The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 10, 1897, Page 31

THE SAN FRANCI CO CALL SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10 1897. DARK-SKINAED LIGIFTAMER I THE HOUSE OF-MYSTERY 1 find to my surprize that the Bell case| is not so greata function as other court | triais I haveattended. | Toe audience is smaller. There are | fewer women present. The reporters take ; 1 fe more easily. An attorney now and | then betrays a womsnish desire for the Jast word, and repeats # thing upon dis- | COV.Ty that it is a good thing. People tit- ier applausive'y and without fear of the bailiff's gavel, at the Judge’s facetious asides, which like all stage asides are sig- nificant, to be uttered in a distinct voice, and to be listened to at least with smiling deference, though a lively hilarity would betler testify to one's appreciative powers. It is all rather inform though, and I suppose the judicial ermiue does become rather irksome if the burden is never to | be litted from one's shoulders. { But the Bell case is very interesting de. spile the k of scenic accessories. It bas the attraction, the only legitimate at- tr n, which all family squabbles bave—:be exhibition of human naturein | various phases, the showing-up of char- seter. | TR Y A Here's a son whom his mother bas de- | nied—a weak, obstinate, dissipated boy, | who has taken the bit between his teeth, tugs and strains with all the strength born weakness to wound those who have been nearest to him. He has been wrouged, or fancies be has—I haven't been long envugh in court to decide | wh \d besides, as Judge Coffey re- arked Fred Bell's lawyer, “You're | | es his mother, or his fos- | comvetent; wholly under Mrs. Pieasznt, their colored | He wisbes her removed who the control housekeepe she, in defending herself, | beaps disgrace upon him. | IVsa pitiadle, shameful story, and the | are tenfold more pitiable, more neful. | “You're a drunkard, mother, an imbe- | cile—and worse.” You're a drunkard, son, a petty black- | —and worse.” d they ring tne changes on this and | amy y and explain charge and counter | char.e. And oue feels ashamed for them d sick at heart; but tney, fortunately nately, are intoxicated with £ wine of rev Each heeds | ows not his own suffering in ms: med glee at his enemy’s pain. | e Do The widow Thomas Bell, | of the late milhonaire, of Mysterioas Manor 1661 Oc- tuvia street, is what people used 1o cail a | “dressy woman.” She appeared in court in a black and green silk gown, lace trimimed, with a large white Lat with lace i black plumes upon it. Her face is rd, sharp featared, but she has fine eyes and quantities of brown bair. Her man-] ner tetls of anything but the diffident in- petence I anticipated. Mrs. Beil may , as her son iusists she is, a child in the nds of that wenderful old woman, my Pleasant; butin the courtroom cither looks 1oward nor consults the black nurse. She advises with her ing positively and decidedly, an ing her remarks with the ineffective ge:ture of the gioved female hand. She stand at times so near to the willful | angered boy who has called her mother for nearly twenty years that one would think she cou!d not resist laying a moth- ery hand, with both appeal and forgive- ness 1n its gentle touch, upon his broad shoulder. Bu‘, upparently, the thought of reconciliation is as far from him as from ber—and I wouldn’t descrive Mrs. Bell as a thotherly woman. So there she stands and whispers into her lawyer’s ears the facts and dates which shall expose the shameful details of this wild boy's life. And there he sits and moodily murmaurs that into his attor ear which shali embarrass and humiliate and shame tbe wife of his father. TR ] Miss Marie Bel!—Miss Marie Therese Bell, as her brotber calls her, in stilted imitation of the legal phraseology he has been hearing of late—sat apart from the other celebrities the day I was in court. She, too, was gayly dressed—the outlines her round, childish face, with its watch- | 1l eyes, sketched dim!y behind the mask | of a white chiffon veil, above a white iffon vest and broad green veivet | Ste wore red roses in Ler light | § re was a repose about the young girl | hat contrasted with Mrs. Bell’s quick movements and strained, intent posture:. But it may bave been simple stolidity— | merely the patience of a phlegmatic tem- | yerame i While on the stand Fred Bell, under the | lawyer's sharp questioning, was compelled | 1o state th in the course of a drive with disr -putable companions he had pawned | his young sister's ring. | It wasn’t ¢ sity that made me look | tuward tne ; tuen. 1 felt apolozetic, pained that I and others should have | listened 1o that which must have hurt her | sorely. But Marie’s round, young face was smiling behind the thick white veil— with s smilir a sort of innocent, babyish { one’s MAMMY PLEASANT, IN WHOSE HEARRT LIE BURIED THE triumph that the enemy had been drawn into making a damaging statement. My sympathy was quite wasted Sureiy the Maker of women who are destined to become law-court celebrities tempers the thickness ot human integu- ment to the winds that shall blow thereon. Or perhaps Nature, that practical dame, | bending all her wonderful, housewifely energy (o meet the emergency, heaps ad- ditional flesh and-blood wraps upon the nerves that would tingle and quiver and bleed with the agony of public humilia- tion. There isn’t anything runny in hearing brother confess publicly that he reads letters addressed 10 his sister and, forgetting 1o return them, uses them later in the preparation of his case. ere isn’t anvihing funny in listening to one’s brother admit that he pawned his sister’s ring that he might have more money 1o MAMMY PLEAS | use in living as no brother would nave his sister know that he lives. There isa’t anything funny in being present in a crowded courtroom when one's brother defiantly asserts that five, or even s days out of seven he wasin 'ha hab spending at the corner grocery. isn’t any thing funny—1o a sister, at least, though the judicial sense of humor is probably more highly deveioped — in learning that one’s brother, while yet a schooiboy, ran away from school wity a soubrette, disappearing from his relatives’ ken for weeks or months. But if yoor littie Miss Marie Bell can find a gleam of funin all the wretched, | painful story 1 for one wounld not deprive ber of it. It must be hard encugh to have for a brother such a man as Fred Bell says here | he has been. If this girl does not feel the | ache of the tragdy as others might it is better for her—and no worse, probably, for aim. * oo It I were ¥red Bell, or, rather, if I had been the old Fred Bell (the new Fred Bell, a reformed, well-intentioned feilow, ac- | cording to himself, dates from an over- | the-vanister fall about a year ago), 1 should not conduct myself on the witness- stand as Mr. Bell did last Wednesday. It one has sinned and—which is some- times to poor human nature as vital as | the sin itself—if the knowledee of one’s | | sins is the property of one’s opponent, it | * o ANT, Who Holds the Key to )isa graceful act, as well as sound business seuse, to admit one’s errors rather than to | bave admissions wrung from cne in a r prejudicial to one’s case. Mr. Bell is not a gocd actor. His 10uld say, should be the frankly penitent one. His voice shou d show the grief the remembrance of his faults pro- duces 1v one wheis crying *Mea culpal” for to favorably impress his audience he | must affect sincerity if he have it not, and his manner, to be effective, must be that oven, candid willingness to admit esch and all of his sins—that fullness of self- condemnation which by its very com- pleteness disarms ana makes superfluous furiner criticism. And abeve all he must remember that it is altogether out of cha acter 1o smile when his past misdeeds are 101010101010101 0I0IOIOIC 1O | The Central Baptist Associatiou of Cali- fornia held very interesting sessions in Emmanuel Baptist Church Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week. { Revorts of a most encouraging nature | were made by the commitiees which bave | bzen working throughout the past year and many good sadresses were made by ! the visiting pastors. The officers elected | for the ensuing year were L. W. Eiliott, moderator; B. C. Wright, clerk, and G. W. Frazor, treasur'r. The next convention vill be held in the Eleventh-avenue | Chureh, Oakland. Evening services have beer resumed at | Trinity Episcopal Church. Next Sunday will see an innovation at St. Peter's Epiccopal Church. There will be a vested choir of ladies in place of a male choir only. No: 6 corps of the Salvation Army has secured the chapel of o!d Howard Pre-by- ssrian Cburch. It was successfully opened Iast Friday evening by Lieutenant- Colone! Kenpel. The Rev. David Hughes of Los Angeles will preach this evening at Cambriaa Hall, 1133 Mission streec. Rev. Dr. Hemph:ll of Calvary Presbyte- rian Churcn will exchange pulpits with Rev. R. 8. Coyle of the First Presbyterian CUnurch ot Oakland., In the evening Dr. Hemphill will take for the sulj-ct of his discussion, *“Why Do So Few People Make a Success of Li‘e?” The Very Rev. Georze De:zhon, the newly elected superior-general of the Paulist katbhers, has sppointed Rev. Father Hughes us assistant superior. Rey. Dr. Adams will speak this evening on *“Profit.” 1hat heis giving tending to show that the Bible is an up-to-date book. A special meeting of the committee on tields of work for students and deacon- esses are to meet on Monday, October 10, at the Y. M. C. A. (third fiocr) at 10 o'clock sharp. Rev. Charles L. Bavard, who for several years has been the efficient superintendent of Methodist English-speaking work in This is the tecond of a series | | from beneath scowhng ash-blonde brows. recalled. The true penitent must lose his scnse of humor. Young Fred Bell may have been | wronged by Mrs. Bell and her houss- | keeper, his mother may be all he says sie | is, ana his own mistakes may be the frait ofa childhood that was not fitly guardeii, not warm!y cherished. He may ia al honesty intend to attempt that grea: d noblest and most diflicult of battles— | subjugation of seli; of a self that has been | induigea since childhood, and has daily grown stronger and bolder and more | terrible with Indulgence, tili it takes a moral Napoleon to cotquer the monster. All this may be, yet Mr. Bell does out' A\ N SNSRI RSES SO NN 7 e/ the Mysteries of the Mansi 80 impress the casual listener at the Bell rial. His manner is t-uculent when it | needn’t be. He was not always beingin- sulted. He is resentful of the attcraey questions when his own regret should be, or should appear to be, stronzer than re- sentment. His answers do not produce | the imypression of disingenuousness. He | contradicted his own testimony flatly | within five minutes the afternoon I lis- | tened to him, and then was amazed to find himeelf quoted as saying quite the otner thing ttan he says he intended. He seems inclined to qnibble like a child in a scrape. And indeed he is only a boy a fair-haired, rebellious boy, with a muddy complexion, a weak profile and gray eyes, wlhich Jook challenzingly at the questioner i e New Mexico Mission, has been trans- erred from that work and stationed at L Porte, Ind. Rev. Dr. A. A. Gee. one of the veterans of Indiana Methodism, takes the superintendency of the New Mexico work. | _The recently elected officers of the Ep- worth League of Simuson Memorial | Church will be instalied this evening. An | excellent mnsical programme has been | prepared for the occasion. _Arcangeme:ts have been made by the Youne’s Men’s Christian A-sociation with Rev. Georze C. Adams, D.D., pastor of the First Congregational Church, to conduct a union Bible class at the association lec- | tare bail, Mason and Eliis streets, «very Saturday at 12 o’clock, noon. It will be primarily a Teuchers’ Normal Institute class for'the study of the Sunday-schoo! lesson of the following Sunday. The ses- | sion: will be free 1o all, both men and | womer:. Tue regular monthly meeting of the Metnedist Orienta! Burean will te held at the Chinese mission, 916 Washington | street, Tuesday, October 12, at 10:30 A. M. The monthly meeting of the Deaconess’ | members of the ¢ | the | Octaber 22, buresu will be held at the same place at | 1:30 ». M. A full attendance is reques ed. | On Friday night, October 15, Rev. John | Stephens, pastor of Simpson Memorial Church, delivers his celebrated lecture on *Echoes of the Toronto Convention'’ at r-t M. E. Church. r. Jobn A. B. Wilson, the new pastor ard M. E. Chureh, will preach his first sermon tnere this mornine. He wiil take for subject “The Cure of Care.” In the evening he wili spenk on “The Glory ot the Cr Oo Friday evening he will be tendered u reception by the creb. “Ihe Chnstian Church at Berkeley, with assistance of Rev. W. A, Gardaner of T. D. Builer of Oal and Mr:. Titus last aas missionaries. They ! r ) | | this city and Rev. land, ordained M week 10 go 1o C n | s aried for Cuina a week ugo to-day. Rev. L. A. Pier of Watsonville, pastor ot one of ibe sircngest Curisuan chnrches in the State, has secured pledges suffizient 1o pay off all the indebiedness of the church and now refuses to receive any stated salary, preferring (o take t .e free- will cfferings from the members of his charen, given in such sums and at such | times a< 1hey may choose. | Rev. W. B. Berry has been filling the pulpit of the Christian church at Alameda during the past two weeks wiile the newly elected pastor isin the East visiting bis oid home. The fourteenth monthiy festival service | will be held this evening in the Howard Presbyierian Church on Oak and Baker sireets. e selections will be from Handel’s *“Messiab.”” Mrs. Hert Mark | will sing “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” and the choir will be assisted by Miss Susie M. Blair, violin soloist. The orpganist and director, William F. Hooke, ill rencer the ‘“‘Pastoral Symphony,” And the Glory of the Lord” and the “Halleinjah Chorus,” Tne churity benetit to be given at Simp son Memorial Church on Friday evening, promises to be an unusually | was greater five-sevenths or seven-tenths. SECEETS OF - IHE. BEEL FARILY| *Mr. Bell,” askad Fisher Ames, “did | vou ualock Mr . B:il’s wardrobe—did you teke a key and unlock Mrs. Bell’s ward- robe?” “I did not,” severely. Mr. Bell on tre witness-stand uses noelisions. His man- ner is slightly theatrical. “Did you not unlock Mrs. Ball's ward- robe?” “I did not unlock Mrs. Bell’s wardrobe with a key,” repeated Fred Beil's boyish, uncultivated vo.ce, sturdily. % “What with, then?”’ “I did not unlock Mrs. Bell's wardrobe with a key. I unlocked Mrs. Bell's ward- Tobe with a buttonhook.” | | i | By, | : } T | l | | on of the Bells. What an Oilend . orfian anti-climaxd | . e Attorney Ames did a cruel thing last | Wednesday. He asked Frea Bell which | Tnis was apropos of the time voung Mr. Bell spent at the grocery before men- toned. Mr, Bell hesitated. With reason, | Who wouldn’t hesitaie? Then he an- swered the question, and was promptly marked failure on his response. T.ern he changed his answer, only to be confrontad with a greater difficulty. *“‘How much greater, then, is five-sev- enths than seven-tenths?” Mr. Bell flushed boyishly and cast his eyes up to the ceiling. “Five-sevenths,” explained Judge Coffey in a patient, pedagogical voice, “is five | said Attorney Ames gleefully. | vice | did nothing, wrote nothing, out of seven, and seven-tenths is seven out of ten."” Still Mr. Beil hesitated. Everybody in court was stili, too. Every braln there was absorbed in mental caiculation. hree-fifths,” at last said Mr. Bell. Ard then bis attorney interfered. “Ob, you can’t get this young man out of the trouble I'll make for him if 1 can,” Mr. Be!l folded his arms defianily and | scowled. “Yes, if you can,’’ he snecred. ©'Oh, vou'd put him in jail!” said At- torney Scnooler, losing his temper and burlesquing the dignified demeanor of Fisher Ames. “There isn’t a pe son in this courtroom that can solve that jrobiem,” Schooler declared indignantly. “I don't believe Le can himself.” “The common denominator,” began Mr. Ames dispassionately, “is seventy. Five- sevenths equals fifty-seventieths. Seven- tenths equals forty-nine seventieths. The d.ffsrence is one-seventieth.” | “He said one-fiftieth a moment ago,” declared Schooler. “Idid not,” said Ames. “He did.”" 1 “Idid not.” “You did.” “I did not.” You—" | ‘‘Gentlemen,” purred Judge Coffey’s | soft voice to his lead pencil, *‘please keep | further apart,” Y BT ER | | One day a few years ago when I was on i a Sutter-street car the gripman halted at | Octavia street. The length of time we waited attracted my attention finally, and I locked up to see who the important per- sonage was for whom that lordly being, a | streetcar conductor, waits. | I expected to see a beautifully dressed, charming young girl—for even a car con- | ductor is buman—or a puffing miilionsire, writ all over with the assertion that wealth is privileged, or a cripple, dumbly pleading that misfortune is exempt from the strict letter of streetcar law. But it was none of these. A spare old negress waiked up briskly, but not with undignitied haste, entered the car and | * | again the wheels of business turned. She wore the plainestof black gowns, scant rather in the skrt, a long, large, full immaculato white apron, a green plaid shawl, a large black straw bonnet, tied down over her ears with a broad black | si k ribbon, and a white collar at her thin wrinkled throat. “it's Mammy Pleasant,” explained the gripman. ““We always wait for her and | she pays us well for it.” P iy When Mammy Pieasant walked court Wednes afternoon and into was | called to the witness-stand a courtroom | fiend bebind me whispered: *‘Thero she comes. She's smartern the whole shootin’ maich.” I'm inclined to believe thatno char-| | acter, however great i1t may be, i3 as great | | as i¢s reputation. | woman, the most interesting figure This gaunt, tall black in San Francisco to-day, compels such re- spect for her mental qualification—leav- ing out of tne question her moral worth or unworth—that reporters have probably been tempted to add to the reputation she | has for managing, for controlling, for us- | ing the powerof the mentally strong over the weak. On the otber hand a great lawyer, in closing his argument in the Sharon case, said of Mammy Pleasant: *This old woman, without whose ad- Sarah Althea Hill says she promised | nothing, bhas missed her vocation. If she | | bas strength c¢f character sufficient, not | only to influence, but to guide and con- | trol such a woman as Sarah Althea Hill | Van Amburgh wonld have been glad to | hire her as a lion-tamer.” The dark-skinned lion-tamer walked to | the siand. Her face 1s very, very thin, | One can scarcely see her hollow, dark | eyes under the shadow of her scoop | bonnet. Mammy Pleasant is aging— | | but not weakening. She walks with | a firm, quick step and her volcei is full, decided and has less of the | negro accent than the voices of mnnyl white girls of Alabama or Mississippi or | Kentucky. | This old colored woman is as self-pos- sessed as—as Bernbardr. She hasa't n‘ particle of self-consciousness. She is pos- 1 sessea of a simple, nawral dignity that | makes the stare, the presence of a crowd | of strangers utterly indifferent to her. | She sat up straight in the witness chair and answered questions with a prepossess- ing readiness. \When a long dispute in- terrupted the course of her testimony she | drew up another chair, rested her leeli upon its rungs and covered her face with her long, black hends. But it was not to i escape the inquisitive gaze of the peope | in court. Ii was simply that she was| weary. i Her babit of command betgayed itself | twice — once when Attorney Schooleri Bishon Newman has appointed Rev. T. | . Woedward agent of the University of the Pacific and Rev. Thomas A. Atkinson pastor _at the Petaluma Mettolist Epis- | coval Church. The opening services of the Deaconess’ Traininz School were held in Trinity Methndist Episcopal Churen Wednesday @t 10:30 A. M. Do J. N, Beard presided. Addresses wer- given by Dr. Locke of | Cent Churen, Dr. Beard, Mrs. Sims, presiden' of the Deaconess Bureau, and Mrs. H. L. Benson, superintendent ot the home. Mi-s Emory made a few remarks in the inte-est of kilchen-garden work. | Thirteen students were present. The clesing service was conducted by R. 8. | Marshail, evangelist. To-day at 3 o'clock, in the Association Aud torium, Mason and Ellis streets, | there wili be a grand union mass-meeting | of all the churches, to be addressed by Rev. W. D. P. Bliss of Boston. Both men and women invited. D-. Bliss’ subject will be *Christian Socialism; What Is 12" The public cordially invited. “aptain Dart, the forerunner of Lieuten- ani-Colonel William Evans, arrived in San Francizco on the night of October 2. The captain came in advance 1o get ac- guaintea with the divisional finances. * Miss Carrie Potter, tield secre:ary of the Woman's Home Missionary Union, ex- pects 1o start next week for Minneapolis to attend the annual meeuing of the American Missionary Association. The new St Paul's church, New York City, will be dedicated to-day by Bishop Andrew-, assisted by Bishop Foster., In the evening Chancellor J. R. Day will preach. The Rev. Dr. Golse, the new pastor of Central M. E. Cuurea, will take for the subjeci of his morning's discussion “The Greatest Man in the World.” Next Monday, October 11, at the Pres- byterian Ministerial Union, 920 Sacra- mento street, Dr. Day 15 to give a paper on “*Christ in the Old Testament.” The receipts of the Christ'an Foreign attractive ent rtain ment. Mission Board for this year are $106,222 10. | ference in a few moments, and at the 54 30 over last year. This is a gain of $12, of churches “con- The gain in number tributing is 127; 8 y ~chools, 205, En- deavor societies, 263; ind.viduals, 206 Rev. F. C. Lockwood, Ph.D., pas: 11 ff Church, Sait Lake, has accepted a| position aslecrurerin Chi~azo University. | Rev. F. B. Meyer, the Engiish evangei- | iar, expects 1o spend part of next Saunaary and Feb:ruary in this counuy in reiigious | work. The Southern California Methodist Epis- copal conference last weel responded rovally to the appeal of Dr. Smith for pledges to the fund for payment of the debt of the Missionary Scciety. Kifty- five $20 pledges were made in open con- evening service six more were added, several of the piedges coming from gener- ous laymen. This made sixty-one pledges for this conference. Thera will be an adjourned annual meeting of the stockhclders of the Pub- lishing Company of the Paci.ficon Mon- day, October 11, 1897, at 1 »_ M, in the| Coneregational Leauquarters, Y. M. C. A. | building, San Francisco. ! Lieutenant-Colonel and Mrs. Keppel will hold their farewell meeting in this city on Wednesday evening nex. It will take place at the Metropoiitan Temple, and will be one of the largest demonstra- tions of it« kind ever held here. Both Mr. and Mrs. Keppel are great favorites in this city, where they have labored together for over five vears. As a token of remem- brance to tneir many friends they are sending out tiny cards with a farweil let- ter printed on them, and in the corners P’ otographs of themseives. There is to be a special meeting of the Buy conference at the Pacific Theological Seminary on Tuesday. There will be two sessions—at 2 and 7 p. M. The evening session will be filled with a discu-sion on “M:nisterial Education.” The feastof the patron saints will be celebrated to-day at St. Francis Church on Vallejo street. The sermon in the morning will commence at 11 o’cloek, and ! Boniface’s Church ot asked her what sort of book was missing. “Bring 'em to me—:hose books over there,*’ she said, brusquely, “‘an’ I'll show you what 1t’s like.” Later, when she had left the stand and had asked permission to go home, she stopped beside Miss Bell’s chair to talk for a moment. ‘‘Give me that chair—you take an. other,” she said to the man who was seatea beside Miss Bell. And evidently itdidn’t occur to him to demur. soow s a Mammy Pleasant, for all I know, may be the vile, mercenary intrigusr her ene- mies say she is, or' she may be possessed of that *‘great white heart beneath a black skin’’ of which her friends assure me. But her faults and her virtues must be those of a strong itemperament. There is | nothing weak, nothing temporizinz about her. She is exquisitely loyal. Not even the awful, cumulating misfortunes of Sarab Althea Terry’s terribly tragic life could weary the devotion of this tena- cious, faitbful old biack woman. She bas been a good friend. I don’t doubt that she can be a relentl. enemy. * . = * My interview with Mammy Pleasant should rightly. be written up under the head, ‘‘Pecple I Haven’t Met.” If a foreign Prince comes to San Fran- cisco your managing editor, through an influential friend, may arrange a short meeting for you, when only stereotyped questions may beasked. It afamous mur- derer is to be banged soon you may talk to him, provided your questions are not too personal or indelicate. If a great Jady’s daughter is to be murried she will grant souan interview, 1if vou will be sufficient- ly grateful. But tell me, ye gods of the vull, what is the magic string that will | open Mammy Pleasant’s door and Mammy Pleasant’s lips! Iwent up the steps at 1661 Octavia street and rang the bell and waited and—no one came. Again I waited, and again, ana present- Iy a pretiy-facea lad of about 14 appeared at thedoor. He was gentle, even smiling, but he was delightiully firm. All bail to Mammy Pleasant! Any one who can secure service such as this must be a power. Mrs. Pleasant was very busy. She was engaged. No, he couldn’t really take my card up. He wouldn’t think of disturb- ing her, Did he know when one could see Mrs. Plezsant ? He couldn’t say, really. And Mrs. Bell? Mrs. Bell was not up. He was sorry. Evidently not a workingwoman—Mrs. | Bell. It was 10 o’clock in the morning. And Miss Marie Beli? Miss Bell was out of town, lisped the | gentle, courteous little liar. Too bad! and he didn’t Mrs. Pleasant could see one? He relented at this—just a shade. *‘She might—might happen to see you irom the upper window as you are going ot and call you back—if vou walk very slowly.” I'm ashamed to admit that I walked very, very slowly. And 'm still more humiliated to con- fess that she didn’t call me back! PR e 1 tricd acain a few days later. This time an elderly woman admitted me. I wss so surprised at really being on the inside of that charmed doorthat I conld only look about me in silent amaze. A very, very wide, generous, deep hall, with broad staircase starting half-way back, and—suddenly, from above, a deep, imparious voice: “Who's the lady? Who's the lady?” it demanded. I wasn’t engaged in any dark, diabolical echeme. But that authoritative voice made me fecl as if I were. I haven’t felt know when | just that guilty tremor since the first school-teacher 1 had bade me read irom a page that was Greek and Sanscrit and shorthand to me. “I'm bringing up her card and the letters,” said the gentle, timid voice of the woman who had admitted me. “l1 can't see anybody. What's your pame?’ Up toward the undistingnished dark- ness I confessed my name and quality, or lack of it. You were here the other day.” *Yes,” 1 admitted, like a culprit. “Well, Ican’t see you. I'm too busy. Idon't want to see anybody. 1f I want you, I'!l send for you.”" Ilauched alond at this. It was so un- expected; said so simply, though. The harsh voice softened a!most im- perceptibly. It bade mie good-by. and repeated not so crossly, +If I want you, I'll send for you!" e TR Up to the present time—and THE CaLv's about to go 10 press—l bhaven’t been sent for. Is it possible that Mammy Pleasant doesn’t want me? MirianM MICHELSON. after the first zospel the panegyric of St. Francis of Assisium wil be preached by Rev. Father Augustin, 0. 8. F,, of Sr, this cit As this city bears the name of St. Francis and was founded by nis scns a great many Catholics will take part in the ceiebration. The cermcn at vespers will be preached by the pastor, Rev. I, Caraber, Lieutenant-Celonel and Mrs, Evans, who are to succeed L eutenant-Colonel and Mre, Keppel of this city, are expected in California about the first week in Nc- vember. At the West Side Christian Church this evening Rev. Mr. Gardner will talk about “The Devil's Snsres.” NEW JO-DAY! SUDDENLY nerves. Use the tobacco you require and taks aco-Curo, it fs the Orig- inal Guarantes Remedy (money refunded if it fails to cure). BACO- CURO motifies you he to stop by To- o ing eaves the s tem fres fro every trace of nicotine, teed cure) $2.50. Cln Eurcka Chemical and Manufacs turing Co., La Crosse, Wis. d