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MMir. A rilnln nf 1?nn>licli T.-S-fV\ jl j. (ij.c ui juiigiiou jjuci BY WALTEK BESANT t ' CHAPTER IV.-Contlnned. "You have told them, I suppose, that jou are married already." "No, I have not. I 6hould tell them, of nniiras. If I could afford it. But I can't. The old man has found out all about you, Ruth, I don't know how. He's not a bad sort, the old man; all he ays Is 'cut it,' that's all." Euth drew her breath quiokly. On her pale cheek there showed a spot of color. " 'Cut It,' he says, and you shall be a partner; keep It on and you shall be a beggar. "That's the situation, Kuth"?he threw himself into a chair with a laudable assumption of carlessness. "A begfr. There is nothing in the world that can do. I don't know any trade?I can't do anything. There isn't a man in the world more helpless than I when it comes to doing any work that will pay. So you see, as I can't afford to be a pauper, &nd it would only make things for you worse if I made you a pauper, tco, I've made up my mind that the only thing for us to do is to cut it; to have done witn- it?to separme?lo gu uu us If we had never met." "But we cannot, Harry. It is too late to talk of such a thing." "It is never too late. That is my resolution, Buth." "Good Heavens! Why, we are married. Have you forgotten that? 1" ^re we?" "Are we not?" "Look here, Kuth;" he threw himsell Into a chair and tried to assume a fine air of carelessness, as if the matter was one of very small importance. "So long as there was any chance at all for us I was willing to go on. But there isn't. It would be only cruel to you to keep up the thing any longer. I want to consult yonr interests first. I can't keep a wife, you see. I can't even keep myself. Well, now?don't fly out more than you can help, Ruth. Look here, you've got a dozen of letters of mine; you can make yourself infernally disagreeable If you please. If you go into a court of law you would even get damages, I dare say. Now look here. Don't let's have any scandal. I'll buy the letters?I'll l>uy np everything at a big price. Anything to prevent a row and to part amicably." She stared at him with a mind only ' . i half awakened. "Buy your letters? "What do you mean? Harry?husband"?she laid her hand on his arm as he sat up in the chair; "tell me what does this mean? Buy your letters to your wife?" "Wife?ah! well?of course, I don't pretend to believe that you didn't 6ee through the trick. Where were you married, pray?" ?~ ? ? Alitt "Where is that registry?" "I don't know. You took me there." "I took you to an office; but, my ohild, / It was a sham registry.u He turned away his head. Cold and elfish as he was, he could not face her as he told this infernal lie. "A sham office," he went on, "and took a false name. You are no more married than your sister, Miss Ruth Heron." i He forced himself to face her. "I don't know, 1 don't know," she said, not in fact knowing what she said. Then she stopped and neither spoke. "Do you mi an all you say?all?" she - asked. "All; I mean it all. Hang It, Ruth, nobody wants you to come to any harm! I tell you frankly that I will buy ^ack all the letters." She bent forward and whispered. He sprang to his feet with an oath and walked across the room. When he came back to her his face was dogged and obstinate, as it naa Deen wim ms father. Unhappily, the girl would not meet him with equal stubbornes6. "What does that matter to me?" he asked her, witft brutality incredible. "Do as you like. Only when you come to think it over you will say that the beet thing you can do is to follow my advioe. Give up all the papers and I'l) see you through?buy you a business; send you abroad?anything you please.' Remember that this man up to this moment had been her passionate lover one who would not find respect too great or worship too complete. What did ] say? Fear of poverty reduced him in one moment to this level. Again I say ?it makes one tremble lest through some temptation we, too ? The girl stared at him. It was as if beneath the visor of the knightly helmet, where a moment before had been the face of a man, there should be grinning the ugly features of a mocking ape. "You mean all this," she said again. "Of course, I mean it. What the devil should I say it