The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-06-23
OUT OF TIE PAST.

INJURED God, what a horror"
ne room u Wnlch the Old man sat
chair and an old horsehair trunk, brass
~ lie ~ Z, s,ilo pddlockeu at the hasps N
the WaH was portrait IN oil, DIM with
age 1of me most part, yet with the
stern set race OF the ola Puritan preach-
ef, Jonathan Edgars, looking out with
eyes untouened by time
Inc old man rose unsteadlly from the
enaif ana, waking 70 the WINDOW, look
Cd out upon the gray day Then, shiy-
eflng, ne turned away. Cold without
and within, he said to himself. The
Whole world IS chill for him VINO IS old
Aezekiah Edgars took worn purse
from the pocket of his threadbare coat
and, opening it, looked within. Fifteen
aoiiafs, ne muttered, and When that IS
gone me poofhouse,
= ne mouse IN Wnlch ne stood had been
ms ana ms ancestors NOW II was
inortgaged ana the foreclosure was com
ING 1e hda no near felatlyes 10 WhoIn
- MAJ az appeal even nad not MS
llls's loI1slae II A. g years the leeole
anu poNefty stIlcken nave rev Irlends.
Hezekiah Edgars took a key from the
1 he'19 .ll'.i ooi3llis aoMh. leIloyeq eile
- ~ NJ - ~ = LIN ellq I ealsM
80 lie = ei.l v az Auli ~, y -
sJo%,,1cr - ee.ili9U 60 is-
traces ef b,olFan sas9Is rrbe iet+e,.s baS
49, vri4 - -, - - 80 ? p ilsse
velopes Hezel1ial, F,dears niclzed IN
on IF the sfainsd lat+aTs ana ssaa +
omen His SIN 1xeen a5a ran ~ rsT7lz
Down the lines ssxx7l,af a etorxr ie hero
he n915ffered
He glanced at,ie1s1,y mn AT the faro in
the frame above him and In his i'm
agination he seemed "a see in the stern
fea f15res a f,3eefio4,fnor look
The door ieading INFO The room OMEN
! ed softly and a rough looking man. but
one in whose face there was something
of kindness. though it had been brutal
lied by drink entered The STRANGER
Gaxx he =,
old mans hand, and stealing quietly
forward looked eagerly over the shoul-
/ der of the stopping figure at the written
page Then he stepped back a few steps
and spoke.
GOOD morning, Mr.. Edgars.
The old man started violently, folded
the letter with nervous haste. thrust it
4 back into the trunk. closed the lid and
snapped the paddock
lou startled me, Jim, he said. I
/ did not know you were here. You're
welcome though jim You're about the
+ only friend have, and 1 must leave
you soon
SO I've heard, MI. EdgarS, but per-
haps 1t won't be 50 bad as you think
4 Haven't you got some rich ones, even
though they amt near kin. that you can
write to- Folks don't like to hear of
relatives, even though they're only ninth
cousins, goin' to the poor house,
None that Id appeal to, JIM said
the old man.
The next day Jim HapgoOd saw old
I HeZeklah EGgarS pass down the street
I He was going after his daily neager
supply of food. THAT old man unused
Hapgood, lis an aristocrat. He's got
the best blood in the land in him. He
told me once that that old Puritan fell
low in the frame was his reat-great-
uncle, and the most famous preacher in
the land. But aristocracy and ancestry
don't count when you're IS and amt
got no money
1clT NM 14oH .
corner of the street. HapgOod, with
curious light in his eyes, went quickly
across the roadway and entered the
ramshackle old mansion which Edgars
nad Just lett. lie went straight to the
upstairs room. where he had seen the
open trunk Entering, he took a curl
ously SNAPPED key from MS pocket ana
sprung the clasp OF the paddock. throw
ing back the lid of the trunk With
nervous haste he picked out letter
1t was the one which the old man had
been reading the day before. Hapgood
read the letter through. and d smile Of
Satisfaction came into has face. Ihen ne
locked the trunk and went away. Ihat
mght Jim Hapgood sefaped together all
the money he could and left for New
I ofh CITY Ihence ne went 70 Newport
4 In three days time ne was back at his
/ home with the light OF an almost fierce
/ joy in his eyes.
The day after Jim Bapgood's depart
/ ufe Hezekldn hdgafs missed the dally
4 VISIT Whlen TINS louSh 1eIloW hau Deeh
+ in the habit of paying He liked Hap
good, despite ms rougnness ana mis-
4 drunkenness, for the fellow IN ms way
mad peen klnd 70 the OLD man. Edgafs
IN ms loneliness turned 70 lhe lIuiih. ~
/ unlocked IL ana tcpk out seN5Idl OF TIE
letters lie did not detect the absence
Of one he Went over tnen one az a
time, Whlle the stern race III the pollla
above looked down on hlfn.
ne gleat piIl o. 1lls lse LIS rs We <1