Spiritualism.

gEtfABKABLE PECLAKATION OF a $EW Zealandee's Belief.

jf Bl H. H. Moody, formerly of Dune jifl, has addressed the following letter to a friend in Dunedin: —

Greenfield, Mass., June 7, 1875.

3Jfy dear- I perceive that you bare published that portion of my last •■etter relating to the Eddy Brothers, gome of my Dunedin friends, judging ■from the tenor of their comments, are evidently of opinion that I have either been duped or have lost my reason, one nor the other, my friend, 1 assure you. I never was wider awake in my life than on the occasion of that visit, and I made too good use of my senses, and had too many tests, to doubt for a moment tbe genuineness of the manifestations. So well assured was I of the reality of all that I saw and heard that, with a near and dear friend of mine, I have paid another visit to the house of the Eddys, and lave talked, laughed, and shaken hands with the fully materialised forms of our deceased friends. "We left Green field on the 10th of May, and remained at the Eddy homestead in Vermont yearly three weeks. During that time I attended fourteen seances, and saw no less than two hundred and twenty materialised forms, many of them in fall light. They conversed with us, laughed, sang, danced, and smoked as naturally as we do in the flesh. The seances are held in the same room as before. The cabinet in which the materialisations take place is 2ft. 3in, wide, 6ft. long, and 7ft. high. Usually from 12 to 23 spirit forms appear in the space of an hour. The room is partially darkened at the commence ment of a seance, as that is one of the conditions under which force is more easily gathered. To explain how it is that the spirits collectfromthemedium, the circle, and the atmosphere—the materials for the formation of flesh and habiliments like our own—it would be necessary for me to understand spiritual science. This, I confess, I io not understand; I have not a scientific turn ; I have to rely upon , the evidence of my \ senses. I take hard facts and the evidence of my senses as I find them, without being able to account for them—either phy sically or spiritually. Crooke and "Wallace have all that they can do to account for what they see and hear. If I meet an intimate friend in the street, I know him from the cut of his countenance, and the rig of his coat. Well, 1 have seen here, in full light, my old friend, Mr. C. Bedding (well known in Dunedin), twelve times. He spoke to me one evening; called me by my name, and requested me to tell his wife that he was happy, and wished her to come and see him. He came out, dressed in five different suits, simi lar to those he used to wear when living here on earth. I knew him; I could not be mistaken. There he was, as natural as life. I lived in the house,|which was scantily furnished. _ I knew every nook and corner in it; and I was certain that no human being resembling Bedding in every particular could have been concealed there. What hallucination could there be about it? I saw my own father four times, my sister six times, my old Ballarat partner, Bufus Smith, once. All these I saw in full light I and how could I be mistaken, or how conld the Eddy Brothers personate them ? An old lady (Mrs. S.) and her daughter, from Borneo, Michigan, came while we were there. After they had been there a few nights, the spirits asked the old lady to take a seat on the platform, close to the cabi net., Soon after taking her seat, the form of an old gentleman walked out of the cabinet and shook hands with her, and she called him ' father.' He retired; and in a few minutes a young man, appeared, and shook hands with her, and then a young girl, and soon afterwards another young man. Each shook hands with the old lady. After the seance was over, I asked her if she was sure those were her friends. She said she could not be mistaken. The first was her father, the second her son, the third her granddaughter, and the fourth a man who used to work for her. I ask any reasonable being if that is not good evidence ? Another night the spirit of Mrs. Eaton appear ed and invited the same lady to dance with her on the platform. Mrs. Eaton apologised for not being able to dance very well, as she said she was more used to praying when in this world. She was eighty years old when she passed on. Her old pastor, she said, would think it strange that she should come back here to dance. There was another old lady, the spirit of a Mrs. Brown, who used to come out and dance with the lady from Michigan. Mrs Brown's grandson,Edwardßrown, attends the circle every night. He married one of the Eddy sisters. Does it not seem rather comical that an old lady about eighty, who has been dead some years, comes back materialized, so that she is recognised by her own relations, and trips it on the 'light fantastic' with another old lady about Beventy, who we know is here in the flesh? One night the two materialised Bpirits, old Mcs Brown and Mrs Eaton, had a 6hampion dance. They came put four times each. Mrs. Eaton appealed to tte audience to know .who wats the best dancer, and we decided that both were equally good* Om'.light* we heard a . aby

