The Lebanon express., May 05, 1893, Image 3

A PRECIPITATE LOVER.
Young, brnve, intelligent, Ferreol
lacked for nothing, was well off in the
goods of the world, bnrned his candle
from surt to finish, joked at the past,
laughed at the fntnre.
At Paris he encountered Angela.
Charming Angeiel He loved her, and
told her no. She listened. He pressed
her. She resisted. He insisted. She
mentioned marriage.
Logical even with himself, he was not
Mtonished.
Angela was good pretty.
, Why not marriage?
"Have yon a family!'" said Ferreol to
her.
"A father, yes."
"Where is he?"
"Brest"
"What doing?"
"Befitting vessels."
"1 go at once, then, said Ferreol
calmly.
"Wherefore?"
"To demand yonr hand of monsieur
Jour father. It is thns with me always.
For tomorrow, nothing. Consider, bny.
I love yon, yon love me. Yon
4a love me?"
"Yes."
"Qoodl The train leaves at 8 this
evening. At 1 1 tomorrow I land at Brest
Thirty minutes later arrive at the dock.
Bee yonr father. Ask him the question,
receive consent at 8 p. m. resume the
train, and day after tomorrow, at J in
the evening, say to yon, 'Angele, thon
art minef "
She Unshed, smiled coyly, and softly
murmured:
"Go, then!" ,
Ferreol took a fiacre to more quickly
reach the station. The driver was drank.
it did not astonish him.
In the waiting room his valise was
stolen.
Nothing astonishing in that
In the wagon of the train one English
man alone occupied all the four corners
the first with his person, the second
with his glass, the third with his um
brella, the fourth with his Baedeker.
Ferreol was not astonished at this,
either.
Then the train ran off the track. Pooh!
child's play.
Ferreol had his nose half broken.
Bidiculous obstacle!
Briefly, with missed connections and
many hours' delay, it was not till the
third day after his departure from Paris
that Ferreol debarked at Brest, and
swift as a startled zebra threaded his
way through the Rue de Siam.
"The ship refitting shops?"
"Rue de Penfeld. third building to the
left"
Ferreol was totally ignorant of the
geographical identity of the Penfeld,
but a man like him makes no demand
for explanations 'Straight before him
be plunged, as if he knew it like ABC,
turned toward Saint Sauveur, struck the
Gabon gate, rebounded npon the Hade
leine, cannoned against the Chateau,
saw on a street lamp "Quai de la Pen
feld," and divining hat he was on the
right road at last too it
Yes, took it at top speed to make up
for lost time, scraping his shins on chaius
and tarred ropes, tripping himself np
with links and anchors, receiving thumps
and bumps from bales and boxes to
presently halt before a building on
which, in black letters on a tobacco
ground, was the magio word:
j REF1TTKK& j
This chance astonished him no more
than all the rest Before him was a
door. He knocked, entered, perceived a
gloomy hall, a dingy camp bed, on that
camp bed a sailor smoking a cob pipe.
Hairy, tarry, weather beaten a type of
the old sea wolf.
"Monsieur Kenezek?" said Ferreol civ
illy. "Not in."
"Where is he, then?"
"At work, of course.
' "Where, I say?"
"Yonder, or maybe below.
And the sailor designated with hit
thumb a vague topography some dis
tance away.
"Ah, well! then 111 go and find him a!
work."
"Thou, my chicken?" ,'.
"Why not?" '; :,
"It would be"
"Bah! no phrases! Speak to M. Ken
eek I muBt, on business' that admits of
no delay, and I will speak to him at
once if I have to go to the bottom to
doit"
The sailor rose instantly, shifted pipe
and quid from right to left, and cried
oat admiringly:
"Thou too, then, art of the craft, my
ehiokeni"
Ferreol comprehended nothing, but
tus principles dictated his answer.
"Parbleu! yes," said he, turning with
decision.
"Come on, then: 111 show yon myself.
Two steps away only, but you'll dress
yourself here."
Dress himself, and here?, Any one but
Ferreol would have let escape him at
least a gesture of surprise. But he
never! After all, to present himself to
future fatawr-in-law, perhaps it was
more expedient to assume a black coat
"So be it!" replied he.
