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VOL. XXiail. PITTSBORO, CHATHAM COUNTY, N. C. THURSDAY. OCTOBER 19, 1905. NO. 10.
MI
An
2 vyy
ii ts
LUKE- HAMMOND,
THE MISER..
By Prof. Wm. Henry Peck,
'Author of the "TR Stone-Cutter
of Lisbon,': Etc
CHAPTER XXV.
Continued. 1
I have seen that cloud-surrounded
race, my father's face, and more dis
tinctly than ever before. The same
jn-arning, too, to beware of Harriet
Foss. And am I not bewaring of that
woman? John Marks will remove her
to win his son. And such a son! I
dreamed that idiot was my son, and
ithat he called me 'Father! Father!'
until my brain reeled with the shrill
ness of his cries. But, worst of all, I
Breamed of James Greene of James
Greene and my two dead wives. I
thought I saw him holding them by the
!hand, and climbing up out of the old
well climbing, climbing, until they all
got in here, and then the floor opened
under me, and I fell, whirling down
a thousand years, amid imps, idiots
fend dead men, until I stopped, mangled
to a pulp, in a lake of burning brandy!
tHorrible! I awoke, and the sun. was
Shining in my face with a gleam that
blinded me. Then I dreamed that I
sought for the lost will, and not finding
It, fired the house, and saw everybody
in it escape except myself, "who was
grasped by James Greene, and held in
the well until it was red hot and I a
finder."
He rambled on of his dreams,
trenibling and nervous, until Stephen
sneaked into the library,
i "Stephen," said Hammond, "take
these letters to the postoffice. Then
call at my office in Wall street for
letters, and say that I am out of town.
There's an order for you to get the
letters. Then go to No. Mott street
'Ask for Mr. Thomas Allday. Tell him
his note is due, and that he will be
wanted some time to-night. Tell him
he shall have his note and it9 value
in cash besides if he is found not want
ing. Then hurry home."
Stephen took the letters and de
parted. After bathing, as was his
custom, Hammond breakfasted,, and
was returning to his library, when old
Fan sprang up in his path and said
"Mr. Hammond, I want to go away."
! "Go where? You are better off here
than you can hope to be elsewhere,'
said Hammond, eying her suspiciously
"I want to go away," said the old
creature, sitting down on the steps, and
rocking herself backward and forward,
'I want to go away from this dread
ful house, Luke Hammond. My yellow
birdies aren't safe here."
; "Come, this is all nonsense," said
Luke, angrily. "Get up; get out of my
; "Not until you can tell me I can go
can go, Luke Hammond," said Fan
"You must tell me you won't set the
dogs on me, and let me go."
I Luke looked at her sharply.
"What do you wish to go after?"
said he.
ti 1 fx T.l 3 ft n n t tin
i "You lie. you old hag. You wish to
betray me. Go to your kitchen; and
remember, my eye is on you always
"Yes. ves so is his so is his!" said
Fan, hiding her face in her apron.
"His? Whose?" demanded Luke.
S "James Greene's yes! James
Greene's," said Fan. "His eye is al
ways on me on me! just 'as he looked
when the floor sank under him and he
be comes up! and he creeps and crawls
i til over the house, looking at me at
tne! and for you for you!"
J "Old woman, I must tie you up,
khought Hammond, as she rose and
-jrept slowly away. "You are growing
rery dangerous."
He entered his library, and pulled
k bell cord, then called out quick and
l harp, like a snap:
"Come up! Quick!"
, Then, pacing around the table with
Uneasy steps, he muttered
"The old woman grows dangerous,
iWe must act, and immediately."
When Nancy entered he said:
j "Well, it has reached that point."
i "What point, Luke?" -
"That point at which necessity de
Uiands that Fan shall be secured,"
Laid he.
. "Does she suspect?" asked Nancy.
' "I care not whether she suspects or
taot," said Luke, savagely. "I scent
'dancer in the air. Nancy Harker.
