6 4§|ggg THE SCHOOL OF LIFE. The shadows long and darksome Around a schoolhousc 'ay. The sun was slowly setting At close of weary day. A little child sat sadly At work, while blinding tears Fell on her task neglected. For eloso to eyes and ears A bobolink was singing Outside the schoolroom door, While dancing sunbeams quivered Across the dusty lloor. She saw the blossoms nodding. Heard streamlets singing low To the mountains, grand and lofty, As at their feet they How. Outside, all things are calling. Iter home and loved ones wait, But still the task unfinished Keeps the little maiden late. At last, her work accomplished, The child, with dancing feet. Goes forth In Joy unbounded To home and comfort sweet. Alone among the shadows My spirit sits today; For all my life's dear comrades Have long since gone away. Perchance some task Is waiting, Our Teacher planned for me, And I must toil so lonely Till He shall set me free. But when It is all ended. May I with pure delight Go home to greet my loved ones. Ere falls the dreary night. —Dora Annie Chase, in Boston Budget. Scoundrels 4Co. ByCOULSON KERNAHAN Author ol "Captain Shannon," "A Book ol Stranf.e Sins," "A Dead Man'i Diary," Etc. Copyright, 1899, by Herbert S. Stone & Co, CHAPTER XIV. —CONTINUED. Of the existence of this room 110 one but Hall and his man Hubbock had any suspicion, the entrance to it being very cunningly contrived. In most houses, of the sort, where the space under the roof has been utilized as a loft for the storage of lumber —or pos sibly fort lie placing of a cistern—ac cess to this loft is generally betokened by a small trap-door in the ceiling, either of the landing or of an upper apartment. In Hall's house there was no such trap-door, and the unbroken stretch of whitewashed, but evidently ancient, plaster on the ceilings of the upper rooms and the landing, was the best possible answer to an inquiry whether the house had an additional chamber, or even a lath and plaster floored loft under the roof. But had any one opened the very ordinary-looking cupboard in Hall's bedroom, and pressed in a particular way one of the pegs upon which clothes were hanging, pushing one hand at the same time against the top of the cup board, that person would have been surprised to find that the cupboard top opened upwards on hinges, and that by letting down a rope ladder that had been tossed backward ready for use he could clamber easily into a chamber, the existence of which he would never otherwise have suspected. The rooms of Heath Cottage were all small, but by pulling down the central partition in the sjjace under the roof Hall had improvised one apartment that stretched the entire length and width of the house. Around the sides, where, owing to the slope of the roof, it was not possible to stand upright, low and luxurious lounges, resembling eastern divans, were arranged; and in the center of the room was a billiard table, upon which —in spite of the fact that it had been brought thither in parts, and put together by Hall and his man—one could play a surprisingly good and true game. The sides of the apartment were draped with lengths of gorgeously colored and superbly worked Indian fabric, which, following the line of the roof, were caught to gether, tentwise, overhead, whence hung several exquisitely wrought eastern lamps, that threw soft but sufficient light upon the table below. A more bizarre, but at the same time more cosy, apartment I have never seen in all my wanderings. Curious and out of place as the billiard table looked amid its oriental surroundings, it served to wile away agreeably many an hour which might otherwise have hung heavily on our hands; for to the "prophet's upper chamber," as our host styled the room, my colleagues and myself were confined during our stay with him. "W r ell, gentlemen," he said, when he came up to apprise us of the constable's visit, "will you be surprised to hear that that polite man the superintend ent of the Tarborough police has sent round specially to inquire about your health?" Number Six, who was in the act of playing a ball and had not noticed Number Two's entrance, missed the stroke badly and let the cue fall rat tling upon the floor as he turned round to face the new-comer. "God forgive us!" he gasped. "You don't mean to say we're found out?" "God may forgive you, but I won't, if you cut the cloth of my table," was the answer. "Found out? No, and never will be, if you'll only refrain from throwing cues about in that silly way. The constable merely called to know whether I had seen any suspi cious characters about. You are safe enough here. It would take a cleverer man than any one they've got in the Tarborough force to find out this room." "You seem to have a poor opinion of the local constabulary," 1 said. "Poor opinion! Wliy, man alive, I've got no opinion of them. Nor would you if you'd seen the way they mud dled the burglary at my friend Paul's not long ago." "Tell us about it," I said. "A yarn will be a change after so much bil liards." "Oh, there isn't much to tell," re plied our host; "but if you'd like to hear it I'll tell you, if only to give you an idea of the way the Tarborough Sherlock Holmes goes to work. "Paid is a scientific friend of mine, a bachelor and good fellow, but the most nervous of men. There's a big orchid-growing establishment here, and as Paul is writing a book about orchids, he has taken rooms in the town for a month of two, while he's pursuing his studies. As I said, he's the most nervous man I ever knew, and one of his special nightmares is burglars—why