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GROWING OLD.
I'hev sat together at the door,
Through which, long years ago,
fliey passed, a newly-wedded pair,
Tn youth's first rosy glow.
Then her round cheek was red and warm.
Her hair was rippling gold :
Her form was stately as the oak—
But now they both are old.
The blooming cheek is wrinkled now,
The sweet bine eyes are dim ;
But, full of love and holy trust,
They ever turn to him,
With the calm faith, and hope she felt
Upon her bridal day,
AVlien the long future, flower-clad,
Stretched out before her lay.
New. in the eventide of life,
They watch the purple haze
Grow on the hills, and hang above
The land-locked chain of bays ;
i'hev see the sun sink slowly down
T,' gladden other lands ;
Tie v feel night coming, and they sit
Selene, with dose-clasped hands.
They know that though the dusk is here
There is a place of light.
Invaded not by gloom or shade,
i >r the drear, weeping night.
They wait with patience for the end.
I'o tread the darksome vale,
Unto the height, before whose glow
Hie morning sun would pale.
fflert Sal?.
The Station-Master's Daughter.
1 hail lost sight of my old college chum,
I-'red Pepper, for several years,till I accept
ed an invitation from him last summer to
stay a week with him at his home in one of
the midland counties. According to ar
rangement, he met me at Wallington Junc
tion, a station about twenty miles from his
house, the remainder of the journey having j
to be performed on a branch of railway.
" Voti will have to take a fresh ticket j
in-re," said Fred, after I had alighted from
the train, and we had greeted each other
with a hearty shake of the hand. " You
will tind the booking-office tit the upper end
of the platform." ♦
1 went to the window indicated by my
friend, and obtained the needful ticket;
noticing at the same time that I was wait
ed upon by a young women—rather an un
usual ease in England, I believe,though not
-1 nnlVeijiient in Scotland ; quite a mite of
,i young women, so slenderly proportioned
was she, so light of figure ; with large, shy,
brown eyes, and brown hair ; with small,
pale, clearly-cut features; hardly to be call
• d pretty, hut with an expression of candor
; uid good temper that was infinitely pleas
( ag. Whatever touches of adornment the
otherwise dingy office had received were
due to her busy little fingers ; to her evi
deiitly belonged the three pots of scarlet
Lvianiums, and the box of mignonette in
the window ; the canary, lively and ioud-
I voiced, in its circular wire cage ; the ela
borate piece of embroidery on the desk ;
L on! a green-hacked volume of poems.
" Are all your booking-clerks in this part
"t the country as charming as the one who
has just waited on me ?" inquired I of
Fred.
"Ah, you have seen little Madge Carlis
t a. 1 suppose," said he ; " but you must
hot expert to finch another like her. Have ,
[you never heard of her before? Well,then,
I must relate to you a little circumstance
.which happened three or four years ago,
land which made Madge quite a heroine in
hlicse parts. Let us secure a compartment
h i ourselves, and then you shall have it."
My friend was well known on the line,
and the guard civilly locked the door at his
and secured us from intrusion.— j
Having fixed ourselves, therefore, comfort
ably in opposite corners, Fred proceeded to
favor me with the following narrative :
Iwo years ago," commenced he, " old
David Carliston, the father of Madge, was j
station-master at Birkwood, a little road
side place about fifteen miles from Wallinc- 1
ton Junction. David had been a soldier in
ids younger days, could show two or three
medals, and had probably obtained his pdst
n the line through the interest of some
[friendly director, rather than from any par
ticular aptitude he himself displayed. He
had been a widower for many years, and
■ small household was managed by his
: laughter Margaret, or Madge, as she was.
j generally called by her father and every :
I me else.
" i'heie was very little traffic, either in
j - ads or passengers at Birkwood ; so that
! ' 'tie led by David and his daughter was
j 1 very lonely one ; the village of Birkwood
| gelt, which contained only about a couple
| : hundred inhabitants, lying a mile and a
; i away down the main road.
|t thus fell out that Madge, having
| -' i leisure time on her hands, gradually ,
| ! ti ; it'd herself into the duties of a clerk at
| ' mn.il] station ; being, indeed, very nimble
| w "ii her i>on. and in that respect the re
| " !>><■ of David. His duties were over by
| - ill "'clock in the evening, there being no
[ which stopped at Birkwood between
! :I ' hour and seven in the morning ; and
seen that his night-signals were all t
: - ] 't. the old soldier would, if the weather
is i ne, generally trudge down into the
•"'■tge, to srnoke his pipe and drink an
glass -at the Farriers' Arms, at
.' 1 place, by virtue of his military ex- j
• ■"s and his two medals, he was look
"P"" as a hero whose dictum was in no ,
' t. ti V l V s P utl ''l- These nightly visits j
| .f ~ "new' Anns were a source of no
' 1 'squietude to Madge, for it not un-'
E. O. GOODRICH, Publisher.
VOLUME XXV.
frequently happened that David, rendered
forgetful by the excitement of congenial
company, and by the rude but genuine ap
plause which always greeted his stories of
warlike adventure; would imbibe more of
the Farriers' heady home-brewed than he
could conveniently carry, and would reach
home at a late hour in a state which per
mitted no recollection next morning of how
he got there.
