University of South Carolina Libraries
A Winter Night At "Hays." - a -r t\ j ^ A Tale ot Love, ueseraon ana Disobedience. JBY BRET HARTE, CHAPTER II.?Contlimvd. "It'll hold one less to-night," 6he said looking at the fire. "What are you talking about?" he *sked in querulous suspicion. She drew a paper from hor pocket. "It's that draft of yours that you were crazy enough to sign Dawson's name to. It was lying out there on the desk. I reckon it isn't a thing you care to have kept as evidence, even by your lather." She held it in the flames until it was consumed. "By Jove, your head is level, Lottie!" be said, with an admiration that was not, however, without a weak reserve of suspicion. "No, it isn't, or I wouldn't be here,' he said, curtly. Then she added, as il dismissing the subject: "Well, whav did you tell her?" i "Oh, I said I met you In New York. You see, I thought 6he might think it j queer if she knew I only met you ir< Ban Franoisco three weeks ago. OJ course, I said we were married." She looked at him with weary astonishment. I "And, of course, whether things gc right or not, she'll find out that I've got a husband living, that I never met you In New York, bat on the steamer, and that you've lied. I don't 6ee the use i of it. You 6aid you were going to tell the whole thing squarely and say the truth, and that's why I came to help you." "Yes; but don't you see, hang it all!" he stammered, in the irritation of weak oonfusion, "I had to tell her something. Father won't dare to tell her the truth, no more than he will the neighbors. He'll hush it up, you bet; and when vre . get this thing fixed you'll go and get your divorce, you know, and we'll be married privately on the square." He looked so vague, so immature, - * r? .1 ? x yet bo latuousjy seii-connuem/, wab uuo "woman extended her hand with a laugh and tapped him on the back as she might have patted a dog. Then she disappeared to follow Zuleika in the kitchen. "When the two women returned together they were evidently on the best terms; so much that the man with the easy reaction of a shallow nature became sanguine and exalted, evrn to an ostentatious exhibition of those New ' "6HE" HELD "IT IH THE FLAME8..? Tork graces on which the paternal Haye - Iiad set such store. He complacently ; explained the methods by which he had deceived Dr. Dawson, how he had himself written a letter from his fathei oommanding him 1o return to take hie limtiipr'R nlar-fi. and how he had shown it to the Doctor and been three months In San Francisco looking-for work and assisting Lottie at the theater, until a conviction of the righteoueness of his cause, perhaps combined with the fact that they were also short of money and she had no engagement, impelled him to thi6 present heroic step; all of which Zuleika listened to with childish interest, but superior appreciation of his oompanion. The fact that this woman was an actress, an abomination vaguely alluded to by her father as being even more mysteriously wicked than bei Bister and mother, but correspondingly exciting as offering a possible permanent relief to the monotony of her home life, seemed to excuse her brother's weakness. She was almost ready to become his partisan?after she had seen hei father. They had talked largely of their plants; they had settled small details of the future and the arrangement of the property: they had agreed that Zuleika should be relieved of her household drudgery, and sent to a fashionable school in San Francisco with a music teacher and a dress maker. Thdy had discussed everything but the precise manner in which the revelation should be conveyed to Hays. There was still plenty of time for that, for he would not return until to-morrow at noon, and it was already tacitly understood that the vehicle of transmission should he a letter from the Summit Hotel. The possi- : ble contingency of a sudden outburst of , human passion not entirely controlled by religious feeling was to be guarded against. They were sitting comfortably before ttie replenished fire, the wind was still . loaning in the chimney, when, in a lull of the storm, the sound of sleigh bells upemt'd to til! the room. It whp followed by a voice from without, and, with a hysterical cry Zuleikastarted to her feet. The sfiine breathless smile with which she had greeted her brother an hour ago . was upon her lips as she gasped: 1 "Lord save us! But it's dad come back!" I grieve to say that here the doughty , tedre^eer of domestic wrongs and retriever of the family honor lapsed, , White-faced, in his chiiir. ideaief-s and tremulous. It wa.s his trailer companion who rone to the ocrasion and evea part- , ly dragged him with her. "Go back to the hotel," she said, quickly, "and take the sled with you: you are not fit to face hioi now. But he does riot know ine, \ Had I will Ptay." To the staring Zuleika "1 am a stranger, stopped l>v a broken , flleigh on my way