Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 28, Number 3, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 January 1880 — Page 9

1 HE INDIANA STATE SENTINEL WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21188Q-SUPPLEMENT.

A DREAM OF LO.NÜ AGO.

BY AMANDA M. BRIOGS. Soft sleps the earth In Night'e mibrace. The riTr raariueni low. While softly Fancy's floors trare Tbo K-tnri of long apo; Somehow, in etillj nights like this. That parting in the lane Comes bai t in all its drrarj blis And all it bitter pain. llow well I can recall the scene. The haunting picture fair, The flitting shaile, the silvery sheen, Athwart Nell' golden hairt J nut how the lazy river swept Down past the mined mill, And how the moonbeams softly slpt Upon the die ant hl IL The starlit fields, the dewy grass, The meadow lark's sweet song; The purple hills, the narrow pa. The rirer windiug long; The ring-dove calliDg to his mate, Adown the dnsky lane; The cooing notes with ssdoess freight The nigbt-birds low refrain. I could not speak the word "Farewell." Ohl Why he t we to part? Ard in that swetest starlit dell, To sever hesrt from heart. We vowed beside the solemn stream Oar love should never die, Though sun and moon should ceaae to beam, And earth forsaken Iii. Bat when the years crept on apace, And I, too tired to roam. Came wandering to the dear old placeBack to the dear old home. Why did they sadly lead me to The City of the Dead? Whnee grave was this where daisies grew. Whose name was it I read? Ah, well! the suiiny locks so fair, Time can not silver now. Nor leave such marks of withering care As shadow my worn brow. And all the years have left to me Is a tress of golden hair. A darkened life, a memory, A ud a hope of heaven so tair. THE MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE. The G:20 evening train, No. whs over an hour late that night. Causeenough, Heaven knows. For 12 hours the storm had raged, and now, instead of showing any signs of breaking the rain came down in torrents from an inky sky, and the thunder rumbled ominioiisly overhead. A bad storm to drive an engine through, a anybody would have known, and the wonder is that No. 3.1 was not three hours late, instead of one. Old Luke Granger, the trustiest, nerviest engineer on the road, rounded the curve just below Id Ravine Station at 2t minutes past 7. 1 breathed a sigh of relief when I saw tho headlight cut a' hole in the darkness. Tho second station-bridge might have given way in a storm like that, and 1 was beginning to get nervous over this thought. Somehow everything made me nervous that night. It was just the kind of weather when things look all out of gear, any way, Then, I suppose, the knowledge of that money-package being due and its failing to come on the 11:30, as it should have done, had ita effect on me. I didn't relish the idea of keeping $13,000 in cash until the next day. Eldridge & Kicketson had been down themselves to meet the morning train, and, if the package had ccir.e, I could have turned it over-to them at once, and that would have been the end of the matter. But it didn't coma. That's a way things "i fV-''-Li when you most want 'em. ) soul at the station that rt"?Iivself. and there were only two passengers who got off the train. I speak of them that way, not meaning tobe disre,pector make light of solemn things; only it's a habit, I suppose; for most people would say there was only one passenger that got off at Ked Ravine, Beeing that the second of 'cm was carried out of the express car in a wooden box. Usually, when a body was coming on, I got word of it beforehand, but this one took me quite by surprise, and added not a little to the nervousness I already felt. "Who was it?" I asked, as the box was carried into the station. The passenger who had got off the train, and who was a stranger to me, answered my nquiry: "The body is that of my sister-in-law," said he. "She was the niece of Thomas Eldridge -doubtless you know him. Her death was very sudden. She is to be buried in Mr. Eldridge'a lut, here." Then I suppose the body is to be left in my charge until to-morrow?'' said I. A 13, TT v.. V. . w . . - . - . . " suppose 1 can get to Mr. Eldridge's myself to-night f "Well," I replied, it's a good four miles, anil in anrh a. storm as this ' "I'll wait until to-morrow," interupted the stranger. "There is some sort oi a notei nere, van't there?" "Yea. a e-ood one. You'll have to foot it. though; but it's only a matter of a quarter of mile, and you can't miss your way, for the Tod un the hill leads straight to the r - fcoiisu TT uro 1 mad a mv v&v out onto the Dlatform Again and made my way to the express-car. Where the money-package, which all along I had secretly hoped wouldn't come, was delivered to me by the messenger. As he gave it t me. be said: "Ymi want to kcer a sharo eve on that. Billy. There's enough in it to make one of your lied Kaviners put a Dunei mrougn your head and never give you the chance to object. ' "111 look out far the Red Raviners, and Va na1rava tw. ' nid T. con fiden tl v enouch fjawncv, ww, T j n But, if the truth had been told, I didn't like tha supcrestion which the messenger had CT O TnalftThe train moved off quietly, and I swung mw lantern. as was in V habit, bv way of bidding pood-night to old Luke Granger, Then I went into the little station-hor.se - . 