Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-04-03

II began pointing MIN out 10 strangers
ON the street the very day of. his re-
turn His course of action, likewise
that Of his friends, permitted him little
obscurity, and when the rumors of his
finally obtaining lodging ut Beaver
Beach and of the. celebration Of his in
stallation there were presently con-
firmed he stood in the lime light ill.,
deed, as a Mephstopheles upsprung
through the trap door,
The welcoming festivities had not
been SO discreetly conducted as to ac-
cord with the general policy Of Beaver
Beach. An unfortunate incident caused
the arrest Of one of the celebrators and
the ambulancing to the hospital of an
other on the homeward way, the ensu-
ing proceedings in court bringing to
the whole affair publicity devoutly
unsought for. Mr.. Happy Fear such
was the habitual name of the imprison-
ed gentleman) had to bear great
amount of harsh criticism for injuring
a companion within the city limits aft
er daylight and for failing to observe
that three policemen We're not too dis
tant from the scene of operations to
engage therein.
"Happy, If he had 1t in mind to harm
him." said the red bearded man to Mr.
Fear upon the latter's return to socie
ty, why didn't We do it out here at the
beach?"
Because" returned the indiscreet,
she didn't say what he was goin' to
say till we got in town."
Extraordinary probing on the part of
the prosecutor had developed at the
trial that the obnoxious speech had re-
ferred to the guest of the evening
The assaulted party, one Nashville"
Cory, was not Of Canaan, but bit of
driftwood haply touching shore for the
moment at Beaver Beach, and-strangc
is this world-he had been introduced
to the coterie of Mikes Place by Hap
py Fear himself, who had enjoyed n
brief acquaintance. with him on day
when both had CHANGED to travel in
cognito by the same freight. Natural
ly Happy had felt responsible for the
proper behavior of his protege-was,
in fact, bound to enforce 1t; addition
ally, Happy had once been saved from
when it would have been more than
ordinarily inconvenienD by help and
advice from Joe, and he was not one
to forget. Therefore he was grieved
to observe that his own guest seemed
to be somewhat Jealous Of the hero Of
the occasion and disposed to look cold
~ upon him. The stranger, however,
contented himself with innuendo
(mere expressions of the face and 9TH
er manner of things for which one
could not squarely lay hands upon
him) until such time as he and his
sponsor had come to Main street in
the clear dawn on their way to Hap
py's apartment, a variable. abode. 1t
may be that the stranger perceived
what Happy did not-the three blue
coats in the perspective. AT all
events, lie now put into words of SIM
pie strength the unfavorable concep-
ton he had formed of Joe. The re-
suit was incidentally immediate, and
the period Of Mr.. Cory's convalescence
In the hospital was almost half that OF
his sponsors detention in the county
Jail.
When Happy Fear had suffered,
with give and take simplicity of pa
thence, his allotment of months in
into the streets and sunshine once
more, he knew that his first duty lay
in the direction Of a general apology to
Joe. But the young man was no lon
ger at Beaver Beach; the red headed
proprietor dwelt alone there and, re-
ceiying Happy with scorn and pity,
directed him to retrace his footsteps
to the town.
Eye must have been in the black hole
of incarceration indeed il We haven't
heard that Mr.. Louden has his law Of
flee on the square and his lvin' room
behind the office. It's in that little
brick buildin' straight acrost from the
sheriff's door O. the jail we've been
neighbors this long time. A hard time
the boy had persuadin any one to rent
to him, but by payin' double the price
he got place at last He's a practic-
in lawyer now, and all tile boys and
girls of our acquaintance go to him
with their troubles. Yell see him
with murder case to try before long
as sure as ye're not worth yer salt!
But ] expect We can still call him by
his name Of Joe, all the same!
1t was bleak and meager little Of
flee into which Mr.. Fear ushered him
self to offer his amends. The cracked
plaster of the walls was bare, save for
dust There We're no shelves The fat
brown volumes, most, Of them fairly
new, We're piled in regular columns
upon cheap pine table There was
but one window, small paned and
shadeless. An inner door of this sad
chamber stood half ajar, permitting
the visitor unreseryed acquaintance
with the domestic economy of the ten
ant for it disclosed second room,
smaller than the office and dependent
upon the window of the latter for air
and light. Behind a canvas camp cot,
dimly visible in the obscurity of the
inner apartment, stood a small gas
stove surmounted by stewpan, from
which projected the handle Of big
tin spoon. so that it needed no ghost
from the dead to whisper that Joseph
Louden, attorney at law, did his own
cooking. Indeed, he looked it!
Upon the threshold of the second
room reposed small, worn. light
brown scrub brush of dog SO cosmo-
politan in ancestry that his species was
almost as undeterminable as the cast
iron dogs of the Pike mansion. He
greeted Mr.. Fear Hospitality, having
been so lately an offcast of the streets