HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1885-12-25, Page 3A RACE AGAINST TIME
I had been stationed on the main line of
the great Central Railway for semething
more than a year, attending to all the day
and night duties et that point with such an
unfailing regularity, that no thought of pos.
eib1e accident had ever occurred to me.
The duties were not especially arduous,
but the responsibility was far greater.
There was an express day and night, both
ways, for which the main line had to be al•
ways clear ; a local express each way,
which ran on the turnout, and waited for
the through train to pass ; a mail train
night and morning which had right of way;
one ordinary passenger, and half -a -dozen,
perhaps, accommodation and freight.
To see that the main line was always
cloned at the proper moment, that the turn -
cat was always ready when it should be,
that the branch where the local made up
wail open, and, in short, that ev- rything
was in condition for prompt and satisfactory
working, kept me almost constantly at met
dnet, though, as I have alreeey said, the
uties were not especially arduous.
In order to be handy to my business, I
Jived in a cottage c'ose by, from the open
door of whioh, looking eastward, I could see
any coming train for a mile away, and no-
tice whether the signals of " danger " or
•' " safety"a were in their proper positions.
One morning, just after the local had made
up and gone, my wife came running to me
with an alarmed face. Our little girl was
nrilssing. She had seen her only a few min-
utes before the departure of the train, and
bad ?Bade a hasty search for her as soon as
s e discovered her absence. She feared she
knew not what.
I calmed her with a few brief words, and,
harrying around to the station -building, be-
gan a careful examination of every possible
place where I deemed it likely the child
might be, (She was only five years old, )
The searoh resulted in my finding her fast
aeieep on the sunny aide of a pile of railroad
, ties, with her doll, half as large as herself,
lying beside her.
That night I had a singular dream.
I thought I was in the middle of a vast
plain, through which etre'°hod, broad and
clear before me, the double track of a main
line. Like ours, yet unlike, for every few
rods I could see open switches and blood.
red signals, that gave mo an agony of appro-
hension, As I looked again at tho line, my
eyes fell upon an objeot—a small form lying
•epon one of the rails. My child 1 With a
ghty effort I awoke, turned over, and
went to sleep, and dreamed the same thing
again, with the addition that I seemed
-mounted t a winged horse, and riding for
• ee cies theswitches•
e min I ew ite, bathed in perspiration,
anu roused mysele.sufficiently to get up and
visit my little darlings crib, of course to
End her safe. I walked the floor in my
etooking feet for awhile, looked at the
clock, and again turned in, to dream for the
third time the same thing ; to start suddenly
and broadly awake, as if the voice whioh
oused the Thane of Cawdor had hissed in
my ear, as in his, " Sleep no more I"
To awake, and find the first gleam of the
3ncorning day glowing gray on the eastern
wall.
However, avisit to all the switches—mine,
not those/S:1_8 dream—a dash, headfore•
riioe''''iifliool, deep, running stream
near, and awarm breakfast, seemed to clear
i; away whatever remained of the lingering
effects of my nocturnal vieions, and 1 felt
like myself once more.
Between the passage of the down mail
which stopped, and the through express
whioh did interval not,there was an ierva 1 ofan
hour and a half, that was essentially my
own, But that morning a despatch had
come for one of the directors, who lived
three miles to the south of us, and as it so
happened, the agent, who was busy, request.
ed me to take it, offering the use of his fast
mare, which stood in berness under the shed
—an animal remarkable for its speed and
endurance, as I ascertained thereafter.
I had been to the director's house on one
or two Simper oceaeions, and neither the
agent nor myself deemed the time necessary
to go and come any oonsideration when an
hour and a half was at my disposal. Besides,
had such a course boon necessary, he oould
have taken the keys and acted for me. But
there was no thought of that.
I drove leisurely over, enjoying the ride
much, for the snare, " Fanny," was in ex-
cellent spirits, and the air was clear and
bracing.
I had delivered the, despatch, received a
brief word of thanks, and was already turn-
ing homeward, when the direct •r came him-
self toward the paling, calling out to me by
name.
