The Brussels Post, 1891-10-23, Page 3Om. 23, 1191,
011 The Wing,
Sweet Summer',3 avail 1 Ah, ye Soutlestneelng
swallows,
Rath the day come then for mayltig (loud bye/
lei), than, ye rovIno :Tow !
Windt will :mono oc ytni
lifity to bravo IV int ov 1 hrongh d
Neither would 1:
Swea Wns the snug. Singer, j ton: as you sang 11
oneo;
kindles 10 the lip, you brought tears to the
eye;
"Sing, sing ngein," wo sighed,
Lightly yeu turned 161111 0,
"Wise little witch!" I cried,
Neither would 1 l
Pass round Lilo tankerd, boys, while the tap
news foe yo,
Mad, merey hearts, let the foarffingjest fly1
out in Ilfo's burning sun,
0100. with 0 mums work done,
Wuuld 601 1(1>00 missed the fun,
Neither weuld
How 1 lo the revel done Bedtime alreadv.
Ntiree
Ayo, Soma:, now 00)1160 1,110 sweet hush•n-byol
Cool the freali piliow lies,
He that, shun.: weary oyes
Would not sleep otherwise,
Neither would 11
ANGUS AND JOAN
THE BRUSSELS POST. 3
111.1111161=101 .011114111302Elig41.141•111{0911116111914.6ttlpillil
would, tdullc oil to l.;,o mut our czytanti begun the (amp, Ile. and unable to sneak..•knoWio, 100, OW 411 BURYING' HIS BAUBILOR LIFE.
the heather. had ovule a mintake In bringing hon. trout ifieriog before ter— .1 inidenetiv,•ly de. tee
the first he skewed a profoued contempt vi,,y thing 1 .111W,!0 19 14,1%11 11,y 011111111M Or 11 Ereece elleeninn Wfs.
The very day before I left there happened
to be a, turfing/sr tiff than usual, so 1 1,11- ler the traffic, mud beforo Mug we got inte When he erept around the rock to timsh not Wen About do me Married,
hayed him on to the brae, sat 111/1011 by hti places where it was 0 tossmp whether we ')I 1 simply 11111 my hatel ant. looked Cilw I )eintal., It highly respeetable member
Mae, lit my pipe, muldiseourced to him 1.1o, were to pi headloog 000>111*' 10000 11 11 m ol)'nlily 1> he face. li 16441 the lint al'ormpaa„ writ", a parb.,
a brother, I flattered inytlelf 1 eauld put or eitiele Isnemdeop in the Idiotic peat mud, time our t,,t es had )300.,- and the effect wan
madders right, in a jitly by simply pointing MOO pant t hat !roe 'Mooting lodge we need eleetriedl, lie paused, he gasped, The
Mit, With my superior worldly experunee,
that the boot girl's were ni ways wayward
and flighty, and every inie of then) fond of
showieg off holm streamer... An for Joan,
everybody know her to res trim an steel, and
I mnild ansWer for my friend being the very
soul of honor,
I thought this would mend the rift, but I
am not sure it did not, widen it.
" Any way, master, he replied gloomily,
" will bo a very avenge thing that Mr.
Burgon has taken half .11 dozen sketchee of
her—aye, and more—unbeknown to me,
and yet she wan miler for having the pho-
tograph taken, neer 8eo you :low ! Thera
she stands brazening it oat with him at the
door That will by a strange thing, too,
whateffer 1"
" Pooh 1 That is just because she knows
you nate watehing her. That's the way
with them. Man alive 1 can't you see that
if oho slid not care for you, she would not
be taking her fah off you ?"
" Fun 1" he cried, manrn10113, ; " and you
think it will be right thet she should be
takieg her fun 011 mo before 81431,000m
'not will be what [she tvould be doing the
now. I ask you, mister, how you would
like it ?"
" Yon must net eall us strangers, Angus,"
" 3.1 is the stranger that has acme between
us," he droned on mournfully, without heed-
ing my words. " ISTeffer before has it hap-
pened. Tho gentlemen have boon hero to
shoot, and 10 810,116, arid she noires. bad a word
for them. Neese before has the stranger
come between us, and now—"
All this time he hod never once taken his
eyes off the inn door ; and just then, as Bur -
gen and Joan disappeorod stopped
abruptly and strode down after them.
Joan opened lire the moment we got into
the bar parlor. Something that Angus had
said to her before he took refuge on the hill
was evidently ranidiug in her broast—f or a
more wilful, perverse, irritating young per:
son then Miss Joan was then could not have
been forted in her Majemty's dominions.
Purposely ignoring Angus's presonoe, she
laughed and giggled and tattled on bow she
would dress as the real Derthula, aud be
taken on the mountain side with a dirk in
her hocid. Would Me. Burgun not like to
make another sketch of her then and there
by the window, with the sunlight flickering
in?
What tho minx could do to irritate and
drive Angus mad with joelousy she did ;
and when at last he interposed by saying
gruffly they had had enough of picture melt-
ing, she at once resented his assumption of
proprietorship by turning on him like a
tigress, and saying with a fine gesture of
disdain :
" Look yon to yourself, Mister Maolean,
and I will look to myself 1"
" I've a mind to be taking you at your
word, my lass I" said be, jumping up and
turning polo.
