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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1904)
36T THE SUNDAY OREGOyiAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 25, 190& Obadiah Oldway on Art cf Hoppicking OUR HOAXVILLE CONTRIBUTOR DISCLOSES THE SECRET OF MAKING BIG WAGES AT LIGHT WORK HOAXVILLE, Or., Sept 20. (Mr. Edi tor.) I'm all alone this afternoon, and peace reigns supreme, as Shake speare says. I'm a-feelln' pretty well con siderln' the circumstances, but at the same time I don't know what this world Is a-comin to. Things keeps a-gettln worse and worse as time goes on. "Women ain't got no sense of duty any more, but I've made up my mind It ain't no use to say nothln', and my days Is glidln' swift ly by to the time when Hanner will be a lone wldder and a sorrowin with a great and mighty remorse for the way she's done gone and left me for the flcetln things of this world. A week or two ago she come to me and says, says she: "Obadiah, bein as' Becky Ann's pa has got her the planner, it stands us In hand to give her some les sons so's she can play for company and sich." "Hanner," says I, "you know as well as I know that wc ain't got the means to throw away on planner lessons. Taxes is high and crops is poor, and we're goln' down hill like sixty. I don't believe in no such hifalutln things as planners no how, and Becky Ann's pa Is doln' a wrong thing encouragin' of it." "Well." says she, "Becky Ann says she wants to go hoppickin' to earn money for her music lessons, but I don't like the Idea of her agoin' without some of the Test of us, and I told her so." "Now see here. Hanner," says I, "you ought to be glad If the girl has took a notion to earn something for .herself. I think it would be a good thing if her and Sammy both would go and make a little, even If it wasn't but a few cents; it would be quite a help in buyin' clothes and sich." "Obadiah Oldway," says she, "be you plumb crazy that you'd send them two youngones down there alone to the hop yard? If they're a-goin', I'm goln' too, mark that." "What do you say, Hanner," says I, "to us all a-goin'? Til bet I can pick hops along with anybody, and 50 cents Is a big thing when it comes to you every little while durin the day." Well. Mr. Editor, she didn't much think we could make anything, but the chil dren, they put in and begged so hard that we finally up and went. "We took our camp outfit and our team and went down-country somewheres nigh Indepen dence, where there's more hopyards than you can shake a stick at, as the poet says. I never see such a lot of dust in all my j born days as we got into down there. "We had to camp right by the side of some more folks as was forever a-movin' ; around and stlrrln of the dust whenever it did take a notion to settle. It got be tween my teeth, and I could hear It grit whenever I chawed, but that wasn't all 1 had to contend with. The morning after we got there, I had to get up to start a fire outdoors in one of them air consarned sheet Iron camp stoves as you have to turn bottom side "upwards to get the ashes out. and it was so derned foggy it chilled a feller to the j bone, and to cap It all, I couldn't find the matches. After I'd nigh about wore i myself out, Hanner she got up and j bustled around and found them, and got ; breakfast and made such a commotion that I lost my appetite before I'd et half enough, and then we went off to the pickln'. The folks had kinder poked fun at me about my pickln', and so .1 wouldn't pick Into the same box with the rest "No, sir." says I, "you'll be claimln that you done all the work and I'm just a-goin to pick by myself to show ye that 1 ain't no small nubbins if I am gettin' along in years." Hanner and the children had went and spent a lot of money to get '-em some leather gloves and rubber nipples to put on their hands, but I reckoned my hands was tough enough to stand off the hops. Well. Mr. Editor, I began to pick on the row that the yard boss set me at, and I declare my hands was so mimb I could hardly move 'em, still I got along mld dlin' well in spite of havin' to stop every little bit to blow my nose It beats all natur how chilly it gets down on the river. As I was a-sayin', I got along middling well, and was a-pilln' the hops into my barrel pretty lively till the sun come out, then it just seemed as if I couldn't make no show at all. I must have got kinder confused or something, or else the yard boss had give me the tangledest row in the whole field, for it wasn't long till everybody else was way yonder ahead of me. Every little while some bloomin' fool would sing out "box ful" and "check," and by 10 o'clock they was a-whoopln' and a-yellln' all over everywheres. I picked arid picked, but it just seemed as if there wasn't no bottom to that old barrel. Jt would get just so full and no fuller. . "When noon cone, Hanner, she comes -along and says: "Why, Obadiah, ain't you got a boxful yet? We've got five checks already." "No," says I, "I ain't got a sight of a check yet, and I ain't likely to have as long as I'm shoved off here to myself, with this old barrel like the bottomless pit, and the poorest row in the yard to pick on." At that she dived her arm . down into my barrel and begun to stir up the hops. "Quit that," says I; "my