Ligonier Banner., Volume 25, Number 41, Ligonier, Noble County, 22 January 1891 — Page 7

MR. WAYT’'S ; 9 WIFE’'S SISTER. BY MARION HARLAND. ' [copYRiGHT, 1800.] CHAPTER IL--CONTINUED. . » He was on his way down to the kitchen now to light the fire. Unless she should interfere, he would cook breakfast, and serve it upon the table she had set over night, and sweep down the stairs and scrub the front door-steps while the family ate the morning meal. He called himself ‘“Tony,” as did all the family except Hetty and Mrs. Wayt.. The former had found ‘‘Homer Smith, Jr.,” written in a sprawling hand upon the fly-leaf of a song-book which formed the waif’s entire library. Hetty had notions native to her own small head. One was that the—but for her—friendless lad would respect himself the more if he were not addressed by what she called ‘“‘a circus-monkey’s name.” For this reason he was ‘“‘Homer” to her, and her sister followed her example because she considered the factotum and whatever related to him Hetty’s affair, and that she had a right to designate her chattel by whatever title she pleased. , Tony had come to the basement door one snowy, blowy day of a particularly cruel winter, when Hetty was maid-of-all-work. He stood knee-deep in a drift when she opened the grated door and asked, hoarsely but without a touch of thebeggar’s whine, for ‘‘a job to keep him from starvin.” He was, as he ‘‘guessed,” twenty years of age, emaciated from a spell of ‘“newmoney,” and :so nearly blind that the suggestion of a ‘‘job”’ was pitiably preposterous. Hetty took him into her neat kitchen, made him a cup of tea and cut and plied him with bread and butter until he asserted that he was ‘‘right-up-an’-down chirpy, jes’ as strong’s enny man. Couldn’t he rake out the furnace, or saw wooC or clearoff the snow, or clean shoes, or scrub the stairs; or mend broken things, or wash windows, or peel pertators, or black stoves, or sif’ ashes, or red-up the cellar—or—or—somethin’, to pay for his digner?” “I ain’t no beggar, ma’'am—nor neber will be!” Hetty hired him as a ‘‘general utility man,” at ten cents a forenoon and his breakfast for a week—then, for a month. Ile lodged wherever he could—in stable-lofts, at ' the police-station, under porches on mild nights, and when other resorts wero closed, in a midnight refuge, and never touched a drop of liquor or tobacco in any form. At the month’s end, his girlish ‘patroness cleared a corner of the attic between the sharp gable and the chimney, set up a cot, and allowed him' to sleep there. Mr. Wayt had no suspicion’ of the disreputable incumbent of the habitation honored by his name and residence, until one memorable and terrible March midnight, when a doctor must be had without the delay of an instant, revealed the secret, but under circumstances that strengthened the retainer’s hold upon his employers. Sincethen, he had been part and parcel of the establishment, proving himself as proficient in removals and settlings-down as in other branches of his business. Mr. Wayt liked to allude to him as “Hetty’s Freak.” At other times he nicknamed him ‘Kasper Hauser.” Once, and once only, in reference to Hetty’s influence over the being he chose to regard as half-witted, he spoke of him #as ‘'‘a masculine. Undine,” whereupon his sister-in-law turned upon him a lcok that surprised him and bhorrified his wife, and marched out of the room. ‘ ' Mrs. Wayt followed her presently and found her gazing out of the window of the closet to which she had fled, with livid face and dry eyes that were dangerously bright. “Percy hopes you were not hurt by his harmless little jest,” said the gentle wife. ‘‘You know, Hetty, it would kill me if you and he were to quarrel. He has the kindest heart in the world, and respects you too sincerely to offend you knowingly. You must not mind what sounds like extravagant speecH. We can not judge men of genius as we would ordinary people. And, dear, for my sake be patient!” The girl yielded to the weeping embrace of the woman whose face was hidden upon her shoulder. “Mr. Wayt”—she never gave him a more familiar title—‘‘can not hurt‘me except through you, Fanny. You and he must know that by now. I will try to keep my temper better in hand in future.” :

Hetty was young and energetic, and used to hard work. She had put the children to bed early on the ovening of their arrival in Fairhill; sent her sister, who had a sick headache, to her cham-