" It was hardly likely that such a girl as
Madge Carliston could have reached the
age of seventeen, even in a remote place
like Birkwood, without having suitors for
her hand. Of the unfortunate rejected
ones who had been sent about their busi
ness. with no measure of hard words, but
with a gentle refusal, uttered half reluctant
ly, as though she were unwilling to inflict
so much pain, the only one known to me
by name was young Will Fergurson, a
guard on the line. Will had tried his for
tune, and had been rejected, like others be
fore him ; but whether there was something
in Madge's soft refusal which would not
permit him to despair of success, or wheth
er it was owing to the consistency and true
nature of iiis affection, he still went on lov
ing as before, and would by no means take
his rejection as final. ' It's a women's priv
ilege to change her mind,' he would say ;
' and who knows but that Madge may change
hers !'
" Will's most formidable rival was hand
some black-eyed Dick Carradus, son of
Lord Alfretou's bailiff—a village scape
grace, who had been turned out of doors by
his father some years before ; bad then
gone to Australia, and had come hack,after
being five years away, quite as poor as he
went, and was now living at home on suf
ferance, till something should turn up like-
It' to suit his lazy abilities.
" Dick had not been back long before he
singled out little Madge Carliston as the
object of his attentions. He began by pay
ing court to her father, and would lounge
up to the station of a morning, having no
work of his own to engage him, and smoke
and chat with the old man between trains,
listen with respectful attention to his long
winded stories, retail the latest village
news, and give him now and then a help
ing-hand with his garden ; so that, after a
time, the morning seemed long and dull
which was not enlivened by a visit from
laughing, good-tempered Dick. To Madge
he had made no open confession of his love,
being quick enough to perceive that she
was one of those who are not to be won in
a day ; but he let her see in twenty differ
ent ways how constantly she dwelt in his
thoughts. To what extent he succeeded in
winning her affections no one ever knew,
but that she was inclined to favor his suit
seems certain ; indeed it would have been
strange if a girl of her limited experience
and slight knowledge of the world, without
any previous liking for another, had remain
ed insensible to the manifold attractions of
Dick.
'■ Matters had progressed thus for some
months without seeming to progress at all,
when, one autumn forenoon, Dick lounged
up to the station accompanied by a strang
er, whom he presented to David as his
friend Mr. Kulp, from Australia. Madge,
who was looking on unseen from behind
the blind that shaded the open window,
thought she had never seen a more sinister
and ill looking visage than that of Mr.
Kulp He was dressed in a new, shiny
suit of black, in which he looked very awk
ward and ill at ease, his*"great horny hands
being especially difficult to dispose of, and
wandering incessantly into his pockets and
out of them again ; he would evidently
have felt more at home in the red shirt and
highlows of a digger. His face and neck
were the color of a brick, and his shaggy
red hair and long red beard, rudely trimmed
by some country barber, did not add to the
attractiveness of his appearance. His feat
ures were bold and sufficiently well-shaped;
but the expression of his eyes was so thor
oughly bad, that it was impossible to be
mistaken as to the nature of the soul'that
gazed loweringly out of their treacherous
depths. Madge could not help wondering
to herself how it happened that laughing,
careless Dick had come to choose such a
man as this Kulp for his companion.
" David went into the house, and present
ly returned with a jug of ale and some
glasses ; and Mr. Kulp having produced
some cigars, the three sat down on one of
the benches outside the station, and pro
ceeded to enjoy themselves after their own
fashion.
•' 'We had Lord Alfreton's family here
yesterday afternoon,' said David, after a
while. ' There was thjee truck-load of lug
gage and things, besides eight horses, and
lot of dogs ; and a rare lot of money it
came to. Fact continued the old sold
ier, ' I never was so busy since I came here
as I've been this morning ; for Baylis, the
cattle-drover, sent me word a week ago to
get him twenty wagons ready by tin's
morning ; and sure enough by five o'clock
he was here with a lot of staring, half-mad
bullocks and rare and cold it was too at
that hour ; but we got them all safe into
the trucks, and the engine fetched them at
eight o'clock—quite a little train of them
selves. And then Baylis came into the
house, and had a bit of breakfast with me,
and paid me for the carriage of the cattle.
\\ hy, lads, I*shall have over a hundred and
fifty pounds to send to the bank in the
morning. I'll warrant such a thing never
happened before since Birkwood was a sta
tion ;' and the old man chuckled to him
self as he emptied his glass, and seemed to
look upon the whole matter as an excellent
joke.
" Shortly afterward Dick and Mr. Kulp
took their leave, the foi nier depositing on
the window sill a little bunch of flowers for
Madge, who still kept resolutely within
doors. The two walked slowly down the
road, conversing earnestly together, Mr.
