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THE CAPTAIN’S LAST;lg
LOVE AFFAIR d.
«.1. By Michael Cordayg
mmnawsr
T NINE O’clock sharp Capt. Che-
. reau left the Cercle and went home
to bed. Twenty years Of bachelor life
had' made him the slave Of a number of
typical habits which kept him in fet-
ters as strong as iron and would not
permit him to follow the slightest in-
dependent impulse. _
Every night. after undressing meth-
odically, he would hang his dolman
over the back of a chair la3 his trou-
sers lengthwise on the soi'.a folding
them carefully in the creases. and wind
his watch and drink a glass of water.
'Ihen one good blow of the fist—just
one—upon the feather pillow. and he
would crawl into bed and extinguish the
candle flame between thumb and fore-
finger, after having moistened them
for their protection. “This was his in-
variable method of procedure. per-
formed almost mechanically for 20
years past!
The captain closed his eyes and
thought about the events of the‘day.
He had lost at dominoes and had to
pay for the coffee for two, and that had
angered him just a little. Then he
sighed, turned over, and fell quickly
asleep. Just how long he had been
sleeping he could not tell. but for some
reason he awoke. He lay still for a
moment tr3 ing to find a’reason for the
unusual occurrence. ‘
Everything was as he had left it
11hen he retir-.ed It was not raining
outside, so be determined that it was
mere r.estlessness and soon fell into a
doze.
Suddenly there was a queer noise
in the next room—a baby 11 as cr3 ing
As if bothered by an, Oppressive dream,
the sleeping captain tossed about rest-
liessly,mutt.ering under his breath some-
thing that Mzunded like: “Uorrid little
imp!”
But the screaming of the child be-
came worse and more penetrating as
the time. wore 011. until the room
seemed fairly filled with it. Then the
captain found himself wide~awake, and
he gave vent to his feelings in a single
strong word. For a year he had not-
had a whole night's rest! -
His neighbors were a young couple,
a simple lieutenant and his wife. Since
the time of the arrival Of a baby next
door the crabbed old bachelor had had
,eo suffer its moaning, then its crying
and now it was Old enough to shriek
Instily.
Instead of mending. matters had, in-
deed, become still ‘worse since the ba—
by' s father, this “simple lieutenant, ”
with his sharp voice and his stupid
baby-talk, had tried to take a hand in
the quieting of the child. His “ll here
is baby’s hair?” and “Does bab3 love
papa?" which he would repeat ten or
1'1vent3 times, until the little tot 11 ould
point to its head or stroke its papa’s
cheeks—oh, how tr3 ing it v. as!
But never before had the crying of
the. child been so piercing as it was
this night. It was a succession of
screams of fright; the shrieks of a
child left alone at night, crying until
the little throat was raw, until it
lacked breath to utter another sound.
Alarmed and angr3 at the same time,
the captain jumped out of bed, ex-
claiming: “Well, well, whats the mat-
ter now?" _‘
Ordinarily, the sharp voice Of the
lieutenant or a lullab3 from the mothei
quickly soothed the troubles of the
little tot. This time, however, the
tears remained undried. The old bach-
elor quickly put on his uniform and
went into the hall.
The door of the adjoining apartment
had by some accident been left ajar;
a lamp was burning bright13 on the
table in the anteroom- He took it and
entered the sleeping—room. Next to
15:1: large bed stood a cradle, the cur-
tains of which the captain threw back.
There lay the little tot in a jumble of
cushions. beating the air with herlittle
hands and feet. Her face had become
a dark red from the exertion of yelling
and kicking.
What? The baby allalone? Quick-
ly the captain looked through the
apartment, stepping into the dining-
.room. the elegantly furnished parlor.
the girl's room. the kitchen. Not a soul
was there! Even the nurse-girl, that
useless piece of household furniture,
was nowhere about. ‘
"Hang it!" he exclaimed. “SO, while
the lieutenant and his wife spend the
evening at an entertainment the nu1se-
girl euns out to flirt with her beau!
