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/ s " ~~~~~~""????? ^ == ISSUED SEMI-WEEKLY. l. h. oeist's sons, Pnbiisherj. } % ^amitg Jgetrspa?cr: 4or ft* jgrowotioit off (he political, fforial, ^gritnKnral, and (guronttmial gntgrcsts of the feoplt. {TBB^Mo^oiY*n^lcrom'iC'i' ESTABLISHED 1855. YORKVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1903. NO. 20. I By George Copyright, 1902, by F. M. Buckles & ( CHAPTER IX. HE indisposition of Mr. Goddard was of short pOrT T duration, but the attacks became more < frequent after my first visit to Dr. ' 1 Squires, and I was occasionally called upon to carry notes for him which announced the breaking ^ of engagements. There was nothing serious about his complaint except that he appeared weak and languid and unable or unwilling to attend to his social duties. He would spend the day at such times resting on the bed or couch either smoking gloomily or closing bis eyes In a moody, dejected manner. He would lie in this way for hours without moving a muscle, but he was not asleep. The slightest noise would arouse him. He would merely 4- open bis eyes and ask, "What's the matter, William?" Then without even waiting for my reply he would close them wearily and relapse Into his former languid condition. By this time I was considerably attached to him, and It gave me as much anxiety as a relative to see him slowly going into a decline. The dread of the ^ inherited disease intensified my feelings for the man. I had no faith In r?t. finnlros hnt I mnld offer no eood substitute. Left to myself a great deal, I took to reading the books which I found In Mr. Goddard's study. Many of these were medical treatises. Evidently the man had tried to make a study of his complaint and had collected all the llt erature possible upon the subject These books were handsomely bound and copiously illustrated, but they were too technical for my limited understanding. Nevertheless I frequently found myself turning over their leaves and aimlessly reading paragraphs here and there. One day I was engaged In this Idle amusement when I happened to open the book at a chapter Leaded, "Poisons and Their Administration." 1 had not read many lines before 1 suddenly closed the book with a bang. An Idea w had occurred to me that fairly startled me. I was lustantly positive that 1 had at last a clew to the sickness of my master and possibly the reason for Dr. Squires' mystery. The doctor was slowly poisouing Mr. Goddard while pretending to help him to ward off an inherited disease. Thls>accounted for the peculiar lanL guld condition of my master at certain T, intervals. After every dose of the insidious poison he was made weak and listless. Each attack helped to break dowu his uaturally rugged constitution. It was merely a question of time before he would succumb to the poison instead of to any mythical disease. Confronted by this thought, 1 was uncertain for a time just what to do. My iirst impulse was to go to my master and tell him my suspicions so he could be placed on his guard, but as my life has never been guided by impulse 1 soon dismissed this from mind. Besides, I had nothing but my suspicions to reveal?not a single fact to A prove anything. It was my duty to collect facts and then to confront the doctor with them and have him ar rested. If he was determined to put my master out of the way and gain the hand and fortune of Miss Stetson, I was equally determined to thwart w him in his little game. The stakes were high for him, and I knew that he would play a cunning, skillful hand, but as he would suspect no danger from me I had the advantage of working secretly and without much fear of discovery. A professional burglar bas a little of ^ the detective spirit in him, and I soon found myself enjoying the scent with all the keenness of an experienced officer of the law. I bad hunted detectives before, dogged their tracks, penetrated their disguises and followed up little clews that they left behind in v their work, but all in the interest of crime. Now, however. I had turned reformer and was legitimately pursuing a criminal whose evil genius had been directed toward the destruction of one whom I had learned to like. It was no ordinary man that I had to fight against, and this gave more zest to my undertaking. I discovered that my master had a night appointment with Dr. Squires about once a week. These appointments were irregular. Sometimes they were early in the week and, again, in the middle or the end. Evidently the doctor told him each time when to come again. Upon reflection I was satisfied that there was a strange coincidence between these weekly night calls and my muster's periodical