The Brussels Post, 1907-1-3, Page 7a'r
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OR, A SAD LIFE STORY
lit o+4 -4o4 04.0.4.0404•o+o-a-0,400
CII.\PTEI? XiII.
IL is five o'clock, the hour fixed for the
,expedition to Cortese, and in the entre-
sot of 12 111s,. Piazza d'Azrglio, Mb's. and
far'hanl a'sitting—hatted,
\•Iles Le � c t e
.gloved, and en -lout -cps -cel --hl expecta-
tion of Tile arrival of thele double escort.
Elizabeth's afternoon line, so far, not
'been a lazy one, as her 1111)13 cousin
Borate end his dog have, aglIn been
good enough to pay her a lengthy visit,
anti the former has insisted upon a repe-
tition of them usieal performance of the
other day, though with truncated rites.
Without the powerful aid of Byng, Eliza-
beth has found it a task considerably
beyond her strength to hold a large
.collie poised an Itis hind legs, on a
music -stool. Ho hos jumped down re-
peatedly, and now lies on his back—an
attitude in which experience has taught
him he is loss attackable (bun in any
other—sawing the air with his fore -
,paws, and lifting his lip in a depreca-
ting grin.
"Where Is Mr, Byng?" cries Beetle
fretfully, baulked In his efforts to snake
his wily victim resume the perpendicu-
lar. "I want Mr. Byng I Why does not
Mr. Byng come?"
"Perhaps if you went to the window."
.suggests M's. Le elarchiinl, in that pa-
tiently coaxing voice in which we are
wont to address a tiresome child on a
visit, instead of the buffet which we
should bestow upon it were it a resident
—"perhaps if you went to the window
:and looked out, you would see him
'coming round the corner of the Piazza."
The suggestion is at once accepted,
.and the child balancing his fidgety body
.0m a chair, and craning his neck over
the window -ledge, is shouting shrill
pieces of information as to the passers-
by to itis friends withal the roam. Pre-
.senty he shrieks out in triumph:
"I see him I Iie is just coming into
-sight ! Ho is walking so fast I No I"—a
moment late', with a changed and dis-
gusted note, as a nearer view corrects
,the first impression='Il is not he at all I
11 Is only the other one 1"
"Only the oiler one 1" IL is quite Im.
possible that the sound of the child's
'voice can reach down to 111e open pole
lel of No. 12 131s, at which Jim has now
-arrived, and it is also certain that nel-
slier of the ladies whom 11e hos conte to
visit are likely to word their surprise at
his having arrived alone with the trent:
brutality which is confined to the utter-
ances of infancy; and yet, Jim, as he
presents -himself, announced by Annun-
•ziala, the hard -featured possessor of a
'lovely name, is quite as conscious, as if
he had overheard the boy's slighting
remark, of being "only the other one I'
Before he can begirt his apologies, the
.13101` little boy bus run up to him.
"\\'Here is Mr. Byng? I want. Mr.
Ilyng 1 Why has not he come? Eliza-
beth wants Mf. Byng 1"
At this last clause Burgoyne is con-
.scious of a dark, hot flush rising to his
face, and partly to hide it, party to
.avoid seeing what the effect of his com-
munication nn0y be upon her for whom
IL is meant, he stoops over the child, ad-
'dt'ee-sing his answer to hint :
"Mr. Byng is very sorry, very Sorry
indeed, but he cannot come."
"Cannot come 1 Why cannot he
'come?"
"Because ho has gone to meet his
mammy," replies 7(nl, trying to spent: in
-a light and playful voice; `she is to ar-
rive unexpectedly In Florence to -day;
no good boy would leave his manuny
when- she had come all the way from
England to see hila, would he?"
But to this (usual and copy -hoof:
generality the young gentleman ad-
-dressed is loo angry to reply.
"it is a greet disappointment to 13yng;
he bid me tell you what a geNtl, disap-
pointment it is to him 1" say's 1110, turn-
ing to 1110 two ladies, and looking apolo-
gelleally from ono to the olher.
Elizabeth's head is averted, but on her
mother's features -iia sees, or fancies he
sees,. slight evidences of a feeling not,
unlike rellof.
"It, is not of the least consequence,"
she says, cheerfully, "we °ban go any
either day just as well."
Burgoyne's heart sinks. in these last
sentences lie loo surely traces signs of
the evasion and would-bo-r'etrogado
nature which Iles all along cha3'noterizOcl
Mrs. Lo Merchant's relation with him.
It has seemed to him that he has been
looking forward to the expedition with
sensritinns of almost unmixed dread,
.and yet now that he seems to bo going
113 be delivered from it, what he oxper-
nenees certalnly does. net cone under 111e
'load of 0131110m.
