I f- HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. Nlti ESPEItANDtJM. Two Dollars per Annum.KSTS VOL. VII. EIDG WAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1877. NO. 26. fill SI ffiifi lie 4 i V Nancy, the Pride of the West. We have dark, lovely looks on the shores whore the Spanish From their gay ships came gallantly forth, And Ue sweet, shrinkin' Toilets sooner will vanish Than modest blue eyes from our North. But oh, if the fairest of fair-danghterod Erin . Gathered round at her golden request, There's not one of them M that she'd think worth comparin' With Nancy, the Pride of the West. You'd sUHpect her the statue tho Greek fell in love with, If you chanced on her musin' alone, Or some goddess great Jove was offended above with, And chilled to a sculpture of stone ; But you'd think her no colorless classical statue, When she turns from her pensive repose, With her glowin' brown oyes glancin' timidly at you, And the blush of a beautiful rose. Have you heard Nancy sigh ? Then you've caught the sad echo From tho wind-harp onchantingly borne. Have you hor.rd the girl laugh? Then you've heard the first cuckoo Carol summer's delightful return. And tho songs that poor ignorant country folk fancy The lark's liquid raptures on high, Arc just old Irish airs from the Bwcot lips of Nancy, Flowin' up and rcfreshiu' the sky. And tho' her foot dances so soft from the heather To the dow-twinklin' tussocks of grass, It but warns the bright drops to slip closer to gether, To irango the exquisite lass, We've no men left among us so lost to emotion, Or scornful, or cold to her sex, Who'd resist her, if Nancy once took up the notion, To sot that soft foot on their necks. Yet for all that the bre flies for honey-dew fragrant To the hnlf-opened flower f her lips, And the butterfly pauses, the purple-eyed vagrant, To piny with her p'nk fingor tip, From all human lovers she locks up the treasure A thousand are starving to taste, And the fairies alone know the magical measure Of tiki lavisliin' round of her waist. Tin' Att'hor of " Songs of Killarhiy." A MIDNIGHT DEAMA. What :t sirh was Mint ! not noisy, but profound mill eloquent nt oure of mi old grief and a fresh perplexity. Boh Wither;, thfl gentleman in his shirt- oerore the. mirror, had lien veil that si h everv ninht for teu years. simultaneously with the net of removing from hi:i head the fine chestnut wig which conceals the almost complete des titution of the natural covering. The grii-f is therefore nn old one, but an ele ment of perplexity has mingled with this nightly nigh more lately namely, since having wooed and won Angie Me Lnne in his wig, he has been screwing up his courage to tho point of revealing to her that it is a wig, as he feels in fair ness he ought to do. He has put it off, and put it off, never finding just the right opportunity for the confession, until now the wedding is but a month off, and tho task seems harder, more im possible, than ever. He is at present spending a couple of days at the house of the McLanes in the country, with a view to getting acquainted with the family. For the sake of enjoying unal loyed the pleasure of Angle's society for this short time, ho has compromised with his conscience by resolving nt once on leaving to write to her and tell the truth, and by no menus to procrastinate further. Meantime the process of getting ac quainted with the family does not get on very prosperously. Bob is a poor match from the parental point of view, anil A bitter disappointment to the MeLnues. Nothing but Angle's resolute character could have extorted the grudging con sent which their engagement had at length received. The family consisted, besides Angie, of her father and mother, and two brothers, John and George. Mr. McLane kept his room, being a con firmed invalid. John, strong-willed and arrogant hi temper, ruled the family with a rod of iron George being kinder tempered, but of much less strength of character. Angie was the only member of the family whom John could not rule, and she had carried the point of her en gagement against his bitter opposition. Mrs. McLane was a mere slluttlecock between John and Angie, receiving an impulse from one which lasted till the other got hold of her. John had accept ed the engagement with nn exceedingly bad grace, and made scarcely a deoent pretense of concealing from Bob his contempt and hostility, and his desire to find any pretext for forcing a quarrel. This was particularly unpleasant and demoralizing to Bob, 'because the injury to his own self-respect by the sense of the tacit deceit he was guilty of as to his wig left him unable to meet John's over bearing insolence with the quiet dignity he would have liked to assume. After going to J bed he lay. awake a couple of hours thinking over these em barrassing circumstances, and the de lightful fact of Angie's love, to which they were offsets. Iu the course of his tossings he became aware that his seal ring, was not on his finger, and instantly remembered that, after using it for a forfeit iu a parlor-gamo that evening, he had forgotten to replace