The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-20
The EVENING STORY

IBy Grant Packard.l

sent out the fragrance of the mealy
nuts
A crisp tang in the air sent the end
less procession of workers along at
smarter pace. Only an occasional
derelict sauntered along at a laggard's
gait. Overhead thin haze yelled the
sky. changing the blue of the cloud
| less armament to softer tint and
| through this a yellow sun burned
DULY.
Paul Westford, as he hurried tow
ard the office, shifted the odor of the
roasting chestnuts and smiled remin-
iscently. OF course chestnuts roasted
| in a pan over a charcoal fire could not
| be as good as when they were gathered
| in the wood and roasted in nre
shovel
1t took two to roast chestnuts pro-
perly, two in a coy parlor. with an
] open fire for the only illumination.
| He knew all about roasting chestnuts
| 1t was while they were roasting chest
| nuts that Carol Ryder had promised TO
| be his wife. Ever since that night the
perfume of the chestnut stands had
| reminded him of the girl he had loved
| and lost.
The course of true love had run with
! its customary irregularity, SO II pereii
| that during one of their misunderstand-
| ings John Ryder, Carols father, had
| fallen upon evil times. His invest
| ments were threatened for lack OF ready
money. Another man had come to
Ryder's aid and had claimed Carol as
| his reward
The girl had married him in the mis-
| taken belief that she owed it to her
| father to obey his wishes, and when
Paul had sought reconciliation, he had
found that it was too late.
He had come to the city that he
might not be reminded daily of his loss,
and had prospered greatly. He had
found engrossment if not forgetfulness
| in business.
Yet always the smell of roasting
chestnuts brought back to him that
could feel again that thrill of JOY when
he heard the whispered Yes
Today it came back to him more
strongly than ever. and on the pages
! the picture of the woods about Car
risville rioting with color under the
autumn sun.
| He had never gone back to the town
since his first departure. He had never
wanted to see the place. But today ne
/ heard the country call him, and the call
was not to be denied. He arranged
, with his chief clerk to look after at
fairs for a few days, and that night
| he left on the sleeper for Carrisville..
changed. Paul arrived in the early
hours, when few were stirring, and as
a sleepy hackman drove sleeper
| horse through the silent streets Paul
F, felt lump rise in his throat as when
| one greets an old friend and finds him
| that friend no longer, but even more
] foreign than an actual stranger.
The old brick school house had
/ grown into a stone structure several
| stories in height. There was new
| Methodist church, and many of the old
houses had been replaced by more I'M
posing structures, while in the business
| section the store fronts had been al
| tered to present metropolitan aspect.
! 1t was not until after lunch. and Paul
] had started out into the country, that
4, he began to feel at home. He had
looked up none of his old friends. fear
ing to find them as sadly changed as
| the village itself.
There was a trolley now, to take him
| to the outskirts of the town, but he
dropped off when the canal bridge came
! in sight. and the trolley turned on the
road to the river. The bridge was not
| changed
1t was the same low, white structure
| from which he had dropped many a
time to the deck of some passing canal
boat to ride down to the lock, and beg
| a ride back.
Beyond the bridge, too, the road
looked the same. The trend of pro-
gress had been along the line of the
| trolley, and on this side of the canal
the farm houses were unchanged.
They had not even mended the break
+, in the fence where he formerly slipped
through for the short cut to the marsh.
Here the largest frogs were always to
be caught and Paul was. tempted to
push through. just to see If he still was
slender enough.
1t was a sharp climb up the hill. and
Paul was glad to pause and rest for a
| moment when he gained the crest. Be
low, the canal wound its way between
grassy banks, the towpath, dotted with
toiling mules, showing white against
the green.
Farther yet the river flowed placidly
| on to the churning foam of the rapids
| below, and between lay the level acres
now yellow with stubble. In the valley.
the autumn tints were not yet pro-
nounced, but at his back, on the
heights, the woods were glorious with
red and gold.
Paul started out at a brisk pace for
the chestnut grove where the nuts
| were always biggest and best On the
Saturday holiday the woods would be
dotted with the nutpickers, but today
he had the place to himself. He was
on familiar ground now and he headed
I straight for the grove.
| There were few nuts on the ground
| but Paul was not content with these
and, slipping off his coat and vest. ne
swung up into the biggest tree to shake
some down.
He felt an odd sense of citation as he
found that he could climb as well as
ever. in spite of city life and elevators
and he determined to climb to the very
top of the tree. 1t was from this same
tree that he had many a fall in his
knickerbocker days, and he wanted to
| show his mastery of his old enemy
The pride that goeth before a fall
was his. and the inevitable tumble
| came. He was nearly back to the bot
tom limb when, with an ominous
crackle. one of the yellow branches by
| which he was steadying himself gave
| way, he lost his balance and fell heav-
lily to the ground.
| For a moment he lay half stunned,
then burning pain in his ankle reused
him. He dragged himself to a sitting
posture, he cut the laces of the boot,
and with his handkerchief bound the
| sprained ankle as tightly as he could.
: f,xrz al he III