I My Fellow Laborer.] i h*6(m By H. RIDER HAGGARD. 1 CHAPTER V.—(Costiscbd.) “The work must take care of Itself, Geoffrey. You must discover the Se cret of Life yourself; or perhaps you had better put the whole thing in the Bre and go back to practice. At any rate, it has served my turn, and I have done with it!” “I don’t understand you!" I answer ed, sinkihg into a chair. “Perhaps if yon are not in too great a hurry you will explain a little." “Of course I will, when I have poured out your tea. There now, listen, and I will give you a lesson in human nature, which, with all your brains, you very much want, Geoffrey. I have been In this house for fourteen years, and I will begin by telling you that from the day that I came in till to-day. when I go out, you have never understood me In the least. You have always looked upon me as a simple-minded woman of intellectual capacity, and with a genius for mathematics, and no alms beyond the discovery of scientific secrets. Now, I will tell you. When I first came to this house as a girl of fourteen, I fell in love with you. You need not look astonished—young girls sometimes do that sort of thing. You were good looking in those days, and very clever, as you are now; and then you were really and truly a gentleman, and one sees so few gentlemen—I always think they are the scarcest people in the world! Well, I nursed my secret passion and held it so tight that neither you nor your wife even guessed it. Even in those days I could form a clear opin ion, and I saw that she would not live long, and that the time would come when I should step into her shoes. So I played upon her weak points, to strengthen my hold over her, and wait ■ed. In due course the time came. You were a long time before you proposed to me after her death, and your head was so full of your work that I believe yould would have been longer, had I not, by means that were imperceptible to you, kept continually turning your - mind into that channel. Even then you did not love me as I wanted to be loved; but I knew that this would come after marriage. And then came the crash, and the sudden appearance of an obstacle against which no scheme of m'ne could prevail, overwhelmed and confused me, filling me with a sense of impotence that I have never experi enced before or since. If you could know, Geoffrey, what a flood of un utterable contempt rushed into my mind, as I heard you maundering on about your scruples and posterity! It drowned my passion. I felt that I was well rid of a man who could in cold blood give me up to satisfy what he was pleased to call his conscience! But perhaps you will never quite know or understand how near I went to killing you that night!” Here I started—the whole thing was like a nightmare. Fanny laughed. . "Don't be frightened,” Fanny went on; “there's nothing more melodramat ic to come. I am glad to say that pru dential considerations prevailed! Well, after that fiasco, I reviewed the posi tion and determined to stay on—partly from habit, partly on account of John —partly, indeed chiefly, because I was still foolish enough to believe in the Secret of Life business, and foresaw that when it did succeed my name would be made, and that I should then, backed as I am by my personal ap pearance and capacities, be able to marry whom I liked, or, if I preferred it, not to marry, but to follow any ca reer in life that might recommend its elf to me. “At last, however, the end came. I lost all faith in our work, and saw that you and I had only been making fools of ourselves; and consequently I de termined to sever a connection that could not bring me credit or profit,eith er now or in the future, and, being a woman, the only way that I could pos sibly sever it with advantage was by marriage. For a long time I could not fall in with anybody rich enough; when at last a happy accident brought the man within my reach—by the way, I had thought of him for several years —and, of course, I took my chance, and married him before anybody could in terfere. What is more, I actually per suaded him to enter into an engage ment to settle four thousand a year to my separate use; so you see I shall in reality be totally Independent of the man!” “And what do you mean to do with yourself now?” I asked, feebly. “Do! I mean to bask in the sunshine and drink the wine of life—to know what pleasure and power mean, to live and become rich and great, and avenge myself upon everybody who has ever alighted or injured me! Oh, yes, I shall do it, too! I shall use even that miserable little Joseph, whom I just now had the pleasure of promising to love, honor and obey, as a means to advance myself. He is a poor crea ture, but sharp enough to be a member of Parliament, you know'. “That reminds me, he is waiting for me at his club; he was afraid to come 'back and face you, so I must be going. Wei?, good-bye, Geoffrey; I hope that you will think kindly of me sometimes, notwithstanding it all, and