The Princeton union. [volume], March 24, 1892, Image 2

About The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
'W'
i tic
MINORS.
Tb wfads in minors murmur,
The rain beats on th9 pane,
The night is dark and eloomy,
Stained with the weeping rain-
Oh, the winds in minors murmur.
And the ram beats on the pane.
The winds in minors murmur,
The rain beats on the pane
My heart in gloom and shadow,
Koeps time in sad refrain
As the winds in minors murmui
And the rain beats on the pane.
The winds in minors murmur,
The rain beats on the pane
If you were with me, darling,
I would not sigh in vain,
While the winds in minors murmur,
And the rain beats on the pane
Saturday Evening Post.
THE MAN IN POSSESSION.
"Are you going to the party this
evening?" Griffin Stenlake inquired of
his better half.
"I am. Oh, I don't want your es
cort' I'm going with Mrs, Jackson.
I'll tako a cab and call for her on my
way
All right, my dear. I'll turn into
my den as I have some writing to do."
So to his particular sanctum in the
front basement (most families would
ha\ made it a housekeeper's room)
he betook himself in due course. Not
to write, however, but to the compan
ionship of a strange, shabby-genteel
indi\ idual who was consuming
whisky and water and smoking a pipe,
and of whoso presence in the house
Mrs. Stenlake had not the faintest
conception.
It should be explained that Griffith
Stenlake had married a voung widow
with two little girls They had not
been very happy during the last year.
Their attitude toward each other
might aptly be described as an armed
neutrality. Each drifted their own
way. The lady was a votary of pleas
ure and must have money at any cost.
Her husband was a man of weak
cha'-acter hence he supplied the need
ful meekly and concealed hib difficulties
from her, knowing that she in her
turn would only upbraid him for his
folly
bo it- came about that till now he
had successfully secreted from her the
shabby man in his den (which she
never intruded upon), the tai shabby
individual being no less a person than
a man in possession. Griffith in his
indolent fashion, was a student of
character. This man amused him and
he resolved to spend the evening in
his company until Mrs hteniake's re
tut a. He found him peeping between
the Venetians, apparently trying to
ffet a ghmpse of that lady as she went
out at the front door
Don't let yourself be seen for
goodness sake'" exclaimed Griffith.
All right sir I'm sure I don't
want to be the broker's man replied
very quietly, but as he turned Sten
lake noted a strange look in his lace.
"Your wite, sir3
At? i
She & a very pretty
woman."
I'm glad you think so."
Oh don't mmd me., sir. She
brings back to my memory some one
I once knew."
'A flame,r'
leswell no. I suppose you'd
be astonished to hear I'd ever been
anything different from a bum bailiff?"
'-No
Mr.by the wav, what is
jour name?"
SangsterBill Sangster. That
will do well enough for me at present.
I suppose you'd be surprised to hear
I'd been a solicitor once0"
'I should indeed."
"Well, I was. And that I'd been
struck.off the roll?"
No I shouldn't be surprised at
that
'Ah well, that's just what I wasn' t!
I simply sank gracefully into oblivion.
Only about four years ago the final
crash took place, mind you and all
because 1 was too trustful for this
world."
A confiding lawyer!'
Ah. you may well laugh. But I
paid dei'rly for my experience. I bar
tered away both lortune and happi
ness and now 1 believe in no one."
He sat for a moment pulling at his
pipe and then continue
It was all, through a lady who
came to me representing that she was
entitled to a large fortune. She told
me she did not wish to take proceed
ings in the matter at once, as there
was a voung man in love with her
who would not propose to her if he
knew it, lest it might be thoaght he
v, anted her for her money. I be
lieved this romantic tale and ad
vanced herwell, nearly every penny
1 had in the world.
Then she levanted and I had to
face my wife and little childien and
tell them they were beggars. She
was furious and jealous, too. for she
thought there was more in the matter
than 1 would confess to. I pleaded
excuses then I can find none now. It
was a cowardly piece of folly on my
part She left me, taking the little
ones. I don't know how they fared.
I became a penniless wanderer, with
out home, without friends. I sank
lower and lower until I have found
my level. Experience has taught mo
cunning, care has made me drink so
1 have become a broker's man."
