The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-24
WHEN THE BONDS WERE LOOSED
By CIcELY ALLEN.

E s
stood unwashed. and the flags stretching from
her feet to the gate were unscrubbed. But
the voice of the woods spoke to her again,
and with resolTte closing of her lips she
snatched up her pail and broom and fed to
| the house
There she hastily packed a frugal lunch,
| picked up trowel and an oId-fashioned egg
basket and went her way rejoicing, not how
ever, without carefully drawing every shade
and locking every door lest some inauisitiye
| caller might learn her secret and tell the tale
| OF base desertion of the household gods.
once In the heart Of fuckers woods she
forgot all else. !. 1t was "woodsy," sweet,
| moist, earthly. Close to of the rotten
tree trunks snow still fingered, and she
brushed it aside with eager hands, searching
| for the rare and delicate arbutus blooms,
When she had filled her basket with speci-
mens of moss, delicate lichens and quantities
| Of arhutus, she sighed happily and looked
across the creek. She remembered hollow
| TO which she had stolen many springs before,
where jack-in-the -pulpits reared their dgni-
| fed heads and modest anemones bloomed.
She wondered if that fallen tree trunk would
not be a very pleasant place which to
spread her lunch With all the whmsicality
of child living out fairy tale, she fairly
skipped across the stream and plunged
through the underground into the sunlit
glade.
Yes; there lay the old log, all moss grown.
with fern stalks clustered around it. She
| spread out her inviting lunch; then, with q
laugh almost girlsh, she piled some arDutus
il the center as if to grace her woodland
feast. She was biting into a tasty sand
witch when sound in the brush behind her
| made her whirl round. She gave slight
scream and turned white to her lips. Some
thing long and sinuous and striped, something
with glittering blue eyes seemed to be crawl
ing straight toward her. Now the bushes
| parted, and the awful thing to its fee,
| a man in prison garb. Paralyzed with fright,
Miss Jane chung to the tree trunk, and then
musical voice, though pitched to a nervous
key, broke the woodland silence.
Don't be afraid, ma'am. | don't want to
hurt you. But, oh, am so hungry, and you
looked kiEd and l thought
Gracious exclaimed Miss Jane in spite
of herself, you're nothing but boy! What
are you doing in jail?''
''1m not in Jail now, but will be soon if
you don't help me. Oh, it was all mistake.
He struck me first. I had to do it to save
my own life, but they said it was my awful
temper. You will
''Do you mean to say you killed mani"
inquired Miss Jane, with shudder.
Il didn't mean to-" he exclaimed wildly.
God knows, I've suffered for the blow. His
face follows me everywhere. And now they're
after me. Won't you help me? They'll take
| me back there for life-think of it'll die,
And I am strong! I cant die soon. Think
of it, to be shut up there for years, day and
night, and never to see this sunlight, never
to feel free air, but always the air of the
prison yard! And you, everybody else, will
be out here in the beautiful world free
free!"
Long fasting and the horror of being hunted
like a wild animal had made him hystericai.
and after all he was not more than boy,
just turned p. He chung to her skirts, his
fYlh imn1nrinplv cl
| she pulled her dress from his hands. She
remembered they were stained with blood,
| but her lips were echoing inyoluntarily,
Never to feel free air, but always the air
| of the prison yard
Suddenly she rose. Something bright gilt
| tered in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks
Il know it's wrong. I'm breaking the law.
| but I've been prisoner, too, all my life
The man gaped at her. but she did not heed
| him. You eat this lunch and I'll be back
| Directly
! He clutched at the food like a wild creature,
| but without looking at him again she ordered
| him back into the underground and hurried
away.
| That night fragile looking man, who
| walked with slight limp, boarded the Phila-
! delphia accommodation at Dobbinsville. I'm
der loose cape she wore black poplin waist
| trimmed with beaded gimp that refused to
!
| wabbled a trifle uncertainty, and it any one
had examined the skirt carefully he would
| have noticed a hastily sewed tuck near the
| waist line. When most Of the passengers
| had fallen asleep, the woman's figure squared
| itself around if to screen something in her
| lap Two work-worn hands spread out roll
of bills. Two quivering lips counted them.
| Then voice, in which rang half sob, MUIR
INJURED: ~ -.r., -...
I III send for her some day when it's safe
and show her was worth saving. So help
me God, I'll do the right thing down there
in South America for that old lady's sake.
She's the square But wonder what she
! meant when she said, I've been prisoner
all my life. l bet she never saw the inside
of a Jail. Perhaps they had her in 'sy-
lum. But I'm going to do what's right, on
| the level, old lady, for what you've done
for me-.
And In Jane Prentice's kitchen at that very
| moment there rose from the stove an odor
of burning wool and leather that made her
wonder If the neighbors noticed it.