we i sometimes think that these gentlemen who carry about with them the interesting information might well leave it behind them


but in the main doubtless they are right they administer a gentle dose of humbqg and it serves as a cathartic to the pockets of the people


is there never again any little charlatanry among our popular preachers is it all sterling talent that attracts


or is there sometimes an admixture a trifling admixture of that grosser material of which we are treating


is there nothing in the shape of affectation no promulgation of strong opinions for effect no assumption of peculiar sanctity for the very atmosphere of the building where the orator is delectating his audience


well never mind alls well that ends well his little peculiarities from whatever motive


they spring do good they bring those to public worship who might otherwise have stayed at home balancing their accounts or nursing the children and will not each paterfamilias after attending his church eat his sundays dinner a wiser and a better man


i then what are we to think of those numberless asso ciations that spring up like mushrooms on evety side


we have secular education schemes arid religious educa tion schemes we have societies formed for the education of the people after every conceivable fashion we have institutions for the advancement of sanitary reform we have projects for free libarries and for travelling libraries for diffusing knowledge in mechanics institutes and on cartwheels we have plans for the establishment of model lodginghouses we have here a company formed for the supply of patent muffins and crumpets at reduced prices then another for wetnursing infants after an improved manner and a third for supplying epsom salts and castor oil at a nominal charge


now all these schemes are very good their objects are capital and the effects they produce often not amiss


but are the pro moters never actuated by any other motive than the single one put forward


oh fie for shame sir to whisper such a question


well say what you will we have a lurk ing suspicion that some of those gentlemen who in tech nical phrase are so much before the public have pleasing visions of place and power in the background


look at that clergyman who is apparently so much in earnest and if you examine him narrowly you will have a reason c to suppose that there is a bishopric or


a deanery or a canonry reflecting on the retina of his glistening eye


that layman again who is so anxious to carry out his project for the diffusion of universal brotherhood may achieve a year as secretary to the association


some men rejoice to promulgate their theories in the public press others to see their names on placards in capital letters three inches long frss delivers lectures and very reverends are advertised to address the meeting


oue gentleman of original genius has written four pamphlets in which he has solved many abstruse problems by a string of interminable statistics and tra veiled to massachusets and baclc for truth and illustrations


well success to your projects say we and while you are lending a helping hand to the poor around you we do not begrudge you a lift for yourselves


to be continued


orkgiqta


a true tale of australia


chiaptei i


there are partings such


as press the life from out younig hearts


bynos


when heart is pressed to throbbing heart oh bitter bitter is the smart of them who bid farewell


ilbnn


dountless this world is a very happy one to many there are nulmerous roses strewed over the pathway of life but tile highest price of ex isteniceesinucere atfeotion can seldom be enjoyed without alloy


and when parting from those we love our future life appears a desert


snellch were the feelings of my heroine as she was bidding adieu to one who possessed that hallowed gift a couliding womans first and purest love


ihe was about to leave his native country to advance his fortune in a distant land


indeed dear edward i feel as if we should never meet agaiu perlhaps you may forget nme in your absence


forget you my dearest jessy impiiossible while i live i never can cease to thllk of you and to love you as truly as i do this moment


you know i would not leave you were it not for thle hopeo of procuring a happy home foryou


only think how happy we shall be when i return for yon two or even three yearsc will pass rapidly away and the joy of meeting will repay us for this painful parting


so spoke edward and so lie then feltfull ofhope anl affection for his betrothed


lihe ssailed from englanud


o lessy thle days seemed i opass in gloom the sunlight of love which haid lirightened hlier pathway in life seemed de parted and sihe had no hope but that of menutiug liimi again


edward frequently wrote to jessy in flrttering terms of his success atid stating thliat he did not thlink that hlie coull return for her yetnrg ing her with the strongest expressions of atire tioi to come out to him anuid that he wouild ensure lier proper protection on her arrival and iuiinediately make her his wife asie liehad a hoine ready for her


i his stop her frielpds were mnich arverse oud fdri a ilong period


jesys feelings


were swayed belweie auidcjty to meet her betluoihited and ieicntaitoe toleave her heont and frlieinds


at lerigthl tlie detath of a near relative wlo hiad most opposed her wishes remosved thle only barrier ard resolving on leavig englhnd she embarkted in thie gootd ship petrel while the young lady is preparing for entbarhlatioti we will if you like step into the emigration olice in london


in tlhat portion of the great metropolis where tlhe populttion is most dense and the streets narrowest you eunter a dingylooking house and ascending a dirty staircase you eniteran equally tdusty darkt room


now look round the apartment what a medley of kntives and forks tinpots wooden bowls atid pactkages of all sorts from the wall is suspended apicture of sydney such as it may beconme after itmany years but not as it now is ini fact it is a view dtrawn fitom inmagination


a stout rather reld faced man is pointing oui this picture to an in tending patrty of emigrants


ithis gentleman all smirks and smiles who is expatiating so eloquently on the advantages of emiigration aiitnd thle gollen prospects of the colony is one of those harpiesan emigration agent


ihe has chartered a ship and must fill it to make ai large profit ot hiis speculation


at the first onset great pretenided pains are taking to ensure the respetctubility of the emigranuts and they are mnade to believe that all their companions will be of the same castet but as the day of sailiing atpproaches thie vilest dregs of the population of tile large towns are pickled up to cominpletle the niiiber and australia pays for the chicaniery of a miercinary agent who under the tname of emi grants introdluces into hier community already overburodened with vice an increase of misery and crime


the jails and workhouses furnish sonme and the highways and byeways more


even if decent in conduct what a useless set as servtants are the greater part of tlhem i speak of bonity emigrants


are there any pains taken to ascertain their qualifications


no none and then look at the vatin prospects of wealth held onut to them


see thatpretty youtnggirl to whom the agent is giving a flie description of her future home see sihe turns away and weeps at the thought of leaving her coiutry for ever


the agent is hur rying her out oflthe room fearing her tears may dishearten some of the others


we will step over and taske her wllhy she leaves her home


she answers that she can scarcely tell except that she is not happily situatedl tand she has heard that you have only to go to aus tralia in order to make a fortuine


poor girl if she ihas been educated infirm feelings of receti tude and religion she may eventually conquer the many bitter trials site will have to encounter but how maty a heartaohe and the shafts of malice and utndeserved calumny will shie have to endure


but ifwhen didtant every hand to guide unskilled in lifes nladvoeturous tide she deviates from the course decreed no pitying hand will be extended to saveher ftom an eternal ribyss of niisery


io you see that old mian nwho is about to take anpassage for himself and five daughters who tire going out as candidates for matrimony


celibacy has however taken root here or eise whelre and in australia as at home niany fair damnsels are lords of themselves lthat hcritige of woe


preudt moi tel quc je suis seemnt the motto of numay young ladies aild ratbhr tihani not have a hlusband at all they accept thle first drunkard or gambler tlttt offers though scarcely one woman in a hlundred marries thle man she wouldtprdforbefore all tiheworld buttafter many refusals she takes one often inferior to the re jected because ihe perceives the impossibiltyof obtaining thle object of her clhoice


do you see that young man makling arrange lcnts for his passage


biy his extravagance and idleness at bomne he has eoarly ruined hlii friends and by way of finishing his educatiol they have given him the residue of his fortusn and are going to send him to acountry that which a place cannot be found more calculatel to complete the utter ruin of one not inclined to perseverance and industry


thcre stands a gentleman who having failed at home is about going to emigrate in order k speculate and as the phrase is cut a dasl without a sixpence of his own


we have iad many such whose consummate assurance lha enabled them to prey on the ciednlous until this bubble of their consequence has burst and left theim to the deserved stream of contempt


look at that wretched woman whose a pearance betokens a street ballad singer


see how anxiously she is urging that she is not imor than thirtythle age to receive bountythougli fifty winters are legibly written on her care worn countenance


there are two women just come in the object of each is to deceive yet the purpose is dilfereat they are both married and wish to join lthei husbands in australia but each asserts that sli is single or a widow


that bold confident looking woman is going to take out to her hus band the spoil of a deed for which lie left hii country for his countrys good with his wifes assistance he will soon be enabled to become great man and may live to see his chilirent aldermen or even perhaps members of council perchalnce e nmay arrive himself at some civic dignity and what is better still live to become an honest man


the other poor woman with a child in her armswho hesitates inl telling the falsehoodtlhti she is a widowby the misconduct of her hus


tiiad lias been left in a state of destitution indulging in idle habitsho dissipated the imens of subsistence and in an unhappy hour lie be


came a forger


in this age of misery he escaped the extreme penalty of the law and was sent to this country for life


is neglected but still fondly attached wife resolves on sharing his dig


grace her womans heart still clings to him whi was the object of her early love the world lius cast him off but still she feels that what would love be for if it were not the salee through joy and through sorrow through sickness and shame


and lie for whom she sacrifices so minch will he receive her


with that joy which


her love deserves


no perhaps quite hecontilary


hi


stantces have occurred inthis country wihereihe arrival of the wife has been sadly de irop


onur eisiyuni ibol


nt


iftsmiser fiids a eals theryi bj


loiet envyfrashtd m s


if anti the petrel in whith wyo shared the usuial fete yet escajiigsilsa


a i accidents o fire an ti lood


she rr i e nill her destiiutiori fitr i will notterry in myduarrativeto de diibe t monstrious ncidenlits of the voyage swil i lhji mtany matches ensued in consequence of s prox himinty the principal agent in love for when we lave o moo ion we valuethe sight of a stai the absence of contrast ati constant interchange oi society do wonders in these cases and people who at the commencement of the voynage an utter strangers to each other before its close often agree to sail through life togetlher


