Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-01-14
\ BETTER COUNTRY.


! as mummy on the low bank Of Ram D
Kan, under sycamore tree All its
/ leaves guivered with the storms breath.
I The storm came roaring over hills and
! tramping through woods -blotting out
I twilight and drenching the ground. 1t
! washed Joe Trestle as he had not been
washed for years. Ramp Rum rose to
: the storm as willing child springs to
its mother a.i .Ti-.-'''.i = -''
] Water, we know, is runs foe to ex-
Termination. Water pursued rum
Through Joe Trestie's Jaws, his boots,
Fhis skull. By continued dashes aud
bshocks. it brought him back to the
world. He sat up in broad glare, aud
saw the world as 1t We're on fire. But
instant darkness buried him. he heard
1.-The long, whistled sound of falling trees,
\ the roar of air an1 water, and also, he
thought, a child's cry. .e-g.o.s.
1 Joe, suspected it might be the iudg-
/ ment but being a stolid fellow, he
3clutched the sand and made no remarks.
J If it were the Judgment, he ''didn't feel
! lprepared." But he never expected to
''feel prepared, like less soaked sin
liners. He was altogether vile. There
awas no spot in him whereon character
\ might be started, except a fint desire.
MD and aching somewhere, to he better
= than he was. Joe had staggered past
his best years. At tits period, he MAS
! willing to sell his ancestors tombstones,
his own ears, or even his wife's chignou
vi he had had a, wife-for q satisfae-
tory drink. Boys patroniZed him ON
the streets, and played tricks on him,
when he tucked himself mp like a
cllrysalis under stairway or fence
People looked forward 10 Joe Trestie's
making a morning item by getting
grOuhd under trains or frozen to the
gutter over night, when he could at last
he utilized by the community, and util-
lied TINS: H'See there, my son, Joe
rrestle went to school with me; he was
! bright boy, and everyone expected he
would make his mark. That Is all the
mark Joe Trestle has ever made. What,
is the cause of this? Enm, my son :
drunkenness pr .'o ''
When churches revived their zeal, and
. Christians began to polish their armor,
all denominations seized On Joe Trestle
and tried to reform him. They voted
at elections to license liquor traffic and
/ at ordinary times this victim of 1t was
too mean for their notice; but when
! they turned from business to religion.
: he was in demand He felt ii, and took
. sly pride in being lassoed from all the
pulpits, e1horted and prayed over.
they gave him money and old clothes,
which he spent at saloon backdoors.
Thus they tried to inject life through
, his veins which had never touched him
inwardly. = -
Joe had married avife, and beaten
her with many stripes when the poor
thing could bear it no longer, she crept
from his sight and died. The, knoBl-
edge that he had child, a daughter,
somewhere, touched his brain bat as
she never crossed his way, itwss iostled
aside by the moro pressing afiails of his
business-gettiDg something to drink.
Young IPs&IS,i i;tsp'pfEatss p g Is sSssty tty
pledge faithfully, every week, and was
lure to get out of the ditch to be rein
stated at lodge. But even they, young
and hopeful, gave him up. Joe Trestle
was wreck that could not be recon-
structed. No religion nor respect
tbility could reach him. He must go
his own way, drink his last drink-die
like brute, and go-where? Lord
have mercy on Joe Trestle's soul.
1t was a .child's cry. human and
reaching, SO that it cut across the winds.
Joe stood up in the deluge. He
didn't know just what to do, but bent
on doing something for aid. he put both
fists to his mouth and roared like a
gorilla. r. -.a Oh or. ....' '..-.
Again the child's cry-"Ohi oh -
"Where air We ?" hooted Joe.
But his voice, lacking the sharp tenor
of childhood, was drowned. Wandering
nearer him, came the pitiful wailing-
"Oh ,-oh"
"Maybesthe Bahshee, ths TIE Irin
tell about, "fhonsht Joe, "'dr 6f F6x.s
ghost, what killed himself down il the
crick holler - ....-.. -... ...-..s.-!5
The sky burst and split a broad, awful
glare, in which Joe saw. woods, and
muddy expanse of waters, and shining
earth, forming background for little
girl; who, as she thus saw him, put
Inore'tefror and despair in her crying,
and few blindly against bushes 10 -
"Come yer!' bawled Joe, 81 won't
hurt yel I'm nobody but Joe Trestle
Come yer and tell me what's The mat
ter - ..-.... 1880 i.f-f.... o. -.f. L
Z Strangely, as soon as she heard his
name, the child dropped her fears. She
tyroped and called: Joe groped and
called till she got his hand and stood
with him under the tree.
Another fash revealed her sad-faced
ttild, with hair like rag weed, and dress
OF pauper home-spun. Her eyes were !
lifted to him. She must have seen he !
Sas bloated; unreliable. But her hand
cfutched his she staid her faith and !
safety on his company.
"Was ye.skeert 2si yelled Joe.
eyes, most to death. And couldn't (
git acrost, and she said if didn't git 4
back fore dark, she'd put me in the
house where the crazy folks is ~
"Who said?" -''' -...-
'""Miss Smith, what keeps the poor
house. She sent me on an errant. L 4
lust ran till 1 couldn't breave; and it
turned black and commenced to storm
1 couldn't find the footbridge every /
time I started out where it was, I'd git
into water. Its washed of, and now
now " ever ~ ~ 'iHy W sssres
till after dark J"
Joe was so sober he began to think.
Come back mere bit See If there /,
kin't holler in this tree. Is too And
its a tol'able sized trunk. Crawl in
there, and it'll kind o shield ye from
the wet. Powerful watery spell That's
comf'table, hey ?n u D0iE at 81 a
Its wet in here, but tsin't so chhlc. n
That's better. Now you just take 1t
easy, sissy, Miss Smith or none o them
poor-house red-tspes is goin' to lay a
finger on ye. She never put ye in the |,
: "Yes~ohSh-hT' shhddered the 4.
child. ....-... ....-f 20. Il.
.sWhat for and did 1t skeer ye 2"
"She said it was for sassin' her. She I
was teIlin' man what my father was, |
and 7 said he trasui ,lettheri And