The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-06
TRAMP TALKS.
The Story That Was Told to the
Schoolna am.

zone Saturday afternoon" said the
Tourist, as he settled himself down for
a talk, after I had made twelve miles
on the broad highway, I came along to
farm house where a couple of women
were sitting on the front veranda with
their sewing. / was thirsty, and turn
ed in and asked for permission to get
a drink of water at the pump This
was granted, and as I was about to
leave the yard the older woman of the
two, who proved to be the farmer
wife, motioned to me to advance to the
veranda, and said:
Are you going without asking for
anything to eat2''
q Thanks. but I never eat except
when I am hungry 1 replied.
I thought tramps were always
hungry?'
Perhaps they are. I seldom meet
with one. and never hold any eonhden-
tial conversation. If needed food
should have offered to work in pay
ment'
look like a tramp said the younger of
the two, who was a girl of about TWEEN
ty. and looked to be a sister Of the
4 lifted my cap and bowed my
Are you looking for work. was
asked.
Hardly. ma'a4n. though I do a
days work occasionally. I am making
a search of the earth In a sense I am
the Wandering Jew Until have
found what I seek I can not rest.
There is some romance connected
with you said the girl, who had been
keenly cycling me. j thought so when
you turned in from the road. Won't
you sit down and tell us your story :?
/ teach a country school, and this is
my sister, the wife of a farmer. The
men folks have gone to town TINS
afternoon and we are all alone ana
would be interested in your talk. Please
g DO you mean that you have travel
ed around for years in search of some
thing p queried the wife, as sat down
on the STEP
Ladies. I have a story to tell re-
piled. 1t is a story I seldom refer TO,
owing to the painful recollectlons con-
nected with it, but in this case VIII
give you full particulars AS TO my
father, let it suffice that he was a mem
Der of President Lincoln's cabinet, and
wealthy. I was sent to Yale to be ed
ucated and then made the tour OF Eur
ope When I returned home my father
wanted me to fit myself for the bar.
His ambition for me was that 1 should
eventually become a judge OF the Unl-
ted States supreme court and ole Iuli
of honor and dignity
g Gracious, but how glad / am thas
you came along whispered the girl.
.ssI beg your pardon for taking you
for a tramp added her sister.
ct was not averse to the law, l con-
tinued, but unfortunately for me ] fell
In love just then. I had gone around
the world and met no woman cared
for. had not been back home month
when met Lillian De BOscobel, and
was in love with her IN an hour.
DO you hear that, Helen!' cried the
girl, in her excitement He falls IN
love at once. The name of the girl is
Lillian De Boscobel. You never met
with a sweeter name In any novel. Oh,
I'm sure it's going to be story of ro-
mancer
it, chided the other.
- Ladies, let me tell you that heaven
never made a fairer woman than Lillian
The artist who could have painted her
portrait would have made himself Ia
nous in a day. Tall, Willowy, light
hair, teeth of pearl, blue eyes, mag
netfc s1nile-she was an angel on earth
She had lust come out of a convent,
where she had been educated for sew
eral years. Her father was member
Of congress and in the pay of the beef
trust He hated my father because the
cabinet was down on this trust and
seeking to control it. This I did mo-.
know until I had asked Lillian's hand
in marriage When / sought an inter-
view with him and told him how much
I loved her, he wheeled on me, ard
said:
. young man. I would rather see
her wed to a cock-eyed Chinaman and
have nothing but rice to eat all the
rest of her days. Get out Of this!
Not another wordi' -
* What an old brutei' exclaimed the
schoolma am
And he probably locked her in her
own room added the sister
st turned my head away and strug-
gied with my emotions for minute,
and then managed to say.
" Ladies, I was driven to desperation,
and realized how the poor girl must
be suffering He did not lock her up
in her room. but she could not stir
from the house without being followed
by two old hags, three cross-eyed men
and two bob-tailed bulldogs She could
think of me, but she could not see me
nor write nor send a message. I had a
pull with the alderman of the ward.
and sent him to her Father, but 1t was
in vain. I offered 10 buy out the Beef
Trust, then IN its infancy, and make
him president Of it, and put IN twelve