The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-10-23
THE MAN FROM NOD.

The shock-headed boy threw another
stone at the butchers dog, and then
falling back on his base Of 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 strategic halt, II wonder if
your mother would sell you to me, and
would she haggle over the price. How
does it strike you?"
"That depends. Wot would you do
with ne?"
Really, don't know. You admit
you are fat, and might want to ship
you to the Cannibal islands as specu-
lation. Or I might want to make a
choir boy of you, if q little of that
hoarsness 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 where I came
frcm"
"Say," said the boy, with new
show of interest, edo you know wot my
mother says?"
81 must confess that do not. The
versatile female tongue"
"She says that she guesses you don't
live nowhere. She says that you may
be q pirate and you may be preach
er for all any one 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 unconsciously adopted by the boy
"where did you come from, anyway?"
The man in the hammock dropped
back with smile, and, shading his eyes
from a ray Of sunshine that fell down
among the apple blossoms, said lazily
"I have been told that your interesting
mother lisa sort Of missionary of personal
intelligence for the neighborhood. I
like to encourage home industries; 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 ex-
ample. Comprehending the one phrase
that could be of service to her, he shot
homewacd like nm arrow, that it might
be safely delivered before being jostled
out of his needless little head. And be-
fore the cows we're we'll asleep in their
beds or dew-besprinklel grass that
/ night the people of Farmdale, from the
red school house on the hill to the tan
merry in the hollow, We're in full posses
! sion of the first admission as to himself
/ yet made by the mysterious stranger
4 who had fed the fires Of their curiosity
/ through four long weeks Of the budding
/ spring.
!. The moon that looked into the eyes
Of the peaceful kline that night
found time also to touch the
white shawl that hung about little
Miss Denny rs she sat on the steps OF
the cid far nhouse, around which the
| village had grown. The hammocl
!. hung empty near by, while back under
the honeysuckle vines, sat the man from
Nod, not asleep and not eating, but a.
indolentin attitude and speech as whel
negotiating for the purchase Of sixty.
odd pounds Of shock headed boy.
The woman was pulling spray O
green to pieces with a vehemence that
showed her protest against the though
to which his lips were giving form.
Believe me, Miss Denny, that yo,
are giving yourself a courage and faitl
you don't possess-that one woman il
ten Thousand cannot possess. You SCI
that when Rebekah of Mesopotami,
followed the chosen servant to Abra
ham into a strange land it was n.
great venture on her part. He had tolt
her of the home to which she was to go
of the man she was to we'd. 1t was
family affair, you see, and her fathe
was relative OF the father-in-law whicl
was to be. Now, do you really mean Il
say to me that even though you love
man with all the love that such womel
as you can give, you would take him cl
perfect trust-w would give him your fu
ture on chance, and, placing you
hands in his, walk fearlessly with hir
out into the dark ?"
II would. And why not?"
at is against nature against woman
nature.
"But if I loved hin? If l loved hir
as woman should love before she weds
J could trust him all with that it wa
should not know, and go with him in
to bonds of exile.
II believe that. I know it. Blu
martyrdom, my child, is nothing besid
right to knowledge that goes unsatis
fed. You would meet lion unmoved
but let this mysterious and undiscribe
lover refuse to tell you Of himself, hi
profession, his mother, his past an
/ his income, and you would lay har be
fore him beyond which he could not ad
vance. You would say to him: 'Yo
will not trust me. and / dare not trus
you The marriage license would ne,
er be put to use"
"You do not understand me. sir" 81