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Show II I A Man for the Ages f w. I I Story of the Builders of Democracy ij I 1., Dy IRVING BACHELLER I Mi 5 Copyrtirht. TfTln nchllr J K j1' ' tVVVVViVVVrtVVVVkVVi i CHAPTER XI Continued. 'J. Pi One ovevliig, or thnt summer, Kht L is aim oiu to tlic Trnylnrs' with n let avil ter In Ills lint for Surah. I "How's business?" guinson naked, II ji "Going to peter out, I reckon," aoc ii jl; answered with a sorrowful look. "It 3' 1 will leave me badly In debt. I wunt n ed something that would glvo um n -' chance for study and I got It. Ity 11 K i' Jlngt It looka as If I was going to I liuve yeurs of study trying to get over jj It. Hme you got nny work to give JT me? You know I can split rails about f tu fast as the next man and I'll take j lay ay In wheal or corn." j. ' ( "Von tuny glvo mo all the tlmo you ' can rpuml outside tho slorc," suld iftumson. That evening they had n talk about tlic whisky business and Its relation to Hie character of Ellphulet Ulggs and to sundry Infractions of law mid order In their community. Samson hnil declared de-clared ihut It was wrong1 to sell liquor. "All that kind of thing can be safely safe-ly left to the common sense of our people," said Abo. "Tho remedy Ih tdtientlon, not resolution. Slowly the people will have to set down nil the Items In the ledger of common sense that pnm-en from sire to sou. By and y wiiuc Keueratlon will strlko u bill-luce. bill-luce. 'J'l.iU tuny not come In n linn-1ml linn-1ml fit r. Soon or Inlo the nmjoi-ty nmjoi-ty of the people will reach a reckon-ins reckon-ins wlih John Ilarleycorn. If there's too much against him they will net. Von might as well try to stop a glacier gla-cier by building a dam In front of It. l'hey have opened an account with Hncry, too. Ity and by they'll de-Mde de-Mde Its fale." Such was his fill th In the common folk of America whoso way of learning learn-ing mill whoso love of the right lie knew ns no man has known It. (n Ibis connection the New Eng-luni'cr Eng-luni'cr wrote In his diary: "He has spent his boyhood In the otilh mid his young manhood In the North. He has studied the Kant and lived In the Wost. Ho Is tho people .1 sometimes think mid about us slow to make up his' mind. As Isaiah says; He does not Judge ufler the sight of his eyes neither reprove after tho hearing hear-ing or his ears.' Abo him to think about It." In April Abe wrote another nddress to the voters announcing thnt ho was gain a candidate for h sent In tho JkplAlnture. Late that month Harry vtuTteil with hlni lo Pappsvlllo where crowd had assembled to uttnd a l'ibll sttio At one pluce there were Illefi u tlio cr6wd wlio know Hnrry's record In the war. They called on him for a speech. He spoke on tho need of the mentis of transportation In Hangnirion county with such Insight and dignity and convincing candor that both Abe and the audience hailed lilm as n coming man. Abo and he wpre often seen together thoso days. In Haw Salem tlioy were culled the disappointed lovers. It wob known fhcto that Abe was very fond of Ann Jtutlcdge, although he had not, ns yet, ipeliJy confessed to nny one not even to Aim there being no show of hope tiir hlni. Ann wns deeply In loVe with John ilcNell tho genlul, handsome ijnd successful young Irlslimun. The TTnlr had rcuched tho stage of frank-The frank-The Girl Wept as If Her Heart Would Break, nose, of on open discussion of plans, of fond affection expressing Itself In caresses quite Indifferent to ridicule. For Ann It had been llko warm sunlight sun-light on tho growing rose. She was lien ter In dress, lovelier In form and wlor. more graceful In movement nntl sweeter-voiced than ever she had been. Il is Hie old wuy that Nature has of preparing I lie young to come out upon the Musri dr reul life nnd to act in Its i.