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McHlCNRY, I VM tUYKE, Eiiior mi PaMfsfra* Illinois. MYSTIC ANCBL. SLEEP. BT OKOBX W. FKUUEIi. M mT- of vhit drenuiy Sand, Orleajjue of sea or shadow, •ffrlak** wh<>re lilies stand, '<•' ^,\-s • O r o v e r u o w s a n d m e a d o w , "Cometh the tender angel. Sleep, . • '®b those that either laugh, or im|f i all the long years fled ,,.v,., . "ieyond tlie phantom river, . (l< 1 saint nor seer hath said: r' • jt "I saw his pinions quiver, safef': *1 Atxd heard across the silent aiffljpi'^v^. .w» coming or hie mystic flight^?' " Swift from some meadow bod ' * Of poppies, white as laces, ^ Or from the day* long dead Aiuid the vanished faces. Hoy be lie mounts the dusky sk^k " Where clouds of fading scarlet lip,. } Mot all we ever know,* * Wbrn once his apell hath bound at. Add sleeping soft and low. The world is lost around us, Obmes in the rosy tide of dieanlK'/ 3 j, , A* sweet as lilies over streams. •f / / i". , Jtor, -when the morning gates " «*;«•« Swing back in silver glory, «, *.1 v ' ®his angel never waits 3To hear our drowsy sttey. Whether the morrow' comes agaMf • la splendid rapture or in pain. f Xnough to us that be 1 From poppy bed or meadow. Or from some league of sea. •' 'Hath 1 roupht through dusk and That sweetes: gift to those that weep O* laugh-the blessed balm of sleep. ('""""• 1 '""" 1 ' " " • • i " " " ' ' ' 1 He treated Johnny's sisters shameful*! Qtifciiiillio substance of onr and would have served Johnny the[ sattoii,e>t jladi on at intervals fame way, aaly Johnny turned out to ' whiuwn, ̂ Biiag the night. My t>e one of the best leathers and vaulters , wateQfttsM tBOlionless. with her aye* In the business, and the boss found it; fixed OB the atiU f*c«, from which even handy to have him here as a clown." thf painted grin had not been wished, "I guess the doctor isn't interested in I AJt dawn the young man seemed to my family history," said the young) waka. Ho apoke feebly, but articu- clown. "I felt a dizziness in my head, j lately. 1 sir," he continued, turning to me, "and j "Doctor, thank yon. I know you and as I want the show to get good 'notices* j I know what's happened. Only just In the papers to-morrow, 1 didn't care j one word. I want Bess. Please fetch to miss my final vault, which always •ends the people away good-tempered. So I thought yon might give me some­ thing that would brace me up." I wrote him a prescription, and just as I turned to send it to the drtfg store a young woman in black, who had evi­ dently over-heard us, peeped into the dressing-room, and said: "I'll fetch it, please sir," and disappeared with the prescription. I returned to my young ladies. The eircus was in full blast. The country folks wen in ecstasies of delight. The jOMBtIN& IN THE CIRCUS. t3&r\ . WAS in a difficult position. An incur­ sion by six charm­ ing girls into the house of a grumpy old Michigan doater could hardly be thought to increase his ie'icity. They were cousins from Ann Arbor; six brfgEt girls, clever, high-spirited, and altogether a novelty in the residence of a oonfirmed old bachelor. Walking down the street in perplexity, , I found myself facing a huge, varie- gatod "poster" representing Olympian Hf, • gam**, horse-racing, athletics, the grin- I? ping of clowns, and the strange per- ' •; of animals. I x^d; '^mk THE GOOD ROTIOK. •e-W^ereeeee• Tb-WIGHT SB REST OF " ASNSFOB THSS 5RKST OPTHB WSK VON STEIN'S CIRCUS. OBKATKP. THAN THE GREATSST 't'K- SHOW OK EUOTHI Do sar Miss m. ,./t r a, ' W*\ : Im! jess 'ik ft ,v |Vf w+. -•ilfe •W t I « kr I* . "I *'-• 1*̂ I had my inspiration. * Girls," said I, as I reached home, "How would you like to go to the circus?" There was a ripple of laughter. As natives of Ann Arbor, seat of the Mich­ igan Univereity, cradle of all our Mich­ igan learning, the maidens bad been brought up to despise the circus. But I insisted that it was the only amuse­ ment in town, and on the plea that it was "nothing but a frolic," and that "nobody at home would know it," they agreed to come. "I want," said the eldest and most thoughtful of the girls, Mto study the ways of a real circus clown." That evening, amid a great throng of countrymen we found ourselves under the canvas in a big open field. We oc- ocupied what was by courtesy called "a box" and were an object of admiration to the crowd. I had hardly settled into a seat at the back of the "box" when a man in the dress of a French clown, with a school­ boy's cap on his head and a red patch on his nose, ran up the tan-covered alley-way which led from the stable to the ring, and leaning over the edge of tike "box," whispered in a hoarse voioe: "gay, are you the doctor?" "I am, friend," said I, the audience eagerly watching this hurried colloquy. "What can I do for you?" "Johnny Stone, one of the clowns," said he, "is feelin' bad in the head and fears he can't go on to-night. We thouglat you'd kindly step around and tell him if it was anything serious." "I will come with pleasure," said I. And, stepping out of the "box," I let the French clown guide me to the ex­ temporized dressing - rooms, where there was a scene of indescribable con' fusion. A wizened little girl was pi­ rouetting cm her toes like a ballet dancer. "We call her the Pearl--Pearl of the Antilles," said my conductor. "She does the bareback act" A short, fat man was balancing on glasses. "Monsieur Ariel," said the