THE MASTER OF APPLEBY
< ,... . .- _■—— By Fr«.ncia Lynde. — < |
I stirred the dying embers, throwing
•n a pine knot for better light. Then
C took down my father's sword from its
Aeer-horn brackets over the chimney
piece, and set myself to fine its edge
and point with a bit of Scotch whln
•tone. It was « good blade; a true old
Andrea Ferara got in battle In the
seventeenth century by one of the Not
tingham Iretons.
I whetted it well and carefully. It
was not that 1 feared my enemy's
Strength of wrist or tricks of fence;
but tighting had been my trade, and he
Is but a poor craftsman who looks not
well to see that his tools are in order
against their time of using.
CHAPTER II.
WHICH KNITS UP SOME BROKEN
ENDS.
It was in the autumn of the year 'Si.
ss a I was coming of age, that rny fa
ther made ready to send me to Eng
land. Himself a conscience exile from
Episcopal Virginia, and a descendant
of fhose Nottingham Iretons whose
tier* known son fought stoutly against
rhurch and king under Oliver Crom
well. he was yet willing to humor my
bent and to use the interest of my
mother's family to enter me in tin
kick's service.
Accordingly. I took ship at Norfolk
for "home,” as we called it in those
lays; and, after a stormy passage and
avermueh waiting as my cousins'
guest in Lincolnshire, lind my pair of
colors In the Scots Blues, lately home
from garrison duty in the Canadas.
Of the life in barracks of a young,
ensign with little wit #hd lys wisdom,
end with more guineas in his purse
than was good for him,’ the less said
the better. Rut of this you may like to
know that, what with a good father's
example, and some small heritage or
Puritan decency come down to me
from the sound-hearted old Round
bead stock, 1 won out of (lint devil's
•ponging-hnuse, an arm” In the time
*f peace, with somewhat less to my
•core than others hud to theirs.
It was in this barrack life that I
raine fo know Richard Coverdale and
tils evil genius, the man Francis Cov
erdale. Coverdale was an ensign in my
awn regiment, and we were sworn
friends from the first. Ills was a clean
•oul and brave; and it was to him that
l owed escape from many of the grosser
chargings on that score above named.
As for Faleonnet, be was even then a
ruffler and a bully, though he was not
ef the army. He was a younger son,
end at that time there were two lives
between him and the baronetcy; but
with a mother's bequenthlngs to pur
chase idleness and to gild his iniquities
he was a fair example of the jeunesse
loree of that England; a libertine, a
gamester, a rakehell; brave as the tiger
Is brave, and to the full as pitiless.
He was a boon companion of Ihe offi
cers' mess; and for a time—and pur
pose—posed as Coverdaie's friend, and
mine.
Atory to Richard Jennifer, I may not
set it down in cold words here for you.
tt was the age-old tragic comedy of
A false friend’s treachery and a wom
an’s weakness; a duel, and Hie wrong
man slain. And you may know this,
that Faleonnet's most merciful role in
it was the part he played one chill No
vember morning when he put Richard
Poverdale to the wall and ran him
through.
As you have guessed, I was < 'over
sale's next friend and second in this
Affair, and but for the upsetting news
»f the Tyron tyranny in Carolina
news which reached me on the very
•ay of the meeting—l should there and
then have called the slayer to his ac
count.
How my father who, Presbyterian
And Ireton though he was, hud always
.been of the king's side, came to espouse
the cause of the "Regulators," as they
railed themselves, I know not. In my
youthful memories of him he figures as
the feudal lord of his own domain,
more absolute than many of the petty
-klngllngs I came afterward to know in
ithe German marches. But this, too,
t remember; that while his rule at Ap
pleby Hundred was stern and despotic
-enough, he was ever ready to lend a
willing ear to any tale of oppression.
And If what men say of the tyrant Ty
ron’s tax gatherers and law court rob
bers be no more than half truth, there
-was neeii for any honest gentleman to
appose them.
What that opposition came to in '71
Is now a tale twice told. Taken in
Arms against the governor's authority,
And with an estate well worth receiv
ing. my father had little Justice and
less mercy accorded him. With many
athors he was outlawed; his estates
were declared forfeit; and a few days
later he, with Benjamin Merrill and
lour more captivated at tlie Alamance,
was given some farce of a trial and
banged.
