Loading...
The Exeter Times, 1888-8-2, Page 2Prow 'rimy BI,IsFrEP .1 CUL RIOtare Rrnaehhan.) LIKE AND UNIA E By M. E. BRADDON. Aroma or " Liar Aermao's Seeetea, Wreraestas Wawa), Eve., Exo, Valentine opened the door of bis wife'a: bedroom suddenly, and stood on the thres- hold 'main et her, She was sitting et a writing -table in the Middle of the room, in a loose white dressing gown, her hair felling upon her shoulclera, The room was in supreme disorder, drawers mulled out to their eullest extent, wardrobe doors open, a litter of discarded odds and lends upon the floor, and trualts paoked as if for a, journey. She heard the door openlooked, up and eaw her husband standing in the doorway, with that blanched and angry look which had so impressed Adrien. She started to her feet, staring at him with dilated eyes, and her hands stretched tremulously above the paper on which the had. been writing. "'e, it is L your husband," he said, at You expected some one she, perhaps. Yon thought it was your lover." His quick eye caaght that motion of her hands, the fingera spread wide se if to con. coal the writing on the teble, while she Stood motionless'paralyzed with fear. Be wine at her side before she bad reoevered from the shook of his appearance, and had anetched that half -written letter from the table. The ink was wet in the last lines, and there was a long tremulows stroke where her hand had faltered as she looked up and :saw bine in the doorway: a' Don't reed ib; don't read it, for God's • *ake, Valentine," she cried, piteously. No read a letter which is addressed to he said. "You are a very curious woman, Airs. Belfield, and that is a very curious request. Stay where you are," he cried, gripping her wrist fiercely, as she made a terror-stricken movement towea da the door " when I have read your letter I shall know • how to answer it." lie held her there pinioned, the delicate Wrist clasped as in a vice, while he read the following lines: "As you have lend ceased to care for me, Valentine, it clan hardly be any great loss to you. to part with me for over. You have lived your own life, and have left me to live mine. You have done nothing to make my life happy, or to trove your regard for me. For a long time I went on loving you, pa- tiently, devotedly, blind to your selfishness and neglect, waiting and hoping for a day that never came. But at last my eyes were opened, and I began to understand your haracter and my own folly in loving you. shad then another love was offered me, un- selfish, generous, devoted, selteacrificing, and for the first time I knew what the pas- sion of a life -time means. When you read this I shall be far away from this house—far away from England, I hope—with the man who loves me well enough to sacrifice his social position for my sake, and for whose love I am willing to forfeib my good name. • X have but one regret in taking this step, tireadiul as its consequences maybe; and that is ray sorrow inproving myself unworthy ef your mother's affection. To lose her • esteeni is very bitter. From you I have nothing to lose; for you have given me nobliing--" He stood with this letter in his right hand, and his left holding her wrist, stool &lacing in Ithr face after he had read the last word, she booking back at him, terror changed to defiance. She had been shocked aad startled at his sudden entrance, but it was not in her nature to turn craven. "Do you mean this?" he asked. "Every word of it—yes, every word. You have neglected me, trampled upon me —treated me as if you had bought me in a market for your slave. Yes, while all the best men in London were treating me like a einem, while I had tollowers and flatterers enough to turn any woman's head, you did not see that there was danger—you did not care. But there was one who cared—one whom I love as I never loved you." "And you loved nte as you never loved thy brother, and you will change twain, and the of Se. Austell as you tired first of ,Adrian and then of me. You are a wanton by nature, but you have reckoned without Yana host, you fair, false devil, You shall not live to dishonour me." He had his Malacca cane in his hand, a cane with a loaded head. Did he forget that the gold top was loaded with lead, as he raised the cane and struck at her furious- ly in blind ungovernable rage, struck at the fair, pale brow with all the force of his strong arm. She reeled under the blow, and then fell backwards with a dull thud, fell without a ary, and lay on the Persien carpet looking sip at him with wide open eyes, and a re&t gash upon her forehead. It was done. He stood looking .down at , her for minstant, and then his bram reeled, and he staggered back against a sofa, and sank upon it, half unconscious,with a mite like the surging of the sea inhis ems, and a great light in his eyes. Then came dark- • ness, through which he heard hurrying foot- steps, and an opening door, and then noth- What was this burden that he carried, Ing. cold and still, upon his burning, passionate. He re -opened his