The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-10-07

fourteen miles, and came back, readinf
as he walked a small green book, it
thin pages covered thick with execra
bly, fine printing, its title THE Work!
of Shakespeare" He read the book in
dustriously and with keen pleasure
Allen complained shortly that Shake
speare and the FLY had interfered will
the potatoes and the corn.
The FLY ceased to take food anG
| sickened for time after the dam lef
| her. Troye lay in the stall nights and
| gave her milk sweetened to her liking
She grew strong and playful and for
! got her sorrow and began to follow hin
| like a dog on his errands up and down
| the farm. Troye went to school in the
| autumn-"select school," it was called
A two mile journey it was by trail, but
, a full three by the wagon road. He
| learned only poor lesson the first
day, for on coming in sight of the
| schoolhouse he heard rush of feet be-
| hind him and saw his FLY charging
down the trail. He had to go back
with her and lose the day, thought
| dreadful to him, for now hope was
high and school days few and precious.
| At first he was angry; then he sat
| among the ferns, covering his face and
sobbing with sore resentment The
| little FLY stood over him and rubbed
| her silky muzzle on his neck and kicked
up her heels in play as he pushed her
back.
Next morning he put her behind q
fence, but she went over it with the
ease of wild deer and came bound
ing after him. When at last she was
shut in the box stall he could hear her
calling, half mile away. and it made
his heart sore. Soon after a moose
freed him on the trail and held him
there for quite half day. Later he
had to help thrash and was laid up
with the measles Then came rain and
flooded flats that turned him off the
trail. Years after he used to say that
work and weather and sickness and
distance, and even the beasts of the
field and wood, resisted him in the way
of learning.
He went to school at Hillsborough
that winter. His time, which Allen
gave him in the summer. had yielded
some S45. He hired a room at 80 cents
a week Mary Allen bought him a
small stove and sent to him in the
sleigh dishes, kettle. chair, bed, pill
low and Guilt and supply Of candles.
She surveyed him proudly as he was
going away that morning in Deem
ber
Folks may call ye han'some," she
said. They'd like to make fool of We,
but you go on bout yer business an
act as If We didn't hear
He had q fioyIra avyl<word h1,f
fast shaping to comeliness. Long, light
hair covered the tops of his ears and
fell to his collar. His ruddy cheeks
were bit paler that morning. the
curve in his lips a little drawn; his
blue eyes had begun to fill and the
dimple in his chin to CULVER slightly as
be kissed her who had been as a moth
er to him. But he went away laughing
He got a job in the mill for every
Saturday at 75 cents a day and soon
thereafter was able to have a necktie
and pair of fine boots and barber.
now and then to control the length of
his hair.
Troye burnt the candles freely and
was able. but never brilliant, in his
work that year owing. as all who knew
him agreed, to great modesty and
small confidence. He was a kindly, big
hearted fellow and had wit and a
knowledge Of animals and of wood
craft that made him excellent com
pany. His schoolboy diary has been of
great service to all with a wish to I'M
derstand him. On faded leaf in the
old book one may read as follows:
1 have received letters in the handwrit- (
Ing OF girls, unsigned. They think they |
are IN love with and say foolish |
things 1 know what they're up to. They |
are the kind my mother spoke of-the kind |
that set their traps for fool, and when I
he's caught they use him for a thing to |
laugh at. They're not going to catch me. |
Expenses for seven days have been S114. !
Clint Mccormick spent Go cents to take /
his girl to a show. and 1 had to help him |
through the week I told him he ought |
to love Caesar less and Rome more
Then follows the odd entry without |
which it is doubtful if the history of /
Sidney Trove could ever have been |
written. At least only guess would |
have been possible. where now is GER
tainty. And here is the entry:
Since leaving home the mon of the dark
have been very troublesome. They wake
me about every other night. and some
times 1 wonder what they mean
Now an odd thing had developed in
the mystery of the boy. Even before
be could distinguish between reality
and its shadow that we see in dreams
he used often to start up with loud
cry Of fear in the night When small
boy, he used to explain it briefly by
saying. The men in the dark Later
he used to say. The men outdoors in
the dark. At ten years of age he
went off on a three days journey with
the Aliens. They put up in a tavern
that had many rooms and stairways
and large windows. It was while
after his return of an evening before
when o gray curtain of
afst told the story. s0ol oft repeat
lad familiar, Of the men IN the dar.,
at least he went as far as be knew.
I dream" he was won't to say il
litter life. that I am listening in II
till night alone. l am always alonc
hear \ sound in the silence. of wha, l