The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-01-24
MAJOR By Martha
~ McCullcch
BORUM Williams
AND THE THIEF
Copyright, 1901,
BY Martha McCullocb Williams.

" - y
l6<oso>a%e~o>eo>o>o>o~o>o>5
Old man Buckley, one of Marshall
towns three inveterate topers, was
Trying to sober up against his daugh-
tiers wedding. When he had his COM
,plement of drinks, he was to outward
seeming as sober as judge. Lack of
them set him reeling upon his horse
/ and guiding the sagacious beast in letH
tier SIS all over the road.
"Look!~ Major Borum said to Molly,
This niece and adopted heiress. That's
what I'm trying to save you from-the
thing which biteth like serpent and
stingeth like an adder"
Jink is q snake" Molly said spiritedly.
''I'm sure he wouldn't crawl, not even
to get me-"
+ "Oh. no! You think it was his indie
tpendence that kept him from signing
the pledge when I demanded 1t of
him." the major said, with fine. lofty
scorn. Again Molly tossed her head.
81 would have said no to him If he
] had signed it." she said. "Why. Jink
| was never drunk but once in his life,
and that was In the way of business.
| II he had not drunk to match that
Long Hollow crowd. his pa would have
lost all their trade, and it's worth a
thousand dollars clear profit every
year."
U 1av 70
round, pursy man, rosy faced. with lit
tie eyes twinkling through smothering
fat. He had come back to his native
town the year before breathing out
vague aroma of riches and ready to
1 give advice offhand to anything from
divine Providence to the town coun-
| ell. Marshalltown folk said he was
cram full Of crank notions, which he
had had no chance to spend properly in
governing a wife or bringing up chill
dren Of his own.
He struck Marshalltown a teetotaler
Of the first water. the second water
and also the third. Water was indeed
his creed and rallying cry for the time
being. His mind and heart We're set
upon organizing q temperance knight
hood after ideas peculiarly his own.
Marshalltown would have none Of
the knighthood. 1t was so temperate.
letting the single saloon languish ex-
cept at Christmas time and the Fourth
Of July, that 1t resented organized tenn
Iperance much as 1t might have resent
ed the organization Of an antistealing
brotherhood. To its mind man ought
to drink when he felt like it and had
good liquor handy, but should never be
tempted into swallowing stuff he did
mot really care for by giving 1t the tang
Of forbidden fruit. So it heartily ap-
Iplauded Jink Travis refusal to become
the first fruits Of the majors enthusi-
asm. 1t was a fine thing, everybody
admitted, seeing how matters stood
Jink as good as engaged to Molly and
Molly's heiress-ship contingent on her
marrying to suit the major.
link and Molly had been lovers time
out of mind. 1t was all settled that
they should marry when Jnk was tax
en- into the firm. But the major came
down upon them three months before
the sign, 'Travis s. Son, Groceries,
Hardware, Provisions, Liquors, Whole
sale and Retail" went up upon the big
block at the head of the main street.
Molly had eight younger brothers and
sisters. Her father could not hope to
do more than feed and clothe them. So
the major and his fortune had to be
taken into account, especially when he
asked to have Molly the same as his
own child.
That was where the pinch came. For
herself and Jink. Molly could have bid.
den the fortune 60 hang. But the chill.
dren! She could not shut out her moth
er's anxious eyes, her fathers patient
troubled face. As long as she did moi
rebel openly she was free to help with
both hands. So she contented herself
with vowing she would die an old maid
unless she might marry Jink and smil
ing her sweetest at Jink himself when
ever she got the chance.
Jink could not we'll be SO patient
He wanted a wife, home of his OWE
and Molly for that wife. He was ready
to do anything reasonable to get her
He might have gone in for that knight
hood foolishness If he had not known
, she would be the first to despise hin
, for It. He might even have done i
and tried to square himself later will
his sweetheart if he had been sure thS
major was honest in his crankery
Somehow the majors enthusiasm rane
. false to him. Under and behind tn,
dow of words he saw something In the
!, unctuous lips. the beady, tw.nklint
eyes, which made him suspect that tn,
i, major, like other self deluded mortals
: was more anxious to pose as a grea
moral force than to rule strictly hi
own appetites.
Indeed, as Dan Brown put it, 9Th,
cut Of the majors jib gave him ava.
! for a blamed old hypocrite." Dal
Brown was Jink's chum, the head mai
at the new electric light plant, whicl
Travis & Son had done SO much to ge
y installed. OF course. their own stor
8 was the very first to be wired ant
Il lighted. All the first week afterwar,
l. Jink himself did nothing much bu
8 march around with swarming rura
e customers and flash lights into ever
dark hole and corner from the thir
r story to the cellar. In the flashing b
a incidentally made them sure there wa
r no danger of getting stroke of light
N aing. Otherwise trade might have sui
Tered.
l. ~ say this yere proJick, it tes
e knocks the socks off'n anything eve
D ! saw" Squire Crane said as jim
made the cellar dark or light by th