124 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



April 



'PANSIES, 



"I love almost all flowers that blow,** 



Said daiity Kitty airily. 

 "But pansics, wlun your vase you fill, 

 They'll m: 'ce ytm think 'tis winter chill 

 And fairly shivi-r just to see 

 How close and tight as they can be, 

 They creep and creep and huddle sol" 



"The very prettiest flowers that blow," 

 Said Sallv, "are the pansies dear. 



Their little faces blink and wink. 



They really seem almost to think, 

 And wh( I in dish or vase they dwell 

 Their th' ights they must each other tell, 



They cheek to cheek will cuddle so!" 



—Bookman. 



A EEPOETER'S YARN. 



"I struck Ilills togetofif tonight, but 

 It wouldn't go. I told him it was little 

 Milly's birthday, and the youngsters 

 had set their hearts on having me spend 

 the evening with them. I couldn't touch 

 him even with that. Said he was short 

 handed and couldn't spare me. Con- 

 found these city editors ! The good na- 

 ture is all blue penciled out of them. " 



"You're always grumbling, Jim. 11 

 you don't like the little inconveniences 

 of newspaper work, why don't you get 

 into something else? It was your own 

 desire to get on the police beat, and you 

 ought to take all that goes with it good 

 naturedly. Quit your growling iand tell 

 us a story by way of penance. We have 

 a couple of liours before us yet. " 



Jim loved to tell a story. He had 

 been a reporter for many years, most of 

 the time on criminal, and he had an ex- 

 perience for nearly every day in the 

 year. His face cleared, he refilled his 

 pipe and stuck his feet on the table. His 

 three fellow n:cniing paper men fol- 

 lowed his example and amid the curls 

 of smoke this is the story Jim told 

 them: 



"One morning about 15 years ago 

 Richard Jclnistou of the firm of John- 

 Eton «fc Calvin, a very wealthy eastern 

 lumber concern, was found dead in his 

 ofBce. He had told his wife the night 

 before he wanted to look over the books, 

 for things were not going quite to his 

 satisfaction. The big ledger lay spread 

 out on the desk, his face buried in its 

 blood stained leaves. The head had been 

 almost split in two, and the cut was so 

 clean it was evident an ax had been the 



instrument used. The detectives went 

 to work at once, and within 24 hours 

 Fred Wilson had been arrested on suspi- 

 cion. He was a cousin of the murdered 

 man and had been out of work a long 

 time. He had never been in any kind of 

 trouble with the police, but he had a 

 character for shiftlessness, and it was 

 no secret that he and Johnston had had 

 some words a few days before over a 

 loan he had begged. He had been heard 

 to say that a man who had heaps of 

 money and would not help his relatives 

 might better be dead. A glove was 

 found in the oflBce that was identified 

 as his, and, to make the chain of cir- 

 cumstantial evidence complete he had 

 paid a number of bills the very morning 

 the murder was committed. 



"His lawyers admitted their client 

 had gone to the office, but denied any 

 quarrel had taken place. The very re- 

 verse had happened, they claimed. 

 Johnston had arranged the visit and had 

 expressed his regrets for being so severe 

 to his cousin, finally giving him money 

 enough to clean up his debts and make 

 a fresh start. This defense, in the opin- 

 ion of the judge, the jury and the news- 

 papers, was so daring that it was re- 

 garded as overshooting the mark. One 

 juryman, however, was a little doubtful 

 and stood out for manslaughter in the 

 first degre( The others yielded, the 

 verdict was so rendered, and Wilson 

 was seuteuL d for life. When asked if 

 he had any tiling to say, he replied that 

 he had told his story through his law- 

 yers; that he still adhered to it, and 

 that, if there was a just Gcd above, its 

 truthfulness would be proved some day. 

 He went to prison and was forgotten. 



"1 tell you, boys, that case bothered 

 me more than a little bit. I never at 

 any time 1 :lieved Wilson was guilty, 

 strong as the evidence was. I had sev- 

 eral talks with liim, and lie never wav- 

 ered in his story, no matter how I tried 

 to trip him up. I spent most of my 

 leisure timi following imaginary clews. 

 It was no use, and I gave it up after a 

 few months. 



' 'Five years afterward Calvin, John- 

 ston's part7ier, died suddenly, and, 

 though obituaries were rather out of my 

 line, for I was still doing criminal, I 

 asked ivr the assignment on account of 

 my previous interest in the firm. I had 