-' ii hi cues. Abo manfully gave ! i ti it wishes nnd when he H -,'. t , t W8 ,) yCry Jgg, derly. The look of sadness, which all hud noted In his moments of obstruction, obstruc-tion, deepened and o'tcii covered his face with Its veil. That Is another way that Nature hits of preparing the young. For these tlic roses hnvo fallen and only the thorns remain. They are not lured; they seem to be driven to their tasks, but for all, soon or Into, her method chnnges. On a beautiful morning of June. ISM, John McNeil left tho village. Abe Lincoln and Harry and Simmon nnd Surah and Jack Kelso and his wife stood with the Ilutlcdges In tho dooryard of the tavern when lie rode away. He was going buck to his home In the Kn.it to return In the autumn au-tumn nnd make Ann his bride; The girl wept ns If her heart would break when he turned far down the road and waved his linnil (o her, "Oh, my pretty lass I Do you not hear the birds singing In tho meadows?" mead-ows?" said Jack KeJso. "Think of tho happiness all around you nnd of the greater hupplncss thnt Is coming when he returns. Shame on youl" "I'm nfrald he'll never come bnck," Ann sobbed. "Nonsense I Don't get n maggot In your brain and let the crows go wulk-Ing wulk-Ing over jour fuce. Uome, we'll tnke a ride In tho menduws nnd If I don't bring you bnck luughltig you may call me nB prophet." So the event passed. Ilnrry traveled about with Abe a good dcnl Hint summer, "electioneering," "electioneer-ing," ns they called It, from farm to farm. Abe used to go Into the fields, with the men whose favor he sought, and lieuil his long back over u scythe or ii cradle and race them playfully across tho Held of grain cutting n wider swntli than nny other nnd ul-wnys ul-wnys holding tho lend. Every man wns out of hreulli at tho end of his swutli nnd needed n few minutes for recuperation. Thnt gave Abo a chance for Ills statement of the county's needs and hlH plnn of satisfying them. 'He hud met and talked with a majority of the voters before the campaign ended In his election In August. At odd times tl.nt summer he hud been surveying u new road with Hnr-ry Hnr-ry Neeuies for his helper. In September Sep-tember they resumed their work upon it In tho vicinity or New Sulom mid Abe begun to carry the letters In his hat again. Every day Ann wns look-lug look-lug for hlni as he came by In the dim light of the curly morning on his wny to work. "Anything for me?'' she would ask. "No mall In slnco I saw you, Ann," was the usunl answer. Often he would say: "I'm nfmtd not, but here you take these letters and look through 'em and mako sure." Ann would tnke them In her hands, trembling with eagerness, and run Indoors In-doors to the candlelight, and look them over. Always sho came back with the llttlo bundle of letters very slowly lis lr her disappointment wero a heavy burden. m "There'll bo ono next tnnll If I hnve to write It myself," Alio suld one morning In October as he went on. To Hurry Needles, who was with him thnt morning, he snld: "I wonder why that fellow don't write to Aim. I couldn't believe that ho has been foaling her, hut now I don't know what to think of hlni. I wonder what has happened to the follow.'.' Tho mall stage was late that evening. eve-ning. As It had not come nt ulnu Mr. Hill went home nnd left Abe In the store to wnlt for his mall. The stnge arrived a few minutes Inter. Abo ex-amlnod ex-amlnod tho llttlo bundlo of letters and newspapers which tho driver had left with him, Then he took a paper ami sat down to read In the firelight. While ho was thus engaged the door opened softly and Ann Uutledgo en-tared. en-tared. The postmaster was not aware of her presence until she touched his nrm." "Plense glvo mo a letter," she snld. "Sit down, Ann,"' said he, very gently, gent-ly, ns he placed a chnlr la the fire-glow. fire-glow. She took It, turning toward him with a look of feur nnd hope. Then he added: "I'm sorry, but tho truth Is It didn't come. It In terrible, Ann, thnt I have to help in this breaking of your heart that Is going on. I seem to bo the head of the hammer that hits you so hard, but the bundle Is lir other hands. Honestly, Ann, I wish I could do tho suffering for you every bit of It nnd glvo your poor heart n rest. Hasn't he written you this siimmor?" "Not since July tenth," sho answered. an-swered. Then she confided to Abo that her lover told her before he went nwny that his tuiiqe was not McNeil but McNamar; that ho had changed his iinnio to keep clear of his family until ho had made a success; thnt ho had gone Knst to got his father nnd mother and bring them back with him; lastly she enmo to tho thing that worried her most the suspicion of her father and mother that John wits not honest. 