The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-01-06

and sank half dead from lack Of
s]ustenance. whilst the experiment was
in the middle stage. A month later he
had Il similar. but sharper and o
exhausting, seizure; and then he began
- know that he should not live to
make good the secret of the elixir.
Day followed dav; the sun grew
warmer, and the blood in the al
chemists veins grew colder. One
morn ng the paper stopper Of the
bottle. contracting in the suns rays,
fell out on to the dust of the floor. In the
genial warmth the liquid elements
within were slowly ~evaporated, and the
drug c~rvstallized in minute and almost
colorless prisms on the sides and
bottom of the bottle.
Not all the sOftness of spring. and her
hceaatth. that made tho buds inf Old, could
arouse again the fading fires in the
w.thered body of the alchemist. Lie
was passing from him who had been
the only living thingin the now DESERT
ed studio. He crawied no step back
upon the road to health, and before the
summer was established he died.
Feet that had not entered there be-
fore now trampled the dust of the
studio. All was confusion, uglier a great
deal than the careless disarray amid
which the student had fondly worked.
A~uctioneers' clerks came aud made
their inventory of the deadman's poor
belongings. They attached stout labels
to articles of furn ture which one smart
rap of the saleman's hammer would
have sh vered into fragments. The
only objects left untouched were a he APP
of old bottles in a corner beneath the
window, on which the dust of years had
formed a coarse and solid crust; these,
and the solitary bottle in the window.
They were not worth a place in the
catalogue, nor a label.
The morning after the sale, a fat I'M
tidy cleanjng-WOman strobe into the
room, followed, at a distance which in
dicated fear if not respect, by her hus-
band a retired, or. superaunuated
costermonger. The great red eye of
the cleaning-woman ranged the erea of
the studio, and noting such perquisites
as the remover had left her, she indi-
Gated them to her husband, who COL
lected and slowed them in a basket.
In the course of time the whole
of this collection reached the
sorting yard of a rag, bone, and bottle
merchant. Here the articles were sort
ed according to their kind, and present.
ly an even row of black bottles and an
other row of sea-green bottles, showed
in what manner order might be evolved
out of chaos.
The bottles arrived eventually at the
bottle-cleahing yard of a w~ellknown
spirit merchant, where they received a
plentiful ablution of warm water, with.
in and without. THIS spirit merchant
was q person Of great talent in his
calling, who b. judicious blending and
treatment could produce q port of
recognized standing and condition, eff.
fectiye for use upon a given night.
The bottles passed from the hands Of
the washer, having undergone as Of.
sct s-a5SaH as the shiff of that
functionary coulG compass. Outward
" they were now all alike. The eye Of
a eonuoisseur, equally with the eve OF
a superficial observer. would have fail
ed to distinguish the most insignificant
between them. / shall, how
ever, select one Of these bottles, and
not at random, nor without design,
and shall give it henceforth a place of
It's own in this story.
He found a pale-green bottle Of or
binary size and shape; it hal passed
many hands, and had been pre-
served unbroken amid scenes of DIVER
atty. sinee last il stood In the sniEit mee-
yard. 1t was. in short. the bot
lie which had stood in the window Of
he old alchemist's studio. The ablu-
onary rites to which it had been sub
Iected had not dissolved the minute
particles into which its deadly
sontents had cr~ystalized under the SUMS
warmth. They still clungSo the sides
md bottom of the bottle, as potent as
of swift and horrible destruction.
Spirit would have dissolved them Id a
seconds; water touched them not.
This bottle, then. was carried pres
with its companions to an upper
Dom in the spirit merchant establish
nent. where the air YVES weighted with
he odor of rich liquors, and processes
beautiful in their delicacy and mystery
performed BY talented and re-
Ipectable persons during the hours
rom $ TO 6. Here, when all was pre-
pared. the bottle received an exceeding
" choice blend Of old liqueur brandy.
e was then eorked, sealed, labelled.
md properly bestowed in another de-
,artmcnt Of the house. It remained
here during some weeks. when Ii was
1nce more removed III the company Of
Il others, to the ~w6ll-chosen cellar Of
Mr. Theodore the wealthy and distin-
amateur. They came under
he affectIonate care OF Mr.. Dimmick.
she butler. sThese bottles arrive most
.pp~ortunely. said ar. Dlmmlck to
himself as he unpacked them. And so
III fact they did. for Mr.. Theodore was
at the end Of the week. one Of
tho graceful suppers he SO much affect
cd to tie members Of q liberal prefes-
sion. Twenty actors tho mostsrsnown
cd ID London, would appear at BIS
board at midnight on che following
Saturday, for the invitations bad heen