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? - - ?? ??????? ? ???i?-g-^? SKMr-W]KiE1K1^ir> l. m, aaisrs sobs, Pobiuh.r.. } % 4amil8 9*?W?[: 4?r <h< ?romotion o|( th? gotUiqat, Social, ^jgriqnltnqal and (Kommeqcial Jnterests of (h< |eojt<. ( ja*M Cor nc!??Kl' ESTABLISHED 1858. YORKVILLE, 8. C., TUE8DAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1913. >TO. 74. SB The Mii By CHARLES T1 Author of Do of Soal (Copyright 1912, The Bobbs-Merr CHAPTER XXI. The Tineel Show. He had no difficulty in finding her. The posters before the Cohan A Snitx's syndicate theatre were featuring her. The publicity bureau had spread far upon the value of that "$100,000 ttrise beauty" contest Everything was fish, or more properly, Kosher meat that came to the net of Cohan A Snlts. "And to think," murmured Mr. Curran that morning after breakfast at the Sherman House, "that Vawter, the artist, and me of the News were at the bottom of It!" Aurelle had made a go of It, that was certain. Wiley learned of her hotel at the box office. It was one that startled him, for the sober Midlands, it stood for all the city's opulence; to Wiley it was barbaric, Bysantlne, dangerous. "What?" he muttered, "has our little Iowa girl got to do, living at the Graystone? How the mischief can she afford It?" For he couldn't free himself from Aurelie's vagabondage of the rabbithunting days. She was a many-sided person who could skin rabbits or sing enticingly each night: If I Were the Only Girl in the World, Don't You Think You Could Love me? or some one other of those American folk-songB which the Hebrews write for us and sell us. Wiley passed a whole window pyramided with the great song-hit, and Aurelie's picture was on top of It "Well, I'll be damned," he said. "You kid!" He went In and bought a copy of If I Were the Only Girl, etc. Then he ran across Jeffries of the Times, whom he used to know in Rome, and who envied Wiley for being: his own master and the bis frog in the little puddle; and Wiley said, "That's so," but secretly envied Jeffries his place In the big puddle of city newspaperdom. Then Jeffries said curiously: "Saw you were in politics down in the oldj town, Wiley?" "Sort of. The Delroy bunch got me to run against Jim Hall, and, bless me, if I don't beat his head off in the primary." "Thunder?you in congress! Oh, great guns, Wiley!" 'That's what they all say." "Is Thad unanimous?" "The old skunk will knife me, but the court house ring is about down and out, I think. Had to put Harlan Van Hart, on their ticket this fall to sort of brace it up. The people has rlz up, and let a yelp, Benny, and I'm on the rlz with 'em. Come on, I'll take you to a show this afternoon." "Ain't one In town worth killing." "What's the matter with The Girl and the Burglar?" "Some more bunk handed us from Broadway. But the girl in It Is all to the good. She's peeled off a threebagger with this town. "Sing?" quavered Mr. Curran palpitatingly. "Not much. No one can In these shows." "Act?" continued Mr. Curran, more palpitatingly. "Not much. She doesn't have to. Nobody does. But this girl's got the nerve and personality, and the dear old pub always falls to that. She Just reaches out over the lights and grabs 'em with her smile." "What?" faltered Mr. Curran. "Is her name?" "Ain't you heard? Aurelle Llndstorm. She came out of your corn belt somewhere. First season in big business. Cohan & Snitz took her out of a Broadway bunch green as grass, and the first night here she saved the show by making faces. The leading woman blew up and quit right there." "Let's go," cried Mr. Curran. "Can't I'm on the city hall today. But take It In, she'll do to pass an hour with." I Mr. Ourran hurried away, tie walked four blocks and gazed into another store front piled with. If I Were the Only Girl, etc., '"featured by Aurelie Undstorm in The Girl and the Burglar," and then another and another! And finally he went to the lake front and gazed on the massive pile wherein she lived. He lost his nerve; he was afraid to go in. He forgot all about congress and affairs of state. He went to see a wholesale paper house on business, and took In the Art Museum, resolved that he would call on Aurelie at five. Then he reasoned that was too close to dinner and he'd be hanging around in the portieres; so he dined alone at the Annex and drank a pint of champagne as riotously as a country editor can drink champagne. After dinner It was too late to see her, so he concluded it would be best to watch her act first and make up his mind unprejudiced by personal contact. By great luck he got a ticket from a speculator, for the house was sold out. His ticket was for the last row, down stairs, but he didn't care; it was enough to be under the same root with Aureue; me uaun^a squawking and the program boys hustling over his feet; and all about him the dinner-filled and waddly importance with which people got 10 ^ shows. Wiley had been long enough away from cities to take a pleasure in watching the mob crowd in, and hearing the rustle of their gowns and hats, and smelling their perfumes. The esthete's soul in him drew away from their lust of feed and spectacle, their expollting banality, yet he knew this repugnance had no place in a politician and he was trying to be a politician. Then the orchestra played that chirrupy, zing-zing music with which all musical comedies begin, and the curtain shot up to discover that theatric novelty which all good shows )LANDERS ENNEY JACKSON *, My Broiher'a Keeper, Etc. Ill Company.) must have?the dilemma of the Rich Toung Man. This time he was in disguise abroad, where he had followed the Daughter of the Wall