Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-04-18
BY the Side of
the Road
BY AID SCHUSTER

tCopyright.)

from where the chamber OF com
MERGE literature says "rlil meets sail,
more than q wanderer has met witt
Jacob Ferr. He Is short and fat ant
he sits with chair tilted back agains
the implanted front Of his shanty
watching a part of the world go by OF
foot In the pullmans and aboard ship
Old Jacob smokes his pipe and let,
the sun "sink into his bones." He be
slows a careless look on the big steam
ships and has scarce a glance 70,
the passenger trains, but when
freight train passes he becomes alert
searching the rods, the roofs, tiatcars
and the spaces between cars. The
hoboes who ride by attract his inter.
est. They are men who are young
and carefree. They travel the world
Jacob Is fat and he is getting old, but
there is a big pot on the stove In his
kitchen and plenty Of Jriftwood for
fuel. He waves to the passing tramps
and Jerks a pudgy thumb toward his
door. Some of them wave back and
one or two swing Off the moving cars
to accept the invitation. The m~ulligan
OF Jacob Kerr and his reputation for
hospitality are known the country
over where men meet beneath the wa
ter tanks or In the ~"jungles" by the
streams.
This time 1t Is a red-faced lad and
a languid 0ldster who enter.
"Heave a few sticks on the fire."
says Jacob, "and the stew will get to
boiling. Going South for the wlnter?"
Inside Is warmth, smoking tobacco
and food. Jacob, a smiling host, is
content to listen to the stories Of the
world. This red-faced lad Is trying
gravely to act as an old-timer. He
uses the talk Of the road awkwardly.
Jacob sees that he is homesick. Be-
fore morning he will talk to the boy.
1t might be a word OF two now will
send him back to somebody who waits.
The languid n yawns, and falls
asleep. He Is too old to quit. The
life has him and he doesn't care. Jacob
knows them all and they know him.
Not a few, when they are In funds,
drop a coin N the box by the door.
a coin that will feed some other fell
low. The languid man shores and
Jacob mods toward him.
Been partners longw
Nav. Him and me just hooked up
the other day. Ny pard, my real pard,
bumped of. 1t was a wreck and he
vas caught underneath. I rolled down
a bank. That was a regular guy. He
had me all smoked up to beat 1t home
to start where I left off. but now l
don't know"
The old mar puffs hard on his pipe.
Had some sorta row at home, 7 ex-
pect, and ran away. Said you were
going to make your fortune. That's
the way with a lot Of EN- but sooner
or later they are stopping in to see
me and go floating on" Jacob eyed
the other almost fercely. Look here,
lad, have you never learned anything
from their eyes? Hopeless, they are,
the sparks gone" He mods again to
the sleeping tramp.
when you get that way you are
fixed, fixed for life, for the roads and
the beams, and all the time you are
growing older. Some day a tramp will
be found and taken to q pauper's
grave, and that's the end. Nobody
knows how he suffered In his last ILL.,
ness, nobody there to take his last
word. I tell you, kid, 60 back while
you have the chance. Forget you
know more than your dad. Give your
mother a chance to be happy again."
The kid grins and shifts his feet
uneasily. He isn't going to let any
old man get his goat. Nobody can tell
him what to do. Why, this old duffer
talks just like-the kid gulped-just
like dad had talked.
II guess it's too late with me, too"
Listen now" Jacob says, "Tm tell
ing you something | never spilled be-
fore. l had a kid, he looked some
thing like you, and he was wiser than
his father. We had a little argument
about schooling before he started into
business and he ran away. Too proud
to come back, he was, until he had
proved he could make more money
than l. So he stayed away. l found
out he was a tramp, have heard Of
him once In a while, and 1t is because
I may find him that l have sold out
my business. His mother had died
and he doesn't know 1t. They all
come here sooner or later. I'm wait
Ing"
Il wonder" the kid speaks slowly,
III dad feels that way"
"IIl bet he does. Say, you haven't
seen Ned have you1 l asks them all"
And Jacob displays a photograph.
In the dim light the kids face
shows white. He turns to speak, then
checks himself.
"Old man." he says, "T1l 90 back.
Honest l will. IL wanted to all the
he rises, brushes his arm
across his eyes and makes his way
.rkclln