April 29 1897
UriTNEKlJAb'
1 III III i 1 I 1 111 I lrilliri
ffl Kit K Ilk Ml IVUIV
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By VIOLA EOSEBOEO.
:
Copyright, 1886, by the Author. i
'Aunt Maggie, it's raining. Have
uu uub vuur ruuuursr xl a uruuuiiL
nn mo nniurp a vnn'n nr-irv nn ft
tpr tin a 1
handkerchief over your head, though."
These remarks were made in a queer,
half mincing yet masculine voice cut-
side my dressing room door. They were
evideutly addressed to lome one in an-
otner dressing room,
We were in a dirty little place called
by its patrons an opera house.
I recognized the queer voice. It be
longed to an odd, active boy who had
taken a part in the evening's theatrical
performance. But what caught my at
tention was the statement that it waa
raining. "
I had that day come on from New
York to join this company. I was ex
hausted with fatigue. I bad no umbrel
la. Certainly I should need a handker
chief over my bead.
When I was ready to leave the hall,
it seemed deserted, but as I reached the
outer door I came on the herald of the
weather. He was on his knees, his
mouth full of pins, shortening Aunt
Maggie's petticoats. The woman was
also a member of the company.
They barred my way. As I stoppetl
they both looked up and spoke together.
"Why, it's Miss Addington. Miss
Addington, allow ns to introduce our
selves. " The boy had sprung to his feet
with preternatural alertness, and now,
continuing the last speech I have quot
ed, said, "This is Mrs. Mason, and I
am Cassius Wetherby." Then with an
. abrupt change of tone: "Let me pin up
your skirts too. I have a whole paper
of pins here. Allow me. " And there he
was upon his knees at my feet working
away with professional dexterity and
speed.
"We were saying it must have been
a very hard evening for you. You did
wonderfully." -
"No rehearsal at all. It was wonder
ful." .
" Why, Cassias, she has no umbrella. "
"Well, we've one big enough for
three."
With a loquacity and good nature too
great to be quelled by a mouthful of
pins Cassius kept up his part in a con
versational duet till he had arranged
iny wet weather toilet to his mind.
, Then, with all possible care for my
comfort, the two escorted me to the ho-
AaI ndinn nil ll ft in.Yl T"lfi Yl XT
were housed.
I had had a good fire kept in my
room, so I asked them to come in with
me and dry themselves. Theatrical peo
ple are apt to be reserved and indiffer
ent with any new unknown member
And there he was upon his knees,
coming into a theatrical company, in
hospitality, obvious or disguised, being
always the natural result of continuous
ly multiplied dealings with strangers,
bo as we ranged ourselves about my
rusty stove, speaking upon an uncon
sciously reasoned hypothesis, I said :
"Yon are new to this business. You
' vron't take so much trouble about people
when you've been longer on the road."
Both my visitors answered me. I had
not thought of this middle aged woman
as being new to anything, but with the
boy she cried out, "Oh, we've had a
good deal of experience." "Indeed we're
quite old stagers," said he.
Then I realized that here were indeed
two novices, stage struck novices.
The company to which we belonged
was a melancholy organization. It play
ed a "repertory," and it staid a week
in towns that "combinations" and stars
r real stars leave in one night, and it
' visited places that such more fortunate
mummers neclect altogether. The bill
was changed at every performance, tak
ing our sojourn in one town, and nine
, or more performances were given in the
week. In short, we were a "snide
company. We represented theatrical life
in one of the least glittering phases.
Nevertheless he knows lit tlo of show
folk who would assume the absence of
good talent among us. We, like many
another such bankrupt organization,
were beaded by on excellent, solidly
trained old actor. He was our star and
our manager, and, "down on his luck"
as be was, I had been glad to join his
compuny for the experience I could get
out of it. I already had enough experi
ence to know that there was little pros
pect of any other compensation from
him. This being my position, I hastily
so explained it to Mrs. Masou and Mr.
Wetherby, hoping ' soothe their ftel
ings by callinff myself a novice. They
exchanged glances of lutUfuctiou at the
announcement
"That's jot what I've told Aunt
Mag," sail Ciiiu.
"Caiu and I think you can't have
too lum li 1 uperienrw," said Aunt M tg.
couliiinitift: "Wo come for njriiif
too. Mr. Uioy htn'l altogether what
I'd wib In some mpt!. "
"Tbl la bftwrru ourlne,of coo we."
