HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1895-9-13, Page 6COIN' THRO' THE RYE.
Bee latILIten It. MATHER&
COOISTIeTtialna
"Good -by," I say, in faintest, dreadest
whisper; but he does not move or OneWer,
AU( noiselessly 1 step past hina ; btlt when
I he% e gone a seere or so of steps,. I pause
shuddering, for over the eold desolate fields
Moses the vvild and bitter ery of Strong
man In his pain: "0 God! 0 God!"
CUA.PTER V.
Spring! The dainty, lovely guest has
etolen upon us early this year, sweeping
away the dinging mists and frosts of the
dying winter with her warm, fragrant
skirts; touohing the sober brown hedgee
with her fairy wan& m.tt1 lo! they' nave
bloomed forth into rarest tapestry of pow-
dme- geren :led downy delicatest spikes of it. Well, I hvo, rt is true, and sleep,. eat,
to got Manta I made up n ohignen out of
an that bad been. MO off, atin need to Pat
Oner rint short earls, but I was Always
losing it, and at last Pepper foand it out
and worried iG to hit, and there was an
end of my first unlawfol adornment. I
wonder iS I look that popular object of
riaicule, a blighted being, as I sit meter
the oak -tree in my smart print gown, with
all the flowers creeping about my 'feet and
tbe bonny blue sky over my head? I pull
back my slecove and look at my epin ; it is
not very fat, but it is. not lean, mid my
fingers have dimples in them still--decid-
edly,grief has not altogether made fa, wreck
and a ruin of me, That is the beauty ot
never having been partioularly handsome;
where there is so little to lose, the differ.
once is not perceptible.
Dolly says that if I had more oolor
sbould look exactly as I did three years
ago, and I believe that she and mother
both think that I am beginning to get over
ys. ew, starring. the banks with faint pale drink, lartg.
n even, much as I used to do,
bat I am like a body of which one half is
paralyzed, while the other retains its vigor;
the inevitable, every -day, common side is
pa:erases awl purple -breasted violets, oar-
pettne the woodland); with grayish wind
Dowers and slender blue -bells, that sway
all their dainty blossoms with every soft quick' and oapable; the other; God and my
wind that steals about them. She has set owu heart only know about that. I never
all the young leaves waving, the birds was ono to keep up a running complaint
singing and her south wind. blowing, and. about anything; when I was glad or sorry,
over the pulsing, throbbing, blossoming I always made a great noise over it, and
earth her light feet have skimmed, leaving had done with it; so in tho fortnight tbat
beauty, life, and gladness everywhere. The preeeded my illness I think I exhausted all
poor, the sick., the lonely, the rieh, the power of active susl ovine, and that for the
happy; the sad, love her equally, and \seal- rest of in7 life I can oary endure passive -
come her with pager, smiling faces and. ey.
ontsretched loving arms. I do not believe in any healthy matt or
Ay! Spring brings a holy, softening in- woman dying for love, unless they sot
fluenco with her, and jogs the memory of themselves deliberately to do so. They
men and. women alike to better things and must be either v1010115 or weakto do so,for
better hopes. And she brings to me 730 , it is a little -minded nature that,possessing
more and no less than green loaves, blue many good gifts, counts life as stale and
skies end gay flowers. No delight creeps worthless beoatise the one thing he desires
through me as I see the first early blossom is withheld from him. Shame and dis-
parting the browu earth; no thrill stirs grace may well kill, and do, but mere suf-
me as the trees, one by one, each after other
don their varied livery. I think I shall
soon be like the man of whom it was writ-
ten that.
" A primrose by the river's brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more."
Often I shut my eyes, that I may not
see the flowers growing so bravely on the
stalks. They were here last summer, they
will be here next; they are but poor per-
ishable little things, and yet they come
back to us every year, milke those human
blossoms that we lay away from our sight
with such bitter, passionate tears and. cries,
eilhat man or woman mourns his dead
in the bitter, ice -bound winter as they do
in the tender, warm, passionate spring,
when every flower, and. bud, and leaf, and
birl is quick and living, rioting in life,
and praising God each after his kind! All
things eeem to remember.
The birds cry, "We aro calling him, we
tering never; the human heart must have
something; more than sbnple pain before it
breaks.
