I CLEfI. }
£ By Percy T. Qriffith. £
It was noonday in a little country vil
lage on the banks of the Hudson, well
termed "the Rhine of America. From
many a lowroofed farmhouse came the
welcome sound of the dinner horn,
calling the weary toilers in the fields
to their mid-day meal. Relieved from
their irksome studies, a merry stream
of children trooped forth from the vil
lage school, some repairing to their
homes nearby, others flocking together
in groups, to eat a generous luncheon
beneath the shade of the great over
hanging oaks.
Their joyous laughter, echoing afar,
rippled through the closed shutters of
a small cottage not far distant, whoso
evident gloom strangely contrasted
with Nature's gay, spring like splen
dor. It reached the ears of a group
seated in the "best room" of the little
house —a group composed of three
persons of varied ages, whose coun
tenances each expressed a different
emotion. .
One, a spectacled old gentleman, at
tired in clerical garb, who listened
with manifest approval to the matter
of fact tones of a strong minded look
ing woman of perhaps 40, with re
pressed malice and well simulated
charity struggling for mastery on her
brow. The last of the trio was a slight
figured child, "whose ordinary half
girlish, half-boyish face, surrounded by
golden, curly hair, now seemed won
drously mature and almost manly in
its righteous wrath, while the old cler
gyman spoke,—
"My child, what you suggest is
impossible. You could not live in this
cottage all alone, now that your moth
er and brother are dead. You are
barely 14 years of age,and we have de
cided It to be for your best interests to
—to stay—with Mrs. Anderson.
"You mean, sir, that we are bound
out. You might as well say the words
at once. Why should I fall from the
status of a free citizen to that of a
pauper and a slave? Did not my poor
mother leave all this property which
you benevolent people have just sold
for over $300? And if I went into this
bondage, what opportunity should I
have for study and improvement? You
know mother always wanted me togo
to college and be a teacher or a mu
sician or an author or something great,
but I don't see what chance I would
have if I followed your plan."
"What did I tell ye, parson! What
did I tell ye!" cried the sharp-visaged
woman with uplifted eyebrows.
"That's what comes of sendin' a child
to school when it tain't no more than
five years old and a makin' of it study
ail its life to home. What good's a
person what's spent their life on
booji-larnin'? Tell me that."
"Oh, Mrs. Anderson," deprecated
the minister, who prided himself on
his knowledge, "education is surely
valuable."
"Yes, I know all that —I alius
thought so, too. I wuz giv a good eddi
cashun myself, but it warn't none of
this new-fangled book-larnin' that this
oostinate child's got. My mother, at
any rate, warn't no fool, which is more
than you can say of some people's
mothers, even if they be dead an' gone
—though it tain't for us poor mortals
to say where they're gone. I might
give a mighty sure guess where some
people's mothers is gone, what never
laught them nothin but book-larnin'.
but then, we're all poor, frail human
bein's."
"Doctor Wesley," here broke in thi
child, "if you think I'm going to stand
here and have my mother's spotless
name reviled and desecrated by that
low-lived "
"Low-lived, you little pauper in
grate, you!"
"Yes, low-lived, ill-bred, rude, un
couth!" declared the angry young per
son. "Oh, I know all about you, Mrs.
Anderson, and I know why you've got
a grudge against her and me. Did you
ever hear the name of Francis Sum
ner? Ah! you see I know —I read all
the letters "
"Ye've been spyin', reading a pack o'
lies, have ye? Just wait till I have the
charge of ye, and I'll larn ye to spy
around things what don't belong to
you."
"I beg your pardon. As I am the
only heir to my mother's property,
they are now mine. And, doctor, let
me tell you what they said. You know
Francis Sumner and my mother were
engaged to be married and broke it
off. Do you know why? Because "
"Parson, if you don't shet that little
liar up I will!"
