Now," said the deacon, "shall we pray?"

"Yes," said the widow, "now you may."

And he kneeled him down on the sanded floor,
Where he had poured his goodly store,

And such a prayer the deacon prayed,
As never before his lips essayed;
No longer embarrassed, but free and full,
He poured out the voice of a liberal soul,
And the widow responded aloud, "Amen!"
But said no more of potatoes.

And would you, who hear this simple tale,
Pray for the poor, and praying prevail?
Then preface your prayers with alms and good deeds;
Search out the poor, their wants and their needs;
Pray for peace and grace and spiritual food,

For wisdom and guidance, for all these are good,
But don't forget the potatoes.

-Rev. J. T. Peltree

CCXXV.-COURTING.

COURTING iz a luxury, it iz sallad, it iz ise water, it iz a beveridge, it iz the pla spell ov the soul. The man who haz never courted haz lived in vain; he haz bin a blind man amung landskapes and waterskapes; he haz bin a deff man in the land ov hand orgins, and by the side ov murmuring canals. Courting iz like 2 little springs ov soft water that steal out from under a rock at the fut ov a mountain, and run down the hill side by side, singing and dansing, and spatering each uther, eddying and frothing and kaskading, now hiding under bank, now full ov sun, and now full ov shadder, till bimeby tha jine, and then tha go slow. I am in faver ov long courting; it gives the parties a chance to find out each uther's trump kards; it iz good exercise, and iz jist az innersent az 2 merino lambs. Courting iz like strawberries and cream, wants tew be did slow, then yu git the

flaver. I hav saw folks git ackquainted, fall in luv, git marrid, settel down, and git tew wurk in 3 weeks from date. This iz jist the wa sum folks larn a trade, and akounts for the grate number ov almitey mean mechanicks we hav, and the poor jobs tha turn out.

Perhaps it iz best i shud state sum good advise tew yung men, who are about tew court with a final view to matrimony, az it waz. In the fust plase, yung man, yu want tew git yure system awl rite, and then find a yung woman who iz willing tew be courted on the square. The nex thing iz tew find out how old she is, which yu kan dew bi asking her, and she will sa that she is 19 years old, and this yu will find won't be far from out ov the wa. The nex best thing iz tew begin moderate; say onse every nite in the week for the fust six months, increasing the dose az the pasheint seems to require it. It iz a fust rate wa tew court the girl's mother a leettle on the start, for there iz one thing a woman never despizes, and that iz a leettle good courting, if it iz dun strikly on the square. After the fust year yu will begin to be well ackquainted and will begin tew like the bizzness. Thare iz one thing I alwus advise, and that iz not to swop fotograffs oftener than onse in 10 daze, unless yu forgit how the gal looks.

Okasionally yu want tew look sorry and draw in yure wind az tho yu had pain; this will set the gal tew teazing yu tew find out what ails yu. Evening meetings are a good thing tu tend, it will keep yure religgion in tune; and then if the gal happens to be thare, bi acksident, she kan ask yu tew go hum with her. Az a ginral thing i wouldn't brag on uther gals mutch when i waz courting, it mite look az tho yu knu tew mutch. If you will court 3 years in this wa, awl the time on the square, if yu don't sa it iz a leettle the slikest time in your life, yu kan git measured for a hat at my expense, and pa for it. Don't court for munny, nor buty, nor relashuns; theze things are jist about az onsartin az the kerosense ile refining

bizzness, liabel tew git out ov repair and bust at enny minnit.

Court a gal for fun, for the luv yu bear her; for the vartue and bizzness thare iz in her; court her for a wife and for a mother, court her as yu wud court a farm, for the strength ov the sile and the parfeckshun ov the title; court her as tho she wan't a fule, and yu a nuther; court her in the kitchen, in the parlor, over the wash-tub, and at the pianner; court this way, yung man, and if yu don't git a good wife and she don't a good hustband, the falt won't be in the courting. -Josh Billings.

CCXXVI. "DIED POOR."

"It was a sad funeral to me," said the speaker, "the saddest I have attended for many years."

"That of Edmonson?"

"Yes."

"How did he die?"

"Poor-poor as poverty. His life was one long struggle with the world, and at every disadvantage. Fortune mocked him all the while with golden promises that were destined never to know fulfillment.'

"Yet he was patient and enduring," remarked one of the company.

"Patient as a Christian-enduring as a martyr," was the answer. "Poor man, he was worthy of a better fate. He ought to have succeeded, for he deserved success.'

"Did he not succeed?" questioned the one who had spoken of his patience and endurance.

"No, sir; he died poor, just as I have stated. Nothing that he ever put his hand to succeeded. A strange fatality seemed to attend every enterprise."

"I was with him in his last moments," said another, "and he thought he died rich.”

"No, he has left nothing behind," was replied. "The

K. N. E.-42.

heirs will have no concern as to the administration of his estate."

'He left a good name,” said one, "and that is something." “And a legacy of noble deeds,” said another.

"And many precious examples," said a third.

"Lessons of patience in suffering; of hope in adversity; of heavenly confidence when the sunbeams fell upon his bewildering path," was the testimony of another.

Did

And high truths, manly courage, heroic fortitude." "Then he died rich," was the emphatic declaration. "Richer than the millionaire who went to his long home on the same day, a miserable pauper in all but gold. A sad funeral, did you say? No, my friend, it was a triumphant procession! Not the burial of the human cold, but the ceremonies attendant on the translation of an angel. not succeed! Why his whole life was a series of successes. In every conflict he came off the victor, and now the victor's crown is upon his brow. Any grasping, soulless, selfish man, with a moderate share of brains, may gather in money, and learn the art of keeping it, but not one in a hundred can conquer bravely in the battle of life, as Edmonson conquered and stepped forth from the ranks of men a hero. No, no; he did not die poor, but rich, rich in neighborly love, and rich in celestial affections. And his heirs have an interest in the administration of his affairs. A large property has been left his heirs, and let them see to it that they do not lose precious things through false estimates and ignorant appreciations."

"You have a new way of estimating the wealth of man,” said the one who had first expressed sympathy with the deceased.

"Is it not the right way?" was answered. "There are higher things to gain in this world than the wealth that perishes. Riches of princely value ever reward the true merchant who trades for wisdom, buying it with the silver of truth and the gold of love. He dies rich who can take

his treasures with him to the new land where he is to abide forever; and he who has to leave all behind on which he placed his affection, dies poor indeed. Our friend Edmonson died richer than a Girard or an Astor; his monument is built of good deeds and noble examples. It will abide forever."

CCXXVII.-THE CATARACT OF LODORE

"How does the water

Come down at Lodore?"
My little boy asked me

Thus once on a time;

And, moreover, he tasked me

To tell him in rhyme.

Anon at the word,

There first came one daughter
And then came another,

To second the third

The request of their brother,
And to hear how the water
Comes down at Lodore,
With its rush and its roar

As many a time
They had seen before.

So I told them in rhyme,
For of rhymes I had store,
And 'twas in my vocation
For their recreation
That so I should sing;
Because I was Laureate

To them and the King.

From its sources which well

In the tarn on the fell;

From its fountains