Connecticut western news., 1902-03-06
THE PASSING ! OF MIR. and MRS. JOSEPH BRUDER
 By Henry Irving Dodge

Copyright, 1901, By Henry Irving Dodge.

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 Big Four pulled into Beaver Mead ows on the me-Watertown division, and Joseph Bruder and his wife got down from the passenger coach that was trailing behind six flats" of rails. Bruder was six feet four and broad, and his wife was five feet and narrow. Bruder carried a huge valise that cost a dollar and had done service, also an ax. Mrs. Bruder wore mitts and a plaintive, piquant smile. In her eyes there was standing apology for the disparity in their sizes. This seemed to be a sore point with the little wo- man, for she was ever on the alert for the qulzzing glances of strangers, and If one should stand apart and glance at the odd couple he was sure to have his gaze arrested by a plaintive glance from the woman which said as plainly as speech, "Please don't make fun of us"
 But the man never bothered his head about what other folks thought. He was a woodchopper, and that's all he knew or cared. Next to his wife he loved his ax, and It used to be his pride that he could put a keen enough edge on 1t to shave with. He used to lay his cheek fondly against the purple blade and pat 1t and call 1t his darling. And the ax seemed to understand him, for 1t would bark with quick delight when his giant arms swung 1t aloft and bite the maple and bury its nose to the point where the tempered steel joined the softer stuff.
 When Bruder got of the train, he looked around in a sort of inquisitlve, defiant way and put his hand clumsily around his wife and drew her shoulder over against his thigh. There was no one at the depot but the agent, a vet eran in the business, the tenure of whose position was due 10 five toes that he had years before contributed to the annual list of accidents on the road. Smith had heard that Bruder was coming to take the place of one of the striking woodchoppers, and 1t filled him with grave concern. Almost all Of hIs relatives belonged to the strikers and his sympathies were deeply with | them. On the other hand, 1t fell to his lot to show ostentatious loyalty to the company. Beaver Meadows was the chief "woodin' up" point of the road. For miles the contiguous country yield ed nothing from its stubborn soil save stunted beech and knotted maple.
 The president of the company that supplied the railroad with wood was | Smiths packer. A nod from him would have dislodged that worthy from the comfortable niche that afforded him a comfortable living. So Smith was be- tween the devil and the deep sea. His heart was with the strikers, his inter- est with the company. That's why his usually placid mind was filled with perturbation when he beheld the lum- bering form of Joseph Bruder and the diminutive wife alight from the ca boose of Big Four.
 | Bruder had an arm as long as hls wife's tongue and could fell at blow either kind of jackass, human or brute. Mrs. Eruder was the brains of | the outfit. She took charge of the money. when there was any, allowing Joseph only enough for tobacco. Oth- 1 erwise he was a teetotaler. On the whole, this strange couple was deemed a combination to he avoided. No one ever knew where they came from. On that score BruIer himself was silent, with a persistency that defied all the subtle influences of bucolic diplomacy. Surmise said he was an ex-convict, | and as chapter and verse of his past were not forthcoming this comfortable theory crystallized into a very good counterfeit of fact.
 When the woodchoppers learned that Joe Bruder was coming to take Cy Sel' den's job, they knew there would be trouble. for they were a determined lot There was an understanding, how ever. sort of feeling. although no words had been spoken, that somehow Smith would settle matters, and so 1t was determined that no one from among the strikers should meet Bruder at the depot and attempt by moral or muscular force to turn him back.
 Smith knew what was expected of him by his friends and relatives: be also knew that the suspicious eyes of the president were upon him. and hence the delicacy of his position. He hated being double faced" but he had a very comfortable niche indeed, and times were exceedingly hard In those parts He reflected with considerable disgust that 1t was quite unjust that be, who had no personal interest in the matter. should be the one upon whose shoulders the task of adjusting the af- fair should be thrust
 That explains why Smith was per turbed upon the arrival of MT. and Mrs. Joseph Bruder. It also explains why he alone was at the depot to meet the distinguished pair. It is an axiom that good luck always comes to the lazy. Smith was a lazy man, which accounts for the piece of good luck which came to him on the morning of the arrival of MT. and Mrs. Bruder.
 Bab Armstrong's two-year-old baby boy had died of cholera morbus a few days before. and the sorrowing par ents. who were farmers, had put the little creature in a simple pine box and were sending him down the road to be buried In the Armstrong family bury ing ground at West Camden. The tiny morsel of humanity was at that mo- ment resting in the freightroom of the Beaver Meadows depot.
 As Smith limped down the platform toward Mir. and Mrs, Joseph Bruder be looked through the open door of the