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H '• Til SLTKK, Editor * PiUMMr. HrfiffifRY. : : T ILLINOIS. "GOOD TIMES." IO JUPPT words like far-off ohimm # • miylclMwibr tomw, "Good Times.** " imd in distance though they seem, jirjpfci! calla back hope gone astray, And ranga of help not fu away-- -A daily trust, a nightly dream. Ah when, ah how, shall be fulfilled ' This deep desire, of God instilled? Mocl m tyearning of our race, ---jhougkt of some final good, ..--^ifirst flashed into human nnood When Bword-Jlames blanched the Unt suut*t faoe! ' gar poet, warrior, saint and King s served those chimes " Good TV/ATM" that ^; ring. fll'-trcagiii of deed aud aoiigMiu prayer; ' And shall we say that, serpent-like, • ' Man on himself most turn and straw .The fangs of death, in last despair? Despairing that the earth should know" . An ending of the reign of woe ? -Nay-JtearJtca! Bt;." that son*, " Good Timon!" w««h storm and shiite. from sea to sea, l%atminic wrought invisibly, floats still, to fill all lands and climes*-- Liki •IE Le^belJs of churches built for } tiieek, rejected, sacrificed, i Eromiped and the Fromiser-- l&eJioiy belia, this glad refrain omul gteet Hie coming year again, 1 set fend hearts with joy astir. H And Jet dream not that the goal is won. , thousand courses round the son .. Have steeped the world in broader light; But woe is me--look back, look b«ek: . The fairest seasons in our track Are but dead leaves and dins as night. And, lo! where echoing Rpiiwa arise -| ^"1. And kiss, to-day, the morning skies, ;* , V To-night the shapes of wrong and shadhV-- A quicksand shoal of faces--pass And wither from the glare oi eas Back to the wild haunts whence they i "What though the wheels of trade go round And streets are full of jocund sound? The weather-vane of work and play And gusty grief can make no law: *. ^ But One long since the plan foreeaft • And fashioned bright or dark our day. "5 * • * Ah, man, your church-bolls and your piaaae - And aJl .your foitunattvtw<»nriin<*'wiiyn Shall scarcely bring you to thn mark! Of truth of book and good of gold What worth, unlets your heart shall hold HK everlasting morning's spark ? --George Parsons Lathrop, in Atlantic Monthly RUNNING THE 0AUBTLB7. An Episode of the BuMo«Tnrkiali War of 1770. " QAPTAIN, what you propose is im­ possible." , "Admiral, it's possible bnough to any man who has pluck." With these bitter words on their lips, two men standing facing each other on the quarter-deck of the Russian flag-ship Vladimir, as she lies at anchor off the •coast of Asia Minor. The one, who wears the uniform of a Russian Admi ral, is a man of colossal stature and proportions, but with a broad, heavy, unmeaning face, which shows that his intellect is not on a par with his bodily strength, The other is a short, square, muscular figure, with a firm mouth and keen gray eye--formerly Lieut. Elphin­ stone, of the British Navy, but now in command of the frigate Yekaterina in the Russian Black Sea fleet; and the superior to whom he is speaking so un­ ceremoniously is no other than the Im­ perial Admiral/himself, Count Gregory Gregorievitch, Orloff, the first and basest, of the countless favorites of Catherine II., a man whose worthless name has been rescued from oblivion by one great crime--the murder of Peter III. It is the morning of July 8, 1770. The bright blue wafers of Tchesme Bay are cumbered with half-burned spars and masses of shattered timber; the warm dreamy summer sky overhead is Blotted with drifting smoke; #nd along the surrounding hills bare-legged men in white turbans are hurrying to and fro with looks of dismay, and mutter­ ing to each other that the Padishah's war-ships have been destroyed by the '• Giaours" of the North. Last night, with a single fire-ship, this short, keen- eyed, blunt-spoken Captain burned every Vessel in the Turkish squadron; and he is now vainly urging his phleg­ matic Admiral to follow up the victory by a dash through the Dardanelles upon defenseless Constantinople. "I tell* you, Englishman," •growls Orloff, 44 that I will not send the Em­ press' fleet to certain destruction in at­ tempting an impregnable passage, just to please you!" "And I tell Your Excellency," re­ torts the other,'" that what you fear to attempt with the whole fleet, I will do with one vessel, I'll run my ship through this 4 impregnable passage' of yours, and drink the nealth of the Brit­ ish Navy in front of the Sultan's own