HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1888-06-29, Page 6THE THREAD OF LIF
OR,
SUNSHIINE AND SHADE.
CHANTER VIII,,
TUE ROADS DIVIDE, `
f
On the second morning, true to promise,
the watch arrived by the early post ; and
Hugh took it up with pride to the Hall, to
bestrew it in a casual way upon poor breath-
less and affectionate Elsie, He took it up
fora set. purpose. He would show those
purse -proud landed aristocrats that hie cou-
ein could sport as good a watch any day as
their own daughter. The Maaeingers them-
selves had been landed ariatoorats non pre•
stemablypurse-proud in their own day in dear
old Devonshire ; but the estates had disap-
peared in houses and port and riotous living
two generations since; and Hugh was now
proving in his own person the truth of the
naif old English adage—" When land s
gone and money spent, then learning is
most excellent." Journalism is a, poor sort
of trade in its way, but at any rate an able
man oan earn his bread and salt at it some.
how. Hugh didn't grudge those twenty-five
guineas: he regarded them, asheregarded his
poems, in the light of a valuable long invest-
ment, They were a sort of indirect double
bid for the senior Meyseys' respect and for
Winifred'aferventadmiration. When amara
is paying attentions to a pretty girl, there's
nothing on earth he desires sq much as to
appear in her eyes lavishly generous. A
less abstruse philosopher, however, might
perhaps have bestowed his generosity direct
upon Winifred in propria persona: Hugh,
with his subtler calculation of long odds and
remote chances, deemed it wiser to display
it in the first instance obliquely upon Elsie.
This was au acute little piece of psychologi-
cal byplay. A man who can make a pre-
sent like that to a poor cousin, with whom
he stands upon a purely cousinly footing,
must be, after all, not only generous, but a
ripping good fellow into the bargain. How
would he not comport himself under similar
circumstances to the maiden of his choice,
and to the wife of his bosom ?
Elsie took the watch, when Hugh produc-
ed it, with a little cry of delight and sur-
prise ; then, looking at the initials so hastily
engraved in neat Lombardia letters on the
back, the tears rose to her eyes irrepressibly
as she said with a gentle pressure of his hand
in here : " I know now, Hugh, what the
telegram was about the other morning.
How very, very kind and good of you to
think of it.—But I almost wish you hadn't
given it ts, me. I shall never forgive myself
for having said before you I should like one
the same sort as Winifred's. I'm quite
ashamed of your having thought I meant to
hint at it."
" Not at all," Hugh answered, with just
the faintest possible return of her gentle
pressure. "I was twisting it over in my
own mind what on earth I could ever find
to give you. I thought first of a copy of
my last little volume; but then that's no-
thing—I'm only too sensible myself of it's
small worth. A book from an author is
like spoiled peaches from the market gar-
dener a he gives them away only when he
has a glut of them. So, .when you said
you'd like a watch of the same sort as Miss
Meysey'e, it seemed to me a perfect inter-
position of -chance on my behalf. I knew
what to get, and I got it at once. I'm only
glad those London watchmaker fellows,
whose respected name I've quite forgotten,
had time to engrave your initials on it,"
" But Hugh, it must have cost you such a
mint of money."
Hugh waved a deprecatory hand with
airy magnificence over the shrubbery. " A
mere trifle," he said, as one who could com-
mand thousands. " It came just to the
exact sum the Contemporary pale me for
that last article of mine on " The Future of
Marriage." (Which was quite true, the
article in question having run to precisely
twenty-five pages, a1 the usual honorarium
ot a guinea a page,) " It took me a few.
hours, only, to dash it cff." (Which was
scarcely so accurate, it not being usual for
even the most abandoned or practised of
journalist to ' dash off ' articles for a lead-
ing reyiew ; and the mere physical task of
writing twenty-five pages of solid letterpress
being considerably greater than most men.
however rapid their pens, could venture to
undertake in a few hours.)
