Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1889 — Page 2

KING SOLOMON’S MINES.

BY H. RIDER HAGGARD.

OHAETER XVL— Oomtiwuxd. ' ? IM TH! HIE. (Sometimes the stelactitee took strange forms, presumably where the dropping of the water had not always been on the earns spot,. Thus, one huge mm. which mast have weighed a hundred tons or eo, was in the form of a pulpit, Beautifully fnetted over outside with what looked like lace. Others resembled strange besets, and on the sides of the cave ivory tracings, such as the leaves upon a pane. Out of the vast mai l aisle, there opened here? 1 and there smaller caves, ' exactly, Bir Henry said, as chapels open out of great cathedrals. Some were large, but one or two—and this is a wonderful instance of nature carries out her hsudiwork by the same unvarying laws, u'.terly irrespective of site —were tiny. Ore little nook, for instance, was to larger than an unusually big doll’s house, and yet it might have been the model of the whole place, for the water dropped, the tiny icicles hung, and the spar columns were forming in just the same way.„ We tad not, however, as much time to examine this beautiful place as thoroughly as we should have to do, for unfortunately Gagool seemed to be indifferent to stalactites, and only anxious to get heir business over. This annoyed me the more, as I was particularly anxious to discover, if possible, by whit system the light was admitted into the place, and whether it? was by the hand of mt.n or of nature that this was done, also if it had been rfted in any wav in ancient times, as seemed probable. However, we consoled ourselves with the idea that we would examine it thoroughly on our return and followed op after our uncanny guide. On she led us, straight to 1 the top of the vast and silent cave, where we found another door way, not arched as the first 'was, but square at the top, something like the door ways of Egyptian temples. “Are ye prepared to enter the Place of Death?” asked Gagool, evidently with a view to making us feel uncomfortable. “Lead on. Macduff,” said Good, solemnly, trying to look as though he- was not at all alarmed, as indeed did we all except Foulata, who caught Good by the arm for protection. “This is getting rather ghastly,” said Sir Henry, peeping into the dark doo. way. “Come on, Quatermain—Seniorrs priores. Don’t keep the old lady waiting.” and he politely made way for me to lead the van, for which I inwardly did not bless him. Tap, tap, went old Gagool’s stick down the passage, as she trotted along, chuckling hideously; and still overcome by some unaccountable presentment of evil, I hung back. “Come, get on, old fellow," said Good, “or we shall lose our fair guide.” Thus adjured,-! started down the passage, and after about twenty paces found myself in a gloomy apartment some forty feet long, by thirty broad, and thirty high, 'which in some past age had evidently been hollowed, by hand labor, out of the mountain. This apartment was not nearly so well lighted as the vast stalactite ante cave and at the first glance all I could make out was a massive stone table running its length, with a colossal white figure at its head, and life sized white figures all around it. Next I made out a brown thing, seated on the table in the center, and in another moment my eye! grew accustomed to the light and I saw what all these things were, and I was tailing out of it as hard as mjr legs would carry me. I am not a nervous man, in a general way, and very littlb troubled with superstitions, of which I have lived to see the folly; but I am free to own that that sight quite upset me. and had it not been that Sir Henry caught me by the collar and held me, I do honestly believe that in another five minutes I should have been outside that stalactite a cave, and that the promise of all’the diamonds in Kimberley would not have induced me to enter it agiin. But he held me tight, so I stopped because I could not help myself. But next second his eyes got accustomed to the light, too, and he let go of me, and began to mop the perspiration off his forehead. As for Good he swore feebly, and Foulata threw her arms round his neck and shrieked.