for unless I meant it?" Brutality, you see, once begun must be kept up, even if one has had enough of It. Yet I declare that to this young man the recollection of his father's fierce eyes and of his awful threats drove pity, ' love, memory, honor?everything out of his mind. He had but one thought, to get out of the mess. "You have no pity? Consider?oh! I aave ioiq you?consider?uecause you did love me only a week or two ago " "Drop it, Ruth. If one of us two is going to be a pauper it 6hall not be me, & I cnn help it. \Ve've had a good time, and it's over. You shall bo taken care of. It is all over, I tell you." "No?no. Oh!" She clasped her hands with a cry of anguish "It is only beginning. Oh! It is beginning." She sank into the chair ho had left and buried her face in her hands. Then she sprang to her feet again as U there was no rest in her. "Oh, my sister?Naomi!" "Oh. ray sister!?how shall I tell her? What Bhall I 6ay? What will she say? Oh, I would rather die than tell her!" Be was leaning against the mantelshelf. He turned impatiently aid took up a little dagger paper-knife, one of those glittering toys the handle of which Is of mother-o'-pearl and the blade. of polished blue steel, and began to play with it, not even thinking of tho toy. "I thought you had more sense," h<i eaid, "than to* go on like this. Well, you know now what I ha l to say. Better go quietly and think it over. Come, Enth, it won't be so hard, after all. I tell you that vou sljall always have a friend in me. and " "I cannot bear it. How can I tell her? Oh, I wish I was dead! How can 1 tell her? I will kill myself." She wrung her hands, looking round the room as if for some help or comfort there. "They all say that," said the man. "But they don't do it, you Know." She pushed back her Lair; then she tore o.T her bonnet a:;d let it la'.l, a^ if the stght of it oppressed her. The wild lot>k in her eyes an 1 her white cheeks frightened t,ho man?brute as he was. "Come, l'.u'.h," he said, "be raote t-cnsibie. s Consider?think a. little. Lit us r> .rt friends." He held out his baud aa one "who seeks to conciliate. In it wa the little dagger. * She snatched it from him. "No," 6h cried. "I will never tell Naomi. Yoi may tell her?you. I will kill myself Yes?let me go?let me go. I will ki] myself." i She fought with the strength of despai while he tried to wrench the weapoi from her hand. Then his?her?fee caught, and they fell upon the floor?h< undermost. When the girl's shrieks called in th< housekeeper from the next set of cham bers, she was standing over Mr. Harrj Stoke, who lay on his back?white in th face?lying in his blood. Upon he dress was blood: ui>on her hands wai blood, and in her right hand the paper knife which she had torn from the rib of the wounded man was dripping blood CHAPTER V. THE CASE. The oase, which came on for trial i few weeks later was very briefly aii< imnorPeftt.lv -remnrterl In t.hf> Th facts, as they appeared in the reports were neither sensational nor interest ing. A certain Ruth Heron, aged 21 unmarried, was charged with stabbinj and wounding with intent to murder on Henry Stoke. The prisoner was repre sented by counsel, but there was prac , tieally no defense, and the jury founi their verdict without leaving the box In passing sentence, the judge tol( the prisoner that only a providentia interposition had prevented hei from being charged with actual mur der; he should sentence her to th< term of seven years' penal servitude, The prisoner, who appeared perfect!] unmoved, then left the dock. As reported, the case looked lik< nothing more than a common stree1 brawl among drunken and disorderly | persons. mere are mouBauas ox uuSHI WAS STANDING OVEB Mil. HARB1 6T0EB. married girls of 21 who go mad witl drink every night, and assault the ruffians, their associates, though to stick i knife into a man is reckoned beyond th( rules of the game. It wa6 not statec where the assault took place, or wha' was the position of the wounded man or the relations of these twain. Therefore the case occupied five lines, and nc one paid the slightest heed to the terrible wreck and ruin of u life. That a [ gin OI '?ii BJQOUia do louiieu up m a prioui for seven long years, and at the end oi that time should be separated from the virtuous by the