Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-11

the road to prosperity. There was very
little sentiment in his cogitations. but
to do Joe justice it should be said that
he really liked Minnie and thought they
would get along very nicely together.
Joe was too crafty to betray his inten-
tons to the other boys. but Minnie was
not show to note and understand the
laundering gailantry of her fellow typo.
Feminine instinct is as keen in the coarse
and lowly as it is in their more fortunate
sisters, and Minnie tempered the monot-
ony of many a tedious hour by secretly
laughing at the clumsy wooing Of her adj
mirer and wondering when he would
reach the crisis. But before the year
was gone she had almost forgotten Mi
nus.
In the spring the board of pardons
was easily convinced that the young con-
Wet had been sufficiently punished for
that fool boy trick" and recommended
his discharge. The pardon vas granted.
and. clad in a good suit of clothes. and
with a few dollars in his pocket. Minus
stood before the warden to receive his
parting admonition.
Remember that YOU future career
dependes wholly upon yourself. You can
make it what You choose. Your punish
ment here has blotted out the score of
your wr%ong-doing. and o are to begin
again free from the faint of your old life.
Frank. I shall hope to hear good reports
of YOU"
1t is wonderful what a Christening there
is in the penalty of the law, even to the
most callous spirit. In the old days Mi
nus a been almost a stranger to the
sense of shame. He had walked the
streets after his ~escapades with an eff
frontery that was not at all assumed
and his occasional adventures in police
court he regarded as a joke. But now,
with the kindly assurances Of the warden
in his ears and his own knowledge of a
newborn worthiness, he was abashed
and shame-faced. 1t did not seem as if
his past had been erased by his year of
penance. 1t seemed to accuse him in ev-
cry expression, every greeting Of an old
comrade, in every look cast upon him.
His old cronies rallied him as they used
to do after a out in police court, bud
his smile was forced and mirthless.
Some who used to speak to him passed
disdainfully by. Others crowned upon
him and two or three well-meaning di-
vines spoke with him, Offering stern coun-
sci and urging repentance and abnega-
ton of the spirit. But of kindly inter-
est and sympathy there was none. The
shadow of his punishment was over him.
In the evening he went to Minnie's
home. Hello. Minus, I heard ye'd got
forgiveness" old man Carr greeted him.
Here, Minnie, here's our old friend Mi
nus again.
She was dressed for a walk, and glanc-
ed at him kindly but carelessly. .Why,
frank, how sober you've grown. You
look quite respectable now
Sober, indeed! He looked more than
sober as he stood quite still, a great
wave of despair sweeping over him.
a a chair, Frank, and talk a little,
cant you? Are you going back TO the
Progress" You haven't smashed your
aceomplice yet, nave your"
II hadn't thought about him vet"
answered Minus gravely. NO, I don't
think I'll go back to the Progress now,
We'll, you must excuse me this time,
Mr.. Brent's coming to take me walking.
Oh, you didn't know that I'm to be Mrs.
Brent next week, did your"
The wind blew ftfully as Minus stood
upon the river bridge and watched the
rush and eddy of the waters as they
hurried past. In the moonlight the sha-
lows of the broken clouds came and
went again, but the shadow upon the
boys spirit was broken by no raw of
light. 1t was not that he loved Minnie.
he did not think SO much of her an
proachlng marriage. It was because she
mad been the only person who believed
IN MIN n had given him a sympathetic
word. And now she, too, seemed to turn
against him. She SAW no change in him
except that he looked quite respect
able.' Society was a unit against him.
OF what avail had been the penance.
the toilsome days, the dreary, solitary
nights which We're to balance the ac-
u against him to start ever again?
The account was not balanced; it had
been augmented. The weight of his pun-
lshment had been heaped upon that of
his Wrong-doing. In the eyes of Peyton-
vile there had been added to the sins of
his youth the misfortune of detection
and disgrace. Some of the people had
c%ondoned the former, but none could
tolerate the latter. The scale was hope
lessly again him.
The warden had lied to him. But had
he lied? Perhaps he was only mistaken,
Perhaps the shadow of those grim walls
was over him, too, only in such a differ
ent way. Perhaps he had such a differ
ent way. Perhaps he had dealt with
convicts so long he did not know lust
how it was among free men. Those
wrecks of humanity might have edu-
Gated his sense of justice too far in adj
vance of Peytonville sentiment. b that
as it may, Minus knew the hand of So
ciety was against him, and what was
there for him but to raise his own hand
against society?
He left the river bridge and ak to-
ward the wretched pile of old lumber
which his parents called home. The half
formed structure Of his better nature
had been beaten down, and all the say
age passions of his ill-trained youth
We're intensified and raging within him.
To Jonathan Grinkle fell the satisfac-
ton of carrying to Peytonville the Sc
quel to the story of Minus. He had re-
turned from a distant county whittier