4 4444444444444 44444 4:444444444444 44444 4444444444444444 | An American Nabob, j ♦ A Remek.rkek.ble Story of Love, Gold amd | ♦ Adventure. $ ♦ - ♦ | By ST. GEORGE RATHBORNE t 444444444444 44-*44444*444 44444444 44444444 4444444444444 Copyright, by Stubet & Smith, New York. CHAPTER VI.—(Continued.) McGregor made a proposition to the effect that his principal should be en titled to at least one shot in practice before the affair came on the carpet— as Livermore was familiar with the handling of the firearms, he certainly had an advantage, and it would be only fair to give Overton a chance to see how the weapon upon which he was about to stake his life did its work. To this the others readily agreed, and Jack glancing around for some mark, discovered a sparrow upon a branch fully as distant as his antago nist would be when the word came to fire. “Ah!" he remarked, “I have found a mark almost half as large as a human heart.” He fired almost instantly, and the mangled bird fell to the ground, while the McGregor whistled a bar or two from “The Campbells Are Coming,” and Livermore’s second looked very serious. Then the conditions of the duel were gone over. The two principals were to be sta tioned at the posts solected, within easy pistol shot, and their backs turn ed toward each other. At a given signal they were to wheel and advance directly toward each other, the privilege to fire being open from that instant. One advantage would come to the man who got in his shot first, provid ed he hit his mark, but if he missed, heaven help him, for the other had the privilege of walking up as close as he pleased and delivering a murder ous fire. When these arrangements had been made the principals walked to their stations and received their weapons, together with a last word of advice from their seconds. Then they were left alone, facing each other. Overton could feel his heart pound ing away like a miniature trip ham mer, and he held out his arm with some uneasiness, but smiled to find it as firm as a rock—not a tremor or quiver of the slightest description— really It looked bad for Livermore, who perhaps had met with the most astonishing perils during his adven turous life, and finally came home to find his Sedan. At McGregor’s command the two duelists turned back to back, with the arm holding the pistol dropped down at their sides. ‘‘Men, are ye baith ready?" he de manded, as though about to open a sprinting race or some other innocent game of sport. "Ready!” came from the traveler, quickly. “Ready!” echoed Overton, between his teeth. “Then, gang awa’, and the God o’ battles decide the day,” roared the ex dragoon. Both men whir'ed around, and the dueling pistols came up to a level. Neither fired at once, but began to advance, while the onlookers—includ ing an almost paralyzed rustic with a pitchfork over his shoulder, on the way to some field of labor—held their very breath in suspense. Two, three, four paces for each—the distance had been horribly narrowed, and as yet not a shot. It looked like murder—as though both of them must fall when the final exchange of compliments took place. McGregor would have given all he owned for the privilege of bawling out to his man—he believed Jack was los ing his best chance—that he had the other at his mercy, and was a fool not to get in the first shot; but such an act on the part of a second would have been a gross breach of the etiquette governing such affairs, and he dis creetly remained silent. Then with stunning abruptness came the sharp report of a pistol, and the McGregor groaned as he saw the smoke oozing from the barrel of the leveled weapon clutched in the rigid hand of Livermore. CHAPTER VII. How the Duel Ended. With his heart In his throat the Mc Gregor, after discovering that the shot proceeded from the pistol of the vet eran traveler, flashed his eyes toward Overton. Jack turned his face for a second toward his friend—it was color less from the intense nervous tension, but over it had shot a terrible grim smile, such as could only be born of complete triumph—he knew the life of his hated rival was in his hands. Livermore, of course, had stood in his tracks after his fiasco. His bronzed feature gave no sign of fear, though naturally enough he had set his teeth to meet the dread summons, as be came a man. He had had his chance and lost—the game was in Overton’s hands, and there could be no appeal from the stern arbitrament of arms.. And Jack—a whirlwind of fancies played riot in his mind and heart—the man he hated with such bitterness, who had stolen away the girl whom he had almost looked upon as his wife forever and aye—this favorite of for tune was now in his power, and a pres sure of the finger alone was needed to end his career. Fedora would th'n be free and he— but, stop; suppose he killed Livermore. W’ould that act bridge the abyss be i tween Fedora and himself On the contrary, would it not render it for ever impassable? His whole nature revolted at the