"THEN CAME THE SUDDEN THUNDER OF HOOFS. I SPRANG AND SEIZED SOMETHING, BORE IT BACK BY HENRY E. HAYDOCK. I HAD been looking at Jack Hildreth's new wheel. As he returned it to its stand I noticed another bicycle standing near the wall. In appearance it was in great contrast to the one we had just been examining. The rear wheel was bent, the mud guard loose and the tires nearly off. Yet there was no dust upon it, and the nickel looked well polished. From the handle bar there hung a little ribbon. it. You see, you mustn't get me telling it, for it is so interesting to me, I think it must be interesting to everyone." "Go ahead, Jack," I said. "That spring," he began, "I was taking a short bicycle tour. The weather was fine. The country charming. "One afternoon I stopped at a little country town for the night. They were having a dance at the hotel. I was tired and did not join in the "What in the world are you keeping that old festivities, but contented myself by selecting a wheel for ?" I said. He did not answer at once, but instead drew the wheel toward us. Then I noticed the ribbon upon the handle was tied in a love knot. I I thought, too, he touched the wheel almost as if he loved it. "Have you never heard the story of this wheel? Why, I thought I had bored all my friends with Vol. XXXVII., No. 2-12. quiet corner on the piazza and watching the dancers through an open window. "Several dancers had passed, and I was growing tired of even watching them, when a tall girl entered the room. She was talking gayly with her escort, who, I saw by a quick glance, was above the medium height. "Don't ask me to describe her, for I cannot. How can a man properly describe a girl he loves? How can he make another see all the beauty, all the loveliness, all the charm that he sees? "I knew I loved her, even though I had never met her. I knew I loved her, even though she had never been nearer me than the length of that ballroom floor. "I thought, too, as my eyes rested upon her, that she turned toward the window with a little start. I know that for a moment or so her gayety ceased and she glanced about restlessly. The next day I managed to get an introduction. With me it only deepened the first impression. With her it did not even seem as if she cared to have met me. The days went by, and I gained little. She became quite friendly, but beyond that all efforts seemed hopeless. Any effort to hint to her what I felt for her was checked at once. Days lapsed into weeks. "One evening despair seized me. I had taken a walk from my hotel to the bluff overlooking the river. Below me from the north the river flowed under its mantle of moonlight. Over the lowlands, that seemed to stretch for miles between the mountains, a light mist hung in a soft radiance. Far up the valley a light gleamed from some farmhouse window. "As I stood there I heard voices behind me, then a low langh rippled out in the stillness of the night. As they approached I stepped a little further into the shadow of the tree in which I already stood, for I had no desire to talk with ⚫ anyone. A tall couple passed me, and stood together on the edge of the bluff. "Then I saw who it was. Her daintily poised head, her lissom figure, were perfectly revealed by the brilliant moonlight as it fell upon her from between two trees, making her a point of light amid the surrounding darkness. "So lovely did she look, so ethereal, that it seemed as if when the light changed she would Ivanish with it. "I imagined I saw lovelight in her eyes as her escort said something to her and she looked directly at him. They did not linger. As they walked away a sense of loss and despair crept over me. "The moon became obscured in a mass of cloud, blackness gathered about the landscape. I was about to return to the hotel, when, in the lowlands on the other side of the river, a light gleamed for a time, then vanished. A moment or two more and it again appeared, traveled a short distance and again went out. It was undoubtedly the will-o'-the-wisp. "So strongly did it appeal to me, in my then frame of mind, with its delusive hope, that I de cided to return to the city within two days, and in an active, busy life try to forget this delusion, that perhaps had been strengthened by the surroundings. "On the morning of the day I had set upon for my departure I took my bicycle and started for one more ride. I had reached a level plateau. Leaning against my wheel, I was contemplating the view, when from up the road I heard the sound of a horse running at full speed. Hastily I rushed my wheel to the ditch that bordered the road, and had barely reached it when a horse and phaeton appeared, the horse in the wild frenzy of a gallop. A runaway, without doubt. "A moment more and it had passed me; but in that moment I saw that which sent a chill of fear to my heart. There was a girl in the phaeton. As I saw who it was I knew the idea I had becu trying to gain that I did not love her was false. In this awful danger I realized only too well how much I loved her. "She had not seen me at all, so hard was she trying to subjugate the horse. "I knew that that was impossible. It took me only a second to get my wheel on the road and start in pursuit. Why I did this I knew not at the time; it was intuitive. I saw her whom I loved being borne to almost certain destruction, and I started with a dim idea of saving her. "As I felt my wheel respond to the strength I was placing on the pedels, as I felt the cool rush of the wind against my face, I realized never more forcibly that the speed depended upon my exertions. "I was gaining some, but what good would that do me? Even if I caught up to the wagon, the road was too narrow to allow me to pass. Even as I thought, through the cloud of dust the horse was making, I saw that the road forked ahead.. "Then I knew I had a chance. I remembered this fork well. One road going to the right, the other to the left, but both roads meeting again a short distance farther on. "In that short distance I must gain enough upon the horse to head him off at the second