Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1892 — Page 4

CAST UP BY THE SEA.

x/ITJ A y r hh}'t^^S" r X ttr “ci "?«•," replied Stevens with a ttopoeritic&l sigh, ‘'«u the day that HwllMt.- Poor Ned ! ” he continued, pfc&wdd have given the world to fjKtolOTwthha. Had 1 only had a boat Look instead of an oar, 1 think Ltf iMff.SU ,1X MRMtt the water closed over him. ’ At thi« moment the servant en “jfta! a letter for me! 1 am bo SapwL lam so glad ! for l seldom kmsmve onel ” .aid Edith. “ I wonder erbe it'e from ? " she continued, ■ m sbe examined the seal, that was jfßmjJ? tbe impression of a shilling. orott bad better open it, my ■Plr, " eaid her mother; “ that's the Pptefcect way of ascertaining the correspondent. ” IWith broke the seal and read the SpHler. She turned deadly pale : then IftMHl) Mash flushed across her face; it was only for a moment, when she •gain changed to the whiteness of “What's the matter my child f ” exclaimed her mother. • Ate you 411? What are the contents of that mysterious letter that affect you so |pri few minutes Edith was sl!lWt| and bolding the letter in her hands, which retted in her lap. she seemed loet in reflection, and her lips quivered with emotion. At length, subduing her excitement, and entirely commanding her feelings.she fixed uer large blue eyes upon Stevens, who sat opposite, and appeared to search him to the very heart Her beautiful features gradually assumed gjkatern and determined expression, iiMiSt calmly said, “Mother, shall 1 t«ad this letter aloud ?" . “By all means, ” said Mrs. Jones, I’m quite curious to know the contents of this wonderful epistle. ” Edith, in a clear voice, that tremMed slightly, read the following letpAlMOtn, January 8, “Half mad with joy, and yet wilder with uncertainty, 1 am hurrying to the spot where my happiest days were spent: where last I parted ; irWßherwhom I then called my own Edith. God grant that she and my dear parents are yet alive, and that sbe still remembers the love of her youthful days, and that her heart is as unchanged as miuc! ‘ My story is short. The morning "ttffer l left you I was taken by a ureas gang, together with Tim and Nero. I was carried ou board the Bjrbllle, a frigate on her way to In dia. I could not write- On board I met Jem Steveus, God forgive him! In India we fought and captured the Forte. We were both sent home in charge; she was wrecked. Stevens went off with the frigate’s cutter, well manned, and hacked at my hands with a knife when I swam up andclung to tho boat. I was forced Jo lot, go and swim to the wreck. Tim i Would not leave me. We saved ourselves with a raft, together with Nero, and at last reached the coast of Africa, where we were captives among the savages for many years. We at length endeavored to escape. Poor Tim! alas' is dead. Nero is also dead, and! am thank God! alive and well, and hur-

tying on horseback post haste night and day, to see if my Edith is still my own; if not, would that I had died with nay devoted Tim, aud left •If you arc. alive, Edith, dearest remembrance of my boyhood, I shall tws with yon almost as soon as you receive this letter, as I rush to meet oy fatei , Yonr own Ned (»REr. Edith folded the letter carfully together, and handed it to Polly Grey; at the same time she rose from her •eat, and with extraordinary calmness she regarded Stevens fixedly “Yes,” she said, os her voice trembled mid became hoarse with suppressed emotion, "his own Edith until death shall part us.” “An explanation, if you please, Mr- Stevens," continued Edith, as she gazed contemptuously at the miserable guilty object that sat be for heg, bowed down with shame aud Stevens rose hurriedly, and savlug,“l trill explain everything*" was about to leave the room, when Edith, who was near the door, quickly turned the key, which she took from the lock and retained within *‘Y«n will have the kindness, sir, to amuse yourself with the newspaper until the arrival of your dear friend, Ned Grey, whom you endeavored to save from drowning, he will be rejoiced to return you his thanks and to express his gratitude in person; he is expected every in t- .. “Edith, tor God's sake, let me <le pert, and I will shortly explain all!" exclaimed the terrified Stevens. “You do net leave this room, sir, I until Ned Grey arrives,” replied Edith, with a disdainful calmness and, determination before which iTbatis alt this? what is all ibis?" cried Mrs Jones “Edith, my dear, are you going mad?" continued the astonished mother; while Polly, having read the letter, now regarded Stevens with an expression jol horror as though he had been some poisonous reptile. ! At this moment the loud clatter ing of a horse’s hoofs was heard upon the frosty road. Mrs. Jones looked from the window. “Dear me' she exclaimed, “the horse has run away with somebody. Stop him!’ she cried; but as nobody was there to bear her command*, the rider reined up his horse, and quickly dismount ’"fhewTcontinued ringing with such violence that the servant rail with more than his usual alacrity to « *<»«» “ l) « an

