333 
In Granny's small head the hump of caution 
was very large. A lecturing phrenologist would 
have paid her any price lor her skull. She knew 
Larry, and had known Ills mother well. She took 
out her snuff-box. which was solid silver, and con¬ 
tained a vanilla bean, tapped the lid, opened It, 
took a pinch, and drew from her vast pocket a 
groat checked handkerchief. She set her little 
drawn-up eyes directly on Larry, for the screens 
behind which she shielded them when wide open 
wore mounted on her cap, and took her snuff 
slowly and comfortably, with a creaking noise 
that caused I.arry to look around toward the 
door. He thoughts customer was entering, but 
It was only the snuff ascending to Granny's brain. 
The poor, with a kind of instinct, generally ask 
help from the poor, and generally show their 
sagacity. But the little smoky shop, snuff, and 
smell of dried herrings, and handling of pennies 
had shriveled and dried the charity, If she 
ever had any, out of the old woman’s heart. 
“ Well, Larry,” she said, at length, “ J'U nil yer 
basket, and It ye make good sales everyday, at 
night, 111 give ye a loaf or bread.” 
Larry thought this was munlllcent. As long as 
Ned and he had a loaf, and doorsteps to sleep 
under, they could get. along. The bright face and 
pleasant voice of the orphan boy put many a dol¬ 
lar in the old woman's till, and kept life In the 
two little brothers. 
Ned, in the meantime, began to pick up odds 
and ends. Hi hunted In front of coffee houses, 
through heaps of oyster shells, thrown out by 
colored waiters, and sometimes. In his laud fish¬ 
eries. found enough unopened for a mess, lie 
scraped the empty hogsheads, by the grocery 
doors, for something to butter his bread with. 
These growing boys had craving stomachs, that 
teased them for food, the same as their better-to- 
do neighbors. 
But after a while their sleeping apartments be¬ 
came known. Sharp servant, girls and cross- 
gralnei gentlemen ordered them from their rests 
with a cuff, or a threat to send theta to the work- 
house. The poor fellows lived on like toads—they 
hardly knew how or why, only they lived. They 
saw the great city In all Its lights and shades. 
I.arry went to tine houses and poor, to hotels, 
depots, boats, asylums, hospitals, schools, stores 
and shops, to sell Ills matches, plus and ginger¬ 
bread toys. Ned’s business grew. He threw In 
coal, and carried parcels when opportunity offer¬ 
ed. And thus time passed. 
The great cathedral of the city oast Its shadow 
far over the street. Beyond, the moon threw a 
silver light upon the adjacent houses. It was 
early autumn, but warm as summer, and as old 
Mrs. Stiles stepped In her nightgown and cap to 
llie window to fasten the shutters, she glanced 
up toward the church clock. Hhe started, rubbed 
her eyes. Did she see a light In the church tower 
or not? she reckoned she must he mistaken, 
Said her prayers, and went to bed. 
Some lima after this, Miss Watt, a maiden lady, 
was sitting on her front portico one evening, 
about 10 o’clock, star - gazing. Was that pale 
light streaming from the belfry ? She thought 
so, and went In Hi call her brother; but when he 
came out It, was as dark as a well-behaved belfry 
ought U> be. 
About this time the gardens In the neighbor¬ 
hood or the church became infested with pigeons, 
Down they would lly among the crape-myrtles, 
und pomegranates, and Jessamines, as mad a lit¬ 
tle crew as ever were hatched. Then t he poor 
birds would llutter, and fuss, and fly tn flocks to 
the steeple, and cover the glittering cross until 
Its arms would change from gold to gray. A gen¬ 
tleman close by, putting together the strange 
conduct of the birds and the Illuminations ol 
which the ladles had whispered, concluded lo be¬ 
come a detective and see wlxat the matter was, 
He got permission to Investigate. 
He and a friend looked weird enough that night 
as they passed through the dim cathedral by the 
light of their lanterns, wound up the stairs past 
the organ loft,, then up narrow, crooked ladders to 
the tower. What did they see there? A robber, 
a corpse, a specter? only a blanket and com¬ 
fort, a pair of well-worn shoes, a bottle partly 
full of milk, and Romo bread and cheese. Iu one 
corner lay the living occupaut — a wee, stupid 
Guinea pig. Perhaps the conquering invaders 
who drove the blue-winged natives from their 
territory had been let down in a basket by a 
fairy from the loop-holes of the belfry out Of the 
walls of the gray old church, as the princess long 
ago came from her prison tower. The gentlemen 
Watched and waited, but whither the tenants ol 
the tower had gone, and liow they had come, 
they could not And out. only, like birds which 
discover when their nest has been handled, they 
returned not to claim their property, but left 
t heir bread and cheese to the church mice and to 
the Guinea pig that lay cuddled In his corner. 