(While I slept this morning my dreams
were horrible terrific. I shudder now
4n remembering them." -
Nancv smiled.
: "Oh. vou mav erin." said Luke. "But
1 tell vou that dreams have frightened
me for the first time in my life of fifty
years. And now. at this instant, a
sense of rapidly nearing peril so racks
my brain, my nerves, my whole being,
that the very air smells of imminent
Hammond drew his tall, lean figure
rigidly erect, and tossing back his long,
narrow head, until his cruel face was
turned upward, dilated his eyes and
nostrils, and repeated, sweeping his
Jiands in a wild circle:
'I scent danger in the air!"
On the stairs, not five feet from the
pen door of the little library, old Fan
was peeping through the banisters, her
keen, witch-like eyes on a level with
the floor. But she could not see Ham
mond nor Nancy, and was as unper-
11 x
1 )
Copyrijrat 1836, ' .
by Bobvst BcwHEB'a.Soas.
rights reserved.)
She had crept therev to listen!, for in
her distorted brain tlegan to burn a
suspicion that Luke Hammond had
lied when he told her5 that Koland
Dunn, her son, was hanfeed, and that
Luke Hammond knew wtiere that son
was. But tnat Luke Hammond was
that son, old Fan as yet, never
dreamed.
"Nancy," continued Luke"often be
fore now, during my life of plot and
scheme, I have felt as I now eel, and
always I have acted."
"Act then, Luke," said Nancy, who
was much impressed by his .earnest
bearing and pallid face.
"You consent?"
"Not to her death", Luke," saidlNancy,
but to her imprisonment."
"Folly! I feel as if my unseen agent
of success tells me to remove forever
this woman, whose remorse" begins to
threaten my death death on the gal
lowsto your death, Nancy Harker."
I will not consent to her death," said
Nancy. "Imprison 'her. She may not
suspect. Imprison her until you have
got full possession of Elgin's estate,
then, we will share the wealth, and you
may fly to whatever place you like."
"And you, Nancy Harker?"
"This affair finished, we must sep
arate," said Nancy. ' . "I shall fly to
Italy."
And where shall we imprison old
Fan?" asked Luke.
Until be uttered those words iold Fan
had no idea of whom he was speak
ing. She began to creep farther up the
steps; the conversation was growing
very interesting to her.
Anywhere. There are places enough
in this large house to keep the old
creature safe," said Nancy.
There is but.one safe place for her,"
said Hammond, shutting the library
door.
But old Fan's ear-was at the key-hole
in a second.
"And where Is that?" feaid Nancy.
"In the old store-room."
Old Fan nearly screamed at the bare
thought of the place.
You mean, to murder her, Luke,"
said Nancy. "I will not consent to it."
"Take care, woman. You are grow
ing dangerous. You are opposing me."
I care not whether I am growing
dangerous or not," said Nancy, vehe
mently. "Bad as I am, Luke Ham
mond, there is a crime I cannot com
mit. Our conduct caused the death of
our father, the madness of our mother.
and were you to place your pistol at
my head and say, 'Do it or die!' I will
die before I consent to the death of
our mother."
Fool!" cried Luke, in a rage. "I
did not say I wished her death. I say
she must be imprisoned in the old
store-room, not beneath it She can
not know why."
"The mere fact of being there would
kill her her remorse would kill her,
said Nancy. "No; Imprison her in any
other room."
She shall be Imprisoned in the old
store-room, and nowhere else. I have
said it." said Luke, fiercely. "And now
to do it. We shall need Daniel's help,
He opened the library door, and old
Fan sprang into the room, bare blade
in hand.
I know you -now! I know you
both!" screamed Fan, slamming the
door and placing her back against it,
while Hammond and Nancy recoiled
to the other side of the room
"You are crazy! you are a lunatic!"
said Luke,, while Nancy grasped his
arm.
