The Republican journal., 1876-08-03
ABANKER OUrw1rrEp. A correspond

ent OF the Figaro staying at Monaco has
been amusing its readers with some laugh
able tales Of life in that fashionable wa
tering place. Among them is the follow
ing: a Partisan banker has the misfortune
to possess a wife who is addicted to gam
bling. Year after year she goes to Monaco
and loses large sums on the green cloth.
Her husband has been at his wits end to
stop the evil without resorting to harsh
measures. At last a happy thought struck
him. Calling to him a confidential clerk
named Armand, who was unknown to his
wife, he gave him instructions to follow
the lady and to attend daily at the gam
ing table. Armand was told to watch
carefully the way she staked her money,
and always to place a similar amount on
an opposite number or color. BY this
means the banker hoped that he would
be able to ''hedge" the sums staked by
his wife and that the only loss he could
possibly experience would be the general
expenses incurred by his clerk.
A short time elapsed, and the husband
received among his correspondence one
morning two letters from Monaco-one
from his wife the other from NJ Ar
mand, Opening the first he found but
two lines, those to the point. The lady
had experienced loss of sixty thousand
francs, and wrote for more money. Turn
ing to the next letter with some self sat
islaction at his own shrewdness, he read
as follows:
kind friend and patron, have impic-
lily followed your instructions. but never
worked so hard in my life. Madame az
rives at the Casino at midday, and never
leaves the table until midnight Twelve
hours with out eating or drinking is no
joke. However. l have lost nothing to
complain Of have won sixty thousand
francs, and as | am not ambitious am
content to stop here | start for Montgu-
you, a charming little town. where | was
born, and where my cousin awaits me, TO
whom l am about to be married. Know
ing the interest you take in my welfare,
| shall be indeed proud if you will be pres
ent at our wedding. Ofthe twenty thous-
and francs you entrusted me with, there
remains 11,341fr. 20c, which | remit to
you in a bank cheque; the balance has
been expended in my hotel bill and Incl
dental items. Yours. &c. Armand" The
Figaro concludes-The feelings of the
banker on the receipt of these two com
munications can be 'better imagined than
described
A sad family tragedy recently occurred
near Pottsvi.le. Pa at a lime kiln belong
ing to John f. Cameron. Recently he
started fire in the kiln and went to work
in his bayfield, Two Of his children, Il
boy of nine and a girl of five, began play
ing with an old windlass that hung over
the kiln, and the boy proposed to his sis
ter that he should give her a ride She
assented, and he lowered the windlass
with her in the bucket, but the fire had
got under way, emitting poisonous gases,
and she screamed to come up. The boy
found himself unable to pull up the bucket
and ran for his mother and grandmother
Mrs. Cameron saw her child lying on the
bottom of the kiln. She had fallen out
of the bucket, being overpowered by the
gas. Thinking that the child might be
restored if taken out at once, Mrs. Cam
eron drew the bucket up. She placed her
little boy in it, and telling him to place
the body of his little sister in it as quick
ly as possible, and get back into it HIM
self, she lowered him into the noXious pit
The little fellow succeeded in placing the
body in the bucket, and clinging to the
upward, when he succumbed to the intlu-
ence of the gas and fell back unconscious
to the bottom. Mrs. Cameron drew the
body Of her little girl to the top and hast-
ly removed it from the bucket and placed
it on the ground She then gave the crank
Of the windlas5 to the mother in-l law, a
lady nearly 20 years old, and told her to
lower her quickly into the pit, to the res
cue of her other child. She then got into
the bucket Her weight was more than
old Mrs Cameron could CONTROL and the
crank slipped from her hands, and whirl-
ing round struck her on the head and
knocked her senseless to the ground. der
daughter-in-law was hurled violently to
the bottom Of the kiln, and no doubt rem
dered unconscious before the gas affected
ncr. The Pottsville stage came along
anG the driver rendered all the assistance
he could but the mother and her two
children were dead.