Iff ' Jill II. F. SCI I WEI RR. THE COXSTITTITIOJrTHE UHIOU" AJTD THE ElTTOEOEMEllT OP THE LAVS. Editor and Proprietor. VOL. XXXII. ; mifflintown, juniata county, texna., Wednesday, may 2.0, ists. NO. 22. I THE OLD PORCH ST0?P. 1 am sitting oo the olJ porch stoop to-night if the f arm-booae long and low. Anil the moon bathe in ita silvery light All the objects that I know ; The shadows lie thick on the graivr walks From the long row of maple trees. While the cricket chirps ita lonely sound, Aud the night wind rustles the leaves. I am lonely in heart and sonl to-night For memories crowd thick and fast Of the ones who sat where I sit alone . , Id the times foreTer past. How many thoughts some sweet, some Will clin? here evermore. Where the sheltering eaves, drooping low, Shadow the old stoop o'er. I aui thinking, as I gaze on that hallowed stoop. Of the feet which Lave worn it away j ( f how many, weary with the march of life. Would long for its reef to-day ; Aud the quiet shelter of the clustering vines That creep around the door Uut they must ever keep moving on They may come back no more. lu memory I hear the tramp of the feet And see the heads bow low. When they were borne across the time-worn stoop The leved one long agn. I can see where I sit, with tear-dimmed eyes, l!y the rays of the moon so bright. Where they lie at rest on the side of the hill Their head-stones gleaming white. All lonely I mourn the voices I loved That have slipped away, one by one. Aud are mingling now in the world's busy strife. Or ith voices beyond the sun. How many in the days forever gone by Hare tripped over so light and free '. And some with a sorrowful step and slow Tuev have all left the home-nest bat me. One, Five and Nine. 'I say again, Edmund, I will not read it. Keep it and gloat over it as the evidence of you1- ingratitude and my misery, if vou will; but pnt it out of my sight, or 1 ill not answer for my actions." Still lie held the letter toward me, silently, with the same strange smile lighting up his boyish face. Why do you torture me?" I cried, restraining myself with an effort. "Vou have robbed me of my treasure. You have desi roved the sole aim of inv life. Let that content you." "You are mad," he said, w ith an ir ritating calmness. '"If you would read the letter you might belter understand the full extent of the wrong 1 have done you." I tore the letter from his hand and flung it upon the glowing grate. It -prang into a flame and rolled oil" ukii the floor in three heaps ofashes. Then I turned and confronted him. The jiiiet, half pitying disdain in his face :icti-d upon me as the tire had acted 1 1 1 h mj the p:ier. Every foul and dan gerou impulse of my nature burst Into fierce flames. But 1 controlled all out ward sigiifl and stood looking at him iu breathless silence. He was leaning against the oen door of the roomv steel safe which was built into the wall. Whether something in his attitude, or some whicr from my evil heart, suggested it, I know not. but a cold, terrible tliought crept uion me as I gazed at hiui. Tle safe is empty; lor I had removed its contents earlier i.i the afternoon, and I saw with a shudder that it would be possible for it to contain his body. In the delirium of niv rage and jealousy, the temptation of an awful revenge took a firm hold iiion me. For a moment however re-isted it. "Edmund," I said, calmly, leave me. As you hoe to live another honr, get out of my sight." "No. I will not," he returned firmly, '-until-you know the content of the letter you have so foolishly destroyed." I struggled no longer against the temptation; but I waited to have one doubt confirmed. "Do you loveher, Edmund ?" I asked in a smothered voice. "Yes, dearly," he replied, with the old strange sinile crossing his lips. "And does" the words stuck in my throat "does she love you?" "Even as I do her," he answered as before. "Then love each other in the next world, for you shall never meet again in this," I cried, seizing him in my arms and forcing him toward the safe. For a moment he struggled w ildly, but in vain. His boyish frame was like au infant's beside my maturer strength. Then he desisted and looked up at me appealingly. ; - '"- "Would you murder me, Arthur?" he said, hoarsely. "Madman! you know not what you are doing. In Heaven's name, let ine explain!" "Too late?" I muttered, as I savagely forced him into the safe and crushed the giant door upon him. With scarce a glance at the dial plate which regu lated the lock, I whirled the combina tion around and the heavy bolt (did into its sockets with a dull thud. ITe was buried alive iu a tomb more impenetra ble than the deepest grave ever dug. . Insanely exulting over my detestable crime, I sat down to reflect. Surely, 1 said, I have done no more than justice. 1 have administered a well-merited punishment with my own hands. The Judas who betrays his friend and bene factor deserves no belter fate. For did not Edmund ow e his very life to me? Iid I not take him in, a homeless, nameless orphan, and make him as a younger brother to me? Had I not, w hen young In the world and strug gling with every adversity, divided my itoor pittance with him, and made every sacrilice that he might profit thereby ? And how had he rewarded me? I-jite in life I had met the woman 1 who I believed might secure to me the contentment I had always longed for but never known. I had trusted her w hen she told uie that my love for her was returned. At my age, love is no floating waif, but a rock whose founda tions lie deep iu the heart, and I had tied my soul to it. I had made Eduiuud my confidant and her friend. I had seen them together, day after day, only too happy that they seemed to appreci ate each other. Onty