back's tired enough now without stoopln' down to pick up what you're a-spHin' over." "Obadiah," says she, "you want to stir 'em up, that's the way the rest ot the pickers do. Make "em" out as big as you can. The sun wilts 'em, and- a-pickln by yourself this way you can't make nothin if you let 'em settle. You'd better pick with the rest of us. this afternoon, and all of us together can get a boxful be fore they have time to wilt much. There's lots of families here doln that very thing, and they tell me that's the way to make money at it" "Been a-spendin your time a-gosslp-in" says I, '.'while I've been a-workln like a Turk all the mornln'. I'll pick where I derned please." I was bound to show her that I wasn't goln to be laughed at for taggln around after her before all them hoppickers. After dinner I went put again, and kept at it. Along toward evenln the boss come up- and says he: "You're behind on your sow. You'll have to keep up or I'll have to get some one to come and help you out." "You mind your own business," says L "I ain't askin no help of you nor no one else as I knows on." "That may all be," says he, "but you'll set so far behind that the others will be on the other side of the field before yo'u get through with your row, and we've got to keep the work up somewhere near even." Then off he went as if he was the Czar of Russia and owned the earth, with Japan throwed in. Pretty soon here he come back again with an Injun family and set 'em to work with me. That riled, me to the uttermost. "See, here, mister," says I, "I am a decent and law-abidin citizen, but I'll be hanged if I am a-goln' to pick hops along with them Injuns. If you ain't got more respect for old age than that, give me my hire and I'll go and leave yc with your klnfolks to finish up what you picked out on pur pose for me because It was the worst mess In the whole yard, and thlnkln' be cause I come from a distance I wouldn't know any ttetter. If there was a speck of manhood about you, you'd be ashamed of yourself." v Yes, sir, I walked right straight at him, lor I wanted him to know that Obadiah Oldway couldn't be run over by any whipper-snapper boss .of a one-horse hon- rCL BE HAJfGED IT 131 A-GOIN' TO VlCK HOPS ALONG WITH THEM INJUNS. yard. He 'lowed that the boss had to stand everything, and he was the one that had to be run over, but nevertheless he measured up my hops and said as how there was about half a box, but he'd give me a check seeln' as I'd worked all day. I guess he saw he'd carried things Coo far, and thought he'd better compromise- the matter before I reported him to head quarters. By this time people had begun goln' to camp, and I went over to where my folks was. They was gettin' ready to quit, and had made $5, they said. You can see, Mr. Editor, how I was imposed upon, for there I'd worked right along without stop pin to talk to nobody and had only 50 cents, but I didn't say nothin'. That night my hands and face smarted so I could scarcely sleep a wink. Them pesky hopvlnes had scratched and pl'soned me till I felt like I'd been scalded. Hanner, she got up and worked with me and rubbed me with mutton taller, but even that didn't help much. I tell you, I was glad to see mornln' come. While Hanner was a-gettin' breakfast I slipped off down to the pasture for the team. When I got back the children was a-eatin. and Sammy says: "Why, gram pa, what are you a-goin to do with the horses?" "I'm a-goin home," says I. "Home!" says Hanner. "What for, I want to know?" "Because I want to," says I. "I ain't a-goin to stay here and be treated like a dog. There ain't anything in hoppickin', nohow, so hurry up and swaller your victuals so's we can load up." The scene that followed Is too sad to be told outside of the family. The chil dren made such a fuss and the way Hanner belittled me was a strain on hu man ears. She threw out that it was me that wanted to come to the hopyard, and she didn't, and now that she was there she was a-goin' to stay till she made Two Views of a Ftacetr ack Plunger New York Sun. ya'VB heard a lot about the ups and 1 downs of the regulars who make a ."business of following the horses," said a jewelry saleseman whose territory embraces the Pacific Coast, "but I never had such a close, first-hand view as I had at San Francisco more than a year ago and at Sheepshead Bay only the other day. "The story had Its beginning at San Francisco a year ago last March. One rainy, gloomy evening during the month I dropped into a Kearney-street pawn shop to price some valises that were dis played in the window. "I was looking over the stock when a tall chap who looked considerably up against it came into the pawnshop. yDe splte the raw weather, he wore no over coat, and his clothese looked shabby and thin for the season. His collar was frayed and his cravat appeared to have had a lot of wear. "He needed a shave badly. His shoes were broken at the sides. He was a good looking, well-built man; but he had a gaunt, underfed appearance, and there was a certain cast in his eye that attract ed my attention as soon as he entered the pawnshop. "But the fact about him that chiefly at tracted my eye was that he carried a very fine Gladstone alligator bag just the article that I was looking for. It had hardly been used at all, as I could easily see, and I judged it to be worth at least $50. "When Its owner placed It on the pawnshop counter I was surprised to ob serve that on one side, in small, neat gold letters, was a tidily stamped set of ini tials, three of them, exactly corresponding to my own initials. " Til take ten on that," said the gaunt chap to the pawnbroker. "The pawnbroker shook his head with the aggravating smile of some men who follow his business. " 'Five, he said. 