Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1900 — Page 2

Wedded for Gold

CHAPTER I. “It is true, Kate—every word of it. I wn l like yon, incredulous at first; but X heard the will read, and I assure you that Mrs. Hardman has left me six thousand pounds*” “I cannot believe it, Darcy. See how hands tremble! I have hardly the artrcngth to speak. Tt is impossible. Six thoosand pounds! Oh, Darcy, if there aht'iH be any mistake, let me know it at before I begin to found any hopes -•pan such good fortune—before I take 4t into my heart of hearts as a truth.” “My dear Kate, there is no mistake—there can be no mistake. The money is aw own, and will be paid to us when the mntatr is settled.” "Six thousand pounds! Why, Darcy, that means three hundred a year, does it -aot?” “Certainly,” replied Darcy Lonsdale—- •- "“properly invested.” \ “And three hundred a year means freetom from anxiety, from the constant toil at trying to make both ends meet. It oceans a larger and better house, a governess for the children. Oh, Darcy, how we be thankful enough?” "My dear Kate,” said the lawyer, simtgij, "I assure you that for some time after I had heard it I did not know how I felt. The most pleasant part of it was -coming home to tell you. I knew how delighted you would be.” ♦“Have you told Felix?” asked the anxious wife. “No. I have not seen him yet. I can -*«!.■«> him into partnership now. We have tfc«a a hard struggle together, Kate, but It Is almost over, yesterday T felt that the world was my master, to-day I feel tkat I have mastered the world.” “We must take Vale House; it is to be Sat,” remarked Mrs. Lonsdale. “It is just such a house as I have always longed for; it is so large., so convenient, and lias a much better drawing room than vfhat of the Mertons. What do you think, :l>arcy?” “Yes; I think we might take Vale 'House. I will go out to-day and inquire .about the rent, rates and taxes.” “What will Mrs. Merton say?” mused Mrs. Lonsdale. "Never mind about that,” replied the 'lawyer. “All that we have to do is to enjoy our good fortune. Kiss me, Kate, we will not forget to thank heaven together.” The speakers were Darcy Lonsdale and M. wife. Darcy Lonsdale was the principal lawyer in the clean and well-built o»wn of Lilford in Loomsliire—a man wrko had had a hard hand-to-hand struggle with the world. He had been twice married. His first wife died in her twentieth year, leaving an only son, Felix; and ton years afterward the lawyer married .-again. His second wife was a blithe, ?bonny, rosy girl who loved him with all heart, and thought no one In the -wide world so clever, so great or so good. sFor his sake she took little Felix to her fhaart, and loved the dark-haired, hand<Mßte boy as much as she did her own children. Darcy Lonsdale was a very happy man; he had a charining wife, :beautiful children, a good practice, and 3ie liked work. The one pride of his life -was his tall, handsome son Felix, in -whom the honest, simple-hearted lawyer had concentrated all his hopes and amhitians The “small army” of children swere all under twelve, so that he could snot build any hopes on them at present. Among his clients was an eccentric -widow named Martha Hardman, and •Darcy Lonsdale had for twenty years •been her faithful friend, adviser and She said to him laughingly one -day: * “Yon will have something to thank me tor when I am dead.” “How can I thank you When you are -dead?" he asked. “You will see,” she replied. “You have •done everything for me since you began <to practice; but I shall not let you make my will. Tell me whom you would advise me to send for to do so.” Thinking that she was in a capricious mood, he answered: “Send for George Malcolm: he Is an ’honest lawyer and an honest man. But why not let me make your will, Mrs. Hardman?” “Because I am going to leave you some(thing in it.” He laughed at the time, giving little beed to what she said, and soon afterward he forgot all about the incident. '■•Three years later Mrs. Hardman died, wad her nephew, her heir-at-law, came upon the scene. Darcy Lonsdale had all iber papers, an exact list of all her moneys, her deeds, leases, documents of various kinds—but he had no will. “Did she make a will?” asked the heir-wt-law. “r cannot tell,” replied Darcy Lonsdale. “I have certainly drawn up no will for her.” “Has she ever mentioned a will?” pur«ued James Hardman. Suddenly the lawyer remembered that had mentioned a will, and his face dashed as he thought of the conversation. James Hardman looked at him suspiciously. “She did speak of her will to me once; whe told me that I should not draw it <op for her, and asked me to name some Sawyer. I told her that George Malcolm Ufas an honest lawyer and an honest man, but I never heard whether she sent for , h im or not.” “You know, of course, of what her property consists, and that lam her heir-wt-law?’ “Yes,” was the cheerful reply; ‘we often talked about you. I can give J4U the particulars of the late Mrs. Hardman’s property.” Jkfter the funeral George Malcolm agrae with the will, and the instructions ghat fa* bad received from Mrs. nardIt was read ‘faJP u d> then it was discovered that the lady had left "Wtodburn and six thousand pounds to jLnir aephew, James Hardman, while to tm true friend and adviser, Darcy Loni4g|», in acknowledgment of ins long jfelendsbip and faithful services, ah* had

