Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 March 1888 — Page 2

THE INDIAXAPOIilS JOURNAL, SUNDAY, 31 AH OH 4, 1838 T WJ3 LVE PAGES.

I Printed fry Special Arrangement. CspyrishUdt 1SSS.

PHARAOH'S HEART.. BY SOPniE HWF.TT. Author of "Th Topham Mritlnw Lot." "On TumbleDovn Jlountairt," and Other Storiet. "Beats all what a eight cf human nater thers is round, for them that's cot an eye for it. and It s most alwua kicd cf cur us and mtsrcslin' if you look at it c!oet. Now jest see the doin's up there to Elvity Perkinses. No, I aint agoin' to caliber Madam Ma-what-you-may-call it; Ive got Iearnin' enough to speak my own langnace as it had ought to be spoke, bat when it comes to f urrin words 1 h&int got no dispersition to tackie 'em.' IS Silas Leach, an old man who looked like a dried cod-fUh and as if ail human emotions wero withered within him, but who was, nevertheless, a perennial fountain of gossip, was regaling with the latest news the idlers in Hodgkins's store, the headquarters of ma3oaline society in Nevr Hebron. "If Eiviry Perkins felt to marry a f arriner I hain't no call to object, and what eonld you expect of a young gir! a trimmin bunnets in New York without nobody to look after her? She wan't such a very you ng girl, neither, Eiviry wan't. when her Uncle 'Lias died and left all his property to f urrin missions after she'd worn her fingers to the bene for him, and gone without proper victuals, and schoohn', and meetin' priverlige3, and young company, and everything, and Judson French jilted her because she hadn't cot the proputty, as he expected, and she went off to New York with nothin' on airth to make her way with but pluck; there never was a Perkins bus what had that, and Eiviry she had the name of bavin' mdre'n her fair share. Word eame back that she was workin' in a milliner's shop, and wa'n't beholden to nobody; that was ten years ago and I don't know as anybody ever heard anything - more until she came back and bought old Dr. Orier's house and bad one end of it made into a big milliner's shop and had Madam Ma-g-l-o-i-r-e painted on the winder curtains and on the giltlettered sign atop of the door. Some says her husband was a Frenchman, a real bony fidy znunseer, but Carline Blodgett, that has got folks in New York, ears he wa'n't nothin' but an Irishman that got rich keeoin' a grocery tore, and his name was Dennis McGlory. So fur forth as I can find out she hain't I told nobody the pertiklars. Perkinses wa'n't never the kind that tells the pertiklars, It's pooty plain that sLe's got money and some nays she knows how to keep It 'Lias Perkins he was as close as the bark of a tree. Some says the fever that killed him was fetched on by Deacon Pillsbury's bein too quick for him with the contribution box after he'd dropped in a half dollar expecting to make change, as usual, and get forty or mebbe forty-five cents. I I expect by what I hear that Elviry'a consid'able like him. Marilly S prowl, that's a kind of a i housekeeper for her, is own cousin to me. Ma- ' rilly ain't a mite of a gossip, no more'n what I he, but if I was a mind to I could find oat consid'able that's go in' on there. She had a right, Eiviry had, to get Clarence Burbridge, that y young sprig that clerked it to the hotel last summer to Keep her boots i and kind of look atter her business for her, if she was a mind tfi. and if she was furthermore a mind to set him to studyin' law at her expense, it aint nobody's business, nor if she's a mind to narry him a handsome figger-head will warp a "woman's judgment hut when she goes and fetches Phcebe'Shedd, a young girl as pooty a3 new paint, that's a kind of cousin of hers, from Cranberry Corner, and throws him and her together constant, if that aint flying in the face of Froverdunce then I don t know no name for it! See in' the millenium aint come, no young man aint agoin' to shet his eyes because there's a handsome young girl right before 'em, and when he can't help seein' her, it stands to reason that he's agoin' to think more about her than he is about and oldish one that wa'n't never hamfcome, if he is beholden to her." There were murmurs of assent amid Silas j Leach's circle of listners. Lysander Avery took ; his pips out of his mouth to remark: ' "Middling solid chunk of a woman, aint she?" "Yes. and looks richer upon forty than she (is. I don't calc'lata Eiviry has ever had a very easy time of it. And that little Phoebe Shedd ain't she jest as pootty as a pink, now? And ' Marilly 6he says Clarence Burbridge never takes his eyes off'n her whenjElviry ain't on the , watcn." Lvsander Avery shook his head solemnly: f "Proputty's proputty." said he. "and it's apt to carry more heft in the tlong run than rosy eheeks dona" The new boy was waiting upon a young girl in the front part of the store. Sne was so shrouded in a waterproof that he could see only pink cheeks and intensely blue eyes with lone fashes, lik a child's. But he observed that the " cheeks grew pinker and pinker as the conversation went on behind the great stove, and she becam very uncertain whether she wanted starch, or cocoa, or mustard, and suddenly hurried off without the lemons, which she had asked for flrfct. S ho drew the hood of her "waterproof over her burning ears as sne ran through toe rain. "If I had done that before perhaps I shouldn't have heard," she said to herself. "Bat it's just as he said, it's in toe course of nature, and she 'has only herself to blame for being so foolish." ' Phcphe's thought strayed back to the day l when t-ue had first came to New Hebron. The letter from her cousin Elvira offering to take her as an apprentice had come at a very opportune time, when she had just made a failure of teaching; the Mills' school. Aunt Cordelia had groaned; caste was not unknown to Cranberry Corner, and the Phoenix of old gentility arose continually from the ashes of Aunt Cordelia's fortune; her ancestry of Puritan divines expended back to the earliest days of the colony; of course Phoube might teach; teaching had been to all the daughters of her honse as the breath of tneir no8triU, but to trim bonnets was another mtter. Moreover, Eiviry Perkins's independent course in not asking even the advice of her relatives, and in holding no j communication with them for all the yeas of her sojourn in New York had not been approved of. Aunt Cordeiia felt that Fate had but forced another bitter dose to her lips when ehe overcaroe ail these objections and accepted Elvira's I offer for Phoab. j Abrarn objected on other eronads. He talked kabout the temptations of the world. (New ; Hebron was crowing to be something like a .town, having a Dnnlr, and a newspaper, and a trick block or stores), lie had always manifested a suspicion that Phoebe- was fond of flattery and fine clothes, and luke-warm about the Friday evening prayer-metsng. Phcebe felt it to b" quite uncomfortable to have so unbltnded j a lover, but Abrans could scarcely be called a (Comfortable lover in any respect. I Aunt Cordelia thought that every one should i five way to Abram's queer ideas, and, indeed, ( Abram had made great sacrifices for the family , Welfare. He was almost a stranger, too; a distant connection who had come to live with them when a lad, with a little property which had been swallowed up in the family misfortunes. 