It is considred a poetical thing enough
to cile for love; surely men must know by
this time hew infinitely easier a thing it is
than to live for love! The inan who takes
up his burden and bears it bravely has my
honor, but he wile lies down, and lets the
waters of adversity swirl over his head,bas
my hearty contempt. I ask no pity, and,
what is better still, no one ever offers me
any. I make just as much hurry to be
down in time for prayers as ever I did in
ray life; I still love that unlawful ten
minutes in bed after being called, that has
cost me so dear on many a terrible occa-
sion: still, with a dexterity acquired by
long practice, work at the rusty pump of
daily conversation at the family table. I
feel snubbed and miserable when the gov-
eruor calls .a:te by the time-honored title of
a dummy, and distinctly indignant when
he apostrophizes nie as a peacock, when
are calling him I" The leaves rustle and my tail does not even touch the ground,
whisper, "Where is he, where?" The and, though I am growing as old as the
flowers murmur, as they shake their beUs, hiUs, I have never yet relieved my feelings
"He used to pass this way." Every tiny by making a good face at him to hie 'face.
blade of grass, every trill of the blackbird I can still see the absurd side of things
brings the past quivering before us—the as quickly as the sad, though for the mat -
days when we had our beloved, and could ter of that the one frgeuently suggests the
look in his face, and put out our hands to other. Now and then I feel a desperate
touch him,that we seek to bridge and can- distaste for my bright -colored dresses and
not, with abitter, yearning painthat is the insouciant ways, and lean severely toward
intenser by reason of its impotence. sackcloth and ashes, while as to temente-
1 wonder why 1 am thinking so regret- tion I doubt not 1 (mold lift ap my voice
fray to -day of thosepoor, voiceless, eyeless, in a dolorous howl with the best. These
dead people? I have my dead, it is true, luxuries being denied me, I am garbed
but they are not lying under the grass,but like any other Christian, and my voice is
deep down in my heart. God has not yet seldom raised. in anything more distracted
coma to the names of any of my people or , than a bellow across -country after one of
the few strangers that I love. the boys.
There is some One of whom I always I wonder if I shall live to he an old wo-
think as dead, though I know that he is man? Perhaps, and take to flirting in my
numbered among the living. Only by old age like Cleopatra, Helen ttf Troy, and
thinking of him thus can I keep the high the rest. Until the other day I never knew
wall standing between us from falling and that Anthony's goddess was thirty years
crushing beneath it my hard-won, icy old when she fell in love with him; that
composure, If I ever thought of him as Helen of Troy was forty when she eloped
living, breathing, sleeping, laughing, sor- with Paris,sixty when she returned to her
rowing, I could not bear my lot; every long-suffering husband. MadameRoca-
oonamon sight, and sound, and aot would inier was reckoned the most beautiful wo-
send my thoughts leaping toward him; man in Europe from the age of thirty -
and, since I cannot forget, I will not think. eight to fifty-three; Aspasia ruled royally
I will not stand in a fair garden and, lift- from the age of thirty-six to that of sixty;
ing my eyes, behold hins.—far away, in- and ever so many more of them ; and to my
deed, but sitll like unto me; subject as I thinking it is a miracle, with all these
am to God's sun, and ram. and snow and frisky matrons on record, that our mothers
heat—rather do I set my feet on a barren and grandmothers don't cast about their
shore, where no living thing can come; eyes among the neighboring squires for a
where I can look north, south, east, and. Paris, an Anthony, or anything else with brought his wife and son. There are queer
west, and see not one speck of anght to a presentable natne. stories abroad., I am told, about his rola-
break the dull, gray monotony. I did not What silly thoughts I have fallen upon 11 tions with his wife."
come out to think dismal thoughts, look at my wateh; six o'clock; more than Here the governor pauses, and gives an
though. The world looks very fair this time for me to go home. I pick up my uneasy glance at Dolly and me, as fathers
morning, like a great, softly splendid em- hat, alrnost as shabby and quite as unbe- and mothers have a knack of doing when
erald set about with sparkling precious coming as the one I used to wear at tbe they find the conversation turning snore
stones. The old trysting-place--that trysting place that to meat than to
I have never passed, never looked at since "What are they?" asks mother, with a
that Christmas morning. In our rambles certain curiosity in her voice; gentle as she
at Papa's heels, if he has gone that way I is, I aux sure it would grieve her to hear
have dropped behind and struck across the evil spoken of Silvia Vasher.
foot t and her son le here, her's and. Paul's.
Ayl she has triumplied. over me in very
truth, and she is unix ouly Paul Vasber's.
