80S 
MOORE’S RURAL ^EW-YORKER 
MAY 9 
And. Indeed, ma’am, I kept my part of the 
bargain thnt. was between him and me.” 
“It looked then os If Denis meant to do 
everything that win right.” 
“Oh, ma'am, 1 don’t know what has changed 
him 1 He was to me aa pleasant to look at as 
the sun when 'tls rising, and I'm sure I thought 
'twoiild bo always bright to be along with him.” 
“And what does ho say in the letter, Nancy ? ” 
“ Well, ma’am, In tho middle of u great many 
words ho asks mo to reborn him from his hand 
and promise, for that ho thinks wo were never 
Intended for one another." 
“Then you think lie bus got another sweet¬ 
heart, NANCY?" 
“Ah, ma’am 1 I do—of course ho has. 'Tls 
for her ho wants the relase from Ids hand and 
word.” 
“ Do yon suspect who it Is. Nancy ? ” 
“ Yes, ma'am— there was Kitty Delany. I 
was always afraid she would do me harm with 
Denis, and before hearing It I know it is sbe 
that bus darkened my way." ' 
“And what do you Intend to do, Nancy ? " 
"Well, ma'am, If Kitty Dei,any has taken 
advantage of my absence and puts a cloud over 
my road forever, ; he’ll never find me ready to 
put sunshine on her head; and if she won't 
many Denis until he gets released by mo, 
then, ma’am I'm oven with her— for T'll never 
break up anything with my own hand on which 
my heart was once settled " 
“Then, Nancy, you will not;releaso Denis 
yourself? " 
“No, ma'am. I’ll never be his partner in 
breaking my match with him. Fie must do all 
tho breaking In that with bis own hands." 
“And do you think ho will do It?” 
“Air, ma’am, ho has taken down the first 
stones of tho building, and bo's not one to stop 
a thing when he begins it. Then, Kitty Dk- 
i.any has a little money, and she was always 
very artful, and I suppose they are married by 
this." 
“If that Is the case, would It not be as good 
for you to give him the release? " 
“Well, ma'am, as I know he’ll take It any 
how, T’ll not give it. I made a true promise 
and I’ll remain true to It always." 
“Then you'll never marry another, Nancy? " 
“No, ma'am; my marrying days are ended 
before I’m twenty-two. I thought too much 
of Denis praying for him every morning and 
every night, and always In the church—and I 
can never go back on all that, ma’am, and 
marry another.” 
“Then you have a bad opinion of the men?" 
“No, ma’am. My heart will be always 
troubled and sore, and no man has much busi¬ 
ness of the wife that has that kind of ailment.” 
“But there are as'good as Denis In Ireland 
yet.” 
“ No doubt, ma’am. Hut I gave the promise 
of the hand and word to Denis; and if there 
are people who cun make a now promise of 
themselves a* often ns the old one is broken, I 
declare I’m not one to do such a low act." 
"But it would not be a low act for you, 
Nancy, to marry another now that Denis has 
broken his promise.” 
“ Well, ma’am, may bo It wouldn’t he wrong; 
but naythur would it bo wrong to keep from 
making any more promises, and that’s the most 
pleasant to do." 
“But then a great many do get over disap¬ 
pointments and make now engagements." 
“So It seems, ma’am. But those that do 
don’t promise very strongly at first; and It 
seems to mo, ma’am, that a disappointment 
puts a soar on a woman’s face that is always 
freRh to the eye of her husband," 
“ Well, Nancy, but a great many widows get 
married." 
“Indeed,ma’am, you may say that; and if I 
was a widow I suppose I could make some de¬ 
fense ; but as 1 ara only a young girl, I can’t go 
further." 
“ It, in tho way, t hen, with the young girls In 
Ireland to always honor their first engage¬ 
ments.” 
”“0 ma’am! tho young girls in Ireland mo the 
Mime on that point as the young girls In every 
place else. What I mane is, ma’am, that the 
promise of tho hand and word is always to bo 
kept, and that broken promises are not such 
nice things to have near one." 
