The Exeter Times, 1887-1-6, Page 6were
oR,
TO
FUL FILLE
A TALE OF 8001AL LIFE IN OANADA.
• BY W. E. BESSEY, M. D.
" Da be admonished, dear ; it is for
your own sake that plead with you. It
would distresa your poor Another very much
if she knew my worst feare, but have Pur-
posely withheld front her what I have heard
about him. I would not make her unhappy
by filling her mind with forebodings about
your future well-being—you in whom she is
so wrapped up—it wonld arush her and
bring her in sorrow to au untimely grave.
You een save as all this unnecessary anxiety
if you will yield to my wishes and if you
will atop e'er it be too late.* And then you
may marry- Mr. Bently and be seemed in
wealth, comfort, opulence, and luxury --
make our hearts glad and surround yourself
with friends of the very beet eirelee, with a
prospeet of a happy and sueeessfal
Why do you mention Mr, Bently's name
to me ?" she indignantly replied, " How
can I entertain 4 thought cif another when
have plighted my vows to Arthur Black-
stone to be his bride ! You say I am rich --
that I am an heiress—well, I know it is not
for money Arthur Blackstone loves me. I
am sure 1 never kuew that should be an
heiress, and if you do withheld it all it will
make no difference between us, he is so good
and noble."
"You no doubt think so ; the me,n
that wins a, we/lieu's heart appears to her a
king. No doubt he fills that role to you,"
said Mr. Elliott.
"You are sarcastic," she said, "he is not
.king, but he is my king, my own dear
husband—to be, I hope !" But after a long
silence, during which neither spoke, anit
Mr. Elliott went on writing, she ventured
to say, "Excuse me, but did I understand
you to say that you held $500,080 in trust
for ? May I ask from whom it comes,
and whether you intend withholding that
also from me if I marry Arthur '?"
" From your uncle, Major Elliott, who
'died from wounds received in the Zulu South
African war. He was an old bachelor, and
was serving with his regiment at Capetown
when the war broke out. He had been in-
duced by some adventurous spirits to join
them in a speculation in the diamond fielcls,
which turned. out very successfelly for him,
in a few months chinging him from a pen-
sioner on the bounty of his friends to almost
a, millionaire. With his usual caution he
sent the bulk of his wealth home to his
bankers in London to be invested for him,
and on the breaking out of the war,
before leaving for the front he made a will
dividing his estate among his relatives and
forwarded a copy of the will to his selicitone
for registration in England. The news of
his being wounded arrived with that of
others, and in due time his death from the
spear wounds of the Zulus followed. Soon
• after an advertisement, asking for a reliable
list of the relatives of Major Elliott, of the
—th Regiment of Foot, appeared in the
"" Times. ' A copy found its way to me;
the will was ratified, and £1.00,000 pounds
sterling was the sum bequeathed to you. As
to the second_ part of your question: As you
are still a minor I shall exercise my preroga-
tive as Your 'parent and guardian to withhold
her dear father—for she loved him—had
communicated to her, but hisanxiety about
her intended marriage with Arthur 131asek-
stone troubled her. '
On his first visit subsequent to the fore-
going intertievy she told him it was a
less
-
less thing for them to expect that her father
would consent, for the present at least, to
h her marrying him, principally because he
feared it might be her money and not her-
self, he most desired to secure.
"Your money, Ruth! Why you never
told me you had money," a fresh interest
new looming up in the case. The Black -
stones love money, thought he, and I none
the less my race, ergo, I must be a Black-
stone, must not allow her to suppose that
this:consideration would weigh aught in the
balance with me.
"No" she replied, "I did not tell you,
for I did not know, nor can I tell you now
that I have, for I have not, but—(sotto
voce)—I believe my father has thought of
giving me some—if I pleased him in my
marriage,' she added, and you know he is
able."
"Oh dear, yes !" exclaimed Blackstone,
"able to give you half a million and not
feel it, but what 4id you say about pleasing
him in your marriage? He wont consent to
me, eh? Then of course he won't give yofi
any money if you marry me against his con-
sent?"
"Against his consent 1" exclaimed Ruth,
"you would not have me disowned and
cast out by those who have been my friends
since childhood, would you ?"
"Why not, if I take you in?" replied
Blaokstone "that is just what I want them
to do. I don't want them to keep you after
you are my wife and you rernemberwhat the
Scriptures say. I forget the text, but it
says, 'she shall leave father, mother., home
andfriends and cleave only to her 'husband.'
Isn't that what it says?" .
"Something like that?" she replied.
" Well, will you do it?"
"Oh, don't ask me Arthur, to decide just
now. Let me watt until papa' is proud of
you and then we shall have his consent and
all wifl be pleasant AS a May morning."
