Nebraska Newspapers

    CHAPTER XIX.—Continued.
And when she had summoned assist
ance? When the castle was stormed,
as it were, by gendarmes? My own <
peril would be extreme.
It was hopeless to prevent the in
evitable. The rescue of Captain
Forbes would be accomplished; my
complicity in the intrigues of Dr.
Starva and Madame de Varnier would
be taken for granted. Expostulations
would be useless. My very presence
in the chateau would be face evidence
of my guilt.
And so I had played my desperate
game to no purpose.
To save myself—that was my one
thought. Two courses lay before me.
Could I make my way to Captain
Forbes? Could I effect his release be
fore Helena returned with help? If
that were possible, and if I could
hastily make my position clear to the '
king's messenger all might yet be
well. At least so far as the establish
ment of my innocence was concerned.
Or I might overtake Helena Brett.
To her I might make my confession.
And if she were persuaded, not only
that I was acting in her interests, but
that my plan to clear up Sir Morti
mer’s disappearance promised success,
I might even now be successful.
It was my fear that she would scorn
fully refuse both to believe my story
and to accept my aid that made me
hesitate as to this course.
It was Dr. Starva who decided for
me.
He had appeared on the terrace be
low. and he .was following Helena
Brett.
I had read Captain Forbes’s message
as well as Helena. Why, then, could
there not have been a third person
interested in the strange antics of the
mirror? And if this surmise were
true? If Dr. Starva or Madame de
Varnier had read the message? They
had not hesitated to use desperate ex
pedients to gain their purpose. Would
Dr. Starva hesitate to use means as
desperate to prevent Helena from
summoning neip:
I asked myself this startling ques
tion as I took the stairs two at a time
to the great hall. The main entrance
was locked. For a moment I thought
that I was a prisoner in the chateau as
well as Captain Forbes. Even now I
am not certain that such was not the
intention of Madame de Vamier. But
Dr. Starva had gained the terrace by
a small door close by the spiral stair
case. In his haste he had forgotten to
lock this door.
Desperate as was my own haste I
took the precaution of locking the side
door after me and placing the key in
my pocket. My reasons for this were
vague enough. It was an instinct that
prompted me to take the precaution
rather than deliberate reflection. But
perhaps I might be able to regain the
chateau in due time by this side en
trance, and none be the wiser. For
as far as I knew I had effected my
exit unobserved.
In the meanwhile I ran swiftly after
Helena and Dr. Starva. I had lost
sight of both. I soon came to an end
of the promenade. It led directly into
the main street of the village. Now
that I had gained the village street I
looked eagerly about for them. Neither
was in sight. I guessed that Helena
Brett would make her way as soon as
possible to the hotel where she was
known. What hotel? That was the
question.
I halted an urchin and asked him
the name of the best hotel in Alter
hoffen. “Oh, the Grand hotel,” he an
swered without hesitation; “that is
where all the English lords and Amer
ican millionaires stay.”
Then let him take me hither; I
.tempted him with a franc.
“Evidently the gentleman is in a
hurry.”
I assured him that I was, and prom
ised him two francs if I could reach
the hotel before a lady whom I was
following.
“Then, the gentleman must go by
the short cut.”
I sped after the urchin down the vll
lage street.
This street is one of the most quaint
in the whole world. There are two
stones of shops on either side. The
pavement of the shops below is roofed
over; this covered passageway is the
pavement for the second series of
shops above. I was on the lower pave
ment, and this explains how I fcas
able to reach a flight of steps, the cut
the youngster had promised, before
Helena or Dr. Starva.
At the foot of these step^the young
ster bolted, assuring me that I should
find the hotel when I had reached the
top of the flight.
These steps pierced a wall of one
of the houses of the village street.
The flight was straight for the first
20 or so, then it turned curiously on
a little landing at right angles. Here
I was in semi-darkness. I groped my
way for the continuance of the flight.
The first series of steps, I began to see
dimly, had en#ed at a sort of porter’s
lodge. I learned afterwards that this
was a private entrance to the hotel
above and that in the glass-covered
little room a porter was accustomed
to sit.
