THE WIND IN THE EVER
GREENS.
When the drifted snow has hidden
Roads and fences from the sight,
And the moon floats through the heav
ens
Like a frozen thing, at night,
Flooding all the frigid stretches with
a ghostly, bluish light,
I like to lie and conjure
Up old half forgotten scenes,
As the savage wind goes howling
Through the sighing evergreens.
There's a cottage I remember,
With an orchard in the rear;
There's a winding pathway leading
To a spring that bubbles near —
Ah, the dipper that I drank from bears
the rust of many a year!
There's a peach tree near the window *
Of the room where oft I, lay
In the long ago, and listened
To the wild wind howl away.
When a range of snowy mountains
Stretch along the winding lane;
When the gently sloping meadow
Has become an icy plain,
What a joy it is to snuggle under
quilts and counterpane,
And hear the peach tree creaking, j
At the corner where it leans,
While the wind goes badly shrieking
Through the mourning evergreens.
I
When the ruminating cattle
Stands in bedding to their knees;
When the sheep are warmly sheltered,
When the horses are at ease.
And the kittens in the kitchen are as
happy as you please-
When father's work is ended,
And mother sits and sews,
There's a wondrous mystic music
In the angry wind that blows.
Ah, the rambling little sheepfold's
Weatherbeaten, so they say;
The horses are no longer
Munching at the fragrant hay-
Beneath the old-style kitchen stove no
happy kittens play
And, out behind the village church, ;
A mossy gravestone leans
Above two mounds o'er which the
wind
Sighs through the evergreens.
— E. S. Kiser.
TRIALJX FIRE
(The Life Story of an Army Belle.)
There are colonels and majors and
generals and some old captains who
hold that Isabel Hampden was the
most attractive woman who ever
graced the frontier; and in their time
most women seemed attractive because
of their scarcity. She was handsome,
and accomplished, and clever, and
something more than all these which
was inexplicable but very potent. She
had been brought up in garrisons and
large cities, and by the time she was
two-and-twenty she knew the world
rather well. Moreover, she knew men
—not girls and women, but men.
Because she had been allowed to live
in posts during most of what should
have been her boarding-school days,
and because she was pleasant to look
upon and to converse with at an age
when most girls are impossible, men
had fallen in love with her pretty
much ever since she could remember.
It was said that she had refused all
the bachelors in all the frontier regi
ments. This was not far from the
truth. A woman who had married one
of the rejected ones said that refusing
was a habit Miss Hampden had form
ed, and that it began to look as if she
might never break herself of it. In
the nature of things, this was repeated
to the girl. Her good temper was one
of her charms "It is so much better
a habit than accepting them all," she
argued, sweetly. Nevertheless, she
wounded if there were not some truth
mingled with the malice.
But Lieutenant Loring wa3 the last
victim of her practice. He proposed
to her, unfortunately for himself, just
after she had met young Ardsley.
"I thought this morning that maybe
I would marry you," said Miss Hamp
den. "But I've changed my mind,
someway."
Loring was oceustomed to a great 1
deal of frankness from her, but it i
clashed with his notions of feminine
modesty for a woman to have enter
tained thoughts of marriage before the
offer thereof.
"Weren't you just a trifle prompt in
determining my Intentions?" he asked.
"Has the event proved me wrong?"
she returned.
He lost his temper. "You are spoil-:
ed," he said.
"If you knew how often I have heard j
that! Yet Ido not think I am. I am l
simply sincere, and you are a little too j
vain, all of you, to grasp the difference.
I like you awfully well —no, now, don't
misunderstand me. I don't love you.
And you are too nice a fellow to be
married to a girl who only likes you.
No," she repeated, "I do not think I'm
spoiled. lam not agitated and tearful
as I ought to be. perhaps, under the
circumstances. I used to be. but I've
passed that. I have been so placed
that men were making love to me at
an age when other girls were playing
dolls. It's partly because I am pretty
and partly, largely, because there are
so few women out here. When I have
been In the East, I haven't made much
of a sensation. I've grown a bit hard-.
ened, perhaps. Custom has dulled the
edge—which was fearfully keen and
cutting, at first —of being told that 1
am breaking a heart. But, though I
am only twenty-two, I've lived to see
dozens of your marry and be happy.
You'll do the same."
