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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1888-8-30, Page 7ROUGHING IT IN THE 131J8H. CHAPTER V. OUR Mtn bETTEEmENT, ANn TnE Boiniow- XNG SYSTEM. To lend, or not to iend—tbat is the quettion ? "Your house ! I'm Entre it's father's, ' returned the incorrigible wretch. "You told me.thet you had no fine slack, ' and you have stacks of it." "What is fine slack ?" said I, very pettish,- ly. . The stuff thane wound upon these 'ere pieces of wood," pouncing as she spoke upon one of my most serviceable ;spools. "1 cau,net gtt;e you that; I want it my. self." "1 didn't ask you to give it. I only wants to bdrrew it till father goes to the creek." "1 wish he would make haste, then, as I want a number of things you have borrowed of meaand which I cannot longer do with- out." She gave the e, knowing look, and carried off my spool in triumph. happened to mention the manner In which i was constantly annoyed by these people, to a worthy English farmer who re- sided near us ; and he fell a -laughing, and told me that I did not know the Canadian Yankees as well as he did, or I should not be troubled with them long. "The best way," says he, "to get rid of them, is to ask them sharply what they want; and if they give you no satisfactory answer, ender them to leave the house ; but I believe I can puf you in a better way etille Buy some email article of them, and pay them a,trifie over the price, and tell them to bring the change. I will lay my life upon it that it will be long before they trouble you again." i I was mpatient to teat the efficacy of his scheme. That very affernoon Miss Satan brought nie a plate of butter for sale. The price was three and nine.pence ; twice the sumeby.the-by, that ib was worth. "1 have no change," giving her a dollar; "but you can bring. it inc to -morrow." Oh, blessed experiment I for the value of one quarter dollar.' got rid of this dishonest girl for ever; rather than pay me, she never entered the house again. About a month after this, I was busy making an apple-pie in the kitchen. A cad. averous-looking woman, very long -faced and witch -like, popped her ill-lookitg vis- age into the door, and drawled through her nose. "Do you want to buy a rooster 2" Now, the sticking:pigs with which we had been regal( d every day for three weeks at the tavern, were called roasters; and not understanding the familiar phrases of the country, I thought ene had a sucking -pig to to sell. " Is it airgood one ?" "I guess 'tie." "What do you ask for it" "Two Yorkers." "That is very cheap, if it is any weight. I don't like them under ten or twelve pounds." Tenter twelve pounds 1 Why, woman, what clayou mean Would you expect a rooster to be bigger nor a turkey ? ' We stared at eadh other. There was evid- ently some misconception on my part. "Bring the roaster up; and if I like it, I will buy it, though I must confess that I am not very fond of roast pig." ---t*Do you call this a pig ?" said my she. merchant, drawing a fine gamecock from under her cloak. I laughed heartily at my mistake'as I paid her down the money for the bonny bird. This little,matter sealed, I thought she would takeher departure; but that rooster proved the dearest fowl to me that ever was bought. "Do you Jeep beaky and snuff here!' says she, aidling close up to me. " We make no use of those articles." " How I Not use bitchy and snuff? That's oncommon." She paused,then added in a mysterious, confidential tone: "I want to ask you how ycur tetonaddy stands ?" "It stands in the cdpb sard," said I, won- dering what all this might mean. "I know that; but have you any tea to spare ?" I now began to suspect what sort of a customer the stranger was. " Oh, you. want to borrow some. I have none to spare." • "Yon don't Bay ,so.. Well, now, that's stingy. I never asked anything of you be fore. I am poor, and you are rich ; besides, Pm troubled so with the headache, and no thing does me any good but a cup of strong tea." "The money I have just given you will buy a quarter of a pound of the best." "1 guees that ime t mine. The fowl be. longed to my neighbour. She's sick ; and I promised to sell it for her to buy some phyaic. Money 1" she added, in a coaxing tone, " Where should I get money ? Lord bless you;. people in Ibis country have no money ; and those who come out with piles of it soon lose it. But Emily S---- told me that yoti are tarnation rich, and draw your money from the old country. So I guess you can well afford to lend a neighbour a spoonful of tea." "Neighbour I Where do you live, and what is your. name ?" "My name is Betty Fye—old Betty Fye; I live in the log shanty over the creek, at the back of, your'n. The farm belongs to my eldest son. I'm a widow with twelve sons ; and 'tie— hard to scratch along." " Do,you swear ?" natenannenn "Swear I What harm? Ib eases onen mind when one's vexed. Everybody swears in this country. My boys all swear like Sam Hill; and I used to swearmightybig oaths tile about a month ago, when the Methody parson told me that if I did not leave it off I should go to a tarnation bad place; r so 1 droppedereeme of the worst of thetn." "Yon would do wisely to drop the rest; women never swear in my country." "Well, you don't stay ! 