suppose i get the blessed babby to sleep after it has cried its precious eyes nearly out of its darling little head and me a dozing by its side comfortable and happy as i ought to be after such a pretty piece of work and its own mother as sound as a dormouse and it being one oclock in the morn ing rat tattattattat goes the knocker at the door just as if the fire shovel and the coal scuttle had fell out with one another shriek shriek shriek goes the landladys voice calling on biddy to let her master in clatter clatter clatter go biddys hoofs down the stairs like a potamouse in pattens which of course those animals wear such conveniences on account of the mud and whats it all for mr walker


why because the wretch will belong to a club a nice club ill be bound to say and will get drunk and wont carry a latchkey


whats the consequence


the injured darling wakes up and keeps me on the trot for three mortal hours as if i was walking for a wager which at my time of life is disrespectable and unpleasant to say the least of it


now what would you do under such circumstances


with all becoming diffidence i hinted at god freys cordial or mrsjohnsons soothing syrup


unhappily this did not pour oil upon the troubled waters as mrs papleys indignation actually be came volcanic


im exprised to hear a man and a father talk to me of such nostrums dye think i want to pison the babby and have old garry the coroner and a bakers dozen of noddies sittin on the little lamb as if it was so much wood


im exprised at you mr walker i raaly am


thems things which i never uses on no account if the darling pet is oncommon wiolent i pats it into conwul sions which brings things to a level you see


my admiration of this levelling or st john long counteractive system slightly mollified mrs papley but she remained too suspicions to enter into a further detail of annoyances


i had mani festly sunk below zero in her estimation never theless she condescended to give me this piece of friendly advice at parting mr walker whatever you do dont take to nussin in lodgins


i timidly expressed the strong improbability of my entering into such a state of professional bondage


onpossible to saywe are all born but not buried


maybe maybe not


but sooner than do it id advise you to jump down a coal pit or take to nussin young monkeys in a najjeree


mrs papley left me to ruminate on the choice of these evils and perapateticize our street to recover my philosophy


our street is a long rambling one spring ing from the sand heaps on the surry hills and running like a river to the mud which fringes the bay of wooloomooloo


in fact in wet weather it may be said to deposit itself there and con tribute materially to the salubrity of that lovely locality


a locality which the great playactor nicol jarvie gordon who holds considerable freehold property there and mr poleaxe the poetical auctioneer who wants to go at it ham mer and tongs fashion describes it as a com plete elysium


an oasis in the desart


a per fect paradise fit for a prince or a nobleman


the deduction from the concluding descriptive eulogy evidently being that princes and noble men only are entitled to enter the gates of the heavenly region and outside is the allotted place for less lordly clay


the architecture of our street is of the harlequin order the houses are patchy of all imaginable shapes and colours to suit the taste and fancy of the owners


whiteybrown fronts and red brick gables smeared and blackened by coaltar or some such sombre matter reminding one of huge sheets of blotting paper stained with ink are somewhat in the ascendant although saffron streaked stone teacaddies and weather boarded human packingcases strive to arrest public attention and dispute the palm with their more aristocratic neighbours


as i gaze on one of these ground floors cocking its eye viciously at a twostorey i almost fancy i hear it exclaim well im sure


who are you i should like to know looking down upon people because they are not quite so big as yourself


wait till i grow up then wont i smoke your uppers a trifle


in this democratic age even houses are not ex empt from a dislike to every thing above them


our street presents a most agreeable view to the eye of an artist or a lover of the pic turesque it is a constant succession of undula tions a truthful reality of hill and dale


tra vellers have been heard to declare that this stamp of the beautiful is its worst feature as it subjects them to great personal annoyance


when we reach the sandy heights they say we consider ourselves lost mutton done brown by the sun and dredgingboxed by the pulver ous particles of a brickfielder


and should we plunge into the valleys we find ourselves regu larly swamped the snowy whiteness of our summer inexpressibles discolored the dazzling lustre of our boots departed our cries for help to rescue us from the slough of despond unheeded save by a clique of dabbling ducks or a colony of bullfrogs


even that great luminary of the age politician poet public lecturer philosopher and singer wonderful quintettehe who under the signature of the man of letters has thrown an extra weight upon the columns of the leading journal of the colony once upon a time proclaimed that he would sooner read his own productions in print than perform a postmans duty in our street


he did not hint at that far more severe task a runners in delivering his letters


and this extraordinary personage even went so far as to threaten the senators of york street with the extreme penalty of the pen unless they gave our street a plane surface but they looked upon it as a superficial measure and left the hills and dales the dust and puddles to settle it between themselves


so the hills and dales the dust and puddles adopting the ex ample of the body corporate have not done any thing in the matter and now patiently await the day of a better civic judgment


the inhabitants of our street are princi pally professional


it is true there is a sprinkling of the snob genus as the nobby fast young gents of the present day term the most industrial portion of the community yes i can reckon three boot makers to the queen and royal fa mily from london five washerwomen two bakers patent mangles one lollytoffee and mint drop manufacturer three stonemasons one woodchopper a locomotive green grocer and a haveyougotanyemptybottlestosell collector but the main body i repeat is pro fessional


love law physic music and the drama have each their representatives the for mer indeed has more members in the parliament of our street than are good for the consti tution be it new or old


one of these represen tatives is miss vixen who indulges in a pro fusion of long curls a nose the antipodes of down pointing sparkling eyes and coralline lips


she is mrs papleys aversion and causes that ven erable lady no end of wexations


miss vixen has an exclusive circle of male acquaintance who apparently prefer her evening entertainments to making matutinal calls


the roll of cabwheels startles the silence of night whilst the din of dis puted fares and shuttle cock anathemas bandied between moustaches tip esq mr bushy whisker and the brothers chuck detract con siderably from the quiet of our street and the comfort of mrs papley


but thats not the worst of it she told me in a confidential moment im a lone woman and always looking out for calls squalls here involuntarily suggested themselves as i thought of her profession and of course folks cant wait a moment under them circumstances not even while one is a feelin for lusnuffer matches so i burns a light reglar which moulds being seven pence a pound and not much to boast of either makes it fall heavy on me


well just as i com poses myself one of them owdacious cabmen rouses me up and i innocently thinking it is a monthly puts my head out of the window


what do you want


its a lady mem says he


well thats for certain says i is it mrs tunberry


says i for i knowed she was a nearing


werry like a whale says he


no it aint her my master wants its miss wixen


and sich is the scenes mr walker night after night nothing but miss wixen


miss wixen


lors heart alive tis a worrettin me out of my life


these fellers troubles me worse than musheer tongson in the play


if i could only have my way with this miss wixen id make her go nussin in lodgins i insinuated perceiving that mrs papley was at a loss to select a suf ficientlv severe punishment for the offending belle


lors heart alive


that aint half bad enough for her


id make her do all work under me


who would be the greater vixen then


i thought


and who represents the law in our street


surely no one in this enlightened age can plead ignorance on such a point


can be unaware of the quiet seclusion the resting place after the herculean tasks the gigantic efforts of the day of the profoundly read and elaborately eloquent mr floory


i feel it impossible to imagine any amount of stolidity equal to a want of knowledge of that important fact


it is indeed there his lares and penates domicile there he severs his great mind from the dry pages of legal lore to turn over the leaves of plants and flowers in a garden beautiful six feet square there he burns his midnight oil to be ready on the morrow to contest knotty points of law touching overloaded stage coaches hackney carriages enormities street nuisances publicans extinguished lamps after hours sellings and policemens delinquen cies turning twisting and weighing them in standard scales with standard weights which defy the piercing scrutiny even of a jilks and there he trims his whiskers those superb whiskers and studies that expressive tossing of the head and that dreadful frown which strikes terror into the hearts of juvenile vagrants who on account of the rise in rents or other fortuitous circum stances take lodgings in the streets with the starlit sky for a covering and the hard pavement for a mattress


mr floory spreads a halo around our street as sure as my name is walker


the representatives of physic are numerous and chiefly culled from new arrivals who flock hither in the hope of gilding their pills and dis posing of their drafts at a very high rate of ex change


but their arrows travel wide of the mark


the inhabitants of our street know their own dignity too well to patronize an mr cs who does not drive a horse and gig


indubitable sign of a nongentleman


no no they are not to be charged by a foot soldier in the medical ranks though they are ready to give up their lives to the dragoons or carriage great guns and the gift is not unfrequently accepted


doctors and undertakers are seldom ill friends they win the rubbier in thc game of life by hold ing a strong suit of spades


our street is great in music and the drama and flatters itself considerably in these respects


it can boast of the eminent violinist mr briggs and the dulcetvoiced madam sarah and i should like to see the street that can match it in comedy


where else can you find a todgers a mrs t and a mrs briggs


in what other quarter can you pounce upon a capulet


nowhere


i should unquestionably think not


our street is decidedly musical pianos are numerous as kitchen cupboards and more in use than the keys of the wine cellars there is no end to accordions and nigger me lodies are as plentiful as blackberries


even the elderly night watchman is imbued with the spirit of song and pours out his notes upon the passing hours in a series of quavers and shakes


our gutters or trenches rather for they are quite wide enough for the term produce liquid sounds and the infants mrs papley affirms are full of crotchets


our street has lately not to put too fine a point on it as mr slingsby says been torn to pieces by rents


i do not know what land lords can be thinking of except it be themselves


they have a most tremendous swallow but no bowels of compassion


they jumped up the rents enough in the winter but what will they do at the next spring


i hope they will break their necks by it


it would only be retributive justice for putting us out of joint dislocating the limbs of society as it were