BY BERTHA N, CLAY

bequeathed the sum of six thousand pounds. On hearing that, the lawyer, delighted with the intelligence, hurried home to his wife. What a vista of comfort this legacy opened out to them! For the first time in his long, honorable career the lawyer felt some relief —he could meet his expenses now, and when he died there would be something for his wife and children. i. Nor was his wife less delighted.- In her heart she had longed for the same luxuries that the wives of other professional men enjoyed—for -a drawing room like Mrs. Merton’s, for a nursery governess such as the doctor's wife, Mrs. Dalverley, had engaged, for a silk dress like the one that the rector’s wife wore. While she sat dreaming with a smile on her face, her stepson, Felix, entered the room. There was the attachment between these two —kindly liking and respect for his stepmother on his part, the highest admiration and the truest love for her stepson on hers. She was so young when Darcy Lonsdale brought her to the great white square house in Castle street, Lilford, that it seemed absurd to Felix to call her mother, As he grew older it appeared to him that, with her soft Italian beauty, the most suitable title for her was madre. He looked at her now. “Madre,” he said, “you are looking very pleased and bright; what is the good news?” * Mrs. Lonsdale went up to him and clasped her arms round his neck. She drew the handsome face down to hers. _ “Feli*-,” she said; “I have news to tell you—the best you have ever heard. I’ know you will be pleased—indeed, the very thought of the news makes me tremble with joy. You could never guess it, Felix.” “I suppose I never could. Have any of the ‘small army’ distinguished themselves?” “No; it is nothing of that kind. It is this. You remember Mrs. Hardman, of Woodburn?” “I should remember her, madre; some of the dreariest hours of my life have been spent in copying deeds bearing her name.” “My dear Felix, her name must be held blessed among us for evermore. She had left your father a legacy of six thousand pounds—and to us, my dear, that means so much. It means Vale House to live in, a governess for the children, and a partnership for you.” His. handsome face flushed hotly. “And that, madre—that means for me Violet Haye.” A tender light came into Kate Lonsdale’s clear eyes. “I hope so,” she said, gently; “I shall be so pleased if it is so.” CHAPTER 11. Violet Haye! Th6re is something in a name. More than one man murmured this one over and over again, wondering to himself what sweet magic, what wonderful scenery lay in it. Violet Haye — the very sound evoked a vision so beautiful, so full of pitching grace, so dainty, so delightful, that dwelling on it proved too much for minds and brains not overstrong. There was a wonderful charm about the girl. It was not simply for the sheen of her golden hair, for the wonderful light of her violet eyes, the exquisite tints of her face, the beauty of her rosebud mouth, the men loved her so; it was not that she was tall and slender, with a perfect figure; it was not that she had white hands that wove wondrous spells, that she moved with grace that was all harmony, that she spoke with a voice sweeter than sweet music, that, when she laughed, the silvery chime stirred a man’s heart like the sound of silver bells; it was not for this that men loved her. She was not a flirt, not a coquette—she never, by word or look, made any man believe that she loved him; but she could no more have helped the way she had of charming men than she could have helped living. She was the only child of Francis and Margaret Haye, who lived in a pretty villa called The Limes, on the outskirts of Lilford. By kind indulgence the Hayes were permitted to rank with the gentry. They were not poor; they were not “professionals;” they were not in trade. Francis Haye had an income that kept his family in comfort, but it would cease at his death. He had insured his life for the benefit of his wife and child, and the money that wo-uld come to them from that insurance was all that he had to leave them; still they belonged to the gentry. The gentry composed old Col. Maddox and his lady; Mrs. Brownson, a widow with a daughter of uncertain age; the late rector’s widow, Mrs. Baulders; a maiden lady, Miss Stanley, the pride of whose life was that her second cousin had married a baronet, and a few others of the same caliber. Tt Was not a brilliant circle, but to Violet Haye it was a world.

