334 
the rural 
boxes, small boxes, an<l middle-sized boxes; in 
fact, every variety of box l bat could be Imagined 
or conceived of was hauled In wagons from the 
nearest railroad station, which was fourteen miles 
distant. That was a regular carnival of easy work 
and good wages for the teamsters. One box. la¬ 
beled •* Plano,” was a subject ot much wonder¬ 
ment, for such a thing as a piano was almost un¬ 
known In that part of the eouutry- 
The t.hrfio women who wore hired to scrub the 
floors and give the house a genera! cleaning were 
looked upon as heroines. The poor creatures 
were overwhelmed with the interest people 8Ul * 
denly began to take In them, but were more over¬ 
whelmed with the multitudes of quesUonsthay 
were called upon to answer. As they were by no 
means unwilling to talk, curiosity was rather 
awakened than satisfied by their reports or the 
carpets, aohui, mirrors, and pictures that, adorned 
this wonderful house, hut the wildest excite¬ 
ment was absolute slumberous repose, compared 
with the frenzy the gossips managed to work 
themselves Into over the arrival of some half a 
dozen servants. The housekeeper was looked 
upon with that wonder ana almost reverence 
which Is sometimes accorded to great literary 
celebrities. Then a whole week of suspense, 
passed away without any further developments 
Some of the most anxious had ventured to call 
upon the housekeeper, but they found It rather 
unpleasant than otherwise, as sue received these 
advances in a manner that said as plain as words 
could speak It, “ Please attend to your own af¬ 
fairs.” 
Saturday afternoon, at. four o’clock, the stage 
came in; but Instead of going directly to the 
tavern, It stopped at t he new bouse, ft was a 
moment, of intense excitement for those who 
were watching this proceeding from the windows 
or the neighboring houses. The driver, having 
dismounted, opened the coach door, and there¬ 
from issued a rather good, looking man, wearing 
the dnest of black broadcloth, me best or brown 
hats, the blackest of boots, and last, but not least, 
a pair of spectacles adorned his mcc. We say 
adorned, because be was one of those whom spec¬ 
tacles become. Very dignified ho looked as he 
walked up the long gravel path and entered the 
house with an air of proprietorship. Evidently 
this was the arrival of the owner, and before 
night tiic interesting fact was discussed by every 
tongue. 
The next day he appeared at church, to the en¬ 
tire satisfaction or the congregation. As soon as 
the benediction was pronounced he quietly wait¬ 
ed out, not waiting for the usual ceremony of 
handshaking, which the doacoiis and elders ex¬ 
pected to go through with upon the arrival of a 
stranger. 
Now, it so happened that Monday had been 
agreed upon by the young folks ns the best day 
to go nutting. Accordingly, with the utmost In¬ 
difference to t he storm-clouds that were gather¬ 
ing that morning, they set. off, but tlie clouds 
passed over, leaving 1,ho sky bright, and all was 
well, because It ended well. In the evening, as 
they were returning along the river bank, they 
unexpectedly came upon the Great i nknown, as 
Kitty klink playfully called him. He was stand¬ 
ing upon the river’s brink, hts hat off, and Ills 
ey es fixed upon the opposit e shore w’lt.U the vacant 
expression of one In a reverie. They were in the 
shadow of the woods; he stood in the full rays of 
the setting sun, which surrounded him with that 
peculiar light that beautifies everything 1L touch¬ 
es. The flaming colors of t.he dying leaves and 
the still Waters on the one hand, while on the , 
other, the shocks of ripened corn, the comfortable t 
looking farm-houses, nestled here and there, and ( 
the village in the distance, surrounded as It was , 
by the wonderful gulden glory of sunset, rendered , 
the scene strikingly picturesque, and as they 
were In the shadow Instead of the light, t hey no¬ 
ticed the effect probably more than they would 
have done otherwise, or course, this set their 
tongues to prat ling, but, like all their previous dis¬ 
cussions, it ended only in the same vague wonder 
as to who he was, and whence he came. 
That night Kitty Klink went up to her room, 
reeling tired and lonesome- or rat her It was t hat 
disagreeable feeling people call the blues. Why 
she felt so she could not have told, but somehow, 
since that grand house had been built up, right 
next to the Kline’s humble dwelling, she had felt 
dissatisfied. As she had listened to the rumors of 
the beautiful pictures and statuary, the endless 
number of books, aud, above all, the grand piano, 
sbe had begun to think bow little she knew about 
such things. After all, what had she accomplish¬ 
ed In the twenty-nine years of her life? Abso¬ 
lutely nothing: Ever since she could remember 
she had lived for the sole purpose of having tun. 
which was made up ol a lew paltry picnics, qulif- j 
Ings, mitt 1 ng parties, and other rural amusements. 
