Ligonier Banner., Volume 15, Number 41, Ligonier, Noble County, 27 January 1881 — Page 3

" ; . .. ), The Ligonier Banuer, Ly s e ‘ J. B. STOLL, Editor and Prop’r. { e LIGONIERB, : : 3 INDIANA, W _L.__ﬁ____—.—______..___—_-——_—-!-— THE TALE OF THECAT-TAIL; OR THE | REWARD OF VIRTUE. Down in a swnm}) where the alders bloom A weyry cat-tail hung its head. ; “ My heart is wragped around with gloom; I would, I would, that [ were dead! . Lite hefre is never hilarious,” And always somewhat malarious,” Bt Said this discontented cat-tail. : | ; “ Why/am I not a fair moss-rose, A That/a poet's strain might tell of me, Or a maiden press me to her nose, : And gently, tenderly, smell of me? O, hovFl bemoan my humble walk!"” : And a/large tear trickled down the stalk of téxc sorrowful, weeping cat-tail. : “ But/since my lot with grief is rife, Sin¢e fate, cruel fate, so decrees, . . I’'ll dg my best, and the orange of life I wiJll most thoroughly.squeeze; | And I'll lift my head—{[ will, yndeed— And put off for a period going to seed,”’ Sai(l this very virtuous cat-tail. | ; j E ! i So it/pushed aside the green leaves that Surrounded it like a close&., Andjthe neighboring plants were astonished at Itq great adipose deposit. . On (‘lther cat-tails it quite lopked down, For nonesgrew so plethoric and brown A? this noble-hearted cat-tail. Big!:er and browner the cat-tail grew, Till at last, one summer day, A maiden fair, with eyes of blue, Came driving along that way. Sheé had studi<d artistic decoration, - Anfl gave a delighted exclamation . Vhen she saw the noble cat-tail. She spared it not; in its noble prime she cut it short on the spot; ; Buft it knew it was near its seedy time, * And would rather be cut than not. And it almost erupted its sleck fat side W’}th its fervid joy and its honest pride, his stout but modest eat-tail. ‘ Thie maiden showed to all her friends Her captured cat-tail, brown and tall; . She madeit a bow with lOOES and ends, : And hung it up aganst the wall. Thie humble cat-tail was much elated, Inlits position 8o elevated, ,}s adecorative cat-tail. i , For by its side there bung in state ‘ %’ome Kensington-work on flannel, : While a one-legged stork looked for his mate - From a pleasing ncighboring panel. | And these with a gorgeous peacock’s feather And a Japanese fan all hang together With the now sesthetic cat-tail! ;

THE EXPENSIVE TREAT OF COLONEL MOSES GRICE. Besides an incipient ventriloquist who had included it in a limited provincial tour which he was making in some hope of larger development of his artistic powers, the only show that had visited Dukesborough thus far was the wax figures. - ' t As for a circus, such an institution was not known, except by hearsay, even to Colonel Moses Grice, of the Fourteenth Regiment Georgia Militia, though he was a man thirty-five years old, over six feet high, of proportional weight, owned a good plantation and at least twenty negroes, and had seen the theater as many as three times in the city of Augusta. The ideas the Colonel had received there were such, he said, as ‘would last him to the end of his days—a period believed to be remote, barring, of course, all contingencies of future wars. To this theatrical experience he had been desirous, for some time, to add that of the circus, assured in his mind that, from what he had heard, it was agood thing. It happened once, while on a visit to Augusta, whither he had accompanied a wagon-load of his cotton, partly on that business, but mainly to see the great world there, that he met, at Collier’s tavern, where he sojeurned, a circus forerunner, who was going the rounds with his advertisements. Getting soon upon terms of intimacy with one who seemed to him the most agreeable, entertaining-and intelligent gentleman that he had ever met, Colonel Grice imparted to him such in€ormation about Dukesborough that, although that village was not upon the list of appointments—Dukesborough, in point of fact (to his shame the agent confessed it); not having been even heard of—yet a day was set tor its visitation, and when visited, another was set for the appearance there of the Great World-Renowned Circus, which claimed for its native homes London, Paris and New York. . .

