The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-04-07
CRIME OF
THE TRAMP
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By Leo Crane
Copyright, 1909. by MeGure's
Newspaper Syndicate
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BY Leo Crane

1t stood upon the banks of n gentle
river, n fishing village of great modes
ty. The morning sun would toss its
beauties out upon the waters of mild
lagoon. The roadways were OF shells
that had been pounded into powder of
the whitest- Old fashioned cottages
lined the streets. their porches fes-
tooned with climbing roses whose
sweet scent welded the lavish per-
fume OF wandering honeysuckle and
set forth to meet the fresh smell OF the
bay.
Upon the shore was little shipyard
all covered with chips and darkened
driftwood. ROtting ways bathed their
feet in the greenish water. and about
them played the children they had Civ
en- birth. myriad OF small boats upon
the sleeping waves. One OF these be-
longed to n higher caste than the 9TH
ers. There was clean coat upon IL,
! and proudly il rode to a well made
mooring. When the breeze would
swing it slowly. the old man seated
upon a last stretch OF the ways could
read its name.
| moving the pipe from his mouth and
putting out a cloud Of grayish smoke
Then, turning to 4 man close by. he
asked:
Dye s'pose why tits named MaryT
Hes sweet on Mary Harte." said
the other without displaying a bit Of
interest in anything save the chip he
was whiting.
"Ohr' remarked the old one. grinning
to himself and sticking the pipe back
into his mouth. proving bit OF sent-
ment could not lure him from the hab-
ii. .Yere he comes now"
Hes got his oars along" said the
other, looking across the quiet space
of water. Dye s'pose he's goin' out?"
Reckon so, but 'tain't loo~in' much
out there on the bay. Gittin' pesky
fog up. I'm thinkin'." And the old man
grunted at the foolishness of it. why
in thunder don't he stay at home for
Ionct? o. late he's out on that stream
most o. his time"
.S'pose he wants to git married." sug-
gested the companion, cutting large
Isection off the chip with contemptu-
lous flourish of the knife. Hes an
Iother one o. these DANCED fules. But
these youngsters won't listen to no rea-
son. There's that feller breakin' his
back summer an winter. sunshine an
bad weather. come better or worse, all
SOS he can scrape enough together to
buy a peck o. trouble"
Il can't understand it." said the old
man, smoking up on his pipe.
"Well, / can see through it in way"
: admitted the whittier meditatively.
"'cause when / was young an neces-
sarily foolish ! had the same thing In
! mind fer quite a spell. But Hank Jor-
dan-ye know Hank-well, he gotter
ahead o. me an married the woman.
, Then I says to myself, III see what's
in this game says l. So. by jing, Hank
starts in to make livin' fer family
o. two, me havin' a quiet. peaceable
time all the while. but fore he was
Through he was workin' like a plow
. horse in a muddy furrow, tryin' to
swim with six kids store bills on his
back The on'y things had to owe fer
durin' that same space o time was my
lterbacker an one shirt, cause. ye know
I'm not hard ON clothes. But Hank
Jordan bought enough clothes to cover
a regiment, an while they'd be showin
'em in the street Hank'd be sittin' In
the back yard, with n bit o. chalk an
h la board. tryin' TO fgger out how tc
stave of the rent. ! never could SCI
the sense o. it. In the las nine years
live on'y had the chilblains an the
lquinsy. but Hank Jordan had every
thing from mumps to milk rash-no
him, ye know. but them as he wal
mainly responsible fer"
The man across the way tossed 9
pair of oyster tongs down into tn,
clean boat and whistled for a ragged
looking dog playing about the town,
s. edge. Then. with it beside him at tn
Q tiller, he ran up the small sail an,
N steered out into the mist OF the rive
- marshes. An hours run brought hin
" over the lodges, where with 4 sounding
J" splash the stone anchor was dropped
and down, down. down, went the huI
cry tongs for the first clutch. Dow
on the sandy lodges he hoped to fin,
his happiness and wrench it from th
bottom There was a scissorslike me
'h ton of the long arms, twisting, teal
. ing, sucking grapple of the teeth; the
- up. up. up. came the swaying poles, tn
water trickling back over the hand
{ that hauled, and with a noisy clatte
! the catch OF grimy things was dumpe
} into the boats bottom, and so o
{ through the long day, sometimes sta
ing stupidity out over the gray shiftin
I desert at a passing steamer slowl
} plodding up the channel or eying
silent wonder yacht sweeping silen
J ly and swiftly by his little craft.
: 1t was in the afternoon. The boz
Z was half filed with muddy shells.
"Lemme see. Regs." said the maj
} whats the date terday? The 10tl
{ So it is. 'Tain't agoin' TO be very lor
: now, Regs." He slowly counted
number OF deep scratches upon Il
thwart Some of them were cross,
over with a counter scratch. The
were nine not Tailed. He got out
- knife and rudely crossed anothe
Eight more days to wait" he mute
. ed-"eight more days"
L "Then won't there be a fine tin
RegsT' he commenced gayly. The d.
,n cooked his head sideways and whin
all an appreciation. "The whole village
talk o. it. an the place II be fine. Go
} at to have Sam Lawder's house-th
~ new un-an' there'll be a sea see
over the door an a raft o. curiositi