DC HILAR P:R ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. : Thursday Morning, April 4, 1861. TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW. A 7.->*clud blossomed in my bower. A bid s*a; in my gsr-lea ; Th* rosebud was its fairest flower, Tiie bird its gentlest warden. A:iJ a child beside the liudeD trco i-auj; '■ Think no mare of sorrow i Cut let us smile and sin; to to-day, For we must weep to morrow. * asked the bird . "Oh didst thou hear The song that she would sing thee . And can it be that thou shouldst fear. What the next morn would bring thee ? lie answered with triumphant .strain, Saying, "J know not sorrow ; But I must sing my be-t to-day, For 1 may d:e to-morrow . I askrd the rose. "<>h, tell me sweet. In thy fir-'. beauty's dawning. Thou canst not fear, from t.iis retreat, The eomiag of the morning • She Snug her fragrant leaves apart. The lovelier for her sor-ow. Saving "*et! mu-t blourn to-day, For I may drop to morrow. ' I said. "The bloom upou my cheek Is Setting as the rise ; Mv voire a i mere w." —'—-- - - - - 5:! fct c i) % alt. [THE MAZED FIDDLER. I. THE VIOIJJf. What was that ?** cried Smith, starling Wat end listen," answered bis friend. [; was only tbe sound of a Tioiin in the it bouse ; and Smith, who > a practised sc an, trembled ie.-t be should bear some fiitric jig, such ss coun'ry idier> alone can petrate or even imagine. lie was wrong .to uiiuu'.es a look of wonder was iu bis t ; it) ten, he cried, " the fellow lias gen- T lere was an imaiet -e pathos in tlie > c ; the d.vii.e instrument v the instruments u the organ lor their s.rg, but they ciaim t Tioi n for their poet, seemed tilling some ■.:ge tii.e. of love .i tiTable and of ii.6u.te : now it wo:: ' to sink into a wail ..rdesolaie weariness, aid anon there mi* d i.viation —rapid, passionate, v.- ■u .. cvt-rv ... e. Of mere technical sk;l! • ;vcr had evidently abundance ; but *s _-s this, there wa* a soul in his plny v- '•? us- pn>:rture in a v.?ar ve heard Pa-Tinitii ; e played. they ".aid, s man who had sold h n- -;t to he dev . ibis man plays as a dt v : might to a Papaniui had sold himself ! Who at bin ?" T* masters." said the schoolmaster, with i own at the Londoner - rather irrev " rrds ; " two masters—Love aiid Vani- Icg the later. I lear me, was the stron vme two Tie man is—" mazed "as we *e. Ills is a painful story. Will you *.?sdoner, ready interested, gave a ra i.i his friend began. THE SCHOOJ M.lsTf.r.'i STOKT. • "■"* to this place a man of about thir- Ul * 1 fitly now. It suns me well ! wi< never fitted to strcggle in the - ; aud here I know everv one. Mv 1 ' • r.;>le ; its reward is suOjcient for ray *' • i>! vi I know that the children love "? v rench comfort in ths. sir, for *> u i erir been a father. Well, w hen tit, the prettiest girl for many a utile 4 *< Mu*y Lee. \on have seen our . • r.v, c rls—dark eye*. dark hair, and ■ r S*cch! Mary bad this, and she had vi* ;*} |e®r 0 f a i>orn lady, so '' - a tw foiks are plain and rough, no of uttering a course jest be ■ Lee. H<-r father, a sntaii farmer. Ltr toieranif to do ; and tne old • . ac : a-f! *hc:p she lived, had been * very mother. Yea will suppose that > ' J Laa y-crers In a niauaer sue had : in '-.vml>erown felt a kind of pnde st >ue w .? • graud i.ke""— there was * 1 • her which rather awed tliao ~ ar d o*.]y John llam'yn had any - top. j f g er hand. lie lives next n . L 4 ft °'d sr. ior now ; but in ,i. _ hoe and daring a fe'low as , l; ( alone the t -a*t. Like Mary. •r-lr 1 * 01 * r:cn ? l ' ,nt his father c 'f three smafl coasters peo '/ 'ffluegitßg, but that is no ar - '• *'•*'- '..weciiiet- and bleeding iu . - : Mary heard how, in the i - v , J -t he fore, ue had maaced a °* !o * large brig that had ht*. I.' " L::c e Rc-.k in the offing. v\iV T? * ' f fcfr cre * tbe Imm.- c-.