Kulp apparently endeavoring to impress
some important point on the attention of
the half reluctant Dick ; and in a few mo
ment the latter came hastily back, and go
ing up to David, who was busy digging in
his garden hy this time, he said :
"' You'll be down to the Farriers' to-night,
won't you, governor ? There's to be a bit
of a dahlia-show among the villagers, and
they'll be sure to want you to act as one of
the judges.'
" • I'll drop down, lad, after the eight o'-
clock train has gone, and that's as soon as
1 can leave ; not that I know much about
dahlias, but I can give my opinion, I dare
say as well as another man.'
" So, with a renewed good-morning, Dick
TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., FEBRUARY 2, 1865.
finally departed, and having rejoined Mr.
Kulp, who was lounging over a gate wait
ing the return of his friend, the two went
on their way together, and were quickly
lost to view.
" All these proceedings had been witness
ed by Madge from her eyrie, but she had
been too far away to hear the conversation
between Dick and her father in the garden.
When she was certain that the two were
finally gone she stole down stars, and tak
ing possession of the flowers, kissed them
and put them carefully in water. Then she
went about her work, humming an oid song
to herself; but she could not'got rid of the
idea that the malignant eyes of Mr. Kulp
were furtively watching her wherever she
went.
" When David had attended to the eight
o'clock train he went into the house and
changed his hat and coat, telling Madge
that he was going down into the village,
but that he would not be late home. Madge
was to much accustomed to her father's
evening absences to think any tiling of this,
and had learned from experience that when
he announced his intention of being home
at an early hour he was pretty sure to be
later than common. Having arranged his
neck-tie to her satisfaction, and given him
a parting kiss, she made up the lire, light
ed the candle, and sat down to her sewing,
quite content to pass the long evening all
alone in the solitary station-house.
" Having sewn till- she was tired, she
put her work away, and then got out her
hymn-book, and marked one or two hymns
to be sung by her scholars at school on the
following Sunday ; then she read a while ;
and then, all unconsciously to herself, her
eyes softly closed, and she knew nothing
more.
" She was roused by the clock close above
her head striking eleven,and at the moment
she opened her eyes she was startled by
seeing, or believing that she saw, the hand
le of the door on the opposite side of the
room slowly and noiselessly turned, as
though someone was trying to open it from
the outside. The floor in question led on to
the platform, but fortunately she had shot
the holt into its place after seeing her fath
er down the road. The blood thrilled through
her heart as she gazed with a sort of hor
rible fascination on the revolving handle,
and in a moment she was as thoroughly
awake as ever she had been in her life. She
listened, with all her senses on the alert,
but the silence remained unbroken save by
the ticking of the clock and the faint sing
ing of the telegraph wires in the breeze out
side. She kept her eyes fixed intently on
the door for what seemed to her an intoler
ably long time, but there was no movement,
nor any sign of than her own
beating heart ; so, with a sigh of relief, she
at length wrenched her eyes away, and per
suaded herself that, in the confusion of that
first waking moment, her senses must have
misled her. The hour was late, and her fa
ther could not be long now ; so she would
just make every thing secure below stairs,
and then go and lie down on her bed with
out undressing, in readiness to rundown at
his first knock.
" It was hardly pleasant going about the
house after seeing that strange movement
of the door-handle ; hut she nerved herself
to the effort, although the eyes of Mr. Kulp
seemed to stare out at her with baleful in
tensity from every dusky corner, and to lie
in wait for her behind every door. But the
task, after all, was only a short one ; and
when she had seen that all the doors and
windows were properly secured, and that
there was nothing to be feared from the
fire, she took up her candle, and walked
slowly and steadily up the short flight of
stairs which led to her own and her father's
bedrooms on the upper floor. After glanc
ing into the latter room, and seeing that
the cash-box was there as usual on the
chest of drawers, she passed forward into
her own chamber, the window of which
looked out at the back of the station, and
down the road that led to the village.
"It was David's custom, as an extra
measure of precaution, to place the cash
box in his bedroom overnight. After the
departure of the last train lie made up his
receipts for the day, and put the account
nto the box which traveled backward and
forward between the bank and the station,
ready for conveyance to headquarters ; so
that when Madge saw the box where it al
ways stood overnight she felt quite satisfied
as to its safety, and never once thought
whether the amount it contained might be
great or small.
" Perfectly assured bv this time that the
movement of the door-handle was a pure
piece of imagination on her part, and hav
ing quite recovered the steadiness of her
nerves, now that she was safe in her own
little bower, she sat down in front of the
glass, and leisurely proceeded to brush out
her long brown hair, pausing now and then
to smell at the boquet left by Dick, and
humming a familiar tune to herself,wonder
ing how much later her father would be,
and becoming more anxious, as the time
verged on toward midnight, as to the con
diti >n in which he would reach home. She
had sat thus for some time, when she was
startled by the noise of something striking
against the window. She got up, put the
candle in the furthest corner of the room,
drew aside the blind, and looked out. The
moon was nearly at the full, but thick mas
ses of cloud overshadowed the sky, leaving
only a sort of dull half-light, in which noth
ing could be clearly discerned. There was,
however, sufficient light for Madge to make
out the familiar figure of Dick Carradus
beckoning to her with one hand, as though
he wished to speak to her. Her fears took
alarm at once ; something had happened to
her father, and Dick had conic to break the
bad news to her. She drew up the blind
and flung open the window with hands that
trembled so much that they could scarcely
do her bidding, dreading, yet longing, to
know the worst.
