Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-12-19
A Fool Scientist.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
[Origlnnl.l

reginald Overockcr wns trlnl to his
mother. Mrs. Overocicr ind unbound
cd respect for wealth and sought to
train her son 10 esteem nll roads to
!, wealth. including marriage. The son
cared nothing for wealth and was nb.
sorbed In the sciences. Everybody
knows that there Is nothing cheaper
than brains and nothing more profit
able than knack for getting rich.
This Is the reason that Mrs. Overocker
lamented that her son insisted OH vast.
Ing bis time on chemistry, geology, as.
tronomy. blology-lndecd. every science
ending my
But when one day the young man
told his mother TINT he was engaged to
Lucy lie Roy. who had come of agc
and into possession of n large estate
at the same time, Mrs. Overocker WINS
! much Modified. She embraced her
| son half dozen times and told him
lie might waste his time with his sci.
ences TO his hearts content
There was one difficulty I'm the way
OF Miss lie ltoy's pcaccable possession
or the lie Roy estates. Her grandpa
Their Ind accumulated them, ma as her
father. Henry lie Roy. had married her
mother contrary to the old lie Roy's
wishes, dying be had left all the prop
erty TO Peter lie Roy, his only other
child. Miss lie Roy's uncle. Peter dis
appointed the old man by leading
Wild. rowing life and lind twenty-five
years before been Inst heard of In
South America. From TINT time no
Ind not troubled her brother or her
brothers. family. who Mt the old mans
death had entered into peacenble pos
session of the estate.
But. then. supposed to bc-dead people
have an inconvenient way OF turning
up when least wanted, and the engage
ment of the young couple hnd scarcely
been announced when notice was
served on Miss lie Roy that her uncle
Peter had returned and Demanded his
possessions. The blow was severe
one to Miss lie Roy mud Mrs. Overlook
or. Reginald was cngrosscd In his sci
entiflc studies and experiments and did
not seem to have common sense enough
to take notice tina. he, Il poor man, haG
pledged himself to marry girl who
at the end OF lawsuit-if she contest
ed the claim-would likely be as pcnnl-
less as himself. Ills want OF apprecla-
tlon of the fact was very annoying to
his mother and correspondingly re-
freshing TO his fiancee.
He who claimed to ,cce Peter lie Roy
had long lived under tiM name OF Fred
erick Briggs. He had very little resem-
blnncc to tho boyish pictures of Peter,
but this was not surprising. us few
people Will easily recognize even
friend not seen In quarter of cen
tury. He secured the services of
lawyer with n talent for making the
most of his points OF evidence, and
many people had no doubt that he wns
the renl Peter, However, Miss lie
Roy's counsel advised her to contest
his claim on the ground that he was
no ono else than Frederick Briggs.
1t was well known that the real Pc
ter I.c Roy when a hoy of eighteen Ind
been hit In the temple with baseball
and had consequently lost the use OF
his right eye. Miss lie Roy's counsel
relied on this fact to prove Briggs an
inpostor and ordered the man before
nm oculist for examination. Whether
Briggs and his counsel knew what
their opponents intended to gain by
the examination md We're prepared for
their tests or whether the man was
really blind In his right eye, the ocu-
list was unable to. prove that he could
see With II. However, when the case
was called and Briggs had brought the
strongest possible proof that lie was
Peter lie Roy, Miss lie Roy's counsel In
troduced the oculist, who vainly tried
by number OF tests to entrap the
claimant into reading with his left eye
closed. The trial Ind reached the climax,
and Miss lie Roy was so wrought up
over the probability OF being reduced
to poverty that she prevailed upon her
studlous lover to leave his sciences for
one day and go to court with her He
snt In the courtroom evidently far
awny with some problem TIL the oc-
ulist began his efforts to cntrap the
claimant After that he was all atten-
ton. When the ocullst failed Regi-
maid whispered something to Miss lie
Roy's counsel. then left the courtroom.
In half an hour he returned and was
called upon to examine the claimants
eyes. Giving the man pair of spec
tacles to put on, Reginald held black
card before his eyes, on which were
words written In green letters. and
asked him to read them. This the
claimant did without any difficulty.
Reginald glanced Mt Miss LIE Roy's
counsel. indicating that he was salts
fed, and he was called on for the re-
| suit of his test.
cot these glasses" he said, "the
left Is red. the right Is ordinary trans
parent glass. The red glass before
what he admits is his sound eye COM