Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-05-23

.rE ~. "What does this
\. ~ word mean?" he
49, asked, for he be.
$3.50 Il, lieved that his
" father knew all the
%N world and most OF
the things beyond. The parent be-
lieved that, too, and that is how the
child had come to hubble the idea.
The man looked anil saw the word
Glove" "Do you know what that
word means, papa?" asked the boy.
"Oh, yes said the father, and he
began thinking. He thought for n
long time, for there were so many
things love is that he hardly knew
where to begin defining. And the
longer he remained silent the harder
it seemed to find beginning, cit is
difficult to answer he observed, and
the boy interrupted HIM.
"Whcn we find II difficult problem
at school," he said, eve go to the rule
What is the lule about love?'
The father looked at him, but die
not answer. He thought Then he
gazed anxiously about, and on
through the window he saw maj
passing.
"Ah," he said, "there is Mr. Brown,
and ] want to see him"
And he hurried ont to speak to the
man, and the boy never heard VIVA
love is, or what is its rule.
Ford, being quite satisfied that the
story was lie from the beginning,
and that his search for the wonderful
lost desert tribe would result in nc
benefit to the Smithsonian Instition
stopped to rest in the shade OF the
water wagon, the wheels of which
were sunk eighteen inches into the
roasting sand
"Look out !" he yelled to one of the
drivers, cor this Nevada sun will get
action on you and you will pop lik,
corn. Isn't it hot !" and he looked
about at the blstering white and blue
and cudgeled out of his memory GER
tain verses:
And when grim spirits come to that ours,
land,
To be where wanderers fell,
They look in terror at the burning sanl
And hurry back to hell
And that's desert Nevada, and where
we are driving and sweating through
it to find the desert tribesman, who i!
lie."
"By the powers, it isn't a lie !
yelled Graves, his assistant. "Look 7
"a Chinese boy" roared Ford
"And We gods, a red-hsaded Chinese
boy, and on camel, and in Nevada u
Hong Foy was dismal failure.
McGoggin told him SO daily. He
could not tramp Southern Pacific ties
half as we'll rs 70 Heave, or whatever
the pockmarked Chinaman's name was,
and Fon Kee could almost carry Il
"sixty-pound-to.the.yard" rail by
himself, while Hong Foy. being young
and pale and calm, found it difficult
to lug even the spike maui or the
pinch bar. Wherefore the investment
of the Southern Pacific Railroad Com
pany in Hong Foy was denominated
by Mike McGoggin, the section fore
man, as weird and wonderful failure
only McGoggin used words of the
same import but OF different pronuu
citation. Hong Foy, however, could
cook, and he showed Maggie McGog
gin how to make a soup out of potato
sprouts which McGoggin declared tc
be the triumphant work OF the devil.
Soup. by the way, is q thing not to be
experimental on when the section
boarding house is at place in Nevada
where the water is brought in tank
from station eighty or hundred
miles away. McGoggin appreciated
the soup, and because of it RETAINED
for two weeks from discharglng Hong
Foy. But on Saturday night of the
month of June, in the year 1881, he
threw bolt at Hong Foy, hit hin
with crooked spike and made rur
to the tool house to get wrench tc
kill him with. He had seen Maggie
when she kissed the young Chinamar
in the kitchen.
In the shade of the tool house, afte,
McGoggln hadretired, Hong Foy creep
like q dog which had been whipped
out of its kennel but knows nowhere
to 20. He knew two lines of stee
over which Cinnamon labored while {
red headed white man swore volubly
at them. He knew q blue horizon
and these things were all lie knew il
that land excepting the sun. Where
could he go? AS he leaned dejectedly
against the tool house and thought o
his love making, he wept, and, weep
ing, Maggie found him. Hong Foy
had not dreamed of the future, ant
had not expected the coming of thu
girl. He had only expected to sleel
in the tool house that night and be
beaten again in the morning. But
Maggie had planned. The best part o
her plan was that she had brought
huge bottle. and it had water in it
"We will go that way" she said, point
ing out into the desert.
1t is not so bad to walk all nigh
through the desert if you are sure yo,
are going to have shade in which t,
rest the next day. But the next d.,
came and as Maggie and Hong Foy
looked about them all they saw wa'
what couple of ants in plasterer'l
box of lime see. Far, far, far away
round about and near it was white,
And it was so fiat that they seemed tc
look up out of basin to brim which
was white and blue, and the alkali and
the sky nestled so close to each other
and the sky arched over as though il
were the roof of the plain in such wise
that Maggie thought they might as
we'll have been imprisoned in the shell
of a monster egg-only it would have
to be the biggest egg and biggest shell
ever created, and there would be room
for only one of such like in the world
The sun was beautiful in the early
morning, and there were roses IN the
desert east just as there are roses il
the east of the orchard land. Thesur
looked on them With friendly rotun
dity for an hour and then he frowned
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