Pittston Gazette

              Oldest Pewsoaoer in the Wyoming Valley PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1891. A Weekly Local and Familv Journal. {'"YffrtZZ?" "You cau tell us, if you have seen any thing of the Confederate forces in these parts, or whether you have heard any thing1 of their movements." "Surely I cart," was the suave reply. on Winstanley as easily as catching1 rabbits in a net." him to pott his sentries on the north, why this important road was without patrol or picket. pitfall for you. t ly, 11 you would save yourself from harm and me from madness; for your grand devotion has touched my heart and I could almost love vou." A Deux Temps. tions, and among them this: "Do you know where Bragg is?" "Yes," was the prompt reply, "he is off northwards with all the speed he can to Louisville." BILL NYES CLEOPATKA. but first you shall know -what it is to have what we call fun. You Alliance people think you have some little pleasure in life, but you do not. You ar©extraneous, as we say, or not in it. You are my guest for this evening. You die in the morning. You will join me at dinner, will you not? We keep an all night house, and we have some wassail oil hand that has never been used; also a can of orgies that has not been opened yet. May I count on you?" Then Cleopatra herself arose. She cast aside her mantle, and stating briefly in a few well chosen words that she could vnot make a speech, not having been constructed in that way, neither could she sing a song or tell a story, she Would, with the consent of the audience, offer a selection from an Egyptian breakdown composed by herself and which they might like to hear. While the beauteous queen sashayed up and down to the lascivious pleasing* of a lute the picnic ice cream came in. Cleopatra said that she would not chase any, but the rash young man from the Spring VaDey Milk farm ate heartily of it. Yet, this ib our dance, this waltz from the Duchess. What is that you are saying? You thought 1 was playing You false, with this waltz, this ilancc from the * Duchess? Ap. he strode away, one of the officers slapped Lascelles on the shoulder, as he travlv cried: Tbe best part of ivn liour elapsed. "Walta Bp, boys, quk-kly and quietly as you can, Make no noise whatever—- our live* dl-pond tipon your silence " "Bragg's men passed southward*". "Don't grizzle, old man. Nat Hawes never hud more appreciation of a practical joke in his nature than there is blood in a Norfolk oyster. In my opinion you have done a very plucky, commendable thing, and there are brighter eyes than old Nat's will gleam approval when the story's told at Nashville." "Almost! "Hush!" I thought—" A FREE AND EASY TRANSLATION OF THEOPHILE GAUTIER'S STORY. through yonder village—you can just You thought I had rather be sitting and talk- see its sfnoke in tlit? far distance-—ten lnS davs ajfo. There are manv God-fearing .• living there-they call the Or it may be, perhaps, hi the corridors walk- place* W lDStanley and they feared ing, g fire and pillage, but the troops were Instead of remembering this dance here wl J hurried and they passed them by unyou, air, I hurt " This dance from the Duchess, The lovely Grand Duchcss, The sweetest deux tempst Ah, If you but knew. "And Knell knows it not!" Major Hopkins declared, aghast at the significant importance of the news. It was tliv J w—. Major's voice. But the warning came too late; a. dozen stalwart forms, springing from the shadows of the trees, surround the In live minutes nis officers were in his So, leaving the enemy's wounded to the tender mercies of the citizens of Win Stanley, and despatching their own in a baggage wagon with a small escort, they mounted their newly-acquired steeds and hurried as fast as they could back to Buell's army. Tlie Ilully Good Time That the Fresh Young Man with a Burning Love and a Milk Route Had, bat the lee Cream room young man, who, stunned by the girl's revelation, yields without a blow for freedom. "You soft l.h at hill yonder, my lads," he said, grimly pointing to the clustering pines. "Well, just beyond those pretty trees in a little valley lies half a regiment of Confederate cavalry, who ure about to (KTus the honor of an early morning call. What do you say to our getting up a little surprise party and anticipating them in their polite attentions? You think it best, of coursethen order your men under arms without an instant's loss—get them out of the church if you can without a sound— and meet me at the bend of the road yonder." Got There Just the Same. [Copyright, 1891, by Edgar W. Nye.] "Indeed thou mayst," said the youth, as he went out into the court yard and washed his face in the rain water barrel, and walked for a time in the dewy grass to remove the milk spots from his bespattered boots. CHAPTER XII. A NIGHT ATTACK- "Another captive to your fascinations. Miss Lascelles," the officer in charge of the party says, with more mockery than sincerity. "Your beaux ye ax are more effective than our rifle-bullets." [Translated with considerable recklessness from the French of Theophile Gautier by William Nye, Esq.] That is good—well, sir, have you ! any thing more to tell us?" "Why, yes, I have. Some men who had been out hunting in the woods told me this morning that they had seen a train of a dozen supply-wagons which they thought would reach Winstanley by to-morrow at latest. Now, wouldn't this he a chance for you? How many men do you muster?" "Winstanley is not much of a place," Frank Besant said, as they marched that September afternoon up the one dusty street that constituted the main portion of the miserable village, whose squalid houses and sallow, unwholesome inhabitants seemed from their signs of decay to be unworthy the notice of friend or foe. No wonder Bragg had not stayed his march to pillage so contemptable a community, as it was really only a settlement of unhealthy "cracker" whites, on whom even the slaves looked with contempt. "No wonder Southern gentlemen call such as our Winstanley friends 'white trash,'" the Major mused. "I have often felt surprise at the epithet, but now I think it suits them down to the ground." The delicate shrimp pink heel of Cleopatra saluted the quivering flood as she slowly slipped into the pleased and highly delighted waters. About her waist and arms silver and pearl girdles and bracelets clang when the surface of the waters broke over her wonderful figure, and opaline babbles caught and kissed her dimpled shoulders as the fair queen sazzled about in the rippling tide or shrieked with laughter as she lammed a trusted eunuch in the eye with a hunk of golden mud. As he finished and wiped his spoon on the hair of a eunuch the gray of the dawn was stealing in through the rich hangings of the hall. An ashen look also stole over the face of the yoang yahoo, and quickly clasping his hands to the base of his chest he gave a startled cry like that of a tomcat