Semi-weekly Independent, Volume 2, Number 45, Plymouth, Marshall County, 15 April 1896 — Page 6

CASABICRANKA.

The girl sat on the baseball stand All but her beau had fled. And ho. por chap, could not deaianl Relief from what she said. "Why does the pitcher throw it 3T' f She murmured in dismay. ,Such action violent, yon know, , LIU awkward moves display. Why d os he so expectorate Cpon the slow white ball? Was he nor taught until too la to Ttiat that? not nice at all? Why does that fellow don a c ig-J And let hi voice rescind In cries of 'Strike!' awak'ning rage V- Tii those lipon the ground V an t 1 f.ll vv ny iio :uv miners aiw.iys lau ' And slMc i;p.n their face. "Or else they do not care at a!! rpou s..ü:" ether place? Why ? tie- p-jple murmur 'ItatikV He has u r;nik, 'tis plain. '. Why does ti'iat player, leju and lank, Seein in v.ca awful pain? "Why d.e-- :!. catcher wear that pad Close to his bosom pressed? And why has not the other hnd Iiis clothes cut like the rest? ; Why does thru player swing the woo 1 In such a reckless way ; And question, as no good man shu!d, ! What those behind him siy V . Why do the men such color wear" ; IJut le-re sdie turned her head, ' And then a: List became a war. Her es-vr: had dropped dead. -Nebraska State Journal. THE KODAK'S EVE. "It wis jt:r six years ns; tint I took hiy fijst walkii.g tour with my kodak diresay yni :inember. I had passed through riiii'-y one glorious Juno morning, .jikI vi ti c outskirts I crime across ic of the prettiest cottages I ever s,nv In my life. Cables, you know, and a porch frame1, in honeysuckle; and running up the Lill behind the house, an old fashioi.ru garden such a garden! "A little boy was swinging on the pale." Thompson went on; "pretly little chip about t. I should think. lie was fishing the ii.e with a great hunch of white, lion:. :iA chirruping t his steed us h swung- back and forth. He looked across the toad at me and laughed. 'If you'll keep quit still while I count six, I'M give you a bright new shilling. I said. He eye me critically. I set the focus and sighted the child in the tinder of my kodak. I saw that the hillside gird u and the honeysuckle porch would come into the scope of the picture. But I wished the child hadn't grown s : i mally grave. 'What you got in the Kx;" he said. 'I'll show you tu a minute. It you keep quiet, I anKvvored. Jr..: as I iut my linger to the button a cuckoo in the copse began to on II. The child lifted his curly head rod listened rapturously. 'It's my bird," he said, but just before he spoke I had pressed tie kdak button. Someone Khouteil 'Hilly;' from the cottage, and the child scrambled down from the gate. 'Here's your shilling.' I said. He turned back, thrust his small hand through the white fence for his prize and scampered off with it. "I bad only a short holiday that year, Hnd on my way home, going from Thorpe to Frenton, I took a wrong turning, and found myself near Pinlcy again. I tViC.Vi't really care, for I had iu.id my forty-eight exposures, and wasn't looking for anything new. It wis furiously hot the morning I saw tli"1 picture cottage for the second time. I nine on it from behind the hill at tho back, and saw that the place was in reality a siv.r.Il farm. 'I dare say they'd give men glass of milk I thought, and by way of making a short cut I climbed a wall an! dropped ou tho other side. I.ut I came down on a wabbly stone lying in a ditch, lost my balance, turned my ankle, and lay cursing dismally for soui' minutes. Then I limped up to the house. There was ik one about, and yet it wore an inhabited air. I knocked at a side door and leaned hMvily againt the lintel. No ono vi:ir I limped around to the front. My little friti.d wasn't hanging over the gite this time. I went into the porch mid knocked again. Tho door was opened a woman of about 3.", looking very ill, I thought, stood there waiting to know my errand. " 'Can I get some? one here to go for n fly? I've sprained my ankleand " There's nobody here.' she said, and hook her bead unsympathetically. I Ii id a horrible fear that she was going to shut the door In iny face. '"Can you let me have a glass of milk?' I said. I wanted nothing in the world so much as an excuse to sit down. " 'Yes. I suppose so,' she said, indifferently. 