The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1872-12-12

paniment of laugh.
stBut where is Benz"
"Ohi he lost one of the checks for the
largest trunk, believe, and those stupid
baggage-people would make difficulty.
So he sent US before him. Here he
comes" as Ben, tall and thin as ever, and
with the usual appearance of having just
been blown by violent wind into an ex-
cited good -humor, came in.
"God bless you, bovs" selling the old
doctors hand and mine. I melted at the
first touch. There certainly never was a
fellow as gentle and genuine as Pulley.
Melicent, when he turned to her, gave
him a motherly kiss. Her keen eyes had
seen already the patches on his coat, and
was, were still perspiring in their winter
clothes. The water stood in her eyes,
with all their keenness.
"Now, could anything be better than
this?" cried Ben, flinging hat and valise
in one corner 'tAll here together once
more! l had no hope of seeing the doctor
| tonight. l tell you, doctor, that offer of
yours was the plank to the drowning man.
[ had well-nigh gone under. And you're
just at supper! We're always just in
time, Sue. Here Joe, and Jim, and Mol
ly," ticking them off with enormous slices
of bread and jam. We're all half-starV
ed-forgot somehow to bring lunch"
''What about the lost trunk?" interpos-
ed Melicent
s'Ohl it will turn up some time. put
the matter into the hands of cabman
down there, an honest, reliable fellow. |
couldn't stay all night. What became of
the check is the mystery. | did not put
it in the unlucky pocket, Sue"
His wife laughed, giving the baby
lump of sugar.
sfEh? HoW's that Pilley?"
GA pocket of mine, out of which moth
ing comes at the right season. Cost US
dear, though, lately. You heard of the
chance l lost in A-College? No? Va
cant chair of astronomy and natural
sciences. Why, Saul,'' energetically,
their observatory l consider equal to
that of any in the country. They've one
lens there which man would give years
of his life for the chance of using"
"Was the professorship offered you ?"
Eyes. The most absurd mistake The
trustees wrote to me, making the propo-
sition, and of course 1 accepted. 1t was
just after / closed my school. / put my
letter in this pocket. No, 1 did not
neglect to send it, but when l did for
got to put stamp on it. 1t was too bad,
too bad p growing serious. They
waited until their patience gave out, and
then Boehm, a German from Bonn, was
pus' d in by his frieads A month af-
tel ard my letter came out of our village
post-off1ce quite clean and fresh"
''The salary was large, I suppose ?'
eyes. But one can make money any
where. But such a lens"
"When will your furniture be here,
Susy 81 said Melicent, to break the awk-
ward pause.
Ben and his wife glanced at each other
and laughed.
"To tell the truth, we have none," said
Susy. Ben being out of work of any
sort for SO long-you understand. It's
all gone somehow"
"Oh we'll soon bring few traps to-
gether," said Ben, rising from the table.
"Well, boys, / am delighted to be with
you once more. I've been anxious to find
out what you think of Darwin's last step,
eh ?"
Twas obliged to leave home next morn
ing for a couple of days, and when 1
returned the Pilleys were established in
No. 800.
"We will drop in and look at them,'
said Saul, who had come to the depot to
meet me. When we reached the door,
the sound of the violin met US. The
floors were carpetless. The furniture
consisted Of half a dozen chairs, table and
iron bedsteads. But the windows were
flung wide open to admit the balmy
evening air. And the children in their
winter clothes tumbled over each other
in and out, while Ben fddled, and his
wife, soft and sweet as a May rose. sat
placidly beside him.
4" But | am more and more in love
every day with your Pontefract Woods"
said Ben, after the first welcome was
over. "Stifled? Not q bit of it! There's
something vitalizing in the very pressure
of human life about you. It's stimu-
liant. Wing, at home you know how
used to creep out of work and be off to
the woods half the time. I could not
help it, Lathrop. Nature had her grip
on me. But here. when thousand or
more of us men set off TO our labors in the
morning, l feel quite as though I were
marching in an army. 1 keep step with
humanity, eh?"
"What about the work when you reach
the Officer"
"Ohl it's mere bagatelle," indiffer-
emily. "Plenty of time for study. I've
found a treatise of Van Schurz, by the
way, in the Philadelphia Library that
I've wanted for years."
What do you Think" said Saul anX-
iously, after we had gone out.
"As did at first. IL was mistake"
'They would have starved if I had not
brought him here"
Better for a man to starve than to at
tempt any other work than his own.
There is SO much force wasted. Either
the man or the work ends in RUM
Very good in theory. But what about
the starving wife and children? Besides"
continued Saul, when he found l had
nothing to say, "the chief of Ben's de-
partment tells me that the work is, as he
says, a mere bagatelle to him. Pulley is
no dreaming book-worm after all, but a
man of sound ability and large grasp of
thought"
l said no more, having certainly no
right to interfere. But the belief was an
old one with me, that every mastery work
man in the world is fitted by God for an
especial task, and quits it ct his peril for
any consideration of comfort or even life.
Looking back at Ben's story through the
horror that darkened it, the belief has
deepened into superstition.
had no opportunity of noting how he
performed his duties until month or.two
later, when l went, one day, ont to sub
urban station on the road to meet Nell
cent, who, with the baby, had been down
in Maryland for week. She had tele-
graphed me to expect her on the 40 D.
m. express train from Baltimore, and I
went out an hour before. l found Ben
pacing up and down the little platform,
| with no other duty in life, apparently,
but IT., r lo - 81