--. ,' ' OWB - A. spar had airack " 5 ?or * thtrt it as a grti ghastly wound in his bead. Dr Woodbury— —ibe old gentleman whom you saw today upon bis little chesnut mare—met the meu, as they silently brought John Hamlyn up the steep path from the pier, and saw him carried to his house ; and Mary, going home, knelt down beside her bed, burst into wild tears, Li)to into pruyers as wild, and felt, for the f rst time, as if she loved the great strong sai lor. lie recovered slowly ; some traces of the wound indeed remained, but he coald have had, i think, no scars more giorions, and ere long he hoped to bring Mary home us his wife." "'Aud this brave fellow is the one who was | playing?" " Pray let me go on. No, he is not. Ge nins he never had ; only the courage of a lion and the affectionate geutieuess of a child Poor Mary ! It had been well had these suf ficed her, and so for a time they did ; but, ' unfortunately tor her, unfortunately for John, there was a lad in tiie village who had geniu, and, alas ! who knew it. Willy Basset was hut a poor young fisherman—not a strong : one ; uot even brave, but one of singular ; parts. If I was too partial to him, and if* my praises helped to turn his head and fill him with the demon of vanity, may God for give me I did all for the best. Suffice, it sir, that whatever time he could steal from the drudgery of his daily life, was given par ! tial'y to the books I lent him, and partially to i practising upon an old violin which had be longed to his father, the village fiddler. " John Hamlyu pased the cottage where he lived one day. and heard him playing ' Willy Basset, lad,' cried the big curly hair ed John, 'it seems to me yon might spend year time better than in fiddling, with your j poor old mother bed ridden ut home. There's the herring hawks off the bay, man, and the ■ shoal will be round the head before von finish Bobbing Joan. Out to the boat*, Willy.' " Willy looked up, and was about to an swer angrily ; bat John looked nlarminglv j big. Said Willv : "It is very generous of von John llamlvn, to talk of my mother's poverty. Yon are richer than we, I know ; lnt you need r.ot remind us of it !" These were mean, false, cowardly words of his ; but John—placable John—felt as if lie had *po : ken too roughly, and held out his hand Wi! i !v refused it, and turned away. From that hour, us 1 fear, he often thought how he could : lot injure the strong prosperous fellow who had reminded him of his duty. " You have noticed that we are a musical race down here Maty Lee had tiiis passion almost to excess, and sang with singular sweetness. One evening, at u.y honse, she : had been sing ig ferne of her quaint old songs, when Willy Basset came up to return some of my bocks. He sat down, and I asked him to play a tune or two, as he often would when he came to sec me. As yet he was but a po..r player, though already gave some f.unt promise ■ f that wondrous skill to which he afterwards attained. This nig! t, whatever was hi* inspiration—and Mary L-e'.s dark eves had surely much to with it—he played as he never had before, with quite new pus • MI and energy This WHS imleed the first time I ever heard him improvise. Hitherto j l.< Lad simply played the ordinary country tunes; tonight lie struck boldly away fro o them, trusted "> his ownlieort, and succeeded line I s-.id that he was cot handsome? At i ordinary t.iucs he was not, but now. r.s his ye lighted up with the excitement of his ir.u ■>.c. t.iere was wdd beauty about them w!;:.-h to a romantic girl, would have far more charm t..u:i ordinary comeliness. Wiivit he ended, I asked M iry to s.ng —aud behold, Mary was ! crying •' It is the o'.J storv. What was John 11 aml VIA, J tin and bluff, to ths Willy Basset, so gifted and so passionate ? Ma y asked Ler-elf tins question too often for her first '• love to last It died out. John saw the change, but would not believe it. A year ; ..