Winifred looked up at him with a tender
glance. "It's a lovely watch," she said,
taking it over with an admiring look from
Elsie : "and the inscription makes it ever
so much nicer. One would prize it, of
course, for that alone. But if I'd been
Elsie, I'd a thousand times rather have bad
a volume of poems, with the author's auto-
graph dedication, than all the watches in
all England,"
" Would you?" Hugh answered with an
mused smile. "You rate the autographs
a living versifier immensely above their
arket valve. Even Tennyson's may be
ought at a shop in the Strand, you know,
or a few shillings. I feel this is indeed
fame. I shall begin to grow conceited soon
at this rate. And by the way, Elsie, I've
brought you a little bit of verse, too. Your
Laureate has not forgotten or neglected his
customary duty. I shall expect a butt of
sack in return tor these ; or may I venture
to take it out instead in nectar 1" They
stood all three behind a group of syringe
bushes. He touched her lips with his own
lightly as he spoke. "Many happy returns
of the day—as a cousin," he added,
laughing.—".And now, what's your pro-
gramme for the day, Elsie l"
"We want you to row up the river to
Snads, if it's
not too hot, Hugh," hie grotty
cousin responded, all blushes,
"Tuns, 0 Regina, quid optea, Explorer°
labor; mihi juesa eepeesere fas est,' Hugh
quoted merrily. "That's the beat of talking
to a Girton girl, you see. You can fire off
your most epigrammatic Latin quotation at
her, as it rises to your lipe, and she under•
stands it. How delightful that is, now.
As a rule, my bates quotatious, which are
frecjuent and free, as Truthful James ears,
besides being neat and a propriato, like
after-dinner speeches, fall quite flat
upon the stony ground of the feminine in-
telligence --which last remark, 1 flatter
myself, in the matter of mixed meta-
phor, Would do credit to Sir Boyle
Roche in his wildest fights of Hibernian
eloquence. I made a lovely Latin pun at a
ppfonio once, We had some chicken and
bant sausage. --a great red Germals sauna e
of the polony order, in a sort of huge boil-
ed-lobster-oolonred skin ; and towards the
and of lunoh somebody asked nie for an.
other slice of it. "There isn't any," said
1
T. " It's all gone. Finis Poloni:u 1" No-
body laughed.They didn't
know that
"PiWIIs I'olonite" were the last words utter-
ed by a distinguished patriot and soldier,
"when Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko
fell," That comes of firing off your remarks,
you see, quite above the head of your re -
:mooted audience,"
But what does that mean that you have
just amid this minute to Elsie V' Winifred
asked doubtfully,
" Jrhat 1 A lady in these latter days who
doesn't talk Latin 1" Hugh cried, with pre-
tended rapture. " This ie too delicious 1
I hardly expected such good fortune. I
shall have the well-known toy, then, of ex-
plaining my little joke, after all, and griml
translating my own poor quotation. It
means : " Thy task ib 18, 0 Queen, to state
thy will : Mine, thy behests to serve, for
good or ill." Rough translation, not woes -
eerily intended for publication,but given mer-
ely as a guarantee of good faith, as the news-
papers put it. 2Eolue makes the original re-
mark to Juno in the first .Enid, when he's
just about to raise the wind—literally, not
figuratively—on her behalf, against the un-
fortunate Trojans. He was then occupying
the same poet, as clerk of the weather, that
is now filled jointly by the correspondent of
the New York Herald and Mr Robert Scott
of the Meteorological Office. I hope they'll
send US no squalls to -day, if you and Mrs.
Meyeey are going to come with us up the
the river."
On their way to the boat, Hugh stopped e.
m omeut at the inn to write hastily anothe
telegram. It was to his London publisher :
"Please, kindly send a copy of Echoes from
Callimachus by first post to my address as
under." And in five minutes more, the
1 telegram despatched, they were all rowing
up stream in a merry party toward Snade
meadows. Hugh's plan of campaign was
now finally decided. He had nothing to do
but to carry out in detail his siege opera-
tions.
In the meadows, he had ten minutes
or so alone with Winifred. " Why, Mr.
Massinger," she said with a surprised look,
"was it you, then, you wrote that lovely
article, in the Contemporary, on " The Fu-
ture of Marriage," we've all been reading ?"
" I'm glad you liked it," Hugh answered
with evident pleasure ; "and I suppose it's
no use now trying any longer to conceal the
fact that I was indeed the culprit."
"But there's another name to it," Wini-
fred murmured in reply. "And Mamma
thought it must be Mr. Stone, the novelist."
