Randolph Enterprise from Randolph, Kansas • 2

METHUSELAH. All the endless folds of Idzouma's robe ROSES, The tuquoise-bluo flood had deeps of celestial transparency, and queer little creatures dotted it with tiny luminoub points like stars. At the very bottom the blue water, rolling over the yellow sand, flashed with green fires, or took the tints of the rainbow-violet where it passed over beds of pink shells. Sometimes there rose to the the surface, as it were, an eddy of pearls, which vanished as soon as the air touched them, and the scales of the carps appeared in the dazzling opening left by the upward passage. The epes of the little princess and of Toiki plunged into themysterious deeps old gentleman, and on more than one occasion several of them expressed an earnest desire that his reasonable wish might be speedily fulfilled.

As we have already stated, Methuselah died at the age of 999 years. He never blew cigarette smoke through his nose, nor did he ever have sore eyes. Consequently he was not a dude, or lie might have perished some years sooner. A CHECK-HAISIN0 SCHEME. How JiiHtke I trad ley Kscapcd belnjr Victimized by Confidence Men.

Washington Post, A uniformed messenger boy ran into-the National Metropolitan Bank and handed the cashier, Mr. White, a sealed envelope. This, on being opened, was found to contain a check for $500, signed by Justice Bradley and a note bearing the name of a Mr. Macready, asking that the money be sent immediately by the messeenger, as it was needed to purchase uniforms for the "National "Where did you get this note?" asked Mr. White.

"Two men," answered the bov, "gave it to me at the Arlington Hotel, where one of them wrote it. They are not there now, though. They told me to bring them the answer to the corner of Fourteenth street and New York avenue, where they would wait for me." "You go and tell them that I am afraid to trust so much money to you," said Mr. White, "and tell them, also, to come here and get it." The boy departed. Under the instructions of Mr.

White he was followed by one of the clerks, wdio saw him meet the two men on the corner. When he communicated his message one of the men said that they had not the time to go to the bank. Then noticing the proximity of the clerk, he said to his companion: 'We are caught this time," and- both cloredover Toiki, sleeping forever in the rays erious depths of tho blue flood. Since that day the golden carps have no keeper, but at the foot of Fusi-Yama the Pink Mountain upon the same branch of a blossoming azalea, two little azure-winged bengalees sing the songs that the herder used to play upon his flute, in the vaporous brightness of the morning. HELD AS THOUGH IN A VISE.

The Halr-llreadth 'Sc-jpH of Benjamin Kicker, a Maine Wood-Chopper. Kennebec Journal. Benjamin Ilicker can thank his stars for a lucky escape from the very jaws of dt-ath. He fell into a trap and had an experience which was not pleasant, to say the least. Mr.

Ilicker is a wood-chopper and was cutting fire-wool for Street Commissioner Cottle on his wood lot near the Brook road. The chopper was in the act of felling a small tree. He had nearly severed it from the stump and was pushing in an attempt to force it to fall in a certain direction. He was unsuccessful and the tree came toward him. Just back of the woodman and but a few feet distant was another small sapling.

As the former tree fell it interlocked with this one. In some manner Mr. Bicker was caught by the neck between the trunks of the trees and imprisoned as in a vise. His feet just touched the ground. He straggled Avith his utmost strength to free himself.

He is a large, powerful man, but his efforts were useless the trap would rot release its grip. He shouted at the top of his voice. It was but thirty rods to the road and several passers-by heard his outcry but thought nothing of it. For over an hour, from 12 M. until 1 o'clock P.

the man shouted and straggled. It was cold, mercilessly cold he became benumbed. Shortly after 1 o'clock succor came. A gentleman from Sidney passing along the road heard his cry and came to the rescue, procured a leyer and with much difficulty liberated the prisoner. His injuries were most severe.

POEMS OF PLACES. It is said that Sarah Bernhardt will shortly open a palatial drinking saloon Bans. The coming Winter Carnival at Mon treal will again get the name of that city into the newspapers. An Oswego genius has invented a row boat for use on ice. He is now looking around for somebody to invent an old- fashioned winter.