Wife, but the mother of his ohild, They
Must matte a handsome family, the date;
strong-fteed father, tile exquisite mother,
the pretty boy. I dere, say I shall see it
some day. No doubt he has grown to leave
nor is sbe not Wand to him by a closer,
tenderer to then he dreamed cif, when he
swore not to. go baelt to her that Christmas
morning? tiod allay not time, man's in-
constaney, and her own maddening loveli-
ness, have closed the wounds that gaped'ae
widely three years ami more ago? Three
years ago 1 Little enough to a wom an, with
her empty, uniform days; an eternity to a
nian who has a man's busy, eventful life
to load, ele must have forgotten me, or he
could. never liave borne to come back to a.
place which mast remind him, at every
turn, of the old dos. And yet the man I
saw looking out, over the field of rye, two
hours ago, looked like anything rather
than a man with his heart as rest. If he
would only go away soon, and. leave me in
peace—or that dull refuge of apathy that I
misname peace I—Mother' comes in, and
sits beside rue in the half light.
"You know he has oorne back, dear?"
she says.
"I know it, mother."
"He might haee stayed away," she says,
with a quick auger in ber tone; "he ought
to ha-ve known better than to come."
She does not love him. Poor mother!
to her, he is the man through whom her
daughter's life has been spoiled.
"Ile has been away long enough,
mother. He could not stay forever. You
forget the estate. No doubt he was forced
to come."
"Well says mother, sighing, "the
misery of it all we know'the unpleasant-
nesses of it have now to be faced."
"Yes, they have to be, surely enough.
'What mortal can remain on the mountain
tops of misery always, and is not obliged
to descend to the valleys of commonplace
consideration now and then?
"Idon't knave what to do, "says mother.
"As to calling on, and receiving that wo-
man, I will not." (It must be a very bad
female indeed that goads mother into call-
ing her "that woman,")
"And if I refuse to do so, your father
will insist on knowing the reason, and you
made me promise you that 1 would not
tell him about you and Mr. Vasher."
"And you must not," I say, starting up,
and sitting down again. "Tell the whole
world, but never tell him!"
"Very well," says mother, sighing;
"then you must put up with the chance of
meeting her; and remember, Nell, that
you lay a heavy burden upon me, not only
of deceit toward your father, but great un-
pleasantness as regards myself. It is some-
thing, indeed, that I should have to take
the band of a woman who has done you
such horrible injury a
"She won't come here, mother, dear," I
say, kneeling down by her side; "and you
need only leave cards."
""It is such a pity," goes on mother,
"that your father liked the Vashers al-
ways; if he were quarrelling with them,
as he does with everybody else, there would
be no trouble. I am afraid you will have
to meet him," she says, stroking my hair
gently; then she adds, wistfully; "Is it so
very hard to you, dear? It should not be
by nuw."
Mother does not understand quite. My
story seems a very long while ago to her.
"Don't be afraid, mother: if we do meet
face to face, I dare say 1 shall know how
to behave."
"Supper is waiting," says Dolly, enter-
ing hurriedly; and we go down -stairs with
much haste and more fear.
The governor's visit to Now Zealand has
not altered him in any way, neither have
the added years made any perceptible
change in his appearance. To -night he is
in an amiable mood, and there are no des-
perate pauses and pregnant hiatuses in the
conversation. How easy it is to arnuse a
man when he pulls with you, not against
youl
"So Vasher has come back?" he says to
mother, when he has got his pipe, and is
blowing out long, comfortable clouds that
mtk401.:st,all cough and wink again.
' "High time he did, too; the estate's go-
ing to wrack and ruin. And he has
" Flowers. purple, blue and white,
Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embrold.-
ery,"
speckle the meadows and banks, exquisite- fields for another path. My way back to "A pack of lies, no doubt; they always
ly pure and delicate in their first robe of the house lies very near it; front a hedge are whore a bandsome woman's concerned.
thousand, thousand shades of green and that I shall pass I can see it quite plainly, I am told she is magnificent. They say
yellow; so young and fresh are the leaves but I never have any wish to see it. I he left her two days after he married her,
yeethat they look as though a rough hand should even like an earthquake to come and never returned to her for a year.
would brush the bloom from their surface. and swallow up the spot that has such bit- don't believe a word of it myself, for the
The light quivers and plays hide -and- ter -sweet memories. I leave the woodland, Vash ors were never hasty ni en they al -
seek with them, and shadows dance on the thinking how pretty it is, and that I will ways lookecl before they leaped, and I never
grass as though they were tripping a mea- bring Dolly with me to -morrow, and go heard of one of them marrying beneath
sure to music from unseen. fairies ; the bees along the lane that leads homeward, and, theme -which is more than can be said of
and waters mingle in a low symphony, coming to the place whence the field of rye most good families nowadays, where at
bearing up the exulting song of birds, who is visible with the old stile, sonaeovernaas- leas no cook, or housekeeper, or worse,
sing not because they are bid, or because
they have anything in particular to say,
but because they are happy; their little
bodies are full of rapture, and it overflows
In their voices. Down here in the wood-
land the earth is carpeted with pale azure
bluebells, that seem but a reflection of the
sky overhead; and among them spring the
win deflowers, swaying their pinkish white
heads in the sunlight, and the frail stitch -
wort, pearliest of beautica, opeus her snow-
white breast to the soft tar; the lords and
ladies stiff and tall, overlook all the little
woodland flowers, like a proud king and
queen set to watch over the revels of the
humbler folk.
