Pittston Gazette

              ESTABLISHED 1850. VOL. A LI 11. SO. 6tt. ) Oldest Newspaper in the Wyoming Vi lley. PITTSTON, LUZERNE CO., PA., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1893. A Weekly local and Family Journal. in? secured this traveling palace, dulyfurnished with window blinds, a piece of carpet, a chair bedstead, a table, a stove, cooking utensils, not to speak of my own artistic paraphernalia, I sent over to Mulrany, County Mayo, for my old servant, Tim-na-Chainig, or Tim o' the Ferry—otherwise Tim Linney; and with his assistance, when he arrived, I purchased a strong mare at Chester fair. All these preliminaries being settled, we started one fine morning soon after daybreak, duly bonnd for explorations along the macadamized highways and byways of North Wales. drift and sand as to be scarcely recognizable, and I need hardly say that it was hard work for one horse to pull the caravan along; more than once, indeed, the wheels fairly stuck, and Tim and I had to pull with might and main to get them free. is higls up above the saud-tinis, ami it is quite dark. " 'Can you paint faces?' she asked, hands. Tpon my word, 1 didn t know you.' NYE AS A COCKNEY. man ever, ana ne was so mucn more dignified, than ever that I bowed my head on the table and wept like a child. "Such is the chronicle of the pait (lay. By the light of my lamp inside the caravan I have written it down. It. has been all very tranquil and uneventful, but very delightful, and a day to be marked with a white stone, in one respect—that from dawn to sunset I have not set eyes on a human being. except my servant. dubiously "I replied that I could even aspire to that accomplishment, by which I understood her to mean portrait-painting, if need were. She gave a quiet nod of satisfaction. '• She . laughed delightedly, and glanced down at her attire, which clearly afforded her the greatest satisfaction.WILLIAM IS GETTING QUITE USED We have lodgings that are very pleasant. and a tvro shilling breakfast. That is, I pay two shillings for myself and two for Clarence, unless he needs something to encourage his appetite; then, of coarse, that is extra. Lnnch we get at the house, or nearby, at well known eating works. It is the same with dinner. One can go out to these places and get a dinner a la carte blanche or a prix fix*. This summer has seen the thorough victory of the Btraw hat and its establishment in London. I have bean told man  TO DEAR OLD LONDON "We had proceeded in this manner for some miles, and I was beginning to realize the fact that we were out of our reckoning, when, suddenly emerging from between two sand hills. I saw a wide stretch of green meadow land, and beyond it a glorified piece of water. The sun was shining brightly, the water sparkled like a mirror, calm as glass, and without a breath. As we appeared a large heron rose from the spot on the waterside where he had4 been standing— " 'I put on my Sunday clothes,' she exclaimed, * 'cause I was going to have my likeness took. Don't you tell William Jones.' " 'There was a painter chap who came to Aberglyn last summer, and he painted William Jones.' He Goes to Hear the Minstrels and Writes About Clarence, Who Is Back Again "Stop, though! I am wrong. Just as I was returning from my piscatorial excursion to the lake. I saw, passing along the road in the direction of the sea. a certain solitary horseman, who accosted me not too civilly on the roadside the night before last. He scowled at me in passing, and, of course, recognized me by the aid of the caravan. His name is Monk, of Monkshurst, and he seems to be pretty well monarch of all he surveys. I have an impression that.Mr Monk, of Monkshurst. and myself are destined to be better, or worse, acquainted." " 'Indeed?' I said, with an assumption of friendly interest. "I promised not to betray her to that insufferable nuisance and refrained from informing her that I thought her Once More—Cancelling an Engagement With a Dnchess—Off For Golf. " 'Yes. I wanted him to paint me, but he wouldn't. He painted William Jones' father, though, along o'William [Copyright, 1883, by Edgar W. Nye.] Geoffrey of Monmouth says that in the year llOt? before Christ, Brutas, a descendant of JEueas, who was the son of Venus, came to England with his companions after the taking of Troy and founded the city of Troynovant, which is now called London. After 1,000 years, during which the city grew and flourished exceedingly, one Lud became its king. Next my lodgings and actually against my window is St. .Tames' church. I can hear the sermon or the music when my window is open perfectly. This church does not believe in the divinity of Christ. I am led to believe that if we trace this matter back to the dawn of the Christian era, we will understand why London is not mentioned in the Bible, and why Paul did not correspond with the archbishop of Canterbury. London, England. "I am pleased to say that Tim, after he had recovered the first shock of seeing a peripatetic dwelling-house, took to the idea wonderfully. 'Sure it's just like the old cabin at home,' he averred, 'barrin' the wheels and the windies and the chimley and the baste to pull it along;' and I think the resemblance would have been complete in his eyes if there had only been two or three pigs to trot merrily behind the back door. As for myself, I took to the nomad life as naturally as if I had never in my life been in a civilized habitation. To be able to go where one pleases, to dawdle as one pleases, to stop and sleep where one pleases, was certainly a new sensation. My friends, observing my sluggish ways, had often compared me to that interesting creature, the snail; now the resemblance was complete, for I was a snail, indeed, with my house comfortably fixed upon my shoulders, crawling tranquilly along. Jones.