The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-08-21


should have shouted ''free' 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 any 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 o man. Sut seeing that it had
turned to nothing but man, he wandered
up into the deserted fence corner, and be-
gan to nibble refreshment from q scrub
oak.
For moment the elder gazed up into
the SKY. 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 it in such shape. The truth is.
stand on his head in it. AS calmly as pos
sible he began to straighten it out, caring
hut little for the dust upon his garments.
The beaver was his special crown of digni-
ty. To lose it was to be reduced to a level
with the common wool-hat herd. He did
his best. pulling, pressing and pushing,
but the hat did not look natural when
he had finished. 1t seemed to have
been laid off into counties, Sec
lions and town lots. Like a well-cut jewel
it had a face for him, view it from what
ever point he chose. a quality which SO i'm
pressed him that 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 ooziRg
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 tnrashed the poor
beast until it seemed as though even it's
already half-tanued hide would be eter-
nally 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.
ii.
"Good-mornin'. sir"
Elder Brown leaned over the little pine
picket which divided the book keepers de-
partment of Macon warehouse from the
room in general. and surveyed the WELL
dressed back of a gentleman who was
busily figuring at desk within. The
apartment was carpetless. and the dust of
a decade lay 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 ia eyed 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
no reply.
"Gooi-mornin', SIR" said Elder Brown
again. in his most dignitied tones. SIS Mr..
Thomas in"
.Good- morning, SIR" said the figure.
''I'll wait on You in a minute" Tie min
ute passed. and four more joined it. Then
the desk man turned.
"Well, sir. what can do for vou:"
The elder was not in the best of humor
when he arrived. and his state of mind had
not improved. He waited full a minute as
he SURVEYED the man of business.
81 thought mout he able to make some
with YOU to sit some money,
but reckon l was mistaken" The ware
house man came nearer.
"Tris is Mr.. Brown. l believe. did not
recognize You at once. You are not in
often to see u.s."
''No: nv wife usually tends to the town
bizness, while run the church and farm.
Got fall from my donkey this morning."
he said. noticing quizzical, interrogating
look upon the face before him, land fell
sduar' on the hat" He made a pretense
OF smoothing it. The man of business had
lost interest.
''How much money will you want, Mr..
Brown"
swell. about seven hundred dollars"
said the elder. replacing his hat, and turn
ing furtive look upon the warehouse
man. The other was Tapping with his
pencil upon the little shelf lying across the
rail.
II can get Won five hundred"
"But I oughter have seven"
"Can't arrange for that amount. Wait
till later in the season, and come again.
Money is very tight now. How much
cotton will YOU raise."
swell. l count on a hundr'd bales. AM
you can't git the sewn hundr'd dollars:"
Like to oblige You. but can't right now:
will fix il for Won later on"
SWELL" said the elder. slowly. "fix up
the papers for five, an I'll make it go as
far as possible"
The papers were drawn. A note was
made ont for $3.50, for the interest was
at one and a half per cent. for seven
months. and 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 in the fall. and
with curt Anything else." and a
''Thankee. that's all" the two parted.
Elder Brown now mad an effort to re.
call the supplemental commissions shouted
to him upon his departure. int .ndiny to
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 ars-by
were puzzled to see the old man suddenly
snatch his head-piece of and peer with an
intent aud awe-struck air into its irregular
cayerns. 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
be studied its empty depths his mind pic
tured the important scrap flutt.ring along
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 6are-headed in the sunlight |
4 sense of utter desolation came aud dwelt |
with him. His eve rested up n sleeping |
BALKAN anchored TO a pos. in the street. |
and SO as he recalled the trea cherry that Law |
1t the base of all his a:fiicsion, gloom |
was added ID the desolation.
To turn back and search for the lost |
paper would have been worse than useless. |
only one course was open to him. and a. it
went the leader of his people. He called |
1t the grocery; he invaded the recesses OF
he dry goods establishments: be rausaci id |
he hard ware stores: and wherever h
vent he made life burden for the clerks.
showcases and pulling down
whole shelves of stock. Occasion
lily an item OF his memoranda would
'one to light. and thrusting hs hand into
us capacioas pocket, where lay the pro-