I "FETTERS OF GOLD." t MB He Bat alone In the big luxuriously furnished library. The room was op presslvely still, but from without, through the closed double doors, came the faint strains of a languor ous waltz. A grim smile curled slowly round the corners of his mouth. It really was rather comic to make one's exit from the world to the sounds, not of a "Marche Funebre," but of dance music! He touched almost affectionately the revolver lying on the table In front of him. It was expensive, the lest of its kind, like everything else In this expensive house, it would not Blunder, it would do its work well. Just one pull at the trigger, and then ah! respite from misery, freedom from care eternal sleep. He leaned back in his chair and his yes strayed, half mechanically, to the little Sevre3 clock on the mantel piece. Half past eleven. In another thirty minutes at midnight he had nade up his mind to die. Leaning back with half closed yeB, ho thought over his past life. It is said that the Oying and he, urely, was practically that some times see their whole lives pass be fore them In full review, and now Be was seeing his. He saw it all from the very beginning. The child hood in his grandmother's log cabin n the bleak Irish bog; the flight, as lad of slsteen, to England, because, tn his miserable home he had been treated worse than a dog; the pov erty, the hardships, the marriago, when he was barely twenty, to a girl f seventeen, and then. Just as If the young wife had acted as a mascot as, laughingly, in those days he had often told her that she had the gradual turning of his luck. lie had "struck i!e," as the vulgar saying expressed it, and the man who had been little better than a beggar at twenty hr.d, at forty, become a mil lionaire. A millionaire! lie opened his eyes nd glanced the grim smile still on his face round the splendid room. Who would have thought that the poor, beaten, half-starved little urchin of the log cabin was going to Blossom out, some day, into a busi ness genius? And who would have thought, too and tho smile grew grimmer that the man who had roved himself to have such a splen did talent for organization, such a wonderful "grip" of his trade, would be a fool at gambling, and fritter is i.ist fortune away? His fingers strayed again to the weapon which was to bring him his Ireedom. To-night nobody knew any thing; to-morrow it would be in all the papers that John Dolan, the mil lionaire, was ruined. His ruin had been creeping upon him stealthily for years. He had gambled foolishly, heartlessly, reck lessly. He had Been everything, all the woney that he haJ striven for, in weuC and blood, slipping from his grasp and he had not cared! And why bad the wealth, which he had ipent the best years of his manhood In striving for, proved such dust and ishes to him that, when he lost it, he did not mind? A look of intense bitterness crept Into his eyes. Ah! he had loved her, the pretty village maiden he had made his wife! They had been happy It the poor little poverty-stricken home happier far than he, at any rate, had ever been in Grosvcner square. And then? Then the money kad begun to come in, and they had drifted apart, Mary had such a big house now to attend to she had her visitors, her gayetics, her numerous rounds of what she called her "duty" calls. It takes three generations to nake a gentleman, they say; it only lakes'about three years, he reflected half humorously, halt bitterly, to make a lady. He bad never been a gentleman never would be one, he knew and he remembered his sud den feeling of amazement, of shock, when he had seen his wife on the occasion of her presentation at court. Mary, at twenty, had been shy, awk ward, a typical country miss, nothing more; at thirty, she had the ease and graclousness of a young queen. She had carried herself, superbly; her P.ttle head on -which the diamond $ra had seemed to him to twinkle with mocking derisive eyes was poised proudly on the slender throat She wore her court train, her feath' Jrs, as if she bad been accustomed to such gorgeous raiment all her life, Mary had very soon adapted herself to the role of grand dame. And then the children! In the cot tage home they had been a never ending source of delight. Well he remembered how he came back in the evenings tired from his work, they would meet him in the doorway, these four beings whom he loved; the baby crowing on Mary's shoul der; Harry, the boy; Molly, the eld est girl, clinging to her skirts. Then, after tea, they would gather round the fire, and, with Mary fitting be side blm, her soft arm round hl9 aeck, they two would talk eagerly of the business which he had Just in an humble way begun to start, and make plans half Jokingly of the won. derful things which thejr were going to do "when they got rich!" Harry, the boy, should be ncnt to a good chool he had always sorely felt the lack of education in his own life, and determined that, If wealth evor did come to him, his son should not Buffer in tho same way. Molly and Daby the darlings, they were so pretty! they should have the love liest frocks that money could buy, they had actually been realized! Harry had had a good education, and, in his first term at Harrow, he had realized bitterly that his son de spised him. Ho was "common," and Harry was a gentleman made so by his gold; and now that the Harrow days were over and a crack regiment had been entered by the idle, good-for-nothing young mnn, who would never have had the brains or the energy to make the fortuno which his father had, ho knew that he was despised still more. Molly and Daby Kathleen she was called now had had the "love Host frocks that money could buy." They had inherited their mother's beauty, while "poor papa's bour- geolse," as they called it, had been fortunately left out. Molly was mar ried to the eldest son of a peer; Kathleen, the younger girl, was ex pected to make an equally brilliant match. There had been a rich young American at her feet all the season; In the few hurried conversations which, In her whirl of social distrac tions, Mary found time to have with him, she had told him that it was "to bring the thing to a satisfactory climax" that this ball was belne given to-night. Well, they were well provided for those whom he was leaving behind. If they were going to be left help less he would not have clone it would not have recklessly gambled away his fortune, would not have thrown away his life but they were left with settled proBpects. Harry's money had been settled on him when ho came of age; nobody could touch Young Man, Be a Farm-Owning Farmer. 1 Bishop Fitzgerald.of the MethodiBt Episcopal Church, South, says: "The land owners ot a nation will rule it. There has been no ex ception to this in the world's history up to date. When the people of the South sell and leave their landa and huddle together In large masses as employers aud operatives, their numbers may be in creased but their quality deteriorated. The man who reads only the daily paper, and talks only the Binall talk ot the passing hour, will never think like Thomas Jefferson or speak like Patrick Henry. The life of a farmer Is especially favorable -to a noble manhood. Men living thus on their own farms take time to think. They also pre serve their individuality. The sharpening process takes away Just bo much of breadth. Too much grindstone proves especially fatal to thin material. Tho great Americans have been in the most instances country bred. Hold on to your lands. Put' in some of your spare time in Improving them. There is no fairer land on earth than this. Don't go farther to fare worse." ;; ; This Is tho truth plainly told. No better advice was ever given by any man. Many of our young men will live to regret the day they forsook the farm of their fathers for the city. that; the girls would have wealthy husbands, and Mary A shadow fell across the stern, grave face. Mary was a beautiful woman, she was fairly young under fifty still sho would marry again: Doubtless after the first shock was over, she would ba glad to be -re leased from the "common husband ot whom, ho had gucased long ago, she was ashamed. The clock on tho mantelpiece chimed out 12. Without a moment's hesitation, he stood up. With his right hand he raised the revolver to his temple. The door opined, and his wife came Into the room. Quick as lightning he hid the dead ly revolver behind his 'jack. Anx iously, he searched her face. No, she had not seen the revolver, had not surmised what he was going to do. "John, I have come to fetch you. Is It not rather rude for you to hide yourself in here, away from all your guests?" Sho came slowly toward him. Yea, Mary was certainly a most beautiful woman a young looking woman, too. In her white brocade dress, diamonds shimmering on her neck and In her hair, she looked almost like one of her own daughters. And yet he had loved her best In the sun bonnet and pink frock. He looked at her angrily. Why had she interrupted him? And then he almost laughed. Good heavens! Ho must loathe this "too, too solid flesh" ot his', Indeed, to te in such a hurry to make an end ot his life! He was only delayed only a few min utes he could kill himselt directly she had tone again. "I hate my guests," he answered. He spoke roughly. "What do they come for? To feast in my house, drink my champagne, and laugh at me behind my back directly they have left!" "John! I wish you would not talk like that. You won't come to the ballroom, then?" "No." "Why not?" She looked up at him. He soft ened a little at the sweet wistfulness of her face. After all, they had loved each other once. ' "I I am busy. I have something else to do just now." He clutched feverishly at the weap on behind his back. What a mercy that she had not seen It! She sighed. It seemed to him or was It fancy? that the wistfulness on her face deepened a little. A shadow fell across it, "That is what it has been for yeara, John. You have always been 'busy.' Making money, I suppose." He did not answer, and she moved to a Bofa and sat down. He noticed how the Boftly shaded electric lamp drew out the rich tints In her hair. have Bomethlng to tell you," she Bald, gently, "about Kathleen. I thought, as the girl's father, that yon would, perhaps, be interested" He laughed. "Kathleen herself has never be trayed the slightest Interest In, or affection for, me since sho was ten years old. Why should 1 be interest ed In her?" It was rather a cruel taunt, to the girl's own mother, but Mary Ignored it. She sat very Btlll, gazing straight before her, and he saw a tender ma ternal look Bteal over her face. "Young Vanderveldt has proposed to her to-night. Bho has Just told mj, I hope I hope the dear child will be happy." "There is small doubt of that, lie has tons of money, hasn't he?" Again ho laughed. Tha laugh'.-.1 sounded bitter and hard. His wife looked at Mm. Th-re was a halt puzzled, half reproachful expression in the large grey eyes. "Why do you talk like that, John? Why do you look so white, bo bo odd?" His laughter had died down, but it left a lingering smile cruel, mock ing on his lips. "Vou Interrupted me," he Bald, harshly; "your entrance Just now was was.ill timed." "What were you going to do?" The clear, steady eyes were still fixed on his face. There was something about Mary to-night her stillness, her gen tleness which, somehow, Irritated him. It acted on his already over strung nerves as a match applied to a torch. With a sort of bravado defiance he withdrew the revolver from behind his back and brandished It in front ot her face. "Blow my brains out!" he cried. It was cheap melodrama, but he had expected Mary to be impressed by It. He had expected her to scream pos sibly, faint. Instead, however, she sat quite still. Only the Budden whitening of her face, the sudden lit tle catch In her breath, betrayed that she had even heard at all. Then, suddenly, she got up from her seat. "Why?" she asked. He was amazed and, perhaps, a trifle disappointed at her coolness. Then a thought Btruck him. Mary thought that he was suddenly strick en with madness, and her attitude of calm coliectedness was tho one which .she considered wisest to adopt toward a lunatic, well, i.e would show her that his desperate words and action had not been the idle ravings of a maniac that he was in deadly ear nest. He laid the revolver down on the table, and causht hold of her hands. "Because I am ruined!" he said. The small hands, within his trem bled, but still Mary did not flinch stm tne lovely, gentle eves wera fixed calmly on his face. "Ruined!" he repeated, and his voice was low and hoarse. "Tuey think I am a millionaire, tho nennio dancing and feasting to-night in my nouse. To-morrow, the whole world will know that my monev la lncH t am a beggar!" "But how have you lost It?" He let go her handB suddenly, and threw his out with a gesture of de spair. He did not notice that, direct ly her hands were released, rhe snatched up the deadly weapon on the table and concealed It behind her back. "Gambling! Oh, you didn't know that I was a gambler, did you? For the last ten years I have been fritting my hard earned money away. ' I gam bled on t'. j stock exchange, on the turf, at Monte Carlo those annual visits which I paid there, when I al ways would go alone, were simply to Indulge my awful passion and I al ways always lost! " "But why in the name of heaven, did you do It?" She did not treat him to tears, abuses or reproach. She simply stood there calmly, and looked him straight la the face. Almdst unconsciously, he hung his head. Before, he had not been In the least ashamed of himself. He had thought his conduct taking In to consideration the fact that he was unhappy In his home perfectly Jus tified. Now well, some people might think that to ruin your wife and children by gambling, and then bring further diszrace on hm h committing suicide, the action of a brute and a cad. "Because oh, because I was mis erable, reckless, mad I did not can what I did! A man must go some where to find amusement, happiness, and I I found no happiness. In my own homo! " "Oh John!" At last she broke down. Her face worked, tears course 1 down her checks. " : "Mary!" he lifted his bowed tead. "You remamber the old dayTt, when1 we wore poor, how we longed to get rich? We did get rich, and I learned to curse yes, curse the money which forged fetters ot gold around my neck! What was money to me, do you think, when my children and my wife ah! especially my wife! were dally drifting away from me? You despised me! You, Mary, were able to take your place in society women adapt themselveB to their sourroundlngs far moro easily than men do and I 1 was not. So, now, I am best out of the way." The low, desperate voice broke off In a kind ot sob. He moved to the table for the revolver yes, he would do it now, in front of the woman who bad ceated to love him Tho weapon was not there. With a fierce exclamation he turned to his wife. Mary was breath ing heavily, liei face was deathlike, two little crimson drops she had bit ten her under lip till the red blood trickled down her chin. "Have you ever thought, when you had done this dreadful thing the children are provided for what was to become of of me?" "You are a beautiful wontin, Mary. I know plenty of men who admire you you will marry again." She made no reply it was as If she treated the remark with con tempt. She asked him something else. "When all your debts are paid all your affairs wound up shall I have any money?" "Very little." She drew cloce to him. He heard the soft rustle ot her gown; a faint, subtle perfume ot violets wafted across his face. "We lived on 'very little' once." He glanced at her, sharply. When had he seen that look before on Mary's face that look of tender hap piness ot love? Ah! he remem bered! On that summer evening, years and years ago, when he had asked her to be his wife. "And we were hnppy too." He stood as one struck dumb, gaz ing at Mary's radiant face, her shin ing eyes. "Far happier than wo have ever been since we were rich." The silence In tho room was in tense. The ticking of the little clock on the mantelpiece the only Bound which broke the stillness was like the beating of a heart. Suddenly, he felt a soft arm round his neck. "John! you never knew It, you were always so busy, you never seemed to have time to talk to your poor little wife but for years I I have hated the money, too. It was all right for the children they were young and had never known anything elBe; but we we were old folks, old fashioned" she smiled "and, what ever I might have appeared outward ly, I could never quite throw off the past. You thought the new prosper ity mndo me drift apart from you; well, I thought it made you dritt apart from me. You were always so occupied with your business, your affairs, which I was too stupid to un derstand. But now the money Is lost, and I am glad yes, glad! for to me, too" and there was a sob In the low, tender voice "It has been fetters round my neck, John! oh, my husband!-whom I have always loved better than any one else in the whole world! let us go back to the little cottage let us begin life over again. " She put the revolver back on the table she knew there was no more need to hide It and both the soft, clinging arms were round his neck now. And he was sobbing, with his gray head on her breast sobbing like a child. Yes, he would take up his life again that lite which he had so nearly thrown away and, once more, he would be happy, with the happi ness which only love can give. The Bystander. Misfires of Young Idea. Air usually has no weight, but when placed in a barometer It is found to weigh about fifteen pounds to a square Inch. If a small hole were bored In the top of a barometer tube the mer cury would shoot up In a column thirty feet high. A right angle is ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Hydrogen is colorless, odorless and insolvent. A cuckoo is a thing that turns from a butterfly into a moth. . Horsepower la the distance a horse can carry one pound ot water In an hour. The earth revolves on Its own ails 365 times in twenty-four hours. This rapid motion through space causes its sides to perspire, forming dew. University Correspondent. Fellow Churchmen. The late Rev. Dr. John Hall was once walking home from preaching at a Sunday night meeting out In the country. In the moonlight he saw a man lying drunk In the gutter, and going up to him gave him a shake. "Here!" he said; "it's a shame for a nice, respectable looking man like you to be lying in the gutter." The man opened his tipsy eyes and saw the long, black coat. "Are you a minister?" he asked. "Yes," said Dr. Hall, "come, get up." " "Presbyterian?" queried the Ineb riate. "Yes," was the answer, somewhat Impatiently. "I am." "Then," said the other, "help me up. I am a Presbyterian myseli." Philadelphia North American. Gloves were first seen in England dosing the reign ot Edward ll. FateJ Ridicule. By Winifred Blade. (VEbLrKNOWN and successful physician killed himself m rem Bylvanla tho other day because he couldn't stand the ridicule his friends. The physician had become Interested In an invention mad by an Ignorant cobbler and he backed the cobbler to a goodly amount of money, . m The Invention turned out to be a laliure, me coDoier wuo u. dreamed of being a millionaire went back to his cobbling and the physician who had believed in blm and tils Invention tried to go on with his work. Hut his friemla wouldn't let him. They had too good a chance to have some fun with a sensitive fellow crea ture bo they had It. ... 1 I The doctor stood the Jokes and the twlttlngs and tho satirical congratuIa tlons ot his friends lovely name, that word friend, isn't it? tt means o much in a case like this as long as be could and then he killed himselt to get out of the sound of their satirical laughter. I wonder If the friends who laughed this man to death sent a wreath ol rosea or a broken column of immortelles to the funeral of the man they mur dered. What a lot of Bavages there arc left In the world, after all! There are some people who never laugh except at some one's else dis comflture, embarrassment or distress. Nothing Is bo funny to them as a look of disappointment and chagrin on the face of one they know. Strange Idea of humor, iBn't It? Of course, it is folly to pay any attention to the satirical laughter of a mean-spirited acquaintance who loves to see you writhe under hla sarcasm. A really strong man would have laughed at the people who laughed at him. A really strong man would have stood the Jokes as long as he cared to, and then he would have given the Jokers some kind of a little surprise party of their own which would have kept them too busy to give them time to laugh o hard at him. A really great nature does not care much what the ordinary man or wom an .thinks of him. A really big man does what be thinks Is right and lets the world laugh or cry or frown or flatter him. This man who died was, of course, weak and over-sensitive, but for that very reason I think I should hate to be one of the people who drove him to an unhappy death; wouldn't you? New York American. & & & A Canadian Northwest Town As It Re&Jly s By Clifton Jolinson. HE village where 1 stopped was Just up above the Canadian line. w I I It had been recommended to me as "quite a busy little burg," but I I I could not see that It was very different from other small saw mill towns 1 nad observed irom tne car window as 1 went worm. There was the same cluster of wooden stores, saloons, churches, lodging houses and hotels, and a dribble of residences for a mile about. The dwelling that reached a full magnificence ot two Btorles was a rarity. Most people were content with one story, and the house was small at that. Newness and rawness were very apparent, and there was a good deal of the makeshift about the dwellings. All the home premises were snugly fenced, ami tho cows and horses were turned loose to browse in the public ways and along the railroad tracks and out Into the surrounding wilds to suit themselves. A large sawmill had burned the year before and had not been replaced. Many workers had therefore moved away, and certain saloons and lodging houses had closed their doors as a consequence. These buildings were now little short of ruinous, with shattered windows and other marks of, neglect and misuse that gave the place a touch of melancholy and decay. On my first day, aa I sat in the hotel office I made Inquiry about cqnditlons, and one man turned to another and said: "Well, Bill, the town's bavin' a little bit of a boom Just now, ain't It?" "Yes," replied Bill, "It booms nights. I've heard It; but I don't see much difference daytimes." "Why la It that your vacant buildings look so shaky?" I asked. "They can't be old." "I suppose," responded Bill, "It's because It ain't the habit of the country to build substantial. Even