. lz 1 J) gl 3 7 TREASURE TROVE. The forest of Dartmoor s surrounded on every side by wide stretches of moorland that belong to the several contiguous par- ishes, and every houscholder in cach of these parishes claims rights on the com- mon of his parish, over which, morcover, the manorial lord asserts paramount au- thority and enforces it when he can. The duchy of Cornwall, however, to which the forest belongs, professes a sort of sover- cignty over all these commons. Now. there lived in the parish of South Tawton, in the curious old village of Zeal, where every house is an archaeological cu- riosity and every householder is independ- ent, a poor young man of the name of Jo- siah Day, commonly known as young Rainyday. This nickname was acquired by him through his excessive caution. Jos was not a lazy man, yet his exag- gerated prudence led to much the same re- sults as inertness He was working on the common, cut- ting up granite blocks, wherewith to con- struct a ‘new take” wall. While thus engaged Jos came on a pile of small stones. He cleared away these as too small to serve his purpose and discovered beneath them a granite slab This he levered aside, without much difficulty, and to his HE PEERED CAUTIOUSLY ABOUT HIM. surprise discovered a stone cist or coflin constructed of rude blocks He crept in and was still further surprised when ho found within a pot containing charred bones and ashes, and near it a cup of yel- low metal and some rings and hooys, some weighing 6, others 10 and 15 ounces apicee. He hastily scrambled forth, and as the setting sun gleamed out he examined his find by its light He rubbed the cup and the rings on his sleeve and ** By ginger!” said he. ‘I'm darned if it ain't all solid gold. Come, I'm in luck’'s way This shall stand over against a rainy day. 21D Spsrs? 3300s y Zh) Bz W JR ny Suen was ils 1irst thougnt; tne sceuaa was this: “If it be known that 1 have found a treasure, then I shall have the duchy putting its fist down on it, the lord of the manor demanding it, the crown egacting it, the parson holding out Lis hand for a tenth and every householder in the parish, as this is common land, | | clamoring for his share, and: there be 143 | | me but the disappointment have rights There'll be naught left for | of having feund and lost treasure.” Josiah stood turning over the gold cup and rings Then he peered cautiously about him to make sure that he was unob- served Then the yeung man replaced the cover- ing block, then heaped the small stones and carth over it and disguised the fact that the place had been disturbed. : He returned home very satisfied with himself and with his prospects. Now he could look forward without blinking to the inevitable wrainy day. At preSent he had health, strength and youth, and with these he could earn his livelihood. ** But,” as Jos put it, **I can’t reckon on these last- ing I knows several young chaps as has had colds settled on their chestesses and have died of a decline. And Tom Endi- cott, he dislocated his hip and now can’t hobble up en to the moor after granite no | more, and as to old age and decrepitude-— there's no denying it, every day and hour and minute brings me nigher to it.” Accordingly Jos went on breaking up stone and inclosing, and instinctively he extended his ‘new take’’ wall in the diree- tion of the cairn and stone chest that con- tained his treasure. It must not be supposed that Jos was not tempted to realize, but fear of discov- cry and the consequent confiscation of the gold, above all, his prevailing dominant passion of caution against a future unpro- vided for, prevented his doing so. On the verge of the moor lived a girl named Mary Aggett with her bedridden mother She made a livelihood out of some peultry she kept, out of flint arrow- heads, which by searching she found on the moor and which she disposed of to an archmeologist. She also did some needle- work Jos passed the cottage twice daily on liis way out and on his way home, and very frequently he saw Mary at her door, and” they never met without exchange of salu- tations. On one occasion when overtaken by a hailstorm he had heen invited into the cottage and had been given a cup of tea that warmed his heart as if it had been peppermint and got into his head as if it had been whisky. E Toe Jn leaving the cottage he said to him- self: “1 might go farther and fare worse. The old mother is well cared for; the house neat, the maid is pretty and bright and pleasant But’ —he shook his head—**it- don’t do to marry carly: thatlnecansa family coming fast and nothing'drags a man’s head under water like a lot of ba- bies clawing hold of it. If Polly Aggett had money. that wéuld be anothe® matter - altogether. Then it might be worth con- sideration.” . One day when they met on the moor the northeast blast was so cutting that they retired together under