Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-12-03

embracing his IEItfu- ANOlillIlS SoulA
give me more pleasure than a trial for
my crime, for my victim would be my
witness. He is not dead. He is out
there in the street. Mantel, you don't
know what happiness it, You don't
know how sweet it is to be alive! A
mountain has been taken from my
shoulders. l no longer have any Sc
cret! j will tell you the whole story
of my life. now"
mo now; but later on, when we are
alone"
David had now grown more quiet,
and they too patiently waiting for
the time to come when the old beggar
should leave his post and retire to his
home, If home he had. 1t last he re-
ceived his signal for departure. A
shadow fell from the roof of the tall
building opposite, upon the pupil of an
eye, which perhaps felt the darkness IL
could not see. The building was his
dial. Like millions of his fellow crea-
lures. he measured life by advancing
shadows.
He arose, and in his mien and move
ments there was a certain majesty.
Placing his hat upon his storm-beaten
head, he folded the camp-chair under
his arm. tool the leading string in his
hand and followed the little dog, who
began picking his way with fine care
through the surging crowd.
Behind him at a little distance walk
ed the two gamblers, pursuing him
like a double shadow. A bloodhound
could not nave been more eager than
David was. He trembled If an omni-
bus cut off his view for a single in
slant, and shuddered If the beggar
turned a corner.
Unconscious Of all this, the dog and
his master wendell their way home
ward. They crawled slowly and quiet
ly across a street over which thunder
ed an endless procession of vehicles;
they move like snails through the
surf of the ocean of life. Arriving at
length at the door of a wretched tene-
ment house, the blind man and his dog
entered.
AS he noted the squalor of the place.
David murmured to himself. Poor Sid
man! How low he has fallen!"
Several minutes passed in silence,
| while he stood rejecting or the doc
tors misery, his own new happiness
and the opportunities n duties which
| the adventure had opened and i'm
posed. AT last he said to his friend,
DO you know where we are? I was
so absorbed that I didn't notice our
route at ALL"
Yes" Mantel answered. "I have
marked every turn of the way"
Gould you find the place again?"
without the slightest difficulty"
BE sure, for If you wish to help me,
as l think you do, you will have to
come often. / have mad my plans in
the few moments in which / have been
standing here, and am determined to
devote my life, If need be, to this poor
creature whom I ave so wronged. I
must get him out of his filthy hole in
to some cheerful place. I will atone
for the past if I can! Atone! What a
word tina is! With what stunning
force its meaning dawns upon me!
How many times / have heard and ut
tered 1T without comprehension. But
of the sweetest possibility of life. oh.
i am a changed man; 1 will make
atonement. Come, let US go. 1 am
anxious to begin. But 40, 1 must pro-
coed with caution. How do I know
that this is his permanent home? He
may be only lodging for the night, and
when you come Tomorrow. he may be
gone! Go in, Mantel, and make sure
that we shall find him here to-mor-
row. Go, and while you find out all
you can about him. I will begin to
search for UGH a place as I want to
put him in. We will part for the
present; but when we meet tonight
we shall have muc to talk about. I
will tell you the whole of this long and
bitter story. I am SO happy, Mantel.
You can't understand! I ia some
thing to live for now. I will work. oh.
you do not know how I will work to
make this atonement. What a word it
Is! 1t is music to my ears Atone
ment!"
And so in the lexicon of human ex-
p%erience he had at last discovered the
meaning of n of the great words Of
our language. After all. experience is
the only exhaustive dictionary, and the
definitions 1t, contains are the only
ones which really burn themselves in
to the mind or fully interpret the sig
nif1cances of life.