The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-07-11
LITTLE WILLIE.

| It frightened us good deal when we
| found the little dead body. This is the
way il was We were three country
| lads going home across lots at noon
! for our dinner. In passing a lonely
| pasture ground We saw little basket
| lying ahead of us upon the grass. We
made race for it and Ed captured the
| prize; little farther on we picked up
| a small hat which we at once recognized
as Wil4e Dedrick's. Then we turned
! the angle of zig-zag rail fence, and
| there In the corner, iammed close under
the bottom rail, was beautiful little
Willie, only five years old.
His clothing was torn and bloody,
and he did not move we felt a little
afraid because he was so still, but we
went up to him. He was dead, and his
plump little features were all blackened
with bruises.
1t shocked us very much. Only three
hours before we had been playing with
Willie at the pond. We felt that it was
terrible thing to find him dead in this
unlocked. for manner. We asked each
other what Walter and Mary would do
when they should hear of this Willie
was the only boy they had. And then
the question came up what we Ought to
do under such circumstances. There
was no one in sight TO tell rs. It
was suggested that we might take up
the body and carry it home to Walter
and Mary it was not far through the
lot and down the bank, to the pond
where their home was. 1t seemed nat
urai and right at first that we should
take the chubby little boy and carry
him home. But we shrank from the
presence of death even in the form of
little Willie and, beside that, we had
certain dim and confused ideas, as conn
try lads do who re the city newspa-
pers, that somehow a coroner was nee
essary, and that it would not be lawful
or safe for us to meddle with Willie,
thus strangely found dead from an IN
known cause.
So we sat down upon the large stones
near by Willie, and held a council.
There was no chairman appointed, and
no secretary, and none Of the surround
ings that ordinarily belong to delibera-
tive bodies nevertheless, in all the es-
sentials of a great council this occasion
was very eminent. Here were three
lads, seated upon three fragments of
n6rtern sIope 81 the XdiifondascGs i5d noun an
tains, and below them stretched the
mighty St. Lawrence; and in their
midst, upon that bright summer day,
sat the skeleton king, with his awful
sceptre and his iron crown, pressing
upon their young hearts those matchIess
terrors which have ruled the world
since time began.
1t was an august presence, and the bevs
felt their responsibility more than mem
bers of councils ordinarily do. Their
final conclusion was, that one of their
number must go and tell Walter and
Mary, while the other two watched the
body. 1t required quite as much cour-
age as wisdom to reach this conclusion,
for to tell the parents was a task the
boys dreaded.
The lot was cast, country boy fashion,
with three blades of grass, to determine
who should be the messenger of evil
tidings. The lot fell upon Phil. and he
Immediately rose up to start. Ed sug-
gested at this point that in sending word
the death ought to be ascribed to some
cause. The boys had been very much
puzzled from the first to know what
could have done it. They gaze1 about
the pasture ground to discover what
suggestion could be made There were
a couple of horses, some cows, and some
sheep grazing in a distant part of the
inclosure. As soon as it was sugges-
ted that one of the horses might perhaps
have done it by kicking Willie, the boys
accepted that as the natural and I'M
doubted solution of the mystery. Aud
so Phil took that word with him.
Phil went upon little trot through
the lot and down the bank, moving rap
idly, so that his heart might not have
time to quail or shrink and il less
than five minutes he stood by the little
house near the pond.
He looked at the door, which was
wide omen upon this summer day, and
there he saw Walter and Mary. Wal
ter sat cleaning the lock of his rife,
while the gun itself was lying across
his lap. Doubtless Phil's face was
somewhat pale a he went in at The
door, for Mary looked at him as if she
saw something there, and dreaded it.
The lad had good sense; he did not
blurt out the sad news suddenly. He
said to Walter, in a quiet way, "Will
you please step out of the door with
me L wish to see you"
Tt was the earnestness of the voice,
perhaps, that caused the man to put
aside his gun and obey so quickly.
When they were out of the house
Phil said, "I have bad news for you
we have found Your little son in the lot,
kicked by a horse, and we are afraid
that he is so bad that he is dead"
Phil had thought of this way of say
ing it before he got to the house. When
he said dead, Walter gave little start,
and said, els he dead ?"
PhilsAad to say, eyes, we are afraid
he is, and we think he is. "
e4o - kI,o ouJ
Phil stood at the door to see how he
any preface, ''Mary, our little Willie is
dead?"
"That was not prudent thing" the
boy thought, as the tragic words fell
upon his ear, and fixed themselves in
his memory.
The effect of the words upon Mary
reminded the boy of the way he had
seen a rife-shot tell upon rabbit or
partridge. The woman passed through
a kind of futter or shudder for a mo-
ment, and then sank straight down in a
little heap upon the floor. Then fol-
lowed a series of quick gasps and catch
ing for breath, and short EXPLANATIONS
of " Oh, dear oh, dear ~ and then the
stifed shrieking began.
Walter took his wife up in hi0 strong
arms, and tried to undo in part the sad
work which had been accomplished upon
her by the few words he had so sudden
ly and imprudently uttered. He said
that Willie might not be dead after all,
but only hurt. And so~he placed her
upon a bed, and he and Phil left her
there, and started to go and see Willie.
Not many words were said as the man
and boy climbed the bank, and strobe
hastily along to the fatal spot. AS they
neared it, there sat the two watchers,
faithful to their post, and as still as
statues.
Phil and Walter turned the angle of
the fenca, and the father came upon the
body of his little son. He had not