ber before Mr. Wayt returned from the Gilchrist’s; given Hesters aching limbs - & hot bath and a good rubbing, and only allowed Homer to help her unpack boxes until half-past ten, not retiring herself until midnight. The car-load of furniture which had preceded the family and was put in place by the neighborly parishioners, looked scantily forlorn in the roomy manse. The Ladies’ Aid Association had asked the privilege of carpeting the parlors, dining-room, stairs and halls, and Judge Gilchrist, instigated by his wife, headed a subscription that fitted up the pastor’s study handsomely. The sight of this apartment had more to do with Hetty’s short speech last night and her downheartedness this morning than the newness of quarters and the knowledge of -the nearly spent ‘‘housekeeping purse.” . ““The people will expect us to live up to that study!” she divined, shrewdly, staring into the blackness that began to show two gray lights where windows would shape themselves by and by. ““And we can not do it—strain and save and turn and twist as we may. We are always cut out on ascant pattern, and not a button meets without starting a ~seam. How sick and tired I am of it alll! How tired I am of every thing/ What if I were to lie still as other girls—as real young ladies do—and sleep until I'm rested out—rested all through! 1 should enjoy nestling down among the pillows and pulling the covers about my head, and listening to the rain as much as the laziest butterfly of them all. What’s the use of trying to keep things on their feet any longer when they must go down with a crash sooner or later? : : “I'm awfully sorry for Hetty Alling!” This was the syumming up of the gloomy reverie.. In saying it inwardly, she raised herself to pinch the pillow savagely, and doubles it into a higher prop. for-hor - restless head. “She is lonely aid homesick and hasn’t a friend in' the: world: She never can have éfl

well she is sometimes ready to curse God and die

“There! Hester, dear! I only moved you a little to make you lie easier. No! it is not time te get up. Don’t talk, dear, or you’ll wake yourself up.”

She was never cross with the afflicted child, but in her presentmood, the moan and gurgle of her obstructed respiration went through her brain like the scraping of a saw. The change of position did not make.the breathing more quiet, and Hetty got up with the general out-of-tune-ativeness, best expressed by saying that ‘‘one’s teeth are all on edge.” She dressed by candle-light, to save gas, and groped her way down theunfamiliar back-stairs to the kitchen.

It was commodious and well-appoint-ed, with a pleasant outlook by daylight. In the dawn that struggled in a lowspirited way through the rifts in the rain; and refused to blend with the yellow blink of her candle and Homer’s lantern, no chamber could be less than dismal,_ ' : Homer was on his knees in front of the flickering fire, at which he stared as if doggedly determined to put it out of countenance. {

© “Now—" his way of beginming, nine out of every ten sentences—‘‘this ere’s ‘anew pattern of a range to mé, an’its tuk me some time fur ter git holt on it. Most new things comes awk’ard to most folks.” < i ;

Hetty blew out her candle, and, dropping into a chair in physical and mental languor, sat watching the grotesque figure clearing away ashes and cinders. His wrestle with thé new pattern had begrimed his pale face and reddened his weak eyes. His matutinal costume of a dim blue flannel shirt,gray trousers and a black silk skull cap cast

W 111 L . 4 S y AL 1 17P /,f o i/ 4 I SN ¢ V 7 '@{) N Al & /) A SHCIDEA B N [[=-GRed & A Lol T meon : R HETTY SAT WATCHING THE GROTESQUE FIGURE. . off by Mr. Wayt, pushed well back upon the nape of the neck and revealing a scanty, uneven fringe of whitey-brown hair, did not provoke the spectator to a smile. “There is no bringing Am up to the tone of that study!” she meditated, grimly. ‘“‘He and I are hopeless drudges, but he is the happier of the two.” *‘Homer! I believe you really love to work!” she broke forth, finally. Homer snickered—a sudden spurt that left him very sober. His laugh always went out like a ‘damp match. ‘“Yes’m, cert'nly, ma’am! Ef twant fur worlz, there wouldn’t be nuthin’ to live furl: : ~ He shambled off to the cellar with the ash-pan, and in a few minutes, she could distinguish in the sounds rumbling and smothering - in the depths beneath her feet the melancholy tune of his favorite ditty: : - *‘On the banks of the Omaha—maha! 'Twas there we settled many a night, As happy as thelittle bird that sparkled on our block, On the banks of the Omaha!” . i Hetty raised the window and leaned out, gasping for breath., A garden lay behind the house and on one side of it. It was laid out in walks and borders and was rather broad than deep. -Beyond this were undefined clumps of trees that looked like an orchard. Roofs and chimneys and spires and lines of other trees marking the ¢ourse of streets were emerging from the soaking mists. Five o'clock struck from a tower not far away, and then a church-bell began to ring gently—a persuasive call to early prayers. . The warm, sweet, wetair that aroused her to look over the sill at a row of hyacinths in full bloom; the slow peal of the bell; the hush of the early morning—did not comfort her, but the soft moisture that filled her eyes drew heat and bitterness out of her heart. When she went up to awaken Hester she carried a spray of hyacinth bells, weighted with fragrant drops. Fine gems of rain sprinkled her hair, her cheeks were cool and damp, the scent of fresh earth and growing things clung to her skirts. She laid the flowers playfully against the heavy lids, lifted geevishly at her call.: 2

