MRS. 1NGEKS0LL
IS WITHOUT HOPE
l "I have in no way changed my be- :
lief. I do not know whether I shall :
: ever see my husband again. My :
: consolation is In memory." Mrs. In- .
: gersoIL :
S "Farewell! if this is the end, then :
: you have left us the sacred memory :
: cf a noble life. If thlB Is not the :
: end, there Is no world In which you, :
: ray friend, will not be loved and :
: welcomed. Farewell!" Robert G. :
: Ingersoll.
No sadder home In America can there
be than the one from which the body
of the great agnoetlc. Colonel Robert G.
Ingersoll, was borne to the crematory
at Fret-'h Pond, L. I., Thursday. There
are left In the big castlelike gray house
among the cedars overlooking the Hud
son at Dobba Ferry three women who
refuse to be comforted. For Mrs. In
geraoll and her daughters there 1 no
star In their night of grief.
It was rumored that In Mrs. Ingersoll
there had awakened a hope that she
would meet her husband again; that
the hope which supports the Christian
was supporting her. This proved to be
untiue.
To a Question about this alleged
change of belief she replied:
"I hare In no way changed my be
lief. I do not know whether I shall
ever see my husband again. My con
solation is in memory. I have as much
consolation as any one who la be
reaved. I know as much aa they do
about the hereafter. It la nothing."
They were cheerless words, falling as
dully on the heart as clods upon a cof
fin. Mrs. Ingersoll clung to her dead as
long as the awful process of dissolu
tion, would permit. He died rFiday,
July 21. She would not permit the re
mains to be taken from the house un
til the next Thursday. It had been
arranged that they should be taken to
the, crematory after the funeral serv
ices, Tuesday, but the widow could
not yet bring herself to part with
them.
"Good-by" Is Infinitely sad when Its
ech whispers, "Forever!"
"Another day! Let me have one more
day with him," she pleaded from the
first. Another day became well-nigh
a week, and then only necessity drove
her to consent to a final disposition of
the body. Two days after the strange
funeral services the good-by said In
the reading of the agnostic's last poem,
his "creed" and his funeral oration
over his brother, Eben the remains
were taken to Fresh Pond and ere-
mated, and then only because nature
would permit no further delay.
LAST SAD, HOPELESS VIGIL.
The week was one of nlht and tears
and hopelessness. When the bud of
hope blossomed for a moment In the
hearts of the widow and her daughters
It wan blighted by the memory of
some coM, splendid raillery from the
dead man. If some simple utterance
of faith rang through the chamber of
memory, it was echoed by the laughter
of the dead.
Mrs. Ingereoll and her daughters sel
dom left the room of death. They
watched together, and for what? It
was a longer, lonelier and sadder vigil
than that of Mary at the tomb of
Christ; for no angel rolled away the
atone from that tomb of doubt, not
even In their dreams.
They eat by the etlll form In Its
shroud amid its massed tribute of flow
ers. They talked of his life, of his
battle for truth as he saw It, of his
tenderness to his family, of his love for
humanity. They said that the end was
so pitifully sudden. They recalled the
doctor's atempt at comfort. He said
that If the colonel had lived ten years
longer they would have been years of
suffering. But mourners are apt to
think that doctors are mistaken. This
was to comfort what a grimace Is to a
mile.
When they spoke of the sunshine of
his nature they were reminded that it
was now night. When they spoke of his
lore of humor they realised the mock
try of laughter. Downstairs Eva Brown,
who had ben named In honor of her
another and grandmother, and whom
her grandfather called Eva the Third,
swung in the hammock and sung in
childish Ignorance of her loss. They
put their hands over their ears to shut
out the Joy that found such discord
with their woe. Eva had Inspired her
grandfather's most quoted homily, that
on "Life." The three wept anew at the
thought.
little Robert O. Ing'rsoll Brown
ll in 1 1 to be allowed to "go upstairs
an grandpapa." The futility of
Ma wish tore their heartstrings- They
could not bear to reveal the mystery
a adaes of the death that knows no
hepe to these little one. 8o in their
ehBdlsb Ignorance the babies stabbed
anew the hearts of the mourners.