To-day she had not enjoyed herself, the desire for 
such tilings had utterly gone from her mlrnl, and 
in its place had come a longing to know some¬ 
thing more of the world, of different people and 
tilings. llow different she was now from t he girl 
of twelve years ago. She thought of the time 
when Kknnjbuy, the show actor, was her very 
Ideal of a grand man; now' she saw him as lie 
really was. she thought of the time when, In hor 
simplicity and ignorance, she bad told Steve 
Flu mm i no to go back to bis musty ohl books until 
lie. could tell a gentleman when lie sa w him; and 
felt her face burn as slic realized that sbe was the 
verdant one, Instead of Steve. Then she thought 
of his mysterious disappearance, but she had 
never believed t he current report of his being a 
showman. The old sea captain, Stkve’s uncle, 
bad died; the Flemming place had passed Into 
the hands of strangers; and the very name of the 
family had almost gone from the minds ol the 
few* who had once knuwn them. 'Then she won¬ 
dered if that would be all ber life would amount a 
to.—a mere existence, a passing away and being k 
forgotten, so It was long after mid night before n 
she closed her eyes, and when she did sleep It. e 
was for such a short, time that It seemed to do her 1 
no good. 
She arose next morning about as tired as when ' 
she wrrtt to lied. Her home duties were perform¬ 
ed rather mechanically, and It wan with listless b 
Indifference she beard tier mother announce t he o 
fact that there ought. t>o be some pies baked. ’1 he 3 
tlrnt thing on the programme was a pumpkin. R 
which she told Kitty hi get. As she started oft s 
with none of her usual energy and vim her mother t 
remarked” Tears like that gal Is glt.tln’ rather t 
down in the mouth: guess I’ll have to give, hoi 
some bonesei tea or liver pills.' The old cat, 
curled up In the chimney corner, winked and t 
blinked wisely, as though she was fully convinced •> 
t hat boneset could drive away the blues, and that s 
despondency, like indigestion, could he remedied fJ 
by physic, 
Kittt had just selected a pumpkin and turned * 
to go Into the house, when, to her surprise, she - 
saw the dignified stranger put his hand on the 1 
low fence aud leap lightly over. Surprise Chang- 1 
f-d to absolute bewilderment as be raised his hat., <■ 
made a profound bow. and said Stupid Steve j 
Flemming. at. your servlet.” The pumpkin drop¬ 
ped from her arms, foil on a stone and cracked In ( 
two, but lay unheeded on the. ground, as the poor ‘ 
girl blushed and stammered, saying nothing more 1 
Intelligible than a succession of vowel sounds, ' 
such as *' OU ! 1—Why ” 
<• oh, yes; I know you thought I ran away with 1 
that, circus, but l didn’t though, I complied liter¬ 
ally with your request that 1 should go back to ‘ 
my books until 1 learned to know a gentleman 
when I saw him. Now, as a sort of reward of 
merit, 1 think, upon considerat ion of my good con- ' 
duct, you might allow' mo to carry this pumpkin 
into the house.” 
Forthwith lie proceeded to the house, followed 
by the amazed Kitty. As for Kitty* mother, 
that, good woman was struck dumb with astonish- 
ment when she found out who he was, and fran¬ 
tically shook his whole arm, instead ot his hand, 
which proceeding covered his broadcloth with 
flour, thereby horrifying the poor old soul heyond 
measure. 
After her excitement had somewhat abated, 
Steve explained to her how, in a course or live 
years’ hard study, he had gone through college. 
Hut, these years had not been devoted to study 
only, a portion having been given his pen, so that 
by the time ho graduated he was pretty w'ell es¬ 
tablished as an author. Then bis uncle died, leav¬ 
ing all his property to siev e, because, as the old 
gentleman expressed It, “ The boy had grit.” with 
this money he was enabled to go through a law 
school; be had also speculated quite successfully, 
but during all these years, he assured her, ho had 
never forgotten her kindness to him In his time of 
trouble. 
This assertion delighted the kind-hearted old 
lady so much that, as she afterward remarked to 
a neighbor;—’* I was so glad to see the poor child 
once more, that 1 told Kitty I Just felt like takln’ 
my Sunday go-to-meetin' bonnet, and stompin’ on 
it.” However, by a violent effort she succeeded 
In controlling ho.r feelings enough to prevent the 
sacraflee of her best, bound. 
