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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1899-2-17, Page 3FEB. 17, 190 9. Diamond Cut Diamond_.-.. 0R, TI'IE ROUT OF TIHE ENEMY. OI{AI"Lila! XIV,—Continued, e But Albert1.'rluheL little l i ve the man with whum he had to do; he Ives as incapable of comprehending Mat- thew !lune as a arouse is incapable of entering into the habits of an ele- phant. Matthew .!)ane wee never ' tswayed by the contplic'.ations of life. He swayed them, Unexpected problems delighted him. They only inciLect him to battle. He loved to' bend all man and all things to his will --but he. lov- ed it still bolter' when there were dif- ficulties to overcome. Albert flat- tered Winston that what he had had tu communicate to his ehicf that day, would have altered. We plans and pre- judiaad him in his own favor. Ho was totally wrong. Matthew Dane had altered nothing, He was, no doubt, glad of the information he had resolved, because it was of use to him —but be had no warmings of. heart to- wards the tool who had supplied the information. He matte use of mea, he never allowed them to make use of him. That is why he dismissed Albert as if he had been a footman, and went into his dining -room leaning on Niles' shoulder as though he had been his familiar friend. Itis ways were per - baps inscrutable, but there was al ways a motive for everything he did When he chose he could lay aside al his autocratic airs, and unbend into gracious and genial companionship. a did so choose to -night. Never lad Geoffrey seen his uncle so pleasant and so light-hearted. lis sat at the end of the table, helping his guests, asking questions as to the day, chaffing th' young men upon their good fortune in .having had the charge of such charm- ing young ladies, oomplimenting the girls upon their looks and their dresses. He asked questions, too, as though they were of the deepest interest to him, as to who rowed, who steered, who bad naught crabs, and professed himself thankful that so giddy a crew hadacmesacs safely to land without a more in- timate acquaintance with the waters of Father Thames. Miles, who knew only the sterner official side of the great man's cbaracter, rapidly began to lose that sensation of cold awe with which for some years, he had been in the hab- it of regarding him ; Geoffrey told himself in characteristic vernatsalar, that "the old boy wasn't a bad sort ttf ter all, when you got to know him;" and the two girls, never having had occasion to fear hint, chattered Lo him with a saucy freedom, which pleased him from its novelty. Only hire. Dane, at titin other end al the table, sat silent, constrained and uncomfortable. She knew him so well, He was never like this unless he had some part to play, some deep scheme in his mind, some object to at- tain. 'What was it? ale wondered, glancing apprehensively at him now and 'gain. Something or somebody was tu be sacrificed to his will—pray Heaven it, did not involve the happi- ness of her dear Geoffrey, thought the poor woman, whose ono bright spot in life was Geoffrey's kindness. She could not join in the fun and laughter, knowing well that it was only put on to attain some end. She looked ner- vous and wretched. A fanny caste to her that her husband was filling up Geoffrey's champagne somewhat fre- quently, and she knew it was his best wine. The thought made her shiver. And then her eyes met his across the length of the table, and there must have been some mule appeal for mercy in them, for her Lord darted forth one at of those angry gleams at her, that ha always th : power to make her shrink ani! tremble. "Why don't you laugh, too, Mrs. Dane? You don't seem very gay to- night, Miss Angel, when you are married, 1 hope you'll keep your hus- band's home bright and cheerful; a sour, sad face is but a poor oomfort to a business man after his day's work." And so he rattled on, ad- dressing chaff and his banter chiefly to Angel and Geoffrey, so that Miles and Duloie fell again apart into quiet talk together. It is certain that this, too, was not lost upon old Dane. It amused him, and for the present it served his pur- pose, so he let them alone, watching them furtively from the corner of his eye. - 1,2 do so gliltly, and. yet that no love of woman lues ever yet made thane do for her stela, if, only, by resigning her, they Oral (10 ((my thing more manor, elite 10 themselves. if she would give him the smallest (lope, he wrote, he would either go out and make a home for her, and asic her to follow him to the other Hide of the world when the home was ready, or else he would remain, and do some such desperate thing as be bad mentioned at home, in order to be near her. "Ital," he added, "if, my ease is utterly hopeless, lel: me know the worst at once, and I will take my mes- tere and sail next, week, leaving Eng- land for ever, and you, We only wo- man I have ever, or ever shall love, shall never hear of me again." When Dulcie had finished reading the letter, which was