memory of shame, and crime, and jail, is a thirg that happens every day. Only another ol our unhappy sisters come to grief. We are 6uch a large family that we can not love alJ ' our sisters, can we? In the city there were some persone who showed each other the paper, and whispered: "John Stoke's eldest son. Devilish unpleasant thing." A week later the matter was clean forgotten, save by the younger men who still remembered the romantic episode in the life of Harry Stoke, and still told the tale how he was knifed in a. row, by a girl, and taken up for dead. Now, had , the case been fully reported; had certain questions been asked, which should have been asked;?had I been upon the jury I would have asked these questions namely, why this girl called upon this young gentleman in his chambers on Sunday afternoon? what had Deen their relations? whether she brought that knife with her? what she said before the thing was done? and so forth; there might have been some sympathy for the girl; the jury?I know not?might have brought in'a different verdict, and there would have been a corresponding verdict, or an equivalent sentence passed upon the injured man by the world outside the courts. Let us add one or two details, not reported in the papers. The case was taken after luncheon. When the prisoner was placed in the dock, she lifted her vefl and looked round the court with seeming curiosity. She was pale, but not trembling or confused, nor did she appear in the least afraid. If she had been a mere spectator she could not have been more unmoved. When she had looked steadily at th<* Judge on the bench, the jury in their box, tne crerk oexow, the counsel In their wigs, she lowered her veil, folded her hands, and stood impassive. Being called upon to plead. sh6 made nc audible reply, but the oflicial beside hei leaned over her and informed the Courl that the prisoner pleaded, "Not Guilty." The principal witneB3 was Kenn Stoke. Considering all facts of the case one might have expected him to be in s highly nervous and agitated condition ol ?vxi-nA KaHv T+ ic ftlTxrnvtt Vmrriri if UX1UU UUU UVUJ *V w MI '? wr .? go Into a witness box and give evidence, even when one lias tp give, bo to speak out6ide evidence. But in such a case as this, when one's motives may be sc cruelly misinterpreted, and one's actions harshly judged, and when one may b< aeked "the most disagreeable questions about things one would willingly burj and forget, and when facts or a mosi damaging kind may have to be admit* ted, to go into a witness box must b< thennost disagreeable thing in the work for a sensitive and candid soul. Onl> consider what the young man migh have to confess! Yet he marched int< the box upright and confident, his cheel a little flushed, without the least np parent nervousness. The reason of tlili was. I suppose, a little note which la: in his pocket. It contained thes< words: "My sister bids me tell you that s><< will give no account at all of what tool place. She will have no question askec about her relation with you. "What yo\ say in your evidence than go unques tioned. Naomi." He went into tne box, therefore, for tified by the knowledge that, he coulc say anything he pleased. Let u s be lieve that he did really conceive himsel to have been deliberately stubbed b; the> fir]- hp cr, w^ll deserved that, nun Ishment that ho hakl no doubt in lii mind as to her having done it on par I (l\v? i iSi-- gfckl. j iafV JSP??!''4 WiIWD:g SAID Eli t'OlLU .NOT SAV. . ? ' . 8 pose, ne aeposea simply that the gli had called upon him, that there ha 6 been an altercation, that the prisone ^ seized a small paper-knife with a stet ; blade, and that he remembered nothin 1 more. The counsel for the deiense said h r was instructed to ask him one question J Could not the wound have been inflicte 1 by accident? 