e9 ft
H4EDING Tmnr
WHEN Ainsley first moved to Lone
Lake Farm all of his friends
asked him the same question.
They wanted to know if the farmer who
sold it to him had abandoned it as
worthless; how one of the Idle rich,
who could not distinguish a plow from
a harrow, hoped to make it pay? His
answer was that he had not purchased
the farm as a means of getting richer
by honest toil, but as a retreat from
the world and as a test of true friend
ship. He argued that the people he
knew accepted his hospitality at
Sherry's because, in any event, they
themselves would be dining within a
taxlcab fare of the same place. But
if to see him they traveled all the way
to Lone Lake Farm, he might feel as
sured that they were friends. Indeed.
Lone Lake Farm was spread over
many acres of rocky ravine and forest,
at a point where Connecticut approaches
New York, and between it and the near
est railroad station stretched six miles
of an execrable wood road. In this wil
derness, directly upon the lonely lake,
and at a Bpot equally distant from eacn
of his boundary lines. Ainsley built
himself a red brick house. Here, in
solitude, he exiled himself, ostensibly
to become a gentleman farmer; In
reality to wait until Tolly Klrkland had
made up her mind to marry him.
Lone Lake, which grave the farm its
name, was a pond hardly larger than a
city block. It was fed by hidden
springs and fringed about with reeds
and cattails, stunted willows and shiv
ering birch. From its surface jutted
pointB of the same rock that had made
farming unremunerative, and to these
miniature promontories and Islands
Ainsley, in keeping with a fancied re
semblance, gave such names as the
Needles, St. Helena and the Isle of
Tines. From the edge of the pond that
was farther from the house rose a high
hill, hjavily wooded. At its base oak
and chestnut trees spread their
branches over the water, and when the
air was still were so clearly reflected
In the pond that the leaves seemed to
float upon the surface. To the smiling;
expanse of the farm the lake was what
the eye is to the human countenance.
The oaks were Its eyebrows, the fringe
of its reeds its lashes, and. in changing
mood. It flashed with happiness or
orooaea in somDer melancholy. For
Ainsley it held a deep attraction.
Through the Summer evenings, as the
Bun set, he would sit on the brick ter
race and watch the fish leaping and
ltsten to the venerable bullfrogs croak
ing false alarms of rain. Indeed, after
he met Polly Klrkland, staring mood
ily at the lake, became his favorite
form of exercise. With a number of
other men. Ainsley was very much in
love with Miss Klrkland. and unpreju
diced friends thought that if she were
to choose any of her devotees, Ainsley
should be that one. Ainsley heartily
agreed in this opinion, but in persuad
ing Miss Klrkland to share it he had
not been successful. This was partly
his own fault, for when he dared to
compare what she meant to him with
what he had to offer her he became a
mass of sodden humility. Could he
have known how much Polly Klrkland
envied and admired his depth of feel-
ing, entirely apart from the fact that
she herself inspired that feeling, how
greatly she wished to care for him in
the way he cared for her, life, even
alone in the silences of Lone Lake,
would have been a beautiful and
blessed thing. But he was so sure she
was the most charming and most won
derful girl in the world, and he an un
worthy and despicable being, that when
the lady demurred he faltered, and his
' pleading, at least to his own ears, car
ried no conviction.
'When one thinks of being mar.
Terse Tales From
SLAVERY
"Here is a story of a Chicago woman
who says that present marriage laws
make woman the slave of man," said
the square-jawed matron as she lpoked
up from the newspaper. Why don't
they enforce the law, then?" meekly
asked Mr. Henpecke. Buffalo Express.
SYSTEM.
A commercial traveler was bragging
about the magnitude of the firm he
represented.
"I suppose your house is a pretty big
establishment?" said the customer.
"Big? You can't have any idea of its
dimensions. Last week we took an in
ventory of the employes and found out
for the first time that three cashiers
and four bookkeepers were missing.
That will give you some idea of the
magnitude of our business." Llppin
cott's. THE BRAIN WORK.
In the lobby of a Washington hotel
the other evening they were talking
i j 1 1 ,i, - ' . . .
mm Among IIieHjnnyMen TW
1 I . . ! k
Clerk I'm to be married tomorrow,
sir
Employer Glad to hear It. You
tie In such a hurry to get home
this.
won't
after
ried." said Polly Kirkland gently, "it
isn't a question of the maa you can
live with, the man you can't live with
out. And I am sorry, but I've found
that man."