1 . 1 1 1 . . ..V 1 ; ..1, 1 1 . WHO me pacai;e iiuw.uru nun uimci mjr rubber-coat, expecting to find the man there wnn bad come on with the body. But he had gone, being anxious, no doubt, to get to th WaI as nuick as possible. No. 39 was the last train which stopped at Red Ravine . 4.V . 1 until 6:10 the next morning. zk my wors for the night was done, aud I had only to lock up the doors, see that things were all ;. w.u. the nlace. and sit down to mv newspaper in the little room which served as my sleeping-quarters. Twenty years had passed since I first found myselrtnstalled at Rod Ravine as telegraph operator in tuu twm; -.tH thn humdrum sort of life, and faith ful to my duties, I had come bv degrees to attend to nil the work which, the place ms, .;w1 That is. I was the ticket agent, the ' j . i." baggage-masier aim rcjn.-r ha stAtion. besides acting for of uw . the -.a vmr.an v ana ron ii uui ii ir mv char of the telegraph key. These combined labors made it pretty close wor lur me, out, they all Tielded a very comiorwiDi luwme; mA T aa troubled with no unsatisflod ntAd mvself well fixed. As I have Intimated, I lept m the station, part-

y to keep guard on the company's property,

nI partly trom choice; for, being a bachelor nd without kin, I had nothing to attract me lsewhere. My duties had grown a sort of second-nature, and I had lived in the little town so long that the younger generation had come to speak of me as ' Old Billy." That was, 1 suppose, because my hair was getting gray and my joints a trifle stiff. Iho Red Ravine Station was a wooden building, about 40 feet long by 20 wide. It was divided into two compartment, the arger one being for freight and baggage, and the smaller one for passengers. My own ittle room was onlv a piece partitioned off rom the freight quarter, about 10 feet square, and connected by a door with the box of an office in the passengers room, which served both for selling ickets and holding the telegraph-key. In this latter apartment, also, was placed the old-fashioned iron safe, in which I locked up valuable express packages when any happen ed to come to Red Ravine. The village, I ought to explain, had grown up entirely through the influence of the great iron works of Eldridge S: Ricketson. There were rich beds of ore a few miles to the north, and these, as well as the big foundry, which employed four or five hundred hands, were controlled by the firm I have mentioned. There had been some trouble at the works recently a strike or something growing from delay in paying the men their wages. Thati.s how it happened that the $13,000 money package came into my keeping for a night. ell, when 1 had made all snug about the station, and got off my wet clothing, I sat down comfortably with pipe and newspaper, to enjoy my customary reading. The storm outside continued to rage more and more fiercely, but within things were cozy as could be. I had a blazing fire in the stove, a cheerful light, an easy chair, plenty of good tobacco the one luxury in which I was really extravagant a fresh newspaper, and a bottle of good Holland gin, wherewith to make my regular nocturnal toddy. Cer tainly these were pleasant surroundings for an old fellow like me, and, as a rule, they yielded as much solid comfort as a man has ri:rht to expect in this world. But that night things all seemed out of gear, as 1 have said. My pipe didn't soothe nie as was its wont: try as I might, I couldn't get interest ed in the newspaper; an uncomfortable feei ng of dread a feeling that some shadowy but horrible thins was about to happen possessed my mind; anderen when 1 mixed up a toddy considerably stronger than usual it failed to bring tho relief 1 had hoped lor. "It all conies of that pesky money packa V 1 . Ii 1 . ace. 1 muttered to mvseu. " w ny couidn r it have cot here on the 11:30, and saved inthe job of keep'ng it over night?" Just at that moment came aterrihc clap of tnuBder, and aflahof lightningvivid enough to make the lamps seem dim. I had locked up the package in the safe, and put the key there was no combination lock in my pocket. But I had not the largest faith in the security of the old safe. It had occurred to me often that a person could open it, even he wasn t a skillful cracksman. It was my custom to leave my door open between mv little room and the tieket-ouice, go that f Red Ravine was called on the telegraphkey I could hear it. The instrument had been clicking away at a great rate for the ast hour; but as it was nore of raj' business, had paid no attention to what was going over the wires. I udged now, from the nearness of the light ning and the jerky sounds of the instruments, that the storm was playing the mischief with the messages. I