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r.. ? ON Ml OPEN TRACK By GEORGE RANDOLPH-CHESTER. "And the semaphore was clear? clear as a crystal!" He seemed Quite anxious that the other man. though a stranger met casually at breakfast in the dining car, should bear this seriously In intnd, and he waited for a grave nod of com prehension before he went on. ""This is the first time I've been over the route In daylight Blnce then, and that was ten years ago," he resumed. "When 1 have to come this way 1 always travel by night, but this time 1 couldn't help myself. When we hit the Edgarvllle curve I'm not going to look out of the window. No matter how green the grass might be, 1 should see It splotched with red. where 68 of them?men, women and k children?lay mounlng, or woise tkuu that, quiet. And It wasn't my fuult; the company exonerated me alter they had investigated The semaphore was ciear. "As the crush came I seemed to have a curious, soft sensation all inside of me, ns If I were made of nothing but loose feathers. I remember, all right! I can't forget It; I wish I could. I?I sometimes wake up in the night thinking about it." The ex-englneer looked about him curiously ?h he spoke, turning his somber eyes furtively from side to side, as If in constant dread of what they might rest upon. "It was a morning just like this, and about this time of year. We were three minutes late at Gordon Junction, wultlng for the St. Louis connection, and that's why I didn't slowdown much as we came to the Edgarvllle curve. It's a nasty bend just there, sharper than they make a curve now, with not enough dlsli to the roadbed, and with trees running right up to the signal tower, so that you couldn't see a foot beyond. That's why they had put a semaphore there. It was the semaphore that killed my passengers, not me. for that morning Suddenly He Gave a Scream. It was clear. Wo never heurd of the semaphore man again; he cut right oil ucroHH country, and I suppose he changed his uunio. "Ills skipping out thut way helped to clear me. and as soon us 1 got out of the hospital the company offeree me my old Job back, hut 1 couldn't take it. I knew my nerve was gone "Have you any Idea what It meant to bo responsible for, tho death of "e people? Of course you haven't hadn't even then, until 1 began t< move among them. 1 am not going tc ' tell you what It looked like. You may imagine it for yourself, and be thank lul that your imagination will not reach. "Rut it wasn't the men that gripped me so hard; it was the women uuo ; children. Yfflt see. 1 hud my wife and three babies at home, and you know what that meuns, for 1 saw just suel a group inside the lid of your watch a minute ago. Mine have all been taken from tne since then, one at o time, all four of them, and us each one left mo it seemed to bo somehow connected with that terrible day out there In the fleld. I took it as a sort of punishment, although Ood knows I shouldn't have been punished more than this memory is a punish meat, for It wasn't my fault. The semaphore was clear, ami it wn?Ti my business to know what was be yond it. But it was my hand on the , lever Just the sumo, and if the damned ^ suffer worse agony than I did as 1 looked from ? no to the other of t!..?s? poor, inatmed, helpless creatures, we j have a cruel lh>d. It's the women and ! children that I can't get over. Ther< i was one littJo g'rl hist the ego ot , my Elsie, with the same brnv.n curls. ! and?" Ills v >e choked and ho stopped. ! hut the stranger did not look at him. Ho knew that tho tears were smarting i upon the ex-englneo? 'H lower eyelids ! and his own eyes were moist. There : was a little girl like that in the lid of : the watch case, and just now she was over a thousand miles away. There was rpiite a long silence. ' You are not to blame for losing ; our nerve, was tne stranger's com monploee remnrk, after he hag cleared away a certain husklness that was In h's throat. "I lost it in one second," replied the other unsteadily. "I, that had al<va>s been the coolest man of the crew in a wreck, was uo use this time. Like a crasy uiau I went from on<to another of them where iboy lay on the ground, all the living and some of the dead, I guess, telling them over and over again that It wasn't my fault, that the semaphore was clear?clear as a crystal! I made them look to where both Its useless arms, the red and white, hung limp In the sunlight. h One man laughed wheu 1 told him. then fc* cursed lue, and died with the 4 _ ^ J . . of the window and ^linking g: avely. There wart long np>p by and by, and the atranger spoke'of it. "Yea," agreed the ex-engiueer, "we ought to be out of bere. This is Gordon Junction, and the St. Louie train 1b