'The aspiration of his life had been to preach the 'gospel; he bad fought every sten of his way into college and been obliged to leave in his first year on account of Uncle Peter's paralysis; ha .Was nearly thirty now, and was digging awav at -the sterile little farm, hindered by droughts, and long rams, and frosts, and cattle plagues, for Natnre (Phcebe had observed it sometimes with a wicked glee) was too much for Abram a masterful will to conquer. He had insisted upon driving her t Mew Hebron in the farm wagon. She would have liked to say that she would not make her advent in that way, but her fare wouid have well nigh thausted the pecuniary reserve forces of the family, and Abram could sell tqnashes cad turnkeys to good advantage in New Hehrea, so I'hcebe, having a soul inured to esefscray. yielded. But she withdrew into the ds4hs of the wngon to escape observation as aoon as they entered the village, and the iron entered into her sonl when, as they stopped before Madame Magloire's impolre establishment, two stylishlooking giris (New Hebron was stylish compared to Cranberry Corner) turned to look again at Abram and tittered. Abram was extremely long and awkward; his angular and jerking motions irresistibly suggested to Phoebe a jumping jae-k; he. wore glasses, bis clothes were ministerially black, and shining and threadbare, and bis pantaloons were so short that his blue yarn stockings were strikingly visible. In the midst ot her mortification a young roan, with crispy, curling hair parted in the middle over a very white brow, had come quickly out of the shop and helped her out as deferentially as if she were a goddess alighting from a ebariot (Abram wooM have died for her, fcnt he didn't Enow enough to help her out.) And that was Clarence Bnrbr'dge. New Hebron was a larger place than she had xpected, and Madame Maglorire's shop a more Imputing affair. Abram said, nervouslv. that he hoped it wasn't going to be "too public." Pbobbe, herself, felt no great objection to a little publicity, after the jxtreme retirement of Cranberry Corner; she had. in fact, indulged in a feeling a prompting of the Evil One, the had no doubt, especially at

it was apt to come at church in the midst of the lone prayer that it was quite useless to look like "the fair one with the golden locks" if no one was to see her. She forgot about the Evil One. now. In fact, he alwavs seemed to her further away from New Hebron, where there was so much going on than from Cranberry Corner, where he was taken very seriously and talked about a great deal. Madame Magioire, nee Perkins, wore a great deal of somewhat dilapidated finery, had a figure inclined to stoutness, and a pair of sharp eyes ic a florid but care-worn f ace. 'So you're Phoebe Shedd. My child, ain't you slender! I keep my waist stilL I don't know as I could believe in a merciful Providence if it wa'n't for that. As if it made any difference whether she baa a waist or not! Phoebe thought contemptuously as she recalled that first interview. Then it had struct her as profane. Abram would certainly

object to her staying if he knew it. I Well, I declare! I declare!" Elvira had con tinuea, as i-nceDe tooK off her hat. I'naebe un derstood that this was a tribute to her charms; and stood blushing and dimpling. "If you ain't any hand at trim mi n' and its a gift same as makm' poetry or pictures you'll tx worth something to try on, lou jest put a bor.net on top of tbem gold-colored bangs, and Til'i owier, that s got a little wisp of rusty, streaked bair. and a swallow face, she'll think she 11 look jest as you do, if she only has that bonnet! You know human natnre, don't you?" Phoebe nodded sagely. She really thought she did. because she understood that one must not tell secrets to Miss Meacham, the minister's sister, at the Corner, and that she would have succeeded better with the Mills school if Ftie had been the rich mill-owner's ciece, like Mary Atkins, her predecessor; and perhaps she was not much more deceived than the milliner, this mor tal life being so much too short a time for the acquisition of so vast a knowledge. "I am so glad of tne chance,"' Raid Phcebe, "for there doesn't seem to be anything else that I can do. I got the Mills school, but I couldn't make them mind me. and I made blunders in arithmetic." "That's the one thing you can't do in this world! There ain't any forgiveness for that sin!" said Elvira. "Land. I know! Iv'e ler.rot my lesson! You can make all other kind of blunders and live through 'em, but if you ever forget that two and two make four, there ain't nothin for you but to bo trod under folkses fee i on ve come to the rignt place to learn. 1 m a walkin' arithmetic! I used to think a sight about livin' dootif ul and doing for others. I jest made myself a charm for other folkses bntter. Now my heart is jest like Pharaoh's, growin' harder and harder every day!" i Phosbe felt her shortcomings to be even worse than she had supposed, and was conscious of an increasing awe of her stout and successful rela tive. who knew so much arithmetic; but the handsome young man came in just then, and cave her a reassuring as well as admiring glance, out of a pair of kindly blue eyes, and her spirits rose. iuariiiy bprowi, the neip. had taken it upon herself to immediately apprise her of the rela tions which existed between her employer, whom she called jviia JMaglory, ana the band some young man. "She's a go'n' to have him. I don't expect she told you, but it appears to me as if 'twould be full better for you to know. She was a look in for somebody to squander her hard airnins and she lit upon him. Marilly Sprowl was, as the described herself, "one free to speak her mind without fear nor favor." "Mor'n that she sets by him." Marilly Sprowl had set her arms akimbo and faced Phcebe in an aggressive way which she felt to be quite un called for. "Ihe Lord made women folks weakminded, and I expect he knew what he was about. And she's had kind of a bard life, I ex pect, and not many folks to set by, and I shouldn't want to be them in the day of judg meet that set to beguilin' him, as men folks can be beguiled." Phoebe felt a kind of angry uncertainty as to what she could mean, while Marilly Sprowl talked to herself behind the pantry door, and Phosbe was sure that she heard her reflect unpleasantly upon the "light complected' woman she had known. Marilly Sprowl had talked to herself often. since that day. speaking her mind with unquah fied freedom. But who was Marilly Sprowl that one should care for what she said? Now it seemed the village gossips were busy with her name. Phoebe's cheeks burned fieroely as she ran through the rain. But no ill had been said of her. They had