Years went by, and stranger footsteps Rang in castle, bower and hall; Yet the shrieks, at midnight ringing, Spoke the curse upon it clinging, And they left it to its fall, And an utter desolation slowly settled over all. Still, when o’er the brow of Etna Livid shades begin to roll, Tell the simple herdsmen, daunted By the twilight, terror-haunted, How she felt the fiend’s control, And they sign the cross in saying—“God in mercy keep her soul!” ----- [3] The author is aware that the name of the Holy Vehm—that dreaded order of the middle ages—belongs properly to Germany; but as its influence extended over Italy and Sicily, he has retained the title, and given a German name to the chieftain. * * * * * A NEW WAY TO COLLECT AN OLD DEBT. BY T. S. ARTHUR. Early in life Mr. Jenkins had been what is called unfortunate in business. Either from the want of right management, or from causes that he could not well control, he became involved, and was broken all to pieces. It was not enough that he gave up every dollar he possessed in the world. In the hope that friends would interfere to prevent his being sent to jail, some of his creditors pressed eagerly for the balance of their claims, and the unhappy debtor had no alternative but to avail himself of the statute made and provided for the benefit of individuals in his extremity. It was a sore trial for him; but any thing rather than to be thrown into prison. After this tempest of trouble and excitement, there fell upon the spirits of Mr. Jenkins a great calm. He withdrew himself from public observation for a time, but his active mind would not let him remain long in obscurity. In a few months he was again in business, though in a small way. His efforts were more cautiously directed than before, and proved successful. He made something above his expenses during the first year, and after that accumulated money rapidly. In five or six years Mr. Jenkins was worth some nine or ten thousand dollars. But with this prosperity came no disposition on the part of Mr. Jenkins to pay off his old obligations. “They used the law against me,” he would say, when the subject pressed itself upon his mind, as it would sometimes do, “and now let them get what the law will give them.”