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FRAN IHN BRECKKNbJDCS Dottrations by O. Irwin Kyert I T 1 . ^-U.fmll'o.? Hercules siowiy rose, stretched hiru s?4f, then marched to his box. Ho looked from Frac to the immovable Bam son waiting upon the table, then mounted to his place, and seemed to fail ssleep. And now, st last, Fran looked at the spectators. Stepping lightly to the bars, she threw kisses this way and that, smiling rsdlsntly. "Oh!" she cried, w?'h vibrating earnestness, **you peofte out there?-you can't think bow I lore you I You're saved my life. You sre perfect heroee. Now make all the noise you pi <ase." "May we move?" called a cautious voice from a few feet away. It was Abbott Aehton, with eyes like stars. Fran looked st him, wondering st bis thoughts. She answered by aa up ward movement of her hand. As though by a carefully rehearsed Csagernent, the audience rose to its X bend boys snd all. Such a shout! Buch waving of bate and handker? chiefs! Such unabashed sobs! Such lnaitlcnlateness?such grasplngs of eeijhbortng bands! The epectators gone mad with joyful relief. Pran leaped upon the table, and mated Samson. "Now, I'm a rough rider!" she shouted, burying her hsnds In the ?sens, snd lying sloog the lion's back la trus cowboy fashion. She plunged, she shouted loudly, but Samson only j closed his eyes and seemed to sleep. After that, making the Hons return to their cramped side cages was a ssere detail. The show was ended. Fran, remaining In the empty enge, stood at the front, projecting kef hand through tho bars to receive the greet? ings of the crowd. Almost every one wanted to shske hands with her. "Look, look!" Simon Jefferson sud denly grasped Robert Clinton's hand, | and pointed towsrd the tent-roof. "There they ere!" Something very strange had hap? pened up there, but it was lost to Clinton's keen Jealous gase?one of those happenings In the soul, which, however mom^nton? no?<A? ????h. i served in l\*x i^ldst of the thron* 't jt an (irate Gre?r?r. " fPs taust teil? v\. >: (U\ tho verv lssi *? n Mi 'li-. 0 I And i feggfeua U ?v., pointing us out Ws can't go down . that way?" "Ws!" Gregory hsrshly echoel. "We! I hsve nothing to do with yoj. Oracs Noir. Go to him, if you will.' Graes turned ashen pale. "What to you mean?" she stammered. "You tell me to go to Mr. Clinton?" "I tell you to go where you pleas ? That girl yonder Is my daughter, do you understand? Don't hold me back! 1 shall go to her snd proclaim her ss I my child to the world. Do you bear me? That's my Fran!" Graee shrsnk back in the suspicion 1 teat Hsmilton Gregory hsd gone mad like the rest of the crowd. "Do you mean thst you never want to see me , again? Do you mean that you want me to marry Mr. Clinton?" "I do not care what you do," h? said, still mors roughly. "Yt'i do not care?" she stammered, bewlld?red. "Whet has happened? You do not cere?for me?" She looked deep into his eyes, but found uo incense buroli g there. Th" shrlns aas cold. "Mr. Gregory! And after all tha' has passed between uh? Afttff I hu\ given you my- myself?" Orvgory seised her arm. a* if to hold her off. His eyes were burning dim gerously: "I saw murdei in ygejf h a while you were watching Fran." 1 whispered fiercely. "That's my daugh ter. do you understand? I know you now, I know you now . . Ho stumbled down the steps, pushing ou of his wsy those who opposed bin progress. Orsce stared after him with blood less cheeks snd into derlng eye?. Clesrly, she decided, the sight of Fran's fearful danger had unbalanced his mind. But how could he care ?3 much shout thst Fran? And how could he leave her, knowing that Hot - ert Clinton was beginning to climb upward with eyes fssteuud upon hor face? Dut it wss not the sight of Fran's danger that had for ever alienated Gregory from Grace Nolr. In an In Stsnt, she hsd atood rev* aha] to him ss sn unlovely monster His sensitive nature, always .bnnrm.iliy allvs In out wsrd impressions, had thi II d I aponalvely to Mm lUltal sU> dlence. He hud endu 'I the n| ? of suspense, he had ihared Iba QUlverigjl enthuslssm. If. in a sease, ) ras a series of moods, each th<' r< salt of blind Impulse, It so huppeuod that Orsoe's hiss?"it's the hand of God." turned his love to aversion; she was appealing an a Justification of person? al ha'r. d. to the God th-y wars both betraying. QfQge began to tr? mlde as she WStch- d Heblrl Clinton ' name up, snd Hamilton OvefBty descending, 8hn had trusted foolishly to a bfOl I seeeV Dut At v,ra8 DOt Utn m?" to aerve tho good u* me si g? n Mboat '.v ?esiaif.ii. 1 Uv i'uruu<'wj?w?t in Which . ash resolves are forged, waa cooled. Gregory had deaerted Kran 1 mother; ho was false to Mrs. Gregory; he would perhaps have betrayed Grace In the end; but Clinton was at haul, and h4j adoration would endure. In tho meantime, the vo ce of Fran was to be heard abovo taat of the happy crowd: "I lovo you all. You helped mo do it. T should certainly have been mangled but for you pei> feet heroes. Yes, thank you. . . . Ye9, I feel fine. . . . And, oh, me a and women, I could lust feel your spirits holding mine tip till I was SO high?1 was in tho cloidd. That's what subdued Samson. lit knew I wasn't afraid. He knew it! And I wanted t? win out for your sake a as well as mr own?yes I dldl Thank you met.. . . . Thank you, women. . . ? Well, if hers aren't ths children, too? bless your brave hearts! . . . An 3 Is that your baby? My goodness, ani what a baby It 1st . . . No, Tin not a bit tired?" She stopped suddenly, on feeling a crushing grip. She ooked down, n frown forming on her brow, but tho sun shone clear when she saw Abbott Ashton. She gave him a swift look, a * If to peneratn his inmost thoughts. Ho met her eyes unfalteringly. "It'll already nine; o'clock," hi said with sin? gular composure. "Don't forget nine thirty." Then he disappeared In the crowd. Fran saw the rankR thinning before her. Sho was glad, for suddenly t-bo found herself very tired. What would Abbott think? Would he, henceforth, see nothing but the show girl of tinsel and trainer's whip, for ever showing through the clear glass of her real self? At nine-thirty, what would Ab? bott say to her? and low should she reply? The thought cf him obscured her vision of admiring faces. Her man? ner lost its spontaneity. Then, to her amaseix.ent, she beheld Hamilton Gregory stunbling toward her, looking neither to right nor left, seeing none but her?Hamilton Greg? ory at a show! Hamilton Gregory here, of all places, his eyes wide, his head thrown back as If to bare his face to her startled gt.ze. Ti'ran!" cried Gregory, thrusting forth his arms to tako her bauds. "Fran! Even now, the bars divide ub. l'.ut oh, I am so glac, so glad?and God answered my pn yer and saved you, Fran?my daughttr!" CHAPTER XXIV. Nesr the 8ky. It was half-past nine when Abbott met Fran, according to appointment, before the Snake Den. From her hands she had removed the color of Italy, and from her body, the glittering rai? ment of La Gonisettl. Fran came up to the young man from out the crowded street, all quiy l?c pulsiDf i:fo that ?x ...\si**+iy, Aboott Grasped Bill's Hsnd, and In? quired About Business. changed her face, as from reflections of dancing light-points, his composure ilit'Y.ed almost grotesquo. "Haft I am." she punted, shooting a QttilSical glance at bil faro, "are vou ready for mo? Coma on, toon, and I'll show you the very pin er? for us." Abbotl Inquired serenely; "Down Uta re iti lbs. i > -n f* Fran scrutinised hi in anew, always wondertn, boa be had taken the lions. What ah" saw dul not alarm her. "No," sho returned, "not in the Den. You're no Daniel, if I am a Charmer. No dens for us." "Nor lion cages?" inquired Abbott, still inscrutable; "never again?" "Never again," came her response: it *as a promist*. As they miido their way through till noisy "city square" sho kepi on won? dering. Since his face revealed uoth ing, his disapproval, at any rate, waa not so great an to be beyond control Did that signify that he did not feel enough for her really to care? Better for him to be angry about tho show, than not to care. Fran stopped before tho Forrln Wh< .1. "Let's tako ? ride,*1 she said, ? little tremulously. "Won't Deed ticket:'. Hill, slop tho wh. el. I want to go right up. This is a Mend Of mine Mr. Ashton. And Abbott, thll Ii an older friend than you -Mr. Bill Smcoklns." Mr. Hill Kmookins was ail exceed? ingly hard featured man, of no rocog nUabln ago. Externally, he was bluo overalls and greasy tar. Abbott grasped Hill's band, and In? quired about business. 'Awfttl pore, sense Fran Inf the show." was tho answer accompanied b| a grin that threat* tied to cut the weataer-beatei face wide open. Kran h Bined, "Mr. Stnookins knew my motu, r ?lulu't you, BUlf Ho waa uti'ui food to ur wUou 1 wus a kid ??