v.4

 

 

OUR‘NAL.

 

 

MORAL AND PHYSICAL SUASION.
A pair-Qf-rays from the Vulgate of Webster.

xv .105 JOT, m.

 

Once on a time, an aged character

Of agricultural proclivities,

Saw 1n the foliage of his apple tree

A youthful semblance of the future man

Stufling the orifice in his countenancfi .

With that most favorite fruit lli infinite zeal.
That aged character his spectacles .

Polished, and put upon his head’s bald top,

And. casting both his wide observatories

On that young cider-mill up in the tree, ._
He said, “ My dear young friend, it seems quite

clear

That you had best come down out of that there."
The young chap answered and said unto him,

“ I can not see it in that light, old hoss ;

And that is what the matter is with Hannah,”

Or words of similar purpose and intent;

While to his nasal nose he put his thumb,

And all his other fingers wag ed at him,

Then went to laying in his inter’s fruit. \

The old man said, “Then I \ ill fetch you down.”
So turf he threw at him and bits of grass,
Which made this young embodiment of mankind
Laugh, and chuckin more apples with a vim,
,Not even stopping for the cores and stems.

Said the old man, “ If neither words nor grass
Can have the power to soften you down, ’oung man,
I'll try what solider virtue is in stones 1)”

Then did he pelt him to his heart’s content

With wrathfnl stones, uncureful where they hit,
Until the sport got rather full of fun,

And that yOung man remorsefully CAME DOWN!

 

Strange Stories.

THE TREE OF DEATH;
on,
The Law of J ava.

B)? AGILE PENNE.

 

 

 

THE full, round moon shone down bright-
ly upon the private gardens of the emperor‘s
palace, in the pleasant Isle of Java, far
down in the southern seas.

The soft breezes of the night whispered
through the hanging leaves, and the very
air was redolent with the perfume of flow-
ers. *

In the midst of the rose-trees, stood the
fairest flower that all the Isle of Java held
-—Leila the daughter of J ava’s emperor, his
only child.

Leila. was talland straight as the palm-
tree, yet possessed of all the grace and light-
ness of the swaying vine. Eyes and hair
black as jet, lips like the rose—leaf, and her
skin was fairer than the pearls that adorned
her neck.

Leila waited by the rose-trees.

Why waited the daughter of the proud
Emperor, Abdallah the Third, in the garden
on that summer’s night?

A step sounded amid the shrubbcry of the
garden.

Leila turned, more annoyed than alarmed.

A manly figure approached.

The rich dress, the jewel-hiltcd saber, the
diamonds that sparkled in the young man’s
turban—for he was young—all told that he
was a person of rank.

It was the Emir, Hassan, one of the high-
est nobles in the island, and allied by blood
to the emperor.

“ Leila!” he exclaimed in astonishment,
on beholding her standing like a statue
among the flowers.

Leila pouted in disdain but answered not.

“ I thank my good stars that directed my
feet hither,” said the Emir, gallantly, ap-
proaching the girl. “ Let me seize this op—

portunity to tell the Flower of Java’s Isle

how much she is loved.”

Again Leila replied not, but turned away,
disdainfully. _

“ Why do you turn from me ‘5'” he asked.
“ Your father approves my suit.”

“ So does not my father’s daughter!” ex-
claimed Leila, in clear, sweet tones.

“And why not?”

Leila made no answer, but plucked a rose
from the bush and idly pulled it to pieces.

“You treat me as cruelly as you do that
flower," he said, softly. “ Shall I tell you
why you will not love me ‘3"

Leila looked at the Emir in astonishment.

“ Because you love another!”

The girl blushed crimson.

“ Let him beware! If he crosses my path,
pe looks upon his death l” Hassan said, fierce-

y.

“ Find my lover ; then speak your threats,"
replied the girl, scornfully. “ For the pres-
ent your company is distasteful to me.
Shall I go, or will you ‘3”

“Before many hours are over, you may
regret your words l” Hassan said, angrily,
and then stalked away amid the bushes.

Leila. laughed, lowly but merrily, when
his tall form was hidden by the foliage from
her sight.

