The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-09-15

Tiprp waE great rNn-Na-ip,, IN the FASH
fonable town of Hreokiurtor. The north
s..e, oor,cr of &c ,aad;,, s,.,., .,rsared
. !. a.. ,aa,... ,..tah ~, ,r,,,
-,
a. %s =, nra,.n.;,r
a,.t.a .n,r.a.,. .naua - ,on,,o cor-
- :. - -, 49,. ,a,, ,,5 v,1-
- ;,,ati,,n,r So yrsjr,, csr,fpIv in
~. l.1,,nt.5 ~. ~, r.,b.r u.,a.. ,o.6-
~. - ..,mrsrf,- -narhars ~ :.
u s - .oar,,d &c
&c 49, -.
~ - .s.o..t. - .no ,a,I ..oro
-an sns :. .he
,o,haa. SO. .,d -. ,o-c,,a ,ro;a use
80 ~ san..,oe
rs II truey,
Yes i, Was perfact,Y true. as If appearei
a little later on. That tall. frowning stone
house was a bank. and on that lovely Sep
ten.her morning it had closed its doors. In
rlain,r words. the bank had broke.
Among The crowd. staring at the closed
dno-s NJ tho hank with that s,neechless look
of agony which characterizes sudden shocks.
was a young man in the garb of a farmer.
He had a welI-to-do air about him. His
drab covert-coat loosely hung upon his
broad hack. with a fine white rose in the
r,,,onhola borokered 81 certain amount of
5-,.4.5s,, s,,cb nc ;s tn bo found TODAY
oucnr the Younger male members of the
farming interest. His brown hat, Will, it's
weli-curved brim. covered a fair. rosy, fat
face, as yet innocent of hair; inclining one
to the opi:ion that the young man was not
far from his majority, one side or the other.
lie carried his unopened morning newspa-
rer In his hand, together with a straight
ash plant. which he used as a stick, and
which he had torn from IN old ash tree
which grew on his farm at Redhridge. a VII
iage no more than two miles from Brook
tnston.
y man pushed through the block of peo-
: pie and touched the young farmer ON the
farm.
, = "Eabe Cooper, lima this awfuI?"
: . I'm ruined" said the young man. with
? out taking his eyes from the house. Every
-~roifey MI mine was IN yon."
us ,vas of tho frs, m mi. tho o-o,,a
.Th4t morning he had come to Broo,,nrton
with the object of drawing money out of
the bank for farm purposes. The closed
daor stared him in the face. Like the
ruinei man he felt himself to be, he hurried
/, away from the scene, without hone. and
! struck off into the Redbridge road, which
=. ran a distance of sevcra, miles and nassed
right by the bank.
= For half d mile or more the roadway was
6aiiked by ranks of well-built. detached res
+ %4dences. in which lived, in genteel and slen-
der opulenee. the retired Tablespoonful of
Brookington and the great hardware CITY
g. come twenty miles off. Beyond this dis
;ance the roadway was purely rural. and
ran straight as a die into the village of
Redhrfdse-a long, lonely. tree-shaded road.
II was a transeendentaliy beautiful NORM
ing. The sun lay over the earth like a
Eoiden shawl upon an already handsome
woman; and had 1t not been for a brisk,
'resh "ihd that was blowing at the time.
.he walk Oh MI. Caleb Cooper back to Red
oridse would have been a sultry and IA
t'suihg one indeed. for the village was 10 |
ca'ed cue east and the sun from that
quarter poured so continuonly in summer
upon .aat long road to Brookfnston that
now II 'iooked Ike a white streak in the |
'VO. no oeiieht IN the bright
- '"e ,Aiis, ,he ioveliness of the
~ y 'ne "hi'ehess OF the road
, Wy heieS ornamental thoughts
"te WIG = .he woe OF a man who
mas anu without warning. lost !
~ - "iu ~ haoe old not think
; 'neii - Ho' " v. M'"ueieu III, Tor his mind
was VI d pfactieai rather than an orna-
so" pe"u.s III
inc ear'h or ehe morning unless seasons
were soea a,a s,ops heaVS: He walked on.
therefore. VIII ~ piae eyes directed to the
&souhu' Jug see ho.hing partic-
qua. ~ .'e a'eA''on m the white
far'h ane peupies AT his Ieet: 1t was the
Sense ea'a oppessioh that weighed
mn oo"n-
: He met rev persons on the road. and
these he did not raise his eyes to look at.
1t was only when he neared the bridge,
come mile and a half from Brookington,
under which the trains dash to and fro TO
the great hardware city Of Brassingham,
and beyond. that he lifted his head from its
depending position. The scream OF a rail-
way whistle and. the rattle OF an approach
ing train called him back to himself and
the fact hat he was near home. and was
the bearer OF evil ttdings.
His glance roved listlessly to the balus-
trade of the bridge on. the east side of the
roadway This surveyor of highways for
R.dhr,dr, wa. an exceptionaIly tidy man.