, 1898-11-22
A LESSON IN A BLOW.
AN ACT THAT THE HASTY MAN BIT
T:RLY REPRINTED.

A Touching Incident That EorcsaIy
Illustrates the ~Soundness of Dnvy
CrOckett's Maxim, b sure You
Are Right. Then Go Ahead"
There are times when success depends
upon quickness of action, and there are
other times when it is wise to make
haste slowly, particularly when one
considers the many things in his life
which he wishes he had left undone. 1t
is a sensible rule not to be hasty, fer
the hasty man fashions many a bitter
pill for his own consumption, and the
hair trigger temper is almost always a
boomerang to its unhappy possessor.
At the intersection of Pennsylvania
and New York avenues one pleasant
afternoon there occurred an incident
that implanted in the kindly heart of a
we'll known young Washington man a
quality of shame that will unquestiou.
ably serve as one of the larger lessons
Of his life. The young man, accompa-
MED by the young woman who was to
become his wife in a short time, was
standing close to the curbstone of the
two awaiting u Georgetown
car.
The two were chatting merriIy. The
girl was in high spirits, and her laugh
ter, the assonance of silver bells, was
pleasant music. Suddenly the young
oma ceased her laughter. and looked,
with a flash of worrimcnt in her express,
sion, in the direction of a fine looking
and we'll dressed man who was stand.
ing on the pavement, leaning slightly
against an awning pole. Her escort,
perceiving the sudden change in her
name and expression, also looked III
the same direction.
"Why does that man gaze at mo SO
strangely" said the girl. "He has been
looking at me with that same intent.
ness aver since we have been standing
here, and sometimes half smiling too. I
Am sure l do not know him. What can
he mean?'
The young man with her flushed with
anger as he looked upon the mar point.
ed out by his tiancee. The man, with
big, clear, gray eyes, was still regard,
ing the girl with a deep intentness Of
expression, q smile Pickering across mt
the orner of his strong mouth. He
leaned easily against the awning pole
and carried a heavy cane loosely in his
left hand. The girl saw that her fiance
was becoming wrought up over the APP
parently persistent and %fiirtatious stare
of the man.
"JL, never mind" she said. "prob.
ably he thinks he knows me. Perhaps
indeed he has met me somewhere"
Nothing of the SORT was the re.
ply. 1.-THE fellow is a masher, pure and
simple. He needs Il lesson
The object of the conversation kept
HE gaze riveted upon the face Of the
young woman, even when the ~latter's
fiance approached him menacingly. The
young fellow, u powerful man, raised
his right arm, and, with all of his
force, struck the MAJ with clear gray
eyes on the right side of the face with
a heavy open palm. The marks of his
fingers stood out redly on the cheek of
the man he had struck.
"Ill teach you, you ~loafer, to ogle
young women on the street, said the
young nan as he delivered the blow.
The expression that appeared on the
face Of the older man. Immediately he
felt the impact of the blow, was almost
inconceivably pathetic. He started, and
then turned very pale.
"Man,' he said, in n very low tone,
II am stone blind"
No one who witnessed the scene is
likely to forget it, nor can any of the
witnesses think of the really pitiable
grief of the young chap who struck the
blow without feeling for him. He fairly
took the blind man in his arms in the
frenzy of his excitement. The blind man
generously made light of it all, but he
could not mitigate the heavy humilia-
ton Of the hot headed young man.
II beard the laughter of a young wo-
man," said the blind man quietly. SIT
reminded me Of the voice in merriment
Of q girl l knew before my sight was
taken. That is why l turned in the di-
rection whence the laughter came"
Then n negro lad in the livery Of a
buttons emerged from the drug sore
into which his muster had sent him Oh
an errand, md. taking the blind man
by the hand, led him carefully up Fiji
tenth street.
The men and women who saw and
heard it all felt almost as sorry for the
naturally generous but foolishly impetu-
GUS young man who had struck the blow
as they did for the blind man.-Ex-
change.