Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-05-04
THE INVENTORS STORY.

A stout. black-whiskered man sal
Immediately i'm front of me in the rail
road car, and INDUCED from time tC
time in the most strange and unac
countable manGuvres. Every now
and then he would get up, and hurry
away to the narrow passage which
leads to the door in these drawing.
room cars; and when he thought him
SELF secure from observation would fall
TO laughing in the most violent man
ner, and continue the healthful exer-
else until he was as red in the face as
a lobster.
AS we neared the city these demon
STATIONS increased in violence, save
that the stranger no longer ran away
TO laugh, but kept his seat and chuckled
70 himself, with his chin down deep in
his shirt collar. But the changes that
those p0rtmanteaus underwent! He
moved them here, there-he put them
behind him. He was evidently getting
ready to leave, but as we were twenty
five miles from the city, the idea of
such early preparations was ridiculous.
If we had entered the city then, the
mystery would have remained un.
solved, but the stranger became so ex-
cited that he could keep his seat no
longer. Some one must help him, and
as L was the nearest to him, he selected
me- Suddenly turning as if 1 had
asked question, he said, rocking him
self to and fro in his chair in the
meantime, and Shaping his legs to-
getber and breathing hard:
Been gone three years"
"Ah"
Yes, been in Europe. Folks don't
expect me for three months yet, but 1
got through and started. 1 tele-
graphed them at the last station
they've got it by this time"
AS he said this he rubbed his hands,
and changed the portmanteau on his
left TO the right, and then one on the
right to the left again.
Got a wife?' said /.
Eyes, and three children" be re-
turned.
He then got up and folded his over
coat anew, and hung it over the back
. OF the seat.
"You are pretty nervous over the
matter, amt you?" 1 said, watching
his fidgety movements.
well, should think So" he replied.
IL hain't slept soundly for a week. And
do you know" he went on, glancing
around at the passengers and speaking
IN low tone, al am almost certain
this train will run off the track and
b:eak my neck before L get to Boston.
Well, the fact is, have had too much
good luck for one man lately. The
thing can't last, faint natural that il
should, you know, I've watched it.
Fr,t it rains, then it shines, then il
rains again. l. rains so hard YOU
think it's never going to stop; then il
shines so bright you think its always
going 10 shine; and just as you are set.
tied in either belief, you are knocked
over by change, to show that you
know nothing about it."
"Well, according to that philosophy,
said, "yOu will continue to have sun
shine, because you are expecting ;
storm
Ats curious" he returned, "but The
only thirg which makes me think
will get through safe is, because thinl
I won't
"Welll this is cur. ous," said 1.
~ es!" he replied. 81 am a machinis
made discovery-nobody believe,
in it-spent all my money trying t,
bring it out-mortgaged my home-al
went. Everybody laughed at me
everybody but my wife--punkey littl
wOman-said she would work he
fingers off before L should give it uu
Went to England-no better there
came within an ace OF jumping off tn
London bridge. Went into workshop
To earn money enough to come HON
with-;here l met the man / wanted
To make long story short, w
brought $4,000 home with me an,
here l am"
Good for you," / exclaimed.
"Yes," said he. $4,000, and tn
best of it is she don't know anythin
about 1t. I've fooled her so often, an,
disappointed her so much, that jus
concluded | would say nothing abou
this. When got my money, though
you better believe 1 struck a bee lin
for home"
"And now, I suppose, yeu will max
her happy?"
Happy he replied; "why yor
don't know anything about it. She
worked like dog since have beel
gone, trying o support herself and th
children decently. They paid he
thirteen cents apiece for making whit
shirts. and that is the way she'd liv,
half the time. She'll come down Their
to the depot to meet me in a ginghan
dress and shawl hundred years old
aud she'll think she's dressed up. oh
she won't have no clothes after this
oh. no. guess nott'
And with these words, which i'm
piled that his wife's wardrobe woul,
soon rival Queen Victoria's, the stranQ
'er tore down the passage-way again
aud getting in his old corner, where b
Thought himself out Of sight, wen