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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1886-2-11, Page 2Lament, Bow meagre seems Om life se brieilY doled That 1 who noted in yqur ea,liee+hour The dimple in your lovely cheek unfold With the first smile of all—that 1 who told The promise of your beady ae some flower Flaming! across the stark Jaye of the year Promises summer—that I who to your first Dear warble that divined the glorious buret 01 music In your throat that y et might be The marvel of same later minetreley— How meagre eeeme the fife eo bailor doled That I shall neyer dee that beauty grow To its meridian, full.orbod as the moon Which great and golden in the mist swims low, And hangewide.winged to heaven when perfect Juno Traiieflguree night— that I shall never hear The voice In all the; passion of its tune, Sweet, sweet, and rich, with the unfallon tear, Thostrees of love, the wine of life 1 I shall be lying la my dust, Alicante For Song taeowlet over ate shall hoot ; I shall be gone,lbke the loose leaf froth the tree, The idle leaf that flutters iu the blast, And faits, and odd en with ehoware returns s at last To the enriching earth. Nor late nor soon, Dead inithe dark, shall it be known t0 me That you, the one consummate flower and rutt, Still ehow all men how goodly in the root 1 Thus murmured I when the child's loveliness, With graoiour prophecy of lip and brow. Pilled all my yearning heart with sweet distress And longing tor the impossible, And now, Less even than the loose and idle leaf, A mere blown petal from the blowing bough, The child is gone, and 1 grow gray and old. And still I murmur to my angry grief, How meagre is the life so briefly doled Ah me, The Love Letters' Stories. i there, did he?" obeerved the pen, grace- fally"changing the gabled. " No replied the bine letter, " but it wasn't hia fault. He wanted to marry the woman who wrote, me, badly enough, [ don't know that she exactly jilted him, but 1 have always thought she did. She Ivan .au imperious woman and command- ing, and, determined to have her own way, which she genevally did. They corres- ponded for a year or more until there was a pilo orf lettere jest like ane that would oover this desk. One day he tore up all the rest, leaving me alone, and from what he said 1 knewthatslie hail refused him," " What did he eav ?" inquired the pen, "Not much. Only a very few words. Ib was more in his tone than in the words bhemselvea. As he tore up the letters he sighed and tears stood in hia eyes. `Well' he said to himself, sadly, '1 hope he will make her happier than I could have done.' " " Why didn't he tear np you, too ?'' asked the pink letter. "Because he thought too muchof me," replied the other. " Well," remarked the pink letter, "the girl who wrote me diedor he would have married her. If he had lived he would never have fallen in love with your author." "Don't be too sere of that," broke in the pen, sagely, for it knew considerable of the world for a pen. "The first love is nob always the lasting one. So 1 have noticed." "Yes, but this would have been an ex- ception. He loved her so much. Why, you never saw such devotion. They were. so young, too. Bat they were as devot- ed as two grown people. Isn't that ua- usual ?" At this the pen spread its points In a smile and ruffled its plumagein good- natured derision. "Well," continued the letter, "I don't care what you think about it. I know it was unusual. So every one used to say, and I am sure if she had only lived they would have been very happy. At any rate he has always treasured me more closely than any other letter. I know that.' "You only think you know," retorted the bine letter angrily. "What have you to say," interposed the pen, with rare tact, addressing the re- maining letter—a little nnfaehlonable letter which was lying spread open and face upwards under the shadow of the pen rack. "Who wrote you ?" again inquired the pen. ° "Phlllis did," replied the latter sweetly. Letters, by the way, have voices the same as the ladies who write them and if you don't believe it jest take the letter your Phlllis writesplace it next ,your heart, and listen to its aweet.toned voice. "Did he love her, too 't" asked the blue letter, with a trace of malice in its voice. " Yes," answered the letter, " he did, and she loved him, too." "Where did you come in. before or after mo ?" asked the bine letter. " I really don't know. I don't know anything about you. He always knew Phlllis. He was the best man at her wed- ding. He was Jack's beet friend. Jack was Phillia'shnaband. When Jack died he buried him. I waa written a year after the funeral, years and years ago." "What did you have to say?" "I told him that Phillie would marry him, that she loved him and had