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About Conyers weekly. (Conyers, GA.) 1895-1901 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1895)
LIFE .ANB LOVE. Life has hurried Love away, : JLs though he never knew its birth. < Love holds no lasting fealty here, 1 Upon this solemn earth. Love, the bondsman, came an hour To sport above t. ,e web of things; Life, the master, went hi3 way— Crushed are the irised wings. —Melville Upton, in Scribner. OUR INVISIBLE GUEST. EX H. C. DODGE. were spending I f a pleasant even¬ ing in the parlor If of my father’s i handsome coun¬ I fr mm I . the bell try started home front rang us door¬ when and all BBai into guessing who our visitor might \ be. In spite of my blushing attempt to ridicule the idea it was pretty well of settled—by the youngest mem¬ bers our family, at least—that our caller would prove to be a young man and neighbor supposed to be deeply in love with me, when our dainty waiting maid announced a messenger with a telegram. Of course that unusual event in our rural and sometimes too quiet exist¬ ence, caused a little commotion, and, as the dispatch was addressed to me, I was watched with curious eyes while I opened the envelope and read its con¬ tents. “Will start to-morrow to visit you,” it said; “have sent trunk to-day,” signed, “Mary Norton.” She was my very dearest girl friend on earth and had long promised to visit me. The anticipation of her coming made everyone so happy that nothing more was said about my “beau,” for which t was thankful. The next afternoon the expressman brought the expected trunk. I had it taken upstairs and placed in my room, for I insisted that my best friend should share my lovely, sunny bed chamber and not be poked away in the cold apartment reserved for ordinary guests. After some trouble and complain¬ ing, for the trank was unusually large and heavy, the expressman, helped by oar gardener, carried it up and set it against the foot of my bed, there to wait for its beloved owner. As I have mentioned, our house and grounds were large and handsome, for my father, being rich, prided himself on maintaining a home befitting a country gentleman. We also pos¬ sessed much jewelry and other rare treasures, and, for fear of robbers, our house was well protected without by dogs and within by bolts and bars and electric alarms at each door and window. In addition we all had large dinner bells by our bedsides to ring furiously in case of necessity, and the male portion of the family had no end of guns and handy pistols. Consequently, on the following morning when we discovered that we had been robbed during the night, we were frightened and shocked beyond measure. Almost every room had been en¬ tered and nearly all oar jewelry was gone. Even watches from under pil¬ lows and pocketbooks from father’s and brother’s trousers had been taken. And most puzzling and alarming of all was the fact that not the slightest sign of breaking in or out could be found at a single door or window. The electric contrivances were all un¬ disturbed. Who could have done the robbery ? We couldn’t suspect our servants of an y share in the crime, for long years of faithful duty proved the contrary. If a burglar had secreted himself in the house before closing time, which seemed probable, how could he have gotten out and left no trace? The more we tried to solve the riddle the more mysterious it became to us, though the village constable, hastily sent for, said he’d soon have a theory to work on, In the afternoon of that awful day another telegram came to our house from Mary Norton. It read: “Moth¬ er suddenly ill. Cannot come. Will send for trunk. Please deliver to ex¬ pressman when he calls. Will write particulars. ” In an hour following that came the expressman and, glad that Mary was to be spared the unpleasantness of a visit at such a forlorn time, we again let our man help him away with the heavy trunk from its place at the foot of my bed. For a week we did our best, assisted, too, by city detectives, to discover a due to the robbers, but all in vain. And every day we sent to the post office for my friend’s promised letter, hot none came. Then anxious for fear her mother was seriously ill, I wrote to her. By return mail came an answer, saying she had sent neither trank nor telegrams, that her mother was not siek, and asking what it all meant. At once I understood our robbery. The .burglar had been in the trunk when it carue, he had passed the night, save when he was making the round of the house, in my room when 1 was alone ; then with his valuable plunder he had been shipped away in his queer hiding place. No wonder the trunk was heavy and big. No doubt from peepholes in it the robber had watched me until certain I was sound asleep. Then out he must have crept and—the thought made me shudder and feel faint. But, though we admired the cunning and bold trick, we immediately set about tracing the trunk to where it went after leaving our house. The expressman, whom we found to be honest and unsuspicious in the mat¬ ter, had given it to the railroad which, on telegraphic orders, had forwarded it to an adjacent city. There it was called for and taken away by a dray¬ man who likely was an accomplice of the burglar, for no one at the station knew him and nothing further could be learned regarding the trunk, at least for the time being. Now comes the strangest and almost incredible part of my story. Some months after our robbery I was on a week's visit at my uncle’s house in a distant town. Like my father’s, it was spacious, and showed evidence of the wealth it contained. One evening after supper and while we were all gathered in the parlor a telegram was brought in and handed to my Cousin Alice. Of course my detective curiosity was aroused at the similarity of the event and when it turned out to be almost identical in its reading with the one sent to me the night before our burglar, I in¬ stantly knew what was coming. So did the rest, for they, as you may guess, were not ignorant of the af¬ fair. For some moments we gazed at each other in speechless astonishment. Then Uncle John, bound to joke, no matter what happened, asked me with mock seriousness if I would like the expected trunk set in my room, which, being the guest chamber, was the right place for it. My look of terror made him smile in sj of his straight face. “No! No!” I gasped, * ‘I should die at the sight of it. Oh, Uncle John, do send for the police at once, I’m sure we’ll all be murdered in our sleep.” ‘ ‘Yes, but we want to trap your bur¬ glar friend,” he laughed, “and maybe recover your jewels. However, if you are so unhospitable, perhaps Alice will take the stranger in. ” But Alice, with a face more scared than mine, declared positively that she wouldn’t. “Well, theD, I will do the honors,” said uncle, glancing mischievously at his frightened wife. ‘ ‘John ! you shall do no such thing, ” spoke up auntie, with a trembling voice, “I’ll have the trunk thrown down the well as soon as it arrives. No burglar, dead or alive, comes into my room. The idea!” Finally we settLed down to business and fixed on a plan to catch the com¬ ing burglar red-handed and without any danger to ourselves. Early next morning I moved from the guest’s chamber to my room with cousin Alice. Then my deserted apart¬ ment had its windows securely barred, so that our expected guest could not escape through them should he feel so inclined, and its door was fixed to be strongly bolted from outside, in the hall. Some old watches and jewelry of small value were carelessly left on the dressing case to tempt the rascal and keep him in innocence of our crafty scheme. Several well-armed men were to he stationed quietly in and about the house, to do whatever fighting might be necessary, though our plan was to let the burglar rest in fancied peace, if possible. Then, after his departure in the trunk, we were to follow and capture his pals in the city, and so re¬ cover the previously stolen articles. ’Tis needless to mention our excite¬ ment, of waiting all the next day for the trunk, or our scarcely concealed agitation when, toward evening, it arrived. Uncle John himself, loudly proclaim¬ ing his gladness at the pleasure of the visit it promised, helped the unsus¬ pecting expressman up the broad stair¬ case and carefully left it in the guest chamber, right side up aud where it could be observed from the hall by peeping through the key-hole of the well-fastened door. Before dark I mustered courage enough to steal in stockinged feet to the key-hole and peek im Yes, the trunk was the very one I had entertained and even sat on in my room at home, with never a thought of iti horrid occupant. Ugh! The sight of it sent chills through me aud aroused a feeling on my scalp, as if my hair was trying to erect itself. Hastily I ran away from that worse than Blue Beard chamber, and never stopped shivering till supper was over. You may be sure no eyes were closed in the house that night. The men guarding the hall heard the knob of the prison-room door softly tried, but, of course* it didn’t open, which was lucky for the rascal within. At last daylight came and relieved us of some of our awful suspense. After breakfast Uncle