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R ISSUEO SEMI-WEEKIX^ ^ l. m. grist's sons, Publisher., j A #amil|} gemspaper: Jfor (he (promotion of (he political. Social. Agricultural and (Bontmetcial Interests of the people. {* ESTABLISHED 1855. ' YORK VILLTC, S. C. TUE8DAY. JULY li2~if)'ia NO. 55. I When a M $ By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART * I jg Copyright 1909? J ?$ +***+ ?*? ?*?* CHAPTER X. On the Stairs. I was roused by some one walking across the roof, the cracking of tin under feet, and a comfortable and companionable odor of tobacco. I moved a very little, and then I saw that it was a man?the height and erectness told me which man. And just at that instant he saw me. "Good Lord!" he qjacplated, and throwing his cigar away he came across quickly. Why, Mrs. Wilson, what in the world are you doing here? I thought?they said?" "That I was sulking again?" I finished disagreeably. "Perhaps I am. In fact, I'm quite sure of it." "You are not," he said severely. "You have been asleep in a February night, in the open air, with less clothing on than I wear in the tropics." I had got up by this time, refusing his help, and because my feet were numb, I sat down on the parapet for a moment. Oh, I knew what I looked like?one of those "Valley-of-the-NileAfter-a-Flood" pictures. "There is one thing about you that is comforting," I sniffed. "You said precisely the same thing to me at three o'clock this morning. You never startle me by saying anything unexpected." He took a step toward me, and even in the dusk I could see that he wag looking down at me oddly. All my bravado faded away and there was a queerish ringing in my ears. "I would like to!" he said tensely. "I would like, this minute?I'm a fool. Mrs. Wilson," he finished miserably. "I ought to be drawn and quartered, but when I see you like this I?I get crazy. If you say the word, I'll?I'll go down and?" He clenched his fist. It was reprehensible, of course; he saw that in an instant, for he shut his teeth over something that sounded very fierce, and strode away from me, to stand looking out over the river, with his hands thrust in his pockets. Of course the thing I should have done was to ignore what he had said altogether, but he was so uncomfortable, so chastened, that, feline, feminine, whatever the instinct is, I could not let him eo. T had been so wretched my aelf. "What Is it you would like to say?" 1 called over to him. He did not speak. "Would you tell me that I am a silly child for pouting:?" No reply: he struck a match. "Or would you preach a nice little sermon about people? about women?loving their husbands?" He gTunted savagely under his breath. "Be quite honest," I pursued relentlessly. "Say that we are a lot of barbarians, say that because my?because Jimmy treats me outrageously?oh, he does; any one can see that?and because I loathe him?and any one can tell that?why don't you say you are shocked to the depths?" I was a little shocked -nyself by that time, but I couldn't siop, having started. He came over to me, white-faced and towering, and he had the audacity to grip my arm and stand me on my feet, like a bad child?which I was, I dare say. "Don't!" he said in a husky, very pained voice. "You are only talking; you don't mean it. It isn't you. You know you care, or else why are you crying up here? And don't do it again, it o era ln fir I will " "You will?what?" "Make a fool of myself, as I have now," he finished grimly. And then he stalked away and left me there alone, completely bewildered, to find my way down in the dark. I groped along, holding to the rail, for the staircase to the roof was very steep, and I went slowly. Half-way down the stairs there was a tiny landing, and I stopped. I could have sworn I heard Mr. Harbison's footstep far bejow, growing fainter. I even smiled a little, there in the dark, although I had been rather profoundly shaken. The next instant 1 knew I had been wrong; some one was on the landing with me. I could hear short, sharp breathing, and then? I am not sure that I struggled; in fact, 1 don't believe I did?I was too limp with amazement. The creature, to have lain in wait for me like that! And he was brutally strong; he caught me to him fiercely, and held me there, close, and he kissed me?not once or twice, but half a dozen times, long kisses that filled me with hot shame for him, for myself, that I had?liked him. The roughness of his coat bruised my cheek: I loathed him. And then some one came whistling along the hall below, and he pushed me from him and stood listening, breathing in long, gasping breaths. I ran: when my shaky knees would hold me, I ran. I wanted to hide my face, my disgust, my disillusion; 1 wanted to put my head in mother's lap and cry; I wanted to die, or be ill so I need never see him again. Perversely enough, I did none of those things. With my face still' darning with burning eyes and hands that shook, I made a belated evening toilet and went slowly, haughtily, down tht stairs. My hands were like ice, but I was consumed with rage. Oh, 1 would show him?that this was New York, not Iquique; that the roof was nut his Andean tableland. Every one elaborately ignored my absence from dinner. The Dallas Browns, Max and Lollie were at bridge; Jim was alone in the den, walking the floor and biting at an unlighted cigar; Betty had returned t?i Aunt Selina and was hysterical, they i.'i<>i,I,iir:iit was in deen de jection because I had missed my dinner. "Betty is making no end of a row,' Max said, looking up from his game "because the old lady up-stairs insists on chloroform liniment. Betty says the smell makes her ill." "And she can inhale Russian cigarettes," Anne said enviously, "and gasolene fumes, without turning a hair ***** A +?H"?