thought of killing his rival in cold blood—this was not the kind of re venge for which his spirit yearned— and even at this dreadful moment of suspense, when angel and devil seem ed to struggle within for the mastery, somehow the gentle, earnest face of little Mazette, the portrait painter, flashed before his vision. Then suddenly, without the least warning Overton raised his arm until the pistol covered the upper branches of a tree, and, discharging the weapon, tossed it to the feet of his antagonist, whirled on his heel and walked away. The good angel had triumphed—he refused to accept the life the gods had given him. The McGregor, breathing out mutter ings of discontent, chased after his principal. To his rather brutal soldier mind Jack was a fool to stand the fire of a man who had wronged him, and then throw away the golden opportun ity for revenge which the fickle god dess of fortune had placed in his hands. McGregor could net comprehend the delicate nature of the affair—he be lieved that if the doughty captain, who had perhaps bewitched Jack’s sweet heart in some mysterious manner, had only been disposed of, so that he might not appear upon the stage again, Over ton would have clear sailing in the matter. inv Diiuuwuii nao iui iuui w complicated. Overton knew a condition and not a theory confronted him—that Fedora had been dazzled by the evidences of wealth around her—that she loved dress and diamonds and luxurious ease more than she had ever loved him, even in that fool’s Paradise when, like a couple of children, they had indulged in beautifully romantic dreams of the future—that evanescent Fata Morgana that appears to all sailors who venture upon the sea of love. But one faint hope remained—would Fedora listen to the still, small voice within and thruBt the temptation aside? Strange how we cling desperately to the last straw when our boat sinks un der us. They entered the great city and final ly pulled up at a chop house, where, having dismissed the chuckling cabby, they had breakfast together. Overton still had little to say, though he kept up a tremendous thinking, and when the meal was over the McGregor shook him solemnly by the hand, saying in parting: “As I taul ye before, laddie, if ye need a braw frien’ came to Donald Mc Gregor. I’m sore afraid ye did wrang to let the gillee off, but ye knaw best. Aweel, aweel, let it gang. Nae doot I’ll see ye later, mon. In peace or war, then call on the McGregor.” CHAPTER VIII. Mazette. Overton settled down into a rut, waiting and working by fits and starts upon his picture. During these weeks he lived from hand to mouth, selling an occasional “pot boiler” for a pit tance that just managed to keep the wolf from the door. Days glided into weeks. He worked spasmodically, wandered about Lon don, dreamed of mighty things that he could do if invested with the touch of Midas, and sometimes spent an even ing with Mazette and her aunt. These social events always had a salutary effect upon Overton, and many times he breathed blessings upon the little miniature painter for her sister ly affection, as he was pleased to con sider it, which soothed him in such a wnndprful mannpr. His painting was complete. As he stood in front of it he knew it was a masterpiece that must without a doubt bring him both fortune and glory. Oh! if she would but only wait un til the day when all London echoed with his name, and it would be an honor to know him. But the hero of many an African and Indian border foray was impatient in his wooing, since he had reached an age when a man must needs make haste if he expects to shake off the thralldom of bachelorhood and tako upon himself the vows and duties of a benedict, since the older he grows the more difficult it becomes to assume new obligations. When Overton read in the Times that the wedding was to occur on the next Thursday evening at a fashionable church he seemed turned into stone for a time. He became moody, almost sullen. He avoided those friends who had been of late such a comfort to him. Mazette chanced to meet him on the street—perhaps the use of that word can hardly be allowed, since she pur posely went out of her way to pass near his lodgings in the hope of seeing him, for the article concerning Fe dora’s coming marriage had caught her eye, too, and she began to fear for Jack again. When she saw him so moody and ap parently at cross purposes with the whole world, she felt very bitter tr ward Fedora, and had it been in he* power just then to remedy atters, even at the expense of pain to nerself, S.