G/>e m ojs house I
NOVELIZED BY
EDWIN C. HILL I
FROM WILLIAM FOX’S OREAY PICTURE ROMANCE 1
OF THE EAST AND THE WEST g
BY CHARLES KENYON AND JOHN BUSSELL
1
CHAPTER VIII
MISS MARSH OF NEW YORK
The flying years had swept the
little group of Davy Brandon’s
friends “back East’’ into paths
undreamed of in the old Spring
field days. No other decade in
the country’s history ever
marched so tempestuously over
the lives and fortunes of a whole
people. Stormy events thun
dered in the cars of men and
blazed before their eyes. The
false tranquility of the fifties
had been shattered by the can
non in Charleston Harbor. The
land quivered to the shock of
battle as the reeling armies of
Blue and Cray hurled themselves
into combat, for the truth, as
each sow it. It was an era of
stunning change. The names of
new leaders-glowed like stars in
the firmament of fame
Brightest of all was the star of
Lincoln. Other statesmen had
groped blindly in the swift con
fusion of the coining crisis, but
the humble railsplittcr, seeing
clearly, had won the affection •
and trust of the plain people.
They made him president sev
en years after he had said fare
well to the Brandons. To his
greatness of soul they had turned
for salvation in the darkest hour
that ever clouded a nation’s
hopes
>
about, poor fellow 1 I have man
aged to find time between gener
als to talk over the subject with
men who are interested. A Mr.
Huntington of San Francisco
has been to see me a number of
times, and I have gone over the
ground with Mr. Durant of New
York. I don’t mind telling you,
confidentially, that a bill will be
introduced in congress early
next year to provide for the
building of the Pacific railroad.
The men I have talked to are
enthusiastic about it We must
build it to hold California and
the Pacific Coast states to the
Union- It’s the only thing
which can open up the west.”
“I believe now that it must
come,” said Marsh,, “but the
| cost, the terrible difficulties!”
“They will be met and faced,”
replied Mr. Lincoln quietly.
“When the American people find
that something is necessary for
their happiness and security,
money doesn’t count, Tom, nor
do difficulties exist. The road
will be built. I want you to know
this because you should have a
hand in the building of it. They
will need honest men for the job,
for the road must be built right,
Tom.”
A full year had passed since
that talk with the president, a
year crowded with labor for
Thomas Marsh. From his office
in New York, and with weekly
visits to Washington, lie swung
briskly into the business of sup
plying the armies in the field.
It was profitable and Marsh
quickly won repute for square
dealing. Even the harassed and
crusty Mr. Stanton received
loin Marsh at the War Depart
with friendly smiles and warm
hand-shakes.
In New York he had made a
home for Miriam and himself in
one of a row of attractive houses
set back from the side of Elev
enth St., a little west of Sixth
avenue, and within a short walk
of beautiful Washington Square.
In this quiet quarter, shaded by
fine old trees, he found himself
content, absorbed in his work,
happy in the companionship of
his daughter. He was often
absent from home, and much of
Miriam’s time was spent in her
studies as a pupil of Miss Beck
man’s select Seminary for Young
Ladies in Great Jones street
but they had each other at week
ends and on such evenings as
Marsh could spend in the me
tropolis. They took long walks
together, along the East River
and the North, enjoying the
colorful confusion of the water
fronts; or drove their brougham
and sleek chestnuts up Fifth
avenue, thronged with the carri
ages of the rich and fashionable
Like Lincoln, Thomas Marsh
had been carried from Spring
field upon die tide of events.
There, as a contractor and build
er, he had got on rapidly, but
with the outbreak of the Civil
war immensely wider opportun
ities presented themselves to his
shrewd business judgment. The
forces of the north had to be fed
and clothed. Vast storfcj must
be assembled and distributed to
the armies in the field. Too eld
erly for active service, and al
together lackiug in such military
training and science as would
have qualified him for important
command, Marsh threw himself
into the task for which he was
fitted. At the beginning of the
war he had called upon the pres
ident at the White House and
talked the matter over
“Tom," said Mr. Lincoln,
“we’ve got plen y of good men
at the front, but between you and
me, there are a lot of infernal
rascals back of the lines. The
union needs honest men. I wish
,'*>u would take hold of the army
contracts job from bacon to
Wans. If you want a pair of
shoulder straps, I’ll make you a
colonel tomorrow.
