"YHE SECRET
Mold upon the ceiling,
{old upon the floor,
Windows barred and
pening nevermore.
double barred,
Spiders in the corners,
Spiders on the shelves,
Weaving frail and endless webs
Back upon themselves.
Weaving, ever weaving,
Weaving in the gloom,
Till the drooping drapery
Trails about the room.
® - » ®
Hist!
Gather
Where -a
Dust from
the spectres gather,
in the dark,
breath has brushed away
off -a mark.
Dust of weary winters,
Dust of solemn years,
Dust that deepens in the silence,
As the minute wears—
On. the shelf
Window-bars, and wall,
Covering infinite devices
With its stealthy fall.
and wainscot,
CHAMBER,
Hist! the spectres gather,
Break and group again,
Wreathing, writhing, gibbering
Round that fearful stain;
Blood upon the panels,
Blood upon the floor,
Blood that baffles wear
Red forevermore.
and weshing,
listen,
clings
See, they pause and
When thie bat that
Stirs within the crev
Of the panclings
See, they pause
Listen ‘throug!
How the eager li
That was taken
struggled
there.
and listen,
gloom;
< breath
Sighing through the
they pause
in
is sizhing,
room-—
Sighing {n the corners,
Sighing on the floor;
Sighing through the window-bars
That open nevermore.
—Anon.
¢90080000006060060
®
®
3
*
®
*
“] tell you, Fanny Shawmut,
were made for each other!”
“And tell you, Aunt.Hildred, I
would sooner die than marry him!”
“You are a fool, Fanny! You are as
headstrong and self-willed as your fa-
ther was before you!”
“Please leave my. relations entire-
ly out of the discussion! I am my own
mistress,
free to refuse the emperor of Russia, if
1 choose to! And I tell you, Aunt Hil-
dred, once more, that I will not stay
here to meet Earle Rochefort; to
inspected like a cow. or a ‘horse just
up for sale! So there!”
And Fanny Shawmut left the room,
and shut the door behind her in a way
which showed that she had a temper,
as It was right and proper she should
have. For a woman without a tem-
per would be as insipid as broth with-
out salt or pepper.
Aunt Hildred Ames put her smelling
salts to her mose and took a long
sniff. Such contumacy in Niece Fanny
was exasperating. If she had dreamed
that the girl would ever have devel-
oped so much obstinacy, she would
have declined to become her guardian,
even to please her dying brother.
you
A very few words.will explain how |
matters stood.
Earle Rochefort was a young man
of 28 or 30, a native of Mrs. Ame
own town, and a prime favorite with
the good lady. According to her idea,
there was not another man in all the
world worth naming beside him. His
father had. been Aunt Hildred’s first
love, but treachery on the part of
somebody or other, it does not matter
whom, had separated them; and he
had feund another woman, and Aunt
Hildred had found another man. But
when Earle’s father died, an explana-
tion had taken place, and Aunt Hil-
dred had promised to love the son for
the sake of the father. And indeed,
she found it not very difficult to love
Earle for his own sake, for he was
gentle and affectionate, and won
regard of all with whom he came
contact,
But he
great
would gladly
50 it hk
in
not marry, though a
beautiful young girls
have accepted him, and
appened that at eight-and-
twenty he was still a bachelor; and
ahout that time Aunt Hildred’s broth-
er John died in Madeira, and left his
daughter Fanny to her aunt's care.
Fanny, pretty, spoiled, an heiress in
ber own right, and accustomed always
to troops of servants to order about,
did not fall readily into the groove her
aunt had prepared for her. She made
up her mind that she would not love
and marry this Earle Rochefort, of
whom she had heard so much.
As yet, she had not met Mr. Roche-
fort. He was absent in Californta;
where he owned some mines, and had
been there neariy a year, perfecting
some arrangements for their improved
working. But he was expected home
daily, and Aunt Hildred was contin-
“ually agitating the subject nearest her
heart. She had likewise written to
Earle, over and over again, glowing
descriptions of Fanny, and had dwelt
largely upon her favorite plan of a
union between her two children, as
she called Earle and Fanny. Young
Rachefort, with all a man’s aversion
to having a wife picked out for him,
began also to fairly hate the name of
Fanny, and to feel very much averse
to meeting the paragon. .
In fact, so strong did this feeling
become that he decided not to go to
Elmwood, Aunt Hildred’s town, but to
spend the winter at Derby, a place
some hundred and forty miles distant.
