The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-09-12

the arena there came at last dribbling
OF genuine patriots. who. like their fore
try their lives. their fortunes, and their
sacred honor.
It wasn't all smooth sailing, by any means
Still no new movement had ever made
such progress in SO short a time. and the
end was not In sight. nor the beginning OF
the end.
man gaining in strength from day to
day, among those who stood for the old
order of things. and opposed Celestia, was
quality of honesty which no one could doubt.
and he had look on his face. very lean
now from short nights. hard work, and the
constant buffetings. of trains, of a young hero
who has set himself to do to death a dragon
that is ravaging countryside. With ex-
perience and practice had come quick ini-
tiative in emergencies, ease. and the better
control of naturally fine and far-carrying
voice.
His triumphs were many His downfalls
came when he crossed Ce1estia's path too
closely. II she was speaking by chance
in the town at the same time. he
would have no more of an audience thar
he could have counted on the fingers OF his
hands. II he followed her8too closely he
spoke to deaf and unsympathetic ears.
miner. who was suffering from too much
heart, too much whiskey and too little mind.
you great big, whstlin'. thunderin' boot,
did you ever set eyes on the lady?'
And Tommy to his horror had failed to
find any answer to that question anywhere
in his head and had stammered and become
tongue-tied, and been bored, and had done
harm to cause, which, SO fanatical he had
become, at this time, seemed to mean life
and death to him. ~
In exalted moments he felt that he had
crushed the love of Celestia out Of his
heart.
Once, in a little Northern town, standing
an improvised ,rostrum of packing cases.
and in the midst of addressing large
crowd of quiet. sensible people. who ap-
peared to like him. and to like what he said,
1t was Tommy's bad fortune to have Celes-
tia arrive from her snow white car and
steal his audience away from him. His 'sea
of upturned faces became pool, with more
than half the faces turned away to try and
see what all the excitement was about fur
ther down the street, and everybody get
ting more and more restless and inattentiye
A sudden tremendous cheering took the rest
of Tommy's audience away from him on the
run, with the exception of one young wo-
man, who wore a thick brown veil and was
half concealed by the stem of an elm.
For moment or two Tommy did not
see her. His eyes were on the backs and
twinkling legs of his fast disappearing au-
dience. and there smile on his face,
half rueful resignation and half amusement.
He did not notice the woman until she
called attention to herself by speaking.
Don't stop" she said: they haven't all
gone. 1t isn't fair to me. I've come a long
way to hear you.
With an exclamation of pleasure Tommy
leaped down from his rostrum and ran to
greet her. Why. Mary Blackstone" he ex-
claimed, what the dickens are you doing
way down here?"
IT told you I came to hear you speak.
You are getting to be rather famous. you
know and thought IL was my duty Cher
eyes sparkled under the yeiD to hear you
at least once"
WELL" said Tommy, smiling back. you
missed all the good parts. Something tells
me that I was going to finish very strong,
and then the diversion came, and only you
stood your ground. Shall / get back on
that soap-box and give you my peroration.
or shall we see IL we can get near to Celes-
tia to hear her?"
Ce1estia's name fell from his lips with
the utmost GOODNESS and nonchalance. so
that Mary Blackstone's heart gave sud
den bound of Joy. and the hatred which she
had for the girl from Heaven abated some
what.
eff you don't mind" she said. "well not
try to get nearer to Celestfa than We are
now Indeed, I'd rather walk in the oppo-
site direction. because see something that
rather looks like a park, and that would
mean bench to sit on. Even your impas-
stoned oratory couldn't make me forget that
I had to stand for long time to get the
benefit of it,"
They turned and walked toward the little
city park.
What are you really doing in this far
nIoca- Mary?"