I reined up.
" There ie some mistake here, Jennings,"
he said, with some excitement, waving the
despatch. " This should not have been
sent to me, but to our agent " On reflec-
tion : " He knows the contents, I suppose ?"
On reflection, I couldn't say, and so stat-
ed.
" then go back to your post at once, and
give it to him. A special train of excur-
aioniets for Hampstead Beach will pass at
9.30, L'rok out for it,"
Ho turned leisurely and sauutered up the
walk toward the house, while, without a
word, I started the mare it to a trot.
A special train at half past nine
I drew a taut rein with my right hand,
and took my watch from my pocket with
my trembling left.
Nine twenty-two 1 Three miles of a
straight road—less, perhaps, a quarter of a
mile of detour to the station, when I should
reach the track—aud the main line open to
me westward for the passage out of the
mall ! Three miles, and eight minutes in
whioh to accomplish it 1
In my youth I had known something
about horses, and'i:lrat knowledge did not
fail me now. I drew out the long whip—
seldom used, as I have noticed—and touched
the mare quietly on the flank.
How tau I describe that ride 1 •
I have been where charger met charger
in the swirl and duet of battle, and men and
horses have gone down together, but in that
there was fellowship—association, In this
—but no words can fitly describe the fierce
emotions of that solitary ride against time,
where hundreds of innocent lives, all uncoil•
scions of the peril toward which they wero
speeding, hung trembling in the balance,
I recall now the tempest which swayed
my ehrinking soul, as, outwardly balm and
rigidly erect, with every muscle strong as
steel, I held the mare firmly up to her work
and, by voice and touch, electrified the
noble animal with almost human conscious-
ness of the necessities and peril of the
occasion.
Trees, houses, fences, gardens—sometimes
men, staring in wild-eyed astonishment—
flew past in one unbroken flight. My hat
wag off, my hair and beard streaming in the
wind, my lips compreased, save when emit-
ting low oriel" of encouragement to the noble
mare ; and thus I reached a low rise of
ground commanding a view of the line for a
mile or more on either hand.
Up to this moment from the time I had
drawn taut rein and glanced at my watch,
this point had been the objective goal for
which I was riding,
If I could reach it before the whistle blow
at the creasing below, there would bo hope.
It not—I shuddered at the alternative.
1 recalled afterward, and many tunes,
how a thought of my dream --a long line of
switches— swept acmes me then 1 how my
eyes for the first time swerved from their
steady gaze at my horse's head, and fleshed
a glance up and down the whole vieibie line
for the coining special !
Not in sight—thank God !
Stay ! there is smoke on the horizon.
But there is no stay in the wild rush of
our onward course. With as unflinching
nerve as when she started, the gallant mar'
strotohes away down the gentle declivity,
while every mornent tho distance ieseens,
and the on coming train gets larger and
noisier as it nears us.
I etand up in the wagon ; I urge to great-
er speed ; 1 wave scarf and hand ; I shout,
but my voice is beyond my control.
He. ! Joy unutterable 1 I am seen I
A whistle !—the agent rues out with a
red flag ! two whistles ! Down brakes ! The
train is saved, and comes to a halt not e, doz-
en yards from the open switch, It a as time,
(Time —as they Bay in the raoing•taienlar
—seven minutes and a half, This I con-
firmed afterwgrd )
I complete the laat quarter of the detour
to the station more leisurely, but am in
time to receive from the arms of the agent
my sleepy little girl, whom he has .snatched
from the shadow of that miaplaoed switch,
where she was Iying fast asleep, with her
golden curls directly on the rail.
That dream again ! Shall I ever be thank-
ful enough ?
I am an older man now, and have other
and higher interests in railroads, but not on
that line, That experience was too much
for me. I left Boon after, and my fortunes
greatly improved.
My golden -haired little darling is now a
woman, and happily married, and has a lit-
tle darling of her own just beginning to
walk,
And if you would like to see the gallant
mare, Fanny, that won the Race against
' Time, and an affectionate place la my re-
membrance evermore, come out to the or-
chard, and you will see. her enjoying a item-
fortable old ago, petted sad c..ressoa oy the
whole family.