'That's all we ever loan on valises.' " 'Just look this one over, said the man without an overcoat, 'and see If it calls for any $5 loan.' " 'Oh, I can see that it's a good bag, all right' said the pawnbroker, "but we can't get anything for bags. They're a drug, like fiddles. Besides, your initials are stamped on it That spoils it for me. The leather's scraped away for the sten ciling, and there's no erasing stenciled letters. Five is all." "The' man with the bag looked foAa moment as if he would have liked to jump over the counter and crab the pawnbroker enough to buy a new store carpet for th.e parlor to kinder match the planner, and wound up by teltfh' me not to talk so loud, for the other campers was all a llstenin. "Let 'em listen," says I; "you can stay if you want to, but I'm a-goln' back to Hoaxville, carpet or no carpet and the planner be derned." Well, the upshot of, it was that I went, and here I be". There wasn't a thing to cat cooked in the house wh'en I got here, and bein' as I ain't never cooked none, I don't make many- fancy dishes. We've got plenty of milk and cream, though, for the day I got home I told the man we'd got to do the milkln' that he needn't come any more, as I had to come back home anyway, and I could do the milkin myself. The hardest of the cookln is to make bread: I've tried to get the holes into It like Hanner does, but somehow I ain't got on to It yet I tried stlckln' it with a fork, but when I get it baked there ain't any holes left I reckon they sort of evaporate in the oven. The last few timei I've just took some cream, good and thick, and stirred flour into It and baked it that way. It does pretty well with a little salt. Hopplcking won't last much longer, and I guess I can manage some way until Hanner gets ashamed of herself and comes home. Of course, they'll all make quite a bit down there, if the boss don't get a spite tt 'em like he did me. I'd a-stayed If it hadn't been for that, for we need the money, but as the business is carried on I don't think there's any honesty in it and my conscience won't let me uphold it. Yours truly, OBADIAH EVERAT OLDWAY. P. S. As I was a-comin' home from the hopyard I come by a fence as had some Salvation Army prlntin' on it, and one text says "Raisin' hops Is of the devil," and-I says right out: "That's the Hvln' truth if ever anything was." O. E. O. by the throat But ho swallowed a gulp or two of pretty visible wrath, and I could seey with what an effort he restrained himself. "He was perhaps thinking of the big amount of Interest money he had paid out to pawnbrokers in his time and it made him sore. But, as I say, he kept his anger down, and he started to stake the pawn broker to a little talk. "It was as good a talk of that sort aa I ever heard the talk of an educated mar pretty nigh down and out "He had been with the horses in San Francisco all Winter, it seemed. The horses had got him, as, of course, they get everybody who stays with 'em long enough. "He wanted to got East for the begin ning of the Eastern racing season. But he was all in, and he needed a front to enable him to go out and get the price of .the ride over the mountains to the At lantic seaboard. "He couldn't do much with a Ave spot But with a $10 note he could go down the bay and get enough tog ,stuff to put up some kind of an exterior. "That was the way it stood with him. He'd be getting the bag out Inside of a month there was no manner of doubt as to that Would the pawnbroker let him have the sawbuck? "No, the pawnbroker wouldn't. " 'There's no use in talking about it," said the three-balls dealer. 'I'm staked to talks like that 20 times a day. If I listened to all or half of 'em. I'd have to go out of buslnes. Five for the grip, arid no more.' "The gaunt man with the grip picked It up and he was pretty ashy about the mouth, too and walked out without an othec word. I followed him out. That grip he was carrying seemed to haverbeen made to order for me, Initials and all, and, bsides that, I wasn't unwilling to help the man if he cared to be helped my way. "I'll give you $20 outright for that bag,' I said to him, halting him In the misty drizzle. "He turned around and looked me over for a minute, and then he passed over the bag. " 'All right, pal,' he said, 'and thanks to you.' "I handed him over a $20 bill. He took the money with a nod and disappeared around a corner. I carried the bag to my hotel and have been enjoying the use of it ever since. "Well, at Sheepshead Bay the other afternoon I was being pushed and hauled down the line of bookmakers, helplessly trying to get a peek at the prices against the horses in the Twin City handicap, so as to get a little piking holiday bet down, when a tall chap, dressed to-the nines probably the most tastefully dressed man on the Igrounds swung: through