Street Operator. Then the German innkeeper, the English lord, the American aunt, the chauffeur, the waiter, the girls in the cafe, the cablegram, the ticker, and all those novel things for which the American people pay two dollars, and at which they laugh delightedly. There wasn't any burglar, but he wasn't necessary. Mr. Curran waited feverishly. The kid, something surely would go wrong and spoil his delight! But?she came. Mr. Curran forgot to breathe. She was beautiful, and yet not so as he had seen her in the woods. But it wasn't that?out of her abounding fun-loving health came alternately a droll abandon and then demureness; she was apart from all the professional people about her because of the delight with which she romped through her part. She hadn't a ghost :of a stage voice, or a stage look, or a stage walk; the people were beginning to laugh when she came on, and ' I she was laughing with them; and out ' of the silly dialogue of the Rich Toung Man, who delighted everybody by mealing the chauffeur's coat, she 1 drew more two-dollar mirth for 1 fCohan & Snltz. "She can't act! gasped Mr. Cur- 1 ran, horrified. "It's Just only Aurelie!" That was It. Just Aurelle enjoying herself Immensely, laughing in a wonderous creation of a gown that wilted Mr. Curran even to think upon. Then she began to sing, still in a great good humor, that heart-throb of the American people: If I Were the Only Girl in the World, Don't Tou Think You Could Love Me? and the boys in the gallery raised a tremendous racket. She had to sing it four times and each time Mr. Curran rocked and roared. ? -J AU A ...A||A " "one cam sing; vu, auicuc. But presently, with the uproarious pleasure of all these people, a great rapture came to Wiley Curran's heart. She was just Aurelie, yet magically she won her way, all health and grace and honest gaity. That was all she had to give. He went out after the act and had a drink, the tears in his eyes. "The kid?the dear kid?!" he murmured, and had another drink. When he got back the stage was a great splash of color, girls, hats, gowns, arms, legs, imitation champagne, conversation about sugar stock and motor cars; but Mr. Curran waited impatiently for the comedienne. He couldn't get to his seat and stood by the rail. But when she came, this time in a dinner gown and , opera cloak and sang My Rosebud Girl?really, this time, with a native lyric sweetness?Wiley sighed with more content which may, after all, hova hoon tn-n drinks It was an , I amazing splendor and success, and he looked about in complacence that he knew her and the others did not. And one of those glances went to the figure of a man standing near, which he watched curiously, for it was familiar. Then he saw it was Harlan Van Hart. Harlan, In the gloom of the foyer, watching imperturbably. Before Wiley could move, the young man's gaze shifted. He came directly, and without surprise, to the other man. "Wiley?" "You here?" "You saw the Journal tonight?" "No." He shrugged toward the stage. "Of her?" Harlan motioned enigmatically. "Come with me. I want to show you. Although, I don't know why I should." Curran followed to the cafe. They took a table. Harlan waved the waiter aside. "It's this?" He drew the paper from his pocket. "Why I came here. By God, to save her, Wiley, if it's true!" The news article announced the supposed engagement of Aurelie Lindstorm, of the Cohan & Snltz combination, to a young man whom all the west knew for his plunging on the board of trade, his motor racing, his divorce proceedings and his affairs with women of the underworld. " I presume you know who Benham is?" Curran's voice came in whispers. "He lies! Ah, God, it's not so!" "He dares publish It as so. And I came to see. I came to save her, and you?to amuse yourself." The older man stared at him. His hand came from his pocket. "I came to give her this. Her little rosary." Harlan's eyes were on it. It had lain upon her neck all those nights of his summer love with her. "Her name," he muttered on, "given as a former chorus girl?and coupled with Joe Benham's. It's horrible!" "It's a lie!" Harlan sat back coolly. His gray eyes beckoned the waiter. "I'll see." He was writing on a tab. Then, to the waiter: "Ring for a messenger. I'll send for her. To meet us here after the performance." Curran watched him silently. Harlan had become the man. The touch of the Viking in his blond strength, which Wiley had always admired, was up, young, triumphing, prlmally ruthless. Curran would not have dared send that message?curt, direct, demanding that she come. He was conscious now of fighting against an obsession of the younger man's vlctoriousness. He would stop short of gambler's chance, the staking of his all on his confidence in his own power. And In fifteen minutes the boy came back. She had written nothing, she had merely told him she would come. Then they waited an intolerable hour, talking vainly on matters of the town, politics and business, law and newspapering. Wiley fidgeted; Harlan was lmperturbably serene. The cafe filled with a crush of aftertheatre feeders, the hum and motion became livelier as midnight drew on. And then, when they were still trying to entertain each other with commonplace and constrained confidence, none of that old joy of Intercourse between them, there was a stir behind their table and Aurelle was there. They were both on their feet Her amazement was delightful. She had o KonH fn nonh r\t thom nrvlni? nilt , distraction; she was provoked at them; why hadn't ?