Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1889-10-11
IN. G. J. MARABON." "
BY THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH.


IN C. ]. Marabon," his name stood
on the class roll The rules of the col
lege required that the name of each stu
dent should appear in full, and mine was
there as Gabriel Pierce Belfort His
so, as in the case of Lord Dundreary' s
puzzle, ''no fellow could find out. "
When n. G.. J. came he declined to COM
ply with the rule and desired to give his
reasons, confdentially, to the faculty.
That august body, being as curious as
their juniors, met in secret conclave to
consider the case and listened to the peti-
tioner. His excuses were sufficient and
they accorded the exemption. But
when he emerged triumphantly from the
faculty chamber, just as the door closed,
there was a terrible burst of laughter in
his rear. This piqued our curiosity still
more. The secret seemed to be impene-
trable. N. G. j. himself was as mute as
an oyster in the matter, and we dared
not pump the professors, though we al
ways pronounced them to be old pumps.
However, N. G. J. turned out to be no
end of a good fellow. He was as strong
as a bull and as agile as cat, and after
he had thrashed half dozen who had
undertaken to haze him and proved him
self to be the best batter in the ball field
ne became popular. He used to tell "a
great many stories of life in North Caro-
lima, from whence he came, and always,
no matter how funny they were, with a
grave face. So we nicllnamed him North
Carolina Joker Marrowbone, and it stuck
differently as North Car'lina, or Joker,
or Marrowbone, rs the whim struck us,
and he took either in good part.
Marathon and l became quite intimate
We wereSchums, passed through our four
years of college life together and were
graduated at the same time. Then he
went back to North Carolina and | took
up the study of law and in three years
time was called to the bar. We kept up
correspondence, though we did not
meet. About two years after we had
taken our degree he came to New York
and our letters continued. lie was quite
rich and liked New York and club life.
was not quite so well off, and lived in
Brantford our county town, rarely going
away, even for vacation. | was quite
surprised then when one Gay, short
while after began practice, he walked
into my office. Of course | was glad tc
see him, seated him in my clients chair
and produced a box of cigars frome one
of the drawers. We each lit cigar
when we leaned forward.
"Bel," he said-he always called nae
so for short-"Im in a mess of trouble
and must have some advice. thought
of you and as l know you are not SO
great a fool as you look | ran up here by
the ten o'clock train to consult you"
"Well," said l, not much tlattered by
part of his speech, and determined to re-
turn him Roland for his Oliver, ''the
conference of two fools is not likely to
amount to much, but what is it?"
at involves secret, !" he said, (which
you must consider professional BY the
way, what kind of cigar is this?"
"Key West" l replied laconically
81 thought so. Why don't you smoke
Havana2"
"Cant afford it."
"Cant, eh2 Well, partly as fee ant
partly out of regard for yours truly,
shall send you hundred of the right sor
as soon as get to town again.
can right, I'll accept them; but am
to wait for your story until the cigars ge
here2"
ttNo. You-see I've been expecting t