+ A ***** A +** Ujv Marries i f } Author of <| |A "The Circular Staircase" and j ^ "The Man In Lower Ten" p ^ The Bobbs-Merrill Co. J a T *&*** ?*?* T *?* I call a revoke, Dal; you trumped spades on the second round." Dal flung over three tricks with very . had grace, and Anne counted them with maddening deliberation. "Game and rubber," she said. "Watch Dal. Max; he will cheat in the score if he can. Kit. don't have another clam while I am in this house. I have eaten so many lately my waist rises and fall with the tide.' "You have a stunning color. Kit," Lollie said. "You are really quite superb. Who made that gown?" "Where have you been hiding, de kleine?" Max whispered, under cover of showing me the evening paper, with a photograph of the house and a cross at the cellar window where we had "If ,ln,. ?? ? ii itu iv 11 vuc ua > in iiir house with you, Kit, puts me in this condition, what will a month do?" From beyond the curtain of a sort of alcove, lighted with a red-shaded lamp, came a hum of conversation, Bella's cool, even tones and a heavy masculine voice. They were laughing; I could feel my chin go up. He was not even hiding his shame. "Max." I asked, while the others clamored for him and the game, "has any one been up through the house since dinner? Any of the men?" He looked at me curiously. "Only Harbison," he replied promptly. "Jim has been eating his heart out in the den ever since dinner; Dal played the Sonata Apassionata backward on the pianola?he wanted to put through one of Anne's lingerie waists, on a wager that it would play a tune; I played craps with Lollie, and Flannigan has been washing dishes. Why?" Well, that was conclusive, anyhow. I had had a faint hope that it might have been a joke, although it had borne all the evidences of sincerity, certainly. But it was past doubting now; he had lain in wait for me at the landing, and had kissed me, me, when he thought I was Jimmy's wife. Oh, I must have been very light, very contemptible, if that was what he thought of me! I went into the library and got a book, but it was impossible to read, with Jimmy lying on the couch giving vent to something between a sigh and a groan every few minutes. About eleven the cards stopped, and Bella said she would read palms. She began with Mr. Harbison, because she declared he had a wonderful hand, full of possibilities; she said he should have been a great inventor or a playwright, and that his attitude to women was one of homage, respect, almost reverence. He had the courage to look at me, and if a glance could have killed he would have withered away. When Jimmy proffered his hand, she looked at it icily. Of course she could not refuse, with Mr. Harbison looking on. "Rather negative," she said coldly. "The lines are obscured by cushions of flesh; no heart line at all, mentality small, self-indulgence and irritability very marked." Jim held his palm up to the light and stared at it. "Gad!" he said. "Hardly safe for me to go around without gloves, is it?" It was all well enough for Jim to laugh, but he was horribly hurt. He stood around for a few minutes, talking to Anne, but as soon as he could he slid away and went to bed. He looked very badly the next morning, as though he had not slept, and his clothes quite hung on him. He was actually thinner. But that is ahead of the story. Max came to me while the others were sitting around drinking nightcaps, and asked me in a low tone, if he could see me in the den: he wanted to ask me something. Dal overheard. "Ask her here," he said. "We all know what it is. Max. Go ahead and we'll coach you." "Will you coach me?" I asked, for Mr. Harbison was listening. "The woman does not need it," Dal retorted: And then, because Max looked angry enough really to propose to me right there, 1 got up hastily and went into the den. Max followed, and closing the door, stood with his back against it. "Contrary to the general belief. Kit," he began, "I did not intend to ask you to marry me." I breathed easier. He took a couple of steps toward me and stood with his arms folded, looking down at me. "I'm not at all sure, in fact, that I shall ever propose to you," he went on ' unpleasantly. "You have already done it twice, You are not going to take those back, are you, Max?" I asked, looking up at 1 him. But Max was not to be cajoled. He came close and stood with his hand on the back of m.v chair. "What hap! |tened on the roof tonight?" he demanded hoarsely. "I do not think it would interest ? you," I retorted, coloring in spite ol . myself. "Not interest me! I am shut in this ' blasted house; I have to see the only . woman I ever loved?really loved," h* supplemented, as he caught my eye ; "pretend she is another man's wife ' Then I sit hack and watch her usinji ; every art?all her beauty?to make stil I another man love her, a man win thinks she is a married woman. 