““There’s richness for you,’” she quoted. ‘‘A whole bed of them fs awaiting your inspection in the garden. And such lovely pansies—some as big as the palm of your hand. You and I and Homer, who is wild with delight over them, will claim the flowers as our especial charge and property.” “Thank you for the classification!” snapped Hester. ‘Yet we do belong to back-yards as naturally as cats and tomato cans. At least Homerand I do. You'd climb the fence if you could.” “With the other cats?” said Hetty, lightly. ‘“See! I am putting the hyacinths in your own littlo vase. I unpacked your china and books last night. Not a thing was even nicked. You shall arrange them in this jolly corner cupboard after breakfast. It looks as if it were made a-puppose, as Homer says. He has bumped his head against strange doors and skinned his poor nose against unexpected corners twenty times this morning. He say - ‘Now—l ’spose it’s the bran-new house what ozcites me so. I allers gits ozcited in a strange place.’” The well-meant diversion was ineffectual. :

‘‘His oxcitement ought to be chronie, then! Ugh! that water is scalding hot!” shrinking from the sponge in Hetty’s hand. “For we’ve done nothing but ‘move on’ ever since 1 can recollect. I overheard mother.say once, with a sort of reminiscent sigh, that our ‘longest pastorate was in Cincinnati’ We were there just four years. We were six months in Chillicothe, and seven in Ypsilanti. Then there was a year in Memphis, and eighteen months in Natchez, and thirteen in Davenport. The Little Rock church had a strong constitution. Westayed there two years and one week. It’s my opinion that ke is the Wandering Jew, and we are one of the Lost Tribes.”

She smiled sour approbation of her sarcastic sally, jerking her head backward to bririg’ Hetty’s face within range of her vision. The deft fingers were fastetiing strings and straps over the misshapen shoulders. The visage was grave, but always kind to her difficult charge. : ' “You think thlat is irreverent,” Hester fretted, wrinkllng her forehead and beetling her eyebrows., ‘‘lt isn’t a cir-

cumstance to what I am thinking all the time. Somo;day I shall be left to myself, and my bosom-devil long enough to spit it all out. It’s just bottling up, like the venom in Macbeth’s witches’ toad that had sweltered so long under a stone. But for you, cross-patch, all would. have been said and done long ago.” - ‘““You wouldn’t make your mother une happy if you could help it,” Hetty said, cheerily. ‘‘And itisn’t flattering to her to compare her daughter to a toad.”

Hester was silent. As she sat in Het~ ty’s lap, it could be seen that she was not larger than a puny child of seven or eight. The curved spine bowed and heightened the thin shoulders; she had never walked a step since the casualty that nearly cost her her life. Only the face and hands were uninjured. The latter were exquisitely formed, the feat~ ures fine and clearly-cut, and suscepti= ble to every change of emotion. That the gentle reproof had not wrought peaces able fruits was apparent from her expression. The misfit in her organizae tion was more painfully perceptible ta herself early in the day than afterward. She seemed to have lost consciousness of her unlikeness to other people while asleep, and to be compelled to readjuss mental and physical conditions every morning. Hetty dreaded the process, yet was hardly aware of the full effect upon her own spirits, or why she so often went down to breakfast jaded and appe= titeless.

*'l often ask myself,” resumed Hester, with slow malignity, repulsive in one of her age and relation-to those she condemaned—*‘if children ever really honor their parents. We won’t waste ammunition upon A¢m-—but there is my mother. She is a pattern of all angelio virtues, and a woman of remarkable mental endowments. You have told me again and again that she is the best person you ever knew—patient, heroic, loving, loyal and so on to the end of the string! You tell over her perfections as a Papist tells her beads. The law of kindness is in her mouth; and her children shall arise and call her blessed, and she ought not to be afraid of the snow for her household while her sister and her slave Tony are to the fore. Don’t try to stop me or the toad will spit at you! I say that this one would think impossible She, the modern rival of Solomon’s pious and prudish wise woman—is weak and unjust and—" . Hetty interrupted the tirade by rising and laying the warped frame, all a quiver with excitement, upon the bed. “You’d better get your sleep out’— covering her up. “When you awake again you will behave more like a reasonable creature. I can not stay here and listen to vulgar abuse of your mother and my best friend.” She said itin firm composure, drew down the shades, and without another glance at the convulsed heap sobbing under the bed-clothes, left the chamber. Outside the door she paused as if expecting to be recalled, but no summons came. She shook her head with a sad little smile and passed down to the breakfast-room.

Father, mother and four children were at the table. Mr. Wayt, in dressing jacket, slippers and silk skull-cap, acup of steaming chocolate at his right hand, was engrossed in the morning paper. A pair of scissors was beside his plate, that he might clip out incident or statistics which might be useful in the preparation of his wide-awale sermons. IHe made no sign of recognition at the entrance of his wife’s sister; Mrs. Wayt smiled affectionately and lifted her face for a good-morning salute, indicating by an expressive gesture her surprise and pleasure at having found room and meal in such attractive order. Long practice had made her an adept in pantomime. The boys nodded over satisfactory mouthfuls; pretty Fanny pulled her aunt down for a hug asshe passed; even the baby made a mute rosebud-of her mouth and beckonedgdstty=not to overlook her. !

