The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-01-15
As the barber proceeded with his
task. Abe walked the shop nervously.

As the barber proceeded with bis
task, Abe walked the shop nervously.
A presage of danger oppressed him.
The chestnut curls on his forehead grew
damp with anxiety. He knew Life, In
his rough way, and he knew BARRIERS.
The fair young girl would be no match
for the frontier hair-dresser, If the worst
should come. And why should it not
Gomez Had she not millions in her
pocketp He glanced at the tiny feet
planted squarely and firmly on the stool
before her, and recognized character.
He knew nothing of Boston, but he I'M
derstood feet.
"And do you live in this funny place,
tie hep" asked the girl, smiling at Abe's
reflection in the glass.
"I do" sighed Abe. "Misfortunes
have cast my bark of life high upon this
barren shore and left me with only the
shelter the sea-weeds afford"
"Te he! how odd. Ouch!"
But Abe grasped him and laid him
dive for the dainty pocket and had
failed.
Leaping Antelope Run was aroused.
Such an attack found no apologists
among the wild, rough miners. What
ever they might be inherently, they
would tolerate nothing of the kind in
the barber.
"Away to the dull thud!' demanded
one, more intelligent than the rest. And
they echoed the cry till the moonlit air
was shivered and the beams crept away
convulsively. They may have expected
him to beg, but he eyed them sternly.
"Oh! my! what will they do with
himp" asked the beauty with one eye.
She had no need to speak. The thrill
of that eye struck chord in Abe Wal
lace.
"They'n sprain his neck, darling"
murmured Wallace, in tender accents.
This feeling was new to him, but he I'M
derstood it.
"Gracious! and may I see him?"
whispered she with the other eye.
Abe's answer was lost in the sullen
roar of the crowd.
Out under the grand old trees that
fringed the mines. Out under the whis-
per of the leaves. Out through the
shadows. The wind swept down from
the sierras-velvet winds, but pitiless.
They shook sweet voices out of their
satin garments, but not pleading tone
for that human barber, soon to be nei-
Their barber nor human.
The rope was around his neck. Will
ing hands were ready. A cloud foated
across the face of the moon, but she
struggled from behind it, held by the
horror of the scene.
"Hold!" commanded Abe. And
then addressing the barber, he asked !:
you are Justice of the Peace, are you
not?''
81 am" responded the condemned,
in low, steady tones.
"Then marry u.s. said Wallace,
drawing the Boston girls arm within
his own.
"You do take this woman for your
welded wife? ' asked the barber, with a
strange glitter in his eye.
81 do" responded Abe.
"Do you take this man for your we'd
ded husband ?" inquired the barber, with
peculiar smile.
"Te, he! suppose so, tie, he!" whis-
pered the musical voice.
"Then l pronounce you man and
| wife. Go to the deuce"
The rope frightened, but as he went up
the barber uttered wild, demoniac
laugh.
Then with the shadows of the Sier-
ras gathering around him, he hung
dead.
Try as he might Abe could not shake
off the influence of that laugh. 1t was a
| ghost in his life.
"Good heavens!" he screamed, as he
sprang from his seat day or two after
ward. 81 understand it now."
Understand what, love?" asked his
beautiful bride, looking up from the bite
of an apple.
81 know why he laughed. I know
why the barber laughed with his dying
BREATH" he moaned.
"Goodness gracious! Wat was it
forP" she demanded, with dimpling
smiles.
"Because he died without giving us
marriage certificate"
With wild shrek the Boston girl
sank dead at his feet.
The barber was aveun.ad.-Brooklyn
Eagle.