'put In Cwwin.
'Caanlua, MU Addington U 11 lady,
Slid lady f UUrrtllon," Mrs. M.tati
ctrlifWd with an atuuwa equally iur
prising and gratifying. "He tome-
1
4.."- --.-B-- --
Addington, and but I won't talk
about it I don t wish to gossip, but be
is a first rate stage manager, isn't he.
Cassias? We feel that we have learned
a great deal in this engagement, don't
we?"
Cassius did, and he also reminded
Jvira. Mason that it was late and that I
n'aa timri inn nA inin mil rni it tunl
ruined Aunt Maggie not to have her
Bleep. "I'll have to bring her breakfast
up to her now. They close the dining
room so early. They don't show the
consideration they ought to profession-
ai people."
I coneratulated Mrs. Mason on her
prospect of breakfast in bed. That truth
brought forth more conversation: '
"Ob, Miss Addington, he is so good
to me. I don't know I suppose I'd have
been sewing in Chicago yet if he hadn't
no, I wouldn't, I'd have been dead.
I couldn't have sewed another year."
"She's so good to me; that's the thing
of it."
"And he isn't my nephew at all, yon
know."
"No; we're no relation."
"We're just friends. I don't know
why people say just friends. He's more
than a son to me. ' He never tries to
make me over into something else as
your own family do, Miss Addington."
I put in a word of thanks for her div
ination of my case; but, unconscious
of interruption, she was saying that to
morrow she must tell me all about it
her and Cassius' friendship.
"I think," said she, "it's real pleas
ant to know that people can find such
friends in the world an old woman
and a boy, too that they can take so
much comfort in each other. He is just
a boy, for all he's so ambitious, but he
isn't like other boys. He's so good.
Some ways he's more like a girl, but
he's manly, too, you know."
The next day after rehearsal Mrs. Ma
son visited me again. She overflowed
with friendliness and talk, biographical
and autobiographical.
One thing about Mrs. Mason muBt
have antagonized many a person and
made her stand in the minds of the ju
dicious as an example of the demoraliz
ing effects of the stage. Such an exam
ple she Was, to be sure, for she was
painted like a barber's pole, and that
was undoubtedly the result of the
achievement, too late in life for safety,
of a make np box. But when one saw
how simple and kind and more than re
spectable she was the effect of all that
red and white and black stuff on her
tired, worn, middle aged face became
as touchingly humorous as it was ass-
thetically disastrous. It was put on with
the confidence of a creature who has. lit
tle practice in deceit and none at all in
the detection of it.
She had that fiat backed, slim figure
which a 50-year-old possessor always
belioves to be youthful in effect, but
only the dullest of observers could have
been blind to the time wearied and Ja
bored character of Mrs. Mason's upright
ness.
She dressed with a painstaking, inex
pensive elaboration of details that show
ed- she loved her clothes. But she was
one of those not uncommon women
whose love of personal adornment, to be
understood aright, must be understood
somewhat subtly. She had, as I soon
learned, as little personal vanity and as
little delusion as to her own natural
charms as possible (you see, I do not
say she had none), but she loved beauty
so passionately that she must, for the
peace of her life, play at being better
looking than she was, and it was neces
sary to this game that she exaggerated
tho power of art to help her.
Early in this our seoond interview she
said, "I have a daughter, Florence
that's her name. " When she said "Flor
ence," my mind automatically answer
ed, "Florence Mason," and as with
the turning of a key I remembered a
long ago had passed from my mind, as
if to be forgotten forever.
A whole history that. It was this
woman's history, heard years before
the history of her most eventful and
momentous years. Florence Mason, an
airy, irresponsive young person, the
kind one in shallow moments oalls
harmless, I had once chanced to know.
She had a pretty voice, musical aspira
tions and a habit of talking about her
self. Dnriug the fortnight in which she
considered me a congenial soul (I am a
good listener) she told me a great deal
about her mind, her gift's, her nature,
and incidentally her heredity. She said
she owed her moral attributes to her
mother, her power of self sacrifice and
her sternness of principle that her
mother had sacrificed everything to
principle.
Some people might have found it con
fusing to learn on top of all this and
a great doal more that her mother was,
in the daughter's phrase, a "grass wid
ow," now seeking to go upon the stage.
