I
n
THE NEBRASKA ADVERTISER
VT. XV. 8ANlr.K3, l'ublliliar.
NEMAHA, NEBRASKA.
"JIM."
"Mordnunt" nho called him. In a novol
book
Ills fond motlior found tho nnmo sho gave
to him;
I don't Ilka It. fcr I'd kinder took
A Hort of notion favor'blo to "Jim
But when blia looked up at mo from tho
bed,
Half-dcnd, hut happy, an' alio said: "I
want
.That you shall nnmo him, aftor all, I
"Why, hlamo It all, of courso It is Mor
daunt." Bho know tho way I folt about such names,
An' this was a sacrlllco, fer sho
Had often heard me say that honest
"James"
Had Just about tho proper rlnp fer mo;
I) lit thoitKh 'twas dlsapp'Intmont, still I
thought , , A
She was tho ono that had tho right to
choose,
'.An I there wasn't nny question ouRht
To reconcllo my wUihcs to her views.
Ho was bo delicate so teeny small,
Hut smarter than tho cracker of a whip;
T ilnn't hollnve ho over cried at nil
Homohow he'd pucker up his llttlo lip
'An' look at you until you was ashamed
Of all tho sins you know ho knew you d
dono.
I often thought ho Rrlovcd becauso wo d
named
By such a nnmo a helpless llttlo one.
'An thlnkln' that, when wo two was alone
1 called him by tho name I liked so well;
Ills mother would 'a grloved If sho'd a
known, Hut nolthor Jim ncr mo would over tell.
.IVo never told. He'd laugh an crow to
hoar
Mo whlsporln' so hnpplly to him:
Yer name's Mordatint, old boy, when
mother's near;
But when thcro's only mo about lt'a Jim."
XVc never told our llttlo socrct, nnd
Wo never will. Wo never, novor will;
Bomewhero off yondor In n flow'ry land
A llttlo baby's toddlln', toddlln' still,
A-sccklu' In tho sunHhlno all alono
The O od that gavo un' then that sont fcr
him.
Mordatint's tho namo carved on tho llttlo
stone,
STut In my heart tho namo Is always Jim.
Chicago Itocord.
NNMMMMttMtMMMttMMMtfMffy
A DOUBLE DEATH.
"9hNwmmffmNNNmmmmNfmwm&
4S I look buck now it seems to mo
Unit I iiniHt always have been in
i with Uertlm Maxwell. Certainly
I know that if I try to fix the time when
it became nn accepted fact, upon which
I thought while awake, and dreamed
a thousand tender dreams while sleep
ing, I 11ml It quite impossible to do so.
As a matter of fact, we had grown up
together. Herbert Maxwell, tho bank
er of U n, nnd my own dear old gov
ernor, who was a retired colonel and
lived on his pension nnd n small but
convenient Income, which, nlnsl is now
mine through his death, had been life
long friends. And so when my father
returned from 20 years' service in India,
it was taken for granted that he would
settle dowu in B u and pass the
evening of his life with the dear old
chum of his boyhood.
Whether these two, ns they snt over
their evening "grog," laid plans and
wove schemes for the united fortune
of Uertlm and myself I have never quite
known; but the ill-concealed grief my
lather displayed, whon certain un
toward events came between us, nnd
for a loug, dreary, hopeless time blotted
the suu from our sky, led. nic to believe
mo.
At nny rate, Bertha's budding girl
hood nnd my awkward boyhood were
spent together. We played tennis, we
went fishing, we took long walks
through the beautiful country which
surrounded B n, and so we Insensi
bly grew Into each other's lives, and
became a dally necessity to each other.
At this time Bertha was to me the
most beautiful of hiiiiinu beings in
deed, she is so still and never for n
single, moment has anyone else seemed
quite bo fair or so lovely. Her figure
was lithe and graceful; her step, when
she walked, buoyant with overllowing
health; and her cheeks dyed with that
rich hue so often seen in those of south
ern birth; -while her eyes were at once
serene nnd thoughtful, or brimming
over with mirth nnd mischief. She had
a thousand little ways peculiar to her
self, all of which, I now know, endeared
her to me.