1 always heet'd they were very ignorant. Wilt you lend me the tea ?" The woman was such an original that I gave her what she wanted. As she was ge- ing off, she took up one of the apples I was peeling. "I guess you have a fine orchard ?" "They say the best in the district." "We have no orchard to hum, and I guess you'll want &tree " Sarce 1 What is earce ?" "Not know what tame is ? You are clever? Seam its apples out up and dried, to make into pies in the winter. Now do you comprehend ?" I nodded, ? "Well, I Was genig to say that 1 have no apples, ane that you have a tarnation big few of there.; and if you'll give me twenty bedhels of your best ripples, and fled. me With half a pound of &terse thread to string them Upon I Will make you a barrel Of setae • on el:area—that is, give you one, and keep %es for myself," I had plenty of apples, and I gladly ac- cepted her effete and. Mrs. Betty Fye de. parted, elated with the success: of her ex- pedition. I found to my octet, that, once admitted into the house, there was no keeping her away. She borrowed everything she could thitsk of, without once dreatoine of restitu- tion. I tried all ways of affronting her, but without success. Winter came and she was still at her old pranks. Whenever I saw her coming down the lane, I used in- voluntarily to exclaim, "Betty Fee 1 Bet- ty rye I Fye upon Betty Fye 1 The Lord deliver me from Betty Fete I" The last time I was honoured with a visit from this worthy, she meant to favour me with a very large order upon my goods and chattels. "Well, Mrs. Fye, what do you want to. " So many things that I imam know where to begin. Ah, *hat a thing 'tie to be poor I First, I want you to lend me ten pounds of flour to make some Johnnie cakes." "1 thought they were made of Indian meal r "Yes, yes, when you've got the meal? I'm out of it, and this is a new fixing of my own invention. Lend me the flour, woman, and I'll bring you one of the cakes to taste." This warr said very tioaxingly. "Oh, pray don't trouble yourself. What next ?" I wanted to see how far her impt- denoe would go, and determined to affront her if possible. "1 want you to lend me a gown,' and a pair of stockings. Ihave to go to Oswego to see my busoancl's sister, and I'd like to look decent." "Mrs. Pe, I never lend my clothes to any one. If I lent them to you, I should never wear them again." "So much the better for me," (with a knowing grin). "1 guess if you won't lend me the gown, you will let me have some black slack to quilt a stuff petticoat, a quar- ter of a pound of tea and some auger; and I will brmg them back as soon as 1. can." "1 wonder when that will be. You owe me so many things that it will cost you more than you itnagine to repay me." "Sure you're not going to mention what's past, I can't owe you much. But I will let you off the tea and the sugar, if you will lend me a fiveniollar bill.' This was too much for my patience longer res endure, and I answered sharply, "Mrs. Fye, it surprises me that such proud people as you Americans should. con. descend to the meanness of borrowing from those whom you affect to despise. Besides, as you never repay us for what you pretend to borrow, I look upon it as a system Of robbery. If strangers unfortunately settle among you, their good nature is taxed to supply your domestic wants, at a ruinous ex- pense, besides the mortification of fmding that /hey have been deceived and tricked out of their property. If you would come honeetly to me and say, '1 want these things, I am too poor to buy theta myself, and would be obliged to you to give them to me,' I would then acknowledge you as a common beggar, and treat you accordingly; give cr not greet as it suited my convenience. But in the way in which you obtain these articles from rae you are spared even a debt of gratitude; for you well know that the many things which you have borrowed from me will be a debt owing to the day of judge "5 pose they are' " quoth Betty, not in the least abashed at lecture on honesty, "you know what the Scripture saith, 'Itis more blessed to give than to receive.'" "Ay, there is an answer to that in the same book which doubtless you may have heard," said I, disgusted with her hypocrisy, " The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.'" Never shall I forget the furious passion into which this too apt quotation threw my unprinoiple,d applicant. She lifted up her voice and cursed me. using some of the bit oaths temporarily discarded for conscience sake. And so she left me, and I never looked upon her face again. When I removed to our own house, the history of which, and its former owner, I