The sailor moved a step to the door,
but stopped thoughtfully, turned, un
booked from the wall a greasy placard,
and with a mumbled "No humbug this,
you see?" tegan to read and to question
Ferreol as follows:
"Yon are not in a state of intoxica
tion, yon?" I
"If said Ferreol indignantly: then re
straining himself, "No, not even a glass
of water in the stomach."
"And more than an honr since you've
eaten?"
"Three hours, precisely."
"Yon are not in a perspiration?"
"Dry as a fish bone."
"And your health is good?"
"Sound as cast iron."
"Nerves and temper calm and equa
ble?" "As a clam at high water."
"Good! All as it should be!"
. And replacing the placard on its nail,
the sailor wheeled and threw open the
door of a cell to the left.
"Hurry!" said he: "begin: undress
yourself!"
Ferreol, up to this date, had asked no
one in marriage, bnt sharp as he was, he
had never supposed that this act impor
tant, it was true would be accompanied
by such formalities. One of those, how
ever, whom nothing amazed, he did not
flinch, bnt proceeded to strip himself.
Decidedly obscure in this closet Fer
reol was reduced to conjectures, smell
and feeling; still, it was distinctly an
nndervest drawers and shoes that the
sailor drew from a locker and laid be
fore him,
"With these," said he, "yon can defy
the perspiration."
"In trnth lean!" said Ferreol. cover
ing himself with the articles, which ex
haled a singular odor of mingled tar and
salty grass wrack. Upon which the
other added to the costume a vest and
breeches with feet and jacket of thick
waterproof stuff, and bidding him be
seated, assisted him with the skill of a
retired valet de chambre to lace the
great shoes, put on the breeches, thrust
his arms, one after the other, into the
sleeves of tbe jacket, and to slip has neck
into a leathern collarette that exactly
adapted itself to his shoulders.
On his back then he placed a cushion,
and on that a metal pelerine that re
sembled a cuirass, reciting by rote mean
while, after the fashion of the corporal's
manual:
"Push each button of the pelerine into
the corresponding hole of the collar
ette. Adjust the copper valves and turn
the screw nuts. Close the latter till the
joining of garments, pelerine," etc
It was long, but Ferreol was patient
and said only:
"You are sure 1 shall find M. Ken
eek there?"
"Certain sure," responded tbe sailor
with a grin; "he can't get away." Add
ing contentedly, "Nothing bnt the hel
met lacking now; that we'll pnt on yon
der." And, followed by Ferreol, he tucked
under his arm a sort of elongated ball
in a leather envelope, and took np the
inarch for the front
Ferreol's costume reminded him as he
canned it of the striped clothes used
npon criminala Never before, he told
himself, had aoondemned seen the heads
man bearing his bead under his arm
while leading a victim to the scaffold.
A strange lover's travesty, which he
must bear with patience.
Presently, turning to right and left
they reached a jetty advancing into the
bay some ten to twenty metera At the
end of it the round crown of a building
from which, at a shout from his con
ductor, came running a second sailor,
who placed himself without a word be
hind Ferreol's back.
"All ready?" said the first
"All ready," responded Ferreol.
"You see the slate and the pencil hung
to your side?" queried tbe other again.
"Slate and pencil both," assented Fer
reol amiably.
It was the last word he spoke.
Click! clack! rattle!
The helmet was over his head, bolted
to his shoulders, the screw-nuts hard and
fast
Parbleu! At last a flash of enlighten
ment! Blinded, stifled, one single in
stant nature rebelled against his princi
ples. Too late, however, and protesta
tions inopportune.
For now he felt himself lifted, carried
a pace, suspended in space; then a
strange sensation of cold mounting from
feet to waist and from waist to shoul
ders. He opened wide his eyes, and through
the helmet's "peepers" saw a fish flit past
him.
Preliminaries decidedly not common
place! He continued to descend with relative
rapidity. Soon the sandy bottom was
underfoot, and there before him a mon
ster with huge head and enormous eyes,
who advanced to meet him, seized the
slate at his belt and began to scratch
npon it. Ferreol, whose head buzzed
like a sawmill, stooped and read:
"1 am Kenezek: who are your -
The moment was solemn. Ferreol
drew a long breath, to which the com
plaisant puiup above him lent itself will
ingly, then with full lungs and grateful
soul reflected.
