338 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MAY 23 
all my fault? And through all the long weeks 
of fever that followed I nursed him with un¬ 
wavering eare and devotion. I had but one 
thought—on# desire—to redeem myself in his 
estimation; to prove to him that I was some¬ 
thing more and higher than the mere butterfly 
of fashion 1 had hitherto shown myself! Well, 
the March winds had howled themselves Into 
their mountain fastnesses; the bright April 
raindrops were dried on the bough and spray— 
and now the apple-blossoms were tossing their 
fragrant billows of piuky bloom In the deep 
blue air of latter May. Where were we now? 
it w r H8 a picturesque littJo cottage just out of 
the city, furnished very like a magnified baby 
house. (Jerald sst In a cushioned easy chair on 
the piazza, just where he could glance through 
the open window at me working a batch of bis¬ 
cuits, with my sleeves rolled up above my 
elbows, and the “ gold thread" hair neatly con¬ 
fined in a silken net. 
“What an Industrious fairy it is," he said, 
smiling sadly. 
“Well, you see I like it! It’s a great deal 
bettor than those sonatas on the piano?" 
“Who would ever have thought you would 
make such a notable housekeeper?" 
“1 laughed gleefully- T had a child’s delight 
in being praised.” 
“ Are you not going to Miss Delaney's croquet 
party?" he pursued. 
“No—what do 1 care for croquet parties? I’m 
going to finish your shirts, and you’ll read aloud 
to me.” 
“Madeline I wan’t you to ansiver me one 
question ?" 
“What is it?" 
“I had safely deposited my pan or biscuits in 
the oven by this time, and was dustingthe flour 
off my hands. 
“ What have you done with your diamonds?” 
“I sold them long ago; they paid several 
heavy bills, besides settling half a year's rent 
here.” 
“But Madeline, you were so proud of your 
diamonds." 
“ I was once—now they would be tb©bitterest 
reproaches my eyes could meet, O, Gerald! 
had I been less vain and thoughtless and 
extravagant—’’ 
I checked myself and a robin singing in the 
perfumed depths of apple blossoms above the 
piazza, took up the current of sound. 
“Thai ’s right little red-breast,” said my hus¬ 
band half Jokingly, “talk her dow n ! She has 
forgotten that our past is dead, and that we 
have turned over a new page In the book of 
existence. Madeline, do you know bow l feel, 
sometimes, when I sit and look at you ?’’ 
“No!" 
“Well, l feel like a widower who was married 
again." 
My heart gave a little superstitious jump. 
“Like a widower who was married again, 
Gerald ?” 
“ Yes, 1 nan remember my first wife—a bril¬ 
liant, thoughtless child—without an idea be¬ 
yond the gratification of present whims — a 
spoiled plaything? Well, that, little Madeline 
has vanished .sway into the past, somewhere; 
she has gone away to return no more, and In 
her stead I behold my second wife, a thought¬ 
ful, lender woman, whose watchful love sur¬ 
rounds mo like an atmosphere, wliose character 
growB more noble, and develops itself into new 
depth and beatjfcy every day 3" 
1 was kneeling by Ids side now, with my cheek 
upon his arm and tuy eyes looking into his. 
“And which do you love best, Gerald, the 
first, or the second wife?” 
“I think the trials and vicissitudes through 
which we have just passed are welcome indeed; 
since they have brought me, as their harvest 
fruits, the priceless treasure of my second wife.” 
That was what Gerald answered me, the 
sweetest words that ever fell upon my ear. 
ocjal Stojjics. 
LAW $ TENNIS-A NEW GAME. 
[SEB ILLUSTRATION ON PRECEDING PAGE.] 
The London Field illustrates and describes 
a new’ game, styled Lawn Tennis, which it be¬ 
lieves will be a great acquisit ion as an out-of- 
door amusement at suburban and country 
houses. The game of Tennis is an ancient one, 
having been played by the Greeks and Homans 
centuries ago. It was the fashionable pastime 
of the nobles of Franco during the reign of 
Charles V. In England it was in vogue as enrly 
ns tlenry III., and several subsequent Kings 
were tennis players. Rut it finally died out, 
owing to the difficulties of the game and the 
expense of erecting courts. These difficulties 
have now been surmounted by the Invention of 
Lawn Tennis which has all the interest of ten¬ 
nis, and has the advantage that II may be played 
in the open air in any weat her by people of any 
ago and of both sexes. In a hard frost the nets 
may be erected on the ice, and the players 
being equipped with skates, the game assumes 
a new feature, and gives an opening for the 
exhibition of much grace and science. 
Thl 9 new game (w’hich is variously called 
Sphuiristike or Lawn Tennis,) is worthy of 
attention, if not adoption, in this country, 
where we have not a surplus of out-door 
amusements. Its rules, as will be seen below, 
aro simple and clear. 
