My Fellow Laborer.
By H. RIDER HAGGARD.
iii
CHAPTER I.—(Continued.)
A year after my marriage my wife
unhappily became the victim of a bad
accident in a cab, as a result of which
our child John was a cripple from his
birth. To this unfortunate babe, Miss
Denelly, or Fanny, as we called her,
took a violent affection, which, as the
ohild’s intelligence expanded, was am
ply returned. Indeed, he cared more
for her than for his mother and my
self put together, and I think that the
cause of their mutual attachment was
to be found in Fanny’s remarkable
strength of body and character. The
poor, weak, deformed boy rested on
solid depths of nature, as some by faith
are able to rest on Providence, with a
sense of absolute security. However
much pain he was in he would become
quiet when she came and took him in
her strong arms and nursed him.
Oddly enough, too, it was almost the
same thing with my wife.
She had never got over the effects of
her accident, and the shock of the birth
of our crippled boy. Indeed, as the
years went on, she seemed to grow
weaker and weaker, and to rely more
and more absolutely on Fanny.
The germ, small as a mustard seed,
which has now, after so many years of
experimental labor and patient
thought, grown up into the great tree
of my discovery, lay in my mind in the
form of a dormant speculation from
the very commencement of my medical
career. After my marriage it began
to grow and take root there, but for
some years I went on with my every
day practice, which was that of a con
sulting doctor in the city, and said
nothing about it. The fact was that
the whole seemed too wild, and I was
afraid of being set down as one of
those enthusiasts who spond all their
lives in chasing a shadow.
At last, however, my secret grew
too heavy for me to bear, and one
night, after dinner, acting on some
sudden impulse, I began to unfold it to
my wife and Fanny. At first my wife
was much interested, and said that it
all sounded like one of Poe's tales, but
presently, when I got more to the in
tricate parts of my theory, for it was
nothing but a theory then, she fell
into a brown study, and after a while
broke into the conversation. I
thought she was following my line of
argument, and about to question it, and
was rather disgusted when she said:
“Excuse me, Geoffrey, but did you
remember to send that check for the
coals?”
I suppose I looked put out, at any
rate I stopped abruptly.
“Don’t be vexed with me for in
terrupting, dear,” she went on, "but
I want to know about the coals, and
haven't been able to get a word in
edgeways for the last twenty minutes.”
‘Quite so,” I replied, with dignity.
“Pray don’t apologize; no doubt the
icoals are more important than my dis
covery.”
“Nonsense, dear,” she answered, with
a smile; “of course, if there was any
thing in what you say, it would be
very important. But if your story is
true, you are as bad as that man Dar
win, who believes that we are gll
descended from monkeys, and what
we are told in the Bible about Eve
being made out of Adam’s rib falls to
the ground. So you see it must be
nonsense, and the coals are the most
important after all.”
Now my dear wife was one of the
sweetest as she certainly was one of the
■best, women in the world, but on one
point she was always prepared to lose
her temper, and that point was Adam’s
.ribs. So, being aware of this, I held
my tongue, and after talking a little
more about the coals, she said that
she did not feel well, and was going
to bed,
CHAPTER II.
LL THE time that
I had been holding
forth, until my elo
quence was quench
ed by the coal
q u e 811 on, Fanny
was sitting opposite
me, watching my
face with all her
eyes. Evidently she
was interested in
what I had to say,
though she sat so silent. She was now
seventeen or eighteen years of age, and
a very fine young woman indeed, but
a remarkably silent one.
When my wife had bidden us good
night anil gone, I filled my pipe and
lighted it, for I was ruffled, and smok
ing has a soothing effect upon my
nerves.
“Geoffrey,” said Fanny, when I had
finished, for she always called me
Geoffrey, “is this idea of yours a new
one? I mean, has it ever entered any
body’s brain before?”
“So far as I am aware,” I answered,
"“it is the one exception that was want
ed to prove Solomon's rule—it is ab
solutely and completely new.” (This
has subsequently turned out to be the
fact.)
“If T understand you rightly, your
idea, if it can be established, will
furnish a rational explanation of the
phenomenon of life.”
“Quite so,” I answered, for her in
terpretation was in every way accurate,
almost pedantically so.
“And,” she went on, “the certainty of
the practical immortality of the soul,
or rather of the ‘ego’ or individaul
Identity, will follow as a necessary con
sequence, will it not?”
“Yes. Individual immortality of
everything that has life is the keystone
of the arch. If that is wanting there
Is nothing la my discovery.”
“And this immortality will be quite
Independent of any known system of
religion?”
“Certainly, as most people under
stand religion, namely as typified by
the tenets of a particular sect, but not
by any means independent of natural
religion, and on the other hand alto
gether dependent on the existence of a
supreme, and in the end, all-triumphant
power of good. Which, if my theory can
be upheld, will then be proved beyond
the possibility of a doubt.”
Fanny thought for a moment or two,
and then spoke again.
"Do you know, Geoffrey, if you carry
thfa thrmiph vnu will cn down tn
posterity as one of the greatest men
In the whole world, perhaps as the
very greatest!"
1 knew from the tone of her voice
that she meant what she said, and also
that if all this could be proved, her
prophecy would probably be fulfilled.
“Yes,” I said, “but I suppose that to
work the whole thing out, and prove
It, would take a life-time. To begin
with, the premises would have to be
established and an enormous amount of
special knowledge acquired, from the
groundwork of which, and from the
records of thousands of noted cases of
mental phenomena, that it would take
years to collect, one would have to
work slowly up toward the light. A
man would be obliged to give his en
tire time to the subject, and in my case
even that would not suffice, for I am no
mathematician, and, unless I am mis
taken, the issue will depend almost en
tirely upon the mathematical power of
the Investigator. He could not even
employ anybody to do part of the work
for him, for the calculator must him
self be imbued with the spirit that di
rects the calculations, and be pre
pared to bend them this way or that,
to omit this factor and to pick up the
other as circumstances require. Now,
as you, know I am little short of a
fool at mathematics, and therefore on
this point alone I am out of the race,
and I fear that the Secret of Life will
never he discovered by me, though
perhaps I shall be able to put some one
else on the track of It.”
“Yes,” said the girl, quietly, “that
is true enough, but you forget one
thing. If you are not a mathemati
cian, I am, and I can enter into your
ideas, Geoffrey, for I believe that we
have grown very much alike during
the last four or five years—I mean in
mind.”
I started, for both her statements
were perfectly accurate. The girl had
remarkable mathematical faculty, al
most approaching to genius. I had
procured for her the best instruction
that I could, but she had now arrived
at that point when instructors were
of no further use to her. In those
days, of course, there were not the fa
cilities for female education that there
are now, and though it is not so very
long ago, learning in woman was not
thought so very highly of. Men rather
said, with Martial: “Sit non doctlssima
conjunx,” and so her gift had hitherto
not proved of any great service to her.
Also she was right in saying that we
had grown alike in mind and ways of
thought. She had come into the house
quite young, but young as she was,
she had always been a great com
panion to me. Not that she was much
of a talker, but she understood how to
listen and to show that she was giving
her attention to what was being said,
a thing that in my opinion a very few
women can do. And I suppose that in
this way, she, in the course of time,
became thoroughly imbued with my
ideas, and, in short, that her mind, as
I thought, took its color from my own.
At any rate, it did so superficially, and
I know that she would understand the
drift of my thoughts long before any
body else did, and would even some
times find words to clothe them before
I could myself.
“Why should we not work on the
Secret of Life together, Geoffrey?” she
said, fixing her dark eyes on my face.
“My dear,” I answered, “you know
not what you do! Are you prepared to
give up your youth, and perhaps ali
you life, to a search and a study which
may and probably will after all prove
chimerical? Remember that such a
thing is not to be lightly taken up, or,
if once taken up, lightly abandoned.
If I make up my mind to understand it,
I shall practically be obliged to give up
my practice as a doctor to do it: and
the same, remember, applies to you,
for I should prove a hard task-master.
You would have to abandon all the
every-day aims and pleasures of your
sex and youth, to scorn delights and
live laborious days, on the chance of
benefiting humanity and for the cer
tainty of encountering opposition and
ridicule.”
“Yes,” she said, “but I am willing
to do that. I want to become some
body and to do something with my
life, not just to go out like one little
candle in a lighted ballroom and never
be missed.”
“Very well, Fanny, so be It. I only
hope you have not undertaken a task
beyond your strength. If you have
not, you are a very remarkable wom
an, that is all.” ■
At that moment our conversation
was disturbed by the sound of a person,
falling heavily on the floor of the room
above us, which was occupied by my
wife.