"You wish, to give ftp the excursion
then 1" lie asks; in
alone Which he ton-
bellytries to make as neutral arta color -
jots es ho can
e\Veil, 1 thought s0—we thought. so
did not we, E'lizebelh?" b
11110 Peeeen ictus addressed lifts her
(head, and all over eller features he,
eagerly canning then,. 0101 ,v1411011 a
Warm acgltiesconco inhet' motherly de-
slslon, no acquiescence wh[eh,.ns •he'
eyes meet Ills—his,, 111 tvhieh his dIsnp-
.poinhnent'Is Walton- n gond des? more
'plainly than he is aware—changes 'slow-
ly end sweetly title indecision.
"I oto. not, 'know," she ilnswcl's, her
.gonna look clouded a lithe and 1,81,
!kindly Interrogating lite. "If Mr. 'Buie
igoyno is willing 10 harden himself will:
"sus; and Ballo must' piny' at being a
grown-up gentlemen, old halo to Inke
'corn of Its 1 Palle, will ,y011 1110y.al be.
Ing a grown-up, ge111b5m0n?''
:1'0 11111 prope:elinn Berlin assents
'wnrnniy, and i13gine lhra8oiic111)?' to re-
entlnt le inattentive 011111 the high end
•:sfngulne deeds with welch he will cele,
113010 his salvos et nulltn'ily, Ibul, ns
Mee. Le efnechnr.4pole a slretiltn10) vele
.1tpo1 his. adoption of ',scorf, Lad is his
burse -appears at the Vine jutr,ttire to
4-Dee-0+o+oetteo I'o+o+o+O•*4 v
fetch hint, he and Ills dog aro presently
removed, and the other throe set off
without hien.
Burgoyne lies chorlered a feta with a
horse as 111110 fame as is ever to be
found in Florence nd in thistlnle
a vel
they are presently rolling along. None
of them aro in very exuberant spirits.
Burgoyne is as well aware es if her sen-
sitive lips had put the fact into words,
that for Elizabeth the plea5are of 1110
outing has evaporated with the absence
of Byng, and trot it is only the soft-
hearted shrinking of a sweet nature
from Inflicting mortification on a fellow -
creature that set her opposite to him in
her while gown. Ho has never seen her
dressed . in while before, and says to
111u1se51 that it was for Byng's sake that
she has made herself so summer -fine.
But even if it be s0, it is not Byng who
is profiling by il. 1t is for hint, not
Byng, that the large Italian light Is
glorifying its thin fabric. Llly-pure,
show -clean she looks, eItlbng under her
sunshade, and Ile sits over against her
1n a stupid silence, as 11, did he speak
al all, he must put into brutal words the
brutal questions that aro dinging in his
head, that seem knocking for utterance
against the gato of his set field.
"What Is lire 'screw loose'? 1 -Tow • is
(1110 an 'unfortunate girl'? Why have
they 'never held up their heads strive'?
Since what?" He looks in a fierce per
plexity, from 01113 to the other of those
delicately poised beads, held aloft with
such modest dignity. Surely it is be-
yond the bounds of possibility that any
heavily hideous shame or leaden dis-
lern00 can - ere' hen weighed upon
them I Probably the intensity of his
thought lasgiven an intensity to his
look, of which he is unaware, for he
presently finds the soft veiled voice of
Elizabeth—Elizabeth who has hitherto
been ap mate as himself --addressing
him :
"How very grave you look I I wonder
what you are thinking of?"
The question, striking in so strangely
pat, brings him beck with a start. Pm' a
second an almost overpowering tempta-
tion assails him to 1011. her what is the
object of his thought, to answer her with
that whole and naked truth which we
can so seldom employ in our intercourse
with our fellow men. But one glance at
her innocent face, which has a vague
trouble in it, chases the lunatic impulse,
though he dallies with the temptation to
tit0 extent of saying :
"Would you really like to know? Do
you really lyish me to tell you?"
Ho looks aL her penetratingly as Ito
'puts the question. Before either his eyes
of his manner she shrinks.
"011, no -1101" she oleos with tremu-
lolls haste, "of course noel I. was only
joking. What business have I with your
thoughts? a never wish. to know
people's thoughts; if their looks and
words are kind, that is all liiat concerns
me !"
110 relapses into silence; but her
words, end stili more the agitated man-
ner in whlctt they are pronounced, make
a vague yet definite addition to the dis-
quiet of lits soul.
13y setting off at so judiciously late an
hour as five o'clock, they have avoided
the peeler part of the flood of tourists
which daily sets towards Cerlosa, and
which they meet, tightly' pacl10d in
crowded vehicles, sweeping Florence -
wards in a choking cloud of white dust;
so that on reaching the Cerlosa Monas-
tery, sitting so grandly on its hill -lop,
they have the satisfaction of finding that
it is temporarily all their own—all their
own but for the few while-frockod
figures and tonsured heads which an
economic0'demoqoratia Government has
left to hint what in its palmy days was
the slate of that which Ls now only a
Government museum.