palace. Good morning!" Arrived on board of his own vessel, Capt. Elphinstone musters his crew--a motley mixture of sallow, broad-faced Russians, squat yellow-haired Finns, big boned beetle-browed Esthonians, and slim, wiry Greeks, with two or three brawny, red-whiskered English sailors looking down upon their com­ rades with a grand compassionate dis­ dain, as creatures whom an inscruta­ ble Providence has doomed to be for­ eigners, thereby cutting them off, once and forever, from ;w chance of becom­ ing good seamen. The Captain eyes them all as they come aft with the look of one accustomed to judge men at sight, and then speaks, briefly, but very [much to the purpose: 'My lads , I 'm going to run through :he Dardanelles and fly my flag in the ace of those lubbers at Constantinople; f .ny man's afraid to come with me, et him stand out and say so!" But not a man moves! The crew are dl picked men, who have followed their : jresent leader through many a hot fight [ind many a heavy storm; and they have long since learned to know him I s the real soul of the fleet nominally ! ommanded by their incompetent Ad- | uiral. At the very mention of Con- | tantinople, there is a sudden light in f very eye which the veteran is at no | >ss to interpret. 44 All right," said he, with a grim mile; "if you're game to poke your eads into the fire, I'm not the man to alk you. Mr. Dugdale, serve out a ouble ration all round, and then set very stitch of canvas on her, and away e go!" r • • • It is a beantifnl summer morning, . ith a fresh breeze from the southwest, I hen the devoted ship comes up to the l ioutk of the terrible passage through which no hostile vessel has ever tured before. The sun Is Just rising over the Anatolian Mountains, and in its dazzling splendor the wood-crowned islets, and rocky shores, and green, sloping hillsides stand forth in all their beauty. All around, the blue, spark­ ling sea; all above, the rich summer |ky. To the west, the littife purple island of Tenedoe stands watching their advance, as it watched the coming of Agamemnon's fleet against doomed Troy, 3,000 years ago. Fhr to the northeast, hanging like a snowy cloud Upon the sky, towers the great white dome of Mount Olympus. On the right, beyond the wide belt of level plain on which Greek and Trojan battled in the old dajS, t«v uijutut iuvuuv&iub loom out, blue and shadowy, along the eastern horizon; while right in front, the deep, narrow channel of the famous strait curves outward to the sea, be* tween the bold ridges that flank it on either side. " We're lucky with the wind, Mr. Dugdale," says the Captain to his En- lish second in command, as cheerily as if he were going on a picnic, instead of into the jaws of a naval Balaklava. ** This breeze is just what we want, for there'll be a pretty strong current against us inside." " Mr. Turk seems to have taken the Alarm already," answers the Lieuten­ ant, with a chuckle, pointing to a group of hurrying figures just vanishing over the hill-top on the right. " Do you think, sir, they'll be able to hurt us much?" ,4 "Can't say," replies the veteran, ooolly: "but I should think not, myself. You see, when they made these bat­ teries, they didn't arm them with regu­ lar guns, but tunnelled holes in the rocks themselves, and crammed them with powder and ball, like a pack of greenhorns, as they are; so, if we don't come right into the line of fire, they can't alter the range to hit us--that's one,good job. It's only* the movable funs that we need be afraid of. Star-oard!" 44 Starboard it is!" responds the deep voice of the steersman; and the gallant ship sweeps rejoicingly into the fatal channel, whence, if the Turkish batteries be such as report speaks them, neither ship nor crew will ever return. Had the daring band any leisure to take note of the surrounding land­ scape they would have been well re­ paid, for every mile of the beautiful scenery which they traverse in this headlong race with death is rich in world-renowned memories. On yon­ der round grassy knoll, which projects from the steep ridgy outline of the European shore, King Xerxes sat en­ throned, ages ago, to watch his motley millions pouring over the Hellespont Bridge into Europe. This wide green plain, dotted with tiny white hamlets, which stretches away to the eastward in the glory of the morning sunshine, could tell many a tale of Mutiades and Cymon and Lysander. Upon this strip of flat dusty beach, where the tall flat- roofed