Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1905-12-28

HIRAM" SHE CRIED. HIRAM SHE'LL!
lraking Il comfortable living for her
self than eking cut IA bare existence
with such a man. Hiram was all right,
only he never stuck TO any one thing
long enough and his inventions never
seemed to be the things people wanted
Now she was almost up to the big
red and white sign Never before had
she felt free to indulge her pet eXtrav-
agance. but now with a steady, tidy in
come and good clothes in plenty ii did
seem that Providence had put that
sandwich man right there ahead of her.
Breathless and excited. she rushed
past the man to get front view of the
clock. Oh, joy, There was the long
hoped for little face and the cuckoo
half emerging from his arch as though
the clock had stopped just as he start
ed TO announce the hour.
Samantha clapped her hands in an
ecstasy Of rapture.
oh" she cried. Can | get one
down on Thirteenth street nowE'
For the first time she turned her eyes
from the sign to the man whose way
she had blocked. All the light Of joy
faded from her face and left it ashen.
Hiram she cried. Hiram Shell!'
YES. Samauthy," he said, meek as
ever looking at the trim little women
before him and pulling surreptitiously
at his worn ana Soiled vest
The pallor Of her face changed to a
flush of anger and resentment as she
looked at the disheveled old man.
Hiram Shell" she said fercibly,
what you doin' trampin' the streets
like this? Shiftless and good for not
in, same as YOU always was!'
Il don't know, Samanthy. | never
did seem to mount to anything" The
cuckoo clock swayed perilouSly near a
barber pole. hut Samantha did not no.
tice. She was looking ut the mans
lantern jawed haggard visage and
thinking hard.
Hiram Shell" she accused, you
haven't had enough to eat. You can't
keep your knees stiff"
He smiled weakly "Well. it do be
hard off an on to get Il plenty, 'spe-
cially when it takes quite bit for
wire. Ny new patent clothes wringer,
Samanthy"-
Hiram Shell, you 20 right straight
down to Thirteenth street and tell those
clock people you haven't got sense
cnough to pound sand in a rat hole"
But even Il. she spoke her eyes were
moist. And, Hiram, You bring clock
up to my house I'm going home now
to get supper ready" She counted out
S2O3 . cents for car fare. gave him
her address and told him vigorously
to hurry up before he forgot what he
was to do. She left him standing stu
pefied in the middle Of the walk gazing
after her with meek if hungry eyes
"Shc be Just the same as ever" he
whispered u himself shed IA made
me a good wife, Samanthy would"
Samantha Sanders was bustling fe-
veriyhly abput her rooms at the New
Rochelle apartments True to her prov
ident New England instincts, she had
a plentiful upply Of cake pie apple
butter and ; tked beans on hand She
had ordered re"klessly at the green
Gcocer's on her way home, and the ia
be was beginning to look like a feast
Of plenty.
Poor Old Hiram, She could not get
the iuaga If his pitiable figure out Of
her MIND. Even the prospect Of the
now clock could not dispel the feeling
of utter heartsickness. Hiram Shell.
whose father had been justice OF the
peace, tramping the streets as a sand
witch man,
There was dull aching at her heart
that was incomprchensiblet to her until
just as she showed the brown bread
into the oven to warm. She stiffened
up with something like groan and
clapped her hands to her head.
'Td ought to a married Hiram
Shell" She cried. with the bitterness Of
delayed realization I'D ought TO "A
married hirl, No one ever believed in
him Just because he didn't get out
and work Ee the others they said he
was crazy, Geniuses amt like any
body else and if anybody had ever en-
coura ged him AID helped him along be
might have struck somethin' that peo-
pie wanted And here I've been com
Portable and him trampin the streets"
Hiram was late in arriving She
wOadered indulgenty whether he had