"I know it! I know it!" shreked Fan.
"And who made me so? My children!
Who slew their noble father broke
his heart killed him dead? My chil
dren! You, Roland Dunn, and you,
Nellie Dunn! Oh, Nicholas, my dead
and murdered husband! could you have
lived to see this day! Not content with
crushing of the noble heart not con
tent with driving their mother mad-
see! hear! -the parricides plot to finish
bv assassinating that half mad
- w
mother."
She sank down upon the floor and
moaned bitterly. Her knife fell from
her hand, and her sobs almost suffo
cated her.
Hammond's quick eye saw the knife,
and he began to creep towards her-to
secure It,
"Back! unnatural son!" cried Fan
I snatching up the knife and springing
to her feet. "Back! Roland Dunn
For years-in my feverish, fitful mad
ness I have vowed to avenge the death
of my husband. But my brain-my
brain reels and I cannot kill my chil
'dren! No! I cannot! I thought I could
I thought it would be a pleasure; but
T was insane I am insane now it
cracks my brain to try to think, How
came I here m xview xoritr x suuw
not. 'Where have I been? Here and
there wandering, wandering, ever
wandering; scorned, jeered, laugheH at
made a show, a scoff by whom
Bv my children. Ah me! I am going
mad again I feel the fire rushing back
upon my brain ah! wait! wait, let me
think; oh, my son, 'twas you made your
old crazed mother an accomplice in a
murder what murder? let me think
yes, of James Greene. Oh, my hus
4
r Pin
ban! let not the deed Stand agains
me upon the dread records of heaven!
knew not what I did! I am dying!"
She sank forward upon her face, as
weak as a child.
She is dying," said Nancy. "Help
me to place her upon the settee."
No.. She must not die here," said
Luke. "Come, we will take her to
Catharine Elgin's room up stairs." .
He was feai-fully agitated, and per
haps at that ? moment even his soul
writhed with uemorse. They raised the
unconscious form of 'their mother, and
bore jt to the; room formerly used by
Kate Elgin.
They placed their mother upcn the
bed, and she opened ner eyes.
They started back from the calm,
reproachful expression of those'dying
orbs. . . f
My children," said Fan; in a feeble
voice, "I am dying. I know I am dy
ing, but I am glad to die. I thanlf God
that I die in my senses. It seems like
a fearful dream, but I know It is true
a dread reality. You, who call your
self Luke Hammond, are my son. And
you are my daughter. My mind 13
calm and clear; it was not utterly
clouded as it has sometimes been, and
I remember all, or nearly all. 1 have
done in this house. At times durinsr
my madness I have been entirlv satiP.
j 1
and so great was my misery in being
sane, that I have prayed to be. mad
cgain. But never have I been in my
clear mind more than a few moments
at a time; and for many months I have
never been utterly mad. I have al
ways believed that I should see my
children again. May God forgive me
for all the evil I have done, as I for
give you, my children. I have done
and thought much evil, but I was mad,
or half mad. My daughter, place your
hand In my bosom, there is a weight
there."
Nancy Harker obeyed, and drew cut
the little sack of gollden coin.
Sink it! bury it!.;cast itaway!"said
the dying woman. "How I loved It in
my madness! There's the price of a
human life in It! Oh, scatter it. to the
Winds! Roland, my son." ;
But Hammond felt weak, sick and
faint, and hurried away to his library.
His face wore an appalled and ghastly
00k, as he departed, but there was no
tear in hi3 eye, no repentance in his
oul. He regretted nothing more.
"He has gone," moaned Fan, turning
nor weeping eyes upon Nancy, who
knelt near her. "Ah, I loved my hus
band too much to gain the love of my
children. Have you children!. Nellie?"
Yes, my, mother, one 6onr"- said
Nancy.
"And has he has Roland children?"
"Yes, my mother, one son," replied
Nancy.
