The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-12-12
through Dread Of a Woman.

/ contact with the fastener, L1en re push
cd. But each time it slipped, and after
/ he had hit the glass several times he
I gave up afraid that he might break the
/ window. He leaned back, tired with
/ the exeruon, and rubbed the back Of his
! hand against his sightless eyes, weakly
/ cleaning under the half closed hds-it
| was a gesture Of his when impatient,
and tonight It was late and Ingebord
{ had not come.
! The clock had licked away the many
/ hours that day that it never struck;
each year of his seven helpless years he
! had longed for a striking clock Mrs.
! Cannon had come in at her usual time
/ to I'll the stove-that was at 4 O'clock
/ and all Of three hours before. Generally
/ she sat down to visit with him for
/ few moments, but today She had an eX-
! ira wash from the woman on La sale
avenue (the one who always paid double
I what she got from the others.) And
/ then he had heard John Flanagan 60 BY
/ with his brother and they never went by
until Ingebord was doing the dishes.
| Jensen stopped rubbing his hand over
I his eyes, his SCARED face contracted
with fear and he became white-even UP
under the brown curls that law thlnly
on his forehead
What was it about an explosion that
the newsboys were calling on the corner?
Gould it be that Ingebord was in the
horrible aceident?"
He sat still Explosion meant more
horrors for him than any conception Of
eternal punishment: 1t meant a living
death; it meant darkness and numbnesS
in his legs: it meant dependence for
seven years on girl who was young
when he last saw her Last night he
had felt how 1t was drawn back tight
into a knot-and that was a signs Of
much that was lost.
Explosion" It meant everything that
was hideous to him It meant the loss
Of money to his employers, and to the
public; it meant two-inch space in the
morning paper in which his name had
been printed in larger type:
CHRISTIAN JENSEN, legs crippled
both eyes injured"
And Ingebord was now working in the
same place She went each morning at
and got back at g. and her hands we're
all rough with chemicals.
He pushed his chair close to the win
dow to listen for the next newsboy
There was no one calling and in his anx-
iety he decided to go to the door in the
entry way and then call across to Mrs
Cannon. It was getting unbearably
hot and he could leave the door open I'M
til Ingebord came.
But Ingebord might not come He
put his hands on the wheels Of his chair
to roll himself across the room. He
felt the darkness outside hint made
the darkness within him heavier-it
sti1ed him. His hands trembled so with
the excitement Of his thoughts that he
could not at first close his fingers
around the wheel rims. Then he
Strengthened his back and pushed him
self toward the door-he knew lust
where it was because Ingebord's voice
always came from there first when she
came home at night.
His hands slipped, unequal to the viii
Behind them. and his chair turned TO one
side It hit hard against the stove
Jensen heard some Goals fly out Of the
ash pan across the floor. And when he
tried to move his chair back he burned
his wrist. The scar on his forehead
grew red with the protest against this
hindrance to his movements. He push
ed again, away from the stove, back to
his place by the window to start once
more.
Then suddenly he felt a growing
brightness in the room and he smelled
burning wooden. He leaned back help
less in the knowledge that the coa's
which had fallen must have been live
ones, and the smell Of the wooden came
from the shawl on the foot Of the bed.
Ingebord folded il there every morning
so that he might have It If the room got
cold. He turned his chair toward the
bed, closed his lips tight to keep out
the smoke. strained every weak muscle,
and pushed forward. It seemed a long
way even to the table and there he
caught the wheel of his chair in the
fringe Of the cover and the glass vase.
the album. and the pile of papers slid
off on the floor. The wheel would rot
go forward OF back. He felt the hot
smoke in his eyes. and he put one arm
against his lips to keep from choking
It was hot but he shivered and the
sweat on his brow was cold. From a
great way off he heard the era clxing az
from q NV laid fret and from far far off
he felt the brightness come nearer and
the weight of the hot smoke grew heavy
on him.
Mrs. Gamnon's boy from next door
was whistling his way by with one IN
sold paper.
''Therel' he yelled to a man across the
way. turn IN an alarm! This house IS
on frey'
he made one dash up the two steps.
threw the door open, and saw the Grip
pie through the smoke-his head bowed
and his hands folded. Foley bent low
and ran to the chair; he dragged It for
u
figure and jerked him out into the clear
air.
Jensen moved his hands across his ewes +
IS Foley laid him gently on the side
walk
Where was the explosion?" he asked,
with the hot smoke still IN his throat.
Foley didn't understand; he was lis
teninE to the fire engine in the next
street still two blocks away EXPOS /
ion?" he repeated.
Yes" said Jensen, gripping his arm
ard raising his head from the ground, /
"the explosion IN tonisht's paper"
co. New York fret exclaimed the boy +
freeing HIS arm and rushing hack TO the (
house with the crovd.-Phnip Moore in I
Chicago Tribune.
Times Change.
Jinrik, Hello, Blobbs. 7 haven't seen +
you for a year. and the last time we mt /
YOU were having q row with your hest I
girl because she wouldn't marry you /