BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION.
A 1. A CJ AV A.
iiu x naa seal lor
the doctor from
Bourron before six.
About eight some
villagers came
round for the per
formance and were
told how matters
stood. It seemed a
liberty for a
mountebank to fall
.and they made off again in dudgeon.
Uy ten Madame Tentaillon was gravely
.alarmed, and had sent down the street
for Doctor Desprez.
The Doctor was at work over his
manuscripts in one corner of the little
dining-room, and his wife was asleep
over the fire in another, when the mes
senger arrived.
“Sapristi!” said the Doctor, “you
■should have sent for me before. It was
a case for hurry.” And he followed
* the messenger as he was, in his slip
pers and skull-cap.
The inn was not thirty yards away,
but the messenger did not stop there;
he went in at one door and out by an
other inio the court, and then led the
way by a flight of steps beside the
-stable, to the loft where the mounte
bank lay sick. If Doctor Desprez were
to live a thousand years, he would never
forget his arrival in that room; for not
only was the scene picturesque, but
the moment made a date in his exist
ence. We reckon our lives, I hardly
know why, from the date of our first
sorry appearance in society, as if from
a first humiliation; for no actor can
come upon the stage with a worse
grace. Not to go further back, which
would be judged too curious, there are
subsequently many moving and decis
ive accidents in the lives of all which
would make as logical a period as this
of birth. And here, for instance,
Doctor Desprez, a man past forty, who
had made what is called a failure in
life, and was moreover married, found
himself at a new point of departure
when he opened the door of the loft
above Tentaillon’s stable.
It was a large place, lighted only by
a single candle set upon the floor. The
mountebank lay on his back upon a
pallet; a large man, with a Qdixotic
nose inflamed with drinking. Madame
Tentaillon stooped over him, applying
a hot water and mustard embrocation
to his feet; and on a chair close by sat
a little fellow of eleven or twelve, with
- his feet dangling. These three were the
ms wun me same inquiring, melan
choly gaze.
At last the Doctor hit cn the solu
tion at a leap. He remembered the
look now. The little fellow, although
he was as straight as a dart, had the
eyes that go usually wfth a crooked
hack; he was not at all deformed, and
yet a deformed person seemed to be
looking at you from below his brows.
The Doctor drew a long breath, he wa9
so much relieved to find a theory (for
he loved theories) and to explain away
his interest.
For all that, he despatched the in
valid with unusual haste, and, still
kneeling with one knee on the floor,
turned a little round and looked the
boy over at his leisure. The boy- was
not in the least put out, but looked
placidly back at the Doctor.
“Is this your father?” asked Des
prez.
“Oh, no,” returned the boy; “my
master.”
“Are you fond of him?” continued
the Doctor.
“No, sir,” said the boy.
Madame Tentaillon and Desprez ex
changed expressive glances.
“That is bad, my man,” resumed the
latter, with a shade of sternness
“Every one should be fond of the dy
ing, or conceal their sentiments; and
your master here is dying. If I have
watched a bird a little while stealing
my cherries, I have a thought of dis
appointment when he flies away over
my garden wall, and I see him steer for
the forest and vanish. How much more
a creature such as this, so strong,
so astute, so richly endowed with facul
ties! When I think that, in a few
hours, the speech will be silenced, the
breath extinct, and even the shadow
vanished from the wall, I who never
saw him, this lady who knew him
only as a guest, are touched with some
affection.”
The boy was silent for a little, and
appeared to be reflecting.
“You did not know him,” he replied
at last. “He was a bad man.”
“He is a little pagan,” said the land
lady. “For that matter, they are all the
same, these mountebanks, tumblers,
artists, and what not. They have no
interior.”
But the Doctor was still scrutinizing
the little pagan, his eyebrows knotted
and uplifted.
“What is your name?” he asked.
“Jean-Marie,” said the lad.
Desprez leaped upon him with one
of his , sudden flashes of excitement.
FELT HIS PULSE.
only occupants, except the shadows.
But the shadows were a company in
themselves; the extent of the room
exaggerated them to a gigantic size,
and from the low position of the candle
the light struck upward and produced
deformed foreshortenings. The mounte
bank’s profile was enlarged upon the
wall in caricature, and it was strange
to see his nose shorten and lengthen
as the flame was blown about by
draughts. As for Madame Tentaillon,
her shadow was no more than a gross
hump of shoulders, with now and again
a hemisphere of head. The chair legs
were spindled out as long as stilts, and
the boy sat perched atop of them.