But this announcement found me pre
pared to recognize that its goneral air
did its subject injustice. I had heard
the outlines of her story and had man
aged to gather from it some notion of
the woman's simple and singular char
acter, a character singular only in its
simplicity, for the love of pleasure aud
the passiou for moral uprightness that
were its basis aro surely the very stuff
from which man aud fate weave human
destiny. It was because iu this stray,
witless bit of Immunity this typical
combination of forces was so uncompli
cated by other issues that iho was so
Interesting uml so touching. She felt
no sene uf iiicousiHteiicy in hr desires;
she did not dream of pleanure and duty
as things created to conflict; she wsa
innocent of all such iu(lcrn filing, a
feeling that latrates so many souls
even when they rjwl It aa h ductriiiH.
No; she was au lnUreig survival, a
simple pitman who wanted nil of life
she could get, but who was ruled by
Iter rtcieum However, whetlwr or
not the Ut of life is u-earily at war
With the hungi slid thir! after tight'
counties, this quer, Ititgte hnmau
pel lemw may Le My trutl to bring
Ihrui to batlltt sooner or latrr. With
Mm M4t the conflict had come bold
Mti ami late, tar!) aud ofuu.frt with
cut ever iltering the original terms, tne ,
original siwnlicit of her attachment to .
each. So with her the nw struggle was
alwava the old typical one, unsofteued,
ttneasod by any belief in the doctrine of
self abnegation for its own sake.
Something of all this I had gathered
even from the daughter's tale.
When Florence was about 4 years
old, Mrs. Mason had discovered that
her husband v as cheating a poor fam
ily in a sale qf land. Of his integrity
ehe had had doubts before, but when
she made this discovery and could doubt
no more she took a course that seems to
have presented itself to her mind as the
only one possible. With a singular ob
servance of feminine mistiness as to
masculine business she simply took her
child in hor arms, and with nothing in
her pocket left him at once and forever.
The significance of this act remains du
bious until we learn that, although all
this happened in Illinois in the days of
the famous easy divorce laws, Mrs. Ma
son never sought a divorce or toler
ated with patience any suggestion that
she should have one. Tho husband, by
"1 have a daughter, Florence,
the way, went to California, where it
appears he never felt any need of legal
freedom. Ho was never heard of any
more, so we are not to be bothered with
him.
"No, my mother always said she was
a married woman ; that you couldn't be
married but once, it seemed to her, but
she couldn't, she just couldn't. If you
knew her, you'd know she really couldn't
live with a man who cheated people,
particularly poor pe.ople. She just pick
ed me np and went to Chicago and be
gan sewing for a living. That was all
she could do, and she just hated it. Per
haps you think she, oughtn't to have told
me all this about my father, but she
conldn't keep things to herself. She
isn't that wny a bit.
"She worries me dreadfully telling
things. I can't think how any one with
so much moral principle can have so
little dignity. Then I was all she had,
and she didn't know but my father
would come back and claim me some
or 8ne niitrht die. and then I
1 mjgnt come up with him some time,
and she was so afraid I might belike
that and not care about right and wrong.
She cares enough, but people criticise
her dreadfully. They r.lw.rtys did, and I
wish she wasn't so ber.t cn pcing on the
stage. One doesn't want one's mother ;
on the stage, you know. But she's been ,
awfully good to me as fe as she could j
understand me, and 1 know I'm a j
strange nature. I said : 'Mother, I'm 1
not going to keep on Against this stage
business. You'll just have to be happy j
your own way, but 1 can t stand Deing
around mixed up with it. I've got to
consider myself and my future, ' So I got
a place to live away from her, for I had
some musio pupils.. My mother spent
a lot of money on my music. So I got
Borne pupils as soon as I left school be
ginners. It would have been bad for
my pupils to get wind of her going on
the stage, and I told you she never could
keep anything. I adore -dignity and reti
cence myself. Don't yon?" '
And hero before me was the woman
that for a personal scruple of conscience
had for 20 years fought such a bitter
battle; who had fought it and won it
with her hated needle; who with no
other weapon had actually conquered
an education for her child, had sent her
to private schools and good musio mas
ters. No wonder she wanted to do some
thing she liked now. I was to learn
more details of her campaign. The hor
ror of those years of sewing was so
strong upon her that some expression of
it was always likely to break in upon
her general conversation.
