aad a leader among the girls. She was not quick in her studies, and was indolent, but the was not purse proud | and she had very generous insiincts. She thought very little of the money lavished upon her, but a great deal of the talent and genius which her money could not buy. Of late she had given great dissatisfaction to some of her companions hy seeking the society of Alga Rivers, How would I like it? she answer- ed, io her slow way. Well I'd like it better if the scholarship covered by the white muslin could be communi- { quick. | that people who possessed talent lived | | its perfectly lovely ! Bianche, 1 know my dress was the topic. Why should 1 deny it? Blanche said, quietly. You are above such things as dress, I am sure, and can aflurd to be indiflerent to their foolish talk<—you who have so much alse to think of. But I mind it, vehemently. It hurts me to the very I don’t mind telling you this, | Blanche, for I believe you are my | friend ; but, do you know, I'd willing- | ly give up most of the prizes I expect, to be decently dressed, and know that { dunce, Edith Linton, wouldn't be able Oh, I'm ashamed to feel so, and I see you are but it's | do the girl cried {to sneer at me. of course, | ashamed of me for saying it, a truth nevertheless, Blanche sat almost astounded at this revelation. She who had believed | | habitually lofty where | ‘such pretty things as dress never in | truded. It was the firsy | in regions, time her | | friend had ever spoken of her persona] | feelings in such matters, and she was | confounded at the revelation. I never thought—I never dreamed | you were hart by such feelings, she | | stammered. Why, they are constant pin-pricks | | and often make me cross and irritable | | I ¢hall be glad to get away from here; but then I suppose I sball be obliged | {to endure the same vexation wherever I go. Of one thing I am certain ; { poor teacher won't be expected to dress like rich people, she added bit- | terly. We're such intimate friends, | know, Blanche said, hesitatingly, and | we are about the same size, Now J | why can’t JOR Wear one of my dresses that evening ? Alga put her hands friend's mouth. Don’t say any more Blanche. I koow I am very foolish, but my dear mother has given me some lesson of independence that I can't forget. My dear, I don’t think it would mend matters for me to show | myself ashsmed of my clothes by | flaunting in borrowed finery. I only wish poor mamma bad been able to over her get me a few yards of lace ; a muslin | eated by contact to the white silk grenadive. If I could have written | the valedictory poem, I'd be willie 10 make a bonfire of my wardeobs and go in course serge, at least for while. Oh, my; what noble sentiments ? | sneered Edith. Now, for my part, I | must confess that I think to dress | well is as necessary to make a her birth, manners, or anything else. | Oh, but Alga's dress is so awful course, Blanche! cried Susie Randolph. | It'sa muslin just as course as lining, aad is made perfectly plain; raffl: or*flounce on the skirt, or a shared of lace at the neck. Nothing | bat a narrow frill of the muslin. | Why it is so shabby, one of our ser- it ! lady as not a vants wonld be ashamed to wear You know, said a gentlelooking | girl, Alga’s mother used to be a lady. Oh, I don't mean she isn't a lady now but she used to be rich; and, poor as i she is, she will not let, Alga wear imi- | tation lace or jewelry. She says that | it is vulgar, and that a clean plain, | white muslin, no matter how coarse, is better taste than any imitation, She's right, Blanche saia, rousing | up to animation. With Alga’s fine | figure and face, she can stand the | severest simplicity. I only wish I could, for | am disgusted with finery. | I'd like to see you forced to wear | Alga's dresses for a while! Edith | erfed. I dou’ think we'd bear soy’ thing more about simplicity. Blanche seldom took the trouble | to argue any question with ber com. | panions. She did not answer, but i saontered with ber usal languid step to the extreme end of the playground. A girl sitting ou » bench under the shade of a tree, with dark hair cut short like a boys, sud bright, eager, grey eyes, was reading intently in a farge book she held on her koe Pve ome here for quiet, Alga, Blanche said, throwing herself on the grass. The girls are chattering like «0 many magpies over there and thy have given me (be headache. "Alga pushed up her short hair with an impatient boyish gesture, Chatter, yes, | believe you, sspecial® ly when dress is the subject. Of course, they've ben discussing my coarse, mean muslio. That will give them enough to talk about until ihe | Blanche sighed. | demoralized by dress, talk