attueks of lunguor and sickness. Almost every time after he had met the doctor at night he hud been la "bed a good part of the followlng day. This convinced me that the poison was administered at the doctor's office and was not intrusted to his patient. This conclusion was reached one day when I was considerably dejected. I had been working up the case for nearly a week, and everything seemed to point to the fact that I had made a mistake In my reasoning. I could discover nothing to corroborate my suspicions. On that very day I had managed to secure the medicines my inasv ter was In the habit of taking, and, carrying them with me to the city, I had them analyzed by an expert chemist E. Walsh. ?o., New York. I was so confident that poison was contained in some of thein that I was greatly surprised and perturbed when ne told me that they were composed of harmless herbs and oils. "You mean to say there is no poison in any of them?" I asked in astonishment. "is one wnaiever," ue repueu. I did not believe he understood his business and probably said as much. I took them to another chemist and spent $5 more just to have a correct analysis made. The same conclusion from this man convinced me that I was mistaken. I walked home, dejected and baffled. The doctor was too shrewd for me, and he had scored the first victory. Nevertheless I was not discouraged. 1 reasoned with sense that the man would not adopt ordinary methods to poison my master. He was too shrewd for that. Then I thought of hypodermic injections, which might be administered while in his office. It was while speculating upon the possible methods of giving him poison that I reached the conclusion that my master's night visits to the doctor's accounted for everything. It was at these meetings that the harm was done. I Would be present at the next meeting or I would relinquish all claim to the possession of abilities of a certain *-?AA/\oonmxr #/\?? onnnnca {n mtT linn Vi UCi L1ULCDOUIJ 1V1 DUVV^OO iu ui^ of work. CHAPTER X. UT in the meantime, by mere accident I t/ discovered the secret of my master's fatal JYTbLjIJ( Jllness* happened iM One afternoon when 1 was free for a few hours I strolled down the road toward Dr. Squires' house, habit generally drawing my footsteps in that direction. I was intent upon no particular purpose. 1 was merely walking along for the change. I frequently like to get off by myself and lie down in the woods or on the green grass and think. I am a great lover of nature. The birds and grass and flowers always appeul to me. When alone in the woods. I will watch the birds by the hour, finding more enjoyment therein than in tne company of man, or an army of busy ants will amuse me for half a day. I would not hurt one of these insects for anything or permit them to be disturbed in their work, and yet I have raised my hand against my fellow creatures, partly in self defense, it is true, to wound them or to take their lives if necessary. On this particular afternoon I walked down the country highway for some distance, and then, attracted by the song of a wood thrush, I concealed myself in a thick clump of bushes and listened. The bird could not see me, and for a long time I lay there with my eyes half closed listening to the sweet music of the dainty singer. 1 do not know how long 1 remained there entranced by this private concert, but suddenly the bird hushed its song and flew away. The noise that had frightenkl her came from the hoofs of two horses, which were cauteriug down the road at a rapid pace. I peered through the leaves of the bushes at the riders, and Instantly all my gentle thoughts fled. The spell of the bird was no longer upon me. All my evil, crafty nature returned. The approaching riders were Dr. Squires and Miss Stetson. Not a dozen paces from me a small stream bubbled up from an underground spring, and it was quite customary for riders to give their horses a drink at this place. A wooden trough had been sunk into the ground to receive the water and to form a drinking vessel Tor the beasts. I was consequently not surprised when the two drew up their horses Just in front of me and led them to the spring. The doctor dismounted and held the horses while they drank In the cooling draft The two had been engaged in conversation, and 1 judged that she had been trying to extract his secret from him. "1 do not consider it an honor to keep your work so secret until you have completed your discovery," she was saying. "Then all the world will know it, and there is no special interest in It for me." "But I have promised to tell it to you before any one else hears of it" the doctor answered. "How long before?one day or one hour?" There was a look of annoyance in his face at her reply. "Any number of days beforehand you wish," he answered. "Well, then, I wish to hear it now," she replied quickly, a bright smile reenforcing her words. "Woman's impatience," he muttered. 