The Minneapolis journal., 1902-07-24
CHAPTER I.
The Young Man who Came to stay.

CHAPTER 1. :..-M
The Young Man Who Came to Stay.
There Is a fertile stretch of fiat lands in
Indiana where unagrarian eastern travellers,
slancing from car windows, shudder and re-
turn their eyes to interior upholstery, prefer
ring even the swaying caparisons Of a Pull
man to the monotony Swithout Widely sepa-
rated from each other are small frame railway
stations-sometimes with no other building In
sight, which indicates that somewhere behind
the adjacent woods few shanties and thin
cottages are grouped about couple OF trick
stores. ..t, FIR. b. f~
On the station platforms there are always
two or three wooden packing boxes, appar-
emily marked for travel but they are sacred
from disturbance and remain on the platform
forever; possibly the right train never comes
along. Now and then the train passes a town
built scatteringly about a courthouse, with
mill or two humming near the tracks. rms
Is county seat, and the inhabitants ana tne
local papers refer to it confidently as our
city, The heart of the flat lands Is central
area called Carlow county, and the county
seat of Carlow is a town unhappily' named IN
honor of its first settler, William Platt who
chrstened it with his blood.
The social and business energy OF PlattVllle
concentrates on the square. tdere, IN summer
time, the gentlemen are wont to lounge from
store to store in their shirt sleeves; ana mere
stood the old, red brick courthouse loosely
fenced in a shady grove OF maple and elm
''slipp:ry elIum"-called the Courthouse
Yard" When the sun grew too hot for the
dry-goods box whittlers in front OF the stores
around the square and the occupants OF the
chairs in front Of the Palace HOTEL on tne
corner, they would go across and drape tnenl-
selves over the courthouse fence, under the
trees, and leisurely carve their initials on the
ri Tbe hitCh6d
20 the fence for there were usually loafers
energetic enough to shout "Whoa! II the
flies worried the horses beyond patience.
Only one street attained to the dignity OF a
nanne-Main street, which formed the nortn
side Of the square. In Carlow county. de-
scriptive locality Is usually accomplished. by
designating tho adjacent, as, up at Bard
locks" Down by Schohelds', Right
whore Hibtards ltve." '"Acrost from Sol
Tibbs'," OF "Other side of Jones field" In
winter, Main street was "a series OF frozen
eorges and hummocks; in fall and spring. a
river Of mud; In summer, continuing dust
heap; 1t was the best street in Plattville.
The people lived happily; and, while the
world whirled on outside they were content
with their own. 1t would have moved their
surprise as much as their indignation to hear
themselves spoken of as SECLUDED commu-
nifty; for they sat np all night to hear the
vote OF New York every campaign. Once,
miles away, there were only a few bankrupts
(and not baby amongst them) left in the
deserted homes of Carlow county. Everybody
had adventures; almost everybody saw the
great man; and everybody glad to get
back home again.
On Saturdays, the farmers enlgened the
commercial atmosphere of Plattvile; and Miss
Tibbs, the postmaster's sister and clerk. used
to make a point of walking up and down Main
street as often as possible, to get a thrill in
the realization OF some poetical expressions
that haunted her pleasngly; phrases she had
employed frequently in her poems for the
Carlow County Herald. When thirty or forty
country people were scattered along the side
walks in front OF the stores On Main street,
she would walk at nicely calculated angles
to the different groups SO to leave as few
gaps as possible between the figures, making
ther1 appear as near a solid phalanx as she
cou'd Then she would murnur to herself,
with the accent Of soulful revel, 1.-The throng-
ed city street." and within the throng- ed
city, OF, >.where the thronging crowds were
swarming and the great cathedral rose AL
though she had never been beyond Carlow and
the bordering counties in her life. all her
poems were OF city streets and bustling multi
tudes.
That unlucky newspaper, the Carlow
County Herald, was a thorn In the side Oh
every patriot of Carlow county. 1t was 8
paper; it was SO poor that everybody admit
ted 1t was a poor paper-worse, the neigh
boring county OF Amo possessed better pa
per, the Amo Gazette. The Carlow Coun ty
Herald was so everlastingly bad that Platt-
Vile people bent their heads bitterly and ad-
mitted even to citizens of Amo that the Ca
zette was the better paper. The Herald was
q weekly, issued on Saturday; sometimes II
hung fire over Sunday and appeared Mon.
day evening. In their pride, the Carlow peo
pie supported the Herald Loyalty and long
but finally subscriptions began to fall off ant
the Gazette gained them. 1t came to pass
that the Herald missed fre altogether fol
several weeks; then 1t came out feebly, two
small advertisements occupying the whole O
the fourth page. 1t was breathing its last
The editor was clay-colored gentleman
with q goatee, whose pne surreptitious ey'
betokened Incidence Of disposition and GER
tain furtiye shrewdness. He collected all tn
outstanding subscriptions he could, on tn
morning Of the Issue just mentioned, and
thoughtfully neglecting several items on tn
other side Of the ledger, departed from Platt
Vile forever.
The same afternoon a young man from tn
east altghted On the platform Of the railwa,
station, north of the town, and entering tn
rickety omnibus that fingered there, seekn
whom 1t might rattle to deafness. demande
to be driven to the Herald building. 1t d
not strike the driver that the newcomer wa
precisely a gay young man when he climbe
into the omnibus but an hour later, as h
stood In the doorway Of the edifice he ha
indicated as his destination, depressio
seemed to have settled into the marrow O
his bones.
Plattville was instantly alert to the stran
gers presence, and interesting conjecture
were hazarded all day long at the back doc
Of Martins Dry Goods Emporium, where al
the clerks from the stores around the Squar
came to play checkers or look on at tn
game (This was the club during the day
e." in the evening the club and the game remove
to the drug book and wallpaper store O.
the oorner.) At supper. the new arrival an
his probable purposes were discussed owe
every table in the town. Upon inquiry he ha
Informed Judd Bennett. the driver of th