THERE 15
NO DEATH
There Is no death! The stars go down
To rise upon some other shore.
And bright In Heaven's jeweled crown
They shine for evermore.
There la no death! The dust we tread
Bhall change beneath the summer show
ers.
To golden grain, or mellow fruit,
Or rainbow tinted flowers.
The granite rocks disorganize
To feed the hungry moss they bear;
Tho forest loaves breathe daily life
From out the viewless air.
There Is no death! The leaves may fall.
The flowers may fade and pass away;
They only wait, through wintry hours,
Tho coming of the May.
There is no death; an angel form
Walks o'er the earth with silent tread;
HVi bears our best loved things away.
And then we call them dead.
He leaves our hearts all desolate.
He plucks the fairest, sweetest flowers;
Transplanted Into bliss, they now
Adorn Immortal bowers.
The hlrdllke voice, whose joyous tones
Made glad the scene oi sin and strife.
Sings now its everlasting song
Amid the tree of life.
Where'er he sees a smite too bright.
Or soul too pure for taint of vice.
He bears it to that world of light.
To dwell in paradise.
Born Into the undying life.
They leave us but to come again:
With joy we welcome from the same
Except in sin and pain.
And ever near us. though unseen.
The dear. Immortal spirits tread
For all the boundh*ss universe
Is LJfe; there are no dead.
—W. S. McCreary.
Under tire Maples.
BY EDGAR WELTON COOLEY.
(Copyright, 1901, by Dally Story Pub. Co.)
A youth and a maiden stood under
the maples. The youth was holding
the maiden's hand, and his eyes and
the moonlight were looking down into
her upturned face. Her chip hat dan
gled from its strings, and her hair,
yellow as the moonbeams, clung about
her neck in riotous ringlets. Her eyes
were blue and wistful, but her lips
were as silent as the night.
The youth’s voice was low and
trembled, as though a sob, which he
had tried to swallow, was lodged in
his throat.
In babyhood these two had played
together; in childhood they had wan
dered, hand in hand, across the violet
doited fields and along the clover-car
peted lanes. Into each other’s hearts
they had grown, and to each the future
without the other, seemed uninviting.
But the youth was ubout to depart
for a far country, and they were
standing together under the maples for
the last time, perhaps for years—per
haps for ever.
Jason was a sojourner on the bor
der land between youth and manhood.
He was ambitious, visionary, perhaps
—and the quiet country town seemed
to possess no encouraging possibilities.
Stories of vast wealth wrested from
the rocks of Alaska had proven fas
cinating to him and he had determined
to seek for riches in the frozen Klon
dike.
“I will return to you some day. my
Princess Mildred,” he said, "1 will re
turn to you with iove in my heart and
gold in my hand and will build for
yon a palace of marble In the midst of
a thousand acres.”
Ai this Mildred smiled sadly and
glanced up at a star in the heavens.
“That is the North Star, Jason," she
»aid. “Every night 1 shall look at it
"I Will Return to You. Mildred.”
With tearful heart as it hangs sus
pended, like love's undying taper, over
the icebound northland, whence my
love has gone. All other stars change,
Jason, but the Polar Star Is constant
—as constant ps my heart.”
She pinned a violet on his cont and
he kissed her wistful eyes.
Then he said "Good-bye,” and she
stood quite still and watched his re
treating figure as it passed down the
road and out of her sight. Thus Jason
started on his search for wealth; thus
Mildred began her weary waiting.
The brown cottage faced the coun
try road in the edge of the village. It
stood in a little cluster of trees, and
froiy the BOuth only the gable and one
chimney could be seen through the
heavy fojiago. On the north a climb
ing rose \iush clung to the pillars of
the porch. luid the blossoms peeked be
tween the leaves and through the open
door at their likenesses within. A
pathway, wandering amid the shadows
and the perfume from the porch to the
; hoard fence, which stood paint less and
i gloomy, in front, stopped at the gate
| where Mildred stood of evenings in
the dusk and the twilight.
Beyond the gate, the road stretched,
to the right, over the far fields into the
wearisome distance; to the left, into
the heart of the village, past the four
stores, the postoffice, the tavern, the
meeting house, and on to the fields
again, and the hills, and the woods and
the sunset.
As the darkness deepened, the fields
grew more and more indistinct to the
woman’s vision, and the road seemed
to end in a mist which grew ever near
er to her.
But through the mist a star shone
brightly—the Polar Star. And Mil
dred watched it with wistful eyes and
smiled sadly. "He will return,” she
said to herself; “he will return to me
with love in his heart."