There wr flowers In the room. The
MtiuiM were heaped in mountainous
peshwton about the bier. There was the
pa mini tread of watchers. Servants
taagiit tightly upon the door and left
a new nflrry of the snowfall of synv
alarMr 1111 sssgis and deported silent
ty. There were tru mourning hearts In
th room of death, and In the rooms be-
)w and In the world outside. It was
Est ether chambers of death in which
lay Ik remains of the brilliant and to
loved.
Bwt there was difference such s
sag. entiling, hopeless difference. No
mmm at Ood brought his an age of
fcawo to the olMintuT door. No soft
ay of nith sad promise soothed the
tartar hearts. Mot swot wars spoken
i O word "W "Ml again."
, tw gMs tCJ. tot It fnakoa death the
CxSmr. It to htm mmw after
sJ Oft wmmm G lwM ? sath
endurable, and the widow and daugh
ters of Colonel Robert Ingereoll have
not that hope.
So they clung to what stood to them
for the man, who bad been their Joy
of life, the cold, pale. Irresponsive figure
by the window.
'Why can't we keep him with u al
ways?" they wept. And then Science
aid: "Tou may not." And day by
day and hour by hour they combated
every effort to take him away.
"Only a little longer! Oh! Why must
he go at all?" they said, and the three
women, weak In their unfaith, had no
word of consolation for each other.
It was an awful hour when they left
the bouse with the body. It waB a bit
ter hour when they returned without
the small solace of the ghastly pres
ence. But stronger than a cable are
the chains of unfaith. In the depths
of her sorrow Mrs. Ingersoll sent her
rm-ssage of hopelessness to the press:
"I have In no way changed my belief.
I do not know whether I Bball ever see
my husband again. My consolation Is
in memory."
Whatever the great agnostic's error
of faith, he was a model of fidelity as a
husband. Octave Thanet says of him:
"It made one better to know a man the
life-long lover of one woman." No one
ever denied that such Colonel Ingersoll
was, and that the one woman was his
wife-
"I love St. Louis," he said to the
writer, "because It Is one of the places
I visited on my honeymoon. Ah! that
was a honeymoon that will last for
life!"
"I fancied he was going to say for
ever; but the orator disappointed me."
HIS HOME LIFE.
The story of Colonel Ingersoll's ro
mance was told by Mrs. C. P. Farrell,
the sister of Mrs. Ingersoll.
"Our father, Benjamin Parker, was a
free thinker. He was born In Boston,
and In his studies there became an
agnostic He moved te Groveland, a
village seven miles from Peoria, 111.
There he heard of a bright young or
ator named Ingersoll. He heard him
plead a case once, and after that al
ways went to hear him wherever he
made public addresses.
"A Groveland man let his pigs wan
der Into his neighbor's yard. The
neighbor became angry and drove the
pigs to the city pound. The owner found
them there. He quarreled with the
neighbor and killed him.
"He was tried for murder and Mr.
Ingersoll defended him. Father went
to hear him, as usual. He Invited him
to dinner, and there he met my Bister.
He had then begun collecting his regi
ment and was almost ready to go to
the front. They soon became engaged, ;
and they went to St. Louis, where his
regiment was. on their bridal tour. My
sister traveled a great deal with him
during the war.
"How strange these chance meetings
are and what consequences follow! If
It had not been for those pigs Colonel
Ingersoll and his wife would never
have met.
"There was never a happier family
than the Ingersolls. I have lived with
them since I was 5 years old," said Mrs.
Farrell. "Neither I nor anyone else
ever heard him speak an impatient
word."
She pointed to an engrossed Inger-
BOllian sentiment upon the well. It took
the place of the scriptural mottoes that
hang on some home walls:
"Love Is the only bow on life's dark
cloud. It la the morning and the even
ing star."
"He believed that." she said, simply,
"and he lived It."
Mrs. J. Watson Brown Is the elder
daughter of the dead agnostic. She Is a
beautiful woman and has a rare so
prano voice. She has sung duets with
Campanlnl. Critics have styled her "the
best amateur soprano In America." The
Ingersoll love of home Is strong In her.
When she married Mr. Brown It was
up n the condition that their home
should always be with her parents. He
has kept Lis promise.
With tbem also lived Mr. and Mrs.
C. P. Farrell and their daughter, Mrs.
Ingersoll's niece and namesake.