* "This with an air of unmistakable disgust and recrimination. I looked at the girl more observantly. It had never occurred to me till that moment that she would make a capital picture i—just the sort of 'study' which would fetch a fair price in the market. I adopted her free-and-easy manner, which was contagious, and sat down on the grass opposite to her. r timea never to ahow nose CHAPTER I when the sound of a horse's hoofs was heard along the highway, and presently the figure of a horseman appeared approaching at a rapid trot. As it came near to the group on the wayside the horse shied violently, springing from one side of the road to the other, so that its rider, a dark, middle-aged man, in an old-fashioned cloak, was almost thrown from the saddle. Uttering a fierce oath, he recovered himself, and, reining in the frightened animal, looked angrily around; then, seeing the cause of the mischance, he forced his horse, with no small difficulty, to approach the figures by the fire. FIRST GL£MPIE OF THE CARAVAN. " Still as a stone, without a sound. H E afternoon was still very warm, but a gray mist drifti n g from the Irish channel, and sailing eastward over the low-lying island of Anglesea. was beginningto scatter ? thin, penetratiiig drizzle on the driver Above hts dim blue shade— and sailed leisurely away. Around the lake, which was about a mile in circumference. the road ran winding till it reached the further side, where more sand hills began; but between these sand hills I caught a sparkling glimpse of more water, and (guided- to my conclusion by the red sail of a fishing smack just glimmering on the horizon line) I knew that further water was— the sea. CHAPTER 111. " 'I'll tell you what it is, Matt,' I said, familiarly, 'I'll paint you, though the other painter chap won't.' MATT MAKE8 HER riR8T APPEARANCE. "Eureka! I have had an adventure at last; and yet, after all, what am I talking about? It is no adventure at all. but only a commonplace incident. This is how it happened: "I was seated this morning before my easel, out in open air, painting busily, when I thought I heard a movement behind me. " 'You will?' she cried, blushing with delight. " 'Certainly; and a very nice portrait I think you'll make. Be good enough to take off your hat, that I may have a better look at you.' "The spot had all the attraction of complete desolation, combined with the charm-which always, to my niind, pertains to lakes and lagoons. Eager as a boy or a loosened retriever I ran across the meadow and found the grass long and green, and sown with innumerable ero'wsfoot flowers; underneath the green was sand again, but here it glimmered like gold-dust. As 1 reached the sedges on the lake-side a teal rose, in full summer plumage, wheeled swiftly round the lake, then returning splashed down boldly and swam within a stone's throw of the shore; when, peering through the rushes, I caught a glimpse of his mate, paddling anxiously along with eight little fluffs of down behind her. Then, just outside the sedges, I saw the golden shield of water broken by the circles of rising trout It was tro much. I hastened back to the caravan and informed Tim that I had no intention of going any further—that day. at least "So here have been since yester day and, np to this, have not set  upon a single soul. Stich peace and quietness is a foretaste of Paradise As this is the "most satisfactory d»y I have yet spent in my al though it bea*i, at the same time, a family likeness to the other days of the past fortniget, I purpose setting down, verbatim seriotim, and chrono logically, the manner in which I occupied myself frm dawn to sunset. ' 6 a m.—Wake and st-e that T'm ha* nlieidy disappeared and folded np his hammock. Observe the morning sun looking in with a fresh, cheery, counteuance at the window. Turn over again with a javn, and go to sleep for another five minutes. "Who are yon?" he demanded, in harsh, peremptory tones. "What are you doing here?" "She obeyed me at once and threw the clumsy thing1 down on the grass beside her. Then I saw that her head was covered with short black curls, clinging1 round a bold white brow unfreckled by the sun. She glanced at me sidelong, laughing, and showing her white teeth. Whatever her age was, she was quite old enough to be a coquette. "WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE INTE- King Lud built walls and towers, and among other things the famous gate which gave its name to the street still called Ludgate. King Lud was succeeded by his brother, during whose reign Julius Caesar, since deceased, invaded London and the town became Roman. It was newly fortified by Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. of the caravan, RIOR?" To right and left of the highway stretched a bleak and bare prospect of marshland and moorland, closed to the west by a sky of ever-deepening1 redness, and relieved here and there by black clumps of stunted woodland. Here and there peeped a solitary farmhouse, with outlying fields of swampy greenness, where lean and spectral cattle were lugubriously grazing: and ever and anon came a glimpse of some lonely lake or tarn, fringed all round with thick sedges and dotted with water lilies. The road was as desolate as the prospect, with not a living soul upon it, far as the eye could see. To all this, however, the driver of the caravan paid little attention, owing to the simple fact that he was fast asleep. The young man, pipe in mouth, looked up at him with a smile, but made no reply. "I should have premised, by the way, that Tim had gone off on another excursion into the Jones territory, on the quest for more eggs and milk. ordinary costume far more becoming than her seventh-day finery. "Of course, the caravan has its inconveniences. Inside, to quote the elegant simile of our progenitors, there is scarcely room enough to swing a cat in, and when my bed is made, and Tim's hammock is swung just inside the door, the place forms the tiniest of sleeping chambers. Then our cooking arrangements are primitive, and, as Tim has no idea whatever in the culinary art, beyond being able to boil potatoes in their skins, and make very doubtful 'stirabout,' there is a certain want of variety in our repasts. To break the monotony of this living, I endeavor whenever we come to a town with a decent hotel in it, to take a square meal away from home. " 'That's a nice dress,' I said, hj'pocritieally. "Where did you buy it?" " 'I didn't buy it. It come ashore.' "What are you? Vagrants? Do you know this place is private?" And he pointed with his riding whip to a printed "Notice!" fixed close to the gate upon the stem of a large fir-tree. "I glanced over my shoulder and saw, peering round the corner of my white sun-shade a pair of large, eager eyes—fixpd not upon me, but upon the canvas I was painting. . STARTING OUT TO PLAY OOLP. " 'What! yourself?' When you "come ashore" n l wore a straw nat, bo 1 lett mine in the stateroom of the ship and got a nice, shiny high hat. but I was surprised to find the straw hat on the street for ft month after I had landed. Even in the Stock Exchange they have been worn this summer, and members have appeared in the House of Parliament in them. This is the Geoffrey story, with which Walter Besant does not instantly agree. He maintains, and, too, with good reason, that the people of London are not related to the Venus family in any way whatever. A family portrait or two of Venus may be found at the national gallery. She was good looking but rather wild, and if she dressed in London as she did for these pictures, she must have suffered a good deal from pneumonia. "Promptly as possible I put the question: 'You have not told me how old you are?' " 'No fear!' she answered. 