"No, I'll. not wait," he gay', 4‘ I Want
you. .1 t want your money, Let him
disdsherit you if he choose. What do I
care, if I have you ?"
"Oh, noble Arthur 1", she exclaimed. "I
knew yon lot -ed me for -My o'wn sake. Yes,
will be yours .4but,tvait !"•
"How' long?" he asked. •
"A year," she replied, "an a then if papa
holds out I will be of age and can please
myself."
"A year," he 'exclaims. • "Ob.no, a week
'to my impatientisonl would seem a week of
years. NextN'tredneeday meet me with a
valise of elotlaftig, at the five O'cloalt train,
at Bonaventuie, for New York, Create no
saspicion by your movements. I will make
rtiy visits less freqtent, and inerely call, It
• wilthe, thought you are yielding to your
fath 'epr*ejacliceit aed iti tenly to the Lenses -
the subject of marriage ,yott can
lytreply, 4 not just now, 'or 'cutrt
Arthur, would, you ask me to run
to lie matried ?" •
ti"he rePliefl$ "1 don't think
• OXitetly fen, 111 were I'd walls
e Whatte lA Model. you from taktog
fOii—Ott New'York, Et 1 niy t$:Liing
eta
neW,, she, WOMen-like, Weald. fly With Ithn
and learethe 14btro. Ana the Wenn IWO
Where alio Ilea been reared and eliddled theae
• 4nYYears; Oh, baea to4ratittule 'A XII ;AV
•alL dm." Mrs. E11100 Wile 4 040;0s/
coelaheeded, predent Weinana ao she
selled prittlenee anal merely Added, "1 knew
she leved him hitt I did not think she would
go away Witlea' lettitnt km), bnt
"lam is e god
Who, es some deene,
Vole UO11jaitieth
At five o'clock sharp MaUtotstePPed
into the atetion, all °lad as if for a tourney',
with Janes eerrying grin-fieck, Ruth
stood at the checking. counter looking to-
svarcl the train, and ata Tot Qbsem his ap-
proaeh, ".Ah, you here, Ruth, .going on a
purney, eh ? 'Why, what do ee We mean?"
At that moment 4 perter said, "Check,
miss, 124699, New York, All right, mate,
valise not to be checked."
" Whet, that trunk yours, and this veliso."
she relied In A monosyllable.
"1)088 your mother know? Why, you
said nothing to me about •this. What were
you going to leave home to go to New York
for without telling us about it ?"
Thai was a turn in 4iStirS she had not ex-
Pooted, so, striving to hide her nervousness,
" Beeause," she replied, laconically, "home
is not home where the heart's idol is not."
"Ab, then you were going in search of
your idol, were you? Oh, here he comes."
Just at that moment he caught sight of
Arthur Blackstone, with a blue bag, enter-
ing the station and watched him as he ap-
proached. Blackstone seeing he was dis-
covered, made a virtue of necessity, and with
nouchaulant air approached, raised his
hat to Ruth, saying "I -Tow do you do, Miss
Elliott." And bowing to Mr, Elliott cooly
said Howd' ye do."
Mr. Elliott dernacled an explanation
warmly, Blackstone as cooly said, "Only
a coincidence, I suppose, only a coincidence.
I am going clown the line on business. Miss
Elliott, where were you going ?"
" To New York," she cooly replied—" I am
under such restraint at home since your in-
terview with papa, that, like a caged bird, I
pine to be away."
"Oh, I am sorry," ejaculated Blackstone,
"1 trust I have not been a disturber of the
peace."
At this Mr. Elliott interfered.
" I see through all this • nice scheme, eh ?"
looking daggers at Blackstone, "nipped .in
the bud, though, nipped in the bud." And
turning to Ruth, he said, "You will go
with me. I shall defer my journey. James,
take that valise and that trunk," pointing
to Ruth's new trunk which she had purchas-
ed to pack away her dresses in at the dress-
maker's. James went to remove them when
a porter said, "hold on, don't touch that,
that's for New York."
"No it ain't," said James, "they are not
going to -day."
"Well where's the check ?"
James asked Mr. Elliott for the check.
Ile in turn asked Ruth. Ruth would not
answer.
"Send. for Mr. Kirkham," he said to a
policeman.
i
Mr. Kirkham came. Mr. Elliott explain-
ed and Mr. Kirkham ordered the porter to
remove the check and keep it until he got
the other half.
As they drove home in a hack, Mr. El-
liott said, So you were going away Ruth ?"
"Yes," she replied.
"To marry Arthur Blackstone I divine ?"
he added.
"Yes," she replied.
"Sane ceremonie," said he.
ceremony," she replied,
mces and reproaches."
that you are set upon
it any further." Oh
• _ —the love of woman.
