Norwalk gazette, Friday, April 10, 1896 · page 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEEKLY - N0:RWALK - GAZETTE.

 

 

 

HALF All. HOUR TO LIVE.

Last summer I was stewing away in
the office and wondering what crime I
———or my representative in some former
state—had committed to be deomed to
such a life, when one morning I re-
oeived a' note from my old friend,
Tommy Cameron, of Clinton. He

begged me to come and stay with him-

for a month."

Cameron met me at the station, and
after an hour’s drive through a most
beautiful, country we reached Clinton.
Here a surprise awaited me, flOl’ two
young ladies came forward to greet
us; they were the Misses Cameron, and
kept house for their brother.

I got on fairly well during the first
week, as I kept with Cameron most of
the time.

Whether he gave me away or not [I
cannot say, but they seemed to know I
was shunning them, and they tried
every dodge—as only women know how
—to draw me out.

I struggled hard against what I now
considered my natural self, but it was
too strong for me. One by one all the
theories and arguments I had fed on
disappeared, melted by the sunny eyes
of these girls.

As I said, there were two of them,
Madge and Floss. Madge was the
younger and prettier; she represented
the, musical and artistic instincts;
Floss, on the other hand, wasthe man~
ager; she had the brains of the estab-
lishment.

She was very nice, but she went in
for such awful things; she had some
favorite toads in the conservatory, and
she would go rambling about the coun-
try and bring home all sorts of ani-
Igals, insects and other unthinkable
things—and cut them upl—imagine a
girl doing that! ,

The other one, as I said, was not so
heavy, and went in for art; and, as you
know, I have a little learning in that
direction myself. It was natural,
therefore, that when she told me she
was going to paint a little river scene
near the house I should ask if I might
be of use. I obtained permission to
wait on her and we started the picture.

In this pleasant way the days passed
until Cameron’s return—he was away
the second week—when, of course,
there were innovations. We would
have a day’s fishing, and then a. day of.
shooting, or a long tramp over the
hills.

When out on one of these early morn—
ing tramps we met a young fellow
whom Tommy introduced as Arthur
Clisby, a friend of his.

He was the son of a large ship owner
of Dundee and was the family failure;
his chief failure, as far as I could
gather, being that he couldn’t knuckle
under.

He had been a student- at Glasgow
university and had promised to come
off well, but his individuality—which
always came to the top at the most
awkward moments—asserted itself.

-As a result he left Glasgow and soon
after had a quarrel with his father,
and, having decided that they could not
get on together, they agreed to differ——
and part. 110 had come out here into
the wilds to live and devoted his time
to abstract scientific problems, chiefly
in the electrical line.

Dinner time came and with it our
guest, but instead of the jolly good fel-
low of the morning he was now quiet.
oppressively so; never speaking unless
directly addressed, and only then an-
swering with a few quiet, direct words.

A few days after, having nothing par-
ticular in view, I determined to avail
myself of his invitation, and set off in
the direction of the “Hermitage.”

The house was an unpretentious con-
cern, but was eloquent of the individ-
uality of its master. The top floor had.
been turned into one large room, and
this he used as a laboratory; it was
a literal armory of scientific apparatus.

After a time the talk veered round

to electrical executions, and he said:

“You may remember, perhaps, the
first man they executed in this way in
New York state, and what a. fearful
hash they made of it? I was there and
saw it all; it was simply awful. Ile-
voltingl .

“The doctors, bah! they’re fools.

They thought they understood. it all,
and applied the death current at what
they considered were the nerve cen-
ters, the top of the head and the base of
the spine. ,
:6 “If they had only used their com-
mon sense and powers of observation.
they would at once have found that
in 90 cases in every 100 of the fatal
accidents in New York alone, the fatal
shock was received through the hands,
for the hands and arms being muscular.
are full of blood, and, therefore, good
conductors. '

“I set to work to devise an appliance
that would administer the death pen-
alty with the minimum amount of tor-
ture, both bodily and mental, to the
criminal. We will now take a. look at
the apparatus itself.”

» We left the house, and he led the way
across the open. until we stopped at a
door. He entered, and after groping
for a moment found the switch, and
immediately the place was full of light.

I noticed that this room was partly
cut out from the rock and partly Fuilt,
as were the others that I afterward
saw. Passing through a passage, we
entered a larger room.

“This is a turbine house,” said he.
“There are sluices running from here
to the stream 100 yards away, and when
it has done its work the water leaves
by two tunnels beneath the floor and
joins the main stream lower down.
This is the dynamo specially designed
for execution purposes.”

‘ And he pointed to a piece of apparatus
that resembled somewhat a large,
slender wheel, with numerous spokes.

“See, I will set' the thing running and
let you see it working.” He unscrewed
the valves, the governors began to spin
and the dynamo to burn, so quickly did
it turn.

‘ He opened a door and brought into
view a small room in which stood a re-

 

markable piece of furniture. He was
about to enter when he stopped sud-
denly.

“Half a moment, though; I must
slacken those. valves 3. bit,” he said, and
stepjmd over to the turbines. I entered
and began curiously to examine his in-
vention; next moment there was a
sharp click, and, turning, I found the
door closed on me.

A moment more and I was clutching
wildly at my throat and fell to the
ground, ichoking. I didn’t choke, how-
ever, for some time afterward I be-
came conscious and when I had col-
lected my scattered wits I found my-
self seated in his horrible chair-—
strapped in.

I tried to free myself, but I was firm:
ly held; my hands were each fixed in a
kind of vise, leather outside and metal
within, as I could tell by the feel. These
things were hollow and like large mit-
tens, and within them and inclosing

my hands was some liquid—mercury,

I afterward discovered. As I took in
these details the door opened and Clis-
by appeared.

“Ha! ha! 'my fine bird, you’re caged
at last, are you?”

“Don’t stand fooling there,” I mut‘
tered. “Your infernal chair is break~
ing my back.” .

“Oh, is it? We’ll soon alter that.”

He stepped to my side, but instead of
releasing me he. simply loosened the
straps at my back. This was too much
for me; I simply yellcd at him that un—
less he freed me instantly I would sim~
ply smash him when I did get. free.

“When you have finished your abuse
I will favor you with my intentions,"
and continuing: “You fancy I am your
friend, don’t you ? I am not. I am your
enemy. I hate you. You thought to
win Madge Cameron from me, and so
far you have succeeded. .

“Perhaps you did not know I loved
her, but all the same you tried to win
her, and I hate you for it. I might have
killed you awhile ago, before I turned
on the oxygen and you revived; I had
my hand on the switch, but no. I let you
revive to tell you this, to torture you the
more, for have you not stolen my

’Madge’s love from me? Oh, Madge,

Madge!” he cried.
not love me?”

“Do you think I am. going to be an
outcast from society for nothing?” he
hissed. “Think you I have spent a
whole year in making this thing for
nothing? I have waited long for a
subject, but at last I can operate, and
on you. No! No! I don’t invent things
for nothing; not I!

“You have just half an hour to live:
it. is 11:30 now; on the stroke of 12 I
complete the circuit and you will fizzle

“Oh, why will you

~up.”

He left me, a prey to horrible thoughts.

Vas there no way of escape? Would
no one come in time? And the time
passed on.

The time was almost up, and Clisby
returned. He was all smiles. He
asked me if I had any wish he might
carry out for me. I shook my head.
He offered me brandy, and I gulpcd it
down, and more, and I drank that also.

“One minute more,” he yelled, “and
I semdyou to Jericho.”

He walked toward the switch—to
kill mc—and I sat there, looking at
him. I could not remove. my eyes; I
was fascinated.

And then I saw—I saw his feet catch
in the wires that led from the switch
to my hands, and he fell. As he did
so he clutched the air, and both his
hands came down on the switch con-
tact-s.

A dreadful“ scream broke from his
lips, and he bounded up quite. six feet
in the air, and then fell backward
right in the middle of alarge, flat-dis-
tribution table. Then I saw a quick
succession of blue flashes, and imme-
diately after this the band came off
the dynamo pulley and the humming
ceased.

A grating sound drew my eyes in the
direction of the turbines. Something
was wrong evidently, for the ofl’side
bearing of one of them was literally
red hot; the gove-rmr was wrecked and
the wheel was racing away and in-
creasing in speed every moment.

It was not long before something
happened. There was a loud snap, and
then a. crash, and I saw the steel cas-
ing ripped up like paper and the water
came pouring into the room, thousands
of gallons per minute.

Slowly the, water rose, until, when it
was about six feet deep, the light went
out. I was floating about in the chair,
but I was anchored to the switchboard
by the wires. .

Beneath me I could still hear the un-
damaged turbine thrashing away, and
I rose until my head, or rather the top
of the chair, was scraping the roof,
when suddenly I felt that I was falling,
and I was rapidly carried toward the
door. - ~
The wires held for a moment, but the
jerk snapped them,~and I sailed along
the passage, through the battery-room

and out into the open, where, after

being whirled around a-- few times, I
was left high and dry till the morning.
The weight of the water had burst
Open the outer door, hence my sudden
exit. ‘

I was rescued from my unpleasant

position by Cameron himself, who had
come to look for me. We found poor,
mad Clisby quite close to Where he had
died, tangled up in some wire, and the
same ghastly smile was on his face.

No one but Cameron ever knew what
had really happened on that awful
night. We told the girls that an acci-
dent had happened and that the hermit
was dead.

For a. week I lost the proper use of
my limbs, owing to my cramped-up
state when in that chair of his, but be-
fore I left Clinto-n Madge and I found
time to finish our picture and to ar-
range a little matter that is to come dif
in the summon—Strand Magazine.

 

—The secrets of seri-eulture are said
to consist in a proper management of
temperature, dryness, a regular and
sufficient supply of food and perfectly

1} pure air. .

 

A FREIGHEMASHUP.

A freight wreck in which six cars
were'smashed up, occurred at Greens
Farms Monday afternoon. All four
tracks were blocked, the two outside
tracks for nearly four hours, and the
two inside tracks, used for freight. only,
until late in the morning. Fortunately,
none of the trainmen were hurt,a brake-
man who was on. top of one of the
wrecked cars escaping injury by jump-
mg.

The wrecked train was the east-bound
extra freight No. 4, in charge of Con-
ductor Edward Spencer. The train
passéed the Greens Farms signal tower
at 1:54 o’clock.
30-mile gait, and had reached a point
100 feet east of the tower when one of
the axles in the forward truck of a car
loaded with steel billets snapped in the
centre, letting the body of the car down
onto the track. The car snapped the
coupling between it and the one ahead
of it and ploughed into the itone ballast.
The five cars behind the wrecked one
jumped thetrack and spread out over
all four tracks.

The cars, aft-er tearing/up the ties,

rails and roadbed for a dittence-of 150.

feet, piled up together, a mass of
twisted iron and splintered wood. A
heavy box car turned completely up-
side down. Two of the six damaged
cars were smashed to kindling wood.

Notice of the accident was telegraphed
to New Haven from the Signal tower,
and. in less than an hour the New Ha-
ven wrecking crew was at work. It was
soon seen that the task of clearing up
the wreck was a big job, and the
wrecking crew from Stamford was sum-
moned. '

The two crews, with the assistance of
a. steam derlick, had the West-bound
track cleared at.4:54, three hours after
the accident. The east-bound truck
was cleared at a few minutes before 5
o’clock. All passenger trains were
obliged to Wait until then before pass-
ing.

'l'raflic over the freight tracks was
not resumed until 7 o’clock Tuesday
morning.

The wreck was one of the Worst of
recent years on the New York division.
The scene at night was a weird one,
the wrecking crews working by the
light of a fire made of shattered frag-
ments of the wrecked care, while
masses of broken timbers and heavy
pieces of twisted iron lay scattered
round on every side.

The road’a new wrecking car was
used for the first time andvdid efi'ectiVe
work. Its immense power was made to
pick up an overturned box car and turn
it in the air, depositing it on'tho track,
right side up. The Stamford and Nor-
walk section gangs found a night’s hard
work in rebuilding the torn-up roadbcd,
three carioads of newties and a earload
of new rails being required.

The remaining cars of the wrecked
train were switched back to Westpofi.
and from there sent on to New Haven.

Rev. Reins T. Cooper, foxmerly lo-
cated in New Haven and well known‘in
Norwalk, has been transferred by the
M. E. Conlereuce in session at New
Haven, to the New York Central con-
fereuce.

The funeral of Charles J. Hill Was
held from his late home on West- avenue
Tuesday afternoon, Rev. Mr. Pond oili-
ciatiag. Nephews of the deceased
acted as pail-bearers and the interment
was in the family plot at the horWulk
cemetery.

Miss Harriett Cannon, founder of the
St. Mary’s Episcopal Summer Hospital
for Children, recently established in
this city on the Camp estate, died at
her home in Peekskill, N. Y., on Sui.-
day, aged 72 years. Her title was
“Mother Superior” of the Sisterhood of
St. Mary.

‘

Among the favored few who wére al-
lowed a view otGen. Harrison's bride
before she left Ber boarding house for
St. Thomas’ church Monday aftel-
noon, was Mr. George R. Cowles, who
has made his home at the same house
as ~ Mrs. Harrison during the winter
months.

 

. Russia is going to spend 10,000,000
roubles a year for 40 years on a system
of local railroads.

An. ethnographical map of Europe by
Prof. von Haardt- is nearly ready for
publication. It will be in 16 sheets,
measuring 20x17 inches.

The lowest'known species of human-
ity are the. Aborigines of Australia.
They have. little or no reasoning pow-
ers, . and they are only controlled
through fear.

On some of the steamers which sail
on the Rhine, the passengers are sup-
plied with various kinds of table wine
from one cask. You ask for Stein-
burger Cabinet, or J ohannisberg, or
any other cheap wine, and it is placed
before you. The label is put on just be-
fpre you receive it. ‘ .

Near the bed of Prince Bismarck, in
his room at Freidrichsruh, is a pair of
scales on which the ex-chancellor
weighs himself every morning. He‘
keeps an account of the changes in his
avoirdupois in a notebook attached to
the machine.- Recently he has weighed
about 215 pounds. - ..

The British Society for the Protec-
tion of Birds has issued a leaflet on the
bird of paradise, containing an appeal
to woman throughout the world to dis-
countenance the sacrifice of this mar-
velous and beautiful bird, which is daily
becoming rarer, by refusing to wear or
purchase its feathers. '

It was running at a‘

 

ROLLED CAKES.

Easily Prepared If You Only Know How
to Proceed.

There are several species of rolled
cakes which require special treatment.
The best known of these are the rolled
sponge cakes, which are usually spread
with jelly, custard, soft chocolate or
some fillings rolled up while warm,
and when cooled out off in slices from
the end. These cakes are easily pre-
pared, although the amateur is often un-
successful because of her failure to ob-
serve two or three simple things neces-
sary_to success.

Beat the yolks of four eggs with two-
thirds of a cup of powdered sugar. This
portion of the work can be done effec-
tually with a patent beater, because all
that is necessary is a vigorous stirring.
Beat. the whites of four eggs to a stiff
froth with an egg whip, add a. table.
Spoonful of lemon juice to the yolks and
sugar. Stir it in. Fold in the beaten
whites of the eggs, being careful not
to stir or you would break down the
whites. Sift two-thirds of a cup of
pastry flour with half a. teasPOO-nful of
baking powder twice, then sift it into
the other ingredients. Mix it in care-
fully with an egg whip. Spread the
cake batter evenly on a flat biscuit-
tin and bake it 15 minutes. Take it out

of the oven and spread it while warm ,

with jelly. The edges of the cake are

apt to be dry and hard; trim these 01f

evenly. Begin rolling a little firmly at
first and continue until the roll is
formed. Pin it in compact form in a
napkin or a strip of clean cotton, when
it will stay in place. Cut olf,slices half
an inch thick from the ends. Currant
or crab-apple makes excellent jelly.
When the cake is flavored with vanilla
use a soft chocolate to spread on it.
Soak a table'spdonful of gelatine in
three tablespoonfuls of cold water f0!-
two hours. Add a quarter of a cup of
boiling water and one and two-third
cups of powdered sugar. Scrape fine
two ounces of chocolate "and melt it.
over the fire with two tablespoom‘uls
of water, and stir it with the othEr in-
gredients until a smooth paste is formed.
Spread it on the cake and roll it up
rapidly. This cake is very nice, spread
with a boiled icing in which a. cup of.
grated cocoanut ' has been stirred.
Flavor this cocoanut cake with orange
extract—N. Y. Tribune. _ . ,.

SPRING WRAPS.

Capes and Jackets Will Both Be Worn.
with tho Latter in the Lead.

It is too early for geu‘uine novelties in
spring wraps which can be accepted as
the reigning style of the season, but a.
few models which are at least new may
serve as suggestions of things to come.
Capes and jackets will both be worn,
and the latter, cut with loose fronts and
sack back, seem destined to lead the
styles in coats. ‘hey are made in
smooth-faced cloths and in velvet, as
well, when the yoke is usually trimmed
with jet. The plaitcd back is'much
more graceful than the straight- cut,
and the yoke of the velvet coat is cov-
ered with colored silk passementeric,
while accordion-plaitcd chiffon forms
the epaulets and full neck ruche.

Another coat of black cloth is slightly
curved at the side seam to fit in to the
figure, and the fullness is arranged in
two decided box plaits. The epaulets
are of white satin, closely beaded with
black. Capes are cut reasonably full
and more sloping on the shoulder to
hang gracefully over the drooping
sleeves, and finished at the neck with a
ruche of ribbon and chiffon, unless
made of cloth, when they have a high
standing collar. One model is carried
out in black duchess satin, decorated
with applique figures of colored passe-
menterie, and has a V of black velvet
down the back and front, edged with
a. ‘frill of black kilted chiffon. ’

The second cape is decidedly a sum-
mer garment, and is made of gauzy
black grenadine over a black glace silk
lining. Chine silk flowers are applied
at intervals with opal colored beads
and black paillettes, and the ruffle on
the edge and ruche around the neck are
double, of black chiffon over white.
Tailor—made capes are in all the shades
of fawn cloth, stitched around with
white silk, and a. stylish high collar is
cut out in squares around the edge,
where it is faced with velvet—N. Y.
Sun.

 

Glazed Chops.

Procure a. dozen French chops; have
the end hon-é entirely taken off.
Fasten all the chops together with a
skewer and tie them tightly‘in a good
shape. Put them in boiling water,
add a. sliced onion, bit of celery and bay
leaf. Boil hard for five minutes, and
then simmer for one hour. Take out
and cool. When cold separate chops
and trim neatly. Make a half pint of
cream sauce; add to it while hot a
quarter of a. box of gelatine that has
been soaked a quarter of an hour. Stir
the sauce until it. begins to thicken.
Dip each chop in this and lay on a flat
dish and put in the refrigerator until
wanted. These will stand for one or
two days. When ready to serve ar-
range them around a mound of mayon-'
noise of celery. Garnish each chop
with a' bit of tomato aspic and server-
St. Louis Republic.

 

_ , A Brain Association. .

Prof. Wilder, of Cornell university,
is the founder of the most unique asso-
ciation in the world. It. is known as
“The Cornell Brain Association,” and it
seeks to induce educated and eminent
persons to bequeath at death their
brains for scientific examination for
the benefit of mankind. Up to date
eight brains have been secured and 25
persons of note have promised the so-
ciety their brains when the, owners have
no further use for them. Among these
25 are Mrs. McGee, daughter of Simon
New-comb, the astronomer, and Rev.
Thomas K. Beecher, of Elmira. Blank
forms of bequest are constantly sent
out, with circulars explaining the ob-
jects, to the men and women who are
acknowledged leaderan the literary.
artistic. and scientific world—Chicago
Inter Ocean.

THE POPCORN BOY.

A Business Reversal Unheralded
by Dun or Bradstreet.

The financial stress from which the
country is now emerging has left. its
wrecks in the industrial and commer-
cial centers. When the stringency was
most severe the daily press reported
show this prominent bank had closed
its doors, that well known mercantile
house had gone to pieces and this ex-
tensive manufactory had shut down.
But. there were many minor tragedies
in this distressing period—stories of
destitution and dismay—that were full
of desolate significance to individual
lives, even though they‘gave the com-
mercial world no thrill of alarm. This
is the story of one of these unreported
“failures,” the details of which ap-
pealed to the writer with pathetic in-
terest. '

A slight and shriveled figure of me-
mium height—his growth seeming to
have been arrested before be attained
his natural stature—with thin and rue—
ful features, and eyes .under a. project-
ing forehead, and the ghost of a beard
at the chin. This was “Walter the
popcorn boy,” as travelers over the old
road of the Lake Shore have seen him
times without number at the station
in a southern Michigan village, search-
ing the car windows with a wistful
gaze for prospective patrons. So many
years has he been attendant upon the
arrival of the day trains thathis queer
and homely figure, one shoulder borne
down below the other by the weight of
the painted box he carried, suspended
by a strap and steadied with his long,
restless hands, had become as much of
a fixturc'as the sign board that swung
under the caves of the littlevpassengcr
house.) Every arrival ofa train meant
more or less raising of windows and
the exchange of nickels and pennies
for the plump sacks and the Michigan
fruit. All the trainmen were good
patrons of the faithful vendor, but it
is difficult to tell which they sought
’ the most—the cern and apples they
munched or the privilege of seeing the
happiness their purchases gave Walter,
particularly when the extent of busi-
ness made it necessary for him to hur-
ry home and stock up again. It was
plain that the vendor’s soul was in his
humble trade. You could tell that by
the gleam of joy that came into the
usually plaintive face, when trade was
brisk at the trains or some liberal pas-
sengers threw out a nickel or dime for
an apple or a bag of corn with the
cheery instructions to “never mind the
change.”

