jg^^^nedies can equal the §
I value of Pe-ru-na for ca- ■
9 tarrh of the stomach. af
|| At this season it is estl- ||
ft mated that every third §|
If person is more or less g
J| troubled with this form If
I BE READY I
Have the
Proper
Medicine
in the
House.
Did Seem Peculiar
Girl friend bought « sllp-on, which,
■as cognoscenti know, la the filmy
ihlng a lady gets Into first. Then she
went to a theater and lost the pack
age. Called up the manager.
“Was, anything found In Bor A
after the matinee?” she asked.
"Don’t know," said the manager.
•Til Inquire. What was It?”
Girl friend blushed unseen at the
other end of the wire. Then she stam
mered:
"It—It was a sllp-on.”
"I’ll ask,” said the manager. "But
how In the name of Mike did you man
age to lose It?”—Atlanta Constltu<
tlon. ' ,
When in Doubt
Lady Pianist (who, after an hour of
It, hns nearly played her visitor to
sleep)—What would you like me to
play now?
The Visitor (dreamily —Oh, I dunno
—I should keep right on with trumps.
—London Passing Show.
Say “Bayer” - Insist!
For Pain Headache
Neuralgia Rheumatism
Lumbago Colds
Accept only *
Bayer package
which contains proven directions
Handy "Bayer” boxes of 12 tablet*
Also bottle* of 24 and 100—Druggist*
>H»Mn to the trad* mark of Bayer Haas
mtei of IfoaoacetlcaeUloattr of Sallcyllcaeld
-----
FOR OVER
ZOO YEARS
*■ Xji r ; '•
haarlem oil has been a world*
wide remedy Jorkidney, liver and
Madder disorders, rheumatism,
lumbago and uric arid conditions.
organ*. Three aieee. Alt drugglats. Iiuiat
turn the nrlgjnal ganuin* Oolo Miiml
imimnnmniiiiinniiffinmnniifntrnnesmnninHmniimnHnnmimnainnmTg
T5he E
Ragged Edge
by |
Harold MacGrath 8
Ah Outn was himself puzzled
Why hadn’t he admitted that he
recognised the photograph!
What instinct had impelled him
swiftly to assume his Oriental
maskf
“Why!" asked O'Higgins.
“What’s the particular dope!’*
“If I told you, you would
laugh*’’ answered Ah Oum,
gravely.
“No; I don’t think I’d laugh.
You never saw him before yes
terday. Why should you want
to shield him!’’
“I really don’t know."
“Because he said he was a
Yale man!”
“That might be it.’’
‘ ‘ Treated you like a white man
there, did they!"
“Like a gentleman."
“All right. I had that coming.
I didn’t think. But, holy smoke I
—the Yale spirit in. . . ."
“A Chinaman. I wonder. I
spent many happy days there.
Perhaps it was the recollection
of those happy days. You are a
detective!"
“Yes- I have come thirteen
thousand miles for this young
fellow; I’m ready to go gallop
ing thirteen thousand more."
“You have extradition pa
pers!"
“What sort of a detective do
you think I am!" countered
O’Higgins.
“Then his case is hopeless."
“Absolutely."
“I’m sorry. He does not look
the criminal."
“That’s the way it goes. You
never can tell." There was a
pause. “They tell me over here
that the averge Chinman is
honest."
Ah Cum shrugged. “Yes!”
“And lhat when they give
their word they never break it.”
D ’Iiiggins had an idea in regard
to Ah Cum.
“Your tone suggests some
thing marvellous in the fact,”
replied Ah Cum, ironically, j
‘Why shouldn’t a Chinaman be
honestt Ah, yes; I know. Most
!>f you Americans pattern all
Chinese upon those who fill a
little corner in New York. In
fiction you make the Chinese
secretive- criminal, and terrible
—or comis. I am an educated j
Chinese, and I resent the impu
tations against my race. You
Americans laugh at our custom
of honouring our ancestors, our
matoy-times great grandfathers.