How high will it not rise! To what lowly
depths will it not stoop! How many inju-
ries will it not forgive! What obstacles
will it not overcome ! And what saorifiee
will it not make rather than give up the
being upon which it has been once wholly
and fully set !
The episode at the station had not passed
unnoticed and even now had become the gos-
sip of the city.
"But before I can consent to a union with
that man, on any terms," said Mr. Elliott,
"a marriage contract would have to be drawn
up by my own solicitors. When he has
signed that you may take your own way.
I shall do nothing to mar your prospects,
but will be glad to have reason to change
my opinion as to your choice, and will do
everything dzity requires of me to secure my
daughter's future happiness and welfare.
"Then, oh papa, won't you be reconciled
to Arthur," she pleaded imploringly.
"I shall not oppose you any further," he
said, "but I must be honest with you. I
feel you are making a fatal mistake. Soon.
er or later you will be conscious of it."
"Don t say so, papa, don't say so," she
cried, "he only takes a glass with a friend;
he told me so when I asked him, and he
said it was necessary to be social to succeed
in his profession. Oh, father, have you not
heard how brilliant he is considered at the
bar? You say you have heard much against
him. Have you not heard how he worsted
a leading Q. C. in the celebrated case of
Honeysuckle ys. Vinegar the other day ?"
"Mr. Vinegar was an old gentleman who
had a private residence uptown with beau-
tiful grouncia. Honeysuckle was a young
man who sometimes visited. the Misses Vine-
gar of sweet thirty-three, thirty-five, and
thirty-seven. Mr. Honeysuckle had, on
the mature deliberation of Mr. Vinegar,
been forbidden to visit his family, believing
as he did that he had designs upon one of
his "three graces." The brief ran thus in
substance :—Mr. Honeysuckle is arraigned
before the High Court of Justice to answer
to a charge of intent to commit a felony; in-
asmuch as having conceived an ardent pas-
sion for a beautiful rose, which grew in the
grounds of his benefactor, he, in defiance of
the expreesed wish of the proprietor, Mr.
Vinegar, has ventured toinvacle the privacy
of his home, and carry off the flower he cov-
eted, without even an apology for his imper-
tinence. Of course violent measures were
adopted against him—the dogs were set on
him, his garments were injuied in the
struggle, his dignity was compromised,
hence an action was brought to secure dam-
ages to person. Thanks to the eloquence
of Arthur Blackstone, although not being
able to recover damages,he was allowed to
remove the coveted flower, which now
blooms in his own conservatory, spreading
its fragrance all abroad and flourishes under
his care and Attention."
"Nonsense, child, nonsense, Don't you
eee that the whole story is an allegory.
hat you are the much coveted flower ; old
Vinegar is myself (a pretty name, to be
sure), and your own heart the judge before
vshoin the ease was argued., and of course he
has woe the case and you will grant the de-
cree. Don't you see ?" I
"Yes, I understand, but is it fair to put 1
t in that war? And yet it was clever any-
way -to have thought out so pretty an albs-
gtorrsya.;:ato ealled her father, 6,8 , the reaoh-
As she started to Ienve the roorn,--
•
ed the door, • She paused. • " You may,
tell Mr. Blackstone when you see him i
the way, and juat for a paltry fee, and just
for our convenience—as it would be more
pleasant travelling as man and wife than
separately—he should marry us, Why it
was only an afterthought, you know, re-
member, only an afterthought.T'
" Olt, you are so clever," she stammered,
but—"
" Bet what ?" he asked. " 'Wereo't you
ready to become m dutiful, loving, obedient
wife whoa you tel me 'ask Papa?' Well
then aren't you still?"
"Yes," she said, leaning her head on his
shoulder, "but I don't like the plan of go-
ing away. Row could I leave my father
thus? You know what the poet says ?"
" No, what ?"
" Listen," she said,—
" 'Of all the knots that nature ties,
The secret, saered sympathies
That, as with viewless thains of gold,
The heart a happy prisoner hod;
None is more chaste, more bright, more pure
Stronger stern trials to endure;
None is more pure of earthly leaven,
More like the love of highest heaven,
Than that which binds, in bonds how blest,
Time daughter to the father's breast."
