j MY VINE. 
BY CHARLOTTE K. CORDNKR. 
It runs along the walls 
In many a branching line, 
With tufts of glossy leaves— 
My well-loved, fruitful vine. 
Within Its dark brawn stems, 
Now shining smooth and bare. 
The globes yet sleeping lie, 
Pressed down in embryo there. 
When heaped upon the board 
The purple clusters lie. 
Covered with pearl-like mist 
Drawn from a sunset sky; 
As, from the crystal glass 
The crimson wine is poured, 
Then shall we know how much 
Within our vino was stored. 
Thus in some souls, when bared 
By adverse fortune's hand, 
Oft'powers dormant lie 
Both beautiful and grand— 
Gifts which the soul lias stored. 
Hidden away from sight, 
Till sorrow lifts her hand 
And brings them to Ihe light. 
#ur 
ance with which to satisfy the impatient wooer 
until he ooukl provide a selinhlo means of sup¬ 
port, for she was resolved that MARTHA'a future 
should not wait upon a lawsuit. But she soon 
found there would be uo need for her caution, 
for beforo she had arranged her reply to her 
satisfaction, Fklsiw opened the conversation 
by observing, in his easy, winning manner, that 
lie had learned to-day for the first time, in the 
course of his conversation with the llofrathin, 
that the Frau Vkrwaltartn was the Frau 
Verwaltmk Grossmann, at whoso house his 
grandmother, Frau vox Eruknstein, had once 
been so hospitably entertained, and of whom 
she had always preserved such o grateful recol¬ 
lection, and ho could not think of leaving the 
town without having mado acquaintance, 
Frau VerwAlter instantly recalled the fair 
young officer’s wife, who was taken ill in pass¬ 
ing through the town where Mrs. Verwalter 
then resided, and whom she had caused to ho 
brought to her house and most tenderly cared 
lor. The young wife had written to her after 
leaving, and had sent her a locket containing 
a lock of her hair. That this Frau Eurkn- 
stein was the grandmother of Mr. Felsen 
Frau Vkuwu.ter was both surprised and in¬ 
terested to learn. 
It must be confessed that Felsen himself 
would never have knowm the fact had he not 
so lately been occupied with old family papers, 
for his interest in such matters was not usually 
very groat. 
Now followed a lively conversation between 
the old lady and the young man, who seemed 
as much absorbed as tf ho had really had no 
other object In Ids visit, and MaBTUA, too, was 
drawn in after she had had time to recover 
from her astonishment during a whispered 
talk with Anna. Hut ns Felsen was to start, 
soon after dinner, it was now time for him lo 
take leave, which he did of the old lady, and 
then turning to Martha he shook hands with 
her for the first time. How her hand trembled 
In his own 1 
“ Farewell, Miss Martha ; I must thank you, 
too, for the kindness with which f have been 
treated here. A happy spring to you. May we 
meet again in better days!” 
Not a syllable passed Martha’S lips till ho 
had gono. When her grandmother returned 
from seeing her guests to the door, Martha 
was no longer in the room; aho had esoa^ed 
to her own littio room, and when she again 
made her appearance her grandmother noticed 
that her eyes sparkled and were no longer red 
as they had been so often of late. Yes, she 
had said good-by to him he had been to see 
her! 
The plain little room would forever after lie 
sacred in tier eyes; the sofa corner whore lie 
had sat, the geranium with which he had been 
toying as lie spoke, I ho spot where ho had said 
farewell-these were now .ill sacred in her eyes, 
and bold a store of sweet, memories for her, for 
of course it was not nut of respect for ids late 
grandmother that ho had come. The thought, 
of separation did not trouble her; her young 
love could feed upon its own sweet secret and 
ho content therewith. She is richer in her 
dream.-., ulus! than in the realization she could 
hope to ho. To see, lo bo with the beloved one, 
was valued much as affording food for sweet 
fancies when alone. 
