u u
1
EJeuoici to $olttic0, literature, Igricnltitre, Science, iiloralitn, ani eneral ntelligeuce.
VOL. 27.
STROUJDSBUEG, MONROE COUNTY, PA., MARCH 18, 1869.
NO. 50.
rnu inn
JEFFERSONIAN.
Published by Theodore Schoch.
TERMS Two dollars a year in advance and if not
paid before the end of the year, two dollars and fifty
cents will be charged.
No paper discontinued until all arrearages are paid,
xcept a: the option ot tlie Editor.
IL-Adrcrtisements of one square of (eight lines) or
Uss. one or three insertions 5150. Each additional
Insertion, 50 cents. Longer ones in proportion.
JOB PRINTING,
OF ALL KINDS,
T8xtotfd 4 the highest style of the Art, and on the
mot reasonable terms.
DR. I. SMITH,
Surgeon Dentist,
Office on Main Street, opposite Judge
stokes residence, Stroudsbvrg, Pa.
07" Teeth extracted without pain.
August 1, 18G7.
Drs. JACKSON & BIDLACK,
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
DRS. JACKSON &, BIDLACK, are
prepared to attend promptly to all calls
of a Professional character. OJJice- Op
posite the Stroudsburg Bank.
April 25, 18G7.-tf.
C. W. SEIP, M.D.,
Physician and Surgeon,
STIiOUDSBURG,
Office at his residence, on Main Street,
nearly opposite Marsh's Hotel.
All calls promptly attended to. Charges
reasonable.
Stroudsburg, April 11, lS67.-tf.
J. B. COOPER.
C00PE8
E. L. ROGERS.
& ROGERS,
GENERAL COMMISSION MER
CHANTS for the sale of Flour, Grain,
Feed, Seeds, &c, 217 North Water Street,
and 220 North Delaware Avenue, Philadel
phia, Pa.
0OParticulr attention paid to BUCK
WHEAT FLOUR. Oct. 1 '6SmO.
.A. Card,
Dr. A. UEEYES JACKS ON,
Physician and Surgeon,
BEGS TO ANNOUNCE Til AT HAV
ing returned from Europe, he is now
prepared to resume the active duties of his
profession. In order to prevent disappoint
ment to persons living at a distance who
may wish to consult him, he will be found
at his office every THURSDAY and SAT
URDAY for consultation and the perform
ance of Surgical operations.
Dec. 12, 15G7.-1 yr.
NEW GROCERY STORE.
rpiIE PUBLIC ARE INVITED to call at
JL the New Grocery Store of the subscri
ber, on Main street, one doir below the
'Jeffersonian" office, Stroudsburg, Pa., and
examiue of the best stock of
GROCERIES,
J'ROVISIOXS,
FLOUR fc,
ever bought to the place. Everything in
the Grocery line will be found on sale in
great abundance, and at prices at wbich all"
can purchase and live. Purchasers will
ave money by heeding this no'ice.
GEORGE F. HELLER.
October 22, 1SG3. tf.
31. D. COOIiBAUGH,
Sip and Ornamental Painter,1
SHOP ON MAIN STREET,
Opposite Woolen Mills,
STllOUDSCURG, PA.,
Respectfully announces to the citizens of
Stroudsburg and vicinity that he is prepared
to attend to all who may favor him with
their pitronage, in a prompt and workman
like manner.
CHAIRS, FURNITURE, &c., painted
a.nd repaired.
PICTURE FRAMES of all kinds con
stantly on hand or supplied to order.
June U, ISG3. ly.
BEEF,
IRON A74D PURE BRANDY,
BY DK. IIARTMAN,
Regular Graduate of the University of Penn
sylvania. 5-It will positively cure Consumption,
Coughs and Colds, and all diseases of the
Lungs or Bronchial Tubes.
It has been the mean of RESTORING
THOUSANDS to health who have been giv
en up beyond the reach of medical assist
ance. It does more to relieve the Consump
tive than anything ever known. Unequal
led 6trengthener for delicate Ladies and
Children. Each bottle contains tub nu
tritious PORTION OF VWO POUNDS OF CHOICE
Tto ure of Consumption was first effect
fid by the use of RAW DEEF and BRANDY
fa Russia, afterwards iti France, in which
countries I have travelled for years.