will give bye-and.bye, we had a bony, red- headed, ruffianly American squatter, who had "left for his country's good," for an opposite. neighbor. I had scarcely time to put my home in order before his family commenced borrowing, or stealing from me. It is even worse than stealing, the thinge procured from you being obtained on false pretences—adding lying to theft. Not having either an oven or a cooking stove, which at that period were not so cheat. or so common as they are now, 1 had provided myself with a large bake -kettle as a substi- tute. In this kettle we always cooked hot cakes for breakfast, preferring tbat to the trouble of thawing the frozen bread. This man's wife was in the habit of aending over for rny kettle whetever she wanted to bake, which, as she had a large family, happened nearly every day, and I found her impor- tunity a great nuisance. I told the impudent lad so, who was generally sent for it; and est ed him what they did to bake their bread before I came. "1 guess we had to eat cakes in the pan; but now we can borrow this kettle of your'n, mother can fix bread." I told him filet he could .have the kettle this time ; but 1 must decline letting his mother have it in future, for I wanted it for the same purpose. The neat day passed over. The night was intensely cold. and I did not rise so early as usual in the morning. My servant was away at & quiltino bee, and we were still in bed, when I heard the latch of the kitchen -door lifted up, and a step stressed the floor. I jumped out of bed, and began to dress as fast as I could, when Philander called out, in his well-known natal twang. "Minus 1 Pm come for the kettle." I (through the partition ) " You can't have its this Morning. We cannot get our breakfast without it." .Philander:• "Nor snore can the old woman to hum," and, }matching up the kettle, which had been left to warm on the hearth, he rushed out of the hottee, singing at the top of his voice, Burrah lr the 'Yankee Boys i" When James came home for his breakfast I sent him across to demand the kettle, and the dame very coolly told him that when she wart done with it I Might have it, but she defied him to take it out of her house with her bread in it, Otte Weed More about this lad, Philander, before we part with hint. Without the leatit intiraatien that his company would be agreeable, Or °vets tolerated, he favoured us with it al ell hones of ibe day, opening the door and walking in and mit Whenever he felt inclined, 1 had given him many broad hinter that his prersonce was not required, but he paid notthe slightest attetition to what I mid. One Morning he marched in With his a kat on, and throw hirtertelf deem in the rook., No answer, He seldom (Melee cleric theee Aetna but wandered e'hout the room turning over our bootee and papers, looking at and handling everything. Nay'I have even knovvn him to take the lid off from the pot on the fire to examine its contents. repeated my request. Philatider Well, I gneiss I shan't hurt the young 'un. You can dress her." 1: But not with you. here." Philander: "Why not? We never do anything that we are ashamed of." • 1: "So it seems. But 1 want to sweep the room—you had better get out of the dust." I took the broom from the corner, and began to sweep; stili my visitor did not stir. The dust rose in clouds; he rubbed his eyes and moved a little nearer to the door. Another sweep, and to escape its in- flictions, he mounted the threshold. I had him now at a fair advantage, and fairly swept him out and shut 'the door in his face. Philander (looking through the window): "Well, I gums you did me then; but 'tie deuced hard to outwit a Yankee." When a sufficient time had elapsed for the drying of my twenty bushels of apples, I sent 9. Cornish lad, in our employ, to Betty Fye'sto enquire if they were ready, and when I should send the cart for them. Dan returned with a yellow, ameba -dried string of pieces dangling from his arm. Thinking their these were a specimen of the whole, I enquired when we were to send the barrel for the rest. g fortunen befell us, which deprived us of our income, and reduced us to great poverty. In fact we were stunners, and the mewing ones took us in; and for many years we struggled with berth:hips which would have broken stouter hearts then ours, had not our truist been placed in the Almighty, who among all our troubles never wholly de- serted ue. While my. huabaod was &Went on the frontier during the rebellion, my youngest boy fell very eick, and required my titmost care, both by night and day.To attend to him properly, a candle burning daring the night was neceesary. The last candle was burnt out; I had no money to buy another, and no fat frora which I could make one. I hated borrowing; but, for the dear child's sake, I overcame my scruples, and succeed- ed in procuring a melte from a good neigh- bor, but with strict injunctions: (for it watt her last) that I must return it if I did