"Well said, my love. A noble 'sentiment
and one to admire, but love has its different
degrees, that is one: You have mounted
up to a higher. Let me quote a writer on
my side of the question. I cannot give it to
you in verse, Pltjuet give it in prose, the
sense will be t4e same 'Love hath
ous degcees and differs in all minds,—the
tastefulsean love but with taste; the deli-
cate with delicacy ; the fervent and eager
with high impelled strength, and burning
completeness and abandonment." Such is
my love for you. There is love which
once aroused—called to the surface from its
tender fountain and boiling up from its
placid depths 'becomes like the torrent
sweeping on in impetuosity, rising up
against every obstacle, and surmounting with
fury all the petty obstructions, which envy,
or cautious policy, the coldness or worldli-
ness of meta, seek to interpose to it. Love
is such a grand power that it seems to
gather strength from &Daniel -ion, and at
every difficulty rises to 'higher might. It is
all conquering ; a great leveller which can
bring down to its universal line of equa-
liation the proudest heights and remove the
stubbornest impediments. There is no
hope of resisting for it outwatelies watch,
submerges everything, acquiring strength
as it proceeds; ever growing; nay, growing
out of itself, it can thrive on humblest fare,
.it can scale walls; or undermine forts;
ascend mountains; cross stormy deeps, or
do any otherwise imposeible thing to reach
the object of affection. Such is mylove for
you."
"Then can you not wait if you thus love
?"
"No," he replied as he drew her more
closely to him. "I am impetuous in all I
do, and my love by impatience curbed
would die. Arrange for our little journey;
we will not be long away, I cannot he gone
longer than a week. When we return we
will laugh them out of their opposidon to
,his scheme.- "But what -if she should prove
wealthy after all. I've heard something. of
an old uncle of hers dying in a foreign
part and leaving his wealth—something
fabulous—to this family. Well, never
4isind, she's all right without a dollar—
the most royal princess, so far as perfec-
tion goes Mall the realm, and I'm a king
in her estimation, at least she told me so.
A pretty king I'd make, to be sure. Ah,
well, I'm sure I don't like these briefs, this
eternal quibbling we lawyers have to do.
There are higher aims both in the profession
and out than buying bread and cheese. Oh,
it never did strike me before, why if a fel-
low is left a fortune, why, isn't that so
much bread and cheese, so much wine and
cigars so many theatre tickets, so many
race horses kept. Ehem ! why, yes; and
so many good suits that some other fellow
who was saving and self-denying has earned
for you. Well then where's the difference
between marrying a fortune and having one
left to you—only a legal difference, that's
all, fortune all the same. Egad, I'll marry
my fortune and no mistake, and then good-
bye to drudgery and Cheatem's everlasting
Arthur, have you done this? Arthur,
what about that or the other?' And what
an angel for a wife. As Paddy would say,
‘Bedad, the gods might envy me."'
Things went quietly on at the Elliott
mansion and Ruth quietly and continuous-
ly made her preparations.
She had quite a stock of dresses, but she
continued to have some fault to find with
all of them and decided, with her mother's
consent, to have some slight alterations.
made in some of them at the dressmaker's
down town. With this subterfuge" she
succeeded in removing nearly all hericlothes.
Alterations were made, but she told the
seamstress that as she was about to visit
some friends at a distance she would have
a trunk sent to her establishment and she
could fold away each dress in that as it was
overhauled, and she could get it when she
was going.
• 'Twas a bright day and Ruth had gone
out early. Her mother in overlooking the
house, as was her wont, looked into Ruth's
room and raised the whtdow to give it an
airing. Everything was as she bad left it.
Jler bird, Dicky, chirped to her as she
passed him. On the drawers lay a half
open letter. Why did she look at it? She.
toolc it up and_ read :
"Dzan Itura.—Don't fail me at five this
afternoon; the train leaves sharp on time,
so be there early. I will be near and will
saunter in at the last moment, salute you,
ask if you intend travelling; say, 'Oh, how
tfortunate ! May I be your escort? am
•going in the same direction,' on business!'
Don't fail.
t?
" What ! Ruth going away, and with
Blackstone 1 What can this mean ? Oh, '
nOW I Understand abont tho dresses. I'll
just send down for them, and I'll make a
copy of this and gen(' it to papa at the
store. She must not snspeet that have
seen this." • . •
She carried out her plans. The seam:dress
said 1Vliss Elliott had just got her dresses.
Papa Elliott lost no thrie -in driving tip to
the Inane on the hill:tide. "What's this ?"
he said aehe entered the.hotises Mrs. i
liett put her hand on his arm and advised
caution. They retired Otheir room to ("fe-
• mme: the eittations «
"An elopenteat, es Old as you live," sug-
gested he, " rented *young Elackstone
some days ago. 1 told her rey reasons, and
, that 1 will instruet solleitore te prepare
urirriage etnitraot On RUA thralls fia enIX
, can eonsent to the Marriage **Log 1)149s,
he aeciepts the tertne ie well ;, the arrange,
rments can, go om, if not this 'inisfaeSe Innet
end, You noed not tell him anything about
your voitiou I: prefer you
•ehonld not now—it would be better in' ow
• your' eugaaeteent should be hroken off --do,
you understand ?
"I de, papa and wilt observe your wishes
r •
ignms y,
(good morning, my eluld."
