Evening star., 1921-04-24


be the first to impart it.
Somebody stole three hundred dol
lars from Walter Shepherd" she said,
before her foot touched the top step.
"I:~ant to know" said Grandma.
laying her knitting in her lap for a
moment. Have they diSkivered who
done it,"
Il .-calc1ate they got s'picions."
Martha said knowingly; but that
hain't Iettin' on"
Too bad" said Grandma slowly.
TOO bad. Not much fer Walter
Shepherd. He kin afford to lose 1t.
But the hain't nobody kin AFFORD to
stealos. - Il dread TO hear who they
ketch.'
Grandma Cutcheon looked off
across the fields. and her face was
sad 1.-THE occurrence of evil in the
world always saddened Grandma. Her
expression changed. There they
be" she said. pointing with a knit
ting needle to young man who
shambled along with a bamboo fish
ing pole over his shoulder and a
can of bait in his hand. Ten feet
behind the young man shambied a
boy. obviously copying the gait and
physical manneriSms of his leader
He. too, was equipped with pofe and
bait.
-Follers him like a dog said
Grandma. 'Allus a-follerin' Dick
Towne every step he takes"
"Wuthless coots,' said Martha
sharply.
Remind me of them dogs the mis-
sonary was 1alkin' about t'other
day. What name was it she give
'em? Prairie dogs? No. Twa'nt
that. Pariah. That's the word
Beggy's a pariah puppy. Don't un-
derstand the boy worshipin' him like
he pears to do"
Nor would Grandma have under
stood better the worship of BeGgy
Turnip-boyhood' corruption of Ben
she have been their constant COM
panion.
Dick Towne maintained the fiction
that he worked at his trade of paint
ing and paperhanging. for the most
lazy, the most shiftless, the most
worthless of men must fortify the
inrer citadel to which their self-rc-
spect has fed and become invisible to
the world. He lived alone in the
dilapidated unpainted shanty that
had been his fathers 1t was one of
those structures whose lines had
sagged to curves. and whose curl
ing shingles gave the effect of feath-
ers upon the back of some squalid
great bird.
He fished, he hunted. or he loafed.
Upon rare occasions he made pre-
tense of gainful occupation by pick
ing berries or by trapping. His ia
ther had left behind him in the local
savings bank a fortune of three thou
s3nd and odd dollars, which returned
Dick an income of something like
hundred and fifty dollars year. His
scheme of life was based upon the
preservation of the capital sum. and
existence upon the interest. He stilf
had one year the advantage of thirty.
po;r cd in
deed. il relied upon him., as small
New England hamlets are given to
relying upon those local characters
which give them color and conyersa-
tion. Such characters are indispen-
sable and seem never to fail. There
is something in the New England
moral or economic system which
breeds them as inevTtable Teonse-
Quences.
x =
A 8 for Beggy Turnip. he was son
and sole heir to the villages pre-
mier dipsomaniac and petty criminal.
In a less human and more efficient
civilization Beggy would have been
taken away from his father and cared
for institutionally: which might have
killed him, but would have uplifted
him. AS it was. he throve. and there
was no boy of his age in the town
ship who dared knock from his shoul-
der the provocative chip. For the
most part, he shifted for himself. not
interfered with by the good hearted
truant officer.
Dick Towne could not arise so early
hut that he found Beggy waiting for
him TO emerge. The bright eyes of
the boy would fasten themselves
a hungry. hopeful expression. His
hope was that Dick would notice his
presence by word. II as was the
case nine times out of ten, the young
man passed on without greeting or
notice. Beggy waited until his hero
was ten feet ahead. and. exhibiting
no sign of disappointment or anger.
would follow. as Grandma Cutcheon
said. like a dog.
So now the young man and the
boy crossed the fields within the
range of Grandma Cutcheon's eyes,
pathetically alike in pose and move
ment and even in wearing apparel.
to pass from sight among the su-
macs which crested the hill above
the pond. They descended the slope
and skirted the water on their way
TO wellknown points extending
through the impeding border of lily
pads. At the apex of one of these
Dick Towne stationed himself. his
legs dangling over the crumbling
bank. Beggy. with eyes studying his
feet away, rejecting in every move
ment the motions of his elder. II
was as though Dick Towne were re-
fiected in some mirror endowed with
grim. ironicai humor. When Dick
baited his hook. Beggy impaled an
angleworm. Beggy spat upon his
bait in exact imitation OF Dicks
mannerism IN performing that fisher
mans rite. Dick cast his hook into
the water. and sat slouchingIy. drow-
silly. watching his bobber. Beggys
sole Distinguishing movement was to
utely Dicks posture and rectifed any
failures in his own conformity to it,
Neither spoke. The. man had no:
signified his awareness of the boys
existence that day, and now, per
kaps. he forgot Beggy utterly. while
in the warm. humming. lazy air he
quite gave over mental activity and
surrendered himself to the bliss of
ultimate irresponsibiiity.
pCT Beggy was awake, alert,
dreaming as boys dream, and
imagining as boys imagine The
bank upon which they sat became a
cliff. the shallow water a, it's foot
black. hungry depths. The cliffs edge
crumbled under Dick. and he fell
down and down into those waiting
waters-and sank. Beggy pictured
himself as leaping 10 his feet, posing
on the brink. plunging in beautiful,
curving dive He came TO the sur
face and looked about for his friend.
but his friend was invisible.
Well, Beggy knew what had hap
pened, He filled his lungs and diyed.
and there, tangled in water yegeta-