clown, introducing him. At which the short, *fat man, lacking the delicacy of his Shakesperian prototype, merely granted. A Japanese olown was blowing up a ball which he was to toss about the ring. "He's the saddest kind of a elown you ever saw," said my guide. "He never gets a smile; but he juggles first rate, I guess they're not strong on jokes in Japan." Without pausing to observe that clowns were not very "strong on jokes" even in America, I made my wav past a clown with a toy hat on bis head, who had placed a piece of broken looking- glass against the wall, and was viewing with an eye of pride the last touch of *"make-up" which he had added to his face. Opposite him was another clown, with a far more elaborate mirror, fash­ ioned like a large hook, and open­ ing with a hinge; and while the first clown seemed anxious to impart a look of merriment to his faoe, this sec- o^d clown bent all his efforts, rouge- stick in hand, to make himself a pic­ ture of unutterable woe. A little farther along, all ready for the fray, was a clown in a fools' cap, playing solitaire. He had spread out the cards on an old traveling trunk, and, holding % five of hearts, was atfidyiog the board as though his life depended on playing that card correctly. And so we came to a little dressing- room where a young man, comely in features, which the paint did not dis­ guise, sat with one hand to his head as if in pain. His other hand held a let­ ter, and in the corner of his eyes, where the red paint was thickest, there a«f.ir>^ to be a moisture as of tears. He looked up hastily as we entered. ? Johnny, this is the doctor," said the f£- ihiwa who led me. \ -It's kind of him to come," said the "ydujug clown. "But I guess I can poll • *||irough to-night, anyhow." "You've had bad pews?" said I. , wf Well, ves, sir. This letter says my ':',:^-«(|terV dying." & Johnny Stone," said my guide, "is tae son of the boss, that old man with wig and dyed mustache that you Pearl of the Antilles on her bareback horse, Monsieur Ariel on his glasses, the great variety of clowns whom I had seen in the dressing-rooms, the trapez- ists, the performing animals--all lent variety to the entertainment, which was to conclude with the vaulting of the whole company over the backs of horses placed side by side. I had noticed, from time to time in the ring, the young clown whom they called "Johnny." Though I had re­ cently see him crying over the news from home, and had toned him up with physic, he seemed to be in high spirits, and the crowd roared at his sallies. The young woman in black, who bad carried the prescription, sat alone on the front tier and followed him every­ where with wistful eyes. The vaulters were led by a clown with a shock of red hair like flame in the wind. In the rear came .Johnny Stone, who leaped with an ease far ex­ ceeding anything shown by the rest of the company. After awhile he was left alone in the contest. All the others had dropped out, as one horse after another was brought from the stables and placed in position for the vaulter to clear them. I had noticed an indecision in the young clowns face as the distance widened. 1 even thought of crossing the ring and warning him against further exertions. But the country people clamored for more. ,For the final leap, Stone ran along the spring-board, rose in the air, turned a complete ssmersault, and, falling, struck full with his back on the spine of the farthest horse. The animal broke from the line, frightened but unin­ jured. The olown tumbled inanimate into the ring. I heard a scream--it may have been from one of our party. Before I well knew where I was, I found myself in the ring with the clown's head on my knee, trying to keep off the crowd which pressed around. "Is he dead?" "No, no; he's not dead. Give him some whisky. He's coming t0( poor lad." But he did not "come to," not for hours, until I had taken him to the nearest available place, which happened to be my own house. All the night long I sat by his bed­ side. 1 felt somehow as though I had murdered him, or helped to do it. For had I not "followed the multitude to do evil"--added my five dollars to tempt him, or, rather, the skinflint father, who was making money by him, to tumble for our amusement? True, he would have done it all the same if I had not been there; but Btill, I was there. I and my young ladies had swelled the number which had lured liim to his destruction, and I felt guilty. What they felt, poor dears, 1 do not know; it was quite impossible for me to take any heed of them. "If he had died, doctor," said some­ body behind me, "1 should always have said that he had been murdered." There was an intensity in the voice which quite startled me; for she had kept so quietly in the background that I had scarcely noticed her till now--the young woman in black. I noticed now that she was not an exceptionally pretty young woman; but she had soft, kind eyes, an intelligent forehead, and an excessively sweet voice. "Who are you, my dearf" I whis­ pered. "His sister?" ^ ; "No, sir." "His cousin, then?" "No." * I looked my next questfcm, and she answered it with the simple honesty which I expected from the owner of that voice. "John and I were playfellows, then we kept company for five year*, and meant to be married next month. His father was against it, or it would have been sooner, but Johnny wanted to quit the circus business, and