The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1899-11-02

| ONtT dnu tndt Tie oduktT
which threatened him was neither
more nor less than the temptation of
| drink, which had always been his bug
| bear. and so, without word of warn
! ing of farewell to his jolly friends, he
{ took the train and went off to another
part of the country. where he could
| live among associations that would not
expose him to anything like the same
danger. Then he told me. the color
of the turquoise deepened again, and
he felt himself quite safe.
But 1t was after that that he said
the turquoise saved him from some
thing that would have been the great
est calamity of his life.
HE was very much In love with a
cousin of his. beautiful girl he said,
who lived in the north of England
She cared very little for him, as un-
derstood, except as a cousin though
her parents would have been glad to
see them marry. Well. he pressed his
advantages-his military reputation
and all that-as much as he could for
long time. but there was another
sutton whom the girl seemed to prefer,
and he-as this poor fellow told me
was at least a decent man'-had held
the field all to himself before my man
appeared.
However he was beginning to
think that with the help of the girls
parents and one thing and another he
would end by winning her Then the
turquoise warned him again. 1t was
turning pale once more.
you see, he couldn't interpret 1t
that he was going to lose this girl
whom he loved, because he hadn't won
her yet. So he came to the conclusion
that the paleness of the turquoise
must mean so great calamity that
he could not guess at And that led
him to give up the girl and leave her
to his rival. He could not bear the
him into trouble. Don't you think it
was splendidly unselfish thing to do?
well. his cousin married the other
man soon after and my poor fellow
actually congratulated himself that his
cousin would be happy, no matter
what became of him. But | believe
that the evil that threatened him was
simply his old enemy-drink. Per-
haps. in the bottom of his heart, he
dreaded making her the wife of a
drunkard.
after that he went back to India,
and, being. | suppose, heartbroken
really and respondent. he was turned
out of the army in spite of all his good
service in the past. Then he drifted TO
Singapore and from there to Hong
kong. where he got a mercantile posi-
ton When the demon of drink still
pursued him relentlessly in the east.
he came TO this country.
But the remarkable thing about 1t
to me-outside of the poor chaps con
graduating himself that he had been
saved from making his cousins life
wretched-the remarkable thing was
that the turquoise always kept pale
never got back color after he ran away
to avoid marrying his cousin and then
got into trouble in India. | believe
that the paleness of that COMPOUNDED
stone was what bounded him to ruin"
When my chance acquaintance told
me this. could not help asking him
whether the turquoise had regaincd
its color since he got 1t. asked the
question in mere jest. but what was
my surprise when | saw plainly by
his manner, though he tried to con-
ceal the fact, that he, too. was touch
ed with the turquoise superstition.
We'll" he said. laughing. lit is odd
that the stone should have always
been a fine deep blue ever since IL
came into my possession. isn't itY'
still more odd" said. IF an Amer
lean business man should believe in
such curious Asiatic fables"
John and | never lost sight of each
other after that, and once at least n
thing happened that might have served
him as an argument for the truth of
his fantastic belief.
! We had met. partly by chance. at
Baltimore and were once more occu-
pying the same room In a hotel John
was to have taken a train that morn
| ing for Pittsburg, but while he was
dressing | remarked to him as | still
| lay in bed: Something's going to hap
pen to you. Your turquoise is getting
pale"
81 tell you what" he said. 81 won't
so to Pittsburg today"
He put off the journey. and that
evening the papers told us of a land
slide which had caused the wreck of
the train John had intended to take
Several lives had been lost, and more
than score of passengers had been
seriously hurt.
IF had been on the train" said
John, 81 should have been killed. You
may say what you like, but the self
sacrifice of that poor fellow has left n
blessing on this turquoise. "-Pttsburg
Press
An Indian Bridal Pair.
Once | saw pretty thing, a young
bride of the Kickapoos on sort of Il
wedding trip. She was tall and slight
and-so closely do the members of a
tribe resemble one another-she looked
like the twin sister of her young hus-
band AT first they were accompanied
! by stout old chief. but he left after
circus day. 1t is odd to see an Indian
| Chief patroniZe the peanut and lemon
ade stands and sit unmoved al the per
Torrance, and yet stand enthralled be
fore the cages of animals unknown on
his native prairies.