to the hotel. Leave khe rest to me. Now ciear out, both of to;:. I'll let him in." She looked so confident.self-contained ?nd superior tliat the thought of opposition never entered their minds, and ( e an impatient rapping rose from the door tiiey let her, with a half-impatient, half-laughing gesture, drive them before her from the room. When they had disiirmenrpd in th? riiR'tnTice she ttirncfl to 11i? !r?.ut doer, unbolted and opened it. Hiiys blunde red in out of the snow w tli a muttered exclamation, and then. a? th? light Irom the open cilice door revealed a stianger, Blurted and fell bark. "Miss Bays is* Iiuhv," said the woman quittiy, "1 urn afraid, on iny itccour.it. But my sleigh broke down on the way to the hotel, and I was forced to gt-t out here. I supfo&e tiii* ie Mr. Haya?" N \ \ . i A strange woman?oy ner aress and appearance a very worldling, nnd even braver in looks and app.irel than many he had seen in the cities-"?ha*!, in spite of all his precautions, fallen short of the hotel and been precipitate'l upon him. Yet under the influence of some odd abstraction he was affected by it less than he could have believed. He even achieved a ru le bow as he bolted the door and ushered her into the office. More than that, he found himself explaining to this fair trespasser the reasons of his return to his own home; for, like a direct man, he had a consciousness of some inconsistency in his return, or in the circumstances that induced n change of plans, which might conscientiously require an explanation. "iou eee. ma am, a rather singular thing happened to me after I passed the Summit. Three times I lost the track, arot off it somehow, and found myself traveling in a circle. The third time, when I struck my own tracks again, I concluded I'd just follow them back here. I suppose I might have got the road again by trying and flghtin* the snow, but there's some things not worth the lightin'. This was a matter of business, and, after, all, ma'am, business ain't everything; is it?" He "was evidently in &,ime unusual mood, the mood that with certain reticent natures often compels them to make their brief confidence to utter strangers rather than impart them to those intimate friends who might afterward remind them of their weakness. She agreed with him pleasantly, but not so obviously as to excite suspicion. "And you preferred to let your business go. and come back to the comfort of your own home and family." "The comfort of my home and family?" he repeated in a dry, deliberate voice. "Well, I reckon I ain't been tempted much by that. That isn't what I meant." Buthe went back to the phrase, repeat ing it grimly, as if it were some mandatory text. "The comfort of my own home and family! Well, Satan hasn't pet that trap for my feet yet, ma'am. No! Ye saw my daughter? well that's all my family; ye bee this room? that's all my home, jay wire ran away from me: my daughter cleared out, too; my eldest son, as was with me here, quo'lled witn me ana recuons to seo up ? nvui business against me. No," he said, still more meditatively and deliberately, "It wasn't to come back to the comforts of my own home and family that I faced round on Heavytree Hill, I reckon." As the woman, for certain reasons, had no desire to check this suspicious and unlooked-for confidence, she patiently waited. Hays remained silent for an instant, warming his hands before the fire, and then looked up interrogatively. "A professor of religion, ma'am, or under conviction?" "Not exactly," said the lady, smiling. "Exouse me, but in spite of your fine clothes, I reckoned you had a serious look just now. A reader of scripture, maybe?" "I know the Bible." "You remember when the angel with the flaming sword appeared unto Saul Dn the road to Damascus?" "Yes." "It mout hev been suthin' In that style that stopped me," he said slowly and tentatively. "Though nat'rally I didn't see anything, and only had the queer ieelin*. It might hev been that that shied my mare off the track." "But Saul wa6 up to some wickedness, rpoan'-f ho?" cftiH t>iA lflHv. fimilincrlv. "while you were simply eoing somewhere on business." "Yes," 6aid Hays, thoughtfully, "but my business might hev seemed like persecution. I don't mind tellin' you what it was If you'd care to listen. But mebbee you're tired. Mebbee you want to retire. You know," he went on with a sudden hospitable outburst, "you needn't be in any hurry to go; we kin take care of you here to-night, and it'll cost you nothin'. And I'll send you on with my sleigh in the mornin'. Per'aps you'll like suthin' to eat?a oup of tea? or?I'll call Zuleika," and he rose with an expression of awkward courtesy. But the lady, albeit, with a self-satisfied sparkle in her darn eyes, here carelessly assured him that Zuleika had already given her refreshment, and, indeed, was at that moment preparing her own room for her. She bogged he would not interrupt his