Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1909-01-13

way he's always hadSs' chuckled the
colonel to himself. Nevertheless,
something ached IN his throat as he
frowned and winked.
"Oh, get brace on you, you played.
out old SPORT" he muttered. "The
games on the last four cards and you
haven't established your suit; you'll
have to sit back and watch the othel
fellows play" But his dreary thoughts
persisted. Rupert was a colonel in
the regular army of the United States.
He had been brevetted a bWgadier
general after the Spanish waAesAa-
had commanded, not only brlGade,
but division at one critical tif1avir
the Philippines; but for reasons pf6b-
ably known to the little knot of poll
ticians who hung it up" although in
comprehensive to most Americans,
congress had failed TO pass the bill
giving the wearers of brevet titles the
right to keep their hardworn and
empty honors; wherefore Gen. Winter
had declined to Col. Winter.
He had more substantial troubles.
including a wound which would prob
ably make him limp through life and
possibly retire him from service at so.
1t had given him a six months sick
leave (Which he had not wanted),
and after spending month on the
Atlantic coast, he was going for the
spring to the Pacific. Haley, whose
own term of Office had expired, had not
re-enlisted, but had followed him, Mrs.
Haley and the baby uncompainingly
bringing up the rear. 1t was not fair
to Haley nor to Mrs. Haley, the colonel
felt He had told Haley so; he had
found a good situation for the man,
and he had added the deed for little
house in the suburbs of Chicago
II Haley wouldn't re-enlist-there
never was a better soldier since he
had downeG foolish young hankering
for Wild times and whisky-if ne
wouldH't 90 back 70 the army, where
he belonged, let him settle down, take
up the honest carpenters trade that
he had abandoned, be good citizen
and marry little Nora to some class
mate in the high school. who might
make foftuae and build her a
colopial mansion, should the colonial
still obtain in the twentieth century.
The colonel had spread a grand
prospect before Haley, who listened
unresponsively, dumb pain in his
wide blue Irish eyes. The colonel
H..t hn hotn
worse the limp look of Haley's hack
as he watched 1t dwindle down Mich
igan avenue.
However, Mrs. Haley had been more
satisfactory, If none the less bewil-
dering. She seemed very grateful
over the house and the $500 for its
furnishing. A birthday present, he
had termed it, with flicker of hui
NOR because tie day was his own
birthday. His fiftieth birthday itlhap-
pened to be, and 1t occurred to him
that a man ought to do something
little notable on such an anniversary.
This rounding OF the balf-century had
attributes apart; 1t was no mere an
nual birthday; it marked the last van
ishing f1utter of the gilded draperies
of youth: the withering of the gar
lands; the fading tinkle of the light
music of hope. 1t should mark mans
solid achievements. Once, not so long
ago, Winter had believed that his
fiftieth birthday would see wide and
beneficent and far-reaching results in
the province where he ruled. That
dream was shattered He was gen.
erous of nature, and he could have
been content to behold another reap
the fields which he had sowed and
titled; 1t was the harvest, whether his
or another's, for which he worked; but
his had been the bitter Office to have
to stand aside, with no right to pro-
test, and see his work go to waste be-
cause his successor had feeble brain
and a pusillanimous caution in place
Of his own doGged will. For all these
reasons, as we'll as others, the colonel
found no zest in bis fiftieth birthday;
and his reverie drifted dismally from
one somber reflection to another until
1t brought up at the latest wound to
his heart-his favorite brothers death.
There had been three Winter broth
ers-Rupert, Melville and Thomas
During the past year both Thomas
Winter and his wife had died. leaving
one child, boy Of IA, named Archi
bald after his fathers uncle. Rupert
Winter and the boys greataunt, the
widow of the great uncle, were ap
pointed joint guardians of the young
Archie. Tonight, in his jaded mood.
he was assailed by reproaches be-
cause he had not seen more of his
ward. Why. he hadn't so much as
looked the little chap mp when he
passed through Falrport-merely had
sent him letter and some truck from
the Philippines; nice guardian he wasl
BY a natural enough transition, his
thoughts swerved to his own brief and
not altogether happy married life. He
thought Of the graves In Arizona
where he had left his wife and his
two children. and his heart felt
heavy. To escape musings which
grew drearier every second, he cast
his eyes about the motley crowd shuf-
fling over the tiled floors or resting