very long, she stood ]folding it in her band, gazing thought- fully into the flame of her candle, with a small contemptuous smile at the cornet's of her mouth, i'ersonelly she was noir very mach affcoted by the seeming love and despair of her suitor, she had never given him credit for much feeling, and she mold not exon- erate him in her own mind from a cer- tain amount of double dealing. He roved her, he said, and no doubt be iesired to marry her ; but he had, she :relieved, been unable to resist the "That can easily be stopped when it suits me," he said to himself. "b'or Om present it is a help to me." What diel Miles and Dulcie signify to him 1 His objects ley elsewhere— and if they were so unlucky as to get in his way—why then, of course, they would be crushed CHAPTER XV. Angel and Dulaie had two little bed- rooms opening out of each other, at Oromwell Road. When they went upstairs both girls were t'irocl out with their long day of pleasure. They parted tie; once with a kiss, at the door- way between their rooms, and in a very few minutes, in Angel's room, at least, there reigned darkness and a complete silence. Then, when all was still, Dulcie took the leiter out of her pocket that she had found upon the hall table, and opened it, She ienew who it was from, and she was pretty well aware before she be- gan to read it of, what its contents would consist. IL was a proposal of marriage from Horace Lessiter.. He wrote to her now, he told her, although he knew that be had bettor have waited longer, be- cause an unexpected crags had come in Isis fortunes. A cousin settled in Australia had written to offer him a share in a very good business if he would come out and join him at once. eloraee told Duloie frankly that be was 80 mush in debt that be hardly knew which wily to turn; that his brother, who had helped him more than once, had refused to do so again, and that his difficulties wore such that' It had become necessary for him to do some- thing towards earning nes living, Saab an opening as this was not likely to present itself again. The Australian ,cousin was an older man than himself, who had retained an affectionate remembrance of him in his boyhood, and he had written in a generous manner and seemed really anxious t0 have hint out there. 'Y'et, sootier than leave Dulcie fort' ever, he dcelttred that he would drive a hansom, or sweep a crossing, or bog in the elevate, or, le short, do any 'other of these impossible things that moa swear TELS 33 BUS JLS POST. The house in Cromwell, Road seemed to be enveloped 1a slumber, Net its master end miebress were awake far on into the night, Matthew l.htne, still la' hie evening dress, stood up creat and stern, with his bask to the mantelpiece, in his wife's dressmg-rows, lie 'vas n0 longer • the ,genial bast, the kind- ly old gentleman, the pleasantly aff"etionate uncle, and mister of the house. All ilea, which had, only been assumed fm' the time, was done with, and hid aside, Matthew Dane was Jtimselll now—his worst self—the domestic bully, laying hie cruel orders upon the wife, who feared him bemuse she understood him. She sl. before him„ twisted up upon her sofa, wringing her hands, that: were moist from nervousness, with bead turned away, not daring to look him in the face. There was nothing about her that appealed either to his affeotion or to bis respeot. She was thin and wasted a poor, washed-out, neverless thing, with no spirit and no courage. Her very dress, an unlovely bed -room wrap- per, found disfavour in his eyes, by reason of its disordered limpness. But she was still his creature, his bond -slave. The only use of her was to fulfill his orders and to carry out his commands, She might writhe under the lush with which she was driven, but she was always incapable of any struggle against his will. "You must get it out of him,"" he was saying to her, "worm yourself into his confidence — women can always do that'." "Indeed, Matthew, Geoffrey is so •emptation of trifling with Angel's open and candid, I should not know teenage. Ile had made lova to ane how to do it in that way. I could ,ester and he had pretended to make only ask him right out ie he knew--" "And that, I tell you, is precisely what you are not to do. 1 don't; want to scare the game away, That woman, do Brefour, has been to me, weeping, and praying for forgiveness — wanting It was for Angel's sake, now, that me to sign a paper, or some such rub - she hesitated and debated. If she bish. Does the woman take me for a sant him away definitely to the other fool? People don't ask for forgiveness side of the world, then would henotfor the dead, but for the living, be for aver lost to her sister 1 Would I tell you, that swindling, thief of a she be justified in doing so ? Would husband of lana is alive to this hour— not the faint chance of his making and, as sure as I'm a living man,; T'll Angel happy be for ever thrown away? lf, on the contrary, she tem- porised, if she bade him refuge his cousin's offer—stay in