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"So much for preconcei.ved ideas," he from ..bthur Beaupre, from Lord de Gretton? What horrible news did it contain1- thought, as he passed out into the brilHowever she managed it, her eyes must liantsumrner morning. , "I . took it for be the irst to .master its contents. Witk granted that triumph, and not trouble, a supreme .effort, she regained the self- knocked the poor fellow down. I wonder control loat 'for one terror-stricken mo- what the bad news is. That young lady seems rather reticent, but sooner or later ment, and il,)J.'epared for instant action. "Control yourself, mother," she said, no doubt I shall know." · .And before the day was many hours sternly. "If, as I fear, it is paralys~s,, there will be work for you to do." ,. older not onlv he, but all London knew "Paralysis!" moaned the poor woman/ how terrible ~as the blow that had smitwith a cold shiver and anotlier caress to ten Duncan Bruce · to the earth. The the cold, senseless hand that neither evening newspapers, the very papers that containedthe stereotyped reporters' 'gush' warmed nor stirred beneath her touch. But Cristine. uot heeding her mother's over the aristocratic wedding of the prelamentations, turned to the servants with vious day, set forth in staring characters clear, precise orders which, in spite of their sensational accounts of the "Horthe morbid curiosity which prompted rible Tragedy in the West. Murder of a them to linger, they had no choice but to Bridegroom. Strange Disappearance of the Bride. " Before night fell, all Engobey,. "The doctor will require hot water, land was talking of Lord de Gretton's mustard-baths, ice, and hot blankets. See murder, and the telegraph wires were that they are all ready," she said, looking :flashing the news all over the face of the globe. Before night fell, the case had round. <1ori(i, ;:,, And, grumbling at Miss Cristine's "ar- been tried by thousands of sel~-constitutbitrary ways," but secretly admi.J:ing h er ed tribunals and an almostumversal verclear-headed forethought, the women diet found ti1e absent Nora guilty of her husband's death. withdrew. It so happened, that Ella Joyce, who, as Then, and not till then, Cristine strove t o disengage the crumpled paper from the Nora's bridesmaid, had made the unlucky close and deathlike grip.· It was a task " Lucy Ashton" comparison, was at a gar· requiring no little nerve and patience ; den party, listening to .the music of the but she succeeded at last. The cold hand Hungarian Band, and daintily eating an lay open and empt y- the paper was in her ice when the horrible news was whispered from one to another through all the possession. tents and across the lawn until it reached "Cristine, what are you doing 1" CHAPTER I X.-(C ONTINUED.) With a sort of angry gasp Mrs. Bruce her ear. "You are really absurd, Crist ine," she put the question, brushing away the · She grew white as the ivory silk dress said severely. . "One would think your thickly-falling tears that blurred her vis- she wore, and dropped ·the china shell father had never received a telegram or ion, the .better to follow her daughter's with a sharp incredulous cry. "Oh, impossible!" she said passionateextraordinary movements. · b een late for breakfast before." Cristille did not answer - would in truth Cristine had risen suddenly to her feet, ly. "It is too horrible ! Why, I--" "You prophesied it," Sir GeorgeCrouhave found speech difficult just then; and and, with a look that frightened the her mother turned again to the man. watching woman-a look more terrible este finished, with something like a shud"Let Captain Bruce know we are a t than the dark shadow that rested on the der. "You did, indeed, Miss Joyce ; it breakfast." face of the stricken man- was slowly is moiit extraordinary to me!" And he walked away quickly, evidently When Finnis had gone upon his errand t earing the telegram into minutest fragresolved to trust himself in such a danshe said, in a tone that had lost all its ments. dignity and was full of pettish, frightened . "Can you not answer, Cristine ~ Is gerous vicinity n o more. Ho admired Miss Joyce as much as it was in his limp OQmplaintthat the telegram you are tearing ?" "You do yom' best to infect me 'Vl1-th "Yes," Cr isLine answered slowly; "it nature to admire any created being but rour terrors, Cristine, sitting there look- is best destroyed ; it has such ugly n ews. Sir George Croueste, her brightness, vim g like a ghost, and never saying a word. No wonder that it upset