This was Kenezek! This toiler of the
sea, npon whom depended the happiness
of his life. They must come to an un
derstanding somehow. A sea diver as a
father-in-law wae not inadmissible.
The situation had grown unique.
He seised the pencil and took his torn
at th slate, awkwardly at first, but still
anocinctly.
"1 am Ferreol," responded be; "live at
Paris; income, 10,000 livres; love Angele,
your daughter, and have the honor to
ask of yon her hand in marriage!"
There was a growl under the father's
helmet, and he wrote on the slate anew:
"Marry her if yon like. I"
"Consent?" cried Ferrcel ardently, at
once ravished and uneasy at the reply.
"Consent? Yes," penciled Kcnozek;
"good riddance too. But quick begone
begone, I say; I've work to finish!"
Ferreol delightedly sought to kneel be
fore the paternal ecaphandrier, but his
inflated clothes held hira erect That
act of respectful homage was forbidden
him.
Meanwhile, seeing him hesitate, An
geles father repeated his order, bnt
Ferreol, not knowing what to do in or
der to mount, and not hurrying enough
to suit his temper, he pulled five times,
according to t he rules, the cord of recall,
and Ferreol shot aloft like a rocket
through a company of scuttling dorades.
"If I'd been you," said the sailor, who
received him, and to whom he benevo
lently proffered a glass of rum, "I'd have
waited ten minutes. Kenezek quits
work, you know, every day at 5 o'clock."
Ferreol looked at his watch. Ten
minutes to 5.
"No," said he, "a man like me never
waits a minute."
i And he promptly returned to Paris
"To marry the charming Angele?"
No. Fifty odd hours late in return
ing, the charming bnt impatient An
gele had married the other fellow.
And Ferreol was not surprised at that
Translated from La Vie Modern by
E. C Waggoner for "Short Stories."
The Hot Water Fad.
The hot water cure for dyspepsia, Indi
gestion and kindred ailments Is by no
means a novelty, but the manner in which
it is habitually practiced at the country
home of a wealthy New York business
man is certainly out of the ordinary. The
country home aforesaid is not more than
half an hour's ride by rail from New York,
and it is a very attractive resort for the
young friends of the hospitable owner.
A few weeks ago a member of one of the
atbletie clubs in this city, a young giant in
suture and a second Gladstone in physical
health and vigor, received a cordial invita
tion to spend few days at (his country
mansion. He accepted with alacrity, and
presented himself before his host and host
ess at the appointed time. He had a most
agreeable time, but in narrating his expe
rience to a chum a few days after his re
turn to the city he said: "It was a jolly
visit Everybody there was as nice as could
be, and Mr. Jl.'s hospitality is simply deli
cious. But there was one thing that stag
gered me at the outset that was their cus
tom of drinking clear hot water.
"Each night before the family and guests
dispersed to their respective rooms a ser
vant would appear iu the drawing room
with a pitcher of hot water and a lot of
goblets. Everybody was expected to drink
a gobletful of that exhilarating beverage,
because tbe hot water cure is the special
fad of the host Well, of courts I had no
use for hot water taken iutemally, but I
drank it, of course, as each of tbe others
did. A second dose of the same liquid was
served tons in our rooms each morning
while we were dressing for breakfast. A
servant came around just after the rising
bell was rung and left a small pitcher of
hot water and a goblet at each room. I
quietly ponred my morning allowance
down tbe waste pipe of tbe wasbstand."
New York Times.
Combat of the Res and San.
For miles stretches a floor of silver sand.
The sun has bleached the whiteness on
its face a deathly pallor.
The sun and the sea are foes and their
battleground is that floor of silver sand
for when tbe mighty wave dashes in to
cool the parched face and thirst of the Band
how quickly the sun blows with force its
heated breath and dries the moisture!
Then again for miles stretches a flow of
silver sand.
The koottwl old pines an the knoll turn
their beads and bend their bodies from the
sea, and tbe tall, thin, burned brown grasses
lean inland and tremble at the cry of thirst
from the burning sand they live in. But
they are slaves, these trees and weeds
slsves to the sun. They dare not but fain
rebellion for the sea.
