The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-10-17

when he had procured a treasure. n
must be kept In case or handled
With care lest some chance slip might
prove its destruction.
To overcome these two things-to
make glass Of perfect coloring and
at the same time one which would be
tough enough 70 be serviceable---Tem.
rae bent all his energies. That II could
be done he was positive, but ten good
years Of his life, spent for the most
part In ar ill.smelling laboratory, net.
ted but soant results. He had, how.
ever, made some advancement. and bis
discrimination 10 accomplish his end
was no whit leesened. .A
One afternoon in March. after weeks
Of disheartening work, he had discov.
cred process by which perfect amber
tints could be obtained az nominal
sum. II was three o'clock when he
finished work and locked the labora
tory. 1t was Temples custom after
hours Of concentration to walk down
town. pausing now and then to peer
into shop windows, that the trifiinR
interest he found there might relieve
the strain Of the preceding hours.
II was windy afternoon aud heavy
clouds hung the sky. lie walked
briskly for the air was chilly. and II
was not until he was well down town
that he paused before the windows Of
a secondhand bookshop. Within was
a miscellaneous collection of books in
a more or less battered condition--vol.
umes OF encyclopedias. Dickens,
Thackeray and textbooks-and, strewn
about, papercovered novels with sug.
gestiye titles and more suggestive
sub.titles In the center of the win.
dow was q huge family Bible. opened,
the text of Matthew on the right-hand
page. and on the left blank page of
the Family Record"
As he stood there, the sun broke
through the clouds A moment later
he was staring through the window
with wondering eyes On the page Of
the Family Record" indistinct at the
beginning, but growing clearer as he
read down the page, we're these words,
written in a oramped, but painstaking
hand:
this method OF annealIng gives q
toughness which will resist any ordinary
shock II IL. moreover, II practiced on a
large scale. cheaper than any known
method and for
The remaining words we're quite lllcgi
Bile. The rest Of the page was seem
ingly blank. He read and re-read
the words and then rushed into tho
shop.
Let me see the Bible in the win
dow" he said TO the clerk, with rs
much nonchalance as he could mus.
ter.
When the book was handed to him.
Temple turned at once to the last
page of the Family Record" 1t was
perfectly blank. lie scanned the pre-.
ceding pages and searched through
those headed Marriages and
Births" He found merely few con.
ventional entries in faded ink. over
work" he thought to himself, as he
went up the street, yet when he re.
membered every detail Of the writing
the explanation was far from satisfac.
tory.
Two days later he stood again be.
fore the window. II was, perhaps, an
hour later in the day than his pre-.
vious visit. The sun shone from a
cloudless sky. There we're the bat
tered books and the novels, and there
was the Bible II was with a queer
thrill that he turned his eyes to the
record page. He could scarcely be.
lieve his sight. In the same cramped
hand he read these words:
--pracuced on a large scale, cheaper than
any known method, and for years I
sought TO put this knowledge in the prop
er hands. dlstrust ID. c., which makes
it.
The words began little lower on the
page than before. There was the
same indistinctness at the beginning
and end. Again Temple sought the
shop and asked TO see the Bible, and
again the page was blank. He went
outside and waited until the Bible was
replaced in the window. The writing
was the same, save that the words
impossible for me TO" appeared at
the end. He walked up the street
and back again. When he stood once
more before the window the sun had
set The page was again blank.
Far into the night Temple sat before
his fire trying to solve the mystery.
Had he called up, in HIS concentration
some psychic force? II would have
seemed plausible. had he been pas
sessed OF any faith In such things
Yet. no better explanation presenting
itself 10 his mind, he went TO bed
more disturbed than he had ever been
In his life.
Many times after that he went 10
the bookshop. Always, when the sun
shone, he read portions of that
cramped handwriting Sometimes IL
was the samo text--sometimes new,
and once words appeared on the mar.
gin OF the first chapters of Matthew.
He noticed that the position Of the
sun seemed TO determine the portions
he read and following mp this clue he
made an important discovery. The
block next the bookshop was extended
some four feet nearer the curb than
It's humber neighbor, and this add.