Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1889 — Page 6

ALLAN QUATERMAIN.

A Record of Remarkable Adventures and Discoveries.

BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.

SYNOPSIS "y 1 : 7~, (Allan Qnatennsin , chafing under the reetrnint •f <ivlhzation, and in the death of hie eon Harry being lonely and disconsolate " without kith or kin concludes co make another trig into Africa; He had heard vaguely of a distant part of Africa beiny pro pled with a strange whlte'race, and be propose; ifpoeelble discover tr>e truth or falsity of the report. He broached the subject to his old friends and as* sociate adventurers in KukuanaHnd—Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good,—who, themselves wearied of their situation, eagerly join in the expedition. Thereupon the party embark for their new field of adven tore. They soon reached Lamu, and with the aid of the consul complete arrangements with a party of Nakai Askai to transport their goods. This party was loth to make the trip, but was induced to do so by the demands and threats »f Umslopogaas, a deposed Zulu chife.whom Quatermain had known in other adventures. Ten days tfter leaving Lamu the party found themselves on ■be Tana river. At Chara they had a quarrel with the headsman of the bearers, who wanted to extort .extra payment. As the result he threatened to set the Masai on them. The party embarked on the riv>r In canoes. At night they deemed it unsafe to camp in shore, and therefore anchored in midstream. At > late hour, Quatermain, being awake, felt the boat move. Soon a hand was thrust in tne canoe, and ineof the Wakwafi was stabbed to the heart. He st tered a piercing yell and Quatermain, grasping Vmsivpogaas'a battle-ax, struck a terriffic blow at the hand andeevered it from the arm. the hand fating into the boat. Dark objects were then seen moving toward the shore, and it became known that the Masai had conspired to murder them as they slept. The warning was ih time, and their lives were saved. The party resumed its travels.and,after many hours ♦f arduous labor, they reached the mission stationfhey received a hearty welcome. The station was 10. oat-don an eminence overlooking the river,and was inrrounded by a high stone wan.'with a d'itch ou the outer side filled withwater. There were a garden and many beautiful cultivated flowars within She enclosure. The mission consisted of Mr. Mackenzie, his wife, little daughter.. Flossie, a French took, Alphonse, and several natives. Here Quateraain received further information of the unknown white race they were seeking. It is feared the Masai srill attack the travelers here. Flossie delermines to. ibtain forQuaterniain a specimen of the ’Goya’ lily. »ne of the largest and most beautiful flowers known. Alphonse tells the story of his life—of the heroic blood of his grandfather which does not course thro’ tie veins; of his love for his Annette Drawn for sonscription.he hunts for glory on the bloody battlegold; satified while in barracks Flaces hie Annette ander protection of bis cousin. He is ordered toTon. t«in. Dim not want to berippedopen. Deserts. Flies to his Annette. Finds himself supplanted by lis cousin. Strikee and kills his cousin. Flees. Now finds himself in Africa. Flossie with two or ;hree attendants, goes after a Goya lily. Party at stission in great distress over her failnre to return,.. While sitting on tlx) veranda, after dark, a human lead fulls at the feet of Quatermain. It proves to be the bead of one of Flossie’s attendants. A herald toon after knocks for admittance. Announces the rapture of Flossie by a party of two hundred and ifty masai and demands, as the price for her release the lives of the travelers. Quatermain offers to give bis life for Flossie s, but Mackenzie and party will sot permit it. They ask for time, until day break, m consider the important matter. It ie reluctantly framed. ,A note surreptitiously received in Flossie's basket, demand that tne exchange be not made, and lays that if she can find no way of rescue, she will ihoot herself. Unelopogaaa promises to tear the nasni dog limb from limb. They prepare and wait.] The reader will be enabled by this synopsis to eu:oy the remarkable story that follows:

