Little Feet on the Fender.
In my heart there liveth a pioture
a kitchen rude and old,
Where the firelight tripped o'er the rafters
And reddened roof's brown mold)
Gilding the steam from the kettle
That hummed on the foot-worn hearth,
Thronghont the livelong evening,
Its measures of drowsy mirth.
Because of tho three lig'ht shadows
That frescoed the rudold room
Because of the voioos echoed
Up 'mid the rafters' gloom
Because of the feet on the fender,
Six restless, white little feet
The thoughts of that dear old kitchen
Are to me so dear and sweet.
When the first dash on the window
Told of the coming rain,
Oh I where are the fair young faois
That crowded again the pane ?
While bits of firelight stealing,
Their dimpled checks between,
Went struggling out in darkness,
In threads of silver aheen.
Two of the feet grew weary
One dreary, dismal day,
And we tied them with snow-white ribbons,
Leaving them there by the way.
There was fresh clay on the fondor
That weary wint'ry night,
For the four little feet had tracked it
From his' grave on the brown hill's height.
Oh ! why on this darksome evening,
This evening of rain and sleet,
Best my feet all alone on the hearthstone ?
Oh ! where are those other feet?
Are they treading the pathway of virtue
That will bring us together above ?
Or have thoy made steps that will dampen
A sister's tireless lore ?
THE POSTILION.
We were traveling in France, and
chancing to stop over night at a neat
little hotel in a wayside village, fonnd
onr attention attracted to a one-armed
gray-haired man dressed as an old-time
postilion, whose pleased.Bimpla look do
noted that he was not qnite right in his
mind. On questioning the landlady
abont him, she gave us this singular
history:
I will begin, said she, by telling you
that his name is Jean Louis, and twenty-five
years ago be was the best-looking
lad in the village. He had light, curly
hair, beautiful white teeth, deep blue
eyes, that had one cf the most tender,
languishing looks you ever saw. At the
same time, among the girls of the vil
lage, there was one rather pretty, with a
good, fresh complexion, and bappy.joy
ous disposition, who, when she was quite
a little girl, they had named Francoise
la Belle Brune. Now, Jean Louis and
La Belle Brune were neighbors. Jean
Louis' mother wns a poor old widow,
who lived by the product of her spinning-wheel
and Jean Louis' wages. La
Belle Brune wns the daughter of the
postmaster of the district, who was a
great man in these parts, and the report
wan that when his daughter married he
would count down ten thousand francs
as her dot that which you call marriage
portion or dowry and that was looked
upon as a fortune among us.
The consequence was, that when Sun
day came round and La Belle Brune.ao
cornpaniod by her father, went to church,
more than one of our young men gazed
upon her, more than one mother gave
her a friendly greeting, and more than
one voice whispered as she passed
"Lucky i3 the fellow who will persuade
her to change her name for his." Bat
La Balle Brune only loved the look, the
emile and the voice of Jean Louis.
When at day-dawn Jean Louis htarted
for the fields, it was a rare circumstance
if he, instead of taking the short cut
across the meadow, did not glide round
toward the abode of the postmaster, and
lie hidden in a thick mass of honey
suckle, waiting patiently till La Belle
Brune opened her window, and, apply
ing her fingers to her lips, the young
girl sent him with her innocent smile
the morning's benediction and kiss.
This happinetis lasted two years.
One day, old man Martin for that
was the name which the postmaster
went by said to his daughter: 'My
child, do you know that you are twenty
years old, and not married yet? It is
time that you should make your choice.
Already people begin to talk about you
in the village, and wonder why you are
not. Madame Sach-aud Such a-One.
From astonishment to calumny there is
only one step, and if you persist in your
refusal, a up to this time you have
done, of the richest and most eligible
young men in the place, they will not
fail to remark that underneath this re
fusal something extraordinary must lie
an extravagant vanity.or silly coquet
ry, or what is still worse, a guilty love
affair. I will not allow this state of
things, and they must end. Bo now,
I give you a fortnight wherein to make
your choice; if by that time you have
not done so, I will choose for you.'
