“TWO DAYS.”
BY WM. D. GOLD,
Short was the road and bright, though no least ray
Found the wood path that wound among the trees;
Foi one dear presence made as light as
day
hat darkening trail the sunlight never sees.
O drear and never-ending is the way
Across the mountain m
+ Untrodden by the feet wi
i
eadow’s sun-kissed height,
ich, yesterday,
* Led through the gloom and made the darkness light.
—The Burr McIntosh Monthly.
9
BANNARD'S - OLD - SOLDIER
By HENRY GARDNER HUNTING.
Treo
The handrail at the side of the
steps leading down from the employ-
~ ment office was much worn. Hugh
Bannard’s eyes had dropped thought-
fully upon it as he came out of the
door at the top of the street steps and |
paused to decide what to try next.
Hundreds of hands, thousands, yes,
tens of thousands of hands, must
have touched that iron rail, going
up or down. :
Thousands of other job hunters,
just “like himself, the young fellow
thought, with that heavy feeling un-
der his ribs which people call sink-
‘ing of the heart—thousands of others
had come here and gone away again,
all looking for the chance of earning
a living, most of them departing dis-
appointed, as he was departing. * The
clerk inside had told him coldly that
they could not place a quarter ‘part
of their applicants, : an: unusually
frank: statement. So it was a sort of
Bridge of Sighs, this little stairway
with the iron handrail, with the last
depcsitory for a fellow’s vain hopes at
the top end of it. - Tr
He looked out at the passing crowd:
It was made up of men mostly, young
‘and old men, passing, passing, pass-
ing below him. They were all busi-
ness and professional men. They had
work, every one of them, from that
big, fine-looking fellow with the silk
hat just alighting from the motor by
the curb, who evidently was a person
of consequence in the bank across
the way, to the little chap with the
flashy tie and the green fedora who
was just coming out of the haber-
dasher’s next door, on his gleeful way
to the lunch counter. id
It was the twelfth day since he had
first stepped into the Chicago streets,
and they had been the most misera-
ble twelve days of his life. It would
have been bad enough to be" home-
sick for the quiet Michigan home if
he had been behind somebody’s coun-|
ter or at somebody's office desk,
where he could earn his way. It was
“tough,” as he whispered under his
breath, to be homesick ‘‘on nothing a
week.” :
1 It Was the luncheon hour—at least,
it seemed to be for most of these]
men. He had been trying not to
think about food for himself.
it had become a serious question with
him whether he could afford such a
luxury at all to-day. He fingered one
last small bill in his pocket, and re-|
membered that his room rent would
be due again on Mondayv—room rent
for another week, in advance. This
was Friday. “If the folks at home
knew,” he thought, “wouldn't I be
fed up this noon!” :
Somebody had come out of the door
behind him and was standing at his
side. Something in the quiet pause
of the other made Hugh look up quick-
ly. He looked into a pair of pleasant,
friendly gray eyes that were regard-
ing him with interest through the
glasses that covered them.
“Well, did you get a job?”
The man was not young. He was
tall and rather slender, erect, but
with the look of years upon him. His
hair was white. He was smooth-
. shaven except for a gray mustache
and a small goatee, which somehow
at once suggested the old soldier to
the boy. :
“Oh, no, I didn’t,” said Hugh,
lightly. ; :
+ “Neither did I,” said the man.
“Are ycu locking, too?” Hugh
asked. ; :
His eyes went over the other again
involuntarily. There was something
fine about the man. His face and his
hands, as Hugh saw them now, had
the peculiar silvered Ilook-.that: old
people’s faces’and hands show some-|
times, as if the skin were turning a
satin-gray, too, like the hair. - He was
so straight, so quiet,’ so’ self-con-
tained, and yet the corners of his eyes
were twinkling with a smile that
opened his lips also in a frank. sort of I
comradeship. ae Sates
“Oh, yes,” he answered, “I've been
looking - quite .-a - while... - Nobody
© seems to want an old man’; c:
He laughed a little, and Hugh was
forgetful for an instant of his own
troubles. wn i Se
“They don’t seem .to want boys,
either,” he said, slowly.. ‘I've been
standing here watching all these men
go by, and wondering why they :all
have jobs. They're like you-and mie,
aren't they?” . vital Wo deiael
“Many of them are like you,” said
the old man. ‘‘Not many like me”
. Hugh felt a little choke coming
jnto his throat.” “A good many of
them must know of other jobs that
Indeed, | ..