" 'Your father has been taken with a tit
at the Farriers' Arms,' said Dick, ' and I
am come to fetch you. Make haste, and
put on your things, and let us be off.'
" Dick was standing in an open space of
ground about a dozen yards from the house,
where Lis figure could be plainly made out;
a little to his left, and a few yards further
from the house, was an out-buiiding beluiig
ing to the station ; and Madge, while Dick
was speaking to her, distinctly saw the
head and shoulders of a man protruded for
a moment from behind the gable of the
building, as though in the act of listening,
and then withdrawn ; the man, whoever he
might be, evidently thinking that, as the
REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER.
; night was so much overcast, it would be
impossible for any one to see liim from the
house. With a women's intuition Madge
at once felt that the head and shoulders
could belong to no one but Mr. Kulp.
" ' I will be down in minute or two,' she
called out in Dick in a hard, shrill voice
which she hardly recognized as her own.
"She came in, shut down the window,and
rc-placed the blind, and stood for a moment
with the fingers of both hands pressed
against her eyes, thinking intently. Then
taking up the candle, she carried it into
her father's bedroom, the window of which
looked in the direction opposite to her own;
but instead of proceeding to put on her
bonnet and shawl, she stole back into her
own dark room, and drew the blind about
an inch on one side, and looked out. It
was as she had thought ; there were two of
them ; and at the moment she looked out
they were talking earnestly "together, as
they stood close to the gable of the out
building ; but next minute Dick seemed to
push the stranger back out of sight, and
came forward himself, and took up his first
position, close to the house, waiting for
Madge to come out.
" Madge stood up in a maze of doubt and
fear. Why had not Dick coine alone? And
who was that other man hidden away be
hind the gable with Dick's connivance ?
\\ by, in fact if Dick's story were true,need
there be any concealment at all ?
" ' Are you ready V called Dick ; and then
there came a sharp imperious summons with
his knuckles on the door below ; and then
the door itself was tried ; hut it was lock
ed.
" Madge started out of her reverie, open
ed her bedroom window, and looked out for
the second time. ' Do make haste !'exclaim
ed Dick the -rnent her head was protrud
ed from the window. ' How long are, you
going to he ?'
•"' Answer me one question,' said Madge.
' Did you come up from the village alone?
Is there any one here besides yourself? X'ou
know, Dick, that I am easily frightened—
and—the hour is late, and—and—'
"Before Dick could reply the hidden man
burst out into the moonlight, revealing Mr.
Kulp to Madge's straining eyes.
" ' Come, stop all that jabber !' exclaim
ed K ulp, brutally. 'lf yon had been guided
by me'—this to Dick—' we should have had
what we came for before now ; but you
must needs go to work in your own idiotic
way ; and sec the result—all this precious
time wasted, and nothing done ! Look you
here young women !' turning to Madge ;
'you need not expect your father home just
at present; he's disposed of where he'll
trouble nobody for some time to come.—
There's not a soul within a mile of you, ex
cept us two—two fellows who don't stick
at trifles, against a wisp of a girl who
gives tongue if she sees a mouse suddenly.
Now we've nothing against you yourself ;
we don't wish to do you any harm. What
we've come for is the money we know there's
in the house—not the old man's own money,
but Hie money belonging to the railway.—
You can drop it quietly out of the window,
if you like—we know within a quid or two
how much there is—and we'll take our
leave at once ; and you'll be none the poor
er—it will only be the railway that will
suffer, and they can afford it. But offer
any resistance, or try on any ofyour tricks,
and we'll not only have the money,but your
life into the bargain.'
" The idea of any one thinking it worth
while to rob the. station had never entered
the head of Madge ; but as Kulp spoke,she
remembered that there was that night a
much larger sum of money in the house
than had ever been there before. Dick,
from his frequent visits to the station, was
doubtless well aware that old David was in
the habit of keeping the cash in his bed
room, as a security against thieves. All
these thoughts passed through her brain
while Kulp was speaking. When lie had
done, she gave one great despairing sob,
wrung from her by the thought of her lov
er's treachery,and her heart for the moment
seemed to wither up within her. But the
necessity for immediate action was passing
—she would have time enough in the dark
future before her to brood over her sweet
heart's baseness. What must she do? If
her father was not ill, as these men had
first averred, then why had he not come
home? He had never, even when most :
overcome, staid out till this hour. Was j
it not possible—nay, probable—that they j
had murdered him first, to get him out of
the way, and had then come on to the sta
tion to complete their work by robbery, and
perhaps murder, there?