of late the demon of suspicion had entered my mind. Then I frankly acknowledged my fears, and asked that they should see each other no more, And both had refused, not gently or considerately, but with a cool insolence that maddened me. I saw that there, was a secret between them, and 1 knew it meant that I had lost the woman I loved, and that the man whom I had so liefriended had robbed me of her. The thought had rankled !n me like the sting of a scorpion. I had liecome moody and ill, separating myself from both of them that I might not w itness the happiness I had lost. This day Ed mund had come to me and with affected pity, offered me a letter from her, which he said would explain all. Ay, explain with cool indifference the false ness of them both. I had done well. My act was justice, not revenge. I had leen sitting with my eyes bent upon the floor; as I raised them they rested full on the portrait of Edmund, which hung ujioii the wall before' me. My gaze fastened upon it with a kind of fascination. The frank, boyish eyes looked down uu ma w iiu whatseeiued a uiuteapteal for the man slow ly dying in the safe. I tried to turn away my head, for I felt my evil resolution melt ing away beneath its influence; but 1 could not. With the sw il'tncss of thought a sense of horror for my medi tated crime, and pity for my victim, rushed over me. Deeply as he had wronged me, I felt that I must forgive him. , , 1 arose aud went to the safe, intend mg to release him ; but first called his name. There was no answer. The iron walls were thick, hut still hi voice, had he sjioken, would have iene- trated them Was he dead already ? With fingers weak as a child's, I turned the index plate controlling the bolt, and pulled at the knob. The door remained immovable. 1 had lost the combination bv w hich I had fastened it. My insane fury hail banished every number of it from mv mind. Overcome with the horror of my position, I stag gered to a chair and sat down. My re IK'iitance had come too late. 'I must be a murderer in spile of myself. I was aware that once having lost the arrangement bv which I had locked the door, it might be the task of days, perhaps weeks, to recover it again. Meanw hile Edmund must die of suffo cation. By the closest calculation the atmosphere of the safe would be ex hausted in a little over an hour, and there was not the smallest crevice bv which it could be renewed. Once again I ran to the door and tried every combination I fancied might be the true one, but the great metal panel remained as firmly closed as before Half an hour hail already gone: but thirty minutes oi lite was left to the ior creature I had so madly sacrificed to my jealousy. To the latest day of my life I shall remembcrthe aw ful exierience of those few, short moments. All my love for the poor Imj- came back with redoubled intensity. I lorgot his baseness to me; I forgot all but the years we had lived together as brothers. Vague thoughts of hastening for aid ami tools to blow the safe apart came to me, but 1 knew that Edmund must he dead maiiv hours before even that could lie accomplished Buck I went to the combination and w hirled it round and round until the figures seemed to glare like sparks of tire before my dizzv eves. Still the safe refused to render up its victim. But fifteen minutes more of life re mained for him. I arose once more, uttering a wild prayer to Heaven for pardon and help, and gazed vacantly around the room My roving eyes fell upon the three heaps of ashes from the burnt letters lying upon the floor. Whether it was from some vague recollection or whether they leally existed as I saw them, I know not, but the three heaps seemed to have assumed the .-liape of three distinct figures. They were the numerals, one, five and nine. For a moment I stared at them blankly, then the blessed hope that they might represent the oue out of the mauv thousand combination that would oen the safe aroused me. With out pausing to find a reason for the fancy, 1 set the numbers one above the other on the dial, and with a thickly beating heart pulled desiM-rately at the knob. Who can imagine the passion of joy aud relief that swept over upon me, as the massive doors sw ung slowly back, excising the interior of the safe. t Ed mund lay partly uimhi the floor, pallid as death itself, ami utterly insensible, but, thank Heaven, the heart still flut tered feebly; he was not dead. ' It was the effort of an instant to lift him out of the safe into purer air. hut the work of an hour to call b-tck the life I had so nearly deprive him of. At length, w ith a deep sig. lie ooened his eyes and looked up at ne inquir ingly. "iorgive me, r.dmunu, l cried, in an agony of shame and remorse, "I was mad. I knew not what J was doing. Take her, I am too sinful, too selfish to be worthy of her love." "I forgive you," he answered, with his kind smile, "all but your self-con demnation; but I cannot take her in the sense you mean. I told you we loved each other, but it was only as relatives may love. For, Arthur, she is that sister whom, asyou know, I lost in childnood." We learned that from each other long ago, and meant to keep the secret until your wedding day; but we saw that you were unhappy in your doubt of us, and that letter which you burned would have told you all." I could make no reply. The tears that filled my eyes were those of unut- erable thankfulness for my narrow es cape from an awful crime; and they sealed a firm resolve to be more worthy of the happiness I had so nearly flung away. - - It is a bad religion that makes us hate the religion of other people. Conaecticat fljaain. There are gypsies to be met with in this world even yet genuine gypsies. They are as nomadic