Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 29, Number 42, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 16 December 1908 — Page 3

The Shirt of Mail ♦ — By Don Mark Lemon

(Copyright, 1908, by Hally .Story Pub. Cos.)

Twice in the month of September Howard . Thounton wag approacbed to betray the interests of the Golden Gulch Mining Company. First, ono Solomon Peters approached the young superintendent with an offer of certain valuatye collaterals if the latter would misrepresent to his employers the value of the Golden Gulch holdings. Later, one Dick Cummings had doubled the collaterals. Thornton’c answer was as clean cut and polished as a dynamite cap, and the two scoundrels hastily withdrew. Then one night a fourth party was added to the dramatis personae. This fourth party was a Chinaman. He bore the name of Chew Lung, and stood nearly seven feet in his huge mining boots. No man knew from where Chew Lung had come, but there were several who believed they knew precisely where he was going. Only Thornton had dared openly to express this belief. He had caught the giant heathen qne night on forbidden ground, and nsttSving a revolver inhis face had commanded: “Right about to h —!” Chew Lung remembered the incident very weli, and patiently yet not less bloodily he had bided his time for revenge. That time had now come on golden wings. Concealing in his ample blouse the heavy sack of yellow dust that Peters and Cummings had handed over to him, he returned to his quarters. As certain as the yellow dragon fl#w over the imperial palace in the land of his ancestors, be would kill Howard Thornton. He had sworn it; half the blood-dust had been paid him; he

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The Combatants Fought Desperate!/. naked but a day and night to fulfill the compact of his oath. Peters and Cummings were jubilant. With Thornton removed, they felt that they would have but little difficulty in gaining a controlling interest in the Golden Gulch claims, the owners of which lived thousands of miles away. The unscrupulous pair would freely handle bloody money, but would leave others to handle bloody weapons. “The Chinaman will dirk him,” meditated Peters. Cummings gnawed his finger nails. “He’ll make no noise, which way he does it.” ' Chew Lung, in his narrow quarters, spoke neither to others nor to himself. He buried the heavy sack of gold dust beneath his mattress, and vanished into the night, leaving a threebellied wooden god grinning on the shelf over his bunk. Up at the Golden Gulch, mill, by the light of a single incandescent, Thornton was engaged at an assay. He chose, to work secretly, as the specimens being tested were remarkably rich, and until the interests he represented were better informed, he did not wish for any publicity. Then, too, certain wealthy investors would be down the following month, and he Vas anxious to lay before them palpable evidence of the richness of the Golden Gulch claims. With fortune’s golden chariot rolling nearer and nearer every hour, and each successful day’s work bringing him one step closer to Her, nature’s call to food and sleep had again and again been disregarded, but not until the fine young fellow actually staggered at his labor did he realize that it was long past midnight and he was dizzy and exhausted. Suddenly some seventh sense—something finer than the licensed sixth sense, an intuition as subtle as indefinable, ipfprmefl him that he was being watched. Somewhere there was a face peering at him! Giving no sign of this discovery, but yawning drowsily, he brought his hand up until it came in contact with the incandescent’s key. Another moment and he had shut off the light that exposed the rich samples of ore and sprang aside, alert- and angry. This movement changed instant death into terrific battle. Out of the darkness there sprang upon him the huge form of Chew Lung, the giant Chinaman, and a red sliver of flame pierced his shoulder ere he could grasp the hand that clutched a murderous dirk-