not :squire it during the night. I went home quite grateful with my prize. It was a clear moonlight night—the deem boy was better, so I told old Jenny, my Irish servant, to go to bed, as I would lie down in my clothes by the child, and if he were worse I would get up and light the candle. It happened thee a pane of glass was broken out of the window -frame, and I had famplletrits place by fitting in a shin - go; my friend Emilia S--- had a large Torn -cat, who, when his mistress was ab- sent, otten paid me a predatory or borrow- ing visit; and Tom had aguttotioe of push- ing in this wooden pane, in order to penile his lawless depredations. I had forgotten all this, and never dreaming that Tom would appropriate such light food, I left the candle lying in the middle of the table, just under the window. Between sleeping and waking I heard the pane gently pollen in. The though instant- ly struck me that it was Tom, and that, for lack of something better, he :night steal my pees:ions candle. I sprang up from the bed, just in time to see him dart through the broken window, dragging the long white candle after him. I flew to the ..door, and pursued him acne over the field, but all to no purpose. I can see him now as I saw him then, saantp- ering away for dear life, with his prize trailing behind him, gleaming like a silver tail in the bright light of the moon. Ah! never did I feel More acutely the truth of the proverb, "Those that go ahon rowing go a -sorrowing," than I did that night. My poor boy awoke ill and feverish, and"' had no light' to assist him, or even to look into his sweet face to see how far I dared hope thatahe light of day would find him better. (To ER crobiTnfuEn.) "Lord, ma'am, this is all there be." "Impossible 2 All out of twenty bushels of apples ?" "Yea," said the boy with a grin. "The old witch told inc that this was all that was left of your share; that when they were fixed enongh she put them ander her bed for safety, and the mice and the children had eaten them all up but this string." This ended my dealings with Betty Frs. I had another incorrigible borrower in Betty B—. This Betty was unlike the rest of my Yankee borrowers; she was handsome in her person, and remarkably civil, and she asked for the loan of every- thing in suoh a frank, pleasant manner, that for some time I hardly knew how to refuse her. after I had been a loser to a consider- able extent, turf declined lending her any more,aha refrained from coming to the house herself, but sent in her name the most beau- tiful boy in the world: a perfect cherub, with regular features, blue smiling eyes, rosy cheeks and lovely curling auburn hair, who said, in the softest tones imaginable, that mammy had sent him, with her com- plim' ents to the Englielolady to ask the loan of a little eugar or tea. I could easily have refused the mother, but I could not find it in my linart to say nay to her sweet boy. ing-chair, just as I was going to dress my baby. "Philander, I want to attend to the child; I cannot do it with you here. Will you oblige me by going into the kitchen ?" There was something original about Betty B—, and I must give a Blight sketch of her. She lived in a lone shanty in the woods, which had been erected by lamberere some yeard before, and which was destitute of a single aore of clearing; yet Betty had plenty of potatoes without the trouble of planting, or the expense of buying; she never kept a cow, yet she sold butter and milk; but she had a fashion, and it proved a convenient one to her, of making pets of the cattle of her neighbours. If our cows strayed from their pastures, they were always found near Betty's shanty, for she regularly Sup. plied them with salt, which formed a sort of bond of union between them; and in return for these little attentione, they suffered themselves to be milked before they return- ed to their respective owners. -Her mode of obtaining eggenuid fowls waon the same economical plan, and we all looked upon Betty as a sort of freebooter, living upon the property of others. She had three husbands, and he with whom she now lived was not her hustand, although the father of the splendid child whose beauty so won upon my wornan's heart. Her first husband was atill living (a thing by no means uncommon among persons of her class in Canada), and though they had quarrelled and parted years ago, he occasionally "dated his wife to see her eldest daughter, Betty the young- er, who was his child. She was now a fine girl of sixteen, as beautiful as her little brother. Betty's second husband had been killed in one of our fields, by a tree failing upon him while ploughing under it. He was buried upon the spot, part of the black- ened stump forming his monument. In truth, Betty's character was none of the beat, and many of the respectable farmers' wives regarded her with a jealous eye. "1 am so jealous of that nasty Betty B--," said the wife of an Irish captain in the