it. Vexation nt his carelessness instantly made him wide awake. The ring must be on the library, table. If not, then he knew not where; and, if there, it might be filched by a servant in the morning. Associations made it invaluable, and he found himself so uneasy about its safety that he could not sleep. Perhaps the best thing he could do was to quietly step down-stairs in his stockings without disturbing any body, and make sure about it; He knew that he could, even in the dark, steer his way straight to the library. In this sleepless, excited state of his mind the slight tinge of adventure in hie plan had .an attraction. Jumping out of bad be put ou put of his clothes, and, softly opening the door of the room, went across the hall and down the sta'rs to the ground-floor. It was quite dark, but he found his way easily, having a good topographio in stinct. From the lower hall he entered the dining-room, and from that the libra ry. The sea-coal fire in the grate was still flickering brightly, illuminating the sumptuously-furnished room with a faint, soft glow of peculiarly rich effect. There on the table his ring glittered in the fitful firelight, and, as he slipped it on his finger, he felicitated himself on his successful enterprise. The room was so charmingly cozy that he felt it would be a sin not to linger awhile. So, throw ing himself on a sofa before the grate, he fell into a delightful reverie. Just there, in that chaif, Angie had sat during the evening, and there he pictured her ngain, finally going and leaning over it in a caressing attitude, fondly cheating himself. Over there had sat Mrs. McLane, and the chair back at, once transfixed him with two critical eyes, till he was fain to look away. The brothers were there, and there. Bob chuckled with a cozy sense of sur reptitiousness nB he thought how they would stare could they see him now. The subtile pleasure of clandestine things is doubtless partly the exaggeration of the personality which takes place as the pressure of other minds is withdrawn. To persons of Bob's sensitive mental at mosphere that pressure is painful when such minds are hostile, and often irksomo even when they are friendly, if not in perfect accord. So that now it was with a positively voluptuous sensation that his personality expanded till it filled and, felt the whole room. The fire burned, and busily flew tho shuttles of his fancy, weaving'once again the often-varied patterns of the future. Those shuttles had little leisure nowa days, for nil the web must be unraveled and rewoveu, that through it all might run the golden thread of Angie's love. How rarely did it light up the fabric, be fore so dull and dark 1 The bronze mantle-clock sounded with a silvery tinkle the hour of two, but tho sound fell apparently unheeded on the cur of the dreamer. It was a full minute before the impression reached his mind. There are times when the thoughts throng so that each new sensation has to tnko its place in the cue and wait its turn to get attention. Then he stirred and roused himself, emerging reluctantly from the warm, voluptuous atmosphere of imagination, as one leaves an enerva ting both. He had been lying thus a full hour, and it was high time to return to bed. He left tho library and started across the dining-room with a hasty step, Perhaps long gazing at the fire had dazzled his eyes, or perhaps his haste, together with an undue confidence iu his skill iu navigation by dead-reckoning, rendered him less careful than when he had come down. However that may be, a light stand which ho had easily avoided then, he now blundered fully upon. Everybody knows that when one stubs tho toe in the dark, instead of delivering the blow when the foot is moving slow est, ut the beginning or the end of the step, it always happens so that the toe strikes with tho maximum momentum. So it was this time. If Bob had been kicking football he could not have inade a nicer calculation of force, and the shock sent the stand completely over. It would have made noise enough any how, but it must happen that on this stand the family silver was laid out for breakfast, and the clangor was similar to that of Apollo's silver bow, what time he let fly at the Grecian host before Troy. Bob stood paralyzed with horror. Even the anguish of a terribly stubbed toe was xorgotten in an overpowering sense 01 tne awim mess lie had mode, and Vie unimaginable consequences that would at once ensue. As the hideous clangor and clatter rang through the house, shattering its sacred silence, ho MiranK together and made himself small, as if he could impart a sympathetic shrinkage to the noise. The racket to his own ears was splitting euouerh. but l. .1 i:i; . i ... ... jit lei.i,, m Hiiuiuou, as ii ne nearu it witn the ears of all the family, and he wilted before tho conception of the feelincrs that were at that moment starting up iu J ineir minus toward the unknown cause of it. His first rational idea was, to bolt for his room, and gain it before any one was fairly rowed. But the shock had so scattered his wits that he could not at once recollect his