The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-01-29
THE JEWELS
A Story of 1880
BY MARCO L. BRAYToN
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation, 1911

Dad. said boy to his father on
day when they were riding through
their vast estates, how did you ge
all this! Mother has often said tina
before you and she were married yoI
were a tutor In college"
Eyes, my boy, | was an instructor
In analytical chemistry. The students
who studied under me worked In the
college laboratory. From my early
youth | had shown fondness fol-
chemical processes and before was
eighteen had made several discoveries
though none of them so important al
one | made several years later
Your mother WINS In the woman's
college attached to the university, and
she and became acquainted.
Your mothers parents being poor.
as soon as she was graduated she &C.
cepted a position as goyerness with a
very rich lady, whose children she
taught. A year after she left the uni.
versity she came into the laboratory
one day to see me, and by her appear
ance | knew at once that she was in
great trouble.
~ have come to you she said,
there being no one else in whom /
dare confde. / wish you to advise
me. The lady by whom | am employ
ed took great fancy to me as soon
as entered her service and last
week. when she went away to be one
of house party consisting Of very
rich people like herself. left her most
valuable jewels in my care. They
have been kept In safe In her bed
room. and she intrusted the key with
me. The day sitter her departure she
directed me by letter to send her a
certain brooch she wished to wear
with a costume 1t especially fitted. l
unlocked the safe. took out the brooch
and while packing 1t left the safe door
open. When | returned to the room
before locking the safe II occurred to
me 10 see II the jewels were there.
A box containing the most valuable
ones had disappeared. What shall dor
in tracking the thief could be
of no assistance TO the poor girl, but
had been making some experiments
with results that suggested TO me
possible temporary solution of the
difficulty. There had then recently
been discovered the substance called
radium. which you will coon learn
something about at school. Its infiu-
ence on other substances is remark
able. / had used II in the laboratory
In the little glass receptacles called
test tubes and had found that II bad
turned them a beautiful blue color. 1t
occurred to me that the shade was
similar to that of sapphfres. This
thought resulted In these riches we
now possess"
How? Go on with the story"
at led me to series OF expert
ments. / exposed crystals Of different
colors TO the influence of radlum. put
ting the crystals and the radum away
together in a dark closet. The white
crystals had become topazes. the blue
crystals emsralds, and violet crystals
were turned to sapphires. | had
learned the secret OF the constitution
Of gems. They were simply crystals
that had been acted upon by radium.
II told your mother that ! might
duplicate the lost gems If only knew
their shapes. coors and sizes. where
upon she told me that the owner Kept
of them to be used TO
IDENTIFY them in case Of their loss at
their exact size. She brought me the !
and without losing
| had crystals cut to match |
Them and exposed the crystals to
radium.
THE danger was that the owner OF !
he Jewels would call for them before
hey had been exposed long enough to
,hange their color Besides, those /
was making might not come out the
light shade. resolved on IN expe-
lient. AS soon as any OF the crystals
became gems | took them to jeweler
md exchanged them for those whose
,olor matched the originals and had
hose | received cut the exact shape.
fortunately the lady remained away
time to meet these require
nents, and she never knew that her
,ems had been stolen"
But was that honest, dadT
HAD the gems been spurious 1t
you'd not have been honest, but they
we're real. The originals had been
made in natures laboratory, just as
made these in mine"
How did you make so much out of
tn"
II simply manufactured gems and
old them without imparting my secret.
,ut in time a chemist in Germany
lade the same discovery as I, and
hose scientists over there used to give
II their discoveries to the world. He
ublished the secret. and henceforth
II gems became of little value. Con.
they are no longer priced by
be rich. They are as beautiful, now
nat they are manufactured by man.
8 they were when nature was their
My maker. but value depends on
irity. and since gems are no longer
ire they are no longer valuable
''what has taken the place of these
ID fashioned ornamentsY'
"Those substances which nature used
manufacture them Recently there
as been n craze for radium and GER
lin like substances discovered since
idium became known. The richest
eople now think nothing of spending