s <o~< He Kissed the Blackberry Girl. BY DAN DE QUELLE, ie wa. Here in far-away Nevada we seldom see hickory nuts, black walnuts, chestnuts, or the other nuts so common in the Atlantic and Middle States as in places to bea “drug in the market.” Occasionally, however, small lots of all these nuts find their way to the fruit and nut stands of the Comstock, where they find ready sale at Why will people continue to do the things that are to their disadvantage? This is a problem which has puzzled us for a long time. Why will a man with a mouth like the entrance to the Mammoth Cave shave his face smooth, when by allow- ing his beard to grow he might conceal the opening he so unhesitatingly offers to all the world ? : “Why willa short woman always wear plaids, which may be his uniform, tainly isn’t the man make her look even shorter and more dumpy? And why do tall women take naturally to stripes? Look about you when you take a walk down one of our fashionable streets, and notice the fact that the plainest faced women wear the most striking costumes, as if hoped by gaudy colors in. dress to. make - undue length of noses and excess of freckles | | prices that would make the heart of the Western or New England boy glad could he obtain them. Hickory nuts, bla¢k walnuts, hazel nuts, and all kinds of nuts common in the Eastern States, here retail at twenty-five cents a pound; and, of some kinds, it does not require very many to weigh apound. | \en such-myts are exyosed for sale they always ct great attentioh am the old and niddle-aged, hearts they speak of the old. home and .of © Women wear fur-lined circulars, almost to | hap an individual} and tall, lean women affect short walk- ing jackets, and look like liberty poles with night- gowns on. $445 Snape! Long-necked women invariably “do” their hair in a French twist, so as to let all creation observe the fact that their necks are long; and short-necked women stick to frogs on the napes of their necks, and from be- hind present the appearance of their heads resting on their shoulders. Small, short men appear in tall hats, under the im- pression that the tile adds to their height, while in reality it gives them the appearance of a hat walking off with aman. One sees a good deal more hat, propor- tionally, than he sees man. Why will women go shopping after samples that they never will buy anything like, and know that they shall not? Why will men lie in a horse trade, when they know they shall get found out when the purchaser tries the horse ? Why will people run down every other religion but their own? They know that they never make any con- verts by so doing. -Why can two of a trade never agree? Why does a young man, when he is going a-courting, act as if he were: doing something he was ashamed of? Why do old people so hate to see young people enjoy themselyes ?”. 4 What makes everybody like to hear of bad luck com- ing to somebody else ? by days oF childhood. Often persons.wiil* stafding before the witdow of a shop in‘which the na- tivenuts are displayed, so lost in thought as to be utterly oblivious of time and their surroundings. Inspirit they are back in the old home State ; they are childen again, and again in the beautiful Indian summer days are rov- ing the hills and bottom lands in search of the treasures up the nut trees. Thoughts of the brothers, sisters, cousins, and other youthful companions who composed the old nutting parties arise, and often a tear may be detected in the eye of a gray-haired man, or seen creeping down the wrinkled face of some venerable dame. The old man and the old woman may be strangers to each other, but as they stand gazing in- to the window, regardless of the jostling throng of young Pacific coasters, they are in soul brother and sister. Recently, while standing in front of a small shop where was on sale a box of genuine shag-bark hickory nuts, an old man came up an4 cried out, excitedly : “Why, bless my soul, there are some real old-fashioned shell-barks !” “Yes,” said I, ‘and they are from Ohio, too, my native State. I may even have. gathered nuts, when a boy, under the same trees from which these came.” “Are you from Ohio? I also am a Buckeye; lived there till I was twenty-one years of age—tilll was my own fool of a master.” “Ah!” eried 