carymg m the cabinet. Soon a lady appeared holding a baby in her arms, and fudging from the noise it made, it had splendid lungs, and no mistake. Honto, an Indian maiden, frequently danced. One evening she came to the floor where we were seated, put her hand on the railing and jumped back to the platform. Stooping, she seemed to pick up something, and shaking it out it was a large shawl. She made nine of them, 3x5 to 4 x 9ffc. She plucked a white rose from a bouquet on the platform, and beckoning to me, I went up, and she gave it me out of her own hand> which I felt. One night a young lady, about twenty, and a little girl about two years old, appeared, and were recognised by a man from Maine, as his two daughters. He called them by name, and the eldest took the younger in her arms and walked partly across the platform. The little one held her hands out towards her father, and they both seemed pleased to see him. A good many Indians appeared in full light and remained out for some time. An Indian girl 'The Lady of the Lake,' was one of the most beautifully formed beings I ever saw. She was dressed in white tights, with a snow white tunic that reached almost to the knees, a belt, and long black hair. She came to where we were sitting and danced across the floor several times, Mrs. Eddy, the mother of the Eddy family, came out and thanked the lady from Michigan, Mrs 8, for her kindness to her (Mrs Eddy's) daughter. Two gentlemen from Utica, Kew York, fully recognised their brother, who passed on about a year since. A Mrs. Cleveland, a near neighbour of the Eddy's, lost her husband last Feb ruary; He came back several times, and was recognised by several in the room. He was the one over whose corpse a materialised spirit delivered a funeral discourse in the presence of about twenty of the neighbours. I had this from the lips of a dozen re liablepersonswhowerepresent. Oneold lady, called ' The Witch of the Moun tain,' materialises quite often, and sometimes talks for half an hour, I heard her several times. She lectured us once for fully fifteen minutes. I have only given a slight sketch of the many marvellous things to be seen at fthe Eddy Eomestead. if you would like to learn more about these wonders, get Col. H. T. Olcott's book, just published by the American Publishing Company, Hartford, Conn. It is a volume of 492 pages, entitled 'People from the Other World/ and is profusely illustrated. The volume is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to a detailed descripbion of the strange things seen, heard, and felt by the author at the Eddy Homestead; and the second to a report of a series of original investi gations made by him in the city of Philadelphia into the alleged materiali sations of John and Katie King, under test conditions. Touching the Katie King expose", in Philadelphia, I might mention that it is proved on excellent authority, that the Holmeses are genuine mediums, and that the woman White was paid by the Young Men's Christian Association 1000 .dols. to tell that story. Whether it is true or false, I do not know or care. I do know, however, that the Eddy mani festations are genuine, and that I have seen and recognised my friends who have been dead some years; and thousands have done the same. It will not be many years before all will be compelled to believe, for there is little doubt but we will have spirits addressing public audiences in broad daylight. There are now many mate rialising mediums and already another medium, in the presence of whom phenomena even still more wonderful than those of the Eddys, take place. This is the dematerialising medium:— Mrs. Elizabeth J. Oompton, of Havana Schuyler County, New York. For particulars, see Col. Olcott's book. The weak point in the various religious systems of the earth is that they take their premises for granted. Spiritualists, on the contrary, have, in the phenomena, the great Truth of Immortality actually demonstrated, and have their; teachings direct from fellow creatures who1: have had experi ence in the other world. Materialisation, the latest phase of spirit-power, is sure to lead to great results. It will demonstrate to the entire world, with scientific certainty, the fact of immortality. As the ' Scientific American' recently observed: 'If true, it will become the one grand event of the World's history ; it will give ah imperishable lustre of glory to the nineteenth century. If the pretensions of Spiritualism have a rational foundation, no more import ant world has been offered to men of science than their verification. Otago Daily Times. ... •

FIRE.

And cried in agony " Is ruin God ? A HtT or a nation, ill the same— W?rS oSl° «■»" Itoort to ««*••■*"»*

A School Girl's Pride.

