Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-05-02
he Gentleman !
rom Indiana !
BY BOOTH HARRINGTON
|xs4hs. 1889, " DouAledsy Mcclure Co.
CoeWiSht. 1907. ~ McCiwe. rhanss 20.
CHAPTER I.
By BOOTH HARRINGTON

4. the --ditor in chief of the
81 Carlow County Herald took
and out of his hair. wiped his pen
S last notice from the White Caps.
on his coat. swept out the close
entry and left the sanctum for
FRIGHT June afternoon.
chose the way to the west, stroll
thoughtfully out OF town by the
@, hot, deserted Main street and
ce onward by the country road into
IN its proud half mile Of old brick
buildings, tumbledown frame
IS and thinly painted cottages de-
rated. The sun was in his face
q the road ran between the sum-
fields. lying waveless, low, gra-
in promise; but, coming TO
q of hickory and beech and wal
that stood beyond, he might turn |
dowR-bent hat brim up and hold
head erect. Here the shade fell |
b and cool on the green tangle or
and iron weed and long grass In
corners of the snake fence, al
ugh the sun beat upon the ROAD SO
Sc beside There was no movement
the crisp young leaves overhead.
IA in the boughs there was a QUICK
h of crimson where two robins mop
nOiselessly. The late afternoon,
en- the air is quite still, had come
thee rested somewhere on the
let day a faint, pleasant. woody
ell. 1t came to the editor OF the
raid as he climbed to the top rail-
the fence for a seat, and he drew
long breath to get the elusive door
,re luxuriously, and then it was gone
together.
A habit of delicacies," he said aloud.
dressing the wide silence complain
Civ. Zone taste and they quit" he
bished. gazing solemnly upon the
lining little town down the road
bit was a place Of which its inhablt-
ITS sometimes remarked easily that
leir city had a population OF from
600 to 6.OOO souls, but 1T should be
sy to forgive them for such state
tents. Civic pride is virtue. The
bwn lay in the heart OF that tertlie
retch of fat lands in Indiana where
astern travellers, glancing from car
yindows. shudder and return their eyes
h interior upholstery, preferrlng even
he swaying caparisons of Pullman 10
he monotony without. The landscape
uns on unfortunately level l1nes-Dleak
h winter. a desolste plain of mud and
know: hot and dusty in summer, mlles
hn miles of fat lonesomeness, with MOI
bne cool hill slope away from the sun
The persistent tourist who seeks To-
lsigns of man in this sad expanse per
ipeives a reckless amount OF rail renee
at intervals a large barn, and here ant
tbere man himself. injurious, patient
slow. looking up from the fields apa
tbetically as the limited flies by. Nov
and then the train passes yillag
built scatteringly about a courthouse
with a mill or two humming near tn
tracks. This is a county seat. and Tn
inhabitants and the local papers ref'
to it confidently as "our city"
Such a county seat was Flattvlll
capital CT Carlow county. The soci
and business energy of the town co
contracted on the square, and mere
summer time the gentlemen were wo
to lounge from store to store III tn'
shirt sleeves, and in the center
the square stood the old req Or
courthouse. loosely fenced in a sha
grove of maple and eim-"slpp
.eIIum"-called the courthouse var
When the sun grew too hot tor Tue
goods box whittlers in front Oh
stores around the square and the oc
swauts of the chairs in front OF lne
ace hotel on the corner they woulu
across and drape themselves over
fepce and carve their Initials OH
ton board. From the position Oh
SIM the editor of the Herald Jud
that these operations were now
nropress. and he was not deeply ella
nv the knowledge that whatever dc
tory conversation might pass from
to man ON the fence would proDaOl.
fnsnired by his own convictions
pressed editorially in the Herald
He drew a faded tobacco bag al
hrier pipe from his pocket ana,
filling and lighting the pipe, twlrieu
pouch mechanically about his III
then. suddenly regarding IT, pate
caressingly. 1t had been a giddy
bag long ago, gay with embroider
the colors of the editors unlver
and although now it was frayed Il
verge of tatters. it still pore an
pristine iauntiness, an air of whic
owner in nowise partook. He 10
from it toward the village IN the
distance and sighed softly as lie
the pouch back in his pocket anu
Ing his arm on his knee and his oh
his hand. sat blowing clouds or 5
ont Of the shade into the sunshln'
sently watching the ghostly shado
the white dust of the road
A little garter snake crept undo
fence beneath him and disappear
the underbrush; a rabbit. progr'
on its travels by a series OF OF
dashes and terror smitten halts'
within a few yards of him, sat vi
auivering nose and eyes ahght
fearful imaginings and vanished.
Of fuffy brown and white. Sh'