landlords remarked my friend mr nicholas dubbo who lives in any quantity of houses you have a fancy to name landlords old fellow are bricks and mortar quack doctors they let you a house on the black draft principle when taken to be well shaken


the pocket i mane old fellow


but suppose the pocket is emptied and the tenant compelled to dance off


i enquired


why it will only be changed to a pocket of hops


you catch the idea old fellow


i confessed my obtuseness besides i considered the subject too serious for a joke


mr nicholas dubbo observing my lowness of spirits prescribed a dose of brandy pale with aq pur and as an additional inducement pro mised to relate to me a wonderful tale of wooloomooloo


the twofold offer was too tempting to be declined


i sat with him drinking in the story and the liquid till midnight


both were so intensely interesting that the flight of the hours was unperceived by me and it was not till the candles sank low in the sockets that i though it high time to depart


mr dubbos tale is too long for the end of a chapter so i must perforce preserve it for the head of one


as i neared the domicile of mrs papley i heard her in tonguebattle with a cabman


these few words informed me of the subject in dispute ill


wixen you you wagabone


go along with you


you wont eh


police


poleeeeeese


the window closed with a rattle somewhat like a shower of hail upon a greenhouse


lors heart alive


she exclaimed in a most agonizing tone the winders broke to smashes


send me a good delivery from this street


perhaps after all it was merely a pro fessional wish having reference to the expected call from mrs tunberry


i would fain hope so for the credit sake of our street


to be continued


the holy mountain of la


salette


a pilgrimage of the year


by the bight rev dri ulatiiiine


chapter xiv conclusion


he vviio is mighty hath


done great


things to me and holy is his naie


holy mother


i what them didst sing with ell thy prophetic soul on the mountains of judea thouhast made manifest on the mountain of la salette


there was seen the shadow of thy brightness tempered for mortal eyes to look upon and the sun grew pale before it there thoii didst reveal thy ma ternal power with jesus and thy maternal love for us


there theu didst choose two poor children out of all the world two simple cowherds to be the apostles of thy motherly pity and thy motherly love and thou nast kept them in their simplicity


thou wert found in the fields where they lay in the midday thou art honoured where thy foot steps stood


thy heavenly tears were for jesus dishonoured


the grief on thy face is for thy many children who abandon his grace and who turn their backs upon his holy law


alas


thou hast come to warn us how thy compassionate in tercession with jesus is bound up and restrained by the indifference of thy children


jesus lias almost exhausted his mercy and thou hast al most exhausted intercession


oh mother of mercy compelled by thy love to be the messenger of vengeance as a last resource thon hast come thyself to plead witlr us and to move us by that voice of sweet and motherly tenderness


thou hast come in the clear


noonday and hast found a world that was already dark blind with sin


and dark with ingratitude


thou hast revealed to us that deluge of calamities which hangs in the clouds above our heads those last and most frightful mercies which unless they repent god has in store for his erring people whafc does all this signify but that without the cooperation of our wills god cannot save us and all thy prayers cannot help us with him


but he who is mighty has done great things for us through thee


through thee he gave us his own eternal and wellbeloved son in thee he gave us the perfect example of a pure holy and immaculate creature loving him perfectly


by the life of


his holy spirit which dwelt within thee


and from that dreadful cross whilst drowning death and sin in his great agony jesus the sonofgod jesus the child of thy womb whilst he brought us back from death to life gave us thee for our mother and protector


we have no mother in heaven but thee


the saints are our brothers and our sisters and they love us well and pray for us much but they have not the mothers power with jesus they have not the mothers love for us


jesus gave thee those maternal rights to exercise for us jesus gave us


those chums to look as children up to thee when with those dying words he said to that one be loved child who stood there


for us all son be hold thy mother


and on the holy mountain which thou hast chosen thou hast shown once more a mothers iove and a mothers power a mothers power with jesusi and a mothers love for us


thou inist made eloquent the tongues of thy children


thy power has been made manifest through their weakness in thy


sanctuary


the graces of thy


son inclined ever to thy prayers


have drawn those multitudes to repentance and con version and have filled them with peace and joy in the holy ghost thy heavenly spouse


the miraculous waters of thy everflowing fountain are but a figure anda sign of that fountain of grace that loving heart ofthy divine son which ever ftows and which flows so abundantly at the voice of thy pleading from thy sanctuary upon all who call upon his name through theo


thou


hnst peopled the desert thou hast made the solitude to nourish thou art thejoyful mother of many repentant children


health of the sick comfortress of the afflicted


help of christians reconciler of sinners joy of the pilgrim pray for us who have recourse to thee


exert a mothers care and us thy children own to him convey our prayer who chose to be thy son


mary is inseparable from jesus and the glory of mary is the glory ofi jesus ber power the power of jesus jesus is the lifeot all who live mary our betfer eve is the movher of all the living


she exercisesia inothers solicitude and a mothers ministry j with a mothers love


if there isan earthly ministry there is also a heavenly ministry


of the angels st paul says that they are all ministwing spirits sent to minister for those who shall receive the inheritance of snly


tioh


and david says


he has given mis angels charge over thee


and the saints have profittedrnenhriore in heaven than they ever did them service on earth


and lhe churvn says in her prayer for the feast of the holy archangel


the


princje and leader of the heavenly hosts thru god has constituted the ministry both of angeb ana of nieryin wonderful order


as v king ex ercises his power th rough ministers in xvray grades


ah d orders gives them


wer of interced ing with him and rnakts hin the eiuiuielsfif his favour in the degree in wiiicu they approach him


and exalts thereby his majesty and power


so ii


i hi n iii in


ii i ii


y heavens eternal king exalts his holy ones in power and gives them a resemblance to him not only as he is holy but also as he is mighty


they are seated on the thrones of his power


but at the right hand of jesus queen of angels andof saints ismaty the fairest the purest and the most holy of


that mighty host exercising a mothers power and full toperfectiori of a mothers love


if michael at the headof the heavenly hosts was the chief protector of the hebrew church mary was not as yet upon her throne by the side of jesus


michael rules the angels mary all the choirs of the blessed


tvhen she prays they all pray in her company when she lifts up her voice in supplication they all extend their hands


if abraham by his justice with held the hand of god if moses by his meekness stayed back his avenging arm mary by her love restrains his justice when his mercy seems no longer to endure


jesus sees the motive in her which he cannot find in ns


moved by those two great loves the love of jesus and the love of up she prays and pleads with an irresistible power


and god loves to be overcome by the solicitude and love of that holiest of creatures that most immaculate of beings


the apparition of our mother on the mountain of la salette is not the publication of a new doc trine but of a new grace


it is a revelation of the love and pity which reign in heaven for us


god is exceedingly angry with his sinful chil dren


the hands of jesus are heavy with the accumulations of millions of ingratitudes


his mother pleads earnestly for her children


like rachel she weeps because they are not the cruel enemy has slain their souls


blasphemies abound


churches mourn their widowhood


men come not to the fountains of grace


mary comes and proclaims these sad truths to france at the very time that a new pontiff rises in the pulpit at rome and opening his niouth for the first time proclaims these same sad truths to the roman people


who does not remember the discourse of pius ix


in the church of sant andrea della valle


and as if he had in view the complaints of mary on la salette in his encyclical letter to the archbishops and bishops of italy of december he urges the same subject anew in these remarkable words venerable brethren in all things your cares and those of


the priests your cooperators should tend especially to bring the faithful to conceive the greatest horror for crimes that cause scandal to our neighbour


for you know that in various places the numbers have increased of those who dare publicly to blaspheme the saints of heaven and even the most holy name of god or who on the days set apart to god give themselves up to servile works and open their shops or who in the presence of many despise the precepts ol fasting and abstinence


by the voice of youi zeal let the faithful be led to represent to them selves and seriously to consider the enor mous gravity of sins of this kind and the seveie pains with which their authors will be punished


and thus mary complains with bitter sorrow that a baptized a catholic people a people con secrated to her should live without god and without his church


that in heaven as on earth hope for that people is perishing


oh marvellous mercy of grace


all is at the gloomiest and the deluge is impending when be hold


the rainbow of peace appears in the hea vens


their gates are opened


a wondrous light is seen on that solitary mountain as moses saw it in the bush as elias on horeb as the shepherds at bethlehem


the sun is but as a taper before that wonderful brightness


it is the garment of the mother of god


and behold she is seated on the fountain


she rises she speaks she carrips the image of her son upon her breast


he is erucified


she was yeepmg


and yet she is in glory


so


the glorious god himself was touched before the deluge came with sor row of heart


mary sorrows because the sorrows of jesus come not near her children she sorrows because they will not take


his sorrows to their heart


r


but what new


garb is this of our heavenly mother


she no longer wears the white veil and blue robe of the daughters of nazareth


no mary comes not as the child of nazareth but as the queen of heaven


and the rings mo ther stands at his right hand in a garment of gold surrounded with variety


she curries the symbols of the devotion of her clients as her orna ments


a rosary encircles her breast a rosary crovns


her liead rosaries sustain her feet


but around the roses so near her heart there is a heavy chain alas


the bondage of sinners


the chain of flowersand the chain of iron links the devout souls and the sinful souls mary carries both in her


loving remembrance but one is the joy the other the anguish of that maternal heart theywe of many colours those flowers for ishe is encircled with variety and that variety is the varied devotion of her faithful children


but why does our mother weep


why does she carry a chain as if a bondswoman


and now docs she suffer if the saints are past all suffering


marys tears spring not from her own sufferings they spring from our admonition


and if the blessed know no bondage of their own we chain the freedom of their goodness towards us


