Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-09-28

! away, feeling too guilty, the minute
alter the action was done, to allow po-
/ hceman' S eye to rest upon him
/ lie did not go strait home, but saunt-
cred past, to the other end of the block,
where wrinkled old dame kept pea
nut stand, The boys had gone away
around the square, to see a hook and
/ ladder company start for some fire in
the next ward. There dangled his poor
kite in the top of the alathus tree. He
did not care how long it hung there.
He would have given fifty kites if he
could have put whole breadth in that
green silk dress.
How could he do such mean, sneak
ing things He asked himself the ques-
ton over and over again. 1t seemed
as though the people in the street must
detect some traces of it in his face.
He thought the peanut woman was
cold to him. They were cronies,, he
and she, and had many pleasant chat
about County Cork, could Ireland"
whore she come from. John secretly
regarded County Cork as an earthly
paradise To-day the old lady was not
inclined to be sociable which is perhaps
accounted for by the fact of her having
a cold in the head.
John found himself wondering half
the time when the lady would say when
she discovered that hideous rent in her
green silk dress. 1t was just possible
she might think it had caught on
nail But no; the cut of a knife is cas-
lily detected. Then he fancied what
piece of work it would be to repair the
damage, shift the trimming, and all,
for John knew considerable about the
mysteries of dressmaking and alter
ing. He had watched his mother and
the sewing girl many time, as they
shipped into new goods, or made
"ould cloes look amaist as weel's the
new
When it began to grow dusk, and be-
fore the street lamps were lit, John ran
home, for he was afraid his father
would come along, and catch him idling
about the corner. The children were
just going down to tea, and he went
with them, and sat down at the table
without saying word. Mary, the
nurse maid, thought, as she expressed
it, John looked peaked :" and when
she told him to go to bed, she was sur
prised to have him obey without given
her a syllable of "imperdence :" for
Mary's views, and the little boys, /
am fain to confess, did not always
agree.
That evening there was company
down stairs, and John lay wide awake
in his bed listening to the laughter and
confusion. Somebody went TO the
piano, and sang a Scotch ballad in a
very sweet voice but he only wished
the people would all go home, and
leave HIM IN peace. He tossed and
tumbled about, until his head grew
very hot, and his tongue felt parched,
ana all the time his heart was like
lump of lead in his bosom. Still, do
what he would, sleep refused to come
and bless him.
At last, near midnight, John heard
the front door slam, and afterward
somebody closing the parlor windows,
and presently his mamma came in yawn-
ing bit, and pushing the heavy hair
away from her temples. She went and
turned on the gas jet, which had been
lowered to a tiny spark.
80, mamma, | could not go to sleep
until | had told you something
Little Johns lips began to CULVER as
he sat up in bed, his eyes looked really
piteous and distressed, and his hair
twisted into all sorts of funny little
tails
The lads mamma got over her sleep
mess instantly, and, in surprise, went
and sat down on his bedside He crept
right into her arms, and sobbed out
the story of the kite line and the unfor-
tunate green silk dress, in such a way
that she managed to get pretty clear
idea of what had happened.
| OF course she was shocked to discover
that her little boy had been guilty
of such a malicious piece of mischief,
but she could hardly regret, in spite of
1t, that at last something had happened
to put him clearly in the wrong, aud
reduce him to the state of humility and
/ penitence. He had suffered "a good
! deal already, SO she refrained from all
/ harShness, but, nevertheless, held a
plain, serious talk with her little boy.
and at last it was settled that in the
Viz MOI mug tlcf SLouIu ~ toSetuel w
the lady's house and make full and
free confession, leaving it to her to say
what penalty John must pay for his
ottense.
The lad was very much relieved by
all this, and soon fell asleep, with wet
lashes resting against his cheeks, which
I looked far paler than usual. When
morning stole in at the window, and he
woke up to a realizing sense of the
coming interview, he began to dread it
like the toothache. He knew that his
mamma always did what she promised
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