If of her numerous lovers she preferred one, it was Felix Lonsdale. It was an old story. He had certainly been her lover from the early age of seven. He had never thought of anyone else; to him the world was all Violet. In the sun’s rays shone Violet; the birds sang “Violet;” no sweet tiower bloomed that was as sweet as she. He had lived with this one thought; he had studied, worked, toiled—all for Vidlet, hoping that the day would come when he would be able to marry her. Now was his opportunity. He was already making a fair income by writing reviews and essays. If his father took him into partnership, his share, though perhaps small at first, would be certain and would increase. Now was his opportunity; he would delay no longer, but would at once ask Violet to be his wife. This afternoon seemed to Felix Lonsdale one of the fairest that he ever remembered. He walked through the clover meadows, his heart singing for joy, snatches of song risingjo bis lips. The hedges were ail pink and white with

hawthorn, long sprays of woodbine twined round the rugged trunks of the tall trees, the clover was thick and odorous. He crossed the path at the end of Oakwoods and reached the fair, green fields that led to The Limes, the home of his love. Presently he saw .Violet Haye. He gazed at her in mute wonder that earth should hold so fair. She carried a little basket filled with flowers, and on her golden head she wore a simple garden hat. She was walking inthd other direction, and he hastened after her. It was no wonder that he loved her; the smiles with which she greeted him would have turned many a wiser brain than his. “Felix,” she cried, “I did not dream of seeing you.” They walked together until they reached an opening in the lawn; there was a bank gay with wild flowers, a hedge full of wild roses, and hawthorns crowned it. Felix took the basket from her hand and placed her on the bank. “I have come to talk to you, Violet,” he said. “You must forget your flowers for a few minutes and listen to me. Such a day as this, Violet, was made for a love story. I have an idea that everything In nature is interested in mine.” “But we are not lovers, Felix,” she said, gravely. “Then I hope we soon shall be. I have a fancy, Violet, that every bird singing in the trees knows why T am here.” “Then,” observed Violet, “they are wiser than I." “No, not wiser- or sweeter or brighter than you; but it was an idle, pretty fancy, Violet. As I walked under the great shady trees every leaf seemed to stir—as I passed, the roses in the hedges nodded; they said, ‘The sun shines and the earth is fair; now is the time for youth and love.’ ” Violet looked up with a resigned little sigh. < ' ■ “Not being either a bird or a flower, I am not in their confidence, Felix.” “I hhve such good news, Violet. Mrs. Hardman, one of my father’s clients, has left him six thousand pounds.” “Six thousand pounds! That is a great deal of money, is it not, Felix?” “Yes, a very great deal. But this is the important thing—my father will now give me a partnership.” “Yes, Felix—what then?” “I have one hundred a year that my dear mother left me; I make quite another by reviews and articles for legal papers—that makes two hundred; then from the business I am sure to obtain *at least three hundred more —that will give me five hundred a year, Violet; and, my darling, there is a beautiful little cottage near Oakwoods, and —oh, Violet, Violet! will you be my wife?” “How cruel of you,” she said, in soft, lingerihg tones; “how very cruel on this sunny day to ask me such a question!” There was no anger in her face, no annoyance —nor was there pleasure or happiness; she looked rather like a child who had been disturbed at play. He was neither anxious nor dismayed, for he well understood the expression on her face. “Why is it cruel, Violet?” he asked. “It is cruel. You know Ido not want to be married, Felix. Tdo not like to be teased about love.” “But, my darling, no one can look at you and not love you.” “That is not my fault. And, Felix, you should not call me ‘darling,’ do you know that is harclly proper?” “If I knew a word that conveyed more and sounded more sweetly. I should use it,” he said, looking with admiration at the pure, perfect face. “Oh, Violet, do accept me! No one else in the wide world loves you half so much. I would make you so happy that you would never regret it.” She touched his face gently with her dainty hands. “You would buy the moon for me if I wanted it, and you could obtain it,” she said, laughingly. “But, Felix, I do not want the moon, and 1 do not want to be married. Do talk of something more pleasant.” “Violet, my heart is so full" of this; it seemed to me as I came along that 1 walked on air. I have loved you so long; r have no life apart from you; and I have been waiting so impatiently until 1could see a chanee of making a beautiful home for you. Now I see it—do not be cruel to me, Violet, I implore. You have admirers of every kind, but, Violet, you love me best, do you not?” • The lovely face dropped over a bunch of wild thyme. She did not answer; bat he persisted in his questioning. There was such passionate love iti his handsome eyes, such passionate pain in his fate, that she was touched. "Yes, I do love you, Felix,” she said, gently; and then she looked up in alarm. He had clasped her hands in his and covered them with kisses. *lis dark eyes were diin with tears. “Oh, my love!” he cried, “you hold my heart in the hollow of your hand! If you had said you did not love me, the words would have killed me as surely as ever a man was slain. My darling, do. you not see that if you love me you must be my wife?” “Marriage—(yell, Felix, you will laugh if I tell you that it seems to me like calling a child into a gloomy house from the sunshine and from play.” He took the soft, white hands in his and held them while he made her repeat again and again that she loved him. “You have said that you love me. Violet, make me quite happy, now. Already I am so happy that the air seems to intoxicate me. Say you will be my wife.” She was thinking again, with the same far-off look in her eyes, and she said, suddenly: “A pretty cottage. Do you mean that pretty villa where the Hendersons stayed?” , , The question seemed to him almost decisive. would not have asked it had she meant to refuse him. He could hardly answer her calmly, but he beat back his emotion. “She is so easily startled,” he said to himself —“I must be very cautious what I say to her.” He answered: “Yes, and many of the beautiful things that Captain Henderson bought are there now. To my mind it is the prettiest home in Lilford, and, my darling, I have a vision of you standing in that pretty entrance hall, waking for me when business hours are over. T can see the light from the stained-glass window falling on your golden hair. I can see the sunlight lying outside on the flowers. I can see ray wife’s sweet face grow brighter for ray coming. Do you like the picture, Violet? Will you make it real?” “I would rather not promise," she said; “but I willjtfaink of it. Felix.” “You do not refuse, Violet?"

