The Landloper

ry partnership between Etienne Provancher

e place. She sat contentedly in the shade and watched the bugs in the grass and the birds in the tree above her. In the cool of the evening she trudged along the canal bank with Farr and the play-mamma until eyes grew heavy and littl

re were pretty dresses to buy. The taste of Zelie Dionne took charge of that shopping. When he bought the first one-one that was white and fluffy-and Rosemarie walked out with him she displayed such feminine pride in fine feathers that he looked forward to future Saturdays nights and new dr

. The thick, sweet, greasy air seemed to distil cotton-oil upon the faces of the workers. The nights proved to be no better than the days. The stuffy tenements gulped in the hot air of midday and held it as a person holds his breath. All the folks came out upon the lit

n the "Blocks," for the people were dying. The little white hearse was a more frequent visit

old Farr. "Under the shade on the green grass she shall sta

e than the sun had painted the little girl's cheeks-they were flushed with fever. He to

the man was working with furious energy. He was even reaching o

busy day, Pickaroon,"

end of mine and that the float stuff be sickne

is business, commenting mentall

d been there and had left medicine-two tumblers of it. He had hurried in and had hurried away and had been cur

eld her in his arms and Etienne sat near by

been dreadfully frightened when he had come from his work. Fright had trodden close on the heels of much joy-for the superintendent of

ld him. "You're built to boss men. What kind of a

got was a smile which put furt

ed Farr when he laid her in her bed tha

were wan, and she did not clap her hands with the old-time glee when he brought her new toys; the playthings

he doctor mebbe not know, because he very gruff and do not sa

s. Ah, I have seen her many time-I have seen childs healed there and made so very smart-all cure. She loves little childs. Oui. All about her feet are short, small crutch where she has cure childs. The piece of her wrist-bone is there in the sacris

itself at the corners of Farr's mouth-the flash of th

ne and found her regard

nte listens very tenderly when the children come to her. She is good to a

ve been

body who is in much sorrow-she tells the right way to go. There are many roads to take in this

as plain that Zelie Dionne was speaking out of the depths of her heart, an

ell in the end," asserted the girl. "And, most of a

ful old man Farr divided

t in these days that things I do not understand may have truth in them.

e all day. I will carry her very tender-on the railway car-on the

ought to heal easily one poor, l

and frank young man, the assistant of the over-worked city physi

ne?" whispered Etienne to Farr while

re patient with y

n the railway if I be very careful, good docteu

wh

shrine of the good Sainte

t this case is?" deman

ay-he hurry in

e grand

N

or turne

the

N

s a case of typhoid that will be fatal in twe

if Time had forced him suddenly to swallow an extra score of years. H

d the doctor, nodding toward the kitc

what you say," sta

oo many of these cases to be fooled. Why, I've got mor

fresh air-on the canal ba

e poison that is being pumped through the w

er-m

arr, for the husky croak of his e

very long in this state not to know what w

re long. But about

th. "They boss mayors, the aldermen, the politicians-boss the governor himself. That's because they've got the machine and the money. They've got a lot of money, because they won't wake up and spend it to lay lines far enough to tap the la

ing folks drink poison-telling us when it's too late!"

dicate in case any town or an independent company tries to borrow money and install a water system, and the mill corporations and the tenement-block owners all in cahoots, a crusader who expected to get anywhere in politics or make money out of his business would stand a fine and dandy show, now wouldn't he? And the most of

e door, restraining h

let that baby die. By th

with the children. Sometimes we can bring the grown folks through. Get another doctor, if you fee

arr's hand and

sing his shriveled hands as if he were grasping at straws of hope, dragging the depths

I'll find one who knows his business." He tiptoed to the bed and laid tender palm against the child's cheek. "I say her face

eet named Western Boulevard-they live in the big

this time even if I hav

ed it in the haste and eagerness of his arrival at the good woman

d made a wry face, then he ran his thin finger into the valve-chamber. He hooked and brought forth stringy slime, held it near his nose, and groaned. "The poor folks do not know. They who ask for the votes of the slashers, the w

Etienne," she assured him, sniffing at the slime in the sink

o other," he raged. "This is not your blame-you did not know." He pointed his finger, quivering, dripping with the slime, at the c

er-it hasn't made me

the time-and we see the white ribbons hanging from the doors, so many place every day-the poor young folks with life ahead and much to live for even down here-they are poison and they do not know! Oh, le bon Dieu! Boil dem dam' devil in hell in the water they have sell to the po

his lips and puckered his eyebrows above the little wraith who minded him not at a

tion-if she were a little old

if he wanted to beat indulgence for the child out of

from the child's brow. "I can only give you something, my friend. I give you all my sympathy. This baby is departing on a long journey,

es-the smugness of the physician was gone. He shook F

y fingers stopped their flutteri