A St. Louis exchange relates an instance ot the pride of a child who struggled to keep up appearances in a way that was touching to witness. The hopelessness of the endeavour was plainly made manifest to her by the well-meant action of her teacher, and the facts are these : Just before the close of the last session of the public schools in this city, an in cident took place which, as an illustration, is more than touching. At one of the schools numbers of the pupils were in the habit of bringing a luncheon with them, which at noon they ate together. Among those who did not go home for dinner, the teacher in a particular room noticed i a little girl who always sat looking wist fully at her playmates when they went out with their luncheon, but who never brought any herself, The child was always neatly but very plainly clad, and one of the closest of students in school hours. The odd action of the child's lasted for some time, when, one day, the teacher noticed that the little thing had apparently brought her dinner. The noon hour came, and the children took their lunch as usual and went out to eat it, the little girl referred to alone remaining in the room with her dinner wrapped up in paper on the desk before her. The teacher advanced to the child and asked her why she didn't go out to eat with the rest, at the same time putting out her hand toward the package on the desk. Quick as thought the girl clasped her hands over it and exclaimed, sobbing : * Don't touch it, teacher ; and don't tell please ! It's only blocks !' And that was the fact. Having no din ner to bring, and too proud to reveal the poverty of her family, tho child had care fully wrapped up a number of small blocks in paper and brought the package to present the appearance of a lunch ! It was nothing; a mere ridiculous incident in school life, but it was sufficient to make wiser and older heads than hers sad.

Editorial Duels.

Homceopathists will be interested to hear tbat Mr. Carruth, the editor of a newspaper at Yineland, in the United States, who was shot the other day by Mr. Landis, the editor of another Vineland newspaper, the ball lodging in the skull near the eje, still lives and is ' doing nicely.' The case is considered as a most remarkable one in the annals of surgery, owing to the fact of no surgical operation having as yet been attempted by the homoeo pathic doctors who were called in to attend him, to the exclusion of one of the most celebrated surgeons of Phila delphia. He has been given but one medicine from the beginning of the melancholy affair. The doctors have administered arnica internally, with the view of preventing inflammation. Their efforts have hitherto been crowned with success. The orifice of the wound is contracted, and the use of the probe is thought injudicious. Strong hopes are entertained that he may recover, and this happy termina tion of a disagreeable incident is by none more earnestly desired than by his late antagonist, Mr. Landis. In the meantime, another editor has un fortunately been shot at Leavenworth, Kansas. It seems that, on the even ing of the 11th instant, Colonel Anthony, editor of the Times a,n& post master at Leavenworth, met Mr. Embry, editor of the Appeal, on the stairway of the Opera House. Colonel Anthony asked Mr. Embry 'if he wished to see him.' ' Just as you say, Colonel Anthony,' replied Mr. Embry,' if you wish to see me, we will go down-stairs.' The Colonel, instead of going down-stairs, stepped up one step, upon which Mr. Embry remarked, 'No, Colonel, you do not shoot me in the back.' Colonel Anthony, irritated at this remark, struck Mr Embry a blow in the eye. Mr. Embry retaliated by firing three shots, two of which took effect on the Colonel's heart, and by latest accounts he was lying at the Opera House with very little chance of recovery. It is, however, to be hoped that after the experience of Mr. Carruth's case all editors shot by other editors in the United States will be treated homceo pathically, with like favourable results. The constitutions of the journalists and politicians of Western America are, it seems, becoming suited to the conditions of their existence. Mr Carruth, the Vineland editor who was lately shot in the head by Mr. Landis, another Vineland editor, is not only, as we mentioned above,' doing nicely,' with the bullet comfortably ' encysted' in the vicinity of the brain, but is also in the highest possible spirits, and has addressed the following remarks to the readers of the Vineland Independent: —After announcing his retirement from 'the editorship and proprietor ship' of that spirited journal, Mr. Carruth proceeds: 'This sudden sundering of our connection with newspaperdom will surprise, doubtless disgust, many of our friends, but there was no alternative. Two months' constant tussle with a hostile bullet in our brain has convinced us that we lack the capacity to develope a lead mine and publish an independent Vineland newspaper at the same time. Our impaired eyesight, shattered nerves, and pulsating brain admonish us that for the coming year we must not stray too far from the hospital. To our subscribers who for the past four years have read the Independent and paid for it we hereby tender our acknowledgments. Those who have taken the paper just to help it along, never'volunteering a dime or recog" nizing a dun, we shall feel it our duty, if|we recover our health, to thank in person/ Stßl '.c sst);.: ixoaiQ.'

