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About Southwest Oregon recorder. (Denmark, Curry County, Or.) 188?-18?? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1884)
C2 The Appointed Part. By thine own soul's law learn to live. And if men thwart thee take no heed, And if men hate thee have no care; Sing thou a song and do thy deed. Hope thou thy hope and pray thy prayer, And claim no crown they will not give, Kor bays they pudge thee for thy hair. Keep thou thy soul-sworn steadfast oath An 1 to thy heart be true thy hear; ; What thy soal teaches learn to know, And piny out thine appointed part; 'And thou shall reap as thou shall sow; Nor helped nor hindered in thy growth, To thy full stature thou shalt grow. Fix on the future's goal thy face, Tfor let thy feet bo lured to stray Now hither, but be swift lo run, Anil nowhere tarry by the way, Until at lost the end is won, And thou may'st look back from thy place And see thy long day's journey done. CYNTHIA'S MISTAKE. 'It's such a lonesome place here," said Cynthia Copley, dolefully. "Good creation!" retorted Uncle Pliineas (for shortness known as "Fin"), "what did you expect? . I told you, didn't I, that it was out on the shores of Lake Umbagog, without a house for two miles around ?" "Oh, yes, I know," said Cjnthia. with a little shudder, "but I didn't know about the bald eagles screaming, and the horrid mooses with their big horns, and the lap-lap of the water on the shore! I declaie, sometimes it seems as if I should go mad in this horrible solitude!" "You'll get used to it arter awhile," said Uncle Fin, who was cleaning his gun-barrel with a piece of one of his old shirts. "I did!" "But you aren't a woman, Uncle Fin." "I declare to goodness, I never thought of that!" said the old man, with a chuckle. "It is pretty rough on a woman to have nobody to talk to now, isn't it ? Wal, if you'll gst into the boat arter supper, I'll take you over to see Indian Oscelita. It's only three miles round the point, and she'll show you how to stuff birds, and do fancy work with their quills, and play on the mandolin, and all that sort of thing. She's a right smart gal, Oscelita is, and pretty in the birgain. She's Pilot John's darter, and her mother was the handsomest Indian woman hereabout." "Thank you!'' said Miss Cynthia drawing herself up, "but I am not yet reduced so low as to sek the association of an Indian squaw." t "Oh, go along!" said good-natured Uncle Fin. "Ossy ain't that. Her mother was as white as most white women, and her father is a fine-lookin' old chap yet. He was a Maine lumber man, till he took to runnin' the little steamer through the lakes. I just wish you could see the pretty little cabin they live in, all covered with morning glories." "I have no desire to see it," said Cynthia, pursing up her thin lips. "Ossy is comin' round here some day to visit you, she says," hazarded Uncle Fin. "She may as well save herself the trouble," observed Miss Copley. "Oh-h-hl" said Uncle Fin, with a prolonged whistle. "You're too genteel to scrape spoons with Indian Oscelita, eh ? "Well, I do declare there ain't no findm' out the ways of women!" And he laughed at intervals all the vnr ami Hinrl:lri between whiles. set of croquet and an outBt of lawn tennis, some shelving . boards and botanical cass, and the last new novels, and came td Lake Umbagog. "Of course there are plenty of tour ists there, she thought, exultantly, to herself, dreaming vague visions of re turning home with a hat trimmed with orange-blossoms, and an Apollo-visaged young man in her train. Cut, alas, she had been a month at Pine Point, and not a soul had come, near the place, except two or three leather-faced old hunters, a crooked beldam, gathering herb3 and simples and two showmen, in search of a fine specimen moose for their collection. "Was it any wonder that the demon homesickness took possession of her heart? Uncle Fin, on his part, had not been entirely without the pangs of disap pointment. Cynthia was not much company for him after all. She could not cook half so well a3 he could; she mended his stockings so bunglingly that they hurt his feet; and she forgo to make his bed every other day on an average. "Ah, well!" he consoled himself; "I s'pose all women are alike. Indian Oscelita ain't cut arter that pattern, though. I'm level sure of that!" Oscelita Dean came one day, on her father's steamer, to the little dock, with an offering of freshly-gathered blueberries, radiantly-spotted birds' eggs, and a fan of eagle plumes made by her own hands. "Ah, thanks!" said Cynthia, tossing her head. "I don't care for birds' egg collections. We've plenty of blue berries here. What do you ask for the eagle fan ?" Oscelita colored a little. "I meant it for a present," said she. "Will you accept it ?" "I couldnt think of such a thing,' said