'Come this way.' "I followed her into the kitchen. She UJivß. me a chair and went out. I sat nursing the injured ankle until she ottme back with the milk. "'I passed here aIout ten days ago, I .si id, 'on my way to Trent on.' "Oid you':' said the woman In a fttupid way. She turned to the window and sat down on a low slool by a market basket. I saw she had been shelllug peas w hen I knocked. ' 'I noticed your garden particularly. I h;ivent seen a liner one this year.' 'No, it ain't bad,' she replied, dropping the fat peas Into the pail at her hie. They pattered down like kalb 4tO(KaH. "How far shall I have to walk before I can get a trap?' I said. "Nothing this side o' Tarver's, I tiotild think. -.'How far is that Y "Pout half a mile.' I almost ,f rained aloud. I couldn't walk It. tfkfiiichody must b? found who would o od treat with Tarver for me. ! saw a little Jny swinging on the )54te" when I passed some days ago ' "Tlie woman turned her head so rthürply in my direction that I stopped rftboVt. It was only an Instant's interjruptfon. The face? was averted again ftadjthtt peas began to hail against the sQjJbö'liere flow?' I asked. "The woman shook her head. It was

very warm. Tho perspiration stood in beads on her forehead. She lifted her arm and passed the sleeve of her printed gown over her face. I set the empty glass on the table at my elbow, and took out my purse. I noticed the woman's quick hands were idle again, and her head bent down. 'She is very ill, I thought. 'She can't go to Traver's, but " 'I'll be glad to pay somebody half a crown who will get mc a fly,' 1 said aloud. 'Io you know of "She had lifted her head and looked at me. " 'Was it you who gave him the shlllin'V - 'Cave who?' Hilly, my boy. You said you saw him swingin' on the gate. Was it you gave him a new sbillin'V " 'Oh, I believe I did,' I said. "The sunburnt face worked and dropped on her folded arms. What happened,' I said, after a pa use. She sat up and stared vacantly through the window. 'I usen't to let him go outside the gate to talk to people passin,' she said. 'I called him in when I heard voices that day. He showed me the shilII if She broke off and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. " Yes";' I said. ' 'I didn't like him takin money from strangers; I scolded him, an' he he cried.' I ler own eyes were full of tea rs. I tried to make him say what the shillin was for,' she went on. 'He said. "Not bin'." "Then you begged it." 1 says, "an you're a disgrace, and he cried more an said he hadn't ' "Tint that was quite true,' I interrupted. Oh. I didn't know that. I didn't know that!' the woman moaned. I said I'd give him a beat in if he didn't tell me why the strange gentleman gave him the shillin. I might a done it, too, but he stopped cryiu' all of a sudden, an said: "Why. of course, mammy, I know why he did it it was because my cuckoo sang for him. an I kep' quiet so be could hear." I knew that was Just Hilly's nonsense, but I didn't beat him oL, I'm glad I didn't beat him. "I waited till she found her. voice again," Thompson said, after a pause, as an excuse for the sudden failure of his own. "The woman explained." he went on, "that Hilly had climbed up the laburnum tree that same afternoon. 'He lost his hold, she said, an' the doctor says he must a' fell on his head-he died that night.' "I mutinied something stupid about sympathy. She went on shelling the peas. Looking vaguely around I caught sight of a child's photograph in a frame on the opposite wall. " 'Is that a picture of your boy? I asked. " 'No. no, said the woman; 'that's my

