The Diamond Bracelet
By MRS. HENRY WOOD.
Author of Lajt Lynne, Etc.
CHAPTER I.
The afternoon of a hot June day was
drawing towards evening, and the
great world of London—for it was the
height of the s?ason—was beginning to
think of dinner. In a well-furnished
dressing room, the windows being open
for air, the blinds drawn down to ex
clude the sun, stood a lady whose maid
was giving the touch to her rich attire.
It was Lady Sarah Hope.
“What bracelets, my lady?" asked
the maid, taking a small bunch of
keys from her pocket.
"None, now; it is so very hot, Alice,"
added Lady Sarah, turning to a young
lady who was leaning bark on the sofa,
“have them ready disp’ayed for me
when I come up, and I will decide
then.”
"I have them ready. Lady Sarah?"
returned Mies Seaton.
“If you will be so kind. Hughes,
give the key to Miss Seaton."
I>ady Sarah left the room, and then
the maid, Hughes, began taking one
of the small keys off the ring. “I have
got leave to go out, miss,” she explain
ed, “and am going directly. My moth
er is not well, and wants to see me.
This is the key, miss."
As Mias Seaton took it, l^ady baran
reappeared at the door. “Alice, you
may as well bring the Jewel box down
to the back drawing room. I shall not
care to come up here after dinner; we
shall be late as it is.”
“What’s that about a jewel box?” in
quired a pretty looking girl, who had
come from another apartment.
“I.a.dy Sarah wishes me to bring her
bracelets down to the drawing room,
that she may choose which to put on.
it was too hot to dine in them.”
“Are you not coming in to dinner to
day, Alice?”
"No. I walked out, and it has tired
me, as usual. I have had some tea in
stead.”
"I wcuhl not be you for all the
world, Alice! To possess so little capa
bility for enjoying life. No, not even
for you, Alice.”
“Yet if you were as I am, weak in
health and string h, your lot would
have been so smoothed to you that you
would not repine at or regret it.”
“You mean I should be content,"
laughed the young lady." "Well, there
is nothing like contentment, the sages
tell us. One of my detestable school
room copies used to be "Contentment
is happiness.’ ”
“I can hear the dinner being taken
in," said Alice; "you will be late in the
dining room.”
/vs ijauy riamiiR v uciicma luiaru
sway to fly down the stairs, her light,
rounded form, her elastic step, all tell
ing of health and enjoyment, presented
a marked contrast to that of Alice Sea
ton. Alice's face was indeed strangely
beautiful; almost too refined and deli
eats for the wear and tear of common
life; but her figure was weak and
stooping and her gait feeble. Of ex
ceedingly good family, she had sud
denly been thrown from her natural
position of wealth and comfort to com
parative poverty, and had found refuge
as “companion” to Lady Sarah Hope.
Colonel Hope was a thin, spare man,
with sharp brown eyes and sharp fea
tures, looking so shrunk and short,
that he must have been smuggled into
the army under weight, unless he had
since been growing downwards. No
stranger could have believed him at
ease in his circumstances, any more
than they could have believed him a
colonel who had seen hard service in
India, for his clothes were frequently
threadbare. A black ribbon supplied
the place of gold chain, as guard to his
watch, and a blue, tin-looking thing
; of a galvanized ring did duty for an
other ring on his finger. Yet he was
rich; of fabulous riches, people said;
but he was of a close disposition, es
pecially as regarded his personal out
lay. In his home and to his wife he
was liberal. They had been married
several years, but had no children, and
his large property was not entailed;
it was believed that his nephew', Ger
ard Hope, would inherit it, but some
dispute had recently occurred, and
Gerard had bren turned from the
bouse. Lady Francis Chenevix, the
bister of Lady Sarah, but considerably
younger, had been paying them an
eight months’ visit in the country, and
had now come up to town with them.