CHAPTER VII. A SLAUGHTER GRIM AND GREAT. Then came a pause, and we stood there in the chilly silent darkness waiting till the moment came to start. It was, perhaps, the most trying time of all—that slow, slow quarter of an hour. The minutes seemed to drag along with leaden feet, and the quiet, the solemn hush, that brooded over all—big, as it were, with a coming fate, was most oppressive to the spirits. I once remember having to get up before dawn to see a man hanged, and I then went through a very similar set of sensations, only in the present instance my feelings wore animated by that more vivid and personal element which naturally appertains rather to the person to be operated on than to the most sympathetic spectator. The solemn faces of the men, well aware that the short passage of an hour would mean for some, and perhaps all of them, the last great passage to the unknown or oblivion; the bated whispers in which they ipoke; even Sir Henry's thoughtful examination of his wood-eutter’s ax and the figdety way in which Good kept polishing his eyeglass, all told the same nerves stretched pretty nigh io breaking point. Only Umslopogaas, leaning as usual upon Inkosikaas and taking an occasional pinch of snuff, was to all appearance perfectly and completely unmoved, nothing could touch his iron nerves. The moon went down, for a long while she had been getting nearer to the horizon, now she finally sunk and left the world in darkness save for a faint gray tinge in the eastern sky that palely heralded the coming aw n. Mr. Mackenzie stood, watch in hand, his wife clinging to his arm and striving to stifle her sobs. ‘•Twenty minutes to four;” he said, “it ought to he light enough to attack at twenty minutes past four. Captain better be moving, he will want three or four minutes’ start.” Good gave one final polish to his eyeglass, nodded to us in a jocular sort of way—which I could not help feeling it must have cost him something to muster up—and, ever, polite, took of his steel-lined can to Mr. Mackenzie and started for his position at the head of the kraal, to ‘reach which he had to make a detour by some paths known to the natives? Just then one of the ’ boys came in and reported that everybody in the Masai camp, with the exception of the two sentries who were walking up and down in front of the respective entrances. appeared to be fast asleep. Then the rest of us took the road. Firsts came the ’guide, then Sir Henry, Umslopogaas, the Wakwafi Askari, and Mr. Mackenzie’s two mission natives armed with long spears and shields. I followed immediately after with Alphonse and five natives all armed with guns, and Mr. Mackenzie brought up the rear with the six remaining natives.

The cattle kraal where the Masai were camped lay at the foot of the hill an. which the house stood, or, roughly speaking, about eight huhdeed yards from the Mission building. The first five hundred yards of this distance we traversed quietly indeed, but at a good pace; after that we crept on as silently as a leopard on his prey, gliding like ghosts from bush to bush and stone to stone. When I had gone a little way I chanced to look behind me. and saw the redoubta-

ble Alphonse staggering along with white face and trembling knees, and hie rifi.-. which was at full cock, pointed directly at tho small of my back. Having halted and carefully put the rifle at ••Mdety,’' we shirted again, and all ■went well till we within one hundred yards or so of the kraal, When his teeth begun to chatter in the most aggressive wav.

‘•lf you' don't stop that I will kill you,” I whispered, savagely; for the idea of having all our lives sacrificed to a tooth -chattering French cook was too much for me. I began to fear that he would betray us, and heartily wished we had left him behind. “But, monsieur, I can not help it,” he answered; “it is the cold-”. Here was a dilemma, but fortunately I devised a plan. In the pocket of the coat I had on was a small piece of dirty rag that I had used some time before to clean a gun with. “Put this in your mouth, ” I whispered again, giving him the rag; “and if I hear another sound you are a dead man. ” I knew that that would stifle the chatter of his ivories. I must have looked as if ] meant what I said, for he instantly obeyed me and continued his journey with an oily corner of rag hangin g down his chin. Then we crept on again.

At last we were within fifty yards of the kraal. Between us and it was an open space of sloping grass with only one mimosa bush and a couple of tussocks of a sort of thistle for cover. We were still hidden in fairly thick bush. It was beginning to grow light. The stars had paled and a kind of sickly gleam played about the east and was reflected on the earth. We could see the outline of the kraal clearly enough and could also make out the faint glim - mer of the dying embers of the Masai camp-fires. We halted and watched, for the sentry we knew was posted at the opening. Presently he appeared, a fine tall fellow, walking idly up and down within five paces of the thornstopped entrance. We had hoped to catch him napping, but it was not to be. He seemed particularly wide awake. If we could not kill that man, and kill him silently, we were lost. There we crouched and watched him. Presently Umslopogaas, who was a few paces ahead of me, turned and made a sign, and the next second 1 saw him go down on his stomach like a snake, and taking an opportunity when the sentry’s head was turned, begin to work his way through the grass without a sound.

