Ochoco review., October 15, 1887, Image 2

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THE HUNDREDTH MAN.
.a
Flora Haines Apponyl in The Current,
IWw'h here, my friend," said John Prop
tor, his holiest eye looking gravely into the
tramp's face as he balanced a dime on the tip
jf.yol his finger, "lm not going to read you a
fT i homily on the subject of labor, but I "vant to
present, for your consideration a little matter
of statistics. You know, a well as I, that
the territory is swarming with men of your
class. 10 less than six, hegging lor money,
have stopped me on the streets to-day; while
down there at the yard" indicating with his
hand a row of tall lunibor piles surrounding
a small building in the distance "we haven't
had three ajiplieations for work in a month,"
"Try me."
"Do you Imagine you would work if you
had the chance I have had a little experi
ence with fellows of your sort. You have
such remarkable appetites." He addressed
him generically, as the representative of a
a race. "You work half an hour, then come
around with the plea that yau can't labor on
an empty stomach, draw an advance of half
a dollar on your wages, and that is the last
we ever see of you."
The man retorted so sharply that one could
almost have fancied the poor remnant of
spirit still abiding in him sticred to some
thing resembling wrath.
"That's always the way," he muttered.
"Say we wont work; then won't give us a
show. I know we're a pretty low-down lot,
but some at us start eut square enough. If
a man onoe gets down, there's no getting up
again." !-
There Was something almost pathetic in his
very siilleniiess as he shuffled away, his rags
flanp'P; in the hreers, and ill-mated shoes
clattering au accompaniment to his gait,
t'ome back here, will TOui" ,
hn Froct's voice was stern and deMve
( tramp lialtod, hesitated, looked". . ,
'inu-yiao: again. y
i '-. ! f .e tJWua to the vard this afternoon and
i 've you a job. But take the half dollar
&nd g.t filled up first" .,.,
i He had exchanged the dime for a larger
com . audi bold it in his outstretched palm.
The man did not Immediately extend his
hand to take it. In the moment or two that
elapsed the young lumberman thought that
he detected a trace of something allied to
resentful pride in his bearing. But the illu
sion vanished as a grimy hand closed greedily
iiXn the silver, and the fellow disappeared
without ev-i troubling himself to make any
formal expression of his gratitude.
John Proctor looked after him with a quiz
zical smile. Five minutes later be knew his
own name would be the toast of a drunken
crowd of loafers in the saloon around the cor
ner. It was not his first experience of the
kind To lie sure it wouldn't help to advance
a certain Quixotic reputation which had at
tached itself to him since his first advent
in this little new Mexican town. But he had
steadily adhered to his creed: Granted that
ninety -nine out of a hundred of this floating
population were thieves and mendicants, he
was wont to say he preferred to be victimised
by the ninety and nine, rather than miss that
hundredth man.
Arrived at the park, a strip of land run-
ring through the heart of the place, the title
to which was in dispute between the railroad
company, a handful of determined squatters,
and the government, John brought down the
wire fence this noon with one vigorous kick.
Kicking down this wire fence was one
of the legitimate pastimes of the in
habitants, who could not afford to make a de
tour of a mile or more to reach their places
, of business, nor yet hazard garments by
I scaling it These encroachments on the part
of the citizens had once been resisted with
warlike demonstrations, but now as Proctor
stepped through the gap, a patient looking,
round-shouldered little man advanced, trun
dling a wheelbarrow laden "'itba bumi-Coii
or1 Liaru'w ire, and, politely greeting the tres
passer, set about repairing th. fence. Par
sons was in the employ of the road and
scrupulously obeyed his instructions but a
gleam of humor in his eye told that he sym
patnized with the transgressors.
As John Proctor took his way dowa
through the park in the direction of his of
fice, he seemed to throw off the unpleasant
reflections which had been annoyinjjhini,
with one shrug of his powerful shoulders.
The young man's eyes fell cheerily upon the
somewhat incongn; m array of buildings
which constituted t'. e town. He gloried in
the homely little edifices, squatting over the
ground in various directions. Had not every
foot of lumber teen supplied from his own
yard, and did not t his avalanche of trade
mean Annie I Nothing could be mean or
poor which brought these weary years of
waiting to an ena. lie was a prac
tical man, little given to enthusiasm
of any sort, but for her sake he looked
with glowing vision upon the turreted moun
tain tops in the distance, with their purple
shadows and golden lights. Hiv she would
rejoice over them, that quiet little denizen of
western prairies who had lived among the
monotonous levels of central Illinois all her
life.
i'he thought lent; cheerful energy to his
voice as he entered the yard and gave some
directions to Maxon, his hard-worked book
keeper and general factotum. Proctor was
deeply engrossed in making out an order for
several car-loads of finishing lumber, when a
shadow darkened the door, and the tramp
srooa oeiore mm. lie could not repress an
exclamation of surprise. The vagabond ob
served it, and his face lowered as he asserted
himself defiantly.
"Yes, I've come," he said. "What are you
going to give me to do?"
John Proctor put on his hat and went with
him vVSe-tteyard. where an empty car was
waiting to be Jilled on an order from a neigh
boring town. He showed the man a small
slip of paper tacked upon the end, and was
about to explain where he would find the ma
terial designated, when the fellow threw off
his coat and deftly attacked a pile of scant
ling, which chanced to be the first item on
the list.
