Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1911-11-02
THE I'm
PEDDLER
He Was Chock Full of
Romance
BY F. A. mitchell.
Copyright by American Press Asso-

By F. A. mitchell
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911,

For heavens sake, why are you sat
isted to be a tin peddler?
For paradoxical reason. am
full of ideality and romance.
ldeality and romance In tin ped
0ler. Nonsense!
Yes; listen to me and will prove to
you that there can be romance even
In tin peddler. And because there
Is romance in me l enjoy my work,
1t gives me opportunity to dream, For
instance, l drive my reddling wagon
alonI a road of II bright spring morn
ing, The air is laden with the fra
GRANGE of opening buds. The birds
are chirping III the trees, fitting here
and there, one carrying bit of straw,
another string, another horSehatr
with which to build their nests. They
are Chattering at each other Just as
persons would do who were building
a house. White clouds are rolling
along silently on the horizon. On my
left forest trees rear their topmost
branches as II reaching toward the
blue sky, where n hawk Is sailing. On
my right and beneath me lies n lake,
Around about the country is patch
work of farms dotted with houses
was driving my wagon one even
ing in October, looking for place In
which To spend the night The woods
Were afame with patches of yellow or
scarlet. My eye was resting, as
supposed, on one of these, Il deep red,
but in another moment | saw that ii
was the setting sun shining on win
dowpane. drove on toward 1t and
stopped at little farmhouse beside
the road.
IIitching my team to the post before
the gate, went to the door and knock
ed There was no answer Looking
about | saw no signs of life. l missed
chickens scratching in the yard chill
dren's playthings on the porch, the
bark of a dog. The barn was closed
and locked. The place was deserted
Finding window where the curtain,
not hanging perpendicularly, left an
opening through which | could look
inside. | saw that the house was fur.
nished, l was peering into the living
room There We're n center table,
little library Of books, lounge, while
in fireplace were andirons ON which
were logs ready to be kindled.
The twilight was deepening and If l
went on l might be obliged to ride
miles in the dark before finding an
other place to stop for the night BY
breaking a pane of glass | could I'M
lock window. raise it and effect an
entrance. 1t remained to be seen II |
could put my team into the barn. l
succeeded in both. Having stabbed my
horses and fed them-there was fodder
at hand-I entered the house. Having
lighted the fire on the hearth, / ex-
plored every room. The beds were
made" though they gave evidence of
having remained so for long while.
There were provisions in the larder,
but time had rendered them useless
Fortunately | carried my own lunch
hamper. After finishing my explora-
tons | brought some water from the
well and, sitting before the cracking
fire, ate my supper.
For long while | sat and dreamed
of those who had occupied this house,
and why 1t had been deserted. The
appearance was not that Of having
been left temporarily, 1t rather gave
evidence Of having been left number
of years before. Who were these peo-
plef
I've heard 1t said that there are GER
tain scientists who from seeing bone
can tell the animal Of which 1t formed
a part. SO did | begin from my sur
roundings to form theories as to who
had occupied this house. There were
no toys; therefore there were no chill
dren. There were few mems and
a few women's garments; therefore
there must have been a married cou-
pie. On the wall among other pictures
was one OF those stiff photographs one
sees in the country-and. for that mat
ter. among city folks-of bridal cou-
pie. | inferred that 1t was n likeness
of those who had occupied the prem
ises. There were pictures OF old and
young persons, evidently the fathers
anu VI VI inv
and groom.
My first theory was that the house
had been occupied by young married
couple; that one had died and the
other had shut up the house just as II
was and gone elsewhere. Secondly, /
fancied that the couple who lived in IT
had quarreled and both left 1t 10 go
away by different paths. Thirdly, no
ticing the photograph Of sour look
ing old woman, concluded that the
family had been broken up by moth
er-in-law. Rummaging in an old desk.
/ came upon a check book, figures on
the stubs Of which indicated that he
bank account IT represented was large
ly overdrawn. This led me to fourth
theory-that the occupants had SUI.
fered from financial difficulty and this
was the cause Of the house having
been deserted
How many other theories ! might
have formed had my reYeries not been
intePr11Dfed I don't know The inter