Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-03-07

| he would show that Chimney. Con was
with the cook, listening to fairy-stories
told in their original tongue, when the
drunk ripped the Chinese across with
broad knife. Thus some old racial
grudge was settled. John Lexington
! found his son waiting patiently beside
| the dead man. Con discovered that
| stories are not always finished.
| Solemnly he went to bed
| In Frisco again, with the boy nearly
! four years of age, John worked in
many strange places. They lived near
/ Dory street John was a marked
man. He did not drink often, but he
chose the most fatal occasions for it.
! The gray shadows beneath his eyes
deepened Con learned to cut bread
! and light the f1res-a rather solemn
young person, who was well aware
that his father was not always the
same. His eyes were blue large,
ready to trust. In his consciousness
/ there was no such thing as stranger
! The matter IF home remained world
wide.
Tie N0ulUEGu uOWH " ClC SlCdAi
ferries and pondered the mystery of
! their endless coming and going. He
/ loved the strength of horses as they
hauled heaping loads over the cobbles
He wondered what made the loads so
heavy. And where had everything
come from? The fire-engines were de-
! lightful. At night, when they passed
! below the window and he could not
i get up, he lay beside his father and
wondered what might be burning, and
! imagined how the smoke would come
out and blacken the stars, and the fire
: crackle and curl up high, as the fire.
men worked from the street. Was it
big building burning? Who was get
ting burned up? What would they
! have done if they hadn't been burned
up tonight?
j On some occasions his father would
talk, but he was asleep all the while
/ and how could he know what he was
! saving? Con listened and it was like
i Bill the Chink. He could not under
stand the words of either of them, but
/ it was wonderful to hear. There was
! a rhythmic pulse to these night words
! of John Lexington, and upon it Con
was frequently carried into magic
! dreams.
"I'm going"
The father usually said this to the
boy in the morning, and it did not
mean he was going to work. Con
understood so much, but no more.
| John Lexington said it more and more
! often.
Con himself became marked for
/ different" At the age of six he felt
/ it. He did nearly everything the boys
in the Dory street neighborhood, even
/ the soiled little yellow boys whose
/ play was weird with forty centuries of
/ Asiatic wickedness; but Con was not
always admitted. He could fight and
! climb, was generous and bold. But
! the clear light in his eyes betrayed
! him: he was different.
At length he realized that things were
said concerning his father which he
could not quite fathom. John seemed
tired and always very gentle drowsy
but never ready for bed. Their little
| kitchen was clean. The bedroom
smelled like Father himself, friendly
personal scent, rather like cinnamon
and whisky. This went with the
gray-shadOWed eyes, and grew more
perceptible when John began to stay
at home every day, being out of work
| Often, now, John Lexington would
take the child between his knees and
look for a long time steadily into the
/ blue eyes. Con found that this was
better than talking. He received his
! father into an open heart, giving MIN
utter devotion. John slept a great
deal when out of work. His eyes were
/ Swallowed and sunken.
They returned to D0wagiac. The
| house was rented by strangers, but the
slovenly woman next door was there
as always, her sparse black hair stand
/ ing out at angles from her head. 1t
seemed she wore the same snagged
apron. stiff with grease. She moved
out to the sidewalk to shake hands.
"You amt looking well-and is this
/ the baby?"
! She nonchalantly pinched Cons
/ cheek, and he coldly suffered her
! touch.
!! John Lexington did not reach the
cemetery. AS he was leading his son
to that hill the blaze of an August
sun mastered him His vitality was
gone, had left him long since. Con
crossed the street to ask at a house
for water, because his father was
down and could not get up. Dowa-
| giac's new ambulance thus found it's
premier case. The boy was handed
over to the matron of the city rest
room. After supper they took him to
/ his father in the hospital.
''Tm going" said John.
Con was somewhat closer to the
meaning now, Johns eyes were more
I.s