|u2£2SU2S7.smS25Zi I 2 L21SZS2S25ESESZSISESZSH5 The Protector of Finance . Tiles of Resilius Marvel, Guardian of Bank Treasure j-r Pv WELDON J. COBB THE INVALID LOAN ^r-^rscr:: _ Copyright. W. G. Chapman I AW \ ! I-I* the opening <4 a door ia I It,- -» JUrnii private office j with a g'»d deal of Interest. Upon ' hinged something itn and I knew It. Here was a p where small things counted—a r*-ia, a strange man Its mas ter; only the unusual hapjeued here. | fv-r*.that, treyoud the door of this, the ! • .•hotart.-rs office of the United Ba'.».r-' l*r> '* tive association, there m»re strange - They were un pe ::.g and then deterrent; a shrill j ea- «. e re eerie than human, as of ■ocne hunted animal in mortal terror— j a v-if.-r- calling -..-tressfulljr into the i t • *s stormy :. ght. like that of a vic tim 'rum the outer wrorld being resist- j ia* dragged nr the threshold of a ee« and uncertain one. To the inner circle of financial men j given to good comradeship in exclu- j *ive club circl** the mention of the came of Reslltiw Marvel would bring i a tend-r glow to heart and brain. It would suggest a quaint tale told so even:* and entraneingly that the mem ory of the tranquil, musical tones would 1* Uke the echo of golden heads t topped into a crystal dish. In one . jud *t rped in the Ichors of Thalia, f Calliope of Euterpe, of Erato, in •h* next following some sloping tancy down a fairy trail of thought sweet j and refreshing as a field of daisies one of the Marvel reminiscent hours ] would mean a transformation of lazy ria.ng rings of rich Havana smoke Into j filmy lace pictures formed of cobwebs and star*bin* ;i:s sayings were chaste a* a Tiffany gem. his mind a palace, mak :ng men forget for the nonce that he held the destinies of the great banks as an egg shell in the palm of a giant. lulling them with this necro mancy of tone and professional expert aes» into it-- security of a Vision hoes* 1 asc fj. Ken t-;nce I eniereu me now for I saw *hat Keailius Marvel tu :c o:.- of his dark moods So i»:: I'd 2 know him that I at once dis cerned that he a as struggling with acme gr- at rase where the dead blank wad! of ’ No Clue" faced him grimly. He stood at the window looking of. at the rain-blurred lights of a glowing thoroughfare, Just now remindful of •OtBe woeful i'agdad Out of that wtr 1 of si :>wa a lone b.rd b* at its wrings against the window. Into its Meret. receeses M.irrel seemed be ring his way through obscure labyrinths, seek::* that which he must lind. Fitly framing 'be ; ;ctur« was a wail cov er- c b du;iicates o! famous fore-d che• 1 ; s tile chief who had flood'd th* ce r try with "phoney" pieraasB! scrip until Resllius Mar vel had t' - t.d him. Next was an ivory fan from Turk earn with a sanguinary streak that was the blood of & princ ess a fragment from u dracinited Americas *•*-♦* 1 pillar of Hindis that could fc:..T- told a racy tale of a smooth contractor And a bulging scrap book, clasped and lock d like a back code lodger *—swiwiwg his private j.* tSM ai n -* - on the new generation Of bark ertc.. i < modern In education us in an ap;-t'« .*'• of the value ,t the gtn er • tool, the drag." the raised cbecg m_..ipu!:-tor. the automobile as nasnu to crime against obsolete police methods Alsu}* then a a- an air of complete stfUnsM is this truer room. At the disturb.sg sound without He-siHus Mar vel tuir-d d.'*r*rt. i, and th-.*efore annoyed His eye fell upon Lo'i. his eervitor. who. velvet-shod, noiselessly peced the door and closed it after him The c a had a face like one of those you are on «ld Homan tn< dais, en ac ...atane- with the m >ods and ways of his mi-'-r 'hat enabled him to ques * -a Intel, gently and to respond ‘ rough a look, a hand movement, a mere eapr-wiion of the lips Hou was of three generations who had given th- r • ntire lives to the production of four famous statues—one at the ceme tery if Gmkml. three at the beautiful Pert Chaise at Paris. He was a theorist as to the sense of smell, hold ing that he could analyze a man by sc» • • g h » fat rite dish At him now in sharp silent challenge Marvel looked i n*'i »!.