The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-08-26

rock among the cedars; and for anoth-
or, among all the wild creatures of tho
mountain, your moonshiner Is the shy
est, being an anachronism in a world
Of progress. One bit Of news. however.
foated in on the gossip at Little Zoar.
1t related that Mans mother was dead,
and that the body had lain two days
unburied while like was drowning his
sorrow In sea Of his own .'pine-top."
vaguely 1t had been understood in
the Gordon household that Mr.. Dux-
bury Farley was a widower with two
,nlldren: boy. some years older than
Thomas Jefferson. at school in New
england, and girl younger, name and
place of sojourn unknown. The boy
was coming South for the long vaca-
tlon. and the affairs of the Chiawassee
Coal and Iron-already reaching out
toward the future re-
celyership-would call the first vice
president North for the better portion
OF July Would Mrs. Martha take pity
on motherless lad, whose health was
none of the best. and open her home to
Vincent?
MRS. Martha would and did; not UNI
grudglngly on the vice presidents ac-
count. but with many misgivings on
THOMAS Jefferson's. She was finding
the surcharged Industrial atmosphere
OF the new era inimical at every point
to the development of the spiritual pas
sion she had striven to arouse in her
son; to paving the way for the realiz-
ing OF that ideal which had first taken
form when she had written Reverend
Ihomas Jefferson Gordon" on the mar
gin OF the letter to her brother Silas.
AS 1t fell out, the worst happened
tnat could happen, considering the ap-
parent harmlessneSs of the exciting
cause. Vincent Farley proved to be IN
anemic stripping. cold, reserved, with
no surface indications of moral deprav-
lty, and with at least a veneer of good
breeding. But in Thomas Jefferson's
heart he planted the seed of disconten.
with his surroundings, with the home
ly old house on the pike, unchanged as
yet by the rising tide of prosperity, and
more than all, with the prospect of be-
coming a chosen vessel
1t was OF no use to bark back to the
revival and the heart-quaking expert
ences OF year agone. Thomas Jeffer-
son tried. but all that seemed to belong
to another world and another life.
What he craved now was to be like this
envied and enviable son Of good for
tune. who wore his Sunday suit every
day, carried beautiful gold watch, and
was coolly and complacently at ease,
even with Major Dabney and foreign
born and travelled Ardea.
Later in the summer the envy died
down and Thomas Jefferson developed
a pronounced case Of hero worship.
something to the disgust Of the colder
hearted, older boy. 1t did not last very
long. not did it leave any permanent
scars; but before Thomas Jefferson
was fully convalescent the subtle fiat
terry of his adulation warmed the sub
ject of 1t into something like compan-
ionshfp. and there were Dragging
stories of boarding school life and Of
the world at large to add fresh fuel TO
the fire Of discomfort
Though Thomas Jefferson did not
know it, his deliverance on that side
was nigh. 1t had been decided that
he was to be sent away to school, CHA
wassee Coal and Iron promising hand
somely to warrant the expense; and
the decision hung only on the choice
Of courses to be pursued
Caleb had marked the growing hum
ger for technical knowledge in the boy,
and had secretly gloried in it, Herr,
at least, was strong stream Of his
own craftsman's blood flowing in the
veins of his son.
1T d be a thousand pities to spoil a
good iron man and engineer to make a
poor preacher. Martha" he objected:
this for the twentieth time, and when
the approach of autumn was forcing
the conclusion.
Il know. Caleb; bou you don't under
stand" was the invariable retoinder.
You know that side of him, because
it's your side. But he is my son, too:
and-and. Caleb. the Lord has called
him!"
Hes only a little shaver yet. Let
him try the school in the city for a
year r 20. goin and comm on the rail-
roads. nights and mornin's, like the
Majors granddaughter. After that. We
might see."
Thomas Jefferson took his last after
noon for . ramble in the fields and
woods beyond the manor house, in that
part OF the valley az yet unfurrowed
ny SnV AAuuStHAdA PiOW.s AZ WhS not INt
old love Of the solitudes that called
him: 1t was rather q sore-hearted de-
sire to go apart and give place to all
the hard thoughts that were bubbling
and boiling within.
A long circuit over the boundary hills
brought him at length to the little glade
with the pool in It's center where he
had been fishing for perch on that day
| when Ardea and the great dog had
come to make him backslide. He won
dered ii she had ever forgiven him.
Most likely she had not She never
seemed to think him greatly worth
while when they happened to meet
He was sitting on the overhanging
bank. just where he had sat that other
day, when suddenly history repeated
itself. There was rustling In the
bushes; the Great Dane bounded out,
thought not a. before to stand men-
acing; and when he turned his head
she was there near him.
"Oh, it's you, Is lit" she said. coolly:
and then she called to the dog and made
as IL she would go away. But Thomas
Iefeeraox,,s heart was full and fr,ll