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I "i I IT It'J I liV i? CLEVELAND'S MESSAGE. "s President Cleveland in a Message to the Senate Eefuses to Give Up Cer tain Papers. -He Claims That They Are Confidential, and Says lie Has Redeemed All Pledges. THE MESSAGE. The mes&r>y is as follows To the Snato of the United States. Ever since the beginning oe the present session of the sen ate the diffeienc heads of the d. utmcu a at tached to the executive biancn of the irov em inent have neen plied with, various requests and demands from committees of the senate, from members cf srch committees, and at last iiom the senate itself, requiring tlia transmission of reasons for the suspension of certain officials during the recess of that body, or for the papers Touching the conduct of such offioia s, or for all papers and documents relating to such sus pensions, or for all documents and papers filed in Fuch department in lelation to the management and conduct of the offices held by bucli suspended offic als The different terms fiom time to time adopted in making these re quests and demands, the order in which they succeeded each other, and the fact that when made bv the sanate the resolution for that pur pose-was passed executive session, have led to a presumption, the correctness of which will, suppose, be cmdidJy admitted, that iromnrst to last the information tnus sought and the papers thus demanded were debited tor use by the senate and its committees considering the piopriety of the suspensions reterred to. Though these suspensions are my executive acts, bused upon consideiations addressed to me alone, and toi which I am wholly responsible, I have had no invitation fiom the penate to state the position which I have felt ccnstiamed to assume relation to the same, or to mterpiet for mjself my acts and motives in the piemists In this condition of *Lius I have ioieborne addressing the senate on The subject, lest I might be accd=ed of thrust ing mjself unbidden upon the attention of that liocrv Hut the leport of the com mittee of tho junna ry of the seuate, lately presented and published, which censures the at torney general of the United States foi his re tnsal to transmit certain papers relating to a suspension liom office, and which also, if I cor rectly mteipret it, evinces a misapprehension of the position of the executive upon the question ot such suspensions, will, I hope, justilv this communication. THE CASE Or DUSTIN llie president leieis to the resolution of the senate calling' for the Dustm papers and the leply of the attorney geneial thereto, and says Upon this i esolution and the answer thereto, the issue is thus htated DV the com rnttce on judiciary at the outset cf the reporr "The im poitant question then, is whether it is within the con$titut'cn?l competence of either house ot confess, to have access to the official papers and documuits the vaiious public oiLees of i he United btites created bylaws enacted by themselves' I do not suppose thit the public offices ot the Lnited States ate regulated or con tio leJ in then lelations to either house of Con triess bv the fact that thev were "cieated by laws enacted b\ themselves It must be that these mstiumcntjlities were created for the bcifht of the people, and to answei the general pui poses oi government under the constitution i'ul the laws and that tnev a'e uner" umbered b\ am IIPI in favoi of exther branch of congress growing out of then constiuction, and unem bana-se bv pny obligation to the senate as the price ot then cieation. The complaint oil the committee that access to official papers in the public ofiice is denied the senate, is nut bv the itemeut rtiat at no tim8 has it been the dis position oi the intention of the president cr any officer in nny department of the executive bi inch of fie ,'ovemm^at to withh la U^n tlie senate official documents oi papcis hied in anv of the public offices. Vv lule it is bv no means conceded that the t-enate has the light in any cisc to leview the act of the executive in re moving or suspending a public officer uvo offi cial documents or otherwise, it is considered that documents and papeis of that nature should, because thty aie official, be freelv trans mitted to the senate upon its demand, trusting the use of the same for proper and legitimate 1 mposc to the good faith of that body, and though no such papers or documents have been specifically demanded in any of the numerous reciuests and demands made upon the depart ments, vet a-, often as thev were found the public ofhr os thev have been iuinished in an swei to such applications. The lettei of the tftornev geneial response to the resolution of the sen item the paiticular case mentioned in the committee's repoir, wa written at my sug gestion and by my direction. There had been NO OITICIAL PAPUBS o' documents fi'ed in his department relating to the case within the period specified the reso lution The letter was intended, by its descrip tion of tha papers and documents remaining the custody cf the depai tments, to convey the idea that they were not official, and it was as sumed that the resolution called for information, papeis and documents of the same character as weierci/uired by therequests and demands which piecedeuit Eveij thing that had been written or done