One touch of the yellow skin had informed Thornton of his assailant's identity,, and .the young fellow kuew. that the odds of battle were heavily against him. He was outmatched in body and weapon, an exhausted man of slender build pitted against an armed giant; yet against his gross adversary his finer fiber might prove as steel against iron. A moment he fumbled helplessly, as the Chinaman crushed him back with sheer weight, then, freeing his right arm, he swung for the yellow stomach. The short, hooked jolt loosened the giant’s hold on the knife, which fell to the floor and was kicked out of reach in the struggle that succeeded, and Thornton attempted to follow up the blow by seizing his antagonist with a trick hold.* In vain! His reach was inadequate against the other’s huge bulk, and he realized that his only chance for life was to keep from being thrown and his neck or back broken. It was pitch dark in the room, and as the combatants fought desperately the furniture and paraphernalia wert overturned and smashed, and the rich samples of ore were scattered under* foot. Suddenly Thornton was aware that beneath the Chinaman’s blouse there was a broad band of some substance as hard as steel. His hands had again and again come into contact with it, and now it flashed over him that his assailant wore a shirt of mail, which extended around his body beneath his arms to his stomach.. Back and forth, across the room and against the shelved walls,\ the unequal fight continued, till Thornton felt himself growing desperately weak, when to the crushing horror of the giant assassin in his shirt of mail was added the knowledge that the Chinaman had recovered the dirk. - Howard Thornton felt that things were pretty much the devil’s way, when suddenly there came to him one wild, uplifting hope, and a young girl’s white hand seemed to fall caressingly against his cheek. His body was being crushed against the principal piece of machinery in the room—a large electric magnet of great power. He had had it installed but the week before for experimental work in separating gold from iron ore. If only he "could reach the switch and turn on the power. His free hand fumbled among the keys. He...sobbed as he felt his heart swell like a sponge with accumulating blood. There was a ring of metal against metal, a fear* ful howl from the Chinaman, and Thornton staggered forward headlong, released from the giant’s terrible hold. After an age of paddling about in the dark, like a spent swimmer under water, he found the switch board and flooded the room with light. Over in one corner, was the Chinaman. He was squirming like a spitted cockchafer on the broad plate of the big electric magnet. The machine had attracted the steel on his shirt of mail, and now gripped it with titanic power, holding the murderous giant in a grasp that left him as helpless to escape as an armless man in his grave. Thornton picked up a chair and, seating himself, studied the astonishipgly cheerful situation. After a little while he began to talk. First he complimented himself upon being a fool in going about unarmed, then he told Chew Lung certain facts which the latter believed were unknown even to his three-bellied god. Finally ho turned off the light and left the assay room, followed down the long hill to his sleeping quarters by the howls of the giant. _ . * ' The events of the succeeding day were known only jto an enthifsiastic and select jStrfcy of law-loving miners, but Howard Thornton’s successful management of the Golden Gulch claims, and his subsequent marriage to Her, are matters familiar to the many friends of the fine young fellow. Be Your Own Tree Doctor. Every man should be his own tree doctor. If properly trained he has been busy all summer removing suckers from the trees, fighting fungus and discouraging insects. When the leaves are off he goes all over his plantation, diagnosing each tree, shrub and bush. He will find some borers not yet killed, and these should be thoroughly eradicated from his quinces and apples before winter sets in. Use a flexible wire and a sharp knife, and when the larvae are killed pile coal ashes freely around the tree. He will probably find in his currant and berry fields more or less bushes that cultivation has loosened in the soil. These are liable to heave out during the winter. He should slip a narrow shovel under the plant, draw out Jbe dirt, and let the bush settle until it is well planted. Tread heartily, and then, if you have them to.spare, place a scuttle of coal ashes about each one.—Outing Magazine. ;•<’ According to Contract. House Owner —You failed to pay your, rent last month. What are you going to do about it? Tenant —Oh, I suppose I’ll do as you said when I rented it. ■ , House Owner —What did I say? Tenant—You said I must pay in advance of not at all.

THE GOLDEN IMAGE Starr of tao Trial of DaniaTa Tkraa F Hands. BY THE “HIGHWAY AND BYWAY" PREACHER