Without another word we both turn
ed and ran up-stairs. I knocked at the
door, but, getting no answer, entered,
accompanied by Fanny, to find my dear
wife lying in her dressing gown In a
dead faint before the toilet table. We
lifted her up to the bed, and with great
difliculty brought her round, but this
fainting flt was the commencement of
her last illness. Her constitution ap
peared to have entirely broken up, and
all we could do was to prolong her life
by a few months.
It was a most *
■rt-breaking bust
ness, and one on whlcih even at this
distance of time I do not care to dwell.
I was deeply attached to my wife; In
deed, she was my first and only love
in the sense in which the word is gener
ally used; but my love and care avail
ed but little against the forward march
of the Destroyer. For three months wo
fought against him, but he came on as
surely and relentlessly as the tide, and
at last the end was upon us. Before her
death her mind cleared, as the sun
often does in sinking, and she spoke
to me so sweetly, and yet so hopefully,
that her fender words almost broke
my heart. And yet it was a happy
death. I have seen many people die,
but I never remember one who was so
completely borne up across the dark
gun ujiun me wings 01 cmui-ime luiu.
All her fears and griefs were for me,
for herself she had none. When at
last she had kissed her boy and bade
him farewell—thank Heaven he was
not old enough to understand what It
meant—and said her last word to me,
she sent for Fanny and kissed her too.
“Good-bye, my love,” she said; "you
must look after Geoffrey and the boy
when I am gone,” and then, as though
a sudden idea struck her, she took the
girl’s hand and placed it In mine,
“You will just suit each other,” she
said, with a faint smile, and those were
the last words she spoke.
Fanny colored and said nothing. I
remember thinking afterward that
most women would have cried.
And then the end came and left me
broken-hearted.
It was the night after the funeral,
and I was walking up and down my
little study, struggling against a dis
tress that only seemed to further over
whelm me the more I tried to hoar up
against it, and thinking with that help
less blttterness that does come upon
us at such times, wrapping us, as it
were, in a mist of regret, of the many
little things I might have done to make
my dear wife happier while she lived,
and of the irreparable void her loss
had left in my life. It was well for her,
I was sure of that, for what can be
better than to sleep? But In those
days that certainty of a future in
dividual existence, which I have now
been able through my discoveries to
reach to, was not present with me. It
only loomed as a possibility at the end
of an untraveled vista. She was
gone, and no echo came from
where she was. How could I know
that I had not lost her forever?
Or, even If she lived in some dim
heaven, that I too should make my
way thither, and And her unchanged;
for remember that change Is death!
It has all passed now. I am as sure
as-I write these words that at no dis
tant date I shall stand face to face
with her again, as I am that the earth
travels round the sun. The science
that has unalterably demonstrated the
earth’s course has also vindicated that
inborn Instinct of humanity so much
attacked of late days, and demonstrated
Its truth to me beyond the possibility
of doubt. But I did not know it then. .
“I shall never see her again, never!”
I cried in my agony, “and I have noth
ing left to live for!”
“Perhaps you will not,” sqid a quiet
voice at my elbow, “but you have your
child and your work left to live for.
And if there is anything in your dis
covery, you will see her through all the
ages.”
It was Fanny, who had come Into
the room without my noticing it, and
somehow her presence and her words
brought comfort to me.
ITU B* CuXTlNOSO.I
Strong Pnllf.
The shell-less limpet pulls 1,984 times
its own weight when in the air, and
about double when measured in the
water. Fleas pull 1,493 times their own
dead weight. The Mediterranean cock
le, Venus verrucosa, can exert a pulling
power equal to 2,071 times the weight
of its own body. So great is the power
possessed by the oyster that to open it
a force equal 1,319.5 times the weight
of Its shell-less body is required. If
the human being possessed strength as
great In proportion as that of these
shell-fish, the average man would be
able to lift the enormous weight of
2,976,000 pounds, pulling in the same
degree as a limpet. And if the man
pulled in the same proportionate de
gree as the cockle he would sustain a
weight of no less than 3,106,500 pounds.
