— 
MARCH 20 
MY POEM. 
BY .TOY MERRIWEATHER. 
I said to wife, “ I wonder what 
There is about a poet 
So different from other folks !” 
“' Make verses?’ ’’—I can do it!” 
And so I sat mo down at once 
And soon had two linos written. 
But long I pondered, ere I found 
Two fellow Hues to fit. ’em. 
I worked the best part Of n day, 
Composing and perfecting, 
Then brought and read It to my wife— 
She seemed to be rcQeeting. 
“ What think you ?-8o far Is well done, 
Is't not ?” X cried, elated ; 
“I’ll send it to the printer, straight,”— 
My wife still hesitated. 
“ Speak out, and free your mind,” I urged. 
“ Why, seems to me, dear Peter, 
Some of the lines don't hardly rhyme 
And some don't seem to—meter.” 
“ Much you know about poetry ”' 
With scorn I thus berated: 
“ But it should rhyme!” my gentle spouse 
Mildly insinuated. 
I raised my voice—a way I have 
When I am getting worsted— 
This rhymes, 1 tell you .'—Meter too 
Is well enough adjusted.” 
e 
Sbo answered not,—ray patient wife ;— 
I sent it to he printed. 
Returned—” Respectfully declined.” 
" The worse for them!” 1 hinted. 
“I’ll send It to another man 
Who Is himself a poet!" 
Alas the day! Ho published it 
In shape l scarce should know it. 
Bach slight defect he ridiculed 
And held it up to show, sir; 
My neighbors scoffed;—my wife spoke not, 
But looked, ” I told you so, sir!” 
1 rue the day when I wns tired 
By such a mad ambition— 
Henceforth I’ll plow and reap and mow, 
Content with my condition. 
Topeka, Kansas, 1875. 
UNCLE ETHAN’S PLAN. 
A STIIUV OF LOVE AND PRINCIPLE. 
BY DE FORREST P. GUMMERSON. 
“Well, of all the deserted, desolate-looking 
places that It has ever been my misfortune to 
be placed in, this certainly goes ahead! My! 
It gives me a flt of the blues, sends cold chills 
all over me, and I do bolieve that I’m going to 
have the ague." 
“The carriage Is In waiting, Miss Stanley,” 
said acheerful voice, as the lady finisheif her 
speech. “ If you will just give me your checks, 
I will ntteud to getting you- trunks.” 
The lady banded over the chocks with a non¬ 
chalant air, which scorned to Indicate that, so 
far as she was concerned, It made no particular 
difference what became of the trunks, or her¬ 
self either, for that rnat ter. 
The trunks having been obtained, the young 
man who had attended to them returned to 
escort Miss Stanley to the carriage. Then it 
was that she saw how handsome he was. In 
her almost fit of the sulks she had scarcely 
noticed hiru when be at first appeared before 
her. She wondered, too, who he could be. Her 
uncle had not written her that, she should find 
any other visitor at his home when he came. 
“ I expected my uncle to meet me,” she said ; 
“is he 111 ? or ” 
“ lie is not ill, Miss, but he is not so young as 
he once was, so he decided to send me in his 
place.” 
“And you—In what relation to him do you 
stapd ?’•’ 
“ I am his hired man, Miss.” 
If he had turned just then and seen the scotk- 
ful curve of those lips, which at the first mo¬ 
ment of his meeting with her he had inwardly- 
pronounced so perfect, I think he would have 
changed his opinion, 
“The fellow Is handsome, at any rate,”she 
murmured haif-audlbly to herself, when she 
had recovered from the first feeling of contempt 
at having put herself on such Intimate terms 
with one who was only her uncle’s hired man, 
as to carry on even the slightest conversation— 
“ and maoly-looking too,” she added ; “I won¬ 
der how be came to be in such an Inferior posi¬ 
tion?” She did not resume her questioning 
after this acknowledgment. “ I must be careful 
how I give vantage ground to such as he.” 
By this time they had reached the home of 
Miss Stanley's uocle, who came and stood 
in the open doorway to give her a welcome be¬ 
fore she entered. The young man assisted her 
with the utmost politeness to alight from the 
carriage, but made no attempt to attract fur¬ 
ther notice to himself. He undid the fasten- ! 
Ings that held the trunks In their places, and 
then carried them into the large, old-fashioned 
hallway and went out to care for the horses. 
Kate .Stanley was the Idol of her uncle and i 
was credited with being the future heiress to 
all his wealth which, if rumor was correct, was j 
no inconsiderable amount. Then too, she was i 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
already in possession of the snug little sum of 
$ 20 , 000 , which her dead father and mother had 
left to their only child. Being naturally of a 
jovial disposition, it did not take much to make 
her happy and, ere she had been in the house 
i ten minutea, hardly long enough to lay aside 
her wraps, the old house was filled with the 
echoes of her ringing laughter. 
