AFTERWHILH,
Lot will send Its greeting,' and the breath
of angel wings
Will refresh the weary toller, m the sweet
, est music rings
From out the brightening future,' lit by
. hope's eternal smile
Toars of joy will drown all sadness la that
corning atterwhile.
Stars will shed their radiance with a beam
Jug, tender glow,
Upon the soul rejocing, that at last it seems
. to know " , , ,
That its dreary days, so lonely, with naught
them to beguile,
Is blending with the glory of that dearest
.'" afterwhlie. .
i . . . . ' ' ,
The blossoms once so drooping beside the
desert way, ' ''
WIll blush with rarest fragrance at . the
breaking of the day, r .,
And offer incense welcome, as we plod eaoh
weary mile :
That brings us closer, closer to that ooming
afterwhile. v
Atlanta Constitution.
Hie Testing of Tim Baker.
X PAUL PASTNOE.
-SqHE soft evening air,
laden with mingled
odors ' of hayfield
and resinous wood
" land, came . steal-
U'44 log througn tne
poron- ot., farmer
Willett's old home-
A t. . rtnsi.
4-s; Bite ends of, a rus
tic bencb, on the porch, sat pretty
' Luoy Willett and her most devoted
' swain and admirer, Tim Baker. Lucy
,.had many admirers more 'than - any
other girl in the township; but ( Tim
was the most persistent of them all.
Yet, for all that, the young man's per
sistency did not seem to advance his
can e. If he had been capable of taking
a hint, perhaps he might have wondered
end of the bench on the porch, or the
eofa in .the parlor, whenv he called.
But Tim Baker. was as obtuse as he
was . persistent, and all the delicate
language of inference and t suggestion
waa as ' unintelligible to him as San
skrit." ' ;.''..:
' On this particular evening Lucy
Willett seemed disposed to lei her
caller do all the talking, while she
rolled and crumpled a honeysuckle
leaf in her fingers, looking away across
'the-purpling meadows, and OCCasion
.l i i a - x t a
any ureu&iug inio me uiaciuuieu re
fraixrof a, song which Charlie Gray,
the son of the village physician, had
, taught her. .
.: Tim Baker's monologue, wandering
upon ghosts. "Pi jew ever see one,
Lucy?" he queried, making a fruitless
effort to get within the line of . vision
of the girl's faraway eyes. Lucy
shook her head very slightly.
"Nor I, nuther," said . Tim. "But
I kind o' reckon I shouldn't be skeered
. o' one a mite, ef I did. Naow, 1 hap
pen to know that Charlie Gray and
Arthur Bean and Ben Truman", (nam
ing his most formidable rivals) "hain't
got no, curridge when " it comes to
soopewateral critters like spooks, for
I heern 'em tellin' oncthaow they was
Tiassin' throuch a srravevard. . arter
dusk, when the .wind was. fresh and
damp an' jew know haow, a rain
bringin' wind will turn up the under
sides o' the leaves an;1 make the ' trees
all look white? Wal, th?m fellers got
skeered at a row of young popples,
and every -man of 'em put for .the
fanna " ol t .air ol ta r . mt.n mVil i n' nvnr
the graves, andt grabbia' eaoh other'
'out-tails, and holleriu' murder. Gosh!
wouldn't I V laffed, ef I hadb'en thai
tosee'.'em! .Ketch me a-ruunia' f'm
row of popple trees I'V And Tim
Baker, the arrant boaster, leaned bach
. and laughed boisterously
t Was it a gleam of mischief in Lucy's
eyee, or only a reflection of her suit
or's merriment, as she turned to him
and said:
"Tim. did von know that .the old
deserted Pinney house was haunted?",
Tini sobered immediately. "Ha'nt-
' ' ed ?" he - repeated, "the Pinney
. , 4 TT7- 1 T V AArn .I.a11
on't before. Haow do you know?"
