The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-06
THE EVENING STORY

IBy Carl Jenkins. ]


| time Mr.. Parker was a caller at the
house.
DR.. Hargraves was a widower and in
poor health. The light of his eye and
May. A sister oversaw the house, but
the doctor used to say that his daugh-
ter oversaw him. The friendship be-
tween them was almost selfish. Miss
Mays handsome face attracted many.
but she received them all as callers
until Mr.. Parker came. In his case,
AFTER bit, the father thought he de-
tected more than usual interest, and
he was secretly pleased. He knew that
MS allment must carry him off at the
enr of a few years, and he hoped the
daughters future would be settled be-
fore the dark day came.
The doctor and his daughter were at
the Harbor hotel when Mr.. Parker and
his mother arrived. 1t was simply
chance that brought them together
there, and all were pleased over it,
A week had passed very pleasantly
when one day the doctor, Miss May
and Mr.. Austen were on the long wharf
below the hotel to sit in the band
house and enjoy the cool breeze. There
were women and children about, and
here and there man was lazily fishing.
OF a sudden a woman screamed out.
Her boy Of five had climbed the railing
and fallen into the water. There were
shouts and screams from others, and
hubbub all along the wharf.
The accident occurred within 80 feet of
the bandstand. Mr.. Parker reached the
railing in four or five bounds, tore off
his coat and kicked off his shoes, and
was on the point Of Ieaping the rail
into the water when he suddenly halt
ed and stepped back.
You can get hin-you can get him!'
urged the doctor as he came up.
There's his hat-there he rises!''
"Oh. go-go-go!!" called Miss May to
the man who stood wringing his hands
and his face pale as the dead.
Il can't!!' they heard him say.
Man-man, are you going to leave
the boy to drown?" cried the doctor in
astonishment and indignation.
Mr.. Parker advanced to the railing,
looked over at the child struggling in
the water and then threw up his hands
with a grOan and retreated. He even
picked UP the things he had cast off
and almost ran from the wharf.
SPLASH Splash! Splash! Three men
leaped the railing. one after another,
and, as the little lad was sinking for the
third stime. he was rescued, and there
were tears, cheers and shouts of con-
graduation The doctor and his daugh-
ter returned to their seats and sat for
a long time without a word between
them. Then the girl asked in a hesltat-
ing way:
twas it because Mr.. Parker can't
swim?''
ne COOiu nave SOl lDo DOy anu uuHS
to a pile until a boat came. Heavens,
but If I had been in his place!''
"Then-then what allied him? He
seemed to be frightened"
He was!" was the grim reply.
Father, you can't mean
But do, dear. You have only to
hear what the people around US are
saying. Too bad. I feel sorry for him.
He and his mother will have to go to-
day."
A hundred people on the wharf had
words of praise for the three men, and
words of censure for the one 1t is at
such times that men curse in their
threats and women refuse to forgive.
man is either recorded as a hero or
a coward. If a hero. it is forgotten in
day: if a coward, not for years, If
ever.
Mr.. Parker hurried straight to the
hotel. People who saw him in his
flight looked and wondered. Mrs. Par
into her room and flung himself down
and covered his face with his hands
and wept.
What is it?" she asked as she stood
beside him with her hand on his head.
"A child fell off the wharf" he an
swered after a time.
And you were there?'
II was the one to have leaped in
after him.
Poor boy! We should not have
come to the water"
With that she turned away and
commenced taking her garments
down off the hooks and folding and
packing them.
When the son could control his
voice he stepped to the telephone and
asked for his bill and ordered a car
rage for the depot. Two hours later
mother and son were on their way
home. When they talked it was not
of what had happened on the wharf.
Don't you see he couldn't have
done anything else ?" queried DIR.
said that the coward" had departed. |
He passes out of our lives, of
course"
And it so comes about. When the |
doctor again visited the safe deposit |
company, he saw young Mr.. Parker. |
but neither bowed. Some one else
waited on the patron. People who |
had met the young man socially at |
the doctors residence inquired about |
him in a careless way, and were as
the, father wondered if the daughter |
had been interested enough to care or |
be disappointed, but he could not |
make up his mind. The affair had |
never been referred to again after the |
first day.
A whole year passed Father and |
daughter were again bound for the /
same hotel, but this time they were |
motoring a part of the way, the car
being driven by a chauffeur.
In the middle of the afternoon, on
a broad highway. four foreigners who
had struck work in a quarry not far
away and were ripe for mischief, halt
ed the auto to commit highway rob-
berry. The chauffeur was a poltroon.
He could have run them down, but he
halted the machine.
The doctor was not armed, but he
to leave the car, and struck
at the fellows who sought to pull the
daughter out Such q one-sided con-
hict could not last long, and must ter
inmate In a victory for the attackers.
They were pushing the advantage Of l