ERECTION OF THE COURT. 
The space required for the erection of a per¬ 
fect Lawn Tennis Court is 20 yards by 10. The 
ground need not even be turf; the only condi¬ 
tion is, it must be level. On any ground where 
croquet is played a perfect Lawn Tennis Court 
could be put up in five minutes after the arri¬ 
val of the box containing the game. 
Having selected a suitable piece of ground of 
the size mentioned above, four peg*. A, B, C, D, 
are placed as in the illustration. The distances 
at which these peps are placed from each other 
to 1*« as nearly as possible the same as given in 
the Illustration. 
The distances from A to B and from C to D 
are 10 yards, and from A to C and from JJ to I) 
arc 20 yards, so each court is 10 yards broad at 
the base, and 10 yards deop; the depth may, 
how’evor, be Increased if desirable. 
The post* F. and K will then be placed square 
across the center, and the netting stretched 
betwixt them. 
The two wings or side nettings will then be 
secured to the posts E and F by the loops and 
strings attached for the purpose, and the ex¬ 
tremities drawn tight in the direction of the 
pngs A, B, C, D, forming thereby the side walls 
of the court, and also the guy rope to support 
the postsand center netting. 
The space (G) represent# the in-court, and 
the player who serve* the bail must take his 
post in the crease JC, which Is in the center. 
The other space (K) forms the out^court, and 
must be divided by lines L, M, N, 0, drawn as 
marked In tb# plan. 
The boundaries of the court, and the service 
crease, which is one yard square, may be 
marked in white, for which purpose a brush 
will accompany the box, and a mixture ol 
chalk or ilmo and water should be made In a 
bucket. 
RULES. 
1. This game can be played by two or four 
players. 
2. The game consists of 15 aces, and the out¬ 
side have the option of setting It, if they should 
liapreu to he 13 or 14 all, to either 3 to 5. 
3. The sides having been made, and the one 
to go In having been determined on, as in 
racquets, they place themselves in court G> the 
first player standing in the service crease in the 
center of the court, and serves, w hich ho does 
by throwing up the ball with his left hand into 
the air, and while falling striking it with his 
bat. and sending it over the net betwoon Eand 
If, first Into one court, and then into the other. 
The outside stand one in the fight, and ttie 
other In the left court of side K; if they tall to 
return the ball served to them during its first 
bound, or by a “ volley," that is, hitting it be¬ 
fore It ha.» touched the ground, the In-slde 
score an ace ; hut if they do return it, the ball 
is hit backwards and forwards over the net till 
one side fails to do so, or hits it out of court. 
4. The outer hand can never score an ace, he 
can merely put his opponent's hand nut; the 
score can only be made by the side that is in. 
6. If the server does not hit the ball over the 
net between E and F, or sends it out of court, 
or fails twin# running to serve it into the prop¬ 
er court, his hand is out. 
fl. With four players, the side that goes in lias 
only one hand the first round. 
-- 
THE RICHEST MEN IN AMERICA. 
The New T York correspondent of the Cincin¬ 
nati Commercial writes:—“The three richest 
men in America are Wm. B. Astor, A. T. Stew¬ 
art and Commodore Vanderbilt, all residents 
of New York city. Astur’s wealth is mainly in 
real estate and its revenues; Vanderbilt's is 
mainly In railw ay stocks and their dividend*; 
Stewart's in goods, houses, stores, factories, 
lands and stocks. The aggregate wealth of 
each one of them la supposed to be somew’here 
botwnen $75,000,000 and $100,000,000, which looks 
rather heavy. Nobody knows exactly; they 
cannot tell themselves within a million or two. 
Those who know most about their affairs put 
the figures highest, and they say that the in¬ 
come tax return of a few years ago, which 
showed each of them to be worth between 
twenty and thirty millions, gave no proper idea 
of their real wealth. Astor Jives unostenta¬ 
tiously; Vanderbilt lives in a three-story brick 
house on a third-class street; and Stewart lives 
In a njarlile palace in Fifth Avenue, more mag¬ 
nificent than any other residence on the Amer¬ 
ican continent, and equalled by few in any of 
t he great cities In Europe. Astor and Vander¬ 
bilt are New Yorkers by birth ; Stewart is a na¬ 
tive of the north of Ireland. Astor is a large, 
heavy man of 70, with strong features and a 
rubicund face like a parchment, and gives the 
impression of being hard-up; Vanderbilt is a 
tall, slim, handsome, proud-looking man of 
nearly 80, straight as an arrow. Astor has heirs 
to his estate; Vanderbilt has children to whom 
he can leave his fortune; but Stewart is child¬ 
less. Astor’s public benefactions are confined 
to something like a couple of hundred thou¬ 
sand dollars, which he gave to the Astor Libra¬ 
ry, and the two golden candlesticks, nine feet 
high, which he recently gave to Tri n ity Church. 