“No, I do not refuse,” she answered. “Remember,” she told him, “I have not quite promised.” —' - ”1 have been thinking of your wedding dress, Violet,” he said; “it shall be of white silk. You will be such a beautiful bride that everyone who sees you will want to take you from me." ‘He kissed the beautiful face and whispered to her that she was dearest, sweetest, truest, that the world had no other jewel so rare, that he loved her with his whole soul; but she‘whispered: “I have not quite promised. Felix, do not forget that.” “I shall remember it only to love you the more,” he answered, as he left her; and he smiled to himself each time that he thought of the words. (To be continued.)

HISTORIC OLD NEWPORT.

A Fire and a Feast Did Much to Bring Fame to the Rhode Island Resort. } “No watering-place in the United States, not even Saratoga, approaches Newport in the fascination of historic charm,” writes William Perrlne, in the Ladies’ Home Journal. “For more than two centuries and a half, or as far back as the time of Roger Williams, the little Island on which it stands Uas been the scene of great ambitions. There it was that Bishop Berkeley saw in his prophetic and poetic vision how ‘Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way;’ there it was that the Quakers, who had followed George Fox himself to Rhode Island, established a community which at one time promised to rival tjjat of Penn. Before the revolution the foreign and domestic trade of Newport was greater than New York’s. Nowhere else was there a social life more elegant and scholarly. The Redwood Library dates its name and origin to a Quaker merchant of the eighteenth century, a cotemporary of that Col. Geoffrey Malbone who had a house as famous in his day as ‘Marole House’, of the Vauderbilt-Belmont intdurage is to ours. When it was destroyed by fire one summer afternoon, while his slaves were engaged in cookiqg a dinner for a brilliant company of his guests, the Colonel immediately ordered the feast to be served on the lawn, amidst the Illumination from the flames of the burning mansion. It was this fire and this feast that did a gr*at deal to famous.”

