My Convict
By JOHN Y. LARNED
I was running my auto leisurely along
a road in the country and slowed up
even from tliat pace to tura a sharp
bend In the road when suddenly a
heavy weight dropped l'rom an over
hanging brandi into my ear directly
behind me. Turning, 1 saw a man in
convict stripes rising to his feet.
"Put on full speed," he said in a tone
to indicate that he would be obeyed.
I did not see tliat he possessed any
weapon with which to enforce his de
manda, but it was evident that he was
an escaped jaiibird and as such was
likely to be desperate. As soon as I
had turned the bend I obejed his or
der, my speed gauge registering forty
miles aii hour. The man climbed over
the back of the seat aud sat down be
side ine. The road before me needed
ali my attention, but I took time to
glance aside at him. Now that he was
fleeing at so rapid a gait his whole ex
pression was changed. Despite his
stripes, I saw in him a man of refine
ment. Ile met my gaze with an hon
est look and said:
"My friend, if you knew that instead
of deteating justice you are trying to
undo a frightful act of in justice you
would be better satisfled. I have been
the victiin of a conspiracy to defraud
a bank of which I was cashier aud
was sent to the penitentiary for ten
years. My noble wife sent me sur
reptitiously saws, with which I effect
ed my escape. My object is to get out
of the country, send for her and our
children and begin life anew."
While he was making this brief state
ment I kept one eye on the road and
the other on him. I doubt if any man
can lieto me and impress me that he
la speaking the truth. 1 did not know
that the man was sincere, but I felt
his sincerity. Knowledge may be de
fective; intuition, at least with me, is
perfect.
"There is nothlng," I replied, "that
would give me greater satisfaction
than to enable you to carry out your
pnrpose. Where shall I take you?"
"First you must throw my pursuers
off my track. They are not far be
hind."
"Get back there and cover yourself
up to the chln with the wraps."
He did so, and his stripes were con
cealed, but he was bareheaded. I
gave him my cap. Seeing a man ahead
of me wearing a common woolen hat.
I stopped long enough to buy it, giv
ing him three times its value. Then,
entering upon a long stretch of com
para tively straight and level road, I put
on the baiance of my power, making
flfty miles an hour.
"Do you know anything of the pur
suit?" I asked.
"Only that my flight must have been
discovered long ago."
"We must have another suit of
clothes," was my next remark. "We
shall have to stop and buy one."
My passenger gave me some idea of
the sizes he had worn before his incar
ceration, and at the first opportimity
I bouglit him the necessary outfit. Ile
spoke of paying me for them some
day, but I tokl him what I would re
quire would be his viudication or, at
least, a surety that he was what he
purported to be. Ile managed to
change his clothes under the wraps
and, crosslng a bridge, threw his
stripes into water flowing rapidly.
After this I decreased my speed some
what, for I believed that with the start
and advantage we possessed my man
would not be retaken, at least for
some time.
Passing through a town where I had
business acqu.+intnnces, I procured
furids and supplied him with what he
would require. Then, stopping at a
railway station. 1 secured adirne table
sliowing trains for New York and, by
taking a longer route than the rails,
put him on a train without his being
obliged to wait at a station.
Meauwhile he had giveu me the ad
dress of his wife and asked me to cali
upon her to receive coniirmatiou of his
story. When iie parted from me his
efforts to express his gratitude over
came him, and he could say nothing.
Ali he could do was to look it.
As soon as he had left me I began to
realize my position in having aided a
convict to malte good his escape, and it
was then that doubts began to trouble
me. 1 did not go to see his wife for a
considerale time after he and I part
ed, fearing that she might be watched
and my visit would put the authorities
on to my infringement of the law. 1
saw in the newspapers notices of tlie
escape from prison of a bank etnbez
zler, aud after the stir had quieted
down I made the cali.
Some time after my cali I received a
letter written caution from
the convict mailed at an iuland city
of South America. He was paving the
way to send for his wife and children.
which would be a difficult matter with
out putting the authorities on his
track.
His pian was never carried out, for
one of the couspirators who had ruined
him was brought to trial for certaiu
irregularities, and the facts of the oth
er matter carne out. The convict's
wife applied for a new trial for her
husbaud, but by this time the whole
matter was patent. Instead of a new
trial it Was decided to apply for a par
don. This, after much delay', was
granted, and the pardoned man return
ed to his home.
I had the satisfaction of giving the
reuuited family a ride in,the very auto
that had made good the father's es
cape.
ONLY ONE PLACE FOR HIM
li was almost 7 o'clock, says the
Newark News, when Mr. Hillside
reached home the other eveniDg, and
bis wife was waiting for him witk a
look of concern and inquiry on lier
face.
