Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-10-05

ing constant indulgence for his temerlty
when speaking at all. Yet there was
such assurance of his hearers sympathy
and help, that it generally carried its
point.
From the time when Davis first sided |
into the seat and leaned against the wall |
for support, he continued leaning, only
exchanging the wall Tor his classmates, |
or any one who would carry his weight. |
Mo sooner did his support give way in
one direction than he transferred himself |
to another, and leaned all the harder.
During the years of his academical life |
his manners retained their primitive rus
ITCHY, despite the constant attrition to
which they were subjected at the hands
CT his fellows. His tasto in dress took
no turn for the better; his bearing and
gait changed not an iota; and when he
set out on foot for the hill regions whence
he came, he seemed exactly the same old
young man that had sided III upon us
three years before.
A short time afterward learned that
he was teaching tie school in his native
village. 1t turned out, however, that he
carried his habit Of leaning with him
even there. He asked the advice of his
pupils as to what he should do so fire.
quentiy that they took advantage of his
| weakness to do pretty much as they
pleased. They barred the master out, re-
fused to attend recitation, save at their
own pleasure, and otherwise enjoyed
themselves to such an extent that the
trustees felt compelled to demand his
resignation on the ground of lack of gov
eminent. After that he went into the
country and taught district school,
boarding round among his pupils. It was
while thus engaged that he became tenn
porarily resident in the family Of small
farmer, possessed of a grasping, question
able character, and several daughters for
some time in the matrimonial market.
These latter were thin, sharp faced, man
aging maids, who partook Of the unat-
tractive characteristics Of their sire. The
most unattractive, perhaps, of them al;
set her eyes upon Davis, in lack OF better
material, and actually became his wife
before that hesitating person had decided
what to do in the matter. After this he
drifted out of my knowledge, and his
memory, with that Of other class asso-
ciates, rapidly merged into the sere and
yellow leaf of recollection.
In the summer Of 1871 I was one of a
sem -official prospecting party in West
ern Dakota. We intended to penetrate
the Indian country as far as the Souri,
river, near the British line, returning by
way OF the Black hills, If circumstances
permitted. The dozen men constituting
the army were all heavily armed, and
we had, by way of impeachment, three
mule wagons. The day before we start
ed from the small town which, for the
fortnight previous, had been our head
quarters, tail round-shouldered man
sauntered into the camp, and, leaning
against wagon wheel, looked kindly but
neutrality-suspicious.. He wore a long coat of
alpaca, Of ecclesiastical cut, and a wide-
awake hat, fustian trousers, and low gait
ers tied with a string. His face was
long, and its features large, and retreat
Ing mouth, almost destitute Of teeth gave
greater prominence to his rather clon-
gated nose. He carried a black silver
headed stick, and altogether he was a
curious mixture Of the clerical with the
| rustic. After being made the butt of
considerable ridicule, he expressed, in a
hesitatin g way, his desire to 90 to the
Black hills. And when I returned to
camp toward evening, found the strang
er added to the party as the guide philos-
opher and friend Of one of the mule teams
A glance OF the awkward figure was
enough. 1t was Davis. How he came
the1e was told IL single one Of his hest
tating sentences.
"Iou see. Mrs. Davis left me, and
took up with a neighbor of ours. sup
pose L was too slow for her. But 7
thought it might make her uncomfortable
to have me living so close by; so I came
West"
| Further conversation revealed the fact
that he had tramped NEST of the wav.
and that all his earthly possessions were
wrapped in the flaming handkerchief
which he brought into camp later in the
evening.
It was apparent from the first that the
characteristics that had made Davis a
conspicuous figure IN academical DAYS
had not fofsaken him as he had grown
older. He began leaning from the mo-
ment he came into camp. After futile
attempts upon myself, he transferred his
weight to a man from Kentucky-a de-
monstrative, devii-may-care fellow, who
was his opposite in every respect. The
first days drive. too, revealed the fact
that: whatever may have been his cana
bllltles as a district school teacher, thew
did not assist him in the driving Of
mules. More than once he involved the
leaders in hopeless tangle with the
wheel animals, and his Complications
with the harness were a pathetic mixture
of helplessness and Ignorance. AS to his
hclplessness, it was unique and complete
IN It's way. He seemed utterly INCAPABLE
OF doing anything without advice or
assistance.
| 1t IS, perhaps, needless to say that
these characteristics, however original and
amusing in themselves, were not such as
to elevate their possessor in the esteem
OF the party. In less than a week from
the day of the departure, the man from
Kentucky had warned Davis not to come
near him again at the risk of his being
crippled for life. At the end of fort,
night, l grieve to say, he had been kick
| by an 1rasclble member of the party, and
the .propriety of deserving HIM on the
plans had been seriously discussed.
Hardly man spoke to him, and he
seemed very pariah in the camp.
After we had been three weeks ont
there were not wanting signs of the prox-
unity Of hostile Sioux. Signal smokes
were seen in the evening, and small
clouds of dust low down upon the hori-
zon, indicated the presence of scouting
bands. In the m1d-atternoon of a sun.
ny Sunday, as we were slowly ascending
a low ridge in the prairie, the advance