Li Belle Brune knew her father thor
oughly, and that when he said 'I will,'
there was no struggling against him so
she determined to cut the knot and es
cape from the equivocal position which
chanee, her heart, and Jean Louis, had
combined to form for her. She was
perfectly aware that Jean Louis was one
of those lads that are supremely happy
if they can only get a squeeze of the
hand, or the shadow of a kiss; she knew
very well that, happy in loving, happy
in knowing himself loved, he was quite
capable of asking no more, and of
going on waiting till eternity. Wait
ing for what? He himself could not tell;
but he felt a presentiment that there
were almost insurmountable obstacles
to his marriage with La Belle Brune
with her rich dot; and he felt that he
was not iu the position to overcome
them.
Now, La Belle Brune began to see
very clearly that instead of falling, the
obstacles closed arouud them, and that
at some early day they would become
insuperable so she took Up her pen
and boldly wrote to Jean Louis as fol
lows: 'My father has desired me to marry
some one. Go to him to-morrow, and
say that you love me, and that I like
wise love you, and ask him for my
hand.'
Seldom had a young girl taken a like
step; never to her knowledge had a
maiden said to a young man, who had
not addressed a single word of love to
her: you love me, and I return your af
fection. Yet, what was to be done?
The following day Jean Louis dressed
in all his be6t, presented himself before
old Monsieur Martin, and said 'Pere
Martin, I hear that you wish to get your
daughter married; and I am come to ask
her hand of you.'
For a moment Pere Martin was as
tounded, and then looked sternly at the
applicant. 'Are you mad, Jean LouiB?'
said Pere Martin, with a harsh tqne.
'No, my father,' interposod La Belle
Brune, as she came unshrinkingly be
tween them during the conference, as if
in orJer, by her presence, to establish
an equality of strength between the
speakers. ''No father, Jean Louis is not
mad. He loves mo, and knows that I
love him, and it is in consequence of my
avowal of my love for him that he asks
my hand. You told me to choose a hus
band. I have chosen; and Jean Louis is
my choice.'
I will not attempt to describe to you
the fury of Pere Martin, for at that time
ho was accustomed to see all about him
bend under his hand and before his iron
will. He saw his own child declare her
solf in open rebellion against the pater
nal authority. He answered iu a loud
and imperious tone of voice. He heaped
curses and threats on the heads both of
Jean Louis and his daughter, and swore
hat as long as he lived, his daughter
should never be the wife of It common
laborer, who had not even a lllf to shel
ter her, nor a fixed business jb support
her. After having threatened , ho beg
ged and prayed; after having expended
his vocabulary cf curses, b began to
reason with the couple, and laid before
them the following propositions:
'As for my rich daughter, it is neces
sary that she should have a husband
who has some means; as for myself, I
require a son -in-law who will carry on
the business to which I owe so much.
Let Jean Louis since it is this young
man that you love so well let mm la
aside the pick and the plow, which
to this dav have only just kept body an
sul togetherjlet hiru. put on a postilion's
jacket; prove himself to bo zealous, ao
tive and economical most absolutely
essential this,latter; let him amass a dot:
and then you, my daughter, shall be hia
If he can't do that, he shall not have
you.'
The conditions were sufHjiently rca -sonablt',
and La Belle Bruno acce red
them. It was agreed upon, after much
discussion, tlutt the day when Jean Louis
should become possessed of fifteen hun
dred francs, Pere Martin would call him
son-in-law. In order to arrive at this
little patrimony, five years were granted
to Jean Louis. If at the expiration of
five years he did not produce the requir
ed sum, then the engagement should be
at an end, aiid La Belle Brune must be
come the wife of the man whom her
father (should choose.
The following day Jean Louis pulled
on his long boots.
In less than a year he had become the
most agile, the smartest, and wonder -ful
to relate the boldest postilion of
Bourget. His savings increased daily,
and you can well understand how beau
tiful and seductive were the hopes en
tertained by the two lovers.
One fatal day, toward the end of 1846,
during a fearful storm, a post chaise
stopped at Pere Martin's house. One
young man alone occupied the carriage.