Only Gagool chuckled loud and long. It was a ghastly sight. There at the end of the long stone table, holding in his skeleton fingers a great white spear, sat Death himself, shaped in the form of a colossal hurrian skeleton, fifteen feet or more in height High above his head he held the spear, as though in the act to strike; one bony hand rested on the stone table before him, in the position a man assumes on rising from his seat, whilst his fraipe was bent forward so that the vertebne of the neck, and the grinning, gleaming skull projected toward us. and fixed its hollow eye-places upon us, the jaws a little open, as though it were about to speak. “Great heavens!” said I. faintly, at Last, “what can it be? ’ * “And what are those things?” said Good, pointing to the white company round that table. “Hee! hee! hee!” laughed Gagool. “To those who enter the Hall of the Dead, evil comes. Hee! hee! hee! ha! ha! v “Dome, Incubu, brave in battle, come and see him thou slewest” and the old creature caught his coat in her skinny fingers, and led him away toward the table. We followed. Presently she stopped and pointed at the brown object seated on the table. Sir Henry looked, and started back with an exclamation; and no won•der, tor there, seated, quite 2 naked, on ---the table. the head which Sir Henry’s battleax had slTOrn -fmip the body resting on its knees, was the gaunt corpse ol , Twain, last king of the Kukuanas. Yes, there.the head perched upon the knees, it sat in all its ugliness, the vertebrae projecting a full inch above the level o| the shrunken flesh of the neck, for al] the world like a black double of Hamil. ton Tighe. Over the whole surface O| the corpse there was gathered a thin glassy film, which made! its appearance yet more sopalling, and* for which we were, at .the momjnt, quite unable tc account, till we presently observed that from the roof es the chamber the watei fell steadily, drip! drop! drip! on to the ' neck of the corpse, from wnence it ran down over the entire surface,and finally escaped into the rock through a tiny

hole in the table. Then I guessed what it was—Twala’s body was being transformed into a stalactite. ” < ■ A look at the white forms seated oh the stone bench that ran around that ghastly board confirmed this view. They were human forms, indeed, or rather had been human forms; now they were stalactites. This was the way in which the Kuknana people had from time immemorial preserved their royal dead. Tney petrified .them. What the exact system was, ifr there was any, beyond placing thbm for a long period of years under the drip, I never discov 1 ered, but there they sat, iced over and preserved forever by the silicious fluid. Anything more awe-inspiring than the spectacle of this long line of departed royalties, wrapped in a shroud of icelike spar, through which the features couktbddimly made out (there were twenty-seven of, them, the last bein t Ignosi’s father), and seated round tha inhospitable board, with Death bimsel for a host, it is impossible to imagine. That the practice of thus preserving their kings must have been an ancient one is evident.from the number, which, allowing for an average reign of fifteen years, would, supposing that every king who reigned was placed here—an im p probable thing, as some are sure to ha a perished in battle fa< from home —fix the date of its commencement at four and a quarter centuries back. But the colossal Death, who sits at the head of the board, is far older than that, and unless lam much mistaken, owes hi origin to the same artist who designed the three colossi. He was hewn out of a single stalactite, and, looked at as a work of art was most admirably conceived and executed. Good,who understood anatomy declared that so far as he could see the anatomical design ot the skeleton was perfect down to the smallest bones. ‘My own idea is, that this terrific object was a freak of fancy on the part of some old-world sculptor, and that its presence had suggested to the Kukuanas the idea of placing their royal dead under its awful presidency. Or perhaps it was forced there to frighten away any marauders who might have designs upon the treasure chrmber beyond. I can not say. All I can do is to describe it as it is, and the reader must form his own conclusion.

CHAPTER XVII. Solomon’s tbeasube-chambbb. While we had been engaged in getting over our fright, and in examining the grisly wonders of the place, Gagool had been differently occunied. Somehow or other—for she was marvelously active when she chose - she had scrambled on to the great tabie, and made her way to where our departed friend Twala was Blaced,8 laced, under the drip, to see, suggested ■ood, how he was “pickling,” or for some dark purpose of her own. Then she came hobbling back, stopping now and again to address a remark (the tenor of which I could not catch) to one or other of the shrouded forms, just as you or I might greet an old acquaintance. Having gone through this mysterious and horrible ceremony, she squatted down on tbe table immediately under the white Death, and began, so far as I could make out, to offer up prayers to it. The spectacle of this wicked old creature pouring.out supplications (evil ones, no doubt) to the arch-enemy of mankind, was so uncanny that it caused us to hasten our inspection. “Now, Gagool/said I, in alow voice-some-how one did not dare to speak above a’ whisper in that place—“lead us to the chamber.”