The Colonel resided five miles south ofthe village. He had a wife, but no child (a point on which he was perhaps a little sore), was not in debt, was hospitable, an encourager, especially in words, of public and private enterprises and enthusiastically devoted, though without experience in wars, to the military profession, which—if he might use the expression—he would call his second wife. Off the wmuster-field he habitually practiced that affability which is so pleasant because so rare to see in the warrior class. When in full uniform and at the head of the regiment, with girt sword and pistol-holster, he did indeed look like a man not to be fooled with, and the sound of his voice in utterance of military orders was such as to show that he intended those orders to be heard and obeyed. When the regiment was disbanded the sternness would depart from his mien, and, though yet unstripped of weapons and regalia, he would smile blandly, as if to re-as-sure spectators that, for the present, the danger was over, and friends might approach without apprehension. The' Colonel met the circus even further away than he at first had intended. He had determined to.study it, he said, and he traveled some seventy miles on horseback, attending daily and nightly exhibitions. Several times during this travel and afterwards on the forenoon of the great day in Dukesborough, he was heard to say that if he were limited to one word with which to describe what he had seen, that word would be-—grandeur. On the day before, Colonel Grice, by this time grown intimate with the manager, and as fond of him as if he had been his own brother (some said even fonder), in the fullness of his heart had invited the whole force to breakfast with him on the way to Dukesborough, and the invitation had been accepted. What was consumed was enormous; but he could afford it, and his wife especially with the distinguished visitors, was as hospitable and open-hearted as himself. : ~ Other persons besides boys believed in their hearts that they might not have been able to endure another day’s delay of the show. For a brief period the anxtety of school children amounted to anguish when the master expressed doubts a 8 to a holiday; for helidays then were infrequent and school-masters had to be

over-persuaded. But the present incumbent yielded early, with becoming reluctance, to what seemed to be the general desire. The eagerly expected morning came at last. Many who knew | that the circus was lingering at Colonel Grice’s went forth to meet it, some on foot, some on horseback. Some started even in gigs and other carriages, but being warned by older people, turned, unhooked their horses and hitched them to swinging limbs in the very farthest part of the grave-yard grove, and then set out on foot. The great show had]‘ Eut foremost its best wagon, but nobody | ad any sort of idea what things those were which the military gentlemen who rode in it carried in their hands. One person, known generally to carry a 4 cool head, said that one of these things looked to him like a drum, though of a ' size comparatively enormous, but the idea was generally scorned. | As the cavalcade proceeded, it was a sight to see those who came in late in. vehicles hastily turning in, apprehensive of the effect upon their horses of the music and the smell of the wild animals. For the first and only time in the history of Dukesborough, there was, momentary danger of a blockade of wheels in its one street. _ :

When the door was opened at last, the crowd surged in. Colonel Grice waited long, in order to see that no one of any condition was excluded for want of the entranceifee. For at last this was regarded by him rather as a treat of his own to his neighbors, and he wanted it to be complete. Then he walked in with the deliberateness of an owner of the establishment, and contemplated everything with benignant complaisance. Those ladies and gentlemen who were within the sound of his voice, as he went the rounds of the boxes containing the animals, were fortunate. ~ **Be keerful there, boys—be keerful,”’ he said kindly. but seriously to some little fellows who were leaning against the rope and studying the. porcupine. ““ Be keerful. That’s the cilibrated pockapine. . You see them sharp things on. him? Well, them’s his quills, and which, when he’s mad, he shoots ’em like a bow-"narrow, and they goes clean through people.” The boys backed, although the little creature looked as if his quiver had been well-nigh exhausted in previous wars. : : “That’s the hyner,” said the Colonel, moving on, ‘‘and they say he's the most rhinocerous varmint of ’em all. Of all vituals he loves folks the best, though he some rather that somebeody or something else would kill ’em, and then him come onabout a week orsich a matter afterward. They scratches up graveyards and in the countries where they raise, people has to bury their kinfolks in stone coflins.” o) ggoodness gracious, Colonel! Let’s go on!” 4 : - . This exclamation was made by Miss Angeline Spouter, the thinnest of the party, who was locked arm in arm with Miss Georgiana Pea, the thickest. - - ¢* No danger, Miss Angeline—no danger at all,”’ answered the Colonel, briskly raising his arm aloft that all might see what was betwéen them and the beast, at which he looked as if it were his own pet hyena and would not think of leaving its lair without his order. ‘No danger whatsomever. Even if he could get out, he'd have to ride over me, and, besides, it's mostly corpses that he'd be arfter, and—ah—l don’t think, anyway that you'd be in the slightest danger.”! | . As he said this, the Colonel looked rather argumentatively and at Miss Pea more than Miss Spouter. “0,” said Miss Pea, gayly, ¢‘if the creetur could get out and then took a notion for live folks; I'd be the one he'd make for certain sure.’”’ :

