moment?י guson (the bridegroom elect) arrived, happy again as we are now, at this bringing his own wedding present and the presents of his parents, which were very costly. We were all in the highest spirits, and how little we thought on that first evening of his visit, what the next would signify to those two happy lovers, for it needed only to see them | together, to discover how deep was their attachment. The day after Ronald came, Mr. and Mrs. Wylie had permitted their daughter (whom they expected so soon to lose) to invite her own particular friends to dinner, and to a private view of the wedding dress and presents, which were very numerous, and many of them of great value. The guests left early, and Ronald, with Fanny's two brothers and a cousin of my own, a Mr. Alexander Gordon, went to the billiard-room, as they said, to finish the evening with a quiet game. This, as it afterwards transpired, was Ronald's proposal, evidently as we knew later, that he might indulge his favorite propensity, viz: to drink and smoke unknown to Fanny. This he considered he could do safely, the ladies having said they should retire early, and Mr. Wylie having already done so, as he was suffering from a slight attack of gout. Fanny and I occupied the same room, she having a bed placed there for the purpose, as she said, to look and feel like old times. We had taken off our dresses and put on wrappers for a cozy half-hour's chat before going to bed. All at once my friend looked up in my face and said, with a deep sigh, which was the prelude to many years of sighing: "Shall we ever be so perfectly "Why should we not," I asked, "if we live so as to merit it? Our Father in heaven has blest us and given us this perfect hour, and He will give us many more, if we endeavor to fulfill His commands and keep the vows we made to Him sacred." "I have kept mine to the letter," said Fanny, "have you done so? I have sometimes feared, while traveling, you might be tempted too far to resist." "There is quite as much danger from temptation at home as there is abroad," I replied, "and by God's help we can resist it anywhere." We were both silent for a few moments when without any apparent reason, Fanny proposed that we should go to the library and select a few books to place in her traveling trunk which we intended to pack the next morning, for the wedding tour, which was to be among the most beautiful and romantic of the Swiss Alps. As we went along the corridor, a strong smell of tobacco was perceptible, but I made no remark, thinking perhaps the young Wylies smoked. The door of the billiard-room was nearly opposite that of the library, and was slightly ajar so that the conversation could be distinctly heard in fumes of tobacco to escape. the library, and it also permitted the Both Fanny and myself very much disliked the smell, hence we were quick to detect it.. "Does Mr. Gordon smoke?" asked know." Fanny, "my brothers do not, I plied, and my heart beat quicker, for "Neither does my cousin," I reI knew that Ronald did. "Then there must be a stranger with the gentlemen, and I wonder my brothers do not tell him that it is not liked here, and not allowed except in the room set apart for the purpose. The whole of the draperies in the corridor must be taken down and disinfected, tomorrow." for at twenty-one I both smoked and drank to great excess, and now at twenty-five I do neither, thanks to my cousin Martha (myself) who assisted in the cure, which was effected in three months, and that, too, during the foxhunting season, when if ever a fellow Just then we heard the voice of the needs it, it is then." eldest brother addressing Ronald : "Did my sister never tell you that she was a total abstainer from wine and liquor of any kind, and that the smell of tobacco makes her ill?" "Oh yes, more than once," Ronald answered, with a short laugh that plainly indicated he had taken more to drink than was good for him, "and I told her I never used either." I placed my arm around Fanny and tried to take her from the room, but she resisted, and in a low tone said, "As we have heard so much we may as well hear more; it may impart some useful knowledge." The younger brother was now saying, "My sister is the very impersonation of truth and honor, and I have often heard her solemnly declare that she would never marry a man who was not a total abstainer from all intoxicants and tobacco, and I am sure she would thoroughly despise a man if he deceived her and she discovered the deception." "I will risk that," said Ronald, "and when we are married, if she ever finds out the little deception, she will know it is too late to complain, and, woman-like, she will forgive and eventually come to like what she now condemns, and perhaps I may be able some time to conquer the habit if I make up my mind to try." "Anyone can do so if he wishes," said my cousin who had