eyes after what seemed ly-throbbing heart? What was this that a long interval, and saw Adrian kneeling he should think of it, or care for it or be sorry for its sake? A weak, false woman, slain upon the threshold of her sin --caught like a bird in the net, just at the moment when she was going to inflict upon him the deepest wrong that woman can do to man. No. He gave not one thought to his via. dm. Be carried her as the butther carries the lamb to the slaughter house. Slowly, deliberately, with steady footsteps in the corridor and on the stairs, he carried hie burden through the silent house, motioning to Adrian to precede him, with the candle, to open doors for him, to withdraw bolts— and so the brothers went in silence out into the silent night. There were stars shining above the wood- ed hills—the night was not all silence. They could hear the ripple of the river in the val.- ley t a soft soothing sound, sweetest lullaby, nutate for lovers and happy people. The summer wind name up out of the valley like a Titan' sigh, eat and Blow, and full of web. eaacholy. Adrian left the candle burning on a table in the hall, and followed his brother morose the threshold. He dosed the door behind him, lot the creaking of the hinges should awaken any meinber of that sleeping home. hold. The door would open easily from the outside ; there Would be no diffioulty in re- turning to their rooms by ancl bye, when that ghaitly load had been put away. He foutad hiniself oonsidering all the cod- sequel:toes, oalmly and deliberately, ea if it evete no new experience for him, to be cora mimed in the cohceelnient of a murder. /n- voluttarily he reettlka ohl historicel mnr dets, which his imagination haddwelt upon, feacinated by them morbid ititereet, Ile remembered Thurters crime, and the body hidden in the pend in the garden, and thed taken ottb of that pond and carried off 10 a safer hiding place. He remembered you, must boar theburden of het an. You are the greater sinner, But now you nave to consider how you are to answer for what you have done. [be etraightest course will be the best. I will go and awaken Mrs. Marrable and then send a mounted groom for the doctor. Be oan do nothing; but it is our duty to have him here as noon as pos. Bible." Valentine dung himself between his brother and the door. "Wake old Marrable I Send for the doctor he eohoed. Are you mad, Adrian! Do you want to ptit a rope round that you are branding yourself for ever my nock?' I want to save your neck, and your nwoith the crime of murder. There can be, 1 oan answered slaugb ter —j ustifiab le aanaafema' too' aa far as homiTlideset—illteorfthrnitaa'n' Adrian, with calmness and resolution, the "11 you will hold your tongue, there will calm of an intellectual nature which risme be no gaestion of anything—in relation to with the importance of a crisis. " You Tay wile—except that ahe ran away from me. must face the situation honestly, awful as There will be her own handwritingto show There must it is. There is no other way. how she eloped with be lover. Yes, that be a ooroner's inquest, and you will have to will be there to answer for her, in bleak and, anawer for what you have done. You will white, in her own hand, when she is rotting be sure ofsyrepathy in your charaoter of an among the water -rate." outraged husband, when that letter has been read. There will be a verdict of man- slaughter, perhaps; impossible, I fear to avoid that; and you may have to go to prison. for a short time," "Was there ever such a fool ?" cried Val- entine. "Do you think I am going to offer my neck to the noose, like that. '1 am very sorry, gentlemen of the jury, that I have had the misfortune to kill my wife. I hope you will be civil enough to call the matter manslaughter, and to let me off easily; but if you choose to call it murder, here I am, ready for the hangman.' No, my good brother; we num manage things better than that.. e won't cell up old Marrable, or Bend for the family doctor. We have the best part of the night before us yet. We must dispose cf that !" He pointed with quivering finger to the pellid form lying on the carpet. It was a smell Persian carpet of delicate coloring on a white ground, and the blood frora ,that deep cut upon the temple had made a dark crimson/patch on the whiteness. How harsh- ly that crude red showed against the half tints of the oriental pattern I "1 will have nothing to do with you un- less you take the straight course," said Adrien. "Oh yes, you will. Yon are my brother, the other half of myself, bound to me by the most mysterious tie that humanity knows. You must help me. You must go with me, ahead and foot, heart and brain! What, would you have my mother wake to- morrow to be told that her son had given himself up to answer for the murder of his wife? Do you think such a blow as that would not kill her, as surely as that fatal blow killed yonder wanton," pointing scorn- fully to his victim. "Valentine, are you a man or a devil ?" "There is a touch of the latter in my na- ture perhaps. When you were made all of mulk and honey, I took the gall and worm- wood for my share. 