Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1877-05-03

We, Miss! Look at his swate,
i odist face-a-blushin' like your own,
Hiss. All! look at him, will yc? He'll
be denyin' of it in a minit-may the
bicssin' Nv God folly him. Look at him,
Miss! All, but its a swate pair ye'd make!
1.-The rascal knew / was q married man.)
All, Miss, if We could see him wroightin'
day and night with such an illigant hand
of his own-hc had evidently believed
from the gossip Of my servants that l was
q professor Of chirography)-if ye could
see him, Miss, as l have, yed he proud Of
him."
He stopped out of breath. 1 was so
completely astoundedI could say nothing;
the tremendous indictment I had framed
to utter az l opened the door vanished
completely. And as the Most Beautiful
Eyes on the Wur-ruld turned gratefully to
mine-well-
l still retained enough principle to ask
the ladies to withdraw, while I would
take upon myself the duty of examin-
ing into the case of my friend, the
Tramp, and giving him such relief as was
required. I did not know until after
ward, however, that the rascal had al
ready despoiled their scant purses of
$3.5O.) When the door was closed upon
them I turned upon him.
You internal rascal!"
"Ah, Captain, and would ye be refusin'
me 4 carrakther and me givin' ye such a
one as Oh did? God save us! but if ye'd
hav' seen the LUX that the purity one give
We. Well, before the chills and faver
bruk me spirits entirely, when I was a
young man, and maxim me tin dollars a
week brick maxim, its meself that wud
huv given"
Il consider" l broke in, " that a dollar
is a fair price for your story, and I shall
have to take it all back and expose you
before the next twenty -four hours, / think
you had better hasten to Milwaukee, New
York, or Louisiana"
I handed him the dollar. "Mind
don't want to see your face again."
"Yc wun't, Captain"
And I did not.
But it so CHANGED that later in the sea-
son, when the migratory inhabitants had
flown to their hot air registers in Boston
and Providence, I breakfasted with one
! who had fingered. It was a certain Bos-
ton lawyer-replete with honesty, princi-
pie, self-disciplinc, statistics, aesthetics,
and a perfect consciousness Of possessing
all these virtues, and a full recognition Of
their market values. I think he tolerated
me as a sort Of foreigner, gently but IL
~ waving all argument on any topic, fire.
quently distrusting my facts, generally my
deductions, and always my ideas. Ir
conversation he always appeared to de-:
staircase, and always delivered his conclu.
sions over the balusters.
I had been speaking Of my friend, the
Tramp. "Therc is but one way of treat
ing that class of impostcrs; it is simply tc
recognize the fact that the law calls him 8
'vagrant,' and makes his trade a misde.
meanor. Any sentiment on the other side
renders YOU particePes criminis. 1 don'
know but m action would lie against yor
tor encouraging tramps. Now, l have ar
cficatious way Of dealing with those gen.
try" He rose and took adouble- barreled
fowling piece from the chimney. "Wher
q tramp appears on my property, l war;
him OIL: If he persists, I fire on him
just as I would on any criminal tres
passer."
Fire on him% I echoed, in alarm.
"Yes-bm wiM poaoder only! OF
course he doesn't know that. But he
doesn't come back"
1t struck m for the first time that
possibly many other of my friends argu.
ments might be only blank cartridges,
and used to brighten off other trespassing
intellects.
"Of course, if the Tramp still persisted
I would he justified in using shot. Last
evening l had a visit from one. He was
coming over the ws1keGMy shotgun was
efficacious; you sfle1ld have seen him
run!'
1t was useless to argue with so positive
q mind, and I dropped the subject.
After breakfast l strolled over the downs,
my friend promising to Join me as o
as he arranged some household business.
1t was a lovely, peaceful morning, not
unlike the day when I first met my friend
the Tramp. The hush of a great Bene-
dlctlon lay on land and sea. A few
white sails twinkled afar, but sleepilv-
n or two large ships were creeping in
,.zily-like friend the Tramp. A voice
behind me started me.
My host had rejoined me. His face
however, looked a little troubled.
II just now learned something of i'm.
portance," he began; " it appears that with
all my precautions that Tramp has visited
my kitchen and the servants have enter
tanned him. Yesterday morning, it an.
pears, while l was absent he had the au.
dacity to borrow my gun to "a duck
shooting. At the end of two or three
hours he returned with two duck and
the gum"
"1hat was, at least, honest.n
"Yet-but! That fool Of q girl saw,
that, as he handed back the. gun, he toli
her it was all right, and that he had load
ed it up again to . ' the master trou
ble."
I think I showed my concern in m,
face, for he added, hastily, ut was onls
duck shot-a few wouldn't hurt him. n
Nevertheless, we both walked. on in 81
lencc for q moment.
II thought the gun kicked q little" h,
SAL, nS3, At last, mrsing,y; but the idea Of
He had stopped before the hollow
where ! had first seen my Tramp. It W
deserted, but on tho moses there wer
spots Of blood and fragments Of IN d,