The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-05-18

as he walked q small green DOCK, It's
thin pages covered thick with execra-
bly, fine printing, its title 1.-THE Works
of Shakespeare" He read the book in
dustriously and with keen pleasure.
Allen complained shortly that Shake
speare and the filly had interfered with
the potatoes and the corn.
The FLY ceased to take food and
sickened for time after the dam left
her. Trove 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 him
like dog on his errands up and down
the farm. Trove 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 filly 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
fence, but she went over it with the
ease of a wild deer and came bound
ing after him. When at last she was
shut in the box stall he could hear her
calling, half a mile away, and it made
his heart sore. Soon after q moose
freed him ON the trail and held him
there for quite half a 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
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
a week Mary Allen bought him a
small stove and sent to him in the
sleigh dishes, a kettle, chair, bed, pill
loW and quilt and supply of candles.
She surveyed him proudly as he was
going away that morning in Deem
ber4
Folks may call ye han'some," she
said. They'd like to make fool Of We,
but you 90 on bout yer business an
act Us If ye didn't hear"
He had figure awkward as yet, but
fast shaping to comeliness. Long, light
fell to his collar. His ruddy cheeks
were q 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
he kissed her who had been as moth
err to him. But he went away laughing
He got job in the mill for every
Saturday at 10 cents q day and soon
thereafter was able to have a necktle
and a pair of fine boots and a barber
now and then to control the length of
his hair.
Trove 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 kindly, big
hearted fellow and had wit and
knowledge of animals and of wood
craft that made him excellent oom-
pany His schoolboy diary has been of
great service to all with a wish to I'M
derstand him. On q faded leaf in the
old book one may read as follows:
have received letters in the handwrit-
Ing of girls, unsigned. They think they
are in love with me and say foolish
things. know what they're up to. They
are the kind my mother spoke of-the kind
that set their traps for a fool, and when
he's caught they use him for q thing to
laugh at. They're not going to catch me.
Expenses for seven days have been N.14
Clint Mccormick spent 60 cents to take
his girl to a show, and I had to help him
through the week. told him he ought
to love Caesar less and Rome more.
Then follows the odd entry without
which 1t 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 men of the dark
have been very troublesome. They wake
me about every other night. and some
times wonder what they mean.
Now an odd thing had developed In
the mystery Of the boy. Even before
he could distinguish between reality
and its shadow that we see In dreams
he used often to start up with a loud
cry of fear In the night. When a small
boy, he used to explain 1t 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 three days journey with
the Aliens. They put up In tavern
that had many rooms and stairways
and large windows. 1t was a while
after his return Of an evening, before
candlelight when gray curtain Of