not before spoken, "and I speak from experience, "I believe," said Ronald, "that with me it is hereditary, and that wine, whisky, snuff and tobacco were as necessary to my ancestors as their food, and that they are so to my father and myself, I am certain." We then heard the click of billiardballs, and the conversation ceased. "Let us go to my room," whispered Fanny." She crossed to the billiard-room, pushed the door a little more open, looked in, saying as she did so, "Goodnight, gentlemen." She then walked quickly up stairs without again speaking until we reached her room. entering she turned to me, saying, After "Please find out if my mother is in bed, and if she is not, ask her to come to me." I I wondered at the calmness of her manner after what she had heard, and also what she intended to do. found Mrs. Wylie in her private room writing, and told her her daughter's wish to see her. "Why I thought you were both in bed, you are losing your beauty sleep. What mischief have you been planning or doing?" asked Mrs. Wylie, while passing from her own room to Fanny's. I could not reply, my heart was too full to permit utterance. When we entered we found Fanny weeping hysterically, and quite unable to speak. Her mother tried to sooth her and asked me the cause of her a man who uses tobacco and drinks to excess, or indeed, who takes any in emotion, which I felt I had no right to give, so merely said, ،، Fanny will explain better than I toxicants whatever." can, when she is calmer." Her mother applied restoratives and she gradually became quiet. She was always self-sustained and firm, as was her mother, when any trouble or difficulty arose, and it was evident that she was exerting all her powers to meet the impending sor row. Her first coherent words were, "Mother, I can not marry Ronald, he is a habitual drinker and smoker, and both deceptive and untruthful." "Hush Fanny, how do you know this, who has told you?" and she looked at me as though she thought me the culprit. I was about to leave the room but Fanny stopped me by saying, "Do not go, Martha, you heard all, and I wish you to remain." Turning to her mother she said, "Ronald himself is my informant," and then, between her sobs and tears, told all she had heard. Mrs. Wylie seemed unable to comprehend the matter thoroughly and suggested that Mr. Wylie should be called, but to this Fanny objected, saying, "No mother, it will be time enough for him tomorrow, I only want you tonight." Then after a few moments' struggle with her tears, she said, "You will not lose your daughter after all, for I shall never, never marry. All the presents must be returned and the invited guests informed that the wedding will not take place." But what excuse can we make for such a proceeding," asked her mother. "Excuse!" echoed Fanny, "there is no excuse needed; let the truth be told that I cannot, will not marry "But Ronald?" said her mother. "I shall myself tell him what I heard last night, and how I came to hear it, or he may think my brothers had told me. His letters and presents I myself will give him, and send those of his father and mother to them, with my reason for not marrying their son. My father must notify our friends, and I am sure they will not blame me when the facts are known." How she could talk so calmly, I could not imagine, and I tried to fancy what I would do were I similarly situated; yet I saw she was adopting the only course open to her under the circumstances. But the morrow, how could she face it? and I saw that her mother dreaded it more than she did. It was now past midnight, we were all exhausted, so Mrs. Wylie left us. Fanny and I cried and talked ourselves into a fitful sleep, but when we made our appearance in the breakfast room next morning, we did not present a very attractive appearance. Ronald was not there, and we could see that my cousin and the brothers had been told all, by Mrs. Wylie. Mr. Wylie rose to meet his daughter when she came in; he did not speak, but kissed her affectionately, and showed by his manner that he did not disapprove of the course she was taking. No one made even a pretense of eating, and while the servants were present nothing was said on the subject which occupied all our minds. After they were dismissed a council was held, and it was decided to go to the library, send for Ronald and get through with this unpleasant business as quickly as possible. The gentle men who had heard what Ronald said on the previous night, were requested by Fanny to remain, so that there could be no misunderstanding as to how Fanny had gained the knowledge of Ronald's character, and she was determined that he should hear plainly from her own lips, her resolve and determination. those soul and body destroying poisons, but I found afterwards that he failed, if he ever tried. I saw him once only after that morning, and should not have recognized him had he not spoken my name and arrested my attention. It was at the close of the Crimean war (1856), when, with other ladies, I was in Liverpool assisting to nurse back to life the wounded and frost-bitten British soldiers who had returned from that disastrous campaign. I was passing between the beds in one of our temporary hospitals, when I heard my maiden name softly spoken. I turned, and upon a bed near I saw the wasted form of an officer, his eyes were too bright to be natural and the pallor of death was on his face. "Was it you who called me?" I asked. Directly he entered the room Fanny spoke, "Ronald, Mr. Ferguson, Miss • Onwhyn and myself were in the library and could not help hearing what was said in the billiard room last night, and I thank God that we did so, that I may be spared the dreadful fate of becoming a drunkard's wife. I am certain you were not sober, or you would not have spoken as you did to my brothers. It is better I made the discovery before marriage, for when I became acquainted with your true character I should have refused to live with you, and both our lives would have been wrecked. You can, if you choose, leave off those habits and become all that a gentleman should be, but I can never be your wife. Here are your letters and presents, those I told him she was not, but was deyour family gave me I will carefully ❘ voting her life to the cause of temperreturn. You knew my feelings in this matter, for I have often spoken to you on the subject, and you endeavored to deceive me, and I feel that the hand of providence led me to the library last night to save me from the dreadful consequences of being a drunkard's wife and subject to the deceitful practices of an untruthful man." "Yes," replied the man, faintly, "do you not know me? I am all that is left of Ronald Ferguson. Tell me what has become of Fanny; is she married?"י ance and charity. He then gave me a brief sketch of his life since the morning I last saw him, how he had tried to abstain from drink and failed; that he bought a commission in the army and went out to the seat of war, where he had both feet frozen and they had to be amputated. He knew he was dying and had sent for his She at once left the room, beckonfather. After informing him that Mr. ing me to follow, which I was only too Wylie and his sons had taken the temglad to do. She had given Ronald no perance pledge the same week he left time to reply, and he and Fanny never them, and that they had been the met again on earth. He told her means of many others doing so, I left father that he would endeavor to rehim. The next day I found his father form and conquer the appetite for ❘ with him, and on the second I saw his body borne away to the cemetery, Fanny never married, yet although Were there more Miss Wylies in the world there would be fewer drunkards and more happiness. Let women refrain from taking strong drink themselves, and both by example and precept show to their fathers, brothers and lovers the evil attending the use of tobacco and alcohol, and they will be reforming not only the present generation but posterity will have cause to bless them. We should need no prohibition laws if women would unite and resolve not to marry men who indulge in those debasing habits, viz.: drink, tobacco and profane language. Is it that set within this certain bound Of time and space, life's problems to com- We circle o'er and o'er earth's changeless round For this the planet-so our lessons teach, To train our spirits for those flights which reach And yet how few the mighty lesson learn In this short span of life wherein we strive, How many fade, nor yet may take nor spurn The pearl for which earth's hosts are born to dive. Nurtured in primal home of light and peace, How shall we gain in life's uncertain lease, Ah! in that problem its own answer see- care Nor time for ample penance there can be PRE-EXISTENCE. JOSEPHINE SPENCER. THIS vale of mystery which our life enfolds- And in some moment of transfigured thought, Fades, and a mistlike memory is caught Of some far realm of bright ethereal life. Yet oft we meet in earth's unwonted ways Scenes that recall the tenor of old days Ere time had called our present footsteps here. What means it that the scenes of earth beguile We see the earthly link the heavenly miss? A VISITOR FROM THE OTHER SIDE. I HAVE learned some details of an incident which occurred at Croyden, Morgan County, Utah, on Sunday, May 7th, 1889. On that day the following little girls, residents of Croyden, attended Sunday school; also the usual ceremonies of worship held in the afternoon : Martha Wainwright, Vinie Toone, Agnes Toone, Minnie Toone, Martha Bowers and Irene Condie. The ages of these little girls ranged from six to thirteen years. After meeting they resolved to take a walk to the burial grounds of the settlement. As they went along they |