The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1910-09-15
Little Rose
BY Frederick Hoffman


The AFTERNOON EuAllbHJ l''' "''
the professors desk lie was
scholar Of no mean reputation DIS
tinguished among men OF letters,
rigid student and master OF inc
arts; yet, even now, within the pro
fessors deep gray eyes, there was
CLEAN Of something sayoring not at
all Of sociology nor the science OF the
people. suggesting no whit Of dust
thick volumes, remote from class'
room dictates and the rule Of college
council. Was it that the professor
smiled?
He held manuscript, sent him for
correction, a review Of his latest
book, accompanied by n brief Dlo-
graphical sketch, The professor was
readings
1T IS noticeable that, from the
first, Or. Carl Sternbaum, our emil
nont scientist, was attracted toward
the study Of human nature in all It's
varied phases, A boy of sixteen, he
ran away from home and Joined
band Of wandering gypsy tramps, os'
tcnsibly 10 make personal observation
Of the peculiar habits Of this peo'
pie"
II was at this point that the pro-
fessor laid down the paper and the
suggested CLEAN Of humor took pos.
session Of his features.
Yes; he had run away Who would
not have run away from the stern
discipline Of a moody fosterfather
and the continual nagging Of stern
faced aunt? Had his mother lived he
would have scorned this thing, but,
when she died all sympathy and love
went with her and he fought his way
unchampioned and alone,
He recalled again that day in early
spring--a Saturday half-holiday It
was--and yet he sat alone within the
barren spare room, swinging his legs,
detected and distressed. What bust
ness had Aunt Maria to treat him so?
lie was no child though he was frail
and slender for his age. lie was six.
teen, and because she had discovered
/ him buried deep in a volume Of his.
tory at a time when he should have
/ been drawing water from the well
without, she had sent him peremptor-
T by into the cherries room, there to
await his fathers later judgment
/ SiXteen--was he not a man? She was
/ but a woman! A man is always great.
er than a woman, and his inmost soul
I rcbelled.
Again the professor seemed
weighed down, as on that day, by
the oppressive ticktock-tick of the
moon-faced clock, looming times
tyrant in the corner, Tick.tock.tick!
II was very damp and still But what
was that?
Down the road, far ont beyond the
gardens whitcwashed wall, and the
rows Of nodding daffodlls, came a
sound suggesting TO the boy many
things At first It was but vague
and formless tinRle, then the clear
echoing OF numerous bells, laughter
and shouts, the rumbling of many
wheels. There was a sudden call TO
halt, the hoof beats paused awhile,
and above Tie clatter Of the rest, one
voice shriekod, Fine lace for sale!---
your kettles we viii mend!-your for
tune while you watt"
With the last bllthe statement the
sound ceased. Aunt Maria came,
raging from the Kitchen, Away" she
scowled, you good lor.uothing beg.
gars-away from our clean streets
Go on TO the Black Forest whence you
come"
A gay laugh was the answer to
her ranting and The band went lang.
ling on
But the gray eyes Of the boy with.
, IN grew wide with sudden question.
b The Black Forest? There would be
forgetting there Of stringent tyran.
3 N.Y. There he would be free and gay
{ Why not? The window sash was
open. Already it was dusk. A mo
r ments final argument, and he had
} dropped upon the new soft grass, was
down the road, away to gypsy-land.
. They welcomed him, those artlos!
gypsy waits, made much Of him anC
claimed him one Of them. From tn,
first he was useful in counties
ways, lie bad a head for figures an,
balancing accounts, and saved tn,
lawless band many scrape. The,
o were kind enough, but he, too. di,
S his part.
Yet what had kept him there, en-
@ during hardships Of summer through
b and winter frostness, uncomplaining
I with brave grace? Was it that inne
sense Of scholarly investigation sub
0 fly asserting Itself? Was it the mer,
n obstinate braggadocio of boy, mis-
understood at home? Or was it.
\ something else?