1, “forty years ago, when the old forests were still standing in thousands of places, it was a beautiful land. I have never since known such beauti- ful and balmy spring weather; every tree and shrub There are good souls in the world who will say that they do not enjoy anything of the kind, and perhaps | they think so; but just let a scandal arise affecting the | minister of ‘‘the other church,” and see how active. those | very same good souls will be to find out every minute | particular. , Why do boys like to break glass? and stone cats? and tie tin dippers to dogs’ tails? Why do men like to seea ranaway? Why does everybody in a crowded railway car watch the woman who has a crying baby? Hasshe not enough to contend with, without feeling conscious that every man, and woman, and old maid, who knows about as much concerning a baby as an elephant knows about frying doughnuts, is looking at her, and wondering why she doesn’t do this, and why she doesn’t do that? Why do dyspeptics keep on eating baked beans? Why do fat people, who agonize over their adipose tissue, keep on eating candy and using sugar? Why does a person with “poor circulation” hover over a hot stove, and make the circulation aforesaid still poorer? Why do men marry women unfitted for them, and be- wail their fate forever afterward? Why does a girl unite herself for life to a man whom she knows drinks, ge ee Lane d her life-time in groaning over her lam- a e misfortune ? - Why, co they do tt ? op Vee OAS EO the questions, but we are no nearer auswerilg aby of them than we were at the beginning. e@ LITTLE BY LITTLE. BY HARKLEY HARKER. do ti It is not a bad rule for work. You area brain worker, let me suppose. You have several tasks always on hand. Jt is true that some writers have suffered themselves to get into what is called ‘the mood habit.” That is, they can never write except when the fit is on them, or they feel like it ; and then they wish to put through the whole task at one sitting. This is expensive in several ways. A long sitting is a great physical strain, because the confined attitude interrupts the circulatory system’s free work; because nervous force is overdrawn; because prain tissue is burned in excess. A better way is to begin early in literary life to habituate the mind to the “chest of drawers” system of labor. Work on a task for awhile. Then shutthat draw and lock it. Then pull out another drawer and work a little while on a differ- ent task. So proceed with several. The result is an immense accumulation of work ac- complished before you are hardly aware of it. The discipline of mind needed to drop one thing and firmly grasp another is a fine acquisition in itself, and will stand one in good stead in more than one crisis of life. The essential rest and recreation ministered to the mind by such a sudden and absolute change, no one who has the habitude once established would ever forego, to re- turn to the old slavery of continuous topic for any amount of money. There is also a freshness of thought that you bring to your task this way that is a surprise to yourself. It reminds one of the fallow ground law of the old Jewish dispensation—once in seven years the Israelite was to leave his fieldsfallow. The soil got new productive powers by this nieans which no fertilizers of modern times could have givenit. The task that your there bore blossoms and gave forth some scent to per- fume the air. And where else, in the autumm,could you find leaves so brilliantly dyed as in the old) State? ‘Then, in summer, it was a land of the early spring. when all was green and went fishing, and the minnows we caught h as fresh and pleasant as that from the swelling the trees; in the summer we searched the thickets for berries, and in the fall went nutting.” “Ah!” said the old man, ‘‘ah, the berry gathering! Never shall I forget it. It wasin a blackberry patch that I met my first love.” A tear came into his ‘‘hither eye,” and he sighed deeply. Presently turning to me, and searching my face for a moment; the old man said : “it yowl promise not to laugh at me, I'll tell you a little story. “{ promise,” said I, “forstories of those old days sel- dom put us in a laughing humor.” The old man thus proceeded : “What Buckeye boy has not ‘met by