Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1911-02-17

nypocrlte must pay, she reached up
quickly and took him in her arms and
Wept over him as those who sorrow
without hope, crying again and again.
~ my son Absalom, my son, my son
Apsalom! would God I had died for
tnee' . Absalom, my son, my son!"
CHAPTER XIV.
Once in a lifetime for every young
ling climbing the facile or difficult slope
OF the years there comes a day of real
ization, of sudden extension Of vision,
| of Rubicon crossing from the hither
shore of joyous and irresponsible adol-
escence to that further one of con-
sclous grapplings with the adult fac.
For Thomas Jefferson, grinding ten
ac1ously in the Boston technical school,
whittier he had gone late in the win
ter of Beersheban discomfort, the
stream- crossing fell in the spring of
the panic year 1898, what time he was
H. quarterback on his college elev-
en-, fit, hardy, studious and athletic: a.
pace setter for his fellows and the
prlde OF the faculty, but still little more
imam an oVergrown, care-free boy in
MS outlook on life. Glimpses there had
been over into the Promised Land Of
MANHOOD, but the trimming cup of coll
lege work and play quaffed in health
giving heartiness is the elixir of youth
The speculative habit of the boy slept
IN the college undergraduates. The days
were full, each of the things of itself,
and Ii Tom looked forward to the
workaday future-as he did by times
the boy1sh impatience to be at it was
gone. Chiawassee Consolidated was
moderately prosperous; the home let
tiers were mere chronicles of sleepy
Paradise. The skies were clear. and
the present was acutely present. Tom
studied hard and played hard; ate like
an ogre and slept like a log. And when
he finally awoke to find himself STUN
bling bewildered on the bank of the
epoch making Rubicon, he was over
and across before he could realize how
so narrow a stream should fill so vast
chasm.
Tom received a letter from his faith
er telling of the financial crisis, his
fear for the Chiawasse Consolidated
and asking his advice.
Tom found this letter in his mail
box one evening after a strenuous day
In the laboratory; and that night he
sat up with the corpse of his later
boyhood, though he was far enough
from putting 1t that way. His father
was in trouble, and the letter was
call for help. 1t seemed vastly incred-
ible. Thomas Jefferson's ideal of steady
courage, of invincible human puts
sance. was formed on the model of the
stout-hearted old soldier who had
fought under Stonewall Jackson. What
trumpet blast of alarm must have
sounded to make such a man turn to a
raw recruit for helpl
TITS up to me-" he mused land ia
like to know what I've been thinking Of
all this time. Why. pappy's old! he
was 40 before / was born. And I've
been here taking it easy and having
all sorts Of good time, while he's
been playing Sindbad to Duxbury Far
ley's Old Man of the Sea. Coming.
pappy!" he shouted; and forthwith
flung himself down at the table to
write letter that was to put new life
into weary old man who was fighting
against odds in the far-away South
land.
The lone soldier was to take heart
of grace, remembering that he had a
son; remembering also that the son
was now a man grown, stout of arm,
steady of head, and otherwise fighting
fit. If the storm should come, the
watchword must be to hold on all,
keeping steerage-way on the Chiawas-
see Consolidated craft at all hazards.
The June examinations were not far
off. and these disposed of, the man
son would be ready to lay hold. Mean
while, let Caleb Gordon, in his capacity
of principal minor stockholder insist
on a full and exact statement of the
company's affairs. and-here the new
manhood asserted itself boldly-let that
statement, or a copy Of it, come to
Boston by the first mail.
To this letter there was a grateful
reply in which Tom read with a smile
his fathers half bewildered attempt to
get over to the new point of view. 1t
began, Dear Buddy" and ended, Your
affectonate pappy," but there was
man-to-man matter between the salr-
tation and the signature. The inquiry
into the affairs of Chiawassee Consoli-
dated had revealed little or nothing
more than the general manager al
ready knew. The president had turn
ed the inquiring stakeholder over 70
~ ShthflA1S dhS pOOAhSSpSIs Win III
structions to give Mr.. Gordon the full
est possible information, and:
"Dyckman slid out of it, smooth and
easy like" Calem's letter went on. HE
allowed he was mighty busy, right
about then. Wouldn't just make my
self at home and examine the books
for myself? I reckon that was about
what Farley wanted him to do. I'm no
book expert and I couldn't make head
| or tail out of DycSman's spider tracks.
Looks to me like all the books are good
for is to keep people from finding
where the company is at. What little
| found out, young Norman told me
He says we're in hole, and the first
wagon-load of dirt that comes along
VIII bury US out of sight"
Tom, driven now with the closing
work of the college year, yet took time
to write another heartening letter to
the hard pressed old soldier. II had
been his good fortune to win the Clark
son prize for crucible tests. ana IN
have gained thereby . speaking ac-