meeting place of the roads. Below that place the road ran along the edge of an embankment, to reach which would mean instant destruction. "I bent low over the handle bars, and as the horse took the right fork I darted to the left. Then began the ride for life. I saw nothing but that shimmering strip of road that was reeling. away like a ribbon, yet seemed never endingheard nothing but my own panting breath and the singing' of the machine. "Yet I knew we were going at fearful speed. A bad break in the road, a sunken gulley, and I would be hurled from it into the ditch, and all would be lost. "For the moment I was as if part of the machine; my legs were like steel bars, my hands griped the handle bars like a vise. In the fear ful efforts I was making I seemed to feel a wild exhilaration. Faster! faster! until a misty haze danced before my eyes as if the very air itself took form as it rushed by. Then I was upon the turn. As I swung in upon the curve I saw a man plowing, but his figure, though near at hand, was hazy and indistinct. I tried to shout, but my throat was dry as parchment, and he did not hear. "In a moment more I was on the main road. The next I was standing facing a large black object, surrounded by a cloud of dust that was approaching. It did not seem as if it was the runaway, but rather as if I was back again playing football on the college eleven. "I felt weak and exhausted as if from a 'scrimmage.' I heard the captain's words, Tackle hard.' Then I was alone, while the whole of the opposing eleven seemed racing down on me. Then came the sudden thunder of hoofs. I sprang and seized something, bore it back for a moment, then was borne back instead, struggling and dragging along the ground; but I still had that sense of power, for I had stopped the onward rush. "Then I had help, for some one else had hold of the horse as well. In the dim, misty haze that was gathering before my eyes I saw the plowman beside me. I knew the horse had been stopped, and there were confused noises in my ears and a sense of being carried." Jack paused for a few moments, then went on. "It isn't hard to guess what followed. See," he said, and he touched the little knot of ribbon upon the handle bars. "When I left the village, on my wheel was tied this ribbon, and round my heart was tied the knowledge that I had won the love of the sweetest of all women." Down the hall there comes the sound of children and a woman's voice. Jack turns and says, "Behold the heroine of the story." On the threshold stands his wife. She must have heard his last remark, for, as she enters, she turns to me. "And to think that Jack, the big goose, didn't know I loved him all the time !" THE LIBRARIES OF NEW YORK HOWEVER useful special collections of books and periodicals may be to the specialist in any department of investigation, miscellaneous collections will be required to meet the wants of the populace. The greatest libraries in our own country and in other lands are of this class. Since they appeal to the masses, they have a larger constituency than the specialties, and their success, therefore, seems more marked and assured. A trace of the specialty is found in some miscellaneous collections; for in them there is an attempt made to meet the supposed wants of certain classes of people. Some free circulating libraries are made up chiefly of books which are thought to be best adapted to the poor and illiterate; some libraries are intended especially for students; yet all these are properly classed as miscellaneons, since they purport to cover either many or all lines of literature, and when designed for students aim to meet the wants of students and explorers in every department of knowledge. These collections present evident advantages to the general reader and student of general literature. They make a wide range of investigation practicable by bringing within reach a great number and variety of books which no individual could command; but they have some disadvantages. They are frequented by some untrustworthy persons whose dishonesty or recklessness subject all honest men to a system of detectives and of red tape, which is annoying, mortifying, and the occasion of some loss of time. While the specialties excite interest and amazement at the extent of thought and toil in any one department of science or art, and at the special revelations made by one line of investigation, the miscellanies charm us with the variety, beauty or rareness of their treasures in every art and science and field of thought. The landscape of many countries is opened before us; the Babel of many tongues is heard. Here the student is introduced to the world of the past and present, and is made cosmopolitan without crossing the seas or hazarding the dangers of the deserts. I propose in this paper to give some account of the miscellaneous libraries of New York city. The library known as the New York Society Library has possession of an elegant room on the second floor of the society's building, 67 University Place. A spacious reading room and the vestibule claim the greater part of the ground floor. The library proper is arranged after the usual manner. The books are placed in alcoves of stacks, and these reach the ceiling-the roof of the building. Tables stand in the centre of the room for the use of readers. This library is owned by a corporation organized expressly for the collection and maintenance of a library. Membership in the society is necessary to the full enjoyment of the privileges of the institution. Persons entitled to the use of the books are, "members not in arrears for annual payments, fines, etc.; strangers for one month regularly introduced by members. Persons not members or subscribers have the privilege of consultation by the payment, per consultation, of 25 cents. The library is for reference and circulation. under special restrictions. Membership in the society may be obtained by the purchase of one share with payment of annual dues commuted, and amounting to $150, or by purchase of one share, $25, subject to annual payment of $10. The library is open from 9 A. M. to 6 P.M., and the reading room from 9 A. M. to 9 P. M." A room is appropriated to the use of women as a reading room. The library is supported mainly by dues of members. It receives, however, some aid from the income of small legacies. The largest gift is that made by Mrs. Sarah H. Green, of $50,000, from the estate of her late husband, John C. Green. The income of this fund is available only for the purchase of books. In addition to the building, costing about $80,000, the society has real estate and investments valued at $70,000. 