"Go your ways and don't • my lass '1118,"
she retorted, just as red as he was white.
Angus bounced out.
"Don't be a fool," 861)1 1, following him,
" The stranger has come between us, and
let 1310 stranger look to hisself ;" and with
this lie clapped on his bonnet and marabed
off to Inveroran.
This was by. no means the end of therm,
pus. When .E returned Miss Joan was en-
gaged tooth and nail with her 110010—so
fiercely, too, that Burgon and I 1)801 )> hasty
vetreat. Hell an hour later the battle fin
ished by the cart drawing up at the door,
dunl Miss Joon, still defiant, being driven
off with her box to her mother's house at
Ballaelmlish. I was sorry the row had run
ta this length, but Burgon mado light of it.
"Never fent," ho sang ant cheerily when
said gond bye to him next day ; " Vapour
oil on the troubled waters Patience and
gumption will do it ; Dud what is more, my
boy," he added, waving his ban1 toward the
grey horizon, " I shall walk across that
moor."
And to mo, ma drove off, this same mom
looked more terribly dreary and inhospit-
able then ever.
In the course of a week came a letter,
Things went just the same. He had done
his level best, but could do no good with
the sulky lovers. The weather too, was on
the change, so altogether he began to think
he had better make tracks for the South. A
fortnight later omne anethor, this time from
Bonn. Business had called .1thn there, and
there he would likely remain for a month er
more, When he got back he would let me
know. Weeorrosponded occasionally, but
it was not until the Spring. was well advanc:
ed and Rannoah Moor had almost Blipped
out of ray memory that I got a. note asking
me to dine with him that evening in Jer-
tnyn Street,
If I had met Burgon in the street I should
not have known blin, so hideously altered
was be. From Beauty Burgon" had
become something like lingo's " L'Ilomme
qui Rit,"
His features were contorted by a curious
cicatvix on the cheek, which drew up ono
of.rner of his mouth into a permaneno grin.
The lower eyelid, too, Wne drown 6I0N011 and
everted. So transfigured was ho that for
a time I could only hold his hand and stare,
" You shall boar ea aliout it presently,"
told he, oheerily. After dinner I had it
out, chapter and verS0,
" \Ye must go back to the time when I
wrote you. my last letter from King's
House,' he began, "In that I told you I
had failed in making 1110 sweethearts bet-
ter -tempered, I tried, but Limy shirked me,
Angus WM having a &inking bout at Inver-
oran, where he maundered on in his' oups
about the r tromger that had come between
him and his Joan, Joan wits stubboth, 'so
there wo were—Angns on one side, Joan on
the other, and I the i nnoeent cause of it n.11,
stranded between them. .As I :Auld do no
good, the best course for mo was to make
myself seam. I was determined to walk
across that moor. though 1 I knew it WaS
lcmg tral, end not a very lively one in Coneema.1,aa?
made iny calculations, sent my luggage on
to Perth, and timed it with tho greatest
nicety, Well the 'Vevy evening before I
Imre° tvrallt by smutting th 43101100 fl'0111 fere tV4, 1001 1f111111 111101111111 1/1' ini1013 11,11 1 a 000lome's dirk )V.111t1 1,11
I believe it was liurgon a handsome Mee
that first attraeted me, He etood so near
1110 at the Blade that I could hot help teking
stock of him, and so ovivy dav became more
aware of the faultless shape his features
and the utter badness of his drawing. Being
rich, friendless, and a trifle " stand-offish,"
he was at once invested by the other fellows
with 1411 absurd halo 01 103(0181'>', Ho wee a
Nihilist who bad joined the class for some
inscrutable and deadly objeot, a German
Prince, a hinatic ; short, enything, but.
what he really was—the son of a welt -to-do
dry -salter, who bad died, leaving him a
hendsome fortune. The only inistake Bev-
gon pere had mado was in sending his son
to be edueated at 13nun without giving him
the ohance of keeping ep home Mends. Ile
ame back to his patrimony knowing no one,
end Was so completely isolated in his dainty
suite of rooms in :1 ormyn 8 trent that he
could not make enough of me and my visits.
I liked lam ; so, from fellow workers, we
became close comptinions—bot his art was
amentable I •
He talked well, but it seemed an ab-
solute impossibility for him to expreas
himself either with brush or pencil. The
failure was complete, and he knew it—not
only knew it, but felt it keetily ; for, with
all his airy nonchalance and all that seem-
ingly reckless contempt with which he spoke
about, art, he was a true poet at heart, and
ono who reverently regarded the true func-
tion of the utast.
I believe he would have bartered his good
oks and fortune for the pewee to give one
11111)11)10 protest against the landscepe
nting of the day, but he could not ; and
it seemed as if, by some sport of ohanee, his
handsome head had been placed on his
shoulders by way of compensation. 3.1
worried him aud set him at odds with the
world, and the world dubbed him a cynical,
conceited fellow, posing for a particular
sort of sympathy, which had to be evolved
on purpoee foe him.
As matter of foot, a more un-
selfish, tender-hearted fellow than 13urgon
never breathed. But he fretted over his
failures.