A bully monk receives tlah1. He does
riot look at all a prey to the pensive sor-
row one would expect at the desecra-
tion of his holy things and the disper-
sion of his fraternity. Probably, in his
slow peasant mind there is room for no-
thing but sol[ -congratulation at his be-
ing 010 of tho few—only fifteen In ell—
telt to end their days in the old home.
He lends them etolldly through chapels
mai refectory—the now too room,y race.
tory, where the poor remnant of Car -
timelines dine together only on Sundays
—Lihrougll meagrely -furnished cells, in
one of which he mater-of-faclly lets
clown the front tap of a cupboard to
show whd4 forms his dally dining -table
camps on the happy Sunday, Io which he
must tonic forward so warmly,
I. 1 .eve Sunday?" ?" crt0s
in 1 S
Must no J
Elizabeth, with sparkling eyes. "Do not
you long to know what they have foe
thinner on Snndnys'1 Do you think he
would i c11
'ou mince telling us?"
n
w
hits are rain
IsilznbellPs spirits going up 1 like
quicksilver. 11. is evident, clespIle the
cl0llcoie nmhnchOly of her face, that she
la nalurnily of an extremely joyous end
enjoying nature, 1111d gilled with a
freshness 01 sensation which belongs
ordinarily rather to the .green age,.ot
which him (h'sl remembers ler, than to
1110 In10111re 0510 which he knows for a
certainly 111111 she nine hes reached. 5110
is 111Ied with Eolith a lively and sur-
pt'lsrcl delight al 011 1110 111110 dans of
O'rnngclnent of the tleones!kc life phial he
Is al last, impelled to say to her, mime -
thing wonderingly :
"11111 yctm must have seen hundreds of
1116nesleries before?" -
"Not rule."
"But there ere, m' were, such mittens
cif (hem all 'over lily,"
"1 dere soy. 1 was novel' to Maly be.
tore,'
"Nal really?" •
She fills 3.111 l,uti'.1101) 1, end waves' it 51.
thin with dm 011 of heel3 diewecellnhl nt
fin'ihrr slyes-noir,geinving suclleltty-
Pllt•r
"lecl't ask ole whether 1' have been
here or Thera. ni' 3vhellre i have dono
this or tlint, I have never been any-
where
rtyt,hero or done anything."
Iter ilesiee for it eeeselion of all in -
giallo!) as to hoe doings is obviously 80
cutest that elm of course complies with
11. Once or twice berme he has been
struck by her strange want of acquain-
fonee with fuels and phenomena, which
would havo conte as a farther of course
within the range el observation or every
W01111111 al her age and station. Against
his will, a burred recollection flashes
upon 111111 of a novel be lied once read in
which the hero exhibits a singular
ignol'anee of any events or incidents
that had occurred within the ten years
preceding the opening of the story—an
Ignorance which towards the end of the
third volume was accounted for by its
transpiring that Ito. has spend the inter-
vening period In a convict prison 1 fete
drives the grotesque and monstrous Idea
with scourges out of his mind; but 11 re-
cuts, and recurs to bo displaced by
mother hardly less painful if in some
degree more probable. Con It be Ioss•.
bre that the crushing blow which has
fallen upon the Lo Marchant family, and
upon Elizabeth in perllcular, whitening
the mother's hair, and giving that tear -
washed look to the daughter's sweet
eyes—can 11 bo possible That that heavy
stroke was insanity? Can Elizabeth
have been out of her mind? Can she
have spent in eongfnement any of the
pest, [anus all allusion to which she
shies' away with a sensitiveness more
sbrinkhlg than that of
"The tender horns 0f cookled snails."
Ile Is so much absorbed in 1115 tor-
menting speculations about bcr that for
the moment he forgets her bodily pre-
sence; and it is only her voice, her soft
sane voice, that brings lent beck to a
consciousness of it. They have been led
into a salon, in which, as thele guide
tells them, the confraternity used to re-
ceive any "personage" that canto to visit
them. Alas, no personage ever visits
the frockod remnant now 1 It is a
charming, lighlsome room, that gives
ono no monastic idea, with pretty nary
fancies of flower -wreaths and arabes-
ques, and dainty dancing figures painted
or wall and ceiling and doors. Ono of
these latter Is half open, and through it
comes an exquisite sudden view of the
hills, wail their sharp cut shadows and
their sunlit slopes; of shining Florence
at their feet, of the laugh of young ver-
dure, and the wedded gloom and glory
of cypress and poplar filling the fore-
ground. Upon Elizabeth's small face,
turned suddenly towards him, seems re.
fleeted some of the ineffable radiance of
the Tuscan light.