It was the boy who took the Doctor’s
fancy. He had a great arched skull,
the forehead and the hands of a musi
cian, and a pair of haunting eyes. It
was not merely that these eyes were
large, or steady, or the softest ruddy
brown. There was a look in them, be
sides, which thrilled the Doctor, and
made him half uneasy. He was sure
he had seen such a look before, and
yet he could not remember how or
where. It was as if this boy, who was
quite a stranger to him, had the eyes
of an old friend or an old enemy. And
the boy would give him no peace; he
■seemed profoundly indifferent to what
was going on, or rather abstracted
from it in a superior contemplation,
beating gently with his feet against
the bars of the chair, and holding his
hands folded on his lap. But, for all
that, his eyes kept following the Doc
tor about the room with a thoughtful
fixity of gaze. Desprez could not tell
whether he was fascinating the boy,
•or the boy was fascinating him. He
busied himself over the sick man: he
put queijons. he felt his pulse, he
jested, he grew a little hot and swore:
and still, whenever he looked round,
•there were the brown eyes waiting for
and felt his head all over from an
ethnological point of view.
“Celtic, Celtic!” he said.
“Celtic!” cried Madame Tentalllon,
who had perhaps confounded the word
with hydrocephalous. “Poor lad! la
it dangerous?”
“That depends,” returned the Doctor,
grimly. And then once more address
ing the boy: “And what do you do for
your living, .Tean-Marie?" he inquired.
“I tumble,”' was the answer.
“So! Tumble?” repeated Desprez,
“Probably healthful. I hazard the
guess, Madame Tentaillon, that tumb
ling is a healthful way of life. And
have you never done anything else
but tumble?”
“Before I learned that, I used to
steal,” answered Jean-Marie gravely.
“Upon my word!” cried the Doctor.
“You are a nice little man for your
age. Madame, when my confrere
comes from Bourron, you will com
municate my unfavorable opinion. I
leave the case in his hands; but of
course, on any alarming symptom,
above all If there should be a sign of
rally, do not hesitate to knock me up.
I am a doctor no longer, I thank God;
but I have been one. Good night,
madame. Good sleep to you, Jean
Marie.”
CHAPTER II.
UOIUK UKSPKEZ
- always rose early.
; Before the smoke
: arose, before the
i first cart rattled
over the bridge to
the day’s labor in
the fields, he was to
be found wandering
in his garden. Now
he would pick a
bunch of grapes;
uuw ue wuuiu eat a Dig pear unaer tne
trellis; now he would draw all sorts ot
fancies on the path with the end of
his cane; now he would go down and
watch the river running endlessly past
the timber landing-place at which he
moored his boat. There was no time,
he used to say, for making theories like
the early morning. "I rise earlier than
any one else m the village,” he once
boasted. "It is a fair consequence that
I know more and wish to do less with
my knowledge.”
The doctor was a connoisseur of sun
rises, and loved a good theatrical effect
to usher in the day. He had a theory
of dew, by which he could predict the
weather. Indeed, most things served
him to that end; the sound of the bells
from all the neighboring villages, the
omell of the forest, the visits and the
behavior of both birds and fishes, the
look of the plants in ‘his garden, the
disposition of cloud, the color of the
light, and last, although not Uast, the
arsenal of meteorological instruments
in a louvre-boarded hutch upon tho
lawn. Ever since he had settled at
Gretz, he had been growing more and
more into the local meteorologist, the
unpaid champion of the local climate.
He thought at first there was no place
so healthful in the arrondissement. By
the end of the second year, he pro
tested there was none so wholesome In
the whole department. And for some
time before he met Jean-Marie he had
been prepared to challenge all France
and the better part of Europe for a
rival to his chosen spot.
“Doctor,” he would say— "doctor is
a foul word. It should not be used tc
ladies. It implies disease. I remark
it, as a flaw in our civilization that we
have not the proper horror of disease.
Now I, for my part, have washed my
hands of it; I have renounced my laur
eation; I am no doctor; I am only a
worshiper of the true goddess Hygeia.