as ever. 1 hey are as black-eyed and as dark-skinned. They tell fortunes as of yore. I've no doubt they steal babies still, if they do not happen to have enough of their own ; but they generally have a super fluity. I saw mum in Connecticut last sum mer. They candied In a large field, and built their fires, aud bung pots over crooked sticks, and pitched their tents in picturesque fashion. Three men sat on the ground doing nothing, and watched au old woman stir a great kettle of stew. A baby was playing with a real silver teapot, and a little girl was spreading a picnic sort of table, with a nice white damask cloth laid over rag caret to keep the damp off. The hangers-on of the party reconnol- tered us and reported and got us all wrong as to relationships. Consequent ly, when the Gypsy Queen a much better one than they get up on any stage and entirely genuine apjieared to play her part, she told the married ladies of the party that their sweethearts would soon appear on the horizon, aud archly admonished the single ladies "not to deny as they was wives and mothers." Her eyes were as black as any one could wish, but any ordinary mortal could have made better guesses as to facts. There was not a particle of the wit and penetration that one expects of those w ho make a trade, of deception, but glaring stupidity instead. Not oue of that tribe could find out anything about us, or even decide which of us was the mother of the little child we had with us, and who stared in as tonishment at the funny little brown babies who took everything so coolly, and frightened a very large old gypsy, with tinker written in every feature, by quoting nursery rhyme appropriate to tne occasion, wnicn tne tinker gypsy evidently thought was a mystic spell. We all had our fortunes told. There was the "dark-complexioned gentleman with a good heart toward you; but your'n, my dear, is gone if I must speak the truth to a light party;" and the light lady of whom we were to "be ware," and our carriages to ride in, and unlimited wealth and long life. I am still looking for "a gent, my dear, as isn't so very dark, nor so very light, nor he Isn't so very tall which I wish to tell you the truth and not deceive you nor so very short, but a good provider, and one as can make home happy.'' And now and then I am troubled with vague regrets that I was so economical ; for my Gypsy Queen, Casting candid eyes upward to the sky, informed uie in a w hisper that, "just at this present moment, my dear, your planet is iu con junction, and that is never lucky, w hich 1 don't deny ; but if you've the matter of two dollars about you, my love, I'll have it altered against to-morrow night, and luck will aftei ward attend ye." I regret that I thought this rearrange ment of the solar system too expensive, and retired contented with my "good provider." Ignorant, tricky, cheating, fibbing, thieving creatures they were, of course; but they were very picturesque. I shall not soon forget that picture of the camp the w agons, the tents, the sprawling gypsy men, the active gypsy girls, the black-eyed babies and the brown queen in tier traditional round hat aud red petticoat; the green grass under them and blue sky over them, and a background or old trees. It seems strange to think that 1 actually saw those romantic, mysterious creatures the gypsies, in the heart of old Connecticut. How Millionaires Worship. Attracted by the sound of silver bells, nearly two thousand persons filled the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian church Xew York, recently, and listened to a pecu liar discourse on God's enemies in gen eral and Satan in particular. The magnificence of thisPresbyteri an church cannot be easily exaggerated. Costing not far from a million dollars, it stauUs on the fashionable side of Fifth avenue, a monument of the potency of wealth. a luxurious symposium for the repre sentatives of not less than $200,000,000. Large as its dimensions are, iu seating capacity is in the neighborhood of eighteen hundred only, for men who can afford to pay for hard-wood seats polished to the verge of satin, cushioned in crimson, and bountifully supplied with stuffed pillows for the weary back, do not like to be crowded while at their Sunday exercises. Fronting the congre gation is the pulpit, oo the facade of which, carved in sturdy oak, are the angel, the lion, the bull, and the eagle, tyes of the four evangels, but often taken by uninformed observers as types of the bulls and bears of Wall street. who so liberally contributed to par for this costly pile. The pulpit itself is like flow ery bed of ease. Carpeted it. is with the choicest fabric known to the weaver s loom, thick and soft, and yielding to the feet of those who take hold on righteousness. Three elegantly carved arm-chairs afford accommodation for Uie clergy, and a table of the same suite stands at the right of the officiator. Above the speaker's head a beveled sounding board imparts resonance to the voice, and over this is the gorgeous orgin front, with carvings and curlings, designed by artists and executed by ex perts. All about the auditorium are magnificent stained glass, diamond-cut windows, through which the rays of the sun shine, mellowed and tinted. Pre cisely at 11 the clergyman entered. Although a Prejhyterian preacher ot the older school. Dr. Hall presents the cut and ensemble of a capon-llned abbot of three centuries back. Moses in his meekest mood was a raging -lion to him, and St. John was rough in com parison. Sir Plausible himself might have been his valet. Clad in snowy, gauzy bands and a superb vestment of black gros-grain silk, fitting like a glove, the clergyman entered at the appropriate door, while a mediocre