who has univittingly swallowed a hornet with a nean temperature to it. Not having ead the papers much, he had not noiced how many people were being nowed down by ice cream, and so ae he day began to dawn the rash young ast who had loved thp queen, and swapped lis life, his hopes, his soul and his ii ilk route for two dollars worth of good victuals, curled himself up in a shapeless nass, and kicking two or three times " 4 "el  How I dote on the Duchess, with its gliding and sliding Soft measure for measure. You'd know from such pleasure My feet would never go straying or hiding. "And just as cruel!" she mutfercd, bitterly, as she watched them lead her victim to the house. "Fool that I am, if after all, t'werehimand not the other one I love." Cleopatra now gave orders to have the banquet hall prepared, and Bent away to the village for a fiddler who could also call off. She was cool, yet watchful of her help. She was everywhere ordering victuals cooked, the smell ol hot preserves came from the royal kitchen, and one eunuch named Oleander, who was a good man, and pointed to himself with pride on account of his singularly pure life in the midst of the corruptions, temptations and fines and costs of a court, was sent to the neighbors for more sauce plates and a twc gallon ice cream freezer. What is that?—you might have known it waa merely This special sweet measure. The danoe, not the pleasure . Of dancing with you here? Well, really, you*v« nearly CHAPTER xm. ALL FOB A WOMAN, Human interest is always stirred to fever heat by a race, whether the competing objects be men in the arena, horses on the course or yachts or ocean steamers flying over the foaming waves, but here was a sight that made the dullest pulse beat fast—two armies rushing across a State, as big as a European country, in anxious hasts to rcach a spot that may be a key to pronounced victory. Bragg and Buell with their thousands were the participators in this stupendous struggle, witH all the odds of an early start in favor of the former, but the Union General reached the goal first, and so foiled one of the finest efforts of his astute antagonist, whose record during his brilliant career was second only to Lee's among the Southern commanders as an expert tactician. Once more Charlie Is on the road, with his horse's head turned not to Nashville but to Murfreesboro, and not alone now, but with a gay company of jolly fellows, who, though they guard him well, treat him with a consideration that would rob its capture of its sting, if he were not so dazed with the discovery that he was delivered into bondage by the girl he loved; and, poor, infatuated lad, he felt that even now he could not 6hake himself free from the chains of her fatal fascinations. % That night Charlie Fulton sHv* at a, plantation close to Murfreesboro in a small, dark, low-ceiled room, whose gloomy aspect was increased by its heavy antique furniture and old-fashioned presses, carved in the grotesque taste of the last century. Morning dawned cold and gray, but with its first gleam he sprang from his bed and ran to the narrow casement. Hie sight below riveted the galling thought that he was indeed a prisoner, and that the adventures of the preceding night were not a hideous dream. A squadron of dragoons, who seemed to have passed the night beside their horses, lay stretched or seated in all the picturesque groupings of a bivouac; some already up and stirring; others leaned half-listlessly upon their elbows, and looked about as if unwilling to believe that their rest was over; while some, stretched in deep slumber, woke not with the tumult around them. "Oh, a mere handful—two companies of infantry—but, did they say how strong the escort was?" Ah, little do Colonel Ilawes and his merry men, stretched at their ease on the green sward, snatching a few hours of precious sleep before they shall cap the climax of .Tack Lascelles' superb mimicry by peppering the lives out of those poor devils of defenseless Yanks, know that two hundred gleaming muskets, held by the hands of resolute men were pohitqjl on their prostrate forms from every tree around them. Little did they think that even now their careless pickets lay stunned, or gagged and bound at their neglected posts. "Just one troop of cavalry, nothing more, and so tuckered up by a long march that they could hardly crawl." Persuaded me, sir, that such was the reason; And I'm sure I would fain, sir. If you go on in this strain, sir. Walk and talk to the M'Manners to the end of the season. "No, it isn't much of a place," Lieutenant Gregoiy, to whom Frank's remark had been made, assented, with an expressive shrug of the shoulders. "They say he was a bold man who first swallowed an oyster, but hang me, if he would cot be a bolder who laid himself to rest,in one of these huts." "Yet that may be our fate," Frank prophesied. And to the end of my life, too, perhaps In my Well, no; for M'Manners There, under the banners, Jost when we encountered yon waiting and leaning Rare exotics were gathered to beautify thp table, and Egyptian hollyhocks were *Mtoed with sprigs of nice dried grasses at eyether voluptuous table. The ne asparagus and convuls. /, although, of course, it wa* end of the, «MKuia|Rb£Pyt' up the ghost v cake basket . IffOtrtfcinegar on a large grinds of (flfcc pearl, the haughty queen dropped a tear arranged for the late milkman, and swallowing r ;, i. the molten gem as one might a sherry % bran new flip she turned off the gas, rang for the Against the bay window, had confessed a relationI guessed days ago— "The Lord forbid!" was the pious rejoinder. / was on the table with two His engagement, you know, To that little— Now, Harry, don't kiss me before all creation! Did they start in their sleep and think it was a dream, as the hoarse command rang out: In it, and everything was But amid all this squalor, one house stood high on a liill at the further end of the village, which boasted greater pretensions than its humble neighbors. It was a great, square, stone building. Utterly without ornament, but roomy and capacious, which never by any possibility could have suggested home, but which was large enough to promise accommodation for a host; and out of its square, ugly gateway, a tall, spare, middle-aged man was coming at a rapid walk towards the advancing column. Cleopatra ordered that table cloth be used that evening, and also decided to "open one of Bent's justlj celebrated hunting case water crackers. The hall was resplendent with decora tions and articles of vertu, one painting being a fruit piece, given, all framed, bj the publishers of The Egyptian at Work, a weekly publication, which Cleopatra took on account of the recipes contained in it. for she did not agree with it religiously, being a free thinker and general all around looloo from the head waten of the Nile. oat regard to coet. —Nora Perry. "Make ready—Fire! Fix bayonets— Charge!" audi