The big railway corporation. usually
very conservative about granting con-
cessions, allowed W alter to ply his
trade at the trains out of a sentiment
of loyalty (also a rare trait in railway
corporations) to his deceased father-—
a bright, capable man who worked
himself to death in the employ of the
road. Waiter did not inherit hi3 fa-
ther's uncloudcd mentality, but he
recognized the responsibility put upon
his youthful shoulders by the removal
of the breadwinner of the family and
at once took up the line of efiort to
which his taste inclined and which was
happily within the limited range of his
faculties."

The extraordinary perseverance and
unselfishness with which he followed

 

hood up, relinquishing all thoughts of
the. thousand and one diversions in
,which youth so much delights, and
foregoing any participatiOn beyond
his bare necessities in the results of
his labors, which, though not princely
by any means, went a great ways
toward keeping off the gaunt visitor,
want, from the fatherless circle—-
these acts of self-abnegation belong to
those annals of sihnt heroism which
the world never sees or applauds, but
which are written in the hearts of the
faithful ‘ones of earth and credited
above.

For nearly twenty-five years he car-
_ried on his chosen vocation with a de-
votion to duty that suggested martyr-
dom.. To make all the trains (the com-
ing of a second railroad had enlarged
his operations), to always be punctual
and to make the most of the remain-
ing hours of the day in his trade about
town was the purpose that so pos-
sessed his nature that hardly half a
dozen times in the whole period did the
faithful fellow feel disposed to give
himself a holiday, and then his recrea-
tion was limited to a day only.

The family by the thriftiness of their
combined efforts had placed themselves
beyond the need of the son’s industry,
but his work had so grown into his
life and he invested it with so much
pride and interest that he could not
think of giving it up. N 0 longer a lad,
but nearing forty, he was still the
same persistent, punctual veuder; still
know as Walter the popcorn buy. It
was merciful for him but pitiful for
others to think that it never dawned

ties was any narrower than that of
men in other callings; it never oc-
curred to him that there was anything
insignificant or petty in his poor ef-
forts. But the crude system of ac-
counts which he carried in a little
pocket memorandum he was often seen
working upon as he stood with his box
before him on the street corner; the
stress he putupon never missing a.
train or losing any time in pleasure and
his strict insistence upon the cash basis
-—all these indicated that his business
interests were as weighty to him as
the multiplied responsibilities of a

a Mandel; and they were faint evi-
dences of what a sterile, unflagging
nature, keen business acumen and
genius for conception and execution
had been fated to go crippled through
the World. ,

Even the torments and cruel Sport-
iveness of the boys who belittled his
trade and made game of his air of au-
thority and importance about the
trains, did not bring to his conscious-
ness any hint of his mental infirmity.
And well might the lads who guyed
and derided this silent hero have taken
a lesson from his faithfulness, his in-

 

dustry and business system, as well as
from the blameless character of his

 

his humble merchandising from boy-~

upon him that the range of his facul:

great mercantile house to a Stewart or'

Ilifc. Evenings found him always at.

home, and on Sunday it was his pride

to have ahumblc part to perform in

the church work and a. post of duty in

the Sunday school library which be"
discharged with greatest zeal and tol-

erated no usurping of his place by

others. ‘

Thus the monotonous tenor of Wale
ter the popcorn boy’s life went on till
the fall of 1894, when the baneful in-
fluence of the panic first became ap-
parent in the village. No matter how
banks 'might tremble and fall and
capital take alarm. no one would think
that the sale of popcorn and apples
would be affected. But they were, for
at length Walter was heard bemoaning
the let—up in trade. Perhaps there
was not such a. serious slump in his
line, after all, and he had simply
caught the calamity note from others
-—it is so quick to spread. Anyway,‘
the popcorn boy’s face grew more de- .
spairing, his tones more mournful.
Often he was seen shivering in the
chill air and making figures with a
stub of a. pencil in the pocket ‘ledger.
He was making comparisons with
sales the day before, the week before
and a. year back. He had heard ’Some
of the merchants tell how their trade
had fallen off. The comparisons were
not encouraging. ‘ «O

“Oh, it’s dreadful,” he would be
heard to wail often and again.

“What’s the matter, Walter?” one of
the boys would ask. - '

“My trade’s falling as like every-
thing,” was his rueful answer. "These
hard times will ruin me.”

He was really in despair. The calam- ~
ity contagion had hold of him. The
business aspect was as serious to him
as to the man of millions. Ilis receipts
for years had never fallen below a cer-
tain average. To his dismay the boast
he had always made would not again
be true. It wasvseezi that the worry
was telling on him. Never strong
looking, he began to look paler and
thinner.

“Oh, cheer up, Walter!” some con-
siderate bystander would say. “You’ll
come out. all right.”

It was no use. , “The figures speak
for themselves,” be said as he produced
the little book all filled with rude pen-

cilings. “I’m falling behind—I know
I am.” Many merchants sitting in

their offices in sixteen-story buildings
could sympathize with him.

Walter, the popcorn boy, was incon-
solable. It was common remark that
he was getting worse. Each day
seemed to add tollis burden of despair.
In all his quarter of a century of mer-
chandising, humble as it hal been. he
could count on profits. The prospect
of anything different was too much for
him.

I remember the last time I saw him.
It was just before the fast mail from
the west was due, shortly before two
o’clock in the afternoon of a wintry
day. Walter was standing around the
corner of the passenger station out of
the sweep pf the biting winds. He
was a picture of despondency as he
stood there silent in the sullen weather,
making figures with his shaking fin-
gers in the pocket memorandum.
“Here it is nearly two o‘clock,” he
moaned, “and I’ve taken in only nine
cents—not enough to pay expenses.”
He did not take into consideration
that home and health and a. good liv-
ing were certainties with him what-
ever might happen. He thought only
of his life-work—the thing that had
commanded all his time, all his ener-
gies. “If I don’t do well with No. 16 I
shall give up!” .

Two of the boys, touched by the tone
of despair, tried to cheer him up by“:
buying half a dozen sacks of corn
apiece. He brightened up a moment
as he shook some salt on the corn and
handed it out, and then relapsed again
into despondency. The whistle of the
mail pierced the frosty air, and a. few
seconds later the great engine was
panting at the water-tank. Walter
walked along the length of the train
according to his custom, but the win-
dows were shut and frost-covered and
no cheery voice cried out: “Here, bring
your corn this way!” Even his old
friends, the trainmcn, failed to notice
the mournful figure and appealing
looks of Walter, the popcorn boy.
Several who had heard his despairing
words watched the course of matters
with anxiety that was almost painful.
They had hoped he would be cheered
and lifted up bya brisk demand for
his goods. As the train went shriek-
ing on its way he was seen to set his
sad face homeward, crushed in spirit,
plunged in despair—as if mourning’at
the grave of life-long hopes—as indeed
he was.

Since that day Lake Shore passen:
gers have looked in vain for a sign of
the well-remembered face and figure.
Trainmen and travelers have won- '
dered at the absence of the faithful
Walter, who had not failed to be there
before for a quarter of a éentury. He
is missed also from the village corners.
from his accustomed place at the organ
lever in the ‘church choir, and some
one else now hands out the books in
the Sunday school. From his bed of
sickness, where he lies helpless from a
serious nervous and mental ailment
from which he is fatedwnever to rise,
he sends every month a verse of con-
secration to the young people’s prayer
meeting. Brave, faithful spirit! The
Whistle of the incoming train reminds
him that he must take his box and go,
and then he remembers that it cannot
be—no, never more! Some dim con-
sciousness of his enfeebled mentality
has come to him for the first time in
the long days of helplessness and he is
heard to ask, sometimes at frequent in-
tervals: “Will my other life ever come
back again?” '

It is svveet to think the answer has
long been written. Though Walter,
the pOpcorn boy, will never take up
his humble calling again in this world,»
Jrthere is One, the help of the helpless,
who has said:

“Ye have been faithful over afew
things. I will make you ruler over
many. ”—Detroit Free Press.

-—At the Intelligence Office—“Madam,
why did you not keep the last girl I
sent you?” "She was too good look-
ing. I told you I wan tcda plain cook.”
—Detroit Free Press. '