In this first tete-a teteshe interrupted
the story she had begun about her first
acquaintance with Mr. Wetherby by
exclaiming: "But when I say I'd been
doing dressmaking for years, that don't
tell you anything. You don't know any
thing about it. Yon don't know any
thing about it"
Then with a sort of solemn retro
spective desperation 6hewenton: ."Miss
Addington, I never learned dressmak
ing. I always hated to sew worse than
anything in this world, but I was handy
at it, and I liked to make my own
clothes look nice, because I couldn't af
ford to hsv any one else do it for me.
But it's one thing to make your own
clothes and another indeed it is anoth
erto make other jicople's. I never did
understand any sure way to make a fit
nothing about lots of things real dress
makers know. I had taste; that waa nil.
I could do thii'pt others couldn't and
make things look like pieturts when I
had any luck. You ttxk any one that ev
er saw my work. That was the only
reason I ever got anything to da
"I uevei rut into fine pico of goods
that I wa-tn't ho giddy with fear that
I thought I should faint. I'm absent
minded, and I gi t mixed np mi en.y,
and such awful accidents run happen in
drt'Kfliuuking, and It witxn't only rutting
into it, it wa tho whole time any hand
koine thing was around I never drvw n
breath but in fear, Thut's away to live,
ian't it IF You don't know any thing
alut it. I rut two sid gores once for
tho Mime i lit, and it wm trvwn brocaded
velvtt, anil hi tiver una Id match It
Hut 1 don't want to tluuk about it.
Yea, of roue, tint's what rmy oit
niil hum a ytiu, learu a yttem-
and I've n ulling to aay tack Uut dt eu't
sound silly, tut oftr sit oiiea,cn way
Is bent fur oneself sometimes, or if ti
isa't best it's all you fan do. I've tried
to make Florence that wncn sue
finds fault with me. You see, I never
could have learned a system so that it
wouldn't have upset me more than I
was upset. Of course I learned a lot of
things as I went along, but nothing ever
could make me suie, because I never was
meant to do that work. I could have
designed thinps, just that, real well,
but there wusu't any chance for my get
ting a place to work like that. Then
and you'll think this was terribly fool
ish, but it was the only way I kept alive
all those years I was always pretend
ing to myBelf that something Was going
to happen, that I shouldn't have to sew
next year. If I'd given np playing that
way to myself, I'd have died or gone
mad, and there was Florence, Then I
sold the lot. It was a little lot I bought
once with $50 outside Chicago, when
they said the place, the village, was go
ing to have a boom. It didp't, of course,
but at last, after ten years, it did a lit
tle, and it had been growing some all
the time, and I sold the lot for $400,
and then I stopped. I couldu 't have done
another stitch. The doctor said it would
kill me to run the machine any more
anyhow. I hoped it would if I had to,
though I'm afraid it was wicked to feel
so.
"Then I said to myself I'd go on the
stage. You can't think, Miss Adding
ton, how well and young and happy it
made me feel for a minute just to say
that over to myself, though, of course,
I felt bad enough that it should worry
Florence so. . .
"I always was wild about the stage.
Even when I hud Florence at boarding
school, and the bills were awful, I'd
stint myself on things I didn't care if
it was food and got a cheap seat once in
a great while and go to tho theater.
That gave me such a rest it gave me
new heart,
was there.
I forgot everything while I !
and then I could go on
awhile again. Then I met Caseins, as I
told you, and he was all alone in the
world, and so was I, except for Florence,
,but Florence was so against everything
about the stage, and she was so afraid
her pupils would bear about me, and of
oourse that was right, but Cassius was J tn the stead of nitrogenous organic fer
wild about the theater,, and he was so tiliaer, would result in .an increase
kind to me. He'd go my errands, and 1 equivalent to nearly 20 per cent In the
as long as he was in that house where I ' yield.
had my rooms he d build my nre ior
me cold mornines; he would do it He
was, so good every way, and we just
talked our hearts out about plays and
actors and dramatic things. He said it
Was a son I needed, and he'd try to
make out to be a nephew anyhow. He
began to call me Aunt Maggie, and
we've managed our plans together ever
since, l suppose people worn on 1. wmm
Icouldjiaveareal friend in a boy like
that, but if ever there was a friendship
we have it, and it's been such a comfort
to me you can't think. I've always been
bo lonely. Aud I try to take an interest
in all he cares about, and I give him
lotsvof good advice, but we never worry
trying to make each other different, and
that's so nleasant. We've played four
engagements, counting this one, and it's
only a year and a half 'we've been try
ing. Of course the stage isn't nice every
way, but I think it's lovely more ways.
