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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1909-6-24, Page 31 IDS MOMENT'S MADNESS essi-e-sea-s-op,o+o+0-4-0-a•04-aaaia "Who's that? Who's there 2" It broke in a fierce, half -soared rattle from Ben Agnew's dry bps. He was upon his feet with an un- steady bound. For what seemed hours he had sat there in that de- frant.stupor, hands and teeth oiouoh- ed, Just in time he flung the tables cover over that smiling, arch por- trait of a woman's fame--lva'a foam -into which he had been staring with such hypnotic lbdt.y, Ono stumble forward, a deep- drawn breath, and he 'stood ready. It was the quiok step on the stair for which he had been unconsoi- ously waiting au long, It was life chum, David Cottrell,; who stood framed: in the asorway there, a hand hold out, his big chest heav- ing as aster a race, hie boyish fano pallid with the suppressed thrill that comes but once in a man's life. "It's me, Ben 1" he said, "I've run near every step. I meant - I meant that you, my old chum, should be first to wish me -wish us both—" It sank away. Slowly his hand went down, "Ben," he whispered, ''what's the matter He stood, the pallor deepening, the smile dying out of this wide blue eyes. "Go on 1" Agnew's throat sudden- ly forced out the rattle. "You have seen her -made her speak her wo- man's mind at Last. Go on 1" And Dave's voice came weak and subdue through that thick pause. "I forgot. I'm sorry, old chap; I startled you, springing in un- awares. Yes, she has given me the promise at last -at last! I can't explain. I simply said that I could not live on without her -or with- out a reason for her silence. It was not -it was not as if I could not hope to give her a home that would make her happy. She is to choose it for herself -her own fur- niture -everything 1 I have only to wait a few weeks longer. Weeks! Ben, old chap, you understand !" He half turned, a hand to his eyes, as if fearing to awake. What it had cost the other man to stifle that peal of fierce, ironic laughter he was never to know. All over ! In the dusk Agnew felt out for his chair_ Deep down in his mind he had been vaguely pre- pared; yet it came now as a grotes- que shock. She had turned from him to marry Dave Cottrell -for Dave's bit of money 1 He held his breath, staring into space. Just a few hissing sentences were all that was needed to break down for ever this big, simple fel- low's sublime faith in her. "Go back and ask her how often the scale has swayed! Her letters to me prove that I could have won that same promise. But I was only a happy-go-lucky penny -a -liner, spending more than I earned. And then you, my chum, came on the scene -with the money you have saved. And gold won. Not love! Realize it for all time; she has given you the ,Iudas kiss 1" Again and again his lips parted, as the crimson impulse surged up, and each time, as he looked at Cottrell's still, wistful figure at the door, there surged up, too, the thought silently into his hand in the dark hour of journalistic struggle. All that was best in him fought madly against the brutal thing - implored• to keep at least a merci- ful silence -for Dave's sake, not hers. He stumbled suddenly toward the door, pushed heavily past, groped a way up the stairs, and crashed' open the door of his bedroom. Eva had sold herself for gold 1 She could go; she should pay the price of her mercenary mistake to the uttermost. Even now he could step between them and make an eleven- th -hour romance of it -e, triumph for himself, a tragedy for Dave. Eut, no; enough in itself to picture , mated or life to show, simple, plodding Cottrell, who had the mind of a child in his big, rugged body. An hour had passed. Quite dark now, He would not move. Not safe to trust himself face to face again with that other happy man to -,night -perhaps never again in life. Long before dawn the prob- lem of the unbearable position must solve itself for good or for evil, It did. As the grey and gold light stole in Ben Agnew stole out. He had his boxes. He had left some coins for the landlady and a vague, chilling little not of farewell for Cottrell. That was all. By mid- day he found himself in new, strange apartments, miles away. All London lay between. He need never have to look into Dave's. blue, wide eyes again ; and as for the woman -he told himself that his love had already merged into con- tempt. Fate would do the rest. The halter , of wedlock with the wrong reran should remain about her white neck for all time. Slow mouths ticker by -months of stubborn, suppressed perver- sity, thaihad aged him by as many ,years. They had beim "lain n•ncl \site seine time now, he knew. What was Happening in all this siience 2 Perhaps --just possibly, they