ICopjrllrSvinTriSs^uthor^jKdsoii.) Daniel’s Book Accredited.—We know from Josephus that the Jews in Christ's day recognized Daniel as in the canon. ZechAriah, Ezra and Nehemiah refer to It. Jesus refers to it In his characteristic designation: "Son of Man,” Mott. 24: 30 TDafir'T:"t3J':~fils(>'"SSprpß'STy by" nWKer and as a “prophet,” in Matt. 24:15 (cf. Matt. 24:21, with Dan. 12:1, etc.)-: and in the moment that decided his life (Matt. 26:64), or death, when the high priest adjured him by the living God. Also, in Luke, 1:19-26, “Gabriel” is mentioned, whose name occurs nowhere else in Scripture save chapter 8:16; 9:21. Besides the references to If in Revelation, Paul confirms the prophetical part of it, as to the blasphemous king (Dan. 7:8, 25; 11:36), In 1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tliess. 2:3, 4; the narrative part, as to the miraculous deliverances from “the lions” and the fire, in Heb. 11:33, 34. Matt. 21:44, would be an enigma, if it were not for a reference to the “stone that smote the image” (Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 46). Thus the New Tes*raent sanctions chapters 2,3, 6, 7. Scripture authority—Daniel, - chapter 3.

SERMONETTE. True faith throws one unreservedly upon the mercy and care of God. Note that it was not a quest lon with these three Hebrew servants as to whether or not God would give them physical deliverance from the awful peril which threatened them, rather did the whole question of conduct hinge upon the one thought, “What is the right thing to do?” m Do right whatever be the consequences, is the uncompromising law of God. The, man who would attempt to bargain with God, making his obedience to the Divine law contingent upon God’s conferring upon him certain immunities and blessings, is the man who is serving for the loaves and the fishes and who never knows the deep joy of doing right for right’s sake. The true servant of the king of kings i9 never abashed before the presence Os the kings of the earth. Listen to the words of these men as they place allegiance, to God before every earthly claim. “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us,” but even though it should not be his will to deliver us from thy hands, know thou, oh, king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image. What a blessing these three Hebrews would have missed if they had feared to have stood with God. They did not know it at the time, but that furnace, heated so hot that those who threw the three men into its leaping flames were struck dead by the heat, was to become the vestibule of heaven, and the trysting place where sGod in the person of his blessed Son was waiting to receive them. The fire of Nebuchadnezzar could burn off the fetters with which he had bound the servants of God, but it could reach no further. So with the fires of persecution which assail the Christian. They come as a refining flame separating more and more from the fetters which would circumscribe and bind the soul in its fellowship with its Lord. The soul that dares to stand alone for the right very soon becomes conscious that he is not alone but that there is another presence with him in the fiery furnace of affliction, the very presence of God. The man who fears to do wrong is the man who knows not-the fear of man.

THE STORY. THE wonderful golden image which the king had caused to be set up had for the moment been forgotten, and the throngs of people which had been gathered to pay homage to the great glittering thing of gold were surging about the place where the furnace had been built, and in which now a raging tire burned. It was the same furnace in which the mejal for the great image had been smelted but a few days before, and that, day the fires had been kindled again, not to smelt more metal for an image, but to bum the heretics who dared to defy the mandate of the king and refuse to bow down to the wonderful image and in whom dwelt the spirit of their gods. That day the great company of musicians had played in honor of the golden image, and at the sound of the music the people had bowed before it in adoration and worship. Even the king had, with much pomp and ceremony, paid his oblations before the image, and had been followed by his brilliant' court retinue. Then, “from the high throne where it had been set up overlooking the great plain, he watched the feasting and the dancing, and the prostrations of the people as the music gave the signal. ■ Then baa come the "break in the ceremonies and the news had" quickly spread through the vast throng that the three governors over the province of Babylon had refused to bow before the great* image and were to be cast

