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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1901-5-16, Page 3A WICKED GIR BY M.4.11Y CECIL HAY. (CONTI:6TCgD.) Another caller?'' The unexpected question Inoue - ed Imrry from thought as the millgate was opened tor her on her return by Mr, Basset. As she lifted her eyes straight to his, a curi- ous feeling stirred her heart to its depths, a passionate longing that all the world should knew how impossi- ble it was that this man could be guilty of any real ill feeling toward his murdered cousin. She never for- got ;with what wild strength it surg- ed within her at that moment, when so' unexpectedly her gaze met his. "I did not see you, Mr. Basset, My sister calm to seek her bird_ She found it, dead." Steven did not answer, and it struck her that he was looking riot only ridiculously grave, but even stern, over this intelligence. She feels it very anuch," Derry added, scarcely knowing "why. • 'I have no doubt. Excuse that aberration of intellect, Miss Hope, but you came upon inc just as I was trying to recall a verse. What is it? 'Tears from Pluto:s dark dominion Can not now thy husband keep; If they could,' 'tis my opinion Those bright eyes would cease to weep.' • "Of whom eeemre you. thinking ten?" inquired Derry, coldly, "while I was speaking of my sister'?" "Who is Ici know?. It must have been of M.S. .She has been shining on my 'solitude, because 'she knew: yours was being .shone upon, and she likes things faiidletween her lodgers. As usual she ,expanded into interesting details," he went on, merely it seemed for the sake of speaking, as he and Derry walked up to the house together. "She related how she had cured her late lamented arid intemperate husband of frequent- • ing 'the public house in Dewring. She conceived tho wonderful plan of going with Or following him there, ,and calling for a glass of ale every time he ordered one for himself, and drink- ing it convivially with him too ---- • -whirch he not unnaturally hated to see. At first he expected her soon to tire of this, but he little knew her if he did. Though she, hated it, sho • assures me that she stood it better than he did, and should have stuck to it. His anger, disgust, and shame had no result upon her noble deter- mination, and he found that the only way to keep her at home would be to stay himself. So he stayed, ,and from that time, as she puts it. they were a 'appy pair, I ventured to hope that she and Amos would make another 'appy pain. 'Then I confess I your help is so witch wanted?" aSked Derry, 'with intense earnestness, for she felt that this must. be her final appeal to him. "Olcl 11fre, Basset, the only orie who has done anything defi- nite, like offering a reward and em- ploying- • pritatte detectives,, never speaks now." "Then elle does not ask for my help." "And Primrose seem § broken -heart; ed with this double shadow upon her; one brother killed so cruelly,and ny- teriously and one keeping away froin her in her sorrow, So she shrinks from any allusion to that night." '"ahen' she docs hot require iny help," interposed Steven, with an in- tent but uarieticed scrutiny of the girl's face. "And my sister can not hear the mime mentioned in her presence." "Then she does not seele my help. No ono does, you see, Miss Hope." "I do." "You? Oh, you have nothing to tvish my help?" do with it." • "You know I do," she answered, 'It is cruel of you to' say so," ,she looking straight into his eyes. And cried, "and I should thitik-e-any one afterward, she remembered how there would think you would wish it dis- covered."' "Then any one 'would be wrong: eontent to let things be. You would not wish to be cured to -day of your disease if you are to die to -mor- row of your physiciaa—I see you don't read Mat Prior. All the better. If I can help, it will not behecause I care to, but because you wish it. Let me think it over. gate he held, "What anxiety has been forced upon you on your way?" "None," she answered, in prompt Loyalty to her sister, "But the old ono is never long forgotten," "I wish it could be forgotten 130 long as to be forgotten forever!' ean not," she said, pausing just svithin the gate, as if she dread- ed stepping into the long heavy, sha- dew of the beacon. "No one will help me, no one wishes me to be helped, and all my days are useless," As she stood, with the perplexity still within her lovely eyes,; Steven looked longingly down upon her, then he lifted his gaze far into the wide deep blue of heaven, under- standing now what new divine emo- tion stirred hirn, arai—Lo what. "You have asked for my help," he