- ... - ? I I tp Mr. Smooklns was a Hunan Nympli in those days, and he smoked and talked, he did, right down under the water? remember, BUI? That was sure-enough water?oh, he's a sure-enough Bill, let me tell you!" Bill intimated, as he slowed down the engine, that the rheumatism ho had acquired under the water, was sure-enough rheumatism?hence his change of occupation. "I wan strong enough to be a Human Nymph," ho explained, "but not endurable. Nobody can't la*t many years as a Human Nymph." Abbott indicated his companion? "Here's one that'll last my time." The wheel stopped. He and Fran were barred into a seat. "And now," Fran exclaimed, "it's all ups and downs, just like a moving pic-! turo of life. Why don't you say some? thing, Mr. Ashton? But no, iou can j keep still?I'm excited to death, and wouldn't hear you anyway. I want to 1 do all the talking?I always do, after I've been in the cage. My brain is filled, with air?so this is the time to be soaring up into the sky, isn't it! What is your brain filled with??but never mind. We'll be just two bal? loons?my! aren't you glad we haven't any strings on us?suppose some peo pie had hold!?I, for one, would be willing never to go down again. Where j ' are the clouds??Wish we could meet j a few. See how I'm trembling?al-1 ways do, after the Hons. Now, Abbott, I'll leave a small opening for just one word?" "I'll steady you," said Abbott, brief I ly, and he took her hand. She did not appear conscious of his protecting clasp. I "I never see the moon so big," she went on, breathlessly, "without think ' lng of that night when it rolled along the pasture as if it wanted to knock 1 us off the foot bridge for being where j we oughtn't. I never could understand why you should stay on that bridge ' ' with a perfect stranger, when your I duty was to be usher at the camp-meet ! ingl You weren't ushering me, you I know, you were holding my hand?i mean, I was holding your hand, as Miss Sapphira says I shouldn't. What a poor helpless man?as I'm holding you now, I presume! But I laughed in meeting. People ought to go outdoors to smile, and keep their religion in a house, I guess. I'm going to tell you why I laughed, for you've never guessed, and you've always been afraid to ask?" "Afraid of you, Fran?" "Awfully, I'm going to show you? let go, so I can show you. No, I'm In earnest?you can have me, afterwards. . . . Remember that evangelist ? J There he stood, waving his hands?as I'm doing now?moving his arms with i his eyes fastened upon the congrega? tion?this way?look, Abbott." "Fran! As if I were not already ! > "LeoW- JUSt SO; mit Styl )g ^ word? ? oily-waving this way and that . .?? ! And It at ? -i..'1. U.mv -in b;-pur< I User- the maa that waves people iuto \ \ our biggest tent?he seems to pick 'em . ! up bodily and carry them in his arms. ' ? Well! And if the people are to be waved into a church, it won't take much of a breeze to blow them out.. II don't believe in soul-waving. But-1 that doesn't mean that I don't believe la the church?does it??do you think?" "You believe in convictions, Fran. And since you've come into the church, you don't have to say that you believe in it." "Yes?there's nothing on the out? side, and oh, sometimes there's so little, so little under the roof?what do you think of me, Abbott?" "Fran, I think yeu aro the most?" ' "But do you!" she Interposed, still i unsteadily. "In the superlative? I don't see how you can, after that exhi? bition behind tho bars. Anyway, I wsnt you to talk about yourself. What \ trade you go away from town? But tout's not the worst; what made you stay swsy? And what were you doing off there wherever it was, while poor little girls wcro wondering themselves lick about you? But wait!?the wheel's going down?down?down. . . . Good thing I have you to hold to?pcor Miss Sapphira, she can't come now! Lhten at all the street criers, getting closer, and the whistle sounds?\ wish we had whistles, the squawky kind. See my element, Ab? bott, the nlr I've breathed all my life? the carnival. Here we are, Just above | the clouds of confetti. . . . Now we're riding through . . . pretty damp, these clouds are, don't you think! Thoso ribbons of electric lights have been the real world to me. , Abbott.?they were home. . . . No, Bill, we don't want to get out. We In tend to ride until you take this wheel to piece:: And oh, by the way, Bill? Just stop this wheel, every once *n a while, will you??when we're up i?t tho ; ver> Uptop. All right?good-by." And Abbott called gaily, "Good-by, Mr. Hmookins!" "I'm glad you did that. Abbott. You think you're somebody, when some? body else thinks so, too Now we're riHing in the world." Fran was so ex? cited that sho could not keep her body from quivering. In spite of this, she fast? la d her eyes upon Abbott to ask. suddenly: " 'Most*?what?" "Must adorable," Abbott answered, as if he had been waiting for the prompting, "Most precious. Most be wltehlngly sweet. Most unanswerably and eternally?Fran!" "And you?" she whispered. "And I," he told her, "am nothing but most wanting-to-be-loved." "It's so queer," Frsn suhl, plaintive? ly "You know, Abbott, bow long you've foup.hi against me. You know It, und I don't blame you, not In tho le?