"Oh! no. I shall not," moaned Lor
ing
"Oh! yus, you will, Jack. And I sha'n'l
mind. Now I've promised to danc«|
this with the new Mr. Ardsley, and II j
we stay out here any longer every one I
wi!: surply guess wl.ai has happened." Others were hilled and tlieir bodies
'They'll know, when they see mo." were recoveied anrl buried, but Ard-
will surely guess wl.ai has happened."
"They'll know, when they see me." I
"Jhm't be a goose, Jack. It's only
'.he Heart that is trying to take itself
seTiously that exhibits the pain."
"Don't discuss a subject you know
nothing about.. You have no heart."
He left her, with an exaggerated
bow, as young Ardsley came up.
| As Miss Hampden waltzed off with
; Ardsley, she knew that Loring was
| wrong; that this tall boy, fresh from
West Point, as new in experience of
the world as the brass buttons on his
blouse, was the man she was going to
love. He would love her, of course. It
Is to be feared that it did not enter her
head that he might not. She liked his
stron, rough-cut face, and his jolly,
stone-gray eyes, and his drawling,
heavy voice, and his waltzing, and the
v way he held her. After the dance she
determined that she liked his hands, |
and when she looked at she saw
a ring.
"Is that your class ring?" she said. I
"Yes," he told her.
"May I see it?"
He gave it to her, and while she ex
amined it lie sat and admired her. On 1
his part, he liked the women who car- ,
ried themselves haughtily, he liked tall
j women, he liked straight, black hair !
i and olive skin and dark eyes and large j
! features and a neck of statuesque pro- ;
. portions. Iu short, he liked exactly ;
! the things he had never fancied up to |
I then. Miss Hampden raised her eyes
and met his. She smiled, but it was
like no smile she had ever bestowed
on a man before. He looked at her
very gravely, and her hand closed
tightly over the ring. In a moment
she was studying it again.
"I like this. It's unusual," she said.
"I am glad you think so, as I con
ceived the design." lie expected to be
told that he was clever.
"Indeed!" was all she said, and that
Indifferently.
"How cool! I rather thought you'd
express surprise and give me some
| credit. You are not addicted to llat
i tery, it would seem."
"I am not. But I don't think it [
j would have been flattering to be sur
prised that you have done it. It struck
me as being quite the thing you would I
naturally do."
"That is very pretty."
"It is perfectly true."
It happened, oddly enough, that Ard
sley chanced not to have heard of Miss j
Hampden's reputation by the next
night. He was rudely awakened to a
knowledge of it. There wore private
theatricals in the hop-room, and Miss
Hampden was the leading lady. Now
the suitor was quite recovered, and he ;
meant to play a joke on those in the !
audience who were not—and these i
were some eight or ten, three of them j
married. He proposed to the heroine
in nicely read lines, and was rejected
by her with a perfection that spoke
her practice. So the audience thought; !
and it laughed. When the laugh had
subsided, the hero arose from his j
knees. He walked to the footlights j
and sighed.
"Ah! well," he said, "I have one
crumb of comfort. I am not the only
man in this place who is in the same {
fix."
The astounded Ardsley looked about j
him, and he picked out the entire num- j
ber by their faces. Miss Hampden drop :
ped her head in her hands and laughed
with the rest.
Between the acts, Ardsley made in- '
quiries and learned the truth. He was j
bitten with a desire to obtain the un
attainable, and he was not one to dally.
He went behind the scenes.
"Whom are you going home with
Miss Hampden?" he asked.
"I fear no one will take me after the
light Mr. Graves has put me in."
"May I do so?"
She nodded, and Ardsley went back
to his seat.
"So you have refused the entire
army?" he asked, as they walked
home.
"Not quite."
"The entire department?"
"Well, a fair percentage of it," she
admitted.
"Are you going to refuse me?"
"I can't say until you are offered."
| "I offer myself now."
"And I accept yon now."
"Good enough! Will you announce
our engagement to-night at supper?"
"At the risk of being adjudged in
sane—yes."
"Put on this ring until I can get you j
another. Your hands are not small. It
will fit your middle finger. Now lam
| in earnest."
j "So am I," she said.
They were very much in earnest, the ,
event proved; and the garrison derived
! unmixed pleasure from the total, un
j conditional, obvious surrender of Miss :
Hampden. She was as open in her in
fatuation as she had always been in
everything else. And Ardsley was
equally infatuated. He took back the ,
class ring and gave her a diamond j
which cost him three months' pay. ;
! They were altogether happy. So, just
j a fortnight before the day arranged for 1
their wedding, the Gods demanded the I
: first payment on their loan.