"Hulloa!" said Proctor, gazing at him in
surprise. "You seem to know something
about this busiuess."
"A little," returned the man shortly.
The young lnmberman took bis way to the
office. A little later the ruddy visage of
Maxon looked in at the door as he returned
from dinner.
"Oh, by the way, Maxon, I haveanewman
at work out in the yard. You miht keep
an eye on mm.
"Sow, Mr. Proctor!" exclaimed Maxon, in
hopeless protest. "Is it another of them fel
lows?" "Well, you see, he declared he was willing
.to work, and it seems only fair to give a man
a chance."
The broad-shouldered young proprietor
was avowedly on the defensive.
"So fur as I'm concerned, of course its
nothing to me," observed Maxon, dejectedly.
"But it pus me out to have you made a
laughing-stock all over town. It's a shame
well, it's no use talking. Yes, you may
depend upon me to keep an eye on him, sir.
Those fellows will bear watching, I say,
though, Mr. Proctor, haven't you got mighty
close up to that hundred' '
Half an hour later Maxon looked in again,
his face lit up with a mischievous smile.
"Don't you want to take a look at your
new hand now, Mr. Proctor? He's is just
like the rest of them; sitting on a lumber
pile all doubled up with a pain in "
A Hying Spanish conversation hook
checked further intelligence and Maxon
dodged around the corner to escape
other missiles. At 6 o'clock, when
the hands came up to receive pay for their
day's labor, John Proctor saw hia protege
standing off a little distance. The man made
no demand for wages, and his employer took
no notice of him. As the men filed out, the
express agent of the Plumhagn City train,
a personal friend of Proctor's came running
into the ollice with a package in bis hand.
"Here, Proctor, run them over quickly and
sign this receipt It's, the 6,000 from Junres
& Ngnor. I haven t a moment to spare,"
The lumberman hastily counted the notes.
signed his name to the receipt in a bold,
dashing hand, and the agent hurried off. IiCft
alone, Proctor drew from his pocket a long.
Russia-leather pocket-book and laid the not
carefully inside. As he thrust this into his
breast pocket, he chance! to glance toward the
window, and enoouutorod the hungry eyes of
the tramp sharply following his movements
from without. As the man saw that he was
detected, he paused, seemed about to speak,
then changed his mind and saun
tered carelessly away. A vague anxiety
assailed John Proctor. It was long
after banking hours; there was no help for it,
he must be custodian of his treasv . until
morning.
He sat up late that night The payment
of this sum was all that was necessary to
make the eastern trip a definite and tangible
matter. There was a pile of correspondence
to be turned off and a letter to be dispatched
to that little woman in Illinois, telling her to
discharge her music pupils and make ready
for his coming;. When he had finished his
letters he sat quietly for awhile in his big
arm chair. It was very late when he roue.
and. kx,fcks doors and wvi.Jnw. nr-cvai 4 1
arew oil! is conrj, ana, rowing it careruuy,
placed it Vneath his pillow. Then he ex
amined the barrels of an English bull-dug
pistol, which hung uwu a hook beside his
lied. Reassured by this precaution he sank
into a heavy sleep.
JSeveral hours before a man had crawled
upon alow pile of planks, flanked by twoothrrs
of towering height As ho stretched himself
at length, with a bundle of shakes for a nil
low, he philosophically reflected that such a
bed was not to be despised. He was not un
qualified to judge, for his experience had
been wide and diversified, and ha had
learned to weigh the most delicate points of
variance with the fine discrimination of a
connoisseur. He had traveled half way across
the continent without once knowing the shel
ter of a civilized roof. He had tented beneath
the fragrant shades of orange groves in south
era California, and, in waving fields of golden
grain, passed some terrible July nights on
the Colorado desert, where the mer
cury marks 110 degrees at midnight, parch
ing for water, and choking with the hot dust
of the and waste, wuking at daybreak to find
the delusive mirage Knocking him ui the (lis
tance. He had sunk down exhausted on the
barren plateaus of Arizona and roused to find
himself stabbed in a thousand places by the
minute cactus needles, cast upon him by the
malicious breeze; ever lured on by the sweet
face of a child who had smiled farewell
through a mist of tears.
The quiet of the place, the gently stirring
air, odorous with the fragrance of the pine
woods, the sleepy twinkle of the stars over
head, and the weariness of muscles unaccus
tomed to labor, soon lulled him into slumber,
A little later, two glowing sparks of fire
seemed to glide down the railroad track.
stole around the ollice and disappeared
within the long drying-shed at its rear.
During their progress these sparks of fire
occasionally described magnificent curves in
the air, in the accentuation of ctrtain rhyth
mical utterances in the corrupted Spanish of
the 3MHaa--tmguo. Tt-lowest Mexican
peon, who all his life goes half clothed, half
fed and unsheltered, handles his cigar or
cigarette with the fine pomposity and care
less grace of the proudest hidalgo.