^y come like gentlemen to await her at the stage door instead of sending for her? She was puzzled?but she had come! Already the cafe people were look* lng at them. Aurelie was colorful, aglow with small poses and careless graces; she smiled ingenously on them with phrases of her barbarous French which, she had not been slow to learn, added to her distinction. "I'm alone. I declined everybody for you!" And for their lives neither man knew at whioh she was looking ?It must be both. "You had an engagement, Aurelie?" Wiley asked her. "Oh, Just a little one?not enough to matter, like the Paris lady's baby! I'll make them all wait?for you. You know these choppy chaps I've got acquainted with don't bother me much." Wiley looked at Harlan. Plainly Joe Benham's millions and motors hadn't dazzled Aurelle. "It's fine to see you all." She per* sisted in "you-alls," and "I reckons," and "aint's," when she felt like them. "Just line. I did feel hurt because none of my old friends ever looked me up in Chicago. And me a real lady now! Mr. Levy says they're going to reorganize the New York production and give me a chance on Broadway?little old New York where Ada Norman and I nearly starved to death"?she picked an olive from the dish: "Oh, tell me how is Uncle Michigan and the baby?" Harlan didn't know. "Fine!" retorted Wiley. "And Knute sayB there were never so many rabbits up on Eagle Point He's waiting for you to come back, and he's training old Nellie's pups to trail 'em." She was filled with laughter. She had a pup that could beat Nellie's! Yes, sir! "And how is your old shop, Mr. Curran, and Aunt Abby and her Banbury tarts; and which drunk printers have you got now?Jim Mims or the Dutch one?" She played her part before her school-day lover; not for worlds would she have noticed his silent stubbornness. "Do you-all really want me to come back and play in the tin opera house? How big and grand it used to seem! I never went except way up in the gallery with Knute, and I used to see you boys? Mr. Curran in a front seat, for he didn't have to pay anything; and Harlan always there with some of the high school girls." She sighed demurely. "That was before I went to school!" "Aurelie," put in Harlan gravely, "you've not changed a bit." "I'm not going to change. I'm not gone greatly on these cities. When all these managers and stage direc tors get on their high horse with me I say: "Oh, you go to the devil? you don't impress me a bit!" And then they threaten to discharge me or something, and I say: 'Go ahead?I can go back to Rome, Iowa, and play in the tin opera house! Hen McFetrldge is going to buy it for me!' " "You ever hear from Hen McFetridge?" "The twins wrote me from s?n Francisco. They've made money again, out of mineral water this time." Harlan frowned. Hen and Ben had not improved Aurelie's good name in Rome, Iowa, by going bankrupt backing her maiden stage tour. She rambled on: "Now tell me, who made this up to come in and surprise me?" They looked at each other. "We met here tonight," said Harlan, "in the theatre." "Indeed?" She read them a shrewd instant. "And do you like the piece? I don't. It's silly, Mr. Curran. I don't think so much of the stage as I did. It's all graft, and unless a girl is very lucky she won't get on unless"?Aurelie paused?"unless she has the right friends. But people have been mighty good to me." "I suspect, Aurelie," murmured Curran, "you are mighty good to them." She gave Mr. Curran a sourful enigmatic glance. "That's why I like you, Mr. Curran! Just saying things like that!" She sighed: "Harlan wouldn't!" She looked at him with long reproach. Harlan could not smile. He was bewilderedly trying to imagine where Aurelie had acquired all these man ners and yet not overlaid her naturalness. She dressed beautifully, yet with taste, even with all her old vagabond love for colors. She made them live with health. Cohan & Snltz knew this impress on the audiences. Pretty things and gladness! But one of the reviewers talked of Aurelie and the psychology of dress, and Aurelie shuddered. Le bon Dieu, did not psychology have to do with ghosts! She went on plaintively merry: "Sometimes I do get tired. Ada Norman says I havn't enough talent to go on except my face. Just like a lot of kids who've come up from the chorus?pretty soon I'll have to depend on the masseurs, and grease paint won't make up what I lose. Then zing! says Ada!" Aurelie looked thoughtfully at them both. "But you know I don't care. I'm going to save my money, and have a cunning little place and some babies, and go hunting rabbits sometime with Uncle Mich In the snow!" "That is a large and brilliant programme, Aurelie!" Mr. Curran had to laugh. Harlan's smile came doggedly at last. It was hard to resist her spirits. She was unspoiled, but joy had been set free. In the hearts of both men had grown a miserable shame that they had quarreled over Joe Benham. The gilded youth, and the blatant press for Aurelie who was thinking of Old Michigan and tracking rabbits in the snow! She went on stabbing the town and stage folk with a vivacious and heedless wit. She asked of Rome, Iowa. So Harlan was in politics? What was he running for? She Just couldn't remember when she told the comedian whom she had the "date" with tonight. She had said her friend was running for the penitentiary! And mon dleu, the comedian interpolated this in his lines and broke her all up with laughing. And the house didn't know, of course?but it laughed with her! Harlan listened. A Van Hart chuckled by a comedy man?and I chuckled into his lines was exasper atlng?aa exasperating as trying to be stern with Aurelle! She was babbling with laughter. "District attorney! Of course! Something long and important! I didn't mean the penitentiary!" And she almost had the two men laughing with her?almost Only the desperate hurt was there. And not for worlds would they have mentioned | Joe Benham. 