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~ I^JTn" The iy»''^- W; X 1 ^^'S^^-^-S^^^^^^^^^e^^*^*^* I, I stood ttt the window of my poor : littlo meanly furnished surgery. TliLTc was Kcarcoly a patient, wor- thy o( the n.'iun.' on ni.y boolvs, und toy little stuck of savings was near- ly vxhnusted. In fact, it bcgnii to look as if the modals and distinc- tions I )md won at coIIckc and the '"spilul" were useless, for I had nearly luado up my mind to abandon ail hope of working up a practice in l-k.'\vhiir.s<t. A.S I looked down the whole length of the High Ktreet 1 saw one of tlie Pomcroy dogcarts turn the corner by the niurkct place. It conl-ained "a groom, dres.sed in their well-known dark blue livery, and he drove the thoroughbred chestnut up the street at a .splitting pace. To uiy sur- pri.sc, he .stopped at the door of my humblt! surgery, ordered a boy who was standing near to hold the Iiorse, and si)rang out. •Will you please come up to tlie castU' at once?" he said brcatlilese- ly. "The earl lias cut his hand very badly." I believe I went scarlet with as- tonisluiient. "J)r. Tliomton generally attends his lordship," I said with hesita- tion. "Yes, sir," said the groom; "but the dowager countess has had some words with Mr. Thornton, and she particularly begs you will drive back with Die." A moment later f wa.<! seated in the dogcart, speeding nwav to the castle, not knowing that that simple summons to attend a wounded hand was to lead to the most extraordin- ary incident of my career. 1 was received in the morning- room by the UowHgcr coimtess a woman of about forty years of ago who was .still in jios.session of the wonderful beauty which had made her famous throughout Kurope I sliould mention that the i)re.snnt earl was her stepson. J lis young wife a Kirl of about twenty, was in the room when I arrivocl. but she had very little to say. and I un<loistood at a glance that the person to be conciliated was the dowaicor, who appeared to rule everybody Th" conversation was of the orc'inary type: the eurl Jmd wounded Iiia hand somewhat Ecverely witli a hunting- knife, lie was at present in the hbrary, and they would like nie to go there at once. J was about to leave the room, when tho dowager callwl me bjick. ••Thcio is one other litl]e matter. Dr. LIffhtfoot," .^lie said. ."We very much fear that the earl's heart is seriously nlTi-ctcd." She sU>pi)cd, and I looked proi^er- ly .s:\nifialJiel.ic. "Could you manage to make an ox- aminatum without alarming him? He is very nervous, because heart disease is in the fiunily." I promised fo do my "best, 'ihc earl received ine inoBt cordial- Jy. He was a. man of about five- imd-tliii t,,-. healthy „.iid strong looking, though somewhat pule, the re.siilt of lending a. studious life Tlie wound in his hand was not of much conse(|Ucn<.>. and within a fpiartcr of an hour it was sewn up and band- aged, llicn 1 approached the heart i|U...stK)n. of course, very delicately. He lauglied. "I don't think there is nnvthing tl e matter witli my heart; hut you are welconii- to sound it, if it's only to p!iiuse the Indies." Now, if there is an organ which J proh'.s,s to understand with some thoroughness, it is the heart, nut I could find nothing in the world the matter wit.h his. Ihe action was Homewlmt. weak, but that must lie cxpf.-cteii in a man who spends al- most all this tiiiio in the library. So far a» I coulld ascertain, tliere was not a trace of disease. "Theie's no heart di-sca-se in our family,^' suid the earl cheerily. This was a direct contiiidfclion of the dowagers Words, but 1 had paid hltle attention to it at the time. Kvery doctor knows how unreliable piitirnts are in their statements. Tliore arc some who take a delight in exaggerntinjc every trifling ail- n-iit. Uiore are others who take nn ecpiiil delight in minimizing tliem. llelore I left I had come to the con- clusion that the earl was one of the best fellows I had met. 'ITiere was not a Fcrup of affectation or non- Kenso about him. His great hobliy was sketcliiiig. 1 have never met a man with such re- markable talent. Every thought tliat passod through his mind seem- ed to bo trausforred to paper. For inslanoc, while we were chatting he sketrhed my likeness. It was quite a little work of art, witli the char- nclerislic signature, "Pomeroy, Dec- ember 20th, 189S." "We arc both students. Dr. Light- foot," he said wnrrily, "and if we don't become very iiitiinatp, it will be your own fault. 1 am (|Uitc glad I cut my hand. It has been the means of introducing us." 'I'hat concluded my interview with the tkirl of I'onieroy, The same nigjit, i»t ten o'clock, the rtogcni-t again dnehed up to my surgery. This time the groom was White wifh excilemfnt. "Como at once, sir," he iinid husk- ily. "In anything wrong?" I asked. "The etivX '.