Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (July 17, 1890)
HOW TWO LIVES CROSSED. An old physician in Atlanta told me tiring story the other day about a young couple who lived in the city tome twenty-fire years ago. Talk of Action, he said, his fine eyes beaming thoughtfully. 1 have known stories in real life that, should I give them to the world in print, they would be considered the wild, sensational fancies of a mad man's brain. Many years ago I was summoned one evening to a handsome residence in the upper part of Whiteehapel street the street then popular for residences. The mistress of the house had been a wife three years. I knew the circum stances of her marriage and the history of her whole inner life., She wts at the time of her marriage jn love with a man who was separated, but not di vorced, from his wife, the laws of the Homan Cotholic Church, to which he belonged, forbidding divorce. She married her husband, because she was poor and dependent, and in those days there seemed little else for a woman to do but marry when site grew up. The husband was a man of some means, but a dissipated reprobate, an opium-eater and drunkard, and there had been sad stories about the wife's wretchedness and the husband' brutality since the marriage. As I entered the hallway there was an ominous, uneasy look about the ser vants who met iue. The old negro nurse, who cured for the young woman since her childhood, looked ashy with terror as she wliisKred:, "Come up stairs, doctor, I think my chile done dead dis time, but I believe you kin bring her to life." I followed her silently, and she noise lessly. 0ened the door of the bedroom where the mistress lay. I shall never forget the pictureof that young woman as she lay in death-like stillness on the white bed. her face as white as the pillow over which streamed the raven- like masses of her silky hair. The delicate brows, tho lung curling lashes were Jet black, and the only color about this face of mourning lay in the full, red lips. It was strikingly like the face of Titian's sleeping Veuus, and I inhaled its strange, sad beauty with my soul, as my brain was busy with tho question of tUis woman's strange condition and its cause. I saw in an instant that slie was heavily drugged and turned to the nurse fur an explanation. ' s "She's been dat way five hours," said the old woman, "fust I thought she was asleep, den when she look like she done daid I sen fur you, den I And dis bottle by her." She handed me an empty morphine phial I went, ioimeUlatcly to work giving restoratives. By dint of coffee and compelling her to walk two hours she finally came to herself, and the old nurse, fairly fagged out begged for a few minutes rest, as I laid her mistress on the bed, and so the girl and I were left together. ; She opened her eyes, now clear and brilliant, with a look of recognition full upon me. "Y'ou have bronght me back," she cried reproachfully. "Ob why did you do it V" , : . "Through duty and through human lty " I said calmly. She aroso upon her elbow and her eyes flashed passionately. "Tlirough humanity." he: cried. "Is it humanity to bring back to lifo an utterly wretched',' woman r Did you tnink to save me from hell by it? why hell would be sweet to me compared to this place. ou are brutal, inhuman!' "Hut lliinic of your child" I pro . tested. ,"TJie little girl's soul given into your keeping." - "My child," she cried,,. "Ah 1 that onlv makes me more wretched. You didn't know I took opium too?"' A surprised stare was my answer and she continued: " Yes, 1 commenced taking it shortly after we were married. He gave.it to me and I was coward enough to take It Anything for oblivion; anything to make me forget his existence and my own. I didn t know the child was cominir then. I didn't think Cod would be so merciless as to send me child after that Well, when, the child came I longed for 'death ,more than ever. What sort of mother was I for the rearing of a girl? We have had terrible scenes iere to-day., I think ; he is asleep in the'othcr ioom. Don't you hear him?" I listened as the ami ud of that wlerd Sternorous breathing reached me, and an uncontrollable shudder crept over me. "Ah. you shudder Just to ;hear him,'' he laughed wildly "Imagine living with him; imagine his alternate moods of snarling imbecility and passionate ungovernable rage. Thin think of my - going on in this way and growing like him. Think of our being the parent of an innocent child. I shaU mver have that baby grow up to know me as her mnt w. I shall do her the One kind act of dying." I tried t Jfmiy : poor icreMure with all thii-iieBt and krndly con dotations I could think of, but to no aval. I nwke of reformation. prontd myself to take her to, an anion wrrfifsRe cbuid M ciireiC Hue sfcoo hwbMul sadly. " TV are,, never