passed into the ticket office, where a li?ht was burning, and stood for some time thinking whether the money pack age would be less exposed in the safe than it would be under the mattress of my bed; and finally concluded that the latter place would be hardest for any possible thief to reach. So I took out the heavy brown en velop, and stowed it away under the mattress. Then I took a second class of toddy, which was usually against my rule, but which I thought the circumstances warranted. Once more I sat down to my newspaper and pipe, but with no better success than before. The storm seemed now to have cen tered rieht over the little station. Peal after peal of thunder rent the air, and the lightning played about the sky like phosphorus or an inky backcround. If you have ver chanced to be in a telegraph office during a thunder-etorm, you may have seen the electricity dash down the wires in way to make timid people nervous, üven veteran operators, like myself, wouldn't want to undertake to receive that sort of message, I was tempted to close the key, but the mean ingless ticking had a sort of fascination for me in the mood I then was. It was like he incoherent mutterings of a maniac, where now and then, at long intervals only, could one distinguish a word or sentence. Maybe the extra allowance of toddy had made me more imaginative than usual, and given weird coloring to my thoughts; for listening to th rarid click-click. I remember of fancvng thr.t some spirit-hand had got hold of the key, and was pouring out a wail of woe over the wires. 1 was too restless to sit still and too nerv ous to go to bed. Besides, even if I hadn't been so upset in my mind, it is doubtfu whether I could have slept through such a storm as that. To occupy myself about something I relighted my lantern, went out into the freight-room, examined again the bolts of the doors and the fastenings of the window?, and returned to my room more worried and upset than ever. Just as I was enterine my own neat, the light of the lan tern fell squarely on the wooden box. OJdly enough, until that moment I had forgotten all about the dead young woman. Thinking so steadily of the $ 13,000 had, I suppose, driven the box out of my mind. But I can say it was any comfort to have it brought back now; for a corpse is never the most cheerful of company, and, feeling as I did then. I would a creat deal rather have had no company at all. It must have been the imp of the perverse, T sunntan that rwllix1 mo ttfYr the cx had been brought back to mv mind, to leave the door open so that I could sit and stare at it with morbid curiosity. As 1 have already said, my sleepins apartment was partitioned off from the freight-room, and was connected with the latter by a door. The body had been placed in such a position that, when this door was open, the head f the box was in sight. Two or three times I rot up to shut the door, but so jae strange fatality drove me back to my chair, and caused me to keep in view the box with its sad freight. All this time the storm raced, the thunder dis charged its mighty batteries, the lightning dashed, and tho mad ravings ot too telegraph continued. I caught my hand trembling as I tried to refill my pipe. Nervousness, no doubt; but possibly an observer might have thought Ola Billy was frightened. I had just risen to wind the little clock on the shelf, when suddenly out of the hitherto

meaningless ticking of the instrument

sharp- I y and distinctly came to my ear these I sounds: which in spoken words meant: WATCH THK BOX! I started as if a charge of electricity had shot through my frame. I could fairly teel mv lace crow wnite. i stood motionless. clutching the back of the chair and with my eyes riveted in a vacant stare at the table in tne ticket-office. I knew this was no work of an excited imagination. The words, to my practiced ear, were as plain as if shouted in clarion tones. There had come no call for led Ravine, and the message ended without signature or mark, but abruptly, as it had un. More than that, it was not tho writing of any operator on any section of the line. I would have sworn to that with as much positiveness as you would to the tones of a voice with which you are familiar. In the dot-and-daah alphabet we learn to distinguish who is handling the keyB almost with as much accuracy as others distinguish handwriting. And in all my experience I had never heard the sounder click off a message like that. While I stood dazed and almost paralyzed for you must remember that Old Billy's nerves were strung to a terrible pitch that night tho rapid and unintelligible click click was resumed as if a deinem again had got hold of the key. It wad lully live minctes before I mustered courage to pass into the ticket-office and sit down at the table myself. Not once in that time had I turned back to look at the box. Almost on the in stant of my sittingdown at the table the clickng stopped short, a3 it had done belore, and then those words were repeated: WATCH THK BOXl Every dot, every