The Mistaken Kindness Of A Philanthropic Father

A wiiiFFLlNO wind sont it whirling and gyrating through the air, apparently Lhrough the open window in the upper storv of somc b.uilding in tho neighbor hood. It ras diiïioult to teil what it was m it floated overhead. It might hi a handkercliief, a sheet of paper, ; night-cap, a lady's collar or any other light Uring of tiiat kind. At length it catnc down, and the reporter ran and put his foot on it to keep it from being picked up by tlie wind and again whirled away. It proved to be a few sheets of paper, orumpled so that tliey stuc! together, and tlie reporter, on smooth ing; tliem out, found thein to bc coverei with wiitiag, as foüows: September 1, 1879.- We havo Jus moved into our new house, and this i a good time to start the diary that have been so long eontemplating. No one, I thiiik, ever starts a diary excep at some epoch, however trilling. September 5. - Our new house is jus lovely. That ia to say, it has a large recesa front door, with no end of widt steps, wliere several couples can sit o aa evening and not crowd each other There is a erook in the gtreet elose by and the street light over the way is thus brought behind an umbrageoui tree, making evcrything light around whilst our front is thrown completel; in the shade. Lucy and Nellie and have been comparing notes about this peculiarity, and we agree that it is more than satisfactory. September ö. - Whatsplendidweather we are having and what delighlfu evenings we spend on those front steps' The dim, religious light makes everything so cozy, and Fred always seems to feel happier out there than anvwhere elso. Bui the moon will soon be a little troublesome by lighting up the scène too vividly. But no matter for that, if Fred is here alone, as we can sit in the recess, and the iuuou cannot shine in there. September 17. - How provoking! I was out shopping this afternoon, and when I got home I found the gas-fitter at work putting a huge lanlern in the recess of the doorway. I asked them what that was for, and they said papa liad ordered it. I bounced him about it when he got home, and he said that he had noticed that we all sat out in front a good deal and thought he would make it as nice as he could for us. Poor, dear, innocent old papa! He is so good and kind and always means so weïl. But then he knows so little about things. Of course, I could not explain to him why it was so undesirable to have so much light on the subject; but I suggested to him that our gas bilis were already pretty large. But he replied that we eould turn down the gas in the back parlor while we were sitting out there, and that would make it all nght. ïhere is one comfort, however: We don't need to light the lantorn, and we won't. September 20. - Last night Fred, and Gsu, and Harry were all here, and wc were all ut on the front steps having such a good lime, when papa carne home. With his hearty ways, there was of course a great ïiubbub of hand-shaking, welcoming, and all that sort of thing, vhich was the fashion, I sup pose, when he was a youngster. By the way, it seems droll to think that he ever was a youngster; but I suppose he was. When the performance was through with, papa, exclaimed, in his bluff way, "Why bless me! what are you all sitting in the dark for, when it issoeasyto have a light?" With that he ran and got a match, and in an instant everything was in a blaze of glory, with what we girls niclmame his "calcuim light." The effect was just what any one but papa would have anticipated. In the language of Scripture - I think it is Seripture, or is it Tristam Shandy? But it reads, "Audimmediately there was a great calm." In a few minutesfVhen the silence was beginning to beconie painful, Fred suggested that we go in and have some music. I think that is what tney cali cutting the Uordian knot. We went in and in a few minutes all the rest followed afteras. I watched my chance, and slipped and turned the calcium light off, thinking that perhaps we would all go out again. But it is sometimes difficult to take up the thread of anything just where it was broken off, and the evening was completely spoiled. September '■í. - i"apa keeps on lighting his calcium every night whenever he sees any one sitting out in front, just as if he were doing the kindest thing in the world, as no doubt he tiiinks he is. But good often comes out of evil. as I heard a preacher say once, and it has turned out so in this case. The second night of papa's illumination I saw that Fred was growing restless, poor fellow; I knew just what was the matter with him, and I would have grown restless, too, if I had been a man, but we women have more control of ourselves. I tried to be as interesting as I could, but it was no usè. Fred would not get interested, and directly he said, quite abruptly: " Let's go and get some iee eream." It was the same way thenext night and the next, and last night we went ofl to the theater and to-moirow night we are going to a concert. I don't know that the calcium is as bad as I thought it was and papa builded botter than he knew, unless he was deeoer than I ever gave him credit for. September 30. -The evenings are now too eold to set out in front and Fred and I have got into such a habit of going to theaters, concerts and dances that I am seldom home of an evening. December 4. - It is now more than two months since I have written a line in my diary. I am getting tired of it any way, and what with Fred being here every night and me being taken up every day p'anning things, I don't get any time- so here is an end of the business. - Missouri Republican. -- Accokding to the Pharmncist, it is a frequent pvaetice in the New York Asylum for Inebriates to ndminiatar to the patients at bed-time a glass of milk to produce sleep, and the result is often found satisfactory without the use of medicine. Medicine is there sometimes prescribed in nú'.k. It nas been reoently stated in rredical journals that laetic acid has tilo effect of promoting sleep by acting as n sedative, and this acid may be produeod in the alimentary canal after the ingestión of milk. Can this, then, bo the explanation of the action of milk on the nervous system after a long-eontinued, excessive use of alcohol ie drink P Sugar, also, is capable of being converted in the stomach, iu certain morbid conditions, into laetic acid; and a lump of sugar allowed to dissolve in the mouth on ?oing to bed wzll frequently soothe the restless body to quiet and repose. - Exchange. -♦- Limburger cheese is considered more rolitble to the maker than any other cheese, because from a given quantity of milk more weight is obtainel and etter prices realized. Thousands of ons are produced in New York and iVisconsin, at less than half the cost of the imported article. -- All wool dress goods or colored flannels shoulcl be washed out quickly in pid water, rinsed in water of the same emperature, wrung dry and then folded up for a time, together with one or wo sheets, so that the moisture shall be extracted by the cotton or linenj thoy should then be ironed till dry. The Chinese are invading the Sandwich Islands. Over 2,000 Chinamen arrived at Honolulú in the seeond half of last year. . __ .."ïrf- _