“You heard of your country woman, Sarah 
Curran, who gave the hand and word, as you 
call It, to Robert Emmet; but she afterwards 
married another. 
“ Yes, ma’am; I heard all about. Miss Cur¬ 
ran ; but for Robert Emmet’s sake I’d bo sorry 
to say anything against the dear lady ho liked 
so much. Then, ma’am, Miss CURRAN always 
kept her hand and word. When she was mar¬ 
rying the English officer she told him slio could 
never forget Robert Emmet." 
“Then you think, Nano/, that a lady could 
keep her hand and word to one and yet marry 
another ?" 
“Ah, ma’am, ’(is a hard thing to do, and I 
would never do it myself; but ma’am, I would 
n’t like to say anything against the lady Uon- 
bht Emmet gave his band and word to." 
“Then it is for the sake of Robert Emmet 
you are so tender in regard to Miss Curran.” 
“Well, ma'am, every man, woman and child 
In Ireland would just do that same." 
“Do you know, Nancy, that 1 Think you will 
get over your disappointment as well as any 
one else?" 
“Well, ma’am, they say the women are very 
fickle, and I don’t, put up to be a saint; but, at 
present, 1 think I know my own mind." 
“ And what step are you going to take?” 
“ Well, ma’am, I’m going back homo." 
“Back home to Ireland, Nancy?" 
“ Yes, ma’am. You see, as I told you, it was 
Denis gave me the money to come out, and I 
would never let Kitty Delany bo able to 
throw In my face that It was her husband’s 
money that took me to America.” 
“ Then you will go back ?” 
“ Yes, ma’am. My people never did a mane 
act. I have saved enough to return and to pay 
Denis, and that Is tho right, thing for mo to do." 
“But you could semi Denis the money by 
letter." 
“Yes, ma’am; but he gave It to mo out of the 
price of hi heifer arid with his own right hand, 
and I’ll return It to him, ma’am, out of tho price 
of my service, and with my right hand, truer 
than bin own." 
“Well, Nancy. I wish you all good fortune.” 
“Thank you, ma’am, and I came this morn¬ 
ing to tell you that. I aiu going in a week." 
“ Very well, NANCY." 
Here the dialogue ended. Nancy, as good as 
her word, went back t.o Ireland to make sure 
that Kitty Decant should never be able to 
say that it was on her husband’s money site 
cams to America. But, four months later, 
Nancy was back again in America, and one of 
the first things who did was to go to see her old 
mistress, Mrs, Fenwick. The following dia¬ 
logue then took place: 
“Oh, Nancy, is that you? Back again from 
Ireland, and you are looking bettor than ever 
you did." 
“Yes, ma’am, I am Nancy; and indeed, 
ma’am, I’m very well." 
“ Well, (laughing,) I told you you would get 
over your disappointment." 
“ Yes, ma’am, you did ; but It was not In your 
way I got over it. I have Denis myself, ma’am,” 
“Oh, you have, Nancy ?" 
“ Yes, ma’am. When r got over, he got sorry 
for wliat ho was doing; and before two weeks, 
ma’am, we wore married." 
“Well, then, Nancy, you have not lost by 
being true to tho hand and word, as you call 
your engagement. ?” 
“ No, ma’am; the pledge of the hand and 
word was never intended to bo broke, and 
when a girl give# it »be ought to be true to it 
alwuys.” 
“ But what Is KITTY Delany to do with her 
hand and word to Denis?" 
“Ah, ma’am! Sure, her hand and word was 
not on an honest foundation, and so she lias no 
right f.o complain.” 
“Well, Nancy, I wish you and Denis very 
good fortune." 
“Thunk you, ma’am," said Nancy. 
Here tlu* dialogue closed—tho mistress well 
pleased with the undoubted fidelity of her Irish 
servant girl to the pledge of the hand and word, 
and Nancy having happiness shinlnp-pn her 
face as a reward for her courage and her truth¬ 
fulness. 
