The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-13
Exclusive Agent Here. Alex Rice
 Court Square

T tell you I envied him. There's not a man on the road happier, better fixed or better satisfied than he Is. A good job, a beautiful wife and a beautiful kid and a happy home There's few of us that lucky"
 Austin, half an hour later. has be- come so bored with a long winter eve- ming at country hotel. that he was desperate enough to try game of dcminoes with the man in the loud vest The rest were huddled silently and disconsolately about the smoky stove A cold drizzly rain had begun to beat against the window pane.
 The floor opened and tall man with a wet hat and an overcoat on which the rain drops glistened in the lamp light, hurried in the room to the stove.
 Hello, Kay. Been up against it, have you said Austin looking up from his game of dominoes and then back at the hand
 'eThe worst trip ever had" said the new conner. laying his overcoat on chair and moving still closer to the stove. Been out of communication with the world for four days. Business is rushing and had to make all the cross trunks strapped on behind. Think of 1t An open surry In this sort of wea- ther. and every half hour the driver and had to get down and prize the rig out of the mud with a fence rail was due to get here four days ago. but business was so good I had to break up my schedule
 By the way. is anything doing in the way of mail for me? Three iele- grams. Three telegrams. l don't un- derstand that. Three telegrams."
 As he said this his brow knitted and he slowly tore open one of the om- inous messages and read it and his he sud iAA .An feet and fell heavily into a chair He read 1t second time and all that he held in his hand. letters and telegrams. fel to the floor. The open telegram fell fluttering to the red arc of light that fell on the floor from the stove door and all of us caught the words. It was from Cordtown, and the griev- ous message was in these words Come at once. Little Caroline died of diphtheria tonight. Caroline" The man in the chair aged before our very eyes. The years fell upon him as he huddled in the chair.
 Even as we looked the hope in his eyes died and was inferred. We saw the tragedy of love stabbed and wound ed to death; we saw the sorrow of confident affection robbed of It's own 1 nthe twinkling of an eye It is not well to look upon such sight. Nor will any, man who heard 1t that night forget the bitter grief of that wall of a strong man in his agony repeated again and again. "oh,My God. Oh My God" And again as his grief shook him he reproached himself for some fancied fault as love ever reproaches, in the first agony of grief.
 And I didn't know 1t. I was away from them. away where l couldn't help. She was well when I left and she was sick and dying when I knew nothing. Oh, My God"
 His eyes were dry, but there were tears in the eyes of every other man in the room. He sat there huddled, his giassy eyes straight ahead and his fingers interlocked, while few min utes dragged tortuously by. But ID Slnan among us spoke.
 It was for Einstein finally to play the man. He walked over to the aging, grief-stricken man in the chair and laying his hand on his shoulder, gent ly said:
 This Is no time for ys,u to go down and cut. Your time fir this sort of thing will come later. Think of the wife wonder at home, back there alone with the dead baby Your call Is to her now and at once. She needs you and God knows, you need her.
 There's a train here in thirty min utes. You've got to be ready to take 1t. Where's your samples? At Smiths. I'll pack them for you. You boys get him to the depot.
 The wearer of the loud vest. the flamboyant taIker, was out in the rain in a moment, and in his lead we tried to stand about his chair, the chair of the man with the woe in his heart and say words of comfort. but we were awkward at 1t. We were at the depot when the train like a comet of light, rushed through the winter night up to the little station. Kay had uttered