The Winslow mail., 1900-12-20
A Course in Astronomy
Observation-Disclosures
hNHANCE," said the man of ex-
Miss Sparks Efforts to Get q
Poor Husband.

40 HANCE," said the man of ex-
perience, ''is the sauce that
makes living palatable.
The young man who smokes faced
about curiously. whats the matter
now?'' he asked. 'Have you been
dropping your weeks salary down at
Sheepshead Bay?"
The man of experience replied, with
rebuke in his tone: "If it will be any
satisfaction to you, 1 will say that l
made no reference to the races. L was
speaking about the stars
The man who smokes laughed i'm
moderately.
"Great Caesar!" he said. ''You don't
mean to say that you've been gam
bling in the signs of the zodiac?'
Nothing of the kind" returned the
man of experience. Gambling, in
any form, was far from my thoughts.
l was merely associating two prom
inent ideas. 1t was chance that led
me into the study of astronomy"
The young man who smokes laid
down his pen meekly. oh, he said,
81 did not know that you had made
a speciality of that interesting sci
ence."
81 have done good many things
that 1 have never told you about"
said the man of experience, with lofty
sarcasm. 81 take no particular credit
to myself for my proficiency. l had a
most excellent teacher. | was a pupil
of Miss henrietta Sparks. 1t was
through chance that | met Miss
Sparks. Just before that l was worth
about $5O,OOO Every cent of that tidy
little sum was swept away in one day
through the clever manipulation of two
rascals. l was stopping at Sachem,
Pa, when the news of my disaster
reached me, and in my anger and eX-
citement l took all the loungers pres
ent into my confidence. The next day
/ began to reap the consequences of this
public recital of my grievances. At
two o'clock the following afternoon
the bellboy brought me q letter and
newspaper clipping. The former was
short and concise, the longer long and
verbose. | read the letter first. 1t
said:
eff you contemplate remaining in
our town for day or so longer should
be most glad to have you call on me
at my home, 144 Hampstead avenue. at
any time you may find convenient.
Very truly yours,
Henrietta Sparks
81 liked the tone of the cordial invi-
tation, but the clipping was less whole
some. 1t was one of the most floTid
bids of descriptive literature had ever
chanced to fall upon, even in a coun-
try newspaper. we have now in our
midst, said the scribe, "a gentleman,
handsome, worthy and deiicately nur-
tured, who is suffering from one of the
most atrCciouS crimes that can be per-
petrated against the ambitious, ener-
getic young business men of our coun-
try. The misfortune that has befallen
this gentleman is all the more regret
table in that it deprives him of the
means of pursuing the career for which
he is eminently fitted by nature. and to
which he purposed devoting all his
powers Stuff like this filled more
than a column of the Sachem Daily
Eagle. Although l occupied a lofty
niche in my own estimation | had the
grace to blush at the fulsome praise
lavished upon me by the Eagles i'm
passioned reporter. Indeed, so absurd
was the article from start to finish that
] was somewhat timid about accepting
the invitation to call on the unknown
woman who had sent it me, and it was
only after severe struggle between
curiosity and modesty, in which the
former quality came off victorious. that
j braced up sufficiently to make the
visit
Miss Sparks home was comforta BILE
and picturesque. and upon beholding
its spacious porches and wide doors
and windows | no longer marveled at
the generosity of the owner who had
condescended to extend c9uf tesy to
an improvised stranger looked
about me with keen delight as walked
up the gravel path to the trent door.
On the threshold very thin boy in 4
voiuminous white shirt waist bobbet1
up as approached. He had the slick
est black hair, the shiniest white face
and the thinnest, most spindling little
legs / ever saw. He surv ,yed me for 4
moment in sepulchral silence.
"'Are you Mr.. Jackson: he asked
There being no apparent reason
why 1 should deny my identity. 1 ad-
mitted that / was /. Then. for want
of something better to say. | added:
who are YOU?
j. Filkins,' said the thin boy sol
EMMY. Won't you come in, please
Miss Henrietta thought maybe you'd
be here this afternoon. She said if you
came for me to ask you to wait and 70
entertain you while she was gone
What would you like me to do. please? :?
Il looked at j. Filkins in alarm
We'll, I said, that is pretty tough
question to put to a total stranger
What can you dor