.A. clash of bells rings out across the
fields, and I lift my hands to my e
trembling violently, Since a certain
Christmas morning, three years and more
ago, the sound of those bells has been to
nee ilke the touch of a coarse band on an
unhealed wound, and I have to hoar them
so often. All through that desperate brain -
fever I had, they jangled and peeled.
through my head; bells, bells, that almost
rang me out of this world and into the
next.
I take ray hands away from in ears;
shall 1 not have to listen to the sound
through all the years of my Manna think
to myself how like wedding -bells they
sound? There is a mad exulting hurry ma
thole peal, as though they could not utter
themselves fer joy; ancl yet no one is like-
ly to bemarried at four of the clock in the
afternoon, Poo.s Weird verses alwaye
come into my mind whoa I listen to bells,
wonder could any other man have caught
t loft meaning so perfectly, and written it
:town so faithfully? That is a great gift
to Iowa, not only a beautiful idea, but to
clothe ft in the right words. As I listen
My thutighte go beck to that day, lust
three yours ago, when 1 looked in itty gittee
and saw my hair just beginning to grow
III short thick locks over my head; it line
almost all come back to me now, but it is
not 80 'long 08 It used to be, When 1 began
tering impulse impels me to climb the
bank and look over. part the boughs,
and see, standing, with arms folded, on
the top of the stone, Paul Vasher, looking
out at the tender green and fresh spring
beauty of gold and meadow and wood.
CHAPTER VI.
"You know?" asks Dolly, swiftly, as
she lays her two hands on my shoulders,
and looks into my face.
"Yes, I know;" and in the soft spring
twilight Igo upstairs into my dusky pink
and white hamber.
"When the bell rang out," says Dolly,
vtith a certain allZiolls besitation. 'every-
body wondered, and Larry went into the
church to ask the reason. 'Mr. and Mrs.
'Washer return this afternoon,' the ringers
said; and ten minutes after they dove by.
I looked for yen everywhere, dear. Nell!
Nell! do you mina so very much?"
"Kind!" I say, looking at the direplegd,
aresh face of my eighteen -year-old sister;
I doo't think 1 mind. 1 have seen him,
Dolly."
"What! And spoken to him?"
Ile did not see rao."
"How long ago?"
"Perhaps an hour."
"Don't fret, darling," the says, putting
her arm town' my Oeck ; "perhaps be
moves in the family circle. Mrs. Vasher
is one of the Flemings of—shire."
Never before did I hear so long and
peaceable au oration from the governor.
Pla'aily the subject has a soothing :affect
upon his mind.
"If these reports are afloat," says
mother, "will you wish me to call upon
her? There are the girls, you know."
But this little diplomatic move avails
her nothing.
"Vasher must not be slighted,"says the
governor; "so you will call upon her and
take the girls."
Dolly turns rod as a turkey -cook, and
screws up her mouth in a form that says
plainly enough, "Never!" I go on with
my fox's nose without a word.
"The Tempests return tiext week," says
papa, with a grateful change of subject.
"What the old man can be thinking about
to race about the world as he does—"
Here he pauses expressively.
"Do you hoar, Dolly?" I say to her.
"George is coming back! Are 'you not
glad?"
"Vety,'"' says Dolly.
As I look at her pretty, blooming face a
happy thought strikes me. Why should
not she and George mato a match? She
always liked him, and he would suit her
far better than he °vet would have suited
won't stay long, and you need not' inent me. I wonder what he has been doing
hire," With himself these last two years? dis-
NO, I need not; but WM he net breathe tinguishieg hinaself, I hope.