The old lady may have supposed that the un¬ 
expected visit was made with some especial 
object. In view, fud the young girl did not; it 
all came on her too suddenly. She only felt that 
she could wait patiently now now that she had 
seen him! The g Mini mother's anxious fears 
wero In a great degree allayed. She enjoyed a 
ohnt with young people, especially young men; 
and liked to be t reated with deference by them, 
arid if Felsen had greeted the hedge for the 
garden’s sake, as they used to say in grand¬ 
mamma’s village - well, that, was no such great 
Offense. She was quite satisfied that he should 
have said nothing of Ids intentions or future 
prospects, but sho felt quite sure that such a 
very clever young man would make his way in 
the world, even without the help of a fortune; 
indeed, she did not know hub what. it. would be 
all (he better for M artha if he should bo dis¬ 
appointed In Ills lawsuit, for should lie succeed 
she had serious doubts if ho would Como to 
claim her child. Meanwhile she let things take 
their course. Sho had an objection to chatting 
with Martha about Felsen. Martha, how¬ 
ever, was always very cool and prudent. 
The old lady mentioned the matter now and 
then to the doctor, who was her privy counsel¬ 
lor in all casca; but here she did not meet with 
much encouragement, lie gave shorter an¬ 
swers than was usual with him, and finally slio 
began to agree with Martha that the doctor 
was not much iritorestod In love affairs. 
Y OTJTITE’TJXj T3A.' STS. 
CHAPTER X. 
Winter had come again—not crisp, clear, 
sunny winter, in bin coat of mail of solid ice, 
covered with velvet mantle of dazzling white¬ 
ness ; but so sorrowful and gloomy and heavy 
with fog he lay upon tile earth, that, every one 
lost heart in the winter pleasures which In the 
year past had made the short, days and long 
nights pass so merrily by. No telegraphic sig¬ 
nals fluttered from Anna's window. Indeed, 
Martha had now no time for running about, 
as she had dono last winter. 11ergrandmother 
was quite sick, and Martha had Jert, her own 
little room, in order to lie day and night by her 
side. This was the first, sad time in Martha’s 
life, audit seemed to her Inexperienced little 
heart that nil happiness was forever past for 
her. Not forever; one star hud not puled In 
even tills sad winter, and It supported her 
through the long dark nights. True, in reality 
the bright dream was fore ver faded; but deep 
down In tier heart slumbered the sweet memo¬ 
ries of the still deep love which after longyears 
of trial and separation would bring tier happi¬ 
ness at last; still hardly did bIio dare confess 
those hopes to horsolf. 
Anna, meanwhile, had dono her best to fur¬ 
nish fuel to the llamo over since the time when 
Marth a, one lovely moonlight night, ^oftened 
into being confidential by its tender beauty, 
had laid bare to her the secret of her heart. 
Next to the sweeter role of the beloved one, 
there Is no other to important and flattering as 
that of the confidante and there la no better 
proof of the self-abnegation and power of love 
In the female heart than the aell-forgotfulness 
with which she plays her part In thedramaand 
her readiness to take a minor part. Sometimes 
the confidante is wise, cool and very uxperi- 
enced, oven though she may not. have yet reach¬ 
ed the groat age of eighteen and has plenty of 
sage advice at the service of her friend, though 
one might think she stood In need of some her¬ 
self at times; hut oftencr she encouraged in 
the fullness of her sympathy hopes which her 
friend might, otherwise resign, thus making a 
seemingly substantial reality of what would 
else seem light us a dream long passed. 
Of tliis latter class was Ann a, who was most 
romantically predisposed. She waa untiring in 
her interest, and would never weary of rehears¬ 
ing with Martha every incident of that, hap¬ 
py winter, overy glance of Fel- 
rkn’h, and delighted In giving 
the most significant and earnest 
Interpretation to every syllable 
he had uttered. The bright, pic¬ 
tures of the future, that ap¬ 
peared to M artua through a 
very hazy distance, with Anna’s 
assistance became realities. 
It was the evening of one of 
tiie invalid’s moat wearying 
days; she sat now In her arm¬ 
chair by tho window, when An¬ 
na was seen running hastily 
over, as If she was the bearer of 
Important tidings. 
“ VVel I, Miss Anna, what news 
have you to tell us ? Are you 
engaged?’’ 
“ Not. r,” said Anna, with an 
Important air ; “ Mr. Felsen 
has won bis lawsuit I" 
“Indeed? Well, that is for¬ 
tunate, If his success does not 
turn tho young man's head." 
Martha was quite si lent; sho 
did not know why,but she could 
not feel very glad. The hoir of 
an estate and immense posses¬ 
sions seemed very far removed 
from her. She had always 
thought of him as unfortunate, 
111 treated by fortune. She had 
not loved his success, or his 
brilliant rrospects—only him- 
gelf. 
“ Pray present our congratu- 
I a t ions when your mother 
writes,” said tho courteous old 
lady. 
Anna would have liked to 
have spoken to Martha alone, 
but the latter would not under¬ 
stand her signs and remained 
with her grandmother. Mar¬ 
tha chided her selfishness and 
want of sympathy,but she could 
not help It; the good news lay 
like lead on her heart. 
“Who knows if it Is really 
fortunate for the young man; 
hail he not won he would have 
bad to rely rnoro upon him¬ 
self.” 
“ Yes, and those who shrink 
from his splendor, would have 
gladly shared poverty and sor¬ 
row with him!” cried Martha, 
with glowing cheeks, and then 
suddenly checking herself, 
“ As for that," said her grand¬ 
mother thoughtfully, “this talk 
of sharing poverty 13 all very 
fine, but poverty cannot be 
ahared very conveniently; it Is 
best enjoyed alone. It may he 
all very well to sing, 
‘Divided sorrow la half a sorrow 
but when It comes to dividing 
a small loaf, it becomes smaller 
too, and that la not so pleas- 
MARTHA’S TWO LOVES; 
033,, THE WIFE’S HOME. 
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF MADAME 
WILDERMUTIT, BY ANNE JAY. 
[Continued from page 50, last number.] 
CHAPTER IX. 
Martha awoke next morning with heavy 
eyelids and a sail heart. To-day he was going 
away, and she would not sec him —perhaps 
never in her life again, and she had not evon 
said good-by to him. It seemed to her that, 
she could hear the parting better if she might 
only do so, but as it was, bo might think that 
she had stayed away the previous overling from 
indifference. AH the sad stories she had ever 
heard of hearts which from 
mutual misunderstanding had _ 
been kept apart through life 
now rushed through her mind 
Very, very mournful stories 
they now seemed to her. Onc< 
she thought, of going over tf 
the Hofratlis, for of courao hi 
would come there to say good- 
by. Shi' had some very import¬ 
ant things to talk oyer with 
Anna. But no, her grand¬ 
mother had aroused all her 
maidenly pride; rather would 
she live alone and misunder¬ 
stood, than over.st.ej> the limltc 
of womanly propriety. 
She sat at breakfast with bent 
head and swimming eyes, and 
her clear, bell-likc voice did 
not ring out from the kitchen ; 
she only sang softly to herself: 
“ Yes. parting and coldness bring 
pain.” 
Her grandmother seemed 
quite unmoved by all this, but 
from time to time she would 
follow with a sympathising 
glance the slow, dull move¬ 
ments of the hitherto light¬ 
hearted girl. She knew too 
well that there Is a sleep-walk' 
ing of the heart which it is bet¬ 
ter not to rouse with the sound 
of the human voice. 
Martha had finished hex 
work in Ihe kitchen, and now 
sat by tho window with her 
sewing, her head bowed over 
the work that the old lady 
might not not see the tearful 
eyes. Suddenly she heard n 
step on the stair, lighter and 
more elastic than the doctor’s. 
Some one knocked ; was it re¬ 
ality or was It a dream ?—could 
it really be bis proud, graceful 
figure ? Yes, and Anna follow¬ 
ed him, smiling brightly. 
“Mr. Felsen wished to call 
upon the Frau Verwaltebln 
before he left,” she said, intro¬ 
ducing him. “ I offered to show 
him the way." 
Surprised, but by no means 
confused, the old lady received 
her unexpected guest with the 
graceful courtesy of the olden 
time, taking a seat beside him 
on the sofa, while Martha sat 
at the window with glowing 
cheeks and u beating heart, not 
daring to look at him, not even 
as though ho were a stranger 
whom she had never before 
seen. Even her grandmother 
began to think there musk be 
somo especial reason for this 
unusual visit, unlikely though 
it seemed to her, and she be¬ 
gan to rehearse mentally some 
speech of conditional accept- 