England, in short, under more or less of false pre- killed in that dreadful railway aeci- lence—might not time, perhaps, open dent?" - his eyes to the beauty and sweetness I never wag convinced! of that, and of the sister who really loved him, and note 1 am oertain that he is still alive. give Angel a chance of winning the In hiding :somewhere, probably with her." love to the othex. It had no doubt unused him to do this, but in doing -o he had brought real sorrow 'to Lugol, and Dulcin was not likely to forgive him. bring him to justice yet." "Ohl After all these years — you might show mercy, Matthew. And was It not certain that the poor marl; was man who would make her happy ? For ten minutes or more Dulcin de- bated this question with grave, fixed eyes, whilst the smile of scorn faded away from her lips; than, with a lit- tle wave of her hand she brushed away i the delusion into which a less clear -I ly balanced mind than hers might have fallen. "No. He shall go. He is not good enough for her," she said half aloud, adding with a quaint little smile at herself in the glass in front of her, "Nor, for the mayer of that, for me either I" Then a little later she murmured: "She sball never know it—never I" meaning ;hat Lessiter had proposed to her. "lie shall go away out of both our lives for ever, and she shall never understand why." And then she thought about Geoffrey Dane. Could any woman desire a better lover than he would be? \Vas there not a charm about hind, about his pleasant voice, Ills quiet thoroughbred manners, his thoughtful, intelligent face, that were a guarantee in themselves of the good - nese of his heart and the refinement in his nature.? "He likes her already, be will love her soon," she said to herself. "She will forget this unworthy lover, and there is happiness before her with this other man." Then Dulcie Look up the candle, and crept softly into the adjoining room. Angel lay fast asleep. Her face, in its perfect repose, was lovely as a dream. The long lashes drooped Mose upon the flushed cheek. The soft massss of brown hair lay scatter- ed loosely upon her pillows, and through the parted curves of her red lips, the even breathing came and wont as sweet and deep as ant infant's slumber. One arm bare to the elbow, lay flung back behind her head, and the small shell-like palm, with doubled - up finger-tips, lay like a fallen rose leaf, close to her, pure smooth brow. The whole attitude was ono of utter pence and abandon, Sleep is only love- ly thus in maidens and young child- ren. Angel, lying asleep, was like her name, and she was beautiful, with a strange, unreal beauty—the delicate tinted face, the smooth white arm, the warm rounded nook, half concealed in tho framework of soft laces that fell away from it like a wreath of snow- flakes, all made a picture that an art- ist would have raved over, and to which Duloie was far from lacing insensible, As she stood watching her, carefully shading the light with her ]land, Angel stirred slightly, and, her lips curled into a smile of pure, gentle hap- piness, into a though some sweet dream were flitting pleasantly across her sleeping fancy. Dulcdo fell; strangely moved by that smile; there was some- thing of the maternal instinct in her oonoerning those she loved much, as there ever is in a true-souled woman, That sleeping smile appealed to her tenderness to her protecting faoulties; her oyes filled with tears, "She shall not suffer if I can pre vent it," she Sala to herself, as she bent and touched her sister's cheek with a butter -fly caress. Angel al- ways seemed to present a certain helplessness of character to the stur- dier nature of her sister.. Perhaps she was less helpless than she deemed her to be. "She shall be happy yet. She will be heppy, I know it, Not with Horace Lessitsr, but with Geoffrey Dane, who is worthy of her." ,Anel then she orept away back to her own room, and eat down and wrote at the corner of her dressing -Cable — three lines. — shor and incisive lines, that decided th destiny of more than one parson in this bistory. "It can never be as you wish. Go to Australia, and make your fortune. I shill always be your friend, and hope you will find e better wife than I could ever be to you.—D, 11', After that, she got into bed and fell asleep; and elm, too, had Iter dreams, Dreams about smooth -flowing rivers, oral green, over -hanging banks. Dreamt, in whish salads and Austral- ian. cousins, love -letters, and big men in white flannels, were oddly jaWialed up, in a strange confusion, "Al, poor woman, what a life she must have led, if that is so," sighed Mrs. Dane. "Could not you have some pity for so sad it case, Matthew? After all, you got bask nearly all the papers and the cheques; there was very lit- tle lost--" "And why should justice go unap- peased, pray? Wby should the man get ' off scot-free? Why should he not suffer for his sin? Don't be a fool! As to the 'poor woman,' as you call her, 811e is a deal better dressed than you are, lel ma tell you, and as handsome as paint —curse her! And, what is more she has got at Geoffrey, some BAIT EOE A TIGER TRAP; HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF AN ENGLISH ENGINEER. )lanng awing Gee's Vengeance 1n Int. tv{hla at Onlgilital-Sat,'d front 1111 ('bane or the /areal Isonal ey rt 11e. comment o1' yeahs fund a Aware Girl Burmah was a most disturbed ouun- try from 1852 till 1850. 