Humph!" ,_
Quickly he. returned to the cradle,
put away the lamp. and lifted up the
little baby, a tiny girl. But she strug-
gled so hard-with her legs, and madé‘
such violent movements with her little
body. that the captain was afraid he
. might drop her. Quickly he sat on a
chair and placed her upon his knees.
But she still kept on crying. To quiet
her‘down. the captain got- up. held her
before him with outstretched arms. and
began to dance some step which he
invented on the spur of the moment.
it resembled the trot of a horse more
than any known dance.
To complete the effect he sang, keep-
ing time with his fancy step: “Houpla.
houpla! tolderolloll!" over and over
again.
His efforts to quiet the baby were
almost crowned with success; shc
sobbed a little less. the tears became
scarcer and scarcer—the last drops
from an empty vessel!
Sudenly she lay quite still; her eyes.
ller expression. her outstretched arms
plainly conveyed a desire for some-
1l1ing1 The captain turnedhis eyes in
the direction of the object coveted by
the little girl: she wanted his cross of
the Legion of Honor. Fora moment.
thered ribbon and the enameled trin-
ket seemed’ to her. as to many other
bebies.‘the most. desirable object in the
world. The old bachelor allowed the.
. i'l
awkward little fingers, which were so
slim and fine and straight, to take his
cIOss. The little one at once quiet-
ed dO11n and began to smile sweetly at
him.
'lhe rough old captain looked down
upon her with the e3 es of the explorer
111 no discovers a new, a blessed count-.ry
The little round cheeks, with the dried
' tears still visible upon them; the little,
half-Opened mouth, made him feel cur-
ously soft- hearted. With exuberant
enthusiasm he drew up the little head
to his own bearded face.
“DO you love me?”-
But the red ribbon of the cross was a
far greater attraction for baby than
the captain’ 9 big mustache. Then he
hit upon the idea Of disguising his
voice and imitating the “simple lieu-
tenant, ” and asked coaxingly:
baby love papa. 9"
He had to repeat this question at
least 20 times. If there had been on
the other side of- the wall a certain,
carptain about 45 years of age, how
angry he would have been to have
heard that!
But this very captain just then per-
mitted a. rather young lady to kiss
him, and the oddest thing aboutit was
that the two fresh, moistt lips that
touched his cheeks made his eyes: grow
dim with tears and refreshed his kind
and loving old heart.
A near-by \clock struck midnight.
Nobody came home, neither the nurse
nor the young couple. The little one
was tired enough to drop, but Oapt.
Chereau was a novice. in the art of put-
ting babies to sleep. He remembered,
however. that the baby’s mother had
always bummed a melody. That he
might try also. But alas! he only knew
military marches. Well. he would try
a march on the baby. Pacing up and
down the room with long steps, he
rocked the. little girl, who had long ago
succeeded in loosening the ribbon
' from his coat, and was now busy try-
ing to chew the cross. and softly
hummed a soldier’s song:
“ When a dapper young hussar
Meets a pretty country lass,
Then he~hm hm hm hm hm—"
But the sweet little burden upon his
arm did not care to go to sleep just-
then; she mumbled inarticulate
sound-s, laughed and looked at him
withher big, blue eyes. Then Capt.
Chereau thoughtthat the rhythm of his
song must have been too lively; he
started up another, a very slow,
‘\
THE CAPTAIN LOOKEDfiNTENTLY AT
THE CHIL .
monotonous, almost endless couplet,
'all about ‘the boy that went awayand
would come back on the morrow."
He sang so convincingly well and-dc-
veloped such zeal that the little girl
actually went to sleep. The captain
was so afraid that she might wake up
if he tried to put her back into her lit-
tle nest of lace and feathers, that he
sat down carefully in an armchair and
remained there without stirring.