"Habitual criminals are often wrongly
suspected," Hugh answered with a languid
laugh. " 1 didn't put my own name to it,
however, because I was afraid it was a
trifle sentimental, and I hate sentiment.
Indeed, to say the truth—it was a cruel
trick, perhaps, but I imitated many of Stone's
little mannerisms, because I wanted people
to think it was really Stone himself who
wrote it. But for all that, I believe it all
—every word of it, I assure you, Miss
Meyeey."
It was a lovely article," Winifred cried,
enthusiastically. " Papa read it, and was
quite enchanted with it. He said it was
so sensible—just what he's always thonght
about marriage himself, though he never
could get anybody else to agree with him.
And I liked it too if you wont think it
dreadfully presumptuous of a girl to say so.
I thought it took such a grand, beautiful,
ethereal point of view, all up in the clouds,
you know, with no horrid earthly materialism
or nonsense of any sort to clog and spoil
it. I think it was splendid, all
that you said about its being
treason to the race to take account of wealth
or position,; or prospects or connections,
or any other worldly consideration,
in choosing a husband or wife for ,one's
self -and that one ought rather to be
guided by instinct alone, because instinct—
or love, as we call it—was the voice of nature
speaking within us.—Papa said that was
beautifully put. And I thought it was really
true as well. 1 thought it was just what a
great prophet would have said if he were
alive to say it ; and that the man who wrote
it"— She paused, breathless, partly
because she was quite abashed by
this time at her own temerity, and
partly because Hugh Messinger, wicked
man 1 was actually smiling a covert
smile through the corners of his mouth at
youthful enthusiasm.
The pause sobered him. " Mise Meysey,"
he broke in, with unwonted earnestness, and
with a certain strange tinge of subdued
melancholy in his tremulous voice," " I
didn't mean to laugh at you. I really be-
lieve it. I believe in my heart every single
word of what I said there. I believe a man
—or a woman either— ought to ohoese
in marriage just the other special person
towards whom their own hearts inevitably
lead them. I believe it all—I believe it
without:reserve. Money or rank, or con-
nection or position, should be counted as
nothing. We should go simply where
nature leads us ; and nature will never lead
us astray, For nature is merely another
name for the will of Heaven made clear
within us."
Ingenuous youth blushed itself crimson.
"I believe so too," the timid girl answered
in a very Iow voice and with a heaving
bosom.
He looked her through and through with
his large dark eyes. She shrank and flut-
tered before his searching glance. Should
he put out a velvet paw for his mouse now,
orshould he playwith
it artistically a a little
longer? Toomch precipitancy spoils the
fun. Better wait till the Echoes Pram Calli-
machas had arrived. They were very fetch-
ing, And then, besides --besides, he was
not entirely' without a conscience. A man
should think neither of wealth nor position,
nor prospects nor connectionsin choosing
himself a partner for life. His own heart
led him straight towards Elsie, not towards
Winifred, Could he turn his back upon it,
with those words on his lips, and trample
poor Eleie's tender heart under foot ruth•
lessly.l Principle demanded it ; but he
had not the strength of mind to follow prin-
ciple at that preoise moment, He looked
long and deep into Winifred's eyes. They
were pretty blue eyes though pale and
mawkish by the side off Elsie s. Then he
said with a sudden downcast, half -awkward
,dance— that oonsummate aotor— "1 think
we ought to go back to your mothebnow,
Miss Meysey."
Winifred sighed, Not yet 1 Not yet 1
But he had looked at her hard 1 he had
fluttered and trembled 1 He was summon•
ing up courage, She felt sure of that, He
diddn't 'mature as yet to lay Beige to her
openly. Still, she was sure he did really
like her; just a little bit, if only a little.
Next morning, as she strolled alone on
the lawn, a village boy in a corduroy suit
came lounging up from the inn, in rustle
insouciance, with a email percel dangling by
a sting fromhis little finger. er She e the
bea'. and called
him quickly towards her,
" Diek," she Dried, "what's that you've got
there l"
Tno boy handed it to her with a mysteri-
ous nod. "It's for yon, miss," he said,
mewing up his fade sideways into a moat
excruciating pantomimic expression of the
profoundest seoreoy, "The ;gentleman at
our 'ouao—'bu with the black mouatarohe,
you know—'e told me to give it to you into
your own 'ands, if so be as I bould manage
to catch you alone anywaya. 'E was very
pertickler about your own ' ads, An' I
needn't wait ; there ain't no aewer.
