story, for what I have related is true, the writer herself being an
eye-witness to the incident while a teacher in a backwoods
school-district on the banks of the Aroostook.
* * * * *
LIVE STOCK, Etc.
PUBLIC SALE
OF
Short-Horn Cattle
AT
_Somers, Kenosha Co., Wis._
ON
Wednesday, March 19, 1884.
I will sell at public sale, at my farm near Somers, Wis., at above time
and place, my entire herd of Thoroughbred Short-horn cattle, numbering
forty head. Among them are many of the choicest families. Included in
the sale will be the grand young bull Orpheus 13th, bred at Bow Park, a
beautiful red, and one of the finest bulls in the West. The cows are all
Breeders, and will have calves by their sides, or be safe in calf. I
offer this grand herd of cattle with reluctance, solely on account of my
advanced age and failing health. Catalogues ready about Feb. 15. Lunch
at 12. Sale to begin at 1. Free conveyances will meet the trains on
morning of sale at Somers, on C. M. & St. Paul, and at Kenosha for C. &
N. W. R. R.
WM. YULE,
Somers, Kenosha Co., Wis.
J. W. JUDY, Auctioneer.
* * * * *
10 JERSEY BULLS FOR SALE,
All of fine quality, solid color and bk. points. Ages, from six to
eighteen months. Sons of Mahkeenae, 3290; brother of Eurotus, 2454, who
made 778 lbs. butter in a year, and out of cows of the best butter blood,
some having records of fourteen and fifteen lbs. per week. No fancy
prices.
A. H. COOLEY, Little Britain, Orange Co., N. Y.
N. B.--If I make sales as formerly will send a car with man in charge to
Cleveland, getting lowest rates.
* * * * *
SCOTCH COLLIE
SHEPHERD PUPS,
--FROM--
IMPORTED AND TRAINED STOCK
--ALSO--
NEWFOUNDLAND PUPS AND RAT TERRIER PUPS.
Concise and practical printed instruction in Training young Shepherd
Dogs, is given to buyers of Shepherd Puppies; or will be sent on receipt
of 25 cents in postage stamps.
For Printed Circular, giving full particulars about Shepherd Dogs,
enclose a 3-cent stamp, and address
N.H. PAAREN,
P.O. Box 326, CHICAGO. ILL.
* * * * *
_SEEDS_
Our new catalogue, best published, FREE _to all_. 1,500 _varieties_,
300 _illustrations_. You ought to have it. BENSON, MAULE & CO.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
BREEDERS DIRECTORY.
The following list embraces the names of responsible and reliable
Breeders in their line, and parties wishing to purchase or obtain
information can feel assured that they will be honorably dealt with:
SWINE.
Chester Whites.
W. A. Gilbert Wauwatosa Wis.
SCHEIDT & DAVIS, DYER, LAKE CO., IND., breeders of Victoria swine.
Originators of this famous breed. Stock for Sale. Write for circular A.
* * * * *
RAILROADS.
[Illustration]
A MAN WHO IS UNACQUAINTED WITH THE GEOGRAPHY OF THIS COUNTRY WILL SEE BY
EXAMINING THIS MAP THAT THE
CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC R'Y
By the central position of its line, connects the East and the West by
the shortest route, and carries passengers, without change of cars,
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via the Famous
"ALBERT LEA ROUTE."
A New and Direct Line, via Seneca and Kankakee, has recently been opened
between Richmond Norfolk, Newport News, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Augusta,
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All Through Passengers Travel on Fast Express Trains.
Tickets for sale at all principal Ticket Offices in the United States
and Canada.
Baggage checked through and rates of fare always as low as competitors
that offer less advantages.
For detailed information, get the Maps and Folders of the
GREAT ROCK ISLAND ROUTE,
At your nearest Ticket Office, or address
R.R. CABLE,
Vice-Pres. & Gen'l M'g'r,
E. ST. JOHN,
Gen'l Tkt. & Pass. Agt.
CHICAGO.
* * * * *
MISCELLANEOUS.
Don't be Humbugged With Poor, Cheap Coulters.
[Illustration]
All farmers have had trouble with their Coulters. In a few days they get
to wabbling, are condemned and thrown aside. In our
"BOSS" Coulter
we furnish a tool which can scarcely be worn out; and when worn, the
wearable parts, a prepared wood journal, and movable thimble in the hub
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OUR "O. K." CLAMP
Attaches the Coulter to any size or kind of beam, either right or left
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ON THE MARKET. Ask your dealer for it.
