Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1895-04-05

''How very slow it is I"
eyes. We have one case that ha.
been going on for thirty years.
81 shall be very old in thirty years,
sha'n't II"
81 don't know"
He could not imagine her being
old. He never remembered that he
was old except when he was with her
Then he realized that he was thirty
seven, even by the calendar; in
reality he must be about hundred.
"We won case last week that Mr..
Clegg inherited from his father. All
the people interested in it are dead
except one. He is in the insane asy.
lum."
She sat for moment gloomily ST.
lent.
"I wish I could understand the
Mesa case"
eff you could you would be better
informed than any one else.
"Don'v you understand it?"
"No. Neither does Clegg. Nor
anybody. I'd better go now, in
stead of staying here and making you
dismal, I'm always being disagree
able"
"No, You are not. You only tell
me the truth"
"Telling the truth is the most OBJ
noxious way in which man can make
himself disagreeable as general
thing"
evil you not stay and dine? You
never stay with us now"
"Thank you, but there will be COM
pany and I am dull. People don't
want dullness at dinner"
Elsie shrugged her shoulders, after
an expressive but inelegant fashion
she had.
"They usually get it, whether they
want it or not"
She looked after him as he went
out, wondering why he never could be
like other people. Then she fell to
musing upon the criminal inadequacy
of the law. 1t had been evolving for
centuries and was still unable to de-
eide the Mesa land case in Wills favor.
What fossilized institution it was !!
No wonder Barclay was dull.
In the autumn Barclay took vaca-
ton. He also took away the breath
of the Office. Barclay had not before
had a vacation since he was gram
mar school boy.
"Next thing" said Hal, "Mount
Shasta will apply for leave OF absence
and go of on yachting excursion in
northern SEAS"
The autumn rains were falling on
the Pacific slope. A pale-green vel
vety carpet was being woven over the
wide plains. The Pacific summer had
begun. bitches which had by cour-
tesy borne the name of rivers had
suddenly put forth legitimate claim to
the appellation. Bridges were washed
away, trains were delayed and ran on
each others time; telegram went
astray. Thus it happened that the
Westwardbound passenger crashed
into freight that was numbering
along to the East, and in an instant
became mass of splintered wood and
bent metal.
When Barclay began to realize him.
self he was crawling out from under
two heavy timbers that had so inter-
fered with each other in falling as to
avoid crushing him under their weight.
He had always thought the advantage
of having few wits was that if they
happened to be lost it would not take
long to pick them up again. He
breathed few times to see if he could,
and in moment was hard at work
tearing away the heavy fragments Of
the wreck, helping to release those
less fortunate than he. One after an
other he carried out, some groaning
with pain and more quite still, having
passed forever beyond the world of
pain.
He heard mans voice calling for
help. Putting forth all his strength,
he lifted away the heavy pieces of
wood from the place whence the
sounds came. The man crawled out,
stood erect when he was quite free
from his prison and gave utterance to
a succession of oaths that struck with
grim deviltry against the appalling
awfulness of the scene. Lying at his
feet was dead woman, her face
turned up pathetically towards the
stars. There was something fascinat-
ing about man who could give way
to tide of profanity in such place.
Barclay followed him few steps.
"How can you say such horrible
words when you have just escaped so
awful death?"
''The very reason I can. he replied,
gruffiy. eff 1 hadn't escaped I
couldn't say them"
| Something in his voice rang famil-
iarly upon Barclays memory. He fol-
lowed yet further.