The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-05-26

..an. we know now why it Is that
we are all so poor"
"Why?" asked Paul, pouring some
lotion over a wad of lint and speaking
indifferently.
Because the nobles"- began the
man. And some II nudged him from
behind, urging him to silence.
You e not be afraid Of me-" said
Paul. II tell no tales, and 1 take no
! money"
Then why do you comet" asked a
voice in the background. "Some one
pays you Who is it?"
"Ah, Tula!" said Paul without look
ing up. "You are there, are you? The
great lula! There Is a Woodworking,
sober man, my little fathers, who new
er beats his wife and never drinks and
never borrows money"
There was a little laugh. But Paul.
who knew these people, was quite alive
to the difference of feeling toward him
self. They still accepted his care, his
help, his medicine, but they were be-
ginning to doubt him.
There Is your own prince" he went
on fearlessly to the nan whose hand
ne was binding up. Gle will help you
When there Is real distress"
An ominous silence greeted this OBJ
s%ervation.
Paul raised his head and looked
round. In the dim light of the two
smoky lamps he saw a ring Of wild
faces men with shaggy boards and
hair all entangled and unkempt, with
fierce eyes and lowering %glances; wom-
en- with faces that unsexed them. There
were despair and desperation and ut
ter recklessness In the air, in the atti-
tude, In the hearts, of these people.
And Paul had worked among them for
years. The sight would have been
heartbreaking had Paul Howard Alex
Is been the sort Of man to admit the
possibility of a broken heart. All that
he had done had been frustrated by the
wall Of heartless bureaucracy against
which be had pitched his single
strength. There was no visible prog
ress.
Paul knew that this little room was
only a specimen Of the whole Of Rus
sia. Each Of these poor peasants repre-
sented a million, equally hopeless,
equally powerless to contend with an
impossible taxation.
He could not give them money, be-
cause the tax collector had them all
under his thumb and would exact the
last kopeck. The question was far
above his single handed reach, and he
did not dare to meet it openly and
seek the assistance of the few fellow
mobiles who faced the position without
fear.
He could not see in the brutal faces
before him n spark Of intelligence,
one little CLEAN of independence and
self respect which could be attributed
to his endeavor, which the most san
gulne construction could take as re-
sulting from his time and money given
to q hopeless cause.
"Well," he said. "Have you nothing
to tell me Of your prince"
"You know him." answered the man
who had spoken from the safe back
ground. "We need not tell you"
EYES," answered Paul, 81 know him."
He would not defend himself.
"There," he went on, addressing the
man whose hand was now bandaged,
you will do. Keep clean and sober,
and 1t will heal. Get drunk and go
dirty, and you will die. Do you I'M
derstand, Ivan Ivanovitch?"
The man grunted sullenly and moved
away to give place to a woman with a
baby in her arms.
She drew back the shawl that COW
cred her child with a faint, faroff
CLEAN Of pride in her eyes. There was
something horribly pathetic in the
whole picture. The child mother, her
rough, unlovely face lighted for a mo-
ment with that CLEAN from paradise
which men never know; the huge man
bending over her, and between them
the wizened, disease stricken little waif
Of humanity.
"When he was born he was a very
fine child" said the mother.
Paul glanced at her. She was quite
serious. She was looking at him with
a strange pride on her face. Paul nod
ded and drew aside the shawl. The
baby was staring at him with wise,
grave eyes, as If it could have told him
q thing or two If it had only been gift
ed with the necessary speech. Paul
knew that look. 1t meant starvation.
"What Is it?' asked the child mother.
ut Is only som little illness, is it
not"
Eyes; it is only a little Illness"
He did not add that no great illness
Is required to kill a small child. He
was already writing something in his
pocketbook. He tore the leaf out and
gave it to her.
"This," he said, "is for you-your-
self, you understand? Take that each
day to the starosta, and he will give
you what l have written down. If you
do not eat all that he gives you and
drink what there is in the bottle as he
directs you, the baby will die-you un-
derstand? You must give nothing
away, nothing even to your husband"
The next patient was the man whose
voice had been heard from the safe re-