Pere Martin urged upon him the pru
dence of waiting until the storm had
somewhat abated.for the thunder rolled
with deafening violence. The young
man declared that it would be impossi
ble to stop, alleging that a few minutes'
delay might be of serious eonsequenoe
to him. We learnt later that he was the
cashier of one of the largest banks in
Paris, and that ha was flying across the
frontier carrying with him a large
amount of tho funds intrusted to his
care. Pere Martin was compelled to
yield to tho persistant entreaties of the
traveler. i
Jeau Louis jumped into his saddle,
and away the carriage rolled into the
storm. They had brdly gone two miles
when a flash of lightning more vivid
than any heretofore struck with its bolt
one of the tall Loabardy poplars that
bordered the roud. The horses, for an
instant, stood shuldoring, and then
dashed blindly alopg the road until,
meeting with some boataolo there was
a sudden Crash, a groan and fragments
of the post-chaise wsre lying in all di
rections. Some people, living near, ran
to the spot ; and facte, nearly side by
side, were tho youu i traveler and Jean
Lonis. After severij days of horrible
suffering, the former died. As to Jean
Louis, he had to snltnit to the loss of
his right arm, and tie terrible operation
of trepanning. He recovered his health
but his reason had fled forever.
Since that time tin poor fellow has
not ceased to consider himself still a
postilion, and that ai Boon as he has
saved fifteen hundred francs he will
marry La Balle Brnn. Seel he wakes
up; do you notice that) for the diligence
from Paris on't be lng before it gets
here. He JU run ahiad of it; he will
run by the side of thehorses just in tho
same way you saw bin: do to your dili
gence. As soon 83 ever it stops, he ac
costs the passengers wth his customary
sentence, and carefrily stows away
whatever they may give him. This
evening he will bring ue his little daily
gatherings, with these words: 'Put this
with the rest, Madame 3enoit, and when
the fifteen hundred frarcs are complete,
let me kuow.for then I shall go and find
Pere Martin, and he is.ionnd to give me
La Balle Brune, at onci, for you know
he promised her to me.'
And La Belle Brune what became of
her?
A3 she would have religiously kept
the word she gave to Jem Louis, so sue
sacredly performed the (romise she had
given to her father shobecamo the wife
of the man that he chosefor her, without
actual love for him, nor ret rot without
esteeming him. To-day, her name is
Widow Benoit--at your savice; she takes
care of Jean Louis, who joes not recog
nize her any more, and ottentolls her
in confidence, that he vail have the pleas
ure of dancing with hr, the day that he
has the happiness tf marry La Belle
Brune. You see, moviour and mad a me;
that the crazinees of Jean Louis is neith
er so very bad, nor so very miserable.
He lives in a dreatt of happiness. Hap
py, most happy, ihey who dream I
The Resultt of an Elopement
Two months ago Dr. Pierce, of Facto
ry ville, Pa., nar Waverley, N. Y., de
serted his wilb and family, and eloped
With Mrs. K.ggs, the wife of his hired
man. He had the day before prescribed
some medi'ine for his wife, who was ill.
After the flight of her husband Mrs.
Pierce tok the medicine and died a few
hours afterward. Pierce and Mrs. Riggs
went to Texas, the woman taking her
little boy, four years old, with her.-
Shortb after taking up their residence
in Tas, Pierce subjected Mrs. Biggs
and ler boy to the most btutol treat
ment. Three weeks ago Mrs. Eiggs,
taking advantage of the absence of
ltrce. toon S1UU of his and ilea with
ct child. Pierce got track of her and
ful lowed her. She eluded him, nnd
reached her father in Spencer, She had
been very sick on her way from Texas,
and died very soon after entering her
father's house. Tierce followed her as
far as Elmira, whero he was warned
that he would be summarily dealt with
if ho entered Factoryville, and he fled
in time to escape arrest on a charge of
"murdering his wife.
What the European Powers Want.
The European powers appear to be
still hankering after fresh annexations
in the East, England demanding the
Khybar and Khnruni Passes from the
Afghan ameer, France still looking long
ingly at Tunis, and the two together
pressing upon the khedive the adoption
of a European ministry, while Eufsia is
claiming various privileges from .China
in exchange for the cession of a province
which she can retake at any moment.
Probably the best solution of the Egypt
ian question would be a joint protecto
rate, the khedive being evidently not
to be trusted. Eagland from Cyprus,
and France from her proposed settle
ment on the coast of Tunis, would mount
guard over Egypt, and the splendid re
sources of the Nile delta would be de
veloped by European capital. But it
may well be doubted whether such an
arrangement could be lasting. 'Egypt,'
said the first Napoleon, 'is the key of
the Est, and France eannot leave it to
Eagland.' Still less can Eagland leave
it to France, and the annexation of
Cyprus may yet prove to have been the
prelude of that English occupation of
Egypt with which the Czar Nicholas
tempted Sir Hamilton Seymour twenty
six years ago.
