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THEFATAL REQUEST
ORFOU N D 0 U T
ii i ii i ii jiii mini mi ii
By A L Harris Author of Mino Own Familiar Friend etc
Copyright 189 1 by Oat tell FZ b 1 1 1 h I n g Company
Copyright a 0 o 3 bytreet Smith
CHAPTER IV Continued
My doar James interrupted Mr
Burritt hastily yea must know very
well that it isnt that But the truth
of the matter Is Ive a great averslon
to firearms Still if you will assure
mo that the weapon isnt loaded
- 111
Ill assure you of that or anything
else that will add to your peace of
mind was the somewhat equivocal
reply At any rato it isnt loaded
now and what is more I will also
give you my word that I will not at
tempt to blow out my brains during
the journey or he added as a sort
of afterthoughtJanyone elses
When Mr Burritt and his friend ar
rived at the station the latter took
a considerable amount of trouble to
insure a separate compartment to
themselves In tact Mr Burritt rather
fancied ho saw him give something to
the guard who thereupon locked tho
door upon them and consigned them
to solitude
The carriage in question it may be
worth remembering was the fourth
from the engliie
I wonder thought Mr Burritt to
himself as the train steamed out of
the station which is the pocket he
carries the revolver in Then his
thoughts wandered away from tho
actual present I suppose I shall find
them all right at home Dear dear
anyone would think I had been away
a month What an old fogey Im get
ting By-the-by I wonder what James
is thinking about he looks uncom
monly gloomy I wish hed say some
thing instead of staring out- of the
window in stony silence Somehow
one doesnt like the notion of riding
alone with a man who has shed
another mans blood especially when
ho carries a revolver I wonder
whether hos thinking of that or
what
If Mr Burritt could have read what
was passing in his companions mind
he would have been amazed to find
pealing to her son I suppose theres
no miutike about the day Your door
father dtdnt men to morrow
Her son produced the telegram
which In had about him and repeated
the coutunts aloud
Am returning to day by the 430
train Sjall be homo to dinner
Friend atcompaaies me
Well Im sure I dont know what to
do about i exclaimed the poor lady
almost wringing her hand3
Hadnt jou better go and speak to
cook yourself said her son making
tho propoiai without the slightest
comprehension of what it involved
I suppose I had murmured his
mother very well Jane you can say
Im coming suid she left the room
leaving the 7oung people together
Arent yon tired of standing May
asked her brother addressing the girl
who had scarcely varied her attitude
an inch in tht last half hour
Tired sht exciaimed half turn
ing round WTiat has that got to do
with it I want to ba the first to see
them Then me added Tell me
what you meant to say a little while
ago when you began I wish and
stopped
Why ho answered gloomily I
was going to say I wish the governor
had never started on this journey
though he addeif in a hurry of
course hes all right missed the train
or else theres a blok on the line or
something only He b oke off
without bringing hiA sentence to a
conclusion and asktd Was that
what you wished too
I she exclaimed I wish that
and more I wish he had never had
that letter I wish his friend who
ever he is had never corta back from
where he was
Oh come now was thj would be
comforting response now youre go
ing ahead too far Of courso its vex
ing and all that but after all the
only thing that will really suffer will
be the dinner and that wont be fit
ir dMiiii
Started to his feet with a cry
hat instead of dwelling upon the
past he was merely repeating over
and over to himself the words which
the former had spoken only a few
hours before The secret lies be
tween us two The secret lies be
tween us two
CHAPTER V
The 430 Train
Dinner at Magnolia Lodge had been
ordered for a quarter to eight in or
der to suit the convenience of the trav
elers who were expected to arrive at
about that hour
As tlie time drew on Mrs Burritt
suddenly became troubled again in her
mind concerning the soap dish
I do wish after all I had ordered
the best spare bedroom to be got
ready though Ive generally consid
ered the second best good enough for
a single gentleman and I suppose he
is a single gentleman Eut for all
that
Here they are suddenly cried her
daughter May who was watching from
the window
Well its too late to make any
change now sighed her parent half
relieved at having the matter sum
marily settled and perhaps he wont
notice the crack I do hope my cap is
on straight
The said cap was as usual consid
erably out of the perpendicular but
as it happened its lack of rectitude
was in this instance of no particular
consequence for the alarm proved
false and the cab which had at first
appeared as though about to draw up
before the house resumed its snail
like crawl and gradually disappeared
Then came another sppll of waiting
They must have missed their train
at London Bridge said Ted Burritt
Perhaps the other one was late Ive
looked in Bradshaw and see that its