FEI IIIa Art Tr rover rer ret
would do for both of us,” he went on,
hastily. “If we could only let them
know that we need jobs—let ’em all
know. I feel like shouting it out at
them now, from the steps here, and
waving my arms and telling them that
I can work, too—that we can work.”
The old man was first to move.
“Well,” he said, “I must be going on.
We'll find a job all right. Keep a
stiff upper lip.” Suddenly he held
out his hand. “Here's luck,” he said,
the genial .smile coming vut again
clear. :
“Here's luck to you,” said Hugh,
seizing the extended hand with boyish
hcartiness.
A moment later they had separated
in the crowd, Hugh walking slowly
toward the corner of the street, the
other taking the opposite direction.
The boy could still feel the touch of
the man’s hand on his. Such cour-
age! If he had only been in a posi-
tion to. help! But the old man’s
brave words and the grasp of his hand
had helped the boy. 2
Still, things were serious with him.
He had exhausted all of the ways he
knew to get work. And nobody
wanted him. Why was it? He was
not wholly without businezs experi-
ence. He had worked in stores, had
Sayings of
“questioned it earnestly.
‘grow wise by learning; then,
the grass bends.
ple.”
of the three?”
Iwo?”
be loyal.
Guide the people .by law,
chame.
Could good men govern
speech the low and unfair.
VOICED ODITLOECIIILCREIECRIIOCVDOIITIIVI DOD
ITITLOTOTOITOITOIOVODOTODID ID EOD OH
had )
he
He had been considered an exterpris- i my office
reported for the newspaper,
handled a magazine agency at home.
(From Mr. Lyall’s Compilations—Longmans.)
WAS not born to understanding.
The best men are born wise.
‘row: minds without learning are the lowest of the people.
The people may be made to follow; they cannot be made
‘to understand. The king’s mind is the wind, and ‘grass are
the middle of the people; whither the wind blows, thither
“What is kingcraft?” demanded a disciple.
replied, “Food enough. troops enough and a trusting peo-
“Were there no help for it, which could be best spared
“Troops,” said the master. :
no help for ‘it, which could be better spared of the other
“Food,” said the master.
but without a trust people cannot stand.”
-Exalt the straight, set aside the crooked, the people will
Behave with dignity, they will be lowly; be pious
.and merciful, they will be faithful;
unskilful, they will grow willing.
they may shun crime, but will be void of shame.
them by example, subdue them
would be vanquished, putting to death have an end.
A gentleman is consistent, not changeless. A gentleman
sitraightens his robe and settles his face.
men look upon him with dread.
great, all is one to a gentleman; he dare not slight any man.
He will banish from his bearing violence and levity, from his
He crossed to it ‘quickly. Inside, he
bought a sheet of bristol-board two
feet square and borrowed a marking-
brush. :
In five minutes, working feverish-
ly, he had made a sign of his own,
and its announcement was clear:
I Want a Job.
The clerk who had lent him the
brush watched him with amusement.
But Hugh, although conscious now
that his face had reddened under ob-
servation, was of the mettle to put
his idea through. He pinned his sign-
board upon his breast and walked out
into the sunlight, feeling that he was
striking a last, forlorn blow.
It was not easy to face that street
full of curious eyes, he found quickly;
but he took his stand and looked into
the faces of the men who turned to
stare at him. Almost at once there
was a laugh, then another.
Then the young fellow who had
laughed first looked at Hugh's serious,
flushed face, and grew sober. And
that single recognition of his earnest-
ness gave the boy courage again. He
stood his ground and waited.
More and more the passing people
looked at him. The big motor car
which he had noticed before was still
at the curb, and he of the silk hat had
come out to re-enter it and had spied
the carboard sign. He was looking.
A woman passed and gazed wonder-
ingly at the young fellow. She smiled
as she went on. Two boys jeered and
stopped to watch.
Then suddenly Hugh found himself
looking up at the big motor car again
and realizing that the man in it was
beckoning to him. The other’s face
was serious, too, and the boy obeyed
the gesture.
