Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-04

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own, and perhaps peopled by beings of like
caliber to ourselves. Let us say that each sun
Is given ten planets that makes three hundred
millions Of worlds, having in them the same
proportion of thoughtless, unreasoning beings
as in this globe with which we are familiar.
Who would have supposed that there was such
diffusion of siiliness' wrongheadedness, and
blunder brains diffused through space
With a loaf and candle!
1t is the fashion to believe in evolution. to
hold that mankind is developed through long
progression from something as inarticulate as
frog spawn. And we believe it. because we see
SO much OF this inchoate, inorganic spawn still
taking the place Of brain in the heads OF hu-
manity.
Men have grown and become vetebrate and
have branched into members. but the spawn
still fingers as it was in the cells of the skull.
With loaf and a candle!
Full score OF in-the-main not unintelligent
men were about to search for the body of their
master with loaf of cake and a candles How
loaf and candle should conduce toward the
finding the object they sought. is not so easy to
see. What there was in the nature of loaf or
candle to make each appropriate to the pur-
pose, not one OF these in-the-main not unin-
teiligent men asked.
The upper reach of the canal had drained it
self away, but at the locks the rush of water
had furrowed the bed, pent in as it had been
between the walls, and had left deep pools.
Below the locks the face of the land was fat
the fall slight, and there the canal was brim-
ming, and much of the water that had over
flowed still lay about in the fields. This .por-
ton of the Keld basin went by the name OF the
Fleet, which indicated time. perhaps not re-
mote, when it had been a waste of ooze and
water channels, sometimes overfowed and
sometimes dry.
The whole of the drained canal bed had been
searched between the lock and the bridge that
carried the road across the river and canal, o
distance of three-quarters of a mile, but with
IL onr,A
ing the search In their own fashion were clus-
tered below the shattered locks But the
gathering did not consist of men only. With
them were some mill girls from factory on
been Affected by the flood. they wore scarlet
or pink kerchiefs over their heads, pinned
under the chin, and plain white pianafores to
protect their dresses at their work from the
oil, costume as picturesque and becoming as
convenient. These girls were there, because
it was an unsuitable place for them-no other
reason will suffice to explain their presence.
But women, water and wind, will penetrate
everywhere.
Mrs Sidebottom and Salome were also on
the canal bank. They ha1 no faith in the ex-
pertinent about to be tried, but each for differ
ent reasons thought 1t expedient to be present.
Salome would not be away. SO intense was her
anxiety about the fate of Uncle jeremiah, and
Mrs. Sidebottom would be there SO as not to
seem Indifferent. Janet, tired from her long
journey and not strong did not come out; she
remained with her mother. Philip and Lam
bert Pennycomequick were there as duty; a
disagreeable and onerous duty the Captain con-
sidered 1t, because it spoiled his dinner.
A loaf and candlel
A good round loaf of bakers bread had a
hole scooped out of it. and into this hole a
tallow candle was thrust. The candle was
lighted and sent adrift on the water of the
canal
The night was dark, the moon did not rise
for another hour or more. All the mills in the
valley were dark. Not only had they been
brought to a standstill Dy the flood, but the
main of the gas was broken. This was the
cause of the eclipse likewise of the gas on the
road. The water had left the cottage OF the
lockkeeper, and the bodies of the dead man
and his wife had been found and laid on the
sodden bed. A yellow glimmer shone out OF
the window, for a candle burnt there, and a
fire had been kindled. An old woman, a rela-
tion, driven from her home by the water, was
sitting there, trying to coax fire to keep in in
the wet and rusty crate, and supplying herself
with gin to keep out the chill from her bones.
The town on the hill flank tw1nkled with
lights, and just beyond the ridge pulsated the
auroral flicker from the distant foundrfes. The
lamps on the railway shone green and red.
Some of those engaged in the search bore
lanterns.
The cluster on the embankment with the
moving lights, the occasional fash over red
kerchief or a white pinafore and the reflections
in the water, united to form striking picture.
"Sf there" said one man, 1T leet" (ight)
'be headin' agin t. stream"
There's no stream flowing" said another.
"There owt ia be, and there is for sewer. i"
canl be gan'in up t. course"
because t. wind be blawing frae t east"
It was true: the loaf of bread which had been
placed in the water, instead of taking sea-
ward direction with the natural fall OF the cur
rent, was swimming slowly but perceptibly up
ward. The yellow fame of the candle was
turned toward the locks, showing in which
Sin Yorkshire, cake is white bread; bread is Oat-
cake-Haverbread.