j I S H h r which barely left room for the stamp There was a singular look upon his tace on which astonishment seemed struggling with some other emotion Then he drew a long breath After ill these years he said to himself So he has kept his word after all He recrossed the hall re entered his study and closed the door As he did so both the young people heard the sey turn in the lock Evidently their lather was anxious not to be disturbed n the perusal of the mysterious mis sive whatever it might be Neither Df them said anymore on the subject ac the time but their minds were full of it as they each turned to go their different wajs the one to the billiard room for a little private practice the other to the drawing room to try over the last new song I wonder what it was soliloquized the former and what made the guvnor so queer and unlike himself at the sight of it However its no good troubling myself about it Mr Silas Burritt remained shut up in his study all the remainder of the evening and only encountered his son and daughter at breakfast the next morning being Thursday when he appeared to have regained his or dinary manner notwithstanding to two pairs of inquisitive young eyes there still seemed to be a certain ab cent expression the expression of a man not that they described it to themselves in any such words who has been reviewing the past and whose thoughts still linger behind him among the years that have gone by There was also a slight suspicion of nervoushness about him and several times he seemed on the point of saying something which he put off from one moment to another At last he made up his mind to speak My dear he said addressing his wife I am thinking that is I have made up my mind at any rate I am going away for a day or so At least Here he found that lie had by no means miscalculated the effect of the announcement for his voice at this juncture was drowned by a fam ily trio Where to What for How long shall you stay How strange This last remark emanating as it did from his son and heir seemed to cause the object of it some little annoy ance Strange Ted slightly knitting his brows as he spoke What do you mean What is there strange in my leaving home for a day on business -- THE FATAL REQUEST O R FOUND OUT By A L Harris Author of Mine Own Familiar Friend etc Copyright 189 1 by Oast el I fvbllshina Company Copyright 19 0 3 bv Street ft Smith CHAPTER I We Shall Find It Out Some Day About the beginning of the month of April 18S4 the family of Mr Silas Bur rltt observed a certain alteration In that gentlemans habits and demeanor ft appeared to those who studied lilm that he became Imbued with an of anticipation that he started when a knock was heard at the door and that the advent of the postman was awaited by him if not with anx iety at any rate with an amount of ager expectancy which was in a gen eral way quite foreign to him It was also observed that the nearer they drew to the end of the month the more these symptoms became ex aggerated and as day after day went by unmarked by an unusual oc currence he was observed to shake bis head with a half smile and a half sigh and mutter as he thought to himself Dead or forgotten After which he remained plunged In reflec tion for a considerable time It was his son Edward more gen erally known as Ted who happened to overhead these words and they caused him no small amount of be wilderment He stood with his sister May in the hall of Mr Burritts large old-fashioned house at Dulwich It was about seven oclock In the evening that as the brother and sister were talking in low voce3 the former was interrupted by the sound of an abrupt loud double knock Theres the seven oclock post said the girl I wonder if theres any- thing for father this time If there is Ill But as she turned towards the direc tion of the letter box the study door was thrown hurriedly open and an elderly gentleman rushed across the hall and extricated from its receptacle one letter in a thin foreign looking en velope the direction on which was written in a large scrawling hand The last words came after a barely perceptible pause Oh then it is business after all broke in his daughter May with an air ef hardly repressed triumph I knew it was I said so directly I saw the letter didnt I Ted Her father turned round upon her rather sharply What letter The the letter that came last night she stammered disconcerted by the unusual tone Then reassert ing herself I was In the hall you know when It came and I thought It looked like business Her fathers frown relaxed as he patted her on the shoulder Inquisitive little girl he said what does It matter to you what my letters are about But It was business wasnt it she persisted secure in her position of spoilt child Well yes that is partly so he answered At least It was from an old He seemed to remember something and stopped short At