I would ask many questions," said
the dying woman. "I vjould talk much
with you, my daughter But death is
near me. But oh. my child, tell me.
have you known me tot be your: poor
mother very long?"
No, my mother," said Nancy.'. "(We
have suspected it only a. short time. I
wrote my father's name- on the .floor,
and you recognized it" i
"I remember now. I fainted, took
at my scarred and distorted facje. See
the ravages of that awful disease, the
smallpox. No wonder you djd not sus
pect sooner. But stay, I remember
something more. That sick man in
the red room that young maiden In
the other who are they? You do not
answer. What deed ofijerime are; you
doing, my daughter?"
Nancy made no repry. Sorry for
what she had done she was, but sor
row is not repentance. She had a pur
pose to accomplish, and what that -purpose
was the reader shall soon learn.
Farewell, my daughter, and may
God forgive you. May you repent and
reform ere you die. And now to Thy
mercy, Father of;all mercy,I(jcommead
my soul."
Old Fan, as we have called Ellen
Elizabeth Dunn, never spoke again.
She fell asleep, and in thait sleep v her
tortured spirit passed away from earth
forever.
Nancy covered the body with a sheet,
and stole away to the library. She
found Luke drinking brandy, and' look.
ing very wild.
'She is dead," said Nancy, coldly.
'It is well," said Liike. "And. now
you must perform the duties she per
formed for a time."
"Are you hot sorry, Luke?".
"Of course I am, Nancy," ' said he.
I am puzzled how to manaige about
the burial. Trouble theite trouble
ahead."' T ,
And that was hjs sorrow!
"Now, Nancy, go to Catharine Elgin.
Daniel must have his sleep. I must
think."
Nancy left him sitting at' his desk
his eyes hard, keen and cruel, and
every feature growing stiff In iron re
solve. His race was nearly run
L
CHAPTER XXVI. H
JOHN MAEKS EXTOETS A CONBSSIOIT.
Luke Hammond had not been think
ing long, when he heard the gate-bell
tinkle.
He left the library and went tojthe
end of the hall, where, through the
closed shutters, he could eoe the peaston
who demanded admittanoe.
"Ha!" said he; "it is my dear friend,
John Marks. Can he hare done his
work so soon?"
Then hastening to Daniel, he awoke
him, and ordered him ifco oottduet the
visitor to his library.
It was not long before JOhn Marks
and Luke Hammond yrer once more
together. -
"Ha! you are prompt and pale, John
Marks," said Hammond.
"Am I?" replied Marks, coldly. "But
I have come to see Nancy Harker, not,
you."
"And have you no news from Harriet
Foss?" cried Hammond. -To
pe continued..
Tiie Wide Tire.
.0C HE following is from Cole
man's Rural World: One of
the means of improving
the condition of the high
ways which is of impor
S x 8
tance, but generally disregarded, is the
use of wide tires on wagons carrying
heavy loads. Such tires are of great
value in rolling the surface of the
road and avoiding the formation of
ruts. The belief that increasing the
width of the tire increases the draft
probably arises from the fact that as
a rule the increase in width of tire is
accompanied by a decrease in the di
ameter of the wheel. Of course, di
minishing the diameter of the wheel
increases the draft, and increasing the
diameter of the wheel diminishes the
draft. The radius of the wheel con
stitutes the lever arm through which
the power of the team acts to move
the load. The shorter the lever the
greater the power required to move
the load.
The experiment stations of the coun
try have made exhaustive experiments
upon this subject, and in printed bulle
tins have spread broadcast the result
of their investigations. These reports
invariably show the advantages of
wide tires on good roads, both in the
less power required than with narrow
tires and in the beneficial effect upon
the road. As to the effect of the width
of the tire, where the diameter of the
wheel remains the same the Seattle
Post notes a trial where forty per cent,
more power was required to draw a
load on a wagon having one and .one
half inch tires than on a wagon having
three-inch tires. Experiments in this
matter have been specially prominent
in the work of the Missouri Experi
ment Station, and they indicate the
same result from the use of different
width toes on wagons carrying heavy
loads.
