6 LITTLE SLED IN THE ATTIC. Winter again; and I turn once more To my childhood's home for a holiday, And lift the latch of the attic door And climb Its rickety, worn stairway. Ancient umbrellas, rent and torn, Lanterns, saddles, and horseshoes old. Trenchers and cradles, and samplers worn, Trinkets of silver, and bits of gold; Garments so quaintly out of style, Hooks and parchments, yellow and dim, Tools that r.o workman's art beguile. And dishes no house-mother conjures In; Through all the rubbish I find my way To my dear little brother's cherished sled; It hat made us happy for many a day, And its sight wakes memories long since dead. Handsome carriages, built for ease. Hallway palace-cars, rich and grand, Steamships plowing the mighty seas, Jeweled treasures from every land— All from my vision pass away! llarest melodies cease to flow! And the iweetest chimes that I hear to-day- Are fie bells of a little sled over the snow. TCrver a song of the vanished years, FV'l of the rhythmic notes of Joy, Can thrill my spirit or free my tears Like the musical laugh of a happy boy. Do you not hear It—so silvery and clear? Have you heard any other ring out like his? lie u laughing aloud In glory now. Through a thorny pathway he trod to bliss. Call me weakly, ye women white, Laugh as ye will, stout-hearted men! I'd give for one hour of the old delight, All I have sought or known since then. O, the years! O, my brother! I miss him sore, Who rides over pavements the angels tread, In (he City where nobody sorrows more, And they laugh and shine who were sad and dead. And I vow once more to be pure as snow. To lighten the burdens that others feel. To smile when the selfish tears would flow. And when proud and bitter to humbly kneel. "With my face to the morning T'll travel on; With my brow to the stars, If 1 fall I'll lie; 1 w ill goto him who will not return. In the Land of the Holy, some by and by. And through the grace of the One Divine, Who bade us live as a little child, I will keep my trust, I will bide my time. Till I laugh with my brother—the unse ttled •-Rev. Frances E. Townsley, In Union Sig nal. My Strangest Case BY GUY BOOTHBY. Author of "Dr. Kikola," "The Beautiful White Devii," "Pharos, The Egyptian," Etc. [Copyrighted, 1901, by Ward, i.oek & Co.J CHAPTER IX.—CONTINUED. "In point of fact," he said, "I may •say that I have traveled from Dan to Beersheba, and, until I struck this present vein of good fortune, had found all barren. Some day, if I can summon up sufficient courage, I shall fit out an expedition and re turn to the place whence the stones came, and get some more, but not just at present. Events have been «. little too exciting there of late to let us consider it a healthy country, By the way, have you heard from •our friend, Kitwater, yet?" "I have," I answered, "and his re ply is by no means satisfactory." "1 understand you to mean that he will not entertain my offer?" I nodded my head. "He must have 'all or nothing,' he declares. That is the wording of the telegram I received." "Well, he knetws his own affairs best. The difference is a large one and will materially affect his in come. Will you take creme de minthe kummel or cognac?" "Cognac, thank you," I replied, anc that was the end of the matter. During the remainder of the even ing not another word was said upon the subject. We chatted upon a vari ety of topics, but neither the mat ter of the precious stones nor even Kitwater's name was once men- tioned. I could not help fancying 1 , however, that the man was consider ably disappointed at the non-ac ceptance of his preposterous offer, lie had made a move on the board, and had lost it. I knew him well enough, however, by this time to feel sure that he had by no means de spaired yet of winning the game. Men of Gideon Hayle's stamji are hard to beat. "Now," he said, when we had smoked our cigarettes, and after he had consulted his watch, "the night is still young. What do you say if we pay a visit to a theater—the Hippodrome, for instance. We might while away an hour there very pleas antly, if you feel so disposed." I willingly consented, and we ac cordingly left the restaurant. Once we were in the street Hayle called a cab, gave the man his instructions, and we entered it. Chatting pleas antly, and still smoking, we passed along the brilliantly illuminated boulevards. I bestowed little, if any, attention on the direction in which ••we were proceeding. Indeed, it would have been difficult to h&ve done so, for never during the evening had Ilayle been so agreeable. A more charming companion no man could have