said, gently, "and I refused it, Since then they have --- we have heard of something which seems to -make a discoverh possible. Do you still " 'Whatsoever faults I see-' no, that is hot what I want to think over. (live me a...little , As he spoke, he. raised Is ha i and stood aside, while she, looking quite deters -alined not to comprehend 'hine went into her own room. CHAPTER11. No evening Derry Hope': had ever 'spent. had .been like this one the pleasante. homely:, country vicarage. Yee at •was oaly. a few quiet hours, passed with her sister. and the vicar and his Wife and Steven Basset, .for to her great surprise When She, and Ella entered , the vicarage drawings eoptii; and. the gentleman who had been: standing any. the rug talking - With. Mr. aml Mrs. Corfe., turned to greet them, she saw it was Mr. 13as= set, Many and many a time was she to 'recall that evening, marveling over its intense ellioyMent to her, and • wondering wherein its perfect happi- ness could have lain. Ella was rath- er quiet, but all excused her, and spared her, and did their best to en- tertain her, while Derry fancied that perhaps she alsoeought to have felt a lit tle °was pi ei t ed • But then she could not; the melancholy feeling would not come. To Steven,Basset, too, this evening have often felt a little ,curjous as to I was different from all others he had the style of Mr. Pickett's wooing, I ever known. The rooms seemed to having an idea that lovers' rhapsodies him to hold Derry only, while his in- wOuld not be much in his line, but I tereoprse, with her was different ut- had scarcely prepared myself to hear terly from their intercourse at Har - that Amos never goes s° far •s° rack's. I-Ier gentle, gracious presence • near, I mean—aS kissing." had an unutterable charm for him, "What nonsense -you talk to inel" perhaps the greater from his known. exclaimed Derry, disdainfully, though edge of - her in so many different • laughing against her will, "You are moods. He had felt her individuali- afraid of allowing; yourself to be - live that any woman has common sense." "I am afraid of worse than that," he answered, tranquilly. "Pin afraid of not minding anything about it. Inn afraid of falling so low as to say, was not then ---' as there never had been ---the ' very faintest shadow of :suspicion, in Spite of all that had been told her of his 'ill -will toward his dead cousin. • -K "Then it is yours — for all that I have, or am, is yours." he said, in quiet earnestness. Then he continued, as if there could be no answer to this. "But before I strive to dis- cover anything for you—or for myself let me be quite certain that you wish it." . "I always have,", she answered sim- ply. "You know it." '1 know it,' he said, his words.all, very calm in the calmness of the night. "But I do not understand it. I do not think you even do yourself, Would. you try to. tell pie it is fate'? I would like you to, consider: Suppose I found that that crime had been eommitted by one I Was fond of, should you not be sorry you had giv- en me that pain?" "But that is not possible." 'Oh, no. In any case don't look SO pained. I was only' speaking at random, and I suppose you fancied I was thinking of thy cousins. Did you? No, I only put a suppositious W case, e will take just one other. Suppose -- inyou can for aamontent suppose such a thing ---that 'you v loed me'' (the little pause he made was scarcely perceptible) "arici then learned that I bad done it— Ah! you start. That shows me that such a possibility gives you no pleasure. Well, now will you not withdraw your command to me to hunt up this "Why, I wisli it all the more," she said, frankly smiling as if she had never given that horrid start. "It is because none of these have done it, that the vague, uncleared suspicion is " so cruel."'Would "Would you rather find it had been done by one you hate than one you love?" "It gould not be that last," she an- swered, simply. "I will promise you my. help," he said, in quiet steadfastness, ''and now will you, in your turn, make me a promise? Never to let this night quite fade. from your memory, and when you remember, to believe that " 'Whatsoever faults I see, In lily soul still bideth she."' • "Mr. Basset," said Derry, appar- ently too deep in thought to have followed him, "when you joined inc .1 Was • feeling acutely how I have failed in what I meant to do. I sup- pose in this sort of thing girls are failures! I—wish you would help Her voico trembled a little, but she had givenform, at last to her re- quest, and heaved a long sigh of re- lief. "No," he answered, tersely. "But," she cried, "it is most un- fair and