jve bind in captivity that wonderful efficacy of their prayers and otf their services


imnry suffers restraint and coercion thru ugh our sins and in difference in the exercise of her maternal inter


vehtion with her son


if my people will not submit i am compelled to let go the arm of my son it is so strong so heavy that i can no longer withhold it


how long do i suffer for yoa


if i would not have my son abandon you i am corhpelled to pray incessantly for you and you mcike no account of it


from the time that melahie saw mary the world has faded in her sight


if she has not sought the world yet from these eight years past has the world been coming to her


but to the child of the vision of mary the world has no beauty no charm no contentment


what st gregory the great taught his deacon as a truth she has experienced as a fact


and the eyes which beheld the glorious one from heaven finds the earthly creation divested of beauty and shorn of power to attract her heart nothing is beauti ful to those eyes which have seen the beauty of mary


nothing is brilliant to that sight which saw the splendour of her glory


nothing is me lodious to those ears which listened to her hea venly voice


her looks are lifted to the moun tains whence her mother came


and if such be the beauty such the sweetness such the glory of mary even as seen in her distress and by the mortal eyes of a poor child what is the beauty of jesus what his sweetness and what his glory as seen by mary herself and by those blessed and immortal spirits whose natures the light of glory has adapted to live in the vision of his in finite beauty and in the power of his endless glory whose hearts the spirit of eternal charity has drawn iuto the sweetest embrace of his un boundedlove


r


all do not receive this heavenly


vision nor these words of mary and yet it is an enforcement of the catholic truth


still it is no part of the catholic faith which except a man believe faith fully and steadfastly he cannot be saved


like the counsel of our lord all do not receive it but those to whom it is given


there is a faith which rests upon the doctrines of the church and con tent with that looks not beyond


and there is a faith which is ever standing betwixt the borders of time and eternity keenly alive with interest for every sound which is heard fronvthe heavens


there are souls and faithful souls who are little disposed to cultivate the supernatural beyond the beaten track


there are others who are over credulous and who seize upon every rumour of things professing to come from beyond this world without much care or consideration for its evi dence


then again there are souls whose faith is dull and sluggish because it is not cultivated with any degree of earnest prayer souls whose faith rests more on habit than it lives by action


to such a believer it is a burden which he bears perhaps somewhat painfully perhaps with a cer tain sense of humiliation rather than of humility


it is not the animating principle which carries him through his everydtiy life


the cares of the world are uppermost with him or pleasures ab sorb him or he is vain of his knowledge or proud of his reason or human respect has taken hold of him has entered within him and holds his soul a captive


this is a large class arid to them the report of news from heaven is com manly attended with more uneasiness than inte rest and rather inclines to give trouble than to awaken or to console


not often is the case be cause they are wisely prudent and unwilling to commit themselves but because the supernatural has no charms for them


the invisible world is remote from their minds and aloof from their affec tions


the foreign intelligence in which they delight is of another kind


their souls have made no home no affectionate friends in their spiritual country


they believe in miracles as a general point of faith but would thank you not to bring them to their door


the last despatch from the seat of war is incomparably more interesting to them than the great news brought by the mother of god from heaven


the title of tnis book may deter many of that class from opening it


but it was never intended for them


there is another class who will read this book but who have an impression on their minds that neither the arparition of our lady of la salette nor her warnings nor her prophecy regard us in this country that they mainly refer to france that at all events that the second and the third commandments


of god are not those which are the most neglected in england


alas


let us all reflect a little upon what we know


england is full of blasphemies and what before heaven is an english sunday


what are the habits of our rude and ignorant poor


what their language


and what their life on sundays


does it stop here


look at the late census and survey both town and country


the shops are closed and work ceases but where are the great masses of the people


is it to god they give themselves how long will men corifouni cessation of business and the stopping of work whacever be the motive with observance


of the suriday


then let us turn nearer home to our own poor people


how many scattered over the


face of thscountrv without church or


pastor go to


no mass and live without the observance of the sunday


when is there a now mission commenced where numbers beyond all antiripation are not foiiml children of the faith who have lived willviuvt


the fxercisoof


its duties


and then for thiit vice for which mary mourns and which weighs down the arm of her son they swear and introduce the name of my son


then for this blasphemy blasphemy against jesus in his holy eucharist blasphemy against jesus in his holy sacrafice


our sovereigns are not crowned without it


our peers enter not the senate without it our representatives enter into parliament with it on their lips


terrible oaths in which god is called to witness against


himself


i hey form a part of our laws they are an element of our constitution


then add to these blasphemies those others against the mother of our lord and against his saints those against the other sacraments and against holy things


and those against the church of god


how much of this do we continually hear from members of the legislature and from officials of all degrees


let us consider those blasphemies more dreadful still which are uttered in a sort of satanic fervour on platforms and in powerful as sociations that active propagandism those energeticorganizationsall those hired instruments upheld and sent forth with no other object than to spread and promote these blasphemies and to bring our poor to join them with the yet deeper criminality of apostacy


then consider that more horrible class of apostates men driven from the sarictaaries which they have profaned by their crimes going forth with the light of truth within them however defiled and gathering in this land for the mere price which ispaidfortheir blas phemies


and they come and reinvent such blasphemies as hell alone can match in atrocity and which but for their hire they would never think of inventing nor of givnig utterance to


t


v next consider how widely our literature is im bued with abuse and denial of the thifigs of god


how the crime of blasphemy not coarsely not vulgarly but deeply and efficaciously penetrates into so many of our books of science


tiow it spreads through so many of ourperiodicals


how loudly and how vehemently it is heard in vast numbers of our newspapers


consider again our english sunday with refe rence to this most melancholy subject and those thousand of pulpits from which tospeak against jesus in his holy eucharist in his holy sa crafice in his other sacraments in his blessed mother in his saints in his ctiurch in his vicar on earth is the entertainment niiinglecl with the invocation of god and furnished for the guid ance of so many of our countiymen


there may be ignorance behind all this blas phemy and to an undefinable extent there is blind and dreadful ignorance


but that unhal lowed temper which is so widely exhibited can never be called invincible


the excitement the unscrupulousness the fierce passion the bitter and turbulent zeal with which these blasphemies come out from the mouths of so many of our countrymen tre the sad and too sensible proof if they could see or would reflect that they are not acting with that spirit of god which is peaceful


mild pati en t charitable but that they are con tending against the holy spirit of peace


it is the terrible spectacle of the pharisees andsad ducees before our lord that is renewed in this against his institutions his doctrines and his saints


but let us suppose however impossible the supposition may be that men and men bap tised and acting under the impression that they have insurmountable conviction can deny and insult and defile the truths of god andthe facts of his holy religion after they have been pro claimed to them and heard by them witjfas much ease and peace of conscience a they may del in a like spirit with whatever is in itself intrinsically false and without any relationship with theirown souls even then what a spectacle to


god and to all good souls is a vast and agitated multitude of men blindly ignorantly and passionately blas pheming the truths of heaven and the sucram en ts of grace the divinest gifts of god arid tw holiest fruits of the love of


jesus


after thus considering what england is and especially what an english sunday is say whether there is no voice for us in la salette


whether we do not require to practise expiations and atonements


whether we have no need of such a confraternity as that of our lady reconciler of sinners of la salette for the reparation of blasphemy and the abuse of the sunday


whether of all expiatory devotions it is not the one most needed most adapted to our wants and to our cir cumstances


that heavenly voice was undoubtedly ad dressed to france


immediately and in the first instance


it bus already carried both its warn ings and its blessings into countries more remote


but la salette is intimately associated with the catholic church in this country


it has already caused much prayer to be said for england


twice a diy the missioners of la salette invite the pilgrims as they arrive to offer up their prhyersor england


twice a diiy intliat holy sanctuary are prayers in public offered up on


our behalf


i am nut without grave reason for believ ing that a part of one of thosu mysterious secrets has reference to the future of the church in eng land


i do not now refer to a statement recently puhiishad for nm satisfied through my own ex amination that in part of its detuilvonihis sub ject however accurate in othes there is some mistake and yet i venture to affirm that l have been able to put together from direit points fcvidencs sufficient in its construct ivn to satisfy my own mind that mary spoke of england and in words that intimate a day of consolation in some future time


i cannot but join my impres sion of such an intimation with those continuous prayers which she has moved her children on her holy mountain to offer for our country


and it is with tlie hope of inducing pious catholics in eng land to join their devotions with those of our brethren on


the continent and with those of our ladys pilgrims more fervently and more abundantly


and to give them a motive for in voking our lady of la salette with more devotion and more confidence that i have been led to give this expression to the convictions which i have imbibed


let me conclude with the words of a very great personage which though spoken in private have found their way to the public ear the pilgrimage of la salette is au thentic and full of the future


ifttrg darker


continued from pagt


celafesb iil wh must now return to henry whre we left him at the close of our first chapter


he retired to his room fastened the door and window and after peeping into every corner and under the bed with a sort of undefinable apprehension he hurriedly took off his clothes and flung himself into bed leaving the candle burning on his toilettable


he covered his head with the bed clothes and tried to pray but his head reeled and his mind was so confused that he could recollect but small por tions of the church prayers which he once knew by heartand which he fancied were the only medium of ap proach to godso he derived little or no comfort from the exercise


but we will avoid the details of that long dreary night the most miserable henry had ever spent


the sudden cessation of his accustomed excessive nightly draught banished sleep and produced a slight attack of dilirium tremens


