The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-01

summit of a neighboring, sun-lit crag,
and secure in their height, seemed to
mock the perplexity of the sorely dis
tressed Rip. What was to be done next?
The morning was passing and Dame Van
Wrinkle would be more angry than ever.
Besides, Rip. always blessed with good
appetite, began to feel hungry and wanted
his breakfast Breakfast, even breakfast
plus Dame Van Wrinkle, was better than
no breakfast at all. Shoudering his
rusty firelock and sadly shaking his head
the poor man began to seek his home
ward way.
| 1t was a toilsome march for him, .for
he felt years older than he had the night
before and mentally sorrowed that there
should exist, in the world such people as
those strangers who had dosed him with
liquor in the, bowling amphitheatre and
played all these tricks upon him. Finally
Rip approached his village AS he came
nearer he met a number of people. They
were all strangers to him. This surprised
him much, for he had thought he knew
every man, woman and child In that VI
entity. The dress of the people who were
Passing along the road or working in the
fields was as strange to him as their
faces. They all stared at Rip with as
much apparent interest and surprise as
he stared at Them And invariably they
stroked their chins. The constant recur-
rance of this gesture at length caused Rip
mechanically I'd stroke his own chin. A
new amazement fell upon him. His board
was a foot long. He had entered the
outskirts of the village. He had here
tofore been greeted with rapture by every
child he met and always had q throng
OF loving and admiring urchins hanging
about him. He now found that he had
a crowd Of children at his heels--but
these children hooted at him and pointed
with derison to his long gray beai d.
And the dogs-even the dogs barlsed at
he remembered that every dog in the
village would wag his tail and fawn
upon him at his approach. These dogs
were as strange to him as the people.
Not one of them did he recognize as an
old acquaintance.
The very village itself had changed. II
was larger and more populous. There
were rows of houses which Rip had never
seen before and many which he remem-
bered well had entirely disappeared
Strange names were over the doors and
faces at the windows; everything wal
strange. "Alas!' thought Rip, "that Hol
lands was too strong for me. That fiagor
has added my poor head sadly" With
difficulty he found his way to his owr
house, expecting, as he approached, every
minute to hear the shrill voice of Dame
Van Wrinkle demanding an accounting. Al
last he stood before his home. 1t wal
ruinous and decayed-uninhabi ted. The
roof had fallen in, the windows were
shattered and the doors off the hinges
He saw half-starved dog prowling about
the ruined place. Tt looked like VOL
and he called to it. But the cur only
grcwled, showed it's teeth and ran away
This almost broke Rips heart. "Alasv
he cried, even my own dog does not
know me-" He entered the house and
called loudly for his wife and his chill.
dren. The lonely and abandoned cham.
bers rang for moment with his voice
and then silence fell again. Never hat
Rip imagined that he would have. &c
longed to hear the sharp, querulous voice
of his wife as he did at that moment
He went into the sunshine agein and
hurried to his old resort, the village tav'
ern, fearful and anxious for sight Of hi.
old companions. But the tavern too, wal
gone and in it's place was a large. rick
ETY. wooden building. The windows Of
the building were large and gaping and
the glass In many Of them was broker