The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-09-11


 real life romance of today. CHAPTER I.
 KNIGHT ERRANT.
 TN the heart of the foothills, in a basin where two rivers meet to
 form a mighty third, lies the Steel
 City. To see it you must journey by night along its rivers, whose vel low, placid waters, refecting the lights of hundred steamers, seem field of gold incrusted with diamonds, rubies and emeralds Mile after mile you pass by mills, mills, mills-nothing but fnills-magniicen monuments to the inventive and adaptive genius of man. Thousands of black faced, muscular Titans rush hither and thither, swift, methodical, earnest, single purposed. But even this powerful army, levied from the worlds strongest, is pygmy- like beside the marvellous mechanism, which works, seemingly, of its own will, unerring, unfaltering, unceasing, irresistible. Rivers of molten metal flow beneath your gaze. Massive in gots of white hot iron, beyond the strength of men to lift, swing easily on the cranes from cast to car. Fiery serpents of steel writhe and plunge as though obsessed by the spirit of hell that broods over the smithy of the world This is the Steel City.
 He was standing at the window in one of the city's bleakest tenements, a ragged, dirty faced boy. In the years he remembered of his ten he had known no other surroundings. Of what went before he knew-was to know-nothing. From without came the sound of shuf1ing, uncertain foot steps. He turned in an attitude of sul- den expectancy.
 s'n he ncks me again I'll run away,' he muttered. The faded drudge who shared the room with him nodded hopelessly.
 The door opened and the relic of what had once been a man entered. ssMy felish' 'tashuns, ghentle partner f ny jhoysh an shorrowsh," he ad- dressed the woman in drunken irony. "Wha've y got t eatr'
 'sNothing."
 "An' why not, faithful Penerpe? I'll have you know Pm hungry. Woman, I'm hungry! Why not?"
 'No money" answered the woman listlessly, hopelessly.
 ''No money? That reminsh me- Where'sh that Bob? Oh, there y'are, v little devil You got ny moneyY' How'd get any money?' demand. ed the boy sullenly.
 Beg it-shteal it-it'sh all one t'me' "Ain't beggar, ain't thief" said the boy dogpedly.
 In a sudden unexpected movement the drunken man lurched toward the boy and with one hand seized him by the collar and with the other picked up stout stick. For a time Bob sub united to the beating in stoic silence horrible in such a mite of humanity devoting his energies to the unsuc cessful effort to dodge the descending stick until blow of unusual force fell upon his shoulder. Then his dirty face w:s distorted with pain and hate His clinched lips parted in the shrill scream of wounded tiger cub. Quick as thought he seized the hand that grasped the stick and buried his teetl dn the flesh until they met the bone lUttering a howl, the drunken brute dropped to the floor, rolling in agony The boy darted through the door, pull ed up a loose board in the hall and drew out the sum total of his worldly iwealth-a single dime. Then his flight Twas resumed.
 He did not cease running until ths tumbledown tenement district was fa] behind him. Then he set his face to ward the downtown business section,
 A portly. gentleman of good nature6 aspect came toward him. The boy iholdly accosted him.
 Say, mister, where can I buy some papers?"s
 i've no money for you," answered fhe gentleman impatently.
 Don't want any money. Got all want" the boy said sturdily.
 The gentleman laughed That's more than I have. my youthful Croesus Fress office, Fifth avenue, three biock down"
 And the boy trudged bravely on hi
 skz5ugh ft1R crowded thorougs fare, unmindful or smarting shoulders his fortune grasped tightly in his fist.
 The statement that his fortune wa carried in his fist is true in two sense of the word. for, when he had expend ed his treasure in copies of that orgal of publicity known as the Press. witt the instinct of genius he sought thu most crowded corner of the city's busi est avenue. Here an unforeseen ob stacle met our young knight errant Hardly had he begun to cry his wares when another "newsie,. who had pre- empted the corner, swaggered up tt