Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 14, Number 37, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 8 March 1884 — Page 2

Ufa

TETS.^

iff,

h,,

.:*$SLTHE MAIL

:gj

A PAPER FOR THE PEOPLE.

TfiRRE HAUTE, MARCH, 8,1884

A PAINFUL STORY.

XI BY

ALICE

'Twas

ALICE M. ROBERTS.

in ye pleasant olden time,

Oh many years ago, When huskin bees and singing schools Were all the fun, yon know. The singing school In Tarrytown— A quaint old town In MaineWas wisely taught and grandly led

J«,

By a young man named Paine. Ik A gallant gentleman was Paine, who liked the lasses well

Bat best he liked Miss Patience White, *f As all his school could tell.

On page one-seventy." 'See gentle patlencesmlleoil pain.*" -1- On Pain they all then smiled, „,tBat not

HO

WAV

1

-Oae night the singing school had met Young Patne, all carelessly, Had turned the leaves and said, "We'll sing

gentle as they might

And he confused and wild

^flearched quickly for another piese, As quickly gave it out *faThe merriment. suppressed before, •••••. Rose now into a shout.

These were the words that met his eyes ^He sank down _with a groan). give me grief for others" woes,

And patience for my own!"

(A Silhouette.

Rebecca Harding Davis.

It was the sccond day of Lucy Coyt's journey from home. For years she had looked forward to the time when she should set out to earn her living in that mysterious "South" which, before the war, was like a foreign land to most Northern women. At that time families of the olass to which Lucy belonged trained their clever daughters as teachers to go to the cotton States, precisely as they now fit their sons to go to Colorado oi Dakota. In any case they would do better than at home, and they might open up a gold mine in the shape of a rich widow or susceptible young planter. Two or three of Miss Coyt's classmates had disappeared victoriously in this way. She fancied them as reigning over a legion of slaves, and adorned by a ^swarthy, fiery Don Furioso and natur4 ally the possibility of such a fate for herself glimmered hazily in the distance. ^'Though, of course, it was wrong to hold J^tslaves at least* she was feebly confident that was hei belief ever since David *'^fPettit had talked to her about it the pother evening. The Reverend David had brought some queer new notions '''''back with him from the theological ^'ischool. Ki "He'll wait a long time for a call in .our Synod if they suspect he's an aboli**'itienist," thought Lucy as the train '"whiised swiftly on. "I wish I'd given *r ihitm a hint though he wouldm't have "t "taken It. Dave was a nice sort of a girl if^fboy when he used to help me skim the cream. But he has grown real coarse and oonoeited. with his white cavat and radical talk." She drew a book from her bag which he had slipped into her hand just as the stage was starting. "Imitation of Christf" eying the cross on the back suspiciously. "It reads like '-^flound doctrine enough. But Dave "will have to "be on his guard. If he brings any papistical notions into our Synod, his chance for a call is over."

She leaned back, uneasily feeling that if she could have staid and watchedhim, poor Miss Daisy (as the Fairview boys used to call him) would have had a better chance, when the train suddenly stopped. Miss Coyt had been expecting adventures ever since they started. Now they bad begun. The train (she was on a railway in Lower Vlrgluia) was rushing across a trustle bridge, when, with a shrill screech of steam, it stopped. Half of the men in the car crowded to the door, where a brakeman stood barring

"Run over a oow ^v* "No. Hush-h! Don't skeer the ladies!"

Miss Coyt laughed to herself. Jake Carr, the brakeman on the Faifview road, would have thrust his head in and

Joutherners

elled, "Keep your seats, Rents!" These were rediculously gentle and soft whenever they came near a woman. *ftiis brakeman was mildmannered enough to keep sheep in Arcadia. It was plain that Fairview was mauy hundrea miles back this was a different world. Lucy's quick eyes had noted all the differences, although she was miserably abashed by the crowd—so abashed, indeed, that she had been parched with thirst since morning, and could not summon courage to go to the water-cooler for a drink.

Looking out the window, she saw on the bank below the bridge a hunched heap of gray flannel and yellow calico. The men from the train ran toward it. •'Something's wrong. I'd better take t-ight hold at once," thought Miss Coyt. She took her purse out of her bag and put it in her pocket, lest there might be a thief in the car, and then hnrried out after the men. She had a very low opinion of the intelligence of men in any emergency. At home, she always had pulled the whole household of father and brothers along. She was the little ste*m-tug: they the heavy scows, digged unwillingly forward.