always done so." " Well," replied the blue letter, " why didn't ehe ?" "I was misled in some way and never reached him until a few years ago." " That was very romantic," interrup- ted the pink setter ; " but what I want to know is whether you think he cared more for you than he did for either of ns ?" "I really don't know," returned the other letter, modestly. " 'never thought of that. I always felt ao sorry for him when I saw the pain I gave that it drove everything else orb of my head." " Pain ? What pain, pray ?" atked the pen. " You told him she would marry him, didn't eon?" "1 suppose he changed his mind and concluded notto marry her," observed the bine letter, suggestively. " No," returned the other, Badly. "When he got me Phillis was dead." The old writin,;-desk, with its odd brass trimmings, mahogany veneer, ita carved legs and heavy back, was covered with pa- pers. It was the week after the funeral and the executors of his estate Lad spent several days ransacking his study, arrang. ing,preserving, and desbroeing hispapers, preparatory to the arrival of his nephew and,helr. It was not an easy task straight- ening out these papers. He had a fool- ish way of saving his letters. There were not many of them, ib is true, for he wrote very little during the latter part of his life,(but_it was difficult for his executors to decide what should be kept and what burned. So it happened that when they found in a half -drawer a package of three love -lettere tied together with a bit of ribbon, yellow with age and fragrant with the musty odor of time, they spread them out on the desk and concluded to leave them there until the new master arrived, when he should decide their fate. The search had continued all day, and the aun was making giant trees of the rose bushes which grew beside the library window when the executors left the room and locked the door behind them. For a long time there was ailenc°, unbroken rave by the murmuring complaints cf thosehapieee scraps of paper buried beneath a pile of letters, half smothered by the weight and the rtistling,which was only zo be expected when so many sheets of paper, bent and cramped, creased and wrinkled by years of confinement, suddenly found them- selves at liberty. At length one of the letters in the package—asquare, old-fash- ioned letter, written on heavy blue paper —.looked around the library with an air of curiosity and Irgaired in a rather shrill faminine voice what was the cause of this unusual confnslon. "Don't you know ?" gravely asked the grill penwhich was suspended in the rack behind the inkstand. "No," replied the letter. it ?" "Where pen. "Where do you suppose ?" answered the letter, petulantly. "I have been shut up in that musty old drawer for nearly thirty years. It's a wonder I am able to breathe at all. Would you mind sprinkling a little dust in my face ? This air is so fresh it almost suffocates me." The pen regretted that it was enable to do so, but informed the letter that when the housemaid cleaned up theroom in the morning it would doubtless be accommo- dated. "Under thole circumstances," continu- ed the pen, "I don'b see as you are to blame, so I will tell you. He died last week,`and—" "'Khat is that you tell me ?" interrup- ted the letter. " Has he died ? Well, I thought he would live forever." " You knew him, then ?" "I did," anawered the letter, "very well. I was written to him by a young lady he met at the seaside when ho was young and handsome. They had driv- en together, walked and read together all the anmmer long, and when she went away to her home in the south and ho came back here everybody thought they would be married. So I have heard him say repeatedly. He thought so, too. I was the first letter she ever wrote to him, and I don't suppose there ever was any- thing he thought ao much of as he did of me." The letter said this with such an air of conviction that for a moment none of the other letters ventured to contradict it. " He used. to press me to his lips," continued the letter, proudly, "and he slept with me under his pillow for a weak." "I think," observed a letter half con- cealed in a three cornered pink envelope which was resting uncomfortably on its side by the inkstand, " that he used to care a good deal for me, too." "You 1" retorted the blue letter scorn- fully, for even a woman's letter detests rivalry. " Who are you, pray?" " I came from a woman, too," replied the triangular letter, nettled by the other's tone. "Ah 1 Indeed." " Yea," returned the pink letter, werm- ly f end ehe was beautiful, too. She area the dater of his college mate. They Met ab her home, where he spent his first vacation. They fell in love at once, and when he came baok to college she wrote me. I came before you did and I know he thought more of me than he possibly could of any other letter." "Hum h l That is what you know P about it;I'll leave it to our friend the pen." "Well," observed the pen, with Judi. Dial dignity, "I have noticed that a man usually thinks more of the last letter he gets than he deed of the first. Men are forgetful creatures." " You are not the last letter he has had," retorted the pink letter quickly, "There are otheta he thought more of than he did ofy oa." "I don't believe there are," ansvrero,l ... F c the blue letter. hotly. Ho wed to put ty me between the leaves of hia Latin hooks, and the profecaor thought he waa the hardest student In the class." 