old Stone wanted money and wouldn't let him go. At last they agreed for six more per­ formances, and this waa the first of the six." "He'll never perform anj more," said I, involuntarily. "No, he couldn't with that arm. I am very thankful for it," said she, with a touching, desperate dutch at the brighter side of things. How could I tell her that the broken arm was probably the least injury which had befallen the young man? "No, he shall never do anything of that sort again," continued she. "Father or no father, I'll not have him mur­ dered." And there came a hard fierceness into her eyes, like that of a creature that has been long hunted down, and at last suddenly turns at bay. "Where is his father? He ?flap not come near us," said L V * Of course not. There's no greater coward than, old Stone, and he's sharp as a needle after money, or at keeping away when money's likely to be wanted. But don't be afraid, i've myself got Bess. "Yes, Johnny*--spoken quite softly and oomposedely; yes, Johnny, I'm hfcre." It was a diflncll case. A first-rate surgeon whom I fetched next day could make nothing of it. There were no in­ juries external or interual, but the lower limbs were apparently paralyzed. He had been laid upon his bed, and there he lay yet, though it was years ago, suffering little and with all his facilities clear, but totally helpless-- obliged to be watched over and waited upon, like an infant, by his old wife. "For he was an old man, and he had a wife; which was lucky for him," said this doctor. "It's rather harder for this poor fellow, who may have to lie as he does now for the rest of his days." "Hush," I said, for he was talking aloud in the passage, and close beside jis stood poor Bess. I hoped *he had not heard, but the firsts sight of her face convinced me that she had'; only, women have at times a self-control that is wonderful. I thought it best then to tell her the whole truth. _ "Thauk you, sir," she replied. "Thank you, for telling tne all. My poor Johnny!" ,1 took her into the parlor and gave her a glass of wine. I don't need it,* she said. Fm used to sick nur.«ing. I nursed my sister on her death bed. We were dressmakers, and then Johnny got me as costume maker to the circus. I can earn a good deal by my needle, sir," "Will his father do nothing?" "Nothing. Old Stone has another 'wife,' he calls her, and a lot of other children, and doesn't care two cents for Jo^pny." Poor fellow." No," said she, with a momentary touch of asperity, "he's not a poor fel­ low--he's a very clever fellow; he un­ derstands bookkeeping. He was think- TRAGEDY' AMD COMEDT. last re- aod there--White went prancing atotfnd, . littW ilrl weut afleiping. and We caught tha occasion al cli6k-Ouck of Jtousler Atiel practicing among his gifts* bottles--the father stood and heard what I had to tell him concern­ ing his son. "It'* very unfortunate, doctor,* he said; "especially so for tne, with my large family. What am 1 to do with him ? What"-- becoming more ener­ getic--"what the devil am I to do with him?" I told him that all he had to do was to give bis consent to his son's mar­ riage with Elizaboth Hall. He appeared* greatly astonished at first, and then as greatly relieved. "My consent! Certainly. They're both 25--old enough to know their minds--and have been courting ever so long. She's an excellent joung woman; can earn a good income, too. Yes. give 'em my consent, and, in case it may be useful to them--give 'em this, too. He fumbled in his pocket, took out an old purjte/ and counted out into my htmd. with an air of great magnificence, fiva dirty one-dollar bills--which was all I ever saw of the money of Herr vpn Stein. ' When I gave them, with this mes­ sage, to Bess, she crumpled them up>in her fingers with a curious sort of smile, but she never said a word. I hare been at many a marriage, showy and quiet, gay and grave, hearty and heartless, but I am ready to de­ clare solemnly that I never saw one which touched me as much as that brief ceremony which took place at the bed­ side of John Stone, the circus clowns It did not occupy more than five min­ utes, for in the bridegroom's condition the slightest agitation was to*be avoid­ ed. My housekeeper and I were the only witnesses. The bride's* wedding dress was the shabby old black gown which sho had not taken off sinoe the accident oc­ curred. Her face was very worn and weary, but her eyes were bright and her voice steady. She never faltered till the last words were spoken, and the minister had shaken hands with her and wished her every happiness. "Is it aH done?" said she, half be­ wildered. Yes, my girl," answered my old house-keeper j "you are married, sure enough." Then Bess knelt down, put her arms around Johnny's neck, and laid her head beside him on the pillow, sobbing a little, but softly even now. "Oh, my dear, my dear; nothing can ever part us more." But the poor clown turned his mouth to hers. "Kiss me, Bess," he said in a voice hardly audible. Sne touched bis lips and drew back ihey were so cold. Then, with a passionate, despairing Movement, she kissed him again, and as she looked into his eyes the light of them went out, and she was left alone with the dead.