She reached the quivering heap on the bank. It was a woman. Miss Coyt straightened the clothes, kneeled down and lilted her head. The gray hair was clotted with blood, "Why, she's old! Her hair's white!" cried Lucy, excitedly catching the head up to her breast. "Oh dear! oh dear!" "It's old Mis* Crocker!" said a train nam. "Yon*a her cabin down on the «*. branch. I see her on the bridge, 'n' she heerd the train comin', 'n' ahe jumped, »n'_" "Don't stand there chattering. Go for a doctor said Miss Coyt. doctor," said one of• the passengers, quietly, stopping to examine the woman. "She fa not dead. Not much hurt. An arm broken."

The men carried Mrs. Croeker to her cabin. She had caught Lacv's hand, and so led her along. The old women craned their necks out of the car watching I her. They were just as sorry as Lucy, b«t they were in the habit of leaving great emergencies In the bands of men. "What can

1

mid. "The The men, having open her eyes, straggled bade to the train. aHK® "Time's up, doctor!" shouted the con^ffSdactor. "Express is doe In two min *3 tea."

The do- was leisurely catting away If Mrs. Cmt kor'R flannel sleeve. "1 aiaail want bandages," he said, without look insr uiv Lucy 1- »k*cl about tlw bare lit* oaun. liSlf new out her handkert.lef, and put it hack. It was one of b«r half-doten newest and beat.. Then she espied a pillow cover, and tore it Into ^^atrlpa. The doctor dr*« the arm ai cotnpwedlv as If the day was Wore him.

Miss Coyt "kept her eye on the pafflag

engine. All the clothes she had in the world were in her trunk on that train. What intolerable dawdlers these Southerners were! There! They were going!

She could not leave the woman— But her clothes! .. There was a chorus of shouts from the train, a pufl of steatn, and then the long line of cars shot through the bills, leaving but a wisp of smoke clinging to the closing forest. The doctor fastened hia last bandage. Miss Coyt, with a choking uoise in her throat, rushed to the door. The doctor looked at his companion for the first time. Then he qulekly took off his hat, and came up to her with that subtle air of homage which sets the man in that region so thoroughly apart from the woman. "I beg of you not to be alarmed, said. "Bi*t tbeyfcre gone!" "You have your ticket? There will be another train before night, and you will find your baggage awaiting you at Abingdon." "Oh, thank you!" gasped Lucy, suddenly ashamed of her tear-dabbled face. "It was very silly in me. But I never traveled alone before."

he

The doctor had always supposed Northern women to be as little afflicted with timidity as life-insurance agents. His calm eyes rested an instant on Miss Coyt as he folded bis pocket-book. "I* was my fault that you were detained, madam," he said. "If you will permit me, I will look after your babbage when we reach Abingdon.'

Lucy thanked him again, and turned to help Mrs. Crocker who was struggling to her feet. How lucky she was to meet that good-natured, fatherly doctor in this adventure! It might have been some conceited young man. The doctor too, waa a very different human species from the ox-like Fairview farm ers whom she had left behind, or neat, thin-blooded Davy Pettit. Miss Coyt had known no other men than these. But in the intervals of pie-making and milking on the farm she had gone to the Fairview Female Seminary, and had read Carlyle. and the Autocrat In the Atlantic, ana Beauties of German Authors and so felt herself an expert In human nature, and quite fitted to exercise any new types which the South might offer to her.

Mrs. Crocker went out to the doctor who was sitting on the log which served as a step. She looked at the bridge. "Powerful big fall thet wur," she said complacently. "Ther's not another woman in Wythe County as could hev done it athout breakin' her neck." "Ah, you've twenty good years of lire in you yet, mother," he said, goodhumoredly, glancing at her muscular limbs and skin, tanned to a fine leathercolor by wind and sun. "Oh, I'm tough enough. Brought up eleven children right hyar on the branch. All gone—drawl or married. I helped build this hyar house with my own hands twelve years ago. What d'ye think o' that corn Ploughed and hoed every hill of it." "It's outrageous!" said Lucy, authoritatively. "At your age a woman's children should support her. I would advise you to give up the house at once, divide

wur at Marlon.' But I wur born right hear on the branch seventy year back, 'n' I reckon I'll make an end oa hyar." "Seventy years!—here!" Lucy. Her eyes wandered gorge lined with corn, the pi unchlnked, dirty cabin. T_. watched her expressive face with an amused smile. Mrs. Crocker went lu to stir the fire. "Better, you think, not to live at all ho replied to her looks. "I do not call it living," she said, romptly. "I've seen it often on farms.

thought over the -pen, the ie doctor

Topping corn and eating it feeding pigs ana children until both are big enough to be sent away and that for seventy years! It is no better life than that fat worm's there beside you."