or ganist played a dreary dirge upon the instrument with the showy front. Having sprinkled in the ceremony of baptism half a dozen little millionaires one of whom expressed his disapproba tion of the sacrament in stentorian tones, and was carried out in disgrace by a nurse, Dr. Hall opened the reg-ilar service with prayer of the Presbyterian kind.. It is the custom of people to sit and bend their body during prayer, and nearly all did so all but perhaps thirty men, who rose, like garden pillars of the sanctuary, and aggregated in the! representation the tremendous sum of $100,000,000, if not more. The scene was a strange one. naif a dozen unconscious babes had been touched by the clerical finger, dipped in Coton water, and the Creator of the Universe was asked to bless the same, m a million-dollar church, by a $20,000 pastor, who received at once the moral and personal support of these men, who control to-day the destinies and poten cies of more than $150,000,000. It sug gested a glance at the monetary position of the congregation, and It revealed the presence of men whose names are known in the marts of commerce the world around, and who, combined can w leld a power greater than that of any equal number of men in any church in the United States. A few of the most prominent are as follows: Robert L. Stuait, Eobert Bonner, William Libbey, Ilenry B. Hyde, Jacob IK Vermilye, Henry G. le Forest.' James Frazer, John X. Mortimer, William Sloane, Harvey Fisk, John A. Stewart, aud but already we have exceeded the ag gregate of two hundred millions of dol lars, eitlur owned or in the control of the persons named. I here are a score of others, w hooe combined figures can not be less than one hundred millions. aud still another score who control one half that sum. The prayer in behalf of the golden babies weut on, until, in the contemplation of the enormous wealth thereabout personified, Miss Kilinansegg and her golden leg appear ed to become a reality, aud the thump of tier metalic limb beat in unison with he measured cadence of the speaker's voice. There stood the calm, close- shaven man, to w hose executive ability the late A. T. Stewart, attributed great partol his world-known triumphs, Mr. William Libbey is a member, of this church, and a constant attendant on its services. He always stands in prayer-tiuie, and looks more like a Cal vanislic preacher than oue whose firm check is good for $.0,000,000, aud to whom an army of cle-rks look for daily direction and control. There, too, was the editor aud proprietor of the famous weekly paT whose leaves are scattered by the hundred thousands throughout the land; a man whose very horses are better housed than the president of the United States, whose word is better than his bond, and whose bond is good for any sum this side of $10,000,000. On the centre aisle stood a man with a long head and a stalwart frame. He repre sents over $30,000,000. Mr. Henry B Hyde, of life insurance note, is a young man of melancholy look, as becomes his business. He, too, like Mr. Libbey and Mr. Kobert Bonner, belongs to the church, and Is rarely absent from its services. Biuk presidents, executive ofiicersof great trust companies, railway directors, insurance men, merchants, and bankers of vast personal property and still vaster corporate wealth stood silent while the preacher continued to petition the Heavenly Father for a bless ing on the children. They Hood as he continued his prayer, which, by custo mary gradations, ascended to the plane of ersonaI representation and acknowl edgement of t!e divine goodness and power. Then the Rev. l)r. John Hall ceased, and they all sat down. A True Tnm.p Story Of Coarse. A story has been told us which seems to go lar in corroberation of the late boss Tw eed's theory of chances. It is said that Something like a year ago a tramp called at the house of Mr. Bailey, In Mosa tow nship, X. Y., and asked per mission to stop all night. A little per suasion led to his request beiug grant ed, and he was also asked to take sup per. Iuring the meal Mrs. Bailey called to her little daughter, bat Uie young one paid no attention. Again calling, the mother used the full gjven name of the child: "Isabella Stevens, don't you hear me?" The tramp looked up as if interested, and remarked, musingly, . "Isaliella Stevens? Isaliella Stevens? Have you got any relations of that name?" "Yes" said the lady, ' "that was ny mother's maiden name." "There is," said the tramp, "an im mense fortune in Cornwall, England, which has been for twenty year await ing a claimant of that name who is sup posed to be in America." . He then proceeded to give all the de tails he could, and the result was that Mrs. Bailey communicated the facts to her mother, who secured the fortune, and is now enjoying the fruits of her daughter's hospitality to the tramp. I'aexplored Kepfous of Africa;. Those who have attained maturity may recollect seeing upon maps of Afri ca a large blank space in the centre, in dicating a land unexplored and on known. Of late years explorers have pierced its mysteries, and ascertained that this region of great equatorial lakes is one of the most populous and fertile of the earth, and that an immense pla teau, among mountains crowned with eternal snow, is watered by great streams proceeding from them, and' offers climates of various degrees of tem perature. This inviting land it, how ever, the abode of savages, who are at perpetual war with each other, and who mutually cause a destrucUon of human j life computed at hundreds of thousands a year. At least forty thousand slaves are also annually captured there, for use upon the Continent, or for shipment elsewhere. The International African Association, beaded