" I'm sick of this 1" he said one day to
me at the Royal Acadomy—" sick of exhibi-
tions, sick of London ! there is not s, picture
here tbet raiiieS a genubie emotion within
you. The pity of 11 1"
.And, pray, what's the use of bothering
about it ? Round it oomos every year like.
O remorseless tovthre, and nine-tentlis of the
men you speak to about it persist in mistak-
ing dexterity for genius. Let us get auto!
it, Let ns do Batmen& Moor, as we said
we would, where there is space, freedom,
and reality."
We had. harboured a, theign on this big,
desolate, eniteMtInsway moor for many a
day. Now the day had come. I too was sick
of Lonlon, and longing to gel into sketching
quarters. So it, happened that a week later
wo were in the tiny inn at Fing's Home,
with Glencoe and Glee Etive on one side of
us and our dreary limitless space of moss
and wider on the other.
Bergen had never been in Scotland before.
He knew the romantic part auto history—
its poetry and wild legends. Ho know the
shameful story ot Glencoe and the touching
old Celtic romance connected with Glen
Etive, but I doubt if he could have told
whether these glens wersteen the east or west
side of Scotland ; and as for the people he
had es much notion of them as he hall of
Laplanders.
Had he known them better and understood
the spirit, of their proud nationality—their
independence and fierce jealousy—he might
have kept his good looks and never become
O painter,
.At King's House the moor he had come
500 miles to see wits at once forgotteu the
superior attractions of the hills and Wen
Btive. The wild glen, with its purple conies,
brawling Mums, and romantic associations,
fascinated him. He was °razed about it.
He would people it with the SODS of 'Mee-
naoh and point out triumphantly to mo
how 'the old Gaelic names ot certain spots
corroborated the truth of the legends. He
got Celtic romance on the brain. It
was 0 ileW field for the artist. We were in
the midst of tho veritable backgrounds, and
lo 1 here was a living Darthula end a living
Najd in the persons of Joan, our landlord's
niece, and young Angus, the forester.
With rod -hot enthusiasm lie made friends
with these two lovers end planned innumer-
able pictures with them in the foregromaL
There Wag little to be sold against Burgon
makieg studies for his Darthula, but when
it had gone on for a couple of weeks T.
boom to have misgivings.
intW that this sante countrified Miss
Joan was a true daughter of Eve—a ' born
ooquette. No seasoned young lady of May-
fair (mad have played off the handsome
young stranger against her somewhat dour
swootheat with more skill and dexterity
than she. Moue then onoe I had seen Angus
scowl and ling savagely ot his beard, and
the more he scowled and tugged the more
saucily With jean smiled and chattered
nonsense to Burgon about his pictures. In
these pictures, too, Bergen became mote
deeply buried evoey day—more patient on
posing and drawing his heroine, and more
elaborate in the details of the rain -beaten
hills thitt wore to form his background.
Ho had a fine time 0( 11, and the weather
was glorious. But ovary day the dreary
moot. we had come so 1st for the express
plumose of crossing, and as 3(01 11011 scarcely
sot a foot on, Beamed to confront 118 IVith
a sort of menaoe.
It so happened 1 nom did oross it, foe
wo had scerco entered upon our third week
when I WM hastily summoned back by tho
death of a relative.
Now the little comedy OA WU going on
had been fine fun for overt/hotly but Angus:, night, Oantonts elmuls were mottling on s. '1 len, determined to make an end of it,
and Angus'e temper not being of the bland- Buchaillo letive—the day looked ugly, and If Ant up my beok and WM in the act of
est, the 140441013011 00011 110041010 10111414 poll.. So did .(1.110.10, His red oyes, 111%ton:toil clipping off the rook when he sprang on nio
tioians term " etrained," Aligns was a Marl b000d, and refilAcen illeVementS told of like cat and Bent me sprawling on tho
you could neither reason with noe chaff. At oight's debauch. Thero was no drawing ground with the blood gushing from rt: big
fled be mado a sorry pretense of laughing back, though. Tin was in a feverish haste
it off. Then Ito sulked, aud now, 11 flouted to start, and before 8 o'clock 100 had sob
10 0)13' mit 10 the distuneo, It simply beccine murder dreim„,i ej ,,y„ mid gm,
4.4 01003 of imp, 5101p, 141141 j1111111, 101 40, 14104'0 40 11061 40'. 11 00y 01 1061,40 the
easional exit it spurt to ...leer the num:items „.,„ („1. „„ 0„t, 110
little burns that croseed 006 140111. 1`10W 360 eh:telt:el Ilei /WW1, Owl 11:10113, full ou Ino
would Menai, some height and vetch eight ef knee, mid prayed,
thome lovely little lochlets you perm " atrauge eerie sight it was to see this
flaehing at the foot of the Black Mount, big red:bearded fellow kneeling bareheaded
Then WO would suddenly descend iuto it there on the moor, praying loudly te Cod
sable sea 01 >11008, with the rugged purple io hie Coolie toegue for forgi venoms for the
tops of the Untruth range pooping over the terrible act, I could not take in/ eyos Ulf
horizon. Tho stomper we got into the moult, him. So extraordinarily picturesque W110
the wilder and weirder beesune our surround, 11, that for a minute or two 1(1011)0113' forgot.