BY SIR SAMUEL W. VAKER.

sons around him. Neither Polly nor Mrs. Jones was much changed, but he stared for somo moments at the beautiful girl, who in her turn regarded his tail and handsome figure with au expression of surprise, min - gled with the deepest affection. , JEfeflreyes met, aud in a few short seconds, without one word Spoken, they explained their unchanged love. ; “My Edith!” exclaimed Ned Grey. •‘Oh, Nod! dear Ned!” cried Edith, as they both instinctively rushed Jorward and were taoked la each other's arms. After a few moments of indescribable happiness-the blushing girl released herself from Ned's embrace. Polly Grey was also haaging round his neck in a transport of delight; but Edith had a sterner task to perform, and drawing herself up to her full height, with an expression of haughtiness that was entirely foreign to her usual character, she said: “Mr. Stevens, you hive now the pleasure of meeting ypiir dear friend, Ned Grey, whom you so generously attempted to save from drowning in 4he wreck;” toenjuruing to Ned she continued: “Mr, Stevens has honored me by a proposal of marriage, as he declared that he saw you drowned after he bad vainly endeavoredtoraasist you." For some moments Ned regarded Stevens with an expression of the lowest contempt. For one instant Stevens attempted to meet his look, but he quailed before it, and turned liis eyes upon Mrs. Jones, who was in AAlate of utter confusion.

“Liar, aud would-be murderer!” said Ned, as be grasped the unresisting Stevens by the collar with his powerful right hand and led him to the door: Y ‘Leave this house, nod never again cross the threshold, os you value your life.” It wofild be impossible to describe the happiness of Edith and Polly Grey. Ned had completed the lonff history of his adventures, during which Edith had shed tears at Tim’s devoted martyrdom, and Mrs. Jones had on several occasions exclaimed “Well, I never!” when he had described the base conduct of James Stevens. It was now Edith's turn to relate all that happened since Ned's departure, and for the first time he learnt that Paul was in custody, and that a warrant had also been issued for his own apprehension upon the suspicion that he had been concerned in the burglary and murder at the rectory. Although sueh a charge appeared ridiculous, Ned did not fail to perceive that the sudden disappearance of Paul, Tim and himself on

the day of tho burglary was sufficient to justify the suspicion, combined with tbe discovery of the two hundred guineas at Paul’s house, together with the jewels and articles of contraband. He now recalled to mind the faet of the strange men having stealthily passed through the churchyard at the same time that Mother Lee had appeared, when he aud Edith were sitting at dusk by the gravestone of tho unknown lady; and tieJiad ne doubt that the old iiag was iu some way connected with the robbery. The complexion of the as fuircaused him some uneasiness: for, although he had no fear of the result, the fact of such a suspicion haviug fallen upon Paul aud himself was sufficiently embarrassing. -Ned’s life has been so full of adventure and difficulty that he quickly resolved to bear patiently with this dilemma. The daily prayer of many years past had been granted; he was oace more at home with his Edith, who was changed, only in appearance, from the girl he had left to the beautiful woman whose heart had always been his own.