Perhaps no one mourns the dead man
so wholly as his younger daughter, Miss
Maud Ingersoll. She was hie "chum."
She studied and read and wrote with
him. She always came from Dobbs
Ferry with him on his trips to town.
"Maud has lost x her object In life,"
her aunt faltered.
Miss Ingersoll has Inherited much of
ber father's Intellectual strength and
brilliancy. Like the rest of his family
she was wholly In accord with hla
vlewa Sh la a young woman of firm
convictions and quick decision. She la
a member of the New York Society for
the Prevention of Bruelty to Animals.
She Jumped from a Broadway cable car
one day and ordered a polio man to
arrest a man who waa mistreating a
horse. She went bravely to court the
next morning and gave ber testimony
against the cabman. She secured his
punishment It was noticed that she
re rased to take the customary oath,
but affirmed that her testimony was
true.
Miss Ingersoll's father was nor friend.
She, more than anyone else, perhaps,
claim the fltaea sof this sentiment, ut
tered by him of another, as applied to
himself:
"rare well! If this be the end, then
you have left us the sacred memory of
a noblo Ufa If this be not the end,
there Is no world In which you, my
friend, will not be toyed and welcomed.
Farewell !"
Mr, parvenu Ifs anaoytar,
How did they discover that the spoons
I gave thooi weren't solid? They cer
tainty wer not mass enough to have
thorn examined T
Mr. Of soars not Tssy ra
gewsin bins stood. But a burglar oar
rtsd off an Om vast of the silver and
toft those apoana Detroit Free
ANTS AS FIGHTERS.
1 was on of th six American min
ers who war routed from their camp
by a Venesuelan ant army." said a
mining expert who lately arrived la
New York from Venezuela. "We re-
treated before the Invaders without
making a fight, and for two good rea-
sona In the first place we would
have gotten the worst of the enooun -
ter, and, secondly, we knew that If
we let them alone they would do us a
good service.
"Shortly after dawn one Sunday,
while we were still snoozing away In
our hammocks, our native cook burst
ln upon us with the news that we were
about to be attacked by an army of
ants. We had heard enough about ant
arms to know what to do. We arose
hastily, and every ounce of provisions
that was not sealed ln cans or ln Jars
waa hastily plied on a table, the four lineaments Imprinted on every rock, ' dead body first For about five tnln
legs of which were Immersed In as tree and fence In this country, with ' utea I was a hero. Then about a dozen
many basins of water. Every maneu- j whose history he Is so closely connect- men grabbed me and hustled me Into
ver that Is known to the armies of civ- ' During the recent controversies of ' a room, and after the Blacks had been
Hired humans you may safely expect
from an ant army, but the little black
warriors have never learned to swim.
Our provisions thus protected, we left
the camp to Itself and went out to re
connoitre for the Invaders and to watch
their attack from a distance. The army
waa making fair time. Aa Irregular
patch of black ten feet wide and dou
ble as long was swarming steadily to
ward our camp. As the army waa in
no way disturbed by our presence It
was possible to approach its lines close
ly. There must have been millions upon
millions of little soldiers marching, hip
to him. At the head marched the
leader. On went the army, up the
posts that supported the camp and then !
within. The patter of their countless I
little feet was audible like the rustling
of grass ln a light breeze.
"Once within, the army spread It-
self In all directions, forming hundreds
of little attacking partiee. The camp
was as old palm-thatched affair and
so Infested with scorpions, centipedes
and spiders that we had been on the J
point of destroying It Now, however, .
the ants had come and would clean the
house for us, and therefore they were
welcome. The anU swarmed up the
Joists and the dry leafy walls, and
wherever there was a spider or a bug
there was a brief tussle and a dead foe.
But ther was bigger game In store for
the Invaders.
"The star battle was with an im
mense centipede, one of the bluish-
gray kind, about seven incnes ong,
and about as big around as your mid
dle finger. He darted out of a hole
like a blue streak, evidently trusting
to his speed and superior strength to
run through the enemy's ranks. But
he didn't go three feet before he was
stopped. Ants literally covered him.
He turned on himself and swept them
from his back, but before he had gone
another three feet he was burled be-1
neath another swarm of his plucky as
sailants. And then began a fight to
the death. Again and again he swept
his tormentors from his back whils
from all sides hurried streams of ants
to take the places of fallen comrades.