he was quite conscious of the cause of his sufferings and though strongly tempted to go to the cellar as he had so often done beforefor a supply of that stimulant which he knew would afford him relief for a time at lesthe resolutely combated with the temptation and conquered it


suicide in a variety of forms next assailed him and fearing lest he might m an unguarded moment yield to its frightful influence he sprung out of bed and threw his razors out of the window thus removing the instruments which were always foremost in the horrid array of temptations


strange ugly reptiles he fended were peep ing out from the folds of his bed curtains at him waiting only for his candle to burn out to jump down and bite him


his candle would soon bum out and he was afraid to go down for another so there he lay restless and tormented


the watchman had called the hour of fourwhen tired natures eweet restorer balmy sleep came to his reliefand oh


with what joy did he behold the beams of the mornings sun when he next opened his eyes


he arose and completed his toilet as far as he could do in the absence of those necessary articles which he had thrown away during the night and then attempted to pray but he could recollect so little of his prayers that he determined to defer them until evening and in the meantime he would try to find his prayerbook


he descended to the breakfastroom in a very feverish condition and with a pale and haggard look


after the usual exchange of saluta tions with mr and mrs tucker they all sat down to breakfast but a little child would have consumed more than they did they sipped their coffee in silence whilst the substantial viands with which the table was plentifully supplied were scarcely touched


a i feel very queer this morning said mr tucker at length rising from the table and throwing himself on a sofa


ive got a regular splitter


your disclosures last night quite ex cited me henry


and i am always un well after being upset in that manner


i purposed going to see the regatta today but i cant go i can scarcely see out of my eyes my head ache so a pretty holiday i shall have


what do you intend to do with your self today


i am invited by some friends to go out with them in their sailingboat said henry but i shall not go i know they will not go without plenty of wine and brandy and they will jeer at me if i refuse to join them in drink ing itand i am determined to adhere to my plan of joining the teetotal society


wait till tomorrow before you decide upon that said mr tucker


u mr smith the schoolmaster will be here tonight and til be bound hell convince you of the folly of such a course as he has done many others including myself and in the meantime i want you to assist me in the cellar to repair the damages you have done in that locality


breakages and leak ages with a little assistance from the pump will save you if you are not fool ish enough to get into one of your soft fits and tell all about it


light a can dle then and let us go down


stop though i must have a drop of bitter ale first to make me open my eyes


oh my head will surely burst


henry did as mr tucker requested him and with a heavy heart descended to the cellar


and never did he feel so thoroughly degraded in his own eyes as when he assisted by various disre putable manoeuvres to cover the effects of his serious peculations


there said mr tucker at lengthas he drove in the bung to cask d in diamond after having filled it up with water that finishes the bu siness


and now let me advise you to play no more of these tricks or you may get away from their con sequences as you best can


the day passed on very slowly with henry he was in very low spirits


he heard the guns firing noting the start ing or finishing of the various boat races he was very fond of aquatic sports yet he resolved not to go to the regatta fearing he should be led into temptation so ho passed the time in arranging his books which had been allowed to lay about in all parts of his getan covered with dust and neglected


where was his flute the gift of his sister which he at one time used to play so nicely


he searched for some time at length he found it but it was cracked it had fallen down behind a large chest


henry dropped a tear over it as he wiped the thick coating of dirt from it and put it carefully aside resolving as he did so to get it repaired and then resume the practice on it which at one time afforded him so much delight


his writing desk next engaged his attention and as he turned over letter after letter which he had received during the past two years from his fond sister full of endearing and affectionate terms which sisters alone know how to use he felt his conscience smite him severely for his long neglecthe had not replied to one of those kind letters and now he could not bear the sight of them so he hastily closed his desk exclaiming passionately l vile mindwarping heartwithering souldestroying cursed alcoholsatans most active agent what crimes have i perpetrated through thy demoniacal influence


shall i ever hold up my head again


shall i not al ways abhor myself


i think i shall


but my dear maria my sweet sister shell forgive me i will write to her i will confess all to her mid i will promise never never to neglect her so ungrate fully again


i will throw off this cursed thraldom


i can do it i know


strong drink has long bound its galling fetters round me but i will cast them off for ever


my old companions may sneer at me they may cut meas they ars certain to dobut in spite of all i will join the teetotal society tomor row


i shall be sure of the approval of good men and also of my own con science


aqua


to bt continued


what ship is it that has two mates and no captain


courtship


american englishin thirty one words how many thats can be gramatically inserted


answer fourteen


he said that that that that man said was not that that that me should say but that that that man said was that that that man should not say


this reminds ns of the following says andsaidsmr


b did you say or did you not say what i said you said because g said you said you never did say what i said you said


now if you did say that you did not say what i said you said then what did you say


strangethe southern era notices the marriage of j h strange to miss elizabeth a strange of albemarle county virginia


a contemporary thinks it very strange but says no doubt the next event in course will be a little stranger


a baker we once knew used yeast that made his bread so light that a pound loaf weighed only fourteen ounces


harmless mr smith your hogs are getting into our corn field


never mind my boy corn wont hurt em


losing a cow for the sake of a cat is the chinese interpretation of going to law


cnltil pit iktfrljcs


florence


brie st


an irish tale


continued from oub last florenco answered only with her tears and softest chesses and murmured confessions of her many faults


and now continued he how i wish that you florence could love me but half as well as i do you


hot that i deserve it but that you might feel how bleat jt is calling you mine to love so well


do ypu not envy me dearest


and he smiled upon her


why envy tho felicity in which i fully share


and now it is not only who joyes best but vhp shall love best the longest returned florence


and with such rapturous broken jargon intermingled with long reveries


silent aijd happy


fclie married lovers had reached the outskirts of brigadier general moores camp before thev were aware and


florence remembered that here perhaps she might be separated from her husband


there was no misery to be compared with that


yet florence placed strong reliance upon the wellknown character of this braye and humane commander with whom she had the advantage of being personally acquainted as he had lately passed some days at portmullina upon a tour of inspection


with several of the aidesdecamp and the younger english officers of the corps now in camp she was still getter acquainted as during the winter and early spring they had been quartered in her neighbourhood and


the falls gay partners


that the public service would be anyway com prised to accomodate her or her husband florence neither wished nor hoped yet she formed strong expectations that those pleasant and gallant gentlemen who had passed sp many hours in their society would feel interest in tjieir fortunes and grant the kind jiess upon which she felt that her very life hung not to separate her from her hosbaijd in the crisis of his fate


in their rapid nocturnal journey they had heard a rumour that cornwallis had reached the camp and that the forces were concentrating to this point


florenco when this intelligence was ascertained to be fact would not permit herself in the disheartening belief that increased power vrould give any english pomniander the inclination to refuse so natural a prayer as hers


they were now upon the verge of the camp the white tents of which and piles of arms were seen on the hillside glittering in the morning sun


the bivouac firesmokes were rising in still clear air while the english troops the german hussars and plaided scots scattered in picturesque groups dressed the horses jand prepared their morning meal and the stirring music of die reveille burst from fife and buglehorn and awoke all the echoes of the mountain


it was an inspiring scene yet bitter was the ieeling with which joyce exclaimed good god my florence


and is this we look upon tho camp of the enemies of our country


the ofljeer commanding the escort now took the lead and gave the password


the were admitted within the lines and per mission was given to mrs florence joyce of castle joyce to be conducted to the tent of lord corn wallis


if he have a heart lie cannot deny me


was her passionate exclamation in taking leave for a short halfhouj of her husband who felt at tlie moment as if he were tgain desolate we took leave of florence proceeding over the wild heath on which the british encampment was formed and marshalled by tjje officer who commanded the military escort threading her way through tents aiid groups of soldiers hprses and baggagewaggons to the farmhouse where tho comnmnderinchief lord corn wallis had fixed his temporary headquarters


tins walk was not without interest and adventure and though her thoughts were rapt in the purpose of her mission and her eyes frequently turned anxiously back towards the carriage on the verge of the encamp ment florence could not behold with indifference the many novel and exciting objects whigli courted her attention


one sight was viewed with feelings which she durst not analyze


this was a heap of rude arms and implements of war pikebeads old fowling pieces the iron of ploughs scythes and even kitcheji spits which lad been collected among the peasantry by bands of soldiers and now jay huddled together reauy to be demolished or carried away


a keeper emotion wasawakened combined of sympathy patriotism and compassion when passing a group of her countrymen who had just been brought in as prisoner one poor fellow who was lying handcuffed on the ground in allusion to the rebellious colour of ix part of her dress boldly worn at a time when tho hue of a ribbon or a handkerchief was treason oxclaimed in irish


god bless the green and all who love and wear it


there was something in tho tones of tho voice that sounded familiarly to tlie ear of florence and reached her heart and the lad whom she did not remember to have ever secrij looked much delighted when she gently responded good wishes iu the same language as she moved on


emboldened by this expression of kindness lie leapt to his feet exclaiming still in his native speech


i know your honour is his honour squire joyces own bride nnd lady and the black journey ye are bound


ch that j could lircak away from this


what a days work is before ine


the energy of his gestures and probably that i spoke at all displeased tho sentinel who levelled his musket with threats and commands of silence


it is your turn now cried the lad


doggedly but ours is coming


and florence again pausing expressed commiseration with his misfortune and repeated in iish and in a tone which carried cheering solace and courage to c hoart a native apothegm equivalent though yet more ex mtoeivo than tho engish motto lie who endures conquers


a few hundred yards farther op a party of officers the staff of the commanderinchief were snatching a hasty but substantial rneal from the table of greensward which it had been laid out by their surrounding attendants with the keen appetite and hilarious spirits of youth and bravery bound on a sudden march and stirring adventure


