The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1910-08-26
The New Leaf


John Henry Ellington walked. slow
ly along the dusty road. his prospect
ing tools slung over his back. TIL
hot sun beat down pitilessly and In
tensified the headache which he ha'
fairly earned the night before. TIL
debauch had not been his first, and h
was too experienced hand to con
slider 1t his last. And yet he abused
himself roundly as he walked the un
familiar road. He had shaken tn,
dust OF Jimtown from his feet, ant
hidden goodby forever to that para
disc of the iniquitous.
He stepped to one side of the road
at the sound Of wheels. without look
ing up.
"Whoa!" sounded CHEEKY voice
as the brake grated on the wheel
"Hev lift, stlangerT
John Henry smiled up out of pair
OF very honest blue eyes. wal, l
guess-rather," he answered, fiinging
his pack into the wagon and climbing
over the wheel
All b5LI QuGIl6u LILO uTlV6T.
"No-hold on a minute" said John
Henry, reaching his long arm for his
battered property Thank you." he
said. cordially, as he clambered down
The man drove on, mystified, while
John Henry explained his reasons to
himself. 1T was kind OF him to offer
1t. an you didn't like to hurt his
feelings by gittin' down. Oh, mol
nor your own neither That war the
principal tking-your own. Now, you
lazy, drunken. worthless old repro
bate. hit the trail You lost your
chance for lift last night. Foot IT,
The John Henry who ordered John
Henry to foot 1t" smiled whimsically
at the feet Of the one who obeyed him.
The shoes. which had danced the
night before in Billy McGuires sa-
loon as badly as they had been fitted
for 1t, were yet less fitted for travel
"Hard lines, old man. laughed John
Henry. But pay UP. pay up square.
VIII We be coward as well as every
thing else?"
AS he strode along, he thought It
all over. What muddle he had made
OF things. Five years of prospecting
and nothing to show for it--not even
decent pair of shoes. Well, he had
had some fun-rather!- IL II
had left bad taste In his mouth, and
made a fool of himself times without
number. What had started him on
his 1aunt he hardly knew--the I'm.
preston had been too vague. And his
wits had not been collected enough
to know that girls gray eyes. look.
Ing up at him through the smoke in
McGuire's saloon, were Just the shade
OF another girls eyes, though the girls
were as different as light and dark
ness, thank God!
He laughed little as he recalled
the events Of the preceding night. A
big fool he had been--as usual. OF |
what use had 1t been, emptying ont
his hard-earned gold dust. into the lit. |
tie soiled hand that closed greedily |
over 1t? lmploring her with drunken. |
maudlin tears and paternal embraces
to take 1t and return to her father"
Well, she would return-to Billy
McGuires saloon, or some other-and |
80 would he, At least, as soon as he
had seen Martha-hls little Martha
his little, brown Martha. with the
clear gray eyes, whose lips knew no
guile; who had believed In him when
the others had cast him off as the too
plentiful crop OF wild oats fiourished
and grew tall. Yes, he understood
quite we'll now the longing that had
been on him. 1t was Just to see Mar.
tha that he had started out-not that
ne had right or wish to seek her
but just to look at her once more.
himself unseen, and remember forever
after that God had made some women
good. Twenty miles and forty miles,
twenty again. a scaht eighteen, and
there you We're Not many miles 10
have separated two so widely.
He stepped out briskly, and as the
night closed In saw Just ahead of him
'hV N"Ahhihh il6HtS Vi lltIi0 Town,
Tie stood for moment, watching.
hen turned aside and lay down ON a {
little bank. his hands clasped under 1
ais head. Failure marked every mile,
stone he had passed. but sense of |
'ietory possessed him, as he knew a
own-~a mining town--lay Just ahead |
II him. You'd like to. you skunk"
le upbraided himself, IAN still | I
Won't let ye, II ye stand by Martha's 4
rate, itll be as a man Ave days
Iober." II
On the second day the old shoes re. 4
used to accompany him further. and t
lie traded" his prospecting tools for I
IN il,titting pair. He felt strangely
'etter afterward, He had burned his q
ridges; 1t was the end of the gam. $
'ler's life. the gamblers unrest. 10 /
you'd TIL the soil as his father and {