'Wiley looked triumphantly across the table at Harlan. Right? Of course he was right "But why did you come, Mr. Curran? Just to see me?" "To give you this, Aurelie." He drew out the rosary, and her cry of joy, the quick rush of tears to her eyes was reward. She had the lost trinket to her lips, to the amazement of all the after-theatre feeders. "The boys found it behind the clapboards in your little white room!" "Oh, my little white room!" "It's just as you left it They keep !it waiting for you, Aurelie. And then she cried indeed amid the cafe feeders. Wiley looked away. "A child?Just a child, yet, Harlan," he muttered, and the other nodded. "They all love you. Even John. Your help and gifts and letters?why, even sour old John couldn't get around It all!" "I loved him, too?only he was too religious for me!" Mr. Curran pointed at the rosary. "So you are, Aurelie. Or thinking of Uncle Mich and Peter and the baby wouldn't make you cry?among this sort of people! And this queer little chain of yours. It must have been your mother's?and I know where It came from." Her eyes widened. "My mother's? Yes?yes?but where?" "N?w Orleans. A crazy silversmith on Chartres street who thought he was a genius. So he marked all his rosaries and never made much else." ! "Why, I had it when I done come up-river. When Captain Tinkletoes stole me! Uncle Michigan says he thought I was a boy when they stole me!" "I know Mich's old yarn. But this rosary?I hate to show you?but the cross is gone." She looked quickly at him. He so understood what it would mean to her. And Harlan, watching the two, saw what a common piece of sentiment they were, the same vagrants of 80Ul. "I wouldn't say anything about it," murmured Aurelie, "only it was .my mother's. And it's dreadful not to have a mother?only Ada Norman and a hairdresser!" , She left an arch sad smile with Mr. Curran. "Sometimes, I'd rather not be a homeless stray. But I suppose people must go on rattling in ?1? u ? ?? """l * A r\ Viz* f Kin co uieir iia.1 iicbs auu uctti uu me mii..du they love. Sometimes, I get the old longing to run off down-river with Uncle Mich. And take you, Mr. Curran!" Then she broke his enchantment with her laughter. "Harlan looks as If he thought we-all were perfectly crazy! Well, I suppose one can't. Some chap Is going to write a new piece?Just for me. A real star part. I think they call It The Girl With the Pink Eyebrow." Harlan's face set hard. That was It. The Girl With the Pink Eyebrow, or the Girl and the Duke, The Girly Girl, Half a Girl, More than a Girl, or some other of the pandrolng to this modern age, which no longer able to exult in the rapine of cities, takes Its lusts to or chestra chairs. Which makes for a "good run" as well as art. "So I reckon I'll keep on working." Aurelle was saying. "Some day I'll buy a farm for Papa John and lots of things. They've offered me a contract for next season that scares me when I think of the old hungry days ?those days when I was Just Old Michigan's girl, with no name or anything." They had read of Aurelle's salary. It was more In a week than Mr. Curran and his caterwauling Rome News made in three months. Back home people stralghtly refused to believe anything of the sort. The after-theatre feeders were leaving, swishing and waddling away with sidelong glances at this colorful black-eyed girl who sat between the Imperturbable young man and the elder eager one. Harlan had beckoned for the waiter and ordered a cab. "It's one o'clock," he said, "and you ought to be at your hotel, Aurelle." She shrugged as if about to rebel, then was silent. Some old habit of obedience to him held her. Wiley n'nilM havp sat all night watching this miraculous Aurelie. He resented Harlan's tone. When she had risen and was busy with her wraps, each man leveled a challenge at the other. Then to Harlan's lips a resolute smile came. "I told you she would come," he murmured. Aurelie was approaching. Never had she looked so humanly beautiful as under the glarlsh lights of the cafe vestibule?never so quick with feellig, so true with life. Her world had not spoiled her?had not touched the generous simplicity in her. When they were in the cab, whirling away to her hotel, she reached from her furs and patted Curran's hand with a happy little sigh. "I do think dreams come true! Away down-river I remember putting hyacinths in my hair and staring down-river in the water. I thought I was pretty! And that came true! Just the gray cypress woods, and the lilies floating to the sea, and the mocking-birds singing; and the Indian woman catching shrimps on a stick. Captain Tinkletoes telling war stories and digging for buried treas ure. But Uncle Mich said we'd go off sometimes and see all the lands and states and countries. Oh, something very wonderful must be up in those lands and states and countries! And that came true! The land o' Joy! We'll find it somewhere, won't we, Mr. Curr&n?people like you and me!" "Find it!" he cried. "Aurlle, it's here!" "You understand," she answered, and settled back on the cushion with another luxuriant sigh. The two men left her at the hotel. She had a carious, shy, studied sweetness for them both in her parting that left them silent as the cab rattled away to the railroad station through the dreary after-mldnlght on ecus. uoue, pastuug a. twiuci lamp, Curran saw Harlan's face turned to him, calm, hard, victorious. The elder man could not repress his cry. "Damn you, Harlan! Tou came here doubting her, and I never doubted her. She's