wodeadly-volleys waked the woodland echoes. With wild hurrah the Fighting Fourth were on them. There is no time to even shout surprise; the only sounds, the scuffling of men and tramp of steeds, as a score or two of troopers, fighting like wild-cats, manage to cnt their horses loose and flee to the valley bolow. It was a grand, glorious little victory — fifty of the enemy killed and wounded, over forty prisoners taken ,md nearly two hundred horses, with their equipments and accoutrements, captured, to say nothing of several stands of small arms and two baggage wagons filled with ammunition and supplies. But though forestalled in hia.intentions, the Confederate leader seized the opportunities left to him, with consummate skill, flooding the State with appeals to loyalty to his cause, inspiring them by the presence and boasted successes of his troops to join his standard, and making almost superhuman efforts to win the Kentuckians to a declaration of secession. He went further than Lee had ventured to do in Maryland, daring even to create a provisional Governor and carry into effect a stringent conscription law. "Come into the folds of your brotherhood," was his passionate appeal bv proclamation. "Cheer us with the smiles of your women, and lend your willing hands to secure the heritage of liberty!" undertaker and retired to her apartments. • j Men's Tears. There's tsumpen in a woman's tears that makes you vvanter sorter Cleopatra lias been harshly criticised by many modern writers for being so kind of wild, bnt we should remember that she was called to the throne quite young and needed a mother's guidance. ¥ei Cleopatra naa ner good points. She was a good cook and a model housekeeper. She is said to have made a preserve out of watermelon rinds that brought on a war with the Romans which lasted eight years and caused much bloodshed. Come close up to her like, and—tho' perhaps you hadn't ortcr. And lest you're gray and married, better not, I'm here to tell you— , Just put your arm around her waist and tech her chin, and—well—you— Ton dam the streams uv cryin' up with little chunks uv kisses. For women folks they lire on love, both mis- * * tresses and misses. HE OBEETED THEM WARMLY AS HE RODE "Howdy! Howdy!" cried one of the cracker gentry, coolly offering a begTimed paw to Major nopkins, a courtesy which that gentleman pretended not to notice. There's sumpen in the children's tears that makes you wanter pet 'em. And—tho' it spiles 'em ever' time—just shet your eyes and let 'em Do what they dog cone please, for, recollect, their little troubles To them air bigger'n meetin' houses; ours an't more nor babbles That float along the river Life, and we air only ripples UP TO THEM "That's splendid news, indeed; but are you sure of the direction Bragg'a army was taking?" In the parlor she had a tree fungus, on which she had etched a nice wintei scene, copied from a Christmas card. Meiamoun's eyes stuck out a good deal when he saw all these glorious things, for at home they all lived in one room, and took turns dressing behind tht stove of mornings. A handsome cottage organ stood in one corner, with a copy of "Pull for the Shore" lying on th« music rack. The trappings of the room were all rich—very rich, indeed. A drawn rug represented Pharaoh as he looked in the morgue after the recovery of his body and while waiting for identification. His features were somewhat She reigned quite a spell and died among strangers, well off, but practically an old maid. "Positive. Up was going doe south with a big force, in great haste, too, or you may depend on it our friends' barns and houses would not have roofs over them." "Who is this person coming down tho hill?" the officer asked. SHE SHRIEKED FOB HELP. Having dressed, he walked up and down the narrow room, tortured and agonized by sad reflections. Suddenly he saw a group of horsemen arrive at whose approach the pickets were on the alert and the guard at the gate presented arms. The sound of voices beneath him informed him that the party occupied the room below his own; so he strained his ear to catch the current ofthetr murmured conversation. The next minute his door was unlocked and an officer entered, bowing politely as he advanced into the middle of the room. Her wealth of wonderful hair floated oat behind her over the water like a magnificent mantle. Cleopatra was regal even when bereft of her royal robe*, and those who happened to be riding by on the cars while she was in swimming were forced to admit that even shucked she was still a queen. She swam to and fro, sometimes treading water with her cherabic feet or scooting dog fashion like a beautiful water bng across the pond. Now she would seem to sleep on the surface of the waters like a slumbering lily, and then anon she wonld rise from her wet environments like a Venus rising to a point of order in the convention at Mount Olympus. The above is a free translation of an article written by Theophile Gautier, which I promised him while in France should be rendered into the American tongue as soou as I could get time from my multifarious duties. Wherever there was a foreign word which I could not translate exactly I have sought to use some of our modern expressions, which, though direct and powerful, I know are reprehensible. To be reprehensible is one of my chief joyB. "Him's Squar' Dixon, him is. We 'uns don' take much stock in he—kyind o' peart on his raisin', an' thinks his-8elf better'n res' o' us." But there was one enemy the gallant Major missed, and him he sought for with eager, vengeful haste—ah, there he goes stretching his long legs like a crane in awkward flight, and making with maddened haste for a neighboring copse. A-rannin' to the shore and djrin'—ripples chasin' ripples. And even when all this failed he won success from defeat by turning his demand for men into one for supplies, ravaging the rich lands of the northern part of the State with its fertile valleys and green pastures, until he had a wagon-train of supplies forty miles long—clothing, boots, arms, two hundred loads of bacon, si* thousand barrels of pork, two thousand horses and eight thousand beeves, and all this vast array of booty he dispatched In safety southward. Then, when this valuable feat was accomplished, he sullenly began a retrograde movement with Buell, whose delay had fretted the gallant troops he led almost beyond endurance, in tardy pursuit. Day by day the Union forces fallowed the retreating host, when on the Oth of October, as they reached the villago of Perryville, Bragg turned upon them with sudden fury, and flgliting from noon till eve, so crippled his pursuers that when darkness came on he was allowed unmolested to escape with all his plunder to Chattanooga. "And you think that t'ie villagers would receive us hospitably?" There's sumpen in man's, tears that chokes up ail the forms and speeches Hv sympathy. Your dumb heart aches