in behalf of the senate from the beginning pointed to a letter and papers of a private and unofficial nature as the objects of search, if they weie to be found in the depart ments, and provided they had been presented to the executive with a view to their consideration upon the question of suspension from office Against the transmission of such papers and documents I have interposed my advice and direction This has not been done, as is sug gested in the committee's leport, upon the as sumption on my part that the attornev geneial or anv othci head ot a depaitment "is the servant of the lesident, and is to give or withhold copies or documents in his office according to the will ot the executive and not otherwise," but because I regaid the papers and documents withheld and addressed to me, or intended for my uo and action, puiely unofficial and private. Not infrequently confidential, and having reference to the pertormance of a duty exclusively mine, I consider them in no pioper sense as upon the hies of the depart ment, but as deposited there for my conven ience, lemainiug still completely untlei mv con trol I suppose if I desire to take them into inv custody I might do so with entire propnety, and if I saw fit to destroy them no one could complam. The papers and documents that aie now the objects of the senate's questions con sist of letters of representations addres3sd to the executive or intended tor his inspection. I Thev are voluntarily written and piesented by private citizens who are not the least insti gated theieto bv anv official invitation or at all I subject to official contiol. While some of them arc entitled to executive consideration, many of thf in arc so nrevalent, or, in the light of other lacts, so worthless, that they have NOT EFrN GIVEK THE LEAST 'WEIGHT determining the question to which they are supposed to relate Are these, simply because they aie preserved, to be consideied official doci'ments and subject to the inspection of the senate If not. who ise long to this class0 to determine which be- Ar the motives and pur poses of the senate a* thev are day by day de veloped, such as would be satisfied with my selection? Am I to submit to these at the risk of being chaiged with susiension of officers upon evidence which was not even consideied? Aie these papeis to be regarded official because the^have not only been presented but pre scrvfu in the public offices? The nature and character lemam the same, whether they are kept in the executive maLSion or deposited in the departments. There is no mysterious power of transmutation fn departmental cus tody, nor is there magic in the undefined and sacred solemnity of department files If the presence of these papers in the public offices is a stumbling block in the way of the pertoimance of senatorial dutv, it can be easily iemo\ed. The papers and documents which have been desenbed derive no official character lrom any constitutional, statutory or other re quirement making them necessary to the per toimance of the official duty of the executive. It will not be denied, I suppose, that the presi dent may suspend a public officer the entire absence of any papers or documents to aid his official judgment and discretion, and I am quite piepared to avow that the cases are not few in which suspensions from office have depended more upon oral representa tions made to me by citizens of known good repute and bv members of the house of repre sentatives and senatois of the United States than upon anv letters and documents presented for mv examination. I have not telt justified in suspecting the veracity, integrity and patriot ism of the senators or ignoring their representa tives because they were not in party affiliation with the majority of their associated and I re call a few suspensions which bear the approval of individual members identified politically with the majority in the senate. While, therefore, I am constiained to DENY THE BIGHT OP THE SENATE to the papers and documents described, so far as the right to the same is based upon the claim that they are in any view of the subject official, I am also led unequivocally to dispute the right of the senate, by the aid of any documents what ever, or in any way save through the judicial process of trial or impeachment, to raviow or re verse the act of the executive, in the suspension during the recess ot the senate of federal ficials. I believe the power to remove or suf. pendsuch officals is vested in the president alone by the constitntion, which in express terms provides that "the executive power shaK be vested in the president of the United States of America," and that "he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." The senate belong to the legislative branch of the government. When the constitntion by express provision superadded to its legislativa duties the right to advise and consent to ap pointments to office, and to sit as a court of im peachment, it conferred upon that body all the contiol and regulation of executive actions sup posed to be necessary for the safetv of the peo ple, and this express and special grant of such extraordinary powersnot in anv way related to or growing out of general senatorial duty, and in itself a departure from the general plan of our governmentshould be held, under a