When the news of this came to me
you may well suppose that I had no
heart to continue in the service of the
king who could sanction and reward
«uch villainies as these of the butcher,
William Tyron. Bo I threw up my lieu
tenant's commission in the Blues, took
Ahlp for the continent, and, after wear
ing some half dozen different uniforms
in Germany, was lucky enough to come
At length to serviceable blows under
my old Held marshal on the Turkish
frontier.
To you of a younger generation,
born in the day of swift mail coathes
And well kept post roads, the slowness
ylth which our laggard news traveled
in that elder time-must needs seem past
belief. It was early in the year '79
before I began to hear more than vague
tamp-ftre tales of the struggle going
»n between the colonies and the mother
country; and from that to setting foot
«nce more upon the soil of my native
Carolina was still another year.
What I found upon landing at New
* Herne and saw while riding a jog-trot
thence to the Catawba was a province
rent and torn by partisan warfare.
Though I came not upon the partisans
themselves in all that long faring,
there were trampled Helds and pillaged
bouses enough to serve us milestones;
And In my native Mecklenburg a mine
full charged, with slow match well
Alight for its firing.
Charleston had fallen, and Colonel
Tarleton's outposts were already wide
Apread on the upper waters of the
Broad and the Catawba. Thus it was
that the first sight which greeted my
eyes when I rode Into Queenshorougii
waa the familiar trappings of my old
tervice, and 1 was made to know that
to spite of Mr. Jefferson's boldly writ
ten Declaration of Independence, and
that earlier tasting of the king's yoke
by the patriotic Mecklenburgers them
selves. my boyhood home was for the
moment by sword right a part of his
majesty's province of North Carolina
You are not to suppose that these
things moved me greatly. As yet 1
was chiefly concerned with my ow n af
fair and anxious to learn at first hands
the cost to me of my father's connec
tion with the Regulators.
I Touching this. I was not long kept
in Ignorance. Of all the vast demesne
of Appleby Hundred there was no roof
to shelter the son of the outlawed
Roger Ireton save that of this poor
hunting lodge in the mighty forest of
i the t’atawba, overlooked, with the few
1 runaway blacks inhabiting it. In the
intaking of an estate so large that I
I think not even my father knew all the
metes and hounds of it.
I shall not soon forget the Interview
with the lawyer In which I was told
the inhospitable truth. Nor shall I
i forget Ids truculent leer when he
hinted that 1 had best be gone out of
these parts, since It was not yet too
late to bring down the sentence of out
lawry from the father to the son.
It was well for him that 1 knew not
at the time that he was Gilbert Stair's
factor. For I was mad enough to have
throttled him where he sat at his writ
ing table, matching his long fingers
and smirking at fno with his evil
smile. Hut of this man more In his
lime and place. His name was Owen
I’engarvln. I would have you remem
ber it.
For a week and a day I lingered on
at Queensborough. for what X knew
not, save that all the world seemed
suddenly to have grown stale and prof
itless. anil iny life a thing of small ac
count. One day I would be minded to
go back to my old field marshal and
the keeping of the Turkish border;
the next I would ride over some part
of iny stolen heritage and swear a
great oath to bide till I should come to
iny own again. And on these alternat
ing days the storm of black rage filled
my horizon, and I became a derelict to
drive on any rock or shoal in this un
charted sea of wrath.
On one of these • gallops farthest
afield I chanced upon the bridle path
that led to our old hunting lodge in the
forest depths. Tracing the path to its
end among the maples I found the cab
in, so lightly touched by time that the
mere sight of it carried me swiftly
back to those happy days when my fa
ther and I had stalked the white-tailed
deer In the hill glades beyond, with this
log-built cabin for a rest camp. I
spurred ur> under the low-hanging
trees. The door stood wide open, and
a thin wreath of blue smoke curled up
ward from the mouth of the wattled
chimney.
Then and there I had my first wel
come home. Old black Darius—old
when I had last seen him at Appleby
Hundred, and a very grandsire of
ancients now—was one of the
runaways who made the for
est lodge a refuge. He had been my
father's body-servant, and, notwith
standing all the years that lay between,
he knew me at once.
Thereupon, as you would guess, I
came immediately into some portion of
my kingdom. Though Darius was the
patriarch, the other blacks were also
fugitives from Appleby Hundred; and
for the son of Roger Ireton there was
Instant vassalage and loyal service.