Winifred tore the packet:. open with
trembling hands. It was a neat little vol.
lume, in a delicate sage -green cover—Echoes
from Callimachus, and other Poems; by
Hugh Messinger, sometime Fellow of Oriel
College, Oxford. She turned at once with a
flutter from the title -page to the fly -leaf
A Mdle ,Winifred,Meysey; llommage de
1'auteee She only waited a moment to
slip fie- tilling into Dick's hand, and then
rushed, l , all crimson with delight, into
her own bedroom. Twice she pressed the
flimsy little sage -green volume in an ecstasy
to her lips ; then she laid . it hastily in
the bottom ot a drawer, under a careless
pile of handkerchiefs and laoe bodices.
She wouldn't tell even Elsie of that tardy
muohprized birthday gift. No one but her-
self must ever know Hugh Messinger had
sent her his volume of poems.
When Dick returned to the inn ten min-
utes later, environed in a pervading odour of
pepperment, the indirect result of Winifred
Meysey's shilling, Hugh called him in lazily
with his quiet authoritative air to the prim
little parlour, and asked him in an under-
tone to whom hehad•ri'iventheprecious parcel
"To the young lady 'erself," Diok an-
swered confidentially, thrusting the bull's-
eye with bis tongue into his pouched cheek.
"An' I give it to 'er be'ind the laylaoa, too,
where nobody in the world never seen us."
Dick," Hugh Messinger said, in a
profoundly persuaded and sententious voice,
laying his hand magisterially on the boy's
shoulder, "you're a sharp lad ; and if you
develop your talents steadily in this dir-
ection, you may rise in time from the
distinguished post of gentleman's gentleman
to be a private detective or confidential agent,
withan office of your own at the top of Re -
gnat Street. Dick, say nothing about this on
any account to anybody ; and there, my
boy—there's half-a-crown for you.
" The young lady give me a shillin" al-
ready," Dick replied withalacrity, pock-
eting the coin with a broad grin. Business
was brisk indeed this morning.
" The young lady was well advised, "Hugh
answered grimly. " They're cheap at the
price—dirt cheap, I call it, those immortal
poems—with an autograph inscription by the
bard in person.—And I've done a good stroke
of business myself too. The Echoes from
Callimachus are a capital landing net.
they don't emceed in bringing her out,
flapping, on the turf, gaffed and done for
pretty speckled prey, why, no angler on
earth that ever fished for women will get so
much as a tiny rise out of her.—It's a very
fair estate still, is Whitestrand. " Paris
vaut Bien une mease," said Henri. I must
make some little sa"crifices myself if I want
to conquer Whitestrand fair and even."
Paris vaut Bien une masse, indeed. Was
Whitestrand worth sacrificing Elsie Chat.
tuner's heart for?
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
The New Zoologieal Gardens.
Ever since Soroggins went to London to
visit his relations and saw the monkeys in
the great Zoo, he has become a monomaniac
on the subject of natural history, and noth-
ing will satisfy him but the adoption by the
citizens of Toronto of the bylaw voting $8,-
000 to make the Toronto Zoo free.
Scroggina has sent us the following
scheme, which, if adopted, he is sure will
make the Toronto Zoo the first in the known
world.
1. The President of the Zoo to be elect-
ed for life at a nominal salary of $5,000.
2. That Oliphant Soroggins be elected
first President T. Z.
3. That the President, and a house be
forthwith built—not to be occupied by any
other animal or animals.
4, That the T. Z. shall include all sorts
and conditions of animals, except oyster
shells, dead cats and live skunks'
5. That all persons owning wild animals
be desired to present them to the T. Z. or
they may be left on deposit at the owner's
risk.
6. Animals on deposit must be fed daily
by the owners,
7. The President shall have the power to
eject any animal for unruly or stubborn
behavior.
8. Parrots will be examined once a week
at least to find out if their language is quite
respectable.
9. Animals that live to a great age will
be sold periodically to prevent them from be-
coming chestnuts.
10. No animal will be allowed more than
three square meals a day.
