The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-10-04


ting rid of n man against whom his en-
forced &c erosity had given him a grudge.
"In that caSe." he said. coming nearer 70
the youug man, q I'd soeaking loudly in his
car "of course Ne sIaI have t. dispense
with Your services. AM sorry, exceeding
" sorry, so no lou 1t will MIR, Link be. bat
u deaf clerk is not Of the sllghte't use in this
Office. / will give you a weeks salary. You
sha,l not nave the slightest reason for think.
Ing yourself ll!>u5ed, but you need not
eoTo here amin"
put slc, :" sanmere1 Clifford, who hnd
heard enough of this speech TO understand
its whole import. 81 consulted physician
this morning, and he says this deafness viii
lie only te nporary-OnlY temporary, sir,
l can bring you his written opinion"
Il don't want his opinion. WHAT'S his
opinion to me"
"Oaly, sir, that you might give me an
other cnance. | know the work of your
office SO well that | can be of almost as
much use az eve.. When you speak loudly,
you see, | can hear quite we'll"
1--WE couldn't keep our voices always for
your benefit at the pi.c1 am keeping mine
now. We should all be hoarse in week"
Won't you keep mo on, Sir, for such
work as can do, at any salary you think
am worth, until my hearing gets all right
againp
mo. You can come back when it is all
right"
But, sir, in the meantime no one will
take on a deaf clerk
Then why should IT
I've bean here seven years, sir"
"Getting good salary, which has been
raised mo, than once. Paid your salary
too, for weeks while you we're away"
Clifford could bear no more.
For which | am very grateful-to Nj.
Link y he said.
Old Pog on, who gave himself as many
airs as an elderly BEAUTY, sank back in his
armchair, as if exhausted by the Interview.
The attentive page ordered Cliff ord to leave
the room, and the poor fellow was hustled
out. The head clerk gave him passionate
| hand squeeze as he put into his hand the lit
| tie PACKET containing his weeks salary,
which Pogson had sent ont.
'Mr. Link will be back in six weeks" said
the head clerk in his ear an take care TO
| tell him all about it as soon rs he comes,
and he'll have you back, never fear"
six weeksm murmured the unhappy
man as he left the Office, and opening the
| little packet in his hand.
Those four soverelgns Tould not go far
and the savings be had been able to make on
| his salary were very small. Perhaps, too,
even Mr.. Links influences would not suffice
to reinstata him, in the face Of Pogson's
| prejudice. As for getting work elsewhere
| to bring him anything near $500 q year,
that, with his present disadvantage, was, he
| felt, impossible.
Aud so it proved. Day after day he
| answered letters, he made personal applice-
| ton for situation after situation. Day af-
ter day he went through the same wears
! some round, meeting shrug, head-shakiDg,
refusal. Only the brave, hopefulness of his
| wife, who had guessed what mis- misfortune
was before he would confess il, saved him
from utter despair. He made e little money
by law copying, and these slender means
Blanche supplemented by various efforts,
not disdaining the humble and uaremunera-
tive plain sewing when it came in her way.
They had even to let rooms in their misera-
bic little jerry built homo, a resource which
hurt CliffOrd's pride more than aay of the
rest
But the sum total of their meager earn
iugs was insufficient for their bare OK penses,
and presently both husband and wife saw
with alright that, under this regime OF en-
forced economy, the children were begin
ming TO suffer. By this time the winter was
approaching, ami the thought of the prva-
ton his wife and children would have to
| suffer, with insufficient food and warmth,
brou Sht Clifford to the verge of madness.
Blanche was shocked one evening on COM
| ing into the little apartment which now did
duty for drnwing-room, dinlng-room and
study to find Clifford examing, with an air
of the deepest interest, some object which
he held in his hand. Although he had not
/ rec 'verod his hearing, he generally knew b
| some Instinct when his wife came into his
| roo n. On this occasion he turned abruptly
to meet her, trying to hide what it was
! which engrossed his attention. But she,
with waite eager face. being alw avs on the
! alert for fresh misfortune. would not be
satisfied until she had seen 1t.
And 1t was a revolver.
L.. 1, =
Of shamo-faced avoidance which filed her
with horror. She could not speak coherent
ly; her utterance was chokoi.
"ChifOrd, you would never-think Of the
children, of me-" she gulped. And the poor
thing threw herself into his arms.
He lauzhed loud and boiNte ously. He
could always hear, or at least, understand
her.
Nonsense, nonsense, dear, what are YOU
thinking about" cried he, with miserable
attempt ut assumed amusement "Cns Is
young B relays; he brought it in for me to
ee. It's first-rate one; he bought it Sec
ond~ha ID grelt bargain"
Let me take 1t back to him then.
don't know what young men want with
such things" said his wife. tartly.
She took it almost By force from his
hand, and put it back in the dodgers room
and she di not forget the next time she
i
| SHARPLY for having such nasty, dangerous
things about-in-il a house where there
were chidrel.
The weary weeks dragged on until the
mi lido of y TO. er when the crisii came mt
Lass. Cliff prd could bear no 10 ger the
! pinchcd Look ne began u sea II the fac Of
us CA!Iu. o.. One last, dCs ,erate attempt
90 must ;aaae t. SNe Mr.. Link. The iunior
/ partner mus, he knew, have re ,urne 70
f gland long before rnis; but On the TWO
occn G0ns when he had tried 20 see him he
J bad been told at the ollie d lor, not IN
kindly, but firmly, by /, g Old head clerk,
that Mr. Linl; WAS rot there. \ letter ne
hn seAt, detailing his misfortune ana ask
lug il tGere was any cba1ce of reinStats-
ment fo.' him, received NJ answer.
On this occasion, however, ne prescnto
! himself at the Office with dog ke1 resolve
| to get at least hearing. BY ill-luck the
moment of his arrival was the most unnro-
| pitious po Sibe. Halt-past five was the
hour at which the junior partner was in the
| habit of leaving the office; and at half-past
| five, therefore, re gardlCss of tho assurances
! 2f the clerk that Mr. Link ives not there,
Clltf nd insisted in placing him elf in The
outer oiiice in such II place that the junior
partner could not fail to see him when, es
| ho expected, that gentleman should open
the door Of the inner Office to
come out. Tho clerks did their
best t. dissuade him from his
| purpose; but they dared not raise thsir
voices high enough to make bin hear. for