The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-06-03
a LONELY CHRISTIAN.

something that has not been pleasant to
him, and tho pain and wickedness and
hollowness of which have been forced
upon him by n grim experience
Grimes name was the only thing
about him that offered any poetic sug-
geetion and was not lightly passed or for
gotten by those who saw him every day.
The legend of that old man whose dirge
has been sung these co years-whose
coat was old and gray and buttoned down
before in every version of that irrevcr-
ent elegy-is the common inheritance
CT all the English speaking race wher-
ever they wander. The ragged urchin
twanged it endlessly in his ears from
behind the corners of shaHtics Whenever
his bent figure came i'll sight Even the
Erownup Texans who lounged, gamblcd
and traded horses at the suffers store
repeated it to him as standing joke
that could not be worn out. But he
paid no attention or diverted the topic
when he could and hobblcd away slow
ly, ever muttering to himself something
that nobody heard or needed.
The residence of this song tormented
old person was q rough and canvas COW
cred shanty situated by rambling path
In the midst of congregation of such,
some better, some worse. The place was
known by the denizens of tho neighbor-
ing post as Shutdown. The open and
unfinished quadrangle land tho square
stone houses that had all home
loss and dreary look were some
half mile away. Fort Concho was
confessedly q hard place, all of it
Shutdown was its foster child, filled
with stranded emigrants, cattle hcrdcrs,
gamblers and men who had no occupa-
ton Out toward the bleak northwest
Llano Estacado stretched its endless
leagues of rock and cactus-the widest
land beneath the flag, governed and
owned by the Comanche and utterly
useless and tenantless for all time, save
for that Saxon savage almost as wild as
he
But Shutdown, struggling up from
tho little rivers side, sat with it's SHAH
ties under the lee of the post, fully con-
fding in its military neighbor Hero
were privileged to come and remain
through the windy Texas winter all
men. with due proportion of women,
whose tastes or whose occupations led
them to the far verge of civilization.
Thither came the cattleman and watch
ed his wild herds OH the neighboring
hills until returning greenness warned
him off upon the California trail
Thither returned the man who had &C
complished the wonderful journey, laden
with fortunate gold Bearded, broad
brinmed and belted, here lounged a
small army of guides and trailers, play
ing shrewd games at cards. drinking
San Antonio whiskey and at intervals
shooting mt each other. The gaunt and
long footed Texas girl, chalky, yellow
haired and awkward, minced from cabin
to cabin with neighborly gossip and did
her calico and green ribbon shopping at
the pine counters of the traders stores
There We're urchins many coatlcss and
shoeloss from January to December, who
were as the calves of this corral of hu
manity Here, too, was that pink of the
border, the dashing stage driver, who
for $40 per month every day ran the
gauntlet through 60 miles Of Indian
haunted desolation, and who at the end
Of his trick rewarded himself wit,
two days of dalliance with the bellies o.
Shutdown, to whom indeed he was as
the apple OF their pale eyes.
And among these people lived Father
Grimes, and these were they who sang
tho ancient ditty to him rs he passed
by. What his occupation was nobody
precisely knew or cared, but they
:" lowed" he was "wcll hcecd'' and
''had little tucked away somewhere.
In the particular condition of society
or rather want of all society-that ell
vironcd him the inquiry into Grimes
business would hardly have gone so far
as that had it not been that his daugh-
tor occupied conspicuous position us
the prcttiest girl at Concho and was
famous alike for the brilliancy of her
checks and her dresses She and Father
Grimes lived alone, and it was scarcely
thought of that at some former period
mother had been necessary III the
usual course of nature. cold Grimes
and his gall filled all the Grimes hori-
Eon
1t would be entirely in accordance
with good taste if it were possible now
TO describe dutiful daughter, entirely
devoted to her aged father and resenting
the verbal indignities daily heapcd upon
$1,000 ouo oiio AuOlS, tiS SoiucWnlG ul1nlV
remembered, altogether forbid. Of all
the mans troubles, his daughter was
y probably the greatest She was not
tgaunt and angular, like tho other Ladies
Pf Shutdown, as rule. Her checks were
Pike peonies, and her round figure had
. IA perceptible jellyish shaking as she
walked She disturbed her fathers
blumbers with hoydenish laughter while
khe hours struck small in the night