dash, every letter, every word came with such horrible distinctness that it seemed to send a sharp pain tingling throuch my ears. It was like the loud whis pering of some ghostly voice. Then, again broke out the larcon of sound that turned the clicking into meaningless confusion. I sprang up Irom the table, and with the now strengthened conviction mat it was no delusion, no fancy, knit that the sound had me plainly over the wires, 1 felt my courire leiurnui"' and resoivea to need tne mvsorious warning. The rolling of the thunder and the mod roar of the storm no longer depi e-sed me. 1 stepped boldly back into my room, ana n-steamy eyes unnincnmgiy on the wo.xin Kx. V bat was its mysterious freight? Why had the phantom of the storm sent thoe startling words over tho wires? What unknown hand had reached out from the very lightning itself to warn me of some impending danger? These que tions rushed through my mind as I felt the dread fear disappearing, and found myself of a sudden crown stransrelv calm. The clock struck 10. 1 turned to the shelf and with a luuidthat no longer trembled, in serted the key, and wound it composedly ould it be the last time that 1 should per form that simple tak? No matter. Happic-r than mot men. because content with mv humble lot, it should never be said that Old Hilly flinched in the face of dutv. For th:tt night it was my duty my one, sacred, an important duty to guard the treasure left to mv safe-keeping. And guard it 1 would while life remained. When 1 had finished winding the clock I took down from the shelf an old rusty pistol which had lain for years undisturbed. It w;is not loaded, nor had I either powder or bullet anywhere in tho station. But the weapon wa ugly-looking, and carried a sort of silent force in case of too agressivo argu ment. After examining tho rusty lock, I put the pistol on the table, made a fresh glass of toddy, drank it, lighted my pipe, and closed the door that opened into the freight room. Now that I was thoroughly myself again, I found it easy enough to shut out the 6ight of that ominous oblong box. It was not until the clock struck again that is. II that I made up my mind to go to b ?d. All his time the storm held on although the thunder had begun to rumble more distantly. 1 threw off my coat and slippers, put out the light in the ticket office and turned that in my sleeping-room down to a low flame. Then 1 drew the money pack age from under the mattress and pinned it securely t j my woolen shirt under my vest, This done, and with the table so placed that I could reach both the lamp and pistol, I opened the door into the freight -room some three or four inches, and then threw myseli upon the bed. Just as my head touched the pillow the instrument, which had grown quiet now, clicked off for the third time, loudly, distinctly, slowly, its words ot warn ing: WATCH THE BOX I This time tbe warning was not needed. I had not gone to bed to sleep, but for the very purpose of watching the box. Stand 11 as Bis UIU) n IbU s 1.1 u v.ia wv uv va rs j and therefore close to the box itself, the bed afforded the very best point from which to keep an eye on the suspicious freight. Had mv faith in the telegraphic clicking been less, or bad my own sense of a great respon sibilitv deserted me for a single moment, I certainly should have given up the job of watching as foolish; and, in that case, it is not likely that this narrative would ever have been written. But I believed in the thrice-repeated message, and I did not let drowsiness overcome patience. Twelve, one, two how very slowly the hours seemed to drag themselves I The low flame of the lamp went out, as the oil had run dry. What a relief it was to hear the clock strike! At last, somewhere about midnight the storm had broken. I could see the stars as they came out, through the window in the freight-room, which was on a line of vision with the box. llow strangely still it seemed after the mighty roar of the storm and the sharp claps of thunder! Not a click from the instru ment now. Not a sound save the steady ticking of the clock. Still I lay listening. watching, with faculties all alert, and my eyes always on the oblong box. A little past 2 perhaps 10 minutes. The silence almost painful in its profoundness. Nothing but the tick-tick of the clock, which to my eager ear had taken on this sound, which it kept repeating over and over: "W-i.cb-th-3-box! Watch-the-box!' What was that? Not the clock, not the telegraph instrument. No, it was the sound as of the grating ing of iron Faint, very faint, yet still audible to my ear. Breathing regularly and deeply as one breathes in sleep, I lay and listened. Another interval of si lence, and then the grating sound camo again this time a trifle louder than before. The light of tho stars shining through tho window made the objects in the lreight-room just visible. Almost simultaneously with the second grating noiso I saw the cover of the wooden box rising slowly from the end furthest removed from the bed. I could feel my heart