On the other hand, you seldom
revere your immediate grand
father, unices he has promised
to leave you some money.”
“Bull’s eye!” piped O’Hig
gins.
‘ ‘ Of course, there is a criminal
element, but the percentage is
no larger than that in America or
Europe. Why don’t you try to
find out how the every-day
Chinese lives, how he treats his
family, what his normal habits
are- his hopes, his ambitions f
Why don’t you come to China as
I went to America—with an open
mind!”
i ou re on, said O Higgins,
briskly. “I’ll engage you for
four days. To-day is for the
sights; the other three days—
lessons. How’s that strike yout’
“Very well, sir. At least I can
give you a glimmer.” A smile
broke the set of Ah Cum’s lips.
“I’ll take you into a Chinese
home. W* are very poor but
manage to squeeze a little happi
ness out of each day.”
“And 1 promise that all you
tell me and show me will sink
in.” replied O’Higgins, frankly
Interested. “ I’m a detective: my
ears and eyes have been trained
to absorb all I see and all I hear.
"When I absorb a fact, my brain
weighs the fact carefully and
stores it away. You fooled me
this morning; but I over-heard
two old maids talking about you
and the young man.”
“What has he donet”
“What did he have to drink
over here last night t”
“Not even water. No doubt
he has been drinking for days
without eating substantially, and
his heart gave out.”
''What happened t”
Ah Cum recounted the story
of the sing-song girl. “I had to
give in to him. You know how
stubborn they get.”
“Surest thing to* know.
jiiiiMiimiimiiumiiimmumnmmiMmimniii*
Bought the freedom of a sing
song girl; and all the while you
knew you’d have to toti the girl
back. But the Yale spirit!”
Ah Cum laughed.
"I’ve got a proposition to
make,” said 0’Higgins
"So long as it » open and
’ above board.”
"It’s that, but it interferes
with the college spirit stuff.
Would a hundred dollars interest
you!”
"Very much, if I can earn
it without offending my con
science.”
"It won’t. Hero goes. I’vs
come all these miles for this
young fellow; but I don’t cotton
to {he idea of lallygagging four
weeks in this burg. I’ve an idea
it ’ll be that long before the chap
gets up. My proposition is for
you to keep an eye on him, and
the moment he puts On his
clothes to send mo a telegram,
care of the Hong-Kong Hotel.
Understand me. Double-crossing
wouldn’t do any good. For all
you might know, 1 might have
someone watching you. This time
he couldn’t get far. He will
have to return to Hong-Kong.”
"Not necessarily. There is a
railroad.”
"He won’t be taking that. The
onlv safe place for him is at sea;
and if he had kept to the sea, I
shouldn’t have found him so
easily. Weil, what about it!”
"I accept-”
"As an honest Chinaman!”—
taking out the offensiveness of
the fuery by smiling.
"As an honest Chinaman.”
O’Higgins produced his wallet.
"Fifty now and fifty when I re
turn.”
“Agreed. Here are the jade ;
carvers. Would yt>u like to see I
them at work!”
“Lead on, Macduff!”
Ah Cum raised the skirt af
his fluttering blue silk robe and
stored the bill away in a trouser
wallet. It was the beginning and
the end of the transaction. When
he finally telegraphed his start- i
ling information to Hong-Kong,
it was too late for O’Higgins to
act. The quarry had passed out
into the open sea.
From the comatose state, Spur
lock passed into that of the bab- :
bling fever; but. that guarding
instinct which is called subcon
sciousness held a stout leash on
his secret. He uttered one word
over and over, monotonously:
“Fool! . . . Fool!”
But invariably the touch of
Ruth’s hand quieted him, and
his head would cease to roll from
side to side. He hung precari
ously on the ragged edge, but he
hung there. Three times ha ut
tered a phrase:
‘ * A d jinn in a blue-serge ooat I *
“A djinn in a blue-serge
coat!”
