Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-02-12
az. RED 1'ENEMENT

think the person ill whom was conferred
months. although knew nothing of him
except his name, was Simon Webber. be
came Interested the first time s:iw him
and my Interest never wanes for the next
fifty two weeks. There was Il rustic seat
on the corner OF the street just opposite to
where lived. and on this he was seated the
FIRST time saw him. By his side was i,
dark haired, brown eyed child-the only
person whom he looked ut the second time
and the only thing that seemed to have any
attraction for him. except something in the
direction of my house. He sat there for
about three hours, then. taking the child's
hand in his, walked away and | did not see
him again for two weeks.
1t was on Sunday morning, as it was be
fore, and near the same hour when he seat
ed himself in the same place, and divided
his attention between the child and what
thought to be my house He staid there
for about two hours, then went away as he
did before After he had turned the cor
ner stepped out on the banquette and sur
veyed my premises to see if | could discover
wherein lay the attraction for the man, hul
| failed. so went indoors no wiser than
when | came out.
pondered over it for some time, and jus;
as concluded to give it no more thought
saw Simon again in his usual place and ;ls
much occupied us ever in house gazing
And there ne came with the child always
Oh Sunday-twice Il month for the next tei
months. He had good looking though II
very serious face. and the child was quits
pretty Manga woman smiled at the lit,
one and threw Il second glance at him.
Ny housemaid, Il girl of sixteen becam
very absentmin,led, and my powder boz
and pinching irons were far more frequent
Is in her room than in mine. This made
me think of something else, and after &c
ticing her more closely | saw her sitting &.
the window, considerably be;iecied III.
adorned coquetting with or at Siino.
Wei,ber
thought at once that she Was the ma.
net which had such Il drawing effect upal.
the man, but in this WAS mistaken. rs /
afterward found out. for not once did he
nod his head to her. and long after she left
he continued To come ut regular interval
And continually wondered what his bus
ness w;ts-if my house WAS haunted and l..
on the lookout for the ghost. This was nc.
ii very soothing thought, so ! determine!
to put the question to him and rest easily
or une;iSily according to his answer
When did be looked at me calmly for /.
moment. then replied: Your house haunt
eds Not that know Of" and without say
ing another word he turned the corner
leading the child, and went back wonder
ing if he WAS altogether right ia his mind
and this continued to think over until
one day several months later
There had been severe storm the night
before, particularly damaging to the cleo
trio wires. Many of the poles were split
from end to end, others bent, and most OF
them lying fiat on the ground Wires
were kinked, twisted in knots and scat
tered all over the streets. Betimes the
next morning men were busily engaged in
setting new poles and putting the fixtures
into proper condition. AS | glanced down
the long line of men working like so many
bees my eyes fell on the familiar face OF
Simon Weber, whom had not seen for
several weeks, and his little companion.
The little one sat on the lower step Of /,
cottage, swinging her feet and seemingly
perfectly contented with herself and the
world in general 1t was too cold, thought,
for Il child Of such tender years to be SO
long without fire, SO permission to bring
her indoors was granted me reluctantly by
Simon.
When the work had reached completion.
he stood at my door waiting for the child.
| but at my earnest solicitation be came in
| and partook with great zest Il cup of steam
| ing coffee. AS lie returned to me the cup,
| he said gravely: You some time ago asked
me a question which | answered rather I'm
| civilly. was very unhappy that morn
| ing. Knowing this, hope you will pardon
| me"
After l replied he dropped his eyes to the
floor. and allowing them to follow the out
| lines Of a figure in the carpet, he in his
slow, measured tone went on.
| II think you must have seen me many
| times on this street, looking intently at
something which you no doubt for time
| imagined to be this honse, but it was not.
The red tenement sits one block back OF
| there. To avoid the publicly that would
have been the consequence of going on the
| street on which it was built came here
where "A pretty fair view of it is to be had
| by looking bet ween 415 and At Il little west
ward. which gave you the impression that
WAS watching your house Three years
ago | was II lineman and had been since
was quite youth. One evening just about
dusk, went up to Il pole that hadn't beer
| in order for quite awhile. While was ex
| aminng some of the wires Il voice asked
| me, almost in Il whisper. to come dowI
| Il minute. Of course my first impulse
before moving an inch WAS TO look fol
the person and saw Il young woman
standing at the base Of the pole.
in che moment | was beside her, look
ing into her pretty face and wondering who
| she was and what her business could be
with :. lineman She looked around +
| little nervously. then said: Won't you
please lend me your spurs for one mo
ment? | stayed out a little late so dare
not climb the stairs, and there's but ont
other way to reach my room-by climbing
the pole ! must hurry OF he'll see me
| Please don't refuse
| u WAS so lStOnShed at the request that
| took no time to ask myself whether she
was risking her life or not, hnt went back
up the pole us fast as could. marking
| with chalk where she should put hel
hands. and quicker than it takes to tell it
| strapped my spurs around her feet and
watched her ascend that pole almost as
! well us | could.
w hen she reached the top she gave &
| spring. and clinging to the window for one
| monen: to regain her breath she made q
swinging motion and landed safely in hel
room She disappeared for a few seconds
then tossed into my hands my spurs
wrapped in IA thick towel, together with 8
! slip Of paper on which was written: Don't
think strangely of me. | will explain first
opportunity thank you a thousand
| times.
That pole WAS on the right hand corner
of the red tenement looking north. | had
been there many times, but had never seer
her before, but that may have been attrib
uted to the fact of my never looking to the
| right or left. or ever having paid any at
tention to anybody's windows, or even any
one on the street. walked Il few block.
up and returned just in time to seq il rough
looking fellow dart in back alley just as
an Old man climbed the steps and entered
| the room in which the young woman had
gone.
Il turned my steps toward my lodging
quarters but was thinking all the time Of
that girlish face the gray old man and the
rough looking chap. and wondering who
they were | never went rear the red tenp
| mint leT that without Slincll1g upat lie
window, an act had never been guilty o
be ore, and was usually awarded with
smile. saw her | think, Il half dozel