thumping away like a sledge-hammer, but I

continued to breathe heavily and to watch keenly. uently and noiselessly the cover was pressed upward until it reached an angle which completely shutout from my view the window beyond. A moment later the figure of a man came out from the shadows while the box-cover was let down as noiselessly as it had been raised. This, then, was the burden of the box. This was the meaning of the mysterious warning which the sounder had spoken. With cat-like tread the figure moved to ward the door of mv room. Still I lay as in deep sleep. On the threshold the figure faused, and a moment later a single ray of ight like a silver thread pierced the dark ness and fell upon the bed. Luckily, it did not strike my face, and in an instant I bad closed my eyes. As I had anticipated, the ray of light was directed toward my pillow, and by the sense of feeling I knew it rested a moment on my face. Satisfied that I was n deep ßlumber, the figure still with cat-like tread, glided through the bedroom and into the ticket-office. My eyes were wide open again by this time. The light from the darklantern had increased, but its rays were now turned toward the safe. Obviously the robber believed the treasure he sought was there, 1 waited until he had knelt down to examine tho lock, and then, viith step as noiseless as his own, I slipped Irom the bed and toward tho half-open door. So intent was he in examining the safe that it was not until I was within reacn oi him that he heard me. He sprang to his feet, bringing the glass of the iauiern iuii in rny xace, ana reacning ior nis revolver, which he had laid upon the top of the safe. But he was too late. With the rusty old pistol, held by its long barrel. I dealt him a crushing blow on the head lust as his fingers gra ped hia own weapon. He fell heavily, without uttering a groan. The lantern was extinguished as it fell, and with trembling fingers I struck a match and lighted the lamp in the office. As its rays fell upon the upturned face of the robber 1 saw that blood was flowing from the wound I had in flicted, and I saw too that the man's face was delicate in its outlines and intelligent in ex pression. I had time to notice no more, for 1 felt now that tbe long, nervous strain was over now that thedanger was past the need of aid. So, after' hurriedly binding the unconscious man's feet and arms and bathing his head in cold water, I pulled on my boots and overcoat and started in hot baste for the hotel. Half wav on the road I met a covered carriago, drawn by one horso, I took it to bo tho turnout of Matthews, tho hotel proprietor, and wondering where ho could be out lor at that hour, shouted bis name. I got no re sponse. Then I cried out at tho top of my voice: 44 I've killed a burglar dewnat thestation!'' Whoever was in the carriage must have heard me, but the horse only quickened his sharp trot and disappeared in the darkness. 1 hey give me a great deal more credit, the people ol Ked Kavine, for that night s ad venture, than I deserve. Andl do not blame them for laughing at how things came out. For when a party of us got back to the station, my unconscious burglar disappeared, and the tracks next morning showed that the covered carriage, which I had met on the road, had drawn up at the platform. Who was in it? elL I couldn't swear, but I have a notion that it contained the gentleman who had come on with the dead iody. At all events, neither he nor the body was ever seen in the town agnin. I had the satisfaction of delivering the money-package safely to Eldridge & Ricketson, but the check they gave me was really not merited. For what would have happened had it not been for the mysterious message which no man sent? How lUamarck Once Iteoigrjed. It will be remembered that about the end of March. 1877, a report was current that Prince Bismarck had resigned, and that his resignation had been accepted by the Emperor William. In M.IIausen's "Coulisses de la Diplomatie," the following account is giy en of the event: The Emperor William spent the evening of Thursday, the 27th of March. o x in the house of Prince Anton Radziwill, who is distantly related to the royal family, and there met the Count who also is an inti mate friend of the Radziwill family. "Well, Count, said the Emperor, "are you going to dine off the x-aster lamb with In nee Ferdi nand on Easter Sunday?" "Certainly, jour Majesty, replied the Count, Unless Herr Falk confiscates the lamb.'' "In that case,' replied the Emperor, "you need not be un der any apprehension for your dinner." "I am. however, not quite certain." replied the Count; "for how can your subjects leel when even her Majesty the Empress has to hide her charitable acts to avoid being annoyed?" "How so, Count f asked the Emperor. "Why, Sire, replied the Count, "the Em press gave otheially 200 marks (about 110) to the Ursuline nuns who had been expelled from Berlin; but secertly her Majesty 6ent 1,000 marks." Encouraged by the Emperor, Count N. cited a great number of other pet ty, vexatious