houses and huge yellow lazaret­ to of Dardanieh now stand massed to­ gether, Darius and his few remaining warriors cast themselves down to rest, and to breathe freely for the first time since the commencement of the fatal retreat in which, amid hunger, cold, sickness, crushing fatigue, and the re­ lentless pursuit of a savage enemy, ended their vaunted invasion of Sey thia. And yonder, where the green sunny hills fall away suddenly into a deep carving hollow, two small white forts, almost level with thejwater's edge, stand facing each other across the swift mov­ ing Current--the castles of Sestos and Abydos, where Leander looked his last from amid the roaring waters upon the familiar light far above, and where a yet sadder and darker story was one day to become famous forever through the genius of Byron. But both Captain and crew have other things to think of, for the storm of war which they have defied is now gathering around them in earnest. All along the hills on either side, red- capped soldiers are hurrying to and fro, bayonets glittering, sabers flash­ ing, artillery wheels throwing up clouds of dust, while cries of mingled rage and terror come faintly to their ears as they sweep by. But the crack of can- non-shot which they momentarily ex­ pected never comes. Turkish neglect has done its accustomed work. Honey­ combed guns, rickety carriages, crum­ bling earthworks, sanded gunpowder, balls that will not fit the bore of their {>ieces--what can be done with* means ike these? And if the Turkish squadron be destroyed (as it must be, or the Rus­ sian flag would not be flying here), what resistance can we make to the enemy's whole fleetP So argue the faint-hearted among the defenders; b]ut there are men there of another cast--men for whom it suffices that the enemy is before them, and that they are Turkish soldiers. As the ad­ venturous ship sweeps round the sharp curve that hides Abydos from sight, Lieut. Dugdale, looking up in his lead­ er's face, sees it harden suddenly like congealed metal, as the ready spyglass turns up a huge gray mass of bare rock that looms out some distance ahead ot them. 4 See those rea caps bobbing in and out of the rocks like rabbits? They're going to give us a shot in passing, sure enough. That's one of the tunnel-bat­ teries I spoke of, and if one of those 300-pound shots hits us, to the bottom we go, every man! Set the stunsails, boys--we'll run past and chance it. Onward sweeps the noble vessel be­ fore the freshening breeze; but keen eyes are watching her from behind those frowning crags, and, just as she comes opposite the fatal spot, the match is applied to the powder. For one moment the life of every man on board hangs by a hair; but the dis­ charge "balks" an instant, and that instant is sufficient to save them. The next moment comes a crash as if the earth were rent asunder--a sheet of* flame spouts from the black, yawning mouth--then there is a deafening splash, and a torrent of water bursts over the stern, drenching all who stand near it The ball (a huge mass of stone weigh­ ing over 300 pounds) has fallen barely ten feet behind them! 44 Near shave, that!" says the Cap­ tain, coolly;44 bat a miss is as good as a mile, anyhow!" Away, away, past green, sunny sloped chequered with massive buttress- han, inlets at lehL and fcu Eoli start up suddenly along a grassy eadland in front of them, in the glory of the evening sunlight. A wild clamor of mingled outcries along the shore--a passing? vision of dark, fierce faces and hurrying figures, and weapons brandished in vain menace--an ineffectual crackle of mus­ ketry from the nearest angle of the wall--and then the last peril is past, and before them lies the open sea. As they round the point, the English cabin-boy --a li«! a£ter Capt. jwarryatt's own heart--springs up on the bulwarks, and, putting nis thumb to his nose in a vulgar but expressive gesture, shouts to the baffled ass "Go<*fcby,f JMlM! An«JM*api, lor Con sfjawtindple w And the daring band, echoing the taunt with a shout of laughter, sweep by toward the noint where nnsnincont broad and bright between the receding shores, lies the smooth surface of the Sea of Marmora. Night overtakes them as they enter it; but Capt. Elphinstone is? net here for the first time^ hfTJiplds his course unswervingly thffiifep the, ^pkness with but one thought in his mind--to reach Constantinople. All night the brave southwesterly wind fills their sails, as if cheering