chance,’ in some boundless contiguity of briers, his darling Jennie, Kitty, or Lizzie? Yet their encounters, however agreeable in some’ respects, were oftentimes a sort of painful pleas- ure, and very embarrassing to bashful young beaus. “Never shall I forget that particularly bright and balmy day on which I met my sweet Kitty Tyrrell in the center of one of the old-time vast wildernesses of brambles. It was a whole continent of briers, alders, elders, and choke-cherry bushes, and-of. the famous wild plum and crab-apple trees of the old Buckeye State. It seemed not alone the center of the blackberry patch where I met my Kitty; the blue vault of heaven seemed to mark it the exact center of the world as well. “Her eyes were as black as the berries in_ her basket, and as brilliant as those of the cat-bird chattering in the top of the alder tree over her head. Her lips were twin rubies; her teeth pearls that peeped out between ; while her cheeks were of the same tinge as the south side of aripe peach, with two purple streaks of truit- stain reaching from the corners of ber mouth nearly to her ears—yet, heavens ! wasn’t she lovely ! “My basket being already filled, 1 volunteered my as- sistance in filling that carried by Kitty. “Ag we worked together, the conversation.on my side was somewhat limited and arduous; but Kitty rattled away as cheerily and incessantly as any bluejay. “Often, while we were plucking the melting fruit from the same huge, newly discovered cluster, her curls— Kitty had curls, black, glossy, glorious curls—her curls brushed my cheek. Sometimes, too, her curls became entangled in the briers, but they nowhere stuck so fast as in my heart. “J thought that somehow her curls were very often getting in the way of my cheek, yet it always seemed quite by accident. Somehow, too, we were always work on the same bushes and clusters, and at times Kitty's pouting lips were perilously close to my own when she turned to speak. «*An! ah-ha! tee-hee!’ cried the cat-bird up in the tree. “When that smiling little mouth came so near to mine, my heart-thumps seemed to shake me all over; they seemed to be audible: and terribly loud was the hum of the great black-and-yellow bumblebee as he thundered ast. r “At last—to my great surprise—Kitty pouted, and for atime was silent, if not sullen. I feared that I had said or done something to anger her, and I watched her out of the corners of my eyes. she almost succeeded in coaxing into her smooth, white prow one or two indignant wrinkles, at which the cat- bird up in the tree scolded terribly. «Don’t you think,” said she, presently turning to me, “don’t you think, the other day, when I was out here alone—just as we are now—with Harry Jones, the naughty, naughty fellow up and kissed me?’ Her black eyes flashed, and d, stupid, lazy set of ceman can’t be found in a museum. ce, Who are generally e dangerous class are s the dangerous class m a bit afraid of the himself, for a more” giants than the av on the face of the ea Itis not. so with th called constables. afraid of these, wher are -river. He said he had a numbet: A-GRAY-HAIRED Old man in Berryville was attacked by two masked burglars the cther,night, one holding a pistol to his head while the other ransacKed the house. Next morning the old man’s locks were of arayen hue. His white hair had turned black from fright in a si wight! A GREEN COUNTY Man wWé hing and réturned home with a dozen of the 12 s ever taken from the the only people police ete through. the csely.¢ very ba 3 » noe hen go t ortrait collection k will find most of the to maké up your mi ought to be.) } You never see ro: a The constable won't allow it. any. ; : The country constable considers himself an officer of the law, and when he condescends to speak to anybody beneath the rank of judge or justice of the peace, he picks out the most distinguished citizens he knows. Maybe this is because he is his own boss, which the city policeman is not. Usuaily the officer in the city has sO many bosses that he does not know which to obey, and in trying to oblige all of them he has about as hard a job as thecircus clown who tries to ride six horses at once, and can’tstick to any one of them long enough to be sure of his footing. ; When an officer in the country sees