All the words In the latest edition of “ Webster's 
Unabridged Dictionary," could never convey to 
the ml rid of mortal man, one half the mortifica¬ 
tion Kitty felt, as she remembered how far below 
herself she once considered Stupid Stev e, and 
realized t hat uow she was far more Inferior to him 
than he had ever been to her. Hut her embarrass¬ 
ment wore off as she became more acquainted 
with blm. Then, too. it was a positive pleasure 
to be In his company, lor he had cultivated the 
rare powerof expressing hlrasell so that one could 
know and feel Ills very thoughts. As a result, 
1 when Rim spent an evening with him, she telt 
it was not lost. time. 
indeed, they both soon discovered that they 
r were learning from one another—learning that 
life-lesson that every person learns sooner or 
'. later. So, according to the old adage, which Is so 
t very old It is hardly worth repeating, ” All is well 
it mat ends well.” Hut if the Hon. Ttieodokk S. 
, Flemming wants to tease Ills wife, he asks her if 
t she remembers Stupid Steve. 
a certain quality, and those who could raise that 
kind of animals sold them at a profit and were 
paid Tor their services, coming to the king who 
encouraged tarmlng and agricultural pursuits by 
continually giving prices aEd premiums to those 
who by their skill and labor made Elea to be a 
very rlclt district or state. 
These stable® were in a valley, on a plain, and | 
lor thirty years had not been cleaned out. The 
oxen had been moved a little from place to place 
at times so that Mm ground on which they had 
stood for thirty years hud been raised to a high 
shaped prominence from which streams ran to 
the original plain, giving offense to farmers and 
breeding disease. 
Hercules, a hero of antiquity, son of Jupiter by | 
A l emon ft, was by his father destined to occupy 
the throne of Perseus, hut, by the connivance of i 
Juno was superseded liy Eurystlieus, the grand¬ 
son of Perseus. Such was t he strengt h ot Her¬ 
cules that people came. to tear film. No matter 
what seemingly Impossible task was given him, 
1L was performed, lie was a hard man to beat. 
No matter bow often he was knocked out of time 
he rallied again. Ho was strong, gifted by the 
gods and always held the winning hand. People 
came to consider him more than mortal. ’J hf 
king kept heaping impossibilities upon the life off 
Oils young man Hercules, hut he did all that was 
commanded or him. ne was ordered to go forth 
and slay a Large Ncmean lion that was devastat¬ 
ing the country. Hercules went forth, blocked , 
up one of the entrances to the lion’s den. then 
went In by the other, slew the beast and brought 
the carcass to Eurystheus. 
One day iho King Augeas ordered Hercules to 
clean the royal stables where the 3.000 oxen had 
been for 30 years, and to do It In one day : The 
king had been greatly vexed because the seeming 
Impossibilities he had commanded of Hercules, 
had all been performed. At a royal dinner he 
told his courtiers that, he would break the spirit | 
of Hercules and bring him to admit that, there 
was something he could not do. Therefore he 
Issued his royal edict that, within twenty-four 
turns of the hour glass, Hercules, with such help 
as he could obtain from the poor of the city, who 
were his friends, should clean out the royal 
Augean stables. 
Hercules called the boys together and they cut 
the banks of the two rivers, AIpbeus and Pencils, 
turned the course of the streams into the valley 
where the stables were, and In a few hours oxen 
stables, and thirty years or accumulated compost 
were swept away itko a wagon load of rubbish by 
a flood. 
While the king was asleep, some twenty hours 
after his orders were given, officers of the guard 
rushed Inlo his apartments tolling that Hercules 
had cut the banks, the rivers had leaped from 
their courses, and that his oxen and stables were 
all being swept, away. He ordered the troops to 
hasten to the place and turn the currents back 
to their proper channels; but no troops nor mon¬ 
arch could stem or stop the flood. Hercules 
appeared before the expiration ol the last hour of 
the twenty-four, repotted that the stables were 
cleaned and asked for Ills reward. Augeas re¬ 
fused to give It, whereupon Hercules slew Augeas 
and all his sons but one, Phyleus, whom he made 
king in place of his father. 