The doctor laughed, and lazily put down his hand that the worm might orawl over it. "Poor old woman Poor worm!" he said. "There is nothing as a woman—like you," hesitating, but not looking up. "She would leave nothing alive that was not vounu and beautiful and supreme as herself. You should consider. The world was not made for the royal family alone. You must leave room In it for old women, and worms, and country doctors."

Lucy laughed, but did not reply. She did not understand this old gentleman, who was bestowing upon her very much the same quizzical, good-humored interest which he gave to the worm. "I don't know how you can touch the loathsome thing, anyhow," she said, tartly. "It creeps up into your hand as if it knew you were taklug it part." "It does know. If I wanted it for bait, it would not come near me. I fancy all creaturee know their friends. Watch a moment."

straining after scenic p»e and effert, which would have seemed ridiculous to her In Dave Pettit but she found it peculiarly attractive now. "You have no charm?" "No. Only that I have been friends with them alt since I was a child, and they know it. I remember when I was a baby sitting with the black pickaninnies on the ground playing with frogs. Even then" (with the same touch of grandlloquenoe in his tone) "I did not find anything that was alive loathsome or. unfriendly. I beg your pardon,' suddenly. I did not mean to bore you with the historyof my infancy." "Bore me! why, I never met with so singular a trait in anybody before!"

Mim Coyt waa now satisfied that this was not only a most extraordinary man in intellect, but in goodness. She could Imagine what life and strength, living so close to nature as he did, he would carry to a sick or dying bed! It was like the healing power of the old saints. There was the advantage of travel! How long would she have lived in Fairview without meeting any bod 7 with traits so abnormal and fine! She began to have a sense of ownership In this ber discovery. Now that she examined the doctor, be was not even middle-aged: how could she haws thought him old? What womanish tenderness was in the cut of his. month! Indeed this astute

Jaws

roung woman found the dose shaven indicated a benevolence amounting to weakness. The eyea wwe tan aatla-

fe

x,

He walked a few steps into the edge of the woods, and threw himself down into the deep grass, his face upward. Whether he made signs or whistled Lucy could not tell, but presently a bird from a neighboring bough came circling down ana perched beside him another and another followed, until, when he rose, it seemed to her that the whole flock hovered about him, ohirping excitedly. He stopped by the bee-hivee as he came back, and the bees, disturbed, swarmed about him, settling black on his head and shoulders. Lucy ran to him, as he stood unhurt, gently brushing them off, pleased and flushed with his little triumph.

m,

"One would really think you knew what they said."

TEKRE HAUTE SATURDAY EVENIJSTG MAIL.-

factory: they were gray and bright, but they said absolutely nothing to her, no more than if they belonged to a species of animal which was unknown to her. This only whetted her interest. Was he married? Was he a chureh member? What would he probably think of that favorite passage of hers in Jean Paul? This young woman, we should have stated earlier, was neither engaged uor in love. She intended to be in love some day, however and there were certain tests which she applied as he went through life to each man whom she met, iuBt as she might idly try toset different words to some melody known only tq herself.

The man (who vjas not In want ot a mate) had quite forgotten the woman. He had gone into the kitchen, and finding some bacon and fresh mountain trout, had set about cooking dinner as if be were in camp. A mess was already simmering on the fire. He fastened a towel before him for an apron, lifted the lid from the frying-pan and dropped something into it from a case of vials which he took out of his pocket. "Always carry my own sauces,' he said as Lucy came up. "Smell that! sniffing up the savory steam with an unctuous smile. "Ah-h!"

Lucy ate the dinner when it was ready in a kind of fervor. She had never meta gourmand before. There was a fine individual trait in this exceptional character.

This fai%haired stout doctor, with his birds and nis cookery and his jokes and bis paieimpenetrable eyes, seemed to her for some reason a bigger and more human man than any she had ever guessed were in the world. If she were only a man and oould make a*, comrade of him! She had never madea comrade of her father or brothers they were always taken up with pigs, or politics, or oounty railroad business. And the ideal companion she had picked out for herself from religions novels was unsatisfactory—as a matter of fact. She 1 ooked speculatively at the broad-backed linen duster in the doorway. She was unconscious of the speculation In her eyes as the polyp fastened to a rock Is of the movement of Its tentacle groping through the water for food.