wore nuito happy. Happy) That thought ate slowly into him, Nob even yet had he admitted to himself that his chance with Eva was lost for over, Shew weal! be chafing, like a caged -bird, If he could catch a glimpse al her fees once -just onee-he would know 1 It was earyosupremely, danger- onsly easy, lieshadowed Dave home from hit City place of bud - nese one evening, Ile drew a deop, quivering breath as the deer of the dotaehed villa oloaed behind Dave. A deadly fascination -the nameless sudden thought that .some . sort of revenge for all was still open to. him -held him near the spot, Pres- ently the door opened again, Dave came out and strode away down the lamp -lit, quiet etceet, Tho blood suddenly surged in a wave, to• Agnew's brain. As he crept nearer, a curtain beyond the French window had stirred, A wo- man steed there, looking out, She saw nothing. It was Eva. Eva, 1 - her beautiful dark ayes gazing thoughtfully past nim, Oatele sheet of glias between 1 Before he knew it -before he could count the possible Dost=he had taken a leaping little run up the path ancj pushed at the glass doors, They went slowly back, There was no need of his breathless warning to check her cry. To her, maybe, at that moment, he was as a figure risen from the dead. The slow whisper that at last struggled from her lips was hushed with awe and' pity. "Ben 1 You 1 You have come at last to see your friend -my bus- and 2" "No 1" There was a note of tri- umph, of challenge, palpitating beneath his huskiness. He was craning forward to look deep into her eyes. That dilated fear in them could only mean that she was pay- ing the price of her mistake in full. "No !" Did you tell yourself I was effaced 1 -that I could stifle all my own hopes as easily as that? Eva! Just one moment -the leen Look me in the face. Dare to tell me that you are happy even with all that his money can give you 1 That is all I ask to -night I" "Yes, yes. I know now. You think to remind me that I played a part when I gave him my promise. You told yourself chat you only had to wait and one breath of disillusion would break his heart and turn him cold. You are too late! You would not think of ib. You knew him so well. Oh, Ben -no 1" "What of me?" he, demanded, thickly. "What have I suffered? Think a Moment." "Too late 1" she repeated. on that low, rapt note, "I only live to make reparation to him -to give him back in full the affection he has given me! I was weak, blind, then; but not now 1 What you thought was a mistake -the mistake that might end in my hating him, and thus giving you your revenge -has roughs me a happiness I strive to deserve. I honor him -my Dave 1 Yes, even if I were not worthy of his love and care, I should be some- thing less than a woman if I listen- ed to yon. - You, who were his trusted friend, hoped in your heart that you could crush him. Vile 1 Ben, if you respect me -respect your own manhood -go 1" "My manhood 1" He echoed it sneeringly, not stirring. He scarce- ly knew what he said. "Once in those 'weak' days, you wrote let- ters to me that you would not care for him to see nowt You are de- ceiving yourself to save him. You are letting him live on in a fool's paradise. Eva, no 1 Listen 1 As Heaven hears me, I did not comp to say one such word as this; but I'll never believe that in my heart. "Go 1" she said again, her slight figure drawn up. "Lot that word covmce you. I love him, treasure him, more than life itself. An he knows it. That is my answer. Go 1" The glass doors swung together. On the outer side, his hands and teeth clenched, was loft a man in whom all that is weakest in human nature fought for some vent. Dave Cottrell 1 Dave had robbed ]rim of Icer, blackened his life, even if all unknowingly. But what if Dave wore made to realize that he had only won a hollow, legal right to call her his? If he waited there long enough -if he dared trust him- self to look full into the other man's eyes, speak of those old letters of hers, and tell him that he was sel- fishly chaining her to a life of sil- ent martyrdom -yes, such a barb as thab must find its mark I Suddenly, convulsively, he start- ed. Some hand was gripping his shoulder. Slowly he brought his haggard, bunted face round. Dave Cottrell stood there -big, boyish, simple-minded as of old vast won- der and delight struggling together in his blue eyes. "Ben 1 My old chum -B en 1" he said, in his deep voice, that refused to break. "You've come at last - at last? I know yvu would, I knew it l" The pause -that pause while the vehicles and figures moved by as in the muffled atmosphere of a dream, The words that would shatter his abiding trust were thronging in Agnew's throat; but they woull not sound -not yet. And presently even Cottrell seemed