Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-07-28

FOR whose StOrehOuSe OF NOneyeu
sweetness
Mine own are longing so;
i"With teeth as bright as woman's
! wit,
+; And a voice like the lark's clear call,
[ You keep me a humble captive
| And 10, at your feet, fall.
with hands as small as my hopes,
dear,
And feet like sculptor's dream.
! No wonder you brighten me silent,
And like coward SEEM"
He folded the verses carefully and
| slipped them into his pocket. mot
half bad,' he decided, complacently
lighted cigarette and strolled out to
the rose-garden.
The air was heavy with the fra
GRANGE of lilacs and honeysuckle,
mingled with the faint warm odor Of
roses. The bees buzzed drowsily, and
a cat, curled UP on the sun-dial pur.
red in deep contented undertone.
Dear mama seemed really in earn
est this time," thought Algernon, push
ing his hat on the back of his head. Il
think shall take little walk and try
to forget it. To forget" he sighed,
| mans one defense against the op-
posite sex"
He strolled across the lawn to a
small gate in the high brick wall and
through the gate into the dusty coun-
try road. The road was empty. Op.
posite was low stcne fence, beyond
Ia pasture. and further on grove OF
willows, bordering a stream that
wound through the pasture and beside
the road between messy ferny banks.
A cow stood looking over the wall. and
Algernon raised his hat to her
"Howdy-do," said he gaily 81
The COW waved her tail languidly
and chewed plasidly on.
The road, winding between fields Of
.Tunes vivid green, beneath the inter-
locked boughs of great naples. looked
invitingly cool on the warm day. The
little brook laughed and babbled be-
side it, and the birds called joycusly
from the leafy profusion over head.
Algernon strolled on, bordering his
mothers painful remarks. He had
heard them all before, quite often, but
the insistence, the determination, had
never been so pronounced as today. 1t
grieved Algernon. He realized SO
clearly his own limitations, his dead
level with the rest of humanity in
everything but money. His mother
wanted him to make a name for him
self, when, like the large majority OF
his fellow citizens, he had no ability
to do so. She wanted him to work
when he had no incentive to work.
His father had taken it from him by
the fortune he had left.
THAT cow" unused Algernon, with
a deeper insight into life than his
mothers, that COW wouldn't walk
around and around the pasture if she
did not have an incentive to do so.
even if it Is only hunger, which. after
all, Is the fundamental incentive OF
everything living. When her hunger
Is appeased, the incentive removed,
she does nothing. If we're COW,
mama would probably insist even then
that keep on walking around the
pasture for nothing, while she would
be ber' Gaming the fact that wasn't
a trick cow Every COW can't be a
trick COW. Mama Is Illogical, like all
women"
The road turned sharply and entered
a deep grove Of trees, cool and dark,
where the birds chatter rose and fell
in busy excitement. A peddler's wagon
neat and red, with an iron railing
around the top, within which en-
closure reposed several squareleather
cases, and with two sleek fat horses
in front. was drawn up by the wayslde.
A third horse, saddled and bridled
and hitched to the hind off wheel.
dozed with dropping head and half.
shut eyes.
On g log near by sat the peddler, a
long lank youth. and beside him sat
Algernon's friend, jameson Jimmy
Mortimer Worth. James was short
and fat. The stranger was long and
thin. James hair was light, brushed,
smooth and damp, on each side OF his
broad fair forehead. parted down the
middle with mathematical precision
and the skill of competent man ser
want. The strangers hair was thick
and black. falling over his high fore
head in poetical disarray. James face
was round and pink, with fat little
mouth and mild blue eyes that regard
ed one with the frank and charming
gravity of child. The strangers was
long. hollow-cheeked, sallow. His
mouth was thin-lipped, with an odd
unintentionally humorous twist at one
corner. His eyes, deep-set, dark and
keen had devil-may-care twinkle In
their somber depths that lightened the
moroseness of the heavy brows and
the Arm square jaws. James was
dressed with Immaculate care In the
latest thing in riding clothes. The
strangers shirt was negligee, with
a soft Byronesque tie. A buster en-
veloped him, and cheap straw hat OF
the panama variety was pushed on the
back of his head.
James looked up as Algernon ap-
proa chod ard ---"|-ed to him to stop.
'Hullo," said he.
"Hullo," said Algernon. pleasant
day."
eyes" agreed James. his thoughts
clearly on other and weightier mat
tiers. LET me introduce you two. Mr..
Todd, Mr.. Joseph Holmes"
The stranger held out long thin
hand, and Algernon grasped 1t.