Macbeth takes on terribly about it, of course; Mrs. Macbeth comes in in her cambric muslin and is carried out in a swoon; the neighbors are aroused, and a messenger is despatched at once for the coroner. Macbeth stabs the King's servants, and tells the jury at the inquest that he couldn't help it when he saw what they had done-he never was so mortified in all his life. The King's sons leave the country, fearful that the malady that had carried off their father might run in the family, when Macbeth starts a rumor that they were implicated in the assassination, and appoints himself King. Henceforth his career is one of blood, ably supported by Mrs. Macbeth, who, like the devoted wife that she was, did all she could to promote her husband's prosperity. They killed Banquo, one of King Duncan's generals, but his ghost persisted in sitting at their feasts, which didn't improve their appetites particularly, and was very uncivil in the ghost. They carried on a general slaughtering business for some time, but at length McDuff raised a regiment of Fenians, and after vanquishing the "Queen's Own," put all that the King owned to flight, when Macbeth was killed in a hand-to-hand prize fight with McDuff. His last words were, "Lay on McDuff, and snuff him out who first cries out, Scotch snuff!" and McDuff laid on with such effect that Macbeth was soon knocked out of time. Mrs. Macbeth fled to America. The last that was heard of her she was stumping Kansas, under an assumed name, in favor of female suffrage. MR. OTHELLO.-The Same. Othello was a Moorish citizen of Abyssinian descent, who was one of the first to respond to a call for colored troops in the wars of Venice. Following the universally acknowledged custom of colored troops, he "fought nobly," and quickly rose from the ranks (being a little ranker than the rest of them) through the various grades to Brigadier General. Shortly after his promotion to the above rank, while on a visit to the Venetian capital, Brabantio, a Radical Senator, and one of the warmest advocates of negro equality, invited him to his house, and gave him a seat at his table. Othello entertained the old man greatly at the dinner-table, one day, with an account of his adventures-how he ran away from his home when he was a little boy, and drove on the Erie Canal; how he afterward went with a circus company, travelling all over the United States, Canadas, and New Jersey MR. OTHELLO. 33 He dilated upon the wonders of the side-show, such as the six-legged calf," the "stone-swallower," the "living skeleton," and the man whose head did grow beneath his shoulders. Now, Brabantio had a daughter, named Desdemona, a fair young damsel, brought up in the strictest seclusion. Othello was about the first man she had ever seen who had travelled any, and she was naturally very much interested in his tale. She only caught fragments of it, however, for the cook having left that day, she was compelled to do the kitchen-work. One morning when Brabantio had gone to the Gold Board she besought Othello to relate to her the entire narrative, which he did with such additions and colorings as a fascinating young woman of sixteen as a listener would naturally inspire. The story sounded so much like the touching novels she had read in the New York Sledger, that she wept continually during the recital. She wished she had not heard it, and yet she assured him it was the bitterest regret of her life that Heaven had not another such a man ready made to her order. She told him, if he had a friend that was stuck after her, and would instruct him to tell his story, that would woo her, or she didn't want a cent. That was good enough for Othello, who popped the question at once and was accepted on the spot. Feeling that the romance of the affair would be wholly incomplete without an elopement, she insisted on running away with him, although, with the natural languor of his race, he would have preferred to walk. They ran away together, and were privately married on the suspension bridge by Parson Spurgeon. When Brabantio learned of the elopement of his daughter with the Moor, he caused his arrest for obtaining property under false pretences. He charged that Othello, after employing love-powders and "Podogogue" to win her, married her while under the influence of chloroform. Othello was examined by the Senators, but his story convincing them he had done everything "on the square," the case was dismissed, with the payment of costs. The Moor left immediately after on a foreign mission, that had been given him on account of his valuable military services to the State. Now, Othello kept a clerk named Iago, who had an ambition to hold a lieutenant's commission, and the readiest way that he could see by which to accomplish his object was to cause the removal of a lieutenant in the Moor's service named Michael Cassio, so as to get his place. Mike was a good-looking young Irishman, and with the natural gallantry of his countrymen, he was quite attentive to Mrs. Othello. Iago observed this, and made it the ground-work of a conspiracy the most atrocious. At first by hints, and then by open charges, he worked Othello up to a pitch of the wildest and fiercest jealousy. He stole a monogram handkerchief from Desdemona that was a present Othello had A. T. Stewart expressly manufacture for him. It was of linen, with a monogram "O." worked in the corner in red. This handkerchief Iago put in Cassio's