' "Obi' I have it on good authority,"
replied Lucy significantly. '"Arthur
Bean was one of those who told me,
and he said that he shouldn't dare to
spend a night in house that had such
Grange things told about it." (Agaiu
the mischievous twinkle in the girl's
eyea.) "Now I don't know how it
would U with a fellow of your courr
- jc, Ti:4. Perhaps you would be brave
E -
V' '.; "I""' - piS
w
. no?-;
And out whether there is any, truth in
the ghost stories they tell. Iam real
oarious to know," v
Tim Baker shifted his position un
easily, ..uV7hat do they say ha'nts the
Pinney place he asked.
"That's just it, nobody knowp, ex
actly' replied Lucy. "Only there
are uaid to . be strange rappinga and
groanings in the walls, and now and
then footsteps steal across the floors,
and some people passing by have seeu
a large white object Btaring through
one of the broken windows. : But 1
guess it won't be any use to ask you to
solve the mystery. Tim, I declare!
you look as sacrad as any of 'em, now I
You're as pale as if you saw a ghosi
put under those lilao bushes. "
"Me?" exclaimed Tim, drawing him
self up with a manly effort, "Jle loos
pale? Me afraid of a ghost? Pooh)
Ketch Tim Baker showin' , a white
feather to the soopernaterai? "I'll go
ibis vewr niaht to the old Pinney
ftaouse, and! you "kin make me pay any
forfeit you please, ef I don't stay
tharH spite of all your rapiu's And
groanin's and footsteps till broad day
light' to-morrow mornin'."
.. 'Good for yoa. Tim B.vir 1"
lai med Lucy. She was secretly de
lighted, because her suitor's boast
gave her a possible opportunity for.
getting rid of., that persistent jpvflg
man without hurting "his feelings,
f 'Let's see," she continued, as if puz
zling her brains for an idea, "what
forfeit shall I impose on you? H'm--oh,
yes 1 If the felioeta frighten you
oat of the Pinney house before day
light to-morrow, you shan't come to
see me again for seven years."' And
Lucy laughed as heartily as if the for
feit were the hugest of jokes. '
Tim Baker looked rather staggered.
"That's a purty tough one on me,
Lucy," he said, "and looks e'en&most
as ef you meant ' it serious, too. But
never mind t Ghosts shan't drive me
out of the Pinney haonse, so long as
them air the conditions not much!
Ahem 1" and Tim reached over shyly,
as if he would like to clasp Lucy's .lit
tle white hand in his big brown one.
But the girl pretended not to notice
tne gesture, and rose, saying:
"Well, Tim, it's beginning to get
.dark.' The ghosts will be stirring in
about half an hour, and I guess you'd
better be on your way to the Pinney
place." -
; Tim Baker reluctantly said good
night, shambled out of the yard, and
soon faded from sight in the dusk.
About fifteen minutes after he had
gone, a buggy came rolling in at the
open gate. Lucy ran to the kitchen
window. .
"Oh, ifthat you, Arthur?" she cried.
"I'm so glad you. happened to drive
in. I've got something to tell you.
- Arthur Bean hitched his horse and
went around .to the front porch, where
Lucy joined him, and they sat down
on the rustic bench with not quite
40 znuoh distance between them as
Lucy and Tim had maintained.
"Tim Baker has been here boasting
about ghosts,? said Lucy. "He pre
tended he didn't care a rap for jthem,
and I dared him to go and spend the
night in the haunted Pinnqy house, on
the forfeit that, if he gets frightened
away before daylight to-morrow, ha
shan't come to see me again for seven
years'."
"Ha, ha, ha?" laughed Arthur Bean.
"What a nice broad hint for poor Tim.
Seven years, eh? Ho, ho, hoi"
"Now," said Lucy, when they had
both laughed till they were tired,
"you know what I want you to do,
Arthur?"
' "No?" replied the young man, with
a questioning inflection of voice.
"Why, you do too," protested the
girL "You know I . want you and
Charlie Gray and Ben Truman, and as
many others as you please, to arrange
a little surprise ghost party for Tim
Baker to-right. Scare him out of his
wits- make him take to his heels fix
it so that he won't corns around both
ering -me again for seven years." .