It is said that many European coun
tries have laws regulating the width
of tires. In Germany four-inch tires
are required for heavy loads. In
France the tires must be from three
to ten inches, according to the load,
and the front axle must be shorter than
the rear axle to prevent "tracking."
In Austria wagons carrying two and a
quarter tons must have tires at least
four and one-third inches wide, and
every load over four and a half tons
must be carried on tires six and one
fourth inches in width. Switzerland
has similar regulations. In some sec
tions of the United States laws have
been enacted regulating the width of
tires on wagons carrying heavy loads,
but in many instances they are Ig
nored. If the value of such regula
tions in Improving the condition of the
roads was fully appreciated even by
those who are enthusiastic for road im
provement, there would be a public,
sentiment created that would demand
the enforcement of such laws.
There seems to be a general awaken
ing upon the subject of Improved roads
throughout the country, and more lib
eral local and State appropriations f 01
this purpose are to be made in the fu
ture, than have been made in the past
Great progress is being made in the
dissemination of knowledge upon the
construction and repair of Toads, and
skilled engineers are taking the places
of those unskilled in the work in the
management of public highways.
Along with this general improvement
In road matters there should be devel
oped a better appreciation of the im
portance and value of wide tires in
road improvement, that the laws upon
the subject may be enforced and other
laws enacted along the same line. The
subject needs frequent and earnest dis
cussion in order to secure this.
A Heavy Tax.
Col. J. B. Killebrew in a recent ar
ticle in the Southern Farm Magazine
has this to say:
"The tax in getting produce to mar
ket in the South is something enor
mous. Not less than tweney-five cents
per ton per mile is paid out every
year to get the cotton, tobacco, pea
nuts, rice, wheat and other produce
t market. For transporting the 5,-
097,541,364 pounds of cotton in 1903
to the railroad station or to market
over the common highways, assuming
the average distance to be six miles.
cost the planters at twenty-five cents
per to a mile $3,823,087. If the cost
of carriage could be reduced to eight
cents per ton mile, which may be done
over good r.oads, the saving in getting
the cotton crops to market would be
$2,59,699."
What Is the Best Way.
The question that confronts us to
day is not "Shall we have good roads?'
but "What is the best way to secure
them?" It must be conceded that an
initiative step is to give up everywhere
the time worn and pernicious system
of working out a road tax. In many
communities a direct road tax has been
substituted, the proceeds of which are
expended on the highways under, the
supervision of experts. The sujbject
of State and National highways has
been broadly discussed and generally
approved, though there -is still a moot
ed point as to how much the General
Government shall furnish, how much
the State shall pay and what propor
tion of the expense shall be borne by
the counties and townships.
Transportation of fruits., and vegeta
bles in a vacuum is said, to have been
tried successfully by a, California in
.y.entor.
THE PERSONAL COLUMN.
Dailies Think Items Silly In Weeklies
Tliat Are Proper In Their Sheets.
We can all understand the interest
and appositeness of the personal col
umns of the newspapers. They have
a news interest. Additionally, they
have a personal interest to others.
They take the place, to a degree, of
the exchange of personal information
that used to be made , at the church
and which still, under circumstances
that give it value, Is made there.
There is, besides, In the personal col
umn a human side. It represents in
terest in people amid the multifarious
concerns of other kinds with which
the newspaper is freighted. This per
sonal column is the same in its char
acteristics wherever it is found the
same in London, Indiana, as in Lon
don, England. (We speak, of course,
to the purely private personal informa
tion; that which gets no warrant from
official position or commercial func
tion.) '-
Aud yet few things are more amus
ing to a community than the personal
column or items of another community.