The old creature promptly scrambled down off the table. “My lords are not afraid?” she said, leering up into my face. “Lead on.” “Good, my lords;” and she hobbled round to the back of the great Death. “Here is the chamber; let my lords light the lamp and enter,” and she placed the gourd full of oil upon the floor, and leaned herself against the side of the cave. I took out a match, of which we still had a few in a box, and lit the rush wick, and then looked for the door-way, but there was nothing before us but the solid-. rock. Gagool grinned. “The way is there, my lords.” “Do not jest with us,” I said, sternly. “I jest not, my lords. See!” and she pointed at the rock. As she did so, on holding up the lamp we preceived that a mass of stone was slowly rising from the floor and vanishing into the rock above, where doubtless there was a cavity prepared to receive it. The mass was of the width of a good-sized door, about ten feet high and not less than five thick. It must have weighed at least twenty or thirty tons, and was clearly moved upon some simple balance principle, probably tne same, as .which the opening and shutting of an ordinary modern wjndbw is arranged. How the principle was set in motion, of course none of us saw; Gagool was careful to avoid that; but I have little doubt that there was some very simple lever, which was moved ever so |ittle by pressure on a secret spot thereby throwing additional weight on the hidden counterbalances, and causinglbe whole huge mass to be lifted from the ground. Very slowly aud gently the great stone raised itself, still at last it had vanished altogether, aud a dark hole presented itself to us in the place which it had filled. Our excitement was so intense, as we saw the way to Solomon’s treasure chamber at last open, that I for one began to tremble and shake. Would it prove a hoax after all, I wondered, or was old Da Silvestra right? and were there vast hoards of wealth stored in that dark place, hoards which would make us the richest men in the whole world? We should know in a minute or two. “Enter, white men from the stare,” said Gagooi, advancing into the door way; “but first hear your servant, Gagool the old. The bright stones that ye will see were dug out of the pit over which the Silent Ones are set, and stored here, I know not by whom. But once haa this place been entered since the time khat those who stored the stones departed in haste, leaving them behind. The report of the treasure went down among the people who lived in the country from age to age, but none knew where the chamber was, nor the secret of the door. But it happened that a white man reached this country from over the mountains, perchance he too came from tbe stars, and was well received of the king of the day. He it is who sits yonder,” and she pointed to the fifth king at the table of the dead. “And it came to pass that he and a woman of the country who was with him came to this place, aud that by

chance the woman learned the/ secret of the door—a thousand years ipight ye search, but ye should \ never find it Then the white man entered with the wooden, and found the stones, and filled with stones the skin of a small goat, which the woman had* with her to hold food. And as he was going from the chamber he took up one more stone, a large one, and held it in his hand.” Hers she paused. “Well,” I asked, breathless with interest as we all were, “what happened to Da Silvestra?”. T - The old hag started at the mention of the name. s 1 “How knowest thou the dead man’s name?” she asked, sharply; and then, without waiting for an answer, on — “None knew what happened; but it came about that the white man was frightened, for he flung down the goat skin, with the stones, and fled out with only the one stone in his hand, and that the king took, and it is the stone that thou, Macumazahn, didst take from Ta ala’s brows.” “Have none entered here since?” I asked, peering again down the dark passage. “Nppe, my lord- 1 . Only the secret of the doqr hath been kept, and every king hath opened it, though he hath not entered. There is a saying that those who enter there will die within a moon, even as the white man died in the cave upon the mountain, where ye found him, Macumazahn. Ha! ba! mine are true words.” Our eyes met as she said it, and I turned sick and coid. How did the old hag know all these things? “Enter, my lords. If I speak the truth the goat skins with the stones will lie upon the floor; and if there is truth as to whether it is death to enter here, that will ye learn afterward. Ha! ha! ha!” And she hobbjed through the door way, bearing thb light with her; but I confess that once more I hesitated about following. “Oh, cmfound it all!” said Good, “here goes. lam not going to be frightened by that old devil;” and followed by Foulata, who, however, evidently did not like the job, for she was shivering with fear, he plunged into the passage after Gagool—an example which we qui' kly followed. A few yards down the passage, in the narrow way hewn out of the living rock, Gagool had paused and was waiting for us. "

