Litchfield enquirer., 1876-10-19


 or. I shall be pleased to be the humblest
 of your vassals, and make reverence" :"
 He scanned me curiously for moment,
 half smiled, and then, looking serious
 again. said, ''I trust Miss Brown is not
 laughing at me? A very narrow manor is
 It. The office "e are now i'll is on my
 ground. The depot lot gave to the rail-
 road company, thinking that it might be
 the future nucleus of some cluster of
 buildings. It takes so little to start city "a mere whim, the simplest chance.
 Caprice can do it, spring of running
 water, clay-pit where bricks can be
 made; why, a child born has done this
 wonder. Even fallen tree across a pra-
 ire road. blocking up the path, has in-
 duced men to loiter there, to build q
 shelter of boughs against passing storm,
 and 10 :! city has sprung up from 1t.
 Here, here" and he stamped his foot,
 i've have everything, all ready at hand
 to make city: a noble lake, navigable
 river, fine soil, building material; and yet
 Thor Is nothing, and am the lord of the
 manor y Here I winced little eff it
 was not for ttis position of telegraph
 clerk, l should starve, for have no brains
 for true work P
 was good deal startled at his vehe-
 mence. Possibly, if there had been a
 third person present, might have litter
 ed or giggled in suppressed way. I only
 said, rather at random, "Why not sell out
 one part of the property. in order to im-
 prove the other ?''
 He turned on me instantly, as if I had
 struck him. "What Barter off the few acres left. the place where the old Thor
 forge stood where my father is buried |? Never We once owned all the land from the lake to here. My father had an emigration scheme,-a noble one, and sold most of the land, for mere song, to spectators years ago. The money he re- celved he gave to friend, who was to have gone to Norway. to our own village on the ford; he was to have induced the good peasant folks hip, and to settle here. That agent cheated him. It killed my old father. His was grand, big heart, and 1t was broken. He left me a scared in- heritance, that of following out his wishes. Well" he added with a sigh, ''by thls time, Miss Brown. I trust you have been made quite at home with all the mysteries of Thor. talk this same thing to anybody who will listen to me. I dare say am a very annoying person, and have bored you sadly"
 "On the contrary" l replied, "you huve interested me. There would be something noble in the idea of man as young as you are founding city. That map so neatly drawn in my closet is, 1 suppose, the plan of Thor?'
 ten of them, each one more elaborate than the last. It is great enterprise, an absorbing one, requiring an immense @ of nh t0 which has bearing on the life, health, and happiness of thousands of human be- ings yet unborn" Here MT. Thor again paced up and down the office, as if carried away by the thought. It was then that saw MT. Thor at his best. The head was large and massive. the brow broad and lofty, and the eyes flashed as if fired by some internal inspiration ''It is shai- owy, vague as yet,'' he continued, ''and rests, this plan of mine, on very frail fountain-a poor telegraph station and a tumbledown depot. Young, you say I am ? Why, am almost thirty, and am nothing, like Thor: my forefathers at my age went forth and founded cities p
 Excuse me, MT. Thor" I said, per- haps unfortunately, with that tendency a young woman has. fresh from her books, to air her slender stock of knowledge, cit strikes me, those old vikings were rather prone to-
 'I understand you," he interrupted, "they tore down rather than built up. races, have their rhythmic pe- riods. If they sacked, ravaged and burn ed down in the Old World, they are re- constructing here. But here I am drivel- ing out an existence over this miserable O 0 miss her piano keys, when heavier, more sturdy toll should be mine. Curse all such feeble work ! Sometimes" and here he gave his instrument a contemptuous tiillp with his finger which threatened to smash the ebony buttons, ''sometimes I wish this right hand of mine might shriv- el. What It wants is sledge to wield, some mighty work to do, something to carve and whack. something that would make thews and muscles stand out in ten sion, till they snapped" Just here I stood aghast at his excited manner The man was in an agony, and the expression of his face was terrible The calm, quiet repose about him had all gone. It was not a fume or fret, but as if some pent up geyser of energy had suddenly burst forth; he seemed so shaken to his very heart. As 1 was wondering what would be the next phase of his temper, I was rather pleased that the machine before him commenced working. He seemed to be paying decided attention to the com Suddenly, with an explosion, he cried out, ''That confounded woman at the other end of the line She says some times she cannot make out my messages, md that in case anything should turn up of importance, l had better repeat it. I know her ways :; anything disagreeable about these murdering railroads she al- ways announces in this way. She wants 70 spare'my feelings before breaking the news to me"
 ''It is not surprising. MT. Thor ven- ;ured to remark, "that there should be | some difficulty in deciphering your mes- 'ages, at least in certain of your moods, | when you take delicate telegraphic in- 'trument and convert it into an anvil, us- ng your finger as if it was Thor's mallet."
 He smiled at this, and replied, '.The | old blood. You know the old stories, hen ?''
 Now his machine worked off long mes- 'age. It was an important one, evidently, | Is when he had written it down I heard lim signal to repeat it.
 f1eaSe listen. MISS Brown. The WO- | nan at the other end is nervous and hys- erica', as usual. You might as we'll at once be let into the secrets of these two both of which are shamefully nismanaged. Sometimes, if it were not or promptness and decision on the part 'f the telegraph people, passengers would De murdered in the most wholesale way, ,very day in the week. Be good enough | o put down in pencil what comes. I will all it for you: Smoil to Thor Down rain ffteen-no, ighteen-minutes ahead If time. Kettridge, the engineer, said to ,e intoxicated Or insane. Retain him if possible = If = but = however,. Here like an oath escaped Mir Thor's ips. Excuse me, he cried, ''but the woman is so provoking" Just then the machine began again. and he continued, Thank goodness, some one has pushed Ter aside. and has her instrument now, nd here comes the message, straight. Write it down in ink now, Miss Brown; here will be no corrections to make.'' Ind he called out to me rapidly as fol-