River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-06-13
UGLY JACKS. :"
How a Homely Hero's Hopes Were
More Than Realized.

the girl added, with something like
little shudder. Il know it, Hannie.
but" Half frightened at the look of
anguish that her words had brought to
the mans face, the girl turned and
sped along the timOer-path that led
from the big spring
The man covered his face with his
hard hands ana grOaned. No one knew
better than he Just now unhandsOme
he vas. As a boy. jackson Hamlin
had grown alphabetically used TO the
so5riquet Of Ugly Jacks" and had so
often sought some placid little ''back-
set'' in the creek, and gazed at his re-
Election in it with Pitiful hope that he
might be growing less deserving of the
title, that every line and lineament OF
his ugly face was as familiar to his
mental vision as if il were ever before
his eyes He had grown from an ugly
child to an equally ugly man, grave
aud kindly. and differing greatly from
the shiftless and ''trihing" beings
about him.
He wore the same fashiOnless garb
rs they. but he spoke little of the
quaint dialect which they drawled-
While they passed as much as posi-
bic of their time at any thing but
work, he cultivated his timber-farm.
Or when, at night. the young men fol-
lowed yelping ours on 'pOssum or coon
hunts. or with their sisters and sweet
hearts dispOrted themselves at the
''hOe-dOwn" dances, Jacks Hamlir
bowed over the home made table in his
bachelor cabin. aud, by the light of
spluttering tallow dip. cOnned books
that Looked so bloatedly full OF wisdom
that tn, casual and illiterate visitor
regarded them almost reverently.
No one knew their contents, not
even old } srry Politics. daughter. one
of the few 1ersons in the neighbOrhOod
tho Egypz of Southwestern Missouri
who could read. They looked too
dry and ponderOus to arouse her inter-
est but she liked to hear him tell of
the great world--the world beyond tho
fOrest-beyond the limits of the State,
even-the outside world of which she
had seen nothing and he very little,
but of which he knew much from read
ing.
Aud she liked. too. to hear him re
cite pOetry-poetry that she, with her
scanty education, could scarcely I'M
derstand. And, at such times. she
would, for a little while, forget his
ugly face, the surroundings. the
rickety. shOOk-cOvered house where
her father, old jerry POttle. calmly
smoked and dOzed in his back-tilted
chair on the porch; forget the apa-
fhetic, shiftless. out-Of-the-way world
in which she existed, and live for the
moment in the bright far-Off world of
which the poem told.
This bright-faced, ragged maiden
had hOpes-dreams that promised no
shadow of fulhIment till Sharpley
came. You and l would have con-
sidcred this Sharpley very Indifferent
parsonage as to appearance.
deficient rs 10 grammar. and inclined
10 sIOvenliness OF attire. But to Han
lie was very interesting indeed He had
been almost everywlere-at least. he
said so. He, too, could quote poetry
OF n certain class. As "a cOnversa-
honGlist he seemed almost a wonder to
Han. fOr Sharpley's tongue was ready
and his mind au inventive one. and the
restrictions Of truth bothered him
little
Jacks had made no complaint. but
had kept closer TO his farm during the
DAYS. and studied his dry books more
ficrccly nj night And Han scarcely
missed him at all for Sharpley was so
often lowering about, and his CONVEX
sation seemed always Of things in
which she was Interested And-well,
IL was so easy for Sharpley's agile
tongue 20 promise any thing. and list
cning. the girl almost forgot Jacks.
Few had known or cared when he
disappeared for a few DAYS. and then
came back with one of the two great
hopes of his life blossoming into real
ization.
IN tell il TO her" he told himself
'sTeIl IL 10 Hannie, and may be
He met her in the shady path as she
was returning with bucket Of water
from the big spring. and started 10 tell
her the story iii hurried. laundering
way. beginning al the wrong end of the
narrative and hurting out a little of
the other great hope that he had 50
long cherished. But the girl would
scarcely listen 10 him
4 must hurry on. she said MIR.
somebody will bc waitin' Ter me
Somebody Sharpiey. Jacks Ham
lin said. bitterly That sneaking
hound. that"
Hes jest a. smart a -0u are.' the
girl retorted. angriIy. jest "a smart
an heap niceri He jest knows ever
so much. an is jest as nice-lookin' a
he kin be. an'-an' you're 50 ugly,
Il know it. Hannie. but
But she was speeding away down
the path. splitting the water from the
bucket at every step
"Ugly?" the man grOancd- Don't
] know Just as well as any body in the
world how ugly l am? But it's
that hound Sharpley that hW changed
heri She used to seem 20 like TO have
me around. and almost seemed to for
yet my ugly face And We'll. its
all over nowi dreamed; that was all.
But If Sharpley--
He did not finish the sentence, but
strodo along the wOod-path.
Before the girl had reached the
house a small boy. mounted on
wheezy horse. dashed up TO the rickety
polc-fcnce and uttered a shrili whoop
that aroused old Jerry Pottle so sud
denly that he nearly fell out OF his tilted
chair. The old man hurried over to
the feacc, the hoy impaired his mes
rage end the steed dashed wheezingly
away again, urged by the rain of kicks
shat the bare heels Of his rider be-
stoSed TPOn his rusty sides. As the