THAT GIRL of JOHNSON^!
By JEA.J* KATE LX/BLX/Ml.
j Anther of “At a Girl's Mercy.'* Etc.
i
Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1890 by Street Sc Smith.
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. D. C.
CHAPTER VI.—Continued.
Instinctively she glanced down
toward the shop. The doors were
open, but no one was there. The hens
pecking around the doors were the
only visible signs of life to her anx
ious eyes. Unconsciously she began
hulling the strawberries with me
chanical but steady fingers.
“Times is dull ’nough, ’pears to
me,” the woman proceeded. 'First
kem there want o’ rain with ther gyar
dln’ a-dryin’ up spite o’ the care we
gtv et; then as though thet warn’t
’nough, hyar kerns ther acc’d’nt ter
ther mare o’ ther jedge’s son, an’ any
o’ us likely to be ketched ef ’twarn’t
thet s’picion rests in one direction
special.”
It was coming. Dolores waited with
bated breath. A heavy sense of guilt
fell upon her; she could not meet the
gaze of the eyes bent upon her, and
she went on hulling the berries—
waiting in silence for what she knew
must come.
“An’ them as knows says thyar’s
a great feelin' ower in ther town yan
der ’bout ther mare,” the woman’s
voice struck in on the girl’s thoughts,
■"an ’says et ’pears she were worth
a deal o’ money, an’ now nobody’d gev
a copper fer her, an’ they’s workin’
steddy to fin’ out who done ther deed,
an’ gettin’ every one theys ken ter
prove thar s’picions c’rect o’ a certain
person.”
Dolores was waiting. It was com
ing now, she felt certain. She crush
ed some of the berries in her hand
in a sudden frenzy.
"Theys holdin’ court a’most every
day, an’ workin’ as though ’twere
some great thing thet a critter’s
gone lame. But theys won't do noth
in’ with ther s’picioned feller tell
thar’s mo’ ground, as theys calls et,
though young Green do feel pretty
sartln who is ther guilty one. But
theys got consid’rable proof, an’
there’s ter be a great time ter-morrer,
an’ they wants yer feyther ter go ter
prov thar s’picions c’rect.”
It was out at last. Dolores seemed
turned to stone; she neither moved
nor spoke; she dared not lift her eyes
from the red berries with which her
fingers were dyed. Her head was whirl
ing; there was a din in her ears as
though a legion of spirits repeated
and shouted in wild horror:
“Theys wants yer feyther ter go ter
prove—theys wants yer feyther ter
go—they wants yer feyther—yer fey
ther—”
Her eyes were like those of a hunt
ed animal, half hidden beneath their
long lashes; her mind was filled with
a great longing to go—to get away
from the tiny room out on the moun
tain under the quiet heavens where
the winds were free from the watch
ing eyes.
The woman at the other side of
the table arose with an injured air.
She had received scarcely a word of
thanks for her berries, scarcely even
a show of interest in her story.
“Thyars them as takes an int’rest
in thyar feller critters, an’thyars them
as don’t,” she said, tartly; “an’
thyars them as has thyar s’picion o’
things.”
Dolores watched the woman’s tall,
gaunt figure go down the worn path,
her purple print dress brushing the
scant grass with an indignant sweep,
the cape of her sunbonnet limp and
flapping over her shoulders. When
she disappeared from view behind
the shrubbery of the road-side Dolores
put away the dish of berries and put
on her gray sunbonnet to go out.
It was early afternoon. The rocky
road, like a yellow thread, wound in
■1 I I il ll II I I
I in hunting, going around to the oppos
ite mountain and returning across the
town.
Sometimes when the atmosphere
was heavy and the wind in the right
direction, the smoke from the tall fac
tory chimneys drifted around to the
settlement and tangled in the pines
like gray specters waving their shad
owy banners above the scattered
houses down toward the valley. Many
a time Dolores had watched these
smoke wreaths, and her mind had
gone to the place from whence they
came, and she wove from them fan
tastic shadows born of dreams, and
she clothed them in garments of the
living, and they brought her many
many fancies of the life pulsing just
beyond the piny peaks.