So I end ail I began :
Dreams are not always true.
Nor, on the other hand, are they always
false.
PEARLS OF TRUTH.
Help others, and you relieve yourself. Go
out and 'drive away the cloud from. a dis-
tressed friend's brow, and you will return
with a lighter heart.
Love is the most terrible and also the
most generous of the passions; it is the only
ono th't includes in its dreams the happi-
ness of some one else,
Words of praise are almost as necessary
to warm a child into a genial life as acts of
kindness and affection Judicious praise is
to ohildren what the sun is to flowers,
Politeness in a sort of guard which covers
the rough edges of our character and pre-
vents their wounding others, We should
never throw It off even in our conflicts with
coarse people.
No way has been found for making hero-
ism easy, even for the scholar. Labour,
iron labour, is for him, The world was
created as an audience for him ; the atoms
of which it is made are opportunities.
There appears to exist a greater desire to
live long than to live well. Measure a
man's desires, he cannot live long enough ;
measure by hie good deeds, and he has not
lived long enough ; measure by his evil
deede, and he has lived too long,
The most difficult province in friendship
is the letting a man see his faults anderrors,
which should, if possible, be so contrived
that he may perceive our advice is given
him not so ??such to please ourselves as for
his own advantage. The reproaches, there-
fore, of a friend should always be strictly
just, and not too frequent.
Ho that does not fill a place at hone oan.
not abroad. He goes there only to hide his
insignificance in a larger croe+d, You do
not think you will find anything there which
you have not seen at home ? The stuff of all
countries is the same, V' hat is true any-
where is true everywhere. And, lot a man
go where ho will, he :an find only so mu oh
beauty or worth as he carries,
So long as dress does not violate the prin-
ciples of beauty or the laws of health, eo long
as it is made conformable to position, use,
and oircuinatancee, so long is it to be en-
couraged, not °oily as a source of enjoyment,
but as the fulfilment of a serious duty—for
the love of dress, which is to the body what
language is to thought, is as true au instinct
as is the love of what is beautiful and good.
No trait of character is more valuable lir a
female then the possession of a sweet tem-
per. Horne can never be made happy with-
out it. It ie like the flowers that spring up
in our pathway, reviving and cheering us,
Let a mem go home at night, wearied and
worn by the toile of the day, and how sooth-
ing is a word dictated by a good disposition!
It is sunshine falling on his heart. He is
happy, and the- carea of life are forgotten,
Dr. John Hunter, tho eniinent surgeon,
adopted a rule whioh may be commended to
all, When a friend asked him how ho had
been able to accomplish so much in the way
of study and discovery In his busy life, he
answered, " My rule is, deliberately to con -
aider, before I commence, whether the work
be practicable, If it be not praotica"lo, I
do not attempt it, If it be practicable, I
oan accomplish it if I give sufficient pains to
it ; and, having begun, I mover stop until
the thing is done, To this rule I owe all my
enema."
PERSONAL. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. be sent by them to protect their re•
epeotive interests. In this way it is hoped
thiase /elands would be kept forever open to
commerce, and neutral in case of any war
that may arise. It Is grat,fying to think
that iso much favor has been shown to thia
scheme by those Powers to whom it has al-
ready been submitted,
f3'ories are floating through the newsp.-
pere to the effect that certain Metas believe
Ries has come upon the world again, One
half-breed was walking along the prairie,
after night,and just as the moon had risen,
the great leader approached him and
said, " I am not dead ; take my hand; it Is
as warm as yours." He gave no explana.
tione, but after talking much to the effect
that God had spared him to the North-West
people, disappeared. It is not stated whether
the earth swallowed him, or that he dis.
appeared as did the witches from the heath
of Ferree like the explosion of a bubble.
Be all this as it rte y, many Mitis and Ire -
'diens believe that the great 1 ader is upon
the earth and living.
It has been woll remarked, and can hardly
be too of tenrepeated, that eters al fame awaits)
the judge who will compel the average
lawyer who always fancies that he shows
his braios in browbeating witnesses, to
treat these witnesses with proper respect,
In nine cases out of ten witnesses come
into court against their own will to testify
concerning the crimes or dieputee of their
neighbors. But the treatment they fre-
quently receive from the attorneys is
most shameful, and could her be ex.
ceedodifthey were the crim'nela'se emeelees,
A change ie ery much needed in this
respect. In the exercise of no other
business or profession is a man permitted
to behave himself like a bully and a oad
and why it should be so in law nobody can
tell,
Tho American girl is an institution which
demands and receive a great deal of atten-
tion. The West additien to the literature
on tine subject comes from the Faris Figaro
which says : " How cap *ivating the Ameri-
can girl is in' society ! From the moment
when she made her first appearance in the
saloons of Paris elle created a perfect furor.
Her engaging manners, her freedom from
restraint, her familiar shake -hand at once
conquered that class of young men, more
numerous than most people imagine, who
frequent doubtful society on acconntof their
excessive timidity whea in good society.
What can be more plcaeant to en embar-
rassed youth in company than to have the
converse ion started and carried on by a
pretty, chatty girl, totally devoid of false
modesty and awkwardness, and having
rarely, if ever, an arriere-pensee of marriage?
Nor can we conceive anythibe more pleas-
ing for a young man than to be Chaffed and
brightened up, Ho to speak, by pretty girls
—for such the American girl always is—
who have none of that stiffuesa and gauch-
erie, neither the banls, nor feet no• love of
gaudy col:rs so characters tic of their Anglo-
Saxon great-grandmothers."
Having retired from the Paris stage, Mlle.
Wrnss will presently by marriage become
a Princess.
Mme. ,Sophie Menter, the famous pianist,
is now enjoying the possession of a fortune
of 3,000,000, loft to her by a Rasaian ad-
mirer,
The death of the venerable Lord Bucking-
hsmsbire leaves Lard Stradbroke senior
peer—ninety-one years old—though Lord
Brougham comes in a good second at
ninety. •
By the retirement of Mr. Samuel Merely,
the city of Bristol, England, will lose a man
who has repreaented It in Parliament for
seventeen years with distinguished accepta-
bility,
Count von Moltke, whose nearness to
death is occasionally cabled, is really won-
derfully healthy and vigorous for his years
and he has juat celebrated hie eighty-sixth
birthday, surrounded by hie family on his
Silesian estate.
The Duke of Abercorn, who died the oth-
er day, was the senior Knight of the Order
of the Garter, a position now hold by Lord
Granville. The vacant stall will probably
he given to the late Duke's son•in-law, the
Duke of Baclench,
Thebaw, represented as the raw head and
bloody bones of Burmah, is really a hand-
some young fellow of 26, the youngest and
brightest of the forty -eight sons of his late
lamented father, who rejoiced in the name
of Mengdung Meng.
Philippe Daryl, a French essayist anderI-
tic, soya of Oliver Wendell IIolmee : " Eve-
rybody who speaks English on the planet
has been enjoying for the past thirty years
the aaperior produc.ions of this Boston
Frenchman. And yet the Latin world re•
mains ignorant of him,"
Tho American beauties,' Mise Chamber-•
lain and , Miss Winslow, who went from
London to Hamburg to astonish the natives
and casual visitors, were aetounded to find
themselves forestalled by four American
sitters named Walker who walked away
with the palm for beauty,
M. Cortes, the distinguished microscopist
has been experimenting upon the efleets of
various condiments upon the tissues of tho
oyster. He ream -monde lemon juice as the
most valuable of those relishes, as it has the
property of destroying the animalcule:
which infest the stomach. of that mollusk,
Queen Eleanor's Cross at Waltham is to
be r stored. It was desiened by Pietro
Cavallini in 1291 and fi, ished in 1294, It
is in memory of the consort of Edward h
whn accompanied her husband to Palestine
and sucked the polson from a dagger wound
in his arm. She was the mother of the first
English Prince of Wales.