He: could make “business” an ex-
cuse; for, in addition to his other ad-
vantages, Rochefort was wealthy, and
a man of property is always sup-
posed to have plenty of business on
hand. So he wrote to Mrs. Ames to
that effect, promising to run down and
see her some Saturday night at" the
very first opportunity.
Fanny, meanwhile, had
few dresses, and as little finery
possible for a young lady to exist
with, into a couple of trunks, and, in
spite of Aunt Hildred’s remonstrances,
had departed to make a long visit to
her Cousin Bentley's folks in Derby.
The very day of Fanny’s departure,
Mrs. Ames received Earle’s letter, and
when she had read it, she executed
pas de seul which would have done
credit to a French dancinz master.
“Glorious!” she cried; “things could-
n't have happened more to my liking.
I'll write to Cousin Martha this very
day, and get her on my side; and so,
Miss Fanny we shall see you Mrs.
Earle Rochefort yet, in spite of your-
self. For I know he will fail in love
with you, if he meets you, and I don’t
did
many
packed a
yas it is
Fanny’s Stranger.
By HERO STRONG.
62000900000 000009090000900000009090009000¢
21 years old last June, and |
be.
i she looked at
he
the
{as if he knew
009006009006
09
69600006
9009900
believe you can help falling in love
with him!”
Aunt Hildred capered around the
room so gayly that the staid old cat
fled under the sofa to recover her
equanimity, and the very canary in
the cage stopped his singing and con-
templated his mistress in silent >
The letter to Cousin Martha
written and dispatched, and Aunt H:
dred felt willing to await the couse
of events. She felt moderately sure
that all would be. just as she wished it.
Fanny «Sk2wmut looked very pretty
in her dark blue traveling suit, and
her. coquettish round hat, with its
white feather, as she took her seat in
the cars the morning she began her
journey to Derby.
More than one gentleman loocized
wistfully at the unoccupie! seat beside
her, but she spread out her skirts in
a way that lady travelers have, and
put her muff on the cushions, and
none of thera were bcld enough to ask
her if the seat were engaged.
The car filled up rapidly
ently a young man in a heavy
paused beside her, and asked
question she had been expecting
body would be imperti
ask.
She had a great
she preferred sitting
taken up muff
comfortable before
up her mind to be
him;
confess to herself
seen a finer
1
I-
and pres-
ulster
the
some-
ent
him
had
to tell
alone, but he h
and made himself
she had quite made
so impolite. Then
and was cbliged to
that she had never
Its clear blue eyes
and blond hair and mustache just
suited Fanny's taste, for her own hair
and eyes were black, and her lips and
cheeks were glowing like the hear:
of a cleft pomegranite. And, of course,
she liked a blonde man t—indeed.
how could she help it?
And he had such a grave, sweet voice,
and he was careful not to sit on
her flounces, and he did not
with the tasszls of her muff
most men do, but held it d
it. was real
cost $200,
mind
the
bes
intily, jt
Russian sa-
and had
becamr
t many thi :
th liked the
and this, of self,
strong hond of sympathy.
they wandered to religion,
to politics, and on bcth
orinions- agreed. After
plain i
A furious snowstecrm
was in England, a the month
was January, and the wind blew a
gele from the northeast; but: our
young friends were so much occupied
in getting acquainted that snowstorms
were of no account whatever
After a while it began to be
in the car. The small
tirely insufficient to send out
enough to combat successfully with
the streams of frigid air rushing in at
very crevice; and to make things
more uncomfortable, the
floundered through the fast increas-
ing drifts in a way which showad the
passengers that. ere long: snow ~would
assert its power over steam.
Night was coming on, too,
days in January are very short, you
know—and the train was just enter-
ing upon the 20 mile stretch known az
3Jrownslow’s Common,
not half a dwellings
end of this desolate waste
er.
Fanny began
She wondered
ble,
ARthOtS
onderfully
By and by
and then
snbiects their
that it
is
get it, for it
New nd
very cold
stove was en-
for the
from
to the
dozen one
to feel very nervous
what she should ha
done without this gentleman who oc-
cupied the seat with her, and . wiao
wrapped his traveling shaivle.sound
her so carefully, and insisted sit-
ting next the window, lie
old draught of air.
Fanny thought that if
Earle Recchefort, of whom
dred prated so. much, hs
this interesting stranger,
she could have staved at
and married him, and m21e Aunt
dred bappy.
The storm increased, the drifts be-
came more and more formidable, an
at last the engine gave a plunge for-
ward, which shook most of the pas-
sengers out of their seats, aud demoral-
ized things generally.
They were off the track and
more progress could be made
nizht.
Fenny cried, and clung to her strang-
er, who did not appear a bit
that the .accident had happened. He
comforted the young girl, and drew
her down on his shoulder to finish ber
crying, and took off her hat so that ir
would not be crushed—it was a Paris
hat—and wound her soft white
“cloud” over her curls in such a deli-
cate and skilful way.
on
ep off the
how
Elmwood,
Hil-
easily
no
that
SOTTY
heat -
i the door
[ ‘gular name.
| train,
| a car with troops of men with shov-
Ah, well! Fanny had tost her heart
to him before the crash and now she
was completely subjected.
After all, it was a very
night. Fanny dozed a
stranger sat beside her and kept her
wrapped up. The other men in the
car swore over the vile situation they
were in, ‘and occasionally went out on
the platform to smoke cigars; and the
women fretted, and the two babies
who were along squalled at intervals
all night; but none of this disturbed
Fanny Shawmut. :
In the morning aid came—an extra
with a snowplow attached, and
delightfu
little, and her
els, and baskets of provisions. The
stranger secured all the nicest things
for Fanny, and she had never enjoyed
anything before as she enjoyed these
sandwiches and_seed cakes.
But everything delightfyl must have
an end, and in due time the (rain was
put on the track, and Derby was
reached.
The stranger put Fanny in a cab,
and went with her to Cousin Bentley’s,
and asked permission to call on her,
and so they parted. He had not
thought’ to ask her name, neither had
she thought to ask his.
The next day Cousin Martha received
Aunt Hildred’s letter, and that eve-
ning, when Fanny’s stranger called;
oddly enough, Cousin Martha herself
opened the door for him, and took his
card. Then she showed him into the
parlor, and followed him in, and shut
behind her, and stayed there
talking with him fulll 20 minutes be-
fcre she called Fanny.
The stranger was introduced as Mr.
Fort, which Fanny thought a very sin-
But. then, after all,
| “what’s in a name?”
Of course, they had a very delightful
| evening, which was but the bezinning
| thing—they
i set the
{ tion
enough to |
! dimmed her spectacles, and she
of a series of delightful evenings.
Mr. Fort’s heart held out just a
fortnight, and then he told his love in
words too glowing for the cold point
of our cynical pen to write, and the
two young people did a very desperate
engaged themselves, and
wedding day just one month
ahead.
Fanny wrote her aunt a very graph-
ic account of the whole affair, dwell-
ing on Mr. Fort’s kindness and d=vo-
during the snowstorm, and end-
ing with saying that her lover was
so far in advance of that odious Earle
Rechefort in all the virtues and graces,
that she was sure Aunt Hildred would
be delighted that her disobedient but
ever-loving niece did not stay at home
and marry that California bear.
When Aunt Hildred read the letter,
she laughed till the tears came and
hugged
hands with Betty
then proved herself a
in her. right mind,
the cat, and.shook
the ccok, and
true woman, and
| by overturning her wardrobe to see if
| she had any
| turned
| hoped
i convulsions
began to look serious,
| ening.
Was |
| gel in them.
dress suitable to wear at
the wedding.
Fanny came back to Elmwood just
a week previous to this impertant
event, and Mrs. Ames’ houge was
upside down with the grand
preparations. Fanny de she
that abominable Rochefort
weculdn't put in an appearance at the
wedding for she Knew couldn’t
be decently polite to him; thereat
Aunt Hildred wculd off
laugliter that nny
for she was cer-
afraid her aunt's brain was soft-
So many soften
red
she
and
into
20 such
of
tainly
brains. did
nowadays. :
The wedd and veil .zwere
splendid, and Fanny lcoked like an
Just about five minutes
before the time set for the perform-
ance of the ceremony the bridegroom
dress
in or
ng
1 -
was announced.
re grr ree
locomotive |
| have the pleasure of present
I Mr.
| ahout
| little red mouth uncloszd
and there were |
oth- |
| body
i trough
| Aunt
| have
ve | always be pale,
But what was Fanny's amazement
to see Aunt Hildred rush up to him;
throw her arms around his neck and
call him her ‘dear Earle,” and teil
him how glad she was to see him back.
And then Aunt Hildred led him tow-
ard the bride, and making a low obe
| ance, went through with the ceremony
I of
an introduction.
‘Miss Fanny Shawmut, 2liow me to
ing to you
Earle Rochefort, whom you are
to be married
black eyes
to
qr
and her
to say some-
stonped it
an ex-
from
Fanny's
thing spiteful, but Earle
with a kiss, which is always
cellent way “stop a woman
scolding.
