liiiib CVnrrVAV iiiiiur yiniiiii '1: nri-Mi of tfia ruc.i. ill tirtif !-n. B. F. HOHWEIER, TZS WJCmTUTlOl-TIS UHOI-AIB TD O7010ZXEIT 07 TSZ L1TB. V- Editor evnd Proprietor. VOL. XLTI. MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY. PENNA.. WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 29, 1SSS. NO. 10. ii'i. T ie n iii ir t ) ner- v or t ii hv. v::at no iay ui I W A Y A lurk, tor Ivont, : r. o..t tjf 1ELIEF. ( .jiij.'.-Htjuaa, LAS roit n.hWEx. 'ti r i w(jrll - imH mi 1 ; fi i ' 4 n, l ;r: t - frl, ''nsr-f . k ii . if m . 9' - r1 nt nil li U uai by li -. 11 ittv ii r. Mr.ta D: OINTV, ... iiinru. TURES. ... L-r-t j:i 1 . t i u v. lrl psVC lirf rr or nr a. a Ufu U.U pr! pt EE! ... Cull --3 9 h.r 3 The n.l Where Our Drf.mi Come True. W. shall fina the let treasuw. w. aek for K-yea!rd a that wonderful spherel All t, alms ami th. dream, of Ui. by-gone. All the good that eluded us here The inuuo-nt faiths cf our childhood 1 tie cue nameless friendship we knew Arra.Ted in our banished illusions. In the land where our dreams come true. W know In dirlnest fulfillment Our ain hope, are gathered at home; Tb jwels we moarn here are boarded hrre the motu and the rust cannot come; And olt when the sunset is faintest e catch through a rift in the blue A fur-awaj glimpM of the glories Of tint land where our dreams come true. Tlere are garnered the prayers of our mm h-r. And the soft, -aradle songs that they suni:; There they rooTe In the mist, with white R:iruiut, And faces immortally young. And out of the miots of the river Their sweet hands shall reach, us the dew. That lead through the Talley of shadow. To the land wliew our dreams come true. So, weeping, we lay down our idols, And bury our loves out of sight. Though we know In our hearts we shall liifl thin l'y nil by iu the Mansion of Light; And the salt tears that fall on their aihes. And blo-iom In pansy and rue. Over there shall be lilies Immortal, In the land where our dreams come true. SrULNUSTEEL. "Mat! Coward!" These unpardonable epithets bad been applied unpardonable la any society, and only to be atoned with blood in the wild tode of tbe frontier. Instantly the hand of each disputant flew to his revolver, and the crowd be fore the gambling house bar swayed back on either side for what was deemed the Inevitable killing that must ensue. The quarrel was between Luke Baldwin and Grant Battersby, sur tiamed Springsteel Grant, until re cently "pards" and chums, now, through a moment's difference and those humiliating epithets on the part of the former, apparently transformed Into enemies to the death. Baldwin was a fair faced youth of 22 or -2'3, frank, generous and impulsive by nature, though at present maddened by liquor and a fancied indignity; his opponent aui whilom mentor, a veteran frontiersman, prized asa friend, dreaded as a foe cool card. Iron will, dead shot. Luke was the cleverer In first whip ping out his revolver and bringing it to a murderous level or was It tluit the other had purposely delayed the cus tomarily lightning like and deadly movement ou his own part. Luke pave an exultihK laugh. '5?prinfteel, your game's up!" he sneered. "Lie down and take a bleed!"' 'Sn.uI" the treacherous cartridge had failed, the weapon mused Are. Then, like a Hash, the veteran shooter flew to the level, the Iron lines of bis handsome lacs lightened and darkened, his gray eyes took on the cold glitter of a steel blade iu action. There was not a movement In the crowd of onlookers. "Sprlngsteel lias got him dead, and it's his own fault," was the fcft:uera:, if not expressed, ver dict, and you could have heard a plu drop. The prospective victim was game. Thoutrh deathly pale, lie had folded his arms aud stood waiting, without hope, but without tlinchiiig. Sprlngsteel's invariable shot was for the heart, and he had never been known to miss or let up. Was an unheard of miracle working, or. was that, indeed, a softness creeping Into the iron face, a moistness into the theretofore inexorable eyes. At all events, the shot was not fired; the wi apou was lowered aud returned to its receptacle. "Luke Baldwin," said Battersby, with significant quietness, "for the present 1 give you back the life you have forfeited, reserving my right to claim on demand the shot that is my due. I could have bored a bullet through you without compunction, but for the photography you wear over your heart. That 1 could not mutilate it is sacred." He turned ou his heel and strode away. Luke Baldwin had sunk into a seat and was looking dazed. He was regardod as a temporarily fortunate, though none the less doomed, man; for there was no denying the right that Battersby had reserved for himself a sort of quit claim or death note on demand that was everywhere recognized as the unwritten code of the border, though the circumstances of the indebtedness were at best unusual, and in such a case as this unprecedent ed. In fact, Springsteen's unlocked for leniency, apart from the mysterious allusiou to the photograph, was the wondering talk of an hour in Hank Hammond's Dead wood hotel. "Doubtless an old time love so ape between 'em. Mebbe they'd both loved the same gal, an' pnngsleel bed given up to the other (though not much on $prlngsteers style, ehr) an' then she'd died back there in the states, and that was why they chummed it together so long up; yonder in Scorpion Gulch, though Luke, never anything but a freatiy,' au' Spriugateel old euough to be his dad." Something like the foregoing was the prevailing impression iuvolved out of the guesswork over the affair, aad then it was forgotten. Tartly sobered, Luke Baldwin bad sought his room in the top story of the hotel not far away. He dropped into a chair beside the wash stand the only other piece of furniture, barring the iron bedstead, with its coarse provisions for a "tran sient's" accommodation took a drink from a black bottle that had just been sent up from the bar, and, by the light of a glutterlng tallow candle, the only artificial Illumination with which sky parlor guesis were supplied at the Ala bama, as the hotel had been rather ironically designated with or without Intention fell