Manufactured by the BOSS COULTER CO.,
Bunker Hill, Ills.
* * * * *
[Illustration: NEW Vegetables A Specialty
GREGORY'S SEED CATALOGUE.
1854-1884]
My Vegetable and Flower Seed Catalogue for 1884, the result of thirty
years experience as a Seed Grower, will be sent free to all who apply.
All my Seed is warranted to be fresh and true to name, so far that
should it prove otherwise, I agree to refill orders gratis. My
collection of vegetable Seed, one of the most extensive to be found in
any American Catalogue, is a large part of it of my own growing. As the
original introducer of Eclipse Beet, Burbank Potatoes, Marblehead Early
Corn, the Hubbard Squash, and scores of other new Vegetables, I invite
the patronage of the public. In the gardens and on the farms of those
who plant my seed will be found my best advertisement.
JAMES J. H. GREGORY, Seed Grower, Marblehead, Mass.
* * * * *
Send for Catalogue and Prices.
ATLAS ENGINE WORKS
[Illustration]
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., U.S.A.
MANUFACTURERS OF
STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS.
CARRY ENGINES and BOILERS IN STOCK for IMMEDIATE DELIVERY
* * * * *
SIBLEY'S TESTED SEEDS,
For all Climates, For all Soils, All Plants.
EVERY SACK TESTED FOR VITALITY. ALL TESTED IN GARDENS FOR PURITY AND
VALUE.
CATALOGUE AND PRICE LIST OF ALL TESTED VARIETIES, FREE.
Mail order promptly filled, making a Seed Store at home. Send for
Catalogue.
HIRAM SIBLEY & CO., Rochester, N Y. and Chicago, Ill.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
LITERATURE.
BETWEEN THE TWO LIGHTS.
No use talking, missy--no use talking
'Bout de daylight and dat kind ob ting
'Tween the two lights--sunset and sunrising--
Dis ole nigger happier dan a king.
Dis ole nigger don got all he want to,
All he want, and more 'an he can say;
Gib him night, de darker and de better,
White folks more 'an welcome to de day.
In de day him ole and pore and wretched,
Got to tote de load and swing de hoe,
Got to do jest what de white folks tole him,
Got to trabel when dey tole him go.
Don't own nothing but an empty cabin;
Got no wife, no chillen at him knee;
Got no nothing but a little pallet,
And a pot to bile him hominy.
In de day him gits no 'spectful notice,
Him is only "dat ole nigger Brown;"
In de night him tells you, little missy,
Things git mightily turned upside down.
Den somehow him's young and rich and happy,
Den him own more acres dan him see:
Den him got a powerful lot ob hosses,
Den de white folks stop an speak to he.
Den him hab a big house like ole massa's,
Dan Melinda is him lubly wife;
Den de little chillen call him pappy,
Den him see de bery best ob life.
Den sometimes him talking in de meeting.
An' him feel de biggest in de town,
For at night him neber "dat ole nigger,"
Him the Reberend Mister Isaac Brown.
"Dreaming," is him? Dreaming, do you call it?
Then him s'pose it's living in de day.
Well, him likes de night-time and de dreaming,
For him griefs wid sunshine go away.
No use talking, missy, no use talking
'Bout de sunshine and dat kind ob ting;
'Tween de two lights--sunset and sunrising--
Dis ole nigger happier dan a king.
THE TWO OVERCOATS.
When Amos Derby came out of Levi Rosenbaum's pawnshop, the richer by
five dollars, but leaving his overcoat in the hands of the Jew, he made
his way directly to Sillbrook's saloon, where, he felt sure, he should
meet half a dozen at least of his boon companions.
He was not mistaken. The bar-room was crowded, and a general shout of
welcome greeted him as he entered, for Amos was a generous fellow, and
was always willing to treat.
The five dollar bill was quickly broken by the jovial bar-keeper, and
two hours later when Amos waked rather unsteadily out of the saloon, he
had not a cent in his pocket. But this did not trouble him in the least.
He had spent too much money in Sillbrook's during the last two years to
think anything of squandering in one evening such a paltry sum as five
dollars.
As he left the saloon by the main entrance, he saw a man emerge from a
side door of the building, and cross the street with rapid strides; a
tall man, well dressed, and bearing about him a look of prosperity. He
wore a very handsome overcoat with sealskin cuffs and collar, a sealskin
cap, and well fitting gloves. Drunk as Amos was he recognized him at
once; it was Sillbrook himself.