them on; and with the first gleam of sunrise they pass the green curving shores of 44 Prince's Isl­ ands;" and see before them, outspread for many miles along the blue, shining sea, the serried roofs and tall, white minarets and stately mosques, and countless palaces of imperial yoijsta^i At^ this earlV'ttltlr but i# '"p&fllbA are yet abroad, but the sight of the ter­ rible Russian flag suffices to arouse the whole capital. Not a gun mounted on the seaward batteries--not a regiment in fighting order--the enemy's first ship already in sight, and the rest doubtless close behind--well may Con­ stantinople tremble! Within less than half an hourver^streefelefKH^g ttawp to the harbof is ode roaring smirm of struggling figures and coiivulsell faces, livia with fear or black with rage; and a mingled uproar of cries of dismay, savage curses on the 44 Moscov," wild prayers to Allah and the Prophet, and bloodthirsty yells for the heads of the Grand Vizier and his officers rend" the very air. And then, in the midst of all the maddening din, are heard the quick, stern tones of Capt. Elphinstone's voice: ,» 44 Nikolai! bring me jufc a bottle of rum and some- sugar aim not water-- sharp!" The Greek steward, himself an old privateersman, obeys with a grin of unfeigned delight on his scarred facte; aud the crew, clustered on the fore­ castle, bend forward to see their leader drink liis toast in the teeth of all Con­ stantinople. The grog is mixed with an unfaltering hand; the Captain rises from his seat, and, turning toward the raging thousands that line the shore, shouts at the full pitch of his mighty voice:, r jr ~ * •* >m *• « r | "Suoaess Jo OUt Entfand lid navy, and iriay everj? Tuvisltlufrbe straight to the bottom!" He drains the tumbler as he speaks, and, flinging it scornfully toward the infuriated Turks, calls to his Lieuten­ ant: ** Now, Mr. Dugdale, put her head about, and off we go again." '4. What! without giving'em even one broadside, sir?" says the surprised offi­ cer. 44 What's the good of killing poor beggars who can't resist?" answers the stout-hearted sailor; "beside, d'ye think I'm going to do the Rus#i«,u»' work for 'em, if they haven't.the pluck to doit themselves? The minute I see that old porpoise of an Admiral again, I'll just chuck my commission in his face; I'm not goingto serve any longer with a pack of lubbers who daren't take a good chance when it's offered them!" Capt. Elphinstone kept his word, and the Russian Navy saw him no more. Little did the simple-hearted hero think that he had done a deed whose fame should endure forever; and as lit­ tle could he foresee that it would be surpassed, a century later, by another seaman on the opposite side of the world, whose name was Admiral Farra- gut.--CasselVs Magazvttjk. W bitten, I grasped it right behind thdf1 r» with my right hand. Holding ifi this way for several seconds, rny^ companion shrieked to me to throw the sniake from me. I tried to do so, but was powerless, being, as it seemed-td me, transfixed or charmed to the spot by the horrid eyes of the monster. I tried to talk, but my jaws would no open, and my tongue appeared stiff. Lr felt the cold sweat trickling down my back, and large drops of perspiration stood on my forehead. My face was as white as the driven snow, and I couldt^ neither move nor talk, but seemed to be as stiff as a post. It makes nu\ shudder, as I write, to think of the stare of the reptile. Annie, my com­ panion, seeing my dangerous situation screamed for help. She seemed to have been bereft of reason, for instead of* coming to my assistance she started tcf , n >run awav. Try ing to turn my head t,<i see whither she had gone, tfie eyes of the snake were also directed in the di­ rection in which Annie was shrieking.. From that moment the snake's spell on' ME W&K HRNKW_ AND °J1 I hurled it from me. No sooner had| the snake landed on the ground than f ran with the fleetness of the deer, fear4 ing that it would overtake me. Judge ofatmv feelings when, almost out of breath and ready to sink down to th«* earth from sheer exhaustion, I turned around and found a snake with three others several paces from me, in hot pursuit. I remembered that snakes were .afraid of anything red. Fortu­ nately having on a red skirt, I immedi­ ately exposed it to the reptiles' view, and they at once stopped the pursuit. I advanced toward them, shaking my red skirt, and they retreated. I gathered up stones and threw at them, and