- dead!" For a moment I gazed at him In stupelied silence. Dead? A miaij whom, only a few hours earlier, X, had seen in the prime of life and in' sound health! It seemed impossi- ble. "JIow did it happen?" I asked. â- â€¢His lordsliip went to the library after dinner, us usual. He fell asleep in his armchair before the lire â€"andâ€" and about an hour ago tlie housokeepi-'r found him, sdr. He was dead!" Tears were trickling down tlie man's face as he spoke. I felt tliat my medical knowledge must be in s-ome way altogether at fault, but it was no lime for idle conjecture. I sprang into the dogcart, and threo- (luarters of an hour later stood in the cafJtle hall. Everything was, of course, in con- fusion. The servaut.'s were horror- stricken. The young counte.ss, over- come with grief, had been carried unconscious to her room. The only person who siiowcd any nerve and presence of mind was the dowager. She looked pale, but cool and col- lected. In fact, slio was one of those d^.ermined, strong-minded wo- men who can face any emergency. She led me at once to his bed- room, wliei-e he had been carried. I shall never forget the scene that fol- lowed. . lie lay on tJie bed, lii.v) face just as 1 had scon it in the morn- ing, except thatjt was new pale and rigid. "How is it. Dr. Lightfoot," she said sternly, "that when you saw the carl this morning you were not able to foresee this calamity?" "I don't believe it was possible for any medical man to foresee it," 1 replied firmly. "But I warned you that the earl sufTered from his heart." "I found nothing amiss with the earl." "We lioped that in sending for you," she .said bitterly, "wo should have better advice thiui could be ob- tained from an old practitioner like l>r. Thornton. Evidently, our con- fidence was mi.splaced." She swept contemptuously ^i-om the room, and left me there, feeling more perplexed than I havo ever been before or since. ance of death, but not sufflciont kill. I could only marvel at the diaboli- : cal cunning of the woman who had attempted the crime. Her motive was clear â€" she wished to see one of her ovrsx children inherit the titia and estates. The method in which she had ap- proached the crime was masterly in its long-sightedness. She first quar- relled with the family doctor; then, taking advantage of a trifling ac- cident to the ojirl, she sent for a yoimg and unknown practitioner, who would naturally be somewhat easily led away by anything tliat was said by such a great lady. Her desdgn hod been frustrated by the ac- cident of my being detained in the house, for if in the morning she had seen signs of returning con.sciousness in the earl, • she would, no doubt, have finisJied her work. I had now two tasks before me â€" to restore the earl to health and to prevent a recurrence of an attempt on his life. The first was comparatively ca.sy. At the end of a couple of hours he Was able to take nourishment, and his mind appeared quito clear, though, of course, he remembered nothing that had happened after the time he fell a.slecp in the library. I told him what had happened, "But the matter must be hushed up, Lightfioot, for the sake of the family," he said eagerly. "Quite so," I said; "but We must also take care that i,t does not hap- pen again. I suggest that the dow- ager countess be .sent for at once and confronted with you." My plan was carried out, and suc- ceeded better than I expected, in- stead of attempting to den.y it, she entirely lost • her self-possession, and, falling on lier knees, begged forgiveness. I pointed out that in remaining silent I was compounding a felony and jeopardi^ng my future career, so I insisted on the dowager count- ess retiring altogether from society, and living on her own property in the North of England.â€" London An- swers . ir. 1 knew quite well that I TOas not in any sense of the word to blame for what had happened. The ques- tion was, ought I to grant a cer- tificate? If I certified that the earl died of heart disease, I stultified myself. If 1 refused a certificate, a coroner's' in(|uest would be rcquirod, and the whole countyside woi.ld be indignant at wiiat lliey would call my clui>j»ine.s« in not avoiding it. I was turning the Jiosiition over in my mind, when the butler entered, beg- ging me to go to the servants' hall, us the housekeeper had been taken ill. It was she wlio found the earl deiLd in his chair. iFuUy two hours passed before I Avas able to leave h'-r, and by that time it was nearly one o'clock. When, at last, the butler conduct- ed me from the housekeeper's room across the great corridor, it was on- ly dimly lighted, but to our great surprise we saw a figure emerge from the librni-y, and walk slowly and noi.«elessly across the corridor. It approached Uie door, of the earl's bedroom, and then, turning round, looked at us. It W5\s the white, stern, rigid face of Ixjrd I'onieroy! I heard the buller â€" a stern old ScoUininii, who had been with the family .since boyhoodâ€" whisper a prayer under his breath. 