The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-02-06

.
, morning. In the middle OF the afternoon
the train passed swamps and great
bayous, where white cranes stood patient
J ly watching for their prey Another
railroad came in sight, then another.
The train slackened speed, stopped and
started on again, crossed railroad after
railroad, and finally came to dead stop,
and when Martin crawled out he found
himself in a wilderness ofcars and noisy
engines, which ran about in such reck-
less way that Martin wondered if some
body would not get hurt
Watch out you don't get run over,
Sampson" said Martins friend the
brakeman, as he helped him down off OF
the car.
"Ohi thank you. You've been so
: kind to me. Can't l do something for
yor' said Martin
"Well, no, not just now. Ifyou hap
pen this way in the spring you might
help me plant corn day or two, but
you needn't come back on purpose"
and the brakeman got on q passing
switch engine.
Following the track he had come in
on, Martin soon found himself on the
bank of great river, and saw city so
big on the opposite shore that it almost
frightened him. "What town is that ?"
he asked of an apple boy.
''St. LOUIS"
Martin knew that whole state and
part of another one lay between MIN and
Hampton.
We cannot follow Martin through all
his weary wanderings. Sometimes he
worked week at a time, always giving
his employers satisfaction, except by
evading or refusing to answer the oues-
tons, which had got to be an awful bore
to him, Where are you going:'' and
'Where did you come fromg' He often
wondered whether it was really any
body's business.
The summer passed, and one evening
when it was too cold to sleep out Martin
stopped at Il pretty farm house in south
ern Iowa.
'Do you know where l could get
work ~ he asked of an oldish man who
was unsaddling Il horse near the barn,
and who somehow reminded him of Mr..
Black
Work? Amt you mistaken, young
man? Isn't il supper and bed you're
looking fory"
Not unless l can earn it, said Mar
tin
"Ha! that sounds high, sure. If I |
should hire you tonight you think you |
wouldn't go off and forget about work |
in the morning, theng'
mo, sir, l wouldn't"
Where do you live:"
Wherever l can get work, sir"
Can you dig potatoes?'
"Oh, yes, can do anything"
Can you fiy:"
"Oh, L mean any kind OF work"
"Well, get in the crib there and see if
you can husk corn, and We'll talk about
work after supper"
Martin could dig potatoes and could
do almost anything else, as Arnold
Baird found before he had been employ
SN a nSCh Ol tIlc |
The Baird family was a little different
from the ordinary run of families. They
did not believe in matrimony. None of
them had ever been married, and none
ever intended to be. OF course, we only
mean the BairdS with whom we are com.
ing in contact Arnold Baird was an
old bachelor, who had in his day been
great ladies' man, but somehow he had
never married but had stayed at home
with his widowed mother, who at her
death left him IN possession of a good
farm, and he had been very successful
financially. Miss Baird was an old
maid, who considered men total failures.
She had never known but one man who
ever promised to be a success, and he
had proved to be a failure She man.
aged the household affairs with great
credit to herself and comfort to her
brother, although she occasionally gave
him good generous piece of her mind.
Contrary to the ordinary run of old
maids, she had decided weakness for
children.
"How long are you going to keep
Martin ?" she asked her brother when
Martin had been with them two weeks
81 don't know. He asked me that d,
same question yesterday, and told him
until he played out and got lazy, and
what do you suppose he saidr'
81 don't know"
=" If that's your intention you have tax ,
en- good long contract"
"We1l, he just said he would stay with
me until he was twenty-one And when !.
I asked him, What then p he ground
two clods together and hung his head,
and | saw tears running down his
cheeks, and he went to work again and
was sorry had asked him the ques-
ion" !.
"You ought to be ashamed. That's q.
.wice you've made him cry. He's the
best boy ever saw, and want you to :.
stop asking him questions about his
olks. It's none of your business, any :,
way"
Arnold, seeing his sister was getting
vrathy, laughed at her, as usual, and
merely said,
"All right, sis. I'll appoint you guar .
liam for him. l see you are clothing :,
i'm already" =
Martin held Arnold Baird to his con-
ract, and as time went on, Miss Baird =
'egan TO think that there might possibly 81
'e one man besides her brother who ,
you'd not be failure She dressed =
iartin almost foolishly, and always :,
ook him with her to church, and in the -
Finter she sent him to school. y
The Baird farm was no place for law
eople. Everybody had to get up before .,
and nobody went to bed be- =
're bed time. Saturday afternoon was :
evoted to odd jobs, and on Sunday,
spent the day as they liked. =,
Iartin always drove Miss Baird to =,
lurch and then had young company or -
isited some of the young folks of the -
Under such influences =
it any wonder that he grew up to be a
Jerry, happy boy and that the country -,
Uses built great air castles over which
Iartin ruled as king' Happy? Well, 6,
erhaps not quite; but he looked for -
ard to a time when he would be.
When Martin was almost nineteen he -,
ent with Mr.. Baird to big sale of fine -
ock ten miles from the Baird farm.
lille standing in the crowd listening
the auctioneer, who was blowing a
Nv higher than her ancestor who Jump
over the moon, he felt hand on his in
BOULDER, and a voice said. "Martin. | fri
went you got that bucket of water de