Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, June 16, 1908, Image 1

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i.m. OHIST'S SONS, Pubii?her.. } % jfamilj Uuuspaper: 4or the promotion oj th< political, ?oqial, Sflrifluttut;al and (Eomntfitcial Interests of the people. { established 1855. YORKVILLE. B. C^rTlJESl)AY, JUNE"16, 1908. NO. 48. ( ymm coaya/cht. /907 t SfsyTr a. c Aftclu?c i* co. CHAPTER III. _ ^ Disappointed and somewhat cha"" grined at Mrs. Armistead's answer, I rose to my feet and prepared to join the young ladies in the drawing room. I had been so interested in discussing Fletcher Boyd's will with Mrs. Artn' Istead that I had completely forgotten Vincent. At first I thought he had already left the room, but In a moment I heard him laugh and discovered him actually sitting on the floor before the fire, playing a species of mumble-the peg with the secretary. Extremely unbecoming conduct for both of them. I thought, and Mrs. Armistead thought so. too. for she spoke sharply to the secretary, who left the room with reddened cheeks. Vincent, however, was unabashed, and, after holding the door open for her, he followed me to the drawing room, without heeding my remonstrances. He seldom does heed ? them, I may say. It was on the third day of our stay when Vincent and I had begun to feel thoroughly at home at Castle Wyckhoflf, and when Vincent had begun to feel more than thoroughly at home with Agatha First, that I made an important discovery. The morning was rainy, and after breakfast there was nothing to do but to read?that is, until Agatha Sixth came down stairs. I had found her to be an unusually welleducated girl and had given her all my attention during the three days I have mentioned. So I wandered into the library and began to explore the tall bookshelves to find something that interested me. And I found It, though it wasn't exactly for what I had been looking. On the lowest self I discovered three heavy but new looking albums. From idle curiosity to look at ** what I supposed were pictures of the dead barons of WyckholT I dusted the first of the big books and began to turn the leaves. I found it full of photographic reproductions of oil paintings a?nirtine the ladies of the family, and on the last page of the book I came upon a picture which thoroughly startled A me. It was a copy of a full-length protralt of the last Baroness Wyckhoff, I whose second husband had been Fletcher Boyd. The picture showed a slender little lady, with straight dark hair, an aquiline nose, and a dark complexion. ^ the living image of Agatha Sixth! Stunned by the Importance of my find I closed the book, put back the albums where I had found them and stole from the room. I had a guilty feeling, almost as if I had done something wrong, yet it had been an accident for which no one could really blame me. Full of excitement. I went to find Vincent to acquaint him with my good news, and discovered him In the morning room playing chess with Agatha First, or rather, he was showing her how to play, for he was hangw ing over the back of her chair and moving her hand with his hand whenov?p it was hpr mnVP I coughed as I entered, and frowned. I am always frowning at Vincent these days, it seems to me. but I really have to. He needs a little restraint. "Good morning. Miss Agatha." I said, pleasantly: "how does the game progress? Is Lord Wilfred an efficient teacher?" "Very." replied the young lady, shortly, and both of them looked at me with such insolent hostility that I was obliged to leave the room, murmuring apologies for intruding. I was rather vexed with Vincent about this: he doesn't show me quite the respect due an older man from a boy of his age. Not that I am old. or anywhere near middle age. but still I am Vincent's senior, and this incident determined me not to communicate my discovery to him. Why should I tell him and put a formidable rival into the field? Not that I'm afraid of Vincent exactly, for I have always found that when the girls tire of his fun. they are very glad to fall back upon an experienced man like myself, who has seen the world and is acquainted with Shakespeare and the musical glasses. Nevertheless, it seemed a pity to invite Vincent to enter the lists against me. for I had fully made up my mind to win Agatha Sixth. Not that I am mercenary?not at all. But .it had been some time since I seriously considered marrying, and. after all. I thought, why not consider it now, and. as long as I was selecting a wife, why not pick out one beautiful and accomplished. "And rwhy not," I asked myself, "while I am about it, make it that one of the Agathas. whose title was the honorable, with twenty millions?" Twenty millions, when you think of it. ought to keep a careful man comfortable for life, and Vincent was smart enough? let him look out for himself. And thus I decided not tell him of my discovery*. We snent the eveninsr of that dav each according: to his fancy?Vincent playing tag and blind-man's buff with four of the girls, while the fifth played on the piano, and I in the next room reading Kdmund Burke's speeches aloud, while my adored Agatha Sixth did fancy work. She really did everything very well. Finally Vincent and I took our leave, and when we were in our own rooms and Vincent had wrapped himself in my favorite bathrobe and appropriated