Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1919-01-03
The Grist
H<n
BY ARCHIE CAMERON NEW
Copyright, 1918, by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.)

SyAutCdlS.j
John Gates came out of a trance
like stupor and stared in disgust. He
had not been the victim of a bad
dream. No. he shivered, would that
life were like that dream
Two minutes before there had
danced before his vision a picture of
| an old grist mill. He could see the
| trees lazily and happily brushing their
leaves with every puff of wind. and
the little dam that laughingIy dashed
its spray against its rocky formation.
And his father, with his kindly old
eyes and stopped shoulders, pouring
into the mills grist fine whole wheat.
And then he saw ~pure-white
flour, so much in keeping with the sa-
credly pure precincts about which he
had seampered years before, barefoot,
poor, but happy. And then the sweet
smile of his mother-that dear, kindly
| soul. whose happiest mission was min
istration to his boyish whims and an
appreciative fathers wants. And then
he woke upi
For a moment he surveyed himself
hood were now encased in rich, COM
Portable shoes, showing off in marked
contrast the worn carpet on which
they rested. He fingered nervOusly
the welI-tailored clothes that long since
had replaced torn, ragged overalls,
M cy11il or
looked up
An old man bent over a desk several
feet away seemed to remind him of
the old miller, his father, with his
sparse gray hairs and stopped Shout
ders-until he looked up. A pair of
rascally, cunning eyes met Gates fur
lively, and then darted to rough
looking individual waiting, as was
Gates, on one of the chairs in row
about the wall Of the large outer Of
flee. A buzzer sounded and the door
of the inner sanctum opened.
'It's your turn next" huskily whis-
pered the old man to the other. Leave
it to Jerry BletZman. He'll fix you
up"
The man grunted unintelligibly and
rose hesitatingly TO his feet. He, like
most of his waiting brethren, had
come to be fixed up" And Bletzman,
the far-famed p. Gerald Bletzman, self
styled counselor at law" was to do
the fixing" or, erather, the "unfixfng."
For Bletzman's many hired henchmen
proclaimed that no matrimonial knot
was too hard for their patron to I'M
tie.
"Jes' leave it t. me-" doomed a rau-
cous voice, which Gates recognized as
Bletzman's as he hurriedly pushed a
spidery-looking young man out of his
office. ''I'll get somethin' on her. They
amt none O. them too foxy fer Bletz-
man, are they, Pete?"
Pete, his assistant, acquiesced
speedily with a chuckle, and Bletzman
bent a beady eye on the man who stood
close to Pete's desk.
Come right ill.," he welcomed the
other suavely, laying a sweaty palm on
the clients sleeve. pete, bring tn
gentleman's card in-nOw."
The door slammed and again the
outer office subsidized into a low MUIR
muir of voices.
So, unused Gates, this was what he
had come to. A place where the sa-
cred ties of marriage and motherhood
were banded about like packing boxes
and card-indexed like case of
| measles. Br-r-r!
And across the room, instead of the
sweet smile of his mother, gray
haired woman in gay clothes smirked
fraternally at him while waiting her
turn.
This drove Gates eyes to his lap,
on which rested a neat package, which
he now united. Dragging forth a yell
lowish paper. he fell to reading it, and
again it conjured forth visions from
out of happy past.
There was a great high-ceilinged par
lor, smelling deliciously of fresh
picked blossoms, and echOing the
sound of many laughing voices and
the crinkle of many stiff party dresses.
And a roSe-bower in the center, under
WHICH an eCStdllC COupit were TcCeIV-
ing congratulations. And Gates, as he
read his marriage license, heard anew,
as If it were yesterday, the little old
pastors solemn warning, "Whom God
hath Joined together, let no man put
asunder."
"Purty well prepared, amt yuh mis-
teri" The voice at Gates elbow
caused him to thrust the paper back
I'm the packet, as he looked up TO
meet the leer of the man on his right.
"Afy old woman swiped NINE" contin-
ued the other, enviolsly. "Leastways.
she muster given it t tn guy she
Topped with. Cost me fifty extra t. get
a new one. Amt women tn darnest
yeggs?"
Gates stared at him unseeingly. but
the last remark caused him to shiver
anew. Lucille, his wife, yegg? New
erl She was a fine girl. through and
through They just couldn't get along
that was all. and some one had sug-
gested Bletzman to him, and
"Y'u come outa tn mill sadder m
poorer" vouchsafed another waiting