The wriggling of the big fellow be- i
came less violent as the fight progress- j
ed, and finally, after an effort, which
I well know was a desperate last one, j
he remained quiet while what little life
was left ln him was bitten out of him.
Later, when the army had retreated
and when we had swept up the centi
pedes and scorpions and lizards and a
tarantula which the ant army had van
quished, we put the hero of the star
battle under a quartz magnifying
glass. The bodies of the dead ants
still clung to their foe. From his back,
from his legs, from wherever there was
a chance for a hold the bodies of ants
dangled, holding on, I suppose, by their
teeth.
"Perhaps you wonder what would
happen to a man who would undertake
to fight an army of ants, assuming of
course that the man relies on his nat
ural means of defence his hands and
feet I can best Illustrate that by the
rare story of an unfortunate who was
brought to a hospital In Caracas short
ly before my return home. The man
was a coolie who had worked on a cocoa
plantation In a creek not far from Car
acas. Following a habit of some of his
countrymen, the coolie, owing to the
heat had left the camp and stretched
himself on the ground to sleep outdoors.
Exactly what followed no one can say
with certainty. Presumably he was
aurrounded and covered by an army of
anta before he awakened. At dawn the
shrleke of a man ln agony aroused the
inmates of the camp, who ran out to
learn the cause.
"The man waa gesticulating wildly
and calling for help, while he squirmed
and writhed and slapped hla face and
neck and chest In a mad effort to slap
himself all over at one. He was
standing In the midst of an army of
ants and was too distracted with pain
to run awsy. Then he did exactly what
a panther or a leopard does when he l
being overcome. The man threw him
self to th ground to roll his tormentors
to death. A aingle active white man
could have saved th poor wretch, but
th atupefled barelegged coollea dared
not, or thought not of reacie, while the
victim himself was too erased with
agony to seek other than Instant relief.
From a slight personal experience J
know the poor fellow waa burning In a
fire which would take hours to kill him.
"Finally a byetander regained hlf
wit and rushed Into th midst of the
army and dragged th man after him
and threw him tato th creek. The res
ctl earn to tot. The victim became
Uncoosdoae. Hto velvety brown skin
wag a pink mas of raw bits. Wbei
be oaas to th hospital a was bound
kaad and foot, a ssanlao, whose con
tismeM tloo ww that h was bin
MUMSLBRS, TAKB WARN IN Q.
The following occurrence In a weat-
, a wa ihvismvh vi av
! asoualng result of the lack of clear
j eaunctatlon on the part of a speaker.
; ln preaching the funeral sermon over
j the remains of a prominent citizen,
who had had quite a checkered career
' and at various times In his life had
1 boon pioneer preacher. Mayor, druggist
1 and deputy sheriff, and had several
j time bean Instrumental ln quelling
disturbances which had arisen from
religious differences existing between
the two local churches, the pastor used
th following words:
"Our brother la la the cold ground,
no more a sad dangler on life's tide.
can nB panting spirit elgh among
th chaste stars, contemplating the
failure
of his acta to make clean our
hearts, and methlnka I see his noble
our people, I have heard him declare, disposed of according to program I
while his beard descending swept his 1 was brought out for punishment Plen
bosom, that he wished all differences of ( ty of tar and feathers were left but
sects might be ended, and while he was the crowd wanted a change, and It was
a mayor frequently made himself 1 decided that I should have the barrel
hoarse on the subject. His attempts
to stop our riots resulted ln bis re-'
moval from office by foul deceit Oh!
studied deceit) I was with him when
he received the news of bis Impeach'
ment and beard hla words. His cry
moved me to tears, but he quickly
recovered, and hla face resumed Its nat
ural, airy, artless look. As you know,
he could pain nobody."