any rate he continued I have to go to Dover Dover re echoed the family Yes he said rumpling his hair and apparently taking some care in the choice of his words I find I shall to go there It is rather incon venient just now but it cant be help ed though it will not be more than a couple of days at the outside By-the-by turning towards his helpmate it Is not unlikely that I may bring a friepd back with me No its no one you know responding to the question he saw trembling on more than one pair of lips At any rate you had better have a room prerared in case of that event Half an hour later Mr Burritt took a hasty but affectionate farewell of his family who as they watched his de parture and waved their hands to him said to themselves that he would soon be back again among them In spite of this belief however they craned iiff if vfi ifi iff ii n I II ifi U 7 He recrossed the hatl their necks to see the last of him A little later when his sister who had again had recourse to her piano was practicing scales like a Trojan if the expression is allowable the young man put his head inside the door of the room in which she was and the following brief conversation ensued- I say Hay do you know it has just occurred to me that the guvnor never mentioned the name of the friend he was going to bring back with him The scale of C major came to an abrupt conclusion To be sure he didnt How funny But then you see we forgot to ask him I know we dia but you would have thought that he would have told us without that However of course it doesnt matter and I suppose we shall find it out some day Ta ta Im off CHAPTER II After All These Years Mr Burritt arrived at his destination between six and seven Alighting he gave a hasty and comprehensive glance round as though he thought it half possible that he might be met by someone Then he left the station and proceeded in the direction of the Lord Warden Arriving at that famous hostelry he made a certain inquiry of the waiter who came forward to meet him To which the reply was that the gentle man referred to had crossed by the boat that morning and had engaged a private sitting room leaving word that he expected a friend from town who was to be shown up immediately on giving his name My name is Burritt was the reply Then please to walk this way sir The man ushered him up a flight of stairs and along a corridor then in dicating a particular door said This is the Toom the gentleman has taken I will announce myself said Mr Burritt and the man withdrew Then after a pause of a few sec onds he tapped lightly at the door A voice from within cried Come in and answering the summons he turned the handle and entered The occupant of the apartment a tall lean elderly man who was looking out of the win dow turned round sharply and con fronted the visitor A look a strange wondering intent look passed be twei them Then the stranger made a step forward Silas he cried At last and the pjen grasp cd hands Then followed a brief toA impres sive silence during which each oager ly scanned thefeatures of the other and which Mr Burritt was the first to to break James ho said and there were traces of considerable emotion in his voice you are much changed I should hardly have known you Changed exclaimed the other somewhat bitterly and in twenty years Is It to be wondered at Then with an alteration of tone But I should have know you anywhere Silas Twenty years repeated his friend Ah well soIt is How quickly the years have flown It seems nothing like that to me It is that all the same said the other It Is twenty years to the very day This is the 24th of April 1884 It was the 24th of April 1864 when you said good bye to me on board the vessel in which r was to sail to a new country It is a long time to remain an exile a voluntary exile said Mr Bur ritt you might have returned years ago had you chosen The other man shook his head gloomily I have kept my word he said You remember my last speech to you I said I am going to begin a new life to make my fortune In twenty years if I have aone so I shall return By that time I may hope that my crime will have been forgotten It may be that In twenty years some of those who know my wretched story will be dead I may even be dead myself but if not I shall return to the country I am now about to leave behind for surely in twenty years the disgrace which now tarnishes my name will be blotted out and forgotten Until then farewell And now he continued the term of my self imposed banishment is at an end I have kept my word and I have returned Mr Burritt laid his hand upon his friends shoulder You judge yourself too harshly he said the word crime is too se vere a one to apply to that youthful indiscretion sin if you will repented of as soon as committed Repentance cried the other im patiently what U the good of repent ance Will it recover a lost reputa tion and wipe