'Last winter when the big ship went to bits out there.' "I beg your pardon," said the young man, with the utmost sangfroid; "we are, I imagine, on the queen's highway. and there, with your permission, we purpose to remain for the night." "Not in the least surprised, I thought to myself: 'At last! The caravan has exercised its spell- upon the district, and the usual audience is beginning to gather.' So I went tranquilly on with my work and paid no more attention. " "Oh, I see! Then it was a portion of a wreck?' " 'Fifteen,' she replied, without hesi- tation. " 'I should have taken you to be at least a year older.' " 'Yes, it come ashore; and, look ye now, this jacket come ashore, too. On a sailor chap.' Struck by the superior manner of the speaker the newcomer looked at him in some surprise, but with no abatement of his haughty manner. He then glanced at Tim, who was busy with the kettle, from Tim to the gray This is extremely sensible, for sitting all day in a heated session and wearing a high hat or sealskin cap was gradually making the members bald. "Presently, however, fatigued with my work, I indulged in a great .yawn, and rose to stretch myself. I then perceived that my audience was more select than numerous, consisting of only one individual—a young person in a Welsh chimney-pot hat. Closer observation showed me that said hat was set on a head of closely-cropped, curly black hair, beneath which there shone a brown, boyish face freckled with sun and wind, a pair of bright, black eves and a laughing mouth, with two rows of the whitest of teeth. But the fuce, though boyish, did not belong to a boy. The young person was dressed in an old cotton gown, had a colored woolen shawl or scarf thrown over the shoulders, and wore thick woolen stockings and rough shoes, the latter many sizes too large. The gown was too short for the wearer, who had evidently outgrown it; it reached only just below the knee, and, when the young person moved, one caught a glimpse of something very much resembling a delapidated garter. "She shook her head. " 'And the sailor chap made you a oresent of it, I suppose?' " 'It's fifteen year come Whitsuntide,' she explained, 'since I come ashore.' " 'No fear!' she repeated, with her sharp shake of the head. 'How could he give it me when he was drownded and come ashore? William Jones gave it to me, and I altered it my own self— look ye now—to make it fit.' London, as a Roman town, was called Augusta, and where now one meets the gentleman in high hat and frock coat, the Roman senator climbed to the top of a penny 'bus while his meagre toga flapped in the fresh breeze. Where now the highland soldier in his rum uniform and purple knees gavly hies him to the Moore and Burgess minstrels at St. James' hall, the Romans 2,000 years ag sat with bowed heads and shed teaiover the same jokes. Some also appeared without waistcoat* during the hot weather, and younger ones wore sashes, so the example of my childlike and bland friend, Reed, the czar of North America and duke of Portland, has lDeen already felt across the sea. "Although I was not a little curious to know what this 'coming ashore' meant, I felt that all my conversation had been categorical to monotony, and I determined, therefore, to reserve further inquiry until another occasion. Observing that my new friend was now looking at the caravan with considerable interest, I asked her if she knew what it was, and if she had ever seen anything like it before. She replied in the negative, though I think she had a tolerably good guess as to the caravan's uses. I thought this a ?ood opportunity to show my natural politeness. Would she like to look at the interior? She said she would, though without exhibiting much enthusiasm.He was roused by a sudden jolting and swaying of the clumsy vehicle, combined with a sound of splashing water, and, opening his eyes sleepily, he perceived that the gray mare had turned aside from the center of the road, and, having placidly entered a •tagnant pond on the roadside, was floundering and struggling in the mud thereof, with the caravan rocking behind her. At the same moment a head was thrust round the back part of the vehicle, and an angry voice exclaimed:* y$ *$w. rtyf^A?. 'f'^ #i IS I $$*DDC mU. ''%/. .-, t: ' "* - 1 • "Besides the inconveniences which I have mentioned, but which were, perhaps, hardly worth chronicling, the caravan has social drawbacks, more particularly embarrassing' to a modest man like myself. It is confusing, for example, on entering a town, or goodsized village, to be surrounded by the entire juvenile population, who cheer us vociferously, under the impression that we constitute a 'show,' and, afterwards, on ascertaining their mistake, pursue us with opprobrious jeers; and it is distressing to remark that our mode of life, instead of inviting confidence, causes us to be regarded with suspicion by the vicar of the parish and the local policemen. We are exposed, moreover,to ebullitions of bucolic humor, whichhave taken the form of horse-play on more than one occasion. Tim haB had several fights with the Welsh peasantry, and has generally come off victorious; though, on one occasion, he would have been overpowered by numbers if I had not gone to his assistance. Generally speaking, nothing will remove from the rural population an idea that the caravan forms an exhibition of some sort. When I airily alight, and stroll through a village, sketchbook in hand, I have invariably at my heels a long sttendant train of all ages, obviously under the impression that I am looking for a suitable 'pitch,' and am going to 'perform.' "She was certainly an extraordinary young person, and wore her mysterious finery, with a coolness I thought was remarkable, it being quite clear, frorr her explanation, that all fish that came to her net. or, in other words, that dead men's clothes, were as acceptabl* to her unprejudiced taste an any oth ers. However, the time was hastenine on, and I had my promise to keep. So r got my crayon materials and made Matt sit down before me on a stool first insisting, however, that she should divest herself of her head-gear, which was an abomination, but which she discarded with extreme reluctance. Directly I began she became rigid ,and fixed herself, so to speak, as people do when being photographed—her eyes glaring on vacancy, her whole face lost in self-satisfied vacuity. I have just canceled an engagement to dine at the home of her grace the Duchess of Newcastle. Some would not have done it under such trivial circumstances as I did, but I am rather fussy about my