Qood morning, papa," and she WAS
5.:1Sr)*0.-furtiler OPPOSiti4' .11r0+0 offered by Mr,
41liett, who resolved; having done his ditty,
to leave things to,take their mime,
MuSing he thought, Well, 131ackstone
will have his destinyin Ws ewu hands and
he eall frame it at itis will. No man ever
had a better chanoe, and I am euro none
ever had a better wife,
" Man is his own star, and the eoul MIA can,
Render an tonest asiC e perfect man,
°mini:led all light, all influence, all fate,
Nothinp to him fans early or too late,
Our ace: our cowers are, in good, or ea,
our fate/ shadows that VA bp tte WU,
" A letter from Messrs. Abbott, Wother-
spoon, McMaster & Hutchinson, sir," said
his clerk next day as he han ed it to Mr.
‘' I thought it might be urgent, so
I left it on your desk," a
" Hem, yee,—well, you see, Mr. Doxiald.
son, I have a delicate /neater on hand and 1
wished to consult Mr. Abbott personally
on the matter, but 1 find he has goue to
England with Stephens on that blessed
Pacific Railway business. Fact is, I wish
to arrange a marriage contract. My daugh-
ter is set on marrying that young lawyer
Blackstone.
" Blitekstone !" exclaimed Mr. Donald-
son.
" Yes, Blackstone. Why, what makes
you look so astonished ?"
" Well, nothing, but does she know much
about him—does she know his habits ?"
" Exactly, what about his habits ?"
" Nothing favorable, Mr. Elliott, but if
you are going to settle the matter by con-
tract, it may not be so bad, you know."
"Donaldson, you make me uncomfortable.
What do you know aboutthis man ?"
"Nothing good.—well, nothing very bad,
either, but r11 be giggered if I'd let him
have my (laughter, and she's no heiress, but
only a poor, deceut, honest girl. He'd
drive her into the street in a twelve-month,
or put her under the sod—that's only my
opinion, however, you know."
Mr. Hutchinson, one of the great leading
firm of solicitors, already alluded to, walk-
ed in, in answer to a telephone call.
"Ah, Mr. H.—I was desirous of having
a contract of marriage drawn up between
any daughter and Mr. Blackstone, barrister,
who are under engagement of marriage.
"You don't mean—"
"1 don't mean what I say? Well, that's
just what I do mean, and I propose to pre-
vent the said Mr. Blackstone, at all, from
obtaining control of my daughter's means,
that's what I mean, d'ye' see a"
"But you don't suppose that even should
you give a woman absolute control of her
own means that that will prevent her hus-
band obtaining it from her if he has enough
influence over her, and squandering it if he
15 80 disposed ?"
"Well, I will have done my duty, at any
rate, and that is something to console one's
self with the thought of, should the alliance
not prove a prosperous one."
'Prosperous? You might as well let her
mount a wild horse of the plain'or bind her
to it, like another Mazeppa ; and expect her
to be prosperous, as to marry her to a man
like Blackstone and expect him not to make
a shipwreck of everything in a very brief
time.
The document was drawn up in due
course and an appointment made with the
principals to meet in the private office -of
Mr. Elliott to have it executed.
As Mr. Elliott expected, Blackstone was
quite taken aback by the proposal, and sug-
gested one or two amendments—in the in-
terests of Miss Elliott, of course—he was
very anxious that his motives should not be
misinterpreted.
Every equivocation, however, was so
promptly met by Mr. Hutchinson and Mr.
Elliott, showing some considerable impa-
tience—notwithstanding the presence of his
wife and daughter—Blackstone ceased his
captious opposition and the instrument was
executed, that iswas, signed,witnessed, and
registered in due course, making Ruth El-
liott mistress of her own fortune, therefore
entirely independent as to property.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
The Highest BACONS.
The man in English-speaking countries
who best deserves the name of the Children's
friend is, perhaps, a poor man in London,
named George Smith.
He was the son of a bricklayer'and at
four years of age was put to work in the yard.
With other babies he worked for fourteen
hours a day, carrying great lumps of clay,
which bent his back and stunted his growth.
By working late into the night, they could
earn an additional sixpence.
These sixpences George spent for books,
by means of which he gained a little service-
able knowledge.
As soon as he arrived at manhood he set
himself one purpose in life; to better the
condition of the hordes of overworked chil-
dren in England. So earnest was his effort
that, although he was penniless, friendless,
and uneducated, be compelled all England
to listen to his terrible story of oppression
and want, and by his own effort finally in-
duced Parliament to pass an act by which
thirty thousand little children were rescued
from the labor which was maiming and kill-
ing them, and were sent to school.
He then set to work to help the children
employed on canal -boats, whose condition in
England was little better than that of the
former slaves in the rice -fields. Ile petition-
ed Parliament until an act was passed by
which sixty thousand children were given
an education and time to recover life and
health.