the saane air that I breathe—see the same ; Bedtime 007no 3. "Good -night I good -
people that I see? Is he not alive and night!" At last I am in itty chamber; the
q utak, hero, instead of a shadow moving door 15 locked, and I arn alone. loon my
somewhere out of my sight? Sooner or Window wide, and the soft,rnoist alt creeps
later, I have always known, Pani most in with the faint earthy smell that ever
:tome to the house of his fathers; but not wanders abroad in eaaly spring, whisper-
thus—not without warning. He shoula at ing that Netute's forces aro stirring at
least have gittort inc time to get myself their sourees,and prep tting new aod beau -
away, and now be is here. The whole tiful treasures for our oyes' delight
World was not wide ottough to lie betWeen There is no moon, and the darkness M-
use and now there le a patch of grass, A folds irie in its softness, and seems to hide
few trees and flowera, and that is all, And me away --body and soul, ttuborn thought Mouths Of the beatitiful. Who does net
the Woman IS 'With hint Who took itie life and ceneelons feeling, anxious fear and feel his heart turn warmly toward the joy -
In hand, and trampled It tinder hot trembling joy, Joy! What hese° 1 to de aagettgugne
Witb II) this night? AS though it were a
Onion, I must send from me the heavenly
\ Isaac that has stayed so long away from
me, lett toy soul perish.
Is it; a sin that, my oyes beholding htne to-
day, have been blest incleedt 10 it a crime
that my body is one ache to feel the mer-
est friendliest touoh of his hand, my ears
one eager hearkening for the sound of his
voioe? And this is my streegth, this Ma
oomposure,that I have built up so slowly
and painfully, to melt away like snow be-
fore the sun at a mere glimpse of his un-
eonscious faee Is it as another woutan's
husband that I think of him ; or as my lost
lover, who cleaves to The through time and
space, and who is mine as I am 1115? Less
of fear than delight moves me, wis aix
knowing he is oome to me, that 1 have
seen hinea living, breathing man, instead
of a gray shadow in spirit -land, divided
from me by a river my feet shall never
cross.
My mind contemplates the misery and
bitter circumstances of the situation—the
sight of my eneniy filling my place, usurp-
ing my rights. My heart sweeps away all
paltry, trivial considerations and, looking
the truth fairly in the face, sees and recog-
nizes, trembling, the danger of the hour.
It bids me put all toy armor on, since love
that is lawful, strengthens, and love that
is unlawful makes men and women alike
weak as water—ay! better and stronger
ones than are Paul and
And since I know my danger, and meet
it, not hiding my countenance from it as a
phantom that a lying spirit would tell me
does not exist, 1 show a fairer °mirage
than he who vaingloriously goes forth to
battle trusting in his own strength, with-
out sending up one prayer for safety.
This night, then, is my breathing -space,
and in it 1 will struggle to convince W-
olf that to disobey any natural beautiful
instinct of my heart is virtue—to indulge
every Irresistible impulse and longing, sin;
to make my heart cold and hard as steel,
my eyes blind and dull as those of a mole;
to transform myself from a creature of
flesh and blood, subject to hittaan passions,
to a chill, black automaton. Then, may
be, I shall be able to meet him, not as my
lost, lost lover, but as the husband of an-
other woman. This is my task.
Oh, Night, your hours are long and si-
lent, and the faint day -break of the morn-
ing comes not yet.
CFIAPTER VIL
It is Sunday mornine and all Silver -
bridge that is not bedridden, infidel, and
naked, is sitting in church listening to Mr.
Skipworth's dr ning voice that makes up
In sound what it lacks in sense. The
chancel -door is open, and through it nay
eyes, weary of gazing at the vacuous rot-
undity of my pastor and master's counten-
nee, wander, refreshed by the pale green
of the young leaves on which the lights
and shadows quiver and leap. A bird,
lighted on the threshold, is sending his
shrill, clear song straight into the church,
and Mr. Skipworth shakes his head impa-
tiently as though he said, "how dare that
impudent bled lift up his voice while Tam
speaking?" But oh! how much more
sweetly does the voice of the ignorant bird
inform our hearts and ears than that of the
preaohing, reasoning man 1
PITIVIR DRINKS.
A DRINK THAT WILL FILL ONF„'S VIS*
ION WITH SEA tEFIPENTS.
lembriety In the City of 1'dexico-1'11341w
Shops IR n Every Cereor-,Eoseeihles Green
Inalt---Certaio 111$7ttures. Make It Double
Injurious,
The first thing to be clone by the invest!.
gating tourist of this country' is to begin
to drink the national beverage, puique.
The second thing to be done by the inves-
tigatieg tourist is to cease to drink p.nique.
This last reoommendation, however, Is
necessary to no one. The human In-
clination acts automatically, so to speak-,
in this ease. If the great drunkard, of the
drama should raise his right hand and
swear solemnly never to tout% another
drop of intoxicating pulgna as long as he
lived—so help him heaven—he would
make himself ridiculous. It would be too
simple. Why should a man ever taste a
drop of pulque after having once collided
with it?
But this does not relate to the Mexicans.
