The Syracuse Journal, Volume 4, Number 39, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 25 January 1912 — Page 7

I STORY J | No Man s | ■=3 Land Er A ROMANCE By Louis Joseph Vance Illustrations by Ray Walters (Copyright, 1910, by Louis Joseph Vance.) SYNOPSIS. Garrett Coast, a younp man of NewYork City, meets Douglas Blackstock, who Invites him to a card party. He accepts, although he dislikes Blackstock, the reason being that both are In love with Katherine TKaxter. CHAPTER I (Continued.) He felt her eyes upon him, seriously sweet and questioning, and ' frowned slightly, wishing he had held his tongue, though aware that he could not have, caring the way he did. “Why not tell me? I’m waiting, Garrett.” “Well. . . .” It was difficult: an impertinence; incredible, besides. But now that he had committed himself, he stiffened a resolve and plunged. “It was said that your engagement to this man Blackstock would be announced before long.” That out bluntly, he caught a long areath and, divided between fear and faith, sat watching her. The seconds of her silence spun for him an hour of anguish. “Katherine . . .” She turned. “Yes?" “Have you nothing to say?” he isked involuntarily, and at once regretted it. “What do you wish me to say?” Her tone was dull, as if she spoke mechanically, with a mind detached. “Either affirm or deny. You owe me that, at least.” “Do I?” She seemed surprised. "But what," she pursued, rousing, "does this man Blackstock' —” “You know I don’t like him, Katherine. I can’t.” “But I can and do, Garrett.” There was simplicity in that, almost ooufes&tonal. His tears assailed him more Imperiously. “Then it’s true? Don’t’tell me that!” “What does Mr. Blackstock say?” “I haven’t interviewed him, of course. I seemed too absurd —” “Why?” The only report he had at command was pitifully inadequate: “Because I love you.” “Is that any reason why Mr. Blackitock should not?” ■, ‘ “There are reasons -why you ihouldn’t let your name be coupled with his.” “And they are—?” She put it crisply. His heart sank, foreseeing defeat. He veered at a tangent, evasive. “You haven’t answered me. Is there any truth in this rumor?” “Not yet.” “You mean it may be true —later?" “It’s possible.” she affirmed quietly. “Mr. Blackstock has asked me to marry him; he hasn’t as yet had my answer.” “Katherine! . . . You can’t really—care for him?” “I’m trying to be sure, Garrett, before I tell him so—or you.” “But—but you mustn’t! . . . The thing’s impossible. . . . You—” “You’ll tell me why?” Her composure was sobering. He got himself more in hand: she was not to be moved by storming, he knew. Reason, logic, an appeal to her Intelligence: she would require these of him. Yet when put to it he could not bring himself to tell what he knew of the man by hearsay, if very credibly. Personal defects, lack of breeding, and the like were all unstable objections. ... In the end the best he could do, since some sort of an answer was essential, was to frame a halting, inconclusive: “He’s not the sort ” She misinterpreted his confusion. “I know what you’re thinking: that he’s not a spoke in our particular social wheel; an outsider. Must I condemn him for that? Are there no right men, Garrett, but yourself and others of our ‘set?’ I know he has his lacks; I fancy you’d call him crude, if you were eandid with me. But men of his genius, his upbringing . . . Not that I concede any crudity in him; it’s hardly that: he merely lacks —something—difficult to name it; not cultivation, not sensibility, but, I’d say, friends.” “He has many. . . .” So she cared enough to fight for him! There was bitterness, surpassing the bitterness of aloes, in that discovery. “I mean the right kind, yourself, for Instance; friends to bring him out. He’s quick, adaptable, of a good fami-ly-—if not a wealthy one.” Coast fell back upon the one mentionable objection of which he had certain knowledge. “He’s got a villainous temper.” “Friends would teach him to control it And there are excuses for that: his sight— hia eyes are in a bad way. Ue injured them seriously, somehow,