John Prcctor awoke that night to find him
self assailed by a foe mightier than his feeble
imagination had pictured. He tried to rise
but found himself unable to move, oppressed
by a terrible sense of suffocation from dense
volumes of smoke which filled the air,
through which vast sheets of flame darted
their forked tongues toward him. Suddenly
the wall of flame and smoke was parted, and
the face of the tramp bent over him. He
was roughly shaken, pulled off the lied, half
dragged, half earned through the little pri
vate office and into the larger room beyond,
where the fire had begun its work of devasta
tion. Then voice and memory came back
and he shouted : "My notes! In my coat
pocket under the pillow let me go!"
For answer he was violently propelled for
ward into the arms of some men, eagerly
crowding through the naming doorway.
He struggled to tree himself from their vise
like grasp. He fought with them, cursed
them, and finally broke down and cried like
a child. Maxon's fierce tones recalled him
to himself.
"Why, man, do you think we would let you
go into that fiery furnace again) See!
There goes the roof now."
With a gentle waving motion, the roof
seemed to slowly vibrate to and fro, then
sank down with a sudden crash, and a flying
column of sparks celebrated its downfall.
V ith half-dazed senses John Proctor stared
about him, and bis gaze wandered to the sky
above, where an angry crimson glow had
blotted out the stars and rested upon the dis
tant mountain chains weirdly reflecting from
their seamed fronts .and craggy peaks the
glare of the unrighteous flauios. Would she
admire them now?
Surely it was a spectaclo to enchant the eye
of an unprejudiced spectator, whose whole pos
sessions were not being sacrificed to the effect.
He turned collectedly to the scene before him.
There was still something to be done. The
cream of the stock had been destroyed, but
unless some piles of lumber to the right of the
building were spaedily removed, (he fire
would communicate with the whole outside
stock, stretched for several hundred yards
along the railroad track. He turned to the
crowd of men who stood inactive, gazing
UKn the scene:
"Come on and help us save the lumber!"
A couple of dozen men came promptly for
ward. I'he lumberman saw, to his sui-prise,
that the volunteers were almost exclusively
composed of the so-called professional men of
the town. The local officials of the railroad,
a dapper, well dressed set of fellows, com
monly viewed with contemptuous eyes by
the hard-working portion of the population,
presented themselves almost to a man.
The tall form of Judge Cheosoman, a
stiff and somewat aristocratic legal
luminary, loomed up in their midst.
A quiet-looking little real estate agont leaped
upon a pilo of shingles and begun to fling the
bunches down to a German chemist below.
The two rival editors (for the least of New
Mexican villages usually boasts its miniature
newspaperdom), who had exchanged shots on
Ookl av8nue the previous day, glared cordi
ally at, each other along the lengths of the
timbers they undertook to transport to a
place of safety. The laboring population
offered scarcely a representative, save iu the
persons of a few contractors and mechanics,
who had learned to know and like the pleas
ant young lumberman.
The men worked like heroes. Their energy
they let Mm have one good night's rest be
fore turning him out again. When once
more on the desolate plain, wandering
through sags-brush, musquite and sonp-wcod,
it would seem like some strange dream, But
what wnsthisf The stalwart youtift lumber
man, speaking huskily to the doctor:
"And mind, McIahui, do your best. I owe
him more thun I can tell you. Put him hi
good trim to toko the fnreiuaiishlp of my
yam wnen l get stoCKeu up. "
never waned unto , a faint light In tli
began to rival the red glare whlcl
flames, through the medium of the high
atmosphere, cast over the desert plai
nines aroiinu, ana every piece of luuil
rrmovea to ft tare nismnoe. i
Worn and wearied, John Proctor sat down
to rest upon the wheel ef his ownoopvi
linui A m.il.i.1 mI.-.m I . i j . '
t tuMiigv unu WKen plus's
in the ranks of the loungers. Many ( (he
spectators of the night had gone home y re-
iresn tnemselvcs with a nap, andy ,.vo-
uinumw- reijuorcou ny a Suimh,"1K
corps or men woo dm slept through all the
turmoil and excitement. One of these, astonf.
follow with ft big diamond biasing in his shirt
bosom and a mimic beer bottle suspended
from his massive watch chain, was recount
ing his experience, as all peojile revel in. de
tailing their individual inipreMsions ou"".he
occasion of a ili. ;
"You see I was sleeping like a log when
Lizzie caught hold of my shoulder and she
snys; 'Hob, Bob, wake up, I toll you. Tio
sky is all afire and there must be an ecUj,'j
I reached up to see if my pocketbouk was
safe" ? I
The words brought back to John Proctor a
sense of the loss he bad sustaimtd. At that
moment Maxon strolled up, flushed wittv., ei
ertion. Ho had just administered a fJu4
kicking to a couple of young MoxicanJ,
whom he had detected making off with
kg of building hardware.
