The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-01-18
CHAPTER XII.
HE SNAPS,

CHAPTER XII.
HE SNAPS.
~ have found something in the loft"
said EN- to Waldo, who was istlessly
piling cakes of fuel on the kraal wall
q week after. 1T is a box of books
that belonged to my father. We
thought that Tant' Sannie had burned
them"
The boy put down the cake he was
raising and looked at her.
81 don't think they are very nice, not
Stories" she added, but you can go
and take any you like"
So saying, she took up the plate in
which she had brought his breakfast
and walked off to the house.
After that the boy worked quickly.
The pile of fuel Bonaparte had ordered
him to pack was on the wall in half
an hour. He then went to throw salt
on the skins laid out to dry. Finding
the pot empty, he went to the loft to
refill it.
Bonaparte Blenkins, whose door
opened at the foot of the ladder, saw
the boy go up and stood in the door
way waiting for his return. He want
ed his boots BACKED. Doss, finding he
could not follow his master up the
round bars. sat patiently at the foot of
the ladder. Presently he looked up
longingly, but no one appeared. Then
Bonaparte looked up also and began to
call, but there was no answer. What
could the boy be doing? The loft was
an unknown land to Bonaparte. He
had often wondered what was up
there. He liked to know what was in
all locked up places and out of the
way corners, but he was afraid to
climb the ladder. So Bonaparte look
ed up and, in the name of all that was
tantalizing, questioned what the boy
did up there. The loft was used only
as a lumber room. What could the
fellow find up there to keep him SO
long?
Could the Boer woman have beheld
Waldo at that instant any lingering
doubt which might have remained in
her mind as to the boys insanity
having filed the salt pot, he proceeded
to look for the box of books among
the rubbish that filled the loft. Under
a pile Of sacks he found it-a rough
packing case, nailed up, but with one
loose plank. He lifted that and saw
the even backs Of a row Of books. He
knelt down before the box and ran his
hand along it's rough edges. as If to
assure himself of it's existence. He
stuck his hand in among the books and
pulled out two. He felt them, thrust
his fingers in among the leaves and
crumpled them a little, as lover feels
the hair of his mistress. The fellow
gloated over his treasure. He had had
a dozen books in the course of his life.
Now here was a mine of them opened
at his feet. After awhile he began to
read the titles and now and again
opened a book and read a sentence;
but he was too excited to catch the
meanings distinctly. At last he came
to a dull brown volume. He read the
name. opened it in the center and
where he opened began to read. Twas
chapter on property that he fell upon.
Communism, Fourierism, st. Simon
ISM" in a work on political economy.
He read down one page and turned
over to the next; he read down that
without changing his posture by an
inch: he read the next and the next,
kneeling up all the while with the book
in his hand and his lips parted.
All he read he did not fully under
stand. The thoughts were new to him.
But this was the fellows startled JOY
in the book-the thoughts We're his;
they belonged to him. He had never
thought them before. but they were
his.
He laughed silently and internally,
with the still intensity of triumphant
joy.
So, then, all thinking creatures did
not send up the one cry: GAS thou,
dear Lord, hast created things in the
beginning, so are they now, SO ought
they to be, so will they be, world with
out end, and it doesn't concern us what
they are. Amen" There were men
to whom not only "kopjes" and stones
were calling out imperatively, what
are we, and how came we here? I'm
derstand us and know u.s." but to whom
even the old, old relations between
man and man and the customs of the
ages called and could not be made still
and forgotten.
The boys heavy body quivered with
excitement So he was not alone, not
alone. He could not quite have told
any one why he was so glad and this
warmth had come to him. His cheeks
were burning. No wonder that Bona
parte called In vain and Doss put his
paws on the ladder and whined till
three-Quarters Of an hour had passed.
At last the boy put the book In his
breast and buttoned It tightly to him.
He took I'D the salt Dot and went to