I can't think, for he has nothing that's worth any one's while to burgle. All the same, whenever he's changing his lodgings (and he's frequently changing them) he make 3 it a condition that he himself shall be allowed to lock up the house every night, to assure himself that all's right, having a castiron conviction that every maid-servant is either a fool, to whom the would-be burglar makes love for his own nefarious pur pose, or else that she is nothing more than a thief herself and the accom plice of thieves. "Anyhow, before taking rooms here Paul made the usual •stipulation about being allowed to lock up, and, al though the people of the boarding house thought it queer, they raised no objection, especially as Paul pays promptly and never disputes a bill. Such a thing as a burglary is almost unknown in Tarborough, but one night there was a burglary at the boarding house, and whether it was what the German poet Heine called the satire of the Almighty, or whether the thief was a humorous cuss (as some of our profession occasionally are), and hav ing heard about Paul's little fad, thought he'd have a joke as well as a burgle, you must decide for yourselves. All I can tell you is that every single article that the thief of thieves took away belonged to poor Paul —his new great-coat, his boots, his umbrella, his clean linen just home from the laun dry, his slippers and his stick, yea, everything that was his. Of course, he got no sympathy. The landlord, though very upset about such an un heard of thing happening at his house, could scarcely refrain from smiling; the servants giggled whenever they passed Paul 011 the landing, and the other lodgers chaffed him unmerci ful!*/. The only person who looked solemn was our friend the constable, who came down at once when Paul sent worai to the station. Paul is always afraid of the powers that be. Official ism overawes him, and when the pompous policeman fixed a sternly of ficial eye upon the poor little chap and put two or three searching questions, my friend got so confused and self conscious that he afterwards confided to me he more than fancied that the officer suspected him of being the thief himself. However, he did his best to conciXate the representative of the law by inviting him very respectfully into the sitting-room, where he pulled forward his snuggest cha«r, brought out his best 'Scotch,' and 'placing a syphon of soda and a box of fragrant Havanas upon the table, invited Mr. Policeman to 'help himself.' This the legal sleuthhound condescended to do —pretty liberally, too—and while Paul in his apologetic way particularized his losses, the Tarborough luminary sat with knitted brows and pursed lips, looking as learned as a judge. Find ing the cigars so good and the whisky so much to his liking, he expressed a wish —when he had heard Paul out— that the officer next above him should be consulted. The maid was duly dis patched to request the presence of the official in question, to whom on his ar rival his colleague passed the cigars and whisky, with the request that Paul would 'run over the details again.' "The newcomer, after some consid eration, was convinced that nothing could be done without Sergt. Davis. Once more the housemaid was put into requisition, once more Paul told his story, once more the cheering cup went round, and once more the sooth ing weed was kindled. The sergeant made a very serious business both of the whisky and of the robbery. He shook liis head solemnly at the de canter as each detail was related, and declared, after hearing Paul to the end, that the matter was too serious for him to deal with, and that the su perintendent must at once be sent for. "Well, to make a long story short, poor Paul had the entire staff of the station at his place, where they stayed knocking their heads together and pun ishing his whisky and his weeds until the decanter was empty and the fire place was strewn with cigar stumps. "Then the superintendent took Paul aside with the air of a cabinet minister communicating a state secret and told him not to be uneasy, for, though he wasn't, for official reasons, at liberty togo into particulars just then, he might tell Paul in confidence that they'd got their eye upon some one; but as they did not get any other por tion of their anatomy upon the thief for detaining purposes, poor Paul never saw his property again. "And all the time the thief, as might liave been supposed, was living in the same house. He turned out afterwards to be a humorous rascal of an Irish man—an impecunious devil who rented a room on the third floor, and had come to Tarborough to give singing lessons. The police did search his room, it is true, but, of course, they found noth ing, for after securing the stolen goods the fellow had opened a ground-floor window, to give the place the appear ance of having been burgled, and had then carried his booty to his bedroom, where he made it into a parcel, which he dropped out of the window into the garden below, whence it was carried CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1904. away by an accomplice. Of course, the 1 police found footmarks on the flower bed next morning, and this confirmed the burglar theory. Hence no further suspicion attached to the other lodgers, I a circumstance of which the Irishman took advantage by wearing openly the only stolen article he had retained— a pair of brown boots, which he blacked over. When he disappeared soon after, he left them —worn to the up pers—behind him, with a short note to Paul complaining of the quality of the leather. He sent his love to the police, and advised Paul if ever he found himself getting shabby about the feet to borrow somebody's brown boots and 'Try Day & Martin's black ing'! "That's the story, gentlemen. It wasn't worth the telling, except for the welcome assurance it gives you that we have nothing to fear from the Tarborotigh police. And now, with jour permission, we'll come to bus iness." CHAPTER XV. NUMBER TWO'S LITTLE PLAN FOR PUTTING A THOUSAND POUNDS APIECE IN EACH OF OUR POCKETS. "You have seen my man Hubbock. Well, I am venturing to propose that he be elected to fill one of the three vacancies on the council. It seems to me, when an outsider gets to know as much as, under the imperative cir cumstances, we could not prevent Hub bock from knowing about our busi ness—that one of two things must | ALL MADE UP ALIKE. happen. That person must either be more committed—must, in fact, be not only an accessory to what we have done or propose doing, but must be our actual accomplice—or else we must protect ourselves from the possibility of that person doing us mischief or of turning informer by taking the one and only effectual way of shutting his mouth. Hubbock has been with me for four years, and I can go bail for his trustworthiness. I've sounded him and find him ready and eager to be elected. He will be a distinct acquisi tion to the council, for an abler fellow or a man of more resource I don't know. Are you or are you not willing that he should join us? I don't want to force my candidate upon you against your own judgment or your will, so if any of you have anything to say on the matter I hope you will not hes itate to speak out." "All I've got to say," said Number Six, "is that I'm glad to hear that the chap's ready to become one of us. I don't fancy having people knowing as much about me as he does, unless they are all in the same boat. What do you say, mates?" My colleague and myself assenting to this view, Hubbock was summoned and informed of the decision of the council. He was a short, squat man, the grossness of whose appearance did not prepare one for his apish imitation of fine speech and line manners. His lumpy, bridgeless nose, deep-set, pry ing pig's eyes, coarse-grained and pimply complexion, and huge mouth, that when he grinned stretched al most from lobe to lobe of his flapping elephant-ears, seemed ludicrously out of keeping with his mincing way of speaking. Being always self-conscious in regard to his superiority, and anx ious to impress everyone with his aloofness from the common and "h"- less herd, he accentuated the aspirate, and the "t" in such words as "often," as aggressively as if they were testi monials to his own education and breeding. The effect of this was height ened by his habit of introducing into his conversation —no matter how irrele vantly—any grandiloquent phrase or high-sounding word which he had picked up, and probably only imper fectly understood. "I am happy, gentlemen, to be thus honored," he said, with a series of stately bows. "It has from time im memorial been my heart's wish to be a member of some such honorable so ciety. But I have for long entertained grave apprehensions ("grave apprehen sions," I may remark, was a phrase which had appeared—apropos of the health of some distinguished invalid in the papers that morning), yes, I have, I repeat, for a long time enter tained grave apprehensions that I should never iind myself thus favored, and I thank you from all my heart." "Spoken like an orator of one of the good old 'immoral' times," said Hall, slapping Hubbock on the back. "Now, if you'll sit down, I've got one or two matters of business that I'd like to put before the council of which you are now a member." There was a nasty gleam in Hub bock's little eyes, which told me that the fact of his being ridiculed was neither lost upon nor relished by him, but with a smile which displayed an expanse of false teeth, reminding me of the keyboard of a piano, he bowed affectedly and relapsed into a seat "Gentlemen," our host went on. "I think that the time has come when it is no longer desirable nor feasible for us to attempt to ""snceal our identity from each other. It is possible—per haps probable, if I speak my mind— that the woman who betrayed us ha 3 informed the police that we are all dressed and disguised alike. But even were it not so. now that we are all thrown together in this way, it seems to me childish to keep any further semblance of secrecy. Personally I am not, and never was, very keen on dis guise. That sort of thing may, and often does pass muster in the street, or in the presence of people who have no cause for looking at the disguised person too closely, or for suspecting him to be other than he seems. But— practical as false hair and false beard may be for ordinary purposes, or for deceiving strangers—l am bound to ad mit that 1 never yet met the criminal whose abilities for 'making up' were so wonderful that he could enter un suspected into conversation with any one who had reason to be suspicious. I have read of such criminals in books, where you have to take the author's word for it that the thing happened as you are told it happened, and I have seen them in melodramatic plays, where the porson who is supposed to be impenetrably disguised is placed far enough away from the audience to maintain tlie delusion. But, as far as my experience goes, a practiced crim inal or clever detective is too knowing in the matter of disguise to be de ceived by false hair and false beard. You can see the join too plainly. When the man who