Vanderbilt lias never made any public benefac¬ 
tions, except ing asteamship to the Government 
during the war. till very recently, when he gave 
a million dollars for educational purposes—one- 
halt of this sum to found a university in Ten¬ 
nessee, and the other half to another education¬ 
al institution. Stewart has always had the rep¬ 
utation of being close-fisted; but he must be 
credited with ills million-dollar ‘Home for 
Women,’ which will be completed next year. 
Astor is an independent Methodist, and Stew¬ 
art Is said to be inclined to thinking for him¬ 
self. Stewart is a scholarly man ; Vanderbilt 
1 b not; Astor is an accomplished man of the 
tvorld." 
-- 
DEPTH OF QUIET PEOPLE. 
Rome men draw upon you like the Alps. 
They Impress you vaguely at first, just as do 
the hundred faces you meet in your daily walks. 
They come across your horizon like floating 
clouds, and you have to watch a while before 
you «oo that they arc mountains. Some men 
remind you of quiet lakes, places such as you 
have often happened upon, where the green 
turf and the field flower hang over you and aro 
reflected out of the water all day Jong. Some 
day you carelessly drop a lino into the clear 
depth*, close by the side of the daisies and 
daffodils, and it goes down, down, down. You 
lean over and Bound deeper, but your line 
doesn’t bring up. What a deep spot that is! 
You think, and you try another. The reflected 
daisies seem to smile at you out of the water, 
the turf looks as green as ever. You never 
thought of it, but your quiet lake is unfathom¬ 
able. You are none the less impressed from 
these fact that it is a quiet lake.— William 
Quarterly. 
-- 
ATTENTION TO THE OLD. 
A little thoughtful attention, how happy it. 
makes the old. They have outlived most of 
the friend * of their early youth. How hmely 
their hours! Often tbelr partners in life have 
long filled silent, graves; often their children 
they have followed to the tomb. They stand 
solitary, bending on t heir staff, waiting till the 
same call shall reach them. How often they 
must, think of absent, lamented faces; of the 
love which cherished them, and the tears of 
sympathy which fell with theirs, now all gone. 
Why should not the young cling around and 
comfort them, cheering their gloom with songs 
and happy smiles. 
--♦ 
Scatter Pleasure.—As you pass along the 
street you meet, with a familiar face—say good 
morning, as though you felt happy, and it will 
work admirably In the heart of j our neighbor. 
Pleasure Is cheap—who will not bestow It lib¬ 
erally? If there are smiles, sunshine and 
flowers all about us, let us not grasp them with 
a miser's fist and lock them up in our hearts. 
Rather let us take them and scatter them 
about us. 
■ -—-+»♦ - 
SPARKS AND SPLINTERS. 
A man without learning, 
And wearing good clothes. 
Is like a gold ring 
In a hull-dog’s nose. 
Question for florists—Is not a rich mandarin 
a China Astor? 
The article most commonly sold at fanoy 
fairs is the visitor. 
The largest room In the world, Is the room 
for improvement. 
A marriage on a railway train may properly 
be called a railway tie. 
Sulphur comes from Vesuvius; therefore 
it is good for eruptions. 
The sentinel who did not sleep on his watch 
had left it at the pawnbroker’s. 
The temperance movement on Long Island 
is entirely surrounded by water, 
W hat word Is always pronounced wrong, even 
by the best of scholars ?—Wrong. 
• Why Is Sunday the strongest day in the week? 
—Because all the rest are week days. 
Naturalists claim that the crow Is one of 
the bravest of birds, because It never shows the 
white feather. 
“Now, may it please your Honor,” said a 
young Providence lawyer, “ I don't believe 
these facts are true." 
It Is one of the curiosities of natural history 
that a horse enjoys his food most when he 
hasn't a bit tn his mouth. 
When a lady stands at the hymeneal altar 
with her intended, you may know she is about 
to draw her beau into a knot. 
Charles Lamh, when speaking of one of his 
rides on horseback, remarked that “ all at once 
his horso stopped, but ho kept right on.” 
The most bashful drl we ever heard of was 
the young lady who blushed when she was 
asked if she had not been courting sleep. 
The Danbury philosopher observes that the 
placidity of expression worn by a man who is 
“ next ” In a full barber’s shop cannot be coun¬ 
terfeited. 
to A bottle. 
'Tis very strange that you and I 
Together can not pull j 
For you are full when I am dry, 
And dry when 1 am full. 
Among the gifts of a bride was a broom, with 
the following: 
“ This trifling gift accept of me, 
Its use I would commend; 
In sunshine use the hushy part, 
In storms the other end.” 