loge. No sign of life 1 Truly this a wonder- any pain and danger in watching Mtn, Those
ful place 1 Not till you get is, to the midst. of few minutes made him a changed man ! The
it, far out of the Icon of Gen, Wade and crisis hail cleared hie brain 00,1 taken hint
Mr. Miteadain, do you recoguize its ex- out of himself. If e saw with eliudder the
Unordinary beauty, Quite suddeoly you awful ptt he had escaped, :del was quivoriog
seem to recognize the truo meaning of with reniorse When he mgain approached
urea] perimeetive ; quite suddenly you 1160 me,
001110011 Led with 1101V 1061118--1401V M11011100 " He would not take my hand, but he
of color tool a broad, digit Hied simplicity of looked me full in the face as I spluttered out
broken horizontal lines which fill you with my words through a montlifol of blood.
delight and despair. " Anges 1' said 1, " I would sonner you
loll find contrasts In the 111.1ge rounded cut my throat, hove—now-11M be the
crowns of golden sphagnum and gaunt blackguard you hinted at 1"
bleached tree trunke, sticking out of the " ' W11138 mad 1 ay, mad that w:11 be
black peat like fossil bones. In that huge what I wpm I and now I will be thoultful to
spew they seem (0 0(1)361>1 to yon att 1111.111000 take your hand, Sir."
mementoes of the past. cm must remember " One word more, Angus 1 Joan most
that this moor is near a thousand feet above 0eget knew you doubted her,'
semlevel, and a, fair 'trudge of twenty miles ‘" You will be the better num, Mr. l3u.r.
must and west. To me on that novemto-be ! you will be furry much the bettor
forgotten day, when we were practically man than me whateffer. I was ined, the
lost on it:, and the inereasing gloom blotted drink moths lcilling tny brain—but I will be
out the distance, it seemed a huge waste, for believing you the now, and I will bo for
gashed through ita centre by a chain of thanking the good God that He has spared
stagnant pools linked together by sinuous me the, gm.
channels, and that the only thine on it " With thio he proeeeded to help me up.
were the mahoganymolored treat thatanoved lt, was an ugly gash, but fortunately the
lazily oft' when we came suddenly upon the bleeding had ceased. My shoulder had come
pitch -like water, to grief too, in the fall, but Angus was equal
" Now all this time Angus strode off to the occasion, It WaS 1101 the first time
without uttering kb single word. He never by many that he had doctored a wottuded
even vouchsafed an answer if i spoke. He man in the open. So, with tny handkerchief
simply sloughed steadily aheaq, taking n deftly bound consul my face, and his necktie
beed itte duo east. regardless of any track and ronnd my arm by way of a sling, I managed
utterly oblivious to my peesenee. 1 noticed to stagger up oriel prospect the situation
his suppressed exeitement, end began to with him,
think what a lively lefficout it, would be ., Curiously enough, after that blackest
to be alone in the middle of the moor with a part of the dity the mists began to lift off
man 'leadenly clutched with the homes or the face of the 11100r, the sunlight struggled
D.T. I saw he was bound to become trouble- through the thin clouds, and from a neigh-
SOIlle, 101 4 4110 leers of his becomingclangerous boring height we joyfully 0i8N6 that we were
novee mitered ley head. Anyhow, the suoner 0001 the end of the long, dreary Loch Lydon
NVO got *0 001' jotteney's end the better, so I and very close to the lost track. We had
let him forge ahead, little dreaming that come further than wo thought. Angus's
with every step his Muddled brain was friend, the keeper, lived within five miles of
planning murder. us, so We at mum determined to make for
" The day oarkened. The miets fell and his cottage and there rest, instead of at.
crept. uncannily past us, Ulutting 011b the tempting to push on to Loch Rannock.
distance, and inalcMg queer forme which Cleaver and. clearer grew the day every step
seemed to sway to and fro in the foreground, we took, At tho end of Loch Lydon we got
One moment Angus's figure would dwindle the lost peep of our Glencoe hills. There
away in the fog, and in the eetet loom out they were ' Shepherds and Sisters," in
gaunt and gigantic like some gray monster. cloudless blue aganst a saffron sky 180 clear
Suddenly lie stopped, I thought to pause 04 now that I could oven make 006 617 hack -
little for the fog to lift, so that we might, grounds. Henceforth the scene was to make
regain the traCk. We were M the very a tragic little chapter in my life.
heart of the I0000—in,1 sort of .place where " We plodded on slowly, and presently
it seemed as if the face of It had been 00010 upon Loch. Eaghach, where I was
savagely torn off to the bone, leaving bare dimly conseious of oazy pictures of rocks,
patches of it bleeding and rotting before us, reeds, scrubby birches, and poaching heroes,
Stretching away in themist V.01$ an irregular. all reflected in the shallow water. There
shaped umbermolored depression, broken by mit wky lagged through what appeared to
huge round bosses of yellow.red.andmiay me an interminable group of huge de -
sphagnum and bleached skeleton teem tacked rocks, looking for all the world like
trunks. Hero and there a few vivid patches the buried ground of some nitans of old.