understood that what had happened was in the course of nature, and that no oue was to blame except cousin Elvira herself. After all. bad anything happened! Clarence Burbridge had never said a word to ber scarcely a word that cousin Elvira mieht not have heard. Phosbe went into tht sitting-room, behind the shop. Through the open door she could see that cousin Elvira was in the shop, and Clarence Burbridse was with her. He was holdiar skein of worsted while she wound it. Both their faces wero reflected in the sitting-room' looking-glass, and as Phoebe looked into it she had a habit of going to the mirror as soon as she was alone in a room her own appeared between tbem, and Bhe surveyed it critically, contrasting it with Elvira's. It was as finely cut as a cameo, and as daintily fair as the wild rose, and in the firelight it had a spirituelle grace. How coarse and uely Elvira's heavy features looked beside it. Even the redness of her cheeks and the blackness of her eves looked hard and repelling, and how the heavy furrow in the brow stood out, and the queer patch of white hair above the left temple. (With all her vanity, and Phosbe thought she had nuite a ridiculous amount, she would not dve that patch of white hair, because she wanted to look iust as the Lord and His providence had made her, without any shams.) One could almost see the1 crows'-f eet! And the years were settling down upon ber in far too ponderous flesh. Phoebe clasped her own slender waist, and almost lavished aloud. Bnt she suddenly checked the exultant vanity; it marred her face. "1 must never let anybody see me look like that," she said to herself. 'Phoebe, come here and try on Viola Herrick'a bonnet,' called Elvira. 'What made yon go out in the rain? There was no need," she said a little sharply, as Phoebe went in. "Marilly e rheumatism was bad, and it wouldn't hurt me. I'm neither suear nor salt." sai l the girl, with a little toss of her yellow head and a half glance towards Clarence Burbridee. Elvira poised the bonnet, a white and airy marvel, above Phoebe's yellow locks. "There! if that ain't a beauty and if you don't look jest like a bride!" she 6aid. "Viola Herrick's real kind of pretty, too, though she ain't got your complexion. I declare I hope she's got the money, for I've told them Herricks that not so much as a yard of ribbon should they have from me till they'd paid their bill. Poor and shiftless! Them girls had ought to ro to work, but land! they ain't got a mite of faculty." The shop door opened to admit a small girl in a very large waterproof, which trailed about her and seriously interfered with her locomotion. A face like an experienced doll appeared within the shadow of tne large hood. "Viola wauts her bonnet. She says she'll come and pay next week." said the small girl, and confronted Elvira's frown intrepidly. "Next week and next week! that's the way with tbem Herricks, and not a cent of their money have I ever laid eyes on," remarked El vira, regardless of the fixed stare of the small girl. "You go home and tell Viola she can have the bonnet jnst as I told her, when she pays the bill, and not before." The child turned reluctantly, her water proof, which was old and frayed, "swishing" forlornly behind her. At the door she turned, holding it half open: "I don' know what she'll say. I expect shell feel orfol bad, and be mad at me. Her beau's comin' to-morror." "Shut the door!" said Elvira, after hesitating a caotnont, apparently on account of some obstruction in the throat. The child shut it and stood irresolute. "Shut it behind you!" said Elvira sharply. The child obeyed, this time displaying a vigor that caused the windows to rattle. A moment later, sad to relate, the inexperienced doll face, with extended tongue, appeared against the window pane. "Anything I do hate it's shiftless folks! Somebody's got to drudge and slave for 'em, but I ain't goin' to be the one," said Elvira "I wouldn't have trusted them in the first place if I had been you," said Clarence Burbridge. "I would rather wear my old hood than a boncet I couldn't pay for," said Phoebe virtuously. Elvira proceeded to lock the door and pall down the shades. "Nobody will be comin' such a nieht," she said. "We'll go into the set tin '-room," After a few minutes of bustling about, attending to the fire, which did not apparently require it, and bringing out of the closet one piece of work after another, Elvira slipped back into the shop and closed the door behind her. She found Viola Herrick'a bonnet in the dark, slipped it into a box. threw a cloak hastily over her. and went softly out with the box hidden under ber cloak. "You're a fool, Eiviry Perkins; yon always was, and I expect you alwavs will be. "fai the Lord that-hardened Pharaob'a heart, 'cord in' to Scripter, but He ain't hslpin yon harden yours, not a mite!" she said to herself, as she made her way throoeh the muddy streets to the dwelling of the shiftless" Herricks. When she returned sne entered the house as softly as she hd left it. The door between the shop atd the sitting-room was ajar, and she heaid ber nm. "&b helped me rrben everything was against

me, Clarence was saying, "and I let her think

my gratitude was another feeling. I wasn't sure that it wasn't. I hadn t met yon, then. I never meant to tell you. I swore to myself that I would not. but, by heaven! your eyes dazzled it out of me! But I will be true to her; she shall never know that she isn't the apple of my eve! bhe is a good woman, if she is a little hard, and 1 will die before I will bring disap pointment and humiliation upon ner: liidicalousJ No. it isn't ridiculous! Many a man has married a woman farther apart from him in age. and lived happily with her all his life as I mieht have done had you not come! ' You taik as if I were to blame," said Phoebe, piteously. 'Not to blame, my darling! no, no!" Elvira could hear him walking, with long strides, un and down the room; she had a bruised feeling as if each step crushed her. "Of course vou musn't desert her. but O There was a strangling sob in Phoebe's throat, and of course a young man, no matter how strong were his vows, could do no less than try to soothe her. Elvira went softly hut heavily up stairs to her room. "It's jest the way it always was! No body ever eared anything about you but jest for what you could do lor em! one saia 'twas riaicfcerlous. I expect it was! It never seemed to bo anything but ridickerlous for me to love any body." She bad dropped into a chair in the dark room, and she pressed her hands over her ears, as if to shut out all sounds. "I declare my head's a whirlin so I can't seem to think. I shouldn't think I'd suffer so! I should think I would have got used to findin' out I wa'n't of any account to folks! Saems as if the Lord hadn't ought to have made a woman that nobody could ever care anything about. I knew I was too old for him, but he declared so feeling that I wa'n't, that I was the only woman in the world for him, and 1 declare, Elvtry Perkins, you