The Dying Gambler

"My son, " said the dying gambler, "I have but a few hours to live, and bef ore I go I want to aak yon to forgive me for gambling away what shonld now be yours and to make a pronaise that"- "Oh, father," interrupted the young man, "do not make me more unhappy by talking of forgiveness. I have nothing to forgive. Yon were always good to me, and you could not overeóme that one weakness. I can make my own living. Do not let thoughts of my future distnrb your last mornents. ' ' "My noble boy!" exclaimed the old man. "Well, I won't say anything more about forgiveness, but" - the wan face took on an expression of intense earnestness - "I want you to make me a BOlemn promise, a promise that you will keep in mind every day of your life, and which you will not break, no matter what temptations may surround you. I cannot repair the injury I have done you. I cannot restore to you the property and the money which should be your inheritance. . But perhaps by exacting this promise I can save you from the worst of the follies of which I have been guilty. It is a poor sort of reparation, but it ia all I have in my power to do." "I will promise anything," cried the youth, "and you may feel satisfied that I will always be f aithful to my promise. " ' 'Promise me, then, ' ' gasped the dying gambler, his livid face flushing with excitement, "promise me that never, under any circurustances, no matter what the allurements, the temptations, may be"- "Yes, yes, I promise," the young man interrupted, fearing the effect of the excitement on his father. ' ' Fromise me, " continued the dying man, his voice growing strong and piercing for the moment, "promise me solemnly that you will never, never try a bluff on a pair of deucesl" The promise was given, and the gambler died peacefully, if not happily. - New York Sunday Journal. For Self Preservation. "And you have the impudence to saythat the jiinmy found on you was not intended to be used in breaking into houses?" said the judge. "Of course it ain't, "said the wanderer. "It is fer breakin out o' freight cars. ' ' - Indianapolis Journal. _ This is the condition of Spanish finances in Cuba: The Spanish government bank of Cuba in Havana has issued millions in paper currency. Each paper note bore on its face the government's promise to pay it in silver at the Spanish bank of Cuba. There is nothing more substantial than the credit of the Spanish government on which to base the silver credit of the paper note. Even the loyalists of Cuba begin to fear that Spain is hopelessly bankrupt. Those who sell supplies to the Spanish army in Cuba and receive in payment the paper promises to pay naturally take theru to the bank as soon as possible to be redeemed in silver. But Weyler has decreed that the notes shall only be redeemed in amounts of a sinall quantity at a time. The timid capitalists, therefore, impelled by something like panic, take their paper stuff to the private money brokers to get it redeemed even at a vastly depreciated rate. The money brokers buy it and press the Spanish bank of Cuba for their füll pay. The bank will not pay and cannot. Then the brokers and all the capitalists clamor, and there are violent altercations and threatènings of a general panic. It cannot now bé long delayed apparently. When it comes, the last dam holding back tho flood of revolution will bo broken, and Spain in Cuba will be overwhelmed. .-nalees an Experiment. "I don't know about this," said the assistant editor of the Stygian Society Chronicle dubiously. "We have never published anything in as sensational a style as this. Our subscribers may not take kindly to an article with three heads on it. " "Well, we'll tryit.on thodog,"r& plied Editor Pluto. "Here, Cerberus!" - Chicago Tribune. ,T. F. Sehuh will do the plumbiug in C. 'A. Sauer's house on Jefferson st.