The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1901-05-17
A PEACE E::E|!.' ADVOCATE ADVOCATE.

uOlu. All udy tOuS tut IoiiiI1B pih
thumped over the dough board; the
spice boxes shed their aroma abroad;
the piles of sliced fruit and mincemeat
and the bowls of yellow custard and
lemon favored starch We're devoured
by cavernous crust lined pie plates,
and the oven door creaked and clang-
ed. By mid-afternoon the "buttery"
shelves and window sills were covered
thickly with pies, and Carmelius would
come In from his work, sniff of them,
and go out again with look of toler-
ant satisfaction on his set face.
1t was the Wednesday after Will
Camp had been forbidden the house,
and Carmelius had just come In to sniff
of the pies, when there was loud
knock at the kitchen door. Carmelius
answered it. There stood four ragged,
unkempt and desperate looking tramps.
'Well, what do you wantY demand
ed Carmelius.
"Them pies" responded the spokes-
man of the hungry looking crew, with
a significant jerk of the thumb to-
ward the pantry. eve see some of 'em
on the winder sill-and we smelt EN-"
Old Carmelius shrank a little, In
spite of himself. The farm house was
at a distance from the village. The
nearest neighbor was Will Camps
father. The tramps were young, vigor-
GUS and desperately hungry. Besides,
there were four of them.
"You can have one pie," said Car
melius at length, grudgingly.
'sThank ye, boss, but we'd prefer 'em
ALL" was the cool reply. "One pie
wouldn't go far with us fellers."
Carmelius' whole soul rose up in de-
fense of his precious pies. you can't
have EN-" he said, doggedly. "Get
out" And he shut the door in the
tramps' faces and locked 1t.
Scarcely had he returned to his terri
fed wife and daughter, when there
was a grating sound In the pantry
The pies were being removed from the
sill of the open window! Then the
three plainly heard man climb over
the sill and drop down into the pantry
There was no strategy about It, The
tramps understood thelr physical ad-
. vantage, and they wanted the pies.
Carmelius opened the pantry door
and looked in. A man stood with his
back toward him, slowing pies away
In an old sack. Three fierce, intent
faces filed up the open window space.
Carmelius shut the door, stamped
across the kitchen and banged the table
sayagely with his fist. Then he kicked
a chair half way across the room. Few
things We're capable of stirring him to
such wrath as the loss of a pie. Final
ly, he unlocked the kitchen door and
Hmped out to the barn. He stood
glowering there in the door as the
tramps departed with sack full of
pies.
A week passed There had been a
new pie baking day In the interim. and
the Foote's were not disturbed. But
when the larder had once more fallen
empty and was being restocked with
the savory disks, the same gang sud
denly reappeared, and once more lit
orally sacked the pantry. Carmelius
was furious-so furious that he went
without pies for fortnight, hopinp
thus to outwit and defeat the tramps !:
for he was man of peace. But not
a ragged outcast appeared during that
time. On the third Wednesday he or
dered pie baking again, and just as
the last pie was out of the oven the
ragged quartette came slouching into
the farm yard.
Carmelius Foote was harnessing n
horse in the barn when he first saw
them. Stripping off all but the head
stall, he led the horse to the grain box
and climbed from thence to its bare
back. Then he thundered out of the
barn and down the road.
In an amazingly short space of time
he was seen returning, seated at Will
Camps side in the latter's light buggy.
VIII had his soldier clothes on, and his
gun rested against the edge of the seat
between the two men. The buggy rat
tied Into the farm yard and Will Camp
leaped out, leaving Carmelius to hitch
the horse to the fence with his slow
old fingers. The young soldier burst
into the house just in time to see the
tramp In the pantry crawling over the
Sill after n sack of pies which he had
delivered to his companions. VIII
Camp appeared at the window, with
his Springfield rifle at his shoulder.
"Set down that bag and gitr' he cried,
with a vernacular snap lacking to pro
per military language. The tramps
dropped their sack with a great clatter
Of crockery, and ran helter-skelter for
the woods.
Amber and Will were standing side
by side, laughing happily, when Car
melius Foote, ex-peace advocate and
exemplar, came into the kitchen, flush
ed and chuckling.