Rut best of all, on my first evening be
fore the handful of fire in the great
fire-place. Darius brought me a pack
age swathed in many wrappings of In
dlairttanned deerskin. 11 contained my
father's sword, and, more precious than
this, a message from the dead. My
father's farewell was written upon a
leaf torn from his Journal, and was but
a hasty scrawl. 1 here transc ribe it.
"My Son:
"I know not if this will ever come
into your hands, but it and my sword
shall he left In trust with the faithful
Darius. We have made our illtimed
cast for liberty and it has failed, and
tomorrow [ and five others are to die at
the rope's end. 1 bequeath you my
sword—'tts all the tyrant hath left me
to devise—and my blessing to go with
it when you, or another Ireton. shall
once more bare the true old blade in
the sacred cause of liberty. Thy father,
■'Roger Ireton.”
You may be sure I conned those few
brave \Vords till l had them well by
heart; and later, when my voice wus
surer and my eyes less dim. I summon
ed Darius and bade him tell me all he
knew. And it was thus I learned what
I have here set down of my father’s
end.
The next day. all indecision gone, I
rode to Ciueensbornugh to ascertain, if
so 1 might, how best to throw the
weight of the- good old Andrea into tlie
patriot scale, meaning to push on
thence to Charlotte when 1 had got the
bearings of the nearest patriot force.
'Twas none so easy to learn what I
needed to know; though, now I sought
for Information, a curious thing or two
developed. One was that this light
horse outpost in our hamlet was far
In advance of the army of invasion—so
far that it*was dangerously Isolated,
and beyond support. Another was the
air of secrecy maintained, and the hold
ing, unmasked, down the: high road, not
fight or flight.
wny mis nme nanurui or British
regulars should stick and hang so far
from Lord Cornwallis’ main, which was
then well down upon the Watree, I
could not guess. But for the secrecy
and vigilance there were good reasons
and sufficient. The patriot militia had
been called out. and was embodying
under General Rutherford but a few
miles distant nwar Charlotte.
1 had this Information In guarded
whispers from mine host of the favern,
and was but a moment free of the tap
room, when 1 first saw Margery Stair
and so drank of the cup of trembling
with madness in its lees. She was rid
ing. unmasked, down thehigh road, not
on a pillion as most women rode in that
day, but upon her own mount with a
black groom two lengths in the rear. I
can picture her for you no better than
1 could for Richard Jennifer; but this I
know, that even this first sight of her
moved me strangely, though the witch
ing beauty of her face and the proud
ness of it were more a ehnilenge than
a beckoning.
A blade’s length at my right where I
was standing in front of the tavern,
three redcoat officers lounged at ease;
and to one of them my lady tossed a
nod of recognition, half laughing, half
defiant. 1 turned quickly to look at the
favored one. He stood with his back
to me; a man of about my own big
ness. heavy-built and well muscled. He
wore it bob wig. as did many of the
troop officers, out his uniform was
tailor fine, and the hand with which he
was resettling his hat was be jeweled
—overmuch bejeweled. to my taste.
Something half familiar in the figure
of him nuide me look again. In the act
he turned, and then I saw his face—saw
and recognized it through nine years
lay between this and my last seeing of
it across the body of Richard Cover
dale.
‘‘Sol " thought 1; "My time has come
at last." And while 1 was yet turning
over in my mind how best to bait him,
the lady passed out of earshot, and I
heard him say to the two, his comrades,
that foul thing ■which I would not re
peat to Jennifer: a vile boast with
which I may not soil my page here for
you.
| "Oh, come. Sir Frank’ that's too -
bad!" cried the younger of the twain; |
ami then I took two strides to front :
hint fairly.
"Sir Francis Falcorinet. you are a
foul-lipped blackguard'" 1 said: and. j
lest that should not lie enough. I smote
tiim in the face so that he fell like an
ox in the shambles.
"
CHAPTER TH.
IX WHICH MY ENEMY SCORES
FIRST.
I True to his promise, Richard Jennl- I
i fer met In the cool gray birthlight of
j the new day at a turn in the rivet- road i
j not above a mile or two from the re- i
ilezvous. and thence we jogged on to- !
get her.
After the greetings, which, as you
' may like to know, were grateful enough
I on my part, I would fain inquire how
j the baronet had taken his second's de- j
feetlon; hut of this Jennifer would say
| little. He had broken with his prin- i
I clpal, whether in anger or not i could [
only guess: and one of Falconnet’s
brother officers, that younger one of
the twain who had cried shame at the
baronet's vile boast, was to serve In his
j stead.