due in town at seven oclock If so
they ought to be here by this time
The next half hour slowly ticked
itself away without bringing any
change in the position of affairs
They were all vacantly conscious of an
increasing sense of anxiety and de
pression within Why did they not
come Surely if they had missed
one train there had been plenty of
time to catch the next Then tho
clock chimed the half hour and at the
same moment an interruption took
place The message Tan
If you please m cook wants to
know what she is to do about dinner
Mrs Burritt started nervously Im
sure I dont know Jane Then
to eat if they dont come directly
As if in answer to this remark Mrs
Burritt at that moment re entered the
room She was flushed and agitated
and as was apparent to the most ob
tuse observer on tho verge of tears
Really cook has been most trying
she sighed as she sank into the near
est chair She almost intimated that
I had done it on purpose She says
she has never been used to such ways
and that flesh and blood wont stand
it let alone legs of mutton She says
she can give us another ten min
utes but no more
The ten minutes passed as the pre
vious thirty had done and at the end
of that time three very dispirited peo
ple sat down to their spoiltdinner
May soon noticed that her brother
whose attention had been obviously
wandering for some time past appear
ed to be listening to sometning from
without At first her heart bounded
Could it be that they had arrived at
last Was it the click of the gate that
he was straining his ear to catch
or the sound of footsteps upon the
gravel drive without So she too
listened in her turn hoping to be able
to distinguish one or the other of
these welcome but long delayed sig
nals But the only thing she could hear
was the faint sound of a voice which
seemed to be shouting something
in the distance May also perceived
that the voice was drawing gradually
nearer and resolving itself into that
of a peripatetic newsboy who was
vending his wares and shouting out
the most sensational headings at the
top of his voioe Was that all Still
he was not yet near enough for her
to distinguish the sense of the sounds
which caught her ear from time to
time as she absently crumbled her
bread and thought to herself over and
over again If only father would come
home
Mrs Burritt as though the thought
had set in motion some electric cur
rent which connected the two brains
remarked at this juncture I sup
pose they are quite certain to be here
some time to night
Almost before the words were out
of her lips her son who was sitting
on her right started to his feet with
a cry
What is it Oh what is it ask
ed his sister as a sensa of something
terrible about to happen fell upon her
He made no reply but with dilat
ing eyes stood there with every facul
ty absorbed in the one effort -
Then ne raised one hand the other
clutched the edgo of tho table Lis
ten he gasped
And tho voice without now closo
to their very gates made Itself plainly
hoard as it shouted out tho latest bul
letin
Spechul hedishun Hevenin Stand
ard Orrible railway haccldent Over
twenty killed and hinjured The four
thirty from Dover wrecked by a down
train carryln petroleum barrels The
line on fire Horful scenes Artrend
In details
CHAPTER VI
The Search for a Father
What happened after this no one
ever knew exactly Before Mrs Bur
ritt had begun to grasp the idea that
something was wrong her son had
rushed from the room
After what seemed an age of wait
ing but was really a very short time
he returned In his hand he held a
copy of the newspaper which ho had
just bought Mother ho said put
ting a strong restraint upon himself
I am afraid there has been an acci
dent on the line You mustnt be
alarmed for though some people
have been injured there is no reason
why my father should not have es
caped and very likely the affair has
been greatly exaggerated
Ted said his sister In a voice
almost as calm as his own though
her face had lost every particle of
color and seemed to have suddenly
become years older Let us know
the worst And she held out her
hand for the paper
The worst he answered with a
sound like a strangled sob in his
voice Why should there be any
worst And as for the paper crump
ling it up in his hand you cant place
the slightest dependence upon that
Im Im going up to town by the next
train so as to be on the spot and
He may bo hurt in some way you
know he added slowly by way of
preparing their minds for whatever
might be tho result He may have
come off with a broken leg or some
thing of that sort You can hardly
expect him to have got off scot free
But whatever it is Im going to find
him out and bring him back home
Take care of mother this to his sis
ter and he was gone
But before he could leave the house
while his hand was yet upon the latch
he found himself confronted by the
girl Good bye she said slowly and
sadly You will do your best but
I have no hope none
He caught a train which was on the
very point of starting and leaped
into the first carriage he came to
Then he took out the paper which he
had kept so carefully from the sight of
those others at home and began to