11 i Harbison were worth the trouble, ] would tell him the whole story, Aunl Selina be?obliterated!" i I sat up suddenly. "If Harbison were worth the trou, ble!" I repeated. What did he mean' Had he seen? ? "I mean just this," Max said slowly "There is only one unaccredited member of this household: only one person save Flannigan, who was locked in tin furnace-room, one person who was awake and around trie nouse wnei . Anne's jewels went, only one pcrsm 1 in the house, also, who would havt ? any motive for the theft." "Motive?" I asked dully. "Poverty." Max threw at me. "(>h, I mean comparative poverty, of course Who is this fellow, anyhow? Dal knew Joseph H. Choate : Disbarir Joseph H. Cboate, former president mer ambassador to England and one of charged with gross neglect In guarding t his client as to the result of litigation and falling to protect the client's prope from $600,000 to $1,000,000. These are s the complaint and bill of particulars fl Watts with the American Bar assocli Cboate disbarred. It Is the first action body. The charges will be given a full ociatlon to be held In Chattanooga, Te him at school, traveled with him through India. On the strength of that he brines him here. Quarters him with decent people, and wonders when they are systematically robbed!" "You are unjust!" I said, rising and facing him. "I do not like Mr. Harbison?I?I hate him, if you want to know. But as to his being a thief, I? think it quite as likely that you took the necklace." Max threw his cigarette into the fire angrily. "So that is how it is!" he mocked. "If either of us is the thief, it is I! You do hate him, don't you?' I left him there, flushed with irritation, and joined the others. Just as I entered the room, Betty burst through the hall door like a cyclone, and collapsed into a chair. "She's a mean, cantankerous old woman!" she declared, feeling for her handkerchief. "You can take care of your own Aunt Selina, Jim Wilson. I will never go near her again." "What did you do? Poison her?" Dallas asked with interest. "G?got camphor in her eyes," snuffed Betty. "You never?heard such a noise. I wouldn't be a trained nurse for anything in the world. She?she called me a hussy!" "You're not going to give her up, are you, Betty?' Jim asked imploringly. But Betty was, and said so plainly. "Anyhow, she won't have me back," she finished, "and she has sent for? guess!" "Have mercy!" Dal cried, dropping to his knees. "Oh, fair ministering angel, she has not sent for me!" "No," Betty said maliciously. "She wants Bella?she's crazy about her." CHAPTKK A I. I Make a Discovery. Really. I have left Aunt Selina rather out of it. but she was important as a cause, not as a result: at least at first. She came out strong later. I believe she was a very nice old woman, with strong likes and prejudices, which she > was perfectly willing to pay for. At least, I only presume she had likes; , I know she had prijudices. t Nobody ever undert 1 why Bella consented to take Betty's place with Aunt Selina. As for me, 1 was too much engrossed with my own affairs to pay the invalid much attention. Once or twice during the day I had i stopped in to see her. and had been received frigidly and with marked disapproval. 1 was in disgrace, of course, after the scene in the dining-room the night before. I had stood like a naughty child, just inside the door, and replied meekly when she said the pillows were overstuffed, and why didn't 1 have the linen slips rinsed in starch water? She laid the blame of her illness on me, as I hnvn s:iiil In.f,ii-.' nnil she made Jim read to her In the afternoon from a hook she carried with her. Coals of . 'ire on the Domestic Hearth, marking places for me to read. She sent for me that night, just as I had taken off my gown; so I threw on i a dressing-gown and went in. To my horror, Jim was already there. At a gesture from Aunt Selina. he closed , the door into the hall and tiptoed hack . beside the bed, where he sat staring : at the figures on the silk comfort. I Aunt Selina's first words were: "Where's that IIihherty-gibbet?" f Jim looked at nu\ 1 "She must mean Hetty," I explained. I "Site has gone to bed, I think." "Dont's let her in this room again," she said, with awful emphasis. "She is an infamous creature." ' "Oh. come now. Aunt Selina." Jim broke in; "she is foolish, perhaps, but . she's a nice little thing." Aunt Selina's lace was a curious study. Then she , raised herself on her elbow, and, tak ing a Mat chamois-skin bag from under < ner pillow, ncm u 0111. i "My cameo breastpin," she said soii emnly; "my cuff-Imttoiis with gold * rims am) storks painted on china in the midle; my watch, that lias put me to bed and t?ot me tip for forty years. L and my money?live hundred and ten . dollars and forty cents! taken with r the doors locked under my