good?good?always good!" "I know. Because she loved me after all. That held her good through all this life?the notoriety and glitter ?because she loves me, Wiley!" The other man could not answer. His cry now was to his own heart. He seemed battling to evade some ineffable self-pathos that would And its way. Harlan?always to Harlan, life brought the best without price, with out struggle. He would say no more. When they were In the smoking-room of the Pullman they were again silent; and when Harlan had gone to his berth, Curran went forward through the train seeking an open platform. He wanted the open, the stars and freedom?he must . have air. He found an unclosed vestibule and sat staring out at the night, the black of the prairie Midlands, with far off the silken veil of the city flung luminous against the sky. "Oh, well!" He tried to reason. "The boy?he loves her, after all. And all the years he's been flrst with me?flrst In everything." He could not grasp his sense of fatherhood, tender, mystic, encompassing, for Harlan. Tet always it had been so? this friendship that he had held so beautiful, so true. Then Aurelie had come to lay a finger laughingly against this faith. To dazzle him?to bring the hurt to Harlan's eyes, and lnfivnllnohla raKalllnn tn hla OWII. "Eh, well?those children!" He rose, sighing. "It's for me to play the mfcn at last! God bless them! I love 'em both?and neither could understand how or why. And I can't either!" He went back defying his rebellion, stumbling to grasp his old loyalty, that fine ardor for his friend, which had made the long years sweeten It was hard to define his struggle. A faint smile came to his lips at the suggestion that he loved? nothing like that was a part of him, he had said long ago. "I'd tell Janet." he muttered, "if she'd understand?but she wouldn't Yet Janet?Janet knows me?and understands 'most everything." Then his sad smile came again. "Janet? after all, she's nearest?and dearest. But, somehow, It took Aurelle to awaken me!" I 10 UC lltiucu. / TAMED THE MONARCH The Part a Silver Inkstand Played in a National Crisis. The pages of history record many Instances In which trivial incidents have shaped the destinies of nations. According: to a story in the New York Tribune, a small silver inkstand and the quick wit of a prime minister once played an Important part in the history of the Netherlands. William III, king: of the Netherlands, was a man of violent and ungovernable temper. Although in general, a clever statesman, he was inclined, for some reason or other, to involve Holland In the trouble that was brewing between France and Germany in 1870. He was deaf to the appeals of his ministers, who foresaw the ruin to the country that war would bring. Thnrho^ifA the nrime minister, re solved to make one la&t attempt to change his majesty's resolution. On entering the royal presence Thorbecke was greeted with a rough "Good morning! What's the news?" "Nothing particular, your majesty. Only the people of the Hague are talking a great deal of nonsense about your majesty. "About me!" exclaimed the monarch In wrath. "What do they say about ? ~ o?? IIIC i "Well, sir," answered the old statesman, "The Haguers declare that your majesty has bcome stark, staring mad!" Before he could utter another word King William, his face purple with fury, jumped up and seized a heavy silver inkstand, with .the intention of hurling it at the head of the premier. Fortunately a projecting angle of the inkstand caught In the tablecloth and dragged it off the table with everything upon it. In the confusion the discharge of the missle was delayed for a moment. "Sire," exclaimed Thorbecke quietly, "if your majesty hurls that beautiful inkstand at my head The Haguers will have much reason for their assertion!" For a minute the angry king gazed in silence at his minister. Then he gradually lowered his arm and replaced the inkstand on the table. He walked to one of the windows and stood looking out for a few minutes. Returning to the table, he resumed his seat and said, as If nothing had happened: "And now tell me what you have got to say." An hour later, when the statesman left, he carried with him the monarch's promise to issue a proclamation that would declare the neutrality of Hoi land. *?'A Scotchman In Winnipeg had to disrrtlss his gardener for dishonesty. For the sake of the man's wife and family, however, he gave him a "character" and framed It In this way: "I hereby certify that J. G. has been my gardener for over two years, and during that time he got more out of the garden than any man I ever employed."?Ex. IW Gerald?The elephant Is a peculiar animal. Geraldine?That's so; he hasn't any i collection of hotel labels on his trunk. pisfrtlaneous Reading. ? WILL NOT SIGN BONDS Governor Blease 8?y? Supreme Court Has Overruled Itself. Governor Bleaae announces, according to the Columbia correspondent of the News and Courier, he will not sign any bonds or stocks, making it certain there will be no refunding of the state debt during his term of office. He scored the supreme court last Thursday for | their opinion' In upholding the validity I of the refunding act and goes after Associate Justice Hydrlck, who wrote the opinion. His dictated statement says: "Wa T am r\ laannninfo/1 Of t Ho PA. ill/( A Ollt IIW uioappvuvvvi - ? suit of the decision of the supreme court. I rather expected It. I regret very much though, that they dodged the main point in the case, and did not decide fairly and squarely the question of a quorum, as to whether or not a member of the house or senate can serve on any commission of which he was a member by virtue of his