my armchair, I was almost tempted to tell him all about it. Just as I was about to begin he spoke. "Arch, my boy," he said?a disrespectful method of address, by-the-way. but I let him proceed?"Arch, my boy, do you know I like that girl. Agatha First? She's a true sport, and that plump little one with the blue eyes is a pace-setter." "Agatha Third, you mean?" I asked. I was not aware that you had got any j further than our introduction with her." ^ "Oh. yes." said Vincent, as though it were the easiest thing in the world; "I told fortunes with her all afternoon and played tag with her most of the evening yesterday." lAgatm r PICTURES BY WW, 5* WAITERS ^ A TRTY CAMPBTTT y' AiTsmm wmsax I "Really, Vincent," I said sarcastically, "that fortune-telling game of yours is a little old. Can't you find something new?" "What's the use, so long as it works?" he replied, watching the smoke from that nasty pipe of his curl upward to the celling.* "But I tell you what," he pursued, reflectively, "that girl with the fair hair who played the piano, Agatha Fourth, she's a stunner." "Upon my word, Vincent," I expostulated. "where do you find time for so many of them at once? Doesn't Agatha First feel neglected?" "I suppose so." replied the young Insolent. "but I can't help that. I'm going to give them all a whirl?but Arch bald"?he was getting sleepy and his pipe had gone out?"I really do like red hair best." "I don't know what you are talking about." I said, impatiently?"but. Vincent. I want to tell you something. I've made a discovery." "What is it?" he said, without the slightest interest, and I changed my mind again. "Nothing," I said. "I've forgotten what it was." Vincent rose, and, stretching himself mightily, went toward his own room. At the door he turned and smiled one of the smiles he does not often give to men, and I felt that this one was not meant for me. "I've made a discovery, too. Arch," he said. "What's that?" I asked. "I've discovered that Miss Marsh's eyes are gray, as gray as stars," he said, only half aloud, and disappeared into his room. "Poppycock!" I shouted as the door closed behind him. Vincent's vagaries are hard to follow at times?stars certainly are not gray. That I knew to be absurd. My new knowledge, while it robbed the affair of its piquant mystery?for I had decided that Agatha Sixth was in truth the real Honorable Agatha? made my game even more exciting, now that th* stakes were assured. I read with Agatha Sixth, walked with her. talked with her, and played chess with her all the first week; and as nearly as I could make out Vincent's programme ran something like this: Before breakfast he took a horseback ride with Agatha Fifth; after breakfast he played golf with Agatha First; tennis with Agatha Third; and took Agatha Second out sketching. In the afternoon Agatha Fourth played Chopin to him by the hour. Agatha Sixth he had not approached, fearing me. as was natural. In the evening he played games with them all or retired into the library with Agatha Fifth, who seemed to have 'ost her head over him completely. This programme he repeated day after cay with reckless lack of generalship and yet every now and then, to my surprise and disgust, I caught him deep in his unfortunate flirtation with Mrs. Armistead's secretary. It wasn't fair to the poor girl, and I told Vincent so plainly. We were sitting on the low stone balustrade of the castle ?Vincent in riding clothes and looking as line a lad as any in old England. ' He was waiting for Agatha Fifth to go 1 riding with hint, although it was later than usual, all of us having break- i fasted. For myself. I wore my tennis ! things, which become me greatly, if i I do say it, for I intended to play a set with those tennis fanatics. Agatha i Second and Agatha Third, as the aristocratic Agatha Sixth was a late riser ' and had not yet come downstairs. "No, Vincent." I said, "it won't do. | Flirt with all the Agathas, if you must, , but when it comes to the secretary, let her alone. To say nothing of what is due her. think of the time you're wasting. We have only six weeks? j think of it?six weeks to make a try < for twenty millions of dollars!" "You forgot to say that a wife goes i along with th*. filthy lucre," he said, and somehow I felt uncomfortable. Vincent has a faculty for making one feel uncomfortable. It makes 'me quite angry?he's no better than the rest of us. but he's so confoundedly innocent < about some things. I was going to explain to him that he needn't speak as if the thought that i ? rir in*- i ifi a iiiuii iw manj w girl merely for her money?when his face lighted and he spoke metre rationally. "Clad." he said, "what a rare lark it would be to toss up a coin and take a chance at it. Six to one only?you'd have a good show to win out!' "How foolish you are, Vincent!" I responded. "Suppose you took a chance at it, as you say. and just proposed to any one of them, when you had made no attempt to win her? wouldn't ?he know you were fortunehunting? And if it should happen to he the real Agatha she'd refuse you on that account because it would defeat the object of her father's will: and if it were not the real Agatha she'd refuse you. too. because she'd know she had no fortune to give you." "Of course." said Vincent, sighing, "you're right about that. But I tell you, Archibald, I'm not flirting with Miss Marsh. She's an awfully sensible little girl, and I g<> to her for advice about the course I'm pursuing with the Agathas. I need encouragement, you know: it's all such a beastly mess. One doesn't know with which one of the attractive young ladies to fall in love. It's so difficult to decide with that twenty millions hovering in the background. Just think. Arch, what the governor would say if his penniless younger son should bring that amount into the family. And the daughter of a baroness, too. it would be such a match! 