and spite | fulness, { used to say. ! that kind | to practice the ‘minor economies,’ Prof. Allen calls them | who was You deli~ frill looks so cheap and dowdy. {see I'm cursed with a taste for cate toilet accessories. I wish you'd let me help you, { You do help me, Alga cried, throw. | ing her arms around her friend's neck. Your friendship gives me a better opinion of girls, and helps my better | nature ; but you shan't help my frivo lous, groveling tastes. It's all over | where not a shadow remained | dark hour has passed. I had bec My me | but ‘I've weakened to marcies,’ as good old Mammy Dinab wy | : It's among my ‘marcies’ | Uncle John and my has given me grumbling is an education, over until I get back home and begin | as talk, observer, but Blanche and in al This was brave a silent little way a philosopher, noticed that | | | grew very grave, and was often fool- | | ishly irritable. If by any chance she | came upon a little knot of girls dis. | cussing dress, she would turn from | them with a flushed face ; her sharp wit was unspariogly used on her com- panions, and, of course, inspired in them a feeling of intense dislike. They whispered to each other that she was 20 cross and envious that they hated | the very sight of ber, sod hoped she would lose the prizes, she did not, however. She took them with a defiant air, so unlike ber usual calm dignity that her teacher stared with surprise. A few hours before the evening exercises, Blanche, who was alone with her, said. You are not yourself, Alga. What is the matter with you? Yon are so nerv- ous I'm almost afraid you'll break down this evening. 1 shouldn't be surprised if I did, she answered, gloomily. When I am angry, I lose my memory, aod if 1 forget a word of the poem | am sure then to become so confused that I shall make a failure. Oh, you don’t know all that I have undergone; the hidden | taunts and insults that bave met me | at every turn. Today I got a onri- | 1 room, {cent toilette 7 | look ed 80 | plain birds we shall, | t | now, Blanehe, raising her bright face | { her eves shining | f mind to go to bed and say I'm too ill to appear. I've lost all courage, You must not do that in justice to yourself and friends, Blanche said; gently. Your uncle would be griev- ed, and I shall be so mortified that I shall not dare to raise my head. Think of your mother, too, nnd forget ull these annoyances, il try, Alga said, with a faint smile. I certainly am nervous from overstudy, I suppose, or I shouldn’t be insuch a frame of mind, Blanche, you don't know what it is to feel that you are 80 disliked that your schoolmates are all watching eagerly to see you fail, and if you do, they rejoice. If I could only forget them, Toward night the graduating class appeared, dazzleing in their embro- idered muslin and grenadines, made in the most fashionable manner, How do you like my dress? What a stylish fit ! dressed !| What exquisite were whispers on every side, Carrying her head very high, a hot | flush on ber cheeks Alga entered the She did net know that her { coarse, plain muslin fitted ber perfect- BE and in the absence of all trimming | showed off the lines of her five figure {to the utmost advantage. She seemed taller and finer for the | classic simplicity. Itsuited her style, {and with a pang Edith Linton recog But she did She threw as nized the fact. malicious best. ed muslin as ber eyes could express, snd gathered up her costly flounces as if she was afraid { muslin might touch them. lace the Where on earth is Blanche ! {cried affectedly. Oh, girls, I'm dying to see that lovely dress she ceived from Paris. It's costume, gloves, fan, shoes jus re. an elegant | to match, Here she comes now. Oh, good gracious ! This exclamation drew all eyes to | Blanche. Where was the magnifi A plain, white muslin made very much like Alga's neither flounces, ribbons laces, nor even a {breastpin but a white rose st her | neck standing in lieu of one. It'saa Cinderella reversed, isn't it girls 7 she said smiling. I was so disgusted with my finery, I wanted a | change, and I thought Alga'’s dress pice. Bat I've surprised her as much as anybody, I see, ing over L Alga and taking ber hand. | I looked half a you do, dem, she said looking We're bink be oblig to-night, only wish s weil at her with frank admiration. ed am glad of 1 keep together and it. could It was as much as Alga | to keep from bursting into tears, I know what you've done this for you dear, noble girl, she through y nothing. Yes, this sacrifice shan't make D N | think I could fail with you before me ears and wi for I'll do my best, for you've made me and the petty malice of the other girls. She did her best and her