"When next I dream of Heaven," site
says, In her tender vihraling voice, "ft
will be like this. Do you ever dream of
•Heaven? I often do, and I always wake
crying because it is not true; but"—with
a joyful change of key—"I will not cry
any more without better cause, Since I
came here 1 have found earth beautiful
and delightful enough for me 1"
He looks back at her, hardly hearing
her words, but chiding himself fiercely
for the disloyal thought which he hos
entertained, however unwillingly; the
thought that the foul fiend of madness
could ever, even temporarily, havo de-
filed 1110 temple of those eyes whence
reason and feeling, so sweetly wedded,
aro shining out upon hint, unworthy as
he is 01 their rays.
"Since you came hero?" ho repents in
a sort of dreamy in!errOgalionl "only
since you came Here?"
"You must not lake me up so sheep-
ly 1" s110 cries i3 a voice of playful re-
mmnstranco, in which there is a 1111 of
young gaiety. "I warn you that I will
not be lateen up so sharply 1 I did not
say 'only since I cane here 1' I said
'Since I came hero l'"
CHAPTER XIV.
Presently they pass into the still,
cloistered garden, In whose unmown
grass -squares gray -blue towers are
blowing, beside whose walks pale pink
peonies are flushing, and round ,chose
well the grave rosemary hushes aro sot.
Through the whole place is an Minos -
lettere of deep peace, of silence, leleuret
dignity, It Is virtually a Letoa-tete, as
their tonsured guide, seeing their evi-
dent harmlessness, has left them to their
own devices; and Mrs. Lo Merchant has
sat down to rest upon a camp -stool
which Elizabeth has been carrying ever
since they left the carriage. 11 has fldgol.
cd Jilfl to see her burdened with it; for
let s. man=e ever se little in love with a
woman„ his tendency ahvays is to thine
her as brittle as spun glass, to believe
that any weight, however light, will
bruise ler alin—any 'pebble, however
tiny, wound her lender toot,- ' ITe has
offered to relieve her of Il—bud she has
refused- playfully at first—telling him
she is sure that he will solo it; and,
afterwards, when ho insists, more
gravely, though with gentle gratitude,
saying that it would never do for her to
get into the 1lablt of being wailed upon,
ond that sho always carried manuny's
things. It is perhaps absurd that a
w'0111011 or six•und-twonl,v &loud speak
of ler mother as "mammy," yet the
homely and childish abbreviation seems
to ilial to Coble ":host foie and fealously"
from her lips.
They stay a long lime In the sun-
kissed garden, considering that there is
after nil 1101 very much to sec shore,
But Cliza1mIles light slops,
that to-dayseem set to some Innocent (landing
tune. are loath. to (cave it ; she .must
smell the great new pretties, monthly -
rose -colored, faintly' vaunted; she must
shoal a sprig of rosein y't0 lal into
ler coffin when she slits at. which he
catches his breath, shied i ing; she, must
prep into the well, Ile ineisis on her
holding his hand for safely ns she loans
over to d0 So; her little 1111gels grip his
tight as elle cranes her noel; and bonds
ilex lissom holy. 11:11 whet a snail
handful they lar compared i0 those
other tngem, these lewd, useful, bot un-
duubledl,e so'id fingers, which he has
lu'Irl perfenotheiby through funny n mat -
ler -of -fed home 11,,eand-bye they shay
031'ny together nut of the. bounteous air
of the Hill -lop into a srnli•hhfdergrolnd
church, to sec the 11(renlh and 3!x10811111
1011 11ry lhudnnnnle, which look ns fresh
es if their marine hell left 110 110111e ill
i.0 (31•a but e'erfeh'duy, They chart
lnolclug down et those !Mete kin wile lie
side by silo before the high eller, each
with hired demoted a 11111e sideways on
the shoulder. ns if ovrrrnnle 113' sudden
sleep, 'They 81(11 on int, 1111,. ;,;1110 cha-
pee: vltere tel, yrs nobler mitred figure,
leshl aned by 11,111alrlin,5 Mend, s Ir'r[ebrs
1114 11111110 1inglh ninve his border. of
11'telt and flowers, 013311g \yilich lied a
carved stn:ll, lhrour;h whose empty eye-
bolas ---strange and grisly fame/ con-
trasting 1311)1 so m11011 beauty --a unwise
ing ribbon runs, • Elizabeth is perfectly
;Went lite ',Thole time, but no flood of
tolls could 31101:0 P1111 half so 0uns0iuus
of her presence, palpitating with sym-
pathy and feeling, could give half the
confidence he enjoys that show 111 intro-
duce no allusion to either Kensul Green
or Woking, as it. Ls but too probable
that the excellent companion of roost of
hes Florentine rambles would have
do,
El(znoobelh has been porfeelty silent, yet
at last 81)0 speaks. IL Ls in the Chapter
House, wile's, as most of us have done,
they have suddenly 00me upon another
tomb, the tomb of one lying fubMenglh
0n the pavement before the altar, with
no separating edge of marble or
wrought -leen railing to keep blit from
the foot of the passer-by, He lips there,
portrayed with such an extraordinary
vividness Olife
about 1115
prostraterate
figure and his severe,powerful taco, that
ono feels inclined Go speck low, lest he
should 1111 his while lids and tools rebuke
at us. In the lines about his mouth there
Is a glint of sardonic mirth. is he—hear-
ing our foolish chatter—touched with a
grave contemptuous amusement at IL?