in his work—something about the spark, I believe.” “Those wireless experiments of his?” “Yes. He’s going to do great things, Garrett.” • “Late in the field.” “He leads it today; they all look to him. His inventions, discoveries, improvements, will make wireUss as every-day a thing as the telephone. ... I don’t mean he couldn’t win without friends: he’s strong enough . “Men have little use for him, Katherine.” “Women have.” Coast strangled temptation. . . . “He has magnetism.” “That and strength, ambition, enthusiasm. He’s worth belt g a friend to. I want you to know him better, to like him, Garrett.” After a little he managed to say: "I’ll try, if you wish.” “I do wish. Please, Garrett.” “Then I’m to understand you seriously contemplate marrying him?” Her “Yes!” was absolute. ‘ “Don’t you see” —he hated himself for this —he’s after your money, Katherine?” “Garrett, that is unw’orthy of you.” He said nothing, doggedly taking what comfort he might from the knowledge that he was right. Gradually he comprehended that in the course of their conversation the car had left Fifth Avenue at the Plaza and was crossing Central Park at the Seventy-second Street entrance. “We’re near the gate,” he said abruptly. “If you’ll drop me there, please— ’’ “Certainly. Tell Patrick." Coast groped for the speaking tube and communicated with the driver. When he sat back he was conscious of the woman’s softening regard. “You’re not angry, Katherine?” “No, Garrett; but I’m very, very sorry” "If I’ve seemed presumptuous—” “To me, Garrett? Can you remem-

I f l- 1 - ■ \ W 4! 1 W z uW 'Sil 1I ■ ■ “Brains, Rather,” Observed Van Tuyl Blandly. 1

ber the time when we were not — friends?” “No. ... I want you to understand that it wasn’t altogether because I want you myself—need you, because I love you—as you know — have loved you for years. ... It was jealousy of your happiness. I said nothing that I didn’t believe." “I know. But you were—are mistaken. You’ll come to understand.” “I don’t want you to make a mistake. Wait, Katherine, wait a little before deciding. I’m sure of your heart: it won’t misguide you.” “I believe not I know my heart and mind.” ’ “You know mine,” he said gently, and no more. That stabbed her; , she winced, wondering why. But the personality of Douglas Blackstock stood forth so largely, limned in such vivid coloring, In the foreground of her consciousness, that there was left little room, even for old friends such as Garrett Coast. Afoot, Coast lingered at the door, keen eyes searching hers almost plaintively. “I’ll drop in for tea tomorrow, if you ask me, Katherine.” “Have you ever needed ■an invitation, Garrett?” “Then I’ll come.” He nodded to the driver and the car swept away. Long after it had shot out of sight, he stood staring. Then discovering himself bareheaded, hat and stick in hand, an object of amused regard, with a curt laugh of confusion and awakened self-consciousness, be turned back through the park. CHAPTER 11. Resigning with little reluctance his place at the card table to Dundas, whose turn it was tn cut in. Coast

lighted a cigarette and wanderer round the dining-room of Blackstock’s apartment, idly Inspecting the kali dozen hunting-prints that adorned the green burlap walls. Unspeakably bored, he went to the buffet, where he poured a very little Scotch into a tall glass, drowning it with icy charged water. He had refused to drink up to that moment, and was thirsty, but as he sat sipping and watching the players, Van Tuyi’s unnatural pallor, moist hair and fixed smile affected him with a faint disgust, and he put the glass aside, not . half-emptied. His brows knitted in ! his concern for the man, who had ; been drinking heavily and would pursue that madness until satiated or sodden: no influence that Coast knew of would restrain him; he was as unmanageable as a wild horse, and as spirited. Slender, graceful, high lord of Devil-may-Care, Van Tuyl sober was inimitable, more loved than feared in spite of, perhaps because of, the wit he wielded like a whip-lash. Excesses fanned that brilliancy to a i burning frenzy; at such times he knew no friends, and those who knew him avoided him; his wits, submerged, frothed With a satiric humor that etched as indelibly as an acid when he did not lay on with a bludgeon of vituperation. ... A dangerous foll to Blackstock, Coast thought, comparing them, wondering that they were so much together. Contrasting them he thought: fire and tow, rapier and broadsword! Blackstock was the broadsword of that comparison, heavy and cumbersome if capable. Without an effort he dominated the others. Van Tuyl always excepted; the sheer weight of Blackstock’s personality forced them into the background. Little Dundas, with his deferential smile, delicately pink face and permanently rounded shoulders, seemed the veriest shadow of a man: Blackstock’s shadow he had apparently constituted himself. Truax, round of face and blandly prac-