and vainly it beseeches Squire Dixon forthwith rose one hundred per cent, in the Major's estimation, a good opinion, which was fortified by his unaffected expression of pleasure at the presence of Northern troops, and his kindly offers of hospitality."As Saul did the warriors of Midian," was the staunch reply; "and cow, as I can give you no more information, permit me to wend my way in peace." A sign or sound to voice its love. Uncover! stand! and listen! "After him, boys!" the Major cried, pointing with his sword to ttie luckless fugitive. "I'll give fifty dollars to the man that brings him back to me alive— alive, remember, for I want to hang him!" That sob unstrung a chord that can't be mended. Teardrops glisten. "Adieu, sir! and God speed you ofc The light uv joy is flicker-in' out. There's no use try-in' To comfort him. He'd rather be alone with God and cryin'. —Clarence N. Onaley. Don't speak. your journey." They watchod him ascend the hillside "I am sorry I kyant house you all," he said, heartily, "but your oflicerswill find a welcome in my pore home, an' your men can take up their quarters in the village church," a proposition which was gratefully accepted. till he disappeared at a turn in the road, and then started back to camp. Who would ever have thought the gentle Major could have made as bloodthirsty a declaration — not Frank Besant, who gazed in inquiring wonder on his flushed cheeks and flashing eyes. But the Major's soul was raging against the hapless wretch's sustained duplicity, and, when he said he intended to hang the scoundrel, he surely meant it. "Will you have the goodness to follow me this way?" "lie sat in his saddle like a trooper," the Major critically observed; "and what a splendid physique the old fellow has! Say, Frank, I do honestly think those itinerant preachers are after all the true soldiers of Christ, suffering as they do toil, privation and discomfort in His name. They may be illiterate, but, hang me, if they're not in earnest." THE COLONEL Charlie had barely time to ask into whose presence he was about to be ushered, when, with a smile of strange meaning, he opened a door and introduced him into a spacious apartment. Although he had seen at least a dojea horsemen arrive, there were but three Suddenly Cleopatra utters a sharp and startled cry, as did Diana when surprised by Acteon. Through the foliage she had seen the earnest and somewhat admiring eye of a total stranger. It was that of Meiamoun, the wretched lover of the queen, who had never met her, but who was a great admirer and constant reader. All went merry as a marriage-bell. Considering the times, a bountiful supper was done ampie justice to by the grateful officers, who did not fail also to appreciate a box of excellent cigars and an abundance of whisky, which, though forced upon them with a generous display of hospitality, they indulged in with moderation. The squire proved himself an admirable host, and won golden opinions from his wellpleased guests. His was a peculiar case, as he explained to them. Sent as a boy to a school in Massachusetts, he had acquired sentiments which were at variance with the opinions of his neigh* bore, particularly as regards the question of the abolition of slavery, of which he approved and which, of course, had made him a marked man in the community. When the war broke out, though his sympathies had been entirely with the North, he had never dared to declare them, though he was willing now and at all times to sacrifice any thing in reason to his conviction—any thing, in fact, short of beggaring his family. His family? Oh, yes, ho had a wife and three daughters who were now in Cincinnati, thank Heaven! beyond the reach of immediate danger. A Smart Clerk. Customer—Do you keep shirts? Smart Clerk (not recognizing him)— Not any longer than we can help, sir. Customer—Well, I should say you didn't, judging from the length of that one I got hero last week.—Washington Post. OF THE FOURTH. Poor Squire Dixon was indeed a pitiable sight as he was dragged by two rough soldiers into the irate Major's presence. But Frank's thoughts were on another subject. He was from the middle walks of life, and did not know much, bat, oh, how he did seem to lay aside what other business he had on hand and worship the magnificent woman who, as these lines are penned, slid softly into the all embracing waters like a beauteous muskrat! A STORY OF THE LATE WAB, "May I speak to Charlie about this unpleasant matter we were talking of, sir? Perhaps a word of warning might bring him to his senses." "Fling a rope over the limb of that tree and tic lihn up!" was the stern command. Th« Limit Beached. "Move forward a littleT roared the street car conductor. BY BEHNARD BIGSBY, At first the poor wretch's tongue refused to utter abject prayers for pardon, but when in an agony of terror he saw them making the fatal preparations a torrent of wild supplications burst from his lips. In judging General Buell's actions during this campaign, it is but fair to remember that many of his failures were due to unavoidable misfortune and false information, and that -he was pitted against a leader of exceptionable high qualities; but popular opinion did not stop to weigh these considerations, so on the last day of the same month he met the fate so often accorded to the unsuccessful General, deprivation of command. Thomas had refused to replace him, so Rosecrans, whose brilliant career in West Virginia had already become a matter of history, was appointed to this important command, and under these new auspices the Fighting Fourth with the rest of the army found then» C selves once more at Nashville. (continued ) "Certainly not," was the stern reply. "My hands are so tied now by promises I have given to you and others, that I am not in a position to confront him with proofs of his folly. Remember, I rely upon your silence and watchfulness—there must be no lack of confidence between us two now or ever again. And your asking me this, reminds me to inquire what sort of a fellow is James Lawson, who claims to be a companion of your early days." "I can't," gasped the mail in front; **1 don't know how to ride horseback."