Ah, believe me, it is she who has the
cesius. And here, in this exiguous
hamlet, has she placed her shrine; here
she dwells and lavishes her gifts; here
I walk with her in the early morning,
and she shows me how strong she has
made the > peasants, how fruitful she
has made the fields, how the trees grow
up tall and comely under her eyes, and
the fishes in the river become clean
and agile at her presence.—Rheuma
tism!” he would cry, on some malapert
interruption. “O. ves. I helleve w» Hr
have a little rheumatism. That could
hardly be avoided, you know, on s
river. And of course the place stands
a little low; and the meadows art
marshy, thera’s no doubt. But my
dear sir, look at Bourron! Bourron
stands high. Bourron is close to the
forest; plenty of ozone there, you would
say. Well, compared with Gretz, Bour
ron is a perfect chambles.”
The morning after he had been sum
moned to the dying mountebank, the
Doctor visited the wharf at the tail of
his garden, and had a long look at the
running water. This he called prayer;
but whether his adorations were ad
dressed to the goddess Hygeia or some
more orthodox deity, never plainly ap
peared. For he had uttered doubtful
oracles, sometimes declaring that a
river was a type of bodily health,
sometimes extolling It as a great moral
preacher, continually preaching peace,
continuity, and diligence to man’s tor
mented spirits. After he had watched
a mile or so of the clear water running
by before his eyes, seen a fish or two
come to the surface with a gleam of
silver, and sufficiently admired the long
shadows of the trees falling half across
the river from the opposite bank with
patches of moving sunlight in between,
he strolled once more up the garden
and through his house into the street,
feeling cool :nd renovated.
<TO BS COXTINOSI). I
AFTER TWENTY YEARS.
Mira liaicom Found She Was Still
Beautiful.
He did not call on her that first even
ing, though he walked past the gate
four times, unaware of the fact that
behind one of those slanting shutters a
pale woman stood watching him pass
and repass, says Lippincott’s. The
nun in her self-elected cell had and
made use of means of communication
with the world, in the shape generally
of Jimmy the choreboy. She knew
whose was the tall figure on the side
walk. She stood at the window when
she could no longer see him; she heard
his slow footsteps go by for the last
time and die away. Half an hour later
she went upstairs to her bedroom. Be
tween its two windows hung a long,
old-fashioned mirror, with carved can
delabra on either side. She lighted the
three candles in each. The mirror
showed a tall, slim figure, a face as col
orless as an anemone, an abundance of
auburn hair carefully arranged. Mira
Bascom studied this reflection closely.
Then she unlocked a black-walnut
chest which stood In a corner and
lifted out its contents till she came to
a mass of pale muslin, which diffused
an odor of lavender as she shook it out.
It was a white gown with lilac sprigs,
made with the full skirts and sleeves
of a bygone fashion. She put it on,
fastened the belt of lilac ribbon]
which still fitted exactly, and, standing
again before the mirror, loosened
slightly the bands of her beautiful
wavy hair and pulled it into little curls
about her face. It was a vision of
youth which looked back at her from
the glass. Not a thread of gray showed
in the hair; the fine lines about the
placid eyes were invisible. The skin
had the dead whiteness of things kept
from the sun. But as she gazed a del
icate flush overspread her face, her
red-brown eyes lit up till their color
matched her hair; she smiled in
startled triumph. She was still beau
tiful.
Then a swift change came over her.
She blew out all but one of the candles
and. turning her back on the mirror,
took oft her gown with cold, shaking
fingers.
ARE MAKING FACES,
THAT IS WHAT THE DEMO
CRATS ARE DOING.
Meantime the Republican* Are Going
oil with Their Uutlc*—They Are Push
ing the Tariff anil tllmetallle Confer
ence anti Making Good Progreu. Too.
/
(Washington Letter.)
The Bryan and Bailey factions of
the democracy are continuing to make
faces at each other across the hall of
the house of representatives at Wash
ington. The followers of Representa
tive McMillan who wanted to keep up
the combination made with the Popu
lists last fall and support the sock
leas Simpson in his attacks upon Speak
er Reed, were mercilessly spanked by
the Baileyltee in caucus the other day.