In a Tunnel.

' That will do nicely,' said Euth Mayhew, receiving her last package through the car window from Mr. Perkins on the platform. • Write us how you get along, Euth. If your aunt can sparo you a spell in the summer we'd be glad to see you hum agin. Oh, my ! here's Mis' Curtin with a bunch of posies from her garden. Hurry hurry! you'll be late, sure's the world, Mis' Curtin.'

Thus, spoke the group at the depot in shrill chorus as the locomotive, every plate burnished and dazzling, which had simmered quietly for minutes, started, imparting a jerking wrench to the cars, and then the' long snake of a train glided smoothly away. ' She takes it first-rate,' commented Mr. Perkins, wiping his brow with a red bandana handkerchief.

Then he climbed into his rusty carry-all drawn by a meek white horse ; the others returned along the village street to resume separate avocations, and the event of the day was over. Euth Mayhew had depar ted from the home of her youth, and the place would know her no more for ever.

The struggle had been a hard one, but she bore it well, as Mr, Perkins averred. She did not look once at the white house on the hill where death had robbed her of parents and shelter, because even her fortitude could not be trusted to witness the Smalls moving in. What was before her ? Life with Aunt Harriet in a close sick chamber, slave of an invalid's capri ces, and grateful for daily bread. Oh, the long dreary years, with nothing but old age in advance ! She took a small pocket-mirror from her bag, and gazed pensively into its depths. The reflected image was by no means unattractive. She was not as young as she had once been, yet her features were good, her complexion fresh, her eyes clear, and her physique robust. Moreover she was carefully and becom ingly attired, and her chignon was of the latest style. Nevertheless a sigh welled up from her heart when she gazed in the glass, not altogether in unreasonable dis satisfaction with her present appearance ; still the past had had disappointments, and the future with Aunt Harriet was without promise. Away back in the vista of summers she beheld herself, a fanciful girl, building cloud-castles out of the sun set glories. One aping-time was brighter and more fragrant than the rest ; around it still bloomed flowers of regretful mem ories, blossoms without earthly semblance in the cold bleak climate where Ruth lived, because sprung from the richest sources of humanity. A brave young missionary had urged a heedless girl to go with him to the hot countries among the heathen, and the girl, to whom the world seemed a vast treasure-house lavish of gifts, had flouted her young missionary, and he had silently departed without complaint to return no more. Then Ruth had shed tears in secret, bitterly remorseful tears, and turned her back capriciously on the well to-do farmers of her acquaintance.

' Got a cinder in yer eye ?' inquired a sharp voice in our traveller's ear.

The latter awoka from her reverie with a start, and turned to her questioner with a guilty blush suffusing her cheek. She, Kuth Mayhew. of middle age, caught looking in the glass ! Her interlocutor was a brisk, bright little old lady in a faded shawl and an antiquated bonnet of the coal-scuttle pattern. Sb« carried on her arm a black silk bag which seemed to contain unlimited stores of snuff and peppermint drops. Encircling her withered old throat was a necklace of beautiful gold beads delicately wrought. These beads, an heir-loom in her family, descending to her through long genera tions, had been worn by her since early youth, and so much of superstition is associated with such relics in the mind of the possessor, that the old lady would have dreaded immediate misfortune had she lost them. Such was her child-like faith in her fellow-creatures that she never dreamed of parting with her treasures.