study more earnestly the brief but
terrible announcement which it con
tained
To be continued
As She Understood It
He was telling a poker story but
she only caught this sentence And
then of course I called and
She interrupted him reproachfully
and also with some asperity
Ive caught you John Henry she
exclaimed Here Ive been trying to
get you to call on the Joneses for the
last three months and you wouldnt
do it said you didnt like to make
calls then you go out and make one
by yourself or else you go calling
with someone else Yes that must
be it What is she Jphn Henry
Who is this person who can get you
to make calls when you wont make
them with your wife
John Henry looked at his masculine
friends and winked slyly
Shall I -tell her he asked
Might as well they said
In this case he then told her
three ladies induced me to call
Three
Yes but he hastened to add if
you came across them in the pack
you would probably call them queens
It was a great joke his masculine
friends assured him of that but he
hasnt succeeded in explaining the
matter to his wifes satisfaction yet
Chicago Post
St Peter Remembered
A poor son of Erin died and was
lauded as a very good man by all his
neighbors Arriving at The Gate he
found his way barred by Saint Peter
Before ye can enter says Saint
Peter will ye tell me ye are not
guilty of any great sin
I am not said Paddy
Think again said Saint Peter
Well says Paddy thinking hard
I remember once using bad language
over an ould rooster we had
That was a great sin said Saint
Peter and yez cant come in
Paddy turned sorrowfully away but
before he had gone for Saint Peter
recalled him
Ive been thinking said Saint
Peter and I think ye must have had
great provocation and that your lan
guage was perhaps excusable Ye can
come in I remember I once had
trouble with the same sort of bird
myself
The Kitchen Range
A fine housekeeper says since paint
ing her kitchen range she has never
blackened it with stove polish Every
spring when cleaning house she buys
a can of enamel from a druggist and
naints her stove with it The stove
needs no cleaning except dusting
wiping off
DEATH FOR INDUSTRY
DANGER INVOLVED IN INCREAS
ED FOREIGN COMPETITION
For Every Days Work Brought In
from Abroad There Must Be an
Equivalent Days Work Lost to the
Wage Earners of the United States
An important and enduring contri
bution to economic and political litera
ture is to be found in the speech of
Lafayette Young before the Polk
County Republican Club in Des
Moines Cct 20 1903 It is a speech
that will live and if we are not mis
taken will do duty in more than one
campaign In vigor of style In clear
cut epigrammatic expression in viril
ity and in uncompromising stalwart
ism it deserves and will have a place
among the greatest speeches of the
greatest advocates of Republicanism
and Protectionism Iowa was essential
ly the proper place for its origin
Iowa the home of progressives tho
breeding ground of backsliders
the culture field of tho re
form bacillus the state where
a premium Is paid for the be
trayal of party principle We have
long been of the opinion that Lafe
Young was needed in that section of
the country Now we know it The
speech of Oct 20 demonstrates the
fact
With swift strokes the editor of tho
Daily Capital sketches political his
tory for the past twenty seven years
Coming down to the time when the
reformers and the progressive in
side the Republican party made their
first successful attack upon the policy
of protection when as now they were
saying The tariff is too high it
must be reformed Mr Young tells
what happened to prospr ity in 1892
and the four years following
But the country was startled after
calm was restored after the election
of 1892 when it was discovered that
the grand aggregation of disagreement
and discontent had captured the gov
ernment Fear was in the land Men
who voted for Cleveland trembled and
regretted it Then followed the strug
gle upon the part of Cleveland and his
Young devotes attention ana though
he calls nobody by name it will be
strange indeed if there be not some
burning in the eais of some people
in high places out there in Iowa His
chapter on competition is a superb
specimen of logic and sarcasm Says
he
There never is competition when
every man has more tnan he can do
There will not be competition until
half the men have less than they
can do There is never any competi
tion so long as a man cannot make a
thing as rapidly as he can sell it
There will be competition when it
takes a man two days to find a cus
tomer for the thing that he made in
one day Some people like
to be coaxed to buy They like to be
chased by the man who has something
to sell They like to get cut rates
looks like new does not rust and They have not been getting ct rates
and lately There are never any cut rates
in good times
They say they do not want to tear
French People in Britain I down the tana wall tney only want
There are 26600 French in Great to lower it a couple of inches Usually
Britain and Ireland more than three
fourths of the number being in Lon
don The business most followed
