The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-09-12

lulu two years ago and is well known
from the Sunday Oregonian.
What is ita Evidently it is an agate
or carnelian or chalcedony or all three
together, | really do not know which,
and care little to know what the back
ground of it really is. For it is not
that which makes me think. What is
that which is in that agate or carnelian
or chalcedony, that white thing which
now appears to me as an exquisitely
fashioned head of the sweetest and
softest contour lines of some noble and
beautiful lady2 And Few! Almost IN
simultaneously it merges into another
equally beautiful and noble face with
the characteristic beard and flowing
hair of Christ IS head. 1t is Christ s
head, exactly as the great artists shape
it in their master drawings of the great
Savior of mankind, and scarcely I con-
ceived the idea and saw it substantiated
before me in the marvellous agate ring
l had under my eyes in closest scrutiny,
it had vanished, and the former sweet
girlish face with the finely formed
chin, of course without the beard and
mustache, CLEANS now in the soft light
pouring in torrents through the window
at my right. How can one face, a
female face, so rapidly change into an
other face, male face. under your
very eyes, and reehange again, and
each one an ideally beautiful face
with all the characteristic marks
proper to each sexs
Such thoughts were whirling through |
my mind, when lately I saw myself |
holding a wonderful ring with still |
more wonderful stone in my hands, and |
strained my eyes to catch the reason of /
its change, to discover the structure of |
the pictures material, to determine the |
naturallty of the white part of the
stone forming the picture.
Now, let me first tell you, how /
came to hold such a unicum under my
scrutinizing eyes in a private Office in
the Chamber of Commerce safe deposit
department, Portland, Oregon.
When in that city some time ago I
had occasion to go to the office of the
Board of Fire Underwriters of the Pa
cific. After having attended to my
business about insurance that brought
me there, Mr.. James P. Moffett, con-
nected with the board, learned of my ,
coming from a college and of my occa-
sional meddling with natural sciences, :
wished to know what / would think of :
certain thing that once came into his !
possession. OF course, I willingly con- /
scented to look at it. not knowing what
1T was, as he simply called it natural !
As | had seen in my long !
life and favored by my occupation as !
teacher for the last % years in various :
colleges and university, good many :
natural curiosities, / was rather anxi-
Gus for one more. Still, not beingi q
otherwise acquainted with Mr.. Moffett, h
was rather bashful to ask him right !
away what 1T was. So | kept my 81 a
ence, but thought so much more as / y
spoke less. :
On the road to the safe deposit |,V
FAULTS where the curiosity was kept we 9,
poke nothing, and so i had some time n
o reflect. As Mr.. Moffett told me ~
absolutely nothing what it was, YER =,
table flood of ideas quickly rushed ~
through my mind, to which class of ma q
ural curiosities already seen and ex- r
mined, / may add the one destined to n
ONE this time under my observation. st
Maybe / thought, cit is a chip ~
the Oregon City meteorite, that-ftl IL
mistake not-fgured SO prominently,
least for stone, in the courts, and
tier on helped to heap glory ON Ore w
on at the Lewis and Clark EXPOSE A.
on. - =.
But no, that would not be curiosityi ",
ny longer worthy of a new examina- vi
on. Maybe it is a iawbone of some oh
hale, or some gigantic antediluvian ST,
-saurus, that chased the primitive in,
regonian around the shores of the Lrl
East Oregon swamps. mr.
On, 1t S no use to make a forecast RI
by, here We are, in a safe deposit bo
auit. All, | have got it now; that Tin
ust DE some queerlooking coin of FRI
me sleepy Spanish country with half ;pt
faced inscription! But no. that can in
1t be. That would not be any nat II
'al'' curiosity. oil
stl
Well! Here is the box that hides the an
cret. Slowly Mr.. Moffett was I'M ~.
rapping the bundles, having said a ,
nothing to the point. / Ma
ust say, L was rather curious how Js
ose had guessed what it was. But III;
Id nothing. After unwrapping one in
indie there was another in sight. mi,
Ell, thought l, That whales tiSwbone del
played out, and the meteorite's splin- to
r. too; even the X-saurus' hopes are toll
asted. t t%
All at once, / hear a question strik- ma
my ear. 1t sounds like the echo of 7
roilihs tnunder. it dlsturbs my pol
'Shto eha' are dTeauy STRAINED by mo-
pectation and the mysterious diminu- tha
N of the wonderful unicum IS spatial the
nensions-it utterly and hopelessly con
balances the equilibrium of my fore NAT
SITS. The only question Mr.. Moffett sill
asked for all that long time ak
lave you good eyes2' 81 may saw I
have, if it comes to nearsighted- nos
IS. - For, naturally, near-sighted
opie, born as I have been, have WE
~ sharp sight, when the object is
her near. Kind nature balances the
feet or lack of seeing far, by increas- E