food, having been tenderly reared, and in the advertising columns of The Time# this morning I read, "The Dnchess of Newcastle uses Spratt's dog cakes only." Titled people of course may live as they choose, but they must not expect friend* to fall in with their odd customs. Kind words can never die, Never die. never die; Kind words can never die- No, never die. "Tim, you scoundrel, whej-e the ieuce are you driving to? Wake up, or I'll break every bone in your skin." It is the same with a joke. What more enduring monument could one have above his lowly tomb than a well taxidermed joke? Thus addressed, Tim woke*himself with an effort, and, looking round with an insinuating smile, replied: "I thereupon led the way up the steps and into the vehicle. Matt followed; but, so soon as she caught a flimpseof the interior, stood timidly an the threshold. What is there in the atmosphere of a house, even the rudest, which places the visitor at a disadvantage as compared with the owner? Even animals feel this, and dogs especially, when visiting strange premises, •xhibit most abject humility. But I must not generalize. The bearings of this remark, to quote my friend Capt. Duttle, lie In the application of it. Matt for a moment was awed. At St. James' hall the other evening the following songs were sung by the company: "Old Black Joe," "Some Day," "White Wings," "The Picture That Was Turned Toward the Wall," "Lorena," "Silver Threads Among the Gold," and "Sweet Belle Mahone." I went on that special evening lDecause it was the new programme for 1893-4. I am just now starring out for Hampstead Heath to play a game of golf, and Clarence will accompany me with an umbreHa stand full of golf sticks. The game of golf is as exciting to me as kicking a frozen doughnut two miles along * winter road. "Begorra, Master Charles, I thought it was an earthquake entirely. Come ant of that now. Is it wanting to irownd yourself you are? G-r-r-r! Sh! Aisy now, aisy!" * c • ' .'- S. "7:15 a m —Wake again, and discover, by looking at my watch, that, inntead of five minutes, I h ve slept ai honr and a quarter Spring np at ono and slip on shirt and trousers; then pass out, barefooted, into the open air. No sign of Tim, but a fire is lighted close to the caravan, which shadows it from the rays of the morning sun. Stroll down to the lake and, throwing off what garments I wear, prepare for a bath. Cannot get out for a swim on account of the reeds. The bath over, return and finish my toilet in the caravan.HEBE THE CARAVAN HALTED FOB THE "The young person's smile was so bright and good humored that I found myself answering it with a friendly NIGHT. The latter portion of the above sentence was addressed to the mare, which was at last persuaded to wade oat of the cool mud and return to the tasty track, where she stood quivering and panting. No sooner was the return to terra firma accomplished than a light, agile figure descended the •teps at the back of the caravan, and round to the front. An excited colloquy, angry on the one side, and apologetic on the other, ensued, and did not oeaae, even when the driver, with a flick of his whip, put the caravan ftgaln in motion, while the other strode alongside on foot. It was just such a caravan as may be *een any summer day forming part of the camp on an English common, with the swart face of a gypsy woman looking out at the door, and half a dozen ragged imps and elves rolling on the grass beneath; as may be observed, •mothered in wickerwork of all descriptions, or glittering pots and pans, moving from door to door in some sleepy country town, guided by a gloomy gentleman in a velveteen coat and a hare skin cap, and attended by a brawny hussy also smothered in wickerwork or pots and pans; as, furthermore, may be descried, forming part of the procession of a traveling circus, and drawn by a piebald horse whi«h, whenever a good "pitch" is found, will complete its day's labors by performances on the ring. A caravan of the good old English kind; with small windows, ornamented by white muslin curtains, with a chimney atop lor the smoke to come through from the fire inside; with a door behind, ornamented with a knocker, and only lacking a door plate to make it quite complete; in short, a house on wheels. mare and from the gray mare to the house on wheels. The scowl on his iark face deepened and he turned his fierce eyes again on the young man. nod, " 'You needn't keep like that,' 1 cried; 'I want your face to have some expression. Move your head about as much as you like, laugh and talk—it will be all the better.' ' 'How are you?' I said, gallantly. hope you're quite well.' Mr. Moore, the head of the firm, is the justly celebrated and refined father-inlaw of Charles Mitchell, the mauler. He is called Pony Moore. Pony is 60 odd, but is still the end man at his own show, and as popular today as that undying humorist who is supported by his wife, Judy, and the dog Toby. Punch and tfudy will probably play to standing room only so long as Big Ben and the Tower shall remain, and possibly centuries after. "She nodded in reply, and, stooping down, plucked a long blade of grass | which she placed in her mouth and began to nibble—bashfully, I thought. "Let me warn you that these grounds are private. I suffer no wandering vagabonds to pass that gate." "" 'Last time I was took,' she replied, 'the chap said I mustn't move.' Wliit Affected the Temperatmr*. Jones—Last night was a scorcher. Smith—Bo? I didn't notice it. "May I ask your name?" said the young man, in the same cool tone and with the same quiet smile. " 'May I ask you where you came from?' I said.' 'I mean, where do you live?' " 'Ah! I suppose he was a traveling photographer?' J.—Didn't notioe it? Why, everybody was complaining. 8.—It wasn't very hot where I was. J.—Singular. Where were yon? "She came in by slow degrees, and I noticed for the first time—seeing how tear her hat was to the roof—that she was unusually tall. I then did the honors of the place, showed her my deeping arrangements, my culinary implements, everything that I thought would interest her. I offered her the irm-chair, or turned-up bedstead; but ihe preferred a stool which I sometimes used for my feet, and, sitting iown upon it, looked round her with obvious admiration. " 'Come in, Matt; come in,' I said. " 'He had a little, black box, like, on legs, and a cloth on top of It, and he looked at me through a hole in the middle. Then he cried "now," and held up his hand for me to keep still as a mouse; then he counted fifty—and I was took.' "Without speaking, she stretched out her arm and pointed across the lake in the direction of the sea. I could not help noticing then, as an artist, that the sleeve of her gown was loose and torn, and that her arm was round and well formed, and her hand, though rough and sunburnt, quite genteelly «mall. "What is my name to you?" "Well, not mnch, only I should like to know the title of so very amiable a person." "8 a. m.