— Harper's J3azar. "Nay, you misunderstand me, Frank. Do not for one moment suppose that I imagine Colonel Fulton's son could ever be a traitor. He has sinned unknowingly: at least that's how I read it. Caught In the fascinating toils of this handsome, but unscrupulous, young woman, he has allowed himself to be cajoled by her into giving her valuable information. I can picture to myself the bait wifi\ which she has played him —the tender inquiries about him and his dofags, his whereabouts, his expected journeyirgs here and there, his friends, his little bits of camp news— all so interesting to one who loves him. Pshaw, it is the old tale of Delilah over again, and if you and I do not put our heads together, our poor young Samson will be surely shorn of all his locks." Her startled cry brought to the bank her two armed eunuchs, who had been frogging farther down the stream. Cleopatra pointed out to them the clump of trees behind which . ' eiarooun waa concealed. Defense was useless, and so he attempted none. He said that he was sorry such a thing should have occurred, but he would try to avoid anything of the kind in the future. "What on earth are yon taking boxiag lessons for?" asked one Detroit dry good* clerk of another the otter evening ashe found him stripped off and punching the ball. The Cheaj*sr W»#. But the Major's face never relaxed a muscle. "String him up, boys!" Already the men's hands were forcing his neck into the noose, when another appeal from the doomed man was more effective. CLEOPATRA TURNS OUT THE OAS. distorted; but it is very hard to work a speaking likeness into a drawn rug, and Pharaoh had also been drowned quite a while when he sat for the portrait. "Well, ril tell yon on the quiet Pre got an enemy. I want to lick him. After I have taken twenty-four lessons I'm going to put a nose on him." It was indeed a coarse thing to do. She told him distinctly that it was no way to do, and asked him if he were not ashamed of himself. "Well," Frank hesitated, for he hated to set the Major against his old playmate by speaking the open truth, "he's not an intensely moral young man, I believe—in fact—" "I will give the lives of six Union soldiers for my own—six strong, young men in the vigor of youth for this old, worn-out life of mine!" he cried, with despairing energy. While Cleopatra sang a little song for the young man, slaves and eunuchs were busy opening cans of Cove oysters and setting the table. "How much a lesson?" "One dollar." ■HE TREMBLED UNDER HI8 ARDENT GAZE. present. One of these, who sat at a ■mall table near the window, never lifted his head on his entrance, but assiduously continued his occupation. The one, however, on whom Charlie's attention was especially concentrated stood with his back to the open fireplace, sternly contemplating his ap- Quickly covering herself with her calisiris, she txido tho eunuchs spare the life of the rash young man and bring him before her. They done so. The queen could not understand why he should have come, at the risk of his life, where no man was admitted upon penalty of death. Surely he had not come to steal her clothes and hide them just to chaff her nibs, for she had still other clothes which were yet good, besides quite a lot that could be made over and still look real well. "That's $34, while yoa can hire a ptag to knock all his teeth out and blacken both eyes for a five dollar bilL Cams off the perch with such a poor financial policy as yon display?"—Detroit Fr* Press. "A bit of a scamp. Ah, I judged as much," and Major Hopkins hurried away to his duties. "What do you mean? Speak quickly, scoundrel, or it will be too late!" The dusky shades of night were fasl, lengthening and the suu had set in crimson glory—the last departing blush of Indian summer—when on an early November evening the figure of a horseman might have been seen riding at a steady trot along a road which led in a southeasterly direction from Nashville. Ever and anon the traveler looked back over his shoulder with an expression of anxiety at the fair city he was leaving, and then grasping his bridle with more determination and spurring his horse to greater effort, as though he were there instigating himself to the accomplishment of something he was undertaking in only a half-hearted manner, fixed his eyes on lights which glimmered in the far distance and steadily pursued his journey without permitting any regret he might have entertained to distract him from his purpose. In the trim figure and handsome features of this solitary horseman it is not difficult to recognize our young friend, Charlie Fulton—but not the gallant, gay, light-hearted lad who marched from Columbus with high hopes and spotless soul, for in the rider to-night we see one whose face is drawn with care, one who would even now turn back from the fatal errand he is bent on if something stronger than his sense of honor did not drag him forward; and this something was the sirenfigure of a woman, for whose favors he felt at that moment as if he would barter his very soul. As the mariner of ancient days looked on Scylla and dreaded Charybdis, he knew that he was risking two imminent dangers— being caught as a spy and hung, or arrested for treason and shot—but she had sent him word to come, and if a hundred deaths stood between him and her, for her sweet sake he would dare them alL Hour by hour he rode, each mile alternately as he neared his goal torturing him with remorse or thrilling him with expectation. As the Major said, when they reached their chambers, Mr. Dixon was altogether a most interesting person. Lieutenant Cnthbertson, of Charlie Fulton's company, was on guard duty: the rest of the officers were assigned to a suite of chambers side by side at the back of the mansion overlooking a neglected garden. After a brief chat in the Major's room they retired to rest. Suddenly it occurred to the great potentate that her guest ought, perhaps, tc make some slight changes in his togs. Showing him the way up to a pleasing room and handing him a small key, the young man lost no time in opening a large leather bag with Egyptian hieroglyphics on it, and finding Antony's regular banqueting clothes. So, Frank thought, the mystery thickens, and James Lawson is somehow or other mixed up in it: yet, how the deuce could he know any thing about it. Surely Charlie Fulton, with all his folly, could never have been so rash as to use this worthless fellow as a go-between; but such a misfortune was quite possible, for Lawson was in Charlie's company, and had all the shrewdness to worm himself into the young officer's confidence, if once the chance were offered him. "There are six Union prisoners hidden where you can never find them if I die with the secret on my lips, and where, \ Deliberate Del "Major Hopkins," he said at last, "you asked me a few moments ago if I knew Miss Lascelles, and 1 then evaded your question. I do know that lady, and I am going to tell you how and where I made her acquaintance. But first I need your word of honor as a gentleman that you will never reveal to any one what J may tell you—no, not even if you stood on your oath before a courtmartial."Frank's brain .seemed in a whirl. proach. "What is your rank, sir?" he asked, in a tone of command. Donning a linen tunic with golden stars upon it, like the costume of the Goddess of Liberty, and a purple mantle, he bound a fillet de bceuf about his brow, and passed down to the dining hall smelling quite sw«etly of Antony's hair oil, perfumed with Lily of the Nile. Cleopatra wore her other dress. It consisted of a pale green crepe de Chine open at the sides and clasped with golden bees. It was an