outside breast pocket when he wasn't observing, with the monogram corner hanging out, and told Othello Desdemona had given it to him. Then he got Cassio drunk at a lager beer garden one night, causing him to get into a fight, be arrested, and put in the watchhouse. Othello was disturbed by the rumpus as the officers were taking Cassio through the street, and came out to see what was the matter. Cassio's head had been busted by a watchman's club, and it was bound up in that fatal monogram handkerchief. That settled it. Othello paid him off and dismissed him on the spot. There was a tempestuous scene when Othello demanded or Desdemona, “Whar's dat handkercher?" particularly as she chose that unfortunate moment in which to urge him to hire Mike Cassio over again and double his wages. She couldn't produce the handkerchief, because she didn't know where it was. Othello said it was a present to his mother from an Egyptian, while the old lady was visiting some relatives in Egypt, Illinois. Dying, his mother bequeathed it to him, telling him to give it to his first wife, who should hold it securely if she wanted to keep her husband from sleeping at the St. Nicholas Hotel. When she acknowledged that the handkerchief was lost, Othello rushed out of her presence in a great rage, firmly believ ing that his wife was false as a new counterfeit, and that Cassio was his rival. Iago continued to feed his jealous ire to such a degree that he determined to make himself a widower. This he accomplished by heaping too many bed-clothes on Desdemona, one sultry night, after reciting to her several passages from Shakspeare in a very able manner. For an amateur Othello could recite Shakspeare equal to any man of his day, and if he had adopted the stage as a profession, instead of wife murder, he would unquestionably have been a success. Mrs. Iago, rushing into the bed-chamber to inform him of the attempted assassination of Cassio, finds Desdemona expiring. She raises an alarm, people pour into the room, and Othello is arrested by two policemen on a charge of smothering with intent to kill. Mrs. Iago says she stole the handkerchief at the instigation of her husband, who she declares is no lady or he wouldn't have lied as he did about Desdemona. Iago despised having any words with a woman, so he just killed her. Othello sees that he has been made a dupe of by Iago, and he stabs him a little, but not enough to do him any good. Othello then stabs himself, after another masterly exhibition of his native powers of oratory. He was buried with all due honors by the Freedmen's Bureau. A PRACTICAL SERMON. 35 His style was Rev. John Dodd was a "pithy" writer and speaker. decidedly epigrammatic and brusque, but his words were full of sense. This example is a good one in exhortation (32). Speak not too peremptorily in tone, nor as if you were in a hurry to get through. Le each short sentence be distinctly spoken, and mind the pause after it. A PRACTICAL SERMON. (32)—Rev. John Dodd. YOUNG MEN,-You are the architects of your own fortunes. Rely upon your own strength of body and soul. Take for your motto Self-reliance, Honesty, and Industry; for your star, Faith, Perseverance, and Pluck, and inscribe on your banner, "Be just and fear not." Don't take too much advice; stay at the helm, and steer your own ship. Strike out. Think well of yourselves. Fire above the mark you intend to hit. Assume your position. Don't practise excessive humility. You can't get above your level-water don't run up hill-put potatoes in a cart_over a rough road, and the small potatoes will go to the bottom. Energy, invincible determination, with a right motion, are the levers that move the world. The great art of commanding is to take a fair share of the work. Civility costs nothing, and buys everything. Don't drink; don't smoke; don't swear; don't gamble; don't lie; don't steal or deceive; don't tattle; be polite; be generous; be self-reliant; read good books; love your fellow-man as well as God; love your country and obey the laws; love truth; love honor. Always do what your conscience tells you is your duty, and leave the consequences to God. As a study of verbal expression, and an exercise for the memory, the following "Ode" is of value. Such collocations are hard to commit to memory, and the pupil who achieves the task here offered will have given evidence of much mental merit. In its delivery especially guard against monotonous or sing-song tone. Don't hurry the words. If well delivered it will prove an impressive piece. ODE TO ALCOHOL. (34.)-Wm. C. Brown. Let thy devotees extol thee, Who so oft before thee fall; Vice promoter, man destroyer, Friend of Satan, I thee hate! Strong man sprawler, joy bereaver, Nerve enfeebler, system shatterer, Alms-house builder, pauper maker, Business hinderer, spleen instiller, Noisy babbler, cough producer, Curser, swearer, bold blasphemer, Memory drowner, honor wrecker, Judgment wrapper, blue-faced quack, Feud beginner, rag bedecker, Strife enkindler, fortune's wreck. Summer cooler, winter warmer, Ravenous murderer, man destroyer, Speech bewrangler, ribald singer, Sinews robber, mind depraver, Window smasher, good dispeller, Peace disturber, blackguard guest, Sloth implanter, liver sweller, Pain inflicter, eye inflamer, Heart corrupter, folly's nurse, Death's forerunner, body maimer, Wit destroyer, sense impairer, Scandal dealer, foul-mouthed scourge, Feelings blunter, youth ensnarer, |