1 say you must help me, and without the loss of a nainute, or if you won't help me you may look on. At least I suppose you will hold your tongue." "1 tell you again, Valentine, your only safety is in facing your danger, and answer- ing for what you have done. "And I tell you again that Lam not such a fool as to take a fool's &Mee." He knelt beside the prostrate form and rolled the carpet round those lifeless limbs. Calmly, with a diabolical deoision and promptness, he arranged his ghastly bur- den. "Open the door," he said, "and bring a candle." Adrian obeyed, instinctively, mechani- cally. His conscience and his intellect alike revolted against his brother's aceions, yet he submitted and went with him. Perhaps he may have argued that when a man's life is at stake he has the righe to follow his own judgment rather than any other man's counsel. The awfulness of the stake may give exceptional rights. For the trained athlete, that slender form was no difficult burden. Valentine carried his dead wife with her head lying across his shoulder, the long loose hair falling like a veil over those marble features, the pallid waxen hand and arm on his breast. His own face was of almost as deadly a hue as that pallid arm. His brows were bent, his lips sternly set, his eyes dark with des- perate resolves. He would put that ghast- ly evidence of his crime away anywhere, anyhow, to save himself, his ownfulhblood. ect, fiercely throbbing life this vigorous all - enjoying entity which death would reduce to nothingness and everlasting oblivion. Brave as a Roman to endure pain, to face danger, to live down disgrace, Valentine turned craven at the thougbt of life's inexorable end. He would ward off that to the utter- most hour. He would fight for that as the fox fights, with dauntless courage and inex- haustible cunning. that still more ghastly murder dime by the two Mannings, husband and wile; the grave 414 bt forehand for the viethn ; the Aware Of seaeual pleasures ; the bashel of time. VARIBTIBB. That wizard Edison is becoming moreand, moth of a marvel. Pfe es making leech ira- And now his brother, the other half of provemente in his phonograph that he ex - lis own being, the meeture he had hived Pets fiocia to be able to trantimil the sound and clung to end admired for the strength of the human voioe across the Atlantic of his manhood, and envied for nature's mean, So that for those of us who Mtn af- hounthous gifts—this being so near to him. ford it, we inay expect to be able to liaten self had sunk to the level of those heroes to Mr, Gladetone demolishing an opponent of the Newgate Calendar, and had to bend in the House of Cortunona, or to any other his mind, as they had bent theirs, to thee man who becomes celebrity enough to have concealment of their orime, people care not only for what he says but They had walked e long way ia silemee, the very manner of epeeth in whicb he says half way down the menue and then across the graze to a lower level,. descending that Whenever Canadian editors feel terapted. wooded gorge through, which the river ran, to grumble at the bardness of their lot, let darkened with foliage. They had reaohed this thought oomfcrt theui and raise notes of the path beside the streim without a word thanksgiving in their hearts—this, namely, spoken by either. But here Adrian broke that askind Providenoe has not called on them that gloomy silence, to bear the burden and heat of the day in an "For God's sake, Valentine, consider editorial chair in Germany. The iron hand what you are doing, and the fatal come- presses beavilythere on all classes, hub the quer:ices that may oome of it. Do you hnove editor, poor wight ! feels the rigor of its weight more than others, The editor of the Cologne Gazette was recently sentenced to three month's imprisonment f or incor- rectly saying that a landlord bad refused to sell to the Government some land on which it was proposed to erect a statue to Emperor William I. There would need to be plenty of honour or abundance of wealth connect- ed with a Germany editorship to justify even O bold man in undertaking its terrible re- sponsibilities. Quite a speculation is going on in some beside that prostrate fitnire, holding a hand mirror above the white lips. " Adrian !" he faltered hoarsely, as his farother rose slowly to his feet and faced him. They stood booking at each other, both faces rigid with horror ; so like, and yet un- like, even when the same over -mastering emotion.possessed each ha the same degree. They might have been the principle of good and of evil encountering each other, love and hate, right and wrong, compassion and enmity, any two qualities of human nature that are most antagonistic. "Von have killed her," said Adrian, quietly, almoet in a whisper. "Are you sure," gapped the other, "Is there no hope? Is she really dead ?" "Yes. Not a breath upon the glass layieg down the mirror as he spoke. "Not