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About The Montgomery monitor. (Mt. Vernon, Montgomery County, Ga.) 1886-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1906)
■mei Wells Smith, Ui ' ■ It w<.» uurtng a Damrosch engage ment in Chicago that I happened to go to the theatre one evening. I was alone, as my wife had not been going out since the death of a relative. The audience was a music-loving one, and during the third act as I strolled into the foyer I found it quite deserted, a most unusual occurrence. Wagner grows noisy to an unculti vated ear after listening an hour or so, and the strains that came through the heavy, closed doors were more agreeable to mine. I was about to re turn to my seat, however, when I no ticed a remarkably handsome woman emerge from the curtained door that led into the lower boxes. She was unusually beautiful, of that flashing combination of dark eyes and golden hair that is so rare. She was fashionably dressed, and under her opera cloak I saw the glim mer of jewels. I expected her to sweep out to her carriage, instead of which she stopped in front of me and be gan to look anxiously toward the out side door. Then she stepped back into the curtain, but almost immedi ately returned, and began to pace up and down more anxiously than before. She was evidently looking for some one whose delay caused unusual alarm. Once I thought she started toward me as if she was going to speak. I thought I noticed this movement again when I involuntarily approached her. “Can I be of any service to you, madam?” I asked in a most defer ential tone, ■which her bearing seemed to demand. She paused doubtfully a half sec ond, then graciously explained: Her father had left her at the theatre, expecting to return immedi ately; he had failed to do so and she was extremely alarmed on his ac count, and was also embarrassed at finding herself alone in a strange city at midnight. In fact there was noth ing else for me to do but to offer to see her home. It was all arranged in a few seconds, and under the charm of a woman who was of no ordinary type. She gave the directions to the driver. I had ordered a carriage and after about an hour’s drive we stopped in a part of the city that was not al together familiar to me, though 1 could see by the street lamps that itj THE GLASS FELL FROM MY TREMBLING FINGERS! r was a fashionable if somewhat remote neighborhood. My companion had been too much agitated to engage in conversation dur ing the drive, except to wonder over her father’s am accountable delay. When the carriage stopped she hast ened to the steps of a stately resi dence in the middle of the square. A man in livery opened the door. “Is my father in?” she asked in a tone in which I noticed some of the agitation had subsided. “Ah! Hortense my dear, forgive me! I fell asleep and completely forgot you? How did you get home?” This voice came from within and was followed by an elderly man of foreign appearance who came forward and extended his hand affectionately to his daughter as she answered by ex plaining my presence. I turned to go, but with lavish expressions of grati tude usual to a foreigner, he fairly dragged me into the house. The outside appearance would hard ly have suggested the magnificent apartments in which I found myself. Rich hangings, rare works of art and a general luxuriousness implied the most cultivated taste. While the daughter swept into an adjoining room and brought refreshments with her own hand, the father engaged me in conversation on the topics of the day, upon which he showed more than ordinary intelligence. I refused anything but a glass of wine which she poured from a decanter of rare workmanship—a rich cordial rather —filling one also for her father and another for herself. They were delightful conversationalists. I be came unusually talkative myself. Th. conversation drifted Into personal ex periences. I related one I had never repeated to mortal ears before. I do not know whether It was the srine or the adorable smile of the - woman that was leading me on. She > had thrown aside her opera cloak and i reclined on a divan, her golden hair ; gleaming against the crimson drapery, s her dark eyes holding two points of l fire in their expanded pupils, like some > Eastern enchantress under whose spell l I was completely enthralled. I felt my blood course through my veins • w T ith a sense of exhilaration I had ney • er before experienced. I could have [ knelt at her feet She seemed a crea ■ ture to be worshipped, who could in • turn wield an influence strangely ■ powerful. I thought of the historical women of fascination who have led , men to do awful deeds. She seemed to recall the pictures in my'mind’s eye of such women, as she reclined there her eyes flashing darker under the masses of hair that surrounded her fair face like a crown of gold. 1 gazed at her In a dazed steadfastness. Involuntarily I raised my glass; it was filled. Again: The third time as I would have guided it to my lips it fell from my trembling fingers and shiv ered at my feet! I staggered and fell senseless! * * * When I awoke to consciousness I found myself at my own front door. From the numb conditions of my limbs I knew I had been there at least an hour. I fumbled at the door with my latch key; my fingers were all thumbs. At last, however, it was opened. I thanked my lucky star that my wife was fast asleep; and I succeeded in getting to bed without disturbing her. Os course I could not go to sleep. The effects of the. drugging had passed off—l knew now I had been drugged, for what damnable purpose I could not c 'njecture, no more than I could account for the other mysterious events of this most remarkable even ing I had ever experienced —leaving me in a most nervous state. If it had been a case of robbery the mystery would have been cleared up to my mind immediately; but the fact that a handsome diamond that I wore on my small finger was not missing, and also quite a large amount of money that I happened to have had in my pocket was still there made it more inexplicable. The more I tried to un ravel it, the more unfathomable the J whole affair became. It was a deeply laid plot of which I was the victim,! though for what purpose I could at tribute not the slightest motive. For days I could think of nothing else. I said nothing to my wife ajjout j it. While I could justify my actions j iu the affair to my own mind, I was j not quite sure I could do so to hers. In fact my wife had been in an ex-1 tremely nervous condition for a long time, and of late I noticed she had be come more depressed than ever. I do not know what raised the sus picion in my mind, hut I took a sud den fancy that my wife’s late depres sion was in some way connected with my mvsterious adventure. A ques tion she asked me completely con firmed this suspicion and filled me with added alarm. It was a question relating to an ex perience of my past life, of which I had never spoken except in the pres ence of the father and daughter the night of my strange visit and through which source I felt sure she could only gain a possible knowledge of the same. I determined at all hazards to investi gate at least what connection my wife : could have in the chain of mystery 1 that was surrounding me. An opportunity offered itself the very next day. I happened to be in . Marshall Field’s great store dolm? > some purchasing for myself, when I l spied my wlf® coming out of one of the doors leading upon the main street t as I was about to pass out of another, r I started to attract her attention when 1 I noticed her signal for a cab. This r circumstance aroused my suspicion, as ; it was an unusual thing for my wife ► to do. I Immediately hailed another s and followed her. I could not help :- feeling guilty in this new role of all r our married life, as spy upon my wife’s actlona. Not that I suspected her of e anything wrong at the time. I was e [following her more as a protector, and at the same time determined to investigate the diabolical agencies at work to destroy the happiness of uiy home and family. I told the driver to follow my wife's cab, and at the end of its destination to stop about a square behind. He followed these instructions and after a long, noisy ride over the rough cobbles, halted abruptly and opened the cab door for me to alight. I paid him and dismissed the cab, and as I saw my wife’s dress disappear in a doorway down about the middle of the next square, made for that di rection. My heart gave a bound as I hur ried up the steps to the door I had seen her enter. By some lucky chance it was unlatched, and I walked into the house. Great Heavens! The same rich hangings, the divan with its crim son drapery, the paintings—all re vealed themselves in the glare of broad daylight. I heard the murmur of voices somewhere in the house and paused to catch the direction of the sound. I could not seem to make out. Every minute was as an hour. I stood in breathless expectation a while long er, then passed noiselessly over the velvet carpet into the adjoining room. A heavy portiere at the rear led into still another, and from thence the voices proceeded., I recognized my wife’s in the most excited tone. I glided closer to the curtain and dis tinctly heard these words: “What you havo already told me I cannot help believe and while I would know more, I am afraid Ohl I can not! not now I ” “Madam ” some one interrupted in the unmistakable voice of my even ing’s enchantress, “I am simply about to present my impression of your husband as ho appears to me in (hat astral personality which, he is