Christmas live was cold and bright. The cathe¬ 
dral hud been open all da 3 -, and at six In tbc even¬ 
ing ladles and gentlemen came to festoon the 
walls with evergreen. Two pairs or bright eyes 
looked In on the pill irs wreathed With holly and 
Ivy, and the brilliant light allured the homeless 
wanderers, who entered the open door. 
They warmed themselves by the furnace, and 
watched the elegant gentlemen and dainty ladles 
twisting their tendrils of sinUax and sprays of 
ferns into letters, and tracing beautiful words 
upon the watts. Then they wondered how it 
would feel to be clothed In velvets and furs, like 
the little children, heirs to fortunes, who came to 
offer Christmas roses and lilies for the birthday of 
the Saviour. 
Bui, after a while, the light, and the warmth, 
and the spicy odor of pine and cedar, and the 
g - and music the choir was rehearsing, made the 
two pairs of eyes sleepy. 
THE BUBAL 
Our little friends knelt and prayed as their 
mother had taught them. Then one whispered 
to the other, and they arose and crept softly up 
the stairs of the organ-loft and disappeared; and 
then Ned, as it was Christmas Eve, took off his 
stockings and hung them up. He had always done 
so, except the Christmas after his mother died, 
just a year ago, when he slept under the steps of 
a great bouse on Chestnut tst. 
It. was some weeks since the boys had slept 
under a roof. They covered themselves with the 
thin bed-clothes whlch remained undisturbed, and 
after talking a while in true boy-fashion, they 
passed insensibly through the horn gate to dream¬ 
land. They were all unconscious that the eyes of 
the bellows-boy at the organ had watched them 
ascending to their airy Citadel, w hen the Christ¬ 
mas decorations were Untuned and the last hymn 
was sung, the church was deserted. The Bishop 
only remained In the sanctuary, and the bellows- 
boy by the railing, waiting to speak lo him. Pres¬ 
ently he told how he had seen two boys go up into 
the tower. The Bishop listened, then thanked 
and dismissed him. Do you suppose the boy went 
immediately from the chureh-ya.nl ? Perhaps he 
did. It would III become the historian to cast any 
Insinuations or to write that he loitered around to 
see what would happen. 
The Bishop was, for some time, undetermined 
what to do. He, loo, had been a poor boy once, 
and his heart warmed to his little brothers. He 
took a wax candle, lighted It, and proceeded to 
the tower. There he found the sleeping ehUdrcn. 
He stuck his light into Larry's lantern, and stood 
bending over them. In a lew minutes the clock 
In the steeple, over llielr heads, chimed Hi—Christ¬ 
mas mornlug! Perhaps the noise woke Ned. As 
he turned over, and opening his eyes wider, saw 
the form clad in purple robes and wearing a gold¬ 
en cross upon his breast, and a flashing ring upon 
his linger, he sprang up, and would have scream¬ 
ed; but the Bishop spoke so kltally to him that 
Neil took him for Santa Claus. By this time Larry 
aroused. When ho had collected his wits a little, 
Lie sat up, and truthfully bold this simple story. 
one morning the summer before, he and Ned 
were passing and heard the organ, which drew 
them In. They wondered what they kept up those 
stairs, and concluded to see. When they found 
that nice little room up so high, It looked so pretty 
and sunny, and had such narrow windows that. 
Ned couldn't, fall out, they thought t hey would 
stay there; It was God's house, and they would 
have no rent to pay. Then he sold his mother’s 
ring and did as she had bid him; for now they bad 
a home up high near her's, and a place to spread 
their bed. 
“ Them stockings In the window are Nod’s. He’s 
not as old as me, and he thought he’d get some¬ 
thing In ’em,” continued Larry, apologetically, 
showing that he htul gained wisdom with years. 
Their new friend felt his eyes till with tears. He 
told the boys lo come down to church ate o'clock, 
and left, thorn with a kind word. The boys wore 
prompt. After early service they went into the 
episcopal residence, where they had been told to 
come. Such a breakfast of hot beefsteak and rolls 
and butter and coffee they had never sat. down to 
before. Then their bucks were newly covered and 
they had new shoes and hats, and pockets full of 
sugar plums and now stockings lull of goodies. 
The Bishop called them his *'Christmas Carols.” 