i will not describe neptunes visit on the equator to quaitity of water thrown about nor how sonic persons imagined they felt the ship heave as ii passed the liwn nor how on the old trick ie telling the ignorant to look throngh the tele scope before which a piece of twine was hehli they were made to believe ilthey saw the line


neithlier will i mention how one lady had hler


nose pulled by a gentleman because sihe spoke ill of his wife the said lady being rather too fonde of the elixir of life vulgarly called brandy her nrose was not only a turnup but a little reddish


will not dwell on the heartburnings and jea lousies and etndeavours to captivate the captain pursued by two or three youtg ladies who on shore would not have thought him worth theiri notice but at sea the skipper of a merchant vesl sel is a demi god


nor will i dlesciibe how their best clothes were worn in order to lookl well in his eyes and if in the evening promenade ona lckl the gentleman offered his arm what looks of triumphl the favored one cast on her rivals ilow nicely his charts were bontd and what untmerons purses andt cigar cases hle had workedi for him but tlas i faithlless man it was in vain ihe was alrceadly a benedict of whiclh sadel case tllhe fair ladies were not informed but its dlisclosutre was seriously felt by one lady lwho had translated a protposal from his manner


tn nn cosntinuat in oun nextj


originaz


a true tale of australia


chapter ii


continued from our last


that stranger was jessy three days had passed and still no tidings of edward she felt certain that information of her arrival had reached him and still he came not not even one line of welcome had she received


inl answer to her eager enquiries she had ascertained that on the day of her arrival he was in town and in good health again she asked was it possible that he was married


no he was still single


another anxious letter was written entreating him to explain to her the cause of his silence and sta ting her unhappy lonely condition how that she had abandoned all for him and had now no kind friend to rely on but him


many perhaps would condemn her for again writing alter his apparent neglect but not those who have loved with all the devotion with which a womans heart is capablei mean love unadulterated by vanitysuch feel that tho offended for the twentieth time they love the offender and forgive the crime


a woman requires proofs as strong as holy writ before that she could believe that the dear blissful dream is oer and the deceiver loves no more


how maddened is then the brain how crushed the heart and sad and dreary seems the future when such confirmation of our half hazarded doubts arrives at last


in every other sorrow we may reason that time and our own energy may blunt its poignancy but in this case the future is a dreary blank the present hateful and the past remembrance but conjures up a painful contrasttrue


time and wellregulated feel


ings may bring a balm if religion bestows her soothing aid but after this painful ordeal the character and temper are changed and selfish ness and callousness too often succeed


each wave that we welcolmd at morning ebbs from us and leaves us at noon in the bleak world alone


nsiponirlgaid


that the man who un shrinltingly endured a cdtsappotnu


heart was a greater hero than he who stood unmnoved the grapeshot of a battery


chapter ill


there is a sound of revelry by night soft eyes look love to eyes that speak again atndall goes merry as a marriage bell


it is a gala night at mrs iills from the earliest dawn until night there has been a mighty commotion in the house glasses to be washed custards and jellies to be made borrowed articles to be counted hired lamps to be placed re iterated directions to be given to the halfstupi fled servants relative to the correct arrangement of the things and every article of show has to be placed in the most conspicuous situation


it is the birthnight fete of the eldest daugh ter miss hill who has been by the blindness of fortune and those he monsters of apathy called the noble half of creation allowed to attain the advanced age of twentynine the admission of twentynine was allowed by the lady without reaching that summum bonum yelpt ma trimony


one of the misses hill as representative of her occupied family at the morning visiting hour was arrayed in a dress ofthe last fashion seated in a becoming attitude with some berlin or crotchetwork in the drawingroom where there was a splendid grand piano therefore it and the work were quite sufficient to convince anyone who called that the young lady was very accomplished


if you intruded into anly part of the house you might see visions of young labies slipshot with sundry particles of news papers about their facesthe outside of their cerebrum if not the in being furnished with literature their whole souls are absorbed in the dresses they are to were at night hoping they may be finer than any one forgetting good taste requires of them not to be too much dress ed to receive their visitors


wvhat anxiety has a young lady about her dress and how inefficiently she attains her objecteven if dressed to per fection her companions will in her absence however in her presence they praise detect some latent fault either in the dress or


the wearer


it is her sexs earliest latest care their hearts supreme ambition to be fair thisis the source aid end of all their joys


sensible men i speak not of fops rarelysiotice thoe mterinl nf fhr ladys drpeoq


n f worn it before but it is the whole appearance and manner which make the impression ease of manner devoid of levity and restless eager


ness for admiration and modesty without affec tation are more winning charms than fine dress or beauty though the latter is not to be despised by any one who has a pug nose or visual orbs at war with each other


night has arrived and as the hall and bach door are according to the colonial fashion in direct line with each other constant slammings of the rival doors announce the arrival of visitors


you hear certain exclamations of is my heir tidly


what a pretty igure my dress is inr so many of us in the carriage just fancy six of us mamma and mrs smith as large as any three moderately sized persons


dear


dear said an elderly lady i have forgotten my cap it wassuch a beauty just come home before i left and cost me two guineas


to be continued in our next


n to atth fkrtrjjts


an essay on humbug


v


by a manchester man


l j from fraters magazine for july


n


we come now to that portion of our essay in which we have to treat of the hurtful species of humbug and where can we find an apter illustration of it thar in the notorious phineas taylor barnum


who can contem plate this napoleon of entrepeneurs without a sort of sublime amazement


as a professor of humbug he leaves the wizard of the north with his inexhaustible bottle far behind he glories too in his science


at a public din ner he proposes the toast success to humbug


he lectures to agricultural labourers on the philosophy of humbug


he inhabits a splendid mansion called iran istan which means we imagine humbug palace


he stares the public in the face and thrusting his tongue into his cheek coolly says friend public you are a mighty big simpleton


was it of him that his countryman long fellow wrote


he looks tho whole world in the face and fears not any man


clever men sometimes outwit themselves so with barnum


he has published an autibiography


what could have induced so acute a man to do so foolish a thing


we have no objection to pay a shilling for the sight of a feejee mermaid or a woolly horse but ws choose to be left to our own fancy in the inspection we love as wordsworth calls it that modest charm of not too much part seen imagined part


it is very true that he exhibited among us a minnikin of a few pounds weight and carried away from our shores as many thousands as would build and endow a hospital or a cathedral but if aristocratic ladies rushed forward with a maternal enthusiasm to kiss the wretch tom thumb not barnum it was their own lookout


the philosophy of the question however lies here


if a person afford


us pleasure by imposture why should he inflict pain by re vealing to us the secret of it


if we have enjoyed a supper of potted beef we are somewhat discomposed to find from a police report the day after that a dead horse two flayed donkeys and four skinless tomcats have been lately found upon the premises of the man from whom we pur chased it


it is no consolation whatever to reflect that


it is the seasoning as does it


we condemn without any reservation the dealer in preserving meats


but it is somewhat worse with barnum


he has not been detected by a police officer in fraudulent dealings he publishes a hundred thousand copies of his own exulting confessions


and when he ventures to inform us that he carries a bible in his coatpocket or carpetbag and studies it too while he is itinerating with his washingtons nurse or his mer maid we are almost inclined to give phineas up to the dissecting knife of the relentless critic in februarys


fraser


the disgrace and curse of our time he writes is absence of genuineness from our fabrics our merchandise our workmanship


sham and shiftiness everywhere supply the place of sound mate rials and genuine work


we all know and suffer by it


no one however has hitherto ventured to glorify the system but here we have a successful trader in things which were not what they professed to be preaching unblushingly theevangile of humbug and indoctrinating mankind in the system of delusion by which human faith or human credulity call it what you will may be imposed on most thoroughly ana most profitably


the book is ail offence and a nuisance and whatever the authors countrymen may say of it here at least it is well he should be told in plain terms what he is and where he stands according to the laws of european society


but is barnum alone in this autobiographical tomfool ery


alas


since that mad frenchman wrote his con fessions the world has been sadly pestered with these vanities


how this should be is a mystery to us on the supposition that the autobiograpliers are of sound mind


if men do not purpose deliberately and fully to write themselves down assses why


attempt this dangerous style of composition


gloss over your own character and you are a lying humbug lay bare your failings and you are a shameless humbug


and yet horresco referens


living men publish octavo volumes full of twaddle about them selves and their acquaintance


is there no law against this


can members of a civilized community be per


mitted to exhibit themselves and their friends like so many gibbeted murderers at the meeting of four roads and escape without being indicted at law


will not the statute of lunacy reach the case


have such gentlemen no relatives to take care of them


not that autobiogra phers who leave their writings as postobits are much better


true they have not to look the living in the face and so far well but why not prove a dead mans friend and burn what he has written about himself


we always regarded the poet moore with deference and res pect till in an unlucky hour we read his autobiography


theri for goodness sake do not throw open the saloons of


great houses with traditional associations and exhibit ithe inmates in their everyday costume and character


iwhen we hear that these marvellous places have been the nurseries of politicians who sucked in statesmanship with their mothers milk that they have been the hotbeds of philosophical sayings that they have hatched poets like chickens by this new steam invention the ignotum pro magnifico is a principle strong upon us and we regard the walls with distant admiration


but let men retail the conversations and


gabble about the goings on there and we find out at once that it is a distance which lends enchantment to the view


giants are reduced to pigmies by a sudden process of pantocaine lions are transformed into very shallow monsters men who have signed protocols seem fitter for tying up brown paper parcels


reader are you writing your autobiography


xo


you contemplate so rash an act


then in the name of your self and your friends and common sense we pronounce you a humbug


you are to be shunned as dangerous


faenurn habes in cornu


if we had our way with you we would pack you off to bedlam instanter without taking out a commission de lunaticoinquirendo


r now if barnum had not in an evil hour penned an autobiography he would certainly have had more coun tenance among his neighbours