11. Trick animals will not be allowed to
perform except on their own premises.
12, For the education of our youth a
series of living proverbs will be prepared,
such as "Bear and Forbear," "A Swarm
of Bees in July is not worth a Dead Fly."
13. The aviary will be a speoialty—every
bird must hatoh. her own eggs, and birds
that can sing and won't sing will be made.
to sing. Concerts will be held at which
trained songsters will compete for prizes ;
admission ton cents, proceeds to go to the
resident President.
14. Among the special curiosities will be
the arab that walks forward, the ass that
brays loudest and eats least, the crow that
gets whiter with washing, and the fox that
couldn't say boo to a goose, etc.
15. The President to have the right of
parading the T. Z. once a month in the
prinefpal streets.
16, No children in arms will be allowed
in the lion's cage.
17. Elephants will not be allowed more
than they emery either Inside or out.
18, All siek animals shall bo sent to the
General Hospital, and birds are to have a
separate wing.
19, Visitors desirous of music will always
find Mr. Piper around.
FARK..
Swsa,T 1'o!.axa CrurXVATroN,
The sweet potato le almost an unknown
luxury among Northern ferment, yet it oan
easily be raised anywhere that a good crop
of corn can be grown. Not as a field crop,
but as a garden vegetable. In its native
country it is one of the hardiest of vege-
tables, where it is often found growing lux.
uriantly in its wild atate, In Georgia, Ala-
bama, and the Carolinas, It forms quite a
staple article of food for the negro laborers,
but is raised to very little extent for export.
ing. This causes the cultivation to become
very much neglected, as they only aim to
supply their own wants,
They very seldom manure the land for
this crop, giving their beat lands and care
to the cotton and corn crops. The tubers
are planted there, the same as the Irish po-
tato is planted North, and they are given
nearly the same care in the way of cultiva-
tion, excepting that the vines of the sweet
potato must be loosened up occasionally, to
keep them from taking root, where the
joints of the vines rest in the mellow
earth.
Of coarse our cultivation of this plant
must vary somewhat from its native treat-
ment. Our seasons are not long enough to
admit of planting thettubers when the crop
is to be raised, even eupposing that they
did not rot in the ground, which would gen-
erally be the case if planted at all early.
One hundred planta, well attended to,
will produce several bushole of tubers. This
number of plants oan .be started from the
seed tubers in a box two and one-half feet
square : the box should be about a food deep
and nearly filled with rich loam. The tub-
ers should be planted about three inches
below the surface, and the box kept in a
moderately warm room, where the sun can
shine upon the earth and plants a portion
of the time. They need not be planted in
the box before the 16th of April, for it will
not bo safe to put the plants cut before the
1st of June. This number of plants may be
'obtained at a small cost from a green -house
if there should be one in the vicinity. If
it is desired to grow them on a larger
scale, a hot -bed may be constructed for the
purpose of starting the plants. A warm,
sandy soil is the most desirable location for
the plants, if it is made sufficiently rich.
They will do very well on blank loam if it is
dry and mellow. The plants are hardy,
and will bear transplanting as well as cab-
bage plants. In hoeing, draw the earth up
around the plants until there is a hill twelve
or fourteen inches high. This will give the
vines the benefit of the sun and air. They
are luxuriant growers and sometimes cover
the ground completely.
Loosening up the vines occasionally
should not be neglected, as they will, if un-
disturbed, strike root at the joints, and thus
draw nourishment away from the main root
of the plant.
They will continue to grow untit the
frost touches them, when they should be
gathered at once, as a little freezing des-
troys the flavor. They should be housed
and kept in a cool, dry place until consum-
ed. There ore many ways of packing them,
but in fine chaff is good.
•COTES'
Every prominent naturalist in the United
States was born on the farm.
Hard work and keeping at it insures suc-
cess on the farm, as it doer in all life's
duties.
Don't save all the unpleasant jobs for your
boy and expect him to "stick to the farm.".
Report for the public your failures in
crops instead, of your occasional booms.
You learn more by your mistakes in farm-
ing, than you do in success.
As a rule, those crops pay best that re-
quire the most care and attention. The
brains and the labor are what sell in the
markets in the shape of the crop.