But after two years in the Klondike
Jason found himself one morning in
a crowd of desperate, disappointed
men, who cursed their way aboard
Jason Gazed In Stupid Wonder,
ship and returned to Seattle with tales
of hardship, discouragement and fail
ure in their search for the hidden
wealth that would not reveal itself to
their hungry eyes.
Poisoned by contagion from that
baser element in whose company he
had been thrown during those two
years on the ragged edge of civiliza
tion. Jason drowned all recollections
of his Princess Mildred and spent the
next few months in idle dissipation in
the cities on the coast.
Without ambition, hopeless and de
spondent. he lay, one night, amid the
sear and yellow verdure on a vacant
lot. gazing upward at the sky Among
the million glittering lights that dot
ted the azure arch ‘he saw but o«e—
the Polar Star.
Suddenly, like a long, dead memory,
there came to him the picture of a girl
with wistful eyes and golden curls,
standing under the maples, with the
moonlight kissing her upturned face.
Fumbling in his pocket, he pulled
out a dirty wallet from whence he
took a faded violet. He pressed the
blossom to his lips, then staggered to
his feet and strode away through the
night.
When one has no money traveling is
slow and uncertain. But in January
Jason reached Colorado.
Footsore and weary, but with the
bright vision of his Princess Mildred
before him, he was limping across the
foothills. The air was bitterly cold
but dry, and not the faintest breeze
was stirring. Before him the cold,
gray mountains pressed their snow
capped peaks against the cloudless
blue. The sunshine fell with uncom
mon brilliancy, and the atmosphere
was so transparent that objects fifty
miles away appeared scarcely as many
rods.
ur a sudden he felt a sharp pain on .
his face as though he had been stung .
by a bee. Again and again he experi
enced the painful sensation, although
not an insect could be seen. Then he
noticed that a mist was swiftly hiding
the mountains from his sight. A
breeze sprung up and the air became
a dazzling mass of sciutilating par
ticles like diamond dust.
Jason paused and gazed with fran
tic, startled eyes. He knew that the
dreaded "White Death” was wrapping
its chilling shroud around him. He
had heard old miners tell of the
“White Death” and he knew the glis
tening fragments in the air were par
ticles of ice so solidly frozen that they
reach one’s lungs before they melt. He
knew that deadly pneumonia invari
ably claims the luckless traveler who
inhales the breath of the “White
Death.”
But although frantically he gazed !
around him, there was no habitation |
visible, no building in which shelter j
could be sought. He wanted to cry j
out in his agony, but he dare not open I
his mouth for fear the ice would fill
his lungs. He took a greasy bandana
handkerchief from his pocket and tied
it across his mouth.
Then to his agonized eyes, there
came from out the mist the figure of
a gil l. The features were those of his
Princess Mildred, and she seemed to
beckon him. He followed her and she
I led him to a deep ravine.
Weak and exhausted, he flung him
self over the edge and rolled down the
j bank. The ravine led upward to a
chasm In the side of the mountain,
j from out of which a small stream
flowed. Staggering onward, he finally
pulled himself Into the chasm and
found shelter under a projecting ledge.
Piling a quantity of loose bowlders
across the entrance, he soon had a
snug retreat into which the ice-laden
breeze could not enter. Then he lay
down co rest. *
It was daylight when he awoke and
i the air was clear. He felt no evil ef
foots of tlio storm and was about to
continue on bis journey when his eye
was attracted by a brilliant glitter in
the tiny stream. Falling upon his
knees, he peered into the crystal wa
ter. Directly below him a hollow had
been worn in the rock by the current.
The bottom of this pocket was lined
with gold dust.
Jason gazed in stupid wonder for
several moments, then a mist dazed
his eyes and a wild exhilaration pos
sessed him. Clambering down the
rocks he greedily scraped the gold
dust into his handkerchief, and then
cautionsly withdrew.
A week later ho w'as at work with
pick and shovel and pan, searching for
the lode from which these particles
had been washed. And one evening
the tight of the setting sun fell upon
him, picking great nuggets out of a
ledge his pick had penetrated, and
laughing hysterically.
And that is how Jason located the
famous Princess Mildren Mine.
• • *
A man and a woman stood under the
maples. The man was holding both of
the woman’s hands, and his eyes and
the moonlight were looking down into
her upturned face.
“You have been so long returning.
Jason," she said. “And did you find
no gold?”
The man tangled his hand in her
hair and held it out in the moonlight.