is phineas the only cheap john with defective wares


no later than today we took off our hat


to mr ezekiel yarnspin a man worth half a million if he is worth a penny


he sends goods over the wide world and overstocks the markets at home


well where is


the harm


none whatever if the goods were genuine but the faculties of man are exerted nowa days to produce the bestlookmg article at the smallest cost


the nineteenth century viewed in the light of trade is emphatically the century of devils dust


and yet mr yarnspin


walks on change erect and with an untroubled breast


fine ladies are lamenting over his deceptive cambrics servant girls are bewailing the flying colours of his prints porters are cursing his cracking fustians mothers are mourning over his rotten calicoes house keepers are sorrowing over his fading druggets from the court of the king of dohomey to the court of queen victoria the cry of distress is heard and yet we will answer for it that as we are now writing at midnight he is snoring soundly in the arms of mrs ezekiel yarnspin


what can you do with your conscience ezekiel


do you lock it up in your milners patent anticombustion box for safety during the weekdays and bring it out fresh on sunday as you sit under the rev jonas doldrum at bethesda chapel


you will hardly listen to the moral prolusions of a heathen poet or we would quote for your edification a few lines from virgil there rhadamanthus sits in awful state around him fresh from earth the culprits wait he shifts each sham though cunningly oerlaid and makes each weight confess the tricks of trade then oer their heads tbo scorpionrod he shakes and brings it down like fury on their backe


we have not much satisfaction in discussing this third division of our subject but we cannot conceal from our selves that the injurious species of humbug is multiform it seems at intervals to invade our nation in the shape of some gigantic imposture


sometimes it invests itself with the figure of a mammon idol sometimes it clothes itself in a strong intellectual delusion sometimes it is envel oped in a blind superstition


will any one allow himself to wander back in memory some eight or nine years and he will find himself breathing the malaria of a most fatal humbug


it was the season of the railway maiama


cheating trickery lying were practised on an enormous scale and held to be perfectly justifiable


foul was fair


the very spartan condition of concealment wets eschewed


the moral sense of the country was debased its virtues was debauched


provisional committees scrip engineers rival lines these were the only topics of dis cussion turn where you might at home and on change at dinner and in the drawingroom


men of station and reputed integrity were accustomed to speak of jobs frauds deceits as carelessly as they sipped their claret after din ner


the time was one of awful delinquency in the annals of our country and may it never return


last year delusion came over us under another aspect


mes merism clairvoyance spiritrapping tableturning in short all the humbug treated of by joseph ennemoser seemed to invade us at once like a swarm of locusts


education


professor faraday you may reasonably question its reality among us but you must not forget the great samuels dictum that you may supply reason ing but not brains


neither have we escaped the impos tures that engender the most grovelling superstitions


talk of the nineteenth century forsooth its enlighten ment and progress


bah


it is an age of humbug and it would be more satisfactory if we could say of it as we say sometimes of our neighbours that it was no ones enemy but its own


let a man give five hundred pounds for a couple of cochin chinas and we do not quarrel with him on that score we have a shrewed suspicion that he is a fool but we have no reason to say that he is a knave


but when ecclesiastics coin miracles and establish im maculate conceptions we rub our eyes in amazement like rip van winkle and wonder whether we have not awoke in the dark ages


we might find numberless individual personations of this species of humbug but not to trespass too much on your patience kind reader we will venture to lay it down as a general rule that the man who is desirous of parad ing himself as better than his neighbours is in nine cases out of ten a humbug hypocritical and daiigerous to society at large


now a person may do this in two ways lie may adopt a brusque manner and a blunt style of ad dress evermore depreciating others and holding himself up as the only honest fellow in the neighbourhood or he may assume a snuffling whining tone affecting much humility but never thinkingit inconsistent to deliver a homily to those around him on their shortcomings nd defections


we very well remember an instance on the former of these species of humbug


he was a lawyer he styled himself honest john till people believed him he des cribed himself by implicatien as the only straightforward lawyer in the county till his clients took his bluntness for candour


but unluckily honest john took a trip to america one year in the pleasant season of summer and never returned


like a crafty humbug however he went richly ladened lie took with him in charge some forty thousand pounds of other peoples money


that ancient again who when met wandering through the city with a lantern in his hand said that he was in search of an honest man was an excellent type of this class


we venture to say that he would not have found the object of his search by turning the bullseye upon himself


but we almost fanev that the very good man who is ever lecturing his betters in unctuous language and nasal cadences is a more dangerous humbug still


we have here and there met with such an one in our time


travelling together along the turnpike of life he will cheat you out of the fourpenny toll while he is enlarging on your carnalmindedness and should yoji venture to suggest to him mildly that he had better confine himself to his own personal edification he straightway stops your mouth by threatening to pray for you


some months ago we were closeted with a manchester merchant in his pri vate office when one of the principal salesmen knocked and stepped into the room


well jackson said the master has that buyer been able to satisfy himselfj about the goods


it was just what i wanted to see you about sir was the answer


well jackson whats to do


why sir to tell the truth said the salesman with a cunning look i dont half like mv man


he has been lecturing me for the last ten minutes about my spiritual darkness though i never saw him before he mixes up calicoes and calvinism in the funniest way besides he snuffles through his nose fearfully and declares that there is no true religion but among the baptists


i dont half like him sir


any references


snuffle shufflebotham and whine


well what do they say


that he is truly spiritual


truly spiritual


the cant ing humbugs


but is he truly substantial


thats more than i know sir


what ami to do


well jackson says the master musing it certainly seems a doubtful case


let me see


trust him for at three months


not a fathing more remember at three months


readerj fare thee well for the present


we wish thee good bye in the words of an ancient moralist


lay the subject of this treatise to heart if thou desirest to succeed in the world


ponder over it if thou wishest well to thy self


employ this pleasant unction we have analyzed with discretion and it will serve thee right faithfully unto the end


do not daub it on like an unskilful painter for thou shalt spoil thine own handiwork but use thy colours moderately and tastefully


by what other means do our v statesmen acquire distinction our divines gain popularity our lawyers attract clients our physicians allure patients our merchants and tradesmen amass riches than by the judicious appliance of a little pleasing humbug


the mysteries of sydney


not by the author of the mysteries of paris or the mysteries of london but by one of ourselves


part iichapter xiii


steps towards the rattrapa new practitioner in art


sharkey retired to his bed but not to sleep


his profound knowledge of the world made him more than suspect the flimsiness of the schemes which had heen unfolded to him his eagle eye saw objects clearly palpably which were dim and misty to the dull sight of greytricks and his companions


he perceived danger in a thousand shapes hovering round them and the arrow drawn to ths head waiting the signal to be discharged


to join their undertaking and compromise himself was the least of his inten tion to rise upon their ruin was his sole aim


he revolved in his mind a thousand plans to effect this object and chuckled with all the cal losity of self as he looked forward to the immo lation of these victims their illgotten gains in his pocket and the fair kate in his arms


wait and watch it will not be for long jacob muttered he wait and watch


keep aloof and the dream of the night will be the certainty of the morning


the fools


they are but students in the art and fancy themselves masters


so much the better the lion needs jackals for pro viders for him the choicest bits for them the offal


and then as if his mind was eased by having given vent to these thoughts and sketched out his plan of action sharkey slept long and heavily


glorious news my boy cried greytricks bursting into his room before he had risen from his couch glorious news sale of stock com menced this morning at nine precisely prime bids up to the mark stumpy in pocket


scarcely cleared out when up comes dray laden with the rich spoil of another sweet and spicy realm


in one hour off they go to lowrinks private store prime dodge that jacob goods passed from hand to hand no chance of tracing em hey


were pretty sharp i think


very


almost too sharp hovered upon sharkeys lips in the cynicism of the moment but he restrained himself


i believe you my boy


and youll repeat it when you know all


i didnt tell you half our cunning last night


indeed was the only comment sharkey thought necessary to make being satisfied from his knowledge of greytricks character that his tongue needed no spur to urge it on


no not half and here a glow of satisfac tion spread over the features of the speaker as if he were about to divulge the discovery of the north pole the quadrature of the circle or a short method of making mankind happy


grey tricks and co is our firm but


the co except ourselves dye see ergo when a screw becomes loose greysticks dewberry and lowrinks are strangers to each other per fect strangersyou comprehend


schemes so deep an yours replied sharkey can scarcely be understood at once even by an adept in the game like myself


glad to hear you say so it gives me cour age


well then bill becomes due or cheque postdated as case may be dupe wont wait puts it into the hands of a sixandeight he issues summons files declaration gets judg ment and all that issues execution hands it to sheriff very gentlemanly kind man sheriff sends his sub pleasant chap too to enquire after your health sub comes polite as george the fourth the most finished gentleman c


whats your business i enquire


sorry to tell you sir execution levy and all that he answers


and im more so i reply you see that worthy person of course you do hes already in possession for five fiftyfive fifteen and fivepence three farthings hard case theres not enough for both whack what there is if you can agree all the same to me


sub looks astounded struck all of a heap first execu tion in the case of newberry versus greytricks satisfied second spooney versus same defend ant certainly is not why should it be hey


i should never have conceived so artful a project rejoined sharkey encouragingly


wouldnt you though


well thats flat tering i always reckoned you a bigger rogue than any of us glad to have given you a wrinkle jacob


which i gratefully acknowledge and shall not easily forget replied sharkey in a tone in which the faintest touch of a sneer was percep tible but augustus anthony was so selfsatis fied that it passed him unnoticed and he rattled on more glibly under the powerful influence of the oil of flattery applied by a master hand


even thats not all when execution is fully satisfied down dewberry pops for rent hes the landlord jacob not a bad dodge that


in fact we have em all ways and the devil himself cant beat us


not with the insolvent court as a dernier resort burtons purge thrue for yez as we say in ireland