bearings, and he realized, with indescribable sensations, that he was lost. He consumed precious moments bumping himself all about the room before he found the right door. As he reached the foot of the staircase, voices were audible above, nud lights were gleaming down. His retreat was cut off; he could not get back to his room without being discovered. He now distinguished the voice of Mrs. McLane in ail agitated tone entreating somebody io us enreiui ami not to get shot, the gruff voices of the brothers responding, and tlren their steps rapidly descending the stairs. Should he go up and take the risk of a volley while announcing himself? It would make a pretty tab lenu. Presenting himself in such a guise and under such circumstances, what sort of a reception could he expect from John, who treated him with undisguised con tempt in the drawing-room, and whose study it was to place him at a disadvan tage ? He might have hesitated longer, but at this moment the voice of Angie, crying down to her brothers to be care ful, decided him. He could not face her under such terribly false circumstances, and without his wig. All this took place far quicker than I can write it. The glimmer of the de scending lamp already shone dimly in tho hall, and Bob frantically looked about him for a hiding-place. But nil the furniture stood up too high from the floor, and the corners were distressingly bare. He sprang into the dining-room, but in the dark he could not see how the land lay, and hurried on into the library. The dying fire still shed a dim light around, and he eagerly canvassed the various possibilities of concealment which the room offered. Youthful expe rience in the game of hide-and-seek now stood him in good stead, and showed him at a glance the inutility as refuges of half a dozen places that would have deluded one less practiced by the spe cious but too-eily-gU6Md shelter they afforded. Vainly seeking a safe refuge, he ran round the apartment like a rat in a trap. He already heard the brothers in the dining-room picking up the silver and wondering to find it all there, when, obeying a sudden inspiration, he clam bered upon a lofty bookcase that ran across one end of the room, arching above the dining-room door, and reaching Within a few feet of the ceiling. In cold blood he never could have scaled it. Lying at full length upon the top of the bookcase with his back to the wall, the bulge of him was still visible from the further part of the room, in case it should occur to his pursuers to look so high. The latter now entered tho library; and, peering over the edge of the book case, Bob recognized with singular sen sations the two gentlemen with whom he had been quietly conversing a little earlier in the evening. Then they were arrayed in faultless evening dress, and their manner, although supercilious enough, was calm and polished. Now he saw them half dressed, with disheveled hair John carrying a student's-lamp in his left hand, and iu his right nn ugly looking cane-sword with a blade pain fully naked, while George held a revolver at full cock. Talking in a low tone, as they called one another's attention to various spots where possibly the burglar might be concealed, they went slowly from corner to corner, probing every recess with the sword, and in an attitude of strained at tention to every sound. Their faces, gro tesquely lit by the mingled fire and lamp light, showed a fierce hunter's look that made Bob fairly sick. He did not dare to look at them long lest the magnetism of his gaze should attract their involuntary attention. Nay, he even made a frantic effort not to think of them, from the fear that some physical current might have the same effect for ho believed strongly, though vaguely, iu the mysteries of animal magnetism, and had a notion that a person sensitive to such influences might detect the pres ence of his victim by the very terror the latter had of him. He could scarcely believe his fortune, when, a moment later, the two brothers passed again beneath him back into the diuing-room. From there they went on through the rooms, beyond, and the sound of their footsteps died away entirely. Perhaps five minutes after, they re turned that is, as far as the dining-room and Bob gathered from their conver sation that they had found one of the fastenings in the basement in n condition indicating that the burglar might have escaped there. Mrs. McLane and Angie, having satis fied themselves that the coast was clear, descended to the dining-room, and a lively discussion of all nspects of the problem ensued, which was highly, edi fying to Bob. Then the conversation became still more interesting, as it turned on himself. Ho honrjl Mrs. McLane saying: " He must be a hard sleeper, for I knocked several times on his door." Then one of the brothers grunted something contemptuously, and he heard Angie's voice excusing him on the ground that ho must be tired after his long journey. "Are you sure you looked everywhere in the library ?" was Mrs. McLaue's next question, at which a cold sweat started out on Bob's face. He had just begun to