The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1916-01-21
CHAPTER |.

"SANASA "oo VI NAV i'AA UNIV ''N'
sonable type commonly called UNI
healthy. The darkness outside was
pierced by a fine, invisible rain borne
on a south wind, and the waiting room.
though heat as we'll as light was
spread only by a single gas burner.
was not cold. One patient was with
the doctor. The details Of his COM
plant could have been overheard by
the others if they had cared to listen,
but they did not. Sufficient unto them
We're their own diseases. Five centers
Of self c%omplaccnt misery We're sitting
on a cane seated bench; the sixth per-
son was leaning against the wall, with
his hands in his pockets. The only
other representative Of the male sex
was eight years old and had come to
have a tooth out. Too stolid to feel
nervous, he sat sucking peppermints.
His mother in a decent black mantilla
and a square fronted bonnet trimmed
with red chrysanthemums. was talking
to a girl with a baby about wrongs In
visible to the uniaundiced eye. The
young mothers dark eyes and delicate
features had the remains of real beau
ty, though two years of matrimony had
made her middle aged. Her pretty
young sister, sitting beside her, showed
what she must have been. The baby
was not handsome. Its pinkish purple
face was framed in q yellow wooden
hood, and the color which should have
tingcd it's cheeks had settled upon its
ugly little button of a nose and on its
chin. 1t wheezed; the mother coughcd
loosely; the girl stared before her; the
young man also coughcd, but unobtru-
sively. He did not give to phthisis its
due dignity.
The surgery presently discharged its
patient and received the small martyr
to toothtache. The young man took
the seat left vacant, and the gaslight.
falling on his face, showed thin. brown
features, eyebrows strongly arched and
strongly marked and bright, vagrant
cyes which took an interest in every
thing. He edged a little closer to the
young mother and looked i~nquiringly.
Finding that did not answer, he plung-
cd into conversation with Il speech
which was admirable in sentiment, but
not discreet in wording.
''.Jolly baby that"
Eyes; he was a fine boy" said the
girl. her tired eyes q%uickening as she
looked down at her child, "but he's
after his teeth now, and it's pulled him
daouwn awful. We didn't have a Wink
of sleep with him last night
You must be pretty tired, then"
quoth the stranger. "Wonder if the
little chap would come to mc:'
He don't like Strangers" said the
mother doubtfully. She was unused to
hear her boy called either a jolly baby
or a little chap, and she distrustcd the
abilities of a young man, plainly I'M
married moreover, who used such
terms.
'l1l hold him like a patent rocking
chair" the stranger asserted. come
on. sonny. You won't howl at me, will
you: Great land. what a weight YOU
ure! never turned ayah before. Yes:
put my eye out, will you: What's
wrong besides the teeth"
"lIc'S got Il touch of brOmtitus. I
caught it washing day. and he took it
from me. Oh, it's crool work washing
In the winter. Our houses hasn't any
coppers. and we has to do it all out ut
the back"
"Do you mean you wash the clothes
In the open air"'
Every mite of 'cm. My husband
he's been to the landlord times and
again. but he won't do nothing for us,
and they're the cheapest houses round,
SO we just have to put up with it,"
"What a beastly shame! Who's your
landlord:'
"Oll Fame up ut E'ancs. All. he is a
hard man. Last time as Mr.. Searlc
wen to see him You can take or leave
It, he says; 4 can get plenty more as
won't complain. l will not be pcstcrcu
with discontinued gutter BIRDS he
says. SO my husband he come away;
there wasn't nothing to be done"
'Eane. l think you said" said the
brown eyed stranger, upon whose face
the tale had painted Il gleeful anticipa-
pocketbook. I'm thinking I'd like Il
little friendly conversation with Mr..
Fame. Whereabouts is your place.
Burnt House. they call it: right out
in the fields it is. If he'd pat in one
copper for the six houses you wouldn't
think he'd ever miss the money. But
he don't care about rs poor folks.
wish he vas in Farquhar's houses,
that l do"
Conversation was here broken by
DR.. Maudc. who summoned Mrs.
Searle and her sister and the baby.
Her short interview left her III tears.
The doctor had ordered milk. which
seemed to her aS far beyond her means
as caviare or turtle soup. 1t would be
got, but meanwhile Mrs. Scar!c would
gtarve. Mr.. Searle would swear and
the debt ut the shop would grow. The
stranger gave her Il shilling and fled
Into the surgery to escape her thanks.
The place smelled strongly of drugs.
Shelves laden with bottles climbed up