to thiukiug bard. How madly had he acted, how nar row had been his escaie from death. and with what unexpected magnanim ity Jprlngsteel had lienavedl Should he not seek him out at once up at Spanish I'eter's pavilion, where he was staying, acknowledge the fault. and beseech his forgiveness No; he knew the man too welL While true in his friendship as the significance of his surname - as the unapproachable spring steel of Damas cus blade he wan also in enmities, as Keen, as implacable, as ueadl. While Grant Battersby had never been known to betray a pledge, neither had he ever been known to pass an insult unresented to the death. And 'Liar! Coward!" to be applied to such a man a man with along list of deadly encounters to his credit. Is not one of which he bad failed to "do" for bis man. Tbe young man sighed as he dis missed the idea from his mind as wholly impracticable. Then he drew from his bosom the photograph and gazed upon it remorse fully. A lovely face the face of a woman of 30, or thereabout a beautiful, yet sad; oh. so sad, so sorrowful, perhaps from a slowly consuming heart break, but with such a divine patience and uncomplaining resignation In the lofty shaded cheeks and deep spiritual eyes. Toor Madge! Toor sister Madge!" be murmured, "Could you have Imagined how your picture was de stined to interpose between my heart and the avenger's bullet, how would your own tender heart have stood still as you gave it me, with your pious godspeed, two years ago! What could have beeu the subtle spell that it wrought upon such an adamantine nature as Springsteel Grant's in my behoof?" He passed his hand over his brow re flectively. "Once, only once," he resume J, "up yonder in the gulch did he look upon It, by accident. True, he started strangely then; but directly afterward he merely complimeuieJ me coldly on your good looks, Madge, when I told him you were my sister, my only sister aud my all on earth. That was all. Could, he have been concerned in the cruel dis appointment, or misunderstanding, which, I have heard, ruined your mai den hopes of bliss when 1 was but a child, making your latter years so bit ter, and yet you so sweet, so motherly to me? Hardly. Though Springsteel has but seldom alluded to his anteced ents, I do not think he could have been from our neighborhood in tbe east. What was your picture's softening influence, then, upon such a man, my sister? Alas! nothing more, 1 fear, than a passing generous freak in a heart unused to pity. Doubtless that was all; and now my life is his upon de mand. "o matter. You are to be with me to-morrow, Madge. You are thenceforth to make your home with me, and not another soul tbe wiser. And when we have become snugly set tied In the little raucb that I have been secretly paying for and fitting up, per haps my misused chum may yet further forgive me those crazy words, and forego the life debt that must be his for his asking." He laid the picture upon the stand and aro;e. "I will so t him!" he repeateJ. "Yes; I will at least humble myself before him. as is ouly just, even though he spurn me with contempt. And yet what is the use? What was my provocation? His stern, but well meant. Interference to' prevent me los ing my pile to a notorious gambler and cheat, who was careful enough on his part tbe skulking coward not to re sent the thwarting. And that was my requittal of such kinduess. Good lord! torrents of foul abuse, and those mad. those idiotic epithets. 1 am crazy to dream that he will forgive it that he will not demand his shot on occasion. Ub, Madge, Madge! to what ruin may our hoped for happiness be doomed by my folly and my m.tdnessf " He took another drink from the bot tle, and desperately threw himself on tbe bed. after merely throw in on: his coat and boots. He presently fell asleeep, while softly repeating the words: "Madge, Madge! reunited at last." He was awakened at daylight by a suffocating sensation, and got upon his feet, coughing and spitting. The room was fast filling with smoke, the reflection of names rose and fell t fore the window, tbe very boards beneath his feet were hot. He tore open the door. The corridor was full of yet denser smoke, seamed with occa sional flashes, cries of alarm were ring ing through the lower passages, and t iere was a crash from somewhere below, followed by a fountain of sparks and flames which he correctly attribu ted to the fall of a burned away stair case, thus cutting off escape in that direction. He closed the door, stag gered across the floor to the window, and hurled the sashes outward by a siniile pressure of his powerful hand. He was in the fifth story of tbe burn ing hotel, fully sixty feet above the atony street, which was filled with an excited multitude. TUey were gesticulating anl yelling to him, but that wm id:. 1'ieuty of useless running about, impracticable vociferations in abundance, but not a thing being done or offered for his re lief from the appalling situation! The flames, which were sprouting out of the whole lows of lower windows, flicked upon the sea of upturned faces, and yet more hideously upon his own, which he felt to have grown of an ashy hue, while his heart was beating Uke a steam pump. To add to his horror, the passengers were alighting from the eastern mail., stage, which bad Just drawn up before the station, at the edge of the litt'e plaza, nearly opposite, and the second one to touch the ground was a woman his sister Madge herself. She looked terrified by the confusion. Sarcasm of destiny! Had she come at last, all the way from Ohio, with nothing but love for him and hopeful expectations in her heart, only to meet bis Dual glance, his fond brotherly gaze, across this lurid depth, this sea of fl lines? Yes! for even at that instant she perceived him recognized him and their looks met. His heart ceased its wild throbbings and then stood still with sympathetic anguish as he marked her bloodless face, her frozen attitude, the inde scribable horror iu her dilatdd eyes aud parted lips. , Then the crowd undulated and yelled as four stalwart men forced, punched and shouldered their way through it, bearing two long bouse painters' lad