Lincoln County leader., January 18, 1907, Image 3

The Minister's Wife
By MRS. HENRY WOOD
CHAPTER IV.
One morning there was a startling an
nouncement in the Times. As Lady
Avon's eyes fell upon it, she truly thought
they must be playing her false; that her
sight was failing her.
The living of Great Whltton was be
stowed upon the Hon. and Rev. Wilfred
Elliotsen, a personal friend of the Earl
oi Avon. ""
Her ladyship called out for her daugh
ter in commotion ; she sent her maid.
Charity, to hasten her. Grace feared her
mother was worse, and flew to the room
witn rapid steps.
"What can be the meaning of this.
Grace?" gasped the countess. "Henry has
cot given the living to Mr. Baumgarteu
after all ; he has given it to young Elliot
sen !"
"Oh, Indeed," said Grace, carelessly.
"Harry can do as he likes, I suppose."
"No, he can't, in such a case as this.
At least he ought not. Once his promise
was given to me, it should have been
kept. I cannot understand his going
from It. It is not like him."
"Well, mamma, I don't see that it mat
ters lo us, whichever way it may be."
"but it does matter, i don't want a
simpering young fellow like Wilfred El
liotsen down here, and whose wife goes
la for rank Puseyism besides. She has
oui liucu nullum fur hU appointment to
a church, report says, to make him play
all kinds of antics in it; she leads him by
the nose."
Grace laughed.
"It is no laughing matter," reproved
her mother, "for me or Mr. Baumgarten.
I shall be ashamed to look him in the
face. And he had begun to lay out plans
for his marriage with Miss Dane and
their life at Great Whitton !"
"How do you know that?" asked Grace,
quickly.
"Mrs. Brice told me so when she wa
here yesterday," replied Lady Avon. "She
knew from the Danes that Ryle Baumgar
ten was to have Great Whitton and to
marry Edith. Why Henry should be so
changeable I cannot imagine."
Lady Avon was evidently very much
Annoyed, and justly so; annoyed at the
fact, and annoyed because she was un
able to understand her s'on, who was
neither capricious nor inconsiderate. She
wrote a letter of complaint to him that
day, and awaited his answer.
The ill news broke abruptly upon Mr.
Baumgarten. The little hard-worked, in
offensive Mr. Brice, who had a kind heart
and never failed to have a kind word for
his patients, chanced to see in the Times
the same paragraph that Lady Avon saw,
and on the same morning,
end on the same morning.
"Bless my heart," he exclaimed, "what
an unlucky thing ! How could Baumgar
ten have made such a mistake? He said
Lady Grace told him. Perhaps it was she
who mistook the matter!"
Away he hastened to Whitton Cottage,
the newspaper in his pocket, and into the
clergyman's presence, who sat in his lit
tle study writing a sermon. And when
he got there, he felt at fault how to op.m
the ball. It seemed so cruel a thing to
do. Mr. Baumgarten, who looked gay and
unconscious, led up to it.
"Have you heard any particular news
this morning?" began the surgeon, after
few words had passed.
'No," lightly replied Mr. Baumgarten :
4'I'vo not seen any one to tell me any ;
I have been busy since breakfast with
my sermon for next Sunday. Nearly the
last I shall preach at Little Whitton, I
xpcct."
Mr. Brice coughed. "Have you heard
from Lord Avon?" he asked.
"Not yet. I rather wonder at it. Every
morning 1 look for a letter from him, but
It does not come. He may be in France
again for all I know myself; I don't like
to call at Avon House until my appoint
ment Is confirmed. It would look push
ing; as if I were Impatient."
"Well, I I saw a curious paragraph
In the newspaper just now, about Great
Whitton being given away ; but it was
another name that was mentioned, not
jours," said Mr. Brice. "I thought I'd
"omc here at once to see if you knew
anything about it."
"Not anything; newspapers are always
making mistakes," smiled Mr. Baumgar
ten. Mr. Brice took the paper from his
Iockct. Finding the place, he laid it be
fore the clergyman, who read it. Read it
twice over, and began to feel somewhat
kss easy. lie read it a third time, aloud.
"We are authorized to state that the
valuable living of Great Whitton, Home
shire, has been bestowed by its patron,
the Earl of Avon, upon the Honorable
and Reverend Wilfred Elliotsen."