the crowd and began to bet $500 at clip with every bookmaker he could reach on the horse Caughnawaga. "The bookmakers accepted his bets, with out the money he had merely to hold up his fingers to indicate the amount he wanted to bet, and the sheet writers clapped the figures down without the in terchange of any money the method, in short, whereby only the recognized plung ers make their bets. "I recognized the tall man instantly as the fellow from whom I had bought the Gladstone bag in the drizzle outside the San Francisco pawnshop a year and a half ago. "As he strode by mo I couldn't refrain from giving him a bit of a nudge and say ing to him: " 'Useful and ornamental traveling arti cle, that bag of yotfrs.' "He gazed down 'at me for half a minute in a puzzled sort of way, and then his face spread into a smile and he held out his hand. ' " 'Why, you're the decent chap that passed me the twenty for that grip out in 'Frisco, aren't you? he said. 'That was the biggest twenty I ever saw before or since. I've never known a broke minute since you passed it over,' and with a good natured nod he swung down along the line of bookmakers. "After he had got some distance away, however, he hurried back to where I was standing. He bent close td me, and said in a matter-of-fact tone: " 'Caughnawaga's people think a lot of him for this race If you're playing them, that is,' and he was away again. "I only visit the racetrack occasionally, but I know enough not to take all the tlp3 that are handed out on racetracks. This one, however, looked too good there was every reason to suppose that the tall fel low who fancied I had done him a, kind ness wouldn't swing me wrong if he knew It. Moreover, wasn't he making $500 bets all down the line on Caughnawaga him self? I put down $50 on Caughnawaga at 3 to 1, and the horse walked in. "After the races wereover, I saw that tall man step Into a swell French auto mobile, take the wheel himself and treat the pretty women in the seats behind to a fine spurt down the boulevard. "I was glad to see him In such good feather glad as I could be. "But all the same; I couldn't drive out of my view the mental picture of him standing, shivering and overcoatless, in a mean March drizzle In San Francisco, and I fell to wondering how long It ud be be fore he'd land that way again. "Never, I hope, of course. But you know those ponies and what they do to folks who stay along with them." PROVERBS ABOUT RUSSIAN CZAR "TT DIPLOMATIST who has been at the r Russian Court for a long time has collected some interesting Russian prov erbs concerning the Czars. Here are a few: "The Czar himself can get muddy If he steps in the mud." "Even the crown of the Czar cannot cure headache." "The Czar's cows cannot have more than two horns." "An active Czar puts wings upon his Ministers' feet" "A Czar who limps can nevertheless make some long strides." . "A drop of water In the eye of the Czar costs the country a great many handker chiefs." "A Czar in the desert is only a man." "When the Czar Is a rhymster poets are unhappy." ."When the Czar makes you a present of an "ess he expects of you a hen." "When the Czar wishes to cut some thongs the people should furnish their skins." "Even the hens of the Czarina cannot lay goose eggs." "When the Czar squints the.' Ministers are one-eyed and the people blind." "The Czar never hurts his finger but what everybody carries his arm in a sling." "That which the Czar cannot accom plish Is only accomplished by time." "The Czar can disturb the earth, but he cannot move it from it axis." "The Czar knows not misery because he does not live in a cabin," "The arm of the Czar is long, but it cannot reach to the sky." "The valet of the Czar believes he has some right to the crown." "The voice of the Czar has an echo even when there are no mountains." "The ukases of the Czar are worth nothing If God says not 'Amen.' " "The horse which has once been mount ed by the Czar neighs continually." Our Red-Headed Kid (Continued from Page 33.) cold, so I just gave him one to pick up the satchel an' march, an' he didn't wait for the count, neither. An' dad knew when he was licked, too. Say, they was easy, wasn't they? That's him now, ain't it?" He was bleeding to death, and I thought the doctor would never come. It seemed pretty tough luck after what he'd done. His parent was lying on his back, cursing like an Irish Gatling gun, and when I got toa point where I had to do something or make a fool of myself, I hunted up Williams, and we kicked them both on to their feet and put them id the lock-up. When I got back the doctor was making his examination. It was a solemn crowd that stood around and watched him. Bob was the only cheerful one in the lot. For tunately the bullet had gone clear through so there was no probing to do. When the last bandage was fixed Bob tried to get up again, and had to be held down while Doc Richards explained to him that he would probably bleed to death if he didn't lie still. Then we put him on an improvised stretcher and took him up to Martin's. I waylaid the doctor. "Will he get well. Doc?" I asked. "Yes," said the doctor, "I think so. He lost a lot of blood, but he's pretty tough, and with Mrs. Martin and the girls to nurse him he'll be 'around before long." I