to diving something. deeper beneath it all, The loving, determined grip tightened. No, not lrerel he said. "You were here, to see me. You wanted, to explain ---but you cannot, ' My home is yours. Come sbraight in with me; let the blank be forgot- ten r' Agnew stood stiff. His throat rattled, but that was all, And in that moment the pained blue eyes seemed to take iu hit haggardness, , his slabhinesa, hit recklessness. Dave's band drew baok,quiekly, and seemed to be fumbling in his breast pockets. His averted face worked ocidlyr ',.hen, of a sudden, Ben Agnew found something thrust be- tween his cienohed fingers. "Yon will --for: old times' sake,", came the whisper, "You needed help; you aro too proud to ask it -of me, Not a word, If I've found such happiness in my own new life, let me think that l could do a lit- tle something. Good night." It broke off in a sort of a sharp sob that would not be suppressed, He turned and strode quickly away. As the door of the house closed behind ]rim Agnew's starling oyes looked down, He was clutch- ing a little roll of Bank -notes, the gift of the man whom he had waited there to crush. It was the psychic moment in which the turn of the'scalos meant all. And the scale went down - down 1 Something seemed to have snapped in his brain. With a moan of hate and chagrin he crushed the notes into a pellet, to burl them back at the house -and then paused. How long he remained in that quiet spot in the same rigid, cran- ing position, that pee nameless thought burning in him, he would never know. All had grown still; the street was deserted; the lights in the windows had gone out one by one. Those bank -notes 1 -he was clutching them still. Destroy them? What was their loss to the man who had found happiness? But -but to use them as a brand to destroy the house that Cottrell had bought and prepared for his bride -oh, the exquisite, fiendish irony of that sudden mental illumination 1 To see the glare going higher, higher 1 To read to -morrow that Cottrell and his Eva had stood mutely watching the blackened shell of their nest l He had no sense offear-could not realize anything deeper -as he looked around and then went creep- ing up the path again. He seem, d to be like an animal absorbed only by the thought of its prey, It was purely automatically cunning which took him toward those glass -doors - which suggested to him that per- haps Eva had been about to lock them, and had forgotten in her dread. If not, there were a scorce of other ways. Passion is brief madness; and nothing can baffle the cunning of the madman. He pushed, and they yielded a little. That was enough. He stoop- ed, put a lighted match to the small sheaf of bank -notes, and held them against the lowest fold of the thick curtain. His fingers were scorched, but he scarcely knew that. A hole had been burned; the edges of it glowed. Bending lower, he puffed in panting breath upon breath, and a greenish- yellow flare suddenly curled up. Ablaze ! He drew back, hardly breathing, the sweat pouring down his face. One inner voice cried, "Stamp it out!" Another yelled, "Let it burn 1" And now it was out of human hands, A breeze had passed him and fanned the flame. 'With a hissing little roar it caught some lace hangings near, devoured them before his eyes, and was linking the walls and wood- work. With a low cry -part horror, part exultation -Ben Agnew stumb- led up and was gone. * * * * "Dave I Dave 1" It was a woman's swooning cry, as they bore her out of the danger zone and let the fresh air of heaven play upon her dead -white face. 'It came from Eva's lips, and was heard and whispered back through the spellbound crowd that seemed to have massed there by magic. "My husband! Save my Dave!" The crowd had sprung up from dreams, to realize the red glare that threw an unholy light over all. Tiley seemed to be dreaming still. Her husband -Dave 1 All had hap- pened as in a flash of time. They had seen him stagger to thab top- most window, look out upon the firemen and the gathering, mass of fignres below, and then vanish. No 1 The half -suppressed roar went up. He was back, bearing in his arms the woman -his wife. A struggling fireman, half -blinded by the smoke and spray, had caught her as she dropped from his grasp -another lower down had caught her in turn. And the man? He would jump -he must 1 The rooms below were belch- ing flames that curled hungrily about hire as he hesitated. "Juan-) 1" went up the roar from a hundred parched throats: There was ghastly sience as he protruded his heart and shoulders again -and then as i.ncredriious moan as he slipped back-overcomel beyond help, in death's very grip. "Can't do it I" The husky shout;. dere and made dash upon dash for the topmost window. The fire - escape, bl'stered and blazing in a whirl of flame, stood useless. No volume of water could beat down in time the lava of destruction that poured out from the whole lower portion of the house -flames that seemed to expand like a fan on every living approach, "Can't be done l" ' •Suffocation had claimed him, even if the flames failed, And then -suddenly a wedge seemed to be driven through the dense, fascinated crowd. Men and gonion were hurled back by one panting, staring, sobbing man, who fought a mad, resistless way through the close ranks. He seemw ed to have the strength of a Titan, +0+Q+0+04 -0+04,94-04-04-04.c. water oto over, Turn the washer lie was through, The clothes half wheel from fifty to a hundred times, torn from bit body. Constables Wring out the .clothes end put into o them 1 Sprang, but leo fought em baa z. ef 8 , the boiler, If needed add more In the same Instant, it seemed, kip ABOUT 1 HOUSE water to boiler, Let 'clothes boil was en his knees by the aide of the well, While the first boil wash the who then00 le woman o e a n i m h laand an Yp � second, Take the filet from the still, Eva? Iiia lips had darted a boiler and put in second, adding forret upon her forehead,o+o+ba+o o -P one-half eup fluid, `Treat all the "Eva!" • e ?lied it in a ertackl- SEAsSONABL' E RZ;CIPES, white in the Sarno way, Then wash ing voice, "Look up I You know the colored without boiling. Put me? Will you know who saved -Green Peppers as Salad Holders clean cold water in washer. Was,. Dave? Mae way to put salads in a all trio clothes through. Then rinse Ero anyone Gould realize, he was lunch box is to use :green sweet pep- in the washer giving a few turns at the foot of the nearest ladder. pers. Remove the seeds after cut- to the wheel. Starch without blue - Shouts warned him back, hand,' ting off the small end of each pep- ing and hong out; Should 'be done were thrust up to drag him down; per and stuff them with the salad, in less than two. hours. Washing but lie fought like a madman and Cloaking Now Potwtoee,-Place Fluid. -Ono box of lye, one and got his hold, Up -up 1 They saw them in boiling water with two or one-half gallons water, one oui ce his head thrown back, as the red three sprigs of mint. When they liquid ammonia, one tablespoonful fur sprang at hint: They saw are cooked and drained p Y pour over of salts of tartar, but they elosed their eyes to that, them some melted butter. The mint and prayed to forget, lie was just adds a more delicate flavor. Now a moving, nebulous something now potatoes shank have the skint re- HOME HINTS. in the wreathing whirl, Never- moved by rubbing them with a never -yes 1 He had groped for the brush, When rubbed they will be inner sill, and gripped it. A mo- white and smooth. meet -a never -forgotten moment- Strawberry Pie. -Make rich pie and then, as with a superhuman trust and line you pie Tian; bake struggle, he bad dragged himself crust; then fill crust with fresh through. Oh, Heaven, the lifetime strawberries, sugar to taste, cover of suspense crowded into that next with the well -beaten whites of two moment! eggs, add a tablespoonful of sugar One -two -three --and thea the and a few drops of vanilla; return delirioue hurricane of sound was to oven and let bake to a light let loose, "Hero 1 His. Home -his brown. This makes a delicious de - name 1 Victoria Cross for a hero 1 serf. Raspberries or ripe peaches He was facing them --but, as they niay be used instead of strawber- afterwards knew, not seeing them. ries. He bore something in his arms ; How to Cook Peas. -Take the out - something around which a rug had side leaves of lettuce and lay them been flung. He leaned out, grop- •%u the bottom of a sauce pan; then ing again for the charred ladder. put the peas on top of the lettuce It was a feeble effort; even such leaves and gradually bring then up strength was all but spent, He was to a boil. The juice from the lettuce staggering back under his living in- leaves is sufficient to cook them tubu"s, without the aid of water and gives "Let him drop 1 Leap for your them a delicious flavor. Cook them life!over a slow fire. Before serving He heard. He balanced his bur- them put a piece of butter on top den upon the knot framework for of the peas -almost the size of a one instant, and then toppled it nutmeg. forward with all his last strength. Lucana Potatoes -Wash and bake It was caught just on the edge of a six large potatoes, cut a slice from tarpaulin sheet held out by men who the top of each potato, scoop out risked their own lives in the last the inside and mash. To three cup - rush of all. Yet one more instant fuls of mashed potato add six cup - he stood, a disoolored hand to his ails of finely- chopped ham, two eyes. "Leap!" the roar