him. I am hard vacity, and ready wit being, he thought, What b<td news could the t elegram bring enough ; but"- with a strong shudder- the proper complement of his more solid merits ; but from that moment he dis--unless indeed"-the hands.ome face "I neve1· dreamed of this!" (;llouding .over with a genuine terrorThe wild words, the wilder action, missed decisively all notion of making her ~'unless there is something wrong with wrought Mrs. Bruce almost t o a frenzy of his own. "The girl has the evil eye, don't you lllY poor Vance, and Captain Bruce fears terror. She gathered the fragments, and t o toll me 1 Oh, Cristine, if it should be tried to piece them together, but in vain; know 1" he would solemnly and wii;h evithat!" . there was no help but in au appeal to her dent sincerity assure his friends when twitted with his sudden defection. "It's Oris.tine, str;iining her ears to catch the daughter. lllan's returning steps, smiled in rather a "Cristine, for pity's sake, child, tell me an awful thing ; but she has it. She put ghastly fashion to see what different p~th~ the truth ! Is it"- the mother-passion it on poor De Grett on yesterday, comh er mother's fears and hers were taking. rising in an overmastering fear supreme pared the bride to Lucia, and all that sort of thing ; and this is the end of it." She answered impatiently. above all others-"is it from Vance 1" And meantime, while her rnothoc raved "Oh, Yance fills the universe for you; Cristine broke into a shrill cry, half It was not Yance of whom 1 was t hink- laughter and half scream, that echoed helplessly in one room and her step-fa.thing." . . horribly through the lofty room and work- er lay in a horrible mockery of .death in "The11 you are an unnatural sister," ed her mother's fears · to frenzy-point, another, while the servants, with aghastly relish, discussed the terrible tidings, was the quick response. "I am thankful Then she answered almost calmlyto say the dear boy is never out of my "No, mother; you need not fear for Cristine Singleton, with cold, trembling t houghts. Nora would not have answer- Yance. "He"- with a frightened side- fingers, unfolded the newspaper and learn11d m,e. in such an unfeeling fashion." glance at the prostrate figure- "had no ed in detail how far her vengeance had "Nora is flawless now, of course," :l\fiss need to spare uB. The blow falls only outstripped her wishes, how utter w as the ruin she had wrough<;. Singleton commenced sneeringly, but at on him. " that mom ent Fiimis re-entered the room, "On him!" With widening eyes the "This morninP' ·~c.e quiet J!>evonshire and it n eeded but one glance at his white, elder woman pondered the words. ·"Oh, village of S w.ire Vernon was electrified 1>y frightened face t o t ell that something was Cristine, it is-it must be-Nora!'~ a strangeiy horrible occurrence. Lord de t erribly wrong. "Yes, it is Nora," Cristine admitted, Gretton, who was married only yesterday "Oh, ma.'am," he cried, "you had bet - in tho same frozen fashion. "Lord de to Miss Nora Bruce, a young and beautit er come to the library ! M aster is--. Gretton was murdered last night, an<i ful lady t o whom he was romantically at;r 4ad. better go for the doctor a~ once." Nora was missing this morning- that is tached, and who had brought his bride t o Cliff Cottage, the lovely marine villa of With rapid steps and quickly beating all." our respected county member , Mr. Dalh en.rts, Mr11. B ruce and Oristine made t;b:eir-way-00 .tlie oJty :,ook-tint!'d -:. ·.;.;. uu~ u, f------'----~ o =-n A PTE X. rnayne, was found stabbed to the heart and quite dead in the smaller library, as tha.t, seldom visited by any other memAll that day and night Captain Bruce it is called, a room opening into the priber of the household, wl',s Captain Bruce's favorite retreat. H ere he was wont to lay in the same h elpless, ho_peless state. vate apartments of the noble pair. write his lette1·s, to audit his accounts, to Life lingered still in the mert frame; correct and r e-correct with laborious pa- somewhere behind the darkened eyes . ' ·' The sad discovery was made by a sertience the learned nautico-scientific ..ar - thought and sensation, memory, and pow- va.nt, who, entering the room about seven t icles that were destined n ever to see the er to suff~r pain were to be found ; but o'clock to open the shutters, found them ., and the French windows widelylopen, the light, .but formed,at once the object and for the !