A Savannah man fattens his horse on
noe for 9 cents a day.
Use of Coffee.
Much more coffee is used here than
in any country on the globe, France be
ing the only land that consumes any
thing like an equal amount. While tea
has taken the place of coffee here to a
certain extent within a few years, this is
mainly iu cities and large towns; and
there in no probability of its becoming
the national beverage, as it has become
in Russia and largely in England. Cof
fee, although unknown to the Greeks or
Romans, has been used from time im
memorial iu Abyssinia and Ethiopia;
since the fifteenth century in Arabia,
and since the sixteenth over the remain
der of the East. Toward the close of
the following century, the plant was car
ried by Wieser, a Netuerland burgo
master, from Mooha to Batavia (Java),
where it was widely reproduced, and ere
long shoots were sent to Amsterdam,
and theDee to the Botanical Garden at
Paris. Coffee was first drank in Egypt
and Turkey in the sixteenth century,
having been brought from Arabia; and
Leonhard Eauwolf, a German physician,
was probably the first to make it known
in Europe, through his travels, publish
ed in 1573. Coffee-houses soon sprang up
in different countries of Europe, the
earliest in Constantinople (1551). and
the next in London, the year subse
quent. This one was Kept in Uornhill
by a Greek, one Pasouet. the servant of
an Englishman named Edwards, who
had brought some coffee with him from
BmyruR. The first coffee-house in
France wasopenedin 1C71, in Marseilles,
and a few months later Paris imitated
the example. Before the civil war, coffee-houses,
as they are called, were very
common in the West and South, and are
still, tho name boing applied to bar
rooms probably beouuno almost every
thing except coffee could be had there.
The consumption of coffee has increased
very rapidly throughout the republic,
the poorest people drinking the pure
article, so far as they can get it; whilo
iu Europe generally the comparatively
well-to-do alono can afford the luxury.
The chief substitutes, such as barley,
crusts, beans, chiccory, are seldom em
ployed iu this country, moBt Americans
preferring to go without than not to
have the real thing. Coffee is an abso
lute necessity with no. being drank in
the laborer's cabin no less than in the
rich man's borne from Maine to Califor
nia, from Florida to Washington Terri
tory, it is said that we import now
about 300,000.000 pounds annually, val
ued at over 825,000,000, and our yearly
increase in the Inst quartar of a century
is estimated at 8 J- per cent, against 2 in
Europe, and 4 per cent, for the whole
worli
A Revolution iu Sentiment.
The Baltimore Sun. commenting od
the sentence of Poindextor in Richmond
for the killing of Curtis for an alleged
insult offered to tho former's betrothed,
says: Tho address of John E. Poindex
ter on being brought up to receive sen
tence for manslaughter in killing young
Curtis, is touching and pathetic. But at
the same time it is the fullest testimony
to the justice and the expediency of his
conviction that could be presented.
The verdict, he said, 'if ratified by this
community, makes mo the first victim of
a revolution in a traditional sentiment
of my native State that has educated me
to believe that the defense of woman is
one of the first duties a man owes to
himcelf and Eociety.' First, however,
one should be sure that the defense was
needed. But tho 'sentiment,' as he con
strued it, was an exaggerated and dan
gerous misconception of a supposed
social duty, and the revolution was
wrought principally, or immediately,
anyhow, by his own very deed. The
sort of punctilio which, in that commu
nity, used to insist that a supposed lack
of courtesy to a lady could only be wiped
out in blood has long been overstrained,
and was eimply outraged and fell into
collapse in the presence of Poindexter's
deed. That which carried this false and
foolish code for false and foolish it is,
though founded originally upon a genu
ine sentiment of courtesy and gallantry
to its legical extreme, opened the eyes
of the community at last to its dangers
and its absurdity. Poindexter, as he
Bays, became the first victim of the re
vulsion in sentiment, but that revulsion
was the immediate consequence of his
own aot, and he is rightly punished in
order to prevent others from making the
same mistake about the 'duties' of a
gentleman. Of course he regrets the
consequences of his deed, but this regret
cannot restore his victim to life, while
his sentence and punishment may save
the lives of a good many young men in
Virginia who are much too good to be
shot down and slain as Curtis was.
i'1
Bronson Howard, the American play
writer, says that during his reoenttripiin
England he observed that among the
gentlemen of that country the habit of
profanity has gone almost entirely out
of use, and thinks the men this side the
Atlantio might profitably follow their
example.