I have used it with perfect success in my
pwn family. In presenting this preparation
to the public I feel confident that every af
flicted one who reads this (even the most
skeptical) may become convinced, by a sin
gle trial that it is truly a most valuable med
icine. Circulars and medicines sent to any ad
4 rest. Price 1 per bottla six for $5.
Laboratory 512 South Pifteenth Street,
PHILADELPHIA.
Wholesale Agents. French, Richards &
Co., Tenth and Market streets; Johnson,
Holloway & Cowden, 602 Arch street; R.
Shoemaker &, Co., Fourth and Race streets,
Philadelphia.
fXySold by Druggists Everywhere.
Cheap Feed.
GRAIN AT 25 CENTS PER BUSHEL.
Apply at the BREWERY,
July 30, 16fi8.-tf. East StroudjAxntf.
LANDS IN THE SOUTH.
OLD VIRGINIA.
A LETTER FROM GEN. IMBODEN.
To the Editor o The Tribune.
Sir : On the 28th of J anuary, you very
kindly published a hastily written letter
from me in favor of emigration to the
South generally, but more particularly to
Virginia. For this courtesy to me per
sonally, and the evidence you are daily
Riving of interest in our material recu
peration, I thank you most heartily. That
the subject is ot absorbing interest to our
people, is manifest from the fact that
some of the leading journals of the South
have reproduced the letter, imperfect as
it was ; and others have epitomized it and
cordially indorsed its sentiments and state
ments of fact. Hut, even more gratify
ing than general sympathy of my South
ern countrymen in the objects I had in
view, is the overwhelming- testimony I
have received from all parts of the North
that we are about to have an invasion
that will bring life, prosperity, and wealth,
in its train. Not an incursion of hungry
"carpet-baggers," to stir up strife, and re
open the wounds left by the war, and
which, God knows, heal slowly enough
under the best treatment but a countless
host of earnest, honest, active, industrious,
and enterprising men and women, who
mean to settle here, buy land, build
houses, establish stores, shops, and fac
tories, and become incorporated with us
as ''bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh."
I have been absent from home for sev
eral weeks, and find on my return hund
reds of letters from your Northern read
ers, of almost every pursuit and walk in
life, seeking information of every conceiv
able nature in regard to Virginia, and all
expressing an earnest desire to move aud
settle here. I would like to answer all
these letters directly and at length, but it
is physically impossible for mo to do so.
It has taken me to-day, from morning till
night, to read them. Fressing business
engagements forbid the hope that I can
reply to more than one in every ten or
twenty. I am glad these letters have
been written, and thank the writers for
them. They bring hope and encourage
ment that we are indeed about to enter
on a career of renewed and unparalleled
prosperity. The wide range inquiry made
by the different writers shows that we
have yet much to do to inform the public
mind beyond our borders of tne surpas
sing natural advantages and resources of
this State. One great Virginia mind is
now engaged in this important work.
That most distinguished of all American
scientific men, Commodore Matthew F. i
Maury, is applying his great intellect to
the enlightenment of the world in regard
to the soil, climate, productions, mines,
forests, rivers, harbors, commerical ad
vantages, cad population of this State.
IIt3 preliminary report has just been pub
lished, and I hope will soon be spread
broad cast throughout the North, and in
kEurope. A book, too, has been recently
published by Frederick B. Goddard, No.
432 Broome st., N. Y., entitled "Where to
Emigrate, and Why," that will aid us
greatly. But it may be a long time be
fore these important publications will reach
the hundreds who have read my letter in
The Tribune, and written for immediate
information to guide them in the election
of a home. To greatify these your read
ers, and in the only way possible to an
swer all their letters, I propose to group
the subject? of inquiry, and reply to them,
with your permission, through your col
umns. The information thus imparted
may not be in every case as minute and
specific as some of the writers txpected ;
but I pledge my personal honor for the
truth of every statement, inasmuch as I
shall confine myself to facts within my
own knowledge, being acquainted with
almost the entire State, and in my early
life a plowman and farmer in my native
Shenandoah Valley, and, I think, and
competent judge of our soil, climate an
impartial and productions, and in all my
feelings and sentiments a Virginian, in
full aceord with my own people. Above
all things, I wish to avoid misleading
any one. With this preface, I proceed to
answer the most important questions that
have been asked me.