The man’s eyes were dark and
keen. They looked straight into
Hugh’s as the boy stood beside the
car, and he seemed to forget that the
cardboard sign was ludicrous. Hugh’s
heart beat hard.’ It could hardly be
that suceess had come so quickly.
But the big man was not slow to
speak.
CUCVDODOVOVOVOVDOCD TOT OT OTOTOT OC OTS
Confucius.
I loved the past and
Next come those who
learned, narrow minds. Nar--
Confucius
“And were there
“From
of old all men die,
exalt the good, teach the
subdue them by punishment,
Guide
by courtesy, they will learn:
for a hundred years, cruelty
He is stern and
Few or many, small or
DOD VIDIO DODIBDODODODODODODODIOBE DOES
“If you want a job as bad as that,”
said, tersely but kindly, “come to
in the bank to-morrow
ing, capabie young fellow in the vil- | morning at nine.” He paused, and
lage where his people lived.
When he had started off to lecok
for work in Chicago, his friends had
been ready to prophesy success for
him. And he was failing—yes, that
was the only werd for it—failing as
he had not believed anybody cculd
fail who was in earnest.
“It’s here!” he whispered to him-
| then smiled.
“Ask for Mr. Freyne,”
he added, “and send in that sign as
| your card.”
Hugh tried to thank. him, but a
chauffeur had cranked the engine and
| was climbing into the car as the other
‘finished, ana the banker turned to
t him with a direction.
A moment later the car hac disap-
self, as he plodded along with the | peared and the boy stood alone on the
crowd. “It’s here—worg—on all
sides. I know there are jobs wailing
i for me.
a fellow who can do-good work. 1
know, and I ought to have courage if
that old boy can keep it.”?
He looked about him with troubled
eyes. If these men only knew! The
wish that he could let them all know,
every one, came back suddenly as he
recalled his half-jesting words of a
few moments before.
A stalwart figure in curiously col-
ored garb passed him-—a man-in a
purple coat. On the back of it, across
the shoulders, were yellow letters:
‘Go to Boyne’s Dental Pariors.
Teeth Filled Without Pain.
Hugh stared after the fellow. To
his unaccustomed eyes the grotesque:
thing stood out from all its surround-
ings. - : And so strikingly did it fit
into his thoughts that an idea leaped
‘into his mind on the instant.
- “I could do that! "he said, aloud. -
"A man who had heard him’turned |
to look curiously at him, but Hugh
did not heed him. All the work and.
disappointment of the two weeks past,
with the desperation that had risen at:
last from dreaded failure, served to:
make his resolution swift. - :
tered. ‘Tl let ’em know about me.”
‘ He looked quickly about.” A 'sta-
tioner’s store was across the street.
1 tion
(curb, taking the card from his breast
and whispering excitedly over to him-
There's always a chance for | self the name of his new acquaintance
jwhils he folded the bristol-board care-
"fully.
! “I wish I knew where my old sol-
dier is now,” he thought, as he
| walked home to the hired room.
| “Perhaps he'd try my scheme, too.”
But 2 surprise awaited ‘Hugh the
next morning, when he arrived at the
I bank. He was ushered into a dimly
lighted waiting room, where a score
of men and boys were waiting: and
that their errand was similar to his
was quickly evident from conversa-
~ overheard. Somewhat taken
aback, he still told the story of his
appointment with Mr. Freyne to the
young man who had shown him in,
and offered the folded cardboard as
his credentials. He was reassured
when the other seemed promptly ‘to
understand. - vik :
“Oh, you're the one, are you?” he
asked. “Just wait a minute.”
The young man disappeared
through a glass door, .and Hugh’s
spirits = rose. joyously.: He looked
round at the others with a natural
sense of advantage fairly won: over
| them ‘by ‘his little scheme of the ‘day
“«I' can-do it, and T willl?” he mut-
before. - He did not ‘Know : certainly
that they were after the ‘place that
probable.
-on his desk.
would be offered to him, but it seemed |
They were seeking work. |
He felt a little twinge of regret at the
thought that what was his good for-
tune might be their loss. And then
all at once he found himself looking
at a tall figure near the door, a figure
of an old man with white hair and
grizzled military goatee, who stood,
hat in hand, waiting with the rest.
