Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-10-31

&c ~. uhtll even the dormer window,
snd ,I l;e .nan Ss had their sparks Of fete
anu life. The entire Hotel Of M N, ~ ~
was was Illuminated as if the setting -e 81.
1au Hooded it with its brilliancv '>'-
treat Jove! they'll burn tHa ,o,,..
Low. cried M. Majesty. And, recoy.
t t,,n 1rom his stupor, he strove to SHAH,
.ae neavlness out of his legs and de-.
scended quickly to thecourt Yard where
ene servants had just kindled a ronsina
nle. NJ. Majesty approached and re
monstrated with them. The servant.
i ,naoe no reply. and continued to talk n
low tones among themselves without the
.esss. vapor escaping from their Inns r.
ene ICY gloom of the night. M. Maiesty
vas mas uneasy, but one thing treasured
nm' and that was that this great f;re
winch tanned 80 high and so stead;ls
was most singular fire-a flame devoid
q neat which sparkled but did not burn.
MS fears having been tranquilixed. the
eooa man descended the steps and en-.
tered his warerooms. e@1
Anese warerooms, which were on the
ground floor, must formerly have been
magnificent reception salons. Particle.
OF furnished gold yet glittered at ali
inc angles. Neurological paintings
adorned the ceiling, surrounded the mil.
TORS and doated over tho doors in ya9ns
colors. somewhat soiled, like souvenir,
OF departed years. Unfortunately there
were neither curtains nor furniture.
Nothing but baskets, great boxes fillet1
with siphons. with pewter heads. and
the dried branches Of an old lila
bush which still hung in inky black
ness behind the windows. NJ. Ma
1esty on entering found his war;.
rooms full of light and company. ID
bowed politely, but nobody paid the
Least attention to him. The women. IN
their satin cloaks, on the arms Of Their
cavaliers, continued their ceremonial
aHectations. They promenaded. chatted
and separated. Truly, all the old mar
quises seemed to be perfectly at home.
A little figure paused, all in tremble.
IN front OF painted wall. "That's me
exactlyl Look at my portrait!'' and she
gazed smilingly upon q Diana on o panel.
slender and pink, with crescent on her
forehead.
"Nesmond, do come here and look at
your arms!" And everybody laughed a.
they saw the arms Of tho Nesmonds
stamped upon some bagging with the
name of Majesty underneath.
"Ah! hal Majestyl They still have
majesties then in FranceY' And there
were endless gayeties, little fife like
bursts of laughter, uplifted fingers and
affected speeches.
Suddenly some one cried out: "Herss
champagne! Here's champagnel"
mo, it isn'tr'
Ives, it is-its champagne! Come,
countess, let's have n bumper"
It was NJ. Majesty 8 settler water they
had mistaken for champagne. They
found it triae fat. but they drank it
all the same. and as these poor ghosts
were not strong in tho head little by lit
tie the weak settler water animated
them. excited them and put them in .
frame Of mind for dancing.
Minuets were organized. Four goou
violins that Nesmond had brought in
his train began one of Rameau's airs,
simple and melancholy in Its vivacity.
It was sight to see all these old women
turn and salute their partners gravely,
keeping time with tho music. Their at
tire seemed to grow young again, and so
did the gold embroidered waistcoats,
the brocaded coats and the shoes with
diamond buckles. The panels them
selves appeared to revive on hearing the
ancient melodies. Tho old mirror, in
closed in the wall for 200 years, recog-
nized them also, and scratched as it was
and blackened at the corners lighted up
softly and sent back to the dancers their
images somewhat dimly, as if melted by
regret by all these elegancies. NJ.
Majesty felt himself out of place. He
got behind box and looked on.
Little by little, however, the day
broke. Through the glass doors of the
warerooms the good man saw the court
yard grow lighter, then the tops of the
windows, then all one side of the salon.
AS the brightness increased the figures
faded and were COMPOUNDED together.
Soon NJ. Majesty saw only two vioinists
lingering in corner and evaporating as
the light touched them. In the court
yard he could still see. but very vaguely,
the shape of sedan chair, q powdered
head adorned with emeralds, and the
last sparks Of torch thrown by the
servants upon the fagstones, which min
gled with the light of the wheel lanterns
of a truck at that instant coming through
the open gate with tremendous clatter.
-Alphonse Daudet i'll Chicago Mail.
The Latitude OF q Place.
That the latitude of place is noe con-
slant has long been suspected, but it was
only at the end of 1889 that systematic
observations, carried out at some of the
observatories Of Central Europe, clearly
established the fact by eliminating all
chances of error in instruments and OBJ
servers. Professor Helmert reported in
No. 2.9e3 of the Astronomische Ma
chrichten that the ATTITUDES of Berlin
and Potsdam, which had shown no per-