1 had my shore of rough work, for 1 was detailed to survey and explore the country with a view to opening it out by roads, writes Henry Stone. I was quite young, and ow'ad my position to my knowledge oe survey- ing and civil engineering, which I had learned at school al; Woolwich. I was surveying a line for, a road between Promo and Rlurgoen. 1 cannot give de- tails, as I have nut my diaries by me, but one day some villagers came to ask me to shoot some elephants that were destroying' their Dhan, paddy fields. I asked them if ohs herd was a largo one, They said yes, but that, If the two ringleaders, who looked like twins, were killed, the rest would go back quietly into the Yomahs. I was not particularly busy that day,' so I agreed to go out. I had a long trudge, and, sure enough, I same on the two inseparables, and account- ed for them both. But the day was overcast. We strayed erratically; fin- ally, night came on, and our men ac- knowledged that they did not know their way out of the forest. I ought to have mentioned that bboung Goung Gee, an independent warrior, half soldier and wholly a de- ceit, was in arms at this time, and ap- peared here and there from time to time. Whenever be met our troops he was defeated, of course, but as a rule he only attacked outlying towns, TORTURING' THE PEOPLE and levying blackmail whenever pos- sibde. His whereaboul:s, however, had not been heard of for some time, and as there was no hope of our getting beak to my headquarters we rib fires and composed ourselves to sleep. I suppose it was between 2 am. and Stam., when we were savagely ewer. - weed, and before we knew for certain whether the whole thing was a fantas- tic dream or not, we were securely buund and taken off to Goung Gee's headquarters, about six miles off. We had an interview with him nextaid morning, He she had long wanted to catch a sahib of the detested Eng- lish, and would mete out to me a pun- ishment so terrible that it would of -I feotua.Lly prevent others from wauder- mL of the twenty which formed my Is dyguai'd, came upend bayoneted the 1 ;ger, who was caught literally like a rat in a trslp hire they dared not, as 111.1 were .only n couple of miles from t; ,ung !lee's camp. They released me enure dear! Ilion alive -..from my Itig tomb, and 111. improvised a barn - meek out of a nal. iVe blanket and car- ried me- to my camp. En !sure• i rapt Bendy, who, with a tr,.ng force of regale in and irregue lays, was hastening to my resew,. Ile was delighted to see me flee, and has- tened on In the hope of surprising the deceit I crier. The latter, bnwever, was too wall served, and had decamped le fore my friends arrived. 1 lay het seven life and ,Leath for six weeks, far the shock to my system, as well tis lite exposure to Ilse cold clues of e December night, had brought on a severe attack of fever. But I was truly thankful far my seemingly mira- culous escape from that man-eater, whom I met under such appalling conditions. how -the Loral knows horn — flattered ing into his country. As tor those with him, no doubt, till she can twist( him me, Ire said they had been warned what round her finger. A fine chance for their fate would be 11 they assisted the her to keep a hold over the firm, no doubt, she thinks, Geoffrey knows Kam-logua. where she is, as sure as you and I are Ile ordered them off for instant tor - sitting here, and that's what I want tare and execution, but 1 cannot de- co find out." scribe the horrors that followed. Their "Then why don't you ask him to toll memory isa horrid nightmare to this you?" she suggested, with a momentary daY boldness. About 3 p.m., I was walked off a He swofe at her, roundly for a fool, good six or eight miles through dense "Do you suppose het would tell me? jungles, reviled and tortured more or Of course he has sworn seoreey, she less the whole way, and at length I doesn't want me to find out her found myself stripped and thrust into whereabouts; of course I can set the a trap prepared for a tiger—a bamboo police to work if other things fail, but arrangement of simple construction. 1Iy I'm not going to sound an alarm till jailers were needlessly brutal and I'm sure the man's alive. It is you, abused me in every way, hoping I'd like wbo are always making a fuss over the treatment 1 should meet from the that boy, and petting and sodding him, man-eating tiger which hovered about wbo can find out. Good Lord, it's easy near where the trap had been sped - ally laid. But previously, while a prisoner end tied to a tree, a Karen girl had, at the risk of her life, given mea little water, and I begged dinar to send some one hurriedly to Capt. D'Oyly, who was camped a few miles off, to hurry Wray s enough, and you've gob to do it, It tell yowl" Then she fell to weeping softly, "I'm so fond of him, Matthew—I hate to play a traitor's part to him." "Traitors be d—dl it's all for his good. What advantage is it to a young fellow to be dangling after a married woman, or oven a widow? 