3 1 1 ? 4^.i,hlo 4n tha II uas L'UUSKU uail luc uvuvic Ui vuv world." "That is unkind. I don't like such reflections upon my sex." "Nothing personal was intended, Miss Belle. I was merely uttering my reflections aloud." "Well, please don't do so any more." The doctor watched the horses drinking for a few moments and then, leanlug against the saddle of his black steed, he said: "Can you keep the secret if I divulge it to you?" "Can I? I don't think that question is necessary," "No, probably not. But 1 want your promise that you will never reveal It to anybody," he persisted. "Well, you have it. I will never mention it until you give me permission." "All right, then. I will tell you all. When I wus a young man, I went to India as a surgeon in the English army. There I met so many lepers that iny attention was called particularly to this disease. At first they disgusted and alarmed me. Their rotting fingers and toe joints, their running sores and their emaciated bodies were so loathsome that I could hardly stay in their presence, but in time I got used to ? J- i.. T mem, as we uu iu every uiiug. a even found myself pitying them and wondering if something couldn't be done to alleviate their sufferings and even to cure and stamp out the horrible disease. This was the beginning of a career that I have studiously pursued ever since. I spent all my time in studying leprosy in its worst forms. I determined to find some remedy for it I was limited in funds, but managed to get along by living near them. I could not exist in the same bouse with them. The thought of it nearly stifled me. But I could live near them and help them and in time perfect my discovery. "My secret is already out Miss ' Belle," be added after a pause. "I am devoting my time and life to the discovery of a positive cure for leprosy, , that most dreaded of all diseases that J ever scourged a wicked world. I am ( on the right track. In fact I have ( about perfected it, so that I will be ready to announce the results to the j world in a year. There is only one thing that bothers me. I am expert* ( menting with this continually." "Experimenting with whom?" ( The words were "so hollow aDd unnatural that I turned my eyes from the doctor's face to that of Miss Stetson. I was startled at the sight Her face was livid?paler than that of any corpse. A look of horror shone from her eyes. "Whom are you experimenting with. Dr. Squires?" she repeated In the same strange voice. "With?why?my dear Miss Belle, have I divulged any family secret?' stammered the doctor. "Did you not know? I thought your father knew that you knew that"? "That Charles had leprosy In bis system?that he was a leper?" she said slowly. "Your father knew it; his father knew it; Charles knew it when he met me. I understood that both families made no secret of it among themselves." "No, I never knew what the disease was. Father never told me. Oh, can it be possible!" She swayed In her saddle, and if the doctor had not caught her she would have fallen to the ground. I could 1 hardlv contain myself. The news near ly made me desperate. This accounted for everything. I was all wrong in my conclusions. The doctor was, after all, a good man, holding the secret of my master's life in bis possession and trying hard to help him. "You must let me give you some water, Miss Belle," the doctor said as he steadied her in the saddle. "Dismount a moment and let me bathe your forehead." "No, thank you, doctor. I will be all right in a moment The suddenness of the news startled me." "I know it I know it and I was a brute to tell you. I should have been more thoughtful. I shall never forgive myself. But, MIbs Belle, believe me, 1 thought you knew it all. He should V? O TTA TTA11 " ua tv kv/iu jvu? "No, no; I am glad he didn't How could 1 have been the same to him? How can I In the future?' She shuddered and covered her face with her hands. "Don't go on so, my dear Miss Belle," the doctor said In a low, winning voice. 'There Is hope for Charles yet You . V ^ ^ ; ' C The two had been engaged in convenev- 1 tion. 1 forget that I am close upon the greatest discovery of the age. If It succeeds. Charles will be a new man, free from all taint of leprosy." "But you could not eradicate the germs of the disease from his body; they might not show themselves in him, but In future generations they would come out!" "We can only hope for the best," he replied. "Who can tell what medicine may not accomplish? It has done wonders in the world already, and therej are new worlds that it is conquering} every day. We must look forward! hopefully for results that It would be1 daring to predict now." His words were Intended to be en-i couraging, but she did not raise heri ' head. From the slight shuddering of! 1 her delicate body I knew that she was; sobbing. 