't 1dn't carry either of your att. "What is have you been?" asked the The Rink. It is said that the decline of bhe roller- skating rink has'set in. A great many epecalative people made hay while the sun shone. Corporate rink builders, manufac- turers of skates, dealers in various kinds of wood have realized fortunes out of the business. The country is dotted over with buildings for which aomo new use will doubtless be found, and many persons who held on too long have probably been sub- jected to losses. The rink craze was on a large scale while it lasted, and it had a long career. As a simple amusement, probably, roller-skating will not be aban doped, but as a mania its lease of life has expired. In its final stages it had become to some extent minchiovous, and the re- elization ot this no doubt has hastened its downfall. The rink as a social institation offered too many temptations and pitfalls to the simple and unsophisticated. Then, too, foolish young people began to be infatuated with the sport. Gide and boys neglected school to go to the rink. Young women threw off the re- straints of home and gave themaelvas up to the fascinating amusement. Young wives and also young husbands got them- selves into all manner of complicatlona through rink advent urea. Domenths broiia Increased. The peace of the family hearts wan in many cases destroyed. The di- vorce lee/yen waxed fat. The gossip and scandal -mongers had a perennial harvest. Berr the English hangman, le a tall, g q a respectable looking man, with the appear- ance of a mechanic. Ile is a shoemaker by trade, but dooa not work now, att' the executioner id welipaid, Re gets $50 a head, or, when there ate more than one, 00 for the limb, $25 tor the second, and $25 for the third, with all his expensed paid. The first essential isnervo. Broad, .erho preoeded him, wad a braggart, and liked publicity. He would smoke hid pipe outafde half an hour' before an ex. ecution, and drink, and had an active tongue. o . N wth:o e�too ti g n onorlF obliged to sleep in jail the night before 'a hanging. Caloraft, who was hangman for ao many yearn, was also a'shoe7maker, and )ilio I er- ry, a quiet, retiring mart. THE, FA.BM, Farmers' Cubs for the Young. Too much cannot be saki or done to aid or eneour"go farmers' club's. They should be a reunion of farmers and their families; a free, imolai comparison of sucoe nes tied fail urge, from which newbints may be gained, au occasion from which every man may re. turn with the feeling that he has improved hie mind and helped his neighbor, Gov, Robinson says ; "Tae seoret of power lies in combination ; combined sentiment that shall grow out of the intelligence and culture of such a union, cannot fail." Young farmers need the club and grange more than do their fathers. Talking in pub- lic, in the farmers' club or grange, or in the farmers' convention, is a very beneficial training. Young farmers and young men, expecting to become farmers, can do much in the way of getting a good agricultural education without going to the Agricultural College, if they ohooae, yet the privileges of the college and witnessing the experiments are far better than the home farm • Forme are schools—they are next to the college; Tho present tendency is in the direction of farmers' olube, or gatherings, institutes, grangea, etc. At first we had only one or more in each county, and these societies are yearly multiplying. To complete the system we want the small societies formed in all the towns, and the whole united, into one grand and co-operative system of popular agricultural education, under the auspices 'and patronage of the government. The farmers, especially the young farmers,, I truot, will consider this question. Bow gratifying would it be to know that four or five hundred of these clubs existed, scattered all over this Commonwealth. It was my fortune, whether good or bad, to commence farming when prices of pro- duce were very low. Butter 15 cents per pound, potatoes at shilling per bushel, eggs 12 cents per dozen, pork 5 cents, beef 4 cent;, etc. But, with all these seeming die• eouregements and obetaclea, I liked farm- ing and firmly believed then,' as now, that` if intelligently conducted, it will bring the average man as many good things in this world, that are worth striving for, as will any other occupation. If it be seriously urged that farmers can- not afford the time for mutual improvement, I answer, they cannot afford, at the present day, not to do it.