It is predicted that the wheat area
throughout the West will be greatly reduced
the coming year. In Missouri alone the de-
crease will be 1,048,114 acres leas than last
year. This is due partly to the protracted
drouth which interfered with the fall sow-
ing, and partly to the low prices of wheat.
The strength of a chain is measured by
the weakest link ; so the weight of the load
that may be hauled over a country road ib
determined by the worst spot on the road.
Thus a single negligent roadmaster can fix
the size of a load of country produce that is
to be hauled out of a township.
Complaint is made from one or two states
that farmers' institutes are losing,in popular-
ity. Whispers also come from these same
states that whenever the farmers get to-
gether, a band of lawyers, politicians and
tariff orators are sure to appear upon the
scene. Any connection between these two
facts?
To make hay so as to retain alt the good
qualities and nutriment of the grass or
clover or any other fodder crop, it must be
out when it is in its stage of blossoming. It
then contains the most of the valuable
nutritious elements and the least of the in-
digestible matter. And to preserve these
nutritious elements from loss, the grass
must be cured as quickly as possible.
Said a farmer to his sone : "Boys, you
hear me now 1 Don't one of you ever speok-
erlate, or go to wait, as Micawber did, for
' something to turn up.' You might jest as
well go and sit down on a etonein the middle
of the madder, with a pail 'tween your lege
and wait for the old brindle cow to come and
back up to yon and hist already for you to
milk her." And the old farmer was just
right in his conclusions.
Theo her problem will soon be a live
p p
question again, unless there are unusually
hoavy'reins this spring; and the county come
missioners ought to take some measures
looking to their extermination. We hardly
think the offering of a bounty desirable, as
it is very expensive and often ineffectual,
The Bounties that have tried it seem best
satiefied with poison. The Steelman Com-
missioners have just contracted for $345
worth of strychnine for the purpose.
a.
Mistress—Bridget, I don't think the flavor
of this tea is as fine as the last we had.
Bridget—Faith, mum, an' me cousins are of
the silfsamo opinion. They said last aven-
in' that the aromy were basely.
An Extended Experfeuce,
Writes a well-known chemist, permits mo
to say that Putnam's Painless Corn Extract.
or never fails, It makes no sore Vote in the
flesh, and Consequently hi plantains. Don't
you forget to get Putnam'', Corn Extractor,
now for tale by medicine dealers everywhere,
CHATTING, A4$
L l ailY's Adv • t 'late aiN
I �,,
'ZIe
In theedezlicl
kphi r' 1874 I was travelling in..
northern taly l lth some friends, alt of
them a thusiaatio pedestrians, who had
climbed tto their hearts' oonteut the usual
Swiss, and Italian Alpe, and were now on
their way he begin a tour in the Tyrol. I.
1 indeed, not a oligdbor myself, nor, in d ed , much
of a walker even in a moderate way, and in
consequence passed many hours alone whilee
my friends explored the country.
Sere left Venice one lovely morning thew
latter part of April, passing Verona anl.
taking the steamboat at Pesohiera, at the
foot of' 'aka Garda. We sailed up the
entire le h of the lake at Riva, the little
town
s.
ted at its northern extremity,and
thereb passing into the confines of Austria.
The next day the only excitement we had.
before our diligenoo started for Botzen was •
the news that theCrown Prince and Princess `
of Prussia were expected to arrive.
I had lived a great deal in northern Ger-
many, but had never seen either PrinceFred-
criok or his wife, so we all looked forward
to the mild excitement of gazing on the then
future Emperor of Gert/any.
The afternoon was lovely, the lake sparkled•
and danced inthe sunlight, andthe beautiful
road leading directly from behind the house
up through the rocks, .tboked so tempting
that I was persuaded to loin the othere. The
fine road was mostly cut in and through the
rock forming small caves, and from semi-
darkness coming out to find one's self at ae
great height of ledge going down in a straight
lino to the lake below, Fearing to tire my-
self I sat down under the shade of a large
boulder, telling the rest of the party I would
await their return. 'e
Lost in admiration of the lovely picture
before me I sat musing for some time hearing
and seeing no signs of life but the myriads
of butterflies that had come with the warn.