ders spliced together, under the swift, self possessed man who was knotting, even as he gave his orders, a wetted haoderchief over the lower part of his face as a protection against tbe sirocco breath of the Ore test upon which he was about to enter. In another minute the double ladder was raised against the burning build ing. It reached to the window sill of Luke's room. The young man essayed to crawl out, and avail himself of the saving rungs. imnossiblel He had inhaled so much hot smoke as to be well nigh stifled. his arms seemed to be petrified, bis legs chained. He tottered back from the unsuccess ful attempt, and managed to make a despairing gesture. Then there was a woman's shriek of: i'Luke, Luke, my brother! if you can not come down to me, I shall go np to you. We will at least die together!" and Madge's foot was upon the first rung of the ascent. She was snatched away by the man with tbe wet handkerchief over his face. He gave her one look from his in domitable eyes, thrust her in the arms of one of his assistants, and was then seen. In spite of his powerful and heavy frame, shining up the ladder with tbe agility of a squirrel. "It's Sprlngsteel," shouted a chorus of voices; "Springsteel risking bis life for tbe only man who ever insulted him and lived! Hurrah for Springsteel Grant!" And the cheers were roared out again and again. Luke Baldwin had also recognized him from the first. His rescuer had sped up through the flame tongues vomiting from the intervening stories, apparently without a singing, and was now on tbe next to the topmost round, just beyond the window ledge. "Can you come out to me?" he called hoarsley. Luke shook his bead. "I know it looks babyish," he gasped, "but I positively can't. Ier haps it's tbe smoke I have swallowed, perhaps it's tbe heat, but 1 feel myself paralyzed." Without another word, the rescuer bounded into the room. The photograph caught his eye, and bis first movement was to slip it into his pocket. "Here, you! grip your bands under my chin," he exclaimed, harshly, "There!'' and with a stooping wreucu Le had tbe young mans inert body glued to his own broad back. "Freeze where you are now, or we are both goners." A fresh, roaring cheer greeted his reappearance upon the ladder, hands and feet foremost to the rungs, and with Luke Baldwin sagging between his shoulders like a bag of raeaL In three minutes thereafter Luke was in his sister's arms, ladder and facade had fallen in together amid the lurid emptiness of tbe fire gutted hotel, and Springsteel had mixed with the crowd, after unceremoniously wrench ing his hand from the grateful young woman's soft palmed grasp. At evening of that day Luke sat up. greatly restored, but still weak lunged and suffering, in the hospitable bed of an adjoining hotel, to which sympa thizing acquaintances had assisted his sister in covering him. Madge was sitting at his side. Many confidences had been exchanged between them before he had been doc tored into tbe Insensibility from which be now awoke refreshed, and her beau tiful face lighted up at tbe change. "Ah, you are much better." "Yes, Madge, Goi be praised!" "1 am glad of that." "Of course you are, you dear, darl lnz old girl! though I had a close call the closest, save one that I ever had, or may ever have again." "I am glad not only for ourselves. Luke, but for something else." "What is that?" "The brave man who rescued yon; he is coming here to see you." "Oh I" And Luke moved a little uneasily. "Yes; In answer to my earnest in quiries and persistent messages, he at last sent word that be would come. He ought to be here now." Her brother made no answer. "What did you say his name was, Luke?" "Springsteel. We used to be pards up at the Scorpion, but we we re cently had a a coolness." "Ahl so much more noble his devo tion in your hour of need, then." "Y-e-s, I should rather say so." "Springsteel! Yes. that was the name so many shouted out as be was running up the ladder. What an odd name, and a real pretty and manfully significant one; tool" "Well er-it's only a nickname, you know." "But I didn't know. A nickname?" "Yes; most old timers have 'em hereabouts. I suppose he got his from from well, you see, though Spring steel is strictly square, and baa made his little pile honestly and by dogged hard work, he's also been a a sort of desperate character, you might say." "Oh, dear!" "Oh, micd you, Madge, I don't mean anything criminal, anything vicious, you understand, though be may have stocked a private graveyard of his own, but only only he's been in tough places, and no man ever got the drop on him yet. Oh you understand?" "Only too well. I'm afraid." With a little sigh. "How unfortunate! But what is his real name?" Before Luke could answer there was a knoek at tbe door, and the man they were talking about stood before them. Madge had shrunk back, with her face tbe hue of death, and then she took a step forward, her trembling hands extended, amazement in her eyes, a brilliant color surging in ber face. "Grant Grant Battersby!" she ex claimed. He bowed with a rather poor attempt at coldness. "Madge," be began. "I I recog nized you this morning. But before that I had known you were Luke's sis ter, through a mere accident th's picture." He produced the one snatched from the blazing room, together with another, much worn, as though by long treasuring, representing ber also, but at least ten years younger. "May be you would like to compare the two, Mad ire." "How young I was then; how I have changed." she murmured, hardly glanc ing at the photos. "You are more beautiful than ever!" be burst out, and then checked himself. "Ay! by tbe way, you were Madge Barkmore then." Mo; I went by the name ef a capri cious old aunt, who was bringing me np. or rather out, while my brother here, a little boy then, bad a home with bis uncle, our dead father's brother." "Ahl then you you never married that spruce lawyer, Miggles, Mrs. Barkmore (somehow I always took her for your mother) was so set on yon having?" ".No, and never meant to," indig nantly, "In fact. It was my continued refusing him that caused my aunt to alter ber will, and she died