"I suppose." returned Ainsley gloom
ily, "that my not being able to live
without you doesn't affect the ques
tion in the least?"
"You have lived without me," Miss
Klrkland pointed out reproachfully,
"for 30 years."
'Lived!" almost shouted Ainslev. "Do
you call that living? What was I be
fore I met you? I was an ignorant
beast of the field. I knew as much
about living as one of the cows on my
farm. I couid sleep 12 hours at a
stretch, or. if I was in New York, I
never slept. I was a day and night
bank of health and happiness, a great,
big, useless puppy. And now I can't
sleep, can't eat, can't think except of
you. I dream about you all night, think
about you all day, go through the
wodds calling your name cutting your
Initials in tree trunks, loing all the
fool things a man does when's he's in
love, and I am the most miserable man
in the world and the happiest!"
He finally succeeded in making Miss
Klrkland so miserable also that she
decided to run away. Friends had
planned to spend the early Spring on
the Nile and were eager that she
should accompany them. To her the
separation seemed to offer an excellent
method of discovering whether or not
Ainsley was the man she could not
"live without."
Ainsley saw In it only an act of tor.
tuf!e'.devised wlth devilish cruelty.
"What will happpen to me," he an
nounced firmly, "is that I will plain
die! As long as I can see you. as long
as I iiave the chance to try and make
you understand that no one can pos
sibly love you as I do, and as long
as I know I am worrying you to death
and no one else is, I still hope. I've
no right to hope, still I do. And that
one little chance keeps me alive. But
Egypt! If you escape to Egypt, what
hold will I have on you? You might as
well be in the moon. Can you imagine
me writing love letters to a woman in
the moon? Can I send American
Beauty roses to the ruins of Karnak?
Here I can telephone you; not that I
ever have anything to say that you
want to hear, but because I want to
listen to your voice and to have you
ask, 'Oh! is that you?' as though you
were glad it was me. But Egypt! Can
I call up Egypt on the long-distance?
If you leave me now you'll leave me
forever, for I'll drown myself in Lone
Lake."
The day she sailed away he went to
the steamer and. separating her from
her friends and family drew her in ih.
side of the ship farther from the wharf
and which for the moment was de
serted. Directly below a pile-driver
with rattling of chains and shrieks
from her donkey engine, was smashing
great logs; on the deck above the
ship's band was braying forth fictitious
gayetey and from every side they were
assailed by the raucous whistles of
ferryboats. The surroundings were
not conducive to sentiment, but for the
first time Polly Klrkland seemed a lit
tle uncertain, a little frightened; al
most on the verge of tears, almost per
suaded to surrender. For the first
time she laid her hand on Ainsley's
arm and the shock Bent the blood to
his heart and held him breathless
When the girl looked at him there
was something In her eyes that neither
he nor any other man had ever seen
there.
"The last thing I tell you," she Bald,
the thing I want you to remember. Is
this that, though I do not care, I want
to care."
Ainsley caught at her hand and, to
the delight of the crew of a passing
tugboat, kissed it rapturously. His
face was radiant. The fact of parting
from her had caused him real suf
fering, had marked his face with hard
lines. Now hope and happiness
smoothed them away and his eyes shone
with his love for her. He was trembling
laughing. Jubilant.
"And if you should!" he begged. "How
Humorous Pens j
about big legal fees when Represents
nvcuig uiiea a case.
Some time since, according to the
representative, a man fell Into an open
coa! hole, sued for damages and was
awarded a substantial amount. When
he received a hill from his lawyer,
however, he was stunned again, and as
soon as he could get into hustling
shape he hastened to see him.
"Y'our bill Is outrageous!" exclaimed
the client to the legal one. "It is more
than three-fourths of the amount that
I recovered."
"Quite true." was the calm response
of the lawyer, "but you musn't forget
that I furnished the skill and legal
learning for the case."
"Yes." excitedly cried the client." but
I furnished the easel"
"Oh, as far as that goes," was the
scornful reply of the lawyer, "anybody
can fall down a coal hole." Phila
delphia Telegraph.
UNLIKE THE LAWYER MEN.
The Moberly Monitor is telling this
nine pujry on a lawyer tfiere. It hap
"One of your gloves is on the floor,
dear."