of grass sprung up amid the pnr.ple rooks Angus called them the ' riddlings of crest -
and scanty heather. Put all this on the Lion.' Then at the next turn came tho wel-
rich brown•black peaty wound you painted come sight of the keeper's cottage, and once
so muoh of up there, aud 34011 may form inside it WaS not long before I got rid of
some ides, of its weirdness. So weird, so some of my travel stains and tumbled to
beautiful, so extraordinary was it, WI 1.11 4110 boa,
mist wreaths hanging about it, that, ill spite s, mutt kindnoss could de 1001016001]> for
of the discom(ort, 1 jumped on to a dry the mishap, Angus and that good fellow,
rock tun) began to jot down tho points in my the keeper, dist ; but the gash in my cheek
sketch book, did not h ealkindly, so I cuuningly resolved to
" .1 never fittished that sketch, but, you'll slip quietly across t 1 Bonn, where I happen
soon know why the place has so bitten it- to have a doctor friend mighty skillful in
self into my memory. Mee wounds. I went to Leith, pieking up
"I date eay you will say I ought to have my leggago at Perth en voute. My friend
known that a wild nature like Angns's did eat make a good job of me, as yona can
could not be judged by our standard—that see, mg account is that 00100 of the nerve
the passions run ou swifter and more direct branches W060 severed, and that this, own -
linos up them in Glencoe than they do here billed with the , shock,' has lad to pmenam
in London, anel that Angus, silent and ent disfigurement."
receptive, was the very sort of it mau to " You don't seem to care nauth about:It,'
brood over and magnify his troubles till said I, whon he finished,
they mastered him. Perhaps I out to have " I don't care 011011011 ! Besides, I have
known. Anyway, it was peocisely what gained something. I have made a, friend of
happened. He brooded and drank, and Angus r
drank and brooded, over the loss of hie " He has given you a souvenir, at all
Joan in that little inn at Inveroran, till he events,.
thought It was a right and proper thing to " He has—you ere leaning against it I
revenge himself ou the stranger ' that had
Ho bad seen 111 Joan and he are married, and I found that
come between ' them.' y red door skin waiting for me here on my
I 3. i to leave and. walked. over 1 : I hell o and see them But
return. It Is their peace offering. One of
luggage pass Invororan, found out. wheu and
respondent, was tine week to be married to
NI Ile, Anna Terrier, a pretty laundry tnahl.
On the ON Haul day tho 1461410, Wall 1106
" Wituesn," Went to the Mairie itecording Lo
the arrangement, shortly heifer,' 11 o'clock.
5100011 0 11100k 0141.110k, 4.11011 11110, then
1 1 : 30, mid so on till 1 o'clock in the after.
eon», and there was no sign of the bride.
grunt)). There was nothiug foe it but to go
home agate, the bride sobbing bitterly in
the 'meantime. At last it was suggested
that. the giere relations should go and hunt
lip the trnant wooer. They did ao, and
found Mtn asleep at his lodgings, snoriug
loudly. First they shook him, he made not
the slightest eigu of awakening ; then they
pinched his arms with no move satiafactory
result, 00 that more energetic. measures
were recommended, A feather NVIIS 434 1W8t
in hie nostrils, his feet were tickled, brown
paper was burnt undee his nose, his hair
was pulled, and then by way of a elimax
Homebody shouted in Ids ear : "Here is
the inspector,"
levets this, however, did not have the de-
sired 6011111 1, no Out the attempt to wake
'6110 sleeper had lo be abandoned, It was
not until I I o'clock at night that he began
to open his eyes, to late too fulfil his matte.
moitol en.,,elgemeut. llis explanation was
very simple, The night before there had
been a lit tle festivity at his lodgings, when
Ito " buried "1110 bachelor life, and tt cruel
practical joke had been played upon him.
He had been drugged by one of him eompati.
ions, The weddieg, if the fates are propiti-
ous, will take place soon.
low WU go lig 111050 1103*01 s
the hill to seo about it. ,1 don't befleve he noiv I have told you my story, I want you
had any definite object in coming. He was to look at my work."
simply impelled by the general idea of I was fairly staggered by what he showed
having it, out ' mo. And my unfortun- me, so clItTerent, was it from the old, halt.
ate invitation, given 011 1.110 01404. of the ing, incomplete, and undecided stuff he
moment out of pure good will offered him an used to produce. Whether it W110 that dor.
lilleXp:setecl mud tempting olutece of carrying Mg that, terrible half-hour on the moor
out his murderous vendetta in the heart some tension had bean removed, and the
of the moor. .• power he had so long and earnestly striven
"Even when) he broke his long silence and for came to 1)101 then withont effort, I don't
began droning on about his fancied vice alio°, know. Certainly, however those sketches
I had no ideti ho moaut mischief. I °haired never would have bean recognized as his.
him and made light of it, About the worst There N1'05 all 311[101)00(1001 thotglit abont
thing I oould have done 1 It was adding insult thorn—a hoe yet deliberate method of 06-
10 funny, and piling on eel to his smoulder- pressing the motive, The touch was no
ing passion. .As his rage increased, ho got no lougur meaningless, the hand. worked
up and began to pace monotonously by the with the brain now,
rook on which 1 sat. When I looked up front them to his hap-
" Ay 1" he said, never once looking me py though disfigured face, I knew Ina flash
in the face, mud addressing his words to the why lie said he did not cave,
barren space around no, " there will 1)0 00>110 Burgon was going to be a painter.
that are so clean. that they will be laughing
ot their oleffeeness ; hut tho time will be Founded. on Fact,
coining when they will be °leer no more,
and laughing no more Before the strangoe The old belief that rats will leave a doom.
