Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1900-07-19
The Empelor's Prayer Book
BY Bryan MacMahon.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
AM now the proprietor of pros

4 SoulA COdSG watering pldCe. IVY DuSl-
ness is one which would be described
by the transfer agents as ''going of
itself" It is a necessity in the dis
trict, and, therefore, I fear neither
the competition of cutting stores nor
that of company pharmacists.
Ipossess a neat little villa in the sub
'urbs, to w;hichiI retire when the cares
of the day are over, and where I am
welcomed by loving wife and two dar-
uing children. I am not ambitious, nor
do I banker after wealth. I am con-
tent with my lot, and my life is happy.
It was not always so. A few years
ago was hard-wrought and uncared-
for slave-a London chemists assist
ant. I worked on an average Is hours
"a day on weekdays, and had freedom
only on every alternate Sunday. Every
evening Travelled by the London, Chat
sham & Dover railway to my humble
lodgings at Herne Hill, and every morn
ing 1 came by the same route to the
city. My life was thus spent in alter
nate spells of work and sleep, and I
was receiving the modest salary of two
guineas per week. I could see no
prospect of marrying the little girl to
whom had become engaged some four
years previously, and who was now pa
tiently waiting for me in a pretty Sus-
sex village. Truly, the curse of Adam
lay heavily upon me, and, struggling
beneath it's load, I was beginning pre-
ana turely to show signs of age.
The only happiness my life afforded
was the looking forward to and re-
eceiving weekly letters, addressed in a
~well-known hand and bearing the Ring
mer postmark; but this pleasure was
snot unalloyed with pain as thought
that L was how no nearer the consum-
NATION of my hopes than when with
.palpitating heart had opened the first
tnote from Nellie.
Such was my life when an incident &C.
rcurred-a very slight incident-which
proved the turning point of my for
tunes.
It was evening, and business was be-
coming more brisk as the night ad-
.vanced. 1 had turned with feeling of
relief from attending to the wants of
"a fussy and hypochondriacal old lady,
when a man of foreign aspect, but
somewhat familiar appearance, en-
tered the shop where was employed
and asked for seven pounds of medi-
'cated cotton wool. While engaged in
supplying the stuff I endeavored to
bring to mind the circumstances un-
der which I had seen him before. 1t
quickly dawned upon me that I had
observed him few mornings previous
lly walking briskly to and fro in the
garden attached to the house next to
that in which I lodged. AS customer
succeeded customer the incident faded
from my mind, and did not again pre-
sent itself until the following Sunday.
which happened to be one of those I
had free.
had risen late, and after breakfast
was enjoying a pipe in the garden at
the rear of my lodgings, when my eye
was arrested by a broken bottle lying
ON rubbish heap in the next garden.
It was not an ordinary bottle, but one
of those known as 'Winchesterq uarts,'
which have a capacity of about half
gallon, and are rarely seen outside of
a chemists storeroom. Prompted by
curiosity to see what it had contained,
L vaulted across the palings dividing
the gardens and examined the label.
which was still intact. I read there:
"Acid: Nitric: Fortiss: Pur 142O.' g
The edge of my curiosity was now
whetted. what could private indi-
vidual want with such a quantity of
the strongest nitric acid as that bottle
contained ?" asked myself; and then
the purchase of the cotton wool flashed
across my mind.
Now, taken singly, these two articles
are largely used, and the yearly con-
sumption of both is immense. The ur-
chase of the one or the other in small
portions is nothing unusual, but when
both are bought in almost, wholesale
quantities by. the same individual
strong suspicion is aroused, so much
so, that chemists had some time pre-
viously been requested to notify such
sales to the police authorities. How
ever, I kept my thoughts to myself and
resolved, in future, to keep as close a
watch on my neighbours doings and
habits as the limited time at my dis
posalwould allow Of,
The only thing that noticed pecul-
lar, however, was that every night,
while the rest of the .house.was in total
darkness, the attics seemed 20 be oc-
cupied, as the windows looking out.
on the roof were usually brilliantly
illuminated. A few cautious inquiries
from my landlady had eiicited the in:
formation that the house was occupied
by two men; aid she had waxed merry
while telling La that they seemed to
do all the houseyork themselves, as
female had nev..: been seen to enter
the place, front CIR back" bat the fact
that they were foreigners seemed to her
to account for all their peculiarities.
Foreigners like, SIR" said she,
'"seems to ave ways different to u.s."
A fortnight passed, and was unable
to get any more information The at
tics were illuminated every night, and,
&