desired. It was only on chanc ing to look out the window that I discovered we were no longer in the thoroughfares, but were entering another and dingier jiart of the town. "What is the matter with the driver?" I asked. "Doesn't he know what he is about? This is not the *ay to the Hippodrome! lie must have misunderstood what you said to him. Shall 1 hail him and point out his mistake?" "No, 1 don't think it is necessary for you (o do that," he replied. •"Doubtless he will be on the right iriuok iu a Jew iuiuiUeti. He i>rob ably thinks if he gives us a longer ride he will be able to charge a pro portionately larger fee at the end. The Parisian cabby is very like his London brother." lie then proceeded to describe to me an exceedingly funny adventure that had befallen him once in Chi cago. The recital lasted some min utes, and all the time we were still pursuing our way in a direction ex actly opposite to that which 1 knew we should be following. At last 1 could stand it no longer. "The man's obviously an idiot," I said, "and I am going to tell him so." "1 shouldn't do that, Mr. Fairfax," said Ilayle, in a different voice to that which he had previously addressed me. "1 bad my own reasons for not telling you before, but the matter has already been arranged. The man is only carrying out my instructions." "What do you mean by already ar ranged?" 1 asked, not without some alarm. "I mean that you are my prisoner, Mr. Fairfax," ho said. "You see, you are rather a difficult person to deal with, if 1 may pay you such a com pliment, and one has to adopt heroic measures in order to cope with you." "Then you have been humbugging me nil this time," 1 cried; "but you've let the cat out of the bag a little too soon. I think I'll bid you good-by." I was about to rise from my seat and open the door, but he stopped me. In his hand he held a revolver, tlie muz zle of which was in unpleasant proxim ity to my head. "I must ask you to be good enough to sit down," he said. "You had bet ter do so, for you cannot help your self. If you attempt to make a fuss I pledge you my word 1 shall shoot you, let the consequences to myself be what they may. You know me, and you can see that I am desperate. My offer to those men was only a bluff, I wanted to quiet 3113- suspicions you might have in order that I might get you into my hands. As you can set for yourself, I could not have suc ceeded better than I have done. I give you my word that you shall not be hurt, provided that you do not attempt to escape or earll for help. If you do then you know exactly what to ex pect, and you will have only yoursell to blame, lie a sensible man, and give into the inevitable." He held too many cards for me. 1 could see at a glance that I was out maneuvered, and that there was noth ing to be gained by a struggle. Ten minutes later the cab came to a standstill,there was the sound of open inggates.and a moment later we drove iuto a stone-paved courtyard. CHAPTER X. If you could have traveled the world at that moment, from north to south, and from east to west, I believe you would have found it difficult to dis cover a man who felt as foolish as I did when I entered the gloomy dwell ing-place as Hayle's prisoner. To say that I was mortified by the advantage he had obtained over me would not ex press my feelings in the least. Tc think that I, George Fairfax, who had Uie reputation of being so diflioult a man to trick, should have allowed my self to fall into so palpable a trap seemed sufficiently incredible as to be almost a matter for laughter rathei than rage. There was worse, how ever, behind. Miss Kitwater had beer so trustful of my capability for bring ing the matter to a successful conclu sion, that I dared not imagine what she would think of me now. Which ever way I looked at it, it was ob vious that Hayle must score. On the one side, he kept me locked up while he not only made his escape fron Paris, but by so doing cut off everj chance of my pursuing him after wards; on the otlwr, he might console himself with the almost certair knowledge that 1 should be elisereditee by those who had put their trust ii me. How could it very well be other wise? I had committed the crimina folly of accepting hospitality from the enemy, and from that moment I shouli not be seen. The natural suppositior would be that I had been bought, ane that I was not only taking no furtliei interest in the case, but that I was keeping out of the way of those wh< did. To add to my misery, I could eas ily imagine the laugh that would g< up on tke other side of the channe when the trick that had