--Illustrated American. GRAVITY. at Bam Lew •8 pawed at the door. He calls himself j enough to pay you. That's bot- fttein, but his feat sate*'* Stonajtar. He's my Johnny, now. ing of trying for a clerk's situation. With that and my dress-making we should haVe done very well, if we had once been married." I hardly knew what to Answer. I felt so sorry for the girl; and yet she did not seem to realize her affliction. There was an unwonted light in her eyes, and a glow on her poor face, strange in one whose hopes in life had been suddenly blasted. "Doctor," she went on, "may I speak to you? I've nobody eke. not a soul, belonging to me except Johnny. Will you let him stop here for • w*fk or two?" "A yAur, if necessary." "Thank you. He snail be no trouble to you. I'll take care of that--only there's one thing to be done first. Doc­ tor, I must marry Johnny." She said it in such a matter-of-fact tone that at first I doubted if I had rightly heard. "Marry him! Good heavens, you don't mean " "Yes, I do, sir. Just that." "Why, he will never be able to do a •stroke of work for you--may never rise from his bed--will have to be tended like an infant for months, and may die after all." "No matter, sir. He'd rather die with me thau with anybody. Johnny loves me. I'll marrv him." There wa3 a quiet determination about the woman which put all argument aside. I tried none. I am an old-fash­ ioned fellow, who never was so happy as to have any woman love him. But I have known enough of women to feel surprised at nothing they do of this sort. "And now, sir," said Bess, "how is it to be managed ?" Of course, the sooner it was managed the better; and 1 found, on talking to her, that she had already arranged it all in her own mind. Her feelings and habits clung to a marriag! "by a proper clergyman." I promised to" oall in a minister, a friend of mine, next morn­ ing. "That will do," she said. "And now I must go upstairs and speak to Johnny." What she said to him, and how he re­ ceived it, it is impossible for me tp re­ late. It was not my business; indeed, it was nobody's business but their own. Now, though I may be a very foolish old fellow, still I am not Buoh a fool as I may appear. Though I had taken these young people iato my house, still I was not going to let' them be married without having investigated their ante­ cedents. I went to the circus and there en­ deavored to discover Meinherr von Stein. I saw him slipping out of the ring where the "Pearl of the Antilles," iu a dirty cotton skirt, was careering on | her bareback horse, while in the center, on the table of the night before--what an age it seemed ago--a little fat man, in shirt sleeves and stocking soles, was solemnly w alking on bottles. From him--Monsieur Ariel, who had been inquiring at my house in the morning, leaving his name as Mr. Hig- gins, and who bad entirely ceased to be surly--I gained full confirmation of Elizabeth Hall's story. She and John Stone were respectable and well- conducted young people, and were evidently favorites 'among the eircus performers. The clowns were going on with their business as though nothing had hap-, pened. A good-natured young fellow Sat with one foot on a trunk, restiug af­ ter a tremendous race with the ring- < master. He smiled as I passed. "Give our love to Johnny," said he. On another trunk sat the dlown with the toy hat. He was intensely amused by a newspaper he held in his hand. He read one paragraph again and again. "That's a bully notice," said he. In the glow of the laudation lavished upon him by a local critic, he had lor- gotten Johnny Stone'a existenca '̂ A Voioe From the Grave. JL pathetic story is that told in con­ nection with the phonograph. A Judge in a Southern State came to Cincinnati not long ago. He had never heard ^ie phonograph. When he visited am>ffice he spoke into the funnel, and was amazed and amnzed to hear - his own voice repeated afterward through the tubes of the machine. Two days after he returned home he died suddenly. His daughter came to Cincinnati on business, and while here a friend took her to hear a phonograph. It was a curious coincidence that she should have been escorted to the very office her father had visited but a short time before. The young woman, who was in deep mourning, was very mnch entertained by some of the musical sef lections the phonograph repeated. The operator afterward picked up a cylinder from a pile, placed it in the phonograph, and said, "Listen to this." the young woman placed the tubes again to her ear, the bar was pulled out, and the cylinder began to revolve. Be­ fore a dozen words had been repeated the women in black swooned. Not un­ til she recovered was the cause of her fainting known. The voice that had come to her ears from the phonograph was that of her dead father. It was as a voice from the grave. She afterward purchased a phonograph, and the cylinder contain­ ing her father's speech was given to her. It is carefully cherished in the Southern home.