The populist leader appealed to tho
Democrats for their co-operation in hts
joust at Speaker Reed, and a few of the
Bryan followers had the temerity to
respond to the call when “Speaker”
Bailey adjourned the house, called a
caucus in five minutes and after read
ing the riot act to the Bryanltes voted
them down two to one and adopted a
resolution ordering them to desist
from further co-operation with the
Populists, at least in the matter then
under consideration.
Those Democrats who were at first
inclined to exult over their party’s suc
cesses in the recent municipal elec
tions, are finding the figures cold com
fort. In Chicago they were unable to
at all Increase their vote and only held
their own in numbers by reason of the
fact that a large number of those who
always vote against them in nation
al elections co-operated with them on
this occasion on purely local issues.
This was found to be the case every
where. National issues cut no fig
ures at all in the municipal elections
While in the state of Rhode Island in
which the national questions were the
leading issues the Republican vote in
creased 20 per cent over that of the
presidential eleotion of 189G.
I 1? UlHl
Tariff and bimetallism, those two
great issues of the campaign, have
been prominently at the front during
the present week in Washington. And
those people who doubted or professed
to doubt the sincerity of the profes
sions of the Republican party on either
of these subjects have found that they
were mistaken. A thoroughly protec
tive tariff, one which looks after the
interests of the farmer and the work
ing man; that is what the new Dlngley
aot is to be when it gets upon the
statute books, what it is, in fact, to
day, for the probabilities are that it
will be little changed by the senate.
Earnest and intelligent efforts in be
half of international bimetallism—that
is what this week’s work means upon
that subject. The appointment of the
commission whose names have already
been given the public assures prompt,
vigorous, and, it is to be hoped, suc
cessful work.
The Bimetallic CommlMlon.
The appointment of Senator Wolcott
of Colorado, ex-Vlce-President Steven
son of Illinois, and Hon. C. J. Paine of
Massachusetts as commissioners to
pave the way for an international con
ference has been cordially commend
ed. Until this week nobody knew
definitely what the president’s plans
were in regard to this question. It
was known that he was extremely anx
ious to take the proper steps toward
carrying out the pledge of the party
looking to international consideration
of the silver question, but Just how he
proposed to bring this about or to take
the initiative, nobody was able to say.
It now appears that, as usdal, he has
chosen the wise plan and one most
likely to be successful. Not only has
he chosen the plan most likely to be
successful, but the one likely to be
most successful. By this is n*eant that
if he is able to carry out the plans
thus inaugurated the international con
ference will be brought to the doors of
every American voter. President Mc
Kinley’s hope is that it may be prac
ticable to hold this conference in the
united states anu in tne city of Wash
ington. If this shall happen p.ery
American citizen will have the full
benefit of the discussion which the ,'e
arises. It will be as though the meet
ing of the representatives of the great
nations was brought to his own door
yard. With press associations carry
ing the full proceedings of the confer
ence and the hundreds of special cor
respondents in Washington comment
ing upon the proceedings in the pa
pers which they represent, every citi
zen who feels the slightest interest In
this question would be able to follow
the proceedings and study them in their
proper light, thus knowing for himself
that the work was well done. The
commissioners who are to go abroad
to try to bring about an agreement for
a conference are highly commended by
members of all parties as especially
judicious selections. Mr. Wolcott, by
reason of his long study of the ques
tion and discussion on two previous
trips abroad of this same subject, will
be of much greater value than any man
who. has not had these experiences;
ex-Vice-President Stevenson repre
senting the silver element of the de
mocracy and well known by reputa
tion and in person abroad will instantly
command attention, while Mr. Paine,
as a close student of this subject will
prove equally useful and influential. It
does not follow that these men who are
selected for this work are to be the
representatives of the United States in
an international conference if they are
successful in bringing one about; on
the contrary, it is expected that other
men will be selected to represent the
government in that conference.
Progress of the Tariff.
The people who are assuming that
the tariff bill is likely to drag through
the summer and keep the business of
the‘country in an unsettled condition
awaiting final action, are to be disap
pointed. The next week or ten days
at the furthest are likely to see the
bill perfected by the Republican mem
bers of the finance committee and it Is
likely to get into the senate before the
month ends. Prospects now seem to
be good for a final vote upon it in
June and its completion in time that it
may go into effect at tho beginning of
the fiscal year July 1st.
The changes made by the senate com
mittee are much less, in extent and
importance than had been expected.