has been in the habit of wearing hair on his face shaves it off, or the man who has worn none lets it grow, the disguise is often ex tremely effective. And when he adds to the change in his appearance by a change in dress,or by skillfully darken ing his skin (although, unless he dark ens the whole of his body there is al ways a risk of being found out), the disguise is greatly assisted. But for us, at any rate, to keep up among our selves the pretense of a disguise would, it seems to ine, be idle, especially as there is the possibility, and even prob ability, as I have already said, that the woman who betrayed us has informed the police of the fact that we are all made up alike. I think we shall only be courting discovery by continuing the practice." "I say ditto to that," said Number Six. "Them as is of the same opinion will oblige by hoisting a paw. "Carried unanimous," he remarked, tv.rning to Number Two. "There's unity for you. The liberal party ain't in it with us, for pulling together ami cably. Now I've got a word of my own to say, and it's this. It's more than time this syndicate had a leader. We're not like the liberal party in that. They can do without one seemingly, but we can't, and the sooner we've got a head the better. Well, that head don't want much looking for. It's right between your shoulders—Number Two. Hands up, those who vote for Number Two. [To Be Continued.] Prepared for tlie Worst. Mr. Brown's enemies say that there is nothing else in the world he enjoys so much as finding fault and putting ether people in the wrong. When en gaged in this pleasing occupation he loses all hold on a sense of humor which is none too keen at other times. Not long ago he and his wife were taking a trip through the White moun tains, and at one place they were lo be called at 5:30 in the morning to take an early train. Mr. Brown wakened first, and after a glance at his watch fell back on his pillow with a groan that frightened his wife out of her slumbers. "Here it is on the tick of 5:30," grumbled Mr. Brown, in response to his wife's troubled questions, "and if they don't call us within five minutes we sha'nt have time enough to get dressed and eat breakfast! But it's no more than I expected."—Youth's Companion. "At Home** Same Hay. Two of the most eminent lawyers at the Philadelphia bar were the late Benjamin Harris Brewster and his half brother, Frederick Carroll Brewster. Both had held the office of attorney general for the state, and the first had been attorney general of the United States. They had not been on friend ly terms for many years. It is said that on one occasion a mutual friend tried to bring them together, and finally Frederick C. consented to bury the hatchet and sent Benjamin H. a card containing his name, with the words written underneath, "At home on Monday evening, May 1." By the same messenger Benjamin H. sent a card in return, which read: "Benja min H. Brewster also at home Monday evening, May 1." This ended negotia tions.—Kansas City Journal. IteotirjiiiK the Record. The following incident is related as having occurred in South Africa: One of the soldiers who had been reported killed in a certain battle and against whose name in the regimental books a note to that effect had been made afterward turned up and reported him self. Then the sergeant made another note in the book: "Died by mistake." The man was placed in the hospital and a few week? later succumbed to the injuries he had received. This fact was communicated to the sergeant through the colonel of the regiment and then a third note was made: "Re died by order of the colonel."—Chicago I Chronicle. Wanted .lurinment Simpended. An East Indian, who had been fined in court, wrote to the judge about it. "Your honor," wrote the appellant, "may be right, I may be wrong; I may be right, your honor may be wrong. Let your' honor give me back the fine and then, at day of resurrection, when all hearts will be opened, if I am wrong, I will most gladly, sir, re turn your honor the money." AND HE GOT IT. Ont It Proved to He Something He Did'nt Cure to Hold Very Lung, An indulgent mother of the Tuxedo col ony was traveling on a local train one day j in company with her three-year-old son, I h)B nursemaid, and a copy of a society | magazine which absorbed her attention," | relates the New York Times. Jhe sou j was occupying the seat behind her with his attendant, wlio attempted every onco in awhile to curb his restless and rebel j lious spirit by a gentle denial of his lat j est whim, but each time the mother, 110- ! ticing only that some argument was in progress, and without looking up from ! her book, would remark: "Let him have I it." The nursemaid thereupon would yield | to this double demand, j Finally a strong and rather venomous | looking wasp Hew against the window pane, and the youthful hunter reached out to grasp it, and wailed dejectedly wheu he was once more restrained by the watch l-il caretaker. .Again the fond mother, without raising her eyes, exclaimed: "Oh, do let him have it!" And the howl which followed the nurse's compliance caused an amused smile to pass around the car. The U. 9. Dept. of AKrlcnltnre ; gives to Salzer's Gate its heartiest en dorsement. Salzer's New National Oats j yielded in 1903 from 150 to 300 bu. per j acre in 30 different States, and you, Mr. ! Farmer, can beat this in 1904, if you will, i Salzer's seeds are pedigree seeds, bred up ! through careful selection to big vields. Per Acre. Salzer's Beardless Barley yielded 121 bu. ! 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