--Cincinnati Com­ mercial Ar» Woman Generally Cruel? \-v A woman is not. usually supposed to be cruel. Still, facts are against the assumption that she is not. Her thumb was sure to be down when the gladiator looked up into the tiers of the Coliseum for the verdict of the people; her shout was always fierce when the matador and the bull plowed the earth together. It is more sentimental to speak of her as "gentle," but, enduring in pain, won­ derfully resistant to trouble, it is wo­ man and not man who shows the last­ ing power after all. History has prove*! her pitiless, has proved her the origin­ ator of many crimes at which men(would shrink, and as able to look on at sights at which the stronger sex would cringe, still it has been said of man that he is selfish and hard, and the verdict must stand. The case which brought tbis to mind was of a man who, on his death bed, was ii spite of the pleading of his physicians, deprived of the soothing in­ fluences of an opiate because his wife wished hira to have his full senses that he might recognize her when he died. He had been ill for a long time and was dying a lingering death of terrible suf­ fering. All hope that he could be helped was gone. It was the question of a few hours, and the humane doctors were in favor of easing these last mo­ ments of pain. His wife refused, on the selfish plea that he might die without recognizing her at the last.--Boston Home Journal. ^ , To Prevent ̂Ft*Bo tram Dirinf Da A piano tuner, wh% says that pianos frequently deteriorate because they are allowed to become too dry, prescribes this remedy: "Keep a growing plant in the room, and so long as your plant thrives, your piano ought to, or else there's something wrong with it. Just try it; and see how much more water you will have to put in the flower pot in the room where your piano is, than you use in any other room. Some peo­ ple keep a huge vase or urn, with a sop­ ping wet sponge in it, "near or under the piano, and keep it moistened, just as a cigar dealer keeps his stock. They keep this up all the time the fire* are on.' ' ^ A LADY who upon being asked as she was going to the opera, how she was dresued at the President's rwMatiot* X** pHed, "low, and behold!" ^ ' STEAM AC Ik* Close Call or au Ojierator et mm WELL Derrick. "I think the most exciting race 1 ever witnessed was one in which steam and gravity were the contestants, and a human life the stake." writes a Youth's Companion contributor. "In the autumn of 18511 allowed myself to be­ come financially interested in a drilling well in the central part of Butler County, Pennsylvania. Naturally enough, I spent considerable time round my venture, particularly after the well was nearly finished. Two thousand feet was about the usual depth for that field, and at the time of the accident of which I am to tell, the drill was thund­ ering away more than mneteenjtaindred feet below us. 7 "The drill was about forty five feet long, and weighed somethiog «*ver two thousand pounds. Attached to this was twenty-five hundred feet of cable, which passed from the tuOuth of the well, over the crown pulley at the top of the dor- rick, and then down to tho windlass, on which the surples length was coiled. The windless was operated by the 'bull-rope' running from a hand-wheel, which, in turn, was connected with the esgine. The tools were pulled from the well by means of the engine turn­ ing this windlass and winding up the oable. . "On the day in question the tools hud just been pulled, the battered bit un­ screwed from the stem and a newjone substituted, the bailer sent on its three or four long trips into the earth for its load of muddy water, and the tools swung back to place and started down the well. "All went smoothly for a few seconds, everything goes by seconds about an oil well!-- when suddenly the driil stuck and stopped, perhaps four hundred leet below tlie surface. Like a flash tbe engine, relieved of the strain, ran wild, and began to reel off stiff ani dirty cable over the derrick floor at a danger­ ous rate, throwing one ooil of the squirming mass squarely over the tool- dresser's body just as the driller, who acts as engineer, shut cif steam. "Before a hand could be raided- to re­ lease the unfortunate captive, the blood was nearly frozen in our veins to *ee that mass of lootened cable running like lightning down the well. The drill had started. We could not reach the man. The floor was literally piled with an animated, writhing mass of horrible death. Stiff and slippery with dirty water, the loops and kinks were hurled about a* though in search of other prey. "The tool-dresser stood in the center of this twisting heap, unable to make an effort at escape. It seemed there could be no help for him. In an in­ stant or two more the cable would glide down that little hole, and then, with the final jerk of more than a ton of fall­ ing metal on the unfortunate man, the force would come again upon the wind­ lass, there to stop or break the line. What matter which to the poor fellow who must die just before? "Fully half the loose oable had rushed down the well, when with a mad im­ pulse to do something, I sprang to the " 'Stop! Keep back!' yelled the dril­ ler, and hi* own hand opened the throt­ tle. "It came upon me in an instant then that to stop tbe drill was to throw the full weight on the man's body, while so long as the line could be kept slack he was safe. Then It understood. The driller meant to unreel the rope as fast as it descended. * "Hardly an extra coil was left upon the floor. The line wa9 nearly taut. But at the other end it rolled loose with a speed that was frightful, and gliding swiftly about the man's waist as round a post, plunged out of sight "What a race that was between two giant powers working at either end of the same line! The derrick quivered uuder the strain of that flying windlass, while the drippings from the rope were thrown in all directions, covering the place from end to end. "In the engine-house one must have trembled, fearing the engine would be torn from its block, but still the driller at the other end of the connecting rod urged it forward. Would he never gain on his antago­ nist? It seemed as if he must, run­ ning at such a frightful rate, but every coil of the cable was snatched down the well as soon as it left the windlass. True, he did not lose ground, but when the very slightest loss meant death to the man before us, there was no great assurance of safety in that "Fortunately, extra steftm bad been raised for pulling the tools, so that there was no lack of power. Nor was it spared. The crown pulley was threatening to jump from the blook, but the weight held it back. The windlass bearings were sending out clouds of smoke. The bull-rope groaned and creaked. The floor was trembling under the vibrations of the flying wheels, and the very ground shook as though torn by an earthquake. Now stop, at last, the straining engine, for the race is over. Steam has won. "As soon as possible we released the prisoner. He was burned somewhat about the waist, where the cable had passed, but not so badly as one would have suspected. The stiff line bad not belt up close, but stood out like a re­ volving barrel-hoop. "So the novel race ended well. But I never lost my admiration lor the man whose coolness, at so trying a time, Erompted him to assist instead of oheok-ig that runaway drill." Tbe Negro in Nashville. The following, from an "Open Letter" in the Century, is only a part of a very gratifying report from C. P. Smith, of Yanderbilt University, on the "Negro in Nashville." Through the courtesy of a well-edu- cated negro who works ardently for the welfare of his race, 1 had the oppor­ tunity, in company with a friend, to in­ spect in one day more than twenty of the better class of homes. The list of representative homes we were to see in­ cluded more than fifty; but the time was too short. Most were taken by sur­ prise, but willingly showed their houses from cellar to garret. The result may be summed up as follows: Tlie occu­ pant was the owner of every case but one. In most parlors there were pianos and handsome carpets on the floor, with other furniture to match; indeed the houses were generally carpeted through­ out. while bed-rooms, dining-rooms, and kitchens were remarkably clean. I noted with pleasure several bath-rooms, and remarked how one thrifty pair had so arranged their handsome base-burner stove that it heated comfortably the whole house of four or five rooms at a cost of only a few cents a day. It was interesting to learn that in most cases where the heads of families were young they had been educated at one of tbe negro colleges in the city; where old, that, the children had attended these. Let one example stand tor all. A---- •% don't think the I think yoa had and let me have . at ttba and saved at; borne, he ha* graduated one son ami two daughters at F1& University, the fourth and last child being now thei-e. Hjason, at first a teacher, is now in the service of the Pullman Company; one daughter is married, the other is a teacher. His house is comfortably fur­ nished, and his lot extends 100 feet in a very respectable street in the heart of the city. Just two or three remarks at tbe close. First, I am quite sure that more comfortable and well-kept homes could not be found anywhere among the same number of whites of the same income, and the owners of these homes have the same interest in good government, peace, good morals, the well-being of society, as the better class of whites have. These well-kept homes are not onlpr the best proof of the progress in civilization of the negro race, but they are also the best security for the wel­ fare of tbe whites in property and in moral*, and I have never had so much hope for future of this region as since I learned these things. Granted that these may be the picked few, it is most hopeful that there is a picked few, whose example will inspire others to lift themselves up. Finally, an inter­ esting fact which I have not found place for elsewhere--one of tne daily papers of Nashville reports a circulation among .the negroes of the city of more than eighteen hundred copies. Not So Cute a* H« Thought fie Waa. One day a tin peddler, with an assort­ ment of knick-knacks arrived at a cer­ tain Aillage in Connecticut aad ea led at one of the houses to sell his wares. Afty disposing of a few articles to the lady of the house, who was surrounded by a regular swarm of children, she declaredher inability to purchase more for the want of mouey. "But, ma'am," said the peddler, "ain't you got any rags?" "None to sell," was the reply. "Well," leturned the peddled, Boem to have plenty of children. you cell me one for tinware?" "What will you give, sirl" "Ten dollars, ma'am." ^ "In good tinware?" "Sartain, ma'am, the " Well, sir. it's a bargain," said the lady, "and you may take your pick of the lot" ' The peddler, surprised that his offer was accepted, yet confident that a mother would not part with her child, selected a bright looking boy, placed him in the cart and supplied the lady with tins until the sum ot $10 was made up. Then tbe peddler, certain that tbe mother would hasten to redeem the child as soon as she saw him actually starting off, mounted the seat beside the little fellow, who, pleased with the idea of having a ride, was crowing Instily, and rode off a slow pace,«expecting each moment to hear the lady calling to him to bring back the child. But no such oall did he bear. After proceeding a short distance the peddler began to see that he had made a bad bargain and turned his horse's head again toward the lady's house. The lady had just finished ornament­ ing her closet shelves with the tin when the peddler entered. "Well," said he, "I boy will do after alt belter take him back my ware." "No, sir; the bargain was fair," said the lady, "and you shall stick to it whether you wish to or not." Surprised at this the paddlefr ex­ claimed : "Why, ma'am, how can yon think of parting with your boy to an utter stranger?" "Bless your soul, mister, I have no children," returned the lady. "The children you see here are pauper chil­ dren, and as you appear to be a good man I will glaalv sell you several more of them if you wish at $10 a head." The boy was dropped at the door, the peddler jumped aboard his cart and the way he made his old horse get away from that house was a caution. It is safe to say that he never forgot lys pauper speculation.--New York Mer­ cury. 9 . :/**;'<?' Infinite littleness. There is a naturalist whose hoBot cdn- sists in collecting the fine dust with which the wings of moths and butter­ flies are covered and forming it into the most artistic and picturesque designs He mounts each single grain of dust separately, so as to make bouquets of flowers, fern leave3 and butterflies hover­ ing round. This lie does in a space oc­ cupied by the eighth of an inch. In another design he has a vase of pas­ sion flowers made of upward of 600 grains of dust: and again he has repre­ sented a pot of fuchsias, with butterflies and birds, in three-sixteenths of a square inch. This marvellous mounting in miniature will be more readily understood w"hen it is mentioned that there are so many single grains of dust on a butterfly's wing that no man has succeeded in counting them. This same naturalist mounted a couple of hundred of the tiniest eggs of the smallest insects so as to make a perfect geometrical design,* yet the whole did cot cover the npace of a quarter* as an inch in diameter; while another ardent naturalist selected and arranged 3,600 young oysters within a circle a little lea* than three-eighths of an inch in diama* ter.--Iihmtraied American. J. •• Kfttiug Hh»d. C: ! York Evening Sun. Now, this young man does not profess to be a skilled anatomist, and says the only way he Can tell whether there are bones in his shad is by getting them into his mouth. And NO when tbe figh came he plunged it into his mouth without regard to its bony structure. And when o bone revealed its presence in his mouth he took it out. Now, he likes shad very much, and he had set his heart on having a second piece. But he wasn't asked to have any. After dinner was over his hostess came and sat down by him. "Did you want some more of that fish very much?" she asked. "Well, I do like shad very much," he*admitted. "I saw you wanted some more," she said, "but I didn't dare give it to you. I was afraid you'd die on the premises. Really, in courtesy to your hoste**, when "you go out to diue you must bone ••our fish before you eat it, and not after. 1 was cold with horror all the while you were eating your fish for fear you would choke and die right there, and you see," she added naively, "that would have been a frightful damper on the success of my dinner party. MINNIE--How kind H was of Mr. Yab- sley to dance with each of those ancient Patter by girls! He has the spirit of ja true gentleman. Mamie--Yes; he is a genuiae to apeak . Ayenng man recently went to dine at tbe house of a friend, saya the New •HZ Y .5. % A CU . the origin is, themffl _ er, who acquired world-wide notoriety *; few weeks ago by hi* exploit of breaking the bank at Monaea on three days in succession. It appears that someeigH or cine and twenty year* ago he waa 4 •very poor man, traveling about the country dealing in cheap and imitatiod^ jewelry, which he would aell to aai*iMi§v'*; girls and soldiers, policemen and otbetf people of that class. Luck or, as sotn#» would say, his fate led him one day tip certain barracks in Ireland, where" th# regiment commanded by the darin dauntless, devil-may-care, violent of Balaclava, the late Lord Cardigan^ happened to be quartered. The poof HS? little peadler had not been long in thf barrack yard hawking hia wares to tho - soldiers wben the commanding office?, dashed'in at full gallon and flinging*'" S ! himself off his horse, evidently ia a ter* t jf rible fury, strode towards the stonf ' v * steps leading to the officers' quarter^ ? and sat down on them, Ifrowning as wa#„ > his wont when angry; knitting hii x brows in a most fearful fashion, whicij no one who ever saw it can postdblv for1* • get, and assuming an expression whicl| J made his handsome face for the tirn# being absolutely diabolical. Nobody ; \ would have dared to address Lord Cart" * digan- when he was in one of thes# ^ mood", but the little peddler advanced, /<! to where his lordship sat glaring, and began; "I beg your pardon, my lord/ >• but " Before he coutd get any fur- ther Lord Cardigan broke out in a tor^ • rent of invectives, calling him everv vile and horrible name, asking bim if- ./< he know the blank blank who the blan* he had the blank audacity to speak toe ' t ' and telling him if he did not clear ou| ' : s of the yard without any blank delav h# >. b would blank well have bim blanklj".'^"^ kicked out. The pedd>er waited until this awful tempest had apent itself and then began again: "I beg your _ lordship's pardon^ but " This time he was interrupted by Lord Cardigan calling for two solK; diers to turn the impertiuent hawker out| of the barra6k yard neck and cropj; The soldiers had seized the unfortunate little man by the arms and were leadf;.- ing him away, when he turned to Lor# Cardigan and at last succeeded in hav£] ing his say: "I beg your lordship'! pardon, but what I wanted to say wa|": this, it is little short of madness for any one in such a heated condition as youf lordship is to sit down upon those cold stones." 1;; "Good God!" exclaimed Lord Cardil gan, delighted with the man's commotio sense and with his pluck and determine# tion to have his say. "You are right* I'm blanked if you're not, and you arj a blanked plucky man. What's youf name, and what are you doing here?*' By this time the soldiers had let go th|r , _ little peddler, who *ook good care t# v ??[ arouse Lord Cardigan's interest in hit - 1 behalf, with so much success that th# . hero of Balaclava bought there and then all his t stock-in-trade for the sol* *, diers, took his name and address, an<| gave him the first start in life. To-day., * ' the ex-peddler has grown so strong ant£ powerful and rieh that he can easily y ;; give a check for a million in return fof % \ a simple I. O. U.--N. Y. World. ^ 1 WHAT Plenty of Nerve Will Da, ^ , A certain well-known Brooklyn drug"-' gist was invited to take a trip to Wash* ^ ,• \A ington to attend the inaugural ball o§ * "4. President Garfield, The invitation wa|| extended by the late ex-Congressman jf Hyatt Smith. The statesman was sur#f " that he could get tickets for his friends ?• On arriving at the capital it was found; ' ,, • that the demand was so large that i|> was with great difficulty that the Com* • greasman Beeured a ticket of admis*io^'\';;.-^ IOT himself. The druggist was very . ;a much disappointed and wanderew a r o u n d h i s h o t e l f e e l i n g t h e t r i p W a s £ £ • ; failure. Mr. Smith left his fiiend at the hotel and went to the ball. Alon^ , in the night to his astonishment he saA# ' his friend, the druggist, in the insido circle about the President, smiling an<|- .' von versing with Senators and diplomats^ ; Getting to the druggist's side Mr* ^ • >< Smith whispered: "For Heaven's sako how did you get in and become so well acquainted?" "Never mind now, I'll tell you later on," was the reply. Mi% ^ Smith insisted, however, and then the./ , Brooklyn possesor of nerve explained that while at his hotel he overheard t conversation in which it was stated thai a newly-elected Senator from DelawarS had not made his appearance at Wash­ ington and that he was not at all known. With the inward remark thai here was his chauce the druggist prct* ceeded to the White House, and, pri senting his card to the doorkeeper, sai< with dignity and a condescending, smil| ing way, "Very sorry I got here so lat<%. _ I'm the new Senator from Delaware ^ ^ Has Senator made his appearand! j yet?" The easy manner of the question ' left no doubt in the doorkeeper's mind|» ' \ s and tbe druggist entered the receptions . ' -V room and heard his name announced ap^, the new Senator. He had just becomi* 1 surrounded by the statesman and w«A making a brave front when discovered/ by Mr. Smith. That gentleman saw ap;; *: - once the seriousness of the otl'ense come- mitted by his friend and rushed hiift from the room. Since that time thf druggist is known among his friends Senator and he is rather proud of achievement and relates tho story much gusto Morphine aa Medicine. ' "It is bad enough," says a physiciat in the New York Tribune, "to hav# quinine sold as freely as sugar, but morphine is a drug which ought to bft retailed only under special conditioned Some cough pills oontain an extr^», ordinary amount of morphine, and it if ' .. really wonderful more serious conae-. f . quences do not result A few days ago •=. I was called to see a man who was verf ^ • sick, and who bad evidently taken a . ^ large quantity or morphine internally He explained that he had been taking '; some pills for dyspepsia, and when thes# , ^ were shown to me I saw at once thai V^ oough pills had been given him by mis- , y; take. He had taken as many as six a& " . a dose, aud if he bad not been blessed , < with a wonderful constitution he would ' have found it difficult to pull arouncL *• * There is no objection to patent medt> ^ cines and pills being powerless to % u- do any particular good, but they onghl "-a • -- certainly harm." to be powerless to do any A Good MU£g*atlon. • Prof. C , a Green Mountain boy» *• •; V-»- who stood six feet six inches in stooking-feet, desiring to take passagf - for London, went to New York for thai" , >' purpose. While standing on the docld ^ he got into conversation with a stanger^ asking him by what route he bad better go on his contemplated voyage. "Well,* was the reply, "it I were you, I would put a loaf of bread on top of my head* and wadel"--Harper's. Magazine. - OF the Parsees there are only ^ in the world. Thev are not mmx; mm F • - * V 200,9 > ^ i; 000 in the world. They are not pufV,^;^^ SO „ numerically to the Smiths, to say aotfk* ' ifigof the Smithes and Smythes. >, [ r ' «v k •Ja.eV.'iiT'. kilt-.A,'. ,s„ i -0. •#. „ fin, ;S' tils