ame or suicide! and like the real
woman that she was, she made her choice for virtue. Conquered by fate,
overcome by adversity, those who should have been helpers turned
tempters. Who dares meet God in his soul and say she did not choose the
better part?

"'Thou art our Refuge and our Strength.'"

I whispered it above her grave and left her there, under the stars and
broken lily buds.

But when the grand Jack roses bloom, I always think of her, and
thinking, I ponder again the same old riddle, _Fate_, whose edict
swears, "No room for honest poverty; no niche for such as she." And
thinking thus I wonder,--where shall the blame rest? Whose shall the
crime be?

THE HEIRESS OF THE RIDGE.

NO-NAME PAPER.

The "Ridger" is quite a different person from the Mountaineer. He looks
upon the latter individual as a sodden and benighted unfortunate, whose
inaccessible habitation entitles him to the pity of the favored dwellers
on the "Ridge."

That the Ridge is but a low out-put of the Mountain, that it is barren
and isolated, does not disturb the comfortable theory of its
inhabitants. To the people of the Valley the Ridger is a twin brother of
the owner of the hut on the top-most peak of the range.

They look alike. Their bearing and habits are similar. To the Valley eye
their clothes are of the same material and cut; but to the Ridger
himself there is as wide a difference between him and his less favored
brother on the "mounting" as that to be found by the stroller on Fifth
Avenue when he gazes with profound contempt upon the egotistic biped who
plainly hopes to deceive the elect into a belief that he, also, belongs
to the charmed circle and has not simply "run over" from Jersey City, or
St. Louis, or New Bedford.

The Mountaineer is frequently a Tunker, the Ridger rarely. Therefore the
Ridger is likely to have a shaven face, and, for the younger contingent,
a mustache is the rule, a "goatee" the fashion. To the Tunker none of
these are permissible. The beard may not be cut, a mustache may not be
worn, and, with the first of these propositions in force it will be seen
at once that "a goatee" is quite out of the question.

When I say that the Ridger is likely to have a shaven face I do not
intend to convey the impression that he ever uses a razor. He shaves his
face with the scissors. His Tunker neighbor up the mountain performs the
same feat on his own upper lip. The result is effective and satisfactory
from