interesting story. Hays looked relieved. "Well. I reckon I won't call her, for what I was goin' to say ain't exactly the sort o' thin' for an innocent, simple sort o' thing like her to hear?I mean," lio himself hastily. "that 'oiks of more experience of the -world like you and me don't mind speakin' of. I'm sorter takin' it for granted that you're a married woman, ma'am." The laay wno naa regaraea mm with sudden rigidity here relaxed her expression and nodded. -Well." continued Hays, resuming his flace by the fire, "you see this yer man was goin' to see lives about four miles beyond the Summit on a ranch that furnishes most of the hay for the stock that side of the divide. He's bin holdin' off his next year's contract with me, hopin' to make better terms from the prospects of a late spring and higher prices. He held his head mighty high and talked of waitin' hi6 own time. I happened to know he couldn't do it," He put his hands on his knees and stared at the fire, and then went on: "Ye 6e* this man has had crosses and fa mil v trials hjifl a wiffi tllftt. left hini to join a lot of bally dancers and painted women In the 'Frisco playhouses when he was livin' in the Southern country. You'll say that was like my owa case?and mebbee that was why It came to him to tell me about it? but the difference betwixt him and me was that, instead of restin' unto the Lord and findin' him, and pluckin' out the eye that offended him 'cording to the Scripture, he followed after her, tryin* to get her back, until, flndin' that wasn't no use, he took a big disgust and came up here to hidehisself where there wasn't no play-house nor play-actors, and no women but Injin squaws. He pre-empted the land, and. nat'ralLv (here Twn' no one es cared to live there l?ut himself, he had it all his own way, made it pay, and, as I was sayirv' before, held his head high for prices. "Well?you ain't gettin' tired, ma am?" "Xo," eaid the lady, resting her cheek cm her hand and gazing at the fire; "it'9 all very interesting; and so odd that you two men, with nearly the same experiences, should be neighbors." "Say buyer and seller, ma'am, not neighbors?at least, siriptoorily?nor friends. Well?now this is where the ppeshal provider.ee conies in?only this afternoon Jim Uriggs. hearin' me speak of Horseley's oflishness " "Whose oflishness?" asked the lady. "Horseley's oflishness? Horseley's the name of the man I'm talkin' about. WaII 1. :_? v. ^ ? W,, U/'.l/l " vut liranii iiuii,nt' aa> o, avu uvmu wu. Havs, and he'll climb down. That wife of ins hae left the stago--got sick of it ?and is driftin' ro ind in 'Frisco with some fellow. When Horsely getH to hear that, you can't keep him here; he'll settle up. sell out, and realize on everything he's got to go after her agin, you bet.' That's what Brigga said. Well, that's what sent me up to Horseley's to-night, to pet there, drop the news, arid then i?in him down to the contract." "It looked like a good stroke of business and a fair one," said the lady, in uii odd voice. It was so odd that llaya looked up. But the had somewhat altered her position and was gazing at the ceiling, and with her hand to her i face seemed to have just recovered J from a slight yawn, at which he hesitated with a now aDd timid sense ol UP politeness. set "You're getting tired, ma'am?" bn "Oh, dear, no!" she said in the sam* voice, but clearing her throat with a little cough. "And why didn't you se? this Mr. Horscley afterall? Oh. I forgol ?you said you ^hanged your mind from something you'd heard." He had turned his eyes to the fir* ? ^ again, but -without noticing as he did pq i that she slowly moved her face, 6till half hidden by her hand, toward hia Ta and was watching him intently. un *Xo." he said slowly, "nothin' I heard, Vo somethin' I felt. It mout hev ben that that set me off the track. It kem to m? all of a sudden that he might be sittin' thar calm and peaceful as I might b? here, hevin' forgot all about her and hia trouble, and here was me goin' to drop down upon him and start it all afresl; agin. It looked a little like persecution ?yes. like persecution. I got rid of it, . sayin' to myself it wasn't business. But / I'd got off the road meantime, and ( had to find It again, and whenever I got / back to the track and was pointed foi j his house, it all seomec.1 to come back / on me and set me off again. When that / happened three times, I turned round I , and started for home." JJ "And do you moan to say," said the Q lady, with a discordant laugh, "that you believe, because you didn't go there and break the news, that nobody else will? That he won't hear of it from the first man he meets?" u "He don't meet any one up where he ? lives, and only Briggs and mysolf know lov it; and I'll 6ee that Briggs don't tell, tha But it was mighty queer, this whole thing oomin' upon me suddenly, doi wasn't it?" wij "Very queer,'' replica ine iaay, iur, with the