Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-27

tirely delicate way to break sad news, he
slapped his hat on his head. jerked it off
again. shifted his weight from right to left
foot and cleared his throat.
Il mean, Mrs Hardy. that your huSDanu
hez took one drink too many, an It's STINT
him where they amt passin' no drinks
aroun"
Meg Hardy leaned against the door jamb
and turned white. The mark near her tenn
pie stood out more clearly than before
Donnelly's rich Irish voice became oddly
gentle and soothing.
"Niver worry. woman. Well give him a
great buryin', flowers stint UP from Rock
port II you like. and the praste himself
down from Brownsville. When Rigg' s
Gulch starts out to do anything it does 1t
right. from the groun' up. Come, come,
Mrs. Hardy, you mustn't take it so hard.
It's all fur the best. an yez can stay right
on in the cabin. an what with washin' and
mendin' fer us poor devils without wives
yez can live like queen. An the boysll
be maxim UP a purse"
Something in the drawn face. appealingly
near his own, stopped his flow of words.
He held out his hand without realizing
what he was doing. but the woman turned
back to the house.
Il think" she said unsteadily. II want
TO be alone"
On the following Sunday Riggs Gulch
gave the late Moses Hardy a great send
OF. Social and color lines went down. The
clerk In the commissary dug up black
derby from the recesses of his long I'M
opened trunk. Nels Jensen, whose money
went to Sweden with the regularity of pay
day. asked credit at the commissary for
shirt white. with immense polka dots. The
Hungarians. who apparently lived to work.
and the negroes, who admitted that they
worked only as much as was necessary to
live were keenly alive to the Importance
of the occasion.
There was general feeling that a blot
had been removed from the camps escut-
cheon. The epithets applied to the depart
he a
or the white-haired priest from Browns
vile. ranged all the way from "ornery"
drawled by southerner. to the choicest
adjectives in the vocabulary of the camp
expert
In a construction camp there are many
things a man may do, and many more that
he may leave undone. and still be one Of
the boys. But IL he happens to have a WIFE,
he is expected to live up to certain unwrit-
ten laws Nose Hardy had smashed these
laws into smithereens, and his offense was
the more heinous since his wife was the
one good-looking woman of the camp
The tribute of a funeral, therefore. was
not TO the deceased. 1t was a mark of
respect for his wife. the only salve the
men of Riggs Gulch could suggest for her
lacerated feelings
For the women of the camp 1t was truly
a great event. The traditions of other
days. customs of childhood and girlhood
spent In other sections of the country,
were revived in this hour Each contrib
uted her little to a supply of somber gar
ments for the widow and her ten-year-old
daughter. When IL was all over they set
her forlorn cabin in order and kindly left
her with her little ones.
Mike Donnelly had exchanged no word
with her since the day when he bore the
evil tidings During the funeral he had
stayed in the background. Now as he took
his place at the ill-spread table of the
boarding house. he stared solidly up one
side of the long. narrow table and down
the other, studying the faces of the men,
All the white men in the camp boarded
here. and tonight the room was unusually
quiet The rattle of knives and forks
against the heavy china and unsecured
tin ware rose above the voices though the
opposite condition generally obtained at
the evening meal. Mike ate mechanically
and said little. When men near at hand
spoke he looked up and studied them we'll,
as IL passing Judgment upon them. He
fingered at the table until the last boarder
had slouched out to the bunk room then
he motioned to the boarding boss to sit be-
side him. at the same time laying his pouch
or smoking tooacco on the table.
When the two pipes were burning In
good comradeship Donnelly spoke CURLY,
decisively.
Hannigan. yez could spare FIVE or six
or yer boarders an niver miss emp
Mebbe." grunted Hannigan. between
pipe and teeth.