«! teiejaruic system bfl !g* <1 '!i. --liUM!. of inquiry and re aptM*~> I 'll at Marvel atralght wd up tiiO'-Jlv a* if touched by a sharp aw-otal pr»wl Tl. -n he glanced at rw and I further knew that b<* had •ande iw > -nr t'W re1 fnijxirtkat dt rwtfj in the Page* ease. M fc. t. I had first entered this .oon: ! f»!t mum that Marvel was preoccu pied and »hat, too, over the cave I hate mentinr.ed. In fact 1 had come tK-re on that business, being a bank sail at»c mys-it interested in its out come. To Marvel the banks were something more than clients—they j were as children vho went coupling down the 1.ne like tilted cards, once started in panic. It was for this rea sots, when the Clearing House after | two r*c*nt bank failures feared a gen era! run on deposits, that Marvel had emerte i all his abilities to s&o-ber s scandal in the case of the Guardian ' Trust k Savings bank, of which young 1 Tyler Paget was president. —hat oflcial »aa the son of one of ; thfc oldest financiers in the city. Fa therly fatomcc had given the junior a £a« start, ia fact bt mens had been so active that double the original capital j was soon invested It was trusting a great deal of responsibility to a very young and ineaperienced man. but ; Paget Jr., was of excellent personal, character and habits, and energetic | and ambitious however, the minute a a w b .rk fa I’ar .-d there is an lm-1 -t-m mediate invasion on The part of crooks, schemers, “piker ” ana delinquents who have been flagged at the older in stitutions Young Paget pretty shrew d ly evaded most of the pitfalls, but one day " King" Gundorf walked into the bank. It was not as Gundorf that he did this but as Bogart Rutledge. He an nounced that he was about to buy out the old and established Acme Metals company, a concern so well known to Paget that he was at once interested. Gundorf stated that he was paying $400,000 for the business, half cash, now held in escrow, as a receipt showed. He wished the bank to loan him $200,000, for which he, as the new president of the Acme, would put up the entire $5u0,t'00 stocks of that com pany. The bank had no right to make a loan in one volume so largely in ex cess of proportional capital restric tions. but Gundorf claimed it would be for only ten days and offered a hand some bonus, and the deal was made. In five days the explosion came To his dismay Paget learned that the pre tended Rutledge, In giving the collat eral note for 1200.000, had no authority to sign, at that time, as president o* the Acme. This fact relieved the cor poration of all liability and the nans held a worthless piece of paper and a non-valid stock transfer receipt. The next discovery was that Gundorf had disappeared with the $200,000 received from the bank, and that the $200,000 in escrow comprised counterfeit notes. When the escrow funds were exam ined this was made manifest, and a* this point Resilius Marvel was called In. He recognized the culprit from his •-annarks at once. Gundorf had been sentenced to a long term of imprison ment in Brazil a year back. He was supposed to be out of the way. foi a spell at least. But about six months since there had appeared on the mar ket a fifty-dollar counterfeit note, which, to Marvel's experienced eyes, was the product of Gundorf’s skill. Before any of them had been reoog r .z- d as dangerous by the banks. Mar v-1 had detected the flaws in the issue. There were two material variations from the stood notes. As soon as he -•-at out tilts possibility of world-wide identification, ail fifty-dollar notes were of course arar.ned closely. To run down the counterfeits was Marvel's first purpose; to help out the Guardian Trust and Savings an added motive. The Acme people had lost r.othtng. as th-.y simply invalidated the -stock contract. Paget, however, was out 1200.t" His father was nov. trying to raise this amount so the bank c aid com. ;c\ or, if r.eceseary, go out of busim ss honorably. The banks within the Clearing House were trying to smother publicity, for fear of a general run. Paget had been giv • n thirty days by tie. bank examiners to c! ur the situation. He had tech t.ica'iv violated the banking laws, and but for the pending sprained financial si' .lion liis bar.k would have been cl. -• u and himself prosecuted. The Guardian Trust and Savings <•; ar- d through our bank. Paget -was a p• r^onu! friend, I held fifty shares of the stock—that is how I was et* d. For two we>?ks Marvel had b-• r: on the truck of Guncr r . He had own :“as as to how far catching him would relieve conditions. You a: interested," he said, as I arose to leave 'lit room, fearing I might be in the way. Stay where jou are. 1 huoe I d a man watek-ng th ■ house nU re Gundorf lived until h- put over this last deal of his.” "But vacant, 1 underetand you to cay ?” "Vacant, true, but the rent paid up for six months, and telephone, gas and electricity ordered k-pt ready for U6e and paid for ahead I fancy rnv man has learned something at last, and I also imagine he is bringing somebody with him." As th* door opened on noiseless binges Loti 'is' -red into th- room two men The one w ho held the other a prisoti-r *t.