Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-01-14
"MIGGLES.'
Tom P. Morgan in Peoples Home
Journal

'MlQQln was CQ6 duSWeI, III OIL
almost accentIess drawl.
That was the reply Miggles had
made every day to inquiries concern
ing the state of his health. Ever
since he had begun to be ailing it had
been the same. For several days pas
he had hardly left his bed; but each
time, when Jack Reno came, it was
"middlin'." And today, although
able to sit outside of his shanty in
tilted chair, he was still only mid
dim"
Hope you'll be able to be at the
wedding. Thursday night, you know"
''Wisht | could returned Miggles.
"Ort, by good rights, to give you
veddin present, Jack, but thar don't
seem nuth'n fer me to give you, lss5'n
it's Solomon, thar, an l don't reckon
YOU"
mo, Miggles," inter upted Jack
Reno, heartily. Il don't think 1
should know what to do with him"
Wall" confessed the othe-, "Sol-
ONION don't han some SO mighty much,
that's a fact; but he's a heap o. COM
pany But, bein's you're goin' to git
married, you won't need company O.
that kind
AS Miggles had said, Solomon was
not beautiful mules rarely are, and
Solomon was very honely, even for a
mule He was large, gaunt, and of
an indescribable clay-bank yellow
color. The long hair of the previous
winter had not all been properly shed
from his dingy sides, and, clinging IN
patches, gave him a partially woolly
and wholly shabby appearance. AS
he picked about, eating the grass in
front of the shanty his dirty old face
wore a look of simple, homely hon
eSty.
Il want you to be sure to be there"
said Reno. ''And if you think you
can come and stand it, I'll have Bob
Stacker bring you over in his buck
board"
1t did not seem that the man whom
genial Jack Reno wished to make his
guest could ever be metamorphOsed
by any method of transformation into
person of festal appearance. He
was sngularly characterless and I'M
important looking Miggles. AS
insignificant he seemed as thu de-
serted settlement of which he was the
only human inhabitant. His drawl-
ing voice had an apologize whine to
it, and even his old hat-brim dropped
deprecatingly. He looked spirit ess,
sneaking and chronically ashamed OF
himself in a mild fashion.
With the exception Of the visitor
everything about, anima and mani
mate, looked Apologize and drocpy
The shanty- house and the rckety
stables-all that remained of the set
Element of summer-looked as if
speaking, they would beg pardon for
disfguring the face of the prairie
with their homely shapes. Solomon s
honest, dirty old ia ~e had an humble
expression. Even the grass opped
and lolled lazily on the ound around
the cabin.
But the visitor, Ranchm2n Jack
Reno, had no part in The picture OF
apathy. Strong-limbed brown faced
with clear gaze and a hearty voice,
he seemed scarcely of the same race
as the man who crouched in the door
way and drawled an accent ess whine
from out of a tangle of bard as
coarse and charaoterless as the
Whiskers on a cocOanut, and whose
meaningless name of Miggles seemed
to fit him exactly Not a particularly
desirable guest at a wedding, PEI
haps; but Jack Reno had issued
wholesale invitations, and the whole
! Al
come; and besides, he con sidered this
lonesome, humble, "trif1ing" Miggles
in the light of a protege. Miggles had
long partaken of his boun " trying
when he felt like trying anything, Il
repay him by puttering around the
ranch in a 'itrifiing' way. Since he
had been aiIing, Reno had visi &c
him daily, with delicacies CT to
somewhat doubtful nature p divided
by the ranch cook.
There did not seem anything serious
the matter with Miggles. He seemed
as he said "middlin'," and Reno dit
rot know of the swift, sharp pain:
that sometimes for an instant clutcle,
Miggles's heart, making him turn
white as death under lis tangled
beard.
I've had the ranch-hCuse fixed III
So that it looks half fit for a woman
to enter now" Reno said. "And
Milly-"
"Millyw gasped Miggles. L
Muffin Minded me Nv sumpn'."
Reminded you CT some one yo'
used TO know?" asked Reno.
Yes" answered Miggles Tell m
bout the weddin' an the girl your
goin' to marry Names Milly?"
Yes, that's her name. The ranch
pretty rough place to bring Il woman
to; but she'll soon make it brighter
And it won't seem so bad to her as
would to some, for Ler life, to say tn
least, has not all been one of luxury
She's known what it is to endur
hardships and privations; but-wel
as long as she is none too good TO
Jack Reno, why, nothing l can ge
will be too good for her"
Miggles listened in way that, 70
him. was eager, and the lover, de
lighted at having found so intereste
a nearer, rambled on about his prom
ised wife
The ranchman had become az
quainted with her when, early in tn
spring, he had gone east on the tirE
visit he had made to the old HON