" A rude summons from Kulp cut short
her brief reverie. ' Now, young women,
what are J T OU about ? Do you expect us to
wait here all night?'
"' Oh, Dick, for pity's sake, tell me what
has become of my father?' she said, still
speaking through the window, and heedless
for the moment of Kulp.
" Dick rose from his seat as if he were
gojpg to reply, but Kulp waved him back
'Your father's disposed of where he'll trouble
nobody, as I told you before. And now let
us have your answer at once. Do you mean
to give us that money quietly or not?'
" ' No— a thousand times no !' exclaimed
Madge, passionately. 'Cowards that you
are, come and take it, if you dare !' and she
shut down the window with a bang, as
though disdaining further parley.
" The thought of her father lying wound
ed, perhaps dead, in some lonely spot, lent
her a courage, a reckless audacity, that
made her for the time almost indifferent to
any thing that could happen to herself.—
What means of defense had she ? was her
first question. Scarcely any The doors
and windows indeed, dov/n stairs were fas
tened ; but she knew well that they would
not stand long against the assaults of two
men determined on effecting an entrance.
There was no arms of any kind in the house.
There was the door at the bottom of the
stairs opening into the kitchen—she might,
perhaps, do a little toward securing that.
The candle was still burning where she
had left it ; and as she went into the room,
the cash-box containing the cause of all
these misfortunes stared her in the face.—
Hei-father's keys lay beside it, together
with a bag containing the silver and copper
retained by David as change. A flash of
inspiration came to her as she looked at
these things. She opened the cash-box,
and took out the bag containing the day's
receipts, in notes, checks, and gold, and
concealed it in the bosom of her dress. She
then put the bag containing the silver and
copper into the box, locked it, and threw
j the keys under the bed. Hey next proceed
i ing was to secure the frail door at the foot
I of the staircase as well as she was able,
by inserting a small wooden peg above the
latch, so as to hinder any one from opening
it in the ordinary way; and then by piling
against it several chairs and other light ar
ticles of bedroom furniture, such as her
limited strength permitted her to lift. She
was well aware that even then it was a
protection which a few minutes would suf
fice to demolish ; but every minute was a
gain in her desperate strait ; her only hope
lay in prolonging the struggle as much as
possible—help might come, she knew not
how or whence, when least expected.
" Outside, everything remained quiet.—
Could it be possible that they, would, after
all, go away without attacking the house ?
With this blessed hope beating warmly in
her heart, Madge ran back to the window
of her own room,and peeped through. Alas!
no—both of them were still there. They w r ere
stooping over a heap of sleepers deposited
close at hand for the purpose of relaying
the line; and having selected one, they
lifted it on to their shoulders, and brought
it thus to the door of the house. At the
first stroke of this novel but powerful bat
tering-ram Madge gave a little shriek, and
sank, white and trembling, to the Hour : all
her little stock of courage had vanished,
and she seemed, for the first time, to real
ize the dangers of her postion. Like the
blows of a pavior's rammer came the shocks
against the door down stairs, and to each
of them Madge's heartbeat with a respons
ive throb. Suddenly, with a great crash,
the door gave way, and with a yell of tri
umph Kulp burst into the house, followed
by his silent companion. Madge started
up, and double-locked her bedroom door;
and then rushed to the window, determined
to leap out at any cost, and forgetting for
the moment that the window,small in itself,
was still further secured by a bar of iron
running across its centre, sufficient to pre
vent even her little body from squeezing
through.
" With a cry of despair she turned away
from the window, and then, a moment after,
almost laughed at herself—so sudden are
the alternations of feeling at such a time—
to think that she had forgotten all about
the little loft over the bedrooms. Surely
there, of all places in the house, since it
was evident that from the house itself there
was no escape, she would be most secure
It was a mere cock-loft, open to the sloping
rafters of the roof, and lighted by a sky
light composed of a single pane of glass ;
it was used by David as for a storehouse
for his onions, seeds, and various kinds of
rubbish put away at odd times by the old
man, as never likely to be wanted again ;
but to Madge, in that hour of her extremity,
it seemed a very harbor of refuge. The
short broken ladder by which David gained
access to it was always kept behind his
bedroom door. She unlocked the door of
her own room, got the ladder, and placed
it against the wall under the opening into
the loft,which showed black and grim above
her head, there being no door to it or fas
tening of any kind.