into the fiery furnace. And for the time being the great imago and the glittering ceremonials and feasting were forgotten and the people surged about the place where the furnace stood. With morbid eagerness they watched the bringing of the furnace' to the intense white glow. Breathlessly they stood and saw the three men bound, and as they were lifted *nd carried to the mouth of thfe furnace and thrown within the leaping flamea a cry of fear and horror burst from the hundreds and thousands of throats, for there, writhing In death agony on the ground lay the men who had borne the victims of the Ring’s wrath to their doom: ——•- For the time being everything else was forgotten, but when the blackened, misshapen bodies had been removed from sight the king and people again turned their eyes toward the fiery furnace. With a cry “of fear and astonishment the king suddenly arose from his place and, with tense face and shaking finger, he pointed towards the furnace. His court officials quickly gathered round him, and to them cried -._ the king in alarm: “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the furnace? Lo, 1 see four men loose walking in the midst of the Are, and they have no hurt, is not the fourth the God whom these Hebrews declared was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace?” “True, it may be,” rejoined his officials. “Make haste,” shouted the king. “Call them forth from the midst of the fiery furnace.” Instantly theofflclals hastened to do the bidding of the king, and as the three' men, Shadraeh, Meshach and Abednego stepped forth from the midst of the raging flames the people gave a great shout which fairly shook the heavens. And the counsellors of the king quickly surrounded the three men and led them towards the king, who, in his eagerness to receive them, threw aside his royal robes and .descended to the plaza below. “But where is the fourth man, thy companion in the furnace?” cried the king, as he reached the approacning group. “Was it not thy God? I would bow before him.” “Thou mayest indeed bow before him, but to meet him familiarly face to face is not vouchsafed to any man,” spoke up one of the three men. “Tell me of thy God? Is he the same God as the God whom Daniel worships? the God who revealeth dreams?” urged the king, almost breathlessly. “I thought to make an image whose glory should fill all earth. I sent heralds through all the lands over which I hold dominion commanding that there be sent those who should worship before the image. I sought thus to magnify my name and my glory, and behold, now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, have been brought low. For surely what god is there like to thy God, who can deliver from the devouring flame?” Then spoke up Shadraeh, saying: “Be it known unto thee, oh, king, that we worship the same God whom Daniel worships, for the God of the Hebrews is but one..God. He it is who ruleth in the heavens, who setteth kings upon thrones and taketh kingdoms away. He it is who giveth wisdom and careth for them who put their trust in him.” , “But thou art far from thy land,” exclaimed the king. “The land where thy God has his dwelling place. Cometh he thither into the midst of Babylon, where the great god Bel rules?” “The great god Bel is no god at all before Jehovah-God, the God of heaven and earth,” was the bold response. •'He is everywhere and his ear is always open to the cry of his children. “But, why, then, hath such evil fallen upon a people who have such a great God. a God who is everywhere, and a God who is able to deliver?” “Thou hast spoken, oh, king, of Israel's folly, for it* is the wickedness of the people, and their going after strange gods which hath brought this evil upon us. The God of Israel hath chosen ’thee as •the’instrument of his wrath and hath given into thy hands his disobedient people. But he is able to deliver and hath saved thy servants from the fiery furnace.” “Blessed be thy God!” exclaimed the king, fervidly, “that hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him. Now, therefore, I decree that every people, nation and language which speaketh anything amiss against the God Os Shadraeh,'Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces,* -and their houses shall be made a dunghill; for there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.” And suiting the action to the word, he dispatched heralds at once through all that vast throng to proclaim the decree. And the people took up the cry. and there, before the gold image, as though by way of rebuke, they shouted: , “Great is the God of Shadraeh, Meshach and Abednego.” Almost Incredible Brutality. France’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has action against a cinematograph company for an act of unprecedented brutality to a horse. In a series of pictures called “The Lover's Revenge” a carriage drawn by a horse was seen to rush over the edge of a cliff and be dashed to pieces. The pictures had not been faked. An old blind horse harnessed to a carriage was really driven over the edge of the cliffs near Boulogne to obtain them. i New Yprk’s Oldest Park. New York city has one public park that Is 250 years old r and that is Bowling Green,, which was the playground of the first Dutch settlers; -

