The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-06-05
*H \ E STOOD close to q large
Y y plate glass window; the
SSSATsg bargain sign within stared
I ; &: W: :::' s Il: ;s:''s dow. !!

E Ys22 the ever moving crowd
outside. "Well! here l
am again." he soliloquized, Give
days in town and not familiar
face yet. It's not to be wondered
at tho; ten years is a long, long
time. Wonder whether any of my
old friends would be able to rec
ognize the once" he stopped
short and glanced down at the
soiled and wrinkled suit of box
tweeds he wore. ''No, [ think
not" he said slowly-''why there's
Charlie Charlie!' he called after
a passing pedestrian, hurrying
through the crowd; but ere the cry
could be needed he shrank back
in doorway. "No''-he muttered,
'1 can'task help of a man I once fed
-pride-pride pride, l thought
I had lost every grain of it-how
it sticks to one. Pshaw! this NOR
alizing won't do for man in my
predicament-half starved, kicked
and buffeted by all the miseries in
Pandora's box" He glanced up
at passing equipage, whose bur-
nished liveries shone with the
elegance that wealth only can con-
fer. "Once I rode like that-now
now couldn't get place on
the box handling the ribbons" he
added with a cynical smile.
'Let me see just what [ am" he
continued in the same strain,
"anatomically, science classes me
under the head of baAleeautl,vpus
erectus; the good bishop behind
the mahogany rail at Trinity would
place me categorically as moral
degenerate; business man would
look at my clothes and say. 4 don't
want you;' and as for the vox
popui, it won't stop bowling long
enough to chant for me, even the
echo of a possible future regener-
ation.' A sombre CLINT stole into
the blue-gray eye and the lines on
the handsome, calloused face,
hardened for a moment. "Well,
there is one way out of it at least,
and that means" he paused
NEARLY what it did before" He
Strengthened himself in sudden de-
termination, thrust his hands into
the flap pockets at his side, pushed
his way deep into the seething
mass of humanity, and was lost to
view.
Thpt same evening in the cozy
alcove, off the nursery, little Ben
ME had been tucked away behind
the pink and white curtains of his
downy crib. His bonne, with a
soothing, "bou eutaH| and a light
hurried kiss, had tripped away
next door to gossip with neigh
Dor. Little Bonnie had rather re-
sented the leave-taking, mas
much as it had deprived him of
his nightly fairy story, but he had
been told that he must be on his
good behavior, as his father and
mother were away, ''and great, big
four year-old boys never cried any
way" The rosy shade of the night
lamp shed a soft glow over the
room and the little Strasburg
clock out on the mantle licked
away, cuckooing the quarter hours
in Bennie's drowsy ears. Grad
ually the long, silky lashes settled
down over the pink cheeks, and
the moist dew of babyhood breathed
out its fragrance from the golden
curls that mantled the still, white
brow. Bonnie slept.
Tick! Tick! A moth few in
through the open window and
cast phantom shadows on the
dusky ceiling as it futtered in
serial circles over the shaded lamp.
A head and one arm appeared at
the window, hesitated, then dark
racumbent form Wiggled it's way