The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-01-29

itg I don't expect a man to know
no woman can appreciate my situation
excepting she had experienced the
same thing. No. am fully determined
TO end the matter. I wish. II possible,
70 begin the New Year in freedom"
"Has anyone freedom2"
What a question:"
mot such a strange one. is ~ Each
one OF Us has something 10 bear"
Each one does not wage continual
battle with vice"
who can tell? All sickness. all de-
formity is but the harvest OF sin In
some form. All" Judge Barstow
sighed and turned from his client as
the door opened and the click OF a
erutch sounded within the room.
Come IN. Mary; ah. Bryce. you are
feeling botterf1
"Yes, father. much better" but the
boy gasDed painfully. and the blue
whiteness about his mouth belied the
cheerful words.
"Oh. yes. he thinks be Is much bet
ter" said the companion of the frali.
misshapen boy. They were an III as
sorted pair. excepting in one feature.
The full. dark brown eyes Of the tall.
beautiful woman were repeated In the
face Of the boy. This resemblance, and
the continual solicitude on one side.
and the almost infantile dependence
on the other. proclaimed the relation
ahip.
Judge Barstow placed chairs for his
Nlfe and son and a fiim Of rogretfui
tenderness darkencd his steel blue
eyes. This was his only child. and
to the average observer It was a great
riddle. The average observer saw only
the Nov" Sometimes there seemed
to be sense and reason ia the belief
in malignant lnvisibles and the
changeling theory. There was no ap-
parent reason why this man and this
woman, both SO complete physically.
mentally and morally. should be called
upon to nurture this shred and patch
OF humanity. The fact that they had
been called IN the sacred names OF
father and mother TO do this thing had
led Hugh Barstow into the study Of
heredity and the transmission Of traits
He had reached the point where he
dared not affirm that any Characteristic
was acquired All came through
tangled maze Of inheritance.
There had been no accident. no ill-
ness to distort the limbs and curve the
spine ofthischild II was simply lack
Of vitality. said the wise men OF medi-
cine. To account forthis thefather had
searched family traditions. and after
years OF study be said: "Therehas been
dehnitating vice IN my own family and
IN that Of my wife. We have appeared
20 the world as more than average
good people. but the black drop was
there. II has been drawn on, not as
q vice. but in bodily weakness and de-
formity in our son."
He had asked his cousin Ethel
Thorne. "Has anyone freedom?" She
was chafng against her lot In the
person OF her husband she batlled with
the vice Of drunkenness in its crude.
undisguised form. Years hence.
thought Barst0w. "some other woman
wiz wear the look that my wife wears
while agonizing over a weakling i'se
our boy: and that weakiing viii Be
Ethei's grandchiid, or maybe a gene1s-
ton later. Crude vice may seem %
burn Itself out and disappear it Is
said that children profit by a BAD es-
ample as weil as a good one rfteIe
husband may reform. or Be may Is
IN the gutter. IN either case tte aIs-
chief 20 posleriiy is done fhe tt
NO more to complain of taan fae a-
iority of folks"