Alice Seatcn lay on the sofa for half
an hour, and then, taking the b.acelet
box in her hands, descended to the
drawing rooms. It was intensely hot;
a sultry, breathless heat, and Alice
threw open the back windows, which,
in truth made it hotter, for the sun
gleamed right thwart the leads which
stretched themselves beyond the win
dow, over the out buildings at the
back of the row of houses.
She sat down near the back window
and began to put out some of the
bracelets on the table before it. They
were rare and rich; of plain gold, of
silver, of pearl, of precious stones. One
of them was of gold links, studded
with diamonds, it was very valuable,
And had been the present of Colonel
Hope to bis wife on her recent birth
day. Another diamond bracelet was
there, but it was not so beautiful or so
costly as this. When her task was
done. Miss Seatcn passed into the
front drawing room, and threw up one
cf its large windows. Still there was
no air in the room. As she stood at
* it a handsome jcung man, tall and
powerful, who was walking on the op
posite side of the street, caught her
eye. He nodded, hesitated, and then
crossed the street as if to enter.
“It is Gerard!" uttered Alice, under
her breath. "Can he be coming here?”
She walked away from the window
hastily, and sat down by the bedecked
table in the other room.
“Just as I supposed!” exclaimed
Gerard Hope, entering, and advancing
to Alice with stealthy steps. "When
I saw you at the window, the thought
struck me that you were alone here,
and they at dinner. Thomas happened
to be airing himself at the door, so I
crossed and asked him, and came up.
How are you, Alice?”
"Have you come to dinner?” inquir
ed Alice, speaking at random, and
angry at her own agitation.
“I come to dinner!” repeated Mr.
Hope. "Why, you know they'd as soon
sit down with the hangman.”
“Indeed, I know nothing about it. I
was in hopes you and the Colonel
might be reconciled. Why did you
come in? Thomas will tell.”
"No, he won’t. I told him not. Alice,
the idea of your never coming up till
June! Some whim of Lady Sarah’s
I suppose. Two or three times a week
for the last month have I been march
ing past this house, wondering when
it was going to show signs of life. Is
Francis here still?”
“Oh, yes; she is going to remain here
some time.”
“To make up for—Alice, was it not
a shame to turn me out?”
“I was extremely sorry for what
happened, Mr. Hope, but.l knew noth
ing of the details. Lady Sarah said
you had displeased the Colonel, and
after that she never mentioned your
name.”
“What a show of smart things you
have got here, Alice! Are you going
to set up a bazaar?",
“They are Lady Sarah's bracelets.”
“So they are, I see! This is a gem,”
added Mr. Hope, taking up the fine
diamond bracelet already mentioned.
I don’t remember this one.”
“It is new. The Colonel has just
given it to her.”
“What did it cost?”
“Do you think I am likely to know?
I question if Lady Sarah heard it her
self.”
“It never cost a farthing less than
200 guineas," mused Mr. Hope, turning
the bracelet in various directions, that
its rich diamonds might give out their
gleaming light. “I wish it was mine.”
“What should you do with It?"
laughed Alice.
“Spout it.”
“I do not understand,” returned
Alice. She really did not.
“I beg your pardon, Alice. I was
thinking of the colloquial lingo famil
iarly applied to such transactions, in
stead of to whem I was talking. I
meant to raise money upon it.”
UU, ivii. nupr.
“Alice, that’s twice yen have called
me ‘Mr. Hope.’ I thought I was Ger
ard’ to you before I went away.”
“Time has elapsed since, and you
seem like a stranger again,” returned
Alice, a flush rising to her sensitive
face. “But you spoke of raising
money. I hope you are not In tempo
rary embarrassment.”
“A jolly good thing for me If It
turns out only temporary,” he rejoin
ed. “Look at my position! Debts
hanging over my head—for you may
be sure, Alice, all young men, with a
limited allowance and large expecta
tions, contract them—and thrust out
of my uncle’s home with the loose cash
I had in my pockets, and my clothes
sent after me.”
"Has the Colonel stopped your al
lowance?”
