Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-10-15

omitted for obvious reasons.
Henry Bradford left his Old Colony
home on a bright summer day to seek
his fortune in New York.
He had the best wishes Of every
body, for he was a decent boy, and all
who knew him liked his manly ways.
But he found the metropolis a tough
proposition. The fierce, pushing, hgnt-
for-life w~orkseekers jostled and
crowded him beyond all his previous
conceptions, and he, not having the
faculty of retaliating in kind, found
himself pushed to the wall.
He got employment, it is true, but
he could not hold it for any length OF
time, owing largely to his lack OF
knowledge Of urban conditions, and
also to much bad luck.
So, after four years struggle, he
gave It up and acknowledged himself
beaten. The struggle had peer on
tinuous and altogether one-sided, and
as he sat upon the stringpiece OF an
East river pier, it was borne in upon
MIN that he had made as good a fight
Us he knew HOW. AAu lOSt'
And now, when Failure had com
pletely enveloped him in her somber
cloak, he felt there was nothing else
Ito do but to return to the old town.
There, at least, he could live, and he
among those who knew him and would
sympathize with him. OF the two dol
lars which he possessed, one dollar
would pay his fare to Providence, and
1T would be a small matter for him to
walk the intervening miles to his old
home.
This plan he carried into effect, and
the evening of an early October day
found him in Plymouth, which adjoined
his home town. He was tired, footsore
and discouraged. Plymouth always
held a fascination for him, and he be-
took himself to the Burial hill and
there, on a lonely bench, he looked
down upon the lights of Market
square, to the riding-lights of a few
craft lying at anchor in the harbor,
and further, to that great light on
the Gurnet whose effulgent rays
guided and warned local and coast
wise mariners. Long he sat and
brooded One by one the lights were
extinguished, and as the town went
to sleep he felt the necessity of doing
likewise. He stumbled down the mar
row path to Market square, across the
main street and, as though drawn by
some magnet, to the waters edge,
There the gray canopy with its iron
gate, which shields Plymouth Rock
from the vandal and the relic hunter
reared it's head. Everything was ia
miliar to Henry, yet his eye dwell
1ongingly on each object. Here was
short strip of pebbly beach, and drawn
high up on it was a fisherman's dory
The boat contained a pair of oars, {
sprit-sail and mast, a coiled seine, and
in the stern, a small breaker Of fresl
water. Without hesitation he stepped
aboard, and, adjusting the thwarts an
oars and arranging the sail so that
would act as a cover for him, he la!
down and in two minutes was SCUM
asleep.
Henry Bradford was a sound sleeE
er, a very sound sleeper, else thi
stroy might never have been written
He knew naught Of the stealthy rise o
the tide nor of the lift of the dory a
she became water borne, nor did h
know that in his earlier arrangement
he had loosened the noosed painte
from the bowlder over which 1t ha
been %slippedf. He did not feel tn
impact of the gentle southwest win
which waited the dory slowly but SURF
1y to the point of the beach.
The outgoing tide in Plymouth ha
Dor is much like a mill-race as 1t hu
ries to the greater waters of Bari
stable bay.
Henry Bradford slept the sleep {
utter WEAKNESS. The dory is, pc
haps, the best sea boat ever designe
and will stand more wind and weatht
and sloppy seas than any other sma
craft. If he was somewhat jostle
and shaken it only served to accent
ate a deeper sleep. But there a.
some happenings of nature which
man., sleeping or waking, may allow
pass unnoticed. AS he slept, a giaI
hand seemed to reach from infini
and, grasping his frail boat, carry
and him up, up, up till all the wor
became dark, and then, without war
ing, dropped him into an abyss SO de-
and awful that it seemed as though
cleft in solid earth had been OPEN
to engulf him forever.
Henry Bradford awoke, with chi
tering teeth and staring eyes, to fl
his boat being lifted again by t
mighty hand of his dream. His rude
aroused senses appraised him of t
situation. He knew himself to be
the dory, and he also realized that t
dory was aloat and contending wi
a phase Of ocean disturbance wi
witch he was not familiar. The ne
unlift was of much less volume tn
its predecessor, and after three
four minor fluctuations he felt I'll
his boat was rising and falling to t
normal Atlantic swell. The air "
heavy, damp and clammy, and "
filled with many odors difficult of
scTiption, but all of the briny sea.
cautiously raised himself to a stal
ing position and surveyed the horiz
The arc Of sea and sky before h
was utterly blank. AS he slowly swu
his body to complete his view of
horizon, he saw on his starboard gu
ter, and we'll astern of him, the W
known CLEAN of Race point light.
the same momen there burst on
ear a thundefous, reverberating re
such a sound ne might ha cau,