And each time he would follow
it with a chuckle—the chuckle of
a soul in damnation.
Neither the American Express
nor Cook’s had received mail for
Howard Taber; he was not on
either list. This was irreguthr. A
man might bo without relatives,
but certainly he would ntrt be
without friends, that is to say,
without letters. The affair was
thick with sinister suggestions.
And yet the doctor recalled an
expression of the girl’s: lint it
was not a dissipated face, only
troubled.
The whole affair interested
him deeply. That was one of the
compensations for having Con
signed himself to this part of the
World. Over here, there was gen
erally some unusual twist to a
case. He would pull this youhg
fellow back; but later he knew
that he would have to fight the
boy’s lack of will to live. WhCh
he recovered his mental faculties,
he would lie there, neutral; the/ 1
could save him or let him die, kh
they pleased; and the doctor
knew that he would wear himself
out forcing his own will to liv%
into this neutrality- And prob
ably the girl would wear herself
out, too.
To .fight inertia on the one
hand and to study this queer girl
on the other. Any financial re
turn was inconsiderable against
the promise of this psychologi
cal treat. The girl was like some
north-country woodland pouL
penetrated bv a single shaft of
sunlight—beautifully clear in one
spot and mysteriously obscured
elsewhere. She would be element
al ; there would be in her some
where the sleeping tigress. The
elemental woman was always
close to the cat: as the elemental
man was always but a point re
moved from the wolf.
It was so arranged that Ruth
went on duty after breakfast aud
remained until noon. The after
noon was her own; but from
eight until midnight she sat be
side the patient. At no time did
she feel bodily or rudntai fatigue.
Frequently she would doze in hor
chair; but the slightest move
ment on the bed aroused her.
At luncheon, on the third day,
a thick-set man with a blue jaw
smiled across his table at her. »
She recognized him as the man
who had • blundered into the
wrong room.
“How is the patientt” he ask
ad.
“He will live," answered Ruth.
“That’s fine," said O’Higgins.
“I supose he’ll be on his feet any
day now."
“No. It will take at least
three weeks "
“Well, so long as he gets on
his feet in the end. You’re a
friend of the young man!”
“If you mean did I know him
before he came ill," no."
“An." 0’Higgins revolved
this information about but no
angle emitted light. Basically a
kindly man but made cynical and
derisive by sordid contacts,
O’Higgins had almost forgotten
that there was suoh a thing as
unselfishness. The man or woman
wha did something for nothing
always excited his suspicions ;
they were playing some kind of
a game. “You mean you were
just sorry for him!"
“As I would be for any human
being ii pain."
“Uh-huh." For the life of
him, O’HigginB could not think
of anything else to say. Just be
cause she was sorry for that
young fool! “Uh-huh," he re
peated, rising and bowing as he
passed Ruth’s table. He wished
he had the time to solve this rid
dle, for it was a riddle, and four
square besides. Back in the
States young women did not of
fer to play the Good Samaritan
to strange young foold whom
Jawn D. Barleycorn had sent to
the mat for the count of nine:
unless the young fool’s daddy
had a bundle of coin. Maybe the
girl was telling the truth, and
then again, maybe she wasn't.
The situation bothered him
considerably. Things happened
frequently over here that would
n’t happen in the States once in
a hundred years. Who could say
that the two weren’t in collu
sion! When a chap like Spur
lock jumped the traces, cherchez
la femme, every time. He hadn’t
gambled or played the horses or
hit the booze back there in little
old New York . . .
“Aw, piffle!" he said, half
aloud and rather disgutealy, as
he stepped out into the sunshine.
“My old coco is disintegrating.
I’ve bumped into so much of the
underside that I can’t see clean
any more. No girl with a face
like that .... And yet,
dang it! I’ve seen ’em just as
innocent looking that were prime
vipers. Let’s get to Hong-Kong,
James, and hit the high spots
while there in time."