^t. There's nothing about me to make people, . . . But even now, how can you think you understand mo, when l don't Understand myself?" 1 "i ?oa't." ho bald, promptly. "I've given up trying to understand you. Sinoe- then, I've just loved. That's easy." "What will people think of a super? intendent of public schools caring for a show-girl, even if she is Fran Non? pareil. How would it affect your car reer?" "But you have promised never again to engage in a show, so you are not a show-girl." "What about my mother who lived and died as a lion-tamer? What will yoti do about my life-history? I'd nev? er speak to a man who could feel ashamed of my mother. What about1 my father who has never publicly acknowledged me? I'd not want to have anything to do with a man who ?who could be proud of him." "As to the past, Fran, I have only 1 this to say: Whatever hardships it "Up, Samson, Upl" contained, whatever wrongs or wretch? edness?it evolved you, you, the Fran of today?the Fran of this living hour. And it's the Fran of this living hour that I want to marry?" Fran covered her face with her hands. For a while there was silence, then she said: "Father was there, tonight.* "At the lion-show? Impossible! Mr. Gregory go to a?a?to?a?" "Yes, it is possible for him even to i go to a show. But to do him justice, he waE forced under the tent, he had no intention of doing anything so { wicked as that, he only meant to do some little thing like running away? But no, I can't speak of him with bit? terness, now. Abuott, he seems all changed." Abbott murmured, as if stupefied: .??,. '.i re gory si s . "Yes, uid & lion show, When tt was o\ei ceuio ;.- me?ho was to ex-, y was I" spoke u the other? ir?vUei ? "You didn't show it. I thought maybe you wouldn't care if r had been eaten up. . . . No, no, listen. Ho wanted to claim me?he called me, daughter' right there before the peo? ple, but they thought it was just a sort of?of church name. But he was wen- j derfully moved. I left the tent with him, and we had a long talk?I camei from him to you. I never saw any? body so changed." "Hut why?" "You see, he thought I was going to > be killed right there before his eyes,' and seeing it with his very own eyes made him feel responsible. He told 1 me, afterwards, that when he found out who it was in the cage, he thought of mother in a different way?he saw j how his desertion had driven her to earning her living with showmen, so I could b- supported. All In all, he is a changed man." "Then will he acknowledge yon?? but no, no . . ." "You see? Ho can't, on account of i Mrs. Gregory. There's no futuro for him, or tor her, except to go on living as man and wife?without the secre? tary. He imagines it would be a sort' of reparation to present me to the world as his daughter, he thinks it would give him happiness?but it can't be. Grace Noir has found it all out?"1 "Then she will tell!" Abbott ex-, claimed, in dismay. "She would have told but for one thing. She dbesn't dare, and it's on her own account?of course. She has been terribly?well, indiscreet. You can't think of what lengths she was willing to go?not from coldly making 1 up her mind, but because she lost grip t on herself, from always thinkiug she couldn't. So she went away with Bob Clinton?shell marry him, and they'll go to Chicago, out of Llttleburg his? tory?poor Bob! Remember the night he was trying to get religion? I'm afraid he'll conclude that religion isn't what he thought it was, living so close to it from now on." "All this interests me greatly, dear, because it interests you. Still, it doesn't bear upon tho main question." "Abbott, you don't know why I wont to that show to act. You thought I was caring for a sick friend. What do you think of such deceptions?" ' I think I understand. Simon Jef? ferson told me of a girl falling from a trapeze; it was possibly La (iouizettl's daughter. Mrs. Jefferson told me that Mrs. Gregory Is nursing some one. The same one, I imagine. And La (Jon izettl was a friend of youra, and you took her place, to the mother could stay with the Injured daughter." "You're a wonder, yourself!" Frnn declared, dropping her hands to stare at him. ' Yes, that's it. All these show-people are friends of mine. When tho mayor was trying to decide what carnival company they'd have for the Street fair, 1 told hint about t tbl? show, an J that's why it's" here., Poor La Gonizettl nee<ls "the mc dreadfully?for ihoy sp?nd it as as it's paid in. The little darling will have to go to a hospital, and there's nothing laid by. The toys all threw in, but they didn't have much, them? selves. Nobody has. Everybody's poor In this old world?except you and me. I've taken La Gonizetti's place in the cage all day to keep her from losing out; and if this wasn't the last day, I don't know whether I'd have prom? ised you or not. . . . Samson was pretty good, but that mask annoyed j him. So you see?but honestly, Ab? bott, doesn't all this make you feel just a wee bit different about me?" "It makes me want to kiss you, Fran." "It makes you"?she gasped?"watt to do?that? Why, Abbott! Nothing can save you." "I'm afraid not," he agreed. The car was swinging at the highest reach of the wheel. The engine stopped. She opened her eyes very wide. "I'd think you'd be afraid of such a world famous lion-trainer," she declared, drawing back. "Some have been, I assure you." "I'm not afraid," Abbott declared, drawing her toward him. He would j have kissed her, but she covered her ! face with her hands and bent her head instinctively. "Up!" cried Abbott "Up, Sameoa, up!" Fran laughed hilariously, and lifted her head. Sho looked at him through her fingers. Her face wsjj a garden of j blush-roses. She pretended to roar ! but the result was not terrifying; then 1 she obediently held up her mouth. "After all," said Fran, speaking somewhat Indistinctly, "you haven't j told why you ran away to leave poor Fran guessing where you'd gone. Do you know how I love you, Abbott?" "I think I know." "I'm glad?for I could never tell you. Real love Is like real religion?you can't talk about it. Makes you want to joke, even if you can't think of anything funny to say?makes you chatter about anything else, or jus" keep still. Seems to be something down here?this is my heart, isn't it? j ?hope I have the right place, I left school so early?seems even when I re? fer to It I ought to?well, as I said, make a sort of joke. . . ." "Rut this is no joke," said Abbott, kissing her again. "Yes," said Fran, happily, "we can talk about it in that way. Isn't Bill j Smookins a dear to keep us up here so I long?" It was a good while later that Ab bott said: "As to why I left Little-i burg: Bob knew of a private school that has just been incorporated as a college. A teacher's needed, one with ideas of the new education?the edu ention thnt fpaehe? im bow to mnke? ?books?the education i?:tt teacher ha] ' ? ? as b trot is nvM ?g-, urea* Juat tho kind taatyou d'.du't find : old chum of the man wno owns tne property so he recommended me, and I went. It's a great chance, a magnifi-. cent opening. The man was so pleased with the way I talked?he's new to the business, so that must be his excuse ?that I am to be the president." Fran's voice came rather faintly?- j "Hurrah! But you are to be far, far above my reach, just as I prophesied. Don't you remember what I said to you during our drive through Sure Enough Country?" "And that isn't all," said Abbott, , looking straight before him, and pre? tending that he had not heard. "In that town?Tahlelah, Okla.,?I disco v- | ered, out in the suburbs, a cottage? the dearest little thing?as dear as ? ... as Mr. Smookins; just big enough for a girl like Fran. I rented It at once?of course, it oughn't to be standing there idle?there's such a fragrant flower garden?I spent some time arranging the grounds as I think you'll like them. I didn't furnish tho cottage, though. Women always like to select their own carpets and things, and?" Fran's face was a dimpled sea of pink and crimson waves, with starry lights In her black eyes for tbjnal lights. "Oh, you king of hearts!" she exclaimed. "And shall we have a church wedding, and just kill 'em?" Abbott laughed boyishly. "No?you must remember that your connection with show-life is at an end." ??BUt?and then?and so," cried Fran rapturously. "I'm to have a home after all, with flower gardens and carpets and things?a sure-enough home?Abbott, a home with you! j Don't you know, it's been the dream of my life to?to?" Abbott was Inexpressibly touched. "Yes, I was just thinking of what I heard you say, once?to belong to somebody." Fran slipped her arms about his neck. "And what a somebody! To be? long to you. And to know that my Home is our home. . . ." Abbott, with a sober sense of his unworthlnes8, embraced her silently. From far below came a sadden sound, making its way through the continuity of tho street-uproar. It was the chugging of the engine. The wheel began to revolve. Down they came?down?down? Fran looked up at the moon. "Good by," she called, gaily. "The world is good enough for me!" (THE END.) $.100.000 FIRE IX LOl 1SVI1XE. Plumbing supply House Sustaine Heavy Loss. Louisville, Dec. 2ft.?