evening dress, and therefore almost entirely concealed as she sat at table. On her arms she wore But Hopkins, though he had professed fatigue, was not inclined to follow the example of his subordinates: so instead of throwing his weary limbs on the tempting feather-bed he lit a cigar, put out his lamp, and drew a chair up to his chamber window. It was a brilliant moonlight night, almost like day in its semi-tropical clearness, and tho Major, who was a man of sentiment, looked with unfeigned pleasure on tho pretty scene'which met his gaze. In front of him lay the garden and orchard, and beyond, a rugged country road winding up the side of a hill covered with scrub, but whose top was crowned with lofty forest trees, 6harply defined in the white moonlight. "Captain of infantry," was the sullen reply. No, he must be an assassin hired by bloodthirsty Rome to steal in upon her and kill her. But his clear, honest eye and trembling lip told a story of truth and of a heart at once pure and sweet. "What was the Federal force under arms yesterday?" "I do not feel able to give you any information, sir, as to the number or movements of our army," Fulton said, respectfully, yet firmly. Meanwhile Rev. Abel Green—or Parson Abe, as his rural admirers so lovingly called him—was hustling his old mule along at a very unclerical pace and using some very unsanctimonious expression every time the poor beast attempted to slacken its speed, so that in three-quarters of an hour he was nearly six miles from the spot where his dear compatriots from the North were making ready for their descent on the hospitable inhabitants of Winstanley. Turning from the road into the woods at a gap in a fence which seemed familiar to him, he cantered along under the trees till he reached a clearing, where a sight presented itself that would have charmed an artist in its picturesque aspect—three hundred dismounted Confederate cavalrymen, reclining here and there in little groups, while their horses were busily cropping the sweet grass, which grew on the bank of u stream. Hardly pausing to give the sentry the countersign, he rode straight to a knot of officers, who hailed him gleefully. "I never will—so help me Heaven," the Major declared, with as much solemnity as though he stood before a Whole bench of judges. "May my soul be found light in the balance of Amenti," he said, "and may Imei, daughter of the Sun and Goddess of Truth, punish me if I ever entertained a thought of evil against you, O queen." Saying this upon his knees, Meiamoun wept and tried to bite the dust, but his nose seemed to be in the way. "The devil! Do you know to whom you are talking and what you are saying, sir? Smith, do you hear the fellow?"Then Frank related from first to last his adventures with Mary Lascelles, omitting only the little episode of the garden and her gentle hints of preference for himself, which the honest lad was loth to believe even 'now were any thing but sincere. "Yes, sir," the other replied. "And, if you will permit me to deal with him I will have the information out of him before he is ten minutes older, Genera) Bragg." two strings of pearls as big as hickory nuts, and a pointed diadem valued at eleven dollars rested on her marble and massive skull. He—Ef yo' eat enny mo' onions r#» not goin' ter lnb yo' enny mo'. He was a fine looking young man, as Cleopatra saw at a glance, of great nobility of character, and a little less heavy set, perhaps, than Antony was. He said he came of a common set of people living back of town, and had just bought a milk route of his father, which he thought was going to be a good thing in time, if be could sort of build it up and extend it a little. "Of course it is not the life to which you have been accustomed," he said; "your folks have always been well off, I know, and you have never had to put your hands into dishwater or scald milkpans or wean calves from the parent stem, but I love you very much, indeed, very much, indeed. We will have to live plain at first, but I am a steady young person and have already this year accumulated eight dollars. In forty years this would, as you will see, amount to $320. My folks like you, and say that you would make me a good wife if you stiddied down a little. Do not, oh! do not refuse me," he said. "The Alliance people will soon be on top, and I am almost sure that I will be at some time overseer of highways at our place, which is as good as two dollars a day just for working on the roads in June, which is a dull time with us anyway, and almost like finding forty-eight dollars in the street." She—All right, Jeff Johnstone; ef J& goin' ter allow a vegetable to oome between us, yo' may go!—Judge. "Ah, you rascal, I believe you," the superior smiled, graciously; "but I'm not going to trust him to your gentle catechism." By this time the mounted stranger had approached—a short, thick-set old man, dressed in the garb of a minister, with Bible and hymn book sticking conspicuously out of his coat-pocket, and mounted on a lank, ill-fed mule. "fling a rope ovek the limb of that As she seated her guest beside her she clapped her little hands, and instantly the Egyptian glee club struck up a song called "My Gum Tree Canoe," red lights sprang out along the costly dados of the rooms, and a concealed fountain in the front yard, lighted by beautiful opaline candles, squirted fully a rod high. Could Frank Besant have followed the current of the Major's wandering thoughts, he would Indeed have been startled; for his meditations were on the possibility of a man sincerely loving two women, with himself as an illustration of the problem, and one of the women, the true wife the sea had robbed him of, the other—whom he could only remember as a lovely schoolgirl—the mother of his young friend and subaltern. Ah, it was her /ace, not his boy's, that the lad had reminded him of when he first noticed him on board the ship going down to St. Louis. "Pretty Mary Carter," the Major thought, "I wonder what she is like now —wonder if she was happy with that fellow Besant, who always seemed to me a bit of a prig,—wonder if—" tree!" Trying to Get Even. ' A tramp sneaked up to the window of Col. Merrill's kitchen, and takj»g off hia remnant of a hat said to Matffia Snowball, who is blacker than the ace at spades: if you slaughter me, they will perish with hunger and thirst, fpr I alone have fed them, and there will be no one to do it if you murder me." "Had you dispatches?" he added, turning to Fulton, who preserved an obstinate silence, on seeing which he addressed the officer who had brought the prisoner in: "Were any dispatches found on him when he was taken?" He greeted them warmly as he rode up to them. "If he speaks the truth there is some sense in that," the Major said, reflect- Huge flames palpitated in tripods of brass; giant candelabras shook their disheveled light in tfae midst of ardent rapors; the eyes of dark carved