best wget my own foolishness was | | as the eventful day drew near, Alga | good, indeed. Her poem was applaad- led, and Blanche heard more than one dictory poem so exquisitely. beutiful dress actually classic, you koow, Blanche and Alga were close friends through life. Some years afterward when one day they were talking about their school life Alga said: If it had'nt been for that Kind act of yours Blanche, I don't know what would have become of me. | was 0 bitter at that wretched little Edith and the others that I did not care what be- | came of me, to be sure, it was foolish and wrong, but I could not help it When you restored my faith in others you restored me to myself I've never forgotten the lesson, I learned one two, Blanche said laughing. I found that the simpler the dress, if it only fits well, the more it is admired by gentlemen at least; 1 don't answer for the ladies, You are able now to wear what you choose, but I have never seen you look half as well as in that course plain mostin. 1 keep it as an ‘heirloom Alga said with her old —— When I end of the session, Don't deny it, Oh, | How beautifully your hair is | flowers ! | her | much | | contempt in her glance at the despis- she | Cross. | such | | do | whispered, i [| repressed | you : moment's i growling | Man alive! The Pennsylvania Railroad's person ask eager questions about that | New Yorz and was, what a wise, good friend she was hlessed with, Ah, Blanche, was there another girl in the world who would have been willing to sacrifice an ex- cellent toilette just to ao act like that HI AT A RE MARK ABLE T RIP. Hon. Wolfe Rahill looking for all the world as though he had just issued from the proverbial band-box, was stumbled i of Chicago | over last night at the Windsor Hotel, he was engaged in searching the tape line for the last quotation for wheat, The set of Mr, hammer coat was faultless: Lahill's claw- his shirt of which forth rays, was immaculate and unrumpled; while his trousers, by { latest freak of folly, bosom, from the centre i lustrous opal shot moonlight that the Prince of Wales crease, fitted him in {a way that at once filled with | ail the heavy swells of Gotham marked gentlemanly envy who | were buzzing about the wide corridors, It beats the world, Mr, Rahill re- marked, looking up from the paper ribbon that he held between histhumb and forefinger, it is the greatest ac complishment of the century. The Chicago wheat deal ? queried his listener in a vain effort to catch his drift. Nonsense |! he returned, dropping the line, and thrusting both hands in | to his trousers pockets. The Chicago | wheat deal is an o.d story. The same thing has been done over snd over again, train on which I left evening, and on which I came | Jersey City to-night—one of the bs \ “he | Vestibuled Trains that the last into Chicago new Peansyl vania Railroad Company has just put Its the but stop, on between the two cities. | novelty of the age, it's the | let me tell you about it and you your- | | self will bave to hunt for terms suf- | ficiently glowing to describe it. | {came back to Chicago yesterday after | noon after a business trip west as far as Omaha, | was dosty, dirty, and | weary, and I longed for vothing so r | much asa bath and a good sound ] | slee Pp | the rattle of the cars, the flying ders, the cramped sitting posture, cin the railroad sind I made up my mind that | would settle down the | lunch-rooms, and the railroad | dust over everything, wiches. i in Chicago | never stir out of it again until | to. Well what do you suppose When | rushed 1nlo my office hap | | pened at four o'clock mn Sisle apd into t chair, there desk be und ap invitation to New Y I TRIN dr ped ny among the letters on my sore {me | { a friends Tir t al oy wedding in rk. : | nig a unlucky | stars, { travelling I would have gone double the distance to have seen that man married. Io days gene by we were as were Damon and Pythias, | stated and l { the case Lo my pariner, lin seven besrs because had nat | come home a day earlier, Well, said my partoer, after hesitation, if you'd stop and hustle about a | you might get there yet. I exclaimed you're | crazy. Chicago Limited bundsome girl who repeated the vale: | wh'ch makes the fastest time of any Such a | train east, leaves in less thao an hour, | and does not arrive in New York un- til seven o'clock to-morrow night Lhe wedding takes place in 4 church somewhere up Madison avenue. Now how in the name of Heaven could I get shaved, put ona dress suit, and ride to the church in half an hour ? You're behind the centary, said Tom—Tom’s my partner, you know, Trust this matter 10 me, and I'll bave you there before the organist strikes up