'They say that he protmblyhad a wife when he came hen. that that Is why he don't write to me." Then nfter a little silence she plead oil: "You don't think that, do you. Abe?" "No," said the latter, giving her the ndvantngo of every doubt. "John did a foolish thlrj. but we must not condemn lilm without a knowledge of the fucts. The young often do foolish things and sickness would account for his silence. You go hor-o nnd go to sleep nnd stop worrying, Ann. You'll get that letter one of these days." A dny or two later Abe nnd Harry went to Springfield. Their reason for the trip lay In a talk between the post-muster post-muster und Jack Kelso the night before be-fore as they sat by the Jotter's fireside. fire-side. ,'i've been living where there wua no one to find fault with my parts of speech or with the parts of my legs which wero not decently coverpd," said Abe. "The sock district of my person has been without representation representa-tion In the legislature of my Intellect up to Its last session. Then we got n bill through for local Improvements and the governor has approved tho appropriation. Suddenly wo discovered discov-ered thnt there wns no money In the treasury. Hut Samson Traylor has offered to buy an Issuo of bonds 'of (he amount of fifteen dollars." "I'm glad to hear you declare In favor of external Improvements," said Kelso. "We'vo all been too much nb-sorbet! nb-sorbet! by Internal Improvements. You're on the right trail, Abe. You've Tho Jew Pointed to His Signboard. been thinking of the public ear and too little of the public eye. We must show somo respect for both." "Sometimes 1 think that comely dress , ought to go with comely diction,"' dic-tion,"' snld Abe. "Hut that's a thing you, can't learn n books. There's no grnmmnrlnn of the language of dress. Then I'm so big nnd awkward. It's a rather hopeless problem." "You're In good company," Kelso assured lilm. "Nature gunrds her best men with somo sort of singularity, not attractive to others. Often she makes them odious with conceit or deformity or dumbness or garrulity. Dante wns such n poor talker that no ono would ever ask him to dinner. If It hud not been so I presume Ids mujo would hnve been sndly crippled by Indigestion. If you lind been a good dancer nnd n Indy's favorite, 1 wonder If you would hnve studied Klrkhum nnd Hums and Shakespeare and lllackstone nnd Starkte, nnd the science of surveying nnd been elected to tho legislature. I wonder lr you could even have whipped Jnck Armstrong." Arm-strong." "Or hnve enjoyed the friendship of Illll Berry nnd acquired n national debt, or lnve saved my Imperiled country In the war with Blnck Hawk," Abe laughed. In the matter of dress the postmaster postmas-ter lind great confidence In the taste und knowledge of his young friend, Harry Needles, whose neat appearance appear-ance Abe regarded with scrlolis admiration. ad-miration. So ho asked Harry to go with him on his new mission and help to choose the goods nnd direct the tailoring, for It seemed to him a high-ly high-ly Important enterprise. "Our appropriation Is only fifteen dollars," said Abo as they came In sight of "the big village" on a warm bright dny late In October. "Of course, I can't expect to make myself look like tho President of the United States with such a sum, but I want to look like u respectable cltlren of the United States, If that Is possible. I'll give the old Abe nnd fifteen dollars to boot for a now one and we'll see what comes of It." Springfield had been rapidly changing. chang-ing. It was still small and crude, hut somo of the best standards of clvlllw tlon had been set up In that community, commun-ity, Families of wealth and