The oration, as It appeared the fol-
lowing week In the local paper, was
as follows:
"Our brother Is In the coal ground.
no more a sad angler on life's tide. I '
can see his spanking spirit's eye among 1
the chase tars, contemplating the fall- '
nre of hi axe to make lean our hearts,
and methlnks I see hla noble llnl- I
meats Imprinted on every rock, tree 1
and fence in this country, with whose I
artery a Is so closely connected. Dur-
mg the recent controversies of our '
people t naVe heard him declare, while I
hu beer descending swept bis bosom I
ttat wished all differences of sex I
mlght ended, and, while he was a J
mMf frequently made himself horse I
on the subject Hla attempta to stop ' nd to this day I can t see a grind
oor rights resulted ln his removal from 'etone revolving without being affected
ofBoe by foul deceit Oh I Study deceit! ' by It It would have been far more
I waa with him when he received the 1 jnercifuj to bang me up by the neck,
news of his Impeachment and heard his j ..But now about the tar and faath-
words. His crime movea me to tears,
but he quickly recovered, and his face
returned its natural hairy, heartless
look. A you know, he could pay no
body." About SS.OOO Elks.
The order of Elks is diffused through-
out the whole country, says Leslie's
Weekly. It originated In New York ln
187, Its founder being Charles A. Viv
ian, a ballad singer. It was at first re
stricted to members of the theatrical
prof ee Ion and to singers. In the be
ginning lt had only thirteen members.
It scope, however, soon broadened, and
It admitted ether persons besides those
to which lt was at first confined. A
social organization at the outset, It de
veloped Into a benevolent order hav
ing lodges ln every state, and having on
It rolls representatives of all profes
siona First calling Itself the "Jolly
Corks," It then adopted the name of j
Benevolent and Protectlce Order of j
Elks. It la one of the most popular of
all the fraternal orders In the United
States, as la shown by Its rapid in
crease In membership and the growth
of the surplus In Its treasury. The re
ports at St Louis showed that there
was a gain of 11,187 members In the
order during the past twelve months,
the present membership being ,439.
This Is the largest Increase ever made
ln any one year. Ohio leads In num
ber of members, which Is 6.2S4, followed
In thlB order, by Pennsylvania, New
York. Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, New
Jersey, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Vir
ginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, California,
Illinois, Washington, Missouri and Con
necticut The other states of the union
have lees than 1,000 members. The lar
gest Individual lodges are, ln this or
der, In New York City (870 members).
Grand Rapids, Jackson, Mich.; . Balti
more, Alleghany, Cincinnati, Detroit
Minneapolis and Pittsburg. All these
lodges and no others have over 600
members
AMong th Plgmls.
Though It was a dangerous under
taking for th African explorers to
travel through the land of the pigmies,
there must have been a huge Interest
In observing th way of these little
Imps, who were generally struck spell
bound at the sight of the white men.
Mr. Lloyd, writing In Chambers'
Journal, say be waa twenty days
walking through the great forest In
habited by th pigmlea, a forest so
dark that In many places It was Im
possible to read, even at noonday.
The pigmie were fairly Intelligent
and peacefully disposed, although their
arrows were tipped with deadly poi
son. They had a frightened appear
snoe, and covered their faces. Ilk shy
children, when spoken to. Th forest
was alive with elephants, leopards, wild
nigs, buffaloes and antelope After
leaving th forest Mr. Lloyd came t
one place where he took th opportun
ity of screwing together th bicycla
which he bad brought with him. A
s4n oa th machine brought out thou
and of men, women and children from
their villages, and they danced and
yelled with delight at aeeing. as they
exprsd It, a Buropeaa riding a snake.
beCer I sat yo I had heard
f row family," laid th Obnt Tm,"
mittod th batlful girl eoMIy. 1 h.
hV pag to 1m BtvAsXr,'
ROLLED rN A BARREL.
Therea something barbario abouj
tfllvW "m Uiuvn fwpiv saaa i bh
' said th man with the broken nose,
t "but I can easily Imagine two
things. On Is rolling a man around
ta a barrel and the other Is a coat of
tar and feathers. In my foolish young
' days I arrived at a town ln southern
Indiana to find the people all excited
' ever several arrests for robbery. A
family named Black, consisting of a
' man and wife and a grown-up son, had
been caught and made to confess to
' many theft. Instead of putting them
n trial, the people had determined to
apply tar and feathers and walk 'em
1 out of town. I had no objections so
far as the men were
concerned, but
woman I oon-
when It came to the
stltuted myself her champion and de-
' dared that they must walk over my
exercise. They got out and unheaded
t big elder barrel, dropped me Into it
and replaced the head, and then all
' wul ready.