cured," she said. Tk lui and say they are. but it's al .ytBalle. Before! married him swore he was cured, and i bettered binv I was a fool and he was a liar." It was past midnight when I left her apparently quiet, bhe had promised to go to sleep, and the old nurse lay on a cot at her feet - The next morning she was dead, and the story of her d as kept secret The old nurse .u tf.st it came from a hidden bottle of morphine, and so did I, but we kept the fact secret and she received a Christian burial A week later the husband left the city with his child, and bis home and property were all advertiaed for sale. Where lie went none knew, and he faded out of the life that had known him as a shadow passes away from the sun. ' ' ; Fifteen years after that I entered an apartment in New York with three young physicians, who had persuaded me to go fortune-telling with them that evening. The strange story I have just told bad come vividly up to me by the fact that I discovered one of these young men to be the sou of the woman's lover. The room we entered was the queerest I have ever seen. The walls were of polished panels of ebony, hung with bright pictures and having a deep frieze of poppies on an ebony ground. the carpet was crinwon, strewn over with black fur rugs, and the furniture was ebony, upholstered ' in crimson Persion silk. There were crimson siik-shaded lamps here and there, and beside one sat a strange figure, which arose to greet us as we entered. "That's the ' sorceress," whispered Parley, (the young man I mentioned: his real name I will not give.) 'The woman was a small, slender creature, all decked in ml satin and black lace. Her high-heeled red satin shoes were beaded in black, and in the black masses of her hair glittered a crescent of rubies. Her face was very dark; she had immense black eyes and a crooked mouth, with little dimples at the comers, and teeth brilliantly white. She bowed and smiled to the whole of us, and then her keen, com prehensive glance fell upon Darley, II cr face grew suddenly sad and clouded. '"You have an urgent destiny to ful fill." she said "You have a life to save from present and future perdition. It conies to you as a recompense for two unhappy lives. . The story of it all is a terrible one. I can but dimly see it, but what I see fills me with horror. I am sorry you came, I am always affected by the fortunes of the peopte 1 tell 1 cant : talk any more now, Leave me, and yon all can come some other time for your fortunes. I am very tired." Site sank into her deep crimson chair and closed h;r eyes. We left her silently, awed and impressed against our wilL ' '"" " When we entered the cool air of the October night tho young fellows com menced jesting over thfl scene. "She's a queer one," said Valentine. "Lots of believers among the fashion able people, and makes loads of money." ' "Confound her," said Darley, with a nervous shrug. "I wish she'd singled out some one else for her uncanny pre diction." "Where shall we go next?" That was the question we stool and asked each other as we reached T Wenty-third street ; "Perhaps you'd like to see some of the opium dives? suggested Jlar lowe. "As I'm in for anything uncanny you fellows propose, 1 think, perhaps, 1 should." "Well, there's one hero that I know pf which is decidedly different from the usual run. You hear, of . their luxury and all that, but this one is the only luxurious one in nil Xew 1 ork. It s kept by an old man a Chinaman, presumably and a young girl about whom there is nothing Chinese. She's a beautiful creature, and people go there to see her, and she fills their pipes and sings them songs with a look of loathing and scorn upon her face, passionate enough to scare a man with dclirum tremens Into his senses 1 have access to this place, having got the drop on the old man through pro fessional knowledge of some of his pro ceedings. To this place we went, reaching it through many ways too complicated for description. At last the queer, crooked little dwarf who met us at the entrance drew apart the rich curtains of the apartment Along the walls were divans of rich material, upon which re posed forms in - tus abandonment of drugged sleep". A dim, crimson glow pervaded the room, and about In this mystical light glided the wraith-like figure of a girl clad in shimmering yel low satin, gold embroidered The figure of the old Chinaman arose- -from its half reclining position on the ricldy carpeted floor and bowed with cring ing politeness before Marlowe. The man was richly clad in a Chinese robe, gorgeously embroidered I examined his face curiously. It was not a Chinese' face. The complexion, despite the -paint was that of a Circassian. The eyebrows were painted into thla, slant ing shape, a4, Jbe, uB, sawttal ftpe could !Wfiitave belonged to any one save a Mixado Chinaman. The face re called something familiar, something I had seen befoie and liked' Mi. tha memory uf. As I was pondering over J the strange figure toe girt earn up to US. She held a golden bowl, filled with pipe, in her hands. 