First: Can a Radical Republican
live here in comfort, and vote his princi
ples with safety t
Yes. Hundreds of puch have settled
in the State since the war, and thousands
have visited it, and I have yet to hear of
the instance in which thero was any fur
ther restriction on freedom of speech and
action than there is in Massachusetts.
The laws of genteel society are in force
here, and a bully or a blackguard who
trangresses them so far as to offer a per
sonal insult by wholesale criminating re
marks, will be as readily accommodated
with a fight, as I would expect to be on
Boston Common, were I to "Huzza for
Jeff. Davis" there and "Damn the whole
Yankee nation." Dut a gentleman and
man of sense and character can speak,
write, and publish, with perfect freedom,
any of the political dogmas of the day ;
aod if, in other respects, he is what he
should be here, or in any community, his
social standing will be exactly what he
chooses to make it for himself. We have
had so many hard cases to swarm down
upon us, and so many instances of hum
bug and swindling by such people since
the war, that we naturally receive total
strangers now with caution and reserve,
j till ve find them to be worthy of confi
dence aod esteem, when the? arc as cor
dially treated as they would be anywhere.
But upon this point I think nothing more
need be said, as the intelligence of the
North is beginning to discover the truth,
and the malignant party hacks who have
sought to keep up strife or falsehood are
being found out
Second i Ant tht negroes troublesome
or dangerous ?
In a few localities, where they have
congregated in large numbers, especially
discharged negro soldiers, in some of the
lower tide-water counties, there have been
some trifling disturbances. They are
nowhere dangerous. As a race, the ne
gro is harmless and inert. If let alone
by bad White men, there never will be
any trouble anywhere with them, except
the trouble of inducing them to work and
support themselves.
TJiird : What can negro laborers he
hired far ?
The best of them, ranging from 25 to
30 years of age, of known good character,
hire to farmers at about $120 a year and
rations, with the use of a cabin and
"patch," or garden. The negro ration
here is a peck and a half of corn meal
and three pounds of bacon a week, with
vegetables, in season, such as the farmer
uses himself. Good women hire at about
half the above. On large tracts of land,
the negroes in many cases work
for a share of the crop. They are not
active good hands unless the employer or
an overseer is long to lead and direct
them. Money wages are paid, about half
monthly, and the balance at the end of
the year.
Fourth : Is the whole State healthy ?
Yes, almost the entire State. In the
lower counties, where there are marshes,
they have chills and fever, but ot a mild
form. Away from the miasmatic locali
ties there is no healther country on the
globe than Virginia.
Fifth : What is the quality of the land?
As various as in any State in the Union.
There is a great deal of very fertile land
in Virginia, a large quantity of fair quali
ty, and much that was once exellent, but
has been exhausted by Tobacco and bad
husbundry. But the worst worn-out land
that was originally good is very easily re
claimed, especially by the use of clover.
Sixth: What is the price of land T
In all the country ea3t of the Blue
Ridge lands are very low, ranging from
$4 to 830 per acre, according to quality,
improvements, and location in reference
to market. Between the blue Ride and
Jamyes River, I would put the average
at about 8 12 to 15 per acre. Between
the James and North Carolina line, in 20
or 30 counties, the averrge is under C10,
including all improvements, borne or
the finest estates, combining river bottoms J
and upland, with ample buildings and
good market facilities, in tracts of from :
1,000 to 5,000 acre3, are now on the
market at from 10 to 815 per acre.
Tracts as small as 300 to 500 acres in the ,
best south-side counties are offering at
from 88 to 810. Exhausted but improv-
able land can be had in tracts of any size
desired at from 83 to 8G per acre. The
proportion of cleared and wood land sold
is about half-and-half. This section of
the State is not naturally a grazing coun
try, but all the cultivated grapes do well.
