Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 September 1887 — Page 2

TJETB INDIANAPOLIS JOCJRNAX. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER

o 1887 TWELVE PAGES.

Printed by Special Arraogement with Author

TEXAR'S REVENGE BY. JULES VERNE. A Story of the American Civil War.

CHAPTER XXIV. FROM CAMDLESS BAY TO LAKE WASHINGTON. It was cot till just upon midnight tbat Gilbert and Mars returned to Castle House. Great bad been their difficulty in getting out of Black CreeK. When they left the blockhouse night bad began to fail in the valley of the St. John's Mjd beneath the trees of the lagoon the darkness iras complete. Mars took the boat back among the shoals and islets, guided by a sort of instinct, without which ne would never hare reached the river. Tweuty times and more bad he to stop before a barrier be could not pass, and return by the way he had tome in search of a practicable channel. He had to lisrbt resinous pine knots, and stick tbem in the bow of the boat, so as to throw some light on his course. The difficulty was greatest where be had to find the only mouth by which the waters joined the St John's. The gap in the reeds by which they had entered a few hours before proved unrecognizable; but luckily the tide was ebbing, and the boat floated out with the stream. Three hours afterwards they were at Camdless Bay. At Castle Bouse neither James Burbank nor his people had gone to bed.. They were waiting an xiously for their long-delayed return. Gilbert and Mars came back every night, why had they cot come cow? Had they found a clew? At last they arrived, and, as they entered, all in the room rushed toward them. "Well, Gilbert?" said James Burbank. "Father, Alice was not mistaken. It was Tex a r wbo carried off my sister and Zermab." "You have the proof V "Read!" And Gilbert held out the scrap of paper with the few words in the half-breed's writing. "Yes," continued he. "Doubt is no longer possible. It was the Spaniard! And he took or caused to be taken his two victims to the blockhouse at Black Creek. There they have been living isolated from all. A poor slave to whom Zermah had trusted this paper, that it might reach Castle House, and from whom she doubtless learnt that Tezar was taking them to Carneral Island, has paid with his life for his devotion. We found him dying, stabbed by Tezar, and now be is dead. But if Dy and Zermah are not at Black Creek we know at least where they have gone. They are in the Everglades, and there we must find them. Tomorrow we must start." "We are ready, Gilbert." "Then to-morrow let it be." Hope had returned. There would bow be do fruitless endeavors. Mrs. Burbank, being told of what bad happened, began to revive; and she had strength enough to riao from her bed and kneel and thank heaven. Accordlug to Zermab, itwasTexar in person who had besn in command at the capture at Marine Creek. He it really was whom Alice bad seed. But how could this be reconciled with the Spaniard's alibi? How could he have been a Federal prisoner at the time the crime was committed? Evidently the alibi was false What was the secret of Texar's ubiquity? It mattered little after alL It had now been ascertained that the half-breed and child bad been taken first to the blockhouse at Black creek, and that they had now goue to Carneral island. There they must seek for them; there they must take Tezar by surprise. This time nothine mnot hinder rhem from visiting hirn with the just punishment of his crimes which he bad so long deserved. And there was not a day to lose. From Camdless bay to the Everglades the distance was considerable. The voyage would take many days. Fortunately the expedition had been organized carefully, and was ready. Carneral Island was shown by the map3 to be on Lake Okee cho bee. The Everglades are a marshy region bordering on Lake Oke cho-bee, a little below the twenty-seventh parallel, in the southern part of Florida. From Jacksonville to the lake was about four hundred miles. And it was a rarelyvisited district; in fact, at this epoch, it was almost unknown. If the St. John's had been navigable to its source the journey would not have been a difficult one, but there was every chance that they would only be able to sail up it for one hundred and seven miles; that is, to Lake George. Beyond that the road would be ohoked with islands and shoals, the channel might even sometimes at ebb tide be dry, and a hoavily-laden boat would under any circumstances find it difficult to pass. If it were possible to reach Lake Washington, in about the twenty-eighth degree of latitude, the end would be near. But it was only wise to prepare for a journey o.f two hundred and fifty miles across an almost deserted region, where there were no means of transport and no likelihood of provision. On the 20th of March the expedition mustered at the landing-place. James Burbank and bis son had said good bye to Mrs. Burbank, who was not able to leave her room. Mr. Stannard and bis daughter and the assistant overseers were there, and Pyg had come to bid farewell to Mr. Ferry, for whom he, strange to say, had a great regard. He remembered the lessons he had received as to the inconveniences of a liberty for which he was not ready. The expedition consisted of James Burbank and bis brother-in-law, now cured of his wound, his son, Mr. Perry, the overseer. Mars, and a dozen negroes chosen from the most devoted of those on the estate in all, seventeen. Mars knew enough of the St John's to serve as pilot below as well as above Lake George. The blacks were all experienced boatmen, and, when the current or the wind failed, could handle the oars to good purpose. The boat one of the largest on the plantation, would be worked under sail whenever the wind was favorable. She carried arms and ammunition sufficient for James Burbank, aud his companions to fear nothing from either the Seminole bands or Texar's companions. Gilbert embraced Alice, and James Burbank clasped her to his arms as if she were already his daughter. "Father Gilbert," she said, "bring back to us little Dy! Bring me back my sister." "Yes, dearest Alice, yes! we will bring her back. May heaven protect us!" Mrs. Stannard, and Alice, and the assistant overseers, and Pyg remained at the landingplace till the boat put off. Tbey signaled their last adieus as before the northeast wind, and served by the flowing tide she disappeared behind the little point at Marine creek. It was about G o'clock in the morning. An hour afterwards the boat passed the village of Mandarin, and it was nearly 10 o'clock when, without having had to take to the oars, she was off Black creek. All hearts beat as they ran by the left bank of the river through which its waters flowed. It was behind those clumps of reeds and canes and mangroves tbat Dy and Zermah had first been hid. It was there that for more than a fortnight Tezar and bis companions had so closely concealed them tbat all trace of tbem bad been lost. Ten times had James Burbank, and Gilbert, and Mars passed by that lagoon without thinking for an instant that the old blockhouse might be their prison. . This time there was no reason for stopping. Their search took them now hundreds of miles

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to the south, and the boat passed Black creek without even stopping. The first meal was taken together. The boxes contained twenty davs' provisions, and there were a number of packages ready to be carried when the journey had to be continued overland. And there were the necessaries for camping, either by day or night, in the thick woods with which the river banks are clothed. At 11 o'clock, when the tide turned, the wind remained favorable, but the oars bad to be taken to keep up the speed. The blacks bent cheerily to their work, and propelled by ten vigorous pairs the boat rapidly ascended the river. Mars sat silently at the helm, taking the boat without hesitation through the channels among the islands and islets with which the river is dotted. Where the stream was weakest he took his way without hesitation. Never did he enter an impracticable channel; never did he risk grounding on any of the shoals which the ebb would soon leave dry. He knew the river no to Lake George as well as he knew it below Jacksonville, and he piloted the boat with as much certainty as he had piloted Stevens's flotilla over the bar. Hereabouts the St. John's was deserted. Since the capture of Jacksonville the trading boats on the river had been stopped, and there was no vessel on the river except for the use of the troops or under the orders of Commandant Stevens. Above Picolata, even, these wonld probably have disappeared. About 6 o'clock in the evening Picolata was reached. A detachment of Northerners occupied the pier. The boat was hailed and had to run alongside. Gilbert Burban-k made himself known to the commanding officer, and showing the pass with which he had been furnished by Commander Stevens, was allowed to proceed. The halt lasted but a minute or so. The tide began to turn, the oarsmen stopped, and the boat under sail sped on between the woods that fringed. the stream. On the left bank the forest soon ended in a marsh. On the right the forest remained thick and interminable, and they would have it with them all the way to Lake George. At times it ran back a little, and fields of rice, and indieo, and cotton filled up the stretches in front, and bore witness to the fertility of the Floridan peninsula. A little after 6 o'clock a bend of the river shut out the view of the red tower of the old Spanish fort, which, for a century and more, bad been abandoned. "Mars, ? asked James Burbank. . "you are not afraid to keep to the river during the nicht?" "No. sir," said Mars. "I can answer for myself all the way to Lake George. Beyond that we shall see. We have not a moment to lose, and as Ionic as the tide serves we had better take advantage of it I think we might as well carry on night and day." There was tio occasion to regret this decision. All night tbe boat'keot on ber way; when the tide failed the oars were got out. Neither that night nor the following, nor the day of the 22d of March, nor the next twelve hours were marked by any adventure. The upper course of the river seemed to be quite deserted. The route lay through a loner forest of ancient cedars, whose leafy masses Again and again came close to the bank and formed a thick bower of verdure. Villages they saw none. Plantations or isolated habitations there were none. The banks of the river showed no trace of cultivation. On the 23d, at daybreak, the river broadened out into a wide stretch of water, bordered, as usual, by the interminable forest The country became very flat and opened out till the horizon was miles away. They had reached the lake which the St John's traverses from south to north, and from which it drains a part of its waters. "Yes," said Mars, "this is Lake George, which I came to when I was with the expedition to the upper river." "And how far are we from Camdless Bay?" asked James Bnrbank. "A hundred miles," said Mars. "That is not a third of the distance to the Everglades," said Carrol. "Mars." said Gilbert, "what are we to do now? Are we to leave the boat and take to the bank? That will be a slow, laborious affair. When we are through the lake, cannot we keep to the water as long as it is navigable? Shall we try it. keeping ready, of course, to take to the shore as soon as we run aground? We might as well try it What do you think? "We will try it, Mr. Gilbert" And they could not have done better. There would be time eeoueh to take to the land. To keep to the water meant the saving of much fatigue and deTay. And the boat headed out across the lake, keeping the eastern bank well in view. , Round the lake the vegetation is not so luxuriant as by the river-side. Extensive marshes stretch away almost out of sight Some portions of the soil, leF3 exposed to the invasion of the waters, are carpeted with black mosses, from which spring violet clouds of tiny fungi growing in millions. Only the waterfowl could venture across these marshes, and they were alive with infinite numbers of teal, and duck, and snipe. If the expedition ran short of provisions, here was enough to fill the vacancy without difficulty. But to follow the game on land they would have to risk meeting with armies of dangerous snakes, whose hissings could be even heard in the boat, and whose-ravenous enemies, the white pelicans, rose in flocks along the margin of the lake. The boat slipped along rapidly under sail, with the wind from the north. The breeze was so fresh that the oars were not needed throughout the day, and when evening came the thirty miles which Lake George measures from north to south bad been traversed without fatigue. About 6 o'clock James Bnrbank and his men had reached the lower angle by which the St John's enters the lake. If they stopped and the stoppage was only to take breath for half an hour at the outside it was because three or four houses formed a villace at this place. These were occsnpied by some of those nomadic Floridans who devote themselves chiefly to hunting and fishing at the beginning of the season. At Carroll's suggestion it seemed opportune to ask for information relative to the passage of Texar. Oneof the inhabitants was questioned. During the last few days had he seen a boat crossing Lake George towards Lake Washington; a boa t with seven or eight people, one a woman of color, and a little child of white birth? "Yes," said the man. "Two days ago I saw s boat like that." Did it stop hereT asked Gilbert "No! It kept on as has hard it could go to the npper river. I distinctly saw a woman with a child in her arms." "Mv friends," said Gilbert, "there is hope for ns! We are really on the traces of Texar." "Yes," answered James Burbank. "he is only forty-eight hours iu front of us: and if we can keep to the boat we shall gain on him." "Do you know the river about Lake George?" asked Carrol. "Yes, sir; I have been up it more than a hundred miles." "Do you think it navigable for a boat like ours?" "What does she draw?" "About three feet," said Mars. "Three feet," said the man. "That may do. If you take soundings as you go you will get into Lake Washington." "And then," said Carrol, "how far shall we be from Lake Okee cho bee?" "About a hundred and fifty miles." "Thanks, my friend." ''Let us get on board and keep to the boat till the water fails us." The men took their places. The wind had fallen as evening closed; the oars were got out and pulled with vigor. The narrowing banks began f disappear. At nightfall the boat had made many m.les to the south. There was no need to stop as they could sleep on board. The moon was almost full. The light was enough to steer by. Gilbert was at the helm; Mars was in front with along pole in his band, sounding all the time, and ordering the boat to starboard or port as occasion required. He touched ground only five or six times, and each time got oft without effort About four o'clock in the morning, when the sun rose, Gilbert estimated tbat at least fifteen miles bad been rowed during the night If the river continued navigable for a few more days, James Burbank's chances of success would be rnnch improved. But several serious difficulties arose during the day. On account of the windings of the river, there were many projectlog points in its course whtre. the accumulated

sands increased the number of shoals that had to be avoided. . The wide sweeps necessary to avoid these made the journey so much longer, and caused delay. The wind, although it did not shift, was brought round so by the windings of the stream tbat the sai could not always be used, but the blacks bent to their oars and did

their best to make up for lost time. And many obstacles were met with peculiar to the St. John's. There were the floating islands formed by a prodigious accumulation of that exuberant plant, the "pistia, which cer tain explorers have justiy compared to a gigan tic lettuce spread on the top of the water. 1 bis herbaceous carpet is solid enough for otters and herons to disport themselves on; but it would never do to run into each vegetable masses as withdrawal wonld not be easy, and so Mars did his best to avoid them. On the river banks the thick forest again had appeared. But now there were none of those innumerable cedars with their roots bathed oy the river. There were in their stead, quanti ties of pines, a hundred and fifty feet high, belonging to the Southern species, which found a favorable soil amid the inundated tracts known as "barrens." The mould there has a peculiar elasticity, so much so as to throw a man off his balance should be attempt to walk over it For tunately James Burbank's men did not make the experiment. The St. John's continued to carry them through the regions of lower Florida. The day passed without adventure. So did the night The river continued to be completely deserted. Not a boat appeared on the waters. In this there was nothing to complain of. Better to find nobody in this distant country than to risk disaster, for the backwoodsmen and professional banters of these parts are people to be treated with suspicion. And there were the militia from Jacksonville or St Augustine, whom Dupont and Stevens had driven to the South, who might be met with; and the meeting would have been still more undesirable. Among them Texar certainly had many partisans, wbo might attempt to avenge him on James and Gilbert Burbanlc. It was the object of the expedition to avoid fighting with every one except the Spaniard, and only to fight with him should he attempt to carry off his prisoners by force. Fortunately, James Burbank was so well served by circumstances that on the evening of the 25th of March he reached Lake Washington. There the narrowness and shallowness of the river brought the boat to a stop. Two-thirds of the distance had, however, been sailed or rowed, and James Burbank was now only a hundred and forty miles from the Everglades. CHAPTER XXV. THE GREAT CYPRESS FOREST. Lane Washington is about a dozen miles longs It is one of the least important lakes in this part of southern Florida. Its waters are not deep, and they are crowded with bushes and branches brought down by the stream from the floating fields, where the snakes are in such number.) as even to render the navigation dangerous. Like its banks, its surface is almost deserted, and seldom indeed is it that a boat from the St. John's ventures so far. At the southern end of the lake the river resumes its course, bending more towards the middle af the peninsula It is then little more than a shallow brook, its source being some thirty miles further south, between the twentyeighth and twenty-seventh degrees of latitude. Below Lake Washington the St. John's is not navigable. Much to the regret of James Bnrbank, the stream had to be abandoned, and the land road taken throuch a very difficult conntry, often no better than a marsh, through endless forests with the ground so cut up with rivulets and quacmires as to be almost impassable. The expedition landed. The weapons and bales of provisions were divided amongst the blacks. Every one knew his place, and there would be no cause for delay. All had been thought out in advance, and when a halt was called the camp could be pitched in a few minutes. Gilbert and Mars occupied themselves in biding the boat, so that it might escape the observation of any Seminoles or Floridans who might pass that way. Under the drooping branches of the trees by the bank, and among the gigantic reeds, i: was easy to find a fitting place of concealment There was another boat which Gilbert would have been glad to find that which had brongbt Dy and Zermah to Lake Washington. Evidently Texar must have abandoned it somewhere in the neighborhood. What James Burbank had been obliged to do the Spaniard must have done. And for some hours in the afternoon a search for this boat was made, in order to procure positive proof that Texar had reached Lake Washington. The search was in vain. The boat could not be found. Perhaps the Spaniard had destroyed it, thinking it would be of no further uje to him.'" How painful must the journey now become! There was no longer the river to save the woman and child from fatigue. Dy, carried in Zermah's arms, forced to follow the men wbo were used to such marches through this difficult country; the half breed subject to insults and violence, and beaten to hasten her steps, and falling often to save the child when thinking nothing of herself all this was pictured to the minds of those in pursuit As Mars thought of all this he grew pale with anger, and muttered to himself "I will kill Texar!" Would he were at Carneral island face to face with the villain whose abominable tnecbinations had caused such suffering to the Burbanks, and injured him more deeply by taking away Zermah, his wife. The camp was formed at the extremity of a small cape projecting northwards into the lake. It had not been thought wise to risk traveling into the forest during the night, and it was decided to wait for the dawn before the start was made. At 4 o'clock the signal to move was given. The bales and packages were distributed amongst half the crew, it being intended to work relays. All, masters and men, were armed with Minie rifles, loaded with a bullet and four buckshet. and Colt revolvers, which came into general use during the war of secession. Armed in this way they were equal to attacking Texar at the head of sixty of his men. It bad been decided to keep to the course of the river as! closely as possible. This would take tbem to the south in the direction of Lake Okee-cho-bee. It was a thread through the forest labyrinth, snd it was followed easily enough. Along the right bank was a sort of footpath, a towing-path, in fact, used by those who dragged their light canoes up stream. Gilbert and Mars went first; James Burbank and Edward Carrol brought up the rear: Perry was in the middle and every hour saw that the loads were changed. Bsfore the start a rapid breakfast had been taken, a stoppage was to be made at noon for dinner, and another a 6 o'clock for supper and camping, if matters did not look look promising for a night march. That was the programme and it was punctually adhered to. At Cr3t the road lay along the eastern shore of Lake Washington, low and flat, and almost on the move. Then the forest came on, but of slight extent compared to what it was to be. This forest was chiefly composed of thickets of log-wood with small leaves and yellow clusters, and with the brownish heart-wood so well known to dyers; then there were Mexican elms, guazumas with white bouquets, used in so many ways, and with a shade giving, it is said, a most obstinate cold. Dotted about were a few groups of cinchonas, here mere shrubs instead of magnificent trees as in Peru. Everywhere rose groups of bright colored plants, such as gentians, amaryllides and asclepias; all plants and flowers yellow or white in Europe being here of different shades of red and purple. Towards eveuing the thickets disappeared, to give way to the great cypress forest, which extends to the Everglades. Durine the day they had walked twenty miles. Gilbert asked of the negroes if they were tired. "We are ready to go on, sir," said one of them, answering for the rest "Are we not likely to go astray during the night?'' asked Edward Carroll. "No," said Mars, "we have only got to keep to the river." "And the night is clear," said the young officer, "the sky is cloudless; the moon will rise at 9 and last till day. Besides, th foliage of the cypress is not very thick, aud the darkness is not as great as in any other forest" So they made a fresh start. The next morning, after traveling part of the nicht, they stopped to breakfast at the foot of one of the huge cypress trees which can be counted in millions in this region of Florida. He who has not explored these natural marvels can hardly figure them to himself. Imagine a stretch of green more than a hundred feet above the river, with tree-trunks straight as towers, on whose tops it seems almost possible to walk. Below the ground is wet and marshy; the water in pools on the impermeable soil, round which and in which are crowds of frogs and toads, and lizards and scorpions, and spiders, turtles, snakes, and aquatic birds. Above the pools flash. like shooting stars, bright plumaged orioles: in the trees leap squirrels and gather parrots, who fill the forest" with their noisy screeches. A curious country it is, and difficult to penetrate. The ground must be carefully studied, for a foot passenger may sink to bis armpits in the many quagmires. lint keeping a sharp look out in the clear night the expedition advanced without accident The river still gave them their course. And this was fortunate, for the cypresses all resembled each other, with their twisted spiral trunks, hollow below, and throwing out their long roots that ridged the soil, and rose for twenty feet or more in cylindrical stems, huge ribs with knotty handle supporting an immense green umbrella that gave but little protection for either rain or sun. j It 'was beneath these trees that James Burbank and bis companions were journeying a

little before daybreak. The weather was magnificent There was no storm to fear, which might make the ground an impracticable marsh, although, a constant lookout was necessary to keep clear of the never-drying bogs. During the day no trace was met with of either Southerners or- Seminoles. It might be that the Spaniard bad gone down the left bank, which was clear of obstacles; but by eitber bank the road lay direct to the country mentioned in Zermah's letter. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SUNDAY. HUMOR OP THE PAY.

Social Amenities. ' Tid-Blts. First Colored Dame Yo' is pore yaller trash; pore yaller trash wif freckles. Second Colored Dame I may be yaller, an' I may has freckles, but de holler ob my foot don' make no hole in de groun' like what yours da Stack Again. Puck. Mrs. O'Hoolihan. Faix, Dennis! An' phat are yez afther aoin' now! O'Hoolihan Begob, Rosy, it's meself as has bought a music-stool for Katie, an Oi've been woinding the bastely thing up for over an hour, an' not a dbrop of music can Oi get out of it at all, at all! An Enduring Proof of Devotion. Harper's Bazar. "And do you really love me, George?" she asked. - "Love you!" repeated George, fervently, "Why, while 1 was bidding you good-bye on the porch last night, dear, the dog bit a large chunk out of my leg, and I never noticed it until I got home. Love you!" - Xaicky There Were No Turtles. Trade Review. "What a shell-like ear you've got, Miss Smith," he said, as tbey sat in the sand at Coney island. And Miss Smith looked up and down the wavewashed shore, and as far as the eye could reach, she saw nothing but clam and oyster shells. They returned to New York without waiting to see the fire-works. Tbe Ruling Passion. Hevr York San. "My dear." said a husband, gently rousing his wife the lady was dangerously ill "Mrs. DeHobson called a little while ago and left her love and sympathy for you. She seemed deeply affected." "John," said the sick lady in a very weak tone of voice, as she slowly unclosed her eyes, "what did she have on?" Will Die an Old Maid. Boston Journal. "My dear," said a fond papa to his daughter, "why don't you get married?" "I will, papa," replied tbe young lady, "as soon as I come across a gentleman wbo doesn't drink, nor smoke, nor play billiards, and who goes to church regularly;" "and, my good child," solemnly replied the old man, "you are but a stranger here, Heaven is your home." " Too Late for Reform. Norristown Herald. T A magazine devoted to spelling reform says: "When peopl becum accustmed to the new attire of sum familiar words they wil more redily assent to more and more changes." Don't believ we'd ever lern to spel in such a ridiculus manr. The old stile epeln is gud enuf fur us, and Biologists had betr let our orthografy alone. It is tu late tu mak uu departers in this caractr. Penitentiary for Reform. Kew Tork Sun. Visitor (to convict) What are you in for, my friend? Convict I got ton years at hard labor for swindling. Visitor Swindling is Tery bad. What labor do you have to do? Convict-I'm in the shoe department, sir. I cut out the pieces of pasteboard which are put between the soles. Don't Believe In It. TId-Bits. "Do you believe in corpcreal punishment?" asked an Arkansas school-board of an applicant for a position as teacher of a rural school, i- "Do I b'leeve in what?" "In corporeal punishment" "No. I don't," was the reply. I don't b'leeve in none o' these fancy new kind o punishments. Gimme a keen wilier gad, or a good limber hick'ry club, an' you can go to grass with your ' Corp'ral kind o' punishments." T What Stirred Hie Heart. Boston Transcript. Omaha man "I see by tbe papers that Henry George used to be an inspector of gas meters." Omaha man "Well! well! He has a kind heart I suppose," "A kind heart" "Yes, I suppose his sympathies were aroused on the poverty question by noticing the very small quantity of food in the cellars of those who burned gas." A Fetching Hymn. Musical Herald. There was a difficulty among the singers, and, it being rumored as a settled fact tbat the choir would not sing a note on the next Sabbath, the minister commenced morning worship by giving out that hymn of Watts's, "Come Ye that Love the Lord." After reading it throuh, he looked up vety emphatically at the choir and said, "You will begin at the second verse: 'Let those refuse to si-g Who never knew our God.'" They sang that hymn. A Right To Be Mad. Pittsburg Pispatch. Tm as mad as a hornet this mornin'," remarked a Connecticut matron to a visitor. "D'yeou meet a big, bealthy-lookin tramp a little ways daown the road?" "I believe I did." "Waal, I barg'ned with that feller to saw a cord o' wood for his breakfast and 10 cents." "Yes?" "Wall, he et breakfast enough fer four men. an' then he went aout an' hired my husband ter saw tbe wood fer a nickel, an' he slept in tbe barn till it was done. I only (jest faound it aout An' naow Josiah's gone down ter the store, and I know he'll squander that hull 5 cents on peppermint lozenges." How it Happened. Washington Critic. . "How did you happen to fall off the boat?" asked a young man, after a member of his boating party was resuscitated. "It was in this way: I was lying on top of the cabin and I beard somebody talking. They were cuddled down where the boom couldn't strike them, and pretty soon a coo struck my ears. It said: 'Tiahed, dahling?" " 'Tiahed some.' , 'Sleepy, dahling? " 'Sleepy some.' " 'Kiss me, dahling? "Smack! "And that's when I rolled off into the water." Modern Business Methods. Omaha World. Adventurer I have dropped in, sir, to buy the Baltimore & Ohio road. New York Banker Ah! Glad to see you. Take a seat There is the safe; help yourself. "With pleasure. I can't buy a railroad without an office to buy it in. so as it's all the same to you I'll take a few hundred thousand and open one." "Of course. Take the large bills; they will be less trouble to carry. What collateral have you?" ' "Collateral? Oh, I'll give you Baltimore & Ohio bonds as soon as I buy the road." "To be sure. Never thought of that. If you want any more money just send your cart around. Good day, sir." The Wonderful Progress of Science. Omaha World. Telephone Man The progress of science and invention is simply wonderfuL Do you know Elisha Gray has just patented an invention bv which a man's signature can be duplicated 300 miles away? Citizen Hadn't heard of it. "It's a fact And a way has been found to talk across the ocean." "You don't say so!" "True: and another inventor has found a way to transfer a man's portrait for hundreds of miles, so the one at the other end can know who be's talking to." "Yes. Well, I just wish you'd send a man up to look at my telephone. I haven't been able to use it for a week." The Son of His Father. Albany Express. Colonel Grant said to a reporte'r who approached him on his way Lome from Saratoga with a reauest for an interview: "Tbe opposition press has begun the cry that I am the son of my father. I am proud enough of that not to complain. But my father could not talk; neither can L I trust you will not take my refusal as discourteous, and I wish you good day." Not In the Nature of an Advertisement. Milwaukee Sentinel. A new five-cent eigar is called the "Affidavit" Because it makes everybody swear. .

OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. Personal Gossip About Female JournalistsTheir Work and Their Success.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal. New York, Sept 24. General reporting for a city daily is work the feasibility of which for a woman is of tener denied than affirmed. Miss Estelle M. Hatch, the "Grace Kincaid" of the Boston Globe, was a reporter for tbat paper for a year before she was taken into the editorial rooms. Of that experience in a brief chat some days since she said: For a year I was at the call of the paper as a general reporter, taking my assignments just the same as .the men. I reported sermons, lectures, public meetings of all kinds where women formed a part of the audience, and wrote up general news of many sorts during che day. I look back upon that year as one into which tho experience of three or four was crowded. I enjoyed it greatly and met with a great deal of kindness, my fellow-reporters quite taking me in as one of themselves. One of the best known of New York newspaper women to newspaper readers is Mrs. Fannie B. Merrill, formerly of the Graphic, now of the World, a very bright woman and a very clover journalist Miss Midy Morgan, the cattle reporter on the New York Times, and probably the best posted authority on live stock in America, exacts something more than respect, admiration for her success in a phase of newspaper work the most difficult in many ways tnat a woman could undertake. Going day after day, year in and year out, up to the cattle pens by the river and out on the stock farms she is as vivacious and interesting outside of her work as reliable in it To the query what she thinks of newspaper work as a business for women, she returns tbe characteristic line: As I entered journalism by chance and remain in it through a spirit of idleness, I feel incompetent to guide others. Miss Lillian Whiting, the literary editor of tbe Boston Traveller, is widely known as a Boston correspondent She gives me a pieture of certain pleasant fields iu journalism. Of her work she says: I am my own editor, so to speak. I have the literature editorship of the Traveller with all that it implies, the mere book reviewing being only one part aud even a small one. I write one or more editorials each day (sometimes six or eigot, but it is entirely at my own discretion), keep a column, permanently headed ''Literature," full in every day's issue, with book reviews and literary notes, judge all manuscript submitted, select all the poetry and all the literary and much of the miscellaneous filling. I have a room, carpeted, picture-hung, with book-shelves, a magnificent desk, etc., all fitted up for me; have it, of course, alone. My associates on the staff are most kind and charming. The proprietor. Col. Worthington, is so generous and good to me that my one anxiety is to live up to his kindness. I board at the Brunswick Hotel, where I have telephonie communication with the office, and although I am always at the office in the morning. I do much of my more quiet work in my own rooms at home. Boston is tbe paradise of newspaper women. Miss Grace Soper, who is a clever editorial writer on the Boston Journal, expresses satisfaction with her work and a genuine liking for it Minnie Caroline Smith, of the Boston Advertiser, is a plucky Western girl, wbo was for a longtime on the Chicago Inter Ocean. She, too, ljkea newspaper work and succeeds in it Miss Mary L. Booth, the editor of Harper's Bazar, puts as the requisite for a woman's success in journalistic work, the ability for continuous effort She herself keeps daily office hours, from 9 until 4, and for nineteen years, that is, from the day of the foundation of the periodical, she had not taken more than two weeks' vacation ac a time until her European outing of this summer. She says: Like woman's work, editorial work is never done, and the planning of which it very largely consists goes on night and day without interruption. Miss Marietta Holley, "Josiaa Allen's Wife," is not especially fond of interviewers and is ant to avoid them wben she can. She told me no long time ago, however, that her experiences with newspaper women were often like that of Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, wbo on one occasion did her utmost to escape seeing a correspondent, but after a half-hour's talk made up for her previous backwardness by exclaiming with some warmth: "Oh, I like you! Can't you come again?" Interviewers of the sex masculine dislike to gel points from a woman sometimes, because they say she always wants to see the note-book, the pencil and the other paraphernalia come out, and to be sure her sentences are taken down verbatim. This is not the experience of a feminine interviewer with her own ' sex, however. The woman's punctilio with a reporter is mainly put on to let him know she has been through the operation before and understands the mechanism and the proprieties of the occasion. The reporter may find her ready enough to talk to him, but he has no idea how she unbosoms herself to a newspaper woman whom she trusts. Be she writer, lecturer, ' educator, on a charities board, whatever her doings, her 'plans or her prospects, with a woman she has no thought of lead pencil formalities. She knows she is talking with some one who very likely looks at tbe matter from the same point of view with herself, and she is as frank and confidential as if she chatted to her own shadow. Interviewing women commonly is very easy and very pleasant work for women. Last spring, when the announcement was made that Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland was coming to New York to reside in the fall, the house of Mrs. Sylvanus Reed, in whose school Miss Cleveland had engaged to teach, was haunted for a day or two by reporters, mostly women, to get the latest developments for publication. It so happened that one enterprising newsgatherer, resorting to a device not altogether unknown among newspaper men, presented herself to Mrs. Reed, not as an accredited reporter, but as the mother of a little girl whom she wished to enter in the school. With a parent's pardonable interest she plied Mrs. Reed with questions about Miss Cleveland's attainments, her exact position in tbe school and Mrs. Reed's opinion of her capabilities, and tbat lady, wholly unaware that she was talking foe cold type, spoke freely, and experienced something of a surprise to see a sprightly and very readable exaggeration of her remarks in a morning paper next day. Mrs. Reed was unable to remember tbe personal appearance of her betrayer, and the next feminine reporter who visited her would have met a cold reception if she had not been able to produce satisfactory evidence tbat she was not the guilty she. Women take the news scenting of a mas culine reporter for granted, but they visit the sins of their own sex with severe punishments. All newspaper women Buffer when one is a little too clever. Though the number of women engaged in newspaper work does not multiply very rapidly. the organization of women s press associations testifies to the fact that tbe women wbo are in it expect to stay. The Women's National Press Association was organized in New Orleans during the exposition, and branches have sprung up in several states. Ihe most nourishing of these probably are the Chicago association and the New England association, which numbers among its members Alice Stone Biackwell and. Mrs. Vogel. of the Woman s Journal; Mrs. Marion McBride, of the Boston Post: Mrs. Sallie Jov White, of the Herald; Mrs. Kate Tannatt Woods, as well as representatives of a good por tion of the papers published in Massachusetts. Mrs. Louisa Knapp. who receives $5,000 a year for editing the Philadelphia Home Journal, does her work under conditions as pleasant as often fall to the lot of a journalist Her business office is at her home in Camden, N. J., and is full of pictures and flowers. She has telephone connections with the Philadelphia establishment and directs the smallest details of the work. Eliza P. Heaton. Feminine Gossip. Special to tue Indianapolis Journal. New York. Sept 24. Some pretty yachting costumes appear on these yachting days in New York. A woman who enjoys the water at all enjoys it very much and looks better on yachtboard than anywhere else. A picturesque costume that went charmingly with bright cheeks and flowing hair was a sailor shirt of a creamwhite silk, laced with scarlet silk, and having a rolling collar. A short full skirt of a. fine red serge went with it, and a peaked yachting cap in red and white. Another pretty device for a showy blonde was a petticoat of striped blue and 'white serge. Over ' this was draped a white serge tunie raised high on the right side and drawn plainly acros3 to the left The blue bodice bad vest, cuffs and revers of white. With the gown went a white felt sailor hat with ribbons of blue. A gala-day yachting gown for smooth-water sailing was of white silk. shirt and skirts alike, the color being supplied by a peaked, blue cap and a blue sash knotted loosely about the waist and falling in lieu, of draperies at one side. This also was a blonde girl's gown and suited her red gold hair wonderfully. Soft white India silk gowns for not too formal eveuing wear are finished nowadays with scarf drapery of silk crossing the bodice diagonally from the shoulders and then forming a panier on one side. Some lighter fabrics, gauze or lace, falls on the other side low on the skirt like a loosely knotted sash. There is a long, pointed vest and high collar, wrought with pearls. Mrs. Whitney, tbe wife of the Secretary of the Navy, is said on pretty good authority to mean to posh ber scheme for the establishment of a college for the training of domestic servants

to accomplishment in New York this winter. Neither Mrs. Whitney nor anybody else can in dace American girls to enter such an institution unless committed to it by a magistrate until American women see to it tbat kitchen girls do not lose caste any more than shop girls or school teachers. Mrs. Langtry was a picturesque object or Broadway the other day, clad in dark blue tailoi gown, fitting without a wrinkle, and crowned by a feather plumed Rembrant bat Bnt she does stain her hair. There's no use denying it There isn't a theater goer with a memory five seasons lone who can't remember when it was a simple brown without the red gold in it . p. si. " - THE'BUSTLE AS FREIGHT.

Final Settlement of a Question that Has Puzzled Railroad Men. New York Times. An interesting controversy has been agitating the minds and hearts of the freight agents of transcontinental railroads, the pool commissioners, the Interstate-commerce commissioners and California dry goods merchants sines early in February. And it is all about bustles. Although this article had long occupied a place of dignity and prominence in tbe wardrobe of the properly appareled woman, and has formed an important item in the business of merchants, manufacturers, cartoonists and common carriers, it had not, until the July revision, occupied a place on tbe freight tariff. Then unclassified dry geod paid $3 per hundred freightage to San Fraucisco. while hoopskirts. under the classification of wire goods, were assessed only $1.50 per hundred. It was consequently the custom of merchauts to ship bustles as "wire goods" or "hoopskirts" indifferently, so describing them, in tbe bills of lading and paying the lower rate of charges. Thousands of eases ' had thus been shipped and parsed by tbe freight agents without question, and the goods had been sold and gone into circulation, when an unlucky manufacturer, in February last, sent to Stiefel. Sachs & Co., of San Francisco, a case of these goods described in the bills of lading aa "bustles." The guileless California freight agent, knowing little and professing to know nothing of this mysterious distender of my lady's drss and supporter of her skirts and hopes, looked in vain for the rate on bustles in the tariff catalogue. He therefore charged the rate on unclassified dry goods of $3, and precipitated the contest by sending his bill. The merchants protested against the payment, and tbe matter was referred to the general traffic managers of the road in New York. Some of these were married men who professed to know something about bustles, for all of their wives were supposed to wear them. An elderly gentleman from among the benedicts was indignant over what he termed the "low subterfuge" of Classing bustles as hoopskirts or wire goods when there wasn't a bit of wire nor a hoop of any kind about them. He ought to know, for his wife had worn a bustle for years. The article was made of feathers and cloth; two long narrow bags, just wide enough to to well, to escape being sat on, wer sewed together, the larger one below, aud fastened on with strings. Some of the younger men seemed amused at his description, and one inquired if old newspapers were ever employed for stuffing instead of feathers. A wise-looking man, of mature years and a large family of girls, said tbat be had it on tbe best of authority that the newspaper bustle existed only in tbe columns of alleged funny papers. A well-constructed bnstle was filled with curled hair and a still better auality with wool. In former years he had purchased Bucb artioles himself and he felt that he was an authority upon the subject The preponderance of testimony, although it did not agree as to details,- was clearly so far against "wire goods" and "hoopskirts," and the traffic managers seemed about to susta-n the charge of $3 per hundred, as unclassified dry goods, when a young married man with a scab on bis nose, who bad listened thus far without speaking, said be thought there must be something in the wire theory of construction. He had gone home a little late tbe week before a little tbe worse for wear, and was making a manly effort to get to bed without disturbing his silent partner, when his foot caught in something tbat felt like a bird cage about bis ankles, and be pitched forward until he reached the mantel, which be found with his nose. He uttered an exclamation which transformed his silent partner into one of the . most active - kind of active partners, and compelled an explanation. A light being produced, tbe wreck of the object that bad caused him to fall was brought up for imprecation and analysis. It was his first offense, and his wife, therefore, allowed her anxiety and concern over his mishap to dominate her indignation over tbe condition in which be presented himself. So she plastered his nose, and said the wreck didn't matter; it could be easily replaced. "But where's the rest of itf and what's become of the bird?" asked be. "The bird! What do you mean?" his wife ex claimed. "Why, isn't that part of a bird cage?" he inquired. "A bird cage! Hal ha! why. yes; if I am your little birdie, as I used to be that's my bustle," she said. This explanation gave color to the "wire roods" theory, but still they were not sufficiently informed and more light en tbe subject had to be obtained. After debating various propositions as to where they should go for tbat light they finally concluded to go to the shippers themselves. Here they met Mr. Strauss, the book-keeper, who explained to tbem that the bustle of commerce was composed of wire and hoops and crinoline. In former years tbey had been built of cotton and excelsior, and hair, and wool, and feathers, and other things, but never, he thought, of newspapers. Now they were nearly all of wire, and as there was no classification of bustles and the article had superseded hoopskirts, they felt that they were only doing right in, billing them as wire good. At any rate these were wire gooas ana tney would maintain their right to tbeir classification as such. Apples were always fruit, but not alt fruit were apples, and although not all wire goods were bustles, all bustles in this day and generation were wire goods. This view prevailed, roe eiaeriy married man and the wise-looking father of so many daughters looked as if they had forgotten to remember something, and silently chimed in with the general judgment, and bustles were allowed to pass as wire goods over their lines, paying $1.5(1 freight per 100 pounds. But the freight agents were unwilling to give up completely, so they have had the tariff commissioners fix the newly classified article at $2 per 100. A Free Railroad. Boston Herald. . There is one free railroad in the world within the limits ot a city. Those familiar with tbe Pacific eoast know that tbe city of Oakland is situated across the bay from San Francisco, very much as Brooklyn is situated to New York. When Oakland gave the Central Pacific Railroad Company the right of way through its streets, the grant was made on the express condition that fare should not be charged within the city limits. Tbe company has always acted up to this condition, even to the extent of admitting additions made to Oakland within the privilege. People for five or six miles get on and off the cars and rice without money and without price. Naturally Oakland, which isone of the hand. somest cities in . California and, tnougn witnin a couple of miles of San Fraucisco. is exempt from its terribly rasping summer winds, is increasing yery rapidly in pop. ulation. The railroad company finds that it is carrying an enormous number of passengers for nothing, and is looking for relief under the circumstances. Yet the people insist upon the bargain, and it is difficult to see how it can be broken without tbeir consent , Swelldom In Sorrow. New Tork Letter. The upper circles of swelldom are greatly stirred up over the authoritative report that Mrs. Astor will not open ber city palace tnia winter, but will remain at her beautiful home on xha Unison. The explanation is that she finds tbe duties entailed upon her by the demands of hes position greater than she is willing to submit to, and the only way in which she can escape them is to remain in the country. Tbe Astor residence on the Hudson is an old family estate and is full of tender associations. The Astor yacht will be at the service of the family, and they will imitate Jay Gould in employing it as a means ef reaching the city. There is even som talk of Mrs. Waldorf Astor occupying the oldel lady's town house, and to a degree assuming her social duties. There is little foundation for such a rumor, as she is very devoted to the care of her children, and already finds that her own visiting list takes her too much away from them. This will be a hard blow against the success of the coming "society season." The Vanderbilts being absent in Europe leaves swelldom practically headless. It'll Not Be Done, ThouEli. Philadelphia Record. A Southern paper, oneof the editors of which is the authorof "Maryland. My Maryland," suggesta that on Charles Sumner's birthday the South shall send all its captured flags North to the soldiers from whom tbey were taKen. The proposition, and the day selected to carry it into execution, are calculated to take all the color out of the bloody shirt It Seems that They Did. Philadelphia Press. None but snobs snub on occasions like the constitutional centennial. The question therefore arises, were there any snobs, and if so, did., they snub?