“See, my lords,” she said, holding the light before her, “those who stored the treasure here fled in hkste, and bethought them to guard against any one who should find the secret of the door, but had not the time,” she pointed to large square blacks of atone, which had, to the height of two courses (about two feet three), been placed across the passage with a view to walling it up. Along the side of the passage were similar blocks ready for use, and most curious of all, a h eap of mortar and a couple of trowels, which, so far as we had time to examine them, appeared to be of a similar shape and make to those used by workman to this day. Here Foulata, who had throughout been in a state of great fear and agitation, said that she felt faint and coaid go no further, but would wait there. Accordmly we set her down on the unfinished wall, placing the basket of provisions by her side, and let her to recover. Following the passage for about fifteen paces further we suddenly came to an elaborately painted wooden door. It was standing wide open. Whoever was last there had either not had the time, or had forgotten, to shut it. Across the threshold lay a skin bag, formed of a goat-skin, that appeared to be full of pebbles. “Hee! hee! white men,” sniggered Gagool, as the light from the lamp fell upon it. “What did I tell ye, that the white man who came here fled in haste, and dropped the woman’s bag—behold it!”

Good stooped down and lifted it. It was heavy and jingled “By Jove! I believe it’s full of diamonds,’’ he said, in an awed whisper; and, indeed, the idea of a small goatskin full of diamonds is enough to awe anybody. “Go on,” said Sir Henry, impatiently. “Here, old lady, give me the lamp,” and taking it from Gagool’s hand, he stepped through the door way and held it high above his headS We pressed in after him, forgetful, for the moment, of the bag of diamonds, and found ourselves in Solomon’s treasure chamber. At first, all that the somewhat faint light revealed was a room hewn out of the living rock, and apparently not more than ten feet square. Next there came into sight, stored one on the other as high as the roof, a splendid collection of elephant tusks. How many*of them there were we did not know,’ for of course we could not see how far they went back, but there could not have been less, than the ends of four or\five hundred" tusks of the first-quality \isible to our eyes. There, ivory to make a man wealthy for life. Perhaps, I thought, it was from this very store that Solomon drew his material for his “great throne of ivory,” of which there was not the like made in any kingdom. On the opposite side of the chamber were about a score of wooden boxes something like Martini-Henry ammunition boxes, only rather larger, and painted red. “There are the diamonds,” cried T; “bring the light.” Sir Henry did so, holding it close to the top box, of which the lid, rendered rotten by time even in that dry place, appeared to have been smashed in, probably by DaSjlvestra himself. Pushing my hand through the., hole in the lid I drew it out sulk not of diamonds, but of gold pieces, of a shape that none of us had seen before, and with what looked like Hebrew characters stamped upon them. , “Ahl ’ I said, replacing the coin, “we ■ha’n’t go back empty handed, anyhow. There must be a couple of thousand pieces in each box, and there are eighteen boxes. I suppose it was the money to pay Ute workmen and merchants." . “Well,” put in Good, “I think that is the lot; I don’t see any diamonds, unless the old Portuguese put them all into thisbag.” “Let my lords look yonder where it is darkest, if they would find the stones,” said 4, Gagoo), interpreting our looks. “There my lords will find a nook, and three stone chests in the nook, two sealed and one open.” Before interpreting this to Sir Henry,• who had the light, I could not resist asking how she knew these things, if no

one had entered the place since the white man. generations ago. “Ah; Macumazahn, who watched by night,”, ,was the mocking answer, “ye who live in the stars, do ye not know that some have eyes that can see through rock?” “Look in that corner, Curtis,” I said, indicating the spot Gagool had pointed out. “Hello, you fellows,” he said, “here’s a. recess. Great heavens! look here u We hurried up to where he was standing in a nook, something like a small bow window. Against the wall of this recosa were placed three stone chdste, each about two feet square. Two were fitted with stone lids, the lid of the third. rested against the side of the chest, which was open. “Look,” he repeated hoarsely, holding the lamp over the open chest. We looked, and for a moment could make nothing our, on account of a silvery sheen that dazzled us. When our eyes got used to it we saw that the chest was three-parts full of uncut» diamonds, most s os them of considerable size. Stooping, 1 picked some up. Yes, there was no mistake aoout it, there was the unmistakable soapy feel about tyem. I fairly gasped as I dropped them. “Wears the richest men in the whole world,” I said. “Monte Cristo is a fool' to us ” “We shall flood the market with diam mda,’! said Good. ‘Gifto get them there first,” suggest ed Sir Henry. And we stood with pale faces and stared at each other, with the lantern in the middle, and the glimmering gems below, as though we were conspirators about to commit a crime, instead of being, as we thought, the three most fortunate men on earth. “Hee! hee! bee!” went old Gagool behind us, as she flitted about like a vampire bat. “There are the bright stones that ye love, whitemen, as many as ye will; take them, run them through your fingers, eat them, nee! hee! drink them, ha! ha!”