feel quite comfortable. John and George, however, declared that they had looked everywhere. " Did you look under the sofa ?" " Behind the window-curtains ?" "In that dark corner by the book case?" nsked the ladies in succession Ingenious cruelty of fate ! Even Angie was racking her brain to guess his hiding place. What if it should be she who hit upon it 1 Bob drew a breath of relief as John replied, with some asperity, to all these questions, that he had told them once that they looked everywhere. This silenced them, but Angie said, a moment after: " Just let me ask one more question: Did you look on top of the bookcase ?" It seemed to Bob that he died then. and came to life again to hear John reply, contemptuously: "Over the bookcase? There's no room there; and, if there were, nobody but a monkey could get up." " There's room enough," persisted Angie, "and I have often noticed, when sitting in the library, what a nice hiuing place it would be. What if he should be up there now, and hear what I'm saying!" she added, in au agitated whisper. " Nonsense 1" said John. "Well, there is no harm in looking, an j way," said Mrs. McLane. " Come along, then," grumbled John. " You shall see for yourselves." At this Bob shut his eyes, and turned his face to the wall. The ostrich instinct is the human instinct of despair. He tried to fly away from himself, and leave his body there as a derelict. Tho effort was desperate, and seemed almost successful. But he could not quite sever the con nection, though his soul appeared to be hovering over his body, only attached by a single thread but a thread which, alas 1 would not break. A moment after they all passed through the door directly beneath him, and, going clear to the other end of the library, stood on tiptoe, and peered at his hiding-place. There seemed to be eyes in his back, which felt their scrutiny. But the lamp they carried did not suffice to bring out his figure clearly. " I'm sure I see something," said Angie, getting up on a chair. " It's only the shadow of the firelight," replied John. " Light the gas and let us make sure," said Mrs. McLane. George stood up on a chair under the chandelier, and ligi one o the burners. An inarticulate ejaculation fell from every mouth. A human figure was dis- tinctJv visible, reclining aioug me top oi the bookcase, with his face toward the wall. The ladies would have forthwith run away but for the fact that one door of the room was directly beneath the bookcase, and the other close to it. Upon Bob's paralyzed senses fell the sharp words of John: We've got you. Get down 1" Ha did not move, but at the summons his oul.irith inexpressible reluctance and disgust.begnnto return from the end of its floating thread,and reinhabitthe quarters for which it could not quite shake oil responsibility. " Get up, or I'll shoot 1" Baid George. " Oh, don't shoot him I" cried Mrs. McLane, while Bob, still motionless, dimly hoped he would. "Get up 1" reiterated John; and ho did get up. His own will was inactive, and John's was the force that moved hiB muscles. He turned around and sat up, his legs dangling over the edge of the bookcase, and his wet, white, wretched faco blankly directed toward the group a most pitable figure. "Jump down," said John; "and, if yon try to escape, you will get shot I" Bob let himself drop without regard to how he was to alight, and in conse quence was severely bruised against a chair and the edges of the bookcase. He stood facing the group. His eyes mechanically sought Augie's. What was his surprise not to perceive in her ex pression of mingled curiosity nud fright the slightest sign of recognition I A glance showed him that it was the same with the others. John and George evi dently supposed they were dealing with an ordinary burglar, and the others were apparently quite as devoid of suspicion as to his identity. His wig I He had forgotten all about it. That explained their singular demeanor. The bald man in stockings, trousers nud shirt, caught hiding in the library alter an attempt on the silver, quite naturally failed to recall to their minds the youth of rather foppish attire and luxuriant locks who bade them good night a few hours previous. As this fact and its explanation broke upon Bob's mind he felt an immense sense of relief, instantly followed by a more poignant perception of the inextricable falsity and cruel absurdity of his position. He had little time to think it over and determine his best course. John stepped forward, and with the point of his cane-sword motioned him into a corner, thus leaving the way clear to the ladies, who at once hurried into the dining-room, throwing glauces of fear and aversion upon Bob as they passed. Angie paused nt the doorway and asked : " Wlint are you going to do with the dreadful man ?" Bob even then was able to notice that he had never seen her so rnvishingly beautiful as now, with her golden hair falling over her charming dcstabillc, while her eyes scintillated with excite ment. She would have blushed to have been seeu by him in such an undress toilet, but, with an odd feeling of being