Causes Despair. Chicago Record-Herald: "Now. doc tor.” she said, after he had made a careful examination, “I want you to Aelt me the truth. Don't—please don't— • kep anything back." He shook his head and replied: "Do you fully realize what you are •sklng me to do? Think again." ‘'Yes, yes." she insisted. "I want to 'know the truth. Don't keep anything ;from me. Tell me the worst." "It is very bad. I'm afraid you will never forgive me after I've spoken out.” . "No. no, tioT Don't think that. T un* derstand how you feel. Come. I must know. You must not keep me In susJ pense, doctor. You are cruel." "Well, if you Insist on knowing tlia worst, it is my opinion that a regular course of dishwashing, bedmaking and •weeping Is the only thing that will save you from weighing 160 pounds in side of five years." Realizing that her worst fears had been as naught compared witli the ter rible truth, the unfortunate woman fell back among her pillows and gave up alj hope. The quickest growing plant in the ■world Is the kudzu. a species of bean. 'It Is said to have been known to grow -sixty feet Iri three months. What Everybody Says. -Tamboree, Ky., April 3rd.—(Special.) »—‘T suffered for years with my back,” •ays Mr. .1, M. Coleman, a well known resident of this place. “Then I used Dodd’s Kidney Pills and I have not felt a pain since. My little girl com plained of her back. She used about •ne-balf box of Dodd’s Kidney Pills *nd she Is sound and well." It Is thousands of statements like the above that show Dodd's Kidney Pills to be the one cure for Backache •r any other symptom of deranged kid neys. For Backache is simply a sign that the Kidneys need help. Dodd's Kidney Pills always cure Backachp. They also always cure Bright's Disease. Diabetes. Dropsy, Rheumatism, Bladder and Urinary Troubles and Heart Disease. These •re more advanced stages of kidney disease. Cure your Backache with Dodd's Kidney Pills and you need xiever fear them. -■ • -- Ccoking the Piano. Public Ledger: "My wife's n ret tnarkiible woman. She can . My Lord Cornwallis is come as far as Camden, they say: and Colonel Tarleton has crossed the Ca tawba." "So? Then Mr. Rutherford ts like to have ills work cut out for him, I take it." Jennifer eyed me curiously. "Grif Rutherford is a stout Indian fighter: no West Carolinian will gainsay that. But he is. necej- thy man to niqtch Cornwallis. We'll have help from the nil th. " "Do Kalb?" 1 suggested. A0 in the curious eyeshot. "Nay John Iretou, you need not fear me, though I am just now this redcoat captain’s next friend. You know more about the Baron de Kalb's doings than anybody else 'n Mecklenburg." "I? What should I know?" "You know a deal—or else the gos sips lie most recklessly.” "They do lie If they connect me with the Baron de Kalb, or with any other of the patriot side. What are they saying?" "That you come straight from the baron’s camp In Virginia—to see what you can see.” "A spy, eh? 'Tls cut out of whole cloth, Dick, my lad. I've never took the oath on either side.” He looked vastly disappointed. "But you will. Jack? Surely, you have not to think twice In such a cause?” "As between king and congress, you mean? 'Tls no quarrel of mine.” "Now God save us, John Ireton!" he burst out in a fine fervor of youthful enthusiasm that made him all the handsomer. "I had never thought to hear your father's son say the like!” I shrugged. “And why not. pray? The king's minion, Tryon, hanged my father and gave his estate to his minion's minion, Gilbert Stair. So, In spite of your dec larations and your confiscations and your law's against alien landholders, I come back to find myself still the son of the outlawed Roger Ireton, and this same Gilbert Stair firmly lodged In my father's seat.” Jennifer shrugged'ln his turn. "Gilbert Stair—for sweet Madge's sake I loath to say it—Gilbert Stair blows hot or cold as the wind sets fair or stormy. And I will say this for him; no other Tyron legatee of them all has steered so fine a course through these last five upsetting years. How he trims so skilfully no man knows. A short month since, he had General Rutherford and Conole Sumter as guests at Appleby Hundred; now It Is Sir Francis Falconnet and the Brit ish light-horse officers who are hon ored. But let him rest: the cause of Independence is bigger than any man. or any man’s private quarrel, friend John; and I had hoped—" I laid a hand on his knee. “Spare yourself, Dick. My business in Queens borough was to learn how best I might reach Mr. Rutherford's rendezvous." For a moment he sat, pipe