Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27

are threepence. sixpence and one shilling
unless you happen to be q subscriber"
Supposing the whole thing were q hoax
to draw her there, and by some means to
make her look ridiculous? 1t was quite
likely. She was a successful woman. and
had already learned that one Of the prices
OF success IL the splitting of spite and envy.
But dif1culties did not often stay long In
the path of Miss Kate O'Neill. She picked
up telephone directory. turned the pages,
found number. called 1t up and made GER
tain arrangements. Thereafter she dressed.
dined and took Mrs. Craven to laugh over
the new piece at the Gaiety.
But poor Kate found even the Gaiety dull
that night. There was a man on the stage
with a red head. He was not in the least
like Carter either in looks, speech or man.
ner but-well, 1t must have been the hair
which persisted in calling up that I'M
pleasant train of thought which kept her
vaguely irritated throughout all the evening
Thre was bundle of type script waiting
for her when she got back to the fat. which
happened to be the verbatim report of Sir
Edward Day-Pearce's lecture which she
had arranged that two stenographers should
go and take down for her, but she did not
choose to open this before the keen eyes
of Aunt Jane. Instead she waited till that
astute old lady should see fit to go to bed,
and watched her eat sandwiches, drink
tumbler of soda water lightly laced with
whisky and listened to resume of all
the other plays that had filled the Gaiety
boards since the house was opened. At
the end of which Kate had the final salts
faction of being laughed at.
you've been itching to be rid of me ever
since we got back, my dear and as a gen.
eral thing you don't in the least mind
saying when you want to be alone. L
wonder what's in those mysterious papers
you're anxious I shouldn't ask about.
Goodnight, Kitty dear
Goodnight, Aunt Jane" said Kate, and
opened the package.
The lecture was uneXciting. 1t was the
dull record of a dull but capable man, who
knew his work thoroughly, did it accurately
and in the telling of 1t left out all the
points that were in the least picturesque
or interesting. Sir Edward had spent half
lifetime in colonial administration, and
the only times he rose into anything APP
preaching eloquence was when he had to
tell of some colonial interest that was
ruthlessly sacrificed by some ignorant Off
cial at home .or the sake of vote or a
fad. Four several instances he gave of
this, and these stood out warmly against
the gray background of the rest of the
speech.
But to Kate who knew her West Africa
by heart, 1t all dull enough reading
till he came to almost the last paragraph.
1T is by a peculiar irony" the type re-
port read, that an agreement should
Gently have been come to by which the
notorious King of Okky promises to discon-
tinue his practice of human sacrifice. 1t
is six-and-twenty years since / first went
out to West Africa and my immediate SUI
perior then was Maj. Meredith. He was a
man of the highest ideals, and we all
lnOuSnC OF tremendous caDaDllllleS.
saw what was wanted the spot, and
carried out his theories with small enough
regard for ignorant criticism at home By
the exercise of tremendous personal infiu-
ence, and at a fearful risk he made his
way to Okky City itself, saw it's unspeak-
able horrors and made a treaty with the
then king. In return for certain conces-
sions the king was to come under British
tionable practices. Well, I don't know
whether there are any of the anti-British
party here, but dare say most of you will
think that the addition of quarter of a
million of square miles of rich country to
the empire was no mean gift Ladies and
gentlemen, you little know what the gov
eminent was then. Perish West Africa
was one of their many creeds. and with
Exeter" (here the. reporter had written
the word disturbance" and evidently
missed the next few sentences)-'I don't
whether you like it or whether you
are decently ashamed, the things true.
They refused to ratify the treaty, and my
poor chief was censured for exceeding in
structons. Well, the hackers of the high
minded potentate, as 1 believe they called
themselves, got their way, and / wish they
were not too ignorant to realize what their
mean little action caused in human lives.
Putting the human sacrifice In Okky City
at the very low estimate of 5000 year,
in five-and-twenty years that brings the fig
ure up to 100000 black men and women
whose blood lies at the door of those unc-
tuous hypocrites who made it their business
to break Maj. Meredith because he was an
imperialist."
Again the reporter put in the word dis
turbance" but he apparently managed to
catch the next sentence. AYE. you may
yap," the old administrator went on, land l
dare say from the snug looks of some of
you you're own sons of the men who did
it, and 1 hope you feel the weight of their
bloodguiltiness. Two hundred thousand
lives. gentlemen, and all thrown away to
pander to the fads of some ignorant theo-
rists who had never been beyond the shores
of England. If Maj Meredith could have
held out against the clamor. 1 believe that
he would have been man to stand beside
Give and Rhodes and Hastings in the
work he would have done for the empire;
but as it was he left the service in dis
gust and drifted away into the savage
depths of that Africa he knew well and
had so vainly tried to help. His wife went
with him, and, 1 heard, bore him a
daughter before she died A rumOr reached
me that some trader brought the child to
England and adopted her, but poor Mere
dith-well, he has disappeared from the
record. 80
The lecture closed, a few paragraphs far
Their on, again with disturbance
Kate folded the sheets and put them on
the table. She was somehow conscious of
a queer thrill of elation. One of the dis
comforts that an adopted child who does