Ardsley was ordered off on a scout. :
Miss Hampden was the sort of a girl
who might have been expected to take
this reasonably. But she did not She
clung to Ardsley, and cried like any 1
j little girl, and did not behave in the
least like a woman who had seen i
countless scouts. And she let him go !
to the wars remembering her standing ;
with her arm against the wall and her j
head upon her arm, sobbing as if hei |
heart were utterly broken. He himself;
was moved and stern. Loring would I
have liked to remind her that hearts
which were really wrung did not show
' their pain. He had not yet recovered
I Ardsley did not come back from the
scout. lie was in ft fight on whai
should have been his wedding day.
Others were uitlnd and their bodies
I were recovered and buried, but Ard
aley's body was never found. There
was ti tale that a lire had been seen
ou the battle-field the night after the
, encounter, and in the midst of the tire
a tree with a form which might have
been that of a man against it. There
were Indians grouped around It. Miss
Hampden never heard the story. She
never even guessed at what had hap
pened until twenty years afterward.
She was the superb and spiritless
wife of a mighty general, and she was
accompanying her husband on a tour
of Inspection in the West. They were
at an agency, one day, and were visit
ing the tepees. It was the agency of
the Indians that young Ardsley had
fought two decades before; and the
general's wife was nerving herself not
to show that she remembered this.
The general was examining the
trinkets that hung on a string around
the neck of a half-blind squaw.
"Here is a West Point class-ring!"
he exclaimed.
His wife repeated her words of
twenty years a-past.
"May I see it?" she asked, coolly.
She took it in her hands and turned
it about. She could make out the de
sign, though it seemed to have passed
I through some heat that had melted it.
| There was no doubt In her mind.
Nevertheless, she looked inside. The
heit had not affected it there, and the
initials were quite plain even yet.
"D. A.," she said, "it was David Ard
sley's ring. The lire did not touch the
letters. I understand now why they
never could tell me which was his
grave."
The general broke the string and
picked up the class-ring from among
the scattered baubles. The squaw was
chattering and whining and clawing
around on the earth. The general held
the ring out to his wife. She raised
the dark eyes that had been so bright
and happy the last time it had been
held out to her.
"Can I have It?" she asked.
The general put it in her hand, and
the hand closed over it.
"Thank you," f'ie said. —GWEN-
DOLEN OVERTON, In The Argonant.
SnuiKffliiiK Hie Ma rig nanv
In southern Arizona the jail and
prison officials have their hands full In
trying to prevent the smuggling into
their Institutions of the seductive mar
iguana. This is a kind of "loco" weed
more powerful than opium. It grows
from seed by cultivation in southern
Arizona and in Mexico. It is a dan
gerous thing for the uninitiated to han
dle, but those v/lio know its uses say
I it produces more ravishing dreams
I than opium. The Mexicans mix it with
| tobacco nnd smoke it In cigarettes, in
; haling the smoke. When used in this
way, it produces a hilarious spirit in
i the smoker than cannot be equalled by
any other form of dissipation. When
I smuggled inside the prison walls Its
devotees readily pay 54 an ounce for It.
| but free men can buy it on the outside
j for 50 cents an ounce. Gen. Shriver of
■ the prison force at Yuma has just un
earthed a large quantity of the weed
i that had been cached within reach ol
i the convicts who work in the outside
j chain gangs.
Athletic flcorije of (Greece.
King George, ol' Greece, in the ear
ller years of his reign, often particlpa
' ted in the feats of running and leaping
: of which his countrymen are so fond
In order to conceal his identity, he en
tered the contests under the name of
George Papadopoulos. In a certain am
ateur contest which he won he was ac
cused of being a professional. As
' "George Papai-opoi los" naturaly could
not give a satisfactory account of his
i identity and antecedents, the crowd be
| came convinced that he really was v
professional, lu order to escape rough
; treatment he confessed his identity, not
to the crowd, hut to a police officer
who managed to get him away to t
place of safety without permitting the
j crowd to discover that they had beei
threatening their sovereign.
Shot a Deer on Their Way to School.
Two pupils in a Monticello, (Me.;
school, aged 13 and 15 years, star.et
out to shoot a deer before school a fev
mornings since. They discovered thi
deer and both fired, and both killed thi
deer, one putting three buckshot ant
the other a bullet through the vital!
of the beast. They got their prlzi
home and dressed and were at schoo
in t'.me for all their lessons. Thej
didn't shoot a human being by mistake
It's not the way of Aroostook lads
Great grown men, with less sense ant
experience, do that.