Just as the party wasaboat to pass on, the wretched beast, stooping for a moment, his snout pressed to the roof, uttered several short, loud, hoarse, terrific howls. Miss Spouter screamed, Miss Pea laughed hysterically, and Colonel -Grice, before he. knew it, was on the outside of his knot of followers. Recovering himself—for he was without his sword and pistol-holster—-he stepped quickly back to the front, looked threateningly, and afterward disdainfully, at the hyena, who had resumed his walks, .and said: ‘“You rhinocerous varmint, you! Thinkin' of them grave-yards ‘you've robbed, and hungry for some more of ’em, ah! These is live folks, my boy; and they aint quite ready for you yit, nor won’t be for some time, I hope.” Then he led on to the monkeys. Lt ¢ Hello, Bill! I knowed you’d be here; got your boys with you, too, I see.” = The person addressed by Colonel Grice was a tall, stout young farmer. Over his other clothes he wore a loosely fitting round tjéa,cket, of thick, homemade stuff, with capacious pockets. In each of these were one foot and a considerable portion of a leg of a child about two years old. Their other feet rested easily in the man’s hands, which were tucked up for that purpose; while one arm of each was around his neck. The children were exactly alike, except a shade’s dgfference in the color of their eyes. This was Mr. William Williams, who, three years hefore, had been married to Miss Caroline Thigpen. At this double birth Mr. Williams was proud and even exultant. Out of the many names suggested for the twins he early selected those of the renowned offspring of Mars and Rhea Sylvia. Modifying them, however, somewhat for his own reasons, he called and so wrote them in his Bible, ‘¢ Romerlus’’ and ¢ Remerlus.”’ . :

“ Remus, Mr. Williams,”” urged the friend who had suggested the names. ‘“ Remus, not Remulus: Romulus and Remus are the names.” : ““No, Philip,”’ he answered; ¢it’s Romerlus and Remerlus. One’s jest as old as t’other, or ni,gh and about; and he’s as big, and he’s as good-lookin’, and his brother's name sha'n’t be no bigger'n his'n.”’ As soon as they were able to stand without harm, he. accustomed them to this mode of travel, and he was never so contented as when he and they went out thus together. : The wild beasts were finally hidden from view and all repaired te their seats. Colonel Grice sat high and near the entrance of the rear tent from which the circus performers were to emerge. Mr. Williams sat on the lowest tier, near the main entrance. He had taken his boys out of his pockets and held them on his knees. ‘i‘ho Colonel, when he

could get an opportunity, quietly, and in a very pleasant way, called the ring'master’s attention to him, who smiled and nodded. Then the curtain was pushed aside from the rear tent, the band struck up, and the Eie-bald horses came marching in with their silent riders, who, at first, looked as if they had just come from the bath and had had time for only a limited toilet. ' * The clown, all spotted and streaked, bringing up the rear, shouted: v %lere we all are, my masters.”” | “My Lord-a’mighty!” exclaimed Miss Cash and some three hundred other females. Only Colonel Grice and a very few others who had been at yesterday’s: exhibitions, could preserve any améunt of coolness. The rest abandoned themselves to unlimited wonder. ' - wtd ~ ¢“l’m sixty-nine years old,” said old Mr. Pate, ‘“and I never see sich as that before, and I never ’spected to see sich as that.” . . And they made their involutions and evolutions, destined, apparently, to be ‘endless in number and variety,. the old ‘man looked on as if in his age he was - vouchsated the witness of the very last and highest achievement of human endeavor. | : L - The next scene was one which Colonel Grice had eagerly anticipated. A steed rushed into the ring. He was as wild, apparently, as Mazeppa’s,and the clown, when the ring-master inquired for the rider, answered, in a pitiful tone, that he was sick, and none other of the “iroupe would dare to take his place. Then followed the usual fun of the master ordering the clown to ride the horse, and the clown, after vain remonstrance, trying to catch the -horse, and the -horse refusing to be caught, and, finally, ‘the giving up of the chase, and the mas‘ter lashihg the recusant beast around the ring, and wishing in vain for a rider to set him off properly. In the midst ~of this, an extremely drunken young ‘man, homely clad, came through the main entrance, after a dispute and a scuflle with the door-keeper. and, staggering to where Mr. Bill Williams sat, looked down upon him.