nose." to Defend tent Proceedings. i of the American Bar association, forthe foremost of American lawyer*, is :he interests of a client, with deceiving and the decision of a Judge thereto rty rights and causing him a loss of ome of the specifications contained in led agulnst Mr. Choate by James R. ition with the object of having Mr. of the kind ever brought before that hearing at the convention of the a*nn., next month. Which was ambiguous, but forcible. "But, good gracious, Miss Car?Aunt senna: i exclaimed, you aoni minx 1 Betty Mercer took those things?" t "Nil," she said grimly: "I think I > probably got up in my sleep and light- s ed the fire with them, or sent 'em out 1 for a walk." Then she stuffed the hag t away and sat up resolutely In bed. 1 "Have you made up?" she dema"ded, looking from one to the other of us. ^ "Bella, don't tell me you still persist ? in that nonsense." c "What nonsense?" I asked, getting ready to run. "That you do not love him." "Him?" f "James," she snapped irritably. "Do ? you suppose I mean the policeman?" t I looked over at Jimmy. She had got f me by the hand, and Jimmy was mak- i ing frantic gestures to tell the whole s thing and he done with it. But I had gone too far. The mill of the gods had crushed me already, and I didn't propose to he drawn out hideously mangled and held up as an example for the next two or three weeks, although it was clear enough that Aunt Selina disapproved of me thoroughly, and would have been glad enough to find that no tie save the hoard of health held us together. And then Bella came in, and you wouldn't have known her. She had put on a straight white woolen wrapper, and she had her hair in two long braids down her hack. She looked like a nice, wide-eyed little girl in her teens, and she had some lobster salad and a glass of port on a tray. When she saw the situation she put the things down and had the mistiness to stay and listen. "I'm not blind," Aunt Selina said, wuii one eye on me iray. 1 on iwo silly children adore each other; I saw some things last night." Bella took a step forward; then she stopped and shrugged her shoulders. Jim was purple. "I saw you kiss her in the diningroom. remember that!" Aunt Selina went on, giving the crew another turn. It was Bella's turn to be excited. She gave me one awful stare, then she fixed her eyes on Jim. "Besides." Aunt Selina went on, "you told me today that you loved her. Don't deny it, James." Rella couldn't keep ijuiet another instant. She came over and stood at the foot of the bed. "Please don't excite yourself, dear Miss Caruthcrs," she said, in a voice like ice. "Bvery one knows that he loves her; he simply overflows with it. It?i*. is unite a by-word among their friends. They have been sitting together in a corner all evening." Yes. that was what she said; when I had not spoken to Jimmy the whole time in the den. Bella was cattish, and she was jealous, too. I turned on my heel and went to the door; then I turned to her, with my hand on the knob. "Vnii nave neen misinmrmeu, i smu coldly. "You van not possibly know, having spent three hours in a corner .? yourself?with Mr. Harbison." I ab- ( hor jealousy in a woman. t "Well, Aunt Selina ate all the lobster 1 salad, and drank the port after Holla hail told her it was beef, iron and wine, t and she slept all night, and was able to sit up in a chair the next day, and t was so infatuated with Bella that she I would not let her out of her sight, j Hut that is ahead of the story. At midnight the house was fairly quiet, except for Jim, who kept walking around the halls because lie j couldn't sleep. J got up at last and or- 1 dered him to bed, and he had the an- ? dacity to have a grievance with me. t "Look at my situation now!" he t said, sitting pensively on a steam ra- i diator. "Aunt Selina is crazy. I only 1 kissed your hand, anyhow, and I don't i know why you sat in the den all even- t ing; you might have known that Holla l would notice it. Why couldn't you leave me alone to my misery?" t "Very well," I said, much offended, s "After this I shall sit with Klannigan f in the kitchen. He is the only gentle- t man in the house." 1 I left him huhlditig apologies and 1 went to bed, but I had an uncomfortable feeling that Bella had been a witness to our conversation, for the door Into Aunt Selina's room closed softly as I passed. I knew beforehand that I was not going to sleep. The instant I turned nut the light the nightmare events of the evening ranged themselves In a procession, or a series of tableaux, one after the other: Flannigan on the roof, with the bracelet on his palm, looking accusingly at me; Mr. Harbison and the scene on the roof, with my flippancy; and the result of that flippancy? the man on the stairs, the arms that Held me, the terrible kisses that hart scorched my lips?It was awful! And then the absurd situation across Aunt Selina's bed, and Rella's face! Oh, It was all so ridiculous?my having thought that the Harbison man was a gentleman, and finding him a cad, and worse. It was excruciatingly funny. I tjulte got a headache from laughing; Indeed I laughed until I found I was :rying, and then I knew I