famil iar maxim of construction, to exclude every other right of interference with executive func tions In the first congress which assembled after the adoption of the constitution,comprising many who aided in its preparation, legislative construction was given to That instrument, in wnich the independence of the executive in the matter ot removals from office was fully sus tained. I think it will be found that in the subsequent discussions of this question there was generally, if not at all times, a proposition pending in someway curtailing this power of the president by legislation, which furnishes evidence that to limit such power it was sup posed to be necessary to supplement the con stitution by such legislation The first enact ment of this description was passed un der a stress oi partisanship and polit ical bitterness, which culminated in the president's impeachment. This law provided that the federal officers to which it applied could only be suspended during the recess oi the sen ate, when shown bv evidence satisfactory to the president to be guilty of misconduct in office or crime, or when incapable or disqualified to per form their duties, and that within twenty days after the next meeting of the senate it should be THE DUTY OF THE PRESIDENT "to report to the senate such suspensions, with the evidence and reasons for his action in the case." This statute, passed in 1867, when con gress was overwhelmingly and bitterly opposed to the president, may oe regarded as an indica tion that even then it was thought necessary by a congress determined upon the subjugation of the executive to legislate at will to furnish itselt a law for that purpose, instead of attempting to reach the object in tended by an invocation of any pretended constitutional right. The law which thus found its, wav tosour stature its term1 booknowas plain in and it intent needed avowa I valid ani now operation, it would justify the present course of the senate, and command the obedience ot the executive to its demand. It may, however, be remarked in passing, that, un der this law the president had the privilege of presenting to the body which assumed to review his executive acts his reasons therefor, instead ot being excluded from explanation or by papers found in the departments. Two years after the law of 1867 was passed, and within less than five weeks after the mauguiation of a president in political accord with both branches of con gress, the section* of the act legulatmg suspen sions fiom office duung the recess of the senate wers entnely repealed, and in their place were substituted provisions which, instead ol limiting the causes of suspensions to misconduct, crime, disability and disqualification, expre^8ly permitted such suspension by the president "in his discretion," and completely abandoned the requirements obliging him to repoit to the senate "the evi dence and reasons" tor his action. With these modifications, and with all branches of the gov ernment political harmony, and the absence of partisan incentive to captious obstiuction, the law as it was left by the amendment of 1869 was much less destructive to executive discretion and yet the great general and pat riotic citizen who, on the 4th dav of March, I860, assume 1 the duties of chief executive, and for whose treer admimstiatior of his high office the most hatetul lestramt, of the law of 1867 weie, on the 5th day of April, 1S60, removed, mindini of his obligation to defend and protect eveiv prerogative of his great tiust, and apprehen sive of THE IWJUPY THREATENED the public seivice the continued operation of these statutes, even in their modified form, his first message to congiess advised their re peal and set forth theii unconstitutional char acter and huittul tendencies I am unable to state whether or not thii lecommendation tor a repeal of these laws has been since repeated. 1/ it has not, the leason can probably be found in the e\penence which demonstiated the fact that the necessities of the political situation bvt larelv developed then vicious character: and so it happens that after an existence of nearly twenty vears of,almost mnocousdcbiietude,these laws are brought iorth, apparently the repealed as vv ell as the unrepealed, and then put in he way of an executive who is willing, if permitted, to attempt an improv ement the methods of administration. Ths constitutionality of these laws is by no means admitted. But hv should the provisions ot the repealed law, which re quiied specific cause for suspension and a report to the senate of "evidence and leason," be now in effect applied to the present executive, in stead of the law afterward passed and unre pealed, which distinctly permits suspensions by the president "in his discretion," and carelully omits the requirement thit "evidence and rea sons foi his action in the case" shall be reported to the senate? The requests and demands which by the score have for nearly thiee months been presented to the different departments of the government, whatever may be their form, have but one complexion. Thev assume the right of the senate to sit in judgment upon the exercise of my exclusive discretion and the ex ecutive function, for which I am solely responsi ble to the people, from whom I have so lately received the sacred trust of