He signalled to Ah Cum; and
the two of them crossed on foot
into the city.
It was not until the morning
of the fifth day that the constant
vigil was broken. The patient
fell into a natural and refreshing
sleep. So Ruth found that for a
while her eyes were free. She
tiptoed to the stand and gathered
up the manuscripts which she
carried to a chair by the window.
Since the discovery of them, she
had been madly eager to read
these typewritten tales- Treasure
caves to explore!
All through these trying days
she had recurrently wondered
what this strange young man
would have to say that Dickens
and Hugo had not already said.
That was the true marvel of it.
No matter how many books one
read, each was different, as each
human being was different. Some
had the dignity and the aloofness
of a rock in the sea; and others
were as the polished pebbles on
the sands—one saw the differ
ence of pebble from pebble only
by close scrutiny. Ruth, with
out suspecting/it, had fallen upon
a fundamental truth: that eaoh
and every book fitted into the
scheme of human moods and in
telligence.
Ruth was |t that stage where
the absorption of faets is great,
but where the mental digestion
I
Is not quite equal to the task.
She was acquiring truths, but ic
a series of shocks rather than by
the process of analysis.
There were seven tales in all—
short stories—a method of ex
pression quite strange to her.
after the immense canvases of,
Dickens and Hugo. When shej
had finished the first tale, therej
was a sense of disappointment.
She had expected a love story;
and love was totally absent. It
was a tale of battle- murder, and
sudden death on the New York
waterfront. Sordid; but that
was not Ruth’s term for it; she
had no precise commentary to
offer.
From time to time she would
\ come upon a line of singulan
beauty or a paragraph full ofj
haunting mmric; and these would
send her rushing on for some
thing that never happened. Each
manuscript was like the other j
the same lovely treatment of au
unlovely subject. Abruptly would
come the end. It was as if she
had come upon the beautiful
marble facade of a fairy palace,
was invited to enter, and behind
the door—nothing.
She did not realize that she
was offering criticisms. The
word “critioyun" had no con
crete meaning to her then; no
more than “compromise-" Some
innate sense of balance told her
that something waa wrong with
these tales. She could not ex
plain in words why they disap
pointed.
Two hours had come and gone
during this tantalizing ocoupa.
tion. At least, the tales had the
ability to make her forget where
she was; which waa somethin/
in their favour.
“My coat!"
Ruth did not move but stared
astonishediy at the patient.
“My coatl" he repeated, his
glance burning into hers.
(TO BH CONTINUED) ~'
.. Papa's Contrition.
From tho Dos Angelos Times.
Papa is very sorry and says it was
all his fault.
Papa and mamma were having a
serious quarrel and papa tried to
twist mamma’s arm—right out on the
front lawn. So sonny warned papa
to stop it, and papa being disobedi
ent, sonny rushed into the house and
secured mamma’s gun and ran out
and shot papa in the shoulder.
Fortunately the tragedy did not
prove fatal. On the contrary, a news
Item assures us that the regrettable
incident may result in a happy recon
ciliation of the family—especially as
papa handsomely maintains it was all
his fault.
So far, so good. But there is the
fact that mamma had a loaded gun in
the house all ready for sonny to
shoot with. Perhaps papa had a nice
little gun there, too. Quite obviously
sonny’s first thought was of the use
ful gun.
Should sonny be punished? Oh,
probably not. Papa is quite right
about that. But we can see where a
father strong enough to twist mam
ma's arm in a quarrel might also
have been sufficiently authoritative in
his own household—and benign in his
strength—to have made guns an in
decent superfluity^_
Wedding Tests Stamina.
H. S. Dickey in the Current Hisory
Magazine.