Hassan had not been gone five minutes,
when Leila heard another step in the shrub-
bery. This time it came from the direction
of the wall that surrounded the garden.

The tread was cautious, as though fearful
of causing an alarm.

Leila listened with sparkling eyes, lips
apart, and a heaving bosom; signs of joy——
of love.

And then, a tall, lithe form, clad in the
handsome uniform of the Emperor’s Guard,
came from the bushes.

Leila looked for an instant into an olivc~
tinted face, lit. up by a pair of sparkling
black eyes ; a face wherein both honesty
and courage were, plainly written ; and
then, with a low cry of joy, gave herself
into his arms.

The haughty daughter of J ava’s proud
emperor loved an humble soldier, by name,
Ben Liel.

“Light of my heart, once again I hold
you in my arms!” the soldier cried, softly.
“ Once again I can hear your heart beating
against mine.”

“ The heart that beats for you alone!”
said Leila, looking up fondly into the hand-
some face of the young soldier.

“And yet, when I think of the gulf that
separates us I am mad with despair. I hold
you now to my breast; press our lips frec-
ly; I forget all in the joy ofy the moment.
I remember only that you are the most beau-
tiful of women, that your heart is mine, and
that I love you better than I do life itself.
But, when I am away from you, when my
brain is calm, not whirling with passion’s
fires, then I remember that you are a prin-
cess, the daughter of my emperor, and that
I am only a poor soldier with nothing in the
world but a strong arm, a stout heart, and a
sharp saber.”

“ With you, or away from you, I remem-
ber nothing but our love l” cried Leila, with
deep passron. “Did you think of the em-
peror’s daughter when in the jungle you
threw yourself before the angry tiger, and,
at the risk of your own life, saved me from
his jaws?"

“ N o, I only saw the woman that I- loved
-—but whom I had never dared to tell my
love—in danger.

 

“ Then, when the brute lay before us,
still indeath, when your saber was covered
with his blood, my attendants gone in hor-
ror, and none near to watch us, what did
you do ?” ,

‘ I caught you in my arms, told my love,
and received a hundred kisses in reward.
Again I forgot you Were the princess, and
remembered only that you was the woman
that I loved l” ' '

A rush of hasty feet, a gleaming of torch-
es amid the rose-trees, and the lovers were
surrounded by the emperor and the servants
of the palace. Foremost in the throng came
the Emir Hassan.

“ By Allah! this is too much!” cried the
emperor, in rage. “ My daughter in the em-
brace of one of the captains of my guard.
Tear them apart and give the slave to the
bowstring i”

In an instant the saber of the soldier
flashed in the moonlight, while still he held
the girl proudly to his breast.

The servants fell back before the glitter-
ing steel. They had seen the good right
arm of Ben Liel strike lustily on many a
gory field. They cared not to taste the
shrewd coldness of his blade.

“ Let no man layafinger upon me !” cried
the soldier. “Your majest buckled this
saber on my thigh on the battle-field. If
you demand it, it is yours.” .

“Be careful; this young captain is the
idol of the soldiers; do nothing without
reason,” whispered an aged noble in the
emperor’s ears. , '

“Give up your sword,” the emperor said.

The soldier cast it at his feet.

“ You know that you have forfeited your
life by being found within these gardensin
conversation with my daughter; but, I will
be merciful and ive you a chance to save

our forfeited life. 'Go to the Tree of

eath; bring me a casket of the poisoned
gum that flows from the tree and I Will
spare your life.” ,

Leila started in joy. '

“ You hear, my beloved ?” she whispered;
“you are saved!’ 1 _

The soldier smiled, grimly; he knew the
nature of the task.

“I accept the offer, oh, emperor, but do

not thank you as if for mercy, for I know ,

the motive for your pardon,” and Ben Liel
laughed scornfully. “Farewell, angel of
love!” he whispered to the girl; “if I do
not return, keep my memory green in thy
heart." ,

Within an hour after, the soldier, guarded

- by a column of picked troops, was. on his

way to the desert.

 

After two days’ march, the party arrived
at their destination.