a rascal fighting, or ‘‘painting the town red,” he simply arrests him and locks him up; but the city policeman genefally has to think first which political party the man belonged to, and what alderman he worked for at the last election, and how big a gang the fellow can call to rescue him, and which politician is likely to.go bail for him and then work to get the officer dismissed. By the time the et has thought oF all these things, the rascal as got out of the way. He even has to be careful what he says and does to | bad boys. I heard of a respectable citizen who one day | saw a bad little boy pulliagsup. some plants which the citizen had in his front-'yatd. He ch the little scamp, collared him, led him alge unt he met a policeman, | and made a complaint= Th® officer looked uncomfort- | able, and then whispered : “I can't arrest that little wretch. He ought to be put | in the reformatory; but the fact is, his father keeps a | resort where a lot of Alderman Blank’s heelers hang out.” I'll kick the little wretch and let him go,” said dquarters—a (And it’s pretty safe them as aren't there 0 a country constable. chooses his own com- } <7 the respectable citizen. “Don’t do that,” said the officer—‘‘please don’t, or Tl have to arrest you.” “What for ?” t “gig? “Well, for disturbing the peace. Unless,” continued the officer, “‘youw’re somebody in politics. If you are, I beg your pardon, right now.” The country officer is supposed to. be all eyes and ears, but elty policemen fulfill the Scriptural saying: “Eyes have they, but they see not: ears have they, but they hear not.” Why not? Because they daren’t. They see men going into gambling dens all day and night, ‘water, but they broke his hooks @ during the winter, and fails to ¢ ( | ofa trace chain, but she will be sold to any one who | will agree to treat her right. | gun which goes with her. but if they should say anything about it they would get into hot water with whatever high official might be pro- tecting that gambling-place, or making a living by black- mailing it. ‘ One day I meta policeman whom I had known twenty- five years before as a fing young soldier. He was stand- ing in front of a building that looked to be a private residence. | «What's this ?” 1 aske “No, it’s a gamibll tell every body “That keex. “Oh, yes; no “Then you're breaking tp tne Vile business ?” +. : “Oh, no! I guess it Won't come to that. (The boss gambler will get scared into paying up to the ward de- tective, who, they say, collects blackmail the captain. Then I'll be taken off, and the business will go on undis- turbed. If you ever hear, after this, of the police not breaking up gambling dens you'll know the reason why. And if you ever hear of me going to perdition, you’ll know it’s on account of the example my superior officers set me. Yet at his own home the iceman is as decent a fel- low as any of his friends, He is generally sober, pays his bills, sends his children to Sunday-school, and does all else he can to appear well among his fellow-men. But. he has always to faee the depressing fact that the “Your house ?” said he. “I’m put here to rt of place it is.” world—uniless ke resigns and gets into some other busl- ness. MR. STETSON'S DARKEY. John Stetson, while talki r the other day to a few friends in the lobby of the Fifth Avenue Theater, told the following story: s ; “J had a colored man about my Boston Theater,” said he, ‘who was, I think, the laziest darkey I ever en- countered. [stood him.as long as I could; but when he reached the point of sleeping all the morning, and dozing all the afternoon, I had to get rid of him. He came to me a few days after his discharge, and asked to be taken on again. I refused him on the score of Soe and he then begged hard for a recommenda- tion. “You jest give me a ricommend, bos, an’I won't arsk nothin’ mo’: “Well, I finally consented, and you should have seen his eyes glisten as I handed him the following: «*To whom it may concern: The bearer, John Smith, is fully competent to perform any duties for which he is qualified. JOHN STETSON.’ better man he is the less chance he has to rise in the | way stated. 