- a powerful, unkempt fel low. who resembled a tramp who might have been el eplng in a dog kennel OTer night. 1 later found out that this was literally true—but for a week, instead of a day. HU companion, cringing, terror faced wildly distraught, was a lithe, wiry man, brown as a berry, with small, beady eyes. His garb was half foreign, his actions those of a menial. He »aj in a frantic excess of terror, ( and -rembled as Marvel fixed those! grave, boring eyes upon him. "1 made the catch on suspicion,” spoke his captor. “He was ringing at the door bell of the place we know, when 1 showed up He's an innocent, and doesn't understand a word of Eng ’.sh. Held out this card aud this pic ture," and the speaker gave both to Marvel, who glanced at them and then passed them to me. The card bore the address of the house under surveillance The photograph was a duplicate of one he had shown me more than onct— King" Oundorf Marvel nodded to his assistant, who departed like a man thoroughly train ed in his profession. The foreigner stood now nervously prtssing his un steady hands together, the cold sweat gathering on his face. Once he held out his hand piteously for the return of the articles taker, from him. Mar vel never removed his eyes from binn j I saw that he was studying him crit- ■ ically. He spoke a word to Loti I did not hear. As for himself, he went over to a bookcase. Loti went through the clothing of the man with remark able rapidity. All he came across, as 1 saw, was a purse containing a small sum of money. Marvel hastily con sulted half a dozen books, and turned and consulted the man. ! "Comprenez vous mol?" he asked. But he need not have spoken for all the words conveyed to hi? strange guest. "Wer bist du?” The foreigner looked puzzled. Then he jabbered out a hideous jargon in : some obscure tongue. , ■ Quien es usted?" No, the man spoke neither French, German nor Spanish. In some ori- '■ ental patois Marvel made a new try, i followed by one in a South African di- I alect. It was of no avail. Whoever the man, whatever his purpose in visit- i ing the Gundorf house, he could not j be intelligently approached on the subject. I saw Marvel grappling with this new. baffling problem in a mighty mental throe. Then he gave Loti an unspoken instruction and the latter left the room. Marvel backed to his desk. I saw him place his hands be- j hind him. seize a broad topped bottle. ' remove the stopper, insert one finger in it and come again to the stranger. As if carelessly he touched him on the back with that finger, drew him about, opened the door and waved him from the room. The man sped away at the injunc tion as though his feet were winged. Marvel pointed to my hat and over coat He briskly arrayed himself for j the street. When we reached it no j one was in sight. As we turned the | corner I saw Loti on one side of the , thoroughfare. On the other, racing along as though relieved from a vivid spell of restraint, was a man in the center of whose back glowed a dull splotch of phosphorus, an infallible guide at a distance, and explaining the manipulation of the bottle from the desk. Twice we lost sight of Loti, whose i duty it was to keep sight of the for eigner. On these occasions my com panion was not at all perturbed. But his roving eyes were all the more watchful. I followed their direction 1 more than once to observe some white ! marks on pavement or building, made, j | I knew afterwards, by a chalk crayon . inserted in the end of the cane which Loti carried. 1 do not think Loti spoke a half dozen words to his master as we finally came up with him, but these. ; the expression of his face, and some quick signs, seemed to convey to Mar vel a world of intelligence. Loti step ped back. Marvel moved me aside with a pressure of his palm and pushed open the street door of one of those small upper story hotels with which the city abounds. The inference was that Loti had traced his man to this place. I soon curiosity. But as the bending flaps opened out, to my amazement. Loti, with slight warning cry, betokening the most vivid alarm, was at the side of his master in a swift slide. He snatched at the satchel, snapped it shut again, and maintaining a tense grasp of the lock he stood pallid, his nostrils dilated, gazing with fixed and resolute challenge into