CHAPTER II.
Mr. Hope laid down the bracelet
from whence he had taken it, before
he replied.
“He stopped it then, and I have not
had a shilling since, except from my
own resources. I first went upon tick;
then I disposed of my watch and chain,
and all my other little matters of
value; and now I am upon tick again."
“Upon what?” uttered Alice.
“You don’t understand these free
terms, Alice,” he said, looking fondly
at her, “and I hope you may never
have occasion. Prances would, she
has lived in their atmosphere.”
“Yes, I know what an embarrassed
man the Earl is, if you allude to that.
But I am grieved to hear about your
self. Is the Colonel implacable? What
was the cause of the quarrel?”
“You know I was to be his heir.
Even if children had come to him, he
had undertaken amply to provide for
me. Last Christmas he suddenly sent
for me, and told me it was his pleasure
and Lady Sarah’s that I should take
up my abode with them. So I did,
glad to get into such good quarters,
and stopped there, like an innocent,
unsuspicious lamb, till—when was it,
Alice?—April. Then the plot came
out. They had fixed upon a wife for
me, and I was to hold myself in readi
ness to marry her at any given mo
ment.”
“Who was it?” inquired Alice, in a
low tone, as she bent her head over
the bracelets.
“Never mind,” said Mr. Hope, “it
wasn’t you. I said I would not have
her. and they both, he and Lady Sa
rah, pulled me and my taste to pieces,
and assured me I was a monster of in
gratitude. It provoked me into con
fessing that I liked somebody else bet
ter, and the Colonel turned me out.”
Alice looked hex' sorrow, but she did
not express it.
‘‘And since then I have been having
a fight with my creditors, putting them
off with fair words and promises. But
they have grown incredulous, and ii
has come to dodging. In favor with
my uncle and his acknowledged heir,
they would have given me unlimited
time and credit, but the breach Is
known, and It makes all the difference.
With the value of that at my disposal"
—nodding at the bracelet—“I should
stop some pressing trifles and go on
again for awhile. So you see, Alice, a
diamond bracelet may be of use even
to a gentleman, should some gental
fortune drop such Into his hands."
"I sympathize with you very much,"
said Alice, "and I wish I had it in my
power to aid you."
"Thank you for your kind wishes; 1
know they are genuine. When my
uncle sees the name of Gerard Hope
figuring in the Insolvent list, or among
the outlays, he—Hark! can they be
coming up from dinner?"
"Scarcely yet,” said Alice, starting
up simultaneously with himself, and
listening. “Bat they will not sit long
today because they are going to the
opera. Gerard, they must not find you
here.”
“And get you turned out a8 well as
myself! No! not if I can help It.
Alice”—suddenly laying his hands
upon her shoulders, and gazing down
iato her eyes—"do you know who it
was I had learned to love. Instead of
—of the other?”
She gasped for breath, and her color
went and came.
rso—no; ao noi leu me, ueraiu,
“Why, no, I had better not under
present circumstances, but when the
good time comes—for all their high
roped indignation must and will blow
over—then I will! and here’s the
pledge of it.” He bent Ills head, took
one long, earnest kiss from her lips,
and was gone.
Agitated almost to sickness, tremb
ling and confused, Alice stole to look
after him, terrified lest he might not
escape unseen. She crept partly down
stairs, so as to obiain sight of the
hall door and make sure that he got
out in safety. As he drew it open,
there stood a lady Just about to knock.
She said something to him and he
waved his hand toward the staircase.
Alice saw that the visitor was her sis
ter, a lady well married and moving
in the fashionable world. She met her
and took her into the front drawing
room.
“I cannot stay to sit down, Alice; I
must make haste back to dress, for I
am engaged to three or four places to
night. Neither do I wish to horrify
I*dy Sarah with a visit at this unto
ward hour. I had a request to make
to you and thought to catch you be
fore you went in to dinner.”
"They are alone and are dining
earlier than usual. I was too tired to
appear. What can I do for you?”