Another fit of laughter seized Arthur
Bean, but as soon as he recovered
breath, he exclaimed : ' ,
"Glorious! What fun f Leave it
all to me, Lucy. I'll get - the fellows
together within an hour, and we'll ar
range a very interesting and lively
programme for Mr. Baker, I can as
sure you."
A few minutes later Arthur Bean's
hv.Z'7 Tollzd uvij, 6-1 I7. V, vst
into the house to speculate, while darn
ing her father's socks, on the proba
ble results of the tragedy which was
about to befall Tim Baker.
In the meanwhile that young man
had reached the deserted Pinney house,
which stood on a, lonely cross road,
about two miles from .the Tillage. In
spite of his valiant resolutions anH
bold language concerning the "sooper
naterai," Tim felt a curious shrinking
of heart when he saw the broken, star
ing windows of the deserted house,
and heard the rising wind moan about
the riokety old building. Three times,
instead of entering the open door, the
young man'B feet refused to obey his
will and bore him cautiously around
the house. . Finally, with a tremend
ous effort, he forced himself up the
creaking steps and into the hallway.
What a damp, mupty, foul, decay
ing .smell the old place had.' Such an
odor is enough of ii&elf to strike fore
boding to the heart, for one feels as ii
it must generate ghosts, as decompos
ing solutions generate infusoria.
Tim groped his way out into the
kitchen and sat down on what was left
of the rusty old cooking stove. Sud
denly, he gave a terrified start, and
his heart seemed to leap into his wind
pipe and choke him. Something was
rapping in the walls. Rat-a-tat, rat
taty t-a-tat-tat, r-r-r-r bang I Ah,
that lash -?und explained. mystery.
It was a loose clapboard, 'rsitjing. in
the wind. .Tim went to the window,
reached out, and found the loose
board. It quivered and shook in his
hand, until he thrust a stick under it,
and that stopped the rapping. But
other noises, intensified by his aroused
imagination and the acute straining of
his senses, began to strike new terrors
to the heart of the lonely . watcher.
Surely that could not be the wind
moaning it was so deep, so hollow,
so full of human anguish. And hark t
was not that a sound like the trailing
of garments across the floor?
Poor Tim's courage was fast ebbing
out at his fingers' ends. If it had not
been for that forfeit which Lucy Willett
had imposed upon him ho would have
sneaked away long ago. As it was, his
teeth began to chatter softly, and hi
knees, nestling together for company,
oould hot help smiting each othsi.
- At this juncture something crossed
Tim Baker's field of vision in the room
beyond, which took the last particle
of strength out of his limbs, and
caused Mm to fairly collapse upon Tne
floor. It was a huge, iudistinot white
object, with eyeb ills like ooals of fire,
staring at hiiA through tha open door
way. How came it there?. Silently
it nad approached, silently it stood
until Tim in his' terror fell UDon the
floor, bringing down a portion ot the
old stove after him with a crash. Then
the white monster bounded forward!
It was an awfnl moment, xim gave
"himself up for dead. He felt a fierce
gust of air upon his cheek, and then
the trailing of a long, cold, shroa
, like carment over him. Ere the pool
fellow's blood had ceased to curdlf
from its clammy touch, the spook
' turned, and its terrible eyes glared at
him again from the opposite corner of
the room. Twice the baleful lights
tossed up and down ; twice there was
a muffled sound, as if something were
striking the , floor . of the room, as a
signal for another onslaught upon the
trembling ghost despiser.
At this critical moment Tim's ter
ror seemed to lift him clean off the
floor, as by an electrio thrill. He
leaped to his feet and .with winged
speed dashed to the window and flung
himself headlong out. As he fell he
struck upon one shoulder and turned.
a sprawiing somersault in the grass.
But quick as a flash he was on his feet
again, and bounded away through the
dark old orchard, uttering a shrill,
blood-curdling jell at every leap. '
- Hark 1 was that a chorus of laughter
behind him? fiends exulting in demo
niac glee at hjs defeat?
