The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-08-20

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length in the sand. striking just as he
should have shouted Stree" for the fourth
time in his glorious chorus.
Fully convinced that his alarm had been
well founded, the shote sped out from I'M
der the gigantic missile hurled at him by
the donkey, and scampered down the road,
turning first one ear and then the other to
detect anv sounds of pursuit. The donkey,
also convinced that the object before which
he had halted was supernatural. started
back violently upon seeing it apparently
turn to a man. Sut seeing that 1t had
turned to nothing but a man, he wandered
UP into the deserted fence corner, and be-
gan to nlbble refreShment from SCRUB
oak.
For a moment the elder gazed up into
the skv, half-impressed with the idea that
the camp-meeting platform had given way.
! But the truth forced its way to the front
| in his disOrdered understanding at last,
and with painful dignity he staggered into
! an upright position. and regained his bea-
yer. He was shocked again. Never before
in all the long years it had served him had
! he seen il in such shape. The truth is,
| Elder Brown had never before tried to
| stand on his head in it. As calmly as pos
| sible he began to straighten 1t out, caring
| but little for the dust upon his garments.
The beaver was his special crown of digni-
! tv. To lose il was to be reduced to level
| with the common wOOl-hat herd. He did
| his lest, pulling, pressing and pushing,
| but the hat did not lock natural when
he had finished. 1t seemed to have
been laid off into counties, sec
! tons and town lots. Like well-cut jewel
it had face for him, view it from what
!, oh, uaii rNf-hI M
pressed him that a lump gathered in his
| throat and his ewes winked vigorously.
Elder Brown was not, however, a man
for tears. He was man of action. The
sudden vision which met his wandering
gaze, the donkey calmly chewing scrub
buds, with the green juice already ooZlng
| from the corners of his frothy mouth, acted
upon him like magic. He was, after all,
only human, and when he got hands upon
! a piece of brush, he thrashed the poor
beast until it seemed as though even its
already half tanned hide would be eter-
nallV ruined. Thoroughly exhausted AT
! last, he YEARLY straddled his saddle, and
with his chin upon his breast resumed the
early morning tenor OF his way.
"Good-mornin', sir.'
Elder Brown leaned over the little pine
picket which divided the book-keepers' de-
partment of a Macon warehouse from the
room in general, and surveyed the WELL
dressed back of a gentleman who was
busily figuring at a desk within. The
APARTMENT was carpetless and the dust of
a decade Law deep on the old books, shelves,
and the familiar advertisements of guanO
| and fertilizers which decorated the room.
An old stove, rusty with the nicotine con-
tributed by farmers during the previous
season while waiting by its glowing sides
! for their cotton to be sold, stood straight
up in bed of sand, and festoons of cob
webs chung to the upper sashes of the
! murky windows. The lower sash of one
window had been raised, and in the yard
| without, nearly an acre in extent, Law a
few bales of cotton, with jagged holes in
their ends. Just as the sampler had left
them. Elder Brown had time to notice all
these familiar points, for the figure at the
desk kept serenely at his task, and deigned
"G6oi-mornin', sir" said Elder Brown
again, in his most digniied tones. as Mr..
Thomas in?"
''Good- morning, SIR" said the figure.
aI'll wait on you in a minute" The min
ute passed, and four more Joined 1t. Then
the desk man turned.
'sWell, sir, what can do for you:"
The elder was not in the best of humor
when he arrived. and his state of mind had
not improved. He waited full minute as
he surveyed the man of business.
|
arrangements with you TO git some money,
but reckon l was mistaken" The ware
house man came nearer.
This is Mr.. Brown, | believe. | did not
recognize you at once. You are not in
often to see u.s."
''No: nv wife usually tends to the town
| bizuess, while | run the church and farm
Got a fall from my donkey this morning. u
he said. noticing quizzical, interrogatinG
no
squar' on the hat" He made a pretense
of smoothing it. The man of business had
already lost interest.
How much money will you want, Mr.
Brown"
"WeiI, about seven hundred dollars, y
said the elder, replacing his hat, and turn
ing a furtive look upon the warehouse
man. The other was tapping with his
pencil upon the little shelf lying across the
rail.
II can get YOU five hundred"
''But l oughter have seven"
Cant arrange for that amount. Wait
till later in the season, and come again
| Money is very tight now. How much
cotton will you raiser"
"WelI, | count ON a hundr'd bales. An
you can't git the sewn huudr'd dollars"
"Like to oblige you, but can't right now
will fix il for YOU later on"
"Wen," said the elder. slowly, six vi
| Une papers lot HVe, an III LIldhe IL 20 a.
far as possible"
The papers were drawn. A note was
made out for S552.5O, for the interest wa:
at one and a half per cent. for seven
months, and a mortgage on ten mules be-
| longing to the elder was drawn and signed
The elder then promised to send his cotton
to the warehouse to be sold III the fall, and
with a curt Anything else:" aud G
| "Thankea, that's all. :" the two parted.
| PROV u ffnr fN
call the supplemental commissions shouted
to him upon his departure, int .nding tC
execute them first, and then take his writ
ten list item by item. His mental resolves
had just reached this point when a new
thought made itself known. Pass 4rs-by
were puzzled to see the old man suddenly
snatch his head-piece off and peer with an
intent and awe-struck air into its irregular
caverns. Some of them were shocked
when he suddenly and vigorously ejacu-
lated:
Hannah Maria-Jemimy! goldarn an
blue blazes"
He had suddenly remembered having
placed his memoranda in that hat, and as
he studied its empty depths his mind pic
tured the important scrap fiuttering along
the sandy scene of his early morning tum-
BILE. 1t was this that caused him to Craze
an oath with less margin than he had
allowed himself in twenty years. What
| would the old lady say.
Alas. Elder Brown knew too well. What
| she would not say was what puzzled him.
But as he stood bare-headed in the sunlight
| a sense of utter desolation came and dwelt
with him. His eye rested upon sleepiny
Balaam anchored to a post in the street,
and so as he recalled the treachery that lay
at the base of all his affection, gloom
was added TO the desOlation.
To turn back and search for the lost
| naORr WOuld have been worse than useless
! Only one course was open to him. and a. il
went the leader of his people. he called
at the grocery; he invaded the recesses OF
| the drv goods establishments: he ransacksd