River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-01-11
JOHN AND HETTY.

H.
From the 81. louis Republican.
John Twist stood in his room look
ing out upon the levee, and chuckled
to himself that the weather was so
mild. Circumstances beyond the con-
troll of John Twist had prevented him
from laying in an abundant stock of
coal for the winter, and it was graft
flying to him that he would not be
forced to economic. 1t was abOut
five O'Clock in the afternoon as he
stood there, and finally he forgot about
the weather and the coal and rer aimed
gazing dreamily out over the river,
watching the shadows gather, slowly
hiding the outline of the Illinois
shore and darkening the intervening
eddies until the broad, tossing eXpanse
of water seemed to the man at the
window made up of thousands of
black impS fighting desperately over
something, maybe for possession of
dead man drifting along on the sands
below. Somewhat imaginative was
the man at the window, and on this
occasion more than ordinarily SO. 1t
was the room of working man, but
there were few books about, and
the one lying on chair was open at
LAlC oNOlN VI ~ VII -Nut
worst kind of reading for twilight.
4 rather original fellow, this John
Twist, an honest, somewhat philO-
sOphical and altogether unfortunate
man, with a wien of romance in him.
His real name was not John Twist,
but John something else. The
rough, labOring companions, because
they CHANGED not to know his proper
name, and because of a queer twist he
had in one of his legs, which had been
broken and made him walk with a gro
tesque kind of limp. His age might
have been thirty, and it might have
been thirty-fiye, you couldn't tell by
looking at him.
lie stood at the window watching
the river until it became dark, and
then he sat down in one of the Tickety
chairs the room afforded, and fell to
thinking again. He was mentally CON-
pairing the approaching New Year 'sDay
with such holidays in the past. and the
expression on his face failed to indicate
a satisfactory result. Translated, his
thoughts rambled on somewhat in this
style:
''Ten years isn't a very long period
of time, but there's big difference. l
couldn't reasonably complain of the
outlook ten years ago. | liked the
work on that Minnesota farm and the
prospect, looking forward to the time
when I'd have Iletty and we'd own the
little place alongside her fathers. Not
much Of an ambition but very COM
Portable. Then the miserable quarrel
with Hetty, and the river life, and the
accident gripping me, and then this
kind of eXistence-levee work 1t is
pretty tough Wonder what S become
of lIetty! Married, probably. to some
big-chested fellow, and settled down
alongside the old folks. Well, it's
been bad for me and is bad yet but I'll
face 1t somehow. I'd like tOknOW about
Hetty."
He dropped off to sleep in his chair
and dreamed with double nightmare
power. He thought himself on the
Minnesota farm again on good terms
with IIettie and all the world. Then
various queer things happened. Het-
ty elOped with A. Gordon Pym, in a
light wagon drawn by a BrObdingnag-
ian gOld-bug. lie started holly In pur-
suit, when he was caught up by a huge
bird and carried off, suspended by his
clothing to the North pole, Just as
Uncle Sam is in the pictures on the
sOda-fOuntains. After trouble with
the Polar ears, he got away to Tar
taTy where Kubla Kahn'S great-great-
great-great-g grandson, the Kahn of
krueltusk, consigned him to the yelled
prophet of KhOTasSsan, to be boiled in
a caldrOn of hot pitch. lie got away
again only to fall into difficulty with
two mandaTins in China, FOu Fou and
HaTi-kari. They wanted to cut his
head off for button for the cap of the
great PanjandTum, but he escaped
while they were fighting for the honor
of carrying the button. He fled into
India, and the great GUimgraffin of
EveTsobad gobbled him inStanter.
Again he escaped by marvellous luck.
and was chased for seven days and
nights by company OF thugs all rid
ing BrahminS pickaback. lie crawled
into big cannon on Il big fort for
hiding place. and then there was a
skip of some years until the Prince of
Wales came to India. They touched
of the big cannon 10y way of ce.ebra-
ton, and John Twist was shot back in
to his own room on the levee in mo-
ment. He awOke, cold and cramped.
1t is not difficult to have fantastic
dreams, especially in a chair in room
on the levee. He got up and went to
bed and slept better.