-The Laib Plumbing ami Mill Supply plant was damaged to the extend of $106,000 h\ Urs this morning News and View*. Pisgah. L?ec. 2.\?It look| an if we will have a dull Christmas.- Alout all the noise if the drunken yelis of negroes made so on blind tiger whia key procured from outside the State. The express companies are a sight to be seen as thy tring in full lotus of the needful. Mr. T. If. BradUy has been quite sick for some time. Mrs. A. I. Allen, of Columbia, s voting her daughters here. Miss Madge Rogers is visiting her sinter, Mrs. Stuckey at Stateburg. Klisha Bennett, colored, who waa paroled by the governor recently, died I riday from consumption contracted >ii Ulf hosiery mill. He was tbo one wuu in trying to shoot his wife, acci? dentally killed his child, not many years ago. Rev. S. B. Hatfleld will more to Shepherd, above Camden the first of the year so as to be near his work. I notice that the papers in criti? cising the governor for the pardons and paroles he issues, never criticise ihe signers to the numerous and long petitions sent the governor praying for pardon and signed by judges, solicitors, jurymen and prom? inent citizens and whose prayers he largely heeds in the ex? ercise of clemency. Do these peo? ple so lightly sign their names to petitions as not to be regarded se? riously, but just sign to please If they mean what they say, as much as they do when they sign a note, or mortgage, and their prayer is an In? jun' to the State, why not turn the batteries of criticism upon them too? The public would be surprised in reading the book of pardons to see the names of those asking for clemency and they are not of the trash kind either. The press preaches consist? ency, but rarely practices it. How abojt the governors of Texas, Ten? nessee and Massachusetts and other States, who p.t times pardon by the wholesale. Do they seriously injure their Statej. The man who signs a petition for clemency should mean just what he says or hands off. If he is a man he means it, and will main? tain what he does. If he signs to plcE.se he is trifling with something that no man should. Making a faroe of his name. (Our Pisgah correspondent either, does not read the newspapers care? fully or deliberately does not tahe note of what he does not wish to r-ee, - w? ?ffte?T'ld eet v?p?tiiv assert that firov. ?-?.?>? >n pilces 1? the p ? < - scan lal? tl?e sle^am >i pettth s : -v f. ? et eee ritictit 1 by i s newspapers PlSg?h'S ftV.g at t * with displaying an unthinking ad? miration of Blease and his evil works, he imitates him by sousing the news? papers. Blease and his apologists r hard put to it to find excuse for h? debauching of the office he holds when they must need r**nrt to sub? terfuges as Pisgah uses. The pardon scandal is rotten in every particular? the attorneys *vho work up the peti? tions, the men who sign them and the governor who turns criminals loss on the State by the wholesale. But the rottenest of all is scandalous abuse of power by the governor.) DECAYED CHICKEN ON HAND. Armour A Co., Finder ggog foe ttU Pounds Unfit for Use. New York, Dec. 22.?For having In their possession 825 pounds of de? cayed chicken, unfit for human con? sumption, Armour & Co., were today fined $300. The company pleaded guilty. Hearings on three other charges of violation of the sanitary law were postponed. The street force has been at work recently cleaning up the streets of leaves. In this way preventing future stopping of the storm sewers with them. Weather has been good most of the time up to the present bsJ spell and the work has been pretty well completed. The Gypsies who have been staying in the edge of town for several days seem to be undesirable as they have ttecn made to move twice and no one seems to want to have them camping anywhere on his land. The City of Sumter remembered its efficient police force at this happy Christmas Reason, giving each mem? ber a nice fat turkey for Christmas din ner. The Philippine bureau of forestry uses a launch for service between islands. The V. S. forest service em? ploys several, both on inland bikes and in salt water, in Alaska and Flor? ida While there are five hemlocks in the United States, only two are of any commercial importance, com? mon hemlock and western hemlock. Of these two western hemloek mokes ?he hettei lumber