The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-30

inherited the sawmill. but not the ca
pacity for hocus pocus. The latter
skipped generation, SO the saWmlll
passed out of the family with other i'll
gotten goods. and the present propri-
etor OF The Elms was born poor.
His first success was a rather shady
transaction in coal lands. and after
ward he associated himself with pow.
erful men and rose with them.
The present Mrs. Kelvin comes OF a
good family, but is herself sharp, |
shrewd, selfish woman. She has little
beauty of character or person, and her
husband has none, but from that union
has sprung as fair and lOvable girl
as ever gladdened the eyes and the |
heart of a man. Nature performs these
miracles once in awhile. In the Gem
etery where ! had just been walking
the very sweetest roseDush grows from
the dust Of the Sourest rascal ever laid
away to rest there. l refer to Ezra
Walmsley, the miser. and l shall have
occasion to speak Of him later, for the
claim that he made to the StOughton
estate during his life is an essential
feature Of the present narrative. There
he lies. at any rate, and there is the
rosebush to prove that his dust is as
good as any mans for rose culture. and
this despite the we'll founded legend
that he sold his right hand to Satan
and paid the forfeit. ~----.aH~~
While skirting the east wall Of Tho
Elms I caught glimpse of Donald
near the south gate 1t was no sur
prise to see him abroad at such an
hour. for Donald is an early riser. l
like that habit. The world looks best
in the morning, and early rising argues
appreciation. Moreover, it shows cour-
age and healthy view. l have heard
a cynic claim to prove that life is not
worth living by the fact that a vast
majority Of all humanity put off living
as long as they can every morning,
lying abed to the last minute and coax
ing sleep, which the Latins called 1.-The
image of death" If the cynic had
| possessed logical mind and had linn
tied his conclusion to the scope Of his
evidence, 1 would have been willing to
agree with him in the proposition
which he really had established-name-
ly, that the life Of the sluggard is not
worth living. That sort of person new
Donald is no sluggard. He often
| joins me in my morning walks. but he
has not shown a fondness for the vi
cinity of The Elms. and l was sur
| prised to see him lettering by Kelvin's
gate. When l turned the corner of
| the wall, l saw that Donald was talk
| ing with Amy Kelvin. and this was an
explanation of his presence which was
| harder to credit than the original phe-
nomenon, unexplained, as often hap
! pens.
| l was not prepared to believe that
they had met there by accident. still
| less that they had met there by design,
but it must have been one or the other,
for there they were. Little Miss KEEL
vim was sitting on a rock about the
size of bushel basket. and her back
| was supported by the wall. Donald
| leaned against tall stone pillar of
the gate and looked down into the
girls face. Their manner indicated
that they were busily blowing the soap
| bubbles of youthful sentiment. fra agile,
| eautiful. floating away on the air,
| not meant to be handled like the toys
of later years nor even to be remem-
| bered except in the aggregate.
Neither Of these enviable young crea-
lures was so placed as to be readily
| visible from the house. and yet l
| would not wish to say that their posi-
| tons were taken with the definite idea
of avoiding observation. 1t was GER
tain, however. that both of them knew
| well enough what Mr.. Kelvin would
! think of their meeting
! I was quite near them before they
! noticed me. Then Donald looked up
and saw me. but he showed no sur
, prise. Indeed. surprise was the rarest
of his emotions. He gave me CHEEKY
| good morning. and Amy greeted me
| very prettily. She has something of
the old fashioned shyness and a defer
| ence toward her elders such as l do
| not see too much of nowadays. The
| modern young woman seems to me to
have paid price for the three Or four
inches of stature that she has gained
| over her grandmother. She finds per
haps less that she can look up to.
| While we were praising the beauty
| of the morning we were interrupted
by grinding sound Of feet-I had al
most said hoofs-upon the gravel walk
| within the estate, and. glancing over
the wall, we saw Mr.. Kelvin striding
toward the gate. Amy looked at Don
| aid almost as if she expected him to
run away. but he smiled in that gentle
way of his that makes his face so
handsome and slowly shook his head.
| Kelvin came boisterOusly through
1 hot to ~ in,
gate and then turned. holding it open
with his left hand. Donald instantly
raised his hat and slightly inclined his
head while Amy passed before him,
| looking up at him out of the corner of