3
HER
H CAN'T stay, an' won't! 'Taln't in
human natur'," muttered Ann
Friend. "Always the same! Sun
shine for others, shadows for me!"
"Where's the slate, honey? Where's
the slate?' piped a quavering voice, as
Ann stepped Into the dim kitchen and
began to bustle about energetically.
"We mun cross It off, honey, we mun
cross It oft. 'TIs the 21st to-day, and
the boy comes home on the 20th, bless
the Lord!"
, "Here 'tis, mother-in-law. Bide quiet
a bit, while I sets the kettle on the
hob."
"Five days! five days!" echoed the
old woman. "We mun be busy, honey,
And get the place set clean, and the
sheets aired; and I'm thinking, Ann,
If you was to put the things ready for
me as I might make the ginger cake he
used to set such store by, eh?"
"Now, mother-in-law, I'll not have
you messing round and making your
self ill." Ann spoke with decision.
"What's good enough for us Is good
enough for him."
"But, Ann 'tis my son John 'tis
your own man, Ann!"
Ann's face grew harder and harder
as she left the kitchen and went up
stairs to her bedroom.
"I can't stay, nor 1 won't!" said Ann
Friend, suddenly, as she stood looking
out of the window. "Nobody could ex
pect me to stay. She won't care so
long as she's got him, and he won't
care so long as he's got his liberty and
a roof over his bead."
Bending down, she drew a box from
under the bed and began to pack Into
it the contents of the one chest of
drawers that stood In the room.
At the bottom of the last drawer she
came upon a little bundle of baby's
clothes, and for a moment the hard
ness of her face softened while she un
folded each tiny garment and exam
ined It carefully. Then the cloud re
turned, the clothes were once more
tied into a bundle and returned to the
now empty drawer.
" 'Tis well she died," she thought to
herself. "'TIs well she can't be
ashamed of her father. I'll leave them
there; he'll like maybe to see how tall
she grew."
Four years ago Ann Friend would
have told you that she was one of the
happiest women In the whole village,
and the village Itself would not have
disputed the fact. Yet In two short
years the happiness tied, the husband
was a disgraced man, and Ann, whose
good temper was proverbial, knew her
self to have changed Into a soured,
hard woman.
The Inhabitants of the little village
where Ann had been born and bred
said among themselves that Mrs.
Friend was a rare good woman, and
had borne the disgrace of her husband's
Imprisonment as few women would
have borne It.
They never knew the rage that took
possession of proud Ann Friend when
the shadow of disgrace fell upon her
home. They never knew the bitter
contempt that filled her heart when she
thought of the father of her child work
ing out his sentence In the neighboring
prison.
"If you are Innocent, prove It," was
his wife's thought; but the thought
was never put Into words, for Ann was
one of those strange characters whose
thoughts are worse than their actions.
The mother believed In her son's
word, and counted the days for his re
turn; the wife allowed her to believe
that she did likewise. Some of the
neighbors believed also In John's Inno
cence; the wife held her peace, and
they accounted her loyal.
Kvery day Ann determined to break
down her long reserve to tell the old
woman that she, John's wife, would
rather die than be there In person to
welcome him home; yet each day saw
the momentous words unspoken.
At last the morning of the 2tHh ar
rived. The explanatory letter was
written and pinned on the pincushion;
the box, corded and addressed, stood In
the outhouse on the handcart she In
tended wheeling to the nearest station;
the old mother had been dressed In her
best Sunday gown and cap, the coffee
stood ready on the hob; and still the
Alienee of two years had not been
broken.
"I may as well see how prison's
greed with, him," thought Ann, as she
looked at the clock, and saw It was
Just upon 7:80, and then felt Irritated
-with tho consciousness that this
thought had been behind all her ac
tions for the last two hours.
With a sullen face Ann left the cot
tage and took a short cut through the
FAITH.
fields to where, standing on a low fir
clad hill, she could look down unper
celved on the roads below. There were
two roads the broad, white road from
the distant town that held the prison,
nr..'. which wound Its way onward to
the next large town; and the curved,
narrow lane that met It and struck
downward on the left to the little Vil
lage of Frant, passing the Friends' cot
tage on its way.