same metallio laugh, "you hir don't seem to be given to this kind of weakness with your own family." I If there was any doubt as to the sareas- pa? tie suggestion of her voice, there cer- fro tainly could be none in the wicked glit- or ter of her eyes flsed upon his face under roc her shading hand, but haply he seemed coi unconscious of both, and even accepted fra her statement without an ulterior slg- rj nificance. Hp "Yes," he said communingly to the Ye glaring ambers of the hearth, "it must wa have been a special revelation." hai There wa3 something so fatuous and to one-sided in his attitude and expression, hef 60 monstrously inconsistent and inade* agi quate to what was going on around him, and so hopelessly stupid?if a mere sim- 1 ulation?-that the angry suspicion that nei he was acting a part slowly faded from voi her eyes, and a hysterical smile began fat to twitch her set lips. She still gazed the at him. The wind howled drearily in Bu the chimney; all that was economic, the grim and oheerless in the room seemed ab? to gather as flitting shadows around pei that central figuie. Suddenly she arose fas with such a quiet rustling of her 6kirtg it \ that he lifted his eyes with a start; for she was standing immediately before him, her bunds behind her, her handsome, audacious face bent smilingly forward, and her bold, brilliant eyes "with in a foot of his own. "Now, Mr. Hay6, do you want to know what this warning or special revelation Th of yours really meant? Well, it had nothing whatever to do with that mar Trc on the Summit. 2\o. The whole inter- Bu1 est, gist and meaning of it was simply this, that you?ehouid turn round and An ttruinrht hAf.lr here and"?she If 1 drew \w,k and made him an exaggerated Bu theatrical courtesy?"have the supreme ? pleasure ol making my acquaintance. That war. all. And now, as you've hail A t it, in five minutes I must be off. You've Ha offered me already your horse and sleigh to gc to the Summit. I accept it and go. Good-by!" Tb He knew nothing of a woman's capri- Wa cious humor; he knew still less of that mimic stage from which her voice, ge?- Th' ture, and expression was borrowed; he Ha had no knowledge of the burlesrjue emo- gu tions which that voice, gesture, and expression were supposed to portray, and Th j.nally and fatally he was unable to de- Th tect the feminine hysteric jar and dis- Th tord that underlay it all. He thought ^ It was strong, characteristic and real; a.pd accepted it literally. He rose. " Tf 11 ftor'f o+Q V TcVl V I'll XJi v> VU anv? ; vu V.UM v vvuj , ^ ? ? go and get the horse. I reckon he ain't bin put up yet." j "l3o, please." ?or Ho grimly resumed his coat and hat am and disappeared through the passage [p< !nto the kitchen, whence, a moment %ne latter. Zuleika came flying. ?x< "Well, what has happened?" she said, iagerly. IJ11! "It's all right," said the woman, n juickly, "though he knows nothing yet. But I've got things fix??d generally, so ' :hat he'll be quite ready to have it <shl MXikrntohim by this time to-morrow, tin But don't you say anything till I've )>h seen Jack and you hear from him. Re- mi aiember." {* She spoke rapidly; her cheeks were ^ quite glowing from some sudden tei sner,cy; so were Zuleika's with the ex- ot'i sitement of curiosity. Presently the flv sound of sleigh hells again filled the room. It was Hays leading the horse a:id sleigh to the door, beneath a starlit sky, crisp frcm a northeast wind. 1 The fair stranger cast a significant i.ionc.o ot r/n'oiUn j>nf] whinnered hill'- t?_. rielly: "You know he must not come he* with me. You must keep htm h^re." "But you cannot go alone," said pul Hays, with awkward courtesy. "I was for salkilatin' * ne( wa "You're too tired to get out again, u.? dad," broke in Zuleika, quickly. "You an ain't fit; you're all gray and krinkly now, like as when you had one of your last spells. She'll send the 6leigh back to-morrow." j "J can find my way," said the lady, (irj briskly; "there'6 only one turn off, I th? believe, and that " int "Leads to the stage-station three inf miles west.. You needn't be afraid of J0.' gettin' off on that, tor you'll likely see 'Hl' the uown-etage crossin' your road aa soon as you jjet clear off the ranch." /th "Good night," said the lady. An arc bre of white tpray sprang before the for* era ward runner, and the sleigh vanished In soi the road. fa* Father and daughter returned to the "lioffice. ',Ui "You didn't pet to know her, dad, did jjH' ye''" queried Zuleika. oyJ "No," resr<or.ded Hays, gravely, "ex- j,01 cent to see she wasn't no backwoods 01 thi mountaineering port. Now. there's the tub I kind o' woman, a? knows her own mind Hp and yours, too, that a man like your tw' brother Jack oughter pick out when ho marries." Zuleikn's fa"e beamed behind her j father. "You ain't going to sit up nny jPt longer, dad?" she said, as she noticed ^;i him resume his seat by the lire. "It's fnl gettin'late, and yon look mighty tuck- r.r ered out with your night's work." ke "Do you know what 6he snid. Zuly?" mj returned her father, after a pause, which turned out to have been a long bilent ja1 la igh. m< "So. I, "She said," he repented, 6lowly, "that bu she reckoned I came back here to-night m< to have the pleasure of her acquaint- wi an.