Or is he keeping in his sleep the mem-
ory of some four hundred years' old
jest? Elizabeth hes involuntarily crept
close to Burgoyne's side, with ilia ges-
ture of a frightened child,
"Are you sure that he did not stir?"
she aslcs tremulously under her breath,
floe next thought is that her mother
must see flim too, this wonderful liviing
dead Ulan, and they presently set forth
to return to the garden to fetch her. But
apparently she has grown tired of wait-
ing for then, for, as they enter the clois-
tered enceinte, they see her adveooing to
meet there,
"1 would not lee left alone with him at
night for the wealth of the Indies,"
Elizabeth is saying, with a half -nervous
laugh—"Oil, mammy, you would
never have forgiven me if 1 had Id you
go without seeing him! Why, what is
this?" --with a sudden change of key—
"what has happened?" For as they
draw near to Mrs, Le Marchant they see
that her walls is a staggering one, and
that the usually healthy, clear pallor of
her face Is exchanged for a livid white-
ness. "What is it, darling 1" cries
Elizabeth, in an accent of terror. "Oh,
I!rn, s110 le going to faint (" in the agi-
tation of tho moment sire has uneon-
sctously returned to the fumiliar...ad-
dress which she used always to emptily
towards him In their boy -and -girl days.
"Put your arm round her on that side,
1 can hold her up on this. Let us get
her back to the camp -stool."
A camp -stool is neither an easy nor a
luxurious seat upon which to deposit a
half -swooning woman, but the joint ex-
ertions of her daughter and of Burgoyne
presently succeed In replacing her on
her rickety resting -place; their arms in.-
Lerluce each other round her back, and
their anxious eyes look interrogation at
one another ebovo her head, half drop-
ped on Elizabeth's slight shoulder.
"Does she often faint? 1s she apt to
de it?" asks Jing, in a whisper,
"Never-never 1" replies the girl in a
heart -rent voice, raining kisses on her
mother's while face, "Oh, darling, dar-
ling, what has happened to you?"
Perhaps it is through the vivifying
rain of those warm klsses, but a little
color is certainly beginning to steal back
into .the elder woman's cheek, and she
dhows a long breath.
"Oh, If she could have a glass of wa-
ter 1" cries Elizabeth, greedily, verifying
these slight signs of returning con-
sciousness. "Get her a glass of water 1
Ohl please get her a glass of water—
quick 1 quick I"
Burgoyne complies, though it is not
without reluctant misgivings that he
draws the efficacious support of his own
solid arm, ,and leaves Elizabeth's poor
little limb to hear the whole weight of
her mother's inert body,
Thele' guide has, as before mentioned,
disappeared; and Jim has not the slight-
est idea in which diee0110n to seek flim.
11 is five good minutes before he dis-
covers Mot, standing near the door of
the monastery, in convcrsolion with a
visitor who is apparently just hit the act.
or departure, The stranger is lin clerical
dress; and ns he turns to nod farewell
to tete 111001c, Jbuh recognizes in his tea -
tures those of the Devonshire clergy-
man, whom he had last seen, and so un-
wttlingly heard,' bythe well -brim of the
Bollosguardn Ville. In. .a second a light
has flashed into lits mind, Mrs, Le Mer-
chant, too, las seen that stronger—hes
seen him for the first time for telt yens,
since it is evident that the recognition
of mother and dnughler in the Via Tor-
nahuoni, to which 1110 Moat's tale rec-
ta' had referred, could not have been
reciprocal. It 10 to the font of hoe hav-
ing been brought suddenly and levee-
paredby Moe to face with that mysterious
past, which seeps eo be always block-
ing his own path to her friendship, that
is to bo attributed the poor woman's
collapse, A rush of puzzled compassion.
(lotus 01'03 1)111 as 110 realizes 1110 feet,
duct Iris 0110 inpatient wish is to return
with all speed he 11103' to the forlorn
couple he has left, to reassure them as to
the removal (even though it may only be
31 temporary ogle) out, of their path 0f 1110
'object of thee unexplained leer '. \f
II
the mother have !imparted to her child
the cause of her fainting, or will sho
have Bled to steep it froth her?
iIt
o first glimpse he gels when, hav-
ing at length procured ho desired glass
el tinter, he comes into sight of 1110111,
anew ers tho question for flint Mrs. Le
Meehan!, is evidently recovered. She is
silting til, no longer supported by her
(111a ghlel e arm, end that daughter is
tying on her knees, with her tided Varied
in her mother's lap. As 110 1100r0 them,
lee sees the Oleo,' tfoulml hurriedly
pressing her deughte"S arm to '351111(1 her
Of his approach, and Elizeboth obedient.
ly lits her Mee. (30 such n face 1 110
can scarcely believe it is the settle that •e..