florenco was pleasantly surprised when one pf those gentlemen who bad recognised her distinguished figure and bound over his lighthearted and curipus companions to respectful behaviour burst from them and advanced to meet her interest and curiosity pictured in his face exclaiming have i indeed tho happiness to see miss florence obrien


you see florence joyce my lord in your camp the com panion of her husbands captivity


very few words explained her actual position to pie who had quickly divined tho whole and mingled condolences rand congratulations were expressed with some delicacy while the young gentleman requested tho honour of attending her to headquarters now t no great distance


with a feeling uf gratitude a sense of relief from the depressing con sciousness of utter forlornness which had crept upon her spirits within the last half hour the offered escort was accepted


this gentleman was the heir of a powerful northern family and from his rank and prospects if not his personal character or military standing he possessed considerable influence


in their brief gay intercourse of the preceding winter while the hand of the beautiful florence in the eyening dance pnd her arm on the morning promenade had been tacitly yielded to lord by his brother officers and pftener bestowed tlian dr fitzmaurice approved even then though he was highbred goodnatured and gallant


florence had and probably with justioe fancied her transient admirer superficial and frivolous without any solidity or depth of feeling


bat present circumstances brought out the finer and move generous points of his character and she had once again to lament that in a pleasant and friendly acquaintance she was condemned to meet a bitter and unreflecting national enemy in whom delicacy and respect for herself could not wholly subdue that tone of contempt and insolent bravado in which the young british njilitary too frequently allowed themselves to speak of public affairs and of those daring attempts of the insurgents which cansod pain and apprehension to more reflective hearts and more enlightened heads


the commanderinchief was fonnd to be engaged when they reacheed his quarters in receiving reports from lus aidsdecamp and in consultation with subordinate generals


numerous horses and military attendants were drawn up about the door of the late peaceful farmhousj


whose inhabitants had all disappeared


every little apartment was filled with busy people but florences com panion contrived to find a small chamber for her and she was by nis orders supplied with a plentiful and even luxurious brealuast by the servants of his excellency


with an attention for which she was far more grateful lord


dispatched a servant with a basket of cold provisions bread and wine to the prisoner


i have owed a hunters meal before now to the hospitality of squire joyce said he with the goodnatured purpose of beguiling the thoughtspf florence from the embarassing circumstances in which she was placed


i may today as some small requital give him the benefit of my cpmprigning experiences which on this one impor tant point of the sinews of war may all be embodied in the advice which a chieftainess of my thrifty country was wont to give me when upon shooting excursions she landed that i made my friends and myself rather to free of the hospitalities of her castle nytjke a hearty breakfast george theres no saying where you may get a dinner lad which was a pretty delieatje sort of hint that none jps to be looked for from her ladyship florence endeavoured to receive this characteristic anecdote and sally of gaiety as tho relater meant it should he taken but her smile was languid and her thoughts far away


it matters little where or how we shall eat dinner fo that we share it together she sighed a cabjn a potato garden until heaven shall again bless our beloved country


and here florence abruptly checked herself and her pride momentarily cliafed at the highflown idle compliments about love and a cottage which she had heedlessly drawn upon herself and mortified and abashed at


having however slightly betrayed her deepest feelings to one who however polite and friendly was incapable of appreciating them she turned to leave the small apartment when lord corn wallis instead of summoning her to his presence walked quietly in


the formal introduction of her companion was half superseded by the commanderinchief at once addressing her as if aware of her business


florence was quit of her fears


the staid quiet demeanour of the lordlieutenant of the kingdom tho grave sage and considerate expression of the embrowned countenance of the man upon whom rested the heavy responsibility of restoring the peace of ireland and maintaining tlie integrity of the british empire t inspired her with respect and confidence with tho dawn of hope for her country and a fluttering expectation for herself


she cquld not she imagined have been admitted to this interview to have her earnest entreaty rejected nor could it be the policy of cornwallis farther to exasparate a brave and naturally loyal people whom oppression had at length driven to madness


but the cold the almost frigid demeanour of the general polite though perfectly plain and unpretending again chilled the glow of expectation following the impulse of her feelings her statement had been simple and brief made with dignity yet with modest earnestness and just that degree of womanly emotion controlled by womanly delicacy which with manly minds is the most impressive and effective njode of address


yet when lord cornwallis handing her to a chair requested her to wait a few minutes longer and commended ber to the attention of lord


until his return she knew not what to think and she secretly reproached herself with cold and powerless pleadings in a cause so dear to her heart


it appeared that the commanderinchief had employed the brief interval which elapsed before his return in making himself better acquainted with the character of the prisoner aud the circum stances attending his arrest


are you aware madam he said with niore alacrity than he had yet shewn that your iuisbahd is arrested upon a privy council warrant bignsd if not executed a considerable time he fore


i came to ireland a warrant and lie glanced oyer the paper for a sight of which he had sent and with which the dublin official now attended to arrest the person search for and seize tlie paper arms


he slurred the rest and by the little gesture of crushing tho document in his fingers ji con sciously signified disapprobation of the preceding alas


replied elorence in a desponding tpne


f i fear it may ovpn have been so and that such things njay for months have liiing over tho heads of several unfortunate gentlemen in this country and tliftt for the basest


but she checked tin imprudent if spirited and truthfu remark and neither the generous and pardonable sally of a wifes affection and an irish woman high spirit nor yet her high selfcontrol passed unnoticed though lord cornwallis made np observation


in granting your special request madam he resumed turning away with a calm but kindlyspeaking and emphatic lpokt and as if desirous of waiving the former topic i must no assume merit with you which does not belong to me


i have n power and most certainlv no wish to prevent tins gentlema from giving you according to your very natural desire a place in the chaise in which he conveys your husband to dublin


it is my earnest wish to soften every act of severity which these un happy times may demand as far as may bo consistent with the public interest and the speediest restoration of tranquility


i cannot perceive that either is compromised by a lady being perr mitted to give her society and tho influence of her peaceful and feminine counsels and persuasions to her husband


if my per mission be roqnisite for your progress you have it freely florence silently bowed her heartfelt thank


stay to make all urey and he turned and spoke to his secretary claim i particular authority over the navl service but i daresay no commander of a kings ship williefusome nay madam lam sure not one vrould refuse your requ st to carry ou to dublin


in the next minute a laconic note containing a request which had the full effect of a command was addressed generally to the maritime commanders on the station


with a lightened heart and speaking eyes florence overpowered with a rush of grateful and kindiyfcelings once again bowed her deep and speechless thanks and immediately withdrew attended by her gal lant escort


he assured her that he had never before seen the phlegmatic


cornwallis wjio instead of a british commnnderinchief might have made a good dutch prime piinister half so kind aud animated the signal for the advance of tho rmy to commence the had already been given and one column was winding up the distant heights in al tlie glittering of the panoply of war while the ie serve was still busied in striking tents loading baggage waggons and preparing to follow


to this part of the troops the companin of florence belonged and he was jiow compelled to take a hasty levve with many professions of goodwill and pressing offers of such services as his personal or family interest could command


tho offer was frankly accepted and warmly acknowledged


the degree of friendly interference which may enable an innocent and muchwronged man to obtain the justice which is aty that he either needs or asks would indeed be worthy of tho generous heart i have ever heard attributed to the son of your mother said florence


and the compliment was not lost upon a warmly affeitionate son


i hope to have a good days shooting with squire joyce upon his own mountains he cried and to pay my respects to his lady in her own house before i am many months older


with cornr yallis moore and lake to boot we cannot fail to pay those rascally french and croppy rebels right speedily


the phrase jarred upon the ear of florence in spite of tlje admonitions ot her reason and with a silent farewell she turned and skimmed on towards the chaise at a rate of speed which left her official attendant far behind while j ce who fancied her gone an age w ith fondness and admiration which blunted his anxiety about the result of her mission watched her advance


your face my dear florence beams with good tidings i could fancy myself a free man


that dear j ack must still be watched for


but i have obtained all i asked almost more than i dare hopefor permission to attend you and after that i take leave to hope the best


so give ray place again


she had scarce taken her seat when a tumult was p of iced inthq field and a sudden yell arose followed tyy repeated musket shots sent after the prisoner with whom florence had lately exchanged words


he was in full flight up the height hotly pursued by several soldiers balls whizzing over or past him


it was a sight of intense interest to many spectators hut tpcsfc of all to florence whose heart seemed tp pantin agoiiy or suspend its pulsations as the prisoner either lost ground or gained upon uppn his pursuers


he had reached the edge of a narrow ravine or chasm furrowed in the mountain which at this distance made no very formidable appearance though it certainly presented a perilous obstacle on closer inspection


running up to a jutting bank the fugitive at one desperate sprjng cleared the gully witlr the bounding leap of a chamois hunter and so constituted is the human mind that eyen a number of soldiers who were watching the chase sent forth a cry of sympathetic exultation while joyce also strongly excited exclaimed soli bravo so much flor ence lor a bogltrotter a boy jho can follow the hounds on foot aud dance the irish jig


the pursuers were seen to pause as if tp reconnoitre the chasm


they fired their pieces and then descended into the ravine with the apparent intention of clambering up the other side


while the reckless gaiety of the irish character the prisoner while he stood to breatlieand look back was heard to shout in mockery of the pursuit and to snap his losened fingers at his pursuers


time enough to halloo when out of the wood said joyce while the portmullina postboy a deeply interested spectator of of the chase so far forgot respect in sympathy with his hoiiour as to call back in the carriage


