The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-05-14

proud a. he voiced their conscience
against outworn theories of wealth and
privilege. he had fallen. He thought Of
how they would discuss him tomorrow
about the polls. his useless name on
the ballots-a man apart. branded with
9 nameless stain, the eternal whisper
following him. Yes, he had. found bot
tom after the resurge OF his life He
had risen to fall. Love had made the
way and then defeated him.
From the high point he saw q yellow
scar and knew it was the quarry. with
beyond the shanties of he pocket
squatters. Up this trail she had rompeTf
and grown, his child. his little girk
laughing the way OF her vulgar up.
bringing, all unknown and uncared for
And he-he might have done so much
-he who all his thriftless life had
needed the touch of a hand in his!
He tried to recall the first time hi
mad seen her-a dark-haired child In
a red dress going past his shop with
the barelegged Lindstrom boys. Then
a schoolgirl, slim, with sharp-eyed lit
Tie Gallo tricks and poses; and then
the maid he had come to know. Moody
at times. n lonely; passionate stil
with eagerness to live and be. And
thence on to his Notwithstanding hes
way into his dreams, the bizarre ro.
nance in his obscure struggle. lifting
him by her kinship of feeling, of ad-
venture. of follies and extrayagances.
Oh. the way they had come unknow-
1ng!-the two outcasts to their trt.
umph!
Then he bowed his head with hum
bleness at this other miracle. With an
her droll playing with him. her grate-
full fondness for him. he had been this
pure in heart. The wonder Of it! That
always. his passion had been a shell
tering and protecting one-a father
hood in6on6 fhot HofarHnd hnr q eroirot
the towns tongues. that exulted in her
success. And once again he looked of
to the east and his mystic impulse
came. He kissed hts fingers to the dun
sky n whispered: Because yours
there. Aurelie-just because you're
there!"
At dark he went to the cabin, and
before a tiny fire sat long. A morrow
was to be thought OLA sober reckon
ing tomorrow, the long straight road.
He would have to 80. he reasoned; he
was crushed. destroyed here. And then
a flame OF logged courage swept him.
No. he would not go! He had done no
wrong. Fate had struck him down, but
he accepted. He would make his fight
"a losing fight. perhaps-with the in
finite cruelty Of ostracism and the jeers
of misunderstanding; the mutter OF
nameless things that men whisper only
to their kind. always about him. But
he would stay; he would steel his soul
to 1T, with some sort Of new patience
and pride in remuneration that none
could know. Unless it was best for her.
Then he would go. gladly the wanderer;
silent, crying down his fatherhood, his
lonely love for her. For she had best
not know he whispered-never. never!
What need of this burden on her?
In the dark he CROPPED about this cir.
Gle, and nothing could he find except
that what was for her. he would do.
Nothing else would matter. Then he
slept. as he had not dreamed he could
sleep. in a child's peace; or as one who
had emptied his soul. beuolding a flame
burn 1t out to purity. Once, in the
night. he awakened and found his lips
muttering: THANK Godi" and thel.
slept again in his inexpltcable peace.
Only, on this consciousness. there
seemed to come sounds. faint and far,
like the firing OF a shot now and then.
When dawn came he arose, hungry
and stiffened with WEAKNESS and cold,
but with a cleansed hunger, a somber
resolve, a feeling of the need of men.
When he came out the low pressing
gray of the sky was still on the hills.
He looked down and saw a farm wagon
on the far valley road. 1t came to him
that this was election day, and about
the polls the groups We're gathering.
But on h hush of the morning there
came again sounds that he could dimly
recall in his dreams-gunshots. Once
they were almost like a volley.
Now, on his descent to town, he could
see black distant figures, men moving
out the road along the creek.