“Yes,” he answered her, “at last 1
have found the brightest gold on
earth. See, it is dripping through my
fingers. You shall have a marble pal
ace in the midst of a thousand acres,
my Princess Mildred, and it shall face
to the north where the Polar Star
hangs forever in the heavens.”
The woman plucked a violet and
pinned it on his coat, and he kissed
her happy eyes.
THEY COURT CAUTIOUSLY.
Laplaait Girl* Mutt Hare Parental
Consent to Marriage
Getting married among the peoples
of the northern nations is by no means
the off-hand, hit-or-mi86 affair which
it is with too many people in this
blessed country of the free. In Nor
way before a woman can marry it is
necessary, under a law recently passed,
the* she hoki a certificate of house
wife ability. She must pass an exam
ination in cooking, knitting, spinning,
etc., and get her certificate of profi
ciency in these branches before she can
get her marriage»certiflcate. Also both
bride and bridegroom must show evi
dence that they have been vaccinated
properly. In Lapland it is an offense
punishable with death to marry a girl
without her parents’ consent. No
elopements in that country! When a
pair of lovers apparently have reached
that stage of courtship which calls for
the official cognizance of “pa” and
“ma” the friends of the lovers are in
vited to meet at a specified place to
see the enamored ones run a race. To
the girl is allowed in starting the ad
vantage of one-third of the distance,
so that it is impossible for the young
man to overtake her unless she is will
ing. If the girl outruns her suitor the
affair is ended and she thenceforward
is “only a sister” to him. It is a
penal offense for the lover to renew his
offer of marriage. But if the girl is in
the condition of mind of the immortal
Barkis, she pretends to meet with some
accident—stubs her toe or gets out of
breath—and comes to a halt before
the course is finished, to be caught by
the Lapland swain and live happily
ever afterw'ard.
BURNING LIGHTS AT NIGHT.
Many Tlnil I People Think Artlllclal
Light ProlecI* Them.
“A man troubled with insomnia sees
a good many phases of the city's night
life that are unknown to those on
whom the blessings of sleep descend,”
said the man with the red mustache.
”1 myself have not known what it is
to rest clear through a night for a
good many months, and in my pere
grinations and star-gazing I have ob
served many queer things. One of
my curious discoveries is that a good
ly percentage of New York’s popula
tion burn a light at night. When I
first noticed those faint points of
light shining through so many of the
windows in the block that backs up to
ours 1 was alarmed, for I thought that
every house must shelter three or four
invalids, and that made it look as if
an epidemic of some kind had struck
our part of the city. Indeed, so se
riously did I consider the matter that
I made it a point to inquire into the
health of the neighborhood, and as a
reward for my pains I was informed
that out of a population of several
hundred souls there were not more
than a dozpn people on the sick list.
Upon making a second and more
thorough investigation I was sur
prised to learn that these lights were
kept burning by nervous people, who,
although perhaps ngt exactly afraid
of the dark, fancied that they could
not sleep well in the middle of it.
Even in the hot spells a good many
shadow-fearing people have dung to
the midnight ga3 jet.”—New York
Press.
HI* Pepfert Dofrnio,
1 heard a rather good story the other
day about a conductor who was once
brought up before General Manager
McNamara on a complaint made by a
passenger. The passenger was a wom
an and her complaint was that the
conductor had stared at her. “A
woman complains that you rudely
stared at her while she was riding on
your car,” said the general manager.
"Says I stared at her?” rejoined the
conducter. "How did she know 1
stared at her?” The judge, who loves
a bit of humor, saw the point and told
the man to go back to his car.—Albany
Press. - -
Having successfully floated trusts
controlling iron, steel, tobacco, oil. su
gar and a score of other things maim
j factored or produced in the East, the
! Wall street trustmakers are reaching
i out for lines of trade which have not
yet been pressed into a combination,
after the new century fashion. The
savory salmon of the Pacific coast,
from the Columbia river to Behring
Sea, has for years been the object of
tierce commercial warfare. With the
formation of the Puciflc Packing and
Navigation company, which was incor
porated in New Jersey last week with
a capitalization of $32,000,000, this
warfare is ended. Fighting companies
to the number of at least fifteen have
been merged into the trust and the
stockholders have ceased to worry or
to cut each other’s throat for the pos
session of markets. Nearly all of the
big companies in Alaska and Wash
ington wiiich are not already in the
Alaska Packers’ association combina
tion have signified their intention of
joining the salmon trust. It is esti
mated that they will pack 1,500,000
eases ttiis year, and that without add
ing materially to the canneries already
in operation the pack can be increased
to 2,500,000 cases by next season Be
sides the canneries, fish traps, wheels,
and trap nets, the trust absorbs a large
fleet of steamers and sailing vessels.