1 "Do not yield to this weakness. Miss 1 Belle," he added a moment later. T 1 tell you I will cure Charles. I can do ?+ t nhii rir? it If not for hla sake. 1 I will do It for yours." i A faint smile was visible through 1 her tears as she looked at him and answered slowly: i "You are good, doctor, to sacrifice so i much for either or both of us. Cure < ! him by .all means for his sake^ not for. ?^ mine. I could?no, 1 could never marry him; I would be afraid." Again she covered her face and sobbed. "Not If I cured him entirely?" he asked In a voice that had a curious tension to It "Not If I assured you positively that the disease would never show Itself while either of you lived?" "No, no; I could not It would be a sin, a crime. And yet I loved him so? I loved him, loved hlml" There was an awkward silence. The tears stood In my own eyes, but those of the doctor were dry and exultant The confession, I knew, pleased him. These words from her Hps would give him the clear field. He could honora- I bly try to win her love. With Charles t no longer a possible rival, what was e there to prevent him from winning a a beautiful bride and a princely fortune? t A few moments later they gathered up their reins and rode away. She was t pale and beautiful; he was strong and t robust?and exultant e TO BE CONTINUED. t ptetdfotuW iUadittg. ; PLAYING WITH FIRE. f r Tillman Warns Republicans of Their Folly. r i * Senator Tillmdn recently made a c strong and logical attack upon the mad b policy of President Roosevelt as lndi- a sated by closing the postoffice at In- t iianola, Miss., and the appointment of v Dr. Crum to be collector of the port of Charleston. His speech occupied a f part of two days, and the following Is p 3. synopsis of It: ^ Senator Tillman said he proposed to e surprise his friends and astonish his 1 ?nemies. if he has any, by being very mild in what he would say. f "If we had known at the beginning Q if the civil war/' said he, "what we lo now there would have been no r war." He inquired why the large ma- 8 lority of law-abiding citizens of In- 8 lianola shall be punished because there " tvas a small, lawless and brutal eleraent. It was contrary, he said, to the * fundamental principles of Anglo-Sax- 1 in Jurisprudence, i Replying to some remarks made by 1 Senator Spooner ih his speech, Senator 8 rillmap said: "It is not in the dreams h :f the wildest ass that roams over the 8 jouthern states with a wax skin on 0 ilm that the Federal government is lot supreme," but, he said, there were ? mmo mcnatp nroDositions which have Deen Ignored. e He said that In the south people have s i constant reminder that their ances- F :ors thlrty-flve years ago were con- v luered. "We ar% perpetually remind- u ;d," he said, accentuating his words, d 'that we are in the Union, but not of 3 t, except to pay taxes." * The poison in the race condition in 3 ;he south, he declared, lay in the ref- a ;ree system which had been adopted. F The balance of power, he said, in na- v ional Republican conventions was held )y the machine of the south, and that nachlne was composed of Negroes, h tVhen the people of the south, said he, C ose patience and do "cruel, bitter, a 'earful, fiendish and savage things, c here is a howl from men who know 3 lothing and who have never been 3 louth of the Potomac, but who have F heorlzed." 0 Continuing, and addressing the Re- t jublican side, he said that if this pol- t cy of Negro equality is carried out, d ind if some of them could be given a )laces in the cabinet he would vote for * hem. "I will vote for Booker Wash- H ngton as secretary of anything. Let e is have a Negro, a genuine Negro, not n i mulatto or hybrid. Then let us make :hem officers in the army and navy. Let us give them pro rata share of all he good Jobs, wherever they exist, * vithout regard to local conditions." ^ tfe added that nothing of the sort 8 vould be done. y After speaking for nearly two hours * ind not concluding, he yielded for an 11 ixecutive session. 