"That isn't a glove, silly: it's my 191
bathing suit." .
soon will I know? You will cable," he
commanded. "You will cable Come,'
and the same hour I'll start toward
you. I'll go home now," he cried, "and
pack."
The girl drew away. Already she
regretted the admission she had made.
In fairness and in kindness to him she
tried to regain the position she had
abandoned.
"But a change like that." she plead
ed, "might not come for years may
never come." To recover herself, to
make the words she had uttered seem
less serious, she spoke quickly and
lightly.
"And how could I cable such a
thing?" s!a protested. "It would be
far too sacred, too precious. You
should be able to feel that the change
has come."
"I suppose I should," assented Ains
ley, doubtfully, "but it's a long way
across two oceans. It would be safer
if you'd promise to use the cable. Just
one word: 'Come.' "
The girl shook her head and frowned.
"If you can't feel that the woman
you love loves you, even across the
world, you cannot love her very
deeply."
"I don't have to answer that," said
Ainsley.
"I will send you a sign," continued
the girl, hastily "a secret wireless
message. It shall be a test. If you
love me you will read it at once. You
will know the Instant you see it that
it comes from me. No one else will
be able to read it: but if you love me
you will know that I love you."
Whether she spoke in metaphor or in
fact, whether she was "playing for
time." or whether in her heart she al
ready intended to soon reward him with
a message of glad tidings, Ainsley
could not decide. And even as he
begged her to enlighten him the last
whistle blew, and a determined officer
ordered him to the ship's side.
"Just as in everything that is beau
tiful," he whispered eagerly, "I always
see something of you: so now in every
thing wonderful I will read your mes
sage. But." he persisted, "how shall I
be sure?"
The last bag of mail had shot into
the hold, the most reluctant of the vis
icors were being hustled down the last
remaining gangplank. Ainsley's state
was desperate.
"Will it be in symbol or in cipher?"
he demanded. "Must I read It In the
sky, or will you hide it In a letter, or
where? Help me. Give me just a
hint."
The giil shook her head.
"You will read it in your heart," she
said.
From the end of the wharf Ainsley
watched the funnels of the ship disap
pear in the haze of the lower bay. His
heart was sore and heavy, but in it
there was still room for righteous in
dignation. "Read it in my heart!" he
protested. "How the devil can I read
it in my heart? I want to read it
printed in a cablegram."
Because he had always understood
that young men in love found solace
for their misery in solitude and In
communion with nature, he at once
drove his car to Lone Lake. But his
misery was quite genuine, and the
emptiness of the brick house only
served to increase his loneliness. He
had built the house for her, though
she had never visited it, and wa asso
ciated with it only through the some
what indefinite medium of the tele
phone box. But in New York they had
been much together. And Ainsley
quickly decided that in revisiting those
places where he had been happy in her
company he would derive from the
recollection some melancholy consola
tion. He accordingly raced back
through the night to the city; nor did
he halt until he was at the door of her
house. She had left it only that morn
ing, and though it was locked in dark
ness, it still spoke of Jier. At least,
it seemed to bring her nearer to him
than when he was listening to the
frogs in the lake, and crushing his way
through the pines.
He was not hungry, but he went to
a restaurant where, when he was host.
pened in Judge Tedford's court and the
witness was a negro woman, whose re
ply to every query was, "I think so."
Finally the opposing lawyer rose and
pounded on the desk. "Now. you look
here!" he roared, "you cut that think
ing -business and answer my questions
Now talk."
"Mr. Lawyer Man," said the witness.
"Mr. Lawyer Man, you will have to
'scuse me. I ain't like you 'terneys. I
can't talk without thlnkinV Kansas
City Times.
TABLE D'HOTE.
A young Buffalo bookkeeper, on a
recent visit to New York, thought to
Impress his New York friends by put
ting up at a fashionable hotel. Of
course he couldn't afford it and had to
economize in various ways to make
ends meet.
He happened on one occasion to be
taking his evening meal on a bench
in the park when a young man and
his sister, friends of his, passed in an
automobile.
The Buffalo youth bent his head over
his sandwich, but the New Yorker saw
him and shouted:
"Hello. George. rininr
you gay dog, eh!" Young's Mairazin..
- " '"unJaaazlue. I "So you've bought a new painting for
"What did you learn at college, mv
son?"
"Can't tell; it's a secret, sir."
"What!"
"Yesslr, the baseball signals."
she had often been the honored guest
iie preienoea tney were at supper
together and without a chaperon.
Either the illusion or the supper
cheered him, for he was encouraged to
go on to his club. There in the library
with the aid of an atlas he worked
out where, after 13 hours of moving
at the rate of 22 knots an hour, she
should be at that moment. Having
determined that fact to his own satis
faction, he sent a wireless after the
ship. It read: "It is now midnight
and you are in latitude 40 degrees
north, longitude 68 degrees west and
i nave grown old and
for the sign."
gray waiting
The next morning, and for many
days after, he was surprised to find
that the city went on as though she
still were in it. With unfeeling regu
larity the sun rose out of the East
River. On Broadway electric-light
signs flashed, street cars pursued each
other, taxicabs bumped and skidded,
women, and even men. dared to look
happy, and had apparently taken some
thought to "their attire. They did not
respect even his widowerhood. They
smiled upon him, and asked him jocu
larly about the farm and his "crops,
and what he was doing in New York.
He pitied them, for obviously they wre
ignorant of the fact that in New York
there were art galleries, shops, res
taurants of great interest, owiirg to the
fact that Polly Klrkland had visited
them. They did not know that on
upper Fifth avenue were houses of
which she had deigned to approve, or
which she had destroyed with ridicule
and that to walk that avenue and halt
before each of these houses was an in
estimable privilege.
Each day, with pathetic vigilance,
Ainsley examined his heart for the
promised sign. But so far from telling
him that the change he longed for had
taken place, his heart grew heavier,
and as weeks went by and no sign
appeared, what little confidence he had
once enjoyed passed with them.
But before hope entirely died, sev
eral false alarms had thrilled him
with happiness. One was a cablegram
from Gibraltar in which the only words
that were intelligible were "congratu
late" and "engagement." This lifted
him Into an ecstasy of Joy and ex
citement, until, on having the cable
company repeat the message he learned
it was a request from Miss Klrkland to
congratulate two mutual friends who
had Just announced their engagement
and of whose address she was uncer
tain. He had hardly recovered from
this disappointment than he was again
thrown into a tumult by the receipt
of a mysterious package from the custom-house
containing an intaglio ring
The ring came from Italy, and her
ship had touched at Genoa. The fact
that it was addressed in an unknown
handwriting did not disconcert him. for
he argued that to make the test more
difficult she might disguise the hand
writing. He at once carried the in
taglio to an expert at the Metropolitan
Museum, and when he was told that It
represented Cupid feeding a fire upon
an altar, he reserved a stateroom on
the first steamer bound for the Med
iterranean. But before his ship sailed
a letter, also from Italy, from his Aunt
Maria, who was spending the Winter
in Rome, informed him that the ring
was a Christmas gift from her. in
his rage he unjustly condemned Aunt
Maria as a meddling old busybody and
gave her ring to the cook.
After two months of pilgrimages 'o
places sacred to the memory of Folly
Klrkland. Ainsley found that feeding
his love on post-mortemB was poor
fare, and, in surrender, determined to
evacuate New York. Since her depart
ure he had received from Miss Kirk
land several letters, but they contained
no hint of a change in her affections,
and search them as he might, he could
find no cipher or hidden message
They were merely frank, friendly notes
of travel; at first filled with gossip
of the steamer, and later telling of ex
cursions around Cairo. If they held
any touch of feeling they seemed to
show that she was sorry for him, and
as she could not regard him in any
way more calculated to increase his
Quips and Flings
"Mr. and Mrs. Whlffer never have any
arguments."
"How does that happen?"
"Mr. Whiffer won't argue.' 1
"The poor woman!" Birmingham
Age-Herald.
"I'm tired of life'.'
"That being the case, go out to Cal
ifornia and shout 'Banzai.' Birming
ham Age-Herald.
...
Poser for a butcher who gives short
weight: If 16 ounces go to a pound,
where do you expect to go to? Sacred
Heart Review.
.
Cub Reporter I guess I'll have all
my work copyrighted.
City Editor Never mind that. Just
have the copy right. Judge.
"I wonder why Bob doesn't marry?"
"He hasn't met the wrong girl yet,
probably!" Puck.
"Don't you remember me I am the
young man that ran away with your
daughter several years ago."
"Well, what do you want after hav
ing taken my daughter from me?"
"I want to congratulate you."
utter hopeless
solitude of the
he left behind
him two trunks filled with such gar
ments as a man would need on board
a steamer and in the early Spring in
Egypt. They had been packed awav,
when she had told him of the possible
sign. But there had been no sign.
Nor did he longer believe in one. So
In the baggage-room of an hotel the
trunks were abandoned, accumulating
layers of dust and charges for storage.
At the farm the snow still lay in the
crevices of the rocks and beneath the
branches of the evergreens, but under
the wet, dead leavs little flowers had
begun to show their faces. The "back
bone of the Winter was broken" and
"Spring was in the air. But as Ainsley
was certain that his heart also was
broken, the signs of Spring did not
console him. At each week-end he
filled the house with people, but they
found him gloomy and he found them
dull. He liked better the solitude of
the midweek: days. Then for hours he
would tramp through the woods, pre
tending she was at his side, pretending
he was helping her across the streams
swollen with Winter rains and melted
snow. On these excursions he cut
down trees that hid a view he thought
she would have liked, he cut paths
over which she might have walked.
Or he sat idly in a flat-bottomed scow
in the lake and made a pretence of fish
ing. The loneliness of the lake and
the isolation of the boat suited his hu
mor. He did not find it true that
misery loves company. At least to hu
man being he preferred his compan
ions of Lone Lake the beaver build
ing his home among the reeds, the
kingfisher, the blue heron, the wild
fowl that In their flight north rested
for an hour or a day upon the peace
ful waters. He looked upon them as
his guests and when they spread their
wings and left him again alone he felt
he had been hardly used.
It was while he was sunk in this
state of melancholy, and some months
after Miss Kirkland had sailed to
Egypt, that hope returned.
For a week-end he had invited Hol
den and Lowell. two former class
mates, and Nelson Mortimer and his
bride. They were all old friends of
their host and well acquainted with
the cause of his discouragement. So
they did not ask to be entertained, but,
disregarding him, amused themselves
after their own fashion. It was late
Friday afternoon. The members of the
house party had Just returned from a
tramp through the woods and had
joined Ainsley on the terrace, where
he stood watching the last rays of the
sun leave the lake in darkness. All
through the day there had been sharp
splashes of rain, with the clouds dull
and forbidding, but now the sun was
sinking in a sky of crimson, and for
the morrow a faint moon held out a
promise of fair weather.
Elsie Mortimer gave a sudden ex
clamation and pointed to the east.
"Look!" she said.
The men turned and followed the di
rection of her hand. In the fading
light, against a background of somber
clouds that the sun could not reach,
they saw, moving slowly toward them
and descending as they moved, six
great whjte birds. When they were
above the tops of the trees that edged
the lake the birds halted and hovered
uncertainly, their wings lifting and
falling, their bodies slanting and
sweeping slowly, in short circles.
The suddenness of their approach,
their presence so far inland, something
unfamiliar and foreign in the way they
had winged their progress, for a mo
ment held the group upon the terrace
silent.
"They are gulls from the Sound,"
said Lowell.
"They are too large for gulls," re
turned Mortimer. "They might be wild
geese, but," he answered himself, in
a puzzled voice, "it is too late; and
wild geese follow a leader."
As though they feared the birds
might hear them and take alarm, the
men, unconsciously, had spoken in low
tones.
your hall? Is it by some artist with a
well-known name?"
"Yes; his name is Smith." Boston
Transcript.
"So you proposed last night and got
your answer in two letters."
"In two letters? No, I didn't."
"But you told me she refused you."
"That's all right, but the girl is
Dutch."
m
The teacher was explaining the
tenses. "Now, Willie," she said, "sup
pose I should say: 'I have a million dol
lars.' What tense would that be?"
"That'd be pretense." answered Wil
lie. Bix I have a dog that's nearly thirty
inches high.
DIx That's nothing. I have one that
stands over four feet.
Bacon Huxley said that an oyster
Is as complicated as a watch.
Egbert Well, I know both of them
run down easily. Yonkers Statesman
r
Young Mr. Gurley My foot's asleep.
Gazzam Nonsense! Not while you
are wearing those loud trousers. B.,
-o. s jiontniy.
"Ah. fer a
"What on
Willie?"
"So's I
reachln' fer
discouragement, he. in
ness, retreated to the
farm. In New Yordk
"They move as though they were
very tired." whispered Elsie Mortimer.
"I think." said Ainsley, "they have
lost their way."
But even as he spoke, the birds, as
though they had reached their goal,
spread their wings to the full length
and sank to the shallow water at the
farthest margin of the lake.
As they fell the sun struck full upon
them, turning their great pinions into
flashing white and silver.
"Oh." cried the girl, "but they are
beautiful!"
Between the house and the lake there
was a ridgo of rock higher than the
head of a man. and to this Ainsley and
his guests ran for cover. On hands
and knees, like hunters stalking game,
they scrambled up the face of the rock
and peered cautiously into the pond.
Below them, less than 100 yards away,
on a tiny promontory, the six white
birds stood motionless. They showed
no sign of fear. They could not but
know that beyond the lonely circle of
the pound were the haunts of men.
From the farm came the tinkle of a
cowbell, the bark of a dog, and In the
valley, six miles distant, rose faintly
upon the stillness of the sunset hour
the rumble of a passing train. But If
these sounds carried, the birds gave
no heed. In each drooping head and
dragging wing, in the forward stoop of
each white body, weighing heavily on
the slim black legs, was written utter
weariness, abject fatigue. To each
even to lower his bill and sip from the
cool waters was a supreme effort.
And In their exhaustion so complete
was something humanly helpless and
pathetic
To Ainsley the mysterious visitors
made a direct appeal. He felt as though
they had thrown themselves upon his
hospitality. That they showed such
confidence that the sanctuary would
be kept sacred touched him. And while
his friends spoke eagerly, he remained
silent, watching the drooping, ghost
like figures, his eyes filled with pity.
"I have seen birds like those in
Florida," Mortimer, was whispering,
"but they were not migratory birds."
"And I've seen white cranes in the
Adlrondacks," Bald Lowell, "but never
six at one time."
"They're like no bird I ever saw out
of a zoo," declared Elsie Mortimer.
"Maybe they are from the zoo. Maybe
they escaped from the Bronx."
"The Bronx is too near," objected
Lowell. "These birds have come a great
distance. They move as though they
had been flying for many days."
As though the absurdity of his own
thought amused him, Mortimer laughed
softly.
"I'll tell you what they do look like."
he said. "They look like that bird you
see on the Nile the sacred Ibis
they "
Something between a gasp and a cry
startled him into silence. He found his
host staring wildly, his lips parted, his
eyes open wide.
"Where?" demanded Ainsley. "Where
did you Bay?" His voice was so hoarse,
bo strafige, that they all turned and
looked.
"On the Nile," repeated Mortimer. "All
over Egypt. Why?"
Ainsley made no answer. Unclasping
his hold he suddenly slid down the face
of the rock and with a bump lit on his
hands and knees. With one bound he
had cleared a flowerbed. In two more
he had mounted the steps to the terrace
and in another Instant had disappeared
into the house.
"What happened, to him?" demanded
Elsie Mortimer.
"He's gone to get a gun," exclaimed
Mortimer. "But he musn't How can he
think of shooting them?" he cried in
dignantly. "I'll put a stop to that."
In the hall he found Ainsley sur
rounded by a group of startled ser
vants. "You get that car at the door in five
minutes!" he was shouting, "and you
telephone the hotel to have my trunks
out of the cellar and on board the Kron
Prinz Albert by midnight. Then you
telephone Hoboken that I want a cabin,
and If they haven't got a cabin I want
the captain's. And tell them, anyway.
Among tne Poets
I N SPIKATIO N
The bard was melancholy he
Sat on the ocean's strand.
"Would that I could describe the sea,"
He sighed, and waved his hand.
"Would that I could describe its hue
With soul and truth and skill.
The way some other fellows do
And did and, darn it, will!
Would that I could, in throbbing staves
Describe its mystery
The sea that sleeps that sea that
raves
These are the themes for me.
Would that" a wave broke over him.
He, so to speak, imbibed it.
It felled him flat upon the strand.
It bumped his head to beat the band.
It ebbed he rose, ohockful of sand.
Took one look at the ocean and
Described it. New York Times.
APPRECIATION.
How dear to our heart is the steady
subscriber.
Who pays in advance at the birth of
little rain."
earth do yon want rain fer
kin get a drink widout
It -
I'm coming on board tonight, and I'm
going with them if I have to sleep oti
deck. And you," he cried, turning to
Mortimer, "take a shotgun and guard
that lake, and if anybody tries to mo
lest those birds shoot him! They'vo
come from Egypt. From Tolly Klrk
land. She sent them. They're a sign."
"Are you going mad?" cried Mor
timer. "No," roared Ainsley. "I'm going t
Egypt, and I'm going now."
Tolly Kirkland and her friends were
traveling slowly up the Nile, and had
reached Luxor. A few hundred yards
below the village their dahabiyeh was
moored to the bank, and on the deck
Miss Kirkland was watching a scarlet
sun sink behind two palm trees. By
the grace of that special providence
that cares for drunken men, citizens of
the United States and lovers, her friends
were on shore, and she was alone. For
this she was grateful, for her thoughts
were of a melancholy and tender nature
and she had no wish for any com
pansion save one. In consequence,
when a steam launch, approaching at
full speed with the rattle of a quick
firing gun, broke upon her meditations,
she was distinctly annoyed.
But when with much ringing of bells
and shouting of orders, the steam
launch rammed the paint off her daha
biyeh, and a young man tlung himself
over the rail and ran toward her, her
annoyance passed, and with a sigh she
sank into his outstretched, eager arms.
Half an hour later Ainsley laughed
proudly and happily.
"Well!" he exclaimed, "you can
never say I kept you waiting., I didn't
lose much time, did I? Ten'minutes
after I got your C. Q. D. signal I was
going down, the Boston Tost Road at
70 miles an hour."
"My what?" said the girl.
"The sign!" explained Ainsley. "The
sign you were to send me to tell me"
he bent over her hand and added
gently "that you cared for me."
"Oh, I remember," laughed Polly
Kirkland. "I was to send you a sign,
wasn't I? You were to 'read it in
your heart," she quoted.
"And I did," returned Ainsley, com
placently. "There were several false
alarms, and I'd almost lost hope, but
when the messengers came 1 knew
them."
With puzzled eyes the girl frowned,
and raised her head.
"Messengers?" she repeated. "I sent
no message. Of course," she went on,
"when I said you would 'read it in
your heart' I meant that if you really
loved me you would not wait for a
sign, but you would Just come!" She
sighed proudly and contentedly. "And
you came. You understood that,
didn't you?" she asked anxiously.
For an instant Ainsley stared blank
ly, and then to hide his guilty counte
nance drew her toward him and kissed
her. ,
"Of course," he stammered "of
course I understood. That was why I
came. I Just couldn't stand it any
longer."
Breathing heavily at the thought of
the blunder he had so narrowly avoid
ed, Ainsley turned his head toward the
great red disk that was disappearing
Into the sands of the desert. He was
so long silent that the girl lifted her
eyes, and found that already he haci
forgotten her presence and, transfixed
was staring at the sky. On his face
was bewilderment and wonder and a
touch of awe. The girl followed the
direction of his eyes, and In the swiftly
gathering darkness saw comfng slowly
toward them, and descending as they
came, six great white birds.
They moved with the last effort of
complete exhaustion. In the drooping
head and dragging wings of each was
written utter weariness, abject fatigue.
For a moment they hovered over the
dahabiyeh and above the two young
lovers, and then, like tired travelers
who had reached their journey's end,
they spread their wings and sank to
the muddy waters of .Jhe Nile and into
the enveloping night.
"Some day," said Ainsley, "I have a
confession to make to you."
(Copyright by Charles Scrlbner's Sons.)
of the Daily Press
Who lays down the money and does it
quite gladly.
And casts round the office a halo of
cheer.
He never says. "Stop it; I cannot afford
it.
I'm getting more magazines now than
I read";
But always says "Send it; our people
all like it
In fact, we think it a help and a
need."
How welcome his check when it reaches
our sanctum;
How it makes our pulse throb; how It
makes our heart dance!
We outwardly thank him; we inwardly
bless him
The steady subscriber who pays in
advance.
- Montreal Gazette.
NEVER AGAIN.
She smoked Just one
No more, you bet!
She calls it now
A "sickarette."
"It was a case of love at first sight."
"How do you account for it?"
"She saw him in Bradstreet's and he
aw her in the Blue Book."