6 WHEN BABY WRITES A LETTER, When baby writes a letter to her Daddy far away. The occasion's most important, for she has so much to say. She fits up to the table, as grown-up folks all do. And then a pile of paper all around her we must strew. With Grandma's golden spectacles safe perched upon her nose i-he dips her pen into the ink, then straight to work she goes. And the onslaught tierce that follows would till you with dismay- When baby writes a letter to her Daddy far away. *"Babv sends her love to Daddy, and hopes that he Is well." ta the sentence Baby first indites—hur methods 1 must tell— S?or the sweet and simple message that expresses Baby's love Ts a dot and <1 ;isii and big ink-splash below and just above. She perforates the paper with many tiny pricks, And plays a tattoo on hur chair with sun dry little kicks, And all the floor is scattered o'er with frag ments of the fray To tell us Baby's writing to her Daddy far away. The letter is a long one, for scores of sheets are used, And every one bears witness to the way it's been abused. A page fur every word she takes, she quite ignores the lines. While each one as it's written to oblivion she cor./igr.f; Then prmn . i 1 ;i:v.lope Miss Baby now v. ill call. And she fills it full of paper, with no writ ing on at all The address i- so : ".Ible, I much regret to say. It's doubtful if 'twill ever reach dear Daddy far away. —Charles Not 1 Douglas, in Woman's Home Companion. / \ The Trouble s£ on the Torolito. BY FRANCIS LYNDE. CHAPTER X.—CONTINUED. A hundred yards below the dam workings my ditch crossed the trail below and the stream by a box-flume bridge; a crazy structure on spind ling stilts that weaved and racked under me as 1 ran.l did not dare to look down or aside until I had won across; and then I saw that I was too late, and that I was on the wrong side of the stream. The wooden coffer-dam was built out from the other side of the canyon; and the engineer, leaving his horse where I had once left mine, had climbed to the top of the timbering to look down into the seething flood hammering at its upper side and sweeping foam-flecked past its outer extremity. And on the trail below, with his horse neighboring playful ly with Wykamp's, was Maeplierson, waiting quietly until the engineer should finish his inspection and come down. My end of the flume was in the shadow of the canyon wall, and I knew that neither of them could see tiie; but I stood up and waved my arms and shouted to them. My tongue clave 1o my teeth, and ■whether my cries were louder than whispers, I know not. It mattered little; the thunder of the torrent was deafening, and no warning shout of mine could dominate it. With shaking knees 1 climbed a little higher on the canyon wall to lay hold of a gnarled tree growing from n cleft in the rock. When I looked again, the engineer had turned to creep back over the cob-house tim bering of the coffer-dam. In the bal ancing inslant I saw a worm-like thread of fire eating its way up into the black shadows on the down streini side of the timbering; saw it, and saw that Macpherson had seen it. He was urging his horse up the trail, and his ringing shout, came to me above the din and turmoil of the waters. Then the thread of fire dis appeared and a rumbling crash shook the mountain like the shock of an earthquake. I heard the grinding crunch of shattered timbers, and when I looked again Hie coffer-dam &ad become a mere log-jam in the seething whirl-pool, and the released torrent was breast-high on the trail where Macpherson had halted. But for the sight of him sending his horse zigzag up the steep acclivity opposite, 1 should have fainted and fallen. As it was, my brain reeled and a horrible nausea seized me. For •at that moment Macpherson flung himself from the back of the scram bling bronco and ran out on the wreck of the timbering to look down into the surging maelstrom roaring through the gap. I looked, too, and saw what he saw. In the spume of the caldron, clinging des perately to one of the half-sub merged logs of the wrecked coffer dam, was the engineer. I saw his face upturned in the moonlight, and it was the face of a man whose life had eaten out the fortitude where with a brave man may goto his death. And on the broken timbering above, within arm's-reach of the drowning man, Macpherson stood and looked down upon him. lie had but to withhold his hand, and God's ven geance would fall swift and sure upon the poor worm writhing on its log in the reek and spume of the whirlpool. CHAPTER XL LA PETITE GUERRE. It was a sodden thing, limp and unresponsive, thai. Maeplierson dragged out of the maw of the hungry whirlpool