CHAPTER XXII. The news of Ned Grey’s return had spread throughout the neighborhood, and his almost instantaneous arrest had excited the sympathy of , all the female portion of the population. The whole country was interested iu the event, which became the I current topic of the day, and James Stevens, of Herron Hall, was regarded with universal detestation as the i story became widely known. In the mean time, full of revenge, he lost no opportunity of seeking for evidence that might lead to Ned s conviction. It was about a fortnight after Ned's arrest, on a cold and stormy night, that a ring was heard at the back door of the rectory, aud shortly afterward a servant entered the room in which Edith was sitting, with a message that a poor person from Sandy Cove wished to speak with her immediately. A woman was shown into the room, who, wet and cold with the journey, had been sent by a dying man at the Cove to request the immediate attendance of Edith, as he had a most important communication to make that concerned her particularly. Regardless of the late hour and the stormy weather, Edith ordered the carriage without delay, aud, accompanied by the messenger and Polly Grey, she at once drove to Sandy Cove, about five miles distant. Alighting at the cliff they descended the zigzag path, and shortly arrived at the door of a hut formed of an inverted boat, from which a feeble light shone through a pane of glass fixed in the side. The messenger opened the door and they entered. Lying upon a miserable bed was the emaciated figure of a man, who appeared to be iu the last stage of his existence. One of the neighbors was sitting by his side, who retired when Edith appeared, and the messenger, having approached, in formed him iu a gentle voice that Edith was present. “ Where is she said the dying man. “ It’s very dark ; bring her nearer to me. Yes, ”he continued, as she drew neap; “now leave me with her alone, as I have much to say and little strength to say it. ” The messenger withdrew, aud Edith, not without some hesitation, bent her ear dose to the mouth of the exhausted man. r He clasped his skinny hands together aud, looking earnestly to her face, he exclaimed: “ Pardon I pardon 1 give me pardon for my sins before I confess the whole!"

“What can I-pardon, toy good man ? " said Edith. “ God ahiae can grout forgivenessy but toil me. if it will relieve you, what weighs~s<r heavily upon your mind. ” ‘ Murder ! " gasped tbe wretched 'man ; “it was I that murdered ypur father i“‘ Startled with horror. Edith cor, ored her eves with her hand and remained speechless. “Yes, ’ continued tho man, “I will tell you all. for I shall not see another day. aud i feel that hell awaits toe if I die without your pardon. It was Mother Lee wlio planned the robbery, but I never intended murder. Jack Gain and I were aiwayg paia. and drink and dice led us to ruin. Mother Lee found out that the parson kept large sums of money in tho bouse, and she put us up to the robbery- We hadn't had a wreck for a long time, and we were bard up for cash, so we took tbe job. it was a Suuday night, and we broke in at tbe kitchen window. We got tbe cash, and had packed up the plate, when we heard a noise. ‘Don't let us be nabbed.' said Cain. Just as he said this, the parson came into tbe room with a candle in one hand and a pistol in tbe other. ‘Shoot him!’ said Cain : and I shot the poor man down, and wq escaped without tbe plate. We got off through Mother Lee, who threw suspicion upon Paul and Ned Grey, to serve them a bad turn, for sbe’hated them to death. “ “ Wretched man ! ” said Edith bitterly ; “ why did you not confess this earlier"? Paul and Ned are now in prison on this false charge. ” “ My lungs are gone. 1 shall ftever see another sunrise. I feel my end is close at hand. But I have still more to say, ” said the dying man, as he was almost suffocated from exhaustion. “ I confessed aU t -this two weeks ago to a magistrate, he said , “ but he’s a bad ’un. and worse than I. I mean Squire Stevens of the Hall, ” continued the man. “ I told him all, as I knew toss f must die. and I didn't wish iuuoeent bfood to be shed for me. 1 knew that Paul and Ned Grey had been arrested. The Squire hates them both, and he gave me five golden guineas to hold my tongue. There they are, tied in the corner of that handkerchief beneath tho bed. I had them behind the pillow, but I couldn’t get a wink of sleep since I took them, so I thew them under the bed. Give them to Paul or to the poor. Give some to the woman who looks after mo; but beware of the squire, for the devil isn’t blacker than his heart, lie’ll ruin Paul and Ned if lie can do it!” Polly Grey bad been a" witness to this important confession. “I’m lighter now,” continued the sick man. “Say that you forgive me. Miss Edith, for I cannot die without shuddering at the futurejbut if you pardon me, pirhips—perhaps God may also;—but I don't know how to ask Him. I never prayed to Him. I tried the other night, but I couldn’t do it. Pray for me. Miss Edith; for heaven's sake, pray! pray! —pray quickly, for I’m sinking down down through the ground/’ “May God forgive you as I do, poor miserable man, said Edith; “but,” she continued “there is much to be done before you (lie. Your confession is uothing unless it is in a proper form: it must be written down/’