the faintest thtoh of the heart. Look at those gleam eyes—Murderer 1" " was not mutder 1 I struck her deem in my fury --struck at her as at an infamous Woman who had betrayed me—who shame- fully defied roe, Veit, she defied me, Adrian ; blazoned her guilt e told me she had loved him. as the had never loved die. I surprised her as she Was writing that fetter"--point- ieg to the open letter on the table, "coolly anhounoing her intention to diehonour me." "She stood there, looking et me and re- peating this, and I had that devilish ottne in ;my hand, and I lifted it and struck at het ; etre& at her blindly, as I would have Aro& ht a strong mon, struck her on the head and she fell, hftew to more, till/ looked =up out of the thiok darkness and saw her dying there and you betide her." 4' Well, you have killed her. That is how meglect mid cruelty have ended," said Adrian. "11 shesinned againet youe—if the would have left vitt for another man—it 'Valentine, be brave, be honest! Go quarters over the late marriage of the Duke back. Take her back. Tell the world i what; you have done. It will be beteer, of Marlborough with Mrs, Hammeraley. wiser, safer I" Some allege that, after all the precautions "11 would be the act of an idiot. Go and'taken, the marriage is not legal according to sorepe the rust off some of that old armour the laws of afew York. It is a :nether, bow- ie the hall, Adrian; and mount Cinderella, ever, of no possible importance teeny but the and go clattering along the high roads to parties themselves. The .Duke's reeord has quest of adventures. You are of the kind altogether been too unsavory to intereet any of temper that makes lunatics of Don respeotable person on either aide of the Quixote's breed. lam not." water. Let him go his way and reap For not one instant had he slackened his as he has sowed, whatever may be the na- paoe or faltered in his purpose, as he argued ture of the harvest. The world is too sad with hie: brother. He knew every yard of and serious to make it worth while to bother water in that swift deep stream bearing with such unwholesome subject:a, though, to down with ceaseless impetus frora,the quiet be sure, many will talk and fool about such hills yonder, from solitudes that seemed like a fellow simply because he happens to be a holy pla,oes in the stillness of deepest night. lord. He knew every bend and every pool. His High License, to whioh so many pin their experience as an angler had made him lam- faith as a remedy against the evils of the li- iliar with all. quer traffic does not seem to be proving a There was one deep pool where he had success in ifinnesota. The St. Paul Globe had many a tussle wibho gigantic pike, a at least says so, and gives figures of which . sluning scaly monster, that sulked among there is no reason to doubt the trustworthi- the rushee and sat him at defianoe. He had nese. When the Low License regime came landed such an one many a time in that to an end, says the Globe, there were 1,243 shadowy corner, where the reeds grew thick saloons in Minnesota. The High Licnse and tall. oame into effect July 1, 1887, a little more It was there she should be. than a year ago, that is to say. By That should be her grave, deep and secret, that, saloons have to pay mininum deep in the shiny bottom of the river, en- fees of $1,000 in the largest cities and $500 tangled among water weeds, wedged in with elaevehere, and severe restrictions and -pen. pebbles—safe, hidden for ever from the light allies for violations are provided for. When and the world. this, then, came into effeot a year ago, there He laid his burden upon the grassy slope was an immediate drop in the number of beeide the pool, and then began th collect S. saloons, from 1,243 to 828, a de:cheese of 411. score or two of pebbles, the largest he could But now in is found that the saloons are find alaeg the path, taking them at longish fast recovering all their old numerical intervals, lest the keen eye of investigation strength, and to -day, according to the S& should observe that the stones had been re- Paul globe, there are only 73 fewer than moved from the comae gravel. there were under the Low License. • Then'when he got together as many as he wanted he tied them in hie handkerchief and A very pretty quarrel is now going on fastened them to the dead girl's girdle. among the doctors over the late Emperor's Then he wrapped the carpet more securely throat. Every one, as usual, blames those round her, tied it with the large ailk hand- who did not take up his ideas and work out kerchief from his neck, and so secured, he his plans. For wrangling and professional dragged the corpse to the brink of the water jealousy, there is not a elms of educated and gently pushed it into that cold shadowy men that will compare with doctors the depth. It sank like a plummet. The water world over. They are always saying nasty rippled and bubbled about it for e, minute or things of brother leeches and always sure so, and there was a noise of rushing