theyll catch felix your honour as the childer say of the sparrows wheii they can lay salt his tail


felix


thought flovence


i do then remember the poor fellow


the dragoon officer who had accompanied the party from port mullina left them here and the chaise containing the prisoner was


committed to a sergeant and four troopers which was fancied a sufficient escort on a part of the country which was believed well affected because the presence of a large force had htherto pre vented actual symptoms of insurrection from breaking out


the course of this days journey afforded important adventure and the credit which florence seemed tp have obtained with the lordlieutenant greatly augmented the civility arid if it might be so called the indulgence sliewn by the superior kings mes senger kir ogorman and in like proportion increased the surli ness of his colleague a ruffianly feljow who had risen from the lowest grade of thieftaking by subservience to his brutal patron in tho dublin police the then notorious and detested major sirr


tlie ultimate point of destination before embarking was kept from the prisoner as an official mystery but after a long and fatiguing days journey the cavalcade reached fermoy where a fresh arid njore numerous guard was obtained though precautions had been taken not to enter the town till dark to lodge iu a barrack and set off very early in the morning


florence and joyco were now anxiously speculating upon their destination and at what point between cork arid


wterlord they wereio be shipped off


wexford and wicklow werein the power of the rebels and all to the west of cork in a state of incipient insurrection


their attendants appeared to become more uneasy and suspicious and after a consultation held apart with tlie sergeant commanding the escort they seemed all at once to chapge then route


it was reriiarked that they now galloped through every hamlet and village where interruption might be possible ana rapidly past eyery assemblage of the peasantry returning from fairs or crowding about bridges and crossways eagerly demanding of all travellers from the south or west ior indeed from whatever quarter news of the armiesand the war


sometimes a shower of stones was hurled at the escort where the nature of the ground made such mode of assault safe arid the curse of the people though generally pronounced in their unknown irish tongue met them at eyery turn


endeavouring to evade such manifestations of hatred as far as possible the dragoon sergeant did riot consider it prudentto stop to avenge theni


in the afternoon a new mode of travelling was adopted


the troopers were dismissed and the prisoner and his party with a few files of infantry procured at a neighbouring temporary barrack embarked in a boat lit cappoquin to go down to youglialj by water without mr ogorman assigning any reason for tho change of plan


the early part of this days journey had lain through a bare and rather uninteresting country gradually beebmirigmore fertile and cultivated until as they approached the courso of the black water the travellers found themselves in the midst of


some of the fairest and the most rich and picturesque landscapes which the splendid river scenery of ireland affords with this storied district florence was unacquainted and connec ted save by memory and imagination but endowed with profound sensibility to natural beauty in all its forms acute and lively senses still in the freshness of youth arid that expansive and appropriate taste which in some individuals appears an orignal gift of natnro fo her favourites she now silently drank in the lovjinesg around her only from timo to time claiming the sympathy of her com panion whose fettered hands were as at all times wrapped in hers by broken exclamations of wonder and delight as shooting another reach of the river or rounding some bank or rock a new scene of enchantment broke upon them some still more exquisite combination of wood and water rock and verdure or of mansion and castle bossomed high in an amplitude of magnificent timber cradled in the lettered and crisp foliage of the latter may


mr joyce was already acquainted with the scenery and able to name familiar names and point out sites which revived many dim recollections and slumbering associations in the imaginative an hearfctought memory of florence until as they silently floated on the magic scene seemed faintly to recal the delicious wavering dream of a brighter life in some halfremembered and happier state of preexistance


other thoughts would intervene


how unirish were all the great names found in this long confiscated and beautiful region from generation to generation the territorial property of tho english alien and alieniated lords while the ancient patronymics of the country might lie found chiefly in ihovels and borne by serfs and beggars


the history of ireland is i without doubt the most melancholy of all european histories


the course of florences ruminations naturally tended towards a gallant ad in many respects a great man whose story was recalled to w by tho antique town which came beautifully in view across its own bright bay and under its wooded hill


here iliad the bold the enterprisng and tasteful raleigh had his resi deuce


and jiis sins against ireland which were many were jforgoten in tjieromeipbrjince that he too had been the victim of political intrigue and despicable oppression


the watch maintained over the prisoner always became more strict as the party approaehed any town or vilhge as well as during the time they halted for rest or refreshment


here they layoff till the twilight fell and until the loiterers abroad began to retirerowing from point to point but generally keeping out


in tlie bay and endeavouring to give their movements the appear anceof those of a boating pleasureparty


when safely lodged in the inn and an increase of guards privately obtained it was i understood that ogorman had dispatcned a trooper to cork to state his apprehensions pnd to take farther orders from the com manderon


the station touching the future safe conduct of his prisoner


the messengers who never lost sight of mr joyce either by jiight or day always slept in the same apartment with him but every possible attention was paid to the accommodation of florence by the orders of ogorman upon whom she appeared to have made a very favourable impression


yet at every separation for tlie night involuntry doubts would arise to pain and distract her


and she even feared to seek repose lest in spite of the solemn promise she had exacted from the kings messenger she might awake to find that


joyce had been hurried away


to be continued


chapter


v the appointmentthe walk home


as vernon crossed the threshold he was ac costed by oflaherty who had immediately pre ceded him from the apartment in which the scene just recorded had been enacting


hallo old fellow said oflaherty you seem down upon your luck


no wonder fool dolt that i was to enter this accursed den and not to calculate on the certain result of my beastly infatuation


i was badly enough placed a few hours ago but this coup finishes the business


nonsense man let us look on the brightest sido we can come the morning is not breaking yet and we will take a turn or two and consider what is to be done


i must tell you candidly that i was surprised to see you tempting your fate with slasher and could scarcely conceive that you were simple enough to dream of re trieving your already perplexed affairs by re sorting to the dicebox


they walked onwards and taking the direction of the royal hotel continued the painful subject of their conversation


there are days it would seem said ver non that are entirely subjected to the influ ence of ones evil geniusdays in which there weighs upon ones mind i know not what fatal presage of misfortune


psha


it is useless to talk now of dreams and presentiments the fact i presume is this you have dropped about three hundred pounds tonight your sydney agents will make no more advances the bank will not look at your paper and miss beverlys guardian will no longer over look your very suspicious conduct


notes of hand and notes of excuse require special en dorsement in these cases and you have none to offer


too true yet still i have one hope left


buoydups house ought to assist me


ben is a connexion although a distant one of my own and i did the firm some service in their hard fought battle with sir george


buoydup knows how my folks at home are placed and will surely make me an advance on a draft upon the col onel


by heaven it was by trying to carry out one of his extraordinary speculations that i got so frightfully involved with my stations and at last found myself reduced to the miserable posi tion in which you saw me placed tonight of risking all upon the hazard of a die


but are you not aware vernon that buoyd up himself is no longer in the direct manage ment of the firm


his yacht the rover is once again to breast the waves and california will soon receive the head of the eminent house of the south pacific


i had heard something of this but i believe my claims and connexions are well known to buoydups successor in the directorship green ing


i wrote to the house a few days ago and named my anxious wish to he favoured with an audience on pressing business


what was their reply


why strange to say i have received none and yet ample time has elapsed for an answer


i have however made up my mind to call upon greening tomorrow and ascertain at once my real prospects of aid from that quarter


failing there i must resort to you for counsel


why failing there and fail i really fear you will for greening is not so green as many from his monstrous civility his extravagant politeness and courtesy deem himfailing there i say you have no resource left but the moneylenders and heaven knows that in sydney they indeed make a miserable one


did you notice one of their prime agents who sat between you and wil son tonight


he had his eye upon you and will duly report the result of this nights doings when you report your wants to any of his prin cipals


another consequence of my folly


who would have thought of being a mark for such a scout


our moneylenders like to know good from bad marks my dear fellow and it is their busi ness to note the dupes of the playworld


but i must leave you day is nearly dawning and i have to make up for the office


try greening tomorrow and let me know the result


i shall be at mendozas in castlereaghstreet at eight in the evening before which hour you will scarcely see me


at mendozas


surely that is a strange place for a rendezvous


not stranger than the place we have just left and as it may not be without its use to show you as many phases of sydney life as pos sible i will induct you into a new mystery until then good night


each pursued his homeward path but after walking a short distance oflaherty observed that he was followed at a smart pace by wilson and another frequenter of the hell by trade a butcher named mallison who soon overtaking him began to indulge in certain coarse jeers which oflaherty could not but perceive were directed to himself


his course of action was soon decided upon


who are you laughing at marrowbones said oflaherty turning sharply round on mal lison


oohever hi likes was the reply and ofla bertys rejoinder was a smart blow in the face


there as youve bet therell be no fight with the general ill guarantee therell be one with me


mallison a bullnecked fellow of about four teen stone ran at oflaherty with his head down prepared to butt him below the waistband


that wont do marrowbones said the for mer springing aside and administering to the knight of the cleaver a blow in the pole which sent him reeling into the gutter


the butcher was on his legs in a twinkling but powerful as he was oflahertys science overmatched him


the latters square deepchested build and the fine muscular development of his arms were more than equivalent to the heavy bulky and roundshouldered mould of his antagonist whose desperate lunging hits he stopped with ease and whose face after having thus played with him for a few seconds he began to paint with successive touches in the most approved artistical style


mallison was about to rush in for a close when the voice of wilson at once effected an ar mistice plice plice


the plice is a coming


and sure enough inspector sharp attended by one of his myrmidons turned sharply round from marketstreet