The wedding came off just:-as theugn
nothing had happen d. though every-
remarked that any had a very
high coolr for a wvride. Brides should
you know.
It. proved a very happy
Fanny is wont to
Hildred that she never
married that Earie Roche
to
union,
lare to
would
fort if
de
i it had not been that she cou! 1d not bear
+ dress
t
|
|
| through a long line
| walnut
ration of Independence.
i land.
not usi “lovely
thought of
and veil."—
Weekly
the
Relic of Antiquity.
Ram of York, Pa., is the
cf a rare treasure of anti-
has been handed dawn
of a sry. Iiis
beautiinl
ned bv
of the Decla-
Reed, former-
» and then in Mary-
into
rela-
2ep-
M. G.
possessor
quity, which
say,
that of an old High Boy.
piece for:
signer
SCR
nerly «
Thomas Reed, a
ly lived in Delaware
After his death it
the hands of ore of his nearest
tives, and finally passed into the k:
ing of a family by the name of B :
living in the utheastern part of
Maryland. It h nce
Ramsay family.
passed
come
A recent church notice in Manches
ter, England, read: “A potato pie sup-
| per will be held on Saturday evening.
Subject for Sunday evening, ‘A Night
cf Agony.”
into the!
' v .
Washington Irv
The Cost of Slavery
- By W. ing Paterson.
HAT the enslaved races long is no
doubt partly | to be ¢xnl
ity and fatalis
one a
produced that
oppression fo
strange Oriental passiv-
measure shown by only
Centuries = of subjection
wialch India
moved
el endured
ined by the
in some
Slavs,
and
‘hile
is
the
stagnation from
i only
in her
has
sleep.
never been a
nsciousness. = *. *
never
precisely
and has
It
unity possessed
1 was be-
cause she rejected *the®eforma preached by Bud tha that her organization
on a basis of justice became impos anid that her conquest became easy.
It was after Buddhism had been driven out that the great Mobammedan in-
vasion began. * * A nation of slaves was called upon to fight a nation
of free-men, for the Mohamricdans were free. * * * How momentous the
result of the conquest was destined to be may be measured by the fact that
today India contains 62,458 Mohammedans (according to the: census of
1906) * * .* Ever since India has been: a battle-ground, and the world
knows that it will be a battle-ground in the future.
Babylon was great... She used science and she used art, but she abused
humanity. She. invented. sun-dials, but forgot to regulate with.-justice the
hours of lalior. She could calculate a star's eclipse, but nét her own. No
state has been mere guilty of the waste of human life. And when we sce
her ruins lying like a vast, mysterious autograph scrawled over the desert
her history appears to be fuil-of warning.
The Athenians pos words for liberty, equality,
ternity, but all those great doctrines were evolved at tha
¥ ®* * Jt has been said by a great scholar that many
write of Athens as if it were a lost paradise. The truth
facades we discover an industrial tyranny and workshop
it is remembered that without their labor the leisure
Athenian art, literature and philosophy would
not resist the conclusion that the cul
a price.
Not long ago the Esquiline Ceme
covered a pit one thousand feet long
ancient burial ground for slaves, wi
casses of animais and the refuse of
human burial indicate the value which
slave-pits are in themselves sufficient
Roman civilizaton.
sible
097
even for fra-
of slaves.
writers foolishly
is, that behind her
full of When
Nich went to. create
en possible, we can-
at too high
essed and
expe
nse
S.aves,
not have
ture ¢f Athens was bought
was dis-
It was an
it along with the car-
that methods of
the Roman
behind
thera
Toor
aeep.
tery was
and three h
10 were thrown
city. f it be true
placed on ht
and
indred feet
excavated
into
the
uman, life,
spirit
is
to indica the
lay
2 2 ££ 2
Afra pl)p
The Sun's Heat
- ES
HR
By Rene Back
in the servat
variations of the
etrical the®mo:
1ar've cis <
the balance -is a filament ef ‘spun gle
in in. the
mirror
hind le
wing, and
wo--feet long
risa queer-
controlled
to throw a
rvatory. A
plati-
15S
diamete tin?
as a la
milligrammes—
cut
middle of which
(which weighs two :
ef a fly) steno pon a sguare
the whole afiair is suspended from a
and one five-thous inch
looking machine
by clock-worlk in sueh a way as to face the sun ‘at all hours aad
reflected beam into 3
single ray of the sun thas conveyed is permitted to Hrunoniiihe
num thread, thr dg? i 5
It. is
its tempers
of a sun's ra:
termination
distinguished.
Shanges in th
little balance to s
concave mirror, is
flected light runs a
tions in the amount of
the tube froin 3
scale is repla
manent record
printing,
big Tos
haif about as mich as the os
is picce from a drazon Hy's
fire
thicl.
that
hriilaing. ‘hen
aveling phot
Nera ts)
JEEPAG
filing
Se ara hl; tens) fino
Heer of the Fly
mm.
Cy J. OC. Cobt, M. D.
streets,
ics: Follow
offered
at the
open
candy
fruit
stands. And
wagons thre
this meat does not
This is no
their depths clone coin
Urge upbn
Detroit News-Tribune.
woking
know that
Pdi
GVErycl of food.—
<2
[oR See RT
Monster So Dangerous”
Se ML Cd BI OITA
“A RU YC
aA dai
xr Jins.ertoScain.
ye RY
republic,
ing millions in
millions
1€
By Hannis Taylor,
jorm
Hfe ofl a
Po te obo
a 03a ole vie
tunose
not exist. T!
in a good di-
tomorrow.
aker, he 18 an
the nation's
young men
Emme ana
the teach-
worth while
thing goes on
those that ap
material wealth
oie st,
20g
On
Jools
one
© stad
0%
4 3%»
ot
thought it worth rson
illusi under
ings of the new ncthinz is
except the brute money. If
we can soon close al artreents ct our unive
ply the principles of physical scien » the product
or its equivalent.
tirat
of
really
this
except
of
rsitics,
ion
IN STYLE,
n ‘elbow sleeves and elbow gloves
sAnd elhow
dhe's clad just
€ sure of .
feels uncomfortable
Bene: h her lord.
sight, but
la’ mode.
other doves,
She and stiff
what's the diff?
waftsts n n¢ vorkk hose
$8 Knows,
odds?
Courier-Journal,
Him—I would
Would you? Weil;
only chance there is
one.—Clev
Her—
about the
bhecom-
for you!
that’s
of us two
ing veland
“That fisherman
talking
about the :
“He
Miss
them.”
tiem,
whoppers
aiswered
merely telis
Lhe m,
quite
this.
City visttor-—1
a little idle gossi !
The Posgnaste ride? ?
it! Works eighteen
never
Lit
idle
takes. a holids
tle
theory ? such
woman
some money
ket tode Mr.
the dinn
Mrs. Wyss, reproas
plied Mr. Wyss
==J
Firs
ance d
“Again?”
hfully.
mournfully;
anno
dee
first
yer?
et him have it
what he
I
paid ne
Plain-Det
Alright ity Dollar:
of the Dol-
Who
“the
Zion
which
se be-
headline, “Rule
Jar, } suggested the inquiry,
origin } familiar phrase,
almighty dollar?” It was Was!
$ “the Creole Village,”
he published in 1837. The phra
so popular and excited so much
controversy in conscquence of a doubt
the adjective was irreverent
author had to explain eighteen
that irrev-
ven to dollar, which he
is well aware is more
and more an object of worship.” “Dol-
certainly onc of the world’s
eat words now, and it is difficult
realize that it only means “valleyer,”
“thaler’” having been named uf-
the Je himsthial, in Bohemia, in
valley it first coined in the
century.—New York. World.
Irving
came
whether
that its
vears later he intended “no
erance, ¢ 1
becoming daily
lar’ is
10
ithe
ter
whose
sixteenth
A Step cn the Ladder.
sident of large
i] corporations is
The
by
Assistant to the
railroad and inc
becoming a recognized
position one 1
young men of brains and
for the duties educate them for the
presidency itself, Although the rani
is usually below that of vice p
the opportunities for
ness and administrative methods
unique ,especially if the president be
well over in years and inclined to re-
linquish some of activities. The
sons of railroad magnates and of
financiers of large caliber are finding
their way into positions. for by
this means the dg y of imbing
from the botto: the lad-
der is obviated.— Journal
of Commerce,
oflice
after
influence,
is sought
resident,
learning busi
are
his
these
up
A Malign Wife.
He—Do there is t
grand bail for 1d 1 am
ng of taking :
danced for charit;
She—~Certainly.
member that
engaged I never
tions >—Translated
Tales from “Il
you know
charity, ¢
you.
think-
ever
Io
Vv net re-
even fore Wo
were
invita-
-Atlantiv
ou
Alcild