Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-31
CHAPTER w.
Home.

When the gate of the prison closed
behind me l stood a few moments in
the street. trembling and afraid Shut
up only three years. | was nevertheless
in awe of the world. and I felt like a
boy who is thrown into pool AMI
told to sink or swim And yet my
term had been short: but a boy when T
went in. l was now only twenty-five 7
saw how Seclusion and an iron routine
can crush will and independence
| had no baggage. took with mo
from the penitentiary nothing but TIN.
pam gray suit in which I stood I
went into the world unincumbered
There was nobody about-Frankfort is
small city-and i walked on a few
yards tc show that had not Just come
from the prison gate. Then I stood
there trying to accustom myself to the
strangeness of the world. A man passed
and l felt tremor. Would he see at
| once the "jail bird in me? He took
no notice and went on. just as IL were
an ordinary citizen. Courage began to
rise In my heart, and 1 looked about
more boldly
1t was early autumn. and I felt the
deep sense of the beauty of the world.
FRANKFORT Is a picturesque little city
set within Its rim Of circling hills. and
1t was clothed now in brilliant. al
most golden. sunlight that FURNISHED
d
| to the squalid. On the hills the vivid
tlnts OF autumn were beginning to ap-
pear. and the browns were shot here
and there with splashes of red like
names. The courage that had begun to
rise in me swelled now into a flood No,
was not afraid of the world, instead,
1t was mine to conquer
] went to the railroad station. APP
preached the ticket window carelessly,
as any other traveller would have done.
and asked for ticket to Louisville a
the same time placing a five-dollar bill
on the window sill. The man handed
me the ticket and my change, and
turned to other business. He too.
never took me for "tail bird" and
again I felt thrill OF satisfaction.
1t was an hour until train time, and.
buying a Louisville newspaper from
wandering newsboy. / sat down in a cor
ner of the station and began to read il.
From an almost unconscious motive Of
| caution l held the wide sheet before my
face as / read.
The newspaper affected me unpleasant
1y. While in the prison had been able TO
obtain journals at intervals, but the news
had been SO disconnected that ! could
make little Of 1t: now 1t was almost
wholly strange to me. and ] realized what
outsider l was. This world that I was
going to conquer like a foreign
planet. on which 1 must first land before
even beginning my work. I was yet an
alien. an OutcaSt.
IRAN time approached ana people en-
tered the station. I forced myself to
lower the paper that I had been aoiding
before my face nobody marked me
out as separate from themselves One or
two glanced at me inquirlngly. because in
SO small q place as Frankfort everybody
is known. and they evidently put me down
as a stray traveller. taking no further
notice.
The train came and I boarded il with
the crowd, feeling certain sense Of COM
radeship when two or three brushed
against me in the narrow aisle. I went
into the Pullman and bought a seat I
would travel as gentleman and In lux
ury. Then I leaned back on the plush
and gazed out of the window. What won
derful wide spaces I saw! Hills, valleys
and fields following each other!
We reached Louisville with the coming
of the twilight. and I went promptly to
the best hotel in the city, paying deposit
with easy indifference, as I had no bag
gage, and registering my name. Henry
a good dinner, choosing dishes with the
faStidiousnesS of an epicure. although 1
am not devoted to the table, and after
ward strolled in the lobby. which in our
American hotels is always a center OF
life. / saw two women whom l knew. but
their glanceS passed over my face not
recognizing me. and then / understood
that my prison life had made great
changes in that general expression OF the
countenance by which We know people
rather than by individual features.
CTo be continued tomorrow