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WEDDING- SONG. 
POLONAISE. 
Throe suitors were with me to-day; 
They proffered love and treasure. 
The lordly one gave pleasant words. 
And many ells of ribbon; 
The second, plain of face and form, 
He counted coin and jewels; 
The third presented roses three, 
And coupled them with kisses. 
The first I fancied, and would greet 
Him warmly, as a brother; 
The second, gladly him Id choose 
To be my nearest neighbor; 
But, oh. the third, of rosy gifts, 
Who stifled me with kis sea¬ 
l’d give to him these longing eyes, 
And all that life possesses. 
John W. Weidemeyeb. 
Company.—In preparing for company look more to 
their comfort anti entertainment than to your reputa¬ 
tion as housekeepers. It they are true friends, or have 5 
much regard for yon, they will rather have plain fare, 
and know that you are enjoying their society, than to 
fare sumptuously and be entertained in elaborate style, 
and know that you are anxious and worried, and that 
their presence is a burden to you. If they are of that 
class who visit you merely for the sake of criticising 
or commenting upon your household arrangements and 
manner of living, or for their own personal gratifica¬ 
tion, it were better that you should give them a short 
cut, and not entertain them at all. 
The Habit of Reading. —Home and Society dis¬ 
cusses the advantage of reading, and wonders why s@ 
few read sensible hooks. “ I have no time to read, ” is 
the common complaint, and especially of women, whose 
occupations are such as to prevent continuous hook pe¬ 
rusal. They seem to think, because they cannot devote 
as much attention to books as they are compelled to 
devote to their avocations, that they cannot read any¬ 
thing. But this is a great mistake. It isn’t the books 
we finish at a sitting which always do us the most 
good. Those we devour in the odd moments, half a 
dozen pages at a time, often give us more satisfaction, 
and are more thoroughly digested than those we make 
a particular effort to read. The men who have made 
their mark in the world have generally been the men 
who have in boyhood formed the habit of reading at 
every available moment, whether for five miuutes or 
five hours. It is the habit of reading rather than the 
time at our command that helps us on the road to 
Young Ladies at the Seaside.—Pensively observ 
ing the fashionable young ladies in hotel companies at 
the seaside, a correspondent says: “ Watch the group¬ 
ing of these girls, apparently accidental as it is, and; 
see how artistically they manage, with never a mis- ■ 
take. They know well what they are about, and ! 
study for that very effect you are admiring. There 
are two girls whom you have seen constantly together; 
a sudden coolness seems to have sprung up between 
them; they keep very far apart, never speak to one 
another at all; you even hear one refusing to dance in 
the same set of lancers with the other. What has 
happened! It must he a recent trouble, for they were 
driving together in the afternoon; you are a little per¬ 
plexed until you hear one say, ‘ I don’t dare go near 
Nell, for her lilac kills my blue.’ It you have an eye 
for color you will understand the estrangement, and 
wonder at it no longer.” 
Courtesy.—A courteous man often succeeds in life, 
when persons of greater ability fail. The experience 
of every man furnishes frequent instances where con¬ 
ciliatory manners have made the fortunes of physicians, 
lawyers, politicians, merchants, and indeed individuals 
of all pursuits. In being introduced to a stranger, bis 
affability or the reverse creates instantaneously a pre¬ 
possession in his favor, or awakens unconsciously a prej¬ 
udice against him. To men civility is, in fact, what a 
pleasing appearance is to women; it is a general pass¬ 
port to favor—a letter of recommendation written in a 
language that every person understands. The best 
of men have often injured themselves by irritability 
and consequent rudeness; whereas men of inferior 
abilities have frequently succeeded by their agreeable 
and pleasing manners. Of two men, equal in all 
other respects, the courteous one has twice the advant- ; 
age, and by far the better chance of making his way ; 
in the world. 
depend on which cannot he touched. How many 
thousands in this country would to-day, feel thankful 
if parents had insisted on such an arrangement before 
consenting to their daughters’ marriages .—New York 
World. 
The Shah’s Bouquet.—The following incident in 
connection with the recent visit of the Shah of Persia 
to the French capital is related by a New York re¬ 
porter : 
A yolmg lady of this city has a souvenir of her 
European travels, last summer, which is not at all 
beautiful, but very interesting to herself, her family 
and intimate friends, from the associations connected 
with it. It is an immense bouquet, at least two feet 
in diameter. It. is brown and withered, shrunken as 
a matter of course, but it was presented to the young 
lady by the Shah of Persia. The story of this bouquet 
is this: The young lady with her two sisters and 
mother were standing on a balcony of one of the hotels 
at Vevay last summer to witness the arrival of the 
Shah, and the public demonstrations made by the good 
people of that pretty watering-place in his honor. 
It so happened that the carriage containing the 
illustrious Persian was detained a few moments exactly 
opposite the balcony where Mrs.-and her 
daughters were standing. The Shah saw these ladies, 
and once seeing them did not remove his imperial gaze. 