among these is cookery As English
laundresses are prized in France sa
French cocks are valued In England
when a dam is high enough to keep
the water out lowering it two inches
would be as fatal as its entire re
moval
When the floods swept down
through East Des Moines last May it
T T
was becauso somo progressive clll
zen had probably insLsted that tho
diko was a little too high and that
it would do no harm to let tho water
run over a little A tariff low enough
to bring in foreign competition to
destroy so called American monopoly
would fall of Its purpose if it wore not
low enough to bring in immense quan
tities of goods from abroad If it did
not increase importations it would bo
a failure and if it increased importa
tions it would close tho American fac
tory
Men who talk about competition
deal with the subject glibly as if mar
kets were abundant They think that
largo importations would not throw
any American out of a job But
I say for every days work performed
in Europe for the benefit of American
somo American loses a days work
whether he is employed by a trust or
some heartless indiyidual operating
singly and alone Somo men say that
competition can be let in from Eu
rope long enough to destroy tho trusts
and combines and then be thrown out
again by the readoption of protection
Easily and unanswerably Mr Young
shows that upon the high wages paid
in the mills and factories which for
eign competition would close depends
the prosperity of Iowa farmers When
men are out of work he says the
farmer does not sell them spring
chickens and potatoes No and
neither does the doctor the lawyer
the clergyman nor anybody else
thrive as well always excepting tho
pawnbroker
As to the proposition that the tariff
be revised by the friends of protec
tion Lafe Young does not like it
He is of the opinion that when an In
dustry has been killed by tariff re
duction It is none tho less dead be
cause Republicans brought about tho
reduction
I say to night that if tho America-
Congress in Republican hands in
the year 1904 or the year 1905 under
takes a general reform of the tariff
ripping it here and there and enters
upon a general debate and discussion
of this great subject so vitally con
nected with our commerce every in
dustry will be killed just as dead as if
the Democratic party were in power
BIX 1
followers to keep the party pledges
Then ensued the long debate on the
tariff question and the factories
closed banks collapsed and the great
republic was in the throes of business
disaster the like of which had not
been since 1837 The American peo
ple repented and felt educated in
political economy They swore if they
ever had another chance they would
bury Democracy and free trade so
deep that Gabriels trumpet would
never reach any of them
And they did it in 189G with that
result the world already knows so
well that Great Britain is now on the
point of discarding free trade and
profiting by the example of the United
States in restoring prosperity through
protection But there has been too
much prosperity in the last six years
and the reformers are at work again
las they were in 1892 To them Mr
and tho investigation were being
made by the Democrats
With truth and force Mr Young
urges that when McKinley made his
famous Buffalo speech in 1901 he had
in mind the reciprocity of Blaine and
only that and never contemplated ad
justing a reciprocity treaty to kill one
industry which we had promised to
protect to build up another already
protected Mr McKinley did not
believe in reciprocity in competitive
products in reciprocity that would
take from a single American worker
his job be he a worker in a factory
or on a farm He did not believe that
the cheapest products of any foreign
country should be permitted to enter
into competition with the products of
the Americans who grow sugar cano
in Louisiana and Texas who grow
sugar beets in Colorado and Califor
nia who grow tobacco in Connecticut
and Wisconsin who grow fruits and
vegetables in Florida who grow wool
in Ohio and Montana who grow grain
in all the Northern states He would
never have urged such a policy upon
Congress Much less would he have
called an extra session as a means of
forcing it through
In one of the concluding paragraphs
of Mr Youngs speech the situation is
thus summed up
If any of these schemes of tariff
ripping are to be seriously considered
the best thing any man can do is to
convert his present property into
money and then wait until the crash
comes and buy other peoples property
at 25 cents on the dollar It seems
strange that Republicans have been
found giving ear to doctrines so re
cently denounced Not so strange pos
sibly when wo remember that Repub
lican farmers and Republican working
men in 1892 elected Grover Cleveland
and with him a tariff ripping Con
gress
And unless this craze among Repub
licans for tariff ripping is checked by
Republicans we shall be found travel
ing the same road as in 1892 with
another tariff ripping Democratic
president in the White House and an
other tariff ripping Congress at the
other end of Pennsylvania avenue
KILLINa OFf INDIANS
EAU DE COLOGNE DESTROYS CA
NADIAN ABORIGINES
They Have Been Quick to Learn That
Toilet Preparations Contain Intoxi
cants and the Demand for the De
coctions Is Enormous
Eau do cologne and other toilet prep
arations are doing a great deal of harm
among the Indians of Peace River dis
trict In Northwestern Canada accord
ing to a member of the Canadian Goo
logical Survey who lias just returned
from a visit to that region
Tho harm comes from the fact that
tho Indians drink them
Cologne and various other concoc
tions known as Florida water essonco
of ginger and essence of peppermint
are prepared especially for internal
use by traders who aro not permitted
to sell whisky to tho Indians Tho
stuff Is In reality nine tenths puro
alcohol J M Macoun of the Cana
dian Survey says that tho traffic in
alcohol thus disguised has becomo
such a serious matter that tho mission
aries have become discouraged and
the business of the Hudson Bay Com
pany promises to bo embarrassed
The Indians havo learned that tho
sweet smelling things are to drink and
aro not to be wasted as exterior oint
ments If one wero to consult the
Dominion records of importations ono
would suppose that the Indian half
breeds of the Northwest had suddenly
developed a remarkable fondness for
cleanliness for the customs reports
show an unusual increase In the quan
tity of toilet water imported Most of
these preparations come from tho
United States
According to Mr Macoun the effects
of drinking these preparations aro
very serious The cologne is especial
ly injurious as it has shown a ten
dency to affect the eyesight of In
dians drinking it continuously
An Indian who has drunk a pint
bottle of cologne contracts a jag which
would put a continuous round of ten
Manhattan cocktails to shame Tho
prevailing tint of everything accord
ing to a few intelligent half breeds
who had used cologne was a beauti
ful green of varying shades
Mr Macoun also asserts that ho
took one drink of cologne just to see
what sort of stuff the Indians wero
drinking and found it so sweet and
nauseating and at the same time so
burning hot that he was glad to end
his experiments The essence of pep
permint water if taken in moderate
quantities and the essence of ginger
he thought might be beneficial to per
sons exposed to the rigor of the north
ern climates but it would be far hot
ter to secure unadulterated essences
prepared at a chemists rather than
to drink the stuff prepared for tho
Indians and half breeds
GLADSTONES PCVER OF WILL
Enabled Great Statesman to Conquer
Physical Weakness
Gladstone fables are rather numer
ous A good many of them are demol
ished in Mr Morleys Life The world
used to hear that he never lost his
power of sleeping after the most ex
citing nights in Parliament But in
his diary for 1852 he writes Nervous
excitement kept me wakeful after
speaking the first time for many
years Twenty years later ho had
several spells of sleeplessness He
characteristically explains that it was
not the lack of sleep that troubled him
but the consequent state of his brain
next morning At other times he was
afflicted with neuralgic attacks His
eyes magnificent to look at wero
never very strong The Life more
over supplies abundant proof of his
possession of a vital force not to be
measured by any physical standard
He could conquer weakness by indom
itable will and indulge in feats of en
durance which would have been dan
gerous but for his splendid powers of
recuperation When greatly troubled
he seems to have found the relief he
required in talking it all over with
Catherine his devoted wife
New Mountaineering Records
Mountaineering records have recent
ly been broken in two respects in the
Hunza Nagar peaks of the Himalayas
on the northwest frontier of India
For four years past Mr and Mrs Bul
lock Workman have been carrying on
climbing operations in those parts
with the aid of Swiss guides and Aug
12 last Dr Workman and two guides
climbed an unnamed peak near the
Chogo Loongma glacier to a height
of 23394 feet They did not quite
reach the top but this is higher than
the previous worlds record which is
the summit of Aconcagua in the
Andes 23083 feet Mount Everest
however the highest peak in the
world still remains unconquered On
the same day Mrs Bullock Workman
reached a height of 22568 feet which
breaks the previous record for women
held by herself by 1568 feet Mrs
Workman is mild looking and middle
aged with gray hair and a by no
means athletic figure
The Old Farm
The old farmhouse I see It again
In its low dark eaves the twittering wren
Is nested as long ago
And I breathe once more the south winds
balm
And sit and watch in the twilights calm
The bats flit to and fro
The white cows He at the pasture bars
And the dairy cool with it tns and jars
Is jtored with curds and cream
Theres somebody putting the things to
right
And through the window I see the light
From the tallow candle gleam
The garden id rich with its old time
bloom
And I catch in fancy the faint perfume
Of blossoms dank with dew
And over it all is the starlit dome
And round about It the peacti of the
home
How it all cones back to view