"Why so late?" she asked.
"Kxtra work at the office," Hillside
answered,shedding his overcoat "I
couldn't break away until 6, and a
troll}' block did the rest."
"Supper's ali cold,' : said his wife.
"I'm sorry, my dear, but I couldn't
help it."
"You could help it if you wouid,"
said Mrs. Hillside. "Youlettile office
people impose on you too much.
You're anea*y mark and you know
it."
"My dear, perhaps you don't under
stand what I'm up against at the
shop."
"I do i-nderstnad, and Iknow very
well tliat the whole trouble comes
back to you and your easy ways. You
don't figlit tliose people. Tliey load
you down witli enougu work for two
nien, and you simplybow your head
anddoit. You're too humble for your
own good. People run over you, and
you meekly pick yourself up aud don't
even look after them to get their num
ber. I never saw a man with so little
spunk and spirit. Do you ever com
plain?? Do you ever assert yourself?
Do you ever talk back?" ?
"My dear," replied Mr. Hillside,
with a wink to his small and sympath
izing son, "there are some people who
simply won't tolerate being talked
back to."
"If you mean anything personal by
that," retorted Mrs. Hillside "I as-
A Powerful
Stimulant
By OSCAR COX
"Miss Brown, ef yo' don' mind I like
to have yo' come take keer o' de chil
len. Ma wife's 'powerful weak and
can't do nothin' at ali. She's goin' to
de hospittle dis arteruoon."
Miss Brown, a colored girl twenty
years of age, said she wouldn't mind
obliging Mr. Jones. It occurred to her
that if Mrs. Jones should die she might
be Mrs. Jones herself. Jones was a
well to do darky on the shady side oe
forty and had three pickaninnies. Miss
Brown supported herself by washing
and ironing and thought that if she
could permanently change her occupa
tion to taking care of a family it would
be an advantage.
"When do yo' want me to come, Mr.
Jones?" she inquired.
"Ma wife's gwine to de hospittle
about 4 o'clock. Reckon yo' mought
come round about half past 4."
"Ali right Mr. Jones; I'il be dar."
Mrs. Jones was removed in the hos
pital ambulance on time, and half an
hour later Miss Brown, who was com
mouly called Sue by her employers,
settled herself down in her place. The
children were playing in the Street,
and Sue did not disturb them. She
™as taking an eye icventory of the
premises and making a mental rear
rangement of the furniture when Mrs.
Jones would be removed from the hos
pital to the cernetery. Mr. Jones, whose
name, stripped of euphony, was simply
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sure you that your sarcasm is entirely
!out of place."
[ After supper she wenl at him again.
' 'Here's the whole evening gone, just
because you haven't the nerve to stand
ap for your rights. Toinorrow, I sup
pose you won't get home till 8; and
by aDd by you'll grow so meek and
lowly that the office won't let you
come home at ali. They'll keep you at
night 1 in a little stali down there and
send your meals in to you trom a re
staurant. I've decided to bave supper
at 6 o'elock after this. whether you
are bere or not. It isn't right to send
the children to bed so soon after
eating. "
"My 2idear, " said Hillside, sadly,
"don'tyou suppose that I suffer en
ugli witliout getting roasted besides?"
"Roasted!" cried she; I'm notroast
ing you, and you bave no right to cali
it that. You always put a wrong con
structionon wnat I say to j'on. You
bave no right to talk that way to me
whe» you know tbat the reason I say
what I do to you is because you are
so meek and snbmissive. If you would
only fire up once in a while at the of
fice the way you do athome it would
bebetter for us ali. But you never do:
you're not [built that way. You
would'nt get mad at your employer if
he carne up here and took the roof
from over our heads. You don't dare
to cali your soul your own.
Where are you going?"
"Only down celiar."
"To smoke your smelly old pipe, I
suppose."
"It's about ali the consolation left
for me, my dear. "
"I'd be ashamed!" said Mrs. Hill-
Side.
Mose* returìiéd from cónveying Tils
wife with a solemn countenance to
find that Sue had prepared a cup of
tea for him and had it set out on the
table with a piece of cani pone.
"I tliought yo'd come home needin'
somepin to brace yo' up, Mr. Jones,"
said the girl.
Her thoughtfulness braced up Mose
as much as the refreshinents.
"How did yo' leave yo' po' wife?" she
asked.
"Porely."
"Is she gwine to pulì through?"
"Don' know; she's powerful sick."
Mrs. Jones lost instead of gained.
She was worried about her childreu
and Mose found it necessary to teli her
that he had secured the services of
some one to take care of them. He dld
not teli her that he had got a young
woman, for he had seen evidences ai
ready that she was expecting to step
into his wife's shoes, and he knew that
this would worry her.