Mr. Wayt’s digestion was as idiosyncratic as his nervous 'system. While the important unseen apparatus carried on the business of assimilation, the rest of the physical man was held in quiescent subjugation. Agitation of molecular centres might entail ruinous consequences. He reasoned ably upon this point, citing learned authorities in defence of the dogma that simultaneous functionation—such as animated speech or auricular attention, and digestion—an impossibility, and referring to the examples of dumb creatures to prove that rest during and after eating is a natural law. el

He raised his eyes above the margin of his newspaper at the chink of the chocolate-pot against the cup in Hetty’s hand. The questioning gaze met a goodly sight. His wife’s sister wore a buff gingham, finished at throat and wrists with white cambric ruffles, hemmed and gathered by herself. Her dark-brown hair was in perfect order; her sleeves were pushed back from strong, shapely wrists. She alwaya gave one the impression of ' cleanlimbedness, elasticity and neatness. She was firm of flesh and of will. The prettier woman at the head of the

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FATHER, MOTHER AND CHILDREN WERE : AT THE TABLE. table was flaccid beside her. The eyes of the younger were fearless in meeting the master’s scrutiny, those of his wife were wistful, and clouded anxiously in passing from one to the other. “For Hester,” said Hetty, in a low voice, looking away from Mr. Wayt to her sister. ‘‘She is tired, and will take her breakfast in bed.”

‘I remonstrate”’—Mr. Wayt’s best au-dience-tones also addressed his wife—“as I have repeatedly had occasion to do, against the practice of pampering an invalid until her whims dominatq the household. Not that I have the least hope that my protest will be heeded. But as the child’sfather, I can not, in conscience, withhold it.” Light scarlet flame, in which her features seemed to waver, was blown across Hetty’s face. She set down the pot, poured back what she had taken ' from it, and with a reassuring glance at her sister’s pleading eyes, went off ta the kitchen. There she hastened to find milk, chocolate and sauce-pan, and to prepare a foaming ocup of Hester’s favorite beverage, Homer., meanwhile toasting a slice of bread, delicately snl . quickly. = | . 4 . [ro BE CONTINUED.]

§-THE PLUTOCRATIC RADICALS.

Measures for the Perpetuation of Sectional : Strife.

Mr. Edmunds. of Vermont, is the gensleman who so recently showed his sincere regard for the welfare of the country by securing two cents a pound on maple sugar from the Treasury for the sap-boilers of that State. Mr. Hoar, of Massachusetts, is a Senator who during a long legislative experience has never failed to use all the power of his intellect to serve the ends of the Northeastern ‘‘Commune of Capital.” Mr. Chandler, of New Hampshire, 18 as subservient a tool of plutocracy as is Mr. Hoar, and he has moreover a record in connection with the worst period of jobbery in the navy which has fixed his moral status so that no one is at all in doubt concerning it. : _

These three men constitute the triumvirate which is attempting to coerce the Senate into passing the Davenport force bill, under which elections are to be controlled by District of Columbia returning boards, backed by bayonets. Behind this bill is ‘‘the American Protective Tariff League,” the association of monopolists organized to furnish the fat fund of 1888 and to control money and supply through Federal legislation.

It is because of this demand for the bill that Messrs. Hoar, Chandler and Edmunds are so determined on its passage. A strong semtiment has grown up in the West against Northeastern control of money, and the agricultural States of the South sympathize with = at; while in the South from year to year there is growing up a stronger competition in manufactured goods with the Northeast. The result of this, if not checked, will be more and cheaper goods in the market and more money to buy them with. The tariff prevents the agricultural States from buying outside the country, and the plutocratic States of the Northeast have in so much a monopoly. But the tariff can not be used to prevent Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee from manufacturing their own cotton and other raw materials in competition with the plutocratic States. The only method by which this ‘“overproduction,” as the Northeastern trusts call every thing which cheapens the necessaries of life, can be prevented is by reviving the old sectional quarrel on the line of a manufactured race issue. The plutocratic radicals are attempting to do that for the South, while at the same time they are trying to keep money and supply controlled against the West. When every thing else fails them, when the West rises in a tremendous revolt against them, it only malkes them the more desperate and the more determined on returning board and bayonet. - Only through such means can plutocracy maintain the control it has usurped over a free people.—St. Louis Republic. - - JINGO JUGGLERY. ~ The Disturbing Element in the Republic- : an Party. . An Oregon friend of Mr. Blaine is quoted as saying, by authority, that the Secretary ‘‘is not advocating reciprocity for a Presidential boom, but only for the good of the country.” This alleged confidant of the Maine politician’s ambitions adds that “Spain and Spanish-speaking countries annually consume 4,000,000 barrels of flour not produced in their countries, the duty on which is 85.80 a barrel.” - This may not have any political bearing, but it sounds remarkably hike the sentiment of that letter about a ‘‘single bushel of wheat or a single barrel of pork,” which beyond question was a powerful political factor in the contest between ‘‘the Man from Maine” and his ambitious and bumptious rival, exCzar Reed.

