The Globe-republican., 1906-11-01

JHTUu6u pOuC oolI VI oiCh opcll Wutu
we were kids, and it's not easy to for.
get it." said young Hunter, thought.
fully. Still, as you say, he is nuts.
ance, and the way he makes this his
headquarters is mighty annoying. 4
hate to do it, but / reckon I'll have
to take stand against 1t somehow"
Meanwhile the old doctor made his
way to the post Office, where he asked
at the window for his mail--it had
been long since he had had his own
box-and as he waited he was sudden.
ly aware Of what appeared to him the
clerks unnecessary slowness. He grew
irritated and took the few advertising
circulars which were his portion with
a sharp word of reproof that only ellie.
tied grin.
The doctors spare flesh flinched
from the wind when he again faced
1t. All warmth had gone out of 1t and
out of life. There was much, much at
fault in the world. Courtesy was quite
gone; no consideration for age or
merit anywhere. And one met ingrat.
itude at every hand. That young wo.
man, now, in rustling skirts, which
she drew aside as from contamination
as she passed him with icy bend OF
the head-there was some reason why
she should be gracious and kindly to
him.
His step Jagged slower and his eyes
were glazed with tears. And the silk.
en- clad young woman of naughty man.
ner was explaining to her companion,
recent resident of Ileriaville. It was
a task that came often to DR.. La
Tours acquaintance.
Ridiculous, isn't it, to speak to
such looking creature? tell mother
| don't know what strangers must
think, but she insists on my speaking
to him, because he was once the best
doctor in this part of the country, and
he saved my life when ! was a baby.
But he got to using morphine and has
simply gone down to the dregs. Aw.
full, isn't it?'
1T certainly Is. ! can't for the life
of me comprehend how a person can
do such things. Especially doctor
who knows what the consequences
must be-"
"oh, of course not" the other
agreed.
They were young; health ran full
in every vein, and life had been kind.
They went on with high sense of
virtue lifting them above those whose
feet go down in slippery places.
Dr. La Tour was not observant Of
his dwellings, deficiencies as he again
viewed it from his sagging gate. He
stumbled up the broken walk and into
its barren walls quite without thought
of plan for improvement.
The room he entered had once been
spacious apartment, with frescoed
ceiling and paneled walls, but the
Cupids and garlands were blurred to
vagueness now, and signs of all pro-
cesses of living were in disordered ev.
idence. 1t was, indeed, the only habi-
table room in the house. Books and
bottles numbered shelves and tables,
and were heaped upon the floor. An
unmade bed with soiled clothing stood
in one corner; cooking stove with
an overflow of ashes in another. There
were remnants of frugal meal upon
an oilcloth-covered table near 1t, and
a smouldering fire in the hearth of
the great fireplace
The doctor stirred the embers to
what life was possible and, sinking
into a rickety arm chair, spread his
thin, shaking hands over them as IL
to gather their warmth to himself.
He was tired, very tired. His head
sank on his breast, and his eyes
closed. But surely there was season
enough for WEAKNESS. With scarlet
fever raging and but one pair of hands
to fight 1t, the strength of a man was
sorely tried. Back and forth--back
and forth--from this house to that.
No time to eat or sleep. Fight, fight.
fight increasingly, the subtle forces of
the disease and the weight of spent
flesh Bach and forth--day and night
with now the wrenched heart of de.
feat and now the exultant pulse of
triumph. And always the need, the
demand, for alert senses-for strength
that was more than human. Still there
was much that was good in 1t all. Oh,
very much. The grateful tears of
mothers, the fervent grasp OF fathers
hands. He made cropping gesture to
meet the friendly clasp, but his fin.
gers only closed about small alumni.
nun case lying on the broad arm Of
the chair.
He stared at 1t for a moment with
unseelng eyes, then he mechanically
charged the syringe and, seeking out
with difficulty an unwounded spot OF
his shrlveled flesh, he drove the por.
ton Of Lethe home
And for the life Of the young drug
gist who must refuse him resting
place, Of the young woman who mar
veled at such weakness, and for many
other lives, both useful and useless,
this wreck Of life was the price
tcopyrIght 1905, BY Daily Story Pub. Coz