creatures that all their rivals are either knaves or or a rustle of reeds and water weeds, and fools. The German doctors are now sure then all was silent. that Mackenzie murdered the Emperor and Adrian stood with his beak against a wil- that had the little operation on which they low trunk, watching hiebrother's movements had set their hearts been but performed with wide-open awe-stricken eyes, the mom. the patient would to day have been alive nation of speechless horror. and well. It remains to be seen what the When the water had ceased to ripple Englishman will say in reply. But the fact round the spot where that ghastly load had is that i'; is the same everywhere. The gone down, Valentine turned his back upon one-half of the doctors of the world will not the rushy bank, and walked quickly up and speak to the other half, and all are con - down the narrow path, looking right and vumed that if they only had been caned im left, peering into the shadowy recesses be. this brother and that " would not have tween the great brown branches of oak and died." Lawyers are different. Officially elm, the faintly shining silver of the beech they wrangle with each other at a great trees, looking lest by some diabolical chance rate but privately they are as thiok as they shouldhave been followed and watched. thieves. The why of this may be a mystery He stood here and there for a minute 00 60, but the fact itself cannot be gainsaid. Per - listening intently, as he had listened many haps the old half joke, half sarcasm may a time for the hounds, inethe woodland or have some truth in it, that they are like on the moor ; but he could hear neither the blades of a, pair of scissors which don't breath nor motion of any living oreature, cat one another but whatever comes be. nothing hitt the faint whisper of the wind tween them. among the leaves. Certain New York coffee dealers having Suddenly came a far off sound, momently louder manipulated that article so prettily as to be I was the steady, persistent, inevitable. t sound of an express train travelling able to play Jock Horner with his Christ. along the line that ran at the bottom of the mas pie,Mr. Powderley, of the Knights of valley, on a level with the water. i Leber, s trying to checkmate their gam "Tee mail from Exeter," said Valentine. by organizing a coffee boycott on a gigantic "Half -past one." scale. He has written a letter in the "Jour. They walked back by the way they had nal of United Labor," in which he strongly urges "mechanics, laborers, miners, farmers come, m silence, till they came to a point, midway between the river and the Abbey, and Knights of Labor generally" to abstain where the path divided„one leading to the from this beverage, and in this very ea park gates, the other to the house. Here fective way break the "corner." Mx. Valentine stopped abruptly. Powderley's advice is excellent, and if • "Good -night and good-bye," he said. he can only persuade a sufficient num. "Where are you ing?" ber of people to practice the necessary "1 don't know. ou needn't be afraid. go self.denialt no possible combine" could Y If there should be awkward queetions asked, stand &gaunt them. And such a boycott or euapicions aroused, I will oome back to is perfectly legal and altogether justifiable. anawer If there is a coffee corner, and the operators lurch." get I won't leave you in the get badly nipped by the adoption of Mr. "I am not afraid of that; but you had rowderley's plan, the universal verdict better come back to the house with me. It ought to be ¶' served them right." There will be no worse for you to bear than for was said to be a Montreal corner in lemons a week or two ego. The price leaped np at any rate very markedly all of a sudden, " Thae's your idea," answered Valentine and the advance was explained in this way. shortly, as he vanishein the darknette of The little game mit have proved disap. (To ColiTINVED. the shrubbery path. pointing, however, for prices are down BB ) again to about what they were before. What Smoking Does For Boys. It takes a very vivid imagination to real - A medical man., struck with the large ize the magnitude of railway enterprise on number of boys under fifteen years of age this continent. Considering our opportuni- ties we Canadians hay e nothing to be ashcan - whoin he observed smoking, was led to m. ed of, the. very opposite. We can look quire into tlae effect the habit had upon the the world en the face and point with some general health. He took for his purpose pardonable pride not to our transcontinental thirty-eight, aged from nire th fifteen, and road only, but to other evidences that we carefully examined them. In twenty.seven he discovered injurioue traces of the habit. In twenty-two there were various disordera of the circulation and digestion, palpitation of the heart, and a more or less taste for strong drinks. In twelve there were fre- quent bleedinge of the nose, ten had dis- turbed sleep, and twelve had slight uthera. tion of the mucous membrane of the mouth, which disappeared on ceasing the use of to- bacco for some days. The dootot treated them all for weaknem, but with little effeet, until the smoking was discontinued, when health ahd atrength were restored.