The Jasper news., 1921-02-17

-rhey're pretty we'll shot: OF course,
you can 20 to some sanltarlum. u
you've got the money. n you haven't
enjoy yourself all you can for about
six months.n$s
Dams voice had been perfectly cool
and sure when he replied. lie had
smiled q little too. He was attn rath-
er proud Of that smile. "Slx mOnthsi
Isn't that rather shortT
Maybe a whole lot shorter. think
that's the limit"
There was the situation: Dan Fall
Ing had but six months to live. He
began to wonder whether his mother
had been entirely wise In her effort to
keep him from the trough games" OF
the boys Of his own age. He realized
now that he had been an underweiEht
all his llfe-that the frailty that had
thrust him to the edge Of the grave
had begun In his earliest boyhood. But
Il wasn't that he was born with ply
sical handicaps. He had weighed
full ten pounds; and the doctor had
told his father that sturdier little
chap was not TO be found In any ma
ternity bed In the whole city. But bis
mother was convinced that the child
was delicate and must he sheltered.
Never In oil the history of his family,
so far as Dan knew, had there been a
death from the malady that afflicted
him. Yet his sentence was signed and
sealed. Nf
But he harbored no resentment
against his mother. II was all In the
game, She had done what she thought
was best. And he began to wonder
In what way he could get the greatest
pleasure from his last six months Of
life.
Good Lordp he suddenly breathed.
Il may not be here 10 see the SHOWS
comel" Dan had always been partial
TO the winter season. When the snow
lay all over the farm Iunds and bowed
down the limbs Of the trees, II had
always wakened q curious flood Of
feelings In the wasted man. II seemed
to him that he could remember other
winters, wherein the snow lay for end
less miles over an endless wilderness.
and here and there were strange.
many-toed tracks that could he fol.
lowed in the icy dawns. But Of course
| II was Just fancy. lie wasn't IN the
least misled about II. He knew that
| he had never, In his lifetime, seen
the wilderness. or course his grand.
father had been a frontIersman OF the
FIRST order, and all his ancestors be-
fore hlm--a rangy, hardy breed whose
wings would crumple IN civilization
but he himself had always lived In
cities. Yet the falling SHOWS, soft and
gentle but with kind OF remorTeless-
ness he could sense but could not I'm.
derstnnd, had always stirred him.
He'd often iinagined that he would
like to see the forests In winter.
In him you could see reflection OF
the boy that played beside the pond
OF snow water, twenty years before.
His dark gray eyes were still rather
large and perhaps the wasted flesh
around them made them seem larger
than they were. But II was a little
hard to see them. as he wore large
glasses. His mother had been sure
years before, that he needed glasses
and she had easily found an oculisI
that agreed with her.
Now that he was alone on the path
the utter absence OF color In his
cheeks was startling. That meant the
absence OF red-that warm glow oi
the blood eager and alive In his
veins. Perhaps IN observer would
have noticed lean hands. with big
knuckled fingers, n rather firm mouth
and closely cropped dark hair. fIt
was twenty-nine years Of age, but hC
looked somewhat older. He know nov
that he was never goin.s to be any
older. A doctor as sure Of himself Al
the one he had just consulted couldn''
possibly be mistaken.
He sat down on park bench. Jus
beneath the spreading limb Of grea
tree. He would SIT here, he thought
until he finally decided what he woulS
do with his remaining six months.
He hadn't been able to go to war
The recruiting officer had been yer!
kind but most determined. The boy
had brought him great tales Of France