without leaving me a penny. I tried, oh. so hard, to get word to you about It, after you bad rushed away In a passion, tak ing everything against me for granted. But in vain. Until this hour I did not dream where you were. Oli, bow 1 have sorrowed suffered hoped!" "Madge?" Sprlngsteel's voice vras broken and even womanish now. "Grant! my lover." Then they were in each other's aruis. "Hurrah!" shouted Luke Baldwin, in a sort of ecstasy. "Xo wonder that that picture was my safeguard, and I'm out of Spring9teel'8 death debt, I'll be sworn." "You may well say that, my boy," said he, "since you bring me lire, love, bliss to cancel it." Luke bad to look, after all, after an other mistress for that secretly con trived little ranch of his; SprlngJteel and Madge were married before the week's end and off ou a wedding tour. Cannlnic Chine! Ilurtlar-t The ladder of the Chinese burglar Is, In ordinary appearance, uothiug more than a bamboo pole, such as eveiy laborer uses In carrying burJens; but It is in reality hollow, as all bamboos are, of course, and through it runs a rope which is so arranged that at each joint of the bamboo it connects with another rope, forming a loop. These loops can be drawn taut aud coucealed, so that when the thief carries this lad der on the street it is a simple and honest appearing pole; but when needed it is set against the wall to be scaled, the rope is slackened, and by the loops thus formed the thief mounts the wall and enters the building to be plundered. Thus "armed aud equip ped," the cool adroitness aud success with which a thief wil! enter a house, go even to the sleeping-rooms of the inmates, and steal tlio very clothing from their beds, is something mar velous. A friend of the writer, for many years a resident of 1'eking, awoke one winter night, some ten years ago, shivering with the cold, and found til the clothes slipping from the bed. He replaced them and fell asleep. In an hour he awoke again for the same rea son, again replaced the bedding, and again went to sleeu. In another hour he awoke to find himself absolutely without any covering, though the bed stood near an open window. A thief bad come in his bouse, crept under bis bed, pulled off all the clothing grad ually and carefully, as the bed clothes will sometimes creep off themselves, and oa the third trial had beeu suc cessful, and got away with his plunder. Each time that tbe occupant of the be J awoke and replaced the bedding the thief had baen quietly ensconced under tbe bed, ready to try again as soon as the owner fell asleep. Chinese thieves know that "perseverance conquers all things," even to bed clothes. Another friend awoke one night and saw in the full light of the moon shin ins through a window, a Chinese thief on his knees, bending over a quantity of clothing, busily packing ar.d tyins it up In a sheet. This friend, a man of great coolness aud presence of mind, thought, that if, without alaruiiug the thief, he could spring from the bed upon the back of the intruder thus bent over, he could hold him down and cap lure him. So, after removing the bed ding with the utmost care, he spraug upon the thief aud succeeded in clasp ing him about the waist. He then found to his diagust, that the byly of the Chinamau was oiled, aud with all bis strength he could not prevent him from turning about in bis arms. Thinkiug to improve ma'.ters, he kept one arm about the waist of the thief and reached up with tbe other to seize him by the cue, but he drew it away again at once, bleeding in half a dozeu places, and the thief easily slipped froiu the single arm that surrounded biui, and, empty-handed, bounded from the room and disappeared. There are Lioia of These Men. "What do you ask for steak?" asked the elderly gentleman with a pinched face, who had been sampling the cheese for tbe last two or three minutes with the eazerness of one who is bound on principle to improve each shining hour. "Twenty-five cent." replied the butcher, with business-like brevity. "But, my dear man, I can get it down to Cleaver's for twenty-four," "I know it, but then its awful slip pery 'tween here and Cleaver's, and it was only this morning that a gentle man, about your age, I should say, fell on his way there, lie was taken up for dead, I believe. Awful 8llpjory down that way." "I suppose so. but then a cent on a pound's worth saving. I might get a h'ist to be sure, and I might be taken up for dead. But then I'm getting along pretty well in years, aud 1 can't expect to live a great while at the long est. So I guess I'll try Cleaver's. Two cents is worth saving. I say. I don't suppose you've got a few scraps of meat to give away for my cat? If you'll do them up In a piece of paper with a string round it, I'll call for it on my way back." An American in Switzerland. He bad just got back from Europe. He says be didn't have a very pleasant time. Indeed, he declared that Europe is a quite overrated country and not a patch on California. Tbe party who went with him were of a different opinion all the time, and he had to spend most of his time thinking up contradictory arguments. Everything they saw was lovely, grandly beautiful, superb, immense. They were in Switz erland. "Just look at that glacier! Isn't It grand I Isn't it magnificent?" "Oh, I don't know. That glacier now well, that glac:er hasn't got ice enough in it to keep New York going for a week." Then it was at Interlachen. "What a perfectly lovely spotl What a charming town! Isn't it perfectly de lightful!" "That that town!" said the growler, "Yes. it's rather pretty, but look here, t know a tree in California with tim ber enough In it to frame the whole blamed country." A Pointer Tor Street Car Men. Tbe gripmen and conductors of cable cars adopt a novel means of keeping their feet and legs warm during the cold weather. A thick layer of paper Is wrapped around tbe foot underneath the sock, and an ordinary paper flour sack, open at both ends, is slipped up to me Knees, next to tne skin.. We should not be discouraged when all look dark. Horn springs from nigbt. The sun that sets at close of day wllajriae again to-morrow. Courting for the