swelled tablespoonfuls of finely chopped he turned to many uses. The thin again. Anhe clambered feebly parsley, whites of two eggs, well leather lining may be cut into nar- up, threw out his arms, and drop- beaten, four tablespoonfuls of now strips, and sewn around trou- ped like a stone. The shouts and cream or rich milk, salt and pep- sets -leg bottoms inside. They will sobs, maybe, reached his dulled per to taste. Line potato shells with not then fray out, The felt itself brain and told him what he had this mixture, place in each cavity can be made quite flat by heat. 1t clone that night, but the rest -the a poached egg, and cover well the hakes excellent insoles for boots, rest was blotter out. mixture and bake until browned, is warm, and wears better than or - He was not to realize until long Poach the egg delicately. Boiled denary cork soles. afterwards -until months had seem- stuffed potatoes are popular. For burns and scalds' nothing is ed to pass. Preserved Whole Gooseberries.- more soothing than the white of an He lay upon a white bed, in sonic Make a strong syrup, two pounds egg, which may be poured over the Gooseberries. - spotless ward. But he only knew .•f sugar to a pint of water. fierce wound. It is softer as a varnish for that when they told him. The band- gooseberries iu severed places and a burn than a collodion, and being age was gone from his eyes, but the I put them in the syrup, then take alwuys at hand can be applied im- darkness remained. That would them from the range and let the mediately. It is also more cooling never lift. He was blind, gooseberries remain in the syrup than the sweat oil and cotton which • "You can bear it?" a woman s all night. Repeat twice, reheat, was formerly supposed to be the hushed whisper -Boa's whisper u stopping just short of boiling point, surest application to allay the asked him again and again. You can bear it, if you know it is his hand you are holding if you know that he has forgiven with all his heart the wrong you have confessed to us in your delirium? He's here, he's listening; he wants to know -your old chum, .Dave." "Yes." Lien whispered faintly back. "Tell him yes. Dave knows -and Heaven knows -that the price has been paid." -London Tit -Bits. 3;000,000 BURIED COINS: Prospectors Say They Know Where It is Buried. If a child evinces any weaknes in its ankles, rub the affected par daily with warm salt water, oe water is the best, but a good sub stitute is a teacupful of kitche salt dissolved in a pint of water. Old umbrellas may be made us of in the kitchen. Strip the frame and hang it up by the handle. You will then find the ries useful for hanging collars and- handkerchiefs on to dry, If in cooking the whites cm eggs are required at onee, and it is in- tended to use the yolks later on ii, the day, they should not be left exposed to the air, or they will harden and become useless. The best plan is to beat up the yolks with a very little water, and then place them in a covered bowl in a cool place. A convenient method of removing the close -fitting cover from a new can of baking -powder, shoe -polish, etc., is to place the can on its side on the floor with a piece of paper under it, and .stepping on the cover, roll it backward acrd forward un- der the foot. This will cause the tightest cover to drop off with very little trouble. A man's discarded felt hat can s a n e The startling story of the hidden treasure of King Lobengula, which is now agitating South Africa, is in the main probably quite correct. According to the Transvaal Lea- der, it consists of £3,000,000 in Brit- ish coined gold, besides bar gold and dust, quantities of diamonds, and ten waggon -loads of ivory. That the dusky chief of the Ma- tabeie was possessed of great wealth at the time of his death is fairly certain. It was seen by many white people of repute, one of whom es- timated the total value of the hoard as being certainly not less than five millions sterling. Very little of this was found at his capital, Buluwayo, when it was occupied by the Chartered Com- pany's forces in November, 1893; but a certain amount of coined gold was discovered and looted by the Bechuanaland police, who were first in• Tiros, two men, named Wilson and Daniels, were proved later on to have appropriated one thousand sovereigns betwen them, and were sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude. Another man, who es- caped, carried off 111,200 in his sad- dle -bags. But for the most part, the trea- sure was removed by Lobengula's orders before the British occupa- tion, and it is known that it accom- panied the King in his wanderings up the Zambesi valley. What be- came of it after his death, however, has always been a mystery. This mystery, it is confidently