Kate usually spent three months of each 
year with her undo; the rest of the time she 
was at boarding school. She was not yet nine¬ 
teen, but had already been sought in marriage 
by numberless amorous youths, each of whom 
declared that “ Without her. lire would not be 
worth the having." To each of these she would 
both belonged to my dear mother; you must 
agree to let me do the chores, care for the 
horses, drive you and the young ladv out when¬ 
ever you or she umy desire to ride, and in fact 
trent me In every way just as you would one' 
whom you had in reality employed. If lhis 
suit* you, but one word from your pen. and that 
word Yes, and T will come. Your Own Iloy, 
Leon a jin Hull.' 
Uncle Ethan was nearly beside himself witli 
Joy. A joke too, with him, was a luxurious 
fca-t; so in less than five minutes after he hail 
fully comprehended the situation, the word 
“ Teft " been written, the envelope that con¬ 
tained It sealed and on its way to the post-office. 
At the end of the week Leonard H.u.e ar¬ 
rived at his uncle’s home. He was in the best 
O'' 
A D It A WING LESSON, FROM LANDSEER, IN OUTLINE. 
give tiio same answer when asked to marry 
them—“She was not ready to marry yet; she 
would wait until she had seen a little more of 
the world am! couid Judge bettor of the ways 
and manner of men, so that she might be able 
to discriminate between those who were in love 
with her money and those who were in love 
with herself." 
Now, Uncle Ethan had «Wo a favorite neph¬ 
ew -or ratlo r a nephew of his wlfe’s-for whom 
he had a wondrous liking. He had also a pet 
Plan or dream he called it and that was that 
tins nephew of his should some day find the 
door of Kate Stanley’s heart wide open, and 
that at that precise moment lie would walk 
straight therein and take possession, when ho 
would give his blessing, and all the rest of their 
days should be spent together. A nice little 
plan, surely; but then these two had never met 
and then there was another little difficulty in 
the way. His nephew, too, haJ some money, 
and as great a horror of being married or sought 
after on account thereof, as had Miss Stanley. 
His uncle had often spoken of hlsriiecoand 
expressed the wish that he would make his 
annual visit at the same time as she made hers, 
so that he might see what a glorious creature 
she was. 
Into the ears of his nioce lie had often poured 
unqualified praise of Leonard Hale, and had 
even gone so far as to express the hope that she 
would one day become his wife. Whereupon 
Miss tossed back her curls defiantly and de¬ 
clared, "That come what might, she would 
never marry Leonard Hale ; no, not if he was 
the very Adonis among men and as rich as that 
old heathen whom everybody quotes!” 
After this Uncle Ethan ffave up in despair; 
when one day, about two weeks previous to the 
time set for the coming of his niece, he received 
f ho following note from his nephew : 
1 ncle;— r have thought so much of 
t^v ll ti a,) F 1 r > K Ur wisl ,' to fmv ” ,,ie wed Miss 
Stanley, that I have at last decided to accept 
your kind invitation, and meet her at your 
home—that is, If you are willing to comply with 
“’especlfled conditionsThat I shall hi known 
as Evans Steele, which names, you know, 
of spirits and told his undo that ho had never 
felt better in his life. “ When do you intend to 
set me at work?" he asked. “You know I 
roust, In- no Idler here. Homembsr, you prom¬ 
ised to treat me just as you would one of your 
hired men." 
Uncle Ethan lay back in his arm-chair ami 
indulged in a good, hearty laugh—such a laugh 
u.s only one in the perfect enjoyment of health 
'■(mid indulge In, When he had quieted down a 
little lie turned to his nephew and said : “ It 
won't do, my boy. Depend upon it, aha will see 
through the whole plot at once; she is a- keen 
and sharp as a stool trap.” 
“ Wait and see, uncle! There Is an old pro¬ 
verb somewhere that would just apply to this 
case; but as I hat© proverbs, I won’t quote It, 
not even for your benefitbut wait and see.” 
On Tuesday of the following weok Mias Stan¬ 
ley had written that she would be at Thorn- 
burv. When the day arrived. Undo Ethan 
declared his intention to raeef her at the depot, 
but Leonard would not agree to this plan. 
“The very time of ail to meot this woman is 
when she arrives," he said. “ I believe in first 
impressions you know, uncle, and there nan be 
no other than a good one formed of one who 
eomes to bear you to a place of rost after three 
hundred miles of tiresome travel by rail." 
So L ncle Ethan remained at homo and Leon¬ 
ard wont to the depot, as we have seen. 
Whether the first impression Miss Stanley bad 
of him would benefit, him In the future we have 
yet to learn. 
Thornbury was not quite at. the world’s end, 
notwithstanding Miss Stanley's exclamation 
upon her arrival at the station. Nor was it in 
the world a center. Like many another pretty 
country village. It was nestled down amongtho 
hills in as beautiful a valley as the hearc of man 
could sigh for. 1 SHy this of the valley Itself— 
not so good a word can I speak for tho people 
who make it their home. With but few excep¬ 
tions the people were coarse, underbred, illit¬ 
erate and thoroughly Iaokingin the many little 
graces which go so much towards making the 1 
man higher than the brute creation. Not that 
fe Wero no ' Vllr,n hearts among them. There 
? m V' y , Wh ° woul<1 far out of thoir way 
nt * do a kindness, but more who would spend 
is r ne ‘" Picking their neighbors’ character 
at f aml exposing their faults to the view 
«7;£ *, bom *“• •«*» » f -“'“m™ 
1,1 11 ®l M ^ &rANLKY ’ during her visits to her 
‘i m l r UOt f0f,nctl a " v very .'lose attaoh- 
" ! ' a ; ' he ™ ™ ono family in whom she took 
d Interest a,l(l 0« whom aim called. This 
i- i earth of society was no great privation to her, 
e. however, for in her city home she had a surfeit, 
i- ami the shady groves and rippling brooks were 
,t farmore to her taste than tho platitudes to 
which society compelled her so often to listen. 
