Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-11-29

Perm1SS1on-)
GONE 20 years before the day OF
y of railroads in New England a
horseman drew rein one evening in
June just before sunset on the crest
of a hill between the villages of
Windsor and Ludlow, in Vermont.
The road was lonely, often penetrat-
ing woods in which the solitude was
oppressive. He had neither met nor
oyertaken a soul since leaving Wind
sor, on the Connecticut river, a cir
cumstance which must have suited his
mood, to judge from a face that WIGS
remarkable for its pallor and somber
melancholy. 1t was a handsome and
an elegant face, but the lines were
stern, as of one who had suffered
much, and the eyes were lusterless.
AS he refined up he was in the full
glow of the radiance which burned
along the horizon and sufused the
sky almost to the zenith.
"Yes, that must be the inn," he
said, as his eyes rested on an old
fashioned, many-gabled house buried
in the trees on the road below.
Miles from any other dwelling,
hemmed in by a forest that had never
known h AK, and reached only by a
road that was seldom travelled, no sit
uation could have been more isolated.
AS he looked and noted this the boot
of an owl sounded lugubriously and
his horse reared. There, at all
events" he muttered. signing heavily,
mo one will think of looking for me-"
Touching the horse with his heel
he rode on and down. The landlord
of the Green Mountain house, the
name of the inn, was smoking an aft
er-supper pipe at his door as the
stranger dismounted. His stalwart
and active figure was observed by the
landlord, who said, under his breath:
"a soldier, if / am not mistaken"
With his arm thrown across the
name of his horse, a big-boned. rangy
thoroughbred. the stranger said:
You have Il quiet place here, land
iord?"
TOO quiet,'' returned the latter, Ia
c~onically.
Hardy. for me-" said the tram
Hghtsome, but rather strained and
sad.
WELL" assented the landlord, "if
you want no other company but the
mail carrier and a belated traveller,
and would sooner sleep than be up
and doing, this is indeed the spot for
you"
at shall be fortunate If I sleep
much" said the other. glcomily. "But
tell me-" he added. becoming aware
that he was being scanned ~cnriously.
"why do you keep an inn here in this
lonely country?"
Because my father kept one before
me and at his death left it to me.
You hear the brawling of the stream
yonder on the mountain"
The stranger nodded.
swell, the old fellow had a notion
that the water power would bring
mills and that in the hollow just here
q bustling settlement would spring
ND. But, as you see, he was far out
i'm his reckoning. For a year or two
after he built the house-it was not
long before the war OF 1s12-there
was some custom, mostly soldiers on
the march to and from Champlain,
and the place, as I remember it in
those days, was lively enough. But
with the return of peace business fell
of and we found ourselves living in q
land of Nod. Finally the old gentle
man died, rusted out. as one might
say. Here / stay on, and old associa-
lions tie me to the spot. With a roof
over my head and enough to stock
the iarder. a few cronies to drop in
now and then to cheer me up and y
wife at h Preside to keep me in
countenance, what more can I ask in
these times of peace? BY the way, II
I might be so inquisitive, you have
been q soldier, eh?"
Eyes" he answered. with visible re-
fuctance; ST vas with Macomb at
Pittsburgh"
.Say you SOP" rejoined the landlord,
with lively interest. Let me take
xour horse-come in and be served
yr;th refreshment. If I heard Alright,
Won would like to put up with us for
awhile?"
@That is my intention" said the
other. "I ana worn with business
cares, which have impaired my health.
I like the bracing air of this coun-
try: the seclusion Of your house suits
me. and 1 may stay with you for a
month or so. But I warn you, land
lord. that you win find me a sorry
companion
~ see, I see." said the landlord.
eheerily; s'you are not yourself, want
ing rest for the body and sleep for
the mind. When your health comes
back and you feel ike . chat over