Southwest Oregon recorder., December 30, 1884, Image 4

THE SOWER.
Iithft-limbed and tall is aha,
And straight as yon young stately pine,
"With eyes and hair of bronze,
and teeth fnilk -white, and lips like wine.
Bar simple gown is set
Close to her form in modest grace.
Above her shining braids
Hie coarse straw shades her comely face.
Bhe comes across the farmer's furrowed field
To do his bidding with her bare brown
hands,
And ever and anon she casts
the golden grain that winter's store shall
yield. . -
Hannah Hearne, in the Current
RED TULIPS.
BT LOUISA M. ALCOTT.
"Please, ma'amwill you give me one
of them red tulips?"
The eager voice woke Helen from her
reverie, and looking up she saw a little
colored girl holding on to the iron rail
ing with one hand, while the other point
ed to a bed of expanded red and yellow
tulips waving in the sunshine.
"I can't give you one, child, for they
don't belong to me," answered Helen,
aroused by the wistful face, over which
her words brought a shadow of disap
pointment. "1 thought maybe you lived in this
house, or knew the folks ; and I do want
cne of those flowers dreadful bad," said
the girl, regarding the gay tulips with a
look of intense desire.
"I wish I could give you one; but it.
would be stealing, you know. Perhaps,
If you go and ask the owner, he may
let you have one there are so many."
And having offered all the consolation
in her power, Helen went on, busy with
a certain disappointment of her own,
which just then weighed very heavily on
her girlish heart.
Half an hour later, as she came down
the street on the opposite side, she saw
the same girl sitting on a doorstep, still
gazing at the tulips with hopeless admir
ation. The child looked up as she approached,
and recognizing the; pretty young lady
who had spoken kindly to her, smiled
and nodded so confidingly, that Helen
could not resist stopping to say:
"Did you ask over there?"
"Yes, ma'am; but the girl said 'No,
and told me to clear out ; so I came over
here to sit and look at the pretties since
I can't have none," she answered, with a
patient sigh.
"You shall have some!" cried Helen,
remembering how easily she could gratify
the innocent longing of the poor child,
and feeling a curious sympathy with all
disappointed people. " Come with me,
dear; there is a flower-shop round the
corner, and you shall have a posey of
some sort."
; Such wonder, gratitude and delight
shown in Betty's face that Helen felt re
joiced for her small kindness.
As they walked, she questioned her
about herself, and quite won her heart by
the friendly interest expressed in Betty's
mother, Betty's kitten and Betty's affairs
generally.
"When they came to the flower-shop,
little Bet felt as if 'she had got into a
fairy tale ; and when Helen gave her a
pot with a blue hyacinth and a rosy tulip
biooming prettily together she felt as if
a lovely fairy had granted all her wishes
In the good old way.
"It's just splendid! and I don't know
how to thank you, miss. But mother
takes in washing, and she'll love to do
yours and plait the ruflles elegant, 'cause
you done this for me!" cried Betty, em
bracing the flower-pot in one hand, and
squeezing Miss Helen's with the other.
Helen promised to come and see her
new friend, and, when they parted, kept
turning round to watch the' little figure
trotting up the hill, often pausing to turn
and show her a beaming black face, all
smiles and delight, as Betty threw her
kisses, and hugged the tulip like a treas
ure of great price.
"When she vanished, Helen said to her
self with a smile and a sigh :
"There, I feel better for that little job,
and it is a comfort to know that some
one has cot what she wants, though it's
not I."
Some weeks later, when Helen was
preparing to go into the country for the
summer, and wanted certain delicate
muslins done up. she rtmembered what
Betty had said about her mother, and
had a fancy to see how the child and her
flowers prospered.
She found them in a small, poor room,
hot and close, and full of washtubs and
flat-irons. The mother was busy at her
work, and Betty sat by the one window,
listlessly picking out ruflles.
"When she saw the face at the door she
jumped up and clapped her hands, cry
ing delightedly :
"Oh, mammy, it's my lady! my dear,
pretty lady truly come at last !"