shelter of a rock to cat their lunch. Considering how cold the, weather was Jos put his arm round Polly, and, having an overcoat, he threw one arm of it over her shoulder. The ensuing night was one of sore temp: tation to Jos. He tossed on his bed. He could not sleep. He sallied very carly from his house and went to the moor, re- solved to raise his treasure, dispose of it, dare fortune add marry. As be passed the cottage of Mary Aggett he did not see her. He was glad of this, lest she should have asked him why he went to his work two hours carlier: than usual. He proceeded to the cairn, removed the stones, heaved the covering sinb aside, got into the chest and brought out the gold rings and cup. Me furbished them up. and they sparkled in the morning sun. When all were ranged before him, he shook his head. *‘It would be madness to risk it,” said he. “If 1 married Polly, women be them corkscrews, she'd have the whole story out of me, and they be that chatterboxes they can’t help talking, and she’d blab about it to every one in the place. Then I'd have the crown, and the duchy, and the lord of the manor, and the parson, and the 143 commoners down on me demanding their shares. Be hanged if I'll risk it! Women is terrible dangerous animals with their tongues, never to be "he the treasure vase. In te vwant a) again into the coinin ihat had congainzn and preserved it for 4,000 years. : “1 know what I'll do,” said Jos. ‘I'll build my new take wall right over this old grave and then no one can get at the treasure without pulling down the wall.” Little did Jos suspect that he was being watched, and that his every word was everheard by Polly herself, who was be- kind the rock hard by, where: she had i picked up flint chips and flakes. slowly, painfully, Jos Day worked at his wall. He succeeded in carrying it over the cairn, and thus he sceured his treasure rom being disturbed, and thus was it | made fast against the rainy day. | In the course of the next three months he had completed the inclosure and had taken from the common a tract of good | land of five and twenty acres in extent. “Now, then,” said Jos to himself, **my | vray is to be as still as a mouse. The duchy won't know nothing about it... The lord of the manor lives far away, and his | agent is a sleepy chap. If he squalls, then ! I'll claim rights under the duchy or asa! commoner, and if the duchy squeaks I1'11 claim under the lord of the manor.” i About this tine Mary Aggett’s mother died Jos pitied ‘her greatly, the cottage was so lonely for the girl. His heart grew soft when he saw her in black. ‘* Bless me!” he said “If I lived in that cottage, it would save me half my journey cvery day. But I won't risk it.”’ Shortly after this a great surprise came on him. One morning he found in his “pew take” a flock of sheep all branded EM. ALY ‘Gracious bless us!” exclaimed Jos. *ITowever came the sheep there? I'l run ask Polly. She may know. She must have scen some one drive ‘em this way.” He went to the cottage and spoke in heat: ‘Mary, some owdacious radicals have been turning sheep into my new taka during the night. They are all marked ‘M.A ** They are mine, Jos.” “Yours, Polly?" “Yes It was very kind and consider- ate of you, Jus, to inclose so many acres for me. I thank you with all my heart.” ‘‘Inclose for you! It is my new take!’ ‘There is some misunderstanding,’ an- swered the girl. *‘The new take is cer- tainly rine. 1 have Leen to the lord of the maner and have bought it—25 acres at so much gold per acre. 1 have the papers all drawn out.” ** Yours! Where did you get the money?” That was a question Mary did not an- swer After much consideration Jos said fal- teringly: ** This is a pretty go! How am 1 6o be paid for the walling?’ “I'm sure I can’t think, Jos.” ‘But it has engaged me off and on for 18 months. Fifty pounds wouldn't repay my labor. «I can’t afford’’— 1 really am sorry for you.” ‘By ginger!” exclaimed Jos. “There is only onc way out of it that I can see, and that is by changing the brand on the sheep from A to D and. by lumping together my wall and your land.” . .° “Well, I'm nct particular,” answered Mary, and so the matter was settled. They were married, and Jos found that he had secured not only a very capital bit of land, but with ita thrifty, witty and wise wife. + At the close of the first twelvemonth there were three in the house in the place of two. "At the end of the second year the number hail mounted to five, for the sec- ond addition to the family consisted in twins. But the conscience of Jos was uneasy. Something stood between him and Polly. He had a seeret from her, and that is ever a barrier to connubial unity. Christmas was approaching. Jos resolved to make a clean breast of it and tell Mary every- thing. Christmas arrived, and Jos put off his Sunday coat and flowered ** weskit,’’ took Lis lever and