- — — 
EDGAR A. POE’S TALES AND POEMS. 
MY E. K. KEXFOItn. 
Any one who carefully reads the tales and 
poems of Edgar A. Poe cannot doubt, but that 
lie was something of a monomaniac. Ho was 
like the men he writes of, who had become 
possessed of one Idea, and who had dwelt upon 
it so long that it had become the uppermost 
thought In their mind and the governing im¬ 
pulse of their lives. Anyone who knows any¬ 
thing of the human organization U aware that 
when a person’s mind becomes absorbed by a 
single Idea it Is apt to lose Its balance and lie- 
come diseased. I think, from a careful study 
of Poe’s works, that such was the case with 
him. Ho dwelt so long, and so much, upon 
the weird and horrible aspects of life, that he 
was hardly capable of looking at It in any 
other light. There might have been some* 
tiling In bis temperament that naturally In¬ 
clined him to select those weird and gloomy 
subjects for his powerful pen to work up Into 
horribly life-like pictures. There probably 
was; and at laBt It became Impossible for him 
to write in any other stylo. He must have 
something grim and ghostly to correspond 
with the gloom of Ids morbid fancies. 
There is a strange fascination about what 
Poe has written for a large class of renders. 
You dwell upon the keen and skillful anall* 
zatlon of character and motive, ns Poe must 
have dwelt upon it himself when he wrote it. 
You enter, heart and soul, into tho strange In¬ 
fluence which seems to pervade everything 
Poe has written. You forget yourself In the 
wonderful Interest <«r poem or story. About 
his work there seems to be some unexplained 
quality a sort of mesmerism, let us call it, for 
want of a better name ■ which puts the reader 
under the author’s spell till the end of the story 
Is reached ; and even after that the influence of 
the spell is lelt, for days in tho gloomy thoughts 
which t he wild, fantastic creation of the au¬ 
thor's brain 1ms called up. 
Pole's stories are not pleasant to read, 
and yet a certain elan, of writers will enjoy 
them thoroughly. But they are not healthy 
reading. The pleasure which they give Is 
something like the spell produced by some 
powerful drug. There Is something about all 
of his stories suggestive ol his own wrecked 
life. He wrought his own experience, bis own 
wild, vague, somber fancies Into his poems. 
They show us, better than anything else could 
do, the morbid character of Ills mind. There 
is always something green nod ghostly about 
them. You feel that he lives more In a specu¬ 
lative world, full of the horrible and grotesq 10 
creation of his own brain than in the world 
about him. 
It. Is hard to say precisely wherein lies the 
principal power of Pok, Other men have writ¬ 
ten on similar subjects. Other men have been 
as profound analyzers of character, arid as well 
versed In the use of language. It may consist 
In tho Individuality which ho throws Into 
everything he wrote. This peculiar quality, 
combined with his fertile Imagination, clear 
“and polished style, and the vivid, iife-llkcn ss 
of his stories and poems, may be what make 
him bo far superior to any other writer in hlB pe¬ 
culiar field. In that Held he Is without a rival. 
- - - 
A STRING OF PEARLY PROVERBS. 
No cross no crown. 
Out of debt out of danger. 
Far from court far from care. 
Take away fuel take away flame. 
Forecast Is bettor than work hard. 
Covetousness brings nothing home. 
The master’s eye makes tho horse fat. 
Tlr, that goes borrowing goes sorrowing. 
All are not hunters that blow the horn. 
An obedient wife commands her husband. 
The discontented man finds no easy chair. 
Gold goes in at any gat e except Heaven's. 
Fooi.s build houses and wise men buy them. 
Where the knot Is loose, tho string allppetb. 
He that handles thorns shall prick his Angers. 
When the fox preaches beware of your geese. 
Less of your courtosy and more of your purse. 
He that will eat the kernel must crack the 
nut. 