Such a welcome made friends of the
three at once, and Mrs. Simms gladly un:
dertook the work Helen offered.
"And how are the posies ?" asked the
young lady, as she rose to go.
"Only leaves now, miss; but I take
real good care of 'em, and mammy says
they will blow again next spring,"
answered Betty, showing her poor
little garden, which consisted of
the hyacinth, tulip and one stout danda
lion, blooming bravely in an old tea-pot.
That will be a long time to wait, won't
it?"
"Yes'm; but I go and take. peeks at
Ihern flowers in the shop, and once the
,man gave me a pink that hadn't no stem.
Maybe he will again, and so I'll get
along," said Betty, softly touching her
cheerful dandelion as if it was a friend.
"I wish you would come and see my
garden, little Betty. You should pick
as many flowers as you liked and play
there all day long. I suppose your mother
couldn't spare you for a visit, could
he?"
Betty's face shone at the blissful
thought; then the smile faded, and she
shook her head, saying, steadily:
"No, miss, I guess 6he couldn't; for
6he gets so tired, I like to help her by
carrying home the clothes. Some other
day maybe I can come."
Something in the patient little face
touched Helen, and made her feel as if
she had been too busy thinking of her
own burden to help others bear theirs.
She longed to do something, but did
not know how till Mrs. Simms showed
her the way by saying, as she stroked
the frizzly little head that leaned against
her.
" Betty thinks a heap of flowers, and
'pears to get lots of comfort out of 'em.
She's a good child, and some day we are
going to see the country soon as ever
we can afford it."
"Meantime the country must come to
you," said Helen, with a happy thought
shining in her face. "If you are will
ing, I will make a nice little plan with
Betty, so 6he can have a posy all the
time. I shall come in town twice a week
to take my German lessons, and if Betty
will be at the corner of the park, by
the deer,jevery "Wednesday and Saturday
morning at 10 o'clock, I'll have a nice
nosegay for her."
If she had proposed to present the
child with all the sweeties of a confec
tioner's shop, it would not have given
her greater joy.
Betty could only dance a jig of rapture
among the wash-tubs, and Mrs. Simms
thanked Helen with tears in her eyes.
"Ain't he just like a good fairy,
mammy?" said Betty, settling down in an
empty clothes-basket to brood ove- the
joyful prospect.
"No, honey, she's an angel," answered
mammy, folding her tired hands for a
moment's rest when her guest had gone.
Helen heard both question and answer,
and sighed to herself :
"I wish somebody else thought so."
When the first Wednesday came, Betty
was at the trysting-place half an hour too
soon, and had time to tell the mild-eyed
deer all about it before Miss Helen
came.
That meeting was a pretty sight,
though only a fawn and an old apple
woman saw it.
Helen was half-hidden behind a great
nosegay of June roses, lilies-of-the-val-ley,
sweet jonquils and narcissus, sprays
of tender green and white lilac plumes.
Betty gave one cry of rapture as she
clutched it in both hands, trembling with
delight, for never had she dreamed of
owning such a treasurer as this.
" AU for me! all for me!" she said, as
if it was hard to believe. "Oh, what
will mammy say?"
"Run home and see. Never mind
thanks. Get your posy into water as
soon as you can, and come again Satur
day," said Helen, as she went on, with a
nod and a smile, while Betty raced home
to fill every cup and plate they owned
and make a garden of the poor little
room where mamma worked all day.
All through the summer, rain or shine,
thess two friends kept tryst, and though
Helen seemed no nearer getting her wish
this little flower mission of hers has
helped her to wait.
Strangers watched the pretty girl with
her nosegays, and felt refreshed by the
winsome sight. Friends joked her about
her black Flora, and would-be lovers
pleaded in vain for one bud from her
bouquets.
. She found real happiness in this small
duty, and did it faithfully for its own
sake, little dreaming that some one was
tracking her by the flowers she left behind
her in the highways of her life.
For, seeing how much these frequent
messengers were to Betty and her mother
Helen fell into the way of taking flowers
to others also, and never went to town
without a handful to leave here and
there, by some sick bed, in a child's
hand, on a needle-woman's table, or
dropped in the gutter for dear dirty
babies to find and crow over.