>resent they were i·n abAATaiice -., h't 1 e mat s and ·d el' 1ca t e- h u ed carpet s covr ecreation of the long leisure to which a whether Wi.ey would ever wake again the w ed 'th bl d d L d d G tto er w1 oo ' an or e re n melancholy fate h ad condemned him. doctor would not undertake to say. d ead upon the ground . "It may be that he will recover -this Here the two women were to find him"I hi · d h th is the first attack-or it may be that he n s surpnse an or ror, e man how ? It . h · kl b ttere d a 1oud cry, wh ic will pass away in this stupor," the doctor u qu1c y roug It was a question that received no im.A d t l . · t · 11 the h ouse t o h is assis ance. said, with a compassionate glance at the a oc or, m ediate answer as they pushed back the · f · th spot m h a very ew mmh eavy door and timidly enter ed the room. girl upon whose fair delicate face some wt o was on e d 'f h d b th t l seemed to have fallen, who u es, pronounce a l e a een ex' ght Th e shabby old leather desk, brought Sudden bll · h a that d eath was tie I some ours, an from N ettleton, stood open in its accus- evidontly felt the situation deeply, and tmct . d d th t lt of astab from b e h m et was. able to receive his instructions resu 'a woun t omed place on phe knee-hole writing- Y "b'l"t h b lf · a ld b cou i 1 y ave een se table, a half-written sheet of paper 01;1. the with a sort of h elpfi.tl self-control, while fi . d y po poss1 ti t' -m f even blotter, and the k eys still dangling from her mother, in another part of the house, wte · 'd , · th were rnre any sugges ion o the old-fashioned brass lock. The morning Pa.ssed from one fit of screaming hysterics smc1 e m e case. "And now almost the strangest part of sunlight streaming threugh the tall win- to another. Cristine, standing pale an d silent at the thQ ·St ory must be told. When the first dowglittered on their well-polished brightness, on t h e deep cri.Jnson of ahe empty foot of the great bed, looking at the gray thrilling excitement of bewildered horror p ushed-back chair, and on an objoct prone face so pathetically changed, with its h ad a lit tle subsided, the servants began drooping lip and dull half-opened eyes, to think it strange that one persoil alone at its foot.' It was a man's figure stiff and motion- thought with a sudden vivid r emembrance should sleep on undisturbed through all l ess, with a gray h ea<l above which two of the cruel n ews to which h e must awak- the din and bustle, and that the' one conarms had stretehed and stiffen ed, as though en, t hought that, if Heaven were pitiful, whom the sad event principally 1 in appealing agony- the man they had it would be best that he should so p ass cerned. awa.y. ' 'Lady de Gretton's maid was deputed come to seek. Involuntarily h er thoughts translated to break the news as gently as might be With a sharp scream of terror that rang t o the widowed bride. But the young t h rough all the house and brought the themselves into words. "Death would . be mercy her e," she · woman soon re~urned, filled with h orror frightened ser vants to tho door, Mrs. Bruce r an to her husband's side, lifted said, i.n a low, frightened wlusper that and consternation, t o announce that Lady t h e gray h ead on t o h er lap, and looked struck on the listener's ear with strangely d.e G;ett~n. was now~er~ t o be found. Act ive mqumes were mstituted and ever) with horror on t he livid face and widely- traITT.c force. He turned and eyed the 0 irl a little effort made to trace the missing lady, but iataring eyes. " He is dead!" she cried, losing allself- sternly. Hitherto sh e had s:emed any- up to the present moment without suecontrol, and shrinking like a frightened thing b1.1t h eart less, hitherto in his cess. "The tragi? event has cast-a g~oom oyer child in presence of calamity. "Cristine, tl;oughts he had bestowed upon her the ghbormg come her e ; your father is dead, I t ell you ! luahest commendation. but those words the whole village and t he n e1 Send for Vance, for Nora I Some one filled h im with a quick: repulsive disgust. town, ~hich, in t his th~, annual R egatta H e was a stranger to the family, but a week, is unusually full. should be here !" So ran the r eporter 's telegraphed com" Send for a doctor," Cristine said, her neighbor ; and, in common wit h all other calm , clear tones breaking in upon h er neighbors, he had h eard of the grand 'municat ion, a mere meagre outline of the mother's frantic ravings, and recalling the match that Captain Bruce's daugh ter had tale that would b e fully told to-morrow. bewildered servants t o a remembrance of made. The fashionable papers