"I waa Inclined to look upon the pro
ceedings with contempt I hod never
been rolled ln a barrel, and so I bad
no Idea of the sensations. They first
kicked It along the wide, unpaved
Street and It had not rolled over more
than twenty times when I was sick of
my Job. After they had enjoyed them
selves for a quarter of an hour I was
praying for death to hurry on. I dim-
jy remember that after they got tired
0f the football work ln the street they
roiled the barrel up a long hill, and then
let lt siting down. You talk of sea-
.icknese; but there 1b do comparison
aside from the feeling of nausea, I
waf jarred Jolted and bruised from
tead to hw.ia and In one of the bumps
h(u5 my noee broken, I ' was uncon-
KiUB wnen they finally took me out
and for a week I was little better than
a dead man. It waa weeks and weeks
before I got the revolving motion out
of my head t CoU!d walk straight
'era?" was asked.
"Well, I met old man Black about two
years later, and be still smelled of t.-tr.
He told me that It took a week's work
with soap and water to get the stuff
started, and that spots were left which
couldn't be got off, even when rubbed
with a brick. He d!dn't feel the degra
dation so much, but what hurt his feel
ings was that he had been obliged to
put ln more work on that tar than In
all his life before. He had tried the
barrel racket once, and he thought it a
shade worse than tar, but he had no
words of sympathy for me. On th
contrary, he said If I hadn't mixed In
the three of them would probably have
got off with a ride on a rail."
Why the Horse Shies.
Dr. Louis Robinson, an Englleh zool
ogist ha Just given to the world an
account of the habits and mode of life
of certain animals, and the conclusion
at which he seems to arrive Is that all
such phenomena may be explained on
the ground of atavism. Thus he
claims that the borne of our day de
rives his swiftness and power of en
durance from the fact that his ances
tors ln former days were obliged to
flee from and frequently to defend
themselves against their great enemies
the wolves. In like manner he claims
that the reason that the horse shies Is
because his ancestors were forced to be
constantly on the alert against bidden
enemies, and that the reason that he
rears and plunges Is because only by
pursuing auch tactics could his fore
fathers shake off wild animals who
had leaped upon their backs.
Sheep when frightened Immediately
rush off to the highest point they can
reach. The reason, says Dr. Robinson,
Is because all sheep originally Inhab
ited mountainous districts. And thlB,
be claims, is also the reason why they
wear a thick fleece of wool all the year
through, the summer temperature In
mountainous districts being almost as
cold as that of winter. Finally, we are
assured that the reason sheep Invaria
bly follow a leader Is because their an
cestors were obliged to go In Indian file
through the narrow mountainous paths.
Pigs have also engaged Dr. Robin
son's attention. He was pussled for a
good while as to the cause of their
grunting, aays the Chicago Times
Herald, but now he thinks he has dis
covered th real reason. The pigs of
today, he says, evidently grunt be
cause their ancestors made their home
In thick woods, and only by making
this sound could they keep track of
each other and guard themselves gainst
going astray from the common herd.
Commenting on this latter explanation,
a scientist suggests that Dr. Robinson
might now do well to spend some time
la trying to find out why th bora
neigh and th dog berk
HOW SHE HEDGED.
"Ah," she bitterly xclalmeoV "but
you have never offered to die for your
country."
"No," he defiantly replied, "but I
mad U10M on th stock market last
week."
"Edward," sb asked, "do yon think
I would b abis to succeed in tragedy?
Sometime X an overtake by th
terrible thought that I might have to
support myself If anything kppod
to yew bafor w are Harried, for, of
I should aerer, never lev aa
THB NIOHTINOALsT.
Her come a singer Indeed, who has
neither equal nor second. If It song"
Is unknown to any who read this, I
would say, wait until you hear muslo
solemn and yet Jubilant aa ever cams
from a bird; a voice of transcendant
sweetness, variety, and with the buJ
preme power of Impressing Itself on th
very Inmost fibre of our minds, and
bringing us Into some mysterious sym
pathy with things beyond our under
standing, and when you hear It you
may know that you are listening to ths
nightingale.