"Gently, gently, Mrs. Anderson,"
said he old man. "It's only natural for
Clem to be excited after just losing
two dear relatives, and you must make
allowances. Now, Clem, we'll leave
you to rest after all this worry and
trouble. And tomorrow morning
Squire Morgan and I will come over,
and we'll make all the arrangements
for you to stay with Mrs. Anderson —"
"I'll never go! I'll die first!" de
clared his excited young hearer, pas
sionately.
"Oh, ye won't, hey? Jest wait. Me
and my Hiram'll take some o' thet
high spirits out of ye. Good by, ye
little firebrand. Jest wait."
That night a little figure stole to the
window and looked out upon the road
below and the sky above. All Nature
was sleeping.
"How still!" it murmured. "Oh,
mother! Can you 'see me now? Am I
right in fighting against this woman
IjUo lost you your life's happin««s?
And myself—how can I bear living
with her and her Ignorant husband and
children?"
The figure stole to a chest, and
raising the lid drew out a suit of man
ifestly homemade but neat-appearing
clothing, and divesting itself of sev
eral lighter, but less serviceable gar
ments, was soon arrayed In the former
apparel.
"Poor Frank! I am indeed stepping
into a dead man's shoes! But he has
no use for them now, and I—l could
never wear them all the way to New
York. New York! It is awful togo
out into the world alone, with not a
friend. Why not take mother's mon
ey? It is now mine—but no—it would
be like stealing, and then they would
-ave some incentive to search for me.
But I will take my own money out of
my iron bank—that'sslß andtheydon't
know I have it. Oh, mother, the
Bible, which they say gives them the
rigut to enslave and beat me, says
one must not take his own life. Buthad
not the same words often dropped
from your own lips, tomorrow I would
be with you and Frank."
The gray dawn was just appearing
in the east, when a boyish form crept
out of the house and swiftly fled
toward the railroad station, four miles
distant.
"Farewell, old house —my own home,
from which strangers drive me—fare
well," murmured a voice trembling
with emotion, and the next moment
the small fugitive had disappeared in
the darkness.
The morrow's sun had nearly reached
the meridian as it poured through the
dim window panes into the dusky
office of a prominent city lawyer,
who gazed perplexingly down upon a
small applicant, who stood hanging }
upon his scarce formulated answer.
"Why, my boy, you are much too
young—you could not do the work —
you know nothing about office routine.
You should first take some position at
two or three dollars. Your parents
should "
"My parents—all my relatives are
dead, sir, arid I am thrown upon my
self for a living. I could not live on
such wages as you speak of, and see- j
ing in the paper that you offered SB, I
thought I'd try and get you to give me j
the place. I can write well and figure
accurately, sir. Won't you give me a
trial?"
The legal light hesitated. The plea, 1
while earnest,had been made in such a
dignified tone and manner that he >
could not. worldly as he was, turn the
boy away as he had many another
more hardy one. And then he thought
of his own child, surrounded by every
luxury.
"Well, my lad," he said, with a sigh, j
"I'll see what you can do. What is
your name?"
"Clement, sir," answer the bay, bold
ly, though flushing somewhat. "Clem
ent Travers."
"Well, Clement, you can start in at
once. Fuller (to the head clerk), this
is the new boy. Give him something
to do. And, Fuller" (in an undertone),
"don't treat the poor little devil like
you did the last —ne can't stand it."
"All right, sir," assented the clerk,
respectfully, but with a sneer at his
employer's softness after the latter's
back was turned. "Here, just sit down
and copy this off, and don't make any
more mistakes than you can help!"
Despite the apparent hospitality of
Fuller, this was indeed a promising
opening for Clement, and he set to
work with such will and energy as to
astonish the ordinarily somewhat easy
going employes of the law firm of
Johnes, Clarkes, Robinson, Smyth and
Browne, who wondered "how that del
icate looking kid was such a hustler."