double, he perceived that she now re garded him as she would have an animal. "George, and I. will attend to him. You had better go to bod," replied John to her question; and then he sent George after some cord, meanwhile standing in front of Bob with cocked revolver. Hud he scanned his prisoner closely, he might have detected something familiar in his lineaments, but in careless contempt he took him in with a sweeping glance as an average burglar, whose identity was a question for the police. Bob had not uttered a word. In the complex falsity of his position he could not indeed muster presence of mind to resolve on ay conrse, but regarded with a kind of fatuity the extraordinary direc tion events were taking. But when George returned with the rope, and or dered him to put his hands behind him, he said, in a tone so quiet that it sur prised himself : " Hold on, Mr. McLane; this joke has gone far enough. I am Robert Withers, at your service, and respectfully decline to be considered iu the light of a burglar any further. " George's jaw dropped with astonish ment, and John was scarcely less taken aback. "D d if he isn't!" ejaculated the former, after a moment, in a tone of in credulous conviction, as he recognized at once the voice and now the f eatures of Bob; " but where's your hair ?" Bob blushed pain fully. "I wear a wig," he replied, "and to night, coming down-stairs after you were all abed to get my ring which I had left on the table here, I did not fully dress. Going back, it was my luck to stumble over that cursed stand in the other room !" " But what did you hide for ?" asked John, sharply. Bob just touched his bald head and re plied : " I heard the ladies up." John pitched the revolver on the sofa and stood pensive. Finally he said, with a sardonic smile : " Mr. Withers, how do you propose to get out of this ? Shall I call in the ladies and let you explain ? They will presently be wanting to know what we have done with the burglar." Bob made no reply. Already bitterly humiliated, he saw no way of avoiding indefinite and yet bitterer humiliations. John thought a few minutes longer, and then he said : " Take a seat, Mr. Withers ; I have a proposition to make." They sat down. " You are aware," continued John, in the calmest, most imperturbable tone, " that I don't like your match with my sister, and have done my best to break it off. Jiut she is nn obstinate girl, and I had pretty much given up hope. These peculiar circumstances have most unexpectedly put you in my power, and I propose to make the most of my ad vantage. If I were to call in Angie now and introduce you, I feel tolerably well assured that it would be the end of your matrimonial expectations in that quar ter. Still, you shall have a chance for your life. I will call her if you say so ?" And John rose. " For God's sake don't let her come in here 1" groaned Bob, in abject panic. John grinned, stepped toward the door, and then turned back irresolutely, muttering : " Wonder if it wouldn't be the shortest way out of it to call her down?" Then, with a saving reflection upon tho uncertainty of a woman's course under any given set of circumstances, he came back, and re seating himself opposite Bob, said, with a sardouio smije.: "So you don't like my little suggestion of giving you one more chance with Angie ? On the whole I think you are wise. The other alterna tive is to leave the house at once, re linquish your engagement, and never see her" again. Make your choice, and as qnickly ns convenient, for I'm get ting sleepy," and he yawned lazily. Bob sat in an attitude of utter dejec tion, staring at the ashes of the fire, which an hour ago had blazed as bright ly as his own love-lit fancies. He was completely demoralized and almost in Capable of thought or resolution. There was something so pitiable in Bob's odd looking, dismantled figure, half -dressed, with that queer, white, bulbous head, dimmed, black eyes, and expression of crushing shame and defeat, that it would have moved almost any one to com passion. It did stir compunctions in George, but there was no mercy in John's still, blue eyes. Two or three minutes passed in a silence so complete that even the almost noiseless movement of the French clock on the mantel was directly audible. " You are taking altogether too long to make up you mind, Mr. Withers. It will make snorter work to call Angie," finally said John, sharply, his patience quite at an end. He rose and stepped to the door as he spoke. "It won't be necessary, John here I am!" said a clear voice,, with a sharp ring in it that the family had learned to know meant decisive work, and Angie stepped into the room, her blue eyes flashing with indignation and her lips trembling with scorn, beautiful as a goddess. Bob started up from his abject atti tude and stood facing her with the look of a man waiting his doom from the firing-squad. As he stood there, drawn up to his full height, with just a touch of appeal softening the defiance of his expression, it was a manly face and figure in spite of all. But her brothers received Angie's first nttention. "You