There is more fun in it than in looking
at the fashions of last year or the last
decade. We know how consumedly
funny tight trousers look in an era of
loose trousers, or tight-waisted, long
skirted coats in a time of straight gar
mentsnever reflecting that when
fashion swings round again, the pres
ent styles will look precisely as ridic
ulous. So, each community finds fun
in the personal columns of another
community, and seldom with the re
flection that the converse is the case.
Few newspapers indulge in this sort
of fun so frequently, and (it must be)
get so much enjoyment out of it, as
those of our great imperial city of New
York. It is almost a standing feature
for them to copy the personal informa
tion of some other community. The
enjoyment that it occasions can be
imagined from the frequency and
prominence with which it is done. A
recent example was the reproduction
in one of the metropolitan papers of
the personal column of a paper of a
small Kentucky town. One of these
items so solemnly reproduced (there
were others of its kind) was this:
"Mrs. Mann, of Ewing, Ky., is visit
ing her brother, C. M. Boone, of this
place."
This was doubtless very funny. But
.the same New York paper contained
this item for itself:
"Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hunt have .V
arrived from Europe, and are guests
of Mr. and Mrs. Julian W. Bobbins."
And doubtless there was nothing
funny at all to the New York paper in
that. But why should the one be sober
and the other silly? The. Hunts and
the Robbinses are as much unknown
quantities in the Kentucky community
as the Manns and the Boones are in
New York. As for the importance of
the event chronicled to the two com
munities, manifestly it is "horse and,
horse." Similarly another "funny"
Kentucky personal was copied, thus:
"George and New Fox started Mon
day to Illionois, where they will make
their home this summer."
But the New York paper chronicled:
"Mrs. James McVickar has left town
for Brookside, her place at Dobbs
Ferry, on the Hudson, for the season."
Again we have Kentucky:
"Mr. W. L. Staggs bought of Mrs.
James Mason a farm of eighty acres
at $G7 per acre."
And New York:
"Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McKean, who
are at present in Paris, have rented
Pince cottage No. 3, in Narragansett
avenue, for the coming season."
Where is the difference, if any? The
persons involved are equally unknown
in the "other" community, and both
alike in a third community. All are
in private life. They touch the public
in nothing. And certainly there is as
much dignity in buying a farm as
renting a house; and for the matter of
that the one implies a life of industry
which means something added to the
country's riches; the other implies a
life of idleness, mere dawdling with
nothing more intelligent in it than the
play of children with hobby horses and
dolls.
It seems to us that there is a large
field for the metropolitan papers to
cultivate with reference to the personal
intelligence department, and that is to
get over the idea that such items in
other communities are ridiculous, while
in theirs they are of the utmost dignity
and moment. Both alike have their
local value, but not one stiver of worth
outside of that, and both are equally
inane to a third party; and if there is
any difference the New York items are
the inaner of the two, for they are a
vain repetition of the names of the
same set of idlers the folk that liter
ally do nothing, and all that is chron-
-icled of them is just that: They come
to "town;" they go to the country; they
go to Europe; they rent a "cottage;"
they give a dinner; they attend a dance,
et cetera ad nauseam. For the Ken
tucky folk it can at least be said that
the personal mention that they occas
ionally get does not represent all they
do in life. Indianapolis News.
Studying tabor Conditions.
The Countess of Warwick, who has
done so much toward gaming better
conditions for women in the industrial
life of England, has just sent to New
York twenty-five delegates from the
Women Workers' League of Great
Britain and Ireland, for the purpose of
.studying Jabor conditions in this coun
try so far tireyncern women. "
- Japan's Good Sailors.
A Japanese marine officer has ex
plained why Japan has such good
sailors. Most of her coast vessels are
small, but there are a great many of
them, and almost any man taken from
a fishing village has had enough ex
perience to enable him to become an
efficient sailor to a short time, - -
1
With the Funny
' Change of Diet.
She said: "Give us our daily bread"
Then heaved a little sigh, "
And said: "To-morrow night, mama,
I'm going to pray for pie."