The room had become still again;
only the clock on the wall ticked with
every swing of the pendulum. The
captain looked intently at the child;
sleep seemed to have overcome her in
the midst of some motion; one of her
dimpled fists lay on his breast, the
other still clasped the cross of the Le- .
gion of Honor. Peace rested upon the
pure, closed eyelids. upon the curls
over that moist forehead, upon theten-
der cheeks. upon the half-Opened lips.
from which a deep breath issued at
regular intervals.
The warmth Of that lif‘le bod3 14.11-
meated his. and rose in him as a 11 me
of intoxication. Does that joy really
exist. then; he asked himself, which
fills all those who are nearto a child?
Arid that 11 arm tenderness is-sumg
from a child s heart is nqt' an empty
delusion either.
Oh! what a difference between the
empty, superficial life he led and the,
ever-anxious, solicitous love inspired
by such a sweet little creature whom
one, could love from first to last», from
birth to death!
The noise of the clock suddenly
seemed to fill the room,. and .Capt.
Chereau felt that he was an old man;
he felt it plainly, just. as one notices
the hairs'getting white.
“How short is life after all!” he
sighed. And he regretted his lost.
years. his wasted years, his. selfish
life, of which there would remain noth-
ing—nothing at. all. There would be
notone to mourn him, even.
A great discouragement came over
him. and went from his heart to his
eyes.
There were steps in the anteroom;
the young couple had come at last——
she wrapped in furs. he with the collar
of his coat turned up. On the threshold
of the room they halted, thunder-
struck; next to the table in the big
armchair sat their neighbor, the cap-
tain. holding in his arms their child,
fast asleep. and still holding the cap—
tain’ s cross of the Legion of Honor 111
her tightlyclosed fisvt.
They were about to cry out at the 11n-
usual scene: “Oh. captain—4"
But Capt. Chereau lifted up his head.
and, showing his face flooded with
tears, he whispered softly to them.
placing his forefinger upon hisgrizZled
mustache: .
"'Hush! She‘s asleep.."—From the
French in the Saturday Evening Post.
“Does,
111 11‘ E E 1111. N 1N G11
Night’s
Keeps Thousands Awake
in and ArOund the
Norwalks.
Horrid Plague.
The plague Of the night.
- Keeps you awake, can ’D sleep a. wink.
Baa enough to lose your test.
But. its hat dcrstill to beat at work.
d Breeds misery by night, profanity by
:13;
Know what. it is?
The bane of all classes of peOple——
Itching Piles; ‘
Hard to bear, head to walk, hard to
sit down.
Itch. Itch. Itch. Nearly drives you
' Cl azy.
Itching away in any position, any
time.
Don’t stand it any longer.
’I‘he1 e is relief for evely one, prompt
and permanent.
Doan’ s Ointment relieves at once.
Doan’s Ointment cu1es pet mancntly.
Piles, eczema and all skin disorders.
Read this case :
Mr. Louis Snow, of 33 Prospect
stteet,Webste1,Mass.. says. “’I‘hete
was a bad case of bleeding piles in my
family, which had iesisted 0111111111 3'
efforts to cure We were so favmably
impressed with the iesults obtained
fiom using Doan’ s Kidney Pills that we
reasmied if what is claimed for them
is so thoroughly carried out why should
not- the repre‘sentationsmade for Doan’s
Ointment be equally true. We got a.
box at a. drug store and it stopped the
trouble. We consider both Doan’s
Ointment and Doan’s Kidney Pills val-
uable remedies and have no hesitation
in recommending them.”
Just; such emphatic endorsement is
plentiful in N01 walk. D101) into Glen-
dening & Co.’ s (111.1” >to1e and hear
what, theit customcis 1011011 to them.
Doau’s Ointment for sale by all deal-
ers. Price 50 cents. Mailed by Foster-
Milburn Co, Buffalo, N. Y., scleaagents
for the U. S. Remember the name
Doan’s and take no-‘substitute.
CONDENSED DISPATCH ES.