"Maxon," he said, abruptly, "did that f.
low who got me out last night come out saftf
hlnwirr
"Now I think of it," returned Maxon. "I
went back a minute; but he got out all rig
just as the roof fefl Iu. I thought
moment a piece of falling timber hit hi
he scram Wed off fast ewnigh "
A dread suspicion afild ir i IV ...! a ai-lre atom) m thm h,.k- L,if,,rn, In
hont heart, but he rIM JtSj . r-t-it It l..AirtilHMr 'had sV
all da Jong MtnWiL ! KJJa hMr.l-na th mtrm tr my.
annwVi'ing a tmnis md idle qnestion-sV convenience m relievinr ontiini? and in-
looked betwesn the Bowery and Mott stmot,
but found no trace of their giimn, Two
Italian raj pickers just starting out for their
mural tig's lalsir met them on tutu corner,
and XlmliiNi' new coniaulou axkud I limn If
tliey hiul wwn the trio of whom he was In pur
suit, Th Italians nnintmi to the south with
out a word and went on tJielr way uniu
termtad. The strancur an Xinilnes ran
softlr un Mutt street to Huriuir. and waring
me siuy old vagrant ouriea nis race in the up this i thoroughfare, discerned the throe men
pillow and '"1 ( on the Vldewulk. The old man had sulHcleutly
. - recovered his senses to realize tint uvory
A ' REPORTER'S STORY. Ulingwasiiotr.lngrUiht with him, and he
nan in vtKK1"1 ",,,i,7 nunv uw vnw i'
.. i. Lev
New York Times.
"The night is still young." said limine.
the newspaper reporter, at midnight just
about one year ago, glancing at the nickel
plated alarm clock which rested upon Ids
mantelpiece, partly obscured by numerous
tobacco jars, long-stemmed pipes, mutch
boxes, ink bottles, and similar elegant brio-a
brae. I will go down to Newspaper row and
see if, perchance, the msila have brought me
any checks along with the usual allowance of
tradesmen s bills since the af ternoou."
. Ximines consequently attired himself in his
hat and walking-stick, and fared forth luto
the lamp-lit streets of the great metropolis;
and, deciding that a Third avenue strnetcar,
whose route lay through the Bowery, would
prove the most interesting as well as the
quickest method of reaching the city hall, he
wended his step toward that thoroughfare
and took a ranidlv mnvinir downwunl-honnil
car. The vehicle was crowded with that vari
egated claae of humanity which makes the
pauloiiH wers urging him on by threat und
lurHutudon.
"They're steering him right down Into one
of the worst quarters of the city," inuttortHl
the stranger, "Now I don't bclievo thutw
cnxiks have got the blood to tight, but if they
do you use that walking stick. It's a heavy
one. Ah I you've got a revolver, have you f
he exclaimed, still under his breath, an
XlminwM produced a seveinihooter. "We're
all right, then, I'll knock one of tlumi over,
and if they fight, why, kill 'em, 'eml
The police 'U thank you for It. All ruady,
come on I"
The champion walked slowly down the
street Xlmlnes feeling, It must bo con
fttstwd, slightly nervous at his sldo, and as
they reached the trio, who hod now coins to
a retd struggle on Uie sidewalk, the stout
stronger, without a second's wr mlng, sud
denly struck one of the blacklegs a frightful
bUiw under the ear, which dropped him into
Jhe street, where his head cracked against
the curbstone with a noise like the breaking
or fishing from the ruins various
mementoes of the wreck, thre would
constantly intrude iqion him the,
memory of two greedy, devouring eyos,
peering through a window, a slnuige retreat
into a burning building, and disappearance
into the shadows. When night come it was
necessary for some one to stay and guard the
ruins, for if the wind should rise, some
smouldering piles of lumlier might lie fnniio 1
into a blaze, and the remainder of the st x-k
swept away. Maxon, weary anl hollow-
eyed, offered his services.
"Not a bit of it, Maxon. Go hone to your
wife and babies, I have engaged a man."
Proctor did not add that the watehman he
had engaged was no other than himself, but
when the nwt had gone home, he lemaiiicd
there alone. Seiiaruted as it was from the
rest of the town, by night the place was a
dreary solitude, Once the call of a mocking
bird thrilled in the distance. A fiery sjiai k
miles away over the level plain, developed
into the headlight of the locomotive of the
evening train, which thundered past on ita
way to the depot below. The moon came up
and threw into weird relief the blactemxl
ruins.
John Proctor, who had been slowly paring
to and fro, sat down upon a bunch of shingles,
and buried his face in his hands. Ho knew,
what not even Maxon had guessed, that thin
disaster had wrought his irreparable ruin.
' It would require every cent of the insurance
money to settle his outstanding liabilities,'
for he bad done business on the rush ng
western plan, and had carried a stock out of
all proportion to his capital. If lie could
only have saved that ,000, or if he had not
been so ambitious. Annie had been ready
poor little girl! She had even proposed bring
ing her piano to this raw southern town, and
eking out their income with the result of her
own labors. On one ixiint he was re
solved. Whenever he got square with the
world again, he would put his pride in hi
pocket, and humbly presenting himself 1
fore till) little woman, ak her to share hiii
fortunes, for better or worse. Oh God! how
long would it bel A stifled groan escaped his
Iqw.
Suddenly he rose and stood erect. His
quick ear had caught the sound of some
heavy body slowly moving over the ground.
"Who is therer
A wavering voice replied.
"Only me. Is that you, boss?"
John Proctor bent forward and perceived a
man slowly crawling along in the shadow of
a pile of joists. As the figure emerged into
the moonlight, he saw that the fellow dragged
one leg helplewsly after him. His suspicions
melted oway beneath his natural warmth of
heart.
