Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-01-13

and hit the floor with a bump" said
Samson.
Brimstead declared In his usual
tone Of confidence:
"The worst part o. bein' a fool is
ionesomeness. l was the only one In
Flea valley. Now I shall be In the com
pany of a governor an dozens O. well
known statesmen. You'll be the only
lonesome man in Illinois,"
81 sometimes fear that he will en-
Joy the loneliness Of WISDOM" said
Honest Abe.
'In some parts Of the state every
farmer owns his WI private CITY,"
Samson declared. 81 hope Henry
Brimstead does as well raising cities
as he did raising grain. He was a
very successful farmer"
ST knew you'd make fun o. me but
when you come again you'll see the
towers an steeples," said Brimstead.
'sPut up your horses and come into
the house and see the first lady of El
Dorado"
Mrs. Brimstead had their dinner
cooking before the horses were cared
Cor. well, what do you think Of
Henry's plans?" she asked.
81 like the farm better"
$50 do l." the woman declared. But
the men around here have gone crazy
with dreams Of sudden wealth"
"Tve only a word of advice about 1t.
If those Chicago men sell any more Of
your land make them take the notes
and you take the money. Where is
Annabel?'
Teaching the school at Hopedale."
"We're going up to Chicago to see
the Kelsos," said Samson.
"Glad you are. Some rich Teller up
there by the name of Davis has fallen
in love with BIN an he don't give her
any peace. He left here last night
goin' north. Owns a lot O. land In
Tazewell county an wears a diamond
in his shirt as big as your thumb
nail. BIN has been teaching school in
Chicago this winter. 1t must be a
wonderful place. Every n has loads
of money. The stores an houses are
as thick as the hair on a dogs back
some of EN- as big as all outdoors"
Abe Lincoln and Harry, entered
with their host and the travellers sal
down to a luncheon of pudding and
milk and ~doughnuts and pie.
"How far do you call 1t to the syca'
more woods?" Lincoln asked as they
rose from the table.
"About thirty MILE" said Brim
stead.
1--WE must be of II we are to gei
there before dark" the young states
man declared.
They saddled their horses ant
mounted and rode up to the door. Aft
er their acknowledgements and fare
wells Brimstead came close to Sam
son and said in confidence: II enjo!
bein' a millionaire for a few minutes
now an then. It's as good as goin
to a circus an cheaper"
"The feelings of a millionaire ar
almost as good as the money Will
they lest said Abe Lincoln with
laugh.
At early candlelight they reache,
the sycamore woods very hungry. l
was a beautiful grovelike forest OF
the shore of a stream. The crossing
was a rough bridge Of corduroy. 4
crude log tavern and a cruder Stor,
stood on the farther shore Of tn
creek. The tavern was a dirty plac'
with a drunken proprietor. Three
ragged, shiftless farmers and a half
breed Indian sat in its main room il
varying stages of inebriacy. A well
dressed, handsome young man with
diamond in his shirt-front vas lead
ing a horse back and forth in thu
stable yard. The diamond led Samson
to suspect hat he was the man Davis
Of whom Mrs. Brimstead had spoken
Our travellers, not liking the look O.
the place, got some oats and rode on
camping near the farther edge of thu
woods, where they built a fire, fed ant
tethered their horses and sat dow
and ate from the store in their saddle
bags.
Then with their knives Abe ant
Samson cut big armfuls of grass from
the near prairie for the horses and
bed upon which the three man la,
down for the night.
Samson had that gift of "sleepinj
with one eye open" which the peril
Of the wilderness had conferred upoI
the pioneer. He had lain down OF
the side of their bed near the horses
which were tethered to trees only
few feet away. He had gone to sleel
with his pistol under his right hand
r WNTWTZIW