HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1888-9-6, Page 6TH N: TIIREAD OP LIFE
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SUNSHIN] . .ND SHADE.
CHAPTER XIX. - mates himself at full market value. Ire's.
the last man on oath to throw himself
Orr mainzzvotts DES EONS CA'atABADES. ':away for a mere trifi9. When he sella his
In the coley.emokiog-room of the Cheyne l soul* the metremouial Exchange, it'11 be
Row C1ub,a group of budding gangue, oon-
vaned from the fear quartere• of the earth,
stood ones more in the bay window, leoktng
out on the dultOetoherstreet, and diacuse-
leg with one *nether is Omen tones, the
various means which each had .44oppted for
•kitting terve through his Qwo medica*n of
summer boltdeee, • Remfniseencea and greet-
liars were the girder of the :day,. A haze
of voice* peevsded the air. Everybody was
full to the throat of fresh impresstoats, and
everybody was laudably eager to eharethem
aall% still hot from the prase, with the balanoe
Of ituenuity sae then and there represented
before him, -Lite moaquitoew atthe North
Cape wens really xita„ndera $e; they bite
piste out of your face boldly, and then
perched on *tree to eat ib; while the amid.
nil;ht men, a* advertised, wan a hoary old
impostor, exactly like raw ether sem ;any-
where, ween ) on same to exarine h m
through a tntrlted glass at close quarters.
Croantr 443 jaettheajollieatpion tolounge
on the sande,. erne the beat centre for abort
excurafoa,>s, that a fellow could Owl on „a
year's tramp all round the shores of Fag-
lausl, Se tle+ud, Wales or Irelateid..
• Crowe were scanty and devilish euunieg
*n Aberdeenerhire this year; the young
birds packed like old Anes; and the aeeowt-
madatioa at Lumphanan had turned out on
nearer view by eau tn?.aans Whet It ought •ter
A most delightful time indeed ita Bates.
Berg, jot t above the Luka 0f Time, yon
know, withexgttiakte Orenever't;he necrose
Oherbaml; arta MA a pretty little Swig*
maiden, with lignid bine eye; and tow.
coloured heir. to bring in opera breekfeet
ands pour out oofiea rn the Wok white
eeffee.eupe, And 'thea this flowers lea
for the highest ourrent market quotation,
to an eligible pureleaser for cash only, who
must combine considerable charms el body
and mind with the, superadded, advantage
of a respectable Waive a•b Th nmmond'e
or at Q:ratts's, The 'Bard knows down to
the ground the exaob moneyworth of a
handsome poet ; he wouldn't dream of let.
ting himself go dirt cheap, like a common
every -day historian or novelist."
As the last speaker let the words drop
carelessly from Ina mouth, the ban of voices
in the emoke room paused suddenly ; there
was a alight and awkward lull he the cots•
versaatica for half a minute ; and the <crowd
of budding :yellows ways stretching Drat *tea
dcz. en right hands with einguier unanimity
in rapid zucorasion to grasp the languid flee
era of a tall dark newcomer who had slip-
ped fee after tba fashion usually attributed
to angels or their opprsite, la the very nick
of time to catch the last echoes of a candid
opinion from his peers end contemporaries
open hie own CenduCt.
44 A0 you think he heard use ?''" one of the
penult gos*ipere whispered to another with
a seared face.
" Can't say." his friend whispered, beck
uneasily. "'Re's got quick. ears. Listeners
generallyhear no good of themselvea. Bat
anyhow, we've got to brazen it out flow.