An Ingenious Dance.

One of the most Ingenious and elaborate and grammatic attempts to tickle the vanity of a monarch was that gotten up in honor of the safe return of Stanislaus, king of Poland. To congratulate him a large number of prominent persons assembled at Lissa, and arranged a dance by thirteen warriors, each of which bore a shield upon which was emblazoned one of the letters of the words Domus Lescinia, “The house of Leczinki,” the king’s family name. The first position of the dancers brought the above words into notice. They then proceeded with the dance so that the letters on the shields, which were kept facing the audience, were completely disarranged; in another moment they stood still, and it was then found that the order in which the same letters appeared produced the words, Ades in Columis, “May you be present In safety.” Again the shields wound in and out, and when the next pause came and words were, Omnls es luetda, “Thou art all glorious.” The same thing was done again, and the words Mane sidus loci appeared, meaning “Remain the star of this place.” Two more dances were executed, after ttie first of which the sentence formed was Sis columna Dei, “Be God’s pillar;” and after the second, I scande sollnmt; “Go,-ascend the throne.”

Harvard Ministers and Consuls.

Under the present" administration there are ten Harvard graduates In the diplomatic and consular service of the United States. Of these two are Ambassadors, two are Ministers, and six are consuls. Their names and the places to which they are sent are as follows: Ambassadors—Joseph H. Choate, ’52, to Great Britain, and Charlemagne Tower, ’72,' to Russia. Ministers— George Herbert Bridgman, ’Bl, to Bolivia, and Bellamy Storer, ’97, to Spain. Consuls—Frank Dyer Chester, ’9l, to Buda-Pesth; Joseph Waite Merrlam, ’56, tq Iquique, Chili; Talbot Jones Albert, ’6B, to Brunswick; Thomas William Peters, ’69, to Plauen, Germany; Robert Fletcher Patterson, *7B, to Calcutta, and Richard Theodore Greener, 70, to Vladivostock, Russia.

Too Anxious.

It was at a wedding, and as the sfaon-to-be wedded couple walked down the aisle of the little church, embarrassment was plainly written on the faces of both; but when, in response to the question by the minister if either of them knew of any reason why they should not lawfully be joined together, there came boldly forth from each the answer, “I do," the evident embarrassment on their part was changed to one of real on the part of the clergyman.— Harper’s Monthly.

Laying Out a Celebration.

“Freddy, tell pa what you want for your birthday.” “Oh, pa, I want a tent In th’ back yard, an’ u gun, an’ a grea’ big. cigarstore Injun.’’—Minneapolis Journal.

Storing of Automobiles.

The storing of automobiles Is quite a problem in New York City now. Some of the livery stables have declined to accept them on the ground that they are ruining the livery business.

A Venerable School.

Munster, Germany, has a high school which has been in existence 1,100 years. Mere trifles are responsible for more happiness and more misery than great happenings.