However hackneyed the authority
for the assertion, it must be said that
perseverance will always win in every
branch of life, and the lad who had
made such a favorable entry into the
celebrated law office was no exception
to the rule. Before three years had
fuily gone by, his industry, had more
than doubled his starting compensa
tion.
"Fuller," said Browne, the junior
partner, one morning, "isn't today the
date set for the transfer of town
site of Pullman's?"
"Yes," answered that individual
without looking up. "But he provides
the customer, and we only draw the
papers."
"We were to look up the title," re
sponded the junior partner, sharply,
and your report guarantees its clear
ness. Are you sure there's nothing in
the way? No second mortgage?"
"There is but one document recorded
besides the original grant of (JO years
ago." said Fuller, in the staccato tones
of a man who wishes his words to im
press the hearer.
He uttered a sight of relief as his
inquisitor walked away satisfied, and,
glancing around the room and meeting
the honest blue eyes of Clement keen
ly fixed upon him, he turned ashen
pale, and wheeling his chair around
abruptly left the room.
Clement withdrew his gaze and bent
it thoughtfully upon a law book before
him.
"You seem to be deeply interested in
something, Clement," broke in upon
him stiddently.
He looked up.
"Will you stand a catch question,
Mr. Jefferson?" he eagerly inquired of
the new comer, somewhat irrelecant
"If it has a practical bearing,"
laughingly replied the latter, a young
member of the bar, who was already
noted as being the one lawyer who
could always anticipate the decisions
of the judges of his circuit.
"Suppose," said Clement, "a man
makes out a document —say a mort
gage—can he draw another for the
came property upon the same sheet of
paper?"
"Hum —that's a case that I cannot
conceive of," answered the lawyer,
cautiously, ' why should lie want to?"
"What else could he do, presuming,
for example, thut he had no other pa
per within reach?"
"Now I have what I want," said Jef
ferson. "Clement, you may always con
sider It a safe rule that 'in law every
wrong has a remedy.' In such a
case the second deed, unless incom
patible with the first, would hold—bar
ing fraud."
"Barring fraud!" echoed the boy, as
the attorney left. "But it would hold
until upset by a court."
"Is Mr Brown in?" inquired a voice
at his elbow, interrupting his revery.
"Yes, sir," answered Clement, rising
and facing a handsome stranger, who,
at first sight, scarce looked the 4i)
years a sharp observer would have
pronounced him.
"Then please give him my card and
tell him I have a note of introduction
from Mr. Pullman, a client of his."
Clement started. This was the "cus
tomer" then. 1-Ie took the card, and
glancing at the scrolled name on the
small slip of pasteboard, the words
"Francis W. Sumner" 'seemed to brand
themselves on his brain. The card
dropped from his hands, and reeling,
he would have fallen had not tba
stranger caught him in his arms.
"Young man,"he murmured, in a
kindly but trembling voice, "where
have I seen you before? Your face is
familiar. Why does my card affect
you in this manner?"
Clement, scanned the deserted ante
room in which they were.
"Will you promise not to reveal a
warning if I give it?"' he whispered,
and as Sumner assented, ''Postpone
buying this property, on any ground '
you like, for one week."
How do you know? Why? What i
reason why I should?" ejaculated the
astonished caller, and then, after a
pause, he> added calmly: "I will take
your advice, but I shall want to know
all before, tomorrow."
"Fuller," said Brown, the next day,
after a long interview with the custo
mer, whose entrance to the legal pre
cincts had resulted in such a curious
encounter with the young law clerk,
"Pullman's buyer holds off on that
deal."
"What!" cried thai, ordinarily pomp
ous individual. "What's his reason?"
"Short of funds," said his employer,
dryly, noting his excitement. "Not re
markable for a man to find it hard to
raise $50,000 all at once, is it?-By the
way, I've let Clement oft' for a day or
two. You'll have to make some of the
others do his work."
Two days later Clement Travers was
seated opposite the individual referred
to, in a Pennsylvania train speeding lo
New York.
"Clement," said the latter, "how
came you to detect the fraud in this
matter? I can understand Pullman
and Fuller drawing that second mort
gage for $40,000 upon the back of the
first one, but they had covered up their
tracks so well that I don't see how
you first found a clue to work on."
"Oh, as to that, it was their intima
cy and something I overheard that
gave me my first suspicion. At first
I couldn't understand why Fuller
should want to risk his position for
such a sum as he could secure in this
way, but of course his plan ensure!
secrecy for years until a thorough
examination of the title was made,
and then It would merely appear as
if he had overlooked this second mort
gage on the back of the first, and no
harm would be done even to his repu
tation. I never, though, clearly com
prehended the case until the very day
you called, and then I had just found
it out."
"You have great intellect, Clem, for
a boy."
"For a boy!" repeated Clem, half
sadly, half bitterly. "Oh, it was noth
ing but guess work all through," he
added.
"A clever guess, which has saved me
that forty thousand, and I shall see
that you lose nothing by it, though
Johnes and company's head clerk will.
By the way, Clem, you have never told
me your name. Why, what's the mat
ter?"
He peered into his companion's face,
somewhat obscured by the dusk of
evening, which was rapidly falling.
Clem nerved himself.
"Clement Harrison Travers," he an
swered.
"Clementine Harrison!" murmured
Sumner, in startled accents. "Oh!
Clem! I'm doubly fortunate in finding
you. Your mother—it must be—the
likeness, I see it now. Is she alive?"
I "Your name was the last word she
j breathed," answered Clem, mourn
i'ullq. "A letter to you, the last lines
she wrote. It explained "
"Needless! I always loved her.
though parted by a lover's quarrel.
That letter, have you it with you?"
"I have carried it constantly in the
1 hope of finding you," replied Clem,
and then in a tone of anguish, "But
oh! how can I give it to you—you will
learn all!"
"All! All what? Clement, can you
i betray your mother's trust? I must see
It."
"Take it, then," replied Clem. sad!y,
"and with it my secret."
Sumner perused the letter with min
gled grief and bewilderment.
"Why, Clem, how she speaks of
you! 'An orphan to make her way'—
'let her take my place!' " And then,
reading txie truth in his companion's
face. "Ah, Clem, why could I not see?
My poor little girl! Image of her.
What trials you must have had! But
cheer up. Your mother's friend will
make amends —ha, she's fainted!"
The three years' strain and the pres
ent embarrassment had been too much
lor the delicate girl, and her limp form
lay almost lifeless at hia feet before
his sentence was finished.
• • • •
"I don't understand this, Browne,"
remarked Johnes, one morning, per
haps a year following, as he held an
open letter in his hand. "Our old
lriend Sumner writes that he's Bent
Clement onto Europe and married his
sister. He, of course, means Clement's
sister."
"Nothing queer about that," an
swered Browne, who, in such leisure
moments as an active attorney gets,
dabbled in amateur biology and was
a crank on Darwin. "Clem was a
bright chap, though awfully dainty.
Got rid of Fuller before he wrecked
the firm for us, and saved Sumner big
money. Why shouldn't his si'ster be
attractive and all that. Science tells
us that inheritance "
"But where did he get a sister?"
persisted Johnes, impolitely interrupt
ing this flow of learning. "Clem told
me he had no relatives."
"Don't believe it," answered
Browne. "Survival of the Fittest don't
agree with it. Smart people and hus
tlers ought,according to this theory, to
have enormous families, and if evolu
tion "
"Fiddlesticks!" replied his partner,
as he took down "The Evidences of
Insanity" from the well stocked shelf
and repaired to his sanctum. —W'averly
Magazine.
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.
Every Chinese woman is practically
a slave until her son marries. Then,
as mother-in-law, she begins to rule,
her son's wife being her subject.
