Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1913-02-27

stranger 10 RODDlnS, nlS nanQ 10 nlS
breast pocket.
"Only a pipe" answered Robbins.
He wished that he didn't feel an
absurd, morbid sympathy for the poor
fools pluck sneaking into his con-
sciousness.
What are we waiting for?" The
captain whispered 1t to mild-eyed,
short-bearded man next him; but the
captains whisper carried far. Jaw,
give him rope!" suggested the mild
eyed man: maybe he amt so sandy's
he seems"
Not seeming to recognize any chill
In his reception, the young stranger
approached the stove. No one moved
to admit him to the inner circle; this,
also, he did not seem to observe.
This whole country looks as II you
had been having hard times" he con-
tinued. His voice had full. rich, mag.
netic notes, but it's unfamiliar intona-
tions Jared on his hearers; they knew
them to belong to the east, and they
hated the east. "lts pretty sad to
ride through miles and miles OF farm
ing country and see the burned fence
posts that caught fire from the Gin
ders, just lying where they fell. and
the smoke not coming out OF one
farmhouse chimney in six. 1t looks
as If the farmers out this way had
simply given up the fight"
you've hit It," said the mild-eyed
man; they have. Some OF them have
moved away and some of them have
their stock on chattel mortgages and
lost their land TO the Improvement
company There ought to be lots of
ghosts on those abandoned farms and
in those houses where the fences are
down. This country Is full of ghosts
We amt much better than ghosts our
selves"
1T was the three dry years, I sup
pose"
That and the mortgage sharks and
the Shylocks from the east" old Cap
tain Sparks interrupted in venomous
tone; what pickings the drought lett
they got"
Pretty tough" said the stranger.
declining the combat again. There's
one man | want to meet here; his
name Is Russell-Doctor Russell"
The mi.d-eyed man explained that
his name was Russell; the other men
l,l nAA hat a
his little game?" whispered the cap
tain. 1T won't 60 whatever 1t is,"
said the man next him. Robbins heard
question and answer distinctly; but
the young fellow near him did not
vince. Are you the one that wrote to
Fairport. Doctor Russell? guess you
must be.
Yes, wrote to Fairport," said Rus
sell.
We'll. hope you liked the barrel
we sent, and the boxes. They were
going to send them to another place,
but your letter decided us. That's my
church. you know, which sent them.
And, for that matter. 1t was your let.
tCl III ol lui hCd my loShCA . oltSheAoh
to investing in your part Of the coun
try. Oh, tell me, where did that tea
go? My mother would send her best
London mixture"
WAS 1t your mother?' Robbins
spoke With red face and flash
Of his eye at the sullen group about
him, he withdrew his chair, making a
clear passage to the stove. I'D like
to thank her. then, and her son for
her; that tea and that ounce jam
whose was the ounce jam?"
Il rather think my mother put that
in. too"
We'll, 1t almost cured my wife: 1t
was better than medicine, that and
the tea, for, not to mention that we
couldn't get any medicine. 1t put heart
into her as medicine couldn't. won
der was 1t your mother, or who was 1t
put In that volume Of college songs?
got that You wouldn't think 1t. but
I'm a university man-Harvard-"
The young fellow caught his hand
and gripped 1t hard. Harvard? &c
am Martin Wallace, 49,"
MY name Is George Robbins, and
I'm a good deal farther back; and. as
you can see. I'm down on my luck.
But there's no need going into my
hard-luck story; it's like lot OF our
stories here. You see where we are
hardly shoes to our feet; not because
we have been shiftess or idle. or have
wronged anybody; yet the cutthroats
and thieves in the penitentiary have
had better fare and suffered less with
cold and hunger than we have. And
it's not that we are fools, either;
we're not uneducated. There are at
least three other college men in our
community; there's Doc Russell"
II am" drawled Russell; much
good it's done me; but won honors
at the University of Iowa."
II didn't win any honors, but went
to the state university-was grad
uated there before I went to Harvard.
But-you aren't Teddy Russell, Teddy
Russell of the Glee club and the foot
ball eleven?"
Yes, am Teddy Russell"
"E. D. Russell, of course; why didn't
l guess? You were there two years
before me, but daresay they are talk
ing of you still; and the way you won
a touchdown with a broken rib on
you, and the time all the rest of the
Glee club missed the train at Fair
port, going to Lone Tree, and you
went on with the banjoes and were
the whole thing for three-quarters OF
an hour! Well, I'm glad to meet you,
Doctor Let us have a good song or
two together after business"
T guess not" said the captain;
business first, young feller!"
Russell shook off the hand, mutter-
oh