The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-12-09
The Tramp's
Orchard
By MALCOLM BROWN.

Copyright. 1921. Western Newspaper Union.
1.-The phenomena of conversion"
said the evangelist to the pSycholo-
giSt, "may be, as YOU say, the culmina-
tion of series OF obscure mental in
preSSionS, but the condition itself is
the result of moment. Something
which was not in the sinners heart
enters there and drives out something
that was there.
Il knew man-never mind who or
what he was. He was uneducated, the
sort of average American countryman
who is the staple human product Of
this nation. At the age of thirty he
was tramp, plodding along country
road in Carolina.
ut was early spring and the or
chards were aglow with peach bios
SONS. AS he passed outside long line
of blossom-bearing trees he saw girl
standing on the other side of the
fence, her arms full Of spraying boughs.
She was about sixteen.
"He learned something Of her cir
cumstances. Her parents had been
compelled to mortgage their farm;
they were heavily in debt; they feared
the loss of their home. And She-her
dearest wish to obtain an education
could not be fulfilled. If her father
were rich, she said, it might be.
'The ragged man could see that this
was the type of girl whom education
would bring the highest success. He
learned her name and that of the post
Office, thanked her for a drink of water
that she gave him, and, as he heard her
mothers harsh call from the house,
went on his way.
"He jumped freight train and made
his way by stages westward. He OBJ
tanned menial position and every
penny that he could hoard he put
away in a bank. When he had hun
dred dollars he sent it anonymously
to the girl. For your education,' he
wrote on the envelope. Then he be-
gan saving again.
Gradually the memory Of this girl
roek possession Of his life. AS the
months changed into years he pic
tIred her, first completing her course
in high school, then going to college.
Seven years later he was man OF
moderate means, and he had spent
$1,000 on the peach-blossom girl.
"What was she to become? No
stenographer or clerical assistant in
any business, Of that he was resolved.
Why, she should go to Paris, of course,
and achieve triumphs there. He set
aside his whole accumulation Of money
7,OO0-and sent it to her.
"And at last the day came when ne
turned his dreams into actual plans.
He would return and humbly ask her
to be his wife.
81 was not until he actually lie,
scended from the train at the obscure
little Georgia village that the futility
Of his dreams suddenly dawned upon
him. He had heard nothing from her
durins ten years. It might be that his
money had never reached her.
"When he heard the harsh voice Of
the mother at the door, he told me of
afterward," continued the evangelist,
"he was conscious Of an absurd desire
to run away, just as when he had
passed by the house, a tramp, ten
years before But the woman, seeing
that he was dressed like nan of
means, invited him in to rest, and she
gossiped readily about her circunl-
stances and was loud in complaint Of
her husband. He had acquired a good
deal of money, she told my friend, and
had squandered it all in speculation.
Ten years before he had been on the
verge of bankruptcy. and though things
had frightened he was still in the
same position. She wished that they
could sell out and move into a city
but 1t was hard to find purchasers for
peach orchard land in that section Of
the state.
"There's one trouble I've got she
grumbled, and that's Bessie. She de-
clares she won't go to city. She
hates city life and says if go she's
going to hire out somewhere. Jim re-
fuses to give her an education. She
wanted to go to high school and Jim
hadn't the money
eat that moment the farmer stamped
into the room casting suspicious
look at the visitor. The woman in
troduced him. This gentleman talks
Of buying the farrl,' she announced.
"The farmers visage cleared. May
be you'd like to come and talk it over
outside he said, and my friend fol-
lowed him.
@And then, coming through the
trees my friend saw the peach-bloS
som girl, and the old sense of peace
came back to him. Except for GER
tain maturity Of face and figure she
was the same as when she was six
teen."
"Well," said the psychologist, Il can
guess the rest. They We're married
and settled down on the farm and