although have for the first time in my life in lulged in the luxury of telling you averythlng that is in my mind. Ah, you don’t know what a luxury It is to be able to speak the truth just for once! Do you know now that I am going to leave you—it Is very odd—but I almost feel as. though I loved you again, as t used to do so many years ago! At least I am glad to have spent all this time with you. though I was often dreary enough, because I know that I shall never meet a man like you again, and my mind leaves you hardened and braced and polished by contact with your bright Intellect, and by the con stant study and application you have Insisted on till it has become a second nature to me. I shall miss you, Geoff rey, but not bo much as you will mis3 me. You will be miserable without me, and no other woman can ever fill my place, because I do not believe that you -can find any who is my equal in Intellectual resource. You see what happens to people who indulge in scruples! Are you not sorry that you did not marry me now?” “Fanny,” I answered, solemnly, for by this time I comprehended the whole horror of the position, “I thank the Providence which preserved me from joining my life to that of a woman so wicked as yourself!” “Really, Geoffrey, you are quite en ergetic! I suppose that you are plquegl at my going. Well, I must be going, but before I go I will lay down a little axiom for your future guidance; I fear you will think it cynical, but the truth is often cynical. ‘Never trust a woman again,.^Remember that she always has a tnotive. If she is under twenty-live, sfcek for it in her passions; after that in her self interest.' ” .At tnis moment her lace changed, and as it did I heard the tap! tap! of poor John’s crutches as he came down the passage.. The door opened and the boy entered—a feeble,"' Undersized lad, with a pinched-up white face and a pair of beautiful blue eyes. “Cousin Fanny,” he said (he al ways called her cousin), as he entered, “where are you? I have been looking for you everywhere. Why have they been taking away your big box? You are not going away to stay without me, are you?” “Your cousin is going away for good, John,” I said; and next moment I re gretted it, for it was dreadful to see the look of agony that came upon the poor lad’s face. He loved Fanny with all the strength of his sensitive and exaggerated nature, and for years had scarcely been able to bear her absence, even for a day. “Oh, no! no!” he screamed, hobbling up to her and catching hold of her dress in his hands. “Don’t say you’re going, cousin! You can't go and leave me behind.” “Geoffrey,” she said in a choked voice, “let me take the boy with me. He is my weak point. I love him as though he were my own. Let me take him. He shall be looked after!” “I had rather see him dead!”. I an swered, sternly, little guessing how soon I should be taken at my word. She stooped down and kissed the lad, and then turned and went swiftly—al most at a run. He seized his crutches and limped down the passage after her at an astonishing pace, calling her by name as he went, till presently one of the crutches slipped, and he fell help less upon the stone flooring, and lay there, still screaming to her through the hall door, which she slammed be hind her. When I reached him he was in a fit! The whole thing formed the most horrible, and in its way the mo3t tragic scene that I ever saw; and I often dream of it even now. And here I may add that my poor boy never recovered from the shock. He lingered three months and then died in his sleep, ap parently from pure inanition. Well, it was a merciful release from a life of almost constant pain! That was the last time that I ever saw Fanhy Denelly, or rather Fanny Hide-Thompson. CHAPTER VI. HEN John had temporarily recov ered under the treatment that I had applied, seeing that I could do nothing t else for him, I gave him a sleeping draught, and as soon as It had taken effect, I went down stairs into the study in a very strange state ot mind. I felt as though I had re ceived some dreadful physical shock. I had believed in and trusted Fanny as 1 had trusted no other woman on earth, except my dear wife, and the lurid light in which she now suddenly revealed herself after these long years positively staggered and blinded me! And yet, after it all, I was astonished to find that I remained fond of the wo man and missed her dreadfully. In deed, it was a year or more before I got over the feeling, and then I only did it by the exercise of great self-con trol. I had grown to depend upon her so entirely that her help and society seemed a necessity to me, quite alone as I was in the world. Indeed, had it not been for my own rather well-de veloped pride, I do not think I should ever have got over it. But this came to the rescue. I could not bear to re flect that I was intellectual and so cially bound to the chariot wheels of a woman who had for years been making a tool of me, and who