by the King of the Belgians, desires to commence the civ ilization of the country by establishing stations for scientific observation and for the vise and protection of travellers ; and branches of the association nave been formed in several European countries. A Pleasant Situation. Ouryoung friend Parker went out the other evening to visit the two Miss Smiths. After conversing with them a while. Miss Susan excused herself for a few moments, and went up stairs. Pre- senUy Parker thought he heard her coming, and slipping behind the door, he suggested that the other Miss Smith should tell Miss Susan that he had gone. But it wasold Mr. Smith in his slippers. As he entered he looked around and said to his daughter: "Ah, ha! So Parker's gone, has he? Good riddance. I don't want any such lantern-jawed, red-headed idiot fooling around here. - He hasn't got the sense of a rutabaga turnip, nor money enough to buy a clean shirt with. He gets none of my daughters, and I'll shake the life out of him if I catch him here again. mind me!" Just as he concluded Snsan came down, and not perceiving Parker, said : "Thank goodness, he's gone ! That man is enough to provoke a saint. I was awfully afraid he was going to stay and spend the evening. Mary Jane, I hope you didn't ask him to come again." j Then Parker didn't know whether to stay there or bolt, while Mary Jane looked as if she would like to drop into j the cellar. But Parker finally walked out, rushed to the entry, seized his hat. shot down the steps and went home. meditating upon the emptiness of hu man happiness and the uncertainty of the Smiths. The Glow-Worai Bird. In India it is said that a species of sparrow builds its nest of grasses, which it weaves very skilfully into the shape of a bottle, ami suspends it firmly tothe branches of a tree, w ith its entrance downwariN, so as to secure it from the attacks of birds of prey. But the ex terior of the nest is not its most wonder ful peculiarity. Within, it is divided into several chambers, which, accord ing to the popular lielief, the bird is in the habit of illuminating during the night with glow-worms or fire-flies. The story goes, thu, after collecting a number of these luminous insects, the bird fastens them to the inside of its nest by means of a peculiar kind of clay of a glutinous nature; and thus when the glorious sun, iu whose beams it de lights to spread its airy pinions, Is w Un drawn from the world, the bird can re tire to its pendent couch and be rocked to sleep, basking in the mild beams of the - glow-worm. A gentleman who had resided many years iu India, sjieak- ng of the nest of the Indian sparrow. suites, that taking advantage of the al sence of the bird, in the afternoon, he examined four of these nests, in three of which he found glow-worms attached to the interior, lu the fourth he found a little fresh clay attached to the side of the nest, evidently for the pnrjioseof fastening a worm to, hut no glow-worm. On subjecting one of these nests to a second examination on the follow ing day, he found that the first glow-worm had been removed and a second substi tuted in its place. Sir William Jones endeavors to account for the presence of the glow-worms in Ihe nest by the upiosilioii that the bird places them there for the purpose of feeding iiKn them. He. however, grants to the lit tle feathered "Indian." various quali ties which are, if anything, more w on derful than the above. He says that it is easily tamed, and may be taught to fetch and carry like a dog. If a ring e dropped into a well the bird w ill, upon a given signal, dart dow n after it, and seizing it N-fore it reaches the water, bear it with apparent exultation to it3 master. It can also be taught to carry notes from one house to another. The young Hindoo women at Benares wear, according to Sir William, very thin plates of gold lietween their eye brows; and when they pass through the streets it is not uncommon for their lovers, who amuse themselves with training these birds, to send them to pluck the pieces of gold from the fore heads of their mistresses and bring them in triumph to the mischievous swains. Oaly a Waif. He was a little fellow, scarcely as gh as an ordinary table. His hair was cut in such a maimer as to give the head the appearance of being cov ered with a tight-fitting skull-cap. Hat or cap he wore none. His little form was clothed in a t'glit-fi tting pair of knee-beeches, displaying Uie bare ankles, for he wore neither shoes nor stockings, a shirt which might have once been w hite, and a little jacket, orn in several places and pinned to gether. He was found in the streets of Xew York, and iu answer to ques tions gave the following account -of himself: "What is your name?" . 'Henry Xeeland, sir." "How old are you, sonny ?" "Ooin on seven." "Where are your lather and mother ?" "They're both dead, sir. Me father died about six months ago of diphthe ria, an me mother died three davs after. I don't think that she would have died, on'y she fretted so, aud that killed her. Me father used to workjon the White Star Line." "Have you any brothers or sisters?" "Xone, sir." "Well, when your parents were dead what did you do?" A lady what lived in Pearl street heard that my father and mother was dead, and took me into her house. She sent me to school, too. I weut to the Christian Brothers on Leroy street. I can read and write. I also know som ' the catechism," he added, with hon est pride at this achievement. "Me mother always made me say my pray ers mornin' an' night, au' she always made me go to mass every mornin,' bein' as that would make me a good boy." - - . : . - . His poor, pinched up little face fairly beamed as be spoke of his mother. -"Go