The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-09-15
MAKING uP 10 HEB.


Feelings Were Hurt
Among the passengers in tho little wait
ing room of the Fort street depot the other
day WAS q little old man whose age any
one would have put at above so. He had
stiff knee, a had cough and made him
self conspicuous by moving around, carry
ing under his arm bundle Of 'dnds' tied
up with a piece OF clOthesline- When he
had asked about his train for the fifth
time and got it through his head that he
had over three hours to wait, he went over
and pumped himself down on a seat be-
side fat woman with six parcels and
bundles on the seat to her right and said:
You needn's Be afraid of me, marm-
I'm no robber nor blackleg, but jest feel
like tallzin to some one. -
I'm not afraid of you or any other
man livingr' she replied as she looked
him over.
are as skeery rabbits when they are
travelin- Sunthin kind O. whispers TO me
that you are q wilder -
Does its" she qUeried in reply.
And surthin may kind O. whisper to
you that I'm a widower, fur SIGH is tho
tact Bin 4 widder lOng?"
Not so very long
i've bin a widoyver about two years.
Did he die suddenfy?''
My husbands No not SO very sudden
""
But my wife did She sot down to
breakfast and cat : hearty meal and then
went out to feed the hogs and fell dead
In the midst OF life we arc allus in death,
marn- :"
Yes, I presume SO. -
Fur the first three months I thought I
could never love agin. Was that the way
1t affected yOu?'
II don't remember, 3" she replied as
she turned her head away.
Il S pose it affects a wilder different
from a widower. Some O. my friends
thought I orter git married agin, bat
their words stabbed mo to the heart Was
any SIGH thing said to stab you to the
heart, marInf''
Not that / can recall. .
but the world seemed dark and dreary
to you, of course, and you was a good
mind to take pizen and be at rest beside
your loved one? It's hard thing to lose
the partner OF yer life, marln?'
Yea, sir.
Fur the fust five or six months you
ar as lonesome as a lost calf, and you
hain't got no more appetite than chick
en- with the pip-that is, it affects Il wild
over that way. After time, however
after about two ycars-yOu begin to feel
that life is not a drcary desert arter all.
In other words, you begin to squint
around.
Yes, - she said as be paused.
"And I'll tell you in confidence" he re-
sumed after hitching about for awhile,
''that l the squint. In other words,
I've got my eye out fur a second Nancy
Jane. I don't go teliin it arOuno, but
feel that I kin conf1de in you. I am
widower, and you ar q wilder We acct
deEtalIy meet in this ere depot, " hich is
large and com Portable and a credit to the
town We take a shine to each other on
sight. After a leetlo talk we pass from
shine to love Soon after passin from
shine to love-
Just then j man Of about 40, who had
been to the ticket window to make some
inquiries, approached the pair. He seemed
to instinctivcly divine what was going on,
and without any words he took the old
man by the coat collar and lifted him to
his feet and sat down beside his wife and
began to give her the information he bad
secured The widower stood for a mo-
nent and looked at the pair, who paid not
the slightest attention to him, and half a
dozen people who had overheard some
thing of the conversation began to laugh.
One Of theua-an unfeeling man-got up
and laid his hand on the old man S shout
der and said:
old chap, you made a mistake there,
Ell? She's no widow"
No she hahn t no wilder, y replied the
victim if talking to himself.
Rather threw you down, I should say"
Yes throwed me right down. -
And, having passed from shine to love,
what arc you going to do now?"
I'm goin to pass out of this depot
and git whisky bracer and then come
back and tell that woman what think
of her and lick her husband till you kin
hear him yell mile away
He went out and got his bracers but
those who waited his return were disap-
pointed An hour later policeman found
him with one arm around a lamppost and
his bundle at his feet. He was swaying
about in an unsteady way, ana the OIL
Ger approached he began to weep.
Any one hurt your feolings?" queried
the bluecoat
'-Ycshl''
''Who is it?''
r-depot-throwed dovnT' sob
bed the old man '.Yesh- Never had my
feeIir's hurt SO beforel Shay, mizzerS
''Well2''
''Lemme shleep! 1 wanter shleep and
dream and forget. wanter pass from shine
to lOve-and from love to bracer-and
from bracer to-to''-
ITO sleep
''Yesh, shlcep- Yesh, to-to''-
His legs gave away, and he sank down
and slept, and when the patrol wagon
came and the two officers lifted him in
the movement didn't even interrupt his
snoring--Detroit Free Press
Where Realism Fails.
Friend presume you have become a
follower of the modern realistic school