The staple crops are Wheat, Corn, Toba
cco, and Oats. The variety of fruits and
vegetables, embraces the whole catalogue
of this mild latitude. Gardening in the
open air has already commenced at this
season.
In the Shenandoah Valley, lands com
mand from 830 to 8150 per acre. That
is a limestone, blue-grass region. Along
the eastern slope of the Rlue Ridge, grass
grows remarkable well, and it is a fine
stock region. Excellent farms can be
bought there at from 820 to 840 per acre.
In the Upper Valley or South Western
Virginia, toward Tennessee, is the great
grass region the best for cattle, perhaps,
this side of Texas. Improved farms there
are worth from 825 to $00 per acre ; but
much cheaper lands can be had, perhaps
equally good, but on which costly im
provements have not been made. Tide
water is the great gardening and fishing
region of the State. The best river land
is worth $100 ; but any grade can bo pro
cured from that down to $5 or 6.
Seventh : Where would you advise a
Northern man to settle ?
It is impossible to say, unless he tells
me what he wants to do. To the indus
trious man of small capital say from $500
to 85,000 I would adviso a settlement
south of James River, where lands are
cheapest, and where every variety of crop
is produced. In almost any county there,
a man can purchase from 20 acres up
ward. Generally, by paying one-fourth
cash, he can get from three to five years
credit on the residue, and thus use a large
part of his capital to get himself fairly
under wav. The man of larger means
- j - u ,
can aiso De suited in mis eecuuu, or ue
can buy a princely estato in the rich val
leys of the James, Roanoke, or Dan, for
one-fourth the valuo of the property be
fore the war.
Eighth : Can lands le leased, with an
opt ion purchase during the term T
Yes. to a verv large extent. 1 he usual
rent paid to the landlord is one-fourth of.
the crop for the land. A man, with eay
8500, can lease a farm and readily 6up-
port a family on it, and, by ecnomy and
industry in five or six years, own 150 or
200 acres in good heart.
Ninth : What opening is therefor poor
men mere laborers, without means ?
It is not good, and will not be till our
people have further recuperated their
chattered fortunes. There is too, litUs
money here to pay good wages. I would
not advise the farm-laborer to come here
to hire himself out. Mechanics can do
well whose handicraft is needed in the
country, such as blacksmiths, carpenters,
wagon-makers, coopers, &c. Small coun
try stores do well. Formerly the planters
brought their large supplies in the cities
where they sold their crops, including
all that was needed by their negroes.
The latter are now depondent on their
own resources, and are compelled to sup
ply their wants at the nearest country
store, where they spend about half their
wages. The Whites also deal largely at
these stories, which are multiplying all
over the State, and generally doing well.
For professional men, the opening is still
loss inviting. We have more native law
yers and doctors than are needed, and the
professions are languishing. We have no
free-school system, but generally through
out State good common schools, taught
by our own young men and ladies whose
reduced circumstances lead them to turn
to profitable account the finished educa
tion they had received at the best insti
tutions of the country in their more pros
perous days. On the large plantations,
private tutors trs frequently employed.
Frcedmcn's schools arc springing up and
are generally taught by Northerners, ma
ny of whom are faithfully doing their
work. To that class cf inquirers who de
sire to come here to engage in teaching,
clerking, and other light employments,
taere are no
strong
inducements now,
nor win tuere dc until general Dusiness
has been re-established on a larger basis,
and prosperity renewed in the State. The
sort of population we need most, and that
will undoubtedly do well, are toorJcing
men of all classes who have enough capi
tal to become freeholders, and the will
and strength to engage in productive in
dustry. No man of this class will ever
regret settling here. Every settler may
expect to do more or less building to grat
ify his taste and promote his comfort.
Our country houses don't suit Northern
farmers well, ncr indeed our own people
1 i 11 r
now. They were built when every fami
ly kept the house full of negro servants,
and lack the modern conveniences of
"Yankee" farm houses, in which economy
of labor is a paramount consideration. By
slight changes and repairs, many of our
dwellings can be made all that is desired;
but, where large plantations are to be cut
up, some new houses will be necessary.