The unconscious sentry commenced to hum a little tune, and Umslopogaas cret on. He reached the shelter of the mimosa-bush unperceived and there wait ed, Still the sentry walked up and down 4 Presently he turned and looked over the wall into the camp. Instantly the human snake who was stalking him glided on ten yards and got behind one of the tussocks of the thistle-like plant, reaching it as the Elmoran turned again. As he turned, his eye fell upon this patch of thistles, and it seemed to strike him that it did not look quite right. He advanced a pace toward it, halted,yawned, stooped down, picked up a little pebble, and threw it at it It hit Umslopogaas upon the head, luckily not upon the armor-shirt Had it done so the elink would have betrayed us. Luckily, too, the shirt was browned and hot bright steel, which would certainly have been detected. Apparently satisfied that there was nothing wrong, he then gave over his investigations and contented himself with leaning on his spear and standing gazing idly at the tuft. For at least three minutes did he stand thus, plunged apparently in a gentle reverie, and there we lay in the last extremity of anxiety, expecting every moment that we should be discovered or that some untoward accidentwould happen. I could hear Alphonse’s teeth going like anything on the oiled rag, and turning my head round made an awful face at him. But I am bound to state that my own heart was at much the same game as the Frenchman’s castanets, while the perspiration was pouring from my body, causing the wash-leather-lined shirt to stick to me unpleasantly, and altogether I was ,in the pitiable state known by school boys as a “blue funk.” At last the ordeal came to an end. The sentry glanced at the east, and appeared to note with satisfaction that his period of duty was coming to an end—as indeed it was, once and for all—for he rubbed his hands and began to walk again briskly, to warm himself. The moment his back was turned the long black snake glided on again, and reached the other thistle tuft, which was within a couple of paces of his return beat. Back came the sentry and strolled right past the tuft, utterly unconscious of the presence“lhat was crouching behind it. Had he looked down he could scarcely have failed to see, but he did not do so. He passed, and then his hidden enemy erected himself, and with outstretched hand followed in his tracks. A moment more, and just as the Elmoran was about to turn, the great Zulu made a spring, and in the growing light we could see the long lean hands close , round the Masai’s throat Then followed a convulsive twining of the two dark bodies, and in another second I saw the Masai’s head bent back, and heard a sharp crack, something like that of a dry twig snapping,

and he fell down upon the ground, his limbs moving spasmodically. Umslopogaas had put out all his iron strength and broken the warrior’s neck. For a moment he knelt upon his victim, still gripping his throat till he was sure that there was nothing more to fear from him, and then he rose and

beckoned to us to advance, which we did on all fouri, like a colony of huge apes. On reaching the kraal we saw that the Masai had still further choked this entrance, which was about ten feet wide—no doubt in order to guard against attack—by dragging four or five tops of 1 mimosa trees up to it. So much the better for us, I reflected; the more obstruction there was the slower would they be able to through. Here we separated; Mackenzie and hi# party creeping up under the shadow ot the walLto the left, while Sir Henry

! and Umslopogaas took their stations one on each side of the thorn fence, the two spearmen and the Askari lying down in front of it. I and my meh crept on up the right side of the kraal, which was about fifty paces long. When I was two-thirds up I halted, and placed my men at distances of four paces from one another, keeping Alphonse close to me, however. Then I peeped for the first time over the wall. It was getting fairly light now, and tho first thing I saw was the white donkey, exactly opposite to me, and close by it I could make out little Flossie’s pale face, sitting as the lafl had described, some ten paces from the wall. Round her lay many warriors, sleeping. At distances all over the surface of the- kraal were the remains of fires, round each of which slept some five-and-twenty Masai, for the most part gorged with food. 4 Now and then a man would raise himself, yawn, and look at.the east, which had now turned primrose, but none got up. I determined to wait another five minutes, both to allow the light to increase, so that we could make better shooting, and to give Good and his party—of whom I could see or hear nothing—every opportunity tv make ready.