'• Madge paused for a minute before go
ing up the ladder. After feeling that the
money was still safe in the bosom of her
dress, she went lightly into her father's
room, and blew out the caudle, which had
been burned there since first taken out of
her own room ; she next locked the doors
of both rooms, put the keys in her pocket,
and then stood to listen, with one foot on
the ladder, ready to ascend. From the mo
ment the front door was burst in to that in
which Madge stood thus not more than two
minutes had elapsed, sufficient, however,for
the two men down stairs to ransack every
corner, and so make sure, befiire proceeding
further, that Madge was hidden nowhere
below. The door at the foot of the stairs
was tried next : and the moment Madge
heard this she mounted the ladder noiseles
sly, and creeping through the opening into
the loft with the agility of a cat, reached
down with one hand, drew up the ladder
after her, and then sat down by the edge
of the opening to await, with a heart that
beat almost to bursting, whatever might j
happen next The door not yielding easily,
the battering-ram was applied to it, and j
half a dozen blows were sufficient to break j
it off its hinges. The lurniture piled up |
behind it was quickly dragged down by I
lie indefatigable Kulp, and the way to the j
bedrooms was then clear. Madge, listen-1
ing intently, heard Kulp inciting Dick to I
drink out of bis brandy-flask ; after which j
lie went in search of matches and a candle, j
for all their work hitherto had been done
by the light ol the clouded moon Having
procured a light, after a delay of some !
minutes, during which he relieved his mind
by a large amount of swearing, Mr. Kulp;
advanced cautiously up stairs. Having
reached the bedroom doors in safety, and 1
finding both of them to be locked, Dick j
and lie held a brief consultation. Dick ■
was inclined to break into the old man's
room first, being well aware jhat the money
was always put there overnight ; but Mr.
Kulp, whose quick, restless eyes had
caught sight of the opening into the loft, ;
gave it as his opinion, emphasized with nu- J
mcrous oaths, that both bird and money I
would b<> found snugly hid away in that i
little nest at the top of iho iioii.se ; so it
was agreed that he should explore die loft :
while Irfiek effected an entrance into David's ;
room. Mr. Kulp's first task was to fetch a ;
couple of chairs up stairs, and having j
fixed one of them upon the other, he pro
ceeded to climb carefully to the top, just as j
Dick succeeded in breaking open the be' - j
room door.
"Madge, in .her half-hiding*place, sat
quite motionless, with straining eyes fixed
on the opening in the door, through which
she momently expected to see Mr. Kulp's
ugly head protrude. Tbe clouds had partly
cleared away by this time and sufficient of
the moon's light came through the little
skylight to enable her to distinguish the
objects about her with tolerable clearness.
Hhe heard Mr. Kulp climbing laboriously on j
the chairs, and thought to herself that a !
few seconds now would surely end all, for
she never doubted that he would murder ;
her when once he got her into his power. 1
The first part of Mr. Kulp's person that j
matje its appearance Through the trap was ,
an immense bony hand, with which he
seized the ledge, as a help in pulling hipj
self up. Close to the feet of Madge lay an !
old wooden mallet ; on the instinct of the J
moment, and without pausing to think, she i
grasped it, and brought it down with all |
her force on the hideous claw beside her. '
per Annum, in Advance.
Mr. Kulp gave a yell of mingled rage and
pain, and being obliged to let go his hold,
came to the floor with a terrific crash. He
was on his feet in an instant, swearing hor
ribly that be would have Madge's blood ;
but just as lie was preparing to mount the
stairs again, Dick, with a joyful cry, burst
out of David's room, exclaiming that he
had found the cash-box. Even then, Mr.
Kulp was half inclined to stay at all risk,
and have his revenge, for his hand hurt him
terribly ; but Dick hurried down stairs with
tbe box under his arm, and Mr. Kulp's cu
pidity rendering him fearful that unless he
quickly followed he might perhaps never
see Dick or the box again, he postponed tbe
consideration of his revenge till a future
period, and hurried after his friend, threat
ening Madge with what he would do to her
if she stirred out of the loft, or made any
alarm, for a full hour at least.
" Madge's ruse had succeeded. Deceived
by the weight of the box, they had hurried
away without opening it, thinking that it
contained the money of which they were in
search, whereas it held only the bag of sil
ver and copper placed there purposely by
Madge. But Madge knew that the respite
was only a short one ; they would not go
far before breaking open the box, and on
discovering the deception they would hur
ry back, and woe be to her if they found
her there when they returned !
" She would go out of the house at any
I risk, and try to make her escape across the
; fields. She lowered the ladder, and after
! feeling that the money was still safe in the
; bosom of her dress, got down as quickly
jas possible, and so groped her way down
j stairs, and through tbe house to the plat
i form. In a few minutes more the night
! mail would be due ; but alas ! it did not
| stop at Birk wood, nor even slackened speed,
j but rushed past in complete indifference to
j tbe existence of any such insignificant spot.
"An excellent thought! She would turn
; on the red light at the signal, and stop the
| train. Under the circumstances she felt
i herself justified in doing this. Perhaps the
! train with its living freight would come up
in time to save her from the two miscreants,
who would certainly be back in a few min
utes more. The hope was a faint one, but
she could not afford to throw it'away. To
reach the semaphore, it was necessary that
she should traverse the platform to that end
of jt nearest the road taken by the two men
on leaving the station, although her first
intention had been to try to make her es
cape by hurrying away in the opposite di
rection. There was, however, no time to
hesitate ; the risk must be run at once, if
at all. So she sped as fast as she could to
the end of the platform, and seizing the iron
handle of the immense signal-post, gave it
the necessary turn, which changed the glass
in front of the lantern at its summit, and
displayed the red light in place of the white
one. She had just turned to hasten back
along tbe platform, when Kulp and Carra
dus, leaping over a hedge about twenty
yards away, came suddenly upon her, and
a loud cry from one of them proclaimed that
she was seen.