'Will you have oner" she asked sol- taly, and yet in a voice strangely soft and musical J looked up closely to examine the face of this strange young being. Toe black-lashed lids wen downcast, and the face, my God! it vaa the very (aee of the woman who UgJ lifetaa bate me fifteen years before. IU mfwlf grow weak, and young Deriey 12$ his strong hand on my shoulder. -"- "Is anything the matter?" he asked ,'Perhapa he's had too much already,' I heard the girl say contemptuously. I saw Darley 's gaze fixed like one spell bound upon her. and for the first time she lifted her eyes, and I saw them meet his. , la Iter's lay an infinite, dogged) sorrow like - the anguish of some dumb brute; in bis lay an infinity tenderness and pity. I know these t' - beings had met their destiny. Two years after this I went to Xew York; and Darley brought his young wife to see me, and I told them my story, and they told me theirs. After their first meeting be went to the place ostensibly as a patron, but really to watch and study the horrible life of this young creature. He gained her confidence and learned the terrors and misery of her life. The story is too bad, too horrible for repetition. The girl had kept her purity, but she said sadly to me, "I wonder if all the love and tenderness of my husband and all the deep repentance of a life time can wash from my hands the guilt of aiding my fellow mortals to thai which is more horrible than death ? ; ' Her husband put his arms tenderly about her. "i think God has forgiven your unwilling sin," he said, "and at least He has been kind to bring light and happiness finally out of the dark ness and disappointment of two lives now passed away." Atlanta Constitu tion. A Voracious Pike. A female pike weighing twenty-nine pounds has been found in the lake at Ewhnrst park, Basingstoke, the seat of Lord Alexander Russell. It had appar ently met its death in the vain attempt to swallow one of its own species weighing nine pounds. The two fish, in the position in which they were found, are being stuffed at Winchester. Tike have died in this manner before, and it is doubtful whether or not these should be regarded as instances of voracity or pure accidents. Pike, like many other fish, frequently do battle, and it has been suggested that when two savage fish rush headlong one another the smaller one might ensily enter the Jaws of the larger. Once in there would be no getting out again, for the pike.s mouth is lined with hundreds of sharp teeth, which, like those of the shark, point throatwarl As an undoubted instance of ptklsh voracity there is an unusually well authenticated record of a pike of two pounds first swallowed a trout of one pound, and shortly after ward, while the tail of the trout was still in its throat, seizing an artifical bate three and a half inches in length. Pall Matt Gazette. , ... i ... The Peunut. The peanut is supposed to be a native of Africa. The nuts are produced on that continent in great quantities and constitute a not unimportant article of the natives' daily food. ; They are also grown in France and Spain, where they are for the most part turned Into oil used in the manufacture of soap. They have also been ground into (lour, but the bread is heavy and unpalatable, besides being expensive. 1 n this country the good peanut states are Virginia, North Carolina and Ten nessee. The crop in a good . year amounts to about 3,000,000 bushels or 70,000,000 pounds, having grown to these portions from an output of less than 500,000 cushels in 1873. Arkansas and Kansas are also peanut growing states, but their product is of an infer ior quality and cannot be sold against the Virginia nut California produces a good crop, but the soil is so rich that the peanut grows large and rank, with a shell so thick that it seriously affects tho roasting process. The states first named may therefore be considered the sole producers of peanuts for the mar ket. So important has the peanut be come that in some sections of the three states it is the principal crop and chief reliance of the farmer. In the United States all peanuts grown are for eating purposes. Table oil made' from them was put on the market a few years ago, but owing to the expense did not succeed in holding its own against other oUs I made from cheaper vegetable,. D ' "j " The peanut vine la a plait similar to the sweet potato. The most remark able feature is that when the flower falls the stalk supporting the small un developed fruit lengthens and, bend ing toward the ground, pushes the fruit into the ground whan it begins to en- She Knevr Tha.Oounbrihi; madenwfeeC, never sow anything so fresh and so green as the country around your beau tiful New York. The Maid Well, count, some of the foreigners who come here are Just about as fmh and justt$o4 ia gtinv--X&- , v ., LABOR AND ALLIANCE. Tha Farmer Awakealag. 