—Daniel Dwight. Sundry Suggestions. Mr. L. P. Smith, a packer of forty years' experience says: "The quantity of grain that will make a pound of beef will make more then a pound of pork, and a pound of perk is generally worth more than a pound of beef. A Berkshire hog Is at his best ere he is twelve months old, while a bullock will require three, if not four years. If time and interest on money go for anytbing•then it is in favor of the hog." A. cut or a sore on a cow a teat is always difficult to heal, on account of its being con- stantly kept irritated by the milking pro- cess. Care should be taken to soften the scab before commencing to mllk. This will prevent the sore from cracking' open more, and if it is slightly oiled after milking it will generally heal very soon. There should be a little turpentine mixed with the oil in the fly season. There is much waste in throwing corn on the ground to be fed to fattening hogs. They will not eat all if fattening, as where a hog has all he oan eat he is rather dainty, and objects to taking his feed with any surplus- age of dirt. In very cold weather hogs or cattle fed ont-doors will retire to shelter be- fore eating all they world if fed under ether conditions. If pork has ever soured er spoiled in a barrel it is not safe to use it for park again, no matter how thoroughly it may have been cleansed. The coat of a new barrel warranted to prsaerve the pork is much lees than the valve of meat which it will hold. It is true the fault may not originally be in the barrel, but rather in modes of management, but, having once spoiled a lot of pork, the barrel had better thereafter be left to other uses. Many persona are prevented from using petroleum on wood work, and especially on the roofs of houses, by the fear that it will make the wood more inflammable, This is not the case. The oil enters the pores and so fills them that the wood is harder and leas likely to ignite than before. Coal oil or crude petroleum, with something to give it body, makes a cheap paint for all wooden implements, ane to coat over the ironwork of plows and cultivators to prevent them from rusting in the winter. weight, in proportion to the amount of grain expended uponit. From thio the im- portance is seen of making every young ani- mal grow from the starr, and meet especially la this warning needed in the management of the pigs in winter time.—Stockman.: Tip Potato Bot. There has been very wideepread complaint of the potato rot this fail. In acme fielde there has not been half a crop, and as a rule the general yield has been far below the average. Why cannot these serious louses be averted by proper precaution ? We be- lieve they can be in very many, if not in all instances. At least one cause of decay in the tuber is fungous growths upon the vine;, which. later spreads down the vine and to the tu- ber. This fungous growth is in turn caused by dampness, warm, wet weather being eapecially conducive to it. Now, how may we avert the danger here- after ? First plant no tubers that have been subject to this potato disease, Second, do not plant on low, wet ground. No serious results might follow in a dry season ; but look out for a wet one. Third, if you dis- cover this rusty -looking fungous growth on your potato vines, dig the tubers at once, even it they are root half grown. Half a crop is better than none at all. They are certain to decry if left until the fungus attacks them. When dug, pototoes should be put in a cool place, and a dry one, if they have been exposed to the fungus. Farmers who have triad thin method report satisfactory results, It is too late now to sot on this suggestion, but Save it in your farmer scrap book (you; no doubt have one) for another year. Your motto will then be : Watch for ithe yellow tints on the potato vines. Pigs in Winter. Many farmers have either killed er sold their heavy hogs by thin time, and their place is now supplied by younger mombere of. the porker family. It la important that these pigs be oared for during the cold weather in such a way that they will not suffer from the severity of the oolcl, nor be stunted In growth for the want of proper nonriehnfent. The little pigs should always have a good watm place to sleep, and plenty of good feed, no that they will grow rapidly from the start, until ready for market. Pork is low now, and it must he made cheap, and to do thin