This relates to the foreigner who brings
with him numerous superstitions and
racial, fundamental traditions ooneerning
odors. To the foreigner, the very proxi-
mity of a glass of pulque is enough to take
him up by the hair and throw him vio-
lently to the grouted. •
Itsresembles green milk. The average
man has never seen green milk, but if he
can imagine a handful of earls green inter-
• poleted into a glass of cream, he will have
o fair idea of the appearanee of pulque.
And it tastes like—it tastes like—some
terrible concoction of had yeast perhaps.
Or maybe some calamity of eggs.
This, bear in mind, represents the opin-
ion of a stranger. As far as the antagon-
ism of the human stomach goes,thero can
be no doubt but that Imams) bears about
the same relation to the uninitiated sense
as does American or any kind of beer. But
the iirSt encounter is a revelation. One
understands then that estimation is every-
thing, even as the philosophers say, and
that we would all be eating handvriohes
made from door -mats if only circumstances
had been different.
To tbe Mexican, pulque is a delirium
of joy. The lower olasses dream of pulque.
There ate pulque shops on every corner in
some quarters of the city. And, lined up
at the bar in conventional fashion, the na-
tives may be. scan at all times, yelling
thirsty sentences at the bar -keepers. These
pulque shops are lasnally decorated both in-
side and out with the ieal ola paintings
done on the walls by the hand of some un-
known criminal. Looking along the pale
walls of the streets, one is ;tattled at every
cermet by these sudden hued interjections
of pulque green, rod. blue, yellow, The
pulque is served in little brown earthen
mugs that are shaped in miniatnre pre-
cisely like one of the famous jars of the
orient.
The native ean get howling full for any-
thing from twelve cents to twenty cents.
Twelve cents is.the equivalent in Ameri-
can coinage of about six :tents. Many men
The bucolic part of the congregation sit of celebrated thirsts in New York would
stolid and sleepy. They have listened to
him Sunday after .Sunday for the last
twenty years, most of them will listen
twenty more; and, if he were to suddenly
awake out of his sloth and preaoh a good rustle very savagely for his pulque money.
rousing sermon, it would probably dis- When he gets It he is happy, and the
agree with them horribly, and give them straight line he makes for one of the flam-
e moral indigestion, making them unoom- ing shops lute never been outdone by any
fortable for weeks. If you put the question ' metropolitan iceman that drinks. In the
to them whether they would like to be meantime the swarm of pulque saloons
spiritually awakened, they would tell you are heavily taxed, and the aggregate
that they do very wellies they are, andsee amount of their payments to the Govern -
no necessity whatever for a vigorous stir- ment is aboost incredible. The Indian, in
ring up. To them, Heaven is on the right his dusty cotton shirt and trousers, his
hand, hell on the left, and church in the tatterd sombrero, his flapping sandals, his
middle; to go to church is to be safe for stolid dark face, is of the same type in this
the former,to stay away from church is to. regard that is familiar to every land, the
go to the latter sharp and sure. Church same prisoner, the same victim.
is church, and it does not signify to them In riding through almost any part of
what they hear there—there's always the this high country, you will pass acre after
bible and. the prayer -book to fall back; acre, mile after mile, of "century" plants
upon. They do not make any strenuous laid out in rows that stretch always to the
efforts to unlock the gate that leads into horizon, whether it is at the hazy edge qf a
the kingdom of Heaven; they wall: decor- mighty plain or at the summit of a rugged
ously and slowly according to their lights. and stoop ninuntain. You wonder at the
There are certain well-known landmarks immensity or the thing. Haciendas will
in sin that they steer clear of, for the rest it have their thousanas of acres planted in
is out of all conscience to suppose that
honest, industrious bodies, who say their
responses and antens every Sunday of their
00,11 be a,nytihng but safe for a com-
fortabla place in the next world. Among
these simple folk are some wolves in '
sbeep's clothing; men who beat thein
wives, neglect their children and spend
their earnings in an ale -house, who are, in
fact, veritable mauvai ssujets. But mark
the difference! These men come up to
time every Sunday morning; in their
places they sit with their pommeled wives
and hungry children, with a decent coat,
and a clean face, and steady legs—respect-
able. Let them commit one tithe of these
misdemeanors and stop away from wor-
ship, and they are outcasts.
the ul it in the s uare red -cur -
consider this a profoundly ideal oondition.
However, six cents represents something to
the Indian. Unless there are some Ameri-
cans around to be robbed, he is obliged to
Under p p ,
tained pew of the Vashets, sits Silvia,Paul
Vasher's wife. I know she is there; but I
have not glanced once in her direetion.