in air, staring at me as if to make sure that he had heard aright. Then he dipt my hand and wrung it, babbling out some boyish brava that I made haste to put an end to. "Softly, my lad." I said; ‘"tls no great thing the congress will gain by my adhesion. But you, Richard; how comes it that I find you taking your ease at Jennifer House and hobnobbing with his majesty’s officers when the cause you love is still In such des perate straits?" He blushed like a girl at that, and for a little space only puffed the hard er at Ills pipe. “I did go out with the Minute Men in '76, if you must know, and smelt pow der at Moore’s Creek. When my time was done I w-ould have ’listed again: but just at that my father died and the Jennifer acres were like to go to the dogs, lacking oversight. So I came home and—and—" He stopped in some embarrassment, and I thought to help him on. “Nay, out with it, Dick. If I am not thy father, I am near old enough to stand In his stead. ’Twas more than husbandry that rusted the sword in Its scabbord, I’ll be bound." 4* Vimi urn rlorht T• 1 f \vu o liAtVi more and less," he confessed, shame- j faeedly. " 'Twas this same Margery Stair. As 1 have said, her father blows i hot or cold as the wind sets, but not she. She is the fiercest little Tory in the two Carollnas, bar none. When I had got Jennifer in order and began to j talk of 'listing again, she flew Into a pretty rage and stamped her foot and all but swore that Dlelc Jennifer in buff and blue should never look upon her j face again with her good will.” I had a glimpse of Jennifer the lover ; ns he spoke, and thP sight went some what on the way toward casting out ‘ the devil of sullen rage that had pos- : sessed me since first 1 had set return- ' lug foot in this my native homeland. 'Twas a life lacking naught of hard ness, but much of human mellowing. : that lay behind the home-coming; and my one sweet friend in all that barren life was dead. What wonder, then, if 1 set this frank-faced Richard In the other Richard's stead, wishing him all the happiness that poor Dick Coverdale had missed? 1 needed little: would need still less, I thought, before the war should end: and through this love match my lost estate would come at length to Richard Jennifer. It was a meliorating thought, and while it held t could be less revengeful. “Dost love her, Dick?" I asked. "Aye, and have ever since she was In pinafores, and I a hobbledehoy in Master Wytheby's school." "So long? 1 thought Mr. Stair was a later comer in Mecklenburg." "He came eight years ago. as one of Tyron’s underlings. Madge was even then motherless: the same little wilful prat-a-pace she has ever been, t would you knew her. Jack. Twould make this shiftiness of mine seem the thing it Is." "So you have stayed at home a-courting while others fought to give you leisure." said I, thinking to rally him. Rut he took it harder than I meant. “'Tis lupt this. Jack: and I am fair ashamed. While the fighting kept to the north It did not grind so keen: hut now. with the redcoats at our doors, and the Tories sacking and burning in every settlement, 'tis enough to flay an honest man alive. God-n-mercy. Jack! Pll go; I've got to go. or die of shame!" He sat silent after that, and as there seemed nothing that a curst old cam paigner could say at such a pass, I bore him company. By and by he harked back to the matter of his errand, making some apology for his coming to me as the baronet's second. " 'Twas none of my free offering, you may be sure," he added. "Rut it so happened that Captain Falconnet once did me a like turn. I had chanced to run afoul of that captain of Hessian pigs. Dauswoulter. at cards, and Fal connet stood my friend—though now I bethink of me. he did seem over-anx ious that one or the other of us should be killed." "As how?” I inquired. “When Dauswoulter slipped and I I might have spitted him. and didn't, ! Falconnet was for having us make the duel a out ranee. Rut that's beside the mark. Having served me then, be makes the point that I shall serve him now.” " Tis a common courtesy, and you could not well refuse. I love you none the less for paying your debts; even to such a villain as this volunteer cap tain.” "True, 'tis a debt, as 'you spy: but I : like little enough the manner of Its 4 paying. How came you to quarrel with him. Jack?” Now even bo blunt a soldier as I have ever been may have some prickings of delicacy where the truth might breed gossip—gossip about a tale which I had said should die with Richard Cov erdale and be buried In his grave. So