sister's child, and he ain't dead, neither! We never had a picture of Hilly. That seems. to make it worse somehow. I tell my husband I believe I could bear It better if I had a picture of him.' " '"Why, I took a picture of him!' In my excitement I started up. and wrenched my unhappy ankle. I sank back faint from pain. " Vou took a picture of my Hilly! She was standing beside me when I opened my eyes. " 'Yes er or the house. He was at the gate, you know." " 'Thank Cod,' the woman said, shaking her dimhed hands pitifully. 'Thank Cod! Thank Cod!' '"Hut it may not come out tight,' I said, cursing myself for having raUed hopes that my kodak might not justify. 'You see, it isn't developed. I can't tell how ' 'Oh, you must make it come out right, sir. Where Is it?' The hard, sun burnt face was quivering. " 'It's here, in this,' I motioned to ward the kodak at my side. She kneeled down before it with clasped bands, like a penitent before a shrine. " "You'll show it to me, sir just for a minute'.' 'I can't just now it Isn't developed. " Tut just let me sec if it's my Billy. Oh, please, sir! If you knew, If you knew " 'I'll let you have It ns soon as It's ready,' I said. 'It would be spoiled If I took it out now.' " 'I'd be very careful, said the wo man. She got up eagerly, and Instinc lively wiped her rough hands on her apron. "'No, It's the light, you see, that would spoil It. It must be kept In the dark.' I tried to explain, but she evl dently wasn't listening. She kept looking down at the kodak with supersti tious awe. "Someone passed the window. She looked up. They've got back!' sho cried, breathlessly, and ran to the door In the scullery. She was talking ex citedly alKiut Hilly's picture when she came back with two men. It was her husband and her younger brother, homo from market. We soon arranged that after dinner, when the horse was rest ed. I should be driven to Trenton by my host, Peter Shall, and that mean while I should go upstairs and lie down and let Mrs. Shall put cold water bandages ou my foot. Tho pain had become excruciating. "A very comfortable room it was that they put me in, and when Mrs. Shall said my foot was badly inflamed and that I had better stay where I was for a few days I wasn't at all unwilling. . "'Will you show me the picture to night':' she said, the moment the plan was decided on. "A light broke in upon me. 'Unfor tunately, I haven't any developer with me. I should have to send for-sohie ' " 'You can buy anything at Fronton, she said. 'Shall will go for yoli.' " Oh, I should have to send to Lon don. 'Shall will go for you she repeated.

"'As.toVj.hat, the Eastman Company

would send It. Hut I have everything at home, and w hen I get back '01i, if you please, sir, don't wait. Shail will take a telegram if you'll write it. I I you'll think me very strange, but ' she leaned over the foot of the bed and lowered her voice 'the truth is, I think I'll go clear out of my mind if I go like this. It's all about Hilly, sir. You won't speak about it to Shail, but I seem to be forgetting how Hilly looks. I can't go to sleep o' nights for try In' to make a picture of him in my mind, and it's gettin harder an' harder. I le'sonly been gone twelve days, last night I couldn't seem to remember anything but his hair. You see, I must be golu' out of my mind. Hut If I had a pieiure! Oh, sir, let Shail take a tele graph an get the the whatever it is. "She left the foot of the bed r.nd came to the side. I looked up at the poor face and didn't hesitate long. 'Cet me some paper and a pencil,' I said. "Shall was dispatched with the 'tele graph.' and the next afternoon a packet came from the Eastman Company. "My foot was very painful. Mrs. Shail begged me not to stand on it. "Til get you everything you want, she said. " -Well, where Is the kodak?' I looked about as I undid Eastman's package. " 'Oh. it's in my room, she said, looking a little guilty; and she hurried out. "I hope it hasn't Lkvmi tampered with. I. observed, when so. came back again. 'No. indeed, she said; but she Unshed under my glance, 'it's only been set tin' on my chest of drawers, where I could see it plain. "Hut I mistrusted her. I dare say I showed it, too, for she hesitated an instant, and said, slowjy, in a Mundering kind of, way: 'You can't think, sir, whit a comfort it was for -no to lie and look at it. I kep' thinking my Hilly's In there. Maybe he's looking out now, through that little round winder! Shail said no, and told me bow it was; but. anyhow, it don't inaiter so much now if I do get mazed, and ivui't remember his picture's safe in that lit tle box. Seems queer, too. I've had such a lot of pictures of Hilly in my head, an' I can't keep one clear; an' that little eye In the box never forgets him never forgets him like hii own mother does. Thompson cleared his throat. "I asked her if she had a lamp with a red shade. 