It was such a daydawn as I have
j sometimes seen in the Carpathians;
cool and clear, but with that sweet
dewy wetness In the lower air which
washes the over-night cobwebs from
the brain, and is both meal and drink
to one who breathes it. On the left
the road was overhung by the border
ing forest, and where I he branches
drooped lowest we brushed the frag
rance from the wild grape liloom in
, passing. On the right the river, late
In flood, eddied softly; and sounds oth
| er than the murmuring of the waters,
the matin songs of the birds, and the
dust muffled hoof heats of our horses
there were none. Peace, deep and abid
ing, was the keynote of nature's morn
ing hymn: and In all Ihis sylvan byway
there was naught remindful of the
fierce interrtecine warfare atlame in all
the countryside. Some rough forging
of Ihis thought I hammered out for
Jennifer as we rode along, and his
laugh was not devoid of bitterness.
“Old Mother Nature ruffles her feath
, era little enough for any teapot of
| ours, n» saia. ' Hut.speaKing or the
cruelties, we provincial savages, as iny
Lord Cornwallis calls us, have no mo
nopoly. The post riders from the south
bring blood-curdling stories of Colonel
TarUon’s doings. 'Tis said he over
took some of Mr. Lincoln’s reinforce
ments come too lale. They gave bat
tle but faint-heartedly, being all un
ready for an enemy, and presently
threw down their arms and begged for
quarter—begged, and were cut down
as they stood.”
"Faugh!” said I. "That is but hang
man’s work. And yet in London I
heard that this same Colonel Tarlton
was with Lord Howe in Philadelphia
and was made much of by the ladies.”
Jennifer’s laugh was neither mirth
ful nor pleasant.
“ ’Tis a weakness of the sex," he
scoffed. "The women have a fondness
! for a man with a dasli of the brute in
him.”
I laughed also, but without bitter
ness.
i "You say it feelingly. Po you speak
by the book?"
“Aye, that I do. Now here is my lady
Madge preaching peace and all man
ner of patience to me in one breath,
and upholding in the next this baronet
captain who, though I would have sec
onded him at a pinch, is but a pat
tern of his brutal colour?.'’
I put two and two together.
"So Falconnet is on terms at Apple*
by Hundred, Is he?"
“Oh. surely. Gilbert Stair keeps open
house for any and ail of the winning
hand, as I told you.”
The thought of this unspoiled young
maiden having aught to do with such
a thrice-accursed despoiler of women
j made my blood boil afresh: and in the
heat of It I let my secret slip, or rather
some small part of it.
"Kir Francis had ever a sure hand
with the women.” I said; and then I
could have bitten my masterless
tongue.
“So?” queried Jennifer. "Then this
is not your first knowing of him?”
"No." So much 1 said and no more.
We rode on in silence for a little
space, and then my youthling must
needs break out again in fresh be
seechlngs.
"Tell me what you know of him, and
what it was he said of Madge," he en
treated. "You can’t deny me now,
Jack."
"I can and shall. It matters not to
you or to any what he is or has been.”
"Why?"
"Because, as God gives me strength
and skill, I shall presently run him
through, and so his account will be |
squared once for all with all men—and
all women, as well.”
"God speed you,” quoth my loyal al
ly. "I knew not your quarrel with him
was so bitter."
"It is to the death.”
“So it seems. In that case, if by any
accident he—”
I divined what he would say and
broke In upon him.
(Continued Next Week.)
American Country Hotels.
Philadelphia Record: One effect of the
automobile is to direct attention to a dis
tinctively American institution—the coun
try hotel. Nothing like it is to be found
anywhere else, which is fortunate for per--|
sons who go anywhere else. English nov- j
ellsts and occasional Americun travelers
have mu^e us acquainted with the village
inn of England, and it comes near to f>e
Ing ideal. However, unpretentious may
be the exterior, comfort, cleanliness and
courtesy make the interior cheerful. The
food may be heavy, being English, and
the ale heady, but the clean beds and
prompt and willing service make the gen
eral Impression agreeable. In France pov
erty is too often a characteristic of the
country auberge—a battered hut with no
Hoor but the bare ground in the kitchen,
which is also the dining room, sitting and
bed room of the landlord and his family.
Yet such is the cleanliness of the place
and the smiling courtesy of the people
that the amiable traveler is not disposed
to complain bitterly. He may go hungry,
but at least he is free, from nausea.
