been sitting with him before the door of the barn followed lifting his
hands and dropping them nervously. Between his fingers he held a
forgotten cigarette the light from which danced up and down in the
darkness.




SENILITY


He was an old man and he sat on the steps of the railroad station in a
small Kentucky town.

A well dressed man, some traveler from the city, approached and stood
before him.

The old man became self-conscious.

His smile was like the smile of a very young child. His face was all
sunken and wrinkled and he had a huge nose.

"Have you any coughs, colds, consumption or bleeding sickness?" he
asked. In his voice there was a pleading quality.

The stranger shook his head. The old man arose.

"The sickness that bleeds is a terrible nuisance," he said. His tongue
protruded from between his teeth and he rattled it about. He put his
hand on the stranger's arm and laughed.