Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 34, Number 26, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 August 1888 — Page 1

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VOL. XXXIY--NO. 2G. INDIANAPOLIS. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1888. ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR.

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BY

DORA RUSSELL, Author of "Footprixts ix tub Sxow," "The Broken Seal," "The Vicab's Governess." "Annabel's Rival." CHAPTER XXXIII. the doctor's love tokex. BOTH the doctor and Lady Bab ran at once toward Nora, and lifted her cp in their arms. "My dear girl !" said Lady Bab. "Don't break down, for hit sake, my bonny lassie," half whispered the doctor, with infinite compassion and tenderness. Nora looked from one to the other with euch a pitious expression in her dark eyes, that an unwontei moisture and softness stole into Lady Bab's keen gray orbs. "My dear, she began, a littio tremulously, smoothing back Nora's hair from her burning brow, if I were to tell vou he is not worth it, I suppose vou would not believe me, so it's no good my doing so. But all the same I think it! James Biddulph ougM to be ashamed of himself, if he isn't. "He is just broken down wi' grief, my leedy," said the doctor, "and he's na to blame" "On. of course you'll stand up for him: men always do for each other, ' retorted Lady Bab": "but I repeat, he ought to be ashamed of himself to have allowed such a creature as this ever to havo obtained any power over him." "Ay, but fra Solomon downwards, my leedy, what mon is alway' proof against a woman's wiles?" answered the doctor, who was now engaged in mixing a composing draught for Nora. "Solomon indeed! I have always thought Solomon ought to be ashamed of himself too," sharply replied Lady Bab. "Prav do not bring him up!" "WVel, but if the wisest mon " "Do be quick with that mixture, and don't 6tand arguing there," interrupted Bab. without "ceremony. "Now drink this, my dear, 6he continued, addressing Nora, "and try to get a little rest. Tho p uspense is over now, and let me ell vou James Biddulph has had a greater loss than you have had." Nora drank what they gave her, and then leaned her head against Lady Bab's erect, spare form. " "The woman he had the misfortune tc

marry is alive then, I suppose, and her twin sister was shot, and thus he was deceived?" said l.ady Bab in her quick way, now looking at the doctor. "That is 0, my leedy." "And there was no" mistake? He was satisfied in his own mind that this was EO?" "He was fully satisfied." "Then we don't want to hear any horrid details. Now, my dear" and again she turned to Nora "lie down on the bed, and vour friend, the doctor here, will stay by you until I return. It's a bau business, but it might have been worse, aid we ruiibt all try to make tho best o it." Nora did not refuse Lady Barbara's request, A great bodily weakness 6eemed to come over her, as though the mental strain had been tx) great for its frail tenement of clay. She rose to her feet at Lady Barbara's bidding, but sank back again as if unable to walk. The doctor and Lady Bab, however, assisted her to cross the room, and then Nora lay down on tho bed with a deep and weary sigh. And after Lady Bab had carefully covered her with a rug, she quietly beckoned to the doctor to follow her one moment from the room. When they were outside, Ehe had a word or two to whisper in his ear. "Who is downstairs?" she asked. "Is that Mr. Fraser there Mr. Fräser of Airdlinn?" "Yes, my leedy." "Will you, then, ask hira to come to speak to" me alone for a few minutes? This wretched storv will have to be told, I 6uppo.se, and as he is a relative of Mis9 Stewart's, and looks a kind man, I think he isthe best person to tell it to." "There's na better fellow in the world than Jock Fraser ! Vera weel, then, I'll send him to ye, my leedy." "Yes, do; and when did you leave ny nephew, James Biddulph?" "He's at my house in Balla. Don't be hard on him, Leedy Barbara, for his cross is almost too heavy for mortal mon to bear." "I've no patience " began Lady Barbara; and then she remembered the Etricken girl lving inside the room, and her voice sank into a whisper. "Tell Mr. Frasetopo into the dining-room, and I shah be there, and then you come back to h.r" and she nodded in the direction of the bedroom door "for she must not be left alone." Having thus given her commands, Lady Barbara returned to Nora, until tho doctor again knocked at the door, when she quietly left the room, and, descending the staircase, made her way to the dining-room to have her interview with Jock Fraser. She found him waiting for her. Jock was standing, with an uneasv look on his kind fare, in the center of the room, and his eyes and l-aly Bab's alike involuntarily fell on a great, white, massive structure towering on the sideboard. This was the bridescako, which had been unp eked before it had been announced by Lady Barbara at breakfasttime that the wedding had been deferred, at least for the day, and no one had liked to interfere and give any orders for its removal. It stood there now, looking strangely out of place somehow, and Ijidy Bab glanced at it with an impatient sigh. "Good morning, Mr. Fraser," she said the next moment, extending her bony hand "I little thought when I parted with you last night, to be forced this morning to seek such an interview with yon as this." "They have been saying in the drawingroom that Nora Stewart is too ill to be married to-dav, Lady Barbara; but I hopo it is nothing very serious?" answered the kindly Jock, with genuine concern express d on his honest face. "It's atxmt as serious as it can well be, that's the truth. Mr. Fraser, I have not thought much of the sense of discretion of your sex all my life, but I did not expect to be so utterly ashamed of one of my own relations at least of a young man who bears my name, for. thank heaven, he is no blood-relation of mine as I am feeling to-day." Jock looked more uneasy still. "Surelv." he began hesitatingly, "Nora's illn but nothing to do with Mr. Biddulph " "It has everything to do with Mr. Biddulph. James Biddulph has caused it by his insane follv, and a pretty story it is for a respectable woman to have to tell to a man. However, tbe long and short of it is that it must be told, and therefore I tave Mut (or you, as you axe a relation of