thats a good stand by and highly respectable besides


his name ought to be immortalized as the compounder of a medicine which cleaned out creditors and set debtors on their legs


burton was a good judge of human nature jacob rogues all was his belief and he legislated accordingly


he was a firstrate chancellor of exchequer


oh yea


oh


yea


swallow the purge and come out white as a fleece as the poet says qui niger et captivus eram candore nivali splendidus egregior carcere liber homo solvuntur cur solvuntur vincula ferri solvitur attonitus creditorin lachrymas


solvor ego tantum non solvitur s alienum a non solvendo rite solutus ero


not bad is it jacob not mine though picked it up somewhere how are your classics rusty


thought soheres a free and easy trans lation for you


a blackleg once and prisoner here i go in whitewashed splendour pure as stainless snow dissolved my bonds dissolved my cares and fears my very creditors dissolved in tears


all questions solved his purge resolves me free absolved in absolute insolvency


filched again jacob never mind everybody filches now a days


hallo


whats the row


the question was addressed to several knocks at the door followed up by a request to be in formed when mr greytricks would be at leisure for a sitting


oh directlysay ten minutes and im your man replied greytricks


i forgot to tell you jacob we have a lodger thats his voice artist slapdash splendacious draws like a michael angelo and colours like a titian i was going to say but titians nothing like him for colour sir nothingbelieve me


and as for portraits vandyke lely reynolds law rence all fools to him all bosh believe me


hes now engaged on two works of art that will as tonish the globemy portrait and an histori cal picture sirnymphs bathing by a rail way surprised by a stag


my portrait is as like as two peasso kate says i mean it for kate but the historical th historical i say sir is the thing whereby hell touch the pocket of the king


king is a flight of fancyit stands for governor but jump up and judge for yourself ill take sitting finishing touch c you swallow breakfast and then allow me the distinguished honor of introducing you to the man of the age bronze daubly cackler esqwonderful person believe me wonderful


talent oozing from his fingers ends like acress courage wonderful


but mum jacob before him not a word hes ignorant of our trade as a suckling pig


having delivered this compound of eulogy and warning grteytricks made his exit with a flourish while sharkey proceeded to perform the duties of his toilet and despatch his morning meal being somewhat anxious to study this spark of genius to whom augustus was playing the mecnas although from the nature of the patron he vaticinated that the painter was to use a common term


no great shakes


sharkey stepped across a narrow landing place at the head of a flight of stairs of equally minute dimensions and found himself at once by the artists studio the door of which being partially open afforded him the opportunity of taking a glance at the adytum of the temple of art and its high priest


the sight was more novel than interesting


the dingy plaster walls were disfigured by multifarious crude sketches in charcoal of objects ranging from the human face divine down to the fetlock of a donkey


in one corner of the room was a plaster cast of a head which by the laurel wreath round its brow would seem to have been intended as a representation of some conqueror at the olympic games or an alexander who had grasped the world but as the nose of this classical design was knocked off and a huge pair of curling mustachios decorated its upper lip the handiwork in all probability of some jocose visitor the cast would have passed equally well for the prince de joinville the cham of tar tary an australian stockman or any other out of the way specimen of bipedal mortality


a pewter pot of the ale and porter genus consi derably indented and the remains of a guttery candle kept in its perpendicularity by means of a bottle with a few wornout brushes a broken palette and a multicolored rag or two were grouped picturesquely around the bust which looked down upon them with as much pride as its peculiar cast of features would allow


the artist was a young man whose counte nance did not bespeak that vast amount of in tellectuality for which his ardent admirer au gustus anthony had given him credit on the contrary it was one of those common faces of which one meets thousands and forgets the mo ment they have passed from sight


it was not unpleasant or villainous or demoniac or fierce or goodhumoured but it was expressionless ut terly inane its owner in trying his chance in the lottery of heads had evidently drawn a blank and yet on a closer examination cunning might be traced in his small ferretty eyes


a beard of some few days growth and a short black pipe in one corner of the mouth did not alter the un favorable impression


cackler was at that mo ment engaged in putting the finishing touch to the tip of the nose of augustusthat gentleman being seated before him in a chair with his countenance screwed up to portrait pitch and evidently fancying that he looked like a brutus deaf to the pleadings of his son or a coriolanus telling the roman petitioners that he wished they might get their request


thats it


exclaimed cackler and im blest if i ant glad its done


tis done and i am king cried greytricks rising and throwing himself into an attitude how like augustus and his visage fair his godlike aspect and imposing air hie hither connoisseurs here critics come and hail augustus in a glass of rum said sharkey stepping for ward and finishing the verse


good again exclaimed augustus not a bad proposition what do you say cackler to a tonic this morning


but allow me first to in troduce my friend jacob jaques jules janin jumbug chevalier dlndustrie and painter in extraordinary to louis phillippes court to you cackler hes a great man he continued to the artist in a whisper he ispon soul and honour


the introduction having been completed in due form and cemented by a glass of such pure pine apple jamaica as the nearest publichouse could supply jacobs opinion was asked as to the portrait which of course received all the eulogy usually applied in such cases


i knew youd like it i knew you


would ap preciate merit like my friend cacklers cried augustus but sirand here he grew trebly enthusiasticthat portrait great as it is is nothing to this immortal work this stupendous effort of originality and geniusmark that sir which when earth has passed away shall be translated to the skies on the wings of guidos angels and be hung in the best light in the gal lery of clouds sir


and having uttered this prophecy augustus directed the attention of sharkey to the picture of nymphs bathing by a railroad surprised by a stag


dont speak count till your senses have re turnedno wonder it strikes you dumb with rapture is it not stupendous


look at the drawing of the figures the brilliancy of the colouring the light and shade the simplicity the grandeur thethedamme the everything sir originality included


it certainly is original said sharkey


oh quite original chimed in cackler i pride myself upon that point


and well you may said sharkey i had a faint impression of having seen some thing a leetle like the composition somewhere before


impossible cried the artist hurriedly impossible


it is the coinage of my own brain


a brass coinage thought sharkey though too politic to give vent to such an opinion


it certainly is an extraordinary picturevery now i look at it more closely i feel bound to confess i never saw anything a morsel like it


i thought so


i prophecied it exclaimed greytricks delightedlypraise from the count bronze cackler is praise indeed


indeed it is


here the speaker whispered into the en raptured artists ear paint the counts por trait for nix and throw a frame into the bar gain it will do you a world of good sir hung in the louvre blazon your name through france sir politest of countries portrait of count jacob jacques jules janin jumbug che valier dindustrie c c c painted by bronze daubly cackler knight of the cross and fleece c c c the extinguisher of the old world and founder of the new


i would do it with pleasure but the frame greytricksthe frame wants pooh wants to be tipped with gold i know never mind ill arrange that affair by st louis the counts frame is a picture of itself


not so badis it


i beg pardon count but my friend is anxious to possess a memorandum of your distinguished counte nance before you take french leave of us if you could accommodate him with a sitting or two


i feel the compliment highly replied shar key but my time is so brief that it will not allow me to steal a moment from it even to gratify a wish so flattering to my vanity


be sides my face i believe is already tolerably weli known to the best judges here and it has been very closely examined by very inferior ones


it is a face that once seen must always be remembered faintly remarked cackler it is a very marked physiognomy


youre right my cackler thought jacob and the body attached to it has been pretty well remarked too


what


twelve oclock already said grey tricks i must be off ten minutes behind my time now come on count this way for no bility tata cackler see you again about that i wish you could let me have it today be


cause hush not a word surely when i augustus anthony horatio clarence fitzstephen


grey tricks affirm a thing you may book it to a cer tainty your money cackler shallyou know what i meancackler shall remain a book debt said sharkey to his companion as the door closed upon them leav ing the artist to finish his titanic or titianic design of nymphs bathing by a railroad sur prised by a stag and to look for the renova tion of his scanty purse from the funds of his friend augustus and to exist upon the plea sures of hope


to be continued


a new series


the mysteries of sydney or the revelations of sin shame and sorrow


chapter iv


a new homethe playfresh moves on the board


the scene in the boarding house recounted in the preceding chapter of this work did not dis pose frank to look upon a residence in migra tion lodge with a favorable eye


contrary to his expectations fanny on listening to the recital of the domestic annoyances treated them lightly and expressed her willingness to receive the maternal protection of mrs osqueeze


perhaps the recollection of a certain handsome harry mordaunt might have some influence over her decision for though but a child when they last met the attractiveness of his manner and kind attentions had impressed themselves deeply upon her youthful mind


writers skilled in such matters have determined that love is the nature of the female heartthe companionship it longs for


be this theory true or not it is certain that fanny felt a strong predisposition in favor of mordaunt which was materially increased by the loneliness of her position and apparent similarity of his


the treacherous sunshine of their lives had been obscured by the clouds of misfortune and the fairy fabric of romance was shivered by the stern touch of reality


she sin cerely pitied him and that feeling is universally acknowledged to be akin to love


not that fannys heart was to be won unwooed however glowing were her susceptibilities her exquisite purity and sensitiveness threw a silver veil around them and effectually secured her from the imputation of forwardness or coquetry


the necessary arrangements were soon com pleted and a few days after their arrival in sydney the brother and sister were entered on migration lodge census roll


mrs osqueeze expressed ten thousand delights at meeting fanny whom she designated an iligant cray thur and the picthur of her first cousin the hon


mrs norry blazes wife of sir pathrick blazes of mount turfanblazes swate tippe rary


miss katie threw herself into fannys arms and vowed eternal friendship and so for cible and energetic was her pantomime of hugs and caresses that the new comers dress expe rienced considerable disarrangement


och shure youll pardon katie cried the fond mother on observing the effects of their wild embraces it only springs from pure affic tion her warrm falins must have vint