Captain. There was probably no more youth ful bearer of a colonel's commission in the civil war than myself. Born in a family of soldiers, educa ted and drilled from infancy as a sol dier, I gained high rank as a boy, and was able to perform its duties to the satisfaction ef my superiors. But, aside from duty, I was "larky" as any young college chap in the world. A box of goods, made by the kind bands of loyal women, reached my regi ment through the United States Chris- , tian commission. The quartermaster w ho superintended distribution of the comforts brought me. one evening, a note be bad found pinned on a pair of woolen stockings. Some fun-loving girl wrote that she would, through charity, correspond with the soldier re ceiving those foot coverings. The latter was signed Dolly Miller, and tbe post-office address was given. I took the slip of paper, and, when the quartermaster had departed, in dited a note in the best style to the young lady. The name at the end. though, was not my own, but that of Captain T. B. Reid. in command of one of my companies. A fine fellow, handsome,brave, and young, was Beid, a great favorite also with the ladies. He won his rank by gallant service, and was a soldier all through. Though be could always keep bis end up in conversation, yet his early education bad been neglected; he wrote a villain ous fist, and all bis ideas froze up before they reached the point of bis pen. I added a V to the initials of my comrade so as to identify the answer (.if one came) when it reached tbe adju tant's tent, where all mall matters ware delivered. Three weeks after there was a note for Captain T. B. V. iteid from a town in Ohio. Of course tbe screed was delivered into my hands. A very sweet, modest, little letter it was; the contents told that some girl chum had written the original and signed Miss Dolly Miller's name thereto; but the real young lady said that "-the letter she received was so gentlemanly in tone, so interesting in coutents, that she, patriotic in the extreme, would carry out tbe promise made in her be half, and if Captain lteid could find amusement or pleasure in correspond ing with ber, she was willing to do what she could to cheer him in his duties aud dangers." Of course 1 answered and "spread myself." No fool's letter would do for this bright, honest Miss Dolly, and, ! being flattered by her high estimate of my early work, 1 "put in my best licks." It was not long before letters came and went by each mail. 1 was really interested iu the true, kindly maiden I had never met, and had it not been "for the girl 1 left behind me," might have explained my first deception and gone in for myself. As it was I felt rattier conscience-stricken when 1 found to what extent my gush and romance had ttken bold on the dear young lady's feeling'). But I kept It up all the same. As I "piled up the agony" on the miseries of a soldier's life, and gave utterance to a longing for some tender, loving woman to reconcile me to tbe world and its trials. Miss Dolly 's letters became more and more aftectionate and suggestive. She wrote that she was an orphan, had considerable money in her own right, aud that she could love a brave soldier and honest gentle man such as she conceived Captain .Keid to be from the tone of his letters. L I sent ber lleid's photograph, taken from my album, and received her own tin return. A very sweet, innocent. f confiding face it was; good girl written in everv feature. Iteid suied it soon 'after 1 placed it among my collection. and he admitted it hugely. I did not hint that It bad really been sent to him, but I felt more ashamed than ever. Still I continued the correspon dence, and. forced to reply in kind, I dare say that I wrote many words that conveyed great affection, and used much language that could easily be construed into almost direct proposals of marriage; though these were always qualified by remarks showing how un willing I was, or would be, to bring a youug wife to share the privations and hardships of a life in the field. This interchange of words, growing continually more tender, was kept up , until after the capture of Mobile; theu my regiment was sent to a point on the Mississippi river. During tbe stirring times of action i and the confusion of change of sta tion, our letters were, in many cases, miscarried or failed to reach us. 1 had not beard from Miss Dolly for nearly six weeks, and earnestly hoped she had dropped the correspondence, for it had grown entirely too warm for my comfort and peace of wind under the circumstances. One day It happened as things co incident do happen in this world that I was Bitting in the provost marshal's office at the landing when a large steamboat came down the river. It stopped at port, as all boats had to, in compliance with military orders. 1 saw several passengers land, among them a lady. These were lett stand ing on the levee while their passes and baggage underwent examination. - lu a few moments the lieutenant commanding the provost guard came to me, '-Colonel, there is a young lady here asking for Captain lleid, of your reg iment." Of course I was all attention and activity in a moment. I never doubted but that It was one of if eld's sisters (I knew he had several) who bad foolishly come to pay him a visit. I was sorry for it, because our camps were no place for a lady, and there were rather strict orders against their admission. I buttoned up my coat, gave my cap a cant over my right ear, and made my way toward the lovely damsel, who stood among most uncongenial sur roundings. Thunder and Mars! 1 recognized Dolly Miller (from ber likeness to the photograph sent me) the moment I laid my eyts upon her. Here was a fix of my own manu facture, too. How was I to get rid of It? I went forward and introduced my self, with all the courtesy of which I was possessed, as Captain Iteid's colonel and bis friend. I bad mentioned myself in some of the letters I had written, purporting to come from T. B. V. &., and a blushing look of pleasure came over tbe girl's face. "Captain Beid bas often written of you, colonel, and while I fully expected to find him here to meet me, I am