army, and our near neighbour, to me, one day as we were sitting at work together. She was a West Indian, and a negro by the mother's aide, but an tuicommonly fine- looking mulatto, very passionate, and very watchful over the conduot of her husband. "Are you not afraid of letting Captain Moodie go near her shanty ?" "No indeed; and if I were so foolish aa to be jealous, it would not be of old Betty, but ot the beautiful young Betty, her daugh- ter." Perhaps this was rather mischievous au my part for the poor dark lady went off in a frantic fit of jealousy, but this time it was not of old Betty. Another American squatter was always sending over to borrow a small -tooth comb, which ehe called a vermin destroyer ; and once the same person asked the loan ea, a towel, as a triend had come from the States to visit her, and the only one she had had been made into a best "piney" for the child; she likewise begged a sight in the looking - glass, as she wanted to try on a new cap, to see ifit Were fixed to her mind. The wo. man Must have been a mirror of neatness when oempared with her dirty neighbors. Ono night I was roused from my bed for the loan of a pair of "steelyards." For what purpose, think you gentle reader? To weigh a newborn infant. The processes was performed by tying the poor squalling thing up in a small shawl, and suspending it to one of the hooks. The child Was a fine boy, and weighednen pounds, greatly to the delight of the Yankee father. One of the drollest instances of borrowing I have ever heard of was told me by a friend. A maid -servant asked het mistress to go out on a pertioulat afternoon, as she was going to have a party of her friends, and wanted the loan of the drawing room. It would be 'endless to enumerate our losses in this way; but, fortunately for us, the arrival of an Engin& family in our jai,. mediate vicinity drew off the attention of our neighbour.: in that direction, and left us time to recover a Mae froni their pereseott- tione. This system of borrowing is: not wholly confined to the poor and ignorant; it per- vades every class of society. If a party is given in any of the small villages, a bon is Hetet round from house to house to colleen all the plates and dishes, knivee and hale, teaspoons and chnidletticks that are pre. entable, for the Use of the ow:ripe:1y. After retrioeing to the butts, many min Where Fiah-Hooke and Lines Come From. Ahnost all the hooks used in this country come from England, althoug.h a factory at New Haven, Conn., is turning out a big amount of book. But they can not compare with the English hook, That the English fish-hook is the best is due to the finely - tempered steel iron from which it is 'made. The English hook won't snap off like the American hook. There is no steel equal to it made irs this country and it costs too much to import the English steel and make the hooks here for the American market. Alf the English hooks are made in Reddith, a dirty -looking little tawn in.Worcestershire, just over the county border from Birming. ham. There is no hotel in the town, which is almost hidden in day by the smoke from the seven fish hook factories of the place. Over 900 -people of little Reddith are kept busy making fish-hooks and needles. The finely -tempered ateel is run out into lenge wire. Different machinery cuts and turns the wire into Ash -hooks of all sizes, and a thousand hooks are turned out every working hour. Limerick hooks used to be popular with fishermen, but the old town on Ireland's west coast is now makinft but few fish-hooks for the world. The price of some fishhooks is but twenty-five cents a thousand, while $25 has been paid for a thousand superb English hooks. The manufacture of fishing lines is no small industry in the States. The best line is made of silk; oiled and wrapped linen lines comenext and there are altundred different grades of both the silk and linen lines. Many of the reels are wady, but a reel oan be bought for any price between twenty-five cents and $50. All the silkworm gut used in making leather is imported from Sweden and the cork floats are sent here from England. The wooden floats are made in this actuary and cost about half as much as oork floats. The United S tates manufaceures all its own fish ing flies, which are made from feather, silk and wool, and are shaped and hued to rep- resent all kinds of fiyuig insects, and there are a, dozen other things used by anglers that keep many hands busy making: More fishing tackle is sold in the United States than in any other country. Water in Cooking. "Water is one of the secrets of cooking," sententiously sand a well-known chef up•town to a New York Mail reporter. " I suppose you mean that all food in its raw state should be washed ?" Nothing of the kind," replied the artist. "A few cooks understand the many effects produced by hard and soft water in 000king vegetablee and meat. If peas and beans, for instance, are 000ked in hard