The Boston Traveller (Rep ) says that " a
gentlemen who recently ,net :Hon. James G.
Blaine found that gentleman in the enjoy-
ment
njoyment of acellent health, in good spirits,
and happy in his literary work. Ho is en-
gaged at his task three or four hours a day,
takes long walks daily, and shows no signs
of dieappointment over his defeat last year.
Indeed, in talking of that event, he says
that he thinks he is happier than he could
bo in the Presidential chair."
The comparative importance of Engli h
statesmen, from the nowemen's point of
view, may be eeen in the fact that accord-
ing to annouucemout the London Central
News reports allepeeches of Lord Salisbury,
Lord R Churchill, Mr, Gladstone and Mr.
Cnamberiaiu verbatim ; Lord. Spencer. Lord
Hartington, Lord Grauville and Sir Charles
DiIke to the extent of one column each, and
Sir M. Hioks-Beach, Sir R. A. Cress, Sir
W. Harcourt, Mr. Trevelyan and :Ir, Chil-
ders half a column each.
In La Temperance, Dr. Magnus Huss, the
celebrated Swedish physician, is quoted as
saying that people of the northern Stats of
Europe who abuse alcohol degenerate visib-
ly and afford more frequent'y than others
examples of monstrosities at birth, In L ra-
don, at the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, there was an alarming decrease of the
birth rate which, on inquiry, was shown to
be caused chiefly by drunkenness.
Dr. Alvarez, a Paris homeopathist,
brought suit egeinst the Princess of Medina
Cali for 600,000 francs for medic sl services,
stating that he was entitled to more than
the usual compensation on account of the
great wealth of his patient. The court
•.warded him S4,000 francs, he to pay costs.
Most physicians would consider $17,000 a
handsome fee, but this doctor was much
ohagrine 1 over the result. A few days be-
fore he had refused a much larger sum to
compromise the natter.
Disraeli and Gladstone.
It has been said, and with undoubted
truth, that the man who is an artist, what-
ever be his calling, seeks relief in his art
when fortune turns unkind and he has fail-
ed in other pursuits, While Mr. Disraeli
sat in the Cabinet as prime minister of
England lie did little in fiction, but he con- '
trived, after a fashion, to construct scientific
frontiers and itteriug political pageant salter
the epic and grand maunor which had exor-
cised hie imagination in his books, But no
sooner had he realized his last fall, and before
the bitter critic could ceclero that there
"was aDisr e i," he hied away to his closet,
drew forth Eudymicn, refurbished that per•
son, wrote some flashing chapters, and preg•
want epigram], and g+ve hit! book to the
world, The fame of his novel w:.s a food
for his ambition when ,rho sweetness and
glory of power had passed away from hiss,
We have another case in point in England
now, No sooner does Mr. G'adatone fell .
from the united assault of the vaunted
guardian of the stability of the empire and -
the vaunted apostle of its d:antonibernrent,
than he soothes his In Mead ambition by the
balm of literary work. It is not surprising, .
therefore, though a very thoughtful and
cultivated weekly contemporary thinka it is,
to find him in the pages of the Vineteenth
Century netting his lance against moder^
irre igious science in a contribution
entitled the " Dawn of Creation ani Wor-
ship." In thia paper he takes occasion to -
speak of a oerta.n noble house, 1 luetrioue iu
the history of Engl.nd as having for its
head in the long ago a person " who was a -
driverof pigs," This must settlethe question,
we suppose, that the illustrious Howard is
noth ng more at the fountainhead than a
He(g)ward, from whose name we havepo'
sitely dropped the "g,"
We still wait for the evidence that will
convince us that some of the medical stu-
dents had not a leading hand in the Hal-
lowe'en outrage,
The soheel-master is about in these days,
but does he Insist, al" the old-time teacher
used to do,that"an honest man's the noblest
work of God?"
