Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1908-07-30, Page 7r I +,0+0.40+ 0+ e.00)+0{0+0+0} ;Ip+0+* felera t+040 that is more soothing than many pleasures, the house wherein they I were horn, or at any rate the abode in which they passed the earlier years of their live,. The agonizing griefs of childhood, the disappoint- ments, the soul racking terrors, mellowed by the gentle touch of passing years, have no sting for our mature sensibilities, but come back to uie now with n Bathos that is largely tinctured with amusement. 1 stood there reviewing the past, puzzled, utterly unable to account OR, THE QIRL iN BLUE fe► it. Age, the iconoclast, had shetlered most of the airy iduls which my youth had set up in hon- Kt+ger+3C►♦1Cf+04):t♦i0E43R+10E+iCE+17+♦ i�+ ♦1tf4)40 ♦>�♦b♦0 or of itself. I had lust six of the teest pre.eious seers of my life -- years that I had not lived. Yet this than before me declared most distinctly that 1 had lived them; that I had enjoyed a second existence quite apart and distinct frotn my own self. Incredible though it seemed, yet it became gradually impressed upon rue that what this man (;edge had told me was the actual, hideous truth, and that I had really lived and moved and prospered throughout those six unknown years, while my senses had at the sante time remained dor- mant, and I had thus Leen utterly unconscious of existence. But could such a thing be As a prosaic inan of the world I argu- ed, as any one in his right nund would argue, that s•ich a thing was beyond the bounds of possibility. Nevertheless, be it how it might, the undisputed fact remained that 1 had lapsed into unconsciousness on that winter's night six years bo - fore, and had known absolutely no - A House of Mystcry CIIAPTER X X.--(('ont'd). We wandered on from room to room. There must, I think, have been quite thirty sleeping apart- ments, guests' rooms, etc., all fur- nished in that same glaring style, that greenery -yellowy abomination miscalled art. "The next room," explained my secretary, as we appruached the -end of the corridor, "is Mrs. Hea- ton's boudoir. I expect she's in there. I saw Dalton, her maid, en- ter a moment ago." "Oh, for Heaven's sake, leave her alone 1" I said, turning at once on my heel. I had no wish to meet that awful rejuvenated hag again. I fancy Gedge smiled, but if he -did he was very careful to hide his amusement from me. He was, without doubt, a very well-trained secretary. The thought of Mabel Anson crossed my mind. Alt the recollec- tions of the dinner on the previous "I've told you t'ro absolute thing of my surroundings until I eight, and the startling discover truth," Ile responded. "On that 1 found myself lying upon the floor ice I subsequently made recurred tot stake my honor." of the drawing-rooni of what was me at that moment, and I felt dazed "I stood aghast, glaring at my alleged to be my country house. and bewildered. This painted andreflection in the mirror, open- So: years out of a man's life is a powdered person could surely not mouthed, as though I gazed upon large slice. The face of the world Le my ,rife, when I loved Mabel some object supernatural. My per- changes considerably in that space Anson with all my soul ' Only yes sonal appearance had certainly of time. I found myself living a yes- terday' I had sat at her side at din- changed, and that in itself convinc- life which was so artificial and in- ner, aid had felt the pressure of ed me that there must be name congruous to urs tastes as to ap her soft, delicate hand upon mine. truth in this man sedge's state -pear utterly unreal. Yet, as I made No; it could not ba that I was ac- ment. I was older, a trifle stout- further inquiry of this man (ledge ac- tually married. Such a thing was er than before, I think, and my every moment that passed showed utterly impossible, for surely no red -brown beard seemed to give my me plainly that what he had said man could go through the marriage fare a remarkably grotesque ap- was the truth. ceremony without knowing some- I had alwayshated He related to me the routine of thing about it. cards, J d d t} re my daily life and I stood listening Hickrnan'a treachery angered me. Why, I wondered, had he enticed me to his rooms in order to make that extraordinary attempt upon my life 1 The wound upon my head was undoubtedly due to the blow he had dealt mo. The theory