--tBritiali Medical Monthly. The Point of View. Tim long, sweltering July day was drew- ing to a elose. "Madam," eaid the tramp, " I have eaten nothing for two dap, and am nearly starved. Oark you give nits a moteiel 1" ' "Mercy sakes, /non I" was the sympath. etio response, don't talk about eating,, too hot to eat," , And With a ead deep sigh the trarrip thrin ed eway, mitrinttring as he did go, "This is a cold word we live irk." are abreast of the age. But it is in the States that the most striking display of of aotivity in railway building is manifeated. According to the Railway Age tteete wercain he! United States during the six :math:sending with June Nth last no less than 3,320 miles of new railroad. Just let the mind dwell on that feet long enough to allow so:teething like en adequate idea of what it means to be formulated. Last year these were 148a 987 miles in operation, and to -day there are more than 150,000 milea. Judi think of it. 150,000 miles of these parallel steel tracks, with all that they involve. On them run home 31,650 locomotives, mote than a mil- lion freight care, Some 23,000 passenger cars, and 7,480 baggage), mali Mad express care, One tiotimable feature about the railroad bandit% of the present year it that o large proportion of it is in the Southern States. The New South, purged by suffer- ing, is rising rapidly to a far nebler develop - meet than it ever attethed lathe palmiest days of slevery, or ever would have attain - ea had that oureed cancer not been out Out, All the tea of the world otimbilied hate but one.fifth mote mike of railroad than the United States, Omit Qu Guard, Any incident whieli allows the noble or generous nature of General Grant is ()Needy read, The hallowing incident, reported by a Weetern exohange, showing his generosity to a raw reeruit, may be aew to many of our readers. It: was a drizzly day, only a abort time before General Grant drove the enemy from Peteraburg and moved toward Five Forks and Appomatox. A chill north- east gale made overooate comfortable even there, and more men who could wore them than left them off. A sentinel down bowed the river near some etorehousos shivered as he strode to and fro on his pea, his gun -look under kb arm to keep off the web. lie was a raw re- cruit from "down Eaele" sent oeb to nelp fill the ranks of a regiment which had lost one- half its men since the campaign began. He saw a man in a regulation overcoat and with a elouch hat, but with the steady oar- riage el a veteran passing along a few rods away, and he called out to him: "Say, friend, have you any terbacker itt yer clothes?" The pesser.by was smoking a cigar. "No," he replied. "I can give you a,cigar, but I ion't chew." "And I don't smoke but I'm starving for a chew," replied the sentinel, as he looked over to the other wistfully. "An' I chew, and dasn't smoke on post. Say, couldn't you stand post a minute till 1 run over to the sutler's yoader "1 could," said the other, with a grim smile on his face, and then he added, " will. Give me your gun and orders." "There isn't no orders, only to bail any- body going aenigh them attires, and to ttop 'em as has no business there." So the sentinel, relieved of his posthurried to the sutler's for the desired tobacco. Re- turning promptly, he took his gun and quiet- ly said : "11 1 git a chance rn do as much for you, friend. What regiment be you in?" "Not any. I belong to headquartera." "What, to,the general's guard? What's yeur name?' • The quiet -looking man puffed out a cloud of smoke and said : "My name is Grant." "Great Jerusalem!" gasped the sentinel; "I've been relieved by General Grant him- self, and didn't know him." How could he when not a mark of the general's rank was in sight, and the poor fellow was yet too green in service to know what a fault he had committed in yielding post and gun to any but his regular relief. About American RailWaya. L How many miles of railway in the United States ? 150,600; about half the mileage of the world. 2. How much have they coat? $9,000,000,000. 3. How many people are employed by them? More than 1,000,000. 4. What is the tastest time made by a tridn ? Ninety-two miles in 93 ninety- three minutes: one mile being made in forty- six seconds on the Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad. 5. What is the cost of a high class, eight -wheel passenger locomotive. About 8 500. 6.1 What is the longest mileage operated by a single system? Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe system about 8,000 miles. 7. What is the cost of a palace -sleep ing oar. About $15,000, or $17,000 if "ves tibuled." 8. What is the longest railway bridge -span in the United States. Canti- lever span in Poughkeepsie bridge. 