I'm ailing a good deal, and the cars are
hard on me, but then, you see, now we're
not iu the cars much. "
This talk was not exactly the mono
logue I have taken the liberty to repre
sent it, but my part in it was unim
portant. The last sentences aroused my
curiosity. How had these two incompe
tent infanta ever managed to get four
engagements, even though the other
three were as unimportant as the pres
ent one? And how much money had
they earned? And the $400 was it all
gone? -
The precariousness of their situation,
of the feeble woman s situation particu-
larly, made ine shiver,
Rnt T vo Aa crlnri shn wnsn't sew in P. I
ia ,if,i aha tnr.nA nn
2Lu - a
the certainties of life as a seamstress. I
..ij-.u; !,.,.; wi. if
did not seem that the information could
give any particular pleasure, and I -did
not care to bore myself with a proper
exhibition of interest in her. The pair
before me were more entertaining.
I say the pair before me, for if Mr.
Wetherby was not present in the flesh
he enjoyed a glorified existence in all
Mrs. Mason's talk.
You see. I have called my story "A
Pair of Platers" not because that title
-o icHfio,l hv ll.a litnrn trnfh Y,nt ho.
cause I desire to pay tribute to my
friends' glowing aspirations.
Cassius came for Aunt Maggie at Bup
per time. We were iu the sphere of the
midday dinner.
"I've been telling her all about
things," suid that lady.
"J hope you haven't been knitting
with wet feet," said Cassius. "I meant
to ask you if you'd changed your shoes.
I have to take good care of her, Miss
Addington. She doesn't take care of
ht-rself right Excuse me, may I?" And
with on of his nippy little feminine
movements he picked up and bent
scrutinizing eye upon uu embroidered
canvas photograph caxc.
"I embroider a little myself," he said,
"and I like to look ut anything new iu
that line. The sale for tonight is tho
bent this week. I thiuk buNiueMsis look
ing up. That's very pretty, very pretty.
I have a great eye for colors., Well, we
luiift be getting to feii er if we are go
ing to have any voices tonight, mustn't
we?" .
As ho ami Mrs. M)ion had only about
ten lines between them iu tho night's
play, this solicitude about voire was an
example ot their i!Uiiit ri-tt d artiittie
rrui-uloeitr.
Utt.lTISlEn SKXT WfKK.)
everybody BM So,
Caararets Candy Cathartic, the most
senderful medical dweovrrr ot the age,
plesnsnt and rvlmehiog to ths tart, act
gmtlr am) poeitlvwly on klJnys, liver
and bowels, cleaimlug tha entire arale.n,
diapel coliU, cure hendnrlie, fever habit
ual couetipSjUnn and bdlounneea. IVaee
boy and try a bos ol ('. C, C today It),
2 ftu eettta. KoUl and guaranteed to
cur by all druggMta,
I'otetoet and Fertiliser.
The deductions of M. Comon, one of
the foremost French agriculturists,
prove that thedry matter content of
potatoes is notably increased by the
use of phoephatic and potasslc fertlll
ters, but lessened If nitrogen fertilizers
predominate. This fact has been often
suspected and the labors of M. Comon
and his coadjutors now leave no doubt
In this respect. M Comon Bajs: In
the culture of the potato the question
of fertilizers Is supreme.. The plant is
not fastidious In this respect, but if not
fertilized it will yield little. A large
and first-class yield can be expected
inly through plenteous and suitable
fertilizing. That the yield depends In
great part on fertilizing is not dis
puted by any sane person, but it is less
generally known that the Rind ot rerui
Izer exerts an influence on the quality
of the product. This Is a fact that
seems to be undoubted. The exclusive
use ot dressings in which nitrogen pre
ponderates is prejudicial to the elab
oration of dry matter; the simultaneous
use of these same nitrogenous fertili
sers, with phosphatlc and potasslc fer
tilizers is, on the contrary, favorable
to the securing of tubers of a high con
tent While this statement may u
only a secondary importance for the
majority of our potato growers, who
cultivate this plant merely for their
ewn consumption or for that of the in
habitants of the towns, it Is far other
wise with those who grow the potato
tnr fnriiiRtrlal nnrcoses and have in
rlpw thfl nroductlon of . the
starcny
matter. The Importance ot tne odbci
vatlon of this truth in practice ian be
easily reckoned. Allowing that an acre
planted in potatoes gives an average of
10,000 kilos (22,000 pounds) of tubers,
the gain of 3 per cent of dry matter,
for example, obtained by the applica
nt nf nhnanhfttic fertilizer to potasslc
Home Grown Celery.