shes a pure child of nathur is she not misther mor daunt


the individual addressed entered the room at the moment fanny extricated herself from the enfoldings of miss osqueeze and scarcely ven tured to look at him who occupied so large a portion of her thoughts had she ventured a gaze she would have been struck with the mingled wonder and delight which beamed on mordaunts countenance


the original before him far surpassed the ideal picture he had drawn of little fanny his early playmate


the soft and pensive not to say dejected expression of her face served to heighten ber charms whilst her modest and unobtrusive manner seemed to shrink from the admiration which they excited


mordaunt was taken completely aback and experienced the peculiar bashfulness of a rustic lover in the presence of his mistress


mrs osqueeze broke the spell which enthralled him and relieved him from his awkward dilemma


and wheres your politeness enquired that worthy lady


what niver a word of wilcome to miss earle and she a counthryman of yours


faith you english are mighthy could


mordaunt could have hugged the old lady for her friendly interposition it enabled him to shake off a portion of his reserve and give vent to his feelings at the meeting


fannymiss earle said he many years have passed since we parted and little did i expect that our reunion would take place in a strange land


the suddenness of the surprise the great change in yourself must plead in ex tenuation of my backwardness in conveying the pleasure which i really feel


will you shake hands with me in token of forgiveness


fanny extended her hand which was eagerly and warmly clasped by mordaunt


he felt that little hand tremble in his and would have given worlds to call it his own


believe me mr mordaunt replied fanny thus meeting a friend of my brother one who knew us in other times and under more propi tious circumstances yields me a happiness which i find myself embarrassed to express


the tongue is not at all times the best interpreter of the heart


a jingling of glasses and clatter of steps heralded the approach of nips who entered the room in his usual unceremonious manner with a tray containing some sweet biscuits and sherry


i heard you vas a goin to ring the bell mem so i thought i might as well spare you the trouble


vine and biskits rejoined he ad dressing fanny is werry nice things arter a woyage


veewils and salt junk without wed getabels for four months at a stretch ant to say werry fattenin


how extremely thoughtful of nips ex claimed mother and daughter in one breath mainly endeavouring to hide their dissatisfaction at the proceeding which was a direct violation of the threemealsaday rule of migration lodge


yes mem these here hard times keeps a lad a little videavake


then winking at mor daunt he proceededyou neednt


look at the vine mem it ant the threeandninepence a gallon for general tabel presumption but its your own private partickler


theres none of the warjuce about it


you can go nips cried mrs osqueeze boiling over at this full discovery of the ways and means of her housekeeping


hes a strange lad miss earle quite a characther an orphan taken out of charity by my dear departed husband mr timothy osqueeze whose por trait hangs over the fireplace


the mistress of the mansion then elevated a very questionable looking piece of cambric to her eyes in order to hide the grief conjured up by this reference to the deceased gentleman whose departure from this world of woe the censorious mainly ascribed to the constant worryings of the mourning lady


unyins is scarce whispered nips to mor daunt as he was leaving the room


crikey vont there be a row in the kitching presently


blowins up allers goes with low wages


orphans has a nice time of it i dont think


vats the good of bringing orphans into the vorld theyre like bad hapence everybody gives him a kick and chucks em away


the door closed upon nips and his philosophy and the luncheon proceeded without farther in terruption


mrs osqueeze paid fanny the most marked attention and insisted upon her accompanying a small party to the theatre in the evening


fanny vainly pleaded fatigue and disinclination to visit public assemblies the matron would not listen to the apologetic strain and miss katie made no secret of her astonish ment at a refusal to witness the bohemian bandit or the bloodstained boots which was the great card of the entertainment


mordaunt prophecied that she would be highly amused and frank could not see any harm in her going


pressed on all aides fanny gave a reluctant consent and the star of the bohemian bandit was in the ascendant


at the usual hour the party was whirled to the theatre in a carriage of nips selection which that tasteful person termed a slap up wehicle a regular lord mayorer and was ushered into the osqueeze box


the piece appeared to have created considerable excitement as the boxes were mostly occupied whilst the pit and gallery were crowded


the principal character was announced to be performed by a favorite trage dian his first appearance after a long absence and this accounted for the impatience and anxiety manifested by the rougher portions of the audience


catcalls in the gallery were answered by shrill whistles from the pit and the orchestra was greeted with loud cries of play up nosey


move on slow coach tip us the railway gallop or nix my dolly pals fake away


the delay still continuing the youthful pitites amused themselves by pelting each other with orange peel and occasionally skimming a small boy over the heads of those in front of them to the infinite annoyance of staid old per sonages who experienced the force of the prac tical joke


at length the prompters bell was heard but in lieu of the concord of sweet sounds the manager stepped forward with that peculiar look which betokens diagreeable intelligence


the usual vollies of off offhear him hear himno nohearsilence having been fired off a lull succeeded the storm and enabled the speaker to commence the delivery of his errand ladies and gentlemen it is with the most poignant feelings of regret that i now appear for the purpose of informing you whats oclock old chap from several voices


if it be your pleasure to hear me i will pro ceed if not i feel it due to the dignity of the profession to which i have the honour of be longing to cut it shrieked a shrill treble from the third row in the pit


yes sir but in more polite terms to toss the pieman hot all hot heads i vin tails you loses floated down from a youth ful fluefaker in the gallery


no sir proceeded the manager in answer to the sooty deity not to toss the pieman it is a low game which i do not understand the confidence of my butcher and baker is unlimited


ladies and gentlemen as i said before if you will not condescend to hear me i beg to draw it mild growled a basso with a short pipe in his mouth


ladies and gentlemen it is useless for me to dance a college hornspike halloed the captain of a lane creek wood boat


am i to be baited in this way am i to toss for a bull three up exclaimed one of the mainandchance people at the back of the pit


nonono cried the infuriated mana ger for none of these purposes have i come before you but to turn out the chap vith the red comfitter hes a making all the noise shouted a person who could only find standing room and envied the red comforter his comfortable seat


you lie spoony


i havent opened my mouth for the last fortnight ive been bad with the rhumatiz


a general call of silence again obtained that desirable commodity


ladies and gentlemen i beg to inform you that on account of the sudden and severe indis position of mr tibsen he cannot appear this evening in the character of brigandino the bohemian bandit


gammon exclaimed a chorus of voices he was playing quoits on the racecourse in the morning


i hold a medical certificate in my hand halfacrowns worth of doctors stuff got easy


ladies and gentlemen all i can say is mr tibsen is not here consequently he will not play if you are desirous of witnessing the represen tation of the bohemian bandit mr bellpuli will undertake the part of brigandino if not the favorite opera of the mysterious milkmaid or the skyblue scarf will be performed in its stead


the admirers of the talented tragedian were vociferous in their calls upon bellpull the mysterious milkmaid however was not without friends who exerted themselves most magnani mously in her behalf


but the bellpullers were far more numerous and ultimately gained the day


the overture had played as if nothing had happened and the curtain drew up to discover brigandino brooding over the wrongs inflicted upon him by count bergamotsi a polish noble man


his opening soliloquy was highly inte resting and effective


i was not always thusno no


i had a wife onceonce where is she gone


ah where


ha ha


ask the fiendthe deep the trebly damned bergamotsi


he stole upon me unawares fired my castle and bore away my beautious bride oer blazing beams and burning bridges into the brooding blackness of bohemias broad woods


but ill have revengeah revengeah


his corse shall lie prostrate on the earth and the boots of brigandino the bohemian bandit be branded with his blood


what ho


without there


advance my trusty lieutenant sch watsenpotsenswipesenswillenburgh


the party in the osqueeze box were affected with different feelings at bigandinos sangui nary intentions fanny and the two cavaliers in attendance could scarcely control their smiles but mrs osqueeze and miss katie were in rap tures and when the gentleman with the unpro nounceable name appeared in all the dignity of a tragedy wig corked moustaches incarnardined nose and yellow ochre boots the young lady rose into the seventh heaven of excitement


the tragedy then proceeded in the following fashion brigantinonow schwartz for thus in brief


i must thee call how goes the hour


hast set the watch


schwartz tis gone


brigandino hurriedlywhats gone


the watch


a movementan escape


move not your hands thus oer your time marked face nor touch your jewelled cap


schwartzthe watch was set brigantino thoughtfullytwas not a stop watch


yetrepeat your tale schwartzim no repeater


if you doubt mestrike


schwartzenpotsenswinesenswillenburg puts himself in attitude and bares his bosom to the knife which brigantino has drawn from the inside to the outside on the right side of his in expressibles pocket


he thinks for a moment better of it and motions alphabet s to walk off which he does


brigandino speaks to himself not having the slightest idea that any one is lis tening


brigandinotis strangeyet were it not twere stranger still


i am not madand yet i think i am


i had a sister once and uncles aunts grandsires and grandams cousinsa wet nurse and all relationship a man could need and morepish


psha


pooh pooh


alas


i had a wife


hahahahahahah


a rib so dear was neer bought in cheapside ths voice of dimisimikvavers is heard outside singing


oh miss annie dontee ky for me im goin to your granny with my flddlediddle dee


brigandinothat air reminds me of my childhoods hours when i chased butterflies amongst the flowers when the great humming bee i used to clutch and suck his bag of sweets loved overmuch when treacle brimstone each succeeding moon were forced adown me with a wooden spoon when ally taws were out and hoops were in or lignum vit tops i used to spin or bandy football buttons each in turn temptations sore my daily task to spurn came oer the spirit of my schooldays dream and bore me smoothly on lifes rapid stream


what am i now


he wept and his sobs were so audibly echoed by miss katie as to attract the attention of the boxites who levelled a whole field of lorgnettes at her