A Clerical Alderman.
Dr. Forrest llrowne, the new Bishoj
of Bristol, was the first clerical alder
man elected in England, and for manj
years did excellent work as a Justice o
the Peace at Cambridge. In his flrs'
sermon before the Judges at St. Paul's
he excited some astonishment bj
speaking pointedly of "our duties ant
difficulties as magistrates."
The latest hnglish Luxury.
A glass house under water is the lat
est luxury. A rich man, who has i ,
large lake upon his estate, recentlj!
caused it to be drained, and In tht
deepest part he has had a house bulll
which contains three rooms—a smok
ing-room, a dining-room, and a ser
vants' waiting room.
A Curious Fact.
It la an inexplicable fact that mec
burled in an avalanche of snow heat
distinctly every word uttered by thos<!
who are seeking for them, while theli 1
most strenuous shouts fail to penetrate i
even a few feet of the snow.
Land Values in Cape Town.
A bit of waste land at Cape Town !
jought five years ago for 13,000, hai,
just been valued at f150,000. '
MET AN
; The llrut e Man Who Quickly Yielded anil
ihrnu v{> lii** tin licit*. .
1 "Ye 3," admitted the tj!g traveling
j man, as a number oi the craft were
having an evening seance in the cafe, "I
was one of the victims in that train
robbery. And I want to tell you fel
lows right here that there's no other
experience In the world so well calcu
lated to take the conceit out of a man.
I had expressed a desire frequently
that I might encounter some of these
modern bandits I'd show them what
it was togo up against a good, game
man, and I'd put at least two or three
of them out of business.
"But I didn't. Three miles out from
Duck Center they held us up in a deep
cut. Before I suspected trouble there
was a big fellow with lons hair and a
16-inch levolve, (ortii.i d.wu thi aisle.
1-I.a eyes were like live coals of Are,
and thero seemed to be more of them
than are credited to Argus. When he
thundered 'hands up,' I came pretty
near dislocating my shoulders because
112 the suddenness and vigor with
which I obeyed the order. Two men
following the chap with the gun took
up the 'collection,' and when they
came to me I surrendered everything,
even to my elegant self-acting revolver
that I had bought with a special view
to wiping out train robbers. I never
entered a protest.
"Right behind me was a little old
maid, not bigger than a pint of cider,
with corkscrew curls and shary feat
ures. They took the pocketbook from
her lap, but when they went to appro
priate a jewel case, she flew up like a
hen defending her chickens. That
watch was for her niece that was going
to be married. She had raked and
scraped and skimped to buy it, and no
robbers were going to get it. With an
unexpected movement she had knock
ed the revolver against the roof of the
car and was clawing at the other two
men like a wild cat. They forced her
; to her seat, and when the big fellow
had recovered his gun he stood laugh
ing. 'Keep your watch, ole girl,' he
! said, 'an' here's a little trinket to put
with it,' as he tossed her a handsome
| pin. 'Ef any of these men had your
sand we'd never got away with this
job after you disarmed me.' And he
was right aboirth.
"I Don't Need it."
That is il'ejreply often made r by niei
vell-io-do v\ hen asked to insure their l'\ ei
! Sonii'times ii is true, but how olten Ims i
ixppeneil that when disease or death liii
•nine suddenly the supposed fortune uude
lie dwindling, dwaiflinjr process ol
breed settlement lias melted away '■
i loihihg, atid how often it has hnppene>
•vhen death occurs the life policy liii
'ei'ii * the onlv financial resource !eIV
! I'lie great benefits which ready cash pro
iile against the uncertainties ol tortuin
; -rn forced while an estate is being settle'
I nakes it as compulsory upon the wealth.*
: tn upon any other class. How many es
ates have been saved by the ready mone\
>fa life insurance policy? And how
nanv splendid properties have been scut
ered and wlisted and lost because then
■vas so much "properly" and '"so littl
noney." Capitalists, business men, pro
j essionnl men, the shrewdest and mosi
-iiccessful ot them, recognize the uticer
ainties of business and investment nur'
■airy large amounts of insurance. Is it
iot wise to be upon the safe side am
iceept their conclusions in this matter
There are many life idsurance companie?
md many plans of insurance. Do voi
want the best for vou? If so I shall bt
i ;'leased to tall; with you about it—or i
vou will send your name and age at near
st birthday on a postal card or in a lettei
w ill tun).'the desired information.
M. A. SCUREMAN,
.Onshore, Pa.