I was still feeling mf way cautious
ly about (for I had not yet seen that
the .flight of steps was continued at
right angles, and the steps were
broken and uneven), when the circle
of light at the foot of the steps lead
ing into the street was blotted out.
At first I hoped it might be Helena.
But it was a man, and he was leaping
up the steps in desperate haste.
I guessed it to be Dr. Starva. But
I had no intention of letting him know
that I was following him. I pressed
close against the wall to let him pass.
To my astonishment he darted into
the empty porter's lodge and crouched
down in the gloom. I held my breath,
watching, hardly an arm’s length from
where he stood motionless.
Again the circle of light wan blotted
out. A woman was rapidly ascending
the steps. I could hear her catching
her breath. It was Helena on her way
to the hotel for aid.
And now I am forced to a confession
that will deepen the sympathy or con
tempt felt for me when I related the
tragedy at the beginning of my nar
rative. But I have determined to make
myself no hero.
For now again came that curious
paralysis/ of will. Again, as in the
tragedy of the Alps, horror robbed me
for the moment of power to act in
stantly. I had caught the glint of
steel. I knew' that Helena was doomed
unless I hurled myself instantly on the
treacherous assassin.
I did indeed fling myself headlong
on him, but only after he had fired.
There was a crash of shattered glass;
the shot of hi3 revolver was still echo
ing in the stairway as I grappled with
him.
It was an unequal struggle. I felt
Dr. Starva’s hairy hands close about
my throat and 1 was hurled backward.
, CHAPTER XX.
I Am Rudely Enlightened.
The force of the blow had stunned
me for the moment Presently I heard
Helena calling for help. I sr.ruggled
to my feet and leaned gasping against
the wall.
“Are you much hurt, sir?” she asked
It Was an Unequal Struggle.
in French, in & cool, matter of fact
voice. She had not recognized me in
the semi-gloom.
“I am not hurt at all,” I replied in
English. ‘‘But I am sorry, Miss Brett,
that that villain has made his escape.”
“I fancy I heard some one rush after
him," she continued, coming to me
closer and trying to distinguish my
features.
“I am Mr. Haddon,” I said, quietly.
She repeated the name vaguely.
“The coward," I added:
There was an awkward pause. We
began to ascend the second flight of
steps.
“I am arraid yon are assuming a
name to which you have little right,
Mr. Haddon,” she said gently. ‘‘I be
lieve that you saved my life just now.
I am much obliged to you.”
She extended a white hand in the
gloom. There was absolutely nothing
of sentimentalism in the action. And
for myself, I was cynically unmoved.
I received her thanks almost guiltily
and a little sullenly.
“I little thought,” she continued
dreamily, “that you, of all men, would
save my life, it savors a good deal
of the melodramatic, does it not? It
is very strange.”
“At the best it was a lucky accident,
Miss Brett Frankly, you are unhurt
rather because the man was a bad
shot than because of any assistance I
gave you.”
I spoke the words thoughtfully and
quite sincerely. I knew only too well
that my interference would have been
too late had Dr. Sarva’s aim been
more sure. It seemed to me little
less than a miracle that Helena Brett
should be unwounded. I could take
no credit for that myself.
Far from that, I should tell her the
absolute truth if I were honest. I
would say to her: “On the contrary,
I have proved myself to be a coward
again—infinitely more so that, when
Willoughby lost,his life. Then I was
exhausted, physically powerless. Now
I have failed—still by the fatal three
seconds—because terror held me spell
bound for the moment It makes lit
tle difference, so far as my courage or
cowardice is concerned, that jorf are
..... *‘-t. ■ i i •. •. •• •.'
for the suffering I have caused you
unconsciously?”
She looked at me intently, her eyes
still wide with distrust.
“But you are at the chateau,” she
repeated. “You are a friend of that
infamous woman who has ruined my
brother. If you are her friend, how
can you be mine?”
“I have not said that I am her
friend,” I protested quietly.
“But you are at the chateau.” She
spoke the words obstinately. That
fact was, in her eyes, an unanswerable
argument.