—Tim has reappeared. He has been right down to the seashore, a walk of about two miles and a half. He informs me to my disgust that there is some sort of a human settlement there, and a life-boat station. He has brought back jn his bag-let, as specimens of the local products, a dozen newlaid eggs, some milk and a loaf of bread. The last, 1 observe, is in » fossil state. ' I ask who sold it him. He answers, William Jones. 8.—I went to see my girl, and I discovered that she had seen me the pr» vious evening treating another girl U icecream. In 410 A. D. the Romans went away from London, for the reason I am told that a young woman on Piccadilly one evening when it was raining spread her umbrella over a Roman senator, chucked him under the chin and said, "Hullo, Charley 1" Mind you, wi t out ever having met him before, and his name not being Charley eyether. The other condescended to no reply, but walked his horse towards the gate. "To avoid these and similar inconveniences we generally halt in some secluded spot—some roadside nook or outlying common. But there is a fatal attraction in the caravan; it seems to draw spectators, as it were, out of the very bowe's of the earth. No matter how desolate the place we have chosen, we have scarcely made ourselves comfortable when an audience gathers, and stragglers drop in, amazed and open-mouthed. I found it irksome at first to paint in the open air, with a gaping crowd at my back making audible comments on my work as it progressed; but I soon got used to it, and, having discovered certain good 'subjects' here and there among my visitors, I take the publicity now as a matter of course. Even when busy inside I am never astonished to see strange noses flattened against the windows— strange faces peeping in at the door. The human temperament accustoms itself to anything. When all is said and done, it is flattering to be an object of such public interest; and I do believe that, when I return to civilization and find no one caring in the least what I do, I shall miss the worldly tribute which is now my daily due. " 'Ah! Indeed! Was it a good like- J.—Hat Well? S.—Well, she received me with freezing hauteur and was most icily diapo—d all the evening. "Here, fellow!" he cried, addressing Tim, "open the gate for me!" "'Yes, master. But I looked like the black woman who come ashore last Easter was a year.' ness?' "Don't stir," said his master. "Let our amiable friend open the gate for himself." " 'If it is not inquisitive, may I ask your name?' J.—I see, I see.—Boston Courier, " 'Matt,' was the reply. " 'Is that all? What is your other "With conversation like this we beguiled 'the day, while I proceeded rapidly with my drawing. At the end of a couple of hours Matt had become so fidgety that I thought it advisable to give her a rest. She sprang up, and ran over to inspect the picture. The moment her eyes fell on it she uttered a rapturous cry. With an angry exclamation the rider leaped from his saddle, and, still holding his horse's reins, threw the gate wide open. Then, still leading his horse, he strode over to the young man, who, looking up, saw that he was nearly six feet high and very powerfully built. " 'Should you like to live in a house like this?' I asked, encouragingly. ▲ Stilted Conversation. i-1£ "8:30 a. m.—We breakfast splendidly. Even the fossil loaf yields sustenance, after it is cut up and dissolved in hot tea. Between whiles Tim informs me that the settlement down yonder is, in his opinion, a poor sort of place. There are several whitewashed cottages and a large, roofless house, lor all the world like a church. Devil the cow or pig did he see at all, barrin' a few hens. Any boats, I ask? Yes, one, with the bottom knocked out, belonging to William Jones. name?' He told the other Romans about the incident, and the next morning every one of them was at Charing Cross station on their way home. A Roman Ben- 4". L " 'I've got no other name. I'm Matt, I am.' " 'Why not?' I demanded. "She shook her head with decision, "'Indeed! Do your parents live here?* " 'Got no parents,' was the reply. '"Your relations, then. You belong to some one, 1 suppose?' "She did not exactly know why, or, at any rate, could not explain. Wish.ng to interest and amuse her, I banded her a portfolio of my sketches, :hiefly in pencil and pen and ink, but t few in water colors. Her manner :hanged at once, and she turned them »ver with little cries of delight. It was clear that Matt had a taste for the beautiful in art, but her chief attraction was for pictures representing the human face or figure. ' C' 1 ml "My name is Monk, of Monkshurst," lie said. "I've a good mind to teach you to remember it," " 'Look ye now, ain't it pretty? Master, am I like that?' " 'Yes,' she answered, nibbling rap'I belong1 to William Jones.' idly " 'Oh, to him,' I said, feeling' as familiar with the name a6 if I had known it all my life. 'But he's not your father?' "I answered her it was an excellent likeness, and not too flattering. Her face fell, however, a little as she proceeded."Don't be afraid," was the reply. "Monk, of Monkshurst? I shall be certain not to forget it, Mr. Monk, of Monkshurst! Tim, is the water boil- "Tim has prot this name so pat that my curiosity begins to be aroused. 'Who the deuce is William Jones?' 'Sure, thin,' says Tim, 'he's the man that lives down bcyant, by the sea.' I demand, somewhat irritably, if the place contains only one inhabitant? Devil another did Tim see, he explains —barrin' William Jones. " 'Are my cheeks as red as that, master?" ing?" "She shook her head emphatically. " 'But of course he's a relation?' For a moment Mr. Monk, as he called himself, seemed ready to draw his riding whip across the young man's face, but, conquering himself, he surveyed him from head to foot with savage anger. Nothing daunted, the young man returned his stare with *Dmethin£ like supreme contempt. At last, muttering beneath his breath. "Another shake of the head. "Among the sketches she found a crayon drawing of an antique and blear-eyed gentleman in a skull cap. jopied from some Rembrandtisli picture I had seen abroad. "'You are red, Matt,'I replied, flippy tly; 'so are the roses.' " 'But you belong to him?" I said, considerably puzzled. 'Where were you ."She looked at me thoughtfully. When it's finished, will you give it to me to keep?', " 'I wasn't born at all,' answered Matt. 'I come ashore.' boru?' " 'I know who this is!' she exclaimed. 