MAY as 
others of the older nations conceived the idea 
that, although not preserved In their original 
form, after the lapse of years, aid in some mirac¬ 
ulous way. the bodies would be restored and fit! ed 
for eternal union with t he i-ouls from which, for 
a lime, they had been parted, I know not. But, 
notwithstanding tho fact that with civilization 
and rational education a real bellet in such falla¬ 
cies Ins vanished, with faith in miracles, ghosts, 
and witchcraft, there still remains an Impression 
of its truthfulness of which it is as difficult to di¬ 
vest the consciousness as It Is that the good for¬ 
tunes ot an individual, during the coming month, 
Is dependent an his seeing the new moon over his 
right, shoulder. Reason laughs at such nonsense. 
Still I venture to say that notone tn ten of your 
adult readers is uninfluenced by It. 
When this ceremony of general decoration was 
first Instituted, i had grave doubts whether It 
was not done mainly for t he purpose of furnishing 
an excuse for a general parade and show-day for 
the societies (or Posts, as they arc called,) before 
spoken ot. Nor ami yet convinced that. 1 waa 
wrong. There are, to be sure, hundreds of places 
where t here are no Posts ot the G. A. lb, In which 
the ceremony is conducted with a degree of pro 
prlety and reeling worthy of commendation. In 
other places It Is not so, and particularly Is thl3 
the case in the. larger towns and cities. My own 
personal experiences and observations at two ot 
the largest, cemeteries In the vicinity of New 
York, on the last two decoration days, gave me 
the feeling that "desecration " would be a much 
more appropriate term. One was out side the cit y 
limits, and the approaches to the ent ranee were lor 
some distance crowded with drinking-booths 
hucksters -stands and all sucli institutions as are 
usually found about Fourth of July celebrations 
and horse-races, and the noisy, rioting crowd both 
Inside and outside of tho cemetery gates, bore 
uninlstable evidence that lager is intoxicating. 
And last year parts of our beautiful Greenwood 
were over-run by unthinking, unfet ltng wretches, 
whose otdy care seemed to he to reach the point 
aimed at In the shortest time. Newly-made 
graves were trampled on. and shrubs and plants 
that boro evidence of careful traluiug were trod¬ 
den down and destroyed. Was music hoard, or a 
decorated wagon seen In Iho distance, an unman- 
nerdly rabble commenced a race lor It, regardless 
alike of place and propriety. I am glad to believe 
this is not so everywhere. 
To mourn friends and respect their memory is 
natural and commendable. The propriety of 
decorating graves Is by some thought question¬ 
able. The advisability of such ostentatious terms 
and ceremonies as are gotten up on Decoration 
Day is very doubtful. They are too much of the 
nature ot hired mourners at funerals. 
Our people have few holidays. I would give 
them more, rather than loss; but. I would ha\e 
II on such occasions that the joyousness which 
freedom from labor nat urally engenders should 
not contrast unpleasantly with t he avowed rea¬ 
son for the observance ot the day. 
It. may be suspected from the foregoing that 
I do not favor the observance of Decoration 
Day, aud 1 nmstconfi -s, after reading what I have 
written, that It contains something that might 
justify such suspicion. L - A - K - 
__——-- 
THE DEATH OF A HERO. 
DECORATION DAY. 
•• Hove sleep the bra ve, who sink to reBt 
By all their country 1 * wishes Messed ! 
When Spring, with dewy fibers cold, 
Returns to deck their hallowed mold. 
She there shall dri-Kti a sweeter sod 
Than fancy's feel have ever trod. 
M ay they rest in peace. 
In peace forever rest ” 
The aoth day of May having been, for several 
years, designated by the officers of the societies 
calling themselves the Grand Army of the Repub¬ 
lic as the day on which the graves of soldiers 
whose lives were lost In the late war against re¬ 
bellion should bestrewn with flowers, sufficient 
influence was brought to bear upon ouv Legisla¬ 
ture to secure the passage of an act making this 
date a legal holiday; and It. has now' a place In 
our calendar as Decoration Day. on wliicb, 
throughout the whole extent, of the state, in 
town, otty, village, and hamlet, flower-wreaths, 
To e nrst, to reach the hot 1 and thp most prompt 
to render assistance were the keepers of all-night 
houses along Fifth Street, whose places arc par¬ 
ticularly numerous in the vicinity of the Southern. 
From staking dollars they came to stake lives, 
and the game they played was one with death. 