But now, as Mr. Skipworth closes his
book and we all rise, I look across the
church; and we meet each other's eyes fully
and fairly, face to face at last. The dawn-
ing look of triumph wavers and dies before
the cold, steady scorn of mine. Ay, Ma-
dame Siliva I though you stand there his
wife, and I stand here lonely, forsaken --
though your words have come true, and
you have got your heart's desire—you are
a cheat, an interloper; it is I who am con-
queror, not you. You stole Paul's body
and name from me; but his heart, hie
love, his life are mine, and you know it.
He will not even be seen by your side on
this first appearance among his own peo-
ple. All this my eyes Say to her as we look
upon each other, and then we kneel dovv4
At the gate Mrs. Vasher's carriage awaits
her, superbly appointed, as are all her sur-
roondings at all times, and I think to my-
self how small 1 shonld feel in spite of
all the frippery and. bravery of it if I had
to get into it and drive away alone,
"Handsomest woman I ever saw in my
life!" I hear the governor's voice saying
as we cross the churoloyard behind him;
"tied Vasher ought to have been with
her."
I smile to myself as I listen. Will not
every man who looks in Silvia's nice con-
denin Paul es a selfish, cola hearted wretch
for his ledifterence? Talk about beauty
being only skin deep, "Handsome is as
handsome does," end the rest of those
worthless, lying sayings that man never
spoke, which are rather the embodied spite
of generations of pinin women, who, find-
ing the grapes denied them, declared them
to be Sour—it is no such thing. Beauty
is power, love, influence, rank, and riches;
beauty covers a multitudes of sine, for
which the possessot will hover he punish-
ed So long as sheen tevith the oyes of men
With her sweet looks and smiles: Ugly
folks inay starve and nobody earee, bay
PrOvidenee sends good thi gs to fill the
nothing but the maguey, or as the Arnett -
caps call it, the n century" plant. The
earth is laid out in one tremendous pat-
tern, maguey plants in long sweeping per-
spective.
Well, it is from this plant that the na-
tives make pulque.
Pulque is the juice taken frem the heart
of the maguey and allowed to ferment Inc
one day. After that time, it must be con-
somed within twenty-four hours or it is
positivel useless. The railroads that run
through the principal maguey districts
operate fast early morning pulque trains
In muth the same fashion that the roads
run through Orange county, N. Y., opertite
early -morning milk trains to New York.
From the depots it is bustled in wagons
and. on the backs of 'porters to the innum-
erable saloons and from thence dispensed
to the public. '
Mescal and tequila are two native rivals
of pulque Mescal is a sort eta oousin of
whisky, although to the eye it Is as clear
as water, and tecittila, is to mescal as
brandy is to whisky. They are both
wrung front the heart of the maguey plant.
In a low part of the country where pulque
pan not be produced the uatives use mes-
cal, for this beverage is of course capable
of long journeys, and where a native can
get pulque he usually prefers it.
The effects of pulque, as witnessed in the
natives,does not etem to he so pyrotechnie
and clamorous as aro the effects of certain
other drieke upon the citizens of certain
other nations. The native, filled with
pulque, soldoth wishes to fight, Usually
he prefers to adore his friends. They will
bang together in front ot it bar, three ot
four et them, their legs bending, their
arIDS about each others' necks, their faces
lit With an expression of the most ideal af-
fection and supreme brotherly tegartl, It
would be diffieult to make an impression
on their feelings. at thee times with a
elute Their whole Souls aro oonapletely
absorbed in this beatific fraternal tender-
ness,
Still, there are certain mixtutes, dertala
eombinatioiel which invariably bteed
troubles, Lot tne Waive mix bis pulque
at three cents a glass with eonte of that
vi,vid 'leave brandy and there Is likely to
be a Monstrou0 turmoil on little or tio pro-
vooation. Out at Santa Anita, which is a
resort Inc the lower classes on the Viga,
canal, they used to have a weekly °&e -
moo witieb was of the same order as the
IT Is A DELIRIUM TO TUE MEXICAIT.
regular Sunday night murder ia the old
days of Mulberry Bend, And it happened
because the natives mixed their drinks,
AVIten anxither Is SMIc.
it is peculiarly the province of a2datigh-
ter to be a help and oomfeet at the time
when molter falls sick ax d everybody and
everything in the houseboat has a natur-
al tendency to be at "sixes and sevens."