After they passed through school, Larry studied 
architecture. He has buHt many churches since, 
with the belfry stairs as broad and low and easy 
of ascent as belfry stairs can tie .—Cincinnati 
Times. 
-— 4 - 4 -» 
VOYAGE OF THE CITY OF BRUSSELS, 
Capt. Williams, commander of the steamship 
City of Brussels, lor the safety of which vessel so 
much tear was fait on both this and the other side 
of the Atlantic, gives the following account of the 
mishap which befell his vessel ou her voyage 
from New York to Liverpool, which occupied thir¬ 
ty-eight. days:—We left the wharf at New York at 
12:15 on Saturday, April at, and 8 indy Hook at 
1 . 5-1 P. M. The pilot took his departure at 2.1T 
P. 31., and with light westerly winds and line 
weather, our voyage commenced. All went very 
well until 7.80 on Monday morning, the 23d, when 
In latitude ir •itV north and longitude 03° 16' wesr, 
distant about 491 miles irom Sandy Hook, the dis¬ 
aster occurred. The engines were working well, 
makingUfty-threerevolutions, with eighty pounds 
pressure of steam, when suddenly they dashed off 
at a terrific speed, for a few seconds shaking the 
vessel considerably. This no doubt gave rise to 
the report that some kind 0 ! an explosion louk 
place. That, was not the fact, however; the real 
occurrence being the brcuktng of the screw-shart 
somewhere in the stern t unnel, at an Inaccessible 
point, but somewhere near the bush, It was sup¬ 
posed. The second engineer, who was on duty, 
promptly shut off steam. 
During the greater part of the voyage after the 
accident, the vessel of course going u..dt-r sail, 
the captain says he bad light, variable winds, and 
made slow progress, the best day’s run being 163 
miles and the slowest fourteen miles. They spoke 
several steamers and a few sailing vessels, getting 
provisions from tbe steamer City or Richmond, 
.May ft, the Cuuard steamer Abyssinia, 31 uy 21 , and 
the Russia of the same Une on the 24th, on which 
Mr. Cummings, the fourth officer of the City of 
Brussels, went to Ireland and curae out on the tug 
Challenger to tow las vessel Into port. She mot 
the City of Brussels too miles Irorn Fastnet, and 
on the day following took her In tow for Liver¬ 
pool. The passengers enjoyed good healt h, except 
one old man In the steerage, Thomas Foyne, who 
died from chronic bronchitis; und religious serv¬ 
ices were held three times a day by the Catholic 
pilgrims to Rome. Captain Williams says that, 
with respect to the question whether, at the time 
NEW-YORKER. 
ol the accident, I should have turned back, instead 
of proceeding on my voyage, as to which I hear 
there has been some discussion, I have only to say 
that I was In the position to Judge best as to what 
the occasion demanded, and In my opinion it 
would have been folly to turn back. For twenty 
[ days we had not a drop of rain, but our water 
supply held out very well, condensed water being 
used for washing. 
-♦♦♦- 
A VERY LITTLE IN BANK. 
Among the subscribers to Audubon’s magnifi¬ 
cent work on ornithology was John Jacob Astor. 
i He was always ready to encourage such works, 
and he put his name down upon Audubon’s book 
for one thousand dollars. During the progress of 
the work, which proved to be more expensive 
than had been at first anticipated, Mr. Audubon 
| often found himself obliged tn call upon Ills gener¬ 
ous patrons for assistance; but, ho did not call 
upon Mr. Astor until the letter-press and the 
plains had been delivered. When the tlnal de¬ 
livery had been made, however, he called upon 
the great merchant for his thousand dolla rs. 
“ Ah, Mr. Audubon,” said the owner of millions, 
“you come In u very bad time. Money Is scarce 
and hard, and I have everything snugly and 
lightly Invested.” 
And so the ornithologist called, Utnc after time, 
and was orton put off. It was not because Mr 
Astor did not wish to pay, but It was from that 
strong desire, growing stronger with hts years, to 
keep his property Intact, and see It Increased. 
When he had paid uway a hundred thousand 
dollars for a really benevolent purpose he felt 
good, as a man feels good who has got rid of an 
aching tooth. It was only the wrenching away ol 
the money that hurt him. 
At length Audubon called the sixth time. 31 r. 
Astor had commenced to bemoan tho low, ebb 
condition of his cash In hand, when ho caught a 
disapproving look from his son William, who 
happened to be present. 