The quiet dawn commenced to throw her ever-widening mantle over plain and forest and river—mighty Kenia, wrapped in the silence of eternal snows, looked out across the earthtill presently a beam from the unrisen sun lit upon his heaven-kissing crest and purpled it like blood; the sky above grew blue and tender as a mother’s smile; a bird began to pipe his morning song, and a little breeze passing through the bush shook down the dewdrops in millions tG refresh the waking world. Everywhere was peace and the happiness of arising strength, everywhere save in the heart of cruel man ! Suddenly, just as I was nerving myself for the signal, having already selected my man on whom I meant to open fire—a great fellow sprawling on the ground within three feet of little Flossie—Alphonse’s teeth began to chatter again like the hoofs of a galloping giraffe, making a great noise in the silence. His rag had dropped out in the agitation of his mind. Instantly a Masai within three paces of us woke, and, sitting up, gazed about him, looking for the cause of the sound. Moved beyond myself, 1 brought the butt-end of my rifle down on to the pit of the Frenchman’s stomach. This stopped his chattering; but as he doubled up, he managed to let off his gun in such a manner that the bullet passed within an inch of my head. ' There was no need for a signal now. From both sides of the kraal broke out a waving line of fire, in which 1 myself joined, managing with a snap shot to knock over my Masai by Flos sie just as he was jumping up. Then from the top of the end of the kraal there rang an awful yell, in which 1 rejoiced to recognize Good’s piercing note rising clear and shrill above the din, and in another second followed such a scene as I have never seen before nor shall again. With a universal howl of terror and fury the brawny Crowd of savages within the kraal sprung to their feet, many of them to fall again beneath our well-directed hail of lead before they had moved a yard. For a moment they stood undecided. and then hearing the cries and curses that rose unceasingly from the top end of the kraal, and bewildered by the storm of bullets,- they as by one impulse rushed down toward the thornstopped entrance. As they went we kept pouring our fire with terrible effect into the thickening mob as fast as we could load. I had emptied my revolver of the ten shots it contained and was just beginning to slip in some more when I bethought me of little Flossie. Looking up, I saw that the white donkey was lying kicking, having been knocked over either by one of our bullets or a Masai sprear-thrust. There was no living Masai near, but the black nurse was on her feet and with a spear cutting the rope that bound Flossie’s teet Next second she ran to the wall of the kraal and began to climb over it, and as she went two Masai flying down the kraal caughtjsight of her and rushed forward to kill her. The first fellow came up just as the little girl, after a desperate effort to climb the wall, fell back into the kraal. Up flashed the great spear, and as it did so a bullet from my rifle found its home in the holder’s rihs, and over he went like a shot rabbit. But behind him was the other man, and, alas, I had only that one magazine! Flossie had scrambled to her feet and was facing the second man, who was advancing with raised spear. I turned my head aside and felt si ;k aS death. I could not bear to see him stab her. Glancing up again, to my surprise I saw the Masai’s spear lying on the ground, while the man himself was staggering about with both hands to his head. Suddenly I saw a puff of smoke, proceeding apparently from Flossie, and the man fell down headlong. Then I remembered th© Derringer pistol she carried, and saw that she had fired both barrels of it at him, thereby saving her life. In another instant she had made an effort, and assisted by the nurse, who was lying on the top. had scrambled over the wall, and I knew that she was, comparatively speaking, safe. All this takes some time to tell, but I do not suppose that it took more than fifteen seconds to enact I soon get the magazine of the repeater filled again with cartridges, and once more opened fire, not on the seething black mass which was gathering at the end of the kraal, but on fugitives who bethought them to climb the wall. I picked off several of these men, moving down toward the end of the kraal as I did so, and arriving at the corner, or rather the bend of the oral.

in lime to see and, by means of mj rifle, to assist in the mighty struggle that took place here. By this time some some two hundred Masai—-allowing that we had up to the present time accounted for fifty —had gathered together in front ol the thorn-stopped entrance, driven thither by the spears of Good’s men, whom they doubtless supposed were a large force instead of being but ten strong. For some reason it never occurred to them to try and rush tha wall, which they could have scrambled over with comparative ease; they all made for: the fence, which was really a strongly interwoven fortification. With a bound the first warrior went at it, | and even before he touched the ground on the othe other side I saw Sir Henry’s great ax swing up and fall with awful force upon his feather head- ! piece, and he sunk into the mi Idle of ‘ the thorns. Then with a yell and a ' crash they began to break through somehow, and ever as they came the . great ax swung and Inkoti-kaas flashed I and they fel dead one by one, each man thus helping to build up a barrier against his fellows. Those who escaped the axes of the pair fell at the hands of the Askari and the two Mission Kafirs, and those who passed-