glad be sent a substitute I can feel in soma way acquainted with." "Did Captain Keid expect you?" "Why. certainly. I wrote him three weeks ago that if certain matters did not change for the better I would come to join him here, in spite of all the discomforts he so vividly pictured. Tbe matters did happen. I was tor mented out of my life by my guardian and his son. Tbe latter wished me to marry him in order to secure tbe for tune now due me, that has for ten years tteen in nis Tamers nanas. I know, colonel, that you are aware of my correspondence with Captain field, and I determined to trust mv future with him of whom I knew little, rather than tempt fate with one I could not like, of whom I knew everything, and all to his discredit." l had to have time for thought and plans. "Miss? Miller. thank you. Well. Miss Miller, I know that tbe capla.n never received your letter. We have been busy at Mobile and have just arrived here; have had no mail for fully twenty days. Our camp is all iu confusion as yet, and there is much to be arranged. 111 you try and content yourself for an hour or two while 1 go to camp ana notify captain Ileidr" She consented to wait; the post master's private office was given up to her. It was a pretty but distressed face I left behind me sis I rode off. considerably worried about my own part and (eualty in the affair. I went straight to camp, sent for Iteid and there was a full hour's confab. a good deal of hard swearing on his part, and a power of persuasion on my owu before the matter was settled. I knew the captain well, he bad money, a good heart and no entangle ment, lie was calculated to make a loving husband for any woman. 1 put the case strongly to blm. Here was an honest but unsophisticated maiden. with money of her own, ready to be come his wife. 1 had saved him all the trouble of courtship, won his bride for him and had her safely housed and waiting. What more could he want? Would he be bo ungrateful as to let ail my earnest endeavors on his behalf go for noth'ng? Besides, he had always vowed he was in love with the girl, though he had never seen but her picture. My eloquence gained him over even as my literary skill bad secured the lady. I exhibited all her letters, told, so nearly as I could, the coutents of those I had writ tea her, and before two hours I led ray gallant comrade to bis happy, willing sweetheait. That evening they were married by the chaplain of the Massachu setts. Iteid at once tendered bis resigna tion, and was given leave of absence pending its acceptance. The next morning our young couple took a boat for Cincinnati. Mr. and Mrs. T. B. lleid (uo V in the name now) are happy, rich and contented in Wisconsin. I hear from them often, but neither has ever given me a hint that any explanations have taken place between them regarding their wooing by corresioudepce. So my lark in that line turned out O. K. for all parties, but it might have been a terrible matter for every one concerned. X have never since been Interested in any courtships but my own, and in these 1 learn how serious such things are. A I'ar-ofT Gliinim- of .fenny l.i.ul. "What I remember was In my bib-aud-tucker days, and at the house of au Irish bishop where I was a visitor. Jenny Llnd had come to speud the Sunday, and bad been to church twice before t o'clock diuner. I did not see ber until dessert, and thought, when I first saw her head across a table orna ment, that she was a lady of about 20. She looked very like those itinerant musicians who give opeu-air concerts in summer at watering places, and had the kind of fair hair in which there is little or no gold. There was something very staid, composed aud strong-minded In her mien aud general appearance, and she was entirely different in char acter from all other members of the company. Her manners were distant at least so I thought but they did not repel, and 1 remember watching her at a distance iu the boe of catch ing her eye and being asked to go and stand beside her; but I did not succeed. Her dress was of- brown silk, of a hue then called 'London smoke,' and plain in the skirt, but made with a gathered body. From what I recollect of her demeanor, she must have been con centrated, and, though she talked with ease, she did not show a conversational disposition. 1 heard it said that she was very earnest, and had deep religious feelintr, and now fancy that the remark be justified. After dinner she was to sing from the "Melodia Sacra." Some young ladies and a- few male vocalists', who belonged to the organ-loft of a cathe dral, improvised a concert with her. She did not want to be .'pressed. I was too young to be an analyst of a voice, or to know why one pleased me. But this I remember, that Jenny Lind af forded me a new aud delicious sensation Her singing so affected me that I burst out cryiu;, and as it was thought that I cried because 1 was sleepy, I was (being too shamefaced to explain my feelings) sent te bed. There was so little sleepiness in me, and I was so vexed at the summary judgment passed upon me, that I went on crying when I was in my cot. Jenny Lind, at the hour when the company was to go away, came into the room where I was. Sbe saw me wide awake, and asked me If 1 was the little sleepy child; then came over to me and whis pered, "Why do you cry?" I put my arms around ber neck and answered, "Because your voice is so nice." She laughed and said, "That can't be. We only cry when things ate ugly and un pleasant." I, thinking she considered me a little Custer, cried again and then was able to get out: "'The Babes in the Wood' is very nice to read, yet it makes me cry so fearfully that grand mamma has taken it from me and locked it np." Jenny Llnd said: "You're a dear child. When I come back I'll bring you such a pretty toy and sing on purpose for you." She never did come back, and so I nevei got the toy. I heard her years after at a concert. Tbe earnestness ana con centration bad hardened into severity. But there was beautiful emotion be hind tbe voice. It had lost a note here and there, but where It was Intact it was silvery beyond expression. The bead of the Sultan's harem