The Blaine spokesman concludes by saying that ‘‘the United States could furnish every one of those barrels of flour, if they got the chance. You can put it down that Blaine won’t run in 1892.” This is a clear case of ‘‘nonsequitur.” To attempt to construct so strong 'a platform for Blaine for the mere purpose of announcing that he won’t stand on it would be a sort of nonsense in which astute politicians do not indulge. . 0 If the Republican platform for 92 is going to be the Blaine platform of partial free trade through optional reciprocity, it is hard to see how any other than Blaine himself can stand upon it. President Harrison clearly could not without an absolute surrender to_his Cabinet officer. If the President should make that surrender, he would surely alienate the McKinley elements as represented by the declaration of the officers and organs of the Protective Tariff League and the Manufacturers’ Club. ;

With respect to principles, as well as with regard to possible candidates, the condition of the Republican party is one of seemingly hopeless discord and disorder.—N. Y. Star. -

THE RESULT OF OPPRESSION. The Outcome of a Tyrannical System of Merciless Exaction. The Farmers’ Alliance is the product of indignation and despair—indignation at the merciless exactions imposed on the agricultural interest by the Republican party and despair that the other great National party would ever be able to obtain the supremacy and right the wrongs perpetrated by its powerful adversary. That this indignation was originally well founded is beyond question. It is doubtful if the all-important industry of agriculture was ever subjected in any country, except, perhaps, in feudal France just before the Revolution, to so many crushing burdens as the Republican party heaped upon it in this. It is also beyond question that the despair of the Democratic party ever coming into power was also originally well founded. Those who organized the Alliance saw nothing between them and eternal -spoliation but the unaided strength of the farmer. Since this vista was presented times have altered. The policy of the Republican party has been changed only to intensify it, and the indignation which was originally justified by that policy has now more justification than ever. The relief that party pretends to give is merely illusory; the burden hasin reality been grievously augmented, and the hypocrisy which seeks to sugar over the superadded wrong is a fresh motive for new detestation. But on the other side of the picture there has been a genuine and decided change. There is no room now for despair as to Democratic supremacy and the permanence of that supremacy. The Republican party has had its day and must go. The exigency which called it into existence is long over. The great party of the future in this country is the Democratic party, and no oppressed popular interest ever looked to that party in vain.—N. Y. Worlg.

‘ AN OMINOUS YEAR. What the Close of the Year 1890 Has ; Revealed. The record of the Republican party for 1890 is one that the party would gladly expunge from its annals. I% commences with the dictatorship of Speaker Reed in the National House of Representatives, and closes with a desperate and insane effort in the Senate to impose upon a free people bayonet rule at elections. The proceedings of the Republican majority in Congress have been characterized by usurpation of the most reckless description, disregard for the choice of the people by unseating legally elected Senators and Representatives, shameless extravagance to the extent of seriously embarrassing the Treasury, the passage of a bill outlawing importers, and the infamous tariff bill, which has caused such disastrous disturbances in the channels of business, the exposure of frauds in Government departments, the attempt to place the force bill, the subsidy bill and a highly dangerous financial bill on the statute books. ‘

The year 1890 is also memorable for the grand uprising of the American people on the fourth of November, which almost annihilated the Republican party, and taught political desperadoes that there was a power unsafe to defy. Quay, Platt, McKinley, Reed and all the hosses that strutted so insolently and confidently on the political boards for the first ten months of the year, are now objects of contempt and derision. In American politics, therefore, it may be seen that 1890 was a most notable year. The McKinley tariff law has had the immediate effect of increasing prices and cutting down wages, of stimulating the creation of trusts and adding to the long list of business failures. The close of the year found the Secretary of the Treasury in a dazed condition of mind as to the outcome of the financial situation, and Republican financiers in Congress tinkering with a bill that is likely to complicate the situation still more. It was, indeed, a very ominous year for the party and Administration that entered upon it with such confidence and in high spirits.—Albany Argus. '

NOTES AND CPINIONS.

——Speaker Reed’s remark that this is a time for patriots to keep their mouths shut, taken in connection with his impressive silence since the elections, leads to the inference thathe considers himself a model patriot.—Boston Herald. 3 : : ——The Republican papers are pointing out that sugar is cheaper, and that it is due to the McKinley tariff bill. Yes, it is likely that sugar may be lower in price. But it is one of the cases where the tariff was removed. This proves that the tariff is a tax.—Adrian Press. :

