Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1878-03-12


rumpled leather pooket-book, and took
from it faded sprig of cedar. and hand
ing it to me, SAID, with that CLASSY, cyni-
cal smile had seen so often: There :
rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray
you. love, remember" Then he told me
Isabel had given it to him once. standing
by the gate, and that he had carried it
through all the long years as memento
of her. When reached it back 10 him,
hs put it away again in the wrinkled old
pooket-book as teuderly as if it had been
tress of hair from the head of dead
baby, and then, II wonder il she ever
thinks OF meY' he said, quite seriously.
aud We walked leisurely up the long
street together, neitber OF us speaking a
word more until We came to the corner
where we had TO separate. and there we
merely said good night and parted.
| did not sec him again for some time,
And when at length, he made me another
visit. in the afternoon OF mellow Octo-
ber day, he informed me that he was
about tc leave the town. Oar planet is
dropping into its annual shadow he
said. with mock gravity, land must bic
me away TO fresh fields and pastures new.
| want 10 commune with Nature, you
understand 10 touch the earth, like An
t9u5i 10 eat baws, and smell the fall
wheat; 10 milgls with the quails, and
blue-iay5, aud woodpeokers. and all that
SOFT OF thing Be good to yourself Cap.
Don't work too hard, and beware OF the
enemy which men put in their mouths to
steal away their brains. By-by." And
" ioto had time TO answer, he was ou
OF mT sight aad shuiIling down the stairs,
leaving me Ia mood that was nearer
sadness than | would have cared to coz
tess, and which, | fear, gave downcast
tingc to the "Commonweallh's" editor
ials for several mornings afterward.
He returned in about two weeks.
strange TO say, and he soiemnly asserted
that he had only been looking lor
homestead He was jaded, and loot sore,
s. usual and little shabbier than usual
IS to c.ything. He had read, hs said, in
somc ie4i-ostaIs paper, OF locality out
IN pEimoyal Kansas where corn grew
wild, aud livestock waxsd fat on the
meFc supeTabundance of ozone, ana
every quarier.section had been neatly
ieuced with stone by the geological con-
vulslons OF past ages; and he had been
hunting Tor it, intending to enter home
stead in it aud become q gentle shepherd.
He couldn't find 1t, though; and now he
wanted few days work "tO replenish
his depleted exchequer" But most OF
all. be said. he wanted to see tho man
Eho wro'e those things he read in that
paper
Tho foreman found WORK for him in
the job-room; but the next Sundly he
.ctt again, without even the formally OF
SAY laE good-bY 10 me. We beard OF
him. II few days, cracking jokes with
Noba Proniis ol the Junction Union;
then working week tor Milt Reynolds
OF The Parsons Sun; then in the Gala
b1o5e at Fort Scott, and Web Wilder OF
the Monitor paying fines tor him to
keep him out OF the changing; and
from Fort Scott be swung around, about
the middle OF December, to Topeka.
Just glided in to pay my respects, "
he remarked, land to tell you I'm of for
the sunny South. like your Kansas fel-
lows ever so much, but want to see the
magnoias."
That was sii be said. An hour later,
happening to look irom my window,
saw him moving briskiy down Inc street
which was also The state read, and, wsv-
ing bis hand to me, he disappeared.
He came back again, with the grass
and lhO birds, the following spring. He
had been 70 Galveston, he explained, and
had worked his way north through Ar
kansas and The Indian Territory. Some.
how the trip seemed to have disappointed
him. De n SCd gloomily about Il, when
| could get him to talk Of it at all, aud
the very thought OF it appeared to cloud
his spirits ike tho haunting of some mis-
cradle dream. Perhaps the trouble was
deeper than my shallow vision discerned !;
perhaps 1t came from within. and not
from without at all. Sometimes thought
so; bat knowing him as | did, the ab-
surdity Of the thing would creep in TO
upset such notions. And finally, when
be came to me one night, with the old
familiar quizzical expression in his cOun-
tenance, and told me he wanted to talk
to me about writing an obituary for him
when be should die, felt sure that he
was recovering himself and would soon
touch his natural poise again.
Il hope you appreciate the honor l
confer upon you" said be, sin selecting
you to give me my final sendof. It's
because like your style; and l want
you to tell just the baretooted facts about
me-'nothing extenuate, nor aught set
down in malice Don't speak of me as
a brilliant, but cratic fellow, for that
will simply mean that / was an awful
liar nnnit ca y Of mo .Ha d Il hia q ,,I,r