Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-08-18
BREAKFAST TABLE BRIEFS.


And gazy robe unPathered Of the zone
Lovely and languld as a cloud that's blown,
At Summer morn, wherever Auster bids.
But II perc nance the milkmau (honest Celt
Peeps thro' the lattice as he huiries by,
She bushes, and with angers orderly
Knits up the snowy throat, and draws the belt
Once upon time there was a young man.
The story am going TO tell you. children, is
very old. 1t happened many, many years
ago before you were born. But 1t is fairy
story, and fairy stories only grow sweeler and
sweeter as they grow older. Once upon Il
time there was u young man. ! say, once
upon time, and truly for when the events of
my fairy tale occurred there were no telegraph
wires and no newspapers to tell the world
all about them three or four hours before
they happened; consequently they could not
happen hut once. Once upon time there
was young man. Now it may seem very
strange to You, children, that should begin
a fairy tale with ayoung man Neryunroman-
tic. 1t should have been an eli, or at least a
maiden with golden hair. That is the way
most Of them begin, and very properly But
mine doesnt-not at oil. Once npon time
there was young man. lie was not o
grandfather by any means. You have all OF
you, doubtless, seen grandfathers. They
have gray hair, and walk with cane,
and although they are very, very
nice, and love to play with the
children dearly, still 1t wouldn't quite do
you know, to begin fairy story with a
grandfather. But listen, children My story
does not begin with grandfather. Once
upon time-[h here the fair author was in
tcrrupted by the postman. He wanted to see
her very Underworld not take no for an an
swer. She went down, and found him lean
ing YEARLY on roll OF manuscript, upon
which were 'due' stamps to the amount of
$1.25. 1t was her last story TO the Childrens'
Magazine, and the editor had written meekly
upon the margin, Declined with thanks"
But be was young man, you know.]
Ben Franklin was one OF that Glass of
printers whose love for the upper case is in
ordinate. 1t gave him, even in his private
correspondence, decidedly glaring and hy-
periodical style. He always cap'd his rhet.
orc and "kept up" his invectives. Wit
ness the following letter which, by the way,
is as old as the hills and almost as numerous
as the Smiths:
PnIIADA, July s, 1875.
Mr.. !Strdhan,
You are u Member of Parliament and one
of that Majority which have doomed my
Country to Destruction. You have begun tC
burn our Towns and murder our People. -
Look upon your hands They are stained
with the blood of your Relations You and
were long Friends You are now my enc
my.-and
Yours,
b. FRANKLIN.
The question has often occurred Il
us, would It he possible to write 6
novel without woman in it We hav,
never seen one-we did not think it could bt
done but here, at last, is a romance callet
1.-The Able 1igrane," translated from The
French by Leonard w. Bacon, which i!
really strong story without love passage
or woman actor in its entire plan. 1t il
like choir of male voices, some of then
rough and some out Of time, but the stormy
music is never weak or faltering. The ANA
tory passion has been so miserably used W
in our popular novels, that one sometimes
almost wonders ii powerful piece of fiction
can be created without its help Yet tn,
drama has got on nobly in its absence, work
ing upon other deep passions Of our nature
1t would be wholesome change to do the
same thing in our fictitious literature, On t
considerably wide scale.
One day Charles Dickens, II, he sat in thu
office of AL tie Year Round, making hi
way through the mass of papers tina, lay OF
the table, was attracted and surprised by thu
singular merit OF some lines which had beer
sent him. Such discovery is always re
freshment TO an editor, as he wades among
the slough OF manuscript which SURROUND
him. and he glanced eagerly at the nam'
with which the verses were signed. 1t wa
MARY Berwick" Dickens had never befor,
to his knowledge, heard OF this name or seeI
it In print. but there was ring OF true poetry
in Mary Berwick's lines. be she whom sh'
might, and SO they were inserted in the mex
number of the magazine. Months went on
uuu .lV Wc 4 cur IbOuWU ISuutul tOu
tributions of Miss Mary Berwick, among it
contents Dickens, however, knew simpl.
nothing about her except that she wrote
legibe hand, that he always, by her Owl
wish, addressed all communications to her I,
certain circulating library in the west o
London, and that when he sent her checl
she acknowledged it promptly, but in a shor
matter-of-fact way At length, one Wintc
evening, when Dickens went to dine with tn
Proctors, he happened to put In his pocket
| TO show them, the Christmas number of Al
| the Year Round, which was just coming out
| He called their attention to what lie said wa
a very pretty poem by Miss Mary Berwick
The author of "Pickwick" noticed, to his az
| constituent, that these remarks of his wer
received by the whole family with much sup
pressed merriment. He could not in tn
least make out what was in the wind, but h
took II good naturally, supposing 1t to b.
some Christmas joke, and asked no ques
tions Next day the mystery of the unac
countable mirth OF last night was cleared III
by letter from Barry Cornwall to Dickens
Mary Berwick was Adelaide Proctor. Ant
from that time forward Miss Proctor took al
acknowledged place among English poetesses
On Sunday morning following the bonn
bardment of Alexandria, clergyman read
as a lesson for the day, the nineteenth chap
ter Of Isaiah, beginning, The burden o
Egypt" Its first words caught the attention
OF all and as he read on, II will set tn,
Egyptians over against the Egyptians; ant
they shall fight every one against his brother
and every one against his neighbor," man,
of the hearers listened as IL they were hearinI
when he read, The Egyptians will l Civ,
over into the hand of fierce lord" they al
seemed to know who was being described
They we're ready also TO hear "Neithe
shall there be any work for Egypt, which tn,
head or tail, branch or root may do. In tina
day Egypt shall be like unto women; and i
shall be afraid and fear, because of the shak
L.. 81 aho had Of Al,o L a.i Of Lonla ,,,II.I