scatheless from them were brought low by my own and Mackenzie’s fire. Faster and more furious grew the Single Masai would spring upon the dead bodies of their comrades, and engage one Or other of the axmen with their long spears; but, thanks chiefly to their mail shirts, the result was always the same. Presently there was a great swing of the ax, a sound of crashing bones, and another dead Masai. That is, if the man was engaged with Sir Heni.’y. If it was Umslopogaas that he fought with the result indeed would be the same but it would be differently attained. It was but rarely that the Zulu used the crashing double-handed stroke; on the contrary, he iid little more than tap continually at his adversary’s head, pecking at it with the pole-ax end of -he ax as a woodpecker * pocks at Cotten wood. Presently a peck would go home, and his enemy would drop down with a neat little circular hole in his forehead or skull, jxactly similar to that which a cheesescoop makes in a cheese. He never used the broad blade of the ax except when hard pressed, or when striking at a shield. He told me afterward 'nt he did not consider it sportsmanlike.

Good and his met were quite close by now, and our people had to cease firing into the mass for fear of killing some of them (as it was, one of them was slain in this way). Mad and desperate with fear, the Masai by a frantic effort burst through the thorn fence and piled-up dead, and, sweeping Curtis, Umslopogaas, and the other three tiefore them, broke into the open. And iiow it was that we began to lose men last. Down went our poor Askari who was armed with the ax, a great spear standing out a foot behind his back; md before long the two spearsmen who lad stood with him went down, too, lying fighting like tigers; and others of our party shared their fate. For a moment I feared the fight was lost—certainly it trembled in the balance. I shouted to my men to cast down their rifles, and to take spears and throw

themselves into the melee. They obeyed, their blood being now thoroughly up, and Mr. Mackenzie's people followed their example. This move had a momentary good result, but still the fire hung in the balance. Our people fought magnificently, hurling themselves upon the dark mass of Elmoran, hewing, thrusting, slaying, and being slain. And ever above the din rose Good’s awful yell of encouragement as he plunged, eyeglass and all, to wherever the fight was thickest; and ever, with an almost ma-chine-like regularity, the two axes rose and fell, carrying death and disablement at every stroke. But I could see that the strain was beginning to tell upon Sir Henry, who was bleeding from several flesh wounds; his breath was coming in gasps, and the veins stood out on his forehead like blue and knotted cords. Even Umslopogaas, man of iron that he was, was hard pressed. I noticed that he had given up “woodpecking, ” and was now using the broad blade of Inkosi-kaas, • ‘browning his enemy wherever he could hit him, instead of drilling scientific holes in his head. I myself did not go into the melee, but hovered outside like the swift “back” in a football scrimmage, putting a bullet through a Masai whenever I got a chance. I was more use so. I fired forty-nine cartridges that morning, and 1 did not miss many shots. * Az I think I have already said, one of UmKlopog'ias' Z 1U names wus the ‘ Wotk.p- oker.” I could ever make out why he was called so until I saw him n ctl.iu with loko i-kaas, when lat once lesugnizel the resemblance.— AQ. [To be continued next week.]

The Victoria compositors are crying out against the Australian editions of the London Illustrated news. Ally Sloper, and Tit Bitts, which, though arranged for Australia are still set up in England. The local printers con. tend that these editions should not be allowed to circulate unless the letter press Is actually set up on Australian soil. __________ The Goethehaut at Frankfort-onr the-Main being in danger of injury bj the erection of a factory at the buck o! it, the Society of the Freie Hochstifl purchased the ground for 75,00( marks, and the Town Council unani* mously agreed to make up the sum themselves. From an obituary notice in the Jayville Bugle: ’"He was <* young mar man who Always bore a spotless reputation. He never even had tiu measles.”

WHALES.

They are Inoffensive anti Affectionate by Nature—Their Habits. A sight of these huge, inoffensive animals is often to be had during an Atlantic voyage. They are too timid to approach near the steamer. A peculiarity about these wonderful creatures is the tail., which is not verticle, as in most fishes, but level, by which they are able to reach the surface of the water with greater facility for the purpose of respiatlon; and such is the strength that even the largest whales are able with its assistance to i force themselves entirely out of the ; water. Their till is their oaly weapon of protection. With one stroke of it they will send a large boat with its crew in the air and shatter the wood • into a thousand pieces. Sometimes the : animal will take a perpendicular posij tion in the water, with the head down- , wards and rearing the tail on high beat , the waves with fearful violence. Ou these occasions the se i foams for a wide space around. This performance is called by the sailors “lob tailing.” A whale’s head is about one-third of its body, and its tongue is a soft, thick mass which was formerly considered a great delicacy of the table, and a right of royalty. Their blood is red and wfirm like a man’s, and the female suckle their young. A whale has no external ear. Their sense of hearing is imperfect. When the skin is removed a small opening is perceived for the admission of sound. By a quick i perception of all movements made on the water it discovers danger at a great distance. The eyes are small, but the sense of seeing is acute. A whale does not attain full growth under 25 years, and is said to reach a very great age. They live in families rather than herds and are of a kindly nature,. w ith the instinct of family affection very strongly developed. Whiles have no teeth, instead of whicii whalebones grow down out of their upper jaw.—Ocean.

