Mower County transcript., 1906-04-11


between sso.o 900 and 37o i 900 81 HI losses
An, had he stopped then, confessed
to His dang III would have gone
vel. But, no; he must win the entire
sum, He lost, lost lost. HE crash
came in August. But corner Of the
vast Virginia estate Was 1eftt and this
did not amount 5to $$2O, 900, Five francs
Scarelessly tossed upon 8 roulette table
had ruined and dish IGNORED him The
angel of the pitch robes had sfairly ven.
syeloped him now. The thought thai
he had gam bled uselessly his daugh:
Ster's legacy. the legacy which hel
mother had left conAding il his care
4 filed his soul with the bitterness 81
q gall And she continued the merry
round of happiness, pure chasing expen.
siye garments, jeWelry, sfurs, the little
things which women love; gave din.
zners and teas and dances, consid dered
herself an heiress,, and thought Tho
world 9 very pleasant place to live IN
Every laugh from her was q thorn t
him, the. light Of happiness in her eyei
was 9 reproach, for he knew that she
1 was dancing toward the precipict
which he had digged for her. #
Struggling futilely among these net.
St1es sof despair, he took the final step
His ruin became dehnitive. 81. i:
One starlit night he met . distin-
j guished young diplomat; rich and hand.
some He played some, but to pass
away the time rather than to coque1
with fortune. He was lucky. The man
who plays for the mere fun Of it. is
generally lucky. He asks no favor!
I from fortune, he does not pay any
attention to her, and woman-like, she
IS piqued. He won heavily this night;
my soldier lost correspondingly heav-
ily. The diplomat pressed q loan upon
his new-found friend, who, with his
usual luck, lost 1t. .5.> # q I ss .s !.
X The diplomat was presented to the
daughter. They owned to mutual ac-
quaintance in Paris and Washington.
The three attended the concert. The
girl returned to the hotel bubbling with
happiness and the echoes Of enchant-
ing melodies, for she was an accom-
plished musician. She retired and left
the two men to their coffee and cigars.
The conversation took several turns,
and at length stopped at diplomacy. 1
1T has always puzzled me-" said
the soldier, chow Russia finds out all
she does" ;;S.'.s:.sss. -.>.- -: .s..5
."'That is easily explained, Russia
has the wisdom of: the: serpent. Here
is man who possesses a secret which
Russia must have. They study him.
If he is gallant, one day he meets a
fascinating woman; If he is. greedy,
he turns to find q bowl of gold at his
elbow; iflhe seeks power, Russia points
out the shortest road <sSs :,.. = ~:
!. But her knowledge Of foreign army
and naval strength ?,'5, -S& .s&ssIst, 3, asss
Money does allnthat. Russia pos
sesses an accurate knowledge Of every
fort, ship and gun. England boasts OF;
Frahess Germany, and Japan. We have
never takensit into, our heads to 1in-
vestigate America: Till recently y ypur
country as foe to- Russian interests
had dropped below the horizon. And
now Russia finds that she must pro-
ceed to do what she had done to all
other countries; that is, duplicate her
rivals fortification plans, her total
military and naval strength; and SO
forth, and SO on. The United States
is not an enemy, but there are possi-
:bilities of her becoming so. Some day
she must wrest Cuba from Spain, and
then she may become recognized
quantity in the Pacific !
"The Pacific?'' i. 49, >;
'Even so. Having taken Cuba, the
United States, to protect her western
coast, will be. forced to occupy the
Philippines; and =. having taken that
archipelago, she becomes menace to
Russian territorial expansion in the
far east. do not always speak so
frankly But 1 wish you to see the
necessity of knowing all about your
coast defenses." = f. :,-,.@ .--,@ II
So far the American had only gam
bled. . +. :s,.., ~. + - 535 =.
1T can, not be done!!'' spiritedly.
.'It can and will be done" smiling.
Despite the watchfulness Of your of
ficials, despite your secret service, de-
spite all obstacles. Russia swilf quiet:
" gain the required information. She
possesses key to every lock. . ~ s;.ss ! I
IS And what might this key be ~.
with tolerant irony. n s u s$. j. NJ: . 5sss: sss
"Gold !" sa.=z ...xE .=.5
But if the United States found out
what Russia was doing, there might.
be war. s. s. - n 8 u
Nothing Of the kind Russia would
simply deny all knowledge. The man
whom she selected TO do the work
would be discredited, banished, per-
haps sent TO Siberia, to rot in the
mines: No, there would be no war.
Russia would weigh all these possi-
-