There was something so ridiculous at that moment to my miqd in the idea of eating and drinking diamonds, that I began to laugh outrageously, an example which the others followed, without knowing why. There we stood and shrieked with laughter over the gems which were ours, which had been found for us thousands pf years ago by the patient delvers in she great hole yonder, and stored for us by Solomon’s longdead overseer, whose name, perchance, was written in the characters stamped on the faded wax that yet adhered to the lids of the chest. Solomon never got them, nor David, nor Da Silvestra, nor anybody else. We had got them; there before us were millions of pounds worth of diamond, and thousands of pounds worth of gold and ivory, only waiting to be taken sway. Suddenly the fit passed ofi and we stopped laughing. “Open thd other chests, white men,” croaked Gagool, “there are surely more therein. Take your fill, white lords!” Thus adjured, we set to work to pull up the stone lids on the other two, first —not without a feeling of sacrilegebreaking the seals that fastened them. Hooray! they were full, too, full to the brim: at least, the second one was; no Da Silvestra had been filling goat skins out i f that. As for the third chest, itwas only about a fourth full, but the Btones were all picked ones; none less than twenty carats, and some of them as .large as pigeon eggs. Some of these asst ones, however, we could see by ing them up to the light, were a little yellow, “off colored,” as they call is at Kimberley. What we did not see; however, was the look ot fearful malevolence that old Gagool favored us with as she crept, crept like a snake, out of the treasure-chamber and down the passage toward the massive door of sold rock.

Hark! Cry upon cry comes ringing up the vaulted path. It is Foulate’s voice! “Oh, Bougwan! help! help! the rock falls!” “Leave go, girl! Then— ’’ “Help! help! she has stabbed mel’Jf, By now we are running down the passage, and this is what the light from the lamp falls on. The door of rock is slowly closing down; it is not three feet from the floor. Near it struggle Foulata and Gagool. Tho red blood of the former runs to her knee, but still the brave girl holds the old witehje fights like a wild cht. Ah! she is free! Foulata falls,and Gagool throws herself on the ground, to twist herself like a snake through the crack of the closing stone. She is under—ah, God! too late! too late! The stone nips her, and she yells in agony. Down, down, it comes, all the thirty tons of it, slowly pressing her old body against the rock below. Shriek upon shriek, such as we never heard, then a long, sickening crunch, and the doorwas shut just as we, rushing down the passage, hurled ourselves against it. It was all done in four second!. [Continued nsxtweek]

The Pope a Great Chess-Player.

London Court Journal The Pope has a weakness for chess. He is a very fine player, and in the amateur ranks is said to have few superiors in the knowledge of gambit 8 and openings. There is one priest in Rome who has the especial honor of being the Pope’s adversary over the board. This priest—Father Giella—has played chess with Leo Pecci for thirty-two years past When Cardinal Pecci was raised to the Papal throne,! Father Giella, who was then in got an invitation to proceed to Romeknd take up his quarters in the Vatican. Giella is hottempered, and has been known to look very black indeed at the Vicar of Christ across his chess-board. The Pone takes Giella’s temper good naturedly, and often improves the occasion by a little homily on the virtues of resignation and meekness.

A Professional Appeal.

Mediwd Gazette. , \ The following letter was received by a physician from a man, whom he knew, practising medicine and desiring counsel: “dear Dock L have a pashunt whose physical sines shows that the wind-pipe has ulcerated off and his lungs have drop down into his stumick i have gfretr-iMtm eveny thin without efeckt her fathsNis welthy honable and influenshai as hels member of assembly and god nose ijron’t Scant to loos hym whatßb*ilA<ae ans by return male. Yours traHC'

STANLEY’S WRATH.