RECORD OP THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDENTS TERSELY TOLD. Decrease of Activity in Oil Fields— Blow with Fist Kills an Old Man —Train Taken by Tramps— Fatal Powder Explosion in Brazil. The Indiana oil field report fQr July shows a marked deerease in. the number of new wells being drilled. One reason given is that producers are beginning preparations for winter and another is s the price of junk and other material used about a well is at least 50 per cent higherthanthe priceof oil justifies. There is a falling off of 44 per cent iu drilling wells and 59 per cent iu new derricks building, or, therefore, 103 less new wells in progress for the beginning of August than there was for July 1. This means that about 200 laborers are out of work. The decrease in new work is divided equally among all districts. . Old Man Killed by a Blow. Rariden Meek, aged 77, a well known and highly respected citizen of Wayne County, met a violent, death and George Jenkins and William Gates, residents of Richmond, and both married men, are now locked up in the local jail as a result. It seerps that Gates and Jenkins were out in search of blackberries and while thus engaged went on to the land owned by Meek. The old man saw them and went out to order them off. A dispute followed and one of the men struck Meek, his death following almost lyTramps Flag a Train, —-A gang of tramps flagged a Chicago and Southeastern freight train at Lapel and when it stopped boarded the train and took possession. Iu a fight which ensued Conductor Lambert was badly beaten. A brakeman jumped from the train and went to Lapel, where he telegraphed the Anderson police. The tramps, to avoid arrest, however, compelled the engineer to let them off near the city limits and escaped to the woods. Boys Play with Powder. In Brazil four boys, ranging in age from 15 to 19 years, were fearfully burned by an explosion of a keg of powder with which they were playing. The injured, were John Mattri, John Scabber, Roily Forrester and James Ambrose. Mattri died of his injuries and Scabber and Ambrose are not expected to liye, as they are burned so badly that flesh falls from portions of their bodies. State News In Brief. Epidemic of dysentery at Muneie. Pink eye prevalent about Milford. Anderson has a “Jack, the hugger.” Smallpox iu, thirteen Indiana counties. Mrs. D. A. Julian, Muneie, died of measles. Fine crop of oats around Hagerstown ruined by rain. Hereafter Muneie merchants will have to close on Sunday. A Kokomo canning factory has canned 1,000,000 quarts of peas. Mrs. A. E. Grove, Laporte, met an old lover and became insane. Two Marion women, infatuated with the same man, fought in a store. Residence of Ollie Frazier, Elwood, vfrecked by natural gas explosion. Itev. Daniel Shively, Peru, a Dunkard minister of national reputation, is dead. . Richard Boggs, 23, Patriot, caught in belt in a planing mill and instantly killed.. D.* M. Snyder, Peru, found his parents in Laporte, after twenty-five years’ separation. Mrs. Mary B. Wilson, 81, Shelbyville, is dead. She was the mother of thirteen children. Andrew Carnegie has given a $3,000 pipe organ to St. Paul’s M. E. Church, Lafayette. Emmett Brown, aged 19, a prominent young man of Waterloo, was instantly killed by a Lake Shore fast train. After robbing the postoffiee at Young America, the thief hid $127 worth of stamps under a porch, while he entered a store, where he was frightened away. The stamps were found. In Evansville Louis Awenius; 27 years old, went home the other night and before retiring said to lus sister: “I hnve had three fights to-night and don’t feel well.” At noon the next day his sister went to call him and found him dead. Doctors say death resulted from blows on the body. John Franks, a Noble township farmer, was swindled out of $2,500, Two men, who registered ns W. H. Harris of Indiana and W. C. Brown of Hamilton, Ohio, visited Franks for the ostensible purpose of buying his farm, telling him he must produce $2,500 to prove his responsibility. Franks put his money into a satchel. The men were to put $5,000 in another. They switched satchels and Franks got a bundle of paper. The last few nights a stranger has been going to the home of the widow Lemasters, south of Sbelbyville, and after knocking on the weather boarding with a club disappearing. Indignant residents hnve gathered each night at the Lemns; ters home and watched with shotguns for the intruder, who defiantly continues his visits without harm. One night the neighbors encircled the house with wire on which was a bell that would ling on the mysterious visitor running against it. This proved futile, as the man removed the bell, bombarded the house and disappeared." A few nights later Mrs. Lemnsters heard a noise in the rear yard and opening a door suddenly was confronted by a man. who ran behind a tree. The woman called to the men on watch on the inside, and as she did so the intruder hurled a stone at her, knocking her senseless. A mass meeting at Logansport demanded that the Council grant no franchise to the Central Union Telephone Company that does not protect the people’s rights. Miss Laura Munsell, 00 years old, was struck by a Pennsylvania suburban train directly In front of her residence in New Albany, nnd received injuries which caused her death an hour later. The hotly of Carrie Holdseraper, German, 20 years old. was found in a shallow pond near Somerville. The body had the appearance of having been In the water about twenty-four hours. She left her home to pick blackberries.