•*Gq!” said Edith to Polly Grey, “and tell the coachman to drive quickly to Captain Smart. Tell him to bring paper and ink, and to come himself without losing u moment.” A little more than an hour had Eassed.and Edith looked anxiously at er watch as the man appeared to be fast sinking, and she knew the importance of his dying deposition. At last hurried footsteps were heard without, succeeded bv a quick and decided tap upon the door,“Come in, said Edith, and Joe Smart entered, accompanied by one of tlie coast guard. In a few words, spoken in a whisper, Edith had explained all. Polly shook him affectionately by the hand as they had not met since "Pauls return, and without loss of time he wrote down the statement which the dying man foebly but distinctly repeated. The handkerchief, with five guineas tied up in one corner, was found beneath the bed. With much difficulty the sick man, supported by_Joe Smart, subscribed bis name to the deposition, which was witnessed by Smart and the coast guardsman, together with Edith and Polly Grey. t~ "' “This is all important,” said Captain Smart, “and it will checkmate that villian Stevens. Wc must, bo off to Falmouth by daybreak to-mor-row,” he continued; “the session open, you are witnesses, and Paul and Ned will be tried on the following day. This deposition will save them both, and bo the ruin of Stevens. ” On the following morning Mrs. Jones, with Polly, Edith and Captain Smart, started in tho old family coach with four post horses for Falmouth. As they had to pass Sandy Cove, they took various comforts, in the sbape’of cordials,jellies and good substantial food, in case the sick man should be still alive.

On arrival at the cliff, Edith accompanied Joe Smart to the hut, and, to her delight, she found the man was not only dead, but better than during the previous night; thus, leaving the wine and little luxuries with him, she returned to tho carriage and posted rapidly toward Falmouth. The town was crowed, as flie sessions had commenced, aud some difficulty was found in procuring rooms at a hotel. Without a moment's delay, Joe Smart went to the prison, accompanied by Polly Grey and Edith, to visit Paul and Ned, against whom a true bill had been fouud by the grand jury, upon which Stevens sat as a magistrate. The good news of the wrecker's confession relieved their minds from all uncertainty, and Joe Smart immediately entrusted the deposition to the counsel for their defence. (to be cq.vtiwued)

Col. John 13. Graham, of Dahlonega, Ga., received a check for $250 the other day from a man to whom be loaned the sum over forty years ago and who now lives iu British Columbia.

HALF A PLANEI.

Memorial Sermon by tbe Rev. Dr. Talmage. Dl*ro»»ry of America a Remarkable •ad RaUgioaa Dlic«r«rf. Fraught With Lwwnt of Lullat Boaeßt. Rev. Dr. Talmage's discourse Sunday was occasioned by tbe Columbus observance now taking place. The subject was “Half a Planet,” the text being Deuteronomy iii, 27, Lift up thine eyes westward.” He said: - \ So God said to Moses in Bible times, and so he said to Christofpro Columbo, the 6on of a wool comber ofGenoa, more than four hundred years ago. The nations bad been looking chieffy toward the east. The sculpture of the world the architecture of the world, the laws of the world, the philosophy of the world, the civilization of the world, the religion of the world came from the east.

But while Columbus, as his name was called after it was Latinized, stood studying maps and examining globes and reading cosmography, God said to big). “Lift up thine eyes toward the west.” The fact vriis it must have, seemed -to Columbus u very lopsided world—like a cart with one wheel, like a scissors with one blade, like a sack on one side of a camel, needing a sack on the other side to balance it. Here was a bride of a world with no bridegroom. When God makq6 a half of anything he does not stop there. He makes the other half. We are all obliged sometimes to leave things only half done. But God never stops half way, because he has tho time and tbe power to go all the way. I do’ not wonder that Columbus was not satisfied with half a world* aud so went to work to find the other half. The pieces of carved wood that was floated to the shores of Europe by a westerly gale, and two dead human faces, unlike anything he had seen before;;' likewise floated from the west, were to him the voice of God saying, “Lift up thine eves toward the west.” But the world then as now, had plenty of Can’t-be-dones. That is what keeps individuals back, and enterprise^back, and ti»e church back, and nations back—ignominious and disgusting and disheartening Can’tibe-dones. Old navigators said to young Columbus, “It can’t be done. ” AlphOnso V said, “It can't be done.” A committee on maratime affairs, to whom the subject was submitted, declared, “It can’t be done.” Venetians said, “It can't be done." But the father of Columbus' wife died, leaving his widow a large number of sea charts and maps, and as if to condemn the slur that different ages put upon motbers-in-law, the mother-in-law of Columbus gave him the navigator’s materials out of which he ciphered America. After awhile the story of this poor but ambitious Columbus reaches the ear of Queen Isabella, and she pays eightydollars to buy him a decent suit of clothes, so that he may be fit to appear before royalty. The interview in the palace was successful. Money enough was borrowed to fit out the expedion. There they are, the three ships, in the Guif of Cadiz, Spain. If you ask me which have been the most famous boats of the world, I would say, first, Noah’s ship, that wharfed on Mt. Ararrat; second, the boat of bulrushes in which Moses floated on the Nile; third, the Mayflower, that put out from Plymouth with the Pilgrim Fathers, and now these three vessels that on this Friday morning, Aug. 3, 1492, are rocking on the ripples.