most probably unconscious of possessing.” Tliero was a deathlike stillness for a few minutes; suddenly broken by my wifo’s voice in the most agitated tone accompanied with a low sobbing: “Oh my God! I cannot look! It is my husband and yet so strangely dif ferent!” I could hold back no longer; I drew aside the curtain and through the folding doors which were opened wide enough for the purpose, passed in. I found myself in total darkness. There were a few seconds of suspense and then—at first indistinctly, then clearer and clearer out of the dark ness—a face appeared; finally stand ing in startling bas-relief against a fiery nimbus that surrounded it. In the wide open staring eyes, the com pressed lips and sunken cheeks, ' r rec ognized my own phyloguomy! “Sylvia!” It was my wife’s name I had ut tered before I was conscious what I had done. There was a distinct, scream from each woman; one of them fell! I groped my way in the darkness and found it was my wife. I picked her up in my arms and got out of the room and house I know not how. I havo a vague memory of hailing a cab and placing my wife in it and then driv ing home. All that night she was too ill to move; but the next morning she had recovered enough for me to report at police head-quarters. The detective to whom I told my story smiled. “You have been in the hands of a couple of notorious adventurers,” ho explained, “for whose arrest the au thorities of some large cities in this country and abroad are on the alert. The woman is a clairvoyant, and pro fesses to make a specialty of the sci ence of double personality; practicing this humbuggery by the desperate means you describe by which she has gathered a large clientele in this city. The experiment in your case Is one of the most daring. The apparition of your face is a reproduction of a photo graph taken in your s/cnseloßs state that evening in their house, for which purpose you were decoyed there and drugged. This by a clever stereopti con effect was used to present the startling revelation of your second personality for your.wife’s benefit, who happens to be a patron of theirs, and for whom the trick was contrived. They were arrested las f night.” FEEDING TUE HIIWIES. Made Friends by Hanging Fat Meat Out for Them in Winter. Bird Lore, in its notes on winter feeding of wild birds gives a number of methods for such feeding that may be easily employed hy any kindly per son with the greatest satisfaction. At this time of year birds, like domestic fowls, appreciate fat food. Soup bones, after they have served their purpose in the kettle, may he hung in a tree or elsewhere so that cats may not get at the feathered visitors. Here the birds will pick away every bit of meat I and gristle. Suet may be put in the trees this way or the carcass of a \ fowl, and blue jays, nuthatches, wood ] peckers and chicadees, not to mention J the English sparrows, will visit this luncheon with delight. A correspondent writing from Jack sonville, 111., says: “Ever since I be gan bird study, six years ago, I have kept a winter bird table; and it has been a never-failing source of pleasure and instruction to me as well as a help to my bird guests during the bad weather. We have an acre of ground around our home, and fine trees, but there are streets on all but the north side, so I chose that side for the bird table, as It. is the most sheltered and at the same time affords us the best ehance to watch the birds from the house. I began by tying lumps of suet up in small trees near the windows and very soon my guests began to arrive. Later I devised a plan for bringing the suet eaters within closer range. I fastened a rough stick, two or three in'- 1 "s in diameter, to the window shutters, aeross the window a little helow the middle sash and upon this stick I tied my lump of suet. "From that time we have had the ' pleasure all winter long of watching our bird neb-’'-' at their luncheon . while sitting at our own dining table i I also fastened a wooden tray to the i sill into which we put cracked nuts i and chopped suet. The most constsn* > visitors were the chickadees and wood r seekers; then bluetays, titmice, show ) birds and e’-‘ v otebes. with once in a 1 while a cardinal. Os t.he«e the cbtk ? adees and downy woodpeckers are the f tamest. When the spring migrant' s return we find black-birds and cat birds patronizing the suet. Almost al j the winter birds are fond of both nut t mid suet. No one nosd ever waste old 1 or rancid nuts. The birds will be glad to get them. s Another Illinois correspondent says: l "Last fall 1 hung a hirdfood 3helf at £ our south window and early each morn r ing put cracked nuts, suet and bird i seed on it. Several tufted titmice 1 visited it the first morning. In a day I or two snow-birds and chickadees came s in flocks. 'White-breasted nuthatches, a downy and hairy woodpeckers, a wliite f crowned sparrow and a red bellied i- woodpecker were constant visitors all winter, often coming several times n ’- day. A mocking bird cam© until the t middle of Pecemher, making In nil ’ nine kinds of birds. These birds nil } enjoyed the fresh fat pork I nailed to 3 a nearby tree.” I ITo* Royal Red Cross. f The coveted Royal Red Cross of * England lias been conferred upon Mrs. Violet Clay, ns an expression of merit 1 for her services during and after. the - terrible Indian earthquake which recent ' ly occured at Dhartnsala. Mrs. Clay is MRS. VIOLET CLAY. the youngest daughter of Sir Henry Nightingale and the wife of Major C. 11. Clay of the 7th Gurkha Rides, who was seriously injured, during the earthquake while saving the life of his little son. The Adorable Patti. The famous Adelina Patti, always young, despite her years, first appeared in 1851), at tho New York Academy ot Music. Blio was brought forward under tho direction of her kinsman and mas ter, Maurice Strakoseli, in the title rolo of “Lucl di Lainmermoor." Sho was then only 1G years old, but had already learned to manage her voice, u flute-like flexible soprano, with extraordinary skill and taste, and capamo critics at once recognized in tho debutante one of those rare singers Who appear at long Intervals on tho musical horizon to revive not only the hopes of man agers, but the enthusiasm of the public, This prediction had quick fulfilment. After a short Initial engagement In Philadelphia, Mile. Patti, piloted hy Strakoßoh, embarked on a concert tour which ended at New Orleans, whence sho snlled for London where sho may be said to have fairly begun a career, which, llko her art, must remain long unique In lyric annals. Thereafter for upward of 40 years, she held first place, and during the greater part of that time, she was not only a sweeter, but a better singer than any other woman in the world. Her name lends a gold en ending to nny record of tho early days of opera in America. ____ A ■» Adulterated Dresden. Public attention is being directed to the wholesale manner in which the materials that keep us warm during the day, and the blankets which cover us at night, are adulterated. The silk dress of tho lady of a hun dred years ago rustled as sho moved, ou account of the genuineness of the fabric; now it rustics with 3G per cent of salts of tin used to commercialize it. The lady ot the period in her silk dress is, indeed, a sort of “woman In armor.” Epsom salts, instead of being used or medicinal purposes, as formerly, are now employed, it would appear, for loading flannel. Tho so-called table linen of today is not pure linen, such as delighted the hearts of the house- J wives of olden times but Is made | largely of cotton, filled with china clay and starch. So. too, collars are often of cotton merely faced with linen. In a word, nearly every kind of fabric sold, Is adulterated in some form or other, and the public, in blissful Ignor ance of the truth, finding how poorly tho things wear, lays the blame upon the laundryman, tho dyer or the cleaner, instead of upon the real cul prit, the manufacturer. It Is believed that there Is some dan ger of the skin being attacked by disease as a result of the really poison ous substances which are set free hy . the action of perspiration upon the me tallic compounds contained la appar , ently Innocent wearing apparel. * A GDI With Each Ticket. George Adams, the manager ot tho l Crystal Theatre of Denver, is operating : his play-house upon unique lines. For i .some time he has given away souvenirs i to all his patrons, some of them of I considerable value. He has now stocked t a large store with about everything i that is needed in housekeeping, and is t issuing a trading stamp or coupon with i every ticket to the theater. Tho value > ot each coupon Is ten cents and these r trading coupons can he exchanged at r the store for articles ranging from teD 5 cents to twenty-five dollars. Mr. Adams has Just Imported a car 1 load of dishes from Germany, and be I ; states that he has, during the winter, already given away, to Crystal Theater r " goers, nqpre than three car loads of - | articles. : 45c DISH PAN SAVED * — V v Jofm’nTln W»n'!*ran4 f ¥ a Hat/’h. fJon’t pmy Ui«* tlnwnilth 16 |- c cent* time yon a little dSW Wnk In your pan*, pot*, r * uy WZ » mc. It yonnalf In half a minute. #*r»d 100cHh#r mend* for 14 ** \ * * — Ni ot-, ,t. •r)*-rui H+nAyfnr ln*U/»t f. j UM'. Men all hoi**, from the *lz* of a i»tn point to !-? Inchin 6 * rtturneter. UrruUin hou*ch/ Id convenh-w* tjwr Invent*/!. « j Write to-day for Hi John’* Tin »**Tif*pro > aid • par Gozen. $1.46. prepaid. Bonanza for atfeuta. E. N. COHNEAU &. CO., II 1 oe»t. 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