Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-02-08
THE MAN FROM NOD.


The shock-headed boy threw another stone
at the butchers dog, and then falling bach
ON his hase of supplies by the old well curb
found himself close upon the man in the
hammock under Miss Denny's apple-tr
J "See here" said the man, as the urchin
came to n strategic halt, ~ wonder if your
mother would sell you to me, and would she
| haggle over me price. How does it strike
| yous"
THAT depends. Wot would you do with
| me.'
Really, l don't know You admit YOU are
fat, and l might want to ship you to the
Cannibal Islands as speculation. Or I
| might want to make a choir boy of YOU, if a
little of that hoarseness could be taken out of
your voice, and your hair persuaded to stay
anywhere. There are lots of ways of using
boys in the place came from"
Say said the boy, with a new show Of
interest, "do you know wot my mother
saysn
Il must confess that do not The versa
tile female tongue"
"She says that she guesses you don't live
nowhere. She says that you may be pirate
and you may be preacher for all any one
here knows She says that you do nothin'
but eat and sleep, and that fore YOU come
here they must have kept you awake all
night with nothin' to eat. Say, mister" and
the wheedling tone of the mother was un-
consciously adopted by the boy, where did
you come frosn, anywayP
The man In the hammock dropped back
with smile, and, shading hi, eyes from a
spray of sunshine that fell down among the
apple blossoms, said lazily: ~ have been
told that your interesting mother is a sort of
missionary of personal intelligence for this
neighborhood. / like to encourage home in
dustries; and just to help her along, you
may tell her that Miss Denny's lazy boarder,
who certainly does eat and sleep great
deal, is just out OF the Land OF Nod"
The boy was true to his mothers example
Comprehending the one phrase that could
be Of service to her, he shot homeward like
an arrow, that it might be safely delivered
before being jostled out of his needless little
head. And before the cows were well asleep
In their beds of dew-besprinkled grass that
night, the people Of Farmdale, from the red
schoolhouSe on the hill to the tannery in the
hollow, We're in full po> session of the first
admission as to himself yet made by the
mysterious stranger who had fed the fires of
their curiosity through four long weeks Of
the budding spring.
The moon, that looked into the ewes of the
peaceful kline that night, found time also to
touch the white shawl that hung about little
Miss Denny as she sat on the steps of the old
around which the village had
grown The hammock hung empty near BY,
while back under the honeysuckle vines sat
the man from Nod, not asleep and not eat
ing, but as indolent in attitude and speech as
when negotiating for the purchase of sixty
odd pounds Of shock headed boy.
The woman was pulling spray of green
to pieces with vehemence that showed her
protest against the thought to which his lips
were giving form.
Believe me- Miss Denny, that you are
giving yourself a courage and faith YOU do
not poSSess-that one woman in 10 900 can
not possess You see that when Rebekah of
Mesopotamia followed the chosen servant of
Abraham into a strange land it was no great
venture on her part He told her of the
home to which she was to go, of the man she
was to wed. 1t was a family affair, you
zee, and her father was a relative of the |
'ather-in-law that was to be. Now, do YOU
really mean to say to me that even though /
you loved a man with all the love that such |
women as you can give, you would take him !
on perfect trust-would give him your fu- |
ure on a chance, and, placing your hand in |
lis, walk fearlessly with him out into the |
iarkm
Il would And why noti"
ut Is against nature-against woman na- /
ure"
But if / loved him? If l loved him as
woman should love before she weds, could
rust him with all that it was best | should
lot know, and go with him into bonds or
xile"
Il believe that. know it. But martydon,.
ny child, is nothing beside right to knowl-
dge that goes unsatiSfied. You would meet
ion unmoved, but let this mysterious and un-
described lover refuse to tell you of himself.
us profession, his mother, his past and his
ncome, and you would lay bar before
i'm beyond which he could not ad-
ance. You would say to him: You will
ot trust me, and dare not trust you The
marriage license woull never be put to use.n
You do not understand me, SIR" she said
imply. Il could not give the love until
ad given the truSt-such trust as a child
ives to its father in the dark. / could then
lose my eyes and be led. Perhaps this
ounds foolish to you, but you asked me a
uestion, and | have given you an answer
If Farmdale knew little of this man, there
Tas less of Miss Denny that it did not know.
IS knowledge of him could be briefly
lmmed up: That he had ridden into it one
light on the down stagecoach, and asked at
le postOttice to be shown quiet place where
oard could be had for week or so; that
10 next morning found him at the cozy
ib!e of Miss Denny, beside the clerk of the
illage store, tianked right and left by the
lanager of the tannery and the schoolmas-
sr and OppOsite the mistress of the housa
no sat entrenched behind the daintiest of
er household gods; hat he had slept,
unged, and eaten with the air of one who,
IS, had thrown off some great mental or
lsiness strain that had already grown
reaks Of gray in his hair; that he spent
oney as freely as need be in the narrow
ays and close economies Of this small Ohio
wn: that his chief delight and one known