The Detroit times., 1913-07-18

Aurelie had been the bond that held
him 10 his niece's family--it made
something of home for her, mean as
IL might be.
They were well through the meal
when the woman's brother, Albert.
came IN. He sided 10 the tin basin
by tne window, took OFF his celuloid
cuffs and began TO wash his thin red
wrists, like a man who would rather
not be sGuarely seen, ne snuffed the
cold water into his struggling beard
as If II put sting into his rabbits
heart. He combed his hair and pulled
on his cuffs and sat down with a fatu-
Gus smile A man of towns. he had
followed the family from Chicago
because he was too weak to stand
alone, always the under dog, finding
odd Jobs about the country; can
vasSer and agent, forever the receipt
ent OF catalogues and contracts from
mail-order houses and manufacturers
and medical fakirs. forever talking up
his nostrums and gim-cracks, ped
ding about the farms and villages; a
ringer OF door-bells. a beseecher of
women, pleader 10 buy, shutting
in an dout of gates with his pitiful
cards and dodgers-one of those men
who sit TO be preached 10 and stand
In line 10 be counted with his weak
chin and fiaring ears and vapid eyes
bulging-one OF those men in short.
whom the undertakers are forever
burying
John, the burly religious fanatic.
with his defeated bull strength, hated
him-at best he gave the tolerating
contempt of the man of overalls for
the shabby collar-and-cuffs pretense
OF the peddler-collar always soiled,
cuffs always frayed Lindstrom
glowered at him a moment and went
on eating.
"Ah, the good soup" said the ped
der, warming his hands over its
steam-'it puts heart in a man. Mich
igan, you can dig your potatoes on
this-and Knute. it'll get your les
sons, eh?" He smiled vaguely al the
boys-he really felt like somebody
tonight, for he had earned two dol
lars and he was planning how he
could present il to them all raking
over his sordid store OF cheer and
evasions before handing II out His
sister, with the ailing baby, tried to
warn him; they both had had their
strength sucked out by the great
Danes masterfulness-they were not
yet far enough removed from their
hill-cracker ancestry to find assertion
in the air of the North.
Michigan looked at him craftily: ne
knew Johns mood of murder, and Al
bert, the fool, was tempting it. Its
GOBLIN muttered the patriarch
There's "a nip o frost done comm
this way. It's time the fodder was
in :"
We'll, Well said the peddler with
his cracked gaiety, "therell be work
for Knute and Peter after school this
week"
The wife glanced up. Would they
never get off this topic of the school.
ing? John put his heavy hand across
the table.
"There'll be no more schooling"
'Ah, John" the wife walled, will
you ruin us all with your pride?
Therell be an honest way for us all
yet"
The peddler fdgeted with the but
ton of some church league on his
lapel. Down in his crouching soul
some faith flickered which gave him a
martyrs comfort against Johns as
cetic will The Lord will provide"
he sniffled-"the Lord be by We, John"
He was facing the winter in his
scanty summer suit, but he could give
cheerfully his two dollars TO the fam
lily if il was Lords work"
Lords providing. and not mans"
growled John. and he flayed them all
again with his turbulence He had
changed in the night from a stolid. yet
all-caring father TO an inward burning
fanatic, . a hunted outlaw of spirit.
They could not voice the fright he
gave them When he looked at his
sons they could not eat. so fearful were
they OF this new father. this new man
OF the jail. His glance went about
the silent faces. Where's Aureli?
The girls not here he went on.
She's plannin' her new dress. the
mother quavered, with some woman
In town. Shed have il new now, and
then lay il away for the party at high
school. John, man. she'd be the pref
test of them all with the new dress.
Michigan here, he tried TO save the
money, didn't We. uncle?'
(Cortinued)