(I can get it out quick as a wink, child,' she continued, eagerly, settling her spec tacles, and spreading out a soft silk handkerchief, with the intention of apply ing it to Euth's eye. 'No thank you. It is nothing,' gaid Euth, hastily popping the glass back into a hiding-place, Thus foiled, the old lady relapsed into silence, although she could not remain quiet long. She jerked her head about quickly to observe different objects with a sparrow-like motion, and becoming absorbingly interested in Euth, she peered at trimmings, even testing the quality of a ribbon furtively with a critical fore finger and thumb. Age had chiselled wrinkles, innumerable fine lines, in the intelligent face, had whitened the scanty hair, and robbed the sunken mouth of teeth, yet the vital forces seemed uaim paired. She was like a queer little gray bird hopping along to peck a crumb of information everywhere. • I wonder who she is, and where she's goin'P' pondered the old lady, her busy brain having unsuccessfully twisted Ruth around the whirling-wheel of minute investigation. Then she bobbed up abruptly, and skipped into the seat beside the ooject of her interest with an apolo getic, • Guess I'll change my place, if you don't mind, and get out of the draught from that winder. Old folks have to be kinder keerful about draughts.' Miss Mayhew graciously assented, and her neighbour was delighted with the success of her stratagem. •Live in these partsP' small beady eyes twinkling all over her companion interrogatively. 'Yes. Have you come far P' 1 Far ? I guess so! I left my darter's home in Indianny day afore yesterday. I've seen sights of things. My son-in law, Marthy's husband, is a lumber merchant, you know, out West. Yes, the winter's been cold, some. We had Bible classes and lectures, and once there came a panoramy of New York. Jabez took me. Hey you been there? Most as good as seeing it for-yourself, the pan oramy was, Come home alone P Law, yes ! Made my "way right along as easy as could be. I stopped overnight at Montreal, in Canady, at a great hotel, and the clerk gave me a snug little room, so'a I felt real to hum. There's a big bridge —the] Victory Bridge, they call it there.

I see ifc. I've been a good piece on the Grand Turk Eailroad too.'

The old lady had traversed all this distance safely, enjoying every hour of the journey, and she was now turning her face homeward to a farm nestled among the hills. * My son lives in the other side of the house, and does all the chores about the farm, I take care of myself.' she explained, with the curious simplicity of a nature that confided all its private affairs to strangers, never dreaming of doubting that their interest equalled her own in discussing their personal history. Euth's sympathy was aroused. This sympathy cost her dear. Three hours later she was standing alone on the crowded platform of a large railway terminus, where locomotives dashed fran tically about, and anxious passengers vociferated loudly, with her own train disappearing in the distance, and a string of gold beads in her hand. It happened thus: Ruth and her new friend hobnobbed delightfully. The old lady was particularly pleased to discover that among the many good things pre pared for the other's journey by friendly hands were crisp turn-overs, generous slices of dried-apple pie, and doughnuts. • Seems like hum,' she declared, with a sigh of satisfaction. 'Couldn'tgit any cake nor pie in Canady. They said they had plenty of beef and beer, but I don't need nothin' quite so hearty.' Born of the same race, subjected to tha same influences of a harsh, cold climate the English resident of Canada supplies generous fuel for the machinery of life, while the Yankee native of New England most grudgingly lubricates the busy mech anism of his economy, at the same time extorting the greatest possible amount of labour from his slave —the body.

The train paused at a station, and a young man strolled into the car. Miss Euth's attention became instantly centred in him. It was not because of the beauty of his black mustache that she observed him, nor his oily ringlets, flashy waist coat and resplendent watch-chain. It was simply because his evil, snaky eye, wan dermg carelessly over the passengers, pounced on the unconscious old lady, • You will bear watching,' thought the younger woman. Then she talked warn ingly of thieves and pickpockets, at which the old lady looked simply bewildered. The train rushed into a tunnel, a dark, chilly hole that seemed to open a yawning mouth, in itself stationary and soulless, to ingulf life and motion. A tiny blue flame crackled ; the old lady had lighted a bit of tallow candle, using her hand for a candlestick.

' I git scared in these tunnels,' she said, and held the candle so that Ruth and herself were framed in a vivid radi ance.

The former, keeping her eyes steadfastly fixed on the snaky young man seated behind, detected a stealthy movement of his hand toward the old lady's neck, where hung the family gold beads. A sudden draught (emanating from the snaky young man) flared out the candle, a scuffle and rush ensued amidst confused exclama tions, and Miss Mayhew launched into active combat with the foe.

'■ Thieves !' she shrieked

' Oh, murder!' gasped the old lady, first receiving a blow over the head that crushed her bonnet awry, and then feeling as if a great many shawls had tumbled over her.

' What is the matter ?' echoed on all sides in the terrible darkness. 1 Ob, «k 1' screamed Euth again. • The wretch ! The scamp! Help me to hold him. He is twisting my hand horribly.'