COMMERCIAL FINANCIAL

New York trade reports are still somewhat irregular, but the general tendency of conditions seems to be toward improvement. Money continues easy, notwithstanding the rapid approach of the season . when demands for large amounts will come from the South and West for crop moving purposes. The banks at all the large centers are unusually well supplied with funds, and the surplus of the New York banks is about double what it was at this time in 1899. There, is also an abundance of money throughout the West and South this year, and the demand, therefore, is not likely to fall so heavily upon the Eastern banks, as has been the case heretofore. The volume of business transacted in stocks is still comparatively small, but the tone of the markets has lately been growing stronger and they appear to be gradually broadening out. Chicago speculation in the grain markets has been far from active during the week, and the course of fluctuations somewhat irregular. Wheat nnd the speculative commodities of the provision market were higher at the close of Saturday s session on the Board of Trade than they were on Saturday of the preceding week, while corn aud oats were lower. An excellent crop of corn seems highly probable, and a'fairly good crop of oats has been secured, notwithstanding some drawbacks which prevent the crop in its entirety from being spoken of in the superlative degree. Those , conditions were conducive to weakness in prices. Speculators in wheat have been finding it increasingly difficult to come to a definite conclusion \i"ith regard to the probable course of prices for the season upon which they are now entering, in consequence of which business has lacked the spirit that characterizes a period of strong convictions. The domestic wheat crop was never more puzzling to estimate, and there never was a season when more vigorous and searching inquiry was applied to the problem. In the sections of the winter wheat country where the crop has been damaged by the Hessian fly, and in the spring wheat region, where drought destroyed a heavy proportion of the crop, the usual difficulty of apportioning the extent of the loss in its true relations to the whole —always a difficult problem—is this season rendered doubly prone to miscalculation owing to the serious damage where damage has occurred and the excellence of the crops Where they escaped the ills of the devastated territory.

MAN AND WIFE FIGHT A DUEL.

Philadelphians Engage in Combat Fatal to Beth. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Sinclair pulled triggers at the same instant and both fell dead in front of their villa at Duffryn Mawr, a select suburb of Philadelphia Saturday evening. They had quarreled; the woman was armed and dared her husband to touch her. Then she threatened him, and in a fit of passion he challenged her to shoot him “down like a dog.” With the devilishness of a woman, cultured and advanced. Mrs. Sinclair deliberately entered the house, proeflred a revolver and, handing it to her husband, said: “We are equal now. I dare you to fight me like a man.” Sinclair coolly proposed a duel, his wife agreed, and before Mary Clark, the servant who heard and saw the preliminaries, could summon help the man and the woman—husband and wife—had deliberately paced off five yards, counted one, two, three—fired nnd died in their tracks. Sinclair was shot through the right eye and his wife was killed by a bullet passing through her forehead on a line with her nose. Mrs. Sinclair was an ultra type of the new woman. She affected manly dress, rode a diamond frame bicycle and entertained her friends with “red” teas at which tea was never served.

TO CONTROL ISLANDS.

Philippine Commission Will < Take Charge Sept. 1. On Sept. 1 the commission headed by Judge Taft will become the legislative body of the Philippines, with power to take and appropriate insular moneys, to establish judicial and educational systems, and to make and pass all laws. No money will be permitted to be drawn from the insular funds except by authorization of the committee. Judge Taft and his colleagues will also exercise certain executive functions. For instance, they will appoint judges, officials in the educational department and officers of municipalities which the commission‘establish pending elections. Gen. MacArthur will be the executive head to enforce the laws of the commission, and he will conduct the government in accordance with the same until the commission recommends to President McKinley the appointment of a civil governor. There has been an increase of insurgent activity during the last three weeks, especially in the way of ambushes and attacks upon small parties.

News of Minor Note.

Immense forest fires in California. England holds Colombia responsible for the death of Reginald Paris, a British subject, killed during the war. The Prussian Government is about tp take measures to preserve various kinds of trees that are in danger of extermination. . • .... There are only two surviving American Vice-Presidents, Levi P. Morton of New York and Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois. For an army of 30,000 men and 10,000 horses for three months it is estimated that 11.000 tons of food and forage are necessary. Whiteeaps nt Platte City, Mo., flogged Lo Berry because lie would not dismiss his housekeeper. ’ The extensive arid region* of northern Mexico are to he irrigated by canals from aid extended l»y the Federal and State governments. Paris police are much stirred up by a rumor that Esterhazy, Dreyfus’ chief accuser, intends to return to the French capital in disguise. Mrs. Ann Slate of Brooklyn, N. Y., whose son “Dan” figured in Mark Twain’s 1 “Innocents Abroad,” was 100 years old July 12.