it now a Christian woman, beautiful. cultivated, and a Spaniard. BILL NYETS BCTTER: Which Illoiitrate the Elaborate Braaty or RailroaA Corres pondence: Some years ago, while engaged 1l the act of growing up with tbe coun try, I discovered that the price of but ter was being bulled in the Western market, and that choice Nebraska butter, with dark circles nnder its eyes, was worth forty cents. Wyoming did not produce butter enough for home consumption. Being a stock-growing country exclusively, we ate condensed milk and bought our butter cf Ne braska, and I may add that Nebraska ate her best bntter herself, shipping West that variety which bad been taken in trade at the Indian agencies. It was a dappled variety of butter, with a scalp lock on it and highly treacherous. Though pale and listless generally,-if aroused or trodden uion it had the superhuman strength of a maniac. It was such butter as fron tier traders get in return for whisky. Some idea of the hidden force con tained in this grocery may be obtained when we remember that frontier whisky is frequently swapped for it, bulk for bulk. 1 soon learned to dis like this butter passionately, and I sent East for some to be shiped by rail at once butter that was made from real cream distilled from tbe luscious cow. I received notice that the butter had been shipped, l'art of it arrived. Only twenty pounds out of eighty, but the freight bill on the whole amouut got in one day ahead of the twenty pound tub. I paid the bill, and not knowing any ol tbe officials but the General Tassenger Agent, with whom I had held some cor respondence, 1 wrote him. He wrote me coldly, by means of a long primer ed itorial, that 'such claims should go to the General Freight Agent. I wrote to the General Freight Agent In a tone of pleasant banter, asking blm to re turn tbe butter; that I liked fun Just as well as anybody, but that it had gone far enough, ot at least part of it bad, and that if he would send on the rest before it acquired that ieculiar bouquet which comes to butter when it is iu its full roerldiau 1 would be obliged. He wrote me asking for the bill of lading or way bill or manifest, what ever it was, stating also that the letter was dictated. I had a long corres pondence with him extending over a number of years, and throughout the whole blindly Infatuating interchange of thought he never came ritrht out and said that these were his sent iments, but always claimed that each was a dictated letter. He did not tell me who dictated them. In the meantime my butter was probably side-tracked in a small place, seeking rdadly to get out and shrieking lor air. I was going to say wildly tearing its hair, but It was not that kind of butter. The General Freight Agent wrote me at last that he had sent a transfer after it. I went home and told tnj wife that the General Freight acchi had sent a tracer and a bu Bernard dog in search of our butter. Some time then elapsed, though we had been eating- bacon gravy on our bread two years, when a letter from the General Freight Office, addressed in a beautiful Spencerian hand, with bloated capitals, was received and contents noted. In business corres pondence contents are almost invar! ably noted. The General said that the tracer had just returned, though fatigued, I judged Trom the wonderful word-painting of the letter. In my mind's eye I could see tbe tracer, with its tongue out about four inches, sinking down exhausted In the General Freight Ofilce. The letter ; stated that the return of the tracer bad demonstrated the fact that the butter was lost I I had often feared it myself. I bad frequently dreamed that my butter was in a lost and undone condition. 1 wrote again and asked the General if he could not wrench loose some more facts like that by twisting the tail of a tracer. 1 said it In a sneering way, for I was mad. He wrote once more to stale that the matter had been turned over to the Auditor, and that he begged leave to subscribe himself my friend and well wisher and to repeat with even greater earnestness than ever before that this was a dictated letter. I theu studied the style and orthog raphy, syntax and prosody of the Au ditor. He reproved me sharply for sending so far away after butter, and then went to Florida to seek much needed rest. I then fell into the hands of the First Assistant Auditor, who enjoyed signing his name to statements which did not in any way compromise him. But I must be brief. I can not enter into details. I know there was a long discussion over the question whether the consignor had released the butter or not, and if so whether the consignor or consignee would be liable for dam age done by released butter while in transitu. I never got the butter, but I ob tained a tenie English style of erecting Gothic sentences, banked up with odd little three-cornered adjectives that I could have secured in no other way. I was paid for the butter at last, but when my grandchildren climb on my knee as I write these lines and ask what it was that made my affluent hair so white, while my face is still so young and so fair, I tell them this story. A Little Too Smart, I beard tbe other day of a clerk in dry goods store, who was smart and quick, a splendidmanager and all that, lie bad an exalted opinion of himself, and frequently made himself disagree able by remarking to his associates that the concern could not possibly get along without blm. This came to the ear of the senior partner, and the old gentleman called the clerk into the pri vate ofilce and said: "Mr. Jenkins, ycu have been very efficient and we appre ciate your services, but we hear that you have repeatedly asserted that if you were to die tbe concern couldn't possible survive It, and this has wor ried both myself and partner very much, for you, like all men, are liable to die very unexpectedly. We have, therefore, concluded to experiment while we are In health and see if the concern will survive your absence." Resignation dulls the edge of afflic tion. Men's faults so seldom to themselves appear. Few men ever attempt to drown their trouDies in water, die conquers who overcomes bimselZ NEWS IN BRIEF. The first cotton factory in Amer ica was established in East Bridge water, Mass., In 17S7. A law has been passed in Waldeck. Germany, forbidding the granting of a marriage license to a person addicted to tbe liquor habit. A Hartford coin collector has a cent piece of the United States coinage of 1799, which is considered to be worth nearly $500. One more sign of economics of progress is that it is contemplated to make wax candles out of sugar cane. It yields cerosin, which bat a high melting point General Iew Wallace, while la Constantinople, became a personal friend of the present Sultan, and com munication between them has been kept up ever since. There is a difference of eighty-one years in the time which V.