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A LOYAL LOVE
By Victor Redcliffe
(Copyright, 1916, W. G. Chapman.)
Reuben Waitewas just about to
thrust his pitchfork into a winnow of
hay when he espied a human foot.
"Hey, wake up here!" he shouted
in his customary stentorian tones.
As he spoke he tapped an extend
ing boot sole with the tines of the
fork. The foot drew in, the hay rose
up in a cascade and a lithe, well-featured
young man was revealed. He
brushed dust and seed from hair and
clothing and rather shamefacedly
confronted the farmer.
"Tramp, eh?" gruffjy suggested
old Reuben.
"I look it, don't I?" propounded
the stranger, with a little bitter
laugh.
"You do for a fact. I say where
did you get those togs?"
"I found them over on a rubbish
heap back -of the barn."
They were, in fact, an utterly dis
carded suit Reuben had thrown
away as unfit the day previous.
"H'm! your own must have been
pretty bad to changefor these," ob
served the farmer.
"They were for a fact," answered
.the stranger, and his face grew stern
and cold. "I'm Tom Lee. I'm a
tramp. I'm hungry, give me work."
"Well, I need help," spoke Reuben,
after a critical inspection of the ap
plicant "You look likely, and if
you're honest as well, we may hitch
for harvest"
"I'll try to suit," said Tom Lee.
"Those togs won't do, though,"
declared Reuben, and they were, in
deed, tatters. "Come into the barn
and I'll provide something better."
Within a few minutes Tom Lee
looked somewhat more respectable
in a homespun suit, worn but whole,
and a yellowed prototype of the
great straw hat the farmer wore. He
was given a good meal in the kitch
en, furnished with a pitchfork by the
farmer and put in the day so dili
gently that Reuben commended him
approvingly.
"I'll show you your quarters in the.
attic," said the farmer after supper.
"There'-s a cool, sheltered nook in
that old summer house in the gar
den," dissented Tom Lee. "If you'll
let me have a hay cover and don't
mind, I'll bunk in the open air."
Just as you like," said Reuben.
" J
"A Striped Suit"
"Ah, there's Nellie, my daughter.
Been visiting since yesterday. Put
up the rig, will you?"
Tom Lee braced himself andstqod
like a statue at the hitching block
as a young lady drove into the yard,
and, waving her hand gayly to her
father, rounded the house and came
to the barn. She alighted graceful
as some nymph, then stood rooted,
staring with strangely questioning
eyes at Tom Lee.
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