Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1913-10-04

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one day as vas entering court
room met lawyer coming out.
Something in my appearance attracted
his attention. knew very we'll what
il was. for from childhood had been
used 10 exciting the attention of all
who SAW me. II was not |. but head
OF hair OF peculiar rcdncss. Words
describe only color; they seldom sug
sest an especial variety Of color. Mine
WIS OF variety that few persons had
ever seen before The lawyer stopped
the with the words One moment" and
stood looking AT me turning something
over in his mind. Presently he said:
Your name. please"
gave H.
Come IN here
He led me into M Office and said some
thing to a man ut ii desk. who filed In
blank and read me "a subpoena.
was ordered to b. present that after
noon IN the courtroom rs witness
When appeared I found that was
wanted IN q trial Tor murder What
astouishcd me was that the accused.
who was very respectable looking
man. possessed head of hair the same
color rs my own.
was placed beside him. and n wo.
man who was giving testimony was
called upon TO say which OF the two
myself or the accused. was the man
she had seen kin her husband She
looked US both over with a puzzled ex.
preston and finally pointed to me.
The incident produced quite a senSa
ton IN court and naturally filed me
with CONSERVATION. The lawyer at once
called FOR the discharge of the prisoner.
which was granted As for me, ! was
required TO prove where | had been mt
the time OF the murder. and had no
difficulty in suhstantiating the fact that
| was not within thousand miles OF
where the deed was done.
The only feature about the man
whose acquttal had secured that
fixed itself ON my memory was his
hair He was between thirty-tve ana
forty. while | was not more than TWEEN
~ Being In limbo. he had no oppor-
tunity TO thank the for having saved
him from the gallows. where he would
have gone had 1t not been for the sim
ilarity of our hair. but | noticed him
looking at me with great interest !
did not live in the place where he had
h.af. triad ..ss1 f.ff n- n g \ hn1
proved nm abb. So did not see any
thing more Of him.
Twelve years passed. years that had
not brought me success. ! was thirty
two and had not n cent In the world
Neither had | wife or children or
home think IL was the color OF my
hair that told against me. on apply
ing for n position the person 10 whom
| went would look at my head and
simultaneously reply. There are no
vacancies just now" And wherever
applied received the same reception.
The consequence was that from TWEEN
~ 20 thirty-two was most of the time
out of employment
But the end of this period brought
change. One afternoon just before the
closing hours Of business ! entered
mercantile house and asked to see the
head OF the concern \ gentleman
with coal black hair. in which there
was. despite his fifty years. not n sin
gle gray strand sat nj desk In pri-
vate Office So great was the contrast
between his and my own top adorn.
ment that | was sure | would receive
a curt refusal and was about TO turn
away when he lifted his eyes and saw
me. His gaze was first fixed on my
head then was directed 10 my coun-
tenance There WAS nothing for me To
do but approach him and make the
usual request
I'm hunting job said i've
been hunting one for months Indeed.
I'm So run down financially that I'm
ready 10 work for song"
received no reply for awhile. The
man sat staring nj me with u strange
look IN his eyes. and suspected that
he was thinking Of something else
Without waiting for his answer was
turning away when he stopped me.
"What can Won do:" he asked
ANY ordinary work
"Your namef"
gave II 10 him. and. taking up
check book. he wrote a check for $50
payable 10 my order and handed ii 10
me. | looked NJ II dumfounded
II haven't earned anything yet"
stammered
You look tired and hungry" was
the reply Report here tomorrow
morning aud you shall have a job"
was so used to attributing my mis-
fortunes 10 the color of my hair that
| now laid my good luck to the same
cause had nm idea that the mans
action had something to do with the
contrast between the glossiness OF his
raven locks and the disagreeable red
ness of mine Probably his had
brought him good fortune as mine had
brought me misfortune and made him
sorry tor me. At any rate. this was