Some Interesting Experiences of the Famoas African Explorer. Frank HL lunn ths OnriatUn Union. The following facts concerning Henry M. Stanley have never been in print They were given to me by William Bradford, the marine artist and arctic explorer: J In the year 1873 Mr. Bradford, returned from his Greenland explorations, was in London," published his sumptuous volume bn “The Arctic Regions.” It was brought out under the patronage of Queen Victoria at Ji2s per copy. At this time he met Stanley, who was in a towering rage. “He was just.,back,” said the Urtist, “from finding Livingstone, and was now very angry at the cavalier way in which he had been treated 1 about publishing his book through Murray. '’lt seems that John Murray was away, and the partner present had received Stanley quite nonchalantly, and said he was not quite sure whether they could publish his book or not, and, anywav, nothing could be done about it until Mr. Murray’s return. I said to him, ‘Mr. Stanley, are you particular to have Mr. Murray publish your book?’ ‘No,’ ‘Well, I caa tell you of some very good publishers, who, I think, would be glad to publish it, and that is the firm of Sampson Low & Co. They are publishing my book, and, I think, would be glad to publish yours. If you wish, I will see them about it’ ‘Do so, Mr. Bradford; I’ll be glad to have you.’ “So I went down and saw Mr. Marston, of the firm, and said to him, ‘Mr. Marston, would you like to publish Stanley’s new book on Africa?’ ‘Yes, sir, indeed we would; but I thought Murray was going to have it’ ‘No, I guess not. Would you like to see Mr. Stanley?’ ‘Certainly, sir?’ ‘Very well I’ll bring him down this afternoon.’ As I was going out he said, ‘Mr. Bradfoil, do you suppose that Mr. Stanley is ready to consider an offer for his book?’ ‘I think so, sir.’ | " > “I took Stanley down to see them, and Mr. Marston asked him if he was prepared to consider an offer then and there. ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Well, Mr. Stanley, we will give you SIO.OGO for it and a liberal share of the profits. ’ “‘l’ll do it,’ said Stanley. And a happier man you’ve seldom seen. ‘Now Mr. Stanley,” said Mr. Marston, ‘when can you begin to furnish us copy?’ ‘To-morrow morning, sir, and every day thereafter till it’s done.’ ‘Just one word more, Mr. Stanley. Will you please say nothing about this for font weeks? I’ve special reason for asking.’ ‘Yes, sir, that suits me,’ said Stanley. And so the bargain was closed, and Sampson, Low & Marston have been Stanley’s publishers ever since. “A few weeks later Stanley went in to see John Murray, and the following conversation occurred: ‘Mr. Murray, I’ve come to see about your publishing my book. Do you wish to?’ ‘Yes, I think that we may be able to, Mr. Stanley. But we cannot afford to give you much for it, as it is a kind of experiment. But we’ll publish it, Mr. Stanley.’ “ ‘No you won’t, broke in Stanley with an oath, and, turning op his heel, left the great English publisher astounded at the young African explorer’s audacity. “On another occasion,” says Mr. Bradford, “I was sitting at a great banquet of the British Association at Brighton. It was in the evening after the ‘African afternoon,’ so-called. Stanley had been down for a speech late in the afternoon after several English geographers had spoken. But I noticed during the second speech, by Mr. C. R. Markham, of the Royal Geographical Society, that Stanley’s wrath was rising. The speaker, in alluding to Livingstone, had just said a word reflecting upon him. As soon as Markham was done, Stanley, at two bounds, was in the center of the platform, and, leaning forward" and stretching out his forefinger with concentrated scorn toward Markham, began; ‘You easy chair geographers, sitting on your cushioned velvet carpets, what do you know about it? Livingstone, after a long, arduous, perilous march, says; “I think I have found the sources of the Nile” But you, from the seclusion of your libraries, declare: “We know that he has -not” What right have you to decide such-a question?’ And then he gave it to them hot. And yet in fifteen minutes be had them all, ladies and gentlemen, on their feet crying: ‘Hear, hear, hear!’ TMe Baroness Burdett Uoutts waived hei handkerchief, and even the Emperor’ Napoleon, who was present with the Empress Eugenie, arose and handeq Stanley their card. I tell you Stanley was the most scathing man I ever* listened to when he was mad over Lyviagstone. “So, in the evening,/before going to the banquet, I said tojiim, ‘Now, Stanley, keep your temper. Don’t disgrace yourself. Don’t say a word to-night’ For I knew this very Markham was going to preside. Well, Stanley promised that he wouldn’t say ene word. But they ’filaced him at Markham’s right hand A] I -sat across the table where! could see him. Pretty soon I noticed thatjVe and Markham were talking earnektly. Then the bulldog look tame into Stanley’s face. And then he jumped up and 'off he went.l __ r “ T t Stems that Markham had urged him to kpeak. but Stanley had declined, when .-the following conversation ensucdf ‘But, Mr. Stanley, you must speak.