mean, cowardly fellows !" she said, in tones of concentrated contempt. "I would not have believed that men were so mean 1 And I am almost as much ashamed of you, Mr. Withers," she added, turning to Bob, with a softer but yet angry voice. "Did you think, sir, that I took you for your beauty ? I don't care if you wear forty wigs, or none. lou are nbsurdly vain, 6ir." She was smiling now. "You should know that when a woman loves a man it is of grace and not of works. Anyhow, John," she added, turning to hiin, as if contrasting his slight figure with Bob's fine xhyniquc, " Mr. Withers doesn't wear shoulder pads." With that parting shot she dis appeared into the dining-room, in a mo ment reappearing, to say : "Mr. Withers.you may forgive them if you want to. I'm by no means sure that I shall. And now go to bed, all of you, nud don't be keeping us awake." There was nn outward silence for n few momeuts. Then John said : " I llou't nsk your pardon, Mr. Withers, because I meant to succeed, and I'm sorry I didn't. But I know when I'm beaten, and you needn't ex pect no further opposition from me. Lst's go to bed." Ajyjilcton's Journal. A Few Good Conundrums. What is the difference between a spider and n sea-gull ? One has his feet on a web and tho other has a web on his feet. Why is a hansom cub n daugorous carriage to drive iu? Because the coachmau always drives over your head. Why aro lawyers aud doctors safe people by whom to take example? Because they practice their professions. What is the difference bet ween a sailor and a soldier ? The ono tars his ropes, the other pitches his tents. Why is chloroform like Mendellsohu ? Because it is ono of tho great com posers of modern times. What is the difference between a hun gry man and a glutton ? One longs to cat, the other eats to loug. When were there only two vowels ? In the days of Nonh (no a,) before you and I (i) were born. Why is a good resolution like a faint ing lady at a ball ? Because it ought to be carried out. Why is the strap of an omnibus like conscience? It is an inward check on the outer man. When is butter like Irish children ? When it is made up into little Pats. Why is a handsome girl like a mirror? Because she is a good-looking lass. Why is a pretty lady like an oat cake ? Because she is often toasted. What is the greatest hardship in the world ? A iron steamer. What is the best thing to do in a hurry f Nothing. Which is the ugliest hood ever worn ? Falsehood. What grows bigger as you contract it? Debt. Why are troubles like babies? Be cause they get bigger by nursing them. There is one crop which is held to be all the better the more "weeds" it produces, and that is the tobacco crop. Thoughts for Saturday Night. The envious die, but envy never. Death is the quiet haven of us all. Fortune, not wisdom, human life doth sway. Too much gravity argues a shallow mind. We do not know what is really goqd or bad fortune. No one is more profoundly sad than he that laughs too much. Countries are well cultivated not as they are fertile, but as they are free. That laughter costs too much which is purchased by the sacrifice of decency. The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one's self. All sin id easy after that. The greatest glory of a free born peo ple is to transmit their glory to their children. To be a man, in a true sense, is, in the first place, and above all things, to have a wife. The man who seeks freedom for any thing but freedom's self is made to be a slave. Bid that welcome which comes to pun ish us, and we punish it, seeming to Dear it lightly. Husbands and wives talk of the cares of matrimony and bachelors and spinsters bear them. Though fortune's malice overthrow my state, my mind exceeds the oompaM of her will, Shakespeare DANIEL WEBSTER'S FAITH. Mectlnn the llnnbniiit or Ilia Dead Mister A Visit I'nsscd In Prayer, The death of the Hon. Peter Harvey, Webster's most intimate nud confidential friend, recalls a conversation held with hint by tho writer some time since, re lating to the character of the great states man, wherein many of his excellent qualities were mentioned, and aniotlg the rest his deep religious feeling, which, notwithstanding the numerous claims upon him many diverting his attention from serious reflections never Wholly lost its hold, though dulled perhaps, for a season. He was educated in the old Presbyterian faith, strengthened by his training at Dartmouth College, and the religious sentiment held a prominent place in his mind. Mr. Harvey dwelt with especial interest on this trait in the character of his distinguished friend, and gave as an illustration what he con sidered to be one of the grandest in cidents of his career. Webster left his home early for busy life, and returned there only on periodi cal occasions. There were sisters who grew up after he left, and one of these was married to a man whom he did not know I write from memory named John Colby, aud removed to his home in another part of New Hampshire, or in Vermont, nnd he never saw her again. Her husband was a violent and profane man, but her gentleness subdued him; he