1772, under the style of the New York City Library. During the Revolutionary War the collection was destroyed, but the institution was revived in 1778, and until 1795 was kept in the City Hall. During the sessions of Congress it formed the library of that body. A separation from the City was made in 1795, when a building was erected for the library on Nassau Street. Owing to the sale of this property, the collection was removed in 1836 to the rooms of the " Mechanics' Society in Chambers Street. It remained here until the completion of the new building of the society, on Broadway and Leonard Street, in 1840. building was sold in 1853, and the books were stored in the Bible House until the completion of the structure on University Place, occupied May, In point of time this library comes next to that of the City. In 1754 an organization of individnals in the city was effected for the purpose of "forming and maintaining a public library." The books then obtained were consolidated with those of the City Library under trustees chosen by the society, and was commonly called the City Library. A charter was obtained for the society in 1856. The earliest printed catalogue appeared in 1758 -the gift of Horatio Seymour. Catalogues were printed in 1761, 1793, 1813, 1838, 1850, and lists of additions have been printed every year since. The earliest known certificate of membership was issued in 1790. The library is a quiet place, and, as might be inferred from the terms of its use, rather exclusive, and enjoys the resultant exemption from a crowd. Another move uptown is contemplated when funds sufficient have been obtained. No great increase of membership is expected until such change shall be made. Pre-eminent among the libraries of the United States, and of the world, for endowment, completeness of appointments, variety and value of its works, for successful management and the distinguished persons concerned in its control from the first, is Astor Library. The building devoted to this collection of books is on Lafayette Place, and is a growth, having been erected in three several parts at intervals of some years, as the extent of the collection seemed to require. The three sections correspond in size, plan and finish, and are known as the south, middle and north hall. Together they form a compact structure of brownstone and brick in the Byzantine order, having a depth of one hundred feet and a front of two hundred feet. The front is flush with the line of Lafayette Place. Ascending from the sidewalk a flight of six stone steps, the visitor enters the main vestibule and principal entrance. This room is about sixtysix feet in length, or of the width of the middle hall. It serves not only as a vestibule, but as a hall of statuary, and contains twenty-four marble busts made from antiques, mounted on solid. pedestals of colored and variegated marble presented with the pedestals by Mrs. Franklin Delano, a sister of John Jacob Astor. In this room a porter is stationed, who takes charge of the umbrella or books which the visitor may bring, giving a check in place of them, and taking a certificate of ownership for any books or pamphlets which the visitor may wish to take to the reading room-a precaution against the loss of books and pamphlets by either visitors or the library. Ascending from the vestibule by a marble stairway, the landing is made in the middle hall, the floor of which is twenty feet above the ground. This and each of the other halls are in width equal to one-third the length of the building. The roof forms the ceiling of the halls. On the four sides of each one are galleries of alcoves one above another to the roof, and apparently well filled with books, and all in plain view of the centre of the hall. In the east end of the hall is a delivery desk extending across the width of the room. Between this and the landing of the stairway are tables on which printed and card catalogues are placed. Back of the tables on the north side of the middle hall are cases of drawers containing files of card catalogues. Between the stairway and west end of the hall there are tables for women readers, and adjacent to the stairway are show cases for manuscripts and missals. The three rooms communicate by means of broad arched door ways in each partition wall, and there is a passage back of the three delivery desks by which the attendants can pass from one hall to another. The arrangements of the three rooms are essentially the same, except that in the north and south halls there are no stairways leading to the vestibule. The stairways to the galleries are back of or near the delivery desks. The lofty arched ceiling, the galleries, balconies and alcoves give a pleasing and imposing aspect to the rooms. This library is a free reference library, but not "circulating." It is open during the day from 9 A. M. to 4 P. M. in winter, and until 5 P. M. during other months. Any person over fifteen years of age may draw a book for use in the reading rooms, on filling a blank slip giving his name, residence and the title and author of the book desired by him. Persons bringing satisfactory letters of introduction may have access to and seats in the alcoves, helping themselves to books. There is a large number of readers in the halls at all times of the day. Notwithstanding the elegance of all the appointments, there is in them all the evidence that they are for use rather than for ornament, and the attendants are not so dainty |