Each tribe of Yumbo Indians (of
Ecuador) is divided Into numerous
families, and each of these le governed
nominally by a chief known as the
“guaynaro." Theoretically the guay
naro has powers of life cr death over
beck and oali of the humblest white
policeman. The only time his
word is undisputed is when a
young man from a neighboring
tribe mates with a member of the
guaynaro’s family. The suitor for
the maiden’s hand has first to
present the guaynaro with rare
gifts, after which he naast prostrate
himself before the guaynaro and re
cite a 7-hour discourse, In which all
the guaynaro’s merits are set forth.
The young woman then Is informed
of her Impending nuptials and with
in a few days she la united to the
man who has chosen her.
If she has objection, she keeps it to
herself; any other course would be
useless. She is 11-years old; it is
time she had a husband. Old maids
among the Yumhos cast an especial
stigma upon a family.
The day then Is set for the marriage
ceremony. This ritual begins with a
feast in which ail the neighboring
families take part. At dawn they
gather around huge howls of a naus
eous concoction known as chlca,
which is a fermented and highly in
toxicating drink made from the fruit
of the chonta palm.
TIIUIIa la »Alnw An (Via
bride is being dressed. All her cloth
ing is removed—a *hort process—and
she Is provided with a new skirt of
blue clo'th which reaches almost to
her knees. Around her shoulders are
tied two red bandana handkerchiefs
and across her forehead a red ribbon.
Thus attired and accompanied by the
guests she goes to the house of the
bridegroom, who Is dressed in white
trousers, with a bandana handker
chief tied about his neck. Together
they proceed to the house of. the
guaynaro, who officiates at the mar
riage. Hand In hand, they listen to
the old man talk for several hours.
When he tires he dismisses them.
This concludes the ceremony and the
dance begins.
An Infernal noise, produced by as
many as twenty drums and the voices
of perhaps a hundred Indians raised
In a monotonous doleful chant,
marks the commencement of the per
formance. Then the voices are hush
ed and two lines are formed, one of
men and one of women. w»** »he bride
la the oenter.
Should a Wlf# Go To Business!
From the peslgner Magazine.
Taking the subway or the street
car witu your husband to work ia
the morning may sound like a glor
ious dream until you have liad to
do It. Breakfast ia a hurried affair
with the toaster pressed into actlvr
service and you have to leave th#
dishes untVB'diod. But Sadie of
Annie' or Mrs. Mahoney, the char
woman, will be in to wash them af
terward and she will leave the apart
ment as neat as could be expected
without the mistress of the house to
loou over the cracks and unswept
corners. You hurry to the subway
or the Ia together and if your hus
ha - t is annoyed that his wife has to
■tand with a swaying mob and be!
1. I'-eu upon by the crowds of the
morning rush hdur be probably doe#
not show it. In time he will. Thle
is one of the things that begin,
very slowly and subtly, to eat Into a
man s self-respect. Another Is that
you are. for the rest of the day, a#
completely out of his life as though
you had never entered it. A man,
being a sentimental creature, like#
to cherish the Illusion that he ia
saving his wife from contact with a
rough and vulgar universe. It Is un
reasonable for him to feel that it 1#
all right for you to work in a kit
chen and all wrong for you to work
in an office. But he does feel that
way, perhaps because the kitchen
belongs to him and the office to come
one else.
There probably is not a woman
living who does not want to help the
man she loves. If she Is self-sup
porting and efficient. It is Inevitable
that she will want to give him the
kind of help she knowe how. There
are undoubtedly cases where women
must continue to work after they
are married. There are even case#
where it is advisable, as If the hus
band has other dependents to sup
port, If he is ill or if a few years’ in
creased salary would open the way to
a secure future. But many married
women are not working from motive#
like this; they are working merely
because they are bored, because a
kitchen seems pretty humdrum after
an ofTice, because keeping up an
apartment does not give one enough
scope for on*’*,talents.
