SEPT. \ 
If anything. Dark-haired people always do look 
old. That, you know, is proverbial. It is we 
blondes who keep our youth, I can tell you.” pro¬ 
claims the faded beauty. As Colonel Grafton said 
to me the other day, ' My dear Madam," he said, 
* you cannot look old it you would U” 
Mrs. Jermyn protests that the colonel is right. 
Her dear sister does not look within years of her 
age, though Indeed what that age may he she 
cannot pretend to guess, for she tows she cannot 
believe, and does not believe, what the family 
date tells. “ Charlotte, your aunt will take an¬ 
other cup of tea. Oh, pray! My dear Camilla, 
you need not bo afraid of embonpoint." 
“ Embonpoint; now really I” The screen Is 
thrown playfully forward In the direction of the 
other armchair. 
“ But it must be half, and half only, then,” suf¬ 
fering her cup to be taken. “ Just because your 
mamma presses me. Now, dear Selina, are you 
sure, quite, absolutely sure that It will not Incon¬ 
venience you to have Pauline? Not in the 
lea.fi ?” 
“ A pleasure, dear—a pleasure:' 
“You arc so hospitable. For one week, then; 
our workmen promise to be gone In ono week.” 
“ And ir they are not, Camilla, so much the bet¬ 
ter.” And so on. and so on. 
Into the midst or all this steps Pauline, with a 
cold, quiet face. Effusive greetings, embraces, 
questions, and hubbub follow. 
“ Solf-possesHcd,” comments a certain pair of 
searching eyes; “ decidedly self-possessed. That, 
sort of mauhor seldom takes. But she Is one of 
the handsomest girls ! have ewer seen.” Aloud, 
Mrs. Jermyn Is saying pleasantly, “Now I think 
our traveller would like to take ofr her warm 
things, and have a rest before dinner. Would 
you not, Pauline—am l to call you Pauline? We 
are very nearly relations, you know, and now we 
arc going to be neighbors as well. You must, feel 
tills room hot arter coming In (rorn the open air. 
Charlotte will show you your room, my dear, and 
J hope It will ho comfortable. I think T must stay 
by the fireside and nurse my cold, as wo are en¬ 
gaged to dine out to-morrow ovonlng." 
The last announcement was made with a little 
air that would nt once have conveyed to an In¬ 
itiated ear that the dining out, referred to was not 
an ordinary event In the household; but It was 
lost on Pauline. 
With a polite hope that the lady would Roon be 
better, she followed Charlotte, and was ushered 
up-stalrs. 
“Good-looking! No, I don’t call her so very 
good-looking! What do you say, Charlotte?” 
Mrs. Wyndham Is peevishly exclaiming, as Char¬ 
lotte re-enters the drawing-room. “Anybody 
looks well coming in out or the fresh air, among 
such a set or pasty faces as we have got. What 
havo we all been about, moping Indoors the whole 
afternoon V Why don't you girls go out ? 1 have 
a great mind to take a turn myself. But no, I 
should certainly catch cold In this dreadful rog. 
Ah ! what a climate Il ls! And what a situation 
you have got here, ray dear children! 1 trust I 
shall be lit for Sir John’s dinner-party. I am be¬ 
ginning to cough already.” 
“ Put a litt le coal on the lire, Charlotte,” sug¬ 
gests her mother. “ Why did you come down so 
soon my love ?” 
“ 1 did riot, know I was to stay, mamma.” 
“ Could you not lnvvo given her some little help ? 
She has no maid, you know, and with all her 
things to unpack—” 
“ 1 will go back again by-and-by. She did not 
want me just now, I am sure.” “ Let the poor 
thing alone, can’t, you?” mutters Charlotte, under 
her breath. 
So Pauline Is left with the letter In her hand, 
which had waited for her on the drawing-room 
mantelpiece since the day before. 
It is from Tom, who is staying with some friends 
In the north. He Is going to London to begin his 
work there, in a few days. Meantime they are 
having good sport, and there la a houseful or 
people, and It Is very Jolly. 
All tills his sister reads musingly; but she comes 
to a part hy-and-by on which her eyes fasten, and 
a keen, eager look darts into her race. This dies 
away, and, with dropping eyelids, there follows 
the sob, and cry, “ It I had only been sent any¬ 
where—anywhere else!” 
There Is a tap at the door, her hands unclasp, 
she tries to look composed, and turns away her 
head. "Come In.’ The accents are stiff and un¬ 
inviting, and Charlotte Is more convinced than 
ever that her errand will be unwelcome. 