been playee upon me became known. But having so much else to think of, that fact you may be sure, elid not trouble me very much. There were two things j however, about which I was particu larly anxious; one was to set mysel right with Miss Kitwater, and tin other was to get even, at any cost with Hayle. The first seemed the mos difficult. ]t must not 1)o supposed that when I had alighted from the carriage 1 had given tip all hope of escape. On the contrary, had it not been for the pres ence of three burly fellows, who imme diately took up their places beside me, I fancy I should have made a dash for liberty. Under the circumstances, however, to have attempted such a thing would have been the height of folly. Five to one, that is to say, if I include the coachman in the num ber, with the gates closed behind me, were too long odds, and however hard I might have fought, I could not pos sibly have been successful. "Perhaps you will b; kind enough to step into the house," said Ilayle. "The air is cold out here, and 1 am afraid lest you might take a chill." Before complying with his order I looked around me once more, to see if there was any chance of escape, liut so far as I couid see there was not one. I accordingly followed one of my captors into Ihe building, the re mainder bringing up the rear. From what 1 could see of the house with the help of the light from a soli tary candle hanging in a sconce upon the wall, it had once been a hiindsome building. Now, however, it had fallen sadly td decay. The ceiling of the hall iiud at one time bticn rislily i-uiutud, CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JULY 24, 1902. but now only blurred traces of the de sign remained. Crossing the hall, my guide opened a door at the further end. In obedience to a request from Ilayle, I entered this room, to find myself standing in a fine apartment, so far as size went, but sadly lacking in com fort where its furniture was con cerned. There was a bed, a table, three rough chairs, and an entirely in adequate square of carpet upon tl.e floor. I have already said that it was a large room, and when 1 add that it was lighted only by two candles, which stood upon the table in the center, some idea will be formed of its general dreariness. "Now, look here, Mr. Ilayle," I said, "the time has come for us to have a serious talk together. You know as well as 1 do that in kidnaping me you are laying yourself open t <> very serious consequences. If you think that by so doing you are going to prevent me from eventually running you to earth, you are very much mistaken. You have obtained a temporary advantage over me, 1 will admit; but that ad vantage will not last. Do not flatter yourself that it will." "I am not so sure upon that point," said Ilayle, lighting a cigarette as he spoke. "If I did not think so I should not have gone to all this trouble and expense. But why make such a fuss about it? You must surely under stand. Mr. Fairfax, that your profes sion necessarily entails risks. This is one of them. You have been paid to become my enemy. 1 had no personal quarrel with you. You can scarcely blame me, therefore, if I retaliate when I have an opportunity. I don't know what you may think of it, but the mere fact of your dining with me to-night is very likely togo hard with you, so far as your clients are con cerned. Would it be a good adver tisement for the famous George Fair fax to have it known that, while he was taking his clients' money, he was dining pleasantly in Paris with the man they were paying him to find? I laid niy trap for you, but I must confess that I had not very much faith in its success. Your experience should have made you more wary. A stu dent of human character, such as you are, should have known that the leopard cannot change his spots, or the tiger his—" "If you continue in this strain mueli longer," I said, "I'll endeavor to stop your tongue, whatever it may cost me. Now, either let me out, or get out of the room yourself. I want to see I no more of you while I am in this house." lie blew a cloud of smoke, and then answered nonchalantly: "You had better occupy yourself thanking your stars that you are let off so easily. At one time 1 was tempt ed to have you put out of the way al together. I am ifot quite certain it wouldn't be safer, even now. It could be done so easily, and no one would be any the wiser. 1 know two men now in Paris who would gladly run the risk for the sake of the ill-will they bear you. I must think it over." "Then think it over on the other side of that door," I said, angrily. "Play the same traitorous trick on me as you did on Kitwater and Codd if you like, but you shall not stay in the same room with me now." My reference to Kitwater and Codd must have touched him on a raw spot, for he winced, and then tried to bluff it off. "I rather fancy Messrs. Kitwater and Codd will have just such kindly things to say concerning you in the future as they do about me now," he said, as he moved toward the door. "And now I wish you good-by. As I leave Paris almost immediately, I don't suppose I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again. For your own sake 1 should ad I WAS ABOUT TO ARISE FROM MY SEAT AND OPJ%N THE DOOR, BUT 11E STOPPED MB. vise you to be quiet. I might tell you once for all that you can't get out. The door is a stout one, and the win dows are exceptionally well barred. The men to whom I have assigned the duty of looking* after you are in their way honest, though a little rough. Moreover, they are aware that their own safety depends to a very great extent upon your not getting out. 15e lieve me, if you do not know already, there is nothing like fear for making a good watch-dog. Farewell, friend Fairfax! You have been instrumental in sending a good many men into dur ance vile; you can tell me later how you like being there yourself." With that lie went out, shutting the door behind him. I heard the key turn in the lock, and a bolt shot at top and bottom. 1 thereupon went to the window and examined it, only to discover that it was made secure on the outside by large iron bars. So far as I could see, there was no other way of escape from the room. Though 1 laid down on the bed T did not sleep; my thoughts would not permit of that. The face of the wom an who had trusted inc so lu'ofouudij was before me continually, gnzing at me with sweet, reproachful eyes. Oh! what a fool 1 had been to accept that rascal's invitation! The more I thought of it, the angrier I became witlimyself. Now.goodnes- "->ly knew how long I should be confined in this wretched place, and what would hap pen during my absence from the world! At last the dawn broke, and with it a weird, sickly light penetrated the room. I sprang from my bed and ap proached t lie window, only to find that it overlooked a small courtyard, the latter being stone-flagged, and sur rounded by high walls. I could see that, even if 1 were able to squeeze my way out between the bars, 1 should be powerless to scale the walls. At a rough guess these were at least 12 feet high, and wifhout a foot hold of any sort or description. This being so, I was completely at the mercy of the men in the house. In deed, a rat caught in a trap was never more firmly laid by the heels than I. At about half-past seven o'clock a small trap-door, which I had not no ticed near the ground and the main door, was opened, and a griiny hand made its way in and placed upon the floor a cup of coffee and a roll. Then it was closed once more and made se cure. I drank the coffee and munched the roll, and, if the truth must be confessed, poor as they were, felt the better for both. At midday a bowl of miserable soup was handed in; darkness, however, had fallen some considerable time be fore I could detect any sound in the hall outside that might be taken to mean the coining of my evening meal. At last there was a clatter of feet, the bolts shot back, the key turned in the lock, and the door opened. A man carrying a lantern entered, followed by two others, and as the light fell upon his face 1 uttered a cry of aston ishment, for he was none other than my old friend Leglosse, while btnind him was the infallible Lepallard. "Well, thank goodness we have found you at last," cried Leglosse. "We have had such a hunt for you as man never dreamed of.l called at your apartments late last night, hop ing to see you, 011 important business, but you had not returned from a din ner to which you had been invited. I called again this morning, and was in formed by the concierge that they had, up to that moment, seen nothing of you. When the good Lepallard in formed me that you had left the res taurant in a cab with M. Hayle, and that I the latter had returned to his apartments this morning in a great hurry, only to leave them a short time after with his luggage for the rail way station, 1 began to grow uneasy. You have no idea what a day I have had looking for you, but it has been well spent, since we have the pleasure of seeing you again." [To Be Continued.] HAVOC OF THE REMINISCENT. An Invitation That Carried with It • Serious Reflection I'pun a I'atuily Trait. It is only tactful people who should be allowed to give personal reminis cences, but unfortunately they are not the only ones, who do give them, says London Tit-Bits. "How well 1 remember your father when I was a little girl!" lately said an elderly woman to a Newcastle clergy man. "He used to come to our house to dinner. We were always delighted to see him, children-and all." "That is very pleasant to hear," said the clergyman, with a smile; but the narrator remained gravely uncon scious of his interruption. "I remember what.a hearty appetite he had," she continued, blandly. "It was a real pleasure to see him eat. Why, when mother would see him com ing along the road she's send me run ning out to the cook and Bay: "Tell Mary to put on just twice as much of everything as she had planned, for here is Mr. Brown coming to dine with us!' " The eminent son endeavored t« pre serve a proper expression of counte nance at this interesting reminiscence, but his composure was sorely tried when, with great cordiality, the lady said: "You are so much like your father! Won't you come home and dine with us after the service?" lie Uiil Hi* llext. The late Sir John Stainer, one of England's most celebrated musicians and composers, was once staying in a small Swiss village, and the English clergyman was on the lookout for a musician to assist at the service. Stainer was in the office of the hotel when the clergyman found him, an.d started the conversation with: "Do you play the harmonium?" "A little," was tly; reply of the ex organist of St. Paul's cathedral. "Will you, then, be good enough to help us out of our difficulty on Sunday? We will read the Psalms, and the hymns shall be the simplest lean select,"add ed the delighted parson. "I will do my best," said Stainer,with a smile. The service proceeded satisfactorily, but the congregation at the close lis tened to a brilliant recital. When the parson heard the name of his assist ant he asked him to dinner. "l)o you smoke?" he asked at the close. "I will do my best,"responded S*ain* er. and the ensuing laughter was the prologue of an entertaining exchange of Oxford reminiscences. Youth's Companion. A Sidewalk Prescriptlon. The busy doctor was hurrying down the street when he was stopped by a man noted for his ability to get "side walk" advice. "1 am thoroughly worn out, and sick and tired. What ought I to take?" asked the man. "Take a cab," replied the unfeeling doctor. —X Y. Time* PUZZLE PICTURE. • "W HO IS TH VT I'Etl LI All OI.I) (il V J" OF WHOM IS HE SPIISAKINCif ARITHMETIC GOES WRONG. }liirk< v il KiTciilriclty in tlu % Weights of \ H.riou* riu'kiiKCN of >le rt'lian dUe ItuiMlleri l»> Me re* lia.nl*. The merchant orders a virkin of but ter, or a firkin of soap, or a tirkin of raisins, as though firkin meant one and the same thing in weight. As a matter of fact, while a firkin of butter weighs 50 pounds, and a firkin of soap 04, a firkin of raisins weighs no les* than 112 pounds, though the tables tell you that a firkin is one measure of a certain weight, says the 15trston Cilobe. That is a marked eccentricity, but it pales into insignificance beside the weight which governs straw and hay. You cannot weigh straw as you would hay, or you would be cheating your customer. When the latter orders a load of straw lie wants 2,190 pounds, but a load of old hay means 2,010 pounds, and new hay 2,300 pounds. Cheese, glass, iron, hemp and flax ■ —all these products are sold by the "stone;' Mint if you were to weigh them, allowing 14 pounds for each stone, you would revolutionize the whole system of reckoning as recognized by the va rious trades whose species we have just referred to. A stone of any of the latter means a different-weight-entire ly. A stone of cheese, for instance, is 10 pounds, of glass 5 pounds, of beef 8 pounds, of iron 14 pounds, of hemp 32 pounds, of flax 10% pounds in Bel fast. and 24 pounds in Downpatrick. Wool growers and wool staplers sell their products at 14 pounds to the stone; but in dealing with one an other the weight is increased to 15 pounds. Licensed victuallers buy their wines, among other measures, by the pipe, and pipes in the wine trade are as varied, as firkins or stones in others. A pipe of port is 103 gallons. of mar sala 93 gallons, of Madeira 02. of bu eellas 117, of teneriffe 100, and so on, throughout a long list of wines, so that it is important for "mine host" to be well up in the various pipe meas ures, so as to get in the right quanti ties. Fven pork is weighed out by means quite different from the ordinary meth ods of reading a weight according to the rules of simple arithmetic. If