-*-." He brought his two hands heavily m; down upon his knees,rubbing uiem aown Tn, deliberately toward his ankles, and leaning forward with his face to the Are and Ka a long-sustained smile of complete w.though tardy appreciation. th He was ttill in this attitude when do Zuleika left him. The wind crooned over him confidentially, but he still sat there, given up apparently to some J?] posthumous enjoyment of his visitor's rn departing witticism. . he it was scarcely daylight -when Zulelka, iile dressing, beard a Quick tapping on her shutter. She opened it to the ired and bewildered lace of her )ther. ^ ' What happened with her and father t night?" he said, hoarsely. 'Nothing?why?" Read that. It was brought to me I [f an hour ago by a man in dad's igh, from the stage station." Sie handed her a crumpled note with moling figures. She took it and read: The game is up and I'm out of it. ke my advice and clear out of it too, til you can come back in better 6hape. n't be such a fool as to try and folI B i=Jj I HE HAD APPARENTLY 60JTK FORWAIID." ^ 7 me. Your father isn't one anJ J it's where you've slipped up." He shall 'pay for it whatever he*? \ le," said her brother with an access of ] d passion. "Where is he?" Why, Jack, you wouldn't dare to see n now." Wouldn't I?" ie turned and ran, convulsed with >sion, before the windows toward the nfc oi' the house. Zuleika slipped out her bed-room and ran to her father e >m. He was not there. Already she ild hear her brother hammering nttcallvagainst the looked frontdoor. The dooroi the office was partly open, r father was still there. Asleep? s, for he had apparently sank forrd before the cold hearth. But the [ids that he had always been trying warm were now colder than the irth or ashes, and he himself never ain spoke, breathed, nor stirred. * * * * ? # t was deemed providential by the ghbors that this youngest and fa ite 6on. alarmed by the news of hi? her's failing health, had arrived from i Atlantic States so opportunely, t it was thought singular that after ) division of the property he entirely indoned the ranch, and that even iding the division his beautiful but tidious Eastern bride declined to visit vith her husband. fXHE; Exn.1 TEMPERANCE. ! < A TEiT'LE ALLIANCE. ere is blood in the street. Oh! whence did . it flow? md it under your feet: no one bothers to t know. t ^AV.I T'kio %e hit TP1C .IrJITCn i from man's veins, tl it cries unto God! A brother was slain, lumau. he's brother to yon and to me. t where is the t?uiltV What black hand did the deed? one hand has caused this brother to to bleetf. riple alliano \ remorssles* anl bold' th murdered a brother: hath done it for gold. e rumsoller first, for the rumseller's gain is willing his brother by rum should be slain. e founcil that gave him th-? license to , .sell. s shared in the pel*, and is guilty as well, t not on these only the curse of blood rests? o council but acled the people's behests! e rumsellersold. but by license you note; e council was only a council by vote. is triple alliance, all sharing the guilt, (st answer at las', for the blood that was spilt. ? Ham's Horn. 5ICST TAKE THE PLEDGE. ["be National Tube Works Company has amenced a war against intemperance on? the employes of the big McKeespor; nn.') plant. As a condition of employnt of a workman who allows his drinking 0 jesses to interfere with his work, the t .nagement will require him to take a dge before an alderman to absiaiu from t nk for one vear. C t IT SHOr.TEXS LITE. 1linf ?nfI ^ arlen.- life. Iu ii recent medical wjr.i.oi * digestive or^au- and faculties. a -ioW r vsician snyi: "The duration of human Jif< i.v be ascertained by the pulsation of tht i.y. Say. a rnau lives seventy year#. his art beating sixty to the minute, the pulsans in that"ti*ti?: foot up to two and a nuar "billion?. I", bv intemperance or an) lyr caus?. h j rais.'