the poor girl's. You know he was married long ago?" A spasm passed over poor Jock's face. Lady Bab in her excitement had forgotten, if she had ever known, who was supposed to be the slayer of Biddulph's wife. "Well, this woman has cast up again " "What?" said Jock, a gleam of sudden hope and joy lighting his brown eyes; "then she did not die " "Unfortunately, she did not die when James Biddulph, to do him justice, and everyone else expected she did. It was her twinsister.it seems, who was 6hot; and this woman this wife of his had sent her twin-sister down here to try to get money from this stupid nephew of mine; for how a man could not recognize his own wife passes my understanding. However, he did not; he had never heard of this twin-sister, and they say the likeness between them is, or was, something wonderful. It deceived James Biddulnh, at all events, and he believed himself a free man, and thus became engaged to Miss Nora Stewart." "And and this woman, this wife," said Jock Fraser, with faltering tongue and a sinking heart, for his eager hope that his bov's hand was not stained with blood had faded quickly away, "has reappeared?" "He went home and found her waiting for him last night at Dunbaan. He did not believe her story at first; believed that the was the twin-sister, and that she had come for the purpose of extorting money, which indeed she had. But he had the honor at least to come over here and tell the whole truth to Nora Stewart After he was gone, I heard the poor girl wailing in bitter grief, and I stayed with her all night, for the suspenso was almost too terrible for her to bear. But it is over now. James Biddulph had the dead woman disinterred an hour ago, and saw these two these twin-sisters face to face, and he is satisfied that he had been basely deceived; that, in truth, his wife is living still." "It is terrible for Nora Stewart" "Most terrible, and I have sent for you to act as you think right in this matter. There can be no marriage of course now, and the people in the house had better be sent away as quickly as possible." Jock Fraser did not speak ; he cast down his eves, and his lips moved nervously. "Will you do this?" asked Lady Barbara, quickly. "Lady Barbara Biddulph," said Jock, now lilting his sad eyes to her face, "it would bo painful "to me, under the circumstances, to do this. Ask some one else; say Mrs. Con way-Hope." "I detest that woman." "She is a relation of Nora's also. I can tell her if you like." "Very well, settle between you; and get the people out of the house, and have all these thines" and she pointed to the

! b idescake "hidden away from the poor girl s sight While this conversation was going on downstairs between Lady Barbara and Jack Fraser, upstairs Nora and the doctor were exchanging a few sad words. He did not speak to her when he first went into the room, but sat quietly down by the tire, looking vaguely at the glowing embers, and thinking sorrowfully enough of the terrible wreck that had come to two young lives. But presently Nora moved on the bed, and turned h-r head and looked at him. ' "Are you there, dvx-tor? she said, wuh a pathetic ring in her low voice. "Yes, my dear young leedy," he answered, rising and going toward her; "and how are-ye feeling now?" "I want vou to tell mo about James abou. Mr. Biddulph," she said, Ifting her dark eyes to hie face. "Where is he now?" "He's at my house; I left him there till I came to tell ye my ill news." "Tell him from me," said Nora, a faint color for a moment stealing to her pale face," that he must not grieve; that that this can make no change to my heart" The doctor heaved a heavy sigh. "Things may change," he 6aid, "for human life is ay' uncertain like its joys and woes." "We were 60 happy," said Nora, with a little tremulous break in her voice. "Ay, that was plain to see. He just worshipped the ground ye trod on, Miss Stewart; and he's broken down wi' grief, puir fellow 1" "But tell him, for my sake " began Nora, and then a little sob' choked her utterance. "Have vo na little token to send him?" said the doctor, clearing his throat to hide his own emotion "a bit of ribbon, or a flower, or something, just to show blin a kindness?" Boor Nora looked around, and on all sides little tokens met her eyes of the marriage which was not to be white flowers, white ribbons, white gloves; she could not 6end him these, when black sorrow lay so heavy on his heart. But some rings were lying on the toilet-table, valuable rings flung carelessly down lost night in her overwhelming grief; and she asked the doctor to hand her one of these, a diamond ring she often wore. "Give him thin," she said, "and and tell him the sender will not change: tell him " At this moment the bedroom dooropened with a sudden jerk, and Lady Bab walked into the room, while the doctor hastily concealed the ring in his waistcoat-pocket But Lady Bab's eyes had been too sharp for him. She saw the glitter of the diamonds as they disappeared into the doctor's pocket, but 6he made no comment "How are you now my dear?" 6he said to Nora, approaching the bed. "I feel a little better, lady Barbara," answered Nora. "You look a little better; the doctor's visit seems to have done you good." "And as I've other puir sick folk to look to, my leedy, I'll just take my leave for the present; but 1 11 drop in and see how Miss Stewart is going on in an hour or twa," said the doctor, with rather a guilty look. "All right; I will take care of her." So the doctor escaped with his prize, thinking grimly to himself as be went that he was in truth a strange bearer of a love-token. "Of a' the queer emissaries o' Cupid, I'm a1out the queerest, I think; but what matter, if it eases a bit their puir aching hearts?" CHAPTER LIV. man's despair. He went straight home, and when be entered his little parlor he found Biddulph sitting there with folded arms, and his head bowed upon his breast He looked up as the doctor opened the door, and there was despair in his gray eyes, and on his haggard face. "Weel, and how are ye getting on?" said tbe doctor, with affected cheerful ness. Bat Biddulph made no answer. He had been sitting there alone and silent ever since he had quitted the kirk wi h the doctor, and the darkest gloom overwhelmed his soul. There was no loophole, it seemed to him. no light. And the bitterest an

