66 HE LOOKED CAREFULLY AND CAUTIOUSLY IN, AND SAW-THE GHOSTLY FORM OF A WOMAN, ALMOST IN THE ASHES. FOUNDERED AT SEA. THE land I knew was a stealthy foe, I looked for ill, and it gave me ill- My home was wrecked in the far-off past, So long companions, to part like this! And torn and maimed, as with human spite- The faith is shattered, the idol fall'n, Oh Thou who rulest the waves and storm, was retired, a bit lonely, and with nice woods about it-a little gloomy, to be sure, to those not in their honeymoon. On a very sultry July night the pair stopped on their way up the old stairway, on the landing, and looked long out of the great window, for the landscape beneath them, either by the bright light of the moon, or the lesser brightness of the stars, was very fair. They had been talking earnestly together, when Mrs. Anstruther suddenly broke off from what she was saying, and exclaimed: "George, dear, what a change there was in the air a moment since; I felt an icy, damp breath over my cheek." "My dear child," he said, "the night is hot as the infernal regions. What an imagination you have!" "Well," she said, "perhaps I am imaginative, but I thought I felt a shivering breeze over my face; but it is gone now." Mrs. Anstruther thought no more of the circumstance, if indeed circumstance it could be called. She and her husband passed very happy days at the Grove. But presently there was trouble among the servants, for even lovers must have such incumbrances. The cook said her kitchen was her castle, and that she did not want any one to be looking after her pans and THE WOMAN IN A SUN-BONNET; OR, THE MYSTERIOUS kettles; that she left each utensil in its place at night, but found GHOST. Ir was about the year 1820 that two young married people took a house in G- a sea-shore town. The house was an old-fashioned one, but had been well built, and was in perfect condition. It was a pretty house, built in the irregular style of the day, some fifty or more years back. A hall ran through the house, from the middle of which sprang a broad flight of stairs. Halfway up the stairs there was a generous landingplace, with a large arched window. This hall and stairway were the only regular parts of the mansion, rooms and wings having been built on from time to time. them much disarranged in the morning, often upon the hearth, and she said if Mr. and Mrs. Anstruther liked a twelve o'clock supper she would willingly stay up to cook it for them. The laundress said her clothes-horse, with the freshly-ironed linen left to air over night in the laundry, was quite overset in the morning; that the mistress, sure, was young and very frolicsome-indeed quite like a miss-but she thought it was hard upon a poor servant to be letting off her jokes upon her and giving her double work; and so from time to time did the young mistress apparently disarrange her ménage. One morning the cook came to Mrs. Anstruther and said she thought, perhaps, she had found out who put the kitchen and The place was chosen by Mr. and Mrs. Anstruther because it the laundry in such a plight, and she begged her mistress's VOL. XXVII., No. 2-7 pardon for having thought she had played tricks upon her maids. She then described her having gone down to the kitchen one Monday morning at dawn, and there saw, in the feeble light, the figure of a woman, her head covered by a sunbonnet, crouching before the dead coals of the kitchen fire. Upon her entrance the woman mysteriously disappeared. "Now, ma'am." she said, "perhaps it is some poor crazy creature who gets in somehow, and oversets my pans and Bridget's clean clothes; but sure I do not see how any but a ghost could get in, for the house do be locked up so close like. I think she was trying to warm herself, ma'am, and however she got out, ma'am, I cannot tell, only she was gone in an instant, and not a door opened." Poor Mrs. Anstruther felt quite disturbed at the cook's relation, and told her husband of it immediately. Of course he only laughed at it, said Polly must have strengthened her tea the night before, and hadn't her vision quite clear so early Monday morning, or that she had not finished her dreams; to which Mrs. Anstruther answered warmly that Polly was a decent, sober woman, and wouldn't for the world touch anything stronger than tea. Weeks passed by, and the household were not troubled by overturned clothes-horses, displaced pans, or mysterious women, and the story became like a dream, when one morning early, upon opening his bedroom door, Mr. Anstruther found the housemaid lying outside it in a sort of fainting fit. After some time, and many restoratives, the woman was brought back to her senses, and incoherently told her tale. She had gone down very late at night to the laundry to bring up a breakfast cap which she knew her mistress would want the next morning, and heard a faint rustling, like the moving of