^zette would have only too gladly done so, for Jack married to Fedora and happy was far better than Jack miserable, despondent and devoid of ambition. The fatal evening came. Jack had grimly made lip his mind he would by hook or crook witness the ceremony that was to darken his life and take from him the girl he had so long looked upon as his inspiration. Knowing that a fashionable audi ence would fill the church, and that admission without a card would be difficult, he made friends with the or ganist and managed to get an invita tion to occupy a seat in the loft. Mazette insisted on accompanying him—at first he had been appalled by the thought of another witnessing his mute suffering, but she was so per sistent. and her sweet presence al ways served to arouse his better na ture, so finally he gave a reluctant con sent. When the organ pealed out the w-ed ding march from “Lohengrin,” Over ton shut his teeth hard and waited the coming of the white procession that started down the aisle, flower girls strewing the way with rare blossoms. Fedora looked like a dream—her ap pearance would haunt him to his dying day. And Livermore was very handsome in his dress suit—he appeared very proud, and had eyes for no one but the beautiful woman who knelt before the chancel rail beside him and vowed to “love, honor and obey.” When Overton heard this he seemed to feel a change come over him—be knew it was false, for, loving him, how could she truthfully promise to give to her husband the affection it im plied?—his faith in womankind was dead, he believed, forever, and from that hour he could never believe in the oca iigam. Toward the close of the ceremony Fedora raised her hitherto downcast eyes, as if drawn by the subtle power of Jack’s stern gaze, and looked into his face. As if an arrow had pierced her heart she turned pale and shuddered, nor did she dare raise her eyes again. Perhaps she even dreaded lest the man whom she had so cruelly jilted, whose devoted heart she had cast away after it wras of no further use to her, as one might a worn-out glove, might in his righteous anger do some thing desperate—such things have been known ere now in high life. Altogether those last few minutes of the ceremony that should have been the proudest and happiest in her whole life were the most miserable, and she endured a small portion of the same suffering her act had brought upon Overton. All was over! The wedding procession was passing down the aisle to renewed strains of joyous music. Perhaps those who were near enough to notice wondered why the happy and envied bride should turn her head and look in a half eager, half frightened way toward the altar—they could not know that remorse was already beginning to goad her heart, and that the memory of that white, set, agonized face in the organ loft would come before her with reproaches every day of her life, while the bitter accusations of a murdered conscience must many times drive her to tears when surrounded by all the beautiful things that generally go to make the sum total of a fasbionabld woman’s happiness, and to possess which she had betrayed her own heart. When Jack went out of the church, after the butterfly audience had rolled away in their swell turnouts, he was taciturn; but his step had an elasticity Mazette had not noticed for many a day. He accompanied Mazette to her home, but declined entering the humble abode. (To be continued.) EVILS OF THE LONDON FOG. Experiments Which Tend to Show That It Is Most Destructive. Some unofficial experiments carried out at Chelsea during the recent fog, according to Sir William Thisslton Dyer, the director of Kew Gardens, showed that in a week six tons of solid matter were deposited on a square mile. They included not only soot but a variety of tarry hydro-carbons, high ly injurious to animal and vegetable life. Adopting the postofflce telephone area of 600 square miles, this means that the metropolis labored under a weight of 3,600 tons of tnis dreadful compound before the wind was strong enough to carry it to another part of the country. The other part of the country might he the Berkshire downs, where Sir William Richmond has sometimes seen a solid bank of fog creeping up from the east. There they call it London dirt. Another Instance of the destroying power of the London fog was supplied at the meeting of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society recently by Pro fessor Church, who exhibited an evil looking object, two inches thick, which had recently been chipped off the molding of the gallery outside the great dome of St. Paul’s. This deposit covers most of the building where water penetrates, and it only contains 1 per cent of soot, the remainder com prising chemical products which are most pernicious to Portland stone. Professor Church also has a griev ance against the fog as the enemy of oil paintings. So great indeed is the injury which soot and smoke do to art as well as nature that It Is rather sur prising a society has not been formed for the promotion of fog.