At Las Vegas ladies go out into the mountains prospecting for gold. In this part of the country the prospecting is generally confined "to balls and parties. Christmas was celebrated in New Or leans by the explosion of fireworks, Somebody ought to go to that benighted city and tell its citizens just what Christ' mas means. The crop of Louisville debutantes ho are "going to eclipse Mary Anderson" is not so large as usual this year, all of last year's stock not haying been married off yet. Socks with toes or foot-gloves are selling in Boston at $36 a dozen.

They come high, but people who wish to learn to play the piano with their teet must have t'-em. There is small prospect of this great country permitting Dakota to enter the Union of States while the editor of the TJismarck Tribune lives. We must draw the line somewhere. Owing to the fact that Col. Mapleson wants 100 per cent, and expenses, his trip to California has been indefinitely postponed, with the full concordance of all the racifac blope managers.

There is a woman in St. Paul wdio can speak English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Arabic and Chaldaic. tier husband was born luckily. He was born deaf. Men of Athens, Texas, wdio a few years ago began dealing in peanuts, are now putting up big business blocks.

How they managed to secure George Francis Train for a customer is not stated. Respect for the father is the first duty of a young Corean. ihe mother is re garded merely as a nurse, and he con- sidere himself in no way bound to obey her. Corean woman should wear slip pers. As regards heights, the Scotch are first, Irish second, English third and Welsh fourth.

The height of Americans will be given as soon as a tape line can be made long enough to measure some of those found in Kentucky. Kalamazoo gave Marie Prescott a gen erous reception when she appeared there while Oshkosh declared it all rubbish. Between Kalamazoo and Oshkosh theatrical criticism will proba lily have to take to the primeval forests, "On Wall street," writes a New York correspondent. "Gould is an object of adoration and admiration; Vanderbilt is looked upon as a lucky dog and a good fellow; fcage as a miser Keen as a tpyi cal gambler, and Villardas a sharp man." Take the whole business and you would just about strike a Sing Sing average. The editor of the Corsicana, Texas.

Observer had a baby girl born unto him! and this is how it affected him: "The beautiful gates were left ajar last Sabbath and a little angel girl came down on a falling star. This must be his first, After he has had two or three of 'cm he will probably couch his language in a style more appropriate to the cons tueney of a Texas newspaper. A Brief Hioki-u))iiou1 Sketch of iMng mid Varied Career. Algernon Plutarch. Methuselah died in the 990th year of his age.

We arc well aware that biograph ical sketches of this character it is cus tomary to begin at the other end of the man's life, but in this particular instance our hero was born altogether too long ago to reasonably expect that much attention will be paid to his earlier career. Some men die at a green old age while others die at a ripe old age, Methuselah died at what might be called a rotten old age The direct cause of his death has nev er been definitely determined. A very widespread opinion obtains, however, that his melancholy and untimely tak- ng off came about through the excessive use of tobacco. It has been suggested that possibly old age had more or less to do with his sudden demise, but it would seem that a man who had lived nearly a thousand years would be possessed of a system that would enable him to fight off such an insidious disease. Methuselah was a gentlemon of large wealth, and the with which he clung to life excited much righteous indignation among his heirs.

Enoch was the name of his father, but his mother's name is clouded in obscurity, although it is safe to assume that the lady came of a very old family. Methuselah was the grandfather of Noah, who enjoys something of a reputation as a sailor and collector of animals. He is also accredited with having known enough to go in when it rained. Noah was called father by three very prominent sons, viz Shem, Ham and Japheth. It is to be hoped that this succinct statement will forever settle the vexed question, "Now who was Japheth's father?" But we are drifting away from the subject of this biography.

All that has been handed down touch ing Methuselah's younger days is that he was inordinately fond of English opera, and was at one time engaged to a prima donna, at that remote period very popular. The marriage was never con- on account of the violent opposition of his family, and in time the young fellow came to view the matter in its proper light, and got out of it by paying $20,000. Methuselah, in the course of his long life, engaged in various pursuits. At the beginning of his eventful career he adopted for his motto "Honesty is the best policy." He then obtained a situation as street car conductor, and in a few years the company gave him a half interest in their road, as a matter of economy. 1 his seems to have been the starting point of his fortunes.

