Now are y' goin' t' stop interferin' with my business?" demanded Jabez.

one life, but, with God's help, you 're goin' t' make up fer it now.' An' I 've lived in it, an'

no claim."

At that instant the mine whistle blew shrilly; but the boy felt an iron hand on his arm that held him to the spot.

"Don't go," said Jabez. "Come 'long with me down t' th' house, an' I 'll show y' whether there's any claim. Come on."

His voice was no longer harsh. It was soft, almost gentle. The boy began dimly to understand what was going on in this man's heart, and followed him down the hill without a word, without a thought of resistance. Jabez led him straight to an upper room fitted up as a kind of office. Tommy caught a glimpse of another room beyond, through the half-open door.

He paused with a kind of sob in his voice that seemed to choke him, while Tommy sat staring at him, long past the power of reply. But the sob was echoed from the other room.

"I won't be still!" cried a voice, and the door was thrown back and Bessie Andrews appeared on the threshold. "I've heard every word," she continued through her tears. could n't help it. I was just coming to see you, Mr. Smith. I'm glad of it!"

"I

picture to the grizzled one opposite him.

"Ay, look," growled the man. "You'd ha' looked a long time afore you 'd 'a' knowed it. I spiled my life-no matter how. Now you 're goin' t' make me spile another. Don't y' reckon one 's enough? "

His voice was quivering with emotion. "Don't y' reckon one 's enough?" he repeated. "I've allers wanted th' chance t' set some boy straight on th' right road, but I had n't found the boy worth it. I 've watched you from th' time Miss Bessie showed y' t' me at the school-house. I 've heard 'em talkin' about y', and I 've seen what was in y'. All th' time y' was studyin' I was watchin', an' at last I said t' myself, 'Jabez Smith, thet 's th' boy you 've been lookin' fer. You 've spiled

obstinacy and pride melted away as he gazed into the other's tender face. He was drawn out of his chair by some power greater than himself, and in an instant was in his friend's arms. He knew that the problem had been

solved.

"He 's pure gold," said the other, with his hand on Tommy's shoulder-"he 's just pure gold. I knowed it when I seen him goin' up t' th' mine with these here clothes on. An' he sha'n't stay in th' rough. We 'll make him int' the finest piece of work th' colleges of this country kin turn out."

But the girl, looking down at them, knew that they were both pure gold, and that the old, rough, world-worn nugget was more beautiful than the hand of man could make it.

WHAT subtle power of fascination does football possess, that it should have reigned a popular sport and form of exercise for two thousand years? Outliving as it has all efforts to do away with it, the manly game to-day is the most popular sport of the English-speaking peoples of the earth. From Australia to Canada, from Princeton, Yale, and Harvard to Oxford, Harrow, and Eton, Canuck, Yankee, and Briton are devotees of the game and the muscular football man.

Since the Greeks inaugurated the sportepiskuros they called it, kicking at an inflated bladder the game has undergone material changes only in details of playing. The Greeks contented themselves with kicking, and wind and air currents-fate, they may have called it -played an important part in the finish. The muscular and more active Romans took up the game, and added zest and exercise by seizing and carrying the ball into the adversary's lines as well as kicking it. Harpastum the game was called by the Romans among whom it flourished. It was rude sport, popular in the military camps and training-grounds, and encouraged by the captains of the legions as making soldiers brave, quick, and fearless.

The Romans passed it on to the Britons, and by this sturdy race it has been retained and developed. The indolent Greek and more indolent Italian have centuries ago abandoned the sport as too severe; but in the tight little isle and among the Anglo-Saxon race dependencies and foster-sisters, and in our own country, it has flourished and grown.

Climate doubtless affected it, for football is essentially fit for outdoor life in cool weather. But may not racial fitness have had something to do with it as well? Football appeals to courage, skill, fair play, and all the qualities of the Anglo-Saxon. It is a test of the survival of the fittest in its most rigorous form. Endurance, the ability to take hard knocks without flinching and without anger, appeal to Briton and Yankee alike, touching the same chord in their natures.

From the date of its introduction into England by the Romans, football continued to remain and grow in favor. It is mentioned in writings in the year 1175, and frequent references to football are found in the manuscripts of the next two hundred years.

By 1300 it had become such a popular form of diversion among all classes, and especially with the yeomanry, that it eclipsed the interest manifested in archery, which to the rulers was the most desirable sport, since it gave the youth of the land not only a love for arms, but training therein which would be useful in further levies of troops.

So jealous did the authorities become lest

fo