waited till I got av block from the house, and then turned loose one long, up roarious yell, and doubled for the bank with the news. "Well, say," said Tom, "isn't that kid about 24 karats fine, though? Lay on, MacDuff. He'll be president of a bank while we're still footing columns. You see if he Isn't." "I always did think that boy had some thing In him," said Harvey. "He sort of loQked like it to me the first time I saw him." (Copyright by S. S. McClure Com pany.) ' Adventures' of a Commuter. McL&ndburgh Wilson. Each night a small commuter goes "Where fragrant fields a-bloseom lie; He takes the train 'in Mother's arms And speeds away for Lullaby, The fairy town of Lullaby. No scenery bedecks the route To please the weary travsler'a eye; He only hears the station sung: And knows he Is In Lullaby, The dreamy town of Lullaby. Some nights he bles him back too soon. And then It Is, with sudden cry, In wild alarm he seeks a train To bo onco more to Lullaby, In Father's arms to Lullaby. What's this? A tack la on the track! v The train, derailed, rolls down the bank! Conductor calls the station out. He hears he Is in Blanky Blank!! The torrid town of Blanky! Blank!! The accident at once brings aid And, helpers to their rescue fly; Commuter takes another train, And starts again for Lullaby, The sleepy town of Lullaby. CLIMBIN' UP DEM RAZOR STAIRS AN ELIZABETHAN ROMANCE NOT TO BE CONFOUNDED ' WITH SIR GILBERT PARKER'S "LADDER OF SWORDS CHAPTER I. Roland de Rosin was a most sweet villain. Right well did he love to drain a dram, wreck an English 'merchantman, or carry off a maiden from England the south to his selgnourle In the Isle of Jersey. Withal he was of a kind heart He ("weighed 350- pounds. His nature was sim ple, and direct He was a man, every pound of him, and had a man's laugV although there were those of his enemies that likened it to a hyena's. He was hereditary shoe-shiner to .the Kings and Queens" of England, and had the privilege of never being tagged while touching wood in Rosin. As body servant he had one Despair, an amiable cut-throat, whose vicuauuas upon ine sea naa raaue Drake of Devon smash hi tpth pr now. CHAPTER II. Angele de la Lumlere Rouge was but lately escaped out of a convent In Britt any, where she haA frttPi1 th ."Mnthpr Superior by over-frequent renderings of -Deaeiia- upon tne virginal. Beautiful she was; fair as the sun and clear as a spring of running water. As she tripped toward the beehive in the mornings to milk the bee she looked. In her straight front as dainty a milkmaid as ever sung a glee or flirted with a. shepherd. CHAPTER III. Angele was at her knitting in the dove cot when a shadow fell across her feet and gave her corns a twinge. Looking up, she saw that it was de Rosin. "Lady," said he, awkwardly, but with a simplicity that bespoke his good heart, "I am shoe-shiner to the Queen her majesty." Angele suspected what was coming, but she could not flee, for the dovecot was ten long feet above the ground. "Also I may never be tagged while touching wood on my estate," continued de Rosin. . "You can never be It, then," answered Angele with ready feminine wit. Pausing to meditate upon this sally, de Rosin's face grew purple with the effort of attempting to think. Soon he gave up the hopeless task and resumed his wooing. "I have three dovecotes," he went on. BROTHER MASON' SAVED PRESIDENT DIAZ' LIFE Dramatic Story of Protection Amid Grave Danger and an Example of Yankee Quick Wit. Brooklyn Eagle. HOW THE fate of the Mexican Re public once hung on the Masonic honor and fidelity of a Brooklyn man Is the point of a remarkable political story that has been revived in every Brooklyn lodge by the recent visit to the Mexican capital of a member of Kings County Lodge, F. & A. M. It la the story of a country made stable by the strength and ability of one man, and it contains every element of heroic manhood, unquestioned bravery, passion ate politics and grim humor, running the gamut, from the fate of a nation to that of a fistic encounter in which future Pres ident Diaz was sent sprawling across the deck of an American steamship by a pur eer .who proved to be the greaest "friend he ever had. The facts given below are vouched for by leading Masons in Brooklyn and are in detail as corrected by Rev. T. Morris Terry, of Kings Countjf Lodge, a veteran member of the order and a. past master. The member who is responsible for the re vival of the story, because of recent hon ors extended to him both in New Orleans and in Mexico City, Is another member of the same lodge, John Jerome Farley, an expert connected with the Goodyear (shoe) Machinery Company, now of 133& North Front street, Columbus, O. Among those who have been prominent in an investi gation of the story is Fred L. Jenkins, the head of the Veteran Masons; of 452A Hancock street, Brooklyn. Mr. Farley, h'owever, though his recent visit to the Mexican lodges brought forth the story, was at the time of the series of events that are hereinafter told a babe In swaddling clothes in Brooklyn. Just who the real hero was Is not yet disclosed, but on the statements made to the Eagle yes terday it seemes certain that his identity is known to some. In the early '70s President Diaz was not known as a patriot. Patriots in Spanr ish-Amerlcan