Now her mind was filled with the
one subject so much discussed; she
turned it over and over, viewing it on
all sides; now reasoning with herself
as to this or that possibility, thi3 or
that decision, but eventually return
ing to the first conclusion which was
to her so convincing that it sent her
over the mountain to the town to dis
cover if possible the thith, and at the
court was the place to learn what she
wished to know—if there were any
place to learn it ere the whole world
should know.
As she passed over the mountain
and down on the other side the town
lay out before her; a thriving town;
smoke arose black from the towering
chimneys, the whir of machinery, the
rattle of wagons and din on every-day
life were borne up to her as sounds
of a strange land. The knowledge be
gan to grow in her mind that the life
in the slow little settlement beyond
the mountain was too narrow, too
shut into itself, too lacking in energy
and growth. But this was a new
world to her and she shrank from it,
not from any foolish feeling of inferi
ority; such a thought could hold no
room in her mind, but as a wild ani
mal instinctively shrinks back to its
natural world. Then the feeling left
her; the old thought drove every fear,
every other feeling away; she had
come for a purpose and as yet it was
not accomplished.
She passed steadily down the road
looking neither to right nor left. The
court house was at the farther end of
the town; she had heard them say so.
A long, low, white building with wide
steps and a bell in the tower.
At length she came to it; she knew
she was right; a long, low, white
building with wide steps and a bell in
the tower.
She walked up the steps and turned
the handle of the door, but could not
open It. This ending of her journey
had not entered her head. For a mo
ment she stood in doubt what to do.
People passing on the street looked
curiously at her. A boy who was
sitting astride of the fence called to
her that the door was locked; but if
she wanted the lockup It was down
around the corner.
She did not know he was laughing
at her; she walked down the steps
and spoke to him. She asked him
where she could find the judge. She
was looking at him with her straight,
level glance, and he was disconcerted.
The judge, he said, lived in the house
on the hm; if she came down the
main street she must have passed it.
Not a bit of her resolution was
gone as she retraced her steps, but
she walked swiftly, for it was grow
ing late. She found it without trou
ble; she mounted the steps and knock
ed at the big door. She did not know
she should ring the bell. No one
came. She knocked again and louder,
then again she waited. No one came.
If the judge were gone where should
she find him?
A step sounded on the gravel at the
side of the hou*D; she turned and
faced the new-comer.
“Dolores!” exclaimed young Green,
in astonishment.
A red flush crept in her face.
“I want to see the judge,” she
said, gravely, and there was a wist
fulness in the large, dark eyes raised
to his for an instant that caused his
heart to throb strangely while a flush
also arose in his own face.
“My father? He is not at home.
When the court adjourned at three he
took the train to N—. If you wish
to see him I am sorry. Will not I do
instead? Come in, Miss Johnson; my
mother would be pleased to meet
you.”
She was unused ,to being called
“Miss Johnson,” and scarcely heard
the unfamiliar name.
He opened the door, waiting for her
to pass in.
“I won't stay,” she said. “The judge
is not at home. I came to see the
judge.
She turned down the steps, and he
closed the door, following her.
“If you will not go inside, may I
walk with you, Miss Johnson?”
She bowed her head, and they pass
ed up the street together in silence.
That the people they passed, and
whom her companion greeted, turned
and looked curiously after them she
did not know; had she known it would
have affected her little. She came on
an errand, and could not accomplish
it; that thought was uppermost in
her mind, blended as It always was in
thinking of it, with the face and
eyes of the young man beside her.
“Dolores,” he said at last, when
they were climbing the rough road
beyond the town, unconsciously using
Waiting in Silence.
and out among the scrubby bushes
and tall pines that murmured in the
breeze. To the ears of the girl they
kept up their monotonous sobbing
about her father as though they were
-*•' living things.
jjjjf She was listless no longer; she
1 walked as one who had a purpose, as
one who had far to go. Her eyes look
ed straight before her, her lips were
set in a straight, stern line.
