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what hearts have vtlest wfthta, . .*art| Is spotless u the J. < / ' % ; * • • - • • • • • • • • • • | Alta ttuinr mar b* pun, we tbink not so. to God the souls of such lun mercy «ccrct frealtenoe may win How do we know? •: - em m tell who sinned mora tban ws?- in we tell? brother walked gTiflttly, ! tn self-rfghteousaeas. Ah, we been driven through his untold temptations, we might be upright In our dally walk than h»-- How can we tell? 1 . we condemn the ills that others dot Dare we condemn?" • strength is small, their trials not a few. The tide of wrong in difficult to stem. And if to us more clearly than to them given knowledge of the great and true, do they need our help and pity too-- Dare we condemn9 tip us all, and lead us day tar "Ood help us alii re cannot Walk alone the perfect way. Evil allures us, tempts us, end we fall. W® are but. human, and our power Is small: one of us may boast, and not a day • \'¥tolls o'er our heads but each hath need J \"ij say, ' r '• ' , bless us all! 'f I, ĥa Rlifs Vlctorj.̂ BY Q. K. UNDERWOOD. Author "Black John," Etc. ; | (Copyright 1S00. Dally Story Pub. Co.) ;p It was only a speckled shote, but the ^cream-colored pony thought it was a hear or something even more dreadful. ;|H« was a city-trained pony and was ^Without fear of steam engines, electric -ears and other urban nerve wreckers, 4rat he had never had any experience with the bogies of plantation life. , So when the speckled shote darted across the path with a terrifying "hough! ioufh!" the cream-colored pony •hied, and threw the girl who 'was rid­ ing him, then tore oft down the narrow road through the cotton field at top •peed. Being a robust young person with a good deal of pluck and a sense of humor, however, she laughed almost u soon as the first tears started down the sides of her nose, and satisfying ^herself that no bones were broken she sheok the dust from her riding habit, and gave her hat a touch with her •gloved fingers to mak* It alt straight on her brown locks. The big white mansion where she lived was a mile and a half away. The fan was behind a bank of black clouds in the west, and the rich purple of the cotton blooms, which were a pearly white in the morning, and a delicate pink at noon, bore evidence that the 'day was. dying all too fast for the •quiet of a maid with a weary hour of walking ahead of her. *'I went down the new-cut road* She went down the lane, > | And she promised to meet JM• j__ Good-bye, 'Liza Jane." The sound of this classic, sung in a melodious, though untrained voice, and accompanied by the rhythmic beat of a horse's hoofs on the sunbaked road, •caused the girl to draw to one side and took back. It was the voice of a white man and welcome, for the girl •did not redsh the long w'alk home through the lonely plantation. The man on the gray horse eyed the igirl curiously and respectfully. He was sunburned and stalwart, and sat tin his saddle as cne at home. He would have passed without speaking •as is the custom in the home of King Cotton, but for the evidence of the girl's apparel that she should be on horseback. I "Beg pardon, ma'am," he said, rais­ ing his hat. "Can I do anything to assist you?" "You are Mr. Bradley, are you not?" Mid the girl. „ V 'Tfel'm." •" • ??•***. ;> • j_ "t am J&Be Apperson." ' The young ma? said he would bd pleased to be of service to Miss Apper­ son. , "My poity threw me and ran away," said the girl. "Do you think you could ride my florae?" said Bradley, who had dis­ mounted. ; "I couldn't think of depriving you. Majrks the pony has stopped. Would iyou mind riding ahead and looking for him?" • "Certainly not," and Bradley gal­ loped away on the gray horse. I Old Mr. Apperson was the richest person in that section of the state, and probably the most unpopular. Why a •nan of his temperament and prejudices ever essayed to make his home on an Arkansas plantation was a local mys­ tery. His political faith was a griev­ ous offense to his neighbors and his cold, hard Insistence that all men should live within their incomes and abjure light pleasures was regarded with deep disapproval by the hospita­ ble, sport-loving planters. He lived aloof and his only child* the brown- eyed, brown-haired Jane, knew none of her neighbors. Occasionally the Ap- persons would be visited by severe- looking women and men of clerical as* pect from the East, but these never fraternUbd with the community. Ben Bradley wasn't a bad fellow. Some dare-devil feats of his youth had given him a reputation for reckless­ ness that he had not quite lived down, but the worst that could be truthfully said of him now was that fce kept fight­ ing cocks and evinced a more intelli­ gent interest in a das or a horse or a gun than he did in improved farm ma­ chinery, or experiments in the line of Introducing white labor in the South. Ben Bradley came back to her with­ out 1 the cream-colored pony. "I'm afraid there's nothing for it but for you to ride my horse,*" hie said. "*Do you think vou can manage him?" ~ "He looks rattier wild," said the girt, with a doubtful glance at the high-headed, spirited gray gelding. "*I fan not much of a horsewoman." "He's not the eisiest brute in the world to handle," admitted Bradley, deprecatingly. "I might lead him, though," he added The sky which h.