the wedding march, or you ean call on we for ten thousand bushels of July wheat at 70. Well, I just put myself trustingly into his hands. The first thing he did was to start a messenger off to my house with my satchel, and in. structions to put in my dress clothes and two changes of anderware, and to be at the Union Statoin by five o'clock sharp, The next thing he did was to secure a section fur me on the Penn sylvania Vestibuled Train for that aftervoon; and it was ouly by luck that he got it. ‘Everything, I believe, had been engaged for days ahead, but back his ticket, and so I was saved. At five o'clock, still dusty, dirty, and Shey shall hear how silly their mother wenry, I linibed into othe most t luxar. ious car it has ever been my good for- tune to ride in. I found that the sec- tion of which I was the lucky possess or for the trip, was a little delicious~ where i July | No, sir; I was speaking of the | I was tired of the rumble and | aod | had | | did, and sumptuously too, in as pretty sireet | iN {| mirror : : . windows, Much ax i desp sed railroad | | glass and polished brass, {ear war fitted up | blue growled | © | me a dollar, [ { best dollar-and-a-half LR | mery too, for which I paid the usual little | WO dollars. ie | { with its stained somebody, who couldn't go, brought. «| ly upholstered drawing-room, with | cushions and hangiogs of a tint that | { think I haveseen described somewhere | as crushed strawberry. The fittings were of satin wood, and the ceiling was decorated in silver. There were too that | whole train is illuminated by electric. ity. room connected with that section silver lighting arrangements Not gas brackets my friend, for Well, I found that there was a toilet | mine which together with the section, of the privacy {could be cut off from the rest train, aod so if I wanted could have all I wanted. it, because | had a number of letters that | ut the {snd that I had no time w read fully before I started. in for a while with my had four d O ii ie L care letters after washing my face and hands, and get. { ting the purter to give me a thorough | brushing. Then I became aware of the fact | that I was hungry, and so I made in- | quiry as to the dining car. It was forward, | was told, and thither, passed through another car on my way. { ning at the rate of fifty miles an hour, there was no necessity of catching { hold of the seats 10 steady myself as 1 The glided smoothly as a sleigh on polished run | went, train along as {ners over hard-packed snow, and I | walked from one end of it to the other {as I would walk through this corri. dor. 1 found the rest of the sleeping car in which I was located was upho! stered in gendarme blue, with wood- work of Hungarian mahogany, and the way in which the two colors har. mounized was a delightful change from | what | {ern roads, had been used to on the west The ment I found 8 most charming inno vestibule arrange vation. In passing from car to car, there was no banging to of the door | with one hand, holding one’s hat with {the other to keep it from flying off, and then pakiog a grab for the ban dle of the of the next car, mortal terror of being swung from No, sir! {a carpeted vestibule, i the [twassa step ov ef door platform, between velvet | curtaing which bid from view the rub ber joints that connected the two cars, Did I dine? Well I should say I a little dining-room--excuse me, car | The por mean--as man ever sat down in. table linen was spotless, and the ice unexceptionable. There were front of the 3 3 jittie vase In a flowers in a over the table between and whenever I raised my eyes they fell upon a most ornate i» uffe, that fairly shone with silver, This dining in old oak, with green velours hangings The was better than the | I had a pint of Pom y and up holstery geverally dinner cost and dinner ever ate in a hotel, I smoked a cigar after dinper in the smoking car, brackets, its bric a-brac on the shelves and its softly cushioned wicker chairs | was more like a comfortable library | in some city house, than the interior | '"*™ lines to the upper edge of the of & Car running across the country at a gpoed that a lew years ago wo rail. road dared even to attempt. I had some letters to answer, and so I sat down there at 8 desk and avswered them. If] was at a loss for the spell- ing of a word, a dictionary was at pand, and if I wented an address, all I had 10 do was 10 ask the porter for a directory of the city in which the lost party resided. Betore I had fin: ished writing, it was after nine o'clock aod we bad passed Fort Wayne, and were thundering on towards Crest line, our next stopping place, As | was tired I tured in early, and I slept as soundly as though 1 were in my own home, 1 slept far into the morning, and when I awoke and went into breakfast, we were somewhere between Pitsburg aod Altoona. After breakfast | went in- 10 the barber shop and The barber shop! interrupted his companion. Where did you find a barber shop? On the train of course. 