was, after all, my inferior. And so by degrees I did get over it; but it has left its mark on me—yes, it has left its mark! And then it was on that same disas trous morning that a wonder happened, so strangely and opportunely, that I have at times been almost inclined to attribute it to the direct interference of Providential Power. When I was worn out with thinking, I turned to my work, more from habit than anything else, I think, only to be once more ov ercome by the reflection that there too I was helpless. The work could not go on without the calculations, and who was to do them now that Fanny had deserted me? I could not, and it would be the task of years to teach anybody else, however clever, for the under standing of them had grown with the experience. Besides, this I could never afford to pay a man of the necessary ability. It appeared, therefore, that there was an end of my search for th< Secret of Life, to which I had devoted the best years of my precarious exist ence. It was all but labor lost, an: would benefit neither myself nor man kind. This conviction rushed upon me as I stood there by the pile of pa pers; then for the first time I quit' broke down under the accumulated weight of sorrows, and, putting my hands before my face, I sobbed like a child! The paroxysm passed, and with it passed, too, all my high ambitions. I must give it up, and go back a fail ure to what little practice I could get. until such time as the end came. CHAPTER VII. S I stooped to gath er tip the various papers, I noticed that on the table before me lay a great sheet of Fan ny’s calculations, which she had been employed upon the previous night. The top of the sheet was covered with two dense armies oi ngures ana sym bols, marching this way and that, but toward the bottom they thinned out wonderfully, till there remained two little lines only of those that had sur vived the crooked ways of mathemati cal war. Evidently she had laid down her pen (as she sometimes would) just before the termination of the prob lem, which 1 was aware she had boen engaged on for several days. 1 knew but little of the higher mathematics, but I could see if the left-hand lino were subtracted from the right, the difference would be the result sought for, provided the problem had been worked out without error. I took a pencil and did this idly enough. The first time I made a mistake, but even with the mistake the result was suf ficiently startling to make me rub my eyes. 1 did it again, and then sank back into the chair behind me with a gasp, and trembling as though I had unwittingly raised a ghost! And no wonder. For there before me was the Key to the great Secret for which we had been wearily seeking ?o many years! There was no mistake about it! 1 knew what it ought to be, and what conditions it must fulfill: and there it was, the last product of scores of sheets of abstruse calculations based upon laws that could not lie. There it was! She had stopped just short of it, and at length I had tri umphed!—the fast obstacle to success, complete, absolute success, was gone! I had wrung the answer to the great question which torments the world from the stony heart of the almighty law that governs it! "If she had known this, Fanny would not have gone!” I said aloud, and then, what between one thing and another, I fainted! (TO U- CONTINUED.) A Sparrow’s Ride In a Fly Wheel. Birds have all sorts of queer adven tures, but perhaps what was the odd est one of recent days is that which be fell a sparrow at Anderson, Ind. It flew into a knife and bar manufactory, and, getting too near a small wheel, was sucked in. The workmen noticed It go into the wheel, but knowing that the cylinder was revolving at a speed of 130 revolutions a minute, took it for granted that the bird was killed. When the factory shut down at noon the men were astonished to hear a gen tle chirp from the wheel, and lo, there was the sparrow as well as ever. They found that the bird had clung to the strengthening rod of the wheel, and was In a semi-dazed condition. They picked him up and put him on a table, and thence, after collecting his wits, the little bird flew to freedom. The wheel in which the bird rode made 31,000 revolutions while it was upon it, and so the tiny feathered creature traveled seventy-three and eight tenths miles in the embrace of a fly wheel. A Queer-Looking Word. Supposing that you had been born blind, and after living many years shut out from the beautiful things of the world, some skilled surgeon should give to you your sight, wouldn’t you have some marvelous experiences? says the Chicago Record. An old man who had been born blind had his sight thus re stored to him. At first he started vio lently and was afraid of the strange things around him, the hugeness of tils room and its contents. One of the first things he saw at the window was a flock of sparrows. "What are they?" asked the physician. “I think they are teacups," was the reply. A watch was then shown to him and he knew what it was, probably because he heard it tick. Later, on seeing the flame of a lamp, he tried to pick it up not having the slightest idea of its nature. A Groat Help. Mrs. Poorman—It has been a hard winter, ma’am. My three grown girls have been very little help to me. The poor things are not strong enough to do the washing and they haven’t [■lothes good enough to apply for any work. District Visitor—But, you say they have rich relatives; don’t they look after them? Mrs. Poorman (sad ly)—Only their morals, ma’am—only their morals.