The doctor had no curiosity about her. When Mrs. Crocker questioned her as to her name and age, ne whistled to the farm dog, not listening to the answer. "What you dom' hyar in Yubginny, ennykow "I came from Pennsylvania to teach a school In a place called Otoga, in Carolina," said Lucy. "Hev some friends in these parts, I roclcoo "No, none at all. Unless I may call ^ou one, Mrs. Crocker," with a nervous

""fleckon you 11 not see much more o' me, ma'am. Otoga, hey? My son Orlando lives thar. 'Pears to me I keep clar thet town ef I wur a young woman 'thout perfection. Orlan's tole aae a heap about it." "Why, what is the matter with Otogo?" exclaimed Lucy, rising uncertainly ••I must go there. My engagement—1" "Matter? Nothln', only It's ther the Van Cleves hev gone to live. You've heerd o' them, o'course?" "No. Van Cleves

The doctor came up to the open door, watch In hand.

A

"The train will be due in twenty minutes." "I am ready. Who fire these people, Mrs. Crocker? I must live among them." "They won't hurt you A reckon. Ther's no highet toned pp»{pl«» than the Van Cleves and the Suydams. Ohly Its sort of unpleasant whar they are, sometimes. You see," leisurely lighting her pipe with a brand, "them two famblies swore death again each other nigh hundred year ago, an' since then ther's not a man of them hes died in his bed. They lived in Tennessee. Orlan he tole me the rights of It. Four brothers of I he Van Cleves barricaded the Suydams up in ther house for five weeks, an when they were fairly starved an' crop out, they shot them deiid. Thet tfur the grandfathers o' this present stock. But they hev kep at it stiddy. Not a man o' them but died in his boots. Ther's but one Suydam left, 'n' thet's Cunnel Abrain. His fether wur shot by the Van Cleves. So when Abram wur a boy, he says, says he, 'Now 1 gwine to put a final eena to this whole thing.' So he went at it practicin' with his pistol, 'n' when he thought he wur ready he challenges Jedge Van Cleve, 'n' shoots him plumb through the head. Oh, Orlan says it wur a fah dooel, no murder. Ther wur two Van Cleves left, jess boys, nepheys of the jedge, 'n' they'd

one to Californy. But Cunnel Abram followed them, 'n' shot one on the deck of a ship bound for Clliny. T'other he dodged him somehow 'n' come back, 'n'ls livin' in Otoga. But he'll be found. Cunnel Abram '11 track blm down," wagging her head with the zest of horror. "But Is there no law at all here?" cried Lucy. "I can't believe such a wretch would ge unhung anywhere."

The doctor tapped on the window. "The train is in sight. You must bid our friend good-by."

Lucy shook hands hurriedly with the old woman. She had some money in her hand to give her, but, after a moment's hesitation, dropped it back into her pocket, and handed her a tract instead. "Religion will do her more real good," she thought afterward, quieting an uneasy inward twinge "at least it ought to."

When tbey had boarded the train the doctor arranged her seat with gentle, leisurely movements, and brought her last week's Richmond paper. He did not, as she expected, take the vacant seat beside her, but disappeared, only returning when the train reached Abing-

"Thls carriage will take yon to the hotel, madam. I have written a note to the landlord, who will show you every attention. No, no thanks," shutting her In, his fat, agreeable face showing an inatant smiling over the door. He did not offer his hand, as all the men whom Lucy had known would have done. He lifted his bat, hesitating a moment before be added, half reluctantly: "It Is probable that I may meet you agp&in. My business calls me to

°X

Coyt bowed civilly, but as the

carriage rattled np the street ahe laughed aloud *od blushed* She herself did not know wny. It was certainly vwy lonely and dangerous for a woman adventuring among murderer* and assassins.

Three days after ahe left Abingdon, Lacy, rumbling along the mountain side in an old wagon, came in sight of a dosen gray, weather beaten houses hnddled on the edge of a creek in the

^•IfLn's Otoga," said the driver, painting with his whip. "HI, Dnmfort!" shouted a man voice. "Hold on thar!" and a big young fellow in butternut fiannall appeared in the under brufth, "You can't go to Otoga. Yellow Jack's thar afore you. Six men dead since yes'day mawninV "The devil!" Dumfort pulled up his moles. "So I say. Six. I an* my wife hev been on the lookout for you since mawninV' "''Bleeged, captain. Six? That about

halves them down thar. T! I dunno *s ever I was more interruptid than this afore!"snapping his whip meditatively.

