Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-02-14
GRIPMAN M'CHUNK.

Through the rough Woor ana warp
that made up the character Of Gripman
Andrew McChunk there ran silver
thread OF sentiment. To those who SIM
ply saw the uncouth exterior of the
man, as day after day he stood upon the
front platform Of the car over whose
performances he presided, playing rude
ly on the alarm gong, swearing at the
truckmen who would block his trium-
phal passage this would have seemed al
most impossible. But the thread was
there nevertheless and showed itself on
every afternoon when he was off duty,
and with two youngsters the property
of his landlady, Mrs. Halligan, hang
ing to each hand. he left the small fiat
ON the fifth floor Of 5054 Ninth avenue
and betook himself to Riverside park.
Gripman McChunk loved nature, not
as she reveals herself in the hothouse
atmosphere of the SO called gardens that
line the Harlem, hut as she discloses
herself on the Riverside. He loved the
broad, silent stream, the high, wooded
/. palisades, the .sgrean grass at his feet,
which the birds ohirped and fluttered to
and fro OH the balmy summer days.
Many q pleasant afternoon as he stroll
/. ed along the narrow gravel pathways he
would close his eyes to shut out the
sight of the endless line Of equipages
rolling by, and trusting to the guidance
of the children at his side would listen
to the twitter of the sparrows and rob-
ms and to the swishing Of the breeze
among the carefully pruned branches
and Imagine himself back up country.
Now, had he not had somo little senti-
ment he would have spent those same
afternoons sitting in his shirt sleeves by
the open window of Mrs Halligan's
stuffy fiat smoking his pipe and gazing
stolidly down ON the elevated trains as
they ratified along below.
To the man who delights in wander
ing among green trees and over green
grass, where he can see overhead few
thousand acres OF blue sky dotted with
white clouds, unsoiled by black smoke
and unbroken by the rough outlines OF
factory ehimneys, the time always comes
when in imagination a purely ethereal
some one gazes with him on those same
beauties. Perhaps it takes form of crea.
ture clad in light, airy drapery, with
long, golden hair, deep blue eyes ano
seraphic smile. Andrew McChunk, when
he first began to stroll on the Riverside,
went alone, with the exception of the
two Halligan children. Then, as the
days few by. the pnrely ethereal orea
tion walked with him, and those were
the times when he used to close his eye
and squeeze little Miss Halligan's handl
quite tenderly. Later the ideal form
y took upon itself change; the COLDER
hair assumed dull red hue; the eyet
once blue became snappy black; TIN
form shortened little and spread ou
in proportion; the airy draperies wer'
changed into solid red calico. In fact
the ideal some one that once walked b.
the side Of Andrew McChunk beoam
the exact counterpart Of the buxon
young woman who dispensed lemonad
and knotty apples from small stand a
the southeast corner Of Trinity church
yard.
Who was this creature? Andrew Nc
Chunk did not know her name. He al
!. ways thought Of her as cher" ant
''she. Her customers knew her q
plain Annie. /.
McChunk had presided over a cabl
car for, whole wear before he first cam