—Goshen Democrat. Almost Uncanny. Yeast—We’ve got a new cook that’s' a wonder. Crimsonbeak—What’s the matter with her? “She’s been in the house three weeks and no one has heard her say what make wheel she' rides.’’—Yonkers Statesman. GOODCBOPS ASP PBICE PROSPERITY RAPIDLY RETURN INO TO THE LAND. Talk With a Distinguished States man and Agricultural Expert—B. W. Snow Has 8ome Interesting Views on Con* dltlons and Prospects. Washington, D. C„ Aug. 1, 1S97. It is seldom that the entire country is blessed with such an abundance as this year. In no section is there re ported "no crops.” Illinois has pehaps the poorest wheat yield but her corn crop Is magnificent and the small losses from winter killed wheat sections do not amount to any thing In the grand total yield. Mr. B. W. Snow, the ex-asslstant sta tistician of the department of agricul ture, who Is still making a specialty of agricultural statistics, said. In speaking of the great agricultural wealth of the country at this time: "With the bountiful crops throughout the United States not in prospect but actually In hand, with Increased and Increasing consumption at home and a larger foreign demand for American products and with prices, on the up grade evan while the crops are still on the Karens, this year of 1897 will be remembered as a year of. great agri cultural prosperity and plenty.” "Harveotlng Is so far advanced, Mr. Snow, that It Is no longer a matter of estimate and conjecture as to the yield, but in many cases you have the actual approximate figures?” "Yea. The crop season Is now so far advanced that the final results can be safely promised. Nevertheless the re sult Is no less pleasing than the earlier prospective hopes of the most opto mlstlc. In no line of agricultural pro duction is It a light year and in most the yields are heavy. Hay has rarely flourished as it has this year. The abundant rains have given us a very unusual crop and hay 1b a more im portant crop than usually thought. The rates of the new tariff law thor oughly protect our farmers in this re spect. The year’s wheat crop is the second largest in the history of the country, running upwards of 500,000, 000 bushels and well distributed over the country. The corn crop promises to be a very large one. The oat crop is also well above the average. All the minor crops are In promising form. The fruit crop generally promises good re sults. But these facts of large yield and good promise do not tell the whole story of prosperity. Prolific crops have been harvested before, but in some cases, have for want of consumption and demand, proven a burden rather than a blessing. It was a common saying that the farmer would rather have small crops with good prices than large crops and no prices. But this year come the abundant crops and high prices, a rare combination and one calculated to warm the cockles of the heart of the thrifty farmer. Prices are high and inclining upward. There is no reason to fear a reaction and slump because of the actual conditions of tha world's crops. The United States holds the key to prices. The wheat crop of the world Is known to be about 100,000,000 bushels short. Argentina, India and Australia have no surplus and Russia practically none. Great Britain, France and Germany are fgr short in their production of their home demand. There was an American surplus of last year's crop of 70,000.000 bushels and the fortunate thing is that this is in the hands of the farmer. The advanced position of wheat developed before the farmer had disposed of his wheat to buyers and now he will reap the full benefit of the advance.” "1:3 not the present crop larger than was expected sometime ago, Mr. Snow?” "It is, and the quality is of the fin est. In winter killed sections the wheat braced up wonderfully. Fields in Illinois whose plowing under was contemplated early in the season have made very fair yields and others with a supposed small yield have shown by the thresher enormous returns. The actual increase in money in the hands of the farmers through their wheat holdings throughout the country is an enormous sum. Wheat Is worth now about 20 cents a bushel more than the crop last year and the advance for this year has just begun: The market will continue to rise. The Increased value of the wheat crop of Kansas alone this year In comparison with last amounts to nearly or quite $25,000,000, while the increased value of the coun try’s crop at present prices is in ex cess of $100,000,000 over that of last year.” wnat are tne corn outlooks, Mr. Snow?” "Most gratifying. Although the sea son started late the yield will be large. 