There Isn’t much glory about
housekeeping unless you feel that It
Is glorious to see a tired man’s fao#
light up when he comes home In th#
evenings. Cooking and washing
dishes, sewing and counting laundry
are tiresome Jobs; but then, so 1#
every other Job. You may give up
your freedom when you are tied to
the stove and the door-bell and tho
vacuum cleaner, hut you give it up
Just as much when you enter an of
fice and are tied to the typewriter
and the buzzer and the time-clock.
If you are to be ruled by some on#.
It might as well be your own hus
band.
Significance of Col. Forbea.
By Charles Merz, in the Century
Magazine.
This is the story of the drummer
boy who sat on the front porch till
they made a general of him, and
thereafter managed in two active
years to waste through negligence
and graft a sum sufficient to con
struct ten modern battleships.
It is a story as spectacular as any
tale of adventure in the library of
youth, and the staid congressional
boards..which bind it do not hide the'
vivid titles of its chapters. There
are touches here that would defy be
lief if they were not so well authen
ticated by evidence In black anti
white. Tales of floor-wax, for
example. Seas and seas of floor
wax. Floor-wax enough to polish
a chinoe-hall half the size of South
Dakota, and last their purchaser a
hundred years. Tales, again, of plans
for hospitals so amazingly contrived
that only when the time had come
to break the ground it was discovered
that the architect had forgotten to
include a kitchen. There is a story
here in which extravagance joins
hands with utter disregard of wound
ed youngsters promised care and re
habilitation; a story at the same tlmo
comic, cruel, and mad.
The story begins and centers in tho
extraordinary career of Colonel Char
ts R. Forbes.
A good-natured president who
hadn’t the faculty for saying ‘‘no"
appointed to an Impressively high of
fice a personal friend who hadn’t i!~.o
faculty of faithfulness to duty.
Washington, meantime, was govern
ed on such easy-going, shoulder
shrugging terms that not until his
friend had waatsd the colossal sum
of }200,000,000 was his measuro
taken.
The real significance of the Forbes
case for the American people is this:
Aside from making their chMch of
the party they want to lead them in
the next four years, what can be
done better to insure honesty and
efficiency in a political democracy in
which "influence" and “patronage’*
tend to play euch important roles?
One Casualty Stops Battle.
From the Kansas City Star.
An Italian newspaper correspond
ent in China gives some amusing
Impressions of civil war in that coun
try. He points out that blood is
rarely drawn in battles.
W'hen Gen. Tschan-Hiun had been
18 days in Pekin, the republican
generals. Sao-Kun ani Tuan, march
ed against him. Each side was
equipped with machine guns and air
planes and a “battle” ensued. A
bomb struck a house and killed a
civilian, and Tschan-Hiun's army
thereupon scattered.
The Chinese soldier of today ia
splendidly drilled in the European
wlzy, but If It begins to rain he stop*
fighting and opens his paper umbrel
la, which, with a fan, forms part of
his equipment. There Is rarely any
fighting in China when the weathes
ia ba^. _
Then, Now and Always.
From the Vincennes (Ind.) Sun.
No doubt children of 18H1 had "In
4lvldi>c!;ty” also, but the neighbors
thought It cussedness.
A survey of water-borne traffic com- 4
Dieted by the Shipping Board’s special
bureau shows that nearly 126,(XX),000 tons
of freight. ex< Iuslve of coastwise com.
merce, were handled by American ports
during the year ending December SI.
Relics.
From the Vancouver Province.
"John,” said his wife. "I found some
Very queer-looking tickets In your deck
today. One said: ‘Ruler, 6 to 1.' What ^
does it all mean?”
“My archaeological studies, dear,” he
answered. “Relics of a lost race.”
Eclipsed.
From the Washington Otar.
"Crimson Gulch seems strangely quiet
And subdued.”
"We know when we’re beat.” an
swered Cactus Joe. “Snake Ridge hag
won cut as the center of gun-play ro* .
l»S8frs It’s got a motion picture uta- 1