unkind of you to refuse just because--" "Because what?" "33ecause you hated Miles." "Would it prove I had not 'hated him, if I tried to find his murderer?" ''I—think so.'' "No; you do not think so any more than I do, so do not ask inc." "And now that they have a fresh clue," pursued Derry, with sturdy nese. If Derry's thoughts •were TLeW resolution, "it seems so dreadful for and sweet that evening, Steven's nobody, belonging to him, to be eag- were more deeply so, though less hard to interpret. No doubt dis- turbed them; no unsettling question, Whilehers were happy in a vague way -which she even did not wish to analyze, his were, in their gladness, straight and clear, and confident. lt was no :Wonder that with • such thoughts as his, the deep cann beauty of the night crept into Stev- en's heart and sa.tisfied it. No won. der- that in such perfect peace, no restless selfish thoughts and mean de- sires could lihe. And so he crowned this happiest evening twhich, his life had ,ever known, with this night of perfedt, Unuttered and scarce compre- hended surrender. Surely in the lives of most ,of us there will collie once such homr as this, when the craving within us is for something higher than We have ever known; when the hungering nm - pulse is for a noble deed: when thought grows pure and rises high; and when the inevitable pain within us instead of conquering us, is con- quercd; as Steven slowly trod the familiar way, his eyes , among the stars, his thoughts Were no desecra- tion of the peace, or of the beauty, or the glory of this most pdrfeet night. Only the action of opening the gate at the top of the lane roused him to the consciousneSs of having gone bee "No," said Derry, while she won- yond where he meant to await Dela 0 weelviteikivz.; On the arim --4611611Are "BE AYE STIC.RING' IN A TRIEB." An old Scotch laird, when on hhs death bed, ;said to his son; "When ye hae naething else to da, ye may be aye alicking in a tree; it will be growing, Joele, when ye're sleep- ing." An admonition to which we may well give heed; not; altogether fdr the reaetm given by the canny Scot, but for the stronger and bet- ter reasons that • we benefit, both ourselves and our fellow men, and increase the value of our property by the improvernent. The fact that tree pleating' in of direct, bene- fit to ourselves and our neighbors ia understood by most of. us, for the simple reason that the in- • terdependence of animal and veg- etable life and tree life is not no ma.n you 'will ever know can give ty, but not tide graceful self -forget - you more than I have given; not ting sympathy; he had known her to from to -night only — do not think be brightlyepiquant, but without this so—but from the first time you spoke pretty easy entering into other lives to me, and on through the happy and interests; he had known her days that end with, this blessed houn. quick and intelligent, • but without There, I have done wrong to utter this natural way of showing even these few words that seem so deeper knowledge and the originality cold to meefor they have pained you, of fresher thought. There -was no as I see. You will forgive me? They forced jesting between. them now, no shall be my last, for there will come careless Cernmonplaces, no half -con- a time when you will be grateful to coaled defiance, or inclination t0. on nie for silence now." tradict: it was so different' Yet s° The hand he laid on hers was firm Simple, and so exactly -what he Mt as ever, and the low clear tones nev- he should ha,vc expected. Through er faltered; yet when her eyes were every tingling nerve Steven felt the drawn to his in that long yearning, wo•iiierfni. charm of her prese:ice, and sorrowful gaze, a strange thought dreaded lasing it. flashed across her—that he would He started directly Miss Hope's look so when lie was dying. carriage was ordered, intending to "You forgive me," he said, not as reach the foot of Harrack's lane be- a question now, but with quiet as - fore it stop there, and walk up with surance, and lifting the yielding hand Derry. But Ella detained :the that lay in his, he held it against brougham , so long that, walking in his breast. ".Ah!" with a quick in - deep thought, he. la,st forgot, that drawn breath; "it is agony to me to he was listening for the sound 'of hear you sigh." wheels, and even turned into, and •'Did I sigh'?" she asked, and even climbed the lane 'without remember- in the' moonlight he could see her Mee This was suCh 'a lovely night grow paler. "How could I sigh when for the thoughful solitary walk! The I am happy? stars shone divinely in the wide areh lifis face had been