The materials for these are very abundant
and cheap, and beautiful sites and gush
ing springs of purest water are found on
almost every tract.
Tenth: Eow can a man ascertain
whers he had better settle?
I would advise him to come directly to
this city, and spend a day here conferring
with those whose acquaintance with the
Statewill enable them to direct him where
to go and look for a home that will meet
his wants. Any of us will gladly render this
service. I suppose it is no exaggeration
to say more than 1,000 Northern, men
have applied to me within 12 months for
this sort of information ; and many of
the have purchased before they returned
to the city. All the railroads terminating
here iSsuc half-fare tickets to men looking
for land along their lines, and also to their
families when moving to occupy them. I
now extend an invitation to everyone who
may read this and visit Richmond to
come and see me, and I will give him all
the assistance in my power to accomplish
the object of his visit, freely, cheerfully,
and gladly. I have said nothing of the
vast mineral wealth of this State second
to no other nor of its untold waterpow
er. These are attractions mainly to the
capitalist, who has the time and means to
investigate the subject at his leisure, be
fore making his large investments. I
will only remark that shrewd, sagacious,
farsceing men of fortune and enterprise
are beginning to appreciate our vast re
sources in these respects, and are bring
ing down their capital to open mines and
quarries, build furnaces, and start factor
ies. Our Railroad system is comprehensive
and rapidly extending, and a few years
will sec an immense tunnage pouring out
of the West through Virginia to the sea.
Great cities and innumerable towns will
are long grow up among us. Come and
help us to build them! We join you now in
"On to Richmond !" Enormaus wealth
was destroyed in four years' fighting and
war. Can it not be reproduced in four
years under an administration that wo
trust will be guided by the sentiment,
"Let us have peace ?"
In conclusion, let me say to the hund
reds whose letters are on my table, I
will answer as many a I can, and as fastas I
can. But let no man who intends to come
here put it off too long. Lands will soon be
gin to rise in price. The demand, I am satis
fied, will be great before midsummer, and
with numerous sales prices will go up. Mero
speculators night amass farge fortunes by
purchasing now and selling next year the
large and splendid estates in the market.
Gen. Butler is reported in the newspa
pers to have sM. to a distinguished Vir
ginian a short time since that the people of.
Virginia are still disloyal because he had
heard they would not sell land to a North-
em man or a negro, as to tne latter,
they do not sell because poor Sambo has
no money to buy with ; but, if he wishes
to test our layalty by our disposition to
j sell to Northerners, I would like him to
induce a few thousand of his constituents
I to try us, and pay me 5 per cent commis-
siou on all the land I can soil thorn in 30
day3 after their wants are mado known.
I would not exchange my profit for the
most lucrative business ho ever engaged
in, in peace or war.
But for the great length to which it
would extend this letter, there are certain
spccilties I should like to refer to Fruit
culture, Wine-making, Hop growing,
Lumbering on tho large rivers, Sheep
husbandry, small manufacturing, Fisher
ies. Gardening on a large scale for our
own and Northern markets. I have in
my mind's eye half a dozen healthy and j
beautiful localities for the establishment
of towns and villages, where the most
diversified pursuits would yield the means,
comforts of peace, and contentment to
hundreds of inhabitants. I hope to live
to see this State dotted all over with these
little busy centers of industry. A large
Northern immigration is very desirable to
us in another aspect. We had a peculiar
social system before the war that made
us the happiest and most contented peo
ple in the world. I admit that there was
much old-fogyism in it, but that was one
of its excellences. But since the change
we cannot afford to hold these old-fogy
ways and ideas. 1 he world is running
away from us. We think it is
a
o o
coiner
little too fast for its own good j but being
rather slow ourselves, we have an idea
that a good mixing op of Yankee enter
prise with our slower notions, will result
in good to both. We think if your peo
ple come hers we can infuse into them a
good deal of our conservatism, and rub
off the sharp points of Yankee character
which we never admired, and, on the
other hand, we will receive new ideas and
adopt new habits from you that wiil
greatly improve our condition. Now that
the Government of the country has been
changed from a Confederation of States
to a great, consolidated national Republic,
it seems to me it should be the higest
aim of the statesman and political philoso
pher to produce homogeniety in the
nation. I mean by nation the White
people of this country, for other races will
soon perish under the crushing power of
the American type of the Caucasian. The
wonderful national energy of this country
has sprung from the intermingling of the
nationalities of Europe. America has
been peopled by the most vigorous indi
viduals of the populations of Europe ; for
it is only such that emigrate to a wilder
ness world. Here intermarriage has led
to still higher developments of individual
energy and power. A longe peace was
tending to slight stagnation in the old and
settled portions of the South, where there
were few immigrants. The convulsions
of the last eight years have stirred up the
silent life of the South the political
cauldron has boiled over the social life
of the country has been equally disturbed.