In ahead of ua." The conductor presently came hustling Into the car. "Lucky you're aboard, Billy." be | said, mopping Ms brow. "Jimmto Dale baa Juat taken sick In the cab. and you'll have to pull us in to the end of the division. I'll report to head- j quarters that you're In charge." There was no vehement outburst of refusal, such as the stranger had expected. instead, the ex-englneer sat Bllent for some time, moistening his lips alternately with a curious, slow deliberation. iuu kuow wnere we are, aon t you. Murphy?" he finally returned, and the conductor gave a atnlle of understanding indulgence. ""Can't Jlmtnle last until we pass the Edgarvllle curve? I won't mind running her in from there." "Last!" repeated Murphy. "Hb'b in the baggage car on u cot now, with a doctor that we got out of the Clnciunuti (deeper. Acute gastritis, he calls it. Nothing to it, Billy?you'll have to forget that old affair and take the throttle." Without a word the ex-engineer arose, and, compressing his lips, walked out of the car and toward the engine. The stranger uotlced that as he went he was snapping the fingers of each hand alternately. It was an engine of a new type, but the man who climbed into it had been for nearly ten years in the shops of the road, und he knew every lever, every cock, every device that confronted him. Slowly he opened the steam way, slowly the ponderous wheels began to revolve, and all at once the old tingle canto back into his linger tips, into his hand, into his arm, into the muscles of his buck, into his entire body. Once more, as it gathered speed. ho was part and parcol of his engine; tho breezo that came in nt. tho enh windows swept across his face and ruffled his grizzled hair; tho rock and the sway of the big machine struck him with a keen sensation as of one homesick but returned home. Little by little he "let her out." and they spun past farmhouse and fields and hills, past woods and marsh and sandy waste, through rocky cut and across bridge and trestle and culvert, over hrook and creek aud sluggist river. There came upon him an exhilaration as if he hud tasted of new wine. Even at the head of tho grade leading down to the Edgorvllle curve he seemed to be half drunk with the Joy otr it ull, and blithely he calle 1 across the c:-b 10 the greeu tiremau. "We're all right this morning, my boy; the semaphore is clear?clear as crystal!" They were just nearing the signal tower when suddenly he gave a scream that set his tireman uiulver, and. throwing himself upon his lever, lie reversed. Willi all his might he gripped the steel handle, staring [ straight ahead with horror-widened eyes and tightly clenched Juwb, for 1 his face gone as white as his hair. The momentum was too great to allow the train to he stopped at the tower, but with a jet k it came to a standstill at tho field just he>op.d the curve. The conductor and the stranger ..nr me iim 10 come rum. iu* Oil ahead, to find the engineer in the empty Held, limping painfully with his haml upon hie back and bending over, tiret to one aide ar.d then to tho other, talking; and eaeh time he at retched a trembling liund to where bo'h arms of the semaphore, the red oad the ' white, hung straight down in the mm- j light. "I can't find the little girl th-t Was liko uty Elsie!" lie complained, as they approached hint. Then he slowly raised his head and met their glance; his eyes were wide set, and there was in them the wild light which 110 man, having once seen, can ever forget. "It wasn't my fault!" he exclaimed piteously, pointing his trembling hand toward the signal tower. "The semaphore was clear?clear as a crystal! Look'" (Copyright, by lite Frank A. Mutn?y Co.) 1 Lige the Martinet. Henry A. Thornton, whose selection 1 as general manager of the Great East- , era railroad has electrified England, will be regretted by the lx>ng island 1 railroad, where hie humanity has endeared him to both high and low. "Thornton, thorough as he is," said a New York railroad man, "is no martinet. lie never annoys the thousands tinder liini with useless inquisitions. "lie told me one day that a certain railroad martinet reminded him of a young bride who wont forth for the j first time to do her marketing. "She wanted chickens. Site selected a live pair. Then, as the dealer tied j the flopping birds' legs together, she I said sever dy; .