“ I came to help you to unpack," replies the In¬ 
truder, ungraciously, “Caul-” But here she 
catches sight of the beautiful young face, which 
had lately seemed to them all so cold and proud, 
now Bushed, and quivering In pain, and It Is, 
“ Oh, do let me stay, dear! I like, to be with you, 
ana 1 am so glad you came.” followed by a warm, 
honestly affectionate kiss, that finds Its way to 
the heart at once.—To be continued. 
AFFAIRS IN THE EAST—A SLIGHT CON¬ 
FUSION. 
A. and B. both entertain the highest opinion 
of each other’s intellect. Each is longing to dis¬ 
cuss the Eastern Question with so Intelligent and 
clear-sighted a person as the other one Is; and 
they both teel sure of being able to argue the 
whole matter out with much lucidity. The one 
obstacle to tills Ls that while A. reads the Dally 
Diddlcr, which always has Its particular spelling 
ot the names of Eastern places and persons, B. 
takes in the Diurnal Dodderer, which always 
gives its particular spelling ot the same. 
A. —The Russians don't seem, to be doing very 
much at I bra Ha at present, do they 7 
B. —lbratltt? Oh, 1 wasn’t aware they’d got 
THE RURAL 
there—where’s It? I see things have been some¬ 
what quiet about ttrahiUp' lately. 
A. —Ah. Indeed? Can’t say I’ve come across 
that place yet. (Slight check.) Moukhtar seems 
to be making a poor stand ot It In Asia, eh ? 
B. —Does It 7 I don't, think 1 read any account 
ot the Russians attacking that place, but I should 
think Mukta would never allow It to be taken- 
A. —But It Isn’t a place; it’s a general—Me gen¬ 
eral— 
B. —Well, but Mutcta ls the general- 
A.—Oh no —that must be a town! 
(A more painful check. They begin to feel that 
they are not running on the same line, somehow 
—that there Is a something which clashes. Each 
one, too, begins to lose a little of his confidence 
In the other’s sound sense and knowledge of his 
subject. However, they try again.) 
A. —General steUkuff appears to have been pretty 
active In the direction of F.chkekztkh, doesn’t he7 
B. (racking his brain and astonished al his own 
Ignorance)—Well, I’m ashamed to say 1 haven’t 
read anything about, either of’em. Must, have 
overlooked It. Have you soon the accounts of 
General Mritukom '.s maneuvers about Anhalt Met 
A. —Well—a—no—no. I’m afraid 1 haven’t. 
(Another check more painful thun the last. 
Each one’s opinion ot the other's knowledge and 
Intelligence has gone down lumeutably. They 
begin to look upon one another with suspicions 
about sanity.) 
B. (with a last effort)- Lergonkasoff gets on 
pretty well at JiayazM, and Karakittssa.. 
A. (getting mud)—Ob, I daresay, but the fact ls 
(An Instant’s fearful pause, as each one forcibly 
restrains a homicidal impulse). 
B. (willi an uncontrollable burst)—The fact ls— 
you don’t know anything about, the subject. 
A. —The fact ls, you don’t, and never did! 
B. You’re, an Idiot! 
A.—You’ro an ass! 
(The budding friendship ls blighted. They part 
for ever.) 
No. II. 
A Turkish Generalissimo and one of bis Ofllcers 
discovered. 
The Generalissimo.—Allah Is great! Kismet. 
Go at once and defend Krashevaks from the 
enemy. 
The Officer.—Mahomet is bis prophet. Live for 
ever. I go. 
The officer goes,but ho ls uncertain In his mind 
as to whero the place Is. Happening to encounter 
a Special Correspondent, In a moment of regretta¬ 
ble weakness ho determines to ask him about the 
matter. He does so. 
The Correspondent.— Krashevaks — Krtmh -/ 
()h, ah, of course. You mean Knuurynhakn. Any¬ 
body’ll show you the way to it. 
The Officer Inquires his way to it, and marches 
off his troops fifty miles, but can’t find It. Ho en¬ 
counters another Correspondent ana asks him. 
Correspondent No. «.—Why, you mean Krism- 
vteks. Oh, yes-everybody knows that place. 
The Officer Inquires for that place, and marches 
fifty miles in another direction, hut still can’t find 
the place. He encounters other Correspondents. 