1 Let me go,' growled the snaky young man, and giving himself a serpentine screw, adroitly eluded the nervous clutch of his captor's fingers. ' He's gone! Do catch him,' she panted. The wildest commotion ensued. Every body else feeling that it devolved upon each as men and brothers to do something and succeeding only in creating inextric able confusion. None of the passengers had the vaguest idea what had happened. Each man grappled with his neighbour, suspecting him of some deadly villainy in that obscure night. ' I have got him,' cried a cheerful voice from the door, proceeding from a stout and valiant traveller, who, indeed, held in an iron grip a slender, writhing form that indignantly rebelled against his assault. But when light dawned to a comforting brightness again the stout gentleman was found to hold captive an innocent and much-injured newspaper and pop-corn boy, who had entered the car just in the nick of time to be made prisoner, while the thief slid noiselessly away to vanish for ever. Then each passenger was morally certain that the thief had crept past him while he was pursuing the respectable gentleman opposite, and the newsboy was surest of all that he had been propelled into their midst by some unseen power on the platform. The in evitable result of so much excitement was a chilling doubt if Miss Mayhew's alarm had not been only a woman's scare after all.

' Look at her for yourselves,' she said indignantly, reading scepticism on every side.

The old lady's appearance was certainly dilapidated and battered, while her beautiful beads were lying in her lap. Ruth replaced them preparatory to her getting out at the crowded terminus where she changed cars. The old lady fluttered away almost before the train had stopped, and when she had been gone fully five minutes Miss Mayhew rattled the beads on the floor with a sudden crash. The thief had weakened the clasp in his efforts to secure them. Something must be done. In vain she appealed to selfish men ; they were not going to lose their places. Much good but vague advice was volunteered about keeping the neck lace until she could forward it some time, wnich she cut short with a decisive ' I will go myself.' The emergency required prompt action, and she was equal to the emergency. Without a moment's hesitation she rushed out. . ' How long do we stop ?' she inquired of a brakeman, who exhaled hot oil from his very countenance. • Twenty minutes/ replied the brake man, surely incited by the Evil One. Where, oh, where will that brakeman go when he diesP Was his conscience deadened as well as his outer ear by the din of his life; or did he view with indifference the possibility of any future

state being worse than the pandemonium of his present existence ? Our traveller was immediately beset by a crowd of clamorous hack-men desirous of driving her out of her wits, if not to the end of the earth. Escaping this snare, she fell into another of babies and dusty parents, How many tender innocents she upset in her haste, thus increasing the general uproar, Ruth, although naturally humane, never knew. , Everywhere a hopeless blockade ol baggage, trucks, and struggling humanity —everywhere insane panic of hurry in the fear of being left behind. The be wildered woman could not approach with in ear-shot of the perspiring ticket-master, whose suffused face glared vengefully through his pigeon-hole as he snapped short the incoherent questions of distrac ted passengers. If she could only ascer tain where the old lady had gone ! ' Which is the Locust Valley train ?' she asked of a i>aggage-man who was pausing to take breath after lifting a Saratoga trunk of gigantic dimensions. The baggage-man, with agonizing deliberation, rested his great hands on his hips, thrust a quid of tobacco into his cheek, stared at his interlocutor, and said,

' Hey ?' Miss Euth repeated her question with the energy of despair. • Where do you want to go ?' inquired the baggage-man, warily. And then it became a painfully evident fact that where Miss Mayhew wanted to go and where she was going were two widely sundered matters, for she beheld her train in motion. To rush toward it, to signal blindly—as if the insensate mon ster would stop !—to be held back from jumping on board in a gentlemanly fashion, and then to be left gazing blankly into space—that was-Jier experi ence. A voice came back on the wind :

' I will keep your things for you.' To inveigh bitterly against the deceit fulness of brakemen was an impulse which our unfortunate lady checked with true dignity of character. ' I will find the old lady at all events,' she decided, ' even though she should prove the proverbial needle in that hay stack of a depot.' There never were so many trains look ing exactly alike, and apparently headed in the same direction, with their engines prancing aimlessly up and down. Oh, the satisfaction of at length beholding a familiar old face, spectacles on nose, beaming behind a window. Miss Mayhew dashed frantically forward, waving the necklace aloft. The old lady starred, felt instinctively at her throat, and began to fumble no less franctically at the closed sash. Varnish and springs defied her. Horrors ! The train, after dawdling any length of time, at this inauspicious mo ment concluded to move. It was a pleas ant sight to behold Miss Mayhew racing along the platform, casting dignity to the winds, and the old lady on the verge of apoplexy within the car in her efforts to raise the window. How the people stared to be sure ! But Miss Mayhew did not care. She was long past personal sensi tiveness ; and when the sash finally yielded just as she reached the extreme edge of the platform, she threw in the beads, and retiring, seated herself on a carpet-bag to burst into tears. Her courage completely failed her ! the weak, silly, feminine sobs would come.

