Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-01-30
LOVES OLD DREAM

Miss Lavina and Miss Louisa sat at ten
on the lawn In front OF the cottage. To
whom, thus engaged, while the maid from
the orphanage handed round the butterod
ten cake, enter . tramp unexpectedly. He
was . sinister looking old man, with a cut
across the cheek. say 20 or thereabout. bis
clothes somewhat imperfectiy concealed
his limbs, and he introduced himself at
once with no false modesty.
Il am Mr.. Turks" he said, c~heelfully.
Mr.. Arrowsmith. he sent me to you with
his love. I've got a letter for you. And
he produced from the depths of his trousers
pocket the letter. To judge from appear
ances Il had once been cleaner.
ms. Ar%rowsmith9.' Miss Lavina repeat
ed with an inquiring air. 'Oh, yes, you
remember, Louisa! He was-She hest
tated. not liking to say THAT tramp"
which, in point of fact, was the actual oc-
cupation of both gentlemen In question.
II remember" Miss Louisa replied, with
a humorous little twinkle, for Mr.. Arrow
smith was an older aud more %villianous
rogue than even the specimen that stood
before them.
swell, he give me this letter." Mr..
Turks repeated, handing the envelope
across to them. 1t bore traces of recent
close proximity to a foul clay pipe and
also the following remarkable inscription;
To the two maiden ladies
On the high beach road,
| Not far from Lord Berryhurst's park gates,
Near Haslemere,
Surfy.
| One of 'em wears specktacles.
The interior of the letter consisted en-
tirely of = single sentence:
The bearer Of this, q gentleman named
Turks, his q friend of mine, an he will
| tell you hall about it you ~Obedgent servant,
RICHARD ARRowsMITH.
A cross after the name led to a well
founded suspicion that Mr.. Arrowsmith
was indebted for the nandicraft OF this
epistle to the services of an amanuensis.
Miss Lavina looked up. "Well?" she
said interrogatively.
MI. Turks pulled himself together for
the ardous task of articulate speech. He
fancied himself an orator. "Well," he
said, solomnly, beginning his tale, "Ar-
rowsmith, he was enamored of . woman"
He said this as though he supposed
Miss Lavina would be astonished. But
| Miss Lavina being . parish councillor, was
far to wise to be ast0nished at anything,
including even Mr.. Turks command Of
language. Indeed! She said politely.
sslt was like this" Mr.. Turks went on
I with visible marks Of effort to be explicit.
Him an me wa in an infirmary.,'
Nv orkhouse?" inquired Miss Lavina,
laconically, tor she knew the dialect.
Mr.. Turks nodded. "Horahsm. We
was both of US down with this ERE blessed
~infiuenzer. q generalizs his epithet) ''And
ArrOwamith he wa enam0red Of . woman.
when . man Of Mr.. Turks class feels
he has got hold OF . highly appropriate
and delicate word, he doesn't let 1t 60
again until he has had q good days work
out Of it. IAN the woman was In the
workhOuse too-felnale side-infirmary.
An the doctor he ordered Arr0wsmith p0r-
ter. He didn't order non of the rest of
US not bein' as bad as him, but Jest . pint
a day for Arr0wsmith. HOwsOmever, Ar
rOwsmith he didn't drink his through bein'
that enam0red Of the woman I spoke of,
but sent it round to her by an inmate as
helped the nurses"
THAT was touching" Miss Lavina re-
piled. For indeed she had q great heart,
had Miss Lavina, and could sympathize
even with ragged old ArrOwsmitn and his
wOrkhOuse inamOrata.
IAN he wanted me to write t. her
clandestine," Nj. Turks went on, ventur-
ing yet another of his company words with
obvious gustO. HE wanted me to write
to her, not KNOWN how hisself, an havln'
got an inmate to write this letter to you.
But OF course / couldn't be a party to moth
In clandestine." And Mr.. Turks bosom
swelled with conscious virtue.
That was . pity" remarked Miss La
| vina 0nce more, speaking IS q woman not
aS q parish councillor.
Mr.. Turks looked surprised. He had
not expected this from q maiden lady. IAN
In time the master found out Re wasn't
drinking his porter accordin' to orders. but
sendin' 1t clandestine to this woman he was
enamOred of. So the master up and rave
him z jacketin'."
"A what?" Miss Lavina inquired at
fault for q moment.
"A jacketin', had words with him, num-.
in the OF speakin,. An Arrow
smith he never wa one to sit down quiet.
to . jacketin', beil' that high spirited. We
calls him the Village 'Ampden on the
road. So he up and arst tho master for
his clothes, he did"
For his cl0thes?" Miss Lavina inter-
posed, not following the narrative.
Eyes, mum-for his clothes. You see.
In . wOtkhOuse things Is always done reg
ular and respectable. When m inmate
wants to leave the regular course Is, he
afsts for his clothes, an it takes "a hours
tor the fOrmalities to be completed. And
ArrOwsmith arstin for his clothes, m the
woman he WA enamOred OF arsts for her
clothes ton, IN out they goes together, per
t~niscuouslike as 1t would seem, but really
through his writing to her clAndestine to
warn her. An Arrowsmith he never cash
ed them orders you cent to him through
bein' 50 enamored an keepln It al for herr
You ec0Ilect, Lavina, !" interposed Miss
Louisa, 9 vent him two postal orders
last winter for I couple Of shiIllngs each
70 buy himself tobacco when be was in
Maidstone Union"
Mr.. Turks nodded. That's it.n he