“Yes; and I know that Captain
Forbes is detained there; I know that
he has just signaled to you that fact
and has asked you to get help. And
now I want you to leave the matter,
in my hands. I demand that as my
right. It is a task I have set myself.
Once you said to me that I should
Had the Laugh on the Lawyer
Whole Court Room Joined in Joke on
Conceited Advocate.
A distinguished, but conceited advo
vate not long ago, after securing an
unqualified statement from an octo
genarian, who was bravely enduring
cross-examination, that he “saw the
whole thing as if it had occurred ten
feet away,” suddenly challenged him
to tell the time by the clock referred
to. The lawyer did not look around
himself, as he had done so about half
an- hour before, when he had noticed
that it was half after 11.' The old man
looked at the clock and replied, after
a pause, “Half past 11,” upon which
the lawyer, knowing that it must be
nearly 12, turned to the Jury and burst
into a derisive laugh, exclaiming sar
castically, “That is all,” and threw him
self back in his seat with an air of
having finally annihilated the entire.
value of the witness’ testimony. The
distinguished practitioner, however,
found himself laughing alone. Pres
ently one of the jury chuckled, and in
a trice the whole court room was in
a roar at the lawyer’s expense. The
clock had stopped—at half-past 11.—
Exchange.
To Encourage 8leep.
Many people suffer constantly from
a sense of over-fatigue which entirely
prevents sleep at night A hot bath
taken before retiring Is a capital anti
dote in some cases, but in others the
bath acts as a stimulant rather tfrgn
a narcotic, and prevents rather than
engenders sleep. One of the best
means of obtaining rest is a cup of
warm milk to which has been added a
pinch of salt and a dash of pepper,
while many, people ignore the fact
that sleeplessness is caused by shut
windows and a lack of fresh air.
: ' V-' j--.v V . .
living while Willoughby died. In
either case I have been equally weak.”
That was what I should say to her if
I were an honest man.
But I did not. You see I am frank in
these confessions. Really, then, I am
showing that in this instance I was
even a greater coward than befbre.
For then I at least told the truth. I
did not conceal from her the hideous
word Willoughby had spoken before
he died. Now I was concealing from
her the fact that I knew I deserved
the reproach as keenly.
We had reached the top of the steps.
We walked slowly toward the Grand
hotel. Helena, I could see, was con
cerned with her own thoughts as much
as was I. For a moment the shock of
the accident had made her ferget her
errand. Now that we were near the
hotel its urgency came to her with re
doubled force. She was debating
whether she should take me into her
confidence. She was saying to her
self, I was sure, that it would be a
generous reparation for her unjust
censure of me on the terrace of the
hotel at Lucerne if she intrusted to
me the deliverance of Captain Forbes.
“Why,” she asked slowly, “should
that man have lain in wait for me
there? Was he a common thief, do
you think?”
“No,” I answered after some hesita
tion. “He is a Bulgarian, a political ad
venturer. I am afraid, Miss Brett,
that he has had much to do with the
disappearance of your brother.”
She paused, startled.
“How should you know that?” her
voice vibrated with suspicion.
“Because I have learned something
of him at the chateau. I am a guest
there.” I pointed to the castle towers
across the valley..
“You are a guest of that woman,
Madame de Varnier?”
“Yes.”
“Then, sir,” she was hastening her
steps, and spoke with cold hostility,
“it is certainly not to you that I should
be appealing for help.”
“Miss Brett,” I said with some bit
terness, “you draw your conclusions
very hastily. Is it impossible for you
to believe that I wish to help you—
that I wish to make atonement to you
~TTT——I
save a life for the life that was lost
through me.”
“You have already made that repa
ration, Mr. Haddon,” she said, almost
humbly.- “Fate has punished me that
I should have judged y«u so hastily
and so wrongly.”
“No, no!” I spoke in fierce remon
strance. “Will you neVer be just to
me? That was an accident, I tell
you.”
“I do not like you less that you say
so.”
It was hopeless to make her under
stand now. I should have confessed
my cowardice sooner If I wished to be
believed. She had judged as at Lu
cerne.
“Listen.” I drew her to a garden
seat. “A life for a life—that is what
you said. But if, instead of a life, it
were a man’s honor that I could save
—if it were the honor of your
brother?”
