Newspaper Page Text
EES PRETTY GOWN TP - -. MME. MERRI'S ADVICE SUGGESTIONS FOR ENTERTAIN MENTS AND OTHER THING8. AW 1 tMAEf ROBERTS RLNEHARJ SLOWER TEN, WHEN AMAN lYlAUrtlES CHAPTER I. When It was all over Mr. Sam came out to the spring-house to say good-by (to me before he a.ndy Mrs. Sam left. I hated to see him go, after all we Tiad been through together, and I sup pose he : saw It In my- face, for he came orer close and stood ' looking down at me, and smiling. "You saved us, " Minnie," he said, "and 1 meedn't tell you we'ro grateful; but do jrou know what I think?" he asked, pointing his long forefinger at me. "1 think you've(enjoyed it even when you were suffering most. ' Red-haired won en are born to intrigue, as the sparks tfly upward." "Enjoyed it!", I snapped. "I'm an old woman before my time, Mr. Sam. .What; with trailing back and forward through the snow to the shelter-house, .and not getting to bed at all some nights, and my heart going by fits and tstarts, as you may say, -and half the time my spinal marrow fairly chilled, not to mention putting on my over shoes every morning from force of habit and having to take them off again, I'm about all In." "It's been the making of you, Min nie," he said,: eyeing me,' with his lands In his pockets. , "Look at your cheeks! Look at your disposition! 1 don't believe you'd stab anybody ; In the back now!" 1 ' (Which was a joke, of course; ",1 never stabbed anybody in the back.) He opened the door and a blast of February wind rattled the' window frames. Mr. Sam threw out hia chest under his sweater and waved me an other good-by. - "Well, I'm off,' Minnie he, said. "Take care of yourself and don't sit too tight on the jon; learn to rise a bit in the saddle." "Good-by, Mr. Sam!" I called, put ting down Miss Patty's doily and fol lowing him to the door; "good-by; bet ter have something before you start to keep you warm." He turned at the corner of the path and grinned back at me. :' "All right," he called, "ill go down to the bar and get a - lettuce sand wich!" ... . ,:v ,: : . . y : ':- ' Then he was gone, and happy as I was, I knew I would miss him terribly. .;.,- It began, when the old doctor died. ' I suppose you have heard of Hope San atorium and the mineral spring that made it famous. .. I have been spring-house girl at Hope Sanatorium for fourteen years. For the first yettr or so I nearly went crazy. Then I found things were com ing my way. I've got the kind of mind that never forgets a name or face and i can combine them, properly, wjilch . isn't common. And when folks came back I could (call them at once. ,' The old doctor usea to say my memory was an asset to-the sanatorium. , He was in the habit of coming to the spring-houso every day to' get his morning glass of water and-read the , papers.. For a good many years it had - been his custom to Bit there, in the 'winterby the wood fire and in summer just inside the open door, and to read off the headings aloud while J cleaned around the spring and polished . glasses. . . ' -! ; v AD that winter, with the papers full of rumors that Mies Patty Jen nings was going to marry a prince, ' we'd followed it by the spring-house fire, the old doctor and I, getting an: gry at the Austrian emperor for oppos ing it when Ve knew how much' too ' good Miss Patty , was for any foreign er, and 1 then getting nervous and fussed when we read that the prince's mother was in favor of the' match and it might go through. Miss Patty and her father came every winter to Hope Springs and I couldn't have been more anxious about it if ehe had been my ' own sister. , Well, as I say, it all began the very day the old doctor died. He stamped out to the spring-house with the morn ing paper about nine o'clock; and the wedding seemed to be all off. The paper said the emperor had definitely refused his consent and had sent the prince, who was his cousin, for a Jap anese cruise, while the Jennings fam tly was going to Mexico in their pri vate car. The old doctor was indig nant, and I remember how he tramped . up and down the spring-house, mut tering that the girl' had had a lucky escape, ana wnat aid tne emperor expect if beauty and youth and wealth weren't enough. ' But he calmed down. and soon he was reading that the pa pers were predicting an early spring, and he said we'd better hegin to in crease our sulphur, percentage In "the water. . "By the way," he remarked, "Mr. Richard will be -along in a day or so, Minnie. You'd better break it to Mrs. Wiggins." ' . , Since the summer before we'd had to break Mr. Dick's coming to Mrs Wisrcina. tha housekeeper, nwlnff tn his finding her false front where it had blown out of the window, having been hung up to dry, and his wearing it to luncheon as whiskers. Mr. Dick was the old doctor's grandson. "Humph!" I said, and he turned around and looked square at me. "He's a good boy at heart, Minnie,' l)e said. "We've lad our troubles with "FAKED" THE CITY FATHERS Hotel Man Selected Well-Dressed Guests to Form Reception Com mittee for President The Cape May correspondent of the