amongst the particularly stricken were jack stunner and mr whiffle chatter


the former was a gay dashing handsome pleasant fellow whom every body liked


a thorough sportsman he could ride drive shoot fence set to run hop jump row and furthermore cap greek verses like a porson and toss off a pot of heavy wet like a coalheaver although he was occasionally wrong in the quantities of both


in his mixture with the world of allsorts he had taken away part of the pitch


jack was a leetle slangified but the most casual observer could not fail to notice that he was a gentleman wear ing a masquerade garment for the moment


his natural dress certainly fitted him better


if jack had a weakness it lay in his moustaches these he cultivated with remarkable zeal and they rewarded his assiduity by tendrilizing in the real oriental style


they were in fact crinegerous curiosities calculated to charm the heart of an heiress


whiffle chatters was the antipodes of stunners poll his head was a drum which his tongue kept beating throughout the day producing a noise without melody


stunner said chatter after taking a se cond sight at the osqueeze box who is that horrid ogress in verdure clad


and that sprite of innocent vulgarity in the long curls


not knowing cant say mr chatter bred in a bad stable though cocktails both


but by the belt of orion that black filly behind them is thoughbred what an eye what a head and how beautifully set on the shoulders


jack stunner names aphrodite for the maiden plate


oh


ah


eh


that little thing in black she is a beauty and just in my style


i flatter myself that i could make an impression there


you do occasionally flatter yourself mr chatter


isnt it singular that lookingglasses do seldom speak the truth


i do not exactly comprehend you


of course not


compute it to my higno rance as they say in the seven dials


i wish those two fellows would vacate the box id issue a writ of forcible entry and serve it personally


then allow me to insinuate that you would do an infernally ungentlemanly thing


that pale girl in the mourning garb is evidently a lady and entitled to the respect of every man


to insult her while she is protected were the act of a bully or a madman to do so when she is unsupported were the deed of a coward or a scoundrel or both


stunner quitted the box humming an air from from the last new opera and adjourned to the victoria billiard rooms in order to dissipate the fit of spleen which the coxcombry to call it nothing more of mr whiffle chatter had evoked


many a vacant stare and leering glance were directed towards fanny by the venividivici corps of the chatter school but there was an eye fixed upon her with an intensity of meaning which was a thousand fold more dangerousit was that of kitely who screened from observa tion in the pit had watched every movement of the unconscious girl with the steadiness of a tiger about to spring upon its prey


scheme after scheme arose in his fertile mind each one gaining strength from the decay of the other as the withered leaves of noxious weeds decompose and add fresh vigour to the parent stems


fan nys appearance with mrs osqueeze led him to infer that she was residing under her roof this knowledge was one point gained and if circum stances favorable to the renewal of their ac quaintance did not arise naturally he deter mined to create them


in his riches he felt powerin his remorselessness irresistibility


the human bloodhound was on the track pre pared to run his victim to the death


a strange freak of fortune aided his designs


the bohemian bandit having successfully concluded a terrible broadsword combat with count bergamotsi was about to plunge the conquering blade into his heart when the spec tre of the abducted wife interposed and the trio formed a thrilling tableau upon which the act drop descended amidst to use a dramatic con ventionalism thunders of applause


the stage manager once more made his appearance and stated he was requested to announce to certain parties who were supposed to be in the theatre that there was a fire in the house adjoining migration lodge


no words can describe the consternation and confusion which this occa sioned in the osqueeze box


hysterics and faintings were in active preparation but were fortunately kept down by the strong per suasions of frank and harry who volunteered to ascertain the correctness of the report and what danger was to be anticipated to the lodge in the event of it being true


upon the faith of a promise to return immediately the ladies con sented to remain although the charm of the bohemian banquet was completely dissolved


but another annoyance upon which they had not calculated speedily followed


mr whiffle chatter fortified by strong doses of alcohol made his way into the box and conducted him self with his usual effrontery


he even went so far as to call fanny a sweet interesting creature and mrs osqueeze a dear de lightful old savage


the latter lady repulsed his attentions in a very voluble vernacularism which made the coterie the locus of attraction


turn him outpitch him over and similar pieces of advice resounded through the house


kitely snatched at the opportunity he hastened to the scene of actionplaced his nervous grasp upon mr whittle chatters collar and dragged him into the lobby where he termi nated the performance by treating the offender with a souud horsewhipping


while the latter slunk away muttering threats about the institu tion of legal proceedings kitely soothed the ladies fears and sought permission to escort them home


mrs osqueeze and her daughter were only too proud to accede to his request but fanny though grateful for his timely interven tion could not conquer her repugnance


there is a cold clammy chill which steals over us at times even in scenes of gaiety which is quaintly but not unaptly described as some one walking over our grave


fanny felt this as kitely seated himself beside her in the vehicle which bore them from the theatre


on reaching migration lodge the ladies were delighted to find the devouring element en tirely extinguished if it had existed a soli tary gas lamp emitted its accustomed gleam and the noisy crowd which the cry of fire


in variably collects was represented by a somnolent policeman who was worn out with the fatiguing duty of leaning against a friendly post


the accustomed summons having brought nips to the door he was immediately assailed with osqueeze questionings touching the alarming report which had reached their ears


vun at a time please mem vait a bit miss and ill tell you the as hows and alls about it


vy you see mem the lady and gen tleman next door takes a fit of play goin like you and my vord varnt their mary a puttin on the coals and varmin her tootsies on the strength of it


the sparks vas a flyin out of the chimbley like mad vilst i vas a doin the double shuffle on the pavement to keep myself from bein frozed


at last it got too much for my feelins so i takes a trot down to the playus and axed a cove there just to mention the circumstance


i never thought to frighten you mem cos you knew vell enuf as you locked up the vood and ebenezes there couldnt be no fire in your house i just vish there had bin


nipsnipsyou the words stuck in the throat of the enraged matron


nipsa thou sand blessings on you misther kitely will you honour our poor mansion wid your prisince in the morning


shure an you wont say no


good night misther kitely


nipsyoujist light misther kitely to the gate nips you you out vith it mem its all for the good of yer health the doctors is werry much agin heavy suppers


you shall be discharged


thankee mem this vay mr sprightly i vas a goin to varn you of them things in the path but as youve tumbled over em they ant vurth mentionin


this boy may be useful thought kitely and adopting the mental suggestion deposited halfacrown in his hand


the compliment of the season and many re turns of the same mr tightly


vat am i ex pected to do fur this here


nothing my lad and yetyetyesthere is a young lady miss earle she is an acquaint ance of mine and i wish you to be attentive to her mind particularly attentive


i feel anxious about her and should occasionally like to hear of her


you understand


vy i spose if a chap is a norphian he neednt have a head as thick as a milestone nor lose the use of his wisual orgins misther tightly


no no my ladgood night


kitely turned away


the boy is mine he mur mured who can withstand that potent agent money


that mr nightly is a downy cove id bet this halfacrown is it a goodun thoughall right to a haporth of stale pastry he reckons hes got me


so he hasover


the panto mime accompanying these words unmistakeably expressed that the sinister shoulder was the one over which mr hawk kitelys impressions were sent flying by the knowing nips


to be continued


chapter xviii


liddy at school


though he knew he should miss his darling when he came home of an even ing norman very anxiously pressed liddys departure to hoplow schoolhis leser reason being that he wished to see if she liked it before his arid his wifes return to townand his greater that of perceiving john haltons growing and undisguised liking and the zeal with which his mother sought to make the attachment reciprocal


but beyond playing childlike with john riding the donkey he brought home for her enjoy ing a game of hide and seek with him and tom about the orchard and work shop or going walks with him into the fields to get flowers liddy had neither taste nor indeed comprehension and where his ostentions teased her as they soon did even these childish pleasures were abridged


it was thus quite plain to see that though john halton was worthy industrious and likely to be a prosperous man and however much his mother might wish that liddy should in time become his wife the girl would never care for him


john halton had he been less blind and simple would have seen this but the more liddy kept aloof from him the more his attach ment seemed to deepen


at last upon a monday morning she set off to school accompanied by her mother and mrs halton and with her clothes for the week tied in a little bundle for she was to return home every saturday noon to the wheelrights cottages and spend the sabbath with her parents as long as they should re main away from london


to in octiaud


literature


the ministers wooing


a talis op new england


bv mrs h b stowe


continued fron the jlge of jlwjust


chaptkr xi


the fkactioai


test


the liens cackled drowsily in tha barn yard of the wliito marvyu house iu the blue june after noon sky sported great sailing islands of oloud whose white glistening heads looked in and out through the green opertures of maple and blos soming upplo boughs the shadows of the trees had already turned eastward when tho one horse waggou of mrs icaty scudder appeared at tha door where mrs marryn stood wilh a pleased nnint welcome in her soft brown eyes


mrs scud der herself drove sitting on a seat in front j while tbo doctor appaielled in the most faultless style with white wrist ruffles plaited shirt bosom immaculate wig aud well brushed coat sat by marys side borenely unconscious how many feminine cares bad gone to bis getting up


ho did not know of the privy consultations tho sew ings siitchings and starchings the ironings the bruehiiigs the foldings and unfoldings and timely arrangements that gave such dignity and respect bility to his outward man any more than the serene moon lising tranquilly behind a purple mountain top troubles her calm head with treatises on astronomy it is enough for her to shine she thinks not how or why


there is a vast amount of latent gratitude lo women lying undeveloped in the hearts of men whiob would come out plentifully if they only know what they did for them


the doctor was so used to being well dressed that he never asked whyl that his wig always eat straight and even around his ample forohead not facetiously pokru to one side nor esauming rakish airs un suited to olerical dignity was entirely owiug to mr kaly scudder


that his best broadcloth j coal wan not illustrated with shreds and patches fl iff aud dust and hanging in ungainly fold