that I had accidentally knocked my head against the marble statue and bro- greater part of the day over Laf- ken it was, I felt assured, only one fan's affair. Walter Halliburton, of that fool Britten's brilliant ideas the alining engineer, carne down to with which he misled his too con- see you, and we were together all Ming patients. If this were so, J then all the incidents subsequent to my recovery of consciousness were part of the conspiracy which had commenced on the previous night with Hickman's attempt. We descended the stairs, pass- ing the footman Gill, who, with a bow said— "I hope, sir, you feel better."' "A little," I answered. "Bring me a whiskey and soda to the li- brary." And the man at once disappeared to do my bidding. "I suppose he thinks I'm mad," I remarked. "This is a very re - agape in wonder, "then it is the most aetuunding thing I've ever heard of. Are you absolutely cer- tain of the date 1" "Certain t Why of ci urse. "Of the year, I lasso ?" "Positive. It's eighteen ninety - 81x." "For how long, then, have you been my secretary I" I inquired. "Nearly five years." "'And how long have I lived in this place i" "For nearly four." "And that woman," I demanded, b►eathlessly—cis she actually my wife 1" "Most certainly," he answered. I stood stupefied, stunned by this amazing statement. "But," I protested, lost in won- der, "yesterday was years ago. How do you account for that 1 Are you certain that you're not deceiving • N++++++++++++••••••++$ • • • • • • About the Farm fl+�++..++++•+++++++•♦1! SUMMEIt COMFORTS. Comfort in summer is as import- ant to egg -production as comfort in winter, and in order to pruvide not luxuries, but noceseitics, for the hens, poultry houses and fowls should be inspected daily. The fowls must not be crowded and ven- tilation should be induced as much as posible without allowing a draught, to flow over the birds at night. Ou very warm nights an open shed will answer. J SHRE 1 lauJ WHEAT Nov for Strawberries and Shredded Wheat. Nature's purest and best food, insuring a clear head and healthy body. Is Invigorating Without Beteg Meader. Try it. Sold by all grocers _1 L 1 --L The importance of having shade 7. Weeds in many cases have been in the poultry yards should nut be a blessing in disguise. They have overlooked for birds of the larger taught us how to cultivate the soil, breeds, especialy those that aro and they never allow us to forget very fat are easily overcome with the lesosn—"Solomon went by the apoplexy and the poultryman can- fields of the slothful and by the not afford to lose his hens when pre- vineyard of the roan void of under- vention would have saved the fowls. standing, and to ! it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof." Lice are the greatest obstacles in the way of the welfare of fowls. When warm weather sets in, poul- try houses that are apparently free from lice are overrun with the pests and they multiply with astonishing rapidity. One single day during the heated terns will be sufficient to show the presence of these enemies of the birds in such numbers that the pasture lot, see to it that he is one will gaze in astonishment at the given no opportunity to injure any number. Before the warm days ar- rive the houses must be thoroughly cleaned, sprayed with a lice exter- minator and every crack and crev- ice overhauled. FARM NOTES. This is the season of the year that we hear of attacks from 'perfectly quiet" bulla. If it is thought desir- able to let the bull have the run of Little food should he given the Ileus after they have the run of the able gain. After this, by winter fields and especially whou the days feeding as usually practiced, the are hot, for much food is conducive third 100 pounds costa nearly three to upsetting their digestive organs, times what the first one does, and and if any food is given it must not not less than twice that of the sec be of the fatting kind, green food and 100 pounds. This is a matter being perferable. that every hog -feeder should care - One means of great loss is in ship - notconsider. Our statements are LipAn the plastic heart, and all the not made by utas or at random, ping the live fowls to market. Hun sorrows and perplexities of after deeds of coops arrive when the tem- Hun - but can be backed by the results of life are inefficient to quite efface bee.,. It cannot be