Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-08-15
TIE MAN FROM NOD.
LII. Kennedy in The Current


The shock headed boy threw another stone
at the butchers dog. and then falling back
on his tase II supplies by the old well curb,
found himself close upon the man in the
hammock under Miss Denny's apple tree.
See here said the man, as the urchin
came to a strategic halt, Il wonder if your
mother would sell You to me, and would she
Maggie over the price. How does it strike
youf
That depends. wot would you do with
mer
Really, / don't know. You admit you are
fat, AMI l might want TO ship you to the
Cannibal Islands rs n speculation. Or l
might want to make choir boy of You, il a
little of that hoarseness could be taken out of
YOUR voice, and your hair PERSIA led to stay
anywhere. There are lots of ways of using
boys in the place l came from"
Say said the boy, with a new show Of
| interest, do you know wot my mother
>aysF
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 a preacher for all any one
mere knows. She says that you do nothin'
but eat and sleep, and that fore you come
hers they must have kept you awake all
night with nothin' 20 eat Say, mister, and
the wheedling tone of the mother was I'M
consciously adopted by the boy. where did
YOU come from, anyway
The man IN the hammock dropped back
with smile. and shading hi. eyes from
spray g sunshine that fell down among the
apple blossoms, said lazily: Il have been
told that your interesting mother is sort Of
missionary of personal intelligence for this
neighborhood like to encourage home in
tustries; and Just to help her along. You
may tel 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
Compromising the one phrase that could
be OF service to her, he shot homewari like
an arrow, that If might be safely delivered
before being jostlei out of his needless little
head. And before the cows were we'll aleep
in their beds Of iew-besprinkled grass that
night. the people of Farmdale from the red
choolhouSe on the hill to the tannery in the
hollow. We're in full possession Of the first
admission as 10 himself vet made by the
mysterious stranger who had fed the fires o,
their curiosity through four long weeks Of
the budding spring
y
peaceful kline that night, found time also to
touch the white shawl that hung about little
Miss Denny as she sat on the steI~ of the old
farmhouse, around which the village had
grown The hammock hung empty near by,
while back under the hoReysuckie vines sat
the man from Nod. no: asleep and not eat
ing, but as incident in attitude and speech as
when negotiating for the purchase Of sixty
odd pounds Of shock headed boy.
The woman was pulling a spray Of green
TO pieces with a vehenence that showed her
protest against the thought 10 which his lips
were giving form.
Believe me. Miss Denny. that YOU are
giving yourself a courage and faith you do
not posScss You see tina; when Rehekah OF
Mesopotamia followed the chosen servant OF
Abraham into n strznss land it WAS no great
venture on her part He told her Of the
home 10 which she was 10 80, of the man she
was TO wed II was a family affair. yoa
see and her father was a relative OF the
father-in-law that WAS 10 be. Vow. do you
really mean to say u me that even though
you loved a man with all the love that such
women as you can give. Won would take him
on perfect ;rust-would give him your fu-
ture on 8 chance. and, placing your hani IN
his walk feariessiy with him cot into the
6arki-
Il would And why notI-
at Is against nafure-against woman ma
TURF
But If loved him, II loved him Is =
woman should love before she weis. could