The Chinese pen from time imme
morial has been a brush made of some
soft hair and used to paint the cur
iously formed leters of the Chinese
alphabet.
From Tomsk, to Irkutsk, on the Sib
erian railway, a distance of 932 miles,
there is only one town deserving the
name—Krasnoairs—with a population
of 28,000.
Berlin pays a salary to a profession
al bird catcher, who keeps scientific
educational institutions supplied with
birds, birds' eggs and nests. He is
the only man in the empire permited
to do so.
At Montalto, in the province of
Genoa, in tearing down an old church,
a small underground room was found
full of art objects of the Roman time,
chiefly chiselled silver amphorae and
vases filled with gold and silver coins.
The plow is certainly the oldest
and probably the simplest of agricul
tural implements, being represented
among the hieroglyphics on the an
cient tombs of Egypt, dating back
more than 4000 years. As early as the
year 1000 B. C. the plow was described
by a Greek historian as consisting of
a beam, a share and handles.
The following curious advertisement
recently appeared in a London paper:
"Gentleman wants board residence.
Real good home, in small family. No
other boarders. Being overstout,
therefore subject to many annoying re
marks, advertiser prefers very stout
people's company. No others need
write. Referrences exchanged. Ad
dress," etc.
A syndicate comprising English cap
italists has been formed to promote
the sale of"tie silks," composed of 30
percent wood pulp and 50 percent arti
ficial silk. Samples are being submit
ted to the New York wholsale neck
wear manufacturers, and considerable
experiment is taking place. In point
of price this material shows advan
tage over conventional fabrics. Its
luster, feel and general appearance,
closely resemble genuine silk.
Wu Ting-fang'" Rfgard for Trnfli.
The reporter who lied to the Chines#,
minister at Washington, Wu Ting
: fang, about salary, no doubt Je-
I luded himself with the thought—if he
I gave the matter a thought at all, —that
j it was a "white lie" that would hurt
nobody. But let us see the sequel:
On the first occasion, when he called
to interview the minister, he was ask
ed what salary he received. "One
i hundred and fifty dollars a week," glib
-1 ly replied the youth. "It is too much.
It is altogether too much," said the
: more candid than polite Wu Ting-fang,
j "You are not worth more than twenty
; five dollars a week."
The Chinese minister, It is said,
learned later, through other news
; paper men, that the reporter had not
; spoken the truth, and that, instead of
one hundred and fifty dollars a week,
' he received but sixty. Consequently,
; when he again presented himself at
the Chinese legation for information
for his paper, he was curtly dismissed
by Wu Ting fang with these words:
"You lied to me about your salary. If
you will lie about such a thing as that,
you will lie about anything. I do not
trust you. I have nothing to say to
you. 1 want to revise my former esti
mate of your value. Instead of being
worth twenty-five dollars a week, you
are not worth anything, sir." —Success.
New York City.—Novelty waists are
In demand for all occasions, and some
of the latest designs are buttoned at
ono side. This way of fastening Is said
A FANCY WAIST
to admit of a great variety of rich
embroidery and other effects across
the front. White satin, taffeta and
novelty silks and light shades of pink,
blue or gray are among the materials
used for waists to be worn with black
taffeta silk or velvet skirts. The chiffon
separate waist has also come to stay,
despite the efforts of fashionable dress
makers to discountenance It. A Paris
Importation in this line was made with
! the groundwork of pink satin, veiled
first with blue and then heliotrope
chiffon, and trimmed with ecru lace
and touches of silver.
Woman'* Five-Gored Skirt.
No skirt is more generally satisfac
tory than the one cut in five gores.
FIVE-GORED SKIRT.
The admirable May Manton model,
shown in the large drawing, includes
an upper portion so shaped and a grad
uated circular fiounce seamed to the
lower edge and is shaped to fit with
perfect snugness at the upper portion,
while it flares at the lower, and the
flounce falls in graceful folds and rip
ples. The original is made of sage
green veiling, with trimming of bias
folds headed with black and white
fancy silk hraid that are arranged at
the foot in the centre and over the
seaming of the fiounce and skirt; but
all dress materials are suitable, and
tailor stitching, with corticelli silk, can
be substituted for the bands when pre
ferred. Both front and side gores are
ixnrrow in conformity with the latest
style, and the fitting is accomplished
without hip darts. The fulness at the
back is laid in inverted pleats that are
pressed quite flat. The flounce is
curved to give the fashionable fulness,
and is seamed to the lower edge.
To cut this skirt in the medium size
nine and three-fourth yards of material
twenty-one inches wide, eight and oue
eightli yards twenty-seven inches wide,
seven and one-half yards thirty-two
Inches wide, four and one-fourth yards
forty-four inches wide, or four and
one-fourth yards fifty inches wide w'Jl
be required.
All-Overs an Trimmings.
Dressmakers have discovered that
the lace all-overs are possessed of even
greater posslbilitiss than the narrow
appliques. Hence we see them used
for everything from whole dresses to
the tiniest appliques—some one figure,
a leaf or a flower, being chosen for the
latter. Then, too, these cut up into
big bauds, some of them a dozen Inches
In width. These are usually edged
with the narrowest sort of a scroll ap
plique in the same lace. A band set on
the skirt in apron overskirt effect
serves admirably to head a flared or a
pleated flounce. For these dresses silky
voile and crepe de chine are ideal fab
rics, and white Is first choice.
New Work For Chiffon ROIM.
Chiffon roses are no longer "lilies ot
the field." They must now toil, being
useful as well as ornamental. Their
especial labor is to hold down the ends
of black velvet ribbon trapping. A
charmingly dainty dress in white chif
fon with Chantilly appliques has the
bodice as well as the skirt given dis
tinction by a number of full-length
strappings. A pink chiffon rose, ex
quisitely made in different shades,
catches the end of each strap. Lest It
prove not trustworthy, the strap is also
held some Inches above by a glittering
rhinestone buckle.
Work For the Summer Girl.
Summer-girls-to-be with leisure and
skill may make for themselves very
pretty bolts, which will look especially
well with their white waists or whole
dresses. Rows of ribbon arranged gir
dle fashion are feather-stltehed to
gether with white silk. A few whale
bones covered with white may be
necessary to keep the belt in shape.
A Saxon Decree Ajtalnst Cornet*•
The Minister of Education in Saxonj
has issued a decree that no girl attend
ing the public schools and colleges
may wear a corset. He maintains that
tight lacing is as deadly a foe to in
tellectual effort as the cigarette, there
fore as legitimate an object for educa
tional legislation.—Woman's Tribune.
Woman*! Three-Piece Skirt.
Skirts with flounces, that produce
ample flare at the feet, and that lit
with snugness about the hips are In
the height of style and appear to gain
in favor month by month. This grace-
ful model Is adapted to all soft ma
terials, whether wool, silk or cotton,
but as shown is made of foulard, In
pastel tan color with figures in white,
and is singularly effective and stylish.
The flounces curve in a way to give
the best results and run up just suf
ficiently at the back to give a smart
effect, their edges being finished with
stitching in self colored cortieelli silk.
The skirt is cut in three pieces, tittod
at the waist with short hip darts, and
the fulness at the back may be gath
ered or laid in inverted pleats, that are
fiat for a few inches below the belt,
then form soft folds and fall in rip
ples to the floor. The flounces are
circular, curved to give the fulness
desired by fashion, and are arranged
over the foundation. One, two or three
can be used as may be preferred.
To cut this skirt in the medium size,
fifteen and one-eighth yards of mate
rial twenty-one inches wide, ten and
THREE PIBOE SKIRT.
one-elghtli yards twenty-seven inches
wide, ten yards thirty-two inches wide,
or seven and flve-eighth yards fort£-
four Ipches wide will be required.