disputed that it costs less to put a pound on a small hog than it does on a large one. When a hog makes 250 or 225 pounds, he has passed the point of most profit - the effect upon the human soul when the fires of Divine grace sweep over it. Where before was but a dead, arid existence, living enly for this life, and without hope for the next world, now, atter the Holy Spirit has revealed the love of the Saviour, who on the Cross made expiation for that soul's tras- gt essions, darkness is changed in- ti. light, hopelessness Into anticipa- tion of eternal glory, and grim, gloomy doubts into jubilant and triumphant elation. HOME, SWEET HOME. Stay, stay at home, my heart and rest; Homekeeping hearts are happiest. For those that wander they know not where, Are full of trouble and full of care. Tu stay at home is best. Herne—the name made dear by sacred associations, the place where childish feet take their first faltering steps and infant minds receive their first idea. There lessons of love and truth, of right and wrong, of fain' and hope and purity are imprintecr invents, these first deep true impressions. Sweet home, where tho mother's gentle hands prepare the little do- mestic comforts that a father's love provides, and filial affection is "the silver link, the silken tie," that binds the household band together. Thais may come and clouds may lower, but in the seclusion of home remains sweet healing for the wounds that brave and sensitive hearts hide from a disdainful eorld. There these hurts and dis- tressee may be confidently revealed and a sovereign remedy found in its unquestioning faith. There a child's pure kiss or the, touch -o1 dimpled fingers may revive a soul urs the verge of despair ; and in the home the brightest dreams become more golden, the rarest pleasure more intense, the tenderest joys more serene. And if, in the vary- ing degrees of fortune. its loving shelter must be abandoned, how A HURRICANE 01' FIRE:. the exile folds about his heart, as the traveller does his cloak. the (Ry A flanker.) n,ernery of its lights and flowers, its loves and hopes and kindnesses.; Of all the forces of nature. with There the noblest influences exist, IF crimps ttie exeception of severe the holiest impulses find e. pres- earthquakes, fire is unquest ienably sien, and there have been born the chaste and lofty sentiments that have made a whole world better. eaivurce. la ' pnrature is up to 90 and 100 with the carefully conducted exper lie prehistoric considered barbarity. It was agape in wonder. lie told me I fowls crowded so that they can hard - allowance Lice fg to lorsweather exposure. e results a reasonable surprising that I should now have things of which I had no knowledge ; ly breathe, let alone move around. Do not buya poor tool because it grown one. of my private affair,, and of my And how many are void of water in the coops It is really astonishing is cheap. A steel rake in the hands "Then according to your account I must have rpent yesterday here —actually in this house I" "Why, of course you did," he re- sponded. "We were engaged the business profits; he took big lea- ther-bound ledgers from the great green -painted safe, and showed me formidable sums entered therein, relating, he explained, to the trans- actions at the office up in London. Some documents he showed Cue, large official -looking sheets with stamps and seals and signatures, which he said were concessions ob- tained from a certain foreign Gov- ernment, and opened my private the afternoon. He left for Lon- don at five." "And where did I dine 1" ''Here. With Mrs. Heaton.'letter-sox, exhibiting letters I tiad and you will find that it will pay you "Don't speak of her as Mrs. actually written with my own hand, in the long run, not only in del;,, ••s Heaton '" I cried in anger. "Site's but without having any knowledge and cents but in the satisfaction of not my wife, and I will not have of having done so. knowing that you appreciated their her regarded as such." Those revelations took away my efforts to help you earn your living He gave his shoulders a slight breath. by making them comfortable while shrug. It could not be mere loss of me -they are working for you. "Now, look hero, Mr. Gedge," I mory from which T was suffering. said, speaking for the first time I had actually lived a second and with confidence. '•If you were in entirely