acts of Herr ralk, acting ae cording to the orders of Prince Bismarck The Emperor, evidently much annoyed, left early and the next day be sent for Prince Bismarck, who pleaded ill-health. A second messenger ordered the Prince immediately to appear at the castle, unless he were so ill as to nave to keep his bed, in which case the Emperor would call upon him. Prince Bis marck had to obey, and was closeted for more than an hour with the Emperor. On re turning home, he at once sent in his resigna tion. Generoni for a Purpose. Two of those ornaments made of plaster of Paris flavored with sugar were bestowed upon an urchin with the usual warning, "Don't eat them, whatever you do; they will poison you. For some time they were re garded by him and his younger brother with mmcled awe and admiration; but at no dis tant dav their mother missed one. "Tom,' said she to the owner, whe was just setting forth for school, "what have 'ee done with that figure?" "Giv'd it to Dick,' was the replv. "and if he's living when I come home I moan to eat the other one mysen. l can tell 'ee." A new method of ornamenting elegant reception and evening dresses is with hand painting. A wattean dress of amber satin was worn lately, the train of which was painted in shaded oats, small daisies and but tma A Krial I russ nr tvorv sann was A bncal dress oi ivory satin was painted upon the deep square front and side panels with delicate lilies of the valley and grasses, upon Diacic satin we nave seen bands painted with smalLblue forget-me-nots et close together, and used in tho same way as mounting a small figured brocade. Tho merit of this decoration is its originality and ... .. the fact that young ladies can in this way enrich their costume in a more novel syles and with less expenditure of time than is involved in emDroiaery.

WILU-CAT WHOPPER.

The Man From the Wwt Droon In With m Good Story. Cleveland Herald. An actual encounter with a wild cat I will tell you of, if you are bound to have a Bt0I7. young fellow," said our ex-frontiersman g, soon after he had sallied into the Herald local department, taken a seat, and patiently answered several pertinent questions. All right; commence at once: I'm all at tention," remarked the scribe beside him. The Western man felt for his bowie-knife to pick his teeth therewith, but found it not, suddenly recollecting that the rigorous regu lations ot civilized life compelled him to dispense with the carrying ofthat weapon, and necessitated his leaving it at home for a bread-knife. Recovering from the moment's abstraction that followed, he impressivelv began: 'In the first place, the subiect I have to deal with, i. e., the wild cat, is a different sort of a varmint altogether from most wild animals, lie 11 go for a human bein with his claws and teeth as joyously as he would skin up a tree, and as for ever lurnin' tail and scootin' for the wildwood at sight of man. it is entirely ngin tho varmint's strict rules of actin . At least tbe above statement is formed from my cxperienco durin' close communion u;th Vm t interval tier life. Now the rattle-snake '11 give you warnm and objects to tacklin anything livin' witnoui nein- pressed: so with bears, and Til ... 1 I . never '11 a one face a man without (he the Dear; is sunken-eyed, thin-flanked and as hollow as an empty barrel. Why, one bear that I killed but I'm wandenn. It was wildcats I commenced on, and this one in par ticular I came across oniy four weeks ago. just afore I started from the West. A party of us had iust left our mines near Dead wood, I to take a hunting excursion some miles dis tant from the city in the wilderness. That day I bad just succeeded in killin' a black-tailed deer, which I had loaded on the wagon, and then I left the beaten trail to make a venture for game in some cotton-wood timber that fringed the banks of a sluggish creek, a small fork of the Colorado river. I was soon in a wild and apparently varmint-infested locality. The creek swept through a channel whose banks were from 15 to 40 feet apart. Grass ud to my shoulders sprung up on all s!des to the edges of the clumps of timber. It any game .hould chance to be started, you can imagine w hut a poor chance a fellow would have to shoot it in such a grass-grown and timbered stretch of country. Well, nary thing had I seen, and in a sort of pensive muse I stepped calmly along the top of one of the high banks, when some almighty sprightly sort of critter sprang out of the grass close to mv feet, jumped down the bank, and I heard the thing goin up a tree whoso roots were close to the water's margin and whose wide-spread branches stretched over the ground close to me. It came into sight and I saw it was an all fired, thunderin' big wildcat, and plainly meant mischiel with the representative who sits before you. Out on a large bare limb it came before me. Lonll how its eyes flashed fire, its ears erected themselves in perpendic ular posture, and its shabby prolongation of its spine kept in stiff line with the fore part of that member. It