Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-03-04
THE BANK LOAN.
BY KATHARINE lyman.

| ould house of his" and had never a
woman to put in a stitch for him nor to
see that he went out tidy even on Sun
day. Demands mother had died when he
was child.
1t was a pity he should be such a
scarecrow, the neighbors were agreed.
seeing that he was fine. straight, clean
limbed fellow, the very cut of an athlete.
Indeed, 1t was only in his football jersey
he showed to advantage. He wasn't
dirty, because he was a great swimmer,
and, careless as he was, he would run a
razor over his face once a week, at least.
But the fOrlOrn clothes of him His
curis peeped through hole in his eau
been; when he lifted his arms the rags
hung from them like the scarecrows in
the fields. His stockings had hardly
more than legs to them. In fact, he was
barely decent, so ragged was he.
His farm showed the same raggedness
or aspect as himself. Hedges were un-
clipped, gates swung loose on their
hinges, thistles and ragweeds grew where
they oughtn't; his very bits of cattle had
staring coats; his oats grew more IN
patches than his neighbors'.
1t wasn't as if the man drank, said
the nelghbors who sat in judgment upon
him. Bernard had no vices. He was a
merry, gentle, laughing philosopher. He
liked to take his ease and dream his
dreams while he sucked at the little black
pipe. What though he grew poorer and
poorer every year, 1t would last his
time, he said, and there was no one to
come after him. There were fearsomc
stories told of the condition of his house.
Few penetrated it; it was only a sort of
roof for Bernard of nights. He carried
the key in his pocket all day; he was es-
sentlally lover Of the fields and the
open air.
One person had demonstrated grayely
with him ON his reckless ways. This was
Mr.. Morris, the travelling organizer of the
board OF agriculture, who explained agri-
cultural banks and the desirability of new
seeds and implements, new stock and new
ways, to the conservative people. He
had routed them out of their conserva-
tlSIn, too, for they were quick witted and
could see an advantage when it was set
before their eyes.
Mr.. Morris had taken an odd fancy to
bernard Riordan. AS a matter of fact.
they were kindred spirits. Both We're
dreamers of dreams, seers of visions.
Only, as it happened, some tricksy fairy
ut Mrs. Morris christening had dropped
a little measure of practical wisdom into
the child's cup. So it was that the board
found his services invaluable He won
the peoples confidence by having so ,nuch
IN common with them, and when he had
won 1t he appealed to the little kernel of
common sense that lay wrapped away
amid their impracticable ways.
lie had demonstrated with Bernard,
telling him what could be made of the
farm. Bernard had invited him to a
seat on the grassy bank which he himself
occupied.
sit down here. sir" he said land let
us talk Of ghosts and fairies. It'll last
my time"
why shouldn't you marry?" asked
the organizer, and have son to leave
the farm to?'
Il m no more made that way thin your-
SELF said Bernard, with a cunning look
at NM. Il like women, but not to marry
them
The organizer blushed. As a matter IF
fact, he had disconnected all his friends
by taking wife to himself in the most
unexpected way, and when he was at
home he was as much interested in the
details of baby's upbringing as he was
even in agricultural banks.
Very Wen, he said, resignedly Let
us talk of ghosts and fairies"
And talk they did till dusk fell on the
fields and young moon wheeled up in
the southeastern sky. and it was time for
Bernard to go back to his dark house and
the squalid discomfort in which he vet
was able to dream his dreams and be
merry.
So he would doubtless have gone on
to The end or died before he ought from
a neglected cold or some such thing. If
SuSy Whelan hadn't risen on his horizon,
beautiful as the morning star. As a
matter of fact, the girl had come to live
with her uncle, Myles Whelan. and his
wife. who had the village sioD.
Bernard saw her first at mass one
morning; and his eyes happening to rest
on her by accident, he received such \
shock that he felt as though his very
rags must have quivered in the sight Of
all the folk about him.
lie put his face down in his hands aft
ef that. Ills visions included saints and
angels, and even higher persons, MS well
as ghosts and fairies, and he had a great
capacity for reference. But, try rs he
would. he could not concentrate his
mcntary glimpse.
w men mass was over, he fastened ont
OF the church and back along the road to
ms own house. not waiting for any of
those long. leiSurely chats on the road
HCne winch were his delight He was
AFRAID that Myles Whelan might over
take him and slap him on the back, as he
was used to, and that the ewes which
n" mad not seen. but coniectured, in
SuSy $ pure, fastidious face might roam
over his own person with surprised and
disguised air
Til he was in his wretched kitchen he
had no leisure to think Then, before
roast and the teapot beside him. he sat
down and stared ut his muddy boots de-
Spondently. He really did not see them.
He was contemplating the spotless little
person with the fair hair ike satin wav-
Ing back under the neat little black bon
net, with the clean. fresh gown of layen-
der print, a bunch of panSies in the
bosom of it. the gloves, the pretty lace
tie-all the little daintineSs which made
SuSy something quite different from other
maidenS of her class.
He had taken in Susy's appearance
with an extraordinary eye for its detail.
Fortunately. he had been in a dim cor
ner, and her gaze, even if it had not
been fixed rehgjeusly on the altar. would
hardly have discovered him. At the
thought that she might have his fore
head broke out in a cold sweat. For the
| first time his dreams and illusions had
deserted him; for the first time he saw
himself in rags and squalor. living like
Z u