The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1904-02-12
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ls22J Carlow County Herald took
his hand out of his hair. wiped his pen
on his last notice from the White Caps.
little entry and left the sanctum for
the bright June afternoon.
He chose the way 10 the west. stroll
ing thOughtfully ont OF town by the
white. hot. deserted Main street and
thence onward by the country road into
which its proud half mile OF old brick
store buildings. tumbledown frame
shops and thinly painted cottages de-
where the road ran between the sum-
mer fields. lying waveless. low. gra-
cious in promise; but. coming 10 a
wood of hickory and beech and wal
nut that stood beyond. he might turn
his down-bent hat brim up and hold
his head erect. Here the shade fell
deep and cool ON the green tangle or
rag and iron weed and long grass in
the corners OF the snake fence. al
though the sun beat upon the road so
close beside. There was no movement
OF the crisp young leaves overhead.
High In the boughs there was a quick
fiirt Of crimson where two robins hop
pcd uoiselessly. The late afternoon.
when the air Is quite still. had come.
yet there rested somewhere on the
quiet day faint. pleasant. woody
smell II came TO the editor of the
Herald as he climbed TO the top rail
of the fence for seat. and he drew
long breath 10 get the elusive odor
more luxuriously. and then II was gone
altogether.
~ habit OF delicacies." he said aloud.
addressing the wide silence complain
ingly. ''One taste and they quit" he
finished, gazing solemnly upon the
shining little town down the road
II was a place OF which its inhabit-
ants sometimes remarked easily that
their city had a population OF from
5000 to 6.0O0 souls, but IL should be
easy TO forgive them for such state
ments. Civic pride is a virtue. The
town lay In the heart OF that fertile
stretch of fiat lands In Indiana where
eastern travellers, glancing from car
windows. shudder and return their eyes
to interior upholstery, preferring even
the swaying caparisons of a Pullman to
the monotony without. The landscape
runs on interminably level lines-bleak
| in winter. a desolate plain Of mud and
snow: hot and dusty in summer. miles
on miles of fiat lonesomeness. with moi
| one cool hill slope away from the sun
The persistent tourist who seeks fol
signs OF man In this sad expanse per
ceives a reckless amount of rail fence
at intervals a large barn. and here and
there man himself, incurious. patient
slow. looking up from the fields apa
| thetically as the limited fiies by. Now
| and then the train passes a village
built scatteringly about a courthouse
with a mill or two humming near the
tracks. This Is county seat. and the
inhabitants and the local papers refei
TO il confidently as ''our city"
Such a county seat was Plattville
| capital OF Carlow county. The socia
and business energy OF the town con
centrated on the square, and here in
| summer time the gentlemen were won
\ to lounge from store TO store in theil
| shirt sleeves. and in the center o.
/ the square stood the old red bricl
| courthouse. loosely fenced in shad,
/ grove of maple and "slipp'r,
/ ellum"-called the courthouse yard
| When the sun grew too hot for the DIR.
goods box whittlers in front of tn
stores around the square and the occu
pants Of the chairs in front of the Pal
ace hotel on the corner they would g
/ across and drape themselves over tn
fence and carve their initials on tn
top board. From the position Of tn
sun the editor OF the Herald judges
that these operations were now Il
progress. and he was not deeply elate'
by the knowledge that whatever desul
tory conversation misht>pass from mal
TO man on the fence would probably b
inspired by his own convictions eS
pressed editorially in the Herald.
He drew faded tobacco bag and
brier pipe from his pocket and. afte
filling and lighting the pipe, twirled th
pouch mechanically about his finger
then. suddenly regarding it. patted
car-Ssinsly. II had been a giddy llttl
bag long ago. gay with embroidery !
the cOlors OF the editors universit!
and. although now il was frayed to tn
verge of tatters. il still bore an air @
pristine jauutlness. an air of which il
owner in nOwise partook. lie locke
from il toward the village in the clea
distance and sighed softly rs he pJ
the pouch back in his pocket and. res
Ing his arm on his knee and his chin o
his hand. sat blowing clouds of smok
out of the shade into the sunshine. nj
sentiy watching the ghostly shadow
the white dust Of the road
\ little garter snake crcpt under IL
? fence beneath him and disappeared
. the underbrush: rabbit. prosressin
1u its travels by a series Of brilliaI
dashes and terror smitten halts. can
within n few yards Of him. sat up wit
quivering nose and eyes alight wit
fearful imaginings and vanished. a fias
u Of fluny brown and white. Shadow
grew longer; u cricket chlrped and heal
answers: there was n woodland stir
breezes. and the pair OF robins left Il
branches overhead IN eager fisht. v