sad, and yet 01 heaven, and the bare trees were the change that came over it was far 1110re beautiful against the grave wonderful to see. Gently he dropped and tender blue than they could have her hand, stood bare -headed for a looked in all their summer loveli- little space, then turned from her as if afraid to break the spell. by an- other word or glance. It was more than an hour after- ward when he went slowly in, not using his latch -key for his own door, but going thoughtfully round to Mrs. l'rayd's entrance, that she might know both her lodgers were within. On the kitchen stairs in one of her most advanced and torpid sulks, sat Penkus, huddled in a great black shawl, her shrewd little wizen face glowering over it, while Steyenstood patiently to hear Mrs Prayd's lengthenederecital of the child's de- linquencies. There he stooped, took the little creature in his 'arms and carried her upstairs, • ge was out of sight of Mrs. Era.yd, when he put her down at the top and before he turned away, he took the clean little Millen face in his hands, and, in spite of its baleful ex- pression, kissed it. . -One,must," he smiled to his own sad' heart, "kiss sonic 'one." known -as it would be well for us that it t3hould lenown. Trees take their food from the soil and the air. The earthy constituents of the tree' are held in solution in th,o water which goes up from the roots to the leavese and in the leaves the m.ost important process of feeding takes place; this process is the assimilation on taking up and breaking up, by the leaves, of car- bonie acid gas frorn tile air. All plants breathe, and plants, like ,anirnals, breathe in oxygen and breathe out earbonic acid gas This process of breathing 'goes on both daydand night., but it is far less ac- tive than assimilation, which takes, place only in the light; cons,equently' More carbonic acid gas is taken in- to the tree than is given out, and the surplus carbon remains to be used in the growth of the tree. Ev- ery one knows that it is cooler in the shade of trees than in other shade, but we do riot all know that thi$ agreeable coolness is due. to the water vapor given off by the trees, principally by the leaves, in tran- spiration; this throwing of of the water vapor being fsimply the. get- ting rid of the surplus water which has brought out mineral food floe; the roets. In this transportation of water - vapor, which agreeably ccols the • the nbsorption of carbonic ac- id gas, which purifies the, air, trees are directly beneficial to us, and Yet, in the wholesale destruction of forests, we h3ave been working against these beneficent influences, and it would be well for us, to con- sider tree -planting solely 'upon this economic aide. If all trees, bushes and. shrub.s were swept from the earth all amimale life would become extinct, hence it is easy to under- stand that the destruction of even so much tree life has had a detriruental influence upon our climate, making animal life (our life) less easy and coinfort able than it might be. Accept- ing this ' premise it follows that the planting of trees would help to re- move • the present climatic condi- tions, hence self-interesth the bene- fiting of our neighbors and our- selves, should prompt us to be "age sticking in a tree." Not only will it he growing. while we are sleep- ing, but it will, poasibly, be grow- ing and %bedding its blessings abroad long after we have gone henee. We can mak9 t•he world Pleasanter for ourselves while we sthy in it, and a better home for those who come after us by planting trees as we have op- portunity. • en to follow it up. "What fresh clue?" "Oh," she said, looking quickly round at his change of tone, for she began to think she had been utterly mistaken in fancying hina negligent about this crime, "you know. Surely you have heard that ,a woman was seen in the park—that night. The man who saw her was in Ireland, and he has corne across to MIL" ' 'In ,Ireland when saw her?'' The tone had its old careleas COM- posiire again,' and Derry's breath • quickened, for it WEIS disappointing to have to go back to her old belief in his indifference. "It seems so dread- ful to me," she sighed, "that nobody cares.'' •a , • g"I care. What have you found out •-•-yourself, I mean'?" •, "Scarcely anything. Miles had been writing a letter that evening ---2 was writing it when his sister Went into his room — and no letter was found afterwarcla' • ''Did Primrose tell "you this?" "She hacl not meant to. She only Id t it out through things I said."' •''Was the letter to a evoinan?'' "Primrose thinks so.", "Then it would be to your sister, as Miles was her lover. There could have been rib other woman for him • dered wily his lima should be so firm- 1 ry. Instantly he turned tri retrace ly set: "Was any wontan jealous of his steps, and as he did so, saw flint 1 my sitter, Mr, Basset?" 