Perhaps it would bave gone well
with Sue had she curbed her- impa
tience. Though Mrs. Jones was report
ed getting weaker every day, she hung
on in a very aggravating way. Sue got
tired asking Mose after his visits to
the hospital how he had found his wife.
hearing only the repetition, "Porely,
very porely ; she's gwtae down hill pow
erful fast." So it occurred to the gir!
to go to the hospital and ask questions
on her own account. She bought a Ave
cent posy and, appearing at the hospi
tal door, was received by an attendant.
"Teli Mrs. Jones," she said, offering
the posy, "dat a frien' ob de family
brought her de flowers and hopes she's
gettiu* better."
The attendant took the flowers and
was turning away when Sue asked:
"Mrs. Jones mighty sick?"
"She's very low."
"Not long to lib, I reckon?"
'
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"Not long."
" 'Bout how long she gwine ty las'?"
"The doctor doesn't expect her to live
the week out."
Sue took her departure, greatly com
forted. The attendant took the posy lo
Mrs. Jones with the message. Mrs.
Jones was too ili to appreelate the kind
attention, but the faculty of curiosity
had not yet deserted her, and she asked
if the frier ' of the family had left a
name. The nurse said she had not,
whereupon Mrs. Jones asked for a de
scription of her and was told that she
was a trim colored girl about twenty
years old.
That night a hurry cali was sent for
Mose to come to the hospital to see his
wife before she died. Mose obeyed the
summons and found the invalid in a
state of collapse. When told that her
husband was there she rallied, and
Mose went to her bedside.
"Mose," she said, "tak' good care ob
de chillen when I'm daid."
"Sartin."
"Gib ali my frien's my lub, and
thank de cull'd gal fo' de flowers she
bruug me de udder day."
"Wha' cull'd gal?"
"Dunno. She said she was a frlen'
of de family."
"I wond'r"—
Mose checked himself, but too late.
Urged to teli what he wondered at, he
admitted that Sue might bave left the
fiowers, HIID w ìitii H LO Gufe WOS
be admitted that she was the woman
who was taking care of the children.
Perliaps it was Mose's evident desire
to keep sometbing back. At any rate,
the motlier took flight. She raised her
self with marvelous strength consid
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ering her condition and between the
nurse and her husband g>t the story,
including some admissions from the
latter as to Sue's kind solioitude in his
behalf.
"Yo' Mose." she said, "yo' waitin'
fo' me to die to marrj* dat gal!"
"I hain't no sech thing."
"De gal's waitin' fo' me to die t»
marry yo*. Yo' s'pose I g>viue to turu
my chillen ober to a gal like dat? No,
sah. I's gwine to get wcll. Cali de
ambulance. I's gwiue home right off."
She was not permitted to carry out
her assertion, but she rallied from
that moment and a week later was
back in her own domicile. Miss Brown
was warned tiy Mose of her coming
and departed in time to avoid a scene.
The Test.
It is the things a man could do but
does not which stamp him as incompe
tent—Judge.
1" ■»
A PITHY SERMON.
Here is about the pithiest ser- f
mon that was ever preached: t
"Our ingress into life is naked •
" and bare, our progress through ?
| l:fo is troub's crd csrc, our •
? egress out of it'we know not i,
• where; but, doing well here, we i
• shall do well there. I could not *>
l teli more by preaching a year. M ?
Bedouins and Water.
It is not unusual to bear a Bedouin
ui>on reaching a camp where water Is
offered bini refuse it witli tlie remark,
"I drank only yesterday." On the
Bedouins' iong marches aerosa dry
countries fehe sizo of tbe water skins
is nicely caleulated to just outlast tbe
jouruey, and tliey rarely allow thern
selves to break tbe babit of abstemi
ousness, as tlils would be sure to make
tbeir next water fast ali the barder.
Tbey are aecustomed from infancy to
regard water as precious aud use it
witb religious economy.
Not Selfisk
He—Do you believe in every man for
himself? She—Oh, no! I believe in
every man for some woman.
An Inspiration.
Llonel was at a matinee with his fa
ther, and when a trapeze acrobat fail
ed to catch the object at which he flew
through tbe air and fell sprawling into
the net the boy was greatly excited.
"They are never hurt," explained his
fatber. "It is a regular trick to make
such a miss once or twice to give the
audience an idea of the dilficulty of
the feat and thereby intensify the ap
plause when it has been successfully
performed."
liionel thought a moment and then,
with a bright smile, said:
"Papa, do you think I could make a
hit with my teacher by following thls
circus Btunt and missing my lessons
once in awhile?"—Puck.