- The first result on wages that has occurred since the McKinley bill became a law, in this locality, secems to be a reduction of ten per cent. in our largest steel works. As the McKinley bill has advanced the price of most of the mnecessaries and comforts of life from ten to twenty per cent., is the reduction in wages of ten per cent. in the nature of compensation?—Pittsburgh Post. ——llt looks very much as if President Harrison and Secretary Blaine were attempting to imitate the policy of the third (and last) Napoleon, who sought to amuse the French with outside questions because the internal situation had become intolerable. But have these statesmen forgotten the National humiliation and calamities which followed the Napoleonic policy?—Philadelphia Times. S ——lln the defeat of the force bill the Democrats in the United States Senate have earned the gratitude of the country, and the people will look with equanimity on the crocodile tears shed by Mr. Hoar and his allies. Not even the flood of oratory favoring legislation for the benefit of silver-mine owners will lessen the feeling of rejoicing at the escape from the intended basis for further investments by Dudley in blocks of five.—Chicago Times. '

——*“The Federal elections bill is ‘ dead,” says the New York Age (Rep.), organ of the negroes. ‘lt has gone to keep company with the Federal education bill, The Republican party has ’ broken faith with the voters of the country upon two or three measures upon which it won the elections of 1888. The best interests of the Afro-Amer-icans have been cut to pieces in the House of their friends. The treachery of the Hayes administration has been repeated under the Harrison administration.” ‘ .

A Reckless Resort.

The whole discussion of the force bill, on the part of the Republican press, is distinguished by a studious disregard of the constitutional objections to the measure. The bill is pernicious enough in itself, but it is worse as establishing a precedent for the filching away, little by little, of the rights of sovereign States, which should be preserved inviolable at all hazards. There will be a desperate fight against the passage of the act, and, if it does pass, it will be the final nail in the coffin of the reckless party that is its sponsor. The legislation of the present session of Congress is not for to-day, nor is the Nation or any State so ephemeral an institution that there is any excuse for making it the plaything of small politicians who will be dead and gone, while the evil they have done may still live and have an active effect. One would think that the desperation of defeat had turned the brains of these men, for they are as reckless of the future as is the bankrupt spendthrift who is having his last debauch at the expense of his creditors. —Detroit Free Press.

Benny’s Boom.

Harrison by the aid of his officeholders triumphed in the organization of the Indiana Republican State Committee, and his ‘‘boom” for re-election is now well started in the Hoosier State. By what means this virtuous statesman hopes toaccomplish his renomination is revealed by this remark, credited to a member of thecommittee who is heart and soul for the President: ‘“You all know that we carried the election by the use of ‘boodle’ in 1888, and that we lost it in 1890 because it could not be used to advantage and because of the new Australian election law. We must have a chairman who is smart enough to get around that law, and it must be got rid of somehow.” ' And the State so prolific in Dudleys, which gave its electoral vote to Garfield for Dorsey’s ‘“‘soap” and was won for Harrison with Dudley’s “‘blocks of five,” gave to Harrison as a fidus Achates one John R. Gowdy, who, it js to be hoped, is ‘“‘smart enough” t¢ violate law and steal a State, ~Chicago| Times. :

o FOR GIRLS AND BOYS.V-‘ - A LITTLE BOY'S OPINION. My mother she’s so good tome, Efl was good as I could be, I couldn’t be as good—no, sir! Oan’t any boy be good as ner! : Bhe loves me when I'm glad er mad; | Bhe loves me when I’'m good er bad; ; An’, what's a funniest thing, she says Bhe loves me when she punishes: ¥ don’t like her to punish me: o That don’t hurt, but it hurts to see ~ Her cryin’—nen 7 ery; an’ nen ‘We both cry—an’ be good again. She loves me when she cuts and sews My little cloak an’ Sunday clothes; An’ when my Pa comes home to tea, She loves him 'most as much as me. Bhe laughs an’ tells him all I said, : An’ grabs me up an’ pats iy head; . An’l hug her, an’ hug my Pa, . An’ love him purt’ nigh much as Ma. —James Whitcomb Riley, in Century. A NICE DOG. . When He Hurt Hls Foot He Knew Where ; to Go for Relief. Old Jack is a great big dog with a soft, curly coat. His eyesare large and soft, and he looks wise and noble. Jack is a good dog. He never barks or snaps at any body unless he thinks they are in mischief. He knows so much he can alwagys tell when a boy or man is bad. : . At night he lies on his master’s doorstep and takes care of the house. i

If a man comes to the front door and rings the bell Jack keeps very quiet. He says to himself:

‘“This is one of my master’s friends, I suppose; I shall let him in of course.” But if Jack is not pleased with the actions of the man he jumps up, sticks up his ears and tail and opens his mouth in such a great loud ‘‘bow-wow” as makes the man run off as fast as his legs can carry him. . Once a boy came into the yard and tried to steal pears. He looked all about and thought nobody saw him. Jack saw him. Just as the boy threwa stick into a tree to bring down a pear out jumped Jack. - But Jack did not bite the boy, he caught him by the coat and held him fast till his master came. o