The best way's Sleet tar take the bull by the
hereat boldly,e-Well, Ateminger, we were
WI Mile; about you whee you cattle in,
You're the Chief aaatjarct of conversatice in
literary cirwles sit he present day. Be you
know k'a going the round of ell the clubs in
Laudon at this moment that yen shortly
coutetuplate corntnitting Matrimony ?
klugh biee*ieger drew hianeelf up stiff Ana
ereatt, hie fukt height?, and withered his
rows narasin,,, fora botanist, I macre i questioner with e. seething glance frons his
you
Berk eyes each as oaly lie oeuld dart et will
bleaeseee is Augtat was hot and stuffy, t0 scarify ani aattihiia_te as: selected vfetalui,
g ""rel tug to be marded le the course of
huh the Thouatend kl:teds were deeply g"'
pF „ ,
rat '"
1
beccionaand ee iaa a pe tamong now the whb to on mean by Cotu�itt Og matrimony.
n .
is
bleak lakes was the male *,pert now left y y U F
alive worthy a kritisb fiaheentante distiu.
guished consideration.
0 yes; the yacht behaved very well
indeed, considering, ail her way roe Ioe-
lzwd-�aa well as any yachtthat palled
the aeras but just before reaching
Feykjevik--thats bow they prenouu„e it
with rhe j raft and a *Ding into ion on
0,4 144 syllable -a moat tree endow gale
came thundering down with rain and light.
Wag_ from the Z ate% Joke% and, by George,
air, it aeerly foundered her Outright with
its auddeu svelte in the open ocean. Yee
never raw irnything like the way she heeled
arvOr ,- yen could touch the trough of the
waves every time from the gunwale.
Mitcbieezi " turniug scuud with marked
abruptnes to en earlier speaker. " what
have you been. doing with yourself all the
summer 1."
"Oh, I've beerrridieg a bloycle through
the bent part at i' inland, getting up a set of
article, ea the picturesque aepeot of the
Farl+tortb for the Perce C'ro Boar, you kuow,
sad at the name time w ri.ing in the Remise;
aamarinleee for the leader columa in the
1if'orr,in; TekpActee.-Batea went with
nue on the illegitiatete reaehlue-y'es,
tbatt means a tricycle ; the bio ole a *.ono'*
ra
acnuted lawful ; he's do'rurg the sketchers
to illtutrete my letterpress, or I'm deing
theletterprest to illustrate leis aketche:.st-
whichever you please, xray little dear; you
year anything new nese going on, yea pays your money and you tette; yourcheice,
l.owa wltilo wo were all awn sad had
auybody beard apytbia about the Bard, as
Che tram Row had uneu mously aickntmed
Hugh blas Inger 1
Xes, One budding genius In the �deserip-
tive-emit:e trade -writer of the fntereating
safe* of penal in the "" Charing Cross Be.
view " on beaside Reaorta•--afterwards re.
printed la crown octavo fancy boards, as
'4 The Complete Idler "-had hid a letter
from the Beret himself Duly three days ago,
announcing hie intention to be back in her -
now in taws *gain 'hat very mending,
"" And what's tho Immortal singer been
dting'with himself this bot rummer?' cried
a dexen voices -for it WAS generally felt in
Cheyne Raw circles that Hugh . blassiuger,
though atillaa undiscovered a; the sours.
of the,4ougo, was a coming man of proximate
eveutudity. "" Has he booked his heirs=
yet ? He vowed, when be left town in
July, he was going on au angling expedition
-as a fisher of women -in the eastern
countiee..''
Weil, es,' the recipient of young love's
first confidences responded guardl ;
should say hollad. To be sure, the Immor-
tal On doesn't exactly mention the feat or
amount of the young lady's fortune ; but bo
does casually remark it a single passing sen-
tence that he has goy himself engaged to n
Thinof Beauty somewhere down in Suf.
folk."
"Suffolk l -most congruoue indeed for an
idyllic, busolio, impreaetoulst poet,-He'II
come back to town with a wreath round his
hat, end hie pockets stuffed with ballades
end sonnets to hieniatreaa' eyebrow, where
"Suffolk punches" shall sweetly rhyme to
" red -cheek apple that she gaily munches,"
with slight excursions on lunches, bunch!,
crunches, and hunches , all a la Messinger,
in endless protusion. Now then, Hather,
ley ; there 'a a ballade ready made for you
to your hand already. Send it by the that They 're the banking people, you know :
ppoatyonreelf to your lady, and cut out the remote tonins of the old hanging judge's.