He left his carriage, walked to the balcony, and in 
French asked the youngest girl her name and country . 
On learning that he was conversing with an American 
he seemed delighted, and said, “ You are the first 
American I have talked with, and I think you the 
most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” He then 
presented her the bouquel, which had been given him 
by some admiring inhabitant of Yevey, at the railway 
station, on his arrival. This bouquet has been pre¬ 
served with infinite care in a box to accommodate its 
peculiar shape and size, and is now exhibited to ad¬ 
miring -friends. 
Coquettes—A Lady’s Opinion.—The meanest and 
most contemptible of mankind may yet find some 
human advocate, and male coquettes have had, it 
learning. Many of the most cultivated persons, whose 
names have been famous as students, have given only 
two or three hours a day to their books. If we make 
use of spare minutes in the midst of our work, and 
read a little, if but a page or a paragraph, we shall 
find our brains quickened and our toil lightened by just 
so much increased satisfaction as the book gives us. 
Nothing helps along the monotonous daily round so 
much as fresh and striking thoughts, to be considered I 
while our hands are busy. A new idea from a new 
volume is like oil which reduces the friction of the 
machinery of life. What we remember from brief 
glimpses into books often serves as a stimulus to 
action, and becomes one of the most precious deposits 
in the treasury of our recollection. All knowledge is 
made up of small parts, which would seem insignifi¬ 
cant in themselves, but which, taken together, are 
valuable weapons for the mind and substantial armor 
for the soul. “ Read anything continuously,” says 
Dr. Johnson, “ and you will be learned 
A Plea for Marriage Settlements.—As matters 
now stand, it too frequently happens that young peo¬ 
ple marry who must inevitably, in the event of failure 
of health or employment, depend entirely upon their 
friends. This is quite wrong as regards all parties. 
To defer matrimony to a late period of life is apt to he 
eminently conducive to immorality; but on the other 
hand there is argument to show that any man above 
the laboring class ought only to marry when such a 
sum is settled on his wife as will keep her and their 
children from actual want. In older countries this is 
generally rigidly insisted on, not only for the sake of 
the young couple themselves, but quite as much as a 
measure of precaution on the part of their relations, 
who, of course, clearly foresee that in the event of any-- 
thing going wrong their destitute kindred will other¬ 
wise fall upon them for support. One difficulty which 
has stood very much in the way of such an arrangement 
here, and indeed in the higher classes stands very much 
in the way of girls marrying at all, is to be found in 
the unwillingness of men in business, even when in 
affluent circumstances, to give their daughters a sum 
down on marriage. “Your income is $.'1,000, and I’ll 
give my daughter $2,000,” says the American father 
to an intending son-in-law. “If yon settle $10,000 
on my daughter I’ll add $10,000 more,” says the 
European father-in-law. The superiority of the latter 
arrangement is, in our opinion, incontestable. The 
sum settled is, except in the case of really wealthy 
people, very rarely large enough to induce any idleness 
on the part of a young man, because it only yields an 
income sufficient for hare necessaries; hut it gives 
him, and perhaps still more his wife, the consoling 
reflection that let panic, bankruptcy, or any other 
unforeseen disaster come, they still have something to 
seems, at least one defender. 
The poet Campbell says that he once heard a lady 
distinguished for beauty and rank defend Sir Thomas 
Lawrence from the charge of having been culpable in 
paying attentions to ladies without intending to follow 
them up by an offer of his hand. 
A geutleman remarked that Sir Thomas was highly 
blainable. 
“ No,” replied the lady, who was said to have been 
herself the temporary object of the great painter’s at¬ 
tentions, “ uo, not exactly- 
not so much to blame,” 
“ you astonish 
said the lady musingly. 
“ What!” exclaimed the gentleman, 
me ! Not to blame for such conduct I” 
“ No, not so much,” was still the lady’s musing 
response. 
“ Can you really, madame,” said the. gentleman 
! again, “defend such behavior as desertion —” 
“Why, sir,” interrupted the lady, to confess the 
: truth, I am firmly of the opinion that the majority of 
the women would rather be courted and jilted, than 
not be courted at all!” 
A Cruel Papa.—Like the youth of some other 
places, the Pittsburgh hoys, to the number of fifty or 
sixty, rush out of evening meetings as soon as the 
benediction is. pronounced, and stand ready to offer 
their company to the opposites of the other sex as they 
come out. One of these young bloods was about giv¬ 
ing bis ann to the girl of his choice, a few nights ago, 
when her father, who hasn’t a bit of romance in bis 
soul, hut a mighty sight of vigor in his muscles, 
| stepped up, and taking in the situation at a glance, 
grasped the youth by the coat, collar, lifted him about, 
a yard clear of the ground, and nearly shook him out 
of his trowsers. The young man has been shy of that 
i Miss ever since. He says “ It isn’t safe to he haugin’ 
j round a. girl whose father aofijSike a derrick.” 
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