--td Iy. Willy Russett's bed-ridden rocth er died—proud cf her son. and loving him ■ w Id'v to tiie Ist. The tuoor soni cried out, I as she IST dying, in her wretched cottage, or a rough December day, "He will be the ;>r: ie of tiie country yet, my W IT —a won derful boy !' But the neighbors said that lit tie good would ercr come of one who had been fiddlir g to please himself when he should have b"cn fishing to help his mother ; arid I could col bat feel that what they said was true. " And now, sir, care a tine which, to Ms rv, I think, was one of the pnrest htppinf** ; but wish n brought pleasure ie;-s pnre to Willy l>aset, and absolute torture to flic brave John. Willy—let me not be unjust to h JI — was thoroughly sincere in all his professions of love ; but there mingled wi'h them always, I fear, a base sense of tr.umph over his richer, stronger, handsomer rival. And as for John, tuougn the. poor fellow blundered about iu his big, uticouth, righteous way, slid sang at his work, and never left a doty undone, yet was iie as-ure<.ly smitten w.th a deep and terrible grief as if he had testified thereto by jumping over the cliffs, which otteu he was very much inc.iited to do, for, struggle as he m:ght, he could not but ace that Mary Lee, though she had ever a kindly word aud a bright >m.lc for him. to more intended to marry him than she intended, say, to marry ~t.' Thu* went down all the poor fellow's card castles, shattered by a fiddle stick. II? was not imaginative, this - big John ; bat. smoking hi? honest pipe of" evenings in the snrded k*"tchcn of in old homestead, he had had hi* little visions of hap piness and ease, the central figure in every such v siou being that of Mary Lee. W ell. j that was over now. I don t pilj him the less because be coold not write a sonnet aoout his " blighted hopes.' " la the Aprd after bis mother's death, Willy Basket, with bis violin and with ten poon'ds in his pocket— my savings were very small, and I could give "him no more—sailed away in a ship that was bonad for Naples, lie went as a common sailor ; but I knew that what he chieflly wanted was to reach some iaua where he a gbt obtain real lj good masi cai inching ; and, for my owe part, I toaw PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY R. W. STURROCK. ' aged him in the seheme, wild as it might ap pear. An old friend of my own lived aj , Naples, and I recommended Willy to him as a youth of rare and brilliant promise. For | whether it w as through his love for Mary Lee, or whether it was through a mere ambitious desire to show his kinsfolk and his townsfolk ; that, if he wis an humble fisherman, he was yet something superior to that, certain it is that his genius had taken a rapid and sudden start, and that he would oftentimes play with i really wonderful expression and power. Ere j he went, Mary Lee, with little urging, had : promised that if in a few years he came back ' in a position to maiutaiu u wife, she would be bis. " I remember well the morning on which j his vessel sailed—a drizzly, nucertain April j day, with now and than some some faint and fitful gleams of sunshine over the sea. His friends, Mary amongst them, stood upon the pier-head as the ship went slowly away to the west. Soou they could no longer see the wa i vir.g of his red fisherman's cap ; the vessel . went on, growing fainter and fainter to the i sight : a cold, cheerless rain began to lall ; *at last the ship could be seen no more, and Mary Lee, as the Good Endeavor went fairly • out of sight, sank back in John Hamleyn's arms, lie was not far from tainting himself, I think, the b'g, brave man, as lie led her home ; and I found some tears in my owa eyes that duv, I do not think I was the worse for th*m. " Letters cnm < from Willy in due time ; hopeful, eloquent letters. My friend at Na ples was very kind to him ; procured him a master ; and, at last, plain Willy Basset, ex tisher-bov, had a seat iu tiie orchestra of an r Italian opera. Mary was proud euough of this, to be sure ; but when three years passed oy, and he still said noihing of returning, she became uneasy. His letters grew less fre quent ' lie has foun i new frien d,' thought i she, 'and forgets old Coombetow ns folks.' In deed, indeed, sir, if sht was sorely tried, yet was lie as sarely tempted ! I learnt after wards that he had progressed iu his arc with wonderful rapidity ; at last he became a celeb rity ; and you know, doubtless fur better than I, to w hat seductions an artist is exposed |in the south. " bix years after his departure there came a letter from h.m whicu made Mary's face flash and glow again. He was comiug home—suc cessful, famous' rich. Home to his little Marv, ' whom he loved better thau any sig nore of them all.' Home to his dear 4 old friend*' naming me with words far tnoro flit tering than 1 liked. Home to the old Coombe town, • where, perhaps, he would be rather more than formerly.