: On he fined, dodeinar among the
trees, leaping over fences, tearing
through briers and blaokberry tangles,
unlilhecame to the dark, concealed
bank of the creek and plunged in,
headforemost.
"But who played the part of the
chost?" laughed Lucy Willett, as she
listened to the story of Tim Baker's
testing next morning.
"Oh, that was Uncle Ebeu's cross
old ram," explained Arthur Beau
'V.a drpf-sed him ur in a sheet, ti.'d
pads on his feet, so that he would not
make any noise, and let him loose iu
the house after Tim had been there
long enough for his - nerves to get
pretty well shaken. When Tim came
crashing down off the stove, the old
ram 'went for him, of course. Ha, ha !
What a fighting ghost he made ! '. You
ought to have seen Tim come flying
out of the window, and heard him
shriek as he legged it through the or
chard 1 Then, in a few minutes, we
heard him go plump into tin creek.
Ha, ha, ha!"
"Poor Tim ! I am almost sorry for
Him l truly am, ' saia iiucy. ";J
don't know as I should hold him to
his forfeit, after all, if he wasn't such
an exasperating, incurable, everlast
ing boaster, that I can't endure him
any longer."
But whether Lacy Willett would
have relented or not, had Tim Baker
come penitently and humbly to her,
confessing his fault, will ' never be
known ; for, two days after his ghost
adventure, Tim left town. It is to be
hoped that, before he goes courting
again, he will have learned that Cupid
does not take kindly to empty boast
ers. Detroit Free Press.
A Crest Railroad's Employes. ,
Eisthtr thousand men, women and
boys makj up the army of Pennsylvania
Railroad employes, and are carried
upon the pay rolls of the largest cor-
poration in the world. Even this enor
mous total does not include all who
areLendent upon the company, for
there aVe several thousand , miners in
the anthracite legion who are paid by
one of the companies controlledby
the Pennsylvania, and besides there
are nearly always many inousanus
more in the employ of contractors who
are building extensions, erecting build
ings or laying side tracks on some one
of the numerous divisions of this
eitrantic system. It is estimated that
nearly 100,000 persons derive their
support directly from this company,
not to mention the thousands more
indirectly employed in making rails
and other forms of iron, building cars,
mining coal for locomotives, and , en
gaged in producing the thousand arti
cles that the great corporation requires
for its continuous operation.
Of the 80,000 employes about 50,000
are attached to the main line, east of
Pittsburg, and to the half dozen leased
or controlled lines in New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
There are 3000 employes in the work
shops at Altoona, 1000 clerks inhabit
the great central office in South Fourth
street, and many hundreds are re
quired to handle the floating equip
ment in New York Bay. On the lines
west of Pittsburg and Erie there are
but 30,090 employes, as traffio is not
so heavy nor as concentrated as in the
East That all these 80,000 persons
should discharge their respective du
ties promptly and efficiently w ithout
any loss of' time is due to a. system of
management that is considered the
most perfect of all the great railroad
corporations of the country. New
York Advertiser. v
The Molecular Theory.
The modern idea of the strncture
of metals and other materials used in
machines is that they are composed
of infinitely small portions, to which
the name of "molecules" is given, and
that each moleoule has a definite part
to play in the whole machine. When
machines were first built there was no
reason to suppose that they would, in
the course of time undergo a change
in their internal structure. It has,
however, been found that after work
ing for a considerable time some
change took placs in - the material
which caused . the molecules to altor
their relative positions, the new ar
rangement of the molecules beiag
weaker, as a whole, than before the
change took place. When this hap
pens a machine is said to,, be "tirsd."
Thus, for instance, cbains used on
lifts and hoists receive a jar as each
link is wound on the hoisting drum,
The periodical shakin? causes the
netal to lose its fibrous cb.aoter,and
co crystallize gralully, tha ouanga
being accompanied by a loss of
strength. In the iame way,' and from
the same canse, locomotive axles re
quire to be periodically annealed oc
softaned to enab e the n to be use
with ufetY for any leDth of tiiue.--'
New York Dispatch, 4 :
TRICKY SMUGGLERS.