We know many farmers who have
learned to like celery, and who buy
considerable amounts every fall and
winter, but without a thought of grow
ing it themselves. They keep from
ninriHnr mlerv under the Impression
that its cultivation, and especially the
M...VID f tha lpnvPB IB a
aimcuu
1 0 eratlon celery used to be grown
mo;e expen8lvely than now. The
, & trenching that was ouce thought
I ' now considered injurious,
gudden Bhower8 ln fiUmmer will fill
I trencne8 Witn water, and half bury
. tg m mud before they
. ' ... h Er0wlng. It is
"" . t i.vei
tvuioh better to plant on level surface,
and blanch the stalks by excluding
light with boards set against the rows
of celery on each side, The soil needs
to be as rich as it Is possible to make
it, and with plenty of water so that
the growth shall never cease. If there
is any stoppage of growth, the celery
will be tough, stringy, and lacking in
the nutty flavor of celery grown from
tart to finish as quickly as possible.
j Coarse stable manure must not be used
' for celery. No matter how much water
I the celery has, the manure will - at
' some time heat and cause the celery to
stop growing. That witf make the
celerytough.no matter how well
I grown It is otherwise. The best ma
'nure for celery is nitrate of soda,
which will furnish nitrogen in avall
'able form without heating.
Prairie Flre.
Tear bv year, as regularly as the sea
eons come round, thousands of tlers
suffer, more or less seriously, from prai-
Farmers' Advocate,
nniv in nronertv destroyed, but
fre-
quently human life is sacrificed. Ow
ing to the luxuriant vegetation this
year, the chances are that these fires
will be more wldespreading and des
tructive than usual, and no one can
feel safe from now till the ground to
whitened with snow, unless securely
safeguarded from all possible danger.
j These tires arue iron, many a v..-
I OUS Causes, luo '-""'I'"""-0
Warned for much or the trounie, out u
everyone exercised the amount of care
and spent as much money, proportion
ately, to guard against this danger as
do the railways, there would be less
damage done. Reckless and careless
travelers, sportsmen, snd others set
out many a fire; threshers often neglect
to extinguish the fire that lies dormant
in the cinder plies under their engines,
and from burning straw piles escape
many a destructive fire. Too much
caution cannot be exercised.
More Diversity Needed. The seem
ing certainty that the great staple
southern crops will no longer warrant
the farmers and planters of the south
em states In buying away from home
all their current supplies and produc
ing at home oly these grent southern
staple crops, must lead every thinking
person Identified with so'i!hTu ngrl
culture to the Imperative nm-sslty
nna, rnnfrniili lie ftf nrntwtln I
trraiv v nrodurlna; at home !t of
the agricultural products that we have
been In the habit of buying from the
other states. This Is said In no aclflah
spirit, but as a matter of absolute ne
cessity, and without which reform
serernl lanknrpicy wilt surely reach
moat of the farmers anil planters of
the south. Soutbrn Farmer.
Ex-Gov. Northen of Georgia h&s
Ublished some fifty sgeucies In Illinois,
Michigan, Indiana, and Wltronaln tm
the purpose of encwursglng emigration
to that state.
Clean out the hen hou often.
Italia el the peultry rqutrs it
The
BADLY FRIGHTENED.
Tb Stranger Vm Not a Dirk TarpfBr
Ian Wanted to Ak m Qaeetlon.
Had I been a woman I would have
screamed at tne top of my voice. But
being only a man I gulped down the
lump that swelled up ic my throat
and treated myself to an imitation ot
bravery, says a writer In the Detroit
Journal. Just ax I had entered the
shade that hangs like a pall about the
church on Bagley and Park a figure
loomed up before me indistinctly sll
boutted against the gray stones of ths
edifice. It was a man.. He quickly
withdrew a hand from his coat pocket
and, pointing his index finger straight
at me, muttered in a hoarse voice:
"Stand a moment"
I could see no gleam in his eye, hut I
imagined that bis extended finger was
the barrel of a revolver and I thought
I saw that gleam. I stood. I confess
that my knees knocked together and a
cold perspiration began to ooze out of
my anatomy.
