The morning times., 1895-12-30
VAC IN EVERY LINE.

diSlocated knuck es, remembered that one
of the gentry used an old gum boot for his
grip.
VAC IN EVERY LINE.
All these comments We're heard by the
Ishmael who stood against the golden
rail. He wore that air of stolid iDdiffer-
encc which comes TO men who have been
burfeted by Fate, either through fault
of their own or of someone else. The
keen eye, though. might have noticed
an ease in his pose that seemed like a
shadow OF faded respectabiiity. His
head was crowned with straw hat
which had known the suns OF summer and
the cyclones of winter.
Tangled and matted masses of tawny
hair escaped through rents in the hat and
struggled out under the brim to find rest
On that part Of the man where his collar
ought to have been. His coat was of that
greenish brown that baffed a guess as to
what its first color was.
His trousers We're worse than bagged
AT the knees and rea ched only to his ankles
ard dangled over q pair of reddish ra Wilde
boots that never in their lives had glistened
with a shine. His face was lined with
care and redeemed with dissipation, but
there was a poetic, limpid, fire IN his eye
and musical modulation in his voice as he
said. and as though he had said ii often
before: Lodging"
WHATS your DaIne?' asked the desk
sergeant in the regulation tone, as he
reached for the dodgers book. in which
were registered the names of thousands
of strangers TO Washington and 10 work
Karl Verbitski.'
'What?'' said the sergeant. lust you
spell that Eyetalyan name
1T is not an Italian name, ii is Russian,
but my Christian name is German: my
mother was Il German, my father was an
Illegal Russian. / was red and educated
in Germany" said Kari, with soft.
TeutOnic accent.
did you say you was educated" said
q policeman, who h@d just entered with a
colored crap shooter in his grasp.
..If you're educated" said another why
don: you go To work"
These renia rks We're not made in a very
sympathetic tone; somoEow or another,
D policeman cultivates an unsympathetic
tone even when his breast is tIimful of
sympathy. charity and goodwill.
The stranger turned round so That his
back rested against the golden rail and
his face beamed upon the policemen. who
sat around, putting pipes Of noTe or less
fragrance. playing cribhage. seven-up, and
pinoclel, and telling stofies some OF which
might light blush in a maidens cheek.
The hobo was uDdoing the little brass
clasps of his grub box" In doing tlris
he showed his hand. They were fine hands,
somewhat tanned by exposure, but so well
kept that they stood in strange contrast
to the balance of his personal appearance.
The fingers were long, nervous. and soft,
and the muscles on that hand were wonder
fully developed. Instead of pulling out
piece of cheese or sausage, he lifted UP, as
tenderly as gentle mother would her
newborn babe, an old violin. All the
polish was gone, but 1t had an artistic
look even in its aged, unvarnished poverty
STRAINS FROM THE ANGELS.
As the vag threw the instrument into
position, leaned his cheek caressingly on
it. ran those long soft fingers lovingly over
the strings and drew the bow 50 that the
song of sorrowing soul seemed to follow
it, a strange hush fell upon that station
house. the policemen laid their cards down
as though they might interrupt that music,
policemen took their pipes from their
mouths, and even the rough, noisy prisoners
shouting wild and vile epithets in their
grated cells, were quelied as no police
mans club ever did.
The vag was playing the sad, romantic.
dreamy "Traeumerei' of Schumann. The
policemen scarcely breathed. Policemen of
the reserve stole down from their cots
above In their stocking feet and peeped
from points of vantage. The tramp hardly
paused when lie proceeded to the throb-
bing, ragged little "Romanza." He did
not stop there; he did not seem to see the
police around him; his eyes were half
closed and his features kept time with his
music Then he played Gottschalk's
"Marche de Mutt and told the story of
Fingal, full OF weirdness and gloom. When
he took the violin from his check the desk
sergeant leaned over to the key rack, and
taking that fitting the best room In the
station moved off, with the tramp behind
him.