That is th® purpose for which they invited you here.’ ‘l® that the reason they invited me here?* ‘Certainly, Mr. Stanley, we expect you to favor u with a speech.’ ‘Well. I won’t. But’— thrusting his hand deep into -nis pocket —‘here’s a guinea for my dinner.* And ofi he stalked in a towering rage."

HORSE BREEDING AT PALO ALTO.

Senator Blanford Says What He Kaiowa. Turf, Field and Farm. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter In which yod ask me certain questions relating to horse breeding. I do not pretend to have thoroughly mastered the breeding, problem, but I will give you my ideas as they occur to me because you have asked for them, and not that I presume to be an instructor where many have had so much greater experience than I have. First, as regards the temperature on my Palo Alto farm, in rare instances it has been as low as 10 degrees below freezing point, but the thermometer does not often fall to 30 degrees. It has been known to rise as high as 100 degrees, but very rarely. I have not th® data at hand to give you the mean temperature. We wean the colts at from four to sjx months of age. Generally commence to take up the mare and foal about two weeks before taking the colt from the mare, and teach the colt to feed in th® manger, giving him ground oats, barley and com steamed. Majendie has proved that a single article of food is not a suffie’ent diet Your reference to the great ruceess of Eclipse, and the fact that he did not race until he was five years old, is noticed, and I will only remark about him that his development was not such as would have enabled him to eompet® with such horses as Lexington, Ten Broeck and Longfellow under the more modern and improved system of training.

My own idea—and I think it is justified by my experience—is to commence working the colt early, developing his strength with his growth. If the exercise is judicious the colt takes no harm from it. Ido not remember a single instance where an animal of mine was injured by early work. When a break down has occurred it has invariably been after a let up. Let ups are very dangerous to young, fast animals, as their bodies grow during the let up without corresponding development of strength, and they are very liable to get too much work when their exercise is renewed. My aim is to give the greatest possible amount of exercise without fatigue, and never allow it to reach the period of exhaustion. This is secured by short distance exercise. It is the supreme effort that developes. If colts are never overworked, they are always willing to try in their exercise, having no apprehension that they will be forced beyond their comfort. When a young colt, having nd fear of being overworked, is brought out for his exercise, his eyes are. bright and express the expectation of having a good time. I have box stalls for all of my stock. In character most of them are like box stalls under a shed. I endeavor to have sheds for the colts facing the sunshine. We feed our stock with hay, abundance of carrots, barley, oats, a little corn. Wqrk horses are fed the same. I think that steamed grain is more digestible than any other, and more economical where there is enough stock to justify the outlay. We usually work our colts as yearlings but some of them as weanlings. We accustom the colt to the gentle use of the harness so that he becomes educated to bear it without ever having a quarreL I believe a careful and wise system of breeding will double the value of th® average herse, the rule to govern being that like will produce like. Yours truly, e Lbland Stawfobd.

1 He Got the Appointment. A bright youth, undergoing examination, a saw days since, for admission to one of the Government departments, found himself confronted with the question: „ “ What is the distance from the earth to the sun?” Not having the exact num-? tier of miles with him, he wrote in reply: ‘•I am unable to state aceurately, but don’t believe the sun is near enough to interfere with a proper performance of •> my dutiea-ifl. get this clerkship.”

THE SONG.

One day I heard a maiden sing The song, “Then you’ll remember mej” Her step was light, her smile was gay, Her heart 'irom care and pain was free. Again the song in accents low, 4 I heard the maiden sweetly sing, This time ’twas to a manly youth Who sought to be her love, her king. Years passed away, in distant dimes. One eve I wandered to a play, When Ip! upon the glided stage . « The same maid sang again the lag. 1 touched a stranger by my aide And asked, “kindair, can you mo ten Who is diis maid upon the stage This stately maid that sings so weDF’ Ho sighed and slowly said, "Ah me," „ £• Then told me both her home and name. Of how she loved yet was deceived, , Aad now forsaken sang for fuse. O/seagr,! thought, how many hearts Within these walls thy words repeat) How many chant thee as a dirge Who'gaily sang thee low and sweet