Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-05-25
TAD'S PULPIT.

OF little shell trinketS, made
by a man up in the Superior country.
When Parrish Brown put the box out, he
had an idea that it would be "a good place
to display his goods, but before the mer.
chant had selected the goods he was to ar
range there Tad Hunt came along and sat
down
mice box, " said Hunt.
yes" said Brown.
There was silence for q few moments.
u sat still and looked pensive. 1t
seemed as II he were thinking. He was q
peculiar nan and had wandered about the
streets for several years in a lost sort Of
fashion as If he were seeking for some
thing. He had never been able to get q
job. His wife kept a boarding house, and
1t was said that Tad was her man of affairs
that Is to say, her steward. But, as q
matter of fact, Mrs. Hunt could not trust
Tad. She had commissioned him to pu-
chase the meat, but he had made such bad
selections and brought home such detected
looking cuts that she had been obliged to
attend to that herself in addition to her
other duties. Then she put him at cary
Ing at table, but he couldn't remember
which way the grain of the meat ran. So
she had to take that off his hands too.
Then 1t occurred to her that he might split
the kindling wood, but after a week or
two of that he took to buying patent kim
ding wood, and then she gave 1t up.
The day he found this box in front Of
Browns he appeared to have attained sat
isfaction. After n happy and pensive 81
lence he began to talk to q man who stood
near.
cts a queer world, " he said, drawing
q knife from his pocket and opening it,
linen and women everywhere and nothing
but men and women, and nearly all Of
en- making n another miserable and
nothing to show for it but the grave at
last. The places that knew them once
know them no more forever and the sun
rises each morn and sets each night and
none Of the questions of man is answered.
Talk Of the sphinx! Why, every blade of
grass is sphinx and holds q secret. There
Is not q star in heaven that we are not
obliged to question. And what answer
have wep Silence. Silence"
He was tracing q little border on the
box, made of an INTERVIEWING of figure s's,
and the man who stood near watched him
and was much interested; so much SO
that another man who wasn't doing much
either stopped, too, and watched the max
ing of the border. Tad looked up and
nodded to him.
1T is astonishing" went on Tad, ito
see how men toll and toll. This man has
one scheme and the next man has another.
Yet talk with any man over 40 and you
find him to DO a graveyard of blasted
hopes. The struggle has been in vain.
Even success proves to be failure, for no
man makes a success which satisfies him"
Parrish Brown, having no customers at
that moment, came out and leaned against
the framework of the door and listened.
"And yet" said Tad, sit is the destiny
OF man to aspire. Some great power be-
yond himself drives him on to hope. He
must rise. He is a part of the scheme of
evolution and cannot help himself any
more than as If he were a mollusk in the
sea. He is driven to settle America, in
vent machines, to make laws adapted to
wider ideas Of liberty. He co%ngratulates
himself on his improvement, but he has
really no call to congratulate himself. He
Is driven by the winds Of destiny"
He did quite a strip of the border in 81
lence, wiped his forehead on his shirt
sleeve-for he wore no coat-and repeated
with pensive accent:
Driven by the winds of destiny"
These remarks were repeated about town
by those who listened to them.
"Tad Hunt is quite a philosopher in his
way, they said. Tad had staid on the
box the first day till noon and returned at
2, after which he left the spot till 5:45.
The next morning he wa on hand at 8.
Brown thought 1t looked rather business
like to have q crowd about his doors and
didn't object much. Besides, he enjoyed
Hunts reflections, which came nearer be-
ing thought than anything Brown had
met with for some time. He almost thought
himself as he listened to them, and sum-
moned from that unused chamber politely
denominated his mind sentiments Of ap-
proyal or di%sapproval. As time went on
Hunt improved in appearance. To be sure
he was no more particular about button.
ing his cuffs, nor was he more addicted to
the wearing Of coats, but a certain look
of fire and enthusiasm came to his eyes,
such as may be seen in the glance Of a
down the street to his box mornings with
IN alert step. He became eager for his au-
dienoe. Sometimes he returned In the
evening and talked till time for shutting
up shop.
As the years rolled by his audience
changed, but he seemed to always be able
to secure a hearing from some one. Thus
1t came about that he sat perched on his
place Of preaching for IA years and differed
from the East Indian mystics who do SIM
liar things principally in the facts that he
went home to his meals and that he de.
sired to disseminate his views.
One morning Hunt came swinging down
from his house leisurely, but with a look
Of self satisfaction, and made his way 40
usual to the store. There he stopped as If
paralyzed. Acold p~erspiration crept out
on his forehead. He grew red and then
white. For the box was gone! The pulpit
was destroyed. The high place was over
thrown. There was q crowd about him
presently, chatting him and roaring, but
Hunt seemed to hear nothing. He looked
about In utter dismay. 1t was as If q man
with all his vineyard IN a mountain side
had gone to till his vines and found the
mountain gone.
Then something remarkable happened.
Tad brought q suit for damages against
Brown. The court had to actually consider
the case, and Tad Hunt was his own coun
eel and put up an eloquent argument. So
the court granted him the suit and gave
him q penny. In a way Hunt felt himself
vindicated, but that didn't restore his box,
for he had been unable to secure a man
damus for it's return. So he walked about
sadly for 4. few days, looking detached
like q ptctopiasmt out of from its par
tioular Shiny ooze--and at last staid in
doors at home. After that the boarders
began to leave, and one day Mrs. Hunt
broke up house and took Tad away with
her on the train. They didn't say where
they wero going. The ticket agent might
have told, but he didn't.-EliAN Peattis