af- firmed, is now about to be cleared up, a party of prospectors from Johannesburg being actually on their way to the spot where they say they know it to be buried. The cost of their expedition is high, some £5,000 in all, for the district where they are operating is a sav- age and desolate one. But if sue - again letting berries stand over night in syrup. While still cold place them in bottles aucl pour the syrup over them; place bottles in water. Should the berries seem to 1•c cracking before the water boils remove the bottles at 01100 and seal ; otherwise let stand until water is at boiling point. When slicing pineapple. -Pull the stemout and with a sharp knife slice in round circles or rings about one- half inch thick, then place each cir- cle flat, trim off the rind so as to include the eyes, and your circle is ready to slice toward the core in the centre. By this method two large pineapples may be sliced in a few minutes. The prudent house- wife who considers waste a sin and would make the best of everything, 'IIiIS RING IN BAD HEALTH. should save the pineapple parings, wash, and put them over the fire with just enough water to prevent burning. When they have boiled soft, squeeze and strain them The Paris Journal learns from through cheesecloth, Measure the Cambodia that all is not well with liquid, return to the fire, add a Ring Sisowath, whose health is pound of sugar for a pint of liquid, cook a few minutes, skim, and you have a delicious jelly. smarting pain. Here is a little hint on how to "get up" a lace necktie or scarf without the help of a het iron. Wash the lace by squeezing in a lather of hot water and soap until it is quite clean; rinse it, r out at the edges, and then fold the lace in half and roll it up evenly, pulling out the edges as you go. Leave it folded up fur about a quar- ter of an hour, then unreli it, but leave it still folded in half. Pull it carefully lengthwise and across to keep it in shape, and hang it (still folded in half) over a towel horse. 1Vhen dry the lace should look as well as if it had been ironed, Cambodia's Ruler Making Things Uncomfortable. IN THE LAUNDRY. To remove grass stains from cot- ton goods wash in alcohol. When ironing roller towels try slipping them over the board as you would a skirt. They are half the trouble and the edges meet when folded. In laundering Madras curtains the newness wilI be preserved with less trouble than in using "stretch- ers" if while wet they are placed one at a time full width on the rod at the window, another rod being run through the hem of the lower edge of the curtain, removing when perfectly dry. Experience has prov- en this an easy and satisfactory preens, To successfully iron the present long sleeves on shirt waists, you must slip your loft hand into the sleeve to the point, spreading the fingers to flatten out sleeve; begin by ironing the point, then turn hand over (the sleeve with it), and iron other side, gradually working upward by ironing first on one side then on other, keeping your fingers spread, and pulling your hand back as you proceed. Yon will have a nicely ironed sleeve, tucks and in- sertions notwithstanding. Family Washing. --To a boiler of water add one cup washing fluid end one bar of good soap. While heating sort the clothes, making cess crowns their efforts, and they fens piles -hest white in one, sec - are confident that it will, they will and best white iu the second, cum - recoup thomsolves a thousand' times nron white in the third, and color- over.-•Pearson's Weekly. ed in the fourth, Put the best a. clothes into the washer, adding one Your luck is good if the other fel- and ono -half pails of Trot water from low's is worse. the boiler• and then enough cold being undermined by rheumatism and other ills. He is a difficult pa- tient with whom to deal, and the French Resident is somewhat un- easy with regard to hint. The King bus become neurasthe- nic; he complains that the dancers of his palace no longer dance as they used to; that the elephants of the palace die one after the other -a bad omen -and that the workers in the royal art palace do not work with good will. The mon- arch flies into temper at the slight- est provocation, or without any at all. King Sisowath is also. troubled on religious matters. He sent for aFrench missionary, and, it is said, asked what he would have to do to become a Catholic. The popu- lace is ignorant of these facts, but the Kings entourage is aware of it, and views the situation with un- easiness. The Bonzes are opposed to the conversion of Sisowath, and declare that if need be they will abut him up in one of their con - Tents. The question of a successor to Sisowath is already being discuss- ed. Sisowath himself desires to be tecececled