Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1915-02-20
CHAPTER TX.

CHAPTER TX.
Christmas came to Misery wrapped
IN a 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
strenuously puckered. and gazed some
what mourufully into the blaze. Sally
had a secret II was a 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
81 he did-she must know how to read
and write Maybe, when she had
learned a little more. she might even
go 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 a time at something she
smile came to her lips BY next Christ
mas she would surprise Samson with a
letter It should be we'll written. and
every "hain't" should be an Isn't"
The normal human mind is a res
eryoir which flls at a rate OF speed
regulated by the number and caliber
of Its feed pipes. Samsons mind had
long been almost empty, and now from
so many sources the waters OF new
things we're rushing in upon Il that
under 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
OF the studios. men who quarreled
garrulously 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
in a small circle OF intlmates, a silence
that passed for taciturnity, and
solemnity OF yIsage that was often
construed into surly egotism.
He still wore his hair long, and.
though his conversation gradually
sloughed on much OF its idiom and
Vulgarism, enough OF the mountaineer
stood out to lend 20 his personality a
SAVIOR 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 10 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 friend whom he rightly believed
20 be the wisest man. and the great
est humorist in New York.
Il want your help" said Lescott.
Il want you to meet friend OF mine
and take him under your wing in
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. Today men
coupisd his name with those OF Kin.
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 the setter
pup II IFS in him. its as instructive
as a dogs nose But to become etli,
Gent he must SO a-held With a steady
veteran OF his own breed"
q know " The great man. who was
also the simple man. smiled remlnis.
Gently. They tried 20 teach me 10
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-
nevoleut conspiracy but one evening
shortly later he found himself sitting
at a cafe table with his sponsor and
a stout INST almost as silent as him.
sell The stout man responded with
something like ehurlsh taciturnity
to~the halfdozen men and women who
came over witt batteries. But later.
Rhsu the trio VAS lett alone, his lace