was going to have an attack of strangulated emotion, called hysteria. So I got up and turned on all the lights, and bathed my Face with cologne, and felt better. But I did not go to sleep. When the hall clock chimed two, I discovered I was hungry. I had had nothing since luncheon, and even the thirst following the South American goulash was gone, rhere was probably something to eat In the pantry, and if there was not, I was quite equal to going to the basement. As it happened, however, I found a I'ery orderly assortment of left-overs ind a pitcher of milk, which had no business there, in the pantry, and with plenty of light I was not at all frightened. I ate bread and butter and drank milk, and was fast becoming a rational person again; I had pulled out one of :he drawers part way, and with a tray icross the r..ei I had improvised a jomfortable seat. And then I noticed ;hat the drawer was full of soiled nap tins, and I remembered the bracelet. [ hardly know why I decided to go :hrough the drawer again, after Flanligan had already done it, but I did. I inished my milk and then, getting lown on my knees, I proceeded system itically to empty the drawer. I took >ut perhaps a dozen napkins and as nany dollies without finding anything. Then I took out a large tray cloth, and here was something on it that made ne look farther. One corner of it had >een scorched, the clear and well defined imprint of a lighted cigarette or dgar, a blackened streak that trailed )ff into a brown and yellow. I had a lueer, trembly feelings, as if I were on | he brink of a discovery?perhaps Vnne's pearls, or the cuff-buttons with itorks painted on china in the center. 3ut the only thing I found, down In he corner of the drawer, was a half jurned cigarette. To me, it seemed quite enough. It vas one of the South American cigar(ttes, with a tobacco wrapper instead v* Ho* TLfr T-J.ca r hi arm Qmnkofl. [To be Continued.] Satisfied.?Small Charlotte, not yet our years old, was gifted with so vivid in imagination that her mother began o be troubled by her fairy-tales and elt it time to talk seriously to her ipon the beauty of truthfulness. Not uare of the impression she had made. President Butler ; Peck of ( Columbia university of New York 1 to involve a number of prominent ediu Peek was sued for $50,000 breach of j to resign. Peck refuses and declares slty with a high hand. Puller admits will deliver in I.atin before the ITnivers mans may refuse to hear the address the closed with the warning that Ood ould not love a child who spoke unruthfully and would not want her in leaven. Charlotte considered a moment and hen said: "Well, I've been t > Chicago once and 0 the theater twice, and 1 don't s'pose can expect to go everywhere."?Parlor's Magazine. Didn't Like Bills.?An artist was employed not long ago to make a small painting of a duck hunting seen for 1 wealthy and enthusiastic adherent to hat sport who, however, has a repuation as a tight wad. The business nan looked at the picture when it was i lnishcd, and, while he agreed to take t, he insisted that it was not entirely rue to life. "For instance," he said, minting, "that duck's hill is too long." "Oh, rats!" put in a friend of the ight wad buyer, who was along. "You lay that as if it was Something scri>usly against this picture. As a mater of fact, when did you ever see a nil that you didn't think was too ong?"?Cleveland Plain Dealer. JUiscrUancoHS grading. SEARCHING FOR DIAMONDS. Hardships Endured by Prospectors In Deserts of West Africa. Nineteen days by the Deutsche OstAfrika Linle from Southampton bring one to that land of Monte Cristo where the diamonds in all truth can he gathered in handfuls, viz., German Southwest Africa, Its history is one more of our neglects, of a land that was developed by British pluck and British endurance, of utLiivc irqui'aia iui pniietiuMi, ixnu ui the calm weighing of the proa and cons hy Downing street, assisted by the then ministry at the Cape (of which the present prime minister, Mr. Merriman, was a member), and the decision, writes a correspondent of the London Standard, that it was not worth it and that the responsibility could not be undertaken. Instead, a wretched strip of land, thirty-five miles by twelve, round the port or harbor of Walfish bay was taken, and the rest left for him who wished. Walfish bay?a collection of tin shanties?even the magistrate's house is a disgrace, which today costs the Cape government ?5,000 per an num. and until a few years ago nearly C 10,000?is composed of about six officials and 200 Hottentots. Today, did Damaraland belong to Great Rrltain, at Luderitz bay there would be a population as large as Capetdwn; and throughout the northern portion there would be thousands of prospectors seeking the minerals that hardly need finding, for within the first forty-four miles of the coast the whole primary earth's surface is disclosed. The first diamonds were spoken of years ago, but intercourse with the country was difficult, the hardships were great and the further objection of its being a German colony kept matters back until eighteen months ago, when some of the Cape "boys" who were