Friendship is love, without either flowers or 
vail. 
To those whoso god is honor, disgrace alone 
is sin. 
Wherever the speech Is corrupted, so is the 
mind. 
A laugh Is worth a hundred groans In any 
market. 
Diligence Is a fair fortune and industry a 
good estate. 
To a gentleman every woman Is a lady, In 
right of her sex. 
When the tree Is fallen every man goetli to It 
with his hatchet. 
Many a man's vices have at first been nothing 
worse than <jood qualities run wild. 
---- 
SPARKS AND SPLINTERS. 
Tiikre was a young min in Chicago. 
And he said, “ May I to your pa go, 
And ask for your hand 
And your house# and land ?" 
This timid young man of Chicago. 
There was a young girl In Chicago, 
Who said, “If you don’t let my paw go, 
Your eyes 1 will scratch 
And your hair I Will snatch. 
And swtfily I'll make every claw go 1" 
Party ties—White ora vats. 
^A good floor manager—A broom. 
Call loans—Those that are called for in vain. 
The best substitute for coal—Warm weather. 
Boys are beginning to “ knuckle down ’’ at 
marbles. 
A HOOF which covers a very noisy tenant— 
The roof of the mouth. 
A thirsty one wants to know If they drink 
stock ale at t he brokers' board. 
Nature’s noblemen never descend to a moan 
action, and rarely eat with a fork. 
A HUNQRY man does right well to eat the 
egg, for he might, starve before it got to bo a 
pullet. 
The Closest Study —Any study where the 
windows haven't been opened for the last six 
months. 
The hog may not be thoroughly posted In 
arithmetic, but when you come to a “square 
root,” he is there. 
A Danbury boy has thirty-two warts on'the 
buck of his left hand. He grates all the horse¬ 
radish for tho family. 
The hatehet which killed Tecumseh Is found. 
We are glad of it. What the country has sadly 
needed In tt batcliet that MltW lie. 
A girl in Wisconsin swallowed forty percus¬ 
sion caps. Her mother refrained from spank¬ 
ing her for fear of an explosion. 
Young lady (at the post office)“ If I don’t 
get a letter by this mail, I wan’t to know what 
he was doing Sunday, that’s all.” 
A JURY In San Diego, Cal., the other day 
brought In a verdict of not guilty, with a re¬ 
quest to the defendant to restore the sheep. 
A piTPrr, In one of the public schools recently 
revised au old saying found in his grammar as 
follows:—" It is better to give than to receive 
it good licking.” 
Josh Billings says:—Tricing tewdeflne love 
iz like tricing tew toll how yu kum tew brake 
thruo the ice-all yu know about it iz, you fell 
In and got ducked. 
COURTING receives a fresh Impetus from the 
advent of maple sugar. Twenty-five cents 
worth of maple sugar will go further than two 
dollars’ worth of candles. 
J$abbatlt Reading. 
A COUNTRY SABBATH. 
Now soars the lark in heaven’s eyesi 
Through leafy crypt now steals tho stream, 
With sallow dimple, sword-blade gleam, 
Ariel glimpse# of divine surprise. 
IToavcn’a golden lire and air of bluo 
Arc drooped about the bowery world; 
Within her holy bosom furled 
The sun has drunk tho rose's dew. 
The landscape nil around Is fair. 
But this remains the heart and gem ; 
With stealing Mourn. nnd graceful stem. 
And sunlit park, and sweet parterre. 
The vista fasclnaics my gazo; 
I huger in a blessed trance. 
See In a dream the waters glance, 
And things that are the food of praise. 
In many a quiet c ttage round 
Japonica, n glory, glows; 
Her ruby-colored sister blows ; 
And purple pansies gem the ground. 
The flrKt laburnum droop- her curls, 
And mingles with the Liao’s locks; 
O’er golden meadows browse the flocks: 
The orohard-bioaaom types sweet girls. 