Pittsburgh Dispatch sends in the fol lowing reminiscence: George tW. Boyd, who occupies a handsome beach front cottage of co lonial architecture in the next block to the mammoth Hotel Cape May, and Mr. Frank A. Richardson, a re tired Washington newspaper corre spondent who was for many years a representative of the Baltimore Sun at the National capital, were telling stories of old Cape May in the lobby of the New Hotel Cape May tha other night. They recalled an incident of the re ception at old Congress hall, 4e' stroyed by fire in 1879, of President Grant on his first visit to Cape May. The proprietors, of "the hotel were J. Frank Cake, long a hotel man of Washington, and Waters B. Miller, a native of N Cape May, and at the time the mayoi of the resort Miller was him, you and I, but everything has been quiet lately." 'I'm not objecting to Mr. Dick coming here, am IT Only don't expect me to burst into song about it Shut the door behind you when yo go out." But he didn't go at once. He stood watching me polish glasses and get the card-tables ready, and I knew he still had something on his mind.' What , has. Mr. . Dick been up to now?" I asked, growing suspicious. Nothing. But I'm an old man, Min nie, a very old man." Stuff and nonsense," I exclaimed. alarmed. "You're only seventy. And If, he went on, "anything hap pens to me, Minnie, I'm counting on you to do what you can for the old place. :. You've been here a good many years, Minnie." 'Fourteen years I have been ladling out water at this spring," I said, try ing to keep my lips from trembling. I wouldn't be at home any place else, unless it would be in an aqua rium. But don't ask me to stay here and help Mr. Dick sell the old place for a summer hotel. For that's what he'll do." 'He won't sell it," declared the old doctor grimly. "All I want is for you to promise to stay." 'Oh, I'll stay," I said. "I won't promise to be agreeable, but 111 stay. Somebody'U have to look after the spring; I reckon Mr. Dick thinks it comes out of the earth just as we sell it, with the whole pharmacopoeia in it" . - Well, it made the old doctor hap pier, and I'm not sorry I promised, but I've got a joint on my right foot that throbs when It is going to rain or 'I am going to have bad luck, and it gave a jump then. I might have known there was trouble ahead. It was pretty quiet in the spring- house that day after the old doctor left. I drew a chair in front of the fire and wondered what I would do if the old doctor died, and what a fool I'd been not to be a school-teacher, which 1b what I studied for. I was thinking to myself bitterly that all that my experience in the spring fitted me for was to be a mermaid, when I heard something running clown the path, and it turned out to be Tillie, the" diet cook. She slammed the' door behind her and threw the Flnleyvllle evening pa per at me. ' , "There!" she said, "I've won a cake of toilet soap from Bath-house Mike. The emperor's consented." 'Nonsense!" I .snapped, and snatched the paper. Tillie was right; the emperor had! I sat down and read It through, and there was Miss Patty's picture in an oval and the prince's in another, with a turned-Up mustache and his hand on the handle of his sword, and between them both was the Austrian emperor."- ' Well, I sat there and thought it over. Miss Patty, or' Miss Patricia, being, so to speak, a friend of mine. They'd come to the Springs every winter for years. " .. --; ' ',' Id my wash-stand drawer I'd, kept all the clippings about her coming out and the winter she spent in Washington and was supposed to be engaged to . the president's son, and "What' Mr. Dick. Been Up to Now?' the magazine article that told ' how Mr. Jennings had got his money by robbing widows and orphans, and showed the little frame house where Miss Patty was born as if she's had anything, to do with it And so now I was cutting out the picture of her and the prince and the article under neath which told how many castles she'd have, and I don't mind saying I was . sniffling a little bit, for couldn t get used to the idea. i.a suddenly the door closed softly and there was a rustle behind me. When I turned It was Miss Patty herself. She saw the clipping immediately, and stopped just Inside the door. "You, too," she said. "And we've come all this distance to . get away from just that" "Well, I shan't talk about it; replied, not holding out my hand, for with her, so to speak, next door to being a princess but she leaned right a man of original ideas and he decid ed that if the common councilmen of Cape May were to receive the presi dent, they would have to abandon their boots with their pantaloons tucked Inside of them, their blue shirts for boiled shirts, and old caps for nigh hats. Miller, knowing the opposition which would be put up by the local city fathers, picked out among his patrons at the Congress hotel nine best dressed men to pass them off as the city council of Cape May, and they received President Grant on his first visit to Cape May in 1876. While Grant congratulated them upon their fine