10 tha course of the baccalaureate sermon before the graduating class at the Massachusetts agriculutral college Prof. C. S. Walker, whose text was Luke, xxii, S2, "Strengthen Thy Breth-' ten," and topic, "The Duty of the Edu cated Farmer," said: "Heretofore, in all parts of the world the farmer has ! been no match for his adversary. He has never held his o an against the sol dier or the priest against the politician or the statesman. In ancient times he was the slayt;; in the middle ages the serf. In the nineteenth century he is the slave, the serf, the peasant or the propritor, according to location American farmers, as a class, are face to face with a crisis. They have sub dued a continent and furnished the raw material for our factories, bread for our operatives and manhood for our civilization. They have sustained the nation's credit with their hard earned dollars, rescued aud engender ed liberty with their conscientious bal lots and defended time and again, the stars and stripes with their loyal blood Vigorous in body, strong in character, striking in individuality, lover of home, massive in common sense, fer tile in resources, devout believers in Providence, the farmers of America will never allow themselves to be over whelmed by the fate that sunk the til lers of the soil in India, in Egypt in Europe. "Prom all parts of this land farmers are" coming together. . Organization and co-operation are the wonderful ideas that have awakened them as never before. They are grasping hands with a grip that means some thing, comparing ways and means, uniting upon ends to be gained They demand for themselves and their chil dren an education equal to the best They insist upon a fair share of the profits of (he American industry, claim ing that no state can long exist in which the tillers of the soil bear most of the burdens and share little of the blessings of advancing civilization. But they are in danger of making mistakes in the struggle that shall turnback the progress of the movement They demand leaders. To supply this de mand is tiie impertative duty of the educated farmer. Whatsoever of bodily vigor, mental power and heroism the educated farmer may have acquired from ancestors, college or university, he will need it that he rcay consecrate it to the great work of strengthening his brethern, the farmer of America, so that they shall ever remain an immov able foundation of this, the only re public whose empire has not been rap idly undermined" ',' ... Women' WagM' n Few of the readets of The Citizen have, any idea of the pitifully small wages paid our working girls. . They toil from eariy morning till late at night, in ' many instances working harder than fathers or brothers. They go to the shops after the work, carry it home, work till late at night and re ceive the munificent wages of from 92 to 81 a week! Think of it, strong men. Two dollars a week, barley enough to keep you in tobacco and beer. And yet the competition is so great they are only too glad to get it They usually work from fourteen to twenty hours a day. in close rooms, taking no comfort at all out of life and living like veritawe slaves. It may interest some of the fashion able dames who rustle into stores . clad in purple and fine linen to hear a few of the prices paid by conscientious storekeepers, men entirely above re proach, overalls wim Hires or iour pockets, six button-holes, strap and buckle, are worth from 50 to 80 cents a dozen, and outing cloth shirts, with two plaits in front, seams ail tilled, cuffs and collars double stitched, are worth ex actly 80 cents a dozen. The wrappers which ladies buy in tho stores, with a yoke and ruffle round the bottom, are made for 25 cents a piece, and the seam stress furnishes her own pattern, cuts and makes completely. 1 Is not this a crying shame? Should not this be remedied? Is there not something radically wrong which will permit such a monstrous outrage as this? Workingmen arise in your might Citizens think of your daughters and do not wonder if they go astray. The Citizen Seattle, W. T. Doa't II DeeelTod, - But we earnestly - advise the farm ers of the country not to wax too ex uberant over their newly-discovered importance. Don't get tne big-head ana whatever you do, keep on your shirts, if the banded monopolists hare left you any of those useful ar ticles of wearing apparel. It is our erivato opinion -that all bills now eforeooogrees, looking to thereliet of the farmers, as well as all proposed legislation io help him, now being 'discussed by senatorial