Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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- ' ( ^ ^ ^ ^ ISSUED SEMI-WEEKL^ ^ ^ ^ ^ l. h. gkist's sons, Pnbu?hers. } % <Jfamilg gfrrcspptr: 4or jj" promotion of the political, gttial, ^gritttltnral, and Commtiirial gitfytsta of the ftoglt- {TEBIIa8iNo^0coApiYn^E'c^?^wcg' ""ESTABLISHED 1855. - YORKVILLE, S. C., SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1903. : 3STO. 21. PROFESStQ j % % % I By George Copyright, 1902, by F. M. Buckles & C CHAPTER XI. Is not often that conflictlng emotions trou I ble me. But on that I afternoon as I walked TgWSTJL back to Mr. Goddard's house I experienced the strangest contradiction of feelings. One moment I thought I would pursue the tragedy no further, * but decamp Immediately and let my , master work out his own fate. After all, he was nothing to me, and he prob- , ably cared less for me than 1 did for him. But the next moment I would have a revulsion of feelings. I would fall to , pitying and sympathizing with both my master and Miss Stetson. Her love for him was genuine, and it must be a terrific blow to receive such Intel- , ligence. Was she not to be pitied more ** than Mr. Goddard? On the other hand he was conscious of the terrible doom ( that awaited him and was buoyed up only by the thought that possibly Dr. .< Squires could cure him. But now he j could never gain his prize. Would j he marry him even though pronounced cured? , What would be the result? Mr. Coders dard would go away to some foreign j country, and after grieving over him | for a time Miss Stetson would yield ( to the lmDortunities of Dr. Squires and marry him. I saw the climax of the tragedy, which, after all, would | prove a tragedy only to my master, and it made me more faithful in my de- i votion to the unfortunate man. This decided me to stay by him until the < time should come when my expecta- i tions would be fulfilled. Then I would return to my old ways. Meanwhile I | was leading an honest life and making | the money which 1 spent. I had become quite efficient in my f duties, and was trusted in many ways > that never fell to the lot of my predecessor. I was more than butler?r was my master's confidential secretary In many respects. But there were some secrets that he would not reveal to me, and one was the dread disease which ( brought him so much care and sorrow. ^ Afto* hooHnar tho truth from Fir Squires' own lips my attention was drawn more closely to Mr. Goddard's appearance. I watched his languid . manners, his pale face and all the ( symptoms of disease that he showed ( during his periodical fits of sickness. More than this, I read up all the med- | leal books about leprosy and then , watched for the signs. To an excited ? imagination these were readily visible. About this time Miss Stetson and { the doctor took lunch at the bouse , again, and my attention was called to ( the matter by an incident that greatly , affected all of us.? I had not seen Mi6S | Dieisuu si Lice iuui uuauuuu nucu x i watched her from my hiding place at ( the wayside brook. She was paler ( than usual, and her manner was nerv. ous and excited, especially when , Charles was near her. I During the progress of the lunch I ( caught her studying the bands and ( face of her host on every occasion , L when his eyes were turned away from , her. I could not at first understand , the reason for this secret scrutiny, but , it suddenly dawned upon me that she, j too, had been reading on the subject and was looking for symptoms of the ( disease. ^ The doctor, as usual, was the life of the party and kept the conversation | flowing freely from one to the other, , never being at a loss for words. Nev- < ertheless there was an uneasiness in , his manner which seemed very unnat- ( ural. My master alone appeared to be , perfectly at his ease and normal. ( c When the conversation lagged a mo- j ment, he suddenly rubbed the back of , one of his hands with the palm of the , other and said: "Doctor. I think I must have run up | against some poison ivy or sumac in | the woods, for I'm sure that my hands v and face are poisoned." . , "Very likely, very likely," the doc- , tor replied quickly, but with a little tremor in his voice. "There is a great , deal of it around, and one of your na- ( A u ill.u U fp xure wouiu oe very suscepuuie iv u. | "My hands and face Itch terribly, , and blotches are breaking out on my face and forehead." Mr. Goddard con- , tinued. j I looked at Miss Stetson. She was , staring at my master with horror written all over her face. The hand that ( held her fork trembled so that she had ( to put it down. My master displayed bis hands and | added: "See these red spots on the back of | my hund. Are they not the result of poison? And over my eyes and fore- | bead. They seem to be breaking out all over." "Probably, Charles. I will investi- | ate after lunch." the doctor said bur- | ^ riedly, glancing toward Miss Stetson. For the first time Mr. Goddard turned his eyes toward her. Feeling that she ] was attracting attention, her over- < wrought nerves could stand the strain i no longer. She had been thinking as i I had?that the brown spots were the first and earliest symptoms of leprosy. " We both knew