Bard on hia own ground with the beauty Very nice old thitgs in their own way,
ful and anonymous East Anglian heir- though a trifle slow and out of date -not to
ese. - I suppose, by the way, Alas- say mouldy. ]ant after all, rapidity is hard-
fe t , y all for the sum of a sixpence weekly, The
roads is Flnlaud are abominably rough, and
the Finnish *menage is the beaatileat and
*mast agglutina.iva I ever bed to deal with,
even is the entraueing pages of Oliendorft
feet there's good copy -very good copy. -The
Telephone and the Porte Crayon shared
our:expensee.---And where leave you been
hiding your light yourself ohne we sant saw
you r
"My particular bushel wits somewhere
down about Suffolk, I believe," Hugh Mae
singer answered with nrsguillcent *definite -
nese, esthough minute accuracy to the mat•
ter of a c,unty or town wore rather beneath
bis sublime consideration. 4" I'vobeen atop.
ping at a dead -alive little place they cal
Wht:teatrand : a sort of moribund belling
village, minae the fish. It's a lost corner
among the mud Sita and tho salt marches;
picturesque but ugly, and dull as ditch•
water. And heving nothing oleo on oath
to do there, I occupied myself with getting
engaged, Ai you fellows seem to hexa heard
by telegraph already. This is au age of'.
publieity. Everything's known in London
nowadays. A man can't change his coat, it
appears, or have venison for dioner, or wear
red stockings, or stop to chat with a pretty
women, but ho finds a flaring paragraph'
about it next day in the society papers. '
"May one venture to auk the lady's
name?" Idltohison inquired courteously, a
little apart from tho main group.
Hugh Masainger's manner melted at once.
He would not to chaffed, but it rather re-
lieved him, in hie present strained condition
of mind, to enter into inoffensive confidences
with a polite listener.
"She's a Miss Meysay," he acid in a. low-
er tone, drawing over towards the fireplace:
"one of the Suffolk Mee aoys-you've heard
of the family. Her father has a very nice
place down by the sea at ehiteetrand.
,.
Then, we shall all come downin dna
time," another man put in -a painter by
trade-joiniagthe group ea, he spoke, " and
flail the Bard a landed proprietor on his own
breed urea, living in state and bonaty in
the baronial Hall, lord of Burleigh,fair and
free, or whatever other name the piece may
Ifel invite you to c9me." Hugh answered,
significantly with curt emphasis,
"Maros of course," the artist answered'.
"1 dare say when. You start your carriage,
you'll be too proud to remember a o devil
a an ell and o'er mea like me, hon
days no doubt, you'll migrate like all the
rest to the Athenmum. Well, well, the.
world moven--once every twenteefour hours
onnova with its own axiibands ...andeo ie np tothe longgether: run weWhen all
I m an R. A. ell mu down and visit you at
the anceatral mansion, sod perhaps paint
your ,wife's portrait -for *thousand guineas,
bb -n entenslu. And what sort of a body is
the prospective father-in-law 1"
" Oh, east the etsual typo of Sttfi'olk Squire,
don't you know, " Messinger replied care -
Indy. +" A breeder cd fat oxen and of
peg., a psii*pMeteaf on Guano and on £`,main,
a {quartor-aeaarons chairman, abler none ; bat
with faint reminiecencee still of an Oxford
training left in hint to keep the milk of ha -
Mon kindneea from turning *war by long ex-
poenre to the pernicious ivtlnene° of the
Bast Anglian sunshine, I should enjoy his
eociety better, however, if I were a trifle
deaf, He luta lees to. say, and he says it
more, than any other mats of myacslusiur.
once. Still, hats e j illy old boy enou ,h, as
old boys go. We shall rule along somehow
till he paps cif the hooks and leaves us the
paternal acres on our own account to make
merry upon."