Cynthia, primly. "I never re ceive presents." "Then I shall leave it for Mr. Cop ley," said Oscelita, smiling, as she hung it over the old hunter's big chair, i "He will like it, I know." Cynthia looked quickly around. Was it possible that Oscelita was manoeu vring to entrap Uncle Fin for a hus band ? He would be quite fool enough to fall into the trap. "You can do as you please about that," said she, knitting with all her might. "Your are very lonely here," said Oscelita, in her soft, flute-like voice. "It's the dismalest place I ever came across in my life," said Cynthia, pet tishly. "It doesn't seem so to me," said Oscelita. "In my eyes it is home." "Tastes differ,", said Cynthia, with a well-emphasized sniff. But, as she sat there, she could see that Oscelita was tall and slender, with a complexion of the richest olive; dark, liquid eyes, and hair like jet silk. And, all in a second, she felt how elderly, and sallow, and plain she herself was! But she was Doctor Copley's daugh ter, and Oscelita, after all, was noth ing but the waif and stray of these wildernesses. "I have been wishing to come and see you this long time," said Oscelita in her lo .v, mild tone. "Much obliged.I am sure," said Cyn thia.. "But I have resources within myself which preclude loneliness." "Is there nothing I can do for you ?" persisted Ocselita, thinking of the little boat wherewith she was wont to row out, in the pink sunrise, after water lillies; of the hidden wood-nooks; the lovely little brooks, whither no one could conduct the stranger but herself. "Thank you!" once more retorted Cynthia. "I don't know cf anything unless, indeed, you could come and scrub a half day for me every week. I should be willing to pay a half a dol lar, if " Indian Oscelita rose quietly up. "I think you are mistaken," said she. "I am not a menial. Good-by, Miss Copley." And Cynthia watched her unfasten the boat and glide away on the spark ling floor of the lake, with slow, grace ful strokes. "I don't think she will come again," said Cynthia, hugging herself. "The idfla of an Indian girl expecting to be noticed by me!" It was about this time that Captain Sydford came to the Point, fishing one of the real, live tourists for whom Miss Cynthia's soul had so longed and hired a room In Uncle Fin Copley's cabin. And now began the real course of life. Miss Cynthia took her guitar, screwed up it3 strings, and practiced so desperately that not a bald eagle re mained within ear-shot of the Point. She persecuted Uncle Fin into grub bing up stumps innumerable, and level ing down the ground for a tennis course; and she unpacked the nets and balls. She placed her water-colored sketches around in the most conspicu ous places, and posed at sunset, with her easel and brushes, just where Cap tain Sydford would be most likely to see her when he alighted from the boat at supper time. "She's a queer old customer," said the captain to himself. "If she will perch herself in those exposed spots, some high wind will blow her into the lake someday." "A nephew of Sir Simon Sydford, of Ottawa?" said Cynthia, almost in a scream. "Good gracious me, Uncle Fin, why didn't you say so before ?" "Didn't think of it," said Uncle Fin. "Bless your heart, we get all sorts of folks this a-way. Lord Dufferin him self came down here and stayed all night at Peter Piffin's, the guide's hut And we had a bank burglar at Eagle Bay for a week." And straightway Miss Cynthia Copley laid the foundations for an air castle whos pinnacles rose to the very clouds. She cooked the daintiest dishes in her repertoire she played the guitar of moonlight nights, and talked general literature to poor Cap tain Sydford, until he fell asleep more than once, with his chair tipped back against the side of the little porch and snored audibly. j "I think it is making some impres- 1 sion upoi him," she mused. "He looked at me twice yesterday just as if ; he were going to say something. If he would only propose definitely, all would be well!" And that veiy evening. Captain Algernon Sydford broke the spell of si- 9 lence,' spurred on thereto by Miss Copley's broad hints. ' "I suppose you'll think me a giddy young creature, captain," giggled she, but" "I assure you that I don't think any thing of the' sort," said Captain Syd ford, with emphasis. "But one can't help one's thoughts," went on CynWiia, "and I have been wondering so much why you never married!" "Oh, that's all going to be set right now," said the captain. "Gracious me!" fluttered Miss Cynthia." "I mean to take a wife back with me to Ottawa," went on Captain Sydford, with unaccustomed frankness. "To tell the truth, Mis3 Copley, I have lost my heart in this pine wilderness." "Do you really mean it?" murmured Miss Coptey, with a little gasp. "Of course I mean it," said Captain ' Sydford, with his face fairly radiant "Then there can be no harm in con fessing that that I've loved you from : the very first moment that I set eyes on you," gurgled Mis3 Cynthia, throw- ing herself in Captain Sydford's arms, '' in as close an imitation as possible of a tragic actress whom she had once seen in Boston. "Oh, dearest Algernon, I am s-s-."