Mid itself—hardly lass bloom!ly fair than
(hey--agalast the faint peony buds half V'
en 1)0111' ago; a Mee but of which the ;kr
innocent glad shining )1338 been itlown
by some gust of brutal wind -scared,
b1n113hed, nli$crnhle,
"(1h, yes, I am- holler, muni bolter, -
guile well, in fart," Says M's. Lo
0111101, ;mish(ag awn3' the 'tiered plass,
and speaking with n ghastly shadow a1
her fnrnlrr rve11 ebr'rrhltntse. "1bIvo it
Eliee heli, ,she 'trade it plan than I
d.11 You see, 't gave 1101 a lerr'ible
oF
CEYLON GREEN MA.
a unapproachable. It is entirely free from dust, dirt and
coloring matter, therefore, It Is absolutely pure.
Lead packets only. 400, 50o and 600 per Ib. At an grooere.
"lair
FARC.
eeeeeteM
EXPERIENCES W1TII LAMBS,
It bas ' been said that all great men
had good mothers, writes J. T. Drake.
11 can be said with almost equal cel'•
tuinty that all good lambs have good
mothetls. Wheoovee you see a good
lamb you ahno51 invariably find it fol-
lowing a good mother. To have good
mothers you must have good blood,
good feed, shelter and wear. it is just
as reasonable to expect the cashier of
your bank: to honor your cheque when
you have not a dollar on deposit and
no means of placing any there us to ex-
pect a ewe to produce two good lambs,
she being poor in the fall, with no shel-
ter all winter but the windward side of
lite , fed on corn stalks and with
no water except as she melted snow to
get11.fence
I havo a small farm of 80 acres, and
after keeping horses enough to do our
worse and driving, COWS enough for 01111c
and butler for the family, hogs enough
for our pleat and a few to sell, six or
seven dozen chickens, there is not a
groat deal left. That little I devote to
sheep. I keep from 35 to 50 grade
Shropshire breeding ewes. In the last
Six years, or since I had a good place
to keep thein, 1 have raised and mar-
led:di annually on an average 140 per
:ewe, a5 many Iambs as we had ewes.
I dsually arrange to have our Iambs
put in an appearance about March 1.
Tho ewes must be in good condition. I
would rather they were fat, for I do
not think a ewe can be too fat if the
flesh has been put on accompanied with
daily exercise. Tho good shepherd
should provide warm quarters for his
sheep so that Ile can save young lambs
when the mercury !s below zero.
When expecting lambs, my sheep
barn is divided into five apartments. I
have always, at this season of the year,
felt the need of small pens for my ewes
and lambs so that I could gn'e them per-
sonal attention. As necessity is tie
mother of invention, I devised the fol-
lowing plan: About four years ago I
nlacle 14 doors, 23e' feel high and 5 feet
long. I purchased 3X dozen hooks, such
as you buy to put on the inside of a
barn door. I stapled a hook al the lop
and another at the 1)0110111 of the door,
so that they would come near enough,
the ends to reach staples driven in the
siding. of the barn. I began al the cor-
ner of the barn and measured each way
5 feet and drove in my staples at the
top and at the bottom and hooked on
my doors. I then fastened the doors to-
gether in the same planner. This nacre
pen No, 1. I fastened ono door of pen
No. 2 to the barn 5 feel from pen No. 1
and the other door of pen No. 2 to pen
No. 1. In this way I made rho seven
pens all in a row and could place a
sheep in any one of them without
molesting the others.
As fast as my ewes became mothers 1
place them in these small pens so that
I can give them personal attention until
thole lambs 01'e known to be all right
and doing well, They are then taken out
and placed 131 an apartment for ewes and
lambs. The question may arise in your
mends, hots 1 get a largo, Shropshire
lamb in a small pen. I simply open the
pen' then I go to her, take her lamb o'
lambs in my arms, hold them about_ as
high as she carries her stead, which is
pretty high when I hove her lambs,
walk backward to the pen, place her
lambs inside, step bock. She goes in, I
close the door and all is weir.
When the oldest lambs aro Iwoweeks
old, 1 place lit the centre or the barn
whet we call a creep, •a place wherelhe
lambs can get and the owes cannot, In
this creep 1 piece a trough with snm0
corn meal in it. You who hetet never
tried it ,3111 be surprised at hot' young
an ego lambs will cat grain, 'f'la'y will
eat shelled corn by rte time they are
one mc01111 miles, l give my eters 111)0131
all the grain they will eat during March
end April. About \lay 1 I begin lo dc -
crease the grain, lessening the quality
gradually until (newt 1110 middle of the
month, f then turn utero un good grass
and the lambs grow rabidly.