A Horrible Railroad Accident
is a daily chronicle in our papers; alsi
the death of some dear friend, who had
died with Consumption, whereas, if he 01
she had taken Otto's Cure for Throat and
, Lung diseases in time, life would havi
been rendered happier and perhaps saved
i Heed the warning ! If yon have a cougl
jor any aflection of the Throat and Lung.-
Call on T. J. Keeler,Laporte; W. I .
Hoffman, Ilillsgrove; B. S I.ancastei,
Forksville; C. B Jennings, Agt. Esiella:
•Ino. \V. Buck, Jonestown, and get i.
trial package free. Large size 50c and 25c
fcJEGV.AIER'S
LAGER BEER
AND
PORTER.
are unexcelled in the realm of mall
beverages,
They are brewed by a I rewer
and matured by nature in one of
t ie most complete breweries in the
country, and are guaranteed to be
absolutely pure, wholesome am'
iuvigorating. Insist upon getting
them.
MR
BKI« COMPAW.
WILKES-BARRE.
Q. A. KLINE,
TO WAND A,
Is agent for this Beer in
Laporte and vicinity.
v " ~~ Reminds us of
NEW HEATING STOVES.
New Ranges, New Steve
Pi P e » New Stove Repairs, Coal
MM Sieves, Coal Buckets, Horse
1 fllfflj ji'l Blankets, New Bedroom Suits
Apple-butter Crocks, Yardan
'-~V 112 ' ers> Cuttcrs.Stone Jugs,
HI hit | Easy Chairs, New Lamps.
Jjilfeii,- ■ . this SOLID OAK
ROCKER
| ~ Cane seat, is the greatest
fi We are giving it for
$2 to our customers.
Jeremiah Kelly,
HUGHESVILLE.
HAVING PURCHASED THE
GRIST MILL Property
Formerly Owned by O. W. Mathers
at this place
1 am Now Prepared
To Do All Kinds of Millirg on Veiy Short
Notice With W. E. Starr at Miller.
Please Give a Trial.
: EED OF ALL KINDS ON HAND.
W. E. MILLER,
FORKSVILLE, PA.
tf. B. All parties knowing themselves indebted to me will
confer a greao favor by calling and paying the amount
due, as I need money badly at once.
Respectfully yours, W. E. MILLER.
t
January 1898!
Will close all our winter goods and Ladies' Coats and Capes out
it nearly half price, in fact, a good many articles at
!
At Less Than Half Price.
Our stcck is very large antl prices will be no object. We here
; lcntion a few prices exactly as we intend to sell. This is 110 bluff or
ike, but a FACT, that \ou can save neatly 40 to 50 per cent, by buying
tow: Men's uits at 50.23, regular price 81.5.50; Men's overcoats at
>2.78, are worth 86.00; Hoys' suits, 3 pieces, at 82.75, are really worth
5 50; Children's suits at 750 and 81-00, are worth more than double;
Jen's pants in all wool and all different styles SI.OO, are 82.00 and
3.00 values; 1 nee pants at big 1 argains; Men's undershirts at less than
iff price; all wool socks 2 pair for 25c; heavy cotton seeks 4 ] air for
25c; the largest variety of boots and shoes in this section at prices to
! suit everybody. Rtibl.er boots and shoes we sell cheaper fhan any other
,ore ni me county. We will make you such low prices in Ladies'
Coats and Capes
S
That you will surely be surprised. All we ask is to call and see
hem. We will be glad to give you our best prices. Ladies' coats in
lie latest styles at 82.75., regular price Si.oo, we only have aliout 15 of
hese coats left in blue at d black, rot gh goods; Ladies plush capes at
>5.00, regular price 89.C0; extra long plush ta;e at 87.oO; a Lig \«ii ioty
>f Ladies 1 ceatsat 84.50 and 85.00; 1 adies' cloth capes at 82.25, less
than half price, they are heavy and good let gb. \\ e ha\e about .5
Children's coats, age from 4 to 12years, in very fancy patterns and in
the latest styles, at nearly half price. We cannot mention all of our
joodsbut whatever you may need in our line we will sell accordingly.
We will surely sell as we advertise as our stock is very large and we
must sell.
Prices Will be no Object.
We have good attendance and arc always pleased to show onr
stock whether you buy,i>r ifot. You can buy here now for 81-00 as
much as other plac- for 82.00. We find this to bea fact.
* i The Reliable Dealer in Clothing
JflCOy iCf Boots and Shoes.
W HUGHESVILLE, PA.