Lucy, peeping througn the oil-skin blind, could see the bold merry face of the young countryman. He stood pulling his red beard and frowning with decent regret for his neighbors. Of course he was sorry, but he had so much life and fun In hun that he could not help being happy and comfortable if the whole State of Carolina were dead with yellow fever. "I've got the mail, too. An' a passener," said Dumfort, jerking his head jack to the wagon. "What in the mischief am I to do "The mail '11 keep. Drive right up to my house, an' my wife '11 give you an' the other man shake-downs tLl the mawnin'." 'Tain't another man."

The young nuui stepped quickly forward, with an instantaneous change of manner. He jerked off his quilted widerimmed hat ("made out of his wife's old dress," thought Lucy.) "I did not know thet ther' was a lady Inside," he said. "I was too rough with my news. Come up to my house. My wife '11 tell you there's no danger." "I shall be very glad to go," said Miss Coyt.

Dumfort drove up a rutted mountain road and stopped before a log cabin. Of all bouses In the world it was plainly thelfirat venture lu life of two poor young people. Lucy read the whole story at a glance. There was the little clearing on the mountain-side the patch of cornjand potatoes (just enough for two the first cow the house itself, walls, celling, and floor made of planed planks of the delicately veined poplar the tidy supper table, with its two plate the photographs of the bride's father and mother hung over the mantel shelf in frames which she had made of bits of mica from the mine yonder. Here was a chair made out of a barrel and trimmed with pink muslin, there a decorated ginger jar, a cromo of the Death of Andrew Jackson on the wall. Lucy was on the same rung of the ladder of culture as her hostess. "She has a very refined taste," she thought. "That tidy stich was just coming in at Fairview.'r Hurrying in from the field, her baby in her arms, came a plump, freckled, blue-eyed woman. "Mistress Thomas," said Dumfort, ponderously, "let me make you acquainted with Miss Coyt. She war a-goin' to Otoga to teach school."

The two women exchanged smiles and keen glances. "Baby's asleep," whis pered the mother. I'll shake hands when I lay him down."

Lucy ran to turn down the crib quilt. "He's tremendously big,"she whispered, helping to tuck him in. "Now, Dorcas, let's have supper," called the farmer from the door, where he sat Bmoking with Dumfort. "Our friends must must be hungry as bars."

Dorcas smiled, and with intolerably laay slowness tucked up her sleeves from her white arms and began the Inevitable chicken frying. Lucy suddenly remembered how unbusinesslike was the whole proceeding. She went up to her hostess, who was stooping over the big log A*'®"What do you charge for beard she said. "I should like to stay here until the sickness Is over In Otoga. That is, if your charges are reasonable," eying her keenly. Her rule always was to make her "bargain before buying, then she never was cheated."

Mrs. Dorcas' fair face burned red. "We don't take folks in to board." she drawled In her sweet voice, locking at Lucy curiously. "But we'll be mighty glad if you'll stay as long's you can. It powerful lonesome byah on the mountains. We'll take it as very kind," said Lucy- feeling miserably small and vulgar. But how could she have known They did not use strangers in this ridiculously generous way in Fairview.

Mistress Dorcas shot an amused speculative glance after her, and went on with her frying. Miss Coyt, presently finding the baby awake, took him up and went out to the steps where his father and Dumfort still smoked and gossiped in the slanted yellow beams of the lowering sun. The baby, who was freckled and soft-eyed as his mother, replied to Lucy's cooin and eolddling by laughing ana thrusting his tiny fat fist iato her eyes. Lucy stooped and kissed him furtively. She felt lonely and far from home just then. "What do you call baby ine asked.

Mrs. Dorcas came to the door. "His real name is Humpty. But he was baptized Alexander—Alexander Van Cleve.

Lucy sprang to her feet. "Van Cleve! starting at the farmer. "I thought your name was Thomas?" "Thomas Van Cleve," smiling. "Why, what's wrong with that?"

Lucy felt as though a blow had been struck at her, which made her knees totter. "They told me in Virginia that the Suydams were on your track."