"Been in the back room countin' up his gains, most likely," he muttered
thickly. "He's above standin' behind the bar nowadays."
Amos could well remember when Sillbrook had been only a mill-hand like
himself, earning twelve dollars a week. But he had been a prudent,
saving man always, and had early made up his mind to be rich, no matter
at what cost of conscience and principle. With this end in view he had
purchased a saloon, and cordially invited his former fellow workers at
the mill to patronize him. This they were very willing to do, for
Sillbrook knew how to make his saloon attractive; and he soon had as
much custom as he could well attend to. At length he hired a bar-keeper,
and after a couple of years was never seen behind the bar himself. He
had grown rich very rapidly, and now owned one of the finest houses in
the town, and was able to gratify every taste and whim, while those who
had helped him to his wealth by drinking his liquors were as poor as
ever--many of them poorer.
Amos Derby had been one of Sillbrook's best customers ever since the
saloon had been opened, and as a natural consequence had had little to
spend in comforts for his wife and children. He still lived in the small
cottage he had bought on first moving to the town, and had seen it grow
more and more dilapidated every year without making any attempt to
repair it.
But though the outside was far from attractive, the inside was always
neat and clean, for, whatever her faults of temper, Jane Derby was a
woman who believed thoroughly in abiding by heaven's first law, and who
labored early and late to make both ends meet, something she would not
have been able to accomplish had she not possessed skill as a
dressmaker, for Amos seldom gave her any of his earnings. She was
sitting in the kitchen sewing when her husband came in, and a bitter
expression crossed her face as she saw his condition.
"Drunk, as usual," she said, harshly, "when were you anything else?"
"When you was kinder spoken, perhaps," answered Amos, with spirit. "This
is the sort of welcome I get every night in the week. 'Tain't much
wonder I go to Sillbrook's." He dropped into a chair as he spoke, and
began to pull off his boots.
"If you didn't have one excuse you'd make another," said Jane, flushing,
and bending closer over her sewing. "Perhaps you think I ought to feel
pleasant when you come home in this state. Well! it ain't human nature,
that it ain't! I mind the time you brought home your wages reg'lar,
every Sat'day night, and I was willin' enough then to speak kind to you.
Now the children would starve if it wasn't for me. Where's your
overcoat?" a sudden pallor creeping into her face as she asked the
question. "Yes! where is that overcoat?--what have you done with it that
you haven't it on--where is it?"
"Where d'ye s'pose?" said Amos, roughly.
"Down at the pawn-shop, of course," cried his wife, angrily, "where
every decent coat you ever had has gone. But you promised me you'd never
part with this one, Amos Derby, and you've broke your word. I might have
known you would! And to think how I worked for it, and let the children
do without shoes! It's too bad! I declare it is! I gave twelve dollars
for it only a month ago, and I'll wager you let Levi have it for half o'
that. It's a shame, a dreadful shame."
"Stop that. I won't have it," said Amos in a threatening tone. "There's
no use whining over it now. If you say another word about it I'll go out
again, right off."
"Go!" said Jane, fiercely, "and I wish it was forever! I wish I was
never to look on your face again! You're naught but a trouble and a
disgrace to us all!"
"All right," said Amos, as he pulled on his boots again, "I'm goin'.
I'll take you at your word. You won't see me again in a hurry; now you
just mark that. A trouble and a disgrace, am I?"
"Yes, you are!" said Jane, her anger increasing as her mind dwelt upon
the loss of the coat she had worked so hard to earn. "I mean all I've
said, and more, too! Go! go to Sillbrook's! Ask him to show you the
overcoat he's wearin'. I saw it yesterday, and yours wasn't a
circumstance to it! Go! Give him every penny you've got! He needs it!"
with a bitter little laugh. "His children's feet are all out on the
ground, and his wife hasn't a decent dress to her name," with a glance
at her faded calico gown. "Help him all you can, Amos Derby, he's in
need o' charity."
Amos made no answer. He was considerably more sober than when he had
left the saloon, for the walk home through the fresh winter air had done
him good, and he felt the force of his wife's words. They rung in his
ears as he slammed the kitchen door behind him, and, taking the road
which led by the mill, walked rapidly away.
