The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-02-22

IT was reserved and stanu-OtliSh, keeping
itself to itself
my attention to the lussih;ltics of the
old bureau. He was pottering about the
house one afternoon. having ordered me
to Keep ut his heels for con,Dany-he was
| man who hated to be left one minute
a!nne>-whrn his eyes fell ON it, Hin!
Sheraton! he remarked. The had a
smatterng of most things, this uncle.
especially the voca bularicS'. Then he let
down the flap and examined the empty
pigton-holcs and dusty panclling.
Pine bit of inlay" he went on; good
work. all of it. | know the sort. There's
secret drawer in there somewhere"
Then. as | hrcathlessly drew near he
suddenly eNclaimed:
by jove. l do want to smoke" and
wheeling round he abruptly fled to the
garden. leaving me with the cup dashed
from my lips.
1t was Il strange thing. l muse.l this
smoking that takes Il man suddenly, be
he in the court, the camp, or the grove.
grips him like an AFFECT and whirls
him off to do its imperious hehestS
Would it he even SO with myself,
years to come:
But [ had TO time to waste in vain
SpecuIationS. My whole being was still
vibrating t" these magic words 'Stcret
drawer: and that particular chord had
been touched that never fails to thrill
responsive to such sounds as cave, trap
door. sliding panel. bullion. ingots. or
special bliss. who ever heard of Il secret
drawer with nothing in it: All, oh.
did want money so badly! l mentally
ran over the list Of demands which were
pressing me the most imperiously
First. there was the pipe | wanted to
give George Jannaway. George, who was
Martha's young man. was a Shepherd
fair he was at. when he bought his sweet
heart fairingS, rs a right-mindetl shepherd
should. he had purchased Il lovely snake
expressly for me; one of the wooden sort
with joints. waGgny deliciously in the
hand; with yellow spots ON Il green
ground. sticky and strong smelling. as a
fresh-M,inted snake ought to be: and
with red flannel tongue. pasted cunning
ly into its jaws. loved it much and
took it to bed with me every night. till
what time it's spinal cord was loOsened
and it fell apart, and went the way of all
mortal joys. | thought it 50 nice of
George to think of me at the fair and
that why | wanted to give him a pipe
When the young year was chill and lamb
ing time was on George inhabited lit
tie wooden house on wheels. far out on
such as were sheepish and said baa; and
When he and Martha were married she
was going to carry his dinner out to him
every day, two miles: and after it, per-
haps he would smoke my pipe. 1t seemed
an idyllic sort of existence for both the
parties concerned. but pipe of quality. a
pipe fitted to be part of life such as
TINS. could not be procured ESQ Martha
informed mel for less sum than Is
op,f1
Then there was the fourpence owed
Edward: not that hr was bothering me for
IT.. hut | knew he was in need of it him
self to pay back Selma. who wanted to
make up sum of two shillingS to buy
Harold an iron-clad for his approaching
b'rthday-H. NJ. s. Majestic-now lying
nselessly careencd i'll the toy shop window,
Just when her country had such sore need
# her.
And then there was that boy in the vii
age who had caught Il young Squirrel
ana had never yet possessed one, and he
wanted shilling for it. but | knew that
for ninepence in cash-but what was the
good of these sorry threadbare reflec-
tons: | had wants enough to exhaust
any possible find of bullion. even if it
amounted to half a sovereign. My only
hope now lay in the magic drawer. and
here l was letting the precious minutes
sip by. Whether findings of this sort
could. morally speaking. be considered
keeplngs was point that did not occur
to me.
The room was very still as approached
the bur;au-posSessetl. it seemed to be, by
sort Of hush Of expectation. The faint
.'dnr OF orris root that tloatcd forth as
lot down the flap seemed to identify itself
with the yellows and browns of the old
wood til the hue and scent were Of one
quality and Interchangeable Even SO.
ere this tho pot-pourri had mixed itself
with the tint> of the old broca,lc. and bro
With cxpectant fingers | explored the
pseol-holes and sounded the depths of
the softly sliding drawers. No books that
| knew of gave any general recipe for a
quest like this: but the glory. should
| succeed unaided. would be all the greater.
To him who is destined to arrive, the
fatcs never fail to afford, on the way,
their small encourage ments: in less than
two minutes, | had come across rusty
hutton-hook. This was truly magnificent.
| In the nursery there existed a general
buttOn-hOOk. common to either sex. bur
| none of rEs possessed private and special
| button-hoOk, to lend or refuse rs suited
| the high humor of the moment. pocket
Cd the treasure carefully. and proceeded.
At the back of another drawer, three old
foreign stamps told me | was surely on
the highroad to fortune.
! Following on these bracing incentives
came Il dull blank period of unrewarded
search. In vain | removed all the draw
ers and felt over every inch Of the smooth
knob, spring or projection met the thrill.
ing tinger-tips; unyielding the old bureau
stood. stoutly guarding it's secret, if score,
it really had. l began to grow weary
and disheartened. This was not the frs,
time that Uncle Thomas had proved shall
low. uniformed, guide into blind alleys
where the echoes Knocked you: Was il
thing any good whatever? In my mind
I began to review past disappointments
! and life seemed one long record of fail
| ures and Of nOn-arrival.
| Disillusioned and depressed / left my
| work and went to the window The light
! was ebbing from the room and outside
seemed to be collecting itself OIL thu
horizon for it's concentrated effort Of sun
| set. Far down the garden Uncle Thoma:
was holding Edward in the air reversed
and smacking him. Edward, gurgline
Historically. was striking blind fists in the
direction where he judged his uncle,s
stomach should rightly be: the contents
Of his pockets-a metley show-were
strewing the lawn. Somehow it seemed
| very far away and cut off from me
though I had been put through similar
performance in hour or two ago.
| Wcstwards the clouds were massine
themselves in low violet bank; below
them, to north and south, as far round as
eye could reach, narrow streak of gold
ran out and stretched away, straight
| rlong the horizon. Somewhere very fnr
off horn was being blown, clear and
thin. it sounded like the golden streak
grown audible, while the gold seemed the
visible sound. 1t pricked my ebbing cour.
age, this blended strain Of music and col.
or, and I turned for last effort; and