tical. if unquestionably independent, was only less dwarfed by his host. “A good bridger”—Blackstock in the current slang: giving himself wholly to the game, playing to win, “wolfing the tricks,” Van Tuyl told him. The comment brought a darkish smile to the man’s face. “What d’you want me to do with ’em?” he growled semi-humordusly, flipping a card from his hand and as swiftly making his play from dummy. “Make you a present of ’em? . , . Play to that, now; come through with that ten-spot.” He chuckled as he gathered ih the trick * and led the final card from dummy. “That’ll teach you to double my original make, I guess. . . . Game and rubber, Dunny: six without, doubled, and a little slam. Got that down?” “Yes,” replied Dundas, grinning , feebly as he jotted down the score. “Tough luck, partner,” Truax observed to Van Tuyl. “You couldn’t help doubling on your hand, of course, and equally of course I had to be chicane in hearts.” “Brains, rather,”* observed. Van Tuyl blandly, shuffling. (TO DE CONTINUED.) Different. “Why, a year ago you told me this place was easily worth $15,000. Now you estimate ite value at less than $10,000.” "You must remember that I was trying to sell it to you then. Now you want me to sell It for you.” Foreign Health Resorts. t According to the latest statistics about $40,045,000 Is expended each year by visitors from foreign countries who take the “cure” at the natural mineral spring resorts in western Bohemia, along the Erzgebirge (Ore mountains).

GEIS Sin ROCK State of Illinois Buys Historic Tract for $46,000. People Gain Possession of the Picturesque Site on Illinois River Where the Indians Made Their Last Stand. Ottawa, Ill.—Starved Rock passed : | Into the hands of the state of Illinois j recently, when negotiations were con- : eluded between the Illinois park commission and Ferdinand Walther of ; Chicago, who? has owned the property I for the past 22 years. The papers j signed and exchanged show that the . state paid the sum of $46,000 for the 290-acre tract, which it is expected will prove to be the nucleus of one of the finest state parks in the country. The new state park preserve lies ten miles west of Ottawa on the south side of the Illinois river, and in addition to Starved Rock proper consists of precipitous cliffs, canyons and glens which rival many of America’s most famous scenic wonders. No spot in Illinois is richer in history or legend than Starved Rock, which was visited by the early French missionary explorers and was also the scene of numerous bloody conflicts between Indian tribes. Upon its lofty summit the Illinois warriors made their last stand and after being starved were finally exterminated by their enemies. The. fight for the acquirement of Starved Rock by the state for park purposes may be said to date back to the forty-sixth general assembly, although there was considerable previous agitation in favor of the movement. At that session of the legislature an act was passed authorizing the appointment of a commission to investigate and report on the preservation of certain lands for public parks, and an appropriation of SI,OOO made to pay the expenses of the commission. The members of the commission - which closed the deal are Prof. J. A. I James of Evanston, A. Richards of Ot- . tawa and the Rev. D. L. Crowe of Kei wanee. The boundaries of the park district, • Including 1,155 acres, were laid out i by Mr. Richards, secretary of the com- ' mission. This tract has a frontage of five miles along the river, extending from the Utica bridge to the South Ottawa township line, including Fishburn’s cave and Salt Well. The balance of this property is owned by about twenty people and options have been secured on practically all of It. No provision or appropriation has been made for the employment of help at Starved Rock or for the maintenance or improvement of the property. . HAVE COURSE IN MATRIMONY High School Girls Taught Courtship, Mothercraft, and Domestic Science In Los Angeles, Cal. Los Angeles, Cal. —A course of matrimony has been included in the curriculum of the Gardens Agricultural High school here. Five classes of girls are daily taking advantage of instruction in courtship, matrimony, the care of babies, mothercraft and domestic science. It is planned that boys in Los Angeles shall be permitted to take the course next year, but some doubt is expressed about the need of this. It is argued that “the female of the species” will be so adept in the matter of courtship and marriage by the end of the year that she will have little difficulty In Imparting her knowledge to the less deadly male. The girls are taught how to deport themselves during courtship, and jnstructed in household management, home dietetics, housekeeping aocounts, dressmaking, millinery, and even in such practical matters as how plumbers are supposed to do their work and how much they should be paid. Kissed Lad Dead of Rabies. Brighton, Mich. — Mr. and Mrs. James Avis, their two sons and two daughters knelt by the bedside of their son and brother, James Jr., and kissed him goodby. A post mortem proved that the youth died of rabies and now the family of six are patients at an Ann Arbor Institute.

LEISURE PROVIDED FOR. ■ O jwlMi 7 I M fit SwI “ ‘Marry in haste and repent at leisure,’ you knowA’ “Yes; but/my fiancee is rich enough, so I’ll have the leisure all right.” Ingredients of Life. The ingredients of health and long life are great temperance, open air, ■ easy' labor and little care.—Philip Sidney.