culture in tho East had sent their suns and a share of their capital to this little metropolis of the land of plenty to go Into business. Handsome. -well-groomed iHKil lorsi-t . slhcr-itiu.dHni in' I draw In, carriage tlntl shone "u you ! could sec your fuce In them," to quote from Abe iigultt. were on lis strreis. The two New Salem men slopped and studied a big sign In front or a large slorc on which this announcement announce-ment hud been lettered: "Cloths, cusilnettes, cnsslinere. velvet vel-vet silks, sntlns, llursellles waistcoat-Ing, waistcoat-Ing, line, culf boots, seul nnd morocco pumps for gentlemen, crepe llsse. luce veils. Thibet shuwls, tine prunulla shoes." "Heads like a foreign language to me," suld Abe. "How would you like a Utile Marseilles wulstcouting?" Suddenly n mini touched his shoulder shoul-der with u henrty "Howdy, Abe?" It wus Kll, "the 'Wandering Jew," as he hud been wont to cnll himself In the dnys when he carried a pack on (ho road through Peter's Bluff ami Clury's Orove nnd New Snlem Xn Heurdstowu nnd bnck. "Dis is my store," said Ell. "Your storol" Abe exclaimed. "Yn, look at de sign." The Jew pointed to his slgn-bos.nl some fifty feet long under the cornice, ou which they read the legend: "Ell Fredenberg's Emporium." Abe looked him over from head te foot and exclaimed: "My conscience I You look as If you had been fixed up to be sold to tin highest bidder." The hulry, dusty, bow-legged, thread bare peddler had been touched bf some miraculous hnnd. The lavish hand of the West had showered her fnvors on htm. They reccmbled In some degree the bnrbnrjc penrl and gold of the East. He (lowed with prosperity. Diamonds nnct milled linen lin-en nnd Scotch plaid nnd led silk on his neck nnd n bluo band on his hat and n smooth-shorn face aihl perfumery perfum-ery were the glittering details thnt surrounded the person of ElL "Come In," urged the gcnUI proprietor pro-prietor of the Emporium. "I vouW like to show you my goots and Intntluc you lo.my brudder." In tho men's department after much thoughtful discussion they decided upon up-on a suit of blue Jeaus that belli? the only goods which, la view, of the amount or cloth required, came within with-in the appropriation. Ell advised against it. "You are like Ell nlrendy," h suld. "You liaf got de pack off your Shack. Look nt me. Don't you hear my etothee say Rometing?'. "They are very eloquent," snlfl Ale "Veil, dey make a speech. Doy say Ell Fredenbcrg he Is no more A poof devil. You cunnot sneeze at hlm one nguln. Ne'er. He lias climb de lad tier up.' Now you let m sell yot someting vat mnkes a goo ilpeccl for you." "If you let me dtctnto the speeci I'll agree," said Abe. "Veil vat Is It?" Ell asked. "I would like my clothes to toy If a low tone of voice: This Is humble Abraham Lincoln, about tho samt length and breadth that I am. Ih don't want to senro or astonish nny body. He don't want to look like I beggar or a millionaire. Just put hlu down for a hard-working mnn of goo Intentions who Is badly In debt.' " That ended nil argument. The sur of blue Jeans was ordered and thi measures taken. As they were abou to go Ell said: "I forgot to tell you dot I haf seei IJIm Kelso do odder day In St. Loula" I haf seen her on de street She hai been like n queen bo grand I De ha and gown from Parte and she Talk k proud! But sho look not so hnppj like she uslt to be. I spenlc to her Oh my, she vas glad and so surprised Sho toll mo dot she vould llko-to comt for a visit but her husband he doei not vuiit her to go dere nefer ngnln My Jobber hnf tolt me dat Mr. Blggi Is git drunk efery dny, Blm she tilik de place no good." "Poor child I" said Abe. "I'm nfrolc" she's In trouble. Her parents have begun be-gun to suspect that something ! wrong. They have never been Invito to go down there 'and visit the girl I reckon we'd lictter say nothing K any one of what we have heard, al present:" They renched New Snlem In th. middle of the night nnd went Into Itul ledge's bam nnd lay down on tlx haymow between two buffalo hides un til morning. (TO DE CONTINUED.) |