8 Senator Tillman spoke for three 3 lours the next day in continuation of 1 lis remarks on the race question, and c ,vas heard with interest by the Repubicans, many of whom do not agree ' ,vlth the president in his Negro policy. r Senator Tillman, in his speech, said J :hat in dealing with the Indianola 8 jostofflce the president and postmaster c jeneral transcended their authority 11 ind resorted to methods which were a aoth tyranical and unconstitutional. He wanted to know if in figuring up 1 the purpose of their new born zeal 9 'this cold-blooded, calculative, advis- * idly-taken action," was not prompted 3y a low motive. He charged that {00,000 Negroes are coercing 50,000,000 of a vhite people in the north to deal with L7,000,000 white men in the south In e the interest of 8,000,000 ignorant Ne- B jroes in that section. He referred to the cost in lives and 3 noney on account of the race prob- 3 lem in this country, and, addressing ? the Republican side, called upon them to meet him "upon the same plane of 3 patriotism, of race pride and of civilisation, and not to fall into the pitiful cesspool of partisan politics." He read 6 extracts from the letter of the president written sometime since covering (lis views with respect to appointments r 3f Negroes to office. He wanted to be lust to the president, he said, but the views were superficial. "How little and small and infinite t 3mall," he said, "is the knowledge be- p hind such a view." s He added that the people of the north ? have no more use for the Negro at a close quarters than he had. He cited r instances of assaults by Negroes on ^ white women and declared that the j more northern people find out about the Negro the less use they have for him. The ballot of the Negro, he e maintained, was a menace to good government and the people of the north J are coming to realize that the enfran- s chisement of him bordered on a' crime, p Reverting to the president's assertion s hat he was unwilling: to shut the door >f hope and opportunity in the face of i worthy and competent, cplored man. 1 Senator Tillman said that at the first )lush there Is not a man alive who vould not agree with that sentiment, g jut he inquired if it ever occurred to ^ tnyone that in opening that door of a lope it might not be shut in the face q >f the white man. The door of hope in a South Carolina, he said, at one time t lad been closed by bayonets to the fl vhltes for eight years, while rapine, q nurder and* misgovernment ran riot, o vlth an abomination In the sight of p nan presiding over the state. r He declared that he did not hate the v *Jegro, and that all Negroes are not t >ad. Only a small percentage are bad, a md these, he said, are leading the rest c ma oeing partea on me oacx uy punlcians. a He regarded it as his duty, he said, o his state to stand forward opposed o any manner of political or social (quality on the part of the Negro with he whites. Continuing, he referred to he adoption of the fifteenth amendnent to the constitution. "When you emorselessly stand by that," said he, 'and say it is sacred, you force us to ace the alternative of a conflict of aces." The purpose of those who endorse the (resident's door of hope policy, he delared, is that in time South Carolina 2 hould become a state of mulattoes, t ind in this event he predicted that i here would be more blood shed than g vas ever shed before. ^ "I beg you for God's sake," he said, acing the Republican side, "not to ^ >roduce an acute stage of hatred, ^ yhich will bring the two races togeth- ^ r with the resolve of the whites to die ? a n order to retain their supremacy. Senator Tillman said his newspaper J- -1 nolno fn nenus aiwajro iwn, 51 gai ^amo bv n [uote everything he had said that was t hot," leaving out everything that was atlonal, decent and sane In their pur- t uit of sensations, and in this respect a ;reat wrong had been done him. "A ^ le," he said, "never had any particu- q ir truth," and he would not attempt v o make even a start to rim down those ^ hat have been told on him. p Senator Tillman said he did not want t] 0 see the African driven to the wall, nd he did not want to shut the door of f, tope in his face, but he could not con- j( ent to the dominance of that people ? ver the whites. a Senator Tilman then poked fun at a lenator Hanna and read the title of the c till he recently introduced to pension ^ x-slaves. "Oh, my God!" said he, "did lenator Hanna mean that or is it a (Olitical dodge?" The effect of the bill v v&s, he declared, to give opportunity to j, rnscrupulous Negroes to bamboozle and h leceive their people by "Securing sub- r criptions ostensibly to further the in- j] erests or tne dim. ne cunciuueu uj ^ aylng that "in proportion as you e rouse false hope in the minds of these j, ieople you are only sowing the wind e yhlch will flame up into a whirlwind ^ iter on." e Senator Tillman spoke for three ^ lours. He was followed by Senator ^ Jarmack, of Tennessee, who said the fl ctlon of the