However, I must come to my storv.
for if I run on about Uertlm I shall
never ceiiBe. The hair is frosty about
iny temples now, nnd my step is not
ho quick as it once was, but a little lady
who now walks beside, me through the
same green lnncs often looks up archly
in my fnco and says: "Dad, you do
like to talk about mother 1" And so
I do.
Well, the time came forme to go away
to complete my education. When we
parted I remember it as if it were
yesterday Bertha kissed me over and
over again. It was, however, only ns a
young and Innocent girl she kissed me;
and ns she Btood in tho doorway be
tween my father and hers, waving n
tearful farewell, it was to n chum nnd
a playmate of childhood only that her
"adieus" wore given.
Four years passed swiftly away. I
occasionally bhw Bertha, and I, at lenst,
knew thnt the camaraderie of our chlld
Lood was at nn end. Bertha had grown
into the most queenly creature In the
world, nnd hnil taken licr place, quite'
undisputed, ns tlic hello of JJ n. Her ,
lnnnner wun me was ns cnnrming ns
ever, but there was a slight constraint
at Biieh times as wo were altogether
alone; not the constraint of formality,
but that of diffidence. For my part, I
found thnt instead of decreasing her
attractions to me, my absence had
served to enhance them. To me slio was
then, what she ever lias been, the oue
woman in the world. Every day 1 rc
bolvcd to put my fntc to the test, but
hesitation, born of timidity, prevented
nic, and the time passed away without
my ever giving utterance to the words
of love and passion which 1 longed to
speak.
But If I hesitated, there were others
more bold indeed, Bertha, at every
"garden party," or other social func
tion in the neighborhood, was always
the center of a group of devoted udmir
ers. Among them nil Iloyal Phelps was
preeminent alike for his handsome per
son nnd for a certain fascination of
manner which made him populnr with
men and women alike. He stood over
nix feet, hnd fair hair and blue eyes, and
an athletic frame in which grace aud
btreugth wero equally apparent.
Bertha, while appeuring to share the
general admiration for him, never
seemed quite at case in his presence,
and it was perhaps this evident con
straint whenever he was present which
led my father to chufl! me piensnntly one
evening after dinner by saying:
"Charlie, my (boy, you had better not
let your bird of parudiso remain un
caged much longer, or some one else
may catch it!" And then the dear old
fellow laughed and winked nt me mys
teriously, as though ho were quite in
the know.
I think it was the presence of lloynl
Phelps and many suggestive hints about
his devotion to Bertha which finally de
termined me to put to tho test my
chance of happiness with her.
It wns a bright and lovely dny in
June, nnd a largo party had assembled
upon tho spacious lawn in front of our
"bungalow," as my father always called
his house. Bertha had never seemed to
me so fair, so altogether worthy of my
love and my life. Early in the nfter
noon, for she had come before tho rest,
to aid us in arranging for our numerous
guests, I had seen her color rise as I
made some slight remark about her ap
pearance, and as our hands met I
thought hers tremlbled. Was it my
Imagination? Or wns she, too, like me,
longing to acknowledge her love?
"I shall not bo with you long, Bertha,"
I Bald, hoping thus to prepare the way
for my proposal. "I shall be leaving
for Hong Kong within a mouth to take
up my appointment,"
"Yes, yes, Charlie, I have heard it all
from father; he says you passed your
'exams' with Hying colors. I am so
glad."
"Glad I glad of tho fate which ban
ishes me from England, and from "
But she did not lot mo finish the sen
tence. "No, of courso not that; it will be
awfully lonely without you, and the
old place won't seem like Itself a bit;
but still, you're a man, and you have got
to make your namo and way in the
world, and I'm glad that you are making
so good a start."