Statesmen should now aim at harmoniz
ing all these discordant elements, and
thus consolidate a power such as the
world has never seen. The work must
be perfected in the social and industral
pursutis of the people of America. The
people must be "mixed up," in business
affairs. Social intercourse and moral
causes will lead in time to closer ties
Northern and Southern character will be
blended intermarriages will ere long
take place, and assimilation, in course of
time, produce a new race, as it were, pe
culiarly American, possessing a national
power as superior to all other peoples as
this vast continent surpasses their limited
territories.
The first step now is to mingle our peo
ple and our interests as fast as possible.
I believe you are working in that direc
tion. In this I am with you heart and
hand; and so are thousands of others
in the South. The past that we loved so
well is gone forever. The present has its
trials, which we have endeavored to
bear without unmanly rcpinings. The
future we look to hopefully, even though
memory may go back regretfully to the
lost principles of our earlier and happiest
years. Very respectfully. J. D. Imboden.
Richmond, Va., Feb. 22, 1SG9.
Betting on a Sure Thing.
A lake steamer was being repaired and
repainted, near one of the wharves of a
western city. A single narrow plank
served for communication with the shore.
A large quantity of white lead was pro
vided for the painters, and one night be
fore going ashore, two of them whom we
will call Smith and Jones, thought they
would appropriate some of it to their own
use. So they tied a strong twine around
their over-alls, at the ankle, and filled in
the space between their trowsersand over
alls with forty pounds more or lass, of
white lead. Going ashore in the dusk of
the evening, and walking clumsily in con
sequence of the unusual leading, Jones
tumbled overboard into the lake. Of
course he sank liko a mill stono. Tho
alarm was given,
and immediately there
were boats got out, and every preparation
mado for the rescue. Meantime, Smith
stood on the shore loudly bewailing:
"Oh dear, dear I Jones is drowntd 1
His poor wifo and five children what
will become of them ! And Jones is dead!
Oh dear, dear I"
"What are you blubbering about ?"
said a bystander. "Don't you see they
are
5 getting ready to haul him out? lie's,
t to riso three times, you know." !
" Wh what's that you say?" asked
got
Smith. 1
"I tell you Jones aint drowned he'll,
be rescued. He's got to come up three, A good story ia told of a German shoe
times." ! maker in Utica, who, having made a pair
"Got to come up three times!" repeat- of boots for a gentleman of whose fiuan
ed Smith, pulling out his money, and cial integrity he had considerable doubt,
changing his whining tone to one of ex- made the following reply to him when ha
oited interest "Bet you stamps he don 't called for the articles : "Der poots ish
come up oncl
ft
The Drover's Story.
My name is Anthony Hunt. I am a
drover, and I live miles and miles away
upon the western prairie. There wasn't
a home within sight when we move there,
my wife and I, and now we haven't many
neighbors, though those we havo are
good ones.
One day about ten years ago, I went
away from home to sell some fiftvhead of
cattle fine creatures as ever you saw. I
was to Duy some groceries and dry goods
before I came back, and above all a doll
for our youngest Dolly. She had never
had a store doll of her own, only the rag
babies her mother had made her.