She met no one on her way; there
was little travel on the mountain; the
thriving town over on the other side
had connection with the world in an
other direction.
In all the twenty years of her life
Dolores had never been over the
f mountain; what lay beyond it she did
not know except from the rumors that
■drifted into them from the men who
tad been there—men who had strayed
the name. “Dolores, why did you
wish to see my father to-day? It must
be something special or you would
not have come. Could not I do as
well?"
Some way his kindly heart was
aching for her with the remembrance
of that swift, wistful glance of the
brown eyes into his own, and he
would comfort her if he could.
She did not look at him: her gaze
was fixed on the pines away on the
mountain behind which the sun was
setting. But he knew she heard and
would answer presently.
“I came to see about the mare,” she
said, slowly, her eyes still fastened on
the pines upon the height. Then sud
denly. with a swiftness that startled
him. she added:
"You know who did it? You have
known from the first? Everybody
knows who did it. It will be proved
to-morrow beyond a doubt.”
He looked at her, amazed at her
vehemence.
"We hope to prove it to-morrow,"
ill I l
Dolores watched the woman.
he said. “We have had our suspic
ions from the first, and now we think
them well founded. We are depend
ing a good deal on your father; we
have considerable evidence, but his
will be conclusive.”
She knew nothing of law or its
terms; the words held a terrible
meaning for her.
“It was a dastardly deed,” he went
on, his face darkening. “The fellow
shall suffer the full penalty of the law
for it. My beautiful mare that was
almost human in intelligence.”
Her hands were clasped fiercely,
her eyes burning when she turned
toward him to make reply, and for
the moment he forgot all else but her
face.
“And it is right!” she cried; “it is
right! What if his people do suffer
for it? That the name will cling to
them forever? It is only right that
he should sufTer. It is Just. It was
a dastardly deed. Only—only don’t
come with me any farther. I—had—
rather go alone.”
He obeyed; but followed at a dis
tance. The road was lonely; there
were no houses till she reached the
settlement below. The sun had set;
in the east above the opposite moun
tain, the full moon rode. A soft haze
arose from the valley far beneath,
floated and wavered noiselessly up
toward the moonlight.
Up on the heights the young man
stood motionless watching the girl
passing from him in the moonlight.
The light was full in his face. It was
an earnest face and good; one to be
trusted; never to prove treacherous.
He watched until the girl, dimly dis
cerned down among the shadows,
paused a moment on the threshold of
the bare little house, and then entered.
And to him as he turned away, his
thoughts in a tumult, the mysterious
mist and the moonlight seemed to
have swallowed her up.
(To be continued.)
GIRLS MAKE THEIR CHOICE.
Countries Where the Gentle Sex Does
Its Share of Wooing.
In England, leap year Is supposed to
confer upon the fair sex the privilege
of choosing life partners for better
o4 for worse, but the custom is more
honored in the breach than in the
observance. The gypsies, especially
in Hungary, enjoy and make a very
extensive use of the right at all
times, in accordance with an ancient
custom. Thus a marriageable young
gypsy girl in the land of the Magyars,
as soon as her heart Is smitten, takes
good care that the smiter shall hear
of the havoc he has wrought and
have a chance of consoling her. With
this praiseworthy object in view, she
has a love letter indited, places a coin
in a piece of dough, bakes it, and
throws tlie cake and the billet doux
during the night into the bedchamber
of her bridegroom-elect. Then she
possesses her soul in patience and
awaits developments. The Burmese
maiden begins her marriage cam
paign at a much earlier stage. In
order to get together a goodly gath
ering of young men from whom to
choose, she places a lamp in her win
dow at night—it is known as “the
lamp of love”—and entices all those
youths who are candidates for the
order of benedict. In sunny Andalu
sia, the peasant girl, whose heart has
been stolen by a stalwart young hus
bandman, prepares a tasty pumpkin
cake and sends it to his home. If he
eats it—and the Andalusian girls take
good care to make it highly edible—
the pair are forthwith 1. rothed.—
London Telegraph.