He stopped speaking. Griffith was
thoughtful and there was a long si
lence between them.
Mr. Stenlake coughed and winked.
The man in possession did the same.
The room was full of smoke, a great
deal more smoke, surely, than could
possibly have been caused by their
pipes. Griffith opened the door. The
passage was full ^of smoke, too, and
at the same moment the servant maid
came positively flying down the stairs
wildly shrieking:
"Fire! Fire!"
"Halloa!" said Bill Sangster, start
ing up. his utterance a little thick,
for he had absorbed nearly as much
whisky as was good for him. "What's
this? What's up? Is this some
-dodge?"
I know no more what's the matter
than you do."
"And the children! Where are
they?" cried Bill, passing his hand
over his eyes.
"In the top-front room." Stenlake
replied, mechanically. He was not a
person gifted with presence of mind,
but the idea struck him at the time,
how t!id this man know there were
children in the house? He had not
seen them, and no one had told of
them. But Sangster had not stopped
to think. He had rushed upstairs,
and Griffith, going after, met him
coming down again. "The fire's in
there," he exclaimed "the door's
locked! My God, they'll be burned
alivetho poor little children!
Where's the key?"
"I don't know. We lock them in
for safety. I don't know where my
wife put it."
"Ah!" cried the broker's man.
clasping his hands in evident anguish,
you're not their fatheryou don't
oare but at least she's their mother
she must love them a little after all
andJane!" he yelled, rushing into
the kitchen, "a hammer, a hatchet or
something to burst the door open with,
for the love of heaven!"
Jane was not there. She had fled
up the street to give the alarm but
Sangster soon found a kitchen chop
per, armed with which he ran upstairs
again. On the landing he met Sten
lake, who had tried to ascend but had
been beaten back, choked and blinded
by the dense volumes of smoke.
'I'll go up again, "he said in gasps.
"It's very good of youbut don't at
tempt itit's simply madness."
"Let me pass!" cried the man in
possession, authoritatively, and disap
peared into the darkness.
Griffith Stenlake, although not such
a bad sort of an easy-going, weak fel
low in the main, was not the man to
actively prevent other people from
making heroes of themselves.
Meantime at the top of the house the
agonized cries of the children could be
heard and the determined crash!
crash! crash! against the panels of the
door. That is like a human sound,
too. It seems to say: "I will con
quer or die*!"
Quick! quick! or it will be too late.
The devouring flames are fast gaining
ground. Oh, heaven help that brave
heart! Yes, just one more vigorous
blow. The door is flying in splinters.
The smoke and flames burst forth, but
he is inside
All this happened in a very few
minutes and by that time the engines
were there paying on the house.
They lose no time when they are
summoned. that gallant brigade,
which for true heroism can beat all
your soldiers from Alexander down
ward.
"QuicK!" cried Stenlake. "the es
cape. There's a man and two chil
dren in the top room!'
In a twinkling the ladder is set up and
one of the men is ascending it. At the
window he can see a sort of demon a
blackened form illumined by the glare"
of the flameholding in either arm a
terrified little girl they were safe and
sound. The fireman caught them and
bade their preserver descend. But
his only thought had been for them.
Somehow his foot slipped and ho fell
backward. Then there was an appall
ing crash. The flooring of the upper
story had given way and brave Bil I
Sangster was buried beneath the ruins.
The first gray streaks of the dawn
are lighting up the sky. The fire has
been mastered. The damage was con
fined to the two upper stories, and the
ruins are still smouldering. After in
finite exertion* Sangster has been ox
tricated and carried into Stenlake's
den where they passed the evening.
His face, where it was not scorched,
was deadly pale Great drops wrung
out by agony stood out upon his brow,
for both his legs were broken. The
first words he uttered were to ask for
the children. They were there for
by a merciful Providence they had
escaped all injury.
iJust then a cab drove up to the door
and a lady in evening dress and
wrapped in a cloak alighted. It was
Mrs. Stenlake.
'Oh, Griffith" she cried, incoher
ently, as she ran into the house,
"what is this? What has happened?