"In one word—I am in pressing need
for a little money. Can you lend it
me?”
“I wish I could,” returned Alice; "I
am ao very sorry. I sent ail I had to
poor mamma the day before we came
to town. It was only £25.”
"That would have baen of no use to
me; I want more. I thought if you
had been misering up your salary you
might have had a hundred pounds or
so by you.”
Alice shook her head.
“I should be a long while saving up
a hundred pounds, even if dear mam
ma had no wants. But I send to her
what I can spare. Do not be in such
a hurry,” continued Alice, as her sis
ter was moving to the door. “At least
wait one minute till I fetch you a let
ter I received from mamma this morn
ing in answer to mine. You will like
to read it, for it is full of news about
the old place. You can take it home
with you.”
(To be continued.)
TRIMMED HAT FOR “MERIKY."
America Too Big for an English Woman
and She Returned.
One day a stout person penetrated
from the laundry to the drawing-room
door, hastily pulling down the sleeves
over her scarlet muscular arms "Ii
you please, Missus,” she said, “doost’a
think th’ young lady as is so clever at
trimmln’ th’ats a’d be so kind as to
trim me oop one? A’ ’ardly like to
ask, but hoo’s that kind a’ thowt a'd
try.” The young lady, a visitor in the
house, was greatly taken with the
idea, and the dolly tub was left to it
self for a time while Eliza expounded
her views, which were definite, as to
choice among the prevailing fashions.
When the work of art was completed
she expressed high satisfaction. "A’
wanted to luik well wen a’ goes over
there to my son and ’is family, d’yo’
see’?’ “Over where, Eliza?” "Why,
over at 'Meriky, Missus; a’m going to
see un just now. A* meant to las
year, but a’ couldna save quite enough
for th’ passage money; now wi’ yo’
washin’ all winter that’s a’ right, so
a'm goln’ over in th’ Teutonic week
after next to ’ave a look round at them
aw'. There’s my sister’s ’usband out
too since last Barnaby, and my nee
bour as well. While work’s been slack
in town, folks thowt they’d try tli’
other side.” So Eliza tried the other
side, too, but not finding it to hei
liking, returned to Milltown and reap
peared at the washtub with as little in
the way of travelers’ tales as any one
who ever left her native land.—Nine
teenth Century.
Reform* In 01(1 Mexico.
President Diaz is said to be consid
ering plans to check the trusts in Mex
ico. One of the greatest of these if
the great Mexican lottery, with draw
ings once a month in the City of Mex
ico. Does Diaz contemplate any inter
ference with that?—St. Louis Star,
FREE TRADE SPIRIT.
DESPICABLE FALSEHOODS RESORTED
TO BY COBDEN1TES.
Their Imlutlrlotis Effort* to Make It
Appear Thai President McKinley Had
Decided to Abandon the Policy of
Protection.
On the day that President McKinley
was shot the Toledo. O., Bee published
the following in reference to the Presi
dent's speech at Buffalo. The down
right falsehoods of it arc well matched
by the detestably mean spirit of it:
"To advocate reciprocity is to admit
everything that was ever claimed for
free trade. It simply means an appli
cation of the principle on the install
ment plan. And we are glad to see
this deathbed repentance of the man
who played his way to the Presidency
on one string, and that sting Protec
tion. He can no longer make intelli
gent people believe that wo can build
a stone wall around this country and
live isolated from the remainder of the
world. Besides that, his patrons, tho
trusts, need the foreign as well as the
domestic market now, and McKinley
must hedge.”
Reciprocity is not tree trade t>y In
stallments, unless reciprocity Is to de
part from what the Repub!'?an party
has officially described it to be and
what has been wrought into treaties
during the last dozen years. The
Blaine, McKinley and Dingley recip
rocity, as expressed In the acts of 1890
and 1897. Indorsed by Republican na
tional conventions and confirmed by
Republican senates, does not remove
duties from articles on which Protec
tion is needed. The duties given up
are those previously levied on non
competitive products and not re
quired for revenue.