appearance, it was believed that he saw the joke, but never gave the least intimation that he was being deceived as to the resort's government. Their Calculations Upset. Sir George Biddell Airy, British as tronomer royal, ' told the pioneers of the first Atlantic cable that it was a mathematical impossibility to sub merge the cable to the necessary depth, and if it were possible no sig nals could travel through so great a over and kissed me. I could hardly ' believe it. "Why won't you talk about it?" she insisted, catching me by the shoulders and holding me off. "Minnie, your eyes are as red as your hair!" "I don't approve of it," I said. "You might as well know It now as later, Miss Patty. I don't believe in mixed marriages. I had a cousin that mar ried a Jew, and what with him making the children promise to be good on the Talmud and her trying to raise them with the Bible, the poor things Is that mixed up that It's pitiful." She got a little red' at that, but she sat down and took up the clipping. "He's much better looking than that, Minnie," she said soberly, "and he's a good Catholic. But if that's the way you feel we'll not talk about it I've had enough trouble at home as it is." With that I began to blubber, and she came into my arntg like a baby. "You're all I've got," I declared, over and over, "and you're going to live in a country where they harness women with dogs, and you'll never hear an English word from morning to night" ; "Stuff!" She gave me a little shake. He speaks as good. English as I do. And now we're going to stop talking about him you're worse than the newspapers." And at that minute the door was flung open,s and Bath-house Mike stag gered In. 'The old doctor!" he gasped. "He's dead,' Miss Minnie died just now in the hot room in the bath-house! One minute he was glvin me the divil for something or other, and the next - I thought he was asleep." Something that had been heavy In my breast all afternoon suddenly seemed to burst and made me feel faint all over. But J. didn't lose my head. ' , "Does anybody know yet?" I asked quickly. He. shook his head. 'Then he didn't die in the bath house, Mike," I said firmly. "He died in his bed, and you know it If it gets out that he died in the hot room I'll have the coroner on you." Miss Patty was standing by the rail ing of the spring. I got my shawl and started out after Mike, and she fol lowed. , If the guests ever get hold of this they'll stampede. Start ' any excite ment in a sanatorium," I said, "and one and all they'll dip their thermom eters in hot water and swear they've got fever!" - And we hurried to the house to gether. CHAPTER II. Well, we got the poor old doctor moved back to his room, and had one of the chambermaids find him there, and I wired to Mrs. Van Aletyne, who was Mr. Dicky Carter's sister1, - and who was on her honeymoon in South Carolina. The Van Alstynes came back at once, in very bad tempers, and we had the funeral from ; the preacher's house in Finleyville so as not to harrow up the sanatorium people any more than necessary. After it was all over the relatives gathered in the sun parlor of the san atorium to hear the will Mr. Van Al- styne and his wife and about twenty more who had come up from the city for the funeral and stayed over on the house. Well, the old doctor left me the but tons for his full dress waistcoat and his favorite copy of "Gray's Anatomy I couldn't exactly set up housekeeping with my share of the estate. They thought that was funny, but a few minutes later they weren't so cheerful. You see the sanatorium was a mighty fine piece of property with a deer park and golf links. We'd had plenty of offers to sell it for a summer hotel, but we'd both been dead against it ." That was one of the reasons for the will. The whole estate was left to Dicky Carter, who hadn't been able to come, owing to his , being laid up with an attack of mumps. The family sat up and nodded at one another, or held up its hands, but when they heard there was a condition they breathed easier. Beginning with one week after the reading of the will and not a day later, Mr. Dick was to take charge of the sanatorium and to stay there for two months without a day off. If at the end of that time the place was being 1 successfully conducted and could show that it hadn't lost money, the entire property became his for keeps. If he failed it was to be sold and the money given to charity. Well, the family went back to town in a buzz of indignation, and I, car ried my waistcoat buttons and my "Anatomy" out to the spring-house and had a good cry. There was a man named Thoburn who was crazy for the property as a summer hotel, and every time I shut my eyes I could see "Thoburn House" over the veranda and children sailing paper boats in the mineral spring. Sure enough, the next afternoon Mr. Thoburn drove out. from Finleyville with a Buit case', and before he'd taken off his overcoat he came out to the spring-house, distance. Sir George was also asked about the possibility of making Big Ben, the great clock in the tower above