0 Witness said that he could not say. There wore no other ouestlons asked 1 and he left the box. Well, he had bee: , stabbed; he had been obliged to go into e court and to state that fact. What gooi _ would it do to go into other matters People must not be stabbed even >>; girls who have been deserted. Person * ally, he was horribly vexed about th S vVinla hnsinAQB nnf.tr* cnAnlr r>f thn nun *, caused by the wound. But what coul< he do? He was very sorry for the girl but it would not help him if all the stor; of his entanglement was Drocl aimed ii % open court. - Observe that when ayounj i gentleman like Mr. Harry Stoke behave 0 in this kind of way it is always an en i, tanglement into which he has fallen - and, among* his female relatives, th< , other party entangled is always the mos 1 crafty, the most subtle, the most design e ing, the most foreseeing, the most far - reaching she-devil that ever walkec - about with intent to entrap and destroy 3 the sons of women. The next witness was the house1 keeper at the chambers, who deposed 1 that, being engaged in the adjominj r room, she heard voices in dispute"; tha one of them was a woman'* voice; tha > she heard a scuffle of feet and a heavj . fall, followed by a woman's ehriek j that 6he ran into the room and saw Mr Stoke lying on tho floor in a pool o ) blood, and the prisoner standing ovei t him, the dagger dripping with blood ii t her hand, and that all she said was ? "I have killed him! I have killed him!' Another witness was the medical mai who bad examined tbe wound. He sau ' that he was called In about half-pasi seven that evening and found a mar lying on the floor unconscious anc bleeding from a wound, of which h< proceeded to give a minute description which caused the conduct of the assassin to seem very deliberate, and ever scientific. Had the weapon passed ai inoh more to the right or to the left, 01 to the north or south, It must have gone through the heart, or severed tbe?peri cadiac artery, or pierced the vasculai integument, or penetrated the femora tissues, in which case death would have supervened. He said, however, thai there was nothing to prevent the wound having been accidentally caused by t 1 scuffle and a fall. The counsel for the defense dwell strongly on thi6 possibility. The 1 wounded man, he said, had no recolleo' tion of any 6uch scuffle; on the othei * hand, he had no recollection of the ' events at all after the girl had taken uj ? the knife. He called on the jury te 6 give the prisoner the benefit of the ? doubt. The counsel for the Crown rldlculec } this theory. Here was a girl, probablj " with a grievance, real or fancied?il k was not for him to plead that grievance, 1 and his learned brother had not thoughi ' proper to advance it. She waited foi ' the.wounded man on a Sunday afterI noon when nobody was about?probablj 1 she reckoned on being able to walk o? unseen?and she attempted to murdei 1 him. Nothing could be more clear; she 1 bad made no defense; she refused t< take advantage of the power to give ' evidence on her own behalf; she hac ' aothing to say; her counsel would pleac nothing but a possible?and very improbable?accident. ; ^ that tne counsel sat down, anc the Judge 6umtned up. He, too, hac J nothing to say in favor of the prisoner It is difficult for a person to speak whe [ refuses to speak, or to let others speak for herself. The jury, without leaving the box , found the prisoner guilty of stabbing. . During the trial, there was anothei , sitting in the body of the court beside the solicitor for the prisoner. Anothei girl, evidently a friend of the prisoner . for she was in deep distress, and sai ' with her handkerchief to her eyes near] Iy all the time. But the prisoneo showed no sign of any emotion. "Whei , the man whom she had stabbed wenl , into the box she looked up curiously after that she remained perfectly still her head was bent, her hands were crossed, her eyes were raised; she received her senfence, and she walked oui of the dock afterwards with the same apparent Callousness. It was the othei girl in the body of the court who,'wher the Judge concluded, shrieked aloud; ana reii rainting on tne noor. Mr. Harry Stoke walked quicklj away. This was the end of that romantic episode into which he had crammec all the passion of which his heart was capable, and all the treachery and villainy of which mankind at large is capable. Probably in his boyhood he had , read of great monsters?men whose place is low down in those fearful ringe of flame and coiling pitch and devilisi , tortures?of whose sufTerinzs and dub Ishments one reads with equanimity ; Well, he himself had become even ai ' great a villain. That man's heart mus i be as hard as the nether millstone, whc could thus