It was his friend of yesterday—his
old soldier, as he had thought of him.’
He had not seen Hugn, or else had
failed to recognize him. But the
light from a hall window shone in:
strongly enough to bring out plainly
his fine, patient, brave old face. And
Hugh stood and stared at it with a
sudden loss of his satisfaction of a
moment before. Was his old soldier
after this place, too?
The door at his side opened, and
the young man who had taken his odd
card to Mr. Freyne was beckoning
him inside. With his mind full of
confused speculations, he stepped into
the presence of the banker.
The man laid down his papers as
Hugh walked toward him. “Tell me
about yourself,” he said, briefly, with-
out introduction. :
The boy, conscious that brief re-
sponse would please him, did so in
few words. When he finished his
short narrative, the dark-eyed man
seemed satisfied. :
“All right,” he said. “The young
man who has sense enough to use
such an-idea as you did yesterday will
use his brains wherever he is. You'll
do.”
The banker paused an instant and
then went on:
“The only place we have open now
is an usher’s job in the banking room.
It pays twelve dollars a week, and
will lead to better. We advertised
yesterday for a man, but I saw your
card and made up my mind you de-
served a chance. Go into the next
room and tell Mr. Chase I've hired
you and that he may dismiss the
others.” :
The fine dark eyes went back to
the letters on the banker's desk. But
Hugh still could not rejoice in his
fortune. The banker’s words had
made the situation clear to him, and
as that gentleman ended, the face of
the gray old man out there in the
waiting room—who was presently to
be sent away disappointed—rose be-
fore him and blotted out other things.
The banker noted his pause and
looked up. “Well,?” he said, a little
sharply. And Hugh’s mind was made
up.
“Mr. Freyne,” he said, quickly,
“you are very kind, and I appreciate
your offering me this place. But I
have a—a friend—who needs it more
than I do." It seems to be a place that
requires no special training, and he
can fill it. - In fact, I'm quite sure
he’ll be a better man than I for it.
Won't you give it to him?” .
The banker was surprised, but his
eyes turned suddenly curious as he
looked at Hugh. “Well!” he said.
And then he laughed. - “Who is your
friend? What's his mame?”
The boy started to answer the first
question eagerly, but he stopped short
at the second. His name? He did
not know it, of course. And—what
would the banker think? He hesi-
tated. And then suddenly realizing
that he was spoiling it all by sheer
stupidity, he burst out abruptly with
the uncolored truth.
“I don’t know his name,” he said.
“I never saw him till yesterday. But
he needs this job.” And then, his
brain firing with his feeling, he told
the story in swift words that his gen-
uine emotion made vivid, even to the
description of the old man’s appear-
ance and bearing.
The banker heard him through in
silent attention.
“And you want to give up your job
to a stranger, do you?” he asked.
“You admit you know nothing of the
man, and yet you want me to hire
him, Who vouched for him to you?”
“If you will see him, you'll know
he doesn’t need anybody to vouch for
him!” exclaimed Hugh. ‘I know he's
honest. I know—"
But Mr. Freyne touched a bution
To the clerk who re-
sponded, he said, “Ask the old gen-
‘tleman with the goatee, in the wait-
ing-room, to come in here.” Then he
turned again to Hugh. ‘T’ll take him
on your recommendation, Mr. Ban-
nard,” he said, using Hugh’s name
for the first time. But Hugh was
embarrassed now.
him see me,” he said, hastily. ‘He
might understand. I'll go.” :
He turned toward the door. But
the banker spoke promptly and de-
cidedly. “No,” he said, ‘you stay
here. Wait in Mr. Chase's room, if
you like, but I've hired you, if you
remember. And I'm not inclined to
think your ways merit discharge—
yet. There's room for more of your
kind in this bank.” !
‘Hugh turned to look at him, and
saw that the other was on his feet
and that his eyes were alight. But
| just then the waiting-room door
opened again, and the boy was forced
to make his exit quickly. .-In the
backward glance, however, ‘as. he
stepped - into the ' cashier's ;private
room, he ‘eaught a glimpse’ ‘of ‘the
gray old face of ‘his friend, and saw
that: the ‘smile was ‘how ‘a cheerful
one.~Youth's Companion.
