Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 1, 1895, Page 10

(Copyright, 1895, by Tirec iarte) CHAPTER V. The day following the great stage coach | Tobbery found the patient proprietor of Col linson's Mill calm and untroubled in his usual seclusion. The news that had thrilled the length and breadth of Galloper's Ridge had not touched the leafy banks of the dried up river, the hue and cry had followed th stage road, and no courier had deemed {° worth his while to diverge as far as the rocky ridge which form:d the only pathway to the mill. That day Collinson’s solitude had been unbroken even by the haggard emigrant from the valley, with his old monotonous story of hardship and privation The birds had flown nearer to the old mill, as if emboldened by the unwonted quiet That morning there had been the haif human imprint of a bear's foot in beside the mill wheel, and coming his seant stock from the woodland ho Yad found a golden squirrel—a by airy embodiment of the brown woods itself calmly seated on his bar counter with biscuit between its baby hands. He was full of his characteristic reverics and abstrations | that afternoon; falling into them even at his wood pile, leaning on bis axe—so still that an emerald-throated lizard who had slid upon the log went to sleep under the forgotten stroke. But the ooz home with at nightfall the as a distant murmur along the hillside, that dled away before it reached the rocky ledge. wind | | Then it rocked the tops of the tall redwoods | | arose—at first behind the mill, but left the mill and the dried leaves that lay in the river bed undis- turbed. “Then the murmur was prolonged un- til it became the continuous trouble of some | far-off sea, and at last the wind p the ledge itself, driving the smoke down the stumpy chimney of the mill, rat‘ling the sun warped shingles on the roof, stirring the inside rafters with cool breaths, and singing over the rough projections of the outside eaves. At 9 o'clock he rolled himself up in his blankets before the fire, as was his wont, fell asieep. It was t midnight when he was awak- | ened by the familiar clatter of boulders down the grade, the usual simulation of a wild rush from without that encompassed the whole mill, evon to that heavy impact against the door, which he hgl NG before. In thiz-iic 3 recognized merely the ordinary phe- nomena of his exper , and only turned over to slecp again. But this time the door rudely fell in upon him and a figure strode over his prostrate body with a gun levelled at his head. He sprang sideways for his own weapou which stood by the hearth. In another s-cord that action would have been his last, and th solitude of Seth Collinson might have re- mained henceforth unbroken by any mortal But the gun of the first figire was knocked sharply upward by a second man, and the one and only shot fired that night sped harm- lessly to the roof. With the report he felt his arms gripped tightly behind h'm; through the smoke he saw dimly that the rcom was filled with masked and armed men, and in an. other moment he was pinloned and thrust into his empty armchair. At a signal three of the men left the room, and he could hear them exploring the other rooms and out- house Then the two men who had been standing beside him fell back with a certa'n disciplined precision as a smooth-chinn-d man advancad from the open dcor. Geing to the bar he poured out a glass of whisky, tossed it off deliberately and, standing in front of Ccliinson with his shoulder against the chimney and his hand resting lightly on his hip, cleared his throat. Had Collinscn been an chservant man he weuld have noticad that the two men dropped their eyes and movel thelr fect with a half impatient per- functory air of waiting. Had he witnessed | the stage robbery he wowld have recognized | in the smooth-faced man the presence of “the orator.”” But he only gazed at him with his dull, imperturable patience. “We regret exceedingly force to a gentleman in his own house,” began the orator blandly, “but we feel It our duty to prevent a repetition of the un- happy incident which occurred as we e tered. We desire that you should auswer a | few questions, and are deeply grateful that you are still able to do so, which seemed e tremely improbable a moment or two ago He paused, coughed and leaned back against | the chimney. “How many men have you here besides yourself? “Nary one,” sald Collin: The interrogator glanc who had re-entered, cantly, Good!” lie resumed. truth—an excellent pedites business. this house with a front door doesn't.” N cellar nor outhouse?” “No. “We regret that, for it will compel us, much against our wishes, to keep you bound as you are for the present. The matter is simply this: Circumstances of a very press- ini nature oblige us to occupy this house for A few days—possibly for an indefinite period. We respect the sacred rites of hospitality | too much to turn you out of it; indeed, noth- ing could be more distasteful to our feelings than to have you, in your own person, spread such a disgraceful report through the chival- Tous Sierras. We must therefore keep you a close prisoner—open, however, to an_offer. | It is this: We propose to give you $500 for this property as it stands, provided that you leave it and accompany a pack train which | will start tomorrow morn for the lower valley as far as Thompson’s Pass, binding yourself to quit the state for three months and keep this matter a secret. Three of these | gentlemen will g0 with you, They will point out to you your duty: thelr shotguns will apprise you of any dereliction from it. What do_you say “Who yer talking to?” said Collinson in a 1l voice, You remind us," said the orator suavely, “‘that we have not yet the pleasure of know- ing, My name’s Seth Collinson.” There was a dead silence in the room and every eye was fixed upon the two men. The orator's smile slightly stiffened. “Where f he continued blandly. “Mizzourl. A y good place to go back to—through Thompson's Pass. But you haven't answered our proposal.” “T reckon T don’t intend to sell this house or leave it,”" sald Collinson, simply. I trust you will not make us regret the fortunate termination of your little accident, Mr. Collias sald the orator, with a singulur smile. “May T ask why you object to selliug out? Is it the figure? The house fsn't mine,” said Collinson de- liberately. “I built thix yer house for my wife wot T left in Mizzourl. It's hors. | kal Kilate to keep it and live in it ontil she comes | fur it! And when I tell yo that she is dead, ye kin reckon just what chance ye have of over gettin® it | ‘There was an unmistakable start of sensa. | tion in the room, followed by a silence so profound that the moaning of the wind on the mountain sle was distinetly heard. A well | bullt man with a mask that scarcely con cesled his heavy mustachios, who had been standing’ with his back to the orator in half contemptuous patience, faced around sud- denly and made a step forward as if to come | between the questioner and questioned. A voice from the corner efaculated, “Well?” “Silonce!" said the orator, sharply. Then still more harshly, he turncd to the others “Piek him up and stand him outside with a guard. And then clear out, all of you!” The prisoner was lifted up and carried out; the room was instantly eleared; only the or- | enc to have to use “the other men nodded signifi “You have told the habit and one that ex- Now, is there a room in door that locks? Your du | 1 don't | but then, stra | backed against the it fair; man'! You m hadn’t ki nave settl the cur wa “If you sthil tim, sneer. the man don't but Y you'll have it out together, at twelve through ening. 1 pecting.” “Thank sardonical convenient booty i ¢ by a blun it would s alry if a man who m but either as th dear Jack who s ic leader of and addre: Iar, to eve. heard of | quoted in risks to s the crowd warrants you don't Why, the: acrament me the ‘C speaking o his wife! you not on! ‘pon my s humor! ¥ For all fected exaj IN unmistaka voice, and | his broad seemed face. “You kn bolt if s R you she h “Phat's would bri convent hut in th before have no f who would a husbau your siste soon as sh to get rid of! ggs, gloomil 1if she knew 1 tnnocence that. BY DT HARTE o cor/gic! . tios V8 ightening his eyebrows as he | chimney, said like this, Chivers! it's mighty low down It's your af work for a | ight have made it peked up Brye:'s gun ed it as her husband,” said Chivers hotly want to settle it that way, there's returned the othe with a slight You've only to tell him that you're that ran away with his wife and right on the ledge paces. The boys will see you In fact,” he added, his sneer deep- rather think it's what they're ex- easlor if you That would you, Mr. Jack Rigg ly. “I dare say it to some people, ald Chivers would be more just before our tivided, if 1 were drilled through dering ‘shot from that hayseed; or @en right to your high-toned chiv- dead shot as I am knocked over y have never fired a revolver be I don't exactly see it in that light a man or your equal partn ink you quite un and m 1 ‘you don’t value the only dentified in all California this gang—the man whos ss has made it popular—yes ry man, woman and child who has \im; whose sayings and doings a the newspapers; whom people ru ; who has got the sympathy of 50 that judges hesitate to issu anl constables to rve them-—if #ee the use of such a man, 1 do. re’ column and a half in th o Union about our last job, calling laude Duval” of the Sierras, and of my courtesy to a lady! A lady! our confederate! My dear Jack, ly don't know business values, but oul, you don't seem to understand fa! hi his cynical gReration, my man the style . popu s levity, for all his there ‘was the ring af- of her | her, though no one guessed that | tastidious, whom you knew s my mistress, | was obliged to become our confederate. You | did not object to her when we formed our | gang, and her house became our hiding place and refuge. You took advantage of her wo- man's wit and fine address In disposing of our bos ; you avail yourself, with the rest of the secrets she gathered as my mistress, just as you were willing to profit by the superior ~ address of her paramour—your humble servant—when your own face was known to the sheriff and your old methods ronounced brutal and vulgar. Excuse me, but I must insist upon this, and that you dropped down upon me and Sadie Collinson exactly as you have dropped down here upon her husband.” " ough of this!"™ sald the woman is part and gets her shar he added sneer but that doesn't permit_her to mix elt with my family Affairs.” | : ag Interrug Chivers memory, my dear Rigge, i3 We knew that you had a mountains, from which wished to conceal your real cted, and 1 trust shall al- o reticence. But do vou were taking her angrily. 1] 1 parcel of the you get it for R a or admit gang Pardon me f" softly. “Your absurdly defective. young sis the you discreetly position. We resy ways respect your you remember the night to school at Santa Clara—two nigats before the when you were recognized on the road near Skinner's and had to fly with her for your life, and brought her to us—your two dear old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Barker of Chicago, who had a pastoral home in the forest. You remember how we tock her in yes, doubly took her in, and kept your secret from her. And do you remer how this federate, v we werc away, faved h from the fire on our only horse, caught the g and brought her t conyent?" Riggs walked toward the wfhdow, turned coming back, hcld out his hand, Y aid it and I thanked her, as I thank " He stopped and Lesitated as the other took his hand. “But, Chivers, don't you see that Alice is a young girl, and this an is—you know what I mean might recognize her and that would b e for Alice than even if it were known Alice’s brother was, these two were put together would be ruined forever. Jack,” sald Chivers: suddenly. woman out of the way. all!—she nearly sepa 'l be frank with you as between man and man. | I'll give her up! There are women enough | n the world, and hang it, we're partners | tier allt” | hen you abandon her?” sald Riges, s fixed on his companion, s geiting a little too maundering will be a ticklish job to manage, a do 1t the girl you want dash \’,‘_'P"""i ANOTHER MOMENT HE WAS PINI ONED AND THRUST INTO HIS EMPTY ARMCHAIR, en pitiable vanity in his a self-consclousness that suffused cheeks and writhed his full mouth to deepen the frown on Rigs ble and e the woman hates it and would could—even from you," said “Think what she might do r husband were here. I tell olds our lives in the hollow of her now he vour fault, Mr. Jack Riggs; you ng your sister with her infernal and simplicity into our hollow. She was meek enough But this Is sheer nonsense. 1 ar of her. The woman don’t live Besides, she off to see r at the convent at Santa Clara, as e passed those bonds off on Charley Think of her traveling with w that fool lawyer all the way to Stockton, and his bonds ~which we had put back in her bag—alongside of them all the time, and he telling hel r he was going to stop their pay- ment, and giving her the letter to mail for him, eh! of her hui don’t go easy “None once for al Well, we'll have t sband before she gets back. well-—" of that, Chivers, you understand 111" interrupted Riggs peremptorily. to get rid It he “If you cannot sce that you're making away with that boasted re set every won't pern our coming wasn't tho only ( woman’s husband wou'd damn that putation you make o much of and u band against us, 1 do, and I mit it. IUs a rot'en business enough uim as we have; and if it d-forsaken plice whire we & on could divide our stuff without danger snd g:t it away off the high roads, at one “Let he Chivers roughly. be with your sister again, of her bei 1'd puil up stake: at the convent, then' sa'd “She'll be glad enough to 1d there's no fear rostay ng touched there. “But 1 want *3 put an end to that, t00," re. turned R! hav confederat that—you The two side, lean now faced wreathed ggs sharply. “I do not choose to my sister any longer implicated with our or your mistress. understand me?" men had been standing side ing against the chimney. his companion, his fnto an evll smile. - No more of by Chivers full lips think T unlerstand you, Mr. Jack Riggs, or—I beg your real “sadle (fol frey good enov dropped d: tie living weren't censorious qui obeying only the v tle birds. Chivers, hollow of we ?—sho our pardon, ame may be Rivers, or whatever " he begin slow'y. llinson, the mistress of Julge God- formerly of Kentucky, was company - for you the day you own upon us in cur little house in Galloper's Ridge. We were idyllic pastoral life there, and me-—hidden from the of soc’ety and—Collinson, ce of nature was a happy tim ugh ite an eyes It he went on, with a grimly affected sigh, disregard ng his. comy were soclety, may very stupl oung then, y—from nfon's ~ impatient gesture. waging your fight against fresh—uncommonly fresh, 1 your first exploit. And a clumsy, awkward exploit, too, and id, Mr. Riggs, It you will pardon my freedom. You temper, ai 50 you stopped had to ki thousund load of passengers and letting Wells, wanted money and nd you you had an ugly d lost both to a gambler; the coach to rob him, and 1l two men to get back your paltry dollars, after fighting a whole coach argo & Co.'s treasure box with $50,000 In it slide. It was a stupid, & blundering, a cruel act, Mr. Riggs, and I think I told you o at the time, It was a waste of energy and material, ator and the man who hud stepped forward | 8nd made you not a hero, but a stupld out- . Shnaltanecusly they drew the masks from thelr faces and stood looking at each other. 'The orator's face was smooth ast! 1 think I proved this to you and showed you how it might have been done." “Dry up on thal iuterrupted Riggs impa- and corrupt; the tull, sensual lips wrinkled | tlently. “You offered to become my part- nd you did. et the corners with a sardonie humor; the man who eonfronted him appeared to be physteally and even morally his superior, elbelt gloomy and discontented in expression, He cast a rapid glance around the room to assure Wimeelf that they were alone, and friend, th me. Observe, my Impetuous at my contention ls that you, you polsoned our blameless Eden in the hollow, that you were our serpent, and that this Sadie Collinson, r whom you have become so o back on Goifrey Chivers—fr! d the lit- | i | |1t for she knows too much, but it will be done. There’s my hand on it.” Riggs not only took no notice of the prof- tered hand, but his former look of discontent came back with an ill-concealed addition of loathing and contemot. “We'll drop that now,’ “wa've talked here alone ready. The men are waiting for us.” He turned on his heel Into the inner room. Chivers remained standing by the chimney | until his stiffened smile gave way under the working of his writhing lips; then he turned to the bar, poured out and swallowed another glass of whisky at a single gulp, and followed his partner with half-closed lids that scarcely ciled his ominous cyes. The men, with the exception of the senti- nel stationéd on the rocky ledge and the one who was guarding the unfortunate Collinson, were drinking and gambling away their pros- pective gains around a small pile of portman- teaus and saddle bags, heaped in the center of the room. .They contained the results of their last successes, but one pair of saddle bags bore the mildewed appearance of having been cached or buried some time before, Most of their treasure was in packages of gold dust, and from the conversation that ensued it appeared that, owing to the difi- culties of divosing of it in the mountaln towns, the plan was to convey it by ordi- nary pack mule to the unfrequented valley and’ thence by an emigrant wagon on the old emigrant trail to the southern countles, whese it could be no longer traced. Since the recent robberies the local express com- panies and bankers had refused to receive it except the owners were known and identi- fied. There had been but one box of coin, which had already been speedily divided up among the band. Drafts, bills, bonds, and valuable papers had been usually intrusted to one “Charley,” who acted as a flying mes- senger to a corrupt broker in Sacramento, who played the role of the band's “fence.’ had been the duty of Chivers to control this delicate business, even as it had been his peculiar function to open all the letters and ‘documents. This he had always light- ened by characteristic revelations of the con- tents. The rough, ill-spelt letter of the miner to his wife, enclosing a draft, or the more sentimental effusion of an emigrant swain to his sweetheart with the gift of a “‘specimen, had always received due attention at the hands of this elegant humorist. But the operation was conducted tonight with busi- ness severity and silence. The two leaders sat opposite to each other, in what might have appeared to the rest of the band a scarcely velled surveillance of each other’ actions. When the examination was con- cluded and the more valuable enclosures put aside, the despolled letters were carried to the fire and heaped upon - the coals. Pres- ently the chimney added its roar to the moaning of the distant hillside; a few sparks leaped up and died out in the midnight air, as If the pathos and sentiment of the un- he said shortly; long enough al- Iy | conscious correspondents had exhaled with them. “That's a —- foolish thing to do," rench Peto over his cards. Why?" demanded Chbivers sharply. “Why?—why, it makes a flare in the sky that any scout can see, and a scent for him to follow.” “We're four miles from any traveled rcad,” returned Chivers contemptuously, and the man who could see that glare and smell that smoke would be on his way here already." “That reminds me that that chap ycu've tied up—that Collinson—allows he wants to see you," continued French Pete “To see me!" repeated Chivers. the captain?" “1 reckon he means you,” returned French Pete; ““he said the man who talked so purty.” The men looked at each other with a smile of anticipation and put down thelr cards. Chivers walked toward the door; one or two rose to thelr feet as if to follow, but Riggs growled “You mean | there sprang up in Chivers' agile mind the stopped them peremptorily. “Sit down,” he sald roughly; then, as Chivers passed him, h added to him in a lower tone, *“Remembb; Slightly squaring his shoulders and open'ng his coat to permit & rhetorical frestom; which aid nct, however, prevent him from k- ep ng In touch with the butt of his revolver, Chivers #tepped Into the open air. Col inson bad been | moved to the ‘shelter of an overtang of the | roof, prebably more for the comf.rt of the guard, who st orbss legge! on the groind near him, than for his own. D smissing ‘he | man with a gestare, Chivers stra gh ened | himsalt hefore his op!ive. | “We deeply regmet that your untorounate | determination, my (dear sir, has been the | means of depriving ts of the peasure of your | company, and ycu of your eboolite freeicm, | but may we chetishithe hope that your desire to see me may Indicate tome ctange In your | opinion " | By the light of the sentry's lantern left | upon the ground Chivers could s'e that Col linson's face wore a sifghtly trovb'ed and ev.n apologetic expressi n, “I've bin think'n'," sald Collinson, rai<ing | his eves to his captive with a sincu a‘ly new anl shy admiration in them, “mebbee not much of wot you said ¢z how yeu siid it, anl it's kinier bothered eitt'n’ tere, that 1 ain't bin actin' to you boys quie cn o you square. 1've s3id to myse'f, ‘Collinson, t Top ] | 't ancther b betwixt Bad Skinner's whar them fel'ers kin git a'b te a_drink to heip and you an't offered ‘em neit 't no mat er who they are or how they came; whether (hey came crawling a'ong the road from the valley or drepped down upon. you I'ke them ricks from the grade, ye y are, and it's your uty, ez 1ong ez you ke p this yer house for | your wife in trust, so (o speak, for wenlerers And L ain't forgetiin' yer gineral <oit stye and easy ga't with me when you kem he e, It ain't every ma puld walk into another man's boue ireer e nor of it had g abb d a gun, ¢z sof -speakin’, ¢z overicokin', anl e perlite ez you. I've acted mighty rcvgh snd low down, and 1 know And 1 sent for ycu to that u and folks kin use this house and all at ez leng ez yeu'ra 1a | trouble. I've to!d yeu why I couldn’ tre house to ye and way I couldn't leave it. But | ve kin use it, and w e're here, und when | you go, Cillinson don't tell I don't know what ye mean by ‘binding my-el’ sa nd them elvis er. It ain't your in it cel | keep your secrct; when Co lincon says a thng he sticks to it, and when he psses his werd with a man or a man p; his word with | him it dcn’t need no bit of piper.” There was no doubt of its truth. In the grave, upraised eycs of his prisoner Chiver saw tho certainty that he could trust him even far more than he could trust any one within the house he had just quitted. But this very certainty, for all its assurance of safety to himself, filled him, not with re- morse, which might have been an evancs- cent emotion, but with a sudden alarming and terrible consclousness of being in the presence of a hitherto unknown and im asurable power! He had no pity for the man who truzted him; he had no sense of shame in taking advantage of it; he even felt an intellectual superiority in this want of sagacity in his dupe, but he still f some way d:feated, ineulted, shocked frightened. At first, like all scound bad measured the man by himself; was sus- picious, and prepared for rivalry, but the srave truthfulness of Collison's’ eyes left him helpless. He was terrified by this un- known f The right that contends and fights often stimulates its adversary; the righ that lcaves the vict v quished. could even have kil Collinson in his vague discomfiture, but had a terrible consciousness that there something behind him that he could not make way with, That was why this ac- complished raseal felt his flaccid choeks grow purple and his glib tongue trip before captive. Buck Collingon own shortcomifigs, “took no note of and Chivers quickly recovered his wits not his former. artificiality. “All right,” he sald quickly, with a hurried glance at the door behind him “Now that ou think bett of 'l b fran with you, and tell you I'm youn friend. You understand your friend. Don’t falk much to those men “den't give yourself away to them,” he laughed th time in hsolute nat barrassment “Don't talk about your wi this house, but just say you've m the thing up with me—with me, you know, and Ul see yqu through.”” An idea, as y zue, that he could turn Collinson's unex ted docility to his own purposes pos him even in his embarrassment, ana still ‘more strangely conscious of | his inordinate” vanity, gathering a feavful joy from Collinson’s evident admiration. Tt | was heightened by his captive's next words. “Ef I wan't tied I'd shake hands with ye on that. You're the kind o' man, Mr. Chivers, that I cottoned to from the first, Ef this house wasn’t hers I'd a’ bin temp to cotton to yer offer, too, and mebbee made yer one myself, for it seems to me your tyle and mine would sorter jibe together. But I see you sabe what's in my mind's eye and make allowance. We don’t want ne bit o' paper to shake hands on that. Your secret and your folk's secret is mine, and 1 Qon't blab that any more than I'd blab to them wot you've just told me."” Under a sudden impulse Chivers l:aned forward, and, albeit with somewhat unsteady han and an embarrassed will, untied the cords that held Collinson in his chalr. As the freed man stretched himself to his fuli height he looked gravely down Into the bieared eyes of his captor and held out hiy strong right hand. Chivers took it Whether there was some occult power in Collinsen’s honest grasp I Kknow not, but was with his this, ! more occupled 1 idea that a good way to get rid of Mrs. Col- linson was to put her in the way of her husband’s finding her, and for an instant, in the contemplation of that idea, this su- preme rascal absolutely felt an embarrass- ing glow of virtue. (To be continued.) 1E GREAT BER NHARDT. Firmly Delieves that win Dic of Consumption The distressing condition of the health of her only rival will leave the field clear for Sarah Bernhardt next season, says the New York Press. The great Jewess is noble in womanliness and no one will sympathize more deeply with Duse than she. But with her Italian opponent absent from the tourna- ment of art Bernhardt will recognize no competitor, Irving nor Terry nor Nethersole nor Potter nor anybody. By a singular cofncidence of misfortune Sarah has gone through almost as many vicissitudes as those that beset the Italian's career, yet these hardships, like an acrobat's ill-usage, have but toughened her muscles and in- creased her endurance. The great French woman has perfect health, and, notwithstand ing the stock jokes about her thinness, her bones, which are small, are well covered with flesh as pink and sound as that of a prize- fighter when he is in training. Yet in her girlhood Sarah had hard times. Her father was a faggot gatherer and when he had a leisure hour he invariably employed it in beating his two daughters. Finally the elder ran away to escape ill-treatment, took up with a young man and was heard of no more, Bernhardt -pere had then only one daughter to beat, but he gave her a doubls thumping. What little life was left in the young girl at. lat rebelled. At the age of 14 Sarah was clothed in rags and covered with bruises, her dinper of crusts, her bed some boughs in 4 copper of the hut. Her father beat his record one day in beating her and she went out to”scek her fortune, belleving that if she would bg mo better off she could be no worse. A gay young artist was sketching in the woods that day, when this slender thing of shreds and patcties and bruises came up be- side his easel and looked wistfully at him. “I want to go,to Perls, or anywhere,” she sald. “WIll you dake me?" “Take you" he exled, in “Mon Dieu! I don't make enough money to support myself. It S impossible.” Then the girl began that, coaxing coquettishness in which she is pow_expert and finally the artist cnnmnh;j Away went the strange pair to Paris. Affer @ week or two the artist was turned out’if tNe street by his landlord and Sarah had to'shift for herself. She was rescued by the slsters'of a convent, and, after more wonderful adventures than ever befell Sinbad, she was: accepted as a pupil at the Comedie Francaise. Since that auspicious day Sarah Bernhardt has had no troubles that were not of her own making, and she is now at the height of her powers, her fame and her marvelous health.~ Sarah firmly believes that she will dle of consumption, but coun less numbers of her present admirers shail have made their final exit long before the curtafn falls on the greatest actress of the century. astonishment. | seen Panama Hats, “Panama hats come from South and Cen- tral America,”” sald the dealer as he fitted one on the customer's head. ‘They are made from the leaves of’a sort of palm tree. These are then cut into thin strips like straw and are bleached. Next they are woven round blocks of wood by the Indians, and Il‘hhl;o;nflunlry forms their chief mode of live- S 0 I s s e DRAGUE3 eilh No SA b e INCREASE OF FARM TENANCY Hopeful and Encouraging Signs in the Field of Husbandry, INSTRUCTIVE DATA ON FARM OCCUPANCY Tennney Propgress Regnrded as n and Prosperity, Ownership co—An Mr. L. G. Powers, labor commissioner for the state of Minnesota, who has given the subject careful examination, furnishes the New York Independent an instructive analy- sis of that branch of the federal lating to farm terancy, and the si of the increase shown by the census tables. The increase in farm tenancy, Mr. Powers writes, first began to attract attention in the United States not far from 1870. In the years before the war political parties in a few states, such as New York, had been called into being by a discussion of the ten- ancy question. The tenants of the descend- anis of the old Dutch Patroons fought for a reform in the conditions of the land and the and of the ronters” nburners” of New alone in ve consus re- nificance tenure Anti York time electing and defeating candidates for governor and state officers in that state, but in selecting the president of the Unifed States. The United States thus in some sections long ago found the subject of farm tenancy an en grossing one. Later, not far from 1570, when people in a general way notic:d in nearly every state in the union an increase of farm tenancy, the great majority thought and spoke ~of it as _a growing and threatening evil, No one desired the establishment in all sections of our land of farm tenancy under circumstances thal would repeat the evils that had once led to the creation of the old factions of the ‘“‘anti- renters” and “Barnburners’ in New York The objection to a growth of farm tenancy in the land, based upon the carlier experience of our people, was heightened by the prominence from 1570 to 1800 of the Irish land question No one desired to see established in the western states a_mystem of absentee land lordism such as had provpd a curse to the Emerald Isle. A popular suspicion thet farm tenancy was growing in the United States led to an investigation of the subject by the census in 1880, From that year we must date our first accurate figures relating to the topic. In that year the census securcd information showing the number of farms worked by their owners and those operated by tenant Preceding censuses had secured the number of farms, but no classification or division by their tenure. The census of 1880 showed a large actual and relative number of 1 the United States operated by ten Che subject continued to attract more and more attention. In 1890 the census gath 1 more Information than in 1880. It ob. tained data showing not only the number of farms operated by owners and tenants, as in 1880, but also the number of farm families iving on farms of their own and the number of those living rented farms. There are many f. operated by two or more families working in partnership and living upon the farm. This makes the farm tenant families in 1890 larger than the number of farms operated by ten- nts. The census was able fn 1890 to give wres for farm tenant families sooner than for the tenant-operated farms. Many people at once compared this number with the num- ber of tenant-operated farms in 1880, This somparison led to a_great error, since it was o comparison of things essentially lifforent. It showed an Increase of tenancy about twice as greit s hal actualy aken place. Later the ce:sus announced th number of farms operated by ow and b tenants. The figures thus given are the only ones that can properly be us.d in tracing the growth of farm tenancy. The figures f f rm tenant families throw a side lignt upon fthe subject, but furnish no data for judg ng the comparative growth of teaancy 0a Am.rc n farm: ince 1870 many writers and public sp-akers have called attention to the increate of form tenancy in the United S a‘es. The greater number of those writers and speakecs have cnly evil in that increise. They have beheld in it an omen of impeadng iatlonal ruin. They have assertel that it was the re- sult of a steady degr_dation of the egrizultura! classes of this young repubiic. Tae evpert ence of New York with its old Patrosn ten- ants and its “Barnburners;” the agitatlcn cf the Irish tenant question aircaiy refeired to predisposed the great mass of pecple (c acc pt conclusion cf theze writers, and to find in tenancy nothing but evil. is popuiar pred.sposition early inada ‘th farm tenancy question a favorite one with every man with a financial or econotic hebby horse to ride. All such persons have laid great stress upcn the growih of teuancy, and n it found a reazon for prescribiug their panaceas for all our soc al ills. Heny Goorze and all the single tax advceites have long called attention to the growth of faim uen- ancy, and have spoken of it as an evil. ‘They further said, in speaking of it: I wii nue until the nation adopts our syst:m for righting all the evils that affict soclety.” The advecates of the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 10 1 have also been very per sistent in calling attenticn to the growth of farm tenancy in the past twenty See, they cry, how the legislation of 1873, de- monetizing silver, has wrought its baneful results upon the sturdy yeomen of the land! It brings them into deb'. It renders it impossible fer the farmers to pay off thelr mortgages. Those mortgages are foreclosed, and the onc independent and happy farmers are forced as temants to till the land of which they and their fathers were once the proud and happy posse:sor. The advocates of the single tax and the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1 expend much fle.y rhetoric in their descriptions of how the yeo manry of this land are being ground unde: the wheels of the modern Juggernaut, of evil sys. tems of taxatlon, or of wrong legislation con- cerning silver. Thus they paint this gloomy picture of today, and in glowing colors depict the paradise that will follow the enactment of their pet measures. But lurid rhetoric about the pres:nt glowing prophecles concerning the future ar alike out of place until we know the exact facts of the world as it is. The growth of farm tenancy by itself proves nothing. It in dicates a national disaster, provided those tenants are recruited in vast number from the ranks of men forced to a lower positin in lite by financial misfortune. If so re- cruited, the growth of a vast body of farm tenants presages evil, and it is a sign of im- pending national ruin. If, however, th's growth of farm tenancy Is wholly or even largely recruited from below, from men whose fathers were common wage earners, or slaves who never owned a horse or farmi wagon, then the question takes on an aliogether differcut aspect. The growth of tenancy is, under such circumstances, an upward soclal movement 1t is a part of social revolution that is com- parable only with that which once chang d the black man from a chattel Into a freeman and a citizen of a great nation. Is the growth of American farm tenancy at the expense of former farm owners? Is it a part of a move- ment degrading and debasing men and their families by the hundreds of thousands? Or is it the opposite? Is it a part of a national movement to be welcomed with peans of na- tional thanksgivings because it is lifting mil- lions from lives of ignoble drudgery to a p ane of greater independence, self-rellance, knowl- edge and opportunities for themselves and thelr children? These are vital questions, and upon their correct answer hangs the judgment of failure or success concern'ng our American experiment of self-governmeat. A In writing or speaking upon the’subject of farm tenancy, the average person in the last decade, and especially the single tax advocate, and the men secking to secure the recolning of silver at 16 to 1, have con- tented themselves with securing the figures showing the growth of farm tenancy from 1880 to 1890 in the United States. They have marshaled those figures in all possibie ways and arranged them at times so as to greatly exagxerate ths growth of tenancy. They have then sald: the growth of this evil. Be warned in time. Seck a cure by my remedy." But 1t is not enough to know the growth of farm tenancy in the past ten years. Tho man who kpows all about that growth, but knows uothing concerning farm owners and struggles and “Ba assisted at one not | | writer | farm Iaboters, s totally Ignorant of the ®ubject of temancy. In soelal sclence he who kiows one subject only, knows nothing about that one. To form a_correct Judgment concerning farm tenancy he must possess tho known facts about such tenancy, and also about ownership and debt and the farm laborers (n the United States. | That the reader may consider the subject farm tenancy in all its relations, the before calling special attention to the for the same In 1880 and in 1590, a considerition of the number of men | n o the various decyies clissed by | nsus as “‘firm laborers ™ « us reported the number of this cla s cach since 1840. If American farcing as an industry is undergolng a degrading move ment, if the people who mak: up the milliang toiling on our farms, east and we t avd nor.h and south, are sinking frcm ‘nd pende dependence, then such degradation wotld wo all along the I'ne. Farm owners w be decreased relativel in number in t tien, and firm orers, the we t | would be greatly reased A mov ward among the Amercan agric would be reflected in the oppos'te o the relative number of these two clos farm laborers and cwners. The upya ment would be evidenced ty a smalor tive crease of labsrers th n of Either the downward movement or ward one might show an Increase of tenancy; but the test of the movement is to be fHuni in the two extremes of the scile, the farm owners and labore Which of these classes increasing the most rapidiy? What cre the facts ab-ut farm owne's anl farm teiaits and farm laborers in the United State:? | From 1580 to 1880 the farms overatsd ly | their owners inereased from 2,984,306 to 3,269,- | 728, the farms operated by t-nants increass1 from 1,024,601 to 4913, and the farm 'a-| borers, wh'ch in 1580 were 3223876 in nim- | ber, in 1590 were 3,004.0 The farm tenant | families or famili living as tonants ugon farms in 1890, were 1,624,433, No corresp nd- ing flzures were given fr 1880 An eximin- | tion of the: figures shows that the farms op- | erate by owners increase 2, while those operated by tenants increa<ed only 270 3 and the umber of men and we ms working for wages decrea ed lthough the farms of th ne 555,734, and the populat United | States increased about 12 Taking all these of figures invites and wo! the o has wa It is something qute different from tie ten ancy of the cld Dutch Patro ns of Now York, and quite the opposite of the abseates lard- lordism of mcdern Ireland. It 's a part of a most beneficent social and industr'al 1evcl ticn that s lifting the common labere thiough tenancy to farm tenancy in the Unitel States £eVers) sources. old and de day labore s retu'tel from Its members ¢ome from th reasing class of native American who once toiled cn yeir after year with but little hope of risng in the d and bettering the'r condition. It is ier recrnited from the ranks of immi ants, who seck a home in this new world h its cpportunities to rize from the humb e position of a wage earner through farm ten- ancy to farm ownership. In the south farm tenancy marks the rise of men once :laves toward a greater dezree of inlependen e and a financial success in life. In the caten | states farm tenancy marks the removal cf the wide-awake American original owners to the | west, and the renting of their farms (o the Eurcpean immigrants strugzling forward ¢ the goal of farm ownership "That this is the real meaning of the figure showing the comparative numter of f owners, tenan 1 laborers in the United States in 1880 and 1890, can be n = sen by considering corresponding figuras far as they are ssible, for still car fer cades. In 1860 there were in the Unite States 2,044,077 farms, of wh'ch prob bly | nearly 20 per cent, or from 350,000 to 400 000, were operated by tenants. These tenant oy erated farms were lar confined to a fow ates, and were the preperty of the descend ants of the old Dutch Patrosns and the o rre sponding class of landior's in other communi- ties. This wou'd give an &pprox mate number of farms werked by thelr owners of 1,700,000 In the sitfie year there were in the Un'tel States 795,676 free men and women, c'ass fiad by the census as “farm laborers.”” But th ¢ lorit'es tell us that many “firm laborers’ were reperted and classified as “la borers.” Henee the number of fre farm la borers, in 1860, must have approx mated 1,000,000, There were alwo, cloy'ng three-fourths of the slaves of work. | able age to agriculture, 2,600,000 agricuitural slave toilers. This woull make a_total of men and_women toiling on farms, either as slaves or as wage-earners, of about 3,000,000, Thirty years later, in 1890, th: number of farm “laborers was no greater, although the farms had more than doubled in number and acreage, and the population of the nation had aiso doubled. Farm tenants had, it is true, unquestionably increased in num: ber, although of that increase, prior to 18 we have no reliable figures. But for every family added since 1860 to our farm tenan.s, two others were added to the ranks of farm owners. That is one cause’ for congratula but the greatest cause is found In th for the slaves and laborers. In thirty years many millious of the poorest and humblest toilers have come to our shores from Europe and from Asia hey have poured a steady stream on to the farms of tha nation. But in spite of these unnum bered additions to the ranks of the humble toilers in our midst, the number of farm laborers in 1890 was actually no greater than in 1860. The number of farm-owning families had nearly doubled, but those work- ing as slaves or for wages for others had absolutely decreased. Counting the members of the tenant families, with farm slaves and wage-earners as constituting one class and the farm-owning class as another, and it found that the owning class had increased twice as much in the ageregate as the three others. Who, in that year, 1360, among the friends of the southern negro dared hope for such an outcome within one gencration? What friend f the lowly would have been consider in 1860 who had predicted su revolution as is here record ha indeed “risen up men, pressed forward through the open door of farm tenancy toward the goal of independency as farm owners. The steady movement forward and upward among the American farmers, this hopeful and encouraging significance of American y as It exists almost everywhere 1 be traced in a multitude of wa will be called to but one of the The Minnesota Burean of Lahor vestigated the condition of 1 eleven typical townships in the state. It found 1,555 farm own 243 farm tenants. Of the owners once been tenants, and most of them had | once been farm laborers. This was a num- | ber practically the same as the number of tenants found. The farm owners, once | tenants, had toiled as ter an average of four years. That length of time thus suf ficed to promote a man from the lower to a higher position. ~ Of the tenants only two had ever lost a farm by mortzage fore closure, and only seventeen had cver been farm owners. The greater number of these were merely working as tenants while looking about to purchase a farm wisely after selling their old one. Tenacy ln Minnesota and for our nation as a whole 1s not then a sign of degradation, but it Is a part of an upward soclal revolu tion that Is touching the lot of the former slave of the south, the old farm laborer of the north and the poor Immigrant from Europe with the wand of hope and blessing, and changing It into the likeness of some thing better and grander and more desirable. 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