Australia's Population*
The New South Wales government
statist estimates that the population
of the seven Australasian colonies at
the end of 1896 was 4,323,171, showing
an increase of 513,366 over the census
of 1891. There is an increase for New
South Wales of 14% per cent, for Vic
toria of 3 per cent, for Queensland of
20 per cent, for South Australia of 12
per cent, for Western Australia of 177
per cent, for Tasmania of 13 per cent,
and for New Zealand of 14 per cent.
During 1896 the population of New
South Wales increased by 19,770. That
Victoria decreased by 6,683. The Vic
toria statist reports that the popu
lation of Melbourne has decreased bjr
42,486 since the census of 1891.
Singular Article of Export.
A curious article of export from the
Chinese port of Pakhoi, according to
the British consul there, is dried liz
ards. “The European, scampering ov
er the Pakhoi plain, on a little native
pony, finds his equestrian pastime sad
ly marred by the necessity for a bright
lookout for the holes dug by the na
tives, sometimes on the very paths, to
catch lizards. The numerical import
ance of these little saurians in the list
of exports may well cause surprise. The
greater quantity exported comes from
the neighborhood of Wuchow, in
Kwnngsi. They are used for making
medicine called “Lizard wine;" It la
said to be a tonic!"
WITH HIS COAT OFF.
SECRETARY WILSON NOT DE
TERRED BY HOT WEATHER.
Working Away la tli* Interests of the
Farmers—Some Interesting Results
Which lie lias Obtained -Prosperity
Ie Mow with Vs Sure.
(Washington Letter.)
“The m*n with his coat off” is not
disturbed by hot weather. The broil
ing days in Washington have not
checked the activity of that rugged
old worker, the head of the Depart
ment of Agriculture, and he is pushing
along with his new plans for Increas
ing the earnings of the farmers, and at
the same time decreasing their hours
of labor.
Secretary Wilson haB had numerous
inquiries as to the result of his trial
shipments of butter to England. He
has received reports from the second
shipment, and is of the opinion that
he is working upon the right line and
one which will develop a largely in
creased industry for the farmers of
this country. Speaking to your cor
respondent about this, he said:
“Our shipment of butter consisted
of various styles of packages, small,
half-pound prints, square boxes, large
tubs and other packages, and generally
arrived in good order. The depart
ment has received letters from a num
ber of Englishmen, commission mer
chants and others who used this but
ter and who generally speak of it in
high terms as regards its quality and
flavor, in comparison with the best
grade of English butter. The only
criticism seems to be that the bufter
generally is not dry enough to suit
them, but this is a point which can be
easily remedied. There is no doubt in
the world but that as soon as we “get
onto them” we can do business with
them, and at profit. We have Just
been haying some tests here in New
York of an interesting nature. We
have had experts examining samples
of butter shipped from England’, Ire
land, Denmark and Australia, and
competing with our own butters ship
ped from the western and northwest
ern states. We met them half way.
In only one case, that of a sample from
England, did the foreign butter come
up to the standard of the best Amer
ican butter. This is very encouraging
to our butter makers and shows that
we make as good butter as is produced.
“It is perfectly logical,” continued the
secretary, "that if we send our grain
to Denmark to be fed to foreign cattle
to produce butter that we can feed it
to our own cattle and send abroad the
butter instead.”
“Another question which I am going
to soon take up,” said Mr. Wilson, “is
that of the foreign cheese market.
Nothing has been done in this line as
yet, and I am not ready to offer any
American cheese abroad. We are not
now in a condition to sell our cheese
abroad for the reason that the market
is full of the adulterated article, and
owing to the laxity of the Internal rev
enue regulations it is almost impossi
ble to discover it. As long as this
‘Ailed’ cheese is sold as pure cheese it
is impossible to establish a reputation
for good cheese. Filled cheese,” ex
plained the secretary, “is made in
this way: Milk is run through a sep
arator and all the fat taken out, at a
value of perhaps 15 or 20 cents per
pound. For this Is substituted cheap
cotton-seed oil, lard, etc., at a cost of
only a few cents a pound. Cheese made
in this manner has poor keeping qual
ities, will not ripen, and is of a low
grade generally. The revenue laws
are constantly being violated and cir
cumvented with regard to the sale of
this substitute for cheese, which is
placed upon the market in large quan
tities as the genuine article. I have
been getting after Secretary Gage and
We Want Woolen* Again.
his people about this, as It Is of course
necessary to establish a high standard
for American cheese before we can ex
pect to do anything in exporting It.