Other correspondents (In one voice).—Oh, you 
mean Frushuijs— KrodsyWOl/s— Khrozervh ti.s. A ny- 
body will tell 
At that, moment the Officer receives Informa¬ 
tion that the enemy has taken the place he was 
to defend. Willi much energy and dispatch he 
collects all those Special Correspondents and exe¬ 
cutes the lot. And a good job, too I 
-♦ » » 
THE CONFEDERATE FLAG. 
Dubino our civil war, the several seceded states 
used at nrst, distinctive state Hags. In March, 
1861, the Confederate Congress adopted the so- 
called “stars and bars,” composed or three hori¬ 
zontal bars of equal width, the middle one white, 
the others red, with a blue union containing nine 
white stars arranged In a circle. The resem¬ 
blance or this to the “ stars and stripes " led to 
confusion and mistakes In the field; and In Sep¬ 
tember, 1861 , a battle dag was adopted, a red 
field charged with a blue saltier, with a narrow 
border of white, on which were displayed thir¬ 
teen white stars. In 1868 the “stars and bars” 
was supplanted by a flag with a white field, hav¬ 
ing the battle-flag for a union. The flag ot 1863 
was found deticlent tn service, It being liable to 
be mistaken for a flag of truce; and on February 
•t, 1866 , the outer half of the field beyond the union 
was covered with a vertical red bar. This was 
the last flag of the Confederacy. 
- 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
From Rand, McNally a Co., Chicago: 
The Locust Plague lathe United States—A 
treatise on the Rocky Mountain Locust, or 
so-called Grasshopper, with practical Rec¬ 
ommendations tor Its Destruction. By C. V. 
Riley, M. A., Ph. D. [Illustrated. 
Iowa State Ag. Soc., Des Moines: 
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Society 
for year 1*76. 
T. B. Peterson <fc Brothers. Phlla., Pa.: 
The Queen’s Favorite; or. The Price of a 
Crown. Petersen’s Dollar Series. [Price $1.] 
Thackeray’s Irish Sketch Book. [38 Illustra¬ 
tions. Paper, Price, 76c. 
J. B. Lipi’iucovr & Co., Phlla., Pa.: 
Nurse and Patient and Camp Cure. By S. 
Weir Mitchell, M. D. [Reprint. Cloth— 
pp. 73. 
Estes & Laorut, Boston: 
My Bonnie Lass. By Mrs. C. V. Hamilton. [8 
vo. Illustrated. Paper. Price, 50c. 
Magazines kor September: 
Eclectic, Scribner’s, St. Nicholas, Galaxy, The 
Delineator, The International Review, Sept.- 
Oct. 
IE 
R. 
US 
fate' portfolio. 
THE BRIDGE. 
choice of words ; and even If, as Is frequently the 
ease, ho adopts his wife’s suggestions, he never 
gives her the credit ot them. 
-—- 
AN INSANE REVERIE. 
I’m acquainted with a bridge, dear, 
Over which one blissful goes ; 
Mix’d with sweetest, balsam odors. 
Song of Spring-time o’er it flows! 
From the spirit to tho spirit 
Leads the bridge’s magic way ; 
But to Love aloue it’s open— 
He alone doth keep Its key. 
And’t was lie the bridge constructed, 
Out of roses built It wide ; 
Soul to soul upon It wanders 
As the brtdegroom to the bride. 
Love it was that spanned the arches, 
Decked them out full joyously; 
Cupid stands there as the keeper— 
Kisses arc tho keeper’s lee.! 
Maiden, dearest, tell me quickly, 
If to see it thou art willed; 
And if ready, promise truly, 
Thou wilt help tho bridge to build. 
Cliusc tho cloudlets from thy forehead. 
Look tne loving iu tho eyes, 
Lay thy lips on mine, thus softly— 
And thouTt see the bridge arise ! 
THE DOMESTIC MAN. 
There ls an old saying that a surgical operation 
Is necessary to enable a Scotchman to enjoy a 
Joke ; bui, It would, we think, require a very pro¬ 
longed and severe coarse of treatment before tho 
ordinary domestic-minded man could be brought 
to comprehend that ho could, by any conceivable 
possibility, ho In the way. lie believes firmly 
and serenely that every women la the whole 
world would rather talk to a man than to a 
woman, and is absolutely oblivious of tho fact 
that there la a'tlmc for all things. Without enter¬ 
ing Into the largo question of the undoubted 
mutual attraction of the sexes for each other, It, 
rnay surely be conceded that woman do occasion¬ 
ally, not to say frequently, like to talk to their 
own sex on divers topics mutually Interesting. 