““Two babies. One (hic) yours, s pOS.e-” : . *“ Yes,” said Mr. Bill. ¢ And (hic) t'other—" ‘¢ My wife’s; but that ain’t nobody’s business but ourn. You pass on.” The stranger declined, and fixing his muddled attention on what was going on in the ring, said: ‘I can (hic) ride that horse——"" The words were no sooner uttered than the man stumbled upon the: track, just'atter the horse had dashed past. The whole audience, except Colonel GGrice and the select few, rose and cried out in horror: ' *‘ Take him out, Bill! Take him out!”’ cried Colonel Grice. Indeed, Mr. Bill had already slid his babies into his wife’s lap, and was dragging the man out of the ring. He insisted upon returning. . . ‘“ Look a-here, my friend,” said Mr. Bill. ¢ I don’t know vou, nor nobody else don’t seem to know you; but if I didn’t have Rom and Reme——"" The fellow made another rush. Mr. Bill took hold of him, but receiving a trip he fell flat and the stranger fell into the ring, rolling out of the track in lucky time. The ring-master seemed much embarrassed. ¢ O, give him a little ride, Captain!”’ cried out Colonel Grice. ¢¢lf he falls he's too drunk to git badly hurt.” ““It’s a shame, Mose!”’ remonstrated Miss Cash. ¢ I didn’t come here and pay my money to see people killed. Notwithstanding and nevertheless the poor creeter’s .drunk and not hardly fitted too live, he ought by good rights to have some time to prepare for the awful change that——-" But by this time Mazeppa was mounted and dashing away; and, but- that Miss Cash had made up her mipd not to be cheated out of any portion of her money, she would have shut her eyes, or veiled her face, as the maddened animal sped along, while the infatuated inebriate clung to his mane. An anxious time it was. Kind-hearted people were sorry they had come. In the struggle between life and death, the stranger seemed to be beginning to sober. Sooner than could have been expected, he raised himself from the horse’s neck, gathered up the reins, shook from his feet the thick shoes he was clad with, flung aside his old hat, brushed up his curly hair and before Miss Cash could utter a word, was on his feet. Then began that prolonged metamorphosis which old Mr. Pate was never satistied with recounting, whether to those who saw it or those who saw it not. L : . ¢ Coat arfter coat, breeches arfter breeches, gallis arfter gallis, shirt arfter shirt, ontwell he shucked hisself nigh as clean as an ear o’ corn.”’ '

- When everybody saw that the stranger was one of the showmen the fun rose to a height that delayed for full five minutes the next scene. As for Colonel Grice, his handkerchief was positively wet with the tears he shed. Even Mr. Bill forgot his own discomfiture in the universal glee. “It's a shame, Mose,” said Miss Cash, “‘to put such a trick on Bill Williams, and that richt where his wife is. It would be a goo&-, thing if he could put it back on you.”’ In the interval before the last, named “The Wonderful Tooth-Drawing-Coffee. pot-Fire-cracker Scene,” an .incident occurred that was not on the programme—an interlude, as it wepe, improvised by the exuberant spirits of both spectators and showmen. ~Colonel Grice, deeply gratified at the success of what, without great stretch, might be called his own treat, was in the mood to receive special attention and complimént from any source. When the gﬁretended inebriate had been lifted upon fazeppa, the clown took a bottle from his nocket, tasted it when he had gotten behind his master, smacked his lips, set 1t down by the middle pole, and, being detected in one of his resortings to it, was reproached fornot inviting some one todrink with him. They were on the pertion of the ring next the main entrance. : ‘*Why don’t you invite Colonel Griee?’ said Mr. Bill Williams, in a low voice. *‘He expects it.” The master turned to notice from whom the .sug§estion proceeded, and, before he could determine, the clows, though with some hesitation, said: - “I% Colonel Grice—"" ‘ “eStop it!” whispered the master.