He was soon in the heart of the town, but he did not think or care where
he was going. His only idea was to get away from the sound of Jane's
sharp voice, and he turned down first one street and then another,
without pausing, until he came to Elm Avenue, on which were situated the
handsomest houses in the town. There was a large, square brick house on
the corner, with stables in the rear, a conservatory on one side, and a
beautiful lawn in front, and this place seemed to possess some strange
fascination for Amos, for he stopped suddenly at the gate and stood
there for fully five minutes, admiring, perhaps, the mansion's air of
solid comfort and wealth.
The iron gate was open, and presently, as if impelled by some impulse he
could not resist, he entered, and walking softly up the graveled path,
looked in at one of the long windows.
The room upon which he gazed was very handsomely furnished. The chairs
were luxuriously cushioned, a large mirror hung over the mantel, the
carpet was of velvet, a crystal chandelier depended from the ceiling,
and a bright fire burned in the open grate, before which sat a lady
richly dressed, reading aloud to three children, sitting on ottomans at
her feet.
For a long, long time Amos Derby stood by the window, his eyes wandering
from one article of luxury to another, a dark frown on his face, and his
teeth set hard together.
"My money," he muttered, when at last he turned away. "I've given it to
him, cent by cent, and dollar by dollar, and I've naught to show for it,
while he! he's got his fine house, and his rich carpets, and his
handsome clothes. It's the same money, only I've spent it in one way,
and he in another."
As the last words left his lips a hand fell heavily upon his shoulder,
and a voice--the voice of Sillbrook--asked him harshly what he wanted.
"A look into your fine parlor," answered Amos roughly. "Strange I wanted
to see it, wasn't it? It ought not to matter to me, of course, what use
you make o' my money."
"Your money!" said Sillbrook, with a loud laugh. "That's a crazy joke!
Come, my man, you're drunk. Get out of here, or I'll have you put where
you can make your jokes to yourself."
"You think you're rich enough now to speak to me as you choose," said
Amos hotly. "Time was when you wouldn't have dared. But I tell you,
Jason Sillbrook, I've come to my senses to-night. It's a poor bargain
where the gain's all on one side. We started even, and you've got all
and I nothin'. But I tell you now, that, heaven helpin' me, you'll never
have another dollar o' mine to spend. You'll never buy another coat like
this out o' my money," and he struck in sudden passion the seal-trimmed
garment which covered Sillbrook's ample proportions.
"Be off with you," said the saloon-keeper. "You're too drunk to know
what you're talking about."
"And who made me drunk? answer that question, Jason Sillbrook," screamed
Amos.
"I'll answer nothing," said Sillbrook, and, tearing his coat from the
grasp Amos had laid upon it, he strode up the path and disappeared
within the house.
The next morning, when the superintendent made his round of the mill, he
missed one of the machine hands.
"Where's Derby?" he asked, angrily.
No one could answer his question. No one had seen Derby that day. And no
one at the mill saw him for many a day to come.
"I might have been kinder to him," thought Jane, when at last she became
convinced that her husband had in truth left her. "Perhaps I did say
more'n I should at times. Poor Amos! he was no more to blame than I was,
after all. Perhaps he would have kept out o' that saloon if I'd only
coaxed 'stead o' railing at him. He wasn't bad-hearted, an' he never
meant more'n half he said."
And as the days went by, and she forgot her past sorrows, she had only
kind thoughts of her absent husband, and blamed only herself for their
mutual misery. She wished with all her heart that she could "begin all
over again," and try the effect of kindness and forbearance on Amos.
But no such opportunity was given her, and she had little time for
bitter thoughts or unavailing regret.
The superintendent of the mill gave her eldest child, a lad of fourteen,
a situation where he could earn $4 a week, and a girl a year younger
found work in a millinery store. Thus Jane was relieved of much anxiety,
and she was so skilful with her needle that she soon found herself able
to "lay by something for a rainy day," as she expressed it.
Gradually the children were provided with comfortable clothes and were
sent to church and to Sunday-school, from which they had been debarred
for several years, owing to a lack of decent apparel; the house was
repaired, new furniture bought, a flower garden laid out in front of the
cottage, and a new fence erected. People began to speak of Jane as a
surprisingly smart woman, and to say that her husband's desertion had
been a blessing in disguise. But in spite of her prosperity there was an
ache ever at Jane's heart, and a regret which no good fortune could
stifle.
