The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-05-13
THE ONE DOLLAR BILL.

| mover looked up from his paper.
| Tell MIN he has made a mistake.
The tavern is on the corner beyond"
"Bnt he wants to know if you could
lend him dollar" said Mrs. Partlet
And couldn't you have told him no.
without the preliminary ceremony of
coming in here to ask me? Is it likely
that l shall lend dollar or even a cent
TO Luke RuddilOve? Why, l had a great
/ deal better throw il IN among wonder
red Goals! No-of course notir Mrs.
Partlet hesitated.
| "He looks SO pinched and cold and
wretehed, Josiah. He says there's no.
body in the world to let him have
| cent"
"All the better for him, if he did but
| know II, sharply enunciated the Squire.
''lf it had come to this pitch half doZ-
en- years ago, perhaps he wouldn't have
been the miserable man he is now"
we used TO go to school together"
| said Mrs. Partlet gently. HE was the
smartest boy in the Glass;
That's probable enough" said the
| Squire, "but it doesn't alter the fact that
| he's poor, drunken wretch now Send
him about his business, Polly, and if his
time is of any consequence, just let him
know that he had better not waste it
coming heIe after dollars"
And the Squire leaned back in his
chair after positive fashion, as if the
whole matter was definitely decided
Mrs. PaTtlet went back TO the kitchen
where Luke Ruddilove was spreading
his poor, thin fingers over the blaze OF
the fire, his tattered garments steaming
as if he was pillar of vapor.
HE won't let you have it, Luke" said
she; Il thought he wouldn't"
"Then I've got to starve like any 9th
loo 1aSA I
away moodily. "And, after all l don't
suppose that it makes any difference
whether l shuttle out of the world to-
day or tomorrow"
"Oh, Luke, not to your wife?"
Shed be better Off without me-" said
Luke, downheartedly.
"But she ought not 10 be-
"Ought and is are two different things,
Mrs Partlet. Good night I amt go
ing TO the tavern, though I'd wager
something the squire thought was"
And isn't it natural enough that he
should think so, Luke?'
'Yes-yes Mary, don't say but what
II is, murmuTed Luke, in the same de-
jected tone he had used throughout the
interview.
''Stay!r Mrs. Partlet called to him, as
his hand lay on the door latch, in low
voice. Here's dollar, Luke, Mr.. Part
let gave me for new piece of oil cloth
IN front Of the dining room stove, but
I'll try and make the old one do little
while longer. And, Luke, for the sake
of old times, for the sake of your wife,
viii you do better?'
Luke RuddkOve looked vacantly first
at the fresh. new bank bill in his hand,
and then at the blooming young matron
who placed it there.
Thank you, Mary" he said, and
| crept out OF the warm, bright kitchen,
into the storm and darkness that reigned
without. Mrs. Partlet stood looking
into the kitchen fire.
II dare say I've done very foolish
thing" she pondered. But indeed l
could not help it. Of course he will
spend is ut the public house, and shall
do without my oil cloth, that will be the
end of it all"
And there wis conscious flush on
her cheek, as if she had done something
wrong, when she rejoined the Squire in
| the sitting room.
WELL" said Squire Partlct, chat.
ne'er-do-well gone at last?''
"Yes"
''To Stokes tavern, suppose"
81 hope not, JOSIAH
''I'm afraid It's past hoping for" said
the Squire Struggling his shoulder.
And now for n pleasant evening. How
it docs rain, to be sure.''-
And Mrs. Partlet kept the secret of
the dollar bill within her own heart
1t was six months afterward that the
Squire came into the room where his
wife was preserving some great red ap-
pies into jelly.
"Well, WE'LL" quoth he, ''wonders will
never cease. The Ruddil0yes have gone
away"
"Gone where!"
81 don't know; out west somewhere
with q colony. And they say Luke
hasn't touched a drop in six months"
I'm glad of that" said Mrs. Partlet.
at won't last long" said the Squire
despairingly.
"Ob, ] don't know. 1 haven't any
faith in these sudden reforms"
Mrs. Partlett was silent; she thought
thankfully that after all Luke had not
spent the dollar for liquor.
Six mOnths-siX years--thc time sped
along in days and weeks, almost before
busy little Mrs. Partlet knew that it was
gone. The Ruddiloves had got back TO
Sequosseit.
''They do say" said Mrs. Bucking-
ham, 'that he's bought that ere lot down
opposite the court house, and is going to
HE must have prospered greatly"
| said the gentle Mrs. Partlet.
"And his wife wears silk gown that
will stand alone with its own richness"
said Mrs. buckingham II can remem-
Der when Luke Ruddilove was nothing
but poor drunken creature"
"All the more credit TO him now"
said Mrs. Partlet, cmphatically.
ITS to be all o. stun, with mantels
nd i,,1a nj lot.
papers and things under the corner one"
the corner what ~ said Mrs. Part
let. laughing, floor or mantlel"
''Stun, to be sure" said Mrs. Buck
ingham, like they do in public build
ings, you know"
THAT IS natural enough"
"Well, IFS kind o. queer; but Luke
Ruddilove never want like nobody else.
Folks think its dreadful strange he
should put dollar bill in with the
other things
Mrs. Partlet felt her checks flush scar
let; and glanced up to where the Squire
| was checking off a list of legal items in
the bill he was making out against some
client. But he did not look around,
| and Mrs. Buckingham went on with her
never ceasing flow of chit-chat, and the
color died away in her cheek. After
all the money was her own to give, and
| the oil cloth in front of the dining room
stove had answered very we'll.
She met Luke Ruddiiove that after
noon for the first time since his return
| to Sequossct-Luke himself, yet not
himself; the demon of intemperance
| crushed out of his nature, and its better
! and nobler clements triumphing at last.
He looked her brightly in the face, as he
| held out his hand.
Mary"
"I'm glad to see you back again,
Luke" she said, TREMENDOUSLY.
"And well you may be-" he rejoined.
| ado you remember the night you gave
me the dollar bill, and begged me not TO
| go to the tavern!''
| "Yes."
'That night was the pivot on which
my whole destiny turned. You were
kind to me when every one else spoke
] coldly; you trusted me when ali other
faces were averted. vowed a VOW to
myself TO prove worthy of your conf
| dcnce, and kept it did not spend
the money; treasured it up and heaven
has added nightly 10 my little store.
| put the dollar bill under the corner stone
| Of my new house, for the house has ris-
/ en- from il, and il alone. I won't offer
/ to pay you back, for I'm afraid" he ad-
| ded, smilingly, ''the luck would go away
| from me with it, but I'll tell you what /
| will do, Mary; will give money and
| words of trust and encouragement To
some other poor wretch, as you gave
me-"