But he was too late. The Colonel had already risen and was carefully descending. | : o *ls you goin’ there, Mose, sure enough?”’ said Miss Cash. ¢lt do look liké Mose is complete carried away with them circus people and hisself.” Having gotten safely over the intervening heads and shoulders, the Colonel stepped with dignity into the ring, at the same time feeling somewhat of the embarrassment which will sometimes befall the very greatest warrior when, without his weapons, he knows himself to be the object of the attention of a lat§e number of civilians, both male and female. This embarrassment hindered his observation of the captain’s winks and the’ clown’s pouring a portion of the liquor upon the ground. He walked up rapidly and extended his hand. The clown with an effort at mirthfulness, the more eager because he was doubtful of perfect success, withdrew the bottle from his grasp,, spread out his legs, squatted his body, and, applying the thumb of his disengaged hand to his nose, wriggled his fingers at the Colonel's face, winking frantically the while, hoping the latter would advance the joke by insistence. In this he miscalculated. Persons who claimed to have seen Colonel Moses Grice, on previous occasions, what was called mad, said that that was mere childish fretfulness compared with his present condition of mind, when, after the withdrawal of the bottle, the whole audience, Miss Cash_louder than all, broke into uproarious laughter. Fortunately the enraged chieftain had no sword, nor pistol, nor even walkingcane. His only weapon was his tongue. Stepping back a pace or two and glaring upon the ludicrous squatter, he shouted: : ;

‘“ Youspotted-backed, striped-legeed, streaked-faced, speckled -b - breasted, p'inted-hatted son-of-a-gun!” With each ejaculation of these successive, uncommon appellations, the poor clown lifted himself somewhat, and, by the time their climax was reached, was upright, and, dressed as he was, seemed most pitiful. ‘“ My dear Colonel Grice-—"' he began. ; ‘¢ Shet up your old red mouth,” broke in the Colonel. ‘I didn't want your whisky. I got better whisky at home than you know anything about. Butas you asked me to drink, like, as I thought, one gentleman would ask another gentleman, I didn’t feel like refusing you. I give the whole of you your breakfast, vour blasted varmints and all; I put at least twenty into your cussed old show, and arfter that—-" ¢ My dear-est Colonel Grice!”’ 0, you p'inted-hatted, streaked-fac-ed, speckled-b-breasted——"' beginning, as it were, a back-handed stroke by reversing the order of his epithets. At this moment the ring-master, who had not been able thus far to get in a single word, said in -a lodd but calm tone: . - ¢ Colonel Grice, don't you see that it was a mere jest, and that the sugoestion came from one of your neighbors? The bottle contains nothing but water. We beg your pardon if you are offended: but I can but think that the abusive words you have used already are quite enough.’} ; The Colonel stood for a moment, hesitating. Then he suddenly turned, and, remarking that this was no place for a gentleman, walked toward the entrance. ~“You goin’ to let ’em cheat you out of the balance of your money that way, Mose?’ asked Miss Cash. He turned agdin. Finding himself wholly without support, and unwilling to lose the great scene of the ‘¢ Tooth-Drawing,” etc., he halted and stood until it was over. By that time he was considerably mollified and the manager approaching, apologized for himself, the clown and all his ¢roupe, begged that he would join in a glass of the genuine at Spouter’s tavern, : How could the Colonel refuse? He could not and he did not. : ““Go with us, wont you, sir?”’ said the manager, addressing Mr. Williams. “We had some little fun at your expense also; but I hope you bear us no malice, as we never intend to hurt feelings.” o ‘¢ Sperrits,”” answered Mr. Bill, ¢is a thing I sildom takes—that is, I don’t tech it riglar; but I'll try a squirrel-load with you—jes’ a moderate size squirrelload'. e ’