- pulsation* to sevantye a minute, the . am'' number ol pul?a ns vro;i!d b? /inisti<?d in ^ftv-sis vears." A rP.]E3T s EXPERIENCE. n a recent letter to the New York Triae. the Rev. Sylvester Malone. the vetn rector of St. Peter and Paul's-Churcb, )oklyn, said:. "When, on account on poor ilth'l revisited my native land, in 1881.1 rp as a constant advice, and preached bliclv. that no one should leave Ireland America who believed that alcohol was a lessity. I told them that in America it s a poison: that our climate forbade it* : that it sent thousands of Irish people to untimely grave. My experience here of irly sixty years, with my reading on the >ject, has led me to conclusions." I DRINKING IS FRANCE. )r. Max Nordau. in a recent book on the nkfnir habits of I he French people, says it while one rarely sees a French laborer oxicated. they are constantly under the luence of alcohol, and he gives the fol- 1 ring sketch of the daily drinking of r. Par- c in laborer. Early in the morning he :es a glass of liquor, either a bitter or h 1 ong kind, which he calls "brulegosier" fl roat-bnrner). or ,'cas3epoitrice"' (chest- 1 taker;. Iu connection with it he generilly eats a piece of bread and a bowl of ip. About 11 o'clock he takes his break- " t. consisting of a ragoul or soni^ other g h containing meat, but in insufficient ^ entities, with an enormous ma?s of bread il one or two pints of wine. Hi invaria- c - . .r,.n,VTT.?,i | t Jinisnes 7>r<*am;iM nun _-uu>u.......... a ulnsrt of coynao. wbirh is called "!a c litte" (the drop), or "la rince tfunle" (tb*i 7 oat rinser). At fi or 7 o'clock dinner is [en. . oasistini: of vesetabln soup, a lil- 0 utian quantity of meat, a salad, bread, p 0 pints of wine, it cap of ooffee. ami "la 'j utte" (the drop). THL AWFCJ. KESCLT. 11 \ gemtaman relates th* following: Amir.- p cr of the cospc! pointed out to me a youni; ^ 1 in the lunatic asylum. A more bsauti1 girl I think I never saw. bat she was ? I'inir mad. and her bands were confined to t ep iier from doing herself injury. The a nister said: e 'That tfirl was ;t member .1 :ny churA'i. 1 1 hciicv s!i*' was ;i Christian. Her T her wn> a diuiikard. She would come to f i and ask: 'What shall I do? What can B loV I will do anything to save my father, t lam hopeless. Why, sir. he abuses my jtherso brutally that 1 shall go mad. I C il Dot leave her. and she will not ieuvu e f father." fl One day lhat man oame home raving , id with drink. He seized his wife and ^ .shed her to the floor. au:l with his fl.-t he- t n to beat hor upturned face till hishaud c 1= bloody to the wrist. The >?irl wai . ere. What did she do? What could she " 1? It was her mother whom she saw tliu? r used. Her brain reeled. She rushed into c voodhouse, seized an axe and struck her ? ther with it several times. As her father II dead, she went mad. and not a single * y of light has penetrated the daritaee; c ' "r mind from that time to this." r ELLIS ISLAND. ish JNCLE SAM'S GATEWAY FORTHE ha* ADMISSION OF IMMIGRANTS. ch? are lively Scenes When the Living Freight of Sevtral Ocean Steam* r5 ers is Landed?A Lightning 8 ^ Money Changer. ? " its eve 7T LTHOUGH * great improve- 1 / \ ment on the nightmare ar- wo /y\ rangements that used to ex- sig 1st for the recep.ion of immi- wil rrants who landed at Castle Garden, coi Sllis Island, says the New York Recor- Ita ler, is far from being a gateway that fra rould prepossess arriv ' from Europe trii n favor of their adopted country, gla Che island is tied around from dock go* 0 dock with miles of red tape. It is cat 1 fearfully tedious matter to land in lat America and a most unnecessary beJ imount of fuss and feathers Beems to she iccompany the entrance of a new ar- an< ival into the land of freedom. to A visit to Ellis Island, when the liv- ne: ng freight of two or three oceau tal iteamers is being sifted through the coi rarious avenues leading to the boat loo hat trasports it to the Battery, pre- sta tents so many phases that it is well. kn yorth braving the trip in an immi- mo jrant ferryboat from tne ??arge urnce do :o Bee the sight. Around the big room tei n the centre of the principal bnild- the ng on Ellis Island where the sifting att .v * ?# \V7/"'* u < * THE DETENTK / process goes on runs a gallery, ana wu xom this a view of the whole interior grt :an be obtained. eac The first stage through which the wa lew arrivals pass is Ihe scrutiny of th? he medical officers and the Ellis Isl- of md matrons. Having proven that j hey are free from physical defeots Isl he immigrants are driven into fenced- lur n passages leading to the registration bn fficials. of Throngh these fenced avenues the on infortunate steerage passengers, wa rearing every variety of eccentric thf md un-American head-gear, and car- ble ying as much portable baggage as mc hey can stagger under, edge their in vay along foot by foot in the direc- drt ion of the gate of hope through sor ehich alone they can get to liberty, scr rhe procession slouches forward at thi he rate of abont a foot in ten min- sui ites, the delay being oaused by the to aborions attempts of the uniformed ag( >fficial to extract the necessary infor- he nation regarding the incomer's birth 1 .nd parentage, etc. Isli Fortunately the official speaks an wil >lmost infinite variety of languages or cia he task he has in hand would be a ma rell nigh hopeless one. As it is, ow- orcj ng to the nervous condition of the wit mmigrant, it nsaally takes an almost arc nterminably long time to drag out for .n answer to the simplest question, reli Sverytbing has to be repeated several we] imes and explained in the