The Washington herald., 1913-07-13
ways the under dog, finding odd job.

ways the under dog, finding odd jobs
about the country; a canvasser and
agent, forever the recipient of cata-
logues and contracts from mail-order
houses and manufacturers and medicali
fakirs, forever talking up his nostrums
and gimcracks, peddling about the
farms and villages; a ringer of door
BELLS. beseecher of women, a pleader
to buy, shutting in and out of gates
with his pitiful cards and dodgers-one
of those men who sit to be preached
to and stand in line to be counted,
with his weak chin and haring 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-coliar always soiled, cuffs
always frayed Lindstrom glowered at
him moment and went on eating.
"Ah, the good soupp said the ped
dler, warming his bands over its
steam-"it puts heart in man. Mich
igan, you can dig your potatoes on
this-and Knute, it'll get your lessons,
eh?" He smiled vaguely at the boys
he really felt like somebody tonight,
tor he had earned Sc and he was plan
ming how he could present it to them
all, raking over his sordid store of
cheer and evasions before handing it
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 tar enough removed from their hill
cracked ancestry to find assertion in
the air Of the North.
Michigan looked at him craftily; he
knew Johns mood of murder, and Al
bert. the fool, was tempting it. "Its
eoolin-" muttered the patriarch.
There's a nip O frost done comm this
way. It's time the fodder was in"
well, WE'LL said the peddler with
his cracker gayety, "thereql 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
''There1l be no more schooling"
"Ah, John" the wife walled, will
you ruin US all with your PRIDE
There1l be an honest way for US all
yet"
The peddler fidgeted with the button
Of some church league on his lapel.
Down in his crouching soul some faith
flickered which gave him a martyrs
comfort against Johns ascetic will.
The Lord will provide" he shifted
the Lord be by We, John" He was
facing the winter in his scanty summer
suit, but he could give -cheerfully his
s. to the family If it was Lords
work"
Lords providing. and not mans"
growled John. and he fayed' 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. the new
man of the Jail His glance went
about the silent faces. Where's Azure
liee The girls not here" he went on.
She's plannin' her new Dress" the
mother quavered. with some woman
in town. Shed have it new now, and
then lay it away for the party at high
school. John, man, she'd be the pref
tiest OF them all with the new dress
Michigan here, he tried to save the
money, didn't We. uncle?'
Michigan laughed softly: his hairy
face lit yp. The scared lads let down
from their strain. Aurelie! She could
brighten even the meagerness of the
quarry shanty, then.
She's too much attention now"
growled John. "She's got some French
trick of making every loafer at the bill
lard corner look at her. She's better
away from gowns and parties-aye.
and that priest from Earlville over
every month to talk to her. I'll not
have it-she's too much in the towns
eye for a, decent girl"
BE STILL" Knute blurted out of the
sob in his throat, She's coming"
The eyes of all followed to the door.
Even John die not raise his black hu-
NOR now she was here. She was in
the door. listening with triae of self
consciousness, the long lashes of her
eyes quivering. Then she was among
them, dropping breathlessly, as if from
a run. into the chair at Michigan's side
anu iooklIS ABOUT WIFI an OQQ, Qenant !
gayety. Then she held her plate forth /!
decisiveay, with child's prompting.
Mother, I'm hungry. Sos Peter"
she caught up the boys plate and held I
It,. with a bright, sidelong glance Of
affection at the tow-headed Danish boy. !
The woman helped them with a mur-
muir. Michigan's black secured paw
came to ,urelie's slim hand under the
table. Then she kissed him. 1t was a
strange drama in the acrid assembling
of human feeling, that held in the
quarryman's house. But it stood like /
a bloom against their meagerness. She
had called the gaunt cracker woman
mother but she could not have been
farther from them all if she had
stepped from a child's story book. The /
two foster brothers looked with un-
easy fondness on this daughter of the
South who was scolding them now in
some playful vivacity for their. dirty
hands. When she talked she leaned in
a pose whose grace again detached her
from them all, thino not to be helped
or hindered, so native was it to her.
so foreign to their breeding.