by his young son Sonph- anovong; the Bonzes and the Min- ister's, however, favor the eldest son of the King, Monivong, an en- sign in the French army, at pre- sent at Pnoin Penh, who is known to be well disposed towards France, HIGHER EDUCATION. Little 'Villin -"Say, pa; what is the higher education'?" Pa- -"The higher education, my son, is one that teaches young man that he must work in order to earn an honest living," WHEN THE PUBLIC STRIKE IOW WE 04N GET OIJR OWN Will, 'PVdf1N WE WAWA' IT, A Gas Company n a Et.sneh Town Was Compelled to Sao for Company Mercy, Over and over again the publio is put to tremendous inconvenience and loss by various scetiona of the community going on strike, If the publio were wise, they would more frequently take a leaf out of the cutter's notebook, and very soon all cause fur grumbling would come to an end, says London Answers. A short time back there was an extraoidinary incident, showing what can be done by the concerted action of the publio. "A certain town in France, of about 16,000 in- habitants, found itself oppressed by its one gas company. In bias town the amount charged for gas was double that charged in neighboring towns served by other companies. Angry representations were made to the gas company, not once, but many trines; but the company, hav- ing no rivals to fear, smiled polite- ly, and went on charging double, as before. Then a sharp-witted organizer came along. He called a town's meeting of protest, and within a few days the entire community went on strike. Everybody refused to use gas, and lighted their homes and shops with lamps and candles. And one morning, by the first post, the f,as company received THOUSANDS OF POST -CARDS from its former customers, demand- ing that all fittings should be re- moved immediately, as they had no further use for them. The public enjoyed its awn strike immensely. But the wretched gas company within a week begged for mercy, and the public graciously consented to dictate its own terms. Quito recently the London publio practically went on strike with re- gard to its patronage of the omni- bus service. The public found that it was being made to pay too much for short distances, and, taking the matter into its own hands, travelled b ytram, railway, or tube. Immediately the 'bus companies be- gan to "feel the draught." Their receipts showed a decided decline. They had to climb down. But perhaps the most astounding evidence of the anger of the peo- ple was shown during the recent Chicago meat scandals. Through the action of the public, millions of capital were, for the time being, made ineffective, because practical- ly everyone refused to buy any tinned food whatever. The tinned meat trade between Great Britain and America was brought to AN ABSOLUTE STANDSTILL, and many provision merchants suffered heavily owing to their in- ability to get rid of their stock. This was the most effective strike ever undertaken by the people. It brought the powerful Beef Trust within the very portals of the slaughter -house of adverse public opinion. Reform followed, ae a matter of course, and the British Army has just given a large order for tinned beef, packed under the special supervision of British Army officers. On certain subjects the people of Scotland are very ready to go on strike. Not so long ago one of the Clyde pleasure steamship compan- ies began a service of Sunday ex- cursion boats. But at one port of call the public objected, and thou- sands of excursionists found the gates of the pier -this being the town's property -closed against them, c;fectively preventing them from ent •ring the town. In consequence, they were com- pelled, willyniily, to stand several hours in a drizzling "Scotch mist" until the steamers, on their return voyage, later ip the day, came to their rescue. No further attempts were made to land Sunday excur- sionists in that town. el DUE PRECAUTION. The inspector in the electric -light plant received wend that a wire was down on a crowded street. He hurried to the spot, and found the bystanders handling the broken wire in a very careless manner. Luckily, it was part of the fire - alarm system, and not ono of the lines that carried the high-tension current for the lights. An Irish crossing -tender ap- proaolred the inspector. "I saw that wire hanging down there an' picked it up and lugged it over there out of the way." "Well," said the inspector, ''you took a big chance. You -shouldn't have touched that wire ; yob didn't know what was in it, 'Yon might have been killed," "Ah I" said the crossing -tender, with a knowing nod. "I was migh- ty careful, ser. Sure, I felt of it before I tools hold of it." PUTTING ON AIb,S. They're getting styllat, I'm afraid;. Tbair hired girl is now a, "ma* •