Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-07-04

found myself listening half-expectant-
ly for the words of a song that for q
moment could not recall; then sud
denly knew what they were, that lit
tie. soaring, all-triumphant song OF
Pippa's: SIS.
THE years at the spring
And days at the morn;
Mornings at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snails on the thorn:
Gods in his heaven
Ais right with the world!" a.t
Nancy was lost but l should find
she thought of me and loved me;
knew that in, spite of pain and sor-
row and suffering all was right with
the world.
Because he was dour and glum and
dirty let one driver with perfect
ly good taxi pass me unsignaled. His
successor I chose with Satisfaction;
for he was smiling and rosy young
fellow, as spick and span and debonair
as the driver of an English fourth
hand, and, like that mighty person,
bore himself with jaunty, assertive
professionalism and sported boun-
tonniere of violets.
"Are you game for job that may
take us almost all day?' l asked him.
"Right-O," said the driver, and
threw open the door.
I am afraid that we broke the speed
law continually, but thousand others
must have been breaking 1t too; all
the world goes faster and more vigor-
ously on such a day. We lodged In
and out Of heavy traffic, skidded about
corners, and stopped, when perforce
we must stop, with a miraculous and
not unpleasant abruptness It got to
be kind of routine; as got out at
one place would give him the num-
Der of the next, and having made my
inquiries would find the tonneau door
thrown open for me, and the cab leap
ing forward even as sprang into It.
And although place after place I drew
blank, yet we seemed to move forward
with such a swift fatality, that no
single failure, or series OF failures,
seemed important or discouraging.
Once In the neighborhood OF Madi-
son Square, we made detour to visit
a laberdasher, whose name the scarf
lore; but there, also, failed, was
right they told me, in supposing that
they made few ties Of one design:
they had made only twelve Of this
particular silk but it was year since
they had had 1t in stock, and they
could not in the least recall the Gus
toners who had bought them. Indeed,
they sold many things to people who
were not rated as regular customers
80 ~ 20 =
somewhat national, and transient yisi.
tors in New York from all parts Of
the country were apt to drop in and
make few purchases, as regular
part Of their schedule Of doing the
town"
But If you could in some way find
out the gentleman's name, sir" the
manager politely told me, I'VE should
be very glad to inform you whether
or not the gentleman is on ohf books,
and perhaps supply you with his adj
dress" g
This l considered good-natured Of
the manager, and more than had any
right to expect; for the torn tie and
my possession Of it evidently made
him curious, and yet neither told
how came by 1t, nor why I was so
anxious to find its owner; and In adj
dition l did not trade there myself, so
think 1t must have been the day
which had something to do with his
unusual attitude.
1t was not long after this, however,
that i first picked up the trail of the
laundry I was looking for had got
well uptown, and the distances be-
tween shops were growing shorter
and shorter, when I found man to
whom my collar and Its mark Of NJ 48
meant something.
THAT wasn't done here" he said,
"but can tell you where 1t was done.
l happen to know, for was once fore.
man in the place. You go to Slater's,
on Park avenue, between Seventy.
fifth and Seventy-sixth streets, and
they will tell you whom that collar
belongs to in two jiffies"
Speed her up" I said to my driver.
And although it seemed to me that he
was going more slowly than before,
yet | think he must really have been
hurrying; for we were stopped at
Sixty-eighth street by traffic police
man, who lectured him long and with
impassioned fervor, and told us the
only reasons why we were not arrest
ed was that he had never seen my
driver before, and that for the mo-
ment he couldn't be spared from his
beat. Through it all fidgeted like a
man going to catch an ocean steamer:
for, now that this part OF my search
was so nearly at an end, became sud
denly impatient and filled with a new
anxiety. Slater, I thought, might be
going ont at any moment and we
would not find him. He might be
even going into the country, SO that
could not see him that day; and per.
haps no one else in the establishment
would have the information l wanted,
or having it would dare to give 1t In
the proprietor's absence.
With a sudden twist the taxicab
thc, ha1. L sc,a Oh