'Yes, sir,' she said, aid started for the door. " 'And bring in a couple of shallow dishes, pudding or vegetable dishes,' I said, 'and a pair of scissors.' "I examined the kodak, but couldn't detect anything amiss. Still, I was full of foreboding. The presentiment that something had happened to the particular picture I wanted became almost a conviction. "At my direction the wooden shutters were closed and a pair of blankets nnd an eiderdown quilt were put over the window. The small, red-shaded lamp gave out a dim glow. Ou a table by my side were the dishes and the bath of developer. " 'Now, you can go, Mrs. Shail,' I said. 'I'll call you when I'm ready.' " 'Go, sir?' " 'Yes. I won't be very long. "'Oh, you mustn't send me away, sir,' she said. 'Let me stay an I'll help you. I can't go away an' wait; She began to so!). "I wished to tho Lord I was out of It. Hut I thought, 'If tho picture turns out right, after all!' Well, I began to feel more hopeful. "The light was put behind tho bed. and I opened the kodak, and tock out the roll of film. ''Where is it?' said the woman in a whisper, peering forward in the dark. "I think it's the third on this reel,' I sad. 'dive me the scissors.' She fumbled about on the table. 'Here!' she said. The word was hoarse. and spoken with difficulty. The sound of her voice made me nervous. What an idiot I had been not to send her out! "I unrolled the film and cut through the puuetured lines. 'Where is tho picture V said tho voice across tho table. I was conscious she was peering into the empty kodak case. " 'I hope it's there,' I said, miserably, my presentiment coming back. " 'Where?' " 'On this piece of paper. I mechanically laid down tho third exposure and returned the reel to the case. "The woman came nearer. " 'Please, sir, turn it over,' she said. 44 'What?' I asked, 44 The paper.' "'This, do you mean?' I picked up the scrap of film. "'It Isn't there! It isn't there!' Tho woman staggered back in the darkness. " 'Walt I said. 'We can't bo certain for a few minutes. Don't go out. The door musn't be opened.' Hut I was almost glad that she was prepared now for the worst. I was as certain as if I had seen It that Hilly's picture would bo a failure. "Mrs. Shail was crying hoarsely In the corner. What a fool I'd been to say anything about that snap-snot! I poured the developer into a dish nnd submerged the Ulm. I washed the liquid back and forth. " 'Please bring tho light nearer, I said, presently. Mrs. Shall got up and set the lamp on the edge of the table. I help up the film. "That one's turned dark,' said the woman, hopelessly. I knocked down the scissors with my elbow. She came round, fumbled on the floor and picked them up. I returned the film to tho bath, with a sense of Infinite thankfulness and relief. Hilly's picture was coming up all right! As I washed the stuff back and forth I could see his white-thorn w hip coming out black and distinct, and above it!'Mrs. Shall had laid down the scissors and was looking over my shoulder. " That one's something like this house she said, drearily.

"'Look here! I cried, holding tha dish nearer the lamp. 'What do you see there in front?' "She leaned over the table and stared Into the dish. " 'Yes. I see a fence and a shrubbery, an' a gate, an' a wide collar, an' a face, an' Oh, Lord! Oh. Lord-it's my Hilly swingiu' on the gate!' " Thomson broke off at this point in his story and began to walk up and down the room. "They send me a hamper full of flowers every year, on the anniversary of the day I saw Hilly swinging on the gate. I havrn't seen them since one day in that same year, when I went to take Mrs. Shail an enlarged photograph of my snap-shot. It came out splendidly!" Thomson said, with professional pride. "Best child's photo I ever saw; the pretty background, the branch of whitethorn hanging over the gate, the uplifted face, intent smiling 'just as If ho heard his mother callin him, said Mrs. Shail. '"No; it was the angels. said the woman, very low." Pall Mall Cazette.