One factory has marketed 60,000
electrical flatirons this season.
LEAVE TARIFF ALONE
REPUBLICANS CAN WELL AF
FORD TO REST CONTENT.
If Business Is to Be Injured and
Prosperity Checked by Needless
Tariff Tinkering, Let the Demo
crats Take All the Responsibility.
The Republican conventton of Ohio
followed the lead of Senator Hanna
In declaring for a policy of “hands
off" the tariff. There Is sound wis
dom In this, however much It may
discomfort the swarm of Inveterate
tariff tinkers, always seeking to re
open this question.
The sense of the country has been
tested on the question of protection
against free trade several times, and
there Is no question that the Repub
lican policy has the Indorsement of
the American people. Even those
who are at the bottom of their hearts
believers In absolute free trade rec
ognize that the country wants none
of it; therefore they call themselves
tariff reformers now. No matter what
the tariff may be, in their opinion It
always will need reforming so long
as there is protection in it.
In all of the talk of the necessity
for tariff reform, there is yet lacking
a specific and distinct utterance a3 to
the particulars in which it needs to
be reformed. The present law is ad
mitted, even by the tariff reformers,
to be a good working instrument.
They oiaitn in general terms that it
has defects; but when it comes from
generalities to particulars, there is no
agreement among them.
The prosperity of the country is
based upon the protective tariff.
Every suggestion for tariff reform is
a suggestion for the withdrawal of
protection in some degree from some
industry. Every reopening or threat
ened reopening of the tariff question
is a disturbance to business. There
is no particular and specific change
or reform in the present law for
which any large number of people
are clamoring. There is no industry
or interest which can point to any
considerable injury resulting to it
^———wmmm—m—.
Is sore to say that he knows less
about this same subject than any
other. Bombastic demagogues of both
parties have lied so much concerning
the tariff, and their lies have been sc
faithfully stereotyped, printed and
circulated from ocean to ocean and
from border to gulf that It Is with
difficulty one discerns the truth. Yet
above the mass of contradicting
statements and statistics the one
fact stands out prominent and un
challenged that this country has en
joyed its most abundant prosperity
when protective duties have been
the most rigorously maintained and
that any actual or proposed "tinker
Ing” with existing tariff rates, with a
view to abolish or lower the same
has Invariably brought about finan
cial depression with Its ever accom
panying and consequent hardships for
the laboring class. The easiest way
to bring about a panic Is to remove
the foundation of our prosperity
protection. Reciprocity advocates,
no matter what political party appel
lation they lay claim to, are. In the
main, merely free traders disguised.
And the free trade pill, though coated
with reciprocity, will, If taken, have
the same bad effect as If such coat
ing were not there. This reciprocity
covering which the free trade theory
has assumed makes an excellent
showing, but we should not forget the
fact that It merely hides a skeleton.—
Minnesota (Minn.) Mascot.
How Canada Suffers.
A free trade journal attributes the
prosperity of this country chiefly to
the freedom of trade between all of
its parts, but it does not explain why
that prosperity was not maintained
under the last Democratic adminis
tration with Its Wilson tariff bill. The
object of that statement was to en
courago free trade with Canada, as
the journal goes on to say: "The
same effect would he produced on a
still larger Beale if there were no
commercial barrier on our northern
frontier; if It could be obliterated
altogether the result would be in
creased prosperity for both.”
If the word “both” were stricken
out and "Canada” inserted the state
ment would be correct. It would be
A PROPHET OF EVIL.
Iowa Progressive—“Beware, misguided animal, ere It Is too late. Your
headlong career of extravagance can only lead the country to everlasting
destruction. ”
from any particular clause, para
graph or schedule of the present law.
