Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-18


marked impression. But Colonel Gran
Vile read il at time when the negro
slave had been just emancipated and
called, in all the ignorance induced by
his condition. to citizenship. The
meaning of the statement, 1.-The time
would not come for perhaps one or
two centuries" was plain to him.
More than one century had passed
and brought the changed conditions.
This led Colonel Granville. who was
eager to help the negro, now that he
had become a freeman. onward and up
ward. to think of the benefits that
would accrue from such a bequest as
was mentioned in the letter.
Then suddenly two connected ideas
entered Colonel Granyille's brain. The
first was. Might not the writer have
secretIy carried out his intention, leaV.
ing fund for the purpose that would
turn up a century or two after hii
death? And might not the statue have
something to do with its location?
Though be did not know IT, he hat
made a mental leap bridging a cen
fury since his ancestors death. H'
determined to make q study Of tn,
statue and everything that pertainec
to it Every morning he devoted al
hour to sitting before the bronze, look
ing at it and thinking about it. Per
haps he fancied that by thus mentally
dwelling upon it through some spirit
ual process the secret would be
impaired to him. The inscription en-
gagged his attention, but he could make
nothing of it. And yet there mus
have been an object in putting it there
alone, and especially with the hour and
minute Of birth.
One morning Colonel Granville was
sitting as usual studying the statue
The sun spot was crawling slowly over
the wall as 1t had been travelling year
in and year out for 100 years. The
colonel was watching it as he had of
ten watched it before. A third new
idea came to him. Might not this
sun spot have some meaning?
There seems to be two kinds Of ideas
in the human brain, those that are
original or parent ideas and those that
are offspring. The present case is an
illustration. The conception that the
sun spot might have some meaning
was in a measure original Though ev.
erything. after all. is but a link in an
eternal chain), and it suggested anoth
er idea-viz, Might not there be con.
nectiOn between the sun spot and the
date of birth on the statue?
Colonel Granville sprang from his
chair. He was confident that he had
made an important discovery. What
that discovery would lead to was an
other matter. He had little expecta-
n
conceptions which had come from the
letter he had read, but he hoped it
might solve the mystery of the statue
and the date inscribed upon it. he
was not long in inferring that on the
day, hour and minute recorded on the
statue the sun spot would rest on
part of the wall which would give
some information or Injunction intend.
ed by the man who had erected the
statue.
%" The inscription gave the year, which
could be of no Importance since the
sun trayerses the same apparent path
annually; the day. June II; the hour.
10 o'clock, and the minute, the TWEEN
ty-ffth. In other words, If this were
the true explanation, on June II, at
twenty-five minutes after 10 o'clock,
the position of the sun spot would
mean something. It could not refer to
10 o'clock at night for an obvious rea-
son.
1t was early in April when Colonel
Granville hit upon this possible ex-
PLANTATION. Nearly two months of wait
ing would be necessary before the spot
would reach a position corresponding
IaA -
tent to defer investigation for what
seemed to him so long a period, was
eager to get a computer to come and
calculate where the spot would be on
the given day. But be knew of no one
at hand who would be able to make
the calculation Besides. he had no
desire to suffer the obloquy such an act
would cast upon him, for when he
stopped to think he was forced to ad-
NIT that no more chimerical idea could
enter the brain of man.
So he was obliged to wait and while |
waiting planned an excuse for what |
he proposed to do. He determined to /
make hole in the wall where the sun
spot rested on the 18th of June at /
twenty-five minutes past 10 in the /
morning. and he proposed to tell the .
household that he was looking for a |
convenient location for a chimney he !
was thinking of building. Every day |
after that the colonel watched the |
movement of the spot with keen inter
est, and at the end of a month he
could calculate pretty nearly where it
would fan on the 18th of June. How
ever, he waited till the date came
round
Now, on the 18th Of June the sun
stands very high. practically at the