"In their hurry to get back to the sta
tion, after discovering the trick that had
been played them, they had cut off the an
gle of the road by coming across a field,
and were consequently unseen # by Madge
till they were close upon her. Madge was
like a wounded animal brought to bay ; to
flee was useless, she would have been
caught before she had run twenty yards ;
resistance was equally out of the question;
what resistance, in fact, could a girl like
her offer to the will of two desperate ruf
fians ? There seemed nothing left for her
but to lie down in dumb despair, and pray
that her misery might be as short as pos
sib'e. As she stood thus, her fine and prac
ticed ear caught the first faint sound of the
approaching train—only five minutes more,
and she would have been saved !
" She was still standing close to the sem
aphore. On the instant she turned, and
despite the impediment of her dress, ran
quickly up the iron ladder—up, up to tbe
very top, till she sank exhausted on the
little grating fixed close under the lamps
fur the convenience of lighting and clean
ing' them. Mr. Kulp laughed loud and long.
'What*a precious fool the wench must
be,' lie said with an oath, 'to go and fix
herself in a trap like that! Sow I shall
have her as safe as a possum in a gum-tree
—have her money and her life both, or my
name is not Jarod Kulp !'
" ' Perhaps, after all, she hasn't got the
money about her,' said Dick, 'it may be
hidden in the old man's room—under the
bed, or in the chimney, or somewhere.'
" ' Ay, ay, lad—do you think so V said
Kulp, eagerly. "Then you just go, and
have a hunt about, and I'll wait here atthc
bottom of the ladder till you come back to
see that my lady doesn't escape. Only
don't be a month away.'
" ' Never fear,' answered Dick, and hur
ried off into the house.-
" Neither of tiie men had yet heard the
noise of the advancing* train, for the wind
was in the opposite direction ; but Madge
heard it coming nearer and nearer, but so
slowly, as it seemed to her hungering ears,
that her heart within her grew sick with
fear that it would not arrive in time to
save her. No sooner had Dick disappeared
than Mr. Kulp drew a formidable bowie
knife from some hidden pocket, and having
unsheathed it, seized the black haft between
his teeth, and prepared to ascend the lad
dor ; he had evidently determined not to
await the return of Pick, but to accom
plish his revenge while his companion was
away. He had made but two steps up
ward when till at once his ear- caught the
shrill whistle of the approaching train, and
he knew that his work must be done quick
ly, or else left undone forever.
" The red signal had been seen,
Madge, crouching 011 the little iron gra
ting under the lamps, and kept from falling
by the rail running round it, had not been
idle all this time.
" A day or two previously the semaphore
ladder had been removed fur repairs, and
an old one tenipoialy substituted in its
place, fastened with a stout rope at the top
to keep it firm. Madge's nimble {lingers
were busy with the knots before Kulp be
gan to ascend ; but the rope was thick,and
the knots difficult to unfasten, and she
shuddered to think that Kulp would reach
the top before her purpose could be effected.
She had contrived to undo one of the knots,
and was busy with fingers and teeth at the
second, while Kulp was coming slowly up
the ladder toward her. Step by step be
drew nearer. She tried to call to him, to
warn him of the fate Before him, But Be
yond a dry husky whisper she iiad lost all
power of speech. The light from the lamp
above her shone obliquely on his shaggy
head, his cruel wolfish eyes staring feroci
onsly up at her, and the bare knife held Be
tween his teeth. Half a minute more he
would have seized her, when, yielding to
her last desperate effort, the knot gave
way ; the rope fell to the ground ; and the
ladder, no longer held in its place, and al
ready trembling under the weight of Kulp,
shook for an instant ; then its top glided
slowly along the smooth edge of the gra
ting, till it slipped over the end, and fell
swiftly through the air, with the terrified
wretch clinging to it; and coming down
with a terrible crash 011 the coping-stone at
the edge of the platform, rolled over with
its burden 011 to the line, just as the wildly
shrieking train forged into the station, and
came to a dead stand a few feet from the
j lifeless body lying across its path,
j "I, who tell you this, happened to be
! traveling by the mail that night, and was
i quickly out of the train, followed by sever
al of the passsengers, to ascertain the rea
j sou of a stoppage so unusual.
"It was Will Ferguson who picked up
the body of Kulp from before the engine. A
I medical man, one of the passengers, pro
j nounced him to be dead.
" Some time elapsed before Madge, lying
: insensible so far above our heads, was dis
; covered ; and then it was a task of con
; siderable difficulty to get her down, but it
J was managed after a time, and the poor
! girl was laid 011 her bed unconscious of all
that was being done for her; and when she
did awake from her state of insensibility,
it was only to lapse into a brain-fever,from
which she did not thoroughly recover for
several months.
