The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-05-06

| mate democracy of man is more dA.nnitet
~ indicated than the smoking compa IT
nent or any one of our through or over
| land sleepers, such a spot has not So ia ;
come beneath my ken. Here, in short
tlme' country merchants, professional
| men, commercial travellers of all tvnes
| rancnmen, miners. bankers, military men
! on 1uriough, or going out on active SER
vice. men with apparently little in COM
nlon' whose conditions and POSITIONS are
so varied as to render a meeting under
| ordinary circumstances a bore in tha
majority OF instances; develop hon
| honme, a evemtious Difference for one
! another's opinions at once surprising and
| refreshing. ..', ~ n = =
Inc air Of the smoker seems a stimula MT
ana narcotic, according to the individual
| temperament -
MANY al an sustere prig has tnawed be-
neath Its subtle influence. until he finds
hmseaf passing the matches, or courtxa-
| Ously replying to some question of fri
| HiLe raTlt1es he Is ordinarily incana bile
~ OF even resurrecting a choice f1ast.
| vi Henmessy or Walker from his Glad
s.one pro bono publico, which the duh
ana pfosy are often struck in such q wa "
as to produce sctntilating flashes ana
sailles as bright as they are unexpected
AS Wedged myself into one corner
ana III my chgar, I found my neiehbor
young physician, who was going East
| ~ 81 n1a1u1eo- lie had just selected
| a cooking range from a large hooL ~
photos belonging to the Representa- tive
OF manufacturing stove firm. who on
account of the Slight acquaintance which
| liau oeVeloped during the afternoon was
| se.lng him a stove at wholesale price
An angular and bewhiskered Scotch
.lan' VINO mad just returned from Venez-
| uela, was exchanging experiences with a
corpulent English Jew of middle 900
VINO; IT appeared, was familiar with the
!oeal'ty; Wnlle clean cut young chan
with a bright complexion and broad,
! shoulders smoked silver-brimmed h,,1l-
uos' pulied his moustache as the tin of
ms lore ana after contemplatively, and
appeared to be interested in the CONVERSE
| tlon OF the two older men,
iney mad drifted from Venezuela IN to
curacao, and the Jew. who seemed q. man
OF considerable intelligence was telline.
us companions that the island was the
raraaise OF the Numismatist and that
change;@Was frequently given in coins NJ a
dozen countries. "It was here" he went
on, that 1 narrowly escaped pulling or
What afterWard turned out TO be a rrettv
good thing. I deal in optical goods At
wholesale. and there lived on the island
little old junk dealer and jewelry tin
Ker' with whom always did little bust
t ne tahlns IN excharge as part payment
| Tor my merchandise bits of old Dutch
| silver, antique canoes, etc., which 7 often
disposed or In London or New York verv
adVantageously. A short time before
reached the island on my last trip en- old
gray headed coolie had come into his
STORE with a huge red stone. through
| which he wished hole pierced in order
| that his wife could pass a cord through
1t around her reck~ as ouik "a kind of
| amulet. The old junk dealer endeavored.
| to do this. but found the stone to be sur
prisingly hard, and, realizing the diff
Guilty Of doing this with the tools he ha1
at his disposal, gave up the job, and laid
the stone away, thinking he might sell
1t to me at good figure. When the cool.e
returned he showed him lot Of brick
dust he had pounded up and said the
strangest thing had happened; that when
he had attempted to drill the hole the
stone had flown into thousands of small
pieces with a loud noise. He then gave
the coolie an old nickel watch, Whereat
the coolie departed highly elated. Now
| this stone laid in show case with other
junk for months. few strangers in these
days visiting the islands, and no one that
he showed 1T to appeared to take any
| interest In 1t, with the exception of the
| local banker, who one day persuaded the
| junk dealer to give it to him, with the
understanding that the banker was to
send It to his London correspondent, and
If it turned out to be worth anything was
| to pay all expenses connected with the
sale and they were to divide the gross
proceeds; that, falling to bring e. It
was to be returned to the junk dealer
without expense.
"The stone left in the mail on the
steamer Of a morning. I arrived ON the
coaster in the afternoon. The next day
my old junk man told me of this stone
and had a horrible sensation that had
missed good thing. We'll, sir, to cut it
short, the first offer they got for the
stone which turned out to be a genuine
pigeon blood ruby, was f2, 500. The banker
and the junk dealer Immediately took tn,
vas finally sold for "a 200. A great MANY
theories were advanced as to how the
stone came into the possession of the old
cCone, VINO, having died in the meantime.
could not be referred to. One was. that
| II was the eye of an idol in some temple
| IN lnd1a where the coolie worshipped and
tnat ne had stolen it at some time.
Another that it was imbedded in the hd1t
Oh some wealthy rajah's sword. Be that
as 1t may, 1t brought f4, 200 in good British
sold which would have passed into my
exchequer had my coasttng stea nrer
| reached port a day sooner" and throw.
ing away, his cigar butt the IsraNte re-
tired to his berth with a pained and
| preoccupied expression as If the aamnle
| narration Of the occurrence mado him
very weary. n = 49,
A moments oppressive silence succeed
ed his departure when the trayelinr ma n
gave a prolonged whistle -
! Inc Ola CHAP spins some great warns u
said the young physician. ~. -"
| NOT at all improbable, though. I should