1 shouldn't have thought you would have been a woman td look with fav- our on that sort of love-mtiking." Mrs. Dane looked unspeakably shock- ed, "Oh, but wiry should you suspect such things? You have no proof of anything so wrong!" she oriel with something almost of indignation. Hier lord laughed grimly. "What other proof do 1 want than woman's nature, my dear, all the world over? Mame, de Brefour is, what all beautiful women are, artful and fond of admiration — trust her to make love to a good looking young feltcw if she has a chance, more especially if there's an end to be gained by it. So, you see, you may in fact be saving your favourite from a groat danger. He can't marry this woman. I intend him to marry the eldest Miss Halli- day." Mrs. Dane looked up with deep in- terest. "Will it be for; his happiness, de you 1:hink1" she enquired a little doubtfully, for she was apt to regard her husband's schemes oil benevolence with some suspicion, "0f course she seems a sweet girl, and if they were to love each other--" "That's neither here nor there, It is settled between Halliday and myself, who are the principal persons eson- earned, that it is to be so. So you may consider that fixed, As for the boy, it will be an arrangement very much to his advantage every way. So you see that any other entanglement he has got into will have to be broken off. That will come atter — but before f take strong measures la that dire0• tion, I want to make use of the turn things seem to halo taken, and to dis- cover the truth about Leon de Bre- four; this folly of Geoffrey's will set mo on the right track--" and then old Dane levelled hid long forefinger at his wife'a head and fixed his glitter- ing eyes upon her. (To be Continued.) ANCLENT WAR CUSTOM. in the ancient wars it was the was - lam fol' both armies 10 go into winter quarters, lint nowadays such a thing is quits unknown, and several battiest during ;.this century have been fought on Gltrlstmas Day and New -Year's Days • roseu. The trap was one of those usually erected for tigers in Burmah. It was a Lang, rectangular box -like structure made of bamboos. The portion set aside for the bait was only just large enough for me. I crouched there dumbly, HALL' DAZED WITH HORROR. and quite unable to realize my fear- ful position. It was Christmas Eve, and the weath- er very chilly—for Burmah. I offered large bribes to my custodians to let me escape, but they scoffed at me. How slowly ilial the hours peas 1 The sold was bitter, but I must have dozed off all the same, for I remember being awakened by a clammy swnething aratvling over me. My heart leaped in- to my mouth. It was Only a rock - snake, however, creeping through the bars and seeking an exit somewhere. Oh 1 the ghastly loathsomeness of feel- ing that cold, creepy reptile gliding over my poor, pelpitating body 1 I thanked God when the snake found an outlet somewhere and disappeared. But shortly afterward tho crowning horror came. I heard soft fnotfalla first, and then something sniffing round the trap. There could be no doubt that it was the man-eater. My heart nearly burst. I was kept in agony for fully ten minutes, and then the beast evi- dently found the door, for he entered and I heard the icor fall. There was a partition of 'bamboos between him and me, but I anticipated that he would soon demolish that and then tear me to pieeea as I lay huddled up helplessly. 11 appeared afterward, however, !:hat the Karen girl's brother had been forded to erect the trap and had made the partition of male bamboos of great strength. In Lho darkness leftist sae the great luminous, wistful eyes of the man-eat- er. THE FEARFUL BRUTE finding that he could not get in to me, began to insert his paws gently, but I Wept up to the outer bars, end then he could hardly reaoli me. Ho did suoseed, however, in giving me claw or two on my batik and blsttook. Al he smelled the blood he began to gnaw at the bars, and would daubliese have trade short work ee them, but there was a sudden glare of 'torches, it confused murneur, and then I 'felt the worst had passed, The Karen girl, with ten of the Sikhs SOME ROYAL SLUMBERS, lime a Fete or tele woebl's Rulers Sleep - Many Early Reye's. The Kaiser sleeps on a regulation Damp bed, such as is served out in the German army to junior officers, but the sheets are of somewhat finer linen. Everything else is of the rough regi- mental (pattern. He goes to bed at 11 pane and rises with rigid punctu- ality at five o'clock in the morning. His sleep is slightly agitated, but fair- ly regular. Queen Wilhelmina goes to bed about eleven o'clock and gets up early. Like