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My Fellow Laborer.
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By H. RIDER HAGGARD. $
CHAPTER IV.
HEN once we bad
made up our minds
to get married, we
both of us came to
the conclusion that
the sooner we did
so the better; more
especially as the
introduction of a
new factor into our
relationship was to
m y u naccustomed
. mind in a certain sense improper and
Irksome, although by no means un
pleasant. Also it wasted time and
-tended to direct our attention from iht
• vast undertaking to which we were
pledged. Accordingly, within a very
few days of the occurrence already de
: scribed, I visited a register, and hav
ing, as it seemed to me, paid several
unnecessary fees, provided myself with
a license. On my way back I walked
down Fleet street, thinking amiably
-of getting .married and Dr. Johnson,
and intending to take the omnibps at
Charing Cross. As I went I happened
to look up, and my eye fell upon a no
tice to the effect that a certain well
known life assurance company had its
offices within the building opposite.
Then it was that the idea first oc
curred to me that I ought to insure
my life, so that, should anything hap
pen to me, Fanny might have some
thing to keep her from poverty. As
it was, she would have absolutely
nothing. All that I had, and that my
wife had brought with her, was strictly
settled upon the boy John in such a
way that I could not even give my
subsequent wife a life interest in it,
or a part of it. I stopped there in the
street, and having given the matter
a few moments’ consideration, came
to the conclusion that it was my duty
to provide for Fanny to small extent—
say two thousand pounds.
upon this decision. I crossed the
road-way, and, entering the office,
some inquiries from a clerk. As it
happened, the doctor attached to the
company was at that moment in at
tendance and disengaged, so thinking
that I could not do better than get a
disagreeable business over at once, 1
sent up my card and asked to see him.
The messenger returned presently,
•with a request that I would “step up,”
which I accordingly did, to find myself,
to my astonishment, in the presence
of an old fellow-student of my own,
with whom I had in former days been
tolerably intimate, but whom I had
not seen for years. We greeted each
other cordially enough, and after a few
minutes’ talk I told him the business I
had in hand, and he began his medical
examination with the series of stock
''questions which doctors always put
upon these occasions.
The only point upon which he dwelt
at all was insanity, and he was so
persistent upon this matter that I per
ceived he had heard some of the
rumors about me being mentally de
ranged, which my friends and relations
had so materially assisted to spread.
However, 1 got through that part of
the business, and then I undid my
shirt, and he proceeded with the phy
sical examination. First he applied
the stethoscope to my heart, and
quickly removed it, evidently satisfied.
Then he placed it over my right lung
and listened. While he did so, I saw
his face change, and a thrill of fear
shot through me as it suddenly came lo
my mind that I had experienced some
trouble there of late, of which I had
taken no notice, and which had, in
deed, quite passed out of my mind.
Next be tried the other lung, and
placed the stethoscope on the table.
“What is the matter?” I asked, keep
ing as calm a face as I could, for I
could tell from his look that there was
something very wrong.
“Come, Gosden, you are a medical
man yourself, and a clever one, and
; there is no need for me to tell you
about It.”
. ' “Upon my word,” I answered, “I
know nothing of what you mean. I
have not bothered about my own
health for years; but, now I think of It,
I have had some local trouble on the
chest, last winter especially. What Is
it? It is better to know the worst.”
“Our rule here,” he answered dryly,
"is not to make any communication to
the person examined; but, as we are
brother practitioners, I suppose I may
dispense with It, and tell you at once
that I cannot recommend ydur life to
the board to be insured upon any
terms. That is what is the matter with
.you, old fellow,” and he went on, in
terms too technical for me to write
down here, to describe the symptoms of
one of the most deadliest, and yet
most uncertain, forms of lung disease,
in short to pass sentence of death up
on me.
I do not think I am a coward, and I
hope I took it well. The bitter irony
of the whole thing lay in the fact that
while I was in active practice, I had
made this form of disease a special
study, and used to flatter myself that
I could stop it, or at any rate stave it
off indefinitely, if only I could get at it
in time. I might have stopped my
-own, if I had known about it. Ah!
who shall heal the physician?