had over- But Cristine's guilty conscience could h elp :fl.owed with descriptions of the bride's her t o fill in every detail and mak e t he duties t o b e don e. ,1,, presents, grace, beauty, and drama h orribly complete. Sit ting in the One or two of the women came into the troussea1 gen eral happiness. N aturally, then, h e fallen t wilight, with the h elpless, dying room, the rest disappeared quickly as Cristine kn elt by h er step -father's side expect.ed h er father to be one of the most man for h er sole companion, she saw the an d placed h er hand upon his heart. It proudly contented of men, and naturally· whole cruel scene enacted before h er d ry still beat, though wit h a t erribly sluggish also attributed this sudden attack to the and burning eyes. Not for one second did she doubt that, over -excitement of the occasion. sl wness. Iii these circum stances Cristine's remark . driven to actual madness, N ora had struck "He is not dead," sh e said, raising h er yellow head at last, " t hough I fear he seem ed as uncalled for as it was heartless that des1ierate and fatal blow-not for an d worthy of r ebuke. · one second did sh e doubt that, though may be dying." " Life is always best while h eaven wills she was amenable to no human law, an d " Oh, my poor Duncan !" The woman that we should keep it," he said severely. had in no way endangered h er own life who had been a cold, indifferent, but , in " Your fa1;l1er's state is most critical at an d libert.y, in very t rut h the brand of her fashion and according to h er lights, a present ; but if h e is kept free from all Oain burned r edly on her own brow, and faithful and hen est wife, broke into a pas- excitement- - " th at she, Cristine Singleton, was a mur:sion of tears, and ·with remorseful tender"If," Oristine int er rupted with a con- deress in the sight of Heaven. She pushness raised the poor gray h and to her vulsive shudder- "if his life dep ends ed back the soft, fair hair that clust ered quivering lips. upon his being k ept free from excite- on h er smooth, white brow, as though sh e As sh e did so, Cristine's gl ance wan - ment, he W !ll die in his first conscious mo- really expected to find t h e fiery brand der ed instinctively t o t he other h and, ment." ·t here. ' Vh atever of h eart and conscience wluch had stiffen ed on something that it the girl possessed was stung into lif~ at " You have bad news for h im then ?" still held with a convulsive cl{tsp-someCristine, st ill staring at her step-father's last- thought hau b ecome t orture, her thing that gloamed pi.J1kly through t he face, bent h er head by way of an'swer. own society an unendurable anguish ; but " It must be kept back at all costs," the t here was no one to whom she could j>Jl.le fingers. Cristine s heart l eaped convulsively ; it man said per emptorily; "or perh aps he speak, no one' to give her one grain of must be the telegram of which the man knows it already?" hope or comfort. She had thirsted for liad spoken. Her superstitious fears had " He does, " Cristine said quietly; but, vengeance on th @girl who had innocent ly n ot deceived h er ; it was t hat wh ich had th ough the doctor lingered curiously, sh e wronged h er - plotted, planned, and praystricken hi.Jn down. Was it from Nora , vouchsafed n o further information ed for it ; it had come now, and, in t he ~The·Edltor's Wife. The following e-.:traots are from a poem read by Eugene Field, at the recent Banquet of the Chicago Press Olub: When the editor comes from his office at night At a very late hour, in a dubious plight, The impression prevails and the stoDy is told That the editor's wife can 'be always cajoled With a tl.b abOut "bridges" and "broken-down press"But we who have been there are free to confess That when husbands are late and suspicions are rife ' It is best to own up to ~he editor's wife. .And of course you'll agree since our wives are all here To brighten the scene and partake of our cheerThat the best of all angels kind Heaven has sent j · . To·brimr a man sympathy, peace, and contentTo add to his joys and to lessfln his woesTo sew on his buttons e.nd patch up his hcseAnd to smooth out the kinks and the wrinkles of lite, Is the idol we worship-the editor's wife. You may drink to your trade and your creature of fame- 1 · I raise not my glass till I hear her sweet name ; 'Tis to her alone who uncomplainingly bears The all of her sorrows, the most of our oaresWhose wealth of sweet inftuence subtly lnapires · Our gr11.ndest achievements and noblest desires'Tis to