"Mo," said Marsh, “I don’t
want rank. I want a chance to
do business in a square way.”
“That you’ll have,” replied
President Lincoln. “I’ll write t«>
Stanton to-night. I can get him
to do things for me, once in a
while- That will get you enough
contracts to ksep you busy for a
year, 1 reckon. And, Tom, may
be you can feed those men of Mc
Clellan’s something that will
start them toward Richmond.”
“I’ll do my best, Mr. President.
By the way, before I go, I want
to give you Miriam’s love and
respects. She’s at school in New
York. I placed her there last
year. She especially asked me
to tell you that she still has the
medal you gave her the day Dave
Brandon and his boy started
West.”
Why, bless her heart!” said
Mr. Lincoln, “she must be—
what! All of sixteen, by this
time- Quite a young lady, Tom
The next time you come to
Washington you must bring her
to the White House. What ever
became of Brandon and the boy?
•Have you bad any news of
them?”
'‘Not a word,” replied Marsh.
*‘I wrote to correspondents in
California to see if they could bo
traced, but nothing ever came
Of it. They simply dropped out
of sight. The far West is a long
way from us. It doesn’t seem as
if even this awful war interested
those people very keenly.”
( <‘1 know that Torn,” said the
president thoughtfully. “The
time has come, I am convinced
to fcrinft East and West 'closer
together. The railroad must be
built, Tom, the railroad that
Dava Brando* used to dream
shoppers
He regretted that he could not
find more time to devote to this
lovely little daughter whose
beauty, unfolding like a rose in
June, was obvious even to a
father’s accustomed eyes. At
seventeen Miriam was as charm
ing a picture as one might hope
to look upon. To Marsh she
was like a light in a dark room
Her slight and graceful figure
was rapidly taking on the curves
of womanhood. Her hair, so
long that it swept almost to her
knees when she loosed it, was
of a wonderful blue-blackness,
and as fine as spun silk. Great,
dark eyes which at times seemed
purplish gray aud at other times
deep blue; glorious eyes, veiled
by long, curving la-ihcs, were
perhaps her most arresting fea
ture. A low, broad forehead, a
short, straight nose, with a tan
talizing tilt, full, curving lip
with a delicious upward curve at
the corners; a perfectly modeled
chin, softly hinting at strength
of character, and a complexion
like sweet peas in the dewy
morning, had been conferred up
on this delicious girl by a
destiny careless of the heart
pangs of helpless young men.
As eheerful as sunshine and
with a disposition which, owed,
it may be, ’no little to perfect
health, Miriam was y et no
spiritless young beauty. She
possessed a temper which some
times flashed like lightening, as
some of the supercilious misses
of Miss Beckman’s select finish
ing school discovered when she
first arrived among them from
the West and was submitted to
the snubs and injustices they
elected to infkct upon “the bar
barian from the backwoods.”
Her mind worked like a steel
trap snapping painfully upon
her tormentors Her pluck, in
dependence, readiness to shoul
der her own problems, plus the
quickly-made discovery that she
was no tale-bearer, soon changed
the atmosphere of the school
from standoffishness and hostil
ity to comradeliness and friend
ship, and at the end of her
second term there was no inoro
popular girl in the seminary.
She made warm and enduring
friends among the girls of the
highest social position in the
city, and her sweetness and
sure poise of good breeding made
her extremely well-liked by the
discerning mothers of her school
friends. The result was that
Miriam came to be a welcome
guest in the old hemes around
Washington Square and in the
Lower Fifth avenue, and he?
lovely face was invariably to bv
seen at the small dances and the
more formal assemblies of smart
society.