her father, on rising, she Lakes a stroll round the park and visits the stables. Her bedstead is of monumental size, be- ing broad enough for six, and propor- tionately deep. It is whispered that her youthful Majesty snores slightly! Leopold I.I., the King of the Bel- gians, goes late Lo bed. He spends half the night working and reading. in strong contrast to his neighboring sovereign, be uses an ordinary bed- slead, without any other luxury than a quilt oe swansdown. He is a very chilly mortal - King Humbert of Italy cannot sleep except on very hard bed. He dispenses with , the use of pillows. He uses sheets of the very coarsest web, and sleeps like a top. Abdul Hamid—who would have thought it l—enjoya Lhe peaceful, bland, unbroken slumbers of a child. No visions trouble him; one would think, as one looked upon his sleeping form, that his conscience—if he bas one—was calm and clear. The President of the French Repub- lics, M. Felix Faure, sleeps rather bad- ly. His rest is troubled and he suffers much from nightmare. He has one oureous habit which is worthy of notice, In the sultry summer nights he has Wan known to give orders to his valet to bring him fresh sheets two or three times in the night. The Czar of Russia, the august ally of M. Faure, has the greatest diffi- culty iff(eulty in getting a good night's rest, and yet he is what old-fashioned peo- ple call "a lover of the bed." He gets up late in the morning unless urgent business demands an early rising. He dreads the night. His bedroom is a1 - ways brilliantly lit uda, like a recep- tion room. He often suffers from acute insomnia, and makes a frequent use of chloral. Our own Gracious Sovereign the Queen goes to bed quite late, although she is a comparatively early riser. Year in and year out, her average time of going to bed is quarter past ten. A lady-in-waiting is deputed to read her off to sleep, but out of consideration for the living novelists whose works have such somnolent effect upon Her Majesty, we retain from mentioning their names, Her Majesty's sleep is very calm, though brief. TOURED AFRIOA ALONE I XPERIENGES OF A YOUNG ENG- LISH TRAVELLER. Albert R1. Lloyd Vhst h the 11`lgtulc's slut /'nun1nais of the nalik c'oni111eat Thr ?tachy"; Art er TroabIrd Ilius. A London Letterr says;—Probably there has been au such inlereet aired- ing around African travellere, and geo- graphers since the time of Henry Stanley's sxpiditiun as has been caused by' the arrival this week of a young and hitherto unknown Eogl.i,sbman, Mr. Albert Busiuilt Lloyd from Central Africa, after a record journey of three menthe from the heart of Africa to London, travelling over Stanley's route down the Congo to the west coast. T.he journey was in one respect more remarkable than )teiniey's, In- asmueh as Mr. Lloyd travelled quite alone, so far us Europeans were con - (peened, and was only accompanied by two native servants and re small num- ber of carriers. DIureover, although hes marched three weeks in the pigmy forest, and then traversed the whole length of the Aruwimi river, the banks of which are lined with WARLIKE CANNIBALS, he never once fired a shot in self -do -j fence, On Lho contrary, he was on Dor- i dist terms with bulk pigmies and can- nibals. On entering the great primeval forest, Mr. Lloyd went west for five days without the sight of a pigmy, , Suddenly he became aware of their i cents bated to the monlcey:t. !finally he came to a clearing and stopped a1 an Arab village, where he mat a great number of pigmies. "They told me," said Mr, Lloyd, "that, ununawn tome, that bad been watching me for five days, peering 'through the growth of the forest'. They appeared very much frightened, and even when speaking covered their faces. I asked a chief to allow me to photograph the dwarfs, and he brought a dozen together. I was able to secure a snap shot, but did not succeed in the time exposure,: as the pigmies would not stand still, Then I tried to measure them, and found not one over four feet in height, Alt were fully developed, the women somewhat slighter than the masa, 1 was amazed at their sturdiness. The TLE.N• HAVE LONG BEARDS reaching half way down the chest. They ars very timid, and will not look a stranger in the face, their bead -Like eyes constantly shifting. They are, it struck ms, fairly intelligent. 