different life to that I had my place, awakening suddenly to onee led in Essex Street. Appar- frnd that six years of your life had eptly T had become a changed man. vanished in a single night, and that, had entered business. had amassed you were an entirely different per- , a fortune ---and had married. markable menage, to say the son to that of twelve hours ago, ' Assuredly, 1 reflected, 1 could least.'' what would you believe 1" I never have been in my right senses In the great hall, as I walked to- He looked at me with a somewhat, to have married that angular per - wards the library, was a lung mir- t sympathetic expression upon his' Fen with the peweered cheeks. That ror, and in passing I caught sight thin features. n:•tion, in itself. was sufficient to ' Well, I don't know what T convince are that my brain had been should think " Then he added, , unhnlunced during those six lost "But surely such a thing can't be t'e'ars. possible." Alone i stood, without a single "It is possible," I cried. "It has i sympathizer—without a friend. happened to urn. I tell you that i astounding Ka ► l :n y last night was rix years ago." life had been produced was aliso- He turned from uie, as though !lei lately beyond explanation. 1 tried considered further argument un to account fur it, but the reader availing. will readily nn+lerstand that the My head reeled. What he had problem was, to roe. utterly innx• told me xas utterly incredible. It 1'licnble- I. the victim of the tree - seemed absolutely impossible that chert/ of that. man Hickman, had six whole. years „heutd have passed re -ahem my knowledge ; that 1 should hey entered upon a busi- ness of which I had previously known nothing: that i '41h. id have rapidly antaeseri a ("mune; and. most of all, that 1 should have mar- ried that powdered and painted roman who bad presented herself as my wife. Yet such were the un - n' cuuntnble facts which this man (edge asked me to believe. He saw that T was extremely dubious about the date, therefore he led me back to the library, where there hung upon the wall a large calendar which quickly con- vinced me. Six years had really elapsed since yesterday. In that vexing and perplexing present I reflected open the puz- rling past. That happy dinner with Mabel at The Boltons. the subse- quent discoveries in that drawing - room where she had sat at the piano calmly playing; her soft. words of tenderness, and the subsequent treachery of that dug -faced man Hickman, all passed before me uith extra.,rdinary vividness. Yet. in truth. all had Happened long ago. Alas' I was nut like other men To the practical. level-headed man of affairs "To -day" mny be suffici ent, all-ertgro:.sing ; but to the very large majority --a majority which, 1 behove, includes also many of the pra+•tical, the business of to -day admits of constant pleasant excur- awns into the golden mists of "long ago." and many happy flights to the to think that any human being of a good gardener will be subjected would send a live bird to the market to the pull -and -thrust motion be - and not have a caro for its comfort fore the season is through, many ten while on the way. Fowls have feel- thousand times—or, in other words, ings and should not be allowed to twenty times in a minute will be suffer. There is always a loss from more than a thousand times in a death when fowls are so shipped, hour, and, allowing for many inter - net to mention the loss in weight of ruptions, wilt be several ten-thou- thoeo that survive, sand times in a week. If it cuts and Treat the fowls as if they were mellows the soil easily, there will be your friends, which they surely are, more comfort in using it than a heavy, insufficient implement. Tho slummy tool will tire the operator much the soonest, and a great many days and dollars' worth of work will be the difference before the first of August. of toy own figure in It. I stopped. and with a loud cry of wonder and dismay stood l:efore it, glaring at my own reflection. The bandages about my head gave me a terribly invalid appear- ance, hut reflected by that glass I saw a sight which struck Inc dunes pith amazement. I could not be- lieve my eyes; the thing staggered belief. On the morning before 1 had shaved as usual, but the glass show- ed that I now were a well -cut, pointed. reddish - brown heard' My face seemed to have changed