the face of Marvel. “It is—pestilence,” he said simply, and slightly drew the satchel towards him. His fine mobile face expressed protection, defense. I noted a tremor spreading all over his sensitive frame, and he waved his hand. It made some what the same gesture that a person would make in dissipating an annoy ing cloud of thick smoke. Marvel returned the daring glance of his ally. Then those quick thoughts of his seemed to make a brisk run. He shrugged his shoulders as if there was a potentiality to the suggestions of Loti he could not dispute. He took out his card case. I was near enough to him to read the name he scribbled in pencil—"Dr. Peter Horn." I knew that he had sent for the most famous analyst in the city and I wondered what was coming next. Marvel was not the man to tell, at the present juncture. He sat down on the bed, facing the foreigner. He leaned his chin on his two hands, these resting on his knees, and fixed his eyes upon the cowering wretch as if he was looking through him and be yond him. It must have been fully an hour be fore Loti showed up. He was follow ed by the doctor, whom I had seen before—a big, burly, heavily whisker ed man, breathing deeply, looking everywhere—a restless monument of power and force. There was a small room with glass doors connecting with the one we were in. It seemed to have been used as a dressing room before the hotel had sunk to second class, and, being small, went gratis with the larger apartment. The doctor barely nodded to Marvel, who did not speak so much as a word. He was wont to impress his friends into service in a profes sional case. The doctor knew his ways as I know them. Loti must have explained what was expected of him. He proceeded to business at once. Dr. Horn had brought up from his automobile a large case. He set this on the floor, and his first movement was to proceed to the glass doors, HE WAS IN A FRANTIC EXCESS OF TEPPOR ANDTPEMB LING AS MARVEL FIXED THOSE GRAVE, BORING EYES UPON HIM knew this for a certainty. I was not at all sure that some sound signal, re mote and vague, was not cr-.veyed to my companion—that, or something telepathic or mystic. At all events, from an attitude of prim, soldier-like patience. Loti suddenly Etarted like a manikin unhinged With a move ment extremely courteous and apolo getic, as if deprecating that he must be in advance, he proceeded up the stairs, and I followed him. Not for an instant did he falter or deviate from a straight course. The hallway was lighted by lamps, but his eyes were cast down. Then, at the second landing I noticed a tiny green thread of raw silk close to the pro tecting baseboards alongside the stair treads, and guessed who had unreeled it. At the end of the third Loti, with unerring precision, arrived at a door, the transom of which showed light be yond. Almost but not quite noiseless ly, his long, shapely fingers groped across a panel. Again he must have caught some sound signal in response, entirely unnoticed by myself. He turned the knob of the door and we entered the room. Once more the foreigner was in evi dence. He sat, or rather lay crouch ed back in a ragged arm chair, akin to the rest of the poor furniture of that poor room. The old terror lurk ed in the depths of his shrinking eyes, and he was hushed and inert as a person subdued by some deadening in fluence of power he dared not resist. Marvel had lifted a satchel to the rickety table in the center of the room. There was in the apartment ap parently no other personal possession of the foreigner. To my crude mind, crude at least as compared with the professional work" ings of the mental machinery of a great man and his equally remarkable assistant, It was the most natural thing in the world that Marvel, hav ing cornered a mysterious quarry, should seize upon that satchel. Given a man who could not converse save in an obscure and unknown tongue, an investigation of his personal belong ings might reveal everything—any tuing. Therefore the only sensation . • xperienced as Marvel pressed the :k >bat he’d the satchel locked was I thrust them open, survey the space af i forded, and then point to the table. "Move it," he said tersely, and Loti carried it into the adjoining apartment. There was gas there, and the doctor lit a jet. Then he carried his case into the room, closed the doors, and drew from the case a glass head with air tubes at the top. He sprinkled some deodorizing acid about the room from a bottle, put on a pair of gloves, took out a microscope and proceeded