water, contain- ing lime and gypsum, they will not boil ten- der, because these substances have a tenden cyto harden vegetable caseine. Now, many vegetables, as onions, boil nearly tastelees in soft water, because all the flavour is boiled out. The addition of salt often checks this, and in the case of onions, causing the vege tellies to retain their particular flavouring ptineiples, besides such nutritious matter as might be lost it the soft water. Some of the finest dishes in the world are ruined by the use of hard water when soft is required. It is a science that can best be learued by actual experience as assistant cite/. It re- quires a long apprentieeship and a natural aptitude to become a great 000k and to under- stand water. Now, to extract the juice of meat to make a broth or }imp, soft water, unsalted and oold first, is the beet, for it much more readily penetrates the tisane; but for boiling, where the juices should be re- tained, hard water; or soft water salted, is preferable, and the meat should be pub in while the wetter is boiling, so as to aloe up the pores at once. I have two Resistants, and once a week I lecture them on the pro- per use of hard and soft water, in cowling certain dishes. In answer to your facetious question above, I will etabe that not only raw food should be clean, but the watet goes a long way in keeping a first.olass etti.82714 in a, healthy and sanitary condition. Prince flasher, a deecendant a ic Malaita Vorwarts," recently brought: Butt for 1 111400 daziaages' which he said he s ' y the erectionofstands for speelltlittoad rInsein /tont of his house o th I .ethr eWviliheewlirtlfituirotim11.1 Tehe"sTattlile botloiCaltaelscl. e windows which the iPrince itszehtled t� rent to Apeotators. The I melt Was &Aim tigainat hitn. 1 BUMMER SMILES. It is said of one fashionable young man that he never paid anything but a compli- nle'ill tW. hat is your bUsiaeles ?" " A glass - worker." "A glaesblower, eh? N -no ; well, yes, I do blow the foam off a glass before I drink it." Tramp No, 1—"I say', Jona, I've got a dandy new name fer me old oboes. fr "Per o o whyr p or ,ft t imo be bnooyw.T ?." Te -amp o pp o 'Cause they've got no poles," "Say, Mister," said a tramp to an artist, " ghprne a. dollar and I'll tet ye paint me mature. Ye can put a dandy frame on it and call it IS. Summer Idyl.' Husband (contemplatively)—" How true it is, my dear, that the good that raen do is oft interred with their bones." Wife (not contemplatively) "Yes, I s'pose there's so iictle at it tbat it isn't oonsiclered worth saving." Elderly Belle1etnguiehingly)--" How a shower of rain improves the appearance of the face of nature I" Youthful Rival (with a meaning glanoe)--" Yes. indeed I And that is where the difference is between na- ture and Art," . Magistrate "Yon are charged with stealing ohiokens, Uncle Joe." Uncle Joe— "Yes, aah, so I understann," Magistrate —" lave you ever been , arrested before?" Uncle Joe -- "Only wettest befo', you' honan ; I'se always been bery lucky." "Bobby," mid young Veatherly, as the lad opened the doort" I think I left my um - beetle here last evening. Will you ask your sister Clara if she has seen anything of it?" "It's all right," replied Bobby. "Sister's out walking with Mr Saznpson, and as it looks like ram they took it with them." The flannel shirt is an excellent thing To wear on a summer day, And we don't object to the style at all -- But what we were going to say Is that A man who will wear a flannel shirt And hold up his pants with a saah As red as a town that is painted right, Is a man that we want to smash. "And so you.havebrought my beautiful Alpha:leo home, have you, like an honest man, instead of keeping him yourself, as you might easily have done ?" essid the delighted lady, as she fondled the poodle. "Were you not strongly tempted to keep the darling creature," "No, mum," replied the beton ruptible man, as he pocketed the $5 reward. "It weren't no temptation. I couldn't have sold his hide for two bits at this season of the year, mum.' Ghe Got to Thinking How Funny it ,Would Be. They were sitting together in the warm parlor, saying little but thinking numb. But loverfs do not need, to say much to be companionable. The little clock on the mantel for a con- siderable time had been the only speaker. Its tick, tick, tick, tick, seemed to the youth to say, Kiwi her, kiss her, kiss her. To the maiden it said, leap year, leap year, leap year, and ita reiteration of this phrase forced the maid to break the silence: "How funny some people are 1" she said. "Funny ?" "Yes'some people who are going to be married?" "Oh!" " Yes ; sole want to be married in a bal- loon, some on the middle arch of a bridge, some in a boat, some in a railroad train, some on horseback, some on the edge of a precipice, some down in a coal mine—" "Yes I have noticed it" "What is their object, I wonder ?" "Marriage, of course." "But I mean their object