The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1907-10-15
BOOMERS
LESSON.
Copyrighted, 1907. by NJ. M. Cunningham. I
.*****#-4.ss..s..*s+ss.s..s.ss.s. !
BY W. r. Bryan.

ratified and bumped along the new pike.
Bros colossal circus and mastodon me-
nagerie followed pillar Of cloud by
day and of fire by night In the night.
time the swinging lantern was the
pilot, and in the daylight the smoke
from Gil Quintard's huge cigar served
a similar purpose.
The new road had recently been re-
paired by the simple process of shovel
ing the sides into the middle and let
ting the passing wagons beat 1t to a
level The heavily loaded wagon
lurched from side to side, and Ben
stopped humming mo Wedding Bells
and began to curse, not loudly, but
fervently, the road committee of Blash-
ford township.
The other wagons, following in close
order, Jared even worse, for the lighter
loading increased the pitching, and
presently from the rear Of the carryall
woman slipped out and ran ahead to
where Bogner was still explaining to
himself the tortures he would Ike to
inflict upon the men who had mussed
up the road.
"Give me hand, Ben," she called.
Bogner, without pulling up, leaned over
and held out his hand The girl grasp
ed 1t at the wrist, while his fingers
closed about her slender arm.
"Upv' She gave spring and swung
into place beside him on the broad seat.
''This is the worst this season." she
said, with a laugh, as she looked over
the road, now cleaning as red as the
eastern sky. None Of us could sleep
in the wagon, so slipped out to ride
with you"
''Why didn't you go to Tony7" he
asked ungraciously. you'll have that
dago knitting me yet"
"Pshaw!" she demurred, with an adj
miring glance at the huge muscles that
showed under the gauze shirt You
could break Tony in two"
"Mebbe," he assented as he glanced
over his shoulder to where Tony As
pirate, their trapezist and wire walker,
drove the first seat wagon. Every one
worked with the Quintard show. Bog
ner was the principal rider and did
the heavy juggling, to say nothing of
magical act In the concert. Bessie
Setback also did, riding act and
worked with Tony in the double ira
peze, besides doing musical act for
the concert In addition, the men had
to help raise the tent and drive the
wagons on the jumps, while the wom-
en- performers cooked.
Though he was pleased at the pref
erence Bessie showed for him, Bogner
was none the less uneasy. He had no
intention of marrying. and he knew
that Tony worshiped the ground the
girl walked on, but Bessie preferred
Ben and was not backward in display
ing her choice.
She chung to his arm now as they
bumped over the rough road and drank
deep fresh morning air. isn't 1t splen-
did?' she asked as she looked across
the green fields to where the red flush
of the sky was slowly turning to gold.
pretty fair" assented Ben. Down
in his heart he loved the long, quiet
nights and the slow coming dawn. 1t
was one of the things that held him to
a wagon show when he could have
Travelled with railroad organization,
with sleeper berth instead of the
wagon seat. Looks like it's going to
be good day"
"Some day want to come to place
like this and live" she said, with a
sigh. 81 want to have, nice little
farm, with chickens and a horse and
all that sort of thing"
"And you'd eat your heart out with
lonesomeness," he concluded.
You're always spelling things" she
said as she drew away as far as the
seat would permit. II never saw a
man like you"
go to Tony" he urged. He's got
the gift of CAB. He can talk as foolish
as you can"
HE talks only about himself" she
said, with shrug of the shoulders.
Bogner grinned. He knew very well
that she would not go. II wish you
had his appreciation Of things"
Bogner laughed his slow laugh and
handed her his pipe to I'LL. II guess
one poet is enough with one ring cir
GUS" he said slowly. 'Tony's death on
poetry"
He struck a match and held it over
the bowl, putting until the white clouds
surrounded his head as with q halo.
"All the same" he went on, 'Tony's a
pretty decent chap, and he's dead gone
on you. l amt ever goin' to get mar
RED"
"Pm not cooking you to-" she said,
with a toss of her head. II guess l
can get along without either you or
Tony"
"You don't seem to be able to get
along without me-" he said, with a
chuckle.
The girl glanced at his face for a
moment, and then, without word, she
leaped to the ground and when the
carryall came past slipped back into
that vehicle, disdaining the invitation
shouted at her by Tony.
Bogner tried to convince himself that
he was glad that she was gone, but
somehow the bright dawn grew very
gray to him. and he pulled moodily at
his pipe. He did not love Bessie. That
sort of thing was foolishness, but he
did enjoy her companionship in the
early morning, and as the days went
by and she came no more he grew
morose and dispirited.
Even then he could not diagnose his
trouble and dosed himself with pat
ent nostrum in the belief that his liver
was out of order. Bessie was coldly
polite when they met at the table or
passed each other going In OF out of
the ring, but that was all. There were
no more little chats while the sun
climbed up from its bed of night.
The awakening came ten days later.
1t was Sunday, and after reaching the
new show lot and getting the tent up
there was nothing to be done but look
after the stock until the morrow. Some
VI tue ucu udu SU1G Jul W IOoh al TIE
town, but most of them were lying in
the grass on the shady side of the
tent watching the boats slip past In
the canal, on the bank of which they
were pitched. Bogner felt thirsty and
went into the dressing tent to get a
drink of water. He was standing be-
side the pail when he CHANGED to look
through on the other side.
Bessie was coming back from
church, and couple of the town boys
were following her In an effort to at
tract her attention. AS she reached
the lot one of them stepped forward
and caught her about the waist There
were dozen others sitting by the
fence watching the circus people, but
they made no effort to help Bessie.
and Bogner went bounding forward.
Just as he came up the masher sue
cpedpd In stealing kiss but the next