A BOY’S LONG WALK. But Hardships and Privation Were as Nothing to th Thought of Homei Seven hundred and fifty long miles is a long walk for a boy of 14. In “My Life and My Lectures,” Mr. Lamar Fontaine tells how, when he was but a boy of 14, he made his way over bald prairies and through trackless forests from the Rocky mountains to Austin, Tex. He had been In captivity with the Comancheg for three years. One day he asked the chief if he would permit him to go home and see his mother and his people. The indlan toid him he might ..it .he would walk. I knew that all the watercourses that had their sources on the southern and eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and that by following any of them I should strike the gulf somewhere. . - * * .' When I came to the desert, or waterless region, game got scarce. I carried a deer hide and in> the morning I would .spread it out, shake the dew from the grass on it, and then, gathering the ends up, would thus have a supply of water sufficient to last me all that day. My rifle kept me in a good supply of food. The jerked or dried venison and the shredded turkey breasts I used as bread. At night I would kindl£ a fire of the dry buffalo chips, broil my fresh meat, eat a hearty meal of it, and then lie dowfi by my fire and sleep as sound as only a tired child can. Sometimes the coyotes and larger wolves would make some trouble with their howling and snarling. If they got too bad, I would send a ball or an arrow into the nearest and most bold, and he would leap off with a howl, and the rest would scatter. I did not see a human being on my whole journey, and I do not think that I was ever in any great danger from any wild animal. I felt that a special guardian angel watched over my pathway and guided my every step. The first watercourse I struck, after crossing the Rio Grande and the Pecos, was the Concho, a tributary of the Colorado, the very stream on which the city of Austin is located, and on which was my home. But I did not know it, and did not recognize it till I reached the junction- of the San Saba and the Colorado. There I saw the remains of one of our camping places of more than four years ago. My heart gave a great bound when I saw, the first marks of a civilized people, and I knew that I was hot more than 75 miles from home. The day was bright and clear, and the moon only a day old, and had I had moonlight, I think that I should have traveled all night, I was so elated. One evening, just after sundown, I had built my camp-fire on the eastern slope of a mountain, on the south side of the river, and was looking off down it, when I caught the glimmer of a light. It shone out bright and clear, and twinkled like a star. I watched it till, my eyes grew weary and heavy with sleep, and I drifted into the Land of Nod with its sheen upon my lids. This mountain was only 20 miles from my home, and the light was in my mother’s room. Proved Ability. “That horrid ill-tempered, little man is always boasting about his wjfe. He told me yesterday she was hard to beat.” “He ought to know. He's tried it.” —Baltimore American. * Trouble Ahead. Hewitt —You look worried. .Tewitt —I am. worried. I left my bankbook on a street car. Hewitt—Cheer up; it may be found. Jewitt —That’s what’s worrying me. It may be found and left at my house and my wife will know what my bank balance is. The “Question. “I think you can only believe about half you hear.” “So do I. But the question is, which half?” THE MARKETS. New York, Dec. 14! * LIVE STOCK—Steers $4 20 @ 7 60 Hogs 6 35 @7 30 Sheep , 3 2d @ 6 15 FLOUR—Winter Straights.. 460 #4 80 WHEAT-December 1 08V4@ 1 i% May 1 10t4@ 1 11 CORN—December . ...s. 72%@ 72% RYE—No. 2 Western 83 @ 83% BUTTER—Creamery 18 @ 32 EGGS V. 34 @ 55 CHEESE CHICAGO. CATTLE—Fancy Steers 36 40 @7 75 Medium to Good Steers... 550 @ 640 Cows, Plain to Fancy — 3 59 @ 5 15 Native Yearlings 5-26-@ 715 Calves vt77.. ..3 60 @8 oO HQ(iS—Heavy Packers......' 5 50 @5 60 Heavy Butchers .......... 5 60 @ 5 77% pigs 3 90 @ 5 00 BUTTER— Creamery •• •■ 22 @ 32 Dairy 26%@ *-> LIVE POULTRY 9 @ 15 F.UGS 2630 Potatoes (per bu.) t @ 72 FLOUR-Spring Wheat, Sp'l 6 20 @ 6 30 WHEAT-May 1 04%s@ 1 06% December -100 @lOl% Corn, May 60%@ 61% Oats, May 52%@ -5274 Rye, May 73 @ 78 MILWAUKEE. GRAlN—Wheat. No. J Nor’n 51 09 @ 1 10 May 1 Op @1 06 Corn, May 61 @ 61% Oats, Standard 52 @ 52% .Rye *6 @ <6% KANSAS CITY. GRAlN—Wheat, December.. $ 95 @ 95% May 99%( m Corn, December 55 @ 55% Oats, No. 2 White 48 @ 51 ST. LOUIS. CATTLftadleef Steers. $3 50 @ 7.50 Texas Steers 275 @ 6 40 HOGS—Packers 5 00 @ 5 S Butchers 5 40 @ 5 8a SHEEP—Natives 3 00 @ 4 50 OMAHA. CATTLE—Native Steers .... $4 00 @ 7 25 * Stockers and Feeders 275 @5 25 Cows and Heifers 300 @ 475 HOGS-Heavy 5.35.0 5 j BHEEr—Wethers 4 00 @ 4 .5