Ann knew that prisoners were re
leased from Newham Jail at 8 o'clock
in the morning. She knew that John
must come to where the roads crossed.
After one look at the disgraced man
she would have time to run home and
start with her box in the opposite di
rection before he could reach the cot
tage, so she stood there and waited,
and was ansrry with herr!? tor vault
ing angry because the minutes went
so slowly, then angry because they had
gone so fast, when a solitary figure ap
peared walking In the center of the
road, making It suddenly seem broad,
white, and cheerless.
The man, for It was a man, walked
slowly, hesitatingly. He felt his way
with a stick, as if he was blind.
Yes, It was John; but why did he
walk like that, instead of swinging
along in his old hearty manner? Per
haps he felt ashamed. Serve him right
if he was!
He came nearer and nearer, and, as
she saw that he had a green shade over
his eyes, the color left her cheeks, and,
forgetting to hide herself as hitherto,
she went to the extreme edge of the
little hillock and looked down Intently,
When the man came to the cross
roads he stopped and stood facing
down the narrow lane for full five
minutes.
It was a poor, pitiful sight upon
which the sunshine shone the noor.
maimed face, with lurid small-pox
marks and swollen features. To some
It would have been a repulsive sight;
It brought but a hungry, yearning look
Into the eyes looking down upon It.
Arid then, slowly, deliberately, the
man turned away from the lane,
stepped again Into the center of the
road, and continued his way.
"My God! he Is going away he Is not
coming home!" gasped Ann; and, for
getful alike of her wrongs, her resolu
tions, she tore down the steep bank,
rushed after the stumbling figure,
caught the man by the arm, and cried:
"John, John, you have taken the
wrong turning! This Is the way home,
dear!"
"You see, my lass," said John Friend,
leaning on his wife's strong arm, "the
doctor told me I was a sad sight, and
I thought perhaps you would not
know when I was n-comlng out, and
I'd go Into Gorrlck for a spell till my
hair had grown and my eyes and face
were a bit better; but you was olways
a good wife, lass; and how I should
have got through these two years with
out knowing as you believed I haven't
done It, I don't know. You was al
ways a good wife, lass, and I'm weary
lug for home."
And the Innocence Ann failed to be
lieve In when John Friend was hale
and hearty she believes In now that he
Is helpless and disfigured. London
Weekly Telegraph.
A Formidable Correction.
The proper spelling of Welsh names
Is a matter known only to experts, and
it gives much trouble to English post
office officials, who are able In many
cases to make only a guess, so to speak,
at the spelling of place names. Sir
Herbert Maxwell, In an article In an
English magazine, gives an amusing
example of this.
On March 2, 1888, the following tele
gram was handed In for delivery at the
postofflce of Chepstow:
"Going to Llanfalrpwllgwngwllgog-
erhwllclydllgogogoch. Shall be at home
by 4:30."
The postmaster, thinking that there
was "more than a fair penn'orth" of
consonants In the name, referred It to
his surveyor, who wrote back;
"It Is an attempt at the name of a
village In Anglesey, but Is evidently not
written by a Welshman; the spelling la
Incorrect, and but for the Joke of the
talng, the ordinary abbreviation Llan-
falrpwll would have been better. The
name, correctly written, I give below:
Llan falrpwllgwyngyllgogerchwyrny-
drobwlllandlsllllogogogoch."
It must be terrible to be a girl, and.
have to stuff towels In a corset and a.
bustle this hot weather In order to 11U
out one's shape.
WAS A "EEBEL SPY."
BELLE BOYD, A NOTED CIVIL
WAR CHARACTER.
She Was Once Killed by President
Lincoln and Twice Sentence! to Be
Shot She Also Made One Man a
Traitor to His Country.
The career of Belle Boyd, known as
the "rebel spy" and who died in Wis
consin not long ago, was a thrilling one.
She had Just left
school when the
civil war began.
She had u lover In
theConfederate ser
vice without whom
she thought she
could not live, but
she married an
other before the
war was over and
made him a trai
tor, was divorced
BICLLE BOY D.
from a second husband twenty years
after her first marriage, and within a
year after that married a third. She
saw life In camps and military prisons,
was a prisoner on shipboard, was ban
ished from the country, and after re
turning to it lived in various States in
the Pust, West and South; was lu an
insane asylum for a time, and after
wards lectured throughout the country,
often under the auspices of Grand
Army posts. She was about five feet
ve inches ta!!. with bright eyes uiiJ
aquiline nose, and when she was young
her hair was described as of "a reddish
golden hue."
Belle Boyd was born in Martlnsburg,
W. Va., In 1843. Not quite 18 years
old at the opening of the war, she en
tered with all her heart and spirit Into
the service of the Confederate cause.
She was a resident within the Federal
Hues and knew many of the officers,
and she used her acquaintance and her
blandishments to gain from them in
formation which would be of service
to her friends In the Southern armies,
to whom she conveyed It at every op
portunity. Many of her messages she
sent to Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. At favor
able opportunities she abstracted the
side arms of her Federal acquaintances
when they left them carelessly about,
and these she forwarded to the enemy.
She was suspected after a time, and
then one of her notes fell Into the Fed
eral hands and she was arrested, repri
manded and threatened, but Gen.
Shields set her at liberty. Gen. Shields,
she said afterward, was completely off
his guard and Introduced her to officers
of his staff.
Sentenced to Be Shot.
The night before Shields set out after
Stonewall Jackson he announced that
he was going to whip Jackson and a
council of war was held In what had
been the drawing-room of Belle's aunt's
house. Through the floor of a closet
off a bedroom above the drawing-room
a hole had been bored. Belle crept up
to the closet and applied her ear to It
wheu the council assembled. She was
able to be of such service to Jackson
that he sent her a letter after bis de-
feat of Gen. Banks, dated May 23,
lstil!, thanking her for her "Immense
services." On Jackson's advice she re
moved to Winchester, and Jackson
made her an aide on his staff with the
rank of cnptnlu. While at Winchester
she was made aware of several verv
suspicious Northern plans which would
destroy the counter-movements of the
armies of her beloved Confederacy.
Without a thought of the danc-er tr
herself she Instantly started from the
town to the point of land occupied by
General Jackson and the Southern
troopers, a point she gained after a
most perilous and hnrrowlntr run
through the fires of both armies. Dur-
lug her career as a spy she was twice
sentenced to be shot, and was for 11
months a prisoner la the Carroll and
Capitol prisons at Washington.
Belle Boyd's career In the military
service ended lu 18G4, when she was
captured with dispatches on a block
ado runner. Lieut. Sam Wylde Hard
ing, of the navy, was put in charge of
the blockade runner, which was or
dered to Boston. The lieutenant and
Belle Boyd were thrown together a
good deal and left largely to them
selves, lie quoted from Shakspeare
aud Byron to her, she tells In her au
tobiography. When he began to talk
of tender subjects she thought he
might become useful to her cause, so
when he asked her to become his wlfa
she told him that It might Involve sH.
DASHES TIIROUOH THE FIRING LINK.
ous consequences. He was ready to
face them, apparently, and renewed his
proposal while the ship was in Long
Island sound on the way to Boston.
So she told him she would be his wife.
When they were coming to anchor
off the Boston navy yard Lieut. Hard
ing went forward to give some orders
and his fiancee invited the two Yankee
pilots who were aboard to come down
to the cabin and have some wine, which
they did. The captain of the blockade
runner, whom she called in her book
Capt. Henry, and another man were of
the party. Harding had called a small
boat alongside preparatory to going
ashore and this boat had dropped un
der the quarter. At a moment she
thought suitable the girl nodded to
Capt. Henry, whom she had planned to
have escaped. He left the wine party
and stepping into the shore boat which
was soon handy he was soon on his
way to Boston. When later Harding
came aft he asked Belle where his pa?
pers were and she told him that prob
ably they were in the lower cabin,
where he had been dressing, and he
went after them, while the small boat
got farther away.
Her After Career.
For allowing the escape of his pris
oner Harding was arrested and tried,
but he was not convicted. Belle Boyd
was banished by Lincoln and went to
England. Harding deserted shortly
afterward and went to England, where
he and the spy were married on Aug.
25, 18G4. Harding returned to this
country and became a Confederate spy.
His wife became an actress In Kng1nnJ
and returned to America after the proc
lamation of general amnesty. She
played under the name of Nina Ben
jamin In different cities, and at one
time lobbied successfully to put a bill
through the "black and tan" Legisla
ture of Texas.
In 18C9 she married Col. John Swains
ton Hammond, quit the stage, went, in
ill health, with her husband to Cali
fornia and was obliged to enter an In
sane asylum. In 1884 she obtained a
divorce from Hammond and soon after
ward married Nat It. High, an actor,
with whom she went on the road giv
ing dramatic recitations in costume.
FOUND AT LAST.
The Ax with Which Charles I. Was
Beheaded.
The vexed question, so much In evi
dence in the papers recently, "Where Is
the present location of the ax with
which King Charles L was beheaded?"
has finally been answered. The famous
relic now reposes in the Museo Bor
bonico, at Naples, Italy. One who has
rummaged much among the archives
of the British Museum furnishes these
particulars regarding It: The execu
tioner of Charles (Giles Dekker) sur
vived the monarch 30 years, dying in
1C85. His claim to the ax, which he
appears to have regarded as his per
quisite, was, after considerable discus
sion, granted by Parliament, and it re
mained his until his death. He always
refused to make an exhibition of the
instrument, but his son, however, de
void of such scruples, placed it on show
at the tavern In Lambeth, and this
coming to the new King's ears, a raid
was made, the ax was confiscated and
James II. became its custodian. When
compelled to fly from the kingdom in
1G88 he took It with him to France, aud
at St. Germain It remained until his
death, In 1701. Louis XIV. became Its
next possessor, and later on the Regent
Duke of Orleans, who parted with It
for a "consideration" to Ferdinand,
King of Naples. Treasured by that
family for upward of CO years, It was
finally deposited in the Naples Mu
seum. The Other Was Handsomer.
It was in an art store In Fifth avenue,
says a New York paper, and the dealer
was showing gilded clocks and cande
labra to a customer. Pointing to one
particularly handsome set, he said:
"That Is worth $350." Polntlag to an
other of similar pattern, but not bo
handsome, he said, "That is worth
$000."
"But the other one is better," said
the customer.
"Well," said the dealer, "the chief
value of this one (pointing to the six
hundred dollar affair) is the gilding. It
was gilded by the mercury process,
which Is now forbidden by law almost
everywhere. The other set was treated
with the electro-plating process."
"Well, it's the handsomer," said the
customer. Is It as durable? If it Is,
why should I pay $250 more?"
"It Is practically as durable and it Is
handsomer," said the denier. "But you
can duplicate it, and you can't dupli
cate the other. The mercury process of
gilding was death to the workmen en
gaged in it They Inhaled the fumes of
the mercury, and In the end It killed
them, and It wasn't long In doing It,
either."
"I'll take the mercury one," said the
customer, "but the other Is hand
somer." Physicians In Germany.
In the last eleven years the number
of physicians In Germany Increased 50
per cent., while the population In
creased only 14 per cent.
Some men can't find words for their
thoughts aud some women can't find
thoughts for their w err da.
The empress dowager of China is the '
one woman in the world to defy all
Europe. She is now abont 60 years -old,
and for the last 40 years has ex
erted an all-powerful influence in di
recting the affairs of China. She is
the second wife of the emperor, and be
cause she bore him a son aud the first
wife did not she takes precedence. As
to education, she has received the best
China can give. A native wit and
cleverness supply what she may lack
in book, knowledge.
HOITT'S SCHOOL.
Menlo Park, Pan Mateo County, Gal.,
with its new buildings, newly furnished
and complete laboratories, beautiful sur
roundings and home inlluences, is one of
the best equipped schools tor the training
of boys and young men on the coast. It
is in charge of Dr. Ira (. Hoitt and is ac
credited at the universities. Hend for cat
alog, Tenth year begins August 6, 1900.
Fire Escape.
' 'My mother found my little brother
putting his stockings on wrong side
out this morning." "Yes? What did
she do?" "Turned the hose on him."
Harvard Lampoon.
Fancy gojds, after Christmas, have
about as inviting a look as cold gravy.
Beware of Ointments for Catarrh That
Contain Mercury,
As mercury will surely destroy the sense of
smell anil completely derange the whole sys
tem when entering it through the mucous sur
faces. Such articles should never be used ex
cept on prescriptions from reputable physi
cians, as thediiniage they will do is ten fold to
the good you nan possibly derive from them.
Hall's Cntarrh Cure, manufactured by F. J.
Cheney & Co., Toledo, O., contains no mercury,
and is. taken internally, acting directly upon
the blood and mucous snrfnw of ih rt.T
In buying Hall's Catarrh Cure be sure you get
the genuine. It is taken internally, and made
in Toledo, Ohio, by F. J. Cheney i Co. Testi
monials free.
Sold by Druggists, price 7So. per bottle.
Hall's Family Fills are the best.
The Occasion.
"Oh, yes; Prof. Groskopf is quite
phlegmatic. In fact, I never knew
him to be excited, except once."
' 'What was the trouble then?"
'lie couldn't find his pipe." Puck.
If the church treated her ministers
generously in the matter of holidays
she would reap all the gain. For
every new idea which comes to the
minister's mind, and every new book
he reads, and every new sight he sees,
and every new gallery he visits daring
his holidays pass into his words and
into his life, and the thonghtfulness
and generosity of congregations would
come back to their own souls with
usury of reward. Ian Maclaren, in
Ladies' Home Journal.
If a man has a little ability, people
abuse him because he does not "do"
more.
The oldest story in the world proba
bly is the one told by the boys when
thev return from hunting: that they
killed a duck, but that they couldn't
find it.
If a man living in this part of the
country should tire of fried eggs, we
don't know what on earth, he would eat
for breakfast.
No boy thinks he- has had enough
candy until he has started a tooth to
aching.
Beer Disease.
According to Van Lear, wha has
been studying the special diseases for
bacteria which affect beer, there is
such a thing as beer disease. It ap
pears that a acillus develops in beer
associated with viscous lermentation
and converts practically the carohy
drates into lactic, acetic and utyrio
acids. This practically destroys the
quality of the beer, and makes it in the
language of beer men "double faced."
Its flavor may be increased, but its
effect are depressing and resemble
those of narcotio poison. It is said
that many beers on the market are in
jured by this acillus, whose x presence
is largely unknown. It is evident
from this that beer is not the simple,
harmless beverage supposed. Journal
of Inebriety.
A Millionaire Fireman.
Mayhew W. Bronson, a millionaire,
has just been installed as chief of the
Larchmont (N. Y.) fire department,
to which he had been the instructor in
life saving since the time when,
through the favor of Commissioner
Scannell, of the fire department, former
Chief Bonner, and Chief Croker. he
went through the hard work required
by the fire department from the men
who came up for approval at headquar
ters. "Both bit wife and myself nave beea
nslng CASCARET9 aud they are the best
medicine we hare ever had In the house. Last
week my wife waa frantio with headache tor
twodaya, the tried tome of yourCASCARETS,
and they relieved the pain in bar head almost
immediately. We both recommend Caacareta."
Cms. Stkdbtord.
Pittsburg Safe A Deposit Co., PHttburg, Pa.
Pl;ni, Palatable. Potent. Taite Good. ro
Wood, tts?sr SloksD. Weaken, or Grips. 10c ft. He.
... CURE CONSTIPATION. ...
tlHlf Utmt4f W-f. Miwi. I.. T.HL, lit
nU'lW'DAW glsisui CV'ttlCTooaooo Uablw
HEAD ACHE
saaaaaaannw
fy CATHARTIC
TADtMA ftl&ISTIftlO