They halted at the entrance to a rocky
pass, walled in by huge cliffs, that a. bird
alone could climb.

“Beyond yonder point of rocks, you will
find a lovely hut. In the but is a man who
Will give you the iron casket and your in-
structions. “re will wait for four and
twenty hours,” said the oflicer, in command
of the troops.

“But, I may be longer.”

“You are going to almost certain death ;
but three men have ever returned from the
Tree of Death,” replied the officer.

With a pale face, but an unehrinking
heart, Ben Liel entered the valley.

He found the lone house and entered it.
The keeper, :1 man with a withered frame, a
pale face, and the air of a corpse, rose to
receive him.

The two looked at each other for a mo—
ment in astonishment, and then sprung into
each other’s arms.

They had served throughout a whole
campaign together !

“ You here ?” cried Ben Liel.

“ Yes; in a duel I killed the commander
of my squadron. This is my punishment.
What have you done?”

The young soldier related what had oc—
curred. "

“ But tell me, what is this Tree of Death ?"
he asked.

“It is the deadly upas tree; the vapor

'that exhales from it is fatal to life, bird,

beast or human, except when the wind
blows from the north ; then, one may venture
to approach the tree throughthis ravine, but
the riskis great, for the wind is fickle and
apt to change. The task on have to doris
to take this iron casket an fill it full of the
gum that exudes from the trunk of the
tree. It is used to poison the arrows of our
goldiers, that they may do deadly execu-
ion.’

“ But, can I not tell how blows the wind
here ‘8”

“No; not until you reach the little
valley in which the tree stands. The way
there is plainly marked by the bones that
whiten on the earth; the bones of those
killed by this deadly vapor. You can see
its effect on me. It has made me a living
corpse; yet I am supposed to be far beyond
its influence.” ‘

“ Give me the casket and your hand,” said
the soldier. “I’ll say farewell until we
meet Allah above. I have little wish to
live, for, even if I succeed in escaping from
this Tree of Death, my Leila is lost to me,

 

 

forever, and what is life without the woman
I love?”

“Nothing,” said the other, slowly. Then
for a moment he was silent in thought.
“ Ben Liel,” he said, suddenly, “do you re-
member the fight at Alcabad ‘3”

H Yes.” _

“ A huge trooper of the foe held me pros-
trate beneath his saber; you, at the risk of
your own life, saved mine.”

“It was but my duty.” ‘ v .

“ Life for life. I’ll requite the servrce. I
will go to the Tree of Death and procure
the poison. The vapor will not act _on me
as on you. I am seasoned to: it; besxdcs, I
am sick of life and wish to die. No words,
if you love the man whose life you saver .”

He seized the iron casket and ran from
the hut. _

In an hour he stag ered in, and, falling.
laid. the casket at Ben icl’s feet.

“ I am dying,” he muttered; “ the vapor
has poisoned me, but you are saved ! Nay,
more; you have a weapon in your hand, 
means of which you can make your enemies
tremble. Bow your head, that I may whis-
per in your ear the Law of J ave.”

We will now return to the emperor’s
palace.

The troopers had waited four and twenty ,

hours. Ben Liel had not returned, and so,
thinking him dead, they returned and re-
ported the fact. '

The Princess Leila was crushed with sor- ~

row.

Abdallah, the emperor, determined to wed
her to Hassan at once.

Leila, motionless as a. statue, said neither
yes nor no. i

The bridal party were gathered in " the
great chamber, when, suddenly, the ringing
step of a Javanese warrior sounded in the
hall. His head and breast were covered
with steel; the saber rattled on his thigh,
and under his arm he bore an iron casket.

It was Ben Liel! -

Leila uttered a cry of joy.

“I have done your mission, and there is
the proof !” cried Ben Liel, dashin the
casket down at the emperOr’s feet. “ ow,
then, I am a free man, and have the right
to claim a. boon. Is it not so ?” he asked.

“ It is,” replied the emperor, turning
slightly pale. “ What will you have, a house
and land or a lden rewards?”

“ I claim the rand of your daughter,  I”
cried the soldier, firmly.