For sixteen days the wind is dead cast, and that pleases the captaiu because it blows them farther and farther away from the European coast and nearer to the shores of another country, if there is any. Friday morning, Oct. 12, 1492, a gun from the Pinta signalled “land ahead." Then the ships lav to and the boats were lowered, and Christopher Columbus first stepped upon the shore amid the song of birds and the air a surge of redolence and took possession in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost. So the voyage that began with the sacrament ended with “Gloria iu Excelsis Deo." From that day onward you say these can be nothing for Columbus but honors, rewards, rhapsodies, palaces and world wide applause. No! no! Honors awaited him on the beach, but he undertook a second voyage, and with it came all malingning and persecution and denunciation and poverty.

He was called a land grabber, a liar, a cheat, a fraud, a deceiver of nations. Speculators robbed him of his good name, courtiers depreciat ed his discoveries, and there came to him ruined health and imprisonment and chains, of which he saidwhile he rattled them on his wrists, “I will wear them os a memento of the gratitude of princes." Amid keen appreciation of the world’s, abuse and cruelty, and with l>ody writhing in the tortures of goitt, he groaned out his last words, “Iu munus tuas Domino commcndo spiritum meutn"—“lnto thy hands, O Lord. I commend my spirit." But death, that brings quiet to the body of others, did not bring quiet to his. First buried in the church of Santa Maria. Seven years afterward removed to Seville. Twenty-three years afterward removed to San Domingo. Finally removed to Cuba. Four postmortem jouruevs from sepulcher to sepulcher. I wish his bones might be moved just once more aud now that they have come so near to America as Cuba they might during the great Columbian year be transported to our own shores, where they belong, and that in the fifth ceutury after his decease the Americau continent might build a mausoleum worthy of him who pick ed this jewel of a hemisphere out of the sea and set it in the crown of the world's geography. What most impresses me in all that wondrous life, which for the next twelve months we will be commemorating by sermon and song and military parade, and World's Fair, and congress of nations, is sonae'wi***'*•■• ngv-Tif- 4

