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settling old scobes ah there yon axe niitaken t lawyer though not usually ranked among peace makers are yet far from being a a class tond of fomenting syrife i know there is an impreuion abroad that we are apt to en- courage strife and so make business bnt i think if the fraternity had a fair hearing there might b a change in your judg- mert 80 spoke my friend john bailey as we left the snpper- table and came into the sittingroom of john pleasant home where i was spending a shore vacation john after going through college with me had studied law and settled in oar native village while 1 had sought fortune abroad it was on the occasion of one of my visits to an old home that x had accepted johns earnest invitation for an oldfashioned visit i had remarked at sapper upon the apti tads of layers for smelling litigations afar which had provoked the denial i have quoted no sir repeated john as he wheeled an easychair around to the fireside corner for me and seated himself and baby boy in another i enjoy nothing better than mak ing peace and x finished op a job of that kind last week that gives me satisfaction every time i think about it want to hear about it of course i replied you knowwhen i first became acquainted with my wife she was a schoolmaam in the lower part of the county well she board ed all the time she taught there about three years with the family of an old pennjylvanian named ordway james ord- way they came to consider her aa one of the family and she felt a good deal that way too so when i persuaded her to give up dis trict sohoolteaching and make a tcleci scholar aa a matter of course they took me into their good graces and ever since i count theirs as one of the homes to which we go occasionally to have a thoroughly yood time uncle ordway has always been on the school board of the district is rather above the medium farmer in eduoation and has more than average intelligence he is a genial broadshouldered broadspirited big- hearted old man who though very kindly in disposition is possessed oi a strong will and is not easily turned aside when once his mind is made up or in defence of what he thinks is right so when this winter arohie mcdonald his neighbors son took it into his head to ran the sohool notwithstanding the remons trances of his inexperienced teacher mr ordway with one other director the third was archies father promptly took the i the whole business aaid i did and though the neighbor spoke to eaoh other it was manifestly a forced courtesy and modonald tk his hat saying he would call again i followed him to the door and told him i had business in his neighbourhood thmxt week and would come to his house on wed nesday morning it was a happs thought almost an inspiration that prompted the measure but he assented readily only faying aa he tamed to go that be would pay me fifty dollar when tie case was settled either way when i had closed the door on my new client i asked mr ordway if he had been op to the boose or would he go that i could go with him and get some dinner and give nellie and the kid a chance to see him he laughingly interrupted me by say ing he oame on butine bat as mcdonald had forestalled him he had as well go home why unole ordway id i are you going to law im obliged to ho answered ac knowledge now wasnt mcdonald wanting your services in a prosecution against me just 89 said i though we came to no definite understanding and you can at least state your case well i wanted to secure you to defend me bat as he is ahead of me ill go down and speak to jones about it and go home oh oome now x dont like jones 1 id hate awfully to be beaten by him even if you did win sit down and lets talk ic over well bailey you know id rather have you but im sore modonald cant suc ceed in any fair way though i may cwe him something x oant be right positive weve neighbored lor a long time ive kept ac count of everything except once or twice in case of sickness weve jast kind of swap ped 1 good tarns and i never dreamed of being drawn into a lawsuit it hurts me its jast all raked up because we had to deal with chat wild scotchman archie of his little scalawag 1 did you ever think bailey about that scripture one sinner deatroyeth much good heres aroh mcdonald nothin much one way nor another only that hes full of animal spirits an no liking for books a chip off the old block and hes like to set the whole neighborhood by the ears are the other mcdonalds hard to deal with i inquired no mere are only ned and little maggie nicest kind of a little girl my wife loves her nearly as well as she does her own girls and aa for ned well to be confidential with you i expeot to have ned mcdonald for a soninlaw some day and hes a good boy in all respects takes after hia mother though why this does put a serious face on matter in hand and convinced young mc donald that he must be obedient or leave school the elder mcdonald took affront and cemo up to town to inquire of me if he could not by the aid of the law reverse the action of the meddlin diractora nsurpin to themselves authority an takin to them selves overmuch power i read him the school law and gave him no encouragement of the sort he wished bnt considerable friendly advioe in a manner calculated to console his wounded scotoh 1 spirit i got matters so amoothed over that no farther action waa taken and the boy went on hia way in better behavior i hoped and the neighborhood was i flatter ed myself saved a deal of illfeeling that a lawsuit would have engendered mr ordway now that his spirit was up waa almost disappointed that there had not been a suit bat expressed himself satisfied as matters were mr modonald was not satisfied i was surprised when two weeks later he came again to see me he was about to begin a suit at law against his neighbor mr ordway for a debt of fifty dollars on ac count and wished to retain me aa his coun sel i gave him a chair and asked him a few questions which he answered very read ily mr ordway and himself had neighbor ed a long while there had been dealings back and forth oxchango of work of seed corn and oats they had harvested thresh- ed and gathered corn on both farms the most of exchanges he had kept account oi some little he trusted to his memory but now and in bis excitement the scotch brogue asserted itself if he maun be so vary pertioler if mcester orrdway maun go asdttin people to rcets al ogethor he maun straighten up ill havo done wi him he maun bo owin mo feefty dollars thati can take oath to an he maun settle 1 have you asked him to settle i 1 inquired sartinly an he denies the account does he deny any indebtedness oh no but says its no so much that hell pay me twenty fivo dollars if i say so but that hell no pay me the feefty bat im determined ho shall pay it all i hes been tryin to make my boy the scapegoat fer the neighborhood an hed hotter look oat haa got little boys bissen an ho should na throw atones 1 why mr modonald said i i have always thought that yon and mr ordway were on the test of terms ive often heard him speak very highly of yon will it be wise to let this little school matter disturb your friendliness j oh it isnt jest the sohool matters its been a pllin up for a good spell this sohool affair has jest showed me what he is hes awfully set in bis way an because hes got a bit learnln more than the rest of us an has prospered in this worlds goods he wants to manage the rest of us must needs build a new schoolhouse in spite of us must pit the new bridge where he said but ill have done wi him 1 does your wife know of the coolness between you and mr ordway j or are your wives on good terms notwithstanding oh bless your life i my wife thinks the sun rises an sets in mistress ordway an i suppose nothing less than a oyblone would disturb their relations neverthe less when im done with the ordways my familys done witn em im free to acknowledge though thet mistress ord ways a fine woman im aar- tain snre that our maggie wouldnt be livin today if it had no been for her she came right in when we thought shed dio of acarlet- efever when help nor sympathy could no bo had for lovo nor money my wife down sick an us athinktn that our ono girl were slip- pin away from ns an mistress ordway come reot in an nurssd her back to life on maggie loves her now next her mother but straightening up im done wi thom 1 jast then there was a rap at the office door and when i went to open it who should aland there but ordway himself i wo shook hands heartily as we always of course it does said my old friend im trouble about it and whats worse my wifes troubled too she sets great store by mrs mao who is a weakly dis couraged sort of woman mac doesnt moan to be unkind but he is rather coarse in fibre and his circumstances not being very good his faasut supplied his wife with much that a delicate rehned woman covets mrs mac is fond of books and litera ture which he affects to despise and h never supplies the means for little niceties in dress that women prize and my wife and girls in their friendship in the family have met this want in a measure they take as much pleasure in little maggies fineries as they do in their own dear me said i it is a pity you should quarrel i i say ao too replied mr ordway but of course when auld sandie mcdonald makes up hia mind to be at oots with me thats all ended i cant lot him piok my pocket even to gratify his spite if he must needs gratify his illtemper well have a hustle and id better eo and see jones i had been formulating a plan of which i had thought when mcdjnald was leaving so i said mr ordway let me tell you what well do im coming down to yonr house early wednesday morning do you and aunt bath be ready and go with me over to maos well go to dinner you can put up with hia coolness for one day at least bring your accounts along and yoar own and your wifes memories and well see how wo shall prosper in the oharaoter of peaoemakera ill do it 1 aaid he alappiog his knee he cant prosecute till you get ready and may be so and bis eyes twinkled may be so we can arbitrate it was growing late and ho took his leave without coming down to the house much to nellies regrot when i had told of hia visit on monday i bont a note to mcdonald tolling him to ask ordway to come over on wednesday and between us i fancied w j could bring him to terms at any rate that would give ua a good hold on him whether he oame or not 1 on wednesday morning i went down on the early train and walked on to the homo of the mcdonalds i had never met any of the family but the father and i was not surprised to find the mother fully up to the dlaoriptiou given me by ord way arefio od handsome though faded woman i couldnt bat think as i contrasted the oouple as they were making me weloome ia their old country faahion that ho had carried tho heaviest part of their mutual life burdens and was tainting by the way while he was yet fresh and vigorous he informed me that he had sent ned over to the ordways requesting his presence and then introduced ned a fine scholarly- looking fellow of twenty or thereabouts with fathers physique and mothers features and our acquaintance was scarcely formed before he excused himielf courteously and went oat to welcome tho neighbor a wel come indeed from himself and mother bnt there was not muoh welcome in auldsandies cart salutation though the old fellow did un bend a little when he greeted mistress ordway with no pretence ot sociability i pro ceeded to business in a very lawyerlike man ner i displayed no friendship eo the ord ways but played the disinterested legal adviser to tho best of my ability mcdonald suggested that wo men go to the front room but as a part of my plan de pended on the women i protested against leaving them and bad my way mr modonald placed his chair at one end of the table and drew ont a drawer from which bo took a big accountbook i seatod myself about midway of the aide of sentad and i the tabic and mr ordway brought his ao- countbook to the lower end ordway dcgan by saying by your requcat neighbor ive brought my book though i cant say it has been very correctly kept ii mr bailey says i owe you twenty- five dollars ill pay it bat no more i wished ho had said nothing for auld 8juidy pat on bis most belligerent sir and said dogmatically i shall trust friend bailey to determine how much yon owe i set about ith a pretense of system but in reality very informally to get to the bot tom of their difference i took paper and patiently set down debit and credit as they each came to it after we had gone through the accounts of two or three year we came to a credit on mcdunalds book of a week work by a swedish man in corngathering at a dollar per day of which ordway book bowed no record the two men looked puzzled a bit and finally mr ordway turned to his wife and said bath did we ever have a swedish man hired v why of coarse james dont you mind you sent him olaf we called him to work a week in mr maos corn and he made ua all laugh ao when he came home saying he hadnt snik one vord all veek because they couldnt understand him you remember it mrs modonald dont yon i certainly said mrs modonald i remember you were down with rheumatism though alec and knew nothing about it ned made that entry in the book is it not his writing its no mine said modonud shortly his scotch sense of justice asserting itself though as yet without voice oh yes i do remember about olaf said ordway but i never put that down i never yet made a charge against a neighbor who waa flit on his back and helpless oh but reet is reel said mcdonald pit it doon bailey no you wont bailey said ordway i never meant to make a oharge and i wont now well not to be too long with my story we went on through the books we found charges on one book for seed- corn that had been considered by the other as an offset for seedbuckwheat once there was an exchange of sweet pota toes for cabbages with a balance set down in one book to one mans credit which the other man would not allow more than once we found help furnished by one man to the other when the recipient gave credit and the neighbor refused it the wives were called to so often that they forgot their cheerful visiting and listened mrs modonald called to her husbands mind how once when he was sick ordway had sent teams and brought in their winters wood ordway called to her mind how modonald had nursed him tenderly through a fever consequent on a broken leg when no one could lift him so carefully aa her husband mcdonald gave several credits whieh ordway would not allow and i began to fear that maos bill would at least appear just but presently we oame to a year in which ordway hadoharged a hundred bushels of corn six snoats a young horse and seve ral smaller animals and maos book was a blank i not an entry i glanced up at modonald for explanation and his browa were knitted and he seemed striving to remember something but sudden ly bis face cleared and he exclaimed why what an oversight i not a credit down tis the year that x went back to scotland i ned was sick all the time i waa away my hogs all died of the cholera and the best horse i had was stolen 1 mcester ordway if i mistake not you should have a oharge here for work toe others are all correct pit them doon bailey however we came on down through the yeara and the booka agreed very well the last page waa reached at last and i nanded my figures to young modonald requeating him to make a clear draft of them and we would both reckon there waa evidently small need of reckoning matters wjuld have adjusted themselves without my aid i glanced at the old scot and saw that memory waa at work and would conquer ordway waa speaking to mrs mcdonald when quick steps in the hall told us that school was out a thickset broad faced boy whom i recognized as archie opened the doer and the moment he did so a little girl behind him flung away the coat and hood she waa in tho act of hanging on the rack and with a suppressed cry bounded toward mrs ordway flinging her arms about her neok and covering her face with kisss of course i knew it wab little maggio her mother spoke to her gently and both she and tho sturdy arohie came to me and offered their hands in greeting when jned had finished his copy we went to work and were soon able to announoe the result both having arrived at almost the oxaot figures at the same moment and mr modonald waa found to be in mr ordways debt an even twentyfive dollars i though i had anticipated some suoh re sult from the books was hardly prepared for what followed modonald rose to hia feet and address ing mr ordway said neebor lam a man of few words aa you weel know i hope you will believe me when i say i truly thouqht you owed me im glad tis the other way aud im owin- you there is your money and i hope yon will forgie me for ive been in the wrong ordway hestltated a moment and in that moment i thought i never had seen a finer specimen of manhood he had risen from his chair and hia faoe was glowing with feeling as he stepped round the table to where bis old neighbor was standing and ex tended hia hand aaylng old friend i came here this morning with great reluctance expecting to lose you bat i feel that i have never sufficiently valu ed you heretofore i do not feelaa thougn i had anything to forgive and i am too well convinced of your sterling honesty to doubt for a moment your motive the two shook hands and ordway re ceived the money mao then turned to me and said bailey i promised you fifty dollars j whether yon won my case or no hero is i your money and i give it cheerfully you hae dune weel i remonstrated told him i had my moneys worth double in the satisfaction i felt in their restored friendship in whioh i hoped for a share i saw however that he would bo offended if i persiated in my re fusal go i told him i really could not ac cept more than half the proffered amount and he with apparent reluctance con- handed him hack half tho with their church work and little maggie was helping mrs ordway with her wraps 1 conversed a short time with mrs ms- donald and gave her the roll ot bill she refused at first to take them bat i oared her i had not earned them in any sense and would really feel happy in the thought that she could use the money in any way she chose as her own of course i need not tell you that that is the end of my story i had not done much that day to increase my income bat i dont know that i ever felt happier in winning any ease than i did when i sat down to supper that night with nellie and the baby over that settlement two good neighbor restored to their old friendship and all old scores settled to the satisfaction of every one 1 that was a lawyer s triumph worth striving after 1 moonfables a maiden waa accustomed to spin late on saturday in the moonlight at one time the new moon on the eve of sunday drew her up to itself and now she sits in the moon and spina and spins aud now when the gossamsr days set in late in the summer the white threads float around in the air these threads are the spinning of the lunar spinner the moon ia especially a ghostly avenger of humanarrogance and haa ita humors ao cording to which thioga go well or ill with it in its iccreaso it hss a special force and a certain goodwill for the earth and its in habitants while in ita decrease it is friendly to no one the good woman must not do any sewing in the decrease of the moon for the stitches will nos hold farming tools must not be left in the field because it is believed if they are crops will not again thrive there if an unbaptized child is rx posed to the moonlight ic will lose its luok for its whole life if one points at the moon with the finger he will buffer from swelling around the nail and whoever spits at the moon will lose all his teeth the beliefs too are international the same is the cue with the religioub notions about the new mocn sorcerier of every kind to be sue cesaful must be performed on sunday night of the new moon the hair must be cut only in the inoroase of tne moon otherwise there is danger of getting headaohe if a person returning home in the evening sees the full moon he ought to take some money out of his purse and utter an incau- tation that will make it increase a hundred times during the month the moon is also supposed to have an in fluence over animals and plants popular science monthly a new jexplosive one of the newest military explosives haa jaat been experimeited with in england on an elaborate scale and with surprising re sults it possesses under ordinary circum stances a striking disinclination to explode hammer it it is harmless as olay put it in the fire it smoulders dully apply frio tion it is unresponsive shook it with an eleotrio spark or even a lightning bolt it is harmless as a brickbat put a mass of it on a pile of gunpowder and ignite the latter it is hurled to one side unexploded in brief it may be handled and transported as freely and aa safely as so much sand but apply a detonating oap properly and it explodes with terrifice force far greater and more deatruotive than that of dynamite giving off no smoke no flame and no noxious fumea its peculiar qualitiea of action as well aa the safety of ita uso in dicate that it will prove valuable in mining and other peaceful arts arm old maids will the estate of miss catherine pelrson of richmond mass has been inventoried and has proved a great and pleasant surprise to her relatives she was thought to be rich bnt no ont supposed that ehe was possessed of a personal estate of almost 500000 near ly all in government bonds bank and first- class railroads stocks among her house hold goods and apparel were fifty bonneta dating back aa many yeara aovonty shawla some of them very valuable and 300 glass vials that had sometime contained medioine but were now empty and wrapped in white tissue paper and packed away there was also a surprising collection of silks and bat ina miaa peiraon was ono of tho noted characters of the county and always attract ed much attention at the cattle show which she annually attended dressed elaborately and wearing m my diamonds a mathematical w0ndbb motherly solicitude- what a fine little fellow i said tho patronizing old gentleman who had been elected representative for four successive times from his congreaaional district his remark was addressed to a kindfaced lady who held in her arms a little fellow who blinked gravely at all that was going on ys replied the lady his father and i set a great dei of store by him well hes a bright looking little fellow maybe hell be a congressman some day maybe he will said the mother but she added earnestly im going to do my best to raise him right i mer chant traveler ignorant old tom cabbage and hi anton- ishlox feats wttn 1gur there died at woodville v some time ago one of the most remarkable characters the blue ridge country of virginia ever pro duced old tom cabbage as he was known was the mathematical wonder and the pride of the blue ridge people his feats at fig ures and his calculations were indeed won derful and like blind tom the musical prodigy hia powers were intuitive and in nate om tom did not know a figure or a letter and never west to school for an hoar in bis life he was a rough ignorant and untutored native of the hill and yet he could solve almost ina moment any problem read to him from the text books or from the paper and give the correct answer he would add a column of figures of any possi ble length subtract multiply or divide and do it so quickly aa to surprise the scholar who tested his remarkable powers hia answer sometimes will include a duzsn or more figures and knowing absolute ly nothing about the numerating of them he would give the figures beginning at the right and if a mistake had been made or a wrong figure purposely introduced by the person taking down hia anrwer old tom would disco vr it at onoe and give the cor rect one he knew nothing of the notation of numbers and hia whole knowledge waa limited to the giving of hia answers figure by figure aa fast aa they could be written from the right to the left persona of fair education who tested old tom say they could never stump him though they hunted for the most difficult problems in the books and believe he could give the correot answer to any possible sum problems involving square and cube roots completing the aquare ot eq nations were as readily aolved by him aa simple addition and yet were you to ask him what cube root meant he would tell yea he didnt know no one knew the way old tom did these things indeed he could not tell you himself he was simply sui generts and the only one of his kind ever known to the people of the blue ridge old tom went to the university of vir ginia upon the solicitation of some of his admirers with a view to his eduoation thore in his particular line but after aston ishing the profesaora by hia great gifts and having done all the sums given him by the students he declined all proffers made him and returned to his hut in the old rag and to the company of his dogs and his rifle the greatest work of this strangely gift ed man waa the calculations and comput ations for a hundredyear almanao made entirely by himself and reduced to writing by one of his neighbors this work was done by him mentally and included all the eolipsea as well as changes of the moon and was calculated specially for the part of the state ia which he lived it was never published owing to the outbreak of the war at the time cf its completion but those who have compared the manuscripts with other published almanacs aay it is a perfeotly correot one how this unlettered man could understand the movements of the earth and the heaven ly bodies is the strangest of all his surprising achievements and must remain one of the mysteries known only to him who oreated man fearfully and wonderfully and breathed into him tie spirit of life on one occasion he was asked if he could tell the contents of a pile of brush by some peraor who thought to rig him and his reply proved old tom to be at home where figures were concerned yea aaid he put lb in water and measure the water it displaces and you will have the solid contents his measurement of land by simply walk ing round it no matter what iu shape and making mb own calculations have been pro ved to be correct and there are thoae who would take a aurvey made by old tom in preference to ono made by compass and a regular surveyor outside of his peculiar gift old tom cubbage was a bad failure and he died as he had lived as poor and shiftless as his mountain neighbors he did not even own the small piece of land upon whioh his hot was built save by the rights of a squatter and work to him was an un known and an unsolved quantity yet he was a quiet and a contented man and waa nover better satisfied then when copiously supplied with apple jack or mountain dew ho would do the sum given him fy way of pay for the liquor not obedince but soap why she loved his preaohing one sunday as a certain scottish m mister was returning homeward he was accosted by an old woman who said oh air well do i like the day that you preaoh the minister was aware that he was not very popular and he answered my good wo man i am glad to hear it there are too few like you and why do you like the day when i preaoh oh air ahe replied whon you preaoh i alwaya get a good scat toe soholars in a girls primary depart ment of a certain publio sohool wore in the habit of bringing small bottles of soap suds to bohool to use in cleaning their elates the thing soon became a nuisance the children neglected their lessons and spent their time in shaking bottles of suds the teacher forbade them bringing any more a few daya afterward the teaoher oanght one of the little girls with a bottle whioh she waa shaking didnt i tell yon not to bring that here again v she demanded yeam was the answer well is that obedience 1 inquired the teacher no maam then what fa it soap the teacher bit her up to keep from laughing while the other scholars joined in a general titter money ordway handing the twenty five dol lars which mr mac had just paid him to me aaid ho wanted to pay his share i took it promptly carefully amoothed it and laid the money together then while the boys had gone for the tsam and mac and ord she can come very near it why should a girl remain ugly there are some exercises and systems for filling ont her cheeks neck and bast developing her limbsandformingher noso theexperts will atraigh ten her eyes and fix her teeth what nature has not done for her hair eyebrows and complexion can be supplied by art the plain girl may not find it in her power to be- corns a thing of beauty but she can come very near it atlanta constitution conditioned goodness mra kjonea waa fitting a pair of new trousers nn johnny whioh were made out of his fathers old ones when he asked mamma will i go to heaven when 1 die yea johnny replied hia mother if you are a good boy well ill ba a good boy then if if what johnny if i dont have to play a harp in heaven made out of papaa old one way wero discussing some matter conneoted wal tckl when qoi p wlnga on me wings and stings bessie aged 3 yeara mamma does god put wings on little girls when thoy go to heaven mamma yes when they are good bessie after much meditation how it turning off the gas she tremulously goorge papa threat ens to turn off the gaa if you stay after ten oclock tonight hi delightedly let mr lf 11 tk j lt i him let him thats he cant aay i did it juat what i want his big blunder miss swcetlips eversince i was a little girl my papa haa aent mo a valentine and ive saved them all mr blunderby by jo vo 1 what a lot you must have 1 then hs i was sorry for what he said v