The Marriageable Age. In many ways the girls of IS are more tit to marry than they were in our grandmother's time, and yet observation tells us without question that the age at wbleh girls marry now is advanced by several years beyond that of one hundred years ago. The early marriages of the past have been of no benefit to the present race, and we are showing wisdom in our generation in setting the clock of time back a few years. I'or one thing only are early marriages desirable, and even this result does not always accrue by any means. We mean the possibility of the couple growing more closely together in tastes and fancies if these are matured after marriage. It Is not considered desirable than the woman should be the elder of the parties to the contract. Hut even this objection is being lessened as years go by, for the woman' of -10 now is no older than the woman of "5 was fifty years ago. Nevertheless it is well that thero should be the advantage of age upon the husband's side. If a man does not marry until after he is U3 it is better that there should be a decided disparity of age between them, as he will be so set in his ways that the wife will be obliged to yield deference to his wishes at every point. A woman who is also set in her ways will not be likely to do this. When there is a very great disparity in the ages, as is seen quite frequently, the wonder is that the young girls can be party to such contracts, though it is very wise for tho man when he at GO marries a girl of L'O. A woman of suitable age wouldn't put up with his almost certain crankiness. Philadelphia Call. Aibitration a Short Cut to Justice. The traveler on the liiviera w ho rambles over tho picturesque promontory of Monaco that puny principality of less than six square miles, with a military band of 3Ö0 musicians and a standing army of ninety men is struck with the ludicrousnoss of finding on its ram parts a lot of Spanish cannon of a past age. bearing tho inscription, Ultima ratio regum "The last argument of kings." To a man of reflection the sentiment seems as antiquated ns tho brass on which it is engraved. Not that war is a practical impossibility; even as we write the world seems to be torn anew with wars or rumors of war.. Tho impossibility lies rather in the revolt of the mind against the retrogression In civilization which is implied by war, when there is at hand so potent, so tried, and so honorable a substitute as arbitration. With this short cut to justice In mind, it is inconceivable to a civilized man that the laborious achievements of generations of peaeo should be given to the torch in ono mad hour through the revival or the barbarous instincts of fighting. -Century. They Did Not Believe It. A Trusslan otlicer in the conquered province of Alsace one day visited a chapel in the outskirts of a town. Among tho offerings of tho devout peasantry he perceived a silver mouse, which so excited his curiosity that he asked an explanation of one of the natives. "Tho story is," said the Alsatian, "that an entire quarter of tho town was Infested with an army of mice which were a veritable plague. At last a devout lady Caused a silver mouse to be made, and offered it to the Virgin. Shortly afterward every mouse disappeared." The officer burst out laughing. "What!" said he, rudely, "Is It possible the people of this country aro so stupid as to believe such things?" "Oh, no!" quietly replied the Alsatian; ' for If we did, we should long ago have offered the Virgin a silver Prussian." Where Our Duty Lies. If we do not wring our happiness out of the fair, peaceful, humble duties of the present, however great its trials, we shall never find It in the weakened forces, in the darkened rays of the future. Our duty lies, not In regrets, not In resolutions, but in thoughts followed by resolves and resolves carried out in actions. Our life lies not In retrospect of a vanished past, not In hopes of an ambitious future; our life Is here, today; In our prayers, In our beliefs, In our dally, hourly conduct. No ltoont in tho Senate. A Western man has a belief that he can settlo the financial question, and his friends are trying to get him Into an insane asylum, as thero arc, no vacancies In the United States Senate at present. Philadelphia Ledger. Most of the "emeralds" girls' wear look more like a piece of glass from a beer bottl. . ..

DUMAS, FATHER AND SON. The Latter Was Made Legitimate When His Mother 'Watt Dying. Dumas does not seem at any time to have thought seriously of matrimony. Perhaps, had the Itouennaise seamstress been free to marry him, his relations with her would have ieeu legalized, and the current of his life would have run in a less zigzag channel. She was a person of rare constancy of purpose and dignity of character, living always by her work, and earefully watching over her son. When she and Dumas quarreled, the filiation of the younger Alexandre was "re-ogni;:ed" by the elder, a legal formality which gave him paternal rights and eneb'.vl the father to take him from his met her and place him as a boarder in tue College Chaptal. Hut as the father's anger was evanescent and his heart soft ami righteous, the maternal claims v.'i? not long denied. The woman 'irg'-ig them sought and obtained, to be ne-ir her child, the direction of the linen and the shirt-mending department in the college, and not only lived on her salary, but made provision to help her son forward when be grew up, and for her own old age.