MY BONNIE WIFE CAN TELL.

You ask me why I shun the throngs wwibj That pass me where I stray, And why I loathe the impious songs That come from o'er the way? You marvel that I do not miss The scenes you love so well; If you would know the cause of this,, My bonnie wife can tell. Why is it that my fondest dreams Are centred in my home, And that each hour ao tedious seems Whene'er my footsteps roam ? The throstle seeks its little nest Adown the sunny dell, And why it loves that spot the best, My bomria wife can tell. The craven heart that yields to fear, Whilst beating out its race. Would drown the Lopes we hold so dear, In some unhallowed place. O, richer joys my steps attend, And brighter hopes as well; The reason Thy they sweetly blend, My bonnie wife can telL Like music's echoes 'mid the hills, When crag to crag replies, And like the murmer of the rills Whose music never dies— Love's first kind words can charm me yet As when at first they fell, And why my heart shall ne'er forget, My bonnie wife can tell. Go, ask her why she loves to link Her little hand in mine, And why sometime! I almost think It wicked to repine. She gave me much when yielding me The prize I love so well; If you would know what that can be, My bonnie wife caa tell. No cruel blow, no reckless mirth. No midnight's scalding tears, No watching by the tireless hearth She either knows or fears. 0, would you win a noble name, And boast life's richest spell, The path that leads to love and fame My bonnie wife can tell 1 [E. 8. Husband, Grey-street.

A Penalty for a Kiss Two Hundred Years Ago.

Air ancient "Beecher trial may be found among the proceedings of a Connecti cut court held at JS ew Haven, May, 1, 1660, just two hundred and fifteen years ago. In this case, the kisser was Jacob M. Murline, and the kissee was Miss Sarah Tuttle. It is demon strated that Jacob ' tooke up or tooke away her gloves. Sarah desired him to give her the gloves, to which he answered he would do so if she would give him a kysse, upon which they sat down together, his anne being about her waste, and her anne upon his shoulder or about his neck, and he kyssed her and she kyssed him, or they kyssed one another, continuing in this posture about half an hour.' On examination, the amatory Jacob confusedly admitted that 'hee tooke her by the hand, and they both sat down upon a chest, but whether his I anne were about her waste, and her anne upon his shoulder or about his neck, he knows not, for he never thought of it since, till Mr. Raymond told him of it at Mannatos, for which he was blamed, and told him he had not layed it to heart as he ought.' And after conclusive evidence of the ' wanton, uncivil, immodest, and las-, civious' osculation aforesaid, Jacob, and Sarah were each fined twenty shillings. : ,

The Mysterious Man.

[From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.]

Ashtabula. Johnson is a mystenong man and he lives on Aberdeen-street. Ashtabula is one of those eccentric indi viduals who button-holes you on the street, leads you carefully to the edge of the side-walk, and then, looking about him, says very cautiously: • How's Spnggins ?' 'Spriggins, Spriggins/ you reply; ' what Spriggins ?' • 'Lonzo!' . 'Oh ! I dunno anything about him. Drawing you still nearer the edge of the walk, the mysterious man says : ' This is between you and me, now/ 'Well!' ' I heard that Spriggins was going into oats heavy. Now, he's got reasons, see/ and he holds up his forefinger and looks as wise as an owl. You get away from the mysterious man, and presently you see him collar Jones in the midst of a large company and march him off to whisper about an equally important matter. As near as can be calculated Johnson has no other business but this. Well, the other day Ashtabula dropped in to see Pbilo Martenberger, who tips back his chair in front of a livery stable on State street; He found Philo in conversation with some parties from the country regarding the sale of a car-load of horses. Taking the dealer by the arm, Ashtabula led him through the stable arousd the corner to a blacksmith shop. Then he sat down on a box, took out his knife, pried off a sliver from the box, and says he: ' Phil, I understand you've got a cow to sell, Sit down.' PhiJo looked at him a moment, and then said, very quietly : ' Oh, you heard I had a cow to sell ?'