The Pacific Steam Whaling company
has half a dozen large steamers, to say
nothing of a score of cannery tugs.
Other of the companies operating in
Alaska own steamers and large sailing
vessels. The Alasaa Packers' associa
tion, with headquarters at San Fran
cisco and fishing grounds all along the
western coast, is the rival of the trust,
and a lively competition is expected.
J. K. Armsby & Co., who represent the
association in New York, say that
with the purchase of a big canning
plant at Anacortes, which has just
been constructed, the Packers' associa
tion will put up 50 per cent of the
world’s supply of salmon this year.
A fight between the old and new trust
would be interesting, but Wall street
men believe it will be avoided. On
duck, dog and steeineau saimon. i on
quinnat is highest In quality, and with
the steelhead stands most in favor for
: the fresh trade. The caneries would
use nothing except soekeye could the
*tptciebe obtained in sufficient numbers
to satisfy their demands. The other
varieties are used to complete the pack
and form the cheaper grades. The
soekeye salmon runs from six to
twelve pounds in weight, and is popu
lar with the canneries because of the
depth and stability of its color and the
firmness of its flesh. The soekeye run
is at its heignt in July and August,
and in those months the greater part
t.....—-J
WHERE THE SALMON IS CAUGHT—MOUTH OF COLUMBIA RIVER.
of the salmon pack Is taken. Every [
fourth year the run of salmon is much
larger than usual, according to the sta
tistics of the last twenty years. The
largest run ever known was in 1897, ;
when the fish were taken in such ;
quantities that the canners could not i
handle more than half the catch. An- |
other phenomenal run is expected this j
year, according to the four-year scale.
On this expectation the salmon trust
is depending for a good start. Most of
the labor employed in the canneries of
Washington and Alaska is Chinese. It
is furnished by contractors living in !
San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, j
The Chinese are exceedingly expert in
every branch of the business, and work
SALMON WHEEL ON A SCOW.
Puget Sound and the rivers flowing
into it salmon fishing and canning
have been carried on successfully for
years Within the last five years the
increase in the number of canneries
has been enormous. The canneries
are built, ns a rule, in the center of tire
various fishing grounds and vary in
size according to the extent of the
grounds. Nearly every form of appa
ratus known to be adapted to salmon
fishing has been brought into use.
Trap nets were the latest to he intro
duced, but have become recognized as
most effective in salt water, and on
them the trust will depend for the j
greater part of its catch. The nets are
hung on heavy frames of permanent
construction. They are placed in shal
low water along the path taken by the
salmon on their way from the sea to
the spawning rivers. There are no
trap nets in the Straits of Juan de
Fuca, because the salmon do not skirt
the shores of that channel. The nets
are found, however, on the southern
end of San Juan Island, in Deception
Pass, Canal de Haro, Rosario Strait
and various bays in the vicinity. Purse
nets, which, like the traps, require con
siderable outlay for operation, are
used further up the sound for the later
running species of salmon. The drag
seine is used by the individual fisher
man, who brings his catch to the near
est cannery in his own boat and sells
the fish for a few cents apiece. The
phenomenal abundance of salmon, the
perfection to which their preparation
has been carried and above all the firm
hold which the canned product has se
cured in the markets throughout the
world, are the reasons which the
United States Commissioner of Fish
and Fisheries gives for the wonderful
I growth and success of the salmon in
dustry. Five species are recognized—
the qulnnat. sockeye, silver, hump
with great rapidity. They will work
for wages which would hardly support
a white man, even if it were possible to
secure the amount of white labor nec
essary in the large canning districts, in
view of the temporary nature of the
work. Most of the fishing is done by
white men, however, and all positions
of trust in the canneries are held by
them. Many of the Alaskan canneries
are outfitted from San Francisco. A
month before the season opens a sail
ing vessel is loaded with supplies, in
cluding hundreds of tin cans and the
necessary shipping cases. From fifty
to a hundred Chinese cannerymen are
taken on board, and the ship sails di
rect to the cannery. Most of the Alas
pack as it Is made. There will l>e sev- ^
oral thousand Waihingtou fishermen
who will watch the growth of the sal
mon trust with a great deal of interest.
They are the persons who will be the
most affected l>y the combination.
