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HAS A STEADY GRAB
THAT
By EFFIE STEVENS
The first time the red automobile
passed the house Margaret Holden re-
membered with amusement the inco-
herent tale which Aunt Sophia had
brought home with her from her out-
ing the day before, of an up-to-date , —
chicken thief who was boldly flitting to the circle of radiance from the elec-
about the town at night, raiding va- | trie street lamp, and she felt her heart
.1 t ! _I..^   milnli knim il O eli n m  i r\ r\ n 11 t
ject came into view, an object with a
brilliantly gleaming headlight
Margaret peered cut of the window
as if fascinated, un *>le to move or
think for the moment
Slowly ths moving object passed In-
rious roosts, and carrying off their
feathered occupants; but when. during
the course of the same afternoon, the
brilliant machine had whizzed down
the street no less than four times she
began to feel slightly nervous
"I'm gad Aunt Sophia hasn't no-
ticed It," she thought uneasily Aunt
Sophia owned a flock of iancy fowls
which was the apple of her eye, and
ste had already been considerably up-
Bet by the story of the elusive chicken
thief; so Margaret resolved to say
nothing about having seen a red auto-
mobile.
liut when Aunt Sophia went to bed
at teven o'clock with a sick headache
and Ma.garet was left to her own de-
vices the memory of that red auto-
mobile rose up and haunted her
In vain she told herself that its
business bad probably been an entire-
ly legitimate one; that it had a right
to pass the house as many times as
Its chauffeur wished; that a black
machine or a grey machines might
give a quick bound, s she made out
the red color of the automobile Ever
more slowly It advanced until It was
abreast ol the house—then it stopped
It? solitary occupant alighted and aealll.
stood examining the house intently, aa j than she had realized
the intruder bad raised a wlntXw, and
was In the act ol stepping through tbt
opening, or so Margaret thought
"Stop, or I'll shoot." she cried, as
she rushed forward But in her ex
citement ste failed to notice an emptj
box which was iu her path Over it
she tripped. The gun flew out of her
hands, and she fell in a frightened, al-
most insensible heap to the ground
The next moment she was being
supported by a strong masculine arm
"Did he gun go off?" she gasped,
struggling to a sitting posture as a
full remembrance of the circum-
stances rushed in upon her dazed fac-
ulties. and she realized that ibis man
must be no less a person than the
chicken thief.
Then she heard Freddie Lebar's
kindly voice saying gravely, "it is
lucky for you, Margaret, ihat the gun
wasn't prepared for business
'Freddie!" she gasped, sinking back
into the shelter of the protecting arm
again. After all she felt more dizzy
'I'm so glad
SMALL BOY TOOK PICTURE OF
SISTER IN WORK RIG.
if not quite satisfied that It was the i jfB you."
UJUUUiUC UI a Wltumca nj.fewv 1 -
have passed a dozen times and she <">ne   be doRe, f'l,U\kly
 ij s~.« tn tha man Inno fn t
place he sought
"Oh what shall I do?" Margaret |
asked herself wildly "It's the chick-
en thief I'm certain of It Aunt
Sophia will never forgive me it I let '
him carr> off her prize winners '
Should I call her. I wonder? No, she
is so timid, she would be perfectly
useless Whatever is done I must do
alone "
At last the fellow seemed to make
up his mird that he had made no mis-
take, and struck across the lawn to-
wards the small building, formerly a
carriage house, in which Aunt Sophia
kept her pets, an ordinary hen house
being considered by her not good
enough for them
Margaret realized that if anything
It
Now She Has to Pay Him 25 Cent*
for a Print Each Time Her Best
Beau Is to Call, and
Youth Rejoices.
Perhaps the orneriest, meanest
Bmall boy extant lives in New York.
This boy's sister, who is of marriage-
able age, gave him a cheap camera for
his birthday recently The boy us<jd!
his cameia for legitimate purposes for
a few days, but that way of using the
machine finally palled upon him and
he thought up a scheme
He waited until his tester got her-
self rigged out for her share of the
work in the weekly housecleaning.
Then, unbeknownst to her, he 'ooki
a full length snapshot of her just aa
she was The young woman is prett>
and decidedly winsome looking burt
this negative, taken of her by her
| small brother, shows her standing
vitli a broom in her hand, clad in a
loose, volumitii us. ornate calico wrap-
per, with a towel titd around tier
I btsd and with her curl papered nalr,
  —■ 1 ching her the appearance of a beele.