owing to tho same


that his long silk blockings j never had a treacherous stitch allowed to break j rut into a lonjt running ladder wns due to her watchfulness and that he wore tpotlcss rufiutt on his wrists or at his bosom whs her doing also


the doctor litle thought while he iu common wilh good ministers generally gently tiaducetl th scriptural martha and insisted on ho duty of heavenly nbstrnntpducss bow much of his own leisure for spiritual contemplation was due to th marthalike talnls of his hosles


but urn tho good soul had it in him to be grateful and would havo been unboundedly so if he had lyiown his iu debedness an


vp trust most of our magnani mous masters would be


mr zebedee marvyn was quiety uuing i t the front summer pnrlottr listening lo


ihe lorj o two of hin broil er churchmcmbi rs betwern whom somo difficulty had arisrn in the settling of ac counts jim bigelow n small dry dipocr little individual known as general jobber and factotum nnd abram griswold a stolid wealthy wellfo do farmer


and the fragments of conversation wo catch arc not uninteresting as showing mr zebe dees habits of thought and mode of tffatirg those who came to him for advice


i could ave got aong better if hed u paid mc regular every night said the fqieaky voice of little jim but ba was llers puttin ine off till itcome even change he said


well thint always handy replied ihe ohr one doesnt lilteto brek into a fivopo ul note for nothin aud i like to let it run till it comes eved change


but brother said mrzbcdee turning over tho greatbible that lay on the mahogany sfandin


ihe corner we must go lo the law and to the testimony and fuming over ihe leave he read from deuteronomy xxiv


thon shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy whether he be of tby brethren or of tby strangers that aro itt thy land within thy pites


at his day thou shalt give bim his hire niitber shall the min go down upon it for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it lest he ory against thee unto iho lord and it be tin unto thee


you see what tho bible has o say on the matter ho said


well now deacon i rather think youve got mo in a tight place slid mr griswold rising and fuming confusedly round he saw ihe placid figure of the doctor who had entered tho room unobeervod in tho midst of the conversation and was staring with that look of calm dreamy ab straction which often led people to suppose that he heard aud baw nothing of what was going for ward


all rose reverently and whilo mr zebedce was shaking hands with the doctor and welcoming him to his house the other two silently withdrew making respectful obemnce


mrs marvyn had drawn marys bacd gently under her arm and laken her to her own bleepitig room


aa it wa her general hlblt to do jhst


tbe might ihow her the last book fhe had been rending and pour into her ear the thoughts that had ceen kiidled up by it


mrs fcudder after carefully brushing evrry fpeck of dust from the doctors coat and seeing bim sealed in an armchair by the open window tock out a long elocking of bluemixed yarn which she was knitting for his winter wear und pinning bor knitingsheulh on her bide was soon trolling her needles contentedly in front of him


tiu iufuccess of the doctors morning attempt tvb vijiuiuiug mis ujuujugjr iu yiuuuuu luiui


r


uu presed his spirits thetewas a noble innocoaco of nalure in him which looked at hypocrisy with a puzuled and incredulous astonishment


how a man could do so and be so wes to him n problem at which his thoughts vainly labored


not that ho wan in the least discouraged or hesitafing in re


gard to his own course


when ho had made up his mind to perform a duty the question of suc cess no more entered his ihoughtr than hose of the granite boulder to which we have before com pared him


when ihe timo came for him to roll he did roll with the whole forco of his being where he was to land was not his concern


mildly and placidly he sat with his hands resting on hi knees while mr zebedoe and mrs scudder compared notes respecting the relative prospects of corn flax and buckwheat and thence passed to tho doings of congress and the last proclamation of general washington pausing onoe in a whilo if poradventure the doctor might take up tho conversation


still he sat dreamily eyeing the flea as thny fizzed down tho panes of tho halfopen window


i think said mr zabedee the prospects of the federal party wera never brighter


the doctor was a stanch federalist and gene rally warmed to this allurement but it did not servo this time


suddenly drawing himself up a light came into his blue eyes and he said to mr marvyn im thinking deacon if it is wrong to keep back the wages of a servant till after the going down of the sun what those are to do who keep them back all their lives


there was a way the doctor had of hearing and seeing when he looked as if his soul were afar ofl aud bringing suddenly into present conversation i tome fragment of the past on which ho had been leisurely hammering in the quiet chambers of his brain which was sometimes quite startling


this allusion to a paesage of scripture bich mr morvyn was reading when he came in and which nobody supposed he had attended to startled mrs scudder who thought mentally now for it and laid down her knitting work and eyed her couuu anxiously


mrs marvyn and miry who had glided in and joined the circle looked inter ested and a slight flash rose and overspread the thin checks of mr marvyn and his blue eyes deepened in a moment with a thoughtful shadow ab


he looked inquiringly at the doctor who pro ceeded my mind labors with this subject of the enslav ing ot tho africans mr marvyn


we have just been declaring to the world tbat all men wero born with an inalienable right to liberty


wo have fought for it and the lord of hosts has been wilh us and can we btand before him with our fcot upon our brothers neok the real cause why so many are un married


a correspondent of a manchester paper under the signature of a father of many girls says it is deplorable that the number of females who desire to enter the holy alli ance and cannot no one asks or invites them is constantly on the increase and will be till some thorough change takes place in the womeij themselves


they have brought themselvos to this position by their own doing and things will go worse still undoubtedly if they do not mind


i beg leave to point out two or three things that are greatly felt and are productive of the worst consequences


their education


that tho female education is deficient all acknowledge and lament


our boarding schools instead of fitting them for wives altogether unfit them


it is not the daughters of the poor that are loft un married but tne daughters of tho middle class


the daughters of shopkeepers and small traders and small manufacturers v they aro brought up ladies to play the piano to dance to play different games without knowing anything about housekeeping or managing puddings tarts bread washing cooking cleauing ironing ac in fact they despise lhat knowledge which is essential to domestic happiness


the men know of it and are so afraid of taking ono of them to wife that they look upon it as ruin and endless misery


in whatever light the women take plain truth i know it to be a feeling of the men and the best class of them too who wish to enter the matrimonial state but really are afraid


parents of children dont ruin your daughters


learn your daughters to work if you wish to see them happy mothers and not pining away on the sofas brooding over then destined gloom and at last falling a prey to a lingering decline


the expense of keeping them


in dress a woman according to tho fashion in our days requires more than tho majority of young men can afford


a reflect ing young man can see at a glance that to marry one of those above described is to abandon himself to poverty and misery and make wretched his mortal career


the expense of wives is a great social evil


the conse


quenco is that thousands determine to live in a state of bachelority or go from home to australia or america to try to put themselves in a position lhat would justify them to nmrry and leave tho women behind


ladies if you want to get married change your habits alto gether learn to work and live economically


how many of your sisters have been married to persons that they did not love bet a tso they wero rich aud


laying a home v


tte mysteries of sydney


not by the author of the mysteries of paris or the mysteries of london but by one of ourselves


part iichapter xvii


lipey continues his narrative to young day


lightthe convict barracksthe attempted escapethe woful chapter


the morning after our arrival at hyde park barracks we were ranked up apart from the old hands as they termed prisoners who had been a long time in the country and in spected by the superintendent


he was a red faced stoutbuilt portly personage whose higher regions bore the impress of a strong tendency towards whiskey punch while his abdominal territory bespoke quite as plainly a remarkable fancy for good feeding


there was a merry twinkle in his little grey eyes quite out of keep ing with his voice which was of the gruff and roaring kind but this in all probability he had framed by art in order to frighten his divils pups as he was accustomed to term the pri soners into propriety


after walking up and down the ranks he blew his nose with a handkerchief which from the report it caused might have been thought to contain a pocket pistol and gave a few loud hems as if to clear his throat for an oration whilst we looked at him with the most reveren tial awe


and indeed his appearance was well calcu lated to excite that feeling in the breasts of novices for his physical energies were of the most intense and vigorous description


it might be imagined that the animal functions of divers individuals had passed into his own economy and there subsisted in congregated vital force


the divils cure to yez he began as if speaking through a trumpet ye dirty blaggards and thavin gossoons


ill tache yez to break the hearts of your respectable parents and come here for me to father yez


stand by sturt he continued with a voice which had now risen to mad bull pitch and upon hearing which an ill favoured looking vagabond with one arm only stepped up


in his solitary hand he held two of those instruments of human torture called cats and which he seemed to cherish with paternal fondness and no wonder for the ani mals as i afterwards found out were of his own creation


dye see dem me darlints said the super intendent pointing out the instruments to our particular notice and be me sowl


you shall fale dem ivery one of yez if ye desarve it


dats de broth i mane to fade yez on bad cess to yez


well thought i this is a very friendly wel come for a father to offer to his children and the sooner they free themselves from such an unnatural parent the better


however when he dismissed us from parade i soon found out from the old hands that tim blane was not a bad sort of a man and that he invariably bounced to an alarming extent before every fresh batch of prisoners in order to strike terror into their hearts


if many of the persons to whom those unfortunates were assigned had possessed half his good qualities that system one of the best in theory which was ever invented for the pecu niary advantage of the master and the reforma tion of the criminal would have been infinitely more successful in practice than it turned out


these men looked upon their servants as slaves or dogs and treated them accordingly


is it wonderful daylight that badly clothed badly fed and lodged hardly worked and tor tured by the lash into a state of madness that the prisoners became wild beasts and fearfully retaliated upon their oppressors


the strong minded transported for long periods believing that they could not survive their bondage be came audacious and reckless while the timid and weak gave themselves up to despair and to the practice of meaner vices


both classes however lost all moral feeling and were under no restraint save that induced by the lash and the gibbet and these failed to curb the brave and sanguine because they appeared distant and uncertain nay death was often sought for as a relief from life


but the torturers have got their reward few are left to blot the face of the country and those who remain have fallen from their high estate to become hard earners of their daily bread