working on the railway from Luderitz bay to Keetmanshoep brought in some of the sand with clear colored stones among it, and said: "Baas! Diamonds!" Places were looked for and found, and pickle bottles full of diamonds were brought into Luderitz bay from about a radius of ten miles, and shopkeepers were asked to give some cash or goods for them. Misbelief was still there and no one ventured. Even after the claims had been pegged off (one claim being then one kilometer?twothirds of a mile?radius) and the gov ernment license paid, viz., 60 shillings, these claims were offered in Luderitz bay end Swakoptnund for 70 shillings or 80 shillings and refused. At last news was received and specimens of these stones were seen by some one from Capetown, who at once understood the value, quickly got together a number of fields, and?presto! ?a diamond company which has paid this last year 55 per cent on a capital of ?150,000 without any efficient machinery or any of the conveniences which now can be had, and many with pick, shovel and sieve. Now it is a large industry, and miles and miles of fields have been proved to contain diamonds. All land from the Orange river up to the twentysixth degree was afterward closed by and Professor Columbia at War. (Ppj, A ^ B*j?? ^H^gHSfti^^^^i: ;i;r ...... ",- 1 Hp^ ias a row on her hands that promises ^ators. Professor Harry Thurston iromise. President Butler asked Peck Butler has been running the univerthat Peek wrote his speech which he utv of Berlin in October. The Gernow. the government to prospectors and reserved by the Colonial Oesellschaft company, a kind of chartered company of German Southwest Africa. As soon as the south was closed to them the prospectors went north?first to Spencer bay, which has been proved of little or no value; then to Conception bay, Oyster Cliffs and Francisctis bay, and last of all to Hollams Bird, all of which places have fields where diamonds have been found, and the question is now of the quantity and size of the stones. That there are diamonds is more lllilll |HUVl*U, tt.1 ???II?C iiiuuounuo stones have been registered, but eight, ten, twelve stones to the earat, sometimes as few as six to the carat, are of little value, and it is very doubtful if these fields will ever pay to work. There are great difficulties of water, and landing is sometimes not possible for fourteen days at Conception bay. The death roll during the prospecting period will never be known, as no record could possibly be kept. People streamed into I,uderitz bay from the Cape, from all parts, and as soon as they could get a few things together, they struck off into that terrible waste. Some prospectors at a place between Oyster Cliffs and Franclscus bay (these are names only) found two bodies, one in a good state of preservation, with the hair on the head and flesh still on the bones but the clothes rotted away. The second body, which was not covered by the sand, which is ever shifting, was not so well preserved. At the same spot several coins were found, marked O. I. V., 1749?old Dutch East Indian company money, the relics of some calamity, of some shipwrecked crew off these inhospitable shores. One of the small steamers employed to run up and down the coast, landing stores and water for expeditions at various depots, when it can, saw three men on the beach at a place many miles from nowhere. They waved, and the good old skipper, thinking they needed a lift, put a boat off for them, but they would not leave the shore; they were still seeking the little stone which would mean so much to them. They said they knew they were only 100 miles from Spencer bay, where there was a depot, and they could do it. Boots gone, clothes in rags, a little water in bottles and four biscuits between them to do the Journey on. Whether they ever reached the depot no one will ever know. Every now and again a riderless camel or horse arrives at Walflsh bay or one of the southern depots, which tells its own tale?some one left to die of thirst or hunger in the ever shifting, waterless sand dunes. Although the worst is past, still people even now take their lives in their hands. In many places the only road is along the beach, which can be passed only at low tide?with the ever shifting sand dunes to climb, which is impossible, as they rise in such places like a cliff over the sea, and, the treacherous tide rushing in on the other side, a little delay or an accident and all is finished. HOW TO PICK A WIFE. Some Suggestions as to Qualifications That Are Desirable. Don't advertise for a wife unless you mean business. Don't advertise unless you are prepared for a rush. Don't, unless you are cool-headed, fearless and strong enough not to allow yourself to be kidnapped. Little as you may think it, there are thousands of ladies left In this country who have never been married, not to mention the throng of widows who never do get left and who are on the lookout for No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4, as the case may be. Girls are shy and widows are coy; they are the sought, the courted, the hunted. They are the timid dears who run at the rustle of a