Republics are successful revolutionists. Rather he was a fugitive beyond the confines of his own land, and few who saw him about the cafes and at the festivals of New Orleans paid much more attention to him than did men of later years to Cubans who talked filibus tering in Philadelphia before the war with Spain. At the time there was plying between New Orleans and Vera Cruz an American merchantman, taking to the war-racked nation cotton, grains and foodstuffs and bringing back the tropical products and the mineral wealth of Mexico. The pur ser of that vessel was a young man from Brooklyn. Price of $50,000 on His Head. The purser did not know Diaz, nor did he know that there was a price of $50,00(1 on the head of any man in New Orleans, and the full knowledge of what such a munificent headpiece means did not come back to him till later years, when, tried by fire and not found wanting, he came to his reward by the hand of the man who, on that eventful night, he met as an exile in the Louisiana metropolis. While walking along one of the city streets, thinking of the sailing in the morning, the purser was accosted by a friend who Introduced a quiet-looking young man whom he asked the purser to make a passenger with him on the mor row. The stranger wore a magnificent Masonic emblem. "He Is a fugitive," said the friend, "and must return before It is too late." "But I can't take him. My ship and my cargo might pay the forfeit," said the pur ser, shaking his head. "But you must take him. He is your brother and his very life is at stake," was the stern answer. The purser wavered and then consented, promising to protect to the utmost the stranger in his cabin, from spies and Mex ican officials who might be watching for the "rebel" leader. On the morning when the ship was pass ing out of the muddy delta of the Missis sippi, Diaz, who even for years afterward was unknown to the man who was be friending him, was seated at the purser's desk. He had' been writing on a long, nar-. row strip of paper. Toying with It as the ink dried, he turned to the purser and slowly said: "You have helped me, but I must tell you something. I am in your power. There is a prize of $50,000 on my head. To earn that .all you will have to do Is to hold me till we get to Vera Cruz and deliver me to thevmilltary Senor, you may do that if you like." Dramatic Climax. The young purser looked steadily at the man 'before him, started to say something and then stopped. Clearing his throat he slowly and with a voice choked with emo tion answered: "I don't befriend a man to betray him. I took you aboard. If I can, whatever the cost, I am going to put you on the beach in your own country." Diaz's oyes filled with tears, and all the fire of his ardent nature was in his em brace as he exclaimed, fervently: . "Thank you." The scene was dramatic, but no master 'Then you shall not lack squab pie," an swered Angele. "No, nor muscadella to wash it down," said the flattered suitor, now convinced that the girl was influenced by the cata logue of his possessions. "Wilt be mlstres of all these?" he asked with a great smile. "Nay, that cannot be," replied Angele. "I love Michel d'Albina." De Rosin staggered. "Thou hast turned me down cold, then?" he muttered. "I love another," said Angele, standing tiptoe on, the dovecote and kissing de Rosin's cheek. "She gives up the Queen her shoe shiner," muttered the huge seigneur In amazement. CHAPTER IV. A sail hove In sight over the horizon. In the boat belonging to the sail was Michel d'Albina. Angele knew it, although the boat was yet 20 leagues away. Climbing upon the dovecote, she waved her em broidered kerchief to the daring mariners. "He must have obtained a pass from the O. R. & N.," she murmured, "for his pouch haa been bare of gold pieces these many days." The boat came nearer. She distinguished Michel d'Albina leaning over the side. A rock jumped up and struck the boat abaft the binnacle. The crew fell into the water. Angele closed her eyes. When she opened them she saw de Rosin riding his horse into the foaming billows. He caught Michel by the neck and dragged him ashore at full gallop. "I present him to you," cried de Rosin, throwing' the man whose life he had saved at the' feet of the girl who had re jected the Queen her shoe-shlner. "Mike!" cried Angele, and fainted. CHAPTER V Angele now finds herself at the Court of Elizabeth, a necessary proceeding if Elizabeth is to be dragged in for the amusement ofhe reader. Needless to say, the Earl of Leicester meets Angele and would buss her. "Nay, nay, my Lord Leicester, don't molest her," cried the Queen, and the court roared merrily at the monarch's jest, which a historian noted down for later use In Punch. Stung with fury at being made the butt of the royal wit, Leicester turned upon of stage craft ever completed another such with so strong a climax. Handing the purser that long, narrow strip of paper on which had been written, the Mexican said: "Here's a check equal to what they would pay you." Again the young purser looked at the man before him, almost angrily, this time, then seizing the paper he tore it to bits that were borne away by the lazy, slug gish gulf winds and lost in the wilderness of blue waters. His answer was: "I would not take you for money. I won't take money for saving you." The next In a series of incidents In this game where the life of a nation rather than the life of a man was at stake hap pened off Vera Cruz, where the American ship came to anchor. "You must put me ashore," begged the future ruler. "It's death, man," pleaded the purser. "I can't do it. If you are captured I will be taken and so will the ship. And they will kill you." "I must go! I will go! I will swim it!" young Diaz cried with that determination that afterward made him what he is today. "It's madness, man. You will drown. The harbor Is full of sharks. You will never reach the shore." Diaz was obdurate, however, and that afternoon he dfvested himself of his heavier clothing, girded on a knife to de fend himself against not only man-eating sharks, but man-hunting soldiers, and sprang overboard. Taking to the water, he headed toward the beach, and the friend who had pro tected him so far watched him with his glasses as he rose and fell with the waves, now tossed on their crerts, now hidden behind them as they broke In combers on the sandbars. Quick Wit Saved a Life. Suddenly Diaz turned back and seemed swimming- with redoubled effort to regain the ship. Through the breakers there plunged a boat and from it came the glint of sunlight as the red rays struck on the drawn swords of soldiers. The man had been seen and was pursued. The race was an exciting one, but the swimmer had the start and was alongside as the purser shouted to the men in the fo'castle: "Line the starboard rail! Lower a line!" and made a place for that pit of the ri diculous that so persistently seems to en ter Into every affair of moment. As Diaz siezed the thrown rope and wag drawn aboard the patriot soldiers were already coming up the gangway. The sit uation was powerful, and a false move would .have meant death to the young man. Yankee wit, however, saved the day. Seizing the wet swimmer by his frowsy hair and giving him a heavy blow behind the ear, the purser threw him to the deck, and, with an oath, pounced upon him and grabbed him by the throat. "You drunken dog! You hound! I'll teach you to jump ship. I'll teach you to try to drown yourself," he cried. Then, leaping to his feet, the purser gave orders to put the man in Irons, and turning to the astonished soldiers asked them what he could do for them. In broken English the leader explained that tho country was in the throes of a civil war, and said that all ports wero beings watched for rebels, who had been driven from the country, but who might at any time return. Seeing a man in the surf, they thought that he had been caught, but were glad to know they were mistaken, and that Senor EI Captain had got his drunken sailor back. With many other apologies they went away. The next danger that menaced the young man was when two lighters came along side to take off the cargo. These had aboard, besides their crews, emissaries of the government, and it was with a good deal of difficulty that the situation was met. The work of loading was made as slow as possible, and It was long after dark when the scows were filled. Hiding the fugitive as best they could, the officers of the vessels Invited the crew to share their hospitality, while Diaz was rowed off into the darkness and put ashore further down the coast. This effort was successful, but it interrupted for years the friendship that had sprung up between the humble purser and the great Mexican leader. The Purser's Reward. A few years ago, however, there came the climax, and It was brought about with all the dramatic effect of the modern melo drama. The sailor hero of this story chanced to go to Mexico, and among the places he. visited was Mexico City. As he alighted from his train he was sud denly arrested by military officers. Being Innocent of any wrong, he grew Indignant and begged to be Informed of the cause of his detention. "This Is an outrage; send for the Ameri can Consul," he cried. But the soldiers only the more pushed him along toward a carriage drawn by gayly caparisoned horses and gave the order to the driver to proceed. Bands played and the hole poloi alone the streets waved their sombreros I and shouted. Being arrested with martial de Rosin, who had come from Jersey to befriend Angele. "Art a barber, sirrah?" he asked the Jerseyman, espying a shoe-brush in his hand. "I am the Queen, her shoe-shiner" an swered do Rosin, in the patois of the period. "Well, cut no monkey shines around here," said the Earl. The allusion to a monkey stung de Rosin, for he was in good sooth not un like an ape In appearance. "Rat3l" ho exclaimed. "Tomorrow morning in" the courtyard?" questioned Leicester. "It's a go," answered de Rosin. CHAPTER VI. They met at daybreak. Leicester had a cunning thrust out of Italy. He ran his sword two feet Into de Rosin at the second pass. "Ha. my Kuropatkin, how like you that?" cried the Earl. But de Rosin was being hauled away in a cart drawn by ten horses. CHAPTER VII. "How do you like my hair, child?" asked Elizabeth of Angele. " 'TIs excellent well arranged," replied the tearful girl, with diplomatic indirect ness. "And Mary Queen of Scots, is she as tall as me?" asked the Queen, with royal disregard for grammar. "She seemed less to me," answered An gele, with the mental reservation that Mary had been seated the only time she had seen that Queen. "In sooth thou shalt marry thy Michel." said the Queen. CHAPTER VIII. Disguised as Dr. Dowie, Michel had won his way Into the palace. While tending de Rosen's wound. Angele entered tha room. "The Queen commands me to marry three," she shyly said to Michel. "And thou?" said Michel. "I am a loyal subject." answered An gele. "Bravo!" cried de Rosin, "even it she does lose the Queen her shoe-shiner." "But we gain in sunshine," observed Michel, with true Hibernian wit, and if you don't believe it you can see the Isle of Jersey on any good map. honors was something he did nqt under stand. His amazement grew as the procession drew up in soldierly ranks before the plaza and the American was politely as sisted to alight and escorted Into the cen tral room of the palace, where there stood before him, dressed in a finely-fitting frock coat, a thickset man of small stat ure, in whose eyes he saw a look of. friendly recognition. An officer in uniform, still like the stage this story goes, then broke the clouds: "El Presidente." The friend of years ago. the exiled rebel, the brother in trouble, was President Diaz, for years the head of the Mexican Republic. It all came back to him, even the head price was explained. "But how did you know I was here?" asked the American. "My friend, never since the day I left you have I failed to know where yon were. I have followed you and watched you prosper. You saved me and you saved Mexico. I could do no lcs3 than wait for you to come back to her." Recently the Masonic papers contained the announcement of 'tho'honors bestowed upon an American, but Brooklyn was not connected with the matter till the New Orleans and Mexico City lodges sent com munications to Rev. Mr. Terry about the visit of Brother Farley. The Masonic announrpmfnf wao rever, that the $30,000 which floated' away mi me Miirm waters or uie Uulf stream 30 years ago was paid later as a present, and that- an American Mason, the friend of President Diaz, was holding a respon sible office under the Mexican govern ment. MASTER OF GRAFT. Machen Robbed His Partners and Government as Well. William Allen White in McClure's. When one turns from Beavers to Machen In the Postal Department it is a3 though one walked from the room where the young woman with pig-tails down her back was practicing one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and on the piano into the room wherein the master was playing a sonata. For If ever there was an artist In graft, one who reduced graft to a really beautiful handicraft, it was Autrust W. Machen. b He not only robbed the Government, but he robbed his partners who were robbing the Government, and would have robbed himself soonor or later If he hadn't been caught He came from Toledo. O.. In President Cleveland's second term, and was made superintendent of the free-delivery service in 1893. He left an unsavory rep:tation in Toledo, where he had been Assistant Postmaster, and was a bank ruptwhich is not particularly to his dis creditbut in addition to that he was a deadbeat. He was a borrowing swindler in Toledo, and as Assistant Postmaster was In league with, money-sharks to col lect usurious Interest from postofllce em ployes. How he imposed himself on ex Governor Campbell and ex-Congressman Ritchie, who indorsed him. Is one of a thousand similar stories of politics. He was morally incompetent for the place he held, and was living by his wits when he got It. No railroad company or in surance company would have given him responsible employment, but the Gov ernment gave him one of Its most impor tant places. Before leaving Toledo he in augurated a grand borrowing carnival and cleaned up about $3000, using the fact that he desired to move his family to Washington's an excuse. Little of this money was repaid, and those who .were paid only got their money after threat ening to sue, although while they were trying to collect their dues Machen was robbing the Government of thousands of dollars a year. In Washington he bor rowed money on forged mortgages, and filched from the Government by making an appointment date back several month3 from its actual beginning, and by forging the Indorsement on the warrant and pock eting it. But these were mere jim-cracka and cornices to an edifice of graft that was the admiration and marvel of official Washington. The Pony That Knew Best. "Jim, dear, I think that the pony knows better than you what to do In this case," said Jimmy's mother. Jimmy sat on his little Shetland pony and was kicking his heels into its sides, trying to force the pony to wade the brook. But the pony only shook its rough head' and tried to go across the little rustic bridge. "Get up, you!" said Jimmy, forcing the pony into the brook. The pony snorted and plunged. The water came up to his flanks and then up to Its shoulder. The next minute Jimmy was shouting "Ho. Ho!" with all his might, for the water was over the pony's back and Jimmy was getting very wet with ice-cold fluid. But the pony would not "Ho!" It splashed through the brook, and it was a wet and shivering Jimmy who admitted to "his mother with sobs that she was right when she said that the pony knew better than he what to dr