The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1903-06-13
BY CLINTON sCoLLARD.

Continued from page ~ i4
taken part In a prize contest before
an audience made up chiefly Of beam
ing and fiuttering maidens and their
escorts. How very far away it all
seemed! Quite like another existence.
And he was coming back to the
scene in a hop-wagon! 1t was not
much as he had pictured his return
when he lad fingered one night in
the moonlight by yonder fountain a
few weeks before his graduation.
He glanced about as they passed
up the residence side of the park,
thinking he might recognize some Of
the townsfolk, for he had known
quite number of the citizens when
he was in college, but there were
few to be seen, and among them
he distinguished no one whose figure
he remembered. Beyond tie trees
and the strip of greSasward, a bag
gage-man was driving at an ambling
gait in the direction of the station,
but 1t was not the eccentric little
Irishman, Barney" who had been
wont to deliver his trunk in the old
days at the top of three flights of
stairs with so many remarkable ex-
pletives. A feeling Of disappointment
and loneliness seized upon Rossiter,
a sense of being apart and aloof
was the one place Of all places
where he had felt that there was
sure to be some one to greet him
cheerfully should he ever return, yet
he beheld no one who stood out clear
In his memory. Doubtless there
were those whom he would know and
who might recall him, but they
were not in evidence, and he had ex-
pected that they would be.
Joe Becraft noticed the detection in
his face, and, misunderstanding the
cause of 1t, appealed to his mother
to know If she had not said that
their journeys end was but short
distance beyond Hintonville.
"Wel, it amt an awful sight furth-
err" she answered, "but it's mostly
hill"
Mrs. Becraft had been welding .
large, loosely jointed fan energeti-
cally for most Of the nine miles
they had traversed, and was well
nigh in state of collapse. A little
rill of perspiration was making its
way down her rounded face just in
front Of each ear. There was a ring
Of heat about both of her eyes, and
yet she did not complain"
"You look about done up, Ma"
said her elder son, transferring his
attention from Rossiter.
She smiled at him resignedly.
II don't knows I'd care to go on
many more miles like this" she said.
II guess we'll all be glad to get
there"
Some of the young men were an
xious to pause for drink of beer,
but the driver informed them that
If they did SO they would have to
follow on foot, as he should not wait,
consequently no one quilted the wa
gon. AS they left Hintonville behind
the ground began to rise in long
slope, for instead of pursuing their
way along the valley in which the
town nestled they bore to the left
towards lofty range of hills. The
sun was slowly westering, and be-
yond the brooding vale where the
winding Oskenonto flowed, on the
crown of the first abrupt rise Ros-
sitter saw the slanting rays kindle to
golden fire the spire and vane of the
old college chapel. At the sight OF
the shifting wind-indicator one Of his
student pranks flashed into his mind,
a thing that had dropped from his
memory for years-how in the lazy
spring afternoons he used to place Q
chair in the deep window OF his bed
room and, having lowered the upper
sash, pepper away with his revolver
at the veering arrow.
"Now that I'm so near" he
thought, his eyes still upon the spire
and the trees that hid the other col
lege buildings, Il must walk over
some Sunday and have look at the
dear old place"
A little breeze sprang up as they az
cended, stirring the leaves in the ap-
ple-orchards, and causing the foliage
of two ancient poplars that lowered
where the road forked to glisten here
and there like quicksilver.
do you see those trees" exclaimed
Jack Parmelee, suddenly turning to
his weary wagon load. "Well, from
the way they act we're goin' to
have rain afore tomorrow mornin',
an mighty big blessin' it'll be tool"
A peacock with spread tail paraded
its vanity before them as they
passed this point, and as they were
bending to the right gave long,
raucous cry which was the occasion
Of a vast amount of amusement
among many of the young people who
had never heard the birds peculiar
call before.
snow. we're sure Of it, said Jack
Parmelee, "Mister Peacock's an au-
thority ON the rain question. It's
luck all around-better hops an bet
ter pickin'."
"What good1l the rain do the hops
now?" one of the prospective pick
ers inquired. "They amt goin' to
grow any more, be they?"
"It'n cool the air an keep 'em
from mouldin'. I've been mighty
scarf of 'em for day or two" an
swered the driver. "Such a spell o
heat raises thunder with 'em some
| times"
Several hop fields had already
been passed, and there was now a
ward upon either side of the road
Everyone began to regard the vines,
each pole with it's hops like swarm
of bees at the top, with an increased