send to a felon's prison thi [ girl whom he hod toved and betrayed I to whom he had promised so much and , lied so foully. But he went awaj bravely, with quite a color In his cheek a handsome young man, as some of th< j women in the court whispered" to eacl , other, and no doubt abominably treate< by the wicked, impudent, designing \ murderous wretch who had now re | ceived her reward, which richly she de served. ' TVio nnnncol fnr l.lin ripfnriRP Walkft. across Fleet street to his chambers ii ) the Temple, accompanied by a friend i briefless but without envy. f "I was thinking^ Jack "hesaid, bu { stopped. j "So was I." said Jack. t "I was thinking " he began again " That it i6 a beastly shame to loci i up such a pretty girl for s~ven years." f "Yes; poor wretch. "Why wouldn't thi = girl ask any questions? Why did ehi refuse any cros^-examination? Wh; i wouldn'1 she allow me to ask what 1hi < row was about? Did you see her face 1 Jack? It'wasn't murder in that face ] my friend, it was pride. She neve meant to stab him. The only questioi sh^ would suffer me to ask revealed thi tr;:tM-?-what had the fellow done? The; 1 soy he's the srin of a rich city man. He' a villain. Jack: he's a villain. And he' ! a cur. Jack: i e's a cur. Well, the gir y had the swect'-st face. She let that fel N low say what he pleased?she was t? a frond to defend herself. Oh, he's a vil lain: }: "*# u vl'la'n. Poor child! I hop they will be kind to her. But she's go to cotne out again, and her liie is ru ilit'U.'' N [to i:n CONTINUED. I A Competitive Hunt. Ic a "compeiitiro hunt"' between tw< ' bands of farmers, som? fifty on a side, nea: E;i?t Atchison. Krii., a few days aj?o, ninety i six rabbits wt" killed l>y o:i<* sido aatl sov entv-six l?y tii" oth'-r. In Ui'mb competition.1 a liet is postfti '>n i!i" result. ami tb<3 winning isitlo t a !{'.'> all t!iu sum?, a-; well iis a!l tbi inyoey suikr.s. [i ? ? 1 Epitii'inU: ??l tl.vHteria. iln a factory .it New Jlr.vn.o, Conn., a Tcm days ago, a girl fainted and fell to tho (iooi whereupon. oat of pmv sympathetic norv ? outness, eleven other girls hunted, one iifto tins oth::r. A "Colonels' D;?v." Ilt wag proposed to have a "Colonels' Day at tho Atlanta Exhibition, ... > " ' :r. / V... .-n' . ' ' * i : i / . ... . -A \ ' & , . ii; >\ ^SlFis8BW9 si FAIR VENEZUELA:. !r ______ * g A SUNNY LAND GREATLY SUBJECT TO EARTHQUAKES. . e Jj Its Varied Products?An Earthquake Bell In Every House?The Capital City?Rise of the [, Republic. Q j "T 0 wonder the Venezuelans love j j their country, that fair land y 1_\ with a climate like that of 6 Southern Prance, so far from a us, more foreign than India or Japan, i yet as near to New York and Chicago 1 as Liverpool by 6teamer. Only a third of it under cultivation, yet there ^ is no want. Prosperity smiles on y them; they pay only four per cent, m g the markets of the world and they im port the manufactures of Europe and , the United States. So rich and varied a are their products that England could t I r P STREET SCEJJ blockade their coast for years and not starve them out, while the capital and Government were safely intrenched behind the mountains that climb from the seaport town of La Guayra. Four thousand feet above sea level, und only nine miles from the coast, Caracas nestles among the ranges on a plateau. Almost below it spreads the \ ' sea in one unbroken ezp inse, olear to [ Florida and New Orleans. The great plain is covered with feathery palms, i and far off Sao Sebastian lifts his head > clear of clouds. A perpetnal haze lies * on the valley, bnt a mist on the moan} tain portends an earthquake. It is a ; beautiful city of Spanish-American character, but with broad boulevards j And spacious plazas, where there is alj ways a statue of Bolivar or Washington. > The houses are of one story and > 1 TYPES OP VENEZUELAN SOLDIERS. 1 * ~ I i built of wood, with flat roofs and low chimneys, on account of the earthquakes. The cathedral of stone has a buttressed basement for safety, which ? 'A ? nnrvnrironrtQ TKfl ( glVt'S lb u ^yiaiuiuni | cornerstones, roofe and beams are mortised, the houses are built in solid [ blocks and often girded across the r street. If an architect were to put up ; a tall chimney, a keystone arch, or dig 3 a vault under a honse, he would probJ ably be mobbed. A simple wooden lintel to doors is all that is permitted. ' In the houses a bed is always put in . the middle of the floor, never near a wall,door or window, and when a slight trembling is felt the whole population \ ? - i 9 : I'llRp 3 ? 