I to his strange task. The foreigner paid no attention to j all this. Marvel did not seem par | ticularly interested. We four were j left in the outer room, but could dis cern the doctor's activities through the connecting door. I noticed Loti glide to the side of his master; I caught the words: The man is from a banana rais ing country.” "Your sixth sense tells you that, does it?” responded Marvel lightly, j "Then it must be South America." How true that instinctive sense of odor, of which Loti made a theory, was correct, the examination of the satchel by the doctor would sobn tell. The illustrious savant rapidly pulled forth its contents. It held nothing but a few worn garments. Selecting a skull cap from the litter, upon this the doctor focussed his micro scope. There were flashes of finely mirrored plates and instruments, the application of acids, a mixture of the scrapings of the wool from the cap, massed in a little lake of chemicals. Then the doctor closed the satchel, poured a new bottle of some disinfect ing agent over it, and replacing his i i analytical gear in its case, came out I : into the larger room. "Peru," he said simply to Marvel. I ; Southern part. The germs are the I i a bacilli, peculiar to that country j alone. And to the falling sickness ! [ particularly prevalent there. You will ; yet come before the great societies, Loti," he added admiringly. "You di agnosed it right—a banana country, and the pestilential taint The man should talk Spanish,” he supplement ed, with a keen glance over the for eigner. "But he doesn’t,” responded Marvel tersely. "I know what to do now. Thanks, doctor." He glmced at Loti and motioned me to follow him and Dr. Horn. At the street Marvel dismissed the latter with a nod, proceeded along briskly, hailed the first taxi we met, gave a brief direction, and we were whirl ed away to a street in the foreign quarter. The taxi halted in front of a row of old buildings. Their occupants were incongruous. One little store bore a window full of more varieties of sau sages than I expected to exist in the entire world. There was a store given over to Hungarian wines, a Japanese restaurant and two curio shops. These were reminders of world's fair years, of stranded importations, and Marvel seemed to know them like a book. It was not five minutes before he reappeared from od< of the curio stores. A swarthy man in a fez was with him. We were again whirling along to our terminus, the hotel. It was all so swift, so silent, so im pressive—Marvel’s resistless rush of ideas and events, carrying me along ; irresistibly—that it reminded me of the changing scenes of a motion pic ture film. The curio man was usher ed into the room where we had left Loti and the other. He viewed the foreigner with a measuring glance, and spoke half a dozen words in a tongue-twisting dialect. In an instant the foreigner was transformed. Eyes, frame and soul seemed to awake. He uttered a joy ful cry and flung himself on his knees, clasping those of the curio man, jab bering away twixt sobs of delight and tears of relief. Marvel softly rolled a cigarette with those deft hands of his, which with equal facility could slip a ring upon the dainty finger of a debutante or snap a pair of handcuffs around the brawny wrists of a burglar. I knew i he divined the end of circumstnce and the beginning of coherency. There was a rapid colloquy between the foreigners. Then there was a whispered conversation carried on by Marvel and the curio man in a corner ; of the room. The latter returned to the prisoner. Some animated discus | sion ensued. And then the foreigner did a quite remarkable thing. He removed his shoes, and for the first time I noticed how broad and how thick were the soles. Their owner looked appealingly at the curio man. who nodded reassuringly, as though promising protection. The former took a shell-like article from his pock et, stripped back the edge of each sole, tore them lengthwise, and from those hiding places produced two oblong rigid articles cased and encased in j cushions of the softest wool. I watched Marvel as he received : these, placed them in his pocket, and made a motion to Loti, who in turn touched my arm ceremoniously with I the simple words: ■'We will go.” "To sum up,” Resilius Marvel ad ; vised me when 1 visited his office the next evening, 'the two packages were these,” and he produced from his desk two steel plates and proofs of the same. "The $50 plates," I remarked nat urally. "Not at all,” was the dissent—"du plicates