1 can just see how tickled he'd be to have his youngest so well provided for. The dear old governor!" And Vincent's eyes moistened. "So you see." he went on hurriedly, "Miss Marsh's attitude toward me is entirely friendly. Sin- is merely the confidante lof my difficulties of the heart, and her taste. I find, is excellent." "It is also changeable," I said dryly, "if the course you have been pursuing is through advice of hers." Vincent smiled. "And then you know," he went on. ignoring my thrust, "she's writing a very interesting book, the history of the barons of Wyckhoff, and I'm helping her. I'm awfly Interested in genealogy, y* know." This was true. Incongruous as it may seem, Vincent's one serious hobby?I don't consider his paint dabbing serious?which had to do with research and scholars-hip, was his love for things ancient in general, and family trees in particular. It had been Baroness WyckhofY's wish that some review of the lives of the barons of that name should be made, since the last one had died, and Mrs. Armistead had given her secretary this work to do. T yed Vincent searchingly as he spoke, but his face was so thoroughly unconscious that my suspicions were disarmed completely. si * /' r{. : 1 i V AGATH/ "Yes," he said, "there are a lot of very interesting old books in that library." "Yes," I said, "that's why you and Miss Marsh spend so much time there, I suppose. I'm glad to hear it. I really couldn't see what you thought was so attractive?" A sharp blow in the chest interrupted my speech. "Shut up," Vincent hissed in my ear; "don't you see Miss Marsh?" As he spoke that young person tripped lightly up the wide stone steps of and veranda and was about to pass on when Vincent stopped her. "Good morning," he said, his hat in his hand. "Are you beginning work so early?" and he looked at the papers carried under her arm. "Yes," she said, "I have a new idea about that last chapter we wrote." "I'm sorry I can't be with you this morning," he answered, and she. passed into the house. She wore a white frock and a natty little blue apron, and I must admit looked very fresh and dainty, but Wilfred's tone was so cool and conventional that I mentally freed him again from my accusation that he was in the midst of a warm flirtation, though you will agree with me that appearances had been very much against him. But that evening when he and I were having our nightly bedroom colloquy I was obliged to admit that Vincent, considering his methods, had accomplished a great deal. With some embarrassment he related to me the tale of his horseback ride in the mornirg. and 1 must say it completely unsettled my belief in the discovery I had made as to the identity of the real Honorable Agatha Wyckhoff. Neither Vincent nor 1 knew what to make of it. "Do you know. Arch," he said, striding up and down my room. "I've been thi-.iiip-h ;i horrible experience today? It was an awful shock to me, and a lesson." "I'm glad it was a lesson." said I. There are so few lessons in Vincent's life. "Yes." he said, "I felt like a beastly cad. And I don't see what I've done to deserve it. Of course, I've held her hand a couple of times?" "That bad habit of yours again," I murmured. "And I've looked at her a lot?she's got the most soul moving1 eyes y* know." I didn't know, but I nodded. The boy was very much in earnest. "But I never thought," he went on ?"1 never thought she?she?" He stopped and the words seemed to stick in his throat. "Great heaven, man," I cried in my impatience, "get it out. What didn't you think she'd do?" "I never thought she'd really care for me," he muttered, shamefacedly, and turned his back on me. "What do you mean?" I demanded. impatiently. He is most exasperating. "Why, this." He ceased his restless walk and stood on the hearth rug, facing me. "We'd been out about an hour this morning, Agatha Fifth and I. and we'd been getting up into the hilly country, when suddenly we came out of the woods and saw below us the grandest stretch of country you can imagine." Here he broke off and went into a rhapsody over the sky-line and the grazing sheep, and said something about Utopia and Eden and other things like that, until he got through at last and came to the interesting part. They can't help going on like that, these artist fellows, and Vincent never loses an opportunity to get in a bit of description. "Well," he continued, "I was just enjoying that view and saying nothing, when she stopped switching the tops off the harebells with the crop and, turning those warm hazel eyes of hers r?n mo eho ?nir1 in a low voice, as if what she said didn't matter at all, 'I . J J % j:. < L^/V ^ ^ * k THIRD. love you!'" "What!" I shouted. "She didn't?" "She did," asserted Vincent ruefully, but with firmness?"She did. Just like that, out of a clear