* And so on ; a vain, egotistical ietter, as I see now, but which made Mary's heart as light as a bird's. She hud wa.ted long, waited faithfully, but she had not waited in vain, it seemed. Was she j not right in her choice 1 "John llamlyn? John Ilamlyo was doing very well in the coasting trade bet ween Coom betown and Bristol. '• Willy Ud.->et ? II? wa a famous artist— aud j-he won d be uu artist s wile. •'Tiie artist reached home, lie landed at I Bristol, where he ioogt d almost ail hi money with n well known banker, and thence posted oa to the little Devonshire village with urnat speed he mig-.t. \cu w.i paiuou mc .. luo not attempt to describe his meting w.th Mary Lee. I cou.U teii you ol its g.uj.iea.- 1 , of its eebeuicmt passion; bat even as 1 speak the sad uieu.orv is with me c* a*. tao?o tr.ais, ail those uffiiciL-us, which so speed.iv fo.lcwed ihis Lour of intense de. gi.L. 1 iocud bun changed—uot altogether lor the better. His i'uee, though he came from the south, was very pale; n.s eyes, Irnnant as ever, hud now a i gbt iu them winch was not that of cheer *.i.l.l sS and li.iii.li j aud iu ...s wuu.e bearing there was >ou you shall kuow ail to morrow morning." : " I insist, sir, upon knowingall to night; ; ; tomorrow you may be busy discharging your bales at the pier-head " ! | " 'John felt the insult; but still, very stub : boruly, very nobly,held down the passion that was rising iu him. Willy—for rage had blind ! Ed him—mistook this silence for timidity and went on, rapidly, tauntingly, till at length ; John answered: " 'I went up to Mary Lee to night, if you • will have it, to teil her that Johnson, the Bristol banker, has absconded, and that you ■ are a beggar !' " When a hoarse shriek Basset leapt upon him and struck hiui iu the face. Aud thenjhe • suppressed rage of years couceutrated iuio one single blow, John lifted his huge arm and beat him down. It was a terrible blow; the i passionate artist lav stretched like a dead log upon the groond—senseless. Snddenly tue moon sluae out large and full. Tue light fed • through the thick hedgerow trees, right upon Basset's face. Jaim knelt down, and saw that it was bloody. He groaned with shame, the big John, that he should hare struck one so j frail ; but at lust, Bus't's eyes slowly opened and Joliu still knelt by his side, weeping like a babe. " What made him leap up, and then stag-' ger-back, as if a knife had struck him to the heart ? This: as he knelt by tlie artist, and watched him return to conseionsuess, he ex : pected to hear a curse from his hps ; he heard instead, a low, feeble, chuckling laugh. It was the laugh uf an iu.ot. \\ n!y liu->set was liusaue. " Three mouths afterwards I followed Mary Lee to her grave: and wbeu the clamor and the noise of the affair had died away, John j liamlyn took the aiad artist to his borne, aud has supported him siuce. '• Willy Basset has lost all recollection of that terrible night. He wauders about,harru- Je-sly. quietly; the villagers, who will call him 'the Mazed F.ddler,' never molest him; and at times he will take his vioiin and play so sweet- Iv and so welt, that the f ew strangers who visit Cootubetown will hardly belie re xe when I tell them he is mad " 111. WHAT FOLLOWED. However feebly the old schoolmaster had told bis tale, there bad been something iu it which had riveted tne attention of his liveli er. The two n.=u sat for awhile silently, smok ing and thinking. At last as the evening j i closed in, the school:uister was ri-ing to light i uis lamp, when he heard a tap at his door.