her I would drink-our companion in ~ lifeQ.od'a beat in iration, the editor's wife ! I full fruition of he.r wicked wish, she felt that her own punishment had begun. A TOUGH HORSE STORY. PERSONAL. Saying and Doing. CUPIDITY AND VBIME. She 1 \sked herself t~e question now as she had_ often asked i~ be~ore ; but never until now had she given it a truthful an1wer. Because she had always wronged her. .As a young girl, she had taken the child's pface in her father's house, as a young woman kept her jealously in the background, until the beauty She had decried and ridiculed and secretly envied had outshone her own pale charms and won her lover from her. Then t he latent fire of hatred had leaped int? lh-ing fl.am~, and she had sworn that m some fashion or other she would crush her sister-rival. Now that vow was kept; Nora was crushed indeed-a fugitive-a murderess. . . . . . . With a low, shuddermg cry, Cnstme e<;>vere?- h er eyes, and )mew at last how bitter i~ the rotten heart o~ that Dead Sea frmt t~at m~n call human vengeance. She had bitten it through to the very core, and its burning gall must sting and blister on her lips for ever. · A l~ht tap at the d?or TOUsed her from her miserable dreammgs. She turned and sa'Y" a "."~man-servant with a. look of mysterious unportance beckcmng her out. "A gentleman to see you, miss," the woman.said, in the husky whisper that the whole household had adopted as proper to the occasion, though the loudest shout would not have pierced the dulled ears of the stricken man. "To see me ! I can see no one, Susan; your master must not be left." "Oh, but the nurse is ready to take her place now, and· the · gentleman says his businese is most urgent. He leoks it, too, more like a ghost than a living man!" Cristine hesitated as the woman with voluble persistence urged her point. It would be an unutterable relief to escape into any company from the merciless phantoms that pursued her. Even this speech with the servant seemed to have lifted some portion of the dull, heavy weight from her brain. But; on the other himd, what had t his man to tell her - some new tale of horror, some yet ghastlier incident of the story that filled her thoughts ? "Who is the gentleman, Susan ?" ,"I do not know him, miss, and could not quite catch his name-Mr. Beau'B eau-something like that. " Cristine's heart seemed to stand still. The worst that could come to . her had come ; Arthur B eaupre, t he one being on earth who had ever stirred her cold, selfish nature to anything like genuine tendei'ness, was here to denounce and curse her. She must face the worst. Yes, in an instant she decided that anything was better than suspense. "Tell Mr. Beaupre I will come," she said quietly, though her teeth chattered as with cold, and her pale face took a bluish-gray tinge that frightened the woman. Cristine Singleton was no favorite with servants as a rule, she was too arrogant and exacting for that; but, looking at her now this one was touched with sudden pity. . "Let me get you some sal-volatile, miss, or a glass of wine, or a little brandy," she said persuasively. " You have tasted nothing to-day, and you look as·· though you were faint ing." "l never faint. Be kind enough to take my message-and send ·the nurse here." She spoke coldly, as though the suggestion displeased her ; and the woman went off shrugging her shoulder.sand regretting that she had made it. "Miss Nora would have thanked me like a lady, whether she t ook the things or not; but she was always worth a dozen of the other- though they do say she is a murderess now- ugh !" With a nervous look up and down t he darkening corridors, the woman hurried m ore swiftly on her way. "It's enough t o curdle your , blood to live in a house where such things are even talked about. I do hope I shall get into a r espectable family n ext· time." . Five mmutes later Cristine Smg'leton pushed open the library door, and stood, a self-convicted culprit, in Arthur Beaupre's presence. H e did not see h er at first, standing as he was with his back to the <loot and his face buried in one shading hand. She stood watching him for a mmute or so, his elbG>w planted on the chimney-piece, .his eyes .hidden, . but one h a lf of h is " h andsome, h aggard f ace reflected in the glass. Would h e never look round, never speak 1 She dared not address him, dared not ,move another step in his direction-dared only stand just within the door, waiting with clasped hands and downbent h ead, as a criminal waaits senten ce. · The strained silence grew horrible ; a little sigh :fluttered to h er lips, a mere broken breath, but it reached his ear, and he turned. Was this Arthur Beaupre 1 E ven in her wild t error the cruel contrast bet ween the bright-facod, boyish Arthur of the old days and this man , whose face seemed set in a rigid, awful pallor, wh ose eyes seemed to have sunk and dark ened-and lost all their vivid blue, struck her sharply. Was t his t oo h er work 1 The thought flashed t hrough h er brain, and was gone in a second ; th e next moment she wa.s cowering uhder t h e fier ce anger ofeyes that seemed to burn int o h er brain. " Oh, Arthur," she cried, wildlythrusting in h er weak plea for pardon before he h ad time to accuse her, "forgive me; I could not dream that it would com e to this ! I would die t o-night t o undo what I have done !" "Die !" h e echoed in a h arsh , gr ating voice. "To die is easy ; we have t o live through this. Crist ine Singlet on, where is Nora 1 Wher e is the girl .whose life you have destroyed ~ " (To BE CONTINUED.) Mrs L angtry while in N ew York had to faint at t he end of an act and fall back upon a lounge. Owing to some miscalcufat ion she st epp'e d too far back before falling, and turned a somersault over the lounge, as n eatly as any professional acr obat could have don e ; her h ead t ouched the floor and h er h eels went up into the air. Never theless sh e landed right side up with the light ness and quickness of a kitten, the feat winning a merry call b efore t he curtain, t o which she resp onded with many blushes. Whyhad ·shealwayshate~NoraBrucei Told by the Oldest Mau 1n America,' About Prominent People-What They are "Ye wouldn't think ter look at me ~he ~s_t E'.nglish-speaking settler ia that I am the oldest man in America, would ye7" said a curious-looking relic in Califorma is said t o have been Don Mig· the Charlestown Navy Yard. "Well, I uel White, who was born in Chiseihurs· ' "" knowed this place when it was all woods. England. Me'n the old 11oslj is old chums'n standBefore the Duke of Connaught entere& bys 110und-here, and erbout all that's left his carriage on arriving at Bombay, · of the old crew. Corne with me, and I'll Parsec lady, Mrs. Readyrnoney, threw· show the hoss to ye." necklace of flowers over h is head. · . On the extreme end of a moldering Mrs. Ole Bull has ordered a bronze Urll wharf in the shadow of a prodigious hulk for the grave of her husband. The urn groaning and creaking at its rusty moor- is to be six feet high, and to bear the ining-a on the summit of a pyramid of can- scription, "Ole Bull : 1810-1880." non balls stood the spectre horse. His Miss Stematz Yam.agawa, a young Japevil and speculative eye fooked down anese lady educat'ld at Vassar College, with a questioning glare which haunted has just been married t o Mr. Oyan·. the writer for many a day. Iwao, the Japanese Minist er of War. " This hoss has got a liistry that jumps The Countess of Dudley has a corone\ over anything ye ever heard," continued the old man. " When Uncle Sam staked ,of pear-shaped pearls, and her whole colout this for a workjl10p the old critter lection of pearls exceeds that of the Queell was bought by the government of a man in value, and is said to be the costliest oa by the name of Turner, down at Wey- record. .A memorial hospital in honor of the mouth, Londin. Wall, that hoss diawed most all the stone 4sed in the great wall late Princess A1ice has been erected in around this yard. Drawed 'em from Darmstadt, and t he inaugural addressea Quincy, 'Wat ertown and Cambridge, on a did full justice to that lady's charity, drag. In 1829 a spar fell from a swing benevolence, and other noble qualities. grove and sprung his back. Old Perry, The oldest Unitarian clergyman in thi· that's his name, never seemed hisself country, who was also the oldest alumnus after that. An order came on from of Brown Universit y, t he R ev. John Burt Washington, sort of putt in' the faithful Wright, died not long since, at Wayland, critter on the retired list in 1832. Thirty Massachusetts, in his ninet'y-fourth year. years ago the appropriation for his fodder .At a recent Paris dinner the host, M. was stopped, but he wandered about Yacquerie, spoke of Victor Hugo as "th~ oatin' sawdust an.cl tn.rred ropes. In sovereign poet, whQ ushered in the cen1846, when Polk was President, an )rder tury, and wiU: close it, and whose long was sent on here ter kill the beast. But life numbers fewer years than masterye can't destrey a sperrit. The govern- pieces. . ment has spent mor'n $50,000 ter heave . The