The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1906-11-17

! Mark was ged-there was
no doubt about that. He had been IN
| the city nearly four weeks and had
| hunted hard for an opening-but TO no
avail. He was strong and willing,
was Mark, but nobody seemed willing
| to give him chance TO prove his
| worth.
! He was getting hungry, too, and be
1 gan to wonder where he was going to
sleep when his scanty store Of money
| was exhausted-as it would be in q
| day or two.
The sitting smells Of the city
streets, the close, airless deafness OF
| the inside room in the lodging house,
the crowding and the noise and the
| people-people. people everywhere
| had made him SO sick and tired OF the
whole miserable city that he fairly
cried for a sight of the green helds
| and waving cornfelds and orchards
/ and peaceful white houses and green
blinds and all the rest of it back in
"I1linoy." This-to say nothing about
Henrietta, and of course he was lot
| more lonesome for Henrietta than he
/ was for the pastures and coFnflelds
and white house and blinds and al
/ the rest of it.
And the funny thing about it all was
that he had left all this peaceful Ar
/ cadia and invaded the enem-,s country
because of Henrietta's name. He had
| always called her Hen but, 10! and
| behold. after she graduated she would
not stand for it and insisted that the
| full significance of the name she had
been christened with be applied to he1
when she was addressed.
Fool that he was, he had taken it as
a joke, inasmuch as he had called
her Hen" during all the years they
sorry joke for him, because she was
| in deadly earnest; and she had chided
| him as being a mere country pumpkin
and dared him to 60 out into the Worle
| to prove his naettle. Well, OF mettle
there was plenty, and SO Mark left the
went out to the great city to try his
/ strength in field for which he was
not at all equipped.
And here he was, heart-sick, weary
almost defeated-but with nc
thought of surrender; no, no, tha1
word did not belong in the DennisoI
vocabulary. Hunger he could stand
| fatigue he could stand; hardship he
could stand; but it all seemed Sc
| hopeless to him that he doubted the
expediency Of the fight.
Whats the use2" he said to him
self a dozen times I have q com
/ Portable home, surrounded by greer
fields and swept by the sweet winds
from the pastures and the prairies
Why should walk these miserable
stone-paved streets trying to obtaiI
the price Of a nights lodging in mis-
cradle cell without ventilation ana alb
so1utely unclean?'
And then would come before hin
the scornfull face Of Henrietta and hi
| would grit his teeth, take in the slacl
of his belt and start over again.
These were the thoughts ,surgins
| through Marks mind as he walked
down the boulevard after applying IN
successfully for a job as coachmaI
to one Of the swell families whose pal
ace bordered the thoroughfare. HI
was utterly discouraged, heartsicl
and weary-he really was sick, al
| though he did not know it. The roa
of the great city reached his tired ear
and filled him with sickening DISCUS
and loathing.
OF a sudden, above the din of com
merce and the changing Of alarm bell
and the babb1e of the never-endins
throng, there arose piercing shriel
the cry of woman in mortal ter
ror. Mark Strengthened his stoopin,
shoulders and faced about toward tn
! direction of the screams, now rapid,
approaching. Added to the scream
now sounded the clatter of wild hooi
! beats, and Mark sprang to the curl
from which the crowd was pushin'
wildly back
The sight that met his vision wa
such as to b1anch his face There
scarcely a hundred yards distant, an.
dashing toward him like the wind
was a pair of splendid black horse
on full ga1lop, dragging back OF Their
a magnificent carriage. There was n,
driver on the front seat, but on tn
back seat was a beautiful young gir
with terror-stricken eyes and blood
less face hanging on to the side 3
the vehicle with straining muscles d
the carriage swayed violently bac
and forth, narrowly missing other "
hicles which were scurrying out c
the way to the best ability of tn
drivers and chauffeurs.
Mark saw instantly that the horse
would dash upon the sidewalk nea
the very spot where he stood, and tha
the carriage would be wrecked and til
girl thrown out and probably killed
Instantly his lassitude vanished an
the old life flowed again in his vein!
He knew horses-none better-and b
sized the situation with the lightnin
ssseossssesses ssSss9ssess
ESTATE OF A MILLION ACRES