Evening Star Newspaper, January 16, 1921, Page 70

.. T heerror of Shinto Gods T seems very strange indeed, colonel,” sald Capt Goodfel- low (secretary to his excel- lency, Sir Evington Beecham, governor of Hongkong), as he took his seat by the side of Col. Oliver Hopkins, the newly appointed Amer- ican consul, “that with all Inspector Higgins' skill and ingenuity he hasn’t been able as yet to throw any light upon that robbery at the hotel two weeks ago.” “Yes,” amswered the consul, as he opened his Cantonese silver cigar case and handed the British official one of those rarest luxuries in the far east—a genuine Havana. “You know, ever since I landed here I've been ‘admiring vour splendid police force and my office staff have told me story after story of their clever ways of detecting crime and exposing the crooked ways of the ‘wily celes- tial® and yet, here is the very first case that comes to the consulate, and they seem absolutely helpless. By the way. there go Mrs. Tucker and her daughter now.” He pointed across the road from the club veranda. “Charming people!—you've met them, of course?” “Yes, indeed; Lady Beecham pre- gented me at the garden party last Tuesday. Sorry they are not going to make a longer stay in the Colon. but they are sailing on the Rangood Mail a week from Saturday. Globe- trotting, you know, and they want to do Burmah and Mandalay and all that sort of thing 8o as to get to Cal- € | cutta before the holidays. Lovely zirl that! Pity she's Teaving us in that frame of mind, though. They say she's all broken up over her loss and wants to go back to California on the next American boat. But they've got ten days vet, you know, and Higgins will surely get some- thing definite for them in that time— if he doesn’t, then I shall begin to lose faith in the force myself. “Well, how about that mysterious native detective that seems to get at it when all others fail?” “You mean Mr. Wang Foo™" “I believe that's the name. He's great at unravelling that sort of thing. isn't he? My interpreter and secretary both think he’'s a wonder.” *“Well, he certainly is. Scotland Yard hasn't anything finer in its en- tire outfit. As you say. we may have to fall back upon him yet.” “So Miss Josephine wants to turn around and go home, does she?” said the consul. with a significant little emile paying over his face; and all on account of the loss of one curio when travelers sometimes have a whole trunk full stolen—well, all T ha\'e‘ln ®ay is that she's a cute little thief hersel 5 > “A thief, sir? You surely don’t mean to reflect upon her honesty in “Only in the line of something in- finitely more valuable than oriental curios. captain. and that is human hearts! Lieut. John Barrington Wet- more—who is temporarily.acting as my vice consul. you remember— hasn't as yet lodged .any definite eomplaint with the police, but, ‘just between you and me and the lamp- post,’ as we used to say in Ohio, \_l\il! attractive young man bhas hgen miss- ing a very vital part of hj€ make-up for some two weeks past,/and (draw- ing the words out slowly) |h?uzh T've never prided myself on being any- thing of a detecti I rather think that the article in question will be discovered in Miss Josephine's pos- session.’ *“Lucky dog! He to be congratu- lated on his loss! ow if he can only prove as cute a littie thief on his part as she has on hers, and steal the cor- responding treasure for his own, why 1. as jndge, will dismiss the case and say fair exchange is no robbery. Let us wish him success!"—~raising his from the bamboo fable as he e. uccess to both our juvenile crimi- nals™ answered the colonel. “And here's hoping that Inspector Higzins may be as successful in apprehending Ms thieves as we have been in find- inz our: The entrance of the inevifable club hoy with the chit-hook af this mo- ment concluded the interviey. and the two gentlemen took the waiting jin- rickshaws for their respective offices. | * %k X ¥ DR MELVILLE PATTERSON was. by general consent, the leading yhysician in Victoria colony, Hong- kong, and his long experience in treating tropical diseases—to say nothing of the various little upsets that are apt to afflict the visitor to that “Island of Fragrant Waters"— made him the one to whom Mrs. Tuck- er and her daughter naturally turned for professional advice in this case of a mervous collapse. It was just be- fore the afternoon tea hour on the day in question, when his card was | ‘brought to their room by the hotel room boy. “Here's the doctor, now, Josephine.” sald the anxious mother, “and T want ¥ou to be a good girl and tell him th whole story from beginning to end.” The daughter rose from the reclining Manila chair in which she had been resting on the veranda and, passing through the screen doors into her own | apartment. answered, “Just & moment, mamma. till T _make myself a little more rexpectable.” Was it entirely accidental that her room. No. 324, was directly opposite the Peninsular Shipping Company's building? Was it entirely a matter of chance that the second story of that building was being_occupied by the offices of the United States consui- ate? And. furthermore, had the fates ordained that at that particular hour of the afternoon the handsome acting vice consul should be leaning over the railing. just above the narrow street. and allowing