Se ear, Hugh bed tried with decent sac-
tea to keep up hie usual appppe�aarance of care -
lens casae and languid geedhumenr, in epite
of volcanic interi.al 'beam to avoid
the painful abject of his approaobing
narriego altogether. He waaachooling bine,
welt indeed, to fees society. He was Aare
to hear math of hie Solidi; trip. and it was
well to get used to it as early as possible
Bet the next queatiou .fairly blanched his
cheek, by feeding up uireet to the skeleton
in the cupboard : "" sow didi ou Arab come
to get aerivaintealwith Blatt "'
a little more gainfully. " You have no
right to eek me that," he answered be gen-
uine anger, " My private relations with
my own family rely ely n0 concern of
yours. or of any. one's.
Warren Reit bowed his head grimly once
snore. "4 Where has she gone 2" he waked
a searching voice. "I'm interested fa Mies
Challoner, I may venture to inquire that
much at leant, I'm told yon've heard from
her. Where *she now? Will you kindly
tell me?"
" 1 don't know," Hugh answered angrily,
driven to bay, Then with sadden Anepir.
ation, he added inefficiently : "Do you,
either ?"
" Yea," Warren. Reif responded with Bel -
011111 directness.
The answer took Massinger• aback once
more.. A cold ahndderran down his spine,
Their oyes met. Por one moment they
etaredone anotberout. Thenlin,ggh'sglanee
fell slowly and heavily. Sedated not ask
one word more, -heli must have tracked
her, for certain, to the lighthouse. He
must have seen the graveo perhaps even the
body. -This was tog terrible.=Henoeforth,
it was war to the knife between them.
"Haub thou found mo, 0 hills enemy V' ne
broke out sullenly.
-"" I have found you, Maasinger, and I have
found you ant," the painter answered in a
very low voice, with a sudden burst of un-
pmad
rettated franks- ea. '1 know you now
for exactly the very creature you area
liar, a forger, a coward, and only two
fingers width there of a murderer.. There 1
you may snake what use you like of that. -,-
or remelt, I will make aro use at all of it.
-For reasons of my own, I will let you.
I could crush you if I would, but I prefer
to acre= you. Still, I tell you once for all
the troth Remember it well. • -f know it;.
you know it; and when bout know we ,rack
of us know
Hugh litensingeriti Augers itched iutex-
pressibly that, neemeut to close round.
this painters honest breezed threat
in a wild death -struggle. He was a pan.,
sionate mate, and the preveceetee was ter.
Able, The provocation was terrible be.
CAMPS it was all tree. Ile tree it Ilan, s
forger, it coward -•wed as murderer i -Ilett he
dared note -he dared not, To thrust these
hateful wnrda down Relfla thrnabwould be to
The uestio. mast iiaevitabl g be asked
T q u Y t const exposure, and worm) than sal+osuro
an exposure was nob what Hugh, Masaln•
ger could never bear to face like a roan,
liooner time that, the river, or aconite, Ile
moat swallow' it all, proud soul tie he was.
He moat swallow ix all, now and for ever.
As. he ,teed there Irresolute, with
blsnolted lips and itching lagers, 'hie
Aetna pressed hard into the palma of
his Inside is the fierce endeavour TO
repress hit pension, he felt a midden light
touch on hie, right shoulder. It well Rath,
erley ouce mere. "1 say, Masaioger,"" the
jeuraellet petit lightly, all uneans:.ious of
d tregodY knock bou balls
" OA the
table a bit, wilt yott 1"
If Hugh AMsssiuger waw to go on Bring at
all, he mmuat go on livingg in the wonted
Whim of niuoteenth•ceutury Mere* hu-
manity. Tragedy mat hide itself behind
the scenes; in public he must still be the
prince of high comedian" Re unclosed his
bands and let go his breath with a terrible
effort. Half stood aide to lot him past.
Their glencaa,met as Hugh left the roost
arm. is arms with Hatherley. Ralf'* was a
glance of contempt and aeons ; Hugh Mas•
sin er's was elle of uudying batted.
Its had murdered Elsie, and Relf knew it.