A Week Too Late.

A young man about 23 years of age, dressed like a farmer, bad his feet on TstreeTljar“B©at in front of him ana was reading a novel, when one of the boys went over to him and observed: •Tve just made a bet of five dollars on you.” “On me? What is it?” “I’ve bet five dollars that you will suicide within a week. I’ve been watching you very closely for the last half hour, and all signs indicate melancholy and despondency. Have you selected any particular line of killing yourself—poison, the rope, drowning, or hanging?”

“Do you actually bet five dollars?” anxiously asked the young man. . “I did.” “Pay if you lose?” “i’ll have to.” “That’s too bad. I wish I could have seen you last week.” “Wljy last week?" “Because I then had the ager every day right along— two cows were sick on my hands—my girl had gone dead back on me, and I expected a windmill man was going to beat me out of four hundred dollars. I did kinder think of suicide.” "But now?’’ “All is changed. Cows got well--ager all gone—gal has set the day for next Wednesday, and the windmill man is straighter than a board. Durn my hide if I hain’t going to try and live a thousand years?"—N. Y. Sun.

Red Underwear Healthy.

Red was considered very potent in warding off the evil eye. In a time of trouble, when the evil eye was especially triumphant, all the red tape in a certain county of England was bought? to ward off its baleful influence. The remains of this superstition still prevail, for many people believe that a red string around the neck is an excellent remedy for asthma, measles a®d mumps. —— The preservation of faith in red still; exists, says a writer in the Chicago Herald, as is shown in the great confidence which obtains in the medical virtues of red flannel and the belief that the milk of a red cow is better than that of a cow of another color. The German peasant, if he cuts himself, thinks he stanches the blood better with a red ribbon. This -may be accounted for not only because of tradition, but the fact that biood would not form so startling a contrast when wetting a red ribbon as when wetting a white on©. A Southern friend tells me that the negroes make a doll of red flannel, with five needles stuck in it crosswise, and place it inside of a child’s bed or mattress to keep off all the diseases to which children are subject

Another Wicked Invention.

The latest thing the srqall boys is the “rooster can” If that’s what they call it The boy takes a spjee can, makes a small hole in the center of the bottom and draws through it a cord knotted at one end and plentifully coated with shoe makers’ wax or resin. Then he draws his hand along the waxed cord and the unearthly sound is the result. Near at h nd it sounds like the crowing of a cock, and at a distance like the frantic yelpihg of a dog, with intermediate variations resembling the progress of vivisection in a physician’s laboratory, the midnight discovery of a man under the bed by your servant girl, the screeching of an ungreased axle, the low mutterings of conspirators under the window, and the reheirsal of a surpliced choir. The in itruinent is really not new. It is a .revival, for the Arounder remembers i that they were in vogue as long ago as 1 when be used to wear his stockings out at the knees.

Miss Willard on Wonan's Dress

Miss Willard, in a recent lecture upon woman’s dress, makes the following interesting statement: Catch Edison and constrict him inside a wasp waistcoat, and be sure you’ll gel no more inventions; bind a bustle upon Bismarck, and farewell to German unity; coerce Robert Browning into corsets, and you'll have no more epics; put Parnell into petticoats, and home rule is a lost cause. '. ' J - .

THE CURSE OF DEBT.

The Pitiful Picture Presented by the Wilful Debt-Maker. How can a man eat, sleep and be jolly under the pressure of debt? How om earth can he walk forth well appareled and appointed, and face ths man whose unpaid-for trousers he i« wearing? How dare he smile at his butcher, pr his grocer, who are at that minute SSO apiece poorer for his past dinners and teas? How dare he pat his children on the head when he knows that if he should die that night, their future is wholly uncared for? How on earth can he enjoy any luxury, trusting only to his dodging instincts if the day of pecuniary reckoning should suddenly come! How can he face the rascally reflection of himself in the looking-glass long enough to tie the cravat which ought to be choking him?