GREEN BONE FUR FOWLS.
Animal food In one m for or another
is necessary for fowls. Practical ex-
perinil'nts and observation both prove
this to be true, writes Mr. J. 11. Lick.
In summer bugs, worms, grasshoppers;
etc., aro devoured with relish, and it is
during this tilos that the hen In her
natural slate lays the most of her eggs.
Animal food is natural food for her,
and if we insist upon her laying out of
the natural breeding season, we roust
provide those elements that go to form
eggs; not merely grain, but animal food
as well. In other words, if we wish
eggs in fall and winter, we must sup-
ply what is needed, and that in a pala-
table form. It Is not enough to supply
food ,merely to (111 them up, they must
get what is necessary to make. eggs.
We almost save a great many scraps
when webutcherin the fall, and toe
years this was the only animal food
provided. The result from chis w05 al-
ways the same: more eggs in January
than in February, for, by the middle of
January the atehnal food had given out.
Green cut bone is the best substilule
for insects, and if fed properly is e
fair rival. An ounce a day to laying
(owls is a fair allowance when £ed with
a proper grain and vegetable ration.
Green cut bone is the cheapest and best
poultry food known i f fresh from the
butcher and full of meat and gristle.
Boiled or bleached bones or those from
old or diseased animals should not be
used, The cost of a mill for grinding the.
bones is not great if one has use fur it,
and this is really the only expense, as
in some localities green bones can be
secured for little or nothing. Get mill
large enough for all present and pos-
sible future needs, and one that runs by
power, if the term is so supplied. 1f
not, a hand cutter does nicely. Manu-
facturers are now =Icing bone cutters
that run either by hand or power.
The saving in gro.(n by the use of
green cut bone soon pays for the ma-
chine. Thus there is a saving of grain
and an increase in the number of eggs
laid, which means a double profit from
the hens instead of an expense during
cold weather. Beat scrap, bone meal
and all other ground and dried animal
food for sale are of great value and easy
to feed, but are expensive and may not
always be pure goods. They may be
compared with fresh cut bone as dried
beef is to lender, juicy beefsteak. The
owner of a flock of hens would not be
long In deckling which he would choose
for his winter's supply of meat.
There is no single 1111ng of such an
aid to secure a satisfactory egg yield in
winter as green cut bone, and it is
equally valuably in aiding hens through
the moulting season and starting ahem
laying again. It is also a great aid in
bringing rho pullets to maturity and
making them good winter layers.
----T
IIOW TO CIIECIC A COUGi-I.
IL is not usually supposed that any
exercise of the will power Can be made
efficient. in checking a cough or a sneeze,
but a celebrated doctor says sneezing
con bo slopped by pressing on the nerve
of the llps in the neighborhood of the
nose.
Coughing may be slopped by slight
pressure in front of the ear. Thls will
also slop hiccoughing. Pressing very
hard on the top of the mouth is also
a means of stopping coughing and many
say iia will aloe has immense power.
There are various outer affections as-
sociated with breathing, which can be
stopped? by the same mechanism that
stops the hearts action. In spasm of
111c glottis, which is a terrible thing in.
children, and also in whooping cough,
it, Is possible to afford relief by throw-
ing cold. water on the feet, or by tick-
ling the soles of the feel, which pro-
duces laughter. and at the same time
arrests the spurn almost at once.
YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM,
"They sold that we w0131d never be
happy,' moaned the young bride.
"But you ore happy."
"But now they say it won't last,"
000
,may)
0
43)
•
000 0000 000'.,5 00000
A Boston schoolboy was tall,
urea
i
Y
lc and sickly.
His arms were soft and flabby.
He didn't have a strong muscle in his
entire body.
The physician who had attended
the family for thirty years prescribed
ScoH%ir .rnaU,raort.
NOW:
To feel that boy',-,. arm you
would think be was apprenticed to a
blacksmith.
ALL DRUGGISTS! BOO. ANIS gil.0o.
0
0
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4""
HEALTH
'I'UDEIICULO,SIS.
It is eslUnaled that about one-seventh
if all deaths in the civilized world aro
duo to tuberculosis, and chiefly to tub-
erculoeis of the lungs, commonly known
as cc,n';umption, • ' ..
From this statement alone one would
uppos0 that the disease is exceedingly
[alai, and that a person once attackorl
had little trope of recovery, But when
we consider that it is further estimated
that nine persons out, of every ten who
have reached middle life havo at one
time or another had tuberculosis trouble
in the lungs of glands, and have 01-
covered, we must, conclude that 'It
is
leasto
ono of rhot fatal a t serious mala-
dies.