Even the desperate poverty of the poor
est French auberge is to be preferred a
thousand times to some of the hotels Wul- i
dorf and Delxnonico which disgrace so '
j many American villages. Before this typi
cal hotel or inside the dirty “office” are
shirt-sleeved loungers, who have made
the nickel cigar a widespread curse. The
I landlord, also in shirt sleeves, does not
remove his shabby hat on the entrance of
a guest, and perhaps does not suspend
his game of checkers to receive him. No
foreign servility about him. In the dining
room a slatternly village belle presides
over the swarming dies and the pine ta
bles with soiled covers. Most persons
would prefer starvation to the greasy food
served in such circumstances.
All in tne Dark.
Ida.—When Jack tolrl Mabel he was
going to steal a kiss in the first tun
nel. she said she wished there were
no tunnels on the road.
Belle—You don't say!
"Yes. but after they passed the first j
she said she wished the whole road was !
one continuous tunnel."—Chicago ;
i Daily News.
* I
AMAZING NUMBER
OF CHILD WIVES
Many Immigrant Girls Marry
at an Exceedingly Young
Age.
BEAUTY FADES EARLY
Chicago Crusade Reveals Facts That
Startle Many Sociologists—Whole
sale Importation of Wives
Arouses the Officials.
_, •
Washington Times: A crusade against
the marriage of children by the com
pulsory education department in Chi
cago is bringing to light a deplorable
condition of affairs in the tenement dis
tricts of the great city, particularly in
the Italian and Sicilian settlements.
There are thousands of child wives, and
the last census shows that there are
nine husbands not over 15 years old.
Early marriages—by which Is meant
the marriage of girls under 18 years of
age and men under -1—are a relic of
barbarism. The foreign element which
is pouring into this country from south
ern Europe clings to this ancient cus
tom, though for the most part it is only
the girls who marry very young.
Undoubtedly the women of the coun
tries of southern Europe mature much
earlier than do those of America and
other northern countries. Whether or
not this early maturity is due to cli
matic influences or to racial tendencies
is a question that has been much dis
cussed. However that may be, the im
migrants to this country from the
south of Europe continue to marry their
girls at an age which to Americans
seems criminally young. Many emi
nent sociologists are strongly opposed
to this, maintaining that the custom of
early marriages—especially those in
which young girls becomes wives—is
un-American and has a tendency to de
teriorate the alien races which have
made this country their home.
ocauiy raaes tariy.
In Italy it is tho custom for girls to
marry at from 12 to 14 years of age.
The Italian women are in the full
bloom of maturity from 14 to 22. When
she has reached the age of 23 the vol
uptuous beauty of the Italian woman
begins to fade.
The crusade which is being Carried
on is the result of some startling dis
coveries made by Superintendent W. I,.
Bodine, of the compulsory education de
partment of Chicago. Within the past
six weeks Superintendent Bodine dis
covered and prevented the marriage of
three young Italian girls whose school
records showed them to be under the
legal ago for marrying. In the course
of his investigations into these cases
Superintendent Bodine found evidence
that the practice of marrying girls un
der the age of 14 was extremely prev
alent in the Italian and Sicilian quar
ters of the city. He at once decided
that, as there appeared no other suf
ficient means to prevent the continu
ance of the custom, he would enforce
the compulsory education laws, no mat
ter whether the child amenable to them
was a wife or not.
Starts Fight Against Cupid.
In support of his determin.>»un
Superintendent Bodine ataj-ted a trust
ed truant officer, an Italian, with a
force of others, into the tenement dis
tricts of tlie river wards to make a
house to house search for child wives
or girls who were being harbored with
out being sent to school for the pur
pose of making some countryman a
desirable young wife.
"There is no other way that I know,"
said Superintendent Bodine. "to dis
cover how many of these child wives
there are in certain districts of Chi
cago. Some time ago I became con
vinced that the practice was very com
mon in the tenement districts, i made
the assertion that many of the Italian
tenements were filled with extremely
young girls who had contracted mar
riages. I have watched the conditions
closely since and have made several
investigations, and all that I have dis
covered has been in support of my
opinion. We are now conducting a
house to house canvass to discover as
many as we can. It is a very ditUcult
task, but the only means we have is to
send an officer to the houses. He
takes a chance of some of tho young
girls who come under our jurisdiction
opening tho door or of getting a
glimpse of them. Then we can haul
them into court and the burden of
proof that they are over the legal age
for attending school lies with them or
their parents or guardians.