sky. Simply folded her hands and looked at me and told me she loved me." "Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!" I ejaculated. Nothing else seemed adequate. "What under the sun did you do?" "Why, I told her simply that I didn't love her, and couldn't marry her, and I was very sorry, but I thought we'd better get on our horses and go home." "Quite right. If you don't really care," I said, "but oh, Vincent!" as a thought struck me, "just think, she might have been the Honorable Agatha ? the real and only honorable!" "She was!" said Vincent. I was speechless. This was the end of it. then. I saw the millions taking unto themselves wings, and my pan of milk spilled. The real Honorable Agatha had been discovered, the secret was out. but she had avowed herself as loving Vincent and he had spurned her. After such a performance there was no chance for either of us. "How do you know she was?" I asked. weakly. "She told me so herself." he answered. "But after you refused her, I suppose?" "Of course." said Vincent, resignedly. "But. Wilfred, my boy," I cried, springing up. and knocking off my glasses in my excitement, "couldn't you change your mind, couldn't you fix it up? If she really cared I should think you could!" Though this event would have prov od the deathblow to my own hopes, still my interest in Vincent's welfare is so genuine that I couldn't help this anxious expostulation. But again he misunderstood. "You don't mean that, I know, Arch," lie said. "Of course I wouldn't marry the girl when I really don't care for her. But wasn't it the deuce of a position to be in?" "Oh, Wilfred, Wilfred!" I mourned, "twenty millions right in your grasp, and you threw them away. I wish I'd had your chance. Your poor father, how disappointed he'd be if he knew." "He'd be more disappointed in me if I had changed my mind and said I would marry her just for the sake of the money," said the young man, crossly. and turning on his heel he left the room. Vincent's getting more quick tempered every day lately, and he "oa/I Ka on fr, .,?/! niitnarol I'm ont'O it was only natural and very disinterested in me to bewail for him the result of the unfortunate affair that morning. To be Continued, .ti" Sin is not distinguished by sex. iUiscflliuicmif. grading. A PRESIDENTIAL PREDICTION. Well Known Writer Discusses the Subject Instructively. The making of election predictions Is hazardous. First, there is the moral certainty that the prophecy will be found wrong at some point and a fair chance that It will be wrong at all points; second, the forecast is bound to offend all but the partisans of the man whose favorable horoscope is cast. In case It is also an ante-convention bit of fortune telling the number of the disgruntled will be measurably In? , ,1 4- ,1.1.. ...Ill lnnl..^n nnl nnllf LICtWCU, iur lllin Win UIUIUUC I1UI UI11J everybody of the opposite party, but the friends of all other candidates in the same party. For instance, if the luckless forecaster were to play up the exclusive and advance Information that Bryan is to be the next president the prophet aforesaid would be without honor In any country except Nebraska, and there people would doubt his san- j ity. He would gain the ill will of all Republicans, Populists, Socialists, Prohibitions, Independence leaguers and of the members of such other parties as may spring up between now and election. Not only so, but he would arouse the hostility of all Democrats except the rooters for the Nebraskan. Thus in gaining the friendship of onefourth of the population the prophet of figures is sure to make enemies of the other three-fourths. Truly, it is anything but a pleasant outlook. If the reader doubts the hazardous calling of the election forecaster the sad fate that befell the foremost of the clan Hhould be convincing. There was a day when General Charles H. Grosvenor. otherwise known as "Old Flggers," was one of the mightiest of the mighty. He was a member of the house machine, a debater whose tongue was feared by all and a high priest of the stand patters. But in an evil hour he gave way to temptation and began making election forecasts. And look at him now! A Word of Caution. Nevertheless I propose to make an election forecast. Before doing so a word of caution. Don't blame the editor for this. He can't help it. Blame me. ! am the only one responsible. I am sufficiently far away so tnai you cannot tret at me anyway, so it does not matter. Of candidates there Is no end. I have been writing of candidates till the world seems filled only with office seekers. Twenty-two candidates?so the count stands to date?Taft, Hughes, Cannon, Shaw, Knox, Fairbanks, Foraker, Cortelyou, LaFollette and Cummins on the Republican side, and Bryan, John A. Johnson, Tom L. Johnson, Gray, Harmon, Folk. Hoke Smith, William L. Douglas, Woodrow Wilson, Senator Culberson, Lewis Stuyvesant Chandler and Jesse Grant on the Democratic! Twtn,ty-two candidates?certainly a" plenty! Convention days came alorjfc and knocked off twenty. Two little candidates running like fun! Election day came along, and then there was one. But WHICH one? There's the rub. That single little question Is scheduled to give all of us no little anxiety and trouble for the next few months. Which shall It be?which shall It be? I looked at John; John looked at me. And neither could come to a conclusion. As a consequence it was nobody. T? a?