on, sonny.', iV : . -. "I staid there for three months, and then she could'ut keep me any longer. Then a lady in Madison street took me. She went out washin'. She would'nt let me go to school any more, and made me sell papers. She used to give me eight cents every evening an I'd buy papers an' sell 'em. Sometime the big boys hit me an tore the papers, an' then I always got a scoldin' an' sometimes a lickeu' at home. Ijw night I got stuck on three papers, an' then she put me out, sayin' that if I was'nt fit to earn money I was'nt fit to eat." "Did you get enough to eat?" "Oh! yes, sir," with some hesitation. "Did you get any breakfast?" "Most always I did'nt. Sometimes I got a piece o bread, but that Was'nt often. I didn t mind it," lie added with a smile, "for I wasn't always hungry in the mornin'." "And for dinner?" "I got a piece o' bread au' butter. You know the lady went out washin', an' so she wasn't always home," he ob served apologetically. "For supper I sometimes got meat." "Did you have anything to eat this morning?" "Ye, sir; I had a penny in my pocket and I bought a roll. What sort ol a place is the Protectory?" lie in quired. "It's a nice place where little boys learn to read ami write and learn a trade. Do you like to go?" "Yes, sir; I like to learn." "Come, Henry," said the oflicer, and little Henry Xeeland smiled "Good bye, sir," and accompanied the officer to the car. Toor little fellow ! An or phan, lieaten, kicked, starved, he knows the dark side of life, but his dubious companions have not corrupted him. Little Henry Xeeland will become a good man. The Rlcheftt EnffUfthworaan. Mr. Thomas Coutts died, aged !)1, 1322. He did not found the house, but he gnre It the fame it enjoys. Lady Burdett, the mother of Baroness Bur dett Coutts, was Ms third daughter by his first wife, an excellent woman of very humble origin. He left the whole of his immense wealth, after providing handsomely for his daughters, to his second wife, Miss Mellon, a celebrated actress, and she no doubt in accordance with his wishes, bequeathed it to his grand daughter. Why lady Burdett- Coutts was thus selected has not been explained. As soon as Mrs. Coutts was known to have inherited this prodigious fortune she became a central figure in Engli.-h society. The London papers of 1821, when blie emerged from widow hood, devoted much space to her doings: "Mrs. Coutts entertained at dinner last night U.K. II. the Duke of York, the Duke of Wellington, the Duke aud Duchess of Argyll," etc., aud she figures in half a dozen novels of that day, notably iu Disraeli's "Vivian Gray." Five years later she married the Itike of St. Albans, but a life annuity of.i.T0,000 a year was all he or his family got by the marriage. The lady knew full well how to hold the purse-strings, for In her youth every lenny hail been of importance to the struggling actress. In the early part of her career the Baroness Burdett-Coutts was, like Queen Victoria to whom men in the pit of the theatre used to write notes to say they had caught the glance of her eye, and were ready to consent to liecome prince consorts dreadfully Iestered by would be suitors, and a cer tain Mr. Dunn became such an insuffer able nuisance that she had to seek a legal remedy. There is little doubt Uiat her money has made. her an old maid, but she probably finds compensation in the fact that it has also made her the most popu lar womau in London, with which city she has always closely identified her self; for Lady B. Coutts, with all her millions, has no country seat, except a villa, inherited from the Duchess of St. Albans, at Uighgate, in sight of the me tropolis. Her town house is an immense bay-windowed mansion in Stratum street, a cut de toe which runs along side the walls of Devonshire House in Piccadilly. Its windows command a tine view of what is called the Green Park of Buckingham Palace. The mansion contains quantiUes of very costly alfcu d' art, including a cabinet said to have been appraised at 18,000 guineas. She entertains a great deal, and gives perhaps larger dinner parties in her vast diningroom than any other person iu London, but neither her dinners nor her balls are exceptionally recherche. Still she sees all the most interesting people. She is an intimate friend ot Mr. Gladstone, who in 1871 advised the Queen to raise her to a peerage, and he and his family passed several weeks w ith her in town some years ago when his own house was not available. Lady Burdett-Coutts is now about sixty ; she Is tall aud thin, with a very amiable expression of countenance and pleasing manner, the latter being utter ly devoid of the slightest arrogance or pretension. To whom Lady Burdett Coutts' enormous wealth will ge is not known. Her brother, Sir Robert, is a queer old bachelor, with $200,000 a year, hut she has nephews and nieces who are by no means wealthy, and who consider themselves eminently eligible for thumping legacies. The Piranha. The fish which contends for the di minion of the Brazilian portion of South America ia one of terrible voracity; there is hardly any animal that ventures into the water but that suffers from its attacks. The victim of the piranha is generally surrounded by large shoals or swarms of them ; they may be justly compared to a nest of water hornets. Horses and cattle do not venture to drink of the water below the surface, est their snouts should be bitten off an accident which, however, some times befalls them. .The. cayman .him self is forced to fly before this, terrible enemy, and turns his unprotected belly toward the top of the water ; the otter alone, whose hairy skin deadens the force of the bite, is proof against their attacks. Memories of Moant Teraon. . We wandered