of the old plates, with the flaws I pointed out rectified. The old issue served their purpose. These peo ple are shrewd. Cashiers will be on i the lookout for the old flaws only. The new notes would pass without suspi cion, at least for a time. 1 know the man who has been making these plates, but I did not know that he was working, secluded in Peru, until last night. That native was sent with these \ plates, concealed as you have seen. He I was instructed in detail what he was to do. There has been a hitch some where, at least a change in the plans of the people at this end of the line, of Gundorf and his associates. That he or they will be looking out for the Pe ruvian, however, is so certain that I shall install myself in the house where we found the native. You may help me out, and I will tell you how." Marvel proceeded to do so. For two nights in succession I carried food supplies to my patient and invincible friend, and messages from him and to Loti. The third night, as I ap proached the house by the rear, as 1 always did, 1 noticed a strange thing and halted, looking up sharply. A man was leaping the space be tween the two houses. I knew that He saw me and was startled, for I watched him peer down at me. I could only construe that this person was en tering the vacant house surrepti tiously by the roof and scuttle route. At just that moment a clear sound pro ceeded from the house I was about to enter—the sharp, quick jangle of a telephone bell. The man aloft must have been sus picious of my appearance. Perhaps he caught the sound of footsteps in the house, those of its solitary occu pant. At any rate, I heard a sharp snap, a severed wire whipped down between the houses, nearly striking my face, and the man leaped back over the «pace and disappeared. Perhaps two full minutes passed away, and I was -tbout to enter the house, when the r>ar door flew open and Marvel was upon me. "No delay!” he spoke quickly. *>nd seized the food valise I carried ani flung it on the step. Then he star^ ed on a run, reached the next street, and hailed a taxicab, and gave the quick words: "Central telephone office.” "What?” I interrogated simply. "A crash of thunder.” I did not understand, but I hoped to, soon. He left me, his first point of destination reached. I watched him rush into the telephone building, then out of it, with the sharp mandate: "Signal service bureau,” to the chauf feur—“Bad system in there,” co my self. "You are ready for a fifty mile run, double fares?” he inquired of the chauffeur as he came out from the weather brueau. “I'm ready,” was the willing re sponse. "My wait at the vacant house,” said Marvel, as he fled down a country road, "was rewarded by a telephone call. I was at the receiver promptly. Is that you Franklin?’ was challenged, and then—It’s King’—and I knew i was talking with Gundorf. There was an interruption, and the current went." "Yes, the •wires on the root were cut—” I began, "No, a crash of thunder at the far end of the line.” I pointed to the blue sky, with all | the stars a-sparkle. Marvel laughed. “There was no trace at the ex change of the call.” he explained. I “Suburban, that was all. At the weath er bureau a passing storm cloud re ported at one station oDly—at Blox ton. We are going there.” W e reached Bloxton in an hour and a half. Marvel located the telephone exchange. He came out bright and brisk. "Message sent from the office here direct by one Colonel Worthington,” he said to me, after giving a direction to the chauffeur. “Newcomer. Blind. Passing cloud, clap of thunder—only j one—struck the wires. My man.” J was standing just behind Marvel when he entered the library of a se cluded house at the edge of the town. , A bewhiskered man with big, obscur ing goggles, was seated in an arm chair. Marvel approached him, look ed keenly at him, reached over and— j removed a false ear. This was the I identifying trademark of "King” Gun dorf, half an ear bitten off by a swin dler confrere in the years past. I know not in detail how the case was adjusted, but Gundorf gave up nearly all of the $200,000. I think the bargain was that he should leave the country. At all events, the Guardian Trust & Savings did not go out of business, and is still withfti the clear ing house. A week later, while in the office of l the United Bankers' Protective as sociation, Marvel led me with a look to his desk. He opened a drawer and took out the photograph of a lovely woman. Her name, “Orthello," was written on the card. He next unrolled the plans