president in the Indianola t ase was not in accordance with rea- g on, justice or the constitution. He p aid that if the closing of the Indianola t! lostofflce is to be taken as a measure ^ f the strength of the executive and 8 he power of the Federal government, hen the government at Washington s ;e8erves to be despised for its weakness a n#i Jmhppllltv. The oostofflce belonged i< o the United States, and he Inquired v f a handful of ruffians was more pow- a rfuJ than the government, "with Its j] nllitant president at its head." h Another Tradition Gone. "There is a popular belief that the b tfegro knows how to handle a mule etter than a white man," said an ob- ? ervant man, from a sugar plantation, e yhere some young mules are being a rained for the work that they will b lave to do during the grinding season, tj .nd I there observed that if the over- p eer had not superintended the train- t ng some of the mules would have been jj rippled. Now, a plantation is the b test place to judge a Negro's abilities p n this respect, for there they handle nules more than do any other class of n fegroes. If a mule balks whHe a Ne- f, ,to is handling him the mule will re- a eive a good beating, and this makes a natters worse, for the more one beats jj , mule the worse he generally gets. Q ["he animal becomes stoical, and it c akes something more than blows to t. tir him. Still, the Negro does not Q hink of anything but this sort of pun- p Bhment, provided he alone has charge if the mule. Some time ago I came .cross a balking mule and an infuria- { ed Negro. The Negro , had dismountd?for he had been riding the mule? t md with a stout whip handle was tounding the mule for all that his d trength enabled him. If a pebble or a b mall piece of rpck is dropped into a nule's ear the animal will run at ireakneck speed. I thought of this, ^ md told the Negro to get into the sadlie. b " 'He won't move, boss,' said the Nerro, "and he's been standing here all nawnin' like he's dade.'" "I secured a pebble and informed ' he Negro that if he would get on the nule everything would go on well. " "Taint no use to do nawthln' no no', an' I dun gib him up,' he replied. "I finally succeeded in getting him o remount, and as he did so I drop>ed the pebble in the mule's ear. The 0 inimal threw his head up simultane- o >usly, then started away as if Mexi- s lan spurs were being punched into his lides, while the Negro held on with nuch difficulty. All I could hear was: a " 'Wonder what dat white man done Arloanq TlmPS* lis here muie. ? Democrat. , n S33" "How does you like de new preachr?" asked Mr. Erastus Pinkley. * "Very much," answered Miss Miami E 3rown. "He's got a good staht. He v cnows a heap o' words, an' jes' as loon as he gits 'em arranged In de >roper order he'll hab a mighty fine h termon." a BATTLE WITH THE BUGS. twelve Insects Cost This Country f8BO,000,000 Annually. Twelve insects will cost the United Itates $360,000,000 this year. The cinch iug will draw $100,000,000 of this large mount, the grasshopper will take $90,00,000 and the Hessian fly will call for t least $50,000,000 more. Three worms hat attack the cotton plant will asess the farmers for'a total of $65,000,00, and the potato bug will eat $8,000, 00 worth of its ravorite kind or garaen iroduce. Ten millions of dollars Is a noderate estimate of the Injury that till be done by the apple worm, and he caterpillar that makes cabbages its peclalty will destroy 15,000,000 worth of rlsp green heads. The estimate, which Is conservative nd under the mark, is as follows: Cinch bug 1100,000,000 Grasshopper 90,000,000 Hessian fly 50,000,000 Potato bug 8,000,000 San Jose scale 10,000,000 Grain weevil 10,000,000 Apple worm 10,000,000 Army worm 15,000,000 Cabbage worm 5,000,000 Poll weevil (cotton) 20,000,000 Boll worm (cotton) 25,000,000 Cotton worm 15,000,000 Total 8385,000,000 How absurd it seems that this govrnment, with an army of 65,000 men, 54 warships and more money in Its reasury than any nation has ever beore possessed, should be helpless In . fight against twelve objectionable ugs! Yet such Is the fact. The Individual ug Is small, but its "stronghold," Is ts tremendous power of reproduction. Yhat is to be done in conflict with an dversary which is capable of having billion descendants in a summer. In onflict with such an enemy Uncle Sam nds himself in much the same sltua? Ua /8U tun at) mm 01 vjuiuvcr wucu uc umovered that he was at the mercy of he LUiputlans. The cinch bug is a disgusting little east, only a third of an inch long. Originally it fed upon wild grass, but .Then civilized man arrived and planted rheat the cereal suited its taste exactor and it soon became what