The son cherished her in her jife and revered her memory. As he married a Russian lady of high rank, his mother would not live with him when he was rich and renowned until sho f it she was dying. This was in 1S'iS. The prodigal father, who hardly deserved the name of Dumas pere. was then broken in health and falling into the state of permanent somnolency which took bold of him before bis death. His daughter. Mine. Pet el. wilh impulsive generosity, asked him to make her halfbrother legitimate by marrying bis mother in extremis, and this he did. Century. 'The Old Man." Were I the head of a large concern, ; or the responsible executive ollicer of a great corporation, whether my age were 1'7 or 7-, I should want all of my employes or subordinates to call me "The Old Man." Not, of course, to my face, or when they were addressing me, but among themselves, or when they spoke of me their friends. "His Majesty," 'His Koy.nl Highness." -His Excellency," and the like, all indicate that the persons to whom they are applied possess power; but in this commercially democratic age and country, the one appellation of undisputed autocracy is "The Old Man." Applied to the bead of a concern, it frequently indicates love, generally respect, and always complete submission to authority. It is as free from any suggestion of age as is reverend." It is never given when there is a question of authority, or a smoldering rebellion against it. When "The Old Man" says a thing, that settles it; there are no questions to be asked; there is no comment to be i.iade. When "The Old Man" does something, or fails to do something, there is no criticism to be indulged in. The Old man" is the one person about theestablishment w hois absolutely his own master; whose coming in and going out are unhampered; whose encouraging word carries real weight, jnd whoso reprimand iudicales real danger; To w'hom "sir" is a right and not a courtesy. Long live -The Old Man!" And when, through his half closed private oltice door, be bears the boys term him thus kindly, let him congratulate himself that loyalty is in his service and that he has attained the acme of dignity. Truth. Literature and Pedagogy. There are really only two thing the successful teacher needs to haveknowledge of his subject-matter and knowledge of his pupils. The lirst of these can be gained only by study, tho second only by experience. The man who has never been a real child himself cannot effectively tench children; nnd he who does not know by experience the warm-hearted, exuberant ;;abty of school and college boys cannot successfully teach them. Furthermore, the teacher who spends more time on the method of teaching literature than on literature itself is sure to come to grief. Oreatest of all forces is the personality of the instructor; nothing in the teaching is so effective as this; nothing Is so instantly recognized and responded to by pupils; and nothing is more neglected by those who insist that teaching is a science rather than an art. After bearing a convention of very serious pedagogues discuss cducalional methods, in which they use all sons of technical phraseology, one feels like applying Oladst one's cablegram. -Only common sense re. quired."-The Century. Told by tho Hotel Clerk. Nearly every one now knows how the incandescent lamp is operated, but still we meet with some funny instances of Ignorance. Not long ago a woman came to the house who was in the habit of sleeping with a dim light in her room, and the elect rie light lathered her. She cither had to let it burn brightly, or else turn It off altogether. Finally she hit upon the Idea of wrapping a towel around it. Then she began to question whether the towel would catch fire. Then she adopted the happy expedient of wetting the towel. That was the worst thing that she could do. She soon dropped asleep and of course the towel began to burn. A blazing piece dropped ou the curtains, and soon the whole room was afire. She was very much frightened, and the contents of the chamber were ruined. The building Is tire-proof, so we escaped a conflagration. IMvers I'm In hard luck to-day. Cot in u crowd and some thief took 'my pocketlook. Hnxdvs Shake, old man! I've Just Immmi over to the court house paying a special assessment for a uew ewer. Chicago Tribune.