Young as she was, suitors
swarmed to her as bees to a rose,
. and among the young men who
constituted themselves her de
voted cavaliers were several that
bore names as old as Manhattan
Island. The silver tray in the
hallway of the picturesque house
in West Eleventh street, a house
of three stories, with broad
verandas of iron grill work fac
ing each story and overlooking
the neat and narrow lawn, dis
played the cards of scions of the
Stuyvesants, the Van Rena
salaers’ the Beekmans and the
Van Courtlandts. It also held
the neat visiting cards of Mr.
Peter Jesson, whose family had
played its part in the history of
old New York. Young Jesson
had been introduced to her the
previous winter by her best
triend, Susan Delancey.
Nice but wild, ’L whispered
Susan. “Take him and tame
him, Miriam,”
Jesson had paid her earnest
and assiduous attention from
their very first meeting. Wher
ever Miriam appeared there Pe
ter Jesson was sure to be. Little
by little, imperiously, he had
managed to shoulder aside all
rivals.
In the year that had passed,
Miriam was disturbingly con
scious of a growing interest in
Jesson. He attracted her, at
times fascinated her. He was the
perfect courtier, delicately skill
tul in the thousand small atten
tions that are due of every
pretty girl. Miriam gradually
found herself depending upon
him for the innumerable little
services that girls like to have
without solicitation. He was ex
tremely personable—tall, athlet
ically built, with the bearing of
an aristocrat; distinguished in
any company. He talked well
and amusingly from an unfailing
store of bright, light gossip of
the town. She liked his clothes
very smartly selected, and worn
with an air. Altogether, Mr.
Peter Jesson had made distinct
progress toward a definite place
in the heart of Thomas Marsh’s
charming daughter. But at
tracted as she was, Miriam was
sothetimes repelled. There was
an arrogance about the man, an
occasional disregard of the rights
and feelings of others, especially
of inferiors, that Miriam did not
like.
This was the situation as the
summer of the second year of
the war approached. Marsh
went frequently to Washington.
He had had further conferences
with the president, and his mind
was becoming more and more en
grossed with the much-talked-of
project of the transcontinental
railroad. He spoke of it to
Miriam often.
“The bill authorizing the
Pacific railroad is in congress.
It will be reported out of com
mittee sometime late in June,”
he said. “I believe it will be
passed and I am confident that
the president will sign it. Many
people don't think so. They
argue that every dollar of
money and every ounce of
energy should be used for the
war and that the railroad should
* it off until victory is won.
The crisis will come in a few
days. I must be in Washington
when it occurs.”
Miriam discussed the railroad
with Jesson. To her surprise he
was in Wisely interested. “As
you know,” he said, “I am a
civil., engineer, although I con
fess I have rather neglected my
profession. It has been very
difficult for one situated as I
am to make the right sort of
connection. I’m afraid I’ve
been pretty much of an idler,
but if this railroad is begun it
might meam a wonderful op
portunity for me. Your father
being interested makes the idea
all the more attractive to me. If
lie goes into it, the work will
take him west- Miriam! That
means that you would go with
him doesn’t it!”
“Why, yes, Peter,” said Miri
am. “Of course. I couldn’t
dream of living anywhere with
out father. And father thinks
the road will surely be built
and will bring riches to the
builders.”
“Well, then, I see that I shall
have to get down to work,”
laughed the young man. “I
could not bear to have you go
away from me. And the family
fortunes certainly need reviv
ing.”
They were sitting in the draw
irg-room of the Marsh home.
Jesson arose, walked to the long
French window and gazed for a
few moments toward the sha
dowy trees. He turned and
walked slowly back to Miriam’s
chair, standing over her, bending
forward.
“Miriam,” he began, “I didn’t
mean to speak so soon. But.
somehow, I must- I love you:
you must know that I have
adored you since the night we
met. I am afraid I haven’t a
great deal to offer you except a
good family name. But I—lmust
have you. Tell me, do you care
for me?' Will you marry me?”
