The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-08-30
il guilty OF some crime, returned to his

III guilty OF soine crlihe, uincu ~ liz
side.
Not the president of the Boomtown
Syndicate! she stammered.
The same. And you!" he whis-
pered.
For an answer she reached to the desk
and holding before his eyes copy of the
Boomtown Herald. copy of which he
had few moments before been grinding
through the press, pointed to the head
of the first column. He read
"A. G.. CHELTON-Editor.'
There was no more time for converse
ton: the physician had arrived.
GLOW did this happen!" he asked
with a profound bow to the lady, bow
eloquent with suggestions of such epithets
as " courtly," accomplished, etc, to
be applied to him in future references in
local items.
"He was standing by the press, when
the box upon which he was, gave way,
and he fell In the fall his arm caught
in the press and was wrcnched," was her
summing up of the situation.
The doctor took hold of the arm, gave
it twist and Manley dropped off into
uncOnsClOuSneSS again.
+ =
1t was something of a nine-days' won.
der in BoOmtown-the nine days during
which the stranger lay in his room in the
hotel, nursing broken arm, and build.
ing up system which had given way
under the strain of several months hard
work, ending with the long journey and
a. &c aft of
His first call, when he was able to
leave the hotel, was at the Herald office.
The same little lady who had startled
him before was sitting at the desk.
After some preliminary congratulations
had been disposed of, he felt decided
embarrassment in carrying on the con-
versation. At last he blurted out, with
characteristic bluntness.-
Are YOU the editor"
"Didn't | tell you So" she replied,
with twinkle in her eyes.
Yes, but-but-it was A. c. Chel-
ton" he stammercd.
THAT is right Alma Caroline Chel-
ton-that's my name,' and she straight
cned up haughtily.
And you have run .his thing all the
while?"
Yes. all the while. Iwould have let
YOU know, but | was afraid YOU would
not like it. and As the company were APP
parently pleased with my work. thought
| must be doing as well as Il man."
You did do as we'll As man., " said
Manley impulsively. "You did sp!en-
didly. The paper was as strong rs man
could have made it. liked the style.
Couldn't have improved on some of the
editorials myself"
Manley liked the Herald-that was
very evident. 1t also soon became evil
dent to the BOomtown folks that he liked
the cditor-or eCstress, as some would
call her. His trip of few days length
encd into weeks, and all that time he was
lettering around the printing office. 1t
seemed to him as though that was the
brightest spot on earth. He conferred
with the villagers, he launched new plans
for the improvement of the place, but he
gave his best efforts to making happy the
hours of the writer of those editorials
which had so caught his fancy.
When ut last an imperative summons
from the Quaker City called him home,
he asked that writer to accompany him.
Why" said she roguishly, "What
will the Herald do without an editor?"
1T never shall have another editor"
returned he impetuously. IN dump
the whole office into the ravine yondcr.
No other name shall profane its
columns"
He did not exactly do that. but on the
day that he and his newly -made bride
were carried away eastward, they saw
from the windows of the Pullman car,
three wagons stringing off to the south,
mounting the slope that led after few
miles, to the foothills of the Rockies.
"There, Alma, said Manley, ''there they
go. They are moving the Herald to
Gold City. sold the whole outfit yes
tcrday."
BoomtOwn never recovered the loss of
both its paper and editor. The down
grade upon which it had started when
Manley went West had no end short of
that vitality called ''dcadness.
1t went rapidly through that metamor.
phosis which Henry Manley and his wife,
! rs they talk over the affair in their luxur-
ious Philadelphia home, term Boom
towns Collapse. > 1 Yankee Blade.
The Man Frop and the Goose Row