- 'I could look forward to my life in
the east, Bertha, dear, with a great
deal more joy if the prospect wero not
so lonely." Bertha's eyes fell before
my ardent gaze, and I fancied that her
ttps trembled, nnd I hastened to put an
end to the tension wo were both under,
when a rollicking voice broke in upon
us:
"Ah I here you are, Berthal What,
and Charlie, tool Ah I I hope I am
not de trop. Shall I come again? Hal
ha!" and lloynl Phelps' laugh rang out
clear and loud, but with a touch of
cynicism in its ring.
"Not for tho world," replied Bertha,
crimsoning to her hair; " wo were just
arranging tho games for tho day, and
now you can help us." And so the
golden moment passed, and the word
I had been longing to spenk remained
unspoken then, and alns! remained un
spoken for many bitter years.
Tennis, and gossip, and ten, and
laughter, and merrymaking soon sped
tho afternoon. I had succeeded with
tho aid of Bertha's cousin, Eva Win
throp, In beating lloynl and Bertha at
tennis, aud had then given myself to tho
duties of hospitality.
At last, however, 1 found myself free,
and went in search of Bertha, resolved
to ciuiure my uncertainty no longer.
I approached the library window, and
had almost entered tho room when I
heard Bertha's voice. It was clear and
cold aud positive:
"No I 1 have told you how impossi
ble it Is. I should wrong you and my
self. I cannot marry you, because I
do not love you I"
I was about to beat a hasty retreat
from my false position when Boyul's
words chained mo to the ground:
"It's for that proud brute, Charlie,
I suppose, I'm thrown over! Oh! well,
take him; but, curse him, I'll "
"You forget yourself; I have not sold
I love another, certainly I have not said
I lovo Charlie. We are old friends, that
is all, nothing more. Ho is no more to
mo than you "
But I could stay to hear no more,
and with heart beating I gained my
own room, and hid my grief from the
curious eyes about me. And so this
wns the end: "11 j is no more to mo
than you " Obi, 'jruel words! Aud
I- nJ there, to mo she was more than
ull the world beside..
"Governor, if you don't mind, T think
I'll spend the next few weeks in Lon
don. I've a good deal to do before sail
ing, nnd if you will run up with me we
cnu bo pretty much together until I
leave."
"All right, my boy, I shall bo delight
ed; but I thought ah, well, never mind
what I thought. I shall be ready when
ever you are."
And so tho next dny we slipped away
to town, I leaving a brief note for
Bertha, saying 1 hoped to sec her again
before sailing, though I knew full well
that I should not dure to see her with
those words still ringing in my cars:
"He is no more to mo than you!"
I will not dwell on the days my dear
old father and myself spent together in
London. They wero the Inst I ever
spent with him. Ho died three months
ufter I loft England. We were as
brothers together then, and he entered
into all my plans with greater zest than
myself; and when at last I told him
how and why I had come to resign all
thought of Bertha, his dejection seemed
as real and ns deep us mine.
Bear old dad, next to my wife, he was
the best chum I ever had; nnd I can
see him now us ho stood waving his
umbrella on that foggy day when the
Oriental carried me away from home
and all I loved to China.
Of my life in Hong Kong I need not
spenk in detail. It was a combination
of hard work, which soon led to pro
motion, nnd such sports as are to be
found in the island. Having been a
"blue" at Oxford, 1 was soon well to the
front in cricketing circles; and, singu
larly enough, it was my interest in
cricket which led to consequences to
Hertha and myself as far-reaching as
they were sad. I had been chosen as
one of the eleven to represent Hong
Kong against Shanghai, upon the sad
and memorable occasion when the Bok
hara was wrecked on the return voy
age, and, with a few exceptions, all
hands wero lost. By what seemed to
me the merest lluke at the time, I man
aged to cling to a plank, and after be
ing tossed about, till nearly dead, by
the surf, was thrown ashore thorough
ly exhausted. The news of the catas
trophe cast a gloom over the entire Eu
ropean population, and it wns cabled
home that all were lost. Before the
news was corrected Bertha was mar
ried and married to Iloyal Phelps.