spit like fury, and ac tually lookd like the devil in white and gray lur tnmnuns . loung man, perhaps think my blood is easily curdled, that the heart that pumps my arterial current is palpitated by the simplest terrors; if so, you wrong me. I've acted as vigil anter and hit cold steel with no torious cut-throats, also felt without a tremor the noose of a vigilant committee's laria tighten Around my innocent neck; but, heaven be praised, that time I wasn't lifted, for but I wanted the cat. V elL I trembled. Thinks I, Mr. Cat, it is either you or I, and with my W incbester at my shoulder I let fly. It fell and 1 looked over the bank but could not see it, for brush and driftwood was piled in vast heaps below. I skeerted around about 100 yards to get to the foot of the tree. I didn't know what I had to encounter and I had my bowie-knife ready." Here ho made another feel for the article in question and then looked surprised and discomfitted, 'Little remains to be recounted. I reached the tree; perhaps 'twill disappoint you to learn that there I found the cat stone dead; mv tin I ltfT. wa fhrviiinrri 1 1 a hrbin I hn vai. mint was lean an3 hungry lookin', but weighed, nevertheless, 31 pounds. That was the last game I killed in the Western countr, and it's 10 o'clock. Good-night." JEANNIE'S LOVER. The Late Calamity on the Tay A Scotch Lassie's Romance and Its Sad Ending. Pittsburg Telegiapb. Did you ever see a pretty young Scotch girl, who had been carefully educated and brought up in the middle class of Scotish so ciety? If you nave never had the good tortune to see one, your life has not yet reached the zenith ef its possibilities. A bonnie Scotch lassie with the-) "lint white locks" that Bobbie Burns loved to speak of. with big blue eyes, that are almost childish in their modesty and Ehyness, with prettyf round cheeks that wear the lovely pink tints of perfect health, with a supple, slender figure and neat toot, encased in a sensible, thick-soled boot, and a slim hand, slightly browned by the absence of gloves, A "lassie" with all this i.- as pleasant a sight as one could wish for on these cloudy, disacould have been seen in a household in Al loghenv a little more than a week ago. She is not there now. She does not exist save in the memory of her friends and in that great receptacle of sorrow, the past. In her place there is a woman with nothing or brightness or happiness about her. She has "big blue eyes, but they are dull and expressionless, all their brilliancy being washed' away by frequent weeping. Her face is pale, color. less and thin. The sprightly grace that once gave a charm to her walk and her figure, has gone, and she walks about like an old woman who has lost all hope, and lias discovered that the world ia full of bit terness and care. 1 he first and second pic tures are of the same person so far as actual identity and name are concerned, but oh, I now vnev are Kb varuuio in ucan dvuh i ii... : : j i i The change is striking, and it came about so suddenly that thejwnter sought to learn the cause of it all, and this is the story that was told to nim: Sometime ago a gentleman who lives in Allegheny went abroad for a pleasuro trip, taking with him his wife and young children. Some of the gentleman's immediate ancestors had been born in Scot land, and he desired to spend considerable time in that country, and did so. During the visit of the rartv one of the children was

taken sick at Dunkeld, a little town in Perth

shire, on the left bank of Tay. Th town had but few accommodations, but as tha child was two weak to be moved, the familv were compelled to take lodgings in a hotel and wait for the little one's recovery. The mother became worn out with watching the sick boy, and his father asked the doctor if he knew of anv one who onld be obtained as a nurse, and nromirai liberal pay. The doctor said he knew iust the right kind of a person, provided she would consent to serve as nurse. She was Jeannie, daughter of th clergyman who had iormeny naa cnarge of the kirk, and who had died, leaving his only child an orptan, poor and almost friendlesg. She had afwaya been god to the poor and needy during her father's lifetime, and after he hed left her, she had gone to the house of a friend to remain until she could obtain some kind of work. The doctor told Jeannie how matters stood and she at once declared her willingness to nurse the sick child, and accordingly took her place at his bedside. The bright cheerfuj face of the girl and her winning manners made her a great favorite with the children and their parents, and when they were about to leave Dunkeld, the mother insisted on Jeannie coining to this country with her as governess of the children and a companion for hersalf. To this Jeannie objected stoutly, and said, with many blushes and much confusion. that she could not leave Dunkeld. Then the reason- came out. She was engaged to be married to the young man whom she bad known Eince childhood, and who wa tn marry her as soon as he was able. He was a guard on