The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-09

Swear not at all. Let your com
 munications be yea, yea, and nay, nayp. quoted the apparition, his instrument drip ping oily gore. And the newcomer stared at him with a mixture of astonishment anger, and con- tempt.
 Better hang that up on a fence-post somewhars," he remarked dryly.e Some O tn boys might stand fur yore authority and improve thar morals accord in But" His glance ranged the artists close muselsd shape, from wide cowboy hat over clerical collar and tie to pant-smeared extremties and der changed the immediate personal defiance on his tongues tip to a suriy comment his opponents occupation. I shu'dnt think yud get enough to buy paint, let alone vittles an tobacky, passin tn sombrero to congregation 1arnin stray tex'es ofn of raiIs" he finished lamely.
 ".Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of GodI ," thrndered the luridly bedaubed decorator But again the horseman failed to take fire at his challenge His quick ear had caught the hiss and crackle of blaze and casting about for its locality his eye lit upon fresh object of interest. Half-concealed by the highways fringe of big Towering buckeye urked dingy little van, house on wheels, such as is used by waffle vendors and other quck-lunch in cities; and in its open end door stood gipsy-faced girl, listening. half smiling half sullen, to their sword-crossng.
 The traveller doffed his headgear with sheepish grin. "If I'd known thar was ladies present I'd a been more careful O my English" he apologized
 ~Man stands alway in the presence of his Makcr!" declared the painter, unappeased. But the girls level look met the strangers and in it he read re- beon: to what or whom he did not care; his spirit answered hers. "An tn comforts of home, tn stew-pot boin', an it's seven good miles to Watson's," he enume- rated blithely, "Cud yu take pore wayfarer in if he paid for his dinner?'
 Apparently they were accustomed to extending the courtesies of the road The black-browed bent h; ;de faaA k sheep" he answered. Sister Abigail, set third place at our humble board" And the girl, betray- ing neither pleasure reluctance. turned instantly within
 The stranger tossed her .quzzca glance, and, throwing his leg the pomme, slid sthly to the ground. He had been in the saddle since dawn, and the prospect of dismountng hour this side of his destination would have appealed had the brush wieder been alone this woodland sprite of the sub volcanic nien added sauce piquante to the menu although Jake Polhemus could not have worded his feelings to save his life: <,
 They were an oddly assorted couple to have stunn- bled upon in the open The who had storned their peripatetic outwords had hil-dwellers keen instinct for physiognomy, lumberman's sharp eye for slim feminine grace; and he wondered how came wood tints linked to that straighjawed male whose tropic- -bloomed neither attire served to emphasize his coat. Not but what the test-writer too, was sun-darkened and weather beaten. And the traveef traced an elusive likeness DeLWeen the two pdtcHly unlike faces.
 Painted 'yore way clean down from tn cty?" he asked with easy his beast freed of its trappings, dropped ecstatically into the dust The pent hollow orbs of his host lit with the proud light of fanaticism
 "An the continent from Chicago-Illinos Iowa, the Dakotas; in Montana, in Idaho, and Ore gon, and half down the length of California have made straight the way of the Lord" he proclaimed his itinerary baldly. Twice have we been ir jeopardy from floods; once we lost horse over cliff in the Rockies. Two full years the storms o winter have but multiplied my message: and tho 1anguor~ of this sun-kissed shore serves only, like the shadow of great rock in weary land, te strengthen our hearts for the desert reaches te come"
 The man from the sawmills above shook hi. cramped muscles very much the horse had done Don't tackle the desertl" he said sharply. "Tha1 ain't fences to paint trac's tn drum few thai is is made O wire Thar ain't God-blessed greer bush, let alone tree blade O grass nuthin but prckly cactus an dusty sagebrush that no horse c'n live Yu have to carry yore water-an' if i gives out yu go crazy tell yu Montany an Idyhc is play compared to southern Nevady an Arizony They warn't meant fur humankind, with thar hell hot sands an pizen springs"
 "Oh, hushp commanded a quickened voice, anc the girl Abigail brushed his sleeve. Dinner readyl" she announced, long lashes sweeping he dark cheek as if to deny her involuntary disclosure But the stranger was beginning to understand.