The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-03-04
A BETTER COUNTRY.
by MARY HARTwELb.

BY MARY HARTwELL.
JOE TREsTLE was very drunk. Day
passed over him, and night began to howl
around. while he lay mOtiOnless as num-
my on the low banks Of Ramp Run, under
a sycamore tree. All its leaves quivered
with the storms breath. The storm came
roaring over hills, and tramping through
woods; blotting out twilight and drench-
ing the ground. 1t washed Joe Trestle as
he had not been washed for years. Ramp
Run rose to the storm as q willing child
springs to its mother.
Water, we know, Is runs foe to exter-
mlnahOn. Waser pursued rum through
Joe Irestie 5 Jaws, his boots. his skull.
BY cont nued dasbe and shocks it brought
him Jack 10 the world. lie sat up in
Eroad glare, and saw the world as it were
on fire. But instant darkness buried him.
He heard the long. whistling sound of
falling trees, the roar of air and water, and
also, he thought, a child's crv.
Joe suspected that il might be the judg-
ment; but. being a stolid fellow, he clutch
ed the sand and made no remarks. If it
were the judgment, he "didn't feel pre-
pared" But ne never expected to ''feel
prepared, - like less soaked sinners. He
was altogether vile. There was no spot
in him whereon character might be start
ed, except faint desire, hid and aching
somewhere, TO be better than he was.
Joe had staggered past his best years. AT
this period he was willing TO sell his ances-
tors tombstones, his own ears, or even
his wife's chignOn--if he had a wife-for
satisfactory drink. Boys patroniZed him
on the streets, and played tricks on him,
when he tucked himself up Ikea chrysalis
under stairway or fence. People looked
forward to Joe Trestle's making morn
ing item by getting ground under trains
or frozen TO the gutter over night. when
he could at last be utilized by the commu-
nifty, and utilized thus: See there, my
son, joe Treste went to school with me ;
he was bright boy, and every one eX-
pected he would make his mark. That is
all the mark Joe Trestle has ever made.
What is the cause of this? Rum, my son /;
--drunkennessl p"
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 elect
ions to license liquOr-trafiic; and at ordi-
nary times this victim of il was too mean
for their notice; but when they turned
from business to religion, he was in de-
mand. He felt it, and took a sly pride in
being lassoed from all the pulpits, exhort-
ed and prayed over. They gave him
money and old clothes, which he spent al
saloon back doors. Thus they tried to in
Iect through his veins a life which had
never touched him inwardly.
Joe had married a wife, and beaten her
with many stripes; when the poor thing
could bear il no longer, she crept from
his sight and died. The knowledge that
he had a child, daughter, somewhere
touched his brain but as she never
crossed his way, it was jostled aside by the
more pressing affairs of his business-get'
ting something TO drink.
A Young peoples temperance society
once took Joe in hand. He signed the
pledge faithfully every week, and was surt
TO get out of the ditch to be reinstated al
lodge. But even they, young and hope
full gave MIN no. Joe Trestle WAS s
wreck that could not be reconstructed
No religion nor respectability could reach
him. He must go his own way, drink hl'
last drink-die like a brute, and 60
where? Lord have mercy on Joe Tres
ties soul! E4 EH
Ii soas child's cry, human and reach
ing. 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.
Again the child's cry-''Oh! ohr'
"Where air ye?" booted Joe.
But his voice, lacking the sharp tenor O
coildhooi, was drowned. Wandering
near him, came the pithpl walling-"Oh
oh - -.s-#
<'Mavbe the Banshee, what the Irish tel
about. thought Joe, ''Or old FOX'S ghost
what killed himself down in the crick hol
ler!"
The sky burst and split broad, awfu
glare, in which Joe saw woods, and mud
DIV eNpanses of waters, and shining earth
forming background for little girl; who
rs she thus saw him, put more terror an'
despair in her crying, and few blindl.
against the bushes.
Come yerr' bawled Joe, 81 won
hurt We! Pm nobody but Joe Trestle
Come yer and tell me what's the mai
teri"
Strangely. as soon as she heard his nam
the child dropped her fears. She grope
and called: Joe groped and called; oil sh
got his hand, and stood with him unde
the tree.
Another flash revealed her sad-face
child. with hair like rag-weed. and dres
of pauper homespun. Her eyes WEI
- lifted to him. She must have seen ne wa
bloated: unreliable. But her han
clutched his; she staid her faith and saiet
on his company. .sa-
{" w Us We sketTis NelSu JOS
Yes. most to death. And L couldn
git acroSt, and she said if didn't git bac
fore dark, she'd put me in the hous
where the crazy folks is!"
Z" Who said?'
." Miss Smith, what keeps the poo
house. She sent me on an errant. L jus
run till couldn't breave and If turne
black and commenced TO storm!
couldn't find the foot-bridge; every tim
I started out where IL was, I'd git INT
wafer. It's washed of, and now how'll
ever cit over, and she agoing to put me
fhe crazy-house if j stayed I'LL after dark J
Toe was so sober he began 70 think.
9Come back here a bit. See if thel
ain,t a holler in this tree. Is, tool An
;I,s tol'able-sized trunk. Crawl in ther
an5 it;ll Kind o. shield We from the wet
Powerful watery spelii That's comf'1
s' q Us ms wet in here; but tain't so chilly
= That's better. Now you just take
easy sissy: Miss Smith or none o the
noor-house red-tapes is goin' TO lay n
ger on We. She never put ye IN the Graz
house, did she ?" .,oot,,l
sYes-oh-h-hi" shuddered the chii
\ - IL "a