Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-08-08

we need the money bad enough" and
the coarse man laughed, a brutal,
characteristic laugh.
.'But, Sam, it seems so horrible to
carry around our own flesh an blood
fur Il show feebly protested the
woman.
$50 much the wuss. Lerindy, eff he
war some other feller's young one
now, but seems he's our'n why we've
got ter make the best ont an get what
we kin outen him. Clearly the man
was troubled with no delicacy of feel
ing, and his stupid brain was incapable
Of comprehending the wife's scruples.
''HOw soon be We gOin' ter start.
Sam?" The woman's tone had re-
sumed its usual submissive quality.
and the question was evidently set
tied.
IL reckin kin get ready next week;
theirs the tent fiXin's ter make, an
to, an eff you hev the boy ready we
kin start week after next"
1--WE kin, kin we? Well see about
that. we WILL darn ye." and great
pair of misshapen fists were clinched
and shaken at the speakes
rickety lean-to joined the main
part of the house, and there the SUBJ
ject of the conversation crouched near
the partially open door.
He was a terribly misshapen
creature, with head many sizes too
large for his shrunken body. and great,
burning. black eyes looked out from
under crown of shaggy, uncombed
hair. giving him an air of strange
ferOcity. Some disease of the Joints
had enlarged these useful portions of
his anatomy, until they were not only
comparatively useless. but hideously
distorted, and he was far from being a
pleasant object to look upon.
Nature, with one of her strange
freaks of compensation, had given him
a soul superior to the uncouth temple
in which it was placed. and if poor
Mic Vedder could have had the ghost
of a chance in life, he might have
been, at least creditable specimen of
his race. The great black eyes were
the index of what might have been in
tellect with proper encouragement,
and the uncultivated heart burned
with real affection toward those who
treated him kindly, though unhappily,
these had been so few in his hard and
soul-crushing life, that he would have
been puzzled to define his feelings
upon the rare occasions.
The coarse father had hated and de-
spised him from his birth, and kicks
and cruel blows had been his portion
from him from infancy. Even the
scanty food which was as grudgingly
thrown out to him as the bones to an
unwelcome dog, was accompanied
with railing for the expense of his
keeping.
The mother, left to herself, might
have been kind in a weak and unsatis-
factory way. but she stood in mortal
fear other husband and was too indolent
to make any decided stand for right.
Still, she lacked the course brutality oil
the father, and when he had preached
his project of making travelling show
of the boy. with a double-headed calf
and another animal making up a pitt
able trio of misery, she had made a
feeble struggle of remOnstrance, sincere
as we'll as unavaillng.
Mic had submitted to curious looks
and impertinent questions In his child
hood with indifference, but of late he
had shrunk away from observation,
and when questioned had answered. II
at all, with a sullen look which be-
tokened rebellion against the petty
curiosity of the world, and when he
understood from his fathers words
that he was to be made public show.
with no defense against the curious
eyes he so dreaded, his very soul rose
ND in fierce rebellion against the
unnatural scheme. and if he had pos
sessed the strength. it is to be feared
4 tragedy would have taken the place
OF the money-making trip.
The wagon with its white cover was