My Convict By JOHN Y. LARNED I was running my auto leisurely along a road in the country and slowed up even from tliat pace to tura a sharp bend In the road when suddenly a heavy weight dropped l'rom an over hanging brandi into my ear directly behind me. Turning, 1 saw a man in convict stripes rising to his feet. "Put on full speed," he said in a tone to indicate that he would be obeyed. I did not see tliat he possessed any weapon with which to enforce his de manda, but it was evident that he was an escaped jaiibird and as such was likely to be desperate. As soon as I had turned the bend I obejed his or der, my speed gauge registering forty miles aii hour. The man climbed over the back of the seat aud sat down be side ine. The road before me needed ali my attention, but I took time to glance aside at him. Now that he was fleeing at so rapid a gait his whole ex pression was changed. Despite his stripes, I saw in him a man of refine ment. Ile met my gaze with an hon est look and said: "My friend, if you knew that instead of deteating justice you are trying to undo a frightful act of in justice you would be better satisfled. I have been the victiin of a conspiracy to defraud a bank of which I was cashier aud was sent to the penitentiary for ten years. My noble wife sent me sur reptitiously saws, with which I effect ed my escape. My object is to get out of the country, send for her and our children and begin life anew." While he was making this brief state ment I kept one eye on the road and the other on him. I doubt if any man can lieto me and impress me that he la speaking the truth. 1 did not know that the man was sincere, but I felt his sincerity. Knowledge may be de fective; intuition, at least with me, is perfect. "There is nothlng," I replied, "that would give me greater satisfaction than to enable you to carry out your pnrpose. Where shall I take you?" "First you must throw my pursuers off my track. They are not far be hind." "Get back there and cover yourself up to the chln with the wraps." He did so, and his stripes were con cealed, but he was bareheaded. I gave him my cap. Seeing a man ahead of me wearing a common woolen hat. I stopped long enough to buy it, giv ing him three times its value. Then, entering upon a long stretch of com para tively straight and level road, I put on the baiance of my power, making flfty miles an hour. "Do you know anything of the pur suit?" I asked. "Only that my flight must have been discovered long ago." "We must have another suit of clothes," was my next remark. "We shall have to stop and buy one." My passenger gave me some idea of the sizes he had worn before his incar ceration, and at the first opportimity I bouglit him the necessary outfit. Ile spoke of paying me for them some day, but I tokl him what I would re quire would be his viudication or, at least, a surety that he was what he purported to be. Ile managed to change his clothes under the wraps and, crosslng a bridge, threw his stripes into water flowing rapidly. After this I decreased my speed some what, for I believed that with the start and advantage we possessed my man would not be retaken, at least for some time. Passing through a town where I had business acqu.+intnnces, I procured furids and supplied him with what he would require. Then, stopping at a railway station. 1 secured adirne table sliowing trains for New York and, by taking a longer route than the rails, put him on a train without his being obliged to wait at a station. Meauwhile he had giveu me the ad dress of his wife and asked me to cali upon her to receive coniirmatiou of his story. When iie parted from me his efforts to express his gratitude over came him, and he could say nothing. Ali he could do was to look it. As soon as he had left me I began to realize my position in having aided a convict to malte good his escape, and it was then that doubts began to trouble me. 1 did not go to see his wife for a considerale time after he and I part ed, fearing that she might be watched and my visit would put the authorities on to my infringement of the law. 1 saw in the newspapers notices of tlie escape from prison of a bank etnbez zler, aud after the stir had quieted down I made the cali. Some time after my cali I received a letter written caution from the convict mailed at an iuland city of South America. He was paving the way to send for his wife and children. which would be a difficult matter with out putting the authorities on his track. His pian was never carried out, for one of the couspirators who had ruined him was brought to trial for certaiu irregularities, and the facts of the oth er matter carne out. The convict's wife applied for a new trial for her husbaud, but by this time the whole matter was patent. Instead of a new trial it Was decided to apply for a par don. This, after much delay', was granted, and the pardoned man return ed to his home. I had the satisfaction of giving the reuuited family a ride in,the very auto that had made good the father's es cape. ONLY ONE PLACE FOR HIM li was almost 7 o'clock, says the Newark News, when Mr. Hillside reached home the other eveniDg, and bis wife was waiting for him witk a look of concern and inquiry on lier face. "Why