Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1878-03-28

calm as she was-and bowling, went
away"
He paused once more, and [ was
upon the point of rising, supposing he
had said all he desired to say, but he
motioned to me to remain and he went
on talking. After that I lay sick for
long time,-eight weeks they told me-
with some internal sort of fever, and the
money had saved went to the doctors.
pulled through of course. Men have
died, from time to time, and worms
have eaten them, but not for love- [
don't know how it was. but when l got
up again, my brain seemed to be kind
of incoherent,-'pied,' you might say,
and [ couldn't get steady work, and
finally they began to whisper around
about sending me to Jacksonville, :
that's where the crazy asylum is, you
know. Then [ braced up, and the first
dark night [ jumped the town without
saying blessed word to anybody, and
since then,-well, you know the rest or
a good deal Of it. But you didn't know
you would never have guessed if l
hadn't told you, that it was too much
happiness made me what am y
With this last paradox, he turned
partially aside, and I noticed that he
fumbled about his clothes in search of
some tobacco, [ presumed. Presently,
he drew out from some inscrutable hid
ing-place an old creased and rumpled
leather pocket-book. and took from it a
faded sprig of cedar, and handing it to
me said, with that CLASSY, cynical smile
| had seen so often: "There's rose
mary, 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
a memento of her. When l reached it
back to him, he put it away again in
the wrinkled old pocket-book as tender
ly as if it had been a tress of hair from
the head Of dead baby, and then, ~
wonder if she ever thinks of me?" he
said, quite seriously, and we walked
leisurely up the long street together,
neither Of us speaking word more I'M
til we came to the corner where we had
to separate, and there we merely said
good night" and parted.
[ did not see him again for some
time, and when at length he made me
another visit, in the afternoon of mel
low October day, he informed me that
lie was about to leave the town. "Our
planet is dropping into its annual shad-
oW," he said with much gravity. "and [
must HE me away to fresh fields and
pastures new | want to commune
with nature, you understand; to touch
the earth like Antaeus; to eat haws, and
smell the fall wheat; to mingle with
the quails, and blue-iays, and wood
peckers, and all that sort 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 before |
had time to answer he was out Of sight
and shuffling down the stairs, leaving
me in a mood that was nearer sadness
than [ would have cared to confess, and
which, | fear, gave a downcast tinge to
the Commemorative editorials for several
mornings afterward.
He returned in about two weeks,
strange to say, and solemnly asserted
that he had only been looking for a
homestead" He was faded, foot-sore,
and little shabbier than usual as to
clothing. He had read in some real
estate paper Of a locality out in prime
val Kansas where corn grew wild, and
livestock waxed fat on the mere super
abundance of ozone, and every quarter
section had been neatly fenced with
stone by the geological commissions of
past ages; and he had been hunting for
1t, Intending to enter homestead in it
and become a gentle shepherd. He
couldn't find it though; and now he
wanted a few days work to replenish
his depleted eXchequer." But most of
all he wanted to see the man who wrote
those things he read in that paper.
The foreman found work for him in
the job room; but the next Saturday he
left again, without even the formality
of saying goodbye to me. We heard
of him in few days, cracking jokes
with Noble Prentis, of the Junction
Union; then working day for Milt
Reynolds, Of the Parsons San; then in
the calaboose at Fort Scott, and Web
Wilder, Of the Monitor, paying fines to
keep MIN out of the changing; and
from Fort Scott he swung around, about
the middle Of December to Topeka.
q Just glided in to pay my respects"
he remarked, "and to tell you Pm off
for the sunny South. [ like you Kan
sas fellows ever so much, but want to
see the magnOlias."
That was all he said. An hour later,
happening to look from my window, [
saw him moving briskly down the street
which was also the state road, and,
waving his hat to me, he disappeared.
He came back again with the grass,
and the birds in the following spring.
He had been to Galveston, he explain
ed, and had worked his way north
through Arkansas and the Indian Ter
ritory. Somehow the trip seemed to
have disappointed him. He talked
gloomily about it, when [ could get him
to talk of it at all, and the very thought
Of it appeared to cloud his spirits like
the haunting of some miserable dream.
Perhaps the trouble was deeper than
my shallow brain discerned, perhaps it
came from within and not from without
at all. Sometimes [ thought so; but
knowing him as I did, the absurdity Of
the thing would creep in to upset such
notions. And finally when he came to
me one nlSnU, WIN the Ola 1amlllaf eX-
preston in his countenance, and told
me he wanted to talk to me about what
to do for him when he should die, [
felt sure that he was recovering himself
and would soon touch his natural poise
again.
81 hope you appreciate the honor I
confer upon you," said he. "in select
ing you to give me my final send-off.
It's because [ like your style; and [
want you to tell just the barefooted
facts about me-nothing extenuate nor
aught set down in malice. Don't speak