The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1904-03-31
0O0 HEN Tim Murphy let his en-
WM thusiasm get the better of his

Nl
| WhW thusiasm get the better of his
Judgment and. In the excite
ment of that disastrous night. Joined
the front rank of the strikers in 4
general mix-up and cracked the head
Of a deputy sheriff. the result was
what he might have expected-two
years in the penitentiary. That was
all right. The peace of the Common
wealth must be preserved, and that is
why laws and penitentiaries exist but
1t sometimes goes hard with the moth
ers and wives. That is also to be ex-
pected, and the boy should have
thought of 1t before he crowded to the
front of the angry mob Or struck the
deputy. 1t went very hard with the
boys mother and wife. 1t went hard
with his old man, too. 1t is a cruel
thing to have ones only boy in the
penitentiary, even II one is only n
village hod carrier.
Maggie Murphy, the boys wife, did
not suffer for food or shelter after the
boy went TO wear stripes. for old Mike
had a handy little roll IN the bank and
shanty of his OWE, and he took
Maggie into his home and made II
daughter of her; but the girl grew
thin and had 10 spirits. She cried n
good part of the time, quite as il Tim
had been IL lawabling citizen, in
stead of a law-breaking rowdy. Then
the baby came, and after that she
cried more than ever
AS for the boys mother, it was to
be expected that rhe should weep
also. Mothers have way Of weep
ing over the son they love. even if
he has gone wrong. 1t is not logical,
, perhaps, but it is Il fact. 1t is one Of
the grand facts of human life.
When Maggie's baby came the boys
mother could stand it no longer. 1t
had been urged-and there was some
had acted in self-defensc. He said so
himself, but be admitted he had been
in the front rank The strikers had
, carried things with high hand all
along, and the jury had decided
against him. Night and day the boys
. mother begged the old man to try for
pardon. but Mike knew 1t was not
worth trial. The Governor was an
old man and strong man, and not
one to forgive an injury done to the
State or to himself. He had never
,, been known to forget wrong nor to
leave a debt unpaid He was a just
man, as the ancient Jews were Just.
3, 1t was this that had made him Gov
ernor; bis uncOmpromislng righteous
: ness ard stanch fearlessness were
, greater than cliQues and bosses.
!, Old Mrs. Murphy, however, was only
a woman, and the boy was her boy,
and she pardoned him. She knew he
, was innocent, for he was her boy.
> Mike refused a thousand times to ask
the Governor for a pardon, but as
, Mrs. Murphy was the boys mother
, nnd had valiant tongue the old man
, changed his mind. One day he put on
! his old silk hat. and, with Father
Maurice. the good gray priest, went
uI' to tue capital.
A strange pair they were to sit in
+ the Governors richly furnished re-
q ceptlon room-Alike, with his smooth
~ shayen face, red as the sunset. his
snowy eyebrows, his white hecked red
hair, and the shiny black of his buggy
Sunday suit; Father Maurice, with his
: long gray beard that had been his be.
fore the days of the smoothly shaver
priests, his kindly eyes and the jolly
rotundlty of his. well-fed stomach. The
priests gentle heart was hopeful but
Mike sat sadly with his eyes on the
toe Of his boot, for he knew the err
rand was folly. not alone because the
Governor had never pardoned CON
=, demned man, but because 1t was he,
Mike Murphy, who came
He remembered an incident Of hia
. boyhood, and he frowned as he re-
! called it. Think Of It! He, Mike MUIR
ply. had bullied the Governor; had
, drubbed him and chased him and wor-
ried the life out Of him. That was
, why he had told the old woman 1t was
no use to try 1t. Who was he to come
asking pardons. when years ago he
had done his best to make life miser-
able for the quaking schoolboy who
was now the sternfaced Governor;
the Governor who never forgot nor
, forgave nor left debt unpaid?
When the Governor entered the re.
ception room he came In unexpectedly,
us Father Maurice was leaning for
ward with one of Mikes red hands
clasped in his two white ones. Mike
was wiping his eyes with his coat
sleeve.
The Governor paused in the door
way and coughed. His visitors start
ed in surprise, and then arose.
1t was Father Maurice who stated
their errand, his scanned face turned
upward to the serious eyes of the
Governor, and rs he proceeded, choos-
ing his quaint Frenchifled English
carefully. the Governors face became
grave. He motioned them to their
chairs.
He was a grayhaired man. and his
face was the face of Il nobleman.
Clear gray eyes were set deep under
his brows. and his mouth was
straight line of uncompromising hon.
esty. He sat with one knee thrown
over the other With one hand no
| fingered pen on the desk at his side;
the other lie ran again and again
through the hair that stood in masses
on his head. His face was long, and
| the cheek bones Drotrlldpd His nosa