The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-01-10
THE D0LT
BY AIRLINE A. MACDONALD.
IIIIIIiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIIIIlIIIIIIIiIIII
5lS, by Mcclure New
Syndicate.)


II Richard Doe had not been a poor
dolt he would never have been a good
soldier.
At least, so Richard himself ex-
pressed 1t in letter that Abe Walton,
the town clerk, received back home
from somewhere In France"
The young soldier had been the re-
cipient of number Of congratulatory
missives consequent upon published
account of his acts of heroism and
daring on the western front. And the
youth had read them modestly and
had penned a solitary reply to Abe
Walton at KensingtOn. knowing that
Abe would take 1t in turn to the re-
spective villagers. And Abe did.
Now young Doe had never borne an
enviable name In the village. Tall
and handsome, he regularly Joined the
hangers on" about the general store,
working at nothing, and giving but
little promise of ever doing anything
else. He made fit subject for the
gossips, Of which there were many.
Nevertheless, Richard Doe was always
conscious that he possessed certain
latent qualities which ought to be
made patent. They needed only a time
of trial to bring out their grit and pill
ability. And the time came, and Ruth
Walton was responsible for 1t.
Ruth was the only daughter of Abe
Walton, and teacher in the village
school. She was tall, slender girl,
scarcely out of her teens, whose face
was one of those quite as striking for
its character as its beauty.
She admired Doe, liked him for his
sympathetic understanding Of his fell
low human beings, his sense OF the
dramatic, his untrammeled flow Of
words, which were the best perquisitcs
of his friendship for girl in her pro-
fession. Once he had rcproyed her
for overdancing and had brusQucIy
turned from Tom Whitney's proffercd
cigarette case. 1t was at the supper
table that Ruth had said:
"Dick lacks the pep that character
ICES the modern young man. He does
not smoke, he does not dance. He's
too handsome to work. He's a dolt."
One day, in desperation, Doe decid.
ed that he would force the attention
of the village upon his talent He
whispered something into the ear OF
Abe Walton, who had already given
the youth a big corner in his own
heart. The next morning he dropped
guilty out Of the village and the
tongues of the gossips wagged furious.
ly. Mrs. H, who never medded
with anyone's affairs, reminded the
neighbors that year before she had
said that Richard Doe would disap-
later in penltentiary. "As for Abe
Walton" she declared, "he has yield.
ed his energy to the hypnotic iniu-
ence of that loafer Scalawag."
1t was true that Does departure
gave Abe more energy. He quickly
got contract from New York jour.
nalist for the erection of pretcntious
stucco mansion on the knoll adjoining
his own homestead.
Time passed quickly at Kensington.
June came and the robins pped their
sweetest lay, and the Odor of the rose
and the hOneysuckle stole through
screened chamber windows. At the
close of Il balmy afternoon Ruth Wal
ton sat alone in her own boudor read.
ing war story which appeared in the
newspaper.
Suddenly she remembered that there
was a dance that evening in the pa
vilion. She arose, rubbed her face.
which seemed drawn and bloodless,