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TWENTY-NINE By J. H. CONNELLY. (Copyright, 185 W. by American Press Associa tion.] CHAPTER VI. The business under Miriam’s manage ment throve as it never did before. She had to employ two more salesmen, and her store was thronged all day long with t-tnftlv ■'-'to whn szrrsisdL ings and cheery words for her. And there was no more trouble now in either getting credit or meeting bills, for Mrs. Alvord had speedily attained an enviable reputation as possessor of the tliree great requisites to business success—viz, en ergy, judgment and honesty. To the unvarying truthfulness, fair dealing and courtesy ruling in her establishment, perhaps as much as to continuance of popular sympathy, was attributable the fact that she practically monopolized the local trade, while James Cronin, shunned and despised, sat alone in his desolate store and meditated curses. But the strain of conscious responsibility and actual physical toil devolved upon her severely taxed her strength, and only her sublime devotion to duty and love sus tained her forces. One evening on returning home from the store she found awaiting her a letter from a Hew \ork girl, Miss Clara War ing, who was her classmate and most intimate friend at school. The day had been one of unusual exertion, for in ad dition to all her routine duties she was compelled to arrange affairs so as to per mit her absence during two or three days for attendance upon the trial of her unfortunate husband, which was on the docket for the morrow. Recognizing the writer of the letter in its superscription, she laid it aside, feeling too tired and preoccupied with anxious thoughts to care for Clara’s pleasant trifling and girlish gossip. After supper she sank into a reverie, contemplating the possibilities of a gloomy future consequent upon John Alvord’s condemnation, which seemed inevitable notwithstanding his inno cence, concerning which her mind never harbored a question. When at length she roused lie. .. ‘.o seek much needed rest, Miss Waring’s letter again caught her eye, and mechanically she took it up and carried it to her room, where she opened it and read while she undressed. Her dress and shoes were off, her corset loosened and her back hair down by the time her casual and fitful glances had covered the first page. Then, as soon as she had turned the leaf, some thing caught her notice which fixed her attention, and she stopped undressing. This is what she read: Brother Calvert starts on the Etruria for Eu rope on Wednesday morning, as the doctor says nothing will build him up again like an ocean trip, and little the wise physician know how much good Cal expects from it. 1 don’t know whether I wrote you about it, probably 1 forgot to, as v,e all were in such troub.c, hut he has been very low with brain fever, the con sequence of a terrible beating lie received ul tiie hands of a couple of highway robbers in Boston one night in August. He had come down from Bar Harbor in pursuit of Millie Dessaix, whose mother just hates him and took her daughter home right ifi the height of the season on his account. 1 suppose they would have killed him if it had not been for som- stranger coming to his rescue. He main tains they were robbers, but I just believe that old Mrs. Dessaix is not a bit too good to have hired them to heat him. When he got home the next day, he was still dazed, and noon the fever came on, and ln thought he was still standing at Millie’s win dow talking to her, and, oh! what sweet thing, he said. It seems funny enough now, but i didn’t then, I toll you, for we thought we were going to lose him, and we think a great den! of our Cal. And while he was sick Mrs. Des saix took Millie away to Europe. We have just lu-ard that they are In Nice, and that's why Cal is so satisfied the doctor is right in prescribing a sea voyage for him. “But,” exclaimed Miriam, speaking aloud in her excitement, “lie shall not go! He must he the very man John has been seeking all this time! And he ‘starts on the Etruria for Europe on Wednesday morning.’ Tomorrow! No. He shall not go. He must come to Bos ton and save the man who rescued him.” In haste she commenced dressing herself again, planning as she did so. “I will telegraph immediately to Clara, and she ivi'll detain him. "Wild 1 must let Mr. Hurd know. It will not do to wait until morning. Sometimes those steamers start at daylight. He must he reached tonight.” She ran to the Western Union Tele graph’s company’s office, seized a blank l’apidly wrote a message and handed it across the counter to a sleepy looking elderly man in charge, saying, “Elease put that through at once. It is very im portant. ” He took off his spectacles, wiped them carefully, put them on again, read the message and then replied with drawling deliberation: “I'll probably get it off for you some tune tomorrow forenoon, but I can’t promise to afore then.” “Why will it not- go tonight?” “Look at that spikeful. It’s just cram full up to the top with press dis patches to newspapers, that have got to be sent off tonight, and there’s nobody here to help me but that gal, and she’s pretty slow, and I ain’t over fast myself.” - "Dispatches to newspapers!” she echoed in astonishment. “From here!” “Yes. There’re a hundred reporters here, it seems to me. from Boston and everywhere else, and every blessed one °f them would like to send a hundred columns of matter, I guess.” “But— what about?” “The rescue of that fishing smack by her crew from the Canucks, who took ' i *' r #s a prize under their headlands law. The crew recaptured her, sailed her out of St. John’s in a storm and just got home today, and the whole country a PPtars to have gone wild about it. Her coming was telegraphed ahead two days ago, and the reporters have been here writing ever since. I don’t suppose H get off more’n half they’ve piled on me.” “But this is a very short message and important as a matter of life and death. Lou can surely get it through.” "No. I've got my orders, and if it Was only one word, and that was to save a man’s life” "It is.” * “Still I wouldn’t dare send it out of its towu. But you might send it over the Be* Franklin line down street.” She ran to the rival office, only to find it closed, dark, deserted. The hope flashed upon her that she might reach Boston by a late train in time to send her message from there ere daylight, uud she made all haste to the railroad station for that purpose. But the night watchman at the station told her the last train for the night had gone. There would he none until morning, not even a through express which might be flagged. Bewildered by the seeming obstinacy of malevolent fate and growing desper ate, she retraced her steps to the Ben Franklin office with just a vague glim mering of hope that perhaps the operator might simply have absented himself for a moment to get a piece of pie or some thing else when she was there before. Wherever lie had gone, lie had not re turned. Hearing a buzz of voices in the grocery store next door to the office, she pushed open the door and looked in. A dozen men sat aoout on boxes and bar rels talking. “Does any one here know the operator employed in the telegraph office next door?" she demanded loudly, and they seemed to reply in chorus, “Yes, we ail do.” “I’ll give $5,” she proclaimed, “to the first one who finds him and brings him to liis office." They scattered like a flock of birds among whom a stone is thrown. Only the storekeeper remained, and he looked uneasy. Within five minutes the operator was brought, his captor leading him by the collar and not letting go his grasp until he received the reward. “There’s no use fetching me,” protest ed the young man. “I gave ‘good uiglif to the main office and was cut off more ii.. j t v* ' - '■N'igssi Leading him hy the collar. than an hour ago. All the papers rep resented here seem to belong to the As sociated Press, which is bound to send by the Western L 111011. Anyway they have not offered me anything, and when I got through my commercial work 1 was shut out.” “Du ,\uu mean to say you cannot com municate with the main office in Bos ton.” “Not until they choose to switch my wiro on again, any more than I could with the moon.” For one short minute Miriam felt her self defeated and despairing. Then sud denly her mind reverted to something she had once been told by a girl of her acquaintance who learned telegraphy, a trivial little fact, as it seemed at the time, but now looming up in enormous importance, and her hope revived again. “Here,” she said to the operator, with an air of decision that compelled obedi ence, “get inside your office and light up. Give me the name and address of the night superintendent of your district in Boston. Thanks. Now sit down at your desk, copj r that message on one of your blanks ready for sending and re main before your instrument ready to respond if it calls you until I return.” He followed her directions, but men tally questioned her sanity while he did so. Again she presented herself at tke Western Union office, wrote another dis patch and offered it, simply saying, “Send that at once, please.” “I told you afore, miss,” replied the elderly drawler, “you couldn’t get any thing through here tonight.” “Yes, I know you did, but that will have to go." “Will have to? Why?” “Because it is, as you will see, a death message, and as such under the rule takes precedence of and breaks anything on the line. Give the signal ‘29’ and push it along.” “i don’t know anything about any such rule.” “Look for it, and you will find it. And do so quickly, please, because it is ur gent.” He dragged out from under the counter where it bung by a looped string from a i* til his little, book of rnles and slowly thumbed over its leaves, while she watched him with not a little anxiety >est she or her informant had made some nistake as to the basis of fact upon which she was acting. But, uo. He had evidently found something, for he held the page up to the light to get a better Anew of it and followed each line with a forefinger while he read in si leiiCG. “Gosh!” he exclaimed after reading it. “I never knew afore it \\ r as there. Nev er had any use for it and must have for gotten it if I ever saw it.’ Making no further objections, he took the message and tlie pay for its trans mission, seated himself at an instru ment, and breaking the press dispatch already on the wire commenced click ing out the signal—two dots, three dashes, space, four dashes and one dot constituting the telegraphic “29. W hen it Avas acknowledged in Boston, he sent Miriam’s message: Mr. Batters.bee. Night Sup’t Ben Franklin Tel. Cos., State st., Boston: Randall Crane died here tonight. be done with his body? Answer immediately by your own line. B. Lindsey. The name signed was that of the oper ator waiting at the other office, lo him she trotted back, and he was just opening his mouth to protest against being uselessly kept sitting the*o Avhen a vigorous “rat-tat-tat, racial tat” from the instrument before him ah most made him bound from his chair in surprise. He responded to the sum mons, which Avas the signal of his sta tion, and received the to him puzzling queries, which he translated word by word as they were impetuously rattled off: Who in blazes was Randall Crane, and what in thunder have I got to do with his body? B ATT lilts 11KE. Miriam, smiling, notwithstanding the gravity of the situati nri 9 dictiitvd tllC jg ply: Hold on and take three Important messages. “AH right,” answered Mr. Battersbee, whose quick comprehension grasped at once the trick by which communication had been opened through tho rival line. So Miriam got her messages off—one to her friend Clara Waring; a second to Calvert Waring himself, a thrilling ap peal written iu prodigal disregard of rates, and the third to Lawyer Hurd, conveying the joyful news that the miss ing Avitness lmd been found and Avithout doubt would be in court on tho second day of the trial to establish her hus band’s innocence. [to be continued.] For Malaria, Liver Trou ble, or Indigest ion, use BROWN'S IRON BITTERS A Horseman Who Exeels Iu every lino of trade there is some man who stauds out pre-eminent for his superior skill or knowledge of a certain branch of that trade. Such is the case with Chas. Marvin, the veteran trotting horse trainer, Avho Avas for so many years head-trainer at Palo Alto, the farm of the late Hon. Leland Stan ford, and avlio is now Avith one of the largest farms in the East, that of Miller A Sibley, at Franklin, Pa. It was never conceded that Marvin Avas a superior race driver. Thre are drivers who can beat him at that. But Marvin is thought to be t,he greatest colt handler of them all ami the quickest man to get extreme speed out ot a horse of any age. His methods of training and conditioning horses more than anything else arc re sponsible for the success and world- Avide reputation of Palo Alto Farm and the Electioneer family of horses. Not many traineis have published a book. Marvin has published one that is ahlv edited by a writer on one of the leading turf journals, and is one of tlie most A-aluable additions to turf literature. It treats in an interesting avhv of Marvin’s methods of keeping, conditioning, pre paring, and training horses, and it re lates many of his personal experiences that both interest and instruct. An an nouncement in the columns of that well-known trotting horse breeders’ journal, Kentucky Stock Farm, pub lished at Lexington, Kv., states that they are furnishing Marvin’s book with subscriptions. Horsemen would do well to send for a sample of the Stock Farm and read the announcement. It >lu>uui lln in Every Mouse. Mr. and Mrs. Loren Trescott are keep i'i of the gov. lighthouse at Sand Beach Mich., and Hre blessed with a daugh ter, four years old. Last April she was taken down with Measles, followed with \ dreadful Cough and turning into a Fever. Doctors at home and at Detroit 1 routed her, but in vain, she grew worse rapidly, until she was a mere “handful of bones.” Then she tried Dr. King’s New Dicoverv and alter the use of two and a half bottles, was completely cured. They say Dr. King’s New Discovery is wortli its weight in gold, yet youmay get a trial bottle free at Youno A Mays’ drugstore. 6 Mr. J. P. Blaize, an extensive real es tate dealer in DoS Monies, lowa, nar rowly escaped one of the severest at tacks of pneumonia while in the north ern part of that state dur ng a recent blizzard, says the Saturday Review. Mr. Blaize had occasion to drive several miles during the storm and was so thoroughly chilled that he was unable to get warm, and inside of an hour after his return he %vas threatened Avith a severe case of pneumonia or lung fever. Mr. Blaize sent lo the nearest drug store and got a bottleof Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy, of which he had often heard, and took a number of large doses. He says die effect was wonderful and in a short time lie was breathing quite easily. He kept on taking toe medicine and the next day was able to come to Des Moines. Mr. Blaize regards his cure simply wonderful. For sale by Young Bros. Sneer al Notice. No medicine was ever given such a seveve test of the curative qualities as Otto’s Cure. We are distributing sam ple bottles free of charge to those aiiiie ted with consumption, asthma, coughs, colds, pneumonia,croup and all diseasae of the throat and lungs, giving you t e proof that Otto’s Cure will ci.ro you. Don’t delay, but get a bottle of us today and commence the use of this great guaranteed remedy. Sold only by M. F. Word sole agent. Samples free. 'Large bottles 50c. 5 Nine to Three O’clock. Commencing Monday, December 4th, the underigned banks will open for business at nine o’clock a. in., and close at three o’clock p. m. * We know of no banks in the state which keep open later than two to three o’clock, and we find that we can facili tate business by adopting the same hours. Patrons and the public are requested to take notice of the change. The Howard Bank, j er W. H. Howard, First National. Bank. A. K. C. Asthma, Bronchitis and Consumption result from a neglected cough or cold. Don’t neglect but cure promptly with a few doses of Beugs’ Cherrv Cough Syr up. Sold bv M. F. Word. Reason? Beecham’s Piles act like magic. The World*’ Fair Are those who use Beggs’ Blood Puri fier. It purities the blood, makes the skin clear and the complexion beautiful. Try a bottle and note its Avonderful ef fects. Sold and guaranteed by M. F Word. A LOT OF BUGGIES SURREYS,^ * AND HARNESS On Hand that we will sell if you will get our prices. We must sell to get room and will give Bargains. Call and see and our LOW PRICES on all kinds-of IlMnery, Implements of 011 Kinds. STRICKLAND, LUMPKIN & CO. Reduced if -I°. if; gK: The pbrum “ Tke Greatest of all our Periodicals ' • '■ ; . - ’ T.\ V(' AV - The foremost men of the world write the literature of contemporaneous activity for THE FORUM. 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