position in the house or senate, after his term expires, or, as the constitution expresses it, after the term of his successor begins. "Justice Hydrlck in his opinion completely and absolutely dodges every material Issue in the case, as any lawyer or other man of good common sense will And if he will read the pleadings therein. He dodges entirely the Browning question, one of the most Important of all. He then confirms the report of Halcott P. Green by merely saylng.that 'we deem it unnecessary to prolong this nninifln hv a riotnllprf statement or con sideratlon of them,' which shows that he did not give them the proper thought and consideration. In fact, his whoje opinion is dodging the material issues raised by the pleadings, and decides absolutely nothing, but leaves the entire matter where It was before It went into the courts. "Justice Watts does a little better. However, the conclusion reached and the opinion of the majority of the court is, in my opinion, after considering the pleadings on both sides, one of the most adroit Judicial dodges that I have ever seen and one of the most perfect biased political Judgments ever handed down by a Judicial tribunal, and should be sufficient to convince all men of the necessity of the election of Judges by the people. I am glad, however, to see that they say they will have nothing to do with matters of the sinking fund commission. I presume they will adhere to this when the Domlnlck claim comes up for his fees. However, I do not suppose they had thought of it, or possibly they would not have been so , plain along that line. Personally, I shall pay absolutely no attention to me decision, and no bond* will be refund* ed until after the next session of the general assembly, the Bupreme court to the contrary notwithstanding. Judge Hydrlck does not even tell the cdmmJsslon to go forward; he simply says they are at liberty to do so and so. The legislature had given that liberty, and it was not necessary for this learned and distinguished jurist to concur. But the 'liberty' he gave the majority will avail nothing, as It will be absolutely Ignored until the next general assembly takes action. "Seriously, I doubt If this is a legal decision, anyway, for the supreme court has certainly not followed the constitution. If you will turn to Section ft, Article ' 5, of our constitution, you will read, 'In case all or any of the justices of the supreme court shall be thus disqualified or be otherwise prevented from presiding,' etc., 'the court or the Justices thereof shall certify the same to the governor,' etc. This they * - J J ItiaHoAa Ortl _ iauea 10 au, unu uuij iuui jiuhwo oned in the case, when the constitution positively required five, or the court enbanc. You will notice the word is 'shall' and not 'may' or 'can.' Therefore, it certainly was the duty of the Judges, when they only had four, to certify the same and have the vacancy filled, or, these being constitutional questions to call the full court en banc and pass upon the same. These judges for some reason refused to obey the constitution because it certainly says 'shall,' and if the humblest citizen 'shall,' when the word is used, surely the supreme court, which sends them to the penitentiary and to the electric chair, should, above all others, obey the constitution when It says 'shall.' No Bonds to bo Issued. "Of course, however, tnese judges are above the law. If one of them should be convicted of any offense, I have no idea but what the others would give him a new trial, but they are not higher in dictating to me my duties. Therefore, you can safely Bay that there will be no bonds issued until after the meeting of the next general assembly, for, If you will notice, the acts of 1912 in reference to'this bond matter, page 740 provides 'that said coupon bonds and certificates of stock shall be signed by the governor of the state,' etc., and I have yet to see or read anything in the constitution or statutes which authorizes the supreme court to make me as governor sign my name to what I believe to be an attempt to defraud the state, and if there was any such thing, I would not sign it, even though the supreme court iudges are higher than the law and can refuse to do what the constitution says they shall do. So the bond deal matter will stand, as I presume the supreme court would say, or at least would affirm me in saying', in statu quo until the general assembly of 1914." CONGRESS ON "HALF TIME" Since 1789 Legislators Have Spent 56 Years in 8ession. "Congress is in session all the time. We never get a chance to do anything else; never a chance for a vacation. Ah, for the good old days when congress adjourned early and?" This is familiar talk in Washington. It is a frequent ^plaint, especially of secretaries, and Is not Infrequent among members themselves. The impression arises perhaps, from the record performances of congress during the Taft administration, when It was In session 935 days during the entire four years. During the first Roosevelt administration congress spent relatively little time on the Job. During the second Roosevelt administration it was in session only 567 days, and during the previous four years only 572 days. Congress came within 200 days of putting in as much time during the! Tart administration as during ,tne entire eight years preceding his assumption of office. While the contrast may give rise to the complaint among congressmen and their employes that they are working too hard and too long, the history of congress as a whole does not indicate that it is setting a new record or working more days in the year than has been the practice since