out a stain upon the past The fortune I went to seek is mine but I would give it all for an unblemished record so that I might not be ashamed to look any man in the face Ah Silas it is a terrible thing to think that a child of mine should ever blush for her father You are married then inquired Mr Burritt gladly seizing the oppor tunity thus offered of changing the dismal subject Is your wife with you I am a widower was the reply My wife died twelve years ago leav ing me with one child a daughter Tell me all about your daughter said Mr Burritt and how you came to make up your mind to part with her for so long I have a daughter of my own as well as the son who was born before you left England and though I have been threatening to pack her off to boarding school for the last four or five years I never could reconcile myself to the idea of the separation And now shes too old nineteen last birthday and her father shook his head over his own weakness and smil ed an Indulgent parental smile Thats the age of my Agnes within a year said the other strange that we should have daughters so nearly the same age He looked at his companion strange ly I am in your hands Silas he said you can ruin me in my childs eyes as well as in the eyes of the world whenever you please To be continued The Real Thing In Toothaches Geewhitaker Jumping Moses But it Tvas the worst case of toothache I ever bumped against he said It was easy in the early part of the even ing but when midnight arrived it got busy for fair Liniment hot and cold water and all the rest of the standard remedies were applied without avail Seven thousand devils with seven thousand red hot sledges ihammered hammered and hammered away at the throbbing nerve That tooth stood upon its head rolled over the carpet and hung out of the window It growled grumbled moaned and mut tered laughed cried ran walked trot ted galloped sailed flew dug and ex cavated and did everything under the heavens but quit and go to sleep like a decent tooth and stop monkeying But why didnt you have it ex tracted Just as soon as Brown could get to the dentists he Great Scott man Wasnt it your tooth No it was Browns Floored the Englishman At a dinner party in London Miss Beatrice Herford was taken down by an Englishman whom she discovered to be a fellow of the Royal Geographic society and who professed to know by name all the places on the map ol England Miss Herford had long strug gled with such names as Cholmondeley vohumley Crichton Cryton and the rest and this struck her as an op portunity As a geographer and especially as a Royal Geographer she said you will be able to tell me where Winkle is The Royal Geographer was puzzled and asked if she was sure she had pro nounced it properly and how it was spelled l pronounced it in the most English way I could said Miss Herford It is spelled New York Times ifcn miuijmiwujytaifa iiiji Jin ENORMOUS BENEFITS EFFECT OF FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION ON RAILROADS Against a Less of 413000000 In Gross Receipts 1893 to 1897 There Has Been an Increase of 1764C00r 000 from 1898 to 1902 Inclusive AccorJing to page 407 of the Statist ical Abstract of the United States for 1902 fiscal year published by our use ful Bureau of Statistics the gross re ceipts of our railroads in the four Democratic fiscal years 1894 1897 wore compared with 1893 Republican fiscal year J593 1207000000 JgW 1066000000 189o 1092000000 JS J125O0OO0O 1S97 1132000000 The decreases from 1893 McKlnley tariff year were J9i 141000000 J822 115000000 1896 82000000 1S57 75000000 Then came the chance By the pen of William McKInloy a brighter state of affairs was inaugurated on July 24 1897 when the Republican Dingley protective tariff became a law Now compare the railroad gross receipts of 1897 low tariff Democratic fiscal year with the Republican protective tariff fiscal years since to 1902 the Estimated Democratic tors 1MS 1502 61GC0OO0fl Actual Republican gcln 1902 1764000003 Real Republican gain J22SO000 Half of this Inures to the direct benefit of railroad wage earners and all the rest except bond interest and occasional dividends to the benefit oi the wage earners of allied interests and the country at large Results end facts like these speak louder than tons of argument Walter J Ballard Schenectady N Y CAUSED BY THE TARIFF Republicans Willing to Take Respon sibility for Prosperity Mr John F Clarke Democratic can dldate for the United States Senate in Ohio opened the campaign in his state with the statement that thG country was face to face with a panic and industrial depression all accord ing to Mr Clarke brought about by the disturbance ofjausiness caused by the high tariff taxes Save during a brief period when Democratic views on the tariff were in legislative effect this country has been under high protective tariff for a gen eration During