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Sees, pets
Col hanna ae
Dodge's Literary Museum.
Jacl, the Martyr:
GLANCES INTO A WEART YET BEATING.
BY
Chapter Second ==Concluded.
66 4 ND when shall I go, mamma?” was
Jael’s next question.
“J think some time next month, but am
not quite certain. So enjoy yourself in
your new home as much as you can before
you go. You shall be perfectly free to run
wild from morning to night. Indeed, I
wish you to exercise a great deal, for you
will need all your health at school.”
“My dear. Altha, have you no fear for
her? She is so young, and a boarding-
school is suéh a strange place. Mad she
not better stay with us a little longer?”
“No, Ernest, I know it will be best for
her to go. She has too much strength of
character to yield to bad influences. She
will be wild and unsteady, I have no doubt,
for her nature is far from being a lymphatic
one; but she will never do anything that is
really wrong. Besides, though she looks so
young, she is, in reality, ten years old. It
is time that she saw more of the world.
Please God, her life shall never be wasted
as mine has been, through ignorance of
_ good or evil. She shall be free to choose,
- understandingly, her course in life; then,
if she wrecks her own happiness, no one
can be blamed but her.”
“Mamma, what do they do at boarding-
school? Georgine Lewis says that her
sisters have grand fun. They break all the
rules, though; but then they don’t often
get found out. Does every one do s0?”
als Gon must obey your teachers,
that is, you ought to; but I have not the
slightest idea you will. You must take
vo your chance, however, and do the best you
can.
~~.
I shall talk with you more about this
before you go. Now let us look at the oth-
er rooms.” : :
“0, mamma—papa—may I have this
room ?” exclaimed Jacl, as they entered a
“small one, built in the form of an octagon, | !
and furnished with shelves for books, rare
old cabinets, and heavy, brass-nailed, claw-
footed chairs. ~~
“Why, what is the charm about this lit-
tle lonely place 2”
“0, don’t you see how old and strange
everything looks, as if no one had been in
here for a great many years ?—and then
that picture over the bed, and, above all,
the sword that hangs upon the wall. Please
reach it down for me; papa; Tami not tall
enough.”
She kissed the sword as it was placed in
her hands, and then turned to look at a
beautiful copy of the Virgin and her Child
that hung upon the walls.
“Mother, tell me something. I believe
there are two Jaels. Part of me loves this
sword, and would like to fight with it in
some great battle, and the other part can’t
bear to think of any such thing, but wants
to stand before this picture when the moon
shines on the floor, and look up into its
eyes. Are there two Jaels, mother ?”
The dinner-bell rang at this moment, and
Mrs. Ingraham could only say, Iam afraid
there are,” before she descended the stairs.
Jacl followed slowly, saying to herself,
“TI wonder why mamma said she was
WINIFRED WOODFER
would be glad of it. I believe, after all,
there are three, for one Jael is dreadfully
hungry just now, and yet she don’t mean to
be shut up in that grim dining-room, to be
waited upon by that great tall man.”
She turned and ran down the long, stone-
paved passage that led to the larder. The
butler was absent; but she had already in-
sinuated herself into the good graces of the
rosy-cheeked housemaid, who readily came
at her favorite’s call, and began to pack a
little basket with dainties.
Jael was going on a long excursion. She
was going to explore the woods that lay
around her new home, and intended to re-
main till evening. So she selected both
her dinner and supper. For her dinner,
she took a small piece of roast duck, a few
tartlets, and a tiny pie baked in a child’s
scolloped dish; her dessert consisted of
some fine peaches, plums and apricots. For
supper, she chose .some currant bunns
and a cup of marmalade, and, provided
with a clasp knife and a tiny goblet to drink
from, she took the broad-brimmed straw
hat from its nail, and bounded merrily from
the hall door. Passing round by the oflices,
she espied a large, sleek gray cat basking
in the sunshine, and paused to make her ac-
quaintance.
Jael certainly possessed some magical
charm which attracted animals to her; per-
haps in this case it was the odor of the de-
licious canvas-back that made “ Trotter”
stretch herself and follow her over the low
stile, down through the long, daisy-sprink-
led Jane, and across the orchard into a
beautiful glen that lay half in shadow, half
in sunshine; be this as it may, when the
child paused beside a Jarge flat stone to ar-
range her dinner-table, her four-footed
friend rubbed backwards and forwards
against her dress, uttering now and then a
low growl of pleasure, as she stooped to
caress her. ;
Trotter was quite an original in the cat
line. She was remarkable for her size, her
beauty and her intelligence. Mary, the
housemaid, often affirmed that the days of
witches had not quite gone by, when she
saw those large green orbs fixed upon her
face, and once, when she was alone through
along winter evening, she even tried the
experiment of placing her upon a large Bi-
ble, to test her integrity.
Poor Trotter! When, after winking and
blinking at Mary from her elevated posi-
tion till she had nearly frightened her to
death, she fell into a quiet doze, the suspic-
ious girl declared it was only a make-be-
lieve slumber, and that she could still watch
her through her closed eyelids. The vir-
tuous are alway. s slandered thus.
“ Trotter, I really believe you love me—
or did you come for some of this?” said
Jael, as she seated herself with the cat in
her lap, and gave it a piece of the duck.
“Because if you did, it was very mean in-
deed in you. You shouldn’t ever follow
anybody for the sake of what they will give
you. I guess, though, you’came because
you like the woods and the flowers and the
Lrook—just as I do—so sit up and eat your
afraid there were two. I should think she
dinner.”
Trotter needed no second invitation, and
soon, like the redoubtable “ Jack Sprat’
and his wife, they had “cleaned the cloth.”
The cat stretched herself out upon* the
grassy bank and purred herself to sleep,
and Jael lay beside her, looking thoughtfully
up into the sky. Her thoughts were afar.
She was already an inmate of that distant
boarding-school, in fancy, and she endeay-
ored to picture to herself the different com-
panions she should meet and love there.
O, childish dreamer! may the world still
look bright to thee when thou standest in
those classic halls. May the sweet young
faces that surround thee be the same that
peer down through the forest trees upon
thee now. May their hearts be pure and
warn as thine, that their love for thee may
neyer change and die!
.Jael Glenn! these are but idle prayers!
Thy reveries, though beautiful, will never
become realities! The angels all go home
to heaven, dear child, betore their bright
wings are soiled and dimmed with the dust
of the earth-struggles, but human beings
remain below, with all the errors and im-
perfections of humanity. Such wilt thou
meet. Life is all one great “ boarding-
school,” where we are all fellow pupils, un-
der the three great teachers, Time, and
Sorrow, and Change.
They give us hard tasks ever and anon,
but, Jael, a strong heart can always master
them. ,Take armor, then, for thy soul in
thy warfare. Go not blindly unto the
strife, only to hear the ery, “ The Philistines
be upon thee, Samson,” and to be taken
between the pillars of the temple.” Bow
not thyself down between those mighty
columns, crushing others by thy strength,
and pressing thy life blood from thy own
heart, in the selfsame struggle. Jacl, a life
choice is before thee, young as thou art!
Be wise, then, and dream no more, for we
only create ideals to see them dethroned,
we only build castles in the air to see them
Llown away by the first puff of wind that
passes by. O, Life is but a mockery, at
best! Look on it thus, and thou wilt avoid
a total shipwreck. Tope and Faith can
never die if they are never born. The
Real is coming to thee—leave the Ideal be-
hind thee, and go bravely forth to meet it.
Cast the dreamy glance from out thy large
eyes—give them a more every-day aspect.
O, Jael, romance is not for this miserable
world !
None find in Jife their heart’s Ideal,
Save those who for the sterner Real
In earnest truth are secking!
Jael dreamed. She'had passed through
the ordeal of boarding-school life, and hav-
ing graduated far in advance of all her
schoolmates, was returning, Jaden with hon-
ors, medals and diplomas, to her mother,
when the last rays of the sun peered with
bright eyes into hers, and rousing herself
with a start, the whole scene vanished, and
she was again the wild, ignorant romp, sit-
ting by a munnuring brook, with a sleeping
mouser by her side. Jer castle-building
had at least one merit—it had given her an
appetite; and drawing her basket toward
her, she began her supper, first spreading
some marmalade on Trotter’s nose and paws,
which she licked off with great satisfaction,
on awaking. The simple meal was soon.
concluded, and after Jacl had taken a drink
from’ the brook, the two strolled slowly
homeward.
Mr, and Mrs. Ingraham were already
wondering what detained their child, when
she came in sight, her gipsy hat hanging by
its strings from her neck, her little basket on
her arm, and her face lit up with happiness
and excitement. Trotter followed with
drooping ears and tail, for the poor animal
was thoroughly tired out. From that day,
the animal followed Jael like a dog, wherev-
er she went. -
“My child, where have you been?” ask-
ed Altha, as Jael scated herself at her feet,
upon the steps of the piazza, without a
word,
“ Only out in the woods. I will tell you
all about it some other time, mamma. I
want to sit and think now, with you near
me.”
Altha always respected the individuality
of her child toa great extent, and making
no farther attempt to converse with her, she
laid her hand caressingly upon the bright
head lying upon her knee, and sat silent,
and divinely happy, with the two, dearer
than all others, beside her.
Twilight came on and faded, or rather
brightened, into evening, yet still. the child
sat silent. Myriads of stars looked down
upon her, and her large, thoughtful eyes
shone bright with their solemn light. Nota
word was spoken through’ the whole time,
till Jael rose up, and kissing her father and
mother, took her lamp and passed up the
stairs to the little room she had chosen. As
she turned to close the door, the familiar
purr of Trotter seemed asking for admit-
tance, and she called her to her side.
And hours afterwards, while the husband
and wife still sat upon the open piazza, talk-'
silence, with the sleeping cat beside her, and
her bright, wide-open eyes, fraught with
strange meaning, looking out among ‘the
moonbeams, that fell in a shower, of chequ-
ered radiance around that sword upon’ the
wall.
be overcast with clouds!
was rapidly approaching.”
One month had passed by, and she was
soon to leave her beautiful home. Yet she
even looked forward with eager anticipation
to the change in her life. Tacl’s wings were
never destined to be folded in quiet con-
tentment—hers was too restless a spirit to
be contented with the humdrum, routine of
domestic duties. She was to be a bird of
passage, a wandering comet, a shooting star.
No doubt happiness nestles oftener by the
snug fireside than in the busy! mart, but
Tael craved excitement, Her nature was
just beginning to unfold itself, and the
young eaglet will soar upward to the sun.
It was the close of a hot autumn day.
Jael sat upon the steps of the piazza, draw-
ing. She had a taste and facility of execu-
tion remarkable in one’ so young. Altha
looked, over her shoulder and saw—not the
scene before her, or any remembered or im-
agined place—not the “human countenance
Jael’s first sorrow
with such an expression of sorrowful despair
that she started back in astonishment. Who
gave those slender fingers such a wonderful
power ?
she, at last.
“Thave just been reading about Hagar,
mamma, and I have been drawing her eyes.
They look just as mine would if Iwas in
her place.”
-“ What can you know, my child, of such
feelings? .I hope you will never know
them—and yet, you must have some idea of
the love that is stronger than death, or you
never could have drawn those eyes.”
ing of her and her future, she lay there in:
Alas, that even the sky of childhood must
divine,” only a pair of eyes! They seemed ;
to be looking out from a shadowy veil, but’
“Jacl, what is this intended for?” said
“O, mamma, I can imagine just how I
onl eens act eeepc UNE