it is today, he worst foe of the most prized of read-producing crops. It gets into the unnel-shaped part of the leaf, where it ains the stalk, and sucks the sap until he plant dies. The bugs, multiplying t a rate almost Inconceivable, attack wheat field in armies which literally arpet the ground, and when the wheat as been harvested they fly to the auumnal corn. Everybody knows the grasshopper, irhich in the East is a familiar, but armless, Insect. In parts of the West, iowever, it is a serious menace to agiculture, afi<TTrTa "bad year" will easly do more than $100,000,000 worth of amage. it is tne true iocusi, ceieuiaid in Biblical and other history, and i the United States ranks as the worst nemy of man, barring only the cinch ug. It is a foe most dreaded by farmrs over extensive areas. Droughts hey may combat by irrigation; from ornadoes they may take refuge in uitably constructed cellars, but before he march of the devastlng swarms of rasshoppers they are helpless. The lague arrives and lo! as if by magic he crops are swept from the face of he earth, all vegetation disappears and tarvation stares them in the face. In the year 1776 when the Hesian troops, engaged by the British s auxiliaries, landed on Long Ismd, they brought a lot of straw rith them for their horses, and in it Imost undoubtedly were eggs of the isect which has since become known i this country as the Hessian fly. 'hree years later the pest began to lake itself troublesome in the neighorhood of the landing place and since hen it has gradually spread westward. Jarring the cinch bug, it is the worst nemy of the wheat, making its first ppearance as a tiny maggot at the ase of the young plant and sucking he juices of the latter. Eventually the lant is weakened and destroyed, and he maggot is transformed into a frage dark-colored gnat, closely resemling a small mosquito?the destined ? fn Ko ctreilL UL lllagsvio JCI, vvr uv. The army worm, which Is one of the lost dreaded of the Insect foes of the arrner, Is a naked-striped caterpillar, n inch and a quarter long. In May nd June it makes its appearance in nmense numbers, devouring wheat, ats and other grains and grasses. It limbs up the seed stalks and cuts off he heads. With a favorable succession f seasons it multiplies in geometrical atio, and at last becomes so numerous s to necessitate migration in search of ood. Then the army worms travel and eed during both day and night, inicting enormous damage. It is from heir mode of marching in armies at uch times that their popular name is erived. The parent of the worm is a rown moth. The potato bug seems to have been riginally native to Colorado and New lexico. Various wild plants furnished t with food, but nothing seems to have een so exactly suited tor its requirelents as the potato. With the introuction of the potato by settlers came he opportunity of this objectionable isect to multiply ad infinitum. It be an to march eastward and northward; t first slowly, depending upon its own ower of flight, but later in great big amps, assisted by the railroads, on ,'hich it took passage. It made trips f .hundreds of miles by river, floating n chips or voyaging by boat. Its pread was startling and at the presnt time its territory comprises nearly 11 of the United States. All efforts to iminish its numbers have been in ain, and $8,000,000 is a moderate estimate of the damage it does annually. In 1868 a French naturalist named 'rouvalot, residing at Medford, near loston, was making experiments with ariou3 kinds of silk-spinning insects ther than the common silk worm. He ad imported the eggs from France nd with them, by some accident, had come a few eggs 'of the Gypsy moth, already well-known as a destructive Insect In Europe. These eggs were in a pasteboard box on a window ledge and were blown away. As a result the state of Massachusetts has been obliged to spend more than half a million dollars since then in trying to exterminate the bug, which has threatened to eat every green thing off the face of the earth in the region over which it has spread, comprising some fifty square miles. It is a ravenous defoliator of fruit and shade trees, and if it should extend its operations over a large part of the country it might easily do millions of dollars worth of injury yearly. The brute is a dark gray caterpillar, two and a half inches long, and its parent is a moth of yellowish hue with black bands on Its wings. ' The San Jose scale gets its name from the fact that It first appeared in the San Josa valley, California, having been Imported probably from Australia or Hawaii. It is the worst of all enemies of fruit trees. Almost microscopic in size, it will spread through an orchard In half a dozen years, and in place of green leaves - and blossoms, leaves nothing but dead trunks and branches. A fruit-raising district attacked by It is destroyed as effectually as If overrun by a fire. These Insects, millions of them together, suck the sap of the tree, each one of them covered with a waxy scale, which forms a sort of grayish scurf on the bark. Inasmuch as a single female may have as many as 3,216,000 descendants in a single season, it is easily understood why the pest spreads bo dangerously fast Recently the department of agriculture has Imported from China a bug that preys upon it, and which is now being propagated in outdoor cages for distribution among fruit growrs. - x The grain weevil,' which destroys millions of dollars' worth of stored cereals > in granaries and elevators every year, is a little brown beetle a quarter of an inch long. The question of how to fight it is one of growing economic Importance. It was imported originally from the Mediterranean and has been "domesticated" so long that it has lost the use of its wings. Indeed, its ravages made it famous long before the Christian era, and it is mentioned in the "Georgies" of Virgil. The female beetle punctures the grain kernel with her snout and inserts an egg, from which is hatched a little worm that lives in the hull and feeds upon the starchy interior. The cabbage worm, which does more or less damage in every truck patch, is a green caterpillar, an inch and a half long. It is the offspring of a common white butterfly. The apple worm (whose parent is likewise a moth) is a reddish worm,, halt an. inch in length, and is unpleasantly familiar to everybody. There are many other destructive insects in the country, of course, but those here mentioned are the ones that does the bulk of the damage and which are moat dreaded by the growers of crops. Up to date the government, with all its powers, has been almost defenceless against these dozen tiny, but unrelenting foes.?Washington Letter. NO LEAP YEAR IN SEVEN YEARS. UuaaaAl Event Will Not Occur Again For 200 Tears. It Is very unusual but still it Is a (act that the completion of the last month of February marks the first time In history for 100 years when seven successive Februarys of only 28 days have occurred, and it will be 200 years longer, or the year 2100. The unusual occurrence is due to the workings of the rule of astronomers for calculating leap years.- The rule by which the present or Gregorian calendar is calculated is as follows: Every year divlsable by four shall be a leap year except the centuries and these shall be leap years If they are divlsable by 400. According to this rule the year 1900 was not a leap year, and therefore the present year, 1903, is the seventh year since a leap year occurred. The year 2000 will be a leap year because it is divlsable by 400, so that the next time when seven common years will fall on seven successive ? ?ill Ik. .rrtoT. 9HQC tn yCJUO Will l/C UVIU UIC ifvvw vv -* ?, the year 2100 not being a leap year. The above rule was instituted by Pope Gregory in an effort to keep the solar and calendar years together. The solar or sun year is 365 days, 5 hours, 40 minutes and 47 seconds long, so that every four years the solar year gets nearly but not quite 24 hours ahead of the common year and accordingly one day is added to February every four years to take up the dis- J crepancy. There is, however, still a slight difference, the calendar gaining on the solar year by about one day In every 400 years so that on every century year divisable by 400, the extra' day is not added. Tombs of the Ancient Prophets.? There exists in parts of Islam many tombs of the prophet Daniel. Of these one of the most celebrated is at Cairo. This fact need not astonish us. The Mussulmans admit without hesitation the duplication or even indefinite multiplication of the bodies of holy persons without their veneration for each of the remains being diminished in the least. It is worth noting that the nature of the honorary qualifications accorded to the same saint varies in different countries. Thus, for example, Daniel has at Cairo the name of Nebbi-Daniel?that is, they give him the title of prophet, as being at the same time that which suits him best and is the most honorable they can confer. In Algeria or Morocco?feudal countries? the title they give to srints is sidi, which signifies lord, which lb also the title there of military and political chiefs. In central Asia they give to those canonized persons whom they mnci? a a tn tka nrnnhst Tlftn. 1HWOV, UW V" f -r-?- ? ?? iel, the title of khodja, which means in Arabic writer or lettered. /