All within the hall started with amaze-
ment, and one old gray-haired nobleslipped
through the doorway, taking advantage of
the confusion. ‘

 

THE BOY WITNESS.

“This is madness!" cried .the emperor,
deadly pale.

“ It is not madness 2” replied the soldier.
“ I have brought a casket of poison from the
Tree of Death. For that act I am entitled
to a free pardon, and the right to ask one
favor at your hands, which you are bound
to grant. 1:: is the Law of Java! Call your
wise judges! I demand nothing but justice!
Refuse me and five hundred swords without
will leap from their scabbards at my bid-
ding. Emperor though you are, yet you
can not break the Javanese law !” Clear as
a clarion’s note rung his bold defiance. ,

The gray-headed noble returned in haste.

“The guards without are in revolt,” he
whispered in Abdallah’s ear; .“ the soldier
has the law on his side; refuse him, and
your throne is lost !”

The emperor changed his tone.

“ Ben Liel, you are right; my daughter is
yours! Woe to him who breaks the Law
of Java!”

And thus the soldier won his love; and
when, in after years, the scepter fell from
Abdallah’s feeble hand, boldly the soldier
clutched it, and reigned as emperor over the
Isle of Java.

 

 

The Boy-Witness.

BY CAPT. CHARLES HOWARD.

 

 

’TWAS the “ Witching hour of night, when
churchyards yawn,” and the blackness of
darkness filled a small room on the first floor
of a decaying tenement. Nothing disturbed
the ghostly silence save the regular breath-
ing of a sleeping person, and a rat gnawing,
as if for dear life, beneath the low bed.

All at once there Was a noise at the door.
The rat deserted his feast and sought his
hole, and the occupant of the couch awoke,
and sat bolt upright.

For a long while he listened with throb-
less heart to the strange noise, which went
on Without a second’s cessation.

“What can it be ?” he at last asked him-
self, m a frightened, childish whisper. “ Rob—
bers? what do I possess that men covet?
nothing, if it be not the few pennies I have
made selling the Herald. Hark! somebody
is sawmg a piece out of the door to get at
the bolt. Oh, what shall I do ?” and the lit—
tle newsboy trembled from head to foot.

Too frightened to act, he remained mo-
tionless, listening to the noise of the saw.
Suddenly it ceased altogether, the removal

 

 

of the belt was followed by a rush of cold
air into the room, and the boy felt ,the pres
ence of two men very near his bed. He
tried to shriek, but his tongue seemed glued
to the reef of his mouth, and his limbs
were not under his control.

Slowly, heavy footsteps approached the
frightened boy, and all at once a dazzling
light burst from a dark-lantern. Raismg
his eyes he beheld two villainous-looking
men standing at his bedside, and the next
moment a monster hand Was placed upon
his shoulder.

“ Boy,” said the man, in a coarse voice,
“g;t up,“ put on yer duds, and come with
us. ’

Then the boy, with a mighty effort, broke
the spell which bound him, and, looking in—
to the large eyes of the bloated ruflian,
asked: '

“ What for ?”

“V’Vc’ll tell ye arter while, p’r’aps,” was
the reply. “But, come ;- do as we tell ye.
Ye shall not be harmed.”

The little fellow rose and hastily donned
his garments. Then the ,burlicst of the
twain threw his overcoat over him, whom
he raised in his arms, and in silence the par—
ty glided from the room.

O‘nce out of the tenement, the robbers
darted down a loomy alle r with their pyey,
who soon found himself one in an under;
ground apartment.

He immediately sunk upon his knees and
gave vent to a flood of tears. The incarna—
tion of darkness encompassed him, and not
a sound was borne to his ears. At last be
dried his tears, and, with deep thinking, dis-
covered the true motive which led to his ab-
duction.

A fortnight prior to the scenes related
above, an‘old man was assassinated on one
of the quietest thoroughfares of the city.
The assassin thought that not an eve, save
his own, had witnessed the deadl I blow.
But he was mistaken. Rollo ' J u son, an
orphaned-newsboy, was a witness to the di—
abolical deed. He described the murderer
to the police, and the villain was soon ap—
prehended. He stoutly denied the crime
charged against him, and many people be—
lieved that, at the proper time, he would
prove an alibi. The State relied upon the
testimony of the little newsboy for convic-
tion, and never dreamed that the prisoner's
associates in crime would abduct him.

