The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-07-06
rconvr,rh. 1902 by Robert Howard
- Rrcse1l

Copyright, 1902 by Robert Howard
Russell.l
Spch confession may come grotesoue-
~ enough from one of education and
E,,rstance yet all the day long I've been
thinking on omcns and on progresses.
II vas nv servant who brought It about
He moor wretch! appeared in my cham
Der this morning with brows OF terror
and ewes OF gloom. he had been to a
s,,psv sorceress and crossed the palm
Of her greed with silver dollar. to be
told that the would die within the year
Information hardly worth the fee. truly!
And the worst IS. the shrinking fool be-
tleves the forebode and is already set
about mending his lean estates for the
dire change What is still moro strange.
too regard the word OF this chance
blown witch--wilocver the nag may be-
and can no moro drive her prophecies
from my head than can the scared vic
tim Of them.
This business of supcrstition-a weak
ness for upernatural--belongs to- our
bone and blood. Reason is no shield
from its assaults. Look at Sir Thomas
More; chopped on Tower 1Iill because
he would believe that the blessed waters
became of the Saviours actual flesh
and blood, And yet, Sir Thomas wrote
that most thoughtful OF works Utopia.
and was cunning enough OF nara
Chancellor.
Doubtless my bent to be superstitious
came to me from my father. he "as
n miner; worked and lived on 1oiii .
Run. and being of Welsh eNtractio'''
and spending his days in gloomy caVcFnS
of coal hold TO those fantastic beliefs
of mis- craft in elves and gnomes and
brownies and other malignant small
folk of Denonland. However, 1t becomes
not me to find fault with my ancestor
or speak lightly OF his foihles. lie was
most excellent parent, and II Is one
of nv comforts and one which neither
my money nor my ease could prlAS, 1ha'
I was ever a good son
AS / said my father was a miner OF
coal. Each morning while The mines
were open, lamp in lat, lie repaired deep
within the tunnelled belly of the hui
across from our cottage and With pick
and blast delved the day long. This
mine was what is called rail mine"
and closed down its work each autumn
10 resume again in the spring. THESE
beginnings and enGinGs of mine actlNl-
ties depended on the opening and closing
of navigation along the Great Lakes
When the lakes We're open, the mines
were open: when Novernber's ice locked up
the lakes. it locked up the mines as We'll,
and my father and his fellows OF the
lamp were perforce idle until the warmth
of returning spring again freed the keels
and south breezes refillcd the sails OF
inland commerce AS this gave my
father but five to six months work
Year, and as-at sixty cents a, ton and
nav for rowder oil. fuse and black
snithing-l1e could make no more than
forty dollars a month. we were poor
enough. Even what scant money he
earned. we seldom fingered. The little
that was not cheated out of my fathers
hands by the sins of diamond screens
ojyll- at OT1lr "a
tricks. was bounced on in advance by
the twin haTllies of company store and
company cottages;'' and what coins
came to our actual touch never scared
above the mean dignity of copper. Poor
we werei a family of greats and farth-
tngs! poor as Lambs ''obolary Jew!
IT is not worth while for what l have
In mind to dwell III sad extent on the
struggles Of my father. or the aching
shifts we made in my childhood to feed
and ciothe the life within our bodies
And yet IN body at least. | thriTed
thereby. 1 grew up strong and mus
cular: 7 boxed, wrestled and ran; was
proficient as an athlete. and among
other feats and for a slight wager
which WAS not made with my money,
/ warrant you-swam eighteen miles IN
fresh water one Sunday afternoon.
While my muscles did Well enough, our
poverty would have starved my MIND
were it not for the parish priest. The
question of books and schools for me
was far beyond my fathers solution;
he was eager that I be educated, but
the emptiness Of the family fisc for
babe II was then the good parish priest
stepped forward and took me in earnest
hand Father Glennon deemed himself
no little of an athlete. and / now be-
lieye that it was my supremacy in mus
Gle among the boys of my age that first
drew his eyes TO Be that as 1t
may. he took my schooling on himself;
and night and day while l abode on
Toms Run-say until my seventeenth
year-T was as tightly bound TO the
priests books as ever PrOmetheus to
his rock. And being a ready lad. / DID
my preceptor proud. The good priest is
dead now: l sought TO put a tall stone
above him, but the bishop refused be-
cause 1t was too rich a mark for the
dust of q humble priest ] had my way
in part however: I bought the plot Just
across the narrow gravel walk from
the grave that held my earliest best
friend, and there to-day. registering on
its smooth white surface my debt 10
Father Glennon. stands the shaft
carved on it no explanation OF the fact
that 1t Is only near and not over my
good priests resting place. Those who
We're curious touching that matter must
wend to the bishop or TO the sexton. and
/ now and then hear that they do.
No: ] did not so into the coal holes.
My father forbade 1t. and l lacked the
inclination as well. By nature I was 4
specuiator a gambler If YOU Will /
like uncertainties: would not lend