—London Chronicle. Germany's Modern Schools. Germany is now the best-educated nation of Europe, yet onlv hundred of years ago German teachfeis in many parts of the countr" were so poorly paid that they used to sing in front of houses in order to add to their income by odd pence. NEEDS OF THE SOUTH SIGNS OF AN ECONOMIO WAKENING PLAINLY VISIBLE. Democratic Newapapora Arc lleglnnlng to Coaaldcr the Value of the Principle of Protection aa Applied to Southern Industry and Agriculture, A number of newspapers published in southern cities are engaged in a dis cussion which is certain to be product ive of good results. It is a healthful sign when Democratic newspapers in that part of the country fall to discuss ing tariff matters as related to the in terests and welfare of their own peo ple. That is what is now going on. It should be kept up. Southern people are, as a rule, averse to taking their political cues from Republican newspa pers, but they are willing to receive argument when advanced by journals of their own political faith. In this way they are ready to absorb some new ideas on the tariff question—ideas new to them, but very old and very strongly in favor in other parts of the country. A considerable portion of the Demo cratic press of the South seems to have awakened to the fact that the Repub lican doctrine of protection to domes tic labor and industry is worth while considering, in spite of the fact that It is Republican doctrine. These newspa pers have begun to suspect that the protective tariff is not a sectional affair —not. as Calhoun used to nreach after he turned free trader, a device for the enrichment of the North at the expense of the south, but a policy which builds up and benefits all parts of the coun try. We find evidences of this gratify ing discovery in a recent issue of the Charleston News and Courier, a rock ribbed Democratic paper, as follows: “The Louisiana delegation, it need not be said, is wholly consistent with itself in supporting the application of the Dlngley tariff to the products of the foreign Philippines, and It is right besides. There is no justice in the ag ricultural sugar interests of the South and West being butchered to make a reciprocity holiday for the manufactur ing interests of the East. And the del egations from Western beet states will doubtless be forced to be of the same mind. Let well enough alone; or, if the holy tariff must be scaled, let it be scaled even.” Commenting on this expression the New Orleans Item says: “This is in line with Senator McLau rin’s views and indicates that since South Carolina has become the fore most cotton manufacturing state of the South, her views are getting back to those entertained by John C. Calhoun before the days of slavery agitation. And yet, notwithstanding the necessity for a protective duty to defend and build up our cotton mills, we find ev ery Democrat in the house except three Louisianians voting to break down the tariff wall and let the products of a hundred fertile islands and ten mil lions of cheap laborers into the United States in competition with our sugar and cotton.” The "Item” then proceeds to remind the Democrats of the Southern states that they are badly and wrongly repre sented on the tariff question in con gress. It points out that the cotton grower is as much interested in a pro tective tariff as the sugar grower. Even with the present 40 per cent duty on cotton goods there is an import from foreign mills of fifty million dol lars' worth of cotton goods annually. If this tariff were removed every cot ton mill of the South would go to ruin and the labor which has been collected by them in comfortable and prosperous villages would be scattered to the wind. As soon as our market is left open to the free competition of Great Britain and Germany the mills of Eu rope would fix the price of cotton, and our friends would then see the cotton planter not nearly, but entirely, in the hands of the sheriff. How much cotton the Philippines can grow is not yet known, but it is certain that it can be grown in those islands with native and Chinese labor, as easily as it is now grown in China. In the olden days we used Nankin, or nankeen, as it was called, in this country, for clothing, and with the tariff wall removed we may again find it cheaper to get cot ton goods from Nankin and Manila. The New Zealander, casting his nets from the ruins of London bridge, was looked upon as an amusing absurdity of Macauley’s, but it is not beyond the bounds of credulity to imagine the slant-eyed Manilans selling sugar and cotton. Quite in the same vein the New Or leans “Picayune,” a stanch Demo cratic newspaper, resents the action of Southern Democrats in Congress in re fusing to act with Louisiana’s repre sentatives in defending Southern agri cultural and industrial interests against the unfair competition of cheaper labor in the Philippines, in Cuba, tjr any where else. Says the “Picayune”: “If raw sugar were allowed to come in from abroad free of duty, the sugar producers of Louisiana and the West, not being able to compete with the sugar of Europe and the tropics, made with pauper labor, would be driven out of business; but since the raw sugar, as it is imported, has to be refined in order to fit it for use, it would get to the Sugar Trust two cents cheaper; but there is no evidence