THE COMING OF THE SPRING 
stood each other; for in the 60 uls of youths of 
twenty years there are affinities so delicate, ties 
of sympathy so varied, that they understand 
each other at once and speak, without the aid 
of a tongue, a language more eloquent than any 
human dialect. With our young lovers so per¬ 
fect was this comprehension, so close these ties 
that united them, that in eight days they be¬ 
longed each to each in feeling as thoroughly as 
if the Archbishop of Toledo had performed the 
marriage ceremony. 
And this little result had been achieved so 
artfully' and discreetly that, notwithstanding 
his desire to discover something, the guardian 
had seen nothing and had begun, even, to re¬ 
cover from his vexation of mind. One day, 
while in good humor, he chanced to speak of 
his whimsical ideas of marriage. Tills awkward 
avowal singularly hastened his catastrophe, as 
he might have guessed had ho observed the 
significant, look that the young people exchang¬ 
ed. Better still, by a strange and mysterious 
coincidence of thought, each lotor resolved, at 
the same moment, to offer to t he other a pledge 
of fidelity and that very evening having met by 
a chance that had been provided lor before¬ 
hand, Alonzo passed a gold ring on Uosita’s 
finger, while the latter slipped a locket in his 
hand. 
The young man did not dare to examine hia 
treasure before his father, but as soon as he 
had shut, himself up in his room he took Ro- 
sita’s gift, from hia pocket and looked at It 
with eager eyes. What was his surprise on ob¬ 
serving that the locket contained a lock, of 
white hair! Fortunately the precious locket 
was wrapped in paper, and on this paper was 
written the reassuring words, “ Rosita’s hair.” 
Thus, the young girl, collecting by the exercise 
of patience the white hairs that were hidden in 
her thick black tresses, had succeeded in giv¬ 
ing something as a souvenir to her lover which 
would not compromise herself In the eyes of 
her guardian. 
Alonzo pressed the welcome gift to his heart 
and at every favnrableoppori,unity he withdrew 
it from its place of concealment and covered it. 
With ki*ses. One morning while he was en¬ 
gaged in this agreeable pastime, bis father, who 
was constantly watching him,came behind him 
softly and noticing that he was raising some 
object to his lips, he desired to know what it 
was and commanded his son to show it to him. 
Had Alonzo thought for a moment he might 
have done so willingly; but love is uneasy in 
its nature and the young man, Influenced by an 
imaginary fear, refused t.n obey the paternal 
injunction. 
“ Id truth, sir," growled the old man, “ you 
must be very much ashamed of youv feelings to 
refuse to share them with the author of your 
days. Judging by your obstinacy I do not doubt 
that this portrait is that of some girl of whom 
you are yourself ashamed.” 
“ Father t” exclaimed the young man, who 
thought of Rosita as having been insulted by 
his remark, “ I allow no one to do injustice to 
the noblest and most beautiful seuorita in all 
Spain!" 
“Indeed! It is so, Is it?” cried Kosita's 
guardian, whose jealousy had been aroused sud¬ 
denly ; “ you will show me that portrait, sir 1“ 
And then, without awaiting Al.ONZO’B reply, he 
rushed on him and snatched the locket from 
his hands. 
At the sight of the lock of white hair, the 
father's suspicions vanished but to yield to an 
equally hostile feeling, to-wit, anger at haviog 
been mocked by his son. 
“Wicked Impostor 1” he cried , “such, then, 
is the most beautiful and most adorable senor- 
Ita of Spain?" 
“ I think so, for I love her 1" 
“Insoleet I" exclaimed the old man, who be¬ 
came excited In proportion as he believed him¬ 
self quizzed by his son. “You deserve that I 
should force you to marry this duenna with 
white hairs!“ 
“ You would not dare to do so, father, I an¬ 
swer for it !’’ 
" Take care !” was the angry reply. “ i am a 
man who may compel you to it as a punishment 
for your Insolence. You do not know me, 
sir I” 
“It Is because I know you,” returned Alon¬ 
zo, “ that I do not care for your threats I" 
“Very well, then!” vociferated the gray- 
beard, whose resentment was at its hight; “by 
Our Saviour and by Our Lady of Atrocha, by 
the Holy F.vangels, and as t hope for my soul's 
salvation, you shall wed her at once! Thin Is 
my formal will I" 
“So he it, father. I will go ami seek her at 
once, so as to obey you I” 
And Alonzo wont out, leaving his father a 
prey to the most violent attack of rage that can 
be Imagined. 
A few momenta after, Alonzo re-appeared 
with Rosita by the hand. The young girl was 
trembling and blushing with emotion. 
“What is this, and what Is the meaning of 
this new joke?” thundered the guardian with 
a purple face. 
“ Father, this Is the woman whom you nrderod 
me to marry, and whom, therefore, [ bring to 
you." 
