The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1883-06-08
LET SMITH WALK.

man died In the Cook County
Hospital the other day about whose life
there had been all of those singular
events which sometimes, when clus-
tered, make poverty a romance. The
day he was taken to the hospital he
asked the Warden if the building was
safe "And this is my ward?" he said,
inquiringly, as he was assisted on his
bed, from which he never got up. The
Warden said yes, unless he wished to
be changed. He shook his head at the
suggestion, and then he noticed that it
faced n western window. When asked
if this was an objection he smiled the
faintest way and shook his head. He
seemed to notice that there was q dis
position on the part of the nurse to be
attentive to him. He called the Warden
with a sickly motion of the hand, and
when the official stopped over him, the
patient, whose face was waiting for the
glory of eternity to flash upon it,
seemed to brighten a bit as the lips
whispered: "Let Smith lCdlk.
1t was not delirium, as the Warden
first supposed. 1t was a riddle. how
ever. which was not mraveled until
after the spirit had gone upon its jour
ney TO look after another riddle-the
perplexity of which begins after the
worry about it is all over.
He was q man of the world in all that
implies, except Injuries and rest. He
was a Bohemian, not in the definition
which the uninitiated give to the word.
He was q traveller who had no guide !;
his destination was always at the end
of the day, with the setting of the sun.
And when the sun went down he wonld
turn his back upon it and face the east,
to watch for the temperance, no mat
ter how deep and dark the night which
gathered about him. Always polite,
always ready for any scheme, always
CHEEKY, he believed, or came to believe,
that the world was in his debt, and he
had made a solemn oath that the world
should pay him what it owed though
the payments were small, scanty, and
often uncertain. He had system of
philosophy, which was rounded by one
expression: "Let Smith walk"
1t is believed that no single newspa-
per article in a print of ordinary di-
mansions, in single issue, could cover
the eventful details of this characters
life, and at the same time retain its 9TH
er features as a newspaper. To the
writer was given the history, and to
this was added personal acquaintance
with him in various places where the
character now and then appeared-for
no one place ever held him long.
He was graduate of an Eastern
school. His father was an eminent
jurist, and the boy became a man, I'M
der the influences of most distinguished
and cultivated society. long before he
came to the years which make average
men and women. OF his own accord,
with the full knowledge and consent of
his kindred and society, he chose to
quit them. OF his own will he started
to acquaint himself with the ways OF
the world almost empty-handed. To
his own detriment, and that of his pro
fession, he first encountered success.
He was n handsome MANN build, In
carriage, in his address. Society petted
him, but he turned away from its ca
resses. Fame opened the gates which
led to the multitude in her court that
waits TO receive the favored with ap'
plause. He turned away from the
tempting. Ever courteous to women
and their champion always, he never
had an ENHANCEMENT of any sort with
one of the opposite sex.
When the success he had achieved
lay heavily upon his hands, he cast i
away. Sngle-handed he went at the
world. He met it at every phase which
it presents. From the receptions o
state occasions, he swung like man il
the air to depths almost as degrading
as any which sickens the heart of man
He came back from these pollution
now and then, often indeed, and, re
newing his acquaintance with the cult
ured, he fascinated and charmed wher
ever the seas of laces and fiounces, anc