But the villains did, as the reader has
seen. It was their intention to keep the

boy-witness in durance until, with perjury
in an open court, they set their friend at
liberty.

 

When morning dawned the little prisoner
heard a door open directly above him, and
bread and water were lowered into the
cellar. .

Three days quickly passed away, and the
murderer’s trial was very near at hand. It
was known over the entire city that the

newsboy was missing, and for him shrewd

detectives searched in vain. "

During this time the little fellow was not
idle. In the gloomiest corner of the cellar
he had found a heavy rusty knife, with
which he had removed quite a good portion
of the wall, and was tunneling for freedom.

He knew that Wash Gibhart’s trial was
near at hand, and he wanted to send old
gray-board’s murderer to the gallows. He
toiled as never prisoner had toiled before
him; and at last he pronounced his tunnel
completed. 'A few blows with the heavy
old knife would break the crust that sepa-
rated him from freedom, and one night he
left his dark prison never to return.

 

“ Stop your infernal noise, boys !’_‘ shouted
a dangerous-looking man, springing upon a
card-table in one of the lowest gambling—
dens in the great metropolis. 5‘ Can’t you
be still a moment? Hark: hark ! I say.
Somebody’s knocking for admittance.”

The last sentence brought quietude to the
men, and every car was saluted by a series
of sepnlchral sounds which seemed to ema-
nate from beneath their feet.

“ Somebody’s under the house! He’s
knocking against the floor; may be he
wants to handle the paste-boards to-night.
Come, boys, and let him in. My word for
it, he’s one of us.” ,

The gambler sprung from the table, seized
a strong poker which lay near, and loosened
a board. Then several comrades flew to
his assistance, a portion of the floor was
ripped up in a second, and Rollo Judson
was dragged from his tunnel, half-dead
with fright, for none other than murderous
visages greeted his vision.

“Who are you?” “Where’d you come
from?” “What were you doing under this
house '9” and similar interrogatives were
hurled upon the boy-witness, as he trembled
with fear in the midst of the shameless set.

Suddenly a burly and. beetle—brewed ruf-
fian darted forward.

“Say, that’s my chap l” he yelled, grasp—
ing Roll—0’s arm. “That is, I’ve been keep-
in’ ’im for some time.”

“ Drop that arm, W'al Ravens,” cried the
gambler, who had taken the initiatory step
in releasing Rollo. '

“ When I git ready!" was the rcponse.

I has been known to “raise thunder.”

“We’ll see,” and a dirk-flashed in the as,
‘light. “I recognize this little chap. t‘s
Rollie Judson, and many’s the paper he’s
sold me. And he’s the boy what can han

do it.
again.”

Instead of obeying the command, the
Titan whom Rollo had recognized as one of
his abductors, thrust his hand into an inner
pocket, and was drawing a revolver, when
the other sprung forward ‘and buried the
dirk in his breast.

Then ensued a scene that baffles descrip—
tion. The friends of both parties closed in
a brutal combat, in which dirks and pistols
were used with deadly effect.

Taking advantage of the confusion, the
boy-witness glided from the den, and hur-
ried home as fast as fear and his limbs could
can'y him.

The following day Wash Gebhart’s trial
opened. Everybody was surprised to see
the missing boy stalk into the court-room.
The murderer fainted at the sight of him.
In clarion tones the little fellow told the
story of his abduction and thrilling escape,
and identified Gebhart as the murderer of
the old citizen.

The villain swung for his crime. and the
boy—witness is a newsboy still.

Best Time’s Notes.

Wan'rs belong to the same order as toad-
stools and mushrooms, and are no more use—
ful than ornamental, and they are neither.
When I was a boy, I used to have a whole
handful of them. They used to come and
g0 ——— especially come ; they were all fine
large ones, too, and I thought a great deal
of them—a great deal indeed; but. I looked
upon them with an eye single to their eter-
nal destruction, and tried every thing, from
counting them over just after I got to sleep,
to spreading them out in the sun and mind-
ing my mother for three consecutive days,
but every thing failed except the warts. At
length a fellow who was going around with
a patent steam stump—puller, took the con-
tract and pulled the warts.