office My oath to support and defend the constitution, my duty to the people, who have chosen me to execute the powers of this great office and not to relinquish them, and mv duty to the chief magistiacv, which I must preserve unimpaired in all its dignitv and vigor, impel me to refuse to comply with these demands. To the end that the service may be improved, the senate is in vited to the fullest scrutiny of the persons sub mitted to them for public offic. in recognition of tne constitutional power of that body to advise and consent to their ppointment. I WILL CONTINUE, as I have thus far done, to furnish, at the re quest of the confirming body, all the informa tion I possess touching the fitness of the nom inees placed before them tor their action, both when thev are proposed to fill vacancies and to take the place of suspended officials Upon a re fusal to confirm, I shall not assume the right to ask the reasons lor the action of the senate, nor question its determination I cannot thmk that anything more is required to secure worthy incumbents in public office than a caieful and independent discharge of our lespective duties within then well-defined lim its. Though the piopriety of suspensions might be bett'er assured if the action of the i resident was subject to review bv the senate, yet if the constitution and the laws have placed this responsibility on the executive branch of the government it should not be disturbed, nor the discietion which it involved relinquished. It has been claimed that, the piescnt executive having pledged himself not to remove offi cials except foi cause, the fact of the sus pension mplies such misconduct on the pait of the suspended officer as injures his character and reputation, and therefore the senate should review the case for his vindi cation. I htjve said that certain officials should not, in my opinion, be lemoved during the con tinuance of the term foi which thev were ap pointed solely for the purpose of putting in their places tho le political affiliation with the ap pointing powei, and this declaration was imme diately followed by a description of official partisanship which ought not to entitle those whom it was exhibited to consideration. is not apparent, however, whether the course thus announced carries with it the consequences de scribed. If in any decree the suggestion is worthy of consideration, it is to bo hoped that there mav be a defense against unjust suspen sion in the justice of the executive. THE PLEDGE WHICH I HAVE MADE, bv which I have placed a limitation upon my ex ercise of executive power, has en faithfully re deemed. Ot course the pretense is not put foith that no mistakes have been committed, but not a suspension has been made except it appeared to mv satisfaction that the public welfare would be improved thereby. Manv applications for suspensions have been denied, and the adher ence to the rule laid down to govern my action as to such suspensions has caused much irrita. tion and impatience on the part of those who have insisted upon more changes in the offices. The pledges I have made were made to the peo ple, and to them I am responsible for the man ner in which they have been redeemed. I am not responsible to the senate, and I am un willing to submit my actions and official con duct to them for judgment. There are no grounds for an allegation that the fear of being found false to mv professions influences me in declining to submit to the demands of the sen ate. I have not constantly refused to suspend officials and thus incurred the displeasure of political friends, and have not vet wilfuUy broken faith with the people for the sake of be ing false to them. Neither the discontent of partv friends nor the allurement constantly of fered of confirmations of appointments condi tioned upon the avowal that suspensions have been made on party grounds alone, nor the threat proposed in the Ievolutions now before the senate, that no confirmation will be made unless the demands of that body be complied with, are sufficient to discourage ox deter me from follow ing in the wav which I am convinced leads to better government for the people. OBOVBS CLEVELAND. Executive Mansuoa. Washington, March 1,1886. TENNYSON'S LATEST. Post London Cable: The literary sen sation of the week has been Tennyson's poem called "Vastness," printed in Mac millan's Magazine. I is apparently a satire on various contemporary political and social movements. The following are the most striking ver3es# A hea rt upon our dark globe sighs after many a vanished face, Many a planet by many a sum may roll with the du st of a anished race. Raving politics never at rest, as this poor earth's pale history runs, What is it all but a trouble of ants in the gloam of a million million of suns 9 Lies upon this side, lies upon that side, truthless violence ourn'd by the wise, Thousands of voices drowning his own in a popular torrent of lies uponhes. Faith at her zenith or all but lost in the gloom of doubts that darken the schools, Oaft with a bunch of all-heal in her hand followed up by her vassal legion of fools, Stately purposes, valor in battle, glorious annals of army and fleet. Death for the right cause,death for the wrong cause, trumpets of victory, groans oi defeat, Innocence seethed in her mother's