The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1907-11-21
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Copyright. by Joseph B. BOwles)
by ALICE ANDERSON

visions they picked up on the way,
or went without, as was most con-
venient.
This is freedom; to be able to
sling all ones rc,sunal property on
stick over ones shoulder, and to walk
of on ones own two feet; to be
subject to no conventlonalities requir-
ing ones shoes to be mates, and ones
hat to possess brim; to know not
the necessity of meals at stated hours,
and Of roof to cover ones head at
night. All! the tramp instinct trans
mitted from our nomadic forefathers
still breaks out now and then to show
that civilization has not yet spoiled the
race for freedom.
"Where'll we get somethin' to ate
next, .daddy?" asked Maggie.
well pick up a bite some'er' along.
Don't ye be afther thru blin' yerself,
me darlint," replied Nike.
Faith, hope and love
II visit had a drink" said Mag.
gle.
A thicket of young spruce grew be-
side the railroad, and the ground had
a moist look.
There's wather In there, bet
we. I'll go see," said Mike.
Now 1t CHANGED that a forgotten
country road meandering dreamily
through the quiet woods, dropped un.
expectedly upon the hot path of the
rushing railway demon, leaped clear
across IT, and SHE'D around the bend
of the spruce thicket, where 1t ran
plump up to the doorstep of an old
house. Mikes search for water
brought him through the thicket, and
into a tsngle of briers, growing up
through the ruins of what had once
been a cider mill. The stone walls Of
the fume were still standing with
ferns clinging into their crevices, and
a bit Of brook trickled down over a
messy ledge, worn smooth by the flow
of the river which once had been
there.
Mike assured himself at a glance
that the house was uninhabted.
Come on, Biddy; come on, Maggie.
There's wather And there's blaekber-
ries!" he cried, and said no more, be-
ing too full for utterance.
Biddy and Maggie plunged through
the thicket and settled upon the black
berry hedge. There was silence for
space, the silence of absorption.
Then Maggie's growing sense OF the
felicity of the situation expressed it.
self with a sigh, drawn from the very
depths of her being, and a smile which
was unimnaircd by the blackberry
stains about her lips,
Let US stay here tonight. Then
nobody'll put US in tramp house,
she said.
"Roight ye are, me baby" replied
Biddy The door Of the house hung
aiar on one hinge. Maggie peeped in
curiously. A bird futtered suddenly
from nest over the window-casing,
and few out at broken pane. There
were young ones in the nest.
"Oh. my!" squealed Maggie.
"Shure. It's foine house." exclaim.
ed Biddy taking in the scene with
charmed eyes.
"Oh, nanny, don't We wish we
! lived herc?" said Maggie.
"Mebbe we'd best rlnt the place, an
take In lodgers," said Biddy, good-na.
| turedly.
"Will We PLACE to look over the
house an see II We thinks it'll suit We,
ladies?" said Mike, opening one of
| the inside doors with a flourish.
Through all the musty, dusty old
ruins they looked, up into the cobweb-
by attic, into the queer little closets
around the big chimneys, and down
into the cellars, smelling of darkness
and mold and rotting timbers. Every
where they found treasures-two or
three rickety, splint-bottomed chairs;
q table on three legs; half dozen old
spinning wheels and reels, clustering
together in an oak-paneled room. as
If rehearslng tales of days gone by;
q heavy wooden cradle, worn on the
tops of the rockers, where the moth
ers foot had pressed; broken accor-
dion with a cracked and squeaky
voice; and hidden away in a dark cor
ner under the caves, a dusty moth-eat-
en- rag doll, which Maggie seized with
rapturous scream.
ooh, nanny, niver had a doll in
all me loife," she cried.
"Bless the choild!" exclaimed Biddy,
grinning broadly.
Mike brought the table and chairs
down into the bright west room.
"Will We set the table for tay, Mrs,
Flanagan, whilst just step out to
the market over beyant?" he said.
Where be yez afther goin? Ye'd
betther kape an eye cut ahead" warn.
ed Biddy.
"Niver we fret. Mike Flannagan's
not the by to be caught nappin'. |
hit me eye on a carnfieP a bit back.
Pm thinkin some roast earn nd taste