?o happy!" j But Captain Sydford rose up with j exceeding prom; tnessand deposited her carefully on the calico-draped lounge, ' as if she were a brown-paper parcel. ! "My dear Miss Copley," said he, "you are entirely mistaken. It isn't you I mean at all. I am engaged to Miss Oscelita Dean. We are to be married to-morrow. I think she will be too happy to have you witness the cere mony, if you care to come." But Miss Cynthia had run, sobbing and shrieking, out of the room.' She went back to the state of Rhode Island the next week, and by a strange combination of circumstances, she traveled on the same train which car ried Mr. and Mrs. Captain Sydford to Boston; the captain exultantly happy, Oscelita sweet and shy as a wild-flower. And ever after she spoke of Lake Umbagog as a wildernes, and its in habitants as half-civilized aborigines. While throughout all the vicinity of Weldon Falls there reigns a geneid impression that Miss Cynthia Copley has met with a disappointment Helen Forrest Graves. Venison was formerly so plenty in the San Francisco market that it sold J for 3 to 6 cents per pound; now it costs from 10 to 15 cents. i Owls. Owls were never an epeourean feast but Southey once had an owl roasted for dinner, for himself and Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth; I give the sequel in his own words: "We agreed there could be no pre text for making owls game and killing them as delicacies; but if ever you eat one, above all means try it boiled, with onion sauce." An omelet made of owl's eggs is said to be a good cure for drunkenness. At 'one time the workmen on the Washington Monument were a good deal annoyed to find that a plumb line that reached from the top to the bot tom of the shaft was frequently med dled with. At last it was found that an owl had taken up its abode in a part of the shaft that afforded a shelter, and in passing in and o t it had dis turbed the line. An owl wa3 once beguiled into a Georgia conference meeting, intent in securing a rat who had run into the room to escape so persistent an enemy. Dazed by the light he sailed around a few times and alighted upon the bald head of an old man who sat directly in 'front of the speaker. It is hardly ne cessary to say what was the next move; but the presence of the owl may have called to the preacher's mind the pres ence of Isaiah, who when he foretold the desolation of Babylon, declared that the house should be full of doleful creatures, and that owls should dwell there. An owj once seriously disturbed the mourners at a funeral at Beech wood Ontario. With tender care they had placed the remains in a tomb, and were turning away sorrowing, when they heard a moan that seemed to come from the coffin. Hurriedly they broke the casket open, only to find all quiet within, and then it was discovered that the noise they had heard came from owls at the far end of the vault. Dodsley thought it worth his while to write an ode on the death of an owl, and Broomfield made the bird the subject of his muse. Many persons believe that an owl will keep his eyes so intently fixed on a person walking around him a3 to wring his own neck off, and it was not until sume quick eyed observer discovered that when the owl .had turned his head half round, he whisked it back through the whole circle with the rapidity of light ning, and faced again the person who was , experimenting on him. Provi dence Journal. Curious Fact About Words. Marsh tells us that the number of English' words not yet obsolete, but found in good authors, or in approved usage by correct speakers, including the nomenclature pf science and the arts, does not probably fall short of one hundred. A large portion of these words, however, do not enter into the living speech, the common language of daily and hourly thought. Some celebrated English and American ora tors have been able, upon occasions, to summon at their command one-half of this vast array of words, although they habitually content themselves with a much less imposing display of verbal force. Few writers of speakers use as many as ten thousand words; ordinary persons of fair intelligence not above three or four thousand. If a scholar were to be required to name, without examination, th i authors whose Eng lish vocabulary was the largest, he would probably specify the all-embracing Shakespeare and the all-knowing Milton; and yet, in all the works of the great dramatist there occur not more than fifteen thousand words, in the poems of Milton not above eight thousand. The Old