It is only when tbe sun lowers its proud
and cruel head that these trees and grasses
raise their crooked forms and open their
mouths for t he moist kiss of night; only
when the silver sand has slaked its thirst,
and the rising tide, unchecked by the sun,
has bathed it, is it these cowards turn their
faces seaward.
What hypocrites, these slaves of the sun!
For on the morrow, wheu the day awakes
and the sun and tbe sea carry on their
never ending combat they play again tbeir
part, with backs to tbe sea, while at tbeir
feet for miles stretches a floor of silver
sand. New York Herald.
Tbe goclsl Melon.
Very peculiar is the popular estimation
of a watermelon. Apples, peaches, oranges
we may carry in the SI reet without caus
ing people to make remarks about or to us.
Not so with tbe watermelon. One day
JudgeMack, of Kansas, said to his grocer:
"People in this town seem distant, un
sociable." "You don't understand human nature,"
sid tbe grocer. "Take home this water
melon in the basket on your arm, and if
people on the way don't speak to you, then
you needn't pay for the melon." ,
The judge first met a dignified matron,
who said with a faint smile:
"Ah, luxuries today, judge!"
At the next ciwsiug a minister ex
claimed: "Am I invited to dine with you today?"
0" Pine street a German said:
"ish you going to be bolite already,
judge, und divide ink met"
On Elm street a Frenchman bowed grace
fully. "Ah, ze meelou!"
At the corner of Main and Jackson streets
a loud voice called: . -
"Lor now, judge, dean1 ye done drap dat
oar melon, hi, ki, ha, ha!"
The judge paid for tbe melon nextday.
Youth's Companion.
If a poison has been accidentally swal
lowed, instuutly driok a pint of warm
water in which has been stirred ateaspoon
ful of salt aud one or two of mustard, A
half glass of sweet oil will reuder many
poisons harmless
WHEN THE CAPTAIN IS ANXIOUS.
Modern Steamships Rave No Fear ol
StormsIt It Fogs That Alarm.
It Is not when the seas come pounding
over the hows that the captain's face
lengthens. Even when it Is necessary to
keep the passengers below, and the spray
Is carried as high as the foretop, his confi
dence in his ship !b unabated. His spirits
do not fall with the barometer, and though
the clouds hang low and the air is tilled
with stinging moisture flying like sleet
from tbe biasing seat even when boats
are torn out of the davits, and iron bits
and ventilators are snapped from tbeir
fastenings tike pipe stems, he has no mis
giving sa to the ability of the ship to
weather the gale or the fiercest hurricane
that can blow.
Give him an open sea, without haze or
fog or snow, and neither wind nor wave
can alarm him. He knows very well, as
all who are experienced in such matters do,
that the modern steamers of the great At
lantic lines are so carefully constructed
and of such strength that the foundering
of one of them through stress of weather
alone Is well nigh inconceivable.
But when a fog descends, then It is that
his face and manner ehange, and he who
has been the most sociable and gayest of
men suddenly becomes tbe most anxious
and taciturn. His seat at the head of the
table is vacant; look for him and you will
not find him, as in fair weather, diverting
groups of girls tucked up in steamer
chairs on the promenade deck, but pacing
the bridge and pulling a cigar which ap
parently has not been allowed to go out
since it was lighted as the big ship backed
from her wharf into the North river.
' Wherever aud whenever it occurs fog hi
a source of danger from which neither pru
dence nor Bkill can guarantee immunity,
and whether the ship is slowed down or
going st full speed there is cause for fear
while this gray blindness baffles the eyes.
With plenty of sea room the danger is
least, and it increases near land, especially
where the coast is wild and broken, like
that of Ireland and Wales, and where there
are many vessels as well as rocks to be
passed. William H. Rideing in Scribner's.
How False Eyebrows Are Made.
At a certain factory a number of young
women were working at small tables, each
table covered with little instruments and
odd things, which only those who knew
the business could possibly understand.
At one table two' girls were threading
needles with fine, silky hair, and sewing
them in little squares, on a thin, transpar
ent gauze, i .