'It's William Jones' father!' " 'I gave t'other chap a shilling for his, frame and all, but I've got no mote money,' she continued, with an insinuating smile, which, as a man of gallantry, I could not resist. So 1 promised that, if she behaved herself properly, 1 would, in all probability, make her the present she coveted. " 'Well, we shall see.' The driver, though rough enough and red with sun and wind, had nothing in common with the ordinary drivers of such vehicles, and, in point of fact, he was neither a gypsy nor a traveling tinker nor a circus performer. Though it was summer time he wore a large frieze coat, descending alxnoet to his heels, and on his head a wideawake hat—underneath which his lasy, beardless and somewhat sheepiah face shone with indolent good humor. His companion. Master Charles, as be was called, bore still less resemblance to the Bohemians of English lanes and woodlands. lie was a alight, handsome, fair-haired young fallow, of two or three and twenty, in the tweed attire of an ordinary summer tourist, and every movement he made, every word he spoke, implied the "gentleman born." "This was what the immortal Dick Swiveller would have called a staggerer.' I looked at the girl again, in- —Troth. "I begin this record in the island of Anglesea, where we have arrived after our fortnight's wanderings in the more mountainous districts of the mainland. Anglesea, I am informed, is chiefly famous for its pigs and its wild ducks. So far as I have yet explored it, I find it fiat and desolate enough; but I have been educated in Irish landscapes, and don't object to flatness when combined "9:80 a. m.—Start painting in the open air, under the Khade of a large white cotton umbrella. Paint on till 1 p. m. "I assured her on my honor that William Jones' father was not personally known to me, but she seemed a little incredulous. Presently she rose to go. Only Doff. Mr. Monk turned away, and. leading his horse into the avenue, closed the gate and remounted; but even then he did not immediately depart, but remained for some minutes seated in the saddle, scowling over at the encampment.He was a bright looking little chap, and he walked along Penn avenue leading a hungry looking dog by a string. He seemed undecided where to go or what to do with the cur. "1 p. m.—Take a long walk among .he sand hills, avoiding- the settlement Oeyond the lake. Don't want to meet any of the aboriginals, more particularly William Jones. Walking here is like running up and down Atlantic billows, assuming said billows to be solid; now I am lost in the trough of the sand, now I re-emerge on the crest of the solid wave. Amusing, but fatiguing. Suddenly a hare starts from under my feet and goes leisurely away. I remember an old amusement of mine in the west of Ireland, and I track Puss by her footprints—now clearly and beautifully printed in the soft sand of the hollows, now more faintly marked on the harder sides of the ridges. The sun blazes down, the refraction of the heat from the sand is overpowering, the air is quivering, sparkling and pulsating, as if full of innumerable sand crystals. A horrible croak from overhead startles me, and, looking up, I see an enormous raven, wheeling along in circles and searching the ground for mice or other prey. " 'I can't stop no longer,' she explained. 'I've got to go to Monkshurst for William Jones.' " 'You must come again, to-morrow.' I said, as we shook hands, 'and I'll finish the thing off.' WEPT I.IKE A CHILD. Occasionally lie would stop as if to think for awhile, cast rather a depressing glance at the animal, pat him a little and start off aimlessly again. " 'Monkshurst? Is that where the oolite Mr. Monk resides?' ator had nothing but his honor and a change of togas in those days, but he prized them higher than rubies, or almost anything, for that matter. Thus occupied, his face and figure set in the gloomy framework of the trees, he looked even more forbidding than before. His face, though naturally handsome, was dark and tempestuous with passions, his eyes deep-set and fierce, his clean-shaven jaw square and determined. For the rest, his black hair, which was thickly mixed with iron trrav. fell almost to his shoulders, and his upper lip was covered with an iron gray mustache. " 'All right, master. I'll come.' "And. with a nod and a hright smile, she walked away. " 'Yes; up in the wood,' she replied, with a grimace expressive of no little dislike. Clarence, ray valet, is back with me again. I am going to take him down to the Isle of Wight for a week's coaching. It will do him good to tool about there over the beautiful roads. He is threatened with gout and this morning lef' an egg at table. , But it was a Roman egg. By the way, it was just discovered here in a small court of justice that a grocer who dealt in eggs both of the eocene and pliocene eras was in the habit of spiling this fruit when ripe for a Hyde park oration to a confectioner, who makes a business of buying such eggs for some of his manufactures. Since I learned that, 1 eat fruit inore and caramels less. He finally observed a woman of kindly face, well dressed and who looked as if she might take an interest in almost any kind of a dog. He stood and waited for her, and when she came up his facs brightened, and he asked appealingly: " 'Is Mr. Monk a friend of yours?' "During the whole of this interview Tim had not been unobservant, and sc soon as I was left alone he looked up from the work he was engaged upon, viz.. Dotato washing, and gave a knowing smile. "Her answer was a very decided pegative. Then, slouching to the door, she swung herself down to the crround. I followed, and stood on the thresnold, lootcmg aown at ner. " 'Sure she's a fine bold colleen.' he said.- 'Does vour honor know who she "Missus, don't yer want ter buy a fins dog?" " 'Don't forget that I'm to paint your picture,' I said. 