A fre forgetting to offer to take s usual, until they had gone some distance and he made an awkward attempt to relieve her, dropping half of thém on the ground in his confusion. As he stopped to gather them up the ateful letter rolled out from between ed down the main 1d road he glanced guiltily back over the green fields where straight rows of to- bacco spread their broad leaves ripe for I woke A his | : Arindam <5 Ted, alked along, waiting for the cutting. There was deeper guilt im his ac €¢ cards In their respective heart, too, when he thought of the pro- : DIA vor tell 3 rv ject upon which he was bent. Never | the counter, “Air ye through tin’? : Did you tell Jack Crawford to put before had ne anything that he would have n ashamed to tell out in class-meeting at the little cross roads chapel where he was one of the younger leaders. Ti 1, gawky shadow he t along > white re seemed a sort nitory fi e of that better self that would fol him the rest of his life like an accusing angel. And it was all on account of a woman; not that she was to blame, except for the fact that she had soft white skin and fair hair, and the tiniest of feet that made his own seem monstrous, and the daintiest little figure, the kind that a big muscular fel- low like Wesley yearns to hold in his arms. Wesley had never been a ladies’ man until the school teacher came into the neighborhood but he had been captured from the evening he drove to the sta- tion and she had sat beside him in the little spring wagon during the five miles they had to go in the September twi- light. The scent of her gauzy handker- chief played about his senses for a week afterward; it was different from any perfume that had entered his nostrils, before acccustomed to the odors of “sweet basil,” marjoram, and a gen- erous sp ling of musk in the closely packed little chapel of Sunday mornings. Propinquity, that strong promoter of the tender passions, sealed his doom, for the school teacher boarded in his own house and came to bear upon him all the varied and wonderful charms of a woman, He felt himself the most highly fav- ored man in the universe to be able to live under the same roof with her, and to keep the little box behind the sheet- iron stove filled with wood sawed and split to a nicety, to handle a refractory boy behind the school house as an ex- ~agaple to all others who should dare to defy the.teacher’s anthority, and a hun- dred other offices that a big, strong man can perf for a young and fragile member of his household, that brought him unspeakable joy. So far, however, from believing these offices were gaining for him the desired favor, Wesley would have dispensed nnn “ MARRY A MAN JUST BECAUSE HE CAN WRITE "? ing in a half-dead condition upon the with half of his muscular power to re- place a deficiency that he feared would be an unsurmountable barrier between him and the young school marm. It was a common enough failing in the neighborhood in which Wesley lived, and six months before, the fact that he could not write his own name, would not have embarrassed him a great deal. Since the school teacher had come into his life, however, it had become a real thorn in the flesh. Vainly he struggled with the little imps of the alphabet in his room by candle light when all the other members of the household were wrapped in slumber; but the goal of his ambition measured a distance that was beyond the feverish impatience that pos- sessed him, Wesley had been trembling on the verge of a proposal many times and would have committed himself long ago but for this barrier. For the idea of addressing the school teacher in writing seemed to have fixed itself in his mind as being the only method of procedure through which he could hope for a re- ciprocation. So it was an overwhelming desire to settle his fate, coupled with a hopelessness of attaining the educational qualification of being able to pen his own epistle, that led him to procure the agency of another party, upon which errand he was bound this afternoon. The party he had. decided to utilize was one Silas Mansur, postmaster and general groceryman, combined; and as Silas was under obligation to him for a small loan, Wesley thought he might he glad to have it canceled in this way. He had chosen a time of the day when he would run the ‘east chance of en- countering loungers about the store, and sure enough the coast was clear and he pages of one of the books, and there was nothing for him to do but to ick it up and hand it to her. A shamed, side-long glance at her face his doom was to be set- seated on a high chair behind regaling himself with the d news that had come in. ,’ he greeted, reluctant- 1 | verdict like a hero. | pigeon holes as the visitor came behind | ind , tter my desk? > schoo I-I ain't clean thi gs | that lett 1) sk?” the school “Well, : Lad i ac [ ASKE( a ast. yarrassed answer— bu teacher asked, at : ast t ] 1 the eml for a] ittle spell, want fixed up, an’ I say. be the bes’ time of day to ketch you “Then T presume that you want my r 1 r “ly 1 - } 1 Sant Nell, ef it’s at little an, answer?” sas the next question deliv- n—" ered in a suppressed tone. is after pesterin you nowt ‘TI-T-—come here to git it,” Wesley esley interrupted, to the 4. svar 5 . - . 3 stammercd, other’s relief, and tattooing awkward] “re . s . 3 A ’ San ir Chen I'll give it to you now, and on the desk, he blurted out: it's just no!” she said bluntly, not “Si, I've come down here to git you| 3 Jit 300 She SAC Db ty , s 15 ’ ’ a ng ner pace « 1 OK r SLIe 1 to do sump'n I can’t do myself, an’ that's x her pace and looking straig to write a letter fer m ahead of her. “Oh, that's it, is it?” Silas asked, with| It came like a thunderbolt, even though | a grin, noticing the other's embarrass- [he was in a measure prepared. ment. “Well, I reck’n I kin ’commodate {| “Miss Elmira, I'm sorry, but—" you,” he added, taking his pen from be-| “I hate Silas Mansur, and he had no hind his ear. “Who's the lady?” eye-|business writing that letter,” she in-| ing Wesley suspiciously. terrup ¢ . ar: ™1 was all he could “I reck’'n you know,” was the answer, Wesley hung his head, his with a responsive grin to hide his em- | flushed to the roots of his hair. barrassed flush. “l didn’t know you'd be able to tell | Then as Silas began to drawl the|by the writin’, deed I didn’t; I reck’n | school teacher's name, writing it at the |it warn’t actin’ square, but Silas kin same time with many flourishes at the | write an—" top of the sheet he had spread before “I don’t care if he can write,” she in-| him, Wesley grinned broader, and con-|terrupted again. “Do you suppose I'm fessed with more blushes that that was | going to marry a man just because he | the young lady in question, can write; and after all, I'd rather mar- “Now about the beginning?” was Si’s | ry the man I loved if he couldn't write next question with his most professional | his own name than one I don’t care a air, making ready to start. “You kin |straw about, even if you are so anxious make it a little stronger by adding some | to make the match for Silas Mansur. | words on the next line.” Silas indi-|and I thought you'd be the last one oe cated with his pen the line below the one | She broke off with a sob, turning to upon which the lady's name was in-|dash away the tears that sprang to her scribed, for the benefit of the uninitiated | eyes. Wesley—"but that’s accordin’ to your in-| Wesley felt the earth slipping under tentions to the young lady.” He paused |his feet, the sky scemed a dazzling, | for Wesley to intimate. | crimson vortex whirling above him “Then you might make it a little |through the dark tree tops. stronger,” the other suggested sheepishly | “Miss Elmira!” he cried at last, “did | after a pause. | vou think that was Silas’s own letter? | “To the young lady that has my |for it warn’t, ’deed it warn’t!” he pant- heart, how is that?” Silas poised his pen |ed. “It was my letter, Miss Elmira, i iringly. {every word of it, only I got Silas to and as Silas waited for [ain't shamed fer you to know now, I further instructions he squirmed awk-|can’t write my own name.” wardly in his seat and began to wipe the 2 : he ‘ Samm—————— ff ——— perspiration off his face. “It’s kinder hard to know what to say Wild Geese Killed in Flight. when you ain’t exactly certain ’bout the The southern migration of wild fowl this winter was unusually late and re- sulted in many disasters. The wild geese are reported from the northwest to have been especially severe sufferers. The large black-headed goose is a strong, hardy bird, generally remaining on its own native water until the ice forms firmly. In the South it is only a visitor for the winter months. Born on some lake beyond the northern wa- tershed, or perhaps on some inlet in Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean, its heart is ever loyal to the land of its birth. Sometimes, when the cold weather sets in late up North, as in all proba- bility it has this year, the wild geese suffer from their devotion to their na- tive place. They may at this late season fiy right into a streak of real winter, with driving snow to blind their vision and bitter frost to halt their flight. If there is storm, their way leads right through it, until the leader’s eyes are closed by the freezing of the snow about its head or its feathers become too heavy weighted. When the sight has gone and the birds are wearied, it is easy to see how misleading is much of the talk about the leadings of an extra sense. Like a ship without a rudder, the V-shaped flock will make for any low places. Once a flock came tumbling into the street of an Eastern townships village, where the half-blinded things became the easy prey of the boys and the dogs. In another place a farmer chanced one spring to find the frozen carcasses of more than thirty fine geese in a drift in one of the fence corners. The birds had evidently come to earth in some blinding storm, and, imagining they were nearing water, found instead the hard, snow-covered ground. There are several instances recorded of flocks of geese in a storm running full tilt into the ends or sides of farm buildings. A large brood flew at full speed against the rigging of the whal- ing steamer Dart this month off the Newfoundland coast. A damp, snow- laden wind was blowing at the time, and eleven dead or dying geese flut- tered on to the deck, the others alight- waves. young lady’s feelin’s,” he stammered,] A more pleasing story is of domestic “but I like that beginnin’ an’ I reck’n |geese in a large, well-appointed farm- vou kin put it more fancy like; but I|vard hailing with their hearty honks, want you to be sure to say I’m waitin’ |a short time ago, a passing drove of for her answer very patient, an ef she'll | twenty-two black bills. The strangers say yes, I'll be the happies’ manin|came down and followed their tame re- Chinkapin Hundred, an’ ef she says no, | lations into the stable, where they have it'll drive me to do what it will hurt her | since stayed. Tell her I'm able to take kere of her, that I'm workin’ the place on sheers this year, but pa, he’s promised to deed Re-=Using 01d Shoes. me a strip of lan’ down by the fur gate, an’ ef she ain't a mind to live with the old folks I'll build her a house on my own lan’, an’ say I'll make her a sober, industrious lssband, an’ ’1l treat her like the apple of my eye, which she is, an’ ever will be, even if she don’t recip- ercate my affections, an’ then you kin win’ up, Si,” he finished, taking the first breath, “only as I'm partic’lar ‘bout reese. Janitors collect the shoes cast away by tenants and send them to auction rooms, where they are sorted into piles marked “Men,” “Women,” “Children.” In a recent sale in ope of the big cities, says the “Shoe Re®8er,” several poor people made fair b¢ ,, but the auctioneer did not seem eager to sell. Finally, a red-faced man pushed his om : way through the crowd and offered 10 folks signin’ other folk’s name, suppose |qonts apiece for the whole lot. His bid you jes say good-bye, my angel, till I|.q successful. hear from you, an’ that'll do.” “I was killing time with talk waiting It seemed an age before Wesley had | gr that fellow,” said the auctioneer converted all this in a sure enough let- | afterward, . “He always pays high for ter, even taking into consideration the |these shoes and he does not want them beautiful flourishes with which it was | for wearing, either. He wants to beat embellished, and he had it in his coat|them out for the leather in them He pocket on his way to deliver into the| gets what material there is puts it hands of the school teacher. Then it through a process and makes stamped seemed another : after he had in-| frames, bags, pocketbooks, penknife trusted it to the care of one of the holders, and even chair backs and seats. school children and watched through the | He finds a ready sale for these novel open window to be sure it was laid on| ties and gets a good price for them.” the teaclier’s desk, before school was let ———— i — face, but began to walk | SUCCESSFUL WOMAN BUILDER. | She is not notable for home-staying or dded approvingly. “That's | write it fer me, ’cause—'cause,—well, I| ee Mrs. Theodos a Beacham, of Michigan BIG FUR SCARF, Enterprising Railroad Lontractors All There are few fields of endeavor in which woman has not acquired a foot- hold. She is conspicuous in the arts, sciences and professions and she makes her preseficéfelt in trade, Yet it is believed that>one of the few of her sex to essay and succeed in railroad contracting and eonstruction is & Mich- igan woman—Mr§. Theodosia Beacham. house-keeping ‘qualities, for her busi ness calls for her presence in’ many parts of the United States and she has to deal with vast engineering prob. ; lems—felling forests, tunneling moun- Wd A tains, bridging gorges, entting through . ¥ and Bag] A, TRUEB A No STAR SAFE 8 READE S\ { MRS. THEODOSIA BEACHAM, y lo Thy Cwanvaat #2 anager of Men. a hills. 611i Mage and tamp- | move as anraffled as if, instead 4 Siig Rag fbi Tails. The work |ing his doom, he: had received demands that she be a skiliful man 3 : to dine And dis Jo ager of men. She knows man as few Cressy dgctor SN I sth women do—she directs their energies, | tie—chesshard the news 1 gets out of them the most work pos-|been condemnedyto death, sible, pays their wages, employs or dis-|ed his move and\Was charges them. Men, mules, steam |in the ‘game before the mn shovels and dynamite are her obedient | had time to withdraw. agents. Necessarily she is a financier, i talks and figures in the hundred thou- New Chinese Methods sands and the millions as readily as han Chun Man, head of a most men talk of dollars. In the par-|firm employing over ten thousand lance of the street she long ago made | has heen studying American indd her stake and today is accounted the ||, Philadelphia, apropos of the C richest woman in Michigan and one of | awakening, he id:' “China ha the very rich women of the world. | thousands of years been highly She has made estimates and carried | ivilized to despise war. Her ng out contracts on some of the longest | respect for war is not an’ unmix and heaviest pieces of railroad con-| There is, perhaps, a little of struction in the country. Though her/* occupation is strenuous it would d& 3 Mrs. Beacham rank injustice to s& f nations more warlike that it has roughened her. There | t will no longer be possi a certain set of determination and firm as a Chinese general ness about her features, but her mar, defeat with the follg ner is feminine, and so are her tastes e ignoramit enet She is such a good judge of men that = —f "0 11 ot be fir she rarely has any trouble with them \ Géct bel ind them came and it is not often that an employer \2 lear and thus rende is so genuinely popular with employees ees 337 as Mrs. Beacham. non use es Mrs. Beacham has been making and She Bested the B executing railroad contracts for twen- The great oDArE=c) ty years. She has two sons Claud and ig Bre Hg ope Erwin and her husband, though living who was married to is an invalid. tenor, was singing 1 tli Much of this remarkable woman’s| .h¢ emperor, the father of Th down pat Fnsuring su- work has been done in the southern Czar gave Mme. Grisi permi sion to stein, png states where railroad building has gone walk in his private park. One morning snp action, Fobouding lock, walnut forward with Titantic strides in the |the emperor met Mme. Grisi, accompan- | || Siee8, Mire Bash d's In here: last two decades and where a vast|icd by two little girls. The emperor Patines ion hull ne Ln amount of building is now under way. saluted her and said: “Are these two taken down, instantly Into two ploces. On one contract with the Tennessee |Grisettes?” “No, your majesty,’ replied Big pimpin i hs sesso Central railroad, Mrs. Beacham’s profit Mme, Grisi, “these are two Mesione i Successful Farming, “es an, Ts ! was $80,000, and it is calculated that |ettes. i J] her average annual earnings are about ie $50,000. The contract which she is now engaged ih executing is the con- Br Iv Jol of fuel foo ) He Has Thrown Away His Bottles and Scales is part of a contract for one hundred “of barbarism, “in it. But will no longer be the miles of the coal mine to sea rail- WN and uses the N. P. C. C. Photographic road which was secured by Sands and " Oliver of Richmond. These contrac- ( , Preparations only. <t We do the tors sublet a short stretch of the work NN weighing and you add the watg to Mrs. Beacham. y At present she is employing only 3] NO) NE-Y) i MET/L-HYDRO Sabout one hundred and Sy men but SAN The ofl standby 1e proper control of this force and r : ix : the purchase of the necessary supplies : DEVELOPER bes, xX king lcalls for the exercise of no little ex- Non-poisonous and will not stainthe | © ve oper ecutive ability. fingers. 35cents for six tubes, sufficient | N.[P.C. ——— een for 24 ounces developerfor Velox, Cyko; | Blackfand - ” Rotox and other developing papers, or | paper m'ay be Royal Quarrels Over Chess. 60 ounces plate or film developer. Be King Edward, we are told, is devel- “ oping an enthusiasm for chess. In that | NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC € case, according to a writer in Tid-Bits, he is only following in the steps of lith Street and Pa. Ave. fas ~~ NNSA many of his predecessors on the throne, including his namesake, the first Ed- ward. Says the writer: Whether or not players were more a irascible in those old days than now, it SUC is a curious fact that chess was often more stimulating to the royal tempers The Great Home Mag than is golf in these latter days, and makes this unequaled offer for a limited tim many a game peacefully begun ended EVER before in all our wide experience have we been ina position to make a bod in broken heads. When Prince Henry Honal vale, The Continental Enoycl opedia hus been edited, illustrated, p —afterward Henry I.—once paid a vis- It 18 comprehensive in scope, complete in topics, systematic it to the court of France, “he wan so sot welgha Teaily si pounds, 18 seven and one halt much at chesse of Louis, the king's | [I fouseh an ecoupietn helt spacet seni ches eldest sonne, as he, growing into chol- junct to business and most essential to home study. ler, called him (a naughty name) and OE Ep uch r threw the chesse in his face. Henry ; takes up the chesseboar and strake Louis with that force as drew blood, and had killed him had not his brother Robert come in the meantime and in- terposed himselfe, whereupon they sud- denly took horse and gat away.” King John in his younger days had a similar experience; for a game of chess in which his opponent was one Fulk Warine ended in a royal row, during which Fulk gave the prince “so griev- ous a blowe as almost to slaie him on the spot.” John never forgot the blow por forgave his iracible opponent, ‘and punished him, when later he came to the throne, by withholding his heri- tage— Whittington castle—from him. William the Conqueror more than Edited by CHAR once lost his temper over the game, of the staff of the Encyclopm and on at least one occasion with ser- Hora ious consequences. He was playing Over sixiyfive thousand tmiborta with the son of the king of France Nar Pac Sas: And eco] when a dispute led to hot words, and Alaskan Boundary Decision—al culminated in William bringing down work, In short, here is much la ard: enh : Vx tne ’ in many a much nie pretentious v the board so heavily on his opponent's the farmer, the g onal man jhead as to render him unconscious, reference work ¢ IN Louis XIII. of France was so infatu- information ated with the game that wherever he non-espentials Y : ! WE went he was accompanied by his chess- Eight V Is., Strongly and Rig out, though at last when he saw the children pouring out the door, the pret-| There is a cherry stone at the Salem, ty school marm bringing up the rear, a| Massachusetts, 2 useum whic. con- real stage fright possessed him. tains the fac-similes of one dozen gil- | The idea of flight presented itself, but| ;.. gpoons, They are so small that he dismissed it with a manly determina- thelr tYabe and finieh. oop only Bs & tion, to stand his. ground.” When’ the | 120i $12be and Lniga can only ba 0.8. teacher came up by him he could not! tinguished by the microscope. | {once his game was interrupted by news that the Scots had decider! to sell him to : \ 3 ‘We will se; board and men and invariably played it press charge . y re in his coach when he took drives x 5, and if youl abroad. Charles I. found it so fascin- paid you ating that he ahnost literally played it Fill out this cot to the foot of the scaffold; and when TO-D This offer is limited A e parliament he proc:eded with his
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers