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**■ - >** V* j % i t Pi ■V •.. .• <5Tt e A D t T ! > si U-. % :c V 8b& &. M > i asa 4 I 541 t ‘A MYSTERY SOLVED. r* H, Maxi I flung my A arms around his neck ■ and kissed him 1 What shall I do?” “How could you to! have made suoh a mis¬ w - take?” “In the dusk he looked exactly like you. Of course, the moment he spoke my horrible blunder flashed upon me and I fled.” } "No nonsense, Ray. I will see him and explain the matter. If he is so much like me no doubt he is a very decent fellow.” This conversation took place be¬ tween a charming girl and her brother, -who were staying at a certain hotel in a well-known seaside resort. To this hotel I came in search of health to re¬ store a nervous system whieh had been failing lately, and, indeed, hod never quite recovered from a ahook caused .by a horrible aeeideut which had hap¬ pened to me several years ago. ■ I bad been lured by a madman into ilia house under pretence of playing myself a game of billiards, to find a prisoner with an armed lnnaiio, who loroed me to play the game for the (highest possible stake—life itself. Fortunately I won; but my conditions opponent, of although he fnlfiled the ;<mr gams by shooting himself, with re Jlnement of cruelty tied me in s faint¬ ing condition to the billiard table so ■that I might witness his death. In jdeed, his vindiotiveness he branded went leg farther with (than; this, for my la hot iron and wrote a paper in whioh 'he accused me of taking hia life. I I was oharged with the xnnrder, but 'acquitted) as the faot of my being dis¬ covered bound and the strange appear of the body attired in the eos jtome of Mephiatophelee—a oheraofar the madman endeavored to assume— was suffieient to prove my side of the storv. Even the astuteness of Sootlsnd Yard proved powerless, for all the po lice oonld discover, after a long searoh ;into the antecedents of ths unfortun¬ ate man, was the fsot that he had been confined in a luuatio asylum. oonvinoe 1 needed no proof mad. to Bnt there me tw the man was was a method in bis madnoas. Until I mat him in s publie billiard saloon, whenoe he took me to his house, I had never set eyes on him before. Than what was the reason for the eruel hstred he evidently felt toward me? Two olewa I possessed, but as eaeh had proved useless to the detectives, it was not likely that they would lead me to a • solution of the affair. ] First I discovered that in branding my leg the wretch had teaoed the let* ten RAOHE. That theea letters np restated the German word “Revenge” X I was perfectly swan i bat what waa to lean from that? That the man n ■ German? X think not. His aa esnt plainly told me he waa JtafHsh. but No doubt revenge wee his objeot, the meaning ofthoae letters remaihed . found ijyother during dew subsequent was a note visit whieh to the I a fatal room, hidden under a earpefc Although it bore no addreae, I suppose 41 was meant lor m* as it spoke of the hijrwGmd"5XTwo»!d ef oiewho hia _____hia mono?, murdered intended wits and attempted to nothing mur¬ der hiss. This the appears* ranting of to he mind die i than n L and I soon gave np all hope of gettingto the bottom of thaam* sxssrttSff'Bs le 3n°isIih2r i Sl SSI kind. As I entered the hall a charm¬ ing girl ran up to me, fl- <fcl,r ' “ *e*L hissed and mar jMse^• V T T > v -/* - -’/ "Yea darling, Tm so glad yeoVe r like eKMt_ startled bird. a ; "A little thing like that ted at v — . ttd lomy ■ A to i so rashly, the mm, before of about my in of 'A T to do Kj£it qnered. You see, at the outset, be¬ fore there had been time to so much as declare war, the position had been stormed, the citadel “rashed” by that delightful kiss I And now it was suf¬ ficient happiness for mis to watch the changing lights in a pair of sapphire eyes, whose dnsky lashes cmrled up¬ ward as though in wanton contrast with the tendrils of the auburn tresses above. We three took onr coffee in the gar¬ den that warm September night. “Now,” exclaimed CarBtairs, “Ray is dying to hear yonr story, so go ahead 1” “Well," said I, thinking what a sweet name Ray Carstairs was, “al¬ though it happened several years ago, the incident still remains painfully fresh in my memory, It was an ad ventnre I had with a mad billiard player. \ They both started. “Max,” said bis sister, "doesn’t that remind yon of what happened at—” “Yes,” he replied, before she could finish the sentence, “bat don t inter¬ rupt. Please go on,” he added. In a moment it flashed upon me that the solution of the mystery lay within my grasp, This man, who so strangely resembled me, was the in¬ tended object of the madman’s re¬ venge. possible,” _ I cried, , . “Is it springing to my feet in exoitement, “that you are the man ?” “I don’t understand,” said Car¬ stairs, looking as perplexed and star¬ tled as his sister at my sadden out¬ burst of feeling. not—of not,” I "Of ooarse course murmured, sinking into my chair. “I will tell yon the whole story, then will know what I mean. ” yon through the horrible de¬ As I went tails of that fearful night they listened with rapt attention, and unless the dark ness deoeived me, I detected tears of sympathy in the beantifnl eyes of Ray Carstairs. “Yon are right 1” exolaimed her brother, as I finished; "all yon suf¬ fered was intended for me. Now, for my story, *h will - dear up the mystery. Miu Carstairs -- v rose. "1 think I’ll ran off to bed, Max. I’m very tired, and it’s getting late." She kissed her brother, then gave her hand to me. “Good night,” she said, “let ns hope it will be fine to-morrow.” Relaotaatly 1 relinquished her hand, bnt there was hope in that reference to the weather. Might morning? it not mean a walk together in the I finished the evening in Max CJar stake's room; and while we amoked he told his strange story. the man’s "Mark Malbrain was name,” be oontinned "and I met him at a hydropathic establishment in the North, where my sister end I were staying one summer about seven or eight yean ago. My sister wee then about seventeen, and Malbrain, much to her disgust, fell wildly in love with her. He made himself generally nnwel* a nuisanoe by pestering her with oome attentions ana writing until extrava¬ at gant verses in her praise, crisis. Tfib length matters asms to a lesux vi vents were a favorite evening amusement, and appeared on tins particular Marguer¬ night my sister as ite, I was Faust, and to Malbrain was assigned the role of Mephistopheles. immense The living picture followed, wee an at whieh soooesB, and a danoe we "Daring appeared the in onr evening ftage ooetumee. Rachel (yes that is her name—Bay is only a fami¬ ly pet name) oomplained to me of Mal hrain's oondnek It seems he had eon tinned to follow her round the room, became threatening when she rofeaed. I at onee went to him end said plalnlyt h at Miss Oentairswiahed amdthemfwef must request him to thsred that he did not know Raohel k!w5?*aan!rfikk deceive him.1 decided we it worth while to mi Rachel home in the rcmwnedmj^lf for a few days long WAS furious when to a gam* enggett that we should ptoy^ w a AM-» o t e. tnsTof the men present! We played reed, tor I fait c • carom and missed. Malbrain Mixed his one, trembling like the leaf. He went to pocket the red/but he miased the ball entirely, giving • point to me. Of coarse, I won by my next stroke. “The stake holder handed the £200 to me, amid the applause of the men standing around—for Malbrain eras not liked and my victory •was popular. Mal¬ Then the party broke np, but brain waited for me on the stairs. His face was livid with passion. “ ‘I hope yon are satisfied,’ he said hoarsely. sorry,’I replied, *if the *“I am stakes were too high, but later you have your revenge 1 * may he shouted, losing his M < .Revenge 1’ self-control. ‘I’ll have my revenge 1 We’ll play again and you’ll find the stakes still higher—too high for you 1” * “I had good reason to remember these words when I awoke one night, to find Malbrain in my room dressed in his fantastic costume of ‘Meph¬ istophelean of must “ ‘Come,* said he, ‘one us die to-night. Through yon I lost the girl who would have been my wife. My money, too 1 Bnt come to the billiard room; we will play to-night. Did you not promise me my revenge? And the stakes! You will find them high enough. Come 1 we will play for our lives—you and I! Ha, ha 1 one of us shall die to-night?’ “I knew as I sprang from my bed that the man was mad 1 We grappled together, the candle fell from his hands, and we straggled in darkness. I felt Down we went on the floor, and the cold steel of a revolver, which ex- 5 ploded and a sharp pain came in and my arm. Then I heard doors opening voices, so 1 hold on till some of the fellows came in with lights. ‘Mephis topheles’ was carried off to.his own room, raving and struggling. The slight wonnd in my arm was dressed by the doctor connected with the establishment, who also took the un fortnnate lunatic under his care. “Later on Malbrain was sent to a private asylum. The doctor’s opinion was that brain lesion had threatened the poor fellow for some time. Whether he had escaped from the asy¬ lum when he met yon, or had been discharged as cared, one cannot say. However,, my story,” concluded Car stairs, "has solved the mystery of yonr unfortunate encounter with the wretohed man. ” “Yes,” I said, musing on the strange aoconnt I had heard. "But I wonder why he charged yon with murdering Miss Oarstairs? And he also repeated found. the aocnsation in the paper I I suppose it was some wild idea he had got hold of in his mad jealousy of yon. »» “Yes,” said Carstairs. “You see, he thought we were rivals, and he knew I was the oanse of Ray’s dis¬ appearance.” is another thing that “Then there pnzzle me. Why did the madman brand my leg with the word ‘Raohe?’ ” “It is German for revenge,” said darstairs. “Yes, but Malbrain was not a Ger¬ man, so why should ho nse that lan¬ guage?” “Can’t I the marks say. suppose time?” have entirely gone by this “Yes; bnt the police had them photographed, and I think I have got of-the photoa in my portmanteau. ” one I found the card and handed it to Carstairs. * "It is funny,” he said, laughing, print¬ "to notion how beautifully the ing is done—au except the fall stop, whioh is a bit too high up. By Jove 1 it must have been painful time—I though.” "I never felt it at the was in a faiqt, I suppose.” "Ah! I have it!” cried Carstairs. "That full stop explains it. Ofoouse, the word be meant to traoe was ‘Rachel,’ only for some reason he didn’t finish the *T<.* Hat ha! ha! How Bay will langh at yon when she hears of yoa being tattooed with her name.” So my last thought that night wss ef charming Bay Oarstairs. And how oonld it be otherwise?—her name on my body, her image in my soul and bar kiss on my lipe! As for the kiss 1 felt I could not honorebly keep whet was not intended for me. Bnt I was soon able to return it, for, ere an¬ other month had passed, Ray Oarstairs promised fa be my wife.—Tit-Bits. About a Marvelous Clock. Speaking of wonderful timpieoes, a yellow old book tells a story about a dock made by Dros, a mechanic of Geneva. There were to be seen on it ea African, a dog and a shepherd. shepherd When the clook struck the played six tunes on his flute and the dog approached and fawned upon him. This dock waa exhibited to the King ef Spain, who was delighted with it "The gentleness of m j dog,” Iflyour mid Drox, "is his least merit • majesty touch one of the apples whioh you eee in the fidelity shepherd’s of this basket i you t ” will admire the a n ma The king took an apple and the dog flew at hia head and barked so loud that the king’s dog began to bark. At this the eooriers, not doubting that left the dock wee bewitched, hastily the room, crousingfthamselves Marine as they The Minister of was the miVLi onto who remained. the The African king him to enquire of the time ef day- The mini s t e r obeyed. Dros then had not yet «Sto*Si 7 K iii v ■ r HIGH TARIFF DECEPTION. THE PROTECTION THEORY OF TRADE PROHIBITION IS FALLACIOUS. People of Different Countries Are Benefited by an Interchange of Commodities—A McKinley Kin¬ dergarten Lesson. The theory of trade prohibition swindle which underlies the high tariff was laid down in a recent speech by Major McKinley as follows: “Every shipload displaces of foreign products that we buy just that quan¬ tify that iB made in the United States, and as you displace this quantity yon displace the requisite labor required to make it in the United States.” If this assertion is trne it would fol¬ low that all trade is an evil, since the purchase by one section of a cqnntry would of goods from another section displace domestic products of a value equal to the imported goods. Thus the sale of a carload of hay from New York State in Massachusetts must dis¬ place a portion of the hay crop of Mc¬ the latter State. According to Major Kinley's economy this woojcf injure the Massachusetts farmer and wonld deprive labor of employment. Voters who have reached even the kindergarten stage of political economy know that the McKinley idea is wholly a fallacy. New York hay is shipped to Massachusetts only when it can be sold at a profit. Instead of displacing the labor prodnots of Massachusetts it creates a demand for them, as the New York farmer must take something pro¬ duced- by labor in exchange for his hay. That something may be boots, cottons, barb