1 seized his arm. "Como with mo to the earl's bed- room," 1 said. "1 .shall want vour help." We cnlcieM the room, and found him lying just as I had seen him when the dowager countess took mc into the room. But there was no change. The iiunch of (lowers which had been placed on his breast was I.ving on the ground. I pointed this out in silence to the butler, who trembled violently, and for Uie first ti.nio showed signs of (e;\r. Placing my fingers on the earl's lieart. 1 felt after a moment a slight movement. Ho was alive! I began to see there was something my.sterious in tiie wliolo afiair. Be- tween us we applied rcitorntives un- til the faint gleiun of life became more steady. Sooin.^; that there was no imnuxli- ale danger, 1 decided to leave the butler witli his master, while I vis- ited the library. While still uncon- scious it was evident that Lord Pomeroy had visited that apartment. I was curious to know what had luippeiKd there. 1 found tliij electric light burning brightly. He had switched it on on entering, just as he would havo done in the ordinai-y way. Nothing was disarranged. 1 went across to his writing table, and there I found, l>erhap8, the most remaikablo piece of evidence that ever fell Intti man's hand. It was half a .sheet of note- paper, with three sketches drown in the earl's masterly way. The first wius a sketch of a little nicdicid syringe, the second was a poppy â€" the opium plant; the third was a portrait â€" exact and unmistakableâ€" a portrait of the Dowager Count- ess of Pomeroy. I understood the meaning of it at once. To slietch whatever Was in Ills mind was a kind of second na- ture to the eaxl; lie would do it al- most unconscfously. The meaning of his nkctch WHS that somebody â€" the dowager countese â€" hnd .used a syringe to inject a drug, and the drug wn-"« opium. nut I ho c«unte.ss had made n mis- calculation. She hnd injected suf- flciei:t oiiium to cause the uppear- HE WAS PERFECTLY CANDIB. The beautiful and accomplished daughter of a wealthy dealer had the misfortune, so to speak, to fall desperately in love with a young man who was employed in a railway ollice. Her allection was very much requited so far ns the young man was concerned, but there was reason to infer that the wealthy maiden's pa would kick. "What is the best way to conciliate the old fogey â€" how can 1 get on the blind side of him ?" asked the youth of the maiden during one of their secret ses-sions. "My fa tiler," said the wealthy maiden, "is a great admirer of can- dor. If you deceive liim in the slightest particular about .your fin- ancial status or your past lite all is lost. When you cr.ll on him be straightforward, even to bUintncss." The young man took the hint, a few ki.sses, and his leave, and next day lie sailed, into the cosy little studio of his prospective father-in- law. "Good morning, sir," said the lat- ter. "Good morning yourself." "What can I do lor you ?" "I came to ask the hand of your daughter in marriaee ; but before you welcome mo into your (amily 1 want to give you a few facts about my past career." "Well, you arc a cool one. Have you any assets ?" "Not the sliRhlcst." "You are probably in debt ?" "Well, I should say so. 1 can't re- moaiber the time when 1 wasn't dunned te\ciiil limes a day." "I daresay that coat you have on is not your pi oport.y ?" "You've hit it. It's borrowed for this special occasion ; the hat isn't paid for, and the shoemaker is wait- ing oulside to convcrte with me about the boots I've on." "You are one o( those candid gcntlrinmi." "Hight. I keep candor on hand to give away. My salar.y is only JIO a week, and 1 think the rujlwny com- pany is going to lower my wages." The astonislifd dealer acknowl- edged the fact â€" he had unearthed a lierfoctl.v candid man. He ascertain- ed from his dniightt r that she would leap olT the end of a wharf if she didn't get him, und, having raid the young, man's debts, he gave his con- sent to the marriage. So much for candor. MILK PRODUCTION. Can the brain or nervous system of a cow affect her yield of fat, and if so, in what ways and to what ex- tent, is the interesting ques'tion that has claimed the attention of many investigators. That cows have more or less power to "hold up" their milk is well known, but to what ex- tent sJie mny at will affect the ac- tual secretion is not so clear. A comparison between the amount of milk drawn from a cow by a man and a calf was quite largely in fav- or of the calf. When cows are milk- ed one teat at a time, both the yield and quality, at least for short periods, are decidedly affected. The yield of fat in such trials fell off from one-fourth to one-tliird of the yield when milked in the usual way (both teats from the sume gland at the same