fool, if you didn't think heaven had come right down, and you was goin' to be like other folks! How hard I was trvin' to get young! I was even thinkm' of colorin' that white lock. though it did go agin me so to do it! If she hadn't come! He said so, and I know it! And I had so much faith in him that I didn't so' much as think of it I've seen it lately. I aint blind But 1 wouidn t own it to my self, much less listen to Maruly s bintmg. But it maa-i me feel numb to set him look at ber wbc iihe tried on that white bonnet. If she hadn't come be might have lived happy with me all his life! I believe that's true. I could have done for him as she can't and wouldn't. I've got money, mo re'n what he knows of. I've been jest as tickled as a child thickin' bow 'twould surprise him; he thinks a sight of it and he hasn't any faculty to get it, and when he's so poor that be hasn't bread to eat, how much will he think of her youngness and trettiness? It will bo gone, to: it aint stuff to stand poverty. and then there won't be anything but vanity and selfishness to fall back . upon. If she hadn't come! Well, she shall go back again! Strange vou didn't think of that at first, Eiviry Perkins, hard as vou be. He said he wouldn't desert me. and he shan't! I'll hold him to his word! Hell live to thank me for it. And as for her well, she's got the kind of heart that'll stand a sight of breakin' and cementin'!" She arose, now. and paced the room with de termined steps. "1 won't let 'em know hut what I'm blind and deaf, but I'll make an excuse to send her home! You've been trod on jest about enough, Eiviry Perkins; now you're a goin to stand up for your rights'." The door-bell rang out an imperative peaL A moment or two afterward Juanlly came in search of Elvira, who had hastily lighted a lamp and assumed an everyday demeanor. "Its a sandy complected man, favors your cousin Enoch, but I declare my eye-sight is so poor!" remarked Marilly. It was in the privacy of the kitchen that she finished her sentence. "But I aint stun blind, and it she nadn't been a cryin' her eves out I never see nobody that had! Well. I see the way the cat jumped long ago. I see bow 'twas a-goin' to jump before ever that presky little cretur begun to look sideways at him. And it aint for want of my speakin my mind! Weil, if the Lord has got patience with fools, you had ought to have, Marilly Sorowl!' Elvira was plying a feather duster vigorously over her show cases the next morning, when Phoebe enterd the shop. "Magioire has come back," she said, with her back turned to. Phoeb. "Come back!" echoed Phoebe, with a startling, confused vision of ghosts, church-yards, and spiritual manifestations. "I ain't never said he was dead, have I?" said Elvira, sharply. "I expected he was, of course. I've got to go away from here. Seems to agree with his health better to live in New York. Be sides, I hate folks's talkin. I'm goin' to leave the shop to you. I'll let it to you reasonable, and you can pay for the stock on installments. and 1 expect you'll do well. If jou don't it'll be your own fault. Its a first-rate business, a sight better'n what I expected when I come and ex pected consid able, liie Jbrench name Cone a good deal of it, and now they 've got t&on?4a' ftom all the towns round tbey 11 keep comi' if you do well by 'em. Gossip about the change will bring a crowd la the fcrst place, and ir you have got a faculty it s for trimmin . You d tet ter get married ' hJvira turned ana faced Phosbe for the first time, and fhcehes eyes dropped "to somebody thatll Know now to keep the books and run the business." "1 I Abram wouldn't know how " stam mered Phoebe. "Mebbe you can find somebody nigher home that will," Elvira said. "Abram would feel dreadfully if I should mitrrv anybody else," said Phoebe, declining to meet Elvira's gaze. "Well, somebody s got to reel baa. ceems to be a part of the scheme of thing?. But some times them that cries first is the ones that laughs last. Mebbe Abram will live to laugh." said Elvira, drily. i'heebe was meditating too deeply .to observe any sarcasm. "1 have beard you say that he that Clarence badn't much faculty. I'm afraid we should be poor," she said. "Abarin is amart if he had a chance." "Land!" cried Elvira, and pressed her hand to her heart with a groan. "To 'a' done it for nothing! But you aint jest found out. Elvira Perkins, that doils are stuffed with sawdust!" "Are you talking to me" said 1'boebe, wonderingly, and with a little suspecting dignity. 1 was Kind or talkin' to myseir, like ;uarillv. You needn't be afraid but what you'll make out with the business; that's what I was goin' to sav. You're one that understands arithmetic, if you couldn't learn it to young ones! And I shan't be . bard on you if you don t pay prompt. I don t want anything said to Clarence about Maglore's comin' back till after 1 m gone. I ve tot to work hard settlin' up things to-day, and to morrow I'm a-goin "It's it's very sudden," faltered Pboebe. "When their husband's health is dependin folks has to step 'round. Besides, it's kind of embarrassin'. Some folks will think I've been deceivm', and it'll be just as well to make 'em a present of my back before they set to gossipin'." Phoebe felt dazed by this sudden change. Now that all obstacles were removed she was not ouite sure that she wished to marry Clarence Burbridge. She remembered Marilly's proph ecies, which she had deeply resented, that he would "never set the river afire." and a vision recurred to her, which had often solaced de spondent moments, of Abram drawing a great crowd in a fashionable city church, and herself sweeping od the aisle, the observed of all. in a sealskin sacque and a hat with a long feather. (l&e dress bad varied somewhat, with varying fashion, but the vision -had never ceased to be exhilarating.) Clarence would, however, be a husband who could be kept under one's thumb, a marked ad vantage over Abram, and the shop, although only a milliner a snop, did bold out a golden promise. It was evident that Elvira was offering a very good bargain, and Phoebe's mind was at all times open to tne advantages of a good bargain. "You d better get married right away." was Elvira's parting advice to Phoebe. "You're too young to have him here back'ard and for'ard all the time, without makin' talk. Yoa can leave Madame Maglore on the sign, it looks consid erable well, unless you feai to put up MU' Clarence Burbridge," she added, with a grim smile, which would not have been suspected of hiding a pang. Maglory! Well if I ever did! ' was Marilly's comment. "And I took him for ber cousin Enoch Gregg, from up Fryeburgh way, that can't get along, and is alwaya havin' his children took down with something. Ho wan't an Irishman anyhow. I can eet down on Carline Blodgett, and I shouldn't a look him for a Frenchman. He couldn't a looked more like a Yan kee if he'd swallowed Bunker Hill monument-" Ten years after Silas Leach was the purveyor of news to New Hebron, although his coigne of vantage was now