Evening Star Newspaper, October 29, 1898, Page 16

THt EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1898—24 PAGES. on med, LCF AIACRUAIEREC ; THE STOLEN BODY, § - Sees we WRITTEN FOR THE EVENING TAR BY H..G. WELLS. 2 as right the or partner in the rt & Hrewn of St. Paul's for many years he was mg din as al ad ot. He was an un- ad of living in th s shion of his ci he the Albany, 1 ansference and and in No- 1 Series of €x jon with Mr. Vincent e to test the alleged ty of pr ting an apparition on by force of will across an interven- voms his sit- h then 1808. by HG. Wells.) ] Bessel leaped over him as he fell. When he | looked < as possible on | required the An empt To upon th ff a do lay table Ww da number of ely overturned, r of the wall ah © as it med at ad been vio. d thr its smc whole p!ace jering was hy “Do you in broken r said mi ame at t was He any- way the room in y contorted t he rous i went to sleep to return with m convie- zsonin at last he all rea: accountable out of that street which was just tiviues. He saw a queer effect nd busy black of a shouting the corner by {| and run sWiftly toward him. He once t Mr. Bessel. But Mr. Be: a He was and dishe Tr was torn » grasped ndied walking ferry his mouth awry. He ran with agile stride: ry rapidly. Thi uter was the f an instant. cried Vin- nN gave no sign of recog- Mr. Vincent or of his own he cut at his friew! ssv hitting nim in within an inch of the eye. Mr . stant astonished, stagg ck, lost his foo:ing and fell heavily un the pavement. It seemed to him that Mr. di, agely with the st face, ) Ward Long Ace in hot pursuit. and | Mr. vanished end man and a number of garden por- and salesmen were rushing past to- a poli ters With the assistance of several zarden perters—for the whole stree: Speed- ily live with running pe . VE {cent struggled to his fe at once ecame the center of a ‘owd greedy to his injury. A multitude of voices com- peied to reassure him of his safety, and then to tell him of the behavior of the madm: as they regarded Mr. He had suddenly appeared inthe > of | the market, screaming “Life! Life!” strik- jing left and right with a blood-stained Walking stick and dancing and shouting with laughte each successful blow. A lad and two women had broken heads, and he had s ashed a man's wrist a little | child had been knocked insensible, and for a time he had driven © him. so furious and resolute behavior been, en he had mad ‘ hurled Sts paraffin flare through window of the post office and fled laughing after stunning the foremost of | the two policemen who had the pluck to : him Vincent's fi pulse w n n in the pursuit of his frien ble, to save him from the vio- indignant people. But his had half stu no mo new out that Mr. nad At first Mr. Vincent y credit this, but the unive he report presently the di :m_of the two f him. After some returned toward Staple a handkerchief to a now very pair ret ed He was angry and astonished and ple da. It ypeared to him ine that Mr. Bessel must have gone violently mad in the midst of his experiment in thought transference, but why th: uid make him appear with a sad white Mr. Vincent's dreams seemed a prol yond solution. He racked his brain n to explain this. It seemed to him at last that not simply Mr. Bessel, but the order of things, must b insar But h could think of nothing to do. He shut him- self carefully into his room, lighted his fire—it was a gas fire with asbestos bricks —and fearing fresh dreams if he went to hed, remained bathing his injured face or hotling up books in a vain attempt to read until dawn. Throughout that vigil he had a curious persuasion that Mr. Bessel Was endeavoring to speak to him, but he would not let himself attend to any such belief. About dawn his physical fatigue asse ed itself, and he went to bed and slept at ld in spite of dreaming. He r late, unres nd anxious and tn con: erable facial pain. The morning papers | had no news of Mr. Bessel’s 2 it had come too late for them. cent’s perplexities, to which the his bruise ded fi h irritation, at last intolerable, and after a fruitless visit to the Al . he went down to St. churchyard, to Mr. Hart, Mr. Be: partner, and, so far as Mr. Vincent his nearest frien vas surprised to learn that Mr. Hart, ew nothing of the outbreak, the although he k: had also been disturbed very vision that Mr. Vin Bessel, white and by av nt had ion, n e dis led, pl cari y by his gestures for help. was his impression of the import of signs. “I was just going to look him up in the Albany when you arrived,” said Mr. Hart. “I was so sure of something being wrong with him.” As the outcome of thelr consultation the two gentlemen decided to inquire at Scot- nd Yard for news of their missing frien: He is bound to be laid by the heels,” si Hart. “He can’t go on at that pace for long.” But the police authorities had not laid Mr. Bessel by the