At Spouter’s all was cordially made up. Mr. Bill set Rom and Reme on the counter, and the clown gave them a big lump of white sugar apiece. ‘“They seem to be nice, peaceable little fellows,’’ said he. ‘Do they ever dispute?” : ‘“0, no great deal,” answered Mr. Bill. ¢‘l ’tends to raise ’em to be peaceable, and to give and take and to be friends as well as brothers, which is mi%hty fur from bein’ always the case in families.” ' Mr: Bill knew that Colonel Grice and his younger brother Abram had not spoken together for years. -, ‘“ Right Bill,” said the Colonel. ‘“ Raise 'em right. Take keer o’ them boys, Bill. Twoata time comes right hard on a fellow, though, don’t it, Biil? Expensive, eh?’’ and the Colonel winked pleasantly all around. e ‘“ Thank ye, Kurnel; I'll do the best I can. Ishall raise 'em to give and take. No, Kurnel, not so very hard. Fact, I wa'n’t a-expectin’ but one, yit, when Reme come I thought jest as much o’ him as I did o Rom. No, Kurnel, it wouldn’t be my desire to be a married man and have nary ar—to leave what little prop’ty I got to. -And now, sence I got two instid o’ one, and them o' the same size, I feel like I'd be sort o' awkward ’thout both o’ ’em. You see, Kurnel, they balances agin one another in my pockets. No, Kurnel, better two than nary one; and in that way you can larn em better to give and take. Come Rom, come Reme—git in; we must be a-travelin’.” He 'backed up to the counter and the boys, shifting their su-gar-lumps to suit, stepped aboard and away they went. - After that day Dukesborough thought she could see no reason why she might not be named among the leading towns of Middle Georgia.—Scribner's MagazZine. ;i

—No matter how deep ayoung man’s pocket may be, a colored silk handkerchief will inevitably float to the top and flop over. while a soiled linen rag will sinYt to the bottom like a brick thrown in a mud-puddle. <

i i vz d oy Poung Leaders. 3 R 2 = i ¢ ' ADVICE TO A BOTY. ‘ ® [ S memrstamed e, 5 My boy, you’'re sqon to be a man; Get ready for a man’s work now, And learn to do t‘l;e best you can’ _ When sweat is brought to arm and brow. Don't be afraid, my boy, to work; You've got to, iﬁ you mean to win! He is a coward who will shirk; : Roll up your sleeves, and then *go in!” Don’t wait for chances; look about! There’s always somethi n&J\ you can do. He who will manfully strike out Finds labor—plenty of it, too! : But he who folds| his hands and waits For “something to turn up’’ will tind The toiler passes| Fortune’s gates, While he, alas, is left behind! Be honest as the/day is long: : Don’t grind the poor man for his cent. In helping others you grow strong, . And kind deeds done are only lent; And this remember, if you're wise, To your own husiness be confined. : He isa fool, and [fails, who tries i His fellow-men’s affairs to mind. ‘ Don't be diseouraged and get blue : 1f things don’t go to suit you quite; Work on! Perhaps it rests with you To set the wrong that worries right. : Don’t lean on others! Be a man! Stand on a footing of your own! Be independent, if you can, ; And cultivatea sound backbone! . Be brave and steadfast, kind and true, With faith in God and fellow-man, And win from them a faith in you, ‘ By doing just the hest you can! —Eben E. Rexford, in Golden Days.

