Old Lady Number 31 LOUISE FORSSLUND Author ot "The Story of Saimh" "The Ship of Drowns" Etc. Copyright by Tba Century Co. 8YN0P8IS. Captain Abraham Rose and Angelina, hit wife, have loat their little home through Abe'B unlucky purchase of Tena iiy Gold mining stock. Their household goods sold, the $100 auction money, all they have left, will place Abe In the Old Man's home, or Angy In the Old Ladies' noma. Both are self-Bacrlflclng but Abe decides: "My dear this Is the fust time I've had a chance to take the wust of It." The old couple bid good-by to the little bouse. Terror of "what folks will say" (ends them along by-paths to the gat of the Old Ladles' home. CHAPTER III Continued. Now the Amazonian Mrs. Homan, a widow lor tba third time, made sturdy retort: "That's Jest like yew old maids al ways a-blamln' the men. Yew kin Jest bet I never would have let one of my husbands go ter the poorbouse. It would have mortified me dretful. It must be a purty poor sort of a woman what can't take the oare of one man and keep a roof over his head. Why, my second, Oliver 0., used ter cay " "Oh!" Miss Ellle wrung her hands, "can't we do somethln'T" "I could do a-plenty," mourned Miss Abigail, "ef I only had been savin'. Here I git a salary o' tour dollars a month, an' not one penny laid away." "Tew tergit," spoke some one gently, "that It takes consid'able ter dress a matron proper." Aunt Nancy, who had been sneezing furiously at ber own impotence, now found her speech again. "We're a nice set ter talk erbout -dewin' somethln' a passel o' poor ole critters like us I" Her cackle of em bittered laughter was interrupted by the low, cultivated voice ot the belle -of the home, "Butterfly Blousy." . "We've got to do something," said Blossy firmly. When Blossy spoke with such de cision every one of the sisters pricked np her ears. Blossy might be "a shal-ler-p&te;" she might arrange the .golden-white hair of her head as be fitted the crowning glory of a young girl, with puffs and rolls and little -owls, and more than one sister sus pected with the aid of "rats;" she might gown herself elaborately In the mended finery of the long ago, the better years; ehe might dress her lovely big room the only double bed--chamber in the house, for whioh she bad paid a double entrance fee in all aorta of gewgaws, little ornaments, band-painted plaques ot her own pro--ducing, lace bedspreads, embroidered splashers and pillow-shams; she might ven permit herself a suitor who came twice a year more punctually than the Une-atorms, to aek her withered little band In marriage but her heart was ' in the right place, and on occasion she bad proved herself a master hand at fain' things." "Tea," said she, rising to her feet and flinging out her arms with an elo quent gesture, "we've got to do some thing, and there's Just one thing to do, girls: take the captain right here bare" she brought her hands to the laces on her bosom "to our hearts!" At first there was silence, with the ladle staring blankly at Blossy and then at one another. Had they heard aright! Then there came murmurs and exclamations, with Miss Abigail's voice gasping above the others: "What would the directors say!" "What do they always say when we ask a favor T" demanded Blossy. "How much will It cost?' It won't cost a cent" "Won't, eht" snapped Aunt Nancy. "How on earth be yew goln' to vlttle him? I hain't had a second dish o' peas this year." "Borne men eat more an' some less," remarked Sarah Jane, as Ill-favored a spinster as ever the sun shone on; "generally It means so much grub ter o much weight" Miss Abigail glanced up at the cell ing, while Lacy Daisy, who had re fused to tip the beam for ten years, surreptitiously hid an apple Into which she had been biting. "Le's have 'em weighed," suggested a widow, Ruby Lee, with a pretty, well-preserved little face and figure, "an ef tergether they don't come up to the heartiest one of us " Miss Abigail made basty Interrup tion: "Gals, hain't yew never noticed that the more yew need the more yew gltT Before Jenny Bell went to live with her darter I didn't know what I should dew, for the 'taters was glttln' pooty low. Tew know she used tor eat twenty ter a meal, an' then look hun gry at the platter. An' then ef old Bquare Ely didn't come a-drlvln' up one mornln' with ten bushel In the farm wagon) He'd been savin' 'em ter us all winter fer fear we might run short in the spring. Gala, thar's one thing yew kin depend on, the fore slghtedness of the Lord. I hain't afraid ter