The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-05-12
ffsv sa< .tvks.aw rrsesAry. LEoN--AuRfoLAS IDOL.
BY JsMEs PAISLEY.


 There could be no ground whatever for contradicting him upon that point. Hts dark eyes. his swarthy cheeks. the soft ac- centuaticn cs sunny Spain were all hts birthnght.
 A handsome specimen ofhumanity. we all concluded as he approached the boss. and in excellent English respectfully asked him to one side. We all knew what that meant. for of all the many men that came to our old man, as VIC called him, (thcugh he was not so very old) and wished to speak privately with him, niuefy-nlne cut of every hundred asked for employment. Very few ever obtained their desire. for no matter how small our gang would be or how shos.-handed. the bo,s would hlre no one whom he believed to be tramp. lie was a man of much cAperience. and knew full well that all they wanted was to wotk long enough to have several good opportunities 10 make heavily loaded d'nner table look ex- tremely deseiate and then they would call tor their tinse. eSpee, ,heu pay and tramp on and on.
 True II was. ,his man did no, appear like m ordinat, II mp, bu, he WAS clearly no working man. his hands were not hard and c.akVSS. tfwre were none of the usual marks of tosl about him. Ne felt conf. dent. therefore. that ,hls mans apphca- ton would mee, kind bu, frm refusal We noticed the earnest manner of the stranger, the look of dnub, upon our old mans face IS he handed some money to the spaniaFd and VIC knew there was no work for him with Us, That nigh, when our work Tor the day was done and VIC wete running in with the engine from the bridge to our boarding tram. VIC O, ,egtook and passed by the stranger we had that day seen. roor fellow. he looked so weak and wan, has eNeey effort Ill walking seemed so iaeorcd. such look of detcs- ton overspfcad his entirc eountenanee that NC could not help but pity hun. who- ever or whatever he might be so did our old man for he stopped the ua,n. ran back to the spaniafd and took hun on ~l,h us and told us 10 take care ot hsm until morning. Nc qucs- uoned hun some. bas httle lntor- nation could we gam from him bu, that his name Was Leon. Poor fellow. he WAS completely worn out. He had not been cnursd to hafdships and those which he had already undergone wete too much sas h.m and ;hs; .esy night a slow. vast ing fever took strong hold upon him. The next morning our old man came in to see hun. lie spoke ot going on, but the old man assured hun II would no, do. that the fever would prostrate hum and tha. he should remain with us unul he recovered h,s strength. and poor Leon could not do otherwise. For weeks and weeks he lay unable to help himself. oh, so weak, so very weak. Our old man. cold and unsympathetie as some though, him, furnished him medical attendance and medicine, and though no woman's hand bathed his fevered brow. men just as tender. just as warm-hearcd. minis,ercd to h,s wants. The men who lAbored every day took thetI turns in watching by night. and for many days. too. some one re- ma,ned constant, with h,m. But bye and bye the iese, abaied. his strength began gradually To increase. but oh. so slowly. Day after day he would lie there with his face turned ta the wall. with such look of hopeless misery m hts eyes, no one could interest him. no one could dra" hlm into ounNers2itoa, nothing pleased him to read Ali thls while he never uttered complaint neither did he ever speak one Rracious sentence never snoe did d gleam of pleasure or apprce,a- ton brighten his eyes be- ausc of our good ness 10 him. Surely some great sounw. some great misfortune had bcfallcn ,his poor ~anderef wha, fl could have been none Of us knew. but many were they | hat l.. l. T He felt comparatively well and strong {: then he came to Us All. He shook each and every one of us by the hand, and told Us how grateful he was To us for our kindness to hun. stranger. m his time of need. He declared his intention of remaining with Us fl the boss would allow him. and try to cancel some of his obligations to us. lie had never cos, uA money. only for days lost from our work. spent Ia nurs,ng hlm but the old man, we knew, had quietly spent many dollars in hls behalf: bu, he had done only his duty, and begged Leon to consider the debt paid, and think no more about IL If Leon chose to remain with us. he could do so, and he would receive his wages, as the remainder of us did And Leon chose to remain with us. So. too, did he choose to gain our good will. He inter es,ed himseif in h,s work, and seemed anxious to do his fail share Personally. he made himself very agreeable and at tractivc to us- He became eommunlca- tive He told us mufh of his history. of ms many travels. of his career ax fnus.c- teacher. as a barber. as a coaehman. He was A man of hne manners. ef spleudid physique. ot many piishmenis His voice was magnIseent; hts performzno es upon the guitar ~ere enchanting. l never knew bu, one other that could equal him in del'cacy of touch and beauty of execution; and macy night has he entertained Us wnh music or t0nversa- ton. There was something faseinating about this man. We ali liked his society yet in every mind there existed some vague feeling of dread concerning him. which nothing could vanish. And so the time passed away unsll payday wzs al hand. and we had received our money for the last months work, amounting to nearly one thousand dollars for the entire