and carried across the tot tering wreck of the coffer-dam to the lialf-tinished excavation in the oppo site canyon slide. When I joined him, by way of the precarious flume bridge and a scramble along the steep acclivity down which I had £>liol ton £>iuug£e iu thu waters of the stream, he was mak ing a tire in the shelter of the exca vation, hurrying 1 tremulously and muttering to himself like a man pone daft. In the excitement of the mo ment he seemed to take my presence quite as a matter of course. "Look him over. Jack, for (lod's sake, tell me if I'm a murderer!" he gasped, going down on his hands and knees to blow the spark in the kindling. lie had propped the engineer in a corner of the cutting, and I lost no time in obeying the command. As nearly as I could determine there were 110 bones broken; but there were two or three slight scalp wounds, and the man was well drowned. "I'ull yourself together, Angus, and help me," I said, throwing off my overcoat. "The fellow's drowned, and : he's a dead man if we don't get to 1 work on him pretty suddenly." Fortunately, we both knew what j to do, and how togo about it; but j there was a despairing half-hour <jr more of it before the first long-drawn sigh of returning life rewarded our j efforts. Maeplierson worked silently, with set teeth and the tireless pa tience of a piece of machinery; and | when Wykamp began to breathe nat- 1 urally he sank back and covered his j face with his hands. A pebble rattled j down the slope of the excavation and I looked up. Selter was standing at the pit-edge, ga/ing down upon us like a man lately aroused from his j first sleep. "Well, I'll be dad-burned!" he said, clambering down to stare first at the I two of us and then at the uncon scious engineer. "This yere's what all the rumpus was about, eh? Dam bu'sted to kingdom come, an' that ther'—" his epithet was quite aecur |at but wholly unreportable— "drowned dead as a do'-nail! Hit waked us all up down't the house, an' I thort I'd thess mog along up an' sec what-all'd happened." Mac took his face out of his hands. "Let up on that, .Take," he said, quietly. "Or perhaps I'd better tell you to stick to it for your life. I know why the dam went out, and so does Mr. Halcott. If he doesn't know—" indicating the sodden figure at the other side of the fire—"you are safe to lie out of it. And you're just in time to cover your tracks. lluslle yourself down to the engi neer's camp and rout, them out. Tell them the boss is here half dead, and have them send for him." Selter's face, sharply relieved in the firelight, was a study in baffled enmity mingled with fear. But he made no more denials and went straightaway on his errand, leaving us to watch with the half dead one. It was a long time before Maeplier son broke silence to say: "How much do you know, Jack?" "All of it, I think; except that I'm taking it for granted that Nan is responsible for some things—your being here for one." "She isn't," he said, soberly. "Hut she has tokl me what you didn't think it was safe to tell me, if that's what you mean." I shook my head. "The ways of a woman are past finding out. What possible object could she have in signing her lover's death warrant after that fashion?" The flush under the bronze in Mac pherson's face may have been 110 more than the reflection of the ruddy j firelight. "Have you forgotten the pony and the riding-lessons?" he asked, .shame facedly. "No." "Well, it appears that she hasn't. I oughtn't to tell it, even 011 her, but it seems that she haw been playing that thing—" with a contemptuous nod toward the unconscious engi neer— "off against—against Miss Sanborn." His laugh was forced, and it was not pleasant to hear. "I don't believe she considered him in the matter at all. What she had in mind was the hope that, her information would turn me against the school mistress. As a matter of fact, she was unwise enough to say so in so many words." "And instead of that, it sent you out with murder in your heart. I don't wonder." The unpleasant laugh came again. "Don't take sides with the devil," lie said, shortly. "I ought to kill him, but I've promised not to, and I—" lie covered his face again, bursting out presently in an tipbubbling of mingled wrath and remorse. "Oh, my God, Jack! you don't know what a temptation it was when 1 saw him down there gasping and strug gling; as good as dead, and by 110 act of mine. All I had to do was to turn and walk away. You're right; there was murder in my heart for the tenth part of a second, then, though there hadn't been up to that moment." "And yet you followed him up here for the express purpose of killing him," I persisted. His