The pressure for a reduction in the du
ties on wool has not been successful
thus far and the chances seem to be
that they will not be. The demand
of the sugar trust for changes in the
schedule advantageous to them has
been promptly rejected. The wall of
the standard oil trust and of sundry
other corporations of this character
have passed unnoticed. These Demo
crats and Populists and other enemies
of the Republican party who had hoped
to be able to make political capital by
charging that the tariff bill was favor
able to corporations and trusts are dis
appointed. And they will continue to
be disappointed.
O. H. WILLIAMS.
EuImm Revival.
The wholesale merchants of Kansas
City report that they received larger
and more numerous orders in the
month of March than they received in
any month of last year. In nearly every
branch of trade there is more activity,
with indications that things will grow
better from this time forward. Such
reports as these are the best evidence
that a healthful revival of business is
at hand. Many retailers have not yet
experienced any substantial gain in
business, but their trade is less rapidly
affected by improved conditions. The
wholesalers first feel the effects of re
stored confidence and the release of
hoarded money. Such evidence as they
give refutes the taunts of those who
demand spectacular results, as if there
had been any promise that the new ad
ministration would witness an Imme
diate revival of all the interests that
flourished before the great depression.
The most hopeful change is that indi
cated by the gradual increase in the
volume of trade, for that denotes natu
ral and conservative enterprise. There
is nothing fictitious about the improve
ment in business conditions, whatever
the scope of that improvement may be.
But When it is Bhown that in a single
state 100,000 more men are employed
now than were employed before No
vember last, and when large dealers
make like comparisons between the
trade at this time and that before the
presidential election, the pessimists
and the sneerers should be silent.—
Kansas City Journal.
“Inexcusable Cowardice."
The men who style themselves "sil
ver Republicans” have told the country
why they refused to vote on one side
or the other on the Dlngley bill when
that measure passed the house. “We
took this course," said Representative
Hartman, of Montana, “to prevent the
diversion of the great issue of current
politics from silver to the tariff. Our
object was to emphasize the tact that
the tariff is not and can not be made
the main issue, and to give warning
that the silver people will not accept
the tariff as the paramount question
of the time.” According to the same
authority another reason for the refusal
to vote was that the joint caucus of the
Populists of both branches of congress
and a private conference of the Teller
ites urged this inaction.
This is presumption and cowardice
of a particularly inexcusable character.
A handful of men arrogate to them
selves in their prejudice and blindness
the right to dictate to the great body
of congress what is and what is not
an issue, without having the courage or
capactiy to reveal their position in a
manly and practical way.—St. Louis
Globe-Democrat.
Trouble for Two*
rvf nonnlo VimtA #n
prosper since the election of McKinley.
One of these classes is composed of sil
ver advocates, the other the trusts. The
election of McKinley and the rejection
of the free silver proposition started
similar action by some other nations
which had been looked to as support
ers of the silver theory, and the friends
of free coinage have witnessed with
dismay the transfer of Japan, Russia
and China to the gold standard col
umn. The trusts have also fared as
badly. The railroad corporations,
the sugar trust, the standard oil trust
and many minor organizations of this
character have received stunning blows
within the f^w months since the elec
tion of 1896, and will suffer still more
when the new tariff law goes into ef
fect and deprives them of the advan
tages which they have enjoyed under
the Wilson law.
WiUon'n Wall.
Ex-Postmaster-General Wilson, in
continuation of his protest against the
new tariff bill, has evidently persuad
ed himself that the measure will in
some way be injurious to the farmers.
He doesn’t tell why or how, but he
hints at an explanation in this vague
and uncertain way:
"For thirty years the farmer was de
luded by the cry of a ‘home market/
and of the benefit in store for him from
‘bringing the factory to the farm.’
Factories were built up. but he saw
them filled, not with living consumers
of his products, but chiefly with ma
chinery of iron and steel.”
Mr. Wilson's sneer at the “home mar
ket" idea is distinctly that of the free
trade theorist who imagines that it is
better for the American farmer to sell
one bushel of grain to English buyers
than it la to sell three bushels to Amer
ican consume™. The fact that the
home "market absorbs 80 per cent of
our agricultural products counts for
nothing with Mr. Wilson. Ho doesn’t
consider that this market needs or de
serves any protection, and he would
neglect it or impair Its purchasing
power by forcing Its industrial ele
ments into wage-cutting competition
with foreign labor. The farmer’s real
interest lies in a system that will main
tain and expand the domestic demand
for his produce, and this is to be found
In a tariff that will open the mills, pro
vide employment for labor and encour
age the extension of native enterprise.