became a Christian, and when she died he was left in the deepest grief. On a visit with Mr. Harvey to the old homestead, at a late period of his life, an old man then, but vigorous in body and intellect, he proposed to his friend that they should go in pursuit of John Colby, whom he never had seen, and the description of this journey, ns given by Mr. Harvey, was charming to listen to. As they rode along, every scene had its history or tradition. Reminiscence crowded upon reminiscence, and Web ster's memory seemed exhaustless, ns scene followed scene in the panoramic display. And where the memory was not culled into action the grandest reflec tions were introduced, which made every stop of the way replete with the sub liniest interest. Here was a spot where he had played as a boy, there a pond in which he had swam or shot waterfowl; there a withered tree which had served as a target for the young sportsman, and there a mountain whose lofty peak had drawn his aspirations heavenward in his earlier days. All were as fresh in his feelings ns things of yesterday, nnd he was a boy again, with all the abandon of the boy a delightful companion nnd his friend a delighted listener. Thus they went on iu the full enjoy ment of everything until they came to their destination. This was a neat white houso upon a gentle elevation, with a veranda about tho structure, upon which, in the shallow, commanding a view of tho beautiful landscape, sat an old white-haired man reading. He looked up from his book ns they entered the yard leading to tho house, and came to meet them. Mr. Webster nbrubtly ac costed him : " Aro you John Colby ?" "I am," was the reply. "Then," said his interlocutor, with a trembling voice, "I am Daniel Web ster." The greeting that followed was of the most hearty description; both wept as they embraced agniu and again. "And are you," said Colby, holding tho statesman at arms' length, "the Daniel Webster whose name has been so loug and so conspicuously before the public of whose fame I have been so proud ? Oh, that your sister had lived to see this day ! Brother Daniel," con tinued the old man, " are you a Chris, tian ?" "I trust I am," was the emphatic reply. "Then let us pray." They all three kneeled in the open air. ttie Bible open between them, and Web ster prayed. "And such a prayer," saui Mr. Harvey, with tears in Ins eyes, us ne recalled tne scene, bo long after ward, " I never listened to, as came from his lips. Such power, such fervency, such reverence, such tenderness seemed never before blended with such intel lectual grace and beauty. All were melted by the effort, as with clasped hands and bowed heads the brothers poured out their souls in praise and sup plications. " . Then they arose, and in that sweet communion of spirit talked of the past and the future, the light of heaven rest ing upon them as they walked arm in arm across the veranda, and oftener by expressive silence saying more than words could convey. Their parting was very tender. They knew it was a final parting, aud a deep solemnity rested upon the ceremony. But the farewell wus at last said, and as they looked back the hands of the old man were raised in benediction. Delicacy of Feeling. Delicacy of feeling is a trait of charac ter almost more lovely and engaging than any other. It is a quality whose hidden principle exists in a greater or less degree in every mind, though it is often thrown into the shade by the work ings of the fiercer passions, in the rude encounters of lifo. Man's mind, as mani fested in his daily converse with the outward world, seems to be made of "sterner stuff" nnd cast in rougher molds, but delicacy is no mark of weak ness, for it is essentially consistent with the stoutest courage aud the sublimest energy. It is in every respect a manly quality, and throws over the whole in tellectual and moral character a kindlier hue. If true delicacy exists in the heart, it will gush spontaneously from it. and never can the cold cant of hypocritical formulity be mistaken for the warm wel come of the soul. Power, mental or physical, never ap pears so great as in the hands f those who seem unconscious of its possession. True intellectual greatness gathers an ad ditional charm when accompanied by real delicacy of feeling. Kindness may en ter where the sword cannot penetrate, and a " soft answer " and winning de portment, springing from delicate feel ings and a generous heart, have always E roved irresistible. Breathing nothing ut harmony and love, a " a ministerinsr angel " to mankind, it goes to and fro on the earth, uniting everywhere more firmly and strongly tb bonds of social Oslo, Items of Interest. The center of gravity An undertaker's nose. rc tv. an 910. anlinnl-coins children in San Francisco, 2,082 are Chinese. ThA Alfred iMe.) iail prisoners' are put to work catching potato bugs. ti, TTnitAil States annually ships over 100,000 boxes of clothes-pins to EngJ land. rri.iwfl ara nlanvH twentv-five thousand lost umbrellas at the Paris chief of police's office. "Whatever is, is right," Pope re mnvto.i Tint Mm man who arrives ' the depot