risk a-stretchtn' the board an' keep o' thirty ter pervid" mU far thirty-one. Naow, haow many of yew is wlllin' ter try it?" Every head nodded, "I am;" every eye was wet with the dew of merciful kindness; and Mrs. Homan and Sarah Jane, who had flung plates at each other only that morning, were ob served to be holding hands. "But haow on arth be we a-goln' ter sleep him?" proceeded the matron un easily. "Thar hain't a extry corner In the hull place. Puttln' tew people in No. 30 Is out of the question it's Jest erbout the size of a Cinderella shoe box, anyhow, an' the garret leaks" Bhe paused, for Blossy was pulling at her sleeve, the real Blossy, warm hearted, generous, self-deprecating. "I think No. SO Is Just the coziest little place for one I Do let me take it, Miss Abigail, and give the couple my great big barn of a room." Aunt Nancy eyed her suspiciously. "Yew ain't a-gwine ter make a fool o' yerself, an' Jump over the broomstick ag'ln?" For Blossy's old suitor, Sam uel Darby, had made one of his semi annual visits only that morning. The belle burst Into hysterical and self-conscious laughter, as she found every glance bent upon her. "Oh, no, no; not that. But I con fess that I am tired to death of this perpetual dove-party. I Just simply can't live another minute without a man in the house. "Now, Miss Abigail," she added im periously, "you run across lots and fetch him home." CHAPTER IV. One of Them. Ah I but Abraham had slept that night as If he had been drawn to rest under the compelling shelter of the wings of all that flock which in happier days he had dubbed contemp tuously "them air old hens." Never afterward could the dazed old gentle man remember how he had been per suaded to come Into the house and up the stairs with Angellne. He only knew that In the midst of that heart breaking farewell at the gate, Miss Abigail, all out of breath with running, red in the face, but exceedingly hearty of manner, had suddenly appeared. "Shoo, shoo, shoo!" this stout angel had gasped. "Naow, Cap'n Aba, yew needn't git narvous. We're as harm less as doves. Run right erlong. Yew won't eee anybody ternlght Don't say a word. It's all right Sssh! Shoo!" And then, lol he was not In the county almshouse, but In a beau tiful, bright bedchamber with a wreath of immortelles over the mantel, alone with Angy. Afterward, It all seemed the blur of a dream to him, a dream which ended when he had found his head upon a cool, white pillow, and had felt glad, glad dear God, how glad! to know that Angy was still within reach ot his outstretched hand; and so ha had fallen asleep. But when he awoke In the morning there stood Angellne In front ot the glass taking her hair out of curl papers; and then he slowly began to realize the tremendous change that had come Into their lives, when his wife committed the unprece dented act of taking her crimps out before breakfast He realized that they were to eat among strangers. He had become the guest of thirty "wom en-folks." No doubt he should be called "Old Gal Thirty-one." He got up and dressed very, very slowly. The bewildered gratitude, the Incredulous thanksgiving of last night were as far away ae yesterday's sunset. A great seriousness settled upon Aba's lean face. At last he burst forth: "One to thirty! Hy-guy, I'm in fer it!" How had it happened, he won dered. They had given him no time to think. They had swooped down upon him when his brain was dulled with anguish. Virtually, they had kidnaped him. Why had they brought him here to accept charity of a women's insti tution T Why need they thus Intensify his sense ot shame at his Ufa's fail ure, and, above all, at his failure to provide tor Angellne ? In the poor house he would have been only one more derelict; but here he stood alone to be stared at and pitied and thrown a sickly-satisfying crumb. With a sigh from the very ceUar ot his being, he muttered: "Aye, mother, why didn't yew let me go on ter the county house? That air's the place fer a worn-out old hull like me. Hy-guy!" he ejaculated, beads of sweat standing out on his forehead, "I'd rather lay deown an' die th'n face them air women." "Thar, tharl" soothingly spoke Angy, laying her hand on his arm. "Thar, thar, father! Jest think haow dretful I'd feel a-goln' deown without yer." "So you would!" strangely comfort ed. "So you would, my dear!" For her sake he tried to brighten up. Hi Joked clumsily as they stood on the threshold of the chamber, whispering, blinking his eyes to make up for the lack of their