"Those girls," said the overseer, "are
making some of those beautiful arched
eyebrows you may sometimes see on the
stage. They are frequently worn by both
actors and actresses. These sewed on the
net are the less expensive kind, and are
only used on special occasions. The real
brow is very expensive, and can only be
made by a person of great skill.
"The patient sits here in his chair, which
very much resembles a dentist's operating
throne. In this cushion to my left are
stuck a score or so of those needles you saw
being threaded. Each stitch only leaving
two strands of hair, to facilitate tbe opera
tion a number of needles must be at band:
As each thread of hair is drawn through
the Bkin over the eye. it is cut, so that when
the first stage of the operation is over it
leaves the hairs bristling out au inch or so,
presenting a ragxe I, porcupine appearance.
Now comes tbe artistic work. The brow
must be ached and cut down with the ut
most delicacy, and a number of hours is
required to do it.
"Smalt as the eyebrows are, they are
very important in the makeup of the face.
You have no idea how odd one looks when
utterly denuded of hair over tbe eyes. Tbe
process I have described is painful, but it
makes good eyebrows and adds 100 per
cent, to the looks of a person who was
without them. It is, too, much better than
the blackening and cosmetics so many peo
ple use, especially people who have mere
Eretense of brows, comprising only a few
airs." London Tit-Bits. :
A Kenierkable Canadian River.
Ths Saguenay, a large river in Canada,
falling into the estuary of the St. Law
rence, on tbe north side, about 115 miles
below Quebec, is rightly reckoned as being
the deepest and most remarkable stream
in' the world. Excepting in a very few
places, where great ranges of hills seem to
cross its bed, the average depth is 900 feet,
the bottom at tha spot where it joins the
St. Lawrence being over 600 feet below the
bottom of the last named stream. Thus a
low point of rocks at the shore, or an
Island, is really the top of a moderate
sized mountain springing up from tbe
mysterious depths of this deepest of all
rivers. As the spring tides rise about
eighteen feet, tbe currents of this river are
violent aud ecceutric. In some places the
ebb stream runs four to six miles an
hour. The eddies along the shore are like
those of a rapid, the undercurrent some
times laying hold of a vessel to turn her
about or to hold her in spite of all efforts
to escape.
Before the use of towboats on the Sag
uenay, a vessel left helpless by a calm
sometimes drifted against some submerged
mountain peak, aud, when the tide fell,
capsized in deep water. An anchorage be
ing very rarely found, large iron rings
hare been set in tbe rocks which show
themselves above the water, and vessels
often tie up to these "bitching posts" and
await a fai r wind. The tide of the Saguenay,
lor some unexplained reason, advances
with extraordinary rapidity, thus, not
withstanding tbo fact that the ebb current
very rarely ceases to How out of the river,
high tide arrives at Chicontimi only forty
five minutes later than at Tudousac, sev
enty miies away. On the St. Lawrence the
tide advances in the same time only from
Tadousac to Murray liay, thirty-five miles
distant St. Louis liepublic.
American Fruit in Great Britain.
It would seem, according to the opinion
f Mr. White, of C'ovent (iurdeu, that
bananas are gradually btcoming a popular
Iruit in this count ry, although the English
ire still far behind the Americans, whoss
partiality for the banana is such that in
august slone they imported more than
1,1200.000 bunches. We get our bananas
From the Canary islands and Madeira, and
rery soon we shall have them from Sierra
, "SAFETY", AGAINST "REGULAR,"
The Bqnattr Rtcyclo Driving Out of Ks
Istence Its Gracerul UlvaL
The bicycle world has Its two schools
now, the old and the new, Just like the
ology and other branches of learning. The
conservative element Is mounted on the
old style machine, with one tall and one
small wheel, while the "liberals" use ths
"safeties." Tbe former kind was, and to
some extent still Is, known as the "ordi
nary," but an incident will show that tbls
Is a misnomer.
A man lately went toabigestabllshment
near Central park which does a large busi
ness in renting bicycles to riders and ssked
lor a machine. The day was such a fins
one that there was a great demand for
wheels, and the would be customer was
told that there wasn't a bicycle in the
place; all had been rented. Tbe young
man, much disappointed, asked if they
didn't have any kind of an old machine, so
that he could take a spin. Yes: if he was
willing to take a high one he could-have
one of those. When he asked for a bicycle
there a few years ago a tall one was inva
riablv brought out unless be asked spe
cifically for a "safety."
A visit to Central nark on a pleasant
day will show how much more popular the
"safeties" are than the old kind. Often a
dozen low machines will be seen to one tall ,
one. From an aesthetic point of view
there is no comparison between the tvro
makes. Tbe old kind is exceedingly grace- '
nil, and the rider seems to skim along on
a single big wheel. The man on a squatty
safety looks mean beside his brother, who
is two feet above him. Beauty, however,
Is yielding to utility, for men who have
ridden both kiuds of wheels almost al
ways pronounce the new kind by far the
more satisfactory. .
To begin with, learning to ride a tall bi
cycle means lots of bruises and torn cloth
ing, not to mention the vexation of having
people laugb at your misbap. The tyro on
the safety runs much less risk of falls, al
though he Is sometimes cautioned to be
more careful by finding himself sprawling
on the road. Even an expert rider on a
tall wheel Is likely to take a "header" at
any time, for a small stone or gravel m '
his path often dismounts him. He must
keep a sharp lookout on the road, while
his companion on the lowly "safety" ad
mires the landscape or watches the people
whom they pass.
In rough places tbe man on the homely
machine may rush, where the other has to
dismount and push his machine like a
baby carriage. Going down hill the new
style of bicycle is also superior, tbe danger
of a fall being so much less. It would be
suicidal for tbe wheelman who is perched
on a "regular" to put on his brake while
coasting down hill, but the other man can
do it with perfect safety.
In poiut of speed the advantage is also
with the machine the wheels of which are
of equal size. In fact tbe "safeties" have
been barred out of the inter-collegiate bi
cyles contests, as if it were as unfair to
have the two kinds compete, as it would be '
to have a trotting and running horse race.
Manufacturers are bending all their ener
gies in improving the "safeties," and the,
graceful "regular" seems doomed to the
fate of the buffalo gradual extinction.
New York Tribune. .
. I
Placer's Big Cherry Trees.
In some remote age the deep, whirling
waters of the American river at Monte
Rio washed out the rock layers of long
previous geological formation to the
depth of probably 200 feet or more, and
this excavation being filled to half its
depth by alluvial material from the
sides of adjacent hills, formed a deposit
over sixty feet deep and some ten or
twelve acres in present area.
The waters of the American now form
only a small stream, the alluvial deposit
that has made the giant cherry tree
growth being ten or a dozen feet higher
than the usual current of the deep river
channel. The soil of Hector's cherry
orchard has been bored to over sixty
feet in depth without touching bed rock
or rock of any kind, the alluvial quality '
continuing to this great depth. On
about four acres of this soil black Tar
tarian cherry trees were set in 1863 or
1868 by ancestral relatives of the pres
ent owner, several smaller orchards or
additions having been planted since.
There are 150 large trees that yield 40
boxes, or 400 pounds each, in alternate
years. The trees are kept trimmed of
all dead wood aud lime washed every
season, and are still making vigorous and
healthy growth. The tallest tree is 08
feet high, with a head from 00 to 55 feet
In width, and over a score more of the
150 large trees are from 40 to 60 feet tall,
with corresponding width of top growth
so that the excess in height of the tallest
tree is not very conspicuous, Country
Gentleman,
, The story of a Suicide,
I remember being called a year or two
ago, in my capacity as police reporter,
to a tenement on the west side 1 think
it was in West Thirty-seventh , street
where a painter had that day, cut his
throat, Standing there by the corpse I
learned from the sobbing widow that
the man was desperate for want of work.
He had been on the streets for Weeks,
and his children were starving. It hap
pened that 1 had been for just the same
length of time looking for a man to paint
my honse out iu the country, where
painters were scarce and very busy. 1
had just uiude up my mind to advertise
that day. There lay this painter dead
because he could find iio one to give him
work, while 1 would have been glad to
pay him more than the wages of his
trade to get him to work for me.
Had there been any means of bring
ing us together to which we would both
naturally have resorted, he would have
been alive and Ids family self support
ing. Now it seemed certain to become
a burden upon the public.
It was not the only instance of that
sort by very many 1 had coma across.
Jacob A. Itiut in Forum.