Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-04-13

tue was nothing to brag about 1t
was easy to be good when not ex-
posed to temptation. But for those
born with the devil in them it came
hard. 1t was all matter of heredity
and influence. Ones vices as we'll as
ones virtues are handed down to us
ready made. He had no doubt that
in the Jeffries family somewhere in the
unsavory past there had been a weak,
| vicious ancestor from whom he had
Inherited all the traits which barred
| his way to success
The crowds of hungry workers grew
bigger every minute. Every one was
elbowing his way into neighboring
restaurants, .crowding the tables and
buffets, all eating voraciously as they
talked aud laughed. Howard was
rudely reminded by inward pangs that
he, too, was famished. Not a thing
had passed his lips since he had left
| home in Harlem at eight o'clock that
morning and he had told Annie that
he would be home for lunch There
| was no use staying downtown any
| longer. For three weary hours he had
| trudged from office to Office seeking
employment, answering advertise
| ments, asking for work of any kind,
ready to do no matter what, but all to
no purpose. Nobody wanted him at
any price. What was the good of a
man being willing to work If there
was no one to employ him? A nice
lookout certainly. Hardly a dollar
left and no prospect of getting any
more. He hardly had the courage to
return home and face Annie. With
muttered exclamation of impatience
he spat from his mouth the half-con-
sumed cigarette which was hanging
from his lip, and crossing Broadway,
walked listlessly in the direction of
Park place.
He had certainly made mess of
things, yet at one time, not SO long
ago, what a brilliant future life
seemed to have in store for him! No
boy had ever been given better
start He remembered the day he
left home to go to Yale; he recalled
his fathers kind words OF encour-
agement, his mothers tears. All, if
his mother had only lived. Then,
maybe, everything would have been
different. But she died during his
freshman year, carried off suddenly
by heart failure. His father married
again. young woman 20 years his
junior, and that had started every
thing off wrong. The old home life
had gone forever. He had felt like
an intruder the first time he went
home and from that day his fathers
roof had been distasteful to him. Yes,
that was the beginning of his hard
luck He could trace all his misfor.
tunes back to that He couldn't stand
for stepmother. a naughty. selfish,
supercilious. ambitious creature who
had little sympathy for her predeces-
sor's child. and no scruple in show
ing it.
Then. at college, he had met Robert
Underwood, the popular upper class
man, who had professed to take
great fancy to him. He, timid young
freshman, was naturally f1attered by
the friendship of the dashing, fascinat.
ing sophomore and thus commenced
that unfortunate intimacy which had
brought about the climax to his trou-
bles. The suave. amiable Underwood,
whom he soon discovered to be a gen.
/; tleman,y scoundrel, borrowed his
money and introduced him into the
sporty" set, an exclusive circle into
which,. thanks to his liberal allowance
/, from home. he was welcomed with
4 j /. &