Houston Post.
- .Privilege.
Knicker "Does your cook eat with
the family?"
Bocker 'No; the family dine with
her.". :
Not Quite Plain.
Kind Lady "Poor man! Wouldn't
you like a nice chop?"
The Hobo (suspiciously) "What kind
uv a chop, lady lamb or woodshed?"
Chicago Daily News.
A Heartfelt Eevelation.
Fidelia "Aunt Fidelia, why did you
never, marry ?"
Aunt Fidelia "My dear, the only man
that I felt sure could manage me never
proposed- to me." Brooklyn Life.
Ueadlngr Him Off.
Hicks "My wife dropped in to see
me at the office to-day, and- ""
Wicks "Sorry, old "man, but I've
been touched, too; can't lend -you a
cent." Catholic Standard and Times.
An Old Standby. "
"A good many people seem to dis
like Toucherly yet he appears to
stand by his friends.."
"Yes and I'll bet you never saw one
of them offer him a chair." Cleveland
Plain Dealer. .
Same Thing.
Shaver "Do you believe that 'early
.to bed' makes a mftn wealthy?"
Old Boy "Well, er, yes. You see, It
he goes early to bed it keeps him from
squandering his money at nlghtl" De
troit Free Press.
An Optimist.
"Oh! yes, he's quite an entkusiast.
He goes in for things in real earnest."
"Yes, if some one were to send him
en a wild goose chase he'd speak oi
himself afterward as a sportsman."
Philadelphia Press.
No Chance For Percy.
Ida "Are you going to spend that
dollar in a present for Percy Sapp?'
May "No. I promised papa
wouldn't spend it on anything JtoolisJi.,,
Chicago News.
.Fixed For the Evening,
"What a supremely satisfied
look
Mrs. Witcherleigh has."
"Yes. She has just succeeded hi get
ting her husband paired ofT with a
homely old lady who won't let him get
away from her this evenmg.'VChicago
Record-Herald.
A Gentle Benilnder.
Mrs. Blue "My husband is so tired
hearing about coal bills that I don't
dare mention it to him again, and
we're all out. What shall I do?"
Mrs. True "Let him freeze for a
while and he'll think of it himself."-
Detroit Free Press.
She Was.
The sweet girl graduate was reading
her essay.
The fond mother, sitting near the
front row, was gazing at her with
rapture.
"You ought to be proud of her," Mrs.
Highmus," whispered the admiring
friend sitting alongside.
"Indeed I am," answered the mother.
"It cost her $75, and fits her like a
glove!" Chicago Tribune.
Saturnine. ' .
"No malaria around here?" said the
nan with a tourist's cap.
"Nope," answered Farmer CorntosseL
"Nor mosquitoes?"
"Nope." '
"You must have some of the annoy
ances of country life."
"Yep."
"What are they?"
"Summer boarders. But we have to
put up with 'em." Washington Star.
Beat Thing.
"What sort of labor is best paid to
this country?" asked the English tour
ist.
"Field labor," answered the native
American. '
"Is that a fact?" queried the Eng
lishman, who was inclined to be a bit
skeptical.
"Sure," replied the other. "You ough
to see the salaries our baseball play
ers get "rChicago pally. Newj
If a ton of coal is placed on the '
ground and left there, and another ton
is placed under a ahed, the latter
loses about twenty-five per cent, of ita
heating power, the former about fo
ty-seven. per cent.
According to the Scientific American,
the power generated in a modem
steamship in a single voyage across)
the Atlantic is enough to raise from
the Nile and set in place every ston
of one of the great pyramids.
A French journal describes an at
tempt to produce a sufficiently thin
sheet of alumiunm to serve as a sub
stitute for tinfoil as a wrapper for ar
ticles of merchandise that might be
njured by moisture. Paper coated
with tin is also emloyed for the same
purpose. .