there were about six hundred men in the barracks when we arrived and you may readily suppose that i found some amongst them whose faces were familiar to me as having been en gaged in similar pursuits


philosophers who the moment they were of an age to get their own living by the sweat of their brow inwardly determined that no perspiration should exude therefrom unless it was compelled by the thought of the best possible means of subsisting with the least possible labour or trouble


they soon gathered round us to collect the latest intelligence of the old country and in return for my communications favored me with the goings on of the new


these were so de cidedly distasteful to my ideas that my original plan of escape was fixed more firmly in my mind


as it was probable that i should be amongst the first picked out for assignment there was no time to be lost


in my medical capacity during the voyage out i had the opportunity of doing a good turn to two or three of the sailors and to secure their services was my object


by means of a dou ceur to the barrack clerk i was installed for a time into the situation of messenger and as i was frequently sent about the town the means of communicating with my nautical friends were soon afforded to me


after considerable per suasion they agreed to stow me away on board their vessel which was about to return to eng land by the way of india


there were many chances against the success of the scheme but nothing could deter me from trying it


i listened yet paid little attentlon to the harrowing tales of my comrades on the fearful penalties attached to detection or the frequent deaths arising from starvation and suffocation of prisoners who had played the same desperate game


anything seemed better to me than long lingering miserable years of a colonial existence


i had taken the precaution of buying several articles of nautical garments which i hid in the cavity of a rock in the domain and the day before the vessel sailed being despatched with a letter into the town i altered my destination and exchanged the government grey for naval blue


and proud enough i was of the shift


having by appointment met the sailors who were on leave ashore we took a boat at dusk and rowed to the vessel


so careless was the lookout on board that there was little difficulty experienced in shipping me without observa tion


i followed my friends down the hatchway and in a few minutes was placed in an empty cask into which they had stowed away a keg of water and a bag of biscuit in case of accident nor had their forethought ne glected to leave a sufficient aperture in my wooden cell for the admission of air


i re mained there throughout the night half suffo cated with the stench of bilgewater and cramped by the narrowness of my habitation and yet i would not have exchanged it for the roomiest and best ventilated apartment in syd ney


taste is everything daylight and such was mine


fancy but you cannot fancy nor can i de scribe the sensation which came over me when the vessel was getting under weigh and the mingled feelings of anxiety doubt and fear which rushed through me as the police officers and barrack runners came on board to make their accustomed scrutiny


knowing that i was a runaway i ascribed their visit entirely to my self nor thought for a moment of the scores of absentees from the same quarter whom se vere discipline or a natural love of liberty had induced to flee from their iron trammels


as the officers approached the place of my concealment i listened breathlessly to their conversation and my bosom was quite relieved as i heard their footsteps pass and i already looked upon myself in safety when the tap of a knuckle came against the cask


hallo skipper shouted a voice which i knew to be that of a barrack runner vots in the kag


it sounds like a rum un


water i suppose replied the skipper like the rest


werry likely or a whale said the other with a diabolical laugh but it ant werry usual to leave the bung out


howsever give us a scentbox and well see


he ignited this compound of all villainous smells and holding it to the openlng quickly filled my narrow abiding place with horrible fumes


in the agony of the moment i could not restrain myself from coughing and spluttering which the wretch pretended not to hear till i was on the point of suffocation


he then with drew the infernal machine and put his ear to the airhole


vy capn said he theres a fox in here


i smells him vell


unhead this here cask unkennel the varmint and veil have a rare hunt


the orders were too quickly obeyed and in the twinkling of an eye my unlucky self was rolled out more dead than alive and utterly powerless to stay my persecutor who stood by laughing and boasting of his superior vigilance and


the captain who was completely astonished by my appearance was highly indig nant with his crew for having aided me in the attempt to escape


he alternately assailed me with threats and promises to induce me to point out the culprits but i maintained a dogged silence till the barrack runner chimed in and told the captain that they had plenty of ways and means in their establishment to compel the dumb to talk


i then poured out a torrent of imprecations and defied him and all his crew with their lash and other torments to make me wince or answer a single question


thats all werry vell my game pippin said he


so long as youre away from danger if its ever so short a distance you can crow but when it comes to tying up and close contrax youll sing another tune my vord


now then for the darbies and then off it is


if you handcuff me i asked how can i make my way down the ships side into the boat


oh you vants to jump overboard do you and ewade the wigilanx of the horthorytiz


were down to sich chaps as you ve dont vant the trouble of riddling you powder and shot is too hexpensive government dont allow us enough to shoot parrots vith as it is


besides a fine young feller like you vill live to be a hor nament to the country if so be you dont make a slipknot of it


he then gave vent to another of his bilious chuckles and while placing the handcuffs on gave me what he called the adwice of vun as loved me like his own flish and blood


i was then taken upon deck and lowered by a rope into the boat and every precaution was adopted to bring me safe ashore


and at that time daylight it was needful for in my des peration i should not have shrunk from com mitting suicide and escaping by a watery grave from the tortures which were in store for me


on them however i will not dilate they were such as christian men could never dream of inflict or tolerate


and what was my crime


an attempt to escape


and is it not natural that the caged bird should seek to leave its prison


and but for their negligence could i have done so


i asked myself these questions over and over again and as i lay writhing with pain on my hard bed no thought of prayer or sorrow or repentance crept over my mind every idea was merged in the profound intensity of anti cipated vengeance


i gnashed and crunched my teeth and clutched my hands till my nails drew blood from them as i gloated over victims dying beneath my grasp


in reality i was mad


after doling me out what punishment they thought fit i was made to undergo the mockery of a trial or something of the sort and was sent to norfolk island as a thoroughly depraved dangerous and desperate character


the ge neral history of this place is now well known to most men but all that i have heard from others falls immeasurably short of the truth there is no language which can describe it


men they say in times long ago have been racked and tortured for the sake of religion but mark me daylight never were priests and inquisitions like the slavedrivers and dungeons of a penal settlement


i remained there for seven years


on my re turn i found none but fresh faces the old ones were scattered about the country or dead like my foe the barrack runner


he expired in the hospital with a loathsome and excru ciating disease


no one lamented him not even a dog


another time perhaps i may give you a few incidents of my life in the bush but at pre sent i must pause


if mankind could hear my narrative no doubt the mass would say my errors were selfsprung and but very few would im pute them to the neglect which i experienced from my birth


felonborn the broad arrow of felonry was stamped upon me in my cradle and the sin of satan was sucked in with my mothers milk


it were the height of folly to expect that the lily will spring from the seed of the nettle


end of part


the second


to be continued


ic ct talee


kathleen of glenard


founded upon pacts


ciiapterl i


in the graveyard adjoining a roman ca tholic chapel thatstood in a remote


part of the north of ireland there knelt one evening an old woman engaged in prayer beside the tomb of a departed friend


the chapel was of aged appearance and save the small stone cross on one end of the roof it had nothing of exterior ornament


yet there was not wanting even to this simple cdi fice the romantic character arising from the taste always displayed in the choice of a situa tion for their houses of worship by the men b hers of the romish church


the spot was wild but beautiful oven in its wildness and the lheathy hills by which it was surrounded gave an air of solitary sadness that accorded well with the feelings of the old woman before mentioned


it had been one of those lovely days in the early part of the year which seeml given us by nature as a foretaste of approaching summer


a warm and sunny afternoon was succeeded by the stillness of evening and all around was cahn and peaceful


the road or rather path way by which she came thither lay through a barren tract of bog and heath but these had long been familiar to nellys partial eye and they were to her fairer and dearer than the finest gardens of fairyland which she had heard of in the legends of her country


her prayers were frequently interrupted by sobs of anguish whilst tears rolled heavily down her cheeks and long and deep shadows had fallen on the grass


ere she arose from the cold ground


she clasped her


hands as she was about to turn away and these words burst from her lips


i have seen her grave for the last time i have taken my last farewell


we were constant to each other while we lived now she is no more but she sleeps quietly in her grave and the grass of her dear country is green over her head but her sister must away over the sea and lay herself down in the laud of the strangerl her tears again flowed faster than before and she seemed to be rivetted to the spot when a soft voice at her side was lieard to sayoh auntl


its time you were leaving this place the night falls last and i have stayed long be side you at my mothers grave without your heeding me


come let us go home for my uncle will be frightened by our long stay


hiomel did you say child


whereois now our home


whore will it be in a few days bence


on the rude billows of the seaand our house will be left desolate


but aunt we shall notbe left desolate while we are together and while there is one above us who will watch over and guard us in all oar goings and though oar way may nppbear dark and comfortless tie can drive away the clouds of darkness and bring thi light of a new morning


her words fell soothingly on the car of her companion who became calmer and throwing her arms around her neice she said praised be his holy namel he can and will sustain ust


and you my child are the chief comfort lihe has left us and you will not forsake your poor aunt nelly


no aunt i will not forsake you


i will go where you go and work for you whiilo i have health and strength and all would be too little to repay the core you have taken of me sincoe my childhood when i was first left an orphan in your charge


as slhe spoke tears before restrained burst from her eyes but hastily dashing them away she took her aunts arm and led the way to the chapelyard


they had far to walk and night fell so fast they could scarcely distinguish objects at any distance


they had crossed a part of the heath when suddenly they were startled by the figure of a man coming nearreceding then advancing again and apparently watching their steps


terrified by the approach of an unknown person in such a manner and still more alarmed when they thought on the late ness of the hour and the increasing derkness they clung closer together and lingered a few moments in the hope that lie might pass on but he still hovered near and they did not re gain courage till a turn in the pathway had led them to some distance from tie object of their fears


they now quickened their pace and were proceeding unmolested when on rounding a hillock which intercepted their way the same person stood within a few yards of their path