001>10 and oast his evil eye on her, wass there ed ship seems to be blinded on fact. It is
offer a word between ? Wass she offer well known that when, a few years ago, a
for havering and chattering with the gentle- Canadian steamer WaS about leaving her
men like other lassos? Wass oho offer for wharf, Clio rats' on boarll were seen leaving
having the picture taken %Vass she env her by the cables and rope's, and every pots -
for Routing tne 111>0 that would be knowing Bible means of escape. Some persons on
her sinoe she was a 1000.11 1 me, too, that board 811004 and accepted the omen. Having
would be epeaking ber mother—ay, and full faith in the wonderful 1110110ot of the
to Broadffibarie hisself—about the 001101)0 01 dopartitut rodents, they caused their luggage,
stowed on board, to be sent ashore, 101 6110
steamer sail withoat them, and saved their
'lives, for the 01111) 10001 down with almost
every soul on board. It is iwell authenti.
ealed, that rats will leave a doomed house,
Tho wayfarer on a dark night is sometimes
startled at meeting a teoop of these animals
marching in. regular order from .isonto dwel-
ling, their former homes and be will be
'much snore startled in a short timo Lo
hoer of the destruution of the habitation
by some elemontarwatt, or of 80010 fright.
MI crime committed there, or the arrest
of the family head for tho perpetration
of some dark deed, perhaps long cemented.
Some have also 'saved themselves front n.
terrible fete by taking warping betimes NOM
the omen of Om departing rat, Thus was
it, as is well known, with tho rats In the
house of Eugene Aram, that left ill a body
hut, the eight before tho ()alcove I he 111W
had neized him, to expiate on the gallows a
lung hidden Thustit,was rIVene
01 LIW Coonars before fiesaminitif tq.liis
Noe kende. Uwe.% thitS, 100, Wftlt i:los
"Half stamped, unable to raise myself 1, of England, and with others,
Smudging Verses Frost.
The harvest of 1891 has demonstrated
more clarly thau ever the inlinetine import -
once of every effort being niedo to discover
some means of neutralising the effect at
frost upen the crops. Many plans have
been suggested and many theories advanced,
but so far they have been largely of a epee-
lative nature and laek the authority of sat-
isfactory results. Among the most popular
of tho methods suggested is that of
" smudging" the crops, which in reality
moans smoking them. This has been tried
by a large number of the farmers in Mani.
tabs and Dakota, but their reports as to ist
effect has been so contradictory that, it is
as yet impossible to say whether tho plan
is really beneficial or not. The mode
usually adopted for smudging Is to place
heaps of damp straw and manure at
short distancee along the north and
northwestern sides of the field, those
being the quarters from 10111011 frost
is most generally expected. When the fak-
ing thermometer indicates the near approach
if frost, these heaps are ghted, creating a
dense smoke, which, spreading across the
field, hangs over the wheat like tt pall. The
idea is that the smoke, beinp, nomeonduct.
or, is impeevious to the influence of frost
and that it tends also to increase the tem-
perature, thus saving the grain. How much
truth these is in this theory 11 (8 as yet
difficult to say. Some farmers state that
the nights when frost is most to be feared
are generally colm and still, and, as there is
little or no breeze, it is impossible to get
the smoke to spread, so that, in suet). cases
smudges are quite useless. On the other
hand, if the breeze is at all. strong,
it is said that the dangee of frost is greatly
lessened, if indeed it is not neutralised al-
together. The variations of temperature
are also so extremely rapid in 51anitobit (the
thertnometer being known to vary eight
degrees within an hour! that farmers are
often at a loss'to know -when to light their
smutiges, fearing to start them early in the
night lest their full power 011001,1 be. lost he.
fore the critieal time arrives, and equally
afraid that by hesitating to do so !hey may
lot Gm frost do its work This
diffieulty 06049, however, overcome to 51)00111
extent by the Portage la Prairie farmers,
who adopted the novel plan of flashing an
electric light from tho top of one of their
grain elevators whenever the Cl 3vernment
obserVatory thermotneter indicated a danger
of frost. Thouountry being flat thereabouts,
these signals were seen for miles across the
plains, giving the anxious farmers timely
notiee, Ent all this is only labor in vain
unless it can be thoroughly established that
smoke prevents er diminishes frost, It has
become an imperative necessity that steps
should be taken to solve thisproblem, The
Dominion Government could not do bettor
than take the matter in hand and appoint
seieniste to make proper tests of the smudg-
ing premiss,
(tiny woat mr, but it had to be done. I " You 4460 talking arrant nonense,,
Angus." •
" Ay 1 one mister will be wiling
nonsense and another mister will be calling.
started, who should appear bat Mr. Angus I It fun 1 Fine fun to be 'saying soft words to
was glad to 800 the men --right glad to her behind my hack, and misleading het'
think he had come book to his sense's, and with fair promises. Fine ftm bo Bending
that now we should paet without eny bad 10e to Ino proven and her to 13allaehttlish.
blood between us. 140 much so that RS 8he eau fake the sthainee fine there majohs
shook hands with I pressed him to the mister in London. 011, ay that was
001115 001,000 1110 Meer WWI me. Not that I
wanted. a gnide,. but I thought it would
tickle his vanity to be asked. So it did.