“Well, there you are, Gosden,” went
on my friend; “you know as much
about it as I do; you may live three
years, and you may live thirty, but
the odds are against you lasting five.'
You know what an uncertain thing it
is. There is only one thing certain
about it, and that is, that it will kill
you sooner or later. I speak plainly
because we are both accustomed to face
these sort ot facts. Perhaps you had
better take another opinion.”
I shook my head. Now that my at*
tention had been called to It, no
opinions could help me. He was per
fectly right, I might go very shortly,
or I might live till well on into mid
dle life. As the event has proved, I
hare lived, but I am not far from the
end of my tether now.
“Are you of opinion," I asked, "that
my form of disease is likely to prove
hereditary ?”
I knew what bis answer would be,
but I put the question as a forlorn hope.
“Of course. I should consider that
It would certainly be hereditary; and,
w'hat is more, it is extremely probable
that your wife would contract It also.
But why do you ask? You are not go
ing to get married again, are you?”
“I am engaged to be married.”
"Well,” he replied, “of course it is
Ian awkward thing to talk to a man
about, but If you take my advice, you
will be a little more honorable than
most people are under the circum
stances, and break the match off.”
“I am quite of your opinion,” I said,
“and now I will bid you good-day.”
“Well, good-bye, Gosden. I don’t
think It will be of any use my making
a report to the board unless you wish
it. Don’t worry yourself, old fellow,
and keep your chest warm, and you
may see fifty yet!”
In another minute I was in Fleet
street again, and felt vaguely astonish
ed that it should look Just the same
as it did a quarter of an hour before.
Most of us have experienced this sensa
tion when some radical change of dr
cumstance has suddenly fallen upon
us. It seems curious that the great
hurrying world should be so dead to
our individuality and heedless of our
most vital hopes. A quarter of an
hour before, I was a man with a pros
pect of a long and useful, perhaps a
most eminent career.' Also I was Just
going to be married to a congenial
wife. Now I was, as I then thought,
doomed to an early grave, and as for
the wife, the Idea had to be abandoned.
I was in honor bound to abandon it
for her sake, and for the sake of pos
sible children.
•Well, I walked to Charing Cress,
and took the omnibus' as I had intend
ed. I remember that there was a fat
woman in it, who insisted upon carry
ing a still fatter pug dog, and quar
reled with the conductor seriously in
consequence. All this took place in the
month of December, and by the time
I got home it was beginning to grow
dark. I went straight into the study:
Fanny was there, and the lamp was
lighted. When I entered she flung
down her pen, and jumping up, came
forward and kissed tae; and, as she
did so, I thought what a splendid look
ing woman she had grown into,with her
intellectual face and shapely form, and
somehow the reflection sent a sharp
pang through me. Now that I knew
that I must lose her, it seemed to me
that I loved her almost as I had loved
my dead wife, and indeed I have often
noticed that we never know how much
we value a thing till we are calif* up
on to resign it. Certainly I noticed it
now.
“Well, dear,” she said, “have you
got it? Why, what is the matter with
you?"
“Sit down, Fanny,” I answered, “and
I will tell you, only you must try .to
bear it as well as you can.”
She seated herself in her calm, de
termined way, although I could see that
she was anxious, and I began at the
beginning, and went straight through
my story without skipping a word. As
soon as she understood its drift her
face set like a stone, and she heard
me to the end without interruption or
movement.
“Well, Geoffrey,” she said, in a low
voice, when at last I had done, “and
what is to be the end of it all?”
“This: that our marriage cannot
come off—and death!”
“Why cannot our marriage come
off?”
“I have told you why, dear. A man
afflicted as I am has no right to send
his affliction down to future genera
tions. People are fond of calling the
inevitable result of such conduct the
decree of Providence, but it is the
cause of most of the misery of the
world, and as medical men know well
enough, a wicked and selfish thing to
do.”
“The world does not seem to think
so. One sees such marriages every
iiav.”
“Yes, because the world is blind, and
mad, and bad.”
“I don’t agree with you, Geoffrey,”
she answered, with passion. "Our lives
are our own, posterity must look after
Itself. We have a right to make the
best of our lives, such as they are,
without consulting the interests of
those who may never exist. If they
do exist, then they must take their
chance, and bear their burdens as we
bear ours. All this talk about the fu
ture and posterity is nonsense. What
will posterity care for us that we
should care for it? We cannot affect
It one way or the other; it is hopeless
to expect to turn Nature out of her
path. We are nothing but feathers
blown sbout by the wind, and all we
can do is to go down where the wind
blows us, and when we fall, we fall
as softly as we may.”
I looked up in astonishment. I had
no idea that Fanny held views as
merciless, and, opposed to all pure
altruism as they were, in a sense, un
answerable. Indeed, I bad heard her
express notions directly contrary, and
at the moment was totally at a loss
to account for the change. Of course,
however, the explanation was easy
enough. Theory had come into con
flict with interest, and, as is often the
case, even in the most highly developed
people, it was so much the worse tor
the theory.
‘■I am sorry to hear you speak so.
dear,** I said. “I hoped and thought
that you would have cupported me In
a very painful resolution. The blow
la hard enough to bear, even with
your help; without. It Is almost un
endurable.” '' "
She rose from her chair, and then for
the first time I realized the depth.of
her emotion. Her beautiful eyc3
flashed, her bosom heaved, and she
slowly crushed the paper she held In
her hand to shield her face from the
fire, into a shapeless mass, and then
threw It down.
"You have no heart,” she said. "Do
you suppose It is nothing to me, who
was going to marry you within a week,
to lose my husband and to be obliged
to fall back again into this half life,
this very twilight of a life? Oh! Geof
frey, think again,” and she stretched
out her arms toward me, and looked
at me, end spoke In accents of Im
passioned tenderness. "Think,” she
went on, "can you not give up your
scruples for me? Am I not worth
straining a point In your conscience?
There is nothing in the world, Geof
frey, that a man can profit by in ex
change for his love. Soon this dis
ease will take a hold of you, and then
you will grow weak, and miserable,
and incapable of enjoyment. Live now
while you can, and leave the conse
quences to Providence, or rather to
me workings oi tnose uncnangmg
rules which we call Providence. Look
at me: I am beautiful, and I love you,
and my intellect is almost as great as
your own. Don’t throw me away for
a theory, Geoffrey.”
All the time that she was speaking
she drew slowly nearer to me, her
arms outstretched and her great eyes
glowing and changing in the shaded
light. And now the arms closed
round me, and she lay upon my heart
and gazed into my face, till I thought
that I should he overcome. But, thank
Heaven! somehow for conscience' sake
I found the resolution to hold to what
I knew to be right. I think it was the
recollection of my dear wife that came
over me at that moment, and Induced
a sudden feeling of revulsion to the
beautiful woman who lay in my arms,:
and who did not scruple to resort to
such means to turn me from my duty.'
Htgl it not been for the thought, I am1
sure that being but a man, and there-'
fore weak, I should have yielded and
then there would have been no possi-,
bility of further retreat. As it were, I
with a desperate effort, wrenched my
self free from her.
“It is of no use, Fanny,” I cried, in
despair. “I will not do it? I think
that it would be wicked for a man in
my condition to get married. This dis
tresses me beyond measure; but if I
yielded to you I should be doing a
shameful thing. Forgive me, Fanny,
it is not my fault, I did not know. It
is hard enough,”' I added, with a na
tural burst of indignation, “to be sud
denly doomed to a terrible death with
out having to go through this agony,”
and with a sudden motion I flung the
wedding license into the fire.
She watched it burn, and then sunk
back in the chair, covered her face in
her hands and said no more. In this
position she remained for nearly half
an hour. Then she rose, and with a
stern, cold face that it almost frighten
ed me to look upon, returned to her
work, which was now once more the
chief bond between us; nor was the
subject of our engagement alluded $o
again for many months. Nobody had
known of it, and nobody knew that it
had come to an end. And so it died
and went the way of dead things into
what seems to be forgetfulness, but is
in truth the gate-way into those new
and endless halls of perpetuated life
on whose walls evil and unhappy rec
ords of the past, blazoned in letters
of fire, are the lamps to light us down
from misery to misery.
(to be continued.)
CICILIAN LOVE CHARMS.
Home of the Moat Curious and Popular
Onee.
The love charms of Sicily are many
and curious. One, very popular and
considered very powerful, is to put in
to an eggshell a few drops of the blood
of the longing lover, says Macmillan.
The shell is exposed to the sun for three
days and to the dew for three nights.
It is then placed on hot ashes until
calcined, when the whole is reduced
to a fine powder and administered se
cretly in a cup of coffee or a glass of
wine to the object of affection. Anoth
er charm is for the witch to undress
at midnight and tie her clothes up in
a bundle, which she places on her
head; then, kneeling in the center of
her room, she pronounces an incanta
tion, at the end of which she shakes
her head. If the bundle falls in front
of her it is a good sign; should it fall
behind her the charm will not avail.
Yet another is worked in the follow
ing manner: Pieces of green, red and
while ribbon are purchased in three
different shops, the name of the per
son to be charmed being repeated, men
tally, each time. The shop-keeper must
be paid with the left hand, the ribbon
being received in the right. When all
the pieces are bought they are taken
to a witch, who sets out to And the
person to be charmed. On finding him
or her the witch mutters to herself,
“With these ribbons I bind you to such
a one.” Then she returns the ribbons
to the purchaser, who ties them be
neath his or her left knee and wears
them at church.
Too l'oolhle.
ICnicker—“We had to discharge our
pastor because he mispronounced a
word.” Bocker—“For such a trifle?"
ICnicker—“Yes. He said the dear de
parted had gone to “the undiscovered
country from whose burn no traveler
returns.’ ”—Judge.
The Bashl Bazouks seem to be mere
ly a somewhat Idealized set of ruifian*,
WHAT DO THE BIRDS WHISPER?
y ’ v> ■ - fv/..
Grojrer—“Do the wind* whisper through the trees the doom of our ‘Perfidy -
and Dishonor’ to American Industries V’
Wilson—“I’m afraid so. And what will our English friends do?”
IMPOSTERS ARE AT IT.
HAVE SPECIAL FACILITIES FOR
“STOCKING UP."
Tables Showing Inoroasod Exportation!
During tha Spring of INI Oral That
of 1890—Hap Delay Prosperity for
Many Days.
■ :
Washington, D. C., July 21, 1897.
The completion of the tariff bill by
the senate has given the Importers a
much more accurate idea of what its
final provisions are to be and they now
seem to be engaged in the final round
of gathering Into their .warehouses
every article upon which the proposed
new law is likely to increase the rates
of duty. The treasury receipts this
month have averaged more than a
million dollars a day for the business
days of the month and It Is evident
that the rush of Importations is going
to continue up to the very day of the
final enactment of the new law.
This means, cf course, that the rev
enue during the first few months of
the new law will be light. Careful es
timates made by experts lead to tbc
conclusion that much more than a
year’s supply of foreign wools have
been brought Into the country in the
past four months and that in many
other articles the requirements for a
year are now in warehouses, duty paid.
It Is not Improbable that the custom re.
celpts under the new law may drop
in its first two or three months to a
lower point than has been known in
many years, perhaps in the memory of
this generation. If this proves to be
the fact the people should and doubt
less understand the cause—the enor
mous importations which have been
made in view of the expected increase
In duties.