2,000,000,000 bushels is a fair estimate as the rcreage is the largest ever planted. Every indication points to advancing prices in corn. Last year at this time prices were shrinking at the prospect of a large crop; this year the tendency is upward. Millions of bushels of oli corn now lie in the cribs in the west and with rising prices for this as well as the new crop, there can be but one result.” “All along the line of agricultural production, including all live stock, there is a general steady increase! Large new flocks of sheep are con templated as a result of the wool tariff and the demand has increased the value of the sheep holdings of the country $10,000,000. "But the finest point in all these Increases is the fact that they come Rt a time when the farmer holds his products and that he Individually will reap the full benefit. I have a little table here prepared some days ago for publication which shows the im provement in cash values of leading farm products. They are recent Chi cago quotations for 1897 in compari son with those exactly one year ago: Wheat Corn Oats Rye Barley Flaxseed Hogs Cattle Sheep 1896 .68 .26% .18 .29 .27 .73 92.90 to f3.20 93.95 to 94.30 92.00 to 93.80 1897. . .77 .27% .17 .39 .31 .83 93.40 to 93.60 94.40 to 94.90 92.35 to 94.00 "In these articles named, with the single exception of flaxseed this year's supply is larger than that of last and the supply, as I .have said, is in the hands of the producer." O. H. WILLIAMS. — "Came la Oat of the Wet Johnnie." The Outlook for Wool We congratulate the American wool growers upon their outlook. After nearly flve years of steady deprecia tion in the value of sheep and wool, brought about solely by the Democrat ic policy of free trade in wool, our Am erican sheep owners will have protec tion restored to their agricultural in dustry and with it, we trust, an increase in the number and value of their flocks. While we wish no harm to Australian sheep owners, the following extract from the monthly wool circular of Messrs. Ooldsbrough, Mort St Co., of Melbourne, dated May 7, is of inter est: The pastoral position almost through out Australia is at present one of great gravity; the severity of the drought is almost as acute as it is widespread. The preservation of stock requires in cessant effort, and mortality is increas ing with painful rapidity, while the prospects of a lambing season have sel dom, if ever, been more unpromising. Even in stronger confirmation of the unfavorable outlook for the Australian flocks, with a consequent decrease in the production of Australian wool, is the following extract from a printed letter dated at Sydney, Australia, May 8: “Here we are passing through a se vere drought—one of the worst expert-' enced for many, many years, and I think that nearly the whole crop of lambs will be lost and possibly eight to ten millions more sheep, so that you may look for the numbers in this col ony (New South Wales) going down from 47 millions at December 31 last year to about 35 to 37 millions at the end of this year, because, even though rain may come now, there must be a tremendous mortality as the ewes are lambing and the sheep generally are in a very weak condition in moBt parts of the colony. The bad season will al so militate largely against the crops.” If it be possible to collect a duty up on all foreign wool imported in antici pation of the enactment of a protec tive tariff, either In such manner as has been suggested by Senator Warren or by an internal revenue tax, then the improvement in the outlook for all American wool interests will be even quicker, stronger and surer. That “Endleu Chain” Smaihed. The eagerness of importers to evade the new tariff had one noteworthy re sult. It smashed the Cleveland inven tion, that the drain of gold from the treasury was due to our currency, which furnished an “endless chain” for the drawing out of gold. The currency Is the same to-day it was when Messrs. Cleveland and Carlisle were casting about for any reason but the true one to account for their bond sales. The currency i3 the same and the treasury is not drawn upon for gold exception ally. The reason is the treasury has money enough to meet the govern ment's expenses. Republicans said ail the while the drain of gold and the bond sales were due to the tariff for deficit and would cease as soon as rev enue receipts equaled expenses.—Utica, N. Y.. Herald. Democrats Not Free Traders. There are a great many editors and a few public men who have deceived themselves Into believing that the democratic party Is a free trade party. We need not pause here to Inquire how so confusing an error got afoot. It is sufficient to say that the time has come to correct It.—“Constitution,” Atlanta, Ga. . We are indeed very glad to hear it, and gladly do our part toward cor recting the misapprehension by giving the above Democratic statement the widest possible circulation among our exchanges and through our various press services. M’LEAN A GOLD BUG. Mr. McLean, It appear*, has quite aa arrest a fondness for cold as those other gentlemen with whom he rles In his al* leged friendship for silver. While hi evidently considers silver good enough, for the poor man, he does not consider it good enough for John R. McLean. There are plenty of evidences of this in Mr. McLean’s business transactions : in the District of Columbia. In his In* ■ vestments, which have been numerous and large here, he has, where possible, selected those payable in gold, and has even gone so far as to discard any sll« : ver obligations which may have Inci dentally fallen Into his hands, so soon as he found opportunity. An instance is related la which a few years ago he j purchased a number of bonds of the District of Columbia of two classes. These purchases were made lndlscrimi- ; nately without reference to the classes of bonds, but were soon followed by a sale by McLean of a number of those which he had apparently bought as a permanent Investment. Observation as to the class of bonds of which he was disposing disclosed that he Invariably retained. the gold bonds and disposed of those which were not specifically made payable in gold coin, although they were guaranteed by the United States. Mr. McLean has made no con cealment of his motive in these transac tion^ saylpg frankly that he wanted the obligations which he held as an In vestment payable In gold. On another occasion, when one of Mr. Bland’s sil ver measures was pending in congress, and there seemed a probability that it might become a law. it Is related on good authority that Mr. McLean bur- g rledly disposed of large quantities of United States bonds, taking gold coin ’ In exchange therefor and depositing it In the vaults of one of the great sate deposit establishments of this city, pil ing up many thousands of dollars of the yellow metal against the possibility of legislation in favor of sliver, which, however, did not take place. There are plenty of circumstance* of this kind which might be detailed to show Mr. McLean’s personal fondness"T for the yellow metal and his unwilling* ness to accept obligations which could be paid In silver, of which he now poses as a champion. While these art Interesting and plentiful, they are omit* • ted on this occasion in order to give space for the details of a single transac* ' tlon showlug his fondness for gold and 1 distrust of the other classes of currency which he and his associates in Ohio art now seeking to force upon the massea The transaction in question is that of a contract made by him with the Col* umbia Athletic club of this city in 1889, In which he requires that organisation to make sundry obligations, amounting to $70,000, payable to him individually In gold coin, both principal and inter* est. The transaction related to the con* struction of a club house for this or ganization, the Columbia Athletic dut of the District of Columbia. In that year he made an agreement with the club by which he sold to It certain lots In the fashionable northwest part of Washington, near the War, State, and Navy Departments, and erected there* upon a commodious and costly club bouse, the price of the land and the club house being $70,000. This money the club agreed to pay on or before the* 1st of March, 1909, and Issued bonds payable to John R. McLean, bearing his name upon their face. These bonds he required tbs club to agree to pay in “gold coin of the United States of the present standard of weight and line* ness,” also requiring it to pay the “in terest thereon in like gold coin.” There can be no doubt about the no curacy of this statement. The bonds were prepared and signed by the offi cers of the club and turned over ta him, and some of them have since passed into the hands of other parties who now hold them. Not only are these bonds still extant and readily obtain able by those who desire to verify this statement, but a still more permanent and unimpeachable record of this tran sactlon Is found upon the official records of the District of Columbia. The de tails of the entire transaction between Mr. McLean and the Columbia Athletic club are set forth in a copy of a deed of trust given in connection with this transaction. Tamed Over a Hew I,eaf. If ^DE. ©I _ . -Vs The Lot of the Worker*. In the United States, as well as in Germany and Belgium, the lot of tha workers is, upon the whole, more fa vorable than that of the British Iron . and steel worker.—Newcastle, England. “Journal.” Precisely so, because the policy ot protection in Germany, Belgium and the United States improves the condi tion of wage earners. British fren trade, on the other hand, impoverishes their condition. '