-td become overcast was suddenly rent by a zig-zag streak of fire, and a crash of thunder shook fee egrtlh. Big drops of rain pattered on the road and the horse frightened fqr the thunder tried to break away ' ' "But Mr. Bradley nut Miss th#^r way.- . ' Jans' Apperson felt that sh" was do­ ing something desperately jaconven- tional, but, obeying Bradley, she mounted a convenient styimp and then sprang on the gray's crupper. Hold tight," said Bradley, with Now we*r» off" The forward and by the time th* raiA tmgan to fail in earnest was galloping swiftly, ft was a new sen­ sation for Miss Apperson. this feeling a powerful, running horse beneath her and holding fast to a man--one of those reckless roysterers her father disap­ proved of so sternly. She was a good deal troubled about what her father would say, still the situation had its charm. There was a commotion when they reached the house. The cream-colored pony had come home without a rider and servants were being sent out to find Jane. Slipping to the ground be­ fore Bradley could assist her, the girl ran to her father and hurriedly told him of her adventure. The old man eyed Bradley coldly and said: "My daughter tells me you were of service to her. At any time I can reciprocate you mhy command me." "Don't Mention it," said the young Ranter. "It was a pleasure to me a "Won't you come in and wait until the rain is over?' "No, thanks; thi rata won't hurt me." Bed Bradley called several times at would account RIVAL. TlMffS SPOWTSM8lf» "t" M g C t t f e s P r o m p t l y G r a f c K a a t e S S Sttmjh tercS Btrite. ' A writer la Travel says that the Is­ land of Sokotra Is one of the least known portions of the British Empire, although thousands of Englishmen sight it every year from the decks of steamers running to Indian and Aus­ tralian ports. When the southwest monsoon blows, its Iron-hound coast is cut off for months from the rest of the world, because no vessel dares to venture near. In gunning near the coast, where the various streams watering the broad plain of Tamarlda terminate in three lagoons, this Eng­ lishman found himself checkmated by another kind of sportsman. The lagoons swarmed with 11 sh and form­ ed the resort of large flocks of duck and teal; but one of the greatest dif­ ficulties in procuring this game ̂arose from the presence of enormous tiffabe. These hideous creatures seemed to be amphibious, for they excavated tun­ nels through the banks of tb« lagoon, and then lay at the dry end of the opening to watch. They were unpleas­ ant looking animals, thus engaged, some of them measuring a foot across, and all of a sickening greenish yellow. One could Imagine that the victim forced to lose its life In their clutches might easily die of fright at their ter­ rifying appearance. If a bird dropped anywhere near, It was at once seized and dragged Into the tunnel; and when the hunter had a successful shot, he was by no means allowed to nap the benfit of it Punctual as the report, Sir Scorpio appeared and claimed the bird, the whole, and never a part. When one was depending on one's gun for dinner, it was madden­ ing to see a beautiful fat mallard em­ bezzled by a crab. At one time the sportsman dropped a big sandpiper in the water, some twenty yards from the opposite bank, and a crab rose from the bottom and dragged the bird down. Then the sandpiper escaped and came bobbing up again, but a shot was ready for his pursuer's appear­ ance. The minute that ugly form arose to regain its quarry, the sportsman let it have the other barrel. Bits of crab and bits of bird fluttered in the breeze, and on securing the mangled , remains of the sandpiper, It was found Chat the crab had eaten away nearly all the head and sack; this la less than five minutes. International Attention for Fioe year*; Dispute Just Ended. i Down in the vaults of the London ifcm&h of the Paris Bank of Discount pi,000 in gold which forms a gHUsrtag testimonial to American diplomacy, Portuguese1 trickery, Brit- tah torpor and Swiss astuteness. In­ cidentally that money Is a strong ar- faMd is the hands of those who say ths Idea of International arbitration is all foolishness. In a few days, or a tew weeks at most, it is hoped f 455,000 of that gold wfll be turned over to Mr. Choate, the AaMrfoan ambassador, and the rest to Lord Salisbury, the English premier, they in turn will divide the cash ng claimants who ye«ura and years spent, that money and a tot more "What was your mother's maiden name?" - • the -Apperson place and was received with the frosty politeness that was Mr. Apperson's nearest approacn to friend liness, but he never managed to see Miss Apperson alone. She always spoke cordially to him but there was a preserve in her manner. Bradley felt that she regarded him as a wicked person. "The little Puritan!" said he, after one of these visits. "She thinks I have horns and hoofs. I'll keep away from her." But he didn't. He took to hunting the roads about the Apperson place for the mere chance of seeing her as she rode, attended by a pale young man who acted as secretary to her father. Sometimes he managed to find an excuse to ride a short distance at her side. The presence of the pale young man was a bar to confidential discourse, but when a man and a maid are so minded they can come to a fairly good understanding without plain speech, aid Bradley began to hope that "the little Puritan" did not think so badly of him after all. "What's the juae, though," he thought, "I don't'want to marry her father's daughter, and her father wouldn't let her marry me. But she's a bonny little Puritan." And the next time he rode at he# side he so managed that ths gray geld­ ing and the cream-colored pony crowded the pale young man's horse out 6t the road and then they set off at A pace that the pale young man's steed cotild not keep. "Don't pull up," said Bradley, as Miss Apperson started to check the pony. "I must May it. Give me two minutes. I love yon, and if you will marry me I will Join Ike church and try to be good." "Aren't you good now?" said the "Ill- tie Puritan." with a demure smile. "You know I ain't. Plsase givs Of*' M -chance." , •• "What would father say?" jt',V "May I ask him?" # "Yes. Now we must wait for Mr. Hawkins." i ' Before they parted Bradley found an opportunity to, slip a curiously carved old ring from his little finger and give it to MiSs Apperson. He found Mr. Apperson next morn­ ing looking colder than ever and very thoughtful. The old m«n opened the conversation. "You gave my daughter a ring yesterday," he said. "Yes, sir, and I asked her to marry me. Now I have come to Mglr ** "Is this the ring?" Bradley's heart was cold as the old man held up the ring he had gtven.Jane Apperson. "Yes. How did you get it?*# "From whomdid you get itf* "From my mother. But I did not come here to be catechized, sir. It is my ring and I hoped that your daugh­ ter would wear it a3 my fltst love token." "What was your mother's --WNfr name?" . , "Jane Beauchamn, WbaV ,, «Gf Kentucky?'* » •. "Yes; but why?*.' f- "Mr. Bradley, I gave yoftr Mother that ring before she was married. When we parted, because her parents would not suffer her to,4wed a Yankee abolitionist, I asked her to keep It till she died." "She told me never to part with It except to* the woman I gave my first love to," said Bradley musingly. "Mr. Bradley," said the old man, "it was my hope that ipy daughter should wed a man more in sympathy with my views than you are. bnt tha ring Is your advocate. Be good to her." ' Then Jane Apperson came Into the room and Ben Bradley kissed lur, and fCf.OWER8 IN BNGLAND# TM>v' AvM»CS SMUsltwosI^ ArUstte. This is without doubt the -month o! flowers in England and this year they seem more abundant than ever. Ths observer knows this by the flowers h< sees for sale in the shops and streets Those who are fortunate enough to possess gardens of their own and al ways have a profusion of flowers will scarcely notice the more than usually gorgeous display in the florists' and the baskets of the flower girls. But, notwithstanding the fact that flowera are now almost universally in vogu« for decoration and that of late yeara people have made great strides in the direction of the more skillful arrange­ ment and blending of colors, they hav< yet a great deal to learn. The average Englishwoman is not artistic and she is apt to rely too much upon the efforts of her florist to achieve anything at all striking or perfectly satisfactory in the way oi decoration. The florist is, as a rule, a painstaking person, possessed of a few good decorative schemes, but ori­ ginality seldom, if ever. Wherevei you go in London you see the sam« "arrangements" and can almost tell at a glance to which of the