518 feet. 9. What is the highest railroad bridge in the United States? Kinzua viaduct on the Erie road, 305 feet high. 10. Who built the first locomotive in the United States 2 Peter Cooper. 11. What road carries the largest number of passengers ? Manhattan Elevated Railroad, New York; 525,000 a day, or 191,- 625,000 yearly. 12. What is the average daily earning of an American locomotive? About $100. 13. What is the longest Ameri- can railway tunnel? Hoosao tunnel, on the Fitchburg Railway of miles) 14. What is the average cost of constructing a mile of railroad? At the present time about $30,- 000. 15. What is the highest railroad in the United States? Denver and Rio Grande; Marshall Pass, 10,852 feet. 16. What are the chances of fatal accident in railway, tree vel? One killed in ten million; statistics show more are killed by falling out of win- dows than in railway accidents. 17. What line of railway extends furthest east and west? Canadian Pacific Railway, running from Qaebeo to the Pacific Ocean. 18. How long does a steel rail last with average wear? About eighteen years, 19. What road car. ries the largest number of commuters? nolo Central, 4,828,128, in 1887. 20. What is the fastest time made between Jersey City and San Francisco? Three days seven hours thirty minutes and sixteen seconds. Special theatrical train, June, 1886. Masculine .Soonomy. • There lived not very many years ago, says the Pittsburg Despatch, a short distance from the town of Beaver, which, by the way, is lookinglike a young bride just now in her boudoir of green hills, a man of extra- ordinary meanness. I don't think it would be unjust to say he was a miser. Most of you wonld enjoy the story more if I gave you his name. But I won't do it. One day as he was starting out for Beaver to do his weekly ehopping—for even he had to buy something for the support of his fain- ily—his wife came out and asked him to buy her a darning needle. "What's the matter with the one I bought you last winter ?a " The eye's broken out," she replied. "Bring the needle here," said he; " not going to allow any ouch extravagance. have the needle mended." The woman was wise, and made no pro- tesTah The economical farmer rode into Beaver, and stopped first of all at the blacksmith's shop. He took out the needle and handed it to the blacksmith. " I Want that mended," he said The blacksmith knew his customer; and keeping his face perfectly straight Fiaid that the eye should be made whole in an hour's time. The farmer rodeaway, and the black. smith walked across the street and bought a new needle for a cent or two. When the farmer called again the black- smith gave him the needle. The farmer looked at the smooth, polished surface of the eteel, and remarked that it was a good job How much will ib be ?" said he, "Ten dents," said the blacksmith, and the farmer, as he paid it, remarked that he knew the needle could be mended, but his wife would have gone to the expense of buy - mg a new one if he hadn't interfered. Poultry and Milk. Aunt Dinah--Dite yere chicken am ,just SRlencliciow3, Rothe. Wot you pay fo dat bird? Uncle Raritue—Itelle yo', honey, de price of chickens am roostin' berry high, but we poo' folio mus' tab 'ern. Hi, hi, hi,' yah, yah, yah 1 Aunt Dinah --Yah, yah, yehaavolv 1 Wha' yo' git dat pint o' milk, Reatus : it's haf wate.h? tlnobe Ratitue (seriously) -1 got it ob dot yeller milkman wit freckles; dat men yain't hones', deed he yanit ? The Dog DIelihea the Dude Bit. A cattle -men from Arizona, William Wib- san by name, has just come down to theoity and brought with him a dog that would have delighted the heart of the author of "Sutler Resartus," For the animal flaunts a truly, Qarlylean contempt for the fripperies of civilization and th'e useless adorarnent of clothes. air. Wiloon tient Nugget, tee dog, to board with a dog fancier irk a canine board- ing.house, and then went tc. a clothing etore and exchanged his cowboy's rig for new clothes of the latest cut. The next day he called on Nugget, but Nugget would have none of him. The master whistled to the dog, petted him, and made every effort to make him understand that affection was not changed, even though clothes bad been. The dog thekeci up at the silk hat which had taken the place of the broad -brimmed olouoli to which he had been accustomed, sniffed ab the dude:Alice cane, and surveyed ttiOight trousers from several points of vieW and then walked off to the oorner of the toom, an lay down, d gave a long mourufut owl, Mr. Wilson tried to coax him out of the corner but could net, Nugget; would look up at him with a knowing expression in his eye and ocomionally give the feeblest little wag to the end of his tail, but he oould nob be induced to reoonsider ins evident deter- mination nob to recognize his mcmter in any such ridiculous attire as that. Mr, Wilson went to his hotel, donned leis cowboy's rig again, and then returned to Nugget's quar- ters. The instant the dog saw him he was almost wild with joy, and hie delight at see- ing hie master again clothed ea he thought a man ought to be was almost unbounded. A