just ns the train is scudding along at the otner enu is generally itw A atmlra of liclitninc the other dav tore a boy's boot all to pieces and didn t harm the boy. xne reason was vu uo had placed the boot under a tree and gone in swimming. A writer says that when a swimmer gets a cramp, he should turn his toes t,nA fl.o Vnoo Another cood way is to turn your toes toward the middle of , - F 1.1... . .1 the pond, ana paw ior mu ucaicni uij land. A Vow Vnrlt renorter has complained nf a Iidi,,1 nvcrnn man ns a nuisance. Such a man would never do iu the West, where the reporters are hushed to sleep by the uproar of steam thrashing ma chines. A tvinlr rPHnrted to ilist UOW bv a clasS of sharpers in London, is to pnint the feathers ot sparrows bo ns to uimc mem look like buliinches. They are disposed of to amateur bird fanciers nt good prices. Tli A flnvlior of East Douecal township, Pennsylvania, mixed some nnria m-opn in n lllieltp.t nnd 6Ct it neat the fence adjoining the pasture. Four cows found the stun, nnu luuneu iuc bucket." Vr.l,-r lilroo tn Iia nohodv: but every body is pleased to think himself some body. Ana everyDouy is suuiuuimj , uu when everybody thinks himself some body, he Generally thinks everybody else is nobody. A young lady at Falls Church, a., smoked n cigarette given to her by u medical gentleman, nnd woko up iu the middle of the night feeling ns though she had eattm a peck of green apples , . . . . . i . nnd several immature cucumuers. Several English railway compunies are noted for the fast time made by their locomotives. One, for instance, has mode a run equal to seventy-eight miles nu hour, another seventy-five, others seveuty-two, seventy, sixty-nine, sixty seven, etc. A Pacific-slope Indian was pleased by his introduction to a galvanic battery, though it doubled him all up. Because, as he remarked to his squnw: " Me buy 'em one for you; knock spots out you spose you no good woman. You sabo mo, Mrs. Jim." One reason why the New York Graphic .refuses to publish anything from George Francis Train is becauso "Mr. Train's articles are worth 820,000 apiece to any paper, if they are worth a cent, but the times aro too lu.rd for ns to pay at this rate, and we decline to give any man less than his due. " He wiped his heated brow, he did, His brow so intellectual ; Cut all he said about the heat Was sadly ineffectual. But sho, sweet lass, did Hay to him, In mellow tones unwavering, " Dear George, I am so warm ; I'd like Ice cream, with lemon flavoring.'" A young student in natural history asks us if it is really a fact that the lion can be subdued by the force of the human eye alone. We do not know from experience, but all the men whom we have ever seen placed in a situation to try the experiment, evinced no desire to annihilate the beast with their eyes, but appeared to have a most insane long ing to shin up a tree. "I'll bet you a new hat," said a gentleman friend, " that you will come down out of thnt chair before I ask you twice." "Done!" replied the friend. "Come down," cried the other. "I will not," said his friend, with much obstinacy. " Then stop till I ask you a second time," said the other. Perceiving that he never would be asked a second time, the gentleman in the chair came down, in a double sense. Kkising Day in Russia. A curious Easter custom prevails among the Russians of all grades of society. The fashion is to present an egg to a friend the first time you meet him or her most generally her ufter twelve o'clock on Easter night. The one who presents the egg exclaims : " Christ is risen !" The other auswers : " Is He risen, indeed I" and throe kisses follow. Of course the second one has generally an egg to present in return. Timid swains eagerly take advantage of this custom to obtain the privilege of embracing some fond object whom they would otherwise be too bashful to ap proach. These eggs are of all kinds some simple hens', eggs, gilded or silvered, or colored ; red, blue or violet; some sugar eggs, embellished with nil kinds of fanciful designs. There are also diminutive gold, marble, or simple wooden eggs ; others are large enough to serve as ladies' traveling bags ; or they may be placed on stands to serve as a useful ornament ; hens may sit on a nest full of bon-bon eggs ; and some may be fitted up inside with a set of chil dren's toys. There are eggs, in fact, arranged iu every imaginable manner, and made out of every imaginable material. - On this day hundreds of thousands of these change hands in St. Petersburg alone, and the sum spent in their pur chase must be prodigious. A Model District. In that part of the Black Forest be lor gin g to the grand duchy of Baden lies the pretty district of Koenigsfeld, con taining about 410 inhabitants. During fifty years there have been in it no crimes or misdemeanors of any sort neither transgressions of the police regulations, nor sheriffs sales, nor divorces, nor law suite of any kind. Moreover, in these last fifty years at Koenigsfeld no one has ever got drank or stretehed out a hand to beg.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers