2
The Express Messengcrs's Story.
IN TUB summer of 1863 I was serving
as messenger on the British and
American (now callod Canadian) express.
My route lay between Portland and South
Paris, though my offico was in Norway,
a milo and a half distant from the latter
station, between which two points I trav
eled with my own team. As three and
sometimes four lines of stages connected
with tho Grand Trunk road at South
Paris, through all of which our express
done business, my routo was an important
and a responsible one. I ate my dinner
and then went into the Portland office to
get my orders for the country After the
porters had taken out the various articles
consigned to my charge, Mr. I'rindle, our
agent, called mo to his desk and, exhibi
ted a package directed to a party in South
Paris, containing three thousand dol
lars. "Do you know that man?" ho asked
Hie pointing to the superscription.
" Yes,' said I.
"Do you know where he liven?"
"Yes."
" How far from your depot ?"
" A mile and a half, I should think,
on the old Rumford road."
" Well," he pursued, " I don't care to
have this lay over at tho depot, and you
had better deliver it yourself."
I told him 1 would do so.
I may here remark that wo had no reg
ular offico at South Paris. It was my
custom to deliver such matter ns was con
signed to parties living in the village,
within a radius of half a mile or so, while
packages going beyond those limits, I
usually left with the station master, to be
called for. And so, even at Norway, it
was understood by our patrons that we
did not deliver express matter beyond
the limits of the village corporation,
As I was leaving the offico I observed
one of the porters, assisted by a clerk
lilting a soldier into tho wagon ot tho
Kenebee express. Said soldier's right
leg was swathed in thick bandages from
tho knee to tho toes, and he hobbled upon
crutches ; his uniform was worn and soil
ed, and he appeared to bo one who had
seen hard service.
Poor follow !" said the clerk, as he
met mo on the sidewalk. " He's got two
minnio balls through his leg wounded
at Gettysburg. He started from the In
ternational for the depot on his crutches,
bnt ho gave out here."
At that time when the great battle
was a thing of the present, a hero of Get
tysburg was an object of interest to mo ;
and I felt almost like taking off my hat
to the war-worn and shattered veteran ;
but he had gained his seat and was driv
en away before I had an opportunity to
salute him.
At the depot I saw my freight safely
in tho car, and after wo had started I
took a turn through the train. I found
our Gettysburg hero in the forward car,
occupying a wholo seat with the rim of
his hat pulled down over his tace, proDa
bly asleep. Poor fellow ! Ho was weak
and weary.
We arrived at South Paris at half-past
threo P. M., whero 1 found my team
waitinz for me a common express wagon
drawn bv a horse which I considered
rather superior to express horses in
general. As the last package was placed
in the warron I observed the veteran "of
Gettysburg hobbling toward tho platform.
I had strapped up tho tail-board, and was
on my way to my scat when he addressed
me :
" Say, my friend, which way are ye
going.""
" Just around the village to deliver
freight," I told him.
He looked disappointed.
" I was in hopes," he said, that I
should find somebody going up the old
Rumford road a piece. My leg is played
out."
I remembered the package I had to
deliver on the same road, and I told him
if ho didn't mind riding around through
the village, I would take him as far as
the old Jordon place. lie said it would be
a great help to him. So, with the assis
tance of the station-master, I helped him
to his seat. He was a largo heavy man,
and as he seemed unable to help himself
jn climbing,' the labor of hoisting him
was not a light one.
" I shall come down easier," ho said,
laughing.
" All right," I replied, as I .took my
eat by his side.
I made quick work of delivering my
stuff in the village, and when we had
struck the old road beyond, I "asked my
companion his name. He said it was
John Smith. Then I led him to tell me
of his experience in the army, and . more
particularly at Gettysburg. He said ho
was a Maine boy but was not in a Maine
regimeut. He was in Ohio when he
enlisted and joined a regiment in that
State.
I asked him which one.
Ho told me the Forty-eighth.
This staggered mo ; 1 proceeded with
questions and cro long had gained from
him all ho knew of Gettysburg and more
too.
I don't like to bo soldj but had been
sold now certainly. The man by my side
was a humbug. In the first place, I knew
that tho Forty-eighth Ohio was at Vicks
burg, with Grant, while Gettysburg was
being fought.
And then I had heard the wholo story
of Gettysburg from wounded officers who
had come from tho field and this man's
story was not like the story they told mo.
I had made up my mind that tho fellow
was a " Sucker," or a "Sponge," when I
was interrupted in my meditations by a
sudden lurch of the wagon, one of the
wheels having dropped into a slough-hole
upon that side on which tho war-worn and
shattered hero sat. I expected, when I
had recovered my own balance, to see him
pitched from his perch; but Dot so. I
saw that bandaged leg, which first had
been useless as a dead man's leg, sud
denly straightened out ; and tho swathed
foot was plunted flatly and squarely upon
the board, and with a full presuro upon
the disguised limb ho held himself and
regained his equilibrium.
I pretended not to notice ; but I had
noticed and reflected. Tho right leg so
carefully nursed, was as stout, and us
strong, and as freo fur use as my own.
Had the fellow taken all his trouble of
deception for tho solo purpose of getting
a ride. I could not believo it. Had he
done it for the purpose of exciting sym
pathy that be might beg with better suc
cess t He did not look like a man prone
to beg. Then why was it ?
I had been in my present position of
messenger nearly two years, and as I
never want upon my route without moro
or less money entrusted to my care, I had
learned to be suspicious. This man had
been present when Prindlo gave mo tho
money package of three thousaud dollars,
and prob-ibly overheard the agent's di
rections, lie meant to rob me, or he
hud come with me for that purpose. I
looked into his lace, and now that I re
garded him no more as a war-worn vet
eran and hero, I discovered him to bo an
ugly, repulsive looking person. And he
was a powerful follow to boot I should
say, almost twice as heavy as myself.
But I was not to remain long in doubt.
We had entered a secluded part of
the. deep wood upon my left hand, when
my companion drew a revolver from his
pocket and pointed the muzzlo toward
me.
" Give me that pocket book of yours?"
he commanded. " Don't make no words !
Give it up or die ! Quick!"
My pocket-book, besides tho threo
thousand dollar package, contained full
two thousand dollars belonging to parties
in Norway. My instinct was born ot
office. 1 "thought more of tho property
entrusted to my care than of myself. Just
then I heard wagon wheels in the dis
tance something coming up behind us.
Should I try and wait for the coming
team, or should I try and gain the next
houso. Just beyond was the brow of the
hill and at the loot of the hill a larm
house. I struck my horse with the whip,
and as he leaped from under the blow,
tho ruffian caught the reins with one-hand
and grasped my throat with the other,
the pistol falling upon the foot-board as
he did so. As soou as he had given my
cravat a twist or two that stopped my
breath, ho let go the reins and made a
grasp for my pocket-book, thinking, no
doubt, to seizo it, then leap lrom the wag.
on and mako for tho woods. and this he
might havo done, but for an accidont, for
he was a perlect Hercules in comparison
with mo.
When my opponent let go tho reins
I had sctiso enough to catch one of them
the near rein and gave it a smart pull
which movement brought the horso bo
suddenly to tho left that the wagon over
turned and wo were spilt out into a mud
dy ditch I upon tho top of tho robber.
In tho course of my struggles my cravat
gave way and I was for a moment free ;
but the burly rascal caught mo by the
leg and had brought me to the earth,
when tho team that had followed us drove
up, and I recognized Summer Burham
and his bon two of the best detective
officers in the State.
My friend had not thought of the ap
proaching wagop ; but he saw it now,
and when he observed , it had , stopped
ho would have leaped away ; but now it
wa8myturnto try tho leg game; I
caught him by tho ankle and tripped him
up ; and beforo he could regain his feet,
tho son was upon him, and very shortly
afterwards old Summer himself, with his
two hundred and eighty pounds of com
pact,. leviathan corporosity laid his huge
hand upon the villian's shoulder.
" Well, well, my boy," said Bnrham
when ho looked into my hero's face.
" I'm afraid I've interrupted another of
your little games! What were you up
to here ?" As ho spoke he snapped a
pair of hand-cuffis upon my war-worn
veteran's wrist.
The latter gave one more look into the
ruddy face of the Cyclopean officer, and
thcu subsided.
I told my story in a very few words,
after which Mr. Burham informed me
that my hero had never been to the war
but had enlisted four different times, and
"jumped" a big bounty each time. He
had also robbed a sutler at Augusta, and
done other various things. A telegram
had been sent from Portland to Norway
informing Burham the rascal was on the
outward-bound train.
"This telegram did not reach me,"
said Mr. Burnham " until after the train
had left South Paris. I telegraphed to
Byrant's Pond and to Bethel, and I was
thinking to wait for tho next freight
train, when Dunham the baggago Master
told me of the man who had ridden off
with you. When ho had described him
I knew he had my man; so I had only to
find your track in order to be sure of his."
I will only add that my wagon was not
seriously damaged, and while the officers
turned back with the bounty-jump:.ng
sutler-robbing hero, I drove on and de
livered the money package safely to its
owner; and further more, that from that
day to this I havo made it a rule never
to allow a stranger a seat by my side upon
my express wagon.
More Scared than Hurt.
DURING the recent alarm excited by
the prevalence of fever, a good
many persons adopted all sorts of preven
tatives. Any suggestion which tended
to accomplish this purpose was seized
with avidity and applied without scruple.