"Are you hurt."
"Only a falling timber, boss, but the fire
got into my eyes and I CAii't see very well."
He had drawn himself to Proctor's feet and
stopped, turning a little upon his side, his
head propped up with his hand.
lou see when I come through thodoor
something feu against me, and not seeing
you, and not being able to get about very
well, there were so many of them cussed
Mexican thieves about, I was afraid they
might make off with this" holding out a flat
leather book which John Proctor seized with
a glad exclamation. The man went on, talk
ing in an absent way.
"I wouldn't have liked to have you think
ill of me. You're the first man who give me
a chance since I got down. 1 waii't always a
loafer, sir. Y ou spoke of my know ing some
thing about the business, anil to lx sure I
ought, if fifteen years as a 'sorter' in tho
lxconsin lumlier regions can teach a man
anything of lumber. But when my wif'ndied
I struck off out west. It's been hard luck
ever since and my little girl back there
with her grainl-jiaa'iits"
His voice seemed to fail from weakness.
"What have you eaten to-day f asked the
other sharply.
The man answered reluctantly and.almost
in a tone of apology, 1
You see, sir down there among the lum
ber piles how could I!"
John Proctor was a man more given to ac
tion than speech. He addressed the man now
in clear, decided tones.
"Do you think you could hold on to my
back while I carried you down to the hotel"
" Why, sir I It wouldn't bo fit, " .
"Shut upl I'ut your arms around my
neck."
The office and bar-room of the hotel, a
pretentious structure of Eastlako architec
ture, held its utiual quota of rospoctaele loaf
ers, when John I'roctor entered with tlic
uncouth" figure on bis back. A gurgle of
laughter ran through the crowd. The ma
jority fancied the young lumlierman's
brain had been turned by his recent losses,
and that his dementia had taken the form of
a violent development of the wookness with
which ho had hitherto been accredited.
Their laughter suddenly ceased when the
young man went straight to the clerk, say
ing, in clear, ringing tones:
"Give me the best room you Tiave. This
man, who saved my life last night, is badly
hurt. Bomo of you," turning to the idlers,
"go at once for tho surgeon of the Atchison
road. "
A dozen men sprang forward to relieve him
of his bii.vlcn, to help him caiTy the poor fel
low to a comfortable room, where ho was
gently laid upon the bed. Tho sufferer re
ceived those attentions in silence. His dim
eyes stared incredulously about the room,
and into the kindly facos bending over him.
That anything like this should happen tc
him I How lung, would it hull Would
iyry and its lecaliJy lively by night, inso- I ' pane of glass. Before the ojher had re-
n mac mere was no room inside. Aim- I "J-" "ai uau unpixuioa urn rignier or uie
. uianw wrongs was upon Junuiud slibirarail
a rain or such heavy blows Ukii hit head
and neck that he fled aero s the street with
the uunont recipiuttion, while Uie rescued
imtriarch fell against a horso post, threw his
arm about it, and huskily shouted:
"Stand up to hira, Dan! Into him, Joel
Down he goes! Hi, 111, hi!" under tho evident
hallucination that he was attending a prize
fight
The stranger lost not a moment, but selzwl
one of tho old man's arms, and slinking him
roughly, naked: "Say, wherodoyou live!" Tho
old man muttered a mimlior on (irntid street,
near the Knst river, and then having over
come the U'iuirary effect of his excite
ment, ho relapsisl again Intoaconintoss state.
These entire transactions had all occurred in
something like one minute, and by the time
-iiiinub mid the stranger hud taken tho m
triurch's anus and wore leading him tnwunl
tho Flowery, the two crook had regained
their foot nl id (heir senses, and Were follow
ing them with divers imprecation and
threat, casting various stigma usm their
ixirenuigo anil reflection Uki their rtwppctn
bility, and not hesitating to hurl the bur sin
ister in their fin'ea, with blasphemous and ol-so-iie
variations. Finally they held a whis--red
consultation, and then made a
rush, but the sight of XimliHw' revolver
cooled their ardor, and with a thud batch of
curse the cum slunk.off toward their slums.
Ximines and the stranger had the pleasure
of taking the old man liomu and receiving a
Umgue-liihlilng from his daughter, who la
liord under the impression that they hnd
been upon a debauch with her aged parent,
and cmld aeanvly bo restrained from be,'
Bto ing a (mil of water iqion them from an
upir window. This their two coiiHldci'cd
gxl jeke, and they laughed heartily over
Uie matter.
"The old man must have loon quite a sjiort
in til flay," said tho stranger. "Did you
near mm taiK or lnn anil Jim wnen wo were
fighting?" Ho was thinking of the Mace ami
Cobiim prize fight that occurred twenty
years ago, l should think.
un ins new friend Alnilne ex
cbBii'd can, and the two) tolif rftch"T other
something of thoir past lives and
present circumstances. Ximines' new
friend, as he learned, had Isk'H a shipping
clerk with a largo dry goods establishment.
at a comfortable salary until wit bin the Inst
two months, when he had Ihhui token sic-k
and his place bud been filled by some one
else, "Hut l vo got plenty of friends," said
be, "and Wl got something to do very soon
again. The sooner it I tho lmttor, for l'vo
got a wife and tho finest little I y in the
country to rare for, audi never thought of
putting much money in the tuink, Iwcaiwe I
never thought I should lie sick. I've always
lived just about up to my menus. Tho roa
son I hapwn to lie here to-night is Wanse I
went up to see a friend about gutting em
ploy meiit"
Two hi nun after they first met on the street
car Ximlaes and his new acquaintance
parted.
Now all this story is strictly true down to
tho minutest detail, and It Is only related hi
how. that the hero of the talo is a deserving
man. Tho rest of the story indicates how a
deserving man may meet with misfortune
and ill-success dijspito his utmost offorts
nfrainst an iinpliicnlile fnto.
TuofactHalready relnted occurred a year ngo.
Aoouta weea since .villillii hail occasion, on
a tour of olaervatlon, to visit late at night a
Bowery dive. Tlio occupant were for tho
most part of t ho cnmimmplaco of disrepiila
bility, anil low street songs and drunken
mirth resounded on every hand. Ximines,
in looking over tho room, thought he recog
nized a familiar figure in an unkempt indi
vidual who loaned against the wall in nil at
titude of the must abject despair.
"Who is thntl" ho asked of a waiter.
"Don't know his nanio," refilled the menial,
"IIo comes In most every night about this
time. Never s)Hmds a cent. Never drinks
anything. Isever FK-nks to nobody. rWms
to lie kinder down on his luck, don't hoi"
Ximines glanced at the man again nnd sud
denly recognized him us the stout stranger
coming passengers of their watches. On the
platform stood two or three other night bin!,
the one who was nearest Ximines being a
medium-sized man of powerful figure, who
wore a long brown mustache.
At Fourteenth street the car stopped and
the passengers who got on were of so un
usual a description that even the light
fingered gentlemen stared. Three men got
on to the car. Two of them were under ilO,
sleek and well dressed, and of a tyj which
frequenters of the courts would recognize as
being brought to trinl almost weekly on
charges that could never lie proved against
them. The third man was tho one who at
tracted the attention. He was to all apiiear-
ance more than 70 yours of age. He was
bareheaded, his hair was silvery white, and
he was exceedingly drunk. His companions
held him up by each arm, and the patriarch
was so extremely full that ho could scarcely
lift his feet to the car step, whereupon one
of the young men exclaimed savagely;
"sjlankyou! Oct up there!" and gave him
a rough shake. The two younger men of the
three new arrivals exchanged glances with
"soupor fakes, or watch thieves, on the cur
steps, but no word passed between them,
and the ill-assorted trio went into the car,
crowded their way forward, where some one
gave up his seat to the inebriated patriarch,
and he snnk into it and relapsed into uncon
sciousness, closely guarded by his two com
panions. They had ja'nrcely passed inside
when the man who stood next to Xiinlnes on
the platform said to one of the other passen
gers: "Woll, by O , I call that rough. The
crooks are playing it pretty low down when
they ve got to work an old man with white
hair."
There was a murmur of sympathy from
thoso in the vicinity, and one of Uie soujier
fukos remarked threateningly:
"You want to lie pretty careful how you're
talking around here, young feller. Them's
g,Vtleycn, un' that's their old lean they're
a-laie, t awa.n
"WIWs going to mnke me careful how I
talkf'l, demanded the brown-mustnehed
stranger fiercely. "Don't you pay out any
more slack. Those fellows are crooks, I say.
If that, was their fnther would they be winr-
ing bats arid let him go bareheaded? Would
they lie cursing their father to make him
get up the Btepsl Would they be mnking a
holy show of him, drunk, In a streot car,
when they might take him homo in a cab if
he was their father!"
"It's none o' your business, anyway," said
the thief surlily.
"Well, I'll make it my business," said the
stout stranger. "Just wait till we pass a po
liceman." Of course there was no policeman in sight,
and the two car-step thieves dropiwd off at
the Cooper institute to take the next car back
for thoir prey which goes up town from
Fourteenth street early in the morning. The
stout stranger glanced into tho car at tho old
man sleeping in the forward end, and then
remarked to a young mechanic in his best
clothes, who was on his wny homo with bis
"girl" from a picnic at Jonos' wood:
"It goes against my conscience to let those
two crooks get away with an old man like
that, even if he is drunk. Will you stand by
me if I go in there nnd take him away from
them? I wouldn't bo afraid of the two if It
wasn't that you cun never tell how many pals
they've got in the crowd, but we two aro
good for a whole carload of cnxiks!"
"I ve got a woniun on tho enr," said the
young mechanic, "or I'd go iu with you, but
1 don t wunt to git In no row while she s
around."
The stout stranger turned from him con
temptuously and put tho question to another
able-bodied passenger.
I don t want to git cut to pieces in some
body else's light," retorted this individual
with frank cowardice.
Ximines had lieen an interested and admir
ing listener to the stout stranger's champion
siniHt-car, but I couldn't gut a vacancy" on
any of the lines. I know a prominent pill,
liclnn who could l me something to do,
and he promised to- l'VB t hi liouae
twice a day fur the Kist lx weeks, and every
time they've told me h was out. Now ut
night I look for him in Uie hotels, lieglnnlng
at the Hiiiolulr and going up, but I never find
him.
"How I live I don't know, and how lam
going to live I can't Imagine, If It wasn't
for that boy of mine 1 boliovo I'd have com
mitted suicide long ago, nnd I haven't even
HtHiii the little fellow for six liiiinUis. Con
found this light shilling in my eyes I innki
'em water, Hay, could you lend me Just a
trifle of money unt il I get to work I 1!m,ii
my honor I'll uiy it back then; but I haven't
broken my fast to-day, and I Imvon't luul a
square meat since 1 took dinner with an old
friend almost live weeks ago, who didn't
know how low down I'd gu. It seemi hard
that a man willing to work shouldn't bo able
to Hud something to do in a big city like this.
Porhnps you think I don't try, but I give you
my word that 1 have tried every wny I knew
every day for Uio last year. Don't think
hard of mo lierause I ooino to Uiis place. It's
tlis only one 1 know of where they don't kick
a man out if he don't spend money, and If I
stayed up in my little room all alone I'd be
driven to suicide. I've got to be where I can
see jKxiple mole wretched than I am to keep
ins from It, Don't think hard of me be
cause I ask you for money. You'll never
know how hard it Is to have to ask It, and Pd
d! J before I'd beg it lu Uie streot or of any
6ns I didn't know." , k
1 This is a truthful representation of rtnev.
man's predicament a man who was willing
to risk his life to help a 'i fect stranger uu
nhle to earn bread enough to keep liCTuJlve,
thoiifjh he Is Isith willing land able, mid hna
a guarantee of gisxl character and faithful
ness from ono of the most hrtlueutkil firms iu
Uie city.
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
What London Journal Bar Soma
Illograplilcal Notes.
Naples Cor. American Ileglstor.
I havo Imen very much amused iu seeing
an item floating about the American prom,
which has also crept into some of the Ijondon
journals, concerning Jnmea Whiteomb Hiley,
tlie luilliinu s't, "whose humorous and sen
timental verses have made hlin famous."
This quotation is only Just, Iks-hush there aro
few pieUt in America, except James KukncII
Lowell, who have taken up the dialect of one
portkm of tho United Mtate and made it so
plastically sulwrvieut a a pular vehicle
In a metrical wuy, ami who at the am time
have made their murk a true piets. Why I
nm amused ut tho floating item is becatuie It
protend to give in all sincerity a brief bi
ography of the poet, but nothing can be more
erroneous.
Just look at this pen picture, quot-d from
theiifunmnid brief biography : "Ho (Itiley) was
originally a hotel keeja'r. Ho was I sun in
New Bedford, Mims., and there lived formally
year. Hi father wo the captain of a
whuler, but Uio sou never took to the sea.
t'upt, Hiley gave the young man an ample
fortune when ho attained hi majority, and
James invested Uie bulk of it in a hotel,
which ho named the Ocean View house.
Itiley sold his hotel in Uio winter of 17,
Invested his money In Pennsylvania oil, lost
everything and then moved to Indiana to
try farming. Until within tlio last four
year he never wrote a lino of poetry."
If 1 could laugh out loud ou iir I would
do so in t hi letter. In the Unit place James
WhiUMinh Itiley (nnuied after tho late gov
ernor and United Mtnto senator. Jiiines
Whltconil), of Indiana,) never saw New Bed
ford, Maw., but was Isirn of llisler parent
lit Oiwntleld, hid., twenty miles east .yJn-
-dlrtunpoifs. "TV far lioin hi lut.lier luig a
whaler nnd Itiley being brought up within
sight of the briny'he never saw Uie sea at
nil until he wo a quarter of a century old.
Ho never bail any money left him; he never
kept a hotel, and though a fellow of genius, he
couldn't do it, even though ho had a hotel.
He never hud any money to invest in oil, lie
cause ho always struggled for a living, and
did not have any money to Invent lu any
thing. From hia boyhood he wrote vermis,
and good one, too.
In Ml (a year before our Item biography
makes him a hotel kisir) I made hi ac
quaintance in litdlanuoli. 1 do not think
he whs more Uiau UCi. Hi pvti-y luul
already struck my attention, whether it
was in the grave or gay vein. In 1H77 there
traveled all over Uie United HUttes, and aluo
in Knglnud, lines purHirting to lie from I'oa
and from Tennyson. They traveled for a
year unchallenged, until Homo litterateur
seriously undertook to show that while the
verses were like those of tho two masters, yet
they could not be found in t heir works. It
turned out by his own confession that Hiley,
in banter, had written the line without any
Intent Ion of palming them off on the public.
and wviH heartily sorry that they ever got
into print. But his original poem are full
of ixsitiy, whether serious or funny, and h
is equally strong in prose. Iu tho dialectic;
)H'ins, where wi-steriilsms come in, he is an
linppy as JftmesKiissell Lowell in the Yankee
dialect. Ho is ns much to tho point as Bret
Harto or Jobs liny without the proclivities
to profanity that innr somu of their pimms.
Few persons hid his equal iu tho recitation of
funny poems.
MfiTpYtho" VnHontinebriate, and when he who had rem tied the inebriate patriarch from
anf-.od next for his supX)rt, as he had for that
of the other two passengers in righting tho
old man's wrongs, Xhninos promptly agreed
to second his efforts.
"Good!" said the stranger. "Now curliest
Ilan is to get on to the front platform and
wait till they take him off tho car. Then
we'll tackle 'em in the street If they refuse
to give him up there'll be an ambulance call
for one of 'cm anyway."
The interior of the car was crowded with
passengers clinging to the straps, and it took
Xlmineg and tho stout stranger several
minutes to force their way to the front end,
but when they got there tho old man and his
two companions wore gone.
"We'll find him or else hunt all night," sold
the stranger. ' Kuy," be asked of the driver,
"did an old man and two young fellows get
off tlio car only a few minutes ago J"
"Yes," returned the horseman. They got
oft at Broome street. Old fellow boiling full.
Two crooks hanging on to him."
The car hail then almost reached Grand
street, but befnro the driver had finished
the stranger had jumxI from the steps, and
was running back to Broome streot, closely
followed by Ximines. At the corner ho
stopped and gazed down the deserted nnd
gloomy thoroughfare, There were no signs
of the crooks or their victim, and the patri
arch's companion exclaimed to Ximinos:
"Take the left side of the street and open
every doorway. Open 'em quick, and shut
'em quick, and look out for yourself. Thoso
follows aro going to stand the old man np In
some hallway. I'll go down the other side."
The two opened all the doors that were not
i
the two thieves a year lsiforo. He sjxike to
him, and uikjii recalling tho elreuiiintancos
tho stranger remembered him. Ximines no
ticed a great change in his iipmraiice. Ills
buir was unkempt, ho was unsliaven, his
clothes were badly worn, nnd hi shoes wore
almost gone to pieces, Tho two entered into
conversation nnd Ximines asked what he
wns lining for a living.
Tin Vtout stranger hesitated a moment and
giiljiexAilown something very much like a
sob. "ho help mo Ood," ho wiid reverently,
not profanely, "1 have been trying over since
I first saw you to get work, and not a single
day h labor huve I had an npiwrtuiiity to
perform. 1 Is-gnn looking for a clerkship,
and when I hnd tried that without success
for six weeks I cnuio down a grade, and tried
to get a job as a porter. I hnd the best re
commendations from the firm whose employ
I had been in before, but I couldn't get an
opportunity any where. Evory place I went
to they wore full. Home of them I got to
only a day or un hour too Into, but I ul
wnys was too late. I stretched the little
money I had put by, nnd my wife holiod
mo, but it didn't lust long, and, try my best,
I couldn't get a plneo to earn a
cent. At lHt I had to send my wlfo to
live with her mother, nnd my boy to live
with her sister, anil I took a little room by
myself ami sold my furniture at a sacrlllce
to gut money enough to buy myself bread. All
this time I spent every spare hour In the day
lis iking for work und never finding it. My
clothes got so old nnd worn that I didn t pre
sent a decent appoaranoo when I applied fro
a job, and that was against ma. I even cams
down to try and got a position to drive a
From Ireland.
Rays tho lion. Ignatius Donnelly, reported
in Tho Pilot (Boston): "When in congress, a
fow meinlMirs were joking liiealsiut my Irish;
one of them a long fellow, some six feotthrco
high, well 111111111! of nature Hliauks, a clever
fellow from Indiana. Turning to him I
said, 'Whero were you brodf lie com
menceil to laugh, and said, 'My father was
an Irishman and my grandmother was an
Irishwoman.' In the senate there was a mail
from Illinois, with aquiline nose and long
black hair. Time and again lie was
thought to bo descended from lgnn, the In
dian. Chatting familiarly with hlinoiieday
on the street-car I said, 'lien, Logan, what
is your descent)' Ha hesitated. I said:
'Where was your father from!' 'From the
County Monagluin in Ireland.' I thought
this worthy Irishman had married a squaw,
nnd asked: 'Where was vour mother from'
'From tho County Moiiiiglnin, too,' ho said;
und there was my Indian with long black
buir. Iliad reail in the nowspaimi-s of the
Hcoteh ancestry of (ton. Grunt, an once on
the Mississippi! asked his father, 'Whore
nro you fromf He said, 'From Philadelphia.'
'Whore nro yoursiplo fromf 'From the
north of Ireland.' I questioned him further,
nnd found that his grandmother was a Kelly
which Is not a Hcoteh niimo. Governor
Itamsey, of Minnesota, wns published over
the country as a Heotchmnn, of Scutch nnd
(Jeiumn decent. By accident I found that
he was Hwis on Ills mother's side ami hia
father fiiim tlio County Moiiaghaii, tlio same
place my Indian came from."
A Kesiirrortloii Text,
New York Mail and Express.)
The now Old Testament knocks the bottom
out of at least one stuiidard "proof-text"
viz: "In my flesh shall I sue God." The re
vised version has It, "yet out of my Ilosh,"
etc. Those who boliovo in the resurrection
of the Identical body which is buried will have
to look fur a uaw buttress to thoir theory.
"ST
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