Testament uses but 5,6-12 words. The whole number of Egyptian hieroglyphic symbols does not exceed eight hundred, and the entire Italian operatic vocabulary is said to be scarcelv more extensive. ' A Railroad Disaster. Dumley was telling, how narrowly he escaped from being run over by a railroad disaster. "Why," he went on, "it fairly took my breath away." "Did you say the train had two en gines?" asked young FeatheVly, very much interested. "Certainly not; I said nothing about two engines." "Well," responded young Featherly, "I don't see how a train with one en gine could take your breath away." . Philadelphia Call . A CRANK 0N THE THRONE. Eccentricities of the King of Bavaria. Hiding Prom His Subjects and Indulg ing in Queer Antics. Multifarious are the anecdotes fables, some of them, I really believe told of the king. He is a misogynist a hater of court ceremonials, yet with al a man who stands upon his dignity; a passionate lover of mountain scen ery, and a great stickler for the anato my of Bavaria. He will not have it. Prussianized at any price. His favor ite seat is a hunting-lodge up in the mountains. It is said that he sleeps in a large, lofty rocm, with the ceiling painted to represent the firmament, and a practicable moon shedding a mellow light from one quarter of the artificial heavens. The perspective is managed so as to give the illusion of spaciousness, and through the distant trees cut out ou the canvas, a3 he re clines may be heard the plash of fall ing waters. Their lullaby hushes him to sleep. Sometimes his majesty rises in the night, has a black steed saddled, i and dashes off at whirlwind speed up and down the hill roads which are well kept for that reason likeaphan- ! torn hprseman pursued by some re lentless decree of the supernatural powers. The finest stud in Bavaria is to be found in his stables, but the cattle are cast soon and often; they are thoroughly worn out and broken down after a very few years in the royal service. He plays practical jokes on his retinue sometimes. It is related of him that a minister arrived in hot haste once to crave an audience on important business of state. The king was out hunting the chamois, but by some chance the minister succeed ed in catching the party. Ludwig pre ceded him to a gamekeeper's hut where he sometimes used to unch, and went in, telling him to attend him. The minister waited one hour, two hours, and at last, losing patience, and fearing that his royal master had been attacked by some sudden illness, forced in the door. 2Zo king was there. He had made Lis exit by a window at. the back, and was avay on the high hills in pursuit of the game. In the capital his majesty often commands an opera--generally one by Wagner,, for whom he has as strange a predic tion as a predecessor on the throne had for Lola Montez, and this opera is pro duced in the middle of the day. The theater is darkened, and no one is ad mitted to the auditorium but himself. If he is pleased he sends the prima donna, not a bracelet nor a ring, but a bouquet of flowers plucked by hi3 own hands. He once had "Lohengrin" en acted on the Starnberger See, the bor ders of the Lake having been illumina ted at his expense. When the war with France broke out he was dis pleased, but dared not attempt to stem the tide of universal German leeling. However, he declined to go to the front, and withdrew himself to his be loved solitudes while the stirring events which led to the building of the German empire were thrilling the world with excitement At the close of the duel of Titans, the crown prince of Germany came to Munich to pass ! the victorious Bavarians in gala re 1 view. The king fled again to the ; mountains. He knew the popular commander would receive an enthusi ! astic greeting, and he did not choose j to play second fiddle in his own capi tal to any domestic foreigner. He takes a deep interest in tho "Passion j Play," and when Josef Meyer was drafted into a fighting contingent, he j gave strict orders that he should be ; detained at Munich and employed as a clerk in the war office. The village of ; the Mystery lost its own share in that conflict which brought mourning to so ; many humble firesides in the father land, and of the actual performers two ! t i 1 . .. l '.: . . : 1 o 7A . vi tiiiee t. uu uiiu sptii.vuigp;u iSiU ioiu I were killed in the field or succumbed to , their wounds. Tinsley's Magazine. i ,. j Made Up. - "No, George; my mind is made up," said Miss Fussanfeather to her fiancee, young Crim3onbeak, when that gentle man was trying to persuade her to go somewhere against her will. "Is it,'" replied he, rather tartly. "Yes, it is," was her firm reply. mWqII it- isn't, Mia nnlv thinrr tViat'a made up about you," said the blooming blood, brushing the powder from the lapel of his coat, and reaching for his hat Statesman.