wire or money. In either case its production gives em¬ ployment to labor. Exactly the same is trne if instead of coming irom New York the hay was raised in Canada, or any other foreign country. The Canadian farmer sells hay because he wants goods made by the labor of New York or Massa¬ chusetts. He does not give away hia prodnots, but takes back a quantity of goods equal in value to what he sells. The result of the business transactions whioh Major McKinley wants to New stop by high tariff is that the people of York who want hay, and the farmers of Canada who want goods, are both benefited by getting what they want cheaper than they could produce them for themselves. This is the ultimate object of all commerce, as well as of labor-saving inventions, improved methods of transportation, the diver siflcation of industries and all the civi lized arts, If foreign goods, displace our prod ucts, the goods we ship abroad must displace those of countries with which we trade. Were trade-prohibiting tariffs made universal we should lose our markets for nearly $900,000,000 worth of goods which we now export annnally. What do the American far mers, who complain because prices work- are already too low, or American men, who are idle because there is au overproduction of goods whioh oannot fine a market, think of the Ohio poll oy, which if carried out by other countries wonld leave us with products worth $900,000,000 unsold. WHIDDEN GbAHAU. A Scheme to Injuro the Farmers. Senator Elkins, of West Virginia, is a typio&l Republican protectionist who makes great pretenses of love for the American farmer. His sincerity is shown bv his action in introducing a tariff bnl whioh imposes additional dutiea of ten per oent. on ell goods im¬ ported ;in foreign vessels. This he claims would stimulate onr shipping industry, and restore our position in the world’s carrying trade, which we lost under protection. foolish enough If Congress is to pass the Elkins bill, it is easy to see that the principal result will be a fall in the prices of farm products. If our vessels cannot carry freight as oheaply aa those of other oountriee, a discrim¬ ination of ten per oent would force foreign ships to charge ten per oent more on all goods, or else wonld give Ameriean shipping a monopoly of the import trade. In either oase it is cer¬ tain that all the foreign products whioh we now ta^e in exohange for our would sur¬ plus erops and other exports, cost more than they do now. The greatest injury to the farmers, however, would come from the fact that if the foreign vessels which now carry our farm products to Europe were compelled they to return would empty have to to this eountry, charge higher rates for carrying oar exports. This wonld mean that our ability to sell abroad, whioh depends largely upon the cheapness of onr pro duets as compered with those of com¬ peting Nations, would be considerably lessened. In order to pay the in¬ creased freight chargee the prise of all our prodnots—exports of wheat, oorn, meats, etc., would have to be cotdowu or we should lose the markets. Do the farmers want anything o kind ? If not, they should send to Congress Democrat* who axe opposed to protection and all kinds of discrim¬ inating duties. Far Farmers to Think Of. The three or four dollars a SA&ss/Ats&ss: steel works of the eountry will make than they do no w. If is elected * 82 ____ ; V : -. aV 'V TUUSEK 05 BAYARD. The Eloquent fieoriL CsssreMiwui Exposes Protection Corruption. The debate in the Hnn«e of Repre¬ sentatives on the resolutions censor¬ ing Ambassador Bayard for his con¬ demnation of the protection fraud was closed on the Democratic side by Con gress man Tnrner, of Georgia, who said: which ..... I belong has . “The part^ to no great army of mercenaries. There are none of those who have put up for our use the sinews of war. There are none to whoto we have given bounties; there are none to whim we have given booty and plunder, au l there nre none on whom we can draw; no special fat by policies . . classes that have grown that we have enacted, and ont of whom we can extract the grease—I hesitate to put it in the vulgar vernacular of the Republican hustings. (Laughter.) “Bnt it is not so with onr adversar¬ ies. They have bestowed largesses and donations upon specials interests lor a generation, and the army of pro¬ tection—the Pretorian Guard of the tariff—is about to dispose of the Presi¬ dent^ purple. Mr. Bayard offended these gentlemen at Edinburgh by speaking of the tendency of protec¬ tion to a mercenary scramble, as averred in the resolution. If the in¬ dictment is trne, any man ought to be allowed to proclaim it on the house top and anywhere in the world, The proof is already furnished. Oat of the mouths of his assailants comes the demonstration of the truth of this great indictment. The Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. Chandler, a gentleman well-known for his devotion to the Republican party, has testified with great emphasis and detail, and after deliberation reiterated it. “Mr. Speaker, when these things are charged and said here at home they meet no denial; they meet no contradiction ; no investigation is de¬ manded ; there is no challenge given to it; but if somebody on the other side of the ocean announces or demon¬ strates the vioious and corrupt tenden¬ cies of protection, this insolent power ga y 8 to him, no matter how distin g a j 8 hed, ‘Silence, sir.’ <<g 0 f ar f rom there having been any impropriety in the utterance at Edin burgh, the. question was one rising jjjgh above all mere matters of taste, e f courtesv, or of diplomatic pro pr i e ty. it was a matter about which a patriot might anywhere speak as ^jth a trumpet. It was an ocoasion on -which he might speak, to be heard by a ]j man kind, against tho degreda tion and slavery and corruption of the 8 y 8 tem which he denounced. Sir, if I bad it in my power, in face of the per ji that confronts ua and the coun tr y f denounoed even by those who are quarreling about their rivalries and t be preliminary divisions of the B p 0 ils—I say, sir, if I bad my way I won id put in every honest )iand a w bip to sconrge this demon of proteo tion naked through the world. (Ap pi £bo aase on the Democratic side.) As shadow of this great peril gathers aron nd ns and its gloom falls on the Capitol, I would kindle in that a jiglit as a warning to my mea which would be as— «when the sun his beaoon red Had kindled on Ben Vorlioh’s head.’ TRYING TO TAX FOREIGNERS. Absurd Declaration of the New Hampshire Republicans. The New Hampshire Republican itself 8 tate Convention distinguished old by inserting in its platform "The the high-tariff obestnnt, foreigner pays the tax." After some stereotyped abuse of the Democracy for "three yean of disappointment, privation Re¬ and distress,” the Granite State publicans demanded "the speedy re¬ peal of the Demoerstio tariff and the substitution thereof of one based upon the principles of the McKinley act, for the procurement of National rev¬ enue aa far as possible from foreigners who market their merchandise m com¬ petition with onr productions.” benight¬ It is just possible that the ed Mckinleyites in the of New mists Hampshire and dark¬ are still Jiving ness of the ages when it was believed that taxes on imports were paid by the foreign real producer. their ig¬ Whether or assumed, norance shows that in spite of onr great puhlio school system there is still a deplorable need of the study of elementary arithmetic. If the men who talk of collecting revenues from foreigners were able to add and sub¬ tract correctly, they wonld not try to impose their theory on -the public. The notion that duties on goods are not paid by the consumer cannot be honestly held by any one who under¬ stands that two and two make four, or that five from six leaves one. The facta of every day basin* absurdity ex perience show so plainly the the of the delusion that we can tax people of other countries for the sup¬ port of our Government that it is un¬ necessary to seriously argue against it A mind so constituted that it be¬ lieves that although the importer adds the customs duties to the price of the goods he buys from abroad, and the retailer charges the tariff tax to the price at whioh the goods are finally sold, the foreign produoer pays the additional oost due to the tariff) can¬ not be influenced by facte or logic. The idea pot into the platform of the New Hampshire Republicans is not a doctrine or a theory, bat a supersti¬ tion, and will only disappear when the people beoome majority generally of enlightened. than In 188* a more a 1ttmVnr by their the showed that they knew who pays In 1896 the majority Lamm CUBIOUS FACTS. There are patents for scrubbing brushes and brooms to the number of 3184. * . for the There are 4354 patents man n factors of furniture other than chairs. Said the late P. T. Barnum to thew Arnold: “Yon