1110 was close to the gate. He saw, "None, 1 coUld swear." • too, that in spite of-thft ealtri tran- 'yYet that ,woMan was seen going riudity of the night infolding her, her int,0 'the park. A tall woman.' I fere was puzzled and diatairbed. "Miles never did admire tall wo- "Why'have you changed?" he ask - men," declared Steven,, quiet ab- ^d, scarce aware of the great earnest- surclity. ,D.ss With which he spoke, raising hia '."You will net help then, though haf; itS' she passed him' through >. the , & aesa.t, ass sass.", , faLativINVIIM PART. • CHAPTER r. On the night following the quiet little dinner.party at the Dewring Vicarage, the billiard -room at the Atheling Arms (the cozy old hotel in the centre of the Thawton High steeet,) had ,its usual complement of players, and it it being a cold wet night,' rather more than its usual complement of idlers, On the bare wall opposite the fire -place a printed bill was nailed, and in a thielc un - „Steady voice Steven Basset read the first two lines aloud-- . IN I U EDER. £200. Reward, (10 lit 'orrautiun.) feed to be eaten clean, take cane that lee$ i$ given the next them. NO trouble need be experieneed feeding corn fodder, or even some meadow hay, if fed carefully and no tyaate need be allowed. But. after be- ing fed either morning, noon or night, donIL disturb the cows. and if they once get accustomed to the regular houra they will not even get up while you are in the barn dsiiing other work, lent lie their places quietly until the next feeding tint°. Water ehould also be given regu- larly and plentifully. Rut cows Should not be cemnelled to go to the brQok to break the loci, but should have water from a well with the wa- ter far above the freeming point. Ice water is a little worse ior cows than for human beings. 411A FATTENED BY MACHINERY. mtm Valuchy Sheep 4:31ii l'iesii by Scientific iffeatis flut The latest idea of" the agricul- tural expert isto fatten sheep by ma- chinery. Mr. A. D. McNair has just tried the experiment at the Lansing, Agricultural College, and it was a great success. The lambs got fat all right , but were not killed quick enough, and they died. In pursuing his experiment Mr. 1VIcNair constructed a movable bottenaless P1113 161-2 feet long and 8 feet wide. Poultry netting raade the sicle.s, can- vas to protect the sheep from stint and rain was placed over the top, and eight -inch rollers at each corner, Two wires were attached to the pen arid run to a sm.all electric motor at the other side of the field. By this. CAN PIGS BE FINISHED TOO YOUNG. There is a medium in everything. This would appear to apply as well to the feeding of young pigs for bacon prcdnction as to most other matters. In some experiments which have been in progress in Canada during the paSt season it had been found that in or- der to obtain the finest quality of bacon, not only .must certain foods be used, but the animals producing it must be allowed to reach a certaiir stage of maturity before they are slaughtered, If, through the use of specially suitable rations, the ani- mals are forced in growth at such a rate that they becomefit for slaught- ering at a particularly early age - say five or six months -it has been found that the quality of the bacon produced is soniewhat soft in texture and in other ways defective in some of the points usually regarded as es- sential t� a high-class cure. No definite conclusions can yet be drawn from the experiments which are be- ing harried out on this subject, but, so far the results go to show that it may be found advisable to de- precate the production of baconer at an age of -from eix to twelve months instead of the nine or ten months which has heretofore been the com- mon practice. Here at home the aim of breeders always is to haye their pigs in a fit cendition for the bacon curer at. the age of between seven and eight months, and we have never heard any tomplaints on the score of "softness' because of market- ing the pigs at such an age. -Agri- cultural Gazette, Ireland. FEEDING COWS. Mac of the all important works! in the -care of the dairy is the feeding, and id should always, if pOssible, be done under the eye of the owner; as it is next to an impossibility to hire a man that will have the interest to feed ,and look to'the animals alt sharp OS the owner. There Inc many dif- ferent Methods of feeding. 