These men, mostly from Sweden aii*l
Norway, sell their catch to the differ
ent canneries instead of working for
wages. The price which they receive
for their fish varies from 25 cents to
10 cents, according to the season and
the amount of competition between
buyers. In seasons of extraordinary
runs prices fall as low as six or eight
cents. The Washington Indians spend
three months of every year at salmon
fishing and always sell cheaper than
white fishers. The trust will probably
succeed In lowering the price paid
fishermen by removing competition.
The largest canneries acquired by the
new trust are at Point Roberts, in
Washington, near the British Colum
bia line. The largest salmon catches
are made in this vicinity. It is an
ideal place for reef and trap net fish
ing and well in the line of the soekeye
run. In 1853 the United States made a
treaty with the Indians giving them
the perpetual right to fish at Point
Roberts. The first trap net used in
Washington was placed off Cannery
Point, the southeast corner of Point
Roberts, in 1880, by John Waller, He
was followed by fishermen from the
Great Lakes, who did much to popu
larize this form of fishing. Some of
the largest traps at Point Roberts are
owned by the Alaska Packing associa
tion.—Chicago Tribune.
KnglUh Fashionable Society IrrelljjlorM.
It Is no uncommon thing to hear
from the pulpit or elsewhere a lament
over the lowered faith and morals of
the upper classes; and, without indulg
ing in any sensational exaggeration,
we are driven by the evidence of facts
to conclude that such lamentation is
justified, says the London Church
Times. There is the increase of con
jugal infidelity in fashionable society
and the callous indifference with
which it is viewed. There is the com
plete secularization of Sunday with its
selfish indifference to the rights of
those who are thereby deprived of
their day of rest. There is a shame
less contempt for t he ordinances of the
church. Quite lately we chanced to
notice in the World an account of a ^
fashionable luncheon party, at which
a member of the royal family and oth
er “leaders of society” were present.
The occasion selected for this enter
tainment was Good Friday. All these
things, together with the flippant and
irreverent tone which has come to be
the distinguishing mark of the “smart
set” are, of course, only the outward
signs of the internal withering away
of religion. They have become, un
fortunately, matters of notoriety. The
tone of fashionable society is becom
ing in< reasingly irreligious, and the
church is directly concerned to
evangelize the “classes no less than
the “masses.”
A Fortune for the Sponge Iurentor.
A fortune awaits the man who can
find a substitute for sponges. New
York dealers are wondering what is to
become of their business, for. while the
supply is not increasing, the demand
STATIONARY SALMON FISHING WHEEL.
kan canneries are at the mouth of the
big rivers, and the ship is able to an
chor in a protected harbor. She re
mains until the catch has been com
pleted and returns with a cargo of
canned salmon. It is not expected
that the trust will continue this plan of
operation, which is rather expensive.
Steamers will doubtless be used, and
the canneries visited from time to time
during the season and relieved of the
for sponges grows larger every year.
Five years ago the price began to go
ui), and this season’s quotations show
an advance of 100 per cent over those
of 1895 and 1896. Many varieties cost
the buyers on the fishing grounds more
to-day than they formerly sold for in
the local markets.
A society for the protection of hus
band from drunken wives is formed in
London.
LIFE-SAVING AT SEA.
Ittp That Carrie* a Light to Uulde
tlio Swimmer.
The latest aiul oldest of inventions
for life-saving at sea is a life belt that
carries a light to guide the strugggling
swimmer to it, and whose lamp is
lighter by contact with the sea water.
This device is reported from Germany.
In the new apparatus a buoy ^ glob
ular form carries from two to four life
belts, and supports a Ions cylinder of
sheet tin. having twelve compartments
filled with carbide of calcium. These
compartments are arranged at differ
ent elevations. When the apparatus is
thrown into the sea the water passes
through perforations in the bottom of
the cylinder, and, coming in contact
with the carbide, generates acetylene
gas. The gas is conducted through
pipes to a burner attached to each com
partment. When the volume of gas In
the cylinder decreases hydraulic pres
sure opens the valve and allows water
to enter the next compartment to gen
erate an additional supply of gas. The
gas is lighted electrically and 25 sec
onds after the buoy is thrown into the
sea the light is shining brightly, it
is protected from the wind by glass
and burns steadily and with great in
tensity for three or four hours. Only
a few minutes are occupied in cleaning
and refilling the apparatus, the cost o?
a charge being about 12 cents The
whole apparatus weighs only 33
pounds and produces a light equal to
K>U candle power.
A Lost Springs pastor claims to he
the champion cherry picker of Kan- 'i
sas. Last week he averaged two ami
one-half bushels daily.