IS WHALEBONE KING EDGAR R. LEWIS HAS PRACTICALLY CORNERED SUPPLY. Million Dollars’ Worth of the Btock > * Shut Up in His New Bedford, Mass., Stores—Business Is Sort of Gamble. New Bedford, Mass. —A million dollors’ worth of whalebone, practically ail the.„yhaiebaufijaite.jsatid. iUia„ a few weeks be stored in the warehouses of 'William iAiwis & Son, on Rodman street. This in whalebone is controlled by one man, Edgar R. Lewis, and if the whalebone manufacturers of the. world want any of it they will have to come up to the captain’s office and settle, for on top of the fact that for a year over 150,000 pounds of the bone has been on hand in this city ( with hardly a transaction, comes the announcement to the whalebone manufacturers that practically all the whaling merchants have agreed not tp send their steamers to the Arctic ocean next year. This will allow the present large stock of whalebone to be worked off, and the whaling grounds. will get a rest. These grounds in the Arctic ocean have been visited for more than 50 years, season after season. The whales ; have been chased hard and often. Unj doubtedly some of the whales are in ! the ocean to-day that were there when J the first whaling craft dared to pass i into the Arctic from Behring straits. The first vessels that entered the Arctic found the whales easy prey. With the advent of the steam whaler, the bowheads grew gradually more timid. . Each succeeding year nowaS days the bowhead has been found further and further to the eastward, j nearer to the ice packs, where he is harder to get at. The Crozetts grounds in the Indian ocean are again supplying good

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catches. The whales deserted there some years ago, and so the whalers gave up going there. Now the whales are coming back. Delagoa bay, on the south coast of Africa, a former famous whaling ground, will probably be found barren by the bark Alice Knowles, which is to visit there on her way to the Crozetts. The bay is the pathway now for big ocean-going steamers. While the catch of the Arctic whalers the past season is the smallest for several years, there will be actually more whalebone in first hands than has been the case in some time. Most of the catch of last year is on hand in the storehouses in this city. The stock of over 200,000 pounds of bone could be easily disposed of at a medium price, say $3.50 per pound, but.with the decision of the agents not to send their vessels to the Arctic next season, and with only the comparatively small quantity to be caught by the whales ,ln the southern oceans, the holders think the bone worth more money, possibly rising five dollars per pound, and the market is stagnant. The whalebone business, both cattching and holding for a Vising mar--ket, is a sort of gambler -In ■ some years when the stock has been low the merchants have held their, bone, so that tjie market would not be cleaned out, and have later been obliged to sell it at a lower price than they could have had. Rut now, the whalebone king, E. R. Lewis, has control* of alb the bone, and he can dictate his own prices. The price question has, in fact, been responsible for making Mr. Lewi3 price arbiter of the trade, Tor, having found-, competition > unprofitable, the whaling agents have settled down to shipping their Mr. Lewis and letting him dispose of it for them. A smaU army of scrapers is constantly kept on hand by Mr. Lewis, for the bone has to be scraped frequently to prevent’mould. A small trading schooner will probably be sent north to pick up the trade bone from the natives, should no whaler visit the Arctic ocean. The trade bone is got cheap by exchanging knives,, powder and rifles with the natives. Natives have been known to part, with a SIO,OOO whale for S2OO in trade. Some years all the bone a whaling . vessel would get in the Arctic would be trade bone. A few years ago one conscientious New Bedford whaling captain was held up off a native village by a boat’s crew who had some handsome bone to sell. He offered knives, powder, guns and other articles. “No,” came the answer, “want devil water.” They wanted rum, hn<L this captain would not give it to thorn. Probably the next skipper who cr.ta* . alcng got the bone.