There was a sudden silence, but Miss Coyt, being greatly shaken, stumbled on. "I did not expect to come in your way—I'm not used to such things—and this poor baby," hugging it passionately. It's a Van Cleve too

The young man took the boy. Quiet yourself. Humpty will not be hurt by —any one,'" he said, and patting him up on his shoulder he walked down to the chicken-yard. His wife went In without a word, and shut the door. Lucy aat down. After a long time she Bald to Dumfort: "I have made a mistake. "Yes. But you couldn'i be expected to know. I never heered a Suydam's name mentioned to a Van Cleve afore. It was so surprisin' it didn't seem decent somehow." .. "I don't understand why," groaned

L^o?

Ther's things what ain't never

talked of. Now ther's the Petersee la the Smoky Mountings. There need to be a disease in the Peters fambly which attacked one leg. But it turned out to be true Asiatic leprosy. Well, it Isn't reckoned civil hyarabouta to talk af legs afore a Peters. Now this fambly's got a a discussion hangin' on with the Suydams for a hundred year, as onfortinlt 's leprosy. An'-well, probaby you're the first person's ever mentioned it to them."

They relapsed into silence until they ere called In to supper. Lucy felt as if a thin glaze of Ice had risen between ber and the Van Cleves. They were afraid of her. As fer, ber food choked her. Bnt after supper Mrs. Dorcas brought out a flannel sup which she was making for baby, Mid Lucy instated on trying it on* She waa fon« of babies. She bad a mcque in her trunk which she bad been braiding for ber brother Joe's child. ••I'll bring it down to give yon the idea," she said, and ran up Tor it.

Van Cleve looked at it over his wife shoulder when it came. "Try that thing on Humpty, Miss Coyt," be said, an3 when it was on he held the boy up on hi# oat-stretched arm. "Pratt's a pfctare, bey Dumfort?" "I'll finteh it for bim," exclaimed Lucy, with a gush of generosity. "lean make Sam another."

Mm. Dorcas broke Into a delighted flood of thanks. 8be jumped op to fit and button it on the boy, while her hosbtnd, quite as vain and pleased sa she, held him. It aeemod incredible to Lucy that ghastly horror, which never

could be mentioned, stood like a shadow behind the three that this commonplace jolly little family went to bed, rose, sat down to eat, with Death as their perpetual companion, dnmb, waiting to strike.

The nextjmorning was that o%n April day. The whole world was swathed in fog and gray dampuess, and the next moment it flashed and sparkled In the sunlight, every leaf quivering back in brilliance. Young Van Cleve nad set off by daylight, whistling behind his steer*. Before noon he came up the mountain, his head sunk, silent, and morose. Even the ruddv color was gone his thickfeatured,"jolly face was nipped as with age.

Dorcas ran to me§t him. "Are you sick, Tom?"

1

No." Have you" —she glanced swiftly around—"have you heard—anything?" "Nothing. I thought it best to throw off work to-day."

He drove the steers into the inclosure.

AS

he unvoked them he sent keen, furtive glances into the darkening woods. Meanwhile the sky bad lowered. Clouds walled In the mountain plateau the day had grown heavy and foreboding.

Dumfort came to £ncy, who was Bitting on the steps with the baby. "Thomas hashed fwarnin'," he said in a low tone. 'Cunnel Abraham's on his track." "He has seen him She started up, "He catching up Humpty in her arms, is coming nere "So I think. But Thomas hain't seen him. He's ben warned. I've heerd that them Van Cleves allays kin tell when«a Suydam Is near them.'' "Nonsense!" Lucy set the child down again. "Jessassome men." pursued Dumfort, calmly, "kin tell when there's a rattlesnake in the grass nigh: an' others creep with cold ef a cat's in the room.'

Minn Coyt, stillcontemptuous, watched Van Cleve sharply as he passed into the house. "Dorcas," be said, quiotly, as he parsed, "bring Humpty in. Keep indoors to-day." He went up to the loft, closing the trap-door behind him, aad Lucy fancied that she heard the click of a

Dumfert's pipe went out in his mouth with his smothered excitement. "He's loadln'! Suydam's oomln't" he whispered. "Thomas ain't the same man he was this mawnin'! He's layin' to, 'n' waitin'." "To murder another man! And he calls himself a Christian! He had family prayers this morning!" "What's that got to do with it?" demanded Dumfort. fierchly. "Thomas's got his dooty laid out. He's got the murderer of his brother to punish. The law's left it to them two famblies to settle with each other. God's left It to them. Them old Jews sent the nearest of kin to average blood. The Suydams hev blood to avenge." He got up abrubtly and walked uneasily up and down the barn-yard. Dorcas had left her work, and with Humpty in her arras sat by the window, her keen eyes fixed on the thicket of pines that fenced in the house, black and notlonless in the breathless air.

