The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1915-02-11
CHAPTER TX.

Christmas came to Misery wrapped
in n drab mantle OF desolation. At
the cabin OF the Widow Miller Sally
was sitting alone before the logs. She
laid down the slate and spelling book.
over which her forehead had been
st%renuously %puckered. and gazed some
what mournfully into the blaze. Sally
had n secret. II was n secret which she
based on n faint hope. II Samson
should come back to Misery he would
come back full OF new notions. No
man had ever yet returned from that
outside world unaltered. No man ever
would. a terrible premonition said he
would not come at all, but, II he did
II he did-she must know how to read
and write. Maybe. when she mad
learned n little more. she might even
go to school for n term or two.
The cramped and distorted chirog.
raphy on the slate was discouraglng.
1t was all proving very hard work. The
girl gazed for n time ut something she
saw In the embers, and then n faint
smile came to her lips. BY next Christ.
mas she would surprise Samson with n
letter. II should be well written. and
every 'hain't" should be an isn't"
Tho normal human mind Is n res
ervoir which fills at n rate OF speed
regulated by the number and callber
of It's feed pipes. Samson's mind had
long been almost empty, and now from
50 many sources the waters Of new
things were rushing In upon II that
under their pressure II must I'LL fast,
or give away.
He was saved from hopeless com
plications OF thought by a sanity
which was willing to assimilate with
o too much effort TO analyze. The
boy from Misery was presently less
bizarre to the eye than many OF the
unkempt bohemians he met In the life
OF the studios, men who quarreled
garrulously over the end and aim Of
Art, which they spelled with q capt.
tai A-and. for the most part, knew
nothing of. He retained. except with.
in a small circle OF intimates. n silence
that passed for taciturnity. and n
solemnity OF visage that vas often
construed into Usurly egotism.
He still wore his hair long, and.
though his conversation gradually
sloughed Off much of its idiom and
vulgarism, enough OF the mountaineer
stood out to lend to his personality a
SAVIOR of the crudely picturesque.
Meanwhile he drew and read and
studied and walked. and every days
advancement was n forced march.
L.escott. tremendously interested In hiN
experiment, began to fear that the
boys too great somberness OF dispo.
sition would defeat the very earnest.
ness from which II sprang, So one
morning the landscape.maker called
on a friend whom he rightly believed
20 be the wisest man, and the great.
est humorist In New York.
II want your help" said Lescott.
81 want you to meet n friend OF mine
and take him under your wing In a
fashion. lie needs you"
The stout mans face clouded. a few
years ago he had been peddling his
manuscripts with the heart-sickness OF
unsuccessful middle age. To-day men
coupled his name with those OF Kip.
ling and DE Maupassant. One of his
antipathies was meeting people who
sought to Homie him, Iescott read
the expression, and, before his host
had time to object, swept into his re,
cital.
At the end he summarized:
"The artist is much like tho setter
pup. II it's In him, it's as instructive
as n dogs nose. But to become ell.
cient he must go a.field With a steady
veteran of his own breed"
II know!" The great mah. who was
also the simple man, smiled reminis.
Gently. They tried 10 teach me to
herd sheep when my nose was itching
for bird country. Bring on your man;
want to know him."
Samson was told nothing OF the be-
nevolent conspiracy. but one evening
shortly later he found himself sitting
at a cafe table with his sponsor and
a stout man, almost as silent as him.
self. The stout man responded with
something like churlish ~taciturnity
20 the half.dozen men and women who
came over with batteries. But later,
when the trio wns left alone. his face