it will not do to itt thorn be a standstill in growth. At no time does it pay to fend out grain, unloose there le a auffioient amount of growth made to pay for it, and this oan not he reelizod with an animal at a etandntill, All feed to an animal rvhioh does not ro ' iii: pie or ion is tot d in thus g. w P P t, , d, an i e hard limos femme'eaaaot affor to waste an `stain whatever but to yield' profit it f`rf ttbe neon that eaoh animal allies'ittrireaeed BACKWOODS DEPRAVITY. Shocking Imutorailty in the Lumbering Clumps of Michigan. While equally beyond reach and control of the iciluenoee of civilization, there is a strong contrast between the moral status of the Ottawa lumbering camps and those of Michigan and Northern, Wisconsin; In the latter facilities are easy for the exercise of the grossest immorality, and a species of depravity appearsto prevail which is wholly foreign to shanty life in the lumbering regions of Ontario. An industrious De- troiter who has spent several winters ped. dling amoa g the veriousoamps of the Meno- minee district in Northern Michigan, gives the News of that city a,faitbful report of the state -of affairs in that section. "Last Win- ter' he says : " There were about 6,000 men distributed througllthia section getting cut the logs for the many oouopapies which carry on winter operations there. They are of every nationality and of all ages from young fellows of,18 to old men of 50. In the fall they go intothe woods with a spree and in the spring they come out with a 'spree, which they keep up until the winter's earn- ings are gone." A SHANTYDANCE 11OUSE. " I Shall never forget a night I spent in a camp about 10 miles from •Crystal Falls. There were about 200 men quartered there. It was a bitter cold night in January, and after supper some ofthe boys being off for a dames, they said,• and as ;the 'shanty pro- mised little sacept.to tumble into a bunk and battle with vermin, I went 'with the, reat. 'After a inn of about 20 minutes we came in sight of a; small clearing. In the centre stood a rudely oonetruoted shanty, tightly enclosed by a high board fence. One of the men pulled a string, Soon after the gate was opened by a big, villainous looking fellow and the men followed` each other through the narrow yard and into the shanty. The lower floor was one large room. At one end ,was a platfrom railed off, where an old follow rasped a wheezy fiddle while half -a -dozen girls danced with their partners. A rough bar was at the other end where the old woman of the house served out whisky and cigars of the vilest kind. This woman looked well worn out for 40, but I afterwards learned she was only 26. The fiddler ceased his scraping and the dancers made a rush for the bar. All drank whisky and afterwards THE WOMEN SMOKED AND DRANK with the men as often as the treats went round. I obeerved soon that the custom was that after each dance the men had to treat his partner. The woodsmen from other camps continued to drop in for sever- al hours and the drinking and dancing wont on. At ore time I counted 35 big, brawny, red shirted fellows in the room, all taking turne in the dance. " Of the six girls in the place only one had any of the marks of youth left in her face. I singled her out and asked how long ehe had lived in the woods. In a careless way she related that she had followed her lover from Canada only a few months previ- ous. That is how moat of the girls got there, she said. He had brought her out to the place and then had gone away toanother e camp, and she was 1t behind because she f could not pay her debt to the landlady. She had no nope of getting away before the place broke up in the spring. Even if she could get away she would not know where', to go or what to do ; besides, the old woman would keep all her clothes. That's what the high fence and the men on watch were there for. I soon found that the ;WOMEN WERE IN A LIVING HELL, from which their chances of escaping were poor indeed. The girl told me that the old woman managed to keep them constantly in debt to her. She charged them for their board, rent for the bawdy short dresses in which they danced, took a percentage of their earnings, and if anything was left over that she would charge up fictitious bar bills against them. The victim once caught, away from all oivilization and law, is hope- lessly in the toils from which she cannot escape until she has laid all her youth and vigor on the altar of sensuality, Many of the girls do not last more than one winter, so bard is their usage. Girls who go there in the fall fresh and in the bloom cf youth are turned out old hags in the spring. There is nothing left for them but to die. Those who survive are not acceptable anywhere except in the lumbering shanty, and then one