time). Tests made upon these subjects indicate that change of milker, majiner of milking, and change of environment and exert a more or less decided influence, tem- porarily at least, on the quantity and quality of the milk produced, the fat being as a general rule more sensitive to such changes than the other ingredients or the total yield of milk. In tests in which cows were milked in from three to four minutes and double that time, the yield of milk seemed to be very little affected, but in every case richer milk was produced when the cows were milked fast than when they were milked .slowly. Many studies by different investigators on the effect of the frequency of milking and the studies of fractional milkings seem to justify the following state- ments: The secretion of any single ingre- dient, as fat, is not afTccted by the act of milking. No considerable formation of milk takes place during milking. Too frequent milking and allowing the milk to remain in the glands too long, both tend to diminish the sec- retive activity of the glands. The process of milking in itself is without effect on milk production. Frequent milking, within certain limits, may result in un increased production of milk, not through the act of milking itself, but through the emptying of tlie glands. long before churning a large amount of acid is developed which ."'»ulte in coagulation of the casein, '^his be- comes, incorporated in the butter in the form of white specks, greatly in- juring its appearance and detracting from its keeping qualities. The on- ly remedy is to chum before the cream reaches this point. A;i accur- ate method of determining just when to churn is to use some acid test, such as Mann's test or Ferrington'i* test. The ordinary farmer, howev- er, will not use these and conseiiuent- ly musit learn from experience at what stage the cream will mike the best butter. HEGULAR FEEDING. The regularity of feeding has a great deal to da in obtaining the best results. The cow that is fed regularly will always give the best satisfaction in the milk p.ail. If you are not regular in feeding your cows, they will not be regular in giving milk. A cow regularly fed does not worry over her feeding, as she expects her feed at a certain time, while the other cow gets her food sometimes at one time and sometimes another, consequently she will not rest easy and does not give good results from her feed. » CURING CLOVER. We must cure our clover in such a. manner that the leaves will not be lost. The greater part of the nutri- ment of the clover plant is found in the leaves. When this hay is cured in the swath in the ordinary way, the leaves become dry and brittle and are lost in the field. Clover should be cut when dry and be soon bunched up and cured in the cocks. Turn the hay over the second day and put it in larger cocks. Here the clover sweats and gets rid of much of its moisture and dries out In a soft, tender state. The second day it is ready to be put in th« barn. SOME INSECT DESTROYERS. It is learned by observation and experience that farmers make a great mistake in killing hnrmiese animals, birds and insects. The owl seldom attacks poultry, but prefers rats, mice, and stpiirrels. The black bird is a great enemy to the insect peats oi tlie garden and orchard. The bumble bee, with his fuzzy legs und body, is the best carrying me- dium for the distribution of pollen from blossom to blossom. Without this insect the clover fields would be seedless. The crow is a great destroyer of insects and does but little damage to crops. The hedgehog is of great value to farmers, and should be protected. Ho is always searching for worms and insects that are injurious to plants. The bat is a harmless animal, and should be protected because it kills fliesi and bugs. The king-bird often destroys the farmer's bees, but the good which it does by protecting poultry from hawks and other birds of prey great- ly overbalances the mischief which it may do. FEEDING CHICKS. Chicks should at first be fed little and oft^en upon wholesome, plain food. For the first week they should be fed every three hours, the first meal given about half-past siix o'clock 111 the morning and the last one about eight o'clock at night. From the time the chicks are a week old until they reach one month they will have to be fed about four times a day, and after this until they are tour months old, three meals a day will be sufficient. Thou- sands of chicks die every year from the result of overfeeidiug. « A GKEAT SPELLEK. Child of Three Years Reads vhe Ne'wspapers. old. of POULTRY YARD, the water vessel in the THE WnONG HAT. At Scotch weddings some years ago it used to bo the custom to batter the liat of the bridegroom as he was leaving the house in which the cere- mony took place. On one of those occasions a newly married couple- relatives of the bridegroom- deter- mined to carry out the observances of this custom to the letter. The bridegroom heard tJiein dis- cussing their plans, and dispatched a messenger to the carriage â€" which stood Waiting â€" with his hat some time previous to his departure. Then donning the hat of the male relative who had plotted against him, he prepared to go out to the corriage. No sooner had he got to the door than his hat was furiously assaulted and nimo.st destroyed. ITo walked out of the house amid the laughter of the bystanders nnd entered the vehicle ; thou, taking the battered hat from his head, he threw it Into the hands of its proper owner. ex- claiming : "He.v, McDougall, there's your hat V and donned his own, amid ihe cheei* of all present. Keep shade. Cleanliness is an enemy of dtscase. Filthy drinking vessels introduce disease. Better have the poultry Iningry than overfed. It wouldn't be a bad idea to clean that feed trough. Fowls soon become accuBtomcd to regular hourK of feeding. If .vou are feeding Rioen cut bone in .summer, bo sure that the meat is not tainted. The gaitlen affords green stuff that is :i('c<led and will be relished by the .shut-in fowls. The poultry keeper who docs not provide suitable shade for his fowls, ought to bo obliged to siiend a day in their yards when the thermome- ter registers from I),') degrees to 100 degrees in the shade. SCIENCE OF SEED SOWING. It should not bo forgotten in sow- ing vegetable seeds, and, for the matter of that, all seeds, that they must havo air, i-ioisture and dark- ness in order to sprout properly. If sown deeper than Uioy tlosii-e they rot; if too shallow, the light is too intense or they do not get moisture enough. As a rule they should be as near tlie surface as possible, with tlie rather dry earth packed around them ns firmly as possible. The sxir- faco cuxth should be rather dry or it will not powder well â€" and this is important in connection with air. There is no air in a soil pressed when wct^-but the more dry earth ift pressed nnd pounded the finer and more porous it becomes. There is a great art in getting st?e<l to grow properly â€" nnd yet the art is very simple when the pihiciples are un- derstood. OVER-RIPKNEI) OUEAAI. When croiun is ripo and stands too Although on!y three years Master Norman Dexter Weedon, Alamt-da, (!alifovuia, ruads the daily papers regularly, spells instantly and gei>erally carrectly any phonetic word t^at is put to him and remem- bers \ividly all that he sees and h%ars. He as.sists his brother I'"rank aged eight, in preparing hts lessons in arithmetic, geography and spel- ling, but lie does not go to school himself because he is too small. Baby Norman's powers of compre- hension are marvelous in one so young. Nothing, it seems, escapes his notice. HC is always asking the. why and wherefore of everything that comes within the range of liia senses. He talked and spelled before bo readied his second birthday. Lit- tle IJc'iiian has received no .special instructions in an educational way. On the contrary, his parents have sought to discourage the precocity of their child, for fear that he might overtax his mental faculties. WOKl) COMBINATIONS. Sincj the' infant prodigy was able to sit alone his coiistaiit playthings have been alphabetical blocks. With these he is incessantly making com- binations of words he liira seen. (!i\ en but a glance at the headingn ill u paper, Baby Noruian will in- variably, with his bloiC-s. i-et tl-.oin up without an error. He has a hobby lor olistu'viiig the iian:c.< on delivery waggons, store windoMs and billboard signs, and rarely makes a mistake in spelling them entire, even though he has noticsjd them but once. When asked to spell words "longitutlinal," "a.^sassination' others of siiniUir length, the mental wonder never hesitates, spells them (juickly, apparently sound and uncon.'ciously. When ho secures a paper Baby Norman porea over it from the editorial to the lost and found columns-, iiroiioundng the most diflicult words with an case that is phenomenal. He is an adept ill arithmetic and the feats he per- forms with figures evinces no great elVort pn his part. like anci tiny but by An Irishman applied lor and ob- tained a situation on sonic railway works. "What's your name, my mail ?" asked the tinie1<ceper. "Fnt- rick Cahill," was the reply. "How do you spell it ?" Pat .scratched his head, 'liidadc, an' Oi don't know, sorr. Oi never shpolt it ; an' me father, ho ncAor shpell il either, Faith, un' 1 don't think it wis ever Intended to be shpelt at a'l. Put it ilown without shf oiling, sorr I" KII.1â€" 'llelle tola n)e lh..t you ttiUI !icr that tecvsl I told you net to tell her." .Stoiln â€" ".'â- <he'.s u mean thing. 1 told her not to toll ' on I told her." Kilnâ€" "Well, I tcld her I wo..!;^iri toll you Hhe told i:;e -i>i> don't tell her I uiU." Si L