the houses of parliament bo trustworthy that it would, not lose five seconds a day on the average. He replied that no clock exposed to the weather could run with so small an error. The late Lord Grlmthorpe, however, said he would guarantee that degree of exactness, and by de signing his gravity escapement he produced a timepiece that is never five seconds out with the observatory at Greenwich, to which it signals its time each day, and on most days Is dead true. "Wanted A Collaborator." That all persons of artistic or lit erary aspirations are not as imprac tical as they are generally supposed io be, is proved by the following advertisement, which, says the Bos ton HeralJ, recently appeared in morning paper: Wanted A collabo rator, by a young lady playwright. The play is already vritten; collaborator to furnish board and bed until play is produced. Hello, Minnie," he exclaimed. Does the old man's ghost come back to dope the spring, or do you do it?" I don't know what you are talking about, Mr. Thoburn," I retorted sharp- If you don't know that this spring has its origin in " In Schmidt's drug store down in Finleyville.!" he finished for me. "Oh, know all about-that spring, Minnie! Don't forget that my father's cows used to drink that water and liked it leave it to you," he said, sniffing, "if a self-respecting cow wouldn't die of thirst before she drank that stuff as it is now." I'd been filling him a glass It being matter of habit with me and he took it to the window and held it to the light. "You're getting careless, Minnie," he said, squinting at ft "Some of those drugs ought to be dissolved first in hot water. There's a lump of lithia there that has Schmidt's pharmacy la bel on it." ' "Where?" I demanded, and started for it He laughed at that, and put ting the glass down, he came over and stood smiling at me. As ingenuous as a child," he said in his mocking way, "a nice, little red haired child! Minnie, how old is this young Carter?" - "Twenty-three." 'An er earnest youth? Willing to buckle down to work and make the old place go? Heady to pat the old ladies on the shoulder and squeeze the young ones' hands?" He's young," I said, "but if you're counting on his being a fool " "Not at all," he broke in hastily. If he hasn't too much character hell probably succeed. I hope he isn't a fool. Where Is he now?" "He's been sick," I said. . "Mumps!" "Mumps! Oh, my aunt!" he ex claimed, and fell to laughing. He was still laughing when he got to the door. "Mumps!" he repeated, with his hand on the knob. Minnie,' the old place will be under the hammer in three weeks, and if you know what's good for you, youll sign la under the new management while there s a va cancy." i , "If I were you," I said, looking him straight in the eye, "I wouldn't pick out any new carpets yet Mr., Thoburn. I promised the old doctor I'd help Mr. Dick, and I will." , , So you're actually going to fight it out," he said, grinning. "Well, the odds are in your favor. You are two to my one." "I think it's pretty even," I retorted. "We will be hindered, so to speak, by having certain principles of honor and honesty. You have no handicap." He tried to think of a retort, and not finding one he slammed out of the spring-house in a rage. Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife came in that same day, just before dinner, and we played three-handed bridge for half an hour. As I've said, they'd been on their .honeymoon, and they were both sulky at having to stay at the Springs. After the first rubber Mrs. Van Al styne threw her cards on the floor and said another day like this would finish her, She turned her back to her hus band, but he pretended to tuck the hair at the back Dt her neck up under her comb, and ehe let him do it As I stooped to gather up the cards he kissed the tip of her ear. "Listen," he said, "there's a scream of a play down at Finleyville to-night called "Sweet Peas." Senator Biggs and the bishop went down last night. and they say it's the worst in twenty years. Put on a black veil and let's slip away and see It I think she agreed to do it, but that night after dinner, .Amanda King, who has charge of .the news stand, told me the sheriff had closed the opera-house and that the leading woman was sick at the hotel. They say she looked funny last night," Amanda finished, "and I guess she's got the mumps." Mumps! My joint gave a throb at that min ute. . . Mr. Sam wasn't taking any' chances, for the next day he went to the city himself to bring Mr. Dick up. He hadn't come back by the morn ing of the sixth day, but he wired his wife the day before that Mr. Dick was on the way. But we met every train with a sleigh, and he didn't come. was uneasy, knowing Mr. Dick,, and Mrs. Sam was worried, too. It had been snowing hard for a day or so, and at eleven o'clock that day I saw Miss Cobb and Mrs. Biggs com ing down the path to the spring-house. "Mr. Van Alstyne is back," said Miss Cobb, "but he came alone." "Alone!" I repeated, staring at her in a sort of daze. "Alone," she said solemnly, "and heard