Indeed it is often just knowing that
things are going wrong which is the last
straw in prolonging for an invalid mother
her distracting headaches, painful rheu-
matic: twinges or fevered state of mina
and body. What Is a daughter to do? In
the first place, you must strive to keep the
sight and sound of domestic friction from
your mother. This is a pretty big contract
sometimes, but ()enrage and ability come
with trying, and unselfish efforts rarely
fail in the end. To begin, do your small
share of duties, if it be only to make your
bed, in such a manner as you know would
please your mother. Those duties ought
to be done promptly,tho. and this in itealf
Is not an easy matter, especially when
there is no pleasant voice to say: "Come,
ray daughter don't dawdle," on" Do the
errand first and then read Tennyson."
When there is no chance that your own
neglect may add to the general discomfort
open wide your eyes and see wbere you
can help others. Above all things avoid
having little fusses with your younger
brothers and sisters. Just as sure as you
do not, the sound of your sharp voices. per-
haps the very words, will reach tbe sick
room. Don't you remember when yenned
the measles and your head ached so se-
verely, how much pains your mother took
to keep the baby from crying? Perhaps
you did not notice, but 1 can tell you she
was trembling with weariness at nightfall
from the care nate gave you. So even
though it is not fair for Grace to take your
bandkerchief or Inc John to heotonpass it
byamietly this time. Don't slap the baby's
fingers it they stray into enischief doubly
often. Poor child! he is unstrung and
nervous, and is too young to understand
being without mamma, much less to tell
his vague diseomfoets. But why cannot
cook in the kitchen and Sarah, the nurse
girl, who have always done the work,
do it now? Let me tell you a little
secret. They are human and can get tired.
When mother is siek,they not only have
extra work to do, but they miss her order-
ly :directions and her wise eelp at "the
critical juncture," as she jokingly calls her
trips to the kitchen and nursery. Now
is your chance to apply a little of the oil
of human kindness to these human ma-
chines in your home. Try wiping the
cook's dishes at night or cleaning off the
breakfast table while she is forming her
bread. Try surprising Sarah by dusting
the parlor or answering the door bell when
at home. Take the children out to walk ,
and help John in his "home work," with
Its "awful" examples in deoirnal frac-
tions. Slip into the (lining room and see if
it and the table are in readiness before the
bell is rung. You know how your father
hates to find something missing from the
table or John's skates and cap on one of
the chairs. Be constantly on the alert to
fill in the gaps which no one else sees and
to repair the blunders and neglects of
others, but do not assume a manner of
command. Be tactful, and while you may
In truth be the housekeeper, treat the situa-
tion as one where you are merely an as-
sistant. If your mother's illness should
require the services of a nurse you have
still more opportunity to help. The nurse
is, for the time being, the head of the
household in all that concerns the siok
room,and this fact is apt to cease friction,
if not rebellion, especially in case of a con-
tagious disease. Your first duty is not
only to treat the nurse kindly and consid-
erately, but to uphold her authority by
your own obedience and by your influence
over and example to others. A tactful chat
In the kitchen may lull a storm there as
well as in the nursery. If you are allowed
to stay with your 'nether, do not forget to
offer to let the weary nurse out for a breath
of fresh air. Would you like to stay in a
sick room night and day without a bit of
telief? These are small duties, each trifl-
ing, and the whole not at all heroic; but
your mother has done this and more for
you.
Way Oft
Maud—Xs it so that Belle has lost her
mind?
Mabel—Oh, yes—all gone, poor thing;
she wears a big hat on ber heel and her
wheel -cap to the theatre,
A Gum Chewing Ptah.
Some years ago the writer of this article
was fishing from a boat in Mississippi
sound opposite Biloxi, when, growing tired
of a piece of gum which she had been try-
ing in vain to learn to like, she dropped it
into the water. What was her astonish -
merle wintt within the next half hour she
caught a fish with this identical piece of
gum in its mouth. This is a flab story, but
it is absolutely true, and not so very rernark-
able either wben one remembers that there
were a half dozen lines banging from the
boat at the thne, each holding.a tempting
bait, so that the fish who had snapped up
the gum wetild be apt to linger near the
luring snares and be eventually caught.
Supposing, Clough, that some one else
had caught this fish and found the gum, lie
might have hastily concluded that fish of
this partieular family—it was a catfish—
weee addicted to the very vulgar habit, of
gum chewing, and if he had examined the
gain he would halve further reasoned that
the fish had migrated from Mexico, as tee
gum was a resinous sap of a Mexican tree.
Going still further, he might have sur-
n-tated that as the ilsh obvioaely could not
go on shore for the gum the gum must go
to the fish; henee the tree either dropped
its life fluid from btu/mime overhanging the
sea Or sent out into tbe %valet Ion sappy
roots, froln vthieli the catfish extracted the
gam.
All becanse a woman thougnatlessly threw
a bit of thewing gum over the Bide of a boat,
esHarper's Young People,
I ease