the coziest side of the poorhouse hearth, a chance which bad cost him no jot of social prestige. "Seems kind of nat rai, don t it, to see her that was Eiviry Perkins back in her shop, now, don't it!" said Silas, tba center of a little company that ate apples, and popped corn, and dis cussed with equal vim the po'itical affairs of the country and the social affairs of the village. "It ain't so run down but what she'll fetch it up, that shop ain't. And I goess she aia't losin' no sleep because the Widder Burbridge has preferred marrym' rich old Cap'n Johnson with bis five children to bin' a milliner. But there's oue pint trbere .Laviry don t appear to me to be so smart as she's always had the name of bein'. and that's in keepin' that young one. Hug a Burbridce, when all's said, and hH be dretfol apt to turn out shiftless and diosioated, like his father But women folks is apt to have a weak streak, the smartest of 'em, and taey saythatyonng one sets an amazia' sight by her. He wouldn't have nothin' ta say to hi mother, side of Eiviry, and she eouldn't skurcely have got him to go away with ber if she'd want

eito. He may live to he a thorn in her side, hut I declare if she ain't about the hanpiest and satisfied est lookin woman, now, with him clingia' to her sKirts. The hardest of women wnl sometimes set their life by a child, even one of other folks's. Well, she's smart, Eiviry is, if she has got a of t spot, and the smartest thing she ever done, to my mind, was when she cleared out and left Phoebe Shedd to marry Clarence Burbridge. Maglory? O land, now! I hadn't ought to telh I give my promise that I wouldn't to my eouain Marilly Sprowl; she's seen 'em through it all but seein' it's jest amongst ourselves, and ain't agoing no further Marilly says 'twant but a few days after Eiviry come back the little widder was askin' whether she was goin' to put up the old sign with Mayglory on it, and Eiviry, first she laughed a little and then she cried a little, and then she said 'Little Clarence wa'n't agoin to be brought under the shadder of no shame. " 'And,' says she, "It served its purpose bringin' me custom when I was afightio' for a foothold,'savs she. 'and now I can do without it.' "And your husband, Mr. Maglory?" savs the little widder. Eiviry she put her Lands right up before her face as if she was terribly ashamed, and says she: "There wa'n't never any such a person! The man I went off with, says she, 'wa'n't nobody but my cousin, Enoch Gregg, from up Fryeburgh way, that had his children down with tne measles and wanted me to nurse 'em! Phoebe,' says she, aholdin' out ber hands as if she was askin' forgiveness. But the little widder she jist turned round and went out of the room without a word. She couldn't be expected to feel obliged

to her for leavin' her to marry sich a good-for-notbm' as Clarence Burbridge! bhe was keepin' comp'ny then, too, with the travelin' ex hauster. Abram Giles, that's a turnin' so many to righteousness; they do say he's come courtin' her sence she was a widder, hut an exhauster don't seem to be jist in her linef anyhow, she wouldn't have him. She had so much of poverty along of Ciarenee Burbridge folks do say tbey wouldn't a' bad victuals to eat if it hadn't been for Eiviry that 't was kind of nat'ral she should take to Can'n Johnson's money. It did seem too bad of Eiviry to get herself out of a scrape by gettin' that little cretur into it (That am t the way Marilly looks at it, but women folks is apt to be oncommon down on a ham some complected woman; I've alwavs noticed that.) Kind of too bad, but Eiviry always bad the name or. bein hard-hearted. Written for the Sunday Journal. March. O fickle March! O month of moods Inconstant as the fateful broods Of life's new-fledged vicissitudes, Rude thy caress is, ruder still The kiss that seals the icy chill Of death on rivulet and rilL Deeeitfal March! Thy daffodils Were born too-soort; their golden bells Are hanging full of icicles, And hyacinths their perfume spread ''er tempting maple blossoms red Where cling the wild bees frozen dead. Blow! Blow, ye winds! Blow keen and cold. Blow fierce and wild, blow strong and bold; Blowoff the vapors from the mold; Sweep clean with equinoctial gale The mists that hide the intervale Where faith grows faint and doubts assail. Rend into fringe the bellowing shrouds' That drive the wrinkled, writhing clouds Across the sun in reeling crowds . And through the rents waft hitherwards On azure wings the warbling birds. Those songs are sweetest without words. Blue fragments of the sapphire skies. They bring celestial symphonies From deeps where sunshine never dies. Sweet prophets of the peaes untold, That waits for us when clouds unfold Our summer time of green and gold. Kdwin 8. Hopkins: "My Honse Is Ift Unto Mm Desolate." A little while, you tell me, but a little while, And 1 shall be where my beloved are: And with your eyes all large with faith, you say, rPVi r 4aa, jvtxa hi,. .1 f inn.nAvnd fa ' "Not very far." I say it o'er and o'er. Till on mine ear mine own voice strangely falls. Like some mechanic utterance that repeats A meaningless refrain to empty walls. "Not very far;" but measured by my grief. A distance measureless as my despair. When, from the dreams that give them back to me, 1 wake to hnd that they have journeyed there. "Not very far." Ah me! the spirit has Had its conjectures since the first man slept: But, ob, the heart, it knoweth its own loss. And death is.death, as twas when Rachel wept! Chambers's Journal, An Old Song. Shall I, wasting in despair, . Die, because a woman s fair? Or make pale my cheeks with care, . 'Cause another's rosy are? Be she fairer than the day. Or the flowery meads of May, If she be not fair for me, What care 1 how fair she be? Great, or good, or kind, or fair, I will ne'er the more despair, If she love me, this believe, I will die ere she shall grieve! ' If she slight me, when I woo, I can scorn and let her go; For if she be not for me. What care I for whom she be? George Wither 1646: The Question. pake the youth Adam, to the maiden Eve; 'Dost love me? Answer! answer, or I die!" "Not so! she said, with msticct to deceive: Then downward glanced, and blushed from To to Ave. "Dost love me, love me?" And denial failed. With love s first kiss "Be sure I love thee ay. Hot sure was he; with sharper doubt he wailed, "Dost love me, love me! Till, upon a day. Suspectine him by vaster thoughts beguiled. Quoth she, more softlv than the widowed bird. 