the North British railroad. "Why could not Stewart come too?" said the father of the boy whom Jeannie had so laitruuiiy watched. "1 will find work for him in Pittsburg, and you need not be separated." Then it came citthat Stewart had a sister who was bedridden, and who he had to sup port, anu uns was tne reason wny the marriage had not taken place before. Jeannie was persuaded to go to Dundee to see Stewart and ask his advice, and he was urgent in his counsel that she should accept the liberal offer that had been made to her and go to America. He told her he would lollow her here when he was able to provide for his sis ter. Stewart added that the doctors said that the sick girl could not outlive the winter. Poor Jeannie was all tears and sorrow when she left with her friends, but she heard regularly Irom Stewart, and on arriving here she soon became accustomed to her new life and liked it greatly. About a month ago Stewart wrote to say that his 6ister was dead and that ho would leave for America about the 1st of January. Jeannie's songs and smiles became more frequent, and she looked forward eagerly for the arrival of the new year. on luesday last tbe papers contained the account of the terrible accident to the Edisborough train on the bridge over the Frith of Tay. Jeannie heard about it, and hur riedly read the meager account that had been sent by cable.' She did not say much when she finished the dispatch until her mis tress told her not to worry about Stewart, as he was probably all right. Then she began to sob and cried out, "It isna all right: it was ötewart s train and Stewart s drowned!" Next morning came the particulars of the disaster,- and a list of tne names of those drowned. Stewart's name was amonc the list of the trainmen, and when Jeannie read it she went to her room and would not see any one until the following morning. Then she came quietly down stairs and went about her usual duties without a word to anybody. She looked 10 years older than she did be fore, but she made no complaints, and has not referred to her loss since that first sad dav. and her friends in their pity and warm sympatny are watcning ner anxiously to see thai 6he does not do herself some harm. And thus even this far away calamity shows how long reaching are the shadowy anrs of afihe--tion and sorrow. Henry Clay's Wajrer. In 1814, when the peace commission, com posed of Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, and Albert Gallatin on the part of the ii nited States and Lord Gambier and Mr. Goulbourn on the part of Great Britain, were endeavoring to come to an un derstanding on the important questions of the navigation of the Mississippi river and the fishery privileges, the British plenipo tentiaries sought to alarm the Americans bv informing them of the in vincible army which was moving on iNew ur leans, supported by a powerful fleet They dwelt cn the gallantry and daring of Packenham, laid much stress upon the Buperb character of his troops. which they truthfully declared were the flower of tne British army, veterans of the victorious Peninsular campaign, and Lord Gambier gleefully remarked: "New Orleans will soon be in our possession, and the free navigation of the Mississippi assured to us." This greatly nettled Mr. Clay, who had determined never to concede the point as to the great river, which, with prophetic eye, he saw must one day become the grandest com mercial highway on the globe, and so, with the instinct of the true Kentuckian, he at -once offered to wager Lord Gambier that the British army would never capture New Or leans, and that Packenham would be dis-. astrously defeated. "For," said he, "I am informed that General Andrew Jackson, from Tennessee, has gone to New Orleans, and I have the most implicit faith in his ability to cope with your army." Lord Gambier joyfully accepted the wager, which he fixed at 100 guineas. WThen the news of the route of the British army at Chalmette and of the death of Packenham was received in Europe, Lord Gambier approached Mr. Clay at a grand ball given, we believe, in honor of the success of the negotiations at Ghen and handing him the 100 guineas, said: "Mr. Clay, I believe there are three kinds of beings under the special care and protection of divine Providence lunatics, drunkards and the American people." Carious Epitaphs. From Burlington, O. Here lie tha remains of Vary Jan Lowder, Who burst whilst drinking a Seidlits powder; Called from this world to her heavenly rest. She shoo Id bare waited till it efferv6ed. 0 An epitaph on a headstone near Helstone. County of Cornwall: We shall all die I (Shall we die all I All die we ballt Die all shall we I Kid lace, as an ornament for the top of gloves, is a great improvement upon black or white thread, or point lace, at least so far as durability is concerned. Real lace upon gloves is a most useless extravagance, as ft can only be used a yery short time, and ii liable every moment to accideat in getting thrra on.

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