Not Infrequently sho would plan a distant 
excursion, and then of course voung Steele— 
the only name by which Lbonaho Hale was 
A° '"- r ~ Would h « required to drive, 
inning these excursions she gradually grew on 
1 iem y terms with tho young man, though on 
his part, no effort was made to Induce her to do 
so. He replied to all questions which she asked 
loin n a polite and gentlemanly manner, and 
sought to do everything in hU power to make 
these rides pleasant ones. That he succeeded 
n his intention one might judge from the fact 
that Ids services grow to bo more In demand 
each weok that succeeded the other. 
One day she asked him a question in an off¬ 
hand way as to “ Why oue with Ills evidently su- 
pciior attainments should choose to fill the 
position which lie held?” 
i I ’ 1 ® re I ,| y c «rtalnly pleased her; for when he 
had finished her face wore a satisfied look, and 
her eyes turned upon him a little more admir¬ 
ingly than even ho, with his acuteness of vision, 
had ever seen them do before. 
“ He had grown tired of city life, and the con¬ 
stant wear or business had made certain Inroads 
upon his health, which he believed the fresh air 
of the country and labor auch as an ordinary 
farm hand would do, was tho only means by 
which the repairs his system needed could be 
made. Of course It would only bo fora short 
time, and then he should go back to the city 
and resume his old position." 
I may as well toll you here that Kate Stan- 
lev loll easily In love with Leonard Hale, or 
Evans Steele, as sho thought him to be; for 
m days lung a rter that on which ha told her 
why ho was there on that farm—not the true 
reason, I know, hut tho one she then believed, 
she tub! mo that from that moment she began 
to love him and to see in him her rate. 
In the long rides mid rambles over and among 
fhe hills, tie was always her attendant. No 
mossy doll or darksome cavern remained unox- 
ploied long. I do not think ell.her cared whither 
their steps led so that they only did not sepa¬ 
rate from each other. 
I he day , passed so soon one Into tho other, 
that, ere cither was aware or It, the time when 
Mi.N8 Sta.nlijy must return had almost arrived. 
To .say that *he was anxloua, or even ready, to 
depart, would iie far from true. Indeed, there 
had hung a golden halo about, all these days 
that, had come and gone since she had been at 
thornbury, and this had crowned them tho 
happiest days of her life. Ah | Love, when will 
you cease to blind the eyes or h i poor, Toollsh 
mortals and, where so often wo should seo 
thorns, make us see hut the roses, which stoop¬ 
ing to pick, in bearing it away, find that our 
band and ofttlmes our heart is torn and bleed¬ 
ing. 
The day came on which Kate Stanley must 
return to her city homo. Uncle Ethan declared 
that he could not part with her, and did all In 
Ids Power to persuade her to remain, hut K ytk 
had more reasons than one for going back, so 
all his kind persuasiveness was lost. 
In the month of December, on the day when 
the UfnuHr-cbild was born, she had promised 
to become the wife of Evans Btkklk. 
w hen t ncle Eth a n heard this news he could 
scarcely contain himself. To have had this pet 
scheme of his life prove a failure, would have 
sadly affected the old man. He promised all 
-orts of good things to thorn both In tho future, 
and even went so far as to say, “ IT things went 
well, he would even sell the old farm and come 
and live with them.” Whether this plat, would 
have proved agreeable to all was never known, 
for before the time set for the marriage of Leon¬ 
ard IIalk and Kate Stanley, Uncle Ethan 
was laid beneath the snow to sleep. 
Kate Stanley learned almost upon the eve 
of the time appointed for her marriage that the 
man whose betrothed sho was was not Evans 
Steele, but Leonard Hale— the man whom 
.she had declared, over and over again, that she 
would never marry. 
There was a strength of character about this 
woman seldom to bo met with. Then one 
thing that made it easier for her to decide that 
ihcre would be no marriage on the coming 
Christmas night between her and Leonard 
Hale was her hatred of anything like decep¬ 
tion. To be sure she had repeated to her unole, 
oft enough, “ that she would never marry 
Leonard Hale, but she had never seen him 
then, and besides there had been no roal reason 
why she might not ; the words had been the 
mere outguah of a school girl’s impetuousness. 
But now she had seen this man, and oh, 
more than ail, had learned to love him. lint 
he had deceived her, and could she ever feel 
quite sure of him after thut? Many, it was true, 
would look upon the whole thing us a capital 
joke, but there was none of this surface think¬ 
ing about her. She looked into the passible 
beyond, when, should an occasion offer, he 
might again deceive her. 