'Dost love me, Adam?" And his quick ears heard; Vith hale a sigh, and halt a yawn, be smiled, one convinced; and thenceforth, o er and o er. Answered the question which he asked no more. William Young, in March Century. Mizpah. The Lord watch between me and thee When we are absent, one fiom another, Tho' long miles away thou iraysl be. And a hard fate each from the other Divides forever; yet still must my prayer E'en be tbe same in hope or despair; In days of sweet peace, in suffering's breath. In storm or in calm, in life or in death. In right or in wrong, in good or in ill, Even the same, the same prayer still The Lord watch between me and thee; Thee love, and no other. This might of tbe land, this power of the sea, Where'er thou mayst be. While we are absent from one another. London Saturday Review. To a Veteran. O Patriot! would that your last hour had come. When, with your war-stained flag, to roll of dram You marched, 'mid men's applause, From hghtmg the great cause Of land and liberty. Now you are stranded like some gallant bark, Flung helpless on the shoals, amid the dark Or dull and starless skies. Bravely and well you faced the tempest's strife. But to lie sunk ceath sands of common life. Your pride scorns pity, yet how hard the fate To live through ail only to die too late! A. S. li. Gray, iu March Century. Qaeer Notions Concerning America. Frank R. Ltockton, in Slarch St. Nicholas. An English ladv who had traveled over the greater part of Europe said she had a great desire to come to America, and her principal object in doing so was to shoot Niagara. I rather opened my eyes at this, and said that I thought'sbe must refer to the celebrated trip down the rapids of the St. Lawrence, but she was very positive on tbe subject, and said she meant Niagara, and nothing else; she had understood that tbey did it in a steamboat, and she knew she should enjoy the sensation. A well-educated middle-aged gentleman told pie that the reason our civil war lasted so long was that we bad no military men in onr country, and that a war carried on entirely by civilians cpnld not proeeed very rapidly. If any of yoa have ever seen an English atlas you wilt understand why it is difficult to get from it a good idea of America. We shall find, in such an atlas, full and complete maps of every European country and principality, a whole page being sometimes given to an island, or to a colony in Asia and Africa; bnt the entire United Status, with sometimes the whole of North America besides, is crowded into a single map. Some of these are so small that the New England States are not large enough to contain their names, and are designated by letters which refer to tbe name printed in an open part of the Atlantis Ocean. No wonder that the people who use these maps have a limited idea of our country. But it is not only Lnglish people who appear to know very little about America. A German countess once asked me if we had any theaters in New York, and when I told ber that there were not only a great many theaters in that city, but that it possessed two grand operahouses at wnicn. at mat time, two 01 tne leading prima donnas of tbe world were singing on the same nights, she was a little surprised. It is quite common ia various parts of the continent to hear people speak of the late war be tween North and outh America, 'loey knew that the war was between the North and the South, and as it was in America, the mistake is natural enough to people who have studied only European geography.

LEADING FOE TUB SABBATH.

Sunday-School Lrnsoti for Marcn 11, 1888 Christ Entesing Jerusalem. Matt, xxi, 1-16. Crolden Text Blessed be he that eonaeth in tbe name ox xne iXM-o. rsalm exviii, 26. Monday Matt. it. 17-'J9. Christ's last journey Tuesday ..... .Xsa. liii, 1-12. Suffering foretold V ednesday. .Heo n 0-18. Perfect through suffering Thursday Zech. ix, 9-17. His coming foreto.d r,Jav Dan. ix, 20-2t5 Coming of Messiali Saturay Psa. . 1-12. The King on Zion Sunday 2 Cor. vi, 1-10. The ministers of God The time has come for a clear, distine; announcement of His kingly authority. Politically speaking, it was an nnfortunate time to declare it, for His enemies could, and did, use it in a political way for His own death. But the prophecies were to be fulfilled, and ne was to assume royal authority and be recognized by the people as "tbe King of Israel." This entrance allowing himself to he hailed as a king, gave the priests a plausible ground for f ranting a capital charge against Him that would challenge the attention of the Roman government. What seem the blunders of history and providence have behind them wisdom and porposo. Two of the disciples go to Bstbphage, and there, as Christ had instructed them, they find an ass and a colt, which they bring to Him. Seated upon the colt. He enters the Holy City in triumph. Tbe people gave Him welcome as the "Son or uavid. tie passes into tne temple, and with authority He drives oat the buyers and sellers from this honse of prayer. The blind and lame, and even the children, render Him honor, as the prophets had foreseen and foretold. HELPS AND HINTS. Some test questions 1. Make a little map giving tbe situation of Jerusalem, Bethany and tbe Mount of Olives. 2. Why did He select the foal of an ass? 3. Wbat is meant by tbe Lord bath need of himf 4. Why did they use their clothes on the ass and "in the way?" 5. What two multitudes are referred to in verse 9? 6. Why was the city so deeply moved? 7. In wbat part of the temple wrre the money-changers found? 8. What had these various kinds of business to do with the temple worebip? 9. How can children pefect praise? Subjects for lesson talks. 1. "Sent" by Jesus to carry His message and do His work. 2. "The Lord hath need of them." 3. "Zion, thy King cometh." 4. They did "as Jesus commanded a perfect obedience 5. "Hosanna to the Son of David." 6. "Who is this?" Our answer. 7. "My house." & "The house of prayer." 9. The praises of the children. SPECIAL APPLICATION. Th special manifestations of the Lord Jesus reveal to us our worldliness, our broken vows, our sins, and are followed by tbe cleansing and purifying of our hearts and lives. His coming brings out the praises and worship of tbe children, and shows how ready they are when encouraged to be his followers. Religious Notes. Mrs. James A. Garfield is president of the Cleveland McAll mission. Emerson: Every thought which piety throws into the world alters the world. There are 3,064 dialects and languages spoken in the world, and more than 1,000 different religions. Hon. R. B. Hayes has given $6,000 toward the rebuilding of the Methodist Church, at Fremont, Ohio. The Salvation Army, entering India five year ago, has now 120 English and eighty native missionaries. Dr. Thuemmel, of Berlin, has been sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment for insulting the Catholic mass. Carlyle: Religion cannot pass away. The burning of a little straw may hide the stars of the sky; but the stars are there, and will reappear. H. Mullen Faith, thoogh weak. Is still faith, a glimmering taper is not a torch; but the taper may give light as true as tbe torch, though not so bright. The first stone of the monument erected to the memory of John Williams, who was killed in the South Sea islands, was Jaid by tbe son of tbe man who slew him. Robertson: Truth lies in character. Christ did not simply speak truth; He was truth, truth through and through; for truth is a thing not of words, but of life and being. Tbe first Jew elected on the London school board is Claude Montefiore, who is distantly related to the 'late Sir Moses Montefiore. Like his Connection, he is rich and philanthropic. Daniel Webster: Mr heart has alwavs as sured and reassured me that the gospel of Jesus t. nrist must tie divine reality. The sermon on the Mount can not bo merely a human produc tion. I'incus Minkowsky, from the svnaeoeue at Odessa, Russia, has been imported by the mem bers of the Eidridgfl-street Srnagogue. Ne w l ork, at a salary of $3,500 a year. He is said to be the best rabbinical singer in the world. Dr. A. Judson: I never was deeply inter ested in any subject, I never prayed sincerely for anything, hut it came. At some time, no matter at how distant a day, somehow. In some shape probably the last I should devise ic came. The Congregational Church, which has had an existence in this country since 1620, now numbers 4.277 churches, 4. 