Agricultural prosperity cannot exist
without Industrial prosperity. They
are dependent on each other. When
one thrives the other will thrive with
It, and the man who attempts to con
vince the farmer and the mechanic
that their Interests are conflicting la
an enemy to both.—Mail and Express.
Save the SIOO,OOO.OOO.
A payment of about 1100,000,000 an
nually to foreign countries for a pro
duct adapted to our own soil and cli
mate is plainly an industrial error.
Within the last ten years attention haw
been directed to this wasteful method
of conducting business, and signs ar*
multiplying that the proper remedies
will be applied. Last year every pound
of wheat and flour exported was re
quired to pay for the sugar imported.
Our exports of cotton were only doa
ble the value of the sugar imported.
The value of all exports of live and
dressed beef, beef products and lard
just about balanced that of the sugaf
bought abroad. It 1b now known Be
yond question that the sugar beet can
be grown in many of our states and at
a quality unsurpassed anywhere. The
genius of Americans in the use of ma
chinery is an assurance that the sugar
beet factories will return good divi
dends. What measure of protection
should be granted by the government
is a subject to be considered with care*
Meantime, states and localities are dis
posed to encourage the new industry
with so many millions In It.—St. Louis
Globe-Democrat.
The Senate and the Honee.
Generally speaking, whatever the
house is enthusiastically In' favor of the
senate regards with cool and critical
calmness, and vice versa. In the earn*
way, no matter how much in sympathy
the congress may be with the execu
tive, it is sure to guard Jealousy its
rights-in all financial matters. It la
said that President McKinley has a
comprehensive plan of currency reform
which he will recommend in his mes
sage next December. As the President
is an old hand in congressional mat
ters—having in that a huge advantage
over Mr. Cleveland—he ought to know
that no congress will be likely to fol
low the dictates of the President in any
matter of taxation or finance. Already *
-the men who hope to be on the house
committee on banking and currency
and the senators on the finance com
mittee are saying that they understand*
their own business, and propose to
originate any currency scheme which
Is presented to the country.—Illustrated
American. .
Factories and Protection Sentiment.
The springing up of factories
throughout the south has been fol
lowed by a growth of protective senti
ment and Republican membership in
congress from that section. More than
thirty votes from the south were cast
for a protective tariff measure in the
house, and the southern states had
thirty-three Republican members in
last congress, while in no preceding
congress bad the party been represent
ed by more than half that number from,
that section. When Democrats from
North and South Carolina, Alabama.
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas Join
with the Republicans In supporting
protective views and a protective tariff
bill, there can remain no doubt of the
growth of Republican principles in that
section.
1
SSj
’ VwKj
Five llad Months for Silver.
The five months since the election
have been bad ones for the silver cause.
Japan, to which the silver people were
accustomed to point as the most bril
liant exponent of the advantages of
the free coinage of silver, has adopted
the gold standard at the ratio of 32 to
1. Russia, which was accounted a sil
ver country, has announced that she
is going to the gold standard. China,
which, with her 400,000,000 people,was
accounted In the list of silver users,
announced through her officials a cur
rency change which is equivalent to the
adoption of the gold standard. Truly
these are depressing days for the free
silver theorists.
The only persons who are express
ing dissatisfaction with the new tariff
bill are the foreigners and importers.
Germany, Canada, England, and other
foreign countries are scolding about the
Dingley bill; so is the reform club, of
New York, which is made up principal
ly of importers.
The Reform club o^ New York la
spreading broadcast over the country
j an offer of newspaper plate matter
! with which it proposes to attack the •
Dingley bill. This Is not surprising.
The Reform club is composed mostly
of importers, who naturally want a
low tariff, and are against protection.
The chief objection offered to the
Dingley bill is that it Is a bill. The
people want it to become an act and
that very promptly.
Ex-Candidate Bryan called upon
Vice-President Hobart during his re
cent visit to Washington. It is ob
served, however, that he did not call,
upon prospective candidate Bailey.
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