A young man was of this number. His
insane dread of tho disease amounted to a
monomania. Every conceivable nostrum
was taken, and every possible liquor im
bibed as a preventive lemonade, brandy
and wine, citrate of magnesia, mineral
water, buchu, cathartic pills, and iron
lozenges were taken successively the same
day, and in turn rejected for newer and
more efficient remedies. Toward night
ho began to feel bad, His stomach was
in evident disorder, and racking pains
prevailed m the region ot tho head and
back. Satisfied that Yellow Jack was
laying siego to him in earnest, ho sent
for a physician and begged of him pit-
eously to save his life.
The doctrff examined him carefully.
" You haven't got yellow fever," ho
said, "but you've eaten something that
has disagreed with you. 1 shall havo to
give you an emetic. The prescription
was forthwith applied, and tho result
awaited with impatience.
Suddenly the odor of brandy filled the
room.
" Why, you've beeu drunk," said the
doctor.
" Wait, doctor, wait," gasped the pa
tient in his paroxysm.
Then came lemonade.
" Why, it's puuch you've been, drink
ing." " Wait, doctor, wait."
And then mingled with theso com
pounds, came tho smell of buchu, the
sickening effluvia of nitre, tempered and
subdued by port wine.
" Why, man, what is all this?" cried
tho astonished man of science.
" Wait, doctor, we haven't got to tho
bottom yet ;" and then out camo' a dark
liquid, which tho patient in his distress
denominated " molasses and water."
Then came gin, whiskey and maderia, to
be succeeded in their turn by Congress
water, Vichy and Kissengen. The doc
tor was in despair, which was augmented
by tho now frantic inquiry of his patient :
" Doctor, havo I got the fever ?"
" Got the deuce! No. Yellow fever,
cholera, or small pox would bo a waste of
material with you. Have no' dread, sir ;
nothing less than an earthquake can ever
do j'ou any damage," and the physician
took his leave, and the patient rapidly re
covered a?" Positivoness is a' good quality for
preachers and orators, because he that
would obtrude his thoughts and reasons
upou a multitudo will convince others
Uie more as he appear convinced him
self. ' '
j0ttmtl flections.
ATTRACTION.
Attraction Is a curious power,
That none can understand ;
It's Influence Is everywhere
In water, air and land ;
It keeps the earth compact and tight.
As though strong bolts were through It;
And, what Is more mysterious yet.
It binds us mortals to It.
You throw a stone up In the air,
And down It comes, ker-whack I
Tho centrifugal casts it up
The centripetal back,
My eyes! I can't discover how
One object 'tracts another;
Unless they love each other, like
A sister and a brother.
I know the compass always points
Directly to the polo. 1
Some say t he North Star causes this,
And some say Symm's Hotel
Perhaps It does perhaps It don't :
Perhaps some other cause;
Keep on pcrhaprtng who can solvo
Attraction's hidden laws?
Attraction Is a curious power,
That none can understand ;
Its Influence Is everywhere
In water, air and land.
It operates on every thing
Tho sea, tho t'des, tho weather,
And sometimes draws the sexes up,
And binds them close together.
Employers and Employees.
"rilHE servant, man or woman, who
I begins a negotiation ior service
by inquiring what privileges arc attached
to the offered situation, and whoso ener
gy is chiefly in stipulations, and reser
vations, and conditions designed to ' les
sen tho burdens' of the place, will not be
found worth tho h;ring. The clerk whose
last place was too hard for him, has a
poor introduction to a new sphere of du
ty. There is only one spirit that ever
achieves a great success. The man who
seeks only how to make himself most
useful, whose aim it is to render himself
indispensable to his employer, whoso
wholo being is animated with the purpose
to fill the largest possible place in the
walk assigned to him, has, in the exhibi
tion of that spirit tho guarantee of suc
cess, lie commands tho situation, and
shall walk in tho light of prosperity all
his days. On the other hand, tho man
who accepts tho unwholesome advice of a
demagogue, and seeks only how little he
may do, and how easy he may render his
place, and not lose his employment alto
gether, is unlit lor service, and as soon as
a supernumerary is on tho list, ho be
comes disengaged as the least valuable to
his employers. Tho man who is afraid of
doing too much is near akin to him who
seeks to do nothing, and was begot of tho
same family ; they arc neither of them in
the remotest degree a blood relation to
the man whose willingness to do every.
thing possible to his touch places turn at
tho head of the active list.
An Eye to Business.