1n a long talk a chief conversed intelligently about their customs in the forest, and the number of tribesmen. Both men end women except for a tiny stripe of bark, were quite nude. The men were armed with poisoned arrows. The chief told me the tribes were nomadic, and ( never slept two nights in the same 1plaoe. They just huddled together in hastily thrown up huts. - Memories of a white traveller—Mr'. Stanley, of 'course—who crossed the, forest years I ago, still linger among them." STARTLED BY THE BICYCLE. Mr. Lloyd than proceeded through the cannibal countries to the coast. He found the cannibals warlike and fierce but open and straightforward, and had no difficulty with them. At our place he put together a bicycle he had with him and rode around their village. A remarkable scene followed, thousands of cannibals, men, women and children, turning out, dancing and yelling at what they described as "a European 1 riding a snake." NATIVE PTI1LIPPINE GLRLS. The Philippine maiden is usually vary pretty, with a graceful, supple figure. Her eyes are large and shaded by long, dark lashes; her hair is black in color, long and glossy, and it is her chief pride, She gives it a great deal oe care and attention, frequently anoint- ing it with oil of the cocoanut, which Probably gives It the peculiar gloss. The young girl usually wears her hair hanging loosely down her back, but the older women build it up' in a fanciful knot, ellen adorned with flowers. NeXt to her Lair the Philippine girl prides heerself on her feet, She is not like elm poor Chinese women, forced to have them of diminutive proportions, but she is just as careful se them. She wears no stockings, but incases the feet to elaborately embroidered slippers without heels. Very few of Cite women in these is- lands are well educated. Soma, how - ova., have been taught in the convents, but Lhis number is small, The Philip- pines girl is very fond of nausea and is generally able Le play both on the harp and the guitar. The guitar is very popular and might be called tits nat- ional instrument. For the ourpose of assisting them in playing the girls al- low the thumb nail uO the right land to grow very long. These girls are athletically inclined. They ride and swim with great dex- terity. They aro also very fond of dancing. In Manila, .whish is a very aosmopolitan oily, many Mestizos, who are Creole girls of the Philippines, go into the best society. One old-time custom prevails in the Philippines that will undoubtedly pass away 811.11 the beginning of the new American life and It i , an old marriage custom, and t l.2.' Ila lover to eared in the house of his intended bride's father for several months previous to the Cara - peony. The marriage feasts usually fast for several days, 'Tien thel bride, who has not, often sem more than fif- teen summers, le led away; to her hus- band's home, a house. Madel of bamboo, probably built by his own ltande, prtseutet by mysterwus move among the trees, which he first attri- HEALTH. HELPS FOR THIN WOMEN, - These women are not; any oftener tin' vietimeofdyspepsie 1ban their scouter deters, although it. is the cast] that, ea, rola, they mania to require more, reel, nourishing - food, .Nervous energetic. . women, wbo go, go, go, are t he thiel women of to -day, women wbo retire with ;heir brains still acLivelyl ai'srt, but n'iih poor, weary, faggedeout bodies. You need not lull rest to'. them; they sate au more rest tlian salt quicksilver, noir will tllt•y sleep one hour later in tba morning, or take a - light: nourishing breakfast in bed, even' if their' circumstances permit -- but maybe th will fall Into the nice, oozy' habit of entiing before retiring, Man is the only animal wbo does nee. lie down with a full stomach — not name - eerily on Welsh' rarebit or mince pie. but something easily digested and blood -producing. The nervous woman reads or is luny at something unlit the very instant of her retiring. Now, le she will spread herseit a little feast and deliberately sit down 1.0 enjoy, it, the excitements, pleasurable or other- wise, of the day slip off while she en- j. n- jays her meal and her overwrought tis- sues accept the portion gratefully, re- building and sustaining her during sleep. You may not want it at first, but by and by you will find an aching void if you try to sleep without .your crackers or wafers, your glans of milk or punch — or some . recommended malted beverogo — your physician is the best judge of that. You may use butler if you like, but not heavy meals even in sandsvi^hes, and the good effect is increaser) in winter if you take the trouble to have something warm—although few women will do that. A couple of enema of brown bread, well buttered or with a very ;.bin :nice of cheese. a glass of sweet or buttermilk, a couple of (sockets spread with marmalade, a fig or some each fruit will not create bad dreams, but will at the end of a certain period relieve you of the neeessity of a lot of medieines you ore in the habit of tak- ing, and will soon begin to build up the tissues. You are the best judge of the amount and richness of food to ogres with you, but if you feel that you can eat several slices instead of two, don't be afraid; your dreams won't be bad on that account. SOME CURIOUS COSMETICS. Even in the unhappy ages when peo- ple knew nothing of the bath and its rejuvenating properties, noted beau- ties found out the secret of preserving their loveliness by ablutionary aides. Isabeau of Bavaria heard that chick- weed was, good for the skin, and had enormous decoctions brewed from it, in which she bathed daily Diana of Poitiers was another cleanly coquette, and plunged into a tub of train