Charlevoix county herald., 1914-08-29
Author of THE Hand-Car Gang"
"The Dutchman," Etc.

THE Dutchman," Etc.
Rest! He realized t last with
what passion he had craved it, He
had fought the good fight, and had
won it over and over again, at the
expense of brain and nerves and
body, until now, already past the age
when men might reasonably hope to
retire, he was glad that the break
down had actually co.--e.
The winning of his last great fight
with Kane, for the control of Nation
al Pacific, had cost him more in
strength and energy than he had
cared to acknowledge while the bur
den of it was upon him. Now that it
was all over, he himself was forced
to admit that he was shattered-a
climax that had been foretold by his
angry physician for the past ten
years. He seemed to throb sicken-
ingly throughout his body; his hands
and ever his limbs trembled; the
least exertion put him out of breath,
hurt his eyeballs, muff1ed his hear
ing, and set him aquiver like an
ague. Even thought distressed him,
blurred his mind, his vision, his hear
ing.
1t was in darkenoA room, his
swimming head pilloweG against
cushio' IN a big, easy chair, that he
heard his sentence.
mot one stock of fluctuating value
shall you own," the doctor wrathful-
ly insisted. Every cent that you
have must be put into securities as
stable and as Unconditional as gold;
then you must get away from every
thing that jangles and jars. You
must not hear even the remotest
echo of the hustle of this life that
you have been leading; you must not
even see a newspaper; you must go
back to the soil, not as a luxury
pampered gentleman farmer, but as
a humble t;ller; you must live next
to the earth itself, or l would not
give a snap of my fingers for your
life. You must go at once, not to the
suburbs, but to the real country"
"The real country repeated
Drexel, smiling. doc, / don't need
urging. 1t has been the dream of
my life, but the time hadn't come.
Now Pm ready. Why, 10 you know
| was born in the country? All
morning | have been smelling the
rich brown burrows, fresh plowed
after spring rains, tastihs The mealy
dust of the road upon my tongue,
hearing the musical !ank of trace
chains. Did you ever hear that
sound, doc? You only notice it at
evening, when the horses are COM
ing home from the fields. 1t used to
be the happiest minute of the day
for me when | could climb on top of
old Fra ks back-a back so broad
that my boy legs stuck straight out
both sides-and lumber home, lead
ing Bess, with those chains rafting
and cinking at every step. 1t was
finer still if could trot them lit
tie, clinging to the big wooden
hames and bou icing up and down
until my inner mankin should have
been churned to a froth-but that
seldom happened. Frank and Bess
were willing enough to trot, even at
sundown, because they 'pere going
home to supper, but dad wouldn't al
low it. Oh, he was a good old dad
kind to everything that breathed
and had lifel
Eyes, I'm going back to the coun-
try all right, you old tyrant, and I'm
going to stay there for the balance
of nv DAYS. have the place
boug t the old farm where | was
born-and I'm never going to see a
stock-ticker again. I'm not even
going to have a telephone, nor any
new-fangled lights or plumbing
Just the old farm the way 1t used
to be-and I'm going to quit being a
slave; I'm going to be a kingw
Don't talk so much" retorted the
doctor savagely. "Wait till you get
real air in your lungs to do it with"
Drexel, his excitement over for the
moment, was a trifie exhausted, and
had closed his eyes. Now he opened
them slowly, and smiled again at his
old friend.