Middletown transcript., 1914-12-12

141u6b duu = uAChCl tuoAC3 anu Wt+9
thinking that. as these were Christmas
times, I'd Just give you a quarter for
your work..
Honest, Gap?g
4Honest," repeated. "but the fact
i is the two dimes, as I thought they
i were. are only two three-cent pieces, so
I have only eleven cents in change,
after all"
"Spect they'd change bill fer you
'crost there at the lunch counter" he
suggested, with charming artlessness.
1 Wont have time-there's my train
just coupling. But take this-IT see
you again some time, perhaps"
How big a bin is it you want
changed?n asked the little fellow with
a most acquisitiVe expression, and a
swift glance at our then lonely sur
rodndings
Il only have one bill with me, said
l. nervously, and that's a five"
.'Well, here. then" said the boy, hur-
riedly, with another and more scrutin-
izing glance about him -"guess / can
'commodate you And as l turned
in wonder, he drew from some mysteri-
GUS recess in the lining of his coat q
roll of bills, from which he hastily de-
] tached four in number, then returned
the roll; and before had recovered
from my surprise, he had whisked the
note from my fingers and left in my
hand instead the proper change.
"This is on the dead, now, Cap.
Don't you ever cheep about me haVin'
/ wealth, you know; cause it amt mine
that is, it is mine, but Pm a.
There goes yer train. Ta-ta!"
"The day before Christmas" said l,
snatching his hand, and speaking hur-
riedly-"the day before Christmas, I'm.
coming back, and if you'H be here
when the five-thirty train rolls in you'll
find a man that wants his boots
blaeked-maybe to get married in. or
something anyway he'll want shine
like this, and he'll come prepared to
pay the highest market price-do you
understand"
you jist tell that feller fer me-
said the boy, eclipsing the twinkle of
one eye, and dropping his voice to an
infection Of strictest confidence you
jist tell that feller fer me that I'm his
oyster"
"And you'll meet him, sure?" said I.
Il win, said the boy. And he kept
his word.
My ride home was an incoherent
futtering of the wings of time. in
which travail one fretful hour was
born. to gasp its first few minutes help
lessly; then moan, roll over and kick
out its legs and sprawl about; then
crawl a ttle-stagger to its feet and
totter on; then tumble down time or
two and knock its empty head against
the floor and howl; then loom up awk-
wardly on gangling legs, too much in
their own way to comprehend that
they were in the way Of everybody
else; then limp little as it worried
on-drop down exhausted-moan again
toss up its hands shrek out, and die
in violent convulsions.
We have all had that experience Of
the car-wheels-had them enter into
conversation with us as we gaily en-
barked upon some pleasant trip, per-
haps; had them rattle of in scraps Of
song, or lightly twit US with some dear
ones name, or even go so far as to
laugh at us and mock us for some real
or fancied dereliction Of car etiquette.
shall ever have good reason to re-
member how once upon a time a boy
of fourteen, though greatly understood,
told the conductor he was only ten,
and, although the unsuspecting official
accepted the statement as a truth,
with the proper reduction in the fare,
the car-wheels called that boy liar"
for 20 miles-and 20 miles as long and
tedious as he has ever compassed in
his journey through this vale of tears.
The car-wheels on this bitter winter
evening" we're not at all communica-
tive. They were sullen and morose.
They didn't feel like singing, and they
wouldn't laugh. They had no jokes,
and if there was one peculiar quality
of tone they possessed in any marked
degree it was that of sneering. They
had a harsh, discordant snarl, as it
seemed, and were spiteful and insinu-
ating.
The topic they had chosen for that
nights consideration was evidently of
very complex and mysterious nature,
and they gnawed and mumbled at it
with such ferceness and, withal, such
selfshness, / could only catch a flying |
fragment Of it now and then, and that, |
l noticed, was of the coarsest fiber of
intelligence, and Of slangy flavor Lis
tening with the most painful interest, |
l at last made out the fact that the in
Election seemed to be in the interToga-
tive, and, with anxiety the most in
tense, / slowly came to comprehend |
that they were DESTROYS of ascertain !
ing the exact distance between two |
given points, but the proposition |
seemed determined not to round into
fuller significance than to query mock
ingly, How fur is it? How fur is it?
How fur, how fur is it?" and so on to
a most exasperating limit AS this
senseless phrase was repeated and re-
iterated in its growing harshness and
unchanging intonation, the relentless
pertinacity Of the query grew simply /
agonizing, and when at times the car
door opened to admit a brakeman, or
the train-boy, who had everything to
sell but what wanted, the emphasized
refrain would lift me from my seat
and drag me up and down the aisle /
When the phrase did eventually writhe
round into form and shape more tan
gible, my relief was such that l sat