of a wonderful mansion. With a pencil he drew a line through i its first story. Then I knew that his exertions in the Paget case had paid for that much , of his future' home, and that he was that much nearer to the fruition of his , dream of a home—and Orthello. HOME WORKERS NEED REST Woman Makes Some Valuable Sugges tions to Housewives Who Are “Too %usy” to Get Recreation. In every paper we read there is so much said about work and ways of doing work, but very little about rest, says a woman writing in Farm and j Fireside. I don’t mean to underesti mate the value and importance of work, for idleness is satan’s workshop. I do all my housework, cooking, wash ing. ironing and sewing for a family of five. But every few days I let some things go undone, temporarily, to | take a drive of eight or ten miles with i my husband in our machine. He al ways wants me to go with him, and there are very few times that I don't j go. After we return I soon get the work done, for I am rested and feel so much more like doing it. This has gone on now for three years, and I am I always up with my work. Many women work their lives away and then censure someone else, espe cially their hnshands. But a women has no one to blame but herself, for she knows her own strength best. What 1 if you can't get everything done you planned? Remember there are other days. Don’t say, “I haven't time.” There is no greater infringer on need ed rest than the common excuse, “7 haven't time.” Mistakes Not Fatal. There are a great many persons in 1 this world who look upon a mistake 1 as something inexcusable and fatal to their best interests. They seem actu ally afraid to enter into new activities for fear that they may make a blunder and in this way threaten their future success. They look no further than the mistake itself and seem to forget that it is possible to correct it with great advantage to themselves. If we j would only stop and think for a mo | menr we would recall that life is full ; of mistakes and that it is only through their correction that we make any ad vance at all. We cannot learn if we ; do not make blunders at times, be ! cause it is only through our own ex perience that we make any real head way. — Ridiculing the Puritans. It is the fashion of late to speak condescendingly of the Puritans, as of a people of narrow views and of men of sour temperament; but no descend ant of theirs, and no later immigrant who now dwells in the commonwealth they founded, and enjoys the bless ings which it bestows upon us. will fail to glory in being able to trace back to such forerunners, writes William Iioscoe Thayer in the American Maga zine. The story of the conditions which faced the passengers of the ‘Mayflower’ when they landed at Ply mouth can never be too often repeat ed. To have as founders of our state men and women who ‘had the fear of God in their hearts, but feared the face of no man.’ ranks as the initial glory of Massachusetts. First to Make Map of Japan. The first man to make an accurate map of the Japanese empire was a na tive named Ino Chuke. born in 1747. His early trade was that of a brewer, which he followed until 1SOO, amassing a fortune. He then asked permission to make a map of the Island Empire, at his own expense, and, his request being grant ed. the task occupied his best efforts for 18 years. He had 13 assistants, and the results were incorporated in 14 volumes. All instruments used were of Chuke’s own design and construc tion.—East and West News. Cooped ’Em Up. “Our work is to bring all people (loser together.” said the lecturer. “Well. I’ve done my bit in that,” re plied n man in the audience. “I've built two of these 50-apartment build ings in this town.” Easily Explained. “I wonder how that secret got out, for it was told under the rose in the conservatory.” “I guess the speakers were too near the rubber nlnnra ” NEGRO SOLDIERS IN OUTBREAK NEAR HOUSTON FOR INCREASED INCOME TAX Sentiment in Senate Strong for In crease in Incomes and Prefits— Will Issue Bulletins of War tTestera Newspaper Union News Sen-Ice. Houston, Tex.