AN enterprising traveling agent for a
well-known Cleveland tombstone man
ufactory, recently made a visit to a small
town in a neighboring county.) Hearing
in the village that a man in a remote
part of the township had lost his wife, he
thought ho would go and see him, and
oner mm consolation and a grave-stone on
his usual reasonable terms.
lie started ; the road was a horrible one,
but the agent persevered, and arrived at
the bereaved man s house. In a subdued
voice he asked the man if he had lost his
wife. The man said he had. The agent
was very sorry to hear it, and sympathized
very deeply with tho man in his great
sorrow; but death, he said, was an iusa
tiato archer, and shot down all, of both
high and low degree. lie informed the
man that " what was his loss was her
gain." and would bo glad to sell him a
grave-stone to mark the spot where the
loved ono slept marblo or common stone
as he chose at prices defying competi
tion. Tho bereaved man said there was
a slight difficulty in tho way. " Haven't
you lost your wife ?" inquired tho agent.
Why, yesj I have," said the man, "but
no grave ain't necessary ; for you see tho
cussed critter ain't dead she 'scooted
with another man."
tUf The other afternoon a stick of
wood fell from the tender of a passenger
train on the New Jersey Railroad, and
struck tho locomotive of a train going in
the opposite direction- The wood was
driven back iuto the window of a car, and
broko tho arm ot a JMr. Mortin. i
A Kentucky Judge.
AN incident in the judicial career of
tho Honorable Thomas B. Monroo.
who for twenty-five years occupied tho
position of Judgo in Kentucky, will illus
trate tho high purity of his character, and
may sorvo to remind tho judiciary of our
day how conscientiously the Judges of
the olden-time held the scales ot justice.
A student in the Judge 8 law school
one day asked him if in deciding a causo
he ever felt any bias or prejudice for or
against thoparties. The Judge promptly
said : " Never but once : I'll tell you the
story, l hero was a very important case,
which was argued with great ability bo
fore me by the mostdistinguished lawyers
at the bar of Frankfort, and it took two
weeks in the trial. Every morning as
the court opened a littlo woman dressed
in black, modestly and unassumingly
curtesied to the court, as if unseen, and
took her Beat, near the door. Just before
the court adjourned she retired, not
without always making a courtesy. It
attracted y attention, and I inquired
who she was. 1 was told she was a party
to the suit then on trial. When the
cause was submitted, and I was preparing
my opinion, I found it impossible to dis
miss from my mind this littlo woman and
her curtesy. I began to doubt whether
I could do justice in the case. I studied
the matter closely, and finally decided in
her favor. It involved the title to all aht
possessed in the world. " I never," said
the old Judge, " was entirely satisfied
that my decision was correct, until it was
finally unanimously affirmed by the Su
premo Court of tho United States. I
feared my judgemut had been warped
by tho simplicity and delicacy of the
littlo woman in black. New Orlcan
Times.
A Curious Discovert.
A MAN at Constantinople, having
left in charge of a friend of his a
purse without seam or joint, iu which he
had placed a considerable number of
diamonds, complained ou his return from
distant travel that his number of diamonds
was not correct. The friend maintained
the integrity of his trust, and adduced as
proof, the entire woof of tho purse, in
which neither seam nor joint rppeared
and the seal of tho owner still remained
untouched at tho mouth of the purse.
Tho owner of tho jewels was forced to
admit both facts, but still persisted
that tho amount of diamonds was . no
longer what he had left. Tho case was
brought before more than ono magistrate,
but nothing could bo elicited upon tho
subject, and the unaltered condition of
the purse, which the owner could not
deny, was considered conclusive evidence
against his claim. In despair he applied
to the Sultan himself, and the strange
persistency of his demand impressed the
latter so much that, though compelled,
upon the faco of tho facts, to dismiss his
claim as untenable, tho subject remained
impressed on his mind, and induced him
to try tho following experiments : At
prayer the next morning, when the slave
who usually brought tho carpet upon
which he knelt had withdrawn, ho made
a long slit ia it to bo again withdrawn
by the slave. When the latter cama to
fulfill his duty of removing the precious
carpet, ho remained aghast at the injury
it had received, and immediately appre
hending the dreadful effects of tho Sul
tan's displeasure, hastened with the rug
to the quarter of tho city where certain
cobblers resided, and seeking out one
peculiarly renowned for his skill, commit
ted it to his best exercise of it, and car
ried it back so restored that tho next
morning it laid spread for the Sultan's
use, without the traco of cither damage
or reparation. The Sultan no sooner
perceived what had been done than ho
called the slave, who tremblingly
confessed what he had done. He was im
mediately dispatched in search of tho
pre-eminent cobbler, and when tho man
appeared before tho Sultan, the latter
sending for the sealed purse about which
the controversy had been held, charged
him with having in like manner repaired
a slit in the woof of the apparently unin
jured bag. Tho man instantly admitted
the fact and thus the reclamation of the
poor defrauded friend and diamond owner
was substantiated.
Tho preaching of divines helps to
preserve well inclined men in tho course
of virtue, but seldom or never reclaims
the vicious. .
H5 Censure is the tax a man pays to
the public for being eminent.
8&F An idle reason lessens the weight
of the good ones you gavo before. '