" You abominable, good-for-nothing fellow ! 
Will you please to explain ?” 
“ Rosita will tell you herself,” replied Alon¬ 
zo, ** that the hair which troubled you so much 
Is from her own head. She had great trouble 
in collecting them from her pret.t.y head, but 
she did not fear to take this trouble for ray 
sake. if. now', the poor girl confesses herself 
to you, believe me, father, it is because she 
wishes to preserve for you the share of paradise 
which you would lose in failing to abide by your 
most sacred oaths." 
The unfortunate old man was more dead than 
alive, for he saw himself defeated by these two 
children who did not. fear to sing their song of 
victory to his very beard. He uttered a torrent 
of maledictions against them but, like a faith¬ 
ful Christian and a good Spaniard, he did not 
dare to perjure hinu elf. 
And thus was it th i a marriage was brought, 
about by the command of the very person who 
most detested it. 
A City Canzonet 
Thus a family did sing 
Praises of the coming Spring . 
PAYERFA MILIAS— Btinn-ca t arrh. 
Spring is near without a douht— 
The store busenu-nt is rtrownded out, 
I think we shall undergo o 
"Freshet,” unparalleled since Noah. 
Pavements greasy ait; with mud, 
Sewers choked with turbid flood. 
My catarrh persistant hour, 
Than admit that Spring is neat. 
The RIGHTFUL man—Timor. 
Feebly ‘neath hot-water urns 
In saloons the gas-jet burns . 
The capacious Ulster’s grace 
To lighter garb ol drub gives place; 
bay the cone of sealskin by ; 
Cock Spring beaver o'er right eye; 
Dasb the rnuff from either our. 
Bet your pile that Spring is near. 
The Daughter, o. The Daughter— contralto, 
In green meadows milk-white lambs 
Must bn frisking with their dams; 
In the emerald turf is set 
The first dewy violet; 
Crocuses bedeck the lea: 
Birds sing in the budding tree 
“ ’Gainst the sword of Winter ” drear. 
Spring, the beauteous Spring, is near. 
MATEUFAMII.A8— Treble. 
Lambs in meadow green ? Not much. 
All the lambs are in the butch - 
Br shop : dear, too. P’rhaps one sees 
HOW HANNAH POUND HER STOCKING 
BY MRS. HATTIE F. BELL, 
“Have you seen m> stocking?" This was the 
momentous question that agitated tho usually 
quiet household one busy Monday morning. 
It was asked down in the kitchen, where little 
brisk PATTY was patiently turning tho griddle 
cakes ; hut Patty only laughed and said, “ How 
do you s'pose 1 know? I guess ’taint likely to 
be In the buckwheat butter!” It was asked in 
the dining-room, where Aunt Rachel whs 
bustling about, and clattering the china and 
jingling the silver; hut Aunt Rachel only 
meekly responded, “ I'm sure T do not know. 
Hannah, hasn’t then got It .on thy foot?" It. 
was repeated to the hired man Z.VCcueus who, 
though like his ancestor of old, was short in 
stature, was in his own estimation as big as any 
two ordinary men;- and when poor Hannah, 
still Intent on her fruitless search, ran plump 
Into his arms in the woodshed and all out of 
breath asked so piteously, “ Oh, Zack, have you 
seen my stocking anywhere?" that personage 
was up on the stilts of bis dignity In a twink¬ 
ling. w Zack, indeed 1 Who do you think you 
are talking to? My name ain't. Zack, I’d in¬ 
form you; and you ought to be ashamed nick¬ 
naming a Bible name; but if It’s the stocking 
what's got a big hole. In the heel, and a piece of 
string tied ’round the end to keep your toes in, 
I'll just remark 1 haven't seen it since li hung 
on the clothes line, last week, and Ben Ei.df.k- 
kin was makin' fun of it." 
This was tho last drop in poor Han- 
pj nail's cup of grief, for that was the “dlen- 
tioal one," as she gasped to herself, and 
to th ink that Ben, her heart’s beau-ideal 
of goodness and truth and manhood and 
gj] uprightness and everything else In the 
to think that Ben, 
Violets, but no enbbagi's. 
Singing birds t There arc none -stuff !- 
Bin spring chickens, and they're tough 
Nothing's fresh, and all is dear; 
Th ns I know thut Spring Is near. 
The Lamb of the ITlock— VhUdUh treble 
I have sold my skates and sled 
For a lot of balls, red, dead. 
The “ Pouy Mutuals ’ have elec- 
led Bill Jones President, and me Sec., 
And their opening game will play 
with the Kyoortles, Saturday. 
”<vu mu njuwiud, Saturday. 
8oo. my top. mj marbles here. 
These muddy trousers ! Spring is near, 
Thus that family did sing 
Praises of the coming spring. 
THE LOOK OF WHITE HAIK 
Translated from tipi French for Moore’s 
Rural, by Cn as. Dimitry. 
ever shone on. She was sixteen years old. 