The law requires that this hlled cheese
shall be so marked in large black type,
but various modes of evasion are
practiced which serve to practically
nullify the law. I believe our farmers
C’n make as good cheese as it is pos
sible to produce, and that with proper
methods we can procure a market for
It abroad which will give us a largely
increased market for this agricultural
product.”
“The Department is doing something
about the foreign discrimination
against American meats, Mr. Wilson?”
"Yea. This matter is being carried
forward quietly. We are going about
this in a very modest manner and will
bo able to thoroughly convince foreign
countries, I believe, that It Is to their
hcrt interests (as well as our own) to
remove these obstacles against Amer
ican products. If they do not see It
In. that light, w)iy, then, there are oth
er methods.”
“The subject of'growing tea In the
United States is a subject which has
recently come, especially to my atten
tion. Considerable experimenting In
the past has been done in the tea line
in this country, and the trouble has
always been the difficulty of procuring
labor to pick the tea leaves, but I am
prepared to say that there Is no reason
why the southern states of this country
should not raise and market every
pound of tea usod in the United States,
and a far better article, too, than the
great bulk of tea sold here now. This
is an excellent subject for considera
tion and experiment, and will be heard
from later." G. Hr Williams.
vrop ana uuinm Froiproti Good.
A week of exceptionally favorable
weather for the growing crops and a
complete absence of developments of a
nature calculated to unsettle confidence
have brought about a further Improve
ment in the business situation. This
improvement is not to be measured by
the volume of clearing house exchanges
although the Increase of 7.7 per cent
over the same week last year Is a
sure Indication of progress, because
many merchants and manufacturers
are holding back awaiting a clearer
manifestation of the improvement that
is already sufficiently, obvious to many
But the increase In railroad earnings
during June of more than 3 per cent
as compared with the same period last
year, and the steady purchases of se
curities by American Investors which
have advanced the average price of
stocks 1 per cent in the week and DV4
per cent since the upward movement
began early ,ln May, are corroborative
and additional evidences of the prog
ress toward better conditions that is
steadily becoming more apparent,
The Important positive influence un
doubtedly Is the improving condition
of the growing crops. The weather
has been most satisfactory all over the
country, being warm where warmth
was most needed, and rainy where ad
ditional moisture was required. The
result is that complaints of damage,
which usually figure so largely at this
season, are almost entirely absent. As
to wheat, the winter wheat harvest Is
nearing completion, and is admitted
that the previous calculations of the
crop were entirely too low. The crop
may run up to 300,000,000 bushels, or
60.000.000 bushels more than the gov
ernment estimate indicated as prob
able, while spring wheat is progress
ing so finely and has been so extensive
ly sown that an immense harvest is
reasonably certain here. Our total
wheat crop may run up to 650,000,000
bu, or 125,000,000 bushels more than
last year. This remarkable prospect
has not in the least lowered prices,
which on the contrary have risen 1%
cents a bushel on the confirmation of
reports of damage to the European
crops. It is a significant circumstance
that the September option is 7 cents a
bushel below the July price, indicating
a belief that the known necessities of
Europe will compel purchases before
the foreign crops can be harvested.
Silver • Dead lame.
Uncle Horace Bole of Iowa has Just
made public his views on the 16 to 1
fallacy. He declares: “For one, I do
not believe it possible to succeed up
on a platform that demands the un
qualified free coinage of silver at the
ration of 16 to 1 with gold. We have
fought that battle, and it is lost. We
can never fight it over under circum
stances more favorable to ourselves. If
we hope to succeed, we must abandon
this extreme demand.”
The frank statement of Uncle Hod
shows that he has come to a realiza
tion of the fact that a majority of the
American people are intelligent enough
to understand that a free coinage law
at the 16 to 1 ration would simply
drive us on a plane with Mexico and
China.
The value of the coin of ultimate re
demption depends entirely upon the
market value of the bullion of which
it is composed. A silver dollar, under
these circumstances, cannot be worth
any more than the silver it sells for.
The stamp of the government creates
no value. It is nothing but a certifi
cation of weight and finances.
Mr. Boies evidently relizes these
things. From his letter, we infer that
he would be in favor of dropping to
the silver standard and to a 48 cent
dollar, if he thought the people could
be induced to adopt it. But he sees
they will not and hence he wants the
scheme modified.
