Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1920-12-23

gained the street which led to MS
house he began running like mad
man. Truly it must be as the clergy
man had said. Ida was at home, OF
course. with her little boy. She had
never left him, all that had been a
bad dream from which he would
awake when he entered He let him
self in and switched Oh the electric
light. The room was empty and al
most bare, and it had never looked so
forlorn and miserable before.
He realized that she was lost 10
him forever She would accept his
silence as final; she would never write
to him again. And her address had
vanished from his memory utterly
He had barely glanced at it once and
purposely refrained from looking at
it again before he tore the letter into
fragments and flung them into the
stove He had chosen his miser's gold
and it lay like dead weight upon his
heart.
scrap of paper on the floor caught
his eye. He picked it up; it was
morsel of the envelope and bore his
name, Julius Mayo, and the first fig
ure Of the house number Perhaps
other morsels might have futtered
out OF the fire-perhaL. just the one
which would give him the clue to his
daughters address. Instantly he was
down upon his knees and raking
among the dying embers, turning over
ha mir,
the clinker ash. Another scrap re-
warded his efforts. This was the up
per corner of the envelope, bearing
portion of the Cancelled stamp. with
the benign features of Washington.
| There was no more; he could not find
I SO much as single charred fragment.
The old man rose slowly and stared
at his white face in the little glass
| that hung above the mantel. His eyes
were feverish and his gray hair hung
| in a disordered mass over his fore
head He remembered the old Ger
man legend that on one day in the
| year the souls in hell were permitted
| to stand outside the gates of Paradise
and to look in. This was his day;
| this was Christmas Eve. the anniver-
sary of Minnas death, the one day
| in the year on which he might save
| his soul. The pride and greed were
there, only dominated for the present
! by the influence of his mood; if he
gave rein to them again he would be
lost irretrievably And the mood
must pass because he could not find
the letter Tomorrow, he knew, his
work would absorb him again, his
heart would harden, as old mems
hearts do The gates of Paradise
stood open wide for him and he had
lost the key.
He walked slowly across the room
His mind was made up; he would de-
stroy all the fruits of his experiments,
batter down that idol which he had
set up to wean him from his own.
He raised his arm to sweep every
thing to the floor-test tubes, bottles.
papers He hesitated Could he let
the fruits of all those years Of expert
ment 60? He might at least save the
formulate. Or was that sacrifice neces-
sary If he was to save his soul from
hell.
Suddenly his rowing eyes rested
upon the test tube which he had left
on the table.
He shouted aloud with Joy. The
mood had passed; the idol had reared
itself again. Ida was forgotten.
Something had happened during his
absence that he had never managed to
bring about before. The liquid in the
tube had passed from gold TO brown.
and from brown to a streaky flaky
mass OF creamy, jelly-like fluid 1t
was almost artificial rubber
He was upon the track at last. His
composition. in cooling. had coagulat-
ed as rubber coagulates. This was
not rubber. but 1t was not far from
1t. 1t was a compound which con,
tanned all the elements of rubber.
But somewhere. in the building Of it.,
two or three molecules had gone
astray. or fastened themselves TO the
wrong elements just as one may put
picture puzzle together and not
quite At the pattern. He was very
close now; he must try the next form
ula. and the next, ana the next; it
might be only q matter OF a few days
before success crowned his efforts.
He sought feverishly for the paper
with the microscopic handwriting. the
result Of years OF research work and
endless experimentation. 1t was not
In its accustomed place. and he began
turning his notes over. hunting for 1t.
1t must be on the other table. then
yes. there lay folded sheet under the
blotting sheet. He reached for II and
picked up-his daughters letter.
Mayo stared at 1t without under.
standing. How had this paper. which
he had torn up and thrown into the
furnace. come back to him. At last
the staggering truth burst in upon
him. He had destroyed the formula
in place Of the letter. and all the work
Of years had gone for nothing. He
could never begin all over again
Even II he had the enterprise there
was no time. for others were hard
upon the scent.
He sank back into his chair All
his life was ruined now and the last
illusion had come topping down. He
|