plutocrats and congressional corporation at torneys, are part and parcel of a co lossal "bunko game" that is being lowly and craftily working in order to beat the farmer out of the just prosperity which he demands back from the thieve who stole it away. Look well at that multitudinous' ar ray of bills now before congress or about to be introduced therein, that are an ostensibly for the protection, relief oT betterment of the farmers ffmdttloa, and what do yon And?, Vtiy.yo discover "tbem, nfle, to be fcOous, make belltrsa, half measuKMi ' where whole nas are neded.nOti-esseiiUals conceded whan essentials are called ' for, bills with tout strings hitched ' to them by which they oan be hauled back, and other bttia of a characttr that can be plausibly kept locked up in the safes of oongrejaloual comasitteff from year (he year, ufcdl the mtf t generation kicking farmers Lk ci ItriMnr Vatta, . i; -v FLAX CLEANERS AND TESTEK3, MILL AND ELEYATOR MACHINERY, REPAIRS, SUPPLIES, ' Steam Outfit. Hors Powers, Baiting, Pulleys, Shafting, YORK FOUNDRY & ENGINE CO., YORK, NEB. 1883189a UniOU LIFE OF BRilSKA. Solid Mutual Insurance at About One-Half Eastern llates. Oestfi Claims Piid, $48,000.00 Capita! and Reserved Surplus, $ ( 1 5,000.00 j hsuranjg in Ksbraslta, FULL PAYMENT OF POLICY GUARANTEED. Over a Million Dollars went out of Nebraska in 1880 for Lite Insurance, that could have been secured at home for half the money. -.-.: . It is a duty you owe your family to carry a Life Policy every policy adds a cash value to your estate. 12T ltoliable and Wide-a-wake A rents Wanted. 4J ' For circulars ana informBtion, write to J. Zj. WIQHTON, Seo. HASTINGS, NEBRASKA. CHASING A SLAVE SHIP. The Tea Toa Cna BkuuU aa Eighty Toa Shell aad lieura, Thoaiiaada Of l.lvtr. "I attended 'Undo Tom's Cabin' at the Park theatre the other day," said Patrolman Straight to the Ananiasclub, "and as i sat in the gallery and watched Eliza canter across the ice made of canvas just ahead of four or five dogs that might as well b made of canves, so far as caninology goes, it brought back to my mind an incident in my ca reer that should I live to be as old as Maguselam " "Who?" asked Sergt. Joyce. ! "Maguselam, the guy who existed on a certain earth for 10,000 years. I say, fellers, if I slwuld live to be his age I shall not forget it. I can't remember 'the exact date, but it was less than a hundred years ago that I was in com mand of the French man-of-war Sein, ,and my mission on the high seas was to look out for and capture African slave traders. One moonlight night as we were plowing the swelling Atlantic at the nominal speed of seventy-five miles an hour the lookout at the mast head reported a sail ou our lee quarter. I ordered the helm thrown down hard and as the hug ship obeyed the rudder her steel prow , killed nearly 1,200 fish. But we had n.oro at stake than fish, and we did not stop te take any of them up. 'In a short tiint we were headed for the .strange sail, and it wasn't long until from the quarter deck 1 could see her 'plainly. ' , ., "The smoke stacks of the Sein became red hot, and one of them melted to the decks, but I called for water, and the ship was saved from destruction. We, did not lesson our speed for a little thing like that, but contiuued to split the ocean open. Soon a long, sinuous black smoke ascended high above the masts 'of the chase. Then I knew w hat we ,were after. Hastily beating the men jto quarters I, in the deliberate voice I use on the Lincoln Lane gang, told them that there was fun ahead. The. vessel 200 miles ahead of us was a slave dhow, and for the honor of ourselves particularly, and France as a matter of course, we must capture her. 'And when we do,' says I, you fellers know your business.' For two "days and nights we chased the strange craft, and during that time 1 did not sleep a wink or eat a mouthful of food, I was so ex cited. At six bells on the third day we were in shooting range, and 1 ordered tho ten ton riilc cannon to be fired, i The eighty ton shell fell ahead of the ! slaver nearly two miles, y "The eflpct ou the water was terrific. )m notice 1 said the shell weighed eighty tons, aud as it fell into the ocean it exploded. The water raised in a solid wall that was, I should judge, 900 feet thick to an altitude of 7,000 yards. It made a hole that you could put the state house, court house, insane asylum, blind asylum and Union station into all at one and the same time that . is, of course, if you had them, there. ' The slave ship plunged against, at and into this wall, and then came a mighty crash a crash that was caused, as I after ward learned, by an island sixty miles distant being washed from its base by the waves. The ship penetrating the wall caused it to break, and the up heaved water fell in torrents, while the 'slaver