look was of blank surprise. "Oh, no," he said. "Haven't you heard?" "What can 1 lieaf when you stay away and I am shut up with a family in which speech is so dear that the common gossip of the settlement is at a premium?" I retorted, irritably. "That's so; I forgot. We've been coming to blows down in my end of the valley—the boys and Wykainp's men. Connolly and Kilgore have both been making camp-fires of the stakes again, and day before yester day the reprisals began in dead <*nrnest. I've lost half a dozen prime steers; and last night we saved the hay stacks by standing guard over them with the Winchesters. This afternoon, Mexican George took a pot-shot at liart from behind a i bowlder in 1011 c canyon—missed liira, j of course; a Greaser can't hit any -1 tiling—and i thought it was about CAMKRON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6 1902 time to serve notice on The man who is responsible. That's what brought me up here to-night. They told me at the camp that Wykamp had come up here, and I thought it would be u good chance t«> get him by himself." "Forgive me, Angus," I said, in honest contrition. "You're a better man than I thought you were; a bet ter man than I'd be under the same conditions, I'm afraid. What will you do?" "Get over on the aggressive side —" The man on the other side of the fire stirred uneasily and groaned, and Macpherson waited until I made sure that Wykamp was still beyond eaves dropping. "Get over on the aggres sive side, and begin the development of my placer. As a stockman they can do me up cold, every time; but when I turn miner I shall have the entire legal machinery of the great est mining state in the union behind me. The boys will be up here with their picks and shovels to-morrow morning, and we shall build a flume and make a peremptory demand for water. We'll get it. Not even the Glenlivat syndicate is big enough to buck against a miner's right. And when we've used the water in our riffle-boxes, it can go down to the settlers for their burnt-up fields." "I see," I said. "Why didn't you do it long ago?" "The time wasn't ripe. Between us, I don't hope to make anything out of the placer. We've all planned at it now and then, and nobody has found more than a few 'colors' to the pan. But it coines In pat now, just at the right time. Public sentiment is strong on the side of the settlers, and against the land company; and I happen to know that President Baldwin is beginning to be a bit un certain about this location for the dam. Did you see the pit before the coffer-dam went out and filled it up?" "Yes." "It was fully 20 feet deep and they were still in this loose shale. If they goon and putin their masonry, it's pennies to dollars that the first cloud-burst takes it out. Baldwin knows the risk, and so do the stock holders. The stock has pone down ten points in as many days. That was why they pot together and made a pool to try to buy me out." "Decent figure?" "Fairly decent. They strained a point— all the points, I imagine, in the present uncertain condition of affairs; but I wouldn't sell for twice fifty thousand." "[ don't blame you; it's more than a money fight." Macplierson's soft brown eyes flashed responsively. "Much more. We charge Seller wth making it a personal matter, but I'm afraid it's come to be that with me. The day when 1 can run that fellow out of this valley at the tail of a broken en terprise will be a happy one for me. It's the least 1 can do—and the most. And I'll do it, if I live." Wykamp flung his arms abroad like a man in a bad dream. 1 laughed aloud. The grim humor of the thing ' "YOU FOLLOWED HIM TO KILL HIM." ! was irresistible. Here for an hour we had been straining every nerve to ! save the life of a man whose death was every way desirable—but I checked myself at once. Maepher son Was glowering at the prostrate figure beyond the fire in a way that made me shiver. 1 made haste to bank the fires of wrath. "It is unfortunate that Selter has I put himself on the wrong side of the criminal fence," I remarked. Macpherson responded quickly, as if glad of the diversion. "It is; devilish unfortunate. The tiling hangs by a thread. If that, fel low suspects that it was giant powder and not the flood, we'll all hear from it." "Will he suspect?" Macpherson shook his head. "He'll reason it out, if he hasn't been too badly shaken up. And we'll ba lucky if we're not dragged in as witnesses." He went silent for a minute, and when he continued his thought was for me. "Say, Jack; suppose you take the hack track to the farm-house. There is no need of your being mixed up in this! and if you're not here when his men come, no one will be the wiser. Follow the bed of th ditch and you won't meet them." The advice was sound, but I hesi tated. "But that will leave you to bear the brunt of it alone, Angus." He waved me off. "Goon, and go now, or it will be too late. I'm in for it, anyway, because he saw me. Get a move." I went at that, scrambling across to the line of the ditch and wallow ing downward through the dry sand of its bed. Half-way to the gap in the hog-back I could look down upon the party of rescuers on its way up the trail, and was half minded to turn back when I saw it was headed by the Mexican. But 1 went on when I reflected that Macpherson would account lor himself <juite ua well without as with me. Hmn>- the less, it was a relief, a few minutes later, to be overtaken by my friend at the point where the ditch crossed the road to enter the Selter field. "They are bringing him down?" I queried. "Yes. He came to and sat up just after you left, lie isn't hurt very much." He would have dismounted to make me ride, but the distance was nothing. "Will you go back to the Six-Mile to-night?" I asked, when we reached the gate. "Selter will put you up." "No; I'll goon back. If I didn't show tip before morning, the boys would raid Wylcamp's outfit. Good night. You go in and take about three fingers and goto bed. You'll be in luck if this doesn't down you again." [To Be Continued.] WAS GOING TO '"MERIKY." And K 1 17.11 Wanted H«t lint Trimmed In the l.ntest Style for (he Kvvnt, One day a stout person penetrated from the laundry to the drawing room door, hastily pulling down the sleeves over her scarlet muscular arms, says Nineteenth Century. "If you please, missus," she said, "doost'a think th' yoong lady as is so clever at trimmin' th'ats a'd be so kind as to trim me oop one? A' 'ardly like to ask, but hoo's that kind a' thowt a'd try." The young lady, a visitor in the house, was greatly taken with the idea, and the dolly tub was left to itself for a time while Eliza expound ed her views, which were definite, as to choice among the prevailing fash ions. When the work of art was completed she expressed high satis faction. "A' wanted to luik well wen a' goes over there to my son and 'is family, d'yo' see?" "Over where, Eliza?" "Why, over at 'Meriky, missus; a'm going to see un just now. A' meant to las' year, but a' couldna save quite enough for tli' passage money; now wi' yo' washin' all winter that's a' right, so a'm goin' over in th' Teu tonic week after next to 'ave a look round at them aw'. There's my sis ter's 'usband out too since last Bar naby, and my neebour as well. While work's been slack in town, folks thowt they'd try th' other side." So Eliza tried the other side, too, but not finding it to her liking, re turned to Milltown and reappeared at the washtub with as little in the way of travelers' tales as anyone who ever left her native land. Tadpoles nt Wholesale. A resident of this city is the own er of a fine aquarium, and recent ly commissioned a street urchin to procure for him some tadpoles from suburban ponds, promising to pay ten cents for a canful of the wrigglers. The boy was not of a selfish nature; on the contrary, he to'.d all his ac quaintances for blocks around of this new source of revenue, and there was a veritable exodus to the tadpole re gions. When the gentleman reached hom in the evening, he was met by his wife with a reproachful countenance. Almost immediately he detected the sound of shrill juvenile voices pitched high in dispute. Lined up at the back door he found the original "contrac tor." reenforced by a score or more of his comrades, each bearing in his hand an old tomato can filled with tad poles. The aquarium owner, being possessed of a sense of humor, took in the situation at a glance, and good naturedly decided to receive theentire catch, giving to each boy a dime. When all had obtained their stipend, the boys gave one mighty cheer and scat tered in all directions.—Baltimore Sun. Tlic Stalker SlnlUnl, The hunter in pursuit of big game must be prepared for the unexpected. Mr. Horace A. Vachell, in "Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope," relates the experience of a friend of his, a man for whose veracity he vouches. My friend was after bear, and was accom panied by an Indian guide whom he always took with him on such trips. One morning they sighted a large wapiti, which they wounded. The Indian took the trail; but the hunter, knowing the habits of wound ed deer, took a short cut across some hills, hoping to get another shot at 'the wapiti as it crossed a certain di vide. He reached the divide and climbed a tree for a wider outlook. Presently the wapiti came slowly up the steep slope; the Indian followed, knife in hand; and then, behind the Indian, not 40 yards intervening, wad dled a huge bear. So intent was the Indian upon his quarry that he was unaware that he, in his turn, was be ing tracked, till a bullet whistled past his head from the hunter's rifle and laid the bear low. That was a sur prised Indian! 'I'll" IlnelM'Tor'H Opinion*. The truth that is in wine is about as sincere as the lies that are in charity. The only vigilant night watchmen are the wives who sit up waiting for their husbands to come home. A woman can respect her husband's business ability if he can keep her from finding out anything about, hie business. The girl never was born who could understand how you can love her without telling her so twice in every 15 seconds. No matter how low down a man knows he is he never feels he has gone to the limit till he lets a wom an make love to him. —N. Y. Press. Try Injjf. Adversity tries some men and police judge* try others. Chicago Daily New», ART OF CONVERSATION. Ability to Direct Talk In the llitflit Direction 1m More Important Than fr'lorv of \Vor«l«. if you would win laurels as a bright conversationalist, first impress your mind with the fact that it is not flow of words that you need, but ability to direct conversation. You must practice the part of stat ing a thought, keeping the talk gen eral, or making the guest of honor the apparent leader. You must draw out the timid, avoid dangerous channels and make every man and woman about you appear at his or her best, while your own ef forts are confined to an occasional word to fill a gap. When you are trying to make a com pany a conversational success always avoid a rattling liveliness on your own part. Don't imagine that to be a clever woman you must be a wit. If you are naturally witty, well and good; it will crop out occasionally. But if your wit is forced, it will de generate into mere affectation, and af fectation is fatal. Your main object is to make your self interesting without being obtru sive—to keep yourself in the back ground while you direct the general conversation. It is a wonderfully interesting ac complishment. Y'ou learn to note the slightest change in facial expression. The quiv er of an eyelid or the movement of a lip tells you a story. You see pleas ure, anger, interest or dislike, where another detects no thought. Your own mind acts more quickly as you appreciate the unspoken thoughts of others. You have the pleasure of feeling that your acquire ment is not wholly selfish, for it gives you the power to understand the re served and to put the shy at their ease. Above all, don't talk too much. No matter how interesting your stories may be, they are not as a rule so in teresting to another person as the stories he wants to tell. The skillful talker, like the really skillful diplo mat., uses few words and makes them count.—N. Y. World. FIRST LADY OF IOWA. Mm. A. 11. Cummins, Wife of the Sew llawVeje Governor, In a I'opular Favorite. Mrs. A. B. Cummins, wife of the new governor of lowa, is a leader in so cial and club circles in Des Moines. She is a woman of ability and charm ing personality and the late Senator Gear used to characterize her as his most formidable opponent in the sen atorial contest between himself and Mr. Cummins. Her maiden name was Ida L. Gallery, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Gallery, of Eaton liapids, Mich. She was educated in the schools of Eaton liapids and was married to Mr. Cummins at that place in 1874. At that time Mr. Cummins was a law i ' J MRS. A. B. CUMMINS. student in Chicago. Shortly after ward he was admitted to the bar. Mr. and Mrs. Cummins lived in Chicago until IS7B, when they moved to Des Moines, where they have since re sided. Their home is 011 West Grand avenue, in the most fashionable quar ter of the city. Mrs. Cummins is a member of the Congregational church and one of its hardest workers. She was for many years on the board of directors of the social settlement, but has been com pelled to resign owing to stress of other duties. She has been president of the Women's club, the leading or ganization of its kind here. The Science of Colds. Almost everybody one meets is af flicted with that trivial but annoying ailment, a "cold." This is one of the minor troubles of life, but it is a sin gularly perverse affection all the same, and one decidedly obstinate as regards its tendencies toward cure. Doctors now agree that the cold in the head or "coryza" is an infectious trouble, and therefore to be regarded as another triumph for the übiquitous microbe. The spread of cold through a house