Her form was as supple as the laurel-rose. 
Her lips, brilliant red in color, Tesembled 
a half-opened pomegranate, and the look 
from her eyes was Jike the ray of the An¬ 
dalusian sun. In short, Bhe was so warm 
and youthful a beauty that, association 
with her had melted the ice in the nature 
of her old guardian. But as he did him¬ 
self justice ami felt how few qualifications 
he possessed to attract her, lie was seized 
naturally with a fierce jealousy, in this 
matter following the example of others 
like himself who, not considering their 
affection sufficiently Inopportune, add to 
it that wretched sentiment. 
In order, therefore, to assure himself of 
the possession of Rosita, our Spaniard 
kept her shut up with only a horriole 
duenna for a companion, surrounding the 
poor recluse with nothing bur. the most 
uusightly objects, and placing before her 
eyes, designedly, faces more deformed and 
repulsive than his own—and a more dis¬ 
agreeable physiognomy than his It was 
difficult to find. This was not all, how¬ 
ever. The graybeard bad a son who might 
prove troublesome as he grew up. In order 
to avoid all association with hia ward, he 
had sent him to a distance to pursue his 
studies, preferring to deprive himself of 
his son’s society rather than to endanger 
the success of his designs. 
Thi6 was all very well devised. But as 
it happened, Alonzo graduated at last 
and wrote to his father that before going 
to Catalonia, where he intended to engage 
in the practice of a profession, he would 
oomo to Seville so as to have the pleasure 
of clasping him in a filial embrace. Al¬ 
though this plan was very disagreeable to 
him, the old man did not dare to oppose 
it; but he promised himself to make his 
son’s stay in his house very brief; and to 
prepare against every contingency, he 
passed his time in instructing bis ward 
that she should keep herself concealed 
and should avoid, as if it were tiie plague, 
the society of this graduate, whose habits 
and character lie depicted in the most 
forbidding colors. 
These precautions, sermons and calum¬ 
nies resulted in an effect that was directly 
contrary to that expected by the gray- 
beard. Rosita found the graduate most 
agreeable; the more so because she had 
expected to see a monster*and her heart, 
prepared by solitude for the pleasant rec¬ 
reation of love, allowed itself to bo gently 
agitated by the tender smiles that Alonzo 
did not fail to bestow on her. The two 
young people fell in love as soon as they 
saw one another, and in loving they under¬ 
vocabulary of virtues, 
of all others, should have seen that stock¬ 
ing and laughed at it! Oh! it was too bad, 
and Hannah sobbed outright at the 
thought; “And perhaps even now he’s 
got it," she sighed. “ I bet Zaccheub has 
stole it and given it to Ben, just to spite 
me for settln’ on his new hat the other 
day." She seemed to settle down upon 
this idea as a fixed fact, - though how 
Zacc he its could possibly, by any means or 
art or sleight-o n -haud performance, have 
obtained possession of Hannah's stock¬ 
ing, was a problem that would have puz¬ 
zled a pret.t.y sharp lawyer, as she was sure 
she took It off and laid it by the side of 
her bed the night, before, and her door was 
every night locked with a key, then but¬ 
toned, then her bedstead pulled up against, 
it, and her one window was nailed down 
with two nails each side, and Bhe slept up 
in the second story at that,. But in her 
Indignation she never thought of all these 
things, but. took it as a settled truth that 
Zack had stolen her unfortunate stocking 
to set Ren against her, and so she went 
about all day, with one stocking off and 
one stocking on, and 'tis no wonder she 
felt rather one-sided, especially when 
Zack came around. But she never gave 
him a word or a glance, so great was her 
mortification to think that any one should 
have seen the failings of her stocki ng that, 
for want of the "stitch in time," had now 
even got past the nine or twice nine to 
make it worthy the name. “ That's why 
she flurried 'round so to tlud It, I guess,” 
said little Patty, hitting the truth exact¬ 
ly, “ ’cause she was ’9hamed to have any 
one else pick it up." 
Poor Hannas ! But the day sped on, 
and she carried it through ; 
" For Hannah found plenty of work to do; 
Her heart was alternately heavy and gay. 
'Twin fearing and hoping, and wishing all 
day; 
But ot all the deur wishes that strengthened 
her then, 
The d eareat was this—that she might have B kn . 
And so she went about getting supper, 
resolving very wisely as she went from 
pantry to dining-room and back into the 
pantry again, not to let this little thing 
spoil her appetite. But, alas for Hannah ! 
The butter was down cellar of course, and 
she started, plate and knife in hand, to 
get' some; but at the top of the stairs a 
wee little mouse, frightened half out of 
his senses that he was seen 30 far away 
from home, ran with all his might to get 
'iH/IWI'IWWiiiiiiiiiiiiihi 