I evaded the question, clumsily enough, as has ever been my hap in fencing with words. "The cause was not wanting. If any ask, you may say he trod upon my foot In passing.” Jennifer laughed. "And for that you struck him? Heav ens, man! you hold your life carelessly. Do you happen to know that this vol unteer captain of light-horse Is ac counted the best blade In the troop?” “Who should know that better than—” I was fairly on the brink of betraying the true cause of quarreh hut drew rein In time. "I care not if he were the best In the army. I have crossed steel before—and with a good swordsman now and then.” "Anan?” said Jennifer, as one who makes no doubt. And then: “But this toe-pinching story Is but a dry crust to offer a friend. You spoke of a lady; who was she? Or was that only anoth er way of telling me to mind my own affairs?” "Oh. as to that; the lady was real enough, and Falconnet did grossly as perse her. But I know not who she is, nor aught about her, save that she is sweet and fair and good to look upon.” "Young?” “Aye." “And you say you do not know her? Bet me see her through your eyes and mayhap I cun name her for you.” “That I cannot. Mr. Peale's best skill would be none too great for the painting of any picture that should do her justice. But she is small, with the airs and graces of a lady of the qual ity: also, she has witching blue eyes, and hair that has the glint of summer sunshine in It. Also, she sits a horse as If bred to the saddle.” To my amazement. Jennifer leaped up with an oath and flung his pipe Into the fire. “Curse him!" he cried. “And he dared lay a foul tongue to her, you say? Tell me what he said! I have a good right to know!” I shook my head. “Nay. Richard: I. may not repeat it to you, since you are the man's second. Truly, there is more than this at the back of our quarrel; but of itself it was enough, and more than enough, inasmuch as the lady'had just done him the honor to recognize him.” “Hie uinrflu—..Vila vortt wArcIa T.1 oB if you love me!” “No; the quarrel la mine.” "By God! It la not yours!” he stormed, raging back and forth before the fire. “What is Margery Stair to you. Jack Ireton?” I smiled, beginning now to see some peephole in this millstone of mystery. “Margery Stair? She is no more than a name to me, I do assure you: the daughter of the man who sits In my father's seat at Appleby Hundred.” “But you are going to fight for her!" he retorted. “Am I? I pledge you my word I did not know it. But in any case I should fight Sir Francis Falconnet: aye. and do my best to kill him. too. Sit you down and fill another pipe. Whatever the quarrel, it Is mine.” “Mayhap; but it is mine, too,” he broke In, angrily. "At all events. I'll see this king's volunteer well hanged before I second him in such a cause.” “That as you choose. But you are bound in honor, are you not?” "No.” He filled a fresh pipe, lighted it with a coal from the hearth, and puffed away in silence for a time. When he spoke again it was not as Falconnet's next friend. “What you have told me puts a new face on the matter, Jack. Sir Francis may find him another second where he can. If he has ought to say, I shall tell him plain he lied to me about the quarrel, as he did. Now who Is there to sec fair play on your side, John Ireton ?” At the question an overwhelming sense of my own sorry case grappled me. Fifteen years before, I had left Appleby Hundred and my native prov ince as well befriended as the son ot Roger Ireton was sure to be. And now— “Dick, my lad, I am like to fight alone," said I. He swore again at that: and herp. lest I should draw my loyal Richard as he was not, let me say. once for all, that his oaths were but the outgush ings of a warm and impulsive heart, rarely bitter, and never, as I believe, i backed by surly rancor or conscious i irreverence. “That you shall not. Jack," he assert i ed. stoutly. “I must be a-gullop now' to tell this king's captain to look else where for his next friend: but tomor row morning I'll meet you in the road between this and the Stair outlands, 1 and we'll fare on together." After this he would brook no more delay: and when Tomas had fetched his horse I saw him mount and ride | away under the low-hanging maples— j watched him fairly out of sight In the 1 green and gold twilight of the great forest before turning back to my lonely hearth and its somber reminders. (Continued Next Week.) To Cut Sandwiches. i New York Times: "Men who out sandwiches must have just as much knack and experience in the business as men who open oysters on the river i boats," said a man who on one occa sion supplied i'j.OOO sandwiches at two days' notice. "It took seven men to do that job in the time allowed,” he said, "and they hadn’t time to spare , at that. I paid them by the hundred, | the man who did the most work getting , the most pay. When they were all i through there was not enough scraps of 1 bread and meat to till a tin pail. That is the secret of cutting sandwiches— I to avoid waste. There is such cornpe i titlon in the business that we are ob l liged to work on low margins. We ar ■ range with a baker for a special loaf in which there is little crust. Crusty bread makes waste in sandwiches, be cause it breaks and crumbles when cut in cross sections. There are w'ays of cutting corned beef and ham. too, so that there is little waste in them for sandwiches. We buy particular joints for that purpose. We never send out a sandwich that has been cut more than forty-eight hours." Cardinal Rampolla's Role. London Express: Paris.—The pope's great age and feebleness, together with certain recent happenings in France, have raised serious questions ! at the Vatican. | As a matter of fact, Leo XIII. is now , very much in the hands of Cardinal 1 Rampolla, and the cardinal's policy has never been more subservient to French policy than during the present time of 1 stress for the religious orders. I One of the cardinals tells me that the | majority of members of the Sacred col lege are indignant at what is taking j place. No official protest has been heard ; against the dispersion of the congre | gations, and the diplomacy of the Va tican, formerly regarded as one of the [ most farseelng in Europe, has complete , ly failed. Another cardinal whom I have seer | confirms the statement of his colleague. | When the pope is gone, Cardinal Ram i polla will in all probability be perma ; nently shelved. A VISIT TO UNCLE ED. Washington Star: "It’s interesting to have a preconceived notion smashed once in a while, but, then, I don't like to have the job done too violently,” remarked an offi cial of the government who returned recently from his deferred vacation. “We are all liable to run into things that amaze us when we break away from our own firesides and get out of our own little ruts, but Well, anyhow, I went out to Wiscon sin to visit my little old mother a few weeks ago, and on the day when I was scheduled to start back this way she got me into a corner and told me about one of her brothers whom she wanted me to visit on my way back to Washington. ”1 had never seen this uncle of mine, nor had I even heard very much of him, except that he was rather a wild and reckless lot when lie was growing up, and that he had departed from be neath the lintel of the family wickieup under a bit of a cloud, owing to some boyish deviltry, several years before he had attained his majority. “ 'Ed never was a bad boy,’ was the way my good mother put it to me, ‘and lie was always so fond of me, too. I’d be very glad if you'd stop off- and see him, just for my sake. He’s in a roll ing mill, or something, in Pennsyl vania. Homestead is the name of the place. 1 suppose the poor boy has toiled his life away all these years. You needn’t spend more than half a day with him and his family, but I wish you would do that, so that you can write me all about him when you arrive in Washington. You can put up with poor Ed and his family for half a day s visit for my sake, can’t you?’ "Weil, Homestead, Pa.—that's the place where they had the gieat strike and the riots, and all that, about fif teen years ago, you’ll recall—wasn't very much off my route on iny return trip, and so i promised my mother that I’d fall off there and have a peek at Uncle Ed and his layout. "I arrived in Homestead about 9 o’clock on a Thursday morning, a cou ple of weeks ago. I didn’t suppose there'd be any use in asking anybody wucic ji.u «jui ..ms—cue laiier part oi which isn’t exactly his name—lived, and so 1 hunted uo a Homestead directory. “The only Ed Jorkins In the direc tory had his name registered in the book in big, heavy faced type, and so, naturally enough. I thought there must be some mistake. “But no. It read, ‘Edward Jorkins, superintendent So-and-So’s rolling mills, residence Such-and-Sueh terrace,’ and, not a little puzzled over the big type,.! started for the residence on the ‘terrace.’ , "Say, when I found it it wasn't a house at all—it was a chateau, with cor nices and gables and minarets and spires and dinky furbelows all over it and had three or four acres of splendid grounds around it. “Said I to tnyseif, ‘This Uncle Ed of mine can't be living here. Probably lie's eking out his pay as a rolling mill hand by doing the gardening, or some thing of that sort, for the prorietor of this mansion.’ But I traipsed up the gravel walk leading to the swell main entrance to the chateau to find out. “A fine looking man of fifty or some thing like that, with a clearcut coun tenance and grayish side whiskers, was standing on the porch smoking a cigar and fooling with a thoroughbred colie dog. “ 'Is there any man around here.' I asked him, 'by the name of Ed Jork ins?’ “ 'Well,' said lie, smiling. 'I believe I'm the only man in this section who packs that name around.’ "A franc-and-a-half is nothing to what 1 felt just at that moment, con trived to introduce myself to my uncle, however, and he gave me a cordial greeting—the greeting of a well bred man—and began to ask me all about everybody, especially about my mother, his favorite sister, as he was quick to say. "He n never had time, he told me to go back and dig up the old folks, but he was perpetually vowing to do it, all the same, he added. ' Then his three daughters, as pretty a trio of cousins as any fellow would want to claim, made their appearance, and for general finish and cleverness, let alone their grand looks, they cer tainly were stunners. Their mothers ap peared, too, after a hit. and furnished an interesting study of a refined woman of middle age. ' To me it was all a trance, for a fact. They wouldn't believe me when I told them that I’d had breakfast down town, but they carried me off to the break fast room, if you please, and had placed ! before me "Some specimens of break fast cookery that only Increased the in tensity of my daze. Positively they made so much of me. and were all so genuinely fine and lavish in their spirit of hospitality, that I barely knew what to do with my hands and feet. “Along toward noon my Uncle Ned, whom I had expected to find at a roll ing mill, with a red flannel shirt on his back, a short clay pipe in his mouth and a big dinner bucket constantly un der his eye, apologized and said he'd have to run down to the works for a bit. He was dressed like the^tresident of a national bank when he started, and he was only gone about three hours. “When he returned he said that he was through for the day. While he was gone my girl cousins took me over the house. It was a swell house, and no mistake—twenty-five rooms in it, ‘olive’ room, 'white and gold' room, and all that sort ’f thing; swimming pool, swell library, billiard room, gymnasi um. smoking room—the whole thing. "The girls played and sang for me In English, French, Italian and Ger man, and their mother, a woman of Welsh descent, played nobly on the harp. "At dinner that evening a butler and a 'second man.' if you please, saw to it that we were fed all right, and, on my little pay, I don’t often get such wines and cigars as this Arabian Nights un cle of mine set before me when the mother and girls left us to ourselves. "It was about as queer a sell, so to speak, the whole job, as ever 1 met up with. The next day my uncle took me over the works. All hands—there were several thousands of them— am mg the employes practically doffed their bonnets and knuckled their fore heads to hiru. and I got a different no tion of what the word 'superintendent’ meant. After I got on the train to come on to Washington I fell Into talk wifli the conductor, and just out of curiosity I asked him; " What :s the average salary of the superintendents of these mills around he re T “ 'Well, he replied, 'it would be hard to strike an average, but some of them get right nifty wages. It till depends upon their expertness in their line of business, and their cleverness In handling men and fulfilling contracts. Now. Ed Jorkins, wig) lives up yonder on the, terrace, gets a salary of $20,000 a year, aarl they say lie’s got. an in terest in the works besides He was a hand In the same mill twenty years ago.' "My mother out in Wisconsin must have thought me insane when she read the letter I wrote to her about her brolhei Ed when I got back here." A GREAT MEDICINE BEINGS HEALTH TO THREE MEM BERS OF SAME FAMILY. Care* a Wife** Debility After Malaria, u Hatbands BheuinatUvn, a Daughter** Nervous Prostration. *‘I have recommended Dr. Williams' Pink Pills to many people,” said Mrs. Gossett, “ because I have seen such good results, time after time, right in my own family. There are three of us who have } no doubt about their merits. We do no* i tieed to take anybody’s