Thab wee tho way Messinger interpreted
to himself the "" Yea" that the painter hail
teat now so truthfully and directly simmers
ed him,
eget; and he mat do bis 'hese to fete it d
with. pretended equanimity. " d. relation
of mute ---a distant cousin -a Oirtan girl --
was living with the family se Anse Meyseya
governess or companion or something," he
answered with what jauntinea?a he could
aumtnon np. "It was through her tient I
feret got to know my future wife. And old
Mr. Meyeey, theeereing nape in,lave -
Re stopped deed short. Words fettled
hint, Hut jaw fell abruptly. A *4.'1,1)&6
thrill seemed to course through hie triune.
Iiia Urge black eyse protruded auddeniy
from their aumktn orbita; hisolivaacolour'ed
Cheek blencheddpale end peaty. Some on,
ezpeeted enmotica bad evidently ekooked hili
ready flow of sews*. Mitcbuwn and the
painter turned round iu :surprise to ase vrhat
meld be the tinea of this unwonted flutter.
It wan merely Ferret Reif who had entered
the club, wind wu gazing with a stony Brit.
hit stare from head to foot at Hugh i1la;sin.
singer didn't happen to confide to you
the local habitation and the name of the
proud re.:ipient of so much intereated and
anapmatic devotion;"
" He acid, I think, if I remember right,
hsr name was Meysey."
"Meysey 1 Oh, then, that's one of the
Whiteatrand Meetings, you may be sure ;
daughter of old Tom Wyville Meysey,
whose estates have all been swallowed up
by the sea. They lie in the prebend of
Conaumptam per Mare. If he's going to
marry her on the strength of her red, red
' gold, or of her vested securities in Argen-
tine and Turkish, he'll have to collect his
arrears of income from a sea -green mer-
maid - at the bottom of the deep blue
sea ; which will be worse than even
dealing with the Land League, for the
Queen's writ doesn't run beyond the fore-
shore, and No Rent is universal law on the
bed of the ocean."
"I don't think they've all been quite
swallowed np," one of the bystanders re-
marked in a pensive voice : he was Suffolk
born; "at leaat, not yet, as far as I've
heard of them. The devouring sea is en-
gaged in taking them a bite at a time, like
Bob Sawyer's apple ; but he's left the Hall
and the lands about it to the present day -
so Reif tells me."
"Has she money, I wonder V' the editor
of that struggling periodical, the Night -Jam,
remarked abstractedly.
"Oh, I expect so, or the Bard wouldn't
ever have dreamt of proposing to her. The
Immortal Singer knows his own worth ex-
actly, to our planes of decimals, and esti-
ly the precise quality one feels called upon
to exact in a prospective father-in-law
slowness goes with some solid virtuse. The
honoured tortoise has never been accused
by its deadliest foes of wasting its patrimony
in extravagant expenditure,'
"Has she any brothers 2" Mitohison asked
with apparent ingenuousness, approaching
tete quertion of Miss Meysey'a fortune (like
Hugh himself) by obscure byways, as being
a politer mode than the direct assault.
" There was a fellow called Kepley in the
fifth form with me at Winchester, I remem-
ber ; perhaps he might have been some sort
of relation.'
Hugh shook his bead in emphatio dissent.
u No," he answered; "the girl has no
brothers. She's an only child -the last of
her family. There was one eon, a captain
in the Forty-fourth, or something of the
sort; but he was killed in Zululand, and
was never at Winchester, or I'm sure I
should have heard of it. -They're a kinlesa
lot, extremely kinless ; lir fact I've almost
realised the highest ambitionof the Ameri-
can humorist, to the effect that he might
have the luck to marry a poor lonely friend-
less orphan:"
"She's an heiress, then?"
Hugh nodded assent. "Well, a sort of
an heiress," he admitted modestly, as who
should say, "Not so good as she might be."
" The estate's been very much impaired by
the inroads of the sea for the last ton years ;
but there's atilt a decent remnant of it left
standing. Enough for a man of modest ex-
pectations to make a living off in these hard
times, I fancy,"
ger.
The poet wavered, but he did riot flinch.