] thine I have never heard stated, and } that ts that the discover? of America was a religious discovery **£ in the name of God. Columbus, by the study of the prophecies/and by what Zechariah and Mieah and David and Isaiah had said about the ‘‘ends of the earth, ” was persuaded to go out and find the “ends of the.earth, ” and he felt himself culled by God to carry Christianity to the “ ends of the earth. " Then the administration of the last supper before they left the Gulf of Cadiz, and the evening pray ere during the voyage, add the devout ascription as soon as they saw the New World, and the doxologies with which they landed, confirm me iu skying that the discovery of America was a' religious discovery, ■» . Atheism has no right here: infidelitv has no right here ; vagabondism iias no right here. A divine influence will yet sweep the continent that will make iniquity drop like slacked lime, and make the most blatant infidelity declare it was only joking when it said the Bible was not true, and the worst atheism announce that it always did believe in the God of nations. The great Italian navigator also impresses me with the idea that when one does a good thing he can not appreciate its ramifications. To the moment of his death Columbus never knew that he had discovered America, but thought that Cuba was a part of Asia. He thought the islaud Hispaniola was the Ophir of Solomon. He thought he had only opened a new way to old Asia. He had no idea that the time would come when a nation of sixty million people on this side of the sea would be joined by all the intelligent nations on the other side of the sea for the most part of a year reciting his wonderful deeds. It took centuries to reveal the result of that one transatlantic voyage- So it has always been. Could Paul on that June day when he was decapitated have had any idea of what effect his letters uu account of his life would have on Christendom? Could Martin Luther have had any idea of the echoes that would ring through the ages from the bang of his hammer nailing the Latin theses agulnst a church door at. Wittenberg? Could Eli Whitney have realised the continents of wealth that would be added to the South by the invention of his c6ttdtt- ii gin? Could John Gutenberg, toiling year after year making type and laboriously setting them side by side, with the presses changed now this way and now that, and sued by John Faust for money loaned, and many of the people trying bo cheat Gutenberg out of his invention, and he toiling on until he produced what is known as the Mazariu Bible, have any idea that as a result of his invention there would be libraries that placed side by side would again and again encircle the earth, or the showers of newspapers that snow the world under? . When Manhattan Island was sold to the Dutch for twenty-four dollars neither those who sold or bought could have foreseen New York, the commercial metropolis of America, that now stands on it. Can a man who preaches a sermon, or aAvoman who distributes tracts, or a teacher who instructs a class, or a passerby who utters encouraging words realize the infinitudes of useful result.? The teacher ut Harrow school who toiled with William Jones, the most stupid bo3 r iu the school and at the foot of the class, did not know that lie ;was fitting f or his work the greatest oriental scholar of modern times, his statue now in St Pauls cathedral, London. Every move vou make for God, however insignificient in your own eyes or in the eves of others, touches worlds larger than the one Columbus discovered. Why talk about unimportant things? There aye no unimportant things. Infinity is made up of infinitesma's. Ou a clear night the smallest dewdrop holds a star. Each one of you is at the center of a universe in all directions. I promise everlasting renown to those who will go forth with Christian and sympathetic words.

Another look at the career of the admiral of the Santa Maria persuades me that it is not expected that this will dp its world bard justice, If any man ought to have been treated well from first to last it was Columbus, lie bad his faults. Let others depict them. But a greater soul the centuries have not produced. This continent ought to have been named Columbus, after the hero who discovered it, or Isabclliaua, the queen who furnished the means for the expedition. No. The world did not do him justice while he was aliveand why should it be expected to do him justice after he is dead? Columbus in a dungeon! What a thought! Columbus in irons! What a spectacle! CD In one of the last lettters which Columbus sent to his son, lie wrote this lamentation: “I receive nothing of the revenue due me. I live by

borrowing. Little have I profited by twenty years of service with such toils and perils, since at present I do uot own a roof in Spain. ' If I desire to eat or sleep. I nave no recourse but the inn, and for the most times have uot therewithal to pay my bill." Be not surprised, my hearer, if you suffer injustice. You are in the best of company—the men and women who wrought mightily for God and the world's improvement, and got for it chiefly misrepeSentatiou and nbuse while they lived, although afterward they may have had a long row of carriages at the obsequies and a gilt edged set of resolutions unanimously luiopted for the consolation of the bereft household. Do your full duty, expecting no appreciation in this world, but full reward in the world to come. Let us be sure that we have the right pilot, the right chart, and the 1 right captain and that we start in the right direction. It will be to each of us who love the Lord a voyage more wonderful for discovery than that which Columbus took, for after all we htfve heard about that other world we know not where it ir or how it looks and it will be as new as San Salvador was to the glorious captain of the Santa Maria. “Eye

GHOST THAT DRIVWS A PLOW.

«*** P.ssmjira. I A respectable farmer named Petersen, who owns a place a few mules from town, says a Fernandina special to the Philadelphia Times, brings a curious story of a ghost that haunts his cornfield and plows bv moonlight. He says that he first noticed the apparition about a month, ago when, sitting up with n sick - child. He to look out on tbe field about, midnight, and to his amazement he saw the .figure of a man guiding an on team over tbeground. The animals, - man, andplow were all as plain to be seen as if it bad been daylight, though the rest of the field was in comparative gloom. Not knowing wbat to make of this singular sight he called-his eldest son to go and see who the stranger was. The boy went at once, and bis father, watching him. was further amazed to see the lad walk right through the plow and man as if there was nothing there. ’-.When the boy returned he declared that he had. found nothing and nobody in the field. Mr. Petersen himself now resolved to go, and did so, but could see no trace of the man and team, though on returning to the room from which he had seen the sight he found them as plain as before. The laborer and woro a large, broad" brimmed hat, which completely concealed his features. He seemed intent on bis work and never raised his head, but would crack the whip he carried over the backs of the oxen, but without noise. Since this time Mr. Petersen says he has repeatedly seen the phantom plowman and has called in neighbors to see it with him, though always on going into the field nothing could be found. The people about declare that the figure is that of the farmer who owned the place before Petersen bought it, and who early one morning was found dead in this Sold, and it was thought by his own hand.

