Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1901-09-19
! After Twenty Years !
& By William Wendham. s
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
fCopyriaht 1901 by Authors gyndlcate1
MAJ. GILLESPIE. was distinctly

he watched the blue fame struggle
unsuccessfully to leap into something
like cheerfulness. Even my ire won't
burn. I've jawed every man in the
Office to-day, quarreled with every
client have seen. brllied the janitor
and spent the intervening time in hat
ing myself. ] guess Eastman Is right.
! ought to take a vacation, and see II
cant get into some sort OF harmony
with things in general"
What was il all worth, anyway
these days and nights of toll? To be
sure, he was successful far beyond the
measure that comes 10 the average
man. his reputation was high in the
profession-the greatest cases came
10 him, and he generally won them.
His name stood high in the commune
ty, and honors on the bench or in po-
litical life waited him at any time he
would accept them. But these things
held no fascination for him. For 20
years his life had been centercd in
this old-fashioned back office. He had
enjoyed no social life and little com
panionship with his fellows, excepting
his relations with his partners, his
clients and his opponents In the court
room. He trembled to think of the
result should he lose interest in his
work.
And yet II had not been always so.
Nor was he by nature designed for a
life apart from his fellows. In his
younger days he had been prince OF
good fellows, and had numbered his
friends by the score.
But this was before the broken chap
ter in his life, and that broken chap
ter had changed all the rest Of the
story. He thought MS he tried to coax
some warmth out Of the CRATE how dif-
ferent IL all might have been. He
arose and locked the door leading to
the outer Office, and then he went to
the old-fashloned safe, and, unlocking
a drawer. took from it an old dn-
guerrotype. Going back to his seat,
he contemplated the portrait long and
earnestly. II was the face of besuti-
ful. bigh-spirited, impetuous girl.
This was the face which had caused
the broken chapter. As he looked at
the old daguerrotype his features soft
ened and he lived over again the old
days when all the horizon was rose
colored. This was away bacl; when he
was a boy. He was accounted n smart
boy and was making strides in his pro-
fession, and every effort and every ann
bition was centered upon Amy Lester.
She liked him, too---there was no doubt
OF that. Even now, at distance OF 20
years and with the keonest knowledge
OF men and affairs, he did not doubt
that she loved him In the old days
They had been youthful sweethearts
and had built all the air castles OF two
lives upon a united future. Then came
the firing on Sumter and the call TO
arms by President Lincoln. The blood
OF the major qulckcned little even at
this distance OF quarter OF cen
tury as he recollected the thrill with
which that call had been received A
dellrious month or two and he had
found himself at the front. There
rolled before the memory Of the major
all the excitement, the dangers, the
deprivations, the heroisms OF those
dreadful four years; his steady ad-
vancement until he was mustered out
a major OF volunteers.
The perspiration rolled from his
face as he remembered his home
coming and found that Amy had
plighted her troth TO another-one far
richer than he and the choice OF her
family. He had never asked her to
marry him. lie had always supposed
II 10 be understood. They had WRIT
ten continually, and although her let
ters had grown more formal he had
been so engrossed in his soldlerly pro-
fesslon that he had scarcely had the
time to wonder what the cause was.
SO the full knowledge OF the truth, |
when he arrived home, nearly took him /,
on his feet, His great pride kept him
from doing anything TO prevent her
marriage, even had II been possible, |
and so she had faded from his life, and |
with her all the Joy and all the hope
he had ever cherished Then followed
the weary years In the profession TO
which he had turned.
A knock aroused the ar,,nsr nm,
hastily stuflng the pIcture In nj.
pocket he opened the door II va
card from one Of his most nroatahI"
clients. for whom ne had recan,Iv 80
A hardlv.contest.d lawsri,
"eho,, ,d., a.
grudein.lw '"' ''"'o''
Accord,1c,v g. N..n., NJ ~
a,Ims,sr Sr,.na.an. M 1850 1870. s'er van
oomnl,o.n, hn, Pushs ssn
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