The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-02-22

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before. He swore at me and told me
to take the whip and help him. We
tried for . little time. Then told
him 1t was no use. they could never
do it. He swore louder and called to
the leaders to come on with their
whips, and together they dashed. There
was one OK, black OK, so thin that
the ridge Of his backbone almost cut
through his flesh. So
"'It is you. devil, is it, that will not
pull? the transport rider said. 4 will
show you something He looked like
q devil.
HE told the boys to leave off fog
ging, and he held the OK by the horn
and took up round stone and knock
ed its nose with it till the blood came.
When he had done, they called to the
oxen and took up their whips again,
and the oxen strained with their backs
bent, but the wagon did not move an
inch.
$50 you won't, won't your he said.
I'll help YOU
HE took out his clasp knife and ran
it into the leg Of the trembling OK three
times up to the hilt. Then he put the
knife In his pocket, and they took their
whips. The oxen's TANKS Quivered,
and they foamed at the mouth. Strain
ing, they moved the wagon a few feet
forward, then stood with bent backs
to keep it from sliding back. From
the black ox's nostril foam and blood
were streaming on to the ground. 1t
turned its head in it's anguish and look
ed at me with it's great starting eyes.
1t was praying for help in it's agony
and weakness, and they took their
whips again. The creature beloved
out aloud. II there is a God, it was
calling to it's Maker for help. Then a
stream Of clear blood burst from both
nostrils. 1t fell on to the ground, and
the wagon slipped back. The man
walked up to it.
"'You are going to lie down, devil,
are you? Well see you don't take it
too easy
1.-THE thing was just dying. He open
ed his clasp knife and. stopped down
over it. l do not know what l did
then, but afterward l know l had him
on the stones, and l was kneeling on
him. The boys dragged me off. l wish
they had not. l left him standing in
the sand in the road, shaking himself,
and l walked back to town. l took
nothing from that accused wagon, so
I had only shillings. But it did not
matter. The next day l got work at a
wholesale store. My work was to pack
and unpack goods and to carry boxes,
and had only to work from in the
morning till in the evening, so had
plenty of time.
II hired a little room and subscribed
to a library. so l had everything l
holidays l went to see the sea. l walk
ed all night, Lyndall, to escape the
heat, and little after sunrise l got to
the top of hill. Before me was a
long, low, blue, monotonous mountain.
I walked looking at it, but 1 was
thinking of the sea 1 wanted to see.
At last wondered what that curious
blue thing might be. Then it struck
me it was the sea. l would have turn
ed back again, only l was too tired. 1
wonder If all the things we long to
see-the churches, the pictures, the /
men in Europe-will disappoint us so.
You see, l had dreamed of it so long.
When I was a little boy, minding !
sheep behind the 'kopje,' used to see
the waves stretching out as far as the
eye could reach in the sunlight. My
sea! Is the ideal always more beauti-
full than the real?
81 got to the beach that afternoon,
and saw the water run up and down
on the sand, and saw the white foam
breakers. They were pretty, but I
thought would go back the next day.
It was not my sea.
"But I began to like it when 1 sat |
by it that night in the moonlight, and
the next day 1 liked it better, and be-
fore 1 left l loved it. 1t was not like
the sky and stars, that talk Of what |
has no beginning and no end. but it is
so human. OF all the things have ev-
er seen, only the sea is like a human
being. The sky Is not, nor the earth.
But the sea is always moving. Always
something deep in itself is stirring it. |
It never rests. 1t is always wanting,
wanting, wanting. 1t hurries on, and
then it creeps back slowly without
having reached, moaning. 1t Is always
asking a question, and it never gets
the answer. l can hear it in the day
and in the night. The white foam
breakers are saying that which think.
walk alone with them when there is
no one to see me, and sing with them.
l lie down on the sand and watch them
with my eyes half shut. The sky is
better, but it is so high above our
heads. love the sea. Sometimes we
must look down too. After five days I
went back to Grahamstown.
81 had glorious books, and in the
night could sit in my little room and
read them, but l was lonely. Books
are not the same things when you are
living among people, l cannot tell
why, but they are dead. On the farm
they would have been living beings to
me, but here, where there were so
many people about me, l wanted some
one to belong to me. was lonely. l
wanted something that was flesh and
blood Once IN This farm there came