There ensued a pause. The two gen
tlemen were looking at one another, each
tjnestioningly.
'It must be a mistake," said Mr. Baum
garten. "Lord Avon would not give the
living to me, and then give it to some one
eist."
"The question is did he give It to
you?" returned Mr. Brice. "Perhaps the
mistake lies in your having thought so."
"I saw it In his own handwriting, in his
letter to his mother. Lady Grace showed
it to me; at least, a portion of It. He
wrote in answer to an appeal Lady Avon
had made to hira to give me the living.
His promise was a positive one. It Is this
newspaper that makes the mistake, Brice;
It cannot be otherwise."
"Any way, we will hope so," briskly
added the surgeon. But he spoke more
confidently than he felt ; and perhaps Mr,
Baumgarten had done the same.
Lord Avon's reply to his mother's let
ter of complaint and Inquiry came to
her by return of post, and ran as fol
lows :
"My Dear Mother I canceled my
promise of giving the living to Baumgar
ten at Grace's request. She wrote to me
posthaste some days ago, telling me there
were reasons why Baumgarten would be
utterly unfit to hold Great Whitton, and
begging me to bestow it upon any one
other than upon him. That is all I know ;
you must ask an explanation of Grace.
Of course, I assumed she was writing for
you. It is settled now, and too late to
change back again. Elliotsen will do very
well in the living, I dare say. As to his
wife wanting to turn and twist him to at
tempt foolish things in the church, as you
seem to fear, I think it hardly likely. If
she does, he must put her down. Ever
your loving son,
"HENRY."
"Yes, I did write to Henry, mamma ;
I did ask him not to give the living to
Mr. Baumgarten," avowed Grace, with
passionate emphasis, when questioned, her
cheeks aflame, for the subject excited and
tried her. "My reason was that I con
sider him an unfit man to hold it."
"Why, it was at your request that I
asked Henry to give it to Mr. Baumgar
ten ; you let me have no peace until I
consented," retorted Lady Avon.
"But, after reflection, I came to the
conclusion that I ought not to have press
ed it ; that he ought not to have it, and
would not do it; and the shortest way to
mend the matter was by writing to Harry.
That's all."
Lady Avon glanced keenly at her daugh
ter. She was mentally asking herself
what it all meant the burning face, the
tone sharp as a knife and telling of
pain, the capricious conduct in regard to
the preferment. But she could not tell ;
she might have her suspicions, and very
ridiculous suspicions, too, not at all to be
entertained ; but she could not tell.
"I am sorry that a dtughter of mine
should have condescended to behave so;
you best know what motive prompted it,
Grace. To bestow a living and then
snatch it away again in caprice is sheer
child's play. It will be a cruel blow to
Ryle Baumgarten."
A cruel blow it was. Lady Avon turn
ed to her desk after speaking these words
to her daughter, and began a note to the
young clergyman, feeling very much hum
bled in mind as she wrote it. Id the most
plausible, way she could, a lame way at
best, she apologized for the mistake which
had been made, adding she hardly knew
whether it might be attributed to her son,
to herself, or to both, and pleaded for Mr.
Baumgarten's forgiveness. This note she
dispatched by her footman to Whitton
cottage.
Mi. Baumgarten chanced to be stand
ing, in the house's little hall as the man
approached. H received the note from
him.
"Is there any answer to take back,
sir? My lady did not say."
"I will se," replied Mr. Baumgarten.
"Sit down, Robert."
Shutting himself into his study, he
opened the note. For a few happy mo
ments if moments of suspense ever can
be happy he indulged in a vision that
all might still be right; that the note was
to tell him so. It was short, filling only
one side of the paper, and he stood while
he read It.
Before he had quite come to the end,
before he had well gathered in its pur
port, a shock, singular in its effects,
struck Mr. Baumgarten. Whether his
breath stopped, or the circulation of his
heart stopped, or the coursing of his
pulses stopped, he could not have told, but
ho sank down .in a chair powerless, the
letter falling on the table from his nerve
less hand. A strange, beating movement
slirred him inwardly, his throat was gasp
ing, his eyelids were fluttering, a sick
faintness had seized upon him.
But that he struggled against it with
desperate resolution, he believed he should
have fainted. Once before he had felt
something like this, when he was an un
dergraduate at Oxford, and he had been
rowing against time to win a match. They
said then, those around him, that he had
over-exercised his strength. But he had
not been exercising his strength now, and
he was far worse this time than he had
been then.
He sat perfectly still, his arms support
ed by the elbows of the chair, and recov
ered by degrees. After a bit, he took up
Lady Avon's note to read it more fully,
and then he knew and realized that all,
to which he had been so ardently looking
forward, was at an end.
"Her ladyship's notice does not require
an answer, Robert," he said with appar
ent coolness. "How is she to-day?"
"Middling, sir. She seemed much up
set this morning, Charity told us, by a
letter she got from his lordship in Lon
don," added Robert. "Good day, sir."
Mr. Baumgarten nodded in answer. He
stood at the door looking out, apparently
watching the man away. The sun was
shining in Ryle Baumgarten's face, but
the sun which had been latterly Bhining
on his heart, illuminating it with colors
of the brightest and sweetest fancy that
sun seemed to have set forever.
CHAPTER V.
The Hon. and Rev. Wilfred Elliotsen
took possession of the living of Great
Whitton, having been appointed to it by
Lord Avon. And the Rev. Ryle Baum
garten remained, as before, at Little
Whitton.
Changes took place. They take place
everywhere. The most notable one was
the marriage of Mr. Baumgarten.
That be had been grievously disappoint
ed and annoyed at the appointment of
another to the living, which he had been
led to suppose would be his, was a bitter
fact. lie set it down to the caprice of
great men, and strove to live down the
sting. The chief difficulty lay in his con
templated marriage ; and he deliberated
with himself whether he ought for the
present to abandon it, or to carry it out.
He decided upon the latter course.' It is
probable that he deemed he could not in
honor withdraw now, and it is more than
probable that, once having allowed him
self to cherish his hopes and his love, he
was not stoic enough to put them from
him again. .
Mrs. Dane gave permission readily. As
long as she lived and was with them her
small income would augment theirs. And
within a month of Mr. Baumgarten's dis
appointment, he and Edith became man
and wife.
"You do quite right," warm-hearted lit
tle Mr. Brice had assured them. "The
cuttings and contrivings necessary to
make a small income go as far as a large
one render a young couple all the hap
pier. I ought to know; mine was small
enough for many a year of my married
life ; it's not much else now."
The autumn was advancing when Lord
Avon came down to pay a visit to his
mother. His lordship brought with him
full intentions to have it out with her,
and with Grace, about that matter in the
summer. He began with his mother. She
knew no more of it than he did, she pro
tested resentfully, for she was still sore
upon the point. All she could say was
that he had written to promise the living
for Mr. Baumgarten and then gave it to
Wilfred Elliotsen.
Grace was more impervious still. She
simply refused to discuss the subject at
all, telling her brother to hold his tongue.
"I don't see why you should blame me,
mother," remonstrated the young man.
"It wm certainly no fault of mine."
"It was your fault, Henry," retorted
Lady Avon.
"I told you of Grace's peremptory let
ter." "Who but you would heed the wild let
ter of a girl? You should have waited
for me to confirm it. As I did not do so, I
you ought to have written to me before '
acting. I did not care for Mr. Baumgar
ten to have Great Whitton ; it was Grace
who worried me into asking it of you ;
but as you promised it to him, it should
have been his. You cannot picture to
yourself, Henry, half the annoyance it
has cost me."
Lord Avon could picture it very well.
All this arose from Grace's absurd ca
price. She had been indulged all her life
and did just as she pleased.
"And for you to put so silly a young
fellow as Elliotsen into it," went on
Lady Avon, enlarging on her grievances.
"I told you his wife would make hira
play all kinds of pranks in the church."
"What does he do?" asked Lord Avon.
"Very ridiculous things indeed. He
has put a lot of brass candlesticks on the
communion table, and he turns himself
about and bows down at different parts
of the service, and she sweeps her head
forward In a fashion that sets the whole
church staring. We are not used to these
innovations, Henry."
Lady Avon was correct in saying so.
The innovations were innovations in
those days; now they are looked upon al
most as matters of history, as if they had
come in with William the Conqueror,
"And the parish is not pleased with
them?" returned Lord Avon.
"Pleased with them," echoed his moth
er. "He began by wanting to make every
soul in the parish, laborers and all,' at
tend daily service in the church from 8
o'clock to 0, allowing them ten minutes
for breakfast and fifty for prayers; and
she has dressed the Sunday school in
scarlet cloaks, with a large white linen
cross sewed down the back. One thing is
not liked at all ; the inexperienced rustics
cannot be made to understand which way
he wants them to turn at the creeds ; so
he has plnnted some men behind the free
benches every Sunday with long white
wands, and the moment the Belief begins,
down come the wamls, rapping the heads
of the doubtful ones. You have no idea
of the commotion it causes."
Lord Avon burst into a laugh. "I'd
have run down for a Sunday before this,
had I known the fun that was going on,"
said he. "The girls must take care the
bulls don't run at their scarlet cloaks."
''Ah, Henry, you young men regard
these things but as matters for irreverent
joking. Mr. Baumgarten would not have
served us so."
Presently he walked out. In one of
the pleasant green lanes with which the
place abounded, he suddenly encountered
Brice, the surgeon, who was coming along
at a steaming pace.
"Walking for a wager?" cried he.
"That's it; your lordship has just hit
it," replied the surgeon, grasping warmly
the ready hand held out to him. "I and
Time often have a match together, and
sometimes he wins and sometimes I do."
(To be continued. )'
Even at I. nut.
"In the dark, still hours some one
shouted 'Burglar!'"
"You don',t say?"
"Yea, and then we all rnshed out of
our apartnmts and down the steps. In
the shadows of a corner we saw a
crouching figure."
'Gracious !"
"And we pummeled him until he was
black and blue. Then the lights were
turned on and everybody gave a cheer
that could bo heard a block."
"How exciting! And it was really tb
burglar?"
"No, It was the Janitor. We had
made a mistake, but everybody got th
chance to settle up an old grudge."
An Eye to the Fa (ore.
"Would you rather marry a lnwyer'i
or a minister's daughter?"
"A lawyer's. A divorce costs mora
than a wedding." Houston Post
It takes mall at least seven day U
go from Chicago to London,
rr ;ii. l M kl rrl Nl I
riNtern for Drlnklnsr Water.
In digging a cistern, dig it deep and
arch well under ground, closing in
the arch to receive u 2-foot sewer tile
to form the neck, which can enslly
be closed tight against toads and in
sects. By the side of the big cistern,
dig a little filtering cistern, us shown
In cut, that will hold from 10 to 15
barrels. Wall, nrch and cement the
same as large cistern, except thnt in
the center of the bottom, which should
be slightly basin shape, dig and ce
ment a hole large enough nml deep
enough to receive a bucket that will
hold 5 of C gallons.
Have bottom of bucket perfornted
PLAN FOR LARGE AND SMALL CISTERNS.
with small holes and fasten a strong
bnle to bucket by which to lift it out
Have a strong flange turned close to
the top of the bucket to rest tight on
the bottom of filtering cistern round
top of hole. You can make It water
tight by resting flange on packing. If
bucket Is not good and strong, place
a rest under the twttom, as there will
be a heavy pressure when filtering
cistern Is full. From the bottom of
the bole under bucket connect filter
with cisteni with a 3-inch sewer tile"
thoroughly cemented in. Farm and
Home.
Thraxhes III Corn.
Years ago, says nu Iowa man, I used
to remove every other row of teeth
from the cylinder, feed by hand, run
the thrasher with a ten horse-power
engine, and did fairly good work. But
COW
i y
LARGE
The department of dairy husbandry nt the Illinois experiment station
has been making Investigations throughout the State as to the profit returned
by the dairy cows. In the report which has been issued the state of affairs
is represented very graphically In nn Illustration which is reproduced above.
It is shown that half the cows are to be classed as medium, while the other
half follow divergent paths. One out of every four cows produces not more
than 1331 pounds of butter fat per year. This path Is not the "milky way;"
It does not tend upward and lacks the starry brightness and the milk. Head
ing along the right hand pnth are the cows (one-fourth of the whole number)
that mean profit, progress, plenty nnd an attractive home for the owner. They
produce 301 iwunds butter fat Jht year and leave a clear profit of $31.32 each.
The scales and the tester, as shown In the circle, nre the Instruments for the
dairyman to use to distinguish between the profitable and the unprofitable
animals.
recent years we let the cylinder re
mnln as for groin thrashing. Use one
concave with two rows of teeth, self
feeder, a sixteen horse-power engine,
and do a better job, making the fod
der much finer. It will crack some of
corn, but makes it better for feeding.
The fodder after being thrashed should
be placed under cover, as It
takes rain very readily and becomes
sillied for feed. I have fed a great
deal of It and will say that when it Is
cut at the right time and well cared
for I would rather have it, pound for
pound, than timothy and clover hay
for milk cows, but all stock eat It well.
I.uricent Poultry Ilanch.
In central Pennsylvania a tract of
107 acres Is to be used for a mammoth
poultry farm, with a plant Intended
for ten thousand laying hens. It Is
claimed this farm will be the largest
In the world. Perhaps the next larg
est Is that of Mr. Hayward, of Hun
cock, N. H.. who keeps six to eight
thousand laying hens, in small colony
houses. Mr. I lay ward's farm, how
ever, hns been i actual and success
ful operation for many years, while
the Pennsylvania project Is as yet a
mere outline.
Why Tonnar Trees are Beat.
These are tbe advantages of plant-j
Ing young trees: They can be train
ed to the desired form better than old
er trees. A two or three-year-old tree
is branched and has hud its head
already formed by the nurseryman ; a
yearling tree of the apple, pear and
sweet cherry is usually unbranched.
Sometimes the nurseryman has headed
the tree too high or has not been care
ful enough about starting out the scaf
fold hubs, and it is dlllicult to correct
the form of the head after It has been
started. There Is an unmistakable
preference for low-headed trees, due '
chiefly to the need of economy and
efficiency In spraying and harvesting.
The single disadvantage of low-heading
fs grenter Inconvenience in tillage.
This is much more than offset by the
advantages, in the Judgment of most
growers. Within ten years the height
recommended for heading apple trees
In East has been reduced at least two
feet. The bearing of this on the mat
ter of yearling trees is that the grow
er can head a yearling tree where he
pleases.
Aldn the Farmer.
As showing still another service
which the Department of Agriculture
has rendered to the business interests
of the country, we note In a recent bul
letin thnt, solely due to the Introduc
tion of better methods of collecting;
turpentine, there has lieen an increase
of 40 per cent In the output, amount
ing to $7,000,000, while the long leuf
pine forests of the Southern States,
from which the American supply of
turpentine Is largely obtained, have
at the same time been saved from an
nihilation. The cost to the department
of the service rendered In this Instance
was $14,000. This Is one or many cases
which go to prove that of all the
money that is lelng expended by the
federal government in any of Its de
partments there Is none which is fetch
ing a larger return on the Investment
than that disbursed by the Department
of Agriculture. For this reason pres
sure should be brought to bear on our
Congressmen to make appropriations;
for this branch of the government
work as generous as possible.
Sreil Wiit-ut.
In selecting seed wheat each nnd
every one should be guided by Ids
peculiar locality, but every true, en
terprising farmer should exiterlment
with some of the Improved varieties
if only a lsusliel. A peck Is better than
nothing, for It cnu be compared with
a like quantity of "old familiars," nnd
the method and difference of growth,
adaptability and yield noted. It Is
the farmer's duty to do this, and not
PATHS.
Hu . rv
leave It to seedsmen and orlglnutors.
If nil would try experiments there
would soon be a greut revolution In
wheat culture.
Iteplantlno;.
Planting a tree where one hns died
often proves a failure, but we do not
believe the failure Is unavoidable. It
Is best to destroy the old tree and get
as much of the root as possible, some
time before the new tree is planted.
Leave the hole Just as the work left
It until ready to plant the new tree;
then fill it with good soil and plant
t" tree, tamping It well.
The Weaving Hore.
"Weaving" consists In a motion of
the head, neck and body from side to
side, like the shuttle of a weaver pass
ing through the web, and hence the
name given to this peculiar and inces
sant motion. It Indicates an impa
tient, Irritable temper and a dislike to
confinement in the stable. A horse
thus affected will seldom be In good
flesh or be safe to ride or drive. It
is not considered a disease, but mere
ly an individual vice, and there Is no,
cure for it that I am aware of. Vefr
luary In Atlanta Constitution,