"If I'd only been kinder!" she would say to herself, as she lay awake at
night and thought of her absent husband. "It was my fault he drank; I
see that now. He was always telling me that my temper'd ruin him in the
end, and now his word's come true."
She felt as if she ought to make some atonement for her past sin, even
though she was never to see her husband again, and with this end in view
she determined to cure herself of the habit of scolding and
fault-finding about which poor Amos had complained so bitterly.
After a few struggles at first, she found her new path very pleasant to
her feet, and was encouraged to persevere by the artless comments made
by her children on the improvement in her temper.
"You're so good, now, mother," they would say, when, instead of the
sharp rebuke they had expected on the commission of some childish folly,
came very kind words of regret and gentle reproof. "You are so different
from what you used to be. If father could only come home and live with
us now how happy we would all be."
But Amos did not come. Year after year passed, and he sent no word or
sign; and at length both wife and children grew to think of him as dead.
Seven years! Seven years to a day had passed since Amos Derby had left
his home, and up the street and past the mill came a tall man, with a
cap of sealskin pulled low over his eyes, and handsome overcoat trimmed
with the same costly fur over his arm. He whistled as he walked, and
seemed in great good humor, for occasionally he would break out into a
loud laugh.
But as he came near the cottage where Jane Derby lived, he became more
quiet, and an anxious expression stole into his face.
"I wonder if she'll know me," he muttered.
Going up to the window of the kitchen, he shaded his eyes with one hand
and looked in.
Jane was setting at supper, her five children about her. The room looked
warm and comfortable. A bright fire burned in the stove, the kettle sang
merrily, and a big maltese cat dozed among some plants on the broad
window seat.
Fred, the eldest son, a muscular young man of twenty-one now, was
speaking, and his words came distinctly to the ears of the watcher
outside.
"Brooks goes to-morrow," he said, "and we are to have a new
superintendent from ----. I hope he'll have a better temper than Brooks,
and I wish----Who's that?" as a sudden knock came upon the door.
"The new superintendent," said the tall man, as he walked into the room
and threw his overcoat on a chair.
"Jane, don't you know me?"
With a glad cry that was almost a sob, Jane sprang forward, and was
folded in the stranger's arms.
"Children," she said, when she could speak, "this is your father, come
back to us at last."
"And to stay, please God," said Amos Derby, fervently, as in turn he
embraced his children affectionately. "Jane, you shall have no room to
complain of me in the future. I mean to make up to you for all I made
you suffer before I found out what a fool I was to think more of my
appetite than of my wife and children. Do you know what taught me my
lesson?--Sillbrook's overcoat; and I've got one just like it. It will be
a reminder, you know. And I've something better still--the place of
superintendent at the mills here. I've worked hard, Jane, but my reward
has come at last. When I left here I resolved never to come back until I
could make myself worthy of you and the children. I found a place in the
mills at ----, and worked my way up to be superintendent. Where there's
a will, there's always a way, you know. I learned that you didn't need
my help, so I waited on year after year, and now----"
"We are together, never to part again this side the grave," finished
Jane, "Amos, God rules us all for the best. Let us thank Him for the
blessings He has bestowed upon us; and then--suppose you let us see how
you look in the overcoat you've come by so justly."
The news that Amos Derby was the new superintendent soon flew about the
town, and great was the surprise thereat. No one was more astonished,
perhaps, at the turn affairs had taken than Jason Sillbrook, and he
wondered greatly at the good fortune of the man he had once so despised;
but he never knew that it was largely due to the lesson Amos had learned
from the saloon-keeper's overcoat.--_The Christian at Work._
* * * * *
CONSUMPTION CURED.
An old physician, retired from practice, having had placed in his hands
by an East India missionary the formula of a simple vegetable remedy for
the speedy and permanent cure of Consumption, Bronchitis, Catarrh,
Asthma and all throat and Lung Affections, also a positive and radical
cure for Nervous Debility and all Nervous Complaints, after having
tested its wonderful curative powers in thousands of cases, has felt it
his duty to make it known to his suffering fellows. Actuated by this
motive and a desire to relieve human suffering, I will send free of
charge, to all who desire it, this recipe, in German, French, or
English, with full directions for preparing and using. Sent by mail by
addressing with stamp, naming this paper. W. A. NOYES, _149 Power's
Block, Rochester, N. Y._
* * * * *
Honesty of purpose must not be held as evidence of ability.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
HUMOROUS
BAIT OF THE AVERAGE FISHERMAN.
H. C. DODGE.