that it would reach the consumers any cheaper than at present. It is not to be supposed that the Sugar Trust is operating only in order to give the people sugar at reduced prices. Nobody has any grounds for the belief that any manu facturing trust is a philanthropic in stitution, and it is difficult to believe that anybody in Louisiana outside of the trust wants to put money Into the coffers of that powerful and greedy concern at the expense of the home sugar producers.” This is the right sort of talk, and there is going to be more of it. It is an edifying spectacle to see Southern Democrats arguing with each other on the tariff question. In such agitation and diversity of opinion lies the South’s best hope of reaching a sound, common-sense, level headed conclusion in favor of protection and prosperity. PAYING OURSELVES. Americans Now Receive Vast Bams of Money Which Gormerly Went Abroad. Disbursements of dividends and in terest amounting to about $500,000,000 are taking place during this first week in January, 1902. It is very much the largest sum ever distributed in this form in the United States, and accord ingly it may properly be considered as representing by far the highest point in material prosperity ever reached in the United States, No country on earth can show anything like it. The grand total of $500,000,000 is more than dou ble what the distributnon of dividends and interest payments amounted to in the first week in January, five years ago. Then we were staggering under the effects of four years of tariff re form and free trade. Now we have not quite completed four and a half years of restored protection to Ameri can industry and labor. What a con trast between then and now! T7M irn li ii ml porl m11 llnno nf Hnllnra les a big sum to be scattered broadcast through this land of ours, a mighty sum to be paid out here and to stay here. For, mark you, it does stay here and it does not go abroad any more, not above 1 per cent of it, to enrich creditors in foreign countries. Reason why: We don’t owe anything now to foreigners. Why? Because in four and a half years of “McKinley and protection” our trade balances have amounted to over $2,000,000,000, and in settling these Immense balances Europe has been compelled to send back our securities,so that we now owe Europe very little, if anything, and only an infinitesimal portion of the $500,000,000 disbursed this week goes to any but our own people. Not long ago, say four or five years, our great railroad corporations were sending vast amounts of money to London and the continent to pay dividends on stocks and interest on bonds owned abroad. This year the checks are made payable to American citizens and not to foreigners. All because the Republican policy of protection en ables us to produce so large a pro portion of what we use and to require payment in cash or the return of our securities held abroad for the enor mous surplus of our exports over our imports. There is a tremendous object lesson in the disbursement of $500,000,000 among the people of the United States during this first week in January, 1902. SPARE THAT TREE! s Woodman, spare that tree; Touch not a single bough. In youth it sheltered me, And I’ll Protect it now. The Snd Louisiana Purchase. Added to the $15,000,000 paid France for Louisiana, there were over $12,000, 000 in interest and allowed claims. Then reckoning the cost of the Indian wars, because of that purchase, at merely $500,000,000, and we have a grand total of $527,000,000. What a consummate blockhead anti-Philip pine purchasers must rate Thomas Jef ferson. How can these antis even con sent to reside longer in the land of the great original annexationist? But, worst of all, Thomas J. governed the purchased territory without the con sent of the governed. What an out rage! Don't Stop the Wheels. If Congress, governed by the spirit of evil, should take up the Tariff ques tion there would be lobbying for high er duties here and lower duties there, and manufacturers and importers would have to stand and mark time till they knew what the outcome of the turmoil and the strife was to be. To attempt to revise the Tariff is to put the brake on the wheels of the chariot of prosperity.—Tionesta (Pa.) Repub lican. Biibcock'a Recruits. Instead of Babcock having fifty or sixty Republican members, as pre dicted by Democratic papers, who are willing to follow his lead in an en deavor to open up the Tariff question by amendments to the Dingley law, we venture the assertion that he cannot muster as many as twenty-five.—Har risburg (Va.) "Spirit of the Valley.” Darrenalngr Rnpply of Fln«i Wool!. United States Consul Atwell, located It Roubalx, France, quotes Henry Pu >ln as to the Increasing demand for lne wools and the decreasing supply is follows: Now, more than ever, the line Is Irawn between the two kinds, so dif ferent in their origin, in mode of man ufacture, and final use. The dom nant note in the history of wool has peen the using demand, during a per od of three consecutive years, for fine srades, in face of steadily decreasing production. The reasons for this de crease have long been known. After :he low prices paid in 1894 and 1895, stock growers limited their production ot fine grades, and gave attention to common breeds, which were more re munerative. Cheviots at that date be ing in as great demand as merinos, they found greater advantage in rais ing breeds that served as food, were more hardy and more prolific. Since then, if the ilocks did not increase in numbers, the yield in fine wool neces sarily became less, as the Merino sheep gives birth to but one lamb yearly, while the cross-breeds produce two during the same period. This ex plains the dearth of fine wools to-day; the taste for fine grades seems so firm ly established that only the best cross bred wools find a market. It is not likely that there will be a great in crease in Merino sheep in the near fu ture, as at least eight years of crossing the breed are necessary to re-establish the Merino type. Under existing conditions and with present prospects there are not many ways out of the difficulty. The dying out of Merino sheep without any at tempt to replace them, and the con sequent decrease in fine wools will necessarily increase the demands for high grades until impossible prices will turn popular attention to com mon grades, for which there Is no call at present The Improvement In Bonn From Farmers’ Review: In south eastern Illinois our horses are steadily improving in individuality and size, yet the improvement is not what it should be. We should have at least half a dozen fine salable horses in ev ery locality. Here in this particular locality fairly good to fine sires are to be seen, all of them of such individual ity and breeding as to warrant the expectation of good results in the di rection of the material improvement of our horses. The greatest obstacle to a more rapid improvement lies with our farmers, many of whom persist in breeding mares that possess neither good blood, size, action nor conforma tion. The result of such breeding usu ally brings disappointment and loss to such breeders. The demand in our markets for good horses is stronger than ever before, especially for good animals of the roadsters, coach or draft types. These are horses that every farmer can produce, but not from their poorly bred, under-sized, misshapen mares. In order to pro duce the sort of animals our market demands, farmers should secure good mares, free from hereditary defects, handsome, well bred and of kind dis position. These should be bred to the best sires obtainable. There is neither profit nor credit in raising the kind of horses no man wants.—John Landrl gan, Edwards County, Illinois. The World'! Batter Record Broken. From Farmers’ Review: From De cember 17th to December 23rd, inclus ive, seven days, the Holstein-Frlesian cow Mercedes Julip’s Pietertje 39480 produced 480 pounds of milk, contain ing 23.4857 pounds butter fat, equiva lent to 29 pounds 6.7 ounces gutter, 80 per cent fat, or 27 pounds 6.4 ounces 85.7 per cent fat This record was made at the Minnesota Experiment Station under the direction of Profes sor T. L. Haecker. The last three days of the test the cow was under super vision day and night of two repre sentatives of that station. The product during these three days was 10.6622 pounds fat. The largest product tor one day was 3.7684 pounds and was made when under constant watch, on the sixth day of the test. The aver age per cent of fat curing the weei was 4.02 per cent; during the three days under constant watch-care .t was 4.21 per cent.—S. Hoxie, Supt. H. F. Ad. Reg. food Eaten by Sheep and Cattle. It Is sometimes asserted that cattle and sheep require the same amount of feed per thousand pounds of live weight. This statement seems not to be well founded. In some experiments at the Iowa station the cattle consumed 19.6 pounds of dry matter per thousand pounds of live weight, against an av erage of 29.07 by the sheep. Both sheep and cattle were on full feed. The sheep made a daily gain of 3.73 pounds per thousand pounds of live weight, and the cattle 2.14. In summing up this comparison, we find that while the sheep ate 4S per cent more than the cattle, they also gained nearly 75 per cent more.—Prof. C. F. Curtiss. Meanness In Bulls* From Farmers’ Review: I believe that meanness in a bull is hereditary and would not breed to one. Several years ago, when a boy, we bred to an imported bull that got cross, and his produce showed it as far As the third generation, but, of course, only occa sionally. I have only had one young bull get mean, and we sold him at once for bologna. I think that bulls are often spoiled by teasing and also by careless handling, and by one that is afraid. They soon know when nfl§ ia afraid'or tnem ana tney wimhen take advantage of that fact.—rra Cotting ham. Washington and Buffalo are to have a buried telephone connection.