The term "free trade" as generally
used does not mean the absence of nil
duties on imports, but the absence of
protection. Reciprocity is not hostile
to Protection, but is. as the Iowa Re
publicans recently put it, "the com
plement to Protection.” In advocating
reciprocity, therefore, the President
was not pulishing a “deathbed repent
ance," as the Bee so delicately puts it.
but was enforcing a method which was
incorporated in the law of 1890 which
bears his name.
The effort of the Bee was to de
grade and besmirch the President by
making it appear that he had changed
his politics, and that he had done bo
because be could no longer deceive the
people with protection ideas. Some
what similar is the strain piped forth
in many other Democratic or anti-pro
tection papers in respect to the speech,
though none other, so far noted, is so
vulgar in its misrepresentation. It is
such lying and coarse vituperation of
men bearing the great burdens of the
state that nerve the arm of ignorance
to the point of assassination.
PROTECTION AND PRICES.
Fifty years ago 90 per cent of all the
carpets consumed in this country were
imported from abroad. Today, accord
ing to Mr. George McNeir, secretary for
W. & J. Sloane, 90 per cent of the car
pets consumed In this country are
made in the United States. Tho
amount of capital invested in the car
pet industry has increased from $4,
000,000 in 1850 to $50,000,000 in 1901,
and the yearly output of carpets has
increased from $5,000,000 to $75,000,000.
Some 45,000 persons are now employed
in the carpet mills. According to Mr.
McNeir, too, "the wonderful growth in
this Industry is due more largely to
xhe protection afforded by tariff legis
lation than to all other causes com
bined." The growth of tho Industry,
furthermore, has been accompanied by
a material reduction in prices. Twen
ty-five years ago Wilton carpets sold
for $3.25 per yard; now they sell for
less than two-thirds of that amount.
Twenty-five years ago Moquette car
pets sold for $2 per yard; now they sell
for less than half of that amount The
history of the carpet industry affords
a very good illustration of what the
protective tariff policy has done for
this country. Through it both produc
er and consumer have been benefited.
Capital has found opportunity for in
vestment with good returns, labor has
found employment at good wages, and,
at the same time, the consumer has
had the advantage of decreased cost
of production and a consequent lower
ing of prices.
UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA.
There is every indication, officially
and unofficially, that Russia is not
seeking a commercial war with the
United States, and that so far from
combining with Germany or other Eu
ropean governments in a tariff war
against us, she wishes to be on terms
of the best commercial amity with us.
We know this has been her policy for
three-quarters of a century, and there
is no reason that a trifling sugar tariff
question should distuib it. There is
no hostility either on the part of the
Russian government or the Russian
people against the American govern
ment or people.
Gen. F. D. Grant, just home from
a trip through Russia, provides some
facts that will probably astonish many
whose opinions have been carelessly
formed, and will strve to confirm the
more conscientious judgment of others.
So far from finding in the czar’s do
main any sentiment favorable to Euro
pean commercial combination against
the United States, General Grant found
a distinctly friendly feeling among the
upper and middle cla'-ses, and a sense
of genuine regret that any tarifT dis
pute, with its possibility of damaging
consequences, should have arisen be
tween the two countries. He reports
also the visible evidences of remark
able material and social progress there
since his last visit to Russia In 1872.
—Chicago (111.) Journal.
BARLEY AS AN ILLUSTRATION.
A free trade organ says: “General
Grosvenor is still talking about barley;
if there were no tariff to exclude this
grain our barley g ow. ra, he says,
would starve to death." That Is a fair
specimen of free trade argument.
General Grosvenor never said a word
about our barley groweis starving to
death under any circumstances.