Irish Church has lost its on17 that old brute inter et ernity, and they Broad-Church Bishop in the death of Dr. can't do it!" and t he aged man wildly Fitzgerald, Bishop of Cork, who was a. pounded his weather-beaten tarpaulin hat friend of Archpishop What ely, and one of against an anchor-stock. . ".A squad of the earliest supporters 9f the D eceased marines was ordered out one day t er Wife's Sist er bill. open fire on the poor animal, but it didn't The bell of the Presbyterian church on do no more good'n thrown' pea beans H Street , in. Washingt on, cracked some agin the walls of the universe. Then they years ag·o, t he first t ime it was rung afteropened a cannonade on him with heavy the suicide of Mr. Coombs, the pastor, guns, but his old hide was too t ough : he and to t his day the superst itious declal* snorted, and, breaking from his anchor- the toll utters the word, " 'Joombs. age, kicked the life out of the gunner, Coombs." and went grubbin' on an old hempen The widow of Duke George of Mccklen· hawser. burg Strelitz, the Russian Grand-Duchess" In 1853, under Fillmore's administra- Catherine, who inherited the fabulon. tion, the comrnandant here' was ordered wealth amassed by t h e Empress Cathevto get rid of the old hoss, if it beggared ine and h er son P o.ul, is th e wealthiest ~e nation. Then a gang of workmeu woman in the world. She is a patron of pushed hi.Jn overboard inter the dry dock, the arts . and sciences, and devoted to. where he stayed two weeks. Then he got charity. . kinder lonesome and ugly, and I'll be Mr. W. D. Howells, whose hriglttlittl· eternally cussed if that old ghost didn't comedy, " The Register," attracted S6 turn his old huffs agin the solid granite much attention in the D ecember H a;rper's wall and k icked out a whole section of Magaz· ine, has ent ered into a co-partnerstone, lettin' in the tide water, which ship with George Henschel, the wellfloated him up inter the yard, where h e known composer, for the production of a run round whinnerin' in devilish glee. comic· opera, of which " The R egister" That hole in the wall cost t.l1e govern- will form t h e foundation. ment $30,000. 'fhen they t ook him inter one of t he saw shops, and tried M r. Walter, M.P., considers the bicycl-& ter split him up, but as soon as the saw to be one of the most wonderful invenstruck his hide it broke inter splinters, tions of modern t imes ; a great temperkillin' three men and woundin' t wo more. ance reformer, because it is impossibl& Then t hey t ook him inter one of the ma- for a man to ride his bicycle unless he is chine shops and tried ter drill er hole· in sober ; and a great educational r eformer, him so's they could get gunpowder int er because it enables its rider to go from one him ter blow him up, but the steel drills end .of England t o the other in a fortwere twisted oft' and t he old cuss went off night, at little expense, and to spend hi& unhurt. When Frank Pierce was elected holidays in a rational manner. President the old J10ss .b usiness was Baron E ggers, after exploring t h e is· . brought up before. Congress again and land of P orto Rico, reports that it is ve-q ,'r Zach Chandler, or Cotton Mather or some richly endowed by n ature, but miserably of t h em old Congr e s chaps, said they'd governed, and that the people themselvea fix th e darned hoss, and the ship Consti- are not worth a much bett l'lr government, tution was ordered to carrythe brute and being given to gambling :in the extreme, sink him down ·off Pint Uomfort. He from t he rich planter and priest down towas histed on board and throwed over - the lowest laborer and beggar. Yet they board as orderad, but he was back t er are hospitable and very polite to strangers, , unchanging, inbred Oharlestown before the old ship got back, with that r emark able_ and h@re h e :is and here h e will probably Spanish politeness. stay as long as the world stands. " And · the old man turned wrathfully away and Victor Hugo s~ffers from ennui ; he dialikes to show his d eafness, and prefem disappeared -Boston Globe ---·-· ' not t o see st rangers, but likes to give din· · ..._............. . · ners, and do all the talking himself. He A. Rice Plantation in Japan. goes to his sleeping-room at nine, but. My curiosity to see a rice plantation walks up and down t ill midnigh t elaborhas been abundantly gratified. They ar. e a.ting his ideas. An immensely wealth1 as numerous as the Chinese, and even Russian Princess, who is also a poetess, less inviting in appearance. They are drives him out