his eyes to wander across to the verandas of the hotel” Perhaps yes, perhaps no, for the fates themselves are quite accidental at times. you know. At any rate, the fact remains that Miss Josephine took far more than the necessary few mo- ments to make herself presentable for the doctor’s visit. and her pulse b with considerably more activity than the normal worry over the theft alone would have called for. (Al this, of course, while quite unconscious of the fact that the room clerk of the hotel had shown Lieut. Wetmore, just a few days before, the exact location of No. 324 on the diagram.) Dr. Patterson) with charming grace of manner and with that won- derful tact which some physicians possess. had made his fair patient | feel perfectly at her ease. and so. | sentence by sentence. she told him the story of the robbery and the cause of her collapse. Tn a word, it | was this: Just before leaving Japan | they had been invited by one of the | oldest missionaries in Nagasaki to{ attend a little nicnic at one of the | old Shinto shrine near its sacred mountain, and had spent a most de- | Jightful dav. Their host had explained | to them about the ancient faith of the people, and with an old native | priest had been their guide throueh all the precincts of the temple. Miss Tucker. while apparently interested | in it all, was especially fascinated by | the story of the silver mirror of the . Shinto gods—that mysterious disk of polished silver. in which, If one only gazes lon and silently enough. he will see the image of his inner life | and read the deepest secrets of the | She had been reading much at | home about the mystic wavs of east- ern devotees, about cloud-visions and | - ervstal-gazing and mirror-worshin. | and all that, and now here was the | ideal embodiment of it all. She sct her heart unon obtaining a genuine “mirror of the zods.” and determined to place herself in the proper frame of mind to enter into its secret reve- lations. * % % * "ALAS' This was one of the cises ‘where all the influence of fricnds and even the almighty power of then tive dollarproved ineffectual—for not a ope for | solutely empty, the mirror had van- ished! “Yes, doctor, I would rather have had them steal all the rest of my | night up to two nice rooms that 1 have for you and mother in the sani- tarium on the peak.” The two ladics promised implicit obedience, and, after writing out a little prescription for overwrought nerves, the doctor bade them good- bye ‘But who is Wang Foo that you say | will help us?’ asked the patient a9 the dogr stood aj [SPECTOR HIGGINS and Deputy ' Brownlow were closeted together at headguarters and comparing notes sale, and although the missionary pleaded for her in the most fluent Japanese, the old Shinto priest and his fellows at the shrine were as ob- durate as the stone images by the wayside. She was almost heart- broken. However, even Shinto priests sometimes relent, especially when they have a few duplicate treasures hidden away in the inner shrines— and just before the Nippon Maru sailed for Shanghai the following morning, the old priest himself knocked at her cabin door and an- nounced that he had fortunately dis- entered the room between the time Miss Tucker unlocked the trunk and the time she missed the article. Has he been properly grilled?’ “Most thoroughly,” answered the deputy, “but we haven't made much out of him. You see, in the first place, he is one of the oldest houseboys in the settlement—been in the hotel ever since it was built—the manager and everybody else swear by him. They say they'd as soon suspect their own sons as suspect Ah Ling. Now, you know as well as I do, chief, that it isn't this kind that does the stealing; they're always the newscomers that try on that sort of game.” No one could have crept quietly along the veranda and slipped it off the table, could they?” “We thought of that, too, chief, but the table wasn’t in a place where even covered a most eflicacious mirror in | an unused part of the inner court,! and he was willing to let her have it (on the pledge of her inviolate se- crecy), for about five times its normal | value. Money being no object when | the secrets of one's soul are for sale, ! the purchase was promptly scaled. ow for the mysterious dis ance; she had brought it Hongkong and had kept ely to locked it securely in one of the inside compart- ments of her wardrobe trunk. It had only been taken out a very few times to show to admiring fricnds and had always been carefully locked away again. About 4 week ag0 she wis ex- plaining it to some visitors from the consulate and laid it carefully on the table by the tea-tray, rolled up in its covering of vellow silk. After her guests were gone she turned to pick it up, and, to her horror and utter dis- may, the yellow silk wrapper just crumpled-up in her hand—it was ab- baggage and leave that alone. Don't try to cheer me up by telling me that I can buy another one just as good No other mirror in the world can be to me what that one was. I hope I am not wickedly superstitious, but that had become part of my inner- most life. I spoke to it and it an- swered back more clearly than the cleverest ouijia-board—it seemed to contain my other self and to reflect my future. without it, but [ searted and all istern trip is gone “Now. don’t worry, my dear child” — that was al Dr. Patterson’s fa- therly w re not going to palm off anything else on yYou at all. We're after that original mirror and w I not only feel am utterly bro- interest in my back to me lost going to get it and you are surely & to see your own dear self in it and anything else you want to see there—before you leave this port. We've got the finest police in the world here, if you know anything about Inspector Higgins, and if he don’t cateh the thief, why, Wang Foo will, so there you are. Now, in the meantime, I'm &, to send you upy 3,000 feet into ir for a good| change and rest, see? You just leave | all your trouble and worry down here in the settlement on the sea-level for ten days. and away you go this very Haven't you ever rd of him? Why he is the great rese man of mystery who un- 1s all tangled affairs for us. What hoe,cannot find isn't worth the find- ine.” “And he is clever at catching hotel “Oh!'Wang Fol that's his ofalty—but vou know w. our own officers every otherwise it wouldn't be * very spe- must zive chance first. fair to them.” on the disappearing of the Tucke mirror. “Of course,” began the chief, ‘the hotel boy who brought in the tea things is_our first thought. Yo seems to have been the only outsider who 8 jand e the longest Chinese arm could have reached in from outside. We measured the distance carefully when the ladies | showed us the apartment.” “Well, what doe say about it? The the head hotel boy v're_awful shrewd ferreting out their own native tricks, you know. They'll see far further ‘into these things than even the sharpest of us Europeans will and you know they have the honor of the hotel boys' guild at stake, S0 that they have a sort of gentle- agreement that they won't do ind of stealing from inside them- s. No, whoever the thief was, ou can be quite sure he mbed over the wall from outside’ as we used to say at home.” “And the only Kuropeans in the room besides the Tuckers were Col and Mrs. Hopkins and Lieut. Wet- more? You are quit positive of this? “Absolutely positive.” “Well," remarked the chief as he rose and took his cap from the wall, “you can't really suspect an American consul of robbing his own country- men. now, can you? “Hardly,” chuckled the deputy, “that would be as bad as the old judge we used to- read about who picked the pocket of the prisoner in the dock as he w passing up to the bench' Brownlow! This is a Wang Koo case, and the sooner you and I "kiowledge it the better.” t you are, sir,” and they parted deputy to his home and the in- ctor to No. 5 in the Red Cloud lley. “Hung Yuin Loo, Woo Pack Woo Shi Woo.” he cried to the jin- rickshaw coolie at the gate. “Allee ! light, my can savee Massiter Wang Koo all " ploper,” repl the puller (swift of foot but light of garment) us he sped rapidly down Queen’s road to the native quarter of the city. Fortu- nately the famous detector of crime was at home, and when Old Chang, the gatekceper, drew back the wooden bolts of the courtyard gates and ushered the foreign visitor in the venerable grand one hastened to an- nounce his presence and to set the kettle boiling for the inevitable tea. “Well, Mr. Wang.” began the in- spector, I suppose it is hardly neces- sary for me to tell you why I have come. We are in trouble over a case and we need your usual valuable as- sistance Not the case of Miss Tucker's mir- ror. is it?* “The same, sir, and I've come to have a quiet talk with you and to find out if you can offer us any further suggestions, sir.” “My time and service are always at the disposal of yourself and the de- partment, Mr. Inspector,” replied the most courteous host, as the venerable rand on ppeared ith the tea tray kes, “and I conSider it a very great compliment that you have taken the trouble to call upon me in person. Refresh yourself, 1 beg you, with a cup of hot tea, and then we will have a quict smoke and meditation over it in my private den upstairs—which is literally somewhat nearer heaven than this damp ground-floor reception room. Lao Tal Tai"—addressing the venerable grand one—“kwei = kak niung sz si tsai pao jih tsa fak tien shing! (For the attendant of our hon- orable guest, let the hot tea be imme- diately poured and the sweet things of t heart be offered!)” The ideal Chinese gentleman never forgets the waiting servants of his visitors. se, 1 feel quite sure, are gen- continued Wang Koo, as he drew from the drawer of an inlaid cabi- net in the “Quiet Glade of Reflection” to which they had both ascended, a silver box of tiny Manilas, “for my esteemed vounz fricnd Lient. Wetmore of consulate brought them directly from the factory in the Philippines. By the way, he is a remarkably fine young man —aquite different from many of the con- sular officials whom I have known—you have met him, of course?” “Oh, yes, sir, I've had quite a number the | of talks with him. You see, he's the one that first called us to the consulate to tell us about the robbery. He seems to take the loss of the mirror almost as much to heart as Miss Tucker herself; in fact, Mr. Wang, as you know our English_and American ways so well, I don’t mind repeating to you what I said to Mrs. Higgins at our home last night, and that is this: He's as much inter- ested In the young lady herself as he is in the loss of her property, perhaps 'evan more so!” ““Ah! Then there is a little romance nterwoven with the case, is_there? That, of course, makes it much more interesting for those who are trying to solve it. I am delighted to know that you have received that impres- sion, for, to tell you the truth, I re- ceiyed it myself very vividly the afternoon of Lady Beecham's garden party. And now that you have done e the honor to confide your impres- slop to me, I will return the compli- ment and add another of my own, and 3t i just this: Miss Tucker's interest in the vice consul is just as real and vivid as his interest in her, though she #s sweetly unconscious of the fact that she has let out the secret to any one. As one of our ancient poets says: Hwa tsz ai tien shiang Teo yao tek jih sheu. (The flower will reveal its sweetest fragrance Even to the band that tries to pluck it.) * % k % BUT to retura to the details of the case’—taking out the yellow leather notebook and preparing to make some entries. “I shall have to ask the privilege of my usual week’s time. I shall postpone my visit to his excellency the governor of Canton, and I shall request three interviews, viz.. One with yourself and Deputy Brownlow, one with Mrs. Tucker, the mother, and one with Miss Tucker alone—however reluctant she may be to grant it. There will, I need hardly _ A CLOUDLIKE FRAGRANT SMOKE :).::E ':’lllg OF “IT AND SPREAD ER T FACE OF THE SILV. MIRROR. LR ——— say, be other interviews and with other parties whom I do not name now, but these three I am going to ask you to be kind enough to arrange for me at the earliest possible date. I will drop in at headquarters just u,!'!t-r tiflin tomorrow. Shall we say 2 o’clock, sharp? Thank you. And now for about a dozen very leading ques- tion before you go. Mr. Inspector, your answers to which shall not only be absolutely confidential, but as 1 jot them down in my notebook they will be in my own secret system of Chinese stenography, absolutely meaningless except to sacred circle e five initiated ones.” Ce o When the inspector finished his an- wers and rose to leave, Wang Foo's Chinese cap of woven silk covered al| the leading facts of the robbery. Within the next few days Wang Foo 1 Was granted the privilege of the three {interviews which he had requested of j Inspector Higgins; and his courtesy, his gracious manner with the ladies and, last of all, his deep personal in- terest in the case had made for him @ new circle of admiring friends. He, of course, visited the apartment where the afternoon-tea had been served and had M Tucker go over with him carefully every detail of the consular visit. He examined the room, the walls, the doors and windows and made a minute inspection of the ver- anda with its exits and entrances. Yet, though he did not spare his qui tion all—his piercing eyes seeming to penetrate into every nook and cor- ner—there was an entire absence in him of that rough and sometimes verv | annoying | detec ective officers conduct such an ex- |amination in western lands. He ap- peared rather in the role of an inter- sted personal friend, and thus led the ladies to a-oid all suspicion of being cross-examined by the police and to tell the story as naturally and freely as they would have to any member of their own immediately family. What pleased Miss Josephine more than anything else was his sympa- thetic inquiry about her visit to the shrine at Nagasaki and about the way in which the mirror of the gods was finally sccured. He drew out from her many of her own thoughts about crystal and mirror gazing and more than charmed her with his un- folding of the oriental conception of these and other esoteric mysteries. “If you will pardon my saying it, Miss Tucker, 1 believe that from my standpoint as a child of the far east- ern world I am privileged to enter more feelingly into the sense of your loss than are my friends of the Hong- kong police force—splendid men and officers though they be. They would be rather inclined to measure it by the money value of the curio than by its inner worth to you. What to you—as to 80 many of my own peo- ple—seems to be the secret message of the spirit of the mirror or the crystal, of your imagination. a subjective sen- sation, not very far removed from superstition. here his Voice became almost hushed—“to you 1 Kknow means that if your mind and hear he spoke this last word very slow- ly—*are pure and trustful as the sil- ver surface of that sacred mirror, you will find there your other self, your better self that will guide and mold your life, reflected in the pol- ished metal, is it not so “It is so! Tt is so, Mr. Wang; you have spoken to me as no other per- #on has. You seem to know and un- derstand that to which they all are blind. The deep secret longing of my life is hidden there. in that mirror of the ancient gods. and until it flashes itself out to me, I am little better than a wanderer over the face of the earth. Oh! sir, find it and restore it to me if you can. Never mind ‘the punichment of the thief— forgive him. pay him anything he asks, hut bring my treasure back to mer” “Be restfully hapdy. Miss Tucker; east and west are joining hands to help you. If we cannot pledge suc- cess. ‘at least we can always hope for it. As the sages sald of ol ' But to you, Miss"—and gentle and it is to them merely a reflex | | o it |from dinner—the I i inquisitiveness with which | | which you wi THE SUNDAY STAR, JANUARY 16, 192I—PART 7. THE MYSTERIOUS WAYS OF WANG FOO ‘Pang Wang King Chien lak tao tien tso.” “They mean,” said the man of mys- tery as he bowed his way toward the door and raised his long hand up- ward, they mean just this: “Hope is the golden arrow that up- 1ifts us to heaven's throne.” * x kX% “O E pleces coolie, my no savee ‘what side he comee, have pay dis chit my side talkee you must look see velly chop-chop,” remarked the Jin-rick- shaw man as he handed Inspector Hig- gins a carefully sealed document the fol- lowing morning at his home. He tore it open and read these words: *“My dear Inspector: ‘We have found the thief and recov- ered the mirror! Preserve absolute secrecy and come to my home. *Wang Foo." He finished a hasty breakfast and for the started without delay “Quiet Glade of Reflection” at No. 5-5-5-in the Red Cloud Alley. Wang Foo was awalt- ing him and they ascended to the quict upper room. “You don’t mean to tell me that you have this double good luck—" began the Inspector ell me who he was and how he got a hold of it Brownlow is as anxious to know as I am.” “Did he come with you?” “No, sir, 1 came here straight alone from home; I haver't even been to the department yet."” “Good! These words are for you and me alone—not for any other human ears as yet. We can't afford to take any risk by an advance exposure. ow, Mr. Inspector, listen carefully to me. for there is something much more than a mere curio at stake here. You lla\'em::b- absolute trust in me, haye you not? “Absolute, Mr. Wang.’ “Then listen carefully, ask no ques- tions and carry out my instructions to the letter, Tomorrow night at exactly 9 o'clock T want you to bring Mrs. and Mi ‘fucker, Col. and Mrs. Hopkins _he added in a most emphatic and significant tone—"young Lieut. ‘Wetmore to a little entertainment which 1 am planning for them at the Temple of the Queen of the Sea. Present the invita tion in any language that you please, but make it perfectly clear to them that it will be well worth their while to at- tend, as I have very important informa- tion to give them concerning the rob- bery. My directions may seem Very strange to you and my orders rather peremptory—but obey them and all WII! be well; disregard them and all is lost! So the interview ended and the chief returned to his office for the duties of the day. At a few minutes before 9 o'clock he following evening, a row of offi- in-rickshaws drew up before residence of the United States consul on the terrade overlooking Queens road. They were waiting for the party that was just rising same five persons whom _ Inspector Higgins had been commissioned to invite to the temple. While the older members were put- ting on their wraps, the two younger ones strolled out onto the porch and stood for a moment gazing at the cial the beautiful scene spread out in the moonlight before them. —The long curving sweep of the harbor, the myriad lights in the settlement just beneath them, the shipping of every name and kind, the thousands of paper lanterns on the native junks and sampans and the flashing of the red and green signals from the tow- ers of Low Loon all helped to form the dazzling panorama that unrolls nightly before Britain's rocky isle of the Pacific. Y “Miss Tucker,” said the young lieu- tenant, as he turned and looked for a moment into her face, sreming to gather new inspiration and strength for his thoughts from the vision that opened before them, "is it true that you are sailing on the next Indian Mail for Rangoon?” “That depends very much on the events of this evening,” she answered, very deliberately. “I may, and I may not. But why do you ask?” It certainly was a broadside, but he recovered in an instant from the Why do 1 ask? Why do I 2sk?” he stammered. * Why, just be- cause this Island of Hong Kong is go- ing to ba a dreadfully lonely place without you, that's why.” E “Oh, you really think so, do you?" “I certainly do. And one question more, please, do you really believe all this stuff about the mirror of the gods that you and your mother are always talking about, and all this ouija-board nonsense about seeing your future affinity in it?” “Not my affinity, if you please, lieu- tenant, much more—my divinity’ “You really believe this?"—the doors were opening onto the porch. “I most certainly do!"—the party were coming out mow. “Then,” cried, “may all the Shinto gods at once send their blessings on Wang Foo!” “Happy sentiment!” echoed the con- sul and Mrs. Hopkins, who now had joined them, “so say we all of us: And now for the Temple by the Sea ™ Arrived there they were welcomed by the great detective himself and ushered into a beautifully gilded ban- quet hall where a literal feast of the Chinese gods awaited them and sweet music—of the kind rarely heard by Curopean travelers—filled the air with its melodies. Two other guests joined them at the temple, and they Were none other than our friends Hig- ins and Brownlow of the police. When that hour which in the western world is known as “coffce and segars” finally came. Wang Foo arose and. addressing the company in a few well chosen words of welcome, thanked them for the houor they had done him in_being his guests for the evening. “And now, my friends, it is time for the great denouement. 1 propose by the kind help of the Shinto gods— | addressing these latter words to Miss Tucker, who blushed in response—to do just four things, viz.: First, to ex- pose a thief; second, to restore a stolen property: third, to heal a brok- en heart. and, fourth, to reveal a brave but modest hero. Such is the sum and substance of my little drama, I agree is quite a mod- ern ‘thriller.” “Lieut. Wetmore, will you be kind enough to raise me. sir!* The hand some young officer instantly obeyed. Then, turning to Inspector Higgins. Wang Fee said: “Mr. Chief, behold your robber and your villain!" It would have been hard to tell which face, the inspector's or Miss Tucker's, bore the more astonished expression at these words. They were about to speak, but Wang Foo motioned them to silence. Putting his hand inside his capacious silken robe, he next drew forth the original mirror of the gods, and stepping over to the young lady’ chair. placed it gracefully in her ou stretched hand: “I now have the pleasure of restoring to its owner a borrowed—not stolen—treasure, and of healing a broken heart and restor- ing a case of shattered nerves——" “With a much better medicine than mine!” cried Dr. Patterson, who by previous arrangement entered the room just at this moment. “And now, as the closing scene, T ‘want to reveal the brave but modest hero.” As he spoke these words Wang Foo drew from his sleeve a jade-stone vial, and opening it. a_cloud-like fra- grant smoke came out of it and spread over the face of the silver mir- ror. “Miss Tucker. if you will look carefully and trustfully into its sur- face now, the future and the affinity will be revealed!” She held it up in spite of herself, and there, clear and distinct as in a photographic frame, were the pictures of the lieutenant and—“His bride to be!" they all cried out together. * k k¥ «T knew at once remarked Wang Foo, at the consular dinner which took the form of an engagement party, “that either the consul or his assistant had taken the mirror, and 1 thought I had better charge the vounger man with it at once. He made an open and frank confession to me, and pledged himself that as Miss Tucker had vowed to see in it the face of hor ‘future,’ he proposed to paint his face on that mirror be- fore anv other man had a <hance. By Syclneir C. Partridge He slipped it under his coat while the ladies were talking, and I natur- ally promised to help him by some Chinese invisible colors which the contents of the vial eventually brought to light. “Every magician must have a con- federate, You know, and I now must expose our mutual friend, Dr. Patte on Big Things NY one can get a “rise” out of Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas by intimating in his presence that none but young men accomplish big things. | “As a general rule a man is imma- | ture, callow, bumptious and grass- green until he reaches the age of! forty,” was the spirited comment made by Senator Sheppard the other | day when one of those mew-fangled public service efficiency chaps ex- pressed the opinion that no one over forty yvears of age should be elected to Congress or hold any other govern- | mental positions. i Evidently feeling that it would be a good idea to cite some interesting | proofs of big things beyond forty to | this sadly inexperienced and misin- formed efficiency bird, Senator Shep- pard invited him to be seated, and then, looking the infantile booster | squarely in the eye, delivered himself | of this beautiful tribute to old age: “The impression has become entire- 1y too general that our older men and women obstruct rather than facili- tate the march of civilization. The truth is that the world owes infinitely more to men above the age of fifty than to men below it. “Nearly $0 per cent of the world's ! greatest figures closed active Jiv. be- tween the ages of fifty and eighty, 35 per cent contfnuing beyond seventy, 2215 per cent beyond eighty, cent bevond ninety. Let consider what has been achieved by men be- yond the age of eighty Titian, mas- ter of Venetian painting. whose m:u:k“ colors reflected the freshness and en- | thusiasm of a world saluting the re-! turn of art and learning, produced | many of his most wonderful canvases | after cighty, painting his famous | Battle of Lepanto’ at the age of nine- ty-eight. Fontenelle. one of the most versatile of men; Cornaro, the great disciple of temperance; Pope Leo XIHI. John Adams, Theophrastus. strode into the nineties with intel- | {lectual vigor unimpaired Michel- | |angelo at eighty-nine still’ held the |sky a prisoner in his brush, havisg executed his ‘Last Judgment,” perhaps the most famous single picture in the world, and his celebrated frescoes i the Sistine Chapel between sixty seventy. Hear John Wesley preach- ing with undiminished eloquence and power almost every day at eighty- eight, still directing the great reli- gious movement he had founded, and closing amid unceashmg activity at that ripe age one of the most remark- | able careers of his time, having trav- | eled 250,000 miles in an age that knew neither electricity nor steam, deliv-| ered 4,000 sermons, composed hun- | dreds ‘of volumes covering almost every phase of literature, earning through his publications ~ $150.000, every cent of which he gave to char- | ity during his life_ “See Guizot and Hobbes and Landor with “active pens at eighty-seven. See Talleyrand and Thomas Jefferson, Herbert Spencer, Newton and Vol- taire, all fruitful in the cighties. See Bancroft, Buffon and Ranke writing deathless history after eighty. See Palmerston, prime minister of Eng- land, at eighty-one, and John Quincy Adams. stricken in the fullness of his strength on the floor of Congress at the same age. Tennyson's ‘Crossing the Bar.' the tenderest death song in our language, was composed at eighty-three, 'Goethe's ‘Faust’ at eighty. See Gladstone conducting one of his most exciting political cam- paigns at elghty, taking control of a nation and becoming its premier at cighty-three. See Cato learning Greek; Plutarch, Latin, and Socrates, music, all at eighty, and tell me no more that the old are no longer capable of high and useful achieve- ments. “Think_of Joseph Jefferson por- traying Rip Van Winkle with added effectiveness_at seventy-five, or the Irish actor, Macklin, actually taking part in a performance in England at and unsurpassed ! i his 1 philosophy and science many o - g ARTTT | son as having consented to play that Tole. “He saw with the trained physician’s | eve how completely the idea of the fortune-telling mirror had taken pos- sion of the lady’s mind. and he agreed with me as to the only perfect and permanent cure. That cure having now been accomplished, we make our homage at Miss Tucker's feet and humbly ask forgiveness for all our | wicked ways! For, as the great mas. | ter said: “He who heals a broken heart Of Heaven's reward shail have a part.”” Senator Sheppard of Texas Beyond Forty Think of Grimm, La- completinik tre- | seventy-nine. piace, ~ Lanmarck, mendous tasks in the neighborhood of eighty. Think of Perugino, at seventy-six. painting the walls of a vast cathedral, or Humboldt de- liberately postponing until seventy- six_the best work of his life. his immortal Kosmos, completing it at ninety. Think of Galileo discovering the daily and monthly vibrations of the moon at seventy-three. Think of Irving and Lamartine, Hugo and Holmes, Wordsworth and Longfellow. Hallam and Grote, George Buchanan and Samuel Johnson, Kant, Savigny and Littre, all astounding mankind with masterful productions between seventy and eighty. Think of Henry Clay, Calhoun, Metternich, Bismarck. Crispi, Thiers, Franklin, Morgan, Reagan, ~Roberts, Allison, Morrill. ‘Uncle Joe' Cannon. Champ Clark and Gen. Sherwood. all towering figures in politics after seventy. Think of Commodore Vanderbilt increasing the mileage of his railroads from 120 to 10,000, adding a hundred millions to fortune between seventy and eighty-eight. * % k% “Turning to the age period from sixty to seventy, the list grows still more interesting and comprehensive. To this decade belong the be ductions of Confucius. Pasteu covery of a cure for hydrophot Monroe's famous doctrine for the pro. tection of the South American repub lics, the permanent safeguard of a continent’s liberties; the third and fourth voyages of Columbus, result- ing in the discovery of South America, and many of the brightest deeds of Webster, Beaconsfield, Jefferson. John | Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Mar- | | lin Luther. To this period belong many of the world" splendid paintings. In music some of the| rarest fabrics of Wagner, Haydn. Verdi and Gounod are the fruitage of this period. In general, literature. | performances have | been achieved by authors between sixty and seventy. Prominent among these we find many of the best com- positions of Cervantes, Schopenhauer, Hugo, John Stuart Mill, Berkeley, | Mommsen, Voltaire, Ruskin, Emerson and Francis Bacon. Especial men- | tion should be made of Michelet's | great History of France, Dryden's| ode on St. Cecilia's day. Milton's | most most imposing | ‘Paradise Regained.” Edmund Burke's | on_ the Revolution in | Sir Richard _ Burton's translation of ‘Arabian Nights' a source of infinite_delight to every English-speaking fireside. “Coming now to the deeds of men | between fifty and sixty we find many of the most far-reaching achieve-; ments of all histotry. Between fifty and sixty Columbus made his first| Yoyages of American discovery, per- haps the most important single events | in human records: Morse invented the | telegraph, Richelieu reconstructed France, Caesar corrected the calendar and wrote his ‘Commentaries’ Crom- well established the protectorate, Lin- | coln issued the emancipation procla- { mation, Bright instituted his reforms, Loyola founded his great society. Jef- ferson the democracy, Knox accom- plished a great religious revolution, Wyclif and Luther translated the Bi- ble and brought its eternal truths to the hearts and hearths of the English | and German masses, Schliemann made his most notable excavations, Hunter | gave a fundamental impetus to surg- ery, Kepler contrived his table of | logarithms, Chesterfield his system of | ocial ethics, Hegel and Lotze their ‘Reflections France.' and ed the Academy of Berlin, Penn nego- itiated his famous treaty with the In- |dians. Washington became the Sirst President o fthe United States, Robert E. Lee made the Confederate resist- ance sublime, Herschel invented the reflecting telescope, Canning and Peel 1 performed their mast brilliant labors. Burke devised his India bill and se- cured the impeachment of Warren I Hastings, Garibaldi became the ruler {of Ttal Between fifty and sixty Leidy Ininety-nine. Think of Browning, brilliant and complex as ever af seventy-seven, or _ Whittier and ! 1Bryant issuing new volumes at! l a made his most valuable contribu- systems of philosophy, Leibnitz found- | Cuvier to natural 'pis great | celestial tions to biology, history: Copernicus wrote treatise on the revolution o bodies, Adam Smith, his “Wealth of Nations® the foundation of modern political science. Between fifty and sixty Plato and Aristotle gave their principal creations to the world. Be- tween fifty and sixty Kant wrote the '(‘.rllh]ll? of Pure Reason’ Bacon, the ‘Novanum Organum,’ and Locke, t ‘Essay on the Human Understanding. each of these three great works being veritable pillars of modern learning and progress. “Between fifty and sixty were write ten Bunyan's ‘Holy War’ and the second part of ‘Pilgrim's Progres: Boswell's Life of Johnson, De Foe's ‘Robinson Cruso.’ Dante’s ‘Divina Comedy.” WMilton's ‘Paradise Lost’ Chaucer's “Canterbury Tales,’ the first part of Cervantes’ ‘Don Quixote,’ the econd pa= Deing written after sixty; La Fortwine’s Fables. Gulliver's Trav- ¢ls. all treasures that will enrich the literature of the world forever. The average age of the Chicf Justices of the Supreme Court of the United tates, perhaps the greatest legal tribunal ‘on_earth, is mearer seventy than sixty, Marshall having concluded his prodizious labors of more than three decades at eighty, Taney at izhty-eight. Waite at seventy-two, “uller at seventy-seven, and White. still presiding over that aurust body today, at seventy-five It is safe to say that the average age at which all the more than fifty associate jus- tices who have occupied the Supreme Bench since its organization were £till in the full exercise of their func- tions is nearer sixty-five than sixty. * ok k ok ach is a partial list of the acleve- ments of men who have passed the half-century mark. Eliminate these achievements and you would blot out most of the world’s advancement. Were we to go still further, and erase the deeds of the “infants” be- tween forty and fifty. we would de- stroy about all trat remains of human progress. We would have to elimi- nate the printing press of Gutenbers. the discoveries in electricity of Frank- lin and Galvani, Priestley’s discovery of oxygen, the smallpox preventives of Jenn Harv discovery of the circulation of the blood, La Salle's discovery of the Mississippi, Besse- imer’s process for the manufacture of steel, Watt's steam engine, Stephen- =on’s railwavs, the military feats of rant and Sherman and Cromwell and elson, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Principles of English Law, th services of Washington in the Ameri can revolution. “In science. music, art and literature ve would wipe out almost all the sur- & contributions to human en- lightenment, among these the concep- tions of Herschel and Von Baer, the compositions of Liszt and Sphor, the creations of Dore and Rubens, and ake. many of the masterpieces of | Shakespeare. Scott, Gibbon, Hume, Macaulay, Carly Petrarch, Pope. Dickens, Chateaubriand, FESINg. Spurgeon, Dumas, Millman, Motley and Gray. “There has been of late too much of a disposition to neglect and disregard the old. [ would not deprecate the encouragement of young men and women, they have a high and effec- tive mission to fultill: but the old need encouragement as well; affection and solicitude are welcome to their twilight years. as to the radiant hours of the yvounz. Beneath gray locks may blaze the fires of genjus perhaps a gentle word may wake in feeble e the vision of an eagle. Societ: its fatuous adulation of s falling into serious error. “Such an attitude is a contra- diction of the truth of history, a violation of all the teachings of ex- perience. There are advantages of which age alone may boast. The pas- y. in | mere “youth, | sions that lashed the early years now lie obedient at the feet of reason. The impulses that stirred the youthful soul to violence and sin are sleeping in the cradle of a mature philosophs- No more does anger break in cursas on the 1ips or envy hiss its shameful whispers. Revenge no longer promnts the uplifted arm: on the venerable countenance there broods prophetic pence. “The weaknesses of men and gov- ernments stand out in startling con- trast with the ideals experience alone develops and age alone may under- stand. Contemplation imparfs a glorv to the furrowed brow as. in the silent sunset of a noble life. the storms and follics of the world become mere dis tant echoes. Society must learn aga that may be rendered by the old. Tt must learn again that in neglecting the ofA it-is wasting one of its most valu- ahle assets. It is the general com- plaint of students of human instit tions that each generation repeats in large measure the blunders of for- mer ones: that if each generation could begin at the exact point in knowledge and experience where the other left off. the progress of the world wonld be wonderfully accel- erated. This complaint would have far smaller basis if we but learned 1o heed and love and glorify our older men and women. And, after all, old age is but a fiction; there is no old age of the soul” 5 services of unmeasured value