HOW VOSS’ BRAYERY WAS TESTED. e A group of young men were standing one morning last April on the banks of the River Aar, which flows by the quaint old Swiss town of Berne. There was Johann Leid, the baker's son, and Fritz Bund, the wood-carver, and half a dozen others with their sisters and sweethearts. . : : Bund, as msual, was loud-mouthed and voluble. He talked with one eye on the girls to see the effect. : - ““What do vou say to a race, boys? There is Johann Leid with his big muscles. I can outrun or throw you in five minutes, Leid.”’ _ Leid nodded, threw off his coat, and was beaten in both race and wrestle. He was a big, sheepish-looking fellow, and grew red with anger. ~¢«“If you want to look well in Jeannette's eyes,”’ he muitered, ¢it is Nicholas Voss you should throw, not me. She thinks more of his finger than of your whole braggart body.”’ Bund was enraged. Everybody saw that plainly. He looked at Jeannette, standing with the other girls, like a modest little rose among flaunting dahlias. Nicholas Voss was playing with his dog on the other side of the field. He was a quiet, under-sized fellow, the son of the schoolmaster: ““Throw Voss! I could do it with one hand. No credit in that. The fellow has no more strength than a girl, poring over his books. I'll put him to a test that'll shame him. Jeannette shall see the stuff the baby is made of. Hey, Voss!!” he shouted. : . Nicholas came over, smiling, but coloring a little as he passed the girls. He was a diflident, awkward lad, and felt his arms and legs heavy and in the way whenevex a woman looked at him. 50 - girls!” cried Bund. The girls drég nearer, shy, but curious. Here's a question of courage to be settled. Leid wants me to try a throw with Voss, but it wouldn’t be fair, for I could fling him with one ﬁnger. and blow him over for that matter.”” - : Voss changed color; he played nervously with the dog's collar. He knew it was true that he could mot compete with Bund in a trial of strength, but it was hard to be told it; beforelittle Jeannette, too, i ~ “But there's something Voss can do as well as L.” - “What is it?” said Nicholas; eagerly. ~ “You can swim. Come, jump into river yonder with me, and seé which of us can reach the other shore!” ' The girls looked at the river. It was swollen with the spring floods, and filled with %reat lumps of ice which crunched and tore each other as they went rushing by. ' " s“Ah, that would be a brave deed!”’ they said, looking admiringly at Bund. Jeannette lookedg, and turned away with a shudder. : e “«Well 'done, Bund!”’ said the other lads. “There's no cowardice in Bund, that's certain!’’ : . Bund tore off his woolen jacket and boots, straightening himself and clapping his hand. He was not sorry that the girls should see his broad chest and embroidered braces. G “Come, little one, off with your coat! You're.a famous swimmer—and Jeannette is looking,”’ under his breath, with an angry flash in his eye. . Nicholas looked at the lads waiting; and at the excited, silly girls, and then at the icy river. He did not trust himself to look at Jeannette. In summer he had often swam the Aar at this very point. But his lungs were weak. He could not bear the slightest exposure; to plunge into this flood would be certain illness—perhaps death. And for no purpose but to gratity the pride of a vaporing, idle fellow. _ ““‘Come,come!” cried Bund. ‘‘Afraid?P”’ The lads and girls Tooked at Voss; even Jeanette's eyes were fixed curiously on him. : :

] am not going to swim,” he said. If he had bluffed it out in a strident, jocular voice, he might have carried the day. But he was painfully consciois that they all thought him a coward. He was a sensitive lad, and it cut him to the quick. : } « Afraid! afraid!’ laughed Bund, insolently. = ‘¢ Well, Voss,'i wanted to do you a good turn, and let the girls see that you had the making of a man in you. But no matter,”’ turning away contemptuously. ¢t A pity he could not wear gowns and a bonnet,’’ he said to Jeannette, Joud enough for Vossto hear. Voss turned away and went hastily down the road. He was bitter and angry, and would not go home to his old father in that mood.. He went to the bear-pits. Now everybody knows that bears are a sort of sacred animal to the Bernese, and Nicholas, like his neighbors, took a keen delight in watching the great sluggish beasts in their pits. Butghe had no pride in them now; in fact, though he leaned over the barrier and looked with the crowd, he did not see them at all. G ‘ There were many strangers there that day, ptincipal'}y EdgllxiSh travelers and Americans. Their children were climbing about the edge of the pit, a 8 no Bernese child wmﬁd dare to ‘{)o4; “Take care, youngsters!’' cried a

workman. “They are fierce—those monsters down there. An English officer fell in last spring, and though he fought for his life, that big fellow. killed him.” ‘“ Ach! See his red eves, the murderer!” cried awoman, /o 0 o 0 All the people stretched their necks to look where he lay blinking up at them; and a.stupid nurse-maid, with a child in her arms, stood on tiptoe to lean further over. There wasa push—a scream. i SR Ll ‘“The child! Ach Gott! It is gone!” The crowd siirged and pressed against the barrier. - Voss was almost crushed upon itsedge. Fora moment there was a silence like death as peopls looked with straining eyes into the darkness. below. Then they saw the little white heap close to the wall of the pit. Two of the smaller bears were snufliing it curiously. =~ The monster that had killed the Englishman was slowly gathering up his fore-legs and dragging himself towardsit. =.- . - i : There was scarcely any sound in the crowd. Men grew pale and turned away sick. A woman who had never seen tne child before fell.in a dead faint on the ground. But its mother stood quite still, leaning over the pit, her hands held out to it~ . : : ' There came 'a wild ecry from the crowd. A man had jumped into the pit. The bear turned, glared at the intruder with ‘sudden fury, and then rushed upon him. He dealt ita blow straight between the eves; but it fell like a feather on a stone wall. 1 “He leaps overhim!? ~~ .. “The others are coming on him!” *“Ach, what blows!” L i “Well struck! Again,again!"’ shouted the Englishman.. - . e . “‘But he can do nothing. He will be torn to pieces!”’ - - oL : .. *Oh, the'poorboy? == . ¢See, the bear has torn his flesh!” ‘‘He has the child! He has the child! A ladder! A ladder!” : :

