The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-23
THE FEMALE OF HIS SPECIES

Don't stop in Denver too long after l you cash your check, Tom, Don't drink with strangers, and keep away from the variety theatres" I advised as l handed
 Tom Graham the company's check for i s1,Oe0 in payment for his prospect tho
 Bald Hornet" I had taken a fancy to the youthful discoverer of the mine and felt 1t my duty to warn him against the ] pitfalls of the miners modern Jericho Don't you worry about me, Mir Brad ford; 1 guess I can look out for the mon ey all right" he answered earnestly Ut
 means a good deal to me. l never had as much before in my life, and I don't guess no derned Graham that ever lived did either. They were all poor, my dad, his dad and his dad. If a Graham ever
 got any money he couldn't keep it. Why, l had $500 once" he went on impulsively, i land bowed 1t in-just naturally hlowed i lt in, worked hard for it. too Then he paused, examined the buckle on my l horses brdle closely and added irrele-
 vantly You didn't get no slouch of n
 bargain on the Hornet for thousand l tell you"
 Tt looks like fair prospect; we are satisfied if you are. What are you going to do with the priee?'
 Do" he said, a dreamy look coming into his eyes. Do? Why, am going to get twenty acres of land. under a ditch down on the Pieketwire where I come from, and go to raising alfalfa. It's sure crop, and there's more money in it than hay. I know, because I have ranehed before, and right down there, too. That's where I saved up the five hundred dollars I was telling you about. Did it fin two years, and paid a pretty stiff rent I tell you, MT Bradford, those were the happiest days I ever see, all filled with sunshine and horses-and things like that instead of powder smoke and hole in the ground, like this. I want to get back to it, and stay back. am tired of hammering a drill all day and thinking and thinking like you do in a tunnel. After all, farm Is the only place for a white man to live"
 T guess you are right about that Tom," I said, though I don't care to live on one myself But if you liked farming so well, why did you quit?"
 "Oh. I wanted a change" he stam- mered, with reddening face. You see, I was going to get married-and then I didn't, and that always breaks fellow up. you know. Seems like he's got to pull up stakes: nothing else will do him. I did. and blowed up here thought I'd try a hand at prospecting-kinder want ed to be alone. You know how it is?'
 Not exactly from personal experience; tell me about it."
 "Oh there ain't much to tell: It wasn't anybody's fault, except my being fool Graham. She kinder changed her mind, fin all. and married another fellow more suited to her than me. He was educated way up and she had two terms in con- vent herself. They were both good-look- CTS. It was all right, you understand; aint kicking. It was well enough for us to think lots of each other when we were growing up together-kids Is liable to do that; and I guess it was all right for us to get engaged when we got little older that's natural; and I reck'n if the Gulf road hadn't built through here that spring we would "a sure enough got married-but it did, so there aint any use talking about it."
 "I don't understand, Tom" said sym pathetically. How did the building of a railroad interfere with your marriage?'
 Easy enough; it brought in a lot of college fellows to lay off the road-differ- ent from us. you know; and one of them, John Cameron. boarded a spell at her house. He was a little bit the niftiest thing you ever saw. He knew how to wear his clothes and whiskers, and he could talk Ann Arbor like a book; and play the piano-why, he could claw ivory most as good as Blind Tom himself. When he and Nellie got to playing duets I knew 1t was all off with me He wasn't in the house three weeks until she quit calling me Tom. Why, I tell you, the first time I ever heard her say MT. Gra- ham I looked all around trying to locate the geezer, and then 1t came with a jolt that she meant me and you bet that hurt some, but I didn't say anything then thought I'd wait a while; I'm a little bit slow, being Graham.
 But one evening I made up my mind it had to come, and might as well face the music. 'Nellie.' I says, it strikes me you ain't caring as much for my little game as you used to-getting a little tired of it, and would cash your chips if it wasn't for the looks of things. Am right or am I wrong? don't under stand you MT. Graham she said, kinder huffy like; you use much slang it's difficult for one to arrive at your mean ing sometimes You didn't have so much trouble before John Cameron came here, Nellie,' I says. But you know what I mean all right, and you under stand the rules of the game. Let's don't pretend anything now; it's too late for that You know that there isn't any
 thing in the world that I wouldn't do to make you happy Now if you want me to pull out and leave him a clear field all you got to do is to say so.' We'll she says, 'perhaps-oh, Tom, I don't want to hurt your feelings-don't
 you see how different everything is-'
 I know, Nellie, I says; everything is different but me-and my-friendship for you l don't think we ever had the 1 nerve to call it anything else, just l friendship. T am going, but I will al-
 ways be your friend. Don't forget that T don't think I ever saw her any nicer to me than she was after I told
 her that. Before I went she kinder