“Peter,” said Miriam, steadily,
though a little tremulously, “I
am not going to be silly enough
to say that this is a great sur
prise. I have known perfectly
well that you seemed to be very
fond of me—-”
“Seemed!” cried Jesson, but
Miriam continued—*
“I don’t know whether I truly
pare for you in that way or not,
the way people call love. I am
very fond of you, Peter- I miss
you when you are not near me.”
“Miriam!” he cried. “You do
love me I”
“No, not yet,” she said gently.
“There are things about you
Peter, things that I have heard
They trouble me. You seem to
have no purpose in life. You
gamble, or so the talk goes. I
think you driuk too much. .You
see, I speak frankly. I must.
I am not a blue stocking, Peter,
but these stories—. Then, some
times you seem hard.”
" (TO BK'CONTINUfiD)
“The Apple of the Eye”
By Qlenway Wescott
“Keep . . . my law as the apple
of thine eye.” From violence to
flowers, from promiscuity to emigmat
ic melancholy—-bad Hannah. From
dreams to delight, from 16ve to
needless tragedy—pure Rosalia. Close
by them all, Dan, adolescent, sensi
tive, plastic. First crippled by Puri
tanism, curious and ashamed of sex;
next his senses awakened by the
sensual philosophy of Mike, then re
volted by Rosalia's profane death:
finally peace In the animal wisdom
of Jule. Prose that exquisitely beats
the drum of the ear with many
sticks, bringing smells and sounds
as vivid as April, beauty that moves
with poignant, perfect pain.
France’s Frano Insurance.
From the Minneapolis Journal
The French cannot be accused of
being financially foolish, even If they
are slow about balancing their bud
get and paying their bills. The bulk of
the $100,000,000 loan to France engi
neered by J. P. Morgan and company
has never left the Morgan vaults In
New York. Its presencs In the vaults
Is due to no carelessness on the part
of the Paris government. This great
sum Is there for a purpose—the pro
tection of the franc against specu
lative raids.
Every dime of this reserve, and a
lot more, too, will be poured Into the
hopper, If such a raid Is ever at
tempted. says M. Calllaux. There are
so many francs outstanding that
$100,000,000 could not stop the slide,
If the franc ever should really hit the
toboggan. But It Is enough to keep
the franc from reaching the top of
the toboggan. Suddenly thrown Into
the market, this sum would ruin any
group of speculators starting a bear
raid. The speculators know this. So
does France. That Is why the Morgan
lohn money remains in New York.
“Around the World in New York**
By Konrad Bercovicl
(The Century Company)
An outstanding book of travel, in
which the author, himself an Im
migrant, presents a unique study In
Americanism with the tables turned
—Americanism for Americans.
Combining keenness of observa
tion with brotherly understanding
Konrad Bercovicl appeals for toler
ance on the part of self-esteeming,
second and third generation Amer
icans.
The various nationalities In our
great coamopolta are treated by
aeparate chaptera, their material
atrength, their cultural and spiritual
contributions, their leavening poten
tialities.
THE MESSAGE. •
—Richard Re&lf.
O Kayth! Thau hast not any wind
t^jat blows
Which !« not music....
And every humble hedge-ro\r
flower that grows.
And every little brown bird that
doth sing.
Hath something greater than It
self, and bears
A living word to every living
thing,
Albeit holds the message un
awares.
Inapiration.
From the Iowa Legionalre.
If the going seems hard for you,
comrade, perhaps you can get some
Inspiration from the following:
Homer, the greatest of all Greek
poets, was blind.
Demosthenes, the greatest Greek
orator, had an Impediment In hta
speech.
Julius Caesar, one of the world’s
greatest military geniuses, was an
epileptic.
Pope, the famous poet, was a
hunchback.
Nelson, famouse British admiral,
rose to the peaks when blind in one
eye and with one arm gone.
Henry M. Stanley was born In an
almhouse and was buried in West
minster Abbey.
Roosevelt was born a weakling,
physically.
Lincoln, from lowly beginning, be
came one of the greatest Americans.
Helen ICeller, deaf and blind from
childhood, has won International
fame.