From the .fated ",00k in Relf's eye, he fait.
certain In en inarant that the skipper of the
Mud•Turtle knee aomethia -if not every-
thing -of his fatal secret. w much did.
he know ? and tow much not ?-that was
the question. *Tad he tracked Flefo to her
nameteen grave et .Orfordnesa 2 Had he
ret^ gizsd the lody in the mortuary ab the
lighehautert-"ifilittet:beard from the cutter's
man the horrid tenth as the corp se's identity t
All these things or any one of them might
welt have happened to the owner of the
Alud•T'atrtle, twining is and out of Best
Angliancreeka in his ubiquitous little veuel.
Warren Rolf aria plainly a dangerous sub.
jetty But in sty CMO, Hugh thought with
shame, how rash, how imprudent, how un-
worthy of himself thus to betray in his own
face and featntoa the terror and nttoaiah•
moat with wbiob ho regarded hien 1 lie
might have known Rolf waa.likely to drop in
ally day at tho club 1 He might have known
he would sooner or later meet him there I Ho
might have prepared beforohand a neat
little lie to deliver pat with a oaaual air of
truth on their' fret greeting I And inateed'.
of .ell that, here he was, discomposed and
startled, gazing the painter .straight in the
face like a dazed fool, and never knowing
how or where an earth to stub any ordinary
aabj eub of polite coavereation. For tbo first
time in his adult life he was ao taken aback
with childish awe and mute surprise that
he felt positively relieved when Relf board.
ed him with the donble•barrelled question :
" And how did you leave Mies Meysey and
Miss Challoner, Messinger 2"
Hugh draw him aside towards the back
of the room and lowered his voice still more
markedly in reply. "I left miss bieysey
very well," he answered with as much ease
of manner as he could hastily aeaumo..
You may perhaps have heard from rumour
or from tho public prints that she and !have
struck up an engagement. In the lucid
language of the newspaper announcements,
a marriage has been definitely arranged be.
tweea us."
Warren Ralf bent his head in sober ao
quiescence. " I had heard so," he said with
grim formality. "Your siege was success-
ful. You carried the citadel by storm that
day in the sandhille. I won't congratu-
late you. You know my opinion already of
marriages arranged upon that mercantile
basis. I told it you beforehand. We need
not now recur to the subject. -But Miss
Challoner 2 -How about her? Did you
leave her well ? Is she still at Whitestrand?"
He looked his man through and through as
he spoke, with a cold stun light in those
truthful eyes of his.
Hugh Messinger shuffled uneasily before
his steadfast glance. Was it only hia
own poor guilty conscience, or did
Relf know all? he wondered silent.
lyse The man was eyeing him like hie
evil angel. He longed for time to pause
and reflect; to think oub the beat possible
non -committing lie in answer to this direct
and leading question. How to parry that
deadly thrust on the spur of the moment he
knew not Ralf was gazing at him still in-
tently. Hesitation would be fatal. He
blundered into the first form of answer that
came uppermost. " My cousin Elsie has
gone away," he stammered out in haste.
"'She -she left the Meyseys quite, abrupt-
ly."
"As a consequence of your engagement ?"
Ralf asked sternly.
This was going one step too far. Hugh
Messinger felt really indignant now, and his
indignation enabled him to Dover his retreat
(T,) tat OUti't'iNnED )
Yzmieo.
Tho volcano of Yz..1co, in. San Salvador, is
for many reasons the most wonderful memo
fain upon the aloha. It rises several thou.
sand feet nigh, almost directly from the sea,
and is surmounted by animmense column, of
smoke broken by messes of flames, a thou -
send feet in height, and rising with such
regularity that the mountain has been cell-
ed "The light•houao of San Salvador."
Rumbling and explosions aro constantly
going on within Yzatoo, and ere audible at
the distance of a hundred ranee. Ito dile
charges are very regular, but it is chiefly
remarkable as being the only volcano whioh
le known to have originated in Amcrim
since itt dieoovery by (olumbne.