various es­ tablishments in Bond street or Regent street the hostess has handed over the floral dressing of bar dinnfer table Of ballroom. In Japan, where th« ar* ranging of flowers is undertakes ih tb« most serious manner and considered aii indispensable branch of art, they could teach westerners many things in th« direction of greater simplicity and ob­ servation of nature's methods. Flow­ er arrangement is taught there just as cookery is in England and some won­ derful and beautiful books are pub­ lished on the subjects, illustrated by a famous Japanese artist, setting forth the different methods, the appropriate kind of vase for each arrangement be* &£ Specified. This book is published £ff Ssgland and Is a revelation of the poRslWfttt(<*« of sowers as a decorative medium.--Chicago News. . --: . •M ^ . ®y the Sheet, early days at the gov^rtlesit letters were charged for by the sheet, the rate in 1792 being twenty-five cents for all distances over 450 miles and six cents under thirty. So late aa 1845 we find congress passing an act establishing a general rats of five cents a single 3heet far dlstaricep un­ der 300 miles. We used to pay post­ age with "shlnplasters," a sort of half discredited subsidiary paper currency, and the whole people evaded prepay­ ment, because afraid their letters might never reach their destination* in which event not only the oommuni^ cation but the money would be lost Postage stamps did not come into uss' until 1847. and envelopes for letters , _ , , .ill «AAA ' were jUCH, eiupiuyeu uulii J.OOS. V " * ' . + VtBbes riWM » Among the papers presented Defor* the section of zoology at a recent "meet- teg of th$ American association wa| one on-"The Fishes of Africa ai E*-" ponents of Former Geological Condi­ tions," by Theodore Gill, of the Smith­ sonian institution. These fishes, it Seems, represent two very different elements. One is composed of Asiatic types, the other of South American types. The testimony of these fishes is corroboratory of other evidence that hM been accumulating in the last de­ cade of the former existeneoe of avast southern continent wWoh unlted Iff their southern extntaMies Afcioi* South America and Australia, aid to which ths nasM Antarctic haa the southeast coast of Afrlca tn Ike Transvaal frontier; the sudden dis­ covery of the Portuguese government that that frontier was nearly a mile further on than their own official maps had located it, and through the most difficult country; the government's ab­ surd demand that the road should be completed within eight months later, which included the whole of the rainy season, and the final seizure of ths road by an armed force in 1889 because that demand was one with whioh ths engineers could not comply--all this has been fairly familiar to American readers. It will be remembered espe­ cially that the late James Q. Blaine threatened instant war against Portu- f- "f , ̂ v '• ̂ „ I)* • a l remanent in behalf i and when the British seexnsd iadlaposed to much with tfce interests of the bondholders, who hM exm stake than Cot, MeMnrdo. graphed to Locd Saltatory aaliNi l§ ths British premier would in esse the American «of»«rnt^at lai Slated on international arbitration. Salisbury was <dumb to this reqwt Then Blaine sold, "Arbitrate or fights'* and Portugal backed down. The action of Portugal was In no Small part due to the good offices of France, Russia and Paul Kruger. Had It not been for those powers this coun­ try would have gone to war with the Impudent Portuguese and would have, no doubt, administered a sound thraah- ing. Furthermore, after Portugal had agreed to arbitration by Switzerland, the British government practically de­ serted its citizens,leaving them to fight their case alone, when ths American government, having gone Into the af­ fair on behalf of Col. McMurdo'k widow, now Mrs. Frederick C. Penfield, assumed the whole responsibility of the claim and was represented directly before the arbitration tribunal. Its counsel, J. Trehane, a member of the American bar, now in London, living in Berne practically all through the period of arbitration. Up to the timet of his death the late Ool. "Bob" Ingsr- toll wss connected closely with the conduct of the American plea. "THBXtetA&QA-BAr RAHWAV^^T ^MT6ffYAUB0lVM • * T | 1 f l f l U ' U l 1 - ' i P M ' 1 1 . < • - " I I » • • 1 T , n i L . n m • • i , n L -- . +J"uprmacy m Iron and «/¥«•!. The United States has become the world's foremost producer of iron and* steel. There are three great rivals in ths trada in question--Great Brit­ ain, Germany and the United States. France and Belgium still play an im­ portant part, but in the future their! competition will be reduced to com-, parative insignificance, and the race will be confined to the three leading countries just named, with Russia a coming rival. The relative featnrea of /strength in their r«epectlve positions are thus stated; The United States mil m:. mm® y DetAfrOABA tkt U&V9MCO with it < O the now famous little Delagoa railroad, 60 miles long. These palmed!# will wind up tb& largest ahd most r&Bfcfkable loterna- tiOnial"Arbitration case 6H record. It has dragged itself out for *feven year£, filled forty fat volumes of printed evi­ dence and has cost the American and English claimants over a third of a million for lawyers' expenses. 'The various governments Involved in th'l business have also spent on it time and trouble worth three times the amount 0 ths total claim, and at least three ftste departments have been bored profoundly by it. In America ths case has been known as the McMurdo claim, for It was the late Col. Edward McMurdo who built the Delagoa Bay railroad, and who suffered most when the railroad wss seized. The incidents of that seizure --the Portuguese government's rich concession to Col. McMurdo, in return for which the American was to build a railway from Ixmrenzo Marques oa gal if the matter was not'submitted to . arbitration. One of ths points developed flioat clearly is that the variously AmefkMtn administrations in the last eleven yeara have played the game of diplo­ macy in this Delagoa railway business wfth much more thoughtfulness than has bden shown by ths English gov­ ernment When he addressed the first mortgage ^Aiders the other day their chairman, Sir €uthbert Qullter, made nO bones about! saying that although the British goveftHMnt had protested against the seizure olT the r&tfwajr, that government often had' protested when nothing came of it HC added that fortunately the American government had stepped In and insisted' cm rfseteg the affair through; otherwise probably no one interested would have r«re!ved anything at all, Biaine, who was then secretary of state, was thoroughly disgusted' When Portugal undertook to wriggle out Of the damages asked by the AmeriC&tt has mads the marvelous progress shown by the figures of the last few years chiefly because of the resistless demand for improved methods and machinery--a demand Otlf Intelligent afld alert workmen have readily met GeraoUt*^ has been enabled to rise as a worthy dttfepetitor by the thorough technological ivainlng of her men and masters in irefc-working processes. The position of G'f#at Brltaitf fs due to her commercial genius atone. Brigadier General Merriam, com­ manding the department Oi the Mis­ souri, gives in his report an illustra­ tion of how foreign service has drawn on ths home forces. So few are the of­ ficers now available that Lieut. Dela- mars Skerrett, besides being first lieu­ tenant of the Third artillery, is an act­ ing captain, an acting Judge advocate, chief ordnance officer, chief signal of­ ficer and acting engineer officer of tha department of Missouri, making sepa­ rate reports in those various capa­ cities. maMy sad tksy looked tng s»d the walls* to aae singing birds seeing any, they 1 1st and begah to Waa the magician, almost incredulity r«iwt of these #•**•*'*••«»*» Ff» ifiif *- bfei .iiu? j panion. Stockholm feritig from a ping it is not cheated - plague of dissaa* on unhseded fur pests are so nftMj crying outfor e» ̂ rats career abiatt i lng, and mar *e «*NM crowded ~ " * they the authorities. • i town la free toot i damage la It is piopwet l* * .i each rat d« adopted by tion. American temple of Fame, ill Ths Belief Fame, for whose memo­ rial panels thirty names have npw been chosen* stands on the western vsrge of the plateau at Morris Heights Upeir Which have been erected the- tuoilags of New York university. Ths-; Ball of Kama 1* built in a ssmfc-cinjls, andkag twoateries. Tke lbwsr storr •MMlsts at • MKil; ata| wWsk %s rangsd msawrisl^ to flit imp dsad^ The second story is open, cons&uct&t with a colonnade. In the 1 pavement St intervals will be bronze tablets ̂ each inscribed with a "ftHftntiIftlsiwn the columns will , faces tum- sd* Jietowboy "ReH)iOali*t. Six nights in each week Earl Jsmie- «sSB, an 11-year-old newsboy of St. ILcmls, haids re­ vival services i» the barn of a neigh­ bor who lives at 717 Cardinal ave­ nue, St Louis. To his services he in­ vites the boys and girls and the grown-up people of the neighbor­ hood, Mid often the barn is crowded with listeners. The newsboy evangelist does the preaching him­ self and leads the singing. He is not a member of any church and outside assistance he has reostaft|„ta his work is permiH|̂ tg^es the hern as a I rivsdal rsaUMmes, townsuMkAdto ^s tar 4riivsr«i^%M#i