[Illustration: “PICKED UP SOME OF THE SHREDS” [P. 150] THE MISSIONARY SHERIFF BEING _INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A PLAIN MAN WHO TRIED TO DO HIS DUTY_ BY OCTAVE THANET ILLUSTRATED BY A. B. FROST AND CLIFFORD CARLETON [Illustration] NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1897 Copyright, 1897, by HARPER & BROTHERS. _All rights reserved._ CONTENTS PAGE THE MISSIONARY SHERIFF 1 THE CABINET ORGAN 51 HIS DUTY 97 THE HYPNOTIST 131 THE NEXT ROOM 167 THE DEFEAT OF AMOS WICKLIFF 217 ILLUSTRATIONS “PICKED UP SOME OF THE SHREDS” _Frontispiece_ “TORE THE LETTER INTO PIECES” _Facing p._ 20 THE THANKSGIVING BOX ” 30 “SHE PAUSED BEFORE MRS. SMITH’S SECTION” ” 46 “SHE LEANED HER SHABBY ELBOWS ON THE GATE” ” 56 “‘SOMEBODY THREW THESE THINGS AT OUR WINDOW’” ” 70 “‘NOW, BOYS, LET’S COME AND PLAY ON THE ORGAN’” ” 74 “‘THEY HAVE ENGAGED _ME_’” ” 94 “HARNED HID HIS FACE” ” 116 “‘IT WON’T BE SUCH A BIG ONE IF THE DOOR HOLDS’” ” 126 “‘SHE MUST LOOK AT IT’” ” 146 “‘HE’S SCARED NOW, THE COWARD’” ” 158 “‘I’LL ACT AS HIS VALET’” ” 162 “‘_I’LL_ GIVE THE KITTY SOMETHING TO EAT’” ” 180 THE FAREWELL ” 232 THE MISSIONARY SHERIFF THE MISSIONARY SHERIFF Sheriff Wickliff leaned out of his office window, the better to watch the boy soldiers march down the street. The huge pile of stone that is the presumed home of Justice for the county stands in the same yard with the old yellow stone jail. The court-house is ornate and imposing, although a hundred active chimneys daub its eaves and carvings, but the jail is as plain as a sledge-hammer. Yet during Sheriff Wickliff’s administration, while Joe Raker kept jail and Mrs. Raker was matron, window-gardens brightened the grim walls all summer, and chrysanthemums and roses blazoned the black bars in winter.