The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-15
THE WAY
 OF A MAN
By EMERSON HOUGH
Copyright, ICO7. by the Outing Publishing
 Company


 would have put out an arm for fur ther mistreatment. but all at once pulled up. What was I coming to. I. John CowIes. this morning when the bees droned fat and the flowers made fragrant all the air? l was DO boy. but man grown. and, ruthless as l was l had all the breeding the land could give me. full Virginia training as to what a gentleman should be. And gentleman. unless he may travel all road. does not set foot foo far into 1. when he sees that he is taken at what seems his wish. So now l said hoy glad I was that she had come bacI from school. though a fine lady nov and no doubt forgetful of her friends of myself. who once caught young rab bits and birds for her and made pens for the little pink pigs at the orchard edge and all of that. But she had no mind. it seemed to me. to talk of these old days and. though now some sori O. vail seemed to me to arise between us us we sat there on the bank blow ing at dandelions and pulling looS, grass blades and humming a bit ot tune now and then as young persons will. still, thick headed as I was, fl was in some way made apparent to me that I was quite as willing the wall should be there as she herself was will ing.
 My mother had mentioned Miss Grace Sheraton to me before. My ia ther had never opposed my riding oyef now and then to tho Sheraton gates There were no better families in our county than these two. There was nc. reason why I should feel troubled. Yet -rd fr4a xt,- hilltops where the red rond appeared to leap of sheer to meet the distau- rim of the Blue Ridge 1 seemed tC hear some whispered warming. l was young and wild as any deer In those hills beyond Had if been any enter prise scorning settled ways, had 1t been merely a breaking of orders and following of my own will, I sup pose 1 might have gone on. But there are ever two things which govern an adventure for one of my sex. He may be man, but he must also be a gen tleman- l suppose books might be written about the war between those two things He may be a gentleman sometimes and have credit for being a soft headed fool. with no daring 10 approach the very woman who has contempt for him. whereas she may not know his reasons for restraint. So much for civilization. which at times l hated because it brought such prob lemS. Yet these problems never cease. at least while youth lasts. and no com munity is free from them. even so quiet one as ours there in the valley of the old Blue Ridge before the wars had rolled across it and made all the young people old.
 was of no mind to end my wiIdness and my roaming just yet. and stin seeing that l was by gentleness of my Quaker mother and by sternness of my Virginia father set In the class of gen. tlemen I had no wish dishonorably to engage a woman's heart. Alas. was not the first to learn that kissing is a most difficult art to practice.
 had enough to do when it came to mounting my horse Satan. Few cared to ride Satan. since it meant a battle each time he was mounted He was a splendid brute. black and clean, with abundant bone in the head and a bril- liant eye-blood all over. that was easy to see. Yet he was a murderer at heart. He would fight man. dog or devil. and fear was not in him, nor any real submission. My father al- ways told me that this horse was not fit to ride. but since my father rode him. as he would any horse that of fered, nothing would serve me but 1 must ride Satan also. and so l made him my private saddIer on occasion.
 l ought to speak of my father. that very brave and kindly gentleman from whom I got what daring ever had. I suppose He was clean cut man five eleven in his stockings. and few men in all that country had handsomer body. Fair play meant with him some thing more than fair play for the sake of sport-it meant as well fair play for the sake of justice. Temperate to the point of caring always for his bOdy's welfare. as regular in his habits as he was In his promises and their fulfllments. kindling readily enough at any risk. though never boasting. I always admired him. l fear that at the time mention now admired him most for his strength and courage.
 Thus as I swung leg over Satan that morning l resolved to handle him as ! had seen my father do, and l felt strong enough for that. 1 remembered in the proud way a boy will have the time when my father and 1 riding through the muddy streets of Leesburg town together saw 9 farmers wagon stuck midway of a crossing.
 Come. Jack" my father called me i've must send Bill YarnIey home his family. Then we two dismoun
 d and, stooping in the mud. got O.
 wo shoulders under the axle of [
 agon. before we were done with
 lr blood getting up al the laughi
 the townsfOik. When we heav
 ,cether out came Bill Yarniey's WI
 n from the mud. and the laugh
 nded. 1t was like him-he would
 top when once he started. Why.
 was so he married my mother. t. very sweet Quakeress from the fC of old Catoctin. He told me she sa. him no many times. not liking his wi ways. so contrary to the manner 0 the Society of Friends. and she oni