sphinxes flamed with phosphorescent lightnings; the bull headed idols breathed flames; the alabaster elephants, io lien of perfumed water, spouted aloft bright columns of crimson fire; prismatic irises crossed and shattered each other; soft music sensuously stole through, in and out among the potted geraniums, and sifted through the intertwining leaves of the smilax came the low, soft bellowing of the buhl buhl. "Fair lady, can't you give a poor bat respectable man something to stay hii stomach? Have yon no pie, for instance?''"Ah, gentlemen," he said, "it is indeed a blessed privilege to see a Northern face in this unhappy country, where it is a crime to remember that one once swore fealty to the stars and stripes." Both officers shook hands with him. "You are a Northerner?" the Major asked. ively. "It is God's own truth," the man moaned. "If you will give your word to let me go free and unharmed I will make a clean breast of it and tell you where they are. Six youug lives for one old one—think of it!" "No, sir; nothing was found on him except this locket." "Ah!" said Bragg, gazing at the beautiful features of Mary Lascelles. "Another of my Lady Fantastic's hapless victims—take the prisoner back to his quarters." Matilda had both compassion and pie, and cutting one of the latter in half, gave one of them to the polite visitor, remarking that he was a gentleman, even if he was white. "Hullo, Lascelles, what news from the Yanks?" "Yes, by birth and education, but the best years of my life have been spent in "Sold them into bondage like his brethren did Joseph!" he laughed, as he sprang from the Saddle with the elasticity of youth. "Say, boys, mother was always down on our private theatricals. but I "allow she'd clap her hands if she'd only seen me play this pious role to-day." "Yes, and such a worthless one as that you offer!" Major Hopkins said, dryly. "Well, prove your words, and I will accept the terms, even though I cheat the devil in giving you your life." "Come along," said the good-humored officer, as he strode from the room, with Charlie following. "Thanks," he responded. "May yon retain your present beauty for a thousand years." Tennessee and Georgia, and other Southern States, for a soldier's path you know is ever a wandering one." "Have they given you any grub today?" he asked, as they reached the prison chamber. "Dat's twice too much," said Matilda, blushing. But his dreams were cut short by his noticing the figure of a man creeping sttalthily across the orchard, lie first thoturht it was Charlie Fulton, but as the fellow emerged from the shadows into the moonlit road, he quickly saw his mistake, and a moment after he recognized the tall, spare figure of his host. In an instant treachery flashed across his mind like an electric shock. Surely Dixon had told him an hour ago that he was so weary he could scarcely keep his eyes open and would be in bed in a few minutes: then what did this midnight ramble mean? Snatching his field-glass from its case, he fixed his eyes on an open bit of road he knew the midnight prowler would shortly reach. "And you will let no one injure me?" "Well, if it's twice too mnch, fair lady, give me the other half of the pie to make us even." He got it.—Texas Sittings. "A soldier's, you say? Have you ever served?" "No one; but be quick about it or I may change my mind. Where are these Ah! there is the signal—two lights burning in a garret window of the house he is at last approaching. Has he been there before? It seems so, for he dismounts and, leaving his horse tethered to a tree, advances up the very orchard path down which one memorable midnight Frank Besant fled so hurriedly. "Not a bite nor sup; but I am not hungry," was the doleful confession. "■4m I not serving now, friend? Are we not both soldiers—you of the sword, J of the cross?" The orgy waa now at its he ight, the lishes of phenicopter's tongues, the livers Df Bcaroa fish, the eels, fattened npon the xxiiee of prominent people and cooked n brine, the dishes of peacocks' brains, tenderloin of terrapin aux filley, hot Banterne, boare stuffed with living birds, etc., etc., were on the menu. A roar of laughter greeted this brilliant sally, which was somewhat checked, however, by the approach of a man older than the rest, whose stern features showed that he did not share the general merriment. "In a cellar under my own house." men?" "Pshaw, man! cheer up—I'll go below and send you something," and, true to his word, his departure was quickly followed by a substantial meal, which Fulton, notwithstanding his troubles, did ample justice to. "I might have thought of that," tho Major said, annoyed to tliink that the miserable wretch was to escape his righteous punishment. Not So Difficult After AIL "Oh, yes, exactly—I did not look at it in that light, Mr. —he paused for the stranger to fill up the blank. Dashaway—Just look at Miss Jasper. She has a dress for every day in the week. "Abel Green, or as the simple folk around here generally dub me—Parson Abe." So Mr. Dixon was marched back to his own house, with the rope still around his neck and his hands tied behind his back, together with the horses and spoils of war, and the many wounded men, who, though most of them enemies, were treated with a wondC*fnl tenderness by the rough soldiers. Cleverton—How the mischief can her father afford it? "Such madcap tricks as these, Lascelles," he said, in a grave tone of expostulation, "do not meet my approval, and I will not have a repetition of them. Besides, the game is not worth the candle, for if those Yanks had found you out, they would have, very properly, strung you up to a bough of the first tree they camc to, and I can not afford to have my best officers run such risks. I allow, if you'd played the role in tragedy, instead of comedy, your mother would hardly have appreciated your histrionic ability as keenly as you imagine." And she meets him. Then came a clatter of arms and stamping of horses without, and Charlie saw the squadron on the move. The queen gave a low laugh as she proceeded with her dressing, now more calmly. "By St. Oms," she said, "Dog of Hell, thou art a foolhardy wretch. Yoa think that with your castiron impudence and budding milk route you may win to wife a queen whose fame is good for a column in every Sunday paper from the Congo Basin to Singapore. Yon should be killed, of course, but I cannot decide yet how to do it. Whether to fry yon in the fat of these negligent eunuchs and feed you to my aquarium, or shock yoa to death with the early humor of France I know not." Wines of all kinds, from the vintage so common at the post keller or the ratz keller to the wines of Crete and of Massicns, were served by Asiatic pages, upon whose rich and voluminous flowing hair the beautiful and somewhat finicky Cleopatra wiped the Egyptian gravy from her taper fingers. Her companion also did the same as soon as he got onto it, but prior to that he contented himself with utilizing the borrowed vestments of the absent Antony. Yet we should not reproach him now. Treading as he was upon the borders of a yawning grave, but seeing across the groaning board the grinning face of Death, we may forgive him if in an unguarded moment he did things that were outre. Radiantly beautiful in a dress so perfect that it allows the rounded loveliness of her exquisite figure to show its graceful lines and stir to the depths of his soul the impassioned youth as he gazes at the undulating form, worshiping with the fervor of a first love. Dashaway—Easy enough, same dress.