Evening star., 1921-10-09
THE EMPEROR HADRIAN - A Complete Story by B

his skin and the way his hair still
cvrisd IN the naps Of his neck and
| above his ears. He vas small for
Of energy one one seldom sIlddsa asds in " : eeun. a.
| try lad, q nervous restlessness, pro-
phetic both Of success and of failure.
II reckon I better tell you all" he
Segsai esgse sol Tsn1 ,so ysI should ask
She looked at him sharply, and .
shade of anxiety clouded her face.
We're buildin' somethin' over to
81 Smart's old cowshed,"' he began.
school s .ss1ss.s sspss tor Sossay ss ':s s:y
me and Bill white ana Red snd the
Tcrschak kids and the dob"
"oy!ts = bynch for 70 keep one g..
ssss;n srisain H.ses''saa smiled va's you
His eyes shining with excitement,
he waited q minute for the dramatic
There was blank amusement on
Hephsibahs face. with curious eyes
this one. or had she, indeed, three years
ago, brought q strangelinE homo with
her from the orphan asylum In Des
Moines?
"a charict?" she echoed.
this: The exercises is to BE- out Of
| doors before the schoolhouse. First
| there'n be singin'-with the girls and
I the kids" he explained. then speeches
| and poems from the poetry book.
@ Then Bin Whites goin. to give 2 ora IRA
where the chariot comes in"
Perhaps this was lucid. but Hsph-
yibah remained unenlightened. Il
don't see," she began.
through yet His oration 10 . Roman
senator's speech-that's what they
called the Eyetalians 4 long time ago
and he wears toga and . wreath
around his head. and we come drivin'
up in chariot. like they used to then
| tion."
Hephsibah shook her head dubious
ly; Seems kinda silly to me-" she
said, finally.
stephen or to Red or Bill White or
the TerschakE. Nothing IL foolish
that's make-believe, IL it's believed
in: playing Indian, or pirates. or
Robin Hood, or Shakespeare. In the
oW 9hs nsa of III. %
dren-for the school was ungfaded-
had read Julius Caesar. and because
Jacob Sears, who was working his
way through law school, believed 1t
was great, SO did tho fourteen rangy,
freckle-faced farmer lads whom he
taught.
Jacob Sears. gentle and ideaHstic.
might never become q great lawyer,
but he was great teacher. Into
dreary crossroads school he brought
that something which may be called
Lsns sfter ,ns shsy had had
who had been Jacob Sears pupils re-
tanned the imprint Of his spirit and
still cared for the things he loved.
On the bottom shelf Of the cup
board. next to the Bible, Stephen
cared. with eager fingers he turned
over the pages till he found an old
stone cut Of Hadrlan's chariot. Here"
he explained, the book spread open
on the table i'm front of Hephsibah.
two wheels OF his fathers old spring
wagon and a tongue, and the Ter
schaks have got some boards. and
Reds fathers Goin' to loan US team
just for the afternoon-and now.
here's the part that's important.
harness" He had no way Of know
ing the pleading that burned in his
eyes. I'VE just gotta have one. Aunt
Hephzobah, or the whole thing will
fall through. D'you think he might.
maybe?h mi l;ahths he questioned Dyou think
Hephzibah looked away from the
earnestness in his face. Why must
youth care SO intensely? Why should
it so recklessly court disappoint-
ment?
"You see. Aunt Hephzibah, I gotta
special reason for askin'-" He
stopped again. realizing in some
vague way how clumsy and danger
GUS words may be. you see. some
Of the fellahs think we're poor and
unsuccessful and that Zeke's tight
besides Then there's somethin' else."
he went on, land this ia hard to ex-
plain, even to you. You see. every
body knows I was placed out, and
that makes me sorta different. II
thought II Zeke would do somethin'
for me once-like other boys par
ents dot would sorta make me
seem more regular" He stopped
suddenly. embarrassed and shy. II
dunno as I ought to have said that
even to you."
uEPHZIBAH PRESTON understood.
She, too, knew the misery Of
being different, for neither she nor
Zeke had fitted into the new country.
She knew Zeke would think the
chariot was foolishness. even as she
did. Besides, she knew Zeke was
worried. II d9n't know. stsvis." she