This is a noble record. But the best point
of George Smith's story is that he is now, a
white-haired old man, miserably poor. His
whole life and energy have been given to
the one task; he has had no time to make
money, and although he has personally
known and influenced almost every leading
than in England, he has never askecl a favor
for himself or any selfish interest from one
of them.
There are so many histotios of men who
have achieved fame and fortune held up to
Canadiait boys for their imitation that it is
surely e orth their while to read this record
of avian poor and obscure, yet whose seccess
was so noble. Verily, he and sueh as he
shell lieve their reward it the larger life to
which all nnselfish service for Gocl and. r
lumen welfaee tends, by divine and eternal ,a
aWs. .1
We must believe that in the larger and y
spiritual kiegdorn, it is he who denies lumn
self the moat for others who Will receive the s
nsost from God, "He that saveth his life
ehall lose it " is the law of this world, and I f
"i He that lorestlt his life shall keep it alive "1
s the law of the haver life. I
s„
)IB I ZIT,R gran, •
ttnaintai#0ea, and when ear reporter In
n ethr:w4oWizy4400whnaIidebigoempur4asmetri,11 j‘l000llitni:pgafetto'
tezi4lieellelgeaun°;°vICIQuIerPrftAII:lgPh417e:Iiar7r4gq 11148474t° ths eqr.011, queriti°'
Oelorod-znen, wIto gave their names as Co ten
1dB4Ixoeeont Jelinsorar the Oa/liver' STAit
141'0; .Aainbeiv Green, respectively, t1,0
Stated tintt they were eettrell of Drethe
Gerdner'e ealsin, They were directed how
to reach it, and about midnight knooked nt
the door and routed the old luau out of bed,
They were at ono recognized as henerarY
zuembere of the Lime -Kilo glob, who were
doing the north en 4 1.00tUring tour, They
eerbehed Detreit from Inclianassqlhe by the
dixt road, 4nd. et an expenee of only feaventy•
five gents for the trio, that sum being spent
for raw °Pions. •Ward having been pissed
v,ronnd during the day that the gentlemen
would be present at the regular Saturday
vening meeting, an unusually large number
of the brethren were present when the
triangle eouncled its soft notes and called for
Orerer.
THE VISITORS
Were given seats en the platform, where
they certainly showed off to good ealvantaze.
All of them are more or less known to fame.
Mr. johnsoi is recognized As the standard
authority in the State of Alabama on the
eipeness of watermelons. He has a faculty
of telling within five minutes ef when a
melon, is ready to eat, and his discovery is
for sale at $10,000 spot cash. He is also
known as a, lecturer on different subjects.
The Hon. Smith is known all over Kentucky
as authority on cold or mild winters. He
has predicted twenty-seven cold and thirty.
one mild winters without making a single
misteke. He has fourteen different lecturere
for the rostrum, Prof. Green is the inventor
of the " sweatboarcl," " chuck-a.chuck," and
other parlor games, and ,his lectures en as-
tronomy have been the ,wonder of scientific
Pm0ronsident, who a,' ddecl- that the regular pre -
They were individually' introduced to the
gramme of the evening would be canceled
in order so give the visitors opportunity to
make a few remarks.
THU CURRENCY.
Mr. Johnson Was the first speaker. He
said that the eutrency question was exciting
much interest, and he would take that fer
his subject.
"What am currency ?" he iequired, as he
toed the scratch and looked up and clown
the hall. "11 you hey money you hey. cur-
rency. If you am' dead_ broke, den you
heven't any currency. It am called carrency
because it floats from hand to hank If some
of you should lend me a dollar, dat :would
be currency. because it would float. If I
had all de money in de world locked up and.
wouldn't pay out any, we shouldn't hev
any currency. Probably dat time will neb-
ber arove, though you can't tell what inay
happen.
"You has probably heard about de volume
of currency? Dat means de amount of
money out. I hev no doubt dat some of you
sometimes hey as much as three dollars in
your pocket. Dat signifies dat de volume
am rushin' along like the current of a great
riber, sweeping hen roosts, rail fences an'
hoss ba'ns befo' it wid irresistible fo'ce. Den
agin you am down to two bits, an' de ole
woman hollerin' fur a new kaliker dress an'
de chill'en weepin' fur shoes. Dat means
dat de volume of currency has been con-
tracted, an' de grocer hain't gwine to trus'
you fur codfish much longer.
" Dis subjick of currency should be giben
deep thought. Lots of folks go sloshin'
around widout eben refleetin' on why dey
didn't make $20 gold pieces outer brass. I
hold heah in my hand a dollar greenback
dat Waydown Bebee has kindly loaned me
fur cle-occashun. It ambuta piece of paper.
