, 1875-01-16

Well" said he, girls are sas-
willed."
We were silent for long time; then
he said:
We'll, I'll try again. By Heaven! I'll
make her take your
And he was gone
And Anna promised that If the mines
prospered well for two years more under
nv care. and if | then went to the old
country and graduated in medicine at a
British university, she would become my
wife.
"Oh, Anna" l pleaded, you are
cruel! Think Of the terrible ordeal you
assign TO me! An old, rough silver-miner,
accustomed 10 savage men and savage
ways, to 90 to study medicine at uni
yersity! oh. It's cruel! 1t is unfair! |
must surely fail. am overweighted in
the race. Be merciful! I'll do anything
at mining; but at college learning have
little chance"
Then she turned on me with her proud,
impetuous beauty and naughty dignity:
@Sir, if you do as | have said, shall
marry you-not till then
There was flash and a rustling of
silk. and her father and were alone.
And here am working hard to become
doctor. Another year, and l hope to
be in q position 10 claim Anna for my
wife. Lovely Anna! Oh, how good she
is! Yes, you have guessed right. That
Door woman who was TO get her hand
amputated was go like Anna that could
not stand it. That was the reason why
| ran away.
| thought over his story as | traversed
the gas-lit city streets on my way to my
lodgings. | thought long and deeply on
the tender tale-for tender it was-and
all the more affecting that jackson WAS
so stern and rugged himself
Ugly old Jenny let me in -End gave me
nv frugal tea | went to bed, feeling as
If a dream had been realized.
Time .assed, and at length jackson
and | found ourselves at the end OF our
medical curriculum at the close of our
last session, and preparing to go up to
pass our final examination. In the
meantime poor Jackson had not recruit
ed very well after his terrible illness.
He still remained pale, shruuken and
emaciated. | could not help frequently
thinking that this bad state of health
| was due more 10 mental than To physical
suffering. OF one thing | was quite
sure-whiIe he Seemed to be continual
| " writing and posting letters to Callfor-
MIA, very few were sent to him from that
part of the world At times | almost
fancied that poor old JacksOn'S stout
heart was being slowly broken. | could
read terrible agony in his cold gray
eyes. Twas indeed seldom that he re-
ceived Il note from Anna, ana | had rea-
son to know that the few which she dld
send were very short. One day found
Jackson sitting pOriHg over one OF them
as if in trance. ! imagined that he was
irving to extract q kindness from 1t
which the words Of the message did not
express.
In spite of all this, however, my friend
made most marvellous progress in his
studies He did not work like other
students-he seemed 10 be possessed lie
was i'll; he was anxious; yet / was con
scious that his attainmepts far exceeded
mine, although | also worked very hard
and constantly, and possessed many ad-
vantages which he lacked. Then came
that anxious and terrible day on which
we must stand the trial of the final ex-
animation. In the evening we would
either be plucked" OF graduates of our
university and qualified to practice our
profession. Jackson and | had read a
great deal together, and ground each
other well, and we were both conscious
OF having worked honestly; still | con
fess to a very considerable degree OF
nervous apprehension when the day
4&wuc3 W&lic& W&s q teSt OK &ttai&-
I UAeNts. I need not detail that days
bOlDgs; sOI0ce J! 10 Say fl2as O0'A 0a%G-
son and we're pretty veil satisfied with
ourselves when We came 20 compare
notes in the evening. A week must
elapse before the result would be pub
Gcly announced-week of misery. But
one day Jackson and |, rushing up To the
blackboard in the first quadrangle, found
the list Of passed" men affixed thereon
oessseessszSsssssasss <asa5ssss@
EHSSnSSaCD Dy9S@My8@aHsz zsS@HGsGEs1 80 ~
? o>222@- -Sa@22s2 5a5>Sa, a@e8P S&&>>>&
proud satiSfactIon-therc WAS my own
name am00g the successful ueul
and a grnnt from jackson tOl6
me that he was Az right. Then
we pointed out our names TO each other,
took a last longing look, then arm IN arm
walked away with feelings beyond de-
sCription. That evening Jackson wrote
and posted letter 10 Anna, informing
her of his success; then he scanned the
shipping advertisements to see the earlI-
est opportunity which he would have
of getting back to California TO claim
his bride; and having settled these af-
fairs he accompanied me home 10 my
lodgings, We enjoyed ourselves to the
full-drinking toddy, smoking cigars,
chatting or indulging in = happy,
dreamy silence till two o'clock IN the
morning. Then We parted, with mutual
congratulations and good wishes.
To nv utter amazement and indigna-
ton, lust as / was in the act of getting
into bed, "Old Jenny" thrust her mahog-
any countenance into my room, and in
dulged in prophecy to the ef-
feet that something mo canny
would happen to Master jackson" !"
for she had Just had an lawful dream"
about him, from which she was awak-
ened by the noise of his departure |
was somewhat puzzled at first to decide
whether this was sort of revenge for
the annoyance we might have given her
or whether it was a sly and roundabout
way to come at her share of the toddy.
At any rate | ended by laughing and
telling her to take a nip" She
thanked me; said she would; then, ask
ing if l was all right in bed, cOolly turned
off the gas and walked OUT of the room,
leaving a strong impression on my mind