One day Jack went down street with Robert, his master’s son. The walk was covered with ice. Robert slipped and fell. When he tried to get up he could not walk. Some men carried him across the street to Dr. Bond’s. | The doctor said he was not bhurt much. It was only a bone that had slipped out of place in his anlkle. Jack sat in a corner. and his great wise eyes watched the doctor while he pulled and rubbed the hurt foot. Pretty soon Robert could walk as well as ever. -

Jack was glad; he wagged his tail and almost laughed. ’ o Another day Jack was going down town by himsel{f. He had not gone far when he stopped and held up one foot and cried out with pain. What could be the matter? He stood still and howled, but nobody came to help him. What should he do? = At once a bright thought came into Jack’s head. - : :

“If the doctor can cure a boy's foothe can cure a dog’s foot,” said Jack to himself; so he limped off to Dr. Bond's office. He scratched at the door, and whined till it was opened. : o ‘“Why, Jack! what do you want?” said Dr. Bond. - .

Then Jack held up his foot. ° The doctor looked.at it and saw a piece of broken glass in it.

“Poor Jack!” said kind Dr. Bond. ““Walk in, old fellow, and we will see what can be done.” ;

Jack held very still while the doctor took the glass out and tied up his foot in a soft rag wet with arnica. o “Good Jack,” said Dr. Bond; ‘‘you are all right now; go home.”

So Jack thanked the doctor as well as he could with eyes and tail, and went off hom~ a happy dog, even if he did go on three legs.—Mrs. C. M. Livingston, in Pansy. . i ; A SPOILED PET. How Bonnie Sometimes . Interfered with the Peace of Pussy’s Family. One day last spring Tommie and Homer went to the woods to play, Sancho, their faithful playfellow, accompanying them. Scarcely had they entered the woods when Sancho set up a furious barking, and just as Homer turned to see what the noise was about a. tiny squirrel ran up the leg of his trousers and hid under his coat. - The little boys ran to tell mamma what they had found. - The poor squirrel was so ijightenedg‘it crept close under Homer’s arm, and mamma had to pull and coax it out. . ““What will you do with it?” asked mamma. - _ ~ “I’ll make a nice cage for him,” Homer replied, hopping about and clap“ping his hands. ‘“Won’t he be a cute pet, though?” “I’ll tell you a better plan,” said mamma. ‘‘He loves freedom as much as little boys do, and I do not think it would be right to confine him. Do you?” Both boys hesitated teo reply. They were very fond of pets, very tender and thoughtful with them, and neither of them could think of doing any thing that would grieve Bonnie. - “What would you do with him, mamma?’”’ anxiously inquired Homer. ‘“You wouldn’t let him go?” . “No, we will keep him if we can. You know Pussy had five little. babies and one died this merning. I believe she would let Bonnie take the place of her dead baby.” . : , “Oh, try r‘her—do, mamma, do,” shouted Tom. el

“We must ask Pussy first, dearie,”’ said mamma. ‘‘She may think him an intruder and want to make a‘dinner of him. Pussies like squirrels, you know, and we must be very cautious, or she may spoil our plans.” ‘ : Mamma, followed by the eager boys, one of whom carried Bonnie, went in search of pussy and found her with her babies fast asleep. They put Bonnie with her and waited to see what she would do.. To their delight she took him in her motherly arms and kissed him in her cat-way just as she did her own wee babies. : ¢She finks he her own children,” said little Tom. ‘‘She my tat an’ tourse she won’t eat my little pet.” L

“She hasn’t discovered the difference yet,” said mamma. °‘‘lf she does she may not be so motherly.” > By and by, after Bonnie had taken dinner along with the kittens and had a sound nap, he crept out and made a tour of the room. Pussy heard him as he climbed here and there, and the noise suggested the presence of a. mouse. Bhe crouched behind a box and waited for it to come in sight. Butimagine her look of perplexed wonder when, instead of a mouse, Bonnie ran upto her ina most trustful manner, asking ker in his

own cunning way for food and protec- ™ tion. Pussy stared at himin open-eyed astonishment. Onemoment she seemed quite sure he was a_ rat, and the next *ust as sure he was one of her babies. |

" Then she would be in doubt agaim and pounce upon him with the evident intention of making a meal of him, but he looked so. beseechingly at her that she hesitated, and ended by taking him in' among her brood once more. She kept this sort of thing up for two or three days, when she concluded that he really belonged to her family, and from that-he was her especial favorite. ¢oOh, mamma, mamma,” exclaimed# little Tom one day, ‘“tum in ’ere wight quick, and see what Bonnie do to he mamma. He des bitin’ har an’ wunned all ober her, an’ she des ack like she fink it funny, she do.” . Sure enough, there sat Pussy, evidently no less amused than Tommy, while Bannie romped over her, bit her ears, scratched her nose and gnawed her tail in the most fearless manner. ‘ . Bonnie soon outgrew his mates and his agile movements surprised them very much and vexed them no little sometimes. Often when they were sure they had him down and that he could not get up without their permission, the first thing they knew he would be saucily eyeing them from his perch on the bed, or peeping at them from under the sofa. But he was like some boys and girls I know. His love of fun often caused him to be unmindful of his playfellows, and frequently he hit them so 'hard, and scratched them so unmerciMfully, that they would cry out with 'pain. This always brought Pussy to the scene, and though Bonnie was the offender and did not deserve it he invariably received her sympathy, while the others were scolded. And she is like some mothers I know.