But tho truly domestic man cannot be made t,o 
comprehend this, aud bores tils wife and all her 
friends to extinction by remaining persistently 
in the drawing room, and believing he ls eonfor- 
log a boon upon (hem by Ills presence, when all 
tho time they are dying to get rid of him, and to 
talk of their own concerns. 
1 f he were not so self-satisfied, he could hardly 
fall to comprehend the. very broad hints that are 
occasionally given him by some visitor moie 
audacious t han the rest as to the desirability of 
his absence ; but ho remains serenely Impervious, 
and really belloves that his wife's irlends like 
calling upon her all the better for having the ad¬ 
vantage of talking to him, Even If, on their ar¬ 
rival, lie happens to be in his own proper sphere, 
In the library or the smoking room, and the 
friends, profiting by so rare an opportunity, rush 
Into a stream of confidential chatter delightful 
to tho soul of womankind, the treat Ls but of 
short duration ; the faintest, sound of the visitor’s 
bell roaches him at. any distance, and ho at once 
makes his appearance on the scene, to the utter 
destruction of a comfortable lotc-ft-lolc. To en¬ 
deavor to make him comprehend this Is but lost 
labor ; that true old saying as to the number that 
Is really company has never penetrated the den¬ 
sity or his brain, and It ls beyond his mental 
grasp to perceive that conversation which might 
bo delightful in tete-a-tete, or Interesting and 
sparkling In a larger parly, Is Invariably lan¬ 
guishing and dull when undertaken a. troin. 
11b generally is a man loving the souud of his 
own voice, and monopolizes the major portion of 
the conversation, holding forth lengthily on tho 
Eastern question lo a lady who ls longing to talk 
bonnets or society to his wife, and who wishes 
him in Bulgaria with Bashl-Bazouks; or prosing 
away to a man who certainly did not, take the 
trouble of paying a morning visit for the. pleasure 
of talking to him, and a ho chafes considerably at 
finding the person he really came to see reduced 
to a simple lay figure. But the domestic man la 
before all things Ineffably conceited, and sincere¬ 
ly believes chat It is to him that visits arc paid; 
that any one would really prefer to talk to Ills 
wife never enters Into his calculation of possibili¬ 
ties. 
lie ls the delight 01 a certain Dumber ot twad- 
dllngold ladles, chiefly of the maiden persuasion, 
who have, naturally enough, no conception of 
what ls oris not manly, and who perpetually sing 
his praises as “so dollgliuuUy domestic,” and 
would be amazed and seaudallml if they knew 
how devotedly His Wife sometimes wishes that he 
would go to tits club, or anywhere instead ot her 
drawing-room. Though not a great, admirer of 
Mr. Martin Tupper, she fervently recognizes the 
wisdom of one axiom in his “ Proverbial Philoso¬ 
phy” on matrimony—" Be not always In each 
other’s company ; It la sometimes good to be 
alone ’’—and sighs as she Lhlnks that such good Is 
to her absolutely unattainable. 
It, Is only a quiet and steady wife who ever has 
such a husband as the domestic man ; a fast one 
would very speedily emancipate herself from the 
thraldom, and tell him plainly that ho was not 
wanted. But a good wife, who loves her husband 
ever so dearly, may be pardoned lr she cast an al¬ 
most envious eye on the freedom of her less 
gentle sisters, when she feels that at no moment, 
ot the day ls she ever alone, free to read, write 
or think, as seemeth to her good. For the domes¬ 
tic man cannot do anything alone; If he writes 
a letter ho must recite portions and discuss tho 
Some throe or more years ago, an Eastern phy¬ 
sician published*a work In which he depleted the 
teirlble consequences which would ensue It tho 
girls ot America insisted on “going through 
college.” The newspaper press took up theory 
and lor months girls were dissected In “ leaders ” 
and lit contributed articles until the public at, 
large were thoroughly posted as to just now 
many muscles and how much nerve Hhsuo went 
to make up a girl physically, and how long she 
could study without bringing on an attack of 
hyterles. Terrible examples of the evil effects 
of steady application to Greek and mathematics 
were given without number. Oceans of sympathy 
were lavished on the headaches, backaches and 
over-wrought nerves of the girl student. Prophe¬ 
cies of physical weakness, shattered IntellCOte as 
the price uf a knowledge ot sciences were freely 
indulged In. 
Whilst, those philanthropic gentlemen were 
employing nil tlic rhetoric at tliclr command to 
warn girls uf tlm dangers which threatened 
i hose or them who persisted In entering college. 