water every morning. I The eighteenth century beauties I likewise believed in bathing; but they put all sorts of odd infusions into the 1 water to improve the skin—such as the .bouillon in which the veal had been boiled, water -distilled from the honey extracted from roses, a prepara- tion of almonds, melon juice, the milky juices of green barley, linseed distilled with Mexican balm dissolved 'by the yolk of an egg. These re- markable decoctions were frsely used by the ladies at the courts of Louis, before the revolution. Queen Marie Antoinette made liberal use of the bath, putting into the water wild thyme, laurel leaves, marjory and a little sea salt. - Mttrie Czetwertynoska, the Russian beauty who exercised so great an in- fluenoe over Czar Alexander I., used to bathe in Malaga wine. The Mareehal La oust, Princess Eck- muhl, was at 85 renowned for her queenly carriage, superb eyes and beautiful color, her skin doing 80tvhite as to rid" -1 the snow of her abundant lecke, She had never used anything] but pure water on her face, and she always kept to a very simple diet, even' when her table was loaded with good - cheer for bar guests. She remained equally attractive to her last hour, although in her youth she had been one of the prettiest wo- men of her time. ,Her daughter, Mme. de Bloequeville, lived to be just such • another white-haired beauty and was noted in her old ,ago for dressing with consummate taste and elegance, - WOMEN OF GRIT. A company of California women is building a railway from Summerville to Stockton, a distance of sixty odd miles. The majority of the stockholders are women, Lho directors are women, and the control of the building contracts is in the hands of women. Mrs. Annie !dine Rickert is the pre- sident of the Stockton and Tuolumne Oou.nty Railroad, which is better known as "the woman's railroad." Mrs, Rickert, in addition to beiag a railway president is an owner of mines: During the five years in which she has bean riding and driving between Stookton and the mines, she has studi- ed tudied the needs and possibilities of the euuntry with comprehensive eye. Along the. mother lode there are thousands of ions of ore, and on the other side of it in the timber belt th;•re are thousands of feet of l.um- b.sr to be carried to tidewater atStock- ton. Apropos of the railway under- taking, Mr. Rickert tells this story 1— "lf we are women we know a little' more about materials than the direc- tors of the Valley !toad did whau they started. On a requisition sent inrone of the items for the Valley Roast was fish plates. A director gravely cross- ed it out with the remark, 'We haven't a directors' car yet, so I guess the men can get along without fish plates.' On the woman's road it is an understood thing that the fish plates will be of steel—not of altina." Seventeen yews ago Mrs. Rickert was left a widow without means, and with a little girl to care for, Mrs, Heckert bought a tent, and pitcbed it .in the Mojane desert. On a shewasout prospecting in One pr pCLng ce mpnny with her little daughter, when she heard the latter ory, "Mamma, mamma, I have found some rook exactly like the specimen Mr. Pearson had al San Bernardino. That was how Mrs. Reokert came to oevil a gold mine that produced as mush as £2,000 to the ton. NOT AHH.AID. Mrs, llrownston—Why, under the sun are you standing here, gazing out of the front door? Naw Servant -euro; th' sun won't hurt 'me. ess SI1E COtJI,IN'T TELL, Am I descended from u Menial, mat I dare any, but' I'm not sura, for - 1 shover metmayotr'your tether`s paopte, CTIRTOCT, '11:51 FOR A IITISBA.N1J, Troth in the northern and western. islands of Scotland • the natives Sava rome peculbir customs unfamiliar to the dwellers on the mainland. One o1 these, known as the "marriage test," is practised in the Island of St. Kilda, - where the population barely exceeds a huudt'ed, The desire among the is• landers to increase tins number :does not appear to be exceptionally strong, and every man, before he is deemed suitable for a husband, has tap perform an evolution with no little bodily risk. 'flue Si. Mittens are, of course, adept roteeclimbers, and the aspirant - fat matrimony is therefore subjected to rho test Of balancing binnelf or ono leg on a narrow ledge overhanging a. ,precipice, bending his body at the same time in order to hold the foot of his other leg in his hands, If. Lound larking in courage the maiden withdraws her behro hie, and, should the man fall over the ledge it is pre- sumed that, in that case, he wilt. .be diequal lfied STANDING. There 'is Onsq uesti n q a I ;want to eek you, dearest, said the beautiful girl ns she toyed with the ylismeind ring on her third finger. 'Whom we ars mar- died will you expect me to bake my own bread? You ern do ns you like about it, deal - ng, he replied; but I certainly shall insist upon your not baking mine, NO COiM.IittTLSION. elioke-eWhat was itanyway, 1 owne enl'el that \VroveickBrs—1 neverto obdrserved that 13retvtle had to be dg em.