** But,” said the old man, after a pause, “ I sup¬ 
pose you want, your money, and, really, I should 
tike to let you have It., I may have a very little 
In bank William, have we any money In 
bank 
“Evidently John Jacob had expected his son 
only to answer a simple yes; and It may be that 
William B. thought Ills lather wished to know 
something or the bank account. At any rate he 
J was just Iresh from the eush-on-hand page of the 
ledger, aud he answered: 
“ Yes—we have a lltt.le over a hundred thousand 
In the Bank of New Y'ork; eighty thousand In the 
city Bank; ninety thousand In the Merchants’; 
ninety-eight thousand four hundred In—” 
“That’ll do, William! That’ll do! I guess, 
Mr. Audubon, William can give you a check for 
the money.” 
♦ ♦ ♦ ■ ■ 
ORIGIN OF “SCORE.” 
— 
I In former times, a running account, of petty 
debts was kept by chalk marks till they reached 
the number off twenty, when they would be rep¬ 
resented by a cut or score awoss two sticks fitting 
exactly together, which were eallleil tallies — 
French, tnilt-r, to cut. In early English seer an— 
past-participle, seoren— means to share or cut, 
hence the use or the word score for a reckoning, 
and also for the number twenty. The two sticks 
fitting exactly toget her and the score being across 
them both, each half wus kept by the opposite 
party to the contract, and a false score was, there¬ 
fore, instantly detected by the want of the corres¬ 
ponding cut on the other tally. Hence, at the 
present day, when two statements are iound to 
agree exactly, they are said to “tall}-.” 
SIMPLE WANTS. 
31 b. Rusk in certainly practices what he preach¬ 
es. He says that Ills father left him ? 600 , 000 , be¬ 
sides a great deal of real estate aud many valua¬ 
ble pictures. Ills mother also left him $185,000. 
He gave $85,000 to hts poor relations—O, most ex¬ 
cellent toan!—sold the pictures, bought Br&nt- 
wood, Assisted a young relation In business at a 
cost of $75,000 on harness and stables, and has 
given $70,ooo to St. George’s Company, besides 
having spent $350,uoo variously. He is at present 
worth $270,000, and announces that be Intends to 
give his valuable 31arylcbone property to St. 
George’s Company, his Herne HIU estate to his 
cousin, and the$ 60,000 which will remain to him 
ho will Invest, aud live and die upon Its Interest. 
COUNT YOUR MONEY. 
One da.v last week a Schenectady man cashed a 
draft for $7oo at a bank arid received $300 In small 
bills, which he put in his pocket, thinking by Its 
size that the package contained the toll amount^ 
He was leaving when tlie cashier handed him out 
the balance, $- 100 , in new, crisp live dollar notes. 
T he man took them, and supposing they were ad¬ 
vertising notes, distributed them among his 
friends. He was astonished at the eagerness of 
all to receive them and was stunned when at¬ 
tempting Jokingly 10 pass one In a store he was 
Informed that the bills were good. He spent all 
that night and the greater part of nextday rushing 
around collecting the bills he had given away. 
--- 
Taking Him at ills Word.—A young unmarried 
clergyman in Brockport, N. Y., In conversation, 
said Unit young ladles nowadays can make rich 
cake, but they cannot make good bread. A few 
days after making the remark, the divme received 
fourteen loaves ot bread, with the compliments of 
fourteen young ladles of his congregation, thus 
not only disproving his assertion, hut bearding 
him In his den. 
JUNE 33 
filtmrg Iftol'IiT. 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Brief History of Kussin, with 3I«p«. By 
FRANCES A. Shaw. Boston : James K. Osgood. 
(Paper; 25c.) 
The maps which accompany this work are 
worth more than the price of It. We wish we 
could say as much for the matter. It appears to 
us that, the title of the book Is a misnomer. In¬ 
stead of be ing, as one would naturally suppose, 
an epitomized history of the Russians AS a nation, 
it ts a series of short biographical sketches of Its 
sovereigns, where much Is said of the ruler and 
little or nothing of the people. For example, the 
Tartar Invasion Is disposed of in about half a 
dozen ltuoa, and no mention whatever Is made of 
the ascendancy of the Princes of 31oscow. Two 
epochs which left Indelible traces on the charac¬ 
ter of the Russian people, without a knowledge ot 
which one cannot come to a fair comprehension 
of tho Russians, cither practically or socially con¬ 
sidered. 
Tho author starts out with the astounding dec¬ 
laration, t hat the ninety millions of people who 
acknowledge the dominion of the Tsar, “are so 
united as to form one homogeneous whole.” After 
a careful study of the history of Poland and of a 
few other annexed Russian possessions, and of 
the religious, political and social sects In Russia 
proper, we venture to predict 3!lss Shaw would 
somewhat modify her statement,. 