“ If you don't see what you want, ask for it,” 
is posted upin aconsplcuous place in a Logans- 
port grocery. A native stepped Into the estab¬ 
lishment last week. He saw the card, and re¬ 
marked, “ I want a ten-dollar bill, and I don’t 
see It." “Neither do I,” was the laconic reply. 
^abballt Reading. 
ONWARD AND UPWARD. 
BY W. A. B. 
Onward and Upward,—ever progress 
With the work that we hare to perform ; 
Adversity’s winds our souls may distress, 
Yet calm ever comes after storm. 
Though lone be our paths, and darkened our way. 
The sunlight once more shall appear; 
Then let us move Onward, and duy after day. 
Climb Upward, to Heaven, more near. 
Nought from the Past can ever come hack, 
But the present Is oura to improve— 
In Future may traces be found on our track, 
That Time, In bis course, can only remove. 
Though hard bo our task, and toilsome our life, 
Let us ever press on, with unfaltering hearts. 
Helping each other along through the strife. 
Faithfully striving to act well our parts. 
Then, when our Life Is near ended. 
And we shall lie down to our rest, 
The darkness of Death with the light shall be 
blended. 
That we have, at least, done our best. 
The dawn of a far brighter day shall be near, 
A day never ending—of light and of love— 
And though we may wear ny laurel wreaths here. 
We all may be crowned when above. 
Then Onward—press on In the strife, 
And work with this motto in view ; 
Then Upward—look up unto life, 
And unto the watch-word bo true. 
--— 
SUNSHINE AND SHADOW. 
Change, constant and universal, is written 
upon all sublunary things, and in imperishable 
characters; unmistakable and unavoidably is it 
inscribed across our life's horizon. Yes, our 
very existence boro is but a series of changes— 
changes, too, that are of necessity inevitable. 
To-day our life’s pathway may be flocked with 
the soft sunshine, brightly illuminated with 
the golden rays of hope, while to-morrow a 
sablo-hucd pall maybe resting o’er us, clouds 
dark and sotuber may canopy our sky, their 
deepening shadows casting a mournful gloom 
over our spirits, and whero before was light 
and joy a sorrowful sadness shall reign. Yes, 
man lives in shadow from cradle to tomb- 
shadows, too, that appear to grow darker and 
deeper as the evening of life approaches; for 
perchance there are tinier, even in the sunniest 
path in life, when the glory all has fled when 
the darkening shadows envelopo one so en¬ 
tirely, when the doors of the house of clay are 
hung with the invisible crape of melancholy; 
when llie spirit, apparently sleeping the last 
sleep that knows no waking, fed# t he bright¬ 
ness but mockery, and would wish the golden 
sunshine pitchy darkness. Aye. and in the 
aky, obscured by darkest hue, will there ap¬ 
pear no light to illumine the gloom ? Will pot 
the gloomy veil be sundered, some struggling 
sunbeam pierce the thick, dark clouds, and the 
majestic sun Itself appear—removing by its all- 
pervading power and cheering presence the 
shadow from our brows, and replacing with 
bright rays of hope and light the mournful 
sadness of the heart? Yes, and checkered 
though our path through life may be with 
much, both of joy and sadness, yet let us not 
recoil, even though the grim shadows will be 
creeping onward, when tho darksome day shall 
be past, and nil the storms of life shall have 
ended —when there, In our borne, above no 
threatening gloom shall assail us, for no cloud 
of darkness will ever obscure those Elysian 
skies, and the glory of God doth brighten it, 
and the Lamb is the light thereof. el. 
THE BIBLE IN AMERICA. 
In the year 1777, at a time w’hen the popula¬ 
tion of our country was only about three mil¬ 
lions, and all the Bibles In the entire world did 
not exceed four millions, a memorial was 
pending in Congress on the subject of Bible 
distribution and the printing of an edition of 
thirty thousand copies. The committee to 
whom tho memorial was referred, finding it 
difficult to procure types and paper, recom¬ 
mended Congress that twenty thousand Eng¬ 
lish Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or else¬ 
where, should be imported at the expense of 
Congress into the different States of the Union. 
But owing to the existence of the war, no Eng¬ 
lish Bible could be imported, and no one knew 
bow long the obstacle to importation would 
continue. It was accordingly resolved, In 1781, 
that Congress recommend to the Inhabitants 
of the United States an edition of the Bible 
printed by Robert Altken of Philadelphia, and 
that his laudable undertaking in publishing 
the edition, at the risk of private fortune, was 
worthy of the highest approval. Before this 
no Bible had ever been published in the Eng¬ 
lish language having an American imprint. 
Among all the facts recorded aDd filed in our 
revolutionary archives, we know of none of 
more moral dignity than this act of homage 
rendered by the rising nation to the word of 
God —a nation indeed destined to become 
noble and puissant^-” kindling her eyes at the 
full mid-day beam, and purging and unsealing 
her sight at the fountain itself of heavenly 
radiance.” 