heels. firmed Mr. Vincent's over-night exy and added f1 ven grave! list of Tottenham ¢ a policeman s along th urt road, an attack Hampstead road, ar atrocious assaults upon a number of pea ful citizens. All t S Were com- i between 12:30 and 1:45 in the morn- 1 between those hours, and, indee - very moment of Mr. Bessei's f rush from his rooms » in the e ing, they could trac lence of his fantastic carce hour, at least, from before 1—that is, 1:45—he had run amuck through Lonion, eluding with amazing agility every effort to stop or capture him. But after a quarter to two fhe had van- ished. Up to that hour witnesses were mul- titudinous; dozens of people had seen him fled from him or pursued him, and then things suddenly came to an end. At a 2 he had been seen running down road toward Baker street, flour ishing a can of burning colza oil and jerk ing splashes of flame therefrom at the win- dows of the houses he passed. But none of the policemen on Euston road beyond the waxwork exhibition, nor any of those in the side streets down which he must bave passed had he left the Eustun roa? had seen anything of him. Abruptly he disappeared. Nothing of his subsequent de came to light in spite of the keenest inguiry. Here was a fresh astonishment for Mr Vincent. He had found considerable com- fort in Mr. Hart's conviction. He is bound to be laid by the heels before long, and in that assurance he had been able to sus- pend his mental perplexities. But any fresh developments seemed destized to add new impossibilities to a pile al- ady heaped beyond the powers of his ac- eptance. He found himself doubting “hether his memory might not have played tim some grotesque trick, debating wheth- er any of these things could possibly have j Place or happened, and in the afternoon he hunted up Mr. Hart again to share the intolerable weight on his mind. He found Mr. Hart engaged with a well-known private dete tive, but as that gentleman accomplished nothing in this case, we need not enlarge upon his proceedings. All that day Mr. Bessel's whereabouts eluded an unceasingly active inquiry, and all that night and all that at Mr Bessel sought his attention, and all through the night Mr. Bessel, with a tear-stained face of anguish, pursued him through his dreams. And whenever he saw Mr. Bessel in his dreams he also saw a number of other faces, vague but malig- nant, that scemed to be pursuing Mr. Bes- sel. It was only on the following day, Sun- day, that Mr. Vincent thought of the re- tmarkable stories of Mrs. Bullock, the me- cium, who was then attracting attention for the first time in London. He determined to consult her. She was stopping at the house of that well-known inquirer, Dr. Wil- son Paget, and Mr. Vincent, although he had never met that gentleman before, re- paired to him forthwith with the intention of invoking her help. But scarcely had he mentioned the name of Bessel when Dr. Paget interrupted him. “Last night—just at the end,” he said, “we had a communica- tion.” He left the room and returned with a slate on which were certain words written in a handwriting shaky, indeed, but indis- putably the handwriting of Mr. Bessel! “How did you get this?” sald Mr. Vin- cent. “Do you mean—” “We got it last night,” said Dr. Paget. With numerous interruptions from Mr. Vin- cent. he proceeded to explain how the writ- ing had been obtained. It appears that in her seances Mrs. Bullock passes into a con- dition of trance, her eyes rolling up in a strange way under her eyelids and her body becoming rigid. She then begins to talk very rapidly, usually in voices other than her own. At the same time both of her hands may become active, and if slates and pencils are provided they will then write Messages simultaneously with and quite independently of the flow of words from her mouth. By many she is considered-an even more remarkable medium than the wht tet ua ted Mrs. Piper. It was one of these messages, the one written with her left hand, that Mr. Vincent now had before him. It consisted of eight words written disec nectedly vn....Baker st. ously enough, nel aget ner the two other inquirers who were present had heard of the disappearance of Mr. Bessel— the news of it appeared only in the evening papers of Saturday—and they had put the ct -trial ation.” message aside with many others of a vague and enigmatical sort that Mrs, Bullock has from time to time delivered. When Dr. Paget heard Mr. tory he gave himself at on | energy to the pursuit of this clew to the disec of Mr. Bessel. It would serve no useful purpose here to de > the in- sof Mr. Vincent and 1 + suffice at $a genuine one and that Mr. etually discovered by its aid. ‘as found at the bottom of a detach-* aft which had been sunk and abandon- at the commencement of the work for the new electric railway near Baker str station. His arm and leg and two ri ken. The shaft is protected by a nearly twenty feet high, and over . incredib! it seems, Mr. Bessel, a t, middle-aged gentleman, must have mbled in order to fall down the sha Was saturated in colza oil, and the y bi him, but luckily ame had been extinguished by his fall. And his madness had passed from him al. together. But he was, of course, terribly ebled, and at the sight of his rescuers he gave way to hysterical weeping. In view of the deplorable state of his flat, he was taken to the house of Dr. Hatton in upper Baker street. Here he was subjected to a sedative treatment and anything that recall the violent crisis through "h he had passed was carefully avoided. But on the second day he volunteered a statement. ion Mr. Bessel has at ed this statement—to other people—varying the narrator of real experiences times rep. ff among details as the always dees, but never by any chance ccntradicting himself in any particular. And the statement he makes is in sub- stance as follows: In order to understand it clearly it is necessary to go back to his experiments with Mr. Vincent before his remarkable attack. Mr Be: s fi Ss attempts 2t his experiments with Mr. Vincent, were, as the reader will re- member, unsuccessful. But through all of them he was concentrating all his pow and will upon getting out of the bod illing it with all my might,” he says. At last, almost against expectation, came success. And Mr. Bessel asseris that he, being alive, did actually by an effort cf will leave his body and pass into some tate outside this world. The release was, he asserts, instanta- neous. “At one moment I was seated in my chair, with my eyes tightly shat, Self-projection, in my hands gripping the arms of the chair. { doing all I could to concentrate my mind on Vincent, and tken I perceived myself outside my body—saw my body near me, but certainly not containing me, with the bands relaxing and the head’ drooping forward on the breast.” Nothing shakes him in his assurance o. that release, and he describes ina quite matter-of-fact way the new sensa- tion he experienced. He felt he had be- come impalpable, so much he had ex- Fected, but he had not expected to find himself enormously large. So, however, it would seem he became. “I was a great cloud—if I may express it that way—an- chored to my body. It appeared to me at first cs if I had discovered a greater self, of which the conscious being in my brain was only a little part. I saw the Albany and Piccadilly and Regent street and all the rooms and places in the house: very minute and very bright and distinc spread out below me like a little clty seei from @ balloon. Every now and then vague shapes like drifting wreaths of smoke made the vision a little indistinct, but at first I paid little heed to them. t The thing that Yastowtshed me most, and which astonishes mestill, is that i saw quite distinctly the msides of the houses as well as thevastreets, saw little people ining and talking im the private houses, tren and women dining, playing billiards and drinking in restaurants and hotels and several places of entertainment crammed with people. It was like watching the affairs of a glass hive.” Such were Mr.; Besgel’s exact words, as I took them down when he told me the story. Quite forgetful of Mr. Vincent, he remained for. a. space observing these things. Impelled by, curiosity, he says, he stooped down and with the shadowy arm he found himself possessed of at- tempted to toueh ‘atman walking along Vigo street. But he could not do s0, though his finger seemed to pass through the man. Something prevented his doing this, but what it was he finds it hard to describe, He compares the obstacle to a sheet Of glass. “f felt as a kitten may feel,” he said, “when it goes for the first time to vat Its reflection in a mirror.” Again and again on the occasion when I heard him tell this story Mr. Bessel returned to that comparison of the sheet of glass. Yet it was not altogether a precise comparison, because, as the reader will speedily see, there were interruptions of this generally impermeable resistance, means of getting through the barrier to the material world again. But naturally there is a very great difficulty in expressing these unpre- cedented impresstons in the language of every-day experience. A thing that impressed him instantly, and which weighed upon him throughout all this experience, was the stillness of this place—he was in a world without sound. At first Mr. Bessel’s mental state was an unemotional wonder. His thought chiefly concerned itself with where he might be. He was out of the body—out of his ma- terial body, at any rate—but that was not all. He believes, and I for one believe also, that he was somewhere out of space, as we understand it, altogether. By a strenuous effort of will he had passed out of his body into a world beyond this world, a world undreamt of, yet lying so close to it and so strangely situated with regard to it, that all things on this earth are clearly Visible both from without and from within in this other world about us. For a long time as | it seemed to bim this realization occupied | his mind to the exclusion of all other mat- | ters, and then he recalled the engagement with Mr. Vincent to which this astonishing experience was after all but a prelude. He turned his mind to locomotion in this new body in which he found himself. For a time he was unable to shift himself from his attachment to his earthly car For time this new, strange, cloud body of his simpl ed, contracted,expanded, coiled and writhed with his efforts to free himself, and then quite suddenly the line that bound him snapped. For a moment everything was hidden by what appeared to be whirl. ing spheres of dark vapor, and then, through a momentary gap, he saw his »ping body col limply, saw his life- ead drop sideways and found he was ving along like a huge cloud Ina a unge place of shadowy Clouds that had luminous intricacy of London spread like a model belo But now he w aware that the fluctuat- ng vapor about him was something more than vapor, and rious exe ment of hi s shot with fear. ur he pe it indistinctly and then suddeniy clearly, that he was surrounded by fz that ‘each roll and | coil of the sceming cloud stuff was a face. | And such Faces of thin shadow, faces of gaseous tenuity. Faces like those faces that glare with intolerable strange- ness upon the sleeper in the evil hours of his dreams. Evil, greedy eyes that were full of a covetous curiosity, faces with knit brows and snarling, smiling lips; their vague hands clutched at Mr. Bessel as he passed and the rest of their bodies were but a vague, elusive streak of trailing darkness. Never a word they said, never a sound from the mouths thai seemed to gibber. Ail about him they pressed in that dreamy silence, passing freely through the dim mis- tiness ‘that was his body, gathering ever j More numerously about ‘him. And the shadowy Mr. Bessei, now uddenly fear- stricken, drove mistily through the silent, active multitude of eyes and clutching hands. So inhuman were these faces, so malig- nant their staring eyes, and shadowy claw- ing gestures, that it gid not occur to Mr. Bessel to attempt intercourse with these drifting creatures, “Idiot phantoms, they seemed, children of vAin desire, beings un- born and scat boon of bei: 1B» Whose only expréssionis anu gestures told of the envy and craving for life that was their one link with exiBteriée. It says mucly*for’ his resolution that amidst the swarming cloud of these noise- spirits of evil Re could still taink of Mr. Vincent. He made a violent effort of will and found himseif, he knew not how, stooping towardwStapié Inn, saw Vincent sittting attentiveandjalert in his armchair by the fire. And clustering, als, about him, as they clustered ever aboyt all that lives and Lreathes, was apother multitude of these vain voiceless shadows, longing, desiring, seeking some loophole into life. For a space Mr. Begse: sought ineffectu- ally to attract bis friend’s attention. He tried to get in front,of his eyes, to move the objects in his reom, to touch him. But Mr. Vincent remained unmoved, igncrant of the being that was so close to his own. ‘The strange something that Mr. Bess<l has compared to a sheet of glass separated them impermeably. And at last Mr. Bessel did a desperate thing. I have told how that in some strange way he could see not only the out- side of a man, as we see him, but within. He extended his shadowy hand, and thrust his vague black fingers, as it seemed, through the heedless brain. ‘Then suddenly Mr. Vincent started like a man who recalls his attention from wan- dering thoughts, and it seemed to Mr. Bes- sel that a little dark-red body, situated in the middle of Mr. Vincent's brain, swelled and glowed as he did so. Since that ex- perience he has been shown anatomical figures of the brain, and he knows now that this is that useless structure, as doc- tors call it, the pineal eye. For, strange as it will seem to many, we have deep in our brains, where it cannot possibly see any earthly light, an eye. At the time this, with the rest of the internal anatomy of the brain, was quite new to him. At the sight of its changed appearance, however, he thrust forth his finger, and, rather fear- {ul still of the consequences, touched this little spot. And instantly Mr. Vincent Started, and Mr. Bessel knew that he was seen. And at that instant it came to Mr. Bes- sel that evil had happened to his body, and behold! a great wind blew through all that world of shadows and tore him away. So strong wes this persuasion that he thought © more of Mr. Vincent, but turned about forthwith, and all the countless faces drove back with him like leaves before a gale. But he returned too late. In an instant he saw the body that he had left inert and col- lapsed—iying indeed like the body of a man just dead—had arisen, had arisen by virtue of some strength and will beyond his own. It stood with staring eyes, stretching its limbs in dubious fashion. For a moment ke watched it in wild dis- may, and then he stooped toward it. But the plane of glass had closed against him again, and he was foiled. He beat himself passionately against this, and all about him the spirits of evil grinned and pointed and mocked. He gave way to furious anger. He compares himself to a bird that has fluttered into a room and is beating at the window pane that holds it back from free. om. And behold! the little body that had once been his was dancing with delight. He saw it shouting, though he could not hear its shouts; he saw the violence of its movements grow. He watched it fling his cherished furniture about in the mad de- light of existence, rend his books apart, smash bottles, drink heedlessly from the jagged fragments, leap and smiie, in a pas- sionate acceptance of living. He watched these actions in paralyzed astonishment. Then once more he hurled himself against the impassable barrier, and then, with all that crew of mocking ghosts about him, hurried back in dire confusion to Vincent to tell him of the outrage that had come upon him, But the brain of Vincent was now closed against apparitions, and the disembodied Mr. Bessel pursued him in vain as he hur- ried out into Holborn to call a cab. Foiled and terror-stricken, Mr. Bessel swept back again to ‘ind his desecrated body whooping in a glorious frenzy down the Burlington Arcade. . . * * . . And now the attentive reader begins to understand Mr. Bessel’s interpretation of the first part if this strange story. The be- ing whose frante rush through London had inflicted so much injury and disaster had indeed Mr. Bessel’s body, but it was not Mr. Bessel, ‘as an evil spirit out of that strange world be ich Mr. Bessel had so r: r twenty hours it held po: and for all those twenty hou sessed spirit body of Mr. Bi As going to and fro in that unheard-of middle world of shadows, seeking help in vain, He spent many hours be ting at the minds of Mr. Vincent and of his friend, Mr Wart. Each, as we know, he roused by hi. Ss. But the language that might c his situation to these helpers across he did not know; his feeble finge: vainly aad powerlessly their s. Once, indeed, as we have already told, he was able to turn Mr. Vincent aside from his path, so that he encountered the stolen body in its career, but he could not make him’ understand the thing that had happened, he was unable to draw any help from thatencounter. * * * All through these hours the persuasion was overwhelm- ing in Mr. Bessel’s mind that presently the body would be killed by its furious tenant. dhe would have to remain in this shad- ow land forevermore. So that those lonz hours were a growing agony of fear. And ever as he hurried to and fro in his ineffec- tual excitement, innumerable spirits of that world about him mobbed him and con- fused his mind. And ever an envious ap- plauding multitude poured after their suc ful fellow as he went upon his glorious er. ¢ that it would seem must be the life of these bodiless things of this world that is the shadow of our world. Ever they watch, coveting a way into a mortal body in order that they may descend, as furies end frenzies, violent lusts and mad strange impulses, rejoicing in the body they have won. For Mr. Bessel was not the only human soul in that place. Witness the act that he met first one, and afierward ral shadows of men, men like himself, seemed, who had lost their bodies ever may be'as he had lost his, and wandered despairing in that lost world that is neither life nor death, They could not speak cause that world is silent, yet he knew them for men, because of their dim human and because of the sadness of their But how they had come into that world he could not tell, nor where the bodies they had lost might be, whether they still raved bout the earth or whether they wer» closed forever in death against return. That they were the irits of the dead neither he nor I But Dr. Paget thinks they are men who are lost in ma At last Mr. Bessel chanced upoa a place where a little crowd of such disembodied silent creatures was gathered, and thrast- ing through them, he saw below a brightly lit room, and four or five quiet gentlemen and a woman, a stoutish woman dressed in black alpaca, and sitting awkwardly in a chair with her had thrown back. He knew her from her portraits to be Mrs. Bullock, the mnedium. And he perceived that tracts and structures in her brain glowed and stirred as he had seen the pineal ey2 in the brain of Mr. Vincent glow. ‘The light was very fitful; scmetimes it was a broad il- lumination, and sometimes merely a faint twilight spot, and it shifted slowiy about her brain. She kept on talking and writing with on hand. And Mr. Bessel saw that eve the crowding shadows of men about him, and a great multitude of the shadow spirits of that shadow land, were all striving and thrusting to touch the lighted 1egiovs of her brain. As one gained her brain or aother was thrust away, her voice and the writing of her hand changed. So that what sh> said was disorderly and confused for the most part; now a fragment of one soul's messege, and now a fragment cf an- other's and now she babbled ihe insane fancies of the spirits of vain desire. Then Mr. Bessel understood that she spok> for the spirit that had touch of her, and he be- gan to struggle very furiously toward her. But he was on the outside of the crowi, and at that time he could not reach her, and at last, growing anxious, he went away to find what had happened meanwhile to nis body. For a long time he went to and fro seek- ing it in vain and fearing that it must have been killed, and then he found it at the bottom of the shaft in Baker street, writh- ing furiously and cursing with pain. Its Jeg and an arm and two ribs had been baoken by Its fall. Moreover the evil spir- it was angry because his time had been so short and because of the pain—making vio- lent movements and casting his body about. And at that Mr. Bessel returned with re- dovbled earnestness to the room where the scance was going on, and so soon as he had thrust himself within sight of the place he saw one of the men who stood about the medium looking at his watch as if he meant that the seance should presently end. At that a great number of the shad- ows who had been striving turned away with gestures of despair. Bat the thought that the seance was almost over only made Mr. Bessel the more earnest and he strug- gled so stoutly with his will against the others that presently he gained the wo- man’s brain. It chanced that just at that moment it glowed very brightly and in that instant she wrote the message that Dr. Wil- son Paget preserved. And then the other shadows and the cloud of evil spirits about him had thrust Mr. Bessel away from her and for all the rest of the seance he could rogain her no more. So he went: back and watched through the long hours at the bottom of the shaft, where the evil spirit lay in the stolen body it had maimed, writhing and cursing and weeping and groaning and learning the les- son of pain. And toward dawn the thing he had waited for happened, his brain glowed brightly and the evil spirit came out, and Mr. Bessel entered the body he had feared he should never enter again ‘As he did so the silence, the brooding si- lence, ¢nded, he heard the tumult of traffic and the voices of people overhead, and that strange world that is the shadow of our world, the dark, silent shadows of de- sire and the shadows of lost men vanished clean away. He lay there for the space of about three hours before he was found. And in spite of the pain and suffering of his wounds and of the dim, damp place in which he lay, in spite of the tears wrung from him by his physical distress, his heart was full of gladness to know that he was back once more in the kindly world of men. ——_ Wants Quickly Filled. At this season, when so many are seck- ing situations, and, on the other hand, so many seeking employes, it is of interest to know that advertisements under the classifications. Wanted Help and Wanted Situations are inserted in The Star at a charge of 15 cents for fifteen words. ——— “What shall I call my new dog? He's a Great Dane.” “ “Why, ‘Hamlet,’ of course." REAL HIGH FLYERS| Flying Kites for Pleasure and Scien- tific Study. ADVANCE IN ART OF CONSTRUCTION Kite Fighting is a Great Sport in China aud Corea. ITS FASCINATIO} HERE Written for The Evening Star. To certain investigations of the weather bureau 1s largely due the interest now manifest among those who are constantly seeking some new form of out-of-door di- version. In their kite experiments the weather sharps had not in mind the devel- opment of an instrument of pleasure, but were imbued! with a desire to achieve such results as would have a strictly economic bearing on the affairs of mankind. Kites without tails are a brand-new thing, and when viewed by the uninitiated et the deepest interest is manifest. The Chi- ers amuse themselves by flying some of the other forms shown here. Low of The deepest interest is apparent in t Management of the large kites; in Strict attention is absolutely necessary the kite must be watched constan necessity is what forms the aside from the very inexplain tion of kite flying. At umes the quite intense and taxes the strength con Siderably; at such Umes the smaii brother is on hand to heip hold the string, but a ter a moment or two he is ready lest he shoud be carried off his feet At ail times interest is excited punt of the proximity of one kite to an other, for fear that one might be damag, in the impending meeting In Corea and China kite fighting is the chief sport, and is primary in the desire to fly kites. in nghting kites necessary ; to give some preliminary the string is first saturated with Siue, and before it can dry it is passed through powdered giass or porcelain. this process a rough cutting surface is giv- en the string and the fun begins when the Kites, high aloft, are so maneuvered as to create contact of strings. One must pay out string rapidly and evenly to prevent cutting, as immediately there is a tension a string is severed. It ts considered very bad luck to a possess a Kite that has been fost by t means. the Mount Fieasant folks have not yet adopted the oriental fashion of kite figs ing, wut if the interest now manifested con- tinues to grow, it cannot be said what it might not develop. As winter approaches and hign winds are due, it may be expected that other sections of the city will be excited to fly kites in the desire to give an impetus to an innocent,de- lightful amusement : nt HUNTER. OLD-TIME RAILROADING, How Tracks Were Constructed and frais Run Sixty Years Ag From the Rochester Democrat and Chroni Irving D. Cook, who ar Byron, recently repaired a barn on lives South ol y b Ccok homestead that was built many years In teking out nary bers found in its construction wer nized by Mr. some tt re Cook as a part of the first old New York Central ratiroad roadbed that was built to Pyron, which was for a ‘ime the terminus, about sixty years These white oak sticks were 3 by 4 e ag sound as when first used, and were what the 8 ap rail w natied nese flew tailless kites centuries ago, but it | Spiked on 7? print of the two-in is within a comparatively recent period | iron strap fs seen. Mr. Cook's rec- that our countrymen have been introduced'| oliection of the early. Tailmiading ne gute to this phenomenon. The greatest astonish- | Cear. a8 the road cross hie far ment exists when the “oldest inhabitant | He says tics were first laid, and on these confronts a modern kite, but in this in [vere placed long stringers, which were of ity to de stance there is not the opportunity to ¢ cry and derisively ascert that “that is nc the way we d to do it forty years az: when I was a boy.” i The pieasure of flying a modern kite not be compared with the little enjoymen in kite-flying at an earlier time, when ki with long, cumbersome and inconv2nien tall attachments were used. The up-to date kite is of cellular form and taill and by its construction is capable of sus- taining greater sail area than was c ceived of in earlier times. A kit? of the form shown in figure 7, having an area 0: twenty-five square feet, would be almost unmanageable. and would be of such di- mensions as to preclude handling. A mod- ern kits, however, which contains from twenty-five to fifty square feet of sail area, is of such emall dimensions as to length and breadth that it is ily handled. Such a kite needs a wind velocity of from fifteen to twenty-five mil2s an hour to accomplish good results. Raising the Kite. Ordinarily and under the above condl- tions a large cellular kite will take flight in mediately at the hand, but as sometimes happens, obstruetions are present that cut off the wind near the ground. In such in- stances it Is necessery to have the kite car~ ried beyond the person with the string to a distance of from cne to five hundred feet. When the ascent is ready and the kite Flying the Flag. tessed into the air the person flying the Kite steps rapidly backward in order to give greater force to the wind acting upon the kite, which will immediately ascend. Running during this operation must not be attempted, as disastrous results might attend; too much pressure might cause the Fite to dodge, as this sometimes happ* with the most perfect kite, at the siarting, as well as when kite fs on high. Should the kite seem inclined to docge, the flyin, lire must be played out rapidly and even! recover slowly, and the kite will adjust it- self properly into the wind and save the loss of the kite, and many feet of string, perhaps,as would:.appen if thestring should snap In a too raplu recovery. In landing a large modern kite the same care is neces- sary as in laumching, and when very near the ground one must govern the kite so as to land it gently. It ts truly astonishing how many different forms of kites there are which will fly. There really seems to be no limit to what may be accomplished in the way of diversity of form. In the experi- ments at the weather bureau many very curious forms were tried, but generally without success, when considered scien tifically, but for pleasurable purposes these and many yet different forms will serve. A Scientific Specimen. Under the direction of Prof. Marvin, Mr. Potter devised the form shown in figure 2, and it was out of this kite that was evolved the Hunter winged kite, shown in figure 1, which is credited with taking the highest angular elevation of any tested at that stage of the weather bureau experiments. Some of the other forms, such as are shown in figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, were not successful as sc.entific instruments. All of these kites, however, are flyable, and many of them are tow being used by those interested throughcut the country. Several of them may be seen almost any afternoon in and about Mount Pleasant. The boys, and, indeed, the men too, seem to derive infinite pleasure from this sport and pastime. Not only is diversity of form epparent, but the patriotic fever is mani- fest in the kites. Red. white and biue cov- erings sre rampant. In many instances the American flag is supported several hundred feet from the ground by attaching {it to the flying string two or three hundred feet from the kite. Some of the more thoroughly enthusiastic fly their kites at night. and by attaching a lantern, @ vascillating star is apparent in the sky. The kite on such occasions is usually covered with black cloth, and ts. therefore, wholly invisible. A stroll through Mount Pleasant will truly astonish the ob- server: The sky seems literally alive with sated ail wee RE te The —— boy is present w' 1 teil, dodging form, which is exceedingly entertalning on ac- count of {ts capers. Now here, now there, it uitimateiy makes one grand “swoop” and dashes itself against the ground, never to rise again In lofty fight. The small.boy, not! daunted, is soon on hand = with twin of the perished sister. ry kind of timber that could be obtained rom farmers near by. sre hewn on the up) e on On came ft where t ringers lirection wht ed, When antlings were of the strips of iron met a short piece laced so Uhat the ends of the ra t be called that, would not There were no section bosses tn those days, and h ars were unknown. The first repair gang consisted of three men, Who carried a few spik 1 an au- ger, a handsaw handled hasket. The few a crowbar, acze and shove the men's shoulders orked as they pleased, and during the hot summer days it was hg uncommen thing for thi spend hours in the shade of Mr. | @ar bush, adjoining the track infrequent, and a roadmaster’s p unknown. Among the freight and locemotiy passenger es first service Louis Brooks, Whittlesey, Asa the known b » wood used in its constructio tin the cab. These ergines had on 2 drive-whecl on cach side. The fir th of July after the read was constructed and in running order was observed by the railroad company by firing a cannon from rear platform of the last car on approaching stations. The passenger cars were short and much like the body of a stage coach. Some of these passenger cars had an upper story, and from this upper deck Mr. Cook saw M: Van Buren climb down to shake ha with a crowd when he was running for presidenc The conductor was then called a collector, and passed along on the ont- side of the cars on a running-board tha extended the entire length of the car. The putting of names on engines was étscc tinued twenty-five or thirty years ago, t last to run cn the western division being the Dean Richmond, which was the Azariah Boody, James Whitne H. Kelley and € Tommy Traddles Situations s Many situations are secured through the want advertisements in The Star. The cost is but trifling. Fifteen cents pays for fifteen words. ed. The dread and fore. boding which almost invariably comes over a young wife, just ere the advent of the first little darling who shall call her mother, is one of the unnatural bur- dens which ilization has imposed upon the rivilege of mother- ood. There ought not to be such an over- whelming sense of depression and weak- ness as a woman feels at this time and there would not be if she was in a perfectly stron, and healthy condition. In thousands of cases motherhood has been divested of all its dangers and a — Proportion of its eo by the use of Dr. Pierce’s Favorite escription, which is the most marvelous remedy ever discovered for restoring com- aoe organic hegith and strength to the lelicate special structure involved in moth- erhood. Taken early during the prospective time it makes the mother strong, energetic and cheerful and carries her through the Period of trial with comparative comfort and ease. It increases the baby’s natural constitutional vigor and adds to the joys motherhood the supreme satisfaction of @ strong, robust, lusty infant. “ Favorite Pre- scription ” is also the best supportive tonic for nursing mothers. expectant mother will appreciate what is said by Mrs. Fannie M. Harry, of Galesburg, Ills., (545 Churchill Ave.) “In a letter to Dr. Pierce she writes > “I have used your medicines in my family fora. Jong time, and fiud them to be all that is claimed,