The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-06-02

ear of the police and touch Henry
| Speny's heart at one and the same
| time-"podner. couldn't you assist a
poor man a little?"
Assist a poor man to what?" asked
| Henry Speny, returning his handker-
chief to his pocket and looking at the
| tramp.
He was a fat. healthy tramp i'm good
condition. Henry Speny hardened his
heart.
Dime" replied the tramp. Dime to
get something to eat"
No" said Henry Speny. shortly.
I'm half dozen meals behind the
game myself"
This last was only Henry Speny's
humor. Mrs. Speny fed him twice a
day. But Henry Speny knew the
tramp wanted the dime for whiskey.
Wei. II you don't think | want il
to chew on" said the tramp. lust
take me to a bakery and buy me a loaf
of bread. I'll get away with il right
before you
Say" remarked Henry Speny. in a
tone of sarcastic irritation. what's
the use of your talking to me? There's
a charity wood yard i'm this town
where. If you were really hungry. you
would go and saw wood for some
thing to eat. You can get two meals
and a bed for saving one-siXteenth of
a cord of wood"
You can't saw wood with such a
fin as this. podner." said the tramp.
and pulling up his coat sleeve he dis
played to Henry Speny an arm as
withered as a dead tree. The others
all right" he continued. restoring his
coat sleeve. but wot's one arm IN a
catch-as-catch-can racket with a buck
saw"
Henry Speny was conscience-strick-
en-, but he would defeat the tramp in
his efforts 10 buy WhiSkpN.
IN go down to the wood yard and
saw your wood myself said Henry
Speny.
lie told Mrs. Speny afterward that
he could not account for the making
of this offer unless IL was his anxiety
To keep the tramp sober. All the tramp
wanted was 10 cents, and for Henry
Speny to propose To saw oue-SiXtecnth
of a cord of hard wood on a hot day.
when "A dime would have made all
things oven. was conundrum too deep
for Henry Speny as he looked back
over the transaction. But he did make
the proposal and the tramp accepted
with a grin of gratitude
There were 20 sticks i'm that one-six-
teenth of a cord. hard knotty sticks
too. And each one had to Toe sawed
three times: 90 cuts in all. 1t was
poor buck saw. Before he had finished
the third stick Henry Speny declared
that il was the most beastly buck saw
he ever handled i'm his life. The buck
itself was wretched buck. and
wouldn't stand still while Henry Spcny
sawed. 1t had a habit of tipping over:
and when Henry Speny put his knee
on the stick to steady the refractory
buck, the knots tore his trousers and
made his leg black and blue Then the
perspiration got I'm his eyes and made
them smart. When he wiped IL away
he saw two of his friends looking at
IL -.
across the street. They passed on and
told everybody that Henry Speny was
down at the charity wood yard saving
wood for his food. They said, too, thar
they had reason to believe he did this
every day; that business had gone to
pieces with him, and an assignment
couldn't be STAYED off much longer.
Henry Speny would have thrown up
the job with the second stick but the
tramp was already half through his
meal; Henry Speny could see him bolt
ing his food like a glutton through the
window from where he stood.
1t took Henry Speny two hours 20
saw those 20 sticks 60 times. His hands
were a fret-work of blisters; his back
and shoulders ached like galley
slaves. Henry Speny hired "a carriage
to take him home; he couldn't stand
the slam and jolt OF street car. He
was laid up three days with the Bills
ters on his hands. while Mrs. Speny
rubbed his back and shoulders with
arnica.
on the fourth day, as Henry Speny
was limping paint llly toward his office,
he heard a voice he knew.
"Podner. can't you assist q poor
m, oh! beg your pardon; you looked
so different, | didn't know you"
1t was the fat tramp with the with
cred arm. Without a word Henry
Speny gave him 10 cents and hobbled
on.