year's service has detracted so much from their charms that th, y are pushed to the wall by THE LATER AND FRESHER VICTIMS. I have been around the woods enough to know that there are fully one thousand of these dance houses in Michigan and in Northern Wisconsin in which there yearly not less than seven thousand women worn out, and most of them start their mad ca- reers under protest. The men who supply the girls are the favored ones, and are all free to them. " The lumber companies are endeavoring to abate the horrible practice by refusing to accept orders from the men for their pay. This cuts off the supply of cash, and in a few seasons the dance houses of the lum- bering camps will probably become only a tradition," Only a Year Apo. u. s. 0. And le 11 only a year ego Wee we two wombed the falling rnow, M it robed the eetth In bridal white 1 1 wake from revery with a start, To eek tbie question of my heart, 21Iy lonely heart so sad to•etghl,. Only a year ago in the nrolight's warm glgw f sit and muse on the jivtul past; Fantastic figures rise and loll in flickering ebadowe on the wall; Outside the euow whirls thick and fast. Why, as I glance about the room Half in tire.light, half in gloom, Unchanged in aught elnoo that glad night, T oan almost fancy f ve fallen asleep And dreamtd those changes vast and deep, While under the spell or the warring light. But this keen regret and unceasing smart, This poignant sorrow within my heart, Are,alas g : I too vivid for seeming • And the knowledge of all I have loved and 1o3b, Tho fleeting blies and the heavy cost, Too true for any dreaming. Only a year ago to•nlght I What 0hangee dome, with Time's ewllt flight ; And how fallacious are dreams of blies 1 And how, despite their sting and smart, We hug old memories to our heart Of the joys we have learned to miss. And while with fancies my brain's been teeming Obllvioue.to all but my idle dreaming The fire in the grate has burned low ; Ana I whisper soft to the dying, Embers, I wonder it some one else remembers Just one short year ago 1' Adapted to the Listener. It is sometimes necessary to translate plain language into the terms most familiar to one's hearer. Tho story is an old one of the clever lawyer who, for the benefit of a sailor among the jury, at once turned his description of a ccllison botweentwovehiclee into nautical language. The juror was con- vinced, and the case won. An exchange gives the following : An Irish witness was one clay undergoing examination in court, regarding some per- Bonet injuries sustained by him. "And were you stunned when you were knocked down " asked a lawyer. "Was I what, yer Honor ?" "Stunned," "Sure, an' I don't know what ye mono, yer Honor." "Were you rendered ineoneible P , "An' what is insinsible P" The lawyer was shrugging hie shoulders in deepairat the stupidity of the witness, when a juryman rose, and asked to be al- lowed to .interrogate him,' " l ye now, Pat ?" Did the kill y, , "Sure,an' they did intoirely, yer Honor," ronl tlreturnd Pat, P. Py With what an air of calm. saporiority e hon will gobble a worm +after the reorder haa aorata'bod is rip. Thera are lots of hone in th..e world, " " eke from slur iia aro: Howling mo ys a being acid in the Poria markets for food. They are said to have a flavor between hare and pheasant, A Memorable Reign. On the 3rd of January there was gener. al rejoicing throughout the ancient king- dom of Prussia. In Berlin, the capital, there were processions and feasts, gal - performances at the opera, and gay holt- day-making in the streets and parks. Tho occasion was the completion of the twenty-fifth year of the reign of William I. me King of Prnesia ; and the subjects of the still sturdy old monarch, who is in hie eighty-ninth year, eagerly availed them- selves of the event to show them their veneration and love. There is no more memorable period in the entire history of the German people than that covered by the quarter of a sen. tury of William's reign. Coming to the throne of Prussia in 1861, he found that kingdom inferior, in military power and international influence, to several of the other States of Earope. Rna'sia, Austria, and France were each more powerful than she. A hope there was, of that national unity of whichf the Germans had for a long time dreamed ; but it seemed dim and dis- tant. Neither of the two great German realms—Prussia and Austria—seemed likely to be able to combine all the Ger- man Statism into one. The 'greatest public event in Europe of this century has been the accomplishment of that unity,ity, under Prussian leadership, and under the imperial crown of 'William. William was, above all, fortunate in Be- lecting, almost ab the beginning of the reign, a statesman of rare will and genian to guide his