He will find no tenable ground out
side of that taken by the Republican
national convention In the platform at
St. Louis last year.—Toledo Blade.
The Revival of Trade.
One of the most encouraging signs of
a return of prosperity is shown in the
statement made by Strawbridge &
Clothier, of this city, of their retail
sales during the month of June. The
sales of the firm, which is one of the
oldest in the city, were larger than
in any corresponding June since they
have been engaged in business. The in
ference to be drawn from this gratify
ing statement is clear, and its signifi
cance is not to be understimated. It
surely portends a revival of trade
which, now only beginning, gives a
promise of exceptional prosperity to
come. And this is only one instance.
The price of iron has advanced; there
is a better demand for coal; prices are
firm and steady everywhere, and not
one report of a depressing nature is re
ceived from any section of the country.
Unless all signs fail, the opening of the
all season will find the promised pros
perity upon us.---Philadelphia North
A merlcan.
. The Makes sod the Taker.
There is no motive to make a prod
uct if you can’t find somebody to take
it. The maker must find the taker.
Ten will not employ labor to make a
product If you cannot find a buyer for
that product after labor has made It.
—President McKinley.
This is so obvious a truth that we
may suppose that even a free-trader
would agree to it. The conclusions in
evitably resulting from this truth are
equally obvious. Why the free-traders
cannot see them is one of the myste
ries of the nineteenth century. It
ought to be perfectly plain that if, by
free trade, the products of foreign
manufacturers are brought into this
country to undersell American man
ufactures, the foreign “makers” will
find all the "takers,” and the result
will be that American manufacturers
will not be able to find buyers for
their products, and will, therefore, not
employ labor to make those products.
The reasoning is perfectly simple. But
we have, had something more than
reasoning In regard to it during the
last four years. We have had a prac
tical demonstration. The doctrinaires
and hide-bound free-traders may not
yet have had their eyeB opened, but
the people of the country have. And
that’s why William McKinley is pres
ident of the United States.
MS
m
5#
£
Protect American Shipping.
Ar* tht Mllli Cloalngr
The convention of Iowa fuslpnista
declared -that the mills were closing >'
and thousands of workingmen were
thrown out of employment. Brad
street’s and Dun’s Review report the
reverse. These publications are non
partisan. They state the facts. They
are published for the information of
business men and tradesmen, and can
not afford to make misleading state
ments. Their patronage depends upon
the correctness of their reports. On ■•?£
Saturday, June 26, Dun’s Review said:
There Is no step backward in busi
ness, although the season of midsum
mer quiet Is near. The Improvement
continues, gradually and prudently r
cautious as before, although in many
branches evident where no signs of It
appeared a few weeks ago. Business
men of thf highest standing in all
parts of the country having gradually
perceived that the tide has begun to
rise, are regulating their contracts and
investments and their plans for the
future with a confidence unknown to S
them a short time ago. Great changes i
before the adjournment of congress are
barCJy to be expected, but the removal
of uncertainty is with reason expected
to bring Into operation buying forces
which have been restricted for months.
“There are signs of Improvement
where none were observed a few weeks 4
ago. There is an encouraging increase |
in the demand for textile goods and 3
even for cottons,” says the same com
mercial report. Concurrently with the
statement of Dun’s Review comes in
formation from the east that—
The custom of closing the cotton
mills during the summer months whioh
has prevailed in New England during
the operations of the Wilson law will
not be followed this season, the recent
announcement from the manufacturing
districts there Indicating that work is
to go steadily on this summer in view
of the prospect that a protective tariff
will soon be upon the statute books.
With these evidences of the return
of better times it was not opportune
for the fusionists to declare that the %
mills and shops are closing.—Dubuque :*
Times.
Aiding Private Interests.
The natural and Inevitable question
for every shrewd citizen to ask is, then.
Why disturb tlie country and unsettle
business by a lot of tariff changes that S»
are not called for except to aid private
Interests?—Providence, R. i„ Journal.
For the very reason that they do “aid
private interests,” the "interests” of
every private individual in the country,
thus constituting the interests of the
masses which form the public interests.
Prompt Work Is Proper*
Protect our people from “perfidy and
dishonor” by the immediate enact*
meat of a tariff for protection.
