The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-18
THE ADVERTISERS .* # W
 .x xDAIY SHORT STORY.O
BY COL VIM usscHER Copy right Pub co>

, use of an acre, and in due course 10 time | a good~sized fat-boat, frefghteo with | beans, was cut loose from down there, and manned by Tom ana ,1,a neinsDor eh craft wn9 | noated away one morning in that season l ''when the world is looking dreamy. and somehow it pear
 | That the sunbeams are sifted-in the iaL of the year.
 "One day the boat lay alongside. the | levee at New Orleans. A produce deal CT came to inspect the cargo; willing to pay a good price for 1t, and Tom was | elated. But the dealer found that Tom nor his friend had learned to take care damp, and had moulded and swelled. and | were worthless The two had been for | tunate that the beans had not been more thoroSEhly wettea IasSX wou5o sna msSt have pushed the boatmen into the water. That's funny" quoth Duncan.
 None of it was funny to Tom: The eSaf wss sola soag fGr a tha s"n ana not
 No, but I expect it brought rag-time." | said Mr. Duncan. - | Tom and his friend walked back: It miles. But this was in the days before | homegenity' had begun it's work in the South, and before the days of railroads | and tramps.
 Wcll, I heNASN miles something of a tramp"
 .An immaterial pun" said Jane. .'1 wish you would let me tell this story"
 With truth on their lips" she ,,od con ness, civility and good cheer and even, tually reached this neighborhood all right. Toms friend went on home ana Tom trudged to Danvile. the, seat % Of Center College. Here he called on pr. | Young the reverend and learned presl- dent of that institution. and told him l that he wanted to go to college. but had no money He also told of the beans. | "Old 'Prexy smiled, almost to laugh. But Tom was serious and eloquent. He | suggested working before ana alter school hours, to pay the necessary ex- pense.
 ''Dr. Young could not see how that was | to be done. Work such as Tom knew. was not to be had, and wages were smal! at anything. But the old president nao become impressed with Toms ardor, cam dor, manliness-and the bean story-and he declared that the matter of tuition should be made easy if the other some what necessary adjuncts of food. cloth l ing and lodging could be arranged. | "Ill give you a note to friend Of mine the president suddenly said,
 Governor sherburne was g, reader reader 2,; 0I between Tom and this elderly gentleman ended with the brusque statement from the ex-Governor that his house should be Toms home. temporarily. at least. l put tHdl 1Obl HOAh hO PsSJ si'S
 That suited the young man. He de | sired to earn his way. The blunt old
 man had no work for the youth, but he | pretended that he had, and frequently demanded Toms services as secretary. when he could have done his writing bet | ter with his own hand.
 | ''Tom's remarkable progress in college excited comment, and some were curious l to learn who the brilliant stranger was. "A knot of students one evening, In the apartments of pair of chums, where Tom had been invited carried out the plan that had been evolved for ascertain ing the social status of the prodigy. | "One spoke of his fathers sugar plan | tation on Bayou La Fourche; another | mentioned, casually, the number of bales I of cotton that were grown on his home | place in Southern Georgia. and yet an | other was particularly anxious about his fathers reelection to the Senate from l Tennessee.
 "When the evidence was all in it was decidedly annarent to Tom that ne was | not only in a swell crowd but that the right sleeve of his coat and shirt and exposed a broad white forearm that a~~eared to be erninentlv caDah' of fell ing buffalo bull. and as he did so re- |" My father, Enos Stewart, has little
 farm down on the Kentucky River
 where he works hard to support hls family. and he's about the poorest man in this State who pays taxes at all But ] I can whip any man on earth who doesn't | like it.
 ''They all seemed to like 1t. At any rate no objection was raised"
 Tom ?-and his fathers name was Stewart? Why. that makes Tom Stew
 art--silver- -tongued Tom Stewart, the most brilliant lawyer and orator in the
 State. Why that's your father, Jane" l "Yes sir. and that's the man I loved before did you. and God bless his dear soul. I love him yet!'
 Well, you are a good .story-teller, l Jane and that's one on me" l They had crossed the bridge, long ago. E." by Frances S. Hodge.