Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-07-30
THE PR0DIGAL SON.
Feeding Upon tho Husks of Life
in Australia.

Feeding Upon the Husks Of Life
In Australia.
"Ycs," said Ernest, thoughtfully
stroking his big gmustache, 81 have been
a Prodigal Son. l know the whole
story. 1t wasn't a bit funny. If you
doubt my words, just try it for your
self; but pray don't blame me If you
find that it hurts worse than a ruler on
a wet hand.
1t is only fair to say that l was just
an everyday bad boy, of n very COM
mon New York kind. You wouldn't
have to go far, my dear, to find plenty
OF fellows who were worse and plenty
more who were better than l. So, you
see, was not so bad as bad could be;
oh, dear, no! Indeed. | had kind
heart, am sure, and just adorcd my
little mother. / had heaps and heaps
of good intentions, and when mamma
cried and begged me not TO be so wild
and mischicvous, why bless me, would
cry half The night with the realcst kind
Of rcmorse. and promise-oh, so earn
estly that | would turn over new leaf
and keep it turned over. | never knew
boy who could do more hard and
bitter repcnting in the course of u single
night, But then daylight would com,
and ] would forget-and, well, you
know the rest, il you are not boy OF
the Sunday-school book variety
My father what shall say about
him? | really suppose he ought to
have been gaddcd himself, il people
got what they deserved. But he had
lot ofmoncy To take care OF, and he was
awfully busy getting u lot more I'm
sure | don't know why, for he ha
more than w0 could ever spend. So it
was only once In while that hc could
stop long enough to weep over his har-
umscarum son. When he did stop, he
used to say that there was enough origi-
nal sin in my small body to keep n
mischicf-mill running day and night.
| Ht hbuiu lNWnlut INV VII lllt
welts on my back were criss-crossed
like the shading on one of Mr.. Thomas
Nast's big cartoons, though | did not
have mucE time to think Of pictures
then, ! assure you. He always ended
the performance with lecture. in
which | was informed that was wilder
and wickeder than u whole tribe of
Western Indians, with squaws,
papooscs, Big Medicine Msn and dogs
thrown in. | never thought much of
this joke, but it always seemed to
cheer him up immensely. He would
then go back to making money, and
spoil me, just as he had done before,
with plenty spending money and un-
limited liberty to do as 1 please. Great
humbugs, these rich and generous
fathers, aren't thcyp
well, with such start, I don't
think it was strange that in the middle
OF my Freshman year at college l was
suddenly sent home to stay. Somebody
had been playing pranks was
pounced upon. Lying not being ono
Of my accomplishments, | admitted
having hand in the mischief.
wouldn't peach on my companions, so
! was made scapegoat. My father
said his heart was broken. Ihad dis
graccd tho family. The only thing he
could do with mo, he thought, was to
send mo travelling. Perhaps ! might
pick up some common sense in foreign
lands, The next thing knew was on
board tho American packet ship Lib
erty' in tho midst of tumbling waves,
and bound for Australia. There was
letter of credit in my pocket and q
new pain in my heart-one, my dear,
that | hope you may never experience,
"Did | cry? Now please don't ask
impertinent questions. Was | homes
sick and miserable amid the wild waste
of waters? All, my dear hoy, you do
not know how big and lonesome and
awful the great sea makes this world
feel. You never realize its sizo until
+. you have been going for days and days,
and days and days, and find tho same
circle of water about you, with no ap
parent ond in front. You feel that the
distance back to your beloved home
can never be measured. At the same
time your memory becomes very active
and events of y year ago are brought
vividly before you, You can fee
mammals last kiss like n henedictior
upon your brow; you can feel her sof
warm arm about you, just when shC
held you close and begged you, while
big tears fell on your hair, to be a goot
boy, and come back very, very soon
Oh! oh! on! how good you would be i
you could only have those doar arms
about you now! But all the money il
the world could not take you baol
now.
$50 the big ship crcpt on. and on
and on, across the summer sea, unit
half of this huge world lay between mt
and my home
81 was a hundred days older and fol
u hundred years when the Liberty
reached Melbourne. You don't know
much about Melbourne, do youP No
about Australian b, yes; rveno doub
you know just where the big red bio
is on the map in your geography, ant
can tell me what that book says abou
| liO DiS ioluuus Dut JOu uufc " fcT,
foggy idea about it in spite of that, II
wager my hat. You can not imagin
what a great country it is with mount
aims and valleys and plains; with river
as big as the Hudson and cities as larg
: as Brooklyn. Why, Melbourne is bi,
city, with huge wharves and ware
houses and elegant buildings and stree
ears, and noise and smoke, and BIZ
ships and steamers in the harbor, an
thousands of people who never hear.
of the BROOKLYN bridge or the Barthold
statue just think of It'll tell you
realized these things when | landed i
the big, strange city and knew ther
was not man, woman or child ther
had ever seen or heard Of. Lonesom
as was on the ocean, Twas thousan
times more lonesome in this bustlin
place, so full of strange faces. Iwante
to blubber right out in the streets, bu
of course was enough of a man not