Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-19
LIED To THE LAST.
The Ruling Passion Strong in Death.

From the New York Tribune
81 sometimes think will write q book and
call it Servants Have Had, said New York
housewife the other day. Il know it would be
a success if could make the characters half as
interesting as they were in real life have had
good many servants in my time. and each one
has had her peculiarities. Perhaps the one who
engrossed me most in the study Of her charac-
ter was Jemma- She gave me no end Of trou-
BILE; but had queer liking for her that never
turned to resentment even when she died in
my house, and that is saying good deal.
"Jemima was a tall, lanky, pale, washed-out,
delicate us eless creature who cried at the least
rebuke or mishap, and had a hacking cough
and hectic flush on one high cheek bone
She answered an advertisement had put in a
paper for strong. capable woman to do gen.
eral housewOrk, and she assured me that she
had filed such places all her life. She offered
me a number OF references, and as / wanted
help that minute took her into the kitchen
! right away, and reserved the references for
some future occasion.
well, that girl had not worked for me one
day before l discovered that she knew next TO
nothing of general homework, and as FOR
strength, myself was an Amazon to her. !
accused her Of deceiving me and she began to
cry. Then she began to tell me her story,
She had not gone far before perceived she
was lying. In fact, Jemims turned out to be
the champion liar of all my acquaintance.
never saw a person who seemed so utterly in
capable of telling the truth. 1 never learned
her past history, l believe because she never
told the same story twice. Some days she wa
this, some days that. l may have heard her
true history one day without knowing it, but
| am not able to place it now. The reason lay
80 much stress on her past history is because
she was never done talking Of it, and it gave
m a Of ter sba lad
'Well, kept that useless girl for more than
a year, threatening every day to discharge
her and as often relenting She was fond Of
me and was alway civil, rare virtue in Amer
lean servants. My husband used to saw that
| the only reason kept her was because I
could give her piece of my mind whenever I
liked without fear OF her talking back How
ever, one morning the poor creature collapsed
Slow consumption had had her for years and
now the end came all at once.
..As 1 sat by her deathbed she began to tell
me a story of how she once made q success on
the stage as q melodramatic star, before i'll
health deprived her of her good looks knew
| she never could have had any and that she was
telling another lie; SO, after 1 had listened to
her for time In pity, felt 1t my duty to re-
prove her.
"'Now, Jemima,' I said, you have only
short time to live. You had better let your
past history rest and prepare little for the
mysterious future
"o oA"oys ooeu o Soou SuA, sue repleo
calmy.
"'Yes, Jemima,' I said, but you're an awful
story-teller.'
eyes she answered, weakly, 4 suppose I
am, but never could help it. Do you think
they will go against me in the other world?'
"Tm afraid SO, Jemima,' I said; the good
book says they will"
".Well,' she replied, after long pause, evil
IDENTIFY thinking it over in her mind, there's
no use crying over it now. But tell you what
! will do. will tell you the real truth just be-
fore die. My real name is Ariadne Smith.
My father was Q farmer in England. I ran
away from home when young In disgrace and
never returned. My father died some years
ago and left me two hundred pounds. never
claimed it because I did not want to be dis
covered, but if you would promise to claim it
for me and invest it for my little daughter in
the orphans home at Ii could die easy
'She closed her eyes and expired, and nv
husband and told each other that Jeminia had
got off one ofthe biggest lies of her life. Still,
when / came to examine her trunk found let
ters that led me to think that after all the girl
had repented and told the truth for once, on
her death bed. So I wrote to . lawyer In the
English village she said her father died in, and
after vast amount Of trouble and some ex-
pense found that legacy had really been left
to Ariadne Smith. Then to prove her identity
with my Jsmina was the difficulty. Nothing
but the thought OF that poor child in the or
phan asylum and how much o., 900 would do to
educate 1t and perhaps save it from the hard
lot its mother had spurred me on in my efforts
and opened my husbands purse for the neces-
sary fees:
red tape and legal beating about the bush, of
knowing that Terminals claim had been recog-
nized Then to prove the identity Of the little
heir came next
Imagine my disgust to find that there was
no little heir and never had been. In her
dying moments Jemima had told the truth
about the legacy, but had been unable to resist
the temptation to lie about the child Her
legacy reverted to the crown and my husband
has never let me hear the last Of it Still
cannot bring myself to think harshly Of Je-
NINA. ] don't believe she could help II, and
then she was always 90 civil to me.
Two Rare Pieces Of Antique Carving.
William z. Dannat Of Newburg, NY, cigar
maker, has in his possession two pieces Of
sculpture which he claims we're made 400 years
ago. They are oval In form and from ten to
fifteen inches in height They represent the
birth and baptism Of Christ In one nearly 200
faces are shown, besides drove Of camels, and
there ID Q wonderful expression In the faces,
although they are no larger than . small buck
shot Mr. Dammit says they have come doxn
20 him through the different generations of his
family and that Gen. Cesnola Of New York
pronounced them the finest specimens Of an
dque carving he had ever seen, and recon-
mended that President johnson Of Central
Park buy them ct e1O,000 each. Rev. Dean
Mooney and Rev. Father Kearney offered 10
purchase them for the cathedral In New York,
but the Offer vas too low. II b now proposed
to offer them 70 Talmase Tor his new Brooklyn