I looked In vain lor an article In which the perils 
and cares of child bearing, house-keeping and all 
tho evils they bring in their train wore even 
hinted i i. 
On iii>' contrary, all these wiseacres agreed 
that H was woman’s sphere to he a nurse and a 
drudge, and they didn’t trouble themselves to 
find out whether housework and chlld-tcndlng 
had any victims. That, wasn’t, tho side of the 
question they were discussing. 
All the. foregoing is meant to emphasize tho sub¬ 
joined report taken from tUO N. Y. Herald of Aug. 
1st. As the asylum noticed Is a public Institution 
tho patients arc drawn mainly from the poorer 
classes, those whose opportunities lor higher cul¬ 
ture have been, or course, extremely limited; 
whose ailments are not the results of mental exer¬ 
tion, and who have confined their endeavors to 
woman’s special province—the house and chil¬ 
dren. 
“ Some very starting and suggestive faets are set 
forth by Dr. It. L. Pursons, Medical Superinten¬ 
dent of the Now York City Lunatic Asylum, in 
his recent report. It would appear that. Insanity 
among women ls Increasing at a renrml rate. 
The 178 patients admitted to tho Institution last 
year were all women, and the entire number of 
patients Under treatment on the 1st of January 
last was 1,86#, of whom only ten wore males. 
During tho past, t.en years t.he doctor says tho an¬ 
nual increase in the number of female patients 
admitted to the institution under his care has 
amounted on the average to more l ban ten per 
cent, of the number under treutmeut at the be¬ 
ginning of each year. Tho number of female pa¬ 
tients at the asylum on tho 1st ot January, 1867, 
was 510. Year by year it increased until 1873, 
when it reached 035. The. following year there 
were l.airt female patients, and now the number 
Is gradually and steadily rolling toward a second 
thousand, which will bo reached at the present 
rate of Increase In issl. The doctor argues that 
those facts ought now to be carefully studied by 
tho authorities, who should make proper provision 
for the anticipated Increase. The social condition 
ot the women now lu tho City Asylum offers an 
Interesting study. Forty-three arc farmers’ 
daughters; 37, laborers’ wives; 26, domestics; 
laborers’ daughters, 19; merchants’ daughte rs, 5 
only the smallest class. Of tho 17s patients 
admitted last, 123 suffered from melancholia and 
26f» from mania In one phase or another.” 
J A Cg.lTKLI N A. 
JONAH. 
“ Why is a—,” and Martha paused, meditated, 
and dropped three stitches lu the needlework she 
was trying to crochet—“ why ls—or why was 
Jonah—in what did Jonah surpass all other men 
or his time?” " Caws,” exclaimed little Tommy, 
who was trying to tie a cat under a chair, “caws 
he dlda't mind." “o you keep still, you little 
brat,” remarked his interrogating sister. “ In 
finance,” suggested another, “because he was 
ono cent—to Tarsblsli, you know.” “In suffer¬ 
ing,” said another, “ because be had wale all 
over him.” 11 Yes,” said a filth, “and In forti¬ 
tude, for bo forget his Spain—bis pain, you see.” 
“ He was a good deal like this Russian war," re¬ 
marked a sixth, “ a prophet to Europe." “ Profit, 
I see,” said Martha. “You needn’t bear on that 
word so hard; that Isn't It, though.” “ lie sur¬ 
passed lu literary misery," suggested a seventh, 
“ for he was in a write wall tor three days and 
three nights.” " 1 guess he wanted to keep 
house," observed the eighth “after he had so 
much trouble overboard." 
“Ah!” said Martha, dropping another stitch, 
!‘that Isn’t any answer at all; go ahead, all of 
you, and I’ll t.elL yon when you hit light." “He 
surpassed lu sadness,” guessed a ninth, “ he was 
quite down lu the mouth." “ No.” “ He surpass¬ 
ed as a wicked Roman Governor," suggested the 
Ilfth again, “because, you, see, he was a paunch- 
oous pilot.” " 0-h 1" screamed Martha, dropping 
seven stitches, “ no physiology allowed I” “ Well, 
then,” said a tenth, “Is It any thing about, a nshal 
in the interim- Department?” “No, you barba¬ 
rian!” “He surpassed,” said the. eleventh, “in 
lightness, “because the whale threw him up.” 
“A’ery good,” said Martha, blandly, "but that’s 
not it. You burn, though.” “ Is it anything 
aboul rode—rowed ?” said her sister. “ No, it 
Isn't; you can’t any of you guess, lie surpassed 