And all unconsciously these glimpses
of poverty, pain, neglect and loneliness
taught her a lesson she never learned be
fore a sweeter language than German,
a nobler music than any Herr Pedal
strum could give her, and a more win
ning charm than either youth or beauty
could confer for the gay girl w as dis
covering that life was not all a summer
day, and she was something better than
a butterfly.
When autumn came, and she returned
to her city home, her young friends dis
covered that Helen's quiet season had
improved her wonderfully, for behind
the belle they found a tender-hearted
woman.
She took up her old life where she
laid it down apparently; but to those
who Knew her best there was a differ
ence now, for, in many unsuspected ways,
pretty Helen was unconsciously fitting
herself for the happiness that was coming
to her very soon.
Betty helped to bring it, though she
never guessed that her measles was a
blessing to her dear lady. When Dr.
Strong, finding a hot-houso bouquet be
side her bed, very naturally asked where
it come from. Betty told all about Miss
Helen from the time of her red tulips to
the fine tea-roses in her hand.
"She ha3 lots of bunches like these
sent to her, and she gives 'em to us poor
folks. This one was for her to take to a
splendid ball, but she kept it fresh, and
came herself to fetch it to me. Ain't
she kind?"
"Very, to you, but rather cruel to the
gentlemen who hope to see her wear
their gifts, for one evening at least, '.'
answered the doctor, examining the
bouquet with an odd smile.
"Oh, she does keep some, when they
are from folks she likes. I was there
one day when some violets came in with
a book, and she wouldn't give me one.
But I didn't care a mite, for I had two
great posies, all red geranium and pinks,
instead.
"She likes violets, then?" and the doc
tor gently patted Betty's head, as if he
had grown suddenly fond of her.
"I guess she does, for when I went
the next week, that very bunch was in
the vase on her table all dead and yel
low, and she wouldn't let me fling it
away when I wanted to put in a rose
from the bunch she gave me."
"You are a grateful little girl, my.
dear, and a very observing child. Now4
keep warm and quiet, and we'll have"
you again trotting off to Miss Helen's in
a week or so."
The doctor stole a sprig of rose gera
nium out of Betty's last bouquet, and
went away looking as if he had found
something even sweeter than that in the
dingy room where his patient lay.
Next day Miss Helen had fresh violets
in the vase on her table, and fresh roses
blooming on her cheeks. Dr. Strong
advised her not to visit Betty, as there
was fever in the neighborhood, but
kindly called every day or two to let
Helen know how her little friend was
getting on.
After one of these calls the doctor
went away, saying to himself, with an
air of tender pride and satisfaction:
"I was mistaken, and judged too has
tily last year. Helen is not what I thought
her, a frivolous, fashionable beauty but a
sweet, sensible girl, who is tired of that
empty life, and quietly tries to make it
beautiful and useful in the best and truest
way. I hope I read the blue eyes right,
and I think I may venture to say now
what I dared not say last year.
After that same visit Helen sat think
ing to herself, with a face full of happi
ness and humility : "He finds me im
proved, so I have not waited in vain; and
I believe I shall not be disappointed after
all."
It is evident that the doctor did venture
and that Helen was not disappointed, for
on the first day of June Betty and her
mother, all in their best, went to a certain
church and were shown to the best seat
in the gallery, where several other hum
ble friends were gathered to see their dear
Miss Helen married.
Betty wa3 in high feather, with a pink
dress and blue sacque, and with yellow
ribbons in her hat, and lighted up the
seat like an animated rainbow.
Full of delight and importance was
Miss Betty, for she had been in the midst
of the festive preparations, and told glow
ing tales to her interested listeners while
they waited for the bride.
When the music sounded, Betty held
her breath and rolled up her eyes in a
pious rapture.
When a general stir announced the
grand arrival, ehe leaned so far over the
gallery that she would have gone head
first, if her mother had not caught her
striped legs: and when the misty white
figure passed up the aisle, Betty audibly
remarked :
"If she had wings, she'd look like an
out-and-out angel, wouldn't she, mam
my?" She sat like a little ebony statue all
through the service ; but she had some
thing on her mind, and the moment the
bridal couple turned to go, Betty was
off, scrambling down stairs, dodging
under people's arms, hopping over ladies'
skins, and steadily making her way to
the carriage in waiting for the happy
pair. ;
The door had just closed and Dr.
Strong was about to draw down the cur
tain, when a black faoe, with a' yellow
hat surrounding it like a glory, appeared
at the window. An arm was thrust in,
offering a bunch of flowers, and a breath
less voice cried, resolutely :
" Oh, please do let me give 'em to my
lady ! They bloomed a-purpose for her,
and she must have 'em !"
Those outside saw a sweet face bend
to kiss the little black one, but they did
not see what happened afterward, for
Helen, remembering a year ago. said,
smiling:
"Patient waiters are no losers. The
poor child has red tulips all her own at
last."
"And I have mine," answered the hap
py doctor, gently kissing his young wife
as the carriage rolled away, leaving Betty
to retire in triumph.
A Horrible Custom in India.
The horrible . crime of mutilating
women by cutting off their noses is so
common in Bombay as to call for the
most stringent repression, and nothing,
we imagine, will repress it but the free
use of the lash. In the sessions ending
yesterday, Mr. Justice Scott had to hear
three we might say five of these cases,
one after the other. He postponed his
sentences for a week, and we were in
hopes he would in "each case order the
criminals to be flogged within an ace of
their lives.
Eventually, however, he sentenced
them severally to what he had ascertained
to be the usual punishment, three years'
imprisonment. We are inclined to re
gret that the learned sessions judge, new
as he is to the country, did not throw
precedent over altogether. Surely these
are cases in which the lash would be at
once the most fitting punishment and the
best deterrent.
Estimated by the misery inflicted, even
the most severe penalties would seem too
trivial, and if the law does not permit of
flogging in the cases of such cruel mu
tilation, the law should be altered. The
miserable women who are , mutilated in
this way are, of course, rendered hideous
ever afterward, and, because they are
women, it is simply impossible to calcu
late the misery and degradation that
they will experience during the rest of
their lives. No amount of imprisonment
will eradicate a crime that is still evir
dently a customary form of marital pun
ishment among the lower classes. But
a wholesome terror of the cat-o'-ninetails
is common to the degraded classes
all the world oyer. Times of India.
Mississippi is following Georgia in the
development of truck farming.
HUMORISTS OF THE PRESS.
TXTSVY STOBIES BT ZTEWSFAFSS
WAGS.
Not a Musical Ear A Narrow Es
cape A Masher Routed Tlie
Railroad Hog Dog and Crab.
"My dear, I wish you would tell the
servant to stop moving that furniture
around in the parlor. I'm sure she ha3
broken some of the vases and Sevres
ware."
," I hear no noise, Christopher."
"There ! She has dropped the clock !
I heard the shade smash 1"
" Why, Christopher, how silly you are !
That's not the servant moving the furni
ture; that's Birdie practicing a Wag
nerian sonata. Chicago News.
. A Narrow Escape
"Sister 1" cried a little boy, running
into the room, "your little pug dog has
bit me on the leg!"
"What!" exclaimed the frightened
young lady. "Beauty has bitten you on
the leg? Let me see."
She hastily pulled down his stocking,
and sure enough there was the impres
sion of his teeth. -
"You naughty boy," said his sister,
shaking him violently, "don't you know
better than to tease Beauty? Some day
he will bite a big lump out of your leg,
and it might make him deathly sick."
Philadelphia Call.
A Masher Routed.
A lady, young and handsomely
dressed, entered a Woodward avenue
car and sat down opposite a passenger
who had the appearance of a gentleman,
but soon showed himself to be that con
temptible creature, a masher.. He took
no notes on time, but at once proceeded
to mash ; he stared, ogled, smiled insinu
atingly and made a second-class fool of
himself at sight. The lady was discom
posed. She seized her parasol and every
one present hoped she was about to mash
the masher.
But she simply raised the parasol and
spread it in his face. Under its protect
ing screen she calmly continued on her
way, but the chagrined masher got out
at the next crossing and made himself
scarce.
When he was gone the lady closed her
parasol and said: "I have heard of
frightening wild beasts by such a weapon
opened suddenly in their faces, and I
find it serves as good a purpose with
tame ones." N
The passengers all applauded. De
troit Fret Press.
The Railroad Hog.
"Is this seat unoccupied?" a lady tim
idly inquired.
Her voice was not very loud. It did
not recall the fat man'-from his reverie
nor his gaze from something interesting
in the brick wall of the depot. The lady
passed on as though embarrassed at the
sound of her request.
"Is one af these seats disengaged?"
The question was asked in a firm, clear
voice by a young woman, who looked
steadily into the monopolist's eyes as
though she understood him. His head
turned slowly, and he coldly replied:
"All engaged."
. Then he resumed his study of the wall,
and the train moved slowly out of the
depot.
"Oof!"
The exclamation resembled exactly the
grunt of a pig. It was made by a young
man with a dimple in his cheek and a
twinkle in his eye, on a seat diagonally
across the aisle and behind the bald
headed man. He was absorbed in an in
teresting article in a newspaper. The ex
clamation was not noticed.
"Oof! Oof! Oof!"
A young lady in the seat behind the
person intended to be described by the
young man with the dimple, tittered
aloud. The fat man with four sittings
stole a wicked glance at the young man
with the newspaper, and then settled
back with a determined gesture of his
head and neck as if he wasn't going to
mind it.
"Oo-oo-oof! kweek! kwe-e-eekl oof!
oof!"
The passengers turned their attention
to the passenger with the four seats.
The bald spot on his head began to get
red.
"Kwe-e-eek, kwe-e-eek, kwe-e-eekl
Oof, oof, oof, oof 1"
A tittering and giggling broke out
spontaneously up and down the car.
The bald spot on the fat man's head
blazed. Then one foot was dragged
slowly off from the front seat, then the
other. A hand reached out carefully
and set one valise on the floor. Then
the other valise followed.
"Seat here, I guess, ladies," he
growled.
Three women threw grateful glances
at the grunter and took their seats. The
grunter, who had not lifted his eyes from
his newspaper, turned it over to continue
reading, but just at that instant the train
glided into the tunnel. New York Sun.
Hog and Crab.
Some years ago my neighbor had a
dog of an inquiring turn of mind, which
he called Philosopher when he was not
in a hurry. Philosopher was in the
habit of coming over upon my premises,
and trying in various ways to win my
respect and esteem; but he never suc
ceeded to any great extent. Perhaps he
did not go about it in the right way. Ho
came oft in the stilly night,and sat under
my window and poured out-his sorrow
to the moon. The moon seemed to stand
it, but I couldn't. I.wentto my neigh
bor with a protest, but he said he could
do nothing; that he didn't like to hear
a dog howl any better than 1 did; but,
according to divine law, that was the
only way in which a dog could give ex
pression to his deeper emotions, and he
thought man ought to try and put up
with it. Beside, he said, he believed
that the howling of a dog was an omen
of death.
I told him I thonght so, too, especially
.when the dog howled under my window,
and then I vent and bought a shot-gun.
But after that Philosopher seemed to
reform and lead a more joyous life. He
stayed home of nights, and if he was
ever sad, he brooded mostly in silence.
One day I came home with a basket .
full of crabs, and found Philosopher sit
ting in my yard with a look of mingled
curiosity and pleasure on his open
and expressive countenance. He seemed '
to be glad to see me. and when I set the
basket upon the ground and turned
asiae, ne went up xo it in an inquiring
sort of way. As I have said, he was of'
a very investigating turn of mind. He:
would sit by a hen's nest half an hour,
waiting for the hen to get through lay
ing and adjourn, so that he could form
himself into a committee of one and in
vestigate the proceedings. And his in
vestigation of a hen's nest was always
systematic and thorough.
When he saw something move in my
basket, he appeared to grow more than
usually curious. He seemed to be both
surprised and delighted that I had car
ried home something that was alive. He
smelled cautiously around the basket,
wagged his tail with a graceful easy mo
sion, and then, growing more curious and
bold, he stuck his nose down among the
crabs and picked a large one up. He did
not intend to pick it up so suddenly ;
it was all the crab's doing. It got one of
its claws tangled somehow with Philos
opher's nose, and then then-was a sound
of revelry by day. I never before savr
a dog get so excited, ne lost all con
trol over himself. His one prominent
thought seemed to be a desire to go
away somewhere and he went. He went
with exceeding impetuosity. He went
as nothing had gone before, except chain-
lightning, perhaps, and he took my crab
wun mm.
If any traveler in Europe, Asia or
Africa has seen a yellow dog with a part
of one ear bit off, and an expression de
noting humble birth, with a healthy
looking crab hanging to his nose, the
traveler will receive a large assortment
of thanks by communicating with my
neighbor. But I am rather indifferent.
I lost a good crab, I know ; but there is
no loss without some slight compensa
tion. Scott Way. in Puck.
Early American Coinage.
The earliest coinage that can be called
American, in the sense of Anglo-American,
was ordered by the original Virginia
company, only five years after the found
ing of Jamestown. The coins were minted
at comers islands, now known as the
Bermudas. For a long while the stand
ard currency of Virginia was tobacco, as
in many of the early settlements of the
Northwest it was beaver skins. The ac
counts of the fur traders and pioneers in
their dealings with the Indians were
kept in beaver skins instead of dollars
until some years after the opening of this
century, and in some parts of the Domin
ion of Canada they are still kept so. In
1645 the assembly of the Virginia col
ony, after a preamble reciting that "it
had maturely weighed and consideredhow
advantageous a quome would be to this
colony, and the great wants and miseries
which do daily happen unto it by the
sole dependency upon tobacco," pro
vided for the issue of copper coins of
the denomination s of twopence, three
pence, sixpence and ninepense ; but this
law was never carried into effect, so the
first colonial coinage of this country was
that struck off by Massachusetts under
the order of the general court of that
colony, passed May 27, 1865, creating a
"mint howse" at Boston, and providing
for the mintage of "12 pence, 6 pence
and 3 pence pieces, which shall be for
forme flatt, and stamped on the one side
with N. E., and on the other side with
XHd., VId., and Hid., according to the
value of each piece." In 1662, from this
same mint, appeared the famous "pine
tree shillings," which were two-penny
pieces. This mint was maintained for
thirty-four years. In the reign of Wil
liam and Mary copper coins were struck,
in England for New England and Caro
lina. Lord Baltimore had silver shil
lings, sixpences, and fourpences made
in England to supply the demands of
his province of Maryland. Vermont
and Connecticut established mints in
1785 for the issue of copper coin.. New
Jersey followed a year later. But Con
gress had the establishment of a mint
for the confederated States under ad
visement, and in this same year agreed
upon a plan submitted by Thomas Jef
ferson, and the act went into operation
on a small scale in 1787. After the
adoption of the Constitution of the
United States in 1789 all the State
mints were closed, as the constitution
specifically places the sole power of
coining money in the Federal govern
ment. Mexican Etiquette.
I was given a lesson in etiquette by a
Mexican young lady I met in the train,
says a correspondent. I chanced to be
the only man in the sleeping-car when it
drew out from El Paso, and after an in
troduction by the conductor, to whose
charge the young lady had been com
mitted, she and I became quite well ac
quainted. " I saw you eating an orange
on the depot platform," she said. "In
Mexico that would be considered un
mannerly. There it is unmannerly to
eat anything outside of a house, even
candy. And I noticed when Mr. Ro
mero gave you a Mexican match you
threw it away after using but one end of
it. The other was still serviceable, and
you should have returned the match with
your thanks. If you hand one a cigai
or cigarette to light with, vou must tak
a whiff from it after it has been returned
to you, though it may be so short as to
burn your fingers." All this I received
with good grace, for my young lady was.
but ten years of age.