8KE pass?0E1DC7J P-U.LA PALM Fit would laugh If I any one railed her a heroine. "Why." she said in telling her sL'jry. -I had to do ii and I was awfully frightened." Put that's just the way with peopb who do really brave acts often they don't seem to know tlsat they are heroes. Ella lives on a little farm in Wisconsin. Her father bought the place only last summer, and took his family there to make a home. Everything was :: good repair except the well back of t'e woodshed, which had for some reaso:i run dry. So for tie first month or two Fl la had to carry all th" water used in cooking from the Perkins house, across the road. Mr. Palmer kept saying th;U he'd have to -get after that well." an I Flla wished from tho bottom of her heart that he would. And one day h did. Shovels and spades and buckets were brought and i long rope was attached to the pulley tint squealed from lie top of the old well h'use. When everything was ready Mr. Palmer t ok lndd of the rop with his hands ami the hired man an I Mrs. Palmer and Fill let him slowly down between the mossy rurbings. Put Mr. Palmer didn't know that th well was already occupied. If he had he would never have gone down. For at the dry bottom linked the shidowv choke-damp waiting to strangle out his breath and smother him. Miners and well-diggers all know the choke-damp. It is a deadly gas that gathers in low places and a man who sinks into it so :: suffocates. Sometimes it explodes, blowing a mine to pieces and killing many persons. It is the terror of the mines. Mr. Palmer didn't know about th-choke-damp until it had clapped its damp hand over his mouth. And when he tried to shout his throat only gurgled. Then his lingers loosened, slipped a ml down he went to the bottom in a heap. When the rope slackened Pete, ihe hired man. and Mrs. Palmer and Flla looked down and called. Put there was no answer. Then Pete sniffed and said something to Mrs. Palme that made her throw up her bauds and cr out loud. "Can't papa get out';" asked Flla with big eyes for she didn't know the way of the choke-damp. The girl's ruddy face grew white and she peered down into the well. -No," answered Pete. -I'm going down after him," she said. And all they could do would not prevent her. So Peter tied the rope around her slim waist and gave her another rope to take with her. "Hol yer breath an be quick," ha called, as Flla disappeared. Down, down she went until she could feel the "terror of the mines" at her throat. Thon she shut her mouth tight, kneeled at her father's side and tied the rope about his body. And when it was done she hardly had the strength to give the signal to brave away. Then Pete and Mrs. Painter pulled for tliei;lives and a limp and unconscious little girl was swung to the top. Without waiting to revive her they pulled on the other rope and orought Mr. Palmer up. Flla soon opened her eyes, but it was a long time afier the doctor came an I Mrs. Palmer was almost hopeless that Mr. Palmer opened his. And when thneighKors came and crowded around tearful Flla and called her a brave giri. and when Mr. Palmer patter her on her head and tailed her his little heri:ie. Flla only said: ! -Why. I had t do it, and I v:h awfully frightened." And to this day I don't believe Fill knows that she is a heroine. A (Quaint Scotch Character. The following example of a pliil -sophic Scotch character is related in the Scottish-American. The season had been an exceptionally bad one for farmers, but in a country church, not a hundred miles from Arbroath, the otlice-bearers had resolved, according to custom, to hold the annual harvest thanksgiving service. It was noticed that on that particular Sunday Mr. Johnstone, a regular attendant and a pillar of the church (whose crops had turned out very poorly, was no: in attendance. The minister in tho course of the following week met Mr. Johnstone, and Inquired of him the reason for his absence from church ou such an important occasion. -Weel. sir," replied Mr. Johnstone, "I didna care aboot approaehln my Maker In a speerit o' sarcasm." Hogers Was Democratic Professor Jo wet t once made a remark which very happily indicates one of the strongest characteristics of the late William Rogers: "You always know when Hogers arrives, because as soon ns he reaches the gate he begins to talk to your gardener, and when he reaches the door he makes friends with your servant in the hall." "My boy," said the passenger with the fur lined coat ami the smooMi-sha. veu, square face, "it was the success of the season. There wasn't standing room!" The conductor smiled a som smile. 'Zif 1 didn't have the same ex. perlenee every day," said he to the m torman. Cincinnati Enquirer. -My good fellow," ald the dude to the hatter, "how's trade?" -There's jeally nothing in hats now a days," replied the hatter, trying one on the head of the dude. Youkers Statesman.

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