milk, and charity setting the martyr aflame, Thraldom who walks with the banner of Fieedom, and recks not to ruin a realm in her name, What is it all, if we all of us, end but in be ing our own corpse coffins at last 9 Swallowed in vastnc*fe3, lost in silence, drowned in the depths of a meaning less past. The fourth stanza is supposed to refer to the Salvation army, and the sixth to the Pall Mali Gazette exuosure. THE BLACK CAMEL. BY THE MARQUISE DE LAXZ\. On a certain bleak evening, during the Winter of '83 I was sitting alone in the room I occupied on the top floor of a fashionable New York apart ment house, I was ]ust recoveringor supposed to be recoveringfrom an attack of illness, and I was still very weak The doctor, in fact, had left me but a little while before, assuring me gravely that I must be very care ful it I desired to regain my usual good health. But, to tell the truth, I was somewhat ^elf-willed, and not apt to regard attentively what I was inclined to call the doctor's "notions." As soon as he nad disappeared, there fore, I sprang recklessly fiom the couch where I had bean lying, and drawing a chair up to the fire, took a book from the table and began to read I felt a little chilly as I threw oft the eider-down quilt that covered me, but I quieted my conscience by thinking that the heat from the bed of coals before me would soon make me warm again. I opened my book and soon found myself so deeply interested in what I was reading that I presently fell to musing over the chapter I had just finished. The work was Herbert Spencer's Princi ples of Sociology, and the chapter re lated to the ideas of death and resur rection as considered by primitive man. The subject was one upon which I myself had thought not a little, and one that had a peculiar fascination for me. From the time I was a little boy at school I had been in the habit of wondering and speculating as to what takes place in consciousness win the soul leaves tho body. Ot course, when a child, I did not think of it in these precise terms, such words being then unknown to me, but the ideas themselves were substantially the same. On this particular December evening, as I have already said, I fell into a brown study, and thought about this subject until I became completely ab sorbed in it. Now and then I would rouse myself and draw a little closer to the fire, for the chill had not left me. And my head seemed oppressed by some peculiar weight I was unable to shake oft. A sensible man would have gone at once to bed but in some respects I was the very opposite of sensible Presently, however, a queer ringing sound in my ears warned me that some change was taking place in me, yet with mad persistence my only act was to rise from my seat and throw some more coals upon the fire then sinking back again, I relapsed once more into profound meditation. Very soon I paid the penalty of my rashness. A deadly faintness" all at once crept over me. The weight de scended from my head to my chest: an icy chill stole into my veins, and I be gan to gasp for breath. My first im pulse was to spring up and endeavor to reach a little cabinet on the wall in which 1 kept a bottle of brandy, but strange to say, I was powerless to do so. Again came that sense of a dead weight pressing heavily upon me, and with it was a terrible feeling of suffoca tion. I tried to call aloud, although I recognized the uselessness of such a proceeding, as no one would be likely to hear me. "Alas!" I thought, "had I but fol lowed the doctor's advice! But now it is too*late. I can do nothing for my self, and I shall probably die here alone." This gloomy thought called up with in me the small amount of force I pos sessed. With one desperate effort 1 caught firmly hold of the arms of my chair and succeeded in fairly raising myself. But, to my inexpressible hor ror, just at this point I felt myseli sinking slowly and gradually, until finally I fell with a dull thud up on the heart rug. After that, all was darkness and oblivion for a while. Then, little by little,, con sciousness dawned oncemorejupon me, and I rose, much to my astonishment with apparent ease from my recum bent position. At first the room ap peared dark to me. The surrounding atmosphere was like a black, impene trable curtain. But this, no doubt, eame from my extreme weakness and from the effects of my fall. Presently the obscurity vanished, and I saw my room as it usually was. The light burned just as I had left it, and the fire still glowed brightly on the hearth. "Now, at all events, I will go to rtrnfriimi bed," I said to myself. "I will not EeavengI rolon my heedlessness. Thank have recovered! intime to save myself." I turned to walk toward the other side qf the room, when, to my intense surprise, my foot struck something heavy and unyielding on the floor. I bent down to see what the object could be, and in so doing I started back with an exclamation of terror and ti-embhng in every limb. Lying closebeside my chair was the prostrate form of a man, and, to my unspeakable consternation, a nearer examination convinced me that the body was my own. I was dead then dead' Could it be possible? I got down on the floor and passed my hand over the inanimate shape. It was still warm, but I saw at once that life was extinct. As the firelight shot up into a blaze I noticed that the face wore a purplish tinge, which as I gaz ed, turned to a dull ashen hue. The limbs had lost their elasticity the eyes were open, yet I knew they were sightless. While I looked the feeling of horror that at first possessed me changed to one of sorrw "I do not care for myself," I said mournfully "but Mary, my poor Mary." Mary was a young and beautiful girl to whom I had shortly hoped to be married. "When she hears of this," I said aloud, "and knows that it was oc casioned oy my own wicked careless ness, she will suffer frightfully Ok' miserable wretch that I am. I was happier in life than now, far, far hap pier Shall my spirit ever know rest again9'' I buried my face in my hands and wept. Some of my tears dropped up on my dead body and the sight of them on that lifeless clay maddened me. Filled with a wild despair,I jumped up, seized my hat, and, rushing out of my room, soon found myseli in the street. The night I knew was extremely cold, but I did not feel it. The clocks the neighborhood had just struck eleven and. it was still too early for the streets to be deserted On the contrary, they were filled with merry parties returning from theatres and other places of amusement. Many carriages rolled by, and time I caught glimpses of lovely ball toilets, the flash of diamonds, and the vivid hues of great bouquets of hothouse flowers "And I am dead'" I said bitterly. "A cold, unfeeling image among all this life, and warmth, and beauty'" As I passed the groups on the side walk, I looked at them narrowly to see if they observed anything un natural in my appearance, but they did not appear to do so. Once, how ever, I went up to a shop window where a gentleman with a lady on his arm was standing lost in admhation of some jewels displayed from within. I stood beside the couple, gazing non chalantly at the glittering array be fore me, when suddenly the lady clung tighter to her companion's arm. "Let us go on," s-he said, glancing nervously in my direction "Did yoIu not feel a peculiar chill uist now9 swept through me from head to foot." The gentleman, to my relief, merely made some laughing reply and they walked away together. I saw the lady shiver as she passed. "No wonder'" I thought She little thought she was standing beside the spirit of a dead man." The idea amused me, and I too, laughed aloud. I wandered about the streets all night long, preparing myself for several things that I felt were in cumbent upon me to perform. For Mary's sake I wished to withhold as long as possible from the world, the knowledge of my death, and in order to do this it was necessary to take special measures to that effect. I must be buried, ofcourse,and whenev er this thought recurred to me I grew colder, it seeemed, and an utter hope lessness overcame me. Instinctively I knew that the moment my remains were consigned to the earth my spir it was doomed to vanish from human sight, never more to return. I cannot tell how this conviction was forced up on me. It is sufficient to say that it was there, and that it thrilled me with a terrifying awe such as is felt by a mind haunted by disturbed and re lentless fantasies On Mary's ac count, therefore, I wished to delay the burial for at least thiee days. PART II. When the morning was somewhat advanced I went to an undertaker's establishment and made all the neces sary arrangements for my funeral, saying the dead man was a brother of mine, out that owing to a morbid shrinking from publicity in all affairs either of life or death, he had extract ed a promise from me that I would neither publish the fact of his decease in the papers nor acquaint any one else with it, except, of course, those who were obliged to know it. "I supose," I added as carelessly as possible, "that you will want a certif icate of death from the poor fellow's physi-cian. You can get it by applying to Dr. Hendricks, No. Madison avenue." This appeared satisfactory to the undertaker, who promised to adhere faithfully to my directions. I then re turned to what had once been my home, and on entering the room found my lifeless body lying just where lhad left it on the previous evening, and presenting much the same appearance, except that the daylight gave it an additional ghastliness. The under taker eame in soon afterward and laid the corpse upon the bed, remark ing that death must have been sud den, and that the deceased was enough like me to be my twin. I made no reply to his remarks, be ing oppressed by the weird strange ness of assisting in laying out my own body. While we were so occupied I heard the doctor's step on the stairs, and hastily tellingthe undertaker that I did not feel equal to meeting any one just then, I slipped into a closet, leaving the door partly open that I might observe what passed. The doctor came in apparently much affected. There were tears in his eyes. "Poor fellow!" I heard him say, "I feared he would be imprudent. I wish I could have prevented this." Then he added, turning to the undertaker, "Who sent for you? You did not tell me." "Thepoorgentleman's brother, sir9" "Brother' He had no brother." "Oh yes, he had, sir. Twin brother, I fancy. The likeness is wonderful." "Strange that I never heard of it be- fore," said the doctor looking aston ished. "He must have been here soon after my patient died, or perhaps at the time. 1 wonder if any family dif- ficultyI should liketo question him," he continued. "Where is he?" "He was here awhile ago, sir, but left just as you came in I think." "Very queer," aid the doctor puz zled. Pretty soon they went away togeth er, and then I emergedfrom my hiding place and started out again, taking the direction of Mary's house. On en tering I found her "in a sadrxame of mind that she assured me he was able to subdue. She appeared to divine intuitively that some calamity was about to befall her, and all my en deavors were powerless to dry the tears that welled from her eyes as sh met me, and with which I could with difficulty prevent my ow from min gling. In trying to soothe her agitation and despondency, I clasped her hand in mine, when, to my dismay, she started back affright. "It is cold'" she cried. "It is like the hand of a dead person' Some dreadful misfortune is gomgtohappen to youI know itI feel it'" She be gan to sob hysterically. It was on the tip of my tongue to exclaim "Mary, it has already come to me, and soon its black shadow will blight your young and tender life'" But I dared not speak I feared the horrible truth might kill hex, and on my wretched soul would then lie an increase of guilt. she must knowr it all when mBesides, body should be buried' In a little while no conceal ment would be possible As I gazed into her tear-dimmed ej es. a feeling ol intense agony rose up in my heart. Unable to endure it. I snatched my hand from hers and rushed from the house, regardless of her sorrowful amazement. During the interval that has elapsed between that day and the morning of my funeral I saw her no more I had not the courage to again face her grief and her questioning look in which lin gered an expression of dread But when the day finally dawnedthe day in which I was to be laid to rest body and soul, if, indeed, my soul could ob tain rebtI was impelled to go to her to take my last farewell. On coming into her presence I dis covered my poor Mary in the same dismal mood. "Oh, how I ha\e sufferedhow I hare suffered' "&he exclaimed over and over again. I implored her to tell me the cause of her despair, but she said she was unable to explain it, al though in some way, it seemed to be connected with myseli Again she clasped her hand in mine, and again she complained of its icy coldness. The fatal hour drew near when they were to take my dead body to the churchyard. I had to tear myself away. And yet, how could I go with out Mary whom I lo-^ ed so well9 I was impossible. "Mary," I said, "I have a favor to ask of you. A friend of mine has just died, and I am obliged to attend' his funeral. Come with me." To my surprise she assented read iiy- "Anythinganything," she said, so that I am with you and not left alone with my thoughts So it happened that within half an hour we Were sealed side by side in the coupe and being driven together toward the churchyard wheie at that moment my own funeral proces&ion was on its way. I leaned back in the carriage lost in gloomy reflec tion, while Mary's tears fell faster and faster behind her veil. The fantastic quaiutness of the situation broke suddenly upon nie. and to Mary's horrified wonder, I burst into an uncontrollable par oxysm of laughter. I saw the changed expression of her face as she looked at me, and becoming sober again I relapsed once moie into my joyless revei le. When we reached the chuichyard, the hearse containing my body was already there, and some men were pie pare 1 to carry my coffin to an open grave near by The doctor was the sole mourner. He walked slowly and with uncovered head behind the black draped box that conl ained my mortal remains. He appealed uneasy and looked round once or twice as if in search of some one, mj brother, prob ably. "How strange' murmured Mary. "Had your friend no associates except that man and yourself.'" "No," I answered, and was struck by the fearful sound of my own voice. The clergyman that accompanied the party began to read the burial service, and from the depths ot the carriage where I sat with Mary's quiveringform beside me, 1 listened eageily, waiting with a sense ot utter misery for the words that were to signal my final dissolution. I remarked with relief that no one present appeared to notice the solitary coupe with its hid den occupants. Finally, it seemed to me an incredibly short periodI knew the end had comethat at last I must leave the world for a spiritual exist ence, that has naught to do with any material foim, and that in a few mo ments Mary would watch the vanish ing of my present shape into the in finite. She would then be left desolate, and the horror of what she had been through would make itself apparent. An intense sensation of cold crept oyerme,and I felt myself slipping away, as it were, from a substance to a shadow. I glanced at Mary. She sat gazing at me with a look of stony hor ror, as if she divined what was about tohsppen. Oh, the agonythe ter rible agony of that moment* "Dust to dust" came in solemn measured tones from the clergyman"ashes to ashes." It was all over. I turned and with a cry, heartrending in. its bitter des pair, clasped Mary in my arras. I heard her utter one long, shrill, pierc- ing scream as I touched her, and then I knew no more until I discovered that some one was shaking me violent ly, and I roueed myself to find a cold perspiration issuing from every pore, while over me stood tne doctor look ing exceedingly angry. "Is it possible," he asked, "that you have been sleeping therdeservnighttelaleu on the heart rug9 Yo die." "Why, I have been dead'" "Where is Mary, doctor9 I think*'.saidI Then I fainted away. Of course the doctor put me to bed and restored me finally to conscious ness, grumbling the while about the" pigheadness of some people that would not do as they were told. "It was all the fault of that book, doctor," I said, pointing to the \ol- ume of Herbert Spencer that laj on the floor in the sunshine. "I had been reading about queer ideas oi* death and another life, and th?t I suppose occasioned my falling to sleep and dreaming I was dead and attending my ownfuneial. Fairly bhudder at the recollection." "Well, you certainly looked more dead than alive when I found you there," said the doctor, "and you gave a shriek as I came msuch a shriek "Never mind, doctor, I said trying to laugh "when I am well again I in tent to write out that dream and call it 'The Black Camel,' for as Abd-el Kader says, 'Death is a black camel that kneels at the gates of all Ce tainly the black camel has knelt at my gate "All I can say is this," remaiked the doctor se\eiely 'that if e\er I catch you at am such thin again, I'll -I'll-" The doctor did not say what 1 would do, for at that instant there was a knock at the door and a mes senger handed me a bouquet ot robes from Mary Personal Gossip. The 509 Lords of England have an a\erage income of $120 000 each, and then gioas income is about ^75,000, 000 The youngest Mayor in the United States, Major Aaion, of Van Buien, Aik twenty-one \ear& of age.recently quan eled about a woman with a man named Taylor, and shot him to death. Mayor Kardy, ol Lincoln, Xeb has incurred the ennntv of the liquor men by hio radical stand on the temper ance question The other daj a coffin was lett at his door as A warning He promptly sold it for 13. and turned the money into the ti easury ol the lo cal tempeiance society, Mr. Larkin Leonaid, Gold Mine Township, N. C, alwajs h\ed in one place, wore a pair ot shoet, thirteen yeaib, used the same plow lines nine teen years, ne\er sav a raihoad or bought a pound of meat, flour oi corn, or swapped horses, or was out of lion ey, and had good teeth and lean with out spectacles up to the da\ ot hi- ilu- cent death at the aqe of o\ei eighty one General Schenck grows old "I saw him recently," s-ays one writing fiom Washington, "beseemed a thick, guz zled, gunvjawed old man ot seventy. Schenck was always pictuiesquely un couth e\en in his prime liis hay-col ored hair, as wiry as a Scotch toiriei's Ins small, half closed, deep set ee and bulbous no*e made him an un couth figure at Ixnt. lie is onl-y aieni misccnce now, and the fire ol youth has gone out of the once sturdy frame Old age has added seams and wrinkles to his homely leatures, and given him no grace to compensate for them." The most striking featuie of the Maga/ine of Amci'can History for Oc tober is Gpneral Grant's autograph letter in facsimile oc\oirigMx pagc It was wntten in 1883,on the death of Alaxander Stephens, and 1^, now published tor the first time It was addressed to Rev Henrj Vt hitney Cleveland, formerly a colonel in the confederate service, who contributes, with the letter, an intensely interest ingpaper on' General Grant Military Abilities," arguing that the south un deirated General Grenf from the fust, and that both th north and the south undeilate his ncj aNhip ev en now At Middlesborough, Lag the of her day, Dr Strathetn appealed as a wit ness at Petty Sessions, bat declined to take an oath on the giound that it was a ^ery serious thing to kiss, a book which was handled by all kinds of people." Alter some argument, the doctor ofteied, by way of com promise, to kiss the book if a clean sheet of paper ei placed ovci the cover. The bench declined to accede to this or to allow the doctor to make an affirmation, and eventually he con sented, under protest, to "run the risk of catching disease." A Georgia couple were married "un- der fire," as it were, the other day. While W. H. Willis, a substantial young farmer of Pike county, was stealing Miss Jones from her home for the purpose of marrying her he was discovered by the lady's brothers. The eloping couple succeeding in reach ing a waiting carriage, but they were no sooner on their way than they were pursued by volleys of buckshot from the enraged young men. Several of the shot perforated the lady's bon net. The lovers succeeded in reaching a clergyman and being married 311st before the pursuers burst in. A cozrespondent of a Boston news paper says that Mr. Nast's wife is tho original of Columbia, tha tall, beauti ful woman with the classic face who has been so prominent in the allegor ical pictures during arid since the war. These pictures gave Nast his national fame. In beauty of conception and execution they have never been excell ed, and are chapters of the history of the Nation's mindphotographed moods, as it were. Columbia, let it be I noticed, is altogether a different figure^ from the Goddess of Liberty. She is^l Nast's special creation in the world off I art.^ ^_ f^1 fe3