Her lips trembled. She leaned to
ward me in her appeal.
“Oh, you would crush me with the
weight of my gratitude. Save my
brother’s honor, and, and—”
“I should then stand equal with
other men in your respect?”
“Yes,” she said faintly, her eyes
bright with unshed tears. “We need
a friend so much now. We are in
such deep distress because of my poor
brother. Evidently jrou know of his
disgrace.” Shame blanched her cheek.
“I know something of it,” I said
with sympathy. “Tell me, Miss Brett,
do I not bear a marked resemblance
to your brother?”
“At first sight it is startling;” she
cried eagerly. “When my mother and
I saw you at Lucerne we thought you
were he. When we learned that you
were with Mr. Willoughby at the time
of his death, you can understand how
bitterly we resented our disappoint
ment. Forgive me if I am again sus
picious, but that I should find you
the guest of Madame de Varnier now,
at this time—”
“If I am to help you, you must trust
me.”
“I will. I do.”
“Implicitly?”
“Yes.”
“Even though circumstances seem
utterly against me? Even though I
may seem a friend of Madame de Var
nier—to be in league with her against
you?”
She hesitated. “She is a dangerous
woman. If my poor brother has fallen
a victim to her horrible beauty—”
“I shall be on my guard,” I replied
lightly, smiling at her fierce resent
ment.
“But you will continue to be her
guest. Is that wise? How can you ef
fect the release of Captain Forbes if
you remain at the chateau?”
“How can-I learn the truth concern
ing your brother, how can I do my ut
most to save his honor (if it be not yet
too late), unless I remain at the cha
teau—yes, unless I am on apparent
good terms with Madame de Varnier?”
“You are testing my belief in you to
the utmost, Mr. Haddon. I suppose
you smooth the suspicions of your
hostess as readily as you do mine.”
She spoke bitterly. And if she found
it difficult to trust me now, how much
more difficult when she learned, not
the whole truth, but a damning half
truth.
"Ah, you are wavering already in
the trust you have promised to give
me. Great God, you think that it is a
pleasant task I have set myself? To
smile on this woman, to play the hypo
crite, to spy on her when I am her
guest, that I may dog her, coax her
into telling the truth, that I may en
trap her accomplice and herself at the
right moment? Miss Brett, I would
wash my hands of this ugly business
if I had not sworn to endure every
igflominy and risk of being misunder
stood not only by a man like Captain
Forbes by by yourself. I tell you that
I have not a clear field to carry out
my plans—if I fail, or am baffled by
some well-meaning intruder, I am a
disgraced man. No one will believe
my defence—not even you. I may
even be dragged to prison as a com
mon felon.”
She placed both her hands in mine.
“Forgive me. My anxiety is so
great. I do trust you. Return to
Madame de Varnier, Mr. Hadflon. I
shall try to be patient. But Captain
Forbes, am I to do nothing to help
him?”
“Until this evening, no. You see, I
am testing your faith.”
I looked at her keenly. She re
turned my glance with brave assur
ance.
‘‘If you receive no word, either from
Captain Forbes or myself, by midnight
to-night, if you are not summoned to
the chateau by your brother (and that
I warn you is only too unlikely), in
quire at the Grand hotel for Mr. Rob
inson Locke. He is an American con
sul at Lucerne; he will help you.”
“He has already helped us. It was
Mr. Locke who directed Captain
Forbes and myself here to Alterhof
fen.”
“And will you not include among my
services,” drawled a voice behind us,
“the fact that I was so fortunate as to
save your life just now, Miss Brett?”
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
V)l
NEBRASKA POINTERS
STATE NEWS AND NOTES IN CON
DENSED FORM.
THE PRESS. PIILPITIIND PUBLIC
What Is Going pn Here and There That
is of Interest to the Readers
Throughout Nebraska.
The harvest in Pawnee county
shows the wheat better than for
many years. •
United States Senator La Follette
of Wisconsin, last week spoke at the
Tecumseh Chautauqua.
Protestant churches of Nebraska
City have joined together and are
holding outdoor meetings.