Booker T. Washington was born in
Slavery.
A well known Iowa leglonalrs,
with only a common school education,
who h,as not had a fully well day
since he fell In the Argonne, Is be
coming wealthy and an outstanding
figure by dint of hard work which
aggravates his suffering.
An auxiliary member underwent
seven major operations while rearing
and supporting her family of three
girls and four boys, all of whom were.
In the service.
Like H. C. Vfitwer, the author, we
can't give much to the person who
believes that the man worth while
Is the man who can smile when
everythnlg goes dead wrong: we
agree with him that when things go
Wrong It should arouse one to a fight
ing pitch and we believe that the
greatest triumphs often come through
winning over adversity.
LXX—"Love and Kisses."
J’om tbe Living Age.
hoolmaster, which is, as its
name implies, an English Journal for
the edification of pedagogues, makes
us all Its debtors at Irregular inter
vals by gathering up a collection of
tho choicest “howlers" perpetrated
in examination papers of the year by
the British school boy.
This year the British school girl la
also tncluded, and some of the best—
or worst, for It depends on how you
look at it—howlers come from the
Leeds high school for girls.
It was a pupil in this institution
who declared that the Roman numer
als LXX stood for “love and kisses"—
a mistake which will be perfectly
comprehensible to any ex-officer who
censored enlisted men’s mall during
the war and observed their penchant
for adding oaculatory x's to their sig
natures.
Other equally amusing blunders—if
they are blunders, and not so many
*ly attempts to twitch teacher’s ankle
—are also listed. Whatever the in
tention, whether the Leeds school
girls were only having a bit of fun.
or whether they really meantJt, three
sets of questions and answers are
worth reprinting:
What Is the effect of lead on water?
—It sinks.
What bird lays the biggest egg?—
The biggest bird.
What discovery was due t0 the
falling of an apple?—The wickedness
of Eve.
Suspicions Justified.
From the Omaha World-Herald.
Senator Borah cannlly announces
that he has “gown suspicious" of the
"popular demand" for reducing taxes
chiefly by slashing the surtaxes and
abolishing the estate taxes. He thinks
the propaganda t<£o well organized
and too systematically carried on to
be spontaneous.
A great many other people doubt
less entertain the same suspicion. Es
pecially are they Inclined to stop and
count 10 when told that the reason
the big taspayers are so eager to
have the surtases cut In twe Is that
then they would be enabled to p-yy
more taxes tfian they do now.
From what the people know of ^he
great fortunes and thetr fortunate
possessors they are well persuaded
that If slashed surtaxes would causa
them to pay more taxes they would
be promoting with might and main
a propaganda to avert that calamity.
In vain does the fowler spread his
net In the sight of the bird. The rea
son low surtaxes are demanded by
all the numerous spokesmen of great
wealth is that wealth would then pay
less taxes. And In proportion as it
paid less the rest of the people would
pay relatively more. Even an elector
ate that gave 7,000,000 majority to
Coollilge is smart enough to see that.
Started Early.
From the Pittsburg Chronicle Tele
graph.
They were on their honeymoon. He
tad bought a boat and had taken her
out to show her how well he ccuij
handle It, putting hed to tend the sheet,
A puff of wind and he shouted In n«
Uncertain tone, "Let go the sheet!"
No response.
Then again: "Let go the sheet
quick!"
Still no movement. A few minutes
after, when both were clinging to ths
bottom of the overturned boat, he said:
"Why didn’t you let go \hat sheet when
I told you to, dear?”
“I would have," said the brids, **(f
you had not been so rough about It
You ought to speak more kindly to your
wife.”
A Metaphysical Explanation.
From the Yale Record.
He (having Just kissed her)—"Ah!
That was Indeed a triumph of mind
over matter!”
She—"Yes, I didn’t mind, because vou
didn't matter."
A standard for the everyday grocery
etore paper bags may soon be adopted,
the department of commerce believes
The Grocery Bag Manufacturers’ as
sociation has named a special commit
tee to present for the approval of ^ the
United States bureau of standards! Its
tentative standards tor the cubical con
tents of grocery paper bags.