minutest gui letail and then occasionally the ques- loo ioner has to give it up and turn the mo . . ? ? / iDtnse ioreigucr uvci tu au. unowv?u?, But somehow or other the line are noyes on. Each man and woman tra ,ji| |S||' IMMIGRANTS AT TJiii J [itches the family belongings along u&l .s the space between them and the the aan in the brass buttons decreases, mif ,nd the hope that springs eternal in 1 inman breast buoys them up to be- Fr< ieve that6ome time they will be able the o pass the official who so jealously riei guards the entrance to the open space ly leyond. In their hands the immi- the [rants clutch the documents handed coc o them on board ship, for all this dri inestiomng and registration at Ellis to 1 si and follows a preliminary cross-ex- ligl initiation before the steerage passen- is c ers are allowed to leave the ship, tioi ?he immigrants are ticketed, too?a up. ery necessary precaution, for there thii re several steamship linei, all landiDg i glii passengers in a promiscuous mass, and J der without that ticket it would be a Her- C ulean task to separate ono lot from | the he other. So, ticketed and registered j cor nd served with documents and cross- j is xamined and pushed and jostled into J whi ilace in the line, the hopeful refugee j ami rom monarchy-ridden Earope travels two lowly into the promised land. the When tlie immigrant nas passed ?m- i um essfully through the ordeal of an-1 at J wering the sharp catechism of the ins fficial at the lop of the Jane, he is of t landed to the mercies of the crowd on cen he ontside and thenceforth becomes 1 ommon property at the mercy of oth iotel and boarding house runners, rail- not oad agentd, well moaning bnt offi- mai ions missionaries, restaurant keepers, c'ot nd if he be lucky enough to have oug hem, relatives and friends. abl< He is a luckless wight during this casi eriod of his transition to citizen hood. I * -wrngz *s st of all, be mnet change bis 1 ney. This can be done at the : t,nd, where a firm of money brokers ( i purchased the sole right to money mging. The immigrants' savings i brought from all sorts of extraorlarv hiding places, sometimes from > depths of stockings, from the ine of waists, where nothing short of nife or a pair of scissors can secure release, from shoes and belts, and in from the mouth. L'o watch Money Changer Scully at rk is one of the most interssting hts on the island. The rapidity ,h which he changes into current n of the republic Russian roubles, lian lire, German marks, French ncs, English sovereigns and Ausan florins is marvelous. Only one nee seems necessary, and the hand 38 down into one of the well-filled ih drawers. Two or three seconds er and the amount of exchange lies 'ore the immigrant with a paper >winghow much has been exchanged, i a. i -i j a i : i.u a cue uowiiucreu luici^uci 1 a tuiu stand back to make room for the ct applicant. He might as well ;e it for granted that the amonnt is rect (as, of course, it is) for, if lie >ked at it with that air of stanned pidity for an hoar, he would ;,'not ow anything more about the strange >ney than before. Occasionally one lder than the rest will make an atnpt to challenge the accuracy of 3 amount given him, upon which an ache of the money changer's office )N PEN. 1 take the coins from the immiint's hand and explain the value of sh as he drops it back again. It is sted time, however, as the owner of 3 money is left in as bad condition dense ignorance as ever. VIoney will bny things on Ellis and and the proprietors of the ich counters, where bologna and ;ad appear to be the staple articles food, are at liberty now to charge the mob made hungry by the long it in the lines. The scouts for ise lunch counters are indefatigai workers and certainly earn their >ney. The wonder is, from the way which the immigrants are almost tgged to the bologna counters, that ne one does not get hurt in the immage. If the greenhorn gets 'ough the experience all right and Tives the bologna, let him brace up resist the onslaught of the railroad jnts, who will bear him off bodily if does not keep a sharp look out., . 'n this neutral ground at Ellis ind the scene on a busy day is bedering and distracting. The offlIs do their best to keep the mixed ss of humanity in something like [er, but with so many nationalities, h excited men and women rushing >und looking for their baggage and each other, children crying and atives and friends all chorusing a Icome together in various lan IgGS, 11 IB HO WUUUCI iixaii IUO duduu ks like a pocket edition of pandenium. is fast as possible tbe immigrants bnstled into the ferry boats and neported to the Battery, and grad LUNCH COUNTER. ly the island is deserted by all save i tired officials and the detained imgrants. i sorry-looking crowd is this last. >m the detention pen they watch t fortnnate ones who pass the bar- i r with envious eyes, looking eagerat every stranger who approaches