Evading the Law.
"We are finding them a very wary
lot. This is the way they try to fool
us." The superintendent presented a
passport for inspection. It was issued
to a young Italian girl whose marriage
Superintendent Bodine has recently
prevented. In the column showing the
age ot' the girl an evident erasure and
alteration had been made to show that
the girl was 15 years old. The appear
ance of the alteration indicated that
the original figure 2, which would show
the age as 12 years, had been altered
at f>. The evidence of the erasure
could be noted without the aid of a
glass, and the style of letter made was
entirely different from any other fig
ure 5 appearing in the passport.
The Italian consul has Interested
himself in tills case because of the
alteration of the passport, and trouble
Is likely to follow for the fond papa
of tile young girl who was to have been
married, but was not.
Superintendent Bodine told of a
case in which an Italian had worked a
pretty scheme to get his family to
America from Italy. He had come to
this country some time before, leaving
Ins wife and children in their old home
to await the time that he could earn
enough to send for them. He came to
Chicago and made tne acquaintance of
a countryman it ho wanted a wife. It
is said that the average Italian prefers
not only a young wife, but one who
comes in her freshness and purity from
sunny Italy itself.
"There are plenty of young Italian
girls in ( hicago that I could have mar
ried," Superintendent Bodine quotes
one of the men whose marriage to an
imported Italian girl he prevented, "but
1 would not. I don't want any girl
reared in Chicago for a wife.”
Tills was Ihe Lothario whom the fa
ther referred to above met shortly after
ills arrival in Chicago. The country
man who wanted a wife direct from
Italy was willing to pay not only her
transportation but that of the other
members of the family to America,
that lie might have the 12-year-old girl
for his wife. The bargain was made
and sealed anil the family sent for.
They arrived, but the wedding lias not
yet taken place.
Wholesale Importation of Wives.
It is sucii conditions that have
aroused the attention of the officials of
the compulsory education department.
Superintendent Bodine asserts the be
lief that his investigations. If success
ful. will reveal a regular system of
such Importations of young Italian
women to become the brides of their
countrymen already established in
Chicago. Similar conditions are said to
prevail in all the larger cities, and sim
ilar investigations to that inaugurated
tills week by Superintendent Bodine are
being undertaken in New York and
elsewhere.
in speaking of the rewult of the Inves
tigations of ills department thus far
Mr. Bodine says: "The investigation
thus far shows the methods of obtain
ing marriage licenses on the mere af
fidavit of the applicant, upsupported by
proof of the girl's age by parental tes
timony or church records places a pre
mium on child marriage and makes it
possible for children of compulsory
school attendance age to marry if they
come direct from foreign countries and
are not enrolled in school.
"1 nspeakable social conditions sur
rounding children in sotne homes have
also been unearthed. We have discov
ered ti child wife who is the mother of
two children at 16 years. A case of a
white-haired man from a country dis
trict of Illinois, 65 years old, who mar
ried a Chicago girl of 15, was another
result of our search of the records. In
stances of young gilds being married
to cloak relations between the husband
and mother of the young wife and hide
them from the girl wife’s father have
been found by our special officers who
have been working in the Italian and
Sicilian districts.
"From what has already been dis
covered and which will soon be em
bodied in a detailed report wherein
startling statistics will be given it is
plain that (lie laws of Illinois should
be amended to absolutely prohibit mar
riage of any girl under 18 years of age
and require proof of age of every fe
male between the ages of 18 anil 21,
such proof 16 be submitted by sworn
testimony of parents or guardians,
church record, or some verification
similar to the provision of the child la
bor law. which prevents children of il
legal working age from going to work.
Worst Form of Child Slavery.
"There is no worse form of child
slavery than that of a girl of fourteen
or fifteen years old becoming a child
wife to assume heavy household duties
and maternal cares. The present mar
riage laws make the practice of decep
tion in giving ages perfectly easy."
Clerk Salmonson, of the marriage li
cense bureau in Chicago, takes a more
optimistic view of the situation than
does Superintendent Bodine. Clerk Sal
monson is proficient in the Italian lan
guage. He talks with applicants for
marriage licenses in their own tongues.
According to Mr. Salmonson, marriages
of girls of fourteen and fifteen are very
common, particularly among the Ital
ians and Sicilians. He does not believe,
however, that there is any great
amount of falsifying as to the ages of
these "iris.