the foundation of the government, says the 'Washington Herald. Of tve 124 years between March 4, 1789, and March 4, 1918. congress has spent 66 years, 3 months and IS days In ' actual session. This is, on an average very nearly half of the time. During Washington's first administration, when the government was in the making and tne rounaauon was Dein* laid for the huge legislative structure that has since risen, there was one special session of congress and the members spent 835 days altogether In session out of the 1460 days which comprised the first administration. During Lincoln's first administration, when the United States was involved in most serious conflict, congress spent only 665 days In session. Including special sessions and regular sessions, congress has worked an average of 146 days to the session. If this average is to be maintained during the present special session congress will not adjourn before October 1. With a tariff bill to complete and currency legislation hanging on the horizon like an ominous cloud, congress bids fair to exceed this average, however. Although congress put in more time at legislation during the Taft administration than ever before, it did not set a new record for the length of any one term. A record was hung up nearly a half century ago which promises to stand for years to come. Prom De cember 1, 1861, to November 10, 1868, when the reconstruction of the southern states and the rehabilitation of commerce In the north were engaging the attention of statesmen, congress was held in session for 345 days. It was only twenty days short of an entire year. In 1887 a 321-day session was held. In 1889, when the regular long session was on the calendar, congress again tried to make a record, remaining In session 304 days. Beginning December 3, 1849, congress remained at work 302 days. These four sessions are the only ones which have exceeded 300 days in length. Consequently the present session of the national law-making body, even if it continues at work until the day before the next regular session in December, cannot break into the class of lengthy sessions. TURKI8H HUMOR. Much of it Hinged Around One Famous j Old Character. Turkish anecdotes are very short. . and most of them cluster about a worthy who is said to have lived in the fourteenth century, and whose tombstone is pointed out in Konia. He was a teacher, or hodja, called Nasr Eddln Hodja. He seems to have had two distinct personalities, judging from the stories; for one set make him appear shrewd, crafty and even wise, and the other set stu pid and foolish. Let's look first at some of the stupid stories. One day Nasr Eddin Hodja said to his wife, "Tomorrow, If it is pleasant, I shall work In the garden; but If it is unpleasant, I shall work in the house." His wife added, piously, "inshallah!" that is, "If Ood wills." He replied, obstinately, "No, Allah has nothing to do with it It must be either pleasant or unpleasant. If it is pleasant I will work in the garden; and if it is unpleasant I will work in the house." His wife shook her head at this impiety, but said nothing more. That night a party of soldiers came and took Nasr Eddin Hodja away to work for them. It was a pleasant day, but he did not work in the garden. When he got through his work he went sadly home, and his wife being abed, he o* tKo Hnnp "Whn'n there?" AUVVAQU Mb buv MWa ,? __ she cried. "It's your husband, lnshallah," replied a meek voice. "No, my husband never says lnshallah," she replied, and turning on her ear, went to sleep. Another time Nasr Eddin Hodja cried to his wife, "Wife, wife, come here! the moon has fallen Into the well." She rushed to the well and looked down and, sure enough, the moon was floating on the water. "We must get it out," said the hodja; "bring me a rope and hook." So she brought them and they let them into the well. The hook caught on a stone, and Nasr Eddin and his wife pulled and pulled. Suddenly the stone gave way and the two fell flat on their backs. As they lay there the hodja cried, '"See, wife, we have put it back again," and sure enough, there was the moon once more in the sky. All Ottomans, wnemer rnu, ?.?menians or Macedonians, tell these stories with infinite relish and never seem to tire of them. Here Is another popular one: One day Nasr Eddin Hodja was sitting on the branch he was sawing off the limb. A passer-by called to him, "Look out! You'll fall." The hodja paid no attention, but went on sawing and, when the limb fell, he fell with it Jumping up, he ran after the man and said, "Please tell me when shall I die." The man repiled, "Do I know?" Nasr Eddin said, "But you prophesied that I would fall; now prophesy when I shall die." Of the anecdotes of the stupid hodja, the following has a delicious iriBII liavui. One night Nasr Eddln Hodja thought he saw a burglar In his room, and shot at him. In the morning he found that he had sent an arrow through his own shirt, which hung In the window. Falling on his knees, he prayed fervently, "I thank thee, Allah, that I was not In that shirt."?Hester D. Jenkins, in the Outlook. IW First hopeful nephew (proudly) ?Aunt says I call her up on the 'phone oftener than you do. Second hopeful nephew?Did she accuse you of anything else? H*" Frost?Sometimes one runs across his friends in the most unexpected places. Snow?True. Yesterday I found Agnes at home. I - - : - : UUr LUUK PUK COTTON interesting Analysis of Supply and Do* mand Situation. The Columbia Record is convinced that the world Is confronted with a cotton famine, and is printing letters "from different experts to uphold its view. Hon. John 1a McJLaurin con* tributes the following to the symposium: "1 see your paper is making an intelligent fight for higher cotton. Con* dlMnitfi In t Via ornntnnn nApHAn a# Ika belt undoubtedly warrant IS cents. As a matter of fact, consumption of cotton has Increased faster than production. That Is, the consumption per capita in highly civilised countries. Cotton was not a commercial factor until after Whitney invented the gin in 179S. In 1813 the cotton crop amounted to about 360,000 bales, while now it runs fifteen or sixteen million. In this connection I wish to direct your attention to an article In Cotton and Finance, by Mr. Theodore H. Fries, the best authority that I know, on this subject He prints a table giving the per capita consumption of cotton in the United States from 1870 to 1811, namely: 1870?9.41 pounds per capita. 1880?14.74 pounds per capita. 1890?16.78 pounds per capita. * < 1900?29.53 pounds per capita. "Mr. Price then goes on to make the very significant statement that these flcuras show 'whv forehanded man ufacturers throughout the world have boon willing to supply thomselves for years ahead with moderate priced cotton.' "I have never seen any statistics (other than guess work) of the per capita consumption of the world. It is easy, however, to make the calculation by Invoking the "rule of three.' If ninety million people in the United States, as Mr. Price saya consume 6-100 of a bale to each person or !,400,000 bales, and the United States has 1-20 of the population of the civilised world, then this gives the equation, namely: One la to 6,400,000 as 20 is to 108,000,000 bales. This means that If In every country the consumption of cotton per capita was as great as in the United States, that It would take this year more than one hundred million bales of cotton to supply the demand. "The full Import of these figures can not be fully understood, unless one comprehends the Increase of only one pound per capita In consumption, requires four million bales to fill it Also the further fact that If eotton goes to 16 cents, It will mean only one cent a yard Increase in the price of the cheaper goods, while in the finer gooas me amerence m can at yruductlon to hardly appreciable. There to a great opportunity open to us now and I wish we were in a position to take advantage of it If we had the state warehouse bill and with the certificates could get money at low rates, a man could now borrow, say. 11 cents a pound and pay up all of his debts. (The Record's plan to similar to this.) . .. "If no other state was in that totuatlon, we would simply hold the South Carolina crop off the market, until the other states were through, and the cheaper they sell (on the doctrine of averages) the higher price our crop would bring. In the face of greatly increased consumption precedents are exploded. The world Is face to face with a crop that to two million bales under requirements and these requirements are Increasing, not diminishing. Let's get all out of it that we can. "About thirty-five thousand new spindles have been put in during the past few years. Never until this year have all of them been In operation. We had short crops in 1*01 and 1910, and prices went up. These new spindles lay idle, until the seventeen million bale crop of 1911. Prices of cotton went far below the coot of production, supplies were ample and these new mills started up. There was not only plenty of cotton, but the world was bare of goods, and there was a big profit in sight for every spindle and they have been working night and day. "New uses of cotton spring up every day. The automobile tire is an immense industry, requiring heavy duck and the cushions are made from the lighter, while most of the top is from cotton. Cotton is supplanting wool, for all arimles are now clad in khaki. The development of the cement industry with its cotton bags is a strik Ins example of the extension or me use of cotton. There must be something like 150,000,000 spindles running at a profit of full time; to keep them going at the present rate of consumption, would require at a conservative estimate, 16,000,000 bales of cotton, while no one thinks a crop as large as last year a possibility. Another thing, mills have purchased from speculators, their requirements, in some instances, going as far ahead as 1917. These mills cannot be hurt, because they are protected by actual deposits of money on margin. It Is our opportunity to get back some of the money of which the south has been mulcted on cotton gambling. Besides an Increase of five cents a pound cannot hurt the mills or check consumption. Cotton prices under the law of supply and demand must advance to a point, where consumption will be curtailed to meet the short supply. It will be done not by making less number of yards, but automatically by manufacturing finer and lighter fabrics. In the beginning of 1911, owing to short crops, there was almost a famine in ducks, twills and sheetings and the end of 1914 will see a similar condition. One pound of cotton is now making five yards of cloth, prices are going to advance until It is made to produce 7 J yards of cloth. If we are 2,000,000 bales short, you cannot figure it #nv other way. Now, Mr. Editor, the above Is, I believe, a summary of the situation so far as statistics and crop conditions go. "I have been working nearly two years to get the state warehouse bill through, and I do hope that this next session of the legislature will cut out politics and give me a decent opportunity to be heard on the house side. I believe the senate is ready to pass the bill. Keep up the flght It will make your paper a power in the land."