PrOf. H. H. Hewitt has tendered his
resignation as head of the department
of music at the Peru normal college.
Methodists of Aropahoe have re
ceived plans for thire new church to
be erected this year at a cost of
$7,000.
H. A. Day, a directory .man who
was recently appointed by the city,
council to take a census of Beatrice,
has almost completed the task. He
finds that Beatrice has a population
of about 12,200 people.
During a recent storm George
Cowles’ barn, on his farm three miles
northeast of Valley, was struck by
lighting. Pour horses were burned.
One escaped, but so baaiy burned it
was necessary to shoot, it.
Deputy Oil) Inspector D. W. Hoyt
reported to Inspector Allen that he
had rejected seven barrels of oil at
Weeping Water and had ordered the
stuff destroyed or shipped back. There
were eight barrels in the shipment.
Three railroads have filed answers
with the interstate commerce com
mission to the complaint recently
made by the Lincoln Commercial
club which alleged discriminations on
freight rates from the south in favor
of Omaha.
R. H. Shurman, a prominent resi
dent of Scribner, one of the early
settlers of the place, dropped aead
from heart failure. He was chopping
down a tree when he became faint.
He sat down and in five minutes he
had expired.
County Superintendent Matzen says
there will be no shortage of teachers
in Dodge and surrounding counties
this year. There are many new appli
cants and the country school boards
will have little trouble in finding
teachers who will serve.
Prapartions are being made for the
third annual encampment of the
Platte Valley District Reunion asso
ciation, which will be held in Central
City August 19-23. August 20 will be
Children’s Day and school children
from all over the county will partici
pate.
A young man giving his name as
E. W. Cristie was discovered by the
nightwatch rummaging through the
mail in the P^rk hotel, Alliance. He
was taken to the jail and searched
and seven of the letters were found
in his pocket, one of which had been
torn open. He was fined and given
•a severe reprimand and allowed to
depart.
Senator Norris Brown has announc
ed the following nominations for
West Point: George Doane Keller,
Omaha; alternates, L. E. Oliver,
Falls City, and Clarence G. Grim of
Wilber. He also announces nomin
ations for Annapolis as follows:
Robert A. Hall of Hampton; alter
nates, William D. Eakin, University
and George Gibson of Kearney.
Bellwood has an octogenarian,
“Granddad” Freeman, who is climbing
hishis 87th year, says the Gazette of
that place. He can swing a trowel
or lay a brick just as of yore and is
as noisy and as full of fun as many
of the young bloods. He goes to bed
with the chickens and gets up with
them, and we believe can knock spots
off anything in either David City or
■Ulysses of the same age.
Rev. Peter Van Fleet of Table
Rock, who purchased what is known
as the “Blacklaw farm,” a few months
since, has just sold to the Burlington
people twelve acres, lying a short dis
tance from the Nemaha river, for
1200 per acre. As the company is
getting ready to again burn ballast
At this point, and did not have tne
necessary room, and this was the only
piece available, it became necessary
to pay this price.
The champion fish catch has been
made by W. B. Havelock of Atkinson,
While fishing for trout on the Curtis
ranch, seven miles from that city he
caught two trout one of them being
two feet in length, weighing six
pounds when dressed and the other
fish measuring nineteen and a half
inches. So strong was the fight with
one of the trout that both line and
fish pole were broken and the fisher
man jumped into the creek and se
cured his trophy. The fish have been
sent to his Nebraska home in proof
of his story.
A most destructive storm of wind
and hail visited Scotia and surround
ing country. Crops of all kinds are
badly damaged and fruit and gardens
ruined.
Macadam road-building in Dodge
bounty got a serious setback at the
hands of the county board of super
visors. After listening to arguments
by a government expert and leading
citizens of Fremont who want to see
the inheritance tax fund devoted to
the road-building purpose, the super
visors refused to act, but postponea
the whole subject until next January.