went forth. * Polly,” said he, come along. I've a surprise for you.” He deliberately threw down a portion of his new take wall, discovered the lid of the stone chest, levered it aside and then jumped into the box. Next moment he rose¢ out of it blank with despair, trem- bling with disappointment. His treasure was gone. By the side of the cairn and overthrown wall stood his wife watching him with a smile on her cherry lips and a twinkle in | bd winter, all alone. her bright eyes. A toddling child clung to her skirts and she held one of the twins in cach arin. “Poll!” he gasped. ruined man! “By gum, I'm a Then she laughed, ana when she laughed the child holding her skirts laughed also, and the babes in her arms chuckled and crowed. : **No, Jos Rainyday,” she said, ‘“you | have lost nothing, you have gained much. “YOURS! WHERE DID YOU GET THE MONEY?” 1 found your treasure and I disposed of it to the antiquarian gentleman who: buys the arrowheads With the money I. bought the land, the sheen, the cows—and you.” Then Jos scrambled out of the graye and fell a-langhing and he laughed till the: tears ran down his cheeks. : ** By ginger!” said he.: “Woman's wit outweighs man’s wisdom. My true treas- ure trove is here’’—he clapped his wife on the shoulder—*and it’s one neither crown, nes duchy, nor lord of the manor, nor parson, nor the 143 commoners have one particle of right over no morc nor a pin’s head, but is all—all ‘and undivided my own And by gum!” —he kissed Mary, then the child in cach arm, then the child at her knee—''this treasure of mine is one bearing annuai interest.” “And, Jos—an interest that will grow end make loving provision fof you as for .fne, when comes the rainy day.” ; THE CHRISTMAS MORN. BY JOLL CENTOXN. Shining in the Christmas sky, Somctimes mcets the human eye, While the church bells, sweet and slow, Peal their joy out down below, On the far Lorizon's hem A hint of {aroff Eethlehem. *, ’Tis one softly luminous star, Like that the magi saw afar. - Pright holly and the mistletoe Join us in the fireside glow, And presents by the chimney side Make lovely all the Christmastide. Today the hurrying world must pause. The children look for Santa Claus, While in the air the silver chimes Recall the old Judean times. The ringing bells and tokens say That in a stable, dim and gray, ‘The Light of All the World was bera, His bed a manger, rough, forlorn, Where meek eyed oxen, with their hay, Stood in a trance almest of grace Before the sweet Madonna face, And, half in awe and half in prayer, Seemed to suspect some god was there. This world will never cezse to know, Though centuries come and centuries ge, The story of those ancient times, The meaning of these Christmas chimes Which come with their perennial grace With blessing for the human race. So what to us are ice and snow And all the wintry blasts that blow If on the sky's horizon hem We sec the star of Bethlehem ? A PRECARIOUS PUSH. The Honeymoon and a Christmas Adventure. A New Method of Hunting the Grizzly. Winter- ing In the Yosemite Valley—The Neg- lecthd Christmas Dinner—A Narrative of Fact. BY F. A. OBER. All our friends said we were foolish, and really I suppose we were—foolish in the first place to fall in love; foolish to get married, and, lastly, foolish to spend: our honeymoon in the Yosemite. ing act of all our foolish deeds, and they washed their hands” and cleared their skirts of us entircly. But, bless them, we didn’t care. Alicia and I had fallen in love with cach other just because we couldn’t help it, and we didn’t want to cither—that is, we didn’t want to ‘help it.”’ And we cared not a straw what our friends thought or did so long as they let us entirely alone. And at the end of the week, when the others started for the return trip, we proved the integrity of our intentions by remain- ing behind. It was then late in Septem- ber, and soon, the guardian of the valley told us, the first snowflakes would fly and not long after the Yosemite would be closed entirely to the outside world. **Yes, indeedy,”’ he said, ‘‘there won't be nobody in here except now and then a logging team and whoever’s left over. So I'd advise you two to get out mighty soon. ”’ **But we don’t want to get out,” I ex- claimed, and my wife nodded her head affirmatively. **We want to stay here all ** Yes, and don’t you know of some nice little cabin we can hire?’ asked Alicia. **Any kind of a hut will do, so long as it can be made warm and comfortable. We I've lost everything. I've lien robbea. want to stay all by ourselves. ”’ ~heatly covered with pine boards, and a lit- - tls square window in cach room looked - as big as the hut itself. qarlor. .a USEo! You don't say! tes, 1 Go ALow cf one. It’s that log cabin over the river. But it'll be awful lonesome, let me tell you There won't be nobody but me within a mile and p'rhaps half a dozen fam lies ittered over the whole seven nile stretch of the valley.” “What! Do you mean that da-ling little log hut among the apple trees, with the tiny flower garden in front and the river flowing byy"” **That’s the one. The man who built it has gone cast; staid here onc winter, and it was too lonely for him. If you reely want it, I can put you in possession at once. ”’ “If we want it!” I exclaimed, ready to hug the old man on the spot. And I was almost afraid Alicia would hug him then and there, but she didn't, only her eyes shone, and she clapped her hands fer joy. **Why, we don’t want anything clse in this wide, “It will be perfect, juss too heavenly for anything!” **Well, guess you'll want a little some- thing else,” rejoined the dear old man, ‘some pervisions, for instance, fuel, and the like.” At this sudden descent to sublunary and substantial things our countenances fell. We hadn’t thought but that we could live on air perhaps or on ambrosial nectar. We looked at cach other doubtfully. ' The old man noted our disappointment and hastened to add: ‘‘Well, now, don’t feel bad about it. I'll arrange for all that. Fact is, the cabin’s supplied with pooty riwuch everything except fresh meat—flour, meal, bedding, blankets, cooking things— and if you haven’t got the money with you we'll trust you till spring opens for all you want.” : **Oh, we've got money enough,” I re- marked. ‘I'll pay you any price you ask nnd feel forever indebted to you into the bargain.” And I wrung the old man’s band so warmly that he turned aside with a ruspicious moiscure in his eyes and re- narked under his breath and with a sigh: Bear me! Iwas young mysclf once. It’s nice to be young.’’ The hotel closed the very next day, but rone too secon for us, as we were wild to et installed in our new quarters. The ok! guardian showed us where the provi- icns were stored, instructed us how to Le a fire in the great fireplace and how to cook over the open hearth with the primitive utensils of our ancestors. There were two rooms in the hut, each about 14 fect square, one being for a bedroom and Ale other for kitchen, dining room and The great oak! logs were well ckinked with clay, the stout floor timbers cut over the broad and winding river. ‘The frost had not yet touched the flowers in the garden, and soon the best of them were potted and indoors, where, with the ferns and the few pictures ve had brought with us, they bore witness how a woman’s dainty touch can evoke from bare walls a suggestion of home. ho Finally winter closed in earnest. All the trails were filled with. snow, the wa- terfalls converted into sheets of crystal and mounds of silver, the gaunt cliffs and WINTER CABIN IN THE YOSEMITE. great trees hung with fleecy draperies. Then we staid within doors almost entire- ly, except that I sallied out every day to cut wood for the insatiate fireplace until a pile was heaped against the cabin almost The time passed * quickly enough, and Christmas day at last overtook us, finding us busy and happy, bat pvith a larder sorely depleted. Alicia and I were out in the snow gath- ering holly and mistletoe for the decorat- ing of’ the cabin when our friend, the old guardian. came along, a rifle in the hollow of his ‘arm and a cur dog at his heels. 1 Bet a dollar you folks haven't a pound of Yes, they declared that to be the crown- fresh meat in the house,” was his first re- mark after greetings were over, ‘and I've called to see if Mr. Alfred won't go with 1:e on a little hunt.” : ** Yes, dear, do go,’ said my brave little wife, but her eyes were tear gathering, I noticed. as she took down the rifle from above the fireplace and placed it in my hands. **I'm not afraid to stay alone dur- ing the daytime, and then, you know, I've that pudding tc make, which will keep me busy while you're gone.” | So I kissed her and left her, and yet my heart misgave me as 1 turned around an hour later while climbing the trail up | the cliffs sind saw her still standing in tho doorway, watching us wistfully. It is a stiff climb up to Glacier point, and by the time we had arrived at the forest covered platcau the exercise in the cool crisp air had started my blood coursing rapidly, and | I was in fine spirits. My friend directed i me to take the trail to the left, while he swung around to the right, promising to join me within three Jinurs’ time. “Shoot whatever you sce,’’ was his final | word at parting. ‘‘It won't be much any- how, but remember we're out for meat!” That was unfortunate advice, for not more than an hour later, coming suddenly upon a strange track in the forest and shortly after looking ahead and secing a queer but immense gray creature sham- bling through the snow and being at a loss what to call it, I thought a well directed bullet might disclose its identity and so threw up my rifle and let drive. My friends would have felt perfectly justified in calling me a fool could they have seen me make that foolish shot and | have seen the big gray monster turn around and disclose to my astonished gaze the unmistakable head and hideous fangs of a grizzly bear! I had never seen one before, except in a cage, but there was no doubt whatever about this onc. And he left me not long in doubt as to his inten- tions cither when he wheeled about with wide world!’ she exclaimed. ' < THE GRIZZLY ON TABLE ROCK. @ start ana a growl and took the trait in my direction. The blood was oozing from a wound in his flank, but that was nothing more than a flea bite to his bearship, though good excuse enough for revenge. I looked about me and saw to my horror that I was be- tween Lim and the edge of the cliff, which at this point descends sheer 3,000 fect. Projecting over the edge of the precipice was an immense rock like the bowsprit of a ship and some 15 or 20 fect in length. It may look like an insane move that 1 made tracks for this perilous position, 3,000 feet above the valley floor, but there seemed nothing else to do unless 1 went straight toward the bear. I remember that I felt then that my time had come and wondered confusedly what Alicia would say and do when, perhaps days or weeks later, she should view my mangled remains at the foot of the great cliff. How- ever, I ran for all T wae worth, and. as | ran on, mechanically cjected the cmpty shell from my rifle and slipped in another cartridge. It was a six shooter, and I re- solved if only for Alicia's sake not to die until I had given grizzly the full benefit of cvery shot. He was shuffling along clumsily, but relentlessly, and was close upon me as I slipped over the bank. If 1 had carried out my hastily conceived plan of going out on the protruding rock, I should not have lived to tell this story, but just as I reached its base I slid down into a crevice behind and a little to one side of it. : : That unintentional move saved my life, for, seeing me go over, my nursuer rushed ~ Miercely after and could n#®; restrain his impetus until well out on the rock. It was extremely slippery. incased as it was in ice, with a sheet of snow atop, and he had hard work % keep his footing, and as’ he stood there, growling terribly and shifting his position uneasily, yet looking down and all around for me, a germ of hope came into my mind. 1 saw that it would not take much to send him crash- ing down upon the rocks at the foot of the cliff, and I trembled lest he should get off the rock before I had given him a little jolt. I could sce kim quite clearly, as he wasn’t more than 20 fect away, and that instant also he saw me, wedged into the crevice back of him. He tried to scramble about and reverse his position, but as he turned I drew a bead just behind his shoulder and sped a bullet there. His situation was precarious enough at the first, but now in his frantic strug- gles to turn about—and perhaps made gid- dy by the two vvounds—he swayed consid- erably. Into the ice sheet and the snow he sent his crooked claws, making desperate efforts to regain his balance, but another ball crashed into his ear and that settled him. Over he went, clawing and fighting the empty air, whirling down, down, through space, until he was dashed with a terrible shock upon the rocks 38,000 feet below. I dared not look over for fcar I might share his fate, but after a prayer of thank- fulness at my escape I sloyly crawled tc the brow of the precipice. The old man fet me soon after and had to support me over a portion of the downward trail, 1 was so unnerved. After a detour of several miles we finally reached the base of the cliff over which grizzly had fallen, and there we found him, a very much used up bear. His skin, hewever, was not so badly torn but it later served as a rug for our cabin floor, though it was long before Alicia could look upon it with composure. The bear meat, the old guardian said, was tender and toothsome—probably from the pounding it. got—but Alicin and I could not bring qurselves to taste it. In ' fact, though eur hearts sang with joy and we were thankful for our blessings, with the true Christmas, spirit, yet we could not i do justice to thatChristmas dinner. Even the pudding, which the old man declared a conspicuous sucgess, was neglected, for my little wife did nothing but shudder, and, throwing her arms around my neck, whisper, with her lips close to my ear, “Dearest, I shall never let yout out of my sight again!’ The Date of Christmas. Christmas gets its name {ron the mass celebrated in the carly days of the Chris- tian church in honor of the birth of Christ, its first solemnization being ordered by Pope Telesphorus. This must have been some time prior to the year 138, for in that year Pope Telesphorus dicd.-—Philadel- phia Times.
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