in getting Inarried out of the usual way." • "Well, I'll tell you what I think. They get merited in this way so that they can tell their children and their grandchildren they were married under peculiar oircum- Branca, as, for instance, ' Your mother and me, children, were married in e, coal mine,' or Your grandmother and me, children, were married in a balloon.' " "111 bet that's just the reason," said the maiden. "01 course it is the reason." There was a pause. Then the maiden with a glowing cheek said: "I've been thinking, John—" "Yes ?" he said, interrogatively. "I've been thinking how funny it would be—" (a pause and a deeper blush). "Well, Bella, you've been thinking what ?" "I've been thinking how funny if would be if—" yet. II ".11 when the subjecb of marriage comes upthirty or forty yaps hence you could point to me and say: Why, children, your grandmother proposed to me in leap year and we were married a few weeka after.'" John is very busy these dskys furnishing a nice little cottage, and Balla is superintend- ing the making of her wedding dress. Baron Renter. Baron Julius Reuter is seventY years old, and heal been hard at work for fifty-five years. He ia still bright and active. He has keen gray eyes which pierce you from be- hind grizzled brows, and thin, prominent nose, and a face "fluid with expression." He is a fluent and pleasant talker, and not back- ward in telling of his early hardships when Ito Was a poor and unknown foreigner in London with a tiny offioe and one small boy to look after it. lie so overworked himself its those dam he will tell you, that Sir James (then Mr.) Paget, whom fie consulted for breakdown of his general health, told him he would die if he did not get sleep. On replying that he was compelled to be out all night the greet surgeon replied: "Well, if you have no other choice coil yourself up on a doorstep and go to sleep I" He meted on the spirit if not the letter of this advitte, and now is able to bout that he hi well and healthy, and that each day is fully occupied with hard work, ineluding a constitutional walk five miles, which he ia careful to explain is no loss of time since "it is teceesary for my health."—[Ex. Wlflam Hastinga Toon of London ad. matted in seventy English repent for a clerk at salary of $450 a year. To pplicants he returned a cirottler flaying that he musb have five thillines as a guarantoc of good faith before considering the matter. The police arrested him aftar he had received Many thousand applications and a goodly number of Blatilinga and in court 18 came out that the whole business§ was the result of a wept of $500 Toon had made with a friend that within a month he eould ;got five thou- sand applioatiOne for a eitaatiou as a clerk ana thm two thousand of them a mild be acoompenied , by five abillings. The jury found -lira &illy Of fraud; but the judge releated hita nude* bon& with a warning and suspension of sentence. 3airolw The Healing Tom& Our readers may have observed that angular system of oure for all human dis- eases haa lately produced an excitement in IMMO parts of this country. Certain portions are euppoeed to be endowed at birth with healing powers—magnetism the quality is eonaetimes called. The rick, lame, deaf and blind are brought to them; they ley their hands upon them, and it is asserted that health, the use of their limbs, or their im- paired Eames, as the case may be, are instant- ly restored. This is but the revival of an old belief. From time to time, :since the days of the Apostlen persons in both the Catholic and Protestant churches have been alleged to possess miraculous gifts of healing. Not only were many ot the holy Women and men of the first ages believed to have power to cure all diseases:1 by their touch while living, but after their death crowds repair to their tombs, to obtain health from the vital power which was possessed by their bones. In our own days multitudes followed . Bernadette. Souberons, & little girl In France, and also a young woman In Scot- land, a member of Edward Irving's congre- gation, both of whom were held to be endowed with a miraculous power of cure. Among the Hindus and some of the African tribee certain persona are believed to to be filled with a mysterious fluid, which they communicate by touch to others. The Chinese believe that each person is our. rounded by a, nhnbus, or atmosphere, which affects tor good or evil every living bo dy that comes within its limit, giving to it health or disease. We leave our readers to decide how much truth or falsehood there is in these claim: that the body of man can impart vital power by touch to other bodies; but there can be no doubt that the soul of man has suoh power. Within every mat who reads these lines, dwells an invisible living creature, perpetu- ally at work, stretching out ita influences through his words, his smallest acts, even his looks, infusing disease or health into the people with whom