How can he have the impudence to go among honest, upright people and expect cordial recognition, or any recognition at all. How dare the brazen thief, in his fine clothes, look into the frank, honest face of the swarthy, red-shirted mechanic, who has proved himself a man by that day’s hard labor? How can he pass a station house or a policeman without asking that summary justice may be meted out to him, rather than to the poor, friend-, less, ragged wretches whom adverse circumstances seem sometimes to have so hedged about that God himself cannot help them? I look upon such men with a wonder that never abates, says a writer in the N. Y. Ledger. Men did I say? Satin grins at the misnomer. Au artist should be specially employed to collect their prortraits for ‘ ‘The Rogues’ Gallery.” Imagine the horror with which their dainty originals would contemplate such a possibility! and yet I am not sure that it would not be a capital idea for every creditor to immortalize his own well-dressed scamps in this manner; or at least have a framed collection of them in his own place of business for the inspection of the curious. Perhaps one Of the meanest of thesedainty fellows’ tricks is to victimize a friend who may be supposed to have scruples about refusing monetary compliance, or about reminding the creditor of his protracted forgetfulness of the sum due. Yes—there is one lower depth of meanness yet, and that is, when the “friend” is a woman, who, if she be not too smart, may be generally conveniently put off with well framed excuses, or at all events be supposed be too “refined” and “delicate” to press so unromantic a theme. Fortunately, all women are not “fools.” Fortunately, a woman may know her “rights,” and defend them, too, without stamping about the country in brogans armed with a horsewhip. It is comforting when such a one, without compromising her womanly dignity, handsomely compels, as a man might and would do, immediate restitution, or the alternative penalty.

SENDING A DECOY LETTER.

How the Government Entraps Dishonest Mail Clerks or Carriers. “You want to know how we ‘get on’ to clerks or mail-carriers who steal money from letters, you say,” remarked a postoffice inspector. “The method is simple enough, and yet we catch them every time. Of course there are a good many schemes we can work on them, but the least complicated is th< decoy letter. “When we think a man is opening letters, we prepare a letter and gLveit—a semi-fictitious address —to the wrong street, the wrong number or something of that sort. We put in a dollar or so, and make it just bulky enough so that it will attract the clerk’s attention when he handles it. These clerks get so skillful, you know, that they almost invariably can tell by the sense of touch when a letter contains money. This decoy letter is stamped with some—postmark selected, and is thrown into the clerk’s or carrier’s box. “He gobbles it almost every time. We are on the watch, and if we hear nothing from it we know that it must have been lost in transit This test is used oftener outside the post-office than in it, however, in the interest of business men who suspect their employes audothera. —Boston Globe. - -

Light Hearted Peasantry.

Of all creatures the Irish peasant is the most light hearted. He certainly may be counted among the sociable ones of the earth. On all possible occasions—births, deaths, and marriages—the poorer classes call their friends round them and kill the fatted calf, which alas! in spite of its high-sounding title, must ever be placed among the leanest of ail lean kine. Nevertheless, they make as merry over their bread and tea and porter as others would over their “chicken and champagne”—perhaps a great deal merrier. They are indeed unhappy if alone. Above alPthings, either in their joy or sorrow, they desks some one near them to whom they can pour out the yearnings of their hearts. Sympathy they crave, and sympathy most eagerly they give. Impulsive, troublesome, careless, improvident—the Irish people are, when all is told, the kindest-hearted in the world.—New York World.

Marriage in Ireland.

Marriage in Ireland among the farming classes is conducted on very much the same scale as that of crowned heads; a curious fact scarcely “understanded of the people” in England. These marriages are arranged and brought to a satisfactory conclusion without reference to the two most concerned, the bride and bridegroom apparently being the last to be consulted as to the advisability of a matter that has to do with their whole life's happiness. The fathers and mothers on both sides settle all, preliminaries. There is no love making between the young folks; they do not evea see each other as a rule until everything - is arranged, he being in this part d the barony, she in that, and time for “lovers' dalliance” in seed time and i harvest being nil.—N. Y. Sun.