Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-19

line torch held between his knees,
making his way through that part
Of the town where gas-lamps were as
yet unknown. He still further added
to his income by bill-posting and
paperhanging, for he belonged to the
rank and file Of life, with a place in
the procession well toward the tail.
But Custer had no suspicion of this.
He never saw his father as the world
saw him. He would have described
/ his eye as piercing; he would have
said, in spite OF the slouching uncer-
tainty that characterized all his move
ments, that he was as quick as a
cat, and 1t was only Custer who de-
tected the note of authority in the
meek tones of his fathers voice.
And Custer was as like the senior
Shrimplin as 1t was possible for il
to be like As. His mother said: He
certainly looks for all the world like
his par but her manner of saying it
left doubt as to whether she re-
ioiced in the fact; for while
Mr.. Shrimplin was undoubtedly
hero to Custer. he was
not and never had been and never
could be hero to Mrs Shrimplin.
She saw in him only what the world
saw-a toop-shouldered little man
who spent six days of the seven In
overalls that were either greasy or
pasty.
1t was vagary of Mr.. Shrimplin
that ten reckless years of his life had
been spent in the West, the far West,
the West of cow-towns and bad men;
that for this decade he had flourished
on buckng broncos and in gilded bars,
the admired hero of a variety of deft
homicides. Out of his inner con-
seriousness he had evolved a sprlghtly
epic of which he was the central fig
ure, a figure, according to Custer
firm belief, sinister, fateful with DIE
jingling silver spurs at his heels and
iron on his hips, whose speciality was
manslaughter.
In the creation of his romance ne
might almost be said to have ac-
uuired literary habit OF mind, 10
which he was measurably helped by
the fiction he read.
Custer devoured the same BOOKS
the crime of plagiarism, nor guessed
that his choicest morsels of adVeh-
ture involved felony. Mrs. Shrimp
lin felt it necessary to protest:
mo telling with what nonsense you
are filing that boys head!"
81 hope" said Mr.. Shrimplin, mar
rowing his eyes to a slit, as if he ex-
pected to see pictured on the back OF
their lids the panorama of Custer
future. 81 hope l am filing his head
with lust nonsense enough so he VIII
never crawfish, no matter what Rno
of q proposition he goes up against!
Custer colored almost guiltily
Could he ever hope to attain to the
grim standard his father had set for
him?
81 wasn't much older than him
when shot Murphy at Forth Worth
continued Mr.. Shrimplin, You've
heard me tell about him, son--oio one
eye Murphy Of Texacana?
"He died, 1 SUPPOSE said Mrs
shrimplin, wringing out her dish-rag
"Dear knowsl / wonder you ain
been hung long ago!p
Did he diet" rejoined Mr.. shrimp
lin. ironically well, they usually die
when I begin to throw lead!" lie
tugged fiercely at the ends OF ms
dropping fiaxen mustache and gazeo
into the wide and candid eyes of his
son.
Like | should give you the par
ticulars, Custer?' he inquired.
Custer nodded eagerly, and MI
Shrimplin cleared his throat.
"He was called One-eye Murphy be-
cause he had only one eye-he'd ios'
the other in a rough-and-tumbie nghti
it had been gouged out by a felier
thumb Murphy got the feller's ear
chewed it off as they was rolling over
and over on the floor, so you might
say they snapped even."
II wonder you'd pick on an afflicteo
nerson like that" observed Mrs
Shrimplin.
"Aff1ictedi Well, he could see more
and see further with that one eye
than. most men could with four"
Il should think four eyes would be
confusin'," said Mrs Shr.mplin.
Mr.. Shrimplin folded his arms
across his narrow chest and per-
mitted his glance to follow Mrs.
Shrimplin's ample figure as she
moved to and fro about the room;
and when he spoke again gentle
melancholy had crept into his tone.
II dunno but a man makes a heap
of sacrifices he never gets no credit
for when he marries and settles down.
The ladies amt what they used to
be. They look on a man now pretty
much as a meal-ticket. 1 guess if a
Teller chewed off another feller's ear