clothes. She thought it was the cat, which might have got hold of one of the towels, so she opened the door and went in: there she saw the shadowy figure of a tall woman, a sun-bonnet on her head, with long, thin, ghastly fingers feeling of the clothes, and drearily saying, "Not dry-oh, not dry-they chill-chill-chill me so." Then she moved the horse rapidly and fiercely nearer the fire-place, overturning it and apparently disappearing under its folds and clothes. Mr. Anstruther went immediately to the laundry. There he found the overturned clothes, but not even the ghost of a woman under them, nor in any corner of any part of the house, for he searched it very thoroughly, to quiet the nervous fears of his wife and of the maids. The poor frightened housemaid trembled all day, scarcely able to stand. Mr. Anstruther himself had no faith in these spectre stories, and women are always so apt to be nervous and frightened, he said; but that very night, when he and his wife were standing by the window, listening to the swash of the waves on the beach, and saying how cool and refreshing the sound was on the heavy August night, the same cold shivering breeze passed over their faces as on that other night, and a husky voice said, slowly, "Oh! I am so cold-so very cold!" They grasped one another convulsively, but said nothing; nor did they speak to one another of those strange, shivering words, but seemed by mutual assent to avoid the subject. Perhaps Mr. Anstruther thought the remembrance of them might pass more quickly from his wife's memory if not alluded to. Perhaps she thought so. The next night he went at midnight to the kitchen, looked carefully and cautiously in, and saw-the ghostly form of a woman, almost in the ashes, numerous pans around her, hoarsely muttering, "They will never heat; oh, never. The bad master, he will kill me. No dinner, no supper, no fire." Mr. Anstruther rushed suddenly toward the woman, who, throwing her hands wildly above her head, melted away. He said nothing of this to any one, and went again the next night, but saw nothing down-stairs. He went to bed. Soon after midnight-he was awake-the air of the room became very chilly, like a graveyard, and he heard from every corner of the room a smothered voice, saying, “I am so cold—oh! so cold. It is so dark under the stairs, so damp-take me out the cruel master!"' Still Mr. Anstruther kept a wise silence, thinking what was his best course to take. There were faint sounds heard at night in the kitchen, laundry, and through the halis, cold, icy whispers from the landing by the arched window on the stairway, so that the servants refused to go to their work until the morning was well advanced, and Mr. and Mrs. Anstruther never stopped now on the pleasant stairway landing to look through the arched window at the moon or the stars, or to hear the delicious swash of the sea. She looked pale and frightened all the time, and the servants nervous and scared. They staid only for the love of the master and mistress. As for Mr. Anstruther, he was very uneasy, yet hated to yield to what he considered foolish, weak, supernatural fears; still he was exceedingly uncomfortable. From this time the ghostly appearances became almost incessant. At last a friend of Mr. Anstruther's came to visit him, and they determined to find the ghost, if such there was. They went every night at midnight throughout the house; once they saw the shadowy woman almost in the ashes of the kitchen fire, apparently trying to warm herself; she was blowing at the dead coals, which seemed to become only more dead under her cold breath. Sometimes she seemed to be trying to dry the clothes in the laundry, but more frequently they heard sighs, and shivers, and whispers of cold, and the wicked master, and the cellar stairs. Once the face of the woman was toward them when they went into the kitchen. A fearful gash was on one skeleton cheek; her hands were held tightly over her bosom, as if to try to bring warmth into it again. Then the spectre, the groans, the sighs, ceased, excepting from under the cellar stairs, whence came sounds as of one supplicating, "Oh, save me-so deep-so dark -so damp. Save me-save!" After a time it became impossible to keep the story of the haunted house quiet. People had wondered for some time what gave the servant who opened the hall-door, and the mistress within, so scared a look, and also at Mr. Anstruther's troubled face, for he and his wife were known to love one another very much, and to be sufficiently well-to-do in the world. When the story was fully told, the excitement of the town became intense; the cry was that the cellar stairs ought to be torn away, and then they would see what was under them. After some deliberation it was thought best to yield to the excited will of the town's people, and proper men were sent by the authorities to take away the stairs and to examine thoroughly around and beneath them. Mr. Anstruther, his friend, and some of the gentlemen of the neighborhood, were present. The stairs were removed, the brick flooring taken away, and the earth dug up; but there was nothing, and they were about to lay the ground again, when a smothered sound came, and the words, "Lower, deeper, darker," were distinctly heard. All stood aghast, clammy drops pouring from the brows of the stoutest of those square-shouldered men. A long pause ensued, and then the words came again-" Lower, deeper, darker; the cruel master put me here!" They fell again on their shovels ; deep down did they dig, very deep, when, oh! frightful and ghastly sight, they came upon the body of a woman. Her dress was that of a servant. Upon her head was a deep bonnet; she lay on her back. A heavy scar was on her face. The body of the woman was recognized as that of a Nancy Gwynn, who had lived with a Mr. Barton, a hard man, the former occupant of the "Grove," and who had gone very suddenly to Australia, to better his fortunes, taking his family with him.. It was about ten years since Nancy had so mysteriously disappeared from GBut as she had always been a queer creature, never making friends, no one thought much about her. The Anstruthers left the house, not wishing to stay in it, although Nancy's poor weary body was laid in a decent grave, the burial service said over it, and a headstone placed to mark where it lay. Since they left the house, it has remained shut up, lonely, gloomy, and forsaken. Whether Nancy's poor ghost is laid, or whether it still roams the house, from kitchen and cellar-stairs to the arched window on the hall-stairway, the next occupants of the haunted house at G must tell you. It is the man who determines the dignity of the occupation, not the occupation which measures the dignity of the man. A WISH. MINE be a cot beside the hill: A bee-hive's hum shall soothe my ear; The swallow oft, beneath my thatch, And share my meal, a welcome guest. Each fragrant flower that drinks the dew; The village church, among the trees, Where first our marriage-vows were given, CHINESE JUNK. A VERY able writer and enterprising traveler, Mr. Edward Grey, says that there is every reason to believe that the Chinese have remained a stationary people for nearly two thousand years, and that when the Britons were naked savages, their mandarins were dressed in the very same kind of silks which they now wear. The same may be said of their pagodas and other constructions. In some very old paintings found in Pekin, when the British captured that place, some twenty years ago, there were found representations of a pleasure or traveling boat, a copy of which appears on page 124. Tarquin, B. c. 616. Originally it was only a fillet tied round the head; afterward it was formed of leaves and flowers, and also of stuffs adorned with jewels. Later emperors varied the style according to fancy. The royal crown was first worn in England by Alfred in 872; it is said to have had two little bells attached, and to have been long preserved at Westminster. William the Conqueror wore his crown as a cap, adorned with points. Richard III. introduced the crosses; Henry VII. introduced the arches. The mitre is also of very ancient use. The Pope has four mitres, more or less magnificent, and worn according to the ceremony to be performed, or the solemnity of the festival. Cardinals anciently were entitled to wear mitres, but at the Council of Lyons they were ordered to wear hats-a practice which prevails to the present day. The tiara, a kind of conical cap, was in ancient times worn by the inhabitants of middle and Western Asia. The tiara worn by the common people was soft and flexible, and hung down on one side; the upright tiara was only used by kings, priests and other people of the highest rank. The tiaras of the aristocracy were costly in material, brilliant in color, and usually adorned with precious stones. Xenophon says the tiara was encompassed with diadems, at least in ceremonials. An ornamented tiara of this description was worn by the Jewish high priest. The triple crown or tiara of the Pope is indicative of his civil rank, as the keys are of his spiritual authority and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It was formerly a round, high cap, and Pope Damasius II., in 1053, was the first who was crowned with it. Pope John XIX. was the first who encompassed the cap with a diadem, 1276; Boniface II. added a second, 1295; and Benedict XII. formed the triple crown or tiara, about 1334. These crowns are covered with precious stones, and ornamented with an orb, on which stands a cross, and on two sides of it a chain of precious stones. Our illustrative engraving is a faithful representation of this highly interesting and elaborate production. The arrangement of the gold and jewels is remarkable for taste and splendor, while the emblematic character of the whole design is distinctly preserved. THE VIA MALA. The boat used for the conveyance of officials, or gentlemen of consideration, is of this description. The solid part of the stern is raised several feet above the water, and the after part of the vessel is covered in with a framework of bamboo and matting; and all the wood-work is highly varnished. All the part before this, occupying more than half the boat, is covered in with a flat roof, while the sides are fitted with windows of lattice-work and glass. Sometimes, instead of glass, talc, or the interior lamina of the oyster-shell, is used. In some, gauze, or transparent colored oil-paper is employed, to keep out the air. Generally, birds, flowers, and other curious devices in the Chinese fashion, are painted on these blinds. All the bulkheads, or the THAT beautiful river, the Rhine, ceases to be navigable above divisions which form the cabins, are ornamented in the same the Lake of Constance. The main point of interest in the upper The noble river is here in way. Square traps lift up in the floors of the cabins, in order part of the stream is the Via Mala. that the luggage may be lowered down into the hold. its infancy. Compressed between the rocks which enclose its There is a great deal of carving about the boat, and it is gen-bed, it is scarcely wider than a rivulet, but the chasm which it erally painted of a bright-green picked out with vermillion. has cleft for itself is one of the most imposing and awe-inspiring The roof of this pavilion forms a sort of deck, on which there gorges in the world. The valley seems to be absolutely closed is a little joss-house or temple. The crew, who sometimes have up by an impenetrable barrier of rock, and it is only on a near their families with them, live in the after-part-here also is the approach that a narrow rift is discovered, out of which the inkitchen. There are two flag-staffs aft, on one of which is hoisted fant river bursts. Entering this gorge, the mountains on either the official flag of the occupant; on the other is merely a vane, to side rise higher and higher, the chasm becomes narrower, far show how the wind blows. This boat carries two sails. In below the raging torrent roars and thunders in its rocky bed, these boats great distances are traversed along the rivers and sometimes at a depth so great as to be almost inaudible; a narcanals of China; and as they are fitted up with every attention row strip of sky is all that can be descried overhead, and the rato luxury and convenience, according to Chinese notions, they vine beneath lies in impenetrable darkness. In some places the must afford a very pleasant means of traveling through the cliffs on either hand rise to a height of sixteen hundred feet. country. You enter this savage pass from a world of beauty, from the sunlit vale of Domschleg, under the old Etruscan castle of Realt, spiked in the cliff like a war club, four hundred feet above you, and totally inaccessible on every side save one, and are plunged at once into a scene of such concentrated and deep sublimity, such awe-inspiring grandeur, such overwhelming power that you advance slowly and solemnly, as if every crag were a supernatural being. THE PAPAL TIARA AND KEYS. INSIGNIA of Sovereignty differ in form and character all over the world, but are recognized in some manner wherever sovereign authority is vested in one individual. The crown, denoting imperial or royal dignity, was adopted at a very early period of the world's history. Crowns were placed on statues and images of the heathen gods; they were also worn by priests whilst engaged in sacrificial services. Some antiquarians have supposed the crown was originally a religious rather than a civil ornament. The first mention we have of such an ornament is to be found in the story of the Amalekites bringing Saul's crown to David. The first Roman who wore a crown was The road is carried with great daring along the perpendicular face of crags, cut from the rock where no living thing could have scaled the mountain, and sometimes it completely overhangs the abyss, a thousand feet above the raging torrent. Now it pierces the rock, now it runs zig-zag, now spans the gorge on a light dizzy bridge; now the mountains frown on each other like tropical thunder-clouds about to meet and discharge their artillery, and now you come upon mighty insulated CHINESE JUNK.-PAGE 123. spect. worth lies in his grave, and this is the last time his faults will ever be spoken of by her who has so deeply suffered from them. I shall be happy yet, for you are near me now. At the last, your father would have torn you from me. His fate was an awful one, and I shudder to contemplate it; but God in his mercy saved those who were dearest to me, and I feel that I am grateful." Dora pressed her hand, and they both sunk into silence. The body of Richard Wentworth had been found floating near the opposite shore, and papers on his person revealed his identity. His brother was immediately informed of it, and during the previous week the corpse had been interred in the family As the golden glory faded slowly from the sky, and the gray shadows of twilight began to pervade the rooms, a low knock came to the door, which Mrs. Wentworth recognized with a slight feeling of self-reproach, for in her devotion to her newly-recovered daughter, she had for a brief space forgotten the claims of that other child who had come to her heart as i solace and a joy in its darkest hour of desolation. She at once arose, and herself unclosed it. crags, thrown wildly together, covered with fringes of moss and | burying-ground on his plantation with every observance of reshrubbery, constituting masses of verdure. Nothing can be finer than the effect where you look through the ravine, as through a mighty perspective, with the Realt Castle hanging to the cliff at its mouth, and the sunny air and earth expanding in such contrast with the frowning gloom-invested tremendous passage behind you. We leaned over the parapet and endeavored to guess at the depth of the chasm. It was dizzy to look at. The tall black fir-forests on the mountain shelves, and the blasted pines on the inaccessible peaks, seemed to gaze gravely at us as if we had come unauthorized into a sanctuary of nature too deep and awful to be trodden by the foot of man. THE Cane Brake was well named, for the house stood on a spot which, not many years before, had been covered with this almost impervious growth. It was now cleared away on three sides, and luxurious fields of cotton, white with ripened bolls, spread on either hand, while in front a cluster of trees and shrubbery filled the large yard. In the rear was an immense vegetable garden, bounded by alternate strips of woodland and cane-for it was only on the richest layers of soil that the latter was found. It was the second week after Dora's arrival, and she sat in a large chair, looking languid from recent suffering, but quietly contented. Never was any being more tenderly nursed, more carefully watched, than was this recovered treasure by the fond mother. As the two sat there now in the soft golden twilight of the South, which is so brief and so beautiful, they made a lovely picture. Mrs. Wentworth's voice had in it a mournful tenderness that was inexpressibly touching, as she said: "My child, I loved him-loved him desperately; yes, that is the only word, for it expresses all I dared, when I gave my hand to Richard Wentworth, against the advice of every friend I had in the world." Let us speak no more of those days, darling mother; the recital of your wrongs excites you too painfully." Mrs. Wentworth wiped away her tears, and more composedly said, "It is finished! the record is closed. Richard Went A soft, clear voice spoke almost deprecatingly: "I ventured to interrupt you, Minny, as Uncle Ned and Mr. Clayton are coming over the levee, and the supper-bell will ring in a few minutes." "Your entrance is never an interruption, my love," replied Mrs. Wentworth, affectionately kissing her while she drew her forward. "Dora is much better this morning, and if she would make the effort, I think she would be able to go out to tea with us." "I hope she will soon be well; for do you know, Minny, I am getting almost jealous of being thrown so much in the shade by your own child. I begin to feel that another has a stronger claim on you than I have." "Gracey, dear," seriously replied Mrs. Wentworth, "do not even in jest express such a feeling, for I love you with a depth and tenderness which can never suffer by being brought into comparison with the affection I have for my own daughter. Remember that Dora is the child of my many tears-you were the angel of consolation to my breaking heart, sent to comfort me when I most needed it; and how my affections cling to both of you, you can never know. Be sisters in love, my children, as you are twins in my regard, for I believe that He who reads my heart knows that I love you equally As she thus spoke, Mrs. Wentworth took the hands of the two girls and folded them together in her own; but Dora impulsively arose and threw her arms around the younger one, as she said. "Thanks, Grace for all you have been to my dear mother in those long years in which I did not even know that I was blessed with such a relative. I love you already, and I freely concede to you your full share in her noble heart. It is large enough for us both, my fair sister; so let not one be jealous of the niche reserved for the other in that temple which, but for you, would so long have lain desolate." Grace Linden received and returned the kiss which was given, while a faint blush tinged her fair cheek, as the reproachful |