Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-07-08
GUEST OR PRISONER.

and its close found us Very poor. In
deed we We're soon reduced to great
straits to live. After all debts We're
paid. us my mother determined they
should he at whatever sacrifice. only
a fragment OF the old farm was left
us; and that, under the tiilagc then
followed. did not pay.
AT that period l was a lad hardly
we'll into my teens, and an exceed.
ingly green also. For my life had
been cast in war times when country
people stirred not much abroad. but
remained close at home, awed by the
great struggle that shock the Whole
country in its progress.
Like most lads l was dlled with a
great longing to go out in the world.
To my imagination, Il city was am
earthly paradise. l could scarcely
sleep for thinking OF the subject. and
when l did, my dreams were filled
with nothing else.
For = long time my mother with
stood my pleadings. AT last when
she saw that nothing else would do,
she dressed me in my best suit of
homespun, packed my scant wardrobe
in an old-fashioned carpet bag and
with many misgivings aud volumes of
good advice. gave me leave to go.
Bidding all the home folks a tender
farewell, l trudgcd Off down to the
railroad station carpet bag i'm hand.
1t was a long walk of five or six
miles, but l felt so buoyant and.
happy that l minded it not, shouting
to everybody within hearing of the
= a merry goodbye and IL word us
ll~!hither l was bound. Never be-
fore or since has the sky seemed so
blue. the earth so green, and every
thing so r%adiantly beautiful.
But my delight eliminated when l
was once aboard the cars and speed
ing forward on my Journey. 1t was
my first trip on the railroad, and al
though 1 tried hard to look digniticd
and to pass for an old traveller, l was
constantly forgetting myself; rushing
from n window to another filled
with wonder and delight. now at
this scene, now at that: all very much
to the amusement of my fellow-pus-
ssngers.
Indeed, but for one thing. nv joy
would lave been without Il flaw. AS
we began to ear Ralcigh-for that
was my destination-it happened that
only n person besides myself re-
manned in the coach. There was
something in the appearance of this
man that Disguised and then alarmed
MT. His hair was black and his
moustache heavy. And as all the
pictures Of robbers, piratesa and bandits
that l had ever seen were thus
painted, l felt sure that there must
be something wrong about him.
Then. although ] sat in the seat
next to his, ne spoke not a word, nor
even SO much as looked towards ME.
This, 1 was sure argued great de-
pravity of heart. For although [ had
seen many very bad men, one of whom
was said to have killed IL man and
tried to kill another, l had never be-
fore met n quite so bad but that he
would give Inc good-day, and pass a
friendly word, no matter how great a
stranger he might be.
Prompted by these feelings, 1 kept
one hand on my carpet bag and the
other firmly agrip of the little roll Of
'sfractional currency sewcd up in my
pocket. For there was no silver
change in circulation in those DAYS:
but we used instead OF it, three, five,
ten, twenty-five, and fifty cent paper
bills.
By and by it struck me that it
might be unsafe to sit too near such
a person. Besides remembering the
warning of the copy books, that peo-
pie are judged by their associates, I
was unwilling to entera TRANCE place
in such company. So, just as soon as
1 could lind the least pretext for it, l
moved to the farthest end of the
coach; always keeping both eyes on
the stranger and both hands ON my
property.
At length I discerned far ahead
steeples and a dome arising above a
sea of oaks, and I knew that Raj
eigh must be at hand. The train
pulled into the station amid what
seemed to me a %deafening din and
babel of voices. A few feet from the
CdtS tlAeTc were uIdWn up ny u long
rN0f vehicles a line of men with
Is buttons on their coats, and
whipsin their hand, and all gesticu-
ulating like maniacs. 1t was im-
possible to work out o syllable they
said. But my one clear idea about a
city was that it was filled with Do.
ltcemen, and that policemen wore
bits buttons. That they carried
bs in their hands, and shouted like
tmen I had not heard. although I
led that 1T must be their way Of
tR people coming to town know
astee aw was. So I strained my
catch their words ands