just enough to be carried away by any symptoms that resembled those which indicate the beginning of the dread disease. "Belle, what is the matter? Are you ill?" Mr. Goddard had hardly spoken these words before she dropped her hands E. Walsh. o., New York. and fainted. She would have fallen to the door had I not caught her in time. They deposited her on a couch nad rubbed her hands and moistened her brow with water. She slowly recovered consciousness. "You should not have mentioned lug poisoned to her," the doctor said admonlsbingly to my master. "To one - otawa or uer seusiuve uiBpusiuuu iuc uic? w mention of u thing like that might cause her to faint." "How careless and brutal cf me," my master said in tones of repentance. Then as she opened her eyes he knelt down by her side and. drawing one of her hands into hie. said: "Did 1 frighten you? 1 was a brute to do it Look at me. Belle, and tellrue that you forgive me." For reply she turned her head away from him with a shudder and withdrew her hand from bis clasp. "What Is It dear?" he continued, ' rm not draw nwav so. Tell me what It is that I have done. I will do anything to repair it Speak, Belle." "keave me. please; leave me," she gasped. "I'm nervous and excited. Let me alone for a few minutes, and then I'll foe better. But I must go home. Doctor, will you help me to get ju my things?" "Belle, you're not going to leave me like this." pleaded my master, approaching her again. But she moved aside and said in a wavering voice: "Let me go now. Charles. Maybe I an explain some day. I'm not myself aow. C.oodby!" She did not extend her band or offer to take his, but walked quickly out of the room. Mr. (ioddard stood quite still for some time, puzzled, perplexed, discouraged. CHAPTER XII. WAS probably as much i troubled as my master i A over tills sad state of ?\.i affairs. Miss Stetson's treatment hurt him uiore than he cared to confess. He seemed so i perplexed and worried over the matter A ? | i.| rx^tnf Lliai 1 ,WUS buverui lliuco uu iuc Df telling him the reason for her sudien aversion for him. i There was but little doubt that he i bad noticed her dislike for him, but he was too proud and sensitive to mention the matter to any one. He was not a kind to speak of such personal questions even to Dr. Squires. For several days he remained away from the Stetson mansion, sending me over < twice a day to Inquire after Miss Stetson's health. 1 never saw her myself iu any of these visits except the last rben, instead of sending the message clown to me by one of the servants, she called me up to her library. i The first thing 1 noticed about her was a peculiar careworn, suffering exrtrouwinn nn hpr fnpp TTndpr thp dark ?yes and around the lips there were delicate lines and tints which revealed more than words. She had suffered and was doomed to suffer more. Pathetic acceptance of her lot was apparent on every lineament of her face. She had evidently battled successfully with herself and had become resigned to her fate. The room in which she ushered me was an old fashioned library where her father, the doctor, had gathered together many rare books and curios. The heavy woodwork, the dark paper and furnishings of the library cast a gloomy aspect over the sole occupant, aud her white face gleamed out of the darkness like an old fashioned picture In a somber setting. In spite of her surroundings she was still beautifulmore beautiful it seemed to me than when fully exposed to broad daylight Hers was a beauty that did not fade In light or shade. "You come from Mr. Goddard with 1 message for me?" she said interrogatively as I entered the room. "Yes. ma'am. He sent to inquire after your health." I replied, bowing respectfully. "And he trusts you without a written message?" she continued. "In this matter he does, for be considered you too ill to write, and he did not wish to put you to any unnecessary trouble." "That is the true reason," she said quietly. "He is always very considerate to me." "He is to every one." I added, wishing to show my devotion to him. "Yes. yes; he Is kind to all. He is a [rood man." "I have never met a better, ma'am, If you will permit me to say It, and I've seen many kinds of men In the world. He Is always thinking of other people, and If he does wrong I believe be has souie good reason for it" She looked at me as if she liked to hear me praise him, and when I stopped her expression seemed to say, "Go on, go on: it's music to me." But I knew my position and would say no more. "Is Mr. Goddard well himself?" she asked when she found that I was mute. "Yes. Except for an attack of poison, which has now gone away entirely, he has been very well." She turned a shade paler and then flushed a little as she remembered that I hud been present on the day when she fainted. "Dli, yesn remember be spoke of the poison the last time I saw him," she said in a moment, recovering her mental poise. "Have the spots or eruption entirely disappeared?" "Entirely, ma'am. There are no signs of any left." "I suppose Dr. Squires gave him something to cure them." I knew that she was thinking of the doctor's cure for leprosy and that she imagined he bad given my master something which would drive away the first symptoms of the disease, at least temporarily. But I knew differ I fVirv AnnAi*fiinlfir A CUllJ', auu 1 tuuncu IUC V|/(TVIVUIUW/ %v disabuse her miud of the mistake. "No, ma'am; the doctor did nothing for ray master," I answered. "I gave him something which cured the eruption." "You? What did you know about the matter?" "Not very much, ma'am, except that I had been poisoned once, and I remembered what helped me. I asked my master to let me get him a bottle." "A bottle of what?" "Witch hazel. It was one of my mother's cures for poison from ivy or sumac." "And that cured him?" Her face brightened wonderfully. She began to realize that she had been a victim of her imagination. "Completely." 