There woe a little hesitation, a wild. look or
two to the right and left but fitially he as-
mentod,
"I told you the weather NVOS 011 1110 change.
When I woko tho glens were blaelt
very clear, whatellet. 1"
" Imust own to being angry as he atopped
eudelonly before mo and hissed. Mit those
last words without rathing his eyes to
mine,
You're a blitehguard to talk like that 1"
said I holly. " If you weren't, sodden with
drink ou weuld be ashamed of yourself."
wound in mymbeek.
111.1110111 .1119141054104161111016111144110011110
FUNNY NAMES,
Curious Prsenemens Itemlowtd !Own Their^
children by British Pore:At&
A Somerset house elerk hats lately declar-
ed that the million of hie labor on the rogie-
try of birth:: and deellim is often relieved by
coming.acrosn a litunorone justapositton of
Hamm. There is, indeed, a good deal of
humor in the Somerset house registry, the
fun consisting in an odd 01' b0.61.0160U8 (tope-
caticm ef 114111100, For hours the eye of the
zlerk 10111 (001(1 over reams of doll propriety
in well names as Henry Withon, Georges
Williams, or Samuel Smith, and then the
face 0) 11>0 clerk will become:0d with a smile
ae he comes 006000 " Ether" for the front
name attached to tho surname of " Spray."
I may yearn strange, but it is certainly true,
that entered in the books is " footbath,"
which 'must he written in capitals, Foot
liath," ad really the name of a fellow -crea-
ture. " River Jordau" is another ease in
point. Mr. Jordan had. a ehild to name,
and, like a free born liriton, lie claimed his
right to name it as he ph:toted. Unfortum
ately the mane Ile selected has left the sex
of the child rather doubtful, Mr. " An
-
thistle" had a daughter to name, and.
he must be forgiven for giving bee the
ffiristlan names Hose Shamrock." " Rose
Shamrock Alithistle" in youug lady whose
nacos: must please any patriotic Man
Another happy father who gave his in-
tuit:old ffilkpring the names " Arthue Wel-
lesley Wellington Waterloo Cox " behaved
rather unfairly to the infant, ae he pledged
him to a armor of greatnese. The baby
must have had some difficulty in understand-
ing the obligations imposed upon him. I'ro-
biddy Master " Arthur," etc., etc, found
It difficult to live up to his names and
despairingly ended an existence WIliell gave
no promise bo3 ond mediocrity. Miss.
" Fanny Amelia Limy Ann Rebecca Frost
O'Connor Douai( Luck Holberry Do try Oast -
ler" Hill it is to hehoped has realieed all the
expectation's formed of her when she receiv-
ed her baptismal names, eoinewhere about
the time of the Chartist agitatiom One lady
is actually going about with six and twenty
" front names "—one for each letter of the
alphabet in its proper order. as " Ano
Bertha Cecilia," ander' on down to " Xeno-
phon, Yetty, and Zeue."
Seine children have been rather cruelly -
named, in a manner a Huh forever reminds
them that they have made 10(010)6>0166 01' corn-
mitted a fault in owning into the world.
Thus, "(inc Too Many Harry," or " Not
Wauted James " may be happy young men ;
but, if they are, it is in spite of their names. •
"That's lt, Charlie," or " Who'd. Have
Thought It Too," are names which certainly
give utterance to a mild surprise.
Some Economies.
The following:10count is given of a good
way of oireumventing those household pests
the ants and mice, whose inroads reduce
so many house -wives to despair :
" I wish I knew some way to avoid tide
hand•to-mouth business," said a prudent
housekeeper, as she emptiql a throe-and-a-
half•pound package of eager into a stone
pot. "1 am desperately tired of buying in
little dabs, but I haven't a place in my cup-
board or pantries where I can safely keep
any amount of sugar and similar articles.
The ants seem to have pre-empted this es-
tablishment, and ever since I have been
here they have been one of the plagues of
my life. I have tried everything 1 ever
heard of to get rid of them, until it seems
to me that for every one I kill ten to fif-
teen more come to the funeral. So I simply
buy sugar and things of this sort as I want
them from day to day, mid Ibis a serious
inconvenience.