Why can't you cut a piece out of a paper
bag and pass it off as a dollar? Why isn't
de half of a noosepaper as waluable as a
hundred dollar bill? Why am a hunk of
gold any more waluable clan a huuk of lead?
A nickle am twice as big as a dime, but it
am wuth only half as much. Why? Sic's
am a few of de queshuns you should ponder
over an' post up on, an de furder you enter
de subjick de more pleased you will be. Wid
clese few remarks I will resume my seat."
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
(11 The piyisioutsoxio
9ftiegTu7:1; ThQir gis-
r'• The names end duration, of the luonth$,
no we use, thena were aattled, upon in the
time a Jtilips owfmr, 40n, ,,, volo corrected
• the calendar as lie found, it, with the aid
of ibo philosepher Sosigenes. He has
given us a measure of the year which seeins
to be as near perfect as the snbject seems
eapable ; i, it., the Julian period.
Dividing the year into twelve, he iteare
thirty-one days to every second. mouth,
beginning with January, and thirty clays
to the intervening months, except Febru-
ary, which was left with twenty-nine; but
this month was given the extra day every
fourth year,
But as errors cropped out, such a,s the
multiplication of hours and minutes, not
possible to be added to the month, Pepe
Gregory, in 1582, made the month ten days
later, so thet the 15th of November was
I).
written the 25th of vember ; and, to
further rectify possible eri ors, he ordered
that in the first year of tr ery century, or
the years 1000, 1700, 4800 and 1900, leap
year is not to be kept. This system is
termed the Gregorian period.
In Catholic countries the Gregorian
period was at once used, but not hi
,Protestant countries until some time after ;
aud in Great 13rithin the style was changed
from the Julian to the Gregorian ae late as
the year 1752, for the clieerepaney at that
date had become eleven days. An act of
Parliament that year, however, altered the
reckoning so that the ad of September was
• changed to the 14th.
In Italy, Spain, Frolic°, Holland, and
Germany, the Roman calendar is now used
as mewled by Pope Gregory XIII, In
Russia alone, of civilize(' countries, is the
old or Julian style eontinued.
Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers used a com-
mon appellative for their months, such as Os.
Mortals for April, as the season that the
east winds prevailed; a custom not entirely
unknown to the peasants of some parts of
Germany and Holland at the present time.
January was so called after Janus, the
deity who presided over gates, who is rep-
reseated as having two heads, each looking
in an opposite direction. He is supposed
to regard the past and the year to come as
January was the first month in the reviled
year.
February, from Februare to purify, so
named from the religious expiations and
purifying ceremonies which took place on
the commencement of this month, in ancient
Rome.
mch
was dedicated th their god of war,
Mars, who, naturally, was one of their prin-
cipal deities, as the Romans were always a
warlike people, and continually in the field
both at home and abroad.
April, by some supposed to have been
derived from Aperio, I open, as marking
the budding out of nature ; and by others,
from the festival Aphrillis, founded on the
Greek name of Venus, Aphrodite'as the
first day of this month was set apart for her
worship.
May,eelled Maius, in honor of the sen-
ate, or Maiores, in the original constitution
or legislature of
June was was named in 'honor of the Juniores,
the inferior or junior branch of the legiela,-
ture.
July,
originally Quintilis, or fifth month,
was named Julius, after his death, by, s
friend Marc Antony, in honor of the fa
name of Cmsar, and selected perhaps ou
count of the fierceness of thesanae.raye dl1.
ing this month, conquering the yea,relio9
Cwsar the world.
August, the name of sextilis, or sixth
month,was changed by Augustus Cresar, not
from his having beenborn during this month,
but through vanity. Not wishing to be out-
done by Julius Caseaf," he added a day to the
next month, which, hitherto had but thirty,
taking it from February, the one month that
could least afford it.
September, the seventh ; October, the
eighth; November, the ninth, and Decem-
ber, the tenth month, are taken from the old
Alban calendar, that had but ten months.
This was changed by Julius Cresar, who
added two more divisions of the year, but
retained some of the old names of the months.
The twelve constellations of the Zodiac
were invented by Hipparchus, an astronomer
and mathematician of Bithynia, Greece'who
died in the year 125 B.C. These constella-
tions are groups of fixed stars, whose out- —
lines, in a way, represent figures of men,
animals, etc., and are used m astronomical
calculations.
The Egyptian, Turkish, and Hebrew lists
of months are used at the present day ; the
Turkish are mote particularly Mohammedan.
These three systems are arranged so that an
intercalary month isnecessaryat certain
periods, to rectify errors in computing time.
The Indians of North America reckon
their time by the moon's fulling; and though
no definite term for the year is used, still an
approximate calculation can be made of
time, by their using the word. "m000 ;" as,
"the moon of the Buffalo," meaning our
month of November; or, "twenty moons
have gone ;" i. e., nineteen or twenty months
go.