Story of Royalty. At a party in Berlin Prof. Curtius, an in- timate friend of the late Emperor, related a story whioh had been told him once by his august patron, illustrating the character of Queen Victoria. The Emperor, then King of Prussia, but an exile in England, had wit- nessed the tremendous enthusiasm displayed by all London in front of Buckingham Palace after the well-known attempt on her Me- jeaty's life, when she was slightly wounded, and was present the same night in the Queen's box at her Majesty's theatre when the ovation of the audience on seeing her Majesty enter knew no bounds. Struck by his own anomalous position—an exile at the hands of his own sabjecte, and his kingdom on the point of destruction—the King could not restrain his tears; but the Queen, see- ing his great emotion, seized his hand, and with true womanly instinct divining its cause, said in an affectionate and sympathe- tic voice : "Your Majesty will live to ex- perience a similar demonstration toward yourself from your own subjects." Prophetic words which. the Emperor never forgot The King of Sweden was, on hie Jest birthday, the recipient of a pretty little letter from a Swedish girl six years of age, who, beginning her epistle "Dear King," informed him that as his birthday coincided with her o1 she Lad written in order to congratulate him, particularly as she " loved her dear King so very -much." He wrote back: "1 thank the little Miss S. A., six years of age, for her letter of congratulation on my birthday, which is also hers. May she become a good woman, andathus afford pleasure to her laing Oscar." The letter was acoompanied by a handsome gold bangle. Strange Burials of Military Heroes. The funerals of military heroes are always peculiarly impressive. It ia said that the conqueror Alaric, after having captured , Rome, died while on the march for Sicily. s".. His army buried their chieftain by turning the river Businto from its bed, in which his grave was dug. After placing the king and his treasures there, the water was turned upon its former course, this having been dine in order that the 'ROMS= should never find the grave of their conqueror. The task was performed by the captives taken in war, who were aftererwards slain in order to pre- vent disclosure of so important a secret. Attila, who led the Huns to many a field of slaughter, reached at last the most murder- ous ever known in European history, a place near Chalons, A.D. 451. This was AMIE:a:last battle, and two years afterwards he died in his own capital of apoplexy. Three coffins, it is said, were made, one be- ing of iron to enclose the corpse; this was placed in another of silver, while the out- side coffin was of gold. He was buried at midnight, in secret, vith much treasure, and, as at the funeral of Alarict, the prisoners who dug the grave were slam. This took place near Buda, in Hungary. Charlemagne was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle where his throne may still be seen in the cathedral. It is one of the oldest in Europe, having stood ten centuries. Many years after his death, when the cathedral was built, the tomb was opened, and his body was found seated on the throne and clothed in the im. pedal robes. The latter are still preserved at Vienna and are the oldest garments in the world.' +11-.41.00eiwi Her Oomments. Those astonishing people who speak all their thoughts aloud 1 If their numbers were multiplied, the delicate structure known as society would surely come to ruin. One of these, an old lady, described by an Eaglish biogra.pher, wouldprobably never make mis- chief m the unconscious outpouring. of her feelings, but she certainly might furmeh food for laughter. One night, when she was entertaining a smell party, a young lady coneented to sing for the guests. The hostess sat very near the performer, and commented audibly upon the song, with a simple unconsciousness whick would have seemed laughable to any Nestor. The song began: "Kathleen Maeourneen' — " Oh, what a charming name I" The gray dawn is breaking," "Yes, I've seen it often,. coming home from a ball." "The horn of the hunter is heard on „ahe • hill," ) '40h yea, I know, be Switrerla,nd." • "The lark from her light; wings the bright • dew is shaking," "Oh, the dear little thing 1" " Xathleen Mauvourneen, what, elumber- ing still I" Perhaps she was up late, poor dear I" "14 may be for years and it may be forever," 44 Oh gracious what a long time!" Then wake from thy slumber, thou voice of my hearb." "Get up, you lazy heeser 1" It was with etttreme diffieulty that the singer could continue, ahd when the last ionotevttiaptI rrutori came, the teudience was quite ti Exaspeating Stupidity. Sloopkhl (c16 on ileasteceiimt of the l'apid growth, of Manitoba towns). "Why, Brook- ly, only seven years ago a band of Blackfoot Indians held a war dance right here on this lawn I Think of that, sir I Broakly (not to be astonished), ki Why, Itasae thodght they'd broken the aattee, and trania pled all the tehrubbety clow10 1