leaf; they are the ones who elude, while the men must pursue. That is all very well; we have been told it all our lives. But don't believe everything Laura Jean Libby writes. Many a man has looked upon a face over which the mantling blush finished In rosy shyness, has seen the eyelids droop over eyes like those of a startled fawn, and before he knew what was happening has found himself standing up at the altar with the minister announcing a life sentence. The dispatches from Delmar state that John N. Furbush, a wealthy farmer of near that place, has advertised I for a wife. As an inducement it is stated that he offered a wedding gift of 5,000 real dollars to the lady of his choice. Of course, to the woman the man is the main object, for they will marry for true love alone; but the $5,000 is not to be overlooked. Mr Furbush, being a man of standing and substance and a good citizen, was very desirable in himself, and then there was the $5,000. Did he get any replies? Well, the mail at his postofflce increased so rapidly that it looked like the day before Christmas. ' Letters poured in by the hundreds?letters from pretty young girls, from good housekeepers, from good lookers, from widows who Just know how to conduct husbands, from "dreams of beauty." They came from Maine, from California, from the north, south, east, west and other directions; from blondes, brunettes and those who could be either to suit the taste or fashion. Mr. Furbush has an embarrassmenf of riches. His trouble is not to find a girl, but to decide which girl. Among the hundreds he has great difficulty in deciding. It is a serious matter, and man must take his time to make up his mind. He can't afford to make a mistake. He may have heard that tender lyric of Richard Carle's: "With a million peaches 'round me, I should like to know How I picked a lemon in the Garden of Love, Whore only peaches grow." What a man wants in a woman is somewhat as follows: She must he a dream of beauty that will make Maxine Elliot faint and Cavalieri fade away. She mu... be an angel with the smile of a seraph and a great mass of magnificent hair, and all her own natural. She must possess a perfect temper and never raise her voice save in song. She must be a good cook and always ready to do same. She must be a splendid housekeeper and not require any servants. She must love children and be able to care for them and raise them by hand. She must be a fine musician and have a mind stored with all the intellectual wealth of the ages, but must never get the Idea that hubby hasn't the superior intellect and doesn't know it all. She must dress in the latest fashion, but must spend no money on same. She must be interesting, elusive, gay, of a deep religious nature, lively, modest, retiring, self-sacrificing, bril" - -* ~ Knma iiant, rascinauug, i?ui ? win ... and fireside, preferring the society of her husband to anything else on earth, but not worrying when she doesn't get any of it. That is all that most men require. It is little enough, goodness knows. Rut even then you may not always get a [ woman that exactly fills the specifications. Some of them have their faults, and even in the center of the Oarden of Love a man must be particular.? Baltimore Sun. >tv' Him?"I?I don't know how to tell you how I love you." Her? "Don't worry about that?I'll take It as it comes. What you want to get nervous about is how to tell papa about it."?Cleveland Leader. PYRAMIDS IN OLD MEXICO. Large Structures, May Contain Fabulous Wealth. That several regiments of soldiers, working unknown to the world for many months, have been uncovering true pryamids, built of huge stones and cement, larger than those of Egypt, is the astonishing news that has lately come from the republic of Mexico. That these pyramids existed in earth form has long been known to archaeologists. But it was always supposed that they were once great hills of sand, and that centuries ago? long before the time of Cortez, even ?they were shaped and trimmed with shovels and spades. Removing the dust of ages past, however, the fact of their construction by human hands Is now revealed, and, furthermore, a'most Indisputable Indications have been found that they were the handiwork of Egyptians or the descendants of Egyptians. It is difficult to at once grasp the stupendous significance of this latter theory once It can be proved a fact beyond dispute. Primarily It will disclose that the western continent was discovered centuries and even ages before the date now established by history. But It may go even further than that, and, taken In connection with archaeological finds being unearthed In the Mexican pyramids, It Is possible that we are on the very life of the earth itself, and of the ancient races which Inhabited It before the dawn of history. Of less Importance In Its possible bearing on world facts, but highly Interesting in Its possibilities, Is the belief of many that when the pyramids are opened they will be found to contain treasure of fabulous worth, buried there by the ancient inhabitants of Mexico when these vast piles were erected. Situated only twenty-seven miles from the City of