Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-10-19
A Warming TURQUOISE
When Trouble Threatened Its
Owner, 1t Turned Pale.

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If it had not been that every other
bed in the hotel was occupied, GER
tainly would not have consented to
share a double bedded room with
stranger. AS it was, found when we
reached a city-a considerable city in
Indiana, If the readers curiosity
prompts him to ask about it-that
big political convention was going on
there, and that was how found my
self with Mr.. John Spears for room
mate.
Not that there was anything in John
to which | felt inclined to take excep-
ton; on the contrary, he struck me as
very neat, prosperous looking and
presentable specimen of the American
commercial traveller, so much so that /
congratulated myself that chance and
politics had not thrown me with any
one less pleasant.
BY the time we both felt ready for
bed John and | had become pretty
good friends. and / really thought he
must have told me all the stories. good.
bad and Indifferent, that he had to tell.
but there | was mistaken.
He was making somewhat elabo-
rate toilet before retiring. that being.
as he told me. Indispensable to his get
ting a good nights rest, and in the
course of his ablutions his arms were
left entirely bare. Then it was that
noticed his singular decoration.
Half way between the elbow and the
shoulder John wore a superb specimen
of goldsmith's work. 1t was a brace
let. In fact. exquisitely chiseled in Per
sian characters. very massive and con-
tanning a turquoise which must have
measured. suppose. two inches one
way and an inch and half the other
He noticed my astonishment and
laughed.
"You never saw drummer wearing
a gold bracelet beforeT' be said. mo;
1t was not given to me by lady. If it
were not SO late, I'd tell you all about
it."
There was no denying that the hour
was rather late to begin another Of
his stories. so we went to sleep soon
after this, John sleeping witt the tur-
quoise and massive gold still on his
arm. But next day he told me the
story Of it. ~
'sThe person who gave me that
bracelet" he said. was not lady.
but very far from 1t. 1t was given me
by poor broken down devil who had
coId m, no ruuad ovaru4hino afeo 20 t,,u
drink, but would not part with this
while he lived
II needn't tell you his name. We
met out west and / had several easy
opportunities Of giving him helping
hand. But he was one of those cases
where helping hand can't help. The
man was utterly broken down by
drink.
when death came-after magnId-
cent spree, ending In a fight in which
bullet intended for some one else
clipped short the little span Of life that
drink had left him-he insisted on haY-
ing me with him. because, he said,
was the only human being left who
cared whether he lived or died. Then
be said that l must take the bracelet
and wear 1t. just as he had done ever
since he got possession Of 1t In Afghan
lstan in 1878.
He had been an officer of an Indian
cavalry regiment then and might have
risen high In the army If he could on
ly have let the brandy bottles alone.
Zone of his native troopers took the
turquoise bracelet from the arm of an
Afghan warrior whom he had killed
in hand to hand fight. You know, a
bracelet on the arm is common orna-
ment for an Asiatic swell to wear And
then there is a superstition In the east
that turquoise with a text Of the
Koran cut into it. as this has, is a
charm against all sorts of evil.
But the eastern legend also says
that when you wear a turquoise on
your left arm you can always trvNst the
stone to warn you of any evil that may
be threatening you.
ait was only when he was dying that
this poor fellow told me how he believ-
ed the turquoise had served him well,
and | think that his taking that view
of 1t showed there must be some good
still left In bis nature.
when he went to England on leave
OF absence after the Afghan war, he
said, he had made a strong resolution
never again to touch intoxicating spir-
its. He found himself among num-
Der of old friends whom he had known
at different times. and they were all
very conyiyial crowd, so he allowed
himself to join In their carousings to
certain extent-just to be sociable. But
one day as he was dressing he noticed
that the turquoise looked very pale.
That. he knew. was the sign Of danger
coming to him. He thought the matter
over and concluded that the danger
which threatened him was neither
more nor less than the temptation of
drink, which had always been his bug
bear, and SO. without a 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