Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-07-24

out Of town rapidly. Carver stood
watching them moment, then he
turned and went on down the street.
At the first saloon he hesitated, but
finally went in. Before noon he had
gone into three or four different saloons
that lay between him and the postof-
| fee, and the letter remained in his
pocket forgotten.
On their way to ''The Forks NAL
com learned from Mrs. Barton that
while Philip was on his back, unable
| to leave his bed, one of the farmer
boys living on the next ranch had
| brought out several bottles Of whisky
and struggled them into the house.
..'he result was that young Barton was
having dellrium tremens while in the
terrible condition caused by his de-
bauch at the time of the great fire.
His mother had spent fearful night
with him, and at last, desperate and
heartbroken, dry eyed, but weeping
| her blood away within, she had come
into town for Kirk.
ut Is all of the devil, this drink bust
nessw groaned Malcolm as he went in
| to the house and into the room where
Phil Barton lay.
Never in all his life had Malcolm
| Kirk seen such a sight. Barton knew
him as he came in, and he spoke his
name. Then he began to curse In the
most awful manner. The lower part
| Of his body was paralyzed, but his
arms moved incessantly and his head
| rolled back and forth on the bed
while he called on all hell to blast ev-
cry living creature on earth.
| Malcolm put Mrs. Barton out of the
| room and shut the door. Then for
three hours he spent the most trying
period he had ever known by the side
of suffering and sinful human being.
| At the end of that time Barton lay
quiet, and Malcolm was weak and
trembling, wet with perspiration and
unnerved as If he had been facing
| some-great peril. The doctor came just
as Malcolm went to tell Mrs. Barton
that Philip was sleeping. She had not
been able to find any physician when
| she had gone in that morning and had
left word for one to come out.
what is going to become of my
boy, Mr.. kirk" Mrs. Barton asked as
he was getting into the doctors buggy
to go back with him.
1 Malcolm had not the heart to say
anything at first. In his soul pro-
found horror and divine indignation
against the saloon greater than he had
ever known had risen.
At last he said: MRS Barton, hope
to live to see the day when your boy
will not be near this temptation. The
saloon and all it represents is an enc
my Of mankind. We will not cease to
work and pray and suffer until the
curse oft is removed from our life as
i a state" For the time he had forgot
ten he was going away.
Promise me, Mr.. Kirk, that you will
do what you can for Phil. There's no
one living he thinks so much of. You
| saved his life. Save his soul too. Don't
/ give him up, will you, Mr.. Kirk?'
Malcolm trembled. How could he tell
this wretched, heartbroken woman, liv-
ing in that desolate, ruined home, that
he had already made his plan to leave
Conrad. She chung to him as the lar
gest and only hope for her boy that
she knew. What could he say to her?
| The doctor, who had been listening
| sympathetically, but in silence, had
gathered up his reins, and the horses
impatiently made movement to start,
and still Malcom Kirk said nothing.
II know you won't give him up, Mr..
Kirk. If you don't save him, no one
else will. Don't you think he's worth
/ saving?"
She stood blythe buggy and laid her
thin, worn hand on Malcom's arm. AS
he looked at it he thought of some old
verses he had read while in the semi
/ nary about a mothers hands,
Not all the ladies in all the lands,
1 With riches and titles and fame,
! Could boast OF such beautiful. shapely hands
1 As one that could name.
/ Her hands were without jeweled ring,
| And the fingers were thin and old,
! But baby's fingers would round them cling,
More precious than solid gold.
i
To the land where death cannot be,
But I'll never forget her as she lay.
| Hands clasped in prayer for me. ~.
/ - 80 .s>N-
They were old verses that some one
had translated hastily from a German
text. but Malcolm remembered them,
and they came to him wildly just now.
"Of course believe he is worth saw
ing" said Malcolm.
Mrs. Barton looked up to him again
appealingly.
you won't give him up, will your"
mo; won't give him up" replied
Malcom, but he hardly seemed to real
lie what the words meant. Was he not
planning to go away from all this bur-
den bearing? Had he not already writ
ten the letter accepting the place where
| he would be free to use his pen without