But lie did say C:at bsfore the pas
sage of the McKinley bill In 1890 over
11,000.000 bushel* of barley, worth
nearly 87,000,000, were Imported from
Canada in one year, while in recent
years the Imports have not exceeded
200.000 bushels. As the price of bar
ley has been lower tdnee the exclusion
of the Canadian product no one was
harmed by the tariff on barley, if the
tarlfT were removed the impoits from
Canada would be much larger now
than before, owing to greater area
available for cultivation. General
Grosvenor says that it would be su
preme folly to remove the tarift and
put millions of dollars In the pocksts
of Canadian farmers at the expense of
our farmers, and any sensible
man who understands the question
will agree with him.
uen. urosvenor merely used tne Bar
ley question to illustrate the beneficent
effects of the protective tariff. As we
exported in the fiscal year 1900 barley
to the extent of 23,661,662 bushels, and
Representative Babcock advocates the
removal of the tariff on nil article* ex
ported, under his proposition barley
would go on the free list, solely to the
benefit of the Canadians. Gen. Gros
venor pointed out the extreme folly of
such a course, and his argument to
that effect is sound and unimpeach
able.— Philadelphia Prt3S.
SOMETHING DOING.
"Something doing” becomes more
than a mere slang phrase under Dlug
ley law conditions. There Is "some
thing doing” for the hundreds of thou
sands of workmen who have continu
ous employment in place of idleness;
"something doing” for the manufactur
ers, who see a balance on the right
side of the ledger; "something doing”
for the railroads and the employe* of
the railroads in the handling
of many more tons of freight dally
than ever before in their history;
"something doing” for the farmers in
performing the tasl of feeding the mil
lions of prosperous, happy, clamorous
industrial workers. In short, there if
not only “something doing,” in con
trast to t*\e “nothing doing” In Wilson
law days, hut there is more than some
thing; there is a very great deal doing
all along the industrial line.
FEELING QUITE COMFORTABLE.
WHY HE WORRIES NOW.
The position of secretary of the
treasury is no sinecure. Under Demo
cratic free trade the secretary isn’t
able to sleep nights for thinking about
the deficit which in those circum
stances is sure to grow bigger and big
ger as the months go by. Under Re
publican protection the secretary has
his wcrries. too, for he has to worry
about the increasing surplus which the
protection policy always piles up in
the national treasury. That is what
is said to be troubling Secretary Gage
now. There is a choice between the
two situations, though, and whenever
Secretary Gage feels more than ordi
narily troubled about the surplus
which is accumulating be has only to
think of the days of Cleveland free
trade and the condition of the treasury
under the Wilson law, and it will make
him thankful for his mercies.
Do You Want It ?
In the campaign of 1892 one of the
Democratic wails was that some Amer
ican manufacturers sold goods cheaper
in Europe than at home. Then the
Democrats got in. How did they cure
the discrimination referred to? By re
ducing the tariff so that foreign man
| ufacturers could undersell our own in
this market. Then American factooies
closed and hundreds of thousands of
men went without work. The Demo
crats make the same wail now and
want to repeat the remedy. What do
the workers say to It?
Why Not ?
If the country were suffering today
for lack of work and money the anti
tariff men would hold the Dingley act
responsible for it, wouldn’t tney? As
the opposite is the case why not give
the Dingley act some of the credit for
it? Be fair about it.
Conundrnm.
How much better off would a work
man be if he could save |5.70 a year by
the removal of the duty on raw sugar
and, by similar changes in his own
business, find himself obliged to work
for $1.75 a day Instead of $2.50?
A l NIQUE CHARACTER
JOHN LAW, WHO SET FRANCE ON
FIRE.
Made the I.onUlana Territory the I’.atla
of a Marvelous .Speculative Scheme
Which Eventually Ruined Ills
Country.