so late?" she asked. "Kxtra work at the office," Hillside answered,shedding his overcoat "I couldn't break away until 6, and a troll}' block did the rest." "Supper's ali cold,' : said his wife. "I'm sorry, my dear, but I couldn't help it." "You could help it if you wouid," said Mrs. Hillside. "Youlettile office people impose on you too much. You're anea*y mark and you know it." "My dear, perhaps you don't under stand what I'm up against at the shop." "I do i-nderstnad, and Iknow very well tliat the whole trouble comes back to you and your easy ways. You don't figlit tliose people. Tliey load you down witli enougu work for two nien, and you simplybow your head anddoit. You're too humble for your own good. People run over you, and you meekly pick yourself up aud don't even look after them to get their num ber. I never saw a man with so little spunk and spirit. Do you ever com plain?? Do you ever assert yourself? Do you ever talk back?" ? "My dear," replied Mr. Hillside, with a wink to his small and sympath izing son, "there are some people who simply won't tolerate being talked back to." "If you mean anything personal by that," retorted Mrs. Hillside "I as- A Powerful Stimulant By OSCAR COX "Miss Brown, ef yo' don' mind I like to have yo' come take keer o' de chil len. Ma wife's 'powerful weak and can't do nothin' at ali. She's goin' to de hospittle dis arteruoon." Miss Brown, a colored girl twenty years of age, said she wouldn't mind obliging Mr. Jones. It occurred to her that if Mrs. Jones should die she might be Mrs. Jones herself. Jones was a well to do darky on the shady side oe forty and had three pickaninnies. Miss Brown supported herself by washing and ironing and thought that if she could permanently change her occupa tion to taking care of a family it would be an advantage. "When do yo' want me to come, Mr. Jones?" she inquired. "Ma wife's gwine to de hospittle about 4 o'clock. Reckon yo' mought come round about half past 4." "Ali right Mr. Jones; I'il be dar." Mrs. Jones was removed in the hos pital ambulance on time, and half an hour later Miss Brown, who was com mouly called Sue by her employers, settled herself down in her place. The children were playing in the Street, and Sue did not disturb them. She ™as taking an eye icventory of the premises and making a mental rear rangement of the furniture when Mrs. Jones would be removed from the hos pital to the cernetery. Mr. Jones, whose name, stripped of euphony, was simply DO YOU INTEND TO QIVE A DANCE? Let us print your dancing orders Drop in and see our samples THEY ARE MODELS OF NEATNESS AND BEAUTY Fast Presses Perfect Printing sure you that your sarcasm is entirely !out of place." [ After supper she wenl at him again. ' 'Here's the whole evening gone, just because you haven't the nerve to stand ap for your rights. Toinorrow, I sup pose you won't get home till 8; and by aDd by you'll grow so meek and lowly that the office won't let you come home at ali. They'll keep you at night 1 in a little stali down there and send your meals in to you trom a re staurant. I've decided to bave supper at 6 o'elock after this. whether you are bere or not. It isn't right to send the children to bed so soon after eating. " "My 2idear, " said Hillside, sadly, "don'tyou suppose that I suffer en ugli witliout getting roasted besides?" "Roasted!" cried she; I'm notroast ing you, and you bave no right to cali it that. You always put a wrong con structionon wnat I say to j'on. You bave no right to talk that way to me whe» you know tbat the reason I say what I do to you is because you are so meek and snbmissive. If you would only fire up once in a while at the of fice the way you do athome it would bebetter for us ali. But you never do: you're not [built that way. You would'nt get mad at your employer if he carne up here and took the roof from over our heads. You don't dare to cali your soul your own. Where are you going?" "Only down celiar." "To smoke your smelly old pipe, I suppose." "It's about ali the consolation left for me, my dear. " "I'd be ashamed!" said Mrs. Hill- Side. Mose* returìiéd from cónveying Tils wife with a solemn countenance to find that Sue had prepared a cup of tea for him and had it set out on the table with a piece of cani pone. "I tliought yo'd come home needin' somepin to brace yo' up, Mr. Jones," said the girl. Her thoughtfulness braced up Mose as much as the refreshinents. "How did yo' leave yo' po' wife?" she asked. "Porely." "Is she gwine to pulì through?" "Don' know; she's powerful sick." Mrs. Jones lost instead of gained. She was worried about her childreu and Mose found it necessary to teli her that he had secured the services of some one to take care of them. He dld not teli her that he had got a young woman, for he had seen evidences ai ready that she was expecting to step into his wife's shoes, and he knew that this would worry her. Perhaps it would bave gone well with Sue had she curbed her- impa tience. Though Mrs. Jones was report ed getting weaker every day, she hung on in a very aggravating way. Sue got tired asking Mose after his visits to the hospital how he had found his wife. hearing only the repetition, "Porely, very porely ; she's gwtae down hill pow erful fast." So it occurred to the gir! to go to the hospital and ask questions on her own account. She bought a Ave cent posy and, appearing at the hospi tal door, was received by an attendant. "Teli Mrs. Jones," she said, offering the posy, "dat a frien' ob de family brought her de flowers and hopes she's gettiu* better." The attendant took the flowers and was turning away when Sue asked: "Mrs. Jones mighty sick?" "She's very low." "Not long to lib, I reckon?" ' - e Dischi Doppi Columbia = Siamo contenti di annunziare che abbi ino aperto un di sparti mento di macchine parlanti, dove sarete ben ricevuto ogni tempo per sen tire pezzi di musica di tutte le specie. /' I dischi si possono suonare su qualsiasi màcchina. Prezzi per ogni disco doppio, nehe seguenti lingue ' Italiano, Slavish, Hungarian, Danish, Nurvegian, FivncJi, English, German Steving & Streams (VICINO AL BOX TON) INDIANA, - - PENNSYLVANIA "Not long." " 'Bout how long she gwine ty las'?" "The doctor doesn't expect her to live the week out." Sue took her departure, greatly com forted. The attendant took the posy lo Mrs. Jones with the message. Mrs. Jones was too ili to appreelate the kind attention, but the faculty of curiosity had not yet deserted her, and she asked if the frier ' of the family had left a name. The nurse said she had not, whereupon Mrs. Jones asked for a de scription of her and was told that she was a trim colored girl about twenty years old. That night a hurry cali was sent for Mose to come to the hospital to see his wife before she died. Mose obeyed the summons and found the invalid in a state of collapse. When told that her husband was there she rallied, and Mose went to her bedside. "Mose," she said, "tak' good care ob de chillen when I'm daid." "Sartin." "Gib ali my frien's my lub, and thank de cull'd gal fo' de flowers she bruug me de udder day." "Wha' cull'd gal?" "Dunno. She said she was a frlen' of de family." "I wond'r"— Mose checked himself, but too late. Urged to teli what he wondered at, he admitted that Sue might bave left the fiowers, HIID w ìitii H LO Gufe WOS be admitted that she was the woman who was taking care of the children. Perliaps it was Mose's evident desire to keep sometbing back. At any rate, the motlier took flight. She raised her self with marvelous strength consid BUCHHHT BROS, Forniture Store Ancora Negli Affari ! Il nostro ufficio e" assieme a qu» 110 di G ,j o. D. Levdic, negoziante di pianoforti, nel medesimo abitato di pri ma. La nostra roba e' in mostra in 6 luoghi. Venite al nostro ufficio evi mostreremo una »uona linea di fornitura, tappeti, letti, sprinta, mat* azzi, tendine per finestre, stecche per cortine. Tutto quello che cercate in un negozio di forniture. BITOHHEIT BRÒS. Opposto al Moore Hotel. Aggregato ai negozio di reo. Lvdics. Indiana, Pa. ering her condition and between the nurse and her husband g>t the story, including some admissions from the latter as to Sue's kind solioitude in his behalf. "Yo' Mose." she said, "yo' waitin' fo' me to die to marrj* dat gal!" "I hain't no sech thing." "De gal's waitin' fo' me to die t» marry yo*. Yo' s'pose I g>viue to turu my chillen ober to a gal like dat? No, sah. I's gwine to get wcll. Cali de ambulance. I's gwiue home right off." She was not permitted to carry out her assertion, but she rallied from that moment and a week later was back in her own domicile. Miss Brown was warned tiy Mose of her coming and departed in time to avoid a scene. The Test. It is the things a man could do but does not which stamp him as incompe tent—Judge. 1" ■» A PITHY SERMON. Here is about the pithiest ser- f mon that was ever preached: t "Our ingress into life is naked • " and bare, our progress through ? | l:fo is troub's crd csrc, our • ? egress out of it'we know not i, • where; but, doing well here, we i • shall do well there. I could not *> l teli more by preaching a year. M ? Bedouins and Water. It is not unusual to bear a Bedouin ui>on reaching a camp where water Is offered bini refuse it witli tlie remark, "I drank only yesterday." On the Bedouins' iong marches aerosa dry countries fehe sizo of tbe water skins is nicely caleulated to just outlast tbe jouruey, and tliey rarely allow thern selves to break tbe babit of abstemi ousness, as tlils would be sure to make tbeir next water fast ali the barder. Tbey are aecustomed from infancy to regard water as precious aud use it witb religious economy. Not Selfisk He—Do you believe in every man for himself? She—Oh, no! I believe in every man for some woman. An Inspiration. Llonel was at a matinee with his fa ther, and when a trapeze acrobat fail ed to catch the object at which he flew through tbe air and fell sprawling into the net the boy was greatly excited. "They are never hurt," explained his fatber. "It is a regular trick to make such a miss once or twice to give the audience an idea of the dilficulty of the feat and thereby intensify the ap plause when it has been successfully performed." liionel thought a moment and then, with a bright smile, said: "Papa, do you think I could make a hit with my teacher by following thls circus Btunt and missing my lessons once in awhile?"—Puck.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers