The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1893-10-14
THE RED TENEMENT.

suiuA tue pSiSou u whom WAA ceotelcu
my greatest interest for . number Of
monsh&, although knew nothing Of him
except his name, WAS Simon Webber. b.
came Interested the frst time | saw him
and my interest never waned for the next
hfty two weeks There WAS 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
dark haired. brown eyed child-the only
person whom he looked At 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, rs 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 10 be my house lie staid there
Tor about two hourA. then went away as he
did before. After he had turned the cor
ner stepped out on the banquette and sur.
veyed nv premises to see il could discover
wherein lay the attraction for the man, but
l failed, so went indoors no wiser than
when ! came out.
- l concluded to give il no more thought |
saw Simon again in his usual place and as
much occupied ~ ever in house gazing
And there he came with the child ALWAYS
ON Sunday-twice q month for the next ten
mouths He had good looking, though
very serious face, and the child was quite
pretty. Many n woman smiled at the little
one and threw second glance at him.
My housemaid, n girl Of sixteen, became
very absentminded. and my powder box
and pinching irons were far more frequent
ly in her room than in mine. This made
ME think OF something else, and after no
ticing her more closely saw her sitting at
the window, considerably bedecked and
adorned. coquetting with or at Simon
Weber
thought at once that she was the mag.
net which bad such a drawing effect upon
the man, but In this | was mistaken. a. |
afterward found out, for not once did he
nod his head to her. and long after she left
DE continued to come at regular intervals.
And continually wondered that his bust
ness was-if my house WAS haunted and he
on the lookout for the ghost This WAS not
very soothing thought, so | determined
70 put the question to him and rest easily
or uneasily, according to his answer.
When did he looked at me calmly for
moment, then replied: Your house haunt
ed' Not that know Of" and without saw
ing another word he turned the corner
leading the child, and went back wonder
Ing II be WAS altogether right in his mind
and this continued to think over until
one day several months later.
There had been a 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 Hat 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 80 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 a
cottage, swinging her feet and seemingly
perfectly contented with herself and the
world in general 1t was too cold, thought,
for child Of such tender years to be so
long without fire, 50 permission to bring
ner indoors was granted me reluctantly 10y
Simon
W dti VIC "OEk Ustil reached com DistlDD
ne stood at my door waiting for the child,
OUT AT my earnest solicitation he came in
and partook with great zest a cup Of steam
ing coffee. As he returned to me the cup.
be said gravely: You some time ago AK ed
me question which answered rather un
civilly. | WAS very unhappy that morn
ing. Knowing this. hope you will pardon
me-"
After replied be dropped his eyes TO the
door and allowing them to follow tn. ont,
lines OF figure in the carpet, be In his
slow, measured tone went on
Il think you must have seen me MANY
times on this street, looking intently at
something which you no doubt for a time
Imagined to he this honse, hut il was not.
The red tenement sits one block back OF
there. To avoid the publicity that would
nave been the consequence OF going on the
street on which 1t was built came here.
where pretty fair view OF il is to be had
oy look ing between as and ~ "A little west
ward, which gave you the impression that
l was watching your house Three Years
ago was lineman and had been since
was quite youth One evening Just about
dusk. went up to II pole that hadn't been
IN or'ier for quite awhile. While was ex-
amininS some Of the wires a voice asked
me, almost in a whisper, to come down
minute. OF course my first tmnulse
before moving an inch w.s to look for
the person, and I saw a young woman
standing at the base Of the pole.
In one moment | WAS beside her, look
ing into her pretty face and wondering who
she was and what her business could b.
with lineman. She looked around n
little nervously. then said: Won't YOU
please lend me your spurs for one mo
ment' ! stayed out little late 20 dare
not climb the stairs, and there's bu. one
other way to reach my room-by climbing
the pole ! must hurry or he'll see me
Please don't refuse
Il was 70 astonshed ut the ret,uest that
took no time to ask myself whether she
was risking her life or not, but went back
up the pole as fast ~ I could. marking
with chalk where she should put her
hands. and quicker than it takes to tell H.
strapped my spurs around her feet and
watched her ascend that pole almost "a
well ~ could.
When she reached the top she gave u
spring, and ciinging to the window for one
moment to regain her breath she made a
swinging motion and landed safely in her
room She disappeared for n few seconds.
then tossed into my hands my spurs
in thick towel, together with n
Zip Of paper on which was written: Don't
think strangely OF me. will explain first
thank you a thousand
lines
That pole was on the right hand corner
,f the red tenement looking north. had
been there many times, but had never seen |
her before. but that may have been ettrib !
ted to the fact Of my never Ieok ir, 20 ~.