\ hAtt'OVftr WA SlmttlV MUST have a victim. We cannot sidestep (he question by failure to make a choice. In that event the big- stick would wave for four years longer, which would throw a nervous fit into Wall street and some other places. The next president of the United States will be William? Now, this is where you come in as a prognosticator, gentle reader?at least I assume you are gentle. How will you fill out the name? " Howard Taft!" will shout a legion of Republicans. " Jennings Bryan!" will vociferate another army of Democrats. So we are no nearer a solution than before. Yes, we are a trifle nearer, for it probably will be one of these two. Why? Because these are the two that will get the nominations. They already have a majority of the delegates?at least in sight. That Bryan would be named at Denver has been plain for months. That Taft would be given the standard to carry at Chicago has been apparent ever since Theodore Roosevelt threw his immense influence in that direction. An Unbiased Opinion. You understand that in giving my idea of the winners in the two great conventions?and the successful man in the election, for we are coming to that?I am cutting out all my own personal predilections, if I have any. I am looking at it as a cold matter of figures, of probabilities in a given situation. I asked the reader to take the same unbiased and unlmpasslcned view. In making the estimate I am leaving out all minor parties, such as the Populists, the Socialists, the Prohibitionists and the Independence leaguers, not that I think they are unworthy of mention, but because they do not stand a ghost of a show in this election. Every one of these movements Is worthy of respectful consid eration, but they are not electing presidents?not yet. Taft Only In Sight. The nomination of Taft is not as much of a foregone conclusion as that of Bryan, and yet it seems practically assured. Hughes will have the largest outside following, but will not be near Taft on the first ballot. If it were possible to combine all the field against the Ohio man he might be beaten, but when the delegations break away from the favorite sons, Taft will get his share. In Indiana that will be the lion's share. It is not to be imagined for a moment that LaFollette and Cummins will throw their strength to a reactionary or to any one opposed by the administration. As for the south, its delegates will be controlled largely by the Federal brigade, as always. It may be set down as conclusive that the great hulk of the middle and far west is for Taft. It is for Roosevelt or for the man Roosevelt wants. Looking at the matter from any possible viewpoint, there is nothing In sight In the Republican national convention but William Howard Taft. To defeat the nomination of Taft would be a direct affront to the president. and that the Republican party will be very far from giving1. It does not wish to affront Roosevelt in the first plnce and even if it did would not dare to do so considering the present temper of the countiy. Such an act would be equivalent to committing political suicide. Roosevelt has said he wants Taft, and that settles it. Taft it will be. As for Bryan, his nomination has been certain so long that It is hardly worth while discussing it. Ever since he returned from his jaunt around the world?aye, ever since the political steam roller passed over a gentleman named Alton B. Parker?Bryan has had the Democratic candidacy for the asking. Why he should want it at all may be an enigma, but not the fact that he.can grab It If he desires. Probably running for president has grown into a habit with him, or he may figure that, being yet a comparatively young man, he may keep on running long enough to slip in some time when the other side is not watching. However these things may be, it Is apparent th^t in this year of our Lord he has pre-empted the' Democratic mansion and has chased all the other would be candidates Into the back lot. Bryan Is now. only forty-eight years old, and if he .ekeeps on running till he is eighty be-has nine or ten good races in him yet. Bryan's friends say that he actually expects to be elected this year and that If he is., he will never run again. What a temptation he places before the country! Possibly he figures that in a fat man's race the man with the lea-st embonpoint?pronounce it If you dare? should win out. Bryan has some flesh himself, but Taft makes him look like a living skeleton. If Taft should be elected he would make the hencoop that Is used as an executive building bulge out at the sides. Let us suppose now that it is the middle of July and that William Howard Taft is the- nominee of the Republican party and William Jennings Bryan is the standard bearer of the Democratic party. Which shall we pick for a winner? Neither looks much like a champion, but we have had homely presidents before. Consider all points carefully before choosing your favorite. Of course you may decide to vote for the one you think will lose. Some of us do that frequently. This maybe on the principle that we favor the underdog or on the general idea that we are "agin the government" or simply because the prospective loser belongs to our party. This is not an inquiry as to how we Intend to vote, however, but as to the man we think will win. In comparing the two candidates the first thing apparent |s that Taft has held office all his life and Bryan has tried to/ In this connection it is not fair to charge Mr. Bryan with lack of executive experience. That Is not his fault. Another point in common is that both have traveled extensively, but each is willing to forego the pleasures of leaving the country for four years. Both Are Optimists. But here resemblance as well as friendship ceases. In other ways the two are no more alike than an elephant and an owl. Taft claims to be the only slmon pure Roosevelt candidate, and Bryan says he was like Roosevelt before Roosevelt was like himself. Taft lacks eloquence, and Bryan has plenty of It. Both are about the same age, but Taft has more to show for It and Is larger for his years. Taft laughs like an explosion of dynamite, and Bryan smiles like a crack in a melon. Both are natural optimists, but Bryan manages to conceal the fact when talking about Wall street and the trusts. On the railroad question Taft is for government regulation at cabinet meetings and Bryan favors government ownership when no one is listen ing. As for tariff revision, Bryan wants it right off and Taft wants it as soon as the stand patters will let him. On the money question Taft wishes the bnnks to issue the money and Bryan would have the government issue the money and distribute it through the banks. On other questions Secretary Taft's views may be determined by consulting "my policies" and Mr. Bryan's by reference to the Democratic platform. But all this does not determine which one will be elected. The country might do better by defeating both and electing Tom Watson, but it never will. Watson is getting almost as much in I the habit of running for president as Bryan and gets more fun out of it. He knows he never can be elected, and Bryan does not, but may learn. Not Much of a Cinch. Taking everything into consideration. however, this election Is not goI ing to be as much of a cinch as some people would like to have it. There are several reasons. To particularize: First.?Labor will cut Taft. There Is no gainsaying this fact, and there is no good in trying to minimize it. The organized labor vote of this country is large and influential. Recently it has been aroused by three adverse court decisions. Taft was once a Federal judge, an 3 the workingmen take vigorous exceptions to some of his injunctions. Second.?The colored vote will cut Taft. The Brownsville affair is not forgotten nor the secretary of war's part therein. Those politicians who figure that because the negroes always have voted the Republican presidential ticket they are going to do it again this year should cease vague generalizations and get some definite, first hand information. Third.?Wall street and the "Interests" will be lukewarm and will do little or nothnig for either side. This " * " * - D???K Will DC a distinct loss to Hie rvc^uulicans, as these influences heretofore have been actively for the Republican ticket. Wall street does not like Bryan, but there are reasons why It would prefer him to Roosevelt or even one it regards as R'?osevelt's legatee. With an adverse senate Bryan could do absolutely nothing, while there are ways in which a Republican president can persuade a Republican senate. Fourth.?While Taft will lose from the conservative side, though not as much as Roosevelt would lose, he will also lose a number of radical Republicans that might vote for Roosevelt. Fifth.?With all of Mr. Taft's estimable qualities, he lacks a certain something?call it magnetism or what you will?which appeals to the publio imagination. He is not a candidate to fire the multitude. Whatever flames are started this time must be by the man behind Taft. So much for Secretary Taft's weak points. On the other hand, It must be admitted that Bryan has a natural majority of from half a million to a million votes to overcome. He has no certain states In the north and may even have to fight for one or two border states. He Is handicapped by having burned his powder twice. Everybody has heard him and may not feel so wildly excited over an old story. It Is hard to get a laugh out of a last year's almanac. Bryan also will lose some to the Populists. Watson's vote will mostly come from the south, It Is true, but even a few in the north may turn some state. Moreover. Watson may aid the Republicans by making a back fire campaign and diverting Bryan's attcn Effective Sentiment*. With Taft as the candidate, New York and New Jersey would be uncertain were the Democratic candidate anybody but Bryan. They may be uncertain even If Bryan Is the nominee. There Is a feeling in the east and elsewhere that It would be only poetic justice since Bryanlsm has become popular to take the man along with the policies. Such sentiments as that cannot be measured, but have their effect. One other thing?we have just passed through a panic, and panics always hurt the party in power. And still another thing?it never helps a presidential candidate before the people to be known as the understudy of the administration already in power. The voters like a new deal and like to think they made the new deal. To sum up. as between Taft and Bryan do not be too certain that It will be Taft. Everything on the surface looks like a Republican victory, but