' Yes,' responded Ashtabula,' sit down and talk her over/

Philo looked at him a minute ; then he said : ' Come here, Johnson.'

Johnson came, and his companion took him by the coat-sleeve and started into the street. He went down to where that six-story unfinished building stands, between Dearborn and State streets, and crawling through the boards that are nailed over the door, led Ashtabular up five flights of uncompleted stairs, at the imminent risk of breaking his Puffing and blowing, they reached tht top, and Philo led the way over the piles of rough lumber to the extreme east end of the building. Then, after stopping tc take breath, he put his mouth close to Ashtabula's ear and softly whispered, 'I've sold her.'

It has been nearly a wesk since that occurrence, and Mr. Johnson is still full of wrath; but a large circle of his acquain tances declare that Phil. Martenberger deserves a medal and shall have one.

PROVERBS FOR THE PEOPLE.

BT JOHN BIiiCKMAH.

No. I.—'

-" Wkak, Your Coat a Little Lomgib.'

We have proverbs old and new. Proverbs false and proverbs true; Proverbs from the anointed one— "Wisdom's favourite, Solomon. Others come with misty gleam, Eddying on Time's darkling stream. Some from Creek and Persian hands, Some from Egypt's rainless land*. Franklin's proverbs—rough of course— Hare a moral strength and force; There is one 'tis well to quote, Touching on a well-worn coat. Though your coat be worse for wear, And of cash you're somewhat bare, Do not for a new coat fret, Nor incur a needless debt; Wait and work for better days- Wait untii your means are stronger ; And, as honest Richard says, " Wear your coat a little longer." In this hurrying age of ours, Useful are proverbial flowers; Useful, when so many glide On all-grasping fashion's tide. Proverb» wise are fruitful seeds, And mar flower in virtuous deeds, And may hinder much of strife If they form the chart of life, Healthful too. their righteous glow, When their own some men scarce know. When great projects everywhere, Burst like bubbles in the air, When men walk, day after day, In the same uncertain way ; Striving o'er their sphere to shine, Wrapped in unpaid superfine. Better take to honest ways- Better wait till means are stronger. And, as poor old Bichard says, i Wear your coat a little longer."

The Fidgety Playeb.—He begins by picking up his cards all in a bundle. He holds them in his hand, and looks at a paper by his side, and at the same time he turns the faces of the cards towards his adversaries. We see one of his cardg slipping out of his hand, but luckily it drops on his knee, and then on the floor. He stoops to pick it up, and three or four more cards go down; he then mud dles them altogether, and shakes them about on the table, and one card drop* face upwards. He then asks what are trumps. It is his turn to play, and he draws out one card and then another, and puts them back again, and then he says. What did you say were trumps P Ans.: < Hearts.' < Oh, I thought spades I were trumps!'—the spade being his exposed card on the table. This hesita ; tion, it is scarcely necessary to say, makes even winners uncomfortable, and to a loser such things are unbearable. About the ninth trick we get in and lead a knave. Our friend hesitates, and goes through the regular performance, and at last he says,' I can't remember—l'll risk it,' and thereupon trumps pur best card; Whist is a nice game I and if this is the sort of thing we have in store for our old age, we should recommend those men who are cursed with a liver to look out for a single-handed game.-—.' The Westminster Papers.' The * Independent' publishes the fol lowing epitaph from a tombstone in Chau tauqua country: Neuralgia worked on Mrs. Smith Till 'neath the god it laid her j She was a worthy Methodist, And served as a crusader. Friends came delighted at the nail, In plenty of good carriages; - Death is the common lot of all, And comes more ott than marriages: A Skunk.—a skunk is the meanest creature on earth. A skunk would sell nis own father.—American paper. A shopkeeper, haying an empty cask which he wished to dispose of, placed it before his door and with chalk wrote upon it, ' For^. sail.': A waggish" schoolboy passing that way shortly after immediately wrote underneath, ' For freight or passage apply at the bunghole.'

SUPPLEMENT TO THE AUCKLAND EVENING STAB,