all through the sad, ailent mansion. We looked at the spin dle legged furniture, and at a rusty key on the wall, the key of the Bastile. We see Washingtons vest and small clothes in the glass case, and a lock of his hair, and original letters by his hand and Lafayette's. We see pretty Eleanor Eustis' wedding gift harplschord, that her stepfather brought from foreign lands for a surprise when she left her girlhood's home. The pretty Eleanor is buried long ago. All traces of her pink and white beauty have left the earth; here stands Uie dusty barpis chord, brought back by strange bauds to her old home. The room that inter ests me the most is the tiny attic cham ber where Uie devoted widow passed her days after her husband's death. The large chamber below was closed after his decease. Xone entered it from that time on. A rug and single ben Mrs. Washington had moved to Uie at tic room, and here, winter and summer, she watched with longing, crazy eyes the tomb that held her dead. There was no place for stove or grate ; all day, in the room under the roof, she sat by Uie small window (her feet in winter on a zinc foot stool filled with coals), with a shawl wrapped about her bent form, true Martha Washington, first lady of the laud ! First, in elegance in times ot peace; in courage in time of war; in faithfulness in time of death. All women look with tenderer eyes at the small marble resting-place than at the grander casket by their side. Oue bears upon it a draped flag, cut in the stone, a shield and crouching eagle; the other only tne words "Martha, consort of Washington." Yet these words dim the eyes of loving wives; they pierce the beam of lonely widows, and bind all true and fervent womanhood close to the form that sleeps so dreamlessly beside the one she loved truly and long. A Kalt on the A a Sable. Of the Au Sable as - navigable river, I am constrained to state I cannot speak in a way ' calculated to allure people Ihi.her for the purpose of satling upon it. Three of us were induced by our backwoodsman to embark upon a raft and make a run of fifteen miles to Thompson's. We did so, and failed to acquire niwui the journey any marked prejudice in favor of that particular form of navigation. Cedars growing at the water s edge have their root more or less undermined, and some of them fall outward over the river, their branches hanging in the current and becoming denuded of their foliage or dying. Tne trunk or stem of the tree is in some cases parallel with the water's surface, and in others it dips Ik-low it or inclines gradually upward from it. These trees have been named, with a nice sense of the fitnessof terms "sweepers." We found them such Our raft was guided by poles, one aft and the other forward. A vigorous use of these might have had something to do with determiug the course of the raft, but one wasdropped and theather broken, and she forthw ith proceeded to work her sweet will of ns. She seemed possessed of a mischievous intelligence, and if au obstruction came In view. made directly for it. There was gen erallv room for her to pass betw een a "sweeiier," which she always did; but it wasdifferent with the passengers, who, with a couple of unhappy dogs, were rasped from one end to the other, sometimes into the water, and at other times only half into it, but alwas hold ing on tothe logs w ith grim desperaion It was only by a united effort that the runaway was ultimately turned intothe fence, so to "peak, and held there long enough for us to jump off. Watching Tigers. The caged lion or tiger is seen at a great disadvantage; he is a prisoner, and cannot be expected to show off. At the Ixmdon Zoological Gardens a play ground has been attached to the cage of the tigers, sufficiently large for them to sport in and exhibit some of their jun gle habits. Mr. Buckland thus de scribes, what he saw while looking at the tigers in their play-ground : It was indeed a beautiful sight to see these lovely, gigantic cats, the four ti gers, gradually emerge one by one into their new, large open plav ground When they arrived at the opening it was beautiful to watch them crouch down, making themselves appear as small as possible. Finding nothing hurt or alarmed Uiem. they curiously examined the trunks of the trees and rockwork placed there for their especial benefit. They trusted to their sense of smell rather Uian to their sense of sight. One of the greatest ornaments the ti ger's head possesses beside the regula tion V mark over the eyes, which ia observable iu all thorough bred tigers, the loveliness of their countenances is much enhanced by the long, graceful whiskers, situated for the most part on each side of the upper lip. To the lower end of each whisker is adjoined a very large bulb of nerve matter and from this bulb of nerve mat ter goes direcUy to the brain a nerve. This nerve is in fact a telegraph wire; and the whiskers are the office at which news is received. When Uie tiger is crouching for or gradually creeping up to its prey in the jungle, these w hiskers act like so many (entries, which warn It to keep to the right or left, that the coast is clear or obstructed, so that when the animal's eyes are fully occupied watching its prey, the whiskers ai t as watchful sen tries to guide it. When the four tigers were loose in their play ground, and the door closed behind them, they at once began to play, and very beauUful were their movements as they ran after each other, tumbled and gamboled like young kit tens before a fire, their coats looking like satin in the warm sun. All of a sudden a new, and, to them, a most interesting object, made its ap pearance. This was a young and very white zebu calf of a few days old; which came out of