usually ready twinkle. "Hoi' on a minute; aupposln' I fer glt whether I be a man er a woman?" Her love gave inspiration to her an swer: Til lean on yer, Abe." Just then there came the loud, im perative clanging of the breakfast bell; and sbs urged him to hurry, as "It wouldn't dew" for them to be late the first morning of all times. But be only answered by going back Into the room to make an anxious survey of his reflection In the glass. He shook his head reprovingly at the bearded countenance, as if to say: "Too need not pride yourself any longer on look ing like Abraham Lincoln, for yon have been turned Into a miserable old woman." Picking up the hair brush, he held it out at arm's length to Angy. "Wont yew slick up my hair a leetle bit, mother?" he asked, somewhat shame facedly. "I cant see extry well this mornln'." "Why, Abel It's slicked es slick ei It kin be naow." However, the old wife reached up as he bent his tall, angular form over her, and smoothed again bis thin, wet locks. He laughed a little, self-mocklngly, and she laughed back, then urged him Into the hall, and, slipping ahead, led the way downstairs. At the first landing, which brought them into full view of the lower hall, he paused, possessed with the mad desire to run away and bide, for at the foot of the stairway stood the entire flock ot old ladies. Twenty nine pairs of eyes were lifted to blm and Angy, twenty-nine pairs ot lips were smiling at them. To the end oi his days Abraham remembered those emlles. Reassuring, unselfish and tender, they made the old man's heart swell, his emotions go warring to gether. He wondered, was grateful, yet he grew more confused and afraid. He stared amazed at Angellne, who seemed the embodiment ot self-possession, lifting her dainty, proud little gray head higher and higher. She turned to Abraham with a protecting, motherly little gesture ot command for him to follow, and marched gal lantly on down the stairs. Humbly, trembling at the knees, he came wltb gingerly steps after the little old wife. How unworthy he was ot her now I How unworthy he had always been, yet never realized to the full until this moment He knew what those smiles meant, he told himself, watching the uplifted faoes; they were to soothe his sense of shame and humiliation, to touch with rose this dull gray color ot the culmination of his failures. Ha passed his hand over his eyes, fiercely praying that the tears might not com to add to his disgrace. And all the while brave little Angy kept smiling, until with a truly glad leap of the heart she caught sight ol a blue ribbon painted In gold shining on the breast of each one of the twenty-nine women. A pale blue rib bon painted In gold with yes, peering her eyes she discovered that It was the word "Welcome!" The forced smile vanished from Angellne' face. Her eyes grew wet her cheek white. Her proud figure shrank. Bhe turned and looked back at her husband. Not for one Instant did she appropriate the compliment to herself. "This Is for youl" her spirit called out to him, while a new pride dawned In her working face. Forty years had she spent apologis ing for Abraham, and now she under stood how these twenty-nine generous old hearts had raised htm to the pedes tal of a hero, while she stood a heroins beside him. Angy It was who trembled now, and Abe, gaining a manly cour age from that, took hold of her arm to steady her they had paused on a step near the foot ot the stairs and, looking around with his whimsical smile, he demanded of the bedecked company In general "Ladles, be yew 'pectin' the president?" Cackle went the cracked old voices ot the twenty-nine In a chorus of ap preciative laughter, while the - old heads bobbed at one another as If to eay, "Won't he be an acquisition r And than, from among ths group there came forward Blossy Blossy, who had sacrificed most that this should com to pass; Blossy, who had sat till mid night painting the gold-and-blue rib bons; Blossy, the pride and beauty of the home, In a delicate, old, yellow, real lacs gown. She held her two hands gracefully and mysteriously be hind her back as she advanced to the foot of the stairs. Looking steadily in Abraham's eyes, she kept a-smlllng until be felt as If the warmth of t belated spring had beamed upon him. "The presldentl" Her mellow, well- modulated voice shook, and she laughed with a mingling ot generous Joy and tender pity. "Are we expect ing the president? You dear, modest man I W are welcoming you!" Abe looked to Angy as If to say, "How