Tuberculosis is an infectious, not a
ceniagioue, disease, duo to the lodgment
and multiplication somewhere in the
Lady of the tubercle -bacillus. Almost
any organ or part may leo attacked,
but the most frequent seals are the
glands or the lungs.
In young children the intestinal glands
are often aliened. Thls causes a gra-
dual toasting away, with diarrhoea and
distention of the abdomen. in older
children -and youths the glands of the
neck may become the seat of tubercu-
lous infection: this was formerly called
scrofula. The banes and joints are not
infrequently attacked, especially the
hip -joint and the spinal column. When
the spinal column Is attacked the re-
sult is humpbac:k. When the lungs are
the part attacked the the disease con-
stitutes what, is called consumption.
The young are more frequently at-
tacked, the predisposition to the affec-
tion becoming less wit11 advancing
years, although even the aged are not
always immune.
It eves formerly believed that the dis-
ease was hereditary, for it was seen to
run in families down through several
generations. Now the belief is that it
is not hereditary, but that possibly the
children of the tuberculous inherit e.
weakness of constitution which renders
then less liable to resist the growth of
the bacilli. They are also more exposed
to infection, because they live in the
same house with their tuberculous eld-
ers and inhale the ale buten with tuber-
cle -bacilli.
Modern medical science has done
much to reduce the mortality from con-
sumption, tar it has discovered how to
treat the disease, in many cases most
successfully; how to prevent it in the
case of the predisposed, end how to
avoid the spread of the disease from ono
who has it to others in the same house
or the `same communsly,—Youth's Com-
panion.
BATHING.
Bathing has always been recognized
as a most important factor in ihe pre-
servation and restoration of health, as
well as being a preventive of disease.
Its object Is not 010110 to promote clean-
liness, but to refresh and invigorate, as
is the case with the cold bath, or to ex-
perience the deliciously soothing; effects
ct the warm bath. Cold water, into
which has been put a dissolved cup of
sea salt, is one of the best and most in-
vigorating lotions for restoring firmness
In the flesh. This should be applied In
the (01111 of a sponge barb, every morn-
ing upon rising, and it will also be
found to be a splendid sofeguord
against taking cold, if persevered in
faithfully during the 'winter months.
Sponging the body regularly with aree
natio epulis ;remotes tone and 11001111.
A velvety softness and whiteness may
be given to the skin by using pure costly
soap and oatmeal during the process
of bathing. In order to accomplish this
desirable result, small bags composed
of thin cheesecloth, about Ileo inches
square, should be made by machine and
each ono filled loosely tvitll this mix-
ture; Five pr,ands of oatmeal. ground
fine, holt a pound of pure cultic soap
reduced to powder, and a pouted of
finely powdered Italian orris root. These
ingredients should be thoroughly mixed
together. The oatmeal bugs should Le
used as a sponge, being dipped in warm
water, when they will make a thick,
rich lather.
re receptacle for these small bags
should be made at some stout material,
having an inner lining of rubber, which
may be bought by the y0rel.
SAVE YOURSELF.
Don't stand when you can site don't
sit eaten when you can lie down.
Women sit too much, and w0111011
slang quite too much. Nothing is more
wearisome than "standing about," even
le Lho well trained body that has been
drilled into good poise, and sitting is
not resting, however cleverly women
may dehide themselves nn this point.
The young girl whit desires to keep
away °L'ow's feet and the jaded loose,
01)11 tit tie supplon1S1 Moon
0f youthr31ain, chosen, when elf paradeatld and
duly and in ler own room, make a
couch or the floor iter habitual resting
pian,
Ahsolute repose cones io the tired
musclesoniy ti1111 the body is
in a rcrlln-
Illgposition , and absolute repose comes
o
to the crebrnng nerves nnty when the
Muscuter system is perfectly at rest, re-
laxed.
Tho middle-aged woman can woo
bock moils of the freshness and lithe -
sentences of girlhood if she' will be art
h 11llle pains to learn hots to rest.
Fivo minutes of rest flat on the back
or, the floor or' on a hard, smooth couch
ere worth 111111 an hoar of so styled rest
in at armchair or in that unrnposefu
tempter, the rocking chair,
MUCI-I TO BE THANI€FUL F'OII, ,
Mee. Jones: "Whatever we got le' be
thankful ler,, Silas?"
Alt'. Jones: "Waggly lit' mortgage hez
bin foreclosed on tit loran, to we hain't
got tor' pay no more inlerest tett' taxes;
1st' aut0rnoblio's ?;yin attached ter'debt,
so we 11310't got ter worry about that ho
more, Johnny Smit?, hoz thrown over
our daughior Sal, so WO won't stave h'fM
ter 'support„ dreat Scott, Marta 1 ws''vo
got everything ter be thanlftitl Teta