—Twelve white men, civilians, police officers and national guardsmen were killed and more than a score of persons, men, Vomen and children, were wounded in an out break here of negro soldiers of the Twenty-fourth United States infantry, stationed here to act as guards dur ing the construction of Camp Logan at which the Illinois national guard will train. It is not known how many negroes are dead. Capt. J. W. Mattes, Battery A, Sec ond Illinois field artillery, was among the dead, being killed when he tried to remonstrate with the negro sol diers who were running rampant. The outbreak is supposed to have originat ed when two negro soldiers were ar rested for disturbing the peace early In the afternoon. The firing began when an ambu lance started through the section oc cupied by the negro soldiers. They stopped the ambulance and firing a volley, riddled it. It was this volley that wounded a sixteen-year-old white girl standing in her father's store. Po lice reserves were sent out and were met by volleys from the negroes. Civ ilians went to the assistance of the police officers and firing continued for an hour and a half. Will Issue War Bulletins Washington.—The first official sum mary of the war activities of the United States will be issued in a few days by Secretary Baker, to be fol lowed weekly thereafter with state ments of such matters as may be dis closed without violating military pre cautions. The exact nature of the statements has not been made known. Secretary Baker said he would go Just as far as the military advisers of the government deemed it wise toward Informing the public of what was in progress. Information of every sort reaching the department will be scru tinized for publishable matter. When American troops get into ac tion in France daily statements prob ably will be issued, founded upon the reports from General Pershing. Regarding many rumors of disas ters to American troops or shipping, constantly being circulated. Mr. Baker reiterated emphatically the pledge of the administration to withhold news 3f misadventure of the forces from the public. Every untoward happen ing will be announced promptly, he said, and the public may rest assured that no news means good news to that extent. FOR HIGHER INCOME TAX Senate Sentiment Strong for Increase In Incomes and Profits Washihgton.—Senate sentiment for higher taxation of incomes and war profits has been given initial expres sion by rejection of finance' commit tee recommendations, and tentative adoption of provisions adding $72. 000.090 to the war tax bills on indi viduals' incomes subject to stir; ax After several days' spirited discussion of tax .ncreases the senate returned to consideration of committee amend ments and voted 74 to 0 for Senator Gerry's amendment to greatly raise surtaxes on incomes exceeding $500, 000, c mated to secure $46,225,000 more revenue. It was quickly fol lowed by voting, with small majori ties, to retain the house surtaxes cn incomes from $6',000 to $500.00-). in cluding the so-called Leuroot amend ments. This is estimated to add $26, 175,000 in revenue. England Answers Papal Note London.—England, first of the bel ligerent powers to answer the pope's suggestions, has presented a formal note to the Vatican through British Minister Desalis, declaring the 1-loly Father's plan would be examined “in i benevolent and serious spirit." Car dinal Gasparri. papal secretary of state, expressed his gratification at the response. El Paso. Tex.—Negotiations for a loan of $100,000,000 or American money to the Mexican government have been under way here for more than a week. The negotiations have been in progress between a large New York banking firm, the name of which was not given out, and Presi dent Caranza direct. Telegrams have been exchanged between Jau-e/. and Mexico City and between New York and El Paso during the week and St is announced semi officially that preliminary arrangements had been completed. British Make Fierce Attack. London.—The British troops attack ing fiercely again have captured im portant strategic positions for a mil along Ypres-Menin road, to a depth of nearly a third of a mile, and fur ther to the north carried forward their front about a half mile over an ex tent of two and a half miles. The fighting, according to the official re port from British headquarters, wa of the most desperate nature, ti e pr: oners taken bearine a small ratio 11 the loss inflicted on the Gormans. Washington. — Loving mothers, sweethearts and kind friends must not load drafted men wiith a lot of clothes and comforts '.. hen they start to camp September fifth. Provost llarshal General Crowder has ruled. The 206.100 boys entraining for can tonments wTill be allowed to taka very little. Trunks are absolutely taboo Suit cases and hand bags will be frowned upon. The war department prefers that each man bring only necessary toilet articles and one change of linen and underclothing, dene up in a neat small bundle.