1 _ 5^LEGISLATIVE BUILDING AT CA11A _ throngs the spacious plazas. Every house lias an earthquake bell, hung > from a T frame in the ceiling. The [ lightly hung bell responds to the most delicate vibration, the lateral pus.il, 5 like r. lidal wave. When the bells \ ring violently the inhabitants rash to the streets, fall on their knees and cry, "Dios, ten piedad!" and God is generally merciful, I'or there arescarce* )' 3y as many deaths caused by Jailing 1 walls in a y^ar as there are by the r trolley and surface roads in Chicago. Yet there issearcclya hon.se :u Car rcss that has not been rebuilt at least ? u hail-dozen lime.', and the eitv is grftduUij.F WQTUlg CfiStwd wiu.l 1. . . the junction of the Catucho Biver hi with the La Guayra, where it is com- ai paratively safe. Even as it is, some st street* are immune, the San Martin' district particularly so. Occasionally tc a house stands for a generation, while m those around it topple and are , rebuilt si and have blood on the hearthstones. a; Under these circumstances the real p] estate business is a lively one, and tl certain spots bring fabulous prices p and rents. There are on the average a sixty "tremblings" in a year, and six n< destructive shocks in a century. Three p; times in ihree hundred years has the n< city been destroyed, and the repairs tl are estimated at a cost of 8300,000 b annually. tl Yet the people go on in an easy, a: mi -u?~ at?. prosperous way. xuejr uu*e> iw era, railroads, electric cars and lights, tl and old Spanish fends They swear V by Bolivar; they put him on their ft notes and stamps; their standard of tl value is a coin worth twenty cents, A and they call it a bolivare. They have C EK CARACAS ai twenty statues of him in the city; 61 they paint medallion portraits of him W - ? ? ai on their pink and oine ana yeuow ? houses fronting the plazas. He ia a ^ legend, an allegory, and some of the t] stories of him are mixed up with those of Washington, w hom they almost deify. It is to be doubted if any city in the United States honors the father of our country ps does Caracas. His name recurs in statue, tablet, painting, street, plaza, park. Meantime the citizens watch the seismic signs: Low water not preceded by a drought?the devil drinks, they say picturesquely?a mist in the afternoon, a haze on the wooded heights of San Sebastian, unusual waves on the ocean wben there is little wind, and low water in Cura Spring. They listen for the little bell, watch the British ships in the harbor, and aa-r t.hftv flould do without English cal ** */ " ~~ , w ico better than England oonld do without coffee and sugar and copper and gold. And they watch Crespo, wondering what he will do next, ready p with their pistols and knives to march t] to the front with him, 300,000 strong, ^ where they are well aware he had ^ rather be than in the "yellow house." w I How Venezuela Became a Republic, o In 1810 a Venezuelan creole, Simon a Bolivar, returned to Caracas, the city a: of earthquakes, with a bride from si Madrid. In the years he had passed tl in European capitals he had drunk a deep of the revolutionary principles h everywhere rampant. He met Lat'ay- h ette and learned of the heroic struggle of Washington, scarcely an echo of n which had reached the Spanish colon- $ ies. He 6aw the weakness of Spain c< and the galling disgrace of suffering the despotism of a third-rate Power. Simon Bolivar was twenty-seven years old. He had vast plantations of g sugar, coffee and cocoa and thousands of slaves. He was cultivated, handsome, eloquent, stately in demeanor, ambitious but licentious, cruel and ? ' rt rra rrcx V? im v cruuy. u.ia witc ujiug, uv self up to all these passions with in- a domitable energy and pride. He c seemed to have a contempt for wealth. 