scinting the scrimmage as the attendant constable b afterwards de posed a gineral purshute enshooed and as oflaherty had made himself scarce the instant the alarm had been given by wilson the latter and mr marrowbones were soon the only object of attraction to the blues who impervious alike to supposition and remonstrance lodged the bel ligerent and his friend safely in the policeoffice lockup


to be continued


the adventures of tom newberry


from the sydney revels by c a corbyn


chapter i theres many a slip twixt the cup and the lip


i was born at cawnpore in british india anno domini


my father was a major in thc xith light dragoons


my mother died ere


i was six years of age leaving me an only pledge of the ineffaceable love that existed betwixt her and my father


i was thenceforth tended chiefly by hindoo women kind faithful creatures until i had attained my eighth year when my father determined to do violence to the tender parental affection which bound him to me by sending me home as he termed it to england according to the usual custom of british gen tlemen in india


this severance from my sole surviving parent caused me young as i was excessive grief and was a proportionably severe trial to my father for admirable and enduring as a mothers love is i am persuaded that it cannot outrival the tender affection of a widower for his only child


after a pleasant voyage in the good ship sherbourne i arrived healthful and safely on the shores of old england and was introduced into thc family of mr r an artist of great oxfordstreet london


this worthy gentleman was no relative but a staunch friend of my father and he had continued his friendship after that my father then but a lieutenant had given unpardonable offence to his family by his union with my mother a young lady whose only dowry consisted of her beauty virtue and accom plishments


mr r my guardian had married late in life long after his natural hair had been supplanted by a wig


he was old enough to be my fathers father but as if to make up for his so long delay ing to enter the connubial state mrs r had pre sented him annually during the four years of their wedded life with au infantile addition to the family


after spending a few weeks at mr rs house i was sent to school at kensington where i re mained six years save that i spent each mid summer and christmas vacation at thc house of my guardian


my father constantly corresponded with mr r and the tone of his letters plainly pourtrayed the deep affection and parental interest which he felt for my welfare


when in my fourteenth year he began to unfold his views and wishes relative to my future career


he longed to pro cure for me a commission as soon as i should have arrived at proper nge in the th lancers to which regiment he had exchanged when the xith was metamorphosed into prince alberts regiment of hussars and ordered home


my wishes exactly assimilated to my fathers and listening as i had oftentimes done to the thrilling accounts of the performances of the british troops in india during the scindian and afghanistan wars i panted eagerly for the arrival of the moment i should share the exploits and the dangers of my father whose name had several times received honorable mention in con nection with the encounters with the foe


at the close of a holiday term i returned as usual to the school but a fortnight had only elapsed when i was snddenly summoned to my guardians house


the slight pleasure which i felt at this unexpected holiday was speedily turned into most bitter unavailing gief


the charming spell of almost unalloyed and uninter rupted happiness which had hitherto been my lot and the bright beauteous vista of the future were in an instant dissolved


i was an orphan


my dear father was no more


he had been mur dered


so deep was my filial love and so indelibly was my fathers image imprinted on my mind that young as i was the blow was nearly overwhelm ing and some months passed by ere the consola tions of my guardian and his family exerted a beneficial influence


at the time when so tragical an end befel my father his regiment with others of the british army had taken to the field


among his nume rous servitors my father had for a kitmaghir a mahometan named oram


this man had fol lowed the fortunes of my father during eleven years with unfailing fidelity a usual trait in the character of the mahometan population of india


but the moslems have another peculiar character istic as devilish as the former one is admirable


they are extremely revengeful


one evening oram had been desired by my father to perform some seemingly trivial office but of really par


ticular importance


oram finding other busi ness in his opinion more needful to intervene neglected the commission entrusted to him


that night my father returned at a later hour than usual from the mess where some festivities had been going on


he was so exasperated for the moment at the mahometans negligence that he struck him on the face and pulled his beard and this indignity he put upon the man in presence of several brother officers who had ac companied him as far as his tent


about midnight tho dobeewaller or washer man whose tent was pitched in a declivity a short distance from that of my father rushed in great trepidation into the tent occupied by the guard giving the officer in command the follow ing information


he went outside his tent to in hale a little cool air and glancing his eyes towards the majors tent he saw oram seat him self at the foot of my fathers bed deliberately place the blade of a sabre to his own throat and then holding the hilt with one hand and the point with the other he drew the weapon rapidly across and fell backwards


the timid dobeewaller was alarmed too much to enter my fathers tent and had hastened to the guard a portion of which with several officers who had been awoke by the noise hurried to my fathers tent where a terrible spectable met their gaze


major newberry who had charged in many a desperate field of strife unharmed by the match lock bullet or the affghan sabres had fallen before the more fatal unanticipated vengeance of the suicide assassin


his head was literally severed from his body and his limbs and person frightfully gashed and mutilated


the maho metan had gratified his cursed master passion


he had washed away the disgrace to which he had been subjected in his benefactors blood


like multitudes of villains he had forgotten ninetynine good turns under the smart of a solitary bad turn and then preferring death at his own hand to suffering by the hangmans cord he had with the sabre yet reeking with my fathers blood nearly severed at a stroke his own neck and falling backwards on the bed his gore had intermingled with that of his immediate victim


chapter ii


i hare hitherto been dimble to discover the author of the adage that misfortunes never come singly


in my case it has proved too applicable


my guardian had a numerous family and his health and eyesight began to fail


his means were but limited and when my fathers affairs were arranged a very trifling pecuniary balance remained


my guardian was obliged soon afterwards in consequence of increasing age and decreasing health to give up his pro fessional pursuits and retire from motives of economy to the country


he was anxious to obtain some opening for me whereby i might have an opportunity of pushing my way in the world for with my fathers death the idea of procuring a com mission in the army was abandoned


oh how difficult i found it even in great wealthy london to procure employment some what suitable to my birth and education


there are many thousands of respectable intelligent and well disposed persons who internally ac knowledge the truthfulness of my remark


the great and wealthy philosophise and talk lengthily about crime its cause and the means to eradicate it


i can save them their lost breath


the gross inequality of the circumstances of man kind is the chief cause of crime and to level that inequality will prove the most certain means to eradicate it


talk about crime


why to many thousands of both sexes in great britain it is impossible utterly so to keep above the worse than stygian stream of vice and its parent penury


at the time of the sudden reverse of my for tunes and prospects neither crime nor any moral dereliction had been so much as charged against me yet boy as i was i soon chilled to notice and feel acutely that as the tale of my poverty became known my richer fellow men aye and fellow boys treated me with coolness and neg lect


riches do not bring happiness say many welltodo old prosers


i admit the truth of their remark and will go further and allow that poverty is not directly and absolutely misery but it is very near akin thereto


to lack money is to want honor love obedience troops of friends it is to want respect and sympathy and the ordinary courtesies of society besides occasionally victuals


the possession or non possession of money makes the difference whether life has to be an enjoyment or a task whether it is to be a walk over a smooth verdant lawn amid fragrant flowers and aromatic shrubs and all things that minister pleasure to the senses or a wearisome uphill journey through thorns and briars and ungracious impediments


it makes the difference whether you have to go bounding exultingly along like the free full blooded courser or wend your way wearily and slow like the laden and despised packhorse


to want money in a highly civilised state is to be a kind of slave it is at least to be de pendant on the whims and caprices of others instead of indulging in all the pleasant eccentri cities or originalities to which your temperament may prompt you


it is to have to rise soon when you wish to lie late and go to bed early in order to be enabled so to do


it is to have to live in unwholesome and antirespectable parts of the city and mix in daily communion with people whose ways are not your ways


it is to be a drudge a hack a machine worked for the profit and advantage of others until thc springs are broken


it is to roam about invitationless at christmas and other festivals and to be omitted in family celebrations weddings birthdays or christenings


it is to put up with equivocal nods of recognition in the streets


it is to have all delicate sensibilities all free and generous feelings all aspiring thoughts checked and crushed within you by a petty but overbearing necessity


it is to have to suffer the greatest misfortunes and the most contemptible vexations and to be obliged to be uncomfortably careful of coats hats and other habiliments


it is to put up with all these and very many other ills until the temper becomes soured and the feelings deadened


and hypocritical mock philanthropists with blandishments und false argument strive to en force the righteousness of inequality


that ne


cessity and reason unite in ordering that millions shall gasp in want that thousands may bask in gluttonous profusion


stop a while


they are educating the masses


let but the great mass of the people become semieducated the scales will fall from their eyes and they will assert their claim to food and raiment us well as to edu cation


while the ward of the talented artist the son of a field officer with a brilliant prospect before me i was uniformly welcomed with smiles by our visitors or in the houses whereat we visited but now when i was forlorn and my fathers poor but faithful friend endeavoured to procure for me a footing on the lowest step upon one of the many ladders which point to fame or fortune many were the objections which were raised to my prejudice


with one i was not old enough while another entertained a directly reverse opinion


another employer expressed his belief that i had been educated in too gentlemanly a style and with too much care ever to become useful


but eventually as a great favour a house of agency which had long transacted bu siness with my father received me as a junior clerk giving me the munificent stipend of per annum together with a prospect of pro motion in the office


this prospect i speedily discovered to be on the extremely perspective principle for instance if i lived to be an octo genarian with continued fidelity and good con duct it was possible by that time my salary might be actually doubled


i entered upon the duties of my office with a feeling very diverse from joy neither did i consider the salary matter of congratulation to a youth who had received an excellent education and was a good scholar linguist and arithmetician


will you believe it paul that nearly eight years of my existence was consumed in that office