Her father, shortly after the death
of mine, hnd succumbed to pneumonia,
nnd Bertha with her mother had
greatly to their surprise been left in
comparative poverty. So that when
Royal renewed his suit Bertha had
yielded, and to gain a home for her
mother, had consented to nn early mar
riage. And when tho news reached
England that I with two others had
been saved from tho Bokhara, Bertha
was alreudy the wife of another. I
shall never forget the effect upon me
of the news that she was no longer
free. Tho meaning seemed to have
been taken out of life, and for me there
was no joy in the present, no hope in
the future.
Two dreary years passed away, and 1
came home, having resigned my np
pointmeut in the east, resolved to set
tle down in England, nnd devote my
self to those literary pursuits for which
I believed myself to be better suited
than for public service. I had no in
tention of settling in B n. The
place was too full of sad suggestions
to prove inviting to me. 1 wns com
pelled to go down there, however, short
ly after my arrival, to attend to the
disposition of certain family belong
ings, and it was then, for the firbt time
since that fateful afternoon, that I
again saw Bertha. How changed she
wns! Not that she was less beautiful:
but her proud face was, oh! so sad. It
seemed as though sho had gone through
a world of sorrow since I Inst saw her.
Her greeting was one almost too pain
ful for either of us, nnd when she said:
"We all thought you wero drowned;
you are as one risen from the dead,"
I realized that she would never have
been the wife of lloynl Phelps but for
the news of my death. What I saw and
learned in B n mndo me resolve to
stay there, for the present nt least. I
do not know how I enme to suspect it,
but the suspicion grew, nnd at last be
came absolute knowledge, thnt Iloyal
Phelps was turning the life of the only
womnn I had ever loved into misery.
I had always known him to be of a
reckless disposition, but I had not
dreamed that he was oddicted to gam
bling, drunkenness, and debauchery.
I did not see him often, and I scarcely
ever saw Bertha; when I did, her face
was so sad so silently nnd uncom
plainingly sad that it was all I could
do to look at it and remain quiet. An
for Iloyal, he had grown gross in per
son and coarse in manner, nnd scarcely
ever seemed quite sober. And so the
days passed; from a distance I watched
my proud, beautiful darling pine nnd
fnde, till I feared that death might
step in to interfere where I was pow
erless. Thus things went on, till one
night I wns summoned by a message
from Bertha's mother: "Come quick
ly, wo are in great trouble."
I weut, and found the doctor there be
fore me, and learned that an hour be
fore Iloyal had come home drunk, and
upon meeting his wife had first abused
her, and then struck her a cruel blow,
which had left her senseless at his feet.
He had then sallied forth again, ienv
ing his wife, for all ho knew, dead.
There was little I could do but creep
back to my solitary misery and spend
the night in agonizing reflection;; upon
the past. But, when the day at length
broke, I had resolved that the mini who
had robbed me of my dnrling, only to
maltreat and make her miserable, must
answer for his brutality to me.
There is, however, a higher power
than any we can wield, which often in
tervenes in the niTnirs of man when
least expected: und, before I ever saw
Iloyal Phelps again that power had
placed him forever beyond the reach of
earthly retribution. While still half
wild with drink, he hnd mounted to
follow the hounds, nnd n few hours
afterwards was curried home dead.
We never speak of those dreadful
days, now long passed. In the old home
to which Bertha clings with tenacious
effection we nrc living a life ns nearly
perfect in happiness as ever falls to
mortal lot. The old light has come
back to my darling's eyes, the old-time
buoyancy to her step. As I write these
lines, upon lifting my eyes I see her und
a smaller Bertha lnughiug nnd playing
upon the lawn together, and I know
that if the news of my death was the
beginning of misery for her, she Is, at
least, happy forever. St. Paul.
ELECTRICITY IN DENTISTRY.
CoiuIiik to lie n (.rent lloon to Suf
fering Humanity.