word on the sub i ject for our own experience has taught ua ! how well they deserve praise. “ It was just about ten years ago tha* I first read about Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills, and bought my first box. I was a* that time all run down, weak, nervous and without ambition. I had been doc toring all summer for malaria and stomach trouble. Everybody thought I was going into consumption, as my motherhaddiedoftbatdisea.se. “ Thanks to Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills, I am now alive and' hearty. I began to improve as soon as I began to take them, and when I had taken three boxes I was a well woman. Everyone wonders how I keep so well and am able to care for my home and six children without help. Dr. Williams' Pink Pills explain it. “ My oldest girl’s health began to fail when she was about fourteen. She was nervous, complained of sharp pains in her head, would get deathly sick and have to leave the school room to get fresh air to revive her. I gave some pills to her. She took only a few boxes, but they cured her troubles, and caused her to develop into a perfect picture of health. Then my husband took them for rheumatism and found that they would cure that too. So you see we have all got great good from using them, and that is why we recom mend them to others.” w_ Mr:_v» _xx i:_ _ x. Uhriehsville, Tuscarawas Oo., Ohio, and is well kuowD, as she has resided in the same neighborhood for more than thir teen years. Her story shows that a medicine which makes the blood sound and the nerves strong, overcomes a vari ety of diseases and should be found in every household. Dr.Williams’Piuk Pills are sold by all druggists everywhere. They have cured anaemia, and all forms of weakness, also the most stubborn cases of dyspepsia and rheumatism. They are indispensable for growing girls. THE NEXT MORNING I FEEL BRIGHT AND NEW AND MY COMPLEXION IS BETTER My doctor says it acts gently on th® stomach. liver and kidneys and is a pleasant laxative. This drink i® made from herbs. ana is prensred for use as easily a® t®a. It is called‘‘.Laue*® Ten.” or LANE’S FAMILY MEDICINE All druggists or by mail 25 cts. and 50ct*. Buy it tn day. Lane’® Family Medicine moves the bowel® each day. In order to be healthy this i® necessary. Addreos, O. V. Woodward, Le Roy, N.Y. On the Trail “I followed the') j . —. ■ trail from Texas ennih a Fish Rranrt to Montana with i hviw a. it iso £>rana a fish brand j n f ru. < Slicker, used for | rommeioltcuer on overcoat when • cold, a wind coat i when windy, a rain coat when it rained, j and for a cover at night if we got to bed, $ and I will say that T have gotten more \ comfort out of your clicker than any other one article that I ever owned.” J (Tho name and address of the writer of thla unsolicited letter may bo had on application.) Wet Weather Garments for Riding, Walk- * ing, Working cr Sporting. HIGHEST AWARD WORLD'S FASH. 1904. A. J. TOWER CO. BOSTON, O.S.A '\VT® ^ TOWER CANADIAN T CO., Limited < TOKONTO, CANADA EXCURSIONS TO THE FREE GRANT LANDS Of Western Cmoi During the months of March and April, there will ha Excursions on the vaHoue line of railway to Mm Canadian Weet. Hundreds of thousands of the beet Wheat and Grazing lands ou the Continent free to t.h® settler. Adjoi ning lands may be purchased from mi 1 way and land con> •an ie« at reasonable nricee. as »o route.eto. Apply for Information toSupen’ntend ntof Immigr^ tion. Ottawa. Canada, or to E. T. Holme®, 816 Jackson 8t.. 8t. Paul, Minn.; J. M. MacI.echhm. Boa 116 Water town. South Dakota, and W. V. Bennett, Hill New York Life Building. Omaha. Neb . Authorized Goverumeoi Agents. Please say where yoa saw this advertisement. t-f Sioux City Independent List. Alabastine Your Walls Simply brush it on. Any deal er or decorator can apply Ala bastine, or any woman could apply it herself. Just mix it in cold i water and brush it on. Choose the color ycu wish from the color card, which will be sent you free, and (jo to work. The most beautiful, brilliant color ef feet* are possible with ALABASTINE t ALABASTINE is susceptible of the most original treatment. With Al.ARAS TINE the most bettitlfnl tile effects con be produced, the most beautiful panel effects, the most beautiful walscotlngs and friezes. It won't rub off, nor dry out Into a dull, dead color. Buy ALABASTINE In original pack, ages, never In bulk. The best dealers sell It. If yours doesn't, send us yottr name and we will see that you are sup piled. ALABASTINE COMPANY Grand Av. Grand Kapids. Mich. 1 New York C11