"Well," said her friend, " I think Iran
give you a single suggestion that wiil settle
this perplexing question. If you itvill get
some rather fine strong cotton—unbleached
will answer—and titmice three or four bags
about the 0106 (111)1 shape of small pillowmases,
put your nuger in them, and hang them up
In any available place in the npper part, of
your house, you will not have the least
(4061)10 10 keeping your sugar safely. For
years I was greatly annoyed by ants, and.
unspeakably astonished on one occasion to
find that the mice had carried of two or
three pounds of cut sugar. I charged its
loss to the servants, and made quite an ado
until I discovered that the mice had carried.
the eugar 01003', as 1 found pieces of it half -
devoured in their runways.
"Now, when I want sugar, I fold up my
bogs and send them to my grocer. He puts
twenty-five pounds of sugar in eaoh bag,
wraps them up, and sends them home. Then
I hang them in an out-of-the-way place
upstairs, and they are ready for any emer-
gency, Indeed I may say that I follow this
practice with a great many attioles. Hominy,
granulated corn -meal, fruits, and many
other things I buy in quentity, tints, saving
not only. the difference in price, but the
inconvemence of getting or sending every
time I need en article, and it is sure to be
wanted at the mostinconvonient season,"
Fifteen Times a Wife.
Mrs. Alice F. Henderson, aged 45, 901148
last week sentenced to prison at New York
for three months for abusing Helen Dennis,
aged 0, the daughter of her fourteenth
hueband. Mrs. Hendereon is at present
married to her fifteenth husband. Her
matrimonial reaord is a remarkable one.
Born to Havana of Spanish parents, she was
educated at Paris and there first married.
Following is a list of her husbands in
order :-
1, John T. Clayton, married 506ee 10,
1862, died jely 9, 1863.
2. T. C. Maher, married September 16,
1863, died May 26, 1865,
6. Wilbur F. Correy, married Februaty
0, 1806, died February 14, 1867.
4. 0, W. Matson, married Olay no, 1867,
d led January 2, 1860.
5, James I. Thibaudeau, married Marsh
10, 1839, died April 1.5, 1870.
6. Andrew P. &Oakland, married Sep.
tembor, 5, 1870, died July 29, 1871.
7. Alton G. Hansoombe, married Decem-
ber 14, 187!, died. September 17, 1878.
8. M. J. Pereival, married February 19,
1814,
0. William L. Poulson, married April 11,
1871, died Juno 23, 1877.
10, Marcus T. Pryor, maliried May 1,1878,
died February 7, 1870.
11. G. W. LI:molten, married may 21,
1879, died November 11, 1 88 1.
12. A. Z. van Riper, married March 9,
1882, died November 29, 1884,
13. H. Morrison, married January 2,
1 885, died Octobee 11!, 1885.
14. Konward T. Dennis, married Febru-
ary, 1886, died November 16, 1887.
1.5. Phoning J Henderson, married Aug -
19, 1801).
The more ote endeavors to sound the
depths of his ignorance, the deeper the
c1)310111 appeare.--(Alcott.
The picturesque village of Refel, sitmated
on the side of a mountaiu overloolchig the
valley of the Tyrol, was on Sunday almost
reduced to &shoe by an outbreak of tire, the
cause of which is at present shrouded it
mystery. The population is Onmet wholly
Catholio, and the Majority had loft home for
1110 11111>1000 of taking port in soon) religious
fosiivities 8(1.V0V11.1 Miles away, It NVOS 41311.-
111# 431304.10 tervul that the lire took place, and
outhe villagyra' return very low of their
dw011inge eenutinsa Standing,
The West Afrioan Tarantula,
In the car loads of bananas which come
into Toronto every season are frequently
found speelmens of the S'outh American
tarantula, and we have heard of several city
grocers being bitten by these ugly members
ofthespidertribe. Uglyandrepulsiveasthese
eveaturesare, they areattractiveandharmless
compered with the West African variety.
This part of the Dark Continent possesses
the most terrible of spiders, a being so foul
and malignant that no reptile compare
with it for horror. It dwells in the woods,
but by one chance or another it too often
finds its way into dwellings. This is addled
the tarantula ; with legs spread, it covers a
dinner plata, clothed in pretty fur very like
a tabby eat's. Its beak is the shape of e,
parrot's, and the size of a sparrow's; the
venom 01 11) fatal to women and children—
often to strong men, as the natives say, Its
pews end in suckers, clinging so tight that
they must be plotted off When the legs have
been cut away. They say that the brute
springs a great distence, and alights with its
suckers together in a bunch ; the frightful
beak is imerted quick as thought, and no
huan
mstrength can move that hideous ex-
eres
1 co n mlikely that a creature Which
t,esell 010.s 1
has no elawe, but holds on by expelling the
air >10 1100 its feet, could jump I but, after
studying the tarantula, one =lines to be-
lieve any fiendish habit attributed to it A
magnificent, but comparatively harmlese,
spider of the West Coast, almost as big,
spins a web twelve foot or 6100011> diatneter,
so strong as to inconvenience tho traveler
who walks into it.
AIM We Must Have It.
1?Irst Clerk—. I don't see why old Jones
- '1'\*.rio)leja:';:nt know, brie.a.
keeps Fleecy around here, lie pays him 0.
big salary and the follow is of no more 1106
11161, *111(000 07,11t1n,w
brae comes high."
tt rtmettre a that Russia has 0013,010ed
protectorate 0080 Persia.