from morning until night save on sun days did i for per week exert my abilities to aid my employers in swindling and defrauding of the navy and army especially the poorer sort of officers out of a portion of their pay


i made several endeavours to better my condition or at any rate to change it but without relatives fortune or influence my efforts were unavail ing


i have no doubt that millions of the human race are worse off than i was during those eight years


so much more the pity that amongst the human brotherhood such a state of inequality should exist


id rather that i had been brought into exist ence as a wild dog in australia or a spanish wolf divested of other feelings than those of sense and instinct than possessing the fine feel ings of civilised man return and linger out the remainder of my life behind the desk of and upon the insufficient pittance i received from the firm of and co army and navy agents


one evening after the office was closed i was wending homeward my lonely way in the crowded streets of london when the more than usually confident outcry of a newsvender attracted my attention


heres the latest intelligence from sydney the capital of norfolk island vot vos used to be called botny bay vere captain cook vos eat by the saviges vociferated the man consarnin the most howdashus lots of gold has hever was seed in the world afore


bangs peruvia and king solomons ophir all to nothink


it vos fust dis kivered by signor hargraves vot vos hemperer hof californy huntil hit was taken from the mexicans by the merican general santa hannah


vun doctor has his called kerr has got a nugget wich had to be smash to hattims and hit took six vaggons to carry the pieces


doctor kerr vos a going at that time to confine a black princess who hadnt got no money hand hay son and heir vos the consekence


and ven the prin cesss husband vots called king bungy bungy sultan of bathurst seed his son and heir becos hed not got no blunt he gives the doctor a mountain vich turned out solid gold hand so


yer sees as how the doctor didnt do no harm by dooing a charitable haction


regarding this rigmarole in the light of an extravaganza founded on fact i purchased the paper from the man with the sixpence intended to procure my evenings meal


thenceforth i eagerly sought for the australian news which i often feasted my mind upon at the expense of my stomach and the astounding accounts which i read of the gold discovery and its consequences filled me with a desire to be freed from my worse than servile condition and hie to the land of hope and promise


it appeared to me that the almighty disposer of events had ordered the revelation of the golden wealth of australia to impart hope into bosoms where it had either never shone or had long ceased to shine into the hearts of the mil lions of the crushed ground down poverty stricken sons of toil mental and physical to do that which rich proud man refused to do to equalize in a great measure the condition of mankind


i resigned my clerkship but experienced great difficulty in procuring a passage to sydney


at the emigration commissioners office i was rejected because i stated truly that i had only been employed as a clerk but at the same time a hint was given me that if i called again in the assumed character of a shepherd or a labourer my application would be successful


my reverence for sincerity and truth prevented me from making use of the hint and i visited in succession every vessel which was advertised to sail to new south wales and offered my ser vices in any capacity wherein they might be deemed worthy of acceptance as an equivalent for my passage


i met with nought but refusals from the officers and astonishment and pity from the sailors


my very unsailorlike appearance dressed in a threadbare tail coat napless beaver hat and other habiliments to match was greatly against me and the tars when they heard the nature of my request gazed at me with as much surprise as they would have done had the veritable neptune himself came on board and offered to ship as boatswain


to be continued


chapteb ii


how mb caudle begins to show something of the flend that in him


it is rather extraordinary mrs caudle that we have now been married four weeks i dont exactly see what you have to sigh about and yet you cant make a proper cup of tea


however i dont know how i should expect it


there never was but one woman who could make tea to my taste and she is now in heaven


now


mr ca let me hear no crying


im not one of the people to be melted by the tears of a woman for you can all cry allof you at a minutes notice


the waters always laid on and down it comes if a roan only holds up his finger


you didnt think j could be so brutal


thats it


let a man only speak and hes brutal


its a womans first duty to make a decent cup of tea


what do you think i married you for


its all very well with your tambourwork and such trumpery


you can make butterflies on kettlehold ers but can you make a pudding maam


ill be bound not


of course as usual youve jiven me the cornerroll because you know i hate a cornerroll


i did think you mubt have seen that


i did hope i should not be obliged to speak on eo paltry a subject


but its no use to hope to be mild with you


i see thats hopeless


and wnat a wring


and you call it a bloater i suppose i ha there was a woman who had an eye for a bloater but sainted creature


i shes here no longer


you wish she was


oh i understand that im sure if any body should wuh her back its


but she was too good for me


when im gone caudle she used to say then youll know the wife i was to you


and now i do know it


heres the eggs boiled toa stone again


do you think mrs caudle im a canary bird to be fed nn hard eggs i dont tell me about the servant


a wife is answerable to her husband for her servants


its her business to hire proper people if she doeent shes not fit to be a wife


i find the money mrs caudle and i expect you to find the cookery


there you are with your pockethandkerchief again the old hag of truce but it doesnt trick me


a pretty honeymoon


honeymoon nonsense


people cant have two honeymoons in their lives


there are feelings i find it now that we cant have twice in our existence


theres no making honey a second time


no i think ive put up with your neglect long enough and theres nothing like beginning as we intend to go od


therefore mrs caudle if my tea isnt made a little more to my liking tomorrow and if you insult roe with a her ring like that and boil my eggs that you might fire em out of guns why perhaps mrs caudle you may see a man in a passion


it lakes a good deal to rouse me hut when i am up i say when i am up thats all


where did i put my gloves you dont know


oc course not you kuow nothing


cite atib itotdjs loye at first sight or the


eisii out of water


chapter ii


when love lays hold of a mathematician it is apt to play strange tricks with him


this is an axiom which unlike the patent safety cabs cannot be overturned


aware of the propriety of keeping the state of his affec tions a secret yet wholly unable to do so paul began to look about him


for a confidant and at last bethought him i of an old college friend who having graduated a few months before had left cambridge and taken a curacv in


the neighbourhood of fenslanton which as all the world knows or should know is situated about nine miles from the university in the heart of one of the most sterile and desolate districts of england


to this friend whom he had all hut forgotten till now paul resolved to repair and accordinly he set out on foot for as has been already observed lie was a prodigious walker with the intention of reaching the parsonage in time for dinner


arrived there lie received a most cordial welcome but his manner on entering was so visibly embarrassed that his friend could not help noticing it and in the course of the even ing observed whats the matteryith you pimpernel


are


you ill have you


overworked yourself


or have you got into some college scrape


i never in mylifevsaw you look so uneasy asyou do at this


moment


lm


sure some thing is preying on your mind so


outwithit maifirno


re seryes with one like me


it is astonishing hovv foolish the majority of


usi are apt tolook when making a confession of tliat


divine pas sion which does such creditvtoournaturexweirarely confess to being in


love without blushing as if


we had been just detected in the act of picldnga pocket paul hesitated stammered and shuffled about in his chair as if he had been sitting on a pair of sharp spurs but seeing his friends eye fixed on him with a grave steady scrutiny he suddenly plucked up courage and replied iweilthen if the tiithmustvbe told


im in love


andi having


said this he crimsoned like a winter cabbage


vlivlave exclaimed hisvconipauiohfelymnuovel


hahahavwelli


well it is


a malady we are


all liablej to at one time or other of


our livesj


so thesooner perhaps we take t in


the natuial way the better


and pray who are you in love with ivhenpauimeiiilnecitlieladys


name her abode aud the circumstaiices under ivhich


he had become f acquainted with her his friend looked reserved and thoughtful pimpernel said he after a brief emphatic silence take care what you


are


about


this lady as you call her lady


exclaimed the lover inj his most fervid man ner wlfo can doubt it that has onee seen her


her


manners are without exception the most graceful and natural


i ever beheld her disposition sportive and amiable to a degree her her good interrupted his friend pushing the bottle to varvts him help yourself and go on


her figure rejoined the enthusiast buoyant uihlul and leplcte with elegance her smile


angelic lier eyes sparkhng


like the sky on a frosty night and here lips as rosy as the west on a delicious sumpier evening p


paul paul said his companion with mock solemnity


you were once a man of good commonsense but now that you have degenerated into a poet i have no hopes of you


so you have actually lost your heart to a pretty dressedup waxdoll


mr powis exclaimed the lover looking as silly as a sheep newly sheared i came to you for your advice not your ridicule


well dont be so touchy


if you want my advice here it is in one word be cautious


remember you know nothing of this ladys connexions and as for her habits or her turn of mind


i am fully acquainted with them for sophias is a character that you may read at a glance


she is all feeling and gentleness and when she spoke to me of the virtues of her departed husband


what is she a widow


worse and worse


my dear fellow dont you know the adage children should never play with edgetools


rely on it widows are the most dangerous subjects possible to meddle with espe cially in the neighbourhood of cambridge


you have seen no visitors at your widows house i suppose


not a soul


ought not that circumstance to teach you prudence by no means for it is a proof of sophias uncommon sensibility


after sufferings such as she has endured society naturally jars upon her feelings


is there nothing strange and inconsistent then in the readiness with which she admitted you to her ac quaintance


no it is a proof of the frankness and simplicity of her nature


innocence is always fearless and having no guile itself suspects none in others


what a sophist love is


of course the lady is aware that you have an independent fortune


she is so replied paul but it was not that which interested her in my favour for fortune ranks as mere dross in her estimation no sir it was my sober and instructive conservation she told me so herself


i presume then it is your intention to propose to this intellectual widow


my dear powis replied paul swallowing a bumper you have just hit it


i am in truth exceedingly anxious to ascertain my fate and should have done so be fore now had i not been prevented by a most absurd and annoying circumstance


how so


why we were sitting together the other evening sophia sinsrinsr at the uiano


and i meditating on the sofa