Enough oar go passed through the
Panama canal In UM to lead a frstsB
train h«M mHeo Mag. ^
Guard at New York
State Penitentiary
Suffered Ten Years
From Catarrh
Now
Well
He
Used
PE-RU-NA
Mr. Charles S. Many, 12 Water
St., Ossining, N. Y., writes“I had
catarrh for ten years, tried a lot
of medicines, spent a lot of money,
but it did me no good. Instead of
getting better I grew worse. My
eyes were bloodshot, my nose
smelled bad, and I would get so
dizzy I would be forced to catch
hold of something to keep from
falling. I used about ten bottles
of Pe-ru-na and am cured of
catarrh, the dizzy feeling ha3 left
tnt and I am not bothered any
more. I keep Pe-ru-na in the jouse
and when I feel a cold coming on
I take a little. It does me good.’*
Ask for the original and genuine
Pe-ru-na the recognized treatment
for catarrh and catarrhal condi
tions for more than fifty years.
Your dealer has Pe-ru-na in both
tablet and liquid forms.
77 eater Magnate Had
Studied Human Nature
An actor was talking about tbe late
'ibonias H. Ince, the movie magnate.
‘‘We played together for two years
in ‘l or Love’s Sweet Sake,’” said the
ac tor. “One night on the road three
of our c: »pg got into a squabble about
their bed. They had to sleep three In
a be !, and till? squabble over who
was to sleep In the middle got so
terrible that some of the company
feared violence and wanted '.o send
foi I lie police. • - ii
Ince was calm and smiling
an.id tbe threats and curses that
ciiuip from the three mad nctors’
roc .a. He calmed us with the words:
" I ain’t he alarmed, friends. Windy
people never come to blows.’ ”
Street Made Beautiful
The .S.000 delegates and visitors to
the triennial convention of the Episco
pal church zi New Orleans, La., next
Oc tober will pass through a street
of blossoms when they walk up St.
Charles avenue. A committee, provld
“<• with plants, shrubs, vines, trowels
and watering enns made a careful
house-to-house canvass giving out
plants, and If nobody was at home,
set out the flowers, watered them, and
left a note of explanation to account
for t lie vines and shrubbery mysteri
ously springing up In their gardens.
Sure Relief
FOR INDIGESTION
B ELL-ANS
Hot water
Sure Relief
ELL-ANS
75i PACKAGES EVERYWHERE
Canadian Tobacco
Tol acco production In the Canadian
provinces, Ontario and Quebec, during
tbe last year, amounted to 18.710,740
pounds, of which 12,135,000 pounds
was produced In Ontario and 6,575,740
pounds in Quebec. The value of the!
yield last year is placed at $4,358,898.;
The acreage planted to this crop to
taled 21,817, from which an average .
yield an acre of 878 pounds was ob
tained.
Lighter Boots for Miners
M.r.err, of Europe have abandoned
heavy boots for lighter-weight styles,
am! makers of the heavy footwear re
eenily faced the choice of making
light boots or quitting business.
inf
A ?«f Sprinkle
in the Foot-Bath
ALLEN’S FOOT=EASE
The Antiseptic, Healing Powder for
tired, swollen, smarting, sweating
feet. It takes the friction from the
shoe, prevents blisters and sore spots
and takes the sting out of corns and
bunions. Always use Alien’* Foot-Ease (
to break in new shoes. Sold every
where. Trial package Free. Address
/ LI.EN ,S FOOT-EAaE, le Roy. N. Y.
CuticuraSoap
Pure and Wholesome
Keeps The Skin Clear
every whom.
Kill All Flies! [ DISEASE*0
DA,ST FLY KILLER attract! and
Ulk all flias. Neat, clean, ornamental, convenient and
cheap. Lasts all Ma
son. Made of metal,
isn’t spill or tip over;
will not boil or iojori
anything. Guaranteed.
fltPkIlib*
■HOLD Mt&Jta Pimd1' m. a