. But there was no ladder to be found, nor weapons of any kind. .Thglmass of people leaned over, pit_ving, shouting, sobbing, while the struggle wenton below as silent as the grave. . The man, bleeding and pale, was pushed to the wall, the child lifted high in his arms. The savage brutes surrounded him. . There was a trunk of a tree in the centér of the pit, placed there for the bears to climb upon. He measured it with his eye, gathered his strength, and then with a mighty bound, he reached it, and began to climb. The bears followed tﬁo'the‘?oot of the trunk. s+ Aropelaropel” . - , The rope was bropght, and flung towards him. - . ‘He has it! He will tie it about his waist. No, it is the child he ties. He will save it first.”’ Lo He fastened the child, and watched it swung across in- safety. When they threw him the rope, again, he did not catch it. He was looking at the moth-. er when they put her baby in her arms. When he had taken the rope and tied it about him, a hundred strong hands, 'English, French, Swiss, were ready to help pull him in.© As he swung across the chasm, going half-way to the bottom of the pit, the bear caught at him, but its hold slipped, and the animal fell back with a battled growl. "There was a great shouting when the lad stood on the grass in satety; everybody talked at once to his neighbor. *“God be thanked!” i ¢ That is a brave fellow!’ , ** Whe i he?™ = &= v o <lt is. John Voss, the schoolmaster’s gay.”'. - : wwe ‘“Where is he?” i But Nicholas had disappeared in the confusion. . e Nothing else was talked of the next day in Berne. In the shops and kitchens, at the balls, in the brilliantlylighted great houses, evenin the Government” Council, the story was told, and the lad was spoken of with praise and ‘kindness. At the theater, somebody called for a cheer for him, and the whole house = rose with the wivais! Mother held their babies closer to their _breasts that night, and with tears prayed God to'blesshmm, ¢- o 0 1 . Meanwhile, Nicholas lay in his cot, ‘tended by his old mother and father. His legs were sorely torn. But he was happy, as he’always was, at home. - In the afternoon, a messenger from the Council knocked at the goor and left ‘an - official document. It was a deed . conveying to -Nicholas Voss a house and pasture land in the vicinity ofthetown, ..~ - & .n @=& . He put it into his father's wrinkled hands. ¢ Now, father, you are sure of a home for you and mother,” he said. He fell asleep soon after that. When he awoke, the sun was setting, and shone on the bed, and the happy old people were watching him. it A few days later, his father put a little case into his hands. =. - ‘ ¢ Look at this, my son! Never did I think a lad of mine would reach such high honor!” - i asl G %t was the gold medal of the Humane Society of Switzerland, awarded only to the bravest. A 0 e | ~ ¢«“And-here,”’ said his mother, ‘is a bunch of violets which little Jeannette left'for yom e i ot el - Nicholas’ eyes shone as he looked at the medal. But the flowers he held close to his lips.— Youth's Companion.

JOHNNIE DAVIDSON, a young son of James Davidson, of Union, Elgin County, Ont., left a new and very sharp pocket-knife, with its keen blade open, on the ground near a skating-pond, Christmas day. His three-year-old sister Jessie picked it up and ran into the house:. = A .moment afterward DMrs. Davidson heard a piercing scream, and, running into the parlor, found her little girl lying on the floor dead. She had seated herself on the lounge ‘and tried to shut the knife by pressing the blade against her left side: It cut through her clothing and pierced the heart. TaE Cincinnati Gazetle says that 150 men slept in the city station house in & single night because they had neither money nor shelter, while advertisemeats were out for 300 laborers on a single . railroad, and only 100 could be obtained. e _ i il oo A CLEVER toy of this season's invention in London is the ‘musical top. 1t is spun in the ordinary way, and, while - .spinni?n%' ‘glays. musical airs aceurateiy snd meloddoosdy. -