The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1909-12-03
One Touch Of Nature.
By IDA ALEXANDER.


The slow freight bumped along
from city to country, making fairly
good time, though it seemed but a
snail's pace to the man riding the
brake-beam. Every mile that they
passed meant that much nearer to
safety, and Hollis Day Rugged the
little dog closer to him at every jerk
of the cars His name would have
sounded strangely in his ears. He
had long since lost all claim to it, and
was known to his associates by a
number. Now he began to fancy it
might be his again.
The dog was an ugly little thing,
lean and half starved; nothing pre-
possessing about it, yet it stood to
the man for all that is good in life.
1t had come to him, even as he scaled
the prison wall, in his daring break
for liberty, and he had taken it into
whatsoever remained uncrushed OF a
heart. Asss'
TRUSTED me" he reflected. He
trusted me, the darned little pup. |
amt a-goin' back on the only thing
on earth as does"
No, he wasn't going back on it,
even though it diminished his chances
Of escape. He had carried it in his
arms, as he hurried to a pals" place
for change of clothes. 1t had par
taken Of the hasty meal that had been
prepared for him. Now it was bump
ing along to safety or disaster in the
same boat with the friendless man
who pressed it to mis- breast.
Sometimes, when the train stopped
for water or coal. discovery seemed
imminent, as the brakemen passed
with their swinging lanterns. Then
No., $50 had put the little dogs face
close against his own, and 1t had
licked his flushed cheek. And the
brakeman had always passed without
discovering them, or at least without
making his discovery known. He be-
gan to feel superstitious regard in
addition to the human affection he
had conceived for the tiny thing in
his arm.
You're bringin' me luck" he told
it, as the rumble of the train made
speech safe, IAN luck an me wasn't
never acquainted"
1t was true enough. Luck and he
had been strangers from his youth up.
Opportunity, If she had made her one
Wanted visit, had done so when he
was not at home. He had never been
able. to relinquish the legacy Of woe,
bequeathed by father and mother,
whose one kindness to him had been
dying. From home that was no
home to an asylum no better, to the
streets, to the jail, so were marked
the rungs Of the ladder down which
he had climbed.s
Now, as he caught whiffs Of the
sweet-scented air and the little dog
nestled close in perfect confidence
and love, No. SO began to put his in
heritance from him. Somewhere in
the world he would find place where
he could cleanse his hands In honest
work. He talked it over with the lit
tie dog as the train went on It's way.
Very soon they would have to leave
THAR precarious shelter and seek
sd er one, for the dark shadows were
liz atening, and dawn would soon
thlow a searchlight upon their hiding
place. A vision Of green fields came
to him, of homely joys and tasks,
some little place where man might
work out his own salvation.
eff 'twarn't fur meetin' you, !" he
said, std be most sorry made git
away, fur it'd be SO much better not
to have. / was off in six months, an
but If they'd gimme a pardon,
wouldn't a-missed meetin' you"
The train was going little faster
now, and No. SO could just begin to
distinguish the objects that they
passed. A few scattered houses here
and there, thrown out like sentinels
to guard the little town, proclaimed
that one was near. Before they
reached it he and the little dog must
quietly drop off, for towns would not
be safe for some time to come. He
could imagine the huge placards post
ed at all stations proclaiming the fact
that desperate criminal Tas at
large. His close-cropped head would
awaken suspicion, too. The hands OF
men would be against him. He must
take care for the sake Of the little
dog.
The train was winding around a
bend now going slowly Ragar.. AZ