Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1919 — Knights of the Road [ARTICLE]

Knights of the Road

By ALGER CHAPMAN

tOwvricht, IMA Wwtara *)•*•*•»•» UalM.) “You never knew a tramp printer who was not a compendium of accurate general information, with the bump of intellectuality way beyond normal development," Thus Bart Newby believed and demonstrated, although he was no longer the happy-go-tucky type, with no earthly possession beside his rule. At twenty he had taken the road, at thirty he had struck'Alton. After he had begun his task on the little country weekly, edited and published by Daniel Bros?, he' never missed a day of steady work. He had known Bross five years previous, In fact, both had been traveling typos. They itad drifted aprfrt' and now Bart catne upon his old side partner . upon quite a contrasting status to that of the meandering printer of jere. Bross hnd struck luck, he told Bart. He had come luto Alton ragged, hungry, penniless. ,The publisher of the local puper had Just died. His widow was In a quandary. Bross braced up and showed his ability. He settled down, was given entire charge of the Index, and within a year wedded the plump, genial-na-tured relict of his immediate predecessor. Bross welcomed Bart with an ardor that was almost suspicious to Bart until he understood the situation. He invited Bart up to the house, and a very pretty home it was. Its mistress at once captivated Bart with her smiling ways. There were two healthy, well-behaved children. When they got back to the office Bross took Bart to * little rear room. It had a couch and a Jug. To the latter Bross called immediate attention. ‘‘You'll always find it full.” Bross told his restored friend. ‘‘When you get top heavy, there’s the lounge." "I’ve cut out the booze long ago, Bross,” declared Bart. “You don t mean to tell me you’re sticking to It with such a layout as this?” Bross only blinked in a maudlin way, partook freely of the content* of the Jug Bart went to work for the Index and within a week realized that his employer was a sot and a spendthrift and was fast dissipating the fortune of his trusting and generous wife. About a year after Bart had come to Alton, Dan Bross went on a fishing trip with some reckless companions, and he and one of the others were drowned in an upset. Then the true sfate of affairs came to the surface. Bross was In debt to everybody, the office equipment mortgaged, the paper on a losing basis, and Mrs. Bross had to borrow on her little home to forestall the seizure of the printing plant. “Mrs. Bross,” said Bart seriously. “It’s time for you to sell out at a loss or have the business run right. Bross was my friend and I liked him; you are his widow and I respect you. My year of settling down has cured me of roving. Give me my l >ard and lodging, a free hand in running the paper, and I’ll consider myself bound to John Company until I put the paper and your property where it ought to be.” “You are a good, true man,” answered Mrs. Bross with emotion. “I trust you wholly and I am glad to place the business entirely In your hands.” Then began work, real work, hard work, at times a most discouraging work for Bart. He turned many a crowding corner, he barely kept the bills paid up. Progress was slow. It was nearly a year after Bart had Inaugurated his system of reconstruction tbat a fragile, almost girl-faced youth, looking travel worn and hungry, applied for work. Bart hired no help—being editor, compositor and his own errand boy. youth announced himself as Ned TrMfcur, homeless and friendless, asketf only shelter and food for his services, and Bart took him on. There never was a more willing and faithful helper. Ned slept at the office, he ate at a cheap restaurant near by, he entered heart and soul Into earning his way. One day a few months Inter an old tramp printer came into the office. He was on his way to a town where work awaited him and askpd Bart to stake him for car fare. Bart did so. Just then Ned passed through the room. •Bart’s visitor stared at him hard and steadily. “Where did you get that girl?” he blurted out. i “Tliat girl Is a hoy. What are you muddling 41 bout?” "That hoy Is a girl, you mean,” asserted the other. “I know her from her picture. It was as common as her story In the town she came front, Site ran away from home because her rich father wanted her to marry a man she disliked. The unwelcome suitor Is dead and her father Is scouring the country for her.” Bart said nothing to the disguised Ned, but lie investigated. It was a month after Netta Boyd had * gone hack to wealth and her repentant father that a letter reached Bart. It read: , • “Dear Kind Friend:—You once sal«J that with three thousand dollars you could put your business on its feet. 1 inclose the amount. Do It,” Bart told Mrs. Bross. He told her, too, how he had loved her right along. In marriage and in a business way they became life partners, and the In* dex blossomed forth iuto a triweekly publication. *-