Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-12-08
THAT POOR STICK.


It was when they were homeward
bound, in mid-Atlantic, that Mary Den
ming first began 10 doubt. She had been
SO happy in her love; for ever since child
hood Major Herbert Knox had been her
hero. His ten years. seniority had only
served to shield him from the criticism
of companionship. Her judgment was
thus nurtured by inference, not by knowl,
edge, and tho Majors gallant bearing had
been an agreeable stimulant. So, when
he had met the Dennings in Switzerland,
and one night while the lake was proud
ly saying, "See the moon is here, where
my love should be, within my throbbing
BOSOM" and the outline of the Matter
horn against the horizon was like mono
18th to Truth, Marys heart had leaped
mighty Amen to the ''yes" that her
tremulous lips had lisped as the Major
had pressed her to him, and had told in
his simple, manly way how futile life was
to him without her, and how he had fol-
lowed her from their distant home to
confess his need. Joyous indeed had
been Mary, when the next morning, at
the breakfast table, her father through
one of his milestone jokes had revealed
the truth to their party. And when Joe
Palmer, after having coughed violently
and upset his coffee, had shambled hasti-
ly from the room, she had laughed with
the others at the Majors remark that
Joe's mother had shown more faith than
prudence in at length loosing her apron
strings.
And Joe Palmer had rushed up to his
quarters and behind bolted doors had
stamped up and down the floor in rage
which found no expression until he had
paused before the pier glass and had
studied his tall, angular, uncouth form,
his long white face, with fierce eyes, con-
trastinG comically with sensitive lips, his
shirt front bedabbled, and his clothing
so evidently intended for some other
man, and then he too had laughed. Not
very pleasant laugh, either, for young
man to utter who possessed health and
! wealth aud intelligence, and whose well
} fare was the only and constant solicitude
3 of widowed mother. Yet 1T was this
very concern which Joe now blamed as
he looked back over his life. He knew
that il had been q perennial jest among
his neighbors and friends, that it had
/ deprived him of the harsh discipline
which makes boys manly, and had gained
o for him the name Of a mollycoddle. He
Q remembered that while Herbert Knox
had dashed by on horseback, he had
been trundled by his nurse; that ever
: while little Mary Denning had climbed
v fences and trees and had gathered flowers
4 through the fields, he had not dared tc
Il stray from the graveled walk. He re
h allied that while those who should have
been his comrades had grown up will
purposes and responsibilities which breed
q self-reliance, he had been tended ever
3 unto early manhood within the hothous
n of maternal anxiety. Was it wonde
i that when shame had released him b.
should seem different from other younI
men. he who had never run q race, no
e played ball, nor fought a quarrel to
bloody end2 Was it wonder that h
d was strange and difiident and awkward
when the only ways that he had bee
taught were those ways that every one
"a including himself, despisedl
u Was it, indeed, any wonder that hi
thrifty, energetic townspeopley findini
him SO unlike themselves, should relC
gate him to the limbo of ne'er-do-well
under the sufficient accusation of bein
n poor stick2 They little knew that h
had darling purposes, ambitions buried
but buried in his heart; that he longe
to be an influential, powerful man anon
men, commanding respect, forcing con
y pliance with his views. They little kne
that he dreamed of home which shout
be the happiest home in all Aberdeen
since the Queen of its women shout
their reign. They deemed him hunk
a boy, the spoiled child of doth
V mother, who, If he developed acutene
enough to take case of the wealth whiC
surely would be his, would surpa
kindly interest.
" An unhappy life, filled with revert
that never were realized, with regre
that always had a cause. How could
hope, how could he act when evcrythiI
he said and did resulted in jeer2 Al
vet he had believed that Mary DENIM
"a knew him, was able to discern intenti'
j in awkwardness and beneath uncout
ness to sec tender, sympathetic hea
And so when she had gone to Euro
with her people he had overcome t
tcarf III opportunities of his mother, fin
) mo shNme in so facile victory, and h
Az Joined heir party in switzerland, bel
81 tolerated., so he felt, as a harmless cr
ture, out If respect for old-time intin
cies.
Alas for the wild hopes Of the jour-
thither! On his arrival he had fou
81 Major Herbert Knox in full possession
q the field. What was there for him to
8 except to accept the inevitable and Il
. his place as n camp follower in the pI
4 ence Of such conqueror For
$ Major had always been the beau ideal
IS impossibilities 20 poor Joe. Handsol
$ athletic, graceful, his bearing meri
a. the title which local militia had gi
= him. A fine, manly-appearing fell,
3 truly, carrying his straight six feet
IS J brawu and sinew as deity as Co