"If there is any such falsifying." said
Mr. Salmonson, "it occurs in the cases
of girls of fourteen or fifteen, whose in
tended husbands swear that they are
sixteen or so years of age. The Italians
are not all Mafias.” added the marriage
license man. "It is the custom of their
country, as of many other countries of
Europe, that the girls marry young. In
Italy everything connected with mar
riage of a man and a woman is more
open than it is here. There are notaries
on the streets, and lo these application
is made for permission to wed. The
names of the prospective bride and
bridegroom are given to tile notary,
who writes them down. He gives the
applicants a paper, which they take to
lhe magistrate, who performs the civil
marriage. After the civil marriage
conies the solemnization by the church.
Mr. Salmonson admits that there is
every opportunity in the present system
of legalizing marriages for falsifying
without discovery. He does not believe,
however, that this is often done.
Hugo Grosser, the city statistician
of Chicago, lias taken a great deal of
Interest in the study of this," as well as
other sociological problems. He inclines
distinctly toward a championship of
early marriages of girls of Italian, Si
cilian, and other races where the wom
en mature at an early age.
Champions Early Marriages.
"II is the custom of such countires as
Italy. Sicily, Poland. Bohemia, and
parts of many other countries for wom
en to marry at an early age. Most
of the Slav races mature early, as do
the Putin races. 1 do not believe that
climatic conditions have anything to do
with this early development. It is
purely a matter of race. It is true, how
ever. that in the southern part of Ger
many the women mature much earlier
than they do in the northern portions.
“Those who object to early marriages
do so usually on l lie ground that they
are detrimental to (he health of the
women and their progeny. 1 have
known may cases of women who mar
ried at very early ages and who raised
large families of children, performed all
the duties of a good housewife and lived
to a ripe old age, enjoying the best of
health. In support of the contention
that such marriages arc not detri
mental I can cite the case of my own
grandmother. She was married in
Germany when she was fourteen years
old. She bore and reared nine children
and lived to be seventy years old and
enjoyed during her entire life the very
best of health. Instead of being a
detriment. I believe that in such in
stances of races whose women mature
at an early age they are a benefit anil
serve to promote morality.
Worse Influences lhan Marriage.
“To be sure,” continued Mr. Grosser,
"the idea of an early marriage for one's
own daughter is repugnant. Americans
with daughters generally dislike to
think of their marriage until they have
reached at least the age of eighteen.
And yet. I believe that most of those
who would dislike, as a general thing,
to have their daughters marry young
would prefer a marriage at say four
teen to other alteratives that suggest
themselves. And this being true of
American parents, as I believe it is,
how much more reasonable is the atti
tude of parents among races where
women mature much earlier than Is the
case with Americans and are thus
earlier susceptible to influences that
are far worse than early marriages.”
Mr. Grosser is skeptical of the state
ment that there are thousands of child
wives under the age of fourteen in Chi
cago. "It is a most difficult thing about
which to secure statistics that would
have the least weight. They cannot
be obtained from the records of the
county clerk, for these records would
show no licenses issued to girls under
fourteen. I do not believe that Super
intendent Bodine In his crusade against
Cupid will find many child wives who
are young enough to make them amen
able to the compulsory education
laws,” ' Mr. Grosser.
In of all adverse comment,
man young girls married under
four.. is have been brought to
light i- courts. _
Was Cracked Before.
A cheery little fellow was accustomed
to hear a servant in the house always
saying when she broke a dish that it
was cracked before. As soon as a dish
was broken the servant’s excuse might
have been beard all over the house—"It
was vracked before.” One day the lit
tie lad tumbled downstairs, and his
mother cried in alarm. "Oh. Tommy,
have you broken your head?” Tommy
got on his feet, scratched Ills head, arid
said, with a grin, "Never mind, mother,
it was cracked before.”
PPEPSPELDS
! A NINE YEARS’ VICTIM FINDS A
REMEDY THAT CURES.
For Two Years Too Weak to Work -A Doran
Doctors Had Tried to Check Disease.
Treatment That Succeeded.
All sufferers from weakuess or disor
ders of tlie digestive organs will read
with lively interest the story.of the com
plete recovery of Mrs. Nettlie Darvoux
from chronic dyspepsia which was
thought to be incurable.
“ To be ailing for nine years is not a
very pleasant experience," said Mrs.