a nice appearin' building is apt to be cheap and thin-walled. The paint is -about all there la to It." The Outing Magazino, & m & The R&pid Increase Sidney Reeve. TIE ftllirtda r.lta nf Vow jf" I what It was in 18C0; by Indiana s rate, although generally lower than any of the others, la Increasing more rapidly than any of them. From I860 to 1900 It had multiplied Itself by three and two-thirds. In four years more this ratio had risen to seven and one-third! In other words, during each of the first four years of the new century, Indiana's sulclde-rate had increased by an amount almost equal to the entire suicide-rate for 1860! It la to be remembered, too, that this refers, not to the number of suicides, which would naturally increase with increasing popula tion, but to the number per thousand of population. It Is impossible to say Just bow far Indiana is better or worse than her neighbors in this respect, for the statistics are not equally complete for all. But to prove that this state Is not exceptional in its showing, the statistics for ten eastern States and several hundred cities scattered all over the land, aver aged together, show that the increase of sulclde-rate during the first four yeara of the century was 6.5, 4.4, 10.0 and 8.2 per cent, per annum respectively, a remarkably steady increase, averaging 7.3 per cent, per annum. For the four years taken together, Indiana's increase was almost exactly equal to the aver age for thla large territory above mentioned. But the following year, for which there are no available data from the larger territory, Indiana's rate Jumped 43.6 per cent, further, and during the first half ot 1907 was 55 per cent, greater than it was in 1904! v During these first four yeara of the century, Boston, alone among the cities, showed a decrease In suicide-rate. Yet from even this oasis in the. desert of despair comfort is denied us, for the result wa3 even then fifty per cent, higher than it had been In 1830. From the World To-Dday. & S3 Who Governs Korea ? By Prince Ito Hlrobuml. "JN the solution of the Korean problem, a man always a3ks thla rl TT I question: What power Is It that exercises the dominant control I Jl I over that people? What force is It that Is controlling the poll JLmJ tics ot the Koreans? Moreover, what is that invisible power (which one sees in every country controlling the life of a race) that shapes the destiny ot the Korean? Is it religion, or Is it- customs and habits? In my Judgment the majority of the Koreans are governed by the Chinese learning and the Chinese code of ethics. Beyond that, I do not see any in fluence that haa a particular power over th;m. In the interpretation of vir tues, politeness, righteousness, truthfulness, faithfulness, affection, and bo on, they find their criterion in the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. Even among the highly educated class of Koreans, education stops with the Chinese scholarship. Beyond that there Is nothing. Even those who style them selves scholars are by no means scholars In the professional And specialized sense. When you ask what are the thoughts and Ideas which govern this class, you will find that they are much like those young men in the closing days of the Shogunate In Nippon, who were governed by a few pamphlets and patriotic poems written by the thinkers of the time. They look upon Nippon as a barbarous country, they regard themselves as the civilized and enlighten-, ed race. As for tha common people end the farmers, they have no education or culture whatever. Harper'a Weekly. Woman's ITH the household as it is now made up, It is not psychologically a good thing for one person to be dependent upon the will ot an other and solely attached to his interests. No matter how per fectly a woman Is educated in the schools, she will not keep pace with men unless she has some concerns for which she Is primar ily responsible. This does not amount to saying that she must W be financially Independent, or a bread-winner, though there is na objection to that. But her life demands some first-hand reaction to the worlf for the sake of her character and Intelligence.. Under the pressure ot natural selection man made a tardy alliance with woman and the home In primitive times. He has used woman as a plaything, as a lay figure on which to hang his wealth; has bought her cheap ard bought her dear; but be has really ne r associated with her. gf Suicide Vnrtr Stfltn hnl honnma In 1Qfft 5 C ffmofl 1904 this multiplier had risen to four. Independence
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