"Say" he said, after eyeing me for a
moment:, "you needn't be afraid of me."
But I was. , I thought he had evil
designs on me. The darkness of the
place suggested a repetition of several
things that Dick Turpin made a busi
ness of. I was not in conversational
frame at the moment, chiefly because
I was trying to masticate the lump In
my throat and get it to go down.
"Say," he repeated, "you needn't be
afraid of me. I'm no thug. All I
. wanted to ask you is if this Is the Grand
Circus or Belle Isle."
THE CARRIER P1QEON.
An
Explorer' Wife Cheered ' by
th
MeMitge That It Brought.
One day a wonderful bird tapped at
the window of Mrs. Nansen's house at
Chrlstlanla. Instantly the window was
opened and the wife of the famous
arctic explorer ln another moment cov
ered the little messenger with kisses
and caresses, says the Philadelphia
Times. The carrier pigeon had been
away from the cottage thirty long
months, but It had not forgotten the
way home. It brought a note from
Nansen stating that all was going on
well with him and his expedition In
the polar regions. Nansen had fasten
ed a message to a carrier pigeon and
turned the bird loose. The frail cou
rier darted out into the bllzzardly air.
It flew like an arrow over a thousand
miles of frozen waste and then sped
forward over another thousand miles
of ocean and plains and forests, and
one morning entered the window of the
waiting mistress and delivered the
message which she had been awaiting
so anxiously. We boast of human
pluck, sagacity and endurance, but
this little carrier pigeon, in its home
ward flight, after an absence of thirty
months, accomplished a teat sp wonder
ful that we can only give ourselves up
to the amazement and admiration
which must overwhelm every one when
the marvelous story la told. Mrs. Nan
sen's pigeon is one of the wonders of
the world.
Worth Seeing.
An amusing instance of the work
ings of an inquiring mind is given by
Mr. Frederick Crowest in his "Musical
Anecdotes." The company of one- of
the opera houses, at the close of a Lon
don season, had arrived at Liverpool to
embark for a continental tour. The
musical Instruments were being
shipped with the rest, and among
them was the double bass, or "big fid
dle," as it is also called, not cased as
usual, for this member of the string
family will stand a little rough treat
ment. It soon attracted the attention
of the Jack Tars, three or four of whom
settled round, scrutinizing it with keen
Interest. By the order of an officer
they soon dispersed, but not long after
ward another bluff seaman was dis
covered secretly watching it with 'won
dering eyes. He was asked his reason1
for standing thus idle.
"Well, yer know," said Jack, "I'm
Just waiting for to see the length of
the bloke's arm that can piny that there
fiddle!"
Not Enough for Two.
Patrick was me utn&in of a brick
schooner that plied between New York,
and HaverstraW on the Hudson. One
day his schooner was loaded, ready to
start for New York. But Patrick nev
er gave the word to the crew to cast
off the hawsers and get under way.
Instead, he sat lazily swinging his leg
over the spokes of the wheel, smoking
his pipe. The owner of the brick yard,
who was also the owner of the schoon
er, seeing that the vessel had not start
ed, and wishing to have the load land
ed In New 'York aa soon a pomilbla,
rushed down to the dock and Irately
demanded of Patrick why he did not
get under way.
"Shure, yer honor, there's no wind."
"No wind! Why, what's the matter
with you? There's Lawson's schooner
under sail, going down the river now.'
"Yls. I've been er watchln' her. but
Its useless my gettln under way. She's
got the wind now, and, faith, there's
not enough of It for two." Harper's
Round Table.
II U Mistake.
First Commercial I have done well
here for a smalt place like this. My
orders for to-day come close on 700.
! Chora -That's good-very good. You
nave uone wvu. owuuu commercial
(who has not spoken before, looking
oer the top or hla paper) Oh. It Is
wonderful what one dooa In a small
place sometimes. Why, my last Jour
nry down here my dUcounts came to
jiut over what your orders came ta
to-day. First Commercial Excuse me,
tlr; tbie is not a lying competition.
,., nd Commercial (disappearing be
1 hind
lt I psper) I beg pardon; I
thought It wis, TU-Ults.
A kerosene lamp with an electrical
ttachmcut Is something new Ton
press a button, and an slectrU Asset
lights the Im p.