Mexico, the San Juan pyramids, as they are known, long ago aroused the interest of the Mexican government. Desultory Investigation at last led to the belief that excavation might uncover something of value to the world, and work was begun some time ago. As this has progressed great secrecy has been thrown around what was being done, and little actual Information heretofore been allowed to creep out. It Is now known, however, that sarcophagi containing human bones, ogsldian knives, terra cotta heads and fragments of rare and costly pottery have been uncovered. Also It Is asserted by persons having certain knowledge of what Is being found that the relics of a prehistoric age now being dug up are positively of Egyptian handiwork. Many of the fragments of pottery and the implements and utensils found are similar to those uncovered along the Nile, while scroll work and ornamentation on every hand is distinctly Egyptian. It is hinted, however, that even more specific proof that the San Juan pyramids were built by Egyptians has come into possession of tne Mexican government, but it is being held back for compilation and verification, and, assuredly, if this is not now true, such revelations are expected within a very short time. While the group is spoken of as the San Juan pyramids, only two of them are attracting extraordinary attention. These are the pyramids of the Moon and the Sun, the latter much the larger of tne two. Each of these, it has now been found, is constructed of five gigantic layers of basaltic blocks, cemented together. The pyramid of the Sun covers more than fourteen acres of ground. Present excavations have shown its base to be 761 by 721 feet, and its limits have not yet been defined by the soldiers who are employed at the work by the government. Half a mile south of the pyramid of the Sun is the pyramid of the Moon. It is much smaller than the former, measuring 511 by 426 feet at the base. On the top of each of the pyramids are the ruins of temples. On the pyramid of the Sun at one time was a gigantic statue to the sun, with faces of solid gold, which reflected the rays of that luminary, but it wa* rolled off by the Spaniards during the days of the conquest and now reposes in the museum of Mexico. Rising out of a practically level plain the Pyramid of the Sun reaches a height of almost 200 feet, the Pyramid of the Moon being not so tall. Between the two runs the "Camlno de los Muertes"?the Path of the Dead. Although the two pyramids are only about half a mile apart, the winding course of the path covers a distance of more than two miles. Evidently thi3 Path of the Dead gets Its name from the sacrificial processions which wended their way from one pyramid to tne otner in me mniem days, when sacrifices to the sun and the moon were offered by the priests of the Toitecs, or of some race even earlier in history than they. At that period, too, the pyramids of San Juan are now proven to have been the center of a large population engaged in agricultural pursuits. The ruins of the ancient civilization here have long attracted antiquarians from the far ends of the earth, and excavations among them have been going on for years, but it is only comparatively recently that the investigators have attacked the great pyramids themselves. While the work of the Mexican government has been carried on with such secrecy that it is impossible to state just when it was begun, an Interesting evidence of how recent it really is may be found in "Mexico," a notable book by C. Reginald Knock, F. R. G. S., author of several books on Central and South America. "Mexico" was published only last year, but in it Mr. Enock, referring to the San Juan pyramids, says that Cortez and his Spaniards, defeated and fleeing, passed near the great "earth" pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, "but even at that time," he says, "they were?as they are today?mere mounds of earth in which the pyramidal form has been partly obliterated by the action of time." Since that time, as has been related above, excavations have shown that the pyramids are not "mere mounds of earth," but that they were built with geometrical accuracy of great blocks of stone strongly cemented together. Evidences of stairways leading from the base to the tops of the pyramids on the exterior have always been present, and as the earth is cleared away these are found to be more distinctly outlined. vvnai is mure impui win, >v is now believed that the excavators have come upon hidden stairways leading to the interior of the pyramids, and that upon following these and clearing the debris away the secrets of the race which built the pyramids will be laid bare. That the interior was the burial place of kings and the secret vaults in which their treasure and that of the priests of that day were hidden is also believed. Experts assert that the terra cotta headj already found are the likenesses of ancient rulers, preserved much as those of the Egyptian kings have been preserved in the pyramids along the Nile. Of all these clay heads so far exhumed no two are identical in feature or alike In expression. ?St. Louis Post Dispatch.