More than a score of these brave men ran up the 
stairs by the ladles’ entrance, on the Fifth .street 
side, and penetrated to the topmost, story, bring¬ 
ing down children aud women, only to let the m 
go in the comparative safety of the street, i hey 
returned again and again to the rescue, and gave 
up floor after floor only when they felt sure no 
one had been overlooked. These men were the 
last bo abandon the. building, and some of them 
clung to their life-saving heroism even when the 
means of exit was cut off save by the ladders. 
One of these men was Charles Tflouan, a partner 
of Mose Labenta, ax OL South Fifth street. 1 ie- 
nan had brought out several women, and was 
taking one last, look when the ladder was moved 
twined with loving memories, toytair Bands, are i to another window. lie CAfoe back to bud biui- 
THE AUQEAN STABLES. 
Hebe is the story of the cleaning out of all bosh, 
and told in plain English, In popular style. It will 
do to read; 
Extending along the Ionian sea, from the pro¬ 
montory Arxxus to the river Neda, In ancient 
Greece, was a country belonging to the Pelopon¬ 
nesus. it contained about, one thousand square 
mllps, including the western slopes of tho Acblan 
and Arcadian mountains. It was a rough, hilly, 
broken country, but had many beautiful, fertile 
valleys, occupied by rich people, who had beautl- 
ful homes. The principal rivers of this country, 
called Elea, were the AlpUeus and the Pencus. 
There were throe principal cities In this country, 
or Peloponnesus state,—Ellis, the principal one. 
named after Elea; Pisates, and Pyrphlla. They 
were unwullpd cities, but were held to be sacred. 
Once every Tour years at Ellis assembled vast 
multitudes to hold religious games. The horses 
of Elea, or Kills, as the country was called, were 
celebrated for their strength, swiftness and In¬ 
telligence. 
Augeas was king of this country, Elea. At tits 
scabies In Ellis, be had a herd of three thousand 
oxen. It was the duly or Ills chief herdsmen to 
keep this number ot choice oxen always on hand. 
I if one died the loss must be replaced Immediately. 
I This kept a demand for blooded stock, or oxen of 
laid on graves and monuments, in respect, for 
those whose bodies Ue moulding beneath. 
But is It beat, by 'this annual ceremony to keep 
alive recollections ot a national strife, which re¬ 
collections must necessarily have a tinge of sad¬ 
ness U not. of bitterness, and tend to perpetrate 
that sect ional feeling which all would be glad to 
have overcome. Patriotism Is a noble sentiment 
and a rare virtue and deserves our highest praise. 
We honor the memory of him who lost his life In 
his endeavor to support the union, but we are 
asked to honor the memory, at the same time and 
In tUe same way, of the one who slew him. 
Although few, If any, intelligent persons in 
Christian lands now really believe tn the literal 
resurrection of tho body, holding rather that 
unto dust it shall return, or, more selenttflcally, 
that its component parts arc separated, and in 
time go to form other bodies, animal or vegetable, 
or possibly both in succession, there are not many 
wholly devoid of a feeling of respect or rever¬ 
ence for the Inanimate forms that we once 
looked upon as it they were the entirety of the 
friends we loved, so little have we been accus¬ 
tomed to separate In our consciousness body from 
spirit. 
This thought or feeling is conclusive proof ox 
the permanence of early educational Impressions. 
Where or how the Egyptians came to believe that 
spirits would return to revivify the bodies pre¬ 
served for them through hundreds of years, or 
self In a perilous situation. The flames wete close 
behind, and to turn back was to race The tenuis 
of death lrorn suffocation. .So he crept out upon 
the window-sill, lorty feet above the stone flags, 
and sprang lor the ladder. Ills Ungers barely 
wrapped the rungs, and then a swlllly-IalUng ob¬ 
ject struck the pavement with a dull, dead sound. 
They picked up ail that was mortal ol poor CLuu- 
lle Tlenan and carried him back, feet foremost, 
into tho club-house from which he had rushed 
forth on Ids noble mission an bour befoi e. 
®h( i'itmivji 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Young Folk*’ Book ol American ExplorerB 
Uy T. \\\ lUGlUNSON. lintfton . l&Q *v fcneparu. 
(Clotli — pp. 301. IVice $1.50.) 
Coe. Higgjnson has broken new ground, ami 
given the youth of America some delightful read¬ 
ing and the skeleton of history has been clothed 
with aflesh-and-bloodnarrative which caimot fall 
to make a vivid impression. The early history of 
the discovery of America is told through the me¬ 
dium of Norse legends. Then we have the hr t 
letter of Columbus to the Spanish court, in wi lch 
he paints in tropical colors the wonders of the 