SOME OF THE MANY SCHEMES
EMPLOYED BY TUE3I.
IIow They Pass the Customs Offi
cers With Contraband Goods
. Dry Goods Smuggled on
' Bhttp
3' Backs.
FEW years ago the Frenci
Government tried to utilize
the expenses of the revenui
service by sending several
regiments of the regular army to th
Spanish frontier, but the experiment
had soon to be, abandoned as worse
than useless.
"If we want 'to train our recruits in
the hardships of , a mountain cam
paign," said a Deputy from Oleron,
"the plan may answer the purpose;
but do not let us deceive ourselyes by
the idea that our conscripts from th
Seine and Loire could cope , with the
veteran' smugglers from these high
lands. We might as well expect sheep
to catch a swarm of foxes." The re
sults of ' the . campaign seem, indeed,
to have justified that conclusion. . The
activity of the blockade runners had
increased till the border towns were
glutted with contraband goods. . In
broad daylight the troops . of High-'
landers crossed the frontier with their
pack mules, while the uniformed
guard were hurrying off on a wrong
trail or guarding passes which the
natives contrived to circumvent.
Every mountain mist suspended ' the
operation of the , Boldiers, and in
moonless nights the bold contraband
ists had thingsll their own way. ; On
one occasion a- sentry ' in lonely
mountain gap was cross-examined" by
a horseman, who introduced himself
as scout of a mounted patrol, and bul
lied the poor recruit with questions
and special instructions, while a band
of monteros trotted by unchallenged
and gained a start which made pursuit
useless when the mystified soldier re
ported his experience next morning.
Manuel Perez, a noted leader of the
outlaws, boasted that he had repeat
edly interviewed the French officers
in their own tents, and once obtained
their permission to have his . males
shod at the camp smithy.
There is hardly any bulky article of
merchandise that has not been made a
vehicle of smuggling lighter but more
valuable articles. Rum and apices have
been shipped . in logs of dyewood ;
laces in bundles' of flax and shapeless
tumps of resin. ' Chinese opium has
been smuggled through in such in
genious hiding places that the Cali
fornians hiwe to probe every chunk of
dried meat and every tea chest with a'
protuberance suggesting the possibil
ity of a double bottom. One pigtail
man in British Columbia shipped the
precious drug in the pectoral cavity
of salt fish for months before his trick
was discovered, but was yet outdone
by a Belgian sharper who made a drove
of sheep smuggle a cargo of expensive
dry goods. About a dozen lean weth
ers had been shorn to the skin about
midways between hindquarters and
neck, then wrapped round and round
with silk and laces, ell protected
under a stratn.ni of. dust proof linen
and covered with a strip of wooly pelt
that had been cleverly fitted to the re
mains of the animals' natural, fleece.
In a . troop of stout rams these silk
bound contrabands looked entirely un
suspicious, and would have fooled the
most vigilant officials for years if the
trick had not been revealed by the as
sault of a vicious dog, who. caught Bvn
extra tat sueep iu mw uau auu aeut jv
flying down the road unrolling yard
after yard of glittering satin. . ,
' The dousnier, who had passed the
live stock of that firm, was so severely
reprimanded that he not only, lost his
faith in the living generation, but
stopped a funeral procession the very,
next week: "Hold on there I Not a
step further till I see, if that corpse
isn't mummy with a stuffing of point
lace!"