curiously, for I presented an older appearance than on the day before. My hair seemed to have lost its youthful lustre. and upon my brow were three distinct lines—the lines of care. 1 felt my beard with eager hands. Yes. there was no mistake. It was there. but how it had grown was incoueeiynhle. Beyond, through the open door. I saw the brilliant sunlight. the green lawn. the bright flowers and cool foliage of the rustling trees. It was summer. Yet only yes- terday was chill, dark winter. with thrent ningsnow. sn ,w, H, 1 been asleep, like Rip Van Win te.in the legend 1 "Tell me," 1 cried excitedly. turning to the man standing behind me, "what's the day of the month to -day 1'' "The seventeenth of .Tuly." "July "' I echoed. And what Dear is this!" "Why. eighteen hundred and ninety -Rix, of course." "Ninety six''' I gasped, stand- ing glaring at him in blank amaze- ment. "Ninety- six +'' "Certainly. Why 1" "Ain 1 really losing my e;. nses T" 1 ericd. dismayed. "Yesterday was six years ago'" CHAPTER XXI. "Yesterday six years echoed. looking at me in blank be- rosy heights of "some day." Most wildeerment. "What do you mean t" of those who rend this strange "I mean that if what You've,story of my life will remember kith Sold me is really the truth," 1 cried g melancholy- affection, w illi a pain WEEDS. The Agricultural College exten- sion bulletin for May of the State 1'nivereity, ('ole- ,bus, Ohio, is a very timely treatise upon weeds by Vernon H. Davie, Asistant Profes- sor of Horticulture. Weeds, he says, injure the farmer chiefly in two ways. first by offcuding his idea of the beautiful and second by the crop loss, the second being the loss that receives the more common estimate from the farmer. in the bulletin weeds aro dealt with in their rela- tion to soil moisture, to the crowd- ing of cultivated plants, to the rob- bing of the soil of food elements required by ether plants, to their tendency towards harboring injuri- ous insects and diseases and in that they render certain products of the farm lin:saleable A summary is giv- fnllen unrrniscieus one night, and en e( seine of the more important had awake nrd to discover that six artificial methods by which the dis- tribution years had elapsed, and that tribution of weeds can be checked. 1 had developed into an entirely Succesfeil measures in destroying different person. it was itnace out weors nre founded spun a know- able, nay, incredible. (To be ('entinueei r - ('NANGEE) HES MIND. A gentleman who once served on an Irish jury tells an amusing story of his experiences. When the hear- ing a as over and the jury retired to their room to consider their ver- dict they found that they stood elev- en to one in favor of ni► acquittal, but the one happened to be a very complacent old gentleman, who rest- ed his chin upon the head of a thick bamboo cane and announced defi- antly that he was ready to stay there as ling as any of them. The hours dragged on. evening ar• rived, and the old gentleman ob- stinately held nut. The other jurors wearily arranged themselves to make a night of it. Froin limo to time the old gentleman weed(' con- templatively suck the head of the cane. Finally les fell toilet-. anal tee (eine dropped heavily to the 11"or. Then one of the jurymen picked it up and found, to his surprise. that it was nearly full of gond old Irish whisky The thankful eleven pnssed the cane round. relieved it of its contents, and teen awakened its slumhering owner. Slowly he lifted the cane to his mouth, looked at his we:ch, ledge of the life of the weed and the manner of its propagation; to amid let reducing or spreading weeds is always better than destroy- ing them 1t is to be remembered, also, that while some weeds nosy be completely eradicated, others can only be held in check and subdued. In conclusion. Mr. Davis states that weeds have to do witli the conditions of agriculture existing in any given region. While no fat mer, however, good, can ever hope to completely rid his farm of weeds, the easiest w , and cheapest ay to keep them in check is by methods of tillage that increase the productiveness of the soil by -- 1. A system of rotation. tt. The growing of hoed crops— corn. potatoes, ete , upon the land infested to the greatest extent pos- sible. 