If some system of vaccination could be
discovered whioh would prevent the spread
of the annexation -fever among the nations
9) the world it might prove a blessing,
The Japanese oan make sick handkerchiefa
which sell as low as a shilling each in Eng-
land, This Is rightfully regarded 88 a seri-
ous menace to the English silk trade,
Cook County, Iilinoie, has hardly elapsed
from barbarism yet if the talcs told about
the treatment of the insane in her asylum
are to be believed. The brutal methods of
medievalism are said to flourish there in
pristine vigor.
Fair Bolas. Lookwood is recounting her
Prosidental candidature experiences to au-
diences in the far wild west at fifty cents a
head. She is porbaps trying to catch a hus-
band now, that being the next best thing
to the Presidency,
The clam is a hard -shelled animal who
keeps himself resolutely shut against the,in-
troduction of new ideas, and who is hardly
worth your trouble after you have opened
him up. What a number of; human clams
there are in the world I Don't bo a clam,
Prophecies as to the ultimate humiliation
of the Bulgarians aro as yet premature.
At present writing the tide of succeee seems
to have turned. Before the two little
powers have done worrying one another the
big ones will no doubt have their hands in.
A greater nuisance than the girl with the
immense chapeau concealing all in front of
her, or the pretentious fools who make a
point of coming late so as to command
some attention, are those concert -goers who
spoil other people's pleasure by persistent
whispering.
Undertakers are said to .find the winter
time their best business season, because more
wealthy people dio then, owing to their over-
heated houses, and the custom of bundling
themselves in fure, two things which make
them more liable to take cold whenever
they are exposed,
It Is said by well-informed English papers
that the agricultural laborer is bitterly op-
posed to the church influence in the elec-
tions, Hodge has had some reason for com-
bining the parson with the squiro,ae the two
forces which have always been moat opposed
to yielding him his political rights.
Nothing in the late Gen. McCiellan's
career interested average British opinion so
much as the yarn that got started about his
being a more or less distant connection of a
Lord Clyde. He rose ono hundred per cent
iu .Eaglish intimation when that was told
and sack correspondingly when it turned
out to be only a yarn after all.
Many men will steal books who would be
shocked at the idea of committing the small-
est infraction of the eighth commandment
in any other way. And a first cousin to him
who deliberately steals books is he who
borrowe and never returns. We wish a
good many people would cultivate a proper
delicacy of conscience in this matter,
To find out how much ill -breeding there
is arncing tho wealthier classes of Toronto,
and no doubt of other Canadian cities and
towns as well, ono has only to take the tes-
timony of some of the Ladies who give time
and trouble in collecting subscriptions for
various charitable institutions. Iu houses
where better things might be expected they
are often treated as if they were beggars
asking charity for themselves,
A good way of apending cue evening every
week or fortnight during the winter months
is for a number of young people to form a
club for the special study of some author.
A Shakespeare club, forinstanoe,or aBrown-
ing club, undertaking to study certain plays
of the great dramatist or Aurora Leigh, and
meeting for the purpose iu one another's
houses, would prove Itself not only a very
pleasant but a very profitable institution.
Reading a somewhat stirring poem which
appeared in one of the leading dailies last
week, we were rather startled by the first .
line of the last stanza, which read as follows :
" all are born free and equal." God•llko lie of all
the host
That build false beacons on the Ilse of Itids terrific
coast."
" (sod-'ike," as an epithet applied to any-
thing in the shape of a "lie," has the charm
of novelty, at anyrare, if not of great fitnese.
It is the hardest thing in the world to
convince some people who blame all their
misfortunes or want of success an what they
call their "bad luck " that the "bad luck" in
nine cases out of ten is just their own term
for shiftlessness, carelessness, laziness or
mere stupidity. The time spent by some
folks in bemoaning their bad luck, if put to
good use, would go far to deprive them of
any good excuse for indulgence in such
folly.
Tho case of a clergyman who seems to
have very little respect for his own sacred
futections is reported. A man died who con-
ceived he had been badly treated in his
father's will, and, wishing to remind the
world of the fact, left directions to his min -
titer to preauh his funeral sermon on the
words,"And he gave hint, noue inheritance
in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. '
The clergyman, whoever he was, actually
forgot himself so much as to carry out this
piece of unworthy desth-bed spite.