killed the largest one, and the others escaped through the rocks. Just at this moment a deputation from the school, who hai been in search of us, came up. The large snake that had coiled itself around my neck was found by the escort, and it measures nine feet and four inches. I t FACTS AND FIGURES. -• «Ot Atoerican drunkards 70,000 die annually. . JSANTA CLARA COUNTY, Cal., has an oil well 600 feet in depth. THERE are nearly 70,000 cases before the Pension Bureau, at Washington, awaiting action. ' ' THKI^E were seventy-seven vessels lost in the River St. Lawrence and Lakes Ontario and Huron during the past season. THE Franklin fnnd In Boston now amounts to over $250,000, and is doing no good to anybody because of the im­ possible conditions imposed by the be­ quest. THE foreign exports of provisions from Atlantic ports from Nov. 1 to Jan. 23 show the following result: Increase this year in lard, pounds ...... K 190,299 Decrease this year in pork, barrels...... 20,152 Decrease this yeat in bacon, poundf**. .14.672.571 DIAMOND digging in South Africa has now se t t led down in to a pa id in­ dustry. Companies have been formed, dividends are declared monthly when there are any, and there is something like a fixed trade of findings from this claim or that. V , MATS VALENTINE. A tAMEBTnta for littTe May; She is three years old to-d Open, years old read. What does itaajr? AW the little,sweet" Blue Eyea.7,i'.. i To read her valentine she tries f *f W fancies she is very wise. • i she will older have to grow "dl ii' Bat she will older have to grow * Ere she can rightly read, you knaart-, • And Mamma, laughing, tells her ao. So bring your valentine to me, Blue Eyea, darling. We will see if Hi What in this dainty note can be. •. ̂ • And blue it true. SSac-.r'r rr-set, Ana May is^too. „ Little Bine kye«, * * I love you." iMlfe'. •M4»? I Be* May's eyes! Ah! how HSBJT UtiMt - 44 Matuma, is dat tu uly mini, i All utif, iiuiu! »alysine?" Yes, my baby, you are sweet; * Almost good enough to eat, it From your head down to your test. n Who'svonr Valentine? OK! M*v,. Dftn't ask questions. Run and pky, Else my kisses will betray • iH ?• Who will always be to yom -- A faithful Valentine and tra»; . For 1 love May, and May lovea--who? --Mar]/ D. Brine, in Y. Ind«pmd*ni. i •* GRIZZLY BEAR.*' THERE never was such a BOY for get­ ting into scrapes and having strange adventures as Grizzly Burr. (Of course all the boys, and most of the girls, called him 44Grizzly Bear.") The very urst time he climbed a tree--he was only seven years old, and Frank Fow­ ler and Vin Maher, both three years older, had been up the same tree trying to get at a branch which was loaded down with delicious large black cherries, and hadn't succeeded--he tumbled from the very top ubut he brought the heavily- laden bough with him--with a shock, it is true, but not shock enough to pre­ vent his scrambling to his feet, with a wild halloo, and eating cherries enough in the next ten minutes to have made at least half a dozen deep-dish cherry- pies. , The autumn following the cherry- branch affair, he fell out of the second- story window while trying to reach a bird's nest that a dear little brown- winged bird had made in the old apple- tree that stood by the back porch. 44 Oh! dear, oh! dear,'1 cried his mother, who was sitting in the room sewing, and who looked up just as his heels were disappearing, 44 my child! mv child!" and while she was quietly fainting away, poor thing, not being very strong, Grizzly was rolling about on the top of a load of hay that had been passing below the window on its way to the barn, as , he fell out, and shouting 44 H-a-a-y! ain't this fnnP" And one winter morning when all the boys were sledding down-hill--a very steep hill it was, and if their fathers had known they were there, I am afraid some of them would have gone to bed supperless, and the rest haa their jack­ ets dusted--Griswold's sled shot out from under him, atid away he went, turning sfammer&ets (though I think, in this case, thev might more appropri­ ately be called wintersets) until out of sight of his frightened chums. And when they--his chums, I mean--had <&HE public debt- of Franoe amounts ^ ^ tb 33,403,000,000 francs, and after it in I slid, hopped, sledded and scrambled O r I ..1 , 3to the foot of the hill, to pick up orit.8 J ten got the slip again. was left of him, there sat Grizzly (JS?1 Tommy Knox and Fred Colby were 6,81'0 the champion spellers Friday night. Belg Dublin's shew in the Writing School whicwascagt out when It came time to ^Judge the specimens. But they paid fer their chance all the same. In the 323 C future Writing Schools *erve all alike. total! Mr- R- Andrews has got Fifty Bufch- W»s, els ef choice Early Hose and Peerless fallir pototoes for sale, en his farm, one and 1876 a half miles East of Barrevllle. Snake Story. 