That song has been described oer
and over aa-atn: poets have loved to
sing It and Milton In his "Oh, nightin
gale, that on yon blooming spray," ha
wth his curious and accurate felicity,
found Just the word that expresses on
of Us chief charms Its "liquid notes,"
Wordsworth's
Those notes of thine, they thrill and
pierce.
Tumultuous harmony and fierce,
expresses other of Its beauties. Keats'
famous ode has In It less of the night
ingale, but yet Its epithet, "full throat
ed ease," hits that carelessness of ut
terance, that unpremedltatlveness Join
ed with a supreme finish, which places
It above and beyond all bird artists.
But If I were to ask what is Its best,
Ita moet wonderful achievement 1
should say It was the marvellous cre
scendo on one note, almost human in
Its artistic perfection. This la "the one
low piping song more sweet than all"
of Coleridge Coleridge, who has so
defended the bird against the charge
of melancholy that all other defences
can be but plagiarism of his
Tls the merry nightingale
That crowds and hurries and precipi
tate With fast thick warbles his delicious
notes.
Indeed, I do not know how the fable
of the melancholy nightingale hat
crept Into the minds of men; not only
Is the song exultant, but every mo
ment of the bird Is full of verve and
Joyouaness. Gentleman's Magazine.
A Curious Hotel.
They say that the best hotel In Texas
Is to be found at Belton, a town on the
Santa Fe road, and It Is kept by "sevef
sanctified sisters," as the proprietors
are popularly called. Several years
ago ln that place a woman and her hus
band quarreled over the best way of
expounding the scripture to a Sunday
school class, and were so stubborn that
they separated and were finally di
vorced. The family controversy was
taken up by the town, which was soon
distinctly divided between the ad
herents of the husband and the ad
herents of the wife. The result was a
large crop of divorces, says the Chica
go Record, and seven husbandless wo
men. Including the original cause of
the commotion, Joined together and
rented the town hotel. One of them did
the cooking, another was parlor maid,
a third made up the beds, and so then
divided the work among them and ran
the establishment on the co-operative
plan. They would not employ a man
about the place, although the most of
their patrons were men, of course. Peo
ple say that women travelers prefer
red to stop elsewhere, and that would1
be a woman's way. One of the "seven
sanctified sisters" used to drive a big
carryall down to the railway station
three or four times a day to meet tb
trains, but she let the regular transfer
company handle the baggage.
The hotel prospered from the begin
ning, and there was no reason why It
should not for everything waa neat
and homelike, and the cooking waa the
best ln Texas, which was not saying
much, perhaps, but Is a . good reason
why It was appreciated. Every Bun
day it was crowded. The drummers
used to swarm ln there from all the
northern-central part of the state, and
every passenger on the Santa Fe trains
waa an advertising agent. The "sanc
tified sisters" made money, as they de
served to do; they enlnrgi?d the estab
lishment and started a big laundry ln
connection with lt, where the drum
mers left their soiled clothes to be
done up while they were out during
the week. Then the "sisters" bought
a hotel at Waco, and started a laundry
there, with equal success.
Th Untruthful Mummy.
We saw only the outer gardens and
the museum, the chief attraction of
which is a magnificent marble sarco
phagus decorated with basrellefs of
Alexander the Great On one side ths
conquerer Is represented as routing the
Persians, and on the Bide side there
Is a llvly struggle with a wild boar.
The guide book does not certify that
Alexander ever occupied the sarcopha
gus, but th guide assured me that ha
had. The collection of statues, b rous
es and sarcophagi Is Interesting and
Immensely valuable, and I would like
to copy some of the descriptions from
the guide book, but space forbids.
On Egyptian mummy case had
"stranger forbear" kind of an Inscrip
tion on It The guide furnished m
with a liberal translation. The king
In th Inside of th case, "swathed In
sptoery and fin lined," had caseed this
Injunction to b placed on th lid of
his sarcophagus:
"Do not disturb these mortal re
mains, for ther I naught within thU
casement except my poor body. Thr
Is neither gold nor precious Jewelry to
reward th covetous."
Th antiquarian who unearthed th
sarcophagu did not rpct this appsal
When they examined th mummy
wrapped Inald of th box thy found
several piaoa of gold etaspd la th
right hand, which prays that a Ori
ental will II, even after senth. Egyp-
la tag