all that time save during the period when the Democrat ic tariff was in effect this country has steadily advanced in wealth and pros perlty Its industrial expansion has been the marvel of the civilized world Under this tariff system it has become the foremost industrial nation of the THE TARIFF TIN KERING INCUCATOR 1 FRs E XPAJL1 yS IMSUBATOR pT IbjjWiWitt I Wfr WriS HK ii1 iUffi Jul HiMiHIiiUIUi lull nf tAjU UiHinnmiiiiilltinUI lHthVH last fiscal year for which figures are yet published 1S97 1132000000 1S98 1219000000 1899 1330000000 1S00 1501000000 1S01 1612000000 1502 172G000000 The figures for 1902 are from the New York Times of September 26 1903 The increases over 1897 under Re publicanism and protection were 1S9S 117000000 itgo 204000000 1900 369000000 M1 450000000 ISO 594000000 Republican gain 1764000000 Here i5 a gain to owners and work ers alike of one thousand seven hun dred and sixty four millions of dollars gold dollars not the Bryan three cent Johnson kind of dollars in five years equal to 352800000 gain each year Inasmuch as irrespective of allied railroad interests supplies etc fully 50 per cent of gross railroad earnings is paid out immediately for wages to railroad employes these figures show that such wage earners are directly indebted to Republicanism and pro tection for 88200000u in five years or 5176400000 each year It Is worthy of note that in the first Republican fiscal year after Demo cratic misrule namely 1898 the re bound was so effective as to make the earnings 47000000 more than the prior Republican fiscal year 1893 and the increase has gone on increasing each Republican year since Further as the Democratic party Is now advocating the same principles and worse which it advocated m 1892 and used in the fiscal years end ing June 30 1894 to 1897 is it possible that any voter engaged in railroad or allied interests can if he studies his own welfare vote now or at any time tor that party of disappointment and t loss There is a broader view and a wider interest still The official and undis puted figures quoted above show loss of 413000000 in the four Democratic years equal to 103250000 yearly It is fair to presume that that ratio of loss would have continued if not in creased hail Democratic policies pre vailed in the fiscal year3 1S9S to 1902 In such case the additional loss in rail road earnings for the five years would Tiave been S516250C0O Consequently the real gain rttributafcle to lican policies and control is world and its commerce has expanded in like proportion Since the present tariff law came into effect the advance of the country in all of these direc tions has been immeasurably greater than it was during any similar period of time in the nations previous his tory This is the condition which has been brought about in Mr Clarkes lan guage by the high tariff taxes Re publicans are perfectly willing to ad mit that the conditions which the country is enjoying are the direct re suit of the application of the protec tive tariff principle They are per fectly willing that the responsibility shall rest on them tor bringing about these results The disturbance oi business which has followed since Democratic legislation on the tariff was repealed and Republican legisla tion on the subject was substituted is such a disturbance as has brought re lief and gratification to the home of every wage earner m the land Mr Clarke says the credit is due to Re publican legislation So it is Seattle Post Intelligencer More Cotton in Their Ears It is not at all likely that any part of the country held by the Republican party will chance a repetition of the expeCnce of the years between 1893 6 Whatever the Northwest con tributed to the election of Mr Cleve land was paid for In the contrition ol the years that followed It is eminent ly true that the conditions have changed brought about by the protec tive tariff policy of the Republican party which has spread plenty and prosperity over the Northwest with the rest of the country All the West ern States that ran amuck on Popu lism have returned to the Republican party and it is not reasonable they are now going to stand for Cleveland or any other man who has a moder ate leaning toward tariff revision not at this time at any rate If to refuse to Interfere with the present prosperity is stubborn deafness on the part of Republican leaders then it would be well to stuff mare cotton in their ears Wheeling Intelligencer Prosperity Under republican Rule The people of the United States con sume the equivalent of 95 per cent of all we produce and upon this fact Secretary Shaw declares that not while these conditions continue will prosperity cease Can there be a reasonable doubt as to the soundness of this view Omaha Eee ffl T v - fJMfgyrr MkMMNMMHlHM SULTAN AND HIS PLAYERS Actors Have Military Organization ani Are Subject to Immediate