A fire supposed to be of incendiary
origin destroyed four frame business
buildings and. most of their contents
in the village of Crab Orchard. The
fire orginated in A. F. Roxburg’s two
story building. V
The body found in the Missouri
river at Flattsmouth and taken to
Glenwood, la., is believed to be
Charles Klofat, an Omaha man, who
lost his life by drowning under the
Douglas street briige £ily 4. He
wore a black satin shirt, gray vest,
black trousers under blue overalls
and his hair was clack.
The President’s Vacation
071
Roosevelt Always in
Touch with Affairs of
the Nation & <s0
DEVOTES PART OF EVERY
DAY TO PUBLIC AFFAIRS
OYSTER BAY.—Although President
Roosevelt is settled down at Oys
ter Bay for a four months’ vacation he
will not be able to escape from a good
deal of the labors and duties of his
job. The public business at Washing
ton goes on just the same. There are
officials to appoint, questions of policy
to decide, commissions in the army
and navy to sign, many other things
that no one but the president can at
tend to, and which President Roose
velt would let no other man attend to
even if he had the power.
While he spends the summer in his
modest and comfortable country house
at Sagamore Hill he is obliged to de
vote a few hours a day—often more
than a few—to the nation’s business.
When the president went down to
Oyster Bay recently he was accom
panied by Secretary Loeb, Assistant
Secretary Latta, and four clerks from
the executive staff at Washington.
They began work next day in the ex
ecutive offices in the village of Oyster
Bay, three miles from the president’s
house. These offices are connected
by direct wire with the executive of
fices adjoining the White House at
Washingtpn. The clerks at the capi
tal are therefore in as close touch
with their immediate chief, Mr. Loeb,
as if he were in his own office there.
Mr. Loeb, in turn, is in constant touch
with the president. The whole ar
rangement works out in the same
manner as if the capital and all the
departments had been moved from
Washington to Oyster Bay.
One difference is that the president
never visits the executive offices in
Oyster Bay. Whatever business re
quires to be brought to his attention
is taken up by Secretary Loeb to Sag
amore Hill. Mr. Loeb goes to the
president in the forenoon about 11
o’clock, after he has gone through the
mail and sorted out from it the letters
and official papers which need to pass
under the executive eye or hand. Some
days Mr. Loeb gets back to the village
in time to put In an hour’s work be
fore luncheon. More often his lunch
eon has to wait an hour for him.
THE executive offices at “the sum
mer capital,” as Oyster Bay folk
take pride in calling their village,
never fail to impress visitors'by their
unpretentiousness. They consist of
seven office rooms and a storeroom,
into which a loft above a corner gro
cery has been divided. Mr. Moore, the
enterprising purveyor of pure food to
the villagers and surrounding gentry,
is a famous man every summer. The
whole country hears each summer in
the press dispatches of “the executive
offices over Moored grocery.” Mr.
Moore’s pride would be greater if the
president should come down some day
and transact some important piece of
business there.
Secretary Loeb has a large, sunny
room in the front overlooking the bus
LOEB DECIDES WHO CAN
SEE CHIEF EXECUTIVE
A LARGE part of Mr. Loeb’s busi
ness in summer is deciding “who’s
who” in the matter of requests for per
sonal interviews with the president.
Few persons are allowed to go up to
Sagamore Hill and ring the door bell.
Of course-, cabinet officers, senators
and a few representatives would be
permitted, if they chose to arrive in
Oyster Bay unannounced, to drive up
to the presidential door and send their
cards to Mr. Roosevelt. But these
privileged men are the very ones who
would never think of doing so. All
visiting statesmen write or telegraph
beforehand, asking whether it will be
convenient for the president to Bee
them on a given day. The query and
the answer pass through Loeb's hands.
He writes these gentlemen that “the
Esfli
f’CAMORE
->— H ILL
-NO ADMITTANCE
THE cabinet is rarely called together
in the president's vacation, and
then only to consider matters regard
ed as of the highest importance.
Nevertheless, in the course of a sum
mer most of the members of the cabi
net pay a visit, either of business or
friendship to Sagamore Hill. They of
ten dine and sleep there. Some of the
president’s closest friends in the sen
ate, members of the “tennis” cabinet,
or literary cronies, are overnight
guests. But most of Mr. Roosevelt’s
visitors who call by appointment are
asked to arrive in the forenoon and to
stay for luncheon.
