The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-11-15
! lESBIA'S PIANO
BY ROBERT WADE BURTON.


silas cambridge. Where DO you
stand in the list, RANSOM?
81 fancy | don't count, Mr. Baln-
bridge" replied Ransom Deane IN
his serious practical way. and started
off hoe in hand. for the potato field.
His EMPLOYER and friend stood look
ING speculatively after him. There
was a tender glow in the grim, nara
eyes.
what are you thinking of, Silas?
inouired his wife, and she looked
keenly into his own.
THAT lad" was the reply. Hes
a good one, too. You know now we
Joke about Lesbia's four lovers? You
know too. how everybody says that
ON her birthday, day after tomorrow
she is going to take her pick. sort
of ioked Ransom for being in the
group. He won't have it-says he
don't count"
"Silas." exclaimed Mrs. cambridge
her face earnest and working, Il wish
he did"
MARY" replied Silas. quite as in
tensely. Il wish so, too. Those three
citv fellows are clean, decent fellows.
hut I'd rather have him round. kind,
helpful. accommodating day in and day
out. than see Lesbia marry man VINO
will take her away from this sweet
dear life to the folly and shallow ex-
! element of the city
The trio referred to were summer
! boarders at the lake hotel mile
away. They were all in love with
Lesbia, and it was no wonder.
Life had gone like some fair dream
with Ransom until the three rivals in
vaded the field. He did not resent
! their appearance He had little to Of
fer her. His father had left him
small farm, so poor, indeed, that he
rented it out for what it cost him for
taxes and interest on its value.
! Wednesday was Lesbia's nineteenth
birthday. The week before she had
I declared she would marshal her brave
knights Grant at her birthday party,
TO give a definite answer to their re-
spective pleas.
II was the next morning that Lesbia
came hurrying to the field where her
father and Ransom were working, in
a great state of anxiety and excite
ment.
ooh, father" she said futteringly,
"the piano has not come. l have just
telephoned over to Lloydville, and the
station agent reports no trace of it.
I have so set my heart on having it
for my birthday! Why, half our pro
gram depends on the piano."
Ransom was at once interested.
"If you can spare me for the day"
spoke Ransom, after a thoughtful
! glance at Lesbis's troubled face, Il
| might drive down to Lloydville and
see if I can't learn something more
definite"
ooh. if you would, Ransom" cried
| Lesbia eagerly. and Ransom thrilled
as her pretty hand clasped his arm
gratefully.
It was afternoon when Ransom
! reached the little station. He knew
the man in charge and soon had the
wires busy.
"Weu, declare," suddenly ex'
claimed the station man, as he took a
final message. Il might have thought
of that before"
Whats that" inquired Ransom.
'Why, by some error the piano was
shipped to the LIoydville across coun-
try. in another county, and on another
line. Been there in storage for two
days"
How long would it take to get il
here?" asked Ransom.
Several days, for the two roads
have no connection this side Of. the
transfer belt line, a hundred miles
away"
Ransom reached "the other Lloyd
vile" shortly before midnight. A
rain had set in and Ransom was
soaked through. A chill wind had
come up. He felt repaid for all his
arduous efforts, however in fact, fair
" exultant, as he started back home
wards, with the piano well braced and
covered with all the old blankets and
tarpaulins he could bride the sleepy
station agent to secure.
They told great story of the en-
suing five hours, the cambridge neigh
bors, for many a day after that: How
Ransom's horse had fallen into a rut
was famed, turned loose, and, for the
last five miles of his weary journey
Ransom. between the shafts tugged
strained and strove to pull that heavy
load directly into the cambridge
barnyard-and then tainted dead
away
1t was two weeks later that first
CLEAN of normal consciousness re
turned to him. Mrs. cambridge, his
anxious nurse, told him of the vast
!. ing fever that had made life a dead
blank to him through fourteen lone
days and nights. Twenty-four hours
later they allowed him to ask few
questions.
The piano?-yes, he had delivered
: it in time, but Lesbia, in tears at the
distressing results of his self-sacrific