John noiselessly unbolted the door and, carelessly hum¬ ming a tune and concealing a handy weapon, entered the room. The trunk stood just as it was left the evening before. But the jewelry and stuff had disappeared from the dressing-ease. When brave Uncle John returned to ns to report his eyes shone with a hunter’s delight, His game was trapped and ready to be bagged when the time came. Just before dinner the other tele¬ gram, almost a duplicate of urine, arrived, and after it the expressman for the trunk. Again uncle and the still unsuspicious man lifted the burglar’s receptacle and placed it on the wagon to go to the railroad sta¬ tion. Then, as we watched it driven away with uncle and a pair of constables following in a buggy, we dared speak above a whisper. The rest of the story uncle told us on the following day, when he came home safely from liis hazardous trip. “At the station,” he said, “we found a nice looking, respectable chap waiting. When the trunk appeared he paid the expressman and checked the Trunk through to New York, to which place I bought my ticket, and, also, telegraphed on for city police detectives to meet me on arrival of the train. ‘ ‘When the trunk was placed in the baggage part of the smoking car its owner got on board and took his seat among the smokers. Ns innocent as a babe I plumped down beside him and in a right friendly way offered him. a cigar, which, like a gentleman, he accepted. Then, puffing our cigars together as chummy as you please, we soon got acquainted and had a truly delightful chat—principally about the weather, though, for the fellow was mighty careful to avoid other topics. “When we reached New York I found it necessary to attend to some business, which concerned him rather more than he thought, so shaking hands ‘good-bye,’ and expressing a hope to become better acquainted, I left him watched by my town con¬ stables while 1 sought my smarter city detectives and put them ‘onto him.’ “His drayman was on band waiting near the baggage-room. As soon as he got the trunk on his cart and drove off a ways my smoking friend was neatly “collared and cuffed” and marched in an opposite direction be¬ tween two valiant policeman. Then the detectives and my self took a cab and started after the trunk. “‘Through streets becoming dirtier and wickeder we followed, without at¬ tracting suspicion from the drayman, until he stopped before an apparently unoccupied house and prepared to un¬ load. Ere he could do so one detec¬ tive jumped on his cart, and without speaking started his horse ahead again. The other, aided by me, grabbed the fellow and prevented him from mak¬ ing an outcry to alarm his pal in the trunk. Immediately several police¬ men who I didn’t know were following behind suddenly appeared and burst into the house which turned out to be a ‘fenee’ for the thieves. “Leaving our surprised drayman in charge of some of the officers we seated ourselves in the cab and again followed the trunk to a police station house, into which it was carried and placed in front of the captain’s desk on the floor. “Then silently we awaited results. It was dusk, and as no lights were yet burning to let our game see where he was we rightly supposed he would think himself safe at home and act ac¬ cordingly. Prepared to turn on the gas full blaze when he did so, we watched the trunk. For perhaps fif¬ teen anxious minutes it seemed life¬ less. Then we heard a movement in¬ side, heard a bolt drawn and saw the lid slowly rise and a head cautiously appear. Up went the gas and over went the trunk’s lid, pulled by an armed office. At first the head, or its face rather, wore a happy, tri¬ umphant, broad grin; then as things didn’t look familiar its eyes opened wider in an effort to understand mat¬ ters. while the grin faded away like a rainbow. Then, as the facts of the case forced themselves on the bur¬ glar’s startled brain the poor fellow’s hair straightened, his eyes bulged out like a lobster’s and the astonishment and terror depicted on his youthful, but evil features beat acting all hollow. “‘Come out of that, you scamp 1’ shouted the police captain as soon as he could talk for laughing, ‘and give an account of yourself, What’s the name of this particular racket any¬ how ?’ “The burglar tried to laugh ‘Oh, also, but it was a dismal failure. that’s all right,’ he grinned, ‘I took yez for the conductor. That’s why I was scared. Yer see, I’ve been beating the railroad, boss. ’Taint every chap kin git ahead of old Vanderbilt and Chauncey Dee-pue. But don’t tell ’em, kors they’ll be a-opening all the trunks on the line and the wimmin might object. Ha, ha, ha! Say,purty slick trick, wasn’t it?’ “The burglar’s bluff was good, but it didn’t work for a cent. a 6 What yer doing with those watches in the trunk?’ asked a police¬ man as he fished them out after the fellow had painfully managed to crawl out himself. “ ‘deem’ if the road runs on time, boss. The blamed train was ten min¬ utes late and I’m goin’ to report it. Say, yer hain’t got a swaller of whisky yer could lend a tired traveler, hey? Couldn’t get at the water cooler, yer know. ’ < Well, you’ll have no trouble get¬ ting at the ‘cooler’ now. Lock him up, Sergeant. We’ll give him another free trip to-morrow. ’ “Off to the cell they took the wretch, and then we examined his trunk. It was padded inside so that being tossed about by baggage smashers couldn’t hurt. There were pockets made to button in the lining, but only a coujtle were filled with his plunder. Some empty flasks ami crumbs of food we found. In the bot¬ tom and sides were ventilating and peepholes. A man might live a week in that trunk, I think, if his provisions held out. ” In a week or so I received a notice to appear in a New York court to give my testimony and identify the things stolen at my own home, most of which we recovered. I saw the trunk again, and its occupant, but I guess he knew me better than I did him. —Detroit Free Press. SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL. A shorthand typewriter is the latest invention. On a warm day sound travels at the rate of 775 miles an hour. More people have died from cclcls than were ever killed in battle. The speed of the newest rapid-fire guns is at the rate of 1968 miles an hour. Every pontoon used in the French Army weighs 1658 pounds and has a buoyancy of 18,675 pounds. The hottest place in the United States last summer was Bagdad, Ari¬ zona, where the mercury often reached 14.0 degrees in the shade. A gas "well with a pressure of over 4,000,000 feet near West Mnncie, Ind., is on fire, and all efforts to check the flames have so far proved futile. Experiments with aluminum at the Navy Department render it likely that it will form an important part in the construction of light craft here¬ after. Piscatorial authorities say that, were it not for the natural enemies of fish, the codfish would fill all the available space in the seas, rivers and oceans. A tiny electric light fastened to the end of a pencil is a recent invention to enable reporters to make notes in darkness, and find the hey hole when they reach home. Our nickel five cent piece gives a key to the intricacies of the metric system, as it weighs exactly five grammes, and it is exactly two centi¬ metres in diameter. Two physicians have arrived at the conclusion that most persons struck by lightning and to all appearances dead could be recalled to life by ap¬ plying the method of artificial respir¬ ation in use for resuscitating th9 drowned. Professor Langley demonstrates that if a body of coal sufficiently large to last the United States a thousand years should be set on fire, the heat given forth from it would not equal that which the sun gives out in the thousandth part of a second. The interior of Greenland is esti¬ mated to be covered with a shield¬ shaped cap of snow and ice not less than 5000 feet, or one mile in thick - ness. In winter this mighty shield is even thicker, and its gross tonnage becomes something that paralyzes the imagination and banrupts the box where the printer keeps his zero signs. The English Government report of an investigation into the influenza epidemic of the last four years, re¬ gards the proof of the contagiousness of the disease from person to person as overwhelming, and denies that it is transported through the atmosphere; another warning of the folly of un¬ necessary contact with the sick, or contact without precautions ; an emi¬ nent laryngologist attributes the con¬ tagiousness to the breath. Danger in the Bath. Some of the facts recently brought to light oh the philosophy of bathing are as interesting as they are import¬ ant, and special mention may be made of the investigation in this line by M. Wertheimer, of Paris, and now com¬ municated bj him to the public. He shows that a sensation of cold on the skin acts as a circulation of the lower part of the trunk, that is to say, <U1 the veins, and also on the brain, in the same way as a mechanical or electrical stimulus of the sensitive nerves of the skin. This observation, it is declared, affords an explanation of the fact that a sudden immersion of the body in cold water after a meal. and while the process of digestion is going on, may be'attended with dan¬ ger ; at such a time the abdominal system is the seat of intense physio¬ logical congestion, and the accumula¬ tion of blood in it is suddenly thrown back toward the nervous centres, and the consequence may be a disorder re¬ sulting in death.—New York Tele¬ gram. Auntie—“Does your new doll close its eyes?” Little Ethel—“Yes’m, but she is the most wakeful child I ever saw. She doesn’t shut her eyes when I lay her down, as she ought to. The only way to make her go to sleep is to stand her on her head and 6hake her.” —Good News. THE BRIGHT SIDE. Lookin’ on the bright side— That’s the way to go ; Bet you it's the right side- Summertime cr snow ! Nuthin’ much in grievin'— Keeps you in the groove ; It’s a man’s believin’ Makes the mountains movo Clouds is got a light side— All the bells’ll chime ; Lookin’ on the bright side Gits there every time —Atlanta Constitution. IllLHOR OF THE PAY. Peacemakers and fools carry cracked heads. A lie never stops to put its hat. —Ham’s Horn. It is not what one knows, but how one tells it, that determines one’s ability. You can always tickle a girl with a feather, if it happens to be an ostrich feather. —Puck. There is not faith enough in this world to go around and never was. Galveston News. The woman \vko is vain of her beauty is as wise as the man who is vain of his brains.—Puck. The man who is “always on the go,” generally doesn’t know how to stop when he gets there.—Puck. When a girl goes visiting she re¬ turns home as soon as she has worn all her dresses—Atchison Globe. Many a man wlio would like to re¬ form the world has a front gate that won’t stay shut. —Plain’s Horn. Borrows—“Have you any spare funds?” Lenddes (curtly) --“My funds are all spare. ”—Chicago Record. “Nothing succeeds like distress,’ remarked the beggar, as lie counted his coin at the end of the day.—Fun. Little grains of wisdom, Little bits of sense, Have a way of making Cupid less intense. Free Press. —Detroit The battleship does well enough at long range, but when she comes on a reef, then comes the tag.—Boston Transcript. A good many boys have turned out badly, because they had fathers who made them work with a dull hoe.— Barn’s Horn. “There’s a lesson to be learned from the pin, my son. It is given a head that it may not go too far. "—Boston Transcript. The man who discovered that the darkest hour is just before the dawn, must have been making a night of it. —Philadelphia Life. Teacher—“In the sentence, ‘Time is money,’ can you parse money?” Scholar— ‘ ‘Yes’m, if it is good money. ” —Detroit Free Press. Polite Gentleman (in street car) — “Take my seat, madaine.” Lady— “Never mind, thank you. I get out here, too.”—New York Weekly. That woman the weaker vessel is Full many a doubt ho hath, AVho feels the weighty contents of The vials of her wrath. —Puck. In Iceland whistling is regarded as a violation of the divine law. In most countries, however, it is regarded only as a confounded nuisance.—Boston Transcript. Criticus—“I’d be ashamed to write such stuff as you write.” Authors— “Of course, you would. Everybody would say it was plagiarized.”—Chi¬ cago Becord. Minnie—“Don’t you think our modern styles are just horrid? Ido.” Mamie—“Is that the reason you are still wearing your last year’s bon¬ net?”—Indianapolis Journal. Westerly—“I tell you there’s elec¬ tricity in the air out West. You can’t get the Chicago atmosphere in New York.” Hudson—“Yes, you can. Walk just behind a garbage cart.”- Kate Field’s Washington. Mrs. Van Asthelt—“I suppose you take a lively interest Lord in the Saxonorme?” politics of your cou fitry, Lord Saxonorme (with pride) — “Oh, dear, no. I’m a member of the House of Lords, y’ know.”—Chicago Bec¬ ord. Clara—“Going in for charity again, are you? What is it this time?” Dora —“We are going to distribute cheap copies of Beethoven’s symphonies among the poor. Music is such an aid to digestion, you know.”—New York Weekly. Master (examinii ipils in geog raphy) — “What is CD name of this town?” Pupil—“Birmingham.” Mas¬ ter— “What is it noted for?” Pupil— “Firearms.” Master—“What are fire¬ arms?” Pupil—‘Toker, shovel and tongs. ”—Tit-Bits. Kestful Bags—“What’s become of Pete?” Weary William (shaking his head)—“Don’t ask me, Ragsy. He’s gone to the bad.” Restful Bags—“In jail, eh?” Weary William—“Worse than that! He’s workin’ reg’lar in a factory.”—Kate Field’s Washington. First Young Lady—“Do you always buy two kinds of paper?” Second Young Lady—“Always. You see, when I write to Charlie I use red paper; that means love. When I answer -Jim’s letters I use blue paper, which means ‘faithful unto death.’ ”—Brooklyn Life.