A Hold-Up An Oppressive Trust. . Before the Coffee Roasters’ Association, in session at Chicago on Thursday, Thomas J. Webb, jZ of Chicago, charged that there is in existence coffee combine which is “the most monstrous im- , position in the history of human commerce.” < f . • There is very slight exaggeration about this statement. It comes very close to being literally true. There is a coffee combine in Brazil, from ' which country comes the bulk of the coffee used I in the United States, which is backed by the gov- r -— emment of Brazil and financed by it, which com-^^*' 1 ’ . pels American consumers, as Mr. Webb said, “to * pay famine prices for coffee when no famine * exists.” JtZ' The worst thing about this is that the consumefs of the United States have been compelled to ZT put up the money through which this combine, to further cinch them, has been made effective. J There were formerly revenue duties imposed upon all coffee entering the United States. Those taxes ? were denounced as an imposition upon the people; as taxing the poor man’s breakfast table, and the like. The taxes were removed. Immediately thereafter Brazil imposed an export duty - ( coffee up to the full amount of "the former customs taxes in this country. The revenue which formerly went into the treasury of the United States A ~ i *a. was diverted to the treasury of Brazil. The poor man’s breakfast coffee continued to cost him the same old price. / ' But this was only the commencement. The / “valorization” plan was evolved in Brazil. / C Through this plan the government, using the rev- / V j • for the nr-. / Standard statistics of the coffee trade enues derived from tne export duties for the pu . B how.a falling off in sales during the last poses, takes all of the surplus crop in a season of f two y ears o f over ( W o hundred million large yields and holds it off the market, thus pounds. Authenticated reports from the keening the supply down to the demands of the Postum factories in this city show a market and permitting the planters to receive a of ° f POStUm much higher price than they would otherwise whi{e * the saleg ? of p os t um invariably have done. show marked increase year over year, the The United States consumes more Brazilian cos- extraordinary demand for that welltee ttandoes the rest of the world. We are the best custo<ners of Brazil, and Brazil buys little / oppression of the coffee trust. from us. Now Brazil is promoting, financing and / Such an awakening naturally disposes maintaining a trust designed, and working effect- I the multitude who suffer from the ill ively for the purpoee. U compel jjg.- « be mom sumers to pay an exorbitant pnee for the cottee often conies as a result of the use of they use. What is the remedy?— Seattle Port-In*- drug-beverage, coffee. — Battit CreA itUigeneer—Nw. 19,1911. Evening News—Dec. 19,1911. POSTUM is a pure food-drinK made of the field grains, with a pleasing flavour not unliKe high grade Java. A Big' Packag'e About H lbs. Costs 25 cts. At Grocers E,conomy to one’s purse is not the main reason for using Postum. It is absolutely free from any harmful substance, such as “caffeine” (the drug in coffee), to which so much of the nervousness, biliousness and indigestion of today are due. Thousands of fomier coffee - drinKers now use Postum because they Know from experience the harm that coffee drinKing causes. Boil it according to directions (that’s easy) and it will become clear to you why— I “There’s a Reason” IJr M - -—...

A Golf Story. There’s another story of a man who rang the bell at the gates of Paradise and asked Peter if he might go through. “What were you on earth?” asked the saint. ‘ ■ - “Well,” was the response, “during the latter part of my life I didn’t do much but play golf.” ‘*Got a golf ball on you?” “Yes; here’s a ‘Chancellor.” St. Peter took it and threw it over his shoulder, wkere it rolled away. For a minute or more he looked critically at the applicant, then shut the gate in his face and locked it. “What’s the game?” said the man. “You are no real golfer,” said St. Peter. “You don’t even know the first rule of golf—to keep your eye on the bail and follow through.” A Good Turn. George Ade, with the gentle cynicism of the confirmed bachelor, was talking in New York about New Year resolutions. "Every wife,” hetsaid, “loves to see her husband turn over for her sake a new leaf —in his check-book.” The trouble with a good bit of reform is that it is badly in need of reforming.

BACK YARD COMMUNING 3. llwwli 'f v| 1 Qy The Dog—ls this a free concert? The Cat (pausing in his contented monologue)—No, I get so much pur. Man and Meter Both Unique. A Kansas City man notified the gas company that his meter was running slow. Greater honesty hatfi no man than this.