Call The sultan of Turkey has his owt way of taking his theatrical pleasures An account of the performances given before him was recently made public by one who was long attached to th palace staff and It reads like me ex aggerations of a comic opera librettist The power that controls all these performances Is Arturo Stravolo known simply as Arturo who came from Naples some years ago and set tled with his father mother sisters and brothers and sisters-in-law in Con stantinople He was formerly a dia lect comedian In Naples He is a prime favorite with the sul tan The other actors are called tc the palace to perform noi oftener than once a month Arturo acts at least weekly As the sultan Is very fond of variety and will rarely consent to witness the same performance twlco It is neces sary to provide constant change To do this one of the Stravolos Is always traveling through the European capi tals at the expense of his patron seek ing novelties All of the sultans actors must wear a certain uniform They have a mili tary organization Angelo is a lieuten ant the violinist Luigi Is a captain the baritone Gaetano is a major and the tenor Nicola is a general The performances take place at no fixed time but whenever it appears to the sultan that he would like to see a show Thus the company like sol diers must always be ready to march Frequently the director of the or chestra Aranda Pasha will be noti fied in the middle of the night that he must come to the palace as quickly as possible He learns on arriving that his majesty desires to hear Un Ballo in Maschera or some other opera As the sultans vish Is a com mand the opera begins within half an hour The sultan sits entirely alone as a rule and if any point in the action of either play or opera is not clear he halts the performers until it is ex plained to him Whence Came Hurrah Some authorities connect Hurrah with a Hebrew shout of joy to Je hovah which occurs in the Psalms Others derive it from Thor aide a war cry of the ancient northmen Others point to the Swedish and Dan ish Hurra and the German Hur ren to move quickly or the Danish Hurre to buzz with which our hur ry is associated Sir Francis Palgrave in his history of Normandy and England says It was a wise custom in Normandy es tablished by Rollos decree that any one who had reason to fear damage of goods life or limb could riise the country by the cry of Haro Ha Raoul justice in Duke Rollos name Hence our hue and cry The old English Harrow and our Hurrah are but variations of this There are some who regard it as merely an imitative interjection akin to whurra used by Addison in a play 1715 or of huzza found in Evelyns Diary 1665 Stray Stories Australian Hemp Crop When Charles Lamb used to write to his old friend Baron Field a judge in Sydney N S W in the early days he invariably asked in a postscript How is the hemp crop out your way These inquiries puzzled the judge for a long time till one day an other judge suggested that they might have some playful reference to the large amount of hanging that was go ing on mostly through Baron Fields strong views about the proper punish ment for bushrangers and kindred evildoers No hemp was grown at the antipodes in those days when it was required for home consumption but the industry is likely to become an im portant one now The government tf New Zealand has encouraged its growth of late and now it appears that during the past twelve months hemp to the value of 3750000 has been produced in that colony Heaps of Trouble for the Editor No doubt our readers are wondering why they have not received the Senti nel during the last three weeks We will now explain On account of drunk enness and carelessness on the part of our foreman while we were out of town our press was broken so that we had to send the parts to Baltimore for repairs It has taken three weeks to get them back and get in shape to do any printing For this reason we simply could not send out the paper We regret it very much but it was a matter that we could not help We now have a new printer and have the press repaired and hope to visit our readers regularly hereafter Bear with us and excuse us for these mis haps for you do not know of the many worries and troubles of a man who runs a paper Lagrange N C Sentinel A Farewell Hy fairest child I have no song to give you No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray Yet ere we part one lesson I can leave you For every day Ill teach you how to sing a clearer carol Than larks -who hails the dawn breezy dotvn ore Xo earn yourself a purer poets laurel Than Shakespears crown Pe good sweet maid and let who can be clever Do noble things not dream them all day long Lnd so make Life Death and that va3t Fore er Ose grand sweet song By Charles Kingsley Electric Lines in Germany Germany has but 2117 miles of elec tric car lines I t 2 tl A ji 1 I