These Are “Birds” Indeed.

A resident of Buckingham county, Virginia, killed andopeaed twety-six hawks before he found that the reward of $3 offered by G6V. McKinney for hawk's gizzards was a hoax. Flocks of young Chinese pheasants are reported at various points in eastern Washington. With a few years of protection, the fields and forests of that section will be well stocked with this superior table fowl. A Canonsburg, (Pa.,) woman owns a hen which laid an egg the other day as large as the average goose egg. It fell from the nest, breaking one end of it, when an investigation showed “that there were two eggs, one inside the other." About 250,000 canary birds are raised every year in Germany, and, besides the 100,000 birds that are sent to this country, the English market takes about 50,000 and the next best customers are Brazil, China, the Argentine Republic, and Austria, to which country salesmen are sent with large numbers of birds every year. An interesting fight between a horse and two blue jays occurred a short time ago at Cedar Key, Fla., in which the latter came out victorious. A horse was hitched to a tree, when the two blue jays would fly down upon him and claw liim. The horse stood it for some time, when, suddenly, it got tired of such treatment and threw himself back on the halter, breaking it and running away. After the jays had succeeded in getting the horse loose, they flew up in a tree and chattered as though they had won a great victory.

CONDIMENTS.

Editor—This poem is good, but the world’s fair is out of date. Poet—Well, I thought I would write it a year ahead. Editor—Well, we buy poems twen-ty-two years ahead. Good day. YeOlsrs must be inhabited, else who could have painted it red? It doesn’t commonly mangle a thought to “run it over in tho miud. The cow sets us an admirable example—she never blows her own horn. “Where Is Ethel?” ft She is out breaking her engagement with Choiließronso."—Harper’s Bazar. He—l much prefer tennis. Horseback riding is too sedentary." She —Not the way you ride. ~ Before Marriage—Kiss me, Carrie. After marriage—Kiss me, Harry. The change register that checks up the drinks in a saloon is the bargain counter. Base ball managers are only human. They, too, hang on to a pitcher as loflg as there’s anything iu it. —Philadelphia Times.

Little Elsie—Who was Shakspeare, pa? Scribblems (the playwright)— One of my predecessors, child. Husband— My dear, there's a burglar in the room. I have np revolver. Wife—Then look daggers at him. Our wife wears our suspenders to church to-morrow, but we’ll be on hand hitched up with a buggy trace. —Editor of Billeville Banner. The man who never tells his wife anything of his business affairs is the first to make over his property to her when he fails. “Why do you charge me tenpents for a shine, while aU the other boys charge only five?" “I’se de president of de Bootblack's Union. Ethel—You remind me of mv piano lamp. Stalato—Honr so? Ethel —No matter how much it is turned down, it doesn't go out Always a Woman.—Mike O’Rafferty (pulling his wife out ol the well)— ‘ Begorra! a woman’s at the bottom av iverything. “Doctor, what is a good cholera mixture for this time of year?" “Well, icecream, watermelon and lager beer will do very well.—lndianapolis Journal. A Sudden Flight—She (anxiously) —How did papa appear when you asked for my, hand f He—l didn’t have time to see, darling. “How is Winter getting on?” "Well, when I last saw him ha hadn’t ‘ v_-■: -j- Mpg , i, " » A. n, 9* 4

PEOFLE.