guish was in his heart, too, when he i thought of Nora Stewart The blight that he had brought on her young life, the crushing misery on the day she had

fondly dreamed was to be her briJal one, added a hundredfold to his own wretchedness, and hone had died for him, leaving him but black despair. - "Have you seen her?" he said at length, while the doctor was trying to frame some consolatory words. s "I just have, then, and I've left her maire composed than we could hope for, and she bade me tell ye that ye are na to grieve." "Not to grieve!" said Biddulph, starting to his feet; "when every hope of my life is shuttered at one blow? Doctor,"" he went on, excitedly, "it eeems too hideous, too hideous to be true, and yet it is true ; yon miserable woman whispered a few words in my ear which none but she could know "Don't distract yer mind any mair about the truth o' it, Mr. Biddulpn; we must accept that And Miss Nora Stewart, as 1 was telling ye, knows it all ; and 6he sent ye a token bv me this r$ ig and she bade me tell ye her heart would know na change." These words greatly aTected Biddulph. He took the ring in his trembling hand and again sat down, turning his face away from the doctor. "That old leedy, ycr aunt, left me alone wi' her for a while, and her tirst thoughts were for ye. Where were ye? she asked ; and she bade me say to ye that for her mkt ye had na to grieve: and there was a look in her bonny dark eyes when she spoke of ye that a mon's heart might bo proud to na' won." "But that's the bitterest of it all, the Cain to her; 1 could bear it but for that ear my own disappointment and unutterable shamel But to think of this girl, this noble, gentle girl, utterly unmans me." "It's a sare blow, na doubt, and sarer because it fa's on the bonny lassie who loves ye sa weel. But mon. it must just be borne like anv other evil thing." "It's easy talking." "And d'ye think I've na feeling too? I'd rather ha' "cut off my right hand, Mr. Biddulph, than ha' gun' wi the news I had to carry to Rossmore to-day." "Forgive me; you are very good, very kind, but grief makes one selfish, I suppose. And did she spy anything else?" "The old leedy did not gi us much time; and she'd her eye on me, keen as a hawk's, as I slipped the ring into my waistcoat. But Ac's a kind heart; she railed sare at raor folk fra Solomen downward ; but there was a soft glint passed o'er her face whene'er she looked at Miss Nora Stewart" Biddulph made no answer to this, but began walking up and down the little room. "There is but one thing left for mo to do in honor," he said presently, a3 though half speaking to himself. "And that is?" said tho doctor, and then he paused. To go away out of her fe, and out of her sight 1 have no right to blight her whole existence. I know her nature: she would cling to me even now, as re clung to me when they called me a murderer. But this must not be; I will see her again, and then leave England for years and she will torget." His voice trembled and broko as he uttered the last few words, and the doctor looked at him with the deepest pity. He opened his lips to speak, when a

ring came to the house door-bell, and .he approached tho windotf to see if it were a patient It was a lad with a note; and a moment or two later the elderly woman, who was the doctor's sole domestic, rapped at the room door and put in her head. "It's a note for the gentleman, 6ir," she said. The doctor held out his hand and took the note, and, after glancing at the address, handed it to Biddulph. And when Biddulph 6aw tho handwriting a terrible look came over his face, and he flung it passionately on the floor. "This is too much!' he 6aid. "Is it fra' " "The woman who has blighted my whole life, who has been its curse, its bane! You may read it if you like," he continued bitterly; "it will harp on one string 'money, give me money to gamble and to drink.' " The doctor stooped down and picked up the note, and would have again handed it to Biddulph, but he would not take it. "No," he 6aid ; "she hps done her worst now, and I will never again speak a word to her, nor read a line he writes. I will allow her the same income which 6he had before I inherited Dunbaan four hundred a year so that she may not starve, but not a penny more." "It's mair than enough ; but the laddie's waiting at the door for an answer, sa what shall 1 say?" "There is no answer ; give him back the note." "Eh, mon, but if ye do that, she'll be here before we can turn oursel's round. I'll see her if it pleases ye, and tell her what ye say, and what ye mean to allow her for her maintenance." "Will you really do this? If you will I shall be greatly indebted to you; and you can give her some money and lie put his hand in his pocket and drew out some gold and notes "to pay her train and get her away. Here is 10, and when she gets to London she will find 100 awaiting her at mv solicitor's. And each quarter 100 will be paid her, nothing more nor less." Biddulph spoke briefly, harshlv, and the doctor saw this was no time to discuss the natter "I'll urther with him. ust put on my hat and go at onco, then," he said. "Win ye bide here till J come ck ( "I don't want to hear what she says ; I

will listen to nothing. But don't let her come to Dunbaan. If she comes there it will he at her own peril." "I'll get her away as quietly as I can. Weel, then, guid-bye for the present, Mr. Biddulph; and if ye're not here when I return, I'll see ye across tho water before nightfall." "I will come here during the evening. I want to hear how " "I understand," said the doctor, nodding his head ; and then he left the room, and Biddulph watched his tall, ungainly figure wending down the village, until he stopped at the little hostelry whero Mme. de Beranger, as she called herself, was supposed to be staying. lie asked to see her, and found her sitting in the little parlor upstairs, -with a bottle of whisky on the table and two empty soda-water bottles. But she was sober enough. She looked up as the doctor rapped at the room door, and - smiled and nodded her head, for she at once recognized him. "I suppose you have come from that husband of mine ?" she said. ' "I've come fra' Mr. Biddulph," ho answered gravely. f "Well, he's my husband sure enough, though it's been bad luck for us both that we ever were married. However, what's done can't be undone. Docs ho agree, then, to my claims about the money,?" "Mr. Biddulph, ma'am, didna take any claims into consideration, if they were put forth In yer letter, for he never read it and refuses to read it" ,40h, but I must have money," eaid the woman, rising impatiently. "I'm empowered by Mr. Biddulph. to

inform ye. ma'am, what he will do. He

will pay ye 100 quarterly i-tuu per annum, Dot "a bawbee less or more." "Ahl that won't do," cried Madame do Beranger, with a shrill laugh. "He will have to pay me a great many more bawbees, as you call them, than a paltry four hundred a year. Why, I had that when he had no inonev but what his father allowed him, and'd'ye think I'll put up with it now ? I want a lump down, and I told him so in my letters; I must have it, or I shall be arrested." "Weel, ma'am mavbe a short 6ojourn in 'durance vile' wad do ye na ill turn." Again the woman laughed, and looked at the doctor with her bold, bright dark eyes. "That was a horrid sight in the church, or the kirk, aj you call it here, wasn't it to-day! I've had to refresh myself after it, I can tell you;" and she pointed to the whisky-bottle. "So James Biddulph has sent you to deal with mj, has he? Well, sit down and have some whisky, and we'll talk it over." The poor doctor was, it must be admitted, fond of whisky, and he was also tired with his disturbed night and his disturbed feelings. He looked at the whisky-bottle, and the temptation to accept her olTer grew strong within hin-. "I'll just take a wee otop," he said, "for, as ye say, yon was a grim sight." ''it was too horrid and she shuddered. "It was brutal of James Biddulph to force me to go through it He has acted like a fool. If he had acceptad my offer las night, and given me -3,000 to go quietly away, he would have been a wiser man. You know the girl, I suppose, b was going to marry?" I know Miss Leonora Stewart, and a sweeter, bonnier lassie does not live." "Boor James!" scoffed the woman. "Yet I declare I felt sorry for him last night, when he saw his dearly beloved wife standing again before him, on the eve of his second wedding day. But I was forced to come. I am fairly cleaned out, and I must have sonic mouey at once; so come, drink your wh'aky and eit down, and we'll see what we can arrange between us." The doctor drank 6ome whisky and sat down, looking at the woman warily, however, with his small, intelligent eyes. "I'm empowered to mako nd further offer," he said. "That is nonsense. I may as well tell vou at once, I won't leave Scotland until I've got a good round sum ; in fact, I can't. I suppose," she added, smiling, "you doctors are not over-paid in an out of the way place like this?" "I canna' complain wi' being overburdened with cash," answered the doctor, dryly. "Just so! And you would not object, I suppose, to make a hundred or a hundred and fifty on easier terms than tramping trom hamlet to hamlet, with your pills in your pockets, would you?" "I fail to follow yer d rift, ma'am." "It is this" ana Madame de I'verangcr bent nearer to him "James Biddulph is rich. I want five thousand pounds down, and if you can induce him to give me this, and my usual allowance, I will give you, say, a hundred and .fifty, and no one need be the wiser." , But the doctor at once rose to his feet, and drew up his tall, ungainly figure to his full JvmM hf,!!jed to this offer. "I may as weeke ye, ma'am, that I hope I may call inysel .an honest mon." he said, with a certain loci of dignity on his homely features, which only provoked the laughter of the woman he was addressing. "Honest !" she echoed scornfully ; "that's a virtue considerably gone out of fashion of late years. Is there any one quite honest, do you think? Of course, we pay our debts when we've got the money to pay them, and don't steal unless ou necessities are very great But cheating and lying, and trying to take in our neighbors for our own advantage in the way of nm, is pretty generally practiced, isn't it? This is a matter of business between you and me. James Biddulph has sent you here to make a bargain with me, and if you make a good oneTor me I am willing to pay you. What harm is there in it, if vou look at it in the right way?" "Itsnot my way, anyhow. Mr. Biddulph sent me here to make na bargain with ye. He sent me here to tell ye that he'il gi' ye four hundred a year, and nothing mair. And he sent ten pounds to pay yer expenses and get ye away." "Ten pounds I This is too absurd! I shall just go and see him mvself. Has he gone back to Dunbaan yet ?"' "Ma'am," said the doctor, earnestly, "will ye take the advice of one who wishes ye na ill? Don't go near James Biddulph any mair. Yer sister came to a bloody end by a rash act and 1 warn ye that ye've . i i-i it . i

rousea tue vera aeu in me mon wnose life ye've spoilt." "But what am I to do?" eaid the woman, beginning to walk ud and down the room iu an agitated manner. "I owe money right and left. Do tell him to give me something worth having say two thousand." "He swore ho would not." "But I've a right to it; I am his wife, and have a legal claim to a good income. "Which he offers ye; and I doo't vera much but that ye've lost yer right altogether for maintenance, seeing ye allowed yer sister to be buried in yer place, and she had on the marriage ring, puir soul, and, as there's not a pin's head to choose betwixt ye in any court o' law, Mr. Biddulph might be justified in saving he does not believe ye are his wife still." "But he does not deny this; he did not denv it to-day." "Na; but he might deny it to-morrow, for in truth he has littio certainty to go on." The woman made no answer, but continued walking restlessly about the room again for the next few minutes. Then she stopped suddenly before the doctor, and looked straight in his face. "What would he give to be free altogether, do you think? she asked. "How much money, if I were to stand up and say I have been humbugging him all this time? that the poor dead one" and she slightly shivered 'M' really Natalie: would he pay me then, do you think, and let me go away from here, and see his face no more?" "Woman, would ye tempt him to commit a dreadful sin?" cried the doctor, horror-stricken. "What do I care for his sin, or sorrows either, tor that matter? What I want is money, or you may be sure I would not have been here at all." "But surely," said the doctor, much moved, "there is na truth in this? Ye said ye were his wife in the house of God, did ye foreswear yerseF then ?" "That is my secret" answered the woman defiantly: "the secret I will tell." "But think o the misery ye have brought about" eaid the doctor, almost pleadingly. "Yon young leedy at Kossmore is just broken-hearted wi her sare grief. Would ye lead her into sin a3 weel as sorrow, for the sake of what ye canna' take away with ye, when ye go on yer lang journey, which yer Bister has Rano before ?" "I'll do anything for money, and if he gives me enough I ara ready to acar ono way or the other."

The doctor did.not speak for a moment or two; then ho said deterrainately -t "I'll ha' na hand in such a business. I'll na gan' to him and distract his mind again wi' doubts and fears. He believes ye are the woman he wed twelve years ago, and I believe ye are ; and if ye are not, ye'll ha' to! answer for yer base deceit to the Almighty God." The woman j seemed slightly awed at this, for the doctor's manner was very solemn. "Well, will you try to get me some money, then?" she sail I, a minute later. "I'll try; but(if my puir words ha' any influence on ye, never speak again the words ye ha iijt spoken. "Do, then, like a good soul, get what you can for me," urged the woman. "Weel, I'll see ye again in the morning, then," said thf doctor, after a moment's hesitation; aryl then he left her, refusing her pressing offers to take any more whisky, and with a verv grave and sombre face he n lamed to his own home. But Biddulph was gone. There was a note, however, wri'ten by him, lying on the table, which the doctor rend with a sad heart ? I shall cull this evening after it is dark, as I wish to know how N. S. ia; and if! find you out Ilwill await your return. Tell her, if you have an opportunity, that when I die the ring she sent me to-day will still be on my hand. I ehall never part with it in life, and will direct that after uiy death it shall be buried with ine. J.B. Not a word of the woman the doctor had just left; none of the tie which seemed somehow more unreal to the poor doctor's mind after the words still ringing in his ears the offer to swear that tie was false, for the sake of gold ! ( To be continued next veeJc) HE'Lt DIE "A DOTARD" AT SIX.

Three-Year-Old Frankle Murphy Smokes and Drinks Like a Little Man. Only three years old, yet he smokes like a veteran and quaffs his beer with as much relish as a thirsty toper. This dissipat d young scamp lives in Jersey City. He is not of the order of dudes. He spurns cigarettes, rejects bad cigars when being treated, and insists upon his host providing him with a "dood see-ger." His enjoyment of the smoke depends upon the quality of the tobacco. A choice brand pleases this tiny puffer of the weed immensely, and his face fairly beams with smiles. When a bad cigar is proffered he looks at it after a puff or two, then at the giver, as much na to say "This is not up to the standard, young man. I'm a fellow who knows a good cigar from a poor one." lie putla it slowly, a3 if not satisfied. This young veteran was introduced to a Ifrrald reporter early yesterday morning, for the tiny rascal keeps bad hours, lie was in charge of a member of a firm who keeps a large livery stable almost opposite police headquarters. "A late hour for that child to be out," remarked the reporter. "That 'child,' did you say ! Why. that's an old-timer. See him tackle that pipe," was the rejoinder. Sure enough a cloud of smoke was forced out of the youngter's mouth just then, and he smacked his lips as if he hugely enjoyed the big cigar, which he held like an expert between the index and second fingers of his right hand. "That, will make the child sick," suggested the reporter. "Ha! ha! laughed the stable keeper, while young America looked up at the reporter with an expression of contempt at the preposterous idea that a good cigar would affect him. His custodian remarked: "Why, that boy smokes five ami six cigars a day. He has been smoking since he was a year old. He's a phenomenon and is crazy for tobacco. Eighteen months ago I was standing on the street with a burning cigar in my hand. I was conversing with a friend and held my hand down. Suddenly the cigar was snatched from my hand. I turned, expecting to see some friend who had taken it in a joke, and was surprised to see a little toddier scampering up the street, with tho cigar between his ' lips, puffing for all he was worth. I started after him, thinking it would poison him. His mofher stepped up and said I need not be alarmed about him, as he had a mania for smoking, and if cigars were not piven him he would wander about seeking stumps along the streets and gutters. Come over here and I'll show you some more of this young rascal's accomplishments." Then the custodian of Young America, accompanied by that prodigy, who was contentedly pulling his Havana, led a procession of several men across the street to a saloon. Young America started like an old-timer for the lunch counter as soon as he entered the bar-room. There was nothing there to suit his epicurean taste. He tried the 6ausage, but a mouthful satisfied him and he threw it to a bob-tailed cat A chunk of cheese was quickly swallowed by hi in and he was content to get down from' the tible. Then he resumed putting, and was placed on the bar. "What do you drink ?" inquired the bartender. "Me want beer," was the order of the dissolute infant. A small glass wasoffered him. Turning to a gentleman standing near, Young America handed hira his cigar, with the injunction to "smo' id," which command was several times repeated as he drank his beer slowly, as if it was a delightful bevcraga that he wanted to last as song as possible. When he had finished it he asked for his cigar and began smoking again. He had evidently enough of one night's debauch, and said to his friend, "Turn, do Lome. "Whose child is it?" asked the Herald reporter. "It lelongs to a family on Montgom-ery-st," was the unsatisfactory answer of Younc America's friend, who, no doubt, smelled a large-sized mouse, and feared it might not please the relatives of his charge if the story of the infant's depravity was told in tho" IleraUL " What's your name ?" asked the reporter addressing tue child. "Franty Murphv," was his answer. "Where do you "live, Frankie?" was the next query. , "Up tur 'treet." "What stn-et?" "Domery 'treet" Ah his triend was not disposed to tell where the infant resided and was determined not to take the child home if followed, the Ifcfuld reporter refrained from shadowing the baby smoker's friend. The little fellow f meant Montgomery-st and anticipating the name of his parents would appear in the directory tho reporter thought that the abiding" place of the remarkable infant could be obtained in that wav. 1 The directory was consulted. The names of 100 Murphy s were closely studied, but none lived on Montgomery-st or within a short distance of police headquarters. The child Is stout with a head of abnormal size, but its full round faco lacks the healthy colot'of infancy. There ia no nocietv for the prevention of cruelty to "children "in Jersey City. The third annual reunion of the Union Grand Army association of Delaware, Madison, Grant and Illackford counties, bejau at Muncic lair ground Tueaoaj morula g.