The sweet-brier sheds Us heavenly breath; 
I pass tlio ■wallflower’s rich perfume; 
And ohestnuL with Its tin-freaked plumo : 
O world to banish dreams of death I 
Tho scent of flower, the song of bird, 
The luce of leaf, tho light of heaven. 
Are vital with a mystic loavon 
Wo have u soul for, not n word ; 
Unless It be— the Breath of God; 
Which also breathes In yon churoh-boll; 
It breaks on me with what a spell 
Across the Msv-eiulirt idcred sod I 
Earth, clothed with Sabbath, thou art fair 
Yc two upon each other act! 
The Sabbath steep* t io flowery tract, 
And finer seem* to rauko the air. 
A TEMPERANCE LECTURE. 
H3W A CLERGYMAN WAS RUINED BY RUM. 
The Rev. J. J. Talbott, onco on Episoopal 
clergyman, then « victim of intemperance, and 
expeiletl from Ills diocese, but now reformed, 
lectured at Terre Haute, Inti., recently. We 
extract the following from the Journal's report 
of ids address: 
Though tho words ohokc mo, I am hero to¬ 
night to say that every experience of my life is 
that wine is a mocker, and that nothing is 
proof against the seductive siren. Tho mighti¬ 
est and greatest Intellects of tho world are 
blasted by her svralagems. It found me in tho 
ranks of those who press to battle lor the 
right. I stood up nobly and freely and my soul 
know no burden. But the destroyer came, 
clothed in the splendor of the sunlight—In 
beauty that bewildered my senses and polluted 
my soul. 
But you ask me how this ruin was wrought. 
First, by prescribed stimulants. Then, In that 
infernal do!usloh that moderate drinking was 
beneficial, came tho habit of drinking wine at 
joyous occasions. I kept or. ; l fell; I laid aside 
the habiliments ol Him wl. did only good, and 
wandered forth at tho blddingof my own spell¬ 
bound will. I toll you once put on the chains 
of strong drink and you may flee to the utter¬ 
most parts of the earth, ns I did, und tho anger 
Of God will follow you. I carno homo after 
years of wandering. At last the demon of 
delirium seized me, and the serpent of the still 
feasted on my quivering flesh. 
For five days and nights I lay at tho gates of 
hell. But He was pleased to drag me forth 
from the presence of the ghosts with whom I 
held such awful convorso. I can now survey 
the field and measure the losses. The prime of 
my life was wasted. 1 had a high offloe aud an 
unspotted character. This demon of wlno 
draggod me down, and the drunkard's life won 
mine. I bad means, but my riches fled. I hud 
a beautiful home, but the demon entorod, und 
the light faded from Its halls. 1 hud beautiful 
children, but this monster took their dimpled 
hands in hi*, and led them to the grave. 
I bad a wife whom to know was to love. To¬ 
night she sits In misery, while I wander rest¬ 
less over tho earth. 1 had a mother whose 
chief pride was my life but the thunder-bolt 
struck her too. Years of work in the cause of 
the right mny give back to those nr ms my lov¬ 
ing wife. But, Oh ! what Joy when I clasp In 
another world, the hand of my mother. And 
thus E stood, and thus I stand to-day, a hus¬ 
band without a wife, a father without a child 
—all swallowed up In the foarful maelstrom of 
drink. 
I stand with scarce a friend on earth. Go, 
drink of that bitter cup, and then ask mo if I 
can paint in too high colors tho picture of my 
despair—ask me If I hate the agent of my ruin. 
Hate it! I hate the whole damning truffle. I 
would to God that every distillery In this nation 
were in flames. I would write on the glowing 
sky In letters black us their sinoki:—“ Woo, 
woe to him, tllflt putteth the bottle to bis 
neighbor’s lips." 
■- - ■ •»■»»- — — - 
A young woman In Geneva, Illinois, re¬ 
ceived a gift of HCO from tier mother for read¬ 
ing the Bible through In six days. 
