Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1917 — Page 7

SYNOPSIS Caleb Hunter and his sister Sarah welcome to their home Stephen O’Mara, a and friendless boy, starting from the wilderness to see the city. Stephen O’Mara catches a glimpse of Barbara Allison. The girl is rich. The O'Mara boy falls in love with her. She is ten, he fourteen. wne boy and girl are in a party that go to town. The old people watch with concern the youth’s growing attachment for the girl. Caleb Is much impressed with the boy’s Meas on the moving of timber. He predicts a great future for the lad. O’Mara whips Archibald Wickersham In a boyhood fight over Barbara. She takes Wlckersham’s side, and Stephen leaves for parts unknown, saying, “I’ll come back to you.” Years later the boy returns as a man. He is a contractor. Sarah welcomes him. Barbara is a beautiful woman. O’Mara suspects there is a plot to prevent his successful completion Of a railroad and that Barbara Allison’s father and Wickersham are in it. O’Mara meets Garry Devereau, with whom Barbara’s closest friend is in love. O’Mara starts to reform him. O’Mara meets Barbara Allison on the road. There is a play of words in which Doth seek to conceal their feeling. Wickersham notices that Barbara and fitephen are together a great deal. Miriam Burrell, Barbara’s friend, sees and understands the black rage that shadows his fsz'a. “Then I’ll have to toll you,” he stat ed, ‘‘that I’m smiling in spite of the hopelessness. I’m smiling, even though my throat is aching and my lips pretty dry. "You’ve Jost finished trying to argue my man’s case from your woman’s point of view, one of the hardest, least satisfactory things that could be attempted, no doubt. And if It were possible I know I’d be loving you right now even more than I did before just because you’ve been so entirely unsuccessful at it. Maybe I could straight en out a point or two that must have been not quite clear to you; maybebut I don’t want to argue back at you now. “You say my telling you all I must tell you can’t help my case a little bit. All right; we’ll let it stand like that for the moment. And you say you are going to marry Mr. Wickersham. All right again, but better prophets than either of us have made mistakes before now! If he hadn't forced on me one condition which I would have liked to be different I’d rather have had to mention no other man at all. This Isn't the way I’d have chosen to tell you how much I care. I’d rather have told you a little at a time, but there isn't time for that now. So maybe It'll sound crude to you. I’ve not rehearsed it with any other woman, you see. .And if it does sound that way it .■won’t help me much, either, will it? But you’re going to believe what I say! “You started back a dozen years or. ■so in order to make your explanation Clear. I’m starting there myself so I’ll be sure you understand. You've been grieving because you hurt me—hurt me twice. Will you stop now if I tell you that I wouldn’t-exchange those two—shall we call them wounds —for all the kindnesses of all the other women in the world? I did believe that you didn’t think me good enough that first time. That was why I was cut deeper than you’ll ever know, because I know it was only the truth. T admitted it—remember? I admitted it when I said I was coming back. Well, I’m back now, and I’m still not good enough, and not because I haven’t tried to be, either. I’m just not admitting any man alive could be that. But I’m telling you, too, in the samebreath that the man who takes you •will have to prove hfTte. a whole lot better before I stand aside!” For the first time since he had begun the girl moved. Her head leaped back. She half lifted one’ hand in protest, but the very gladness in his face silenced her.

“My turn,” he reminded her quiz : zically. “You've just finished a rather involved bit of jceasoning concerning the way other women love, a lot of -which I’ll have to confess I didn’t attend as closely as I should have. Perhaps that’s because no man’s method of caring has ever interested me a great deal,, except my own. “I loved 1 you when you were a little bit of a girl—because I loved you! 'And I love you that way now. Your face was the first woman face I ever looked on and—really—saw. And since that first morning it’s been with me—been with me a lot of times when I didn’t have anything else to look up to. I’ve been less hungry for thought of you, less thirsty when the road got pretty long at times. I—l worshiped you. Do you hear? Why, I’ve prayed to you, dumbly, wordlessly, out of black bitterness, when it seemed that any other divinity must be too busy to give any heed to —to the ragged little tad I was. Now, do you think I haven’t known what it was long before this to go on when there wasn't any hope?” He waited. Her breath came in a long and quivering gasp. “I—l don't think that I want to—listen any more.” she faltered. . . His face went white at that and

Then I'll Come Back to You

By Larry Evans

of ONCE TO EVERY MANj

then he was smiling again. “I told you I’d have chosen to tell you differently”—the drawling gentleness was unaltered—“but I’ll have to finish this way now. There may not be many chances for me to speak, for Iwe come back to you almost too late. And I don’t want to hurt you. Why, I’m going to keep the laughter in your eyes and heart as long as you live, for I thought it would be a woman I'd find when I came back, and I’ve found you still a girl—all save in those moments when you’ve Seemed half boy to me. And that is strange, too, isn't it—strange that I never knew how much I wanted you to be like that until you taught me the wonder of it yourself? My eyes are stinging. I don’t talk quite plainly. My throat is too tight for easy speech, for it’s just the old wonder of you after all—just the same —reverence, isn’t it? I’ll never let you grow up now. You’ll have to stay girl —bov —all the rest of your life! I’ve learned to be fairly sure of myself, but' I’m not asking to be sure of you yet. I’d never want to be too sure of you' unless all the rest of my whole world had come tumbling down. And then—then I’d need to know always that I could stake my soul on your keeping faith. I’d want to know that I could reach out and find your hand searching for mine in the dark. Your face was the first, girl—it’s been the only one. It’ll be the last thing I’ll see the last moment there is sight in my eves’” His slow, infinitely gentle voice stopped. He sat head up before her. Then silently they mounted their horses and rode toward the town. She rode with wide eyes fastened upon his face; rode with lips parted, all else submerged in that wonder which quickened her breath. Once she leaned toward him as if to speak and then shook her head at the inadequacy of the words. They topped the last rise in the dusty, winding road and raised the river basin and the town itself in that long period of silence. There once more she checked the roan mare. * Quite on a mutual impulse they clasped hands and looked into each other’s eyes—quite unnecessarily it may have appeared to the small group on the veranda of the stucco and timber place halfway down the slope between them and town—and there on the crest of the hill, suddenly conscious of those eyes, the girl drew back as swiftly as she had swung toward him. “What in the world will they think?” she breathed. “I've been gone since daybreak without saying a word that I was going. And it must be noon by now.. Come—no, don't hurry! It's too late to hurry now!" Her chin came up; the line of her lips lost.its soft fullness. It was his hot face which made her aware of how surely her imperiously quick orders had stung him. Then she was back, knee to knee, at his side. “That wasn't Yair,” she said. “That was most unfair to ine.. You didn't think, did you, that I” — His interruption surprised her. “If I shouldn't inquire,” he asked, “will yo„u please tell me and forget I asked the question? May I know when you—you and Mr. Wickershain are to be”— Barbara’s face went slowly crimson, flushed to the nape bf her neck. “It's not a certainty yet, the date,” she answered kindly—“just late in the spring, I think." He nodded. Again she knew bow wholly unreadable his eyes could be. “Late in the spring,” he repeated so softly that he might have been talking to himself. “Late in the spring I’ll have two time limits run out on me.” Wickersham himself was coming across the lawn to meet them when they drew rein at the head of the driveway. Just as Miriam Burrell, with a studied deliberation that matched that of the tall figure ahead of her-, in turn detached herself from the throng and came down the steps Barbara’s eyes raised to Steve’s. Stfle did not stop to reason it. She couldn’t have made it sound reasonable had she tried, but she did not want-those two to meet again, just then —those two whose boyhood quarrel had centered about herself. “Won’t you keep Ragtime until you come back to Uncle Cal’s tonight?” she asked. “I’ve kept you loitering for hours and hours on the way. But it will save you a little time.” And this time Steve understood. He podded in reply. “Not a chance?” he asked her quietly. “Not a chance?" She was wheeling the roan. “Not a chance!” she whispered. “Not a chance in the world! But we— Mr. Elliott promised to show us the works this afternoon,” she added in the next breath. “Can you—do you suppose you can come?” And then as she turned the mare and went skimming up the drive toward the stable she wondered why he laughed. In his turn Steve set Ragtime's head

“It’s not a certainty yet, the date,” she answered kindly.

toward the town in the valley. And therefore he did not see that Archibald Wickersham was left standing alone a moment in the middle of the lawn. But Miriam Burrell saw and" understood the black rage that shadowed his face. Long before then she had penetrated_to the layer of vanity l iteneath his air of boredom. More than once she had used that knowledge maliciously to stir him. And she knew how unending could be his hatred for any one who had ever made him appear ridiculous. (To be continued.)

THE PEOPLE FIRST

Years ago, when Commodore Vanderbilt was remonstrated with about how he was running his railroads, he said to the reporter who was questioning him, “The public be damned.” He was running his railroads. Since then the railroads have come a long way and can no longer raise their freight rate a cent without someone’s permission, and if they favor one shipper at the expense of another they run against a criminal law that is more drastic than that for stealing horses. In other words, the public may “be damned,” but it will not stay damned if it finds it out. What better hold has a farmer on his land than old Commodore Vanderbilt had on his railroads back in the 80’s? The railroad men had created something new that had not been in existence when they began, and were an absolute necessity to modern civilization, but farm lands existed by the will of God millions of years before the present owners squatted on them. In the old country the ownership having passed into the hands of the descendants of the king’s favorites of long dgo, the tenants have about as firm a hold on the land by their laws as our owners have. The American farmer is up against the same proposition for the future as the railroad men were when the regulation of their properties by the government began. As long as they are kept contented and well fed the public will let them “damn” it to their hearts’ content, but let the farmers fail in their duty and function and there is no telling what the public may do to them. No doubt the first and popular move would be higher taxes to compel the larger owners to sell the land they could not thoroughly cultivate. We keep hearing of these farmers who object to this agitation for bigger crops. “Just a scheme to let the city people live cheap,” one man expresses it, forgetting that the American farmer must not only feed America but millions of the people of Europe; that he does not own his farm, even though he has a warranty deed and no mortgage; this is a protection only against some other individual taking it away from him, ' for the government which can deprive him of his very life in defense of the common good, can commandeer his property, and compel any man to do its bidding; therefore if farmers imitate old Commodore Vanderbilt and tell the public "to be damned” some day they will pay the price.

RESCIND ORANGE JUDD OFFER

The Democrat’s low clubbing rates with the Orange Judd Farmer has been withdrawn by that publication, because of a recent ruling of the postoffice department, and we can take no more subscriptions for it at less than 60 cents. Please bear this in mind when sending in a renewal for The Democrat and Orange Judd. This withdrawal of special rates also applies to the Woman’s World.

PROTECT YOUR BUILDINGS FROM

LIGHTNING by having them properly rodded. Sixteen years’ experience in w the business and never have had a building damaged from lightning that I rodded. Best and heaviest rods used. Call and see me or ’phone 135 or 568.—F. A, BICKNELD, Rensselaer, Indiana. ts

Crows Holding Their Own.

There has been hostility between the farmers and the crows ever since there were farmers in New England, bpt the number of crows, so far as .anyone knows, has not decreased. They are efficient, they are able to care for themselves and are likely to hold their own, no matter how much the population may increase. More than that, despite the severity of winter, each crow looks sleek and well-fed, perfectly at home and contented with its surroundings. The English sparrows and the starlings may seek shelter during severe wehther, but, no matter how cold or stormy it may be, one finds the crow doing business as usual. If the quail and ruffed grouse were as hardy and intelligent and possessed with an equally catholic taste for food, a whole volume of game laws might be done away with.

Spacious Mansion.

The visitor from Manhattan had been talking of the size of some of the millionaires’ palaces on Long island; but when in the course of his tour he was brought to a certain castle in Warwickshire he admitted that it was “a fair size.” “A fair size,” echoed his guide, who was feeling a little tired of the Yankees depreciation of everything that was not American. “A fair size? I should say it was! Why, you can’t tell how big it is from the outside! Wait till you get Inside. There are so many rooms and cellars and corridors in that house, sir, that the visitors get lost in it when they go for the first time, and the duke keeps a pack of trained bloodhounds to track ’em down and chase ’em back to the dining room in time for dinner!” —Reheboth Sunday Herald.

First to Adopt Conscription.

Switzerland was the first European country to adopt universal military service. The original founders of the Swiss confederation enacted that whoever shirked military training was declared “devoid of honor and perjured,” and his house was vowed to destruction. Should a man summoned to .take part in a military expedition prove unable to respond, owing to illness or some other valid reason, he had to furnish a capable substitute at his own expense. From the earliest days of the confederation, too, the military authorities made special provisions for tending the wounded.

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CAP ' u &jncl BELLS O& OS SwW

WAS NOT A VIVISECTIONIST

Humane Father Tells Suitor He Is Not Willing to Dispose of Daughter In Sections. “Mr. Stonerfellow,'’ said the young man with the high collar and noisy tie, “I —er —called to ask for the hand of your daughter in marriage, and — “What!" interrupted the stern parent, “didT understand you to say you wanted the hand of my daughter for matrimonial purposes?” “That is what I said, sir,” replied the love-18rn youngster. “Well,” continued the humane father, “I don’t care to dispose of her in sections —besides I fail to particular use her hand would be to you anyway; but if you are willing to take the entire girl, why, I haven’t any objections.”

Rather Poor Showing.

“I understand Mr. Dubwaite has announced for another office.” “He seems determined to keep running until he gets one.” “Yes, but Mrs. Dubwaite says she is out of patience.” “Why so?” “She says a man who has been running for office as long and as hard as Mr. Dubwaite has ought to have something more to show for it than a pile of unpaid printing bills.”

Not at All Surprising.

“Since the Twobble girls returned from a finishing school they find the society of Mr. Twobble rather irksome.’*

“He’s not polished enough for them, eh?” * “That’s about the situation. It seems that while he was teaming the coal business from A to Z he failed to acquire a superficial knowledge of French and a taste for grand opera.”

Must Be Old.

A "How old would you say he is?” “About seventy/J “Don’t be ridiculous. He can’t be a dfiy-over “Ho certainly is. No woman could tame a man as well as ho Is tamed unless she had at least 50 years to do it in.” ’ '

Twas Ever Thus.

“How about that wedding check, your father-in-law gave you?” asked the friend, “Was it good?” “Certainly,” replied the benedict. “It’s the unexpected that happens, you know.”

Blissful Ignorance.

The Girl—You gay that Miss Padda and Jack Pott are going to be married. Why, I didn’t know they knew each other. The Cynic—They don’t. That’s why they are going to be married.

A HOT ONE. - ** 1 " I i I It t \\ AV’flK az* - *." 11 Uglymug—My wife was awfully nearsighted when she married me. Kutter —She must have been. Recollections of Childhood. “Why did you get up and give that lady your seat?” “Well, ma’am, ever since I was a boy it mo to see a woman with a strap in her hand.” —Burr. ■■ A new supply of vegetable parchment butter wrappers just received at The Democrat office, 30c per 100.