1 answered. "Then it was not?nothing more serious than ordinary poison," she added, with a sigh of relief. il\TA4ktnM .viAtnm ? iiuiuiu^i uiu am. She gave expression to her relieved feelings in a short laugh. The sweet "Fou come from Mr. GoddardV' ness of It made me turn my head to look at her. The beautiful face had Buddenly lighted up so that it seemed almost divine in its expression. Here. I thought, was true love, and I willingly adored her for It "Pardon me," she said after a moment of silence. "1 was thinking of something else which amused me. You must take a message to your master." She walked toward the library table and drew pen and paper from a draw? - ' ' A- a xu er. sne nesitatea a moment ana uieu added: "No; I won't write. I will send a verbal message by yon. Charles has trusted you to bring one, and I will return it in the same way." "Thank you, ma'am. I shall endeavor to prove worthy of the trust" "Well, tell Mr. Goddard that I am quite recovered and that I expect to have him call on me today. Be sure to tell blm that I must see him at once. He must give up every other engagement to come to me. Now, do you understand? Can you put It so he can't say no?" "I can. ma'am, and I'll venture to give you my word of honor that he will be here before the sun sets." "Go, then, and prove your words." As I left her presence I felt that my mission had been one of mercy that morning, for I had, apparently unconsciously, been the means of lifting a burden temporarily from one heavy heart I knew also that I carried a message that would bring a ray of sunlight into the life of another. 1 might have stretched the Importance of this interview to my master or I might have given him the literal truth. I know not which now. However. I delivered the message. It was sufficient to make him obey it The result of their meeting was manifest at once. Both of them appeared happy and normal again, and the old relationship seemed to be re-established. How much Miss Stetson explained to him about her fears and knowledge of his case I never knew, but for a time at least she was determined to put down all feelings of aversion for my master because of her knowledge that be was a doomed leper. Or perhaps?like another self sacrificing virgin that I have read about?she had decided to consecrate her life to him, to live by him and nurse him through the coming years of pain and suffering and mental agony which must ever be the lot of a leper. TO BE CONTINUED. The Grace ot Abhorrence. The duty of abhorring evil is one that Is general in its nature. It admits of no exception of favored vices. We are very liable to excuse the sins which we "are inclined to" while roundly condemning those 4we "have no mind to." It Is one of the weaknesses of poor human nature that if a sin is agreeable to us we discover or invent excuses for it. It is not so bad as some other sins; indeed, in .our case, it is not certain that it is a sin at all. We have a certain right to do what we would blame others for doing or we even say to our selves that It is merely conventional wrong, but Is in fact no real wrong. Whatever is wrong without exception In our own favor we ought to cultivate the grace of abhorring it, for we may be certain that if we allow ourselves an easy sentiment of allowance for any sin we have taken down the bars to its commission and one sin being made easy opens the way to another and another until the conscience is seared as with a hot iron.?Pittsburg Press. Miscellaneous grading. FROM SOUTHERN STANDPOINT. Editor Howell Makes Forceful Reply to President Roosevelt. Here Is the editorial reply by the Hon. Clark Howell; editor of the Atlanta Constitution,' to the letter written to him by president Roosevelt anent the appointment of Negroes to office In the south': Replying to a request for an expression concerning thfr letter of Mr. Harry Sttllwlll Edwards,; recently published in the Constitution, President Theodore Roosevelt hai written somewhat at length to the editor of the Constitution, presenting ,in his usual forceful and vigorous manner a statement of his position as regards the matter of Federal appointment In the south. ; It will be recalled that Mr. Edwards, the postmaster at Macon, took the position In a communication to the Constitution that the '^sudden outburst of ff antagonism to President Roosevelt In all parts of the south was based upon a misconception of^the president's real attitude on the racje question. Mr. Edwards held that President Roosevelt had In reality appointed not as many Negroes to offices In