The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-11-07


and ruddy, steering with heavy hand
the laboring vessel, pulling merriiy the
weary oar, and on the Sabbath day
trudging manfully to church with a
swarm of rosy children. John Dorm
smiled and hummed solemn hymn.
and in the height of his contentedness
stopped down and imprinted upon his
daughters wavy hair q forgiving kiss:
Henceforth the innOcen. little girl
should not be denied the love which dis
appointment had withheld for SO long a
time. As he guided his sloop through
the serpentine channel leading out to
the bay his heart became as water, and
in the ennobling influence of that feel
ing he seemed to lose his sunburn and
his wrinkles and to grow young again.
Quickened by the breath of awakened
love, the vague ambition of early life
came back, and in the mirage that
somehow doomed above the blue surface
of the bay he saw his son, and incident
ally himself, crowned with all the hon.
ors that q grateful, respecting local
community could bestow. Unquestion-
ing assumption of the probability, or
even the possibility, of future social or
political prefermeEt for his son, was
proof positive that no such distinction
was likely to be accorded him, the ar
gument in the matter being, in effect,
that nothing bnt the most dishearten-
ing of native plodiers could come of
such combination of dullness and I'M
reasoning hope Had John Dorn's
ambition taken definite form and sought
by such means as lay within the narrow
circle of the life along shore to carve
out the way to the coming mans en-
noblement, there might have been
strong grounds for hope, and willing
hands from the great city whose dusky
confines lay but a little beyond the dis
tant view of earth and sky might have
stretched out to help the instinctless
wayfarer over unknown paths that lead
to the goal of his ambition; but at. its
best John Dorus ambition was as
formless as the night, and as discourage
ing as his wifc's inferiority. In such
a rayless gloom, what hope FOR Light
Who but purposeless enthusiast would
see the flower of genius in such track
less waste.
All lllt btuutuclCs vi "ClC
against John Dorm, but yvt, working
blithely ON the wide marshes, he sang a
song that filled his soul with Joy. The
chances in life were against John
Dorn's ambition, and yet he hoped. In
simple truth it must be said that this
ambition, never wholly stationary or
definite, changed as often as the wind.
Sometimes his much-loved son guided a
stately ship to distant seas; oftener he
sang cheer ly in fishing-boat in the
Great South Bay. and once in rare
while he stood within the torchlight's
glare to discuss the burning issues of
The hour. Always'it was the goal, and
not the painful, weary means. that this
ambition touched upon; always results,
never The process of attainment. The
vivisectionist is right, though cold and
unsympathetic, there was little hope for
either John Dorm or his son.
CLANS were plentiful that day, and
John Dorn's broad, flat feet churned
them out of the thick mud with more
than usual rapidity and ease. Again
and again the wicker basket returned
to the waiting boat. piled high with
captured shells, until, when the tide
ceased to run out and the western sun
dipped angrily toward the hay west,
John Dorm drew his brown arm across
his heated brow and said that he had
done enough. Smiling contentedly at
the sleepy little girl, he said that he
would 90 home with the new tide. To
60 home? To whomp To the baby;
to his son? Perhaps by this time his
wife, remembering previous converse
tons on the subject. had named him.
And would he answer to the plain, old
fashioned name "John?' Perhaps so.
1t was old-fashioned. no doubt. to have
the paternal name descend through
many generations, but it was good
honest way, and to one honest plod-
ding woman in the little house among
the trees it would give deep satisfac-
ton.
Waiting for his boat to float, John
Dorm spattered the advancing tide
merrily with his bare feet and PLAYED
hide-and-go-seek with his little girl.
All resentment over the birth O. a
father was happy and proud in having
both daughter and son. 1t made
things even, he thought, and who could
tell what the future would bring?
Then, as he stood there aimlesSly
swinging his foot to and fro in the cool
water, an idea seemed to enter into and
take possession of his mind. A vague
desire to do something for the young
son who was to bless his life
had, in some unaccountable way, for.
mulated itself into tangible idea, and
he tried, unsuccessfully for time, to
give it practical form. He realized,
awkwardly enough, it must be con.
fessed,, that on this day he ought to
carry an offering to the cradle of his
child, an offering from the sea. In
that moment, it is true, his patient,
Woodworking wife was almost forgot
ten, and his first-born son filed his
newly-awakened imagination with a
radiance like the glow in the western
sky This seeming neglect of his wife
appeared to him eXcusable, for the
hard-headed reason that it was through
the instrumentality of his son, and not
his wife. that his desultory ambition
was TO be realized. And besides his
wife has been with him MANY years,
and had not been accustomed to such
honors at his hands. Would it be reason.
able, therefore. to begin now? He
thought not.
An offering from the sea surely was
not hard to find. and yet he hesitated.
Shells were thrown in prodigal profu-
sion, and shells always have been con,
sidered the time-honored trophies OF
the sea. uhells were good enough in
their way, and suitable Tor all occasions
of ordinary interest; but as the birth oil
the first son seemed 20 be an occurrence