him ask for Mr. Carter, seems he started for here yesterday, But I'd had time to get myself in hand, and if I had a chill up my spine she never knew it As she started away I saw Mr. Sam hurrying down the path toward the spring-house, and I knew my joint hadn't throbbed for nothing. BABIES INJURED BY ROCKING English Mothers Are Being Told That They Should 8top This Time Honored Practice. The hand that rocks the cradle and, incidentally and metaphorically, rules the world. Is no longer to enjoy un disturbed these notable functions. The anti-rocklng movement has begun vigorously in London, the opening declaration of hostilities having been made in a leaflet addressed to moth ers by the public'health department of the city of London. This document most solemnly adjures mothers never to rock the baby. It is here set forth that rocking the baby to sleep, far from being the wholesome and al together admirable performance we have been taught through centuries to believe, is one that is . rankly diabolic in possibilities. Rocking the baby to sleep, it is declared, i& likely to set up various digestive disorders, it Btupefifc.: the child and may breed in him or her various bad habits. A healthy child, it Is averred, requires no rocking to sleep, the rocking being .CO. Mr. Sam came in and slammed the door behind him. What's this about Mr. Dick not be ing here?" he shouted. "Well, he isn't. That's all there is to it, Mr. Van Alstyne," I 6ald calmly. 'But he must be here," he said. "I put him on the train myself yester day, and waited until it started to be sure he was off." Exactly what was he doing when you last laid eyes on him?" I asked. He was on the train " "Sitting?" No, standing. What the deuce, Minnie " ' Waving out the window to you?" Of course not!" exclaimed Mr. Van Alstyne testily. "He was raising the window for a girl in the next seat" 'Precisely!" I said. "Would you know the girl well enough to trace her?" "That's ridiculous, you know," he said, trying to be polite. "Out of a thousand and one things that- may have detained him " "Only one thing ever u'ains Mr. Dick, and that always detains him," I said solemnly. "That's a girl. You're a newcomer in the family, Mr. Van Alstyne; you don't remember the time he went down here to the station to see his Aunt Agnes off to the city, and we found him three weeks later in Oklahoma trying to marry a widow with five children." "I'll have to tell my wife," he said. "Who's running the place, anyhow? You?" ' 'Not exactly," I explained, "but of course, when anything comes up they consult me. The housekeeper is a fool, and now that the house doctor's gone " , . 'Gone I Who's looking after the patients?" 'Well, most of them have been here before," I explained, "and I know their treatment the kind of baths and all that." 'Oh, you know the treatment!" he said, eyeing me. "And why did the house doctor go?" "He ordered Mr. Moody to take his spring water hot Mr. Moody's spring water has been ordered cold for eleven years, and I refused to change. It was between the doctor and me, Mr. van Alstyne." "Oh, of course,? he said, "If it was a matter of principle " He picked up his hat and looked at his watch. "Eleven thirty," he said, "and no sign of that puppy yet I guess it's up to the police." "If there was only something to do. I said, with a lump in my throat, "but to have to sit and do nothing while the old place 'dies; it's It's awful, Mr. Van Alstyne." "We're not dead yet," he replied from the door, "and maybe well need you before the day's over. If anybody can sail the old bark to shore, you can do it, Minnie. You've been steering it for years. The old doctor was no navigator, and you and I know it" The storm stopped a little at three and most of the guests waded down through the snow for bridge and spring water. By that time the after noon train was in, and no Mr. Dick. Mr. Sam was keeping the lawyer, Mr. "You're Getting Careless, Minnie," He Said, Squinting at It Stitt, in the billiard room, and by four o'clock they'd had everything that was in the bar and were inventing new combinations of their own. And Mrs. Sam had gone to bed with a nervous headache. ' Senator Biggs brought the mail down to the spring-house at four, but there waa nothing for me except a note from Mr. Sam, rather shaky, which said he'd no word yet and that Mr. Stitt had mixed all the cordials in the bar in a beer glass and had had to go to bed. I nearly went crazy that afternoon. I put salt in Miss Cobb's glass when she always drank the water plain. Once I put the broom in the fire and started, to sweep the porch with a fire log. Luckily they were busy with their letters and it went unnoticed, the smell of burning straw not rising, so to speak, above the sulphur of the spring, Senator Biggs went from one table after all merely a kind of mechani cal narcotic, scarcely less dangerous than the poppy Juice of the so-called soothing sirup. The baby should be put to bed In the dark and allowed to go to sleep naturally. Cradle rocking, say the concoctors of the anti-rocking decree, may