Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-05-26

where's Joe2 Didn't he give it 70
you {? No lie, you see. Then the doctor
says, Sure enough, where is Joe2 And
-and-there you are But you didn't
drink any more, and you didn't break
Mabels heart with your monkey shines
nor nothing. You just settled down to
biz. When the doctor or any one said
anything about Joe, you says, We'll,
what could you expect of Teller that
had to walk rocky road through life2'
And there you arel'
This was probably the longest speech
Joe had ever made in his life, and he
borrowed some of his expressions from
a crossroads stump speaker and a Meth
odist preacher, the two most eloquent
men he had ever heard. But he succeed
ed in making his meaning clear to Har-
ry, who, after show of hesitation, &C
copied the proposition. To Joe there
was nothing heroic about it. He did
not know the meaning of the word. He
simply did what seemed best to him for
| Mabel's sake.
When he left the room, he had no
| idea where he was going or what he
should do. He only felt that he had
| saved Mabel from weeping over grave,
and the rest did not matter He walked
out to Central park, although it was
/ hot July afternoon At the gate he
bought an afternoon paper to read the
| want column. a striking headline
! caught his eye, and he read laboriously
the vivid account of the yellow fever
ravages in the south. There were nurses
] 7 I L.
/ that his experience with the doctor fit
| ted him for such a position By 10
/ o'clock the next morning. with half a
dozen others, recruited by the Howard
association, he was on his way to Mem
phis.
He was going without any idea that
he was doing a brave or commendable
act. 1t was simply a new job to him,
and he intended to do the best he could.
During the long, dusty ride to the
stricken city he made the acquaintance
of but one person, a young lady teleg-
rapher. Seeing that he, like herself,
appeared friendless in the party, she
spoke to him, and by the time they
! reached the quarantine lines they had
told each other about all there was to
tell of their hitherto uneventful lives
The train stopped at the station only
long enough to let off the small party
Of nurses with their supplies Then it
sped on in a frightened way, leaving a
black trail of smoke that made a scar
on the yellow, stagnant atmosphere.
There was no one at the station but
little St. Joseph sister, who directed
them to the Howard office on Main
street. 1t seemed to Joe that he walked
its dreary length in nightmare. The
streets, cutters and sidewalks were sat
urated with lime, carbolic acid and
other disinfectants. Here and there
were burning piles of bedding, from
which the dead had scarcely been taken.
Occasionally he met a grotesque passer-
by with large sponge attached to his
nose, leaving behind strong odor The
very few wagons on the street were
moving at funereal pace, carrying the
dead to the cemeteries, Outside of I'M
dertaking rooms he saw coffins piled
upon each other, most of them impro-
vised from boxes. On a doorstep man
sat weeping. On another an enfeebled
old man and a shriveled woman talked
garrulously, laughing in shrill voices,
as though they had witnessed so many
horrors that horror could no longer be
inspired.
Joe found work and more than he
could do. He fed the hungry and nursed
the sick tirelessly. To many stricken
ones his homely, honest face was the
most beautiful sight on earth. Patient
ly he faced the daily increasing horrors
with what seemed a charmed life. He
took from the breast of a dead mother
the clinging, live lips Of her baby and
nursed it back to life and smiles. He
restrained a crazed wife from throwing
herself into the open grave Of her hus-
band. He helped fevered man to put
his wife's body in the coffin. From an
other he lifted a woman who, as he
was mailing the lid down, opened her
eyes. Sometimes he met the little teleg-
rapher. She felt strengthened and en-
couraged by his daily iteration that the
worst was surely over. At last the
hoped for frost came and the fever
abated.
One evening, when it seemed to Joe
that his job was about done, there came
to the gate of his little cottage drunk
en- vagrant. He had probably, in the
hope of plumber, evaded the quarantine
guards and got into the city only to be
stricken by the fever. Joe took him into
his own house because it never occurred
to him to do anything else, and nursed
him into convalescence. But that was
his last case. One evening he had a
slight chill. Two days afterward, when
the little telegrapher stopped to ask
when he was going north she saw a
blear eyed tramp crying softly as he
held the hand of a man just dead.
She telegraphed the story of Jones
heroism broadcast in the hope that it
might find and comfort some one who
had loved him. Harry read the tale to
his wife one evening. "Poor Joel" he
added compassionately. "He walked a
rocky road through life. but reached
the heights at last"
Mabel smiled at him through her
tears. She got up and stroked his head
in little burst of affection. Dear Har-
ry," she said. chow lovely and tender
you are with every onel"
Urya.r. xra.