In dentistry eataphoresls is supplant
ing many of the primitive methods,
from the reproach of which even that
progressive profession has for many
years past wtinly endeavored to es
cape, and hns made actually painless op
erations at least possible. Tor by this
method cocaine can bo applied not only
to the soft tissues of the body, but to
the hard substance of the tooth. The
teeth, although coated by a superficial
skin the enamel internally are com
posed of a tubulous structure called
dentine, quite capable of conveying cur
rent, since within the little tubules is
inclosed n gelatinous filament rich in
salts and fluid, which make it a goad
conductor of electricity.
If a cavity in the tooth which is
constituted a cavity for the reason Hint
the enamel has been destroyed and n
portion of the dentine has been en
croached upon is filled with a pledget
of cotton saturated with a solution of
cocaine, nnd to this pledget is applied
a piece of platinum wire connected to
tho positive pole of an ordinary gal
vanic battery, and a very small current
is allowed in a period varying from six
to 30 minutes, according to the ability
and knowledge of the operator the
shortest period recorded is a minute
and a half the cocaine will be con
veyed by the electric current down the
tubules to the nerve itself, nnd the
dentist can proceed with the dreaded
preparation of tho tooth without pnin
to the patient. The tooth can be ex
cavated, filled, or even extracted with
out the infliction of the slightest suffer
ing. If one tales into account the steady
and accumulated agony of dental oper
ations throughout the world, and
considers the wear nnd tear of pro
tracted pnin which they entail, he may
easily comprehend what an onornioua
boon to suffering humanity such a
process as tills will be when generally
applied in dentistry. George H. Guy,
in Chuutmiquan.
HE ALWAYS STUCK TO THINGS.
So He To 111 Ills Wife, Hut tho Joke
AViih on Htm.
It happened in one of the parks one
Sunday, and the maddest man in Chi
cago failed to receive n bit of sympa
thy from anyone who happened to be
within earshot.
He wns walking with a womnn, evi
dently his wife, nnd a small boy, pre
oumnbly their own, and he had the aii
of a man who had brought his family
out for a pleasure trip and left his tem
per at home.
Running along tho walk, the small
boy tripped and fell, rending the air
with shrieks entirely disproportionate
to his size. Tho woman ran to pick him
up and soothe him, while tho man sanli
upon an adjaceut bench entirely oblivi
ous of a small placard upon it, and pro
ceeded to deliver a lengthy lecture upon
the evils of running anywhere and in
the park in particular.
The child's clothes were somewhat
dusty, nnd his mother vainly ratchet
for her handkerchief to remove the
traces of his mishap. Finally she said,
timidly: "James, will you lend me
your handkerchief to dust off Willie's
clothes. I am afraid that I have lost
mine."
"That's right," retorted James, us he
fished out the article and threw it nt
her. "Throw 'em away; I can pay for
more. Money's no object. Look a tine;
do L ever lose anything? Now, do I?"
"No, Jnines," replied his wife, meek
ly, "but"
"But there's no but about it. I
stick to things and"
"Yes, dear," said his wife, meekly, an
she completed her task and rose to her
feet, "I know you stick to things, and
pcrhnps," her voice grow meeker yet,
"perhaps that is why you sat down on
that freshly-painted bench!" Chicago
Times-Herald.
John Huff died at Hyden, Ky at
the nge of 99, leaving 78 grandchildren,
142 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren.
Bis immediate
family was a large oue.
GREASE STOPPED ENGINE.
KxcltliiK' Incident IlvMitonnlhle for
NlekiiumliiK of nn KiiMtern llonil.
"When the roud was first built," the
story-telling railroad man continued,
"which now runs from Harrisburg to
Canandnigua, N. Y., it was nicknamed
the 'Davy Crockett,' und for many years
thereafter tho name clung. it was
brought about in this way:
"One dark night, when the conductor
was taking three passenger enrs
through to Sunbury, he noticed tho
headlight of a locomotive in the rear.
He instantly informed the engineer of
the fact and both begun speculating
what it meant. The train was running
at u high rate of speed, but the head
light In the rear wns gaining steadily
on them. As there was no lights in
the rear of tho headlight, they con
cluded it must be an empty engine.