.. Swamp jungles form an all but in
expugnable base of operations for
smuggling enterprises. The opiaoi
peddler and pirates of the Chinese
Sea land their cargoes in small bam
boo rafts that float like corks and can
be run across shallows that would stop
an ordiaary bout. Once in the midst
nt their cuat thio'-its they can defy
purnut, ihe mix& ira ol jungle
S.hrub and caiitbreais cannot be
A
season, ana j w iui,""v,M ;
that those not f nriliar with tha ileei
trails might spend days in trimming
out a path of half a mile and withal
expose themselves to the fire of am
bushed foes. 't
The Mexican revenue, officials ex
perience a similar, difficulty ou the
coast of Tamaulipas, ' betweeu Mats
moras and Tampieo. Their raiders ary
excellently armed, and go in'bo..ta
with bullet proof gunwales, and f ur
nished with canned provisions a id
portable camping outfit, but the su
perior topographical knowledge of tb,a
smugglers outweighs all those advan
tage?, and the best the raiders can dt-J
is to scare the contrabandists from tha
neighborhood of Jbe larger ports, and
oblige them to transport their plun
der through coast lagoons with count
less "portag'ee.". Some of the mcr
chandise imported in that way is said
to come from Jamaica, and net tha
smugglers an advance of 100 per cw.ai
on the British market prices. ; j
A still more profitable traffio is car
ried on vi El Paso, from Guaymas oa
the west coast of our sister Republic.
With all the restrictions of her com
mercial policy, Mexico beats us hollow
in the liberality of her immigration
laws. . She welcomes Mormons and Mo
hammedans,1 Cuban refugees, Malay
coolies and all the pigtail men the Ei
Companies of the Celestial Chi hef e Em
pire care to ship. There are small Chi
nese colonies is alltheprincip&lse sport
towns-rrom Maz&tlan , tttV
though laundries cannot bo expe -t;
to pay liberal dividends in a country
where a regulation dress suit consi
of a straw hat and a woolen bUi t.
But" Mongolian business managtitv
were not long in discovering the vaU
of Port Guaymas as an entrepot-
half way station
between Sbati;i"
a. the North American Promise.
LanTV!f ah" wearing Caucasians.
FromV&onthern California, whor.v
the would" immigrants were i
ceived with shotguns, their route o
circuit travel shift to Arizona, a ,nc
where thers is a will ti-cre's a va--finally
to El Paso, thtEta city o
Southern New Mexico, on : ,.'
branch road of a transcontinen tal
way line. The Bio Grande del N: C;,
is a shallow river at that point, as
'3.
night pig-tailed spectres can be
shifting about the lord,
like?
ot::
shadows of the Goths about
the
grave of King Alaric.
The Mexican Government oeiaSloa 1
bly discourages that sort of trr "oiio
traffic, ' but well, the enterprise
Celestial emigrant agents needs ... .
encomium after the memorable dis j
coyer j at Lewiston, N. Y., where '
American soldiers soldiers of tk i
regular United States Army were j
caught in the act of ferrying. Chine i
blockade runners across the Niagara f
River for $2.50 a ic F. II 0
wald, in Cincinnati TZvuAiteT,
" A ttiMoui Tree Blswn Down. ,
. One of the disasters of the recant,
itoria in Chicago was the destruqtlo
of a oottonwood tree, in therli&ds c l
which was perpetrated the Fort Dear,
born massacre of August 15, 1812.
Fernando Jones, who went fromBufTalo
to Chicago in the spring of 1S35,
that this and another tree about 2'. ,
yards front it were first pointed out to
him by an old drunken Indian called
Captain Isaac, who professed to hav
taken part in the slaughter and vn
mimicked - the scalping and thoovi
iu a -realistic manner Between 11
two trees the wagon conveying' t
,women and children from Fort l-it-born
was stopped by the Indians aaJ
theypre . dragged out nnd tomi
hawked.' StstvZ tf.d ou TAzlS enH
street, opposite tho-hou'ie of Geo
M. Pullman and near "tL Nl", r -T .
bora massacre xaonumeiil. r -erected
by Mr. Pulbnan. --!
Post-Express.
A Practici!
. A professor at the Un
Texas ws explaining
habits and 'cuttcaia of 1
Greeks to- his. class. '!
Greeks' built 1:0 roof s ov t
atres," e.:u& ths prsfes io.".
!7fcit did t-'3 ant :t
when it raiic.:?"' ? J ;!
toj. .
Tts.T-f -"t -Vr I!
poUV.t -1 v.v.i ki ).
ar t r, : c ! - : .
(