The Topeka state journal., 1913-04-22
TIE EVENING STORY
Messrs. Hoke and Poke.
(By Donald Allen.)

dale, one might have heard that
Farmer Brown had broken his leg.
1t would have been of very little
interest. Farmers and others are
breaking their legs. and even their
necks, every day in the year. The
announcement did not greatly in
terest the villagers. They said
Poor DEVIL and then went to talk
ing of other matters.
There were just six persons actively
interested in the accident. The first
was Farmer Brown; the second, his
daughter Mary; the third, a young
man named Tom Cushman; the fourth,
an old skinfiint named Ferguson, and
the fifth and sixth. two tramps.
Tom Cushman was a young man,
the son of widow; he had a grocery
and was postmaster at Rosedale. He
was steady and honest and everybody
liked him.
Mary Brown was under 20, and had
been her fathers housekeeper since her
mothers death, three years before.
Ferguson was an old man and a
money-lender. He had about as
much mercy on such borrowers as
couldn't pay to the day and hour as
a wounded tiger has on it's hunter.
He held mortgage on the Brown
farm ard principal and interest were
due in a few days after the accident.
By the hardest kind of work and the
stricteSt economy all but $25 of the
$120 had been saved. This sum
to be borrowed from some one
else, and that some one else was Tom
Cushman. He and the farmers
daughter had fallen in love with each
other and were waiting until things
came right to be married.
On a certain forenoon two tramps
entered the village of Rosedale in
company. At the postoffice door stood |
Tom Cushman. They halted before |
him and gave him the military salute |
and one of them said:
1--WE introduce ourselves as the firm
of Hoke & Poke"
I'VE pad the roof"
1--WE tour from place to place."
1--WE take in all sights, including |
cyclones, earthquakes. conf1agrations, !
eclipses of the sun and moon"
''lMy name is Hoke, and I know |
something about law. The gent be- |
side me is named Poke, and he is a |
philosopher. Our aim and object is to |
inquire if letter addressed to Messrs. |
Hoke & Poke had reached this post |
Officer
"It has not replied Tom.
On the afternoon of the same day |
Mary Brown set out to walk three |
miles to the house of the money |
lender to pay off the mortgage She |
had the cash with her, and felt a bit |
timid when she caught sight of two
tramps pulling turnipS in field.
Mr.. Ferguson had left his house at |
the same time Mary did hers. He
was going to walk down to the Brown
farm and tell the farmer that his
broken leg would make no difference
about the mortgage. 1t must be paid
off before high noon next day or there
would be foreclosure.
The man and the girl met on a lit
tie bridge on the highway.
''It won't do any good to come
sniveling to me-" he almost shouted.
the TO the mort |
gage she quietly replied.
''Oh, you have? It's $12o.'
yes"
She took the roll from the bosom
of her dress and handed it to min,
and he stepped away few feet and
sat down on a stone and counted it.
There were a good many dollar bills
and about ten dollars in silver.
1T seems to be all right he said.
ST am sure it is,' replied Mary. did
you bring the mortgage with you?''
"Of course not. Don't you know bet
ter than that?
"Why, father told me to get it when
1 handed over the money
Then he's fool, too. A release
has got to be sent with it to the coun-
ty clerk, and when he has fixed things
he'll mail them to you"
But don't 1 get a receipt for the
why? You've paid it and that's
The girl realized that she and her
father knew very little about business !
matters. II
When she reached home and told her {
story he said he guessed it was all I
right. Ferguson was a skinflint, but
they had never heard of his swindling 7
any one. The matter rested easily un- z
til Tom Cushman came out to the farm
On the following Sunday.
ct don't like It'll don't like it bitr'
he said when told that Mary had $
handed over the money and taken no I
receipt for it. Il
But Ferguson wouldn't dare lie
a bout it, said the farmer. '
''Oh, he wouldn't IL
But Mary took the money to him. :
I'VE know she did, but suppose he J q
says he never even saw her that day?" 7
"And he'd have the money and the i
still be hanging over me?' t
Exactly. I'll telephone the county l
clerk the first thing in the morning i
and see if the papers have been re-
ceived.'
mo such papersv was the answer
10 the young mans communication. Y
He thereupon telephoned to Ferguson c
lirect, and answer was: f
mo one has brought me any money! L
But Mary gave it to you at the 6
little bridge" '
II wasn't within a mile of the bridge /
hat day." @
But I say 1t
"But you can say what you darn t
please! I'm going to hold off on Brown c
'or week or two longer, to show folks =
hat I'm decent when misfortune O
comes"
You are a liar and a scoundrel," v
you keep your nose out of this h
hing, young man, or you'll find your s
;elf behind iron barsr' la
Tom drove down and got Mary, andtv