11 He freed his slaves, deolaring that no ? man deserved freedom who held others ~ in bondage. At the age of twenty- " nine his estates were confiscated and a price was on his head, and he was in ^ exile. J In the interval Venezuela enjoyed ? eight months of freedom under his * rule. At the height of the festivities the awful earthquake of 1811 de- e ! molished the city, killing 12,000 peo- ' I!8J8fP - i y i? CAS. THE CAPITAL OF VENEZUELA. { (i 7 ! b ! pie. Ami J the toppling walls au?l r o j shrieks of the dying the prior of the J o ; Dominicans preached in the open i *1 squares, calling it a .lust judgment1 tl : and turning the people to repentance. ! Yet in 1813 Bolivar freed Caracas [ p again, wus made dictator, and again : tl j defeated. The third time he ntted : o j ont an expedition and came down the w : Orinoco, between junglys of dark, j al ! moss grown forests, glittering with j tl i green parrots and scarlet mac a as. Rod ' n: | monkey.?, venomous snakes and man w ; eating alligators infested the dreadful hi 1 solitude, bat he yms lured on by the k: 'lovely line of the Han Sebastian d Mvautir.uVj ab'JY? the hi^h plateau of; g native city, the plain of the palms De< id the wido blue Bea, /weltering in wat in and subterranean heat. wh: When be made'his stand he was cut in ? pieces, and fled' io the jElldorado not inee with a half dozen followers. In x months he had gathered an -aria# Un: jain of unkempt, ill armed, undiscr- the Lined sons of the tropics, and marched the xem in the dead of winter across the it i reoipitons passes of ' the Andes, inv wamps and reptiles, falling bowlders, pla oisome > forests, snow, ice, chasms, ' recipicee, glaciers, hunger, naked- len ess, daunted them not. A tenth of hai lat wiid.naggard Joand, leaving their me loody tracks in. the virgin show of " ' ie Andes, stood before New Grenanda Sei ad won the day. k pr< He founded Eouador, Pern, Bolivia, 184 10 United Slates of Colombia, and an eneznela. Chile deolared herself evi ee and Argentina. The doer of all ? xese deeds, the "Washington of Sonth merica, declared he wonld yet free aba. He died in exile, when only >rty-seven years of age, the victim of political party. EOKtiE TANDEKB1LTS CASTLE. illtmore,1 Which Will Cost About Five Million Dolldrs. The work on George W. VanderQt's estate near Asheville, N. C.? on hich he has erected a mansion that reaks all records for residences in lis coantry, is reported to be nearly > Dished. Thirty-four pieces of land as large ? Central Park conld be out out of y> ie estate, which consists of 30,000 jres. Eaoh member of Mr. Vanderilt's family can, therefore, have all ? himself a private playground as ige a? all the breathing spots set __ tide for a million and a half of New a j orkere. j ? 0B( The mansion stands on a spot once ter jcupied by a mountain peak. Mr. of anderbilt had the peak out off and ^ irted away. In order to expedite to ie construction of his castle a. plaut geI as put up that turned out 60,000 ?Q ricks and 2000 flower-pots a day, the tter to be used in a seventy-five-acre W]Q lot set aside for green-houses and urseries. ' rei A $50,000 railroad was built between to iltmore station and the castle for the ^ ansfer of. materials, and this line ^ ill be torn up when the work is done. wa There is a deer park of 3000 acres, 0jt ad extensive trout ponds. The great- ye 3t curiosity of the estate, however, is ie fact that right in the oentre of it g0 ;ands the shanty of a colored man | ho refused to sell his nine acres to pr lie millionaire. GEORGE VANDEBBILrS CAST] i 1 . i , Mr. Vanderbilt offered $900 for the pr roperty, which tvas worth much less ta: !ian that. Bat the colored man was ise. "Say, boss," he remarked, "if 82 bat's worth $900 to yon I gaees it's ofl 'orth 810,000 to me. I'm. a poor man, pr am, and if 1 can afford to refute $10,00 for a place like that I should think millionaire like you wouldn't be fraid to pay $40,000 for it." It is lid in the neighborhood that this is an onm Mr VanrtaVhilf. had to r?av. 18 L.W * ? ad sinoe then the colored man has an ad 'possum and sweet potatoes on atf is table three times a day. Of The entire enterprise, it is esti- at ia?ed, will cost Mr. Yanderbilt abont be 5,000,000. The annnal outlay, of Yc onrse, will be enormous, 80 ONLY TWO PAGES THEN. ** ea: fiv ome Personal Reminiscences of the Late Captain Bassett. jaa The late Captain Isaac Bassett was th tie one man in the'employ of the loi Fnited States Senate who had been 1 ble to hold his place in spite of (t banging majorities for a