" Old David turned up in the morning
haggard and penitent. He had been lying
dead-drunk under a hedge all night, where
Kulp and Carradus had purposely left him.
Carradus himself got clear away, and has
never been heard of front that day to this.
The railway company made Madge a hand
some present as soon as she got well again;
: but they removed her father from a situa
tion for which BP was evidently incompe
tent, and made him ticket-collector at AVal
! lington Junction : at which station Madge
i was, at her own request, installed as book
ing-clerk ; but I hear that she and Will
Ferguson are about to Be married ; so that
next time you come this way, perhaps,
there will be no Madge Carlistou to serve
you with a ticket."
SURVIVING REVOLUTIONARY PENSIONERS.- -
On the first day of January 1863 there were
bat twelve Revolutionary Pensioners sur
viving. On the 4th of March, 1804, Fun
gross unanimously adopted a resolution
tendering thanks to these surviving patri
ots of the Revolution for their services in
that struggle whereby our independence
was achieved, rejoicing that their lives had
been prolonged beyond the time usually
allotted by man, and also resolved that a
j sum be voted them that would 'smooth the
rugged path of life duriug-their remaining
days. An act of April 1864, provided an ,
additional hundred dollars to be paid to
each of these pensioners.
Since that time seven of these men haw
died. The following are the names and res
idences of the five now remaining :
LEMUEL COOK, enlisted in Litchfield, Ct.
lie now lives iu Clarendon, Orleans Co., X
Y. Mr. Cook says he was born in Plymouth,
Litchfield county, Ct.. but cannot give the
year of his birth, ile also states that he
enlisted in that town ; that he marched the
same year with the army to Yorktown and
was present at the surrender of Cornwallis,
Oct. 19,1181. According to his reoolleet
tion he was seventeen years of age at that
time, which would make the year of his
birth 1164. He lias in his possession a
copy of his discharge papers, signed By
Geo. Washington, which state that he was
a private in the Second Light Dragoons
Connecticut ; field offiicers, Col. Sheldon
Lieut. Col. Jemison and Major Tallmadge
His discharge concludes with the following
certificate:—"The above named Lemuel
Cook has been honored with the badge of
merit for three years faithful service. "
Mr. Cook rides out occasionally, and still
writes his name quite legibly. He thinks
it a little singular, however, tlmt he should
be obliged to take an oath of allegiance
swear that he has not given aid and com
fort to rebels—whenever he makes applica
tion for his pension.
May he and his compatriots live to see
the end of this rebellion ard the re estab
lishment of the Union upon a linn and en
during basis.
SAMUEL DOWNING, enlisted in Carroll coun
ty,. N. 11. ; is about ninety-eight years of
age, and lives in Edinburg, Saratoga coun
ty, N. Y.
ILLIAM HUTCHINGS, enlisted at Newcastle,
Me. (then Massacousetts ) is now one iiun
dred years old, and resides in Penobscot
Hancock county, Me.
ALEXANDER MARONF.Y, enlisted at Lake
George, N. Y., as a drummer boy ; is now
about ninety-four years of age. His resi
dence is Yates, Origans county, X. Y.
JAMES BARHAM, substitute for a drafted
man in Southampton county, Ya. ; lives in
the State of Missouri, and is in the one
hundred and first year of his age.
" PAPA," said a little urchin to his father
the other day, " I saw a printer go down
street just now."
" Did you, sonny ? How did you know
that t'ae person was a printer ?"
" Cause I do, papa."
" But he might have been a carpenter,
blacksmith or a shoemaker "
" Oh no, papa, he was a printer ; for he
was gnawing a bone, he had no stockings
on, the crown, was out of his hat, and his
coat was all torn. I'm certain that he was
a printer, papa."
IN a town in Connecticut, a loafer WAS
brought before a justice for being drunk in
the street—the fine being one dollar for each
offence. He paid the fine, and was then
arraigned the next day.
" No, you don't, judge," said he, "1 knows
the law—one dollar for each offence—and
this is the same old drunk."
A SOLDIER in one of the late battles, was
sitting very coolly behind one of his guns,
where the shot were falling fast ; Being
asked by the chaplain whether he was sup
ported by Divine Providence, he replied :
"No, Sir, I am supported by the Ninth
New Jersey."
A YOUNG gentleman from the " rooral dis
tricts, " who advertised for a wife through
the newspapers, received answers from
eighteen husbands, informing him that he
could have theirs.
A NEGLECTED wife declares that she and
her husband are like two mile-stoues, be
cause she may say that he and she are nev
er seen together.
AN eminent divine preached one Sunday
morning from the text, " Ye are the chil
dren of the devil," and in the afternoon, by
funny coincidence, from the words, " Chil
dren, obey your parents."
" It's all stuff," as the lady said to her
husband, who was complaining of dyspep
sia after a public dinner.
NUMBER .%.