It Is the impression at Oyster Bay
that there will be many such visits by
the closest political friends of the ad
ministration from next week on. The
master of Sagamore Hill is watching
with the closest scrutiny the develop
ment of the campaign for the nomina
tion of his successor, and it is likely
that he will have frequent consulta
tions with the leading statesmen who
are devoted to and his policies.
Any incident tending to show a recru
desence of the “reactionary conspi
racy” would almost inevitably be fol
lowed by a procession of party chief
tains eager to proffer advice and
swear allegiance anew, both to Mr.
Roosevelt and to the public through
the press.
There is no barrier up to prevent
persons who can give a reasonable
account of themselves and betray no
signs of the crank, from driving up to
Sagamore Hill, on the understanding
that they are not to halt their horses,
but drive around the house and out
again. If any person should gain en
trance by giving this assurance to the
secret service men at the outpost and
then try to break faith and seek en
trance to the house, he would be stop
ped by other secret service men on
guard near the porch.
These men, chosen for discretion as
well a* for valor, would politely In
quire of the visitors whether they had
an appointment with the president If
EXECUTIVE OFFICES THE
PRIDE OF VILLAGERS
iness center of the village. His door
is always open; any one can walk in
upon him, get a pleasant greeting and
see as much of the government wheels
going round as he could in Mr. Loeb’s
Washington office. All he will see is
Mr. Loeb busy at a big flat-topped
desk, with another desk close by cov
ered with the newspapers which the
secretary to the president reads dili
gently. He will see the rest of the
staff in the five other ' rooms. One
room is occupied by one of two tele
graph operators who are on duty by
turns from nine a. m. to 11 p. m. They
are kept busy most of the time. Much
of the matter is summaries of corre
spondence, to which Secretary Loeb
directs routine formal answers to be
returned.
president will be glad to see them at
such and such an hour on the day
mentioned.”
The president has a telephone in his
house, but if you, Mr. Citizen, had
something in your mind that you
thought the nation’s chief ought to
know about at once, you couldn’t go
into the nearest pay booth and call
him up. The telephone exchange girls
at Oyster Bay have a strict rule on
that All persons, from cabinet rank
down who call for Mr. Roosevelt’s
number. are switched over to Mr.
Loeb. If it’s all right Mr. Loeb says
so, and you “get” the president. If
Mr. Loeb doesn’t know you he asks
you your business and probably ad
vises you to put it into writing, for
Mr. Loeb is a methodical and careful
secretary.
CABINET OFFICERS OFTEN
VISIT SAGAMORE HILL
not they would be quietly advised to
keep moving. The guards know who
has and who has not the "open ses
ame” to the summer White House.
No one can bluff his way past them.
Some have tried.
The president’s bodyguard is com
manded by “Jim” Sloan, who has had
the chief responsibility for his safety
since Secret Service Agent Tyree was
made a United States marshal. Sloan
now has eight men to help him.
Guards at the house and at the en
trance from the highroad a quarter
mile away are changed with the regu
larity of military discipline, night and
day. The guards are all picked men,
who have shown not merely zeal and
devotion, which are essential, but
horse-sense, alertness and quick judg
ment.
Laughter at Meals.
Worry at mealtimes and hurry di
rectly after are two great factors in
weakening the digestion. One of the
most important meals of the day is
breakfast, yet how often one hurries
over food or scrambles through it in
stony, frigid silence, scanning the col
umns of a favorite newspaper. An
old physician, writing 70 years ago,
said: “Laughter is one of the great
est helps to digestion with which I
am acquainted and the custom preva
lent among our forefathers of exciting
it at table by jesters was founded
upon true medical principles. There
fore, endeavor to have cheerful and
merry companions at your meals.”
Gave Up Unequal Fight.
A man’s suit of clothes and boots
have been found on the towing-path
of the river Lea, in England, near
Clapton. In one of the boots was a
piece of paper, containing the follow
ing: “To anybody or everybody:
Hitherto I have been a wanderer with
no fixed abode, but henceforth it will
be fixed and permanent, ‘the river
Lea.'—One of the Submerged.”