The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1913-10-16
things in order with unusual care.

ull6ly hOIe uSllCdle ludu the uuuldil
senses locked the door and departed,
taking his seat upon the little car
hat ran down the steep cog road to
the city below.
He entered the bustling place just
as the sun dropping behind the west
ern peaks left the first shadows of
evening to steal swiftly across the
plain. Scarcely quarters of an
hour had passed since Kelly OF the AS
ISOLATED Press had clashed the receiv-
er into it's hook and darted for the
telegraph key, but already the howl
ing newsboys were scampering about
with the agility of young apes as they
gathered their horde of nickels from
the shrieked prophecy of the dire
death that was hurting down upon
them, fighting for dropped coins as
coyotes snap and wrangle over bones,
as little mindful Of the promised clash
of celestial bodies as had two knights
of the squared ring challenged each
other to pigmy mortal battle. Des-
mond, watching them doubted not
that they would have stood daunt-
lessly screeching their wares before
the onslaught Of Jupiter, scrambling
for the coins in the very shadow of
the approaching monster With q
cynical curiosity new to him he
scanned the faces of those who pur-
chased the news which he had sent
forth to the world, watching them as
they read the huge headlines bearing
his name, reading in their faces their
varied emotions-their open derision
their dncredulity, their doubt and in
few cases their fear. On all sides he
heard the comments of those who had
purchased the scare head extras
Another high brow says a moon
or something is going to drop on us
Chis evening. Guess III have TO put
up my umbrella"
Bet you twenty TO one she misses
US"
Fine bet that. If / won what good
would it do me-buried a hundred
miles deepT
you can't always tell Those wise
boys hit things right once in a mil
lion times"
And just think, Julia. II it hits us
il will break up the dance"
"A scheme to sell more yellow news
papers"
Absurd, impossible, unscientific-"
"He says it is as big as this state"
Glad the state amt Texas, then"
From a nearby corner a band OF Ad-
ventists began to chant to the beat
ing of a drum, seeming to glory in the
direful prospect. HE who repenteth
in the last hour may yet enter the
holy Kingdom. Come ye while yet ye
may and be saved, for the end OF all
earthly things is at hand, woe. woe"
Angry, disguised, amused, Desmond
turned upon his heel and started for
a nearby hotel that he was accus-
toned to frequent, but had scarcely
taken half a dozen steps when a
hand fell upon his arm and he looked
up to see the half-serious, half-smiling
face Of his friend Alan March before
him. He paused, saluting.
March slipped the professors arm
beneath his own. Come along, now.
and tell me all about it. Might as
well know the worst first as last" he
announced as he scanned his friends
face as closely as a physician might
scan the features of a patient OF
whose sanity he was slightly in doubt.
What was your idea In starting all
this excitement anyway-or is the re-
port a canard conjured up by some
enemy or practical joking alleged
friend of yours?" Desmond shook his
head
NO, it is my own message, and as
you will readily appreciate, | have
staked my reputation upon its accu.
racy. II am wrong | will be the butt
of the world, clown. buffoon, a
lunatic." Despite himself he drew a
sigh. 1t did not seem possible that
such a grotesque calamity as he had
prophesied could occur in a universe
OF such perfection, God-made, where
each stupendous body of unthinkable
space lay balanced to a hair against
its countless neighbors OF hundreds of
millions, yes, hundreds OF billions ef
miles away; where a perfection incon-
ceivable to man seemed to rule
through both infnity OF time and
space. And now that he had had
time to ponder over IL. 1t seemed to
him that It must all have been a
dream, a dream so vivid that he had
upon awakening mistaken It for real
ity. Yet If he had been asleep then
he was as apt to be asleep now. and
with his die cast he would stick to II
to the last and either go down to dis
grace as a false prophet, or in case
he survived the cataclysm stand erect
and INDICATED in the eyes OF all man
kind. Allan spoke again.
"In common with all who know you
have a huge respect for your scien.
tific attachments, your level headed
ness and your thorough integrity
Therefore | am convinced that you
fully believe that this awful catastro-
phe will occur to US as you have prog
nosticated. The only element OF doubt
In my mind is the possibility OF any
man, no matter how careful or learn