The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-11

of-war, for the old servant who has been in charge So many years still looks confidently for the return of Don Juan" As he affectIonately calls his former master. The latter, who always took this man with him during the days when he lorded it up and down the road, having been long ago busted by some changes of railway manage ment, has not been near MOllendO for fifteen years, and is not likely to come again, even if yet in the land of the living. Yet everything is kept up as if he were momentarily expected. The flower beds are beautifully cared for, the windows polished every day, and every inch of veranda and uncarpeted floor scrubbed white as snow. Mean while the carpets have faded. and moths have riddled the crimson htang- ings, and Father Time has whitened the hair of the ancient servitor, who has never abated his devotion by one jot or title. In fact he has gone daft on the subject of his beloved Don Juan," and like a male Marianna in the moated grange, is ''weary'' because he cometh not. His ailing wife, who could not bear the air of Mollendo, long since went to live with a married daughter in Arequipa, and ried there; but even her death could not take him away for one day, for did not the master leave him in charge and might he mt return to his own at any moment? When the Peruvian government seized the rail- road, some years ago, and this house among the other property, the servant refused to surrender the Reyes, and would have defended them with his life. if need be Another major domo was put in charge, but the old one stayed on in spite of the frequent discharges and lack of salary, until his real merit be- ing understood, the harmless and faith full lunatic had come to be considered fixture here.
 Nights in this deserted casa, with the watchful lunatic roaming about and the road of the restless ocean sounding in ones ears, are rather gruesome. Ghosts of abortive schemes and dead ambitions seem to be prowling around the premises. lurking in the empty rooms and hiding behind the moth eaten hangings On the parlor walls are pictures of the Meigs brothers, once the railroad kings of Peru, both long dead. Of Henry Meigs, the older and more famous brother, everybody has heard, for Bret Hart was written about him, Mark Twain has used him for a text, and for years he was part of the history of. this country. Thirty years ago he was partner of Ralston, the California banker, and 8 close friend of Senator Sharon, Flood, Mackey, O'Bri- en and the rest of the golden princes whose honors dated from the days of '49 and who have now nearly all joined the silent majority. Under some stress of temptation. Meigs committed for gery in San Francisco, and when dis covery was inevitable he one day calmly rowed out into the bay, climbed upon the deck of steamer, purchased her and sailed away in search of pas lures new. He came to Peru, bringing with him much of his~Wealth and all of his irresistible energy. These he ap- piled to difficulties under which this country was struggling and overcame them. He sent back money to Califor- mia to reimburse with good interest those who had suffered by his forferies; but he never returned himself, and finally died here, opeibf the richest and most influential men on the western coast. From Ecuador to Patagonia, through Peru, Bolivia and Chilli, Meigs enterprises entended; and the result is a series of railroads at right angles with the coast connecting the interior of the country with the seaports, and giving to the mines in the mountains, the nitrate beds, estates and sugar ha- ciendas easy outlets to the ocean.
 FANNIE B. WARD.