-.e Jews spent in Egypt in the account of Exo dus and that of Josephus. the former making it a erkd of 4 i) years, and the latter 511. More than half of the area of Maine is north of the northern line of New Hampshire and Vermont. The northern part of the state is farther north than Quebec. More than half of Maine is still an unsettled wilderness. Dr. Schliemann returned to Athens recently from Cerio (Cythera), where he attained his main object of discov ering the ancient temple of Aphrodite mentioned by Homer and Herodotus, but except some Cyclojeu walls there are no vestices of autiouity, jy maiTing rva:B in an Eastern post oflice was torn to pieces the other day with the result that a large number of letters, one containing a money order, were found to have slipied through a crack and become effectually concealed. An inscribed rock has been found in India, about a hundred yards distant from one of the five famous rocks which have graven upon them the edicts of King Asoka. The inscription. which consists of teu lines writing, is being deciphered. The first silver coin struck in Eng land was the ancient silver penny. Until th9 reign of Edwald I, it was marked with a cross so deeply in dented that it could be easily separated into two for half pence and into four for farthings, hence the names. A portent of war has frightened the people of Norway- It was a mag nificent meteor, described as being "as large as a child's bead," which ap peared in the western sky and. In a semicircular couise, sunk gradually below the horizon. Its light was a brilliant white. Statistics show that the consump tion of sugar In the last fifty years has gone up from about fifteen to seventy pounds per head; of tea from one aud one-quarter to four and three-quaiter pounds ier head; of tobacco from eighty-six hundredths to one and forty hundredths pounds per head, ami so on. A graie grower near Albany pro tects his vineyards from thieves bv electricity. Wires connected with a strong battery are scattered abcttV among the vines, and the rascal who gets hold of one howls until the master of tbe vineyard comes and takes sat isfaction out of liuu with a club. Some little time ago there was a general rebellion of the host of women employed in manufacturing tobacco, cigars and cigarettes In Mexico against a reduction of their wages. The women won. Now comes the news that the greatest bull-lighter iu the country has given a tournament in their aid which realized l'J. The English National Dental hos pital will hereafter admit women to be trained as dentists in that institution. This is a significant gain for women, for the English have not been so en couraging to women lu dentistry as the Germans, who employ many in the profession. A bed in Nikko, Japan, is eight or more silk wadded comforteis piled upon the floor; upon this a very ample wadded coat is placed. You slip into this great coat, put your arms into the long sleeves, draw it over you and sleep. Tlie pillow is a Mock of wood. A par lantern is lighted all night, for the people are much afraid of the daik. His Majesty Leojvold II, King of Belgium, has authorized a great Inter national coiuetitiou in the arts and sciences to be held in Brussels from May 3, 1SSS, to November 3, 18SS. Special inducements are offered to American exhibitois, and rewards and prizes to the amount of 000,000 francs, besides gold and silver medals, will be given to successful cotniietitors. The power of the waves in a storm was shown recently at Bishop nock, England, when au Iron columu twenty three feet long, ami weighing 6,000 pounds, a part of a new lighthouse be ing built, which during a storm had been left lashed by a half-inch chain at each end to a strong eye-bolt was found tossed up by the waves twenty feet to the top of the rock, swaying about like a piece of timber. An anvil weighing 150 jKiunds, which was left in a bole 3i feet deep and only two ia di ameter, was washed completely out ot it. One of the simplest of barometers is a spider's web. Where there is a prosect of rain or wind the spider shortens tie filaments from which its web is suspended, and leaves things in this state as long as the weather is variable. If the insect elongates iu threads it Is a sign of fine, calm weather, the duration of which may be judged of by the length to which the threads are let out. If the spider remains inactive it is a sigu of ram: but if, on the contrary, it keeps at work during the rain, the latter will not last long, and will be followed by fine weather. Other observations have taught that tbe spider makes changes in its web every twenty-four hours, and that if such changes are made in the evening, just before sunset, the night will be clear and beautiful. Advocates of cremation have re cently had their attention called to the feasibility of incinerating dead bodies by electricity. The electrical crema tory is said to be the Invention of a Sicilian. The heat is generated by a dynamo of a pattern similar to that used in the incandescent electric light system, and succeeds in evaporating, as it were, the bodies until nothing re mains. Some striking intermingling ol colors Is seen on some of the gown turned out by our best modistes. Thus Nile green and pale brown are found to give a harmonious contrast, and pale blue and almond are combined with exqulaite e2ect. m I m V' ; i is !'-.: f, : t: ..;. i
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers