Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1900 — Page 2

'Twixt Life and Death

BY FRANK BARRETT

CHAPTER XV. Eric looked at his watch. "What time is it?” asked Nessa. “It is past three.” “And no telegram has come yet! Do jrou think there can be any mistake?” “Mrs. Redmond may have forgotten jfthat I said you were going to the riding •chooi.” "You said that a true friend cannot forget.” "Perhaps Mrs. Redmond is not a true friend.” ■ “R no message should come for me, ' what shall I do?” she asked in dismay. “We will wait till the last moment for a telegram. Your friend will know that you cannot wait ut the riding school after a certain hour. Do not think you will be under obligation to us. My father is a man of business. He will consult the best luwyers and see that you get your Inheritance, and you will pay him in money for all you have received, and be quite independent. No one will have any claim on you—not anyone*,” he said, impressively; and then, to make his meaning clear, he continued, dropping his voice, and speaking with some difllculty, “I must say something more, that you may have no can so lo hesitate about going with my father and sister. 1 shall stay in London, and you will not see me for three years.” Ilnd Nessu been a shallow girl or a worldly girl, she would have replied with a more or less graceful compliment,' and have got out of un embarrassing position cheaply; but she felt deeply, and was too sincere, too simple for that. She sat silent, looking in his face with wondering eyes, while the warm blood mantled in her cheek, as site put lier position before herself in plain words to fully comprehend bis meaning. ' c “He loves me,” she said to herself, “more than his father, and sister, and home. lie will banish himself from all he loves that I may nut feel his claim upon my affection.” "Think,” be urged; "it is your life that is at stake.” "Yes; but that‘is not all,” she answered. "Oh, this • question is too grave to answer lightly or hastily. I want to be alone and think it over.” There was a ladies’ reading room at the end of the dining hall, lie rose, and giving his arm, led her there. In less than an hour he returned with a telegram, looking as if he carried his own death warrant-as, indeed, it was for all the dearest hopes of his heart. He gave it to NeSsa without a word, and waited. When she had read it she handed the trembling sheet to him, her bosom swelling with a sigh. Erie read: “Take the nest train to Brighton. You will find me in the waiting room. Can do nothing till you come.” "There is a train at ten minutes past five,” he said, with it forced calm, as he returned the telegram, "and the cub is at the door waiting.” He stepped into the hansom after her. Never had moments fled so swiftly or been so precious to them. Yet all were wasted. They scarcely spoke a word between Holbot n and Victoria. He got her ticket and put her in a compartment. "The time has nearly come to thank you,” she said, forcing a smile, when the collector hail nipped her ticket and closed the door. “Not yet, not yet,” lie murmured, glancing at the clock in quick dread. “We are sure to see each other again,” she said. He shook liis head, but his quivering lips refused to speak. "But, if you are not going home for three years, it is quite possible ” “No. no—l shall never see you again,” he said, in a broken voice, “Oh!” And then, dashing away the tears that bad sprung in her eyes, she said: “But 1 don’t understand—you must tell We cannot part like this.” “1 promised my father —before be would tell me your name, and where 1 might find you—that I would go back with him if you did not.” In this way he represented his promise never to see Nessn again unless she broke forever with Mrs. Redmond. “Stand back, there!” cried the guard, and then he blew his whistle. The time had come for Nessa to thank him. anil for him to say farewell. They could not speak, for the tears that choked them; could not see each other, for the tears that blinded them. But Nessa put out both her hands with a sob, and he kissed them. The train moved on; she saw him standing there desolate and broken-heart-ed. And thus ended Ncssu’s love affair. CHAPTER XVI. At Brighton Nessa found Mrs. Redmond in the waiting room. They entered a cab and were taken to Henson’s Hotel. Nessa was surprised to find that they were to stay at a big hotel; and when the elevator had taken them to their rooms, ■be was still more ustonished to see a sel-ver-mounted dressing ease on the table, a couple of traveling boxes, and a variety of knickuacks and articles of clothing about the room that she bad never seen before. “Is this your room?” she asked. “Yes. Yours is in there. The waiting room is on the other side. Nice, aren’t they? What do you thiuk of my dressing case?” "It’s very pretty, but bow did you get it?” "Paid for it,” replied Mrs. Redmond. "And a nice lot these things have coat; but they wouldn't take us in anywhere without luggage, aud I cpme away from St. John’s Wood with nothing.” This was hardly true, for despite the baste of her departure she had contrived to stow away under her waterproof a great many anpaid-for articles of valne which ahe had since disposed of to a private dealer in such things. "By and by,” aba added, before Nesaa

could ask where she got the money to make her purchases, “you must pick the name out of your linen to-night before the chambermaids get a chance of prying into it. What are you gong to cull yourself? Tve given my name as Mrs. Gaston Laseelles.” Nessa looked at her friend in uneasy silence. It hud seemed to he natural and justifiable that Mrs. Redmond, in leaving her husband, should discard the name he had given her and resume her maiden name; but this second change, and the change proposed for herself, frightened her. "Must we go under false names?” “To be sure we must, unless you want tin- police to be down on us, as tliov certainly would if they found our names in the visitors’ list. And where's the harm?'" “I don't know; only it seems as if we were doing something wrong.” “Oh, fudge!” exclaimed Mrs. Redmond, impatiently. “Lots of people change their names for no reason at all. The swells do it; so do actors and authors. If any justification is needed, necessity should be an excuse. We don't want to do it; it’s forced upon us by that villain Nichols, who swindled tvs, and that other villain, my husband, who wants_to_get hold of you. Have we ever done anything .wrong—either of us?” "We thought we could pay, to be sure,” said Nessa, reflectively, "ami we meant to pay, and we should, if that man had kept his promise. No; Ido not think we have done anything willfully dishonest.” "Now, what name will you take-?” “Any that you think will do,” said Nessa, with a sigh of resignation. "What do you say to Gladys do Vere?” "Do you thiuk it sounds .quite like me?” Nessa asked, in a tone of doubt, for tiie name reminded her painfully of certain cheap novelettes the girls used to smuggle into school and devour in secret. “Perhaps not; I thought of it for myself. Viola is pretty and uncommon.” Nessa assented timidly. It was a very pretty name, she said. —Very well. then. Viola it shall _be. Viola D’ something; it must be a I)' with an apostrophe; D’Anvers; that will do; Viola D’Anvers. Now come down and let us get some dinner. In the dining room Nessa felt the hot blood mount to the roots of her hair when her friend, with the loud tone and peculiar pronunciation affected by persons who wish to lie thought better bred and better educated than they are,.said, “We will sit heah, Viola,” and told the waiter to see if there were any “lettahs for Miss I)’Anvers.” It seemed to her that the gentlemen looking at her from the adjacent table must see that she hud not a name like that. In the drawing room, after dinner, Mrs. Redmond seated herself carelessly before the open piano and showed off her musical attainments in a piece of such painful brilliancy that the elderly gentlemen, after withdrawing to the remotest corners of the room, dropped out one after the other to seek repose in the smoking room or elsewhere.

The next clay, however, they were forced to give up their pleasant rooms by the sea. The reason for the sudden tlight was that Benjamin Levy came down to Brighton, and meeting Nes.sa alone told her that the police had tracked them to this place, and that their only chance of safety was to leave. At 10:ir» Mrs. Redmond stepped out of the train at London Bridge and there met Nessa, who had arrived by the preceding train. Their dress in that part of the town was conspicuously lady-like; they had not a vestige of luggage, and very little money; of necessity, therefore, they hud to seek refuge for the night in a place where no questions are asked. Close by the station they found a nondescript house of entertainment, something between a coffee-shop and tavern, where a slatternly woman leal them up two flights of uncarpeted and dirty stairs, and showing them into n double bedded room, set down the candle with a yawn, and asked Mrs. Redmond for half a crown, as it was the custom of the house for lodgers to pay over night. Nessa had never been in such n room before, and looked round in shuddering disgust at the yellow linen of the beds, the greasy slips of carpet on the dark floor, the frowsy stuffed chairs, the chipped toilet service, and the walls that seemed to have imbibed yellow fog of many years from the river. The atmosphere was redolent of all the ranchl smells of Tooley street, with a whiff of fried bacon and herring from below superudded. Mrs. Redmond seemed to take those discomforts as a matter of course, and even showed herself acquainted with damaged, door-fast-enings by tilting a chair and wedging the buck of it under the knob of the handle. Her indifference surprised Nessa. However, this experience prepared Nessa for what was to come, and she had loss hesitation in agreeing that the lodgings they found the next morning in Spita) square would do when she thought of the horrible room iu which she had passed that miserable, sleepless night. The square was quiet; the house looked respectable. There was a silk warehouse on the ground floor; their three rooms were neatly furnished; the linen was fairly white and clean. The housekeeper who let the rooms under took to come in for an hour every morning to light the fire and to do the rough work; for the rest of the day the ladies had to wait Upon themselves. On Monday evening Mrs. Redmond declared herself so delighted with Nessa’s performance ns n housewife that she should henceforth leave all the domestic arrangements to her. This gave Nessa plenty to do. But that did not displease her at all. She was glad of the occupation, not only as a mental distraction, but as a means of lessening her obligation to Mrs. Redmond. Mrs. Redmond herself did nothing except read penny papers, and yawn at the window. She bought her things ready made, and when the last shilling

was gone hinted that Nessa’s muddling extravagance would ruin them. As credit was not to be got in Spitalfields, and food was an absolute necessity, Mrs. Redmond took a ’bus to Old Ford on Suturda.v morning, pawned some trinkets there, and returned jubilant with two pounds ten. She was always at her best when she had money to spend, and before she had drawn off her gloves, she said: “We’ll go to a show to-night.” Nessa was human—that is to say, non over wise—and after being cooped op is doors for the best part of a week, and en during a great many little miseries in si lence, the idea of a long evening in a theater set the blood dancing in ber veins. tu the .erehing they went to Arcadia, where the International Hippodrome had just opened their season—Mrs. Redmond taking a hansom from Norton Folgate, after buying a new pair of gloves for the occasion. In the entrance lobby Mrs. Redmond recognized a gentleman In evening dress as an old friend. "Jimmus!” she said, laying her hand on his arm familiarly. "Hallo, Totty!” he returned, recognizing her, and shaking her hand warmly. "Shouldn’t have known you in that wig.” Mrs. Redmond had changed her hair dyetofhe chestnut tint then just coming into fashion. "What do yon do here?” "(.'oine to see the horses. My friend, Miss Doncaster- Mr. James Fergus,” she said, introducing Nessa, to whom she had given this new name. Mr. Fergus raised his hat to Nessa and replaced it with the regulation tilt, and shook hands with a lengthened look of admiration. “What are you doing here, Jimmus?” asked Mrs. Redmond. "Bossing the show for Duprez.” "Delighted to hear it. Any opening for an Old chum?” "Well,” said Mr. Fergus with deliberation. casting another adm iri n g gl a nee on Nessa, who clearly occupied his thoughts more than the “old chum”—“might find something. Are you in the line, Miss Dancaster?” "Of course,” boldly answered Mrs. Redmond. Before the evening was over Mr. Fergus engaged them, more on account of Nessa’s beauty than because he eared about Mrs. Redmond’s return to the profession she had been in before she married Mr. Redmond.

CHAPTER XVII. It seemed to Nessa that Monday night, when she was to make her first appearance in the ring, Would never come; it was almost too much to expect; but it came, all the same; and at half-past seven Nessa found herself, with seven Other ladies in blue, waiting in dressing room No. ti for their cull. They were all very noisy and full of fun except Nessn, and she was quiet because she did not know the ladies yet awhile, though they had shown themselves very friendly, and she could not quite understand what they were all talking about — partly, perhaps, because her thoughts., were in a tumult of expectation. At last a bell tinkled, and a boy called out—- " All down, ladles, for parade.” It was strange to Nessa to see how uneoncerned they were, and how they dawdled about after this summons that stirred her very heart within her. But the overture had only just begun; it came up the stairs in gusts as the door below was swung open. She took one last glance at herself as she passed the glass, to be sure that her wig was all right, and went down with the rest. It was bewildering to look down the stairs, into the court .below crowded with horses and riders, all glitter and movement, as they took their places in the procession forming along the main opening. She was lifted in the saddle, and led to the outside place in the front file, passing Mrs. Redmond, who, to her disgust, had been stuck in the middle of the tile behind. (To be continued.)

How Filipinos Wash Clothes.

All washing of clothes Is doue iu cold water, and kettles or boilers of large size are unknown. No washboards are used aud the wash tub is a round woodeu affair about half the diameter of our common tubs and about six inches deep. The tub is put ou the ground when the washing is done and the dirt is scrubbed out by rubbing the clothes against the tub, slapping them upon stones or beating them with sticks. The public wash-women do their work in the canals and at the river or at any stray puddle they can find. They dry their clothes on the nearest available fence or on the grass. There is a disease called the dobe itch, which nearly all the Americans, civilians and soldiers, officers and privates have had, which is said to be caught from their freshly washed clothes. It is believed to lie caused by a microbe in the water, and, ouee caught, it spreads over the body, especially attacking the toes, the armpits, and oilier places where the perspiration is greatest. It sometimes sends the patient to the hospital, but ordinarily not, anu in minor cases, by washing the body with listerlue, it can lie cured in a short time.

Flannel from Pine Needles.

The Germans make flannel underclothing of the fiber of the pine needles, as well as socks for men and stockiug* for women, while knee-warmers, knitting and darning yarns, cork soles, quilts, wadding, deafening paper for walls, pine needle soap, iuceuse, and even cigars made from this raw material have been exported from Germany for years. Bathing resorts have also been established at points where tha pine needles are crushed, and these resorts hiive long been popular with people afflicted with rheumatism, consumption, etc. * The St. James’ Gazette says that the khaki craze has gone so far in England that many statues Id West End London villas have been painted tlint color. In one villa two- Mercury*, a Laocoon group, an Achilles, an Aphrodite, aud a Hercules are nil in the popular hue. In warning there 1* strength.—Lew Wallace.

—Denver News.

DEMOCRACY’S ONLY DANGER.

Party Leaders Caution the Voters Against Overconfidence. Headquarters National Democratic Committee. Chicago. “Over-confidence,” that, according to wise political leaders, is the only danger that Democracy has to fear in the coining campaign. The most conservative men in the party have all along anticipated a .hard, up-hill flglit in a large number of the Eastern States. It was feared that In that region converts would be hard-to get. It was conceded early in the campaign that the leaders of what has been termed the “Gold Democracy” would, with one accord, support McKinley. However, during the hist week the political situation in tlie East has assumed an entirely new aspect. David Bennett Hill's dictum, “I am a Democrat,” seems to have been the slogan adopted by nearly all of the leaders of the Palmer-Buekner movement of 1896. Being Democrats, and 'oeiug men with live consciences and a keen sense of honor and patriotism, they could not do otherwise than rally to the support of those fundamental principles of Democracy upon which are grounded not only the Democratic party but the fabric of our government as well. Whatever the fancied dangers of free silver might be, they fade into insignificance when compared to the unutterable loss of free government. Imperialism and militarism have been termed “bogies,” “shadow Issues,” “phantasies of light-headed politicians,” but within the last few days it has become evident that they are regarded as of such vital importance that the men who have been lauded by the Republican press as the soundest and ablest leaders of Democracy are willing upon those two issues alone to cast their fortunes and unite their efforts with the forces supporting the nominee of the Democratic party. While the landslide in the East was expected, it was not expected so soon, aud only the most sanguine entertained hopes that the landslide would ever assume the proportions of au avalanche, hut nevertheless the movement has been started in the East that bids fair to sweep away the dearest hopes of Republican leaders. Richard Gluey, in an open letter, lias publicly announced his intention of supporting the candidacy of Mr. Bryan. Who is Mr. Olney? Every seliool boy could answer the question; he was Mr. Cleveland’s Secretary of State, lie was moreover a man concerning whose abilities, discernment, sound common sense and patriotism the Republican press in 1890 wrote volumes. lie was pointed to witli pride as a leader who “repudiated Bryanism.” It will be interesting to notice the changed attitude that the Republican press will assume. Mr. Olney will undoubtedly be termed a cheap politician, a rattle brained fanatic; some may even go so far as to term him a traitor, but let them say what they will, the announcement of Mr. Olney, together with the declaration of William L. Wilson tlint he, too, means to support the Democratiflc ticket will have a tremendous effect not only upon the campaign in the East but upon the campaign in the whole United States. It Is confidently expected that the next two weeks will see the whole “Gold Democracy,” headed by Mr. Cleveland, in line for Bryan, -n The coming out of Mr. Olney Is one of the moHt recent links In the long chain of prominent men who have renounced McKinley and the Interests jvhleh he has officially subserved; he Is, however, the link which united the hitherto diverging branches of Democracy. Among other recent converts inay be named Thomas Wentworth Uigglnson, Bourke Cochran Wfbster

SOMETHING OF A SHOCK.

Davis, Senator Wellington, Patrick Egan, Henry U. Joliuson, John J. Valentine, Patrick Collins, the friend and adviser of Tilden and Cleveland. The administration is evidently sparring for wind in the little affair eonmining the cession of American territory in Alaska to Great Britain. Secretary of State Hay has just announced to the miners in the district in question that while it is true that the United States has given not only them but their lands to Great Britain, tbat the cession is only temporary. It was not for nothing, that; the administration has been engaged in negotiations with Spanish diplomats for the last four years. Hay can now inject the convenient term "to-morrow” into all the affairs of state with a grace equal to that of a Castilian Don. It will be remembered that the Spaniards were always going to grant the demands made by their Cuban subjects “tomorrow.” Likewise they were going to graut the liberty demanded by the Filipinos “tomorrow.” Bound to carry out the traditions of the worst government that existed in Europe during the last years of the nineteenth century, it will be remembered that the occupation of Cuba by American forces was to be only “temporary.” We were going to retire “to morrow.” The occupation of Porto Rico was at first a temporary matter. We were going to retire from there “tomorrow.” And concerning our occupation of the Philippine Islands, we were assured vociferously and in detail by the administration ..that we were only there for a short period of time and would certainly retire “to-morrow.” Can the poor Alaskan miners hope to fare any better than the Cubans, the Porto Ricans and the Filipinos? By deliberate act of the Republican administration, the British government has been, placed in possession of American territory, and can those who are acquainted with the acquisitive characteristics of John Bull or of the subservient attitude adopted by our President and his advisers towards the British government, hope that the English will voluntarily return territory that they have gained without paying even a price, or that refusiag to return the territory voluntarily, it will ever be demanded by William McKinley and Ids cabinet coterie of Anglo-maniacs? Why They Are for Bryan. The general argument against imperialism appeals to the citizen in proportion to his patriotism and his knowledge of the fundamental principles of free government. The working people have a selfish reason in addition to the patriotic one. They perceive that Imperialism hacked by militarism and aided by trusts threatens .their very means of subsistence. The men who labor for daily wages will vote for Bryan regardless of previous party affiliations because the danger is one that threatens them regardless of party. It was this big industrial vote .which was lacking in 1890. It was cowed Into voting for McKinley. Coercion will lx? tried again, but the conditions nre different. The trust Issue Is next in Importance to the Industrial masses. They are the people who have to pay trust prices for practically everything they eat, drink aud wear. Thej* are the people who have suffered when trusts closed down factories. They are the people who know that no matter how many million* profit the trust makes hi a year, It does not advance wages unless Its employes are organised In otder to forte the payment of living wages. . The education along these lines appeals directly to the Interest* Of the workingmen- In aucb a case they

would probably vote for any party which voiced their protest. The Democratic party does in the most unmistakable manner. That’s why Bryan will get the votes of the working people. Timely anil Troublesome Questions. If some loud-voiced, firm-jawed, ironclad Republican worries you by clatter; and if you find that you cau’t shout as loud as he can or keep him still long enough to squeeze in a Word; or if you find that in noisy debate or argument you are unable to keep up you* end—and remember that Jefferson and poor GoldsuiTOT Were such—wliy, just go where it Is quiet, where you can think, and write out some pertinent questions for your stormy friend to answer.

Pin him down with these: Do you believe that an income tax is a good tax? (If he has the brains of a gnat he will say yes.) Why does the Republican party fail to support the income tax? Why does the Republican party refuse to take the high protective tariff off goods controlled by trusts? Why .does the Republican party {lermit great railroads to discriminate in freight rates in favor of a few trusts? Why does the Republican party fail to pry into the affairs of trusts, with its Interstate Commerce Commission as a pryer? Why does the Republican party preseut to England a large chunk of American land? Why does the Republican party refuse to permit goods from Porto Rico to enter our country free? Why does the Republican party refuse to promise the Filipinos ultimate freedom if they will lay down their arms? Why does the Republican party want to have the nation carry a large and costly army? (These two latter questions are relative. If he says the large army is necessary because of the Fllinino war, don’t let him squirm and get away from answering question No. 8. If freedom was promised the Filipinos, no Filipino war would be on.) Why do the trusts, and why does the corporate wealth of the country, the monopolies, and other wage-lowering and priceraising concerns, support McKinley?

Press him to answer. But he won't. He will try to dodge. Let him gulp and swallow and hem and haw and sputter and swear, but he will not answer. He will quibble and fly to chicanery. The Voter Hon on Kasy Choice. The voter knows what Mr. Bryan’s policy with reference to the Philippines is. It may be open to objection from mnny, but jt Is explicit. The administration lias no particular policy. It Is drifting.- The President will do as pleases him until Congress acts and Congress will act when It Is ready. What Congress will do about It nobody knows. What the President thinks Congress ought to do about It no one can tell, probably not the President himself.—Louisville Courier-Journal. Pnt Kagan on the Rtnmp. Since ex-Becretnry Alger lias consented to make a few speeches for McKinley, why not call In Gen. Eagan from the Sandwich Islands, or wherever he is enjoying his five years’ vacation for blackguarding Gen. Miles, and get him to do a little talking? Ills pay is going on all the time, so he might do It quite cheap.—Philadelphia Tlmaa..