Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1915-03-19
CHAPTER TX.

CHAPTER TX.
Christmas came to Misery wrapped
b Q 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
Btrenuously puckered, and gazed some
what mournfully into the blaze. Sally
had secret. It was secret which she
based on a 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
IL he did-she must know how to read
and write. Maybe. when she had
learned little more. she might even
30 to school for term or two.
The cramped and distorted chirog-
taphy on the slate was discouraging.
It was all proving very hard work. The
girl gazed for time at something she
saw In the embers. and then a faint
smile came to her lips. BY next Christ
mas she would surprise Samson with q
letter. It should be we'll written, and
every "hain't" should be an "isn't."
4. The normal human mind is a res
ervoir which fills at a rate of speed
regulated by the number and caliber
Df its feed pipes. samson's mind had
long been almost empty. and now from
Do many sources the waters of new
things were rushing in upon 1t that
ander their pressure it must fill fast,
Or give away.
, He was saved from hopeless com.
plications Of thought by a sanity
which was willing to assimilate with
out 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
nl the studios. men who quarreled
4arrulously over the end and aim Of
Art, which they spelled with a capt.
tai A-and, for the most part. knew
nothing of. He retained, except with
Ia small circle of intimates. silence
that passed for taciturnity, and q
solemnity of visage that was often
construed into surly egotism.
l He still wore his hair long, and,
though his conversation gradually
sloughed OF much of its idiom and
vulgasism. enough of the mountaineer
stood out to lend to his personality q
savor Of the crudely picturesque.
Meanwhile he drew and read and
studied and walked. and every days
advancement was a forced march.
lescott, tremendously interested in his
experiment, began to fear that the
boys too great somberness of dispo.
hilton would defeat the very earnest
Aess from which it sprang. So one
morning the landscape-maker called
on friend whom he rightly believed
70 be the wisest man, and the great
Dst humorist in New York.
Il want your help" said Lescott.
II want you to meet friend of mine
and take him under your wing in a
fashion. He needs you"
! The stout mans face clouded. A few
gears ago he had been peddling his
manuscripts with the heart-sickness of
unsuccessful middle age. Today men
eoupled his name with those Of Kip.
Nng and De Maupassant. One of his
Antipathtes was meeting people who
sought to lionize him. Lescott read
the expression. and. before his host
bad time to object. swept into his re.
s0tal.
, At the end he summarized:
{, "The artist is much like the setter
D4p. II it's in him, it's as instructive
- dogs nose. But to become EN-.
oisnt he must 60 a-field with a steady
veteran Of his own breed"
/ Il know!" The great man, who was
alee the simple man. smiled reminis.
hsntly. "They tried to teach me to
ord sheep when my nose was itching
~ bird country. Bring on your man:
J want 10 know him."
Samson was told nothing Of the be.
Aovolent conspiracy. but one evening
aAortly later he found himself sitting
n . cafe table With bis sponsor and
. stout man, almost % silent as him.
self. The stout man responded with
something like churlish taciturnity
% the half.dozen men and women who
sane over with 1aEaaries. But later,
NAen the trio VS. ~ alone. his fAoo
=