'When will you come back?' "Poor doggy!" and she stooped and patted him. Presently, at a signal from his master (such he was), Tim drew rein again. By this time the sun was setting fiery red, far away to the west, and the thin drizzle was becoming more persistent. At last, as if satisfied with his scrutiny, Mr. Monk turned his horse round with a fierce jerk of the rein and rode rapidly away in the shadow of the wood. " 'To-morrow, maybe.' " 'I have not the slightest idea.' " 'They're saying down bevant thai she's a say-fondling, and has neither father nor mother, nor any belongings.'"How much do von want for him, little boy?" " 'I shall expect you. Good-by!' " 'Good-by, master,' she returned, vaohine up to shake hands. "Only ft quarter, ma'am. He's a fina dog, he is. Why, yer can teach him anything if yer know how. He's a good watchdog, too. and he don't eat much." "MAY I A8K WHTCRK T»U CAME FB0M?" "I watchfcd her as she walked away towards the road, and noticed that she took bold strides like a boy. On reaching1 the road she looked back and laughed, then she drew herself together and began running like a young deer, with little or nothing of her former clumsiness, until she disappeared among' the sand-hills. " 'Pray who was your informant?' " 'The man who picked her from the say—William Jones hisself.' "How far did they say it was to Pencroes?" CHAPTER IL specting her curiously from top to toe. Without taking her eyes from mine she stood on one leg bashfully and fidgeted with the other foot. She was certainly not bad looking, though evidently a very rough diamond. Even the extraordinary headgear became her well. The woman came to the conclusion that the last statement was true, but she Mill hesitated about making the purchase. "Ten miles, sor." "Before setting forth on this memorable pilgrimage to nowhere, I promised a certain friend of mine in literary Bohemia to keep notes of my adventures, with a view of future publication, illustrated by my own brilliant sketches. I fear the promise was a rash one—firstly, because I am constitutionally lazy and averse to literary exertion, and, secondly, because I have, as yet, met with no adventure worth writing about. Not that I have altogether lost my first enthusiasm for the idea. There would be novelty in the title, at any rate, 'Cruises in a Caravan,' by Charles Brinkley, with illustrations by the author; photographic frontispiece, the caravan, with Tim as large as life, smirking self-consciously in delight at having his picture taken. My friend B has promised to find me a publisher, if I will only persevere. Well, we shall see. If the book does not progress, it will be entirely my own fault; for I have any amount of time on my hand3. Paint as hard as I may all day, I have always the long evenings. when I must either write, read, or do nothing. LEAVES FROM AYOCKG GENTLEMAN'S JOCT15AX. "That name again. It was becoming too much for flesh and blood to bear. From the first moment of my arrival I had heard no other, and I had begun to detest its very sound." 1 have a friend who wants me to talre a week's shooting on his estate. He is very kind and very hospitable, as are the English generally. Bless their great North American hearts, 1 was about to gay. The Britisher in his own home is worth going many long, wet miles to "The mare is tired out, I think. We ahall have to camp by the roadside." "Looking at my watch, I And I have been tolling in the sandy wilderness for quite two hours. Time to get back and dine. Climb the nearest hillock, and look round to discover where I am. Can see nothing but the sandy billows on every side, and am entirely at a loss which way to go. At last, after half an hour's blind wandering, stumble by accident on the road by the lakeside "What kind of a dog is it?" she asked hesitatingly. "All right. Master Charles. There's • handy shelter beyant there where you see the trees," Tim added, pointing op the road with his whip. The young man looked in that direction, and saw, about a quarter of a mile away, that the highway entered a dark clump.of woodland. He nodded assent, and walked rapidly forward, while the caravan followed slowlv in the rear. KA.THE2 ajIBAXRASSLSe. "He's half bull. You just ought tosee him chase cats!" with desolation. I like these rtreary meadows, these bleak stretches of melancholy moorland, these wild lakes and lagoons. [to bb continued.] " 'I know what you was doing there,' she cried, suddenly, pointing to my easel. 'You was painting!' "Thursday.-Tliis morning, just after breakfast, when 1 had entered the caravan to prepare my materials for the day's painting, Tim appeared at the door with a horrid grin. # * « "Well, what's the other half;'' The little fellow i*Dndered for awhila and seemed very much perplexed as Im sized the animal up and thought. Finally his face lit up as he had solved the problem, and he answered: Wilfer—These are hard times. Why, I heard of a man the other day who couldn't raise' money even on government bonds. Where the Shoe Pinched. see. He makes you believe that he built that house for you. and he only hopes that you will like it. He turns over hia roof tree and servants and cellar and root house and stable to you, and then says, "What! Are you going to sail next month? Yon astonish me. Had arranged everything for 30 days, so that we could not have a dull day." "At the present moment I am encamped in a spot where, it) all probability, I shall remain for days. 1 came upon it quite by accident about midday yesterday, when on my way to the market town of Pencroes; or, rather, when I imagined that I was going thither, while I had, in reality, after hesitating at three cross-roads, taken the road which led exactly in the opposite direction. The way was desolate and dreary beyond measure— stretches of morass and moorland on every side, occasionally rising into heathery knolls or hillocks, or strewed with huge pieces of stone like the moors of Cornwall. Presently the open moorland ended, and we entered a region of sandy hillocks, sparsely ornamented here and there with long, harsh grass. If one could imagine the waves of the ocean, at some moment of wild agitation, suddenly frozen to stillness, and retaining intact these tempestuous forms, it would give some idea of the hillocks I am describing.' They rose on every side of the road, completely shutting out the view, and their pale, livid yellowness, scarcely relieved with a glimpse of greenness, was wearisome and lonely in the extreme. As we adyancea among tnem, tne road we were pursuing grew worse and worse, till it became so choked and covered with "The discovery not being a brilliant one, I took no trouble to confirm it; but Matt thereupon walked over to the canvas, and, stooping down, examined it with undisguised curiosity. Preseptly she glanced again at me. " 'There's a young lady asking for ye,' he said. "4 p. m.—Dinner. Boiled potatoes, boiled eggs, fried bacon. Tim's cooking is primitive, but I could devour anything—even William Jones' fossil bread. I asked if any human being has visited the camp. 'Sorra one,' Tim says, looking rather disappointed. He has got to feel himself a public character, and misses the homage of the mlgar. "Paint again till six p. m. and see the caravan in the distance, Slimwit—Indeed. What was the reason?He's still trying to sell the animal, and any one who wants a dog might get hiin for much less than a quarter.