Show PRIVATE TUCKER ho was a plain man with a plain name before william tucker esq became known to the world of men ha had been a plain boy very good very tender hearted and very much in earnest about nothing iu particular smallen boys checked cheeked him with impunity and mado him fag for them bigger boys pimply ignored him grown to manhood there was but little change in him his juniors snubbed him and voted him a fool his seniors for the most part imposed upon him he submitted to it all with the best possible grace glad only to be taken notice of in any way and apparently considering that it was the only thing he could aspect then as though life itself as it stood did not hold sufficient bitterness for him he fell in love he must have known from the very first that it was all hopeless and that it could at the best only disturb his peace of mind but he went on nevertheless in his own dull stupid fashion content only to touch her hand occasionally to get a sort of second rate smile from her it is probable that there was thought ct any future in his mind he would turn up quite unexpectedly at any place to which he knew she would be going he would linger about nervously and unhappily in corners so that he might have the opportunity of looking at her he seemed to ask for nothing more he would carry parcels and run messages for the pretty child she was but little mere and considered himself well paid it he received only a smile in once she was ill and he scarcely left the house in which she lay until acho was well again ho haunted it by day he lingered about aimlessly at night he ruined himself by his lavish purchases of flowers and hothouse fruit when at last one summer day he wag told that she was convalescent and that ha see him ho felt that heaven was within sight he was shown out into a garden where she was seated in a great chair with all her delicate beauty thrown into stronger relict by the white rug against which she leaned she looked so pale and weak that it anything could have increased his love for her her appearance alone would have done it you havo been very kind mr tuck jer she eaid in a low voice and I 1 am very grateful you have done so much lor me aad your flowers have been with me every day there were tears in her brown eyes as she finished speaking and held out her hand to him then it was that william tucker made the one chief u intake of liis life and in stammering utterances tried to tell her of the emotion which him but she staid him with a light hand upon his lips 1 I am more grateful even than before bhe said slowly but you offer mo a gift which I 1 cannot accept I 1 cannot tell you how sorry I 1 am or how enuch I 1 believe in all that you have told me but I 1 love another man and I 1 love him very dearly he was silent for a few moments standing there with hia eyes cast upon the ground like a scolded schoolboy eliut he lookeb up at last with something of a smile breaking across the whiteness of his face 1 I might have known he said slowly 1 I might have known above all things that it is not for such a man as I 1 am to snatch so great a prize I 1 might have known that it was the best and wisest thing tor me to remain only your friend only your faithful dog alio may try to ba of service to yon sometimes can you forgive me sufficiently to let me detill hold that place in your thoughts 1 I shall hope that you will be my acry good friend always mr tucker sho eaid gently 1 I am to marry lieutenant lacey I 1 should have told you fc etore believe me I 1 am very glad he ro alicd 1 I am only a dull dog but I 1 bo a poor sort of fellow indeed if 1 did not appreciate your kindness and conr confidence thereof he dull stupid common alace man showed feo delicate a tact and was also so cheerfully generous to the man who bad taken the place he had to occupy that she grew to have a regard for him that was almost like that of a younger sister for a brother in she implicitly believed and trusted por his part he was proud of h and would not have lost it foi else that the world might of for to all others herself howad abo edmo dull fellow thai he bad ever becu ache cam to him buo ouo day weeping and iu great distress nud told him thit her lover had bacu to africa with his regiment war was looming on aba horizon and tho tharo would be desperate 1 I know bow bravo ho is arbe sobbed aud I 1 know that ho will go with no arm save his own to stand bo him and death I 1 think I 1 donld give tho world to know that thero romo one with him alio would watch over him and bring him back to me at last tho words were carelessly spoken raid only iu ho agony of abo moment but her head was on tho poor foolish fellows breast her hands were touching bis and abo words saoko to him trumpet tongued tong ned even as a command he had no thought in his simple heart but that ho might bo of service to her and might help this man whom she loved the nest day william tucker esq left the wor d therein men had laughed at him and private william tucker entered the regiment which had been ordered to abo front aad of which lieutenant charles flauey wis oue of the officers in the course of time private william tucker mccamo merged as a mero unit in ho regiment to which bo belonged and with a certain latent purpose iu his mind was glad to lose sight of tho world he had left behind and to tako his place as one of tho rank and file the latent purpose was uever known at least until the oud but it became a tra among tho rough men with whom he served that wherever tho alltha and active form of lieutenant charles lacey was seen iu the tight there close beside him was one grim faced tommy atkins fighting with a knowd in the character of the william tucker esq who had disappeared As a matter of fact lacoy knew nothing about who tho mau was or whence be came he had met him but seldom iu those old days and the fact of private william tucker was scarcely ono to be remembered ame a day aheu lacey with n mere of men was seat ou a forced march iu an endeavor to joia forces with another camp but tho march was not a success and they presently found that they were cut off iu tho midst of tho hills with the day fast closing in and the hostile yelling warriors all round them they closed up silently with a dim feeling upon them that there was but small chopo and fought there steadily and doggedly whilo the light failed it waa a certainty from the first of their being absolutely outnumbered and they fell buo ouo after another with those hornblow black faces swarming round them with fiendish in their cars and with only abo cadiou iu their hearts to fight to tho last for the honor of the flag they served there was cue gallant young figure standing there and cheering ou his men and overawing over awing for a moment those who swarmed about A spear thrust had reached him at last and ho staggered backward with a decoro of weapons leveled at him but there was another who sprang iu there before him with a clubbed rifle swung madly round hia head one who knew only that the mau ho bad sworn iu his heart to servo was lying there beneath him one who saw only a comans womans face in baroff england as it had laiu last ou his breast one who knew that they should not reach tho at hia feet while he had the power to stand and to fight 1 I have come back to you my darling charles lacey was say ing wo were cut off there with a mero handful of men I 1 little thought 1 should ever see your face again I 1 of all tholo who with me alone escaped although my wound took a long time to heal but how did you escape she asked she clung to him there was a soldier there a brave fellow who for como unknown reason had stuck to mo through all tho cam laign they found him lying across me with a broken rifle in his hand and they told mo that his wounds frightful enough to have killed half a dozen meu I 1 only found out afterward who he was they called him private william tucker ho wondered why she wore a black dress that bight at dinner aheu ho asked her she said with the tears ahin ing in her eyes eliat it was for the sake of the dead soldier who had sent him back to her Illustrated bits what did to appreciate his many Bided nesa we havo but to follow the development of his life while his first work was mainly mathematical his second was u quito a different field it consisted iu the measurement of the velocity of prop of sensation by the nerves to accomplish this he must needs havo bacu bocu an anatomist too his labors in abo line of psychological optics othow that be was also a master of psychology but perhaps it is by his achievements in tho remains of ensio that ho is best known aud most celebrated in his book tho sensations of tone he solved completely tho riddle of nature which had puzzled the world since the time of pythagoras thus to gho a rational numerical explanation of the intricacies of harmony and their effect ou he ear there was need bot only of a mathematician an anatomist a physicist and a psychologist but alao of a all united iu one man Helin holtz was all this aud oven more scribners mr gotham live iu the eh yon liddo had plenty of experience at catching rains then I 1 Eup mr suburb well u o say that I 1 have but ive had lots of experience at em new york weekly |