Dolly could talk of nothing else, andfc
iwent down to the very cate to call after
me to "buy a big one. iNobody but a
parent can understand how full my mind:
was of that toy, and how, when the cattle
were sold, the first thing I harried off to
buy Dolly's doll. I found a large oner
with eyes that would open and shut whet
you pulled a wire, and had it wrapped ia
paper and tucked it under my arm whilo
I had the parcels of calico and delaines
... . . .. -r .
and tea and sugar put up. Then, late as
it jras, I started for home. It might havo
been more prudent to stay until morning,,
but I felt anxious to get back, and eager
to hear Dolly's prattle about her toy.
I wa3 mounted on a steady going old
horse of mine and was pretty well loaded
Night set in before I was a mile from
town and settled down dark as pitch while -I
was in the middle of the wildest
bit of road I know of. I could have felt,
my way, through, I remembered it so well,,
and it was almost that when the storm
that had been brewingbroke and down pel
ted the rain in torrents, five miles, or, may
be, six, from home yet, too.
I rode on as fast as I could, but all of
a sudden I heard a little cry like a child's
voice ! I stopped short and listened L
heard it again. I called and it answered
me. I couldn't see a thing, all was dark
as pitch. I got down and felt about tho.
grass called again, and again was an
swered. Then I began to wonder. I'm
not timid, but I was known to be a drover
and to have money about me. It might
be a trap to catch me unawares and rob
and murder me.
I'm not superstitious not very. But
how could a real child be out on the prai
rie in such a night, at such an hour. It
might be more than human.
The bit of a coward that hides itself
in most men showed itself to me then,
and I was half inclined to run away, but
once more I heard that cry, and said I:
"If any man's child is hereabouts An
thony Hunt is not the man to let it die."'
I searched again. At last I bethought
me of a hollow under the hill, and grop
ing that way, sure enough, I found a lit
tle dripping thing that moaned and - sob
bed as I took it in my arms. I couldn't
see it, but I thanked heaven. I called
my horse, and the beast came to me, and.
I mounted, and tucked the little soaked,
thing under my coat as well as I could
promising to tike it home to mammy. It
seemed tired to death end pretty scon
cried itself to sleep against my bosom.
It had slept there over an hour when I
saw my own windows. There were lighta
in them, and I supposed my wife had lit
them for my sake, but when I got into
the door yard I saw something was tho
matter, and stood still with a dead fear at
my heart, five minutes before I could lift 4
the latch. At last I did it, and saw tho '
room full of neighbors, and my wife. a-.
midst them weeping.
"What is it, neighbors," I cried.
And one said, "nothing, now I hope -what's
that in your arms V
"A poor, lost child," said I. "I found
it on the road. Take it, will you, I've
turned faint," and I lifted up the sleep
ing thing and saw the face of my owa
child, my little Dolly.
My little child had wandered out to
meet "daddy" and tho doll, while her
mother was at work, and whom they were
lamenting as one dead, I thanked heavert
on my knees before them all. It is not.
much of a story, neighbors, but I think,
of it often in the nights, and wonder how
I could bear to live now if I had not stop
ped when I heard the cry for help upoa
the road, the little baby cry, hardly loud
er than a squirrel's chirp.
That's Dolly yonder with her mother
in' the meadow, a girl worth saviug, I
think (but then, I'm her father, and
partial, may be.) The prettiest and
sweetest thing this side of tho MississippL
A Doubtful Story.
A young fellow was taking
a sleigh
ride with a pretty girl, when he met a
Methodist miuister who was somewhat
celebrated for tying the matrimonial knot.
at short notice. He stopped him, and
said hurriedly :
"Can you tie a knot for me 7"
"Yes," said Brother B , "I guess
so; when do you want it done?"
"Well right away," was the reply; "is
it lawful though, here on the highway?"
"O, yes ; this is as good a place as any
as safe as the church' itself."
"Well, then, I want a koct tied in my
horse's tail, to keep it out of the snow!"
shouted the wicked wag, driving off very
fast, fearing lest tho minister in his pro-
fane wrath, should tall from grace.
nut quite done, but derbee! bh made out.
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