cause a child to grow up unhealthy, exacting and petulant. A bas Ie berceau! ( World's Largest Concrete Arches. With the general use of concrete in construction work, engineers have been steadily increasing the length of the huge arch In which this material is the principal supporting power, says Engineering News. For two years the 328-foot Risorgi mento arch across the Tiber at Rome has been the longest reinforced-con-crete span in the world, taking the title from the 320-foot Grafton arch at Auckland, New Zealand, completed about a year earlier. Now comes Switzerland with the latest "largest masonry arch" in the 330-foot span at Langwicz, on the meter-gauge rail way between Chur and Arosa. Read the records of the "largest to another telling how well he felt since he Btopped eating, and trying to coax the other men to starve with him. It's funny how a man with a theory about his stomach isn't happy until he has made some other fellow swal low it. Then they all began at once. If you have ever heard twenty people airing their theories on diet you know all about it. It always ends the same way: the man with the loudest voice wins, and the defeated ones limp over to the spring and tell their theories to me. They know I'm being paid to listen. , But when things had got quiet ex cept Mr. Moody dropping nickels into the slot-machine I happened to look over at Miss Patty, and I saw there was something wrong. She had a let ter open in her lap not one of the blue ones with the black and gold seal that every one in the house knew came from the prince but a white one, and she was staring at it as if he'd seen a ghost CHAPTER II I have never reproached Miss Patty, but if she had only given me the letter to read or had told me the whole truth instead of a part of it I would have understood, and things would all have been different. It Is all very well for her to say that I looked i worried enough already, and that &cyhow it was a family affair. I should have been told. All she did was to come up to me as I stood in the spring, with her face perfectly white, and ask me il my Dicky Carter was the Richard Car ter who stayed at the Grosvenor in town. . . ' 'He doesn't stay anywhere," I said, with my feet getting cold, "but that's where he has apartments. What has he been doing now?" "You're expecting him on the eve ning train, aren't -you?" she asked. Don't stare like that: my father's watching." ; "He ought to be on tne- evening train," I said. I wasn't going to say I expected him. I didn't " "The wretch!" she cried, "the hate ful creature as if things weren't bad enough! I suppose hell have to come, Minnie,, but I muBt see him before he sees any one else." Just then the bishop brought his glass over to the spring. "Hot this time, Minnie," he said. "Do you know, I'm getting the mineral water habit Patty! I'm afraid plain water will have no attraction for me after this." He put his hand over hers on the rail. They were, old friends, the bish op and the Jenningses. "Bishop," she said suddenly, "will you do something for me?" "I always have, Patty." He was very fond of Miss Patty, was - the bishop. "Then to-night, not later than eight o'clock, get father to play cribbage, will you? And keep him in the card room until nine." "Another escapade!" he said, pre tending to be very serious. "Patty, Patty, you'll be the death of me yet Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" "Certainly not," said Miss Patty. "Just a dear, slightly bald, but till very distinguished slave!" "There will be plenty of slaves to kiss your little hand, where you are going, my child," he said. "Sometimes I wish that some nice red-blooded boy here at home but I dare say it will turn out surprisingly well as it is." "Bishop,' Bishop!" Mrs.- Moody called. "Bow naughty of you, and with your bridge hand waiting to be held!" , Well, I knew Mr. Dick had been up to some mischief; I had suspected it all along. But Miss Patty went to bed, and old Mrs. Hutohins, who's a sort of lady's-maid-companion of hers, said she mustn't be disturbed. I was pret ty nearly sick myself. And jwhen Mr. Sam came out at five o'clock and said he'd been in the long-distance tele phone booth for an hour and had called everybody who had ever known Mr. Dick, and that he had dropped right off the earth, I just about gave up. ' '' : . Luckily Mr. Stitt was in bed with a mustard leaf over his stomach and ice on his head, and didn't know whether it was night or morning. (TO BE CONTINUED.) Origin of Iron Duke. The Iron Duke is to be the next big British battleship. The Duke, of course, was Wellington, but he came by the nickname in a roundabout way He was never so called until long after Waterloo. An irpn steamship, a novelty at the time, was built in the Mersey, and named the Duke of Well ington, and so the vessel came to be known as the Iron Duke the transi tion being easy and obvious. v It was the duke's union of resolution and physical energy which made the pop ular name for the Mersey-built steam ship . to fit him like a perfect cap. Such, at least is the 'explanation of his biographer, Sir Herbert Maxwell. arch in the world" for the past few years: Walnut lane, Philadelphia, 233 feet, 1907; Sitter, Switzerland. 259 feet; Rocky river, Cleveland, O., 280 feet, 1910; Monroe street Spokane, Wash., 281 feet, 1911; Grafton, Auck- land, New Zealand, 320 feet, 1910; Risorgiraento, Rome, 328 feet, 1911; Langwicz, Switzerland, 330 feet, 1913. An orderly progress, disturbed only by the remote possibility of the consum mation of the 703-foot, span across Spuyten Duyvil creek In New York. Living, but Officially Dead. M. Augustln Jeourel, who has just received the military medal for gal lantry at Gravelotte during the Fran co-Prussian war, has been forty-tiree years in convincing the authorities that he is alive. He was badly wound. ed in a bayonet charge, and was reg istered as killed on the roll of the regiment. When he regained con sciousness he found himself In a Ger man hospital. When he applied to tha minister of war for the military medal he was informed that he was dead. killed at Gravelotte by a Prussian but- let ' November Party May Be Made One of the Most Enjoyable of the Year For Those Fond of Foot ball. The man who said that November brought the "saddest days in the year" has another think coming, for while it brings colder weather, gray skies and shakes the last leaves off the trees with its piercing blasts, it also brings the reopening of the so cial season, with blazing fires and all the cosiness of the home circle drawn around the lighted center table. At the end of the month comes our own great feast day and glad holiday, for we all find room In our hearts for Thanksgiving. It seems to me that Japanese af fairs are especially fitting for this month, with chrysanthemums plenti ful (which they love). Such parties are always effective and pleasing to one's guests. To make the rooms as really Japanese as possible much of the furniture should be removed, par titioning 02 spaces where necessary with Japanese paper screens. Use flowering shrubs, almond blossoms (artificial), chrysanthemums and but terflies suspended by invisible black threads. The hostess must bow very low three times, saying "Konlchlwa' when the guests arrive and "Sayo- nara" when they leave. Tea should be served with no cream; use cups without handles. Sponge cakes may be served if rice ones are not obtain able, also preserved ginger. If some thing cold is wished have cherry ice. Those who assist should wear kimo nos. Have some young girls in Japanese costumes play "bag ball" (dama) Have a number of bright-colored bags filled with dried beans. Each girl tries to keep as many bags going as possible without dropping them. An other amusing game is played by means of a long silk scarf, in the center of which is a loose knot . or loop held midway between the two players who hold,'' the scarf and the floor. On one side of the loop player sits. On the other side is small object, a flower, a bean bag, even a thimble. The player who sits by the loop tries to slip her hand through, grab the anally article and take her hand back again before those holding the loop can draw It tight and make her hand prisoner. ' A Football Party. Boys, and incidentally the girls, are greatly interested in football these days; In fact a little chap only ten who had to go to the hospital for an operation was so keen about a forth coming game that his one desire was to "get back" in time to witness it. I read of such a pretty party in one of the magazines some years ago that jubi ntiea wis season or the year, and I am going to tell you a little about it as I recall some of the ways it was carried out I feel sure that the up-to-date girls who may want to give a similar affair will have no trou ble in working it out I must confess I am not a "fan," bo have no personal knowledge of how to use the terms correctljp. I do know that the favor departments of the stores show cun ning little footballs to be used as containers for nuts or candles, and there are pennants galore, so all well- known colleges and many high schools are represented. A large football may form the centerpiece, from which rib bons (team or school colors) may run to smaller footballs at each place. The names of guests may be printed on the sides and so be used for place cards. MADAME MERRI LATEST IN AUTUMN MODELS Dark Red Shantung Make One of the ' . Prettiest of Gowns for the Afternoon. , ' The gown shown, which is fashioned from dark red shantung, is a new au ' tumn mode be coming and at tractive. A new curved girdle is shown in this which promises popularity later. This is 'piped with a narrow, richly colored embroid ery corresponding to the yoke. The vest front is filled with narrow ruf fles of lace. The sleeves reach to the elbow, "where they join long un dersleeves of self tone chiffon. The skirt of, this gown is a popular type for fall, closing to the left with lapped slash show- , ing discreet glimpses of the ankles and sHghtly pleated into the girdle at hack and front Pot-Pourrl Craze. The craze for pot-pourri which be gan a year ago is intensifying, not lessening, and one may now buy it from the regular perfume manufa turers. An "American product be; a French name, which - translated)! MOST ARTISTIC JET WRAP Recent Developments Show That Pos sibilities in This Line Have Not Been Exhausted. When Drecoll brought out his jet .coat last summer, made of white and .black crystals, the majority of persons thought it was the last word -In attrac tive beaded wraps, but there are sev eral new ones introduced today that are even prettier, because the design Is more artistic and is not confined to contrasting bands of black and white. In these -new coats the spider web is quite the most daring and charming of them all. It is made in black and I in white, both mounted over flesh pink chiffon satin, and edged with deep scallops of panne velvet There Is another jet wrap which is a loose coat that hangs from shoul ders nearly to hem of skirt, made of jet beads loosely sewn to coarse black net. This is worn without a lining, over white, black or colored gowns, or it can be lined and worn as an after noon or evening wrap. It is main tained that the beads will not break L' ,; -- r w J y c .; ! JO Q o L Model of black velvtt with coraage of white wool brocade. Lace jabot and collar. . .- t DICTATES OF FASHION Marigold yellow is one of the new colors in Paris. .'- Flush and veloifr are much used for children's hats. Wide white belts are soen made of kid or suede leather. : . Wool brocades are being used, even for young girls' suits. . ". - Persian effects will be seen galore on the new autumn gowns. - New black braids have the basket weave and suggest astrakhan. ' A new braid is the combination of dull braids and bright ones. Even for autumn women are weav ing white net waists with frills down the front ' . - Some of the new separata" skirts are (made of a jacquard wool and prettily draped. . White Chiffon Blouse. 1 There are many new shirt waists in tha nhnno hnt thai fnvnrlta nn A In tn , white chiffon cloth, the thin transpar ent fabric that is about twice as thick as the ordinary chiffon. ' - ' " The waist is made simply. It han si broad yoke across the back, to which the material is gathered, and 1 loose! sleeves that end in wide, turnover: cuffs at the wrists. The fronts are also gathered and 'there are no arm holes. . ' ...' ' ' ' ; ' ' This new kind of kimono sleeves Is X very much in fashion and especially on everyday blouses. A new net blouse has two thick nesses of the material and is fastened with ordinary pearl buttons as large aa a 25-cent piece. The turnover cuffs are fastened with two of these buttons i uocu cm uu&o. . j. ucj ai a julucu uj strands of silk cord. . reads "All My Garden." It is r freshing and delicious in its fragrance and not so costly that one need hoard It too closely, for it is" within easy price, and thus permits renewal. ' ' i Small containers of pot-pourri made . of mica are priced, filled, at 15 cents each. These are planned to place with the linen. Each container has performations through which the scent penatrates. ' ' ' r These mica boxes are either round or square, and the price is Identical for - either. The pot-pourri ' In ' them, however, Is not very strong in aroma, though of pretty colon It is labeled English, but appears to be the same as that which last year sold for Egyptian. . Home-Grown Rugs, 1 Two beautiful fur rugs were on tha floor, of a pale fawn color,- and sug gestive of doe skins. But, as it proved, they were not from the woods, they were from the farm, and had originally been on the backs of some very pretty ; Jersey calves. When In the course of events the calf had no further' use for his coat it was sent to be properly tanned, then it was lined and laid upon the floor. ;' . . . Wool Embroidery. The new wool embroideries promise to add much beauty to fall and win ter gowns, blouses and coats. They' are even being used on household ar ticles such as pillows, scarfs and ta ble covers. The futurist and poBt im pressionist influences are also being Been in the color combinations. Shet- nd floss, Germantown yarn or a flne- wool embroidery. wten one sits down. The Drecoll coat lasted very well indeed, and this new one is made much after the same, manner. The coat is all black; even the luiio ruiue at me necK maicnes, xoi few of the great dressmakers are com-' bining black and white. . Here and there one sees a remarkable gown in the black and white directoire strip- 1 V... 1.1. j. t in i train, or a flowing gown over a white lace or tulle foundation. There seems to be no doubt, how ever, that stripes are bound to be In the ascendancy, but not at the pres ent moment. They merely are intro duced as it were, to get before the public and gain a hearing. The dark Roman stripes are used, but only for . one garment, such as a skirt, or as a piece of garment like the immense pear-shaped sleeves which almost take up the whole of the bodice. Pouch bags of silk or leather have pannier handles to match. . Wash frocks are best for -the little girl's first days of school.