Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-05-01
APAPER WEIGHTS STORY

In the corner of the long library there
stood an ebony secretary which was old
and stained with use when the present
century was yet unborn. No one
knew its ogre-like back, goblin arms and
gDarled and knotted legs, which ended
in great carved claws, had come from
originally. The master of the house had
picked it up in little unfrequented inn
In Roumelia. 1t he'd stood in his bed
chamber, where it served as dressing
case, lavatory and clothespress. During
the night its grim presence, SO oddly out
OF place, like tombstone in drawing
room, had given to his dreams strange
ness and vividness that made and an
impression upon him which the bright
sunlight of the succeeding day utterly
failed to remove. So he bargained with
the tavernkeeper for it through the medi-
UNI OF his valet, SO as not to excite the
old mans cupidity, and finally bought it
for an amount much larger than its value
and had it shipped to his residence in
this city. This is the story he tells to
those of his guests who are attracted by
its grotesqueness, but the servants -and
who, by the way, know SO much about
the house as the servants tell differ
emit story. The valet who bargained for
it relates weird tale of murder In the
old castle among the Balkan mountains
where the secretary is supposed to have
originated, of missing will, of secret
drawers under the COLLINS arms, of
trickery, of charming heiress and of
an eventual clearing up of the mystery
to the intense enjoyment of ali. This is
the tale of the servants hall, and in the
hands of the glib valet it thrills his list
eners and adds not little to his fame as
a hero, for Wallets are only human after
all. But wherever it came from, what
ever was it age and however romantic its
past history may have been, its present
is certainly common place enough. In
one end of the library, on Partisan rug
of great richness of color and depth of
pile. it stands the mute end unmovable
attendant upon five o'clock teas, evening
musicales and whist parties. where its
history is assittle appreciated as though
it were planted in drawing room on the
planet Mars.
Upon The shelves in the back of the
secretary there are various curios ofvary-
ing degrees of value and ugliness, also
picked up in odd places in the old world
and valued chiefly for their uselessness
and rarity. Among these is vase pref
tily shaped, for a wonder, and dellcately
colored. 1t came from the Orient,
where several hundred years ago some
patient Celestial spent days and weeks
compromising and mixing, with pestles
and mortors, shaping and reshaping.
burning and glazing, until this article
was turned out as a perfe,t one OF its
kind. This vase is very proud GIFTS rar-
ity and value. In the catalogue which
the owner has, it is described in whole
page and its cost is marked in large fig
ures printed in very black type. The
amount. is $4,000 and connoisseurs de-
clare it is rare bargain even at that.
On either side of it are other rare vases
not so pretty, some antique pots and
mugs, saucers rough and cracked, plates
long past their usefulness, and various
other articles of Writ which go to make
mn a collection. On the desk below
these shelves there is some writing pa
mar. magazine or two, paper knife of
Japanese manufactures and plain iron
paner weight with turned iron handle.
Il is clearly more for use than ornament,
and the presence of anything useful
saong so many ornaments often gives
rise to considerable talk, for bric-a-brac
Yin gossip as well as people, and with
Is Little Judgment, too. On thus occas-
NON the library was very quiet. The
guests had gone down to dinner, the
fi0hts were turned down low and the Or
falt in q more talkative mood
han usual. swell" observed the JAP