—Pittsburg Dispatch. "Why, just dog." Reaching the point where the wood began, and entering the shadow of the trees, he soon found a spot well fitted for his purpose. To the left the road widened out Into a grassy patch of common, adorned with one or two bushes of stunted brown, and stretched out a dusty arm, to touch a large white gate, which opened on a gloomy, grassgTown avenue winding right through the heart of the wood. The caravan, coming slowly up. was soon placed in A snug position not far from the gate, the horse was taken out and suffered to graze, while Tim, searching about, soon found dry sticks and began to light a fire. Diving into the caravan, the young man emerged with a camp stool, on which he sat down, lighted a meerschaum pipe and began to smoke. They coald hear the rain faintly pattering in the Doughs above them, but the spot they had chosen was quite sheltered and dry. "I had forgotten for the moment my appointment of the day before, and, when I leaped from the caravan. I perceived standing close by, with her back to me and her face toward the lake, the figure of a young woman. At first I failed to identify her, for she wore a black hat and a white feather, a cloth jacket, and a dress which almost reached the ground; but she turned round as I approached her and I recognized my new acquaintance. WilfeiD—Well, you see, he didn't have the bonds.—Shoe and Leather Reporter. " 'I know what this is!' she cried, pointing. 'It's water. And that's th® sky. And that's trees. And these here' —for a moment she seemed in doubt, but added, hastily—'pigs.' Lady (engaging servant)—We are all total abstainers, but I suppose you don't mind that? I'neU to It. This is not the license of the liar, but the plain truth, and they have gone on doing it even when some of our countrymen have abused the privilege. Sacred Trees. The Jews and the Arabs place the date palm before all other trees, because it was, tbey say, made of the same clay as Adam, and prophesied through its leaves. The rabbis accredited Abraham with a knowledge of what wan thus conveyed for his direction. In Persia the inhabitants burn wax tapers, as at a shrine, before the trees which they hold sacred—the oriental plaM and the cypress. They hope thus to obtain the cure of their maladies and the accomplishment of their wishes.—Gentleman's Magazine. "Now, as the subject represented a flock of sheep huddling together close to a pond on a rainy common, this suggestion was not over complimentary to my artistic skill. 1 was on the point of correcting my astute critic, when she added, after a moment's further inspection: Servant—Oh, no, mum. I've been In a reformed drunkard's family before.—■' Pick Me Up. But I could not go shooting. I would have enjoyed it every momeut, and so would the birds. "A beautiful sunset. The sand hills grow rosy in the light, the lake deepens from crimson to purple, the moon comes out like a silver sickle over the sandy sea. A thought seizes me as the shadows increase. Now is the time to entice the pink trout from their depths in the lake. I get out my fishing rod and line, and, stretching two or three flies which seem suitable, prepare for action. My rod is only a small, single-handed one. and is difficult to cast beyond the sedges, but the fish are rising thickly out in the tranquil pools, and, determined not to be beaten, I wade in to the knees. Half a dozen trout, each about the size of a small herring, reward my enterprize. When 1 have captured them, the moon He I'ntleritootl. But what would Clarence do? He ia so easily cast down. He leans on me so much. Ho lost his mother on his fortyeighth birthday, and lie is comparatively alone, and I am afraid he will get dejected and get to drinking. One evening 1 thought I would knock the dignity out of Clarence by mixing his liquor for him. If I could only get some of that ponderous dignity knocked out of him I thought I would enjoy him more and talk more freely with him. "I cannot say that she was improved by her change of costume. In the first place, it made her look several years older—in fact, quite young womanly. In the second place, it was tawdy, not to say servantgally, if I may coin such an adjective. The dress was of thin silk, Qld and frayed, and looked as if it had suffered a good deal from exposare to the elements, as was indeed the actual case. The jacket was also old, and seemed made of the rough material which is usually cut into sailors' pea-jackets, which was the case, also. The hat was obviously new, but just as obviously homemade. Young Rorty—What do you mei when you say you are a gentleman b cause you are not in business? " 'No, they're sheep. Look ye bow, I know! They're sheep.' Old Horty—1 mean, sir, that to be a gentleman J must have no business. " 'I'ray don't touch the paint,' I sujf- "So I am beginning this evening, exactly a fortnight after my first start from Chester. I purchased the caravan there from a morose individual, with one eye, who had it built with a view to the exhibition of a wild man of Patagonia; but said wild man having taken it into Mb head to return to County Cork, where he was born, and the morose individual having no definite id«a of a novelty to take his place, the caravan came into market. 0av- pested. approaching her in some alarm. "It is wet and comes off.' Young Rorty—Ah, I ■understand now! You mean that you have no business to be a gentleman.—Brooklvn Life. Itemeaibered After Fifty Tear*. A curioua case of introspection, or eltraordinary retrospection, or something, (a that of a woman who recently died in • neighboring town. On her deathbed ahC bothered herself to repay a loan of twenty-, five cents incurred over fifty years before. It had come to her suddenly as she rummaged back through the years of her life, every small detail of attending circumstance becoming plain to her after a halt century of forgetfulnass. — Naw York TiBM*. .. , "She drew back cautiously; and then as a preliminary to further conversation sat down on the grass, giving me further occasion to remark her length and shapeliness of limb. There was a l'ree-and-easiness, not to say boldness, about her manner, tempered though it was with gusts of bashfulness, which beifan to amuse me. I.ogipal, Teacher—Who can tell in'e what useful article we get from the whale? Johnny—Whalebone, He took the prescription I had arranged for him, also some cognac, a dipper full of Guinness and a gourd of gin, and when I suddenly asked him to jump up and get the cheese his celebrated ramrod back was a little more perpendicular The fire soon blazed up. Entering the caravan in his turn Tim brought out a tin kettle full of water and placed it on the fire, preparatory to fnjJcing tea. He was thus emrajred Teacher—Right. Now. what littlel»oy or girl knows what we get from the seal? Tommy—Sealing wa*.—Racket. " 'So you have come,' I said, shaking