No other tariff law in the memory of
the present generation has offered this
“Hurrah for the Dlngley BUI.
special advantage In the period of Its
preparation to those desiring to profit
by advance importations of a large
class of art Idas. The various tariff
acts which have been passed since the
war have been in every case a re
duction in general terms, and conse
quently have not stimulated the Im
portations prior to their final, enact
ment as has been the case in this in
stance. The Wilson law increased the
rates of duty on sugar and it is well
remembered that in this particular ar
ticle its final passage was
preceded by the importation
of enormous quantities of sugar by
which alone there was caused a great
reduction in the revenues under the
unfortunate law during its first few
months. But there has been no case
since the war tariffs, prior to this one
in which the pending measure promised
a general advance all along the line,
and as a consequence no such incen
tive to general over-importation in
nearly all classes of articles affected
by the tarifT. The result will be that
Instead of the revenues being reduced
by excessive importations of two or
three articles, as was the case three
years ago, when the Wilson law went
Into effect, the Dingley law, when it
takes effect, will find many months’
stock of nearly every class of foreign
goods In hand and as a consequence,
very light Importations during several
months of Its early history,.
A few examples will indicate to <>—.
extent this enormous Increase of im
portations during the past few months.
The monthly summary of Finance and
Commerce Just issued shows the May
Importations of dultable cattle to be
46,975 In number against 10,067 In May
of last year, while the April importa
tions of cattle In 1897 were 62,849
against 13,411 In April of last year. The
May importations of caustic soda
amounted to 9,570,755 pounds agalnet
4,229,150 In the corresponding month of
last year, while the April Importations
were also more than double those of
April, 1896. The Importations of chic
ory root In May were over 3,000,000
pounds against 1,360,000 in May, 1896,
while in April the importations were
nearly 8,000,000 pounds against 1,280,
000 of the preceding year. The pros
pect of a duty on Egyptian cotton has
stirred up the importers of that article,
the May importations amounung to
2,500,000 pounds against 1,388,000 In
May of the preceding year, while the
April importations were nearly 9,000,
000 against a trifle over 5,000,000 in
April, 1896. *;•
The following tables show the Impor
tations of dultable and non-duitable
goods during March. April, May and
June of the present year compared
with the corresponding months in last
year.
Importation of articles free of duty
March to July, 1896-97.
.. 1896.
March .831,016,387
April . 88,396,639
May . 34.788.242
June . 26.180.398
Importation of dutiable
March to July, 1896-97.
1897.
84U14.784
60,889,374
86.708.066
41,160,000
articles
March ..836,439,ITS 835.236,660
April .30.063,940 60,433,032
May . 32,472,617 42,666,486
June . 31,033,342 43,660,000
Some idea of the loss of revenue of
the Dlngley bill occasioned by these
large importations will be shown by
the increased customs receipts March,
April, May and June of 1897 as com
pared with those months of the pre
ceding year. This comparison will not
of course show the entire loss of rev
enue to the Dlngley law, because the
duty which would have been collected
upon these same articles under that
law are several millions in excess of
the rates which have been collected on
them under the present tariff, but even
these figures give something of an
idea of the shortage in the customs
revenues which may be expected under
the Dlngley law during its first few
months by reason of the importations
which preceded its enactment. The
customs receipts In the past four
months compared with those of the
corresponding four months of the pre
ceding year, are as follows:
Custom receipts March to July, 1896
1897.
1896. 1897.
March .813,344,215 J22.833.876
April . 11.815,731 24.454,331
May . 10.V'9,:U 16,895.011
June . 11,351.808 21.660,161
J. H. WILLIAMS.
South Amorlcan Ignorance,
The imports Horn the United States
to the Argentine Republic in 1896
amounted to $11,210.475. The exports
from the Argentine Republic to the
United States amounted to $6,401,362.
These official figures Bhow the differ
ence in the commercial balance be
tween your country and mine of $5,
000,000 against the Argentine Repub
lic.—Carlos L!x Klett, editor from the
Argentine Republ'c. at Cincinnati. O.
It is surprising how Intensely ignor
ant our South American friends are of
the actual trade affairs of their own
countries. As a matter of fact, during
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896,
we bought from Argentina goods worth
$9,313,385 admitting almost the whole
cf them free of duty, only $379,141
woTth paying any tariff through our
customs department. On the other
hand, we sold only $5,491,216 worth of
American goods for shipment to Ar
gentina. Instead of the trade balance
being $5,000,000 against the Argentine
Republic, it was $3,822,169 against the
United States.
Japanese Protection.
A special dispatch from Berne,
Switzerland, says that the Bundesrath
has refused to ratify the commercial
treaty with Japan, owing to the pro
hibitive duty placed upon clocks and
watches.
And this is the same Japan that so
recently protested against certain Pro
tective features of the Dingley tariff!
REPUBLICAN HOT SHOT.
Indications now warrant the asses
t!on that the new tariff law wlfl be suf
ficient to meet the running expenses at
the government after the first few
months of its operation. The fact that
it will not produce sufficient money to
meet running expenses In its early
history will be because of the fact that
several months’ supply of foreign goods
Including a year’s supply of foreign
wool, have been Imported Into th«
country during the consideration of the
bill, and consequently the Imports ol
the first few months will be compara
tively light and the earnings of the
law correspondingly small.
The bounty on beet sugar was tht
closing proposition of the Republican
senators at Washington. All othei
work upon the tariff bill had been com
pleted. A proposition to pay a quartet
of a cent per pound bounty on all beet
sugar produced In the United States
during five years after the enactment
of the pending tariff bill was offered
by Senator Allison, and would have
been promptly passed but for the threat
of Chairman Jones of the Democratic
national committee and other Demo- ,
cratic senators, who announced that
they would delay the passage of the
bill indefinitely rather than allow the
insertion of this provision of the bill
It Is well enough that the people ol
the United States should understand
that It was the Democratic party in the
senate, led by the chairman of the
Democratic national committee, which
threatened to filibuster Indefinitely and
thus delay the tariff bill, for which the
people are asking, rather than consent
to this slight encouragement of the best
sugar Industry In which the farmers
Iksik foe, hr. rniltafa
of the United States are so greatly in
terested.
"It is in such times as these that
demagogues thrive; it is in just such
times that they should be shunned.
They can lead men astray, but they
can not correct a single real or imagin
ary grievance under which men suffer.
There is too much demagoguelsm
abroad in the land; there is too muck
false doctrine taught pertaining te
governmental functions; there is toe
much encouragement of the spirit oi
socialism, and all that it implies, in
cluding communistic and chimerical
schemes for a ‘social democracy,’ so
called; there is too much toleration oi
disrespect for eburts and constituted
authorities; there, is too much clamor
for class legislation; there Is too much
inculcation of the idea that men can
become rich without effort—by the
mere flat of the government instead oi
earning wealth In the good old fash
ioned way; and there is too much at
tention paid to cranks, blatherskites,
and political adventurers, entitled to no
consideration, but who seem to have
obtained the public ear, and are seek
ing to pull down the pillars of society."
—David Bennett Hill.
Indications warrant the belief that
the new tariff law will be satisfactory
to a larger number of people than any
other tariff measure ever put upon the
statute books in this country.
The prosperity already visible among
the farmers and the prospect that it la
to be continued has been recognized by
the financiers of the east, who hav»
just Issued orders to their representa
tives in the Mississippi valley to return
to the liberal business methods which
existed prior to the present depression
by making farm loans freely at low
rates of Interest.
Sliver leader* are quarreling among'
themselves, Mr. Bryan having indicat*
ed great dissatisfaction over the fact
that all features of the Chicago plat*
form, except that of 1G to X, are being *
neglected by the Democrats in many
states, while Mr. Towne, on the other
hand, is reported as urging that thi*
course be followed and all features o!
the Chicago platform, except silver, Ig
nored.
The newk tariff law will thoroughly
meet the popular demand.changes made
by the conference committee being such
as to bring it thoroughly in line with
the wishes of the people, especially
those features relating to sugar, wool,
and other agricultural interests.
It is rumored that Mr. Bryan will find
himself so- busy in Nebraska during
the coming campaign that he will not
have time to go to Ohio for those three
hundred speeches which he promised.
The fact is, the Ohio convention gave
William J. a cold shoulder by omitting
to do anything for him except to give
him “three cheers’’ when his name was
brought to the front. Whether Ohio)
Is tired of Bryan, or Bryan is tired of
Ohio, Is a little uncertain, but them
Is, nevertheless, a possibility that they
may not pull together in harmony tht%
fan. - • £