period of br lore than sixty years. Recently, in by n interview, the venerable Assistant"* (1( >oorkeeper of the Senate talked of itry is long service. "It doesn't seem to me," said the an 'aptain, "that I have spent sixty-four br< ears of my life in the United States hai enate. Once m a wnue x ieei as na bough it were but a little while since in ?a youDgster of twelve years?first 001 ntered the Senate. Do you know I stc 'ae the second page the Senate ever evi mployed? The first one was Grafton on lanson, who is still living in the city, ria olding a position of prominence in Qa ne of the departments. Hanson left th? be Senate soon after I arrived; be cal -as too big for the place, and a page sti 5 nojfc acceptable when he commences rj grow rapidly. My. appointment ame through Daniel Webster; it took big man to secure snch an appoint- . 1 lent, for there were but two pages *n< lien. "When I entered upon my duies I found Hanson wearing a sait of lue cloth adorned with brass buttons. *OT t _-_.m? inr ly new suit was precisely similar, j ? ad for a time it looked as though P? lne and brass would be necessary er? arts of A page's uniform. The habit ta* f wearing such clothing died very Don, and since then the youngsters ave worn almost any kind of gar- Kei( lents they likfed best, it seems to me ?n' :iat the pages of that time had more ; ) do than their successors have now. j 7e never had much idle time while j ae Senate was in session. We two j oys had to file all the bills, I doing ne side while ray companion did the :her. That was a good deal of a job, [though the Senate was much smaller 1 len than now. ? "The relations between Senators and k ages were just about the same in tne m tk. Cr urties as iney are uuw. * uc wiyyooi, r f the Senators used to laugh ar.il talk g ith us when they wore not busy ; they 0 I ways treutcd us very well. Of courrso eft ierft were pome Senators that thought ^ ;ore of the pages than did others. I i t's Webster's favorite. 31 any a time as that great statesman s:;t ro<' on hi? nee. He always had ? more than orinary inflection for me. "iiow ioag iras 2 a pageTxom ; ?' las oi nun in reporter 'I was," eaid the Captaip.' /"TSSwj late, then in what is now. the 8ul me Ctourt room (it was on 4), was considering and votu^tsponfl appropriation bill dent that the bill conld n clock might be jso manipulated ?H it for and was ordered by ich stands outside, almost oppbmf J pember very distinctly ed was sufficient and the biU M^^Hflj^HS a rare 4 r m " fli^l ?? rgest Diamond In tbe United Statei^^^MBjBB rhe finest yellow diamond knpjin^^^^^HH d the largest stone in tins the Tiffany diamond of one hnh1?pS^^^^^BB d twenty-five and three-eighth It is a flawless double brilliatf^^^^^^^H a rich orange yellow, and is $100,000. It is an Airioan longing to Tiffany & Co.,' of rk, and has never been offttned The Star of the South is a me, of pale yellow and nearly ne size, one hundred and twentg^Bh^^H|S e and five-sixth earata. Its orijj^^^^HHH 1 weight was just abotit double.). s considerable fire, andranksaa&tf^^Bj^^^B 9 finest stones known; it now be^H^H^H igs to the maharajah of Barod*. Ihe Bed Bussian diamond ia'iuna^^Hfl^^H n bnt remarkable for illiant red color. It vat purchase^^^^^^M the Emperor Paul L for $75,00SH^^^pB )0,000 rubles) and letters of A. diamond wheighing four hundrqj^^^^^^^H d fifty-seven andone-half carats wa^BB^ffl ought irom the Cape in 3 been cnt into a brilliant of ndred and eighty carats, the Iargec^^^HBHg the world, and is valued at ?200Jb^^^^^H ) ($1,000,000. The finding of *ne is enveloped in mystery. Itwa^H^HJHfl idently snrrepitiously taken froi^^^^^^H 0 of the mines. The name "Viet^^^^^H^I " was given to it in honor, of teen, and from 1888 to 1898 it H 1 finest brilliant known. It is*l<^^H^^H9 led the "Imperial."?Atlanta Coifl A Small Man and a Big Gfrl. One of the smallest men and one^^^^D^^H 3 biggest girls in the wn in Georgia. The former is of fiazelhurst, who is twent^^^^^^HH ir years old, is three feet rrll o nnds. He has two younger bro^^^^HQ^H I who are each more than sjx 6. W. Koddenberry, of lokee, has a girl thirteen years 18 o weighs 175 pounds, and a boyH^H^BHB ren years who weighs 110 d wears a number one shoe. ? B rnintsutioaal Sarcasm. Fender?"Xotv then, you ..:, fl