Snowstorms have prevailed over Eng-
land, there being a heavy fall in Lon-
don.
Winfield S. Schley passed the physical
examination for promotion to the rank
of rear admiral.
Charles H. Black of Chelsea, Mass.
has been appointed superintendent of
paving for Havana.
Startling evidence is said to have
been discovered in St. Louis concerning
the army beef supplies.
The southwestern limited on the Lake
Shore was wrecked at West Seneca, N.
Y._. and the engineer killed.
General Henry cabled to the war de-
partment from San Juan denying that
there was any chance of a. native up-
rising.
Orders have been issued for water to
be turned into seetion.6, Eric canal,
April 8, and for navigation to open on
April 11"..
CaptainT L. Huston Of the volunteer
ergi nears, it 11 as 1ep01 ted discovered in
the gunroom 0f the Cuartel de Fuerste,
1-: av ana harbor the location of the key-
boaid used to destroy the Maine.
The Twenty Million Payment
WASHINGTON, March 21. —The $20,-
000,000 which the United States is to pay
Spain undet the peace treaty will be-
come available as soon as the ratifica-
tions are exchanged between Seeietary
Hay and Embassador Cambon. But in
alranging for the exchange no plans
have been made thus far for paying the
money. If the Spanish government so
desires, it can be transmitted through
M. Cambon or else paid in Pails by the
United States fiscal agents there The
special appropriation recently made by
congress made the amount available
immediately on the exchange of Iatifi-
cations. ____________
Disinfection of Troops. ,
WASHINGTON, March {IL—Arrange-
ments have been completed by the sur-
geon general of the marine hospital
service for the disinfection in this coun-
try Of troops arriving from Cuba, which
cannot receive this attention before em-
barkation. The majority of the troops
will he landed at Savannah and will be
disinfected there, but others will re-
ceive attention at Brunswick, Black—
beard island and Charleston. This is.
made necessary by the desire of the War
department to get the troops over be-
fore the government regulations of this
conntry go into effect on the lst of next
month.
Naval Prize Hearings In October.
\VASHINGTON, March 21.—The Unit-
ed States supreme court has issued an
order setting the hearing of the naval
prize money cases for the 16th Of Octo-
ber next, with the exception of the pro-
ceedings against the French mail
steamer Olinde Rodriguez, which was.
set down for Aprifl3. The exception was
made because this vessel has not been
delivered to her claimants in stipulation
and therefore remains in the custody of
the United States at heavy expense,
Hon. John Sherman Dying. .
KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 21.—-The
American'llne steamer Parts, Captain
Frederick Watkins, with the party of
American excursionists who are touring
in West Indian waters, sailed at 6
o’clOck last evening. Mr. John Sherman
is worse and is not likely'to survive
the night. The United States cruiser
Chicago has not arrived. but it is sup-
posed she will meet the Paris at. San-
tiago, Cuba. The Pails will probably
touch first at Guantanamo. She left
instructions for the Chicago to follow
with all haste. The hot weather has
greatly weakened Mr. Sherman, and his
doctors feel that unless a change for the
better comes very quickly all hope must
be abandoned.
Keeps People Well.
After Hostetter’s StomachtBittet-s puts
‘a. man’s body in a healthy condition,
an occasional dose will keep it there.
Welltpeople need the Bitters almost
as much! as the ' 9
sick. The 'rem- IIOSt’etter S
edy maintains good
digestionhand fights
otf dyspepsia,- bilious-p
ness and constipation.
Bitters
\A ILLIAM J. EAS'I‘ON, Secretary.
Stomach '
*GAZETTE
Q .
RICHARD ,A. McG'URDY, President.
Statement for the Year Ending Dec. 31:98.
According to the Standard of the-Insurance Department of the State of New York.
INGIDMEs
Received for Premiums . l . . $42,318,749 51
12,687,880 92
From all other Sources . . . .
- $55,006,629 43
IDISBUEQEME‘ _1NV.I‘!Qo
To Policy-holders for Claims by Death . . . $13,265,908 00
To Policy-holders for Endowments, Dividends, etc. . 11,485,751 35
For all other Accounts . . . . . .3 10,493,379 53
$35,245,038 88
Assnms.
United States Bonds and other Securities . . $160,956,141 33
First Lien Loans on Bond and Mortgage . . . 68,503,580 90
Loans on Bonds and other Securities, . . 9,396,619 00
Real Estate, appraised by Insurance Superintendents . .
at $23,534,826. 88: Book Value . . . 20,604,649 61
Cash in Banks and Trust Companies .. . . 11,621,377 36
Accrued Interest, Net Deferred Premiums, etc. 1 . . W
$277,517,325 36'
LIABILITIES.
Pollcly Reserves, etc., I . . . . 233,058,640 68
Contingent Guarantee Fund, . . . . - 42. 238,684 68
Divisible Surplus . . . . . .1 $2,220,000 oo
2 7,517.32 6
Insurance and Annuities in Force . . . $971,711,997 79
lhave carefully examined the foregoing Statement and find the same to be correct
liabilities calculated by the Insurance Department. CHARLES A. PRELLER, Audito,
From the Surplus ‘9. dividend will be apportioned as usua
. 1 n
..,
Board. 01: Trustees:
ADRIAN IEELIN J11
GEORGE S. BOWDOIN
WILLIAM C. WHITIIEA
WILLIAM ROCEEEELLEE
JAMES N. JARVIE
CHAS D. DICKEY JR
ELRRIDGE T GERRY ‘
JAMES SPEYEBJ
.H‘ENBY H. ROGERS
JNO. W AUOHINoLoss
THEODORE MOBFORD
1WILLIAM BAncoox
STUYVEBANT FISH
Auous'rus D. J UILLIARD
CHARLES E. MILLER
WALTER R GmLETTE
H. WALTER W EBB
FREDERIO CROMWELL
JULIEN T. DAVIES
A. N. WATERHOUSE
CHARLES R. HENDERSON
SAMUEL D. BABOOOE I
Burns W1. PEGKHAM ‘l
RICHARD A MCCUBDY
JAMES C. HOLDEN
HERMANN C. VON POST
WILLIAM J. SEWELL
OLIVER HARRIMAR
ROBERT OLVPHANT
GEORGE F. BAKER
Dar—LE1 OLOOTT
J. HOBART HERRIOK
WM. 1’. DIXON
ROBERT A. GRANNIss
GEORGE G. HAVEN
__...____‘._
ROBERT A. GRANISS, Vice-President.
WALTER R. GILLETTE, Generai Manager.
ISAAC F. LLOYD, 2d ViceJ’r‘esideut DUE“ du-P. BREGK, Correspon ing Secretary
ALBERT KLAMROTH, Assistant Secretary '
FREDERIC CROMWELL, Treasurer.
JAMES TIMPSON. 2d Assistant Treasurer.
EDWARD P. HOLDEN, Assistant Cashier.
EMORY MOCLINTOCK, Actucrv.
JOHN TATLOGK, JR , Assistant Actuary.
CHARLES A, PRELLER, Auditor. . WILLIAM W. RICHARDS, Comptroller.
C. CLIFFORD GRETSINGER, Assistant Auditor. HENRY 5. BROWN, Assistant Comptroller
' JOHN C. ELLIOL‘ Superintendent of Domestic Agencies.
E'JW ARD LYMAN SHORT. General Solicitor.
1 MEDICAL DIRECTORS:
.1- till 1A5 J. MARSH, M D GRANVILLE 11 WHITE, M D
" U. S. WINSTON M. D. Consulting. '
4
N'Iugtpgg & @ELBEEET. Sensual Agcmg
JOHN A. FONDA, Assistant Treasurer.
WILLIAM F. SANDS, Cashier.
A. n. cane. Local 1......
Norwalk Chronicler