Darvoux, when asked for some account
of her illness. “ For two years I was
critically ill and could not attend to my
household duties, and at one time I was
so weak and miserable that I could not
even walk. My trouble was chronic dys
pepsia. I became extremely thin and
liad a sallow complexion. I. had no ap
petite and could not take any food with
out suffering great distress.”
“ Did you have a physician?”
Yes, I took medicine from a dozen
different doctors, but without getting
any benefit whatever.”
“How did you get on the track of a
cure?”
“A book about Dr.Williams’Pink Pills
was thrown in our doorway ono day.
My husband picked it up and read it
through caref ally. He was so impressed
by the statemeutsof those who had bee v
cured by that, rejnedy that he imme
diately bought three boxes of the pills
and insisted on my taking them.”
“ Did they help you at once?"
“ I began to feel better the second day
after I started to use the pills aud by tha
ttme I had taken t-lie threo boxes I was
entirely well. Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills
can cure even when doctors fail, and
they cure thoroughly, for a long time
has passed since my restoration to health
and I know it is complete and lasting.”
The surest way to make sound diges
tion is to give strength to t he organs con
cerned. Dr. Williams’ Piuk Pills give
new vigor to the blood. No other rem
edy yields such radical results.
Mrs. Darvoux lives at No. 407 Sixth
street, Detroit, Mich. Dr. Williams’
Piuk Pills are sold by all druggists in
every part of the world. Dyspeptics
should send to the Dr. Williams Med
icine Company, Schenectady. N. Y., for
a new booklet entitled “ What to Ea#
and How to Eat.”
the next morning « eeel bright and new
AND MY COMPLEXION IS BETTER.
My doctor Hays it acts gently-cm the stomach, live*
ami kidneys and is a uleasant laxative. This driuk ia
made from herbs, and is prepared for uso as easily aa
tea. It is called “liane’s TcaJ’ or
LANE’S FAMILY MEDICINE
A11 druggi«ts or by mni! 25 rfa. nnd&Octs. Buy it to
day. Lane’s Family Medicine moves (he
bowels each day. In order to be healthy this is
necessary. Addre03, O. F. Woodward, Le Hoy, N.Y.
A Spray Calendar.
A large part of the yearly frulr. crop
is destroyed by bugs or fungus dis
eases. The apple worm or codling
moth injures the fruit, and others feed
on the foliage of the various plants,
thus preventing the plant from properly
carrying on its work.
In the growing of many crops, the
grower’s skill is more exercised in tho
combatting of these enemies than in
the cultivation of the crop. To aid the
farmer and fruit growysr in this work,
the Iowa experiment station lias just
issued a spray calendar, which tells
just what to use for these troubles,
how to prepare it and when to apply.
These directions are simple yet effec
tive. and any grower can follow them
with prollt. We understand that this
spray calendar may be obtained free,
upon application, and we advise those
of our readers who are interested, to
write the director, C. F. Curtiss, Ames,
i.a., for a copy.
THOUGHT SHE WOULD DIE.
Mrs. S. W. M a riue, of Colorado Spriusrs.
L Itrcim to Fear the Worst—Doan's
Kidney Pills Saved Her.
Mrs. Sarah Marine, of 42S St. Drain
street, Colorado Springs, Colo., Presi
dent of the (Hen Eyrie Club, writes:
"1 suffered
for three years
with severe
backache. The
doctors told
me my kidney*
were affected
and prescribed
medicines for
me, but l found
that It was only
.t waste of time
and money to
take them, and
began to fear
ttiat I would
never get well,
me to try Doan's Kid
ney Pills. Within a week after I began
using them I was so much better that
1 decided to keep up the treatment,
and when l had used a little over two
boxes I was entirely well. X have now
enjoyed the best of health for more
than four months, and words can but
poorly express my gratitude.” *
For sale by all dealers. Price 50
cents. Foster-MUburn Co., Buffalo,
X. Y. _ _
Fruits grown in China are usually
inferior in flavor, but superior to
American in keeping qualities.
His Friendly Scheme.
Chicago Tribune: Little Blown Belllg..
erent—1 thought you were my friend. Vet
you are furnishing arms and ammunition
to the honorable enemy!
His Robust Ally—Hist! Not a word! I
am selling them to him so that you can
capture them and get the stuff for noth,
ing. don't you know.
We All Could.
Could T get as rich as AstorT
Bless your heart,
1 could make a fortune faster
Than did John Jacob Astor,
if 1 had a million dollars
f or a start. ,_a. 3 J