Boils are offshoots of the volcano family;
the ' come out when and wherever they
ma e up, their'minds to do so, and they can
make it inconvenient. At a certain stage
they blossom, but they are not good until
they are ripe, and then they are as mean as
a stingy neighbor with no conscience at all.
If, they would come out nowhere but on
your boot-heel, it would be better, and if
they didn’t hurt, how much more easily
could they be borne ! The one I had when
I was sixteen years old I sat on and ruined.

Drop that arm‘! I’ll not tell you

 

 

 

HASHEESH is a different kind of hash
from the common article of die-at. The
dreams and visions it produces are not so
apt to be graced by your greavgrandfather.

 

A THE man who is always “begging to in—
.fer,” etc, must certainly be an infernal fol—
low.

 

WHEN you write your name on the back
of another man’s note, “ sacred to the mem-
ory of ” is always understood.

 

THE main beauty of the baking-powder
which I have invented is that bread can be
made with it without flour ; you may doubt
this statement, but if you Would see it per-
form whnt I say with your own eyes, you
couldn’t doubt it a moment, not a moment.
A groceryman who soils it says it is so pow-
erful that it made all his prices rise. A
farmer says it makes his boys rise early ;
and often (so volatile it is) it has been
known to raise the lowest spirits up to nine-
ty-five per cent above proof. It- raiscd a
rebel ram in Charleston harbor, and it raises
sheep. It is used by the Erie employees to
raise their wages. It razed a French fort-
ress, and a remarkably small quantity of it
If on
can raise no objections and a quarter, sgnd
for a box. It is handy as a divorce in the
house.

 

I KNOW a fellow who should be made to
take out a manufacturer‘s license, for he
manufactures so many lies. .

 

A YOUNG man sitting by his girl, with
whom he was quarrcling, remarked petu-
lantly that she was nothing. She said she
wouldn’t admit that, but she would say that
'she was next to nothing.

 

IN writing for the Press, nee short words,
and in speaking to your wife, use—well,
you mustn’t use short words, either.

 

IT is poor praise, at best, to say of a. law-
yer that be cleared all of. his clients.

 

BLOOD will flow if you are struck with a
blood-goon. .

 

To the gentleman who persuaded some of
my chickens to go off with him, and who
was inconsiderate enough not to send them
back, I have a few timely wOrds to say.
Do you remember that the seventh oom-
mandment says, “ Thou shalt not. steal
chickens,” and don‘t you know that a man
who will steal chickens is; absolutely mean
enough tc—to eat them ? I should think
you ought to know this. Why, my dear sir,
if everybody was like you,honest men would
haveno chickens at all,so they wouldn’t!
I regret exceedingly that you let your appe-
tite run so far—Juliet is, allowed it to run in-
to a man’s chicken—coop in that abstracted
and abstracting kind of manner. Don’t
think for a minute that because I don’t
to you and thrash you, that I know who
you are. Don’t .think so at all. I would
like very much to cultivate your acquaint—
ance, and the next time youcall I willtry
to be at home. You probably may not ob-
serve mc up at the back window with a two-
barreled shot—gun; I say you may not see
me, but you may see a flash, and miss some
flesh, for you will discover that there is a
hole through you larger than yourself. This
fact will probably startle you a little at the
time, and you will lose your presence of
mind, and the absence of the biggest part of
your body will be a little overwhelming to
sit down and think seriously about, for there
won’t be one part of your body left big
enough to carry the other part home; in
fact, you will have no remains for 'our
friends to lament over, and your funer Lex-
penses won’t be heavy in consequence, and
therefore won’t trouble your mind much.
hate to have to spoil your appetite in this
wholesale manner, but, my friend, chickens
is chickens, and I am but. human.

 

 

Watchfully yours, BEAT Trim.

 

Wash Gebhart, and by. heaven! he shal '

\.
/

 

A

a