The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-11-08

on horseback to an interior village
some ten miles away. My kilograms
brought the information that he had
left In accordance with his program
and that he had not returned.
Il was now thoroughly alarmed and
ordered a man sent out on his trail,
The next day got word that Perkins
had been found at a farmhouse deliri-
GUS with fever. l secured transporta-
tion for the sister who had called on
me and sent her down to take care
of him and bring him back to the city
as soon as he could be moved Ten
days later she came into my Office
again and told. me that Perkins was ut
home again. but q physical wreck, and
1t would be months before he could
return to work. And then she told me
his story.
1T seemed that he was the only son
Of widowed mother. who was bed
ridden and blind, and that he had been
the only support Of his mother and
five sisters, all younger than himself.
At the time he had commenced work
ing for me all the girls were too young
to do anything more than take care
OF the mother and attend to the little
Homework In the two tenement house
rooms they occupied. Perkins salary
had to be stretched to cover all their
wants, and it had been q desperate
struggle for years, but he had never
failed them, and. as his income grew
larger their comforts increased. Their
wants increased. however. ut u greater
ration, for they We're Il selfish lot.
gathered from the sisters story. From
mother to the baby they continuously
cried for more. and every cent that he
made beyond the imperative needs vi
his own went IL their unSratetul
hands. But he was blind IL their sell
fishness. 1t was q pleasure to him 10
crafty all their desires. and he WAS
happy in the fact that he Was able To
do SO. until one day. q year before his
disappearance. he had met Eril who
was no; his sister. and he had fallen
In love. She returned his love. and
there commenced u struggle between
love and duty. He wanted to marry.
believing he could now support u wife
in addition to his other membranes.
hut his mother and his sisters had bit
terly opposed the idea \ division OF
income they thought necessarily meant
less for them. and they were unwill-
ing to make any sacrifice for him. The
girls were themselves old enough and
big enough now to support themselves
and their mother. but they would not.
nor would he allow them to. His life
had been q continuous sacrifice to
them, and after u year of indecision
he laid his heart on the altar and gave
up the girl. But it broke his heart
and sent him to bed with brian fever.
That was the situation when
learned the facts in his case. went
out to their house. and gave that
family talking to that they. will re-
member as long as they live. and it
opened their eyes. got places for
the girls. and as soon as Perkins was
we'll again managed to bring about
a wedding. That's all there is to the
story, gentlemen. It's simple enough,
and probably common enough. but 1t
shows the stuff that's in some com-
mercial travellers and reveals a char
acter as far removed from the popular
idea of the travelling man as it is pos
sible to get"
You're just right about that" put
In Crookston man, "and some of the
travelling men who seem to be most
interested in women and might be put
down for regular lady killers by those
who don't know them are among the
staunchest defenders of the gentler
sex. used to know a little red-head-
ed drummer who sold hardware for
Cincinnati house and travelled through
eastern Ohio and western Pennsyl-
vania. He lacked a whole lot of be-
ing good looking. but what the Lord
failed to give him he did his best to
supply with the aid of his tailor and
haberdasher. He always looked like
a walking model from a sartorial es-
Enlistment, had new suit of clothes
for every day in the week, never wore
necktie but once, his linen was al
ways spotless, he shaved twice day
and put in as much time at his toilet
as a society belle. But he was bust
ness all right, sold more goods than
any other man in his territory, and in
spite of his dapper clothes was Just
as popular in the rough oil and mining
towns as he was in the society circles
of Cincinnati. For he was Jolly good
fellow and as much of a real man for
his inches as ever grew anywhere.
Nevertheless, he was a ladys man and
was never so happy as when entertain
ing bunch Of petticoats. The minute
he entered one Of the little towns on