The Washington herald., 1907-11-07
By S. r. CROCKETT.

Gently presentable His uncle Corn. with
his broad Thorsby accent. was out OF the
running. but 1t was different with Jacob.
True. he had never been to college. His
uncle believed in the yard and the count
ing-house more than oxford and Cam
bridge. and the earlier the better SIN.
he felt that he could hold his own.
II CHANGED that one day. returning from
his afternoon walk into the country lanes
about Green-lane Common. he passed a
little red-freestone pOrcl-a schoolhOuse
during the week. a church and Sunday
school on the sabbath. This was Sunday
though Thorsby was near enough the
Scottish border 10 ase the JudaeIc name
quite frequently. The classes were COM
ing out. and the eyes OF Jacob Romer
caught tall. palish girl. with a swarm
OF children about her. emerging into the
street She was like a queen bee with
her hiving cluster.
Miss Freneh,-oh. wait. Miss French,-
they called after her.
And with a smile. the tall young teacher
turned and waited A little girl, two
little girls, and then three or four toddlers
all came out shouting on Hiss French 10
wait for them. In baby accents they
lisped it-they sQueaked It like young AMI
mails They fen fiat and picked them
selves up without crying. so eager were
they TO reach the object Of their adora-
ton
Jacob Romer saw It an He did not
know the young teacher. but il would
be the easiest thing in the world TO find
out who she was. However he would. as
he said. do bit OF thinking first"
And that thinking he did during the
week lie held himself al0of from ehis
comrades. with their talk OF cards and
racing, their strong waters and cheap
wickedness-that is. TIL Friday, when he
Went 10 the Thorsby Steeplechase and
lost 60 not all OF which was his to lose.
He was a thief. II caught. his uncle
would send him imPitiahly 10 prison. II
WAS not 50 much the money he had 10
make Up which troubled him. but the
sudden revelation of his own weakness.
When upon the spreading green Of the
race course he saw the fleet horses. heard
the beat of galloplng hOOfs. and shifted
the pOwdery dust. keen with ammonia.
about the weighing paddock. somehow he
lost control OF himself. He loved horse.
and with the strange perversity OF those
VINO attach themselves to that most sim
ple-minded OF four-fOOted creatures this
narrow, Sef-cOntained. money making
youth grew Wild at the sight of half a
dozen horses stretching over the sRard
toward the goal He was a straight"
gambler. always backing his favOrite.
calling out odds when the jockeys IN
scarlet and rose and orange took their
horses TO the starting post-nay. even
during the race Itself. He was mad. for
the time being. and that night he had a
vision of how II was going to finish. He
saw himself in a prison yard. padding the
hoof IN a long procession Of cOnvicts, all
IN suits marked with the broad arrow.
The morning Of the day after the race
Jacob Romer. pale with sleeplessness.
took some papers down 10 a little shyster
lawyer in East Dene, 20 whom he Tas
known. and came out again with money
i'm his pOcket-but money for which he
had paid a price that beaded his brow
only to think upon. However. his cash
balanced when at 12:30 on Saturday. that
very afternoon in fact, his Uncle CORN
came 10 cast the eye that was never yet
cheated over his nerhews accounts.
When Mr. CORN went Jacob ROmer
drew a long breath and sat down at his
desk. with the simulacrum OF a task
before him. But instead he bit the bone
handle OF his pen, and thought-thOught-
only thought
Yes, it must stop. This was the end.
But down within him very deep, solemn
as a knell, the words rang from heart TO
brain and from brain to heart, say from
will 10 desire and from desire TO will:
You Will do ii again; you viii do il
again.
And Jacob Romer. iron-willed and ice
cold in every other direction. knew that
he would. That is. unless
The next day, which was Sunday. found
him pacing up and down before that little
Thorsby Sunday school, He was COM
muning with himself
Married men have not these tempta-
tons; married men go home quietly at
night They read. they stuGy. They have
regular meals. which is already some
thing They have a reason for keeping
straight-wife and children. home and po-
sition. Jacob Romer. 1t is the gaol OF
the altar. my friend, Better marry than
get life sentence for forgery-for that is
how IL will end
Never, perhaps was the course of a
mans life-and incidentally also. a
woElan's-so coldly determined Jacob
Romer took to marriage as he would
have resolved 10 follow a disagreeable
but necessary course of medical treat
ment. After all. the cure was the thing
He would resenerate himself-he. Jacob
Romer. God was not in all his thoughts
not the God within him. the Speaking
Spirit which is in every man. He ruled
Him out Jacob Romer took all the
credit L win do IT," he said. Il
II"
But for all that Jacob Romer was
above all things a man. of action, anc
he shov~eSss.,r<hat Sunday afternoon rs
nassd IL Agsat opposite. noting Il
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