No rain had fallen as yet, but the forest. the peaks of the mountains beyond, the familiar objects in the barn-yard, had drawn closer with that silent hush and peculiar dark distinctness that preceedes a storm. They, too, listened and waited. Lucy heard a step in the house. Van Cleve came heavily down from the loft and seated himself, his face turned toward the road by which a stranger must approached. Lucy stood irresolute for a few minutes she felt as If she could not draw her breath the air was full of death. Pulling the hood of her water-proof over her head, she crossed the stile and walked down the road. "I will be first to meet the wolf," she said aloud, laughing nervously.

The road wound through the unbroken forest down to the creek. As she came nearer to the water she heard the plash of a horse's feet crossing the ford. She tried to cry out that he was coming, to warn them, but her mouth would not make a sound her legs shook onder her she caught by a tree, pessessed by childish, abject fear. When the horsa and rider came into sight she laughed hysterically.

It was the good-humored doctor. He turned quietly at her cry, and smiled placidly. Nothing would startle that phlepmatlc mass of flesh. He alighted, tied his horse, and came to her with the leisurely, noiseless movements peculiar to him. „T, "You are frightened. What are you afraid of, Miss Coyt?" "Oh, of a monster!"—laughing feebly —"a human beast of pray that Is in these mountains. Every time a branch moved I expected to see his murderous face coming toward his victim."

She wanted to pour out the whole story, but he stood stolid and incurious, asking no questions. She hesitated and

8^w

nobody," he said, composedly.

Whether he waa Interested or not, she tnust tell him. He was so wise and kind bp was a man used to control others. If he would Interfere he could doubtless put an end to all. "It is a vendetta," she began. "You heard of it the tkne of the accident." "You should not allow yourself to be excited by the gossip of the mountains, he Interrupted, gently but his eyes smiling down at her, suddenly seemed to her as hard and impenetrable as granite. "I fear I must leave you. I must reach Otoga before noon^" "You must not go to Otoga, catching him by the arm. "The yellow fev®r is there. Half of the population are dead." "Worse than that, I am afraid," he said, gravely. "We beard tbis morning that there was now neither doctor, nurse, nor anybody to burry the dead.

And

you are going to help them?

drawing back with a kind of awe. ••I am a doctor," he mid, indifferently, "and I can nurse in a fashion, and if the worst comes to the worst, I can dig a

gl"I'm

sure it is—very heroic," grasped

Lucy. The tears came to ber eyes. He frowned irritably. "Nothing of the kind. Somebody must go, of course. The physicians in Abingdon are married men. I am a stranger, and have nobody. There la nothing to keep me in this world but a little business which I have to do, and that lies in Otoga. I really most ride oa. But I will take you safely home first. Where are you stay-

*D"At the cabin yonder. Behind the pines. Thomas Van Cleve's." Continued on Third Page.

Do YOU need a remedy that will cure every kind of humor for a pimple or eruption to the worst scrofula and syphilitic disorders, use Dr. Gaysott Yellow Dock and Sarwtparllla. Three to five bottles cure akin disease, salt-rbenm or tetter. Fonr to ten bottles cure running, uioes, scrofula and all sypilitic disordersTone to three bottles care sores, boils, carbuncle, etc. One to two bottles cares pimplea on the face, blotches, etc. It la the only perfect blood purifier that can be made from a thorough knowledge of drugs. Ask your druggist for it. Take no substitute

(Continued from fad week.)

How Watch Cases are Made.