0'JO ministers and 436,379 communicants. The net gain during the past four yerrs has been 341 churches, 367 min isters, 4S.760 communicants. Th racged Sunday-schools in London have 40,000 scholars and 4,000 teachers. Its president was tbe late and honored Lord Shaftesbnrv. His son succeeds bim in the work. The income of the society, consisting wholly of voluntary contributions, amounts to $80,000 per annum. Central , Baptist: It seems strange to us that the only men who find serious difhculties in the doctrine of prayer are the very men who do not pray and whenever did pray. The Bible Is not troubled with any questions about how God is going to get answers to prayer into the uniformity of nature. it talks about praying as it does about planting and reaping. Dr. Elmslie. the Ameriaan missionary, who has been stationed for some time among the Zulus, west of Lake Nvassa. has sent home the first book printed in Nbungoni language. The book was issued from the pres of a neighboring mission-station, called Blantyre. It contains tbe Decalogue, passages from tbe Psalms. Proverbs and the Gospels, with fourteen hvmna. Much is expected from the book, as the Nbun goni language is intelligible to a large number of the tribes. The following advertisement of a grocery firm in Kirksville, Mo., which is floating around, is the best short illustration of "the wastes of intemperance," and lets the clearest light on the 'anti-poverty" problem: "Any man who drinks two drams of whisky per day for a year, and pays 10 cents a drink for it, can have at onr Store SO sacks of flour ?Ofl nnnnria nf mnn. Iate3 sugar, and 72 pounds of good green coffee for the same money, and get $2 50 premium for making the change in his expenditures." Stratford-on-Avon parish church is to be com miserated. The vicar despairs of collecting the 7.000 required for its restoration as a memorial of Sbakspeare. He has written to members of tbe peerage, but only one the Duke of West minster sent a donation. He has also applied to the managers of the London theaters, and Mr. Harris, of Drury-lane alone responded. The churcli and stage guilds were next tried, but with similar unsucces. Lastly, it has been decided to ask the assistance of the church exten sion society. Dr. Arnold's daily prayer was as follows: "O Lord, I have a busy world around me; eye, ear, and thought will be needed for all my work to be done in this busy world. Now, ere I enter on it. I would commit eye and ear and thought to Thee. Do Thou bless them, and keep their work Thine, that as through Thy natural laws my heart beats, and my blood flows without any thought of mine, so my spiritual life may hold on its course at these times when my mind can not consciously turn to Thee to commit each particular thought to Thy service. Hear mv prayer for my dear Redeemer's sake. Amen. Christian at Work: When Peter of Cortona was engaged on a picture for the royal palace of Petti. Ferdinand II particularlv admired the representation of the weeping child. "Has your Majesty," said the painter, "a mind to see bow easy it is to make this very child laugh?" The artist merely depressed the corners of the lip and the inner extremities of the eyebrows, when the little urchin seemed in danger of bursting ms sides with laughter, who. a moment before, seemed breaking his heart with weeping. Lives worth living belong to the soul artists, whose untiring, consecrated hands are always wielding their brushes in changing tears to smiles, ana sorrow into joy, brightening dark pictures and retouching dim and faded ones in His name. Dr. Munhall. who is now laboring in Buffalo, N. Y., took a torn about the city on Sunday morning bMore service, and found saloons open on all hands, and went into several himself. He finally accosted a policeman, and tried to prevail upon bim to go and close up the saloons on his beat. The Doctor told him he need not go into a saloon himself. "Jusst go with me," said the Doctor, Vand see me go in." The policeman ould not budge an incn," but exeused himself with the philosophical remark that "some evils are neeessary."- Such is the government of some cities, and in our boasted Christian country. We hire men at publio expense to look

after the enforcement of law, and tbe ma charted with this solemn trust betray it, and allow law to be broken before their eyes. Dr. John Hall is quoted as saying: "One who is healthy does not wish to dine at a dMS'i-ui.g table. There is evil enough in man. God kn. -! But it is cot the mission of every younc it.m and woman to retail and report it a!l. Keep the atmosphere as pure as possible, and fr-ier.mt with gentleness and charity." That is a wise remark. There are family boards where a coaSlant process of depreciating, assigning motives, and cutting cp character goes on. Let our homes be centers of frank kindness where whatsoever is lovely and true and of good report is considered, and leave character direction to others. Words of the Wise. J. T. Holland: The gentleman is solid mahe Cany; the fashionable man is only veneer. Colson: It is far more easy to acquire a fortune like a knave than to expend it like a gentleman. Benjamin Franklin: Of all onr infirmities, vanity is the dearest to us. A man will starve his other vices to keep that alive. Wendell Phillips: Easy men dream that we live tinder "a government of law. Absur!:'take! We live under a government of mm.rl newspapers. Your first attempt to stem .. inant and keenly -cherished opinions wil. rc .1 this to you. Daniel Webster: Let onr object be our e try, our whole country and nothing but :?r country. And. by the blessing of God, nmr that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of. peace and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration forever. Greville: nardlyaroan, whatever his circumstances and situation, but if you get his confidence will tell you that he is not happy. It is, however, certam that all men are not unhappy in the same degree. Is not this to be accounted for by supposing that all men measure the limited happiness they possess by the happiness they desire or think they deserve?