— j In auother minute John Ilaui'yn entered. Tne Londoner gazed at him with interest. There was nothing rorcaotic or picturesque ia his appearance. He was simply a big scaeap taiu, with prematurely gray hair and mild eyes : for the rest he wore a rough pilot's jacket, ar.J smelt strongly of cavendAh tobac co. He said, quietly; ' : I have been down to the pier, sir; the Sarah J*;.e has just come in ; an i now I fin J J that poor Basset has left the house. lam i goiug Lsjook for L m. Would you l.ke to come • with me, sir ? There's a wiljish lock about the sky to night, and I should be loath to have him caught iu the that is rolling - U P-" i i ' I suppose we shall £cd him ia the church yard r ?a. I the schoolmaster. " Most like, most like, sir. I always notice, that on nights like this he steals away there. Poor fellow !it can't be helped now. But I would rather lose my r ght band than u ; e it as I did one uight !" The schoolmaster sighed; 2nd, after a few words with the Londoner, all three set out to gether for the churchyard. John Hamlju had been right enough when he said that a storm was coming. The day, as I hare hinted, had been oae of intense heat • and now there was not a breath of air s'irriog. As they walked oa, they felt oppressed by the close, sultry deaduess of the night. Their road . lay up-hill, through a thick, deep lace, such as every Devonshire tourist knows; and ere ( ; long the utter silence of the place grew almost ; terrible. Not a leaf moved above them; and < ■' when, after half an hoar's walk, they reached , an open space from which the sea was visible, they were stii! more struck with the gloomy , look it wore. A dull,heavy, leaden look—now aud then there was a little white Sash befow j them, when a larger wave than usual rolled , slowly ia and broke upon the rocks—but there i was no life ia the sea, so to speak. As they paased at the little churchyard 1 gate, thef heard the sannd of the violin Willy Basset, standing by the grave of Mary Lev, was playing such a requiem as never yet 1 musician has expressed in notes—a requiem ■of such depth of lamentation, such bitterness 1 withal, that the tore men almost wept as they listened,and not auother sound was heard 1 : -ave the magical tones with which the Maz-d Fiddler mourned over his dead lOTC. They did not dare to interrupt him; bet a: length the music ceased; he walked towards them, stag-, gering like a drunken man; and then, as he reached the gute, sank heavily, fainting, on the groand. At that instant there was a peal of thunder in the east, which roHfd on, crash ing and rererberating as it rotted, tiii it seemed to break right above their heads, then for a minute atter silence; and tfcea a blinding sheet of rain fell roddenfy apem then. Tirev lifted 1 -~' S• • * I the Mazed Fiddler from the earth; John Ilara* Ivn, flinging off his rough jacket, wrapped Willy in it as a shelter from the ruin, and they turned homewards. Tuo rain still fell, bat far j away towards the horizon vivid flashes of lightning leapt over the sea like sworj3. " Make haste for the love of God !" cried John, striding along with his burden as one who carried nought; "make baste ! he is wet to the skin already; it will be the death of ; him 1" They brought him home and laid him gent- i [v on his bed. The Londoner ran off for Dr. 1 Woodbury, but the good doctor wns ten miles off. tending a sick woman; and when Smith returned, tue artist was raving in his delirium lie said not a word now of Mary, net a word j of John liamlyn; his thoughts were away in j the sooth. " A poor fisher boy, Signora ! Money, mo- : ney, always money ! Can 1 coin it ? On the red, then ; I back the red ! For the eighth, ! ; ninth, tenth time, lied! Red it is !" he scream- ! ed, half starting out of his bed. "Do you be- ! lieve in my fortune, now ? In notes, in notes ! I have no lacuev to carry my gold for me; an artist, nothing more P Through the whole weary night, while the rain fell iu torrents without, the three mea watched beside Lim; but as it drew oa towards morning, and the storm slowly and sullenly abated, he became much calmer. He slept for au hour or two, and at daybreak turned to the old school master, with a peculiar smile up- ; oa his face. "Yon will give ma my violin?" There were several iu the room; his friend handed him the uearest. "Not tJuil, not that! 1 play- I td that at the San Carlo, when la. Catariua sar:g so grandly. Give me the old cue; the one I had when a