almost every afternoon in usually very small, a quarter of an acre a light brougham with a pair of Ori.off constituting a good field. Those fields horses. Her daught ers always occupy are of all imaginable shapes, and are usu- the front seat that th ey may be edified ally created by means of irrigation. Flat by the conversat ion of the illustrious. land is selected, which is then inundated man . with slush, so that it shall r eally consti.A t heatrical audience at Rouen , France, ute a swamp. Here the seed is planted took a strong dislike t o an actor, and in June, and the crop is reaped in Nov- hissed him. He eame forward and said : ember. The cultivation is almost always "Ladies and gentlenien, I have a wife by· h and, men and women waddling and three children, and if I had been forthrough the slime, which is often knee tunate enough to please you, should hav& deep, and car efully plucking every weed. earned a yearly salary of .eighteen hun· Rice is the staple product here, even the dred francs, which would have sufficed for reveµues being estimated in this grain. us all. I _ d o not dispute your right to reThere are nearly a doze~ different varie- ject me, but alth ough my singing has not "¥ .... ties. satisfied you, perhaps my whist ling may." 'T he farmers sOBk the seed until it is Thereupon he whistled a popular air so ready to sprout, and then scatter it thick- cleverly th at the whole h ouse applauded, ly in basins that are flooded every night and his engagement was renewed, on con thereaft er and allowed to dry off during dition that h e should whistle his parts in· the day. When the brilliant green plants st ead of singing them. are well up ·they are h eavily manured, The London Times on Mr. P ar1iell : ffewhich adds t o the unsavory appearance lias shown in public life no brilfiant or and smell of the plan tation. When the amiable· qualit ies ; h e is utterly wanting: plants are about three inches high , which in oratorical gift s, and his wooden is in about six. weeks aft er the planting, speech es are rarely illuminat ed by a the farmers transplant th em, putting thought gleaming through the mass of them in bunches about a foot apart. At commonplace. But as a political tacleast three t imes during the process of tician his perfect coolness, his contempt growth it is n ecessary for the farmers t o for p ublic opinion, and his almost Napol· turn out and "puddle " the for thcoming eonic absence of scruples give him an ad· crop, an operation which signifies 't he r e- vantage b oth over hi~ English oppon ents, moval bf all of t he t angled weeds and who r efuse to play th e game of politics in aquat ic plants which are solicitous of his fashion, and over his own associates, growing in the black wat er , This water who, wanting his ·temper, his patience, has to remai.J1 unt il the rice is ripe, when and his craft , can n ever b ecome his rivals. · t he field is dried off. Fields are very at least on the Parliamentary scen e. successfully formed by the terracing of sloping ground, in wh ich event the process of irr igation is facilitat ed. In the . In . Texas things are managed quitecase of fields on plains it is n ecessary to differently from Canada, in many r espects. raise water f.rom a main canal into more .A paragraph is just now going the r ounds el evat ed ditches by mean s of a portable t o t h e effectthatofthestudentsof the Tex· t read-mill pump .. The apparat us resem- as University focty are females. In our bles a large paddle wheel, and is operated P rovincial University females ar e not ad· by a coolie, who industriousfy ascends its mitted at all. Which country is adoptfl.oats. The aver age crop p er acre is from ing the m ost enlighten ed and wisest 30 t o 55 bushels of the grain, - O())"res_pon- p olicy in t his r espect 1 Surely in a P r odence New 01·leans Democrat. vince like ours there ·ught to b e a more definite public r ecognition ot the i.Jnporli· " I come of preferred stock," remarked a.nee of encpuraging higher education : prominent Israelite on Wall street. among women than our authorities n ow . ~ ~'How is that 1" ask ed a friend. "Are give. De ole advice, " Be slow to anger,· is a not the J ews a chosen people ?" was t he mighty good warnin ', y oung man. I n a response. quarrel a man should ack like h e couldn't Virtue will catch as well as vice by con- whip a chile, but art er h e gets int ~r de tact ; and the public stock of honesty, figh t h e should ack like he could whip a . and_ manly principle will daily accumulate. dozQD men. . '