The first and worst of all frauds is to
cheat oneself. All sin is easy after that.
FACTS AM) FACIES.
The newest thing in socks a baby.
There are 4000 women postmasters' in
the United States, and the number is on
the increase.
Instead of calling your silver-haired
friend an old dog, why not hail him as
a gray-hound ?
The difference between a woman and
a butcher is that one dresses to kill and
the other kills to dress.
An autograph letter of Henry Clay
has been published iu which he returns
thanks for a pair of knit socks.
Pome wine bottled A. D. '79 will be
opened on the coming 1800th anniver
sary of the destruction of Pompeii.
I want to be a coachman,
And with the coachmen stand,
And win the boss' daughter.
And drive my fonr-in-hand.
Count Johannes, the erratic lawyer
actor, recovered a verdict of six cents in
a libel suit against the Jersey City
Journal.
A young man who has recently taken
a wife says he did not find it half so
hard to get married as he did to get
furniture.
A singular scene is reported from
Sumter county, Ga., where a man was
discovered drawing a plow which his
wife handled.
Old Gentleman : Waiter, how's this ?
These potatoes are quite hard I Waiter
(with presence of mind): Hard times.
you know, sir.
A lonely Philadelphia widower, who
buried his wife six weeks ago, refused a
chew of light tobacco because he is still
in full mourning.
The consumption of opium is on the
increase in the United States, and phy
sicians claim its evil effects are becom
ing very apparent.
Gov. Robinson, of New York, is pro
bably the oldest man in the conntry oc
cupying the gubernatorial chair, being
eighty-one years of age.
It is estimated that the value of the
straw hats and bonnets manufactured iu
New England every year is from $15.
000,000 to $20,000,000.
Thompson ssys you may talk of your
water cures, your movement cures, and
your blue-glass cures, but there is noth
ing like the sinecure, after all. "
An elephant died recently in Calcutta
which is said to have been ridden by
Warren Hastings when Governor Gan
eral of India, a hundred years ago.
No matter how many of our ladoned
ships may come safely into port, that
one which was lost at sea will always
seem to us to have carried the richest
cargo.
Senator Conkling disapproved of the
choice of his daughter Bassio.and would
not appear at the wedding. Ex-Gov.
Horatio Seymour, the bride's uncle.gave
her away.
There's no use in heaving old boots
and shoes over the line fence into your
neighbor's garden. They won't grow.
.It has often been tried and always prov
ed a failure.
The nights are at hand when the young
man cau stroll out with his fair Molindu
and tell her more lies in a given time
than any machine Edisou could get up
for that purpose.
The picnio time approaches when
man relapses into barbarism and goes
forth into the forest to devour hia food
with a mixture of red ants, decayed
wood and gravel.
"The moon is always just the Bame,"
he said, languidly, "and yet I always
find some new beauty in it." "It's just
so with the cirous," she answered. He
took the hint, and bought tickets for two.
The average city man who makes an
onion bed all himself in his backyard
displays more vanity in sitting on the
rear steps and overlooking his handi
work thun does his fashionable wife in
her parades before the mirror.
We repeat with great earnestness,
says the New York Observer, 'that we
do not return manuscripts which are
not accepted. The best way for a wri
ter who wishes to keep his copy is not
to send it Then he is sure of it.'
Oh maiden sweet, with pretty feet,
Tripping the fair fields over,
For what do yon look by the babbling brook
And amidst the dewy clover?
Mister,' said she, 'yon don't know beani ;
I'm gathering yellow dock for greens.'
A short time ago a Danbury man had
forty dollars stolen from him. The thief
was subsequently struct with remorse,
and sent back; twenty dollars, with a
note to the effect that as soon as he re
ceived more remorse he would send back
the rest.
Will you try some of my sponge cake,
Mrs. Tattlotongue?' said she; 'it isn't
very good, to be sure. I never had such
poor luck in my life as I did in making
it.' 'Why, mar cried Johnny, in amaze
ment; 'you said yesterday that was the
best sponge cake you ever madel' Tableau.