The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1918-12-17
The Wide.
Wide World
BY S. 3. HAcKLEY
Copyright, 1918. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.)
"Oh, Bobby, we can't tell your moth.
or fhnt Hnr, ,r-iIl NO toll hnr q,

she chung to Robert Greer, who had
just cautiously entered the back door
of his 'n0ther's cottage.
Early that morning, in the court.
house at West Hardtown, 100 miles
from Burnham, Robert had seen his
father, Charles Greer, sentenced for
life to the states prison. In the big
front bedroom, Jael, the young fellows
mother, for six weeks close to death
of fever. lay slowly recovering.
Two weeks before. the father, who
worked aboard the river steamer Mary
Ann, had quarreled with Cyrus Cantei
in West Hardtown. Cyrus and Ananias,
brothers and surly, had provoked the
quarrel that ended in q fight with
chairs. Green had not meant to kill
the man, but he forgot the power in
his arm, and Cyrus neck was broken
at the first blow.
Robert had warned their friends and
neighbors to keep his mother In igno-
rance of what had happened, and
hoped against hope that his father
would go free. But the Canters were
influential people in West Hardtown,
and the trial had ended unhappily for
Greer.
The boy-he was scarcely twenty
took his sweetheart's face between his
trembling hands.
1--WE won't tell her, Flo," he whis-
pered, tive won't ever tell mother-not
even If she comes to die. Dad said for
me to make her believe he's deadl"
"Deadw gasped Flora, make her
believe that? Why, she's looking for
him today, as soon as the Mary AIMS
unloaded. She came In about an hour
ago."
81 know It'll" Roberts lips trembled.
"But we've just got to think of some
way to make her believe dads dead.
He says we must be dead to him-nev-
er write to him nor try to see him
he couldn't bear that The Mary
| Ann"
A roar that shook the panes In the
windows drowned his words. The Mary
Ann would never run up the river
! again Before many days the bodies
of the captain and the three deckhands
who died when the explosion sent the
boat to the bottom of the river came
to the muddy surface of the stream
and were identified, but the bodies Of
! the remainder Of the crew were never
recovered. 1t was easy to say that
! Charley Greer was one of the dead,
| but Jael refused to believe 1t.
Charley was always the first man
off the boat when she dockedl" she
insisted. He'd always come to the
house to see me moment, then he'd
! go back and help unload. / tell you,
Bobby, Charley isn't dead. He's alive
and well somewhere! He's always
wanted adventure and he's never got
to have any. He begged me to go with
him, when we were first married, to
some wild country in South America,
where he could hunt, but l was afraid.
Then you and your three little sisters
that died came along and he quit talk
ing about it. And now, since you've
been grown, Bobby, he's hated to say
anything about wantin' to wander for
fear you'd laugh at him. 1 just believe
he's slipped off from us all to go some
where and take his fun! And when
he's had 1t he'll be coming back. Why,
Bobby, what makes you cry? Don't
you know daddy'll be coming backY"
When six months passed with no
letters from her husband, Jael ex-
/ planned his silence to her son by the
/ fact that he was in the wilds, where
no mail could be sent out, but at the
end of the year, at each meal, she set
fancy plate that Charles had always
liked at his place at table.
He'll be coming in at just any time
now, Bobby" she told him. "a year is
( generally all the time men stay on q
hunting trip, isn't IT."
! "Why. no, MOTHER" Robert ex-
planned, 1--WE read that Englishmen
i who hunt spend as much as six months
or q year in one place, trying out the
hunting in each place. Sometimes they
+ put in five years or more at hunting
big game, and If they take notion to
go on exploring trips there's no telling
how long"
Jael's face fell "Stay away from
I their families all those years, BobbyT
Robert averted his eyes. "Of course
they know they're coming back to 'em
mother"
For an instant her lips quivered,
then she smiled again.
"Of course, and we want daddy to
have all the fun the rest of em have.
He knows you'll look out for me and
never leave me while he's gone Bobby.
Charley worked awful hard all them
twenty years that's past; he's earned
a long, long holiday. We oughtn't to
I say word, even if he's taken notion
to tour the wide world around, and
Wen stay right here in this house and
wait for him until he comes backp'
Roberts ruddy face paled. Flora's
mother had been ordered to Colorado
to live, and Flora was her only child
and support. Flora would have to go
to Colorado with her; her cousin had
already secured a teachers place for
her there and he = he'd intended
to take his mother and go out there,
too But now He knew his mothers
gentle obstinacy. Never would she
leave her home while she expected his
father back And he could not leave
her alone. There was nothing to do
but to release Flora from her promise
IT, marry him. But somehow Flor
did not understand.
"I'lI keep mother out there wher
she can live, Bobby" she told him
"and I'll wait for you"
"But for how long?" Roberts vote
was hoarse. "Mother'll never qui
hoping, and II can't ever tell he
about father. Flora! !"
II know" she answered. II wouldn'
want to walk to happiness over he
broken heart. We've won't be tn
first people that fate's kept apart, Bob
by. and it isn't as if one of us wer
dead. We can keep on loving eac
other across that thousand miles. an
I'll wait for you, Bobby-I'n wall
If it's the rest of my life!"
Five governors had served in tn
twenty years before Claudius Basset
was elected. In the second month al
ter his election, Bassett paid a visi
to the state prison farm, and the in
preston made on him by the Year,
ing eyes of the forgotten bits of hi
mainly there-men whose names year
before had been laid away in tn
states files. as numbers, and forgotten
kept the young governor awake tina
night and for many nights afterwar(
1t stirred him to investigate the rec
ords of convicts who had served Ion
terms, to see that mercy was extende
where mercy was due, and to PERM