Oijtr. Is chiefly celebrated Ln this work for the 
subjection of Kiev, whereas that was the leASt 
considerable of his exploits. He it was who first 
devastated the Greek Empire and exacted an 
enormous tribute from the Emperors In A. D., 904 . 
The first written treaty ln Russian history was 
concluded in his reign. This treaty, by distinct 
reference to then existing Russian laws, proves 
Miss Sijaw to be ln error ln crediting Yaroslav 
(by her called Jakoslov) with being the first law¬ 
giver ( 1026 ). 
loom who succeeded Oleg, we are Informed, was 
well meaning but Inefficient. Well, the atrocities 
committed by him in his expedition against Con¬ 
stantinople, somewhat Impaired his “ well mean¬ 
ing” reputation with us, and his successful method 
of quelling Internal dissensions; of overawing the 
formidable Petcchencgaus; of forcing tribute 
from the Greek Emperor, appear to us a rather 
vigorous and able line of conduct Tor an inefficient 
ruler. Vladimir (988) Is erroneously credited with 
having been the first who brought the Christian 
religion to Kiev'. As early as 865 the sovereigns 
of that capital were Christians, and had a priest 
and bishop from Constantinople. 
We are at a loss to account ror the author’s si¬ 
lence about Ivan 1.. Prince of 3toscow, who by 
his wealth ahd his Intrigues laid the foundation 
for the supremacy of ids house and for the eman¬ 
cipation of the Russians rrorn the Tartar yoke: 
under whose sway commerce flourished; great 
marts were established; and order, prosperity 
and Justice began to dawn ; who was sagacious 
enough to point out the path of monarchical unity 
by restoring the direct order of succession. 
Dinitki Donski, his grandson, was equally Il¬ 
lustrious; but no mention Is made of him either, 
which we cannot but regard ns « great oversight. 
A sketch of these rulers would have enabled the 
reader to understand the causes which led to the 
overthrow of the Tartars and the reason why the 
Princes ot Moscow were the liberators of their 
country. It Is hardly a fair way or putting It lo 
give Ivan III. the glory of throwing off the foreign 
yoke, lie personally deserves lllUo or no credit, 
his Immediate ancestors having paved the way 
for him. Hts troops chose their own leaders, con¬ 
quered cities, and secured him hts throne, whilst 
he remained terror-stricken at Moscow. Intrigue 
and negotiation were his weapons. He never con¬ 
quered ln battle. Ills cowardice was so great, 
that after making extensive preparations for a 
campalgu, he would be seized with sudden tre¬ 
mors. and ln the midst of two hundred thousand 
warriors all eager for battle, he would be panic- 
stricken and refuse to give the word of command. 
Ivan IV. has crimes enough to answer for, with¬ 
out, accusing him of the wanton murder of the 
ambassador who was sent to negotiate for a mar¬ 
riage between Elizabeth of England and the 
Tsar of Russia. We would recommend a careful 
reperusa) of that transaction to Miss Shaw, and 
It we mistake not she will Had It was a self-con¬ 
stituted amti-esaador from England (who certainly 
merited some puulsbmout for tils treachery to¬ 
ward It an). The administration of Bouts Godu- 
nuf (1696) Is characterized as “ brilliant and able,” 
alter which the author Informs us that this mon¬ 
arch Introduced serfdom, exiled the great, princes 
and tho noblest and best families; that under his 
despotic rule the people became joyless; that the 
Kozak peasantry, an Industrious, peaceable body, 
fled from the count ry; and that a horrible lamlno 
for three years spread dismay and horror over the 
laucl. We know, from other sources, that Godu¬ 
nov left Russia exhausted, depopulated and ex¬ 
posed on all Bides This he accomplished ln 
three years. The choice of such adjectives as 
“ able and brilliant,” to describe such a succession 
ot calamities, strikes us as somewhat, peculiar. 
Coming down 10 the time of 1’ktkk the Great, 
It la represented that “ conquest was not Peter’s 
policy.” Supposing such to be the case, how are 
we to account for his seizure of Azof (1690); his 
war against Persia; his endeavor to obtain a foot¬ 
hold ln Germany; the subjugation of Livonia, 
Esthonla and a part ot Flnla ml ? 
True to her feminine instincts, the author ex¬ 
cuses the faults of Peter ill., while she pours 011 
the vials of unadulterated invective on Cath br¬ 
ine, his consort. lie Is described as frank anl 
