Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1877-06-09

with terrible avidity that appalled, even
..Sandy" the freckled barkeeper, who
was making atortune selling adulterated
whiskey by the glass.
"Dont tackle s'much ter onct, Ham.
1 ,gnan.1 he used 90 say,in lconsterpation,
4 when the drliiksrd would gulp al tum-
berful at a draughL at III fetch yer pow
7 erful sudden eff you do"
But Hamman would only growl out q
savage oath, and call for another drink
whenever he had another quarter, so
Sandy gave up warning him and took
his money with stolid Indifference. And
the miserable customer kept on with
,..sT9 his purposeless life, hiding, no one knew
slkt14 where &C night, jdrinkipg always, Hight
ling frequently, and working occasional
y. Never sober, never civil, never clean,
soSs-l and never, apparently, caring in the least
Tor anything IN the world. iilfi'f % el'ilef
And vet ne did care, keenly. There
was proud, delicate, beautiful woman
q - Snlne-tenths Of herlife to tavespeht the
other tenth with him. sharing even his
degradation SD she could comfort him
with her love; and he aknew that, and
cared sii f.i tHsa1rg y. g. 'oas'1 q ~. ?
And he had stood on the very thresh-
old OF fame and fortune, and had
felt his pulse tingle with rapture at the
thunders of applause that more than one
audience had given him. He once had
Tile tdleuG 10 nave SOuc OIL anu Ol, lIOnl
triumph to triumph till his name would
have been honOred in his profession; and
he knew that, and cared.
And there was a pale. worn. faded
woman who sat with his child at her
US knee, stitching at slop work TO keep that
child alive, and cursiig with bitter curses
- - from the depth of womanhood,r the day
sas when she had married him; and he knew
fi that, and cared. Ia
And there was black. shameful en-
.4I 81 try on the record OF the New York zpo-
lice and set opposite his name and de
scription and photograph, and a reward
was offered for him; and he knew all
this, an cared. tteaesrd ~ 1Hs -
~ .8 Not enough to take him back. Not
a5 enough to awaken any hope OF building
j go zap his life anew, or of making his once
brilliant intellect useful. That time was
gone-gone forever-but lie cared
enough to make him long<sror forgetful-
s.,. t.e
why did he not kill himself?7 you
i will naturally ask. He didat the last
1fH although il was not suspected, but he
put it off for weary time out OF the Gu
rious philosophical turn OF his mind that
interested his intellect in the workings
OF his own misery.
i rs, ~ knew man years ago who burnt
Il himself severely, not once, but dozen
times, simply because he was interested
i'm the kind of pain 1t engendered-not be-
haft a cause he enjoyed It,. At least he said so,
,lrE and he was truthful and sane in other
respects, SO / could not doubt it, And
Frank Hamman was such man.s'.oi u
aau9 So, month after month, he lived on,
a' with no joy and only one interest. which
irs isI was the study oil his own capacity for
suffering. Drunk, day after day, almost
week after week, on vile fluid that he
loathed even while he poured it down
his reluctant throat; associating. quar-
= 49,, reling and fighting with the degraded
L hoi, wi n iqcf
beyond glass of Sandy's liquor, and no
duty beyond the procuring of their own
gasm bare Subsistence, this once proud gentle
: ha'ps man dragged out his existence viler than
-, - anything he could have dreamed OF an
1isi E0iorher man in the years gone by. 60
The River Bell' came down one. Sum
3W lie day afternoon, bringing an extra large
'ssmn1i consignment of lumber for some mis-
guided speculator who misled bya few
.a.sis days of unwonted liveliness of business
Esd in the little town, was about to erect halt
dozen cottages. The mate OF the '.Riyer
astizl BelI' was anxious to get the lumber off
aaf in a hurry, as the "Pridc of the West"
was only half an hour behind, and there
was likely TO be a race between the two
~ boats from Brownsville to Dubuque. So
in'g five minutes from the time
the "River Bellies head line was made
,. fast to the gnarled stump that did duty
assfl as Spite, every rouster in brownsville
was working for dear life. A dollar
fe,,. apiece they were paid for their Jealous
-asi4s services, and they stood cheering on the
old pier, when, just as the pride Of the
aha West" came down, the River Bellies"
.huat nose swung OUT into the stream, and a
hoarse challenge from her steam pipe
awOke the echoes. aBia W
The two boats were soon out of sight,
and the rousters each .clutching his dol
.,, lar, slOuched OFT toward Sandy's rough
board shanty, Hamman among the first.
s. There had been no work, and consequent
refi ly very little whisky for nearly week,
and there was enough money in the
crowd now e. insure carouse, with a
~ fight at the end of it, that night
The caronse came, and the fight, and
a. lit was toward daylight when Frank
80 go Hamman staggered away from the sa-
g loon. as IL was called, bruised with igno-
bic blows and maudlin with drink, and
q. with much effort picked bis devious way
toward the Tuinous shed wnere ne mad
what served him for bed. Throwing
himself down, he lay all day In sleep
,1 that was half stupor, and only reused
himself when the stars were again Shin
ing III aclea1hutumnal light
ne arose and staggered OUT. weak
f ana SICK from his debauch, he sought
Win sremphng hands through his tat
tered pockets for the price of another
,;st n, anu ,a'iing to find 1t, turned back
s win an OATH and again lay down on bis
r,-rsl .-<1I 10y. ne iay snere, his head thrObbing
gsan pam his memory went back to his
Jsrjin@ of fond ms n saw himself the spoiled
their old age, He saw the bow. oro row. mo- =,
up, the pride of the village, the rSss vMs
brightest boy In the place He sa,r -
as4 boy change to the youth, HANDSOME . and
gifted-the ring-leader In collage scran n..s
and the best scholar in the 1nivarS;tr,'
He heard sgain1 the ringing plandifs s ~
his classmates and friends as he delivered al
the valrdictory Oration,i and he saw the
soft flush of pleasure and pride that man
tied the cheek Of one, the fairest one in