Kardmr

I

In buying a silver watch case great care should be taken to secure one that is Solid silver throughout. The cap of most cheap silver cases is made of a composition ivSMwn as albata, which is a very poor substitute for silver, as it turns black in a short time.. The backs of such cases are made much, thinner than those of an all silver casef being robbed in order to make the esq thicker and get in as much as possible eif tho cheap metal.x Another important point in a silver case is the joints or hinges, which should be made of gold. Those of mast cheap cases are made of silver, which is not a suitable metal for that purpose. La a brief period it warps, bends and spreads apart, allowing the backs to become loceo upon the case and admitting the dust aad dirt that accummulate in the pocket. The Keystone Silver

Watch Cases are only made

with silver caps and gold joints. ST. LOUTS, Ma, Feb. IT, MR. IDoar loos and varied experienoein bundling watobat wt cannot but acknowledge and give oar teetimonytlMA the. Keystone Solid Silver Watch Oaaea are the bnt mado to our knowledge. Having no soldering tbay ie. main homogeneous,

and

tt(fer

than tbejr weoW

'be vrere they heated for soldering, and have asm resisting power againat pressure than anr other oaaea in the market. MEKMOD JT JAOOABD JXWXLBX O*. Seal Mat itui, to bjntwi Watch Caw Factortta, Mh. for budwat lllnitrmted »fcewleg**ir fiiairr Baaa* aad K«jntoa« HtM CUMPunpklrt

ar« S

fmrnmimyiinnMiiiinmmmnwi

Tell (he children to out out and save the otnnta silhouette pictures aa they appear from issue t* iasun. They will bo pleased with the oollocW—.

If

-v

-}y K'

5 »V ft This spaoe is owned by BIiAOKWBIiIi'B BULL, "4 4 tt!l

Of count* Tire mean the faniens animal appc&rine on the label of every genuiue package of Ulnofcwell'a Bull Durham Smoking Tobaooo. Every dealer ltcops this, the bett Smoking Tobacco nwdn. None genuine without trade-mark of tile Bui.

^EVER FAILS^^

fHfflVlE)

rCQWgUEHOBQ

A SPECIFIC FOBT SW- EPILEPSY, SPASMS, CONVULSIONS, FiLLINfi SICKNESS.

ST. VITUS DANCE, AL0H0H0USH, OPIUM EATING. SVPHILLIS, SCROFULA, KINIS EVIL UGLY BLOOD DISEASES, OVSPEPStA, NERVOUSNESS, SICK HEADACHE, RHEUMATISM, NERVOUS WEAKNESS,/

NERVOUS PROSTRATION, BRAIN WORRY, BLOOD SORES, BILIOUSNESS, GOSTIVENESS, KIDNEY TROUBLES AND IDRECUIiRITIEl

9M^1.60 par bottli. at dreggliti. "W

Tie Dr. S. A. SlcMoifl MtlCo.,Proprle!JB ST. JOSEPH, MO.

ConraponJence freely answered by PhyrtclaDi^

For testimonials and circulars send stamp. Lord. Stouten burgh A Co., Agents, Chlcn^

I

sD^aana C8lt(S WNIRE All ilSI FAILS. BeetOoogh syrup. Tastcsgood.

Use tn time. Bold by druggist*.

TUTT'S PILLS

TORPID BOWELS,

DISORDERED LIVER, and MALARIA.

From these sources arise tkree-nxfffbsof the diseases of the human -race. Tbes* ms indicate their existence: Lou

spirits* some da

armies I* EracUtioi

lr

of food) Irritability of Semper, Lew A feellnc ot hariaf aegleeted

ltr,

JMxzftiess, UstterlnK at the

some datjr, *»i**i»»ess,. Heart, Dots •/«•. hJgfily colored Urine, tOSWIPAMOS, and dsmand the use of a remedy that acts directly on the lAver. As aLhror medicine TUTT'K PlltlM bare no equal. Their action on the Kidneys aad Skin is also prompt removing?, all imparities through these three scavengers ot the system," producing

aPP®*

tite.soond digestion, regular stools, a cieaT Skin and a vigorous body. TUTT'K PILL#

1

cause no naose* or griping nor intense*, with dally work and area perfect

ANTIDOTE TO MALARIA.

HB FE1TJ LIKE A HEW MABT. "I bars had Dyspepsia, with Constipation,two years, and nave tri-fl ten different kinds of pills, and TUTT'S are the firs' that have dose me any good. Thcy hav* sely.

ral passatres. "f1

man."

W.J&.

2

EDVTABIH3, Palmyra, O.

Soldtftryirltfre^ggCs MurraySt,,N.Y. I

TUTTS HAIR DYE.

GRAT HAIR on WHJSXEM(_changed Instantly toaUtossr BLACK hy aBitiglo application of this DTK. Sold by Druggists or sent by express on reoclptof ®l. Pv

Office, 44 Murray Street, New York# TUTTS MANUAL OF USEFUL RECEIPTS FREE