UUMOFw OF THE DAT. j Nothing Remarkable. Jvew York Sun. Kentucky School Teacher (to infant class) Yes, dear children, the camel can go seven days without water. Class (in chorus) Is that all! , A Correct Diagnosis. Puclc. "There Is something about you, Mr. Secondshelf, which tells me that you must have had a heart-history!" and she gazed upon him with intense, soulful eyes. "No, m'm," he said: "I ain't just right there, but it's only cigarettes." Revenge, New York Life. Mary George, if I die, promise me one thing. George What is it, Mary? Mary That you will marry Emma Wilkinsl George Why, 1 thought you hated her, Mary? ' Mary I do, George, I want you to get even with her. Bit His Foot, did young Jones happen to get) Puck. Joe How shot? K M V M AAA he held a penny between his fingers for one of these Western fellows tar shoot at Joe And he got his hand shot off? Eli No; he got hit in the left foot. Bad for the Uaby. Harper's Weekly. Milkman (to assistant) Jim. Mrs. Kendricks complains that the milk you left this morning didn't agree with her baby. Are you certain the milk you leave there is all from one cow? Assistant les, sir. hut this mornin' the well rope broke, and I had to use cistern water. Milkman Well, by thunder, that babv mueb have a sensitive stomach. A Rude Awakening. New York Sun. She had been rhapsodizing about Browning for nearly an hour to young Mr. Waldo, and as she sat there in the flickering firelight, shading her eyes with one shapely hand, he thought he had never seen a fairer picture. She was about to go on, when her little brother opened tbe door. "Penelope," he said, "can t I have some ef them cold beans you put away to eat after Mr. Waldo goes home. A Sensible Old Alan. New York Sun. "I have long loved your daughter, sir.1 ha said, "and I would fain make her my wife." "You would what, make her your wife?" demanded the old man, who has knots on his bead. "I would fain make her my wife, sir." "Well, I would fain say thee nay," with hitter sarcasm. "A young man who uses Bucb. Ian-; guage as you do would have to stand his landlord off for the second month's rent." The Value of n Reputation. New York Sun. "George, dear," said Martha you have heard of the family "what makes you so late tonight?'' "Well, to tell the (hie) honea' truth, m'dear, I've been at the office balancing my books." "I fancied as much and I knew you would ba tired, so 1 have a large goblet of cherry bounce for you. I'll fetch it" George winked as he slowly drew off his boots. "So much for a reputation for veracity," ha whispered to himself. The Evil of Procrastination. New York Sun. He had invited her around the corner for soma oysters, to which, the young lady did full justice, and on the way Pack to tbe house he laid bars the pitiable condition of bis heart. "I am very sorry, Mr. Sampson," she said, "but I am already engaged." He bowed bis head. "I regret that you are so deeply moved," the girl said, gently. "Ah, yes," be responded, and his voice betrayed genuine grief. "I should have known of all this earlier in tbe evening." A Pitiable Case. Puck. Brown There's a family down our way who are so poor they can't send, more than one ot. their children to school at a time. They havn't clothes enough to go 'round. Jones Talk about poor people; you ought to see the folks who lived in my barn last summer. If it badn't been for my wife thev wouldn't havs had a single square meal from June to September. Robinson You fellows don't know what real grinding, hitter poverty is. There's a family down our way that just make my heart bleed. Why, they're so poor they keep seventeen dogs, and Brown and Jonas That settles it. HOW TO BECOME ACCOMPLISHED. It Is by Using Every Spare Moment of the Day In Some Branch of Study. New York Blail and Express. "I can't do it. I haven't time enough." "Yes, you have." "I don't see how you make that out." replied the first speaker, who was discussing with a friend the advisability of taking up a certain course of scientifie reading. "I work at my desk in the office from 9 o'clock to 6 every day except Sunday, and I must take recreation in tbe eveiing." "I'll prove to you that you can. You get un at C o'clock, say, have breakfast at 7 and finish at 7:30. Tnat gives you an hour to study before going to work. You have an hour for your luncheon, and then you manage to spend another hour every afternoon over your pipe and newspaper, don't you?" "18. "With less time that that Garfield became a classical scholar. Gladstone b-came one of the most widely read men in the world, Disraeli made himself a famous author, and Ed win Arnold wrote bis 'Light of Asia." "Yes, but they were men of genius." "True; the genius of hard work. I will cits another case of which I have personal knowledge. Some years ago I knew a bright young man named Leslie Sulgrove. He was a postoffice clerk in Indianapolis, Ind. He was one of the most accomplished men I ever saw. He devoted his three hours of leisure every day to various pursuits. He divided them with unvarying method. This is what he did in five years: lie had read and committed to memory ail of Shakipeare's plays. He could read Latin, Greek and French fluently. He was an expert flute player. Me was one of the best natural historians I ever knew. In addition to this he was profteiut in every line of fencing and markmanthip. and although he did not weigh more than 130 ponn N he coul i strike a nioety-pound blow with hu fist He simply in turu devoted half an hour day to each subject. He kept this up uoremi:tingly for five years and finally attained euch a degree of proficienev In each that he might almost have been called a master. The secret of his socceas w&b bard wortc. Me wasted no time. It is true that he might have devoted his time to more profitable studies, and had he done so h might have made a great name for himself. I only instance his case to show you that you and 1 almost every man of your acquaintance wastes enough time every day to make him great, bad he devoted it to its proper nsea"