its shed, that was situated in full sight of the cage, only a few y ir la off. The moment he saw it one of the ti gers crouched to the ground, and re mained stationary and stitue-like, watching Uie Innocent-lot king babv zebu. He was all fixed and statue-like, perfectly motionless, except the very tip of his tail, about two inches of which kept jerking from side to side, signify ing great anxiety, expectation, aud readiness for immediate action. Presently the other three perceived that their comrade had seen something. Ihey also Instantly assumed various at titudes, indicating their intense desire to kill this yonngzebu calf and eat him." This group of tour magnificent Ugers all intent upon one and Uie same object, was grand iu the extreme. It was also very Interesting to observe that the mother of the young zebu seemed to know Instinctively that her calf was in danger, as she seemed to warn it in her own peculiar way. The VTidowri'i Story. He walked into the Health Otlice and said he wanted a burial permit. When asked for the physician's certificate, he said he didn't have any; but it was all right she was dead. The jauntiuess aud cheerfulness of the applicant striking the clerk as some what jieculiar iu connection with the solemnity of the errand, he questioned further and asked the name of the de ceased. 'Herniine? Oh ! Why it's Iorothy Ann Bugsby my wife, you know. Yes," continued Mr. Itugby with un abated cheerfulness, "she's gone at last and it makes me feel awful bad when 1 think of it: seems as though I'd lost a friend. Why, I hain't felt so since I lost my dog last summer shot, you know, by the police but, as Mrs. B. always said, I ain't easy knocked over, and consequence after I'd buried him the dog, you know and shed a tear or two, I braced right up again. Xo use givin' up. you know, and so when I get the old woman buried I shall go right along as though nothing had happened. It s kind o' sorrow ful to think of, though, and I w ish the job was over. But she shall have a good send-off, it I have to go without a spring suit to do it that's the kind of a hairpin I am; nothing mean about me. You ought to see the cotlln, nice black one with sil ver-plated handles and a plate with her full name and addressoii it I iniiau her age; and the nails! it's full of theia. Bossed the job myself; told the carpen ter I wanted it right, regardless of cost within limits, you know, within limits. Ah ! reflected the widower, with something like a sigh, "she was a remarkable woman oue in ten thou sand. So observing; took so much in terest in my welfare: always had some thing to say when I came home speci ally when I came late at night. Seems as though I can bear her now, as I used to when I was coming in quietly so's not to disturb anybody. But it never was any use; I don't remember now of ever getting in once specially late at night that she didn't hear me. Some women would a been sulky like, then, and never said nothing. But that wasn't her. 'Here you are, drunk again, you old beast!' she'd say. Very outspoken, was Dorothy, aud I must say she w as purty clear headed and gen erally got things about right. She'd a remarkable keen sense of humor, too, had Ifcirotiiy, and I remember I nearly laughed myself to death one night at something she said when I come in. I disrememlier just w hat it was, but I know she got aw ful mad at my laugh in', and said I was a long gangling old fool I am a little lengthy in the legs, you know. But I never minded her: I knew- she meant well, though she was a little queer sometimes in her way of carry in' out her nieanin. Iear Mear! well, it can't beheliied; but I wouldn't have had it happen for $23.' "Xo?" said the clerk, niHch affected. "Fact. Well, if you w on't give the permit without a certificate I guess I'll mosey round and get one, for she won't keep much longer. I dou'tseeany use in it though, for she's dead as a her rin'." And wiping the perspiration from his brow and remarking that it was warm to-day but looked like rain, he departed to procure the necessary cer tificate. Take it Easy. House-cleaning must go. And our only purpose in the few desultory re marks is to enjoin the mesdames to take it easy. Rome wasu t built iu a day, and there is no necessity for cleaning a whole house in three days. Necessity doesn't cover it, there's no sense in it. Even in the case of the fortunate few who do not have to give any personal attention to the work, the confusion and discomfort of the household cannot be avoided when the job is done on the plan of the old-fashioned grand raid. Proceed gradually, and attempt no more each day than can comfortably be complete! between breakfast and sup per. It will be only a pleasant surprise to the "man of the house" no matter what the sex! to find the apartments that were dingy and dusty in the morn ing fresh and bright in spring array at nightfall, and no other signs of "house- cleaning" visible. Aside from the agreeableness of this method, it is a great saving of someliody' nerves and muscles. The straining and overdoing, the exposure to drafts and cold, the wear and tear of temper, the wholesale and universal discomfort of the .lan of tearing np a whole floor, or the entire house, aud getting it settled when un certain weather or more uncertain help will permit, are almost enough to reconcile a man to "living in the dirt." It has been estimated that the loss to commerce by the blockade at Odessa alone has been from $30,000,000 to $00,000,000. The Xew York Bioie society uis- tributed by gift and sale, during April. ,871 Bibles and Testaments, anion? 2.648 families. 220 vessels, aud 7,904 emigrants at Castle Garden. i 1 1
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers