Transcriber's notes: Minor typos have been corrected. Table of contents has beengenerated for HTML version.
ON THIS SIDE.
THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS.
RENA'S WARNING.
MUSTER-DAY IN NEW ENGLAND.
THE STORY OF A STORY.
SHADOWS ALL.
ROSES OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY.
A HOOSIER IDYL.
INTO THY HANDS.
A CHAPTER OF MYSTERY.
THE STORY OF AN ITALIAN WORKWOMAN'S LIFE.
OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.
LITERATURE OF THE DAY
Among the inhabitants of the United States there are none that stand sofirmly on the national legs as the Virginians,—though it would be morecorrect to contract this statement somewhat, substituting "State" for"national," since it has never been the habit of Virginians to makethemselves more than very incidentally responsible for thirty-eightStates and ten Territories occupied by persons of mixed race, numerousreligions, objectionable politics, and no safe views about so much asthe proper way to make mint-juleps. When Sir Robert presented himselfone day at the door of a fine old house belonging to the golden age ofante-bellum prosperity in Caroline County, he was received by two of themost English Englishmen to be found on this planet, in the persons ofMr. Edmund and Mr. Gregory Aglonby, brothers, bachelors, and joint-heirsof the property he had come to look at. These gentlemen received himwith a dignity and antique courtesy irresistibly suggestive of bag-wigs,short swords, and aristocratic institutions generally, a courtesylargely mingled with restrained severity and unspoken suspicion untilhis identity had been fully established by the letters of introductionhe had brought, his position defined, and his mission in Carolineclearly set forth. An Englishman out of England was a fact to beaccounted for, not imprudently accepted without due inquiry; but, thisdone, the law and traditions of hospitality began to alleviate thesituation and temper justice with mercy. The lady of the house was sentfor, and proved to be a wonderfully pretty old lady, who might have justgot out of a sedan-chair, whose manner was even finer and statelier thanthat of her brothers (diminutive as she was in point of mere inches),and who executed a tremendous courtesy when Sir Robert was presented."An English gentleman travelling in this country for pleasure, anddesirous of seeing 'Heart's Content,' Anne Buller," explained the elderbrother. Miss Aglonby's face, which had worn a look of mild interestduring the first part of this speech, clouded perceptibly at its close.She murmured some mechanical speech of welcome in an almost inaudiblevoice, and sat down in a rigid and uncompromising fashio