—Cloak Review. It's "Well, Mr. Green, I am right glad we have met, not only that it has given me pleasure to shake hands with a Northern man down here, but because 1 see a way to utilize our meeting." "By Jove! you are in luck, my boy," a manly voice cried, as his door opened, and the officer who had commanded his guard the previous night made his appearance.Answered. Miss Physics—Dear Mr. Physiology, you remind me of a barometer that is filled with nothing in your upper story. "Of oourse I understand what yon mean," the minister assented, readily. "You would have me preach the Word to your men up in the woods there?" It was even as Dixon had said. The men—one officer and five privates of an Iowa regiment—were found, gagged and bound with cords drawn so tightly that their flesh was cut as with a knife. "How so?" Charlie asked, wearily. Yes, there he was. A long, shrill whistle like the call of a bird, and a mounted man in Confederate uniform rode up to him. They talked together earnestly and negligently—negligently because they thought themselves too far away for observation, but they were reckoning without the Major's powerful binoculars. Then the trooper turned back up the hill and Dixon accompanied him. To snatch his cap and pistols and spring from the window was but the work of a minute to one whose active, wholesome life made his five-and-forty-years as light a burden as many a man's of half his age. The drop to the ground shook him a bit, but he was not hurt, and without stopping to give word of warning to any one, he started up the hill. Now he could understand why Dixon had persuaded "You are come," she says, in an accent tremulously musical. "Yet I hardly thought you would dare another visit." "Why, there's no batch of prisoners to send to limbo, so I've orders to conduct you to a recruiting station at Murfreesboro, where you won't get half bad quarters, I can tell you. The General, too, is well impressed with you, and means to let you down easy, so keep a stiff upper-lip and hope for better fortune."Mr. Physiology—You occupy my upper story, my dear Miss Physics.—Rochester Talisman. "I am afraid I had no such good intentions." The Major was positively blnsjiing. "I meant thai you would be perhaps willing to give me some valuable information." There was a blank look of disappointment in the minister's face, as he replaced the books he had already drawn from his capacious pockets. "We had to keep them quiet or you would have heard them," Dixon said, reading the stern inquiry of the Major's looks. She permitted him to draw her to his breast and imprint a kiss upon the upturned face. Best in Peace. In a graveyard near Paris there is this inscription upon a monument: The young man was abashed "Come!" he said. "When you say 'come,' my sweet one, there is no danger I would not dare to do your bidding.""Queen," said the youth, now standing on the other foot awhile, "I deserve to die. Be clement, but let me die. Yon will find nearly seven dollars' worth of milk tickets in my inside pocket. Take them; they are yours. You can get your milk in that way of my successor free, and milk is quite an item with anybody who keeps as much hired help as you do. Take my life. It is useless to me since I love you and you love me not." "Well, then," said the queen, as she smilingly shed a mouthful of hairpins, for her smile was wider than she had thought, "you shall have your wish, "Here repose in peace, after sixty, years of married life, Mr. and Mrs. Jollitt."Besides," the senior continued, "do you think your action quite in accordance with the high repute for chivalry this corps has ever enjoyed? Uoweyer, as the folly has been perpetrated let me hear the result of your escapade." "Unloose his bonds and let him go before I break my word and brain him where he stands!" Hopkins cried, unable to control his indignation. (TO BB CONTINUED ) Toward the close of the feast mummers (both dry and extra dry) entertained the young people with song, dance and walk around. The president of the Cairo and Egyptian central dropped in on his way home from the depot and spoke briefly regarding the tariff, and a local humorist gave a funny little anecdote and took home a cold goose in a newspaper as a reward of his wonderful genius.Catching at a Straw. "I am sure, if we had time, the men would much profit by your ministrations," Major Hopkins explained. She trembled under his ardent gaze. Pity for a moment broke the spell that bound her better nature, and disengaging herself from his embrace she cried, in earnest tones: "No, poor boy, it is not too late even now to save you from tne consequences ol your rashness. Hasten to your horse and away as fast as you can ride. Treachery is all around you. I, even I, have dpg the Throwing ttMM for a Bride. Miss Prima—I fear there is na 5 in Miss Mumsley. Did you see her 1 while yon were saying such bright t I to her? The young man told his story, but somehow or other all the fun seemed to be frozen out of the adventure by his superior's austere criticism. Nor was the Major alone in his wrath, for it was with the utmost difficulty that the officers were able to restrain their men while the trembling wretch slunk from their sight. In Honolulu, when a girl has attracts tha-attention of several young men, each of whom desires to marry her, a choice it made by a sort of athletic contest. Each suitor provides himself with-a love stone. It is a roogh hewn piece.of stone about three iitrhes in diameter. The young men stand at a given point, and each onethrows "Ever the same cry—no time in this short life to prepare for the eternity of the next. Well, air, I do not 'mean to force my services upon you. Say briefly what I can do for you, for the day wanes and I hara fmr ♦/) rjcln." Mr. Secundus—Yes, and I kep hoping she would nod next. Miss Prima—Why? "Well, you have done one good thing for us at any rate. You have drawn the enemy from the woods into the open, and we can bag them by a night attack When the rescued prisoners, whose tongues had been so cruelly tied by whip-cord, were able to speak, they were of course asked a hundred oues- Mr. Secundus—I thought it pa she might talk some in her sleep, know.—Harper's Bazar. as far as he may be able. The longest threw wins the belle.—Cor. Denver News.