What clear and understandable rea
sons do the tariff reformers give why
the business of the country should
be disturbed by the reopening of this
question? Certainly none has yet
seen the light. There has been much
phrase-mongering about the "tariff
sheltering monopolies” and the like,
but this is all.
The Ohio idea of “hands off,” other
wise given as “stand pat,” is as good
a policy for the country to follow in
connection with the tariff as can
readily be conceived. It is the pol
icy which has the warm approval of
the business interests of the country;
and by the business interests is
meant every one whose income is
drawn directly or indirectly from the
production, manufacture or sale of
American products, whether of the
factory or the farm. We know times
are good now. We know that to
"monkey” with the tariff is the readi
est, simplest and most certain method
of disturbing business, limiting pro
duction and postponing contemplated
improvements. There is no particu
lar advantage to be obtained by re
opening the tariff question, to com
pensate for these certain disadvan
tages.
The law certainly does not need
to be changed on account of any
necessity of the government itself;
for the present law is nicely adjusted
to meet the government’s needs. The
demand for change is put forward
purely from political sources and for
the sole purpose of raising a political
issue. Republicans are urged to
raise the cry merely to forestall the
action of the Democrats, who are cer
tain to raise it. Let them do so.
Republicans may well be content to
be judged by the results accomplish
ed under the tariff law for which they
are responsible, rather than to join
with their enemies In discrediting
their own good work.—Seattle Post
Inteiligencer.
It Hides a Skeleton.
There Is little doubt but what the
tariff will be the main issue in the
coming campaign. It Is the old
fftandby, the ever remaining differ
ence when all others have been ad
justed. The average citizen of this
country' has heard more about the
tariff than any other topic which has
engrossed the public mind and yet it
of enormous advantage to Canada If
her 6,000,000 inhabitants could have
free access to the markets of the 80,
000,000 inhabitants of the United
States without contributing one cent
toward the support of the government
of this country. Freedom of trade be
tween the people of one country can
not be compared with freedom of
trade between the people of different
countries. If Canada became a part of
the Union, subject to Its laws, the
same as all other parts of the Union,
it would enjoy that freedom of trade
which would double its population in
ten years, whereas there has hardly
been any increase in its population
in the last ten years, as showing its
census.
Canada will not give products from
the United States any preference
over similar products from Great
Britain, and as long as she holds to
that position a reciprocity treaty is
out of the question.—Philadelphia
Press.
Railroad Employes and Wages.
The report of the Interstate Com
merce Commission for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1902, is at hand, and
contains some very significant fig
ures. It will be remembered that the
railroad business of the country was
seriously affected in 1895, 1896 and
1897 as a result of free trade legisla
tion. In 1898 it began to show im
provement under the Dingley law
and has broken records every year
since. The number of employes in
1902 was 1,189,315 as against 785,034
in 1895. The wages paid last year
were 676,028,592, as compared with
$445,508,261 in 1895. The freight car
ried in 1895 was less than 700,000,000
tons, while now the amount is near
1,200,000,000 tons annually. We are
now building about 5,000 miles of
new roads yearly, while in 1895 we
averaged only about 1,700 miles. Thus
labor reaps the benefit at every turn
in road building and car and locomo
tive building, and in every part of the
passenger and freight service.
Prosperity and Plenty.
“Four years more of Grovei is
the song of the “trusts” and the im
porters. But the song of the wage
workers, the small and large invest
ors, the savings bank depositors and
the farmers is “Protection, Prosperity
and Plenty.”—Tionesta (Pa.) Repub
lican.
Drains in Orchards.
It is surprising to find so large a
rumber of orchards practically with
out drainage of any kind. Too often
holes are dug in the sod and trees
stuck into them, the planter hoping
that kind Nature will make up for his
shortcomings. Sometimes she does,
but often she does not. The lack of
drainage at the time of setting out
the trees often resubs in the almost
complete failure of the orchard if it
be on heavy land, and such land is
preferable for orchards if it be well
drained. In the putting out of or-,
chards the drainage of the land
should have the first consideration.