2d. We suggest readi ora 1as a the: der than any degrees higher than his neighbor’s during the hottest ner in summer A FOUR COLUMN interview of : appeared in a daily paper recently, “md next day the man in- terviewed published a card stating that the interview was a literal transcript of his conversation, and complimenting the interviewer on his excellent memory and faithful and honest work. THERE is a Six-months-old baby in Fairville, and its mother has never been heard to declare that itis “the sweet- est, prettiest, cutest ‘ittle darling in the world.,” She’s deaf and dumb. pe eg A LIVELY Cow. “Owing to ill-health,” says Bill Nye, “I will sell at my residence in town 29, range 18, west, according to govern- ment survey, one crushed-raspberry colored cow, aged six years. She is a good milker and is not afraid of the cars—or anything else. She is a cow of undaunted cour- age and gives milk frequently. To.a man who does not fear death in any form she would be a great boom. She is very much attached to her home at present, by means She is one-fourth short- horn amd three-fourths hyena. Purchaser need not be identified. I will also throw in a double-barreled shot- In Mayshe generally goes away somewhere for a week or two,,and returns with a tall, red calf, with long, wabbly legs. Her name is Rose, and 1 would prefer to sell her to a non-resident.” = Correspondence. GOSSIP WITH i, . §" Communications to this department will not be noticed unless the names of respon ible parties are signed to them as evidence of the good,faith of ‘the writers. ‘ ne 2S Warren Watson, Wheaton, Ill.—When ink blotches have been formed over writing which it is wished to decipher, it is recommended to brush off the spot carefully with a weak solution of oxalic acid by means of a camel’s hair pencil. As soon ag the letters are visible, the brushing should be con- tinued for a time with clean water, so as to arrest the ten- dency of the acid solution to make a further change in the ink. A modern ink eraser is thus made : Take of chloride of lime one pound, thoroughly pulverized, and four quarts of soft water. Shake the solution well, and let it stand twenty- four hours before using. Then strain through a cotton cloth, and add a teaspoonful of acetic acid (No. 8 commercial) to every ounce of the chloride of lime water. e eraser is used by reversing the penholder and dipping the end of it into the fluid, and applying it, without rubbing, to the word, figure, or blot required to be erased. When the ink has dis- appeared, absorb the fluid with a blotter, and the paper will be ready to write upon again. ; Music, in the Form of Lectures.” Young Artic poor al John W. K., Long Prairie, Minn.—Performers on the bag- pipe play almost entirely by ear, though it is said that schools existin some of the Scottish Islands for instruction on the instrument. As it is ignored by educated musicians, we find little music written for it. The tunes played on it consist only of a few notes, and all set on thesame key. It was probably introduced into Ireland and Scotland by the Danes and Norwegians at avery early period. The instru- ment consists of a leather bag, infla' through a valved tube the mouth or a bellows, connected with which is a flute pat called the chanter, perforated with holes, and fur- nished with a reed, the action of the air from the bellows upon which produces the music. Three pipes or drones, two of which are in unison with D on_the chanter, while the third. or great drone, is an octave lower, complete the bagpipe. we. Sweet Sixteen, Newark, N. J.—1st. Every lady’s ambition is to have soft,and. white hands. One secret is to keep them always clean. Whenever they require it, wash them in'soft water, slightly tepid, with the best toilet soap, and then dry them carefully and thoroughly on a roughish towel, Brisk rubbing, by causing rapid circulation, tends to produce a transparent surface on the skin. There are various soaps recommended to improve the color of the hands, among them sand , which is a co tion of soft-soap, sweet oil, and finely sifted sand, worked up to a pect consistence, and left to harden. This soap will be found quite effective in removing the roughness of the skin occasioned by exposure to sharp winds. Pure honey-soap is also good for the hands. 2d. Daily practice will improve your handwriting. Anxious Mother.—St. Vitus’ dance, or chorea, is described as a disorder of innervation, characterized by an irregular action of the voluntary muscles, occurring usually in young persons from the age of ten to twenty, and more frequently in females. It is preceded by languor, general disorder of the stomach, and sudden muscular contortions, apparently posing causes are the involuntary. The most frequent predis; i Ts ays shat ee Malvern Hill, Manassas, Va.—The “Albany aie was @ name popularly given in the United States to a junto of Democratic politicians who influenced or controlled ~ leadin the scnon of the Democratic party for many years. Albany, N. Y., was their headquarters. : ” rig Beppo, St. Paris, Ohio.—1st. No knowledge of its use in the z Ritter’s “History of 3d. Chopin is pronounced van; Beethoven, ba-to-ven: Liszt, list; and Bach, bak. » _Broaliway, in 1876. by French resi- was ‘Bae Bartboldi ; the same artist who de- the statue of Liberty on Bedlow’s Island. ~ . A. H. D., Rome,.Pa.—We advise you to consult a lawyer of ~ Rae, Dees the State in which the property referred to is situated, there being im subject 0 rtant differences in State enactments upon the heirs at law. % Scarecrow, Scranton, Pa.—As you have tried the only remedy we could suggest, we cannot aid you, save to recommend you to keep “regul in the open air. ; ar hours and take all the exercise possible — Frederick S.—The play of “Therese, or the Orphan of Ge- neva,” was written by John Howard Payne. It was first pro- duced in London, in 1818, with Edmund Kean in the prin- cipal part. Martha, Long Island.—‘“The Usages of The Best Society’ will cost 50 cents. If you desire it, write direct to the NEw YorK WEEKLY Purchasing Agency. : Anne, Newburgh, N. Y.—Poughkeepsie, N. Y., was origi- nally settled by several Dutch families in 1690—1700. It re- ceived a city charter in 1854. > Henry A. G., Indiana.—No recipe that we could recom: mend as harmless. An experienced physician might be able to sug- gest a remedy. : Bentley Foste | Columbus, Ohio.—According to the law recently passed, women can vote at municipal elections in Kansas. o Constant Reader, Cameron, Wis.—The number of miles srom New York to Denver, Colorado, is1,982. Mail time 92 ours. William B., Covington, Ky.—Copper coin may be cleaned by immersing it in sweet oil and wiping it dry with a soft Tag. : C. L. L., Bridgeport, Conn.—The Sound steamboat Pilgrim is 373 feet in length ; the ocean steamship City of Rome, 560. U. J. R., Brower, Pa.—The elephant Jumbo was killed by a collision with a railroad train in Canada on Sept. 16, 1885. Jennie B., Wilkes Barre, Pa.—The NEw York WEEELY Pur- chasing Agency will send you the article named for $1. .O. J C., Sun City, Kansas.—We can furnish you with a coin book containing the information desired for 25 cents. F. V.—ist. A stay of proceedings was granted in the case re- ferred to. 2d. Lunar caustic will remove warts. g C. E. M,, York, Pa., and J. J.. Spokane Falls, W. T.—Busi- ness addresses are not given in this department. - M. W. M., Glen Haven, N. Y.—The first number of the New — York Tribune was issued on April 10, 1841. pad Jennie L., Hartsburgh, Il.—Unable to aid you. The name | is not in the peerage of Ireland. Ce G. A., Oswego.—Mrs. A. T, Stewart died of pneumonia in _ this city on Oct. 25, 1886, aged 8: mit M. W. H., Hartford.—‘‘How to Draw and Paint” will be sent to you for 50 cents. : : A. H.D., Garden Island, Ontario, Canada.—No personal - knowledge of it. i pe Sag of wo. J. B., Wood Si Edi lished before. Frank W. S., Greenfi of the kind. } Widow and Daughter, Trenton, Mo.—No personal knowl- edge of it. YS eal teh Mrs. A. E. M., Walden, Ga.—We have made a note of your request. : f ; : Tumor, Chicago, Ill.—ist and 2d. No. 3d. Fair. Rover, Pomeroy.—In employment at St. Louis. J. H. P.—Nom de plume of E. Z. C. Judson. L. S. W. and Mrs. D. D., Boston, Masé—No. . A Ten Years’ Reader, San Francise9.—No. pted J ; red Hopes ; Kyle's Ruse Tom’s Ludicrous Blunder ;” “Her Beautiful Tee :” “What to Buy Her ;? “A Regi 3? “The Fate of The —__——- > © - Two Stories Next Week. The next issue of the New YORK WEEKLY will con- 4 tain the opening installments of re haa TWO CAPITAL STORIES. | a MAGGIE, THE CHARITY CHILD, Be By Francis S$. S ae ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE, he: