Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-01-04

ana ragged came INTO view ana @ new
terror Overcame the t1Eaid housewife as she
fancied that he looked rough and fierce and
threatening.
What do you Want?@
Food. I'm nigh starved; shelter. or the
means of getting IT, Don't look so scared.
missus. I'm no theft Old Jerry. the tramp.
am I. and if don't look civil ana gentle il
ain because ANTI
Mrs Gregory hesitated; she had reason
to. 1t was Christmas Eve, and she had seen
the time in the happy years agone whens
her heart warming to the festive occasion,
she would have welcomed a-scOre Of hungry
tramps to hospitality; but just now hard
lines had come to the Gregorys. and every
mOuthtuI counted
She went to the cupboard. however. keep
ing an anxious eye on the window, and made
up liberal lunch Of meat and bread; hest
tated again, with a tear in her eye. and
added a piece Of pie-her piece Of pie for
the sparse Christmas dinner on the morrow.
Then she approached the window. raised it
slightly. pushed out the package, and said;
I'm sorry we are IA trifie short of pro-
visions, and Mr.. GregOryis away and Ihave
no money
Hey? Gregory? Is this Gregory's? I
heerd tell about your trouble with that old
skeezicks, Marble. know him. Say.
mIssUs. thank We. and more because I
know ye can't spare the food. and, bless me,
to warm me up, III seek out old Marble
and give him couple Of good Hcks Just for
expressing such good people as you are.
HO. hOl Marble! How hate himl"
He went OF stumbling and crOaking ecs
Mrs. Gregory could say q word. A slight
flush Of humiliation crossed her face as.
with sigh. she sat down again by the
hearth.
Everybody knows our trouble. it seems"
she murmured brOkenly; even that old
tramp has heard the gossip. Oh how the
years have brought misfortune and care,
and bleak, cherries Christmas, when we
have tried so hard. oh, so hard to make
life happy for our darling child, Janet"
Yes, a pastoral tragedy was being enacted
in the lonely farmhouse. more pathetic than
those Of daily fiction. Here We're honest
hearts, bleeding and torn and desOlate, and
old Jerry, the tramp. had struck the key
note Of the cause when he spoke that name
-Marble!
Marble. miser. hypocrite. usurer!-how
much OF sorrow did the honest Gregorys
owe to him!
Ten years previous the next farmhouse
was owned and occupied by William Tyler.
His wife had died, leaving a boy. Cecil
eleven years Of age. He and pretty Janet
had become warm friends and playmates.
The lonely WidOWer was frequent guest at
the Gregory home. When the children be-
came sixteen they were lovers.
One day the two farmers did a foolish
thing. Mr.. Tyler wished ten thousand dol
lars TO speculate in a wonderful mine, dis
covered some distance to the west. He got
Gregory excited about it. He tried to bor-
row the money, and, going to Upton, met
the miserly Gabriel Marble.
Marble agreed to advance the money on
conditions. Tyler was to deed his farm to
him as security, give his notes, and obtain
as indOrser to the same his neighbor. John
Gregory. This was done. Tyler went away
to the mines. He wrote frequently Of fail
ure. success. failure. success. and finally
after Il long lapse of silence. that he was
coming back to the old farm to die. He had
been badly injured by an accident at the
mine, had sold it out, and, he wrote Greg
DRY, would pay Marble, and pass the few
years the doctor said he might live on the
farm.
And now came the strange part Of it. One
dark night Cecil Tyler was awakened by q
loud knocking at the door. Arising, he
found there Gabriel Marble and his hired
man. DObbs. A wagon stood at the gate.
Between them they bore an insensible form
that Of William Tyler.
I'VE found him on my doorstep" explained
Marble. He had Just come to town, and
guess wanted to see me on business, but
his strength failed him, and he tainted dead
away. Doctor said he was very i'll. and told
US to get him home"
The next day. at eventide. William Tyler
died The farmer had scarcely been buried
when Gabriel Marble seized upon the farm
and all its belongings for debt, and notified
John Gregory that, as indorser for Tyler, he
should hold him responsible for any deficit
Young Tyler took the matter into court.
He affirmed that his father just before his
death had aroused sufficiently to tell him
that he had paid Marble all he owed him. It
was proven that Tyler had received sufd-
cient money for that purpose from the sale
of the mine; but when Marble demanded
evidence of a receipt, and exhibited the un-
Cancelled notes, the jury decidedin his favor.
The Tyler farm became Marble 5 property,
Cecil became a homeless pauper. Gregory
was sued for a deficit Of So. 900. forced to sell
his outside land. mortgage the homestead.
and in three years such misery and mis-
fortune grew out of the affair that the farmer
had grown old and brOken-spirited.
One year before that Christmas Eve upon
which our story opens. Cecil Tyler. with the
kiss of his fair betrOthed, Janet, warm on
his lips. had babe the farm and Upton and
/ the GregOrys farewell
Il am going West to seek my fortune" he
said. Cheer up. farmer. I shall work day
/ and night to earn the money to pay you back
what you have lost through my father.
/ Watch Marble! He is a scoundrel-a
/ sWindler. He knows my father paid him
/ that money. There is some plot in it ali He
| has cheated usI"
! And then. full of hope and love. away to
| the golden West went Cecil. leaving Janet in
/ anxious tears, Farmer Gregory dubious and
! gloomy.
/ Now Marble began to show his real hand.
/ In paying his demands Gregory had been
forced TO sell every bit of land he owned.
| except the homestead. That he had mort
/ gagged heavily. Bad crops had come. One
1 day the crafty usurer drove up to the farm
/ house. For half an hour he was cIOseted
! in close conversation with Gregory. The
/ good housewife was amazed shortly to hear
1 loud. angry voices and the sound Of blows.
and she saw Marble rush from the house.
/ his face scored with blood. and her husband
] shoutln- ont Mill IhreaLs alEar him