This will be all the more necessary
if the land be level and with small
fall. Water then will run off very
slowly even with good drains. With
out such drains water will remain
about the roots of the trees for days,
sometimes for weeks, preventing the
approach of air to the roots.
There are thousands of full-grown
orchards that It would pay to drain
now, though the drains might have to
be put closer together than would
have been the case had they been
put in in the first place, for the rea
son that it will be difficult to pulver
ize the soil immediately around and
under the trees. The orchard that Is
drained gets to growing earlier in the
spring than otherwise, and this time'
of growth counts for much when a
dry season follows it If a tree has
water logged roots it cannot grow till
that condition is changed. If that
change comes late in the spring, the
work of growth is shortened, espe
j daily if a long dry time follows it
The results may be very apparent in
j both wood and fruit, though the
I grower may not realize the cause.
Strawberry Beds.
It 1b a very good plan for the farm
er, or the farmer’s wife, to see that a
now strawbery bed is planted each
year. This is byfell means the surest
way of getting a good strawberry
crop each year. A number of beds
will then be in existence at the same
time, and from some of them at least
a good supply of berries will be se
cured. The old beds can be kept pro
ductive for several years, but the
farmer is very likely to let them go to
weeds, or, what is Just as bad, get
too thick. When the old bed only is
to be retained, it should receive at
tention immediately after fruiting
time. The hoe should be put into use
and the rows narrowed up to a foot,
and some advise six inches. The
space between the rows should he
turned over and pulverized. The
plants themselves should be thinned,
to permit the development of a com
paratively lew plants. It will also
pay to put on some manure each year
if the plants do not show an inclina
tion to grow rank. Of course, too
much manure will produce great
plants at the expense of berries.
Get Ready to Cover Plants.
In the summer is the time to get
ready to cover the plants in the fall.
The strawberries will need covering
in the more northerly of the latitudes
in which they are grown. If the mat
! ter is given no'consideration till the
i ground freezes, the culturist may not
be able to obtain the necessary cov
ering except at considerable expense.
! There Is much marsh grass growing
in localities where it is of no value,
which can be mowed If taken at the
right season for mowing and curing.
After it is beaten down by the winds
and rain or the trampling of cattle,
it is practically out of the reach of
' the farmer. Straw is fairly good for
this purpose, but may as well be
placed where it will be easily avail
able at the time it is wanted. Be
sides the strawberries there are many
other plants that will need protec
tion—the blackberry bushes, grape
vines, raspberry canes, rose bushes,
and so forth.
Raising Chicks In Brooders.
From Farmers’ Review: In our
management of brooders in raising
our young Orpington stock after wo
have gotten the young chicks from1
our incubators and hens It) our brood
ers, we run them at a uniform heat of
95 degrees, keeping it thus for the’
first two or three days, gradually low-;
ering it a degree a day until 90 de
grees is reached, and then keeping!
heat so tine chicks will not crowd.1
We feed nothing for first seventy-two
hours* then we feed Chamberlain’s
chick feed—fed exclusively every two
hours for the first week, then four
times daily until a month old, and
after that three times a day. After
the first few days we vary the feed
by giving rolled oats, cracked corn,
wheat and green ground bone, keep
ing cut clover to scratch in. Fresh
water is always before them. We get
an early growth of lettuce for the
little fellows, and, as soon as possible,
let them out of doors, keeping them
scratching and moving continually.
We dust them frequently with lice
powder. It goes without saying we
clean our brooders, dally. At two
months of age we place our young
sters in colony houses and leave them
free to run on the range, feeding
morning and night cracked corn
varied by wheat and oats.—J. W.
Bastes, Knox County, Illinois.
Only a small portion of all the buds
formed on a tree grow the second
year. The rest remain dormant or
'atent for years, and are made to growf
and produce shoots only when the
' others are destroyed.