boy." II; took it from the schoolmasters hand and looked at it lovingly, j Just then the morning light came fail into tne room, iloodiug it with its lustre. "I played it . oftea enough, sir, dowa among the rock*, when ; there were none to hear me but the merry sea-golfs. Ah ! the beautiful light 1 The : birds will be singing after the storm, aud the . iambs will be riiuuing iu the meadow* over the fresh wet grass. I loved to see them once 1 but, I fear me, I fear me, I'll never move { from this bed till they carry me away to the ; gray old churchyard, yonder, close by the dear i ' old sea. And, wei!, 1 have had troubles enough God knows ! and I'm weary, weary, and I shall rest by her side at last." Was he mad now? He spoka softly, bat i there was a raLed look in his eyes, and at i tioie\ a cold, nervous trembling went right over him. "Let him Lava his way, sir," whispered John liamlyn ; "it is nearly over." The artist played a few feeble notes upon his old violin, and smiled sadly as be preluded with a bar or two ot a Ample country a.r.— Craa. It was but the snapping of a fiddle string; but as it snapped his heart broke, too. Ano ther hoar hud passed away. The artist, with his lean, long hand still upon the instrument, nau faiien back upon bA pillow; and big John Kamiyn, kneeling by the bed and shaking ter ribly with the great strong sobs that seemed to be choking hits suddenly cried out: " L°ad us not into temptation; lead us not into temptation; but, U Lord ! tid.ver us from evil !" Detectives Gatwitted. Tie Auburn Advertiser says the reputation that Rann Hakins possessed for sfresrlness aud cunuing has been considerably enhanced ; since his recent masterly esea;e from the Aabura State Prison. It is weli kuoaa ti.at this accomplished rogue, agisted by potential ; i>nt unknown influences, succeeded in walking i free and clear of the prison, clothed in genteel raiment, with the nicest beaver, the £m>t kids the gloss;-t pateLt-leatnef boots. Immediate- ' !y after Lis escape, the most rigid measure* were taken to secure I.is arrest ; the most acute and keen scented detectives were sent out in parsait; bot ail attempts to catch the rogues proved failures. The Advertiser says:— " A few oighu ago it was rumored that Husk: as eaibal jfcued by his prolonged escape, determined to vMt a ball at a " tavern" in I one of the small towns ia Onondaga County, in the vicinity of his former horn" Two well known detective*, who knew Hiskins person ally, determined to attend the ball, ar.i dret -ing np in their best oisgnise as gay cavaliers they made their appearance at the tavern just as the fiddle had made its preiiasiiuiry scrapes and the fair couples had coaaene-i agitating the light "fantastic toe." To purchase tickets ani " Fail " ia was the work of a moment. and soon the gallant de tectives were enjoying the de.igats of the dar.ee, while at the same time the:r most vigi lan: glances were directed about the rxm fur the e*eaptd Haskins During the third or fourth quadrille the leading detective songht aui obtained an introduction to a modest appearing lady, iio cad, lor the most part, sat quietly ia the shadow of the room, attended assiduous'y by a polite and attentive gallant. Her quiet demeanor, her graceful figure, neat and tasteful dress, and beuatiiuily Aowiag curls, bad won opoa tne ueteetive; and much to bis companion's annoyance, he succeeded ia monopoly rg her company through two cr three quadrilles, a waltz, eontra-dance, and several po.ka* When tne iar.utoriiofSc.ou&iy announced luat "the relreshiaent* were ready," the successful detective galkntly crook ed hu c-ibow, the f£r :ady accepted his invi tation, and accompanied him to the table where it vu hu delight to crowd epon her notice ail the delicious rarities the table afford ed; she swam in soup, sue was barricaded with frosted and sugar cakes, and frozen with ur roanding cream A few dancea after the topper, a good deal j of smalt talk between the two, ami the lady announced her intei.tioa of leasing. The lady • excused herself from the obsequkms detective p and, after an absence of a few minntes, ap- ! peartfj with fur? ac