Kind words never die.—French,
“Please don’t let
Best Field,
The repairing of holes in pave-
ments seems to offer the best field
for ‘developing to the fullest extent
the value of first-class. workmanship.
This has recently been brought home
to those interested in street paving in
Chicage by Mr. John B. McInerney,
superintendent of repairs and main-
tenance. Before he took hold the re-
pair of an opening was usually made
in the cheapest way possible ‘and with
little or no regard for how long it
would stay in place or give satisfac-
tion in any form. Now repairs are
made with great care under the eye
of an inspector skilled in this sort of
work, A careful record is kept of
repairs made and at the first signs of
failure the contractor is required to
make the repair again at his own ex=
pense. Mr. McInerney has demon-
strated that an opening can be re-
paired in such a way that it cannot
afterward be found. K This requires
great care but it is worth all the
time and money it takes. :
The results of Mr. McInerney’s ef-
forts are particularly noticeable in
‘asphalt repairs which are: made in
the following manner: The dirt
frecm all openings is tamped back in
shallow layers and care is taken to
see that the top of the opening is
larger in horizontal area than any,
other part, The dirt is crowned up
slightly over the trench or opening
and the old asphalt laid on top. This
is allowed to remain in place for sev-
eral weeks if the traffic conditions do’
not make such a course seriously ob-
jectionable. ~The material above
sub-grade is then removed and the
concrete (nearly all asphalt pave-
ments in Chicago are laid on con-
crete) is trimmed with a bevel edge
so that the size of the opening in the
concrete is one or two inches less at
the bottom than at the top in each
direction. This edge is then thor-
oughly cleaned, wet and sprinkled
with neat cement. The concrete is
then well rammed in place, no al-
lowance being made for settlement,
and no crown on the top above the
grade of the ‘original concrete. After
the new concrete has set, the asphalt
is cut to a sharp line with a vertical
edge and three or four inches larger
than the opening. This edge is very
carefully painted with asphaltic ce-
ment after the binder has been well
tamped in place. The surface mix~
ture is always rolled with both a
light and a heavy roller in such a
way that it is finally brought to the
even and unbroken surface of the
original pavement. Ady
Engineers are often called upon to
produce results without having a
voice in the matter of selecting ma-
terials, This is a hard position, but,
if one has accustomed himself to tak-.
ing advantage of every physical con-
dition and to getting the greatest ef-
ficiency in workmanship, he will be
able to “make good” on a ‘bad job.”
In laying brick or granite pave-
ments the proper filling of the joints,
particularly along the rails of street
car tracks is (within reasonable lim-
its) of considerably more importance
than the quality of material used as
a filler, It may also be said that the
laying of any pavement to a smooth
and even surface which drains read-
ily has much to do with the length
of its life. In general, an ordinary
material, intelligently and carefully
used, may produce results very su-
perior to those obtained by the use
of a better material in the hands of
a carcless or inefficient workman.—
Good Roads Magazine,
Motor Cars and Roads.
‘““The vehicles should be made to
{it the roads, not the roads to fit the
vehicles,” is the essential principle of
the recommendation to the Legisla-
ture, published this morning, on
which the State Highways Commis-
sion would specially tax automobiles:
for the repair of the highways. It is
true, as the Commission states, that
motor cars rapidly wear out the
macadam roads, and that they are
run by owners many of whom-—not
all, by any means—are wealthy. But
can such a tax be justly laid until, at
least, the methods of constructing
roadbeds are radically altered?
Time and again, it has been pointed
out that the old macadam pavement is.
the worst possible form of construc-
tion to" meet the modern demands of
highway traffic. Roads should be
adapted to new conditions of use, yet
the same surfaces that formerly solid-
ified under the impact of horse-drawn. |
tires are presented to tires that have
no downward impact, but a backward
thrust that must, of necessity, disinte-
grate and scatter their material in
dust clouds over adjacent fields. Of
course, that is all wrong, and it is a
nuisance.’ The State persists in build-
ing roads without bituminous or
asphaltic dressings that offer the max-~
imum of resistance to such wear, and
it proposes to penalize by a discrim-
inatory tax the vehicles-that produce
it.. -The tax, which is to be.collected
in registration fees, will be a popular
ome, -but it distinctly tends to retard
ivf reform in ‘highway construction.—
‘New York Times.
}