-no .i'ii Mir" > r * nuitc u* You'll And yourself in trouble, mlrtl, if lhe>'ro not quiio fresh.' " HOW TO BE SAFE. Tommy?Pop, in the Welsh rabbit, a domestic ^nimal? Tommy's Pop?Yea, my son. Tommy?Then it won't hurt you, > will it? Tommy's Pop?Not if you don't eat it.?Philadelphia Record. VICTIMS. First Highwayman?Hully smoke, Pikey, didjer see tie fat wad dat de old guy was Hash in'? Second Highwayman?Sure. Yon can have him. fully. I'm trailin' de chap wit tie basket of eggs. SAVED HIS LIFE. "When your erring son came homo did you kill the fatted calf?" "No, his mother wouldn't let ine, so i forgave him." i, Ill - ? I ^ UN ARTISTS DREAMS , it j By H. M. EGBERT. John Tarbox sat at his desk, his head bent over a sheet of white paper. Hia fountain pan was poised between his lingers. He was a writer, and in a moment he would be plunged into the sweet delirium of creative literature. Suddenly a disturbing element burst in upon his peace. Tarbox looked up. i Beside him, with a half loving, half pitying, wholly maternal expression upon her face, stood one of the prettiest women imaginable. Her hair was soft and fluffy, her gentle gray eyes sparkled with good-humored tolerance and kindly good will. "Johu, dear, here is a letter for you." aald this apparition. "L>o you want the turnips inashed for supper or boiled whole?" John groaned in spirit. "Put it down, Molly," he said. "The turnips? O, any old way." Molly Tarbox placed the letter upon the table. "I'll leave it here so that you won't forget to read It." she said. "I do hope it is an offer of a position. And remember, John dear," she shook her 1 Anger warnlngly, "there isn't much money left, even fur turnips. Have you got an idea?" "Yes!" yelled her husband, rutining his flrieers thrnnarh lii? hair Molly smil&i discerningly and withdrew. There had been a time when she would have been dismayed at John's speaking to her in that tone ' of voice. But she was wiser now. She ' went out of the room, still smiling. John Tarbox groaned in desolation of Bpirit. "Turnips!" he muttered contemptuously. "And now it's gone! Just when I had the situation in hand? 1 gone! Spoiled for u turnip! O, why didn't I marry a woman who would have understood me?" John Tarbox was not a brute; he was & creative artist. He and Molly loved each other sincerely. But Molly was not urtistic by temperament; if she had been there would probably not even have been turnips. John Tarbox lowered his head upon j his arms in agony of soul, unit pres- I ently ho fell into an uneasy sleep, in I his sleep he had a strange sueeesslou of dreams. Dream No. 1. John Tarbox, coated with white dust and seated among a number of heaps of squared slnbB. was chipping with a chisel upon the surface of a glazed brick. Upon his head I was a sort of mitre, which only partly H? Looked Up. warded off the rays of a very hot sun. Ho was chiseling out a series of strunge, arrow-like marks upon the glazed surface In front of him, and ho seemed to understand perfectly what ho was doing, although he could not 1 have explained It. A disturbing element broke in upon his peace, lie looked tip. lieside him, > weating a half loving, half pitying, and wholly maternal expression upon her face, stood one of the prettiest women imaginable. She was dressed in a long, flowing blanket, and her dark hair was bound back with u fillet. The words she spoke, though strange, were perfectly intelligible to him. "John, dear," ho understood her to say, "Melchlscdek, the high priest, j V U that if vnn ?* 111 ? i ? / ? ?..Mv .. ^ vu niii uu oumr 1 u be rip- ; tlona for him upon the temple col utnns, ho will pay you t>5 shekels a mouth. His majesty wants to make . a few remarks about his victory over the Jebusltes. Do you want the kid stewed or fried lu palm oil for supper?" .1 oliii Tarbox groaned in spirit. "Tell Melchisedek to go to Gehenna," ho answered. "Cook the kid any old way. Hoi) it in its mother's milk. Now you've driven that idea clean out of ray head." lie was alone ugaiu. He looked up at the blue cxpunse of the skv. "O Hel," he prajed, "next time thou bringest me back to earthly life, bestow on me a woman who can understand me." Dream No. 2. John Tarbox. wearing a short, tight blanket of goat's hair, sat In the shade of a colonnade, wrlt ns with a reed pen upon a roll of papyrus, lie had Just dipped his pen into the Inkhoru when a disturbing ln lurnc j arrested bis hand. He looked up. to t-.-p beside him. wearing a half loving, half pitying and wholly mater- i nal expression, one of the prettiest women in the world. She was dressed, like himself. In a blanket, only longer, and her jet black hair fell about her shoulders* "John." she said to him In a tongue which was quite comprehensible, though gtrer>R?