, 1885-06-09

ulhtdnct rom inc mualciunS IL came 10
me in a clear, connected strain. May
be when the results Of an era are
counted up the historian finds as the
dominant factor in the grand total a
force that seemed to have been lost
while the conflict was in progress
They were passing the arsenal Nhero
the guns stood with their horrid throats
turned toward the river, as II threaten
ing the steamer and little row-boats
with immediate destruction.
1T does not seem possible that these
guns were ever really shot nj anybody, y
said Rita. "tAll quiet along the fo-
tomac, seems so natural that | wonder
why any one ever took the trouble to
send telegrams about it.
Rita was watching the sperkles on
the water and the little sail. boats Dart
ing here and there like chiiuTen az play.
A row boat oane near the steamer to
eaten the waves as it went by, and went
tossing up and down as il seeking tho
speedicst destruction possible.
THE little boat locks so small from
here" said Rita. ut seems as if the
cannot possibly live on the waves. And
yet when | am in one il seems quite u
large affair. / should feel very sorry
for a steamer 5 o unfortunate as to rpn
against it,"
There is q conceit in the mind Of
man by reason of which he has n tend
ency to think his own position larger
than any other. II is a way kind nature
has Of keeping us from feeling unconi-
fortably cramped in small places"
81 never feel tho real meaning of time
until ! como here said Paul, MS they
walked from the wharf into the city.
TO have stood still even for a quarter
of O century makes a city seem to the
progressive eyes Of the new world as if
II must have belonged to the most re-
mote ages. Poor Alexandria. She
could not believe that tho dynasty of
conservatism was dead and the strong
waves of radicalism was dashing down
TO sweep it into the past, and she was
lost for her blind clinging TO n dead
faith. Slain, like Dido, for her COLI
stancy,
They we're passing the old Marshall
House.
81 went in once" said Rita, and
stood were Ellsworth was killed.
How did you feelf'
THAT is the worst OF it. | did not
feel at all. | had expected to thrill.
There is a shoeshop down below, and a
man was pcgging shoes and whistling
the 'Gobble Song In a yard opposite,
a woman in a ragged dress hung clothes
on n line, and sang I'm called little
Buttercup, stopping between the bars
to scold a d~irty-iaced child that was
clinging to her. I came away"
1T least, the cloth shoes and the
clothes-line were necessary, and repre-
scented important branches of industry.
They were more useful than many
thrills
81 ossibly; but l think the thrills
would have been satisfactory
That is only tho chinera of a senti-
mental age. Political economists would
say that it is a good bargain to barter a
thrill for a pair of shoes
The calm of a whole century Of quiet
Sundays seemed to have fallen upon the
old church. The organ voluntary
floated out upon tile solemn stiffness
with much the same effect as might
have been produced by the presence of
a nineteonth-century lady Of fashion in
a buried city. Then the music and the
voices died away. floating away off into
an empyrean dream, and Rita saw only
the past.
There was n girl in the seat in front
L vi Jul Rltlll mOlutnt WIN lCNl-ZOlu
hair shot through with n silver arrow.
Rita thought she must DO a conidcn-
tial friend OF gentle Nellie Curtis, and
she longed to ask her what happy secrets
sweet Nellie had intrusted to her care.
And while she was specializing upon the
feasibility of tempting the maiden to
this breach of confidence, the benedic-
| tion was pronounced and Rita came out
OF her reverie Of the past to realize that
pretty Nellie was dead and turned to
dust ages ago, and the square, spacious
old pew opposite was vacant for all
timo, and the organ was droning out a
| farewell TO the old days.
MY friends have not come, y she said,
looking around the church.
81 am sorry you are disappointed"
he said, craftily concealing his real sem
timcnts."
They went out into the churchyard
and stood by a century-old grave, on
the tombstone Of which was inscribed
the lolemn warning;
AL you that cum my grave TO see,
Prepare yourselves to follow me;
Repeatand turn TO God in time,
You may be taken in your prime.
at would have boon more generous if
he had put the warning on q guide post
some distance OFF, so that we might not
have cum his grave to see,' thereby
avoiding the possible unpleasant contin-
gency, " said Paul.
But Rita was looking with solemn
eyes and serious face down at the old
time grave.
at makes me sad to stand by an old
grave like this. 1t is so strange TO think
that these people-all these lying around
us here-were living once. They
walked about the streets, and went in
and ont, and loved and hated, and en-.
joyed and suffered. They lived whole
great worlds OF their own, and now
even their names arc lost, but for the
record on the these stones. She looked
beyond the narrow mound with
frightened eyes. ''Oh, il t~erri1es mo
so TO think that they lived all this
bright, joyful happy life, and now hey
are nothing"
They lived, loved and we're happy;
at least. let us suppose so, since it is
more comfortable to suppose that than
the reverse. And see, this one lived
more than eighty years. Was not that
enough One can run the whole gamut
Of life's experiences IN eighty years.
And then he must have been n good
man, for see, his epitaph is filed with
good advice to future generations. II
lie had been wicked it would have been
devoted to setting forth his trhnscendent
piety. A very bad man always becomes
a sanity character after he goes into his
graye-thereby creating in the minds of
moral economists the piors wish that he
had retired oonor to that Sanctifyin,
retreat" ,Nri
The people had left the ch~urchyard.
II was very still. It seemed to Rita that
the world had gone back TO that dead
time when all the people lying ther~
we're yonng. And Pani vas speaking
A walking skeleton.
Az Il Snrinnnr % Mnchanicahrrr