Two or three hundred years later we find him editor and proprietor of the Great Gehosaphat Tribune, a comic weekly. Judging from a copy in our possession, it bears every indication of hav mg come to stay. At that time much attention was paid by journalists to paragraphing. We clip a few oi the brightest ones irom the columns of our copy of the Tribune Turn the rascals out. Over the garden wall Adam.

The Republican party must go. Have you ever heard a gum drop When a man not a man? When he's a woo-man. What was Eve made for Adams Ex press Company. some years later tne name oi the paper was changed, and is now known as the London Punch. After leaving journalism Methuselah retired to private life and began growing old, a venture in which he achieved signal success and established a lasting reputation.

In common with most old gentlemen Methuselah was fond of telling stories, but he was a very poor listener; he wanted to do all the talking himself. This is another trait possessed by many old men. On one occasion he related an incident which he claimed came within his own personal experience. It was something like the following Two Irishmen were seated at a hotel table. One of them helped himself liberally from a side dish, and immediately after swallowing a teaspoonful of its contents the tears began streaming down his cheeks like rain.

It was horseradish. The other Irishman, observing his emotion, inquired: 'That's the matther, Pat?" and Pat, as soon as he could articulate, replied "I'm thinking of me poor father who was hung." He then pushed the dish across the table and remarked "Take some ice Dennis took a regular "Home Rule" mouthful of the stuff, and then began to shed water like a duck. 'That's the matther, Dennis?" asked Pat. earnestly, that ye are crying so "I'm thinkin'," gasped Dennis, "phat a burnin' shame it was that you warn't hung with your father." This story may sound familiar to some of our readers, but in the days oi Methu sclali it was not so widelv known. Methuselah's favorite song was, "I would not live alway." He hadn't very much of a voice, but, nevertheless, he essayed this song so often that in time his neighbors came to feel sorrv for the WALDO Tho white roso, the pale The ere nmy roso for me.

However fair, however rare The red roses be. Oh, raindrops, do not tear it, And chilly breezes spare it, It blooms that I may weiir it, And only for mo! Oh, fair is the red roso As ever rose can be, With ruddy Up and golden heart Itbloometh for thee. Then reach thy hand and sever The ruddy rose and never lie false, but leave forever The pale rose for me. A JAPANESE LOVE STORY. Translated from La.

J-'ifraro. Hard by the sacred river which flows at the foot of Fusi-Rama the Pink Mountain a carp herdsman played upon his flute under the vaporous brightness of the morning. In Japan carps are most carefully bred in the sacred rivers. They form regular her is there, which the herdsman snides by the sound of his flute, just as in Southern Fiar.ee the Basques lead their herds of goats. Every evening, at a certain signal, the fish return to their reservoirs built of porcelain tiles wluve they are sheltered from fish hawks and from beasts of prey.

Toiki, the herdsman, dwelt not far from the bank, in a bamboo house, lighted by panels of rice paper, so contrived as to slide back upon groove; in the walls when it was desirable to admit the sunlight. Upon the clay-covered bloomed manv tufts of blue lilies. Behind the house extended a forest of century-old bamboos. Before the door were luxuriant clumps oi camelias and azeleas. The father of Toiki was an old soldier who had witnessed the hari-kari of the last Shogoon.

According to the custom of old Japanese soldiers, ir? had had his body tatooed with representations of the chief episodes of his campaigns. Thus it was thatuuon ins breast could be seen a picture ef the great battle fought by Taiko-Sama. and between his shoulders the massacre of the Samourals. All day long the old father would sit upon a lacquered stool at the door of his dwelling, smoking a pipe with a bronze bowl. As for Toiki.

he would always walk along tho bank of the river, playing the melodies which charmed his flock. lie played; and the golden fishes assembled at the sound of his flute Thus he would lead them through all the mazes of the river, amidst the tufts of reeds and of saxifrage, whence fied in dismay the long-legged storks. The -arps undulated their scaly bodies, and from time to time leaped above the surface to catch the little azure flies. And the herdsman woidd thus walk until the sunset-hours. When the summit of Fusi-Yama began to glow with the fiery tones of ruddy copper, and the sound of the gong was heard in the distance, then Toiki would retrace his steps, and his docile herd would descend the river to the reservoir, which it en tered to a slow and measured melody of the flute.

x- The little princess Idzouma, daughter of the Governor, often came to play beside the sacred river. She used to come in a lacquered palanquin borne by two servants. Idzouma, who had just attained her eleventh moon, was of the color of the lotos. Her hair was fastened with great pins wrought of caven tortoise-shell. Her lips were tinted with gold and carmine; her eyes were darkened with the juices of flower3.

She wore a long robe of silk, doubled over her bosom, and embroidered with figures of chimerical birds. About her waist she wore a broad sash of very bright colors, fastened at the back with a knot so contrived as to resemble the two wings of a butterfly. She used to sit down upon the bank, take oil' her ivory sandals and allow her little naked feet to tear the surface of the water. She loved to hear Toiki playing his flute. "Little herder," she would often say, father got for me two little Bengalees fron India, which sing divine songs but 1 prefer the sounds which thy lips bring forth from the bamboo." And tire herder would beside gather Idzoumaso that the fish might together before her.

Sometimes the little princess accompanied him upon the samsin, a sort of guitar with three silken cords, which she played with a plectrum made of tortoise shell. Toiki thought there was nothing in the world to compare with the sacred river; I Iesaw marvelous things in its waters, which he made Idzouma admire of the river, where aivinea inai strange existences were. The quivering of the water revealed to them the presence of unknown creatures, whose fugitive apparitions left glowing wakes behind them little wakes like a shooting star, but sprrk-ling also with tiny globules of opaline light that died away in trails of gold. "Oh! little herder," cried- Idzouma, how happy I would be to dwell in that world which is so much bluer than the sky. There must be living flowers at the bottom, living flowers with pearls in their chalices, and little princesses riding upon winged fishes, pud little herders whose song never ends!" Andldzuma, dazzled and facinated by the sideral gradations she beheld, leaning further and further over the bank of tire river, as though attracted by some unknown force below.

Then her women, in order to break the alarming spell of her ccstacy, carried her away in her palanquin, and bore back to the city, while the 60Utids of Toiki's flute became feebler and feebler, and finally died awav in the distance But every day the little drincess prayed to Buddha to bear her back to the blue water and the golden fishes and the little herder. She wrote her prayer upon a sheet of rice paper, tore it to pieces, and by the dexterous waving of her fan, blew the fragments higher and higher in the clear air, until they new toward heaven. One evening Idzuma, unable to slum ber. and persistently haunted by the blue dream of the sacred river, escaped from the palace of her lather and ran to the stream. Toiki was not there; he had gone to the city with the cang of a daimio.

All was silent around the little bamboo house. Among the reeds tall storks were sleeping upon one leg, with their heads buried in the down of their wings. Far away upon the heights of Fusi-Yama, the lofty roofs of Buddha's temple gleamed under the light of the moon, whose broad disk was reflected in the riyer. Idzuma approached the bank, and gazed in the watery mirror upon the star which she had been taught to venerate. At first her eyes perceived only vague forms, floating like clouds; then all grew clear, and the reflection of the moon she beheld mountains, rivers and cities.

Suddenly a breeze rallied the surface of the river; and the scene changed. Then the little princess sawr in the reflection of the moon a silver pagoda, in which an immense Buddha was sitting upon his throne of burning brass, and supporting upon his folded arms his thirty-two sons. At his feet incense was smoking in vessels of jade. Virgins were playing upon the thivteen-stringed gotto. And upon the degrees of the lunar temple Idzuma thought she saw Teiki playing his flute: while Toiki's mother seemed to hold out to her the cup of saki which unites betrothed lovers forever.

The little princess bent forward to seize it and disappeared in the river. The moon's disk seemed for a moment as if torn by something black, quivered, and thcQ resumed' its immobility as the surface of the blue water, whose mysteries Idzouma thenceforth knew. A stork took fright and flew away with a long plaintiff cry. And that was all! Next day Toiki was surprised that the little princess did not come. Toward evening, when the moon again appeared, the herder remained by the river, and began to play a melancholy 1 1.

1 1 1 1 1 air, wincn uetspuKe me sorrow oi J.01K1, and the ingratitude of Idzouma. While he was playing the reflection of the moon upon the water became troub led and a vague shape arose from the river like those vapors that rise from the valleys in nights of autumn. And, little by little, the shape condensed and defined itself until at last the delicate silhouette of the little prin cess was clearly outlimed against the dark background. Her face wore smile. In one hand she held the little blue lotos which only the spirit that is treed trom the body may gather.

With the other she held out to him a cup of saki, whence betrothed lovers must drink. Her azure robe was blended with the blue water; and none could have averred whether it was the silken folds of that robe or the quiveringsof the water which lapped the banks. loiki continued to play under an lr-resistable impulse; and Idzouma followed him, gliding over the water. The moon was reflected in the folds of her endless robes, and in that reflection the herder also saw the silver pagoda. At daybreak, Toiki ceased to play, and pt i a me inrtge oi lazouma uisappearej.

Next evening, at the sound of the flute, the little princess again rose above the surface. This happened many, many night; Toiki counted the years. On the night when Idzouma should have attained her fifteenth vear which i.s the age when young Japanese girls marry, the little princess appeared much more beautiful than ever before all roocd in vapor. wime hue the veil oi a bride. The herder played a nuptial air pearly-clear as the iridescences of the water; ana when the first rosy glow ap pear(e behind Fusi-Yama, he let him self siip into the deep river.

hurriedly boarded a New York avenue car which happened to be passing In the meantime Justice Bradley had been telegraphed and questioned. He replied that he had issued no check for $500. He added that Thursday two young men waited upon him and reminded him that he he had subscribed $5 to aid in the organization of the ''National He replied that had no recollection of such a subscription, but the men persisted so strongly in their statement that at last he wrote a check for $5 and handed it to them. After this statement a close examination was made, and it was found that the line drawn from the word "five," had been erased and the word "hundred" added. In the lower corner of the check the two ciphers representing no cents had been changed, so as to make the sum appear $500.

It was a bold piece of check-raising, but the publicity thus given to it will probably prevent its repitition. A. Post reporter learned last night that a prominent naval officer had also been waited on by the two men, who' also made the same representation about a subscription. The gentleman, although equally ignorant of any promise to subscribe, at last handed them $5. Fortunately he did not give a check, or it would probablv have been treated in the same manner as that written by Justice Bradley.

Not Exacting. Somervllle Journal. "One word," she said, "before we part," and her bright eyes glowed in the mellow light of the turned down lamp. "Are you sincere "I am sincere," he replied, in tones whose truthfulness could not be doubted by any one save the most confirmed pes simist. "Then you cannot give me a palace by Lake Como and she looked into his eyes as if she would read his inmost soul.

"Not even a brown stone front?" "No." There a wonderful firm ness, a don t-you-iorget-u-ness in tne tone in which this momentous monosyllable was spoken. "Not even a cottage the suburbs "Not even that, darling." There was an anguish in his accents that indicated a mind wholly given up to tne gnawing inroads of a sharp.toothed despair. "What can you offer me then." she asked "what can you oiler me as an incentive to induce me to become your bride?" "A share in seven dollars a week, with a prospect of a rise next spring." He said this with all the deep conviction of a man who knows just how he stands. "It is sufficient she said with a ra diant smile "I am yours, Algernon. A half loaf is better than no bread." .11 r.

Irving Speaks of Kis Critics. Chicago Tribune. I find I am a minority in ranking Irv-ing's Shylock so high. Mr. Irving himself said to me very coolly: "They do not like my Shylock here in Boston." And he is pretty nearly correct.

His view of the Jew is too lofty for our traditions and as he observed in private conversation last week "In America, although it is your strength and your pride to be free from traditions in regard to the stage, you are wonderfully conservative; more so, than my London audiences. Every critic in the country has occupied himself chiefly in comparing me with this actor or that not with judging mv work for what it is." Light, sandy land is not good grass land as a rule, though light warm land grows good crops of red clover and lucerne..