counsels. In Bismarck, he has found perhaps the only German who could have realized, in his favor, the proud dreams of Prussian kings and Aus- trian kaisers through many generations. But it may be said that, while William could not, in all likelihood, have aghieved German unity without Bismarck, neither couldBismarck have carried his great pro- ject to success had not William's char- acter been well adapted to co-operate wibh him in the task. The king and his chief counsellor, in short, have been ne- caasary to each other, well fitted to each other, and, united, have done ncbly and well their great task. PrneBia's triumph, first over Austria and then over France, was due to Bk.marck's foresight and ;tout persistency, to the able generalahtp of Von Moltke and the princes, and also to the good sense and heartily given aid of the king himself. We might say, alto to the strong popular auppport which king, princes, generals, and. chancellor received ; but this was rendered in great measure because the people have always believed in their king. Nor have the wise qualities of William been leas conspicuous in the period which has followed the accomplishment of Ger- man unity. The difficulty of establish- ing the new empire on a solid and lasting basis has been as great, perhapa, as that of bringing it into existence. Yet, thanks to the constructive genius ofBismarck, al- ready supported and aided by hia sover- eign, thin task too, has been successfully performed. Oa the verge of ninety, the bnff old emperor still bears his years bravely. Both his body and his intellect seem to defy the assaults of time and age. His zest alike for work and for pleasure is ap- parently undiminished. He begins to la- bor each day after dawn ; and his share in the government of his mighty realm is daily performed without relaxation or de- lay e- la He still appear;, erect and smiling, freely among his subjects ; rides his horse as firmly as ever at the military reviews; and maintain his habit of disdaining lux. nay; and living with a curiouslypiain mina pitchy and frugality. Truly, his is a wonderful and happy old age, He has lived to see the loftiest earthly ambition fulfilled in his own person ; to reign as a father and patriarch over hie devoted peo- ple ; and to be the arbiter of the destinies of nations. 'Undermined. The ancient vineyards or Palet tine were generally formed in terraces, in which the little foxes hid amid the vino -leaves and waited for the ripening of the grapes. A fragment of a vine -dresser's ballad, which appears in "'The Song of Sougs,"refers to Chia habit of the little creatures, and also to the necessity of destroying them before the grape ripens Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom." This fragment of an old Hobrew ballad suggests that little faults may deebroy a character, which, but for theca, would be strong and noble, a lesson also taught by the A.postle's words, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole. lamp." The beach- ing is ihuatratekby the H.tndoo explana- tion at the subsiding of a magnificent ghaut, or landing-dtafra, on the Ganged. Scindia, the founder of a dynasty of Mehratta princes, was a ellppor•bearer to the Prime Minister. By his talents and courage hi battle, he rode, atop after step, until he became king. To commemorte his good fortano, he determined to e ;, at Deuteron a meignifieent ghaut of ,nlld atone, to bo deed by pilgrlma wit'' ng to � bathe in that sacred Ganges, whichehould eclipse all the other ghauta in the holy city. LEGENDS OF T1HI SEA. STORxi§'s TOLD By SUPERSTITIOUS SAILORS A130L'"1' GlIOSTLY SHIPS AND CREWS, There ie nothing a genuine sailor more armly 'believes in than haunted ships.. Every sailor who has been long at aea has a story to tell of ships that he has been in when ghoatly and unnatural things took place. An English bark recently came into Pernambuco and was immediately de- serted by her entire crew. They declared that on the previous voyage, while a por. tion of the crew were on th uppr foretop- sailand one night handlin to sail the y g , rgo b t liglyards were lab. - mate . y and every man on the yard sh &ken off into the BM They said that every time they went on that yard at night to take in Rail on the voyage out to Pernambuco,ghoetly sailors worked alongside of them No throat's nor promiaes of extra pay could make the crew stay by the ship, and the story spreading abroad it was a long time before the vessel got another crew. There is a atory told by sailors of a haunt- ed ship whloh used to sail out of Liverpool. The last voyage she made as an ordinary ship with no ghostly accompaniment. She had a supercargo who was a violinist. He used to take his violin and go up into the main erosstrees, where he would . sit