hold may thus accounted for on the scientific principle of ordinary infec tion. The means of cure are many. One English specialist recommends taking an opiate to start with, in the shape of 15 or 20 drops of ehlorodyne in water, repeating the dose in, say, four hours. He also prescribes a Dover's powder at bedtime (say ten grains) and a hot drink, by way of en couraging skin action, provided risk of ©eld and chill is avoided. COMEDY OF ERRORS. J|p»- Orlrunii Womnn Who Prlghtcnet and Suuiclit Itefuse In the tastle of tlic Enemy. "Women are thoughtless creatures at times and they frequently get into rather embarrassing predicaments by making thoughtless remarks," said a citizen who lives in St. Charles ave nue to a New Orleans Times-Demo crat man. "Just now there is a good joke going the rounds on a well-known, lady who lives uptown, and it is all due to the fact that she was just a little thoughtless a few days ago. She might have made a life-time enemy out of a member of her sex if it had not been for the peculiar DOG RUSHED TOWARDS HER. circumstances which surrounded tht incident. "She was walking out St. Charles avenue. About a block away she saw a dog rushing toward her, and a few feet behind the dog was a man. He had his right hand shoved in under his coat and seemed to be pursuing the dog for the purpose of killing it. The lady thought the dog was mad. It was a mean-looking animal,, and, from the way she looked at things generally, the man was not at all good looking. She did not > know what to do. Finally she con cluded that she would rush into one of the houses. She picked out the largest place. She rushed upon the gallery and jerked the bell sharply, A lady came to the door. 'You wil! excuse me,' she said; 'but here comes a mad dog.' 'Where?' asked the lady of the house. 'Why, right there,' she answered, pointing to the dog which was being pursued by the man. 'And he is such a horrible-looking crea ture,' she continued, 'and the mania after him with a pistol—such a hor rible, desperate looking man! He has a pistol under liis coat,' and she was gasping for breath all the while. The lady of the house looked at liei curiously after she had seen the dog and the man. 'That dog is not mad,' she said with a toss of her head. 'That dog is simply sick. The man has no pistol. That's a bottle of milk he has under his coat, and he's my husband, and that's our dog, and he's one of the greatest and best dogs in New Orleans and—' "But the frightened lady broke into the conversation and there were a few disdainful exchanges, but couched politely enough, and the lit tle woman who had sought refuge in the house bowed out into the street and started toward her home." GOOD HOUSEKEEPERS. After All In Sai«l mill Done, They Afl the Only Girl» \\ ho Can Make u Happy Home. To fit herself for married life, every girl should learn to fulfill the duties of a good housekeeper. No matter how old she may be, if she is not capable of managing a house in every depart ment of it, she is not old enough to marry. When she promises to take the position of wife aud home-maker, the man who holds her promise has every right to suppose that she is com petent to fulfill it. If she proves to be incompetent or unwilling, he has good reason to consider that he has made an unwise contract. No matter how plain the home may be, if it is in accordance with the hus band's means, and he finds it neatly kept, and the meals (no matter how simple) served from shiningdisliesand clean table linen, that husband will leave his home, morning after morn< ing, with loving words and thoughts, and Look ahead with eagerness to the time when he can return. Let a young woman play the pian' and acquire every accomplishing within her power—the more the bett< —for every one will be that much mo power to be used in making a hat home. At the.same time if shecai goto the kitchen if necessary cheerfully prepare an appetizing r. and serve it neatly after it is prep: she had better defer her marriaf til she learns. If girls would thoroughly fit selves for the position of intel housekeepers before they marry, would be fewer discontented, ttnha wives, and more happy homes. —N. Weekly. Nice Way to Cook Ilaeon. The nicest way to cook bacon i» tc slice thin, remove the rind and lay the pieces close together on a fine wire broiler. Lay this over a dripping pan and bake for a few minutes in a hot oven until crisp and brown, turning it once. Drain on brown paper and serve on a hot platter. The dripping will be clear, rich fat, excellent foi frying purposes, and the bacon crim and easily digested.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers