Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-28
The Lady and the Tiger.

Sequel to q kIalf-Told Magazine Story.
 From the San Francisco Chronicle
 A majority of the reading public of San Francisco is just now amusing itself over the momentous question, "Who came out of the right-hand door ?" The Century for Noven. Ger contained bit of grotesque absurdity by Frauk Stockton, entitled 'Ihe Lady or the Tiger ?'' To appreciate the interest which the question has excited it is necessary to understand the story. powerful and abso- lute eastern king, just enough inoculated with civilization to be consistently and in- geniously barbarous, after canvassing the rel ative merits of the test by hemlock and hensbane and of trial by jury, conceived the following scheme of perfect justice: He caused to be constructed vast amphitheater called ''the kings arena" Whenever any ono was accused of a crime sufficiently black to merit the attention of the king, the &C., cused was cast into prison, and it was an nounced that on a certain day he would be brought into the arena. On the floor of the arena, opposite the kings high throne. were two doors. When the prisoner brought into the arena he was allowed to look oncs around the vast amphitheater. He then bowed to the king and immediately there after crossed the arena and opened one of the two doors. Now, behind one of those doors was lady, generous, young, fair, ami able, and with generally dowry, but always suitable to the age, station, temper and char 
 door crouched fierce and famishing tiger. Ike accused could not possibly know behind ! which door lurl5ed the tiger or waited the lady. Hence the exact justice of the scheme. The accused might open either door he pleased, and blind and impartial chance deci- ded which door. If the accused opened the lady's door he was married to her forthwith, 1 whether he had another wife OF not
 So smoothly worked this plan that tue di- vorce mill of the kingdom was kept running I sL- those fortunate and unfortunate husbands who had found the lady's door. But after l awhile presumptuous youth of the people dared to fall in love with the kings pet daughter, whom the king loved the apple of his eye. The kings daughter returHed the young mans love, for, though not of l royal blood, he was handsome and brave and good, and drove the finest tandem in all tho kingdom. But they met once too often, presumably at the free library, and the royal papa found it out. The daughter taken home and the young man dragged to n dun geon cell. The next day it announced that the culprit would be brought into the kings arena. Immediately society, in 8 body, decided to be in at the death On the morning of the trial the amphitheater was packed. But the princess had not been idle. TC cunning of barbarian she added the persistent cleverness of q civilized modern detective She had bribed the most trusted servants of the king. When her lover was led into the arena, the princess knew behind which door crouched the tiger, behind which waited the lady. And the lover, reading his sweetheart's eyes, to all others inscrutable to him eloquent with meaning, detected 8 swift signal, and acting thereon opened the right hand door.
 1 Now here the story closes. Whether the 1 lady or tiger was behind the door is not told. 1 The question, the author tells us, demands 1 for its solution knowledge of all the intri- 1 cate mechanism of human affection, barbarian as we'll as civilized Love and hate, trust and jealousy, selishness and self -abnegation, must aIl be weighed, measured and put into | an equation of two or more unknown quanti- ties before any decision fairly may be reached. Until put into action, a woman's ideas of good or of ill are always unknown quantities. So it seems idle to seek to de- termine whether the princess would have counted the agony or seeing her lover we'd ded to ariogner less or greater than the hor TOT of seeing him torn into sanguinary tid bits by properly ravenous tiger. So much may be said on r sides that one is re minded of the ia problem of the owl \ ''Di6 irst o% le from the egg, or the [ ," Manifestly it would
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