The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1906-12-07

able him to rise in the world-the
monotonous daily grind.
He came In from his work now and
stood at the door Of the room, still
in his brown overalls, wearing his
filters cap on his head.
"Better27 he asked. There was anx-
iety in his voice.
Worse. she answered. I'VE can't
keep him. Ny boy must gol"
Her eyes were fearless; there would
be plenty of time to cry later Leslie
came over to her and touched her
hand. She flung it off. Rising, she
faced him, holding the child against
her heart.
/ You don't care!v she said What
are we to you, him and me, in com
parison with that thing downstairs?
It's devil, that thing; it's turning a
good man into brute. oh. | don't
want to say it, You have forgotten to
love me-your wife; you have let your
child die"
Laddie stirred in her arms; she
carried him to the bed and laid him
there, watching the gray shadows creep
lover his face Sobs rent her. The
child beloved by them both, had been
sacrificed to an idea Leslie stared at
her like man in dream, and then,
as il he had no right there, he turned
and left them, creeping as noiselessly
as he could down the stairs
The street in which the Leslies lived
was badly lighted. No one saw
Ronald come oct Of his house stagger-
ing under the burden in his arms. 1t
was heavy, the thing lie carried,
weighted with the load of a mans lost
years, an idol to which love and duty
had been sacrifced-the false god of
mans imagined genius swept from
The pedestal at last Ronald Leslie
walked slowly to the piece of waste
ground near the brick fields, where
the sound OF mis- hammer would not be
heard
He looked at it lying at his feet.
Where was the fortune it should have
brought? Where, even was the weekly
wage that he had earned for years
now? Buried there-that useless. 81
lent toy, the model of the engine that
should have reyolutionized the world,
representing ten Of the best years of a
mans life.
The hammer fell-the idol was shat
tered Ronald Leslie kicked the scraps
of brass out of his path
Lie there" he said. "unburied and
forgotten! Let me not think of the
lies you have whispered to me, of the
false promises that have beckoned me
along a road had no right to tread.
Only the fool never repents of his fol-
~!
He stood a moment in the darkness
and light came to him. It was new
and different Ronald Leslie who en-
tered the house on his return.
He climbed the stairs again; the
light was still burning in the little
front room, woman still knelt be-
side the bed 1t was all so still and
quiet that he hesitated. stricken with a
new fear Had the Angel Of Death
touched the door-post even while he
had been away? Entering, he lifted
his wife from the floor. His voice was
tender when he spoke
Margaret" he said Meg My
wifel"
It was the little tender name OF their
counting days Maggies arms stole
round his neck; he felt the tears on
her. cheek as she pressed her face to
his.
"He is better. she whispered Her
voice broke in a sob. He fell asleep
soon after you left, Ronald, forgive me
all l said.
Dear human love-that is mans
reward here for every lost hope and
dead ambition Ronald Leslie com
fogted the Sobbing woman in his arms
Il have smashed it. he told her
Maggie. you viii never see the thing
YOU hated so fierce and so we'll I've
smashed it; it was no good. I've been
a fool!
She looked up at him; he could see
that her regret was deeper than his
own.
oh. Ronald, she said, 1t was the
treasure of the world to you.'
He stopped and kissed her, she voice
God has been good to me- he SAID.
was tremulous when he spoke.
The treasure OF the world is here,"-
London Answers.
Korean Omen Of Good Fortune.