and play, his favorite tune being "The Girl 1 Left Behind Me." On the voyage the supercargo became insane and jumped overboard. Ever after that occurrence on stormy nights, when wind and waves were high and the ship groaned and creaked as she struggled through the waves, the sailors, floundering about on the dark slippery decks, heard above the howling of the tempest the sound of a vio- lin playing "The Girl I Left Behind Me" in the main cross -trees. Not many years ago there died in a little Cape Cod town a retired sea captain. Once when he followed the sea he came across a sink- ing bark cff Cape San Roque. A gale was blowing at the time and a heavy sea was running. Added to this night was coming on, and though the poor wretches begged frantically to bo taken off the cap- tain sailed away and left them to their fate. The memory of the doomed crew of the sinking bark, stretching their hands out appealingly and watching his ship sail away with despairing eyes and ghastly faces, lingered with the heartless captain all the rest of hie life, and in his declining days he frequently cumplalned that the crew of the bark were haunting him, and Bald that some day the It itself would sail into harbor and to away. One t oldmanlay winter er afternohe a 9 on his bed dying. Just as the ebb tide began to run he sprang np and shouted : "Don't 1 don't 1 I'll stand by till morning. I'll take you all cff 1" and fell back dead. The watchers by his bedside said after- ward that through the window which overlooked the bay they caw a bark come sailing into the harbor at that moment, and then vanished before their eyes. "The Little Wh j.e'(J ueen." The youngest soveffeign in Europe is little Queen Mercedes of Spain, who, hav- ing been born in September,1F80, is now five years ole. Her mother (Queen Marie Christina' of Austria) will act as rogent.dnring her minority. If ever a queen was born into the pur- ple, it is this Spanish infant. The Kings of Portugal and Italy, and the Emperors of Austria and Germany, are all closely connected to her by blood or marriage, while the Queen of England, the Emper- or of Russia, and the Kings of Denmark and Sweden are her cousins, more or lees distant. By her father's side she is a Bourbon ; one of a race which ruled Franco more than two hundred years, and has furnish- ed sovereigns to many countries ot Europe Among her ancestors she counts the great Constable of France, Henri 1V. ; Luis XIV., "le grand mowxrque;" all the eneccediug Frenoh kings of uhe legiti- mate line ; the great Charles the Bold of Burgundy ; and all of the most powerful of Spanish monarchs. By her mother she inherits the blood of the Hone° of Habsburg, the oldest / reigning family of Europe, which traced back its line to the Dukes of Alemannia in the seventh contrary. The Emperor of Austria is her uncle. Among her mains were the unfortunate Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, and his widow, the gentle princess who lost her mind when he was put to death by the victorious Mexican patriots, and is known throughout the world by the affectionate name of "Poor Charlotte," a name more significant than any royal title. Oar young democrat readers mast not suppose that the traits of these ancient ruling families aro npcesaarily superior to those of peasant,' aces. One of the ancestors of the little n Mercedes in the fourteenth century married a royal Polish maiden of greatYneanty and mar- velloua strength of body, whoa° thick lips and coarse, animal Mates have, it ie stated, showed themselves persistently in her deacendanta to this day. The Bourbon family, on the other side, have been a sensual, irresolute race for centuries. The folliea and excesses of Queen Isabella (the grandmother of Mer - ceder') have for many years made her name a byword in Europe. The lihtle queen's late father, Jiang Alfonso, displayed, however, much brav- ery last summer in visiting the districts infected by the cholera. Her mother le said to be a good, devout woman. The child heraelf is as yob, of souse, a mere lay figure to the public. Her mother has succeeded in interesting : the Catholic people of Spain in her by devot- ing here apeotally to the care of bheVirgin. The infant' queen, therefore, and her attendants appear always in pure white, her carriages covered with silver, even • her horses without a flack of Dolor. Inasmuch as the Spanish' Cortes will hardly declare the queen to be of age be- fore he completer her eighteenth year, there is a perilous period of thirteen years to be passed before she can ascend bile rone, Although at present the 'lo . ccept the regency of her mother paop et S air Is a countryo .,$....- ootdiall y P y o b l if little � r r voltttiona, and it is d tib fu e codes is de hied to reign. 11 it