shall I take it?" and behold! th miracle of his wife's bosom swelling and swelling with pride In him. He turned back, tor Blossy was making a speech. His hand to his head, h bent his good ear to listen. In terms poetical and touching she described the loneliness of the life at the horn ae It had been with no man under the root of the house and only a deaf-and-dumb gardener who hated ber sax, In the barn. Then In contrast sh painted life a it must be for the sis ters now that the thirty tender vines bad found a stanch old oak for their clinging. "Me?" queried Abraham oi himself and, with another silent glance, of Angy. (TO BB CONTINUED.) Puritan Jury. That the Puritan fashion of nomen clature produced some very odd re sults Is very generally known. Thi London Chronicle recalls that James Brome, In his "Travels Over England, Scotland and Wales," published la 1700, gives a copy of a "Jury Return, made at Rye, Sussex, In the Late Re bellious Troublesome Times." The names of the 12 good men and true were: Meek Brewer, Graceful Harding, Klllsln Pimple, Earth Adams, Weepnot Billing, Mors Fruit Fowler, Hope-for Bending, Return Spelman, Fly Debate Roberts, Stand Fast on High Stringer. Be Faithful Joiner, and Fight the Good Fight of Faith White. Origin ef "Unele Ism." The name Uncle Bam was first used la Troy, N. T., In 1812, when som goods- bought for the government and marked U. B. were Inspected by Sam uel Wilson, a government employe, whose nickname was Uncle Sam. The similarity of the Initials suggest -d the adoption, and the familiar pi tan was soon created. ; -111 0 rl " H A Corner ROUEN, although barely sixty miles In direct line northwest of Paris, and considerably less than one hundred miles from the scene ot the present savage struggle in northeastern France, sits In peace and cares for thousands of the wounded allies In her hospitals, writes E. N.Vallandlghamln the Phila delphia Record. She believes her noble old cathedral, with its fantastic spire of iron openwork shooting more than 450 feet heavenward, safe from the fate ot the lovely structure at Reims, less than 150 miles distant The bombardment ot Rouen would mean the ruin of some of the noblest and oldest ecclesiastic structures In France, but Rouen has maintained her serenity on her beautiful site beside the Seine in these last months and has sent forward again to the front many a soldier nursed back to life and health. Her ancient churches, some of them worn, as It were to the bone, by centuries of wind and rain, have been even more frequented than usual by these praying Normans, and her lovely little street shrines have attract ed more and more the pious glances of the passers-by. Looks Its Age. Rouen Is one of the few old Euro pean cities of considerable size that really look their age. She has accom plished the seeming marvel of modern izing her political and Industrial life without throwing off her medieval garb. Here dwell 125,000 or 130,000 people, forming an active modern com munity, with the public appointments and conveniences of a twentieth cen tury city, yet thousands of them live in houses from 250 to 600 years old, and the region round about seems to the traveler enriched at every step with the dust of centuries. Hardly eight miles away, approached through the magnificent publio forest of Roumere, covering 10,000 acres. Is the perfectly preserved twelfth cen tury Norman church of St. George de Boscherville, while at every turn one meets In the city ancient towers and lovely remnants of old ecclesiastical architecture. Rouen long ago outgrew Its walls, though a bit of the old de fenses that actually defied Shake ipeare's Prince Hal almost exactly 500 rears ago still stands. Broad, new thoroughfares have pene trated the very heart of the old town, yet everywhere the middle ages crop :ut and there remain at least a score f old streets so narrow that the over hanging upper stories almost meet, while there Is scant room tor pedes trians to pass one another below. The narrowest streets have no sidewalk whatever, while in many others, busy ind crowded, the footway Is less than two feet wide. ' Remains of the Normans. It Is, ot course, not Celtic Rouen, the seat of a bishopric more than 1,600 years ago, that now survives, but rather Norman Rouen, which is only 1,000 years old. How those tall, crazy looking, half-timbered houses, huddled so that the sun in some cases never penetrates to the narrow streets and alleys between, have escaped destruc tion by fire all these centuries who shall guess? Much of Rouen's me dievalism bag sought to hide itself be hind a superficially modern front What looks like a weather-boarded house, at most 50 years old, turns out when one pries a bit to be a fifteenth or sixteenth century survival, with heavy, hewn beams and perpendicular timbers forming more than half the wall. Commonplace house fronts show quaint old carvings such as went to decorate the dwellings of the more im portant burghers of the fifteenth cen tury. All sorts of modern occu nations tti Rouen are carried on In houses built long be fore such occupations were known to men. Inns that bid for the custom of the tourist still retain the old central court where plays were enacted wltb the well-to-do looking on from the hotel balconies, the common folk from what we should now call the pit, then the roughly cobbled inn yard Itself. Such Inns have the oddest, unexpected stairways, the queerest red-tiled hall ways, narrow and dusky, great beams showing beneath the plaster, windows a single pane wide between the per pendicular timbers and fireplaces, now nearly bricked up, but once open and generous, with blazing logs before which basked the tired travelers oi 600 years ago. Normans of Today. In meeting the Normans ot today at they go about their ancient capital, one feels anew the marvels ot theii history. One fancies in watching the common people of Rouen that one seei In these descendants of Duke Rollo'i sea-wolves a persistence of the traits that made their ancestors the mosl dreaded pirates of their day, the foun ders of kingdoms in widely sundered parts of Europe. The women in par ticular have a high distinction In face and figure. Girls walk with a sin gular'y charming grace, with the air ol possessing the earth that they tread and carry their heads proudly, as II recalling the rough glories of theli race for 1,000 years. Beauty of line and expression Is the dower of many women in Norman Rouen, and both men and women are quickly responsive to courtesy from a Btranger. A lively and active race are these Normans of Rouen and its environs Cider, their favorite drink, is served at the simpler sort of Inns Instead ol wine and at all restaurants and drink ing places. Sometimes It comes to the table hardened by many weeks In the barrel; sometimes It appears artificial ly colored red, heavily sugared and strongly charged with its own or other gases. A substantial luncheon ol bread, cheese, salted butter and a quart of cider may be had at some of the suburban villages for about twenty cents, and excellent is It In all re spects. Perhaps this drink has saved the Normans from stronger liquors. Joan's Memory Honored. The slums ot Rouen show as repel lent human manifestations as one can find In almost any city, and waterside loafers are sometimes desperate look ing characters, though, perhaps, this Impression Is due partly to their squalid dress, unshaven faces and un familiar dialect Some of the women who Inhabit the lofty old ruins on the edge of a aewerlike canal in one ot Rouen's worst quarter would furnish excellent models for tbe painter of Norman criminal lire. But the human flotsam and Jetsam Is seemingly small proportion of the population. In deed, Normandy seems to have pre served the Ideals and virtue of an older France. Here, If anywhere, the Influ ence of sainted Joan's career Is power fully felt and the city where she suf fered fiery death does penance by paying her peculiar honor. The spot In the publio street where she bravely met martyrdom In her fresh and lovely girlhood la marked for all beholders, and her statue greets one at every turn, while the ancient churches vie with one another In per petuatlng her memory. If one Is some times Inclined to think that the French undervalue maidenhood one must re member that the supremely popular heroine of the nation was a stainless girl who died Joyfully for her country the cruelest ot deaths at the age of eighteen. Joan's spirit marches today with the French armies defending tag frontiers of ths well-beloved land, ON THE LINE CF DEATH WHAT THE FIGHTER8 IN EUROPE ARE SUFFERING. Correspondent at the Front Tells of Condition That Prevail In the Trenches Desolation Marks Path of War. At the end of the village the road climbed again from the ravine and emerged on open fields. A wall of timber, dark and Impenetrable as the woods round an old chateau, rose at the farther end of these fields the road cutting through it like a tunnel and on the brow of the ravine, com