teetered on the brink of the huge abyss for a moment and then fell bow 'first into the hole, and the scattered fragments of the broken wall falling upon her buried her from sight forever. "In a few hours the sea was calm and for two months we cruised in that vicin ity, Ht not a sign of, the lost slaver was found.' Two years after we picked up on the coast of Zanzibar a water soaked book that I am satisfied was the log' of thl lutt ship. According to the book the dhow that we destroyed was the Lemon Eared Nellie, from New Brunswiok, and she had 75,000 slaves aboard, all of whom were drowned. I felt so bad about Ihis that I resigned My place In tha French trj td got a job on tha Indianapolis pilct2brce with, more pay and less frefc.Iadjanapdli Journal. - , $2,000,000X3 A Boa Eata a Babbit "' " Three corpulent rabbits of Belgian breed were caged in a soap box quietly awaiting their fate. They were the meal for which the snake was anxiously awaiting. He had not tasted meat in four months and his voracious maw yawned like a bottomless pit for the un- -fortunate trio in the soap box. Man ager Bell appeared and drew forth one of the rabbits. After stroking "bunny" on the back for a moment he opened the door to the snake's den and thrust -him in. 1 he huge boa had coiled him self up in a corner, but at once roused himself for action. He was fully twelve feet long, and having recently shed his winter coat his skin glistened and shone like satin. He raised his bead a foot or so from the floor and viewed the first course of his quadri-annoal meaL .. ' The rabbit showed no signs of fear, but rather seemed to enjoy his new ' quarters. The snake slowly lowered his head and cautiously began to stretch himself along the side of the den. Ha never once took his eyes off the rabbit," which was still unconscious of his dan-" ger. Suddenly the rabbit began to act strangely and to cut all aorta of ridicu lous capers. He would leap back and forth over the snake and then rub up against it, and appeared to be fascinate ' ed. Slowly and stealthily the anaka . turned his head about until it was with in a loot or the rabbit s haunches. Then, quick as a flash, he darted for-' ward, seized the rabbit in his mouth and in another instant there was noth ing to be see of the little animal save the tips of his ears, which protruded from between the folds of the snake. The huge serpent then raised his head full two feet from the floor, darted out his forked tongue and hissed horribly at ' the motley group watching him. If . there was any struggle on the part of the rabbit it was not visible. The snake had him in his awful coils. Then the coils slowly, but with ." strength which " was terrible to look at, began to tighten ' till every bone in the poor rabbit's body must have been broken. This done the colls relaxed, and the limp, lifeless body of the sportive rabbit of a few moments before lay ready to be swallowed. First the serpent nosed his victim all over, ' The eyeballs of the dead rabbit were protruding from their sockets, and by way of beginning the boa licked them . with his tongue, Once more he coiled about his victim, leaving its head and -shoulders free. Then he opened his monstrous jaws and, taking "bunny's" head therein began to swallow. Soon the head and shoulders were out of sight, and in less than fifteen minutes the hind legs followed. Chicago Inter- f Ocean. , Some Bright School Girls. If there is such a thing in existence as a school-teacher's note book con-, taining the unintentionally funny say ings of children, the melancholy man would do well to borrow it for the solace of his dull hours. The remark of a little girl, that "the earth ia round like an apple, and the North Pole sticks out of the top and makes' tha stem," should doubtless be included among its gems, together with the . fol-1 lowing anecdote, told by an old school teacher, in the San Franciso Examiner: When I was a country pedagogue in the state of Maine, I was one day haar-; ing my class in spelling, and gave out the word "cuticle," to a big red-haired girl Slowly she drawled out,. "C-u, cu, t-1, cuti, cl-e, ott-tickW I corrected her pronunciation, and , asked her to define the .word, bha looked about blankly, as if in search for something to spur her memory, and,, after a moment or two of silence Isaii; ."Why, what is it that covera your hands and face?" , . She looked quietly at each hand, and her face brightened. . . , .vr . "Oh, yea," she replied, "treckjea." . r To Fasten Envelope. -,U-t & ni nniiniriinr un sir m innffn v :.? tener for envelopes ia the aubieet taken , out by an English inventor. ' His object it to render envelopes secure against' their flaps being tampered with or the ' contents being extracted without de stroying the envelope itaelt 27ev York Commercial Advert ieer.