sunlike days. Suddenly, to my amazement, I
heard a low, suppressed growl, and turning
my head, I saw close to me a huge mastiff,
standing like a statue, with tail and ears
erect, and his large eye fixed menacingly on
me. I am not a timid woman, fortunately,
and am a great lover of dogs, but as I turned
and spoke softly to him he gave another
most unpleasant growl. 'I was beginning to
rise and face my antagonist when I heard a.
sharp whistle and a "Where are you, my
boy?" from the other side of my boulder and
the next instaut a tall, fine-looking man, with
a full brown beard, wearing a light soft felt
hat, which he had pushed bank from his
brow and dressed in a loose suit of brown
corduroy, stood before me. He carried a
light walking stick, aid as soon as he saw
me raised his hat and holding up the cane at
the dog, said : " How dare you, sir 1" Then
turning to me and still standing bareheaded.
"I trust hehas not alarmed you, madam,"
he said. "He thinks it is his duty to growl,
although he would not, I believe, touch.
any one unmolested."
" He is a magnificent animal," I replied.
"and as I am fond of dogs I seldom feel
any fear of them, but he appeared so un-
expectedly and notified me of his presence.
before I remembered where 1 was."
He then palled the dog who looked mueir
ashamed by this time, and, seating himself
on a rock opposite to me, said to him : " Go•
ask the lady's pardon or I shall send you.
home."
Much amused, I held out my hand for the,
large, tawny paw that was put into it, and,.
patting the large, fine creature gently on
the head, I asked his master his name and
age. Where had I seen this man before,
and why did he appear so fs,miliar to nee ?'
was what I kept asking myself, as we went
on talking about the dog. I felt I knew him
but where or how I bad met him I could
not tell. At any rate he appeared not to
recognize me. Certainly he was the finest -
looking man I had ever seen, of superb
build and imposing presence, and his man-
ner and elegant bearing showed him to be
one of Nature's noblemen, whatever other
rank he possessed. We talked for some
time on a subject of interest to both of us—
the canine tribe—and when t was telling
him of a fine Irish setter that I owned, he
suddenly said in excellent English:
" You are I think, an English woman ?"
We had been conversing in German, a lan-
guage I had always spoken, and I prided
myself on my accent, so that my surprise
was great as I laughingly answered in the
same language :
"No not, English, but Canadian. But
how did you know'?"
" Oh, just as you can now hear, I am sure,
that I am a German, although I have always
spoken English. My wife is English, and
she tells me I speak well; but the ' th' of
your language betrays itis.e -
Then we both laughed, and I thought to
myself, it is a good thing he, spoke of that
English wife of his, for my poor heart was
beginning to be much interested in this ex-
ceptionally handsome stranger. Who in
the world could he be ? An officer, I felt
sure. Probably an Austrian—but no ; his
accent was that of a northerner.
" Are you alone ?" he then asked.
I told him I was awaiting my friends, who
had gone further up, and just then we heard
their voices above us,
" Well, then, I will wish you good afteg,
noon, and I hope you will forgive my dor-
Anfweider Schen. I hope we may meet
again," and with adeep bow he walk ed away.
The next moment I was surrounded by
the others, all looking at me with big eyes
as I watched the tall man and his dog de-
scend among the rocks.
" Well, Miss M—, will you please tell
us where you became so intimate with his
Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of
Germany ?"
" The Crown Prince of Germany ?" I
repeated
sl owl
s.
doyon
y . mean tosay---
Why of course. It was aleclear to me now,
the feeling that I had seen him before, I
was so familiar with his photographs, which
are excellent likenesses, that 1 thought I
knew him. The next morning we left Riva
at daylight, and none of us saw the Prince
again. Years afterward Iwas in Berlin, and
in walking through the Thiergarten one day
I mot the Crown Prince Frederick riding
with some officers. I knew him instantly,
and although he had grown older he was
atill a splendid -looking man, and looked
every inch the Prince. We alt bowed, the
gentlemen of our party standing bareheaded,
according to etiquette, as he passed ; but
her vanity had a fall when I saw that my
moy had quite forgotten me.
o
The opinions of the Vienna press are not
favourable to Emperor W illiam'8 proolama
tions to the army and navy.
Count Richter, who was reoently designate
ed as Swedish Ambassador at London, has
committed suicide by shooting.
M
L
1
lA