The 1. test subject of dispute between the
leading party papers of Ontario Ie the
amount and genuineness of the excitement
in Quebec Province over Riel's execution.
One side declares that the excitement, if not
very great to outward 'seeming, is seething
far down in the breast of the haloitants and
is ready to burst out on the first favorable
opportunity in a way that will prove as sud-
den as It will bo terrible. The other party
insists, in an equally strong way, that there
is no such excitement and never was. W e
should like to see the subject that those
-
party papers won't dispute about,
The most sensible move yet in connection
with these Pacific Ocean Islands has been :
made by the Hawaiian Government, who
wishes the other Powers to allow them to
unite the different groups of these Islands '
into local representative'governments whose
integrity shall bo guaranteed by the con.
tracting Powers, and to whom consuls shall
A Misuse of Clemency.
We think that the circumstances are few
under whith journals of repute ought to
interfere in the solemn decisions of justice
but occasions do arise when oilenoe would
be blameable. We believe that, in the
commutation of the death pcnalty in the
case of Lison Mongrain, the murderer of
Policeman Cowan, we have a c tee in point.
Cowan was one of a recnnoirering party
sent out by inspector lli,:kens from Pitt
when that Fort was surrouudod by the Crees
under Big Bear. This chi- f had come under
the ramparts and coolly invited Inspector
Dickeus to surrender his arms and accom-
pany him to the lodges, as Factor Maclean
and others had done, promising his pro-
tection in tine event of compliance, " I"
you do not come " Big Bear said, " my
young men will burn down the Fort and do
your people harm." Inspector Dickens, of
course, sent the presuming savage about
his business Meanwhile, Cowan an&
another policeman were quietly riding
along the prairie towards the fort, Per
ceiving their approach a number of Big
Bear's Wren seized weapons, and as the two
horsemen drew near opened a murderous
fire'upon them. 0 e man rode on and reaoh-
ed the fort, though hit with several bullets ;
but the other, Cowan, fell from his horseup-
on the prairie. He lay bleeding and moaning
here for half an hour, when Mongrain came
up and pointed a nun at . his head. The
wounded man put up his hand, as if warding
the gun away, aad said, "Don't, brother,'
but the heartless murderer fired, and not
only once, but twice, into the head of the
helpless man. The murderer was appre-
hended, tried, and found guilty, and on
sentencing him to death Judge Rouleau
said :
"After the verdict of the j :ry, I can do
no more than pronounce judgment. By the
evidence given you hive been found guilty
of murder under the most shocIiug circum-
stances, When the wounded man was lying
helpleea on the ground and lifting up hie
hands pleading for his life, you cruelly shot
him. I never heard of anything more cruel
than that a man who Haw another lying
wounded and defenceless should kill him.
The am provides that sentence of death be
passed upon you, and the sentence of the
court is, that you be hanged on the 27th of
November."
If ever man deserved death under the law,
it surely was this miscreant ; yet we learn
that the Pcivy Council has cones leree hie
case, and reanimated the death penalty,
A couple stood before a jeweler's, the other
evening, when the young lady remarked:
"Gawgie, don't you think there is some-
thing perfectly lovely about those clocks?"
" What do you admire so much about them?"
he asked. "Why don't you see they—they
name the day." The future will tell if Gaw-
gle tumbled.
" What great blessings do we enjoy that
the heathen know nothing about? " inquired
a Sunday -School teacher. "'Soap 1' was
the answer that came out like the crack of
a pistol from the small boy at the foot o
the claaa.
The late Dowager Lady Chesterfield's hus-
band was so hard up that he was obliged to
let Caesterfield House, and was unable to
finish Bretby, hie country sea*, end his son
had to sell Chesterfield House : but Lady
Chesterfield, who had a life interest in the
property after her son's death, finished
Bretby and left $500,000, beaidca,; clearing
the estate.