\ "here's a chance for us to get a little bit ahead. The prophet Jeremiah says he can use a lamentation every day except the Sabbath. Us says he has set Ure4 sf repealle* * ^ I % IVI I L. L. him see them, flow would you like the scape-goat cooked this afternoon?" i John Tarbox threw out his hand and i tipped the Inkhorn over. | "Tell him to go to Jericho!" he roared. "Now you've put that prophecy of mine clean out of niv head." He bowed his head among the temple columns. "Why wasn't I born In the patriarchal age!" he groaned. Dream No. 3. Johh Tar box. clothed In a nine-foot blanket and wearing No. 10 sandals, was seated at a low table, etching upon a waxed tablet with a sort of darning needle. He worked fast and furiously, absorbed In his task. But as he wrote he became conscious of a disturbing element in the situation. He looked up, to see beside him, wearing a half loving, half pitying, and wholly maternal expression upon her face, one of the prettiest women imaginable. Her flowing robe was girdled at the waist, and her red hair was coiled gracefully at the back of her head. "John dear," she said, in a partly familiar language whose import, nevertheless, wub very clear to him, "Cassius Caesar's head slave is waiting in the atrlus. Caesar says he wants 2,000 more words about his Galllo wars for his publisher before sunset tomorrow, on the uame terms as before, Caesar to supply all the material. And l.ucullus has sent us 15 nightingales' tongues, which were left over from ills party last night. Would you rather have them scalloped or en broehette?" John Tarbox groaned in agony of soul. "Tell Caesar I've got etcher's cramp." he answered. ' The tongues? O, can them! Now you've made me forget what t * ?? " ~ ' about." He was alone. Every vestige of an idea had left hhn. His stylus fell from his hand. "O Proserpine^* he prayed, "who presldest over the destinies of mortals, next time thou sendest me forth from the infernal regions, send with me a woman who has the power to un- > derstand me!" Dream No. 4. John Tarbox, dressed in a linen sack coat, with bare legs somewhat mottled by the east wind, was stauding upon a castle parapet, lingering a mandolin. His eyes were directed toward a small barred window, a few feet above his head, at which the Countess I-eopardhearl occasionally took the air. A love song, which had just come to him. hovered upou his lips. Hut before he could fit iite tlrst word to the tune he became conscious of u disturbing element In the sltua- I tloa. At the barred window appear- | ed the face, not of the Countess L?eopardheart. but of one of the prettiest women Imaginable. She wore a half loving, half pitying, and wholly ma- ! ternal expression upon her face, and her long, amber-colored hair was held high over her head with two tortoise shell pins and u bird cage. "John, dear." sho said, in a tnnmi? which reminded him of the French class that his wife used to attend. "I Just dropped in to see tne countess, and she says she hasn't time to come to the window, because Count l<eopardheurt is expected back from the Second Crusade this afternoon, but she wants me to drop down this roBe to you, and if you'll compose a martial air in honor of his return she'll get you a position about the castle. And, John, site's ordered a barbecue from the butcher, and wonders whether you think it ought to be stuffed or not." John Tarbox's mandclln fell from his nerveless liugers, and the wind blew icy cold about his kneea. "Tell her to go to Autloch!" he shouted. "Now you've made me forget every word of that madrigal!" DRAW A ii Savings Bank W. B. KEACHAM, hisidem I < l^sasgsa^^Egsassasgl S Have you "Rock Hi I i Cakes, Jelly 1 Fresh and Fine, If rem th< Phone 116, for PARKS GRC | E. S. PARK % I I IVI C.O He> turned away. "It the Heresy be true of those who say that v.o come more than once to birth." he mused, "may I obtain a woman next time who will understand me!" He stopped, for a sudden light had come to him. "Haven't 1 met that woman somewhere before?" he asked. John Turbox awoke. A strong odor of turnips, which had wafted Into his room from the region below, warned htm that sooner time was at band. He looked around blm. dazed by the strange experiences which he had | undergone. Upon the* cover of his paper-box a letter lay. John opened and ; read It. "John, dear," said Molly, coining out of the kitchen, "can you eat layer cake without the layer? I left it out by accident." John waved the letter at her. "Never mind that! Listen, Molly! Griggs wants me to do soice writing for him." "Mr. Griggs!" exclaimed his wife. "What sort of writing can he have to offer you?" "He wants^ine to write insurance policies," answered John. "And, j Molly?" He looked at her and hesitated. "I'm glad I've got you, my dear, and 1 think I ought to accept after it has been offered to ine so many times, j don't you?" "1 don't know what you uieau, ' John," answered Molly, "hut supper's ready." (Copyright. 1814, Uy W. U. i" > *v > IS NO LONGER AN ORACLE. People Have Ceaaed to Look Upon the Dictionary as an Authority That la Infallible. The dictionary is ceasing, gradually, hut surely, to be an oracle. Its i position as sueh was never quite secure. Even when Samuel Johnson first essayed to set the standard of English usage he had to encounter both scoffers ami Scotsmen; the scoffers organized triumphed. So that step by step, pushed forward by the omnivorous i industry of Gorman scholarship and * lured onward by commercial compe- ' tition, the dictionary, unlike the pro- j < verbial rolling stone, has gathered | < much moss by rolling?down hill! j ? To cite from the dictionary is now , proof, not of the correctness of a j , word or idiom or pronunciation, but i ( merely of its existence. A century of encyclopedists has accomplished this. When Diderot . began his work his aim was to systematize knowledge parallel with a given philosophy of things; today the encvcloj>edist takes, with llucon, j "all knowledge for his province." t The dictionary has followed closely behind. The gain, after all, is ours. Standards are now set, and disputed, [ in a separate place assigned to them; j the dictionary gives us the whole ; wealth of words from which to draw at will. It would seem that the principle of inclusiveness could scarcely he carried beyond the position reached today, unless to include the necessary popular formations that must continue a9 long as the language lives. Extremes of Ni'lnmi The uorlherntuoei national forest ' It the Chugach In Alabku; the south- i rnmost is the Luqulllo In l'orlo Rico. . k. CHECK ifor money you owe and note how much more respectful your creditors regard you. They like to do business with a man who has an account at our hack. Thov know he is doing business in a business-like way. Ret- | ter open such an account even if your atfairs are not large. They will grow all right. of Fort Mill, W. B. MFACHAM. Jr. Cashier I|1 gsassasasasasasasasasasafa I tried our |, 11" Bread {! Rolls, Etc? | and almost hot ?i i t e oven. S i a trial order. gj| " 1GERYCO. I; S, Manager. jJJH n A "Quality, Purity and Service" Is Our Motto. * There's only one way to know i when the other fellow's prices are in line. That is to phone 8 or 14. ? i JONES, the grocer. J Phones 14 and 8. I DISCRIMINATION j t ^ Should be used in the ? I is the best floor paint to use. It is made especially tol flH be walked upon, is ready h r usr, easy to put on?you ^ can do it yourself?and dries quickly. A quart will cover about 75 square feet, two coats. Ask for a copy of our "I loine Decorating" booklet, j It tells von all about the u..c of paints, enamels, stains \ and nnishes in the home. BSfl J. J. BAILES, Jj B LUMBER - PAINTS - OILS flH Yoiir Own Paint! YOU WILL SAVE 60 ct.. PER GAL. BH J THIS IS HOW tBuy 4 gals. I.. A M. SKMI-MIVH) HI!AL FAINT. And 3 gals. Linseed Oil to mix with it - - 2.10 ] You then make 7 gals, of pure paint for - - $10.50 , It's only $1.50 pt r gal. Anybody can mix the OIL with th PAINT. miWW Whereas, if you buy 7 gals. of ready far-use |.aint iui,. . '> CANS, you pay $2.1^ . ;vl. or Si4.7'?. n&&. . a. The L. Cf M. SEMI-MIXt /? HE I.?. T.MS I is IT, Willi I.E. * .'> XiNC titnl I.IN.SEEiJ Oil., tin- he.-. Ki4"n n ; .in: mm , i'i < tor I <;*/ yei.rj. Use a gal. out of any L.&M.PALN I you buy, and II i:ot Cie paint made, return the paint and get ALL jour moucy bad!., Marks End of Childhood. Children pass out of a lup..' ope L| fl A Bi&' t Imple Into |^||cS(a LV encea and dlscreilnns In neath . ? r * uiposed and artittciul liio \ud Z An re lost. Out of llie finished I Aim . *-<y' ratcbful, restrained man and wntua I JS? wS' o child emerges again.?" The I'aa- ???_??t.~ ~h_ -? .'"> Innate Krlends." MM6 A NOW M&n Of Hin* . "I wm suffering from pain in ?Hy K stomach, head and back," writeijH..^>&< ( For Borrowed Book*. T. Alston, Kalelgh, N. 0., "andjrfiv 80 uiuiiy books were borrowed and l^ver and kidneys did not work jtfffc t ever returned front the writer's hoim but four bottles of i?lectric iat she purcbueed a script stencl Diade ine feel like a new Bjtaia. 'JR./ earing her own name und a ploan? j |WICf 50 CTS. TALL DAUC STQ^tS, , ?tum." To oat* uus plan Las pro\.-> j?5555555555SSS555S55552SIIIISISSI!IIl2525E^^r; itlilhotiiry is rststalai bar bouts 1. J juu? ui ota p?p?i^fo^rj^iwC n Mas,' I Tianaa olRc* \ C^?|Ce^ ^1C s^0Te a^ T A _S-2A ?.? . - - 1 xx visit wm impress you with the truth of that ? claim. A single purchase of our Shoes will prove it. , ? M'ELHANEY & CO. t Floors Like New ! Marred and worn floors are liard ro clean and hard to^ keep clean, llalf an hour's work with the paintbrush changes your old shabby floors into new floors that arc i easy to keep clean and hard to wear out. i ACME QUALITY I ci riAD u a ivr . /-n . .i