m to see if there is not some hope ( aing from somewhere. In all the ven ani badgered crowd that passes I he boats there is none which is not it-hearted, for the red tape ordeal >vcr. The prisoners in the detcnii pen have nothing to buov them After coming nil this way to reach s land of promise, they get only a apse and are sent back to the wjIness again. )no of tbe queerest personages on island is the barber. It is hardly rect to call his place a shop, for it merely a corner of the big room jre the barber has placed a chair I hung uu a mirror and a towel or ; ?. Judging from the condition of majority of tne immigrants, the ber is an institution sadly needed 21 lis Island, but few seem to utilize services, advertised at the prices wenty cents for a hair cut and ten ts for a shave. . 'he crematory at Ellis Island is aner very necessary accessory. It is intended for the crematipn of hu- ] i bodies, bat merely to give the 1 ;hing of suspicious arrivals a thor- f ;h chance to shake off any disagree3 associations with infectious diss or obnoxious insects. 1 'airly good arrangements appear to '/ ( t \ hare been made for the housing of /Jl immigrants who are compelled to staiyj / on the island over night, the old pow- , TBZ barber's OEUkXBU der magazines having been converted into comfortable sleeping rooms. One of the worst sources of annoyance to the officials arc> the crowd of: relations that flock to Ellis Island toj j meet incoming passengers. They aref always in the most intense state of ex- j ^ citement and it is all that the gatoj keepers can do to prevent them break-j 'ft ing down the barriers in the mad rush1. to get inside of the enclosure. There being no police on the island1 it is necessary for the officials to take > ^ the law into their own hands and I maintain order by force. ^ It wonld; 1 be a decided improvement if some of the strongest and most reliable men: i on the island were sworn in to act a* 1 special policemen. An gold landmark of the island iaj ' )$, gradually yielding to the inflrmitaes: of age. This is the historical tree on;vJ^ which the pirates, Hioks, Wormsley " | and Gibbs, were hanged when the , place was known as Ellis Island. The. j tree was damaged during the storm* j of last winter, and has recently been j broken off short by the wind. All that. -J is left of the tree now is about seven ' :1 feet of bare trunk, and this the Eliia ^ Island gardener is making every effort ' to preserve. Bicycling: Without Legs and One Ira* There seems to be no limit to thel /_*$ bicycle fad, and the result has been t|| no end of freaks and freaking. Now, however, the greatest of all freaks: makes its appearance. It is a bicycle. whose rider has no legB and only one . The rider is Arthnr Boadhouse, a j boy resident of De Ealb, 111. He i* '~?|1 thirteen years old, bright and as ao-t tive as his physical imperfections,' which came from birth, will allow. Like most cripple his mind is preTHE IiEOIiSSS BICYCLIST. oocious. The bioycling craze left him; ^ in body more hopeless and helpless; ^ than ever. A neignoormg Dicycie ' a manufacturer agreed to make a wheel J which the boy could ride, and he did "Ik so. His one hafad guides the handlo$M| bar and bars of steel lead up from the I pedals to the short stumps whieh ho 1 has known as legs. Strange to say, he experienced rory little tiouble in balancing the machine. He began] riding about three weeks ago, and af-' ter three or four hours' instruction; and practice he made a half mile on ?; track in less than three minutes. Ho' * can now do a mile in less than fivwminutes, and expects to reduoe tho j time to four minutes. He has already h made a half mile in 2m. 10s. He h? learned to dismount, and can handle .' his wheel readily and without assist- >' ance. He has to be assisted, though, ."1 when he mounts, but he expects soon to be able to do this alone. De Kalb seems to have more than her share of bicycle riding cripples. . A year ago one of the young women of the town had a leg taken off by the cars. She now rides a bioycle very creditably, it ie said. ??? :H High Monntalu Observatory. A considerable sum of money is annually expended in maintaining high mountain observatories. A meteorograph has recently been constructed for the summit of Mount Blanc, at a cost of $4000, the clockwork of which will remain in action without any attention for eicht months. The high est of the observatories is at the top of the Misti, near Areqnipa, Pero, which is 19,200 feet above ee a level. The observatory on Mount Washington is 6280 feet atove sea level, the one on Pike's Peak 14,134 and the one on Mount Blanc 15,780 feet.?New I'oxk Sun. > A iicminiler. z wnwiibsk.. ^ Mrs. Missing Link?"Now, dear, ['11 just tie this knot to remind you to jring home half a dozen of those :reah cocoanuts."?New York World. A great scheme in business is to , ieep a sharp lookout on the outlook. -Puck. vvj Vi -