surface Indications are never to be wholly trusted, especially In years like this. This will be a hard fought campaign, one of the hardest fought In the nation's history. Personally I predict a close result. Belittle him as some critics may, W. J. Bryan is not to be dismissed by a wave of the hand.?James A. Eagerton. "THE HELL OF WAR." Sacrificing of Life In Camp and Garrison to Pravantable Diseases. "The splendid achievements of scientific medicine In civil life In the prevention of disease, should be even more effectually obtained in an army, where only healthy men are accepted, and vigorous outdoor camp life should keep its units, who are subject to strict military discipline. In perfect physical condition. Health alone, however, Is no guarantee against the Insidious at tack of the silent foe that lingers in every camp and bivouac," says am article In Appleton's. "It is this foe, as the records of war for the past two (hundred years have proved, that is responsible for four times as many deaths as the guns of the enemy, to say nothing of the vast number temporarily Invalided or discharged as unfit for duty. It is this dreadful unnecessary sacrifice of life from preventable diseases that constitutes the hell of war today. In the Russo-Turklsh war, the deaths from battle casualties were 20,000, while those from disease were 80,000; in our great civil conflict, of the nearly f>00,000 men who perished on both sides, about 400,000 were sacrificed to disease to 100,000 from battle casualties. "In a recent campaign of the French ' Ifo/lonwcirtoi* 1 A ArtH man u'Prp qpn t Ill iviauugnncai ai,vw imv?. v to the front, of whom twenty-nine were killed in action and more than 7,000 perished from preventable diseases. In the Boer war in South Africa the English losses were ten times greater from disease than from the bullets of the enemy. In our recent war with Spain fourteen lives were needlessly sacrificed to ignorance and incompetency, for every man who died on the firing line or from the result of wounds. "The difference between the mr.rtyr and the victim, between the soldier who falls on the field of honor, and the man who meets a miserable death from preventable disease, for which his government is criminally responsible. Is as wide as the celestial diameters. The one meets death compensated in the thought that his life is given in the protection of his country's flag and honor, the other is lgnominiously forced to his grave through the neglect of the government that shamefully failed to protect the life he offered in its de fense. This man represents the victim of the hell of war. "That the monstroucs sacrifice of eighty per cent Is almost totally unnecessary. was abundantly proved In the records of the Japanese war, where 1,200,000 men were sent to the front, in a country notoriously unsanitary, and only 27,000 men died from disease to 59,000 who fell in the legitimate line of duty on the field of honor. This because the Japanese had a properly equipped medical and sanitary department, whose officers were empowered to enforce proper sanitation and hygiene. In the army of the United States In 1898, 2,649 picked soldiers died in three months in the pest camps of their native land without leaving the country, or ever having heard the hum of a hostile bullet. These men represent the hell of war as it would exist again In our army If we were suddenly called upon to face an enemy who Is prepared to meet us." Somk Ri ssian Pczzles.?Here are some riddles which the boys and girls of Russia puzzle their heads over. See how many of them you can guess with nut looking at the answers: (1) I am blind, but show others the way; deaf and dumb, but know how to count. (2) People pi-ay for me and long for my company, but directly I appear they hide themselves. (3) I have four legs and feathers, but am neither beast nor bird. (4) There are four brothers under one hat. (5) Brothers can run side by side, and never catch one another. (6) What walks upside down overhead? (7) Who are two brothers who live on the opposite sides of the road, they never see each other? (8) A pack of wolves ran by. One was shot. How many remained? Answers: (1) A milestone. (2) Rain. (3) A featherbed. (4) Legs of a table. (f?) Wheels of a cart. (6) A fly. (7) Your eyes. (8) One?the dead one. A GREAT GOLD SCARE. When the Yellow Metal Was Firat Found In Australia. Gold in Australia was discovered? one might almost be pardoned for saying first discovered?many times. But the news of the earliest discoveries was Jealously kept from spreading. The Becret of this reticence lay In the presence of the army of convicts which then composed the balance of the population. Had a gold panic broken out it was feared that a general uprising of the prisoners would take place. Nevertheless the first gold found in Australia was by convicts, in 1814, near isamursi, new soum waies. me discoverers gathered together a quantity quite sufficient to lead them to believe that they had found a gold mine, but when they reported what they considered their good fortune to the keeper he, instead of undertaking to recommend them for pardon or easing their hard labors in any way, threatened to give them all a sound flogging If they ventured again to say a word about the matter or to spend any more time picking up gold. The next find was made