• Your voice gave youi away when | ^ ^ dpvcloped ,he M|sa„ve und
you threatened to shoot. I redd ^ ^ whe|) he 8howed
chuckled happily for although he ha ^ ^ ^ ^ tb0(Jgh, „ wask
not proposed again he knew there was ^ ^ ^ ^ su?pectlng ,he
now no need of his doing so ut , ^ ncgatlve gave ,ha
course I knew you were vlshlng your ^ ^
aunt and I Intended looking you up
in the morning anyway Your mother
Freddie was glad. too. and he let It
be known in a w'ay Margaret could
not misunderstand if she had wanted
to.
"Hew did you come here, and how
did you know it was I. and did the
chicken thief get away?" she finally
asked all in a breath
vould not have noticed It.
It might not even be the same au-
to which she had seen pass the house
four times, since she had been unable
to make out Its number To be sure
there had been only one person In it
each time, but that was the chauffeur
and, ditguised as he was by the cus-
tomary auto togs, she could cot be
certain that he was the same chauf-
feur <
Margaret shivered a little as she
thought what a splendid disguise the
goggles and cap and coat would make
for a chicken thief or even a burglar.
The black mask of the old-time high-
wayman was insignificant beside
them
"1 don't see why this had to be Brid-
get's evening out." she thought dole-
fully. "1 do wish somebody would
come in. Why, I'd be glad to see even
Freddie Lebar and listen to a twen-
ty-first proposal."
She smiled at herself for she had
left home because she was weary of
that young man's persistent proposals,
aiid was half afraid, too. since she rec-
ognized tbr fact that the constant fall-
ing of water will eventually wear
away a rock, and Freddie was—well,
Freddie, the best fellow on earth, if
only he did not aspire to be aer bus-
band
Margaret tried to read: then she
walked about the living-room restless-
ly. Finally she turned out the lights
and 6at down beside a front window
which commanded a good view of the
street. She was not in utter dark-
ness, however, for an electric street
lamp just below the house filled the
room with a soft, dim light
"1 might as well watch as I seem
unable to do anything else," Margaret
thought
The dim light and the stillness of
the place had a soothing effect upon
her. and she dropped -1010 a slight
doze In spite of herself
How long she slept she never knew.
would not take the man long to open
one of the windows
Her first thought was to telephone
for the pclice Then she saw the fu-
tility of that move Come as quick-
ly as it was possible lor mortals to
come the lellow would have ample
time to disappear, red auto, chickens
and all, before they arrived
There was a streak of fighting blood
In Margaret's veins, and it came to
the surface now, nearly obliterating
her uatural feminine nervousness
Ste looked about her for some
weapon of defense—she could not go
upon the fellow empty handed but
the dim light revealed nothing that
would answer her purpose.
Suddenly she remembered ber
Uncle Warren's shotgun which for
years bad hung upon the dining room
wall.
"It's just the thing." she thought "1
don't suppose It's loaded but the chick-
en thief won't know that"
Having softly unlocked the back
door. Margflaret took the gun from its
rack, and tip-toed silently out of the
house and towards the chicken house.
She wa  just in the nick of time for
I "He's a-comin tonight, ain't be?"
said the small boy after showing his
sister the print
"He? Who? Mind your own bust
ness. kid!" said the sister after the
manner of sisters thus addressed by
told me where you were But I guess
I'm the only chicken thief that's been
here tonight, though I didn't know
about there being any chickens till a
moment ago. I suppose you have been brothers in such connections
hearing about that chicken thief with - -j
the red auto, but he's been caught
"You see, I came down today to see
Jack Trently safely married I found
his chauffeur hail cleared out. and as
there were no end of things to be seen
to I volunteered to drive the machine
for him I've been making the old car
hum all day I'd just taken the happy
couple to the railway station and was
bringing the car back to Jack's fath-
er's place, when not being very famil-
iar with the streets. I must have got
pretty well' mixed up. I went as
slowly as I could, watching for pos
sible familiar landmarks, and when I
got here I thought I'd reached the
place. These old fashioned houses do
seem all to have been built from one
plan. As everything was in darkness
1 thought 1 wouldn't disturb anyone,
but would go and open up the garage
before I drove the car In I found the
door locked, but I tackled the window
I'd found, though, that I'd made a
thrilling mistake just as you appeared
ou the scene."
"I'm so glad you weren't the chicken
thief." Margaret sighed contentedly
ORIGIN 01- CERTAIN NAMES
He's a-comin tonight," repeated
the small boy "How much do you
give me for the picture of you?
Then she saw the connection
"Why. you little incorrigible!" she
said, "what do you—
'Gimme a quarter and I won't show
It to him. ' said the boy in a business-
like tone
And he stood pat Expostulations
and pleadings didn't go He held out
for his terms, which were 2.  cents,
payable in advance, no more, no less.
She promptly tore it up and put It
in the fire. But the boy still had the
negative hidden away, and on the very
next occasion when his sisters young
man was due to call In the evening he
sprang another print from the nega-
tive upon her He got another quar-
ter for the surrender of this print, too.
He knows a good thing when he
has got it. does this extraordinarily
I mean, small boy. and he has been
flashing one of the prints from the
negative upon his 6ister every night
I upon wheih her mav be youth is due
! for a visit She has offered him $1
for the negative, but the boy prefers
to draw interest Instead of sacrificing
: his principal, and he retains posses-
sion of the negative up to the hour
of going to press
but sbe suddenly awoke to find herself ] day's walk, according to the
. ... . i > _   thA #Hctnnrp A
sitting bolt upright in her chair, ev
cry nerve alert for the repetition of
some sound which must have aroused
her.
"Guess I must have been dreaming."
ehe thought dazedly Then a muffled
throbbing sound reached her ears At
first she could make out nothing
Then slowly, very slowly, a dark ob-
Familiar as Household Words, the
Derivation of Some of Them
May Be Unknown.
Front Royal; town in Warren coun
ty, V'a„ first known as Royal. Oak.
named for an immense tree growing
in the common. Front Royal originat-
ed from the circumstance ol a colonel
who, becoming contused in bis com
mands. ordered bis regiment to "Iront
the royal "
Norwalk; city In Fairfield county.
Conn, said to have ben so named be-
cause. when purchased Irom the In
dlans. the northern boundary was to
extend northward Irom the sea one
Indian
marking or the distance According
to another authority, it is derived
Irom nayang. "point of land
Sing Sing, creek in Chemung coun-
ty New York Indian words meaning
"place ol stoue' Another authority
Ftatef that it named tor John
Sing Sing a frlnedly Indian
SisUlvou: county In Caiitornla ana
mountains In Oregon. By some au-
thorities It is said to be a corruption
ol the original name given the district
In California by the French—six catl-
soux. meaning "six boulders;' others
state that it is an Indian word mean-
ing "bobtalled horse, the mountains
between Calllornia and Oregon having
been so named because a famous bob-
tailed race horse was lost on the trail.
Painting Watch Hands.
Near the jeweler's iront window sat
a young woman pa i n ti tig with an ex
teedingly delicate brush
She is painting the hands on those
black open-laced watches, the jewel
et said A lot of people who buy
mack watches complain that they cau
not see the gold hands against me
mack background It has never oc
curred to the managers to make tue
*aicties in the first place with wti'te
nands so when the customers r*
•luests it the young woman paluta We
uanU* utiite"
Cure That Failed.
The Ftoiy recently published in a
southern newspaper, to the eflect that
an ignorant uegress had given ner
little girl h mixture ol dogs blood
and powdered bone io cure her ol a
lever, recalls an Indian prescription
contained iu an old volume entitled
"Primitive Superstitions "
An Indian nad been desperately
burt in a fight with a grizzly bear,
and the medicine man prescribed a
mixture ol rattlesnakes heads, worn-
out moccasins and chewing tobacco,
seasoned with pepper and bears
grease, ol which ttie patient was to
drink a pint every hall bour "He
was a brave man. says the story,
| "but he died with the utmost expedi-
tion " The members ot the tribe
rgteed that the remedy was laultiess.
nnd that death was due to the tact
that the medicine man had tailed to
nrder that it should be administered
ro the accompaniment ot a dance and
a yell