Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1910-06-15
FRANCIS LYNDE

PEELED Writing to the Reverend Silas !
at the moment of Toms dismissal. the |
principal could voice only his regret
and disappointment. It was most sin
gular case. During his first and second
years Thomas had set high mark ana
had attained to 1t. On the spiritual side
he had been somewhat on-committal.
to be sure. but to offset this, he had
deeply interested in the preparatory
theological studies, or at least he hail
appeared to be-
But on his return from his first
summer spent at home there was a
marked change in him, due, SO thought
Doctor Tollivar to his association with
the rougher class Of workmen in thu
iron mills. 1t was as If he had sud
denly grown older and and harder, and
the discipline of the school, admirable
as the Reverend Silas knew 1t to be.
was not severe enough to reform him.
1t grieves me more than I can tell
you, my dear brother to be Obliged to
confess that we can do nothing more
for him here" was the concluding par
agraph of,the principals letter, land
to add that his continued presence
with us is menace to the morals Of
the school. When say that the Of
Tense for which he is expelled is by no
means the first, and that It is the dou-
BILE one of gambling and keeping in
toxicating liquors In his room, you will
understand that the good lrepute OF
Beersheba was at stake. and there was
no other course open to u.s."
Thomas Jefferson turned his back on
three and half years of Beersheba.
with hot tears in his eyes and an angry
word on his lips. The Pintsch lights
were burning brightly in the Pullman,
and these-and the tears-bllnded him.
Some Of the sections in the middle Of
the car were made down for the night.
and while he was stumbling In the
wake of the porter over the shoes and
the handbags left In the aisle. the
train started.
Lower ten. sah." said the black boy,
and went about his business In the lin
en- locker. But Tom stood balancing
himself with the swaying Of the car
and staring helplessly at the occupant
of lower twelve. young girl in a gray
travelling coat and hat. sitting with her
face to the window.
4 Why. you-somebody!" She exclaim-
ed. turning to surprise him in the ac.
of glowering down on her. do YOU
know. thought there might be Just
one chance in thousand that you'd no
home for Christmas. so made the por-
/ ter tell me when we were coming to
Beersheba. Why don't you sit down."
| Tom edged into the opposite seat ana
shook hands with her, all in miserable,
comfortless silence. Then he blurted
| out:
IF I'd had any idea you were on this
train. I'd have walked
Ardea laughed. and for all his mis-
cry he could not help remarking how
much sweeter the low voice was grow
ing, and how much clearer the blue of
her eyes was under the forced light Of
the gas-globes.
"You are just the same rude boy.
aren't you?" she said, leniently. Are
there no girls in Beersheba to teach
you how to be nice?'
7 didn't mean 1t that way" he has
tened to say. I'm always saying the
wrong thing to you. But IL you only
knew, you wouldn't speak to me; much
less let me sit here and talk to YOU.
III only knew what? Perhaps you
would better tell me and let me Judge
for myself" she suggested; and out of
the past came flick Of the memory
whip to make him feel again that she
was immeasurably his senior
| Tn expelled" he said, bluntly.
"Oh!" For full minute, as 1t SEEM
ed to him. she looked steadfastly out
of the window at the wall of blackness
fitting past, and the steady drumming
of the wheels grated on his nerves and
| got into his blood. When 1t was about
to become unbearable she turned and
gave him her hand again. Pm just as
sorry as can bel" she declared. and
the slate-blue eyes confirmed 1t.
ut was this way: three of the boys
came to my room to play cards-be-
cause their rooms were watched.
didn't want to play-oh. I'm none too
good; this In answer to something
in her eyes that made him eager to tell
her the exact truth-"Pve done 1t lots
of times. But that night I'd been
thinking ! just didn't want to-
that's all. Then they said was afraid.
and of course that settled it."
"Of course" she agreed, Loyalty.
Wait; I want you to know 1t ALL"
he went on. doggedly. when Martin
he's the Greek and Latin, you know
slipped up on us. there was bottle
Of whisky on the table. He took down
/ WI AhthCSs dho IhcII At pOlHleQ ne
bottle. and said, Which one of you does
that belong to-? Nobody said any
thing, and after it began to get sort OF
well. kind Of monotonous, picked
up the bottle and offered him drink,
and put 1t In my pocket. That settled
me-"
But it wasn't yours" she averred.
His smile was a rather ferocious
/ ryr{r oyB$ nJl sk
way: and I've got 1t yet. Now see
here: that's my berth over there and
I'm going over to It, You needn't let
on like you know me any more"
"Fiddle!" she said making face st
him. you say that like little boy
trying. oh. so hard, to be man. I'll
believe you are Just as bad as ban can
be. II you want me to; but you mustn't
be rude to me. We don't play cards or
drink things at Carroll College, but
| we can't help knowing"
Tom was soberly silent for the space
of half a hundred rail-lengths Then he
said ::"I wish I'd had sister; maybe
1t would have been different"
mo. indeed. 1t wouldn't You're go
ing to be just what you are going to
be. and dozen sisters wouldn't make
any difference"
One like you would make lot OF
difference" 1t made him blush and
have slight return of the largeness OF
hands; but he said 1t.
She laughed. That's nice. But /
mean what say Sisters wouldn't
help you to be good. unless you really
wanted to be good yourself. They're
just comfortable persons to have
around when you are taking your
whipping for being naughty"
We'll, that's good deal isn't it?"
!, Again she made the adorable little
face at him. do you want me to be
your sister for a little while-till yo,,
get out of scrape? Is that what you
are trying to say?"
He took heart of grace. for the first
time in three bad days. Say Ardea:
I'm hunting for sympathy; just as I
used to long time ago. But you
mustn't mix up with me. Pm not worth
it."
"oh. suppose not; no boy is. But
tell me; what are you going to do