It has long -been known that ozone
s a powerful germicide, and a num
ber of different methods of using it to
purify city .water supplies have been
devised. A well known plant for that
purpose is situated at Wiesbaden, Ger
many. Another has been installed at
Philadelphia.
Enormous swarms of butterflies
move along the Amazon and other
South 'American rivers. M. Goeldl, of
Para, Brazil, finds that detached
masses make detours to visit trees
In bloom, but does not explain the .gen
eral migration. One suggestion is that
the great flights are made up of fe
males seeking mimosas as a place of
egg laying.
Electric waves and sensitive receiv
ers offer a means of performing a va
riety of operations at a distance. Pro
fessor E. D. Branly has been trying
to attain such results, and has shown
the Paris Academy an apparatus by
which he can start an electric motor,
cause incandescent lamps to glow, and
cause an explosion. These effects may
be produced or discontinued In any
desired order, one after another.
Veterinary surgeons know, but th
general public probably does not, that
some animals are as liable to menin
gitis as are human beings. Goats and
horses are the principal sufferers in
the dumb creation, and from them the
Infection may be transmitted to man.
In horses the disease is known as "hy
drocephalus acutus." Of horses affect
ed with the disease, seventy-eight per
cent, die, and the remainder have a
chronic tendency to relapse. London
Globe.
CANADA'S NORTHWEST POLICE.' .
No Other Such System of Pnblie Guard
lansbip In the World.
Readiness for duty in any form has
made the Royal Northwest mounted
police what they are, the trusted guar
dians of life and property in Western
Canada. Their field is from the Uni
ted States boundary to the Arctic
coast, and in this vast territory, 1000
miles from south to north, vm scariet-
cbated men keen peace and order.
Through any part of It, prairie, wil
derness or woods, a defenseless wom
an may go alone and have no fear. To
make thus easy the traveler's way.
meant years of vigilant policing and
even of fighting. Those were stirring
times, when mounted police service
had zest and glory. To-day there is
less glory and more hard work; for as
the country is settling farther north
the police, too, are moving up and wid
ening their beats. Smugglers on tne
border, thieves on the ranches, crimin
als in the settlements, fires in the for
ests, to guard against these and to rep
resent the law in a land that wouiu
mr-iIv be lawless are their duties to
day, and to these have now been added
tho iarrifire of the mails in the ex
treme north and the protection of the
whale fisheries on the Arctic coast.
The Royal Northwest mounted police
are unique. There is no other such
system of public guardianship in the
world, nor are there now m any ouiei
rmmtrv nuite the same conditioni
which; called it into being. Aubrey
Fullerton, in the World To-day.
'Man is Nature's Bnensv.
"Man," says Professor Lankaster in
his Romanes lecture at Oxford, "ii
nature's rebel." Natural selection hav
ing, as supposed, lifted him from so
low the monad to his. present high
estate, is now believed by many 1
its advocates to be a failure as regardi
raising him any higher. Having done
so much in the past, it is thought to
be Incapable of doing "the little
more" which is of such great import
ance. While in the case of other crea
tures their actions are supposed to play
into -the hands of natural selection,
so that this beneficient force become
the alma mater of new races, in the
case, of man it has been otherwise.
His own actions have defeated the
alms of natural selection for his wel
fare. Darwin held similarly pessi
mistic views. "In one of my latest
conversations with' Darwin," writei
Dr. A. R. Wallace, "he expressed
himself very gloomily on the future
of humanity." And this was on the
grounds that under present conditions
the fittest did not survive. Many evo
lutionists, therefore, as Mr. Francli
Galton and Dr. A. R. Wallace, bare
suggested ways in which natural se
lection may be assisted rather than
thwarted in producing a more perfect
race. The remedy proposed by Prof.
Lankester Is that men should acquire
greater control over nature by means
of a deep study of science. And In the
reformed , education advocated by
Prof. Lankester Latin and Greek are
to be eliniinated as injurious. London
Globe.
J&fived by them.