Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-25

man of business for his cleverness and I am
sorry to think you are in a very difficult
| position However, there is no occasion to
| lose heart, and you will find that assistance
will come from quarters least expected.
/ You are threatened with bad check, and
| this move may win or lose you the game,
hut you know that pawn may be some
| times stronger than queen, and with
| little courage you may yet win your game;
| indeed, the chessEoatd is a picture of our
| life, and in difficult circumstances L often
| fancy myself consulting the chesSmen, who
+; know more about such matters than you
NAV think He paused awhile, and then
| continued, fixing his eyes steadily on those
| of the young man. who in turn gazed at him
! half fascinated: 'tMere pawn you are, and
pawn YOU must remain, but you
shall at least study pawn-llfe in ditter-
| ent sphere. Imagine yourself to be this
| pawn, % holding one up as he spoke between
mis- finger and thumb sit has been in as
! difficult positions as yours before DOW, and
vet it queened in the end
As he spoke, his form seemed to dilate
| before the eyes of his companion, whose
senses, as it were, retired to an immeasurea-
| ole distance within his body, and the world
outside, of whose existence he was conscious
rather by intuition than by sight or hearing,
| finally vanished into lnhnlty.
''Eh! dear me, where am I?'' he exclaimed,
as his consciousness returned
1t was certainly the same room, but how
vast it had grown, and he found himself
alone, and seated on what must have been
| the edge of the table, with his legs
| hanging over an abyss. The tables pre-
sented huge expanseS, vanishing in con
| verging lines into the distance. His coffee
cup had grown into huge vat OF
;un, into which he could just peer by stand
Ping on tip-toe and grasping the edge with
both hands A lumb Of sugar fallen by its
side was now block, from which statue
might have been carved, and an inexplica-
BILE hollow tube, long as a scaffoli pole,
proved to be the stem of tobacco pipe. Ali
tn lights were out yet he was not in dark
| ness. Several yards away was a large dais
| or structure. elevated about two feet from
| the table, and paved with black and white
| slabs. There were chessmen upon it as large
| as himself, but there was q look of intelIi-
gence in their heads. Why! it was nothing
| but one of the chessboards which had grown
with the size of the room-or had he
diminished? He cannot tell to this
day. His principal feeling was curiosity
| to see what was going on, and as
he approached the board, the clock struck,
and he heard the sound of music, upon
| which the chessmen suddenly began to stir
and to change, and then ranged themselves
into their two lines, moving to the music
with military precision, and saluting one
another as they met There were four
knights in plate armor, four bishops with
lawn and croZler, kings, queens and castles
and crowd OF peasants of all descriptions
| among whom, dressed as one of the daintiest
of maidens, he recognized his old friend the
white kings bishops pawn. The set was
complete save one pawn, and an imperious
summons, which he felt no power to disobey,
| impelled him TO occupy the vacant place,
and, looking round, he found himself differ
ing in no respect from his companion pawns
The kings and the pieces treated him with
contempt, but the pawns hailed him as a
| brother, and the white kings bishops
pawn smiled recognition from the oppo-
site army. Was it fancy, or did the black
| king strongly resemble the old man?
Presently, note of the music, and he
was summoned to make the first move of
the game, and found he had no volition but
! to obey. His advance was answered by the
! enemy. 1t was not game he had ever
seen before, and was played so rapidly that
| it was rather dance than game at chess.
! Before he had time to accustom himself to
| the novel crowd by which he was sur
rounded, and prevented from comprehend
| ing the scheme Of the game, he felt light
| d
courtesy the white kings bishops pawn in
formed him that he was her prisoner, and,
with strange feeling of defeat and mortifca-
/ ton, he found himself retiring from the
game before it had well begun. He walked
of the board and watched the play from the
outside. Presently, the same pawn
who. had captured him came trip
ping across the board, and stepping
| off it, sat down by the side OF her
I ,Ar;cnna- 4la edr Of fba ord r-bIol,
formed a convenient bench She looked up
sideways with smile, and began:
81 am taken soon after you, you see, and
| you are avenged, so we have time for chat
while the game continues. We don't need
| an introduction, since we have so long
known one another, and l have often
wished to speak, but you never came here
before to play with US in the hours when
we come to life. You loom so large above
us, and have so longed to know who and
/ what you are. ;"
He wondered what his wife would have
| said could she have seen him SO intimately
greeted by this rather tneatrically attired
damsel.
81 am delighted" he replied, as gallantly
as he could, ''and your company more than
co-lpensates for my capture; but how comes
it that you are so soon taken? My expert
ence is that no power on earth can take
you"
81 IN: sorry to have given you so much
trouble now and in the past" she replied,
"but may we not be some of those things
which are outside of your philosophy"
'It is from the heavenly region certainly
that you hail." he replied. ''But do you
net find it wearisome to be SO soon out Of
he was going to say employment, but sub
stltu5cd ''the game"
'No," she replied, fI am only pawn,
moved by some one else, and if don't play
in this game, shall perhaps become queen