manding the road and the little plain, was a line of trenches. Here evident ly they had fought We walked on down the road. Below the northern horizon, where they were fighting now along the line ot the Alsne, rolled the sullen thunder ot artillery, as It had been rolling since daylight, writes Arthur Ruhl in Col lier's Weekly. And the autumn wind, cold with the week of equinoctial rain, puffing out of thickets and across re vines, brought, every now and then, the horrible odor of death. Ahead, to the right, one caught the glint ot French infantry's red trousers. A man was lying there, face down ward, on the field. Then across the open space appeared another and an otherthey were scattered all over that field, bright as the red poppies which were growing in the stubble and as still. They were In various positions. One lay on his back, with one knee raised like a man day-dreaming and looking up at the sky. Another was stretched stiff with both hands clenched over his chest One lay In the ditch close be side us, his head Jammed into the muddy bank Just as he had dived there In falling; another gripped a cup In one band and a spoon in the other, as if, perhaps, he might have tried to feed himself In the long hours after the battle rolled on and left them'' there. All these were French, but Just at the edge of the thick timber was a heap one could scarcely say of Ger mans, so utterly did the gray sodden faces and sodden gray uniforms merge Into anonymity. A squad ot French soldiers appeared at a turn In the road. Two officers rode beside them, and they were Just moving off across the fields carrying shovels instead ot rifles. Looking after them, beyond the belt of timber, one could see other par ties like theirs on the distant slopes to the left, and here and there smoke. Two more French soldiers appeared pushing a wheelbarrow filled with cast off arms. With the boyish good nature which never seems to desert these lit tie men in red and blue, they stopped and offered us a few clips ot German cartridges. They were burying their own men, they said, burning the Ger mans. The dead bad been lying here for nearly a fortnight now while the battle line rolled northward, clear across France. . . . Through the coquettish little towns along the Marne, through tbe champagne coun try and the country Just west of It, where we now were everywhere were deserted, perhaps demolished, vil lages; the silent countryside with dead horses, bits of broken shell, mashed bicycles or artillery wagons along the road; and the tainted au tumn wind. An Oriental Meal. There was nothing in the meal that looked or even tasted like an Ameri can dish. The meat folded up Into small squares, was cooked In oriental ways, unknown to American cookery, while the little rice concoctions, rolled up in grapevine leaves, were as deli cious as spinach, and the tiny sum mer squash, filled with an appetizing stuffing, made a pleasing dish. Partry, cheese and sweets were also different from the customary American delica cies, and, lastly, the great Turkish pipe, with Its long smoke-cooling tube filled with Persian tobacco, replaced the American cigar. Tbe bill ot tare, written In Arabic, backward, as Is the custom with that language, looked like a stenographer's notebook. Na tional Magazine. Hare Lip Hereditary. William F. Blades of tbe Eugenics Record office, Cold Spring Harbor, L. I., Is making a special study ot hare Up and cleft palate, In which be is carrying on breeding experiments with several harelip strains of Boston ter riers. He finds that both hare Up and cleft palate are highly hereditary In both man and animal, but he has been unable to determine In what way they are Inherited. Mr. Blades finds great difficulty in getting reliable sta tistics, owing to the fact that many persons do their best to conceal slight cases of hare Up and cleft palate, espe cially If these have been partially or completely remedied by operation. Now Live Fifteen Yeare Longer. The average length ot life In the United States Is 15 years greater now than It was 35 years ago, according to a statement made by Dr. Victor C. Vaughn of tbe University of Michigan, president of the American Medical as sociation, in an address before tbe City c:ub at St. Louis. Crime he characterized as a disease. due to heredity and environment and me way to eradicate crime was to treat It as a disease and to disinfect Its breeding places. Doctor Vaughn said the death rata from tuberculosis had decreased 14 par cent since 1880,