you were in the pork business in lielfast, and you received an order for one hun dred -weight of pork, and you sent only 112 pounds which, according to weights and measures tables, is 1 cwt. • —you would get. an indignant letter from your customer for cheating him of eight pounds. You must send 120 pounds—that's a hundredweight of pork. If, on the other hand, you were in Cork, and sent your customer 120 pounds of pork for one hundredweight, In our day there is a strong temptation to self-indulgence. T think of the stern, hard days before there was a cooking stove, a heat- Cjv«, r»? ' n,c ' stove » a telegraph, a mile of 1 ne iDin OT railroad, a kerosene lamp, or a Self-Indulge nee cylinder press. Look at your sii- By preme court and Marshall was on Rev. Frederick E. Hopkins, the bench; at your treasury, and pastor Pilgrim congregational Hamilton established y our ci edit; Church, Chicago. at your senate, and John Ouincv 'Adams was there; at your colleges, and they graduated Jeffersons and Websters; at your pulpit, ami Lyman Beecher was there. Look at your homes; big families of which Franklin was one and Wendell Phillips another, and both the Shermans and Henry Ward Beecher, one of eight, and every one a genius. WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE AMERICAN HOME AND FAMILY? Why is it that so largely already the children of strangers possess your gates? They have large families. They are doing the hard work. The biggest farms out on these prairies are owned by them. The man who draws the largest salary in this country is named Schwab. Not distinctively American in sound, is it? We speak of these things not from any prejudice to the foreign born or their children. Not because we believe the former days were better than our times. But the doctrine of our Saviour is the soul that saith to itself: "Thou hast much goods laid up for many days, take thine case" is in danger of dca»\. INSTEAD OF SITTING DOWN IN OUR FURNACE ;T E A T E D, G A S-L I G 11 T F. I), TELEPHONE-CONNECTED HOMES AND BEING THEREWITH CONTENT, IT 1< FOR US T< > SHE TO IT THAT SPIRITUAL STRENGTH KEEPS PACE WITII MATERIAL PROGRESS. your friend would call you daft foi sending him eight pounds more than you need have sent. The weight of a "barrel" of anything has more meanings than the Chinese chow. If you ordered a barrel of gun powder. and expected to get the same weight as a barrel of beef.iyou would be sorely disappointed, for between the two species there is just a differ ence of 100 pounds—a barrel of gun pounds weighs 100 pounds, and one of beef 200 pounds. The variat ions of this weight are in» deed perplexing. Here are a few: A barrel of soft soap weighs 256 pounds, pork 224. flour 196 to 220, raisins 112, coffee from 112 to 16S, anchovies only 30, and American flour 196 pounds. Fish —like fish skin—has a group of sliding scales, which, to the ordinary layman, sems hopelessly confused. A last of codfish is 12 barrels, but a last of herring is 20. If you ordered a bar rel of trawled cod your merchant would tap his forehead with his finger and say: "Poor fellow!" Vou can order a barrel of pickled cod, but not trawled. Order a bag of cocoa and' you pet a hundredweight; but a bag of coffee is 168 pounds, pepper 316 rice 168, sagi> 112, hops 280 and sugar from 112 to 168. Bushels are just as varied. There are 10 kinds of bushels, but you cannot measure one of them by a given unit. Whilst a bushel of barley is 47 pounds, a bushel of wheat is 60 and of oats 40, and so the irregularity goes on. Walnnt €*at*np. This is a nice addition to your rel ishes. Gather the nuts while tender enough to pierce with a large needle, chop them up and pound in a mor tar; then putin a porcelain-lined ket tle, cover with water and cook slow ly for two or three hours. Strain and return to kettle and add a tea spoonful each of ground cloves and mace and boil down to one-third the quantity. Fill bottles with equal parts of the walnut mixture and strong vinegar and seal at once. Add a clove of garlic with the spices and you have a delicious sauce for meats. —Washington Star. Oratory A'er»u« Sll-n i>nrn i>li y. "Will you please explain this pas sage?" asked the stenographer of the great orator. "It does nut seem to mean anything, but 1 am sure 1 gut your words right." "That means, young man," said the great orator, "that you do not know oratory when you hear it."—lndian apolis News. Kit con riiKiiiK. "My heart," he said, "is in this work." "Good," she replied. "Xovv if some body would put some brains in it we might look for results."—Chicago Kec ord-Herald.