9V THE Reading (Pa.) Fagle says a young lady in that city recently received the following letter from her friend who is at a boarding-school, giving a thrill­ ing account of her adventure with a huge rattlesnake: DEAR MAGGIE: Three weeks ago yesterday afternoon two young ladies beside myself, who had gone out in a walking party with one of the teachers at the school in this place, strolled off from the rest of the party, and, losing our way, were unable for some time to tell where we were, as the woods and underwood were so thick that the further we penetrated into it the more difficult our passage became. We wan­ dered to ana fro for a long time until almost overcome with fatigue, when we sat down on a huge bowlder to re­ cover our lost strength. Looking at our watches we founothat we had been on the mountain nearly six hours, and felt hungry, distressed and tired. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, and twilight was fast approaching. 44 O for something to eat, my com­ panion said, 44 ana then we could strug­ gle on and try to find the scliopl again. She appeared to be thi* picture of des­ pair. We were setting some fQet above the ground alongside of a Ifuge oak tree, and presently I felt something moving on my neck. IT placed my hand to my neck to remove it, when, horrible to relate, I grasped something round and soft, which hissed like an adder. I tried to pull it from my neck, but it wriggled and squirmed, and- my com­ panion seeing the monster on ihy body, shrieked, and screamed, and almost fainted.' < Just at that moment the head made a dart at my breast, with mouth wid« open and tongue elongated, and hissing a death-like and horrible sound. My left hand was about six inches from its head, and, in order to prevent being expo franc Til has i In thd LET IT 9LIDS. 669,0t 16,94 1874, the p times CRYSTAL LAKE. EDITOR PLAIXDEAI.EH Although 31,«tfyOU have heard nothing from this vll- lage lately, we are still hers mud-bound and have about made up. pur minds that terra is not M flrui& as & might be. Notwithstanding the soft weather TH< Mr. Dole lias been putting up Ice most galW Gf the t|me until la®t i hufsd^yt when VVhicl;>ji._ thirty-lour cents a gallon, amounting to $187,000,000. From 1871 to 1876, covering the same period of five years, there were shipped 1,100,000,000 gal­ lons, or twice as mueh oil, which sold at the average price of fifteen cents per gallon, realizing $165,000,009. The increased exports netted less money by $22,000,000 than the shipments of the first-named period. THE total number of strikes in En­ gland in 1877 Was 191. If all the peo­ ple engaged in them were to work un­ interruptedly for the next ten years, and at the advence for which they struck, it would not recoup them all they had lost during the twelve months of 1877. In. France strikes are avoided by the Comeil ties Frudhemnes, a tri­ bunal which takes cognizance of dis­ putes between employers and laborers respecting wages. It inquires into the questions at issue, the state of trade, the cost Of living, etc. It seeks to do justice to both parties, and its decisions are generally satisfactory* SOME very curious and interesting statistics have been furnished by It, Seyd, a well-known contributor to the Economist, on the subject of mercan­ tile and other firms engaged in business ^n the City of London, ft appears that in the beginning of the present year there existed in the city no fewer than 11,440 firms engaged in the wholesale business,, exclusive of stock exchange, publishing, retail and small industrial trades, etc. The wholesale businesses include banking, financial, insurance and other firms. Incredible as the statement may seem, the date of estab­ lishment of one of the existing firms goes back to a period before 1,600. The original principals of this firm were contemporaries of Shakespeare and Ba­ con, and it is strange, indeed, that though England has witnessed two rev­ olutions since the foundation of 'the firm, its stability and continuance have not been affected. ' (his sleeves torn open to the ei- and holes where the knees of his ^rs should have been, and a lump the size of a walnut on his fore- I looking with a delighted grin at 1-fashioned silver dollar which he >ied the moment he had found him- ght-side up, in a wide crevice of lee-stump that had stopped him in Id career. all these things are nothing to ^happened to Griswold Burr, one irnas Eve, when he was about } years old. At that time his |r--she was a widow--lived in a mall cottage on the extreme bank id-Duck Bay. Well, this Cfirist- |ve, there was a terrible storm. It jen very mild weather so far, and V had not been frozen over, as it I had been by Christmas-time pre- I winters--when, after a bright, day and starlight evening, along me wind from over the water, look the small wooden cottage, is way and then that. The Burr j were in bed and fast asleep. The Jn's stockings--there were three children, two small girls and Griswold --hung by the chimney, and the Christ­ mas pies--two minee and a pumpkin-- were nicely baked and locked up in the big tea-chest that Griswold's father-- he had been a sailor--had brought home years before, and the key hidden away --Mrs. Burr said 44on account of the rats," but we boes know all about that --when the wind oame along, as I said before, and nearly knocked the little house over. Out of the bed sprang Mrs. Burr, only half-awake, dragging her two small daughters with her, and fortu­ nately a blanket trailed after them; and as the house righted itself she flew to the door and out into the road, calling loudly--she was wide-awake by this time--to her only son, who slept in the garret, to come down; but no 4'Gris­ wold" appeared, and in another instant the distracted mother saw the wind, which now seemed to come from all di rections instead of one, lift the cottage from the ground, fling it upon the wa ters and send it sailing away. Nearly wild with fright and grief, "half-carry- ing, half-dragging the poor little scared, shivering girls--stopping every now and then to wrap the blanket about them--she reached the house of her nearest neighbor, half a mile away and finding the family all up and listen­ ing to the storm, with many tears she tola her sorrowful story. Nothing could be done until morning came; but as soon as the first streak of light showed in the east, a dozen men started in their beats to find, if possi­ ble, the drowned boy. 441 most go, too," said the pale mother. 441 must be the first to take my poor darling in my arms. His pretty brown curls must be smoothed by his mother's fingers-- his dear head laid on his mother's bosom." 4 4 And we must go with mam­ ma," cried the little ones. And so the kind men wrapped them up warmly and put them in the largest boat, and away they started, just as the sun burst over the hills, bright and beautiful, and this early Christmas chimes rang out . upon the afr. l E ' They rowed about hither and thithir for an hour or two, when the mother^ . ah! whose eyes as keen as a mother**** when she is looking for her childP*- j caught sight of something propped , against the bank which they were near» ing. " There! there!" she cried, point­ ing with trembling hand. ' It was the house. The wind had act it afloat, and it had drifted across the bay, until, the storm ceasing, it had been landed on the beach, and the tid* receding, had remained, looking like a house tnat had taken entirely too much to ffritlV aa nn (tmiKt Kail against the high bank. Could that be smoke coming slowly out of the chimney P Good neaveiast There must have been a remnant of fire iji the stove, that »11 tbo w»ter had. failed to put out, and the poor litue cottage had only escaped one element to be immediately threatened by aif> other. # They silently ran the boat on iana, ana the men drew dacK soitij, with grave faces, thai th« mother in children might go first. The little girts clinging to her skirts, she plunged knee-deep through the sand ana opened the door. 7 J g There was a fire, made of chair-back* * * W and rounds, on the hearth, and a ketUfe • 4$ of coffee swinging over it hung in some mysterious manner from the poker; the clock, in which the key of the tea-chest had been hidden, lay broken on the £#•': floor; and in a chair, tipped back against the wall, on account of the slanting position of the house, with half of a mince-pie in one hand and half of the pumpkin the other, flat Grii* zly Bear. <i trtt 44 Halloo! mother! Merry Christmas morning!" he shouted. "Did you ever^ • hear of such a lark as this?"---Mad.ae EM, i* Baldwin's Monthly. , m i u 9 . ' I : ...MS'm Honesty Rewarded .,«M§f , GEOBQE and Harry worked i& the* same shop; but as the working season was almost over, and there would be little work to do during the summer months, their employer informed them," as they settled upon Saturday evening* • that ne could onlv give one of then work hereafter, fie was very sorry, he said; but it was the best he could do. He told them both to come baok on Monday morning, and that he would then decide on the oi M w 0 M- (PMr. fW v4i!- ; mi irt'q. •am one he wished to re* taint. So the young men returned to their boarding house a good deal c^st down; for work was scarce, neither knew where he cOnld obtain a situatiM* if he was the one to leave. ;» That evening, as they counted over their week's wages, Harry said to his friend: 44 Mr. Wilson has paid me a quarter of a dollar too much," » 44 So he has me," said George, as he looked at his. * 44 How could he have made the mfi£- t take?" said Harry. j 44 Oh, he was very busy when six o'clock came; and, handling so much money, he was careless when lie -cane to pay our trifle," said George, as hi stuffed his into his pocketbook. 44 Well," said Harry, "I am going to stop as I go to the Postofflce and haiid it to him." f 44 You are wonderful particular about a quarter," said George. 44 What doe§. he care for that trifle r Why, he would not come to the door for it if he kneir what you wanted; .and I am sure yoti worked hard enough to earn it." 3i But Harry called, and handed his ewfcw<»>> -'.^i ployer the money, who thanked him fqr returning it, and went into the housed , I Mr. Wilson had paid each of them quarter more than their wages on puife t. wf. pose to test their honesty. So, when Monday morning came, htt seemed to have no difficulty in detet^ mining which one he would keep. He chose Harrv, and intrusted the shop t» his care for several months when * was away on business, and was so we! pleased with his management, tha when work commenced in the fall, he Save him the position of Superintend* *»*** ent. Five years afterward, Harry wrji - Mr. Wilson's partner, and Gsorgft., worked in the same shop ngsjn, .but is . riw a common laborer. "* 1 There is nothing like a good oharaffi v ter when you want employment. Some . ^ ^ - young men can always get work, 'V.rXX* matter how dull the times are; while' » J others can find nothing to do wheiH hands are scarce, pimply because • <»* cannot be trusted.--Kind Words. > M# 3 «ir '111#' M- .if** rtA Do Insects Talk to Each Othcar! . "Two ants," says Buchner, 44 when ' they are talking together stand with their heads opposite each other, work-* -' ing their sensitive feelers in the liveljh , est manner, and tapping each other'# heads." Numerous examples prove,, that they are able in this way to make mutual communications, and even oif!i certain definite subjects. 441 have often,1' says the English naturalist Jesse, 44 placed a small green cater­ pillar in tne neighborhood of an ant's nest. It is immediately seized by an ant, which calls in the assistance of a friend after ineffectual efforts to drag the caterpillar into the nest. It can bo clearly seen that the little creatures** hold a conversation by means of tbeiri ̂ feelers, and this being ended, they re4 ©tS pair together to the caterpillar in order^»ff,?f{, t o dr&w i t i n to t he nes t by the i r uni ted^ , # , | , » strength. Further, I have observed theL^ meeting of ants on the way to and from? ^ -y&J. their nest. They stop, touch eaehp**# other with their feelers, and appear tof^SH-ttll? , hold a conversation, which I have good^ | « reason to suppose refers to the best^^i^,^' around for obtaining food." Kagm . Sites in a letter to Dwwin, thatheonef^ * day killed with his finger a number of- ants who came every day from a hole &tf ; f|#ll in the wall to some plants standing ons g ^ the chimney-piece. He had tried the^f effect of brushing them away, but it . was of no use, ana the consequence of * „ % the*elaughter was that the ants who" *' ^ were\>n the way turned back and tried to persuade their companions who were: ftu* not yet aware of the danger to turn ^ back slso. A short conversation en-^,,^ sued between the ante, which, however,.. ~ * did not result in an immediate return, ^ for those who had just left the nest first" <3 convinced themselves of the: the report.--Leisure Hour. rif --Col. Sellers--Dealers in com.