the south as had been appointed by any of his Republl can predecessors; that, .as regards the social or personal recognition of the Negro, he had done no more than had been done by President Cleveland. He expressed full confidence and with an evident air of authority, that instead of being hostile towards the south as expressed in the determination generally attributed to Mr. Rooseveit to run counter to the well-defined sentiment of the south as regards the appointment of Negroes to important offices in white communities, the president was actuated by a feeling of profound regard for the south, and that nothing was further from his purpose than to affront the better sentiment of so large a section of the country. Speaking for himself, the president frankly and freely makes a definite statement published elsewhere in today's Constitution. Ti. ?tit U- i? kta l^fAr 11 W 111 UC UUDCI *cu lliak III HID 1CIIC? the president refers to Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, of Virginia, and others for verification of the statement made by him that his attitude toward Georgia, as shown in his appointments in this state, is a fair expression of the motive which has governed him in appointments in all of the southern states. Fortunately Mr. Page presents an interesting statement of his own views as regards southern appointments in the current iewue;?of Collier's Weekly, and the article of the distinguished southern author is presented in full, elsewhere, that it may be read In connection with the president's statement. Mr. Page, as will be seen, discusses the president in a friendly way, believing that he has been placed in a false position by the peculiar, combinaticn of circumstances which have unfortunately had the effect of reopening the Necrro Question bv impressing the south ^Ith the idea that the wheels of time have been turned back thirty years, creating natural consternation in the south, was again to be turned through the valley of the shadow from which its people had fondly hoped they had safely emerged. "There are those among the whites," says Mr. Page, "who know the president, and who know that, however, he may have misunderstood conditions, he has no intention of fastening on the south again Negro domination, or of fostering social equality in any form." Mr. Page presents In a most interesting manner the conditions existing in the south when Mr. Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency, and makes it inferentially clear that if the revulsion of southern sentiment against the president was based upon a correct understanding of a position of hostility to southern sentiment, and a determination to ignore it, such a protest would be most natural and defensible. Mr. Paee is convinced, however, that the president Is misunderstood, and ^hat he says on the subject will be read with unusual Interest. But of chief Interest Is the expression of the president himself. He reviews the appointments he has made in the south and asks "that comparison be instituted as between his attitude, as shown in his southern appointments and that of his predecessors. He expresses surprise and pain at what seems to him an "incomprehensible outcry in the south" about his actions?"an outcry" ?with a not easily understood reference to "New York for reasons wholly unconnected with the question nominally at issue." It is apparent that the president has been disconcerted at the general criticism to which he has been subjected in the south, and by northern newspapers as well, for his assumed attitude of antagonism and rebuke to the white sentiment of the people of the south. It is equally apparent that the president prefers the good will of the south, as he does that of every other section of the union, to such unpleasant contempt as may be based upon the idea that he Is riding roughshod over the better sentiment of the people for the purpose of emphasizing his adherence to a pet theory which finds no lodgement in the southern mind, and but little in the north. As the Constitution stated in discussing Mr. Edward's letter, the people of the south would be more delighted than those of any other section to find that the president's position had been misunderstood, and it is but to the president to say that, in the light of his own assurances, coupled with the statement of Mr. Page and that of Mr. Edwards, his words are entitled to due consideration, and to the conservative thought of the southern people. The south would infinitely prefer to feel umi the president sympathises * with Its better sentiment than to be forced to dwell In the thought that Its people are living under an administration hostile to all that to which the people of this section cling most ten aclously in defense of their underlying civilization. It is perhaps, natural that the president, under all circumstances, should not say as much in giving his views on this subject as has been said for him by Mr. Page and Mr. Edwards and yet the evident display ' of conservatism and friendly feeling In Mr. Roosevelt's utterance Is so marked A ~ 1aah4 a aiiananalnn A# cwj iu ucopcaiv at icaou a ouo^uoivn ?-?