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STAINS. ) The three ghosts on the lonesome road Spake each to one another, “Whence came that stain about your mouth No lifted hand may cover?”’ “From eating of forbidden fruit, Brother, my brother.” The three ghosts on the sunless road Spake each to one another, “When came that red burn on your foot ‘No dust or ash may cover?”’ “l stamped a neighbor's hearth-flame out, Brother, my brother.” The three ghosts on the windless road Spake each to one another, “Whence came that bloo‘('l upon your hand No other hand may cover?”’ “From breaking of a woman's heart, Brother, my brotner.” “Yet on the earth clean men We walked, Glutton and Thief and Lover; White flesh and fair it hid our stains That no man might discover.” “Naked the soul goes up to God, Brother, my brotaer.” —Theodosia Garrison, in Scribner’s. Crab Apple Blossoms. “Madam—" The lady waiting the car at the crossing turned in surprise. Her es cort, not understanding if she knew the one wno addressed her, simply looked at the man. He might have been fifty years of age, but there was a something in his face that for the moment made him look almost youthful; a flush along the check, as of boy’s bl'oo"d, and an eager look in the eye that almost made it dance and glow. He was well enough dressed-—but there was neither osten tation nor scrupulous care. His hat was in the right hand. “I ask a thousand pardons, madam, for thus addressing a total stranger.” So he was not an acquaintance. The escort understood exactly what to do now, He had dealt with impertinence before. ' “You insolant——" he began. ; But the lady, a moment ago frigid, seemed to wave him aside somehow by her manner and to be disposed now to hear the stranger. “You addressad me, sir?” she said. “I again ask your pardon,” he re plied in a voice that quite reassured her. “But I should esteem it a great favor if you would tell me the Kkind of perfume on your handkerchief.” The escort started, astounded. The lady answered courteously: “There is one . drop of crabapple blossom extract on my handkerchief.” A thousand thanks!” he replied, and was gone, _.”Mad as a March hare!” exclaimed her escort, bringing rimself together. “Perhaps sO,” replied the lady, “and yet__n For many months she suffered in secret for not having asked why he wished to know. Ah, that curiosity of women! Like to nothing else in the world except the curiosity of men! “Ilt is shameful!” exclaimed the drummer’'s wife— she wnd her hus band ha¢g the front rooms in the second story—discussing the elderly gentleman occupying the large room, originally the parlor, on the first floor. The lodger in question paid prompt ly, hence the landlady was rather more discreet than usual in her opin fon. “Who'd a thought it?” shy replied, really committing herself to nothing. “A sot, a perfect rot, -and nothing but a sot!” was the answer. “The worst kind of one, too. He sits for hours in the easy chair of his, sunk im stupor. Formerly ¢ either read or went out. It’s opium or whiskey or some drug, you may be sure of itl” : “Yet he doesn’t seem to show any traces of that sort of dissipation,” said the landlady, thoughfully. “In fact, I told him the other day he looked ten years younger. His step is springy, he holds his shoulder up and his eye is bright.” “Pshaw! The effect of the whisky or drug, that's all!” said the drum mer’s wife, who knew a tning or two, having once read a page or S 0 in a medical book while waiting for a con sultation at a physician’s oflice. “It’s a sad case, and at his age!” “Oh, it’s never too late for a man, a single man, to fall into bad habits!” “But how——"" a question here sud denly occurred to the landlady—*“did you find out all this about the first floor lodger? He generally has his door closed.” “Well, you know what a prying, cu rious thing Julia, the nousegirl, is. I've tried to break her of it a thou sand times, but eveiy now and then a keyhole is too much for her. And Tom, the negro dining room waiter, is every bit as bad as she is!” For the next half hour they dis cussed this strange failing of domes tics. They then summoned Tom for further details. The rumor spread, and friends heard of how the celibate was throwing fhimself away. Ong, feeling a genuine interest in him, came to see him at his room, the first time in twenty years. His knock was promptly an swered, and his hand was pressed warmly. There was a delicate perfume in the room, as of a woman’s presence, and in the grate a fire burned brightly. Next to the table was a comfortable armchair, and on it a little vial, that, without reason, caught the visitor’s eye. He voiced his surprise: “Old man, I never saw you looking better! Your face is fresh, and you have a more contented air than usual!” They had been good friends since boyhood. The visitor therefore knew the little romance his friend had borne locked in his bosom for twenty -odd years—the explanation of his bachelor hocd, his solitariness, ‘his ‘aloofness from many old associates. - “Oh, I'm feeling very well, thank you, old dellow,” the host answered, stirring the fire vigorously. } The right arm of the guest rested Qn the table at his side. The fingers idly tapping touched something. It was the little glass vial. He glanced at it curiously. “Hello! Essences,” he said. “Didn’t know you were fond of perfumes.” The other laughed a little constrain ied laugh and then replied, haif quiz zically, halif seriously: *IOO you call that a ihere vial of perfume? My friend, you are ignorant of the genius that dwells in that bot \ tle—more potent than the one the fish % erman saw rising from the cask in the Eastern tale.” “Is it so wonderful as all that?” asked the guest, smiling, “Even more! A little drop of that en a handkerchief works miracles. It revives old associations. It makes me live again a certain season of my youth when that particular perfumse, unuoticed then, stamped itself on tha ‘memory vf my senses—it was the only ‘kind she used. To breathe it is to loosen the first thread that unravels the woof of an old romance—to be young again, in a word, to dream an old dream, too long past to have its sting, yet still possessing strange sweetness. Do you know I often sit for hours under the influence of the spell I thus cast upon myself? It is more pleasant than the club—and it dces no harm, for she’s probably =z grandmother now. I am not torment ed with any unappeasable desire of possessing her, I assure you.” “You were always a strange fellow!” said his friend, sober with a vague sense of pathos in the explanation just given. “How long have you thus played the magician?” “Three or four weeks ago I passed a lady u the street. The faint per fume exhaled from her handkerchief affected me powerfully. In an instant, it brought back everything, as I have told you. I followed her, asked her what kind it was, and she told me. Thereupon I purchased a vial at a per fumer’s.” : Then for a while they discussed this faculty of the senses for treasur ing up impressions, retalning them while the mind has apparently lost all trace of the circumstances with which the sensual impression.is connected; and the strange way in which the memory of the sense, once awakened, sets to vibrating the mind’s memory, gshaking out the tangles of associa tions and making past events arrange themselves in the minde*with the cor relations of a one-time reality. And then they went over to the club.—New Orleans Times-Democrat. WASHERWOMAN’'S CONFESSIONS. Position Much Preferable to That of a Maid of All Work. A writer in th> Independent upsets the general notion that the lot of a washerwoman, like that of the police man in the “Pirates of Penzance,” is “not a happy one.” , According to this writer, who does not give her name on account of a desire to keep the nature of her profit able calling from her friends, the po sition of washerwoman Is in every way preferable to that of maid of all work. After telling of her bitter ex periences as a servant, and of her ac ceptance of an offer to do washing and ironing, she says: “I am working stzadily now and do not find it so very disagreeable. I do not enjoy washing, but nearly all of my work is ironing, and I take considerable pleasure in it, now that I have time to do it well. ~ * * In bad weather we are sometimes forced to work on Saturday, elther one oOr both of us, but I have lost only two days in this way. * * * My hands are not as pretty as they used to be, but I keep them in fair condition by wearing gloves whenever I step out of doors, and also at night. In addition we learn ..at she gets $1.50 a day and board, and that she works only five days a week, enabling her to board at a good boarding house where she has the use cf a piano. And the rest of the bdoarders think she teaches school, for th> reason that che does not werk Saturdays or Sun days. This last the writer dwells upon as if it were the finest recom mendation of all—tha fact that the knowledge that she iy a “washerwo man”’ can be kept from her friends. But doubtless the writer who des cants so glowingly on jer success in this line of work has not attained to such heights as she imagines. Her false pride, in permitting her friends to go on thinking she i a teacher instead of a washerwoman, will al ways stand in her way. &No person has ever achieved a real success in work of which he or she is ashamed —and no person can be a rcally first class washerwom@n when she does not glory in doing her work well. If such a foolish and weaix minded per son can make a partial success of washday work, evidently the field of fers even more for those who enter it whole heartedly and with all their enthusiasm. If all looked at the en nobling side of toil there would be no “problems” in housekeeping or any other field of labor, and there would be no more such foolish ‘“confessions” as thos2 publizhed by the anonymous writer whose case has heen review ed.—Denver Republican. The public health committee, of Camberwell, London, proposes tu fit up the public baths in the borough for cricket practice during the winter months. Apparently the Camberyel lians do not bathe in winter. A catalogue of autograph -letters, published by a London dealer, has sur prised a good many people by showing the fact that Charles Dickens’ full name was Charles John Huffinar Dickens. ywhat It Costs to Butt In. ; The preliminary estimates of the Japanese budget for the new year put war expenses at $385,000,000, and the ordinary expenses of th emw $60,000,000. That gives a pretty £Lood idea of-what it costs just in money for a nation to break the peace in these enlightened days.—From the Boston Transcript. ; Expensive. “Maria,” said Mr. Stubb, “what do you think of my new automobile? I‘a bought it for a mere song.” “H’'m,” mused Mrs. Stubb. “What did it cost?” “Two thousand dollars.” “Then you must be alluding to a Patti song.” FITS permanently eured. No fits or nervous ness after first day’s use of Dr, Kline’'s Great Nervellestorer,s2trial hottleand treatise free Dr.R. H. Krixg, Ltd., 981 Arch St., Phila., Pa. Excavations in Egypt have revealed a bond dated A. D. 100. " A Guaranteed Cure For Piles. Itching, Blind, Bleeding or Protruding Piles. Druggists will refund money if Pazo Qintment fails to cure in 6 to 14 days. 50c. The English waiter has. been virtually ousted from English hotels. * Piso’s Cure for Consumption is an infallible medicine for coughs and colds.—N. W. SamMUEL, Ocean Grove, N.J., Feb. 17, 1900.. The Swiss military authorities are about to adopt khaki uniforms. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup for children teething, soften the gums, reducecsinflamma tion, allays pain, eures wind colic, 25¢.a bottle The average coffee tree in Honduras pro duces half a pound of beans. To Cure a Cold in One Day Take Faxative Bromo Quinine Tablets. All druggists refund money if it fails to cure. E. W. Grove’s signature is on box. 25ec. In Japan, meat once a day is a luxury, even among the well to do. (Atl-05) : AT T D e £ e, wwtfi%i | ' e s st T, RGBSR, U e 8 N ‘u»’fé"éh (R R R S fo e e IRSRE Sleiid T BVeaw 1 S P i G v *’“a\mfi'«’i"fi;¢ <’/ il SRR LA 5 ] - By A UMy i B &l s Y Fia by AT . 8 To be a successful wife, to | retain the love and admiration of her husband should be a woman’s coastant study. If she would be all that she may, she must guard well against the signs of ill health. Mrs. Brown tells hier story for the benefit of all wives and mothers. “DEAR Mgs. PINkHAM : — Lydia B, Finkham’s Vegetable Compound will make every mother well, strong, healthy and happy. I dragged througgh nine years of miserable existence, worn out with pain and weariness. I then noticed a statement of a woman troubled as I was; and the wonderful results she had had from gour Vege table Compound, and decided to try what it would do for me, and used it for three months. At the end of that time, I was a different woman, the neighbors remarked it, and my hus band fell in love with me all over agein. It seemed like a new existence. I had been suffering with inflamma tion and falling of the womb, but your medicine cured that, and built up my entire system, till I was indeed like a new woman. — Sincerely yours, Mgs. CrAs. F. BROWN, 21 Cedar Terrace, Hot Springs, Ark., Vice President Mothers Club. — 85000 forfeit if originat of adove lstter Proving genuingness cannot be produced,