Pussy and her children soon came to look upon the adopted member of the family as a very dear creature, and Tommy and Homer, of course, shared in this opinion. He had tHe freedom of the house from the kitchen to the bed-room, and, if he chose to take a nap, erept underthe cover with mamma when she was lying -down, curled himself at her feet and slept as long as he liked; or, if he wished to play hide and seek while the family were at dinner, he was welcome to do so, since every one enjoyed see¢ing him race under the table, popping up into this one’s lap, then that ‘one’s lap, leaping over papa’s head, and frequently ending his play by stealing a lump of sugar from the bowl, and seating himself wherever it came handiest to eat it; in the most cunning and captivating way. , Like most boys and girls who are indulged too muchj Bonnie was saucy and .exacting .at times. One day he picked a gnarrel with Dan, a grandfatherly old cat who had occupied a place in the household long before the frisky squirrei had made itsappearance there. Dan objected to the liberties taken with him by this spoiled pet, and with good intentions, no doubt, - dealt him a smart cuff on the ear. This so enraged Bonnie that he flew at his would-be instructor in manners, and a very lively battle ensued. Pussy heard the tumult, and thinking from Bonnie’s angry squeals that the old gentleman was unduly severe, rushed to the spot and defended her willful and rebelious - child. ~ Such behavior onher part caused a rupture in the family, which, I am sorry to say, never healed. And from that time, as long as Bonnie remained there, Dan never entered the house without being assaulted. With the return of summer Bonnie’s inborn love for the woods led him-away from his adopted home, and the little boys have never ceased to.mourn his absence.—Mrs. N. 'A. Montfort, in Detroit Free Press. :

: ° Addie’s Account. The Boston Herald tells the story of little Addie. She had been taught by her mother to keep a carefil account of her pennies, in order to know how each was spent, and to learn how to manage money. One day a paper containing her weekly account was found on the floor. It read as follows: i Received twooents.. oil B Spent ane.. i viiiiaeiinsnl S ilaiee s Spentildlli.. sil e sovaißiiseni it L At least Addie’s account “balanced,” which is more than can be said of some older accountants than she. FROM YOUTHFUL MINDS.. —¢‘“My sister’s got a camera,” announeedTed. “Huh!” said Georgia, not wishing to be outdone, ‘“‘my sister could play.on the camera before you weére born.”— Youth’s Companion. —“Mamma, what is the nse of keeping the whip for use on mé behind the motto: ‘God bless our home?’” “Can you suggest a better place?” ‘‘Yes, mamma; put it behind the motto: ‘I need thee every hour.’”’—Central West.

—Rev. Dr. Primrose—‘‘Even though you were a very bad boy, I was glad to hear you tell the teacher you was sorry. It showed you felt repentant.” Little Johnnie—“Naw. It showed I wanted to get off.”—Epoch. i —Little Mabel described graphically her sensation on striking a dimpled elbow on the bed carving. ‘‘Oh, my!” she sighed, ‘‘mamma, I've struck my arm just where it makes stars in my fingers.”—Babyhood. ' —Little Hans (to his mother, who is anxiously looking for his smaller sister)

—¢o, don’t be worried, mamma; they will ‘be ‘sure to find Elsie when they clear up the rooms in the morning.”— Fliegende Blatter. - —First Small Boy—¢‘Say, Johnny, don’t sling them old chicken-heads over in our front yard.” Second Boy—‘‘Why not?” ‘’Cause the minister is in the house, and if he should see ’em he'd stay to dinner; and there’s only one pie.” —The other day alittle fellow entered a store and said: . “I want a dog’s muzzle.” ‘ls it for your father?” asked the cautious shopkeeper, who saw that the boy made no offer to pay for it. “No,” said the customer, indignantly, “of course it isn’t. It’s for our dog.”

Not a Marrying Man.

Anxious Mamma—Yes, Mr. Lakeside, the fact is I have three daughters wha ought to be settled in life. Is this West-~ ern friend of yours a marrying man? Mr. Lakeside (of Chicago)—Not toany great extent, mum. Dl'm afraid he wouldn’t want to take more than one of ‘em.-~-N. Y. Weekly. : —Alligators invade the hen-houses of Louisiaha planters. A resident of Plaquemine Parish, hearing a commos tion among his biddies a few nights ago, went out %o discover the cause, and was. groping in the dark when something snapped at him, cutting a gash in his cheek. Procuring a lantern and summoning help, he found a big alligator, ‘which was killed and found to measora 11 feet 10 inches in length, with & head two and » half feet longe - o+ 2t