In 17134, tho region now ocoupled by it
was a lovelplain, forming the coffee and in-
digo plantation of Senor Don Belthazzr
Event. In December of that year, the gentle-
man was absent from home, and his servants
became so alarmed by frequent earthquakes
that they fled from the place. When they
returned, a week or two later, it was to find
that large craters had been opened in the
ground, giving vent to awoke and flame.
Oa the twenty-third of February, 1770. a
series of terrific explosions took place, the
crust of the earth was lifted several bun.
dred feet, while flames and lave issued from
the rent in its surface. Anhour later, there
was another convulsion, which hurled into
the air rocks weighing thousands of tone,
and elevated the earth about three thousand
feet.
Discharges of lava and blistered stone con
tinned for several days, and in less than two
months, the level field had become a monnt-
tain of a very considerable height. Con-
stant discharges from eta crater have 'since
raised it to over four thousand feet above
the sea.
feeling than the young men of other nations,
but that he bail learned to attach mor im-
Portenoe than they de to the Inautielfand
display of life, He has net bbe money to
provide as comfortable or • eplendtd a home
for hie wife ae hip father has given hinq,
hence he looks out for "girl with money,"
who will and can provide it for herself.
LOST Fag. 1t*ANY YEARS,.
A Jersey Man's Adventetre tat the Peewee
OeSaa.
Au intereatfng narrative tha% roads like a
romance fa contained in a letter written hy,
Captain George Devisee of theBritisb barque
Queen's Island, to J. C. Parker, of Whining,
ton, Det, describing es visit to adistant anti
lonely Tale ittt the Sonth $acffio ocean. This
iso, luted spot in the great waste of waters is
known ea i' leeerstoie Island,, and be situated
in.latitnde 18'4' south and longitude 1&3°it)J
eget, being represented ou the charts of the
world ae an, uninhabited coral reef, quite die.
tent from navigation. Upon ibis exclusive
territory Ceptam Davies anys that one erne
Marston, who claims to have formerly lived
near Salem, N. J., reigns like g veritable.
Monte Cristo, lord and master of all he
surveys, •
Where the barque was off Pelnaereton Intend
Capt, D evicts was greatly surprised to see st
boat's crew put off from the shore and signal
that they wished to. be taken on boerd, ft
was at first thought that the nnespeeted
guests wen wrecked. sailors, bet when the
emelt boat pulled tinder the shadow of the
bargizsthe discovery was .made *het the little
crate was loseded to the gunwales with mew
and tropieal trate. The islanders were
Put on a trading expedition, and. apprised
Capt; Bevies of their desiretee evcbaiuge their
cargo for wearing *ppm* and- other produete
of uavilization not to be obtained on thele
lonely bland, The craw of the barque
welcomed the 'avenger* ori board lied ,sat
around them in w adi:relent, while Williartaa.
Macchio, the ping el Palmerston. indeed.
spun his yarn, Re spike with feelbug et
bis vld Jeraeybauie, and oleimedtbathispar•
eats ere atilt leaving in that Stet* somewhere,
Twenty-five years eget he shipped as. a sea,
man on the barque itfflemen, et San Frau.
ciao. bound to the White, oils of the ,ggreep
of .the Society Islands Hee_ deserted the
vaatael directly after elle had reached hear
desttuation, and remained ou the Weed for
threeyeare. At the end of that time be
migrated to Falmereton Ri*ed, where for
twenty.one years he bad been planting and
,growing cocoanut tress and telling cellar*
or dried cocoanut to traders, wii0 visited
the inland arbour once ayeai in the interests
of Sae Francisco merebentar. The p epulee
Oen of Palmerston snipe numbers but.
thirkeesouls, alt of *hem, SavA.biout are
natives of adjacent island', who have made
their borate on Palaneraton, and 1011 year
After year inthe cocoenectgrove thetabound.
there.
Capt; Davies took the beet lead of bland.
treasures, Chief Marston and his crew rowed
'sway in the direction of their lonely home,
and when lest aeon they were atendlieer ou
Vie. beak weviner their Carswell" to the
feat roeeding barque.
Saved by a Babe.