0, I didn’t speak of it before, did 17 Well, that's another feature exclusively the property of the Pesvsylvania's New York aud Chicago Limited. Yes, wir. There is a barter ho op there, and a good barber, too, I was shaved without a scratch, had my bair trim. med, and felt as fresh as a field daisy in June. I found a book in the libra. ry that interested me until lunch time, and just as I got through luncheon we arrived at Harrishurg, promptly on schedule time—1.55. There I got the New York papers, looked over the grain markets, wired an order to ’ of | | I did want | I shut myself | I strolled | Although we were rou- | which, | oak book cases and | " th vating the my partoer to buy 5000 bushels of | July wheat for my account, and set. | tled down with a cigar between my teeth for an hour or two with the pews About four o'clock | | took my satchel, made my way to the | bath room—0 | yes; i 1 : i | of the day. there's a bath | room, too—had a delightful refreshing put on clean clothes, and don- | ned this black and white attire which Before I had finished, | we had stopped at Broad Street Sta bath, you now see, | “ion, in Philadelphia, for five minutes | and were out over the | Behuylkill on the Tost stage of the bl urney. v shooting Avother delicious dinner | Of scupied another hour and more. | When I went into the smoking car, | we were somewhere between Trenton and New Brovswick, aod though there was no perceptible swaying of | the train or jolting either, I was told shortly afterwards that we had aude the run of twenty-five miles between those two points in exactly twenty seVen minutes, eh? Pretty fast going that Before I bad finished my second I took the upper ferry, arrived on the New York side at o'clocks jumped into 8 cab and walked into the church Ri nessed cigar we were in Jersey City. sharp seven to-night in time to get wid seat forward from which 1 my friend's marriage start to finish My verdict consequently is, that the Penosylvania Railroad Company's new Vestibuled Train bests the world. There's not another road on the fac of this globe that could have afforded such a service as that, and I am will ing to make any bet on it choose or propose. Then the Hon. Wolfe Rabill made the announcement that be intended to take the Limited back to Chicago at clock this morning, and bade that you nine oo’ his friend good-night. —— A —.. DIAMOND DIGGERS TRICKY Few have lived persons excepet those who at the Cape, conception of to mate owners and workers « have any the legit of the dis the tra the loss mona mines caused by stolen diamonds—stolen. that the native diggers employed mines, and sold by diamond buyers, ¢ them to the ill mmonly Known D.B" Pa ng this subject, a writer in the York Tribune SAVE the Capes as the “I Before entering claims in the mor ing every native is i blige d i through the dressing shens, pass whore he must dof! the garments of civili n which the common law compels him to wear in the streets of the tow: zat 1, and don the regulation working-dress « sisting simply of a breechelout snd a light straw hat, Clad in this airy garb he labors throughout the day, exca- diamondiferous “blue | ground” and shoveling into huge iron tabs, which transport it by the serial Wa | vast craterlike pit of the mine, whence it is carri.d to the sorting ta- bles, and spread out in thin layers, moistened, pulverized, sifted and ex. amined by the sorters or diamond seekers proper. All this work is carried on under the supervision of watchful and experienced guards, quick to detect any suspicious mow. ment 00 the part of the native digger ; yet so adroit. has the latter become in his special besnch of loygerdemain that it was early found impossible to rely solely ou the guards’ watchtal ness ; and accordingly every native, after his day's work is finished, and before he is allowed 0 leave the mine, be is compelled t7 pass through the searching.sheds, where bo is sub. mitted to a personal examination more minute and complete than is un- dergone by the most di sperate crim inal fo the prison of any civilized country, On entering the searchingsheds the digger is fist wiripped to the skin, and bis bat ar d brecoh.clout are carefully examined. Next be +tands before a window in a song light, ol topiaio ot Hts is eritioal: ly surveyed, special attention i» giv. - - -
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers