Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-08-16
The Obsolete Man
By ALBERT e. HUNT.

which they stood were not favorable
for the perception of fine shades. And
the hand.clasp was hearty. 1t eX'
pressed the Warden's sense of loss.
For eight years he had known and
liked this man, and now he was going
away.
Ideals, in the common definition,
the Warden had not, but in the ethi-
cal code of prison keepers he knew
what was right" and this man had
Appropriated very near to it. His re-
signed and tractable spirit in contine-
ment had bespoken the position he
once had held.
Before their hands parted the War
den had considered this, and more.
He recalled the noise of exposure, the
Justification of the books, flight ar
rest-then the plea of guilty, and the
sentence-since reduced by good be-
havior. He remembered, too, that
there had been political elements in
the case and much talk about scape-
goats suffering for other mems sins.
But That waS all so long ago and these
other men, sinners and saints, were
dead and gone to rewards or reckon,
ings.
me little wicket in the monstrous
studded doors of the prison closed
silently and che man stood in the
world again. 1t was early morning in
summer, and the sun was sailing list
lessly over from the east, with only a
promise of the opulent splendor of his
midday Weakening.
Originally the penitentiary had
been on the outskirts of the town, but
now 1T was environed by rows of
small dwelling-houses and cheap
stores. Once 1t had worn a fittingly
penal air of sequestration; now the
sombre dignity of it's great gray walls
was f1outed by the tawdry brick of
these interloping neighbors. Yet it
loomed so far above them that it's
granite spaces seemed informed with
a sardonic ridicule which relieved the
| incongruity.
There came to the free man a
vague recognition that during the ST.
lent expanse of time which had wild
ened-widened-on the other side of
these walls the world here, only a
step from them, had been ceaselessly
whirling away, with all its wonted
clamors and contentious, needless as
ever or the individual atom 1t was a
shock to realize that only within
there, in that still and separate world,
had there been no change.
Presently he found himself walking.
He did not realize this until the pre-
emptory clang of a gong sounded in
his ears and he started back in sud
den panic. When the car had whizzed
by he was visibly quaking, but in a
moment he was going on again.
Although without purpose in his
route, this overpowering fear of the
electric cars delayed his progress so
that the morning was well advanced
when he stood at corner in the
heart of the business section and
watched the crowds press past him.
He shrank in the half shelter of a
post, with the surreptitious air of one
who has no right to be seen. Indeed,
he vaguely felt himself alien and ir-
relevant, and his forefinger went fal.
teringly to his lip with a motion be-
come habitual.
OF all these legions rushing by him
none so much as glanced in his direc-
ton, and he wondered why they did
not seem to know that he was a lately
released felon. He might have found
the reason when he fell to studying
their faces. The habit of observation
had once been keen in him, as it is in
many men who constantly handle
large sums of money, and even now
it is not quite gone.
He saw that only the children wore
absolutely placid countenances. All
others carried look of preoccupation,
\ often exhibiting writhing lips and
flashing eyes or muttering their
thoughts in half-audible sentences.
Once woman, quite alone, passed
near him, and he heard her exclaim
to herself, "Oh, my! oh, my!" 1t
might have meant only a forgotten
tone had tragic ring. Again, a man
talking vigorously to himself swept
by, frowning.
None looked toward him; all were
ignorant of his existence and a great
loneliness rose within him.
Suddenly an impulse to escape
seized him. He felt bound, stified-
as though-as though he were in
prison. He turned and fied-first with
a rapid stride into a side street, after
ward breaking into a run when he was
away from the crowds.
The impulse became uncomfortable
On, on, he sped, throwing startled
looks over his shoulder. Once he fan
cied that crowd was rushing after
him with a great hue and cry, but nc
one followed, At last painting and
breathless, he drew up in front OF his
goal. In a subconscious way he had
all the time known whittier he was
making his mad flight to escape cap
ture.
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