Where are the children?"
"Safe, thank goodness! Come in
here Mary. This is the brave fellow
to whom we owe their lives, who has
risked his for them'"
She came into the little room and
started back on seeing the blackened
figure lying upon the couch. Her eyes
dilated and it was only by a supreme
effort that she saved herself from
swooning.
"Wnere did you come from?" she
said at last in an awed whisper.
1 am the man in possession," he
answered, with a faint smile, putting
an arm round each of the little girls.
"Yes. a little money I owed," Sten
lake remarked wearily.
But his wife had not asked for an
explanation. She had not even heard
him.
-I thought you were dead," she
continued in the same tone.
"Oh. don't worry about that, my
dear. I soon shall be, but I've been
able to save them at any rate, my lit
tle ones."
"Who is this man?" Griffith asked.
"My husband!" she replied, cover
ing her face with both her hands,
Yea sir, and a bad husband, too
heaven forgive me! although I loved
her in my own way. Don't blame her.
She didn't know. It's my fault. She
thought I was dead. But I soon shall
bevery soon."
"No, no 1 have sent for a doctor."
Stenlake said, vaguely. He hardly
knew what he did say.
"Ah, doctors would never do much,
good, but I' past their healing now.
I feel it, and I've no doubt you're glad
in your hearts. I know I am. for my
life has been a weary wreck since for
some time past May I kiss them
just once?" he asked, and there was a
quiver in that voice, which was grow
ing weaker and weaker. Griffith
made a gesture which the other quick
ly intercepted.
'Ah, don't be afraid. I shan't tell
them they shall never know from
me."
He rose and painfully kissed both
the children. He had saved them
from the fire and they were not afraid
of him. So, with his blessing upon
their innocent souls their father sank
dead.
One short sob broke from Mary,
and then, putting up her hand softly
to her husband, she said:
"Can you forgive me?"
"Mary!" he cried.
The humble, beseeohing tone com
ing from her surprised him. He took
her in his arms and from the time of
that strange scene they began to rea
lize the great principle of give and
take, and instead of drifting still
apart they prospered best by facing
the world hand in hand together.
London Tid-Bits.
A BRAVE MONTANA WOMAN.
Uioticle I She Drovo tho Coach From
Which the Driver Had Fallen.
A lady whose name we are unable
to learn met with a startling adven
ture while traveling on the stage, near
Moulton's station, very early one
morning recently, says the Susanville,
Cal., Mail. The lady resides in Mon
tana, and, with her five-year-old
daughter, was on her way to visit her
parents, who reside near Ft. Bidwell.
Arriving at Amedee. the remainder of
the trip must be traveled by stage
coach. Herself and daughter con
stituted the passengers, and, as the
night was extremely cold, blustry and
disagreeable, she preferred riding on
the inside of the coach.
Before leaving Amedee the cur
tains were all fastened. The coach
rumbled along all right for miles, the
horses were changed, and nothing un
usual transpired until Madeline plains
were reached, when suddenly the dri
ver fell from his seat and the team
continued driverless on toward the
next station. The lady soon realized
her plight and endeavored to vacate
the coach as expeditiously as possi
ble, but the curtains were fastened on
the outside. Possessed with great
presence of mind she hastily took her
penknife and cut the fastenings and
thus secured an avenue to reach terra
firina
Her first move was to drop the lit
tle girl from the coach as gently as
possible and then she followed, alight
ing in safety. After running a short
distance she managed to stop the
horses, and placing the child on the
seat, the lady mountod the coach and
drove on to tho Moulton station. A
reliet expedition was sent out after the
driver, who was met beating his weary
way into the station.
It seems the jehu had become sleepy
or something of the kind, and losing
his equilibrium had fallen overboard
Another driver less sleepy was found
at the station who continued on the
journey. Fortunately the team hap
pened to be very gentle, otherwise tljie
adventure might not have terminated
as luckily. The lady displayed great
nerve and coolness, and it is due to
that fact that herself and little daugh
ter escaped a fearful fate
Mrs. Ye's Knglisli.
Everyone's right to "life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness" must
certainly be in the air of the land of
the free. It is told of the Corean
minister in Washington that a lady
asked him how he liked America.
'Oh, very good, he replied.
"And your wife, how does she like
it?"
4 'Oh. she like it too good! She say.
I good as you now I not go back any
more.'''
Mrs. Ye is a charming little woman,
who is in love with American customs.
She has adopted the American style
of dress and speaks English with a
delicious accent It is wonderful how
quickly she has learned our difficult
tongue. Some of her literal transla
tions possess an original flavor that is
bewitching. For instance she was
telling of thieves breaking into the
house. "Yes," she said, earnestly,
"the steal mans took everything."
What could be more expressive thaq
that?N. Y. Times.
Two Long Felt Wants.
JinksBy George! I've struck it
I'll be rich in five years.
"WinksWhat at?
"Going to start an intelligence
office"
"Huh! Nothing new about that."
"Wait till you see me. I'll have a
regular line of cabs, and send around
every morning to all my customers."
"What for."
"To leave a fresh girl and take
yesterday's girl away. Just think of
it. For the mistresses, a new girl
every morning for the girls, a new
place every day. There's millions
in it "Puck.
That Explains It.
A New York artist was recently vis
ited by a lady friend. The artist was
painting an angel.
-Why do you always paint your an
gels with dark hair and black eyes?"
asked the friend.
"It's a great secret, and it might
get me into trouble if you were to give
it away."
"Well, the reason I paint my an
gels with black hair and eyes is be
cause my wife is a blonde."Texas
Siftings.
PanslcH.
Pansies sometimes called hearts
ease, herb-trinity, kit-run-about love
in-idleness, three-facqs-under-a. hood,
are supposed, in the language of
flowers, to denote thought. Ophelia
says: "There's rosemary, that's for
remembrance, pray you, love, remem
ber and there is pansies, that's for
thought The word pansy is undoubt
edly from the French penseethought.
SPECTEES OF THE SEA.
GHOSTLY TRAVELERS ON THE
MIGHTY DEEP.
Tho Story of tho Flying DutchmanThe
Spectre-Ship Which Carried off a
MaidenGivman Iend
of Death-Ships.
This is how the story of the "Fly
ing Dutchman" is told. An unbeliev
ing Dutch captain had vainly tried to
round Cape Horn (not Good Hope)
against a head-gale. He swore he
would do it and when the storm in
creased laughed at the fears of his
crew, smoked his pipe and drank his
beer, even throwing overboard some
of the men who tried to make him put
the ship about. The Holy Ghost de
scended on the deck but he fired a
pistol at it whereupon his arm be
came paralyzed. Then he cursed
God and was immediately condemned
by the apparition to navigate always
without putting into port, always on
the watch, and with nothing but gall
to drink and red-hot iron to ear.
He was to be the evil genius of the
sea. to torment and punish sailors,
and to carry warning of ill-fortune to
the luckless mariner. It is he who
sends the white squalls and sudden
tempests. If he visits a ship all the
wine and beer turns sour and all the
food becomes beans, which sailors
hate.
Nothing must be taken from his hand
for the person who touches anything
he has touched is lost His ship is
manned by all the old sinners of the
sea. thieves, murderers, pirates, and
cowards, who eternally toil and suffer
and have little to eat or drink. Thus
the phantom-ship is the purgatory of
the wicked mariner.
A phantom-ship is known to Baltic
sailors as the, Carmilhan." and the
captain of her Is called Klabotermann.
This ship also is always trying with
out success to double the cape and
when sailors see her, with Klaboter
mann sitting on the bowsprit dressed
in yellow, wearing a night eap and
smoking a short pipe, they know that
their vessel is doomed.
It is curious that almost all the
spectral heroes of these legendsat
least of the most popular of them
are Dutchmen. But the fact seems to
be that the legend is German in its
origin, says the Saturday Evening
Post, and has become attached in
sailor-yarns to Dutchmen either be
cause, to Jack, a Dutchman and a
Deutscher are the same thing, or be
cause the Dutch were the most famous
and daring of navigators.
The German story is given by differ
ent authorities with variations but.
briefly, it is this A baron called
Falkenburg murdered his brother and
his bride in a fit of passionate jeal
ousy, and went forth from his home
with the curse thundering in his ears,
that he should for evermore wander
towards the North. At the sea-shore
he found a boat awaiting him, with
one~man in it, who simply said, "Ex-
pectamus te." Falkenburg entered
the boat and was conveyed to a spec
tral bark lying in the harbor. He
boarded her. and she sailed away with
him against the wind.
On board that ship he still ploughs
the Northern seas, for ever playing
dice with the spectral crew for his
soul. The ship is painted gray, has
colored sails, a white flag and flames
issue from her masthead at nightso
that she is easily identified by any
vessel that may happen to "speak"
her! For six hurfdred years this spec
tral bark has roamed the German
ocean, and is still, it is said in the
German story, to be seen always head
ing northward, without helm or helms
man.
There is strong probability that the
German legend had a Scandinavian
origin, for the old Vikings seem to
have founded most of our sea-lore,
and flavored all our sea superstitions.
There is a saga of one Stote. who stole
a ring from the gods and when they
sought him to take vengeance, he was
found clothed in a sheet of fire, seated
on the mainmast of a black spectral
bark.
The story of the ring again reap
pears in a curious way in an old Ve
netian legend. Once, during a storm
in the Adriatic, a fisherman was
called upon to row three men out to
sea A huge spectral galley bore
down upon them, with frightful de
mons on board but the fisherman's
bark ran it down and the boatman
was then presented by his three pas
sengers with a ring. By that token
he knew them to be St Nicholas
the medieval patron saint of sailors
and fishermenSt. Mark and St
George and it was because the city
was thus miraculously saved from de
struction that the Doges of Venice
went annually through the ceremony
of wedding the Adriatic with a ring.
An English version of the phantom
ship concerns a man of war. Tne
crew had mutinied, and rigged her out
to resemble the spectre ship of which
they had often heard and repeated
yarns. Their object was to terrify
the vessels they pursued, for they
meant to be regular sea rovers. Un
fortunately they encountered the real
spectre ship, and were so terrified that
they put into port and gave themselves
up to justice. If this story is not true
it ought to be. for it is a proper ex
ample of the would-be biter bit
There are a great many more spec
tre-ships roaming the seas than those
known to us in the familiar legends.
Thus the Schleswig-Holsteiners know
of one that suddenly appeared and
carried olf maiden who was sitting
on the shore, weeping for her absent
sailor-lover. He was supposed to have
been on board the strange bark, for he
never returned. And on some of the
German lakes and rivers, spectre fish
ing-boats and nets are common.
The death-ship is also of German
origin. She sails about with death's
heads grinning out of all the port-
holes and with cross-bones decorating
the sails, A skeleton stands on the
poop with an hour-glass in his hand
and the crew are the ghosts of sin
ners who have each to serve one hun
dred years in each grade on ship
board before they take their turns as
captain. Then is another death
ship, which, perhaps, may be the
same under another name, only she is
called the Navire Libera Nos. She is
commanded by Captain Requiem, and
must sail the seas until she is boarded
by a Christian crew who will say a
mass for the souls of the wanderers.
IN A CHICAGO HOTEL.
It Was Full of Magnificent DUtance, to
Bother Country Guests.
He was from a country town and
stopped at the Grand Pacific hotel and
was assigned to a commodious inside
room in the northwest corner of the
house, near La Salle street, according
to the Chicago Post. He was not sat
isfied. The noise and rattle and
tumult of the streets reached him and
made him yearn to lock out on the
busy scene whence they came. The
strokes of the big board of trade clock
resounded through the corridors and
this young man desired to gaze on the
tower where the clanging bell hangs.
So he went to the office, sought Sam
Parker and spoke thus:
"Say. mister, I don't like that room
you gave me. I can't see anything
but the walls of a big building and
some sort of a place with a glass
floor." He meant the court in the
centre of the hotel.
"Why, cert'nly," said the obliging,
accommodating Parker. -What kind
of a room would you like?"
"Oh, I'm not particular. Anything
where I can see something out-doors.''
"Want a bath with it?"
"Well, I dunno I had a good wash
just before leaving St. Louis and"
'1 mean do you wish a room with a
bath room attached?"
"Oh, I don't care if it's next to a
bath room. 1 won kick about that
so's there don't too many people have
to go through my room to the bath-
room."
"How would a nice room round here
on the Clark street front suit you?"
'First rate."
"Front, change the gentleman from
203 to 276."
"How far apart are these rooms?"
queried the St Louis man somewhat
anxio isly.
"About two dollars and a half," re
plied Sam.
"I mean how far in distance How
far will I have to carry my valise?"
Just about two blocks." said Sam,
making a mental survey and topo
graphical plat of the second floor of
the Grand Pacific.
"Great gosh all hemlock! I want
to stay in the hotel," protested the
man from the bridge.
Oh, you can walk two blocks with
out getting out of this house." said
Mr. Parker. --If you get lost tell
your troubles to a policeman."
The Usual Period ol Grace.
"Your proposal is so unexpected,
Mr. SDOonamore." said the young wo
man, blushingly, "that 1 hardly know
what to say. You must give me time
to think it over."
"Certainly. Miss Jaggers." said
the young man. accommodatingly.
"That's the way I'veeralways
been in the habit of doing in cases
like this."Chicago Daily Tribune.
Versed in Rings.
GwendolinHave you the ring?
HaroldYes, but I'm afraid it's too
large for your dainty finger."
GwendolinNever fear. That's
what Billy Knowles and Horace Fas
sett said.Jewelers' Circular.
THINGS HARD TO MATCH.
A Maine hunter claims to have a cat
that will stalk grouse
The tallest trees in the world are the
gum trees of Victoria, Australia In
some districts they average 300 feet high.
The longest prostrated one measured 470
feet and 81 feet in girth near the roots.
A woman's real estate association has
been organized in Indianapolis and incor
porated with $5,000 capital stock. Its
purpose is to deal real estate, both as
agents and speculators. The members
are women of standing.
Forty peaks of the Himalayas are more
than 20,000 feet in height. One of these,
Dhawalageri, White mountain, has on al
titude of 26,$62 feet and till the height of
Mt Everest was computed, was believed
to be the highest mountain peak in the
world
Since 1876 Mrs William H. Crane has
been the treasuier of her husband's theat
rical company. She handles from 340,000
to &60,000 per month during the season,
and attends personally to such details as
collecting and paying bills, banking, pay
ing salaries, and all similar business.
A story is told of a now celebrated at
torney who, when he first appeared be
fore the United States supreme court to
argue a case, started in to make a speech
such as he had been the habit of inflict
ing on juries He was at once stopped
with the remark: "Counsel will please
confine himself to the law in the case we
have no time to listen to eloquence."
John Jordan brought a large white
swan to Pendleton, Ore, recently and
tells a queer story as to how he got it.
While near his house on East Birch creek
he saw some eagles chasing the swan in
the air above him. The unfortunate bird,
in its anxiety to escape, flew directly over
the young man's head aDd, with a quick
spring, he managed to seize and bring it
down, the disappointed eagles flying
away.
John Bright had an interesting ex
perience in catching his first salmon on
the Beauby. He was told to cast over a
spot not more than three yards from him,
and, thinking to steady the line, he turned
it around his forefinger. The result was
that when Mr. Bright hooked his fish he
gave an agonized yell and forthwith tum
bled into tho river. Tho line had cut his
finger nearly to the bone, and he threw
the rod away to free himself. Lord Lovat
quietly slipped a gaff into Mr. Bright's
nether garments and held him until he
could be pulled out by some friends who
were near.
1 iiWi3s^9R
HIS OWN EXECUTIONER.
The Story or a Chief Who Himself In
flicted the Death Penalties.
If you go down to French Guiana
ana ascend the big Maroni river a
little distance you will find a great
many negroes who talk very bad
French, declares a writer in the New
York Sun. Some of them, however
have visited France and have a little
education. The more intelicreut of
these negroes will tell you that the
greatest man who ever lived, except
the first Napoleon, was BonL One of
these negro tribes is called the Boni
from the name of the man who re
leased the people from slavery.
Boni was the intelligent and auda
cious negro who. in 1772. revolted
against his master on the coast of
Dutch Guiana destroyed his property
escaped with hundreds of other slaves]
and founded a new home for the peo
ple, whom he piloted to the borders
of French Guiana, For many decades
all slaves who escaped from their mas
ters were able to find their freedom
among the Bonis. A curious story is
told about Bom by the explorer Henri
Coudreau. who has done so much to
make the interior of French Guiana
known.'
A long distance up the Maroni river
is the island of Adlafo. which means
"cutting off the head." This is the is
land where, for a long time. Boni car
ried out the execution of criminals
whom he had condemned to death
The curious feature of his system of
capital punishment was that he re
quired no assistance whatever in car
rying his judgments into effect He
alone escorted the condemned prison
ers to the island of Adlafo. and un
aided he cut off their heads. The
Spartacus of the -Negro of the
Woods" seemed to be particularly
fond of this sort of exercise. Physic
ally he was the most powerful man in
his country. No one wished to cope
with him in combat.
When he had a prisoner whom he
had condemned he would place his
flintlock and his sabre in the canoe
seat the condemned man in the bow
of the boat and then paddle up stream
several miles to the island. He would
not have even a boatman with him on
these little excursions.
"Now," Boni was wont to sav to the
unhappy wretch before him. "as he
paddled along, "do not attempt to es
cape, for if you do I shall surely stop
you by a bullet in the legs I shall
not shoot to kill you, for I shall wish
to torture you after I get you."
"No. chief," the trembling victim
would often reply, "I shall not try to
escape." And such -vas the terror Boni
inspired that the unfortunate prisoner
would reach the place of punishment
probably without entertaining the
slightest thought of escaping.
When they reached the island Boni
would tell his prisoner to get out ol
the canoe and would then march him
to the place of execution. This was
a large flat rock, washed by the wa
ters of the rapid river and shaded bv
a tamarind tree. The rock is stifj
shown to every one who visits the spot.
When they reached the place, Boni!
fierce and inexorable, would sternly
command:
"Now you die. To your knees.
Your hands behina our back Hold
down your head."
The unfortunate wretch more dead
than alive, would mechanically obey
the order. Boni would rau,e his
sabre, and with one sure stroke ould
sever the head from the body The
head would roll upon the flat stone
and the blood would be washed away
by the rush of water from the rapids,
which now and then overspread the
rock. Boni would then re-embark,
and upon his return his people would
regard him more than ever as a terror
to evildoers.
THE JANITOR WAS NO FOOL.
And When the Boys Put Up a Job Oa
Him He Rebelled.
A young man who is now well es
tablished in his profession told a story
of an experience he had when a stu
dent in a Chicago medical college to
a Washington Post man.
In this college there was an irasci
ble old janitor upon whom the young
medicos were always playing tricks.
In the basement of the college were
two pickling vats," and one day the
boys decided that one of their number
should slip down and conceal himself
between the tanKS. and when the jan
itor made his tour of that portion, of
the building to. appear before the old.
man wrapped in a sheet.
In due course of time the janitor
put in an appearance, making his final
round of inspection of the building for
the night.
As the janitor approached the tanks
the young man came out from his
hiding place and said in a sepulchral
voice:
1 want to get out of here,"
The janitor was unnerved for an in
stant only, then taking in the truo
situatioa he seized the student by
the cape of the neck and around the
waist, and saying:
-You will not get out of here go
back where you belong." lifted him
up bodily and threw him into one of
the vats, which contained several sub
jects.
The young man was extricated from
his horrible position by his compan
ions, who were close at hand to enjoy
the janitor's scare, but it was several
weeks before he could forget his ex
perience sufficiently to enjoy his meals.
A misconception.
Haughty lady (who has purchased
a stamp)Must 1 put it on myself?
Stamp clerkNot necessarily, it
will accomplish more if you put it on
the letter. N. Y. Herald.
The Teacher Taught. j.
"Have you learned much German
Tommy, with your new governess?"
"No but the fraulein's learned lo.t&>
of English."Harness Bazar. ^tMl