3. The growing of elmer and al- falfa whenever practical, because these crops oreupv the soil well and may be cut. several times a year. Itemise of their smothering proper- ties. 5. Keep the land constantly at work growing some crop. .\void fal lox s. When one crop comes off start another immediately, for you may he sere if you don't start one Nature will. t). Sti►nelate the soil to a vigorous pro•luctinn by mean'. of theirongh cultivation and liberal use of fertil- and then arose with the announce; leer. If the cultivated plant` tneke meat. "Buys, I'm afther changina r igorotis growth, there %ill be less use moind." room and less chance for the weeds. the most devastating and alarming. Insparsely populated countries prairie and hush fires are describ- e I as beyond measure terrifying, ' stink, although less forrnidahle, yet la severe heath tire is a beeiideiing spectacle of awe arid terror. By some means or other the hea- ther is ignited, and, fanned by a strong wind, the conflagration is It becomes evident from the fol. spreading with the rapidity of "lids lowing atory, which hails from a fire. In a shut t time a high curling North country town, that there are billow of raging fire is advauecirig widely varyeig ideas ini existence at acmes a wide stretch of heather, to what constitutes voluntan' (esti.sweepirig over it like the bosom of atony on any subject, says London destruction, and inetatnerphosing Tit -Rita. an expanse of lovely purple bloom "I)i'd I understand you to say that into a blackened, desolate wilder- this boy voluntarily confessed his Hess. Now the devouring wilder' [this in the mischief done to the has reached a r +pse of tufty fire, are 1" asked the Magis. and in a few moments, with a roar trete., addressing the determined as of a thousand furnaces, the Ir+"king female parent of ;, small and flames have enveloped the entire dirty boy charged with r,eing con- ' in a sheet of fire, tengues and forks of flame setting hither seined in a recent raid „poo an and thither or flashing upwards far p"�'ulnr s(heulmaster above the topmost branches; and ' des• sir, hr diri." the rceme.n row a delightful dell, a very fairy • responded. "1 just 1111(1 to peri wade glen, a garden of wild Hewers, and him a little, and then hP told me the decorated by nature with hanging whole thing voluntarily '' wreaths of wild clematis, is in aI "Hew dict you persuade him 1" moment engulphed in the fiery de- !queries his 1\ orsbip struetion. de - Birds are wheeling! ''Well, first i gave him n good r•eund and round uttering discord- flicking." maid the firm parent, "and ant cries as they are driven away Ithen Iput hien t,, bed without sup- moment their nests of almost helpless per. and i teak his (lathes gully and 1 fed 1'c 10 '. s• rabbits ce( tnv ' h e anti andh to ed ' t scuttle to 'told d him fief lie tl o gn fro; and even butterflies and other : fessed what he'd dune, if 'twee the inserts fall victirns to the ravag- ing reef of his tea . awl 1 should lick fires. jhim again in the morning An'd in And when it is all over, ghat a less than half an hour he fold me melancholy scene of desolation and destruction is presented. Where, in the morning, %as a flever adorn - NI landscape, here and there a lofty silver birch, its pendent leafy branches trembling in the breeze; here and there a handsome fir or a synunetrical mountain nett ; or here and there a bank of bracken, or a hollow, gay in a wealth of wild flowers, tall spikes of purple fox- glove or of the showy willow -herb, a few butterfly orehis or other rar- ity. with many another floral beauty, now in the evening a telae- she : "\jou are very depressed. kened desert, murky and joyless; I didn't know you sore r1 so much for lite etruek down and conquered by dent'', radiant beauty now a gree- vour uncle." Ile : •'1 didn't. but eotee and unluvely waste, and the 1 was the means of keeping him in j.,yous tneleely of the choristers of en insane asylum the last year of the woods now !teethed in the silent•, 1,,; life, and now that he has left me f the 'rave ;,'1 1104 money, I've 401,to prove that hetx het a contrast all this Is to' he was of sound mtnd." MI;Tl100 OF PERSUASION. How a Determined Mother Obtained a "Voluntary" l'onlessioa. the whole story voluntarily !" g The man who is right -headed is apt to be good-hearted. There is lots of fun in doing things yon don't hale to do. Some peen try to dodge the issue when they find what they are look- ing for 4 4 4 1 1 1