TALK OF THE PACIFIC COAST

LAND OF GOLD, GRAIN AND FRUITS. Southern California Sand Wa1n-Irrigation Artesian Wells San Diego Los Angeles I'asadeua The Great ISouui Flowers and Honey. JNOLTOX, CAL., July 23. Special. When Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke California was settled only along the PaciSc coast There w ere about twenty missionary establishments, independent of each other, founded during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, from Monterey to San Diego, whose mission was to extend the Spanish domain and convert the Indians to Christianity and not neglect the treasury of the missions. These missionary colonies monopolized all the lands and business and carried on the work of aggrandizment through the forced laborof the Indians. Christianity, to the natives in those days, meant peonage. The chief occupation was grazing, and the missions of Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ran Diego, counted their flocks of sheep, herds of cattlo and bands of horses by the ten thousand. Cattle were slaughtered for hides and tallow only, the export trade of which, together with the wool clip, amounted to many million dollars annually. When the range was overstocked by rapid increase a round-up would be ordered and all the horses were slaughtered except the best ones 6aved for domestic use and breeding purposes. The hides and tallow were removed and were then there, are they as now in Argentine Republic, where half a million Lead of horses are killed annually for their hides and tallow, important articles of commerce. True to their Castilian tagtes, the olive tree was not neglected and olive groves were numerous, especially in the Öanta Barbara mission. North of this mission, with a wet and dry season, irrigation is unnecessary, but south of it the grain, fruit and vegetables to supply the missions could only be raised by irrigation. Asceques many miles long were constructed by the pious for this purpose, but the Mexican government soon overthrew ecclesiastical rule and turned tho missions into civil institutions. Tho successive revolutionary governments of Mexico plundered the niissions and granted their lands away to individuals, and when California came under the American flag there remained nothing but the large stone and adobe buildings in ruins. The indefatigable gold hunter of '49 completed the ravages by cutting down the olive trees to cook his bacon, and there remain to-day not a dozen trees on the whole coast planted by the missionaries. The gold excitement brought thousands of adventurers, and when the "yellow fever" was over California was a 6tate in the Union with a large, rich population settled down to agriculture, commerce and legitimate mining. But the once populous lands of the missionaries, with the exception of Santa Barbara and Monterey, were not enriched with population or by development through the influx of the yellow dust seeker. The mining camps were adjacent to the SanJoaquin and Sacramento valleys. The disappointed miner turned his attention to cultivating the yellow grain instead of digging for the yellow dust and these two great valleys soon became the renowned wheat fields of California. The Napa and San Jose valleys and the foot hills of the coast range were turned into vineyards and fruit ranches. Nine-tenths of ihe population was within 100 miles of San Francisco, which limits also supplied nineteen-twentieths of the asricuitural products of the state, and to-day with all tho noise about southern California, statistics will show five-sixths of the population and four-fifths of the agricultural and horticultural products of the state within the same compass. California has passed from a land of gold and silver to one of grain and fruit Southern California, whose climate, resources and booms I intended to devote this entire letter, cannot come under this heading, although a few oranges are raised here. It wai the first section of the coast settled, and can boast of a continuous habitation by white men since 1770. Miners have tramped over every foot of it; railroads have been running though it for more than ten years, and it has always been accessible through the natural harbor of San Diego, yet it was only within three years that Rome discovered it to be a Garden of Iklen, with tropical fruit without tropical heat, with a rejuvenating glorious climate where consumptives could live with ono lung, and old people sprout new teeth and bald heads get a second growth of hair a land of perpetual spring, a land of fruit and flowers and milk and honey, a paradise where one could live in his orange grove and eat bananas swinging in a hammock in January under an olive tree, fanned with a native palm leaf all this was fromised by the discoverer of this ideal and to the half million people who came here during the last two years. How many realized their hopes? Better a.k how many are back to the land of four seasons, and why so many of them came in Pullman and returned in emigrant cars and not a few became tie inspectors on railroads with Eastern termini, and why it is that so many young men of education are herding sheep here for a living, and so many Yankee school teachers became dishwashers and chambermaids in hotels 60on after arriving here. As for the invalids, let the graveyards of Los Angeles and San Diego answer for those who could not appreciate a "newspaper paradise," and have gone to 6eek one not created with printers' ink. Yes, let the express messenger tell how many long boxes kept him company on every trip eastward. It was a paradise to the real estate sharks, hotel barons and other fiends who preyed upon the newcomer ; but to the latter it was nothing but a boom land, which boom has been "busted" for four months, and for the good of that class of people that railroads always lure, it is to be hoped that it will remain on "a bust." Before proceeding with the boom and boomers, let us turn back to the possibilities and climate of this so-called Southern California, which nature has isolated from the rest of the state by a barrier of mountains and from the east by sand-wastes. Threefifths of Southern California may be allotted to the irredeemable deserts of the Colorado and Mojave areas larger than the state of Indiana one-fifth to the chain of irregular mountain f purs which traverse Southern California along the coast from the union of the coast, range with the Sierra, to and through Lower California, leaving the other one-fifth a narrow coast strip from Santa Barbara to ; tha Mexican line, the only inhabited and

inh table part of Southern California. witl'Me well known cities and towns of Los "Vingeles, San Diego, Sta. Barbara Colton, San Bernardino, Biverside and Sta. Aua. I lere the largest real estate boom ever known was generated, inflated and collapsed. Here on this sea-coast strip of 2Ö0 miles long by only a few miles wide flourished for fifty years a dozen missionary colonies, and for fifty vears longer returned and remained in lis primeval state of cactus, flowers and wild honev. The surface, level alor.g the coast quickly rises to the foot-hiils and within a dozen miles to the mountains. From the mountains to the sea run numerous arroyas, forming narrow valleys between which are the mesa lands. There are 100 acres of mesa to one of valley. The soil of tho mesa is chiefly aJ. !," with a sprinkling of red land. Aduhe is considered por soil for fruit, excepting the olive. The red land and drift sandy loam of the valleys have the only soil adapted to fruit culture. Nothing can be raised without irrigation, and the mesa cannot be irrigated. If water could be brought over it, tho mesa being composed largely oi decomposed lime rock, would lie the most prolific. The vnlleys can bo irrigated where si;fl;cicnt water can be had. Insuilicient wntcr supply is the only obstacle to the development of this country. There is not a etreatn in the whole Southern California that Would bear the name of river east of tbe Mississippi. Only two are fed by the melting 6nows of the mountains. The others aro dry, except sometimes during the winter months w hen the rain w ill pour down ia torrents for a few hours, the hurt'ace being a net work of gullies and arroyas, with a hundred feet fall per mile to the ocean: (the water instead of penetrating the soil beats and packs it down and rushes through the arroyas with tremendous force tearing up banks and currying along gravel and saud, and iu a few hours it is all in the sea and the creeks are drv as ever. San Diego ami San lWnurdino counties, together as large as Ohio, have not available water to irrigate 100.

0U0 acre?, and not one-fourta of it is now under irrigation, with over a hundred years of settlement In lx3 Angeles county, with the only two living streams in Njiüh-rn California, tho Ma. Ana and an Gabriel, irrigation is carried on on quite an extensive wale. The water in the streams is all utilized, and water is brought from the mountains with expensive ditches. Artesian wells form a great source of watr supply in thU county as well as in the city oi San Bernardino, in the county of th" same name. Many manage to eke out a living on a few acres devoted to Email fruit, irrigated by wind pumps, and some enthusiasts think; the wind pump will solve the question of water. However, on the Mesa water can be reached oiilv at great depth, and only in the small valleys, where the w ater is near the surface, can the wind pump farming be put in operation. . in the East of tl Much has been heard ie gigantic irrigating schemes in California, but they are con fined to the San (ioaquire valley, and not iu euiiu.cj u v iuiioruia vxi epi uu uiupo, for when it comes to do anything on paper there is nothing impossible here. Three years ago San Diego was a dead town of 5,000 on one of the best harbors in the world and the terminus of the Santa Fe railroad; Los Angeles a railroad center in the midst of an aericr.ltural region, on a small seaie, was a plodding city of 15.0.X) ; Fasadina, a village; Sta. Barbara still bore the tamp of the mission days; Colton, a railroad crossing; San Bernardino, sleeping ever since the Mormons, its founders, left it; Riverside, a colony of orange-growers the only successful orange culturista in California. The other towns wero not dreamed of even by embryo boomers. The Mexican land grants had long ago passed from the greasers' hands to Americans, who ned them for grazing. Two years ago capitalists from Bor-ton, Chicago, etc., who were closely related to the Santa Fe system, organized syndicates, purchased laud grants and all the land adjoining Ixs Angeles. San Diego, Pasadena and other town?, laid it out into addition and put the lots on market Tha grants were cut up into 6ina!l tracts of one, five and ten acres, for "oraiig- groves" always laying out in each grant a town with broad avenues, parks, hotels, theaters, etc. all on paper, of course. Irrigating canals wer? located (on maps) deriving water from imaginary sources, and water-rights went with the purchase oi every lotand acre of property. lts in these new towns were all sold by the proprietors for no less than $-00 each and acre property brought no 1 than $150 per acre, no matter how stony or cut up by gulches. The advertising scheme had been 6o well planned and executed that it succeeded beyond anticipation. Lerything was soon taken olf the original boomers' hands at fabulous prices. From second hands the lots passed to third, tourth, filth, etc., adding 50, 75 and 100 er cent to the price every change of lands. No one bought to keep and imErove, but .always to sell to some one elso efore the second installment matured, and double his money. But there was to be an end to this gambling and some had to bo caught with worthless real estate unable to unload on some one elso with only the first installment paid, the second due and no funds to meet it The syndicate man was not caught, for he unloaded in the beginning. The real estate shark was not caught, he sold on commission, and ia now plying his avocation in Salt Iake City and other new fields. The Californian was not caught ; knowing the intrinsic value of the property, to his credit he never dealt in it. This disreputable boom was engendered, engineered and profited bv strangers. The old tinier got rid of his "w hite elephant," his grants, at good figures, that's all. But the conGding newcomer of small means, the widow with her all, the Yankee pchool teacher with her little sayings, the mechanic with all his wages were caught with real estate in their hands that shrunk 75 percent and left the duje8 of veteran land sharks who received their training in Kansas and Dakota and who are now booming other "glorious climates' Everything has resumed the lazy air of anti-bourn days, but the great boom left its mark lc hind. Los Angeles has mon than doubled its population, and its cor porate limits would take in New Yorl and Brooklyn without squeezing. Pasadena is a city of 10,0-M. The orangs groves about it and Los Angeles havi been cut down to make streets and lots, and weeds grow where orange trees flourished. San Diego has a tnipulation of 25. (X)J all Micawbors and enough ground platted out to rival London. During tho boom of '50 and 'tiO ships entered the harbor of San Diego every month unloaded and departed with sand for ballast. San Diego sells nothing but honey and climate w ith corner lotn thrown in. All the cites and towns have doubled and trebled. You cannot travel bver thil country without utunibiing over stake everywhere tdakes denoting streets and corner lots, all aold at auction, with music, free lunches and free rides. The mtchaser lias probably gone back ast oi