are a celebrity » I am a notoriety. We ought to bo better acquainted.” A lepei. Josenh Cummings, has been discovered in New York City, and sent to the colony on North Brother Island. He is an American. Ibe most valuable Bible in the world belongs to a Chicago man. He bought it at the Brayton Ivea sale of rare books lor $14,800. A wild cat weighing twenty-five fall pounds and nearly as large as a grown panther was killed iu Berrien County. Georgia, a few days ago. Of the $5,500,000 which President Seth Low deemed necessary to move Columbia College to its new site, J14,000,000 has already been received. Michigan’s oldest practicing physi¬ cian is Dr. William Sprague, of Cold water. He is ninety-nine years old and has practiced in that town more than half a century. The suggestion has been made that the house of Rev. Dr. Samuel P. Smith, the author of “America,” at Newton Centre, Mass., be purchased and preserved as a memorial. A better stretcher for a tight shoe than any cobbler’s last is to walk through a pool of water, or, if pos¬ sible, wet grass, and then keep on., walking till the boots are dry. Cabal, in Afghanistan, has an arms faotory a third of a mile long and 200 yards wide that tarns out 20,003 car¬ tridges and fifteen rifles daily, and four quick-firing guns every week. Melbonrne, Australia, has lost 41,435 inhabitants m four years./the census of 1895giving apopulatiouof 447,461. The population of the seven Australian colonies at the end of 1895 was 4,238, ooo. - ' ; ... The war of Devolution was waged by Louis XIV. against Spain to enforce his claims to the Netherlands, which he held should fall to him by Le droit de Devolution, this being the law by which the dower of a wife descends to her children. A pickpocket arrested in the act of taking a purse from a woman in a crowd during the Paris Carnival, when searched, was found to have no less than twenty-three purses abent him, the total of his plunder amounting to more than $650. The harbor improvements at Vera Cruz, Mexico, will probably years’ be com- limit pleted within the five stipulated. They involve an inclosed harbor 28$ feet deep, with a break¬ water fifteen feet above high tide, and entrance 260 feet wide lighthouse. w * Governor Greenhalge was the sixth Governor of Massachusetts who has died in office. Governor William Bnr» net, appointed by the King, died September 7, 1729; Governor John Hancock died on October 8, 1793; Governor Increase Snmuer died on Jun6 7, 1799; Governor James Snlli van died on Deoember 10, 1808, and Governor William Enstis died on 6, 1825. Odd Waj8 of Making Money. In the backbone of a rabbit is joint bearing a remarkable resem¬ blance to a fox’s head.. Lightly paint¬ ed brown, a couple of beads for eyes, a cheap pin affixed, and lo 1 a real sporting soarfpin is produced at. A noqiinsl cost. of calling in the French At the time coins, which were freely passing in England for pennies, many dollars were made by ingenious individuals converting them into rings aa sou¬ but venirs, this being done by cutting the centre, turning the rim inside out, leaving she inscription inside. Many of these rings are still to be seen among the poorer folk, worn as wed* ding rings. be the Acorn gathering may means of patting a few shillings in the poc¬ kets of the oonntry folk by picking them np for the farmers; bnt it dia not seem the quickest way toil. to a fortune by one thoughtful son of ground So be planted a piece of his with thousands of acorns, and wbea they were small plants he wanted, carefully with moved daily such as he wrapped the mold round, and moss each root and started his father to hawk them in the nearest towns, and a remarkably good idea it turned out. The request of the old man to * a real British oak, mam,” gen secured a purchaser, the ladies charmed with the plant and the 2S peet of watching its growth sturdy $xee.—Odds and Ends. Spoiled the Story. The Paris police have ink spoil a "story which smacked of an Oriental fable. The story was abonl an ordinary town hen, which th ened to rival the famous goose laid the golden egg. One men when e woman living near the Fr capital made her enstomary visa the barnyard, she found a band) papers under ber prise papers proved to be ities at $5000. The her friends about her remarkable but converted the secu rities and;changed noticeably her m living. Her sudden afeow of proq vestigated toe stay. It pee that the saoarftiss had been right y. ago several ixe