he comes in contact. The man whose body is the cage of this living power may scarcely remember its presence and may be ignorant of the influence which, it incessantly gives out and receives. He takea care that his body flail not come in contact with bodies tbat throw oft the germs of typhus or diphtheria or other,. disease. Bub he does iaot remember that finer creature within, which is more madly poisoned, or strengthened. The reader of this mayin be a school- boy of small importance n his little world. But let him remember that he has the power in his soul to help every living creature whom he meets. If only by a smile, a kind word, a cheerful, cordial greeting, he may make life easier and brighter for them. There are two rules of the new system of cure for bodily diseases which he must obey. He must touch the person whom he wishes to help,—not stand' apart and view him with lofty superiority, but meet him as a brother, face to face. He must, too, have faith in God, to give strength and life to his own soul, and through him to others. There are men and women who seem to be sent into the world as healers of all hurts and sorrows. Who would not be one of them? Deaf Mutes And Marriage. It is evident that the loss of the sense of hearing has an effect on character, moral and intellectual. Whatever may be the education of the deaf mute, he will remain, in some essential and not easy to be char- acterized respects, different fromotherpeople It is exceedingly hard to cultivate in them a spirit of self dependence or eradicate the 'notion that society owes them perpetual care and support. The education of deaf mutes and the teaching of them trades so that they become intelligent and prochative members of society, of course, induces inarri- ts,ges among them. Is not this calculated to =mese the number of deaf mutes? Dr. Gillette thinks not. The vital statistics how that consanguinous marriages are a large factor in deaf-mutism; about 10 per cent, it is estimated, of the deaf mutes are the off spring of parents related by blood. Ancestral defects are not always prepetuat- Rdin kind; they maydescend in physic:Ade formity, in deafness, in imbecility. Deaf- ness is more apt to deacend in collateral branches than m a straight Inc. It is a striking fact in a table of relationship pre.. pared by Dr. Gillette that while the 450 deaf mutes enamerated had 770 relationships to other deaf mutes, making a totai of 1,220, only twelve of them had deaf mute parents, and only two of them one deaf mute parents, the mother of these having been able to hear and that in no case was the mother alone a deaf mute. Of thespupnswho haveleft this in-. stitution 251 havb married deaf mutes and 19 hearing persone. These marriages have been as fruitful as the average, and,among them all only 16 have deaf mute children; in some of the families having a deaf child there are other children who hear. These facts, says the report, clearly indicate that the probability of deaf offspring from deaf parentage is remote; while other facts may clearly indicate that a deaf person probably has or will have a deaf relation other than a child.--Plarper's Magazine. Waited 60 Years for Her. A rich old farmer, who lives a dozen miles or so up the country from Norwich, came to that city a few days ago with his young bride, upon his wedding tour. The old man is 85, while his wife isjust 70 years his junior. He had purchased an organette for a. Main street music -dealer a few months before and wanted some music for it. The old man suggested as a sample. "Whore la My Boy To -Night." He led his bride up to the counter, and, after paying for the music, said, addresiaing the clerk :— " My son, she's my wife, Aint she a Pkely one ?" He seemed to remember some- ; rang, and stiaightenieg upl said "Young man, I've waited for stielinblood as flows in them veins fur nigh onto 60 years_ now. i knowed her grandmam antLevanteer her, but she wouldn't bee to it. She married my bitterest enemy and had a daughter. I courted that daughter when her folke wasn't round, but somehow they got wind of it end I was dished again. ' She went and got married and had & daughter, Says I 'Jona- than, you'll marry this'n,' and I settles down glum like to wait ftir the youngster to grow up. Martha's folks watched her dose and I begun to suspect I'd have to wait fur the next family, when they died— alt of them died, and Mediu, Wet left with- out no relatives—so a popped the question end we were married. ' And pinking up the music Jonathan plated it Under clue of his arms, while one of 1VIertha's stole under the other, and the two lovingly Walked out of the store, completely ignorant of the fact that they were furnishing amusement for the crowd. An A000mraodatin Young Mem Her Father—I can't give her any dowry. I am verily poet, Mn. IlrOWno. My little all won't foot up to Mete than:06,000. Mr. trowne—Olt, $25,060 • is enough for 4111 te begin one bit tTemYth.