Gentleman Jack 57 



been so bright and vigorous lost life and color, and 

 only moved their dust-covered blades when hot passing 

 breezes compelled it. Humanity seemed to share the 

 general languor, and manifested but little life and less 

 enterprise. In the midst of that heated term I was 

 called away on an important mission. It promised 

 to keep me a few days I was absent a fortnight. 

 I returned on one of the hottest days of that never- 

 to-be-forgotten summer. No carnages were at the 

 station, and I was compelled to walk to my home. 

 As I turned into the street in which I lived, it was 

 a relief to feel the shade of the elms that bordered 

 it on either side. I glanced toward the house, and 

 saw two children playing under the trees, one of 

 whom, even at that distance, I recognized as my 

 little daughter. Healthful infant life will assert itself 

 under influences that would oppress maturer years. 

 The heat was not oppressive, but grateful, to my 

 child. I came within a block of where the children 

 were playing. Their laughter was ringing in my 

 ears and thrilling my paternal senses. In another 

 minute my child's arms would be about my neck, her 

 dancing eyes looking into mine, and her witching 