"" Whosoever shall seek to save hit life
shall Imo it; and whosoever shall lose his
life shall, preserve it," said the Master, then
rebuking the conventional opinion and eel.
fish cowardice of ilia day. Re used this
paradox that Ho might make His disciples
thizdc of the relative values of life and duty,
and stimulate them to arcriftee thetnaolvos
to their conviction.
The paradox is a prophecy which boa lied
"apringiug and, germinant accomplish.
ment," to uto Bateon's felicitous phrase, in
every deed of heroiem, and, in the dearth of
each martyr.
1t was signally ilivatrated during the
fearful retreat of Sir John Moore's small
army through the snow in the northwestern
particle of the Spsniah peninsula. Au over-
whelming hoot pressed the British, day by
deer ; cold, hunger, and the ohargea of the
Freub cavalry thinned their ranks; but
they merobed toward the see with patient
endurance, and calm fortitude.
Ono: day an English officer, weakened by
lack of food and fatigue, turned aside into a
wood to die unseen, Suddenly he came
aoross a soldier's wife lying upon theground
nearly dead, Clasped in her arms and pro -
tented by a shawl was her babe, With her
expiring breath :oho prayed the ofater to
talto the little ono, and save its life.
Tho mother's unselfish appeal roused the
dispirited ofll zar, Re 'accepted the new
duty, and as ho took the babe into his arms
frees strength Dame into the wearied body.
He deterzeined to endure cold, hunger, and
fatigue, that he might prove faithful to the
dying mother's true&
He belied the babe upon his back, andre
joined the retreating army. Day by day,
as he marched, he devoted bimself to the
infant, and was sustained bytbe determina-
tion to save it, no rasher what he himself
might suffer, He carried it through the
long retreat, and saw itse% in tender hands
on board a transport in Vigo Bey. The
babe saved his life. For through the little
one camp that heroic purpose whioh :mode
him strong to endure.
Forty-two Years.
A correspondent of an English paper,
writing from Moscow, tells the story of two
Rankin peasants who have waitedforty-two
years to ie married. They met when the.
man was twenty and the woman seventeen,
but, being serfs and miserably poor, set
themselves to work and save, to earn money
enough to wed.
Even after serfdom was abolished, so slow
was their progress that, after these forty-two
years, they only own between them m small
wooden hoose and three hundred roubles.
With this fortune they think it safe to marry.
How many Canadians would persevere
for nearly half a century in laying penny to
penny before venturing on marriage?
A clergyman who has married hundreds of
couples among the fashionable circles of our
seaboard cities, said lately, ""Phe criticism
may seem nnoharitable, but it is matter of
sober fact that in half of the marriages which
come under my observation, there was reason
to suppose that the motive of either bride
or bridegroom was to better her or his
worldly condition."
The reason of this is not that the young
Canadian ie leas capable; of deep, nnaelfish
A large apple tree near Yolo, Illinois,
which has borne for fifty-one years, had
upon it last year forty.five bushels, which
were sold for $1 25 per bushel.
Heaven, then, is the state,of the soul,
when, rising above space and time, it com-
munes with God and eternity. When God
enters the soul, then heaven enters the
soul.
Jesus, the Holiest among the mighty, and
the Mightiest among the holy, has lifted
with his pierced hands empires off their
hinges, has turned the stream of centuries
out of his obannel, and still governs the ages.
Doing any one thing well -even setting
stitches and plaiting frills -puts a key into
one's hand to the opening of some . different
secret ; and we can never know what may be
to come out of the meanest drudgery.
A traveller at St. Clairsville, Ga., out of
curiosity visited the court house and was
almost horrified to find his only sister the
defendant in a murder trial going .on at the
time. She had mysteriously disappeared
from home years before and her whereabouts
were unknown to her people.
A plant called the "heughing plant," or,
in scientific parianoe, " Cannabalis.Sativa,"
has been discovered, and it is alleged • that
when it is eaten in iia green state or taken
as a tincture madeeither from the green or
the dried leaf, as a powder of the dried leaf,
or smoked as tobacco, itis potent in produc.
ing exaltation, laughter, and cheering ideas.