' A Miss Wfdlop has been engaged | as teacher id .'a Kansas town, [ Mr. Blaine will not go to Europe : next winter, but may travel in the South. i Col. Taliafero, the Alabama legal and pohticgl celebrity, is six feet and six inches tall. " : Gen. Bntler’s book, it is said, has not proved a veritable gold mine to the author. '^ The youngest man in the new Brit* ish House of Commons is twenty* two years old, the oldest ninety. ;Mr, Hardy has chosen as a title" for his next romance “The Pursuit of the Well Beloved." Charlemagne Koehler, formerly a well known actor in Booth’s company, has decided to become a clergyman. Mr. Oakley Rhinelander, of New York, is said to own tbe finest collection of genuine antique armor in the United States. Francis H. Root, who died in Buffalo a few days ago, left $50,000 to found a mathematical professorship in Syracuse University. Miss Sarah Pollard owns a half-* lection of land in Polk county, Mi am, which she works without any help except in the harvest season. A French prince advertises that

“the whole guaranteed by authentic f archments of the reign of Henry Dreker, the Vienna brewer, is reputed to be worth $40,000,000, and to be increasing his fortune at the rate of $2,000,000 a year out of the profits of his business. When Mrs. Felton takes the stump, which she will do shortly, she Will be the first Georgia woman that hns attempted the feat of making political campaign speeches. Senator Dawes, of Massachusetts, once had an opportunity to take stock in the Bell Telephone Company that would have made fiim a millionaire had he acoepted it John McDarby, of Salmon Falls, Mass., has double teeth all around and a stomach which doesn’t rebel when he chews aud swallows glass, stones and other indigestibles.

Boston expects to have a replica of a Columbus statue that has just been cast in Chicopee, Mass., for San Domingo. The Italians are expected to subscribe at least $5,000. Prof. Brice has revised the whole ol his “American Commonwealth" and has added several entirely new chapters. It will probably bo published next month in its new form. Probably the oldest newspaper man in active service in Ohio is William F. Cornly, night editor of the Dayton Journal. Although 83 years of age he is said to be as sprv as a nian of 30. Levi Ashenfelter, of Gheyene, Wyo., who received u pension of $8 a month, has asked to have its payment stooped because the injuries which he received in the war give him no further trouble.

Charlotto M. Yonge, though 79 years old, is one of the most popular woman writers in England. She writes regularly, except on Sundays, from 9 in the morning till 1 o’clock and again from 6 to 7. Only two medals have been granted to women by the Royal Geographical Society of England— one of Lady Franklin in memory of her husband’s discoveries, the other to Mrs. Mary Somerville. The Empress Frederick is hard at work on the memoir of her husband. In this labor of love she is aided by her son. Emperor William and by Queen Victoria, whom she is to visit in Englaud very soon. Charles T. Yerkes, the Chicago street railway maguate, has bought Property in New York, corner of iftn avenue and Sixty-eighth street, on which be proposes to build a handsome $500,000 residence. Rudyard Kipling's earnings are said to have been deposited in the New Oriental Bank, which recently suspended; and the writer was so troubled over it that he abandoned his trip to Samoe. , Lady Scott, mother of Countess Russell, is bankrupt, aud says that her financial troubles are due to the * loss of her income by the marriage of her daughters, on whom her husband’s been settled. John Jacob Astor is the inventor of an automatic road sweeper, oni which he has taken out a patent, and which, it is claimed, will be of great service in clearing roads of dust and other obstructions. Joe Jefferson, Lawrenco Bqrrett and Clara Morris (as a beginner) were members of John Ellsler’s stock company in the early days of the old Cleveland (Ohio) Academy of Music, which was destroyed by firo recently. Representative W. C. P. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, has decided to< give up his house in Washington andi make Lexington his home again as far as possible. This is a result of his wife’s recent death, and in accordance with his daughter’s wishes. Miss Elia Ewing, of Scotland Co., Mo., is a coy dqmsel of 18 summers who measures 8 feet 2 inches in S’ ' ht and is still growing. She is to be retiring in disposition,but exhibits quite an amouftt of exuberant girlishness among her intimate friends. The marriage of Helene Boulanger second daughter of “le brnv general," to M. Paul Auguez de Sachy, was celebrated in tbe most quiet manner at the Cathedral of Versailles, in contrast to the wedding of her younger sister, who married M. Driant in 1888. Mrs. Arthur Wilson, of baccarat scandal fame, invited this year, for the Doncaster race week, a house party comprising all the names, save that of the Prince of Wales and Sir Gordon Cumming, which were associated in the cause celebre which led to the social ruin of the latter. Senator Gorman is a practical and prosperous farmer. He has one of tbe best regulated farms in Maryland, containing 600 acres ; and his neighbors say he makes it seif-sup •< mg is a side issue. '. - ?--* '-yyir v rj vr- ft