on the Pish river in 1823, not far from the spot where the convicts had come across it nine years before. This news, being reported to the authorities, was also ordered suppressed. Within the course of the next two years finds were so frequent that the London government began to take great Interest In the afTair. But the fact that another region of the yellow metal might be at the disposal of such as might seek was kept rigidly secret until In 1825 a dramatic Incident precluded all possibility of further secrecy. A convict was discovered with a nugget of gold in his possession. When asked how he had come by the metal, he said that he had picked it up in the bush. He was cautioned and told that the authorities had no doubt that he had stolen the gold, but the prisoner stoutly held to his original tale. 'At length he was taken out and severely flogged in public as a thief. There is now no doubt that the man told the truth. After this, although the public was every now and then keyed up to great expectations by some reported find, no further veins were discovered until 1839, when a Russian nobleman found a rich deposit In the Blue mountains. The British government again became fearful of the consequence of such news upon a colony of convicts and ordered the matter suppressed. Yet sufficient people had heard of it to keep the story alive and give credence to such rumors as arose from time to time. So matters drifted on. Time and time again bushmen, shepherds, convicts and surveyors picked up small nuggets and brought them to the centers of population, but at that day people were nothing like so keen on gold mining as they subsequently became, and the subject of gold in Australia was not pursued as one would expect it to be. The discovery of gold in California changed all that. Those rich fields, panning out their golden store and Ailing the coffers of lucky individuals and governments at a rate never dreamed of, awakened a thirst for prospecting all the world over. In every part of the earth men went out with pick and pan, hoping to come across the precious metal. When the news of California's fortune reached Australia, many took ship to America's shores, and among these was Hammond Hargraves, an Englishman, native of Gosport, who had emigrated to New South Wales in 1832. In Australia he. engaged in farming without much profit and was among the first to rush 'or California. On reaching the auriferous region the first thing that struck him was the similarity oi the geological formation in California and Bathurst, Australia, and there and then he made up his mind to Inquire into the subject should he ever return to Australia. He worked for something like a couple of years in California and then set sail for New South Wales. Returning, he of course carried in his mind the thought that perhaps there might be gold in Bathurst. and when he landed he set to work to make a thorough search. Rafnra fhlo hfttt'dVPP He h A/1 made the acquaintance of William and James Toms and J. H. O. Lister, who were anxious to prospect for gold. Hargreaves taught them how to use pick and pan, the dish and the cradler?In fact, gave them a practical If rough education Into the mysteries of gold and gold bearing rocks and gravel. Thet,e men struck out, and In April, 1S51, the three pupils returned to their old master, and, lo, In their pockets they carried gold to the amount of four ounces! Hargreaves, knowing the ropes, took this gold and full directions to the proper quarter. The news went forth, the rush began, rich finds were made, and Hargreaves was hailed as the discoverer of gold In Australia. In reality he had won the title, for It was his knowledge that first educated the Tomses and Lister, and It was his knowledge again that sent them in the right direction. News From Senator Tillman.? There will be general interest in the report as to the physical condition and trip of Senator Tillman, who is now In Spain. In a letter written May 25th from Gibraltar, says a Columbia letter, this Interesting statement Is made: "Senator Tillman feels that there has been a distinct gain. He has a fine appetite, sleeps well and has no serious symptoms whatever. The swimming in the head and feeling of uncertain equilibrium have disappeared. Unless there is some organic trouble, he does not see why he will not return home in the fall as well as a man of his age ought to hope to be." The vovaee. he savs. has been ex ceptionally pleasant with only one rough day and one of moderately brisk wind. The rest of the time the weather has been fine and the trip enjoyable. He really enjoyed doing nothing. The plans for his trip on the continent have not been definitely outlined. They will probably be determined upon after he finds out how he stands travelling In Spain. After landing at Gibraltar his plans were to I take a side trip to Tangier In Africa and returning to Gibraltar to visit | Seville, Cordova, Toledo, Madrid and Granada. Then to get back to Gibraltar in time to take the next White Star steamer. June 12th, and go onto Naples. His address until the last of June will be care of Cook's Agency, Rome, Italy. It will be interesting to note that none of the party which Included Senator Tillman, Mrs. Tillman and Dr. J. W. Babcock, were seasick on the trip and that altogether they had a most enjoyable voyage.