*. criticism with the view of rendering final judgment upon the subsequent events of his administration. There remains two years of his present term of office, and unless appearances are deceptive, Mr. Roosevelt will ; be nominated by his party as his own successor. Whether or not he will be elected is a different thing?the Constitution hopes and believes that he will be succeeded by a Democrat?but there is abundant time in the closing years of the administration for the tviAlrA or/w1 oil thot' hflO H?coiuvin vu iimavi gwu ??< vi???% been said for him as regards his attitude in the matter of "southern appointments. It is a dreadful, uncanny thing for the south to be made to feel that it is not "at home in the house of its fathers." True it Is there and there to stay, to do its duty loyally, how much 1 better for the people of this section to know that they are close to the throb of the nation's heart, with the right hand of fellowship extended, with their sympathies respected, and their conditions appreciated, rather than the association be one of open indifference or actual antagonism. As for the Negro, he is being treated more fairly in the south today than in any other part of the Union. The best people of both races understand each other. If there is a problem it will work itself out in God's own way, and in His appointed time. The result cannot be forced. To attempt to do this is to lose all the progress that has been made, to hinder Instead of to help the Negro?to make it harder for those in the south who do understand him and his conditions to help the race in* Its effort at practical elevation. This said, therefore, let us give the president a fair showing, and let us judge him by the future. If by his future course he shows that he understands and appreciates conditions as they exist in the south, he will go out or omce witn ine same regard as mui in which his lamented predecessor was held. KEEP IT IN THE BANK. That In Where People Who Have Money Should Put It. Recently when a big robbery took place not far from here a man 'phoned to a bank and Inquired if the banks would be responsible for stolen money. The bank answered yes, of course. This illustrates that many people do not understand about banks. Luarens has four bftnks, all strong Insti tutlons. There is a lot of money In the country. There Is a lot In these banks. There is also a lot outside. Every bank Is provided with a flrstclass vault. Any bank is ten times as safe as a private house. The Individual who keeps large sums In his pockets has neither the money safe nor his life safe. Now and then In the country people are killed for their money. This rarely happens in town. The man who keeps his money In a bank learns business habits. All progressive men, there are no exceptions to this rule, deal with banks. There is a great deal of money in this country that is not In banks. Does It help the banks to deposit In them? Certainly It does. But it helps the depositor too. If we had no banks In this country, wouldn't we be in a nice fix? If we had no depositors we would have no banks. I The man who is a regular depositor will always have banking friends. The banks look after those who help them. That's the first rule In the banking business. There Is a time when every man wants to borrowsometime or other In his life. When he can put his money in the safest place possible?in a bank?and at the same time make a friend of the bank, it is strange that he falls sometimes to do it. The great power of the New England states lies in the fact that the working people there have hundreds of millions of dollars laid away in the banks.? Laurens Advertiser. Rules For the Sick Room. Here are a few rules of the s.ick room that are worth remembering: Never allow a patient to take the temperature himself. Many patients are more knowing than nurses when there is a question of temperature. Never put a hot water bottle next to the skin. Its efficiency and the patient's safety are both enhanced by surrounding the bottle with flannel. Never allow a patient to be waked out of his first sleep; either intentionally or accidentally. Never imagine that a patient who sleeps during the day will not sleep * *?? ? 1 ?* tilt.? alnona during me nigm. xnc muic nc o. the better he will be able to sleep. Never hurry or bustle. Never stand and fidget when a sick person is talking to you. Sit down. Never sit where your patient cannot see you. Never require a patient to repeat a message or request. Attend at once. Never judge the condition of your patient from his appearance during the conversation. See how he looks an hour afterward. Never read a story to children, if you can tell it. Never read fast to a sick person. The way to make a story seem short is to tell it slowly. ' Never confine a patient to one room, if you can obtain the use of two. Never allow monotony in anything.? 11 Nursing Section of the Hospital. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. I wandered to the grogshop, Tom; I stood beside the bar And drank a bowl of lemonade and smoked a bad cigar; The same old kegs and jugs were there, the ones we used to know When we were on the round up, Tom, some fifteen years ago. The barkeep .is a new one, Tom; the one who used to sell Corosive tanglefoot to us is roasting now in?well. The other has a plate glass front, his hair is combed quite low, And looks just like the one we knew enmo flftppn VPam atrn. Old Soax came up and called for booze; he had the same old grin, While others burned the lining from their throat with Holland gin, And women stood beside the door, their faces seamed with woe, And wept Just as they used to weep some fifteen years ago. I asked about our old time friends, those cherished sporty men, And some were in the poorhouse, Tom, and some were In the pen. And one. the one we liked the best, the hangman laid him low; The world is much the same, dear Tom< as fifteen years ago. I asked about that stately chap that pride marked for its own. He used to say he could drink or let the stuff alone. He perished of the James H. Jams out in the cold and snow; Ah, few survive who used to booze some fifteen years ago. New crowds line up against the bar and call for crimson ink; New hands are trembling as they pour the stuff they shouldn't drink, But still the same old watchword rings, "This round's on me, you know!" The some old cry of doom we heard some fifteen years ago. I wandered to the churchyard, Tom, and there I saw the graves Of those who used to drown themselves In red fermented waves. And there were women sleeping there where grass and daises grow Who wept and died of broken hearts some fifteen years ago. And there were graves where children slept, have slept for many a year, Forgetful of the woes that marked their fitful sojourn here. And 'neatt) a tall white monument in death there lieth low The man who used to sell the booze some fifteen years ago. ?J. S. Holden In St. Louis Globe-Democrat. AS THE MOLES TELL IT. Good and 111 Fortune Indicated by One's Birthmarks. Said the old nurse of the newly arrived baby she had come to see: "This child's going to be pretty and grow up to make a fine marriage. She's got a mole just above her mouth on the right side and that sign never falls." The fortune tellers and readers of hlrfhmorlra nil DllPrlhP lmi?OrtAnce tO moles, declaring -that every person bears somewhere on his body the mark of the sign or planet which was in ascendency at the time of his birth, and that according to the color, shape and location of the mole the individual character and destiny can be divined. Moles on the right side of the body generally are symbolical of good. Moles on the left'side, considered as a whole, indicate adverse fortune for the possessor. A mole on the back of the neck denotes a happy," successful life, but indicates that the possessor must beware of the water, should keep an eye on the safety rope when surf bathing, and be careful about going out in small boats with inexperienced skippers, for this an indication of an untimely end by drowning, coupled with the good fortune in this horoscope. A brown or honey-colored mole on the edge of the chin Indicates for the baby of either sex a felicitous marriage and long life. If such a chin mole be black the meaning is reversed. A mole In the hollow of the chin denotes a quarrelsome contentious disposition, while a mole of any color on a woman's under lip signifies Improvidence, folly and slothfulness. A mole on the left side of the upper lip forbodes celibacy and a close-fisted disposition in man or woman, and also indicates that existence will be hard. A mole on the throat is an unlucky omen, meaning trial and misfortune. A girl baby having a mole on the left side of the forehead will be married twice and be apt to be estranged from her kin people and perhaps reside in foreign lands. A mole on the right side of the forehead indicates a person of independent ideas and one apt to take the initiative in enterprises. Explorers and inventors have this mark. If the mole so situated is of pronounced size and color it betokens the inheritance of leg acies and handling of much money. Moles opposite each other on both sides of the neck or chest foretell a struggle for whatever Is the possessor's aim In life, whether It be fame, or a love match, or for some pet principle or hobby. No smooth or flowery path awaits the possessor of such birthmarks, though victory and achievement may be the ultimate end. A mole on the right side of the upper lip, just a suspicion above the mouth, means rare good fortune. A girl child so blessed is bound to be married between the age 19 and 24 and become an excellent wife and exemplary mother. Health, discretion and engaging qualities are her endowment. A boy baby with this mark has the prospect of a successful career, honored and beloved by his contemporaries. Joy attends those persons with moles on the right legs or thighs. They will not only have abounding good luck, hut will be of the disDosition to con strue all things for good and create their own happiness. A mole or two on the right foot betokens an equable, peace-Joving temperament and a moderate degree of success in business undertakings. A mole on the arm Just above the wrist, if on the right side, is a happy omen, insuring love and the esteem of friends and associates to the possessor during a long life. A mole similarly situated on the left arm signifies the power of fascination, but indicates fickle fortunes for the bearer.?New York Sun. BEAR THAT SET A CREEK AFIRE. A Weird Tale of the