13ut, all will equally agree that regularity is the main object to be obtained, the cow knowing breakfast, dinner and supper time as well as the horse or the master and owner. If not fed at regular tittle -,the cows beporne ii - easy and are, not as comfortable as they iehould be in order Co get the best results at the pail. Nexi to regularity conleS a change of feed. A change with the tows, like the human family, is always de- sirab1e.0 Coarse fodder can be large- ly fed where a 'liberal quantity of grain is used, but should be fedi judi- ciously and seen to that it is all eat- en up. If too match is given,at one mearis the' pen is drawn slowly across the field and the sheep graze on the growing alfalfa without traMpling down and time partially destroying tha rest the crop. 1Va.ter Ivas provicle.cl for the itheep, and a piece of rock halt was also placed on a shelf mt the pen. An et oi I made to truth the eheep to the satin: ,regular habite that make men grow gray and die young, but the sheep persisted in only .eating when they were hungry and sleeping wheM they we're sleepy. If it had loot been, for their dumb brutal, perverseness in this respect the experimenters would have been able to kee.:p the pen going according to a regular time. table without hay- iag to slop when a sheep took a no- tion to lie do-Wn and sleep and thus block the machine. 11 the inventors of the unique plan can only breed a variety of sheep that ivill learn to eat, drink and elteep when their hu- man guardians think they are hun- gry, thirsty and tired, and give the signal for thesem functions, sheep farming will become a pleasant, and profitable bueiness, which will need only electric nactore and atarm clocks as the tools of success. PERSONAL POINTERS. Soles of Interest Aliotit Some of the Cl'th Iteopie of tile 'World, Lord Salisbury now holds the rec, ord as having , been Prime Ministei longer than any other atateannit einee the Reform Act :was passed. All the eight ladies who aet.ed at train -bearers to the Queen on her wedding day thirty-eight years agol are still alive; all save one are mar, ried. The Lady Victoria Howard the one exception. The Cro\vn Prince of Gernaany,whez younger, did' rtolt at all hhte the idea of everybody being Einnex8. Whet his tutor told hiM that all men 'west sintee,rs he eani; -is my papa, then, sinner ?” On being anan-ered ie the affirmative, he exclaimed, witit warmth, "But I am sure my Mari. ma is not!" CAME DOWN LIKE A LADY. Frances, said the little girl's mam- ma, who was entertaining callers in the parlor, you came downstairi so noisily that you could be heard all over the house. You know how ton° it better than that. Now go back and conie down thie, stairs like a lady. Frances retired, and, after the lapse of a fete minutes re-entered the parlor. Did you hear me come downstairs this time, mamma? No, dear. I am glad you came down quietly. Now don't let me ever have to tell you again not to come down naisily, for I see that you can conie down quietly if you will. Now tell these ladies how you Managed to come down like a lady the second time, while the first • time you made so much noise. The last time I slid down the ban- isters, explained FranCes. TOO CLASSIC FOR THEM. A resident in a small suburban town had a visit from a German 'Pew even among his many friend4 remember' that Sir Howard Vincani was at one tirn a practising Parris. ter o1. considerable promise. Curious. ly enough, he was a fellow -law pupil of Sir Evelyn Wood, a .still more ens- inent soldier -barrister. Sir Howard achieved the rare distinction of se- curing sixteen briefa the first time he went on circuit. \ There is *no more ardent admirer, among foreign Royaltie,s, of England. and all things English than the Era, press of Japan who, with her hus- band, has done SO much to develop her country on Western line. The Empress, who has been married thirty years and has a family of five chil- dren, is atill as essentiallywoung and vigorous as any of 'them. Every day, she spends an hour in her private gyainasium in the palace at Tokio,and she LS said toI- be one of the most skilful 'horsewomen in Japan. I M. Benjamin Constant, has been giving his impressions of Queen Al- exandtd as a eitter. "Your Queen," he told an interviewer, "can never grow ()Id; she has perennial yuuth*and perpetual beauty. Ah,' what a Sover- eign!" And then, with a great laugh, he added, "Sometimes, when 1 visited Buckingham Palace, ahe kept inc wait- ing for a quarter of an hour, and I was glad of it, for her apology was se charming and her manner so de- lightful that I could never have bad the heart even to look cross." Literary people are