The country composing what Is
known as the Louisiana purchase is
now attracting much attention
throughout the world, says a writer
in the St. Louis Globe-Dsmocrat for
the celebration of the fair in honor of
the triaty by which this vast region
was transferred from France to the
United States is making the name of
Louisiana a household wird In all
parts of the world where heretofore
that important event in the history of
the United States has hardly been rec
ognized. There was once a time, how
ever, in the history of the country
which transferred Louisiana to the
United States when the name of the
Territory and of the great river by
which it is drained were words to con
jure by, for long ere St. Louis was a
city, when even the length of the river
and the extent of the French claims
were problematical, the Territory
played a leading part lu one of the
most gigantic schemes ever devised by
the mind of man.
John I.aw, Prompter.
John I^aw was its central figure. At
the time when he appeared In Paris
with his proposal for the establishment
of a great national bank, the fortunes
of the kingdom were apparently at. the
lowest ebb. The national debt, con
tracted during the extravagant reign
of Louis XIV., was so enormous that
even the most enthusiastic financiers
could see no hope of payment. Law
proposed to establish a bank which,
while transacting tbo ordinary busi
ness of such an institution, should also
become the financial arm of the gov
ernment; should collect the revenues,
manage the government finances, and.
In short, should be to France what the
Bank of England is now to the British
government. He believed in credit,
and also believed that credit might bn
made illimitable; that so long as the
people were willing to accept paper
promises to pay. there was little need
of a specie currency. Carrying out his
Idea to Its logical consequences, he ac
cepted as an equivalent for the stock
of the bank the depreciated securities
of the government, issued paper money
in enormous quantities, and was grati
fied to see that his scheme for rovlvlng
the business of the country met with
apparent and
AI in out Immediate SacceM.
Seeing the fluctuations in the nom
inal value of currency, whether gold,
sliver or paper, he conceived the idea
that credit was all powerful, and that
even hypothetical profits, to come in
the future, might be safely treated as
the basis for paper currency. With
this end in view he began to cast about
for ways and means to carry out his
project of unlimited circu’ation. The
valley of the Mississippi was then un
der French control; it had. however,
been only partially explored, and it
was impossible for anyone to say what
wealth, if any, lay concealed in its soil.
Everyone knew, however, the immense
riches that had been drawn from
America by Spain. The haughty no
bles of Madrid were objects of envy
to the fashionables of Paris, and no
one doubted that when the truth be
came known, the valley of the Missis
sippi would prove as rich as the moun
tains of Mexico or Peru.
This general confidence made it com
paratively easy for Law to organize
the Mississippi Company, a trading or
ganization so general and liberal in its
plan and scope that, under the provis
ions of its charter, almost any enter
prise looking to the development of
the Mississippi valley might be un
dertaken.
(lane launched Finally.
The popular craze, once launched, fi
nally overtaxed Its own strength and
passed beyond the control of the able,
though visionary, man who started the
movement. In 1720, the year which
witnessed the collapse of the South sea
bubble in England, the French house
of cards fell to the ground. Popular
faith in Law, the Mississippi scheme
and the gigantic credit system began
to waver, and once tremulous its over
throw was easily foreseen. The most
arbitrary measures that suggested
themselves to the mind of a despotic
government were resorted to for the
purpose of upholding the credit of the
company and of the nation, but all
were in vain. Men were fined and Im
prisoned for the crime of having gold
or silver coin in their possession, but
still, with the vision of the headsman
stalking behind them, they hoarded
the precious metals. Thousands fled.
Law among their number, and France
was ruined for the time being.
I,ord Kelvin'* Long Service.
I,ord Kelvin, who is 77 years of age,
has the distinction of having occupied
a university chair for a longer consec
utive period than any other university
professor now living, in his varsity
days, though the fact is forgotten.
Lord Kelvin was an athlete of much
more than ordinary prowess, and at
Cambridge, in spite of the work which
won for him the proud position of sec
ond wrangler, he found time to win the
“silver sculls.” A native of Belfast.
Sir William Thomson, as the eminent
inventor and electrician was known
until 1892, when he was created a bar
on. held the chair of natural philoso
phy in Glasgow University from 184ft
till 1890, and with the exception of
Sir G. G. Stokea. he is the oldest fel
| low of the Royal Society.
*