Oil Regions at the Begtanlag of Their Boom. "In the early days of the Pennsylvania oil regions," said Dr. W. H. Goold, of Reno, "the woods were full of wild animals, and as a consequence of their boldness and the peculiar and new factors the oil business had Introduced Into the region, odd happenings In which those animals and welldrillers, teamsters and others employed in oil production were concerned, were frequent. "I was one of the first seekers after riches that went up along Cherry Tree Run, In Venango county to put down oil wells. Trout fishing was excellent in those mountains streams then. I was an enthusiastic trout fisherman, and one day in June, early in the days of the rush to Oil Creek valley, I went very near to the headwaters of one of the small brooks that emptied into Cherry Tree Run to enjoy a day's fishing. "It was nearly dark when I got down to the mouth of the brook, loaded down with trout, and about tired out. I had three miles to travel yet to get to my shanty and I resolved to camp for the night on the banks of the run. I ate a hearty supper of trout, built a rousing camp fire, and lay down by the side of It and went to sleep. "Some time in the night I woke suddenly and wide. The camp fire was still burning brightly, and threw a broad pathway of light out upon and across the run. As I lay there wondering what had awakened me I saw a big dark object moving forward in tne stream plainly visible in the streak-of light and swimming directly toward where I lay. "It was a spooky sort of sensation, and I lay still, scarcely daring to breathe, with my eyes fixed on the approaching object, which swam deliberately across the creek. As it crawled out of the water and up on the shore I saw what it was. It was a big black bear, ' ' N "The bear paused a moment after landing, and then slouched right on toward the camp fire, prompted by genuine bear curiosity. The fire was not more than 25 feet from the creek. ! "The discovery of the identity of the mysterious object and the rapid advance of the bear toward me broke the spell under which I had lain. I sprang / to my feet, grabbed a biasing stick from the fire, and hurled It at the approaching animal, which was then almost within an arm's' length of me. The brand struck the bear. Then like ? n# cninnnwrier the DOOr beast burst into flames from snout to tall., "With a howl that filled the woods with frightful echoes and me with terror, the blazing bear turned and fled to the creek, and plunged into the water. If he had expected to find grateful help there he was wofully mistaken, for in an Instant the creek, from bank to , ' bank, and far above and below where I stood, a horrified and* dumfounded spectator of the weird scene, became a line of leaping lire, lighting up the gloom of the forest for rods on either side. "There came from that roaring flood of flame one long, unearthly wall of agony. For a second I saw the blazing form of the wretched bear writhe In torture in the burning creek. Then I saw and heard him no more. "I never stopped running until 'I arrived at my shanty, my way being lighted by the blaze on the creek. At the shanty I learned that an oil tank x had sprung a bad leak that evening and before it could be stopped several hundred barrels of oil had run into the creek and floated down on the surface. hoar ha<1 struck thifl 1UC Uliiui iiaiHMv www. Inflammable stuff when he swam the creek. His fur being saturated with it. The bear, plunging into the creek all ablaze, had set the whole oily surface on Are and met his frightful fate." ?New York Sun. Fighting Over a Line Fence.? A good lawyer learns many lessons Jn the school of human nature; and thus it was that Lawyer Hackett did not fear to purchase the tract of land which had been "lawed over" for years. Some of the people wondered why he wanted to get hold of the property with such an incubus of uncertainty upon it. Others thought that perhaps he wanted some legal knitting work, and would pitch in red-hot to fight the line-fence question on his own hook. Thofo what the owner of the ad Joining: land thought. So he braced himself for trouble when he saw Hack- t ett coming across the fields one day. Said Hackett, "What's your claim here, anyway, as to this fence?" "I insist," replied his neighbor, "that your fence is over on my land two feet at one end, and one foot at least on the other end." "Well," replied Hackett, "you go ahead just as quickly as you can and set your fence over. At the end where you say that I encroach on you two feet, set the fence on my land four feet. And the other end push it on my land two feet." "But," insisted the neighbor, "that's twice what I claim." 4 "1 don't care about that," said Hackett. "There's been fight enough over this land. I want you to take enough until you are perfectly satisfied and then we can get along pleasantly. Go ahead and help yourself." The man paused, abashed. He had been ready to commence the old struggle, tooth and nail, but this move of the new neighbor stunned him. Yet he wasn't to be outdone In generosity. He looked at Hackett. "Squire," said he, "that fence ain't going to be moved an inch. I don't want the land. There wasn't nothing in the fight but the principle of the thing."