The signs in the small cfreles in our illus-
trations, generally accompanying the signs'
of the Zodiac, and inserted in a column of
our common calendars under the heading of
"moon's place," are derived from the hier-
oglyphics of the ancient Egyptians, and
signify the months or divisions of the year
from whieh their labors in tbe field were
computed.
The parts of the body that are given in
the several months, copied for an old Far -
Mere -4 /monad, were held by ancient ladies
in great esteem, as many acts in their dom-
estic and family affairs were carried out in
accordance with the appeerance of their ac-
companying signs in thae-fitoresaid column of •,
the calendar . as, for initance : a child might a t'
not be weaned, on when the sign cancer (66)s
was opposite the day appointed :—supersti-
tion, but they would have been greatly of-
fended had any one said so.
• The jewel, or precious etone, and the
flower are given for each month, and are
from the best English authorities. In re-
gard to December, there is a difference o
opinion: some coueider the turquoise the
jewel of that month. The flowers given
usually bloom during these months in Eng,
land, and though they may not exactly
correspoild with the habits of our American
flowers, no more do they, in some eases,
with French or Spanish; still they are eon-
siderd the best emblems of the maths in the,
universal language of flowers,
"1 has been axed to delibet a brief ad-
dress on natural philosophy," said the Hon.
Smith, as he advanced to the edge of the
platform. "Natural philosophy am sun -
thin' dat sin goin' on all around us day an'
right, but not iiso' dais one pusson in a mil-
lyun eber stops to think of it.
" You sot heah in a blaze of glory caused
by sebenteen kerosene lamps alight. Why
does de ile burn? What causes de wicks to
take up de ile ? What am de occashuu fur
O chimney on a lamp.? Why dean' dese
lamps cause darkness Instead of ,lightness ?
Dese thoughts hey neber ceseurrad to you.
You see a stone roll down hill instead of up,
but you nebber ask yerselves why dis am
so. If it rolled up you'd be just as well
satisfied.
" Samuel shin has jist lowered an alley
winder. What fur? De room' am too hot,
an' experience teaches him dat de warm air
w ill rush out. What makes it? He can't
tell you. Samuel knows dat de warm air
goes to de top of de room, but why it does
he has nebber stopped to think. Natural
philosophy am a subjick dat kin be studied
wid pleasure an' profit, an' I hope ("at by
my ilex' visit to dis beautiful city each an'
ebery one of you may be prepar'd to tell me
why a boy strikes de ground when he jumps
off de kitchen roof, instead of stayin' up in
de air until his kidder pulls him down by de
leg."
asruoNoarit
"What amastronomy?" aeked Prof. Green
as he came forward. "Some of you may
think that astronomy has sunthin to do wit"
railroads an' steamboats, but sich am not de
ease. We hey it wid us as we walk around
by day, an' it nebber runs away when we
lay down at night. Astronomy am de sky,
moon, sun, stars, an' sich. Der' was a time
when nobody knowed dat dis world revolved
around. Everybody s'posed it was a great
big hunk of sunthin' dumped down like a
rock in a mialhole. It was a long time befo'
anybody knowed dat de world had an axis
to revolve on. A good many folks felt sorry
fur it, an' most eberybody would hev chipped
m to buy an axis an present it to her. It
was a good while later dat befo' any one dis-
kivered dat de world moved around de sun.
Dey saw de sun riz in de east an' sot in de
west, an dey 'lowed dat it moved.
De study of astronomy tun sunthin' dat
cle culla" man orter be at day an' night. It
am like sweet buttermilk—you Can't git too
much of it. When yoa has come to know
dat de moon am inhabited by it race of peo-
ple 'leven feet high an' hevin' three eyes --
dna de smallest star am as big as de City
Hall—dat each eand of a rainbow rests on a
gold mine --when you come to gib aatronomy
ight down to whar' you kin pick out Mare
n' &aura an Goliali an' Sampson an' Lot's
Vife, yet \VOA keer two cents Whether
our rent ma lipAa or tot.
"1 hcv wid me a few pamphlets on de
ubjict of astronomy, an' at -tor de amain'
djourns cle same can be had of rrie et twenty
-
Ivo °elite taeli—no trust."
The Meeting then adjourned to give the
visitors opportunity to make personal ac.
In a recent Seinen Henry Ward Beecher
"1 have iso eympritlay with eight
hour men who have fourteen -hour
dratk the rosy color out of my w 8
cheeks fourteen yeitts ago, and it has never
e6Illelibtackaritgaliinu;:ticSel:hotv8tll
f°7e8'
tatieaat a mincer ie
suitable for the Bartholdi Geddeee
berty's Mouth would have to be thirty feet
itt diameter,