That road twists in and out among tho
mountains aud skirts the banks of tho
Susquehanna river in such a way as
to permit anyone looking back to ob
serve what is going on in the renr for a
considerable distance.
"The conductor ordered the engineer
to put on more stenm, nnd the hrtter
pulled the throttle wide open. Then
followed a wild chase through" tho
night. Pursuer nnd pursued tore along
at the highest speed. Everybody on tho
cars believed that the engineer of tho
pursuing engine wns either drunk or
crazy.
"At last n bright idea struck the en
gineer. He recalled the fact that a
locomotive enn make little progress on
greasy rails. The contents of two
large cans of lard oil were poured on
the tracks from the rear of the last
passenger coach. The idea proved a
great one. Soon the headlight of the
pursuing engine grew dim in tho dis
tnnce. Whon it was snfe to do so the
train stopped nnd backed up to solve
the mystery. A very funny sight was
revealed.
"One of the finest engines on the road,
called the 'Davy Crockett' they gave
tho locomotives names in those days
instead of numbers had broken away
front a hostler up in Williamsport and
started down the track on a voyage of
destruction. The oil poured on the
track had baffled all the destructive
abilities that locomotive possessed.
There stood the 'Davy Crockett,' pulling
and snorting like a Texas steer, the
driving wheels buzzing around on tho
greased track like a flywheel in a ma
chinoshop, but hardly moving an inch."
St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
THE WILD HOG OF MEXICO.
A VleloiiH Ilrnte "Will eh SeeniM to Hare
No Motion of Kenr.
"The most vicious nnd fearless of the
brute creation is the peccary, or wild
hog, of Mexico," says C. W. Bartlett, of
Laredo, Tex. "This animal seems ut
terly devoid of tho emotion of fear. 1
have never seen it turn a hair's breadth
out of its path for any living thing.
Man is its special bete noir. It displays
nn intelligence in fighting the human
strangely at variance with its apparent
ly complete lnck of mental instinct.
They are rarely found singly, but go in
droves of from hundreds to thousands.
Their ability to scent men is particular
ly marked. I have known a drove of
them to scent a man a mile off and
strike as straight for him as nn arrow
flies. There is no use to try to frighten
them with guns. The cannonading of
a full battery would have no more effect
on them than the popping of a fire
cracker. The only thing to do when
they get after you Is to run away from
them as fast as a horse can carry you.
And then there is no certainty that
they won't catch you. They are near
ly as swift as a horse and their endur
ance is as great as their vieiousness.
"A friend of mine encountered a
drove of them in a wild part of Mexico
a few years ago and his escape was
miraculous. Ho very foolishly shot and
wounded a number of them. Then he
took refuge in a tree. The peccaries
kept him in the tree all that day and
through the night. They circled round
the tree, grunting and squealing their
delight at the prospect of a feast. He
.soon exhausted his ammunition and
brought down a peccary at each fire.
But this had no terrors for the beasts
Along toward morning the brutes be
gan to eat the ones ho had killed, and
whon they thus satisfied the cravings
of their stomnchs they formed in line
und trotted off. If they had not had
some of their own number to devour
they would have guarded that tree un
til my friend, through sheer exhaustion,
dropped from his porch und allowed
them to make a meal off him. The
wildcats and tigers that infest the Mex
ican wilds flee from the peccaries with
instinctive fear, nnd even rattlesnakes
keep out of their path." St. Louis Re
public. Miirilcriiiin IlnhooiiH.
A species of baboon, inhabiting the
colony of the Capeof Good Hope has be
come a pest to the farmers by destroy
ing their lambs. The baboons hnunt
the clumps of cactus scattered through
the fields and exhibit much cunning in
keeping out of the reach of their human
enemies. It is nsserted that they have
taken note of the fnct thnt women do
not carry firearms, and therefore need
not be feared. But when a man appears
the baboons instantly take to their
heels. On this account the farmers have
lately devised the plan of dressing in,
women's apparel whon they set out to
shoot baboons. Youth's Companion.
A