evidently not in need of heliclays, so long as they, have pens, ink, and paper, and ac- cess to a library, they can write their, books anywhere, and many choose to write them in the quiet seclusion of a country house: Mr. Rider Haggard enjoys ths seclusion of a Norfolk farm, Mr. George Meredith leads a reclusive lite among the Surre,yhills, Mr, 0. A. Henty writes ail'his boy& books on board his 80 -ton yacht, and a Dr. Gordon Stables has for his study O gipsy caravan in which he wanders at will for a half of every year. " The public are very fond of offers friend who knew very little English but played the violin well. One of this resident's neighbours gave a musical evening" and, of course, he and his visitor were invited. The Germeri took his violin, and, svhen his turn came,: be played one or his beet pieces, from one of the great masters. When he had finished there was an awkward silence and no applause. The people were still looking expect- antly at the German wh•o looked dis- appointed and flustered: The silence grew painful. Finally the hostess, quite red in the face, edged over • to the fikle of the German's friend. Can't you get him tof elle whis- pered. • What do you mean? Why, now that he's got .tuned up isn't he going to play something? • NOT ESTABLISHED. Before I register, eaid the rural guest, I would like to know a few facts about this hotel. Did anybody ever blow out the gas here? No, responded the clerk ; I am glad to say that no one ever did. Anybody ever try to hang them- selves with a sheet'? No, sir. And nobody ever tumbled out of the window? Never I You can register now and feel satisfied. I reckon not, young fellow. If you never had any case like that this must be an new hotel. I only stop at old -established ones.. ing inc acivitee," Gen. French told as mterviewer. "One fellow wrote, 'Why don't you collar their horses?' And then I also have my little correspond- ents who take mc after their own fa,shion. 'My dear French,' caulefrom a- Rugby boy, ' I want you to send me your signature, but mind you don't let your searetary write it;' and a little girl, expressing herself aa very wishful tontee me back in Lon, don, pointed out au immense nurabei of ink crosses she had traced on tie* paper, and said else hoped. I would take- them for kisses." Lord Salisbury speaks best soben ho rests his elbow on something. In thc House of Lords he usually finds His support he needs in two or three books placed one above 'the other, Somebody one day removed one oi these, it was some book of reference, and Lord Salisbury missed it inanem diately, IIIS eloquence was checked, Pc floundered in his Epecch, and did ' not resume it until the book waa returned. On another occasion at h's own house, where there was a polis Lical meeting, he began to speak re, . th.er lantely and after con,sidattable hesitation he walked across his draw- ing room to 'where there was a ratheX high fire, screen. He got inside this, with his back to the fire, and facing, his audience, with his elbow on the screen, proceeded to make a moat. elos •quent harangue, HE WAS PLEASING HER. ,In a Lancashire toevn a big collier over six feet in his stockings, had a very small wife, who, it was report- ed, thrashed her igashand at times. A friend met the husband one day and said to him: They tell me your wife beats Yeti ; is it true, Jack? Oh, aye, replied Jack evith good hu- mour. What do yon mean by letting a wo- man like your Wife thrash yeti ? A, big fellow like you, as strong as a lion, what a blo3khertil you niust be! Well, well, Jacle replied, it is this way ; it please' her to do' it, and it don't hurt me. AN EMPHATIC PROMISE. She wasn't feeling very well and had been Making him go two or three times to the chemist's. Al last he got comfortably settled in